Call of Duty co-creator Vince Zampella dies in California car crash
3 hours ago
Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu

Vince Zampella, who co-created the popular video game series Call of Duty, has died in a car crash in California, aged 55.

Zampella's death was confirmed by Electronic Arts, which owns Respawn Entertainment, a game studio he co-founded.

The influential video game developer was travelling in a Ferrari with another person, when it crashed and caught fire on a highway in Los Angeles on Sunday.

"This is an unimaginable loss, and our hearts are with Vince's family, his loved ones, and all those touched by his work," a spokesperson for Electronic Arts told the BBC.

Officials said the person on the vehicle's passenger seat was ejected while the driver remained trapped. It is unclear if Zampella was driving the car and who the other person inside was.

Both people inside the vehicle died.

"For unknown reasons, the vehicle veered off the roadway, struck a concrete barrier, and became fully engulfed," the California Highway Patrol said in a statement to the BBC.

Zampella created Call of Duty with his long time collaborators Jason West and Grant Collier in 2003.

Partly inspired by events in World War II, the game has sold more than 500 million copies making owners Microsoft's Activision one of the most profitable gaming companies. It has also spawned an upcoming live-action film.

The Call of Duty franchise was not his only success. He was also behind other widely popular games including the Medal of Honor, Titanfall and Apex Legends.

Journalist and Game Awards host Geoff Keighley, who wrote a book about the making of Titanfall, called Zampella a "dear friend" in a post on X and a "visionary executive" who "never wavered in his commitment to honesty and transparency".

"While he created some of the most influential games of our time, I always felt he still had his greatest one ahead of him," he said. "It's heartbreaking that we'll never get to play it."

"He really cared about the player experience," Keza MacDonald, the Guardian's video games editor, told BBC Newshour.

"He cared about making games, he cared about how people felt when they played and that really came across whenever you spoke to him."

YouTuber MrRoflWaffles, whose Call of Duty videos have amassed him more than 2.4 million subscribers, credited the developer for inspiring "a whole generation" with the franchise, including his own content.

"You talk about the Mount Rushmore of gaming - he's absolutely staple on that list of people," he told BBC Newsbeat.

In 2010, Zampella and West were fired from Activision, which publishes the Call of Duty games, and the pair were subsequently locked in a long dispute with the company which they settled out of court in 2012.

At Electronic Arts, Zampella worked on Battlefield 6, which is seen as a direct competitor to Call of Duty.

Infinity Ward, the American company that developed Call of Duty, said Zampella "will always have a special place in our history".

"Your legacy of creating iconic, lasting entertainment is immeasurable," the company said in a statement on X.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx25rled0ylo

Synology walks back controversial compatibility policy for 2025 NAS units — third-party HDD and SSD support returns with DiskStation Manager 7.3 update
The company has removed restrictions on third-party drives
By Kunal Khullar published October 8, 2025

Synology has backtracked on its controversial self-branded drives-only policy, restoring the ability to use third-party and certified HDDs and SSDs on its 2025 Plus series NAS units. With the launch of its latest DiskStation Manager 7.3, users can once again use 3.5-inch hard drives and 2.5-inch SATA SSDs from brands like Western Digital and Seagate, without losing out on crucial features.

Earlier this year, the company had restricted core functionality for third-party and non-certified drives, including support for storage pools, health monitoring, deduplication, and firmware updates. The company made Synology-branded and Synology-certified drives compulsory, claiming that users of the Plus series NAS models would benefit from higher performance, increased reliability, and more efficient support.

In a way, the company forced users to rely solely on Synology-branded disks to unlock full capabilities. This reportedly resulted in community backlash, which eventually allowed rival brands to take advantage and promote their own hardware as more open and flexible alternatives.

For context, Synology does not manufacture its own hard drives. Instead, the company uses rebranded drives from popular vendors such as Seagate, Toshiba, or Western Digital, and applies a custom firmware. This firmware effectively acts as a form of digital rights management (DRM), which ensures that only these specific drives can access the NAS system’s full range of features and performance options.


With the latest update, Synology has restored some crucial features and aligned newer NAS models, including the DiskStation DS925+ and DiskStation DS1525,+ closer to how its NAS systems worked before introducing the policy. The company is also said to be working with major drive manufacturers to broaden the range of officially certified storage options.

Notably, the change does not apply to M.2 storage drives, meaning that creating storage pools still requires drives from the official Hardware Compatibility List.

Apart from restoring third-party drive support, Synology’s DiskStation Manager 7.3 introduces important upgrades focusing on performance, security, and flexibility. According to the official release notes, users will get access to intelligent data tiering for better storage efficiency, new security indicators for improved threat detection, support for native exFAT for external devices, email moderation for MailPlus, and enhanced collaboration tools like shared labels and advanced file locking in Synology Drive. The update also adds AI integration through the Synology AI Console with data masking and filtering.

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Synology requires self-branded drives for some consumer NAS systems, drops full functionality and support for third-party HDDs
By Jowi Morales published April 16, 2025

Synology's new Plus Series NAS systems, designed for small and medium enterprises and advanced home users, can no longer use non-Synology or non-certified hard drives and get the full feature set of their device. Instead, Synology customers will have to use the company's self-branded hard drives. While you can still use non-supported drives for storage, Hardwareluxx [machine translated] reports that you’ll lose several critical functions, including estimated hard drive health reports, volume-wide deduplication, lifespan analyses, and automatic firmware updates. The company also restricts storage pools and provides limited or zero support for third-party drives.

For reference, precious few companies make hard drives, and Synology is not one of them. As such, a self-branded hard drive is merely a drive from a major vendor, like Seagate, Toshiba, or Western Digital, that gets a new sticker slapped on it alongside a potential custom firmware that serves as a sort of DRM, unlocking the correct functionality from the host device (in this case, a NAS).

The 2024 Synology models and older are not affected by this change. Still, those upgrading to or purchasing the latest Plus Series device, set to be released this year, will have to buy their drives directly from Synology or its certified suppliers to maximize their system. Because of this, you won’t be able to pick from the best hard drives if you get Synology’s latest Plus Series NAS Systems.

Synology's new Plus Series NAS systems, designed for small and medium enterprises and advanced home users, can no longer use non-Synology or non-certified hard drives and get the full feature set of their device. Instead, Synology customers will have to use the company's self-branded hard drives. While you can still use non-supported drives for storage, Hardwareluxx [machine translated] reports that you’ll lose several critical functions, including estimated hard drive health reports, volume-wide deduplication, lifespan analyses, and automatic firmware updates. The company also restricts storage pools and provides limited or zero support for third-party drives.

For reference, precious few companies make hard drives, and Synology is not one of them. As such, a self-branded hard drive is merely a drive from a major vendor, like Seagate, Toshiba, or Western Digital, that gets a new sticker slapped on it alongside a potential custom firmware that serves as a sort of DRM, unlocking the correct functionality from the host device (in this case, a NAS).

The 2024 Synology models and older are not affected by this change. Still, those upgrading to or purchasing the latest Plus Series device, set to be released this year, will have to buy their drives directly from Synology or its certified suppliers to maximize their system. Because of this, you won’t be able to pick from the best hard drives if you get Synology’s latest Plus Series NAS Systems.



(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Commodore acquired for a ‘low seven figure’ price — new (acting) CEO comes from the retro community
By Mark Tyson published June 29, 2025

While funding is being organized, TechTuber 'Peri Fractic' ropes in lots of big Commodore names from yesteryear to build new hope.

YouTube’s Christian ‘Peri Fractic’ Simpson claims to be “the acting CEO of Commodore Corporation.” The surprise Commodore buyout deal hinted at three weeks prior, seems to have been put into motion. In a new episode on the rebranded Retro Recipes x Commodore channel, Peri Fractic provides details of the seven-figure deal, outlines his vision for the company, and lists a growing number of ex-Commodore luminaries who will be joining him to relaunch the beloved brand. Last and definitely not least, the video ends in a signature tease – this time it’s a tease for new hardware.

Finance still not certain
Concerning the deal, a key point from the above video is that Peri Fractic “signed a share purchase agreement” with the previous owners of Commodore Corporation. It has been agreed that a price “in the low seven figures” will be paid to seal the deal. That should mean the deal is worth somewhere between $1m and $5m.

Apparently many backers of this project, including Peri Fractic, have already put in lots of cash to make this buyout happen, taking out second mortgages, selling the family silver, etc. However, the search is still on for angel investors to launch the new ship. Lots of details and discussion about funding are provided, but left us wondering what would happen if not enough suitable investors come forward, and what kind of timescale needs to be adhered to, to finalize the contract?

Some big names from Commodore’s history sign up
With this agreement in place, the new Commodore has already got a new slogan. It will go forward with its ‘Retro Futurism’ plans, “honoring our past, innovating the future.” Furthermore, Peri Fractic has been busy appointing (acting) CEO, CFO, COO, and many more key positions – many of whom honor the past.

Some big names that will play a part in the new future Commodore include, in order of mention: Bill Herd (Commodore Pioneer), Albert Charpentier (Father of the C64), Michael Tomczyk (Vic Tzar of the Vic 20), James Harrison (Tech support manager), David Pleasance (ex VP becomes Heritage and legacy advisor), Hans Olsen (demo and convention facilitator), Tim Morgan (PR officer), and more.

Not the real Commodore?
Peri Fractic makes an interesting point in anticipation of critics that will chime in to assert “this will never be the original Commodore.” In his defense, the retro tech enthusiast says “what if we got 47 trademarks from 1982, or original Commodore engineers back, original executives, assistants, ROMs, Amiga? I mean, at some point, it does start to become the real Commodore, right?”

Also in the FAQ section of the video we get a rendition of the aims of the new Commodore sans corporate-speak. It will exist to “streamline the usage of the brand and logo, along with releasing some of our own products,” it is stated.

As well as the financial backing, which is still not guaranteed, Peri Fratic is seeking other talented folk. Specifically, merchandise designers, social media manager, and anyone who owns a license from a classic 1980s or 90s game should get in touch with the new (acting) Commodore CEO.

New Commodore launch project teaser
We are left with a cliffhanger with regard to the new ‘Commodore ____’. The video cuts out to an unpacking/loading type screen before Peri Fractic can hoist the new device from his lap into view. That announcement seems to be 20,160 minutes away (as of yesterday), which indicates a wait of two weeks.

Watch it on YT
https://youtu.be/ke-Ao-CpI7E