Please humour me and sing this next line like you are in a karaoke bar on a hen/stag do or equivalent: let's get ready to Sonic Rumble. Read more

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here GSC Game World’s Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl might be a fantastic game, but it’s clear that the game is far from finished. While players wait for a roadmap of changes for the open-world survival game, the studio is still hard at work on patching and polishing the experience for players. Alongside continued patches to improve the core experience, GSC Game World is also working on expansions that offer “fresh perspectives” on the Zone. However, the team is also looking to expand the existing game with new side quests and, possibly, new weapons. Stalker 2 could get more weapons in the future Responding to fans on the game’s official Discord server, GSC explained that new base game weapons could be possible in future updates. When asked if “additional weapons” could arrive for the base game, the developer confirmed it’s not off the table. “Yeah, it is possible in the future,” the developer simply told fans. GSC Game World has already confirmed that the huge success of Stalker 2 means that the studio is able to bring back ideas that were scrapped from the game’s 1.0 launch. With plans for so-called “cut content” to make a return, guns and attachments that were left on the cutting room floor should be making a return. As for when, we still don’t know. GSC’s Stalker 2 roadmap has been expected for a while, but it’s still nowhere to be seen. When asked by a fan about a potential update, GSC responded: “Unfortunately, we aren’t ready to share it yet, still cooking.” Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl still has some major issues, such as the massively cut down A-Life features that were advertised before launch. With years of support planned for the game via updates, expansions and an eventual multiplayer option, it’s clear that the team is far from done with the game. For more news on VideoGamer, read about how the Nintendo Switch 2 is as powerful as a “mid-range PC” according to devs. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X Genre(s): Action, Adventure, RPG, Shooter, Survival Horror Subscribe to our newsletters! By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime. Share

With the full breadth of Trump’s tariffs slated to kick in on Wednesday, Apple is racing to brace for impact. A new report from The Times of India today says that part of Apple’s strategy to limit the impact of these tariffs is to stockpile as much inventory as possible in the United States… According to senior Indian officials cited in the report, Apple flew five planes full of iPhones and other products from India and China “in just three days during the final week of March.” “Factories in India and China and other key locations had been shipping products to the US in anticipation of the higher tariffs,” one source to The Times of India Apple currently assembles the entire iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 lineups in India as well as China. A 10% baseline tariff on all imports into the United States kicked in on Saturday. On April 9, the tariffs that Trump has falsely labeled as “reciprocal” will kick in. This will raise the tariff rate on imports from China to 54% and imports from India to 27%. By stockpiling as much inventory as possible in the United States, Apple can delay the impact of the tariffs. It’s unclear just how much inventory Apple has on hand in the US right now, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s to never doubt Tim Cook’s supply chain prowess. If Apple is able to stockpile enough iPhone inventory in the US for the foreseeable future, it could stave off having to increase iPhone prices until the iPhone 17 launch this fall. Its other products, however, might not be so lucky. For example, most build-to-order configurations of the Mac ship straight from Apple’s factories in China to consumers in the United States. AAPL stock is down nearly 5% today and down 18% in the last five days on the impact of Trump’s tariffs. …and while I was writing this story, Trump took to social media to threaten an additional 50% tariff starting Wednesday on imports from China unless the country walks back its 34% retaliatory tariff. That would bring the total tariff on imports from China to a whopping 104%. You can’t make this up. I will once again reiterate my advice from last week: if you need an Apple product, or think you might need one soon, buy it now. My favorite iPhone accessories: Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Rare Candy Hands-on: Donkey Kong Banaza is extremely Super Mario Odyssey-coded, but also nails that delicious, specific Rare flair This is almost certainly a DK title made in Japan, but whoever is behind this has stepped back and looked holistically at what Rare built in the 90s. Image credit: VG247 Article by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor Published on April 8, 2025 Nintendo has a silly new tradition. Pre-release, it doesn’t actually talk about who makes its games. This is part of an overall Nintendo-wide strategy about focusing on the experiences rather than the people. So while it might be exciting to learn that the studio behind Super Mario Odyssey is behind Donkey Kong’s latest outing, we don’t actually know if it is. But it sure looks like it. The biggest surprise for me when playing Donkey Kong Bananza for a half hour at the world’s first Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on is just how Odyssey it is. The core mechanic is the same - but structurally, this is just like Mario’s barn-storming Switch adventure. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. This makes it a rare Nintendo game - pun unintended - because it’s really quite uncommon to see Nintendo take a formula that’s worked for one franchise and directly transplant it to another. A transplant has clearly taken place here, however - and the simian patient is healthy, indeed. What I mean by this, to be clear, is that larger-scale objectives of 3D platformers are left aside in favor of large open zones packed with smaller objectives. These take a variety of forms and vary: I saw combat encounters, brain-teasing puzzles, and straight-up platforming challenges. Some of your objectives are simply cleverly hidden. Odyssey's Moons are replaced with glistening golden bananas; but this feels like Odyssey. The core mechanic has been replaced, of course. Gone is cappy, replaced by wanton destruction. For people of a certain advanced age that remember the Xbox 360 well, I can describe this game as Red Faction Gorilla: it’s all that deforming tech we saw years ago, where you can smash probably 90% of any of the level geometry you can see into dust. Dig up, dig down. Pummel through mountains. Rip giant chunks out of the ground and then use gyro controls to aim where to throw it in order to knock a high-flying enemy out of the sky. It's certainly got a lot of character. | Image credit: Nintendo It fits DK well, and there’s a very Nintendo-like cadence to the destruction where it absolutely doesn’t feel like DK is smashing stuff up because he’s angry. There are baddies in his way, obviously, but DK is flattening these levels because it’s fun. He grins the whole time. The section of the game we play is pretty obtuse, but it looked to me from some menu hints and the like that DK will basically be working his way down, stage-to-stage, deeper and deeper into a mine. An indicator appears showing what ‘floor’ I’m on, anyway. The destruction is key to each floor, which is why you’re given a really snazzy 3D map that sort of reminds me of the ones from the Metroid Prime games. You can tilt, zoom, and orient this 3D map to see where you are in great detail - which is ideal when you might smash your way into the middle of a mountain and become quite confused about where exactly you are. Nintendo actively encouraged us to play the time-limited demo of Banaza more than once, noting it was a game with much to discover. It’s true. Like Odyssey, you can just sort of meander off in a stage and lose yourself. You might see what is obviously a Banana, then be left scratching your head as to how to reach it. You can bash your head against that wall for a while, or simply walk away - for another discovery is inevitably just around the corner. Channeling his inner Chris Redfield, is it? | Image credit: Nintendo In a sense, the structural similarities to Odyssey make Bananza a strangely known quantity. Here we have Nintendo’s two big flagship games for the launch window of Switch 2, and here we have Mario Kart (which, open world or not, is still very much Mario Kart), and a DK game that despite being the first true 3D DK platformer in almost 25 years, is vastly familiar. But, like the Switch 2 hardware’s gentle iteration, perhaps the wheel didn’t need to be reinvented. Mario Odyssey was great; its bite-sized structure made it an absolute slam dunk with even the youngest kids, as friends with weans of the appropriate age have attested to me. Perhaps this is a formula that should be ported - and perhaps the inherent differences in the characters of Mario & DK, with their vastly different skill sets, will be enough to differentiate. It works. And with all that, there is one more thing to say - there is a manner in which this doesn’t quite resemble Odyssey. That’s in a simple note: the spirit of Rare is in this. Clearly, this is almost certainly a DK title made in Japan. But whoever is behind this has stepped back and looked holistically at what Rare built in the 90s and Retro Studios later expanded on. There’s something about the look and feel of the game, googly eyes and all, that feels like a marriage of Rare’s DK and Nintendo EPD’s vision of modern 3D Mario.

Don Mattrick's infamous quote resurfaces.The Nintendo Switch 2 pricing reveal hasn't exactly gone down well, and with the economic instability at the moment, many consumers are frustrated at the price and lack of communication. But as interviews with Nintendo of America reps were published yesterday, one of Doug Bowser's comments in particular has stuck — and not in a good way.The president of Nintendo of America spoke to CBC about the negative reaction to the price of the console. As Bowser has done in multiple interviews, he's justified the price by listing off the new features available, here stating "the pricing is appropriate for the value of the machine and the gameplay experience overall,."Read the full article on nintendolife.com

A new company, Deep Cogito, has emerged from stealth with a family of openly available AI models that can be switched between “reasoning” and non-reasoning modes. Reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 have shown great promise in domains like math and physics, thanks to their ability to effectively fact-check themselves by working through complex problems step by step. This reasoning comes at a cost, however: higher computing and latency. That’s why labs like Anthropic are pursuing “hybrid” model architectures that combine reasoning components with standard, non-reasoning elements. Hybrid models can quickly answer simple questions while spending additional time considering more challenging queries. All of Deep Cogito’s models, called Cogito 1, are hybrid models. Cogito claims that they outperform the best open models of the same size, including models from Meta and Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. “Each model can answer directly […] or self-reflect before answering (like reasoning models),” the company explained in a blog post. “[All] were developed by a small team in approximately 75 days.” The Cogito 1 models range from 3 billion parameters to 70 billion parameters, and Cogito says that models ranging up to 671 billion parameters will join them in the coming weeks and months. Parameters roughly correspond to a model’s problem-solving skills, with more parameters generally being better. Cogito 1 wasn’t developed from scratch, to be clear. Deep Cogito built on top of Meta’s open Llama and Alibaba’s Qwen models to create its own. The company says that it applied novel training approaches to boost the base models’ performance and enable toggleable reasoning. According to the results of Cogito’s internal benchmarking, the largest Cogito 1 model, Cogito 70B, with reasoning outperforms DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model on a few mathematics and language evaluations. Cogito 70B with reasoning disabled also eclipses Meta’s recently released Llama 4 Scout model on LiveBench, a general-purpose AI test. Every Cogito 1 model is available for download or use via APIs on cloud providers Fireworks AI and Together AI. Cogito 1’s performance compared to other popular openly available AI modelsImage Credits:Deep Cogito “Currently, we’re still in the early stages of [our] scaling curve, having used only a fraction of compute typically reserved for traditional large language model post/continued training,” wrote Cogito in its blog post. “Moving forward, we’re investigating complementary post-training approaches for self-improvement.” According to filings with California State, San Francisco-based Deep Cogito was founded in June 2024. The company’s LinkedIn page lists two co-founders, Drishan Arora and Dhruv Malhotra. Malhotra was previously a product manager at Google AI lab DeepMind, where he worked on generative search technology. Arora was a senior software engineer at Google. Deep Cogito, whose backers include South Park Commons, according to PitchBook, ambitiously aims to build “general superintelligence.” The company’s founders understand the phrase to mean AI that can perform tasks better than most humans and “uncover entirely new capabilities we have yet to imagine.”

How to Make a Color Powder Explosion in 3D!Let's make a colored powder explosion in 3DWhat will we learn in this 3D tutorial?➡️ Get Explosions 3 Here: www.thepixellab.net/vdb-explosions-pack-volume-3-animated ➡️ See PL’s Portfolio: www.plbourgault.com In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make that sweet colored powder explosion look that is popular in motion design projects. We will take an Explosion VDB and turn it into a stylized 3D asset that you can use for powder. It’s easy, but it’s a great reframe of what is possible with VDBs. Huge thanks to PL. Hire him! 🙂 Get our VDBs HereWant More Quick Tips?If you want more of these, head to our YouTube channel, leave a comment, and subscribe! Leave a Comment and Subscribe Here

In 1934, a devastating storm in Los Angeles brought 14 inches of rain over two days, flooding the Verdugo Woodlands and the streets along Glenoaks Boulevard north of Los Angeles, killing dozens of people and destroying homes. In response to the storm, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, filled the Verdugo creek with concrete to prevent future flooding. The Verdugo Wash runs for 9.4 miles through Glendale, collecting rainfall and dumping it into the Los Angeles River. While the concrete channel effectively mitigated flooding, it also changed the urban fabric and led to the loss of natural habitat and biodiversity. Landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA) hopes to restore greenery to the Wash, providing open space to the city of Glendale while preserving its functional infrastructure. Last month, the Glendale City Council chose MVVA, from a list of five design studios, to create a masterplan to guide the transformation of the Verdugo Wash into a linear park with funds from the California Department of Transportation. In recent years, many abandoned highways, canals, and trainlines have been converted into linear parks such as New York City’s High Line or Atlanta’s BeltLine. These parks are longer than they are wide—often creating a public promenade that winds through urban areas. The creation of the masterplan will take three years to complete. (Courtesy of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates) MVVA has worked on several similar projects that promote public space and urban resilience. They are currently working on Toronto’s flood protection plan and are behind the design of linear parks such as Chicago’s 606 trail or Brooklyn Bridge Park. The creation of the masterplan is a three-year undertaking. MVVA plans to work directly with the City of Glendale to host several community events, looking for the surrounding neighborhood’s input to inform the park’s design. The final project will address ecological concerns while giving the City of Glendale options for future programming for the Verdugo Wash.

Detail of “Late At Night.” All images courtesy of Vorja Sánchez, shared with permission Hundreds of Fantastic Creatures Inhabit a Sprawling Universe by Vorja Sánchez April 8, 2025 Art Grace Ebert In Organic Harmony, curious, hybrid insects and wide-eyed furry creatures populate a world of natural textures and surreal intrigue. Vorja Sánchez (previously) has been dreaming up the fanciful series for the last year and a half, which he debuts at Beinart Gallery later this month. Inspired by the diversity of the forest and the vivid drawings of German biologist Ernst Haeckel, Sánchez imagines a vast ecosystem. He’s particularly drawn to patterns and employs similar motifs to create cohesion across multiple pieces. Soft, fluffy fur, slender leaves with curled tips, and gleaming eyes attached to unexpected body parts appear in several of his works. “Ancient Tales” Sánchez shares that by studying recurring patterns in nature, he’s learned to identify the biological purpose of many shapes and forms, which influence how he selects a particular characteristic for a single creature. The artist adds: There’s a harmony in what might seem like randomness, and above all, nature doesn’t care about scale or importance—everything exists on the same level and is balanced. It’s a concept that fascinates me and serves as a profound metaphor for life. A mix of graphite, ink, watercolor, gouache, spray paint, and more layer together in this sprawling collection to create what Sánchez calls “a fluid dialogue” between the materials and motifs. “There were moments when the creative process for each piece was like trying to remember a dream,” he says. “When you attempt to complete these hazy images, your memory transforms into something more intricate and elusive.” Rather than impose an aesthetic direction on the creatures, the artist prefers to let the blotting, drippy nature of the materials prevail. Organic Harmony runs from April 26 to May 18 in Brunswick. Find more on Instagram. “Insect Dialogue” Detail of “Insect Dialogue” “The Sound of Cotton” Detail of “The Sound of Cotton” “Organic Findings” “Late At Night” Detail of “Organic Findings” “Elixir” “Hazy Memories of Nocturnal Visitors” Next article

The launch of DeepSeek prompted the familiar wave of ethical debates that now accompany the launch of any large language model (LLM). Questions about data usage, transparency, and bias are well covered, but when the technology originates from China, they are accompanied by geopolitical and ethical concerns. As we’ve seen with TikTok, concerns around data handling quickly escalate into fears of state influence, national security risks and industrial espionage. These fears aren’t without foundation. The accelerating AI arms race between the US and China has made AI a core pillar of national strategy. Both nations now view leading the AI race as an economic and technological priority. The result is a world in which every breakthrough model, whether American, Chinese or otherwise, is immediately scrutinised not just for its capabilities, but also for the geopolitical power shifts it sets in motion. Big Tech companies in the US like Open AI and Anthropic have come under justifiable scrutiny over how they gather and process data but the launch of DeepSeek introduced an additional level of risk. China has a well-documented history of alleged state-sponsored corporate espionage and intellectual property theft – including the December hack of the US Treasury Department, which the US attributed to Chinese-backed hackers. For CISOs and security leaders, the arrival of another powerful AI model with potential ties to the Chinese state should trigger a renewed focus on the security of their own data, particularly when it comes to protecting intellectual property and the sensitive information that underpins competitive advantage. However, the real concern isn’t just what DeepSeek can do today, but how it might be trained tomorrow. LLMs are trained on vast datasets scraped from every publicly accessible source imaginable. But publicly available data alone won’t satisfy the demand for more powerful models. There is a growing risk that the next generation of LLMs could be trained, at least in part, on data obtained through less ethical means, whether via state-sponsored hacks, insider threats or large-scale scraping operations that operate in legal grey areas. This is not a distant possibility. The practice of data hoarding – storing encrypted data today with the intention of decrypting it in the future, is already well documented in the industry. For CISOs, that means the threat landscape isn’t only limited to today’s vulnerabilities. Even encrypted data that’s safely stored today could become accessible within the lifespan of long-term business or government strategies. The emergence of DeepSeek serves as a timely reminder for CISOs to revisit how their organisations think about data protection in the context of state-level threats. It starts with gaining full visibility into what data they hold, where it resides and who can access it. However, visibility and control are only part of the solution. The technologies used to safeguard data also need to evolve. Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), some of which are quantum resilient, should be on the radar of any forward-thinking security team. At the same time, organisations should push their technology suppliers to adopt stronger encryption measures that will remain resilient, especially with the speed in which AI advances are coming to market and, in the longer term, a possible post-quantum era. The Security Think Tank on nation state espionage Mike Gillespie and Ellie Hurst, Advent IM: Will DeepSeek force us to take application security seriously? Elisabeth Mackay, PA Consulting: How CISOs can counter the threat of nation state espionage. Andrew Hodges, Quorum Cyber: Countering nation-state cyber espionage: A CISO field guide. There is also a broader cultural shift required. Companies must recognise that threats to data security are no longer just the work of isolated hackers or financially-motivated cyber criminals. Data has become a risk asset in our fractured geopolitical landscape. As the AI arms race continues to intensify, every scrap of proprietary data, from design files to customer behaviour patterns, takes on new strategic value,  not just for competitors, but for nation states with the resources to systematically exploit it. The arrival of DeepSeek is simply the latest reminder that the boundaries between technological innovation, economic competition and geopolitics have all but disappeared. For CISOs, that means the conversation about protecting data needs to evolve – one that acknowledges data as not just a business asset, but a target in a broader contest for economic and geopolitical power. Dr Nick New is CEO at Optalysys, With a PhD in Optical Pattern Recognition from Cambridge, Nick has a strong foundation in optical technology. At Optalysys, he is pioneering advancements in silicon photonics and FHE.