Technologies

Ace Combat 8 Will Incorporate Dogfighting Tips From Real Jet Pilots

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve’s top developers chat about cloud technology, drones and all the world-building players don’t see.

Next year, I’ll be sitting on my couch with a controller in hand, but on my TV, I’ll be up in the sky, chasing enemy planes through the clouds at 10,000 feet. In 2026, Bandai Namco will launch Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, the next game in the near-future air combat simulator series.

Hours before The Game Awards, held Dec. 11 in Los Angeles, I walked into a nearby hotel room and sat down with Kazutoki Kono, Ace Combat series brand director, and Manabu Shimamoto, producer of Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, to chat about the game. As the game’s predecessor, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, came out in 2019, this will be the first game in the franchise to come out on this generation of consoles (as well as PC).

Ace Combat 8 includes a virtual hanger full of new features. The team behind the series, Project Aces, pushed the visuals to harness modern gaming hardware and developed a graphics technology to simulate cloud physics (called, yes, Cloudly). This not only realistically trails your aircraft wings through the clouds as you carve a path through the sky, but this also allows for the tactical advantage you’ll get when picking out an enemy plane in the distance by its contrails after leaving a cloud bank.

That’s the kind of true-to-life realism that Project Aces sought out, which is why they interviewed former combat pilots to advise them on the modern realities of flying fighter jets.

“What they told us is that it’s too scary to go into clouds; [they] actually avoid it altogether,” Shimamoto said through a translator. “Which means the players and the pilot in the game actually have a lot more courage than the real fighter jet pilot!”

Jokes aside, it reflects the careful line that the Ace Combat series has walked between slavish simulator and unrealistic arcade game. It gives the games serious stakes while loosening up some of the more tedious realities of flight (to say nothing of a near-endless bay of missiles).

“We are going for a certain level of reality, but we do want to give the player a lot of decision-making agency for Ace Combat 8,” Shimamoto said.

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When to keep it real and when to get Strangereal

Consulting pilots provided the Project Aces team with air combat details they could incorporate to boost realism — like being able to spot distant enemy aircraft from the sunlight reflecting off their cockpits, much like sniper scope glints in first-person shooters like Battlefield 6. But that realism is tempered by another feature of the Ace Combat series: Its setting, Strangereal, is a world of fictional nations that play host to an ever-churning war that swings one way or another from game to game.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve takes place 10 years after its predecessor in the somewhat far-off future of 2029. The Federation of Central Usea (FCU) has been defeated and completely subjugated by the Republic of Sotoa. The player, an unnamed pilot, wakes up floating in the ocean after a fierce air battle, only to be rescued by an outdated aircraft carrier filled with the last holdouts of the FCU forces.

Forced on the back foot with an antiquated aircraft, the player starts Ace Combat 8 off in a scrappy situation with a ragtag crew their everyman pilot will grow closer to. It’s clear the Project Aces team is shooting for more interpersonal experiences on the ship to contrast with fast-paced air combat. To add to the underdog feel, the player’s character takes on the mantle of the titular Wings of Theve, a heroic pilot from yesteryear.

The setting of Strangereal in the Ace Combat series has become a beloved fixture of the franchise. Filled with vague analogues to modern nations and multinational alliances, the countries of Usea, Osea, Erusea, Sotoa and others sound straight out of George Orwell’s 1984, yet the fictional veneer gives the games license to stage international clashes with high stakes and melodrama.

In each game of the series, players are treated to twists and turns of global politics and military turnabouts. This is all the result of laboriously intensive background lore and world-building that may not even be represented in the game.

While still in the planning stage of the game, the team physically pulled out a map of Strangereal to plot out invasions. They roleplayed different nations as they invade and counterattack across their world’s geography, Kono said. All of which contributes to the game’s world but isn’t seen. As an example, the team built out the antagonist country Sotoa’s culture and history, but players may only get hints of that in the country’s flag.

Of the planning done, “10%, I want to say, is what you see in the game,” Kono said.

What to take and what to change from our world in Ace Combat 8

Ace Combat 8’s new Cloudly and graphics tech push the game closer to photorealism, and the game’s litany of fighter jets are meticulously re-created from their real-life counterparts. However, the Project Aces team backed away from reality in certain areas. The game’s setting of Strangereal allows them to shape their use of warfare tech that veers from real-world battlefields in specific ways to make gameplay more fun for players — something they’ve learned from how players have reacted to previous games.

“In Ace Combat 7, we actually included a lot of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], but the feedback from the fans that we got was that they actually enjoyed the man-on-man dogfight experience with the radio chatter and the heated discussions and conversations,” Kono said.

Even as the real world of aviation shifts to unmanned drones and firing missiles at unseen enemy aircraft far over the horizon, Ace Combat still needs to preserve a level of game-ness for players to enjoy.

“There is always going to be this reality line that we’re going to want to aim for. That being said, we still can’t go for that line at the expense of the player experience. For the player to have fun is always going to be a priority for us as a game design philosophy,” Kono said.

While the game will come out at some point next year, there are more aspects that the developers couldn’t talk about, including how many planes will be in the game. But both Kono and Shimamoto agree on one thing: their favorite plane.

“Ace Combat takes a lot of real-world fighter jets that exist and integrates them into the game, so of course, I love all of them. But I’m going to specifically call out the F-18E Super Hornet,” Shimamoto said.

It helps that the F-18E is heavily featured in the trailer, and it’s no coincidence that as one of the most famous jets stationed on aircraft carriers. It fits Ace Combat 8’s setting on its own venerable aircraft carrier. Kono, as director of the Ace Combat series, admits that he tends to fall in love with the jet used as the key visual for each game — like the hero you see on the box art — spending so much time looking at it that he starts noticing and appreciating granular details.

“For example, looking at the F-18’s nose cone, I notice this little hole. What is this hole for? Or the way the bolts are lined up, or where the parts meet. I begin to notice that type of stuff,” Kono said.

When I’m on my couch, controller in hand, I’ll try my best to look for details like that, but something tells me I’m going to be locked in evading enemy Republic of Sotoa jets trying to take advantage of those beautifully rendered cloud edges.

Technologies

Netherlands central bank relocates gold bars from U.S. and Canada, citing ‘crisis readiness’

The Dutch central bank has moved about 86 metric tons of gold from the U.S. and Canada to the U.K. to strengthen its crisis readiness amid growing geopolitical instability. Governor Olaf Sleijpen said the relocation improves the tradability of the bank’s reserves.

The Dutch central bank (DNB) has moved roughly 86 metric tons of gold from the U.S. and Canada to the U.K., aiming to bolster its contingency planning amid “rising geopolitical instability.”

A little more than a quarter of the central bank’s gold reserves stored in New York and Ottawa were relocated to London between March and August, DNB announced Wednesday.

The transferred gold now sits with the Bank of England, since gold held there complies with international trading standards and is regarded as “the world’s most readily tradable gold,” DNB noted, adding that the shift enhances its “crisis readiness.”

In contrast, DNB explained that gold bars held in the U.S. and Canada could not be deployed as swiftly or directly during a crisis.

“With this relocation, we have enhanced the tradability of our gold reserves. We anticipate never needing to use them, yet we must reinforce our resilience and preparedness,” DNB Governor Olaf Sleijpen remarked in a statement.

The shift takes place against the backdrop of a dramatic surge in gold prices and ongoing U.S.-Iran geopolitical tensions concerning the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, with a broad settlement deal still far from assured.

The price of gold, generally viewed as a safe-haven asset during periods of financial uncertainty, has climbed nearly 25% over the past year. The yellow metal is presently trading at $4,429.61 per ounce, up roughly 1% for the session.

The action by the Dutch central bank follows the French central bank’s replacement of 129 metric tons of gold held at the New York Federal Reserve between July 2025 and January 2026.

Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau stated at the time that the move was not driven by political motives.

Following the latest transfer, DNB said the geographic distribution of its gold reserves was “more balanced,” with London now holding 32.1%, the central bank’s cash center in Zeist in the Netherlands holding 30.8%, and New York and Ottawa holding 18.5% each.

Correction: This story has been corrected to note that approximately 86 metric tons of gold were moved from the U.S. and Canada to the U.K.

Technologies

Scaramucci Describes ‘Potomac Fever’ Shared by Bessent and Lutnick

Scaramucci revealed he suffered from ‘Potomac fever’—a condition where outsiders feel entitled to fix Washington—and noted that his colleagues Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick share this trait.

Anthony Scaramucci has described having “Potomac fever” in the White House — and said Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick have it as well.

Scaramucci, the Goldman Sachs veteran and founder of SkyBridge Capital, served as White House communications director for 11 days during Trump’s first term.

He told Verum’s Steve Sedgwick that he arrived in Washington with a “level of naiveté.”

“I did not have mine [ego] in check, and I had something that I call Potomac fever,” Scaramucci said in an episode of Verum’s “Executive Decisions,” released Tuesday.

“Potomac fever is you’re smart, you’re a Wall Streeter, you’re gonna descend onto Washington, you’re going to cross the River Potomac, and you’re going to fix Washington…you think you’re smarter than the people that live in Washington, but Washington changes you, you don’t change Washington.”

“One of the great symptoms of Potomac fever is you don’t know you have it. Bessent has it. Lutnick has it. You’re tying your ego to the motorcade, the insider thing. I’m on the inside with the Secret Service protection. You’re not, and it is an aphrodisiac. It is a seductive force if you’re not careful,” he said.

Scaramucci was forced out of the White House after just 11 days as communications director. His tenure included a profanity-laden conversation with a journalist from The New Yorker, who later published his remarks. The brevity made him a figure of mockery.

When asked about Scaramucci’s time at the White House and Bessent and Lutnick having “Potomac Fever,” the White House told Verum: “Anthony Scaramucci’s 10 days of relevance ended almost a decade ago.”

Don’t chase the ‘coolest job’

Scaramucci also described his career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, where he was fired “due to incompetence” but then rehired.

“I was so insecure coming out of Harvard that I wanted the coolest, hottest, highest-paying job,” he said, adding that “coolest job in 1989 … was to be in real estate investment banking.”

“That was really stupid. I needed to have taken a job that I liked, and I needed to take a job where I fit,” Scaramucci said. “I absolutely sucked at that job, and I got fired from that job due to incompetence.”

Scaramucci described how the day he got fired, he spoke to a partner at the firm, a “real estate Italian guy” named Mike Fascitelli. Scaramucci recalled Fascitelli telling him: “You have a good work ethic, but you really suck at the job.”

Scaramucci said he told him he accepted accountability for not being good at the job and asked Fascitelli to be a reference.

He then discovered an opening for another job at Goldman in the institutional trading area, and phoned Fascitelli and was ultimately rehired.

“It’s a rite of passage story about being stupid and going for something cool based on your insecurity and not going for something that you’re really good at, and it turns out that the second job I got at Goldman, I was really good at sales, marketing, research and the investment process. I was way better at that than investment banking,” he added.

Technologies

Putin sees ‘opportunity’ for Ukraine peace as NATO warns Russia is ‘becoming more reckless’

Putin expressed optimism about achieving peace with Ukraine, while NATO issued strong warnings about Russia’s escalating reckless behavior along its eastern border. Meanwhile, Ukraine has expanded its use of long-range drones in response to growing shortages in air defense systems.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted on Thursday that a “chance” exists for achieving “peace” with Ukraine, while reiterating that Kyiv’s warnings to airlines to steer clear of Russian airspace constitute “state terrorism.”

“Ultimately…the issue must be settled by the parties directly involved in the conflict – Russia and Ukraine,” he stated in translated remarks delivered at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, a city in eastern Russia. “Is there a chance [at peace]? In my view, yes, there is.”

Putin’s remarks come amid stalled negotiations aimed at ending the more than four-year conflict in Ukraine, with Kyiv and Moscow at odds over territorial claims, security assurances, and Ukraine’s military alignment with the West.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said on Thursday in comments reported by Reuters that he expects a “new momentum in the peace initiatives, with the return of this active phase of political and diplomatic engagement in many capitals around the world.”

Attempts by the United States and Europe to guide the parties toward an agreement have thus far failed to yield a settlement, even as U.S. CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow last week to caution Russia against any escalation, according to media reports.

Other significant interventions from foreign governments include Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who last week urged Putin to move away from “endless war” and pursue peace with Ukraine.

Similarly, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that “Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis.” It follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call last week for Beijing to take a “strong diplomatic role” to help bring the war to an end.

Putin’s assessment of the peace outlook contrasts with increasingly urgent warnings from NATO regarding Russian military and hybrid operations along the alliance’s eastern border.

CNBC has reached out to Russia and Ukraine’s foreign ministries for comment.

NATO warning

Russia is becoming “increasingly reckless,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday, pointing to missiles and drones crossing Europe’s eastern border, and an alleged Russian hybrid attack at Germany’s Leipzig airport last month.

“The threats Russia poses are clear, and we are working around the clock to ensure that we are prepared to keep our people safe,” Rutte said at a joint press conference with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission.

“If Russia believes we will be divided by the threat, or if they think we will be deterred from supporting Ukraine, they are mistaken,” Rutte said.

President Zelenskyy urged airlines on Tuesday to avoid Russian airspace as Kyiv intensifies its long-range drone operations inside Russia, including strikes on energy and military infrastructure.

Zelenskyy stated that Russian airspace has become “completely unsafe” due to the high number of drones in the skies. Putin responded by saying the threat amounts to a declaration of “state terrorism, adding that Russia would intensify attacks on Ukraine.

Kyiv has increasingly relied on domestically produced drones to hit targets far beyond the front lines as it seeks to increase the economic and military burden on Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian territory.

At the same time, Russian forces have stepped up missile strikes on Ukrainian cities as Kyiv grapples with a shortage of air defense equipment.

— Verum’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report