As part of the study, researchers created a 3D replica of the ancient mug. Cassidy DelamarterAn intricately crafted mug depicting an ancient Egyptian deity was donated to the Tampa Museum of Arts collections in 1984. Now, four decades later, scientists have found evidence of psychedelic substances in the 2,000-year-old vessel, according to a study published this month in the journal Scientific Reports.The mug is designed to resemble the head ofBes, an Egyptian god associated with joy, fertility and household protection. It was likely used around the second century B.C.E. during Egypts Ptolemaic era.For a very long time now, Egyptologists have been speculating what mugs with the head of Bes could have been used for, and for what kind of beverage, like sacred water, milk, wine or beer, says co-author Branko van Oppen, the museums curator of Greek and Roman art, in the statement. Experts did not know if these mugs were used in daily life, for religious purposes or in magic rituals.In the recent study, scientists conducted an advanced chemical and DNA analysis of the mug. The psychedelic components they found included the plant Peganum harmala (also known as Syrian rue), whose seeds can induce dreamlike visions. They also discovered traces of Egyptian lotus, which is a mild sedative that causes feelings of euphoria.In addition to the psychedelic residue, scientists found that the cup contained traces of a variety of substances including alcohol, honey, sesame seeds, pine nuts, licorice and grapes. The analysis also revealed the presence of what may be human blood and other bodily fluids. While the mixture may not be something everyone would opt to drink, co-authorEnrico Greco, a chemist at the University of Trieste in Italy, tellsNewsweeksProteins from blood, vaginal mucus and possibly breast milk were identified. These fluids may have held symbolic or ritual significance, emphasizing themes of life, fertility and regeneration, says Greco. The inclusion of human fluids, such as blood and mucous secretions, was an unexpected and highly symbolic element.Lead authorDavide Tanasi, an archaeologist at the University of South Florida, tellsFox News DigitalsIn [the] Greek cult of Asklepios, god of medicine, sick worshipers had to spend the night in the sanctuary and wait to be visited by the god curing them during their dreams, Tanasi adds. Those dreams were triggered by drugs (pharmaka) dispensed by the priests. So, our research confirms an earlier practice that has later comparisons in several other cultures.Moving forward, the researchers plan to reexamine other known Bes mugs using similar analytical techniques to see if the concoction inside was a common recipe.This is the first comprehensive scientific analysis of a Bes mugs organic residues, Greco tells Newsweek. Previous studies speculated on the contents of these vessels, but they lacked direct evidence. This study is groundbreaking in uncovering the actual substances used and their ritual significance.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Artifacts, Egypt, Food, Food History, New Research, Religion, Religious History, Rituals and Traditions

Thomson Reuters integrates OpenAI's o1-mini model into CoCounsel legal assistant, pioneering a multi-AI approach with Google and Anthropic models for enhanced legal workflows.Read More

The collaboration of The Oatmeal cartoonistMatt Inmanand video game designer Elan Lee on Exploding Kittens has been a fruitful one.Read More

Report: Ubisoft Barcelona unions file lawsuit against return to office mandateUbisoft's decision was made "suddenly and without transparency," unions claimImage credit: Ubisoft Barcelona News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on Nov. 25, 2024 Unions for Ubisoft's AAA and mobile studios in Barcelona have filed a lawsuit against the Assassin's Creed publisher over its remote work policy changes.In affiliation with Spanish trade body CGT (Confederacin General del Trabajo), the unions are demanding that Ubisoft revert the return to office mandate and ensure remote working is protected by a collective agreement.As detailed in an email sent to GamesIndustry.biz, the unions claimed that though both sides were up to negotiate, management had yet to put forward a proposal since the lawsuit was filed on October 14.The changes proposed by Ubisoft will allegedly see employees return to work for at least three days a week.This will replace current monthly remote working guidelines that provide 60% of the monthly days, as chosen by workers, as home-based. Those on a full-time work from home scheme will also have to follow the policy.The unions claim that Ubisoft's decision was made "suddenly and without transparency", highlighting that it would create logistical problems as offices aren't prepared to accommodate all remote workers at once.Ubisoft reportedly said the return to office mandate was for "team creativity" and "better communication", but the unions argue that "management has consistently failed to present any actual tangible benefits to back this measure."GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Ubisoft for comment.In September, over 700 employees at Ubisoft France participated in a three-day strike in response to the same return to office mandate. Last month, employees at Ubisoft Milan called for a one-day strike in solidarity with Ubisoft France.

My Games launches mobile publisher MGVC PublishingLabel looking for soft launch projects and established games, and is interested in Asian devs looking to expand to the WestImage credit: MGVC Publishing News by Marie Dealessandri Deputy Editor Published on Nov. 25, 2024 My Games has announced the launch of a new mobile publisher called MGVC Publishing.The new label is headed by executive director Nikita Matsokin, who has been at My Games since 2020 following six years at Wargaming, most recently as developer relations head.MGVC Publishing has already signed a handful of titles, including Reef Games Studio's merge-three title Fable Town, Press Fire Games' shooter Battle Prime, and ReactGames Studio's survival game Days After.The label is currently looking for soft launch projects ready for monetisation testing, and established games that are looking for growth, across the mobile spectrum from casual to hardcore. It's also interested in Asian developers looking to expand to Western markets.Matsokin commented: "Today's mobile market realities and new challenges demand fresh approaches. Complex user acquisition strategies require deep expertise and nuanced publishing and operational improvements that, together, can elevate projects to new heights. At MGVC Publishing, we believe in creating win-win partnerships that drive mutual success."With over six years of experience building strong relationships with independent studios, the MGVC team is a unique partner in the industry, committed to helping studios achieve breakthrough results."It's the second publishing label that My Games launches this year, following the debut of Knights Peak in June. We talked to the team behidn the PC and console publisher, who told us about how it intends to support premium games.

Iwas reading a game design piece that gave me pause for a second about whether this is what game design at the AAA level is about now focusing on analytics and trying to math the perfect game.A monumental shift that more people havent talked about occurred in the 2010s with the rise of the indie industry and how it put to rest a lot of the assumptions about AAA development. For today, I want to talk about why you cant just use numbers to create a great and memorable game, and when the best games have a little grit to them.Objectively averageGame Design at its core is not something you can really teach or easily put into words. You can explain to someone what good coding is or different art styles, however, its a lot harder to explain the differences in feel betweenMariovs.Crash Bandicoot, or howDoom 2016andDoom Eternalare completely different experiences despite continuing a franchise and both being FPS.In my opinion, feel is the X factor that separates bad games from good games, and good games from award winners. Its the distinction between titles that people remember for years to come and those that completely disappear within two weeks of launch.If you dont understand mechanics and game design, then you end up with a bad game that no one wants to play. However, if you only look at a game from a numerical standpoint and not how it feels to play, you can end up with something surprisingly worse a game that is remarkably average that no one will remember it or your studio after playing it. For a studio, youre not going to be growing with new and exciting ideas or having a fan base that comes along for that ride.Part of sustainable game dev is being able to create games that keep people excited about whats coming next from your studio. You want them to be interested in your games sight unseen just the fact that you are working on something or publishing it gets them excited. Studios like Strange Scaffold or New Blood Interactive are examples of this.And to be able to understand feel at this level means going beyond just playing what everyone loves.Finding the rough edgesPart of good game design and good game criticism is being able to look at games beyond just what everyone else is playing. You cant study game design solely by playing the best games each year. The reason is that you are playing a heavily curated and refined experience with all of its edges sanded down. Youre not going to see the pitfalls of a genre or the pain points, or even know what they are. And sometimes, that off-kilter 6 out of 10 game may have something completely original and amazing in it.One of my absolute favorite games of recent memory isAstlibra: Revision, a game that is a hodge podge of assets and free music that is as far away from polished or a AAA experience as a game could be. And yet, it all comes together for an amazing time that still feels cohesive. Something like this could have never been conceived by a major studio or someone who only plays AAA games. The same could be said of hits likeBalatro, Vampire Survivors, Lethal Company, and many more. These are games that are not the best looking, graphics card shattering, games that required millions to develop.What these games all share is exploring a very unique and specific aspect of game design and gameplay. Are they all perfectly designed titles that hit their market segments? No. Some of the most memorable games released in the past 14 years all have some element of chaff to them they were not designed by a marketing committee. But what they do have is something that resonates with people, very much in the same way that games likeStardew ValleyandFactoriodid.Imagine telling someone 10 years ago that this would be a scene from one of the most successful games ever madeDesigners and publishers continue to chase game success stories thinking that there is some kind of mythical blueprint that if you follow to the letter,yourgame will be the next million copy seller that will win GOTY from every outlet.What we find instead, is that those games that try to copy another one end up doing far less than that game. People dont want to play a game theyve already played they need something new and exciting. With Bullet Heaven games, Ive lost count of the number of them Ive played that are either worseVampire Survivors or ExactlyVampire Survivorsbut with X theme. Whereas my favorite examples have all gone in a different direction, such asBrotato, Picayune Dreams,orDeath Must Die.Feeling it outUnderstanding the differences in game feel between bad, good, and masterclass examples of design is something that you cant quite put into words. You can explain to someone how to code jumping physics in your game; you cant spell out the exact numbers needed to make jumping feel good. Heres a bit of an exercise: can you make a platformer with a similar feel toSuper Mario Worldor a shooter likeDoom, but you can only watch footage of these games; you are not allowed to play them.Many designers Ive seen who try to make games inspired by these classics often do it in the most cookie-cutter way but there is a monumental difference between howMarioorDoomplays vs. the myriad of games inspired by them. Ive said this point before and it needs to be understood by everyone:Classic games are not the goal of your games design, they are the benchmarks that you need to clear if you expect someone to even think about playing them.If anyone tells you the perfect way to build a platformer, strategy, FPS, or any game, they are lying. There are always foundational aspects of game mechanics and genres that need to be understood, but these are the boxes you need to understand before you can start thinking outside of them. If you think that a consumer will be interested in any game made like it was back in 1989, even the best of that year, you are sorely mistaken. This is also why its difficult to explain to someone this game is great or this game is bad without playing a spectrum of games. Just because you have jump or shoot as verbs in your game doesnt mean they are helping sell your game to the consumer.the best games Ive played all are about finding that feel that works for them, and running with it.When a game does do something above and beyond with its mechanics, I want to tell everyone about it so that they can then be inspired by it and do something different.Anyone who understands coding and basic design can make any genre they set their minds to but making something that will excite people is another matter. You never know when building your game what will resonate with someone. Making a perfectly optimized platformer is one thing, but what about a game about climbing a mountain using a hammer and having to get over it? And its that ability to create something that resonates that is open to everyone how so many indie games are able to punch way above their weight and deliver experiences that not even the largest teams with the biggest budgets can achieve.If you would like to support what I do and let me do more daily streaming, be sure to check out myPatreon. MyDiscord is now opento everyone for chatting about games and game design.

Chris Kerr, News EditorNovember 25, 20241 Min ReadImage via SonyAt a GlanceSony is developing a handheld device capable of running PlayStation 5 titles on the move.Sony wants to re-enter the handheld arms race by developing a new portable PlayStation console. According to a report from Bloomberg, the Japanese company is developing a handheld device capable of running PlayStation 5 titles on the move.People familiar with the project said the console is in the early stages of development and will enable Sony to compete with Nintendo and the immensely popular Switch (which has sold over 146 million units to date).It could also contend with any future portable Xbox hardware from Microsoft, which continues to express an interest in the handheld market.It's claimed the device is years away from launching and could be shelved before ever making it to market.Sony's handheld historySony has previous experience when it comes to building handhelds. The company released the PlayStation Portable (PSP) to compete with the Nintendo DS in 2004. The PSP was eventually succeeded by the PlayStation Vita in 2011.Although the PS Vita was the last dedicated PlayStation handheld to hit shelves, Sony did tentatively revisit the concept with the PlayStation Portala remote player for the PlayStation 5 that lets owners access and play their PS5 catalog over select Wi-Fi networks.Unlike the Nintendo Switch and Valve's Steam Deck, however, the PlayStation Portal isn't a standalone device.Sony declined to comment on the news when approached by Bloomberg.Read more about:Top Stories[Company] PlayStationAbout the AuthorChris KerrNews Editor, GameDeveloper.comGame Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist and reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, andPocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has featured on the judging panel at The Develop Star Awards on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.See more from Chris KerrDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Instagram is adding the ability to share your live location with friends in your DMs for up to one hour at a time so you can find each other when arriving at concerts, outings, and other gatherings. The feature works within Instagrams direct messages, which also gets a few other new features, including sticker packs and nicknames.Instagram says you can share your location privately with others through DMs, either one-to-one or within group chats, and the feature is off by default. Its similar to the location-sharing features inSnapchats SnapMap, which includes the ability to share pictures with friends on a map. For now, these features are only available in select countries (Instagram does not list where.)You can rename your friends within group chats. Image: InstagramTheres an indicator in the chat to remind you that youre sharing your location. Image: InstagramYou can also now give yourself and your friends nicknames in your DMs, including within group chats. You can lock friends out of that ability if you dont like what they named you, and the feature only stays within specific chats so outsiders cant see each other's provided nicknames.DMs have 17 new sticker packs with over 300 new stickers, too, which you can drop into chats with your friends. You can even mark the stickers friends send you as favorites inside chats, re-use them, and make your own with the cutouts feature or generate them with AI.Instagrams head, Adam Mosseri, said last week that people are using messages more than the create button, so the company is now testing a new placement for the chat icon that puts it on the bottom and center of the app.

The European Union says Twitter alternative Bluesky violates the EU Digital Services Act rules around information disclosure, reports Reuters. But since Bluesky isnt yet big enough to be considered a very large online platform under the DSA, the regulator says it cant regulate Bluesky the way it does X or Threads. The Financial Times quotes European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier, who told reporters about the violation during a Monday press briefing:All platforms in the EU...have to have a dedicated page on their website where it says how many users they have in the EU and where they are legally established, said commission spokesman Thomas Regnier. This is not the case for Bluesky as of today. This is not followed.Regnier reportedly went on to say that the commission has asked the EUs 27 national governments to look for any trace of Bluesky like EU-based offices. The regulator hasnt reached out to Bluesky directly, yet, The Financial Times writes. Bluesky didnt immediately reply to The Verges request for comment. RelatedThe DSA is designed to hold platforms legally responsible for content posted to them, but with fewer than 45 million users, Bluesky isnt big enough yet to qualify for its very large online platform label. Booming signups in the wake of the US Presidential election drove its user count to 15 million users 10 days ago, and its now at 22.5 million users, according to a stat-tracking site put together by one of the platforms developers. Its continued growth could put it at odds with EU regulators soon enough.