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Take a close look at those Oscar-winning visual effects that come to life Godzilla Minus One. The legendary VFX team, Shirogumi, puts together a thorough artistry breakdown and technical details of how those jaw-dropping visuals came alive.From the ravages of sprawling cityscapes to simply being Godzilla, the breakdown displays just how well Shirogumi blended CGI with practical effects for a sense of reality that has never been seen. Intense texture work, lively lighting, and smooth animation help create a life of detail on the scale of the King of Monsters without sacrificing awe or terror.Godzilla Minus One rewrote the books on cinematic spectacle, and this VFX breakdown pays homage to the talented artists whose work has gained worldwide recognition and an Oscar. A true masterpiece of visual storytelling, the films effects continue to inspire and set a new benchmark for creature-based VFX.The post Godzilla Minus One VFX Breakdown by Shirogumi appeared first on Vfxexpress.

Designer Matthew Fisher has created a gallery and display space for his stoneware objects in New York City's Seaport neighbourhood, referencing ancient culture and contemporary performance design. The M Fisher Seaport Gallery is located at the southern tip of Manhattan, amidst the newly opened galleries and restaurants of New York City's transforming Seaport neighbourhood.Matthew Fisher has designed a gallery space for his stoneware objectsThe gallery hosts three main rooms dedicated to displaying Fisher's objects, which range from pieces made of metal and cotton cord but are predominantly vessels made of remnants of stone such as Victoria Blu and Paonazzo marble.To create the space, Fisher pulled from his background as a ballet dancer at the School of American Ballet, studies of ancient cultures and references such as the former Paris apartment of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and partner Pierre Berg and the opera house Palais Garnier.The interior features a circular space at the centre"The Seaport Gallery is conceived as a theatrical interpretation of the domestic interior, where the formality of antiquity seamlessly blends with the comforts of quiet luxury," said Fisher."Sharing my passion for stone was the earliest impulse behind the gallery. Stone radiates energy and embodies an inconceivable process of time when you stand amongst it."A large curtain calls to Fisher's theatrical backgroundThe entrance is an open space, flanked on either side by custom wooden cabinetry topped with stone countertops. On each wall, panels open to form silver-painted triptychs, while tiny, running lights sit in slim tracks cut into the countertops.A large wooden table sits in the centre, and like the surrounding cabinets, holds an assortment of vessels by Fisher.Read: Billy Cotton adds "new-age twist" to Bridges restaurant in ManhattanThe gallery then moves into a centre area topped with an oculus-like circular soffit, lined with lighting. Copper panels clad the various passageways that cut through the space.The furthermost room is outfitted with seating, additional display tables and "a nearly 600-pound carved igneous stone planter" that holds a large fern.Fisher's marble pieces are distributed throughout the spaceAt the back of the room is a curtain woven with metallic thread that is meant to resemble a theatre curtain."The brass chains and weights of my design, which shape the curtain, evoke the emotions I felt when first viewing the stage curtain at the Palais Garnier," said Fisher.A small courtyard sits at the back of the galleryA small courtyard sits on the other side through glass doors, fitted with a central marble table supported by two sea-faring cherubs.This is the first public space Fisher has designed."The Seaport Gallery took me nearly seven months to discover, yet I've dreamed of this space for far longer," he said.Nearby, designer Billy Cotton blended art deco, futurist andbrutalist references for a restaurant in Lower Manhattan and a floating pool for the East River is undergoing testing.The photography is by Stephen Kent Johnson unless otherwise notedThe post Matthew Fisher blends antiquity with "comforts of quiet luxury" in New York gallery appeared first on Dezeen.

MacworldTwenty-five years ago, Steve Jobs took the stage at Macworld Expo in San Francisco and unveiled Mac OS X, ushering in a new era for the Mac and the world of desktop computing at large. That sounds like hyperbole, but after watching the keynote for a second timethe first time was from the front row, thank you very much!its remarkable what an enormous moment this was for Apple and the Mac.Its funny. Whats remarkable about the moment is actually how uneventful it seems. When I watch the video back, its almost surreal how Steve Jobs keeps doing utterly normal, boring things in Mac OS X while the crowd completely loses its collective mind. Viewed by someone without any historical context, it would seem like a cult being whipped into a frenzy by its leader.But I was there, and I can tell you that it wasnt that. This was the moment, after 16 years of classic Mac OSand lets face it, the last five of those were pretty roughwhen all the failings of the Mac were swept away and replaced with something modern, ready for the challenge of the 21st century.How did that work out for Apple? The keynote seems so weird now because almost everything in it is just how the Mac works, even 25 years later. Yes, interface styles have changed over time, but that moment on stage in January 2000 redefined the Mac for 25 years and counting.The thick of itLet me provide a little of that historical context. The original Mac OS, released in 1984, was revolutionarybut its underpinnings were from the earliest era of personal computers. Its revolutionary graphical interface was famously black and white, and it ran one program at a time. Fifteen years later, it was clear that modern operating systems should have protected memory, solid multitasking, and powerful graphics functionalitybut the classic Mac OS had been unable to achieve any of that. Apple had tried a few different OS update projects, but theyd all failed.The final Hail Mary was buying Steve Jobss NeXt, which was strugglingbut owned an operating system, NeXtStep, that had all of the features that the Mac didnt. And hey, Steve Jobs gets to work with Apple again! Not a bad package deal. Worth every penny, if you ask me.NeXtStep wasnt Mac OS, though. It had some features youd recognize today as being Mac-like, but for the most part, its interface seemed quite alien. It was built for a super niche audience, unlike the broad Mac audience that would need to be migrated over for the transition to be successful.During the three years between Jobss return and the unveiling of Mac OS X, Apples software effort was devoted to squaring the expectations of Mac users with what could be done with NextStep. At the same time, there was a culture clash, with former NeXtStep developers not necessarily understanding what those expectations were.The developers and designers at Apple had to go through every feature of both operating systems and decide what would happen: do it the Mac way, do it the NeXt way, let users choose from those two ways, or choose an entirely new path. Each of those decisions had huge consequences. If things werent familiar enough for Mac users, switching to Mac OS X would be as alien as switching to Windowsand during the late 90s, Apple couldnt afford to give any of its customers an excuse to join the rest of the world in giving in to Microsoft. But Apples development team couldnt reach the finish line if it didnt re-use large portions of what NeXt had built.Those decisions would affect the path of Mac users for the next quarter of a century.Lick itOne of the design goals was when you saw it, you wanted to lick it. And so we call it Aqua. And this is the architecture for Mac OS 10.Steve JobsApple managed to introduce Mac OS X numerous times, from the first Steve Jobs appearance on stage at Macworld 1997 through to the ship day of Mac OS X 1.0 in the spring of 2001. That makes it hard to celebrate an anniversary date, but the introduction of Aqua on January 5, 2000, is a pretty good one.So much of what we take for granted today is there in that initial Steve Jobs demo, getting rapturous applause. The Dock made its debut that day, complete with the genie effect for minimizing and maximizing windows. Of course, that Dock was kind of a messyou could drag files into it, and they disappeared from the Desktop! And you could drag them back off, and theyd reappear on the Desktop. (Files actually lived in the Dock folder in your user folder! But that Dock was rewritten a bunch before it ever shipped.)The OS X Finder itself was unveiled that day, as well. Some consider this a day that shall live in infamy, but its definitely the same Finder we use now! It offers the classic Mac icon and list views, as well as a column view imported from NeXt and favored by Steve Jobs. Jobs loved the new feature that let you navigate through your filesystem in a single window, rather than having every double-click of a folder spawn a new window, as well as the addition of a web browser-style back button.Its a bit of a head trip to watch Jobs explain how windows now have three buttons in the top left corner, colored like a stoplight, with symbols that appear when you roll the mouse pointer over them. Those buttons have become as much symbols of the Mac as the menu bar itself, but this was the first time anyone saw them.The list goes on. Jobss favorite NeXtStep app was an email client, and that explains his glee in introducing Mail, a brand-new (cough) Apple app that would be included free with Mac OS X. He seems especially giddy about the fact that the app knows who youve emailed with and will suggest names as you type, something else weve taken for granted the last 25 years.And, of course, underpinning all of this was the open-source Unix base that still runs the base of all of Apples platforms. Jobs got applause for things like dropping a menu while video continued to play and running a badly behaved app that crashed without bringing down the whole system. The audience gasps in amazement when a The app has unexpectedly quit alert appears, something that today would be a minor inconvenience at best. (Also, an amazing bit of trivia: the QuickTime movie Jobs uses to demo Mac OS X is the trailer for Mission Impossible 2. How does Tom Cruise do it?!)The original Mac OS X was a groundbreaking advancement of the Mac thats still felt today.AppleIts also worth noting the new, mind-boggling features that Jobs introduced that day that went nowhere. There used to be a button on the far right edge of a windows title bar that entered you into single-window mode, to simplify using the Mac. While modern Macs have a full-screen mode that performs that task, placing that mode on a windows title bar was weird and the feature was removed before OS X 1.0 shipped the following March.And then theres the strange case of the Apple logo. In Jobss demo, and indeed in the Mac OS X Public Beta released later that year, there was an Apple logo in the center of the menu bar. It didnt do anything. But by the time Mac OS X 1.0 arrived in 2001, the Apple menua standard of classic Mac OShad been revived and placed at the far left of the menu bar.However, the new Apple menu was not like the original one. (In the latter days of classic Mac OS, it was essentially a folder full of whatever you wanted to put there.) The new Apple menu more closely resembled the old Special menu in the Finder, which was where you could shut down or restart your Mac. Its pretty much the same to this day.25 years later, macos Sequoia still has elements of the first Aqua revealthough the Apple logo is no longer in the center of the menubar.AppleWelcome to the futureIts hard to believe that Mac OS X has been with us for a quarter of a century, a way longer run than the original Mac OS. From the interface design to the technical underpinnings, the longevity of OS X and all the operating systems it has spawnedmacOS, iOS, iPadOS, visionOS, even watchOS and tvOSis a tremendous endorsement of the decisions Apple made in the late 90s and early 2000s.This is our foundation for the next decade of Macintosh operating systems, and we are thrilled with it, Jobs said on stage 25 years ago. He undershot a little bit. What he introduced that day is still the foundation of the Mac and almost everything else Apple does. No matter what comes next, no matter where Apple and the tech industry go from here, theres no doubt that Mac OS X has exceeded all of the expectations we had for it back on January 5, 2000.

Open-world games were a dime a dozen throughout the 2010s, with studios chasing that Skyrim success with almost reckless abandon. Advances in tech have since streamlined the process of making huge game worlds, giving studios a better reason to invest their efforts in them. While gamers still clamor for a satisfying open world to explore and immerse themselves in, interest has shifted to more focused and curated experiences. Linear games are on an upward trend, with platformers like Astro Bot and action games like Black Myth Wukong winning over gamers hearts and wallets this year. Here are the 15 best linear games of 2024.Arizona Sunshine RemakeThe original Arizona Sunshinefrom 2016 caused a bit of a stir regarding some of its content being locked behind Intel Core i7 CPUs. Now in 2024, you can play all of that content, including two large DLCs and numerous updates with a ground-up remake to match Arizona Sunshine 2s visuals. Youre mostly shooting zombies with your two VR hands throughout the linear narrated campaign, but theres also a lot of quirky environmental interactions that make this a classic VR experience; and best of all, it has three-player co-op to triple the shenanigans. If you own a VR set,Arizona Sunshine Remakeis a clear no-brainer.Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2Space Marine 2s multiplayer offerings are tremendous fun, but its the solo campaign where the core meat and potatoes of the game are found. The story kicks off where Space Marine 1 left off, with Captain Titus returning to command his squad against the Tyranid swarms after a mortal wound. With a runtime around 10 hours long, Space Marine 2s campaign is a riotous time filled with spectacular vistas and visceral combat. This is a hack and slash in a lot of ways, but Space Marine 2 emphasizes precise countering more than its predecessor, adding a bit of extra skill to the mix. Grabbing a partner to run through the separate co-op missions is a treat as well, but the AI companions arent bad either with their consistent healing and tanky defense. Space Marine 2 feels like a blast from the past with its fast-paced campaign density.Silent Hill 2 RemakeRemaking a horror masterpiece like Silent Hill 2 is no easy feat, yet Bloober somehow pulled it off with great success. A key ingredient in that success is the expanded environments. The atmospheric hallways and foggy outdoor areas greatly encourage exploration, leading the player to a host of new items and collectables that can be viewed from any angle. Helping you navigate the expanded areas is the new over-the-shoulder camera perspective, which gives further context to environments. The original Silent Hill 2 clocked in at around 12 or so hours, but the remake can easily take double that time from all the added exploration. Still, the remake maintains the dense pacing of the original in spite of this, making it one of the more impressive and scary linear games on this list.Black Myth WukongBlack Myth Wukong takes a rather unorthodox approach to level design, seesawing back and forth between corridor-like linearity to wide open environments. Most puzzling of all, theres no map or navigation tools to assist your exploration in the game. Despite this, we couldnt help but marvel at the variety of biomes and beauty of environments within the Journey To the West-inspired tale. But it isnt just some of the environments that proceed linearly, your weapons and armor automatically upgrade as you progress too. Black Myth Wukong is a masterclass in focus; it doesnt meander and bloat the players time with frivolous stuff, instead honing in on what makes it great.Stellar BladeIf youre familiar with the way Nier Automata handles level design, youll feel at home within Stellar Blade. One area that Stellar Blade expands upon its level design is the engaging collectibles scattered across its environments. You have everything from soda cans to posters and boxes of loot to collect, rewarding you with new costumes for Eve and her companions to wear. The wide-linear nature of the environments hits a sweat spot that always manages to make you feel like youre progressing forward while giving satisfying room for exploration as you do so. Parts of the story have you strictly going from A to B with collectibles nestled within secret routes off the beaten path, while others are open zones meant for questing and exploration. Stellar Blade excels in the way it mixes urgency and exploration with its wide-linear level design.Senuas Saga: Hellblade 2Hellblade 2 takes quite a different approach to linear level design. Due to the zoomed-in focus on very specific locations, Ninja Theory managed to go all-out decorating each hand-crafted environment and presenting it all with an unmatched cinematic flair. Its no exaggeration to say that Hellblade 2 is among the most graphically impressive games to date. This combination of chiseled graphical fidelity with cinematic flair help cement Hellblade 2s Norse-inspired locations into the players memory. It may be a straightforward game in all aspects of its gameplay, but Hellblade 2s psychologically rich narrative and impressive visual presentation punctuate its linear design with a bold exclamation point.Mario & Luigi: BrothershipDespite introducing a sailing ship into the Mario & Luigi series, Brothership still follows a more or less traditional critical path. The brothers overarching goal this time around is lighting the four Great Lighthouses throughout Concordias oceans. The developers made sure each of the four Great Lighthouse dungeons were top-tier, earning the top spot on my list of Mario RPG dungeons. When theyre not puzzling their way through the Great Lighthouse dungeons, Mario & Luigi are busy linking together the distinctly themed islands with the ship. Brothership threads its themes of connections brilliantly through the narrative and humorous writing, forming a cohesive story that impresses despite its basic appearance.The Plucky SquireThe Plucky Squire mashes together a bunch of different genres onto the framework of a top-down adventure game. A majority of your time is spent swinging around a sword defeating enemies, but the sheer amount of odd little minigames ranging from Punch-Out sequences, to Duck Hunt shootouts, and even some turn-based RPG fun, is chaotically enduring. And then theres the puzzles that ask you to rearrange sentences for new props to appear inside the picture book you inhabit. And yes, you even get to pop out of the book and into the real world several times. The pop-up book aesthetic puts a bow on the whole package, making The Plucky Squireone of the most enduring linear games of the year.NevaLike the studios previous game Gris, Neva does more than just offer up a compelling platforming game; its an emotional audio/visual art piece. The bond between Alba and her wolf pup Neva grows as the seasons change throughout the adventure, manifested in turn by more advanced platforming challenges. Neva differentiates itself from Gris with its emphasis on combo-based combat and precision platforming sequences, providing a punchy and satisfying linear adventure full of heart.AkimbotIf youre looking for an old-school action/adventure game thats as straightforward as it is fun, look no further than Akimbot. Like its Ratchet and Clankinspiration, you have a range of gun types to unload on enemies with through a linear story. The pacing of the action is non-stop, supplying a constant stream of action-platforming fun. And the best thing is its gameplay doesnt overstay its welcome thanks to a variety of activities and sequences breaking up the usual run-and-gunning (such as the bullet hell sections). Akimbot is one of the those games thats effortless to just drop in and play without too much thought or prep-work, and I still often get the urge to start up another playthrough many months after completing it.Lego Horizon AdventuresDespite its open world source material, the Lego-fied version of Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the most linear and straightforward Lego games to date. You play through the basic storyline of Horizon Zero Dawn through linear mission-based levels, returning to the Mothers Heart hub area in between your excursions. Theres not a ton of exploration in this game except for some smaller open areas and branching paths in the levels, but the hub does allow for some satisfying customization and personalization. Whether youre a Horizonfan or a Lego connoisseur, you owe it to yourself to play this unique take on the PlayStation IP solo or with two other friends.Princess Peach ShowtimeIf youre looking for a fun mish-mash of different gameplay ideas and themes presented in true Nintendo fashion, Princess Peach Showtimewill satisfy. Each stage has a unique theme that completely alters the gameplay and aesthetics, as well as, of course, Peachs outfit. From lassoing up bandits on a horse to swordfighting through hack and slash dungeons, the creative levels give you reasons to come back and replay them. Like previous Good Feel games, stages are absolutely filled with collectables and secrets, providing solid replay value.Astro BotUnlike Princess Peachor Akimbot, Astro Bottakes a more open approach to some of its levels, taking a cue from something like Super Mario Galaxy. Still, Astro Bots levels comprise mostly linear challenges, and oh how fun they are. 3D platforming never felt better than with Astro Bots high tech Dual Sense functionality it goes beyond a mere gimmick, being a primary function of gameplay. Every action in the game is accompanied by a signature rumble from the controller. Each stage is tailored specifically to the PS5 and its controller, providing a unique kind of console experience. Likewise, stages take full advantage of Astros abilities in creative and imaginative ways, proving that linearity can be an enormous strength in platforming games.The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through DaybreakI know, I know, an ongoing JPRG series with a dozen connected games is a hard sell for most folks. But you owe it to yourself to give Trails Through Daybreak the light of day. For one, it forms the beginning of a new arc with a fresh cast of characters set in a different province from previous games. Its also just a phenomenal turn-based RPG through and through. If you enjoy dialogue-heavy RPG stories with a linear structure that lets you explore its towns at your own pace, Trails Through Daybreak may be the surprise hit that gets you invested into the wider series.Indiana Jones and the Great CircleNot only is this the first Indy game in 15 years, its also a return for MachineGames after their run of successful Wolfensteinreboot titles. As previews have observed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circlefeatures a lot of stealth. Its core gameplay revolves less around well, revolvers than youd come to expect, supplying an experience more in line with the Thief series. Youre often hiding behind baddies to knock them out before finding that ever elusive key to the locked door down the hallway. What weve seen of the trailers has us reassured that MachineGames knows what makes Indiana Jones stories so fun charming. Hopefully, the stealth mechanics and story manage to reach the highs that the IP has been lacking in recent years when Indiana Jones and the Great Circlelaunches December 9th.

With BioWare focusing on the next Mass Effect after releasing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, new details have slowly but surely made their way out. Project director Michael Gamble confirmed it will feature a photo-realistic art style and maintain the original trilogys mature tone. However, his recent tweet may have convinced fans that the Paragon and Renegade systems are returning.Gamble recently said, Regarding Renegade and Paragon: Yes, its true that more people played Paragon. But, it would have been meaningless if Renegade had not existed. The ability to choose is stronger than the number of people playing any option, in my opinion. On its own, this seems innocuous.However, one user, Kala Elizabeth, reposted the official art of the potential new protagonist and pointed out how the Paragon symbol is somewhat discernible. While Gamble replied that he was talking about the trilogy in his original tweet, he also added, Youll just have to wait and seeRegardless of whether the next Mass Effect features the same Paragon and Renegade systems of yore, theres no denying the possibility of alignment-based choices. Dragon Age: The Veilguard received significant backlash for not allowing players any evil decisions, much less to converse rudely with companions. As always, however, time will tell.The next Mass Effect lacks a release date, though its rumored to launch in 2029. Head here for more details.Regarding renegade and paragon-Yes, its true that more people played paragon. But, it would have been meaningless if renegade had not existed. The ability to choose is stronger than the number of people playing any option, IMO. Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) January 3, 2025The renegade/paragon system is absolutely returning for Mass Effect 5 https://t.co/4OY9iUD2Cs pic.twitter.com/htjke2gz1C Kala Elizabeth (@kalaelizabeth) January 3, 2025I was talking about the trilogy. Youll just have to wait and see Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) January 3, 2025

The PS5 added a host of unmissable new titles to its growing library over the course of 2024, and though many of these were obviously pretty prominent and major releases that caught the attention of the industry at large, as always, this year also brought with it a number of remarkable games that havent got the sort of attention that they deserve. Here, were going to list out a few such titles.ANIMAL WELLThe golden age of Metroidvanias continues to deliver modern classics, andAnimal Well has surely joined that list. With no combat whatsoever and a striking pixel art aesthetic, it allows itself to stand out in a crowded genre, while its finely crafted and dense world, which remains a constant joy to explore from start to finish, is also a highlight. For fans of Metroidvanias, this one is unmissable.

Reelables is showing a new way to track shipped packages using inexpensive paper-based electronics that are on one side of a shipping label.Read More