Discover a selection of concept art and illustrations by Chinese freelancer artist Ying Yi Xsu ying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsuying yi xsu

Na-na-na-na-na-na-naFancy owning a functional replica of The Dark Knight's Batmobile? Got, uh, $3 million to spare? Then I've got some great newsIf you have that much money you should probably do anything else with it, though.Image credit: Warner Bros News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Nov. 12, 2024 We all at one point or another dream about owning a Batmobile, and soon enough 10 (very rich) people will get to make that reality.With so many different incarnations of Batman, we'll all have our favourite Batmobiles depending on when we grew up - my personal favourite is Batman: The Animated Series, but that shouldn't be a surprise considering I grew up watching it as a kid. More recent versions have gone for a more militaristic look, partially because of The Dark Knight's version, the Tumbler. It's not my favourite, and I wouldn't want to own one, but that doesn't matter much, because it turns out I couldn't even remotely afford it even if I did want it. That's because Wayne Enterprises, a very real business based off of the civilian persona of Batman, Bruce Wayne, is selling an actual Tumbler, for the low, low price of $3 million.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. No, this isn't a joke, and yes, it's an actual, functional car that you can drive around well, sort of, as it's not particularly road legal, but if you're a car collector with a big bit of private land, you're probably safe to drive it there. This thing is absolutely ridiculous, and there's only 10 of them being made, so you had to sign-up in order to even be considered a buyer (applications closed last month unfortunately so if you are stupid rich, 1. why are you even reading this, you have so much money you should spend your time differently, and 2. you're out of luck).I'm not going to even pretend to understand what all the specifications mean, but for the motorheads out there you can check the website for further details about the engine 'n' all that. Mostly I'm just surprised something so extravagant exists, but when the rest of the company is dedicated to jewellery, watches, and an AI robot (starting to feel like this place is just for the richy rich), maybe I shouldn't be. I think I'll stick to my silly little toy cars, thanks very much.

New Game +The father of Devil May Cry himself Hideaki Itsuno has found a new home at LightSpeed Studios, and is working on new AAA action gamesOff on a new adventure, and hiring! Maybe you could work with Itsuno...Image credit: LightSpeed Studios News by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Nov. 12, 2024 Hideaki Itsuno, father of the Devil May Cry series as well as other Capcom bangers like Rival Schools and Dragon's Dogma, has found a new home at LightSpeed Studios. It's here that he'll be working on new "AAA action games", and they're hiring right now!LightSpeed Studios, which is known mostly for its work on shooters like PUBG Mobile and Undawn, has opened a Japanese studio with Itusno at the helm. It appears that the company is keen to branch out into new genres, and as far as senior talent to lead such an expdedition goes, Itsuno is certainly one of the better folks to snatch up.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Itsuno's departure from Capcom earlier this year was sombre news for many of his fans. He never indicated he was leaving game development entirely - quite the opposite in fact as he said he hoped to continue creating new and beautiful games in his farewell post - but it did leave the future of several Capcom IPs in limbo. Devil May cry is one, with Itsuno and his team having relatively recently released the brilliant Devil May Cry 5. There's also Dragon's Dogma 2, one of this year's best action RPGs and a long-time passion IP for the man.Looking at the LightSpeed Studios website, we can see they're hiring for a variety of roles including a sound director, engineers, artists, and a narrative designer. This points towards the early development of a new game, one that requires a wave of new staff to start work on it in earnest.Obviously, there's not much else to go on as of now, but for fans of high-flying action, LightSpeed Studios has suddenly become a company worth keeping an eye on in the coming years. What do you think they'll end up making? Let us know below!

0:08:45 Jo Plaete and Metaphysic0:10:28 How Jo and Chris met through Ed Ulbrich at the Real Time Economic Summit0:12:33 Jos early career in computer science and multimedia0:15:07 Working at Framestore and Animal Logic on Where the Wild Things Are and Legend of the Guardians0:17:45 Collaborating with Disney Research on Aladdin and exploring machine learning0:20:59 Challenges of digital human creation and markerless facial capture0:26:07 Working with ILM on ABBAs digital concert and retargeting challenges0:30:03 The complexities of achieving photorealism and the uncanny valley0:33:14 Jos work on digital doubles, using machine learning to enhance fidelity0:38:22 Discussion on traditional versus AI-driven digital human pipelines0:43:00 Real-time feedback on set for Here and the importance of maintaining performance fidelity0:48:29 How Metaphysics tools enable real-time de-aging feedback for actors and directors0:53:06 The evolving role of visual effects artists and their creative contributions0:59:18 The collaborative nature of AI-driven VFX tools in filmmaking1:03:22 Ethical considerations and the artistic future of AI in cinema1:09:57 Final thoughts on the future of digital humans and Metaphysics upcoming projects

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube784kFollowing the digital delay of the Wario Land-style platformer Antonblast, Fangamer has now announced it will be releasing a physical Switch edition at some point in 2025.The final product is subject to licensor approval and may differ from the mockup you can see on display below. You can sign up to Fangamer now to get notified about when this game is made available.Here's a message about this hard copy edition, direct from the developer:"Thats right. Youve asked, heres your answer. ANTONBLAST will get a physical release in 2025. And the good folks at Fangamer are distributing youre gonna want in on this!"Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube784kWatch on YouTube The official Antonblast social media account also made the following comment in a follow-up post about the Switch eShop digital release due out in December..."If you guys are good and buy ANTONBLAST on December 3rd, theres more where that came from"If you aren't familiar with Antonblast, there's a demo you can download from the Switch eShop right now. This title was originally scheduled to arrive in November but was delayed due to the US hurricanes. A new 'One Blast Demo' will now be releasedWould you be interested in a physical copy of Antonblast? Let us know in the comments.[source fangamer.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:00 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related Articles'Switch Pro' Dongle Is Making A Comeback With New 'RGB Collection'But we're not sure what they actually doRound Up: The Reviews Are In For Mario & Luigi: BrothershipHere's what the critics thoughtIt's Official, 'Switch 2' Will Be Backwards CompatibleSwitch Online will also be available on the "successor"Feature: "I Dont Want To See It Fizzle Out - Stardew Valley Creator On Why He Can't Give It Up"I feel like I could work on it for the rest of my life"Mario & Luigi Fans Aren't Happy About Brothership's Battle Button TweaksIt should be 'B' for the Bro, right?

Go figure.I've banged the Minish Cap drum so many times by this point that my adoration for Link's littlest adventure is old news. With today marking 20 years since this GBA gem landed in Europe, it felt too easy to sit down at my desk and gush over the tight six-dungeon structure, the brilliant puzzle design or the somehow still under-discussed soundtrack. I've been rambling on about these for the past two decades and a big birthday like this deserves something special.It's obvious what we should do, really. Let's talk about the parts of the game that suuuuuck.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

In BriefPosted:3:53 PM PST November 12, 2024Image Credits:Nicholas Kamm / AFP / Getty ImagesApple reportedly releasing a wall-mounted smart home tablet in 2025 and yes, it does AIApple is gearing up to announce a new smart home hub, according to Bloombergs Mark Gurman. As early as March 2025, the iPhone maker could release a tablet that mounts to your wall, control smart home appliances, does video calls, and of course does Apple Intelligence.The device reportedly has a 6-inch touchscreen, but its expected that, like a HomePod, most will use voice to control it, either through Siri, Apple Intelligence, or an upcoming system called App Intents that lets AI control applications. It supposedly runs on a new OS, with sensors to detect how close a person is, but will have traditional Apple apps like Safari, Apple Music, Notes, and Calendar.Apples command center for the home seems intended as a rival to Amazons Echo Hub and Googles Nest Hub, so expect it to be priced similarly (i.e. $100 to $250). However, Apple is also working on an iPad on a robotic arm that follows you around the room, which could cost closer to $1000.Topics

Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. There was absolutely no news last week because nothing happened.Just kidding. Defying all early polling, Donald Trump swept the election and will soon be sworn in for his second term in office. From a space policy perspective, things are already starting to look interesting. Thats mostly due to the prominent role SpaceX CEO Elon Musk played in the run-up to the election, and the role he could play in the next administration.Theres already been some great reporting from The New York Times on their relationship; Ill point to this story, which describes how Musk joined a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and this one, in which sources say that Musk wanted Trump to hire SpaceX employees to top government positions, including at the Department of Defense.If Musk manages to secure even a fraction of the influence that he has talked about in recent weeks like heading a Department of Government Efficiency we could see the head of the biggest space company, the biggest electric vehicle manufacturer, and one of the largest social media platforms gain as-of-yet-unheard of influence.Want to reach out with a tip? Email Aria at aria.techcrunch@gmail.com or send a message on Signal at 512-937-3988. You can also send a note to the TechCrunch crew at tips@techcrunch.com.For more secure communications,click here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop instructions and links to encrypted messaging apps.Story of the week Senior reporter Rebecca Bellan and I dove into what Trumps presidency might mean for Elon Musk. Bellan covers all things transportation, so she took a close look at the prospects for Tesla, and I threw in my two cents about the implications for space policy. We tried very, very hard not to speculate too much at this point, its too easy to drift into fantasy, and there are too many unknowns but theres still plenty of info to go on.Image Credits:Adam Gray/Bloomberg / Getty ImagesWhat were looking forward to this monthSpeaking of SpaceX, the company is gearing up to launch its sixth integrated flight test of Starship on November 18. Many of the test objectives are the same as the fifth test, which saw the Super Heavy booster return to the launch site for the first time ever, but SpaceX did say it will be testing some hardware and software upgrades.Image Credits:SpaceXThis week in space historyWith Musk having the ear of the next sitting president, Mars is on everyones minds in a new way. Its entirely possible that SpaceX could indeed launch an uncrewed Starship to Mars when the next Earth-Mars transit window opens in 2026. But this week, were looking back at a very small spacecraft that made history as the first human-made object to orbit the red planet: Mariner 9, which entered Mars orbit on November 13, 1971.When the probe arrived, a massive dust storm was obscuring most of the planets features. That calmed down, and Mariner 9 was able to take a number of incredible images over its 10 months orbiting the planet. Much of what it saw completely shocked scientists.olympus mons, the largest shield volcano on mars and earth.Image Credits:NASA

Disney has just released an all-new short film, A Disney Holiday Short: The Boy & The Octopus, in collaboration with Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi, premiering today on YouTube.The film follows the journey of a child who discovers a curious octopus has attached to his head during a seaside vacation. After returning home, the boy forms a true friendship with the octopus by introducing his new companion to his life on land harnessing the power of the Force with his Jedi lightsaber, playing with his Buzz Lightyear action figure, and imagining Santa Claus route around the world with the map on his wall before taking the lovable octopus out into the world to experience the joy of the holidays, hidden under his Mickey Mouse beanie.While watching the Disney holiday classic, The Santa Clause (1994), the boy comes to understand the extent of the octopus desire to explore everything the world has to offer, and he sets in motion a plan to make it happen. For the boy and the octopus, it is the precious everyday moments of childhood and friendship, as much as the magic of the season, that make their time together so meaningful. Numerous hidden easter eggs include nods to films like Moana (2016), Lilo and Stitch (2002), and Toy Story (1995), among others.The story manages to connect the feelings that you get around the holidays, and the joy, the goodwill and everything, with those same emotions and those same sensibilities you get from Disney films, said Waititi. I think they go hand in hand and it's the perfect match and only Disney could have made something like this with me. The short was created in conjunction with global creative agencies adam&eveDDB and Untold Studios, and produced by Hungry Man. A melodic rendition of Part of Your World from the Disney classic The Little Mermaid (1989) can be heard throughout the short, highlighting the octopus desire to explore the world above. This take on the fan-favorite song was recorded live by a 60-piece orchestra and mixed in the legendary recording studio Abbey Road.Tim Pennoyer, Director of Brand Marketing and the and themarketinglead whohelpedspearhead the campaign, shares with AWN, The biggest challenge in bringingA Disney Holiday Short: The Boy & The Octopus to life was creating an octopus character that felt both realistic and emotionally expressive. Working with our amazing partners in adam&eveDDB and VFX experts Untold Studios, we knew we were asking a lotan octopus with eight tentacles that could move independently, shapeshift, and even change skin color, all while conveying the warmth and charm needed for our story. It was the most complex character Untold Studios has ever brought to life, requiring an incredible level of detail in VFX to capture those intricate movements and transformations. He adds, The octopus had to feel both lifelike and relatable, with a full range of motion that would make the character truly magical on screen. It was a huge technical and creative challenge, but we knew it was key to making the story unforgettable. We would spend hours talking through every single scene with the octopus debating each expression on his face, and even the sounds he would make. All these details bring him to life.Take a few moments to enjoy the film:For generations, Disney has been an ever-present part of the holiday season all over the world, and this short builds on the enduring connection that so many families have with Disney during this special time of year, said Asad Ayaz, Chief Brand Officer, The Walt Disney Company. Were thrilled to collaborate with Taika Waititi on this timeless story of childhood friendship against the backdrop of this magical season.A Disney Holiday Short: The Boy & The Octopus is the latest creative collaboration between Waititi and The Walt Disney Company. The acclaimed filmmaker directed Marvel Studios Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Searchlight Pictures Jojo Rabbit (2019) and Next Goal Wins (2023), as well as executive produced Hulus Reservation Dogs, What We Do in the Shadows, and the forthcoming limited series, Interior Chinatown.Source: The Walt Disney Company Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.

Epic Games has released Unreal Engine 5.5, featuring major enhancements to animation authoring, rendering, virtual production, mobile game development, and developer iteration toolsets.Here are some highlights: Animation - UE 5.5 new features and enhancements facilitate high-fidelity in-editor animation authoring workflows. There are also additions to the animation gameplay authoring toolset.Sequencer - Unreal Engines nonlinear animation editor now boasts a more controllable interface with better filtering and easier access to properties.Animation deformers Users can craft more realistic animation effects such as contact deformation or better cartoon-style squash-and-stretch, with the new ability to author animatable animation deformers inside Control Rig and easily apply them to characters in Sequencer with a single click.Modular Control Rig - Modular Control Rig moves to Beta with UI and UX improvements; new quadruped and vehicles modules; and support for common bipedal skeleton types, while the Skeletal Editor is now Production-Ready with improvements that include quicker and simpler workflows for painting and editing weights. MetaHuman Animator - Part of the MetaHuman Plugin for Unreal Engine, MetaHuman Animators upgrades include an Experimental feature, allowing users to generate high-quality facial animationincluding inference of upper face gesturesjust from audio performances.Mutable character customization - Game developers whose projects require content that changes dynamically at runtime will benefit from the addition of the Mutable character customization system. The system can be used to generate dynamic skeletal meshes, materials, and textures for characters, animals, props, and weapons while optimizing memory usage, keeping shader cost low, and reducing the draw call count.Choosers Now production-ready Choosers offers a framework for selecting animations for playback based on game context without having to write complex logic, this game context asset selector can be used to select nearly any type of asset; this can encompass multiple levels of complexity, from simple random selectors to database-driven logic involving thousands of animations. Lumen - Now runs at 60 Hz on platforms with supported hardware due to improvements to the systems that underpin hardware ray tracing (HWRT). These improvements also impact the performance and capabilities of Path Tracer and light baking.Path Tracer - The DXR-accelerated, physically accurate progressive rendering mode is now production-ready, for creating final pixels for nonlinear applications or fully featured ground-truth reference images. This release sees a series of performance and fidelity improvements, Linux support, and support for all other Production-Ready features, including sky atmosphere and volumetric clouds. Substrate - The material authoring framework introduced as Experimental in Unreal Engine 5.2, moves to Beta. All features of legacy materials are now supported, as are all platforms to which UE deploys.Movie Render Graph (MRG) - Introduced as Experimental in Unreal Engine 5.4, Movie Render Graph (MRG) moves to Beta in this release, with further investment in the graph-based configuration workflow.MegaLights - This release offers a sneak peek at an Experimental new feature being called MegaLights. Already being dubbed the Nanite of lights, MegaLights enables users to add hundreds of dynamic shadow-casting lights to scenes, without constraints. Lighting artists, for the first time, can freely use textured area lights with soft shadows, Light Functions, media texture playback, and volumetric shadows on consoles and PC, focusing on artistic considerations rather than performance impact. Virtual production - Unreal Engines dedicated in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) toolset powers a myriad of productions in film, television, and commercials internationally. UE 5.5 sees the accumulated investment across multiple releases bringing the ICVFX toolset to full production-readiness, as well as advances in other features for virtual production and visualization.SMPTE 2110 - Unreal Engines support for SMPTE 2110 includes numerous stability improvements; automatic detection and repair of framelock loss; the ability to use PTP as a timecode provider; OCIO support for 2110 media; and other improvements to IP video signal flow, its ready to meet the needs of the real-world ICVFX projects as they make the transition to SMPTE 2110 deployments.Camera Calibration - Production-Ready with UE 5.5 is the Camera Calibration solver, with improved accuracy for lens and camera parameters estimation. Stemming from this work, Overscan is now built into all cameras, to support use cases like rendering with lens distortion or adding camera shake in post.Virtual Scouting Production-ready updated Virtual Scouting toolset introduced in UE 5.4, offers an out-of-the-box experience using OpenXR-compatible HMDs (with Oculus and Valve Index supported by default), and new opportunities for customization via an extensive API. The toolset now features a new VR Content Browser and asset placement; a Transform Gizmo that is customizable via Blueprint; and further polish, including a color-correct Viewfinder.Color Grading Panel - Previously part of the ICVFX Editor, the Color Grading Panel is now available for general use in the Unreal Editor, providing an artist-friendly interface for creative color manipulation in any Unreal Engine scene. The panel now also supports post-process volumes, cine cameras, and color correction regions.DMX - With applicability not just within virtual production, but also in broadcast and live events, Unreal Engines DMX tech stack joins the list of Production-Ready toolsets, with enhancements to the Control Console, Pixel Mapping, and Conflict Monitor.This release also adds GDTF compliance to the DMX Plugin for interfacing with GDTF- and MVR-enabled control devices and software, among other enhancements.Mobile game development:Mobile Forward Renderers new features increase visual fidelity on the platform and now supports D-buffer decals, rectangular area lights, capsule shadows, moveable IES textures for point and spotlights, volumetric fog, and Niagara particle lights. Screen-space reflections now work in both Mobile Forward and Deferred Renderers.Mobile Previewers improvements help with content development for mobile games including the ability to capture and preview a specific Android device profile, and to emulate half-precision 16-bit float shaders, making it easier to detect and deal with artifacts.Visit the Unreal Engine blog for more detailed information.Source: Epic Games Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.