We spoke with Aaron Keller about Overwatch 2's switch to third-person for its new Stadium mode, and it'd be fair to say it was not as easy as simply switching camerasTech14:48, 16 Apr 2025Third-person perspective is new for Overwatch(Image: Blizzard)It feels as though 2025 is the year to forget all you know about Overwatch 2.Article continues belowThe game has added a return to 6v6 gameplay, while Blizzard took the decision to reveal multiple characters coming to the game earlier this year as well as in-game perks — and there are rumblings of a Netflix project.‌Stadium, however, perhaps marks the biggest departure since the sequel launched, promising revised maps, a new best-of-seven format, and big changes to the core Overwatch experience like switching to a Marvel Rivals-like third-person camera.If you thought that was easy, though, think again — ahead of Stadium's launch next week, Daily Star caught up with Game Director Aaron Keller at a roundtable interview this week to discuss the challenges of implementing third-person.Article continues below"People's movement abilities are amplified so just being able to track what enemies are doing is harder [in Stadium]," Keller explains."Pulling the camera out to a third person perspective allows us to be able to do that, and there are a lot of abilities too that might be a little bit more difficult to see in first person."There's a bit more lava on the ground and there are abilities like Zarya's bubbles that can do pulse damage that you can put onto teammates, and so it's a lot easier for them to recognize what's on them in third person," he adds..‌While Overwatch has had some instances of third-person, this is the first time it's for longer than a single ability(Image: Blizzard)"We had to do a lot of animation work for every hero. It wasn't just about positioning the camera. A lot of times it was positioning the hero, rotating the hero specifically by animation, and there was even a lot of custom animation for abilities and firing with some Heroes you couldn't see when they could 'Quick Melee'.‌"There's even work going into letting players know when they're reloading, so we needed to do UI elements for that, and there's even a lot of VGX things that we've been doing to make things read correctly."Thankfully, Keller feels the team's efforts have been rewarded."Overall I feel like we made a really great version of it [third-person Overwatch], and it's something that we're continuing to put time and energy into even for releases past Stadium's launch"Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.‌‌‌

A time travel nightmare (Bloober Team) The developers behind the acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake have released a new trailer for their next game, and it looks suitably horrifying. The expectations around developer Bloober Team have shifted drastically following last year’s excellent Silent Hill 2, which managed to live up to the original in every way. The team is hoping to carry that momentum into its next game, which is anoriginal title named Cronos: The New Dawn. The sci-fi survival horror was announced in October last year, but now a gameplay trailer has arrived showcasing its Dead Space-inspired DNA. Unlike Silent Hill, Cronos: The New Dawn looks to be more action-focused, with the footage showing a variety of weapons, including laser tripwires, heavy shotguns, and a burst rifle of some kind. The creepy monsters are highly reminiscent of Dead Space, with lots of gangly limbs, although dismemberment isn’t a key mechanic. Instead, Cronos features a ‘merge’ mechanic, where you have to burn the bodies of fallen monsters otherwise they can be absorbed into existing ones, making them stronger in the process. A synopsis reads: ‘In a grim world where Eastern European brutalism meets retro-futurist technology, you play as a Traveler tasked with scouring the wastelands of the future in search of time rifts that will transport you back to 1980s era Poland. More Trending ‘In the past, you will witness a world in the throe of The Change, a cataclysmic event that forever altered humanity. The future, meanwhile, is a ravaged wasteland overrun with nightmarish abominations.’ Developer Bloober Team is based in Krakow, Poland, so it’ll be interesting to see how the location feeds into the experience overall. Before Silent Hill 2, Bloober Team was known for games with a more mixed reputation, such as Layers Of Fear, The Medium, and 2019’s Blair Witch. If they can maintain the quality of Silent Hill 2 with Chronos though, that will be quite a turnaround for the studio. Cronos: The New Dawn is set to be released on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC in 2025, with a specific release date yet to be announced. It’s set to launch in 2025 (Bloober Team) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Black Mirror dropped its seventh season last week, and while several of the new episodes share themes of love and romance, there are very few happy endings. The one entry that does offer last-act uplift is “Hotel Reverie,” which introduces a Hollywood star (Issa Rae) whose desire for meatier roles leads her into an AI world where she encounters… an entirely different sort of desire. The episode’s complex tech elements imagine that Rae’s character, Brandy Friday, is inserted into a vintage black-and-white movie—a sort of Casablanca-ish tale titled Hotel Reverie—as a way to “remake” the film with a contemporary star. Though it’s really just her consciousness that’s linked into the virtual recreation, thanks to cutting-edge AI Brandy’s experiences feel real. The world feels real. And her digitally crafted co-star, Clara (played in Hotel Reverie by tragic starlet Dorothy Chambers, and played in “Hotel Reverie” by Emma Corrin) feels extremely real. Like, “sentient with a soul and capable of falling in love” real. A new interview in the Hollywood Reporter with episode director Haolu Wang, as well as Rae and Rae’s co-star Awkwafina (who plays the head of the AI start-up behind the Hotel Reverie experiment), digs into the futuristic yet startlingly human emotional territory the episode, penned by Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker, explores. “The story is fundamentally about two people finding a genuine connection and themselves in an entirely artificial setting,” Wang explained. “That contrast is really interesting, and it’s very moving because it talks about someone from now and someone from the past, both actors trapped in different ways who otherwise would have never met. They find each other in a similar boat and find themselves being able to be their true selves for the first time with each other, but in a limited place.” Wang continued. “What the episode discusses, broadly, around AI, is what actors are going through right now, and if this could actually happen to an actor that tried to reenact a role. What’s the psychological, and emotional implication for somebody who has just been used for two hours?” “The Brandy character in the end wants to keep a certain connection or longing, but that’s entirely limited. The more it feels real that Clara is there, the more we also know that it’s impossible. It gives people that profound feeling of, what if we use that technology on real people, on actors? What would the implication of that be?” In the end, “Hotel Reverie” comes up with a way for Brandy and Clara to keep in touch, even though Brandy is in the real world and Clara is entirely digital. There’s a little bit of “wait, how would that work exactly?” involved in the twist, but to Wang, “The connection is what matters. That’s what stays with you that will never go away, even though you’ll never quite have your person ever again. The ending is tonally bittersweet, in a way that is not totally tragic. It’s about what kind of feeling you want to leave the audience with and, for this, it’s longing.” You can watch “Hotel Reverie” and the rest of Black Mirror on Netflix. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Soskil House / Ludwig Godefroy architectSave this picture!© Nicolas Rangel RonquilloHouses•Mérida, Mexico Architects: Ludwig Godefroy Architecture Area Area of this architecture project Area:  250 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024 Photographs Photographs:Nicolas Rangel Ronquillo Lead Architects: Ludwig Godefroy More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. Casa Soskil is a house conceived from its negative space. Let me explain. This project, instead of being designed around the built, habitable spaces—the positive space that houses the home—was conceived in reverse, starting from the void that defines its garden. This empty garden space is the fundamental element that protects the house and all its interior spaces.Save this picture!Save this picture!The project's starting point was to control the views from the neighbors by creating floating geometric shapes around the pre-existing trees on the site. These shapes create large openings where the garden can freely grow, meanwhile blocking intrusive views. These large voids not only regulate the neighbors' presence but also create a strong sense of interiority outside the garden. A feeling of well-being envelops every space of the house to make people feel they live among the trees.Save this picture!Save this picture!Casa Soskil structures the negative space of its void, the garden is no longer the leftover space we didn't build; but the other way around, the void controls the built area of the house. The project also considers another important characteristic of the site: the land naturally has two poles—one of light and one of shade. At the front, direct sunlight shines intensely, while at the back, the tree's foliage filters the light and provides shade. Two complementary atmospheres exist on the site.Save this picture!Save this picture!Casa Soskil embraces and makes this natural contrast its own, creating at the front a sunlit social space around the swimming pool, contrasted by a shaded social space at the back. The project turns the site's inherent qualities into different architectural atmospheres, everywhere inside of the house.Save this picture!Casa Soskil deconstructs and fragments its interior space, creating a first social pole of light and gathering at the front, and a second social pole of shade and relaxation at the back. These two poles are connected through a walk in the garden—the green lung of the house.Save this picture!Save this picture!The social pole of light is the active hub of the house, including a terrace/solarium and a swimming pool, while the social pole of shade is the meditative space, featuring a study, a daybed room for napping, and a fire pit. By responding to the site's natural conditions in this way, the conventional layout of living space was dismantled. The entire ground floor, its garden, and each of its trees—stretching from the entrance door to the back wall—became one large open living area. Meanwhile, the bedrooms are inserted like treehouses among the site's existing trees.Save this picture!There is no longer a border between indoors and outdoors. The garden becomes the living room in its entirety. Casa Soskil reverses the traditional house with its garden, to create a garden with its house.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less About this office Published on April 16, 2025Cite: "Soskil House / Ludwig Godefroy architect" 16 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1029075/casa-soskil-ludwig-godefroy-architect&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Inflating Abstract Objects in Cinema 4D⭐Tutorial + Project File 👉 https://cgshortcuts.com/inflating-abstract-objects-in-cinema-4d Using dynamics we’ll inflate and deflate abstract shapes Cinema 4D – C4D Tutorial and project file. #Cinema4D #C4D #Redshift #CGShortcuts

Some 215 million years ago in what is now northwestern Argentina, the terrestrial crocodylomorph Hemiprotosuchus leali prepares to devour the early mammal relative Chaliminia musteloides. (Image Credit: Jorge Gonzalez) NewsletterSign up for our email newsletter for the latest science newsCrocodiles are persistent — not just in their deadly pursuit of prey, but in terms of their existence. The contemporary species hails from a 230-million-year lineage that has survived two mass extinction events.A study in the journal Palaeontology identifies flexibility as a key to their longevity. Crocodylians that survived over millions of years can eat a variety of foods and live in multiple habitats. Understanding this level of adaptability could help threatened species survive. “Extinction and survivorship are two sides of the same coin. Through all mass extinctions, some groups manage to persist and diversify. What can we learn by studying the deeper evolutionary patterns imparted by these events?” said Keegan Melstrom, professor at the University of Central Oklahoma and an author of the study, which she began as a graduate student there, in a press release. Crocodiles as Living FossilsCrocodylians are often referred to as “living fossils.” But that may be a bit of a misnomer, because that label suggests lack of change. The study of how they survived so long runs counter to that. The creatures have prevailed for so long because they’ve managed to change where they live and what they eat, even as the world around them shifts.That happened during two mass extinction events. The first was during the end-Triassic, about 201.4 million years ago. The second was at the end-Cretaceous, about 66 million years ago.Read More: The 5 Mass Extinctions That Have Swept Our PlanetEvolution After Mass Extinction EventsDuring the Late Triassic Period (237 million years to 201.4 million years) Pseudosuchia, a broad group that includes early crocodylomorphs and many other extinct lineages dominated. The crocodylomorphs then were small-to-medium-sized creatures, relatively rare, and mostly ate small animals, likely in the water. Other pseudosuchian groups dominated the land, and came in a wide range of body shapes and sizes. But this level of specialization probably did them in during the end-Triassic extinction, leaving crocodylomorphs as one of the most dominant and adaptable species remaining.“After that, it goes bananas,” Melstrom said in the release. “Aquatic hypercarnivores, terrestrial generalists, terrestrial hypercarnivores, terrestrial herbivores — crocodylomorphs evolved a massive number of ecological roles throughout the time of the dinosaurs.”Crocodylomorph species began a slow decline during the Late Cretaceous Period, with the more specialized species fading out. After a meteor contributed to a mass extinction event that killed of all the dinosaurs, only the aquatic and semi-aquatic crocodylomorphs remained.Crocodile Diets Over TimeThe scientists determined crocodylian diets over millions of years by analyzing skull and teeth shape of different species over time. Jaws lined with sharp dagger-like teeth were most likely associated with carnivores, while others set with the dental equivalent of mortar and pestles likely ground plant matter into digestible food.To glean an idea of the animal’s diet over time, the researchers examined the skulls of 99 extinct crocodylomorph species and 20 living crocodylian species. They visited zoological and paleontological museum collections across seven countries and four continents, ultimately examining the skulls of 99 extinct crocodylomorph species and 20 living crocodilian species.They then created a fossil database covering 230 million years. Next, they compared it to a previous dataset that of living non-crocodylians including 89 mammals and 47 lizard species. The specimens represented a range of dietary ecologies, from strict carnivores to obligate herbivores, and a wide variety of skull shapes.Today’s 26 species of living crocodylians are nearly all semiaquatic generalists. This lends some credence — at least in evolutionary terms — to the saying that it is better to be a jack of all trades and rather than a master of none.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.1 free article leftWant More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/monthSubscribeAlready a subscriber?Register or Log In1 free articleSubscribeWant more?Keep reading for as low as $1.99!SubscribeAlready a subscriber?Register or Log In

This is an artist’s impression of the exoplanet 2M1510 (AB) b’s unusual orbit around its host stars, a pair of brown dwarfs. The newly discovered planet has a polar orbit, which is perpendicular to the plane in which the two stars are travelling. Polar planets around single stars had been found before, as well as polar discs of gas and dust capable of forming planets around binary stars. But thanks to ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) this is the first time we have strong evidence that such a planet actually exists in a polar orbit around two stars. The two brown dwarfs appear as a single source in the sky, but astronomers know there are two of them because they periodically eclipse each other. Using the UVES spectrograph on the VLT they measured their orbital speed, and noticed that their orbits change over time. After carefully ruling out other explanations, they concluded that the gravitational tug of a planet in a polar orbit was the only way to explain the motion of the brown dwarfs. Credit: ESO / L. Calçada Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 The image of Luke Skywalker gazing wistfully across the desert of Tatooine while a pair of “suns” set on the horizon is among of the most famous scenes in pop culture. When Star Warscircumbinary planet in 1993. Still, only 15 examples have been located to date—but researchers now have strong evidence suggesting another should be added to the list. What’s more, it’s one of the most unique binary systems ever observed. The evidence was published on April 16 in the journal Science Advances. When you imagine a stellar system and its orbiting planets, chances are it largely resembles our own solar system. In actuality, our cosmic neighborhood is actually a comparatively rare sight. Of the nearly 6,000 exoplanets documented so far, more than 75 percent exist in stellar orbits radically different from our own. One of the rarest variations is a binary system, in which the path of a planet revolves around two stars. However, the exoplanet 2M1510’s binary system includes a slightly different pairing: brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are cosmic oddballs—while too large to classify as planets, they’re also too small to truly meet the definition of a star. But at 13 to 80 times the mass of Jupiter, they exhibit more than enough gravitational pull to draw objects into orbit. 2M1510 is one such object. However,  in this case, there are two brown dwarfs involved here. The result, according to researchers, is an exoplanet that “eccentrically orbits” the pair. To confirm the rarely detected space oddity, astronomers utilized radial velocity calculations to examine data previously collected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), as well as the European Space Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). This combination of tools and analyses allowed astronomers to bypass  a longstanding physic issue called the three-body problem. This conundrum makes it extremely difficult to assess gravitational behavior between three objects interacting in space. The resulting evidence strongly suggests 2M1510 orbits at a 90-degree polar angle, and moves perpendicular to the dwarfs’ orbits in a never-before-seen way. Adding to its uniqueness, the brown dwarfs are eclipsing, meaning that one of them is always partially obscured when seen from Earth. This also makes it only the second eclipsing brown dwarf binary system ever documented. “A planet orbiting not just a binary, but a binary brown dwarf, as well as being on a polar orbit is rather incredible and exciting,” Amaury Triaud, a study co-author and professor at the University of Birmingham, said in a statement. According to an accompanying Science Advances “Focus” feature, the system also “provides strong, if indirect, evidence for the existence of one of the most exotic types of exoplanetary systems yet found.”But as rare a find as it is, it’s possible that 2M1510 once had an even more surreal skyscape. That’s because they aren’t only two brown dwarfs in the cosmic neighborhood. A third, more distant brown dwarf is located at the system’s periphery. According to the study’s authors, this hints at a time when a trio of brown dwarfs occupied the system’s center before the gravitational forces pushed it out of the unit. At this point, however, only time will tell if a three-star planet makes it into a Star Wars film.

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01178-wTreading familiar ground.

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered Zhúlóng, a candidate for the most distant spiral galaxy in the universe. The perplexing Milky Way 'twin' dates to 1 billion years after the Big Bang, and appears too big to explain.

Imagine a world where Einstein and a Neural Network are working together. One knows the secrets of the universe, the other learns patterns from massive amounts of data. Now imagine them teaming up to solve problems faster, smarter, and with fewer data points. That’s the idea behind Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs)! 💡⚛️Friend Link🧠 What Are PINNs, Really?A Physics-Informed Neural Network is a deep learning model that doesn’t just learn from data — it learns from differential equations too! 😲 These are the same equations that describe gravity 🌍, fluid flow 💧, heat transfer 🔥, and more.Instead of just feeding a neural network with data and hoping it generalizes, PINNs embed the laws of physics (like Newton’s or Navier-Stokes equations) directly into the training process. That means they don’t just “memorize” — they understand how the world works! 🌐🧪 The Magic Recipe: How Do PINNs Work?Let’s break it down with a simple recipe:Start with a neural network 🧠: Like any deep learning model, it takes inputs (like space and time) and gives outputs (like temperature, velocity, etc.).Add physics via loss functions ⚖️: You define a loss not just based on training data errors, but also on how well the model obeys known physical laws (governed by differential equations).Train with fewer data points 📉: Since the model already knows the rules of the game (physics), it doesn’t need tons of data to perform well.Get solutions to complex PDEs 🧮: PINNs can solve partial differential equations (PDEs) even in hard-to-model scenarios.🌀 Why Should You Care?PINNs are changing the game in both science and engineering. Here’s why they’re awesome:🎯 Accuracy + Efficiency: They solve complex physics problems without needing expensive simulations.