Skepticism rages about whether Elon Musk actually put in the hours to become a top player of video games “Diablo IV” and “Path of Exile 2.”The fourth main installment in the Blizzard Entertainment series “Diablo” came out in 2023 and a “Vessel of Hatred” expansion pack was released late last year.Role-playing title “Path of Exile 2,” available to those who pay for early access, is expected to be free-to-play when it is officially released this year by Grinding Gear Games.Early talk among gamers is that “Path of Exile 2” is similar enough to “Diablo” to be considered a “clone”.Versions of both games are designed to be played on Xbox and PlayStation consoles and on personal computers running the Windows operating system.- Dungeon crawling -“Diablo” is considered a “dungeon crawler,” a genre in which a player’s character fights monsters, avoids traps, and solves puzzles to progress.Gameplay, not surprisingly, often takes place in fantasy-like dungeons or chambers, with adversaries becoming increasingly difficult.Victories earn rewards that players can use to ramp up their character’s abilities.Gaming industry analyst Mat Piscatella described “Diablo” as “a fantasy action role-playing game whose primary hook for players is the never-ending search for better weapons, armor and items in order to progress in the game to go find even more better weapons, armor and items.” “There’s a story, of course, but really, it’s all about the loot,” he said.- Grinding -Using a tactic called “grinding,” players repeat simple tasks to beat low-level enemies and amass loot.”Basically, clicking on enemies a lot,” Piscatella said.Players can spend hours grinding, prompting doubt that Musk had that kind of time to fritter while running Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X, formerly known as Twitter.The main story in “Diablo IV” can be finished in about 30 hours, with the time commitment multiplying if a player tackles all side missions.The game also has an online multiplayer component.According to industry watcher Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, the average “Diablo IV” player in the United States now plays between 10 and 35 hours per month.The average per-player time spent in “Path of Exile 2” in the United States since early access became an option in December ranged from 37 hours to 50.7 hours depending on whether they were using consoles or personal computers, Circana determined.- Barbarians and druids -“Diablo IV” players get to choose from six classes of characters: barbarian, druid, necromancer, rogue, sorcerer or spiritborn — each with its own strengths.Players battle their way through dungeons in an open world, building up their characters as they advance through quests and the story.There are also options for players to battle one another online. Musk has posted video and comments indicating he has played barbarian and spiritborn characters.”Path of Exile 2″ is described in online gamer forums as a more complicated action role-playing game than “Diablo.”Online posts indicate Musk has used both softcore and hardcore characters in “Path of Exile 2,” the former for acclimating to the game and the latter for testing one’s skills.

Elon Musk’s self-proclaimed persona as a top-class gamer took a thrashing on Friday, as video game enthusiasts mercilessly mocked the tech billionaire following a disastrous performance in a livestream.The uproar — tinged with hilarity –- left the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX battling the humiliating accusation that he was faking it as a skilled gamer.It erupted after Musk streamed himself last week playing “Path of Exile 2,” boasting of having one of the highest-ranked characters and inviting scrutiny from seasoned gamers.Many noted that Musk made rookie mistakes and was unfamiliar with basic game mechanics that he should have been familiar with given the advanced level of his avatar in the game.Suspicions swirled that the world’s richest man had hired help, inviting brutal comments that demolished his elite gamer persona.”This sounds like a middle-schooler giving a book report on a book they’ve never read,” said one comment under a YouTube video of Musk’s gameplay.A popular Twitch streamer called Asmongold took the criticism a step further, challenging Musk to prove that he had reached that level himself.The rebuke did not go down well.The billionaire unfollowed Asmongold on X, and soon the streamer lost his blue checkmark. The platform, previously known as Twitter, was purchased by Musk in 2022 for $44 billion.The spat did not end there. Musk shared private direct messages he had exchanged with Asmongold, which insinuated that the streamer’s opinions were not his own.”Asmon behaves like a maverick ‘independent,'” Musk wrote in a post.”But in reality has to ask his boss for permission before he can do anything. He is not his own man.”Provoking titters online, Musk’s post was attached with a Community Note — a crowd-sourced tool to debunk false information — which noted that Asmongold does not have “bosses.” The public spat led to an avalanche of comments that labelled Musk a “man-child” and lampooned his “fragile ego,” while many previous fans added that the billionaire had lost their trust.- ‘Killing the demons’ -The brouhaha punctures Musk’s carefully cultivated persona as something of a superhuman with extraordinary time management skills: running multiple corporations, posting breathlessly on X and excelling at video games — all while being a father to several children.The billionaire is also an an advisor to the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump and has been tapped to run the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with reducing government spending.”Path of Exile 2″ is considered a challenging game that expert players say requires a serious time commitment to reach the advanced level of Musk’s character — something he likely lacks. The tycoon has frequently shared his gaming experiences on social media, claiming to be one of the top players in various online games.He has said the activity forces him to “concentrate” and “killing the demons in a video game calms the demons” in his mind.The uproar has led users to question Musk’s other purported accomplishments, such as his claim that he was among the top 20 players of role-playing video game “Diablo IV.””As a gamer, you have a lot of pride in your rank/level. Trying to fake that while also being the richest guy in the world is just so absurdly unnecessary,” wrote one user on X. “I would say it also makes me wonder, if he is willing to lie about this, what else is he willing to lie about.”

Former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Friday in connection with a graft scandal that sparked an economic crisis in his home country.Chang, 69, was convicted in a US court in August for his role in the so-called “hidden debt” scandal that saw the Mozambican government contracting $2 billion in secret loans in 2013 and 2014 from international banks to buy a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance vessels.The loans were hidden from parliament, but the debt came to light in 2016, prompting donors, including the IMF and the World Bank, to turn off financial support.The scandal triggered Mozambique’s worst economic crisis since independence from Portugal four decades earlier.An independent audit later found that $500 million had been diverted and remained unaccounted for.According to the Justice Department, Chang and his co-conspirators diverted more than $200 million of the loan proceeds to pay bribes and kickbacks.Chang was accused of receiving $7 million in bribes to help secure the loans.He was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and sentenced to 102 years in prison. He was also ordered to forfeit $7 million.Chang, who was arrested in South Africa and extradited to the United States, has already spent a total of six years in US and South African prisons and he may only have to serve another 2.5 years.”Chang’s brazen misconduct betrayed his duty to the people of Mozambique and defrauded investors, including those in the United States, of substantial amounts,” Brent Wible, a Justice Department official, said in a statement.”Today’s sentence shows that foreign officials who abuse their power to commit crimes targeting the US financial system will meet US justice,” acting US Attorney Carolyn Pokorny said.