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Smite 2 Tips and TricksSmite 2 may be a sequel, but it manages to maintain most of what made the original Smite such a beloved MOBA, opting for iteration over fully overhauling the gameplay experience. The move to Unreal Engine 5 has certainly provided developer Titan Forge with a wealth of opportunities to improve what already works so well about the franchise, though, ensuring that both new and veteran players have plenty to appreciate. If you fall into the former camp--or even if you're returning after a hiatus from the original game and want to brush up on tactics--here are some Smite 2 tips that will help you out. Roles are more flexible this time aroundYou could play any god in any role in the original Smite, but the game had clearly defined classes that often limited your success ceiling in doing so. Smite 2 does away with classes in favor of a flexible role system, which gives you a basic idea of which gods work especially well at playing in a certain lane or situation.This means many gods are listed as excelling at multiple roles, giving you a lot of opportunities to try unique builds and playstyles with them. Of course, there are some gods who won't perform all that well in specific roles, but by and large, you'll find there's just a lot more freedom to experiment. Builds are just as flexibleLike with roles, builds are a lot less rigid in Smite 2, too. Unlike the first game, which provided different classes with different item choices, Smite 2 allows any god to build any item. This is because many gods have abilities that scale off both main stats, Strength and Intelligence, allowing you to decide which abilities your build should cater most to.Maybe you want to bump up your Intelligence to aid with a healing ability, or perhaps you want a Strength-scaling damage ability to hit even harder--build your character any way you want. That being said, there are still certain items that won't be particularly helpful on certain gods, so it's always a good idea to learn what will work best with your god's kit. There's nothing wrong with autobuild for casual playSpeaking of building, the game offers a handy autobuild screen at the beginning of the match. Here, you'll find a handful of build types that you can select to have the game build your items for you. For instance, a frontliner like Chaac--who excels at sustainability and applying pressure--may be presented with Bruiser and Full Tank autobuilds.The former will automatically build you equally for both dealing and taking damage, while the latter will bolster your defenses. Autobuilding is pretty viable at casual levels of play, so if perfecting a build isn't something you're ready to learn, there's nothing wrong with making use of this feature. Aspects can totally change your playstyleAspects is a new feature exclusive to Smite 2. Think of these as modifications you apply on the God Select screen after you've chosen the god you want to play. At the moment, gods only have one Aspect to choose from (and some don't have one at all yet), but they can drastically change how the character plays. As an example, Athena's default ultimate ability allows her to teleport across the map to a teammate.By equipping her Aspect of War, her ultimate ability will instead allow her to teleport to someone on the enemy team and deal damage to them upon landing. Aspects are completely optional, but it's worth checking to see if your god has one that might make more sense for your playstyle. You should at least familiarize yourself with every godVariety is the spice of life--or so they say. While it's pretty normal for most folks to settle on a "main" (a primary god you play and master), it's a good idea to at least play a few rounds with all of the gods, especially as the game's lack of killcams mean you can't learn through the osmosis of getting bested. This can help you familiarize yourself with how their abilities work, how long their cooldowns tend to be, and what type of plays they're able to make. Knowing what they're capable of will grant you knowledge about how best to counter them. Practice makes perfect, and bot games make for good practiceYou may be tempted to jump into matches with real players, and that's totally fine--but it's also fine to play against bots. Each mode has a sub-mode that allows you to play it against AI, giving you an opportunity to learn the maps, practice with a new character, or just kick back and take it easy in a less stressful showdown.However, while the AI bots in Smite 2 can be dumb sometimes, they can also spontaneously become far smarter than you're anticipating. Don't be shocked if they team up on you when you least expect it. Customizing your settings can drastically improve your playThis may sound like a no-brainer, but customizing your controls and settings can help you feel more comfortable in Smite 2. Feel free to dive into the menus and check out everything that can be changed, paying special attention to the Gameplay segment.Here, make sure you decide whether you instant-cast abilities or double-tap the button to use them, and adjust your sensitivity until it feels just right. There are plenty of other important settings to look over, too, so take your time and get it right. Minion waves come first... at firstIt can be tempting to dive after an enemy in your lane just because they're low on health, but Smite 2 is a game where clearing your minion wave is almost always a priority--at least in the first few minutes of the game. Unless you (or someone supporting you) can be absolutely certain you can survive the damage from the minions and clean up a kill, it's best to be happy that you've forced an opponent to back off.It's better you both live to fight another day than it is for you to potentially get too far out of position and die. Later in the match when minions become an afterthought, though, it's probably best to pounce on those pesky low-HP foes. It's not all about killsOn the subject of kills, keep in mind they're not everything. Yes, getting more kills helps you level faster and opens opportunities for taking towers or rotating elsewhere--but the same can be said for the enemy if they win the fight. MOBAs are a game of strategy, so it's important to know when it's safe and worthwhile to chase down a possible kill and when it's best not to put yourself in risky situations where you might die instead.If you spend all your time running down your opponents and dying unnecessarily, your team is forced to compensate by supporting your lane while you wait to respawn. This stretches everyone too thin, and winning the match becomes less and less likely. You can hoard buffs (but you usually shouldn't)The original Smite only allowed you have one buff at a time, but Smite 2 allows you to carry multiple buffs at any given time. This means you could realistically stack up various buffs to give yourself an edge in your lane--but it's probably best that you don't. Each buff tends to be for a god in a specific lane or role--especially early in the match--so don't stack buffs unless you're positive no one else needs them. The grass is for playing peek-a-booSmite 2 has introduced grass around the maps, which allows you to hide from enemy players. You can be seen if an enemy gets too close to you in the grass, or if you cast an ability while hiding, but it's otherwise a great way to wait for players to get out of position before suddenly appearing to strike them down. It's not a great idea to just sit around in the grass all game, of course, but when used strategically, you can make some killer plays from these hiding spots. Wards save livesWhile we're on the subject of hiding and surprising your enemies, keep in mind they'll be doing the same thing. This is why wards are so important. These can be purchased in the store as single-use items to be placed somewhere on the map. These provide recon within a set area and will alert you any time an enemy passes through.This makes them immensely helpful when placed in the jungle of the Conquest map, giving you a heads up when enemy junglers may be rotating over your way. It may be a little frustrating to spend your gold on a consumable item like this, but you'll be thankful when it saves your life.

It's a new year and time for the most recent crop of horror movies that are going to creep out fans and get them talking. The new Blumhouse film Wolf Man arrives in theaters on Friday, January 17th, 2025, and its box office numbers are already looking strong.

Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com!Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or download hereHowdy, folks! This week, the crew returns for the first show of 2025! Topics of discussion include Marvel Rivals and retro classics Final Fantasy 5 and the Contra series. Plus, Brett joins to close out the PlayStation 30th Anniversary discussion by sharing his favorite PS5 and PS VR2 games.Stuff We Talked AboutNext weeks release highlights:Star Wars Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles | PS5, PS4Synduality Echo of Ada | PS5Dynasty Warriors: Origins hands-on detailsArken Age pre-launch detailsPlatformers of PlayStation PlusMarvel RivalsBrett highlights his top games on PS5 and PS VR2The CastView and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageSid Shuman Senior Director of Content Communications, SIEView and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageTim Turi Content Communications Manager, SIEView and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageBrett Elston Manager, Content Communications, SIEThanks to Dormiln for our rad theme song and show music.[Editors note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]

A recently surfaced research paper has brought the contentious conversation surrounding artificial intelligence into the realm of actual play. Published in July 2024, a paper by graduate student Pavlos Sakellaridis documents his attempts to create a ChatGPT-powered Dungeon Master based off a dataset using the The Sunless Citadel D&D module and transcripts of Critical Role provided by fan work, not members of Critical Role itself. The experiment has raised questions about the hazy nature of fan works as they related to consent in training Large Language Models.As advertisements for LLM-generated adventures have become more prevalent, the research was an attempt to evaluate ChatGPTs ability to not merely create an adventure but maintain narrative coherence and foster player involvement, according to the paper. The academic effort was based on a complex slurry of variously licensed information, with some sourced from private companies, some sourced from a group of performers, and other materials sourced from volunteers. In the body of the paper, Sakellaridis states that he used The Sunless Citadel as a reference file for ChatGPT when acting as the DM, citing proprietary descriptions of characters, locations, and pre-written dialogue from the module during play. The Critical Role transcripts used come from the Critical Role Dungeons and Dragons Dataset (CRD3), which contains nearly 160 episodes of transcription from the first and second campaigns, along with corresponding summaries collected from the Fandom wiki.The dataset, crafted by Revanth Rameshkumar and Peter Bailey of Microsoft was originally made due to their belief that better abstractive summarization tools to distill information is essential given the ongoing growth of unscripted, multi-person dialogues in entertainment and business scenarios, according to their paper on the data set. We hope that CRD3 will support research and development for such tools.Unlike for-profit AI research that is trained on the work of professional artists, Sakellaridis research was done as a student project and was trained on the fan-based labor. As noted by actual play historian and Polygon contributor Dr. Emily Friedman on Bluesky, the citations within Sakellaridis paper show this data has been used in other LLM-based projects (not affiliated with Sakellaridis or his academic research), while much of the work of transcribing these episodes has been done through volunteer fan labor. The greatest contributions are from Stuart Langridge through the site Kryogenix, which has searchable transcripts tagged by speaker and time. Protections surrounding the Critical Role episodes places these transcripts in a precarious situation, potentially endangering the largest source of actual play research data available amidst ongoing legal battles over the use of copyrighted material to train AI. At the original time of writing, Kryogenix had been down, but has since gone back online. [Critical Role] loses out BIG TIME if Kryogenix stays down, said Friedman in a statement to Polygon, as the work by Langridge enables important research into the still-developing medium with little historical or institutional archives.The use of generative AI has been a point of repeated contention in the tabletop industry and beyond, with the technologys critics citing its environmental impact and its foundations on exploitative labor from both workers based in the global south and artists whose work is nonconsensually used to train the tech. Wizards of the Coast, along with other companies, has previously come under fire from its audience for the use (both suspected and verified) of generative AI in their products resulting in explicit statements from the company that AI will not be used in their art, though last year CEO Chris Cocks told VentureBeat that Hasbro is doing some stuff around AI thats really interesting.Critical Role, however, is much less on the fence about its relationship with artificial intelligence, going so far as to say Fuck AI in a recent episode.Polygon contacted Critical Role, Hasbro, and Sakellaridis for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.

The recent fires in Los Angeles have left an indelible mark on the vibrant design community and the rest of the countless individuals whose lives and homes have been upended. At Design Milk, our hearts are with everyone affected by this tragedy. As we navigate the path forward, we want to share resources that can aid those who have lost everything.To support the community in rebuilding, heres a list of organizations and nonprofits that are providing aid to all that are affected in the Los Angeles area.LA Arts Community Fire Relief FundLed by the Getty, a coalition of major arts organizations are providing emergency relief for artists and arts workers of all disciplines that have lost their homes, studios, archives, art, or livelihoods due to the Los Angeles fires.Support Designers and Architects Affected by LA FiresA GoFundMe launched by Joby Blachy of Quintus to provide aid to those in the design and architecture industry who have lost homes or studios.American Red CrossThe Red Cross is a nonprofit providing emergency assistance and relief through its network of organizations.LAFDThe Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation is helps provide necessary equipment and funds the critical programs to support the LAFD.Pasadena Humane SocietyThe Pasadena Humane Society is a donor-supported, nonprofit organization providing care for all animals, and aiding in emergency resources for the animals affected by the wildfires.Los Angeles Regional Food BankThe Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is working alongside government agencies and nonprofit partners to provide food and nutrition assistance to those throughout Los Angeles County.GoFundMeGoFundMe has compiled a list of verified fundraisers for people affected by wildfires throughout Los Angeles County.Direct ReliefDirect Relief is a California-based organization distributing critical aid, like medications and N95 masks, to those impacted by the fires.California Fire FoundationAn organization that provides emotional and financial assistance to the families of fallen firefighters, firefighters and the communities they serve.

I know what it's like when the thought of looking at your personal finances makes your stomach churn. The first step to getting control of your spending is to take a hard look at where your money actually goes. Now, I've previously lamented how many sources like to overstate the impact of small purchases, like your morning iced coffee, on your long-term finances. At the same time, you really shouldnt be spending more than you earn, which makes it difficult to pay off debts and save money for the future. If you dont know where to get started making a budget, or your current one doesnt seem to work for you, a spending audit is a great way to get the right numbers and make a plan that works for you. Because whether you deliberately ignore certain bad spending habits or youve fallen prey to a larger trend of lifestyle creep, its easy to lose track of where some of your cash is going. Heres how to perform a spending audit and position yourself to make better financial decisions in the future.What is a spending audit?An audit is a review, not a budget. Many people choose to look forward and create a budget without being honest about their current spending habits. But the goal of cutting back on spending is abstract and hard to achieve. Better to figure out what youre actually spending first, and go from there.Think of your spending audit as the sometimes painful, but definitely necessary, first step to creating a budget that actually works for you. Review all of your transactions from a certain amount of timefor our purposes, lets say three months of spending. Then, consider what the results say about your spending habits and what you can change.How to conduct your spending auditHere's how to conduct an effective spending audit that will help your spending habits going forward.Gather all your numbersKick off your audit by collecting around three months' worth of financial statements from all your accounts, including:Credit card statementsBank account transactionsDigital payment services (PayPal, Venmo, etc.)Cash expenditures (tracked through receipts)I find that three months provides enough data to identify patterns while remaining manageable to analyze. Having all this information in one place helps create a complete picture of your spending habits.Categorize your transactionsCreate meaningful categories that reflect your lifestyle. Common categories include:Housing (rent/mortgage, utilities, maintenance)Transportation (car payments, fuel, public transit)Food (groceries, dining out)Entertainment (streaming services, hobbies, events)Healthcare (insurance, medications, appointments)Personal care (haircuts, gym memberships, clothing)Debt payments (student loans, credit cards)Go through each transaction and assign it to a category. Be honest with yourselfthat coffee shop visit might be "food" or "entertainment," depending on your perspective and habits.Start looking for pattensNext, look for patterns that illuminate your spending behavior. One way to do this is to mark each item on your bank statements. Place a star next to necessary purchases, a check next to discretionary purchases that you feel good about, and an X next to ones that are more questionable. Once youve marked all the expenses that you regret or want to change going forward, group them together and ask yourself some questions to identify your problem areas. Think: Is your coffee habit out of control? Are you spending too much on a gym membership you rarely use? Have your monthly subscriptions gotten out of hand? Are your debt payments higher than you can afford right now? You might be surprised to find how many expenses youll be able to eliminate, whether because they were unintentional or were motivated by stress.Create a budget that suits your lifestyleFinally, at the end of the audit, add up all these problem areas to get a rough approximation of how much money you could route into savings if you changed your habits. Calculate percentages for each category relative to your total spending. Compare these to common financial guidelines, such as the 50/30/20 rule (50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings).A spending audit is a simple exercise that lets you spend a little more consciously now, before things get out of control later. And now that youve conducted your audit, here are some ways you can get started actually putting together a budget.)

The seven-year wait is finally over. Nintendo has officially revealed its next console, the Switch 2. Now that the reveal has actually happened, after months of speculation, we can all move onto something else, right? Not so fast. The short introduction video actually created more questions than answers. Theres a whole lot we dont know about Nintendos forthcoming hybrid console, so lets get into it.When will it come out?We dont know! Nintendo has a Direct livestream planned for April 2, in which well probably get that information. Itll be sometime after that, but during 2025. Maybe theyll do a quick turnaround and have it ready for sale by the end of April, but a summer release is far more likely. Its also possible the company will wait until the beginning of the lucrative holiday season. Folks will be able to play it in the near future, however, as Nintendo is holding in-person events throughout the world in April through June.What are the internal specs?This is another mystery. The introduction video merely showed the exterior of the console, along with the updated controllers. There was no mention of internal specs. Of course, there are plenty of rumors regarding the power of Nintendos next console, but nothing concrete. Some analysts predict the console will include an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal eMMC storage, while others say itll be powered by an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Most people seem to agree that the system will include some version of NVIDIAs DLSS deep learning supersampling" upscaling tech.What about the screen?NintendoWeve seen the screen in action, likely running some version of an upcoming Mario Kart game. The video gave us some insight into the size of the display, as it looks to be around 30 percent larger than the current model. This tracks with rumors indicating an 8-inch screen. However, we dont know the type of display that accompanies the console. Rumors vary here. Some analysts predict a Mini-LED screen, while others expect a traditional LCD. It probably wont be an OLED, as the company will likely save that for a future upgrade.Whats the battery life?There arent even any credible rumors on this one, but there was some speculation last year regarding the companys adoption of a performance mode feature with the Switch 2. Nintendo likes to hit that mass market sweet spot, so Id be very surprised if the battery life didnt match the Switch OLEDs 4.5 to nine hours of playtime per charge. The console will be more powerful than the OG Switch, certainly, but its also bigger. That extra room can house a beefy battery.How much will it cost?This is yet another unknown. Nintendo will likely reveal pricing information on April 2. The original Switch launched at $300, as did the Wii U. However, inflation is real and supply chains are rickety. Rumors have been circulating that the price could shoot up to $400, or even higher. Nintendo does tend to increase base level console prices every couple of generations. The GameCube originally cost $200 and the Wii was $250.Do the controllers feature optical sensors?Nintendo Theres been a long-standing rumor that the Switch 2 will incorporate mouse-like functionality via optical sensors on the Joy-Cons. We dont have exact confirmation on that, but the introduction video sure seems to imply it. Eagle-eyed viewers probably spotted a segment that featured the Pixar-like controllers moving around a table like, well, two computer mice. If true, Nintendo will likely develop some wacky software that combines mouse and controller inputs. In any event, this addition will certainly make stuff like Civilization VI easier to play. It could also hint at a new Mario Paint.Whats that unmarked button on the right side?NintendoViewers also likely spotted a new button on the bottom of the right Joy-Con. This was previously rumored to be a C button, but it's unmarked in the introduction video. We dont know what it does, so your guess is as good as ours. Maybe it calibrates controllers or initiates voice chat. Well probably find out on April 2.Whats the deal with backwards compatibility?NintendoYes, the Switch 2 is backwards compatible with original Switch games. This is fantastic news, but the intro video did note that "certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2." We dont exactly know what that means or how many titles it will impact. Its a fair bet that it refers to some of the wackier stuff from the previous generation, like Nintendo Labo or Mario Kart: Home Circuit.Will stick drift be a problem?Well have to wait and see on that one, but the reveal video did take some time out to show a joystick doing cute little full circles. Previous leaks have indicated that Nintendo has learned its lesson regarding stick-drift and the new console will include Hall effect joysticks. We sure hope so.What will the UI be like?The Switchs user interface, for better or worse, is extremely minimal and bare-bones. This carries over to the online shopping experience. We dont know if the Switch 2 will incorporate some Nintendo-grade wackiness when it comes to the UI. My hope is that it brings back its long-forgotten social network Miiverse. It was silly and fun. Modern social media apps are a lot of things, but I wouldnt exactly call them silly or fun.Will there be any Nintendo weirdness?From the headache-inducing 3DS to the, well, equally headache-inducing Virtual Boy, Nintendo has always marched to the beat of its own drum. The Switch 2, however, seems to be an extremely conservative release for the company. It's a more powerful and slightly bigger Switch.Will there be any of that Nintendo weirdness that saved the company in the age of the Wii and nearly ruined it during the Wii U era? We don't know yet. It's entirely possible the aforementioned optical sensors or "C" button could lead to wild and wacky gameplay experiences. It's also possible that there are features yet to be announced. This is Nintendo we are talking about here.What are the launch games?NintendoThis is a total unknown, though fans hoping for a new Mario Kart certainly got a jolt by that reveal video. It included a fair amount of footage from what looked to be a brand-new Mario Kart, complete with revamped character designs and the potential for 24-person races.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/everything-were-still-dying-to-know-about-the-nintendo-switch-2-195606756.html?src=rss

Multiple groups are using the same infection chain to deliver different infostealers, including 0bj3ctivityStealer and VIP Keylogger.

Digital Currency Group, the crypto firm founded by Barry Silbert, is paying the SEC $38.5 million for misleading investors.