MultiVersus pulls tweet after Charlie the Unicorn creator says it used his work "without permission"Uni-thorn in my side.Image credit: Player First Games News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Dec. 23, 2024 Charlie the Unicorn creator Jason Steele has hit out at Warner Bros. for allegedly using audio from his viral internet short in a MultiVersus advertisement "without permission".The teaser - initially posted to social media but since deleted - showed off Reindog's Unicorndog skin, and was captioned "We're going to Candy Kingdom to get the new Unicorndog Variant, Charlie!"It was accompanied by a video of three Unicorndogs - just like the three unicorns in Steele's video - which allegedly included audio taken directly from the Charlie the Unicorn short.Charlie the Unicorn.Watch on YouTube"MultiVersus is a game by Warner Bros, a company with an annual revenue of around $40bn," Steele said on X, embedding Warner Bros subsidiary Player First Game's tweet."Here they are using my work, without permission, to advertise their game." To see this content please enable targeting cookies."I'm completely fine with people using my work for non-commercial projects. I've given explicit permission for this before and will continue to do so," Steele explained in a follow-up Reddit thread. "I will never go after an individual for using clips from my work for something like a YouTube or TikTok video, or a Twitch alert, etc. People should be allowed to use and remix art!"I've seen a number of references to my work in big-company projects before. For example, there's a dead unicorn with an enchanted kidney named Charlie in World of Warcraft. This is fine! It's completely within fair-use laws. Using my audio directly is not fair use.Charlie the Unicorns creator isnt happy with the new Reindog short byu/Kirbykoopa inMultiVersusTo see this content please enable targeting cookies."I realise it was not the Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav himself who, reaching down from the Warner Bros water tower, personally yoinked my audio for this ad. It was (I assume) an underpaid and under appreciated social media team member who did it. But it's Warner Bros who profits, and it's Warner Bros who did not give this game's marketing team the budget necessary to properly license media for their social media ads," he concluded.MultiVersus - which has had an unusual, sometimes controversial development journey since the start of its open beta back in 2022 - is Player First Games' debut title. Amid its push toward mobile and free-to-play titles and away from the "volatile" AAA space, Warner Bros. acquired the MultiVersus developer earlier this year.

Alan Wake 2 is a graphical showcase on both PC and consoles, so it was disappointing to see the game's PS5 Pro patch leave the game looking and running worse in some areas than on base PS5. Thankfully, developers Remedy have lived up to their name with a fix for the situation: a new PS5 Pro patch that adds in a toggle for the problematic PSSR upscaling as well as some other nice changes and additions. As we discuss in this week's DF Direct show, embedded below, the new patch is surprisingly comprehensive. As well as the PSSR toggle, there's also a new balanced graphics mode for users of 120Hz displays that targets a 40fps frame-rate on PS5 Pro. The balanced mode is interesting, as it combines the higher settings (including RT) of the quality mode with the lower resolution of the performance mode. The new patch also purports to tweak settings across all modes to reduce noise, although - spoiler alert - it doesn't appear to work as we expect right now. We've tested the new modes and they're a welcome upgrade for PS5 Pro owners that improve the game's presentation overall, although some areas are still in need of improvement. Oliver is our man in the field for this one, and he reports that the mooted settings tweaks to performance mode don't appear to have been realised. In side-by-side comparisons between the launch and current versions of the game, there are no visible differences in terms of foliage, shadow quality, draw distance and so on. Image quality also seems to be similar, so if there are any settings tweaks they are presumably quite minor or affect areas other than what we've tested. However, performance has been improved, with around a 10 percent frame-rate uptick in most of the challenging scenes we tested, bringing the game closer to 60fps. It's the final DF Direct of the year! Here's Rich, John and Oliver. Watch on YouTube0:00:00 Introduction0:01:09 News 1: Switch 2 leaks describe dock, magnetic connection0:17:40 News 2: New Alan Wake 2 PS5 Pro patch tested!0:28:14 News 3: Indiana Jones lighting improved on Xbox0:35:32 News 4: New Legion Go uses SteamOS0:49:50 News 5: RTX 50 series leaks continue1:01:35 News 6: DF Supporter Game of the Year awards!1:18:01 News 7: "Monkey Kong" hits Nintendo eShop1:25:36 Supporter Q1: After the Mark Cerny interview, how do you think Sony will approach PS6?1:33:47 Supporter Q2: How will Project Amethyst affect Microsoft's relationship with AMD?1:39:00 Supporter Q3: How will today's high-end PC hardware compare to next gen consoles?1:45:01 Supporter Q4: Why was PS3/360 game performance often so poor?1:55:02 Supporter Q5: What do you make of FF7 Rebirth's PC lighting upgrades?1:58:54 Supporter Q6: What's the best looking last gen game?Elsewhere, the new patch does deliver some meaningful changes and improvements. For example, the noise we spotted in reflections has been reduced or eliminated, suggesting changes to the denoiser algorithm used here. The roughness cutoff for reflections may also have been altered, with some rough surfaces like unpolished wood no longer exhibiting obvious reflections as they did in the earlier version. The biggest change though comes with the additional of a PSSR toggle, which is becoming something of a trend for PS5 Pro patched titles. PSSR's upscaling tended to be a bit better in motion but suffered from some additional break-up and appeared less sharp in still shots, so you're now able to use FSR2 upscaling instead if you wish. Alan Wake 2 was far from the worst-looking game with PSSR enabled, but the relatively low internal resolution (864p) being upscaled to 4K does make your choice of upscaler important. In general, we'd recommend FSR over PSSR if you prioritise image quality in still shots, with PSSR perhaps getting a slight nod in motion. The difference between the two modes narrows as internal resolutions climb - ie in quality mode - where either is a perfectly cromulent choice. We couldn't spot any settings tweaks in these side-by-side comparisons between the launch and current versions of Alan Wake 2 on PS5 Pro in performance mode, despite Remedy's claims of changes. | Image credit: Digital FoundryFinally, that new 40fps balanced is a worthwhile addition. It gives you the hardware RT from the quality mode at perceptibly higher frame-rate - after all, 40fps is exactly mid-way between 30fps and 60fps in terms of milliseconds per frame - and works well in our testing with a locked 40fps update rate. If you're curious to see the more realistic ray-traced visuals of the quality mode but don't want to sacrifice visual fluidity and input latency to do so, this is well worth experimenting with. Overall then, the new patch leaves Alan Wake 2 in a good place on PS5 Pro, with three modes that are all reasonable choices; if you're not sure then we'd suggest starting with the performance mode and seeing how you get on. If you want sharper image quality, the quality mode is available; if you want hardware RT then the balanced mode is a good shout. Elsewhere on DF Direct, we covered the latest Switch 2 leaks - including magnetically-attached controllers and an improved dock - and improvements to the lighting quality in Indiana Jones on Xbox consoles, amongst other topics. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Given that 2024 is coming to a close though, I'd like to focus on a few of the supporter questions we received on our final DF Direct this year, with a fair few viewers writing in to ask about next-gen consoles in the wake of our interview with Mark Cerny going live and Sony's Amethyst partnership with AMD being announced. Supporter Someguyperson wanted to know if Cerny's answers "added more credence towards adding 3D V-Cache to the PS6", while fellow DF Discord member DudleyTheGentleman asked whether Sony had a meaningful ability to customise AMD's hardware designs given their extremely long lead times and whether Sony's "traditional approach to back-compat" could limit how forward-looking the PS6 APU could be. Here's the full Mark Cerny interview, including some insight into the philosophy behind the design of the PS5 Pro - and, dare we say, the PS6. Watch on YouTubeThey're both interesting questions well worth discussing. For our money, 3D V-Cache would definitely speed-up a potential PlayStation 6, but might be too expensive to justify in terms of production costs, die area and overall complexity. Generally, consoles are produced to hit a mainstream price point, so adopting a novel APU design would have to have a huge pay-off and simplify or cost-reduce the design elsewhere to have any chance of being included. Likewise, so far we've seen only relatively minor changes to AMD APUs for PlayStation consoles, eg the PS5 Pro re-using existing shader hardware for PSSR rather than having new dedicated silicon. And Sony are certainly going to have to ensure backwards compatibility on any PS6 console, given that people's digital libraries are becoming more valuable and comprehensive than ever, as disc drives have become an optional add-on on the latest consoles. The design of the PS6 may be informed by similar methods, carving out new functionality from existing hardware, but AMD's UDNA architecture announcements and various rumours suggest there may be some significant surprises in store too. We'll leave things there for now, but from all of us at Digital Foundry, thanks for reading, watching and supporting in 2024. We still have videos scheduled to go live throughout the festive period, so stay tuned - and we'll see you again properly in 2025 with what looks like an extremely interesting CES!

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereGSC Game World has already turned a profit with Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. After years of development amidst the destruction of their home country, Ukraine, by Russia, the development studio is working on fixes for the game, such as the recently-released A-Life fix, as well as upcoming expansions for the title.In an interview with IGN, GSC Game World CEO Ievgen Grygorovych creative director Maria Grygorovych explained that the games massive success has forced the studio to face a new reality. With a bigger fanbase and more faces to keep smiling, the studio may end up spending even longer on the games post-launch support, especially due to the state it launched in.Stalker 2 will get even more post-launch supportThe Grygorovyches explained that the massive popularity of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl has caused them to reassess their plans for the future. After the games massively successful reveal, the studio realised it has a lot more fans to please and the additional funds to do so.You need to think properly because we now have a really big audience and sometimes different parts of this audience want to see different things, Maria Grygorovych said.The developers CEO expanded on that thought, explaining that the studio has planned what it wanted to do in the next 10, 15 years. While the projects the team want to make after Stalker 2 support is finished havent changed, the team now wants to spend even longer on the sequels post-launch support.Six years passed and we still want to do the same games as we planned earlier and nothing changed, the CEO said. The only things that changed is that we didnt think that we would like to invest much more time in live updates of Stalker 2 after game release, that we would want to add much more things in this game in live updates.In the IGN report, its claimed that the studio is planning to bring in cut ideas that were removed from the game mid-development. Due to massive support from the games fanbase, GSC Game World can now spend time finishing up and adding cut content, much like Cyberpunk 2077 did after its rather rough launch.We didnt expect that we would go back to improving Stalker 2 for a lot, Ievgen explained. And now we still have the same plan for 10, 15 years of development of other things we want. But also putting much more in development of Stalker 2.For more Stalker 2 coverage, read about the mod that brings back the UI of the classic games. On the other hand, read about how thousands of players are downloading a fast travel mod to avoid walking through the games awesome world.Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Contents hide Black Ops 6 Ranked Play remains one of the most popular playlists in Call of Duty. Following the same rules and regulations as the Call of Duty League, Ranked Play allows players to test their skill against those of a similar level in a bid to break into the top 250 in the world.The launch of Call of Dutys competitive mode is always a highlight of the annual release cycle. Despite players continuing to encounter countless hackers during matches, Ranked Play continues to hold its own as a fan-favourite feature of Black Ops 6. In recent weeks, players are reporting sudden losses of SR (Skill Rating) without loading into a match.The disappearance of Black Ops 6 Ranked Play SRTo shed light on the issue, X user aboardBORED shared a clip of attempting to play a Ranked Play match. Instead of a pre-game lobby loading, the player is hit with a suspension and a reduction of SR preventing them from reaching the next skill division.Its unclear as to whether the issue is an isolated incident or if several players are watching their hard-earned SR disappear without firing a single bullet on the virtual battlefield. While some players arent encountering any SR loss, others are demanding Activision investigates before the problem becomes more widespread. Activision, fix the game please, asks one concerned fan.While Black Ops 6 Ranked Play continues to attract several players to the action, the accidental loss of SR is a long line of flaws with Call of Dutys competitive mode. Hackers have infested the mode resulting in thousands gaining an unfair advantage by preventing legitimate players from earning their hard-earned SR.Another Ranked Play flawTreyarch is often quick to acknowledge the feedback of players meaning theres every chance a fix is applied before Season 2 begins in late January. However, with the festive period approaching and developers enjoying the festivities, players may have to wait a while before their SR stops mysteriously disappearing.If youve fallen victim to your SR disappearing before the map veto process has begun, the best thing to do is keep playing until you manage to recoup the loss by achieving victories or choose to avoid Ranked Play altogether.For more CoD intel, check out the best Jackal PDW loadout dominating the competitive meta along with the best mouse and keyboard settings to ensure high levels of accuracy are maintained.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6Platform(s):PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/XGenre(s):ShooterSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Robert Eggerss Nosferatu (in theaters December 25) is the third film to bear this name. F.W. Murnaus and Werner Herzogs adaptations share the same premise, which basically goes like this: In the late 19th century, real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) embarks on a voyage from Wisberg, Germany, to the Transylvanian castle of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgrd), to sell him a property. Upon arrival, Hutter enters a somnabulent hellscape punctuated and induced by Orlok taking gulps of blood from his chest. Back at home, his wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) has a sick inkling about the rendezvouspartially because shes been haunted by a demonic entity all her life. This, in fact, is Orlok, who makes his way across the sea to collect her as his bride. He brings with him not only his lust for Ellen, but The Plague.The Nosferatu coffin bed, now available for purchase.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCAs a director seeking to revive the historical horror genre, Eggers is well acquainted with the dark folklore inherent to Nosferatus plot. His films explore the psychic underbelly of times and places pastand often revolve around a supernatural antagonist. Eggers and his go-to production designer Craig Lathrop also put a unique emphasis on building realistic worldstheir production design strives extra hard to close gaps between Eggerss olden aesthetic and the modern audiences perception.The more that the physical world and the inner world of the characters articulates a period in a convincing way, the more the audience can buy into and feel like the world is credible, and therefore invest in metaphysical things like vampires, Eggers says. And its easier for me to get scared by these iconic monsters if its in a period when people actually believed in them, right?A street in Wisberg, designed with Gothic brick buildings in mind by Lathrop.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCThis convincing process is painfully detail-oriented. For each movie, it seems like the director and his team sponge up enough pre-modern religion and folklore to constitute a liberal arts minors syllabus. For 2015s The Witch, Eggers recreated a 17th-century farm in New England: We tried to find a way to fake it, and we just absolutely couldnt, he said of the process. The solution was using period techniques, tools, and materials to build the farm exactly the way they wouldve done it. No big deal.As a brainstorm for Nosferatu, Eggers wrote full novellas for each of the main characters. Before it began filming in Prague two years ago, Lathrop went on scouting trips to Lubeck, Wismar, Gdansk, and Transylvaniahome to the Poeneri castle, which was exterior inspiration for Orloksand looked at lots of paintingsCaspar David Friedrichs, notablywhen designing the back lot sets of the town. They filmed on real streets too, which boasted brick Gothic buildings. Since stone wasnt common in Prague, the team brought it in to lay the large streets and some exterior details. All the buildings have a personality. I wanted to make sure that things were leaning in or out appropriately, that the medieval buildings were sagging properly, says Lathrop. Regarding interiors, the sets required sourcing Biedermeier furniture, and replicating existing frescoes from monasteries in Moldova. I didnt have the time or the money to paint them, Lathrop laughs. Also, asking somebody to paint a 15th-century masterpiece is probably a little bit tricky.Most PopularArchitecture + DesignAD100 Interior DesignersBy The Editors of ADArchitecture + DesignInside a West Village Town House Awash in Rosy HuesBy Nora TaylorCulture + Lifestyle11 Beautiful Island Hotels That Are the Height of LuxuryBy Kathryn RomeynThe monasterys interior takes inspiration from those in Moldova.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCWatching the film, todays vampire narratives come into question. Nosferatu etymologically derives from the insufferable one in archaic Romanianits a funny word to use for monstrous behavior, synonymous with uncomfortable or unpleasant, and certainly close to unbearable, which is a word used to describe Twilight in this movie subreddit I stumbled upon. Many gore-enjoyers resent how the glistening variety has diluted the vampires fear factor. They increasingly occupy the romance genre, only moonlighting as something to be scared of. The vampires flexibility is great but yeah, I wanted this to be a horror movie, Eggers says.The Roma inn, where Hutter stays before heading to Orloks castle.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCMost PopularArchitecture + DesignAD100 Interior DesignersBy The Editors of ADArchitecture + DesignInside a West Village Town House Awash in Rosy HuesBy Nora TaylorCulture + Lifestyle11 Beautiful Island Hotels That Are the Height of LuxuryBy Kathryn RomeynTo prepare, the director researched the Solomonarifolk magicians in Romanian lore. Nosferatu evokes this folklore through a magic of Eggerss own creation, drawn from ancient tales of animated corpses mobilized by demonic forces. Its seen in the seven-pointed stars wax-stamped onto Orloks contracts and coffins. He also depicts Orlok in traditional Romanian aristocratic garb, further orienting the film to 19th-century Transylvania.Given all this detail that the average viewer may not clock, I wondered if there are cons to over-research when making a horror movie. Isnt the genre about getting into peoples psyche through a back door, not climbing an ivory tower? Eggerss method may seem overkill to some, but in its defense, I believe full commitment to historical realism is what makes his movies so creepy. If the uncanny is about the familiar in the strange, Eggers lays out a historical familiar for us to find modern strangeness within. For example, Victorian medicine is not something Im familiar with at all, so when I watched a doctor press his fingers into Depps fallopian tubes to feel for consumption, I squirmed just as much as I did when I watched Hutters boss bite a pigeons head off in his holding cell. Seeing these belief systems on screen evokes a visceral disgust impossible to come by when reading about them in a textbook. Without world-building, information only becomes a can-you-believe-they-actually-did-that fun fact.A still life rife with trinkets from the house of the Harding family, who harbor Ellen as she is possessed by Count Orlok.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCMost PopularArchitecture + DesignAD100 Interior DesignersBy The Editors of ADArchitecture + DesignInside a West Village Town House Awash in Rosy HuesBy Nora TaylorCulture + Lifestyle11 Beautiful Island Hotels That Are the Height of LuxuryBy Kathryn RomeynThe Nosferatu press tour is keen on branding this film as a gothic romance, too. I think the narrative leans more into the formerconsidering the stalking, the hauntingbut the romance aspect shines through in the movies visuals, which will appeal to a particular melancholic sect of the blog generation: aesthetically feminine and already hypnotized by religious imagery, still lives of dripping candles, baroque dressing rooms, strings of seed pearlsbut also antique knives, cigarettes, and controlled spillage of blood. Movies like Black Swan have had their essence live on via film stills and memes associating various goods with an aesthetic. The final scene in the movie is a shot of Depp curled next to a decrepit male figure like Pompeiian victims, surrounded by flowers. I already see it reblogged for years to come.Speaking of digital romanticism, the visuals were what stuck with me while watching Herzogs Nosferatu a few weeks agofive black coffins in a funeral motorcade, or Isabel Adjani, apple of the internets eye, in all whitesince compared to Eggerss version, the 1979 Count Orlok seemed anachronistically campy. Is Eggerss the scariest because Im jaded and over-exposed to gory content of all sortsfictitious or otherwise?Orloks castle, sparse during daylight hours.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCThe cinematography pays homage to shadowy German Expressionism pioneered by Murnau.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCEggerss Nosferatu does pay homage to versions past: Many initial glimpses of Orlok are of his shadow, a technique that expounds upon German Expressionism. The castles bleached, sparse interior also looks a lot like the one in Herzogs film, and this new Nosferatus recurring motifsswarming rats, Catholic totems, a beach pock-marked with wonky gravessimultaneously pays tribute and blows dust off the hundred-year-old story.But maybe the dust is subjective, because my friend Maia Wyman, who critiques movies for a living, says Murnaus 1922 film is her favorite version. We saw Herzogs version together, and post-screening we talked about Nosferatus pastMurnaus version visualizes the contagion, exoticism, and sexual fluidity emblematic of its interwar context, she told me. Some people on X are saying that Herzogs version predicted AIDs, was all I could contribute. Sounds like a lot of legacy to live up to. But Wyman noted that our current moment shares a lot of similarities with the Weimar era. Our briefly permissive culture is increasingly fearful and restrictive, she said, sagely. And there are folk devils being made all around us, so maybe another Nosferatu adaptation is more necessary than ever.

As we wrap up a year defined by homeowners feeling stuck in place, professionals across the industry are forecasting 2025 real estate trends in order to better arm themselves for what lies ahead. Zooming out, both Fannie Mae and Zillow predict mortgage-rate volatility, with the former anticipating numbers above 6% throughout 2025. A result could be the lock-in effectthat is, homeowners staying put in homes theyd rather sell. As hard to predict as the world of real estate may be, there are still a handful of more granular trends that seem sure to define 2025. Below, AD PRO presents predictions gleaned from discussions with more than 10 real estate professionals, including agents, developers, designers, stagers, and more.The Residence, a shoppable showroom at 144 Vanderbilt in Brooklyn, was designed by General Assembly with products from their retail outfit, Assembly Line.William Jess LairdThe model-apartment-as-showroom model will continue its upswingCertain brands and designerslike Radnor and FrenchCaliforniahave been putting a showroom spin on model residences for years. But in 2024, what began as a slow trickle of new showrooms as model apartments has turned into a steady stream. And from what weve heard, theres likely to be a lot more where that came from in 2025. Some of the best recent examples weve seen are in New York City: the Artemest penthouse at The Greenwich by MAWD, FrenchCalifornia and design brand LObjets collab at 212 West 72nd Street, and General Assemblys two-floor unit (with items from their shop, Assembly Line) in 144 Vanderbilt. These spaces offer a more defined vision of life in the new developments than a typical model residence, and are shoppable, adding another level of turnkey convenience for new residents as they undergo the complicated process of decorating their new home.For us, it is about creating an immersive environment that extends the ethos of whichever project the unit is within, says project manager Josh Bransky of Tankhouse, the developer behind 144 Vanderbilt. Using the interior design of a model residence as a platform to sell furnishings and pieces allows us to align all of our incentives and reach a new yet relevant audience. It also enables us to work with a wider scale of designers and fabricators who might not normally be able to operate in this space.The sales gallery at 200 East 75th Street helps showcase the high-end finishes a potential buyer might want to spec in their own home.Hayley Ellen Day | DD-RepsSales galleries will be more important than everAs model apartments provide a view of life in a new building, the tactility of sales galleries is also becoming essential to closing deals with buyers. Danielle Naftali of Naftali Group, which has developed a number of residential buildings across Florida and New York, sees this shift as a move away from decorator-ready condominiums. Those types of units sometimes lacked molding, and lighting, and other details, falling short of buyers expectations. Now, clients want fully finished residences that are essentially turnkey and move-in ready upon closing, according to Naftali. With that, seeing the quality of the kitchens, bathrooms, and finishes at a sales gallery became essential to provide the overall expectation of quality, design, and service residents can expect when the property is completed. From a sales perspective, this has allowed us to assure our buyers of the quality they are purchasing well before the development is delivered.Ted Segal of EJS Group has witnessed the power of sales galleries at 200 East 75th Street, a building designed by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects with interiors by AD100 firm Yellow House Architects. People want to experience things firsthand, in person, live. If its a real estate project, they want to be first at the sales gallery and then ultimately at the project site. If its a live event, they want to go to the event rather than watch it on TV, says Segal. Buyers have choices, and theyre able to see what our development team is able to deliver when they visit the sales gallery. I think the market is speaking with a preference to what were doing at 200 East 75th.Branded residences will go even biggerYou barely had to pay attention to the world of real estate to notice a major uptick in branded properties in 2024. Elle magazine announced its first-ever branded residence, as did chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Italian sports car manufacturer Pagani, and many others. Because theres so much competition in markets like Miami and New York, industry insiders predict that this emphasis on branded projects will only increase in 2025 as developers leverage the power of brand recognition in their favor. The hyper-competitive real estate market in Miami and beyond demands more than just square footageit requires a comprehensive narrative of living, says Vertical Developments CEO Fernando De Nuez y Lugones. The executive is one of the brains behind Elle Residences Miami and Riva Residenze, a yacht-branded residence. For passionate brand enthusiasts, these properties represent a unique opportunity to elevate daily living, [and to surround] themselves with a curated experience theyve long admired and aspired to embrace.David Martin, the CEO of Terra, the developer of Jean-Georges Miami Tropic Residences, thinks well see more innovation in branded residences going forward. In 2025, I believe well see new iterations of the concept, Martin says. The developments that differentiate themselves will be those that go beyond a flashy logo and leverage the brands expertise to offer experiences that are innovative and new for residential buildings.Inside a unit designed by Staged to Sells Jason Saft, who embraces a more character-driven approach to real estate staging.Shannon Dupre | DD-repsStaging will embrace the pastJason Saft, the CEO of professional staging company Staged to Sell, has been in the real estate industry for over 20 years but believes theres an aesthetic shift afoot. For years, the prevailing theory was that spaces should be staged neutrally and impersonally in order to appeal to as many buyers as possible. Thats all changing as stagers like Saft create distinct environments accessorized with historic and idiosyncratic pieces. I think the staging industry as a whole bought into modernism from the beginning. I think its just easier: Its less stuff, its less expensive, but its also very cold after a while, and its limiting, he says. Im putting it out there, and Im starting to see other people in other markets [lean into antiques].As far as the sales impact goes, staging with pieces from older time periods has led to sales well above list price for properties outfitted by Staged to Sell. (One recent Upper East Side residence set up by the company went for $1.75 million over asking.) It can move units more quickly, too: A Midtown East home that had sat on the market for 266 days sold within 22 days after Staged to Sell reimagined it. People are in fact paying a higher price for older homes done in a way that blends time periods and styles, Saft tells AD PRO. It has picked up momentum to strong results in cosmopolitan territories where buyers are looking for something that feels more specialized and are accustomed to paying a higher price for what they want, or something they feel personally connected to them.Douglas Elliman real estate agent Jennifer Leahy seconds the motion. Buyers want personalities in homes. The days of everything being white and fluffy are not behind us, but have transitioned to more personality, she says. I've seen my stagers now keep some of the antiques that are in the home, and supplement [them with] more transitional furniture. Just as in an actual, lived-in home, its all about the mix: Youre allowed to have your grandmothers antique in that room along with a very nice gray or neutral couch.The roof deck at Bisby, a development in Jersey City, features pickleball courts, a sundeck, outdoor kitchens, and a dog run.Courtesy of Newport RentalsCommunity will be at the forefrontIn both the multi-family development and single-family home markets, community is central to purchasing decisions. Ninety-two percent of recent homebuyers with children are willing to compromise elements of their dream home to be in a community perfect for their families, says Mike Miedler, CEO of Century 21 Real Estate, citing a study recently commissioned by the company. Were seeing that despite the recent challenges of the market, homebuyers are ready to focus on the joy and positive feelings associated with [purchasing].Avdoo & Partners Development has been tapping into this at Bergen, a Brooklyn condo that launched sales in spring of 2024. Spa and wellness amenities are table stakes at this point, but tapping into specific ways that neighbors can connect with each other is whats really resonating. Many of the in-contract buyers have stated that the amenities are the main reason they were drawn to Bergen, says CEO and partner Shlomi Avdoo. Programmed spaces that encourage connectivity are still limited in New York City development, but considering how buyers are responding to those amenities, its not long until they become essential.Its becoming a must-have that people find spaces that are in between their workspace and their home, their apartment, where they can socialize, do work, and exercise, says David Thom, the senior managing director of design and development of LeFrak. His firm has recently been at work on Bisby, a New Jersey property with a rooftop pickleball court, sundeck, and outdoor kitchens, as well as a dog run. For many buildings, its become increasingly competitive in the marketplace to provide these sorts of amenities in order to provide those kinds of spaces for prospective tenants.Versatility will be the name of the game for buyers in 2025, according to designer Nina Magon. The kitchen island is one great case study for the type of design fixture that plays wellits a multiuse space, she says. Families can be together.Par Bengtsson courtesy of Nina Magon StudioHomeowners will seek more adaptabilityWhile the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to reinforce the need for a home office, nearly five years later, AD PRO Directory designer Nina Magon thinks the rest of the floor plan has warped. Forget the home officehomeowners want to be able to comfortably work from whatever room theyre in. Usage of space has become more specific and more versatile, Magon says. Weve noticed that people dont necessarily want the 15,000-square-foot house anymore; they want the house where every room serves a purpose, or [is] dual purpose.Were also putting floor plugs in family rooms, so that work can happen while youre watching CNN, while youre in the mix with other people, Magon explains. Its like a coworking space inside of your house, where everybody is together, but also has the ability to do their work. The versatility of a kitchen island is one example of this idea at play, she adds. Dad or Mom can do their work on a computer, sitting in the same room with the charger while the TV is on. Its a multiuse space, so that families can be together.In practice, this has led Magon to get a lot more specific with clients in her introductory questionnaire. Whereas she might have inquired about desired room types in the past, she now asks very detailed questions about exactly how they plan to use each room; how many people they envision being in any given space at any time; and, when it comes to kitchen and dining room design, how exactly theyll serve food and what they like to eat.Fido gets a luxe kitchen, too, in this kitchen island by Kingdom & Co.Stephen Morgan courtesy of Kingdom & Co.Built-in pet features will be worth the investmentOn a more micro level, a couple of the industry experts we spoke to predict that the world of built-in pet features is only going to grow more expansive in the coming year. We first noticed the rise of ultraluxe pet home accoutrements a couple of years ago, but along with those $2,500 dog beds, built-in features are set to become more prominent in the coming year. Lincoln Rogers, the co-owner of AD PRO Directory design-build firm Kingdom & Co., notes that built-in pet-centric features have been requested more and more lately. Animals are very important to people, so thats happening a lot more, even with cats, Rogers says. The company has crafted built-in pet bowl stations with pot-fillers positioned over the water bowl and built-in cubbies for dog beds in mud rooms. Rogers and his team try to talk people out of certain trendy features so they dont waste their money, but he believes the widespread love for pets makes these features a worthwhile investment.Leahy has sold numerous homes with built-in dog-washing stations and thinks theyre always a positive, even for prospective buyers who dont have pets of their own. I havent had any negative feedback on dog-washing stations, Leahy says. I had someone who didnt have a dog, who was buying a house with a dog-washing station, but they were like, Maybe well get a dog! I think its always a positive.APPLY NOWGrow your business with the AD PRO DirectoryArrow

60 Minutes OvertimeIsrael's spy agency, Mossad, spent years orchestrating Hezbollah walkie-talkie, pager plotsHow Israel's pagers fooled Hezbollah After nearly a year of war between Israel and the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, Lebanon was sent reeling in September when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members exploded.Two recently retired senior Mossad agents, who were among those spearheading the years-long operation, detailed the inside story of how they built the devices and got them into Hezbollah hands, shifting the course of Israel's escalating war with the Iran-backed group. The walkie-talkie and pager plots had a profound ripple effect: weakening Iran by leaving its proxy empire in ruins, with Hezbollah crushed in Lebanon and the Assad regime toppled in Syria."We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are," said Michael, who agreed to speak with 60 Minutes while masked and using a false name. "We can't use the pagers again because we already did that. We've already moved on to the next thing. And they'll have to keep on trying to guess what the next thing is."Weaponizing walkie-talkiesMossad's walkie-talkie operation was about waging war through deception and trickery, in line with the spy agency's motto. Work began on weaponizing the walkie-talkies more than a decade before Israel set them off in September."The walkie-talkie was a weapon, just like a bullet or a missile or a mortar," Michael said.60 Minutes spoke with disguised former Mossad agents 60 Minutes The walkie-talkie battery, made in Israel at a Mossad facility, included an explosive device, Michael disclosed. The walkie-talkies were designed to go into the chest pocket of a tactical vest for soldiers.According to Michael, Hezbollah bought more than 16,000 of the exploding devices, some of which were eventually used against them on Sept. 18."They got a good price," Michael said.The price couldn't be too low because Israel didn't want Hezbollah to be suspicious. Mossad also needed to hide its identity as the seller and ensure the walkie-talkies couldn't be traced back to Israel. So they set up shell companies to infiltrate the supply chain."We create a pretend world. We are a global production company: We write the screenplay, we're the directors, we're the producers, we're the main actors," Michael said. "And the world is our stage."From walkie-talkies to pagersThe walkie-talkies were designed to go into armored tactical vests used in battle, but Mossad wanted to plant devices that Hezbollah members would have on them at all times. So, in 2022, the agency began development on boobytrapped pagers, according to former Mossad agent Gabriel, who agreed to speak with 60 Minutes while masked and using a false name. Gabriel said Mossad had learned that Hezbollah was buying pagers from Gold Apollo, a company in Taiwan.The Gold Apollo pagers were sleek, shiny and could fit into pockets. Mossad needed a larger pager to fit explosives inside, Gabriel said. 60 Minutes Using dummies, Mossad conducted tests with the pager inside a padded glove, held next to the dummy's face, to calibrate the grams of powdered explosive needed to be just enough to hurt the fighter, but not the person next to him, Gabriel said. The plan was to only hurt Hezbollah members with pagers, not people nearby."We test everything, triple, double, multiple times in order to make sure there is minimum damage," Gabriel said.The devices had no intelligence capabilities and could not be used for tracking, according to Mossad. They could only be be used as miniature bombs."This is a very stupid device by nature. This is the reason they're using it. There's almost no way how to tap it," Gabriel said.Mossad also tested the pager ring tones. They wanted a sound that was urgent enough to compel someone to take it out of their pocket, Gabriel explained. The spy agency also tested how long it takes a person to answer a pager: on average, 7 seconds.Convincing Hezbollah to buy the pagersGabriel remembers the day he showed the pager off to Dadi Barnea, the director at Mossad."And he was furious," Gabriel said. "He was telling us, 'There is no chance that anyone will buy such a big device. It's not comfortable in their pocket. It's heavy.'"How Hezbollah's losses have weakened Iran's power and influenceThe director sent Gabriel back to the drawing board, but Gabriel spent the next two weeks successfully convincing his boss of the pager's merits.Those merits were later touted in fake ads on YouTube, where the pagers were touted as being robust, dustproof and waterproof, with a long battery life. They posted fake online testimonials, too."It became the best product in the beeper area in the world," Gabriel said.Lesley Stahl speaks with a former Mossad agent "Gabriel" 60 Minutes Mossad did such a good job promoting the pager that people outside of Hezbollah wanted to buy it, Gabriel said."Obviously we didn't send to anyone," he said. "We just quote them with expensive price."Mossad set up shell companies, including one in Hungary, to dupe Gold Apollo into working with it, Gabriel said. The spy agency fully manufactured the pagers and had a licensing partnership with Gold Apollo. It had to all look legitimate to Hezbollah."When they are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad. We make like the 'Truman Show,' everything is controlled by us behind the scene," Gabriel said. "In their experience, everything is normal. Everything was 100% kosher."To further the plot, Mossad hired the Gold Apollo saleswoman Hezbollah was used to working with, who was unaware she was working with Mossad. According to Gabriel, she offered Hezbollah the first batch of pagers as an upgrade, free of charge. By September 2024, Hezbollah had about 5,000 pagers in their pockets.Setting off the pagers and walkie talkiesThe question for Israel was when the sleeping bombs should be activated. There were hints Hezbollah might be getting suspicious of the devices, so Mossad head Dadi Barnea gave the go ahead, triggering the Sept. 17 pager plot. At 3:30 p.m. pagers started beeping all over Lebanon.Mayhem ensued as explosions went off. Hospitals filled up with the wounded. Limbs and fingers were torn off. People were left blooded, blinded and even with holes in their stomachs. For the most part, the explosions worked as planned, injuring only the people with the pagers, the former Mossad agents said. Several videos reviewed by 60 Minutes show explosions wounding individual people, while leaving those next to them unscathed."A day after the pagers exploded, people were afraid to turn on the air conditioners in Lebanon because they were afraid that they would explode," Michael said. "So there was real fear."One day after the pager attack, Mossad finally activated the walkie-talkies that had been dormant for 10 years. Some went off at the funerals of those killed by the pagers.In all, about 30 people were killed, including two children, in the two attacks. Around 3,000 were injured.Did Mossad's plan succeed?The aim of the walkie-talkie and pager plot wasn't to kill people, Gabriel said."If he's just dead, so he's dead," Gabriel said. "But if he [is] wounded, you have to take him to the hospital, take care of him. You need to invest money and effort. And those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon, of 'don't mess with us.'"Two days after the pager attack, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, known for his fiery oratory, gave a subdued speech. He looked defeated, Gabriel said."He already lose the war. And his soldier look at him during that speech. And they saw a broken leader," Gabriel said. "This was the tipping point of the war."In the ensuing days, the Israeli Air Force hit targets across Lebanon, killing over 1,000 people, many of them civilians. On Sept. 27, Israel dropped massive bombs on Nasrallah's bunker, assassinating him. The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire took effect at the end of November."But I think after this tipping point of the beeper operation and then the walkie-talkie and then IDF attack, [it] put Hezbollah in a situation, a very, very difficult situation: no chain of command, no spirit in their soldiers, asking, begging, for a ceasefire," Gabriel said.Michael agreed that wind was taken out of Hezbollah's sails after the pager operation. He's hoping it will have an effect on Hamas and the hostage situation in Gaza."Because they're looking at their sides and they're seeing no one next to them," Michael said. "They are completely isolated now."More from CBS NewsIn: IsraelHezbollahLebanonLesley StahlOne of America's most recognized and experienced broadcast journalists, Lesley Stahl has been a "60 Minutes" correspondent since 1991.

Don't Touch MeThe Thing: Remastered is the definitive way to play 2002's most underrated horror comedyThe game is enhanced by the unintentional humor that remains at its core.Image credit: Nightdive Studios, VG247 Article by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on Dec. 23, 2024 The Thing (2002) never was a very scary video game. Sure, low-detail graphics were far spookier more than 20 years ago, and there are some effective jump scares in it, but by and large, Computer Artworks' adaptation-sequel was goofy above all. Nightdive Studios' The Thing: Remastered hasn't altered that.This isn't a knock on the work the original studio did on the game. Quite the opposite. I actually believe that John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) is so awesome partly due to its ability to be equal parts terrifying, gross, and just funny as s**t. Even if the team really tried, The Thing (as a concept) couldn't really be very scary after that first movie; as the whole thing sorta relied on an element of surprise that was gone by the end of it. The 2011 prequel was proof that retracing the same steps was a mostly dumb approach doomed to fail.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Computer Artworks' game, now delightfully recreated and upgraded by Nightdive (the recent remastering efforts of which have all been killer), went the opposite direction: Make it all bigger and louder. This is what I like to call the 'Aliens approach' to sequels. The surprise element is gone and you can't really replicate the original sense of fear, so have fun with it and bend the genre a little.At the center of The Thing (video game), there's a rather archaic squad system that becomes the highlight and most unique feature of the experience the more you play. A bunch of soldiers visit the Antarctic outposts besieged by the horror from another world shortly after the events of the original movie. Most of them are expendable, as in they can die halfway through missions due to enemy damage or your own f**k-ups. The worst/best thing about it? You can essentially 'softlock' yourself if you lose an engineer at certain points of a level, since they're the only guys who can really fix some broken devices/doors. Image credit: Nightdive Studios, VG247As a direct result, The Thing can be quite tense even if it isn't scary. Ally AI wasn't the greatest and hasn't seen much improvement, but these digital pals are quite effective at completely destroying reanimated limbs and other monstrosities. Basically, just make sure to keep them stocked with ammo and be conscious of their placement, especially in narrow corridors and messy rooms.Cutscenes aside, there isn't much writing done for these expendable characters, which is why you'll be hearing lots of barks that repeat over and over again. When that's combined with their rather predictable reactions to cold (there's a whole mechanic built around it), alien horrors, and you messing up with wobbly aim, comedy ensues. Moreover, they like to puke when feeling a bit stressed out, so they might go "I'm fine", and immediately proceed to vomit their entire guts out because "I'm fine" didn't 100% mean they were fine and dandy. Try not to laugh, I dare you. Image credit: Nightdive StudiosSimilarly, get into a big fight with 'things' of all types and sizes and your allies are bound to be hurt by the packs of nightmarish foes a bit too much. Maybe they haven't gone down in battle, but chances are they're infected and ready to turn after you've healed them and heard a positive remark from them. Mind you, the old scripted transformations that directly collided with the blood test system aren't a thing in the remaster, but you can still lose these guys right after thinking they're perfectly fine because it was just the game spewing out random barks. It's the right sort of hilarious stuff. Keep your flamethrower well-fed and handy.Last but not least, I'd like to point out that looking through windows (both at the inside of buildings and snowy outside) can give you comedy gold like the moment in the clip below. Some 'things' are just wandering around the area until you trigger their aggro. Meanwhile, lost NPCs are waiting inside a warehouse for you to drop by, but you can see them sitting there while you frantically look for an open door. This is what the PS2/Xbox era games were all about. That's the stuff. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.While younger gamers might have a harder time adapting to the inherent jank of rusty AA games from ancient times, veterans like me find all this charming. The fact that Nightdive has so immaculately added to the lighting and texture work across all of the game, while polishing off some rough edges (such as the aforementioned blood test phenomenon) doesn't negate the fact The Thing is f**king funny first and foremost. It's the sort of stuff that could've been completely erased by a full-blown remake. Instead, we've received a great way to replay the same game you remember struggling with and laughing at.The Thing: Remastered is available now for PS4/5, Xbox One/Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and GOG.

Gone Defendin'Haven't I seen you somewhere before? 2024's best games were pure nostalgic comfort food, and sometimes that's what you needEat your hamburgers, Apollo, or you'll be late for the entire circus at Clown University.Image credit: Capcom Article by Rebecca Jones Guides Writer Published on Dec. 23, 2024 I recently realised with some alarm that I've spent nearly 2% of 2024 playing Ace Attorney. That's not just 2% of my free time or even the time I spent awake, to be clear, but a whole percentage of the time I was alive in 2024, in-game in Ace Attorney. But honestly, what can you expect in a year when five previously almost-lost games from one of my favourite series were remastered and rereleased for modern systems, literally doubling the amount of Ace Attorney accessible to contemporary audiences within the span of only eight months?I have no regrets about mainlining both the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy (released on January 25th, total completion time: 105 hours) and the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection (released on September 6th, total completion time: 60 hours) as soon as I had the opportunity to do so. As someone who was initially drawn into Ace Attorney when the last two remastered collections brought the series to home consoles, knowing that I'm now caught up on all 10 core games in this franchise gives me an immense feeling of satisfaction, and I'm sure other fans in my position feel the same way.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. But the trade-off of spending an entire calendar year with a 1-in-50 chance I'd be playing Ace Attorney at any given moment was that perhaps unsurprisingly nothing else has left quite such a big impression on me in 2024.At first I ascribed this to 2024 being somewhat akin to the morning after the night before, with "the night before" in question being all of 2023. By halfway through last year, I'd already declared around 20 games as possible GOTY contenders, and I hadn't even met Baldur's Gate 3 yet. It was simply an amazing year for new games, and 2024 was always going to see a bit of a come-down by comparison. But as this year draws to a close, I do appreciate the fact that, if I was a bit metaphorically hungover at the start, then my miracle cure breakfast of choice was essentially a Full Monty Ace Attorney fry-up and that probably did dictate how much appetite I had left over for other things. Truly an all-you-can-eat buffet of wacky-yet-lovable anime archetypes... to say nothing of the 26 mysteries we solved together this year.Image credit: VG247 / CapcomThat's not to say that no other releases impressed me this year, of course far from it. I especially liked the funny one about the little guy who does his best to help everyone as a fish out of water in an unfamiliar town: a description I'm obsessed with because it can apply equally well to the surreal indie comedy gem Thank Goodness You're Here! and Sega's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, a massive RPG sequel that was nevertheless beginner-friendly enough to get me over my history of being too intimidated by the overwhelming back-catalogue of the Yakuza franchise to jump in. (You could say I'm LAD shy no more!)An honourable mention is also merited by Little Kitty, Big City, the Goose Game-alike about a puckish black cat lost in the really-exceedingly-kind streets of an unnamed, pastel-tinged city. This game has been on my most-anticipated list for three years running, and I was immensely pleased when I finally got to play it in 2024 and found it was everything I'd hoped it would be.And, on quite a different note, there was Mouthwashing, a retro-style indie in the body horror sub-genre that I usually switch off from as soon as possible, but which ended up as hands-down the best example of original game writing I experienced all year. The grateful residents of Dondoko Island hoist their hero Ichiban aloft in celebration. | Image credit: Coal Supper / PanicBut honestly, there's no rhyme or reason to what stood out to me this year, no real narrative conclusions I can draw from any trends I got invested in with the notable exception of just how many great remasters were released throughout the year. A ridiculous amount, the highlights of which you can see enumerated as part of our VG247 Alternate Game Awards.So yes, declaring this year's duo of Ace Attorney remastered collections as my personal joint-GOTY is a totally self-indulgent heart pick, but it's Christmas, a time when we should be extra honest and celebrate what makes us happy. And spending a solid week of this year solving crimes and objecting to the opposing counsel's nonsense in the inimitable company of Apollo Justice and Miles Edgeworth made me extremely happy.

Bring out your GOTYs!It's that time of year for reflection, to sit down and take stock of all the wonderful games that released in 2024. A time to stare into the middle distance with a despairing expression wondering how you managed to not play so many great new games this year because the Vampire Survivors DLC continued to suck your free time up like..., well, like a vampire. Yes, it's GOTY time.As the industry continues to navigate tumultuous waters, with layoffs continuing across the board in game development, publishing, and media, players themselves have once again had an excellent year in terms of great new games to play. Whether large or small, there have been more fantastic things to play than hours in the day for all but the most myopic of gamers.Read the full article on nintendolife.com