Jawmuncher Crisis Dino Moderator Oct 25, 2017 44,470 Ibis Island *Game was Released at 3AM on April 24th, 24 Hours have passed (New CCU Guidelines Here) Source: https://steamdb.info/app/1903340/charts/ OT Here: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 |OT| Nos vies en Lumière OT Release Date: April 24, 2025 Platforms: Xbox Series, PS5, PC Price: $49.99 ($44.99 Launch Discount), Deluxe $59.99 ($53.99 Launch Discount) [Physical Available] *Day One on Xbox Game Pass Ult... www.resetera.com You Love to see it. Looks like CO:E33 will end up in GOTY talks not just in the critics circle with how things are going.  Last edited: Today at 11:20 AM Stallion Free Member Oct 29, 2017 1,370 Goddamn, those are wild numbers for original IP and new studio.   GetDigitized Member Oct 25, 2017 3,440 Game is great, but the pc port is bad, it crashed within 5 minutes the first time i played the game and people are complaing about more technical issues like frame drops/pacing . I imagine the numbers would have been higher had they released it in a suitable condition.   EssBeeVee Member Oct 25, 2017 23,978 good. need more. but hope they find great success on this wonderful IP they created   Brawly Likes to Brawl Member Oct 25, 2017 16,268 Ryohei Suzuki's bedroom Steam has it right at the top of the front page of the Store, had a feeling it would do well.   m23 Member Oct 25, 2017 5,568 Absolutely love to see this, very very well deserved.   cw_sasuke Member Oct 27, 2017 29,883 Isnt that bigger than every single player FF game or am i trippin ? Crazy.   ragolliangatan Legendary Uncle Works at Nintendo Member Aug 31, 2019 6,279 Sweet, think it will hit 75k at the weekend   Linus815 Member Oct 29, 2017 23,678 cw_sasuke said: Isnt that bigger than every single player FF game or am i trippin ? Crazy. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Not that crazy considering none of the mainline FF games launched on Steam day 1  PlanetSmasher The Abominable Showman Member Oct 25, 2017 131,645 GetDigitized said: Game is great, but the pc port is bad, it crashed within 5 minutes the first time i played the game . I imagine the numbers would have been higher had they released it in a suitable condition. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I don't think this had any effect on the sales. It's a VERY high day one debut for a AA game that's also launching for free on Game Pass simultaneously. Reviews barely even talked about any issues the PC version has or doesn't have so it would've had to have been a LEGENDARILY bad port that immediately went viral for the sales to be majorly impacted.  Nameless Member Oct 25, 2017 17,137 I was going to wait, but it was double discounted on Humble so why not go ahead and throw the devs a purchase? Happy I did. Phenomenal game. And those are impressive numbers considering A. It's on Game Pass and B. It was undercut by The Friggin ELDER SCROLLS days before launch.   Last edited: Friday at 8:47 AM Elven_Star Member Oct 27, 2017 4,688 Well deserved. One of the few games in recent years I can confidently call a work of art.   Charamiwa Member Oct 25, 2017 6,403 I'm guessing it's gonna go up all week-end. Word of mouth seems stellar.   harinezumi Member Oct 27, 2017 20,236 Buenos Aires, Argentina I bet the only reason it's not higher is because of Oblivion Remastered releasing just days before. Bad form, Bethesda.   GetDigitized Member Oct 25, 2017 3,440 PlanetSmasher said: I don't think this had any effect on the sales. It's a VERY high day one debut for a AA game that's also launching for free on Game Pass simultaneously. Click to expand... Click to shrink... CCU isn't sales, it's the number of people playing at the same time, some people can't deal with the performance issues and aren't playing or have refunded because of it, I wasn't downplaying its success, I was saying it could have been higher.   Disclaimer Member Oct 25, 2017 12,612 GetDigitized said: Game is great, but the pc port is bad, it crashed within 5 minutes the first time i played the game and people are complaing about more technical issues like frame drops/pacing . I imagine the numbers would have been higher had they released it in a suitable condition. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Have had zero crashes or performance issues. Crashes aren't being commonly reported in the OT either. Sounds like you got unlucky?  Jaded Alyx Editor-in-chief at SpecialCancel.com Verified Oct 25, 2017 39,860 Brawly Likes to Brawl said: Steam has it right at the top of the front page of the Store, had a feeling it would do well. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Steam has it up there because it's doing well.   NabiscoFelt One Winged Slayer Member Aug 15, 2019 8,521 Love to see it, phenomenal game   GetDigitized Member Oct 25, 2017 3,440 Disclaimer said: Have had zero crashes or performance issues. Sounds like you got unlucky? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Nope: https://www.resetera.com/threads/clair-obscur-expedition-33-pc-performance-thread.1171896   PlanetSmasher The Abominable Showman Member Oct 25, 2017 131,645 GetDigitized said: CCU isn't sales, it's the number of people playing at the same time, some people can't deal with the performance issues and aren't playing or have refunded because of it, I wasn't downplaying its success, I was saying it could have been higher. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Perhaps. I still do not see this being a substantial contributor to the numbers. This is an extremely strong day one debut for a turn-based JRPG-inspired game that came out on a Thursday.  SolidSnakeUS Member Oct 25, 2017 11,968 They are 100% worth supporting. New IPs and new studios with amazing games should be backed and celebrated by everyone. I've said this before, but even if you have it on Game Pass, the best way to support the IP and the studio is to buy the game.  Vex Member Oct 25, 2017 25,383 Clair obscur: Zero next? Or make this a series like final fantasy?  Raigor Member May 14, 2020 16,032 bigger than FF launches on Steam   Hamchan The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 5,809 Those are some pretty great numbers. I also bought a copy on Steam despite having Game Pass. Just seems like a game I'll want to have in my library long term. Also to support the developers.   PlanetSmasher The Abominable Showman Member Oct 25, 2017 131,645 Vex said: Clair obscur: Zero next? Or make this a series like final fantasy? Click to expand... Click to shrink... The devs said they have ideas on how to franchise Clair Obscur if this game does well, yeah. I don't think they will do a prequel about Expedition Zero, though.  Lucia Member Oct 18, 2021 2,306 Argentina Raigor said: bigger than FF launches on Steam Click to expand... Click to shrink... All FF launches on Steam have been late ports.   cw_sasuke Member Oct 27, 2017 29,883 Linus815 said: Not that crazy considering none of the mainline FF games launched on Steam day 1 Click to expand... Click to shrink... Eh, thats still massive considering what kind of series FF is ad this is their debut project, about to critically and commercially outperform XVI.   7thFloor Member Oct 27, 2017 7,033 U.S. Linus815 said: Not that crazy considering none of the mainline FF games launched on Steam day 1 Click to expand... Click to shrink... People really seem to underestimate how hype-killing waiting a year for a port is. Even games I was excited about, I just won't care by the time they release on PC.  Last edited: Friday at 9:10 AM GetDigitized Member Oct 25, 2017 3,440 PlanetSmasher said: Perhaps. I still do not see this being a substantial contributor to the numbers. This is an extremely strong day one debut for a turn-based JRPG-inspired game that came out on a Thursday. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Idk, I'm on game pass so not part of the numbers, but I'm waiting for it to get better before i play. I agree its crazy good numbers for a new ip. The graphics & art direction are better than a lot of AAA games to.  ProdigyZA Member Jun 9, 2024 1,364 GetDigitized said: Game is great, but the pc port is bad, it crashed within 5 minutes the first time i played the game and people are complaing about more technical issues like frame drops/pacing . I imagine the numbers would have been higher had they released it in a suitable condition. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Zero crashes my side, runs at 100fps and more when in act 1 (4070S). Seems good. GetDigitized said: Did you read that thread?majority are complaining about the look of the game i.e. sharpening (mod is out for that) there was crashes for some but they released a patch, was something to do with the overlay.  NabiscoFelt One Winged Slayer Member Aug 15, 2019 8,521 PlanetSmasher said: The devs said they have ideas on how to franchise Clair Obscur if this game does well, yeah. I don't think they will do a prequel about Expedition Zero, though. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I'm way too early in this game to say anything definitive about whether or not it can support a sequel/prequel, but they did such a great job of building this world that I'd prefer a potential CO2 to take the FF route and build a whole new one   astro Member Oct 25, 2017 64,957 GetDigitized said: Plenty of people in that thread aren't even talking aobut the things you mention or outright say they don't exist for them. Game is running well for me too. Of course it's bad it's happening at all and they need to address it.   Dictator Digital Foundry Verified Oct 26, 2017 5,475 Berlin, 'SCHLAND That is incredible Steam performance for a game from a studio like that. Wow!   PlanetSmasher The Abominable Showman Member Oct 25, 2017 131,645 Lucia said: All FF launches on Steam have been late ports. Click to expand... Click to shrink... To put this game's Steam launch in context with other recent JRPG launches: Infinite Wealth's peak was 46k Persona 3 Reload's was 45k FFVII Rebirth's was ~41k Pirate Yakuza's was 22k Romancing SaGa 2's was 16k Shin Megami Tensei Vengeance's was 22k SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered peaked at just north of 2,000 Suikoden Remastered just south of 5k Metaphor is the only one that really outpaces Expedition 33, having a peak of over 80k. So in context with the rest of the genre it's part of AND considering the PC Game Pass factor complicating things, 53k is a VERY respectable launch.  Linus815 Member Oct 29, 2017 23,678 cw_sasuke said: Eh, thats still massive considering what kind of series FF is ad this is their debut project, about to critically and commercially outperform XVI. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Late ports steam CCU is very misleading, there is no big hype to make people buy or play the game immediately like with day 1 releases. A lot of late ports have low-ish peak CCU but still sold quite well overtime. For example Persona 5 "only" has like 35k peak CCU but the game regularly has 10k peaks every month since release which is pretty insane for a singleplayer JRPG. I understand why people keep wanting to bring up FF, but its just not a good comparison point for steam peak CCU. FF16 has a very low steam peak CCU but the game sold like 3 million copies in a week on PS5 alone.  Ouroboros Member Oct 27, 2017 15,883 I wonder if this weekend it will get closer to Metaphor's CCU. I'm so happy for this team. I'm about 2-3 hours into the game and am really enjoying it.   MANTRA Member Feb 21, 2024 1,022 Very impressive numbers considering it also launched on game pass. Its clear im not the only one that got it on Steam anyway because of the great price tag. Devs like this should be rewarded, the game is sublime.   Graven Member Oct 30, 2018 4,506 Love to see it, I can already see this becoming a staple series in the turn battle RPG pantheon, and coming from a new developer to boot. I wish them all the sucess going foward.   Ex Lion Tamer Member Oct 25, 2017 1,798 This seems somewhat high for a game that is also on gamepass, right? We've seen a lot of games that also launch on gamepass have pretty low ccu numbers.   Astraea Member Oct 25, 2017 1,046 Canada Glad it is doing well, we need more RPGs like this   Disclaimer Member Oct 25, 2017 12,612 GetDigitized said: Barely anyone in that thread is reporting crashes, and the ones that are seem to be due to the fixed Discord overlay bug / maybe a specific graphics card issue. Haven't seen crashes being complained about in the OT at all, which says to me that it is not in fact common, and you did get unlucky as I posited... Frustration is understandable on your end, but that doesn't make it a bad PC version.  ReplacementPelican Member Oct 29, 2017 4,826 Hopefully doing well on PS5 too, definitely the kind of game you'd hope would do well there.   OP OP Jawmuncher Crisis Dino Moderator Oct 25, 2017 44,470 Ibis Island Ex Lion Tamer said: This seems somewhat high for a game that is also on gamepass, right? We've seen a lot of games that also launch on gamepass have pretty low ccu numbers. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Game Pass "does" impact CCU but we've seen overall not to a huge extent if the popularity is there (such as with Stalker 2). So 50K+ with it going even higher means the team is having their cake and eating it too with Steam and whatever GP money they got (Not even counting PS5/Xbox sales)  Ephonk Avenger Oct 25, 2017 2,450 Belgium ReplacementPelican said: Hopefully doing well on PS5 too, definitely the kind of game you'd hope would do well there. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Fwiw, physical ps5 is sold out in different places I looked.  OP OP Jawmuncher Crisis Dino Moderator Oct 25, 2017 44,470 Ibis Island ReplacementPelican said: Hopefully doing well on PS5 too, definitely the kind of game you'd hope would do well there. Click to expand... Click to shrink... It's in the Top 10 Sellers on PS5 US (Which is mostly just Sports and F2P games minus Oblivion, Indiana Jones ahead of it)   Toth Member Oct 26, 2017 5,477 Linus815 said: Late ports steam CCU is very misleading, there is no big hype to make people buy or play the game immediately like with day 1 releases. A lot of late ports have low-ish peak CCU but still sold quite well overtime. For example Persona 5 "only" has like 35k peak CCU but the game regularly has 10k peaks every month since release which is pretty insane for a singleplayer JRPG. I understand why people keep wanting to bring up FF, but its just not a good comparison point for steam peak CCU. FF16 has a very low steam peak CCU but the game sold like 3 million copies in a week on PS5 alone. Click to expand... Click to shrink... It's not very low, Everyone in the ccu thread said that ffxvis steam ccu was solid for a late port and that's w/0 steam deck compatibility and high pc requirements. Rebirth didn't do THAT much better tbh even with that massive sale but still pretty solid. This is a great debut for a high quality AA RPG that I hope continues in the future.  Tasman1991 Member Oct 22, 2024 360 I'm going to take a guess out of here 70,000 concurrent users   Crooked Eye Teyvat Traveler Member Oct 26, 2017 1,116 Well deserved. Game is phenomenal and the OST is a work of art.   Askherserenity Prophet of Truth - Chicken Chaser Member Oct 27, 2017 3,395 Raigor said: bigger than FF launches on Steam Click to expand... Click to shrink... That's fucking wild.  AshenOne Member Feb 21, 2018 6,795 Pakistan Ex Lion Tamer said: This seems somewhat high for a game that is also on gamepass, right? We've seen a lot of games that also launch on gamepass have pretty low ccu numbers. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Those are MS Specific games and they are advertised heavily with MS platforms. This isn't 'high' by any means even if its for a game on gamepass but its very decent. Games like Stalker 2 also launched day 1 on steam and gamepass and it did 121K..now thats quite good for a game launching day 1 on PC and PC. 

Menu Home News Hardware Gaming Mobile Finance Deals Reviews How To Wccftech HardwareLeak Intel’s Panther Lake SoCs Confirmed To Feature Cougar Cove P-Cores & Darkmont E-Cores; Reveals New PCI ID Listings Muhammad Zuhair • Apr 27, 2025 at 02:49pm EDT Well, Intel's next-gen Panther Lake platform is pretty close to launch, and developers have started to speed up the enablement work, notably on the individual architectures. Intel's Panther Lake SoCs To See a Significant Leap In Performance, Especially With AI-Oriented Workloads The industry has huge hopes for Panther Lake, not only because it comes at a time when Intel's CPU business is dwindling, but PTL is going to be Intel's first chip to feature the in-house 18A process node, which will also decide the fate of IFS. Now, based on new PCI ID listings spotted by @InstLatX64, it is evident that Panther Lake will feature Cougar Cove P-Cores & Darkmont E-Cores, and this configuration will likely put Intel at a competitive position in the mobile segment, to say the least. Well, the Darkmont E-core architecture was initially said to debut with Clearwater Forest Xeon CPUs, which will also be built on Intel's 18A, while Panther Lake was said to come with Skymont for the E-cores, but it seems like plans have now been changed. While specific details around Panther Lake and its SKUs are confined for now, we do know that the lineup is set to feature the Xe3 "Celestial" graphics architecture, and interestingly, we did get information about what some of the SKUs would look like in a previous leak. PTL-H SKU #1: 4 P-Cores + 8 E-Cores + 0 LP-E Cores + 4 Xe3 Cores (45W) PTL-H SKU #2: 4 P-Cores + 8 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores + 12 Xe3 Cores (25W) PTL-H SKU #3: 4 P-Cores + 8 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores + 4 Xe3 Cores (25W) PTL-U SKU #1: 4 P-Cores + 0 E-Cores + 4 LP-E Cores + 4 Xe3 Cores (15W) In terms of power ratings, Panther Lake is claimed to come with max PL2 ratings of 80W (45W PL1), 64W (28W PL1) and 54W (15W PL1), so it is safe to say that we are looking at top-notch performance here. Interestingly, PTL will also feature the 5th generation of Intel's dedicated AI engines called the NPUs, which will reportedly equip the SoCs with up to 180 TOPS of AI power, which is a significant leap compared to what we saw with Lunar Lake. Panther Lake-H CPUs will support LPDDR5X 6800/7467/8533 MT/s speeds for memory support and DDR5 6400/7200 MT/s speeds. Intel Panther Lake | Image Credits: PCGH Well, this is a quick roundup of PTL SKUs. In terms of release dates, we are likely targeting an H2 2025 window, with volume production moving into 2026. We do know that Panther Lake is already being sampled with partners, so it won't be long before we see the lineup in the markets. Intel Panther Lake CPU Configurations (Source: @Jaykihn) Die SKUP-Cores (Cougar Cove)E-Cores (Darkmont)LP-E Cores (Skymont?)Xe3 GPU Cores (Celestial)PL1 TDPPL2 TDP Panther Lake-H4841225W45W Panther Lake-H484425W45W 480425W45W Panther Lake-U404415W28-30W? Subscribe to get an everyday digest of the latest technology news in your inbox Follow us on Topics Sections Company Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Software Engineering Manager, AndroidSony PlaystationUSA-CA-San Diego-Via Esprillo1 hour agoApplyWhy PlayStation?PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.Software Engineering Manager - Android/MobileSan Diego, CAAs a Software Engineering Manager, you will lead a team of engineers building the next-generation cross-platform mobile application. You will partner with Product Management, Architects, Engineering, and Operations to drive the UI direction of mobile applications, applying industry-standard best practices and implementation to fluid, performant experiences with maximum extensivity. Participate in product road-map discussions, identify key areas for improvement in the product, and incorporate these goals into ongoing and future development initiatives.You are an experienced manager with strong people skills, extensive hands-on technical expertise, ingenuity, broad industry knowledge, and excellent communication skills. You have a proven track record of building and leading talented engineering teams to deliver outstanding Android features, UI frameworks, and high-performance, innovative technical solutions.Responsibilities:Managing a team of experienced software engineers: Providing guidance, mentorship, and unwavering support to help them achieve their professional goals, fostering an environment where they can thrive and excel.Driving forward research, development, and implementation of Android features, UI frameworks, and high-performance UI, innovative technical solutions.Working with technical leads, engineers, and project managers to plan goals and objectives.Lead the mobile app development using Agile methodologies like Scrum, delivering iterative improvements and meeting project milestones.Connecting with international stakeholders, making sure our solutions meet customer needs, translating requirements into actionable work packages, and creating engaging mobile user experiences.Identify performance bottlenecks and craft solutions to improve customer delight.Encouraging research, innovation, and a culture of continuous learning in the team.Fostering a strong team culture, morale, and cohesiveness.Support technical leads by ensuring that the team can access tools and resources to perform their work effectively.Aligning team objectives with the overall organizational goals and long-term vision, ensuring that our efforts contribute to the broader mission of the company.Conducting staff appraisals, fostering individual growth and development through regular one-to-ones, and identifying and mitigating risks.Handling administrative tasks — Approving holidays, purchases, and expenses, ensuring smooth day-to-day operations.Required Qualifications:Genuine passion for crafting seamless, intuitive user experiences, prioritizing usability and performance.Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field or equivalent practical experience.7+ years of experience delivering technologies in the interactive entertainment industry, computer graphics, UI Frameworks, Android applications, or a related field.Excellent people skills with line management experience (goal setting, appraisals, staff development, performance management)You strongly advocate personal and professional growth and ensure that every team member feels valued and heard.Your approach to leadership is proactive, adaptable, and driven by a deep commitment to the success of your team and the organization.Experience in coaching and mentoring team members, fostering an inclusive and collaborative work environment.Strong project management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks, manage resources, and meet project timelines, with proven experience with Agile development methodologies, such as Scrum.Have taken a project from scoping requirements to actual launch of product at global scale.Excellent communication skills, ensuring strong partnerships with stakeholders, collaborating with company development teams, and prioritizing customer needs.Demonstrated ability to lead, measure, and optimize UI and application performance, with a focus on UI response time and efficient network usageAccel at documenting designs, implementation, and tests for international teamsProficiency in Android (Java/Kotlin and Android Studio) development.Strong understanding of mobile landscapes, architectures, and trends in Android development, including emerging technologies.Experience with modern JavaScript frameworks such as React/React Native, Angular, or similar technologies for building responsive interfaces and dynamic applications.Experience in developing multi-threaded applications with a strong understanding of concurrency and synchronization#LI-tp1Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about how we process your personal information, and your data protection rights.At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.In addition, this role is eligible for SIE’s top-tier benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, matching 401(k), paid time off, wellness program and coveted employee discounts for Sony products. This role also may be eligible for a bonus package. Click here to learn more.The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below.$179,300 — $268,900 USDEqual Opportunity Statement:Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment. Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. 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Hey folks. Y’all feeling alright after last week’s harrowing episode of The Last of Us? Everybody have a productive therapy session to talk about your TV peepaw’s death? Alright, cool, because we’re gonna spend this week’s episode doing more therapy and leaning harder into the show’s worst tendencies. Strap in, folks. I’m about to start swinging.Suggested Reading4 Essential Tips to Survive Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Brutal First Hours Share SubtitlesOffEnglishview videoSuggested Reading4 Essential Tips to Survive Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Brutal First Hours Share SubtitlesOffEnglishPost traumaWe open on the bloody aftermath of the battle in Jackson. Corpses, human and infected, are scattered across the small town. But the body we linger on didn’t come from the massive clash; it’s Joel’s. In a somber moment, Tommy (Gabriel Luna) comes to the morgue to see his big brother. He starts to clean his arm and sees the broken watch on his wrist. He gives his brother one more longing look and tells him to “give Sarah [his] love” before getting back to work.Last week, I was admittedly pretty dismissive of some of these smaller added moments of grief the show adds to what was in The Last of Us Part II, the game on which this season is based. Ellie crawling to Joel’s body and cuddling up to him felt performative to me in the moment, and maybe that was more me reacting to the show’s broader lack of restraint than to the scene itself. But this scene with Tommy landed for me because we got remarkably little of Tommy’s grief in Part II, and because it wasn’t led up to by 10 minutes of monologuing and telling me what to feel. Tommy is speaking to Joel, not to the audience.We then see a bustling hospital full of the injured from the battle. Ellie is also here after Manny kicked her in the chest and seemingly collapsed one of her lungs. She’s breathing weakly through a chest tube as she wakes, but immediately starts screaming as she remembers what Abby did to Joel until she’s sedated. Cut to credits.We then jump forward to three months later. Things are warming up, and Jackson has made good progress rebuilding after the battle against the horde. Ellie, meanwhile, has also made good progress and is getting her final check-up with the doctors after her injuries. But she has to see one more person before she can leave the hospital: Gail (Catherine O’Hara).As I said in the episode one recap, Gail is one of my least favorite additions in the show, not because O’Hara isn’t wonderful, but because she facilitates some of the show’s worst tendencies. Ellie, clearly telling Gail what she thinks she wants to hear, now unloads about how she misses Joel, laments that the “last time” they spoke was the New Year’s dance fiasco, and says that your final moments with someone shouldn’t define your life with them. Then when the conversation veers into when Joel supposedly “wronged” her, Ellie says she doesn’t know what he could have meant and wishes she could have “let him off the hook” for that, but that she’ll also need to “let herself off the hook” for not being able to do so.Image: HBOGail lets Ellie go but seems mostly unconvinced by her performative response to her line of questioning. And as soon as they’re done, Ellie’s chipper facade falls away quickly, and the smile disappears from her face as quickly as she put it on. The irony of this scene is that Ellie is speaking aloud the things she will eventually learn, even if she doesn’t believe any of it right now. She pulls off a convincing enough performance to leave the facility, but there was still part of me that felt suspicious of this exchange after the show has already proven it doesn’t trust its audience to follow along. I can’t help but look at this scene and feel like it’s meant to tell viewers what Ellie should be feeling rather than the feelings of fury she does right now. A therapist approved all these lines of thought, right? That’s the only way she’s deemed of sound mind to walk around the citizens of Jackson once again. In a vacuum, the scene is fine and illustrates that Ellie is still very much wrestling with debilitating anger and doesn’t trust the adults in her life, but again, every time The Last of Us describes the themes of the source material in no uncertain terms, I’m left wondering why showrunner Craig Mazin has made these blunt edits. Does he not have faith in the viewers to get it, or is he making up for what he perceives as a weak link in the game’s writing?Speaking of showing instead of telling, we now get the show’s version of one of The Last of Us Part II’s best sequences: Joel’s home. After Ellie is released from the hospital, she heads home, and instead of going straight to her shed, she goes to Joel’s big empty house. Flowers and tributes cover the white picket fence. They’ve been there for months, but this is the first time Ellie’s seen them. To Abby, Joel was a murderer. To Ellie, he was a complicated father figure. To the people of Jackson, he was a beloved member of their community. There are different versions of each of us in the minds of everyone we’ve ever met, and the truth is we all exist somewhere in the middle. That’s why people come away from The Last of Us Part II with such contrasting feelings: because the entire game is about that concept.One nice touch the show adds to this segment is that Ellie has a room in Joel’s house that wasn’t present in the game. Though the mattress is no longer here and is now in the shed out back, the rest of the room looks largely untouched. It’s covered in astronaut stickers, old sketches, and toys. It feels like a childhood bedroom, whereas her new space gives off something more like college burnout. The brief shot we see of the old room illustrates how much Ellie has grown up, but maybe also how Joel probably felt left behind. He has this snapshot of a younger version of his surrogate daughter in his own home. No wonder he didn’t understand the rift between them as she grew up.Then we reach the gut punch: Joel’s bedroom. It’s full of unfinished wood carving projects he’ll never return to, but it also has a small red box sitting on the bed. Inside, Ellie finds the last of Joel’s belongings: his broken watch from Sarah and his trademark revolver. Ellie only takes the latter before turning to leave, but also takes a moment to stop in Joel’s closet and take a whiff of his leather jacket. Then she finally allows herself to cry before this moment is interrupted by Dina (Isabela Merced) calling to her from the lower floor.Her friend brings with her two things: cookies and information. She says that, when visiting Ellie in the hospital, she’d hid that she knew most of Abby’s group’s names because the doctors told her not to tell Ellie anything that might upset her while she was recovering. Ellie is furious because Joel’s killers now have a three-month head start, but Dina, being the more level-headed person in the room, reminds her that if you want to find someone and you know where they’re going to be, you should let them get there. Then Dina reminds Ellie that she loved Joel, too. In Part II, Dina went to Seattle because she’s a ride or die, but the show is giving her more personal stakes in seeing justice for Joel because they had a relationship of their own. It’s a good change; a lot of Dina’s characterization—such as her relationship with her family’s Jewish history—is lost without the ambient dialogue between her and Ellie in the early game, so this helps fill out her character more in a way I appreciated.Dina runs down what she knows, including the names of most of the group and a wolf patch she saw on their gear with the initials “W.L.F.” She recalls a story Eugene told her before his passing about subsets of civilian militia that were trying to fight FEDRA, the government agency that turned fascist after the cordyceps outbreak, including one called the Washington Liberation Front. They don’t know what they’re up against, but hopefully it’s not too much for them to handle.But rather than head out immediately, Ellie and Dina go to see Tommy. He’s hesitant because the town is still recovering and not in any position to send out a squad of vengeful soldiers. Ellie says Joel would have already been halfway to Seattle by now, a claim which Tommy rebuts, saying that he’d only take that kind of risk to save someone he cared about, not to seek revenge (I don’t know about that one, chief). If they’re going to do this, they have to go through Jackson protocol, which means taking it to Maria and the town’s council. Ellie isn’t thrilled, but Tommy says he’ll back her, and lets Dina know that if she holds back information again, there will be consequences. As the girls leave, Tommy tells Ellie that they buried the dead after the attack south of town, if she wants to visit. Ellie says she will when she’s on the way to Seattle. Tommy said in episode one that Ellie and Joel were the exact same person, and her self-assured stubbornness in this moment is giving Pedro Pascal. To her, this whole song and dance is just another obstacle in the way of something inevitable. She can’t imagine any other possibility.Literal and metaphorical scarsWe’ve spent a lot of time in Jackson these past few episodes, so this next scene gives us a preview of what to expect in Seattle. We open on a lone man walking through a forest wearing a tattered trench coat, sporting a shaved head, and with twin scars across his face. He whistles to a group of similarly dressed people elsewhere in the forest, and one of the adults asks a young girl to translate the meaning of the whistles, which were orders to keep moving as there was no danger present. The group apparently doesn’t know where they’re headed, but there’s a “reason” for this pilgrimage with no known destination. There was a war happening wherever they’re fleeing from, and the prophet they once followed has been dead for a decade, so she can’t protect them. But they keep her spirit alive by following her teachings. To do this, they have to keep themselves safe, which is why they’re armed with hammers and bows. Just as the girl says she feels safe, another whistle comes from the lookout, warning the group of incoming danger. They hide in the forest, and the girl asks if it’s “demons,” to which the man replies that it’s “wolves.” On that ominous note, the show pops back over to Dina’s sketch of the wolf patch she saw on Abby’s clothes.If you felt that was disorienting, I wouldn’t blame you, but these people with all their cultish language and archaic weaponry are the Seraphites, a cult in Seattle that is at war with the W.L.F. As we get close to the Emerald City, some of the uglier parts of the series to unpack will start to become more prominent, as the violence between the Seraphites and W.L.F. is inspired by the ongoing conflicts in Palestine and Israel which have only escalated in the years since the game came out. This isn’t me projecting; series director Neil Druckmann has said as much. The actual specifics of how The Last of Us portrays its fictional war, and how Druckmann’s public pro-Israel reaction to the ongoing real-world conflict have justifiably colored the interpretations and experiences of the series for many players, are a lot to untangle and dissect. It’ll be some time before the show really dives into this plot thread and we really need to dig into it in these recaps, but I felt it was important context to bring up now as we begin our journey to Seattle, where this storyline becomes more prevalent.Image: HBOEllie, meanwhile, is training for the upcoming fight. Jesse is impressed that she’s bounced back so quickly after being hospitalized, but not impressed enough to be forthcoming with her about the upcoming council meeting. Now that he’s on the council, he can’t discuss his or anyone else’s votes, even as Ellie tries to appeal to their friendship. As a sign of good faith, he does give Ellie some advice, telling her to write her thoughts down and read them to everyone in the meeting. Ellie dismissively takes this as a sign that she’s “stupid,” but Jesse says it’s because she’s angry, and her inability to take that well-meaning advice as such is further proof of that.Unfortunately for Ellie, she has a lot of time to organize her thoughts at the council meeting because her revenge tour is not the only issue on the agenda. Some folks came to talk more mundane shit like livestock. But when the topic of sending people to Seattle comes up, Ellie isn’t the first one to take the stand, it’s a woman who points out that Jackson lost a lot more people that day than just Joel. Things are too fragile right now, she says, to send a large group chasing after Abby’s crew. Another man stands up and says that they should separate themselves from the raiders and murderers by showing mercy. Then, Ellie finds an unexpected ally (see what I did there) in Seth, who says that those murderers don’t deserve mercy. The town bigot is the only one to support vengeance for the man who knocked him on his prejudiced ass the night before he died. Seth says that they’ll be back to finish the job if Jackson doesn’t send someone after them.When The Last of Us Part II came out, there were criticisms that the game boiled down to a metatextual scolding about something obvious to most civilized people: violence is bad, actually. Revenge is not it. Even Kotaku’s review by Riley MacLeod touches on this, with him writing, “Late one night, I paused the game and asked myself aloud if the developers thought I was stupid, if they thought the existence of violence had just never occurred to me before.” I never felt this kind of condescension when I played the game, largely because I viewed revenge as one piece of the puzzle, rather than the full thing, but I can’t shake that feeling when I watch the show. I really felt it in this scene that sounded like a podcast of people debating the morality of The Last of Us Part II. The show’s heavy-handed dialogue continues to feel weirdly patronizing, like it needs to make sure you have considered every nuance that should feel.Finally, Ellie is allowed to speak. She followed Jesse’s advice and wrote her thoughts down to read. She says she doesn’t want revenge, she wants justice. Then she points out that if they do nothing, no one will do anything because no one else is fighting for Jackson. Ellie appeals to the community aspect Jesse has been hammering into her head, and points out that while the rest of the world is full of dangerous “strangers,” she wants to know that the people of Jackson can count on each other. This is a version of Ellie we’ve seen who is very jaded toward the idea of community, and it’s unclear if this is her trying to appeal to the sensibilities of the council or if it’s a last-ditch effort to convince herself that there is a community for her here. While Joel may have been a beloved member of Jackson, Ellie has been ostracized by several people in this small town. Her discomfort has been ignored by the adults in her life, her desires have often been denied to her because they think they know better, and yet all that’s ever been said to her is that the good of the community comes first. If she’s supposed to be part of that fellowship, why are her needs never a priority? Whatever her reasoning, Ellie knows now that she can’t count on Jackson because the council votes against her proposal. A wave of relief fills the room, but Ellie silently walks out.It’s now Tommy’s turn to see the town counselor. He tracks Gail down at a tee-ball game and she has her own theories about Ellie’s speech. Tommy’s worried that Ellie’s going to do something reckless, and Gail asks if he believes Ellie’s words at the council meeting. She says that the girl is a “liar.” Tommy says she doesn’t want Ellie to go down the same path as Joel, who would also come up with justifications for every violent act he carried out in this desecrated world. Gail asks if Ellie might have learned this behavior from Joel, but says that “nurture” can only do so much, and that if violence is who Ellie is, it wasn’t because Joel taught her to be. She also says that some people can’t be saved, and as much as Tommy would like to change that, it’s probably true of Ellie, as well.Alrighty, so I alluded to this conversation in my episode one recap, and I consider it one of the most disappointing in all of season two. The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin has talked at length about how he believes Ellie to be a naturally violent individual, and it shows in the sadism she expresses in season one. This is a marked change from how the character was portrayed in the first game, which showed her having no proclivity towards violence, just a desire to be trusted to carry it out when it was necessary. When it became clear that Mazin’s choice to make Ellie more intrinsically violent for the show was made in a misguided attempt to lean into Ellie’s violent tendencies in season two, I wrote about how the only reason Ellie’s shift towards violence in Part II works is because that game goes out of its way to show that she’s not cut out to inflict the kind of violence she learned from Joel. There are scenes in the game that have Ellie trying and failing to use Joel’s exact interrogation techniques, and Druckmann and game actor Ashley Johnson have spoken in Part II Remastered’s commentary about how the point was to show how Ellie was very different from her surrogate father, and that this violence may have been innate to who he was, but not her.Without getting too specific about future episodes, I still find the show’s suggestion that Ellie’s sadism and anger are just part of who she is to be both a misguided change and a fundamental misunderstanding of the story of The Last of Us Part II. Where some changes, like revealing Abby’s motivations early or heavily implying that Ellie had some kind of reconciliation with Joel, undercut the narrative tension of the source material but leave character dynamics intact, this shift just lets Joel off the hook for who Ellie grew up to be and colors her grief-driven crusade as more of a tantrum that needs to be managed rather than as the actions of woman lashing out at a life that has taken most of the things she’s ever wanted from her. Ellie’s arc in these games is so much more complex than anger issues, and I find the show’s vision of her violence to be so one-dimensional. Violence is a language characters use to express everything from love to hatred in The Last of Us, and it’s one that the show barely knows how to read.Back in her shed, Ellie is doing exactly what Tommy feared: something stupid. She’s got guns and supplies spread around her space and is clearly gearing up to head out by herself. Dina arrives and points out how an arsenal and canned food isn’t enough to reach Seattle and kill Abby. She has no plan, no route, no map; just a switchblade and a dream. Dina’s not here to talk her out of it, she’s here to make sure she doesn’t get herself killed on the way. In another life, Dina would be the one who plans the girls’ two-week overseas vacation down to booking the flights and itinerary, where Ellie gets to be a passenger princess who just has to show up.Ellie thanks Dina as she leaves, to which Dina replies that she could have just asked. Ellie says she didn’t realize that, and if she’s become this jaded toward the community of Jackson, it makes sense that she wouldn’t even feel like she could rely on her best friend. But hopefully, Dina’s actions quell any of her fears. As the two prepare to leave with their horse Shimmer, they’re sent off by none other than Seth. He offers Ellie his rifle, some supplies, and a few words of encouragement. Ellie is skeptical the whole time, even scoffing at the notion that revenge for Joel is a collective cause between the two of them. But as they leave, the two exchange a silent handshake. Maybe bigots can grow. A radical thought.Image: HBOBut before we head out, Ellie has one more place she needs to go. She and Dina stop at a graveyard just south of Jackson and find one marked “Joel Miller, beloved brother and father.” Ellie unwraps some coffee beans and spreads them over the soil, lingers for a moment, then silently turns to leave. I’m glad the show displays some restraint here, because it would not have surprised me if Ellie had voiced everything she ever wanted to say to Joel, as that’s often the show’s M.O. Instead, we got an understated moment with a cute nod to Joel’s coffee fixation. It’s good.We skip forward a bit as Dina and Ellie play games to pass the time on horseback. Dina asks Ellie about her first kill. She says she won’t talk about the first one (we don’t need to relive Riley’s tragic fate), but she does tell her about her and Joel’s time in Kansas City. Dina says she’s sorry Ellie had to go through that, which surprises our funky little lesbian. “I shoot a guy and you feel sorry for me?” “I’m just loyal like that,” Dina replies.The pair’s trip is put on hold as a storm passes over them. That’s how you know they’re getting closer to Seattle. They set up a tent, and it’s clear that Ellie is unsure what to do with all this closeness. Just as the girls are about to get some shuteye, Dina turns the lantern on and says she wants to talk about New Year’s Eve and their big kiss. You know, before Seth ruined it. Ellie seems to have stopped reading into it because they were both intoxicated, but Dina wants to know how Ellie would rate it. Ellie isn’t looking to play along, and when Dina reminds the room that she’s “not” gay, Ellie finally gives her a number: six. Dina doesn’t believe this rating, but when Ellie tells her she can go back to Jesse if she wants something better, Dina reveals she already did. That’s seemingly resolved that issue.By this point in Part II, Dina and Ellie were established as girlfriends, and all the romantic tension was gone in favor of two girls getting to know each other in this new context. I’m okay with the show taking a different approach to this, as a lot of the relationship building between Ellie and Dina is lost when we can’t spend hours wandering around Seattle and chatting. Introducing Dina and establishing their relationship as quickly as the game does probably wouldn’t work for TV, so replacing it with some “will they/won’t they” awkwardness is probably the right call. A lot of fans were disappointed that this meant one of the best scenes between the two in Jackson, which involved passing weed back and forth among other activities, went out the window. But we’re making up for some lost ground in this scene, so I’m willing to see where this goes and weigh in later.Dina asks if Jesse seems sad to Ellie, and she replies without hesitation that he does, though neither of them is sure why. Dina thinks maybe that’s just who he is. At least, she hopes so. Because if it’s not, then maybe she makes him feel that way. Before the two drift off to sleep, Dina tells Ellie she “wasn’t that high” when they kissed. Girl, you’ve got some decisions to make.The two get back on the road in the morning, and are just about 10 miles out of Seattle when they come across the aftermath of some kind of battle. Bodies of the Seraphite crew from earlier in the episode are scattered across the trail, and as Dina investigates further, she runs back to Ellie to puke in the bushes. Ellie goes to see what elicited such a response and finds their bodies decomposing. Dina apologizes for her sickness, pinning it on the smell. Ellie guesses from the caliber of the various bullet casings at the scene that this might have been Abby’s crew. Now they have another reason to feel vindicated in coming all this way.Then we finally reach Seattle. From a distance, you would have no idea there’s a war happening here. Dina says there might not be that many wolves for them to deal with, to which Ellie says there are about to be “a whole lot less.” Dina asks if that was a cool action movie line from the Curtis & Viper movies Joel loved so much. Ellie says that one was all her; she was just trying to sound like a badass. “You don’t need to try,” Dina whispers in her ear. Girlypop, don’t play like this when you’ve got a man waiting for you back home. (Do it. Give in to the gay thoughts.)Spaking of wolves, we see the first sign of life from Abby’s crew. Manny (Danny Ramirez) is keeping watch from the remains of the Space Needle, and luckily doesn’t see the Jackson girlies as he gives the all-clear for a W.L.F. crew to move through the city. While Ellie and Dina may be expecting a small group of heavily armed bandits, the group Manny clears to move through the city is sporting tanks, military-grade weapons and armor, and is moving like a well-trained unit. Ellie’s rage may have brought her this far, but she’s gonna need a lot more than that to fight her way through Seattle to Abby.New episodes of The Last of Us premiere on Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern on Max.

The goal of this guide is to provide best practices for authoring content in Unity that works with version control. For more information about using version control, check out Unity’s Take on version control for stronger collaboration blog or the more in-depth Best practices for version control e-book. Though both of these resources contain good general information for working with version control, the focus of this blog is on how content integrates with version control and how to avoid merge conflicts when many creators are working on the same or adjacent content at the same time.There is a lot of confusion online about .meta files and version control. .meta files should always be checked into version control. They contain important information, such as the file GUID that connects all references between assets. They should be kept in sync with their source files (both the name and location should always match the associated source file). Never move or rename an asset file outside of the Unity Editor unless specific tools have been built for this purpose or the functionality of .meta files is completely understood.The default version control .meta file mode is Visible Files, which shows the .meta files on disk in the operating system, rather than hiding them. If you’re using Perforce, select the Perforce mode.The first thing any team should do when working with Unity and version control is set up Smart Merge. By default, Unity stores YAML files as text, which makes them mergeable in version control. Changing the Asset Serialization Mode to binary will remove the ability to merge these files by version control.Because Unity’s YAML files are text-based, a lot of version control merging software will try to merge them using text or coding rules. Smart Merge is built by Unity to merge with the YAML structure in mind. We recommend enforcing the usage of Smart Merge as the default merging tool for all YAML files.Smart Merge will greatly reduce the amount of lost work due to merge conflicts, but if your team has zero tolerance for potential lost work, we recommend also using file locking and enforcing manual merge conflict resolution for any YAML files. File locking is a common practice for large studios where multiple content creators might work on the same binary file (or YAML file) at the same time. Unity version control prevents anyone from checking out a locked file. Perforce prevents anyone from submitting a locked file.Git requires Git LFS to be initialized in order to support file locking. We recommend using Git LFS for any project that has large content files and uses Git for version control.Successful teams often have strict guidelines regarding naming conventions, folder structures, where assets should be located, and how assets should be edited. Because every team is different, there is no one set of universal guidelines. Picking the right system for your team and sticking with it for as long as it works is the most important thing.Specific, strict guidelines makes developing tools to verify content simpler. This prevents bugs before they even get into the game. Validating content with code and tools becomes much easier with clarity on asset location and naming. You can then more easily enforce Unity import standards via Asset Postprocessing and Presets.When building content, it’s important to utilize the separation of concerns principles. Thinking about how content should be divided and where it should live will keep the project clean and prevent most content creators from running into merge conflicts. It can also help with discoverability and onboarding feature experts, where individual features live in specific sub scenes or Prefabs. The main building blocks that can be used to separate content into files are Scenes, Prefabs, and Subgraphs.Scenes are the macro building blocks for any Unity application. Each scene is serialized (saved) to a file, which means they can be used to organize content in a way that is friendly for source control and simultaneous editing. Additive Scene Loading is often used effectively to create very large scenes, streaming content, or even very simple scenes that have multiple components with separate concerns.In general, we recommend storing scene-dependent data in scenes. For example, in the case of baked lighting, lights, lightmaps, and environment settings, all are dependent on which scene they are in. Almost everything else can be stored in Prefabs. If a scene is small and has specific content in it that will only be edited within that scene, it might make sense to store all of that data in a single scene. However, it is important to note that if there are two GameObjects in a scene, any changes to one of those objects will result in changes to the scene file.While Smart Merge should handle the scenario where two content creators change two different objects in the scene at the same time, more elaborate changes can result in unresolvable conflicts. We recommend utilizing Prefabs to help mitigate this issue.In terms of explicit scene structure, the Unity Netcode Demo contains a useful flow chart of a standard scene layout for a simple project that is similar to those we’ve seen in many scenarios. Prefabs can be used to build modular, separate content. For more information, check out this tutorial on Prefabs and Nested Prefabs. The most important section in that tutorial is the Best Practices section. There aren’t any explicit rules about building content with Prefabs. Each team will have to decide what works best for them based on their project. There are, however, a few good guidelines to follow:Think of Prefabs as the building blocks of your house, or project. Generally, there is a root Prefab that represents the foundation of the house. Within that are the Prefabs for each reusable component that make up the rest of the house. They could be as granular as a windowsill, or as broad as a wall with windows in it. The level of granularity needed will depend on how content creators want to edit their Prefabs. Prefabs can be nested. This means that in the example above, there might be a house Prefab, with wall, roof, window, and door Prefabs that compose the house. One important thing to note with nesting Prefabs is that the deeper the hierarchy is, the more likely it becomes that the project will encounter performance issues. We generally recommend keeping Prefab hierarchies below 5-7 levels of depth. When nesting Prefabs, it is generally a good idea to edit the Prefabs in Prefab Mode. This guarantees that the Prefab properties or overrides are set in the proper location. Editing Prefab properties in the scene view can result in overrides residing in the wrong Prefab or in the scene itself. This can have unintended consequences and cause merge conflicts. Sometimes, it is necessary to override a child Prefab property in a parent Prefab (variations can be achieved this way without affecting every reference to a specific Prefab). This is a standard workflow, but it is important to be careful to make changes and apply overrides in the proper Prefab or scene.Everything in a Prefab will be loaded and instantiated into memory at runtime when a Prefab is loaded and instantiated. This means if visual effects, or attached objects that aren’t always present, are inside of a Prefab, those objects will be instantiated into memory. This can result in memory bloat, as every Prefab instantiated will instantiate everything inside of it. If objects have occasional visual effects or models attached to them, it is better to have a pooling system and an attachment manager that adds those components at runtime. Anything in a pooling system should generally not be placed inside a Prefab.Everything does not need to be a Prefab. Smaller building blocks can be GameObjects inside a Prefab or even a scene. If an object is unique to a scene or Prefab, there is no need to create a Prefab for it.Prefab variants should be used with care. Generally, the best use of a Prefab variant is when the core building blocks of an object are identical with only simple differences. For example, it might be helpful to use a Prefab variant for a game component that has identical functionalities, but different visuals. In this scenario, changing the core functionality will affect the functionality of both the Prefab and its variants, but the visual will remain overridden.Be careful about making overly-complex Prefab variants, as changes to the root Prefab could have unintended consequences on the overridden Prefab. As a general rule of thumb, something like a character variation system or any other complex visual skinning system, should not be based on Prefab variants unless the system is very simple.We recommend creating a consistent strategy for determining what should be Prefabs and what should be GameObjects within Prefabs or scenes. If a Prefab is created directly from an FBX file, a special kind of Prefab called a model Prefab is created. The result is a Prefab variant of the FBX file. Any additions or changes will be stored as overrides in the Prefab file. However, because most of the data is stored in the FBX file, changes and additions to the Prefab cannot be applied to model Prefabs. If you’re using the model Prefab variant workflow, it’s important to keep structural changes to a minimum.There are two alternative workflows that allow less tightly coupled structures between the FBX model and the Prefab:Adding the FBX file directly into a scene and then adding components or structural modifications onto GameObjects in the scene. In this scenario, any changes are now stored in the scene file. This can result in merge conflicts if many people are using this workflow in the same scene. We only recommend this workflow if the changes have to live in the scene and conflicts are not an issue.Creating a standard Unity Prefab out of the exploded model. In this method, the FBX model is dragged into the scene and then unpacked completely. This is then used to create a Prefab. This methodology completely decouples the FBX file from the Prefab. This is useful if very loose coupling is desired between the FBX file and the Prefab. It will no longer inherit any structural changes made to the original FBX file. The coupling will only be between the names of the meshes, materials, and animations. Everything else will reside in the Prefab file itself. This can be useful for creating entirely unique variants of an FBX model. For example if two characters use the same model, but need completely different meshes, materials, or even different hierarchies, this methodology might be better than creating multiple FBX files that take up extra memory and disk space.One thing to note with this method is that when a mesh or material name changes on the original FBX file, the object does not disappear, but instead, references a missing mesh or material. This can be handy when extremely complex component setups are required. Rather than having the GameObject disappear and lose all components, the object sticks around and components can be transferred to the new object, or the renamed mesh or material can be slotted back into the GameObject that is now referencing a missing mesh or material.In the two images below, changes are made to an FBX file and then reimported. The circle around the Unity logo on the ball is deleted. The main support stand is renamed. The material for the main ball is changed from black to green and a new parent is introduced above the stand logo with transforms on it that raise it above the model. This is all closely matched in both the FBX file and the model Prefab. In the non-model Prefab, the original hierarchy, names, and materials are kept. The deleted mesh is now a missing mesh, but the GameObject is still present. The renamed mesh is also not visible because it is referencing a mesh name that doesn’t exist in the model anymore. The changed material is not updated because the GameObject is still referencing the original material. Additionally, the hierarchy change is not respected and the mesh stays in the same place because its parent has not changed.In the before and after images below, the results of the changes made above are displayed in the scene hierarchy. The FBX file that is referenced directly in the scene and the standard model Prefab respond to any changes made to the original FBX file. The unpacked Prefab retains its original hierarchy and does not respond to deletions or name changes.It is important to make careful decisions about which methodology is used in a given scenario. If tight coupling is desired between the Editor and the FBX files, then the standard model Prefab is probably the best choice. If very loose coupling is desired (for example a very flexible character system where meshes or materials may be swapped out frequently), then creating non-model Prefabs with soft references to the components of the FBX file will work better.In the case of graph tools like Shader Graph or Visual Effect Graph, Shader Graph Subgraphs and Visual Effect Graph Subgraphs can be used to create reusable functional nodes that live in a separate file and can be edited without causing conflicts in every Shader Graph or Visual Effect Graph. This allows users to separate concerns in a similar way to Prefabs and scenes. We recommend creating a strategy for reusability by taking advantage of subgraphs where it makes the most sense.Avoiding deep hierarchies is a universal statement for content that relates to Scenes, Prefabs, GameObjects, Animation, UI, and anything else. In general, deep hierarchies of any kind tend to result in performance problems. Deep animation hierarchies in characters will result in fewer characters being able to be drawn on screen due to CPU performance concerns. Because of this, we recommend placing all animated hierarchies at the root node of the scene to help with performance. Opting for flat hierarchies when using UGUI and Canvases will result in better performance due to fewer cascading layout updates. Deeply nested Prefabs can cause performance problems and also lead to confusion when overrides are not carefully managed.We often see teams store source content in a variety of locations, from network drives to local machines. We recommend putting all important source content into version control in one way or another.The most common method we see is to put source content into a folder in version control that is outside of the Assets folder. This ensures that Unity does not try to import any content from the source files directly. Maya, 3ds Max, Blender, and Photoshop files will import automatically into models and textures if they are placed anywhere in the assets folder. While Unity does support this, we don’t recommend this practice. Additionally, we do recommend mirroring the source directory to the content in the Assets directory so that tracking assets is relatively easy.Source content should be maskable for users, as most users will not need it all and source content can be extremely large on disk (think terabytes). In some version control software, creating content masks is fairly simple. In Unity version control, this is achieved with cloaked files. In Perforce, Views are used to mask content from the client. Git, however, isn’t designed to work in this way. Because of this, we recommend creating a separate Git repository for source content or a separate repository for each type of content (for example, 3D artists may never need to sync the full audio source and vice versa).Creating content that works with version control and supports multiple users working in the same areas is a difficult task. However, Unity provides building blocks that can be used with careful thought and planning to create large-scale content that does not result in unresolvable merge conflicts or lost work.

Cancer ranks as one of the top causes of death worldwide. The National Cancer Institute reported nearly 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer-related deaths globally in 2022, with projections showing a rise to 29.9 million new cases by 2040. Craif, spun off from Nagoya University in Japan in 2018, is using microRNA(miRNA) to develop an AI-powered early cancer detection software, and it has raised $22 million in Series C funding to expand further into the U.S. market and bolster its R&D. Ryuichi Onose, co-founder and CEO of Craif, told TechCrunch in an interview that the company completed its Series C funding round with a valuation of just under $100 million. X&KSK, an existing investor, led the latest funding, which brings its total raised to $57 million to date, along with the U.S.-based investor Unreasonable Group, its first investment in a Japanese startup, TAUNS Laboratories, Daiwa House Industry and Aozora Bank Group. Craif’s journey started when Onose saw how deeply cancer affected his family, with both his grandparents being diagnosed with the disease. These personal experiences have inspired a strong commitment to help address the cancer issue. Onose and Takao Yasui, an associate professor at Nagoya University, co-founded Craif just a month after they met. Yasui had created a new method for early cancer detection using urinary biomarkers. Early detection of a treatable condition can be challenging as traditional diagnostic methods like blood tests can be invasive, causing some people to avoid regular screening, Onose said. In addition, limited access to medical facilities in certain areas makes it challenging for individuals to easily obtain cancer testing, according to Onose. Craif aims to address these gaps by providing a non-invasive urine-based test that enables early cancer detection, even at a very early stage, like at Stage 1. “The test can be conducted from the comfort of a patient’s home and is powered by advanced microRNA analysis, making early detection more accessible and effective,” Onose said. “Our users are health-conscious individuals who are concerned about cancer but find it challenging to commit to conventional screenings due to time, cost and accessibility constraints.” Several startups are creating platforms for early cancer detection in the industry, like Grail, Freenome, DELFI Diagnostics and Clearnote Health.   Craif differentiates itself by using microRNA as a biomarker instead of cfDNA (cell-free DNA) like most competitors and utilizing urine. “miRNA, which gained heightened recognition after being linked to the 2024 Nobel Prize, is known for its deep involvement in cancer biology even at the earliest stages,” Onose explained. “Unlike cfDNA, miRNA is proactively secreted by early cancer cells, making it particularly suitable for early cancer detection.” Another unique aspect of its product is its use of urine. Onose said urine is easy and non-invasive, providing many scientific and practical benefits. It has fewer impurities than other samples, making the biomarker signals clearer, he added. This helps to decrease any measurement errors, like those from hemolysis in blood and saves money on tests. Craif’s first product, miSignal, a test that detects the risk of seven different cancers (pancreatic, colorectal, lung, stomach, esophagus breast, ovarian) using urinary miRNA, is already generating revenues in Japan. The products are distributed through clinics, pharmacies, direct-to-consumer sales, and corporate wellness programs, providing a variety of revenue sources that can be expanded, according to the company CEO. “We are partnered with over 1000 medical institutions and about 600 pharmacies in Japan, serving about 20,000 users. Our team consists of 73 dedicated employees,” Onose told TechCrunch. The revenue model offers both single tests and subscription packages for regular testing, with many users opting for subscription plans. It posted $5 million in revenue in 2024 and aims to generate $15 million by the end of this year, Onose told TechCrunch. Craig intends to broaden the scope of miSignal to include more than ten different types of cancers in the coming year. Moreover, the startup is getting ready to use its technology for the early detection of non-cancerous diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders like dementia. Craif has its R&D lab in Irvine, California, and plans to open another office in San Diego to handle its business operations. The new funding will help the startup enter the U.S. market with its miSingal, aiming to complete trials in the U.S. in 2026-end and get FDA approval as early as 2027. It has already begun collecting pancreatic cancer samples in collaboration with 30 medical institutions across 15 U.S. states.

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The fierce rivalry between Sanji and Roronoa Zoro in One Piece is, without a doubt, one of the most entertaining and interesting relationships in the world of shōnen anime & manga. The cook and the combatant of the Straw Hat Pirates are always clashing against each other for petty reasons, but deep down, they care about each other, and they both want to help Luffy become the next Pirate King.

Just like the season before it, The Last of Us season 2 walks a line between faithfully adapting its source’s already cinema-inspired material and expanding on that material to meet the medium of television. And so, as players watched in 2020’s The Last of Us Part 2 and viewers watched a few weeks ago in The Last of Us season 2, there’s a scene early in the story when Ellie and Dina are necking during a slow dance, and an older man — Seth, the community bartender of Jackson, Wyoming — tells them to cut it out, they’re in public.  OK, Seth, harsh, but not unreasonable. But then he makes the real source of his disapproval clear by calling them a lesbophobic slur. Joel decks him, Ellie redirects her anger to Joel for presuming she can’t defend herself, and we move on. Or, at least, I might have been able to move on. But The Last of Us, the TV show, keeps coming back to Seth the Community Bigot, culminating in some of the most pivotal scenes in this week’s episode.  The Last of Us seems to want me to believe that the only overt prejudice to have survived the apocalypse is queerphobia. But prejudice is not set dressing, not a one-off tool to construct a character beat. And when the folks behind the show insist on including one and hand-waving others, they’re telling on themselves.  [Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 through episode 3.] If I might repeat myself a little bit, none of this would have stuck in my craw so much if TLOU season 2 didn’t keep presenting Seth to me and asking, But what if he was really an OK guy? Things like this just happen, TLOU season 2 is saying. Seth’s not a bigot, he just had a heated gamer moment!  Bullshit. It is definitionally bigoted behavior for a man to harbor such distaste for queer people in his heart that cannot see a couple kids get a little smoochy while they slow dance without getting so angry that his mouth opens and slurs two members of his own close-knit community in public.  To be clear, if Seth and Ellie were real people in a real community, I think episode 2 presents the ideal resolution: Maria, a community leader, proactively makes sure that Seth apologizes, including with a gift, at the first opportunity, and there’s no overt expectation that Ellie or Dina will forgive him. But considering Seth’s little arc as part of a show, one made by people making choices of what to put on the screen, it’s frankly insulting that we take the time out of everything else going on here for this insufficient display of Seth supporting Ellie’s revenge quest, culminating in the narrative elevation of him to Ellie’s ally when she ultimately shakes his hand in episode 3.  What this little supplementary, post-dance Seth arc — not present in the games and invented for The Last of Us the TV show — tells me as a viewer, really, is that Jackson’s community has the social tools to manage and overcome prejudice within its small group in order to maintain both equality and cohesion. Which is funny, because the rest of The Last of Us’ set dressing tells me that some major prejudices are surprisingly unseen even in some of its least stable communities.  The Last Of Us is about nothing but in-group-out-group definitions. This is the entire thesis of its apocalypse! That the undead as a concern are a close second to the post-apocalyptic dissolution of humanity into various violent, factionalized groups who each have their own sense of “us versus the rest of the world.” FEDRA, the Fireflies, the ruthless Pittsburgh/Kansas City revolutionaries, the Scars, the WLFs, and even Jackson, albeit in a softer, graver way. And yet, pretty much every one of these groups respects the ability of women and people of color to fight and lead.  You can’t excuse this by saying that maybe this apocalypse happened after some future date in which America had culturally evolved beyond sexism and racism but not queerphobia. (The idea of that is still unlikely, given how intertwined sexism and queerphobia are, but for the sake of argument, we will move on.) You can’t say that, because The Last of Us is so clear that the zombie plague happened in 2003. You can’t fool me; I was a junior in high school then! I had a front-row seat to exactly how sexist, racist, and queerphobic even the most liberal communities in the U.S. could be in 2003. The idea that the apocalypse eradicated two of those bigotries but not the third is bananas.  There is an element here that’s very rooted in The Last of Us’ origins as a video game. The 60-plus-hour action saga hinges on a tribalistic world state. For the writers, it’s an efficient way to hang a narrative around the mechanical need to have a multiplicity of different enemy types, with enough mechanical and visual variety to maintain interest, in a game where the bulk of the player’s time is spent overcoming those enemies and, vitally, feeling mostly good about it.  One can imagine a line of dominoes here, I think, that starts with the 2014 royal roast of a Ubisoft rep for pleading that women were too much work to animate. And somewhere in the middle there’s a domino for AAA game writers and developers absorbing the idea that in-game models should reflect more visual diversity, but flinching away from incorporating that visual diversity in any way that might seem politically motivated, as our social media arenas have devolved to the point where even making a Wolfenstein game where you kill Nazis sparks controversy.  And the final domino is The Last of Us the TV show, set in a post-apocalypse where America has settled out into an seemingly endless selection of fiercely insular, highly militarized groups of survivors, none of which are oriented around racial lines and all of which have fully gender-integrated their fighting forces. Perhaps the white-nationalist militias are simply slightly off screen? Perhaps thinking women aren’t fit to lead in combat makes you extra tasty to Cordyceps? Apparently if you think lesbian kissing is dirtier than straight kissing, you’re fine.  Now, I don’t want to be mistaken for arguing that The Last of Us would be better if it had more racism and sexism in it. Quite the opposite. I’m very much good with a story that posits that the zombie apocalypse caused a fundamental shift that closed humanity’s arbitrary cultural divides forever. And while I’m open to exploring how that might have happened, honestly, I don’t necessarily need to! I would respect a creator who just determined that those were topics they didn’t want, or weren’t equipped, to touch upon, and so didn’t incorporate them into the setting.  But we’re not in that space. Because I still had to watch Ellie shake hands with a bigot.  Apparently, the space we’re in is a setting where we’ve eradicated all of the old prejudices except the one that, it just so happens, applies to the main characters. All the prejudices except the one that, it just so happens, can’t really be visualized in in-game enemy models. All the prejudices except queerphobia.  So we’re left with the question of why. What is the presence of queerphobic thoughts, actions, and speech doing in The Last of Us? Well, in the scene where it’s introduced, Ellie needs to be angry at Joel for inserting himself into her life in the name of protecting her. Joel needs a reason to pop off that’s serious enough to make him seem righteously protective. And in Seth’s new arc, he’s a vehicle to illustrate how The Last of Us’ in-group-out-group framework is expressed through its central relationships: Any act of violence can be justified if you did it for someone who’s part of your “us.” Seth supports Ellie’s violence, which earns him a spot back in her “us.”  You might have noticed that none of the above has anything specific to do with making a character face an aggressive act of bigotry from someone in their own community. Despite getting a second swing at the same character beat, separated by years of industry discussion and crit, the folks behind The Last of Us season 2 not only replicated the discordant idea that queerphobia exists in their post-apocalypse, but doubled down on it by giving Seth a larger, redemptive part to play. They have not considered how this makes their own world-building seem shallow. Nor what it says about their own minds, when they presume the persistence of anti-queer prejudice so easily as to put it front and center, while hand-waving the role of identity prejudice in the formation of in-group-out-group dynamics… in their story that’s entirely about in-group-out-group dynamics.  The Last of Us doesn’t want me to think very hard about its post-apocalyptic world where crisis has eradicated all but queerphobia — because nobody behind The Last of Us thought about it either. So we’re here, in this fantastical apocalypse, with our revenge and power fantasy, where the hero is still made to stoop to shake the hand of the bigot who slurred her.

Google is busy adding Gemini AI into just about every app it develops, and Google Drive is no exception. If you've got a Google One AI Premium subscription—or an organization you're part of is paying its Gemini AI dues for Google Workspace—then you get Gemini integration for your Google Drive account and Docs, Sheets, and Slides.There are a whole host of AI tricks you can do inside documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, but here I'm going to focus on what's possible with your files and folders in Google Drive more broadly, including searches and summaries. Right now the best way to access these functions is through Google Drive on the web, though there is a Google Drive plug-in for Gemini on mobile as well.All of this relies on you giving Gemini access to your Google Drive data—but Google has all of your data anyway, so it's a question of extending your trust of Google even further. As with other Google apps, you can control the data Gemini keeps and delete existing records through your Google account.The basics of Gemini in Google DriveLoad up Google Drive on the web, and you'll see a Gemini star symbol up in the top right corner—click on this to bring up a Gemini side panel. Up at the top you've got arrows for expanding or shrinking the panel, and a button showing three dots that you can click to clear your Gemini conversation history inside Google Drive.Depending on how recently you've used Gemini, you might see some suggestions for prompts you can run. You might also see a prompt that will give you a few examples of what Gemini can do inside Google Drive—you can also get some hints by clicking the three dots at the top of the side panel, and choosing More suggestions. Gemini will offer suggestions for prompts if you need them. Credit: Lifehacker On the most basic level, you can use Gemini to create files and folders inside Google Drive. Try something like "create a new folder called Travel" or "create a new document called Travel plans" as your prompt. This doesn't really save you any time compared to the traditional way of carrying out these tasks, but it's handy if you're already chatting with the Gemini bot.Based on the time I've spent playing around with Gemini in Google Drive, most of these prompts work as advertised, though the AI can sometimes lack precision in getting your files set up. Note that you can't move or copy files at the moment, though this seems like the kind of feature it would make sense for Google to roll out eventually.Search through files and foldersGoogle Drive already has a robust search tool, right up at the top of the web interface, but Gemini gives you some more flexibility in terms of the language of your queries and the kinds of information you can pull out. If you want to look at specific files or folders, use the @ symbol and then type out the file or folder name.For example, you might ask "who scored highest in @staffreview" (if you have a spreadsheet with that name), and Gemini will tell you. Or, you could enter the prompt "which state is mentioned most in @travelplans" and get the answer. The prompts like these that I tried were all answered accurately, but double-check answers if your company's annual budget or family vacation is relying on the information Gemini gives you. You're able to tag and query files directly. Credit: Lifehacker You can also get Gemini to search across files and folders, so you might ask for all the information it can find about a particular topic that you've covered in multiple essays. There's a little more room for error here, because Gemini is looking across a bigger batch of data, and making more decisions about what is and isn't relevant.For now, at least, you can't get Gemini to, for example, show you all your spreadsheets from yesterday, find the most recent file talking about apples or oranges, get the AI to count up files, or query your file editing history—these operations are still best performed using the standard Google Drive search box and its filters. Summarize files and foldersSummaries have to be one of the best uses of modern generative AI, whether they're summing up lengthy PDFs, multiple webpages, or giant spreadsheets—even if hallucinations also keep appearing here from time to time. This is something Gemini does well in Google Drive, based on the testing I've done.You don't need to open up the Gemini side panel for this one—just right-click on any file or folder in your Google Drive and choose Summarize this file or Summarize this folder. If you're browsing a folder, you can also click the folder name at the top, then choose Summarize this folder. Gemini can give you broad summaries of folders. Credit: Lifehacker Gemini springs into action and gives you a rundown of what's in your selected file or folder. For folders with a lot of files in them, or large files, you get a broader overview—the AI is able to adapt its response based on the amount of information it has to sift through. You can then ask follow-up questions if you need more detail (you may see suggestions for follow-ups appear on screen).Bear in mind that as soon as you close the Gemini side panel, the information Gemini has given you is gone: If you want to keep it, use the Copy buttons underneath the responses, then move it somewhere else (into a Google Docs file, for example). Your Google Drive chats aren't synced over to the main Gemini app.