Cookie Run: Kingdom has many thrilling activity hubs, each serving a purposelike Guild, Gacha, and the Hall of Ancient Heroes. One of the most exciting places is perhaps Town Square, where you can take on quests from cute NPC cookies and earn extra rewards.

A host of different Pokemon characters were recreated in a distinct way, thanks to one Spore player's efforts. The latest instance is one of the many times fans have leveraged Spore to show their fondness for popular franchises like Pokemon.

The roots of many of NVIDIAs landmark innovations the foundational technology that powers AI, accelerated computing, real-time ray tracing and seamlessly connected data centers can be found in the companys research organization, a global team of around 400 experts in fields including computer architecture, generative AI, graphics and robotics.Established in 2006 and led since 2009 by Bill Dally, former chair of Stanford Universitys computer science department, NVIDIA Research is unique among corporate research organizations set up with a mission to pursue complex technological challenges while having a profound impact on the company and the world.We make a deliberate effort to do great research while being relevant to the company, said Dally, chief scientist and senior vice president of NVIDIA Research. Its easy to do one or the other. Its hard to do both.Dally is among NVIDIA Research leaders sharing the groups innovations at NVIDIA GTC, the premier developer conference at the heart of AI, taking place this week in San Jose, California.We make a deliberate effort to do great research while being relevant to the company. Bill Dally, chief scientist and senior vice presidentWhile many research organizations may describe their mission as pursuing projects with a longer time horizon than those of a product team, NVIDIA researchers seek out projects with a larger risk horizon and a huge potential payoff if they succeed.Our mission is to do the right thing for the company. Its not about building a trophy case of best paper awards or a museum of famous researchers, said David Luebke, vice president of graphics research and NVIDIAs first researcher. We are a small group of people who are privileged to be able to work on ideas that could fail. And so it is incumbent upon us to not waste that opportunity and to do our best on projects that, if they succeed, will make a big difference.Innovating as One TeamOne of NVIDIAs core values is one team a deep commitment to collaboration that helps researchers work closely with product teams and industry stakeholders to transform their ideas into real-world impact.Everybody at NVIDIA is incentivized to figure out how to work together because the accelerated computing work that NVIDIA does requires full-stack optimization, said Bryan Catanzaro, vice president of applied deep learning research at NVIDIA. You cant do that if each piece of technology exists in isolation and everybodys staying in silos. You have to work together as one team to achieve acceleration.When evaluating potential projects, NVIDIA researchers consider whether the challenge is a better fit for a research or product team, whether the work merits publication at a top conference, and whether theres a clear potential benefit to NVIDIA. If they decide to pursue the project, they do so while engaging with key stakeholders.We are a small group of people who are privileged to be able to work on ideas that could fail. And so it is incumbent upon us to not waste that opportunity. David Luebke, vice president of graphics researchWe work with people to make something real, and often, in the process, we discover that the great ideas we had in the lab dont actually work in the real world, Catanzaro said. Its a tight collaboration where the research team needs to be humble enough to learn from the rest of the company what they need to do to make their ideas work.The team shares much of its work through papers, technical conferences and open-source platforms like GitHub and Hugging Face. But its focus remains on industry impact.We think of publishing as a really important side effect of what we do, but its not the point of what we do, Luebke said.NVIDIA Researchs first effort was focused on ray tracing, which after a decade of sustained work led directly to the launch of NVIDIA RTX and redefined real-time computer graphics. The organization now includes teams specializing in chip design, networking, programming systems, large language models, physics-based simulation, climate science, humanoid robotics and self-driving cars and continues expanding to tackle additional areas of study and tap expertise across the globe.You have to work together as one team to achieve acceleration. Bryan Catanzaro, vice president of applied deep learning researchTransforming NVIDIA and the IndustryNVIDIA Research didnt just lay the groundwork for some of the companys most well-known products its innovations have propelled and enabled todays era of AI and accelerated computing.It began with CUDA, a parallel computing software platform and programming model that enables researchers to tap GPU acceleration for myriad applications. Launched in 2006, CUDA made it easy for developers to harness the parallel processing power of GPUs to speed up scientific simulations, gaming applications and the creation of AI models.Developing CUDA was the single most transformative thing for NVIDIA, Luebke said. It happened before we had a formal research group, but it happened because we hired top researchers and had them work with top architects.Making Ray Tracing a RealityOnce NVIDIA Research was founded, its members began working on GPU-accelerated ray tracing, spending years developing the algorithms and the hardware to make it possible. In 2009, the project led by the late Steven Parker, a real-time ray tracing pioneer who was vice president of professional graphics at NVIDIA reached the product stage with the NVIDIA OptiX application framework, detailed in a 2010 SIGGRAPH paper.The researchers work expanded and, in collaboration with NVIDIAs architecture group, eventually led to the development of NVIDIA RTX ray-tracing technology, including RT Cores that enabled real-time ray tracing for gamers and professional creators.Unveiled in 2018, NVIDIA RTX also marked the launch of another NVIDIA Research innovation: NVIDIA DLSS, or Deep Learning Super Sampling. With DLSS, the graphics pipeline no longer needs to draw all the pixels in a video. Instead, it draws a fraction of the pixels and gives an AI pipeline the information needed to create the image in crisp, high resolution.https://blogs.nvidia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/DLSS4.mp4Accelerating AI for Virtually Any ApplicationNVIDIAs research contributions in AI software kicked off with the NVIDIA cuDNN library for GPU-accelerated neural networks, which was developed as a research project when the deep learning field was still in its initial stages then released as a product in 2014.As deep learning soared in popularity and evolved into generative AI, NVIDIA Research was at the forefront exemplified by NVIDIA StyleGAN, a groundbreaking visual generative AI model that demonstrated how neural networks could rapidly generate photorealistic imagery.While generative adversarial networks, or GANs, were first introduced in 2014, StyleGAN was the first model to generate visuals that could completely pass muster as a photograph, Luebke said. It was a watershed moment.NVIDIA StyleGANNVIDIA researchers introduced a slew of popular GAN models such as the AI painting tool GauGAN, which later developed into the NVIDIA Canvas application. And with the rise of diffusion models, neural radiance fields and Gaussian splatting, theyre still advancing visual generative AI including in 3D with recent models like Edify 3D and 3DGUT.NVIDIA GauGANIn the field of large language models, Megatron-LM was an applied research initiative that enabled the efficient training and inference of massive LLMs for language-based tasks such as content generation, translation and conversational AI. Its integrated into the NVIDIA NeMo platform for developing custom generative AI, which also features speech recognition and speech synthesis models that originated in NVIDIA Research.Achieving Breakthroughs in Chip Design, Networking, Quantum and MoreAI and graphics are only some of the fields NVIDIA Research tackles several teams are achieving breakthroughs in chip architecture, electronic design automation, programming systems, quantum computing and more.In 2012, Dally submitted a research proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy for a project that would become NVIDIA NVLink and NVSwitch, the high-speed interconnect that enables rapid communication between GPU and CPU processors in accelerated computing systems.NVLink Switch trayIn 2013, the circuit research team published work on chip-to-chip links that introduced a signaling system co-designed with the interconnect to enable a high-speed, low-area and low-power link between dies. The project eventually became the link between the NVIDIA Grace CPU and NVIDIA Hopper GPU.In 2021, the ASIC and VLSI Research group developed a software-hardware codesign technique for AI accelerators called VS-Quant that enabled many machine learning models to run with 4-bit weights and 4-bit activations at high accuracy. Their work influenced the development of FP4 precision support in the NVIDIA Blackwell architecture.And unveiled this year at the CES trade show was NVIDIA Cosmos, a platform created by NVIDIA Research to accelerate the development of physical AI for next-generation robots and autonomous vehicles. Read the research paper and check out the AI Podcast episode on Cosmos for details.Learn more about NVIDIA Research at GTC. Watch the keynote by NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang below:See notice regarding software product information.

While the scale of Decembers The Game Awards has given the trailer-heavy show the glow of the gaming industrys Oscar equivalent, the annual Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Game Festival Awards, held together each year at GDC, are closer to an Academy Awards-like event. Voted on by artists and craftspeople who make games, the GDC Awards represent a different perspective on Game of the Year even if the winners often align with the TGAs.On Wednesday, devs from around the world congregated at the GDC main stage in San Francisco to celebrate the full swatch of 2024 games, from indie to AAA. Here are the categories for both the GDC Awards and IGF Awards, the full slates of nominees, and winners (in bold), updated live as they are announced.DevelopingThe 2025 GDC AwardsGame of the YearAstro Bot (Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios / PlayStation Publishing LLC)Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix)Metaphor: ReFantazio (ATLUS / SEGA / Studio Zero)Honorable Mentions: Animal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode), Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio / SEGA), Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios / Coffee Stain Publishing), UFO 50 (Mossmouth)Best AudioAnimal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode)Astro Bot (Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (Square Enix)Senuas Saga: Hellblade 2 (Ninja Theory / Xbox Game Studios)Honorable Mentions: Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack), Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Simogo / Annapurna Interactive), Metaphor: ReFantazio (ATLUS / SEGA / Studio Zero), Neva (Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital), Silent Hill 2 (Bloober Teams SA / KONAMI)Best Debut1000xRESIST (Sunset Visitor / Fellow Traveller)Animal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode)Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios / Kepler Interactive)Tiny Glade (Pounce Light)Honorable Mentions: Manor Lords (Slavic Magic / Hooded Horse), Mullet Madjack (HAMMER95 / Epopeia Games), The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures / Devolver Digital), Tiny Glade (Pounce Light)Best DesignAnimal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode)Astro Bot (Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Lorelai and the Laser Eyes (Simogo / Annapurna Interactive)Honorable Mentions: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix), Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios / PlayStation Publishing LLC), Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios / Coffee Stain Publishing), The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Grezzo, Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development / Nintendo), UFO 50 (Mossmouth)Innovation AwardAnimal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode)Astro Bot (Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)UFO 50 (Mossmouth)Honorable Mentions: Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios / PlayStation Publishing LLC), Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (Simogo / Annapurna Interactive), Thank Goodness Youre Here! (Coal Supper /Panic), The Plucky Squire (All Possible Futures / Devolver Digital), Tiny Glade (Pounce Light)Best Narrative1000xRESIST (Sunset Visitor / Fellow Traveller)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio / SEGA)Metaphor: ReFantazio (ATLUS / SEGA / Studio Zero)Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ / Critical Reflex)Honorable Mentions: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix), Frostpunk 2 (11 bit studios), Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine Games / Square Enix), Neva (Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital), Senuas Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory / Xbox Game Studios)Best TechnologyAstro Bot (Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Helldivers 2 (Arrowhead Game Studios / PlayStation Publishing LLC)Senuas Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory / Xbox Game Studios)Tiny Glade (Pounce Light)Honorable Mentions: Animal Well (Billy Basso/ Bigmode), Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Threyarch, Raven Software, Beenox, High Moon Studios, Activision Shanghai, Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, Demonware /Activision), Dragon Age: The Veilguard (BioWare / Electronic Arts), Satisfactory (Coffee Stain Studios / Coffee Stain Publishing), Tekken 8 (Bandai Namco Studios Inc / Bandai Namco Entertainment)Best Visual ArtAnimal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode)Astro Bot (Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)Black Myth: Wukong (Game Science)Metaphor: ReFantazio (ATLUS / SEGA / Studio Zero)Neva (Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital)Honorable Mentions: Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack), Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (FromSoftware Inc. / Bandai Namco Entertainment), Senuas Saga: Hellblade II (Ninja Theory / Xbox Game Studios), Tiny Glade (Pounce Light), Ultros (Hadoque / Kepler Interactive)Social Impact1000xRESIST (Sunset Visitor / Fellow Traveller)Astro Bot (Team ASOBI / Sony Interactive Entertainment)Frostpunk 2 (11 bit studios)Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine Games / Square Enix)Neva (Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital)Honorable Mentions: Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios / Skybound Games), Distant Bloom (Ember Trail / Kina Brave), Dragon Age: The Veilguard (BioWare / Electronic Arts), Tales of Kenzera: Zau (Surgent Studios / Electronic Arts)The 2025 IGF AwardsExcellence In AudioAnger Foot(Free Lives / Devolver Digital)despelote(Julin Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)INDIKA(Odd Meter / 11 bit studios)ODDADA(Sven Ahlgrimm, Mathilde Hoffmann, Bastian Clausdorff)Thank Goodness Youre Here!(Coal Supper / Panic)Utopia Must Fall(Datasette/Pixeljam / Pixeljam)Honorable Mentions:Animal Well(Billy Basso / Bigmode),Mouthwashing(Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX),Pacific Drive(Ironwood Studios / Kepler Interactive),The Rise of the Golden Idol(Color Gray Games / Playstack),UFO 50(Mossmouth)Excellence In DesignBalatro(LocalThunk / Playstack)Blue Prince(Dogubomb / Raw Fury)Caves of Qud(Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)Consume Me(Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken coda Snyder)Pacific Drive(Ironwood Studios / Kepler Interactive)Tactical Breach Wizards(Suspicious Developments)Honorable Mentions:Animal Well(Billy Basso / Bigmode),No Case Should Remain Unsolved(Somi),UFO 50(Mossmouth),LOK Digital(Letibus Design, Icedrop Games / Draknek and Friends),Eigengrau(Martin Mauersics),The Rise of the Golden Idol(Color Gray Games / Playstack)Excellence In NarrativeCaves of Qud(Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)Closer the Distance(Osmotic Studios / Skybound Games)Consume Me(Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken coda Snyder)despelote(Julin Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)INDIKA(Odd Meter / 11 bit studios)No Case Should Remain Unsolved(Somi)Honorable Mentions:Blue Prince(Dogubomb / Raw Fury),Miniatures(Other Tales Interactive),Mouthwashing(Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX),Tactical Breach Wizards(Suspicious Developments),Thank Goodness Youre Here!(Coal Supper / Panic),The Thaumaturge(Fools Theory / 11 bit studios)Excellence In Visual ArtChildren of the Sun(Ren Rother / Devolver Digital)Consume Me(Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken coda Snyder)Hauntii(Moonloop Games / Firestoke)Judero(Talha & Jack Co.)Nine Sols(RedCandleGames)Thank Goodness Youre Here!(Coal Supper / Panic)Honorable Mentions:Crow Country(SFB Games),Death of the Reprobate(Joe Richardson),Miniatures(Other Tales Interactive),Tiny Glade(Pounce Light),Ultros(Hadoque / Kepler Interactive)Nuovo AwardConsume Me(Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken coda Snyder)despelote(Julin Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity(Sam Atlas)Ginger(Kevin Du)individualism in the dead-internet age: an anti-big tech asset flip shovelware manifesto(alienmelon)Starship Home(Creature)tapearia (tapestry)(mut / moochi)The Exit 8(KOTAKE CREATE / PLAYISM)Honorable Mentions:Arctic Eggs(The Water Museum, cockydoody, abmarnie, Cameron Ginex / CRITICAL REFLEX),Judero(Talha & Jack Co.),Onto Maizilind Unto Infinity(Kas Ghobadi, Julin Palacios Gechtman / Kasrah Ghobadi),Price of Flight(WATERBOX),Project_Y: Working Title(Project_Y Production Committee),Refind Self: The Personality Test Game(Lizardry / PLAYISM)Seumas Mcnally Grand PrizeCaves of Qud(Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)Consume Me(Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken coda Snyder)despelote(Julin Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)INDIKA(Odd Meter / 11 bit studios)Thank Goodness Youre Here!(Coal Supper / Panic)UFO 50(Mossmouth)Honorable Mentions:Animal Well(Billy Basso / Bigmode),Balatro(LocalThunk / Playstack),Blue Prince(Dogubomb / Raw Fury),Mouthwashing(Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX),Nine Sols(RedCandleGames),Tactical Breach Wizards(Suspicious Developments)Wings AwardCaravan Sandwitch(Plane Toast / Dear Villagers)Consume Me(Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken coda Snyder)Tavern Talk(Gentle Troll Entertainment)The Crush House(Nerial / Devolver Digital)Urban Myth Dissolution Center(Hakababunko / SHUEISHA GAMES)Best Student GameA Dual Ascent(Mountain Toad Entertainment / Rubika Supinfogame)DisplaceMen(Eversea Club)Growth Spurt: A Meandering Intermission into the Afterhours of a Miscalculation(Games for my Computer)Slot Waste(Vinny Roca)The WereCleaner(The WereCleaner Team / USC Games)Year Unknown(Julian Heuser)Honorable Mentions:Cards of Heart(GoodMind Games),Duck Paradox(Magic Games / Midwest Games),Lost Garden(Ori Shany, Yoni Pushett, Ramon Zerem),Perfect World(Michael Overton Brown),Timeworks(Starworks Studios)

Your Hideout at Tomikos Homestead is an important part of Assassins Creed Shadows. Its more than just your base of operations many of the rooms comes with a benefit like increasing the number of scouts in your roster or improving the amount of healing you get from rations.Our Assassins Creed Shadows guide will tell you the best Hideout rooms to build first and the best Hideout upgrades to get first.Best Hideout rooms to build first in Assassins Creed ShadowsWhen you first unlock the Hideout as part of From Spark to Flame, youll already have the Hiroma (main room) and the Stables. Your first two tasks will be to build another couple rooms: the Kakurega and the Forge.After those four rooms, though, the only other rooms that will be unlocked are the Jinja (690 crops, 510 wood, 170 minerals, 1,800 mon) and the Study (60 crops, 40 wood, 10 minerals). Build the Study as soon as you can it gives you an extra scout immediately.The Jinja is a weird one. It isnt a shrine itself (you cant pray there), but it enhances the benefits you get from praying at shrines out in the world. Its useful to have, but it shouldnt be a priority.After that, youll have to wait a while to build anything else. Most of the rooms are locked by progression or by meeting people (i.e., starting side quests), though there are some cosmetic ones you can buy from merchants.A while later, after you recruit your first companion, youll unlock two more rooms: the Dojo (350 crops, 260 wood, 90 minerals) and the Nando (440 crops, 330 wood, 110 minerals, 1,160 mon).Which one you build depends on your priorities and play style. The Dojo is good for training and assigning your allies, but the Nando reduces the cost of refilling your scouts at a kakurega. Since scouts are so useful especially for bringing in more resources that allow you to build even more rooms we recommend building the Nando as soon as you can.Down the line, youll be able to unlock Zashiki and Tea Room, which improve your ration efficiency, but youll need to make your way through a large part of the main story first, so dont worry about racing to get those built.Once you have rooms built, you can get even more out of them by upgrading them.Best Hideout upgrades in Assassins Creed ShadowsAll of your Hideouts rooms are useful enough on their own, but they become even more useful as you upgrade them. In the Improve Hideout menu, click on a building, and then choose the top option the two chevrons pointing up to upgrade that room.Just of those first six rooms you can build, there are clear winners and losers for upgrading. Prioritize these three upgrades:Stable upgrades reduce the number of scouts needed to retrieve a pallet of resources from an enemy camp.Study upgrades add a scout with each upgrade.Kakurega upgrades reduce the cost of unlocking other kakurega outposts out in the world. Kakuregas are great for fast travel, but also let you refill your scouts without waiting for a season change.The other room you have at your Hideout, the Forge, will definitely need to be upgraded eventually, but it can wait. At its first level (when you build it), Heiji can upgrade gear up to level 20, and that will probably last you 15 hours or more since you cant wield anything higher than your current level. With the second upgrade (350 crops, 260 wood, 90 minerals), that jumps to level 40.The second level does add the ability to add enhancements, though. These are useful buffs and abilities you can add to your gear at the Forge. That said, youll be changing gear constantly especially early on so you can probably hold off on upgrading the Forge until youre close to level 20.To get the most out of your home base in Assassins Creed Shadows, here are the best Hideout upgrades, plus explainers on how to unlock the Zashiki and Tea Room.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Getting a premium economy or business class seat for the price of economy sounds like a fantasy, but thats what the Dollar Flight Club Premium+ Plan helps you do: This subscription service does the heavy lifting of hunting down the best flight deals and sending them to your inbox. Usually, a year of DFC Premium+ costs $99.99, but right now, new users can get it for just $29.99 on StackSocial. Thats a solid discountunless, of course, you already have an account (in which case, no dice). Also, you have to redeem your code within 30 days of buying, and after your discounted year, the membership renews at full price automatically. If youre okay with that (or plan to cancel before renewal), you could lock in some serious travel savings with this deal.With a Premium Plus+ membership, you get access to discounted fares across Economy, Premium Economy, and Business Class, meaning theres a chance you could score a lie-flat seat to Europe for the price of an economy ticket. Youll also get alerts for domestic and international mistake fares (those rare but amazing airline pricing errors), plus exclusive deals not available online, since DFC works directly with airlines. On top of that, members also get discounts on travel perks like Priority Pass and TSA PreCheck. Before you get too excited, though, keep in mind that Dollar Flight Club currently only covers members in North & South America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.If you travel frequently or have a bucket list trip in mind, this subscription might be an easy way to catch mistake fares, last-minute deals, and discounts on flightssometimes up to 90% off. Just set your home airports, pick your ideal destinations, and let Dollar Flight Club scour the internet for the best fares. And unlike generic flight deal newsletters, this service tailors alerts to your preferences (departure airports and destinations), so you wont waste time on irrelevant deals.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Spring hasnt really been as big of an online shopping season, comparatively speaking: We've got Prime Day during the summer, October Prime Day and Black Friday during the fall, and a bunch of holiday sales during winter. But that might be changing with the recent Big Spring Sale from Amazon, in its second year. Target has decided to compete for your money as well with a Circle Week event, coming later this month. What is Target's Circle Week?Circle Week is Targets name for its biggest sale, which used to happen once a year but, much to the dismay of Target workers, now happens multiple times a year. Usually, youll see one when other major retailers have big sale events as well like Christmas or October Prime Day.When is Circle Week?This upcoming Circle Week will be from March 23 to March 29. Do you need to be a member to shop for Target Circle Week?Unlike Amazon's Big Spring Sale, you will need to be a Circle member to take part in the sale, but unlike being a Prime Member, membership is free. You can sign up on the Target app or Target.com.What deals can I find during Target Circle Week?Mainly spring items, but sale categories broadly include apparel, patio furniture, home essentials, beauty products, grocery items, toys, books, movies, and music. You can shop in person or online, and there will be a "Deal of the Day" for every day of the event. If you want early access to the deals, you can join Target Circle 360, which starts at $10.99 per month.Here is a bit more detail from Target's press release:30% off tees, tanks, shorts and dresses for the family30% off patio furniture and accessories25% off select Pillowfort, teen bedding and decor25% off Threshold and Casaluna bedding20% off Brightroom plastic storage bins and closet organizationUp to 40% off kitchen and floorcare essentials including Instant Pot, Ninja and Shark appliancesUp to 30% off select LEGOSave up to $200 on select Apple devicesDoes the competition also offer sales?Amazons Big Spring Sale will be taking place from Wednesday, March 20 through Monday, March 25. But Walmart and Best Buy will also have competing sales.

It's unlikely that the fate of a company as large as Ubisoft will hinge on the success of one tentpole single-player game. But the company cannot afford another major error anytime soon after the likes of Star Wars: Outlaws and XDefiantfailed to set the world alight. Ubisoft desperately needs a big hit (and for the Rainbow Six Siege X overhaul to go well). The good news for the company is that Assassin's Creed Shadows is poised to deliver on that.On the surface, it's exactly what you'd expect: a massive Assassin's Creed game that takes dozens of hours to beat. There's so much to do beyond the core story, given all the missions and sidequests that the game constantly points you towards. I was rarely bored during my time with the game not even during the lengthy flashbacks which says a lot about the care and consideration Ubisoft's developers have put into this giant world and the story that ties it together.Ubisoft could not risk having the game run poorly from the jump and then spend months fixing it la Cyberpunk 2077. Thankfully, for the most part, Assassin's Creed Shadows runs well across my consoles (base PS5 and Xbox Series X) and PC.It looks sumptuous on my high-end gaming rig, which has an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, 14th-gen i9 Intel CPU and 32GB of RAM. I had zero issues while running everything at very high settings. The action hovered in the 55-59 fps range with no considerable framerate drops save for the slightly jarring switch to cutscenes, which play out at 30 fps. It's worth noting that Assassin's Creed Shadows is verified for Steam Deck, but I wasn't able to test it out there.There were no noticeable slowdowns even in the heat of chaotic combat on the three platforms I played on. However, I did spot some small visual aberrations on PS5. Early on, while strolling through puddles in performance mode, water pooling on a dirt track shimmered in an unnatural way. It distracted me from the conversation I was having with an ally.UbisoftOnce I was in winter, textures on the grass that poked through the snow faded out and in while I tore through the countryside on horseback. For the record, that happened in balanced mode, which attempts to split the difference between the quality and performance modes in terms of visual fidelity versus framerate. These are minor complaints, in fairness, but they momentarily broke the immersion for me.The main other weird quirk is that my horse often got stuck when I whistled for it. If, say, I was on a narrow bridge when I called the steed, it might spawn into the river below. A slight annoyance that's more to do with how the horse is programmed to catch up to you by your side, but one that's forgivable considering some of the many narrow paths you'll venture along.Two heroes with their own storiesThe big hook this time around is that you can swap between two characters almost whenever you like. Naoe, a shinobi, is a more traditional Assassin's Creed protagonist, while the warrior Yasuke is a hulking samurai who can bust through doors and carry bodies to hiding spots more easily than his counterpart. There are missions and character interactions that require you to specifically play as one character, but for the most part, you can play as either in the open world.I stuck to Naoe as much as I could. She's far more nimble and capable at clambering around strongholds her grappling hook is such a handy tool and carrying out stealthy assassinations. After all, shes the only one of the two who has the fabled hidden blade. Her movement is extremely fluid, an aspect of the game that's said to have benefited from the extra time developers had amid its delays.Unlike Yasuke, Naoe can use the classic eagle vision ability to reveal enemies, hiding spots and goodies through walls. She's plenty capable in hand-to-hand combat as well, more so as you unlock abilities like the very useful double assassination. Her kusarigama, which consists of a sickle-like implement and heavy weight linked by a chain, is a great part of her arsenal.That's not to say Yasuke isn't a fun character as well. Silently thinning out enemy numbers with his bow or loudly with a tepp firearm before charging in to eliminate the remainder with a long katana, crushing club and special moves like booting a grunt into a wall never got old.Both protagonists are well-written and performed, at least while playing with English audio. However, the lip syncing didn't always neatly match up with what the characters were saying, a distraction in cutscenes. While I didn't get around to playing the game in immersive mode, with characters speaking in their native tongues of Japanese and Portuguese, I'd be interested to see if the lip sync issue is as prominent there.Personal stakes with a broader goalNevertheless, the story was strong enough to hold my attention during the cutscenes and the rest of the game. It's a tale that starts with very personal stakes for both heroes but expands to involve safeguarding the future of Japan. The writers have crafted a narrative with plenty of intrigue and intricacy, and I enjoyed how they weaved the broader Assassin's Creed lore into Shadows.I would say the story and structure are rich and intricate enough to justify the 40-60 hours it'll take many people to finish this game. (The new scouting system which you'll use to narrow down the location of an objective after learning that, for instance, a target is in a specific area works well.) Still, I preferred the tighter 20-hour approach Ubisoft took with Assassin's Creed Mirage.UbisoftI enjoyed playing in canon mode, which removed dialogue choices and let narrative beats play out as the designers intended. It's too much of a spoiler to reveal how Naoe and Yasuke come to be allies, but the interactions between them and other characters, particularly the flirty relationship Naoe has with one firearm-wielding figure, are for the most part captivating enough.The performers (and, my goodness, are there a lot of speaking parts here) by and large do a great job with the material. But it's a bit jarring to hear a character speak in a plain North American accent when most of the cast bring Japanese and Portuguese inflections to their delivery.As solid as the tale being told is overall, the structure is a little odd in places. The main story includes flashback sequences, including one with a combat tutorial that takes place right after the action-packed prologue, that disrupt the flow even if they add some color to the protagonists' backstories.Skill tree frustrationsI'm not a big fan of the way Ubisoft has structured the progression systems. Naoe and Yasuke each have six skill trees, all of which are broken down into levels. To unlock the next level, the player has to accumulate enough experience points by completing various side activities, including horse archery and finding hidden items dotted around temples. In a vacuum, these can be fun, but it gets a little frustrating when you have a lot of spare mastery points to spend on skills and you have to run around to honor some shrines or find meditation spots before you're able to acquire some of Naoe's and Yasuke's cooler moves.There are some other antiquated systems in the game. Defeating a rnin a samurai who has been hired to take out the heroes in a fun fight earned me decent loot, including some legendary light armor. But I couldn't equip it, because my character hadn't quite reached a high enough level to simply put on some new rags. This doesn't make any logical sense.Scaling enemy difficulty from region to region, a trope that Ubisoft eschewed in Mirage, feels very tired here too. It's an artificial way of ramping up the difficulty and progression when other approaches like more creative level design, new enemy types and the player manually making the game harder in their settings can do the trick. Given the historical nature of the series, it does follow to a degree that some of Ubisofts gameplay ideas are stuck in the past.In general, I don't really care to spend my time scouring for gear upgrades just so I can stand a chance in a new area. That said, perks on certain equipment can come in handy. Skulking around castles to take out a few key enemies to unlock a chest with some valuable equipment felt rewarding even just as a little something extra to do while I tried to make my way to a viewpoint on enemy turf. Castles are valuable strongholds and offer a defensive advantage against attackers, so it's only logical that the bad guys would be stationed around viewpoints, which reveal new points of interest visible to our heroes after they scale up to a specific perch.UbisoftEven without that gameplay aspect, scaling up to a viewpoint is always worth it, as has long been the case in the Assassin's Creed series. The minimum reward is a sweeping shot of the surrounding area, and since Shadows is such a stunner, I made it a point to claim every viewpoint along my path.The aforementioned puddle and grass anomalies aside, its a joy to roam around this gorgeous game, with its abundant foliage, carefully assembled settlements and dynamic weather system combining to form a rich, lived-in world that I won't soon forget. The lighting systems allowing for Naoe and Yaskue to snuff out candles and lanterns to help them hide in the shadows at night were a smart addition here too.There are plenty of other fun aspects to Assassin's Creed Shadows. In one moment that reminded me of a beat in The Last of Us Part II, I was just starting a peaceful side activity when an assassin tried to take me out. That was an enjoyably unexpected twist. Meanwhile, an optional fight against a high-level enemy at the foot of a blazing tower in the middle of the night felt deeply cinematic.There are often moments of serenity, such as those meditations and drinking in the scenery from the viewpoints, as well as Naoe's preparations for a tea ceremony that plays an important part in the plot. Simply wandering through a forest and encountering harmless animals as the wind stirs up golden brown leaves in the fall can be calming too.That contrasts with the game's abundant, brutal violence. Beyond the many quick murders you'll commit with a flash of Naoe's hidden blade, several of Yasuke's kill animations end with him lopping off heads and limbs. The game's truly peaceful moments deftly balance that out.There's a lot riding on Assassin's Creed Shadows. Ubisoft will absolutely be hoping that it's a success out of the gates and that not too many players wait for the price to drop. There's plenty of competition to be concerned about too, particularly as Sucker Punch Productions' sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, Ghost of Ytei, is slated to arrive at some point this year.It does feel like there's enough here to draw in both Assassin's Creed diehards and newcomers who may be entranced by the 16th-century Japan setting but dont know their Animus from their elbow. Assassin's Creed Shadows has impressive technical work, great performances and an expansive, well-drawn story but it's unfortunately weighed down by some frustrating decisions and antiquated gameplay systems. Still, I'm eager to keep exploring.Assassin's Creed Shadows will hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC, Mac, Amazon Luna and Ubisoft+ on March 20. It will be available for iPad in the future.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/assassins-creed-shadows-review-an-ambitious-and-captivating-world-thats-stuck-in-the-past-170008367.html?src=rss

Streaming service Plex is raising its prices for the first time in ten years. The company just announced an increase for its premium subscription service Plex Pass, which offers a number of additional features like offline access and themes. The standard service is still free, if youre looking to set up a simple media server to stream some movies or shows.Plex Pass will soon cost $7 per month, which is an increase of $2 per month. A yearly subscription will come in at $70, a fairly substantial lift from $40. Finally, the coveted lifetime pass is shooting up to $250 from $120. These are some serious upticks, but I guess thats what happens when you dont raise prices for a decade.The changes go into effect on April 29, so the Plex-curious still have more than a month to pick up a lifetime pass at the original $120 asking price. The monthly and yearly price impacts both new and pre-existing customers. The company says it's doing this to keep up with rising industry costs. Remote streaming is also set to fall under a subscription, albeit a cheaper one at $2 per month."These changes werent made lightly, and weve spent a lot of time weighing the best path forward to ensure we can continue to balance value with a best-in-class personal media experience for years to come," a blog post from the company says.However, there are some new tools coming to accompany these price increases. Its integrating with Common Sense Media to bring ratings and reviews aimed at parents to Plex Pass holders. Its also working on a new server management app that will launch in the near(ish) future. The primary playback is also getting a much-needed refresh.The platform is eliminating the mobile unlock fee, which is a one-time activation fee that was required to remove the one-minute playback limitation when streaming content from a media server to a mobile device. Recently, Plex added public reviews and profiles.The Plex Pass price increase comes as the entire streaming industry begins tightening its belt. Just about every platform has gotten more expensive in the last couple of years.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/plex-raises-subscription-prices-for-the-first-time-in-a-decade-182622032.html?src=rss

Apple has fixed a serious HTTP bug that left users at risk of phishing attacks.