Casa Gallareta | © Nacho Ballester Amid the dense native forests of Villa La Angostura in Argentine Patagonia, Casa Gallareta by OJA (Organic & Joyful Architecture) presents a sensitive architectural intervention that challenges conventional notions of residential hospitality. Rather than imposing on the pristine landscape, the project embraces the forest’s rhythms, proposing a model where built form and environment exist in symbiosis. Casa Gallareta Technical Information Architects1-2: OJA | Organic & Joyful Architecture Location: Villa La Angostura, Patagonia, Argentina Site Area: 250 m² Completion Year: 2023 Photographs: © Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo, © Abril Roffo, © Nacho Ballester Our objective was to create an architecture that coexists harmoniously with the forest, blending into the landscape without leaving a mark. – Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo and María Ayelén Olivieri Martínez Casa Gallareta Photographs © Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo © Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo © Abril Roffo © Nacho Ballester © Nacho Ballester © Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo © Nacho Ballester © Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo © Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo © Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo © Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo Integrating Architecture with the Native Forest The site for Casa Gallareta lies within a forest of towering Coihues and Arrayanes, set against the steep slopes and tranquil waters of Lake Correntoso. For architect Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo, who grew up in Patagonia, the region’s untouched beauty held a deep personal significance. Together with María Ayelén Olivieri Martínez, the architects sought to translate this connection into an architectural language that privileged coexistence over conquest. Conceived as a boutique-scale lodging complex (250 sq m), the project features a collection of modular cabins designed to blend into the forest rather than dominate it. Respecting the delicate ecosystem, the cabins were placed in existing clearings, eliminating the need to remove any trees. This approach underscores the architects’ intent to weave human habitation into the landscape’s pre-existing order, achieving what they describe as a “controlled randomness,” a methodical distribution that allows each cabin to retain a unique spatial relationship with its surroundings while maintaining a unified architectural expression. Compactness, Openness, and Sensory Immersion Though compact in footprint, each cabin offers a spatial richness uncommon in small-scale hospitality projects. Organized across split half-levels, the interiors create a subtle topographic variation that both echoes the natural slope of the terrain and enhances the user’s experience of movement and enclosure. A key spatial strategy involves blurring the boundaries between the interior and exterior. Expansive, strategically placed windows frame the surrounding forest, inviting the landscape into the living space while maintaining privacy through the dense Myrtle canopy. Rather than isolating guests from one another, the cabins’ orientations encourage a careful balance between solitude and a loose visual dialogue among the units and communal spaces. The spatial sequence culminates in certain moments of heightened sensory experience, such as the freestanding tub positioned before a panoramic window in the largest cabin. Here, architecture mediates an intimate relationship with the natural cycles, offering the act of bathing as an immersive experience amidst snowfall and the seasonal changes of the forest. Casa Gallareta Materiality and Construction Techniques Materiality in Casa Gallareta functions as both an expressive and a pragmatic response to site conditions. Externally, the cabins are clad in eucalyptus wood treated with the traditional Japanese technique of Shou Sugi Ban. This method involves surface charring to enhance weather resistance, fire protection, and durability. The resulting deep-blackened surfaces serve not only as protection but also as a critical design gesture: a visual backdrop that intensifies the colors of the living forest, greens in summer, and whites in winter. Complementary materials such as Lapacho wood, black metalwork, and exposed concrete lend additional textural variety while maintaining a restrained and earthy palette. Dry construction was employed atop reinforced concrete foundations to navigate the site’s steep, densely vegetated conditions, ensuring minimal disruption to the land during the building process. The interiors contrast sharply with the dark exteriors, clad almost entirely in Guatambú wood, a light, knot-free material chosen for its ability to brighten and enlarge the sense of interior space. Used extensively for paneling and custom-built furniture, the Guatambú creates visual continuity between walls and furnishings, reinforcing a monolithic, minimalist atmosphere that enhances the perception of purity and tranquility. Contemporary Luxury Through Nature-Embedded Architecture Casa Gallareta participates in a broader redefinition of luxury in contemporary architecture. Eschewing opulence and excess, the project proposes a vision of luxury rooted in essential spatial qualities: intimacy with nature, sensory richness, and authenticity of material experience. In the cultural context of Patagonia, a landscape increasingly drawn into global conversations on ecological stewardship, the project stands as a model of site-responsive architecture that respects the primacy of the natural world. Here, architecture is not the protagonist but a careful mediator between human habitation and the pre-existing environmental narrative. Through its modest scale, strategic spatial gestures, and carefully considered material palette, Casa Gallareta challenges architects to reconsider the relationship between buildings and landscapes. It invites a vision of future hospitality projects where minimal intervention yields maximum experiential depth and where architecture, rather than asserting itself, disappears seamlessly into the living world. Casa Gallareta Plans Plans | © OJA Casa Gallareta Image Gallery About OJA (Organic & Joyful Architecture) Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo and María Ayelén Olivieri Martínez are the founding partners of OJA (Organic & Joyful Architecture), a young architecture studio based in Patagonia, Argentina. Their practice is rooted in a deep respect for natural landscapes, combining sustainable construction techniques with a sensitivity to place. Specializing in residential and hospitality projects, they explore how architecture can foster emotional connections through minimal intervention and immersive spatial experiences. Credits and Additional Notes Architects: Arq. María Ayelén Olivieri Martínez, Arq. Juan Segundo Díaz Dopazo Primary Materials: Eucalyptus wood (Shou Sugi Ban technique), Lapacho wood, Glass, Black metalwork, Exposed concrete, Guatambú wood (interiors)

Quiet Luxury For Andrews, Odami sculpts intimacy into a mall department store using layered volumes By Kelly Pau • May 1, 2025 • Interiors, International (John Alunan) SHARE Andrews is a Canadian womenswear retailer with a sweeping location at the Bayview Village Shopping Centre. The mall in uptown Toronto hails from the 1960s back when smaller commercial complexes began sprouting up in residential neighborhoods. Local studio Odami outfitted the 5,500-square-foot site for Andrews with this community aspect in mind. Using a sleek sand-toned color scheme and interlocking volumes, Odami creates a boutique retail environment that defies the typical overwhelming, hulking presence of mall department stores. The designers opted for an open floorplan dominated by a subdued tan hue. On the walls, upholstered panels feature a ripped fabric to help create a soft interior. It falls alongside speckled porcelain flooring that still lies within the sand-tone color family. Other materials like leather, microcement, and Calcutta rosenoir marble add to these hues while giving depth and layers to the space. The neutral background allows the clothing to draw the eye instead. Read more on aninteriormag.com. RetailToronto

Cottage Farm area of Brookline is one of the finest neighborhoods in all of New England. The area was developed thanks to Amos A. Lawrence (1814-1886), a wealthy second-generation Bostonian, who provided much of the capital and enthusiasm for the growth of the cotton industry in New England prior to the Civil War. Lawrence’s involvement in the industry aided the development of the Massachusetts mill towns of Lowell and Lawrence, whom the city was named after. In 1851, Amos Lawrence purchased 200 acres of land from David Sears, who himself developed the equally beautiful Longwood neighborhood of Brookline on the other side of Beacon Street. Amos began to subdivide the land, working with the architect George Minot Dexter and landscape architect and surveyor, Alexander Wadsworth, who designed Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, to create an early picturesque residential suburb. With houses designed in the newly popular Gothic Revival and Mansard styles and several small parks, the area became known as Cottage Farm. This stone house was designed by George M. Dexter and was the country residence of Amos Lawrence, who had other homes built nearby and rented out to wealthy friends and family. By 1888, the property was owned by Amos’ daughter, Hettie S. Cunningham, who later, subdivided the estate into five house lots, and moved this stone house to the corner of Ivy and Carleton streets. Expressive of English architectural traditions over the more ornate Gothic Revival popularized by Andrew Jackson Downing, the Lawrence House is one of the finest residences in the Boston area. Built of granite with limestone trim and set behind landscaping and a perimeter fence, the mansion is surprisingly hard to get decent photos of, but it is a stunner. Today, the house is owned by Boston University and is known as Sloane House.

Learning Brush Up Your Single-Stroke Skills at Letterboy's Block Party Review and sample video from the new online course and community, Block Lettering with a Brush. Jenna Homen May 1, 2025 • 5 min read Thank you to everyone that has shared feedback via the reader survey. I would like to get a few more responses, so have extended the deadline to this Sunday, 4 May. This includes the chance to win a lifetime BLAG membership, and some other nice runners-up prizes. Complete the Reader Survey While a master of many styles, Peter Liedberg, aka Letterboy, is known for his bold and crisp block lettering. With over 12 years of practice under his belt, he recently rolled out an online course, Block Lettering with a Brush, to share his knowledge with a wider audience beyond his in-person workshops.The course is marketed toward designers and hobbyists alike, noting that “if this is the first time you try this, it’s going to feel pretty difficult in the beginning, but don’t worry, it’s the same for everyone”. It’s broken up into 13 chapters, covering setup and materials, guidelines, basic strokes, individual letters, numbers, and punctuation, as well as spacing and contrast. Peter walks you through the process of each step through video tutorials accompanied by helpful PDFs that summarise each lesson and expand upon them, making them valuable references to print and have by your side while practising.The longest video is 13 minutes, but most hover between 5 to 10 minutes, which keeps them from feeling too long. This allows you to digest the lessons in bitesize pieces. A student who took the course, Sam Hollis, echoes this: “I only intended to watch the first video tonight and I ended up watching the whole course in one go and absorbed so much information!”Course OverviewSetup and MaterialsTo get you started, Peter walks through how to set up your painting station with an angled easel, and explains the pros and cons of other ways of painting, ie flat and vertically. Recommendations for paper, paint, brushes, and other tools are covered as well.Peter shows two different flat brushes that he recommends for practising single-stroke block letters with.Guidelines and Basic StrokesThese two lessons discuss how to mark out your paper, as well as how to thin your paint and hold your brush, paint cup, and palette. Included is a simple way to determine your letter height in relation to your brush, as well as instructions on ‘scribing’ or pulling lines with a yardstick.The stroke width of the brush is used to determine the letter heights before starting out with some basic practise strokes.Vertical and horizontal strokes are demonstrated, but a small area of improvement here would be to include diagonal and curved strokes to practise, as they can be tricky; however, they are covered through practising complete letters in later lessons.Letters and Numerals, Spacing and ContrastIn the tradition of lettering instruction, Peter groups his individual letter lessons by similar strokes, so letters that feature vertical and horizontal strokes, like HEFLT, compose one lesson, and letters like AKMNVWXYZ that feature diagonal strokes are in another lesson.These videos are filmed with a split screen to show the brushwork from different angles. Peter offers tips on how to balance individual letters with stroke length and counterspace (negative space), and also demonstrates numerals and punctuation, a welcome lesson that isn’t always guaranteed in lettering instruction.The split screen allows you to see how the brush is positiioned and to follow its movements as Peter paints. Subtitles are available in English and Japanese, with other languages available on request.Peter then walks through the spacing between letters so that you can paint words with appropriate visual balance  — BLAG members can watch this video at the end of this post. In the section on contrast, he shares a simple way to adjust the widths of your letters while maintaining proportions.Still from the course video on letter spacing, which BLAG members can watch at the end of this post.The Result? A Well-Paced Course for Flat Brush LetteringAs a whole, Block Lettering with a Brush is a thorough, easy-to-navigate, and well-paced introduction to block lettering with a flat brush. Gently and confidently, Peter guides you lesson by lesson with ease, sprinkling in helpful advice and tips along the way at the appropriate moments.In the introduction, Peter notes that a lettering quill can also be used; however, the course and its corresponding advice are centered around using a flat brush. If you are just starting out with single stroke block lettering, or are a complete beginner, I recommend you follow the course with a flat. For those with previous experience working with quills, or that have made good progress working with a flat, feel free to follow it with a quill.The $85 price is fair for the amount of information and guidance shared. You also gain access to a community board, where you can post questions or practice work so that Peter can help out further; previous enquiries include tailored advice based on a practice sheet and instruction on how to clean a brand new brush.While the course is best suited for the beginner, more experienced painters will still pick up tips and tricks along the way — I know I did. Thank you, Peter, for bringing it to life and making lettering more accessible for all! Block Lettering with a Brush is recommended for:Beginners interested in block lettering with a flat brush.Designers wanting to expand their hand-lettering toolkit.Seasoned sign painters looking to practise more. Join the Block Party More ResourcesSpacing VideoExclusively for BLAG members, Peter has shared this video on spacing from the course. This article is for paid subscribers on the Browser, Blagger, Patron/Studio and Sponsor/Group tiers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

News Tariffs could cost Meta $8bn in extra datacentre costs The owner of Facebook and WhatsApp has forecast an increase in CapEx due to higher IT infrastructure costs to power its AI strategy By Cliff Saran, Managing Editor Published: 01 May 2025 12:00 As the company boosts its investment in infrastructure for artificial intelligence (AI), Meta’s latest earnings call has painted a bleak picture for software developers.  The social media giant posted first-quarter 2025 revenue of $42.3bn, a 16% increase from the same quarter in 2024. Cost of revenue increased 14%, driven primarily by higher infrastructure costs and payments to partners, partially offset by a benefit from the previously announced extension of server useful lives. When asked about a recent conversation about AI in coding he had with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the LlamaCon conference, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg claimed the ability of AI to write code was reaching the level of a mid-level engineer. He added that by next year, the majority of the company’s research with AI will be achieved using AI agents. Zuckerberg also predicted that in the next few years, every business will have an AI business agent for customer support and sales, just as they all have an email address and social media accounts. The company is heavily pushing AI capabilities such as large language models (LLMs) to power its recommendation engines and serve adverts to users. Chief financial officer Susan Li said: “A big focus of this work will be on developing increasingly efficient recommendation systems so that we can continue scaling up the complexity and compute used to train our models while avoiding diminishing returns. We’re finding that LLMs’ ability to understand a piece of content more deeply than traditional recommendation systems can help better identify what is interesting to someone about a piece of content, leading to better recommendations.” Among the growth opportunities is AI devices, according to Zuckerberg. “This is increasingly how we’re thinking about our work on the next generation of computing platforms,” he said. “Glasses are the ideal form factor for both AI and the metaverse.” With more than a billion people worldwide who wear glasses today, Zuckerberg anticipated that over the next five to 10 years, most eyewear will incorporate artificial intelligence. To support the company’s AI efforts, he said Meta was accelerating efforts to bring datacentre capacity online more quickly this year, adding that there was also work underway to provide Meta with the flexibility to add capacity in the coming years. Read more about AI in coding Compare 7 of the best AI coding tools for 2025: Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot are rapidly changing how developers write code. Compare leading options’ features and pricing to choose the right tool. A developer’s guide to thrive vs. AI in coding: Will AI replace software developers? No, if humans focus on what they can do best and AI can't: experienced analysis, imagination and creativity. Li said Meta would be spending more this year on both generative AI and IT infrastructure to support core business. “We expect the significant infrastructure footprint we’re building will not only help us meet the demands of our business in the near-term, but also provide us with an advantage in the quality and scale of AI services we can deliver,” she said. Li added that Meta would continue to build datacentre capacity in a way that “grants us maximum flexibility in how and when we deploy it to ensure we have the agility to react to how the technology and industry develop in the coming years”. She also said Meta was working to increase the efficiency of its datacentre workloads. “Many of the innovations coming out of our ranking work are focused on increasing the efficiency of our systems,” said Li. “This emphasis on efficiency is helping us deliver consistently strong returns from our core AI initiatives.” The company stated that its forecast for capital expenditure would be increasing to between $65bn and $72bn, which represents an increase of between $4bn and $7bn compared with what it had previously forecast. When asked if Meta’s higher capital expenditure on datacentre infrastructure was a result of the US administration’s new trade tariffs, Li said: “The higher costs we expect to incur for infrastructure hardware this year really comes from suppliers who source from countries around the world. And there’s just a lot of uncertainty around this, given the ongoing trade discussions.” She added that Meta would be working on mitigations by optimising its supply chain. “Our outlook is really trying to reflect our best understanding of the potential impact this year across all of that uncertainty,” said Li. In The Current Issue: Interview: Sarah Hawkins, CEO, National Family Mediation Government faces claims of serious security and data protection problems in One Login digital ID Download Current Issue Red Hat: AI is not about size, it’s about fit for purpose  – CW Developer Network It's the end of coding as we know it – Cliff Saran's Enterprise blog View All Blogs

ZDNET's key takeaways The TCL QM8 (2024) features rich colors and searing brightness. It has enhanced audio over 2023's model, while still being easy to set up and navigate. I wish the viewing angles weren't somewhat limited, and you'll want to wait for a deal to buy one. more buying choices apr / 2025As last year's top-of-the-line offering, TCL's 2024 flagship TV, the QM8, promised to be a notable upgrade from the 2023 version. I spent some time with it over the past month to see what the hype was about.The first pleasant surprise I encountered was how TCL made it very easy to unbox the 65-inch model we had sent to the ZDNET lab. With a single slice of cardboard on the bottom of one side of the box, the top lifted off to liberate the TV for setup. Also: This TCL's Mini LED TV made me forget about the OLED flagships (and it's on sale)While this is super convenient, handling the TV and attaching its base stand -- as with any other large TV -- is best executed as a two-person job. By the way, the 65-inch is the smallest of the QM851G series, with an astounding 115-inch at the high end of the scale (which appropriately comes with an astounding price tag.)One notable change compared to the 2023 model is that the newer QM8 has a single central platform for its base instead of two separate feet. This assemblage equates to a sturdy unit with plenty of stability and allows the TV to sit on a coffee table or media stand less than the screen's total width.Also: This LG OLED TV isn't its most premium model, but the visuals are just as goodPowered off, the QM8 looks like a sleek, black rectangle with virtually no bezel surrounding its 57 x 32.5-inch frame. The slim sides of the unit have a brushed gunmetal finish -- giving it a subtle and elegant appearance. You'd normally have to pay a fraction more of the price to get something of a similar definition.The unit's remote feels comfortable to hold at a rather narrow 1.25 inches wide. The keys are fully backlit and include a mic button for voice commands via Google. It also features shortcut buttons for Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV, Pluto, and, of course, TCL+tv. Naturally, these are the default apps appearing on the home page of the TV's interface. I found it curious that the TCL+tv app appeared twice in the list of available apps (instead of Apple TV or Pluto) -- but it is a TCL television, after all.Knowing very few people read the instructions for using a TV, I grabbed the remote and gave it an "intuition test" to see how quickly I could connect to the internet and get started. The QM8's user interface is clean and straightforward, and it runs on the Google TV platform, an operating system that leans more minimal than feature-rich -- a good thing, in my book. Overall, getting started was a fairly breezy process.Also: How to clear the cache on your TV (and why you shouldn't wait to do it)Okay, I'll get to the part about performance and picture quality. The QM8 is a QLED TV with mini-LED backlighting, meaning it's even brighter than most OLED models. In fact, the QM8 boasts up to 5,000 nits peak brightness, which is significantly higher than most of TCL's competitors in the same price range. Many high-end TVs, including other mini-LED models, typically max out at around 2,000 nits.Mini-LED TVs use an array of LEDs to create precise dimming zones, and with up to 5,000 local dimming zones, the QM8 offers superior contrast control. This high number of zones allows for more precise backlight modulation and deeper blacks. Adam Breeden/ZDNETThe QM8's other advanced technologies, like Quantum Dot color enhancement and Dolby Vision IQ, result in exceptional image quality, high contrast, and vivid colors, as proven by our lab tests. Ultra-high definition 4K resolution helps, as does its HDR10+ support, which yields a wider range of colors and brightness levels than the standard dynamic range. As a boost over the 2023 model, the QM8 comes with an upgraded processor (the AiPQ Pro), which leverages machine learning to activate AI-based enhancements such as AI Clarity and AI Motion.Positioning myself off-center, however, I found the TV's viewing angles relatively narrow, degrading the picture quality in terms of color accuracy and contrast. This is a minor complaint, but something to consider in setting up your seating arrangement.Also: I tested Amazon's Mini LED Fire TV, and it competes with more expensive Samsung and LG modelsThe QM8's panel has an ample amount of connection options, including four HDMI 2.1 ports, two of which support 4K 120Hz pass-through, FreeSync Premium Pro, and 144Hz VRR. Additionally, there are three USB ports and a 3.5mm audio output for connecting headphones. Other 3.5mm port options include a composite video, stereo audio input, and optical digital audio output. It has an ATSC 3.0 tuner jack (in case the grid collapses?), but you'll mostly rely on its Wi-Fi 6 for zippy connectivity. The QM8 also has an Ethernet port, covering the bases for those who prefer wired internet. Adam Breeden/ZDNETFor gamers, the QM8 has some attractive features. It supports up to 144Hz variable refresh rate at 4K resolution, which I've found very enjoyable when hooking a PlayStation 5 up with the TV. But it also has a "Game Accelerator 240" feature that can make gameplay seamless at 240Hz VRR -- at the cost of gaming at half resolution 1080p. No less, combined with the inherent brightness and contrast in this model, the gaming experience is secretly one of the QM8's best assets.The QM8's Onkyo-designed speaker system has an 80-watt, 2.1.2-channel configuration -- a notable improvement from the 2023 model, which had relatively puny 20-watt, 2.1-channel speakers. The new model includes two up-firing Dolby Atmos speakers positioned on the left and right sides of the frame. In addition to Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X, the audio quality is certified as IMAX Enhanced. Watching old episodes of Lost, I found the QM8's sound crisp and bold. What I appreciate most is the TV's auto volume control, which levels out sudden decibel boosts like explosions, especially pesky commercials.ZDNET's buying adviceGoing for about $1,000 at the time of this writing, the TCL QM8 offers crazy value for its size and assortment of features. Comparable models from the likes of Sony could be priced twice as much.If you prioritize brightness, contrast, and high-level gaming, the QM8, at any size, is a solid investment for the cost. Just make sure you can position the TV (and yourself) well enough to get the best, centered viewing angle and, hopefully, have a helping hand when first unboxing the set. Why the TCL QM8 QLED gets an Editors' Choice award The TCL QM8 is receiving an Editor's Choice award because it checks all the boxes in terms of heightened visuals, sound, gaming, and AI features. Its mini-LED technology offers a super-bright screen with dynamic images and unbeatable contrast, and its Google TV interface makes it fun to use. For less than $900, the QM8's quality rivals that of OLED TVs of the same or lesser size that often cost twice as much. Show more Featured reviews

This is the release time for Fortnite Chapter 6 season 3 and when season 2 ends, along with what to expect from the season.

Bottom line: German retailers are slashing the prices of Nvidia's latest RTX 50-series GPUs, with most models now selling at or below MSRP thanks to a stronger euro and increased competition. For buyers, this means unprecedented early access to high-end cards at near-launch prices – a rare shift in the graphics card market. Nvidia's latest RTX 50-series graphics cards are facing a noticeable drop in demand across Germany, with most models now selling at or below their manufacturer's suggested retail prices. This shift marks a significant change from earlier in the year, when new releases typically commanded higher prices due to limited availability and high consumer interest. The RTX 5090 remains the exception, as it is still in high demand and frequently out of stock, but the rest of the lineup is widely available and often discounted. At the end of March, the least-expensive RTX 5080 models were listed at €1,169 ($1,324), but by last week, prices had fallen to €1,119 ($1,268), matching the official local MSRP. The RTX 5070 Ti saw an even steeper decline, dropping from €869 ($985) to €799 ($905) – €80 ($91) below its MSRP. The RTX 5070 also slipped from €599 ($679) to €589 ($667), undercutting its €619 ($701) MSRP. The newly released RTX 5060 Ti models are selling at their recommended prices, but there's not enough historical data for a meaningful comparison. Image credit: ComputerBase While these figures reflect the lowest available prices, the average cost of these graphics cards remains higher. For example, the median price of the RTX 5080 was €1,430 ($1,616) at the end of March and has eased to €1,389 ($1,570), still about 24 percent above the MSRP. // Related Stories The RTX 5070 Ti's median price dropped from €1,005 ($1,136) to €950 ($1,074), now just 8 percent above MSRP, while the RTX 5070's median fell from €687 ($776) to €654 ($739), about 5 percent over the recommended price. Some custom models from Nvidia's board partners continue to command premiums, but the overall market is trending closer to official pricing, especially outside of the top-tier RTX 5080. Nvidia has acknowledged the changing landscape by promoting offers for the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070 at or below MSRP, a rare move for the company. These deals do not extend to the flagship RTX 5090 or the newer 5060 Ti models. Industry analysts point to several factors behind the price drops. A stronger euro has allowed Nvidia to adjust its pricing downward in Europe, with the RTX 5090, 5080, and 5070 all seeing cuts of around 4 percent to 5 percent since their launch. The RTX 5070 Ti stands out as an exception, with its price remaining unchanged in Germany, possibly due to the lack of a Founders Edition and reliance on third-party manufacturers to set competitive prices. Despite these reductions, some retailers are still struggling to move inventory, with reports of RTX 50-series cards "rotting on shelves" as buyers hold out for better deals or balk at retailer markups. In contrast, the US market remains tight, with few RTX 50-series GPUs available at or near MSRP and some brands still increasing prices.

Despelote Score Details “Despelote is a moving and masterfully rendered game about soccer, growing up, and so much more.” Pros Impeccable ambient sound design Audacious visual style Exploration of themes not often seen in games Can be finished in an evening Despelote makes me miss home. Table of Contents Table of Contents Dreaming bigger A fresh perspective Recommended Videos If I pull up a Google Maps street view of my old house in the Dominican Republic, I’m met by a stranger. I don’t mean the literal stranger eyeing the camera from the garage, but the place itself. The exterior’s been repainted. The little garden out front has been ripped out. The parking spaces, which were once just aisles of concrete between dirt patches and tufts of grass, have been paved over, and the pathway to the door is no longer. The stoop on which I’d wait for my friends and count ants is gone. Through the barred windows, I see the now vacant sun room where I once spent a summer playing Super Mario 64 on my uncle’s purple Nintendo DS. The sight of my once-home prompts a stinging in my eye. Related I’ll never get that time or place back. As if in response to that feeling, Despelote, a game about Quito in Ecuador, a national soccer team, and the people whose lives it impacted, fights so goddamn hard to preserve its own little slice of life. Not just the people of the time, but the content and nature of their intimate and mundane conversations against the sound of dinner being prepared. The doldrums of being stuck in a lecture in your colegio when you just want to be outside kicking a ball with some friends. The texture of the walls of those little houses that line the dilapidated and poorly maintained streets of pueblos. Despelote is a triumph, a work of art concerned with the ephemeral, the importance of a people often denied their personhood, and its own processes to try and deny the passage of time as well as the cruelties of the world. But first and foremost, it’s about fútbol. Julián is an eight year old boy in Quito when the Ecuadorian national soccer team’s run at the World Cup, a first for the country, grips the entirety of the nation in 2001. TVs in the windows of storefronts blast the game for passersby. Julián’s parents argue that a relative should simply allow the reception at her wedding to watch one of the games smack in the middle of the momentous personal occasion, unless she wants guests to arrive with their own mobile TV sets or outright show up late. As a result, you spend the entirety of Despelote‘s two hours kicking a realistically simulated ball around town as Ecuador faces economic tumult and steep competition in the World Cup qualifiers. All the while, Julián plays. Be it a ball, a bottle, or a DVD, he never stops kicking things around and it is always this kinetic and awkward experience. You’re bound to stumble as you attempt to dribble the ball and accurately nail some bottles sitting on a wall or some potted plant. Julián isn’t learned by any means, he’s just a boy with a passion for kicking a ball because he wants to be as big and great as the people he cheers for on TV. And that’s all he needs to be, because despite a lack of technical skill, he has a clear zeal for it. Panic Inc. I spent my childhood summers in the Dominican Republic similarly kicking around a ball that lived in our garage. The girls never made much use out of it, so my grandmother was happy to see it get dusted off two months out of the year. And for those two months, I would wake up, have breakfast, grab the ball and go out into the front yard where I ran makeshift drills. I kicked the ball with as much power and accuracy as I could conjure until I could reliably bounce it off the narrowest sliver of wall. I failed often, but I became reliably proficient at it with time. My first and biggest dream was to become a world famous soccer player. I think all that time I really just wanted to be beloved and worthy of admiration, and soccer seemed like the vector for that possibility. It was a really solitary thing drilling that ball at the wall and all the time thinking of the stadiums I dreamt of filling, but for Julián, it’s the thing that binds him to everyone in his pueblo, his nation, the player, and to a greater extent, the world. It’s the thing that inevitably gets him into trouble when he’s late arriving home from the park or dirtying an expensive rental suit, but it’s also what most breaks him out of his shell. His life revolves around it and he is eventually signed up for a local youth team, but he also spends days kicking around bottles and balloons, and when he isn’t outside practicing, he’s fulfilling his dreams by leading Ecuador to victory in his video games. Imagine a picture of your childhood damaged by time and the sun. Now imagine being able to step into it. In Despelote‘s most dreamlike and surreal moments, Julián kicks a ball around a void that slowly but surely fills with the high rises of the city outside of his little slice of the world. It’s not a bridge out of there — Julián doesn’t dream of leaving Quito or his family and friends behind — it’s the tissue that connects him and them to everyone else, and that World Cup run crystallizes this moment and those people as an extension of himself. Julián doesn’t just dream of soccer, he dreams of connection and community. To him, the words are wholly interchangeable. It’s the feeling that counts. Julián’s world and perspective are especially prominent here because Despelote looks like one of the most stunning things I’ve ever seen. Understandably, a lot of the initial appeal of the game will be the sepia-tone construction of Julián’s neighborhood in Quito and the hand-drawn characters and interactables. Imagine a picture of your childhood damaged by time and the sun. Now imagine being able to step into it. That’s what it feels like to play Despelote, which feels like a masterclass in ambient storytelling techniques. The school bell (la campana) rings as clearly as if it were installed in my very wall. The giggle of the trio of kids Julián regularly plays with sounds like a microphone was stitched to literal children in a class in my old town. Two visitors gab on Julián’s living room couch while watching a novella, and I swore I was watching my parents spread bochinche (slang for gossip) they had picked up from the day at work. My editor referred to the game as the “first video game mumblecore movie,” a diagnosis better than anything I could possibly come up with but it’s also quite remarkable for it to accomplish this feat in an entirely different language. The beauty of Despelote is that it works; in no time at all, the game’s sights and sounds were so convincing that I began to think in Spanish, which hasn’t felt true since my infancy and early childhood. I cannot stress how humanizing Despelote is. How cathartic it is for someone like myself to hear Spanish spoken by everyone in my immediate surrounding. To see myself is one thing, but to see my mother in the way that Julián’s own mom holds him by the hand and occasionally reprimands him for being a little pest is beyond words. A vignette of the aforementioned reception lets you awkwardly dance in the corner of the party and kick balloons up at the fan. These stories seem pulled from the unwritten biography of my own life. There really are people out there who get me and the life I’ve led without having ever spoken a word to each other. My experience is shared, I’m not alone. Panic Inc. Moreover, it’s an entirely new kind of story for this medium to tell about these people. I’ve had to make do with morsels in the past that framed characters like me in harsh lights. Whether it was due to tragedy or pure circumstance, we didn’t often survive these stories without some scars to show for it if we made it at all. At a time where tragedy and atrocities against my people could not be more en vogue, Julián’s story is affecting for what it isn’t about. How often will I ever see such vivid recreations of latino boyhood on this scale? Or see the personhood of my neighbors or even the guy that worked the colmado around the corner from my old place? When I stopped going back to my familial home, opting instead to make a life with family and friends here, I forfeited my chance to hold those things tightly again. Despelote clings to them as tightly as possible, and in turn, I’ve affixed myself to it. In Despelote, Julián is often given a curfew. “Be back by 6:30,” his mom will sometimes tell him. By design, he will never have the time to see and hear everything before being rushed to the next segment of the game. Despite that, I’d urge you to try it though. Stand in the store listening to two of Julián’s neighbors talk about how to prepare a dish and then look back at your watch to see more time than is possible has passed. Idly listen to the head-over-heels teenage lovers in the park, or just take in a show from the local who’s always brandishing his guitar. Days turn to night in the blink of an eye. One moment, I’m eight-year old Julián in the back of his family’s car, and the next I’ve very obviously flashed forward to his teenagedom where he’s getting shitfaced at a party he’s not supposed to be at. Moments bleed into one another as if to say, “Isn’t it all so fleeting?” When I finished Despelote, and had a good enough cry, I texted my older brother asking if he had a picture of our old place. “Feeling nostalgic?” More than that, big brother. I finally felt the hole inside of me that being away from home for so long had opened up. Time has flown by and I sometimes feel like a stranger to even myself. Mere days from my 28th birthday, it’s hitting me how distant I am from that wide-eyed pre-pubescent dork whom I love and miss so much. And I think that’s fine, change is a natural part of growing up. But I really hope he’s stopping and taking it all in before it’s passed him by. The welcome cool of those tropical nights. The sound of the waves smacking against the shore mere blocks away. The chalk-like feel of that old home’s walls, and the feeling of his bare feet against the hot asphalt as he kicks a ball at the wall for hours on end. The cheers of a night of youthful revelry and the sensation of barreling down the street with friends and family that will stick with him long after it’s all gone. Despelote  was tested on PC. Editors’ Recommendations

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