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Rising Starr"There's a lot packed into this update emotionally" warframe 1999's Ben Starr speaks on bringing some humanity to Arthur"I was fully naked the entire time, bathed in goo, a la Get Your Own Back"Image credit: VG247 / Digital Extremes Article by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Dec. 17, 2024 Warframe 1999 is here at last and players are having a blast exploring the past, zooming around on motorbikes, and thirsting over Viktor. However, it's also probably one of the most stacked updates in terms of popular voice acting talent. Warframe has always been solid in the VO department, but with Ben Starr, Alpha Takahashi, Amelia Tyler, and Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge the bar has been lifted to a whole other level.So, with this in mind, I wanted to sit down and chat to one of these voice actors about what it was like stepping into the wacky world of Warframe in what is likely its most ambitious update yet. For this, Mr Starr was willing to spare five minutes to talk about bringing Arthur to life, if he had any inspirations for the performance, and the finer points of adding a voice of humanity to a warframe of all things.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Starr: "I was fully naked the entire time, bathed in goo, a la Get Your Own Back. Sorry, no. I would say the cool thing about this character is you get two very different sides to them. You get the wisened officer who barks orders, and then because of the romance system you get the really intimate tender moments if you want to choose that. For me, it was never about doing a 90s voice, because what is a '90's voice'? I'm not really doing a particular 90s archetype, it's more just like, here's an officer who has lived a life. Make him care about stuff, the stuff that's in front of him. The battlefield, your character (if you choose it), the Hex group. The immediate circumstances that are around him.""I'm a huge fan of the 90s, they're some of my most formative years, so to get to play in that sandbox is really neat. They - the devs - do all the work to make it sound like the 90s. I just make him sound human."VG247: How are you able to play in the 90s sandbox if the character doesn't have a "90s voice"? If you aren't doing a 90s voice, what are the differences between a performance on a character like Arthur and a modern day character?Starr: "When it comes to performance? No. Because if you're trying to affect something, it's not going to be particularly interesting. I think the most interesting thing for us is that we've taken these characters. No, almost these archetypes! Excalibur, I play Excalibur which is the iconic Warframe character. How do you take that frame, and explore what makes them tick like a human? How do you take those aspects and show that battle between their humanity and the inhumane part of themselves.""It just happens that the backdrop is the 90s, the soundtrack is the 90s, but that's not anything I can affect. This character is literally battling for their own survival, and for his humanity at the same time. How do those two things work together, how do they clash against each other, and how do they combine to make a compelling story."VG247: As the player proceeds through the update they can choose to get closer to Arthur. How do you as a voice actor shift from those harder, officer moments to the more intimate moments? How does your performance change?Starr: "It's just like, walls up walls down. Instead of it being having the walls come down suddenly, we create these little cracks to peek through. I think there's got to be that tease, because it's just a carrot on a stick for the player to explore if they want that.""There are these characters the player can romance and get to know, and it's like how do we make Athur an appealing prospect whose story you want to learn more of. And each person's story is going to be as interesting as the last, be it Amir or Lettie or Eleanor. They're all very interesting stories, Arthur is just one of them. It's really cool in my own way to have this character where if you as the player put the hours in, here's this little treat for you! Here are some fun little easter eggs that are gonna make it worthwhile if you put the time in."VG247: Did you have any inspirations for this role, or did you pull from anything personal?Starr: "I'm not pulling from anything personal. I would say there was a note that Reb made, which said the initial tone was 'grinding gears into the dirt'. That's what she wanted for Arthur. So there's this real deep growl, but as you proceed further through Warframe 1999 it softens. If you choose to engage in that, you will see almost a need to be loved, and a need to find love in a loveless place. In a lot of action games you don't have an opportunity to do that, so it's really amazing. There's a lot packed into this update emotionally."Voice performances like Starr's (but not only Starr's, I'm especially in love with Alpha Takahashi's and Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge's presense depictions) adds a lot of heart to Warframe 1999. It's an important piece of the wider picture, a beautiful painting that has brought thousands upon thousands of players to the game to interact with the cast. It's absolutely worth checking out if you haven't already.

Music MattersDen of Wolves lead reveals the secret behind badass video game music, the "other mid tempo", and Metal Gear Rising's composer's involvementSimon Viklund sits down for a conversation on music, something here's clearly a fiend for.Image credit: 10 Chambers Article by Connor Makar Staff Writer Published on Dec. 17, 2024 Den of Wolves stood out to me during this year's packed Game Awards celebration for one major reason. The music. Yes, the concept of a new first person heist game from the developers of Payday 2 is enough to garner significant hype, but it's the pounding, relentless rhythms that snatched my attention. Inside the Peacock theatre, you could feel your chair shaking.As a fan of drum and bass myself, I was delighted to have a chance to sit down and chat to Simon Viklund about the approach to music in Den of Wolves. We had talked before, ahead of the game's initial reveal last year. But now that gameplay is out there, I wanted to dig deeper into this topic to find out the trick to making heist games exhilarating through music, and if there were any new details on Metal Gear Rising: Revengence composer Jamie Christopherson's involvement.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. So first, what exactly is the music style in Den of Wolves? It's not quite dubstep, not quite drum and bass. Thankfully, Viklund was willing to explain exactly where both tracks we've heard so far live in the musical landscape. This, of course, came with him miming the drums with his hands and a collection of mouth sounds.Viklund: "Both are 150BPM - last year's trailer and the TGA trailer. Last year's trailer is in half time, so it has more of a hip-hop feel to it. While this one has more of a techno thing. I'm just experimenting with different things. I call it the 'other mid-tempo'. The mid-tempo is like 100-110 BPM, the sort of music you have in Cyberpunk. 120-130 is where Dubstep is. With Den of Wolves, I'm at 150BPM, 160. It's this no-man's land - because you have to go above 170 to reach Drum and Bass. That's why I call it the other mid-tempo."Not all music will be like that, obviously. But I like exploring rhythmical, almost hypnotic things that just repeat, y'know? The music isn't very melodic really, it's just a grove you get into with this constant rhythmical thing."He mentions Cyberpunk, a game that many will draw comparisons to at least as far as the setting is concerned. That game had a boundary-pushing soundtrack. So did Den of Wolves' corporate dystopia provide a similar opportunity? The answer, in short, is yes. Viklund: "Yeah, absolutely. It's forcing me to try to make something [interesting]. I can't go super cutting-edge and avant garde - I'm not trying to think about what music would be like in 2097. It would be so out there that I guess people would struggle to feel the emotions you want them to feel when they play the game. It has to be rooted in what people recognise as action music now, that gives a sense of attitude or badass-ness. That's why I bring in hip-hop influences and trap music with the brass hits - I really like that sound. Combining that with the drum and bass rhythms is cool. It's got just enough of that cutting-edge feeling to it.This all is done in support of creating a soundtrack that is not only distinct, but achieves the most important role: making the player feel "f*ckin badass", as Viklund puts it. Viklund: "We want them to feel like, yes! Cool and dangerous. The music needs that street vibe to it. Even though we're not preaching and saying it's you against the corporations, it feels a little bit like you're looking out for yourself. Even though you're doing missions for corporations and CEOs, you might do a crime within the crime. Looking out for number one."But what about Jamie Christopherson! His presence on the Den of Wolves soundtrack was big news last year, especially for fans of his legendary work on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. According to Viklund, Christopherson has indeed composed music for the game, not that we've heard it. However, there's a real desire to continue the partnership to better play to Christopherson's strengths.Viklund: I'll be completely honest and say that I asked him to do some atmospheric music for the game, and he made some fantastic tracks. It was super useful to get the ball rolling, but it's not what he... The music was great, but it's not utilizing what he does best, why you should really turn to Jamie Christopherson. So I think we really need to go back to Jamie. We're still in contact, and he really wants to work more on the game - he loved helping out! But we need to use what he's known for. High energy music, like what he did for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.With no firm release date at all, aside from a very vague 202X window, we've little that points to when the rest of the soundtrack will be blasted directly into our ears. Thankfully, the track we heard in the recent gameplay trailer is on Spotify! So at the very least, we can pass the months / years with a taste of the other mid-tempo.

What happens when an archviz master meets a global audience of archviz professionals eager to elevate their craft? Breakthroughs, inspiration, and stunning visuals.Throughout 2024, Chaos hosted a transformative series of live, online classes attracting over 4300 registrations from eager archviz artists. Led by Nikos Nikolopoulos, the Founder and Creative Director of Creative Lighting, the Archviz Masterclass series offered participants a rare opportunity to learn from a seasoned trainer who has worked with some of the worlds most renowned architects, designers, and visualization studios.Over eight lessons, Nikos covered topics from creating emotional narratives and exterior lighting strategies to mastering color psychology and professional-level post-processing. Under his guidance, the attendees found their creativity ignited and were pushed to elevate their craft. "I loved witnessing the creative breakthroughs participants experienced as they combined storytelling with technical expertise," Nikos said. "It was inspiring to see how each individual brought their perspective to their projects, creating visuals that felt personal yet universally compelling.A collaborative and creative community in actionBecause each Masterclass session was live, this added a liveliness and collaborative atmosphere to the classes. Fellow participants even introduced Nikos to fresh ways to use Chaos products, such as experimenting with V-Ray and Coronas LightMix feature to enhance their storytelling or integrating Vantage to explore real-time adjustments. Seeing these tools reimagined through fresh perspectives highlighted the incredible flexibility of Chaos software and the participants' creativity," Nikos shared.A competitive grand finaleWith the Masterclass series drawing to a close, Nikos introduced a competition for participants to channel their new skills into a challenge inspired by film or TV characters. They developed mood boards exploring light, design, and color palettes, submitting two images that showcased distinct moods. "I looked for designs that transcended technical skill to tell a meaningful story," Nikos explained.Three entries stood out among the other submissions, and each received an annual license for a Chaos product for their hard work. "The winners excelled in their ability to evoke emotion, capture their fictional client's essence, and deliver visuals that were not just stunning but also deeply resonant and memorable."Read on to learn more about the three winning entries and why Nikos found their work outstanding.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube788kPublisher Bandai Namco has released the opening cinematic for the upcoming Freedom Wars Remastered on Switch.Launching on 10th January 2025, the game is a revamped version of the 2014 original on the PS Vita. In what is either a remarkable coincidence or a calculated effort, the reveal of the opening movie also comes exactly 13 years after the Japanese launch of the PS Vita on 17th December 2011. Bravo!As for the movie itself, the graphical enhancements over the original game are certainly apparent, but we'll have to wait and see exactly how it looks on the Switch itself. Chances are the movie is running on either the PS5 or PC, and even then, it's not direct gameplay footage.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube788kWatch on YouTube Still, we're incredibly excited to check out this one. Freedom Wars is a loose take on the gameplay from Monster Hunter, and sees you take down giant enemies with the help of a grappling whip, all in an effort to lower your one-million-year prison sentence in a unique, sci-fi distopian world.Born into a one-million-year prison sentence, you must survive deadly missions to earn any hope of freedom. Die in prison or live on the battlefield. The choice is yours. Convicted from birth for the crime of livingIn a distant future where all resources on earth have been depleted, being alive is a sin by itself. As a sinner sentenced to one million-years in prison, you must volunteer in dangerous operations to reduce your prison sentence and fight your way to freedom. Three-dimensional high speed combatUse your Thorns to dominate the battlefield. Stand alongside your allies and your warden bio-android accessory, to face off against powerful enemies. Enhanced graphicsRe-rendered graphics vividly portray desolate worlds, colossal prison cities, powerful enemies, and fierce battles. "We have tons of ideas we'd want to implement"Returning in early 2025Are you looking forward to Freedom Wars Remastered on the Switch? Did you play the original Vita version? Let us know with a comment.[source youtube.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:00 Nintendo Lifes resident horror fanatic, when hes not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related Articles'Hyperdimension Neptunia' & 'Death End' Switch Releases Scrapped For "Not Complying With Nintendo Guidelines"Death end re;Quest: Code Z still on for PS5/4, though3D Print Of Rumoured 'Switch 2' Design Gives Us A Closer Look At OLED Size ComparisonWhere do you want this truck-load of salt?Eagle-Eyed Fans Think They've Spotted The First 'Switch 2' Image In New Satisfye TrailerHmm, we're not sure about that

Executive served as Chairman until his passing.Masayuki Kato, the founder of Japanese developer Nihon Falcom, has sadly passed away the age of 78, the company has announced.Kato founded the company back in 1981 and, as highlighted by our friends over at Time Extension, chose the name 'Falcom' as a play on the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars, ultimately adding in 'Nihon' as he felt the single word title wasn't quite enough on its own.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Google on Tuesday announced support for third-party tools in Gemini Code Assist, its enterprise-focused AI code completion service. Code Assist launched in April as a rebrand of asimilar serviceGoogle offered under its now-defunct Duet AI branding. Available through plug-ins for popular dev environments like VS Code and JetBrains, Code Assist is powered by Googles Gemini AI models, which allow it to reason over and change large chunks of code.With the addition of tools, which are launching in private preview, Code Assist can pull in real-time data and access info from outside applications. The idea is to bring various technologies into the coding environment while minimizing potential distractions, said Google director of product management Ryan Salva and group product manager Prithpal Bhogill.This new tools feature can help eliminate the friction of context switching, Salva and Bhogill jointly wrote in a blog post. Getting scalable, secure applications into production requires more than just writing great code developers need solutions for productivity, observability, security, databases, and more.Image Credits:GoogleNot just anyone can build a tool for Code Assist. Google is limiting the program to Google Cloud partners, at least for now.Tools enable developers to retrieve information from, or act on, any part of their engineering system which is especially helpful for services outside the developer environment, Salva and Bhogill wrote. For example, you might summarize recent comments from a Jira issue, find the last person who merged changes to a file in git, or show the most recent live site issue from Sentry.Code Assist tools from GitLab, GitHub, Sentry.io, Atlassian Rovo, Snyk, and Googles own Google Docs are available at launch. Google Cloud partners interested in creating new tools can reach out to their partner managers, Salva and Bhogill say. Code Assist is a direct competitor toGitHubs Copilot Enterprise, which offers extensions that work a lot like Code Assist tools. But Google has long asserted that Code Assist stands out in other ways, for example in its support for codebases that sit on-premises.Code Assist has seen a number of upgrades this year, including enhanced code transformation capabilities and the launch of an enterprise plan with customized code suggestions based on private code repositories.Despite thesecurity, copyright, and reliability concernsaround AI-powered assistive coding tools, developers have shown enthusiasm for them, with thevast majorityof respondents in GitHubs latest poll saying that theyve adopted AI tools in some form. GitHub reported in April that Copilot hadover 1.8 million paying usersand more than 50,000 business customers.

Drop by any given loading dock and a buzz of forklifts loaded up with goods can be spotted maneuvering in and out of truck trailers. This logistical dance can take up to an hour to fill a trailer, leaving truck drivers in idle limbo. The founders of Atlanta-based Slip Robotics say theyve developed a robot that cuts that time down to five minutes. Their design inspiration: the floor.Slip Robotics, which was founded in 2020 by Chris Smith, Dennis Siedlak, and John Jakomin, has developed and launched a commercial robot-as-a-service business that combines automation software and large floor-like robotic platforms that can hold 10 palettes and carry up to 12,000 pounds. According to the company, these so-called SlipBots can handle uneven ground and navigate routes from the warehouse floor into a truck trailer. Three SlipBots about 36,000 pounds of payload fit into one truck trailer. Once the truck arrives at its destination, the SlipBots disembark.The idea behind SlipBots came, in part, from Smiths collective experience at former employers Cummins, Tesla, and Volley Automation, the latter a robotics startup that developed automated car park systems. His time at Tesla, where he led factory simulation and analytics and was one of the first 50 engineers at the Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, was particularly influential.All of this led to a singular thought, What if I built the floor, but it moves? Freight is typically set down on the floor for staging, where its picked up by forklifts. Smiths idea was for that freight to be set down on robotic floor-like platforms that could move everything at once.After three years of development and testing, Slip Robotics launched its commercial service in 2023. Today, there are hundreds of SlipBots being used in facilities across more than 25 sites that range from 20,000 square feet to more than 2 million square feet in size, Chief Commercial Officer Jordan Sanders told TechCrunch. Its customers include John Deere, GE Appliances, Valeo, and Nissan. Slip Robotics customers pay a subscription license fee for the use of SlipBots, with ongoing software updates, hardware service, maintenance, and repairs included. Sanders said customers typically have a three, three, three setup. This means a customer will always have three bots on a dock, three in transit, and three waiting at the destination.The bots, and the business model, have attracted investors too. Just a few weeks ago, Slip Robotics closed on $28 million in Series B funding, the company announced on Tuesday. The round was led by DCVC and saw participation from existing investors Eve Atlas, Tech Square Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Overline, and Pathbreaker Ventures. James Hardiman of DCVC has joined the board, which includes Slip co-founders and Thiago Olson, managing partner of EVE Atlas.The company has raised $45 million, to date. Slip didnt share its valuation.Sanders said the new capital will be used to hire more employees, increase deployments, and enhance its product offerings. He emphasized that Slip Robotics success so far is a credit not only to the product but how the startup chose to scale.People have come to expect a lot of hype and smoke and mirrors from robotics companies about their actual state of technology development and actual commercial scale, Sanders noted in an email to TechCrunch. This expectation and implicit skepticism is unfortunate, but it is entirely justified based on the hype and failed promises over the last decade.He said Slip Robotics didnt try to scale too soon, kept quiet, and focused on developing its robotics platform. That approach appears to have paid off. The company, once less than a dozen people, has now grown to about 50 employees. Importantly, he noted, Slip Robotics now has 10 commercial customers and hundreds of bots in the field.If you have more engineers in your office than revenue-generating vehicles in the real world, you dont have a real business, Sanders quipped.

Breakdown & ShowreelsVenom The Last Dance: VFX Breakdown by DNEGBy Vincent Frei - 17/12/2024 The symbiotes are backand this time, they dance. DNEG delivers really cool VFX for Venom: The Last Dance, showcasing the epic Venom Horse, the terrifying Xenophages, and the unforgettable dance scene. A symbiotic spectacle not to be missed!WANT TO KNOW MORE?DNEG: Dedicated page about Venom: The Last Dance on DNEG website.John Moffatt and Aharon Bourland: Heres my interview of Production VFX Supervisors John Moffatt and Aharon Bourland. Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2024

Breakdown & ShowreelsThe Regime: VFX Breakdown by Union VFXBy Vincent Frei - 17/12/2024 Discover how Union VFX crafted the crumbling reality of HBOs The Regime. From invisible crowd simulations to intricate environments, witness the artistry that brings Stephen Frears and Jess Hobbs darkly comedic world to lifewithout you even noticing!WANT TO KNOW MORE?Union VFX: Dedicated page about The Regime on Union VFX website.WATCH IT ON Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2024