HumansThe ancient board games we finally know how to play thanks to AIMany ancient board games have been discovered, but there are no rulebooks so we don't know how to play them. Now AI is bringing these games back to life by working out likely rules 9 December 2024 Bill McConkeyIn the 1970s, in a grave in a Bronze Age cemetery in Shahr-i Sokhta, Iran, an incredible object was unearthed next to a human skull: the oldest complete board game ever discovered. Around 4500 years old, it consists of a board with 20 circular spaces created from the coils of a carved snake, four dice and 27 geometric pieces.The Shahr-i Sokhta game is one of many ancient board games discovered around the world, such as the Roman game Ludus Latrunculorum and the Egyptian game Senet, found in Tutankhamuns tomb. But we have only been able to guess how to play these games. There are no preserved rulebooks with the notable exception of the Royal Game of Ur from ancient Mesopotamia, whose long-lost rules were deciphered in 2007 from a cuneiform tablet in the British Museum.Now, though, another tool is helping to bring these games back to life. In recent years, researchers have been harnessing artificial intelligence to assist in the hunt for likely rules. The goal is to make these forgotten games realistically playable again, while also gaining insights into the evolution of game types. These games act as a window into the past, offering glimpses into the social and cultural dynamics of the people who played them, says Eric Piette at the Catholic University of

Google says its new quantum chip is its most powerful yetGoogle Quantum AIGoogle has unveiled a new quantum computer and is once more claiming to have pulled ahead in the race to show that these exotic machines can beat even the worlds best conventional supercomputers so does that mean useful quantum computers are finally here?Researchers at the tech giant were the first in the world to demonstrate this feat, known as quantum supremacy, with the announcement of the Sycamore quantum computing chip in 2019. But since then, supercomputers have caught up, leaving Sycamore behind. Now, Google

MIT Technology ReviewsHow To. Today, OpenAI released its video generation model Sora to the public. The announcement comes on the fifth day of the companys shipmas event, a 12-day marathon of tech releases and demos. Heres what you should knowand how you can use the video model right now. What is Sora? Sora is a powerful AI video generation model that can create videos from text prompts, animate images, or remix videos in new styles. OpenAI first previewed the model back in February, but today is the first time the company is releasing it for broader use. Whats new about this release? The core function of Soracreating impressive videos with simple promptsremains similar to what was previewed in February, but OpenAI worked to make the model faster and cheaper ahead of this wider release. There are a few new features, and two stand out. One is called Storyboard. With it, you can create multiple AI-generated videos and then assemble them together on a timeline, much the way you would with conventional video editors like Adobe Premiere Pro. The second is a feed that functions as a sort of creative gallery. Users can post their Sora-generated videos to the feed, see the prompts behind certain videos, tweak them, and generally get inspiration, OpenAI says. How much can you do with it? You can generate videos from text prompts, change the style of videos and change elements with a tool called Remix, and assemble multiple clips together with Storyboard. Sora also provides preset styles you can apply to your videos, like moody film noir or cardboard and papercraft, which gives a stop-motion feel. You can also trim and loop the videos that you make. Who can use it? To generate videos with Sora, youll need to subscribe to one of OpenAIs premium planseither ChatGPT Plus ($20 per month) or ChatGPT Pro ($200 per month). Both subscriptions include access to other OpenAI products as well. Users with ChatGPT Plus can generate videos as long as five seconds with a resolution up to 720p. This plan lets you create 50 videos per month. Users with a ChatGPT Pro subscription can generate longer, higher-resolution videos, capped at a resolution of 1080p and a duration of 20 seconds. They can also have Sora generate up to five variations of a video at once from a single prompt, making it possible to review options faster. Pro users are limited to 500 videos per month but can also create unlimited relaxed videos, which are not generated in the moment but rather queued for when site traffic is low. Both subscription levels make it possible to create videos in three aspect ratios: vertical, horizontal, and square. If you dont have a subscription, youll be limited to viewing the feed of Sora-generated videos. OpenAI is starting its global launch of Sora today, but it will take longer to launch in most of Europe, the company said. OPENAI Where can I access it? OpenAI has broken Sora out from ChatGPT. To access it, go to Sora.com and log in with your ChatGPT Plus or Pro account. (MIT Technology Review was unable to access the site at press timea note on the site indicated that signups were paused because they were currently experiencing heavy traffic.) Howd we get here? A number of things have happened since OpenAI first unveiled Sora back in February. Other tech companies have also launched video generation tools, like Meta Movie Gen and Google Veo. Theres also been plenty of backlash. For example, artists who had early access to experiment with Sora leaked the tool to protest the way OpenAI has trained it on artists work without compensation. Whats next? As with any new release of a model, it remains to be seen what steps OpenAI has taken to keep Sora from being used for nefarious, illegal, or unethical purposes, like the creation of deepfakes. On the question of moderation and safety, an OpenAI employee said they might not get it perfect on day one. Another looming question is how much computing capacity and energy Sora will use up every time it creates a video. Generating a video uses much more computing time, and therefore energy, than generating a typical text response in a tool like ChatGPT. The AI boom has already been an energy hog, presenting a challenge to tech companies aiming to rein in their emissions, and the wide availability of Sora and other video models like it has the potential to make that problem worse.

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. The worlds next big environmental problem could come from space In September, a unique chase took place in the skies above Easter Island. From a rented jet, a team of researchers captured a satellites last moments as it fell out of space and blazed into ash across the sky, using cameras and scientific equipment. Their hope was to gather priceless insights into the physical and chemical processes that occur when satellites burn up as they fall to Earth at the end of their missions. This kind of study is growing more urgent. The number of satellites in the sky is rapidly risingwith a tenfold increase forecast by the end of the decade. Letting these satellites burn up in the atmosphere at the end of their lives helps keep the quantity of space junk to a minimum. But doing so deposits satellite ash in the Earths atmosphere. This metallic ash could potentially alter the climate, and we dont yet know how serious the problem is likely to be.Read the full story. Tereza Pultarova OpenAIs 12 days of shipmas tell us a lot about the AI arms race Last week, OpenAI announced what it calls the 12 days of OpenAI, or 12 days of shipmas. On December 4, CEO Sam Altman took to X to announce that the company would be doing 12 days of openai. each weekday, we will have a livestream with a launch or demo, some big ones and some stocking stuffers. The company will livestream about new products every morning for 12 business days in a row during December. Its an impressive-sounding (and media-savvy) schedule, to be sure. But it also speaks to how tight the race between the AI bigs has become, and also how much OpenAI is scrambling to build more revenue.Read the full story. Mat Honan This story originally appeared in The Debrief with Mat Honan, our weekly take on whats really going on behind the biggest tech headlines. The story is subscriber-only sonab a subscriptiontoo, if you havent already! Or you cansign upto the newsletter for free to get the next edition in your inbox on Friday. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The USDA is launching a national program to test milk for bird flu A full nine months after the current outbreak was first detected in dairy cows. (STAT)+The risk of a bird flu pandemic is rising.(MIT Technology Review)2 Heres what sets OpenAIs new models apart Theyre shifting from predicting to reasoning, which could be a huge deal. (The Atlantic$)+Regardless of whether capabilities are slowing, AIs impact is only poised to grow.(Vox)+It may be comforting to dismiss AI as hypebut it misses the point.(Platformer)3 A federal appeals court has upheld the US TikTok banBut what happens next is anyones guess. (WSJ$)+Whether TikTok is banned or not, the actions against it have had a big impact.(MIT Technology Review)4 Top internet sleuths are sitting out the hunt for the UnitedHealthcare CEO killerIn fact, some are even criticizing people who are trying to help. (NBC)+Why so many Americans are at best indifferent to this particular murder.(New Yorker$)5 Schools are attempting to stop teens self-harming before they even tryThe AI tools theyre adopting could be doing far more damage than help, though. (NYT$)6 China is building its own Starlink systemThe Qianfan constellation could eventually grow to nearly 14,000 satellites. (The Economist$)+The end of the ISS will usher in a more commercialized future in space. (The Verge)7 This was an exciting year for superconductorsSuperconductivitythe flow of electric current with no resistancewas discovered in three new materials. (Quanta$)8 Meet the worlds least productive programmersIt seems a small minority of disillusioned ghost engineers do pretty much no work at all. (WP$)9 Why people are turning their backs on dating appsTheres a large degree of fatigue, and a feeling that theyre somehow detached from reality. (The Guardian)10 Fake snacks are racking up millions of views on InstagramTheres even a word for this trend: snackfishing. (Wired$)Quote of the day I think Twitter and now X is like a crack addiction for him, though. He is clearly chasing a particular hit all the time and he has ended up self-radicalising himself with the platform he has purchased. A former Twitter employee in London tellsThe Guardianhow Elon Musk has changed since he purchased the platform. The big story How electricity could help tackle a surprising climate villain Sublime SystemsBOB O'CONNOR January 2024 Cement is used to build everything from roads and buildings to dams and basement floors. But its also a climate threat. Cement production accounts for more than 7% of global carbon dioxide emissionsmore than sectors like aviation, shipping, or landfills. One solution to this climate catastrophe might be coursing through the pipes at Sublime Systems. The startup is developing an entirely new way to make cement. Instead of heating crushed-up rocks in lava-hot kilns, Sublimes technology zaps them in water with electricity, kicking off chemical reactions that form the main ingredients in its cement. But it faces huge challenges: competing with established industry players, and persuading builders to use its materials in the first place.Read the full story. Casey Crownhart We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.) + Who will be theLord of Misrulein your household this Christmas? + PeoplesWikipediabrowsing data always makes for interesting reading.+ Wait, so weve been mispronouncingthese wordsall along? (Apart from espresso, cmon)+ TheMuppet Christmas Carolmight just be the greatest festive film.

My husband and I met on eHarmony and had a whirlwind relationship.I knew a proposal was coming, and thought it might happen while we were enjoying a weekend away.The proposal didn't happen when or where I expected, but it was still wonderful.My first date with my now husband was on a cold December day. We had lunch at a diner, followed by browsing at Barnes & Noble. We had met on eHarmony, after years of trying to find love. It was a last ditch effort for both of us before giving up on online dating. Starting with that first date, I knew that there was something different, something special about him. While I'm not a person that expects grand gestures, I didn't anticipate that eight months later he would propose in a hotel parking lot.Our relationship was a bit of a whirlwindWe met in December, got engaged in August, and married the next December. It may seem fast to some people, but we both knew we had found the one that we wanted to spend our lives with. In the summer we started talking about getting engaged. I couldn't imagine having a piece of jewelry that had so much significance and that I was going to wear every day and not having any input, so we went ring shopping together. Initially I thought I would pick a style I liked and then he would pick out the ring. Then I found a ring that I fell in love with.He later told me he had ordered the ring, but I had no idea what he had planned for the proposal. I don't love surprises, so something elaborate, embarrassing, or public was definitely out and he knew that.A weekend away seemed like the perfect time for a proposalThe first weekend of August we drove a few hours away so my now-husband could fill in with a quartet that he used to sing with. I went into that trip with a feeling that he was going to propose. But as we were driving home at the end of the weekend and day turned into night I figured it probably wasn't going to happen, which was disappointing.Then a song came on as we were driving through rural Delaware. It was "I Could Not Ask for More" by Edwin McCain, and he sang it to me. After the song was finished, he told me how much he loved me and how he could never ask for anything more. It sounded like a proposal speech, but no proposal came. He just said he wished he wasn't driving so he could hug me. I replied, "I wish you could just pull over and propose." The author and her husband Tom while on a roadtrip in California in 2017. Sara Rowe Mount The proposal turned out to be a surprise, even to himAbout a mile up the road, he pulled off into a Holiday Inn Express parking lot as I asked, "What are you doing?" After all, I hadn't been completely serious about pulling over. Turns out, he was. He parked, reached over and hugged me as he rooted in the back seat for something. That's when I knew it was happening. There sitting in the front seat of his car in a hotel parking lot he asked me to be his forever. I said yes.I commented that he hadn't gotten down on one knee. So he took the ring off my finger, went around to my side of the car, got down one knee, and proposed again. He was crying, but I was so excited I just started laughing and jumping up and down.Honestly, the entire thing was pretty on brand for our quirky, goofy relationship. There may not have been a romantic dinner with flowers and champagne or a scavenger hunt that had been planned out for weeks, but I didn't really mind. Yes, the proposal was spur of the moment, but I still think it was pretty romantic, even now that we've been married for nine years.

Luigi Mangione has been arrested in an investigation into UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's killing.Mangione, an Ivy League graduate, left an online trail before his arrest at McDonald's.He founded an app, talked about Artificial Intelligence on X, and read The Unabomber Manifesto.Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, left a vast online trail before police in Pennsylvania picked him Monday as a "person of interest" in the Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.He was arrested and charged with local gun and forgery charges, but New York Police Department officials say he's expected to be extradited to New York, where he'll face additional charges.Here's what to know about Mangione:Mangione attended elite schoolsMangione graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.He achieved a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a major in computer science and a minor in mathematics. He also received a Master of Science in Engineering the same year with a major in computer and information science, a university spokesperson told Business Insider.Before that, he attended Gilman School, an elite all-boys preparatory school based in Baltimore. His yearbook entry, obtained by BI, says he was involved in robotics and Model UN. He wrote on his LinkedIn account that he was the valedictorian of his high school class.A spokeswoman for Gilman didn't immediately return a voicemail from BI.He favorably reviewed The Unabomber ManifestoOn Goodreads, Mangione reviewed Ted Kaczynski's "Industrial Society and Its Future" book, also known as The Unabomber Manifesto, in early 2024. He gave it four out of five stars."He was a violent individual rightfully imprisoned who maimed innocent people," Mangione wrote. "While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary."Mangione's review of the manifesto also quoted another online comment about the book, which appears to have originated on Reddit, praising the use of violence "when all other forms of communication fail.""'Violence never solved anything' is a statement uttered by cowards and predators,'" Mangione quoted.Online breadcrumbs suggest he dealt with back painAt the top of Mangione's profile on X formerly Twitter was a triptych of three images: a photo of himself, smiling, shirtless on a mountain ridge; a Pokemon; and an x-ray with four pins or screws visible in the lower back.Some of the books reviewed on Mangione's Goodreads account related to health and healing back pain, including "Back Mechanic: The Secrets to a Healthy Spine Your Doctor Isn't Telling You" and "Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery."The Pokemon featured in his X cover image, next to an apparent spinal X-ray, is Breloom. In the Pokemon games, it has special healing abilities.He founded an app and worked in techWhile still in high school, in 2015, Mangione founded a company called AppRoar Studios. AppRoar released an iPhone game called Pivot Plane that is no longer available, but a reviewer in 2015 called it "a fun little arcade game brought to you by 3 high school juniors."He lived in a coliving space in Hawaii as recently as 2023.He posed for photos indicating he participated in Greek life at the University of Pennsylvania.The fraternity chapter represented in his photos couldn't be reached for comment.He cofounded a video game design club at the University of Pennsylvania, according to a blog post on the University of Pennsylvania's website that was removed Monday.Stephen Lane, a professor of video game design at the Ivy League university, who did not advise the club, told BI that "the fact he took the initiative and started something from nothing, that means at least in the context of Penn, that's a pretty good thing." However, the shooting of Thompson, Lane added, was "obviously not a good thing."According to his LinkedIn page, Mangione worked as a data engineer at the vehicle shopping company TrueCar starting in 2020.A TrueCar spokesperson told BI that Mangione has not worked for the company since 2023.He was previously cited for trespassingMangione had at least one encounter with the legal system before his Monday arrest. Hawaiian court records indicate that he was cited in 2023 for entering a forbidden area of a state park.Mangione appears to have paid a $100 fine to resolve the matter.Mangione was interested in AIOn his X account, Mangione posted and amplified posts about technological advances like artificial intelligence. He also posted about fitness and healthy living.He frequently reposted posts by the writer Tim Urban and commentator Jonathan Haidt about the promise and perils of technology.He also appeared to be a fan of Michael Pollan, known for his writing about food and ethics, and lab-grown meat.On Goodreads, he praised Urban's book "What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies," describing it as "one of the most important philosophical texts of the early 21st century."Urban posted to X on Monday: "Very much not the point of the book."He was arrested while on his laptop at a McDonald's, police saidWhen police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, responded to a McDonald's after a call about a suspicious person, they found Mangione sitting at a table looking at a silver laptop and wearing a blue medical mask, according to a criminal complaint.The complaint said that when asked for identification, Mangione gave police officers a New Jersey driver's license with the name "Mark Rosario."When an officer asked Mangione if he had been to New York recently he "became quiet and started to shake," the complaint said.Mangione correctly identified himself after officers told him he could be arrested for lying about his identity, according to the complaint.When asked why he lied, Mangione replied, "I clearly shouldn't have," the complaint said.Do you know Luigi Mangione? Have a tip? Reach out to jnewsham+tips@businessinsider.com.

One question thats loomed over the disturbing allegations against Sean Diddy Combs is the culpability of his famous friends. Will anyone else be exposed during his upcoming trial or named in the growing pile of civil lawsuits against him? In the months since the hip-hop mogul was federally charged with sex trafficking and racketeering in the Southern District of New York, spectators online have been mining old photos of Combss star-studded white parties, looking at potential celebrities from Ashton Kutcher to Beyonc that could have been involved or at least possibly aware of his alleged freak-offs.This focus on Combss high-profile associates seems to have built on the speculation around the late financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, whose 2019 death left many open questions about his own elite circle. Online, conspiracy theories circulate about who knew or did what with the Diddy case, from QAnon-esque readings of Justin Bieber lyrics to anti-gay speculation about his mentorship of Usher. However, recent accusations involving one of Diddys most illustrious music peers have lent some gravity to this conjecture. On Monday, in an anonymous civil lawsuit, fellow rapper and mogul Jay-Z (a.k.a. Shawn Carter) was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 along with Combs.The complaint, which was filed in October, initially only listed Combs as a defendant, concealing the names of a male celebrity who allegedly participated in the assault and a female celebrity who allegedly witnessed it. However, some back-and-forth between Carter and the accusers counsel resulted in the rappers inclusion in a re-filing, making Carter the first high-profile defendant intertwined in Combss ongoing legal scandals. While its still early days for this case, the suit raises questions about what this will mean for the rest of Combss legal proceedings, and whether other A-list figures could possibly be named. Notably, Hollywoods Me Too movement did not penetrate the even less regulated music industry in a culture-shifting way, let alone the male-dominated genre of rap. Will the calling out of a celebrity as gigantic as Jay-Z embolden more victims to speak up? What is Jay-Z being accused of? In the new lawsuit, posted by legal journalist Meghann Cuniff, the anonymous plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, claims that Combs and Carter took turns raping her at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party while an unidentified female celebrity watched. The accuser says she was transported to the party by Combss driver, who she met outside of Radio City Music Hall while she was trying to gain entry into the venue for the awards show. The driver told her he would take her to the party after the show, stating that she fit what Diddy was looking for. When they arrived at the mansion where the party was held, the woman said she signed what she thought was a nondisclosure agreement. She was also given a drink that made her feel woozy and lightheaded, making her need to lie down, according to the lawsuit. Shortly after she went into a room to rest, Combs and Carter entered. Combs allegedly grabbed her and exclaimed, You are ready to party! According to the lawsuit, Carter took off her clothes, held her down, and raped her while Combs and the unidentified female celebrity watched. Combs then allegedly raped the plaintiff while Carter and the unnamed celebrity looked on. Eventually, the plaintiff was able to escape after hitting Combs in his neck and running out of the room. Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who in recent months filed numerous lawsuits against Combs accusing him of physical and sexual assault, says in the latest lawsuit that he sent Carter a demand letter prior to refiling, requesting a mediation to resolve the matter. Carter then filed his own anonymous lawsuit against the plaintiffs legal team, accusing them of extortion. In the refiled complaint, Buzbee calls Carters lawsuit frivolous and accuses him of orchestrating a conspiracy of harassment, bullying, and intimidation against Plaintiffs lawyers, their families, and former associates in an attempt to silence Plaintiff from naming him. Jay-Z and Diddy at the Roc Nation Brunch on January 25, 2020, in Los Angeles. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc NationAfter the refiling, Carter denied all allegations, releasing an impassioned and seemingly unvetted by a publicist statement on his entertainment company Roc Nations social media accounts on Sunday. (The statement is currently being circulated as an ad on X.) In his response, he calls the initial demand letter he received from Buzbee a blackmail attempt, disparages Buzbees reputation as a lawyer, and mentions the effect of the accusations on his family, which includes his wife, singer Beyonc Knowles-Carter: My only heartbreak is for my family. My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people. He also implores Buzbee to file a criminal complaint rather than a civil one.On Monday, Carters attorneys opposed the plaintiffs request to proceed anonymously. The motion notes that in two previous cases that Buzbee filed in the New York district, the court denied his requests, after failing to meet the burden to show that each plaintiff was entitled to the exceptional remedy of anonymity. Are more celebrities likely to be named? While the world waits for a conclusion to this disturbing lawsuit, the implications of the news are yet to be seen. Will the exposure of someone as powerful as Carter result in more celebrities being outed in Combss legal proceedings or even sued on their own? Or is this simply the outcome of confidential back-and-forth handled in a messy manner?In a previous interview with Vox about the rise of high-profile sex-trafficking cases, former Department of Justice prosecutor Neama Rahmani said its unlikely that more would be exposed in the criminal charges against Combs, given that US Attorney Damian Williams lacks a kitchen-sink approach to prosecuting. He also said the standard is higher in criminal court, and prosecutors arent going to risk naming someone unless theyre certain they can get a conviction. However, he does expect for celebrities involved in these cases to receive civil lawsuits, as were seeing currently. Theres a lot of allegations that there were other celebrities that participated in these freak-offs, says Rahmani, who has prosecuted human trafficking cases. According to Cassie Ventura, he recorded these freak-offs both for his sexual pleasure but also to have power over the [celebrity] participants to blackmail them. So this might be the first domino to fall. Rahmani also tells Vox that other lawsuits against Carter could emerge, similar to the way Casandra Cassie Venturas 2023 claims against Combs, her ex-partner, led to an avalanche of allegations by other accusers. For now, Rahmani says spectators will have to wait and see.Its really impossible to know, he says. But it might be a Me Too-type of situation for the music industry. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Making an Indiana Jones game today seems like a straightforward endeavour: you take Uncharteds Nathan Drake, send him back in time 80-odd years, give him a fedora and a bullwhip and sit back and watch the golden idols roll in. The Uncharted developer Naughty Dog perfected the template for Indy-inspired globetrotting action games more than a decade ago, and nobody would blame Swedish studio MachineGames if it stuck to it.Indiana Jones and the Great Circle opts not to. Instead, it often goes out of its way to frustrate such comparisons. This unconventional blockbuster has more in common with games such as Dishonored and Hitman than it does with Uncharted. Sure, it has action and spectacle and occasionally dabbles in platforming, but it places far greater emphasis on puzzles, open-ended stealth, and letting you beat the snot out of fascists while dressed as a priest.Set in 1937, between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, The Great Circle puts Indy on the trail of a mysterious cult of giants, after one of its towering members breaks into Marshall College and steals a mummified cat from the institutions archaeological exhibits. Although not the wildest setup for an adventure, its enough of an excuse for Indy to commence a sightseeing tour of several of the worlds most important historical landmarks.Environments are littered with items perfect for clonking against a Nazis braincase. Photograph: BethesdaHis first port of call is Vatican City, where The Great Circle establishes the rules it will follow for much of its running time. Vatican City is a large, maze-y sandbox which players are free to explore at their own pace. Or they would be, were it not for all the fascists prowling around. The Holy See roils with Mussolinis thugs, who will typically attack Indy on sight. You can fight them if you wish, but its generally better to evade enemies in public spaces by sneaking through back alleys, scrambling over rooftops, or acquiring disguises which will fool all but the sharpest-eyed officers.Vatican City is an astonishing play-space: a vertiginous environment filled with hidden passageways, subterranean tombs, fenced-off guard camps, and a breathtaking recreation of the Sistine Chapel. Youll spend several hours dashing between, over and under its buildings, and solving puzzles such as deciphering safe codes and unlocking elaborate ancient contraptions. There are numerous fascist-controlled areas to infiltrate, an underground boxing ring where you can test out the games first-person brawling, and even a side quest to find a missing cat.The city is so exquisitely designed, in fact, that it overshadows the rest of the game. Which is remarkable when your next destination is the Pyramids of Giza. Here The Great Circle shifts into a more traditional open-world mode, less intricate and holistic, with more siloed locations and objectives. That said, it does afford greater room to experiment with Indys abilities.In Indys dances with the Blackshirts and the Wehrmacht, The Great Circle aims to conjure the improvisational action of Spielbergs films. Stealth is rarely mandatory but always viable; environments are littered with hammers, spades and trowels which are perfect for clonking against a Nazis braincase. In open combat, the brawling system combines straightforward fisticuffs with grappling and shoving, while landing a knockout blow produces some of the best simulated staggering since Grand Theft Auto IV. Guns are readily available, but using them feels like a failure of imagination. Its more fun to whip your enemys firearm out of their hand, then lasso them towards you to feed them a triple-decker knuckle sandwich.These systems are always fun to mess around with, and when added to the regular bouts of tomb raiding and more cinematic narrative intervals, it all amounts to a pleasingly varied experience. The games flexibility does come at the cost of pacing, however. For all its admirable qualities, The Great Circle does at times feel too leisurely for an Indiana Jones adventure. Both the first and second acts conclude oddly quietly, and would benefit from some Spielbergian fireworks to sign off with. Also, considering immersion is a major factor here, its odd that The Great Circle constantly pulls you out of its first-person perspective often for cutscenes that look like theyd be rather more fun to play through.Regular bouts of tomb raiding. Photograph: BethesdaThankfully, the adventure kicks into a higher gear around the halfway point, leading into a third and final historical sandbox before gearing up for the grand finale. Taken as a whole, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a lavish, comprehensive and affectionate expansion of Spielbergs films, one that keenly understands and eagerly engages with the history it weaves beneath its circular MacGuffin-hunt.On this point, while The Great Circle mostly serves as breezy entertainment, there is a greater urgency than usual to the antifascist sentiment that runs through most of Indys adventures. The Great Circle doesnt just let you punch Nazis, it acutely dissects far-right ideology as a whole, and actively explores how aspiring autocrats build their power on the bodies of disaffected young men. Nothing is quite so easy to manipulate as an insecure male, crows the games lead Nazi antagonist at one point. In this, The Great Circle shows that, far from belonging in a museum, Indiana Jones is more relevant than ever.

A brilliant idea, brilliantly executed; hilarious, surreal and, yes, in its weird way, genuinely exciting. This could be a Marat/Sade for the 21st century. During the lockdown, two out-of-work actors called Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen were (remotely from each other) playing Grand Theft Auto (GTA) online and this entire film is shown as in-game GTA action. As their avatars were avoiding getting shot, mutilated or beaten up in the normal GTA way, running through the vast and intricately detailed urban landscape of Los Santos, the quasi-LA in which the action happens, they chanced upon the deserted Vinewood Bowl amphitheater. They wondered if it might be possible to stage an in-game production of Hamlet there, recruiting other gamers to play the parts, in their various bizarre outfits and handles and personae, moving around the virtual reality space in that weightless, almost-real way, speaking the lines into their mics while the avatars lips move in approximate sync.They audition all-comers: an uproarious business in which weird randoms show up with a tendency to destroy others by using a flame-thrower or rocket-launcher for no reason at all while the production is being explained to them. But they also encounter people who have fascinating or poignant stories to tell. At the end, we see the finished performance though the atmospheric musical soundtrack was presumably added later, for the film.As it happens, they dont stick to the stage of the Vinewood Bowl but range boldly all over the city; as one of the lead players says, this is Shakespeare on a billion dollar budget, or Shakespeare as Elon Musk could afford to produce it. Crane and Oosterveen, with Pinny Grylls (who directs along with Crane), reflect absorbingly on the endless, bleak violence of the game, how close it is to the violence of Shakespeares world and how depressed they are due to the stasis of lockdown; it adds up to a new dreamlike insight into Hamlets melancholy.The result is wild, like Baz Luhrmanns gangbanger Romeo + Juliet or Tom Stoppards play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, in which actors roam the land performing their show but suspect that no one is out there watching it. It is really funny and tender when Crane, Oosterveen and Grylls start arguing among themselves in a freaky GTA setting. (For these real crises, they might have been putting it on a little bit but no matter.)For me, Oosterveens bewildered voice sounds very much like Simon Jones as Arthur Dent in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and I mean it as the highest possible praise when I say Douglas Adams would have loved this film. I certainly did.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Film WeeklyFree newsletterTake a front seat at the cinema with our weekly email filled with all the latest news and all the movie action that mattersPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotion