Those of us who own one know it: The air fryer's specific magical power is in imitating foods you would normally fry but without the actual frying part.Making frozen foods such as tater tots and chicken tenders taste and feel like they actually got deep fried, and restoring fried takeout items like mozzarella sticks and onion rings to their former glory is where the air fryer really shines. An air fryer has myriad other uses, but its capacity with fried items alone is worth the price. But can you actually make fried food from scratch in an air fryer? With "fryer" in its very name, can an air fryer actually live up to its promise and produce convincing, homemade fried chicken?"You can get a great fried texture from making fried chicken in the air fryer," said Yvette Ervin, owner and head chef of Brooklyn Chckn 'N' Lbstr. "It won't be exactly the same consistency as it would from being deep fried in oil, however, it will still be really crispy and is a healthier alternative to conventional fried chicken."As a chef who has staked her claim on fried foods, Ervin shared her best practices when it comes to making fried chicken in an air fryer. I went ahead and tried them.How does an air fryer work? Air fryers aren't complicated machines. Just traditional convection heat supercharged by a simple fan. Hazal Ak/Getty Upgrade your inbox Get cnet insider From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated. Deep frying and air fryer cooking are both considered dry heat cooking methods. Both achieve results via 360 degrees of contact with the source of heat. In a deep fry situation, it's oil, and in an air fryer it's -- you guessed it -- air. "An air fryer uses convection, like a convection oven, and it's the air circulation that cooks the food and transforms it without using any type of trans oil or direct contact heat," said Ervin.While technically not frying, radiant heat from preheating the air fryer gets moved via a circulating fan in an enclosed space, cooking rapidly while creating an atmosphere that can effectively crisp skin or brown any coating on the food in a way that produces fry-like results.Read more:Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Air FryersAir fryer chicken considerations Classic fried chicken calls for bone-in, skin-on pieces but you can make with boneless if you prefer. David Watsky/CNETWhen it comes to making air fryer fried chicken from scratch, first, consider the chicken. While white and dark meat are individual preferences, as are bone-in chicken versus boneless tenders, different cuts require different approaches."The air fryer is mainly meant for quick, simple meals that you could just set to go and forget about it," said Ervin. "Boneless will cook faster, and will also get an evenly crispy texture from the air fryer because of its uniform thickness.""Larger pieces of bone-in chicken tend to take more time, and they also need more attention," Ervin added. This may involve flipping them during the cooking process, and checking for doneness.Bone-in chicken retains more flavor and juiciness during the cooking process, however, while boneless chicken can be easier to overcook. Dark meat contains more fat than does white meat; when released during cooking, it can add an additional oil element to crisp up the skin.Preparing the chicken The pieces should be uniform in size. Pamela Vachon/CNETWhatever chicken you're working with, "the cooking time is going to vary if you have pieces of different sizes," said Ervin. You can do yourself a favor by cutting them into pieces of similar size, especially with bone-in chicken.Whereas with deep frying you are able to observe the cook in progress and remove smaller pieces as they're ready, most air fryers don't have windows to see what's happening inside the fryer. You can cut breasts and some thighs in half to match smaller pieces like wings and drumsticks. (Kitchen shears are a great way to accomplish this.)The chicken should also be as dry as possible to start, to better adhere to the coating, and to not create opportunities for steam during the cooking process, which impedes the ability to get the exterior crispy or crunchy.The coating is key My full fried-chicken dredge setup. Pamela Vachon/CNETYou can air fry chicken with skinless or skin-on pieces. But without any type of coating, "it's not really fried chicken," said Ervin, "but maybe more like roasted, or rotisserie chicken." It's still a potentially excellent outcome in an air fryer, but it doesn't qualify as fried."You want a flour or a batter, or even a fish fry coating, because it will make the item crispy and feel like fried chicken," said Ervin.An argument can be made for skin-on chicken wings, which are typically deep fried without a coating, (note: without a coating) before they're tossed in the traditional hot sauce mixture, and the air fryer also excels at this.Sourcing various recipes for air fryer fried chicken, there are two schools of thought as respects the coating. The first involves a simple milk or buttermilk brine, and a single dunking in dry coating such as that made with flour, cornstarch, cornmeal, breadcrumbs, or a combination of those things. Cornstarch both absorbs moisture and prevents gluten development in flour, promoting a crispy outcome. Leave enough space so that pieces don't steam. Pamela Vachon/CNETThe second method is more aligned with deep fried chicken, where the chicken gets coated with flour or a flour-based seasoning mixture, dunked in egg or milk, and coated with flour again. This will create a thicker, fried-like coating on the chicken, whereas the first method produces more of a thin crust, or an extension of the skin.In either case, "you don't want to have it wet," said Ervin. While a deep fryer can handle coatings such as a slightly fluid beer batter, the air fryer isn't appropriate for that style.Just a touch of oil An inexpensive oil sprayer will come in handy when making air fryer fried chicken. WonderchefThe final step is a light coating of oil, to make sure any dry flour isn't exposed on the surface of the chicken. Some fat will be released from the meat itself and help hydrate the flour during the cooking process, but you'll need just enough oil to moisten the coating. Ervin suggests olive oil or grapeseed oil, which can be carefully brushed on, or is best dispensed in a spray or pump bottle.This is what separates fried chicken from air fryer fried chicken, as there's far less fat to be absorbed by the coating, resulting in a fried-like exterior with a crispy coating but with a much healthier outcome.The verdict on air fryer fried chicken Don't forget to to flip the bird halfway through. Pamela Vachon/CNETUsing all the available wisdom, I swung for the fences with bone-in, skin-on chicken, cut to pieces of a similar size, and used a coating similar to that of a deep fried chicken. The pieces were dredged in a flour mixture containing both flour and cornstarch, dipped in an egg wash spiked with Tabasco, and coated a final time in the flour mixture.What I would recommend is to spritz oil on all sides of the chicken before putting the pieces in the air fryer, or to brush some oil on the air fryer basket itself to prevent it from sticking. Following the online recipe I sourced, I sprayed the top, and again once the pieces were flipped, but some of the coating got left behind.After about 8 minutes on each side, the outcome was a convincing facsimile of fried chicken, without any of the hassle of deep frying. No deep fryer smell, no oil to discard, just a tasty, crunchy, healthier alternative to the real thing. Pretty good for under 25 minutes. Pamela Vachon/CNETFor more air fryer favorites, see how we made anentire chicken and10-minute salmon in the countertop cooker.

November 20, 20245 min readClimate Change Amplified the Winds in Every Hurricane in 2024Every Atlantic hurricane that formed this year had higher wind speeds because of climate change. Two likely would have remained tropical storms without its influenceBy Chelsea Harvey & E&E NewsSatellite image of Category 4 Hurricane Helene making landfall in Florida, USA, with powerful winds and heavy rainfall causing widespread damage. Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2024CLIMATEWIRE | Climate change increased the maximum wind speeds of every Atlantic hurricane that formed this year, scientists have found. All 11 storms intensified between 9 and 28 miles per hour under the influence of warmer-than-average ocean temperatures.The extra juice pushed seven storms at least one category higher than they would have been without the influence of climate change. And Hurricanes Debby and Oscar likely would have remained tropical storms in a world without global warming.The new analysis was released Wednesday morning by researchers from the climate science and communications nonprofit Climate Central. Its the latest study to warn of the dangers of intensifying hurricanes in a warmer world.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.We know climate change is increasing the temperatures around the planet, said lead study author Daniel Gilford, a climate scientist with Climate Central. We know temperatures in the ocean, and in the Atlantic Ocean in particular, are getting warmer. So now we can estimate what does that mean for hurricane intensities.The full study examines not only the 2024 season, but all Atlantic hurricanes over the last five years. Between 2019 and 2023, elevated ocean temperatures boosted the wind speeds in five out of every six hurricanes, causing them to intensify by an average of 18 miles per hour. Over that time period, 30 hurricanes jumped at least one category higher than they would have been without the influence of climate change.And in 2024, every Atlantic hurricane was strengthened to some degree by warming ocean waters.The analysis also finds that some hurricanes reached a catastrophic Category 5 only because of the influence of climate change. That includes Hurricane Lee in 2019, Ian in 2022 and Lorenzo in 2023, as well as both Milton and Beryl in 2024.Milton was an especially remarkable case, the analysis notes. It gained 120 miles per hour in wind speeds in less than 36 hours after passing over waters more than 3 degrees Fahrenheit above their typical temperatures. A separate Climate Central analysis found that these water temperatures were 400 to 800 times more likely to occur because of climate change.The new study relies on a special kind of analysis known as attribution science, which investigates the links between global warming and extreme weather events.Using a combination of on-the-ground observations, statistical analyses and climate models, the research compares real-world events with a hypothetical scenario in which human-caused climate change doesnt exist. This comparative analysis can help scientists determine the extent to which global warming has influenced an extreme weather event.In this case, the scientists focused on the influence of warming waters. Ocean temperatures are a major factor in the formation and intensification of tropical cyclones, and studies have suggested for decades that hurricanes will grow stronger as sea surface temperatures rise.That doesnt necessarily mean the total number of hurricanes will increase. But the proportion of storms that achieve major hurricane status, at a Category 3 or higher, will rise over time.The new analysis confirms its already happening. And it reinforces the findings of other similar recent studies, according to Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and co-founder of World Weather Attribution, a climate science consortium dedicated to investigating the links between climate change and extreme weather events around the world.World Weather Attribution performed a similar analysis earlier this year, she noted. The study used slightly different methods, based on a mathematical model, to investigate the links between climate change and hurricane wind speeds, focusing specifically on Hurricane Helene.The exact numbers differed slightly from the Climate Central findings, but were very much in the same ballpark, according to Otto.It really shows that these two completely different lines of evidence show us the same thing, she added.Age of unprecedented disastersIts not just wind speeds that are strengthening.Studies have found that climate change can increase the intensity of hurricane rainfall, making floods more likely and more damaging. And research suggests that water, from rainfall or from storm surge, causes more damage during tropical cyclones than winds.But overall hurricane damage, including water-related impacts, scales up exponentially with higher wind speeds, according to NOAA. That means higher category storms tend to be costlier and deadlier across the board.All of which underscores the importance of studies that focus on wind speeds, experts say. And they may be able to help scientists better communicate the dangers to the public, potentially saving lives.Is it relevant that were getting more violent hurricanes? You bet it is, said John Morales, a longtime meteorologist and hurricane specialist with NBC. Because these are the ones that cause the vast majority of the destruction. And were seeing more of those in recent years.One emerging danger of strengthening hurricanes is that theyre intensifying faster than they used to, Morales added sometimes ballooning into major storms in a matter of hours. That gives emergency managers little time to prepare their communities and organize evacuations.Hurricanes also are intensifying in ways that many communities have rarely or never seen, he added.Hurricane Helene, which carved a path of destruction from Florida through Southern Appalachia in September, is a prime example.An unusually large, powerful and fast-moving storm, Helene was able to maintain its strength long enough to dump historic levels of rainfall on communities unaccustomed to severe impacts from tropical cyclones. The storm left swaths of western North Carolina submerged in floodwaters and cut off from aid, killing hundreds of people.There are huge death tolls when extreme events happen that people have not experienced before, said Otto, the World Weather Attribution co-founder.Thats not just a problem with hurricanes. Scientists have warned that extreme weather events of all kinds, from wildfires to floods, are worsening as global temperatures rise. And the odds of record-breaking or unprecedented events is climbing, meaning communities around the world are at more frequent risk of disasters they've never experienced before.We see now again and again that records are broken, that wind speeds are higher than ever before, rainfall is higher than ever before, Otto said. We really need to use that to make sure that people dont die.Scientists and emergency managers are still considering the best ways to communicate the dangers of intensifying disasters to vulnerable communities. Some experts have floated the idea of adding a Category 6 to the hurricane scale, as tropical cyclones strengthen into record-breaking territory.While the exact strategies are still under debate, increased communication is key, Otto said.Just so people are aware that something is going to hit them that is different from everything else they have experienced before, she said. And therefore more dangerous.Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

November 20, 20245 min readSpaceXs Starship Soars in 6th Test Flight but Skips Booster CatchThe sixth test flight of SpaceXs giant rocket ended with a fiery splashdown rather than a clean chopstick catchBy Mike Wall & SPACE.comSpaceXs Starship rockets into the skies near Boca Chica, Texas on November 19, 2024 for the Starship Flight 6 test. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty ImagesThe biggest and most powerful rocket ever built now has a half-dozen launches under its belt.SpaceX's 400-foot-tall (122 meters) Starship megarocket lifted off for the sixth time ever today (Nov. 19), rising off the orbital launch mount at the company's Starbase site in South Texas at 5:00 p.m. EST (2200 GMT; 4:00 p.m. local Texas time).SpaceX landed Starship's huge first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, back at the launch tower on the vehicle's most recent flight, which occurred on Oct. 13. The company aimed to repeat that feat which the tower achieved with its "chopstick" arms today, but the flight data didn't support an attempt.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today."We tripped a commit criteria," SpaceX's Dan Huot said during the company's Flight 6 webcast. So Super Heavy ended up coming down for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead, hitting the waves seven minutes after liftoff.Anticipation for Flight 6 was high, in part because of the planned booster-catch attempt. For example, President-elect Donald Trump made the trip to South Texas to watch Flight 6 in person.Trump's support for Musk and Starship isn't terribly surprising; the two billionaires have apparently grown quite close over the past few months.Musk campaigned hard for Trump's election and put more than $100 million of his own money toward that effort. And Trump has appointed Musk to co-lead the "Department of Government Efficiency." This advisory group, Trump said, will help his administration "dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies."An action-packed flightToday's mission aimed to do far more than just bring Super Heavy back to Earth in one piece. SpaceX also wanted to put Starship's upper stage a 165-foot-tall (50 m) spacecraft called Starship, or simply "Ship" through its paces.The launch sent Ship on the same semi-orbital trajectory that it took on Flight 5, targeting a splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the northwestern coast of Australia about 65 minutes after liftoff. But Ship also achieved some new milestones along the way this time.For example, Flight 6 carried the first-ever Starship payload a plush banana onboard Ship, which served as a zero-gravity indicator. (It was not deployed into space.) In addition, Ship briefly re-lit one of its six Raptor engines about 38 minutes into the flight. (Super Heavy also employs Raptors a whopping 33 of them.)This burn helped show that Ship can perform the maneuvers needed to come back to Earth safely during orbital missions. Indeed, Ship is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, just like Super Heavy; SpaceX eventually intends to catch it with the chopstick arms as well, and will likely try to do so on a test flight in the near future. (Landing directly on the launch mount, rather than on a ship at sea or a designated touchdown pad, will enable quicker and more efficient inspection, refurbishment and reflight, SpaceX has said.)Flight 6 also tested modifications to Ship's heat shield, which protects the vehicle during reentry to Earth's atmosphere."The flight test will assess new secondary thermal protection materials and will have entire sections of heat shield tiles removed on either side of the ship in locations being studied for catch-enabling hardware on future vehicles," SpaceX wrote in a mission description. "The ship also will intentionally fly at a higher angle of attack in the final phase of descent, purposefully stressing the limits of flap control to gain data on future landing profiles."SpaceX also shifted the launch time for Flight 6, to allow for better observation of Ship's reentry and splashdown. Flight 5 (and all four of its predecessors) lifted off from Texas in the morning, and Ship came down in darkness on the other side of the world.So we all got great views of Ship's return to Earth today, which went swimmingly. The shiny silver vehicle survived its scorching-hot trip through the planet's atmosphere, fired up three of its six Raptors to flip itself into a vertical position as it approached the water, and hit the waves base-first as planned 65.5 minutes after liftoff."Incredible! We really pushed the limits on Ship, and it made it all the way back down to Earth," Jessica Anderson, SpaceX manufacturing engineering manager, said during today's webcast."I am shocked, to be honest," added webcast co-host Kate Tice, a senior quality engineering manager at SpaceX. "I think many folks are. The fact that it survived all the way through while flying a lesser-gen heat shield is just absolutely incredible."SpaceX is developing Starship to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, and to perform a wide variety of other spaceflight tasks, such as building out its Starlink broadband megaconstellation in low Earth orbit.NASA has a serious stake in the vehicle, selecting Starship to be the first crewed lander for its Artemis program of moon exploration. If all goes according to plan, Starship will put NASA astronauts down on the moon for the first time in late 2026, on the Artemis 3 mission.SpaceX is working to get Starship up and running as soon as possible, and test flights are a big part of this effort. The megarocket has now flown six times in April and November of 2023, and March, June, October and November of this year and the cadence is likely to increase greatly in the near future.Musk is apparently targeting 25 Starship launches in 2025 and 100 a few years after that. Those numbers may seem optimistic, but SpaceX has already launched 113 missions of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket so far in 2024. And the regulatory environment which Musk has railed against repeatedly in recent months could soon relax considerably, given Trump's stated goals and his apparently closeness with the SpaceX founder and CEO.These test missions are designed to pave the way for more ambitious jaunts and soon, if all goes according to plan."Every one of these flights is a step closer to a fully operational Starship that will take us beyond Earth orbit, and with our pace of rapid iteration here, the moon and Mars are not nearly as far in the future as you may think," Tice said today. "In fact, we're planning to send Starships to Mars as soon as 2026, which is when the next Mars transfer window opens."Copyright 2024 Space.com, a Future company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can now stream "select" games from their own library via Cloud Gaming50 titles currently supported.Image credit: Microsoft News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Nov. 20, 2024 Five years after announcing the feature was on the way, Microsoft has finally launched the ability for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to play "select" games they already own outside the Xbox Game Pass library via cloud streaming.Microsoft originally announced the feature back in 2019, with the goal of launching it alongside Xbox Cloud Gaming (then known as Project xCloud) the following year. It was then re-announced for launch in 2022, but again failed to materialise, with The Verge later reporting its arrival had been "complicated by having to prepare key infrastructure for thousands of games" .However, word began circulating last month that the long-in-the-works feature was finally almost here - and those reports have now been proven true. Microsoft has announced Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can use Xbox Cloud Gaming to stream games they own starting today - albeit only if they appear on its 50-strong list of currently compatible titles.Microsoft's Stream Your Own Games trailer.Watch on YouTubeThat's not, admittedly, a huge number of games when you consider the size of the Xbox catalogue, but it's a pretty solid list, mixing blockbuster titles old and new with acclaimed indie games. Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Outlaws, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Warhammer 4K: Space Marine 2, and Life is Strange: Double Exposure all feature, as do Balatro, Hades, Animal Well, Dredge, Phasmophobia, The Plucky Squire. The full list, as it currently stands, is available at the bottom of this story, and Microsoft adds its "library of cloud-playable titles will continue to grow, as we work with our partners around the world". It also notes it'll only be possible to stream games through TVs and browsers on supported devices such as tablets, smartphones, and Meta Quest headsets to begin with, but says the feature will expand to Xbox consoles and the Xbox app on Windows sometime next year.You'll find instructions and a list of supported devices for Microsoft's new Xbox Cloud Gaming feature (which coincidentally arrives just as PlayStation expands its own cloud gaming options) over on Xbox Wire. Additionally, that 50-strong list of currently compatible titles is below:Animal Well Assassins Creed Mirage Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Balatro Baldurs Gate 3 Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022) The Casting of Frank Stone Cyberpunk 2077 Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake DredgeDying Light 2 Stay Human Farming Simulator 25 Fear the Spotlight Final Fantasy XIV Online Final FantasyFinal Fantasy II Final Fantasy III Final Fantasy IV Final Fantasy V Final Fantasy VI Hades Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions High On Life Hitman World of Assassination Hogwarts Legacy House Flipper 2 Kena: Bridge of Spirits Lego Harry Potter Collection Life is Strange: Double Exposure Metro Exodus Mortal Kombat 1 NBA 2K25 PGA Tour 2K23 Phasmophobia Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Rust Console Edition 7 Days to Die Star Wars OutlawsStray The Crew Motorfest The Outlast Trials The Plucky Squire The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Tom Clancys The Division 2 TopSpin 2K25 UndertaleVisions of Mana Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 WWE 2K24

CD Projekt says "no plans" for Cyberpunk 2077 upgrade on PS5 ProV disappointing.Image credit: CD Projekt Red News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Nov. 20, 2024 If you were hoping CD Projekt's already eye-catching Cyberpunk 2077 might be getting an PlayStation 5 Pro-specific spruce-up, there's some bad news; the studio says it has "no plans" to release an update for Sony's shiny new console.Sony, of course, proudly trumpeted "about 40 or 50 games" would be getting PlayStaton 5 Pro upgrade patches to coincide with its launch earlier this month, introducing everything from frame rate boosts to graphical refinements when played on the new machine.So far we've seen the likes of Horizon Forbidden West, Alan Wake 2, Demon's Souls, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, The Callisto Project, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, No Man's Sky, and Silent Hill 2 all add support for the PlayStation 5 Pro, but one company that won't be following suit any time soon, we now know, is CD Projekt with Cyberpunk 2077.Digital Foundry discusses Alan Wake 2 on PS5 Pro.Watch on YouTubeThe studio shared the news on social media in response to a fan query, simply stating, "We currently have no plans for PS5 Pro patch". That's perhaps not entirely surprising given development of the game ended quite some time ago - with the bulk of the studio now working on a new Witcher title - but it'll doubtless be disappointing news for fans hoping to see the already stunning game get an extra glow-up on their new 700 console.That said, it's been a uneven start for PlayStation 5 Pro upgrade patches so far, with the likes of Silent Hill 2, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Alan Wake 2 all having delivered mixed results in Digital Foundry's tests, while other titles have fared better. As for the console itself, Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter recently concluded, "The standard PS5 is still the best choice for most people... but for the core enthusiast looking for the best possible experience, the Pro option is there for you, albeit with a substantial premium."

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereAfter 15 years, Stalker 2 is finally here, although the game is rougher than many would expect. In our review, we called the new survival game Stalker through and through with the same strengths but also weaknesses as its predecessors, and developer GSC Game World are aware of that.In an open letter to fans, the developer explained that there are rough edges present in the game on launch, but the studio is dedicated to improving the title long into the future. Alongside the usual fixes, the team is also committed to bringing free content to the game in a host of future updates.Stalker 2 devs admit rough edgesIn the letter to fans, GSC Game World explains that the massive world of its survival game sequel still has rough edges that fans will encounter.We literally havent released anything of this scale before. Were absolutely committed to being here, monitoring your feedback, and quickly fixing any issues that need our attention. In the first days after release, well be working with hotfixes, rolling them out as precisely as possible, but as frequently as we can.The studio explained that after these upcoming fixes, the team will shift to larger updates that include constant improvements. In December, fans will get access to a content roadmap that includes new features, massive improvements and free in-game content for players.This is a project of endless love and passion from the entire team, the developer said. We genuinely believe this is felt throughout youll feel it in the handcrafted world, youll feel it in the laboratory and in the poppy fields, or during your first emission, or intense battle with a bloodsucker, or the stylish reload of your new fun, or first seeing Pripyat under the moonlight. There are so many things in the game that we are incredibly proud of.Now available on PC and Xbox Series, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is undoubtedly a mixed bag of a game, but its also going to be a love it or hate it title, and undoubtedly will be a cult classic years into the future. Its far from hyper-polished, but the team is right: the love can be felt.S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylPlatform(s):PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Action, Adventure, RPG, Shooter, Survival HorrorSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereA Call of Duty player enraged by their internet provider threatened its owner to a 1v1 outside a Lidl supermarket. Much to everyones surprise, the Internet billionaire not only accepted the gamers match, but rocked up to the fight outside a Lidl supermarket. It really is a Warzone out there.Internet Billionaire vs Call of Duty playerCall of Duty gamer JimmyBLLT took to Twitter to propose a fight between themselves and Xavier Niel, the French billionaire mogul owner of telecoms giant Iliad. In the translated post, the gamer threatened to 1v1 the owner outside of a Lidl in Paris.Xavier Niel, I hate you, the CoD player said on Twitter. I propose a 1v1 in front of the Lidl on rue Sainte in Marseille.The gamer later explained that he called out the internet mogul because he was lagging in Call of Duty and lost his temper. However, Niel a man that presumably had better things to do took up the challenge.The billionaire, months later, turned up outside of the supermarked waiting for the gamer to turn up. Im waiting, the businessman simply put on Twitter, posting a poorly-framed selfie outside of the Lidl Sainte Bienvenue.After the gamer issued a quick apology, Niel posted a video of himself outside the supermarket saying: Where are you?! Come on! Do you want to meet me in the car park?!Unfortunately, for spectators, the battle between CoD player and billionaire never happened with the gamer citing 34.2 temperature + stomach ache + headache as reasons why they couldnt attend the battle.Via Dextero, even the Lidl supermarket got into the drama, tweeting: Please come and pick up the man who has been tweeting since this morning in front of the store on rue Sainte in Marseille.For more Call of Duty news, read about the new movement changes to Warzone or the huge player count drop for Black Ops 6.Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Behind the Scans: Namaqualand By Bart on November 20, 2024 3D News Polyhaven shares an amazing library of HDRis, Textures and 3D Models - all for free under a CC0 license. For their latest project, Namaqualand they traveled to the desert for a week to capture as many assets and environments as they could. See how they did it in this video!In September 2023, the Poly Haven team embarked on a journey to an arid desert near the West coast of South Africa: Namaqualand.The goal? Build a free 3D asset collection to recreate what we saw there.It took more than a year to process all the data we captured and turn it into high quality 3D assets for everyone. Support more trips and assets like this by joining our Patreon!

Here's an overview of the most recent Blender jobs on Blender Artists, ArtStation and 3djobs.xyz: Blender Pros Needed: Character Animators & Artists For more jobs, look here.Source

Don't forget itHoYoverse teases Honkai Star Rail 3.0 characters, and oh by the way, Remembrance is a new playable pathHow's that for character drip marketingImage credit: HoYoverse News by Josh Broadwell Contributor Published on Nov. 20, 2024 HoYoverse might be gearing up to set Sunday and Tingyun Fugue, whom I affectionately call Fugueyun or Deadyun (IYKYK), loose in Honkai Star Rail, but that hasnt stopped them from teasing HSR 3.0s characters already. First up was The Herta, a 5-star variant of the Herta puppet thats been present at launch with an impressive hat and, surprisingly, the same path and element as her 4-star version Ice and Erudition. Thats exciting.More exciting is Aglaea, a 5-star Dressmaster on Amphoreus, HSR 3.0s newest planet. Its the first confirmation weve had of Amphoreus being next in line. Oh, and Aglaea walks the path of Remembrance. HoYoverse casually slipped that in Aglaeas character art like it was no big deal, just a normal thing to reveal on Twitter on a Tuesday night. No official mention, no nothing. But Remembrance is definitely coming.The more perceptive among you probably find this information unsurprising. With as much attention as HoYoverse started giving Erudition lately, including teasing 5-star Herta in the previous update, I assumed Erudition would be the big thing on Amphoreus. However, after a friend reminded me of Black Swans role early in HSR 2.0 and how prominent Fuli and The Remembrance were in those conversations, I realized HoYoverse was actually setting up for this all along. How Remembrance will play is anyones guess. In Hertas Simulated Universe and its various iterations, Remembrance blessings are tied to the freeze effect and freeze-specific debuffs. Any Ice-aligned character can inflict freeze when they break an enemy, regardless of path. Star Rails other paths are more broadly defined based on playstyle support with Harmony, health in Abundance, damage-over-time and debuffs with Nihility which seems oddly specific for an entire path, not to mention odd in general for an Electric character such as Aglaea.In short, expect something unexpected that probably shakes up the meta, perhaps something to do with the summoned help some Star Rail leakers have posted about for the past few months.Honkai Star Rail 3.0 should go live around Jan. 14, 2025. Meanwhile, brush up on your Acheron and Aventurine knowledge if you're planning any pulls in the near future, and grab some HSR codes if you need a few freebies.