We're in a new era, one in which video game adaptations are seen as just as likely to be good as any other nerdy thing. Whereas many of us used to assume a video game movie would undoubtedly suck, at this point there have been enough good ones that the conventional wisdom has changed. Despite that general shift, the Borderlands movie feels more like a product of the old era--when most game adaptations were generic, disposable action movies at best, and frequently something worse than that. And "generic" and "disposable" is exactly what Borderlands is.Borderlands, from Hostel director Eli Roth, is an adaptation of the sprawling game franchise set on Pandora, a hostile, desert planet full of corporations and fortune hunters trying to break into a mythical ancient vault that's allegedly full of all sorts of amazing technology. Enter Lilith (Cate Blanchett, delivering her worst American accent), who's been hired by a man called Atlas (Edgar Ramirez) to find his kidnapped daughter on Pandora. There's a catch, of course--the daughter is Tiny Tina (Arianna Greenblatt), and she's more his creation than his actual daughter, since she was engineered from the blood of ancient aliens for the purpose of opening the vault. And she wasn't kidnapped--the Atlas soldier Roland (Kevin Hart) rescued her from her captivity.It's not long before Lilith catches up to them and shortly after, they're all attacked by Atlas soldiers. Lilith then has to team up with Roland, Tina, their sympathetic psycho bandit pal, the quirky scientist Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and the comic relief robot Claptrap to survive and find the vault themselves.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Since Spring 2024, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has slowly added new story content via the introduction of new playable characters. These villainous additions stem from other dimensions where other civilization-collecting Brainiacs took over alternate Earths. In Season 1, a younger version of the Joker was added to the squad, and in the recent Season 2, a female version of Mister Freeze called Mrs. Freeze reluctantly joined the squad.

Image: Epic Games via Polygon A timer has appeared on the Chapter 5 Season 3 island Continue reading

Is it possible to conduct research with users without users? Going beyond the obvious to reflect on possibilities.Continue reading on UX Collective

If youre looking for the Wordle answer for August 8, 2024 read on. Well share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Todays puzzle is easier; I got it in three. Beware, there are spoilers below for August 8, Wordle #1,146! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to todays Wordle game.How to play WordleWordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if theyre correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isnt in the days secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)Ready for the hints? Lets go!Does todays Wordle have any unusual letters?Well define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it Edwin Shirdloo, like a name, and pretend hes a friend of yours.)There are three common letter from our mnemonic today. One letter is fairly common, and one is uncommon. Can you give me a hint for todays Wordle?An adjective that can describe pasta or a bold remark. Does todays Wordle have any double or repeated letters?There are no repeated letters today.How many vowels are in todays Wordle?There are two vowels and one "sometimes" vowel.What letter does todays Wordle start with?Todays word starts with S.What letter does todays Wordle end with?Todays word ends with Y.What is the solution to todays Wordle?Ready? Todays word is SAUCY.How I solved todays WordleI started with RAISE and TOUCH, which gave me all the information needed to guess SAUCY as the answer. Wordle 1,146 3/6Yesterdays Wordle answerYesterdays Wordle was harder. The hint was a colorful bird and the answer contained two common letters, two fairly common letters, and one uncommon letter. The answer to yesterdays Wordle was MACAW. A primer on Wordle basicsThe idea of Wordle is to guess the days secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, youll see an empty grid of letters. Its up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word.Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word:Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and its in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then its game over.The best starter words for WordleWhat should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, thats still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isnt a single best starting word, but the New York Timess Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:CRANETRACESLANTCRATECARTEMeanwhile, an MIT analysis found that youll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:SALETREASTTRACECRATESLATEOther good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that its better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.How to win at WordleWe have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if youre a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, dont waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldnt have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.Wordle alternativesIf you cant get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after anotherDordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the days solution. Youre required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

Protons password manager is gradually catching up with rivals like 1Password. The company, known initially for its encrypted email and VPN services, added biometric authentication to its Proton Pass app, which came out of beta earlier this year. The feature works with Touch ID on macOS and Windows Hello on Microsofts desktop OS.Like with many other services, biometric authentication lets Proton Pass users quickly unlock the security app using their fingerprint or face without typing the login password every time. However, it isnt available for free users: Only those on a Pass Plus plan (and above) get access. The minimum plan costs $23.88 annually or $4.99 if youd rather pay monthly.Proton is also fleshing out its password manager to include identities, meaning it can autofill forms with your contact info in one click. Similar to biometric authentication, this type of feature has been seen countless times in competing products. Still, it (along with the recent addition of dark-web scouring) shows Proton is dedicated to building out its encryption-focused password manager, which initially launched in beta in early 2023.Unlike biometric logins, identities are available for free users not just those on a paid plan.With the introduction of identities and biometric authentication, Proton Pass is significantly boosting productivity for our users, said Son Nguyen Kim, Proton Pass product lead. These features not only enhance our security offerings but also streamline everyday tasks, allowing users to save time and reduce stress in managing their digital lives.The new features are available today in the Proton Pass app for Windows and Mac.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/proton-pass-now-supports-touch-id-and-windows-hello-biometric-logins-100025225.html?src=rss

Check out Machina Fractals: Ultima for Unreal Engine. Machina Infinitum's new UE5 add-on generates animatable real-time 3D fractals for motion graphics, VJ-ing and VFX, and includes a new post-process for kaleidoscope effects.https://www.cgchannel.com/2024/08/machina-fractals-plugins-create-real-time-3d-fractals-in-ue5/

Larian Studios has shared brand new Baldur's Gate 3 statistics to celebrate the game's first anniversary.

Online disinformation has led to real-world violence in the U.K., but a key regulator finds itself unable to take effective enforcement actions.