With Death Stranding 2: On the Beach coming up this Summer, Kojima Productions has announced a new milestone for its predecessor. Its crossed 20 million players after launching worldwide in 2019, up from the 19 million+ announced last November.However, sales numbers have yet to be updated since the five million+ announced in 2021 for PS4 and PC. The action-adventure title has also been released for PS5, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S and joined subscription services like Game Pass (which it left in 2023) and PlayStation Plus Extra.As for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, it launches on June 26th exclusively for PS5. Pre-orders are open, with the Digital Deluxe Edition providing 48 hours of advanced access. Kojima Productions latest story trailer showcased several new features like sandstorms, new tools and extensive combat. Check out our feature for five things should know or learn more about what makes it so visually arresting.DEATH STRANDING has surpassed 20 million players worldwide!To everyone who built bridges, paved roads, and delivered cargoheres a massive Like! All your connections made this incredible milestone possible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to everyone who has played. KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS en (@en.bsky.kojimaproductions.jp) 2025-03-31T10:01:47.963Z

With a little over a week having passed since the release of Assassins Creed Shadows, creative director Jonathan Dumont has revealed that the games development team is looking into ways to offer players more challenging experiences. Speaking to GamesRadar at GDC 2025, Dumont said that player feedback about wanting harder difficulty options isnt falling on deaf ears.According to Dumont, the team working on updates for Assassins Creed Shadows is always listening and monitoring what players are doing, in order to bring out timely bug fixes and other potential features down the line.Dumont also spoke about how the studio is actively looking at ways at making even a tougher difficulty for some of our players. While he didnt go into detail about what this harder difficulty would entail, it would be an interesting exercise, considering the hybrid mix of RPG and stealth gameplay that Assassins Creed Shadows provides.How challenging do you want it, asked Dumont. But were looking at these things and monitoring what people say about the game.He also spoke the variety in feedback that Ubisoft has been getting for Assassins Creed Shadows, and how the development team cant take every suggestion into account for future updates.Obviously, we cant do everything, but there are things that were going to be actioning on, and just for the next updates, there are quite a bit of bug fixes and little feature enhancement stuff that is coming in, said Dumont. I cant just make a list. Theres quite a bit of it. So the team is always working to improve the game, and hopefully, people will be able to see the difference when theyre playing Shadows in the upcoming months.Assassins Creed Shadows hit PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 20. Leading up to its release, however, there was quite a bit of uncertainty about the game because of its release date getting constantly delayed. In another interview, Dumont revealed that the development team actually used the delays to further polish up Assassins Creed Shadows.Not really, responded Dumont when asked if the reception of Star Wars Outlaws had anything to do with the games myriad delays. We were basically trying to make the most polished game that we [can]. He went on to say that the delays were because, our game was there, so just making sure that we dont have bugs and that the experience is clean for people.Dumont also spoke about a few additions the team was able to make to Assassins Creed Shadows thanks to its delays, including additional character moments that further help develop relationships. Its kind of cool also that we were close to launch, and then we get this extra time to do the things that typically youre doing at the end, he said.For more details on Assassins Creed Shadows, check out our review. And as for why it might be so popular, check out our thoughts. In the meantime, also take a look at our guide about the best legendary gear sets from the game and where you can find them.

Monday, March 31st, 2025Posted by Jim ThackerCheck out virtual cinematography tool Radical VCamhtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"AI motion-capture firm Radical has launched Radical VCam, a new virtual cinematography tool.The tool, currently in public beta, enables users to use an Android or iOS mobile device to control a camera within a 3D scene in Radical Canvas, Radicals collaborative online 3D editor.Radical pitches it as a way for film-makers and previs artists to plan shots and test camera moves ahead of a live shoot.Part of Radicals growing range of AI motion-capture and scene editing servicesFounded in 2017, Radical (strictly speaking, its styled RADiCAL) was the first of a new wave of AI-trained motion-capture platforms.Its original offline service, Radical Core, extracts the motion of an actor from single-camera video footage and exports the animation in FBX format for use in DCC apps or game engines.Newer cloud-based service Radical Live streams to Blender, Maya, Unity or Unreal Engine 5.The company has also recently launched Radical Canvas, a multiplayer 3D editor.It enables users to create and edit 3D environments collaboratively in a standard web browser, uploading assets in OBJ, FBX or GLB format, and keyframing lights and cameras.Use your mobile device to control a virtual camera within a Radical Canvas sceneThe new Radical VCam tool is available within Radical Canvas, and enables users to look through and move any virtual camera in the scene using an Android or iOS phone or tablet.You simply select the virtual camera you want to control, click a button to generate a QR code, and scan the code on a mobile device to create a link.Radical VCam supports depth of field effects, and comes with a basic range of preset lens, sensor size and aspect ratio settings, from 8mm to 70mm and 4:3 to ultra-widescreen.The tool is still in beta, and lacks key functionality, particularly the ability to record camera moves. Recording, along with zooming and motion stabilization, will become available soon.A simple, lightweight tool that doesnt require you to download any softwareCompared to high-end virtual cinematography and simulcam tools like The Third Floors Cyclops AR or Glassbox Technologies DragonFly, Radical VCam is pretty bare-bones.Epic Games also has a free app, Unreal VCam available for Android and iOS that let you use a phone as a virtual camera inside an Unreal Engine scene. You can find more details in this story, written when the app was still called Live Link VCAM.However, all three are based around Unreal Engine and require installation on your mobile device, whereas Radical VCam works with a standard web browser and requires no downloads, so if youre looking for a simple, lightweight solution, it may be worth a try.Price and system requirementsRadical VCam is designed to be used with any handheld internet-powered device, including both Android and iOS devices. Radical Canvas is browser-based: Radical recommends Chrome.Free subscriptions support up to 10 Canvas scenes and 10 collaborators, with a limit of 1GB on imported assets, plus limited access to Radicals AI motion-capture features.Professional subscriptions cost $16/month or $96/year, and support an unlimited number of scenes and collaborators, with up to 20GB of assets. Find a detailed feature comparison here.Read more about Radical VCam on Radicals websiteHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsCheck out virtual cinematography tool Radical VCamNew tool lets you control any camera inside a shared, browser-based 3D scene using a phone or tablet. Can be used for free.Monday, March 31st, 2025Chaos launches Chaos Arena'First ever path-tracing solution' for virtual production lets studios render existing V-Ray assets on LED walls in real time for in-camera VFX.Monday, March 31st, 2025Lumion unveils Lumion ViewNew real-time design exploration and visualization plugin lets users generate photorealistic 4K renders in SketchUp. Now in early access.Sunday, March 30th, 2025Master the art of Virtual Makeup Design with Neville PageDesign practical character makeup for movies and TV with the leading concept artist's new tutorial series for The Gnomon Workshop.Saturday, March 29th, 2025Autodesk releases Arnold 7.4.1Check out the latest features in the production renderer, including toon shading on GPU, and new HTML viewer for render statistics.Friday, March 28th, 20253DGS Render 3.0 lets you paint 3D Gaussian Splats in Blender3D scanning firm Kiri Innovations' free add-on now lets you paint onto 3DGS data inside Blender, including through texture images.Friday, March 28th, 2025More NewsAdobe releases Photoshop 26.5Autodesk releases MotionBuilder 2026Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026Autodesk releases Maya 2026 and Maya Creative 2026Autodesk adds Golaem 9.2 to its Media & Entertainment CollectionZen Masters releases Zen UV 5.0Peregrine Labs ships Yeti 5.2Check out new open-source 3D character generator CharMorphPolygonflow releases new free version of DashUnity unveils its 2025 product roadmapUnity previews Unity 6.1Character Creator to get new MetaTailor pluginOlder Posts

Spectrum launched from theAndya Space Center in Norway before plumetting into the icy sea. Isar AerospaceA test rocket developed by a German start-up crashed into the sea about half a minute after taking off from Norway on March 30. Though the rocket, called Spectrum, did not reach space, the test marks the first orbital flight outside of Russia launched from continental Europe.The start-up that built Spectrum, Isar Aerospace, still hailed Sundays launch as a win, stating that it allowed the company to gather important flight data to improve future missions.Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success, says Daniel Metzler, Isars CEO and co-founder, in a statement. We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System, a safety measure that shuts down the rockets engines in the event of a malfunction. The launch had been delayed several times due to weather.Theres about a million things that can go wrong and only one way things actually go right, Metzler said in a video interview ahead of the launch, per the New York TimesIsabella Kwai. Frankly, Id be happy if we just fly 30 seconds.The rocket made it 25 seconds before it appeared to lose attitude control, or the ability to regulate its orientation, reports Space News Jeff Foust. Spectrum tipped over in mid-air, then plummeted downward. It exploded about ten seconds later. The rocket fell into the Norwegian Sea in a controlled manner, per the statement, and the launch pad remained intact.First commercial rocket from western Europe explodes shortly after launchWatch on Orbital rockets like this one are meant to place payloads such as satellites into or outside of the Earths orbit. Spectrum, which stretches more than 90 feet long, is intended to carry up to 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds).But for this flight, as Metzler said on a call with reporters roughly four hours after the launch attempt, the company never expected that we would get to orbit, per Space News. We set out to gather data primarily, and that is something that we have successfully achieved.We gathered tons of data.The launch is part of a push from European companies to get ahead in the space race, reports Rob Picheta for CNN. Europe has long depended on Russia for space launches, but it hasnt had access to Russian space stations or launch pads since the countrys 2022 invasion of Ukraine, reports Le Monde. Now, European nations are hoping to foster a new era of independence, with private companies at the helm.As a company with European roots, we are proud to have shown that Europe has an enduring capacity for bold thinking and grand achievements, Metzler adds in the statement. We will be able to serve customers from around the world to bring their satellites into space and to help Europe solve a major blind spot in its security architecture: access to space.Isar isnt the first company to attempt a European orbital flight. In 2023, British millionaire Richard Bransons Virgin Orbit launched a flight over the Atlantic Ocean that reached space but failed to attain orbit, and the company folded a few months later.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomy, Germany, Innovations, Outer Space, Russia , Satellites, Space Travel, Technology

Newbury is the birthplace of Michael Bond, the British author who wrote the Paddington series. Newbury Business Improvement DistrictDuring a night in the English town of Newbury, two men approached a statue of the beloved British childrens book character Paddington Bear. The installation depicted the fuzzy bear sitting on a park bench while wearing his signature outfita red bucket hat and a blue coatand eating his favorite food, a marmalade sandwich.Security camera footage showed the two men kicking, yanking and prying the statue on March 2. Eventually, they ripped the bear from the park bench, hailed a cab and left, reports the London Times Ali Mitib.Police later identified the culprits as Daniel Heath and William Lawrence, a pair of 22-year-old engineers with the British Royal Air Force. They found the statue in Lawrences car at their base, RAF Odiham. Police recovered the statue and returned it to theNewbury Business Improvement District for repairs. Thames Valley PoliceBoth men pleaded guilty to criminal damage this week and have apologized for their actions. But that didnt stop judge Sam Gooze from reprimanding the men at their sentencing hearing.Paddington Bear is a beloved cultural icon with children and adults alike, said Gooze, a judge in the Reading Magistrates Court, according to a copy of his comments released by the court. He represents kindness, tolerance and promotes integration and acceptance in our society. His famous label attached to his duffle coat [says] Please look after this bear. ... Your actions were the antithesis of everything Paddington stands for.The judge sentenced the men to 150 hours of community service for their act of wanton vandalism, reports the Guardians Amelia Hill. Theyll also each be required to pay 2,725 (over $3,500) for the statues restoration. The bear enjoyed a brief stay at Newbury's police station. Thames Valley PoliceYour actions lacked respect and integrity, two values you should uphold as members of the armed forces, the judge added.The statue was one of nearly two-dozen placed throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland last year to help drum up interest for the new movie Paddington in Peru. The live-action animated film stars Ben Whishaw as the voice of the title character.The new movielike the other Paddington flicksis based on the childrens series by the late British author Michael Bond about a polite Peruvian bear who is adopted by a London family. Bond died in 2017 at the age of 91.Bond was born in Newbury, so the Paddington statue heist caused a great deal of upset within the community and local businesses, according to a statement from Trish Willetts, the chief executive officer of the Newbury Business Improvement District, which was read aloud in court, per Newbury Today.The Paddington Bear statue is a beloved part of Newbury so we did everything we could to locate it and bring the offenders to justice, said Alan Hawkett, an inspector with the Newbury Neighborhood Policing Team, in a statement.The broken statue enjoyed a brief stay at Newburys police station before investigators handed it back to the Newbury Business Improvement District for repairs.The district plans to fully restore the statue and place it back on the park bench, located outside the Camp Hopson department store on Northbrook Street. But, in the meantime, crews have placed a gazebo tent over the bench to not only protect visitors from the jagged edges but also to prevent children from seeing the damage, per the New York Times Michael Levenson.Heath and Lawrence, meanwhile, have also written an apology letter to the Newbury Business Improvement District and the mayor of Newbury.Theres no excuse or justificationthey hold their hands up to their actions on that day, their attorney Tom Brymer said in court, as reported by Newbury Today.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Art Crimes, Books, British History, British Writers, children , Crime, Statues

Gunzilla is launching its $GUN token on Binance as a way for its Off the Grid battle royale game community to trade their gaming items.Read More

Nice Gang, the indie game studio bringing free real-world collectible trophies to players, announced PvP combat for mobile RPG Eighth Era.Read More

Former EA exec Adolf Kristjansson appointed Starbreeze CEOKristjansson replaces current interim CEO, Mats Juhl, who resumes his role as CFO News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on March 31, 2025 Adolf Kristjansson has been appointed as Starbreeze's new CEO. Kristjansson will assume the role on April 1.Kristjansson replaces current interim CEO, Mats Juhl, who resumes his role as CFO.Kristjansson has been working in games for over 20 years, working on IPs like FIFA, Battlefield, Apex Legends, and Star Wars and served at EA in a range of senior roles, including international commercial senior director and global head of digital.I join Starbreeze with great enthusiasm for the companys current and future projects, not the least the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons title. I look forward to continuing the work of expanding the Payday franchise further and building Starbreeze into a true multi-title studio," Kristjansson said."Most of all, I look forward to working closely with our talented teams and engaging with our passionate player community as we build the next chapter of Starbreeze together.""On behalf of the board, I want to welcome Adolf to Starbreeze and I look forward to a long and fruitful cooperation. I also want to take the opportunity to thank Mats Juhl for his great contribution during his period as interim CEO," said chairperson Jrgen Goeldner.Starbreeze announced back in May that CFO Mats Juhl was appointed as its new interim CEO, replacing existing CEO Juergen Goeldner, who stepped down to take on the role of chairman of the board. Juhl was appointed CFO at Starbreeze in 2020, when he replaced Claes Wenthzel following a period of restructuring at the company.Goeldner became interim CEO in March 2024 following Tobias Sjrgren's decision to step down. No reason was given for the change in leadership.

SAG-AFTRA issues new agreements to permit members to work with students and game jams"Our members want to participate in projects where the future of video games is being shaped" News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on March 31, 2025 SAG-AFTRA - the union that represents 160,000 actors, voiceover artists, and other media professionals - has issued two new agreements to permit members to work with students and game jams.The Student Interactive Waiver Agreement and the Game Jam Waiver Agreement give video game developers "at every stage of their careers, the opportunity to work with union performers, even as the video game strike continues."The former applies to students currently taking video game courses at an accredited educational institution and recording a project "entirely" in the US, "providing an opportunity for students to work with SAG-AFTRA performers to satisfy course requirements during game development."The latter is for developers participating in game jams. Providing the project does not include material recorded prior to the commencement of the event, participants are able to work with SAG-AFTRA performers with session fees and secondary payments deferred providing that the project does not generate revenue.SAG-AFTRA said that in the event that a game jam product does generate revenue, it will "work with participants to sign the project to the appropriate agreement."With these new agreements, SAG-AFTRA can help support game developers at all levels who want to work with union talent and who want to learn more about producing video games under a union contract," said SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland."Plus, our members are passionate about this industry, and they want to be able to participate in these types of projects where the future of video games is being shaped."SAG-AFTRA voted to strike at the end of July after it failed to reach an agreement with the convenience bargaining group over rights and protection concerns raised by the industry's exploration of AI technologies.Earlier this month, SAG-AFTRA issued an update about the strike, saying it remained "frustratingly far apart" from video game studios and publishers. It came after two Zenless Zone Zero voice actors claimed they had been replaced for participating in the SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Much like the original Hellblade, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is a narrative action game that puts players in the perspective of Senua, a traumatized Celtic warrior with psychosis. As a game about learning to see reality and Senua's visions as one and the same, Hellblade II delivers an experience that utilizes unique visual and, most especially, audio effects that emphasize the protagonist's state of mind throughout her journey.During the 2025 Game Developers Conference, Ninja Theory principal sound designer Daniele Galante gave a detailed presentation on the sound design of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, and how the original game's innovative use of binaural audio was expanded for the sequel. In addition to breaking down how actors performed their sessions with binaural audio setups, the sound designer explained the challenges and benefits of heightened sound design for games.Creating a hallucinatory soundscapeDeveloper Ninja Theory has built quite a pedigree for crafting games with rich visual styles and impressive sound design. The original Hellblade received significant praise for not only being a game with a modest budget and scope but also for how the developers managed to push their resources to produce a visually stunning game with stellar audio design and clever use of binaural audio audio design that re-creates sound within a 3D space.Related:For Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Ninja Theory received more resources and a larger team to make a more high-end follow-up, and the sound design was one area that the developers wanted to improve upon. Throughout the game, Senua battles foes from rival clans and other unsettling foesbut her journey is fraught with visual and auditory hallucinations that turn her already dire circumstances into a harrowing ordeal. Ultimately, she uses her survival skills and perception to center herself, and by the game's end, she once again accepts herself and comes to terms with traumas.According to Galante, continuing with the use of binaural audio was necessary as it allowed them to help players get a better understanding of how individuals hear auditory hallucinations and to immerse them within Senua's perspective."Many people think that you hear [auditory hallucinations] inside your head, but that's not accurate." In most peoples' experiences, they hear voices around them, very much like how I'm speaking to you or when we talk to each other," said Galante. "Using binaural audio was an obvious choice because we want to reproduce these voices around the player to get them within this experience. On top of that, we can give our performers a very powerful tool, which is their body language movement. They usually cannot use it when they play video games. They have to stand in front of the mic, which is a powerful tool. They have to fill their performance with more emotion, and because of that, we found that actors with a theater background usually work very well with binaural audio."Related:As Galante explained with several videos in his presentation, the actors playing the Furies (Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen)the voices that Senua hears throughout the game performed their lines while also moving around a Neumann KU 100 Binaural Dummy Head mic during the capture sessionstreating the mic as if it were Senua and both the player. The special mic simulates the average-sized head and captures sound in a 3D space, but Galante made a point to mention that the effectiveness of binaural audio tends to vary for some people, and he stressed the best way to experience the game's sound design is with headphones.Sound drives story, but story is kingOne note that Galante stressed was that the game's audio design had to serve the storytelling. For Hellblade II, the principal sound designer treated the binaural audio recordings from the actors as if it were an acoustic instrument. The reverb created from the performers' voices and the sound designers adjusting it in post-production with Visual Studio Technology (VST) helped put players in the state of mind that Senua was in.Related:The use of non-verbal voice capture to create eerie noises and other off-putting soundsproved especially important in helping to create an unsettling mood, all in service of Senua's perspective. Actor Edward Spence provided voice lines and non-verbal audio for a sequence where Senua travels through a sunken cave filled with the voices of the dead reaching out to her."Our voice is an extremely powerful instrument, and we should use it more when we do sound design," he said. "We also record nondialect stuff, so any possible noise you can make with your mouth is there because we want to be experimental and take it to the player's brain and make them feel uncomfortable. Because when we hear a voice that is not supposed to be there, that can make you feel weirded out by it."Image via Ninja Theory/Microsoft.Image via Ninja Theory/Microsoft.One of the major sequences in Ninja Theory's sequel was Seuna's confrontation with the Tyrantan emotionally challenging and brutal boss battle against the protagonist's father. To present this boss battle as a sequence where Senua confronts a major source of trauma and abuse in her life, the developers combined the voices of six different voice actors to make the voice of the Tyrant. They utilized the 3D audio effects to give the sequence an oppressive and all-consuming feel.Galante later stated that, despite the massive benefits of binaural audio for immersion, it also presents several challenges. In addition to being time-consuming to produce, extensive post-production work is required to ensure the binaural audio works in the game for general audiences. Most importantly, Galante stated you need to have a clear vision of what you want to do when recording, as 3D audio is set in stone.One mistake the Ninja Theory sound designer made came early into the making of the audio design for the Tyrant battle, and it was because the rest of the team didn't have a specific vision for what the fight would be like. When he revisited the first actor's recording following the team having a clearer idea of how the encounter would play out he found it wasn't quite suitable for the new concept, and he had to do the painstaking process of readjusting the 3D audio, which meant duplicating the track and inverting and altering the sound to make it work for the concept of six different actors providing voices for the sequence.Still, he remarked that binaural audio has tremendous advantages for immersing players in the game. Still, because there have not been many uses in the creative fields, it can be challenging to find a clear vision and roadmap for its uses, but he expressed that it was worth trying and that he hoped more developers would try to pursue it."For now, there's not much documentation regarding binaural audio on the creative side as it's mostly used for scientific purposes and not often in a creative field," said Galante. "So everything we did, we learned by making mistakes, and we did make mistakes along the way. Because of this, recording binaural audio can be quite an expensive part of our job. So what I'm sharing here is our experience, and what worked for us, and is not the rules set in stone, but hopefully, this can help some of you if you want to do some binaural recording [for your games]."