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. How Silicon Valley is disrupting democracy The internet loves a good neologism, especially if it can capture a purported vibe shift or explain a new trend. In 2013, the columnist Adrian Wooldridge coined a word that eventually did both. Writing for the Economist, he warned of the coming techlash, a revolt against Silicon Valleys rich and powerful fueled by the publics growing realization that these sovereigns of cyberspace werent the benevolent bright-future bringers they claimed to be. While Wooldridge didnt say precisely when this techlash would arrive, its clear today that a dramatic shift in public opinion toward Big Tech and its leaders did in fact happenand is arguably still happening. Two new books serve as excellent reminders of why it started in the first place. Together, they chronicle the rise of an industry that is increasingly using its unprecedented wealth and power to undermine democracy, and they outline what we can do to start taking some of that power back. Read the full story.Bryan Gardiner This story is from the forthcoming magazine edition of MIT Technology Review, set to go live on January 6its all about the exciting breakthroughs happening in the world right now. If you dont already, subscribe to receive a copy. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Google has unveiled a new headset and smart glasses OS Android XR gives wearers hands-free control thanks to the firms Gemini chatbot. (The Verge)+ It also revealed a new Samsung-build headset called Project Moohan. (WP $)+ Googles hoping to learn from mistakes it made with Google Glass a decade ago. (Wired $)+ Its new Project Astra could be generative AIs killer app. (MIT Technology Review) 2 The US and UK are on a AI regulation collision course Donald Trumps approach to policing AI is in stark contrast to what the UK is planning. (FT $)+ The new US FTC chair favors a light regulatory touch. (Reuters)+ Hows AI self-regulation going? (MIT Technology Review)3 We dont quite know whats causing a global temperature spike But scientists agree that we should be worried. (New Yorker $)+ The average global temperature could drop slightly next year, though. (New Scientist $)+ Whos to blame for climate change? Its surprisingly complicated. (MIT Technology Review)4 Trumps administration is filling up with tech insiders More venture capitalists and officials are likely to join their ranks. (The Information $)+ These crypto kingpins will be keeping a close eye on proceedings. (FT $)5 What happened after West Virginia revoked access to obesity drugsTeachers and state workers struggled after a pilot drugs program was deemed too expensive. (The Atlantic $) + Weight-loss injections have taken over the internet. But what does this mean for people IRL? (MIT Technology Review)6 Would you buy a car from Amazon?The e-retail giant wants you to sidestep the dealership and purchase from it directly. (Wired $) + While its limited to Hyundai models, other manufacturers will follow. (Forbes $)7 Silicon Valleys perks culture is largely dead No more free massages or artisanal chocolate, sob. (NYT $)8 AI is teaching us more about the Berlin Walls murals From the kinds of paint used, to application techniques. (Ars Technica)9 For $69, you can invest in a rare stegosaurus skeleton The rare fossil is a pretty extreme example of an alternative investment. (Fast Company $)+ New Yorkers can swing by the American Museum of Natural History to see it. (AP News) 10 This New Jersey politician faked his Spotify Wrapped To hide his childrens results and make him appear a bigger Bruce Springsteen fan. (Billboard $)+ What would The Boss himself make of the controversy? (WP $)Quote of the day It could be far worse than any challenge weve previously encountered and far beyond our capacity to mitigate. Jack Szostak, a professor in the University of Chicagos chemistry department, tells the Financial Times about the unprecedented danger posed by synthetic bacteria. The big story A brief, weird history of brainwashing April 2024 On a spring day in 1959, war correspondent Edward Hunter testified before a US Senate subcommittee investigating the effect of Red China Communes on the United States. Hunter introduced them to a supposedly scientific system for changing peoples minds, even making them love things they once hated. Much of it was baseless, but Hunters sensational tales still became an important part of the disinformation that fueled a mind-control race, with the US government pumping millions of dollars into research on brain manipulation during the Cold War. But while the science never exactly panned out, residual beliefs fostered by this bizarre conflict continue to play a role in ideological and scientific debates to this day. Read the full story. Annalee Newitz 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.) + Deep down in the depths of the Atacama Trench, a new crustacean has been discovered.+ Living in this picturesque Antarctic settlement comes with a catchyou have to have your appendix removed before you can move in.+ Just when you thought sweet potato couldnt get any better, it turns out it makes pretty tasty macaroons.+ If youre looking to introduce kids to the joy of sci-fi, these movies are a great place to start.

OpenAI published Elon Musk's old emails in a blog post on Friday.The AI company released its version of a timeline of events amid a brewing legal feud with Musk.In a 2015 email, Musk said OpenAI's nonprofit structure didn't seem "optimal."OpenAI responded to co-founder Elon Musk on Friday with a new legal filing and a pointed blog post featuring the billionaire's old emails in which he pushed for the AI startup to be for-profit.The emails and filingfeud between OpenAI and Musk. Last month, Musk asked a federal court to stop OpenAI from moving to a for-profit business structure. In the last year, Musk has twice sued OpenAI in an effort to stop the startup from adopting a more traditional business structure.In a Friday afternoon legal filing, OpenAI accused Musk of trying to hobble the AI startup while he perfects his competitor, xAI.The company also detailed its version of a timeline of events in a post titled "Elon Musk wanted an OpenAI for profit," saying that the Tesla CEO "not only wanted, but actually created a for-profit" structure in 2017.The emails stand in contrast to Musk's more recent public stance against OpenAI transitioning from a not-for-profit company to a for-profit organization.Musk did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.In one image of a November 2015 email, Musk wrote to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that the startup's then-non-profit structure "doesn't seem optimal," according to the post.OpenAI wrote in the blog that the company and Musk both agreed that a for-profit was the next step for the startup in the fall of 2017. But when Musk failed to win majority equity, OpenAI accused him of walking away and saying the company would "fail."Musk left the OpenAI board in 2018, but his lawyers have said he continued contributing to the company until 2020."Now that OpenAI is the leading AI research lab and Elon runs a competing AI company, he's asking the court to stop us from effectively pursuing our mission," OpenAI wrote this week.Musk announced xAI, his competitor to OpenAI, last year and has since released the Grok chatbot.OpenAI also published Musk's private emails in March after Musk sued OpenAI and Altman.In a November 2015 email published earlier this year, Musk said the company should say it was starting with a funding commitment of $1 billion, promising to cover "whatever anyone else doesn't provide."OpenAI also accused Musk at the time of wanting the startup to merge with Tesla and be its "cash cow."Musk's most recent filing is his fourth attempt in less than a year to "reframe his claims," OpenAI said in the blog post."You can't sue your way to AGI," the company wrote in the blog post. "We have great respect for Elon's accomplishments and gratitude for his early contributions to OpenAI, but he should be competing in the marketplace rather than the courtroom."

"Barbie" director Greta Gerwig said she was at "totally zero" regarding ideas for a sequel.THR reported in December 2024 that "Barbie 2" is in "early stages" based on a concept from Gerwig and Noah Baumbach.However, reps for Gerwig, Baumbach, and Warner Bros. denied THR's report, calling it inaccurate.It looks like everyone is living in a "Barbie" world, and the party might not be over yet.The 2023 Greta Gerwig-directed movie starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken raked in $1.4 billion globally, winning the box office battle against Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer.""Barbie" wasn't just a box office sensation. The movie earned an 88% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, landed eight Oscar nominations, and became a pop culture phenomenon.Given its critical and commercial success, it's only natural to wonder whether the studio is planning "Barbie 2" with Mattel, the toy company behind Barbie.Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz previously told Time magazine that the company is keen to make "more 'Barbie' movies.""We're looking to create movies that become cultural events. If you can excite filmmakers like Greta and Noah to embrace the opportunity and have creative freedom, you can have a real impact," he said.At the time, Gerwig said she was unsure about taking on a sequel, but a new report suggests that she might be back for more.Greta Gerwig addressed 'Barbie 2' in a 2023 interview with The New York TimesIn an interview published in July 2023, the director told The New York Times that she exhausted all her ideas for "Barbie.""I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I'll never have another idea, and everything I've ever wanted to do, I did," Gerwig said.She added, "I wouldn't want to squash anybody else's dream but for me, at this moment, I'm at totally zero."However, speaking to Uproxx about Ken's obsession with Sylvester Stallone in the movie, Gerwig joked that the "Rocky" star could show up in "Barbie 2," or even direct it himself."You never know!" she said. "Or that he's going to direct it. I mean, he's welcome to it. It would be an honor. It would be such an honor."While Gerwig wasn't sold on the idea of returning, star and producer Robbie told Time in June 2023 that conversations about a sequel had yet to happen."It could go a million different directions from this point," she said.But Robbie also said that "you fall into a bit of a trap if you try and set up a first movie whilst also planning for sequels."Mattel is also looking to make movies based on its other properties, like a Hot Wheels movie being developed by J.J. Abrams.A new report suggested a 'Barbie' sequel could be in the works, but it's unclearOn December 13, 2024, The Hollywood Reporter published a story reporting that Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, who cowrote the "Barbie" screenplay, presented Warner Bros. with an idea for a sequel that was in the "early stages." The publication also said that talks about a deal were in similarly early stages.Don't get excited yet, though: Gerwig and Baumbach's rep denied THR's report, telling the publication, "There is no legitimacy to this reporting."And a rep for Warner Bros. said, "THR'sreporting is inaccurate."

At the end of every year, journalists like to look back and see where our predictions held up or fell flat, what were the years biggest events, and just what the year, considered as a whole, really meant.As I started doing this for 2024 I was taken aback by just how many things happened. Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race! Donald Trump was nearly assassinated! and convicted of 34 felonies! and elected again! Elon Musk became his right-hand man. Israels war in Gaza exploded into additional fights with Hezbollah and Iran, which resolved shockingly quickly (unless I speak too soon). Out of nowhere the Syrian rebels overthrew a more than 50-year-old regime. We had a new alarming bird flu epidemic that is increasingly jumping from animals to people. (If you havent heard about it, its because people clearly never want to think about pandemics again.) Self-driving cars went from fantasy to widespread reality (at least where I live in the Bay Area). AI grew by leaps and bounds, again: You can now generate much better images, get comprehensive research reports on any topic, and talk for free to models that perform well across a wide range of tasks (while still having some glaring basic failings). One of the biggest challenges of writing any retrospective like this is figuring out, in a tide of events, which ones will really last five, 10, or even 50 years from now. Our news cycles run very fast these days. Nothing stays in the headlines or in the discourse for long we chew through events, interpret them, meme them, and move on from them. The consequences for the lives of millions of people will absolutely linger, but then discourse is off to the next topic this week, the United Healthcare shooter; next week, who knows? In the rapid churn of this environment, it can be really hard to keep in mind which events are consequential, even world-changing, and which will be swiftly forgotten.Keeping some perspective on the newsTheres little I find more humbling than reading year-in-reviews from the past. They only rarely mention what we might now identify as the most important events of that year: the founding of Google in 1998 or Amazon in 1994; the invention of the modern internet in 1983; the development of a highly effective HIV antiviral regimen in 1996. In hindsight, the most important thing that happened in 2019 by far were reports in Chinese-language media in late December of a strange new disease. Yet Voxs 2019 year in review highlighted the first Trump impeachment (remember that?) and the longest government shutdown in history (Id forgotten that one entirely).Of course, theres no way to confidently guess in advance which emerging new virus will kill millions and which, like most, will quietly and uneventfully peter out. And if you have a way to identify Amazons and Googles in advance, I presume youre using it to become fabulously wealthy rather than to write news articles. But there are some general trends here to learn from. Politics matters, having huge effects on hundreds of millions of lives. But the things we spotlight about politics often arent the things that matter most. An administrations regulatory changes that kill nuclear power, accelerate vaccine development, or fund AIDS prevention in Africa will often matter far more than whatever the highest-profile political fights of the year were. International events matter, but theyre extraordinarily difficult to predict. No one I spoke to saw the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria coming even the experts often expected there was little chance of the frozen civil war moving at all this year, let alone coming to this shocking conclusion. (The rapid collapse of the Afghan state after the US withdrawal also took many prognosticators by surprise. The lesson: Wars can spend a long time in what looks like a stalemate and then change very, very fast).The other takeaway is that technology matters. In the long run, the most world-changing events of the 20th century were often inventions: the antibiotics and vaccines that took child mortality from half of all children to virtually none; the washing machines and vacuums that changed domestic labor and the air conditioners that changed settlement patterns in the US; the transformations of our civic culture and society brought about by the radio, and then the television, and then the computer, and then the smartphone. Every technologist likes to claim theyre the next step on that journey, and most of them are wrong but someone will be right, and anyone who writes off massive technological change in our lifetimes is even more wrong. What will we remember?For that reason, theres one question I have found it particularly helpful to have in mind as I review 2024: What about my life this year would have shocked me the most if Id known about it in 2014? And the answer there, at least for me, is unambiguously artificial intelligence. When I want a highly specific piece of artwork, I type a few words and generate it; when Im trying to make sense of some bit of technical text, I ask a language model its interpretation. Self-driving cars are cool, but we knew in 2014 that people were trying to make that happen. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and tensions spiked between Israel and Gaza; the Syrian civil war was already underway. Most of the shape of what became 2024 would not have surprised me too badly. But the capabilities of modern AI systems are wildly beyond anything we could have imagined a decade ago. But that might just be me I use AI more than many of our readers. So I ask you: What about your life today would have shocked you most in 2014? That might be the real answer to what the most important thing that happened this year is.A version of this story originally appeared in the Future Perfect newsletter. Sign up here!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:

It may come as a surprise that theres a movie musical that currently has more awards hype than Wicked. Emilia Prez quietly landed on Netflix last month (and, a bit more loudly, film buffs on X) after making a huge splash at this years Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize and the first Best Actress Award for an ensemble. Earlier this week, the Jacques Audiard film received 10 Golden Globes nominations, the most for a film this year, including Best Picture Musical or Comedy. For an awards race thats still up in the air, the musical seems to be among the most locked in. But is Emilia Prez a film about a cartel leader who gets gender-affirming surgery and escapes a life of crime actually good? As with many stories mining the grim realities of oppressed communities, critics and awards bodies have rushed to praise the avant garde film for exploring trans identity and Mexicos drug war. Glowing reviews have lauded the bravery and originality of French filmmaker Audiard in centering underrepresented characters and delivering provocative subject matter through a trippy, Spanish-language musical. Meanwhile, the general public, at least according to Letterboxd, is less high on the film, and many queer critics are concerned if not completely baffled by its existence. In a story for The Cut, writer Harron Walker criticized Emilia Prezs use of trans identity as an inherently redemptive tool for its criminal protagonist. An article in Autostraddle called the film the most unique cis nonsense youll ever see. Even the LGBTQ organization GLAAD has condemned the film as bad trans representation.Still, Emilia Prezs presence in the Oscars race isnt exactly a shock, given that it falls neatly into a category of movies the white Hollywood establishment loves to celebrate: mawkish stories about people on societys margins that allow viewers to feel socially aware through their consumption, without challenging of any of the stereotypes and political messaging presented in them. Could Emilia Prez become this years Crash? What exactly is Emilia Prez? Adapted from Audiards opera libretto of the same name and based on the 2019 Boris Razon novel coute, Emilia Prez is essentially a rock musical about three Mexican women whose lives are upended when one of them, Emilia (Karla Sofa Gascn), decides to transition. The film begins with Rita (Zoe Saldaa), a Dominican defense lawyer exhausted by Mexicos corrupt, misogynist legal system. After getting a prominent media figure off the hook for murdering his wife, shes kidnapped by Emilia (then known as Manitas), who enlists Rita to help her escape the cartel in exchange for a large sum of cash. This exit strategy mainly entails transitioning. Its a desire Emilias had since she was a child but is curiously employed as a way to help her avoid accountability for her crimes. Rita reluctantly agrees, arranging for Emilia to get numerous gender-affirming surgeries, which are somehow all performed at once (typically, such procedures are done over time). She also relocates Emilias wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and their two sons. Years later, when Emilia decides she wants to be reunited with Jessi and her children, she has Rita bring them back to Mexico City to share a house with her under the guise that shes her childrens aunt chosen to look after them. Feeling guilt about her past criminal life, she recruits Rita for another venture, a nonprofit that identifies the bodies of cartel victims and notifies their families. Selena Gomez as Jessi Del Monte in Emilia Prez. Page 114/Why Not Productions/Path Films/France 2 CinmaIf that isnt enough plot, the lives of these characters become even more chaotic, violent, and ultimately tragic thanks to Emilias uncontrolled and selfish impulses. A more delicate movie would zoom in on Emilias psyche as shes navigating her desires and conflicting ethics. Instead, audiences are left to gawk at the wreckage. A progressive movie with regressive tropes Despite Gascns attempts to add some charm to the role, Emilia is written as a ridiculous if not totally loathsome character, with Audiard using her trans identity as a narrative shield for her behavior instead of engaging with her as a full human being. Perfunctory attempts to portray Emilia in an empathetic light dont really balance out with the upheaval her character causes throughout the film. A lot of these issues stem from adapting a chapter that is explicitly about a cartel leader using transition as a means of escape, says critic Juan Barquin, who reviewed Emilia Prez for Little White Lies. You realize that you might get accused of being transphobic, so you try to smooth it over by hiring a trans actress and revising certain beats without looking at how other parts of the script reflect transness negatively. In Emilia Prez, Audiard makes some effort to inform the audience of Emilias lifelong dreams of womanhood. This is a modification from the chapter of Razons novel that the film is based on, according to Barquin, where a drug trafficker solely transitions to escape the cartel, modeling herself after her first love. Even with Audiards perfunctory attempts to validate Emilias gender identity, its largely played as a disguise throughout the movie. Moments of Emilias mask slipping around her family feel like scenes ripped out of Tootsie or Mrs. Doubtfire. When she becomes angry and violent toward Jessi, her voice reverts back to a deep, gravelly tone. Theres not much separating this portrayal from harmful anti-trans rhetoric that suggests trans women are deceptive actors who pose harm to cis women. Barquin also notes that the movies engagement with transness is solely focused on the external change of medical transition, as well as presenting only two sex options, male and female. These flaws are best encapsulated in a silly, Busby Berekley-inspired number (La vaginoplastia) where a plastic surgeon lists for Rita all the gender-affirming procedures available to Emilia. In a viral moment from the sequence, he blandly sings, Man to woman, penis to vagina!Zoe Saldaa as Rita Mora Castro in Emilia Prez. Page 114/Why Not Productions/Path Films/France 2 CinmaEmilia Prezs depiction of Mexican culture feels equally regressive and lazy. Mexico is presented as an inescapably violent and miserable place. Meanwhile, references to a characters Mexican identity include smelling like tequila and guacamole. Little effort was seemingly put into ensuring that the films language was spoken properly. This has resulted in criticism of Gomez. She just sounds like she doesnt actually understand what shes saying, which arguably extends to the director who doesnt actually understand the language either, says Barquin. For a supposedly unconventional tale, the movie doesnt challenge any of the stereotypical narratives about the drug trade that are already rampant in popular Western media and politics. These narco-narratives fail to encapsulate the nuances of the drug trade, particularly the political role of the Global North, and exaggerate the authority of drug traffickers in Mexico. Instead, the film relishes in this violence, using it to portray both realism and melodrama. By the time the movie ends with a climactic shootout, audiences will have seen it coming. Emilia Prez is the most stereotypical Oscar movie If history is any predictor, all these issues make Emilia Prez a huge threat come Oscar nominations next month. If it gets the kind of nominations it received from the Globes, its particularly likely to pick up some awards at the ceremony. Its become a trope of the Oscars that, every few years, a thoughtless movie tackling important issues becomes a favorite among Academy voters, who pat themselves on the back for celebrating what they believe to be diversity and political art in an extremely whitewashed industry. Movies in this questionably political category tend to feature othered people dealing with some melodramatic version of struggle. Danny Boyles 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire took home eight Oscars, including Best Picture, while facing intense backlash from critics in India about how it represented urban poverty in the country, as well as the Academys reluctance to celebrate movies by Indian filmmakers. Sometimes, theyre clunky messages about tolerance that inevitably focus more on the arc of the privileged characters. 2019s Best Picture winner Green Book, a reverse Driving Miss Daisy, has become recently infamous in this regard. Sometimes, theyre ham-fisted allegories about racism like Best Action Short winner Skin. The Academy has also shown adoration toward a slew of white/cis/hetero savior stories, like 2009s The Blind Side, about a white family that adopts NFL player Michael Oher, and 2011s The Help, about a white woman (Emma Stone) who publishes the stories of Black domestic workers in the Jim Crow South. 2013s Dallas Buyers Club, where an anti-gay cowboy diagnosed with HIV/AIDS illegally gets other patients access to medicine, also folds into this Academy narrative. The convoluted messaging of Emilia Prez is maybe most reminiscent of 2005s Best Picture winner Crash. The Paul Haggis movie, which controversially beat Brokeback Mountain, attempted to expose the layers of prejudice in a post-9/11 Los Angeles. The problem was, it had no idea how racism actually functions in society, flattening the countrys systemic racial division to personal pettiness. Emilia Prez is an equally reductive look at trans and Latino/Latina identity with no idea of what it wants to say about its desolate characters. Instead, it offers a lot of confusion and hardly any compassion. Under a soon-to-be president who gained power in American politics partly by attacking trans and Mexican populations, it will be interesting to see whether there will be more rigorous engagement with Emilia Prez throughout awards season. As history has shown, though, its more convenient for Hollywoods awards bodies to celebrate whatever diverse offering falls in their lap first, often leaving the most insightful stories about underrepresented people unnoticed. For now, Emilia Prez seems like an ideal pick for Best Picture: tragic, brave, and deeply out of touch. 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:

EA FC 25's new Globetrotters is this week's latest promo, and new leaks suggest it'll be stacked with some of the world's best players here's all we know so farTech18:00, 13 Dec 2024Martin Odegaard has a new 90-rated card(Image: Getty)EA FC 25 named its Player of the Month with Mohamed Salah earlier today, but now it's time for this week's promo - Globetrotters.As with last week's Ultimate Succession, it'll run alongside Mode Mastery event, and will run for just a week. Players included in the promo will have boosted chemistry stats to make it easier to build a more surprising squad.Here's the full Globetrotters squad for EA FC 25, don't forget that the Team of the Week is here, too.READ MORE: All we learned from Witcher 4 reveal trailer as fans desperate for moreREAD MORE: Tekken 8 adds Clive from Final Fantasy 16 as fuming Tifa fans in the coldAs a reminder, Globetrotters is a weekly promo, meaning it kicked off today, Friday, December 13 at 6pm GMT.Yep, that's two new Salah cards in one week(Image: EA)Here's the full Globetrotters squad, with 30 players included.CM: Martin Odegaard (Arsenal) - 90ST: Sam Kerr (Chelsea) - 92RW: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) - 91ST: Luis Suarez (Inter Miami) - 88ST: Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr) - 90RW: Ousemane Dembele (PSG) - 89CDM: N'Golo Kante (Al-Ittihad) - 89CM: Yuki Nagasato (Chicago Red Stars) - 88CAM: Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid) - 88CB: Matthijs de Ligt (Manchester United) - 88RM: Savinho (Manchester City) - 88CM: Douglas Luiz (Juventus) - 88LW: Yannick Carrasco (Al-Shabab)- 88CAM: Oscar (Shanghai Port) - 88LB: Pervis Estupinan (Brighton) - 87Who will you work toward?(Image: EA)RW: Hirving Lozano (PSV) - 87CM: Joelinton (Newcastle) - 87ST: Roque Santa Cruz (Libertad)- 87CAM: Lukas Podolski - 87ST: Tiffany Cameron (Real Betis) - 87CB: Stefan Savic (Trabzonspor) - 87RB: Luis Advincula (Boca Juniors) - 87GK: Matt Ryan (Roma) - 86CB: Martin Caceres (LA Galaxy) - 86ST: Hernan Barcos (Alianza Lima)- 86CM: Jose Sosa (Estudiantes) - 86ST: Cyle Larin (Mallorca) - 85CB: Pablo Mari (Monza) - 85CAM: Lucas Piazon (AVS) - 85CB: Damion Lowe (Al-Okhdood) - 85Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

Destiny 2's Exotic vendor, Xur, is back again this week here's how to find him, what he's selling, and whether we recommend his offerings before he vanishes againTech16:41, 13 Dec 2024Updated 17:04, 13 Dec 2024What is Xur selling this week?(Image: Charleen Bougourd/Bungie Inc.)Destiny 2 may not have won the "best ongoing game" award at last night's Game Awards but its Christmas event, The Dawning is well underway.Friday means longtime exotic merchant Xur is back for his first trip of the festive event, and he'll bring a whole host of weapons and armour for players that have enough strange coins.This year's Final Shape expansion mixed things up for the tentacle-faced NPC, meaning Xur can now sell a much more varied list of items, and he's only ever found in one spot. Luckily for you, we'll cover where he is, and what he has, for December 13 - 17.Come and join The Daily Star on Bluesky, the social media site set up by ex-Twitter boss Jack Dorsey. It's now the new go-to place for content after a mass exodus of the Elon Musk-owned Twitter/X.Fear not, we're not leaving Twitter/X, but we are jumping on the bandwagon. So come find our new account on https://bsky.app/profile/dailystar.co.uk, and see us social better than the rest.You can also learn more about The Daily Star team in what Bluesky calls a Starter Pack.So what are you waiting for?! Let's M.S.M.F.A (Make Social Media Fun Again)Here's what Xur is offering for Guardians this week in Destiny 2(Image: Bungie Inc.)While Xur used to appear in multiple places, hopping between planets, he can now be found at Destiny 2's main social space, The Tower.Head to Cayde's ramen shop, and down the alley next to it to find Xur. He only appears from 5PM GMT/ 10AM PDT/ 1PM EDT on Friday to 5PM BST/ 10AM PDT/ 1PM EDT on Tuesday .Struggling to find him? Check out our screenshot below for his exact location on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.Here's where Xur can be found post-Final ShapeAs of 5pm, Xur is selling::The Colony Catalyst - 71 Strange CoinsHeir Apparent Catalyst - 71 Strange CoinsLucky Pants (Hunter) - 41 Strange CoinsArmamentarium (Titan) - 41 Strange CoinsSunbracers (Warlock) - 41 Strange CoinsExotic Class Item - 41 Strange CoinsThe Xurfboard (Skimmer/Sparrow) - 97 Strange CoinsSunbracers are fun, but it's hard to recommend them with a stat roll of 48.He was also selling these weapons:Hawkmoon (with Hip-Fire Grip) - 23 Strange CoinsSuros Regime - 23 Strange CoinsSkyburner's Oath - 23 Strange CoinsTwo-Tailed Fox - 23 Strange CoinsDestiny 2's famous exotic seller, Xur, is back again.(Image: Bungie Inc.)Xur will also sell materials, including Engrams, via the More Strange Offers section, while he also had the following Legendary Weapons which cost 17 Strange Coins each.Escape Velocity (SMG)Rapacious Appetite (SMG)Seventh Seraph SI-2 (Sidearm)Contingency Plan (Scout Rifle)Berenger's Memory (Grenade Launcher)Eleatic Principe (Machine Gun)Quickfang/Crown-Splitter/Eternity's Edge (Class Swords)As of the Final Shape expansion, Xur has his own reputation system, similar to what you've likely seen with the Gunsmith and other vendors.By ranking up his reputation rank, you can earn the following from him:Rank 4: Enhancement Core x 7Rank 7: Enhancement Prism x 3Rank 10: Exotic Engram x 2Rank 13: Ascendant ShardRank 16: Ascendant AlloyReset Rank: Exotic CipherOnce you've reset the rank, these change to the following:Rank 4: Enhancement Core x 3Rank 7: Enhancement PrismRank 10: Exotic Engram x 2Rank 13: Enhancement Core x 5Rank 16: Enhancement Prism x 2Reset Rank: Exotic CipherArticle continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

GTA Online 2 is going to be so big it will break the games industry Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished December 14, 2024 1:00am Is there room for anything else? (Rockstar Games)A reader worries what effect GTA Online 2 is going to have on rival game companies, as it distracts players from other games for potentially months and years.As I write this the second trailer for GTA 6 still hasnt been released and I will be very surprised if it is at The Game Awards. I dont say this as a random guess but because I believe I understand why Rockstar Games is so slow to release Trailer 2 and why they so rarely release any new information of any kind. It seems to me a simple reason: because none of it matters. GTA 6 is already destined to be the biggest video game of all time, so whats the rush?Im sure GTA 6 will be great, like all Rockstar games usually are, as despite all the money they make I dont think theres anyone that doubts they put a lot of effort into their games. They make so few of them they kind of have to or they wont have another chance to prove themselves for another decade!But even if it did somehow turn out terrible, Im not sure even that would matter at this point. GTA 6 is already too big to fail and if thats big I dont even know how to describe GTA Online 2. People talk about the success of GTA 5 but its really GTA Online thats kept the game afloat all this time and this week we got confirmation that GTA 6 would have the same sort of mode as well.What we also heard this week is evidence of what we can all already see; that publishers are terrified of announcing a release date for anything anywhere near autumn next year, in case they end up coming out at the same time as GTA 6. Watch them all try and launch at the same time as Borderlands 4 or Mafia: The Old Country, because they know that Take-Two know when GTA 6 is out, so theyll assume the release dates of those two games will be safe.Everyone else though, who knows what theyll do? Im sure they dont. And that goes for Nintendo, with the Switch 2, on downwards. But thats only the start of it. Assume everything comes out in a fairly orderly manner and games sell relatively normally, without GTA 6 eating their lunch. Now try to imagine what things are going to be like two or three months afterwards, when GTA Online 2 has got its teeth into people.People arent going to play anything else ever again. Thinks thats hyperbole? GTA 5 is over a decade old and its still regularly within the top 10, often the top five, games being sold and played on any given format. GTA 6 probably wouldve been out a lot sooner if that wasnt the case, but Rockstar didnt want to disrupt it. There was absolutely no need to make a sequel because it was almost impossible for GTA Online to make any more money than it already was.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5videoUp NextPeople will slowly drift away from GTA Online 2, of course, but very slowly in some cases. How many kids do you know that dont play anything other than Minecraft or Roblox? Or adults that only play Call Of Duty or EA Sports FC? GTA Online 2 is going to be like that but magnified by 10. No other game is going to get a look in unless its the second coming of Zelda or maybe some little indie game you can play in between other things.I really do think this is going to be a genuine problem. GTA Online 2 is literally going to be too successful, at least from everyones point of view except Rockstars. Even then, theyll probably be at a loss as to what to do about Red Redemption 3, because theyd be competing with themselves I they released it.More TrendingIts a credit to the games appeal and I agree its strange that no other company is even trying to copy it nowadays but GTA 6 is going to be the games industry for most of new year and probably several years after that.By reader Lenge The first GTA Online is still huge (Rockstar Games)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Steel Hunters and Mecha Break giant robot games blow up at Game Awards 2024Adam StarkeyPublished December 13, 2024 6:11pmUpdated December 13, 2024 6:11pm Its a big robot comeback (Wargaming)Steel Hunters, Mecha Break, and an untitled project from the creator of Shadow Of The Colossus all have one big robotic connection. The Game Awards certainly had a big showing for its tenth anniversary, between The Witcher 4 and even more Elden Ring, but a batch of games shown at the event shared a similar theme.Giant mechs have never been as popular as zombies or superheroes in the overall zeitgeist and over the past decade, those who yearn for a robot power fantasy have been very underserved, beyond the odd exception like Armored Core 6 and 2016s Titanfall 2.Thankfully, mech fans will see their cravings satiated over the coming year or so, thanks to several games on the near horizon.Steel HuntersAs shown during The Game Awards, Steel Hunters is a free-to-play hero shooter hinged around giant mech battles. Its described as blending battle royale and extraction mechanics, where you take on other players and enemy AI.Each hunter mech boasts its own playstyle and unique abilities, as you pursue objectives in matches to level up and acquire gear, culminating in a showdown at the extraction point. It promises destructible environments in Unreal Engine 5 too, if you simply like to watch things break.Steel Hunters is developed by Wargaming, the studio best known for World Of Tanks. You can request access to a limited playtest on PC now, which runs between December 12-22. There is, however, no release date yet for the final version.Mecha BreakDeveloper Amazing Seasun Games revealed a new trailer for Mecha Break during the event. Along with showcasing the frantic combat, it shows off the three modes available at launch: 3v3 battles, an objective-based 6v6 mode, and, similarly to Steel Hunters, a PvPvE mode where you fight bosses, collect loot, and conduct extractions.The trailer also shows off weaponised gliders and customisable loadouts, although you might be distracted by the incredible amount of lasers and rockets blasting all over the place.If you want more on Mecha Break, we interviewed the developers earlier this year about the game. We now have a release window too, with Mecha Break set to launch in spring 2025 on Xbox Series X/S and PC.Untitled project from GenDesignThe studio behind Shadow Of The Colossus have swapped giant monsters for towering robot titans for its next project. While the game doesnt have a name yet, the trailer shows a masked character climbing a robot, before its head detaches and flies upwards to avoid an incoming shockwave.The involvement of Fumito Ueda and his GenDesign team will be the main selling-point for some considering his pedigree on Ico, Shadow Of The Colossus, and The Last Guardian. But beyond that, its another win for the mech lovers.If you want more robot optimism, theres been rumbles to suggest Microsoft is planning to re-release some of Activisions Transformers games in the near future. These include Transformers: War For Cybertron, Fall Of Cybertron, Devastation, and Rise Of The Dark Spark, which were all released during the Xbox 360 generation.Nothing has been officially announced but two Transformers ratings popped up on the Australian classification board in September of this year, suggesting something is in the pipeline. It feels odd they havent been announced already though if they do exist, considering this year saw the 40th anniversary of Transformers and a new animated film.More TrendingElsewhere at The Game Awards, Naughty Dog debuted a trailer for its new sci-fi game (with a robot), while Split Fiction possesses a 50/50 sci-fi and fantasy split. Theyre everywhere! Mecha Break lands in spring 2025 (Amazing Seasun Games)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Science & technology | Vexing visitsCarbon emissions fromtourismare rising disproportionately fastThe industry is failing to make itself greenerPhotograph: Magnum Dec 11th 2024Tourists have been getting a lot of flak recently. Venice has started charging 5 ($5.30) for day-trippers and limits the size of tour groups. Rome is considering a 2 fee to see the Trevi fountain. New Zealand has upped fees for visitors.Explore moreClimate changeThis article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline Vexing visitsFrom the December 14th 2024 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content