Trump makes FCC chair pick Trumps FCC chair is Brendan Carr, who wants to regulate everyone except ISPs Carr says he wants to punish broadcast media and dismantle "censorship cartel." Jon Brodkin Nov 18, 2024 12:20 pm | 136 Federal Communications Commission member Brendan Carr speaks during the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on February 24, 2024. Credit: Getty Images | Anadolu Federal Communications Commission member Brendan Carr speaks during the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on February 24, 2024. Credit: Getty Images | Anadolu Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn morePresident-elect Donald Trump announced last night that he will make Brendan Carr the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr, who wrote a chapter about the FCC for the conservative Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, is a longtime opponent of net neutrality rules and other regulations imposed on Internet service providers.Although Carr wants to deregulate telecom companies that the FCC has historically regulated, he wants the FCC to start regulating Big Tech and social media firms. He has also echoed Trump's longtime complaints about the news media and proposed punishments for broadcast networks.Trump's statement on Carr said that "because of his great work, I will now be designating him as permanent Chairman.""Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans' Freedoms, and held back our Economy," Trump wrote. "He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America's Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America."Carr is a sitting FCC commissioner and therefore no Senate approval is needed to confirm the choice. The president can elevate any commissioner to the chair spot.Carr wants to punish broadcastersCarr thanked Trump in a post on his X account last night, then made several more posts describing some of the changes he plans to make at the FCC. One of Carr's posts said the FCC will crack down on broadcast media."Broadcast media have had the privilege of using a scarce and valuable public resourceour airwaves. In turn, they are required by law to operate in the public interest. When the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this public interest obligation," Carr wrote.We described Carr's views on how the FCC should operate in an article on November 7, just after Trump's election win. We wrote:A Carr-led FCC could also try to punish news organizations that are perceived to be anti-Trump. Just before the election, Carr alleged that NBC putting Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live was "a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC's Equal Time rule" and that the FCC should consider issuing penalties. Despite Carr's claim, NBC did provide equal time to the Trump campaign.Previous chairs defended free speechPrevious FCC chairs from both major parties have avoided punishing news organizations because of free speech concerns. Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, the current FCC chairwoman, last month criticized Trump's calls for licenses to be revoked from TV news organizations whose coverage he dislikes."While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored," Rosenworcel said at the time. "As I've said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage."Former Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, rejected the idea of revoking licenses in 2017 after similar calls from Trump. Pai said that the FCC "under my leadership will stand for the First Amendment" and that "the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast."Carr believes differently. After the Saturday Night Live incident, Carr told Fox News that "all remedies should be on the table," including "license revocations" for NBC.We've pointed out repeatedly that the FCC doesn't actually license TV networks such as CBS or NBC. But the FCC could punish affiliates. The FCC's licensing authority is over broadcast stations, many of which are affiliated with or owned by a big network.Carr targets censorship cartelCarr wrote last night that "we must dismantle the censorship cartel and restore free speech rights for everyday Americans." This seems to be referring to making social media networks change how they moderate content. On November 15, Carr wrote that "Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft & others have played central roles in the censorship cartel," along with fact-checking groups and ad agencies that "helped enforce one-sided narratives."During his first presidential term, Trump formally petitioned the FCC to reinterpret Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in a way that would limit social media platforms' legal protections for hosting third-party content when the platforms take down content they consider objectionable.Trump and Carr have claimed that such a step is necessary because of anti-conservative bias. In his Project 2025 chapter, Carr wrote that the FCC "should issue an order that interprets Section 230 in a way that eliminates the expansive, non-textual immunities that courts have read into the statute."Carr's willingness to reinterpret Section 230 is likely a big plus in Trump's eyes. In 2020, Trump pulled the re-nomination of FCC Republican member Michael O'Rielly after O'Rielly said that "we should all reject demands, in the name of the First Amendment, for private actors to curate or publish speech in a certain way. Like it or not, the First Amendment's protections apply to corporate entities, especially when they engage in editorial decision making."Carr to end FCC diversity policiesLast night, Carr also said he would end the FCC's embrace of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) policies. "The FCC's most recent budget request said that promoting DEI was the agency's second highest strategic goal. Starting next year, the FCC will end its promotion of DEI," Carr wrote.The FCC budget request said the agency "will pursue focused action and investments to eliminate historical, systemic, and structural barriers that perpetuate disadvantaged or underserved individuals and communities." The Rosenworcel FCC said it aimed to create a diverse staff and to help "underserved individuals and communities" access "digital technologies, media, communication services, and next-generation networks."Carr dissented last year in the FCC's 3-2 decision to impose rules that prohibit discrimination in access to broadband services, describing the rulemaking as "President Biden's plan to give the administrative state effective control of all Internet services and infrastructure in the US."Another major goal for Carr is forcing Big Tech firms to help subsidize broadband network construction. Carr's Project 2025 chapter said the FCC should "require that Big Tech begin to contribute a fair share" into "the FCC's roughly $9 billion Universal Service Fund."Media advocacy group Free Press said yesterday that "Brendan Carr has been campaigning for this job with promises to do the bidding of Donald Trump and Elon Musk" and "got this job because he will carry out Trump and Musk's personal vendettas. While styling himself as a free-speech champion, Carr refused to stand up when Trump threatened to take away the broadcast licenses of TV stations for daring to fact-check him during the campaign. This alone should be disqualifying."Lobby groups representing Internet service providers will be happy to have an FCC chair focused on eliminating broadband regulations. USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter issued a statement saying that "Brendan Carr has been a proven leader and an important partner in our shared goal to connect all Americans. With his deep experience and expertise, Commissioner Carr clearly understands the regulatory challenges and opportunities across the communications landscape."Pai, who teamed up with Carr and O'Rielly to eliminate net neutrality rules in 2017, wrote that Carr "was a brilliant advisor and General Counsel and has been a superb Commissioner, and I'm confident he will be a great FCC Chairman."Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 136 Comments

Bare MetalThe latest contender in the retro hardware wars is a high-quality delight: the ChromaticTheres another premium retro console in town, and its got one of the sleekest and fanciest cases Ive ever seen.Image credit: VG247 Article by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor Published on Nov. 18, 2024 Over the last few years, the retro floodgates have opened - and its honestly never been a better time to be an elderly gamer. If you want to relive the glories of your childhood there are now numerous options from a wide variety of companies - but this latest contender might be one of the most exciting yet.Ive seen a few Game Boy-alikes in my time. Just one year ago I reviewed the Super Pocket, a super cheap and simple offering from the team behind Evercade. The gold standard for the form remains the Analogue Pocket, a luxury and feature-filled device that keeps getting better with updates. The Chromatic slots into this pantheon on the higher end, rivalling the Pocket - though its approach is markedly different in important ways.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. First things first: this is a Game Boy. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck well, this is that. Its got that same familiar form factor - B and A buttons, Select and Start, a D-Pad, power switch, volume rocker everything is where youll remember it. The form factor is alarmingly close to the Game Boy Color, though divergent enough to be Legally Distinct. So, if were getting more specific, this is a Game Boy Color.That definition brings interesting advantages, drawbacks, and considerations that well dig into a little later in this article. But for now, let me start out with some broadly declarative praise - this is one of the nicest pieces of handheld gaming hardware Ive ever used.A lot of this is down to the shell - rather than plastic, as pretty much every other device like this uses, the Chromatic is crafted from magnesium alloy. This is still lightweight, but it feels bloody luxe. Its a weirdly specific thing to zone in on, but when I popped off the battery compartment for the first time (this eschews the now-common rechargeable battery for three traditional Double-As, though a rechargeable battery pack is also available) I was shocked at how solid and firm the compartment feels, and how definitively it clicks into place. The commitment to authenticity is strong. | Image credit: ChromaticIt just feels like quality. Im envisioning that American Psycho business card scene with these damn things. Someone flashes some Abernic Android handheld. Then its an Analogue Pocket; The operating system supports something called OpenFPGA. Then the Chromatic gets slammed on the table. Metal. The tasteful weight of it. Oh my god, it even has an IR portThe folks behind Chromatic claim that its also very, very sturdy - their website pictures a car driving over the device while it still happily runs Tetris. I dont have the stones to test this out, but holding the device in my hands and feeling the natural heft of it, I believe them.The build quality is good. The buttons are lovely; the D-Pad having that right amount of squishiness. The speakers are surprisingly loud, and output from the 3.5mm headphone jack is clear. Basically, its a nice device. Its IPS backlit LCD has a crisp, high clarity. Its not the time of year for testing sunlight - but playing with artificial light Im pretty sure itll fare quite well under natures glare. I like it a great deal.But as ever, the real test for hardware like this comes in terms of the games youll be playing - and this is where the choices made for the Chromatic get interesting.It is, frankly, impossible to talk about the Chromatic without talking about the Analogue Pocket. At this stage I must drop the facade and address them both, for they are such tightly-intertwined rivals that they have to be considered as a duo.As I said before, this is a Game Boy Color. I mean it: those are the games this plays. It takes the original cartridges, and even has the matching Infrared and Link Cable ports. Using those functions, it can talk to original Game Boys - or Analogue Pockets, for that matter.When we sit the Chromatic side-by-side with Analogue, theres no Game Boy Advance support, no wider-reaching operating system with implied support for other types of software, and certainly no physical adapters to slot in things like Game Gear carts. This is a Game Boy Color. It takes those old cartridges and plays em. With FPGA technology, it plays em damn good, with near-100% accuracy to original hardware.Theres a sense of deliberate simplicity here. The Chromatic does less, but it aims to be more impressive in what it offers for that less. For instance, a USB-C port on the bottom can be used not only to charge an optional battery pack, but also to directly video out the screen of the Chromatic to a PC. If youre a streamer who wants to play Game Boy games without emulation, on a device that has the original machines form and function - the Chromatic is now the machine for you.Theres also just something to be said for slamming a cart in, flicking the power switch and away you go. This obviously wont be for everybody. For a start, not everybody has libraries of games. Some want to dump a bunch of ROMs from their original carts (I assume dont tell me how you otherwise obtain them, I dont want to know) and load them from an SD card, getting rid of the need to carry around and swap carts. But theres something in the Chromatic that really channels the original experience, and I like that. Plus, if you really want to, the Chromatic does run an Everdrive without issue.Combine that OG experience with that beautiful metal casing and this feels like a toy, sure - but it feels like a toy for grown ups. There's a certain... charm... to it. | Image credit: ChromaticIts got a grown-up price tag too. The Chromatic runs $200 (161 for Brits, currently) - an unarguably premium product. Younger players less familiar with this hardware and without a cart collection are really not the target of this machine. In that context, and coupled with the super high quality, the price makes sense.The $200 price puts the Chromatic just $20 cheaper than the Analogue Pocket. This is where the situation becomes a bit pricklier - that machine has more compatibility, runs just as well, and is only a smidge more expensive. However, Analogues offering lacks the gorgeous case, and some might find all the bells and whistles a bit of a distraction. The Analogue offers a bigger screen, but as a result comes in a much larger overall footprint - so its less pocket friendly.Swings and roundabouts, as the saying goes. Ultimately, the feature and price comparison between the Analogue and Chromatic leads to what isnt exactly an easy sell - but I can totally see the market for both devices.Plus, the Chromatic has an ace up its sleeve. This is something that could completely flip the script around this machine in the years to come. The X-Factor is thus: Chromatic doesnt just play Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges; it also plays Chromatic Cartridges. Don't but the cart before the horses, now. | Image credit: VG247To be clear, these Chromatic Cartridges are just new Game Boy Color carts, really. The Chromatic ships with an all-new port of Tetris created specifically for the machine, and if you take that cart and drop it into a GBC, Analogue Pocket, or any other similar device, itll run. But the curiosity here is the promise that ModRetro will release more new games, licensed reprints of old games, or all-new ports on these carts, is intriguing.Readily available modern cartridges back up the concept of the machine as a more simple, traditional, physical media-driven device. Weve seen this sort of thing rolled out with great success by Evercade, which now has a pretty impressive line-up of classics available across many carts. Could the same happen here? I hope so.Ultimately, I think this is a lovely device. The price might be difficult for some to swallow - but I think if youre the sort of person whod go in for this sort of thing, youre likely already primed and ready to pay a premium. Its one of the nicest of these devices Ive used - and its one Ill continue to use, which is saying something given how many I have access to.The Chromatic is available to order now - and it could be a perfect Christmas gift for the ageing hardcore gamer in your life. Or, indeed, for yourself - if youre also edging ever closer to picking up your gaming pension.

Popeing OffThe odds of Baldur's Gate 3 being owned by The Pope just got better, as Larian's head of publishing shouts out mods for helping it outdo numbers from last yearThere's also an equally good - if not greater - chance he's not one of the three Vatican-based BG3 buyers, but we can dream.Image credit: VG247/Larian Studios News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Nov. 18, 2024 We all know Baldur's Gate 3's mods have proven pretty popular since official support for them was added by Larian with Patch 7. The developer's gone out of its way to tell us just that, even letting us know just who we need to thank for contributing.Anyway, now Larian's publishing director has shared that embracing mods has actually led Larian in 2024 to be ahead of where it was at in terms of some player stats this time last year, when BG3 was about to head into a holiday season that'd see it start to mop up all the GOTY awards it ended up getting. Seriously, it even looks like there's a chance The Pope's just bought it to see what the ongoing fuss is about.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. On Twitter, Michael Douse has shared some "fun data facts" he's dug up while looking through Larian's sales charts. "Our average daily peak concurrents are up 3% this year over last year" is the first one, "Our average daily active "users" are up 20% over last year" is the second, and "average daily Steam Deck users are up 61% over last year".The exec cites the first two specifically as being evidence that "mods are good", which is a thing I've also been saying for a while now, in between trying to work out which of the over 1000 add-ons is stopping my copy of Skyrim from launching. In response, one user said they wish more developers would embrace modding like Larian has via the release of its toolkit and the bringing of BG3 mods to both PC and console. "They are likely scared that people will mod sex and therefore the ratings boards would chase them down and kill them in the night," Douse replied. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Another interesting nugget which came out via this fresh batch of rare Douse tweets is that Baldur's Gate 3 has now sold one more copy in the Vatican City. Yes, after he revealed last week that two copies of BG3 had been sold in the Vatican - the place where The Pope lives - with one additional wishlist, Douse is now reporting another sale has been made.Naturally, Larian's publishing director has immediately assumed this final copy has been bought by The Pope himself, because that's funny. However, we here at VG247 are all about FACTS, as we've previously proven, so we've decided to try and calculate the odds that The Pope does actually own BG3.As of 2023, the Vatican's population is 764 people. Three copies of BG3 have been sold there. So, roughly 0.39% of the population of the Vatican are BG3 owners right now, meaning that's the chance The Pope has of being one of the three. Unless my maths in wrong, and it's last thing on a Monday right now, so there's a good chance that's the case. Sure, it's not a big chance he owns it, but it's better than nothing.With what his holiness has tweeted about the New Orleans Saints recently, I'm pretty certain he's got a good chance of being a Madden player too, so here's hoping he can find ample time for both in between popely duties.

theHunter: Call of the Wild brings the excitement of the great outdoors into the comfort of your home with amazing gameplay, deep mechanics, and gorgeous visuals.Experiencing the sights and sounds of the wilderness through the lens of an expert hunter is something truly specialand developer Avalanche Studios keeps theHunter: Call of the Wild engaging by releasing a steady stream of map expansions and updates.A game is only as strong as the maps within it, and theHunter: Call of the Wild features 13 outstandings map expansions based on real-world locations!Lets rank the best theHunter: Call of the Wild map expansions based on content currently available, animal diversity, gameplay experience, and critical reception.Dont confuse the ranking with quality, theHunter: Call of the Wild doesnt have a bad maptheyre all great hunting destinations!First, Some Honorable Mentions: New England Mountains, United StatesStarting off our Honorable Mentions are the New England Mountains. While being a gorgeous map with nice moose and Green-winged Teal options, it suffers a bit from a lack of total content and overly dense forests, making it too difficult to see prey. Mississippi Acres Preserve, United StatesThe South offers a noteworthy assortment of wildlife, including the American Alligator, Black Bear, and Wild Hog, all of which are fun to hunt. However, gameplay issueslike alligators scaring off prey like Whitetail Deercan lead to frustrating tracking situations. While this realism adds to the experience, it can sometimes make the hunt feel a bit too realistic for it to rank higher on our list. Parque Fernando, ArgentinaParque Fernando is large and brimming with amazing wildlife to hunt. You can bag a rare Cinnamon Teal or Blackbuck, hone your skills at the archery range, or simply enjoy the views. While the map has a lot to offer, it was affected when quality prey like the Mule Deer became available in other locations through updates, making it less competitive compared to the maps that made our list.Top-10 DLC Map Expansions10. Cuatro Colinas Game Reserve; SpainThe vistas and charms of Spain are captured perfectly throughout Cuatro Colinas Game Reserve, and the large range of available animal classes are so much fun to hunt.Majestic ibex, prancing deer, and scattered remains of Spains history welcome players with a taste for adventure. There are 3 Iberian Wolf boss animals, but we wish the reserve offered a larger diversity of total animals to hunt so the gameplay experience feels a little stunted.9. Medved-Taiga National Park; SiberiaHunt the vast, snow-covered lands of Northern Asia and explore countless miles of frozen lakes, forests, and fields. The terrains blankets of white make night hunting a delight, and you can even battle a rare cave-dwelling albino bear.The Musk Deer and Reindeer are two very popular and exclusive to this snowy map expansion. But the balanced roster of huntable animals is small, and the Revontuli Coast map expansion took away Medved-Taigas exclusivity to the Eurasian lynx and Eurasian brown bear.8. Rancho Del Arroyo; MxicoThis gorgeous ranch, located on the border of Northern Mexico and the Southwest United States, features two map-exclusive animals: the Rio Grande Turkey and Antelope Jackrabbit. Youll feel like a lively desperado as you hunt these warm colored lands. While Rancho Del Arroyo is vast and beautiful, it suffers from a lack of topographical diversity, and there are no boss animals. Youll have a great time in Mexico, but be sure to save some energy for the other maps as well.7. Silver Ridge Peaks; United StatesTackling the Southern Rocky Mountains isnt for the faint of heart; it requires a hunters mentality to thrive in these rugged landsluckily, you were made for this! The Silver Ridge Peaks map expansion offers gamers the chance to hunt a full spectrum of Animal Classes from 1 to 9, so youll never run out of interesting expeditions. Unfortunately, recent updates to drinking times and spawn locations have negatively impacted the hunting experience.6. Yukon Valley Nature Reserve; United StatesAlaskas mystical frontier has captivated hunters for centuries, and the video game version is no less magical. A community favorite map, the Yukon is stunning and offers excellent Class 8 and 9 hunting for Grizzly Bears and Plains Bison. If this map expansion included about four more animals, it would rank higher on our list. While the Yukon Valley Nature Reserve is far from a bad map, theHunter: Call of the Wild simply has many strong contenders!5. Vurhonga Savanna; AfricaTravel to south-west Africa for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Amazing situational hunts like the Blue Wildebeest, Cape Buffalo, and African Lion will net you countless trophies and bundles of cash of traditional setups, you will find great drinking zones and wide plaine hunting too. Hunting zebras and other rare animals would have been nice, but we understand why they werent included. If you love unique hunts then youll easily fall for the Vurhonga Savanna.4. Te Awaroa National Park; New ZealandWelcome back to the southern hemisphere where youll find the Te Awaroa National Parkthe best map for fallow hunting. You can grind through turkey, deer, duck, and rabbit across the stunning, untamed landscape. Lush forests in the west also provide dynamic opportunities to hunt Sika Deer and Feral Pigs. The visuals and effects on this map expansion are absolutely breathtaking, so stick around New Zealand for a bit and fatten that in-game wallet of yours.3. Emerald Coast; AustraliaFinally, the top 3! The Emerald Coast is truly a gem of theHunter: Call of the Wild. Explore the ocean coast, dense forests, and more as you hunt a jaw-dropping mix of animals. Saltwater Crocodiles and Eastern Grey Kangaroos are unique to this map expansion and present some amazing challenges. Big game enthusiasts will feel right at home, as the Emerald Coasts excellent layout is designed for taking down epic Banteng, Sambar, and Red Deer. This fan-favorite map will keep you entertained for weeks!2. Revontuli Coast; FinlandAn elite sense of balance is why the Revontuli Coast finds itself high on our list. This map offers everything a gamer could want with a perfect assortment of both big and small animals. Bird hunters, especially those after ducks, will adore these Finnish lands, home to 13 unique species of birds. The Revontuli Coast expansion flows exceptionally wellthe lower half is brushy with great drink zone hunting, while the northern portion is hilly, open, and perfect for run-and-gun gameplay. Start your adventure on the Revontuli Coast today and discover why it secured the second spot in our ranking!1. Sundarpatan; NepaltheHunter: Call of the Wilds latest map expansion is also the games best. Sundarpatan stands alone when compared to other maps because of the opportunities to hunt the most challenging animals, alongside a fantastic roster of small to mid-range huntables. Bengal Tigers are voracious and formidable foes, but the Snow Leopard presents the toughest challenge in the game. Their agility, awareness, and speed are unmatched, offering a truly rewarding gameplay experience. With three major biomesmountains, hills, and tropical plainsevery inch of Sundarpatan feels distinct and unique to hunt.Did we miss anything? Which theHunter: Call of the Wild map expansion is your favorite?Tell usdrop a comment down below with your ranking!

How many remakes does one game need? Pixel Remaster doesn't even have the GBA content, so it's not even definitive. Did they purposefully impair the Pixel Remaster version so that they could make a HD-2D definitive version later, or what? is that why they're talking about another remake so soon after we just got one?Hey I have an idea. they won't do it, but... What if they just made Final Fantasy 17 a HD-2D pixel art game? Just straight up do the next mainline FF game in this style. Would be more interesting than yet another extremely high budget hack n slash after FF16 and FF7R , right?

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube785kPokmon Scarlet & Violet is celebrating its two-year anniversary with a bumper list of in-game events, all of which culminate in the arrival of shiny Rayquaza, which you'll be able to get for a limited time via Tera Raid Battles.The black-coloured Rayquaza will be available in Scarlet & Violet from 20th December 2024 to 5th January 2025, but you'll have to take it down and capture it in a 5-Star Tera Raid Battle. That's not before a whole slew of events taking place in Paldea, Kitakami, and the Blueberry Academy, however.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube785kWatch on YouTube Between 29th November and 19th December, three sets of Tera Raid Battle Events will be taking place. the first will feature Corbiknight and Bellibolt (until 5th December), the second Azumarill and Clodsire (until 12th December), and the third Annihilape and Kingambit (until 19th December).Three Mass Outbreaks will also be popping up across all three regions in Scarlet & Violet during those same dates. Outbreaks of Tinkatink with the Ferocious Mark will pop up in Paldea until 5th December, followed by Wooper outbreaks in Kitakami with the Absent-Minded Mark until 12th December. Then, at the Blueberry Academy, Girafarig outbreaks (with the Intellectual Mark) will be happening until 19th December.Images: The Pokmon CompanyOther featured Pokmon, during the Rayquaza part of the event, will be Cetoddle (in Paldea), Carbink (Kitakami), and Fraxure (Blueberry Academy). So you'll need both The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk DLC if you want to get everything.Plus, if you want an easy way to level up, Chansey will also be appearing in mass outbreaks across Paldea for the duration of the event.Shiny Rayquaza will also be getting a Multi Battle campaign in Pokmon UNITE in December, so it's a busy month for what might be one of the best-looking shiny Pokmon.Will you be attempting to capture shiny Rayquaza in Scarlet & Violet? Can you believe the game is two years old already? Let us know in the comments. Sparkle and shine[source scarletviolet.pokemon.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:692 Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and while RPGs are her first love, Nintendo is a close second. She enjoys nothing more than overthinking battle strategies, characters, and stories. She also wishes she was a Sega air pirate. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesNew Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Update Leaves The Switch BehindLa-li-lu-le-lower resolutionReview: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (Switch) - Square Doesn't Drop The Ball, Just Some FramesThe wait is finally overThe First Review For Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Is InFamitsu rates itGrand Theft Auto Trilogy Receives A Surprise Update, Here's What's IncludedUpdate: The Switch patch has also gone live

In BriefPosted:4:43 PM PST November 18, 2024Image Credits:Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic / Getty ImagesBen Affleck tells actors and writers not to worry about AIUnions representing Hollywood actors and writers went on strike last year to secure protections against AI systems taking their jobs. But Ben Affleck says that actors and screenwriters shouldnt worry about AI because its not capable of doing either job today, and likely wont for a long time.Movies will be one of the last things if everything gets replaced to be replaced by AI, said Affleck during an onstage interview with CNBC last week. AI can write you an excellent imitative verse that sounds Elizabethan; it cannot write you Shakespeare.Affleck, who runs a movie studio with Matt Damon now, seems to have a decent grasp on how AI works, offering a barebones definition of transformer architectures at one point in the interview. Hes surprisingly optimistic regarding AIs impact on the film industry, saying it may actually create more work for actors and screenwriters. That said, Affleck notes that the visual effects business could be in trouble.Topics

Funding for European tech appears to have stabilised in 2024 after dropping precipitously in 2023, but the signs continue to point to more tough times ahead, according to the latest State of European Tech report.The annual survey produced by European VC firm Atomico notes that startups in the region are on track to raise $45 million this year. While far from the 50% drop of 2023, the figure is still down by $2 billion compared to a year ago. (Note: Atomico originally projected $45 billion for 2023; it has since revised 2023 up to $47 billion.)Atomico has been producing these reports annually for the last decade so this latest edition makes a lot of noise about how much things have grown. Its undeniable that the tech ecosystem in Europe has blown up: Atomico says that there are now 35,000 tech companies in the region that could be classified as early stage, with a 3,400 late-stage companies and 358 valued at over $1 billion. Compare that to 2015, when there were a mere 7,800 early-stage startups, 450 late-stage startups and just 72 tech companies valued at over $1 billion. Yet there is a lot of sobering reading, too, about some of the challenges of the moment and signs of how geopolitical and economic unrest despite that shiny stories about the boom in AI continue to weigh down the market.Here are some of the breakout stats:Exits have fallen off a cliff. This is one of the more stark tables in the report that underscores some of the liquidity pressure that ultimately trickles down to earlier-stage tech companies. Put simply, M&As and IPOs are relatively non-existent right now in European tech. 2024, at the time of the report being published in mid-November, saw just $3 billion in IPO value and $10 billion in M&A, according to S&P Capital figures. Both of these a big drops on the overall trend, which had otherwise seen steady rises in both, consistently surpassing $50 billion per year threshold. (Granted, sometimes all it takes is one big deal to make a year. In 2023, for example, ARMs $65 billion IPO accounted for a full 92% of total IPO value, and clearly it didnt have the knock-on effect many had hoped for in kick-starting more activity.) Transaction volumes, Atomico notes, are at their lowest points in a decade.Debt on the rise. As you might expect, debt financing is filling in the funding gap especially for startups raising growth rounds. So far this year, debt financing made up a full 14% of all VC investments, totalling some $4.7 billion. Thats a big jump on last year, according to Dealrooms figures: in 2023, debt made up just $2.6 billion of financing, accounting for 5.5% of all VC investments.Average round sizes bounce back. Last year, the average size of every stage of funding from Series A to D all declined in Europe, with only seed stage rounds continuing to increase. However, amid an overall decline in number of funding rounds in the region, those startups that are managing to close deals are, on average, raising more. Series A is now $10.6 million (2023: $9.3 million), Series B $25.4 million (2023: $21.3 million), Series C $55 million (2023: $43 million). The U.S. continues to outpace Europe on round sizes overall.But dont expect rounds to be raised in quick successions. Atomico noted that the number of startups on average raising within a 24-month timeframe declined by 20%, and it has taken longer for a company to convert from A to B on what it calls compressed time frames of 15 months or less, with just 16% raising a Series B in that period in 2024.As you can see in the table below the number of rounds in this year is down on the year before.AI continues to lead the pack. As with 2023, Artificial intelligence continued to dominate conversations. Atomico spells this out with a graphic showing the burst of AI mentions in earnings calls:And that has carried through as a strong theme among private companies. Between companies like Wayve, Helsing, Mistral, Poolside, DeepL and many others, AI startups have led the pack when it comes to the biggest venture deals this year in Europe, raising $11 billion in all. Yet even so, Atomico points out, Europe has a long way to close the gap with the U.S. in terms of AI funding. Thanks to outsized rounds for companies like OpenAI, all told the U.S. shaping up to have invested $47 billion in AI companies this year thats right, $2 billion more than all startup investment in Europe, combined. The U.K. (thanks to Wayve) is currently the biggest market for AI funding in the region, it said.Valuations improving After startup valuations bottomed out in 2023, Atomico writes, they are now heading back up, a lagged result of the slow return of activity in the public markets. Some of that is likely also due to the outsized rounds raised by certain companies in certain fields like AI. More generally, the rule appears to be that founders are more open to dilution on larger rounds in earlier stages and that plays out as higher valuations. Then startups raising at later stages are picking up the pieces of that earlier exuberance and are raising down rounds, Atomico said. European startups continue to see valuations on average lower than those of their American counterparts, on average between 29% and 52% lower, Atomico notes.(In the graphic below, charting Series C, the average valuation for a U.S. startup is $218 million, compared to $155 million for startup in Europe.)But sentiment is not. If confidence is a strong indicator of the health of a market, there might be some work ahead for the motivators in out there. Atomico has been polling founders and investors annually asking how they feel about the state of the market compared to a year ago, and 2024 appears to a high watermark for low confidence. In a frank assessment of how founders and investors are viewing the market at the moment, a record proportion respectively 40% and 26% said they felt less confident than 12 months ago.

Efficient Techniques using Maya & ZBrush with Joo VictorLearn how to build a complete character for animation with clean topology. Being a modeler in the animation industry puts you in a flexible position but also demands a lot of you, both artistically and technically. In this 2-hour workshop by Joo Victor, who has contributed to movies including Pixars Inside Out 2, he demonstrates the technical side of character modeling for animation, including the very important topological solutions needed to ensure clean models that correctly deform when animated.This comprehensive workshop begins with the basics and works through to more advanced techniques using Maya and ZBrush. For Joo, topological tasks are like challenging games; artists need to create unique solutions for different characters to create meshes that are as efficient as possible. The work done by modelers is critical for the success of characters as they move through the animation pipeline to be used by various departments. Joo not only discusses the important topology concepts that professional modeling teams consider when preparing meshes for other departments in a studio environment but also provides professional tips and tricks for you to take with you into your personal and studio projects alike.WATCH NOW

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