Making TMNT: Splintered Fate more than a portSuper Evil Megacorp discusses how it adapted one of the biggest media franchises into a new roguelike co-opImage credit: Super Evil Megacorp Feature by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on Nov. 26, 2024 The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has been captivating audiences for four decades.Each generation has grown up with different iterations of the characters across mixed media, including comics, animated shows, live-action movies, and, of course, video games.The most recent iteration comes from Super Evil Megacorp, who partnered up with Paramount Game Studios to launch TMNT: Splintered Fate on iOS last year.Super Evil's director of product management Tom Westall tells GamesIndustry.biz that working with Paramount on such a big IP has been very rewarding creatively."Paramount have been really supportive as partners they know what they're talking about when it comes to TMNT and have been investing a lot in the IP recently," says Westall. "They've been interested and keen to get involved with what we're doing." Director of product management Tom WestallSplintered Fate was initially made for Apple Arcade, but Westall says internally the studio "always wanted the game to be something more than that," leading to a multiplatform release this year.Porting Splintered Fate to other platforms began at the beginning of February this year. It was launched on Switch in July and on PC earlier this month.While the timeframe for porting the game may seem short, Westall says there was no external pressure from Paramount. He says any pressure they felt was internal, especially since they self-published the game for these ports."We hold ourselves to high standards. This is the first game for Super Evil on Switch and our first proper foray on PC. We wanted to make sure we made a great impression with the players, so the quality belt was always really high for us."There's always those pressures; being a smaller studio, we have to jump on every opportunity that makes sense for us."Super Evil's lead game designer Daniel Stansens is especially proud of what the team accomplished in successfully producing a cross-platform title."It's great to see a game that we have put a lot of care and time into going onto the PC market. Players can tell we've adjusted how the game controls it's nice to stretch and flex our muscles on the different platforms and feel like the game belongs on all of them, even from day one." Lead game designer Daniel StansensWestall adds that they "couldn't resist" catering to each platform and that each iteration of the game has different quicks for the platform it's running on."Super Evil can't just walk into a new platform," he explains. "We had to really enhance the game each time. On Switch, we put a lot of effort into bringing couch co-op it has to have four controllers and players sitting around the TV playing together. As for PC, it has to have online matchmaking; we need to make sure the game feels great with a mouse and keyboard and to support all the different windowed modes and graphics cards."It was never a case of simply bringing the game to those platforms, we always wanted to make sure it felt great as well."As for the potential pressure that comes with working on such a well-known and established franchise, Stansen clarifies that the joy of making a TMNT game outweighed any anxiety."If you're having fun making what you love in the TMNT universe, it resonates with people. There's obviously pressure to get things right. But it turns out loving and paying attention to the franchise, knowing the turtles, and getting to work with a lot of the folks who have built the franchise [helps ease the pressure]."One such person was Tom Waltz, a senior editor and writer for IDW Publishing. Waltz was one of the leading writers of the ongoing TMNT series that launched in 2011 and worked on Splintered Fate as a consultant."Being a smaller studio, we have to jump on every opportunity that makes sense for us"Tom WestallStansen lights up when talking about Waltz, noting that getting his "stamp of approval" on their vision of the franchise and its characters was a relief."It helps when you've got good partners along the way; you don't feel the pressure if you're having fun. When you bring up ideas, and they're not getting knocked down, it feels like you're in the right place."Westall notes that Waltz is very close to the TMNT fanbase, which provided even more information for Super Evil to use as they could gauge what fans would want to see out of Splintered Fate as the team were developing it.Waltz was also on hand to remind them that, at its core, TMNT is "all about mutated turtles that wield ninja weapons.""It's really wholesome, with stories about family and working together," Westall adds. "But it's also really silly, so you can have a lot of fun with it."With Waltz on board, both Stansens and Westall agree that the IDW world of TMNT was a significant influence on Splintered Fate. However, Stansens emphasises that Super Evil wanted to create its own branch of that universe."We definitely don't go anywhere near as dark as the IDW world does, but we take tones from that universe and go slightly above the [child-orientated] stories that some of the TMNT franchises go for," he explains."We've been able to pick and choose what we want in Splintered Fate, as we're not beholden to one particular TMNT universe we had the freedom to do our own thing."Westall smiles in agreement, adding that they dropped little hints and Easter eggs from their childhood here and there. He continues: "We love games like Shredder's Revenge. But we wanted to make sure that visually and gameplay-wise, we could distinguish ourselves from those."To that end, Splintered Fate is a roguelike instead of a beat-em-up, as are most other recent TMNT games. The team felt that the genre fit well with the story they wanted to tell, especially the multiplayer aspect."There's a lot that goes into considering how to implement co-op in a game like this"Daniel Stansens"Making co-op action games is in our DNA at Super Evil," says Westall. "As we were exploring the co-op genre, roguelikes really stood out. We felt that at the time, there certainly hadn't been any great co-op roguelike experiences that was an area we thought we could explore and make our own mark."Stansen notes that while they're certainly not the only studio with a co-op roguelike, they like to call themselves "pioneers" of the genre."Our game, in particular, works really well with the turtles. You'll find that when you play with friends, there's a brawler element to it that you don't get in some of the other action roguelikes where it's still pretty difficult. For us, it's really nice to evoke that arcade brawler feel."Adding co-op to Splintered Fate came with its own challenges, however particularly since it was added towards the end of development."It's always a challenge to make sure that the overall game holds up the same way," Stansens adds. "It's not just the online and control scheme considerations, but now you've got four characters on the same camera, so you have to consider what's going on with the setup."Then there's the gameplay itself the difficulty changes as you play together. There's a lot that goes into considering how to implement co-op in a game like this. We took a lot of time and care to think about what adding co-op would do, and we're really pleased with the result. Because it does take a lot of careful thinking to add such a huge feature after we've completed the core gameplay and as we're taking it to more platforms."Following the success of Splintered Fate, Stansens and Westall agree that co-op and crossplay are something that Super Evil wants to continue to implement in their games."I'm sure we will do it better every time, but I'm really proud of what we produced in this situation," Westall concludes.

Rebellion Developments has reportedly scrapped a battle royale spinoff for its Sniper Elite series.Per Insider Gaming, the spinoff, codenamed 'Project Archipelago,' was axed after Tencent chose to halt funding. The project was first announced in August amid alpha playtests and would have been the first proper multiplayer entry in the franchise.According to Insider Gaming, Rebellion leaders indicated the project was scrapped in response to the disastrous launch of Concord, which caused Tencent to think twice about proceeding with Archipelago.The outlet said developers working on the title have been moved to other projects and noted the cancellation didn't result in layoffs.Rebellion declined to comment on the matter when approached by Game Developer.During a March earnings call, Tencent CSO James Mitchell said the company intended to "focus on fewer bigger budget games." Live-service titles can be a costly endeavor and don't always succeed, with Tencent itself pulling the plug on its year-old multiplayer shooter Synced earlier this year.In the past year, other companies have ended their live-service games that had been around for at least a year, or were actively in mid-development. The reasons vary: Behaviour Interactive's Project T was killed because development wasn't coming together, while Synced ended because its player base seemingly wasn't there. Conversely, Naughty Dog's multiplayer Last of Us game ended when the studio realized it would be too great of an undertaking.

Today I would like to share one of the template projects, the settings and modules of which I use from project to project. With its help I will show one of the options for setting up a Unity game that will work on many platforms, including Steam, Android platforms (Google Play), Web platforms (platforms supported by Playgama (Instant) Bridge, for example, CrazyGames, Game Distribution, Playgama, Yandex Games etc.). This template project covers the following topics:- Working with basic project classes- Saving game data- Importing textures, working with sprites and Sprite Atlas- Transitions between scenes- Project build settings- Project .gitignore file- Video playback- Playing music and sounds- Input System- Working with metrics- Classes for monetization via advertising- LocalizationIn this article, we will analyze the first few topics, the rest will be described in upcoming articles.The template project is available for download at the following link.A small disclaimer: using this template does not guarantee passing the moderation of specific platforms, each game has its own nuances that, one way or another, affect the successful overcoming of the obstacle in the form of moderation.In this project, I tried to collect the most frequently used mechanisms that are necessary in almost any game.So, let's get started...Working with basic project classesFirst of all, a few words about the project structure. If everything is pretty clear with most of the folders (but one way or another, we will analyze everything in the corresponding chapters), then the Scripts folder is worth a special mention. The root of this folder contains all the scripts that are inherited from the MonoBehaviour class, and which, accordingly, can be added to game objects as components.The Services folder contains classes for working with localization, metrics, sound and advertising.The Settings folder contains everything you need to successfully save and load game data.The Utility folder contains several constant classes, as well as a number of static utility classes with auxiliary methods.In this chapter, we will focus on two main classes of the Scripts folder, namely SingletonServices and GameServices.Let's start with the first and most frequently used. SingletonServices, as the name suggests, works on the principle of the singleton template, accordingly, when initializing project objects, only one such object of the SingletonServices class will be created. This class provides access to all available auxiliary services of the game that may be needed on any scene. I emphasize the word "any", because if, for example, we compare this class with GameServices, which use cases are limited to game scenes only, excluding the initialization scene. But we will discuss it a little bit later.The SingletonServices class stores links to services for working with localization, music, advertising and metrics. Here you can also find methods for loading and saving game settings, as well as a method for getting sprites by their name. For example, saving game settings using this class will look like this:_singletonServices.SaveSettings();where the _singletonServices variable was previously initialized as follows:SingletonServices _singletonServices = SingletonServices.Instance;In order to work appropriately SingletonServices must be added to the game object on the initialization scene (InitScene).The second most important class GameServices is also a singleton and is used to combine classes and methods for working with game objects. For example, hide the game menu and show the game itself, and vice versa, as well as change the language and others. With a significant expansion of the project, I still recommend separating, for example, work with the game UI to a separate script and using GameServices only as an intermediate class for access to the UI controller. There is not much need for this in our template project. In order to work appropriately GameServices must be added to the game object on the scene immediately following the initialization one (in our case, this is MainScene). In addition, since GameServices uses SingletonServices methods inside itself, it must be initialized after the latter. To do this, go to the project settings and set the order of script execution as follows:Saving game dataAs I mentioned earlier, all scripts for saving game data are located in the Scripts/Settings folder.GameSettings is the main object for game data. I have added several fields for saving in it, for example, the selected language and the number of button clicks.The file that is directly involved in loading and saving GameSettings is called FileSettingsAdapter. It implements the ISettingsAdapter interface, which contains only two methods: loading and saving.Saving data is probably quite obvious, but it is worth saying a few words about the signature of the loading method. Now it looks like this:void LoadSettings(Action<GameSettings> callAfterLoad);The method does not return anything, but only accepts a delegate as a parameter, a reference to the method that should be called after the data loading is complete. In the general case (for example, for PC and Android builds), such a design is not necessary. This is done in order to support the web version, which we will talk about separately in one of the upcoming articles.The entire process of loading game settings can be viewed in SingletonServices.Start method, the saving process can be viewed, for example, in the GameServices.IncreaseCounter.Importing textures, working with sprites and Sprite AtlasLet's now discuss the components of the Sprites folder and start with a small, optional TextureImporter file. For some unknown reason, Unity decided to change the default behavior of the sprite importer and began to set the Sprite Mode to Multiple by default (previously it was Single), which means that the added image contains more than one sprite, for example, it can be a sprite sheet with character animation. So, if your project has much fewer sprite sheets than regular single sprites, then you can create a TextureImporter and set sprite settings for it, which will be applied to all imported textures by default. To do this, in the importer settings, you need to click on the preset selection button and create a new one with the desired import parameters.We change all the necessary parameters of the created preset (in the case of this particular template project, the Sprite Mode was changed to Single and compression was turned off) and add the preset to the default ones.Now when adding new sprites, their settings will match the settings of the created TextureImporter.Now let's look at the SpriteAtlas file, which not only allows you to reduce the number of draw calls, but also provides a convenient way to get sprites by their name in the code. You can create a sprite atlas in the following way:Now about the atlas settings.You need to be extremely careful with the Allow Rotation and Tight Packing parameters. They are enabled by default, but this sometimes leads to various distortions, flips and artifacts if you change component sprites on the fly from the code.And of course, don't forget to add folders that will be nested in the created sprite atlas. In our case, this is one folder named Atlas. In the Sprites directory, there is also a NonAtlas folder, which, as you can judge by the name, we do not add to the sprite atlas. For example, you can store icons, a cursor, etc here.An example of getting sprites from a sprite atlas by name can be found in the SoundsButtonController.Start method.Transitions between scenesAn example of transition from the initialization scene to the main one can be seen in the InitSceneLoader class. I need to mention that this script should be added as a component to the game object on the InitScene scene.In the LoadingCheck method of this script, we wait for the initialization of all the main services, without which our game cannot work, and if everything is successful, in this case the intro video is launched, after which the transition to a new scene is carried out by the SceneManager.LoadScene method. Playing the video, of course, is not necessary here, and serves only as an example. Alternatively, you can launch any animation or immediately go to the main scene without additional steps.Project build settingsThe main branch of the project is currently configured for the Android build, so in this article I will show the main settings for this platform, and I will describe the remaining settings in upcoming articles.So, when creating an Android project, I first go to the Project Settings -> Player -> Publishing settings section and check the following files: Custom Main Gradle Template, Custom Gradle Properties Template and Custom Gradle Settings Template.Believe me, this will save you from a painful headache when it comes to importing and using third-party packages, for example, the EDM package, also known as external dependency manager, which is needed for the Firebase, Appodeal, and other packages.Next, I go to the Other Settings settings, set the package name and set the Target API Level.By default, the Target API Level is set to Automatic (highest installed), which means that when building an Android project, Unity will rely on the Android SDK and NDK already installed on the computer, so if, for example, version 33 is installed on the computer, then after building the package you will not be able to upload it to the Google Play Console, since at the moment the minimum value of Target API Level should be 34. But I would not recommend rushing and setting the highest version either, or at least have the opportunity to test your application on more than one device. Otherwise you could catch something like this:In short, not long ago, if you set the Target API Level to 34, the game crashed when it launched on devices with API level 34 (it worked successfully on the rest). The solution here, unfortunately, is not the most pleasant and you will have to update Unity to a more recent version with that fix on board, which is not always possible and/or painless.Project .gitignore fileI would like to finish today's part of the article with a short mention of the .gitignore file. There is nothing special here and at the moment it contains all the files and directories that should not be added to the repository. I will only add that it ignores folders web_build and PCBuild. I usually add these folders myself and they serve, apparently, exclusively for builds of the corresponding platforms.That's all for today, we will continue to analyze this template project in the upcoming articles, but you can download it and analyze it yourself right now at the following link.I am collecting wishlists here and here.Thank you for your attention!Link to my website

OpenAI first teased its text-to-video AI model, Sora, back in February and hasnt provided any meaningful updates on when it will be released since then. Now, it looks like some artists leaked access to the model in protest of being used by the company for what they claim is unpaid R&D and PR.On Tuesday, a group of Sora beta testers claimed to have leaked early access to Sora with a working interface for generating videos. In a post on Hugging Face, a public repository of AI models, they say that people were able to create lots of AI videos all of which resemble OpenAIs own Sora demos before the company intervened to shut down access. (TechCrunch first reported on the alleged leak.)From the groups open letter:DEAR CORPORATE AI OVERLORDSWe received access to Sora with the promise to be early testers, red teamers and creative partners. However, we believe instead we are being lured into art washing to tell the world that Sora is a useful tool for artists.ARTISTS ARE NOT YOUR UNPAID R&D we are not your: free bug testers, PR puppets, training data, validation tokens The letter goes on to say:We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts (if we were, we probably wouldnt have been invited to this program). What we dont agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release. We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts.The authors say that OpenAIs early access program to Sora exploits artists for free labor and art washing, or lending artistic credibility to a corporate product. They criticize the company, which recently raised billions of dollars at a $150 billion valuation, for having hundreds of artists provide unpaid testing and feedback. They also object to OpenAIs content approval requirements for Sora, which apparently state that every output needs to be approved by the OpenAI team before sharing.Do you work at OpenAI? Id love to chat. You can reach me securely on Signal @kylie.01 or via email at kylie@theverge.com.When contacted by The Verge, OpenAI would not confirm on the record if the alleged Sora leak was authentic or not. Instead, the company stressed that participation in its research preview is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool.Sora is still in research preview, and were working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use, OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix said in a statement. Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Soras development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards. Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool. Weve been excited to offer these artists free access and will continue supporting them through grants, events, and other programs. We believe AI can be a powerful creative tool and are committed to making Sora both useful and safe.Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati told The Wall Street Journal in March that Sora would be available by the end of the year but that, we will not release anything we dont feel confident on when it comes to how it might affect global elections or other issues. And in a recent Reddit AMA, CPO Kevin Weil said Sora hadnt been released yet because OpenAI still needed to scale the compute required to power it and get safety/impersonation/other things right.

Trade associations involved in US broadband and wireless service say competition forces them to have good customer service, which may be news to many customers. The comments are in response to the FCCs October inquiry reviewing the quality of internet and phone providers customer support. Ars Technica quotes a filing from NCTA The Internet & Television Association, which says that in order to attract and retain customers, NCTAs cable operator members continuously strive to ensure that the customer support they provide is effective and user-friendly. USTelecom, which has AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and SpaceX among its members, says customers already get high-quality customer service because of the competitive broadband market. USTelecom is also high on the promise of AI improving customer service triaging and routing issues:AI chat agents will only get better at addressing customers needs more quickly over time and if providers fail to provide the customer service and engagement options that their customers expect and fail to resolve their customers concerns, they may soon find that the consumer is no longer a customer, having switched to another competitive offering.Groups advocating for accessibility for those with disabilities cautioned against relying on AI too much in a filing noted by Ars, writing, ...we do not believe they are fully capable of replicating the nuanced communication experience provided by live agents, particularly for complex inquiries or those requiring cultural and linguistic sensitivity.According to a filing from ACA Connects, which mostly represents smaller, more rural communications providers, those companies are incentivized to give good service by the cost of building and operating networks. They claim it makes members and other broadband and cable providers strive to sign up every household they pass and retain each and every one.The CTIA (which represents AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and others in wireless) insists in its comments that customers are well-informed and empowered to pick wireless services and switch providers as their preferences evolve. One common theme? Each of these groups insists that competition is one of the things that keeps them honest. Yet its hard to square that with recent history like T-Mobiles acquisition of US Cellular, Verizons agreement to buy Frontier or the endless rats nest of media mergers.

Computer vision is revolutionizing due to the development of foundation models in object recognition, image segmentation, and monocular depth estimation, showing strong zero- and few-shot performance across various downstream tasks. Stereo matching, which helps perceive depth and create 3D views of scenes, is crucial for fields like robotics, self-driving cars, and augmented reality. However, the exploration of foundation models in stereo matching remains limited due to the difficulty of obtaining accurate disparity ground truth (GT) data. Many stereo datasets exist, but using them effectively for training is difficult. Moreover, these annotated datasets cannot train an ideal foundation model even when combined.Currently, Stereo-from-mono is a leading study focusing on creating stereo-image pairs and disparity maps directly from single images to address these challenges. However, this approach resulted in only 500,000 data samples, which is relatively low compared to the scale required to train robust foundation models effectively. While this effort represents an important step towards reducing the dependency on expensive stereo data collection, the generated dataset is still insufficient for building large-scale models capable of generalizing well to diverse real-world conditions. Early Stereo-matching methods mainly relied on hand-crafted features but shifted to CNN-based models like GCNet and PSMNet, improving accuracy with techniques like 3D cost aggregation. Video stereo matching uses temporal data for consistency but struggles with generalization. Cross-domain methods address this by learning domain-invariant features using techniques like unsupervised adaptation and contrastive learning, as seen in models like RAFTStereo and FormerStereo.A group of researchers from School of Computer Science, Wuhan University, Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Xian Jiaotong University, Waytous, University of Bologna, Rock Universe, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of California, Berkeley conducted detailed research to overcome these issues and proposed StereoAnything, a foundational model for stereo matching developed to produce high-quality disparity estimates for any pair of matching stereo images, no matter how complex the scene or challenging the environmental conditions. It is designed to train a robust stereo network using large-scale mixed data. It mainly consists of four components: feature extraction, cost construction, cost aggregation, and disparity regression.To improve generalization, Supervised stereo data was used without depth normalization, as stereo matching relies on scale information. The training began with a single dataset and combined top-ranked datasets to improve robustness. For single-image learning, monocular depth models predicted depth converted into disparity maps to generate realistic stereo pairs via forward warping. Occlusions and gaps were filled using textures from other images in the dataset.The experiment showed the evaluation of the StereoAnything framework using OpenStereo and NMRF-Stereo baselines with Swin Transformer for feature extraction. Training used AdamW optimizer, OneCycleLR scheduling, and fine-tuning on labeled, mixed, and pseudo-labeled datasets with data augmentation. Testing on KITTI, Middlebury, ETH3D, and DrivingStereo showed StereoAnything significantly reduced errors, with NMRF-Stereo-SwinT lowering the mean error from 18.11 to 5.01. Fine-tuning StereoCarla on more diverse datasets lead to the best mean metric of 8.52%. This showed the importance of dataset diversity when concerning stereo-matching performance.In terms of results, the StereoAnything showed strong robustness across various domains in both indoor and outdoor scenes. This approach constantly delivered a disparity map that was more accurate than with the NMRF-Stereo-SwinTmode. Thus, this approach shows strong generalization capabilities and performs better across domains with numerous visual and environmental differences.It is safe to conclude that StereoAnything provided a highly useful solution for robust stereo matching. A new artificial dataset called StereoCarla is used to better generalize across different scenarios and enhance performance. Also, the effectiveness of labeled stereo datasets and pseudo stereo datasets generated using monocular depth estimation models was investigated. In terms of performance, StereoAnything achieved competitive performance across various benchmarks and real-world scenarios. These results show the potential of hybrid training strategies, including diverse data sources to enhance stereo model robustness, and can be used as the baseline for future improvement and research!Check out the Paper and GitHub. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also,dont forget to follow us onTwitter and join ourTelegram Channel andLinkedIn Group. If you like our work, you will love ournewsletter.. Dont Forget to join our55k+ ML SubReddit. Divyesh Vitthal Jawkhede+ postsDivyesh is a consulting intern at Marktechpost. He is pursuing a BTech in Agricultural and Food Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is a Data Science and Machine learning enthusiast who wants to integrate these leading technologies into the agricultural domain and solve challenges. [Download] Evaluation of Large Language Model Vulnerabilities Report (Promoted)

The best Black Friday AirPods deal has arrived and it's better than I predicted. As part of the Walmart Black Friday Sale, the price of the second-generation Apple AirPods Pro wireless noise-canceling earbuds has dropped to $153.99. Both Amazon and Target have been quick to price match this incredible deal, giving you plenty of options to buy from. This is the lowest price I've seen all year long, and it's very unlikely to drop further. This discount brings the price down to the same level as the Apple AirPods 4 with noise cancelation. Between the two, the AirPods Pro is still Apple's best earbuds because it offers better sound quality and better noise cancellation performance.Apple AirPods Pro for $153.99Apple AirPods Pro 2 (USB)The AirPods Pro is the best-sounding "truly wireless" earbuds for iPhone users thanks to its passively isolating in-ear design, low-distortion driver and amp, and the newer Apple H2 chip. In addition to being only one of two AirPods earbuds with active noise cancellation, the AirPods Pro has useful features like "Adaptive Transparency Mode" to hear your surroundings without removing the earbuds and "Conversation Mode" that automatically enhances the voices of people you're talking to. The newer second-generation AirPods Pro replaces the Lightning port with a more universal USB Type-C port so you don't have to mix and match cables, and also includes a MagSafe charging case by default.Should you get the AirPods Pro over AirPods 4 with ANC?Normally, I would suggest going with the AirPods 4 ANC because it's usually $70 cheaper. However, if the price is taken out of equation, the AirPods Pro is a superior earbud. Both feature active noise cancellation, but the AirPods Pro produces better sound and more effective noise cancelling because of its design. The AirPods 4 ANC is an open-ear style earbud with non-adjustable tips. They're designed to sit right outside of the ear which while comfortable means you get plenty of sound leakage and ambient noise intrusion. On the other hand, the AirPods Pro is an in-ear style of earbud that sits right inside your ear canal, sealing the passage and passively isolating it from the ambient air. Adjustable tips are included to accomodate different sized ears and ensure you get that proper sealing fit, which is very important to squeeze out the best performance. At this price, the only compelling reason to still go for the AirPods 4 ANC is if you don't like the intrusive nature of in-ear style earbuds in general.This is just one of Apple's Black Friday deals, so check out the rest if you're in the Apple ecosystem. If particular, if you're looking for an iPad, there are plenty of amazing Black Friday iPad deals going on right now. If you're planning to upgrade your smartphone in the near future, the new iPhone 16 is a solid contender. In our iPhone 16 review, Mark Knapp wrote that, "The iPhone 16 performs great, looks good, and snaps nice photos while offering a big discount to the Pro models."Should I wait for better prices on Black Friday?TLDR; dont wait. Black Friday is the best opportunity to score some great deals on electronics, and Apple products are no exception. However in this case, I think you should grab this deal if you're planning to pick up a pair of AirPods Pros. I can't imagine these earbuds to go down any further. In the slimmest of chances it does, I'm certain that no one will drop it below $149.99, and that's only $4 less than what it is right now. There is an equal chance that the AirPods Pro will actually go up in price slightly and stay that way through Black Friday. The Apple Store is also hosting its own Black Friday Sale, although their deal isn't nearly as good.Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

The Target Black Friday Sale has kicked off in earnest with some major sneak peek discounts we've all been waiting for on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 consoles, peripherals, and video games. But that's not all. Pretty much everything in Target's publicized ad scan has gone live, including Meta Quest VR headsets, LEGOs, board games, toys and more. Many of these deals are priced lower than every other retailer. They all expire on Friday, November 29.Target is one of my favorite one-stop shopping sites, both in-store and online. Its prices are very competitive, its return policy is generous, and it has plenty of retail locations so that buying online and picking up in-store is a convenient option. Target offers great exclusive discounts via its Target Circle membership, and best of all, joining is free. There is a paid upgrade that's worth it for regular Target shoppers, and it's on sale for Black Friday as well.Apple AirPods Pro for $153.99Best Deal of 2024Apple AirPods Pro 2 (USB)The best Black Friday AirPods deal has arrived, and it's better than I predicted. Target is offering the second generation Apple AirPods Pro wireless noise cancelling earbuds for only $153.99. This is the lowest price I've seen all year long and it's very unlikely to drop further. This discount brings the price down to the same level as the Apple AirPods 4 with noise cancelling. Between the two, the AirPods Pro is still Apple's best earbuds because it offers better sound quality and better noise cancellation performance.More Nintendo Switch Games Under $40In addition to Tears of the Kingdom, plenty of other Nintendo Switch games have broken past the traditional $39.99 "sale price" barrier, including the 10/10 "Masterpiece" Super Mario Odyssey, the cat-tastic Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, the idyllic Animal Crossing: New Horizons and my kids' favorite, Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Up to now we haven't seen many deals on Switch games at all for Black Friday, so we're glad to see the floodgates opening.SwitchThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomSwitch (Digital)Persona 5 RoyalPS5, Xbox, SwitchSonic X Shadow GenerationsSwitchSuper Mario OdysseySwitchPikmin 4SwitchSuper Mario 3D World + Bowser's FuryAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsKirby and the Forgotten LandSwitchSuper Mario Maker 2Final Fantasy I-VI Collection Anniversary EditionSwitchJust Dance 2025 Limited EditionSwitchYoshi's Crafted World (Digital)SwitchPikmin 1 + 2SwitchNintendo Switch SportsBuy a Meta Quest 3S VR Headset, Get $75 Gift CardMeta Quest 3S VR Headset with Bonus $75 CardIf you thought the Meta Quest 3S was attractively priced at $299.99, well, this deal will blow your socks off. Target is now throwing in a bonus $75 gift card. The Quest 3S adopts many of the same features of the Quest 3, like the new Touch controllers, the upgraded SnapDragon APU, and full color AR passthrough. In his 9/10 Quest 3S review, Gabriel Moss wrote that "raw processing power, full-color passthrough, and snappy Touch Plus controllers make the Quest 3S a fantastic standalone VR headset that also brings entry-level mixed-reality gaming to the masses for arguably the very first time."Up to $150 Off the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer Smart GlassesRay-Ban Meta Wayfarer Smart Glasses with Bonus $90 Gift CardThe Meta Wayfarer glasses are certainly an intriguing device, but many of you might not be lured in by the $300 price tag. What if I told you that you could get it for $60 less and Target will even toss in a bonus $90 Target gift card? If you're a regular Target shopper like myself, that's essentially as good as cash. These Wayfarer glasses are an influencer's dream; they have a built-in camera and speakers so you can take videos and photos without every reaching for your phone.Black Friday PlayStation DealsSony's Black Friday PlayStation deals all went live on Friday, November 21. Target is one of Sony's major authorized resellers and the massive price drops I've seen on PS5 Slim console bundles, DualSense controllers, PS VR2 headset, and video games are all available on their site.Sony PlayStation 5 Slim Digital NBA 2K25 Console BundleSony PlayStation 5 Slim Digital ConsoleSony PlayStation 5 Slim Disc ConsoleSony PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain BundlePS5 DualSense Chroma ControllersPS5 DualSense Controllers Starting at $54.99Star Wars Outlaws for $39.99PS5, XboxStar Wars OutlawsFor those of you who have been patiently holding out on the $49.99 Star Wars Outlaws offer, kudos to you. Target has dropped the price further to $39.99. This is a good time to get into the game since Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment recently deployed a massive update bringing a host of performance and gameplay enhancements, a range of visual improvements, and bug fixes to the open-world sci-fi game on console and PC.More PS5 and Xbox Video Game DealsTarget just unloaded a bunch of games for sale. The best deals are on the exceedingly adorable Astro Bot for $49.99, or the gorgeous Stellar Blade for $49.99. If you're a sports gamer, pick up the latest NBA 2K25 game for only $29.99.PS5Astro BotPS5Stellar BladePS5, Xbox, SwitchSonic X Shadow GenerationsPS5Gran Turismo 7PS5, XboxEA Sports Madden 25

This article contains spoilers for Yellowstone season 5 episode 11.After such a highly-anticipated return, its disappointing to see how often Yellowstone continues to drink from one specific well. Co-creator and showrunner Taylor Sheridan, who has written every episode in this latter half of season five, has predominantly treated it like a commercial for his 6666 Ranch, at one point even deploying blatant product placement. Only a couple episodes ago, a Texas bartender serving Rip (Cole Hauser) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) lets the couple know that the ranch doesnt just make vodka, but it in fact, makes everything.It felt as if Sheridan was merely using these last six episodes to make the nostalgia factor Texas-sized, and show audiences again and again that the cowboy way of life is dying. Episode 11, entitled Three Fifty-Three, changes all that.Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) was arguably the most effective antagonist to ever face off against the Duttons, and now shes dead. Violently assassinated in broad daylight, not at the hands of a Dutton or their clan as an ice cold revenge plot, but essentially by her own doing.There are undoubtedly several fans who dont want to admit that she is that successful, but it really comes down to one factor she succeeded where others have failed. How many people over the years have tried to kill John Dutton? In the early going it was Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston) but all he got was strung up. The Beck brothers, Teal (Terry Serpico) and Malcolm (Neal McDonough) got close, hiring an armada, but made the major mistake of going after Tate (Brecken Merrill) and that meant the Duttons were going to raze the ground and erase the name Beck from the history books. Perhaps Garrett Randall (Will Patton) got the closest, severely wounding John, incapacitating Kayce (Luke Grimes) and blowing up Beth (just a little), but the only thing he proved is close enough is not good enough.Atwood was able to actually kill the Dutton patriarch using black ops hitmen, and while granted, it does neatly coincide with Kevin Costner finally leaving the show, Sheridan did give her that impressive feat before unceremoniously killing her off.Yet look at what has happened almost immediately after Johns death. The woman who ordered the hit is then hit only days later. The show could have allowed her to live a little while longer, but it went for a major blow to prove a point when you take out John Dutton, it is a nexus event in the Yellowstone universe. Nothing can ever be the same. What many fans undoubtedly appreciated about the events of Three Fifty-Three, is that yes, it gave Johns killer a major dose of karma, but it also has now set up a dark vision for the final three episodes.Sarahs demise gives audiences just a taste of what is to come, because as of now, the show is really honing in on the major conflict between Jamie (Wes Bentley) and his siblings Beth and Kayce. Theres only one last bit of karma to come, and its coming Jamies way. This writer has often theorized as to what could happen with the adopted Dutton son (or perhaps should have happened to give past seasons a real jolt). Jamie could have killed Beth, or Rip might have gone off on a fit of rage and taken him out, but Sheridan has been nothing if not consistent when it comes to the lack of growth within Jamies character. Jamie has done the right thing perhaps only once in his life, when he killed his biological father, but in every other instance, he has squirmed his way out of difficult situations.Whats different about this time, however, is Jamie is out of options. He cant go crying to Rip like he did when he murdered Sarah Nguyen (Michaela Conlin). Hes recently lost Senator Perry (Wendy Moniz) as an ally. The only member of his family who truly loved him just threw him across a desk, as Kayce essentially knows Jamie was also behind their fathers death. Now, Sarah is gone. The puppet-master shaping what Jamie does is no longer around to shape him. Which makes Jamie a caged rat with very little problem-solving skills, no allies, and his back against the wall.Jamie could do anything. He has nothing to lose. He is probably the most dangerous hes ever been. Lets not also forget, those forces who Sarah hired who took her out, could very easily now be after Jamie. Its safe to say that several people could end up having a violent end in the next three episodes. The fans have earned it after a rather slow start to this second half of the season, and it looks like Sheridan could give fans what they want.It may not be a foregone conclusion that Beth will literally be the cause of Jamies death. Maybe shell just sit back and enjoy seeing what hes reaped? Perhaps Jamie will take his life, ironic after playing a part in Johns fake suicide. Regardless, the blood weve been waiting for, five seasons in the making, is coming, and it means Jamie is in for a very dark and probably violent swan song.New episodes of Yellowstone season 5 premiere Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Paramount Network, culminating with the finale of December 15.

When it comes to climactic finales, a great sword fight can put an action movie over the top. From the classic swashbucklers of the 1950s to the global genres of samurai dramas and Kung Fu flicksnot to mention the occasional fantasy or comedysword fights are the cutting edge of fight choreography.The best sword fights fuse emotionally charged conflicts with precisely choreographed action. The stakes must be big for characters to want to cut each other so deeply. And there are so many levels of great sword fights. As absurd as it seems, the hilarious fight between King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and Lancelot (John Cleese) in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) is a solid piece of fight choreography, particularly the precursor battle with the Green Knight. In that vein, Den of Geeks own resident fencing master Gene Ching is rounding up some of the best movie sword fights ever put to screen.13. Captain Blood (1935)Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) vs. Levasseur (Basil Rathbone)The climactic pirate beach duel is one of the most pivotal in cinematic sword fight history. Captain Blood was such a blockbuster that it sparked a trend of swashbuckling movies and launched the career of Errol Flynn, who played many roguish swordsmen in its wake. The uncredited fight choreographer was Ralph Faulkner, a champion fencer who represented the U.S.A. in the 1932 Olympics. It launched Faulkners career as well as a sword master and stunt double for many of those swashbuckling films that followed.Flynn was a natural athlete, but not a fencer, and it shows in the fight. His attacks are simple and wide, lacking the tight precision of a seasoned swordsman. In contrast, Rathbone was one of the greatest swordsmen to grace the silver screen. He was a decorated World War I veteran who earned the Military Cross, and a passionate expert fencer in real life. Despite losing, Rathbone does the heavy lifting in the Captain Blood fight with complex actions and superior control of the distance. Often cast as the villain in swashbucklers, Rathbones expert swordsmanship helped all his leading man heroes shine.Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) vs. Jen (Zhang Ziyi)With four Oscar wins, director Ang Lees record-setting film leveled up martial arts cinema like never before. It also brought attention to one of Hong Kongs greatest fight choreographers, Yuen Woo-Ping. Its easy to argue that the best fight in the film is Jen versus Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), which begins and ends with a sword fight and progresses through an array of cold arms in between. Yet the final fight between Jen and Li Mu Bai in the bamboo forest is strictly swords, and it takes us somewhere weve never been before.Their fight is an incredible achievement in wirework. Shot at the China Grand National Bamboo Forest in Anji, China, Lee claims that Chow and Zhang did most of their own stunts and digital effects were only used to remove the safety wires. Their gravity-defying sword fight served as an inspired finale to this groundbreaking movie. As a greater testament to Yuens choreographic skills, neither Chow nor Zhang were formally trained in martial arts prior to launching their careers as movie stars. Neither was Yeoh. Zhang and Yeoh drew upon their dance training to meet the demands of Yuens rigorous choreography.11. The Young Master (1980)Dragon (Jackie Chan) vs. Cross-eyed Constable (Yue Tau-Wan) and PosseWith well over a hundred films under his belt, Jackie Chan has delivered a ridiculous number of death-defying stunts and insane fight scenes. Chan was at the peak of his physicality from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s. The Young Master stands out as one of his most hardcore Kung Fu films, packed with incredible fights with other martial luminaries like Yuen Biao, Shek Kin, and Hwang In-shik, and one amazing sword fight thats often overlooked.Early into the film, Dragon is mistaken for his wayward brother Tiger (Pai Wei) by a cross-eyed constable (Yue Tau-Wan) and his posse. The ensuing sword fight within a modest temple showcases what Chan does best, his signature fusion of acrobatics and juggling built on his Chinese opera roots. Swords fly in every direction as Chan humiliatingly disarms his would-be captors, toying with them through his singular mastery of swordplay and physics. Played for comedy, every sword exchange is a mind-blowing testament to Chans brilliance as a fight choreographer.10. Crazy Samurai: 400 vs. 1 (2020)Miyamoto Musashi (Tak Sakaguchi) vs. 400 OthersThere have been many cinematic sword fights that pitted one against many, such as Hanshiro Tsugumo (Tatsuya Nakadai) versus the Iyi clan in Harakiri (1962), Itto Ogami (Tomisaburo Wakayama) versus the Shoguns guards in Shaolin Assassin (1980), and the Bride (Uma Thurman) versus the Crazy 88s in Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003). But from a technical achievement standpoint, nothing matches Crazy Samurai: 400 vs. 1. Loosely based on the life of Miyamoto Musashi, Tak delivers a 77-minute continuous oner sword fight where he dispatches some 400 opponents.Directed by Yuji Shimomura, whose background is as an action director and fight choreographer, this is a marathon masterpiece of sword choreography. The oner is orchestrated to give Tak water breaks, and although most of the exchanges are simple, watching Tak go the distance is something to behold. However, theres not much plot to this; theres no room. The film is just one long sword fight. While the story isnt overly engaging, sword fighting fans cannot help but be impressed by the extraordinary achievement in action cinema.9. The Mark of Zorro (1940)Don Diego (Tyrone Power) vs. Captain Esteban Pasquale (Basil Rathbone)Once again, Rathbone is cast as a villainous swordsman and in The Mark of Zorro where he delivers one of his most skillful swordfights. Casual observers might not recognize the masterful command of the blades, but anyone who has ever picked up a sword will. George Foreman once said Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it. The same can be said for cinematic sword fights. Fencing can be reduced to distance, timing and velocity, and in this duel, both combatants demonstrate meticulous mastery of all three, which can only come from a solid foundation in fencing.The fight choreography ofThe Mark of Zorro is attributed to Fred Cavens, a genuine fencing master certified by Belgiums Military Institute of Physical Education and Fencing. He was the uncredited master behind many of the great movie sword fights of the period. His son Albert Cavens served as the uncredited fencing double for Power. The duel between Power (Cavens) and Rathbone is incredibly tight by fencing standards. The actors control of timing, distance and precision is pure perfection of the level that could only be achieved by seasoned fencers.8. The Four Musketeers: Miladys Revenge (1974)DArtagnan (Michael York) vs. the Count de Rochefort (Christopher Lee)Few stories embody sword fights like The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. There are so many versions worthy of recognition, from Douglas Fairbanks 1921 silent film to Gene Kellys trampoline-assisted 1948 version. Even the recent 2023 French film The Three Musketeers: Part 2 Milady has an impressive oner sword fight pitting Milady de Winter (Eva Green) against DArtagnan (Francois Civil) in a burning building. However, Richard Lesters mid-1970s two-parter still prevails. The final duel between DArtagnan and Rochefort is a true masterpiece.The fight director for Lesters Musketeer movies was William Hobbs, who literally wrote the bookactually two bookson fight choreography. Stage Combat: The Action to the Word and Techniques of the Stage Fight by Hobbs are the go-to references for every fight choreographer, and Hobbs is behind more of the films listed here than anyone else. An entire article could be devoted just to the great swordfights of William Hobbs alone.The final duel in The Four Musketeers was filmed at the Monastery de Santiago de Uclesin Spain, which lent a profound gravitas as the swordsmen fight under the sacred light from the monasterys exquisite stained glass. Hobbs juxtaposes DArtangans bumpkin swashbuckling with the sophisticated swordsmanship of Rochefort for a truly dramatic battle. Its the cherry on top after the preceding melee between the musketeers and Rocheforts guards, a potent climax of the two films.7. Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (1999)Darth Maul (Ray Park) vs. Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor)Lightsaber battles are among the most iconic sword fights in modern cinema, and to this day many fans might have the most investment in the final fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin (Hayden Christensen) in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith for its emotional culmination of the Prequel Trilogy. However, Episode I still eclipses that due to Ray Park. Park is a genuine martial arts champion and member of the British national wushu team, and he brought real martial arts into lightsaber battles for the first time. Nick Gallard is credited as the Fight Unit Director, but it was Park who slipped in a classic wushu barrel roll, a martial art move that would be echoed by a CGI Yoda later in the series. With that inclusion, Jedi martial arts officially became a thing.Two of the Star Wars miniseries, Kenobi and The Acolyte, have showcased furious lightsaber battles that have exceeded the achievements of the movies in terms of choreographic complexity. However, this article is focused upon films, so those dont count.Read more 6. Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970)Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) vs. Taisaku Sasa (Toshiro Mifune)Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo is the 20th installment of Katsus long-running Blind Swordsman franchise, which spanned 26 feature films and 100 television series episodes. Mifune plays a character that echoes his iconic role in Akira Kurosawas classic YojimboHowever, their actual sword fight is quite short. Its the fights leading up to that duel that builds the tension for the epic clash. First, the two swordsmen must each face a horde of samurai and mercenaries in murderous bloodbaths. Coincidentally, Mifune and Katsu would cross paths again that same year in a film titled Machibuse. Again, Mifune plays a character that was derivative of his Yojimbo role, but Katsu takes on a completely different character as a quack doctor.5. Scaramouche (1952)Andre Moreau (Stewart Granger) vs. Noel, Marquis de Maynes (Mel Ferrer)Scaramouche is one of the greatest fencing movies of all time. Set just prior to the French Revolution, Moreau vows revenge on the Marquis, a master fencer, for slaying his rebel friend by sword. Consequently, Moreau must learn to fence. The final sword fight was the longest in screen history at the time, clocking in at around eight minutes. Their duel atop the dizzying railing of the box seats in an opulent theater is simply breathtaking.Granger was trained in British theater where fencing was a required part of the curriculum. He fortified his skills by taking private lessons under Jean Hereman, an eight-time Belgium champion who competed in the 1936 Olympics before moving to Hollywood as an uncredited fight choreographer (Fred Cavens is also attributed to having had an uncredited hand in this film). Ferrer wasnt a fencer. He began his career as a chorus dancer on Broadway and approached the choreography like a dancer would, akin to Zhang and Yeoh.4. Rob Roy (1995)Rob Roy MacGregor (Liam Neeson) vs. Cunnigham (Tim Roth)At six feet and four inches, Liam Neeson towers over Tim Roths five-foot and eight-inch frame, which should have given him the reach advantage in a sword fight. However, William Hobbs shows up once again to prove why hes the GOAT sword fight choreographer. He armed the two combatants appropriately. MacGregor uses a Scottish basket hilt broadsword against Cunninghams small sword. In fencing, smaller is faster. As metallurgy improved, swords evolved into lighter, more efficient weapons. Cunninghams sword play is refined and sophisticated, slicing up MacGregor cut by cut. Meanwhile MacGregor gasses out from wielding such a heavy weapon and losing so much blood. Its a clever fight where Hobbs lifts a page from fencing history and plays it out with dramatic panache.The sword grab reversal is almost a call back to DArtagnan versus Rochefort in The Four Musketeers: Miladys Revenge. The tone of that fight was parallel to this onea sophisticated villainous fencing master facing off against a rustic swordsman hero. DArtagnan attempts the same method but without the visceral success of MacGregor.3. The Duellists (1977)Gabriel Feraud (Harvey Keitel) vs. Armad dHubert (Keith Carradine)Ridley Scotts directorial debut spans 20 years of a bitter rivalry during the Napoleonic Wars. With William Hobbs choreographing the sword fights once again, this film allows him to stretch out over multiple duels and compose some of the most accurate sword fights ever put to film. The duellists meet multiple times with different weapons, sabers, rapiers, a mounted sword fight, and finally pistols.The contrast between the second duel, a small sword bout fenced elegantly in a sheep pasture, and the third duel, sabers in gritty sanguineous battle, is extreme. It spotlights the virtuosity of Hobbs choreography and Scotts burgeoning sense of atmosphere, evoking different emotions within each bout. Hobbs captures the violence and sheer brutality of sword fighting in a manner that feels totally genuine.2. The Princess Bride (1987)Westley (Cary Elwes) vs. Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin)Few sword fights match the humor and charm of Westley versus Inigo Montoya. Its a witty fight, absurd and acrobatic. And when the combatants reference Bonetti, Capo Ferro, and Agrippa, those were genuine fencing masters from the 16th and 17th centuries. That nod could only have come from another studied fencing master, which in this case, was the legendary fight choreographer Bob Anderson.Anderson was a world champion fencer who represented Great Britain at the 1952 Olympics. He got into film choreography in 1953 when he worked with Errol Flynn on The Master of Ballantrae. He went on to lend his sword expertise to dozens of films including the original Star Wars trilogy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Highlander, By the Sword, and many more.1. Rashomon (1950)Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune) vs. Takehiro Kanazawa (Masayuki Mori)Considered one of the greatest films ever made, the pivotal sword fight in Rashomon is shown from different perspectives. Tajomarus version is a heroic fight between him and the samurai Takehiro. It glorifies Tajomarus swordsmanship where his intimidating feints draw repeated useless parries from the disciplined samurai, who begins flinching and faltering. Its a clever fight because we can see the fencing strategies playing out in the opponents minds.However, its the woodcutters (Takashi Shimura) version that stands as one of the greatest sword fights of all. In his recounting, Tajomaru and Takehiro are terrified to fight each other and flail in fear. Played out for comedy as well as tragedy, it feels true, capturing the sheer horror of what it must be like to face an opponent with yard-long razors. The gruesomeness of sword fighting is laid bare. The fear in their eyes and their trembling swords as they fall over each other creates such dramatic tension. Its the perfect climax to a perfect film.