OpinionNovember 22, 20245 min readHeres Why Abortion Largely Won on Election DayBut Not on the Top of the TicketVoters supported abortion rights measures while electing antiabortion candidates in the 2024 election. The split reflects a complicated abortion landscape post-DobbsBy Kelly BadenPeople vote at a polling station at Addison Town Hall in Allenton, Wisconsin, on Election Day, November 5, 2024. Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty ImagesFor supporters of reproductive health care, a glaring contradiction stands at the center of the 2024 election. Most pro-abortion ballot initiatives passed, and the American people reelected the president who was responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade through his Supreme Court appointments.How to reconcile this contradiction? In many ways the results reflect the complicated dynamics of a post-Roe America.In the two and a half years since the loss of our federal constitutional right to abortion with the Supreme Courts Dobbs decision, the legal landscape has been upended, with 13 states currently banning abortion completely and many others banning abortion at different points throughout pregnancy that would have been unconstitutional under Roe. The consequences have been nothing short of disastrous, as the scientific evidence foretold. They include the documented tragic deaths of at least four women, the denial of care for women experiencing pregnancy complications, and the increased criminalization and surveillance of pregnant people. At the same time, the number of abortions has risen. Thats likely a result of monumental efforts by clinics, abortion funds and practical support organizations to expand access to care and reduce stigma, as well as broader availability of telehealth for medication abortion and new supportive policies in protective states like shield laws that offer protection for abortion providers treating patients in other states via telemedicine and the removal of public insurance coverage restrictions that make abortion care more affordable.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.No quick fix offers escape from this complicated legal and policy landscape. No one election can fully restore our rights oras we needed even while Roe stoodbring us closer to true abortion access for all. There is only the steady, ongoing organizing work necessary, state by state, to deliver deep and lasting change. Ballot measures have become a key tool: between the June 2022 Dobbs decision and November 2023, voters in all seven states where measures on abortion were on the ballot came down decisively in favor of retaining or expanding abortion rights. While in Novembers voting, the post-Dobbs winning streak of ballot measures on abortion was ultimately broken, seven new proabortion ballot measures passed while three failed. In sum then, voters in 13 states (Montana had measures in 2022 and 2024) have used direct democracy to declare their desire for legal abortion, in frank opposition to the Dobbs decision.Amanda Montaez; Source: Guttmacher Institute (abortion ballot measures data)Those results show voters are clearly comfortable splitting tickets, both in terms of candidates (for example, Wisconsin voters returned Trump to Washington alongside Senator Tammy Baldwin, an abortion rights champion) but also when it comes to abortion rights ballot measures. In Missouri, about 52 percent of voters supported establishing a constitutional right to abortion, making Missouri the first to clear the way for overturning a total ban. With their same votes, over 58 percent of voters supported Donald Trump. Similarly, 57.8 percent of voters approved Montanas abortion rights ballot measure, while 58.4 percent of them supported Trump.This isnt new. People often vote for or against an issue when it is presented to them directly on a stand-alone ballot measure, while also voting for a candidate with conflicting views and policies. In 2011, voters in Mississippi soundly rejected an antiabortion personhood ballot measure that would have legally defined human life as beginning at fertilization, banning abortion and threatening access to in-vitro fertilization and some forms of birth control. The same election yielded wins of antiabortion Republicans in nearly all statewide races as well as voter ID requirements, echoing contradictory trends in voting behavior we still see today.These results clearly signal that people support abortion, even in places where their lawmakers dont. If the goal is for abortion to be de-siloed from partisan politics, we are making progress. But if our goal is biggerand it should bewe should do much more. Support for reproductive rights can be a gateway for voters into understanding and ultimately embracing a broader social justice framework, centering freedom and bodily autonomy in their politics. While split ticket voting on ballots may continue, it also tells us we need to focus on reaching the Americans who need to take their support for reproductive freedom farther and connect the dots between abortion and other issues like economic justice and democracy.Of course, rampant misinformation, disinformation and our highly fragmented media landscapewhere individualized algorithms lead us all to largely consume news and viewpoints that echo our own viewsprovide the challenging context in which we each vote. Failures of basic civic education meant that Trumps claims that he just wanted to give abortion back to the states were either accepted as truth or had a veneer of truth for enough voters to give themselves a pass to endorse his outright racism and sexism, despite their support for abortion. Trump himself used this to his advantage, intentionally distancing himself from the failure of his own moves, once their unpopularity became clear.Make no mistakeabortion opponents aim to further decimate reproductive rights and access, regardless of the clear public support for legal abortion.These abortion bans are inextricably linked to unequal treatment under the law because of race. Modern-day abortion bans continue the anti-Indigenous and pro-slavery themes of our nations founding by enshrining the idea that the state should exert control over our bodies and reproduction, especially for people of color and other marginalized communities. And abortion opponents continue stoking fears of declining white birth rates while targeting Black people especially for criminalization of pregnancy outcomes. Our work to make that clear must escalate, especially for the 53 percent of white women voters who voted for Trump. We cannot applaud abortion ballot wins and ignore that they are coupled with the explicit endorsement of racist candidates and policies.Untangling the many lessons of the 2024 elections may take time, but time is not on our side: despite abortion rights being supported by most Americans, we stand on the precipice of even more devastating sexual and reproductive rights policies in the U.S. and around the world. The next Trump presidency will likely further decimate reproductive rights and accesshe can direct federal agencies to restrict use of the safe and legal abortion drug mifepristone, for instanceeven for states that have protected and expanded abortion rights. We must remain vigilant to counter all attempts to worsen the abortion access crisis, while articulating abortion rights support as only one stop on the path to freedom for everyone.This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem?It's about time.Image credit: CDPR Feature by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Published on Nov. 24, 2024 Why is it that in a role-playing game where the stakes are usually 'the end of the world', the end of the world always has to wait for us to finish our sprawling to-do list first? There's no way you've never encountered this. I came across it most recently in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which, after a thrilling end to Act One, effectively turned to me, the player, and said, hey why don't you focus on some companion quests now instead, eh? The world was still ending, the danger hadn't diminished or passed in any way, it's just the game needed a pace change and for me to see some of the other cool stuff in it.Egregious though it was, The Veilguard is far from the only BioWare game to have done it - I think, throwing my mind back across a dozen of them, they probably all have. The Reapers are going to destroy the galaxy! But don't worry you've got time to go scan some planets if you want, first. BioWare games are far from the only RPGs to have done it either. In Baldur's Gate 3, you have a tadpole in your eye for crying out loud, one that you know will turn you into a mind flayer probably pretty soon, and yet still you have time for, well, anything you want to do. In The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, you're racing to find your daughter-of-sorts Ciri who's being chased by a menace of legend, yet you've got plenty of time to become the bareknuckle boxing champion of the continent, or Gwent champion, if you so wish. This approach is so common in RPGs it's like dwarves with Scottish accents; a better question to ask would be whether there's an RPG that doesn't do it - one that hurries you up instead?I'm thinking. It's tricky.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Pentiment? It doesn't quite fit the RPG template but it's one of the only games I can think of that has a sense of passing time, and of either-or choices associated with it - you won't be able to do everything so you will have to choose. It's a game in which time feels like time - time that's as inexorable and immovable as we know it be. Couldn't a system like that work in a more fully fledged RPG?I wonder whether anyone else is bothered by it, or whether we've become so accustomed to it now we just don't see it. Perhaps it's even become part of what we know and expect an RPG to be. What is a role-playing game after all - how do we qualify a game as one? Do we think of them as games we play roles in, to use the purest meaning, or do we think of them in terms of mechanical trappings like side quests and character progression? For me, it's the latter, slightly ashamed as I am to admit it. But can you imagine an RPG without side quests - would it even be an RPG? It's a label that's come to mean certain things, and one of them, for better or worse, is being able to take our time and have the 'end of world' wait for us. Some games are reluctant to release us from their grips at all - just think of all the ways live service RPGs make continual demands on our time and attention.I think you can trace all of this back to Dungeons & Dragons, like so much in RPGs, because it is, after all, the original one. That's a game that very much revolves around the players - that presents them with a world and tries to guide them around it, but famously usually ends up with players going wildly off course and dungeon masters trying to keep up with them. Are our video game RPGs a legacy of this behaviour - pandering to players?Is there another way? When, I wonder, was the last time someone sat down and questioned the trappings of an RPG and thought about mixing them up? What if we weren't given an inexhaustible amount of time to see all areas of a game so we had to more mindfully plot our course through it - wouldn't that make for more interesting subsequent playthroughs? Wouldn't hurrying players - because of an impending 'end of world' event - help us better understand the urgency of it? Why is it we've settled for things the way they are?Maybe this is their ultimate evolution - that's a possibility, as bedgrudging as I am to entertain it. After all, one of the allures of RPGs is their being places we can escape to and submerge ourselves in, soak ourselves in, like warm baths, in an effort to forget our worries elsewhere. Adding a new tension to that mix might spoil it. Similarly, I know there's an allure in wanting to scour a world and do everything in it, and knowing you will be able to - I can't imagine starting a game knowing I couldn't. It would feel very weird, but then, maybe that's

Silent Hill 2 Remake contains a secret message in Morse code - here's what it saysVideo killed the radio star.Image credit: Eurogamer / Konami News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Nov. 23, 2024 A Silent Hill 2 fan believes they've discovered a hidden message that adds further credence to a long-held fan theory about the seminal horror game.The player believes that on two television sets found in Silent Hill 2 Remake the TV in the hospital cafeteria, and another in the nurses' lounge a secret message is being played via Morse code.Please note, there will be Silent Hill 2 Remake spoilers below.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Here's Eurogamer's review for Silent Hill 2 remake in video form.Watch on YouTube"A message is playing on the TV in Brookhaven Hospital, transmitted in morse code," YouTuber Shiba explained."The sound is mostly drowned out by the static from the TV, making it difficult to hear clearly. However, the Morse code is distinct, with a clicking sound that resembles a telegraph. The loud clicks mark the beginning of a signal, while the softer click signal its end. If we listen closely, we can decipher the following message." To see this content please enable targeting cookies.The message itself is pretty short, consisting of just two words and played on a loop: "Again and."Coupled with the hidden message discovered hiding behind the mysterious photos found in Silent Hill 2 Remake, the morse code message adds further validity to the popular fan theory that James Sunderland is trapped in the town of Silent Hill, reliving his search of Mary on a loop "again and again and again and".Silent Hill 2 Remake - Hidden TV Message.Watch on YouTubeYesterday, Konami deployed a new Silent Hill 2 Remake update to address graphical glitches affecting the horror game on PS5 Pro.The patch comes after Silent Hill 2 Remake players called on Konami to address the technical issues still plaguing the game on PS5 Pro almost two weeks on from the Pro's release. However, some players report all the patch has done is remove PSSR and fails to address any of the underlying issues.

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 hereFortnite collabs are always a hot sell among the player community and fans who celebrate their favorite franchises and brands in the game when they arrive as cosmetic items. Right from Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, to iconic musical artists like Eminem, the games metaverse has slowly turned into a space where most entertainment entities collide and allows fans to express their fandom on the looped island.One such entity whose fandom has spanned decades is Godzilla as fans have gotten some of the best films in the past year surrounding the character. Now the latest leak has revealed in the next Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 1, where the island is rumored to be Japanese-themed, Godzilla might finally be added to the game.Godzilla x Fortnite collab leaked to release in Chapter 6A potential leak and speculation around the Fortnite community has revealed that Paramounts Monsterverse is engaging in a collab with Epics Battle Royale to bring Godzilla into the game, alongside simultaneously doing another crossover with Rocket League.Monsterverse logo was spotted in new Rocket League teaser. Image by Psyonix.The speculation comes across as a Monsterverse logo was spotted on one of the arcade machines in the upcoming Rocket League season 17 teaser. According to leaker SamLeaks, Monsterverse could be collaborating with Fortnite and Rocket League, and now, in the new RL S17 Teaser, you can see the Monarch Logo on one of the arcade machines, which confirms this collab.Godzilla was earlier rumored to appear in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 2 when Mega City POI had a robot dragon sitting on top of the buildings and breathing fire every few seconds. However, the collab did not occur at that point which disappointed many fans.Now since theres a potential possibility of the mythical monster to appear in Fortnite, players have mixed thoughts. One such player said, Needs to be a Godzilla skin and a Mothra glider. Another one wrote, Id prefer classic Toho Godzilla (and other Kaiju), but Ill take it.Right now take this speculation with a grain of salt as the collab could also just result in vehicle decals which might further disappoint optimistic fans. Well keep you updated right here on the latest developments about the collab. FortnitePlatform(s):Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/XGenre(s):Action, Massively Multiplayer, Shooter9VideoGamerSubscribe 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 hereFortnite is growing each day in terms of player count and activity since Epic is riding the throwback wave quite hard with launches like Season OG, Reload mode, and now the Chapter 2 Remix season. While the game has progressed over these seven years, players still hold a soft corner for the OG days when Fortnite used to be simpler and full of fun gameplay elements.One of the most beloved gameplay features that Fortnite accidentally added was the Double Pump meta where players could stack two Pump Shotguns right next to one another in their inventory and switch between them instantly while firing a shot. This gave birth to the games most broken weapon feature.But the fun lasted only a while after Epic removed it and forever changed the Pump Shotgun to a newer model that fired like most shotguns in shooter games would do. But now Epic has announced the return of the meta in its upcoming game mode which has shaken the entire community to its core.Fortnite brings back Double Pump meta with OG mode next monthFortnite has finally announced that the Double Pump meta will return with the upcoming OG Chapter 1 Season 1 mode on December 6, 2024. Furthermore, the mode is also bringing back the old Pump Shotgun weapon model which will feature the same firing experience and gameplay as it used to when the game was launched.The Double Pump is coming back in Fortnite. Image by Epic Games.Not just that, the OG Burst Assault Rifle with the old weapon model and Electric Traps (also known as Wall Dynamo) is set to return with the game mode. While many thought this was merely going to be the same experience as Season OG with new weapons, Epic confirms its going to be the authentic OG experience that Fortnite fans have longed for.Upon hearing this news, the entire Fortnite community is in a frenzy, including content creators such as NickEh30 who wrote, New player count records about to be set in December! and SypherPK as well who said, They could never make me hate you Fortnite.Epic has also revealed that the mode will have its own OG Battle Pass which will consist of newer versions of rare skins in Fortnites history. However, you can claim that for free alongside all the other passes if youre subscribed to Fortnite Crew each month. FortnitePlatform(s):Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/XGenre(s):Action, Massively Multiplayer, Shooter9VideoGamerSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Lizzo has been revealed as the buyer who scooped up Jeremy Renners renovated Los Angeles home last month for $12.4 million, according to TMZ. Renner, who plays the superhero Hawkeye in the Marvel franchise, bought the Laurel Canyon plot in 2012 for $4 million and then spent another $5.5 million in renovations, doubling the dwellings square footage in the process. He listed the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom house in August for just under $13 million, so the About Damn Time singer got a slight discount when she signed the deed near the end of last month.Though the Mayor of Kingstown stars primary residence is in Nevada, he stayed in this midcentury 8,000-square-foot home while recovering from the severe snowplow accident that nearly claimed his life the start of last year. It also served as the actors home base while spending time with his daughter, whom he co-parents with his ex-wife, actor and model Sonni Pacheco. Renner posted a baby picture of the 11-year-old on the day that the dwelling changed hands to commemorate their time there. When dad sells your childhood home paving new paths and making new memories together is always scary, but when the deeply profound love we share is our foundation, we can forge through any place with grace, he wrote in the caption.Renner says he has flipped over 20 homes.Photo: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty ImagesJoin NowBecome an AD PRO member for only $25 $20 per monthArrowOne amenity that may have been a draw for Lizzo is the propertys guest house, which Renner set up as a music recording studio. An expansive pond-like swimming pool bordered by rocks and waterfalls separates the main house from the guestss quarters; a stone bridge connects the two for easy access. The main house is decked out with vaulted and beamed ceilings, a home theater, a wraparound deck, glass walls that slide away to open the home to the outdoors, a massive chefs kitchen with dual islands, and an indoor-outdoor bar.

A bipartisan group of 12 senators has urged the Transportation Security Administrations inspector general to investigate the agencys use of facial recognition, saying it poses a significant threat to privacy and civil liberties.Their letter comes just before one of the busiest travel periods of the year when millions of Americans are expected to pass through the nations airports. This technology will soon be in use at hundreds of major and mid-size airports without an independent evaluation of the technologys precision or an audit of whether there are sufficient safeguards in place to protect passenger privacy, the senators wrote.The letter was signed by Jeffrey Merkley (D-OR), John Kennedy (R-LA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Steve Daines (R-MT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Peter Welch (D-VT). While the TSAs facial recognition program is currently optional and only in a few dozen airports, the agency announced in June that it plans to expand the technology to more than 430 airports. And the senators letter quotes a talk given by TSA Administrator David Pekoske in 2023 in which he said we will get to the point where we require biometrics across the board.While the TSA claims facial recognition is optional, it is confusing and intimidating to opt out of TSAs facial recognition scans, and our offices have received numerous anecdotal reports of Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) becoming belligerent when a traveler askes to opt out, or simply being unaware of that right, the senators wrote. They added that in some airports the signage instructing flyers to step in front of a camera is prominently displayed while signs advising passengers of their right to opt out of face scan is strategically placed in inconspicuous locations. In an earlier letter sent by many of the same senators to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the senators said that the TSA has not produced any evidence in response to congressional inquiries showing that the implementation of facial recognition has led to the discovery of more fraudulent identity documents. Meanwhile, the TSA has said the systems have a three percent false negative ratehow often they fail to properly match a person to their image in the databasewhich would equate to 68,000 failures daily if the technology was spread across all airports.The latest letter urges the TSAs inspector general to evaluate the agencys facial recognition program to determine whether its resulted in a meaningful reduction in passenger delays, assess whether its prevented anyone on no-fly lists from boarding a plane, and identify how frequently it results in identity verification errors. To opt out of a face scan at an airport, a traveler need only say that they decline facial recognition. They can then proceed normally through security by presenting an identification document, such as a drivers license or passport.Correction: An earlier version of this story quoted from the wrong letter sent by senators regarding the TSAs facial recognition problem and incorrectly identified the senators who had signed the latest letter to the TSAs inspector general.

Supreme Court allows multibillion-dollar class action to proceed against Meta1 of 2|FILE - The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)2 of 2|FILE - The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, on June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)Supreme Court allows multibillion-dollar class action to proceed against Meta1 of 2|FILE - The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)1 of 2FILE - The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Share CopyLink copied Email FacebookXRedditLinkedInPinterestFlipboard Print 2 of 2|FILE - The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, on June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)2 of 2FILE - The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, on June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File) Share CopyLink copied Email FacebookXRedditLinkedInPinterestFlipboard Print By ASSOCIATED PRESSUpdated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] Share CopyLink copied Email FacebookXRedditLinkedInPinterestFlipboard Print WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.The justices heard arguments in November in Metas bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.The high court dismissed the companys appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump s first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the companys shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the courts action. The plaintiffs claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court, Stone said in an emailed statement. RELATED COVERAGE Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.What to know about Trumps second term:Staffing the administration: Here are the people Trump has picked for key positions so far. Plus, a look at recess appointments and how could Trump use them to fill his Cabinet.Follow all of our coverage as Donald Trump assembles his second administration.Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia. Investors say the company misled them about its dependence on selling computer chips for the mining of volatile cryptocurrency.

Time To KillStalker 2 modders have mutant and weapon deg nerfing on the brain, as well as messing with time itselfNot even the three different longer days mods will likely give you time to try everything they're creating.Image credit: GSC Game World News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Nov. 22, 2024 The Stalker 2 modding gold rush was always gonna be a sight to behold, and with plenty of stuff to fix and adjust, it certainly hasn't disappointed. Following an intitial post-release period full of attempts at stopping the stuttering, the community's now moved on to tweaking how tough life in The Zone is, as well as casually messing with time itself.If you missed it, as players were busy delving into GSC Game World's work for the first time, modders were busy starting to unleash their own fixes for some of its launch issues, and the onslaught of stuff coming from them doesn't look like it's gonna slow down anytime soon.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. The Stalker modding community looks to have tweaking the gameplay experience on offer as its unofficial main goal now - specifically giving people the option to tune some of the more difficult elements of life in The Zone to their liking.Mods like Grokitach0's 'Grok's less tanky bloodsuckers and poltergeists' and FESilencer's 'Lower Mutant Health' have been gaining traction among those who're specifically after less of a tough time battling the ghame's horrors. There's also SnNakeEe's attempt at brutally rebalancing the way healing items work, if you wamt to go the other way and have a really, really painful time.Meanwhile, if your enemy is the fact you can't keep your guns in good nick, 'Reasonable Weapon Degradation by Vaxis' might be worth a look, while another of FESilencer's mods, 'Unrestricted Equipment Upgrades', looks like a bit more of a cheeky way of giving yourself an extra advantage gear-wise.For those who want a kind of all-in-one mod that does a bunch of rebalancing in different areas, 'Grok's Balanced Difficulties' looks like it could be worth checking out, especially if you're playing on veteran.Then there are three - okay, two plus one that's already been declared obsoltete two days after the game came out- different mods that offer the chance to make days in The Zone longer. 'Longer Days (no longer updated)', 'Even Longer Days', and 'Jake's Longer Days'. Yup, the word longer now sounds weird to me too.If you're still unsure whether to give Stalker 2 a go yet, make sure to check out our review. We've also got an array of guides that can help you survive by doing stuff like efficiently looking after your gear and learning about anomalies.

Image: Nintendo LifeAnother week, another edition of Box Art Brawl!Before we dive into this week's battle, let's see how things panned out last time. We looked at Double Dragon for the NES, and it was yet another close call. After over 1,600 votes from our dear readers, it was the Western design that took home the win with 53% of the vote. Well done!This week, we're heading to the GBA to check out Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land. A remake of Kirby's Adventure, Nightmare in Dream Land launched toward the end of 2002, nearly a decade after the NES original. Although the core gameplay remained largely unchanged, it took full advantage of the GBA's more powerful specs, with completely redone visuals and a co-op mode for up to four players.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube786kWatch on YouTube It's another duel this week as North America and Europe take on Japan, so let's get to it.Be sure to cast your votes in the poll below; but first, let's check out the box art designs themselves.Europe / North AmericaImage: Nintendo / LaunchboxWhichever design you end up voting for here kind of comes down to whether you prefer something dark and foreboding or something a bit more lighthearted. The Western design is certainly the former, featuring a determined Kirby in the foreground with Meta Knight looking menacing in the background. It's definitely different from what we're used to from Kirby, but if you want something a bit more familiar, then check out the box art from...JapanImage: Nintendo / LaunchboxYes, Japan's design is a lot more in line from what we'd expect from a Kirby game. A much brighter composition, featuring a happy, smiley Kirby toward the right, and a whole bunch of stars floating about. It might not necessarily gel with the title of the game, unlike its Western counterpart, but it's a lovely piece nonetheless.Which region got the best Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land box art? (38 votes)North America / Europe45%Japan55%Thanks for voting! We'll see you next time for another round of Box Art Brawl.