Development on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach seems to now be in its crunch phase. Studio boss Hideo Kojima took to social media platform X to talk about how the game is in its most demanding period of development.In his post, Kojima refers to the games development as being physical and mentally demanding, calling it crunch time. He also goes on to mention that, at this point, Kojima Productions is working on a host of different things, ranging from mixing Japanese voice recording to working on interviews, discussions, essays, and even non-game-related work.The most demanding period of game developmentboth physically and mentallycommonly known as crunch time, wrote Kojima. On top of mixing and Japanese voice recording, theres an inevitable pile of other tasks: writing comments, explanations, essays, interviews, discussions, and non-game-related work. Its incredibly tough.The game development industry is hardly a stranger to the concepts of crunch time, with the release of plenty of AAA titles having involved its developers on working overtime to try and hit deadlines. Crunch time, however, is widely looked down upon, since it often ends up forcing developers working on these titles to forego other important aspects of their lives, with several developers in the past having been burnt out, and ultimately, having left the industry altogether.While we may not know all the details about the development and production of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Kojima had revealed back in May 2024 that filming and recording for the game had been wrapped up, and that the title was in its adjustment phase.Kojima Production revealed the Japanese voice cast for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach back in September. Among the cast are several actors reprising their roles from the original Death Stranding, including Kenjiro Tsuda once again playing the role of protagonist Sam Porter Bridges. The game will also feature Nana Mizuki as Fragile, and Satoshi Mikami as Higgs.Among the new voice actors that will be in the games Japanese language options are Tomokazu Sugita taking on the role of Dollman, Mitsuru Miyamoto as Tarman, and Shion Wakayama as Tomorrow.From the few details that Kojima Productions has revealed about Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, it looks like it will be a wilder game than its predecessor. Among other things, the game will seemingly feature an in-game dancing event that revolves around Dollman. The game will also feature several new characters, with a trailer showing us Dollman, Tomorrow, Rainy, and Tarman.Death Stranding 2: On the Beach doesnt yet have a release date, but it is expected to come out in 2025, and will be available on PS5. For more information about the follow-up to Death Stranding, here are 10 new details about the game. In case youre worried about not having experienced the original before diving into the sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will also include a recap of the first game to help get players up to speed.A specific release date for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is expected to be announced some time this year, and will likely coincide with one of the bigger gaming events.The most demanding period of game developmentboth physically and mentallycommonly known as crunch time. On top of mixing and Japanese voice recording, theres an inevitable pile of other tasks: writing comments, explanations, essays, interviews, discussions, and https://t.co/FrXRgaS748 HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) January 10, 2025

R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant. Photo by Randy Hoffmann via the City of Torontos websiteSubmissions are still being accepted to participate in the 2025 edition of Doors Open Toronto.Doors Open Toronto is an annual event organized by the City of Toronto in partnership with the wider community, and provides rare public access for one weekend to architecturally and culturally significant buildings across the city.More than 150 buildings and sites open their doors for this celebration around the city that is recognized as one of Torontos most culturally significant events.The theme for 2025 is The City is Your Playground; Get Ready to Play, which aims to exploreTorontos playful development through the citys most architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings and sites.From sports to music to theatre, Doors Open sites and programming will engage with the joyful, irreverent and sometimes serious times of play. Visitors will explore the many sides of our playful city for kids of all ages, reads the City of Torontos website.Developed as a millennium project in 2000, Doors Open Toronto has attracted over two million visits since, and has given people of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to learn about Torontos history, become involved, and celebrate the citys built heritage for free.The inspiration for Doors Open Toronto came from Europe with France being the first country to launch its Doors Open program in 1984, followed by Glasgow in 1990.According to the City of Torontos website, a total of 48 European countries currently participate every September during European Heritage Month. Australia and the United States have also joined the Doors Open movement.Toronto was the first North American city to offer a Doors Open program, and has inspired similar events across the continent. Many participants organize guided tours, exhibits, displays and activities to enrich the visitor experience.To apply, the online consideration form must be completed by January 17, 2025.For more information, click here.The post Doors Open Toronto 2025 issues call for site participation appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Old Glory Studios plans to launch a tactical shooter called Victory's Grave: Outflank, with help from its equity-based crowdfunding campaign.Read More

Toadman Interactive shuts down, layoffs at Piranha Games38 employees let go from Piranha, 69 workers affected by Toadman closureImage credit: Piranha Games News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on Jan. 13, 2025 Last week, Swedish games firm Enad Global 7 (EG7) initiated the "wind down" of Toadman Interactive and laid off 38 employees from Piranha Games.EG7 said the decision to shut down Toadman Interactive was due to "continued industry challenges and the studio's inability to secure new work-for-hire contracts at a necessary pace."Current work-for-hire contracts on current projects, including Daybreak and Cold Iron, will be protected during the process set to occur in the second half of 2025.69 employees and subcontractors will be affected by the wind down, with 42 staying on to fulfil contracts of protected projects.Last September, Toadman closed its offices in Stockholm, Visby, and Oslo, in addition to redundancies at its Berlin studio.As for Piranha Games, 38 employees will be let go as part of a "business optimisation plan" following the release of MechWarrior 5: Clans."The team at Piranha truly delivered a high-quality game that exceeded both internal as well as external expectations in terms of quality, story, and gameplay," said EG7 CEO Ji Ham."Despite the phenomenal work by the team at Piranha, the game failed to reach new audiences and expand its core audience as expected and therefore has not met the necessary sales targets, which has forced us to undertake necessary actions."Toadman, publisher Sold Out, and creative agency Petrol joined together in January 2020 to form EG7. Later that year, the firm acquired Piranha Games for $24.1 million.

Independent game worker union STJV has called on Don't Nod staff to enact an extended strike in support of employees at risk of layoffs.The strike was approved by around 90 percent of Don't Nod workers who voted in a general assembly. STJV said it wants employees to participate in a "renewable strike" starting on January 13, 2025, to push management to engage with its demands in relation to a proposed restructuring plan.The French union repeatedly called for walkouts and strikes in 2024 after Don't Nod announced plans to cut up to 69 jobs as part of a "reorganization project" studio leadership claimed would ensure its long-term future."Amid deteriorating results, and despite the actions already taken, the company is now compelled to consider a reorganization project to safeguard its competitiveness in an increasingly demanding and competitive ecosystem," wrote the Jusant and Lost Records: Bloom and Rage developer when discussing its half-year results in October 2024.In response, STJV claimed studio management was making employees pay for their "crass ineptitude" while also stifling the union's ability to negotiate effectively by reducing time limits and resources to the "bare legal minimum." The union implored management to engage with employee representatives and initially called for a walkout.It then called for strikes in November and December and issued four key demands (pictured below).Now, months later, STJV claims Don't Nod's response to negotiations has been inadequate."Negotiations between STJV and Don't Nod management about the layoffs plan are not conducive to any serious promise to employees. Despite huge efforts from the union delegates to reach a deal, management's offers remain insignificant," wrote the union in its latest update."We tried everything to negotiate within reason, and assumed good faith from our interlocutors. Today, the previsional date for a potential deal has passed and we still didn't even get to talk about crucial elements such as the conditions under which people would leave the company (severance pay, packages for voluntary departures)."Negotiations only revolved around potential reductions in forced departures, over which management still intends to keep total control, which would allow them to remain extremely close to their initial project."STJV claims studio leaders are only interested in stalling for time and don't wish to negotiate seriously.Game Developer has reached out to Don't Nod and STJV for more information about those negations and the restructuring plan.

Last week, major location data broker Gravy Analytics disclosed a data breach that may have resulted in the theft of precise location data for millions of people, reports TechCrunch. That appears to include data from popular mobile games like Candy Crush, as well as dating apps, pregnancy tracking apps, and more, as 404 Media wrote on Thursday, following up its report of the breach two days earlier.Baptiste Robert, CEO of digital security company Predicta Lab, said in a series of posts Wednesday that the small sample data set published in a Russian forum contained data for tens of millions of data points worldwide and included sensitive locations like the White House, Kremlin, Vatican, military bases, and more. As TechCrunch notes, the sample alone contained more than 30 million locations. Gravy said in its disclosure to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority that it identified unauthorized access to itsAWS cloud storage environment on January 4th. It says in the disclosure that its still investigating how long hackers had access to its cloud environment and whether the hack constitutes a reportable personal data breach. As for what or who was affected, the company writes: Gravy Analytics is working diligently to determine the scope of the incident and the nature of the information involved. Preliminary findings indicate that an unauthorized person obtained certain files, which could contain personal data. These are currently being analyzed. If it is determined that personal data is involved, that personal data is likely associated with users of third-party services that supply this data to Gravy Analytics.Gravy Analytics was one of two data brokers targeted last month in a proposed FTC order that forbids it from selling, disclosing, or using sensitive location data in any product or service. The FTC at the time wrote that its subsidiary, Venntel, collected data from apps and sold access to that data to businesses or government agencies, including the IRS, DEA, FBI, and ICE.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3s box office success has sped past another milestone to become the second highest-grossing video game movie adaptation of all time in North America.The film, which sees Keanu Reeves join the cast as Shadow the Hedgehog, is now over $204 million domestically after weekend four earned $11 million across 3,582 locations. The global tally is an impressive $384.8 million.Sonic 3 has overtaken its predecessor, Sonic 2, in the domestic box office race, but it is way off the number one record holder: The Super Mario Bros. Movie. In fact, the gap is insurmountable. The Nintendo adaptation earned an incredible $574,934,330 domestically, with an eye-watering $1,359,146,628 box office. These are figures that may never be beaten when it comes to video game adaptations, although the upcoming Minecraft movie and the Super Mario Bros. Movie sequel may run it close.The people behind Sonic The Hedgehog 3 wont be too bothered, however. The movie is a certified hit for Paramount, which has already announced Sonic 4.Oh, and if you were wondering about other hugely successful video game movie adaptations, 2022'sUncharted is in fourth with $148,648,820 domestically, and the first Sonic movie is in fifth with $146,066,470.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Its always been clear that Vision Pro was simply Apples first step into the AR/VR headset world, and that a lower-priced Apple Vision product would follow, but there have so far been mixed reports on when we might expect to see it.Weve so far seen reports variously suggesting that the non-Pro Apple Vision headset would launch in 2025, 2026, and 2027 with the latest of these saying the company is ramping up development work Lower-priced Apple Vision timingsAs recently as October of last year, Bloomberg was reporting that work on the device was on-track, and set to launch as early as 2025. Admittedly Mark Gurmans trademarked phrasing allows for a lot of leeway; any year from 2025 onwards would technically qualify.Ming-Chi Kuo disagreed shortly afterwards, suggesting that Apple was prioritising an updated version of Vision Pro, and that a lower-cost model had been pushed back to 2027.By yesterday, Gurman was disagreeing with both Kuo and his own earlier prediction, saying that theres no sign of an updated Vision Pro in the works, but a more affordable headset isnt likely until 2026.What to expect from a non-Pro Apple VisionApple will have to tread a careful path in launching a lower-cost model. On the one hand, it absolutely has to bring the price down to a more realistic level for something beyond very niche early-adopter take-up.On the other hand, it cant throw away too many of the reasons anyone would opt for an Apple Vision product over any of the existing competitor products, like Metas Quest headsets.EyeSight will be dropped for sure EyeSight was one of the headline features of Vision Pro, with Apple claiming it had practical benefits in letting people know when a user could see them, as well as psychological advantages in reducing the isolation experienced by someone using the spatial computer.However, its an expensive feature, requiring an additional display, and the evidence is that very few people seem to think it adds much value. Users report that it fails to live up to the marketing materials, and that was very much backed by my own hands-on experience.For both reasons, its safe to expect this to be absent from a lower-cost model.Lower-resolution displays also a certaintyA much bigger benefit of Vision Pro over lower-cost competitors is the quality of the displays, thanks to a type of OLED technology known as OLEDoS, aka OLED on Silicon.Conventional OLED has a glass substrate; OLEDoS in contrast mounts the display directly onto silicon containing the drivers for the pixels. This allows for much smaller pixels, increasing the maximum pixel density to several thousand per inch. The tech also supports the very high refresh rates needed to avoid motion-blur.Vision Pro not only has OLEDoS displays, but exceedingly high-resolution ones of 3,6603,200 pixels per eye. These produce incredibly life-like images, but manufacturing them is an extremely delicate and expensive undertaking. Currently only Sony is capable of producing OLEDoS at this resolution, and even then it is limited to making around 1M units per year, thus enough for only 500k units.Apple will almost certainly stick to OLEDoS technnology for a lower-priced product in order to retain the very low latency, but its equally certain that it will reduce the resolution to make the displays more affordable, as well as enabling manufacturers to hit the necessary yields for a more popular product.Apple has reportedly been seeking samples of OLEDoS displays from both JDI and Samsung with around half the resolution, meaning somewhere in the 1,500 to 1,700ppi range. This would likely also be reflected in a narrower field of view in order to protect the realism of the images.Less aluminum, more plasticVision Pro contains a lot of aluminum, which adds to the premium product feel, but also makes it more expensive to produce.Additionally, even a relatively lightweight metal like aluminum is considerably heavier than plastic, which is one of the reasons users say it can only be worn comfortably for short periods of time.For both reasons, we can expect a more affordable model to have a mostly plastic construction.Possible iPhone tethering but probably notWhile Id put money on the above predictions, a far less certain one is that Apple could require the device to be tethered to an iPhone. This would offload much of the processing power, again reducing the manufacturing cost of the headset itself.Bloombergs Mark Gurman said last summer that Apple is considering this approach, but we havent heard anything more about it since then.This would be quite a radical change, especially as it already needs a tethered battery, and its unlikely an iPhone could provide the power needed. Double-tethering feels like a very clunky approach to me, so for now at least Im going to file this one under possible but unlikely.Pricing in the $1500-2000 rangeIf theres one thing that has led to more criticism of Vision Pro than anything else its the $3,400+ price tag. Even CEO Tim Cook admits this makes it a niche product.At $3,500, its not a mass-market product, Cook says. Right now, its an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrows technology todaythats who its for.Many have suggested that Apple needs to hit a price of around $1,500 to make it viable as a somewhat popular product, while others have argued that $1,000 is the critical price.This was my own view until I tried it, at which point I decided that if Apple can crack the all-day comfort problem (which is a very big if), then Id probably be tempted at $2k.Right now, the smart money is on something in the $1500-2000 range.Would you buy this?Lets leave aside iPhone tethering and assume it still works as a standalone device. Lets also split the predicted price range down the middle, and assume $1,750.Given no EyeSight, a lower-resolution (but still OLEDoS) display, and plastic casing would you buy one? Please take our poll, and share your thoughts in the comments.Photo byBram Van OostonUnsplashAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Jan 13, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Cloud SecurityA recently disclosed critical security flaw impacting the Aviatrix Controller cloud networking platform has come under active exploitation in the wild to deploy backdoors and cryptocurrency miners.Cloud security firm Wiz said it's currently responding to "multiple incidents" involving the weaponization of CVE-2024-50603 (CVSS score: 10.0), a maximum severity bug that could result in unauthenticated remote code execution.Put differently, a successful exploitation of the flaw could permit an attacker to inject malicious operating system commands owing to the fact that certain API endpoints do not adequately sanitize user-supplied input. The vulnerability has been addressed in versions 7.1.4191 and 7.2.4996.Jakub Korepta, a security researcher at Polish cybersecurity company Securing, has been credited with discovering and reporting the shortcoming. A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit has since been made publicly available.Data gathered by the cybersecurity company shows that around 3% of cloud enterprise environments have Aviatrix Controller deployed, out of which 65% of them demonstrate a lateral movement path to administrative cloud control plane permissions. This, in turn, allows for privilege escalation in the cloud environment."When deployed in AWS cloud environments, Aviatrix Controller allows privilege escalation by default, making exploitation of this vulnerability a high-impact risk," Wiz researchers Gal Nagli, Merav Bar, Gili Tikochinski, and Shaked Tanchuma said.Real-world attacks exploiting CVE-2024-50603 are leveraging the initial access to target instances to mine cryptocurrency using XMRig and deploying the Sliver command-and-control (C2) framework, likely for persistence and follow-on exploitation."While we have yet to see direct evidence of cloud lateral movement, we do believe it likely that threat actors are utilizing the vulnerability to enumerate the cloud permissions of the host and then pivot to exfiltrating data from the victims' cloud environments," Wiz researchers said.In light of active exploitation, users are recommended to apply the patches as soon as possible and prevent public access to Aviatrix Controller.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

The Flash director Andy Muschietti thinks the film failed because it didnt appeal to all four quadrants of moviegoer demographics.The 51-year-old filmmaker helmed the 2023 DC Comics blockbuster, which starred Ezra Miller as the titular hero, has theorized the superhero flick flopped because it couldnt attract a wide enough audience.During an appearance on Argentinas Radio Tu, Muschietti said: The Flash failed, among all the other reasons because it wasn't a movie that appealed to all four quadrants.It failed at that.Ezra Miller - The Flash - 2023 - Warner BrosWarner Brosloading...READ MORE: Actors Who Turned Down Major DC RolesThe It director added general audiences just dont care about The Flash as a character as much as other DC heroes like Batman or Superman.He continued: When you spend $200 million making a movie, Warner [Bros.] wants to bring even your grandmother to the theaters.And I've found in private conversations that a lot of people just don't care about The Flash as a character. Particularly the two female quadrants. All of that is just the wind going against the film I've learned.The Flash follows the titular hero (Miller) as he finds himself stuck in an alternate reality in which General Zod (Michael Shannon) arrives to destroy Earth, leaving the speedster to team up with Tim Burtons Batman (Michael Keaton) and Supergirl (Sasha Calle) to stop him.On a budget of approximately $200 million, The Flash bombed at the box office, pulling in $271 million globally.Before its financial disaster, The Flash was plagued by major production issues. The movie was initially slated to hit screens in 2018, with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse writing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller set to pen the story.However, the pair were later dropped, leaving The LEGO Batman Moviewriter Seth Grahame-Smith to pick up the pen instead before he too ultimately left the project in 2016.After more directors and writers (like Rick Famuyiwa, Joby Harold, John Francis DaleyandJonathan Goldstein) joined and exited the film, The Flash finally found its director in Muschietti and writer in Christina Hodson, with the pairs involvement in the film being officially announced in November 2019.After the picture was confirmed for a July 2022 release date, The Flash was pushed back to November that year due to the strain the Covid-19 pandemic put onto the visual effects industry, before it was delayed once again to June 2023.While The Flash failed, Muschietti is set to return to the DC universe for his Batman film The Brave and the Bold.Get our free mobile appThe Biggest DC Movie BombsThese movies may have featured some of the biggest superheroes in history, but they were also big flops.Filed Under: Andy Muschietti, DC Comics, The FlashCategories: Movie News, Superheroes