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MindAs families gather for festive time together, tensions can rise. David Robson delves into the science to find the best technique to stop arguments getting the better of us 11 December 2024 Shutterstock/Victoria 1As the end of 2024 approaches, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has shared their dilemmas with me over the past year. For my festive column, let us address a nearly universal complaint: holiday arguments.It should be no surprise that feelings run high over the holiday season. We may hope to spend the day bonding over our shared past, but life is more complicated than a Christmas movie, as old resentments bubble under the surface. Soak everyone in alcohol and it takes just one small spark to set the whole gathering alight with

Like many others, I recently fled the social media platform X for Bluesky. In the process, I started following many of the people I followed on X. On Thanksgiving, I was delighted to see a private message from a fellow AI reporter, Will Knight from Wired. Or at least thats who I thought I was talking to. I became suspicious when the person claiming to be Knight mentioned being from Miami, when Knight is, in fact, from the UK. The account handle was almost identical to the real Will Knights handle, and the profile used his profile photo. Then more messages started to appear. Paris Marx, a prominent tech critic, slid into my DMs to ask me how I was doing. Things are going splendid over here, he replied to me. Then things got suspicious again. How are your trades going? fake-Marx asked me. This account was far more sophisticated than Knights; it had meticulously copied every single tweet and retweet from Marxs real page over the past few weeks. Both accounts were eventually deleted, but not before trying to get me to set up a crypto wallet and a cloud mining pool account. Knight and Marx confirmed to us that these accounts did not belong to them, and that they have been fighting impersonator accounts of themselves for weeks. They are not the only ones. The New York Times tech journalist Sheera Frankel and Molly White, a researcher and cryptocurrency critic, have also experienced people impersonating them on Bluesky, most likely to scam people. This tracks with research from Alexios Mantzarlis, the director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech, who manually went through the top 500 Bluesky users by follower count and found that of the 305 accounts belonging to a named person, at least 74 had been impersonated by at least one other account. The platform has had to suddenly cater to an influx of millions of new users in recent months as people leave X in protest of Elon Musks takeover of the platform. Its user base has more than doubled since September, from 10 million users to over 20 million. This sudden wave of new usersand the inevitable scammersmeans Bluesky is still playing catch-up, says White. These accounts block me as soon as theyre created, so I dont initially see them, Marx says. Both Marx and White describe a frustrating pattern: When one account is taken down, another one pops up soon after. White says she had experienced a similar phenomenon on X and TikTok too. A way to prove that people are who they say they are would help. Before Musk took the reins of the platform, employees at X, previously known as Twitter, verified users such as journalists and politicians, and gave them a blue tick next to their handles so people knew they were dealing with credible news sources. After Musk took over, he scrapped the old verification system and offered blue ticks to all paying customers. The ongoing crypto-impersonation scams have raised calls for Bluesky to initiate something similar to Twitters original verification program. Some users, such as the investigative journalist Hunter Walker, have set up their own initiatives to verify journalists. However, users are currently limited in the ways they can verify themselves on the platform. By default, usernames on Bluesky end with the suffix bsky.social. The platform recommends that news organizations and high-profile people verify their identities by setting up their own websites as their usernames. For example, US senators have verified their accounts with the suffix senate.gov. But this technique isnt foolproof. For one, it doesnt actually verify peoples identityonly their affiliation with a particular website. Bluesky did not respond to MIT Technology Reviews requests for comment, but the companys safety team posted that the platform had updated its impersonation policy to be more aggressive and would remove impersonation and handle-squatting accounts. The company says it has also quadrupled its moderation team to take action on impersonation reports more quickly. But it seems to be struggling to keep up. We still have a large backlog of moderation reports due to the influx of new users as we shared previously, though we are making progress, the company continued. Blueskys decentralized nature makes kicking out impersonators a trickier problem to solve. Competitors such as X and Threads rely on centralized teams within the company who moderate unwanted content and behavior, such as impersonation. But Bluesky is built on the AT Protocol, a decentralized, open-source technology, which allows users more control over what kind of content they see and enables them to build communities around particular content. Most people sign up to Bluesky Social, the main social network, whose community guidelines ban impersonation. However, Bluesky Social is just one of the services or clients that people can use, and other services have their own moderation practices and terms. This approach means that until now, Bluesky itself hasnt needed an army of content moderators to weed out unwanted behaviors because it relies on this community-led approach, says Wayne Chang, the founder and CEO of SpruceID, a digital identity company. That might have to change. In order to make these apps work at all, you need some level of centralization, says Chang. Despite community guidelines, its hard to stop people from creating impersonation accounts, and Bluesky is engaged in a cat-and-mouse game trying to take suspicious accounts down. Cracking down on a problem such as impersonation is important because it poses a serious problem for the credibility of Bluesky, says Chang. Its a legitimate complaint as a Bluesky user that Hey, all those scammers are basically harassing me. You want your brand to be tarnished? Or is there something we can do about this? he says. A fix for this is urgently needed, because attackers might abuse Blueskys open-source code to create spam and disinformation campaigns at a much larger scale, says Francesco Pierri, an assistant professor at Politecnico di Milano who has researched Bluesky. His team found that the platform has seen a rise in suspicious accounts since it was made open to the public earlier this year. Bluesky acknowledges that its current practices are not enough. In a post, the company said it has received feedback that users want more ways to confirm their identities beyond domain verification, and it is exploring additional options to enhance account verification. In a livestream at the end of November, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber said the platform was considering becoming a verification provider, but because of its decentralized approach it would also allow others to offer their own user verification services. And [users] can choose to trust usthe Bluesky teams verificationor they could do their own. Or other people could do their own, Graber said. But at least Bluesky seems to have some willingness to actually moderate content on the platform, says White. I would love to see something a little bit more proactive that didnt require me to do all of this reporting, she adds. As for Marx, I just hope that no one truly falls for it and gets tricked into crypto scams, he says.

Deborah and Jason Brawn bought an abandoned house in rural Japan for about $23,000 in 2023.The Australian couple plan to restore the property in the coming years as they transition into retirement.They say that integrating into the local community is a crucial part of being a homeowner in Japan.Deborah and Jason Brawn's shared dream was to buy a house in Japan.The couple from Brisbane, Australia had long been interested in Japanese culture and its way of life, having visited the country multiple times over the years.In 2023, they finally decided to take the plunge. With their four kids all grown up, they were soon-to-be empty nesters it was now or never to follow their dreams. The couple's love affair with Japan started with Deborah, who studied Japanese at university in the '90s. NekoAshi Japan. "We knew that Japan had an issue with akiya, and because we really love the Japanese lifestyle, the people, the culture, and the old traditional houses, we thought, why not?" Jason, 51, told Business Insider. "Everyone else seemed to be following their dreams. Why can't we?"A lifelong connection to JapanThe couple's love affair with Japan started with Deborah, who studied Japanese at university in the '90s. After graduation, she moved to Tokyo for five years, where she worked as an English teacher. For three decades, she also practiced karate.Her love for Japan eventually rubbed off on Jason.However, it was during the pandemic that the couple first learned about akiya, or abandoned houses, in Japan. The couple says that the akiya was built in 1868. NekoAshi Japan. Due to the shrinking population and internal migration toward cities, there are millions of unoccupied houses in rural Japanese towns.In recent years, the Japanese government started offering incentives such as renovation subsidies and even free properties in an effort to lure residents to these "ghost towns.""I'd actually looked at foreclosed properties years and years ago, wanting to buy a property in Japan before the word 'akiya' had become popular. But I was in a position where I had young children," Deborah, 52, told BI.Now that their youngest is 18, it made sense for the couple to start planning for the next stage of their lives, including retirement. That's where buying an akiya comes in."We wanted a project. Like the word 'ikigai,' we wanted to be able to get up and say, that's our passion now. We've raised kids, we want to go there as much as we can and just tinker," Deborah, a business analyst, said. They were looking for a project to work on as they were transitioning into retirement. NekoAshi Japan. However, since Japan's borders were still closed at the time, the couple did most of their initial research online. They joined Facebook groups and spoke to like-minded people to learn more about the process.They knew they wanted to be outside the city and close to nature. While browsing online listings, they put together a list of potential houses they wanted to see in person once travel resumed."We were sort of matching them against what we are looking for something old, very traditional," Jason, a construction workplace health and safety inspector, said.In November 2022, after the borders opened, they jumped on a plane to Japan for a quick visit.In April 2023, they returned to the country for a six-week trip, where they drove around and looked at all the houses on their list. The idea was to restore the akiya to its former glory but with some modern amenities. NekoAshi Japan. It was in Mitocho, a small town near Masuda city, where they found the perfect akiya a traditional Japanese house constructed in 1868, during the Meiji era. Masuda city is about a two-hour drive from Hiroshima, and a 90-minute flight from Tokyo."We drove over there, and when we saw it, we just knew that was the one, and we didn't look anymore after that," Deborah said.The property had been vacant for 12 years before they came along. The couple was told it had served as a sake brewery until the early 1900s.In order to inspect the property, they had to fill out a couple of forms for the local akiya bank. An akiya bank is a database maintained by the local municipalities for abandoned or vacant houses. The akiya had been a sake brewery at some point in the past, and the couple found a sign as well as other sake-brewing instruments while cleaning up the property. NekoAshi Japan. "They were very serious," Deborah said. "It was all in Japanese. We had to fill out a form with all our details, our families, what we do for a job, all that stuff. And then another form about our intentions and what we want to do with the house."A retirement projectThe couple paid 3.5 million Japanese yen, or $23,000, for the akiya in August 2023.It was a 7LDK, which in Japanese housing terminology means that the house has seven bedrooms, a living room, a dining area, and a kitchen.There are about 300 houses in their village, and their akiya is situated along a street leading to the community center. There's also a 7-11 across the rice field from their akiya.So far, the couple has fixed up the front of the house by tidying up the garden, as well as adding a new gravel driveway and car park. They've also restored the kitchen, and gotten rid of the old toilet in favor of a modern bathroom. The couple paid 3.5 million Japanese yen for the akiya. NekoAshi Japan. "The intent is to bring the house back to its former glory with one or two modern touches," Jason said.While they were prepared for the challenges of fixing up the old house, they were surprised by the amount of wildlife they encountered, including both spiders and snakes."And we've got monkeys, we've got centipedes, we've got bears, and killer hornets too. I was chased by one inside the house, so that was really scary even though it makes a funny story now," Deborah said.The language barrier was also a bit of a challenge for Jason, even though he's taking Japanese classes now."I can't really speak Japanese, whereas Deb can. So it puts a lot of pressure on her too," Jason said. "It's not like being in Tokyo or Kyoto where a lot of Japanese speak English." The couple splits their time between Australia and Japan. NekoAshi Japan. The couple expects to spend the next few years chipping away at this project. They have also started documenting their restoration progress on their YouTube channel."We've got no urgent timeframe, and we're not trying to make money out of the property. We don't want to Airbnb it or anything like that. This is for us," Deborah said.The couple still lives primarily in Brisbane, where their jobs are based. They plan to continue splitting their time between Japan and Australia until they fully retire in "hopefully five to eight years," Deborah said.Integrating into the local communityWhen they're back in Australia, the akiya sits empty, but Jason said they've installed cameras around the property so they can monitor the yard.The couple has also become friends with the real-estate agent who handled their akiya transaction so much so that he even drives by their property once a week just to check on it on their behalf. The couple say it is their responsibility as akiya owners to be heavily involved in the local community. NekoAshi Japan. Building relationships with their neighbors and the wider community has been the key to the success of their akiya project."We've got a good support network there, but that doesn't just come along. You've got to work at that," Deborah said.She added that they've been involved in the local community since day one, and even joined the neighborhood association.In fact, the couple says that participating in the local community is one of the most important aspects of buying an akiya in Japan. In September, they traveled from Australia to Japan to join their neighbors in cleaning up the local river. NekoAshi Japan. It's also why the local akiya bank was so invested in knowing why the couple wanted to buy the property, Jason said.In recent years,foreigners have been snapping up these old, abandoned homes, in part due to the low price tags and the lack of restrictions on foreigners purchasing property in Japan. For many of them, it's more affordable to own an akiya in Japan than to own real estate in their home countries."In most cases potential buyers are asked their intentions before attending a viewing or submitting an application," Alex Shapiro, the cofounder of Blackship Realty, a Tokyo-based real-estate agency, told BI.The local municipal governments may prioritize potential buyers who intend to live there, contribute to the local community, and pay local government taxes, he said.However, each local government sets its own rules, Sami Senoussi, the cofounder of Akiya Heaven, which offers consulting services for akiya purchases, told BI."Some rural communities, especially those with aging populations, impose stricter guidelines in an effort to preserve the character and culture of their towns," he said. In more urban areas, including Tokyo, it's less common, he added.Additionally, potential buyers may also be asked to demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to fund the renovations, especially if the akiya in question requires significant repairs, he said.Indeed, while buying an akiya may be relatively affordable, the cost of fixing the house up can balloon quickly, Jason said."There's a lot of time, effort, and money that needs to go into them. And commitment you can't just turn up in the community and play no part. You've got to put an equal amount of time into the house as much as you've got to put it into the community, and forge those relationships," he added.Have you recently relocated to a new country and found your dream home? If you have a story to share, contact this reporter at agoh@businessinsider.com.

TikTok Shop is now a more popular online retailer than Shein and Sephora among Americans.TikTok Shop first launched in September 2023.A new consumer trends report found that 45% of surveyed Americans have bought something on TikTok.TikTok Shop has surpassed retail giants Shein and Sephora in the online battle for US shoppers.A 2025 consumer trends report by Coefficient Capital and The New Consumer's Dan FrommerTikTok Shop launched in September 2023, making it a relatively new online retailer compared to its peers. However, the consumer trends report said 80% of surveyed Americans who use TikTok at least once a month are aware of TikTok Shop, signaling the retailer's growing reach.That reach has helped TikTok overtake retailers like Sephora, Shein, and Qurate in US consumerSephora and Shein are two popular online retailers in the United States, especially with younger generations like Gen Alpha. Qurate Retail Group owns and operates six retail brands, including QVC. The company sells items online through its brands.Sephora helped its parent company, LVMH, achieve record-breaking sales in 2023, reaching $10 billion in revenue across North America. Shein made $2 billion in profits that year. Although Qurate's third-quarter earnings report said revenue decreased by 5%, it generated $152 million in operating income.A March Financial Times report cited three sources who said TikTok had reached $16 billion in sales in the United States. It's unclear how much the TikTok Shop has made since its 2023 launch, but the company said in its 2024 economic report that the app drove $15 billion in revenue for small businesses in the United States.The consumer trends report said 45% of surveyed Americans purchased "fashion, clothing, and accessories" from TikTok Shop. Beauty and personal care items came second at 44%. Surveyed TikTok users also indicated purchasing electronics, home goods, food, toys, books, and more from the online shop.TikTok has led the growth of social media shopping apps in the United States in recent years. TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, likely wants to replicate the success of its sister app in China, Douyin, which drives hundreds of billions in sales annually, often through influencer livestreams.Despite its rising popularity with content creators and shoppers alike, TikTok faces a potential federal ban in the United States next month.In April, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The law gives ByteDance until January 19 to divest from TikTok or face a ban in the United States. On December 6, a federal appeals court upheld the ban as constitutional.Lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could compel the app's Chinese ownership to manipulate content for propaganda or leverage the personal data of millions of Americans.Ahead of the potential ban, TikTok launched a "limited-time offer " promotion this week, allowing users to earn $50 in TikTok Shop credits to recruit a new user. Users can earn up to $350 in shop credits in total.Representatives for TikTok, Shein, Sephora, and Qurate did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Your Mileage May Vary is an advice column offering you a new framework for thinking through your ethical dilemmas and philosophical questions. This unconventional column is based on value pluralism the idea that each of us has multiple values that are equally valid but that often conflict with each other. Here is a Vox readers question, condensed and edited for clarity.My parents and siblings are all highly religious, living in a Southern state. My wife and I have both moved away as well as left our religion, so obviously that has led to some changes in values. Nowhere has that been more obvious in this recent election cycle than with abortion.Nearly all my relatives chose to vote for Trump this election, and limiting access to abortion is one of the major reasons why. For my wife and I, its mind-boggling how they can be fully aware of how many women are being harmed and even killed by these new restrictions and just brush it off by saying, Well, I do think there should be SOME exceptions, and then vote for people who do NOT think that, without any tension whatsoever. It almost feels like the only way they could be persuaded to care was if somebody close to them was the victim of one of these laws.Well be home to see them around Christmastime, and we are still struggling with navigating the dynamic. How do we interact like everything is fine with them while knowing that their values are so diametrically opposed to ours? That they are completely fine with dramatically increasing human suffering to check a religious box? I do love my family, and theyve never taken their beliefs out on us in the Youre going to hell! kind of way, but I still have trouble wrestling with this and trying to act like we can just gather up ethical issues in a box called politics and never talk about it. Any advice?Dear Tongue-Tied,Right now, your family members are not morally legible to you. What I mean is that youre having trouble understanding how they could possibly vote the way they did. Its mind-boggling, as you put it. But I want to suggest that its mind-boggling in part because youre making two core assumptions. The first assumption is that their values are so diametrically opposed to ours. The second is that they are completely fine with dramatically increasing human suffering. These assumptions are sticking you with a dilemma: You dont know how to talk to your relatives about their choice to vote for Trump but it also feels wrong to just hold your tongue. Have a question you want me to answer in the next Your Mileage May Vary column?Feel free to email me at sigal.samuel@vox.com or fill out this anonymous form! Newsletter subscribers will get my column before anyone else does and their questions will be prioritized for future editions. Sign up here!So consider this: Just as your tongue has taste buds, your mind has moral taste buds. Thats according to social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who co-developed moral foundations theory. His research suggests that people in different political camps prioritize different moral values. Liberals are those whose moral taste buds make them especially sensitive to the values of care and fairness. Conservatives are those who are also sensitive to the values of loyalty, authority, and sanctity. Its not like some of these values are wrong and some are right. Theyre not actually diametrically opposed to each other. Theyre just different. And each one captures a dimension thats important in human life. So, when were trying to communicate with people across the political aisle, its best not to assume that theyre morally bankrupt or completely fine with dramatically increasing human suffering. Maybe theyre operating on the basis of moral values, just as we are, but the values that are salient for them are not the ones that are most salient for us.Haidts research suggests that we should enter into these conversations with genuine curiosity what are the moral values behind the opposing political views? and a recognition that others values have worth, too. You may not be a conservative, but I imagine you still feel that theres some value to loyalty, say, or sanctity. Its helpful to get in touch with that, because people are much more receptive when they sense that youre trying to find shared moral ground than when youre just trying to win an argument. To be clear, attuning to the underlying values of the other person does not mean you have to end up agreeing with their position on, say, abortion. Nor does it mean you slide into moral relativism, believing that every position is equally worthy. You can recognize the validity of the underlying moral value even as you dispute the particular way that the person is expressing that value in the world. The Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor offers some language for thinking about this. In his book The Malaise of Modernity, he writes that we need to undertake a work of retrieval, [to] identify and articulate the higher ideal behind the more or less debased practices, and then criticize these practices from the standpoint of their own motivating ideal. In other words, instead of dismissing this culture altogether, or just endorsing it as it is, we ought to attempt to raise its practice by making more palpable to its participants what the ethic they subscribe to really involves.Taylor is in favor of trying to persuade others of your views. But he says you need to be very clear about what level your persuasion is operating on. Its a mistake to attack the underlying value, because theres nothing actually wrong with it. Instead, you should be trying to show what it would look like to honor that value properly and fully.Since you mentioned abortion is a particular sticking point in your family, lets take that as an example. As someone on the liberal end of the spectrum, Im guessing youre in favor of abortion rights in large part because you believe in a persons autonomy over their own body and you want to prevent harm to the pregnant person, whether physical or psychological (care, or preventing harm, is one of Haidts classic liberal taste buds). That makes a ton of sense! At the same time, maybe you can also see how someone else may be focused on another value, like the sanctity of life. (Sanctity, or the idea that something is so hallowed that we want to protect it, is one of Haidts classic conservative taste buds. He notes that although its often invoked by the religious right, its not exclusive to that camp. Im thinking of a sign I saw at a Black Lives Matter protest: Black lives are sacred.) Maybe the sanctity of life is not your top value, and maybe you disagree with your relatives about when life truly begins. But regardless: Attuning to the underlying value which is relatively easy to relate to, because life really is precious! makes the other position morally legible.Recognizing that doesnt mean the argument is over. Its here that the real argument, the one we should be having, actually starts. Because if your family members believe that a fetus is a life and therefore deserves moral concern, they still have to weigh that against the claims of the pregnant person, who definitely represents a sacred life and whose needs definitely carry moral weight. The beauty of framing the conversation this way is that were no longer locked in an either/or either youre right or I am but suddenly were in a both/and. We want to prevent harm and we want to protect life. Having moved beyond the fight over values, we can now discuss the real question that should be occupying us: What would it look like to give both values appropriate consideration? For example, I could argue that I should be free to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term, not because Im 100 percent certain that a fetus deserves zero moral concern, but because Im 100 percent certain that I do deserve moral concern, and I want to prevent harm to myself, and I am best placed to know what the consequences of childbearing would be for me. In other words, I can grant the possibility that theres something in their view worth weighing, but point out that its outweighed by the certainty on the other side of the scale a certainty that their own values commit them to caring about. If they vote for politicians who thoroughly oppose abortion, theyre not acting according to their stated values. A word of caution from Taylor: Dont expect that youll successfully change your relatives minds. It would be naive to assume that people are swayed by argumentation alone. He writes that human life is fundamentally dialogical, meaning that we form our identities through our conversations and relationships with others, not just through rational thinking. That means we have to consider the context your relatives are in. Since theyre in a religious community in a Southern state, the vast majority of their social circle may oppose abortion rights. If they dont have access to a community that makes a pro-abortion rights position seem praiseworthy, it may feel psychologically threatening for them to entertain that position. Your relatives are also, like the rest of us, living in a certain technological climate. News media and social media algorithms push some content at them and suppress other content. If theyre flooded with conservative content, it may be extremely hard for you to make a dent.Thats okay. Its not your job to successfully change their views on abortion you ultimately dont have much control over that, given that their views are conditioned not just by values or reasoned argumentation but also by the social and technological web theyre embedded in. Your job is to show up as your full, loving self. Being your full self means that you dont just hold your tongue. But when you feel yourself tempted to let loose some harsh or judgmental words, you might run your tongue over the roof of your mouth as a way to remind yourself: You have moral taste buds and they do, too. If you feel like youve situated yourself in that truth and, from that place, you want to open a discussion with your relatives about their votes, go for it. But its also highly possible that you, like so many of us in this highly polarized country, could use more practice with the first part. If thats the case, feel free to just practice that this holiday season and enjoy some loving time with your family. Bonus: What Im readingThe experimental philosopher Joshua Knobe has a short and sweet blog post on what actually succeeds at changing society. One approach is to try to change peoples belief or explanatory theory about something. Another is to try to change community norms. The latter takes way longer, but Knobe thinks it might be the only thing that works.The journalist Shayla Love is doing retrieval work of the kind I think Charles Taylor would like in her recent Atlantic article about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the wellness industry. The history of wellness suggests that the best way to defuse Kennedys power is not by litigating each one of his beliefs, she writes, but by understanding why the promise of being well has such lasting appeal. She argues that wellness captivates us not by empirically proving its truth but by meeting certain psychological needs.Writing this column prompted me to look at the work of Columbia Law Schools Jamal Greene this interview will give you a good taste who argues that America has a very weird way of thinking about rights. We recognize few of them, but the rights that we do recognize are considered unassailable and absolute. I think that prevents us from having both/and conversations where we talk about how to weigh competing rights or values. 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:

Monument Valley 3 no innovation but plenty of fun (Netflix)The Christmas special for video games on Netflix is a new sequel to mobile classic Monument Valley and its just as beautiful and mesmerising as ever.Netflix was originally in the business of posting rented DVDs to their customers, replacing an arduous journey to Blockbuster Video with a leisurely stroll to your local postbox. It was the later pivot to streaming video that proved to be their masterstroke, annihilating competitors and inspiring a dreadful new generation of streaming services from seemingly absolutely everybody, so that now you have to spend a small fortune on subscriptions to be allowed to watch everything.As a way of holding onto customers who might otherwise switch to Disney+, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, or any of the plethora of smaller offerings, Netflix started adding video games to its offering. When Google briefly flirted with games, a fundamental misunderstanding of development cycles meant their grandiose plans failed to pay off as quickly as anticipated, leading Google Stadia into the same graveyard as so many other abandoned Alphabet projects.The Netflix approach has been different. Rather than starting from scratch, with a scattering of partners, they applied the philosophy that worked so well in TV and film, by licensing games from existing developers en masse. Instead of chasing triple-A titles they instead went after mobile, and rather than settling for any old rubbish studios had knocking about, their focus has been on quality; and thanks to private equity financing, that wasnt at the expense of quantity.That means their current line-up includes Braid, Anniversary Edition; GTAs 3, San Andreas, and Vice City; Dead Cells; Into The Breach; Blooms TD 6; Kentucky Route Zero; and Immortality. Sure, theres a bit of chaff mixed in with all the classics, but its a superbly curated list, and considering most people turn up for the TV, feels effectively free.This weeks addition to their roster of champions is Monument Valley 3, the latest iteration of a franchise thats enjoyed monumental and deserved success. With so many games released every year, theres a real discoverability problem in mobile, so games that cut through to the degree Monument Valley has, usually have something special about them.In the third instalment, the premise remains unchanged. You control Noor, a little stick figure with a pointy hairdo. Tapping a point on the screen gets her to walk towards it. The object is to pilot her towards specific floor pads or doorways to progress, but generally those points are in unreachable parts of the level when you begin.Your job is to slide and rotate different parts of each level to clear her path and, like an M. C. Escher drawing, when 3D objects meet on the 2D plane of your phone screen Noor can traverse them, ignoring the impossibility of those broken perspectives. Its a process thats not at all intuitive, requiring pleasurable minutes of trial and error as you grab and swivel different pieces of scenery in search of a viable route.Accompanied by an ambient soundscape, each tap you make or element of the level you rotate makes its own distinct and sonorous tone, adding to a sort of minimal, Philip Glass style soundtrack thats at least partly of your own making. Its an especially rewarding game to play wearing headphones, the deep bass notes and tinkly treble creating an almost hypnotic effect with the gradual unfolding of each puzzle.Levels are formed from a mix of organic features and dramatic architecture, the rumbling as bits of it move and swivel, mixing with the sound of the surrounding water and subtle background bird and animal calls. Especially with noise cancelling switched on, it really transports you, its whimsy and tactile puzzling proving surprisingly captivating for something on such a small screen.More TrendingHowever, going back to the first game, as we did while writing this, its surprising just how similar the two experiences still are. The original Monument Valley arrived fully formed and apart from a few new bits of window dressing, this second sequel remains the same highly rewarding, beautifully drawn and mesmerisingly soundtracked set of puzzles.Once again the difficult it pitched just right, requiring a bit of experimentation or a brief pause to consider, but never holding you up for more than a minute or two, and very rarely even that long. Instead, its a digital walk in the park, a peaceful and lovingly constructed piece of escapism that amounts to a couple of hours of light puzzling.Anyone letdown by the comparative brevity will be relieved that its end screen promises seasonal stories due in the coming weeks. Surely episodic gaming, something that never really took off for traditional titles, is a potentially winning match for a subscription TV service. Either way, and despite the relative lack of innovation, its a delight to have more Monument Valley to look forward to.Monument Valley 3 review summaryIn Short: A brief new slice of Monument Valleys unique and minimally drawn perspective-bending puzzles, with the promise of more to come.Pros: Looks and sounds beautiful. Puzzles that test you just enough to be interesting and a sprinkling of, minor, fresh ideas.Cons: Not for those who like their puzzles taxing, and it remains very similar in content and looks to both previous instalments.Score: 7/10Formats: iOS (reviewed) and AndroidPrice: Included with Netflix subscriptionPublisher: NetflixDeveloper: Ustwo GamesRelease Date: 11th December 2024Age Rating: 4+ Monument Valley 3 no additional charge (Netflix)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

Its official: Astro Bot is the most overrated game of 2024 Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished December 15, 2024 9:00am Astro Bot the best game of 2024? (Sony Interactive Entertainment)A reader argues that Astro Bot did not deserve to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2024 but that its sequel may be a contender.I might never have made it over to L.A. to see E3, as Id always wanted to, but I feel staying up till 4am to watch The Game Awards, when Ive got to get to work at 8am the next morning, offers a similar level of exclusivity. In that few people are as stupid as me, as to want to do it.I almost didnt, actually, as last years really wasnt worth the effort and if it hadnt been for the rumours of this being a good one, I wouldnt have bothered. Im still not quite sure what the two big holy s*** moments were meant to be, but I felt there were quite a few reasonably surprising ones (very when it came to kami 2) and I was satisfied by the end of it.Not only did we get a lot of interesting and unexpected game reveals but almost all of them showed gameplay and the only main one that didnt, The Witcher 4, had the excuse of being years away and making an important point about who the main character is (Im not going to spoil the surprise if GC wont). But overall: 9/10, would watch again not the same one, but certainly next year.As everyone knows, the game award part of the showcase is a surprisingly small part of the overall event, with more than half the winners being announced and forgotten almost before you realise theyre being talked about. I sometimes wonder why they bother with the award aspect at all, but they do make a fuss about some of them, especially the Game of the Year award.Like many, I felt there was no obvious favourite this year, with my personal preference being Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. I wouldnt have objected to any of them winning, although I have not played Black Myth: Wukong or Balatro, but I really didnt feel Astro Bot was Game of the Year material.Its a good game, that I enjoyed, but for me its not really any more than an 8/10. Its just too derivative of 3D Mario games, while at the same time having much simpler gameplay, which makes it much more repetitive even though its much shorter than any comparable Nintendo game.I would put Astro Bot: Rescue Mission several notches above it, as the novelty of VR managed to compensate for the rampant copycatting. Im also not sure I didnt enjoy Astros Playroom more too. It certainly had better songs and I felt the integration of PlayStation cameos was much better. The way the cameo characters worked made more sense in context and the final battle was a lot more fun (admittedly it did use up the best possible idea for a final boss, but still).But as the night went on, and Astro Bot won most of the awards it was up for, it became obvious it was going to win Game of the Year and that just felt wrong to me. I thought this year had been good for games, but Astro Bot can in no way stand in the same company as games like Baldurs Gate 3 or Elden Ring.Not because its not serious or epic but because its just an existing idea not done quite as well. I get it coming anywhere close to the quality of a Nintendo platformer is a real achievement, but that alone is not reason enough to be throwing around the phrase Game of the Year.Im not bitter about this, I get that some people just didnt like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirths open world sections, and Im not going to say its a perfect game but its my opinion that Astro Bot was already overrated and now I think its even more so. But hey, if it leads to Sony and others making more 3D platformers than maybe its for the best.What I will say is I loved the acceptance speech which turned into a weird love letter to Nintendo, and I suspect was an admission on the part of the director that he knew Astro Bot was still the learner and Mario was the master.There is a serious problem with overrating games though, that I feel is underappreciated, and thats if you start talking about a good but not great game as being the GOAT then suddenly you havent got a proper frame of reference for where to go next. Being better than Astro Bot wont make you a Game of the Year contender itll just make you equal to or better to 8/10.More TrendingI do feel Team Asobi understand this though and I look forward to their next game very much. Maybe that will be a genuine Game of the Year winner, but I dont feel Astro Bot is.By reader Gordo Astro Bot will definitely see a follow-up (Sony Interactive Entertainment)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