For years, Persona 4 has lived in the shadow of its flashier successors, with Persona 5 and Persona 3 Reload dominating the modern conversation around Atlus' flagship series. But with Persona 6 looming on the horizon and rumors of a Persona 4 remake gaining traction, the timing may be perfect for a return to Inaba. Reports of domain registrations hint that the project is already underway, and if it launches soon, it could serve as an ideal bridge for what comes next.

Autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, is a sensation where visual or auditory triggers fire off synapses in the brain that create a pleasant, calming feeling — colloquially referred to as “tingles.” The concept has made for a massive industry of content creators on YouTube and TikTok, all dedicated to helping viewers fall asleep, avoid panic attacks, or just relax by triggering ASMR.  But recently I’ve found that when I play certain games with my headphones plugged in, my tingles sneak up on me. I’m not the only one, either — there are entire YouTube channels dedicated to ASMR in video games. I’ve gotten ASMR from crouching through the grass in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the scraping sound of carving down a mountain in Lonely Mountain: Snow Riders makes the top of my head tickle. No promises, though — only about 20% of people get ASMR. But if you’re one of those people, these games just might become your new favorite ASMR triggers. Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders is the game that gave me the idea to write this story. Whether it’s the sound of the wind whooshing past as you zoom down a mountain or the lovely snow-scraping sound when you cut a sharp corner, there is no shortage of possible ASMR triggers in this game. Best of all, there’s no background music — just the sound of riding down a mountain on some skis with nobody else around. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Breath of the Wild deserves to be on every “best of” list about video game foley sounds. The music alone might elicit ASMR, like when a hesitant piano note drops as you climb a mountain, but the environmental sounds are the ones that really give me tingles. Walking through brush, your feet crunching through snow, the sound of your gear jingling as you hop on your horse — just pop on some headphones and listen to the beautifully immersive soundscape in this game. PowerWash Simulator If you like wet sounds (don’t come for me, OK? This is a thing), PowerWash Simulator is your jam. I first got tingles from the sound of the soap washing away scum — which resembles playing-with-slime triggers I quite enjoy — but there are tons of lovely ASMR sounds in this game. I have found that the sound of the water itself can kill the vibe a bit, but the game’s settings are super customizable, so you can turn that off if it doesn’t work for you. Tiny Glade ASMRtists, the term commonly used to describe folks who make ASMR content, would probably be desperate to learn how Tiny Glade’s developers foley’d its “building a wall” sound. It sounds like rocks rolling against one another on a beach, or like sticking a microphone into a bowl of pebbles. Whatever it is, it makes my brain very happy, along with all the other lovely sounds in this chill sandbox game. The whoosh of erecting a new tree, the soft “baa” of a sheep, the plunk of water when you make a pond — it’s all as relaxing as the gameplay itself. A Little to the Left The iconic organization game A Little to the Left is filled with sounds of ceramic bowls being stacked, leaves shuffling around, and tools being organized into neat compartments. In this game, you’ll only hear those when you move items, though — it doesn’t quite give me the tingles, but the foley sounds are certainly ASMR-worthy for someone out there. Any Lego game The Lego video games might be my first experience of ASMR, long before I knew what it was. My favorite is Lego Star Wars, but all of the Lego games have amazing sounds of blocks breaking apart and minifigs walking on plastic and metal platforms. Unfortunately, these games aren’t really designed for a relaxing experience, and you can’t turn off the character dialogue. Nonetheless, nothing beats the sound of Legos moving around in a Lego bin — in a video game or in real life. Potion Craft Potion Craft is relaxing all around — the color scheme is neutral-toned, the gameplay doesn’t require any speed or quick reactions, and the sounds are to die for. You’ll play to the sounds of water pouring into your potion pot and bottles clinking together as you pick out products to sell to your customers. The music can get repetitive, though, so I’d recommend turning it off to get the best out of the game ASMR-wise.

As it said it would do earlier this year, Google has laid off hundreds of employees from its Platforms and Devices division, The Information reported. That part of the company, which employs over 25,000 people, houses its Pixel phones and smartwatches, Nest devices, the Android and ChromeOS platforms and Chrome browser. In January, Google offered buyouts to let them leave as part of a "voluntary exit plan."  "Since combining the platforms and devices teams last year, we've focused on becoming more nimble and operating more effectively and this included making some job reductions in addition to the voluntary exit program that we offered in January," a Google spokesperson told The Information. The Platform and Devices group was formed in April 2024 as a merger of two units, Platforms and Ecosystems and Devices and Services, with SVP Rick Osterloh put in charge. In January, he told employees that the buyouts were available "for those struggling to meet the demands of their role or those unhappy with the company's hybrid work setup." The decision to offer buyouts rather than immediately laying off workers was reportedly prompted by employee complaints over previous layoffs.  Meta also announced layoffs in January, and tech firms have been steadily laying off workers over the past couple of years. An exception to that has been in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) which has conversely faced a shortage of skilled employees. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-lays-off-hundreds-of-people-from-inside-its-platform-and-devices-division-122328196.html?src=rss

University researchers found that over training large language AI models resulted in worse performance.

Nearly 40% of Black workers feel comfortable talking about their faith with people at work, the highest of any U.S. racial group, our two recent studies found. But they also risk facing religious discrimination. For the past 15 years, we have been studying religion in workplaces. Recently we conducted two studies, including two online surveys involving 15,000 workers and in-depth interviews with nearly 300. Our respondents included Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and nonreligious individuals. The majority of Black Americans—nearly 8 in 10—identify as Christians. And we found that Black workers from all faiths are more likely than other racial groups to use their traditions to find meaning and purpose in their work and to feel “called” to their work. Although not all Black Americans are religious or want their faith to intersect with their work, we found that many Black Americans very much want to bring their religious beliefs to work. This goes beyond just talking about them at work, such as their holiday celebrations or the importance of their church in their lives. In addition, Black Americans are more likely than other racial groups to display or wear religious symbols, such as jewelry or head coverings. Why it matters Scholars have often focused on racial discrimination in workplaces. However, the potential overlap between racial and religious marginalization has not been studied as much. Some Black Christians told us that when they mention faith at work, they fear they will be discriminated against because of their race and because of their faith, what we call “double marginalization.” For example, we interviewed a Black Christian woman who worked as an assistant professor of English. She told us she was reluctant to describe the challenges she faced in academia as religious discrimination but said the humanities “tend to not always be welcoming toward religious people and Christians specifically.” She recalled several instances when she was treated differently due to her faith. Black Christians we interviewed said that coworkers stereotyped them as narrow-minded or sanctimonious in ways that felt marginalizing. For example, some said the term holy—which might seem positive in certain kinds of contexts—can be applied in pejorative ways to Black Christians. A man we interviewed who attends a majority Black congregation said he talks about his faith openly in the workplace and often feels negatively judged. Members of minority religions may feel even more at risk. The largest group of Muslims in the U.S. are Black Americans. Black Muslim female workers, for example, feel three times marginalized—feeling at risk for gender, racial, and religious discrimination—our study found. Their faith sometimes makes Black Americans less likely to address inequality in their workplaces. We found they sometimes draw on religious values like forgiveness and their belief that “God is in control” to justify remaining quiet about religious and racial discrimination. What’s next This contrasts with our previous work, where we argued that religion can be used to address inequalities at work. We need more research that examines the inextricable link between religion and race in workplaces. Workplace leaders who care about lessening inequality need to understand that racial and religious identities are often deeply intertwined. The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work. Elaine Howard Ecklund is a professor of sociology at Rice University. Christopher P. Scheitle is an associate professor of sociology at West Virginia University. Denise Daniels is a chair of entrepreneurship at Wheaton College (Illinois). This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Two years after generative AI forced its way into the mainstream, Tanya Combrinck looks at the advances activists have made protecting their rights

The technology inside this blow-dry brush is unlike any other blowout tool you’ll find.

The 2022 hostage situation at an Apple Store in Amsterdam has been turned into a Netflix drama, with "iHostage" exploring the events of the five-hour standoff.iHostage - Image Credit: NetflixA trailer for the Netflix crime drama "iHostage" on YouTube teases the upcoming release of the film on the streaming service. While Netflix often releases films and shows based on real events, "iHostage" is unusual as it's set in an Apple Store.The film is inspired by the real-life hostage situation that occurred in February 2022. A man walked into an Apple Store and took a hostage at gunpoint, resulting in a tense standoff between the man and police. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Rebellion Developments’ Atomfall had a strong launch last month, with 1.5 million players within its first week. In roughly two weeks, the developer has announced over two million players alongside some notable stats. Players have discovered more than 12.7 million caches, scored over 5.9 million kills with the Cricket Bat, and drank over 500,000 cups of tea. They also found 3.6 million comics and suffered 420,000 deaths from irradiated rat swarms. Regarding the top foods consumed, the Tin of Meat won out with 14.1 million consumed. Regarding the scientist in the opening, 59.1 percent opted to help him, while 21.6 percent chose to dish out threats. A little over 19 percent followed up on said threats and killed him. Though sales numbers are unknown, especially with the title available on Game Pass, Atomfall has proven quite successful for Rebellion. It’s playable on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC. Check out our review here. 📢 CITIZENS OF WYNDHAM,You've all been working so hard in our community, we've pinned up some interesting facts about your contribution, flourishing under PROTOCOL ⚛️ pic.twitter.com/ONYjqakE86— Atomfall (@AtomfallGame) April 11, 2025

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Avatar and Star Trek concept designer Neville Page is launching a crowdfunding campaign for Beauty in the Beast, a new art book representing three decades of work in the movie industry.The book sees the Emmy Award-winning artist “pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to succeed in design”: both the art skills required, and the realities of working on set. A visual record of three decades of work on some of the world’s best-known movies One of the world’s leading creature and concept designers, Neville Page has been working on movie and broadcast projects since the turn of the millennium.Movies he has worked on include Minority Report, Planet of the Apes, James Cameron’s Avatar, J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield – for which he designed the creature – The Watchmen, and The Hulk. More recently, he has worked on major broadcast projects including Star Trek series Voyager and Picard: experience distilled into his new tutorial series on Virtual Makeup Design for The Gnomon Workshop. A ‘practical field guide’ to succeeding in concept design Page’s new book project, Beauty in the Beast – the Kickstarter campaign for which goes live on 21 April – is both a visual record of three decades of work in the movie business, and an insight into what it really took to create that work.Although it sets out the artistic skills required to succeed in concept design – the mastery of anatomy, perspective and form – the book is about more than just how to draw, also exploring the realities of working on set, and of collaborating with some of the world’s leading directors. Page describes it as a “deeply personal and practical field guide for anyone [who wants to] build a sustainable career in one of the most demanding industries on the planet”. For more details on the book, and to sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter campaign goes live, visit the project website via the link below. Register for updates on Beauty in the Beast on Neville Page’s book website Have 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 don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects. Full disclosure: CG Channel is owned by The Gnomon Workshop.