A hot potato: In news that will likely increase the anger many people feel toward some elements of the gaming industry, an analyst's report claims that developers and publishers "hope" that Grand Theft Auto VI could cost as much as $100 when it arrives. Such a move could embolden other companies to starting charging more for their games, pushing up average selling prices to offset rising development costs. Matthew Ball of Epyllion's State of Video Gaming in 2025 report has a large focus on what will undoubtedly be the biggest release of the year, GTA VI despite there still being no official PC version.The next instalment in the GTA series is expected to break plenty of records, including being the most expensive game ever made. There are no official figures, but estimates range somewhere between the high hundreds of millions to as high as $2 billion. For context, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's development costs were $700 million. While that's less than 2020's Genshin Impact, which is officially the most expensive game ever at $900 million, that includes $200 million added annually for ongoing costs Genshin Impact's initial costs were just $100 million.Rockstar and Take-Two could use GTA VI's enormous development costs as justification to price the game between $80 and $100. Ball said such a move "could re-establish packed video game prices after decades of deflation despite rampant cost growth."It's been five years since the first major game to carry a $70 price tag, NBA 2K21, launched, signalling the beginning of the end for the standard $60 AAA price that had been around since the launch of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 era in the mid-2000s. It's still a point of contention today, especially when it's slapped on a game that isn't particularly well received, such as Skull and Bones.Ball notes that GTA VI breaking the $70 barrier and possibly going all the way to $100 could have a trickledown effect in which all companies increase their games' selling price by $10, with $80 becoming the new standard for AAA titles. // Related Stories$100 for a game brings to mind the Neo Geo, the 1990s console for which games retailed for up to $100 to $300 due to the machine's arcade-quality components and large cartridges containing substantial memory for the time.However, Ball points out that $70 GTA VI would be the "cheapest" GTA game ever released in real terms (taking inflation into account). In real terms, $91 would be average, though gamers are unlikely to appreciate his point of view."Packaged game prices have never been lower in real terms than they are today even though budgets are at all-time highs and player growth is stalled," Ball said. "GTA VI could re-establish packed video game prices after decades of deflation despite rampant cost growth."This isn't the first time we've heard claims of GTA VI carrying a huge retail price. There were rumors in September that it could cost $150. That seems extremely unlikely, unless it's for a special-edition version of some kind.A recent report found that while graphical fidelity contributes to inflated budgets and extended development timelines, other factors, including employee wages, massive open worlds, and non-gaming related issues, play significant roles in pushing up game development costs.

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsAtari 2600NES controllerN64 controllerSixaxisXbox Duke controllerGameCube controllerDualShockXbox 360 controllerDualSense EdgeXbox Elite controllerIt doesnt matter if youre playing the best game of all-time or one of the worst if youre holding a terrible controller. These are our gateway into the world of gaming, and depending on how they are designed can completely change how we look at a console. The best NES games wouldnt have taken off if it werent for its controller, and weve only been iterating on them since then. Graphics are important, but the best consoles of all-time wouldnt have succeeded without a great controller. Lets go back through the ages and pick out the best controllers weve ever held.Giovanni Colantonio / Digital TrendsWe have to hand it to Atari for keeping it simple but functional early on. A lot of competing consoles around now tried to get crazy with controllers, adding things like number pads and spinning dials. This joystick and button is about as limited as you can get for a controller but is more than enough for the type of games that were coming out at the time. It served as a great starting point to build off of.Recommended VideosNintendoNintendo basically set the standard for all consoles going forward up until the 3D era with the NES controller. Its D-pad was a revolution that we still use to this day, and the simplicity of the two-button layout was natural without getting too complicated. The form factor is a bit small, and its edges are a little sharp, but is otherwise about as close to perfect as you can get for 2D games.RelatedNintendoWhat is left to say about the three-pronged N64 controller? It worked well enough holding the center and right handles, but that D-pad and left bumper were effectively useless based on the design. The Z button was the first trigger button wed seen, and that alone gives it major points, but this isnt a controller were eager to pick up again.SonyThe PS3 generation was easily the biggest stumble Sony ever had, and the launch controller was only part of its woes. Rather than deliver the DualShock 3 like everyone expected, PlayStation shook things up byremoving rumble. The Sixaxis sacrificed any haptics in exchange for clunky and hardly-used motion controls, convex sticks, and mushy trigger buttons that felt terrible for shooters.XboxWe have no idea what Xbox was thinking launching its first console with a controller as big as the Duke. That size is the controllers only fatal flaw because its dual thumbstick, triggers, and buttons are all fantastic. The black and white buttons were an odd choice to try and differentiate itself, but it got enough right that it was able to compete with Nintendo and Sony.NintendoThis is what the N64 controller should have looked like from the start. The sticks make sense, there are ample buttons, and the triggers thick and satisfying to pull. It just has a few odd quirks, like the C-stick being a nub and there only being one bumper button, but it holds up well enough that people still use them to this day.SonyThe original DualShock might as well be the blueprint for every modern controller. We have two sticks, a D-pad, four face buttons, two triggers, and two bumpers. With the exception of back buttons, theres not much innovation to be had from here that made any meaningful impact on gaming.XboxThe 360 edges out the DualShock purely based on refinement. Some people prefer the offset sticks, but theres no denying that the curved triggers were a clear improvement and the slightly rounded buttons felt great to press. The only flaw is that the D-pad is mushy and imprecise.SonyThe latest and best PS5 controller is the high-end DualSense Edge. It has all the functionality of the launch DualSense, such as haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and motion controls, plus programable back paddles and easily swappable parts. It looks and feels like a high-end product, but sadly has a battery life that leaves a lot to be desired.MicrosoftAfter the Duke, Microsoft has only made better and better Xbox controllers, and the pinnacle of them all is the Elite series. Much like the Edge, you can tailor almost every part of this controller to your liking, plus even design its color scheme however you want via the design lab to make it completely personalized. It is comfortable, has all the buttons and paddles you want, and is about as close to perfect as a controller can get within the modern design. It will cost you extra, but it is more than worth the price if youre a serious gamer.Editors Recommendations

Users looking for a TikTok alternative learn about daily life in China, but some posts are taboo.

go with the flow Peeing is contagious among chimps Physical proximity, social dominance are primary factors involved in "contagious urination" behavior. Jennifer Ouellette Jan 20, 2025 11:00 am | 5 "Well, if you're gonna pee, I might as well too." Credit: Onishi et al., 2025/CC BY-SA "Well, if you're gonna pee, I might as well too." Credit: Onishi et al., 2025/CC BY-SA Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreWhen ya gotta go, ya gotta go, and if it sometimes seems like the urge to pee seems more pressing when others nearby are letting loosewell, there's now a bit of science to back that up. It turns out that humans may not be the only species to experience "contagious urination," according to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. Chimpanzees living at the Kumamoto Sanctuary in Japan are also more likely to relieve themselves when others are doing so nearby, and the behavior seems to be hierarchical, "flowing down" from dominant chimps to more passive ones.In humans, urinating together can be seen as a social phenomenon, said coauthor Ena Onishi of Kyoto University. An Italian proverb states, Whoever doesnt pee in company is either a thief or a spy (Chi non piscia in compagnia o un ladro o una spia), while in Japanese, the act of urinating with others is referred to as 'Tsureshon' (). This behavior is represented in art across centuries and cultures and continues to appear in modern social contexts. Our research suggests that this phenomenon may have deep evolutionary roots.Onishi, et al decided to study the phenomenon after noticing that many chimps in the sanctuary seemed to synchronize when they peed, and they wondered whether the phenomenon might be similar to how one person yawning can trigger others to follow suitanother "semi-voluntary physiological behavior." There had been no prior research into contagious peeing. So they filmed the 20 captive chimps over 600 hours, documenting over 1,300 "urination events."Those results supported the initial hypothesis that chimps tended to urinate in sync rather than randomly. Further analysis showed that the closer a chimp was to another peeing chimp, the more likely the probability of that chimp peeing as wellevidence of social contagion. Finally, Onishi et al. wanted to explore whether social relationships (like socially close pairs, evidenced by mutual grooming and similar behaviors) influenced contagious urination. The only social factor that proved relevant was dominance, with less-dominant chimps being more prone to contagious urination.There may still be other factors influencing the behavior, and more experimental research is needed on potential sensory cues and social triggers in order to identify possible underlying mechanisms for the phenomenon. Furthermore, this study was conducted with a captive chimp population; to better understand potential evolutionary roots, there should be research on wild chimp populations, looking at possible links between contagious urination and factors like ranging patterns, territory use, and so forth.This was an unexpected and fascinating result, as it opens up multiple possibilities for interpretation, said coauthor Shinya Yamamoto, also of Kyoto University. For instance, it could reflect hidden leadership in synchronizing group activities, the reinforcement of social bonds, or attention bias among lower-ranking individuals. These findings raise intriguing questions about the social functions of this behavior.DOI: Current Biology, 2025. 10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.052 (About DOIs).Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 5 Comments

Our guts are home to trillions of bacteriaARTUR PLAWGO/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYAnalysing ones stools was once a niche interest. A quick look at Amazon, however, reveals dozens of home tests designed to test the composition of your faeces. You can even buy kits for your pets.Such products reflect a surge in public appetite for information about the gut microbiome. Regardless of the country you are in, a lot of patients are coming to physicians asking about microbiota testing, says Gianluca Ianiro at the Catholic University of Rome.

Trump will be sworn in as president for the 2nd time today.Key business and tech CEOs are in Washington for his inauguration.As his 2nd term begins, business and tech are largely embracing him, rather than shunning him.Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as President of the United States for the second time on Monday and key business and tech leaders are there to watch it happen.It's not just Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO who spent hundreds of millions of dollars to elect Trump. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai are also in attendance, with several of them sitting alongside other political leaders. In fact, Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos are sitting on the inaugural platform, in front of many of Trump's cabinet appointees. Priscilla Chan, CEO of Meta and Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, and Lauren Sanchez attend the inauguration ceremony. SAUL LOEB / POOL / AFP Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attend Trump's inauguration. SAUL LOEB / POOL / AFP In light of the news that Trump will reverse a recent ban on TikTok, Shou Chew, the app's CEO, has also been spotted in the Capitol Rotunda. Vivek Ramaswamy and Susie Wiles arrive before Donald Trump's inauguration. Kenny Holston/The New York Times / POOL / AFP Many of those leaders' companies have donated to Trump's inaugural committee, and Zuckerberg recently announced changes to Meta that seemed designed to please conservatives. Ruport Murdoch, patriarch of the Fox News empire, is also present.Vivek Ramaswamy, still the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency who is rumored to be leaving the commission to run for governor of Ohio, has also been spotted.It's a big shift from recent years, when Trump and other conservatives had often been at odds with Big Tech and occasionally found themselves on the wrong end of their content moderation policies.

Theres a dominant narrative in the media about why tech billionaires are sucking up to Donald Trump: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, all of whom have descended on the nations capital for the presidential inauguration, either happily support or have largely acquiesced to Trump because they think hell offer lower taxes and friendlier regulations. In other words, its just about protecting their own selfish business interests.That narrative is not exactly wrong Trump has in fact promised massive tax cuts for billionaires but it leaves out the deeper, darker forces at work here. For the tech bros or as some say, the broligarchs this is about much more than just maintaining and growing their riches. Its about ideology. An ideology inspired by science fiction and fantasy. An ideology that says they are supermen, and supermen should not be subject to rules, because theyre doing something incredibly important: remaking the world in their image. Its this ideology that makes MAGA a godsend for the broligarchs, who include Musk, Zuck, and Bezos as well as the venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen. Thats because MAGA is all about granting unchecked power to the powerful. Its a sense of complete impunity including impunity to the laws of nature, Brooke Harrington, a professor of economic sociology at Dartmouth who studies the behavior of the ultra-rich, told me. They reject constraint in all of its forms.As Harrington has noted, Trump is the perfect avatar for that worldview. Hes a man who incited an attempted coup, who got convicted on 34 felony counts and still won reelection, who notoriously said in reference to sexual assault, When youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.So, what is the anything that the broligarchs want to do? To understand their vision, we need to realize that their philosophy goes well beyond simple libertarianism. Its not just that they want a government that wont tread on them. They want absolutely zero limits on their power. Not those dictated by democratic governments, by financial systems, or by facts. Not even those dictated by death. The broligarchs vision: science fiction, transhumanism, and immortality The broligarchs are not a monolith their politics differ somewhat, and theyve sometimes been at odds with each other. Remember when Zuck and Musk said they were going to fight each other in a cage match? But heres something the broligarchs have in common: a passionate love for science fiction and fantasy that has shaped their vision for the future of humanity and their own roles as its would-be saviors. Zuckerbergs quest to build the Metaverse, a virtual reality so immersive and compelling that people would want to strap on bulky goggles to interact with each other, is seemingly inspired by the sci-fi author Neal Stephenson. It was actually Stephenson who coined the term metaverse in his novel Snow Crash, where characters spend a lot of time interacting in a virtual world of that name. Zuckerberg seems not to have noticed that the book is depicting a dystopia; instead of viewing it as a warning, hes viewing it as an instruction manual.Jeff Bezos is inspired by Star Trek, which led him to found a commercial spaceflight venture called Blue Origin, and The High Frontier by physics professor Gerard K. ONeill, which informs his plan for space colonization (it involves millions of people living in cylindrical tubes). Bezos attended ONeills seminars as an undergraduate at Princeton.Musk, who wants to colonize Mars to save humanity from a dying planet, is inspired by one of the masters of American sci-fi, Isaac Asimov. In his Foundation series, Asimov wrote about a hero who must prevent humanity from being thrown into a long dark age after a massive galactic empire collapses. The lesson I drew from that is you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one, Musk said. And Andreessen, an early web browser developer who now pushes for aggressive progress in AI with very little regulation, is inspired by superhero stories, writing in his 2023 Techno-Optimist Manifesto that we should become technological supermen whose Heros Journey involves conquering dragons, and bringing home the spoils for our community. All of these men see themselves as the heroes or protagonists in their own sci-fi saga. And a key part of being a technological superman or ubermensch, as the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche would say is that youre above the law. Common-sense morality doesnt apply to you because youre a superior being on a superior mission. Thiel, it should be noted, is a big Nietzsche fan, though his is an extremely selective reading of the philosophers work.The ubermensch ideology helps explain the broligarchs disturbing gender politics. The bro part of broligarch is not incidental to this its built on this idea that not only are these guys superior, they are superior because theyre guys, Harrington said.For one thing, they valorize aggression, which is coded as male. Zuckerberg, who credits mixed martial arts and hunting wild boars with helping him rediscover his masculinity (and is sporting the makeover to prove it), recently told Joe Rogan that the corporate world is too culturally neutered it should become a culture that has more masculine energy and that celebrates the aggression. Likewise, Andreessen wrote in his manifesto, We believe in ambition, aggression, persistence, relentlessness strength. Musk, meanwhile, has jumped on the testosterone bandwagon, amplifying the idea that only high T alpha males are capable of thinking for themselves; he shared a post on X that said, This is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making. Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think.This idea that most people cant think for themselves is key to Nietzsches idea of the ubermensch. What differentiates the ubermensch, or superman, is that he is not bogged down by common-sense morality (baseless) or by God (dead) he can determine his own values. The broligarchs because they are in 21st-century Silicon Valley and not 19th-century Germany have updated and melded this idea with transhumanism, the idea that we can and should use technology to alter human biology and proactively evolve our species. Transhumanism spread in the mid-1900s thanks to its main popularizer, Julian Huxley, an evolutionary biologist and president of the British Eugenics Society. Huxley influenced the contemporary futurist Ray Kurzweil, who predicted that were approaching a time when human intelligence can merge with machine intelligence, becoming unbelievably powerful. The human species, along with the computational technology it created, will be able to solve age-old problems and will be in a position to change the nature of mortality in a postbiological future, Kurzweil wrote in 1999. Kurzweil, in turn, has influenced Silicon Valley heavyweights like Musk, whose company Neuralink explicitly aims at merging human and machine intelligence. For many transhumanists, part of what it means to transcend our human condition is transcending death. And so you find that the broligarchs are very interested in longevity research. Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Thiel have all reportedly invested in startups that are trying to make it possible to live forever. That makes perfect sense when you consider that death currently imposes a limit on us all, and the goal of the broligarchs is to have zero limits. How the broligarchs and Trump use each other: startup cities, crypto, and the demise of the factIf you dont like limits and rules, it stands to reason that youre not going to like democracy. As Thiel wrote in 2009, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible. And so it shouldnt come as a surprise that the broligarchs are trying to undermine the rule of democratic nation-states.To escape the control of democratic governments, they are seeking to create their own sovereign colonies. That can come in the form of space colonies, a la Musk and Bezos. But it can also come in the form of startup cities or network states built by corporations here on Earth independent mini-nations, carved out of the surrounding territory, where tech billionaires and their acolytes would live according to their own rules rather than the governments. This is currently Thiel and Andreessens favored approach. With the help of their investments, a startup city called Prospera is already being built off the coast of Honduras (much to the displeasure of Honduras). There are others in the offing, from Praxis (which will supposedly build the next America somewhere in the Mediterranean), to California Forever in, you guessed it, California.The so-called network state is a fancy name for tech authoritarianism, journalist Gil Duran, who has spent the past year reporting on these building projects, told me. The idea is to build power over the long term by controlling money, politics, technology, and land.Crypto, of course, is the broligarchs monetary instrument of choice. Its inherently anti-institutionalist; its appeal lies in its promise to let people control their own money and transact without relying on any authority, whether a government or a bank. Its how they plan to build these startup cities and network states, and how they plan to supplant the traditional financial system. The original idea of crypto was to replace the US dollar, but since the US dollar is intimately bound up with global finance, undercutting it could reshape the whole world economy.Trump seems to be going along with this very cheerfully. Hes now pro-crypto, and hes even proposed creating Freedom Cities in America that are reminiscent of startup cities. His alliance with the broligarchs benefits him not only because theyve heaped millions of dollars on him, but also because of how theyve undermined the very notion of the truth by shaping a post-truth online reality in which people dont know what to believe anymore. Musk, under the guise of promoting free speech, has made X into a den of disinformation. Zuckerberg is close on his heels, eliminating fact-checking at Meta even though the company said it would be scrupulous about inflammatory and false posts after it played a serious role in a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.Even more pernicious is the fact that these guys can control the algorithms, so they can decide what people actually see, Duran said. The problem is not so much that people can lie its that the system is designed to favor those lies over truth and reality.Its a perfect setup for a president famous for his alternative facts. But the underlying ideology that unites MAGA and the broligarchs is contrary to the aims of most ordinary Americans, including most Trump voters. If the US dollar is weakened and the very idea of the democratic nation-state is overthrown, that wont exactly make America great again. Itll make America weaker than ever. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

We're still waiting for GTA 6's second trailer, but some fans are a little concerned that the re-election of President of the US, Donald Trump, might cause further delay to the gameTech15:09, 20 Jan 2025Updated 15:14, 20 Jan 2025Could Trump shut down the biggest entertainment launch in history?(Image: Still)GTA 6 fans are itching to get the second trailer this month, but they're also growing a little concerned that the returning US President, Donald Trump, could see the games launch delayed or even force a change in its content.Could Trump shut down the game some have suggested would 'save' the video game industry?It's hard to say, but with outspoken X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk once criticising the franchise and now in Trump's ear, the industry could be under more scrutiny from the US government.Speaking to GQ in 2018, ahead of the Red Dead Redemption 2 launch, Dan Houser told the outlet he was "thankful" to not be releasing GTA 6 during a Trump presidency.Its really unclear what we would even do with it, let alone how upset people would get with whatever we did, he said at the time.GTA 6 could hit its 2025 date, or it could be delayed"Both intense liberal progression and intense conservatism are both very militant, and very angry. It is scary but its also strange, and yet both of them seem occasionally to veer towards the absurd. Its hard to satirise for those reasons."Some of the stuff you see is straightforwardly beyond satire. It would be out of date within two minutes, everything is changing so fast."The Heritage Foundation's controversial Project 2025 initiative could also come into play. Given its focus on a return to more conservative American society, there could be a chance that there is pressure to censor some GTA 6.Elon Musk, who has recently been embroiled in accusations about his Path of Exile 2 character being boosted by other players, has also criticised GTA in the past for letting players shoot at police officers, leading to many wondering about potential changes being forced on the developers.One fan wrote on X: "Guys what if Donald Trump delays gta 6."There are fears Donald Trump could cause a delay to GTA 6(Image: AP)Another added: "I think GTA6 is going to get delayed. I bet you theres a lot of anti-Trump stuff in the game."A third said: "Rockstar needs to delay GTA 6 indefinitely and propose only releasing it if Trump leaves the white house, one way or another. You'll have him gone in a week."A fourth commented: "If GTA 6 has Trump or Elon parodies you know its getting banned for 'national security reasons'."Content cannot be displayed without consentArticle continues belowRockstar is likely to be a big part of parent company Take-Two's earnings call at the start of February, which is likely to reveal the release year and potentially touch on the pricing, too, and maybe get some information on how the company may be dealing with the returning president.However, GTA is still slated to be released later this year but the radio silence continues.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.RECOMMENDED

Xbox will be biggest Nintendo Switch 2 publisher predict insidersGameCentralPublished January 20, 2025 1:29pmUpdated January 20, 2025 1:29pm Is all this coming to Nintendo Switch 2? (Microsoft)As more leaks about third party support for the Nintendo Switch 2 emerge, its suggested Microsoft will be the most eager partner for the new console.Now that the Nintendo Switch 2 has finally been revealed theres a good chance we might not get any more official news until April, when a Nintendo Direct is planned to showcase the new consoles games.Thats probably going to mean many more months of leaks and rumours; probably not of any of Nintendos first party titles but certainly those of third party publishers who are already rumoured to be planning a high level of support for Nintendos new console.Just days after the reveal though and two separate sources have suggested that Microsoft will be one of the formats most enthusiastic supporters, with games including Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Diablo 4, and Fallout 4 coming to Switch 2.Leaker eXtas1s claims that Microsoft Flight Simulator, Starfield, and an unknown Call Of Duty game are also set to appear on Switch 2.This list is similar to others suggested for PlayStation 5 and, if true, its likely that Microsoft will try to put as many of its games as possible onto the new console.During its campaign to buy Activision Blizzard, Microsoft based much of its arguments on bringing Call Of Duty to Nintendo Switch, even though many entries have appeared on Nintendo consoles before and the only thing stopping it this time was the Switchs lack of power.The graphical power of the Switch 2 has not yet been discussed by Nintendo but thats likely all thats stopping newer games such as Hellblade 2 and Gears Of War: E-Day coming to the system. Will the new Halo work on Switch 2? (Microsoft)While the idea of bringing formerly exclusive Xbox titles to the PlayStation 5 has caused a great deal of disquiet amongst fans theres generally less opposition to them coming to a Nintendo console, as has already happened with games like Ori And The Will Of The Wisps and Pentiment. Although it would still be strange indeed, to see Halo on the Switch 2.This would also open up the prospect of future collaborations with Microsoft, after they already agreed to bring Minecraft and Banjo & Kazooie to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.More TrendingAs for other third party titles, eXtas1s names both Tekken 8 and Elden Ring. Tekken 8 has already been suggested by other sources, with publisher Bandai Namco seemingly confirmed as a supporter of the format.However, according to leaker PH Brazil, Of all companies Im aware that are making Switch 2 games, the largest list of confirmed games is from Microsoft. Literally theres more games from Microsoft for Switch 2, that I know of, than any other company, its a lot of stuff, a lot.Microsoft is hosting a Developer Direct showcase on Thursday, January 23 and it will be very interesting to see if the Switch 2 is mentioned. Even before the reveal there were rumours that theyd discuss their multiformat plans in more detail but while theyve previously made a point not to refer to the PlayStation 5 by name it will be interesting to see if the same is true of the Switch 2.However, its unclear whether Nintendo is going to allow third party publishers to talk about their plans for the console before the Nintendo Direct in April. If the Switch 2 is important to Microsofts future plans, then they will have to toe the line with Nintendo just as much as any other third party publisher would.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5videoUp NextEmailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

In the spirit of maintaining its momentum of critically acclaimed video game adaptations, Netflix began 2025 with the release of the second season of Castlevania: Nocturne on January 16. Because we simply cant help wondering how the vampiric sausage was made, io9 spoke with directors Samuel and Adam Deats about the pressure of upholding the series reputation as the one to break the video game adaptation curseas well as Gamergate-adjacent discourse brainrot, and their aspirations for the future of the series. This interview has been edited for length. Isaiah Colbert, io9: Castlevania has become a staple series of exceptional video game adaptations alongside the Sonic franchise doing gangbusters and Arcane. What is the secret to the series success, and what makes Nocturne season two the best season of Castlevania yet? Adam Deats: Ive always felt weve been chasing Castlevania season two, episode seven for years. Its been always hard to beat that moment. The best thing I could say about [Nocturne season two] is that the historical references in this season, combined with the last two episodes of this season, are some of the best moments weve had in terms of just the general visual flair of it all and getting to see certain characters come into their own.Samuel Deats: As far as what the secret sauce is for a video game adaptation, thats such a tough question. When we look back at where we started when we released the first season of the original series in 2017, as everyone likes to put it, we broke the video game adaptation curse, or however you want to call it. At the end of the day, it came down to simply focusing on telling a good story that feels like the source material youre adapting. I dont know what we did in particular, but I think many adaptations up to that point struggled with that focus on strong storytelling, strong characters, and that sort of thing. We still want to make the kinds of references that you want to see as fans that we want to put in there. We put in with love and care. Those are the kinds of things, I think, folks saw that there was genuine love in those references. Whereas in some past adaptations before that point, it felt like it was sometimes done out of obligation or because folks caught themselves up on what a certain adaptation was, then tried their best to make it work without fully understanding its heart. We werent thinking about it that much. We just went in wanting to do the best we could as fans of the series.Adam: The best that we can ever do, and the best that anyone can do, is care about the things theyre working on and the source material. Ensure that whatever youre putting on screen feels right to you and close enough to the source material so that it does justice to the story youre telling as well. Netflix Samuel: If it comes from a place of love from people who care about it, then they are putting that effort towards it [and] it naturally comes through. Thats the best guess that I can make. When the first season of the original series came out, no video game adaptation had done particularly well, and adult animation was not something anyone had faith in, in the U.S. When we made that first couple of seasons, we had a very low budget. There was a lot of, Is this going to work? Does anyone care about this sort of thing? We proved that people did care about seeing adult animation made in the west. That was a big deal that had a massive ripple effect on our shock and made us very happy to see. But its also shown that good stories can be told through adapting video games. Video games have had stories that can translate to something meaningful. That was frowned upon by a lot of folks for a long time.Samuel: [Laughs] And I apologize for opening the floodgates. Now everybodys doing it, and its all been a lot of great stuff, including Fallout, Arcane, obviously, and Sonic. Adam: It is difficult to see it turned into a trend. Well see how that plays out, but I am happy to see good shows coming out of it. I really loved Fallout. That was a really good time. I just hope that folks continue to come at it from a place of love for what theyre making.io9: In line with the entertainment industry getting lambasted with accusations of peddling DEI and going woke, Castlevania: Nocturne has been hit with that same discourse as well, with the usual crowd accusing the show of blackwashing with its depiction of original game character Annette. Whats your reaction to the revolving door of discourse that always seems to rear its head about video game adaptations and black and female representation as a disparaging element to the industrys widely white, male, Eurocentric status quo? Adam: I think that were just in a right-wing backlash, in general. I think the pendulum is swinging, unfortunately, in a certain direction. Were not the only ones that have been hit by this. Its been everything. Its been all over the map to a degree thats even tedious. Its always hard to say whether something we did caused it or if everybody is just hyper-focusing on it now. Samuel: To that point, this isnt our first rodeo with this sorta thing, and you can see how there is a difference in how people are reacting now versus how they were responding when season two of the original series came out when we had Isaac in the story. Were seeing a very different reaction now, and I dont think thats necessarily because we did anything differently. I think thats just the landscape that were in right now as a whole. I dont know that we can do anything about that other than keep putting out the best work we can. As Adam said, I do think there is a weird hyper-focus on it that has changed over the past few years.Adam: I know thats frustrating for some people to hear, but the reality is that people have to understand that there should be room to tell stories with any character in it. I dont feel apologetic that our writers decided to do something that felt right for the source material in a particular period. The reality is that the Haitian Revolution was intrinsically linked to the French Revolution. Its a historical fact and felt right for the story theyre trying to tell. Im not going to sit here and feel bad about changes made that were, I think, more than just functional. They really worked. Sorry not sorry, I guess. Netflix Samuel: Adam and I are big fans of the games. We have been very linked to them for most of our lives. Weve been playing them since the NES era, diving into old forums and all that kind of stuff. We have been fans for longer than we have been making the show. When we look at Rondo of Bloodthis particular game that weve been adaptingAnnette is not a character in the games that was even really discussed a lot amongst fans. The focus was always on Richter, Maria, and Dracula. When I saw what the writers wanted to do to reimagine Annette, give her more of a presence and everything, even as a fan, I thought, thats great. This is the place to do it because she wasnt a character that folks talked about or thought about a lot back in the day. When youre making an adaptation and looking for places to bring in new interests and life, it is like looking for areas where theres a character who didnt have much to them and wasnt developed a whole lot. What can be done here that ties it into the greater narratives happening? I fully stand behind that decision. I think it was very cool. Adam: When discussions are had about Castlevania as large, Sam and I end up being more on the purist side of the conversation. Typically, we want it to be as close to the games as possible for the most part, with some exceptions. Weve had disagreements in the past over eight years. Its going to happen to any production. We have had disagreements where we thought things were too far away from source material. And there have been disagreements this season, too. But we didnt disagree about the decision of Annette. We felt that was a right call.io9: In io9s review, we wrote that the final team-up fight scene between Richter, Juste, Maria, and Annette against Erzsebet eclipses that of the original series team-up between Trevor, Alucard, and series MVP Sypha against Dracula and his horde of vampires (depending on how we felt on a certain day). Was it a personal challenge for the team at Powerhouse Animation to top the feats it accomplished before with these big team-up ensemble fight scenes? Adam: [Laughs] Its a hellscape, man. Its so hard. The worst thing you can do in animation is crowd battles, and we keep doing crowd battles. Its so dumb. Because its a few characters versus Erzsebet or Drolta, thats not so bad because youve got three to four characters fighting in a group. The logistics of doing lots of special effects work, and action sequences that are dynamic still, with the special effects stuff that was going on, were pretty tough. And we still had crowd stuff in that episode.Samuel: Episode seven, in particular, was an extremely difficult production that required careful planning and putting a lot of chess pieces in just the right place. But it was one where we finally had an opportunity to focus on a particular fight for longer than weve ever been able to. I look back on the Dracula fight in season two, episode seven; you have that great Bloody Tears fight at the beginning, the actual Dracula fight, and then it turns into Alucard versus Dracula. The actual length of that fight and everything was relatively short. Its not like this big long thing where we got to just focus on it for a super long time. I was delighted that we got to get to that Erzsebet fight pretty early on in the episode and then come back to it multiple times along with the Alucard/Drolta fight happening in the background and the hordes of night creatures that is another part of the set piece. In my experience, particularly with 2D animation when youre doing big battle scenes with large crowds, many folks think big battle scenes with lots of characters are a spectacle. In 2D animation, I dont think that it ends up turning out that way because it is so difficult to do big crowds. You have to pull back on certain things. I think folks are more excited by or at least I am battles between particular characters or a small group, etc. I think its more meaningful from a storytelling perspective. Its more fun seeing multiple powers clashing, in the case of the group versus Erzsebet. I dont know how much I was thinking back on the Dracula fight and trying to eclipse it, but for me, that was an exciting opportunity to take some of my favorite characters and have them beat the shit out of each other. A lot of people on the team were really excited about it. Netflix Adam: In a lot of little ways, were always trying to show something new because we dont always want to keep doing the same thing. Some of the puzzle pieces fit into place near the end with the introduction of things like Marias dragon, which are things we didnt really necessarily do before. [Laughs] We didnt get to fight with a giant Pokmon (I say jokingly). Stuff like that lends itself to doing something new while sustaining within Castlevania lore, and thats whats really fun. Being able to play with old special attacks and sub-weapons and all those things from Castlevania. Samuel: I really enjoy trying to craft a fight where you see characters thinking and trying to be strategic in working together. It was really fun to be able to put something like that together. Adam: Sam was very excited that Juste jumped back into action this season. He kind of obsessed about ensuring he was present in that last fight. Samuel: [Laughs] I really wanted his comeback to shine. So I tried my best with that. Netflix io9: For the Easter egg and referential video game fans, whats one scene from this season that was your most proud moment to adapt this season? Adam: We have not had a lot of chances to do the traditional Belmont cross boomerang, but Richter, in episode eight, does an almost Harmony of Dissonance version of a double cross boomerang, where he creates ice boomerangs instead that are in the cross formation and throws them. Obviously, Trevor gets to do it, but we get to do a more exciting version of it. Some of Justes Harmony of Dissonance magic combination attacks are present throughout this season. Theyre kind of all over the place in small degrees. In the last fight, theres a moment where he summons a frosty ice cross that acts as a drone that hovers above him and fires additional ice shots, directly from Harmony of Dissonance. Theres a lot of fun stuff like that, which I think people who have played the games and dove into the particulars of the attacks will see. Samuel: For whatever reason, the cross-ice drone from Harmony of Dissonance is my favorite attack, even though I dont think its that good compared to a bunch of his other spells. I think its really funny and cool to have a drone floating around shooting like a machine gun so I was delighted to work that in. I was really proud of when I worked in Alucards eyes going red in episode eight and him using Dark Inferno, the big magma ball. Not only does it work as a reference to the games, but its also making a connection to his father for the storytelling in his development. I was pretty happy about that little nod. Adam: The red flames and the red eyes are loose references to dark metamorphosis from Symphony of the Night. Thats when Alucard turns on vampire mode and can gain life back from blood. The red flames on his blade are also a reference to some of his weapons from Symphony of the Night, like the Masamune and a couple of other blood-based weapons that he had in that game. We also have a captain get turned into a night creature [who] is a reference to Frozen Shade that I thought visually that came out pretty neatthe see-through effect. Netflix io9:Across its eight episodes, Nocturne concludes with notable finality, with its characters diverging to continue going on more adventures, presumably. With so many characters and moving pieces this season, were there any storylines the team had to cut for time? Adam: No storylines were cut for time, necessarily. I think that there was a sequence that Sam [story]boarded for Juste in episode seven, I think. Juste had a big, flashy action thing that he did and we had to actually cut it because of scope and time. Samuel: I think the most heartbreaking thing was probably that. I did a big Juste-focused throw down, but the episode was already running way long and the shot cap was way high. I tried moving it somewhere else, and it didnt work there either. I think it was the right call because I think we were would have been crushed if we tried to make it work. That was, I think, the first time in series history that I had to cut one of my own action sequences. It wasnt long. It was like a minute or something like that. It was still a little painful to have to cut something that I was pretty happy with. Maybe itll end up in a special feature or something like that in the future. The animatic for it. io9: In swift order, Castlevania: Nocturne was renewed for a second season within a week of its debut. At the time, you both sent a message to the fans saying they wont have to wait long for season two. Should lightning strike twice in season two of Nocturne, will fans have to wait long for a possible third season, or are things still in the discussion stage regarding the future of the franchise?Samuel: Weve been in this boat before when it comes to the wait between seasons. After season two of the original series, we had a lull of a couple of months before we kicked in with season three and four. Then after season four, there was a much longer wait before we were starting anything with Nocturne. So this isnt really anything new for us other than the fact that the industry at large is kind of in a weird place that has affected entertainment as a whole. At the end of the day, I dont think its going to impact us in a way thats different from in the past, but were just going to have to wait and see. If we do get to continue with the logical next step for the storyline with these characters, we would probably want to make sure we take our time with it and do it the best way possible, make sure that its something that honors the characters and the source material. I dont want to make any promises. If it happens, we want to do it right, and that may take time. No matter what, we are hopeful and confident about what weve made and the future of the franchise. But well just have to wait and see. Castlevania as a whole is a pretty broad franchise that has a lot of storytelling opportunities in it and theres interest in that. Well see how that all plays out over the coming months and after season two comes out. Adam: Cross your fingers for us. Samuel: Therell be a bit of time with discussions and stuff like that, figuring out what that looks like. So just hang tight for us, guys. Netflix io9: Of all the Castlevania characters, whose story would you love to see explored deeper should a new season come to pass? Adam: Thats hard because there are a lot of them, right? I think Sam and I have always talked about wanting to get to Symphony of the Night eventually. I think that story that focuses on that, something thats Alucard-centric, but then includes Richter and whatnot and kind of like putting a button on that stuff, I think, would be interesting. Theres a weird alternate universe where somehow we do a flashback movie thats just for Juste and Harmony of Dissonance. Weve even talked about, Man, wouldnt it be fun to do a Lament of Innocence and do the whole origin story for the entire series. I dont know, its tough because theres a lot of places to go. io9: What do you hope the fans get out of this season of Nocturne that they before as a continuation of the momentum the series has garnered on Netflix? Adam: What I think is interesting about the season is, again, the historical grounding that the writers have put there. And the interest in that will hopefully resonate with the audience as well. Thats unique because previous Castlevania seasons tried not to overly reference history in the real world. So I would say that that stands out. Theres also unique stuff going on with Annettes journey this season that is unique for the Castlevania universe. From that perspective, I hope the audience finds something new in those areas. As always,the stuff thats more Castlevania, like Richter, Alucard and Justes stories, Im hoping feels at home with fans.Samuel: I am excited for folks to see Marias arc this season. It is doing some fun things, particularly the first half, and it pays off in a way that I hope fans will enjoy. Adam: Some of the theming going on with Marias arc in terms of the costs of revolution and how that can affect its young people, I think, is really interesting. Im hoping that has the weight we think it does. All eight episodes of Castlevania: Nocturne are streaming on Netflix. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.