January 3, 20253 min readHeliophysics Is Set to Shine in 2025The science of the sun and its effects on the solar system is a sprawling discipline that expects a very exciting 2025By Meghan Bartels edited by Lee BillingsThe sun sends out a constant flow of charged particles called the solar wind, which ultimately travels past all the planets to some three times the distance to Pluto before being impeded by the interstellar medium. This forms a giant bubble around the sun and its planets, known as the heliosphere. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image LabIf our solar system were to lose a few moons or even a planet, the difference might be hard to noticebut lose the sun, and everything changes. Despite its role as neighborhood linchpin, however, scientists still have a whole host of questions about how the sun works and how it influences our daily life on Earth and in space. And 2025 is poised to play a key role in getting answers.Three factors are combining to make the coming year particularly exciting for the discipline known as heliophysics: the suns natural activity cycle, a fleet of spacecraft launches and the release of a blueprint designed to guide the next decade of work in the field.Right now the sun is in the maximum phase of its 11-year activity cycle, where scientists expect it to remain for perhaps another year or so before its activity begins to wane. And although the current Solar Cycle 25 isnt breaking any records, it has produced a host of solar flares and other spectacular outbursts that scientists have been able to monitor with recent new instruments. Those observers include both the largest solar telescope ever built and a spacecraft that has made the closest approach to the sun in history.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.And this year those groundbreaking projects will get plenty of new company; NASA alone expects to launch half a dozen missions to study the sun and the myriad ways it shapes the solar system. Among them are the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, designed to help scientists map the outer limits of the suns sphere of influence; the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE, a pair of spacecraft that will orbit Mars to study the Red Planets experience of space weather; and the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH, mission, which combines four small satellites orbiting Earth to study the suns outer atmosphere, or corona.Moreover, U.S. heliophysicists have a new so-called decadal report, a blueprint for the coming decade that sketches out a host of national science priorities, that was released last month and that federal agencies will begin implementing in the coming year. Im really excited about it, says Joe Westlake, a heliophysicist and director of the Heliophysics Division of NASAs Science Mission Directorate.These decadals are aspirational views of our future, he says. Theres some really good stuff in this one.For future spacecraft missions, the report recommends that NASA pursue two large projects. One mission would consist of a total of 26 spacecraft: Two would be stationed high above our planets poles in circular orbits and would take images of auroras and Earths magnetic field from afar. The rest would be located in more elliptical orbits that pass through the geomagnetic field, where they would gather local observations of its strength and nearby plasma. Twenty-plus spacecraft and the ability to put those all together at the same time, looking down, looking up and collecting observations, is going to be such an incredible dataset tool for us, says Nicki Rayl, acting deputy director of the Heliophysics Division. I think its going to be groundbreaking.The second large project would be a spacecraft designed to swoop over both poles of the sun several times over the course of an entire 11-year solar activity cycle. A current NASA mission, the Parker Solar Probe, has been diving ever closer to the suns surface, but it has stuck to observing the sun over its equatorial region. Meanwhile an ongoing European Space Agency mission called Solar Orbiter has provided only partial views of the solar poles. Consequently, our stars poles remain mysterious regions, even as they play a key role in the evolution of the suns magnetic field. Going to the poles of the sun is hard, and its a tricky environment to get into, Rayl says. Thats the next unknown territory.On Earth, these ambitious missions would be augmented by the Next Generation Global Oscillations Network Group (ngGONG), which builds on the existing GONG group of observatories that began work in 1995. These observatories are spread around the world to keep the sun in their sights throughout the day, and they use a technique called helioseismology to study the solar interior by observing waves passing through it, much as geologists employ seismology to study the interior of Earth.Some of these audacious, incredible goals that are in the decadal help us really jump into the unknowns and do some discovery science, Rayl says. And in the meantime, she notes, the missions launching in the coming year will yield ever more insightsand new questions to askabout the sun. Im just thrilled that were going to be in the data-collection mode, she says. Its go time.

January 3, 20254 min readJumping 'Numts' from Mitochondria Can Be Fast and DeadlyBits of DNA from mitochondria can skip surprisingly fast into our genome and may reduce lifespanBy Martin Picard edited by Madhusree MukerjeeLittle loops floating inside this illustration of a mitochondrion represent its DNA. Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty ImagesMost of us remember two things from high school biology: that mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells and that we inherit stable sets of chromosomes from our two parents. Both truisms are only sort of true. Mitochondria do far more than produce energythey also compress and transmit information about the state of a cell. And our chromosomes, although safely ensconced within the cells nucleus, are far from stable. A piece of genetic code from another chromosome, or even from a virus, can embed itself into the DNA chain, changing how itand wefunction.Mitochondria descend from an ancient bacterium that was swallowed, millions of years ago, by an ancestral cell from which all life descends. As living beings, they have their own genes, called mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Starting in the 1960s, researchers showedfirst in mice and then in yeasts and humansthat pieces of mtDNA can somehow also jump into chromosomes and named these insertions nuclear mitochondrial DNA segments, or numts (pronounced new mites). In 2022 Patrick Chinnery of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues cataloged numts from more than 60,000 humans and found that new ones are created once in about 4,000 births. All of us walk around with numts that weve inherited from ancestors in our chromosomes.In 2024, however, Weichen (Arthur) Zhou and Ryan Mills, both at the University of Michigan, and Kalpita Karan, then at my laboratory at Columbia University, in collaboration with me and others, made an astonishing discovery. Numtogenesis, or the formation of new numts, happens not only across millennia but likely several times over during a persons lifespan. In cultures of human cells, numtogenesis happens over days to weeks. Further, numts seem to be particularly concentrated in the brainand may influence how long we live.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.These groundbreaking studies began at Rush University Medical Center, where a team led by neuroscientist David Bennett sequenced DNA from more than 1,000 brain samples from individuals enrolled in a long-term study of aging. Scanning these data, Zhou, Mills, Karan and their colleagues found that chromosomes in the brain cellshad many numts. Intriguingly, the prefrontal cortex, the seat of high-level rational thinking, had a particularly high concentration of these intrusions. And people with more numts in their prefrontal cortex had died earlier. People with normal cognition had lost as many as five years of life per numt. (In people with dementia caused by Alzheimers disease, numts didnt seem to matter: their age at death was unrelated to how many numts they had in their prefrontal cortex.)All previous searches for numts had been performed using immune cells from blood samples; that is why the scientific community had missed this stunning fact for decades. Blood immune cells undergo constant quality control, so only the best cells survive to be sequenced. Presumably, immune cells with numts are eliminatedor maybe numts just dont happen in immune cells. In the brain, bad neurons cannot be so readily discarded, which may be why neurons with genome alterations from numts persisted long enough to meet the DNA sequencer.You might wonder how these mtDNA fragments get inside the nucleus in the first place. Mitochondria, we now know, have many ways to release their DNA into the cytoplasm surrounding their host cell. Once there, mtDNA fragments can make their way into the nucleus either through pores in its wall or, if the cell divides, seep in while the envelope dissolves and reassembles. Either way, the release of mtDNA appears to be a process controlled by mitochondria.The fact that numts can adversely affect health is perhaps not so surprising. Retrotransposons, gene fragments that jump from one chromosome to another, trigger inflammation and possibly contribute to aging. In 2017 Keshav K. Singh and others at University of Alabama at Birmingham, showed that numtogenesis speeds up in cancerous cells and may contribute to cancer formation.But how fast can new numts arise in normal cells? To address this question in our groups 2024 study, Karan used the Cellular Lifespan Study database developed by Gabriel Sturm, in which cells from different individuals are cultured in vitro and observed over time as they age. She found that cultured human cells accumulate one new numt every 13 days on averagea remarkable rate. Taking cells out of the body accelerates multiple hallmarks of aging, which may explain why numtogenesis happens so fast in cell cultures.We also discovered that stress accelerates numtogenesis. Work that Sturm, Natalia Bobba-Alves, then at Columbia, I and our colleagues published in 2023 shows that energetic stress, caused by energy deficiency within a cell, can compromise the health of mitochondria. Karan found that when the mitochondria were dysfunctional, as occurs in people with mitochondrial diseases (and, to lesser extent, in those with diabetes and other metabolic disorders), cells in cultures accumulated numts up to 4.7 times more rapidly. Cells with defective mitochondria showed a new numt about once in every three days.These findings suggest a new way in which stress can affect the biology of our cells: making mitochondria more likely to release pieces of mtDNA that then infect chromosomes. And they add one more way in which mitochondria shape our health beyond energy transformation: directly changing the sequence of our genome. Numtogenesis may serve to speed up evolution as a response to stress.Most importantly, given that people with more numts in their brain die earlier, we must also add numtogenesis to the list of mechanisms that may contribute to how long we live. Mitochondria give us energy and life, for sure, but they may also contribute to the dimming of our inner flame of life.

January 2, 20255 min readWhat Is the ZodiacAnd What Does It Mean for You?The familiar zodiac constellations are defined by Earths motion around the sun, but they dont define your fateBy Phil Plait edited by Lee BillingsThis 17th-century celestial map by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit shows star groups as well as astrological signs and zodiacal constellations. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesIm a Libra.What does that mean? If youre an evidence-based thinker, it means nothing. If youre a believer in astrology, however, it means I was born at a time of the year when the suns influence on me (unidentifiable and uncertain and unexplainable as it is) was ruled by the Libra sun sign, although that signs relation to the actual constellation of Libra is fuzzy at best. If you do believe in astrology, you and I should have some words.But what does it even mean to say the sun is in Libra? Why place importance on that constellation and not, say, Orion, which, in nearly all ways, is objectively cooler?On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.It boils down to two things: our solar system is flat, and motion is relative.Lets tackle the relative motion part first. Consider our own familiar Earth, for example. Our planet revolves around the sun once per year. From our point of view, stuck on Earth, it looks like the sun goes around us once a year. Physically, thats not the case, but perceptually, it iswhich, heliocentrism aside, is why we still geocentrically say the sun sets rather than something like Earth turns such that the horizon rises to block the sun. Fair enoughwe dont viscerally feel Earth spinning once per day or revolving around the sun at 100,000 kilometers per hour.Other stars are much, much farther away than the sun, so they appear fixed in the sky relative to one another. Our meaning-seeking brain naturally interprets patterns in these fixed stars as recognizable figures that we call constellations (literally, collections of stars). Well, theyre mostly recognizable: while Orion does look like a human and Scorpius does resemble a scorpion, Libra is comprised of just four main stars in a wonky rhombus.As Earth spins, we see these stars rise and set every day. If Earth were fixed in space relative to the sun, wed see the same constellations in the sky every night all year. Instead, because Earth moves around our star, from our perspective, the sun is constantly moving through a backdrop of constellations, taking a full year to travel all the way around the sky and return back to the place it started.Heres where the flatness of our solar system comes in. Earth, like all the other major planets, orbits the sun in a flat, nearly circular ellipse, so the suns apparent motion against the fixed stars traces a line around the skyan ellipse with Earth at the center. We call this path the ecliptic.That motion doesnt change appreciably year after year, century after century; the sun follows the same well-worn path through the same constellations. The names are familiar: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius (not Scorpio, please), Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius and Pisces. Many of these constellations represent animals, and the ancient Greeks called these constellations, collectively, the zodiakos kyklos, or circle of animals. From that, we now call it the zodiac.The suns motion through the zodiacal (pronounced zo-dye-a-kul) constellations produces a calendar of sorts; our star is superposed on Pisces in late March, for example. This is complicated in the long run by a wobble in Earths rotation called precession, which is caused by the gravitational tugging of the moon and sun. Over millennia, the timing of the suns position in a given zodiacal constellation gets thrown off, creating a disconnect between what astrologers call the sun signs and the actual constellations. Three thousand years ago, when the signs were first used by the ancient Greeks, the sun was indeed in Libra in late September. But because of precession, that has since changed, so our star was actually in the constellation of Virgo when I was born.Its important to understand that the constellations we recognize are not natural but a product of random star placement filtered through the human brains proclivity for pattern recognition. Sometimes different cultures see different patterns, and it just so happens that many modern societies mostly use the same ones as the ancient Greeks. But even then, the origins are a little fuzzy. For example, the Greeks considered Libra to be a part of Scorpiusits claws, specificallywhile the Babylonians thought Libra to be a scorpion-free balance, or set of scales.This means the ancient Greeks thought there were only 11 zodiacal constellations, not 12, with Libra being introduced only much later to round them out to an even dozen.But it gets worse. The actual path of the sun, the ecliptic, passes through more than just those 12 constellations. Ophiuchus (the serpent bearer) is between Sagittarius and Scorpius, and the sun actually spends about 20 daysmost of a monthinside its borders. Thats longer than the sun spends in Scorpius! So Ophiuchus arguably deserves to be in the zodiac more than some venomous arthropod, but it happens to contain fainter stars in a vaguer pattern, so it is left out.And were still not done, because while the solar system is flat, its not perfectly so. In other words, the other planets orbit the sun largely in the same plane as Earth but not exactly. Jupiters orbit around the sun is tipped relative to Earths by a little more than a degree. Venuss is tilted by more than three degrees. The moons orbit is inclined by more than five degrees! That means the moon and planets can appear well north or south of the ecliptic, and they can occasionally be inside the borders of other constellations outside the canonical 12 zodiacal ones. There are fully a dozen more constellations that the moon and planets can move through, including Canis Minor, Pegasus and even our old friend Orion.So no matter how you slice it, the zodiacfrom the member constellations to even the meaning that our pattern-projecting brain assigns to those particular groupings of starsis made up.This doesnt mean the zodiac is not a useful construct. It is! Just like the other constellations, the zodiac provides a framework we can use to navigate our way in the sky. For an astronomer with some familiarity of the heavens, knowing that Jupiter is in Taurus (it is as I write this, for example) means the giant planet is visible in the fall and winter after sunset because thats when the bull-shaped constellation is most easily observed in the Northern Hemisphere. If you want more detail, there are any number of coordinate systems we can use to zero in on a particular position, but if you just want to go out and be under the night sky, the zodiacal constellations offer a good enough set of celestial directions. Plus, many of them contain bright stars in obvious patterns that are easy to spot and identify, so observing them is fun.And thats no Taurus.

New Year's gaming resolutions we're definitely going to stick toWhat are yours?Image credit: Adobe Stock / Marina Zlochin Feature by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Additional contributions byChris Tapsell, Jessica Orr, Katharine Castle, Lottie Lynn, Marie Pritchard, Tom Phillips, and Victoria KennedyPublished on Jan. 3, 2025 Like the frost on the cars and ground this morning - and the inside of my single-glazed windows in my flat! - a new year has arrived. It's a time to take stock and look ahead and think what might be, and then run back into bed and hide under the duvet covers and refuse to come out. It's a time to plan and to begin aspirational journals you'll put down and forget about and never find again. A time to tackle the gaming backlog you keep talking about, fully in the knowledge you'll probably double it this year. It's fresh-slate time, promise time, all done in the hope you'll look back next year and discover you did something you intended to do. So, what do you want to do, from a gaming perspective?Here, we look back at our gaming resolutions from last year to see how we did, and then we set some anew. Are you brave enough to commit yours to writing?JessicaI wanted to pay more attention to indie games last year, and while I certainly played more of them than I did in 2023, I apparently had a secret ambition to start more massive RPGs than ever before. It was hard to squeeze in time for those indie horrors and puzzlers when games like Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, Metaphor: Refantazio, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard were all stealing 100-hour playtimes from me.13 horror games we're looking forward to being scared by this year.Watch on YouTubeThis year, I want to dial back the inventory management and take a bit of a breather, immersing myself in more peaceful landscapes. Spending so much time exploring Infinity Nikki's cutesy, fairytale-esque world has made me realise that whether it's a four-hour indie, or another 100-hour monstrosity, the time I spend feeling relaxed in one game is far more valuable than trying to work my way through a list - even if I am still looking forward to playing those games eventually.Is this my way of giving myself a pass to just play Infinity Nikki this year? Maybe. But as long as it keeps its silly, mellow vibes that keep me feeling happy, I don't really mind if I'm missing out on the latest Game of the Year contender.TomMy new year's resolution is to become less of a completionist. I think it's becoming a problem. When I play games, I like to finish everything I can before moving on to the next area. I'm playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle right now, for example, and I'm really keen to get out of the Vatican and back to the jungles and deserts that await. But I can't. Something inside me is making me hunt down photos of cats, and finish side quests and eat all of the biscotti I can get before I go. And that's great - it's a sign I'm enjoying a game that I want to be completionist - but the longer I linger, the more frustrating it can get that I'm not somewhere else already.As I look to February and a likely 100 hours sneaking around feudal Japan in Assassin's Creed Shadows - a game that will probably be stuffed to the brim with distractions and collectibles, and whatever the feudal Japanese equivalent of biscotti is - it's a resolution worth making, I think. Ignore your bulging quest log, stop scouring for that last little thing. It's time to move on and get to more of the good stuff.MarieMy resolution for last year was to complete the main story of at least three games I've not completed yet. Did I reach that goal? Technically no I didn't, but I'll give myself credit for coming close with two stories completed.This year I'll be less strict, and less ambitious, with my resolution. I'd like to find myself returning to games that have previously brought me joy, specifically time-management or life simulators like The Sims 4. I spend most of my time on consoles with bigger games, mainly live services and RPGs, so it'd be nice to get back to the kind of PC gaming I used to love in games like The Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon. There's something I find infinitely relaxing about managing the smaller details in those games (my parks are usually free with very expensive merchandise...).Does this count as a resolution if it's so vague? I'd like to think so.ChrisThis year I'd like to play more games with other people. Specifically with my friends (my partner couldn't give two hoots about gaming and frankly I love that - it's nice to have our own hobbies!). But as my old group of friends has got older and busier and more spread out, gaming has been the best way to keep in touch with them. I fell out of the habit a bit in 2024 with all the usual, cloying tendrils of modern life getting in the way. This year, I'm going to reserve a little window of time, even if it's every other week, to check in with mates and play something together. That something will probably be one of the games we've been playing together, over and over, since we were spotty little teenagers, rather than anything new or exciting. But that's kind of the point.VictoriaLast year I resolved to play The Sims more honestly, with no cheats greasing my hypothetical wheels to the top. Did I manage it? Well, not exactly. I tried. Hand on heart I really did. But the allure of spamming that money code is just too dang strong. I like being rich in The Sims, with all the hot tubs and space rockets that come with it. I don't like waiting for my characters to come home from work, for them to then watch shows on a crap TV which is always at risk of breaking. So while things started off well enough, I soon gave into temptation and deployed the motherlode code. I have no regrets.Nine open world games we're excited about that are coming in 2025.Watch on YouTubeAs for this year, I am actually still a tad undecided. Since starting at Eurogamer, I have broadened my video game horizons tenfold, and in the last couple of years I have played more indies and other games than I ever would have. Last year, my personal Game of the Year was actually I Am Your Beast, and there is no way I would have given it even a glance a few years ago. But I absolutely loved it.So I guess I'll do a similar thing again: resolve to keep trying games that may not initially sound like my cup of tea. Perhaps like last year, I will be pleasantly surprised by the results.KatharineI made a resolution last year to finally play GTA 5. Did I play GTA 5 last year? Did I heck. There's probably not much point in trying to do so now ahead of GTA 6 coming out if I'm being honest, but the GTA series as a whole has always been a bit of a blindspot for me, as have Rockstar games more generally. I just never quite have the time to dedicate myself to them properly, you know!? Maybe I'll resolve to finally play Red Dead Redemption 2 instead this year - the setting and tone of it is much more appealing to me as a concept than GTA, and I've always admired the horses in it as well. Honestly, nobody does horses quite like RDR2 does.BertieI did it; I can't believe I actually stuck to a resolution. Last year I said I'd start streaming and I did. I joined a Dungeons & Dragons group called Chaotic Questers and began streaming roughly once a week on Twitch. We even went to a castle on the Scottish border for a weekend, to record there, which was fun, especially when our car broke down for good on the way back. It's been quite an adventure getting to know and understand the world of streaming from the inside, and it has increased my respect tenfold for the people who do it. Standing beside the M6 near a gang of cows - they were threatening, actually - while waiting for the RAC to appear was quite an experience too.Oh, and while I didn't manage to start my own personal video game stream, my partner did, so that's probably worth half a point? I also didn't manage to run a tabletop RPG, though D&D formed a central part of my gaming year. I'm still reading TTRPG books, though, and tinkering away on my own campaign, so I came close. Another half-point?To see this content please enable targeting cookies. This year, I'm being more specific. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it but I've never properly played through a From Software game. I've dabbled in them - in Demon's Souls (the original!) and Dark Souls and Bloodborne and Elden Ring - but I've never persevered for fear of being too aggravated by a game late at night. But I realise - Path of Exile 2 helped me realise - that I actually relish a combat challenge, so this year I'm seeking to change things. I promise to beat five bosses in Elden Ring, and you can hold me to that. And I'm phrasing it that way so I don't baulk at the prospect of beating the entire game, though that is my eventual goal, of course. I'm determined to do this - so determined I'm going to start tonight before my determination wanders, which it has an annoying habit of doing.That's it. Nice and simple. Beyond that, I'm going to challenge myself to play games in genres I don't normally, but that's a much more vague thing to pin down.LottieI've been playing RuneScape for more than half my life, which makes it my most successful relationship outside of my family. Considering this, you'd expect I'd have long maxed out my character's levels. Well this isn't the case. See, I've been sitting at Level 88 Herblore for the last seven years. In fact I don't think I've gained more than 10,000 XP in the skill during this time.The issue is I just detest training Herblore. Outside of mini-games, the process is so tedious. Get herb, clean herb (yes, you have to clean it first), get second ingredient, buy vials, fill vials with water, put ingredients in, most likely empty vials so you can do the process over and over again. It just takes forever.Yet, that Level 88 has been burning a hole in my eyes over the past year so, in the grand year of 2025, I shall attempt to reach Level 89 Herblore despite the pain. (And no. I won't use XP lamps. Don't bring such nonsense into my house.)

Helldivers reveals Star Fox-style game concept, as it invites ideas for next projectSmash in the pan.Image credit: Arrowhead News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Jan. 3, 2025 Helldivers studio Arrowhead has shared a number of former pitches, including a Star Fox-style game based within the Helldivers universe.In a New Year's post on X, Arrowhead CCO and Helldivers 2 creative director, Johan Pilestedt, asked players to share their "expectations and desires for what the next Arrowhead game will be", hinting that he was "working on the high concept" to the studio's next release.Helldivers 2 - Omens of Tyranny | PS5 & PC Games.Watch on YouTubeResponding to comments from the community, Pilestedt then opened up about a number of "high concept" pitches previously considered, including the Star Fox-esque game tentatively called "Eagles of Democracy"."We made a prototype in unreal," Pilestedt added. "It would basically try to capture Starfox. So arcade... but still simulated."The title was 'Eagles of Democracy'."To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Pilestedt also shared that the team had previously worked on a concept for a top-down reimagining of the 1990 arcade game, Smash TV, too:To see this content please enable targeting cookies."Smash TV is a top-down reimagining of the classic arcade game of 1990," the pitch began which was reportedly written around 12 years ago. "The game pits up to four contestants in a violent game show set in the distant future of 1999. The game focuses on the source inspiration for Smash TV to create a game filled with brutal action, death traps, and gladiator-inspired game shows."The game plays homage to 80s action movies such as The Running Man, Total Recall, RoboCop, and Escape from New York, tying everything together with cheesy music, 'cool' visual effects and over-the-top storytelling."Arrowhead recently responded to criticism from players of the high cost of its Killzone 2 crossover, eventually deciding to gift all players the planned second set of the collaboration items for free.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players lament "battle passes in between battle passes" with Squid Game eventRed light.Image credit: Activision News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Jan. 3, 2025 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's new in-game event based on Squid Game will go live at 6pm UK time today (10am PT / 1pm ET), but its coolest rewards are locked behind the event's own premium battle pass.As detailed in a new blog post, the Squid Games crossover invites players to "win it all or die trying", introducing themed awards and multiple limited-time modes across multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone inspired by the hit Netflix show, as well as Pink Guards, VIPs, and the singing, slightly-murderous Red Light Green Light doll, Young-hee.Call of Duty x Squid Game 2 Trailer | Call of Duty: Warzone & Black Ops 6.Watch on YouTubeAs noted by IGN, whilst the Squid Game Event Pass offers both a free and premium track, and battle passes are nothing new for beleaguered COD players, this is the first time an event has launched with its own premium battle pass."We got battle passes in between battle passes now," said one unhappy player in the Black Ops 6 subreddit, whilst another opined: "This is just a test to see how much people are willing to pay. They just keep adding more 'premium' stuff until people finally decide it is enough. But that won't come soon I think, the whales will keep whaling"."It all started with the bacon gun skin I bought in BO2 for $1.99. I'm so sorry folks," lamented u/PhDExtreme."But all the actual playable content is free now," reminded u/hypehold. "We have already gotten more maps in BO6 (all free) than we did in the first 6 months of Black OPs 1."Squid Game Premium Track Will Cost 1100 Cod Points byu/Against-The-Current inblackops6To see this content please enable targeting cookies.At the end of last year, we reported that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 publisher Activision had reportedly replaced some of the shooter's voice actors amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actor strike. Video game performers with US actors' union SAG-AFTRA are currently striking over concerns about the use of AI and a lack of protection for actors.In Eurogamer's Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 review, Chris awarded it two stars out of five, writing: "For a series built on high-octane thrills and explosive gratification, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's withdrawal to the well-trodden formula echoes the wider industry's continued allergy to risk."

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 The Call of Duty universe continues to collaborate with a variety of franchises from the world of TV and movies, this time with Netflixs record-breaking Squid Game. Whether its The Boys or Fallout, or even Nicki Minaj, Activisions shooter series has featured them within its multiplayer, co-op, and battle royale offerings.Netflixs hit show Squid Game is the first crossover of the Black Ops 6 cycle and while many are dropping into Red Light, Green Light matches, Call of Duty publisher Activision has come under fire thanks to the addition of even more microtransactions into the game. As a result of the new-look event pass, Activision has truly lost its mind by prioritising profits over addressing game-breaking issues.Has Activision lost its mind?After sharing intel on what the Squid Game collaboration has in store across multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone, players were quick to notice Activision had decided against mentioning the price of the new event pass much to their annoyance.Considering hackers are still infesting most playlists, the arrival of a premium event tier costing an additional $10 shows Activisions priority remains on generating extortionate amounts of revenue instead of choosing to fix the root cause of a huge decline in players. With another price to pay, some fans loading into the action are paying over $100 to access Black Ops 6, its seasonal battle passes, and any new bundles that appear in the store.Previous collaborations featured free events where all players could get their hands on the limited-edition items up for grabs. Now, if you want to get hold of the more desirable items, they come at another unnecessary cost.Will Activision change its mind?Despite the backlash from players, the paid event pass bucks the trend of other popular online games. Fortnite was the first game to adopt a premium tier for its crossovers and its no surprise to see Activision taking advantage of it to bolster its profits even further.If the widespread frustration continues, theres a chance Activision chooses to revert the paid event pass for future events. For now, youll have to pay to get some of the most unique cosmetics.For more CoD intel, check out the best Saug loadout along with the best controller settings to keep you shooting straight.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 hereMarvel Rivals made a striking entrance into the gaming world with the debut of Season 0, winning over fans across the globe. This inaugural season was a captivating showcase, featuring exhilarating gameplay, a lineup of legendary heroes and villains, and engaging narratives that pulled players into the heart of the Marvel Universe.In Marvel Rivals, players found themselves either joining forces with allies or engaging in thrilling confrontations, all while enjoying an experience that captivated audiences from start to finish. However, with the thrill of Season 0 hitting its peak, all eyes are now on Season 1, poised to take the experience to new and exhilarating levels. At the forefront of this epic showdown are the Fantastic Four, Marvels First Family who will bring new dynamics and distinctive powers into the fray. The official key art was shared by NetEase offering players a glimpse at character appearances. But one more detail was teased, leading players to believe a new map is also coming to Season 1.Marvel Rivals Season 1 teased to bring new Vampire New York mapThe Season 1 key art of Marvel Rivals has quite an interesting backdrop with the New York city skyscrapers and a blood moon in the sky. The same imagery was also seen in the three-minute cinematic trailer where a Vampire-themed New York was shown.The Vampire New York city was seen in the Marvel Rivals cinematic trailer. Image by NetEase Games.In the same trailer, Magik was seen fighting a giant vampire figure (probably Morbius from Marvel Comics), as it brought down the Sanctum Sanctorum building. Many players believe that the same New York will be a new map in Season 1 after it was spotted in a similar vein on the key art.One such player wrote, This has to mean NYC will be a map right!? The amount of destructible structures will be insane. Another chimed in, So, New York was leaked as an upcoming map, and the 4 are coming season 1. What if the Fantasticar is the Payload, and HERBIE is driving it?Further leaks suggest that four new maps and game modes like Capture The Flag are also coming to Marvel Rivals quite soon. If youre looking for all the leaks and scoop on the upcoming season, check out our full leaks coverage right here.Marvel RivalsPlatform(s):macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Fighting, ShooterSubscribe 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 Rockstar Games GTA 6 is scheduled to release sometime in Fall 2025, bringing fans back to Vice City generations after the locales debut. With propositions of episodic DLC releases and a brand-new take on GTA Online, the new open-world game is going to make billions of dollars.However, professional games industry analysts claim that the success of GTA 6 will be final before its release. As soon as pre-orders open for the upcoming open-world crime game, Rockstar is expected to rake in its first billion before launch.GTA 6 to earn a billion before launchIndustry analyst firm DFC Intelligence have already called GTA 6 the biggest entertainment release of 2025, crushing the likes of Zootopia 2, Wicked: For Good and Fantastic Four. The firm predicts that even Disneys biggest releases will be easily beaten by the long-awaited sequel.In an interview with The Financial Times, the firm believes that the new Grand Theft Auto release will manage to rake in double its predecessors first-year sales figures. This would put Grand Theft Auto 6 sales in its first year above $3.2 billion, around three times the global box office of Deadpool and Wolverine.Alongside the massive forecast for the games first year, GTA 6 is expected to have a massive pre-order surge, crushing any other video gane launch. DFC claims that one billion dollars is all-but-guaranteed to be earned before release.The biggest launch in all of entertainmentDFC Intelligences claims were immediately echoed by IDG Consulting, another games analyst firm. Alongside the massive first-year sale, the games release is expected to be a much bigger release than any entertainment product in history. While superlative in claim, the massive sales of the games predecessor does lend credence to this estimation.We think its going to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history, not just in games but for all of media. The pent-up demand is greater than anything weve seen before, claims IDG Consulting CEO Yoshio Osaki.Now over a year from its initial reveal trailer, fans are still holding on to hear any additional details about the game. After multiple failed theories, a second trailer should hopefully release sometime soon.Grand Theft Auto 6Platform(s):PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Action, Action AdventureSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

If youre moving into an apartment building, Graber says to ask about its policies and restrictions around moving. Many have specific elevator reservations and insurance requirementsthe earlier you know about them the better, he says.Similarly, if youre planning on hiring any additional workers on or around the time of your move, its best to obtain the COIs for their work in advance as well to avoid last-minute scrambling. Youll also want to make sure the company sends additional COIs for any additional follow-up visits. For instance, we hired someone to wall-mount our television right after we moved. The technician had to return to our apartment a second time to address it being slightly off-center, so having them send a second COI for us to submit to building management was handy.Moving yourself? Make sure you use a properly sized vehicle for your needsKyle Stockford, a Boston-based tasker on Taskrabbit who specializes in full-service help moving, claims that the right equipment can make or break your moving day. Try to visualize your items being stacked and packed to determine the fit and what vehicle you require, he says. Once youre ready to pack up the truck or van, Stockford recommends starting with your biggest items first. Since it can be tough to imagine all of your items fitting into a vehicle beforehand, he notes that loading things largest to smallest always makes things run smoother.Dont procrastinate packingDid you know that if you pack yourself, it takes two weeks on average to pack a two-bedroom apartment?Ayoub shares this surprising stat while pointing out that it typically takes three or more weeks to pack a three-bedroom apartment or house. (I personally packed up my one-bedroom apartment in about five days, but having a few extra days would have made that last night way less stressful.)People often underestimate the time it takes to pack, as well as the importance of using packing boxes and materials made for moving, Ayoub insists. (She lives by the packing motto Start early!) To make the process more streamlined, she advises making a clear schedule of what rooms need to be packed prior to the moving day. Start with items and furniture that are not part of your daily routine so packing becomes more manageable versus leaving it to the last-minute, Ayoub adds .One exception to the pack-early ethos? Theres a very good chance that you'll need cleaning supplies and basic tools during the packing and moving process, says Valentino. Pack this stuff last, and put it somewhere that will be easily accessible on the other end.Skip the cardboard boxesReally just trust me on this one and rent reusable bins from a moving company with good reviews. Whats more, between carbon emissions on the physical relocating and all the trash created along the way, its time we keep sustainability at the forefront when moving too Cardboard boxes vary in quality and need to be built with tape, Graber explains. Reusable bins are sturdier and dont come with the tasks of assembly, break down, and recycling or disposing of them. Just unpack and the company will return to pick them up, he says. Many companies will provide special pencils and labels on the bins so you can keep track of the contents of each vessel, or you can easily purchase these items for a few dollars online. Also inquire if your moving company has wardrobe bins so you can load your clothing directly on hangers into these containers to save you time. Bonus: Reusable bins are an environmentally-friendly choice.Invest in the tools for successAlong the lines of opting for sturdy moving bins over traditional cardboard boxes, Ayoub frequently sees people underestimate the value of proper packing supplies, overpacking boxes and trying to fit too much into a flimsy container. Its common to want to pack boxes to the brim, but distributing weight evenly across boxes is key to avoid overpacking large boxes with heavy items, she says, pointing out that this can lead to damaged items. Picture frame boxes and specialized boxes for items like stemware and dishes are money well spent: These purpose-specific boxes make all the difference in ensuring your belongings arrive safely and in one piece, Ayoub adds.Color-code your boxesTo crank your organizational prowess up a notch, Ayoub says that a simple yet effective strategy for maintaining order while you move is color-coding your boxes with labels. Assign each room or area a specific color and label boxes accordingly with large stickers or colored tape, she says, noting that this makes it incredibly easy for both you and your movers to know exactly where everything belongs once it arrives at your new home. Doing so can save a huge amount of time and eliminates the guesswork in unpacking, especially when youre looking for a specific item, she adds.Consider your furniture carefullyTo pull off a successful move, furniture merits a little extra TLC. Think about what furniture came into your home in one piece and what was built inside. Will all of your furniture fit through the doorways in your home? Graber says. Raise any concerns in advance so that your movers are prepared, he continues.