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Nature, Published online: 15 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08418-5Ancient genome-wide data of 722 individuals and interdisciplinary analysis of large seventh- to eighth-century ce neighbouring cemeteries near Vienna are used to address the impact of the encounter between Eastern Asian Avars and Europeans.

2025 promises to be a big year for role-playing games. Some of the most popular and beloved RPG series are slated to receive new entries, alongside remakes of all-time classics, and promising new ideas that could blossom into franchises of their own. RPGs have become an especially flexible genre in recent years, encompassing a wide range of stories and mechanics. That means that whether you're looking for a swords-and-sorcery epic, a far-flung future in space, or even just the ability to set up shop and live in a fantasy world, there's something for you to enjoy this year.This year's slate of RPGs comes at an interesting time for the industry, as well. Nintendo is preparing to launch the Switch 2, which will provide a new portable-hybrid home for games that may not have run well on the older Switch. The Steam Deck and other portable PCs are looking to directly compete with the Switch functionality and form. And Microsoft and Sony, on their own console platforms, are increasingly making their games more available--Sony is frequently porting its games to PC while Microsoft is allowing its own to arrive on both PC and PlayStation. That could impact some of our most anticipated RPGs by giving us a huge variety of options when it comes to where and how we play our games.For even more of this year's anticipated releases, check out our 2025 release dates list and mark your calendars for the year ahead. It's going to be a big one. And be sure to check out our picks for the best RPGs to play right now for even more recommendations. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2Developer: Warhorse StudiosPlatforms: PC, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: February 4, 2025As a direct sequel to the cult hit Kingdom Come: Deliverance, KCD2 takes place just after the first game and puts you in the shoes of Henry, the son of a blacksmith living in the 1400s. You'll need to learn the tools of war while also carefully navigating your character's standing in the community. See at Amazon AvowedDeveloper: Obsidian EntertainmentPlatforms: PC, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: February 18, 2025Obsidian just keeps producing interesting projects, from the traditional first-person RPG The Outer Worlds to the survival-crafting game Grounded and the narrative adventure Pentiment. Avowed is its take on a high-fantasy world, mixing spellcasting and firearms in the Pillars of Eternity setting, Eora. The studio has a knack for crafting detailed settings, so this is one to watch. See at Amazon Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in HawaiiDeveloper: Ryu Ga Gotoku StudioPlatforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: February 21, 2025After Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth moved its central location to Hawaii, along comes Goro Majima to loot and plunder. Majima will lead a pirate crew across tropical islands searching for his own treasure, with a concept so wild that Sega has had to confirm that it takes place in Yakuza canon. See at Amazon Monster Hunter WildsDeveloper: CapcomPlatforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: February 28, 2025The next game in the wildly popular Monster Hunter series promises a whole new batch of magnificent and deadly beasts to hunt in a deadly new world. This time you'll be assisted by a new mount called a Seikret, which can also be ridden while in combat. See at Amazon Suikoden I and II RemasterDeveloper: KonamiPlatforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: March 6, 2025The influential Suikoden games are finally getting their own modern re-releases, with a remastered package that includes the first two games together. These games are known for their massive party-building and replay value, and the remastered versions include upgraded visuals and sound effects, a battle fast-forward, and auto-save features. See at Amazon Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive EditionDeveloper: Monolith SoftPlatforms: Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: March 20, 2025Ten years after its original release, Xenoblade Chronicles X is getting an expanded remaster on Nintendo Switch. The massive open-world RPG in the land of Mira is getting visual enhancements and new story elements. See on Nintendo Store AtomfallDeveloper: Rebellion DevelopmentsPlatforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series XRelease Date: March 27, 2025This survival RPG from the studio behind the Sniper Elite series asks the question, "What if England were an irradiated wasteland?" Or perhaps, "What if the Sniper Elite team made a Fallout game?" The first-person wasteland invites easy comparison, but we're very curious to see the talented team at Rebellion tackle a post-apocalyptic setting. See at Amazon Lunar Remastered CollectionDeveloper: Game ArtsPlatforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox OneRelease Date: April 18, 2025A remaster of the renowned Sega CD RPGs Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete are coming this year, making it easier than ever to play these classics. The remastered collection will let you choose between a classic and remastered presentation, features upscaled anime cutscenes, and will pack some quality-of-life features to help speed along the gameplay for modern audiences. See at Steam Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals TimeDeveloper: Level 5 ComceptPlatforms: Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: April 2025While all eyes are on the impending Switch 2, Nintendo is still getting a little more juice out of the original. This sequel to Fantasy Life doubles down on the life-sim aspect, letting you play a wide variety of jobs as you uncover the mystery of an island trapped in a time paradox. Dragon Quest I and II HD RemakeDeveloper: Square EnixPlatforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: 2025A set of remasters of the classic Dragon Quest series went slightly out of order--Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake was released last year--but this collection of two games would complete the original three games. The classics are being given the same HD-2D treatment, making them look nicer than ever, and we can probably expect similar quality-of-life updates. See at Steam Elden Ring NightreignDeveloper: FromSoftwarePlatforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: 2025One of the biggest surprises at The Game Awards, Elden Ring Nightreign isn't quite a full-fledged sequel to the excellent first game, but it should scratch the itch of fans regardless. This one is co-op focused, having you form teams of three to take on the encroaching threats of creeping night. See at Fanatical FableDeveloper: Playground GamesPlatforms: PC, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: 2025A new entry in the Fable series from Forza Horizon developer Playground Games has been teased since 2023, but the release seems to be getting closer. We've seen some trailers that set a whimsical, comical mood alongside some snippets of gameplay, but this may be the year we finally take the wraps off of the long-awaited return to Albion. See at Steam The Outer Worlds 2Developer: Obsidian EntertainmentPlatforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: 2025Obsidian's debut game under Microsoft was a throwback to its famous work on the Fallout series, but with a cheeky "unchecked capitalism in space" tone. The Outer Worlds 2 promises a new story and new crew, with the same comedic tone. This time you're an Earth Directorate agent looking to uncover the source of deadly rifts. Hijinks ensue. See at Steam Pokemon Legends Z-ADeveloper: Game FreakPlatforms: Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: 2025The first Pokemon Legends took us all the way back to the Sinnoh region, before it was even called Sinnoh, and introduced some creative open-world mechanics unique to the series. The follow-up, Pokemon Legends Z-A, appears to take place in Lumiose City of the Kalos region, but we know almost nothing about how it will iterate on its predecessor's open-world mechanics. Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2Developer: The Chinese RoomPlatforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: 2025The long-awaited Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is just around the corner, finally letting players explore modern-day Seattle as a bloodsucker, choosing from several unique clans to represent which type of vampire you want to be. You'll need to feed while also building your influence over the city. See at Amazon Borderlands 4Developer: Gearbox SoftwarePlatforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: TBAThe massively popular looter-shooter returns with a fresh batch of Vault Hunters ready to crack open chests full of guns and probably save the universe in the process. Gearbox hasn't given us much detail on the next numbered entry in the franchise, but we wouldn't be surprised if it's ready to hit this year. See at Steam Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of FateDeveloper: Square EnixPlatforms: TBARelease Date: TBAFollowing the DQ I and II HD remakes, the next big game in the Dragon Quest series has been announced. Not much is known yet about Dragon Quest XII, but it's long been in development, so Square Enix could be preparing to show more this year. Moonlighter 2: The Endless VaultDeveloper: Digital SunPlatforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|SRelease Date: TBAMoonlighter was a surprise hit, combining roguelike dungeon crawling with managing a shop stocked with the wares you find while exploring. Moonlighter 2 appears to be an even more expansive world to explore, this time rendered in 3D with an isometric perspective. See at Steam Rune Factory: Guardians of AzumaDeveloper: MarvelousPlatforms: PC, Nintendo SwitchRelease Date: TBAThe next game in the Rune Factory series will once again let you farm the land to produce crops while exploring a deep dungeon-crawling experience. This time you're an Earth Dancer who uses magical treasures as well as your own innate magic dancing ability to purify the land and tend to your farms. See at Amazon

While the center position saw a fall out of popularity for a long time in the NBA, this has reversed course in recent years as players like Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid have come to dominate the game. For players creating their ideal center in the MyCareer mode of NBA 2K25, it isn't going to be realistic to assume they can make up the last three MVP awards as soon as they start out, but it's not impossible for them to achieve that after a little bit of time.

Castor3D is a 3D engine written in C++ 17.It works on Windows and on GNU/Linux, and uses Vulkan for rendering API. FeaturesClustered lighting to compute all light sources.Using a visibility buffer for opaque objects.Weighted Blended rendering for transparent objects.Normal mapping (using Mikktspace or explicit bitangents specification).Shadow Mapping (allowing to choose between Raw, PCF or Variance Shadow Maps).Parallax

Its hard not to feel a little disappointed by Nintendos announcement on Thursday of the Switch 2. The fact that the company seems to be playing it safe with its most conservative new console in years isnt much of a surprise. What was surprising is just how lackluster the reveal itself was. But perhaps thats because, for any tech-obsessive, the video Nintendo released looked eerily familiar. The brief three-minute trailer didnt look like other game console reveals; instead it looked almost exactly like the sizzle reels Apple trots out for each years new iPhone.Nintendo adopting Apples strategy makes natural sense. While most tech industry giants have pivoted to software and subscriptions as their primary business model, with a de-emphasis on hardware that borders on complacency, Apple is the last massive company to remain steadfastly committed to a hardware-first approach. The things it wants to sell you arent services, theyre laptops, tablets, and, most importantly, phones.A quick glance at the gaming industry will tell you that Nintendo is in a pretty similar position. While Sony is throwing as many first-party games as it can on PC, and Microsoft is telling everyone that anything they own can be an Xbox with Game Pass, Nintendo is still all in on exclusive games and selling consoles. So, it seems, the Apple of console manufacturers gets an Apple-style commercial.The Switch 2s trailer hits all the hallmarks: Its gorgeously photographed, with slick transitions that show off all the little changes between the original Switch and the new machine, complete with elegantly enlarging the device itself and toning back the bezel around the screen. The consoles new magnetic Joy-Cons even appear to have a bit of Apples MagSafe DNA at first glance. But while all of this works perfectly for a phone that receives a new version every year, it ignores the fact that the Switch 2 cant simply be an iPhone upgrade. What the video implies is something thats strictly iterative, in the way a phone model is. Nintendos video literally takes the old device and morphs it into the new one. Its no surprise, then, that some viewers felt they werent exactly seeing the reveal of Nintendos next generation.For all the ways that Apple is invested in people buying new iPhones, it has the luxury of taking those purchases as a given. It knows that not every person will upgrade their phone every year, but that eventually nearly every iPhone user in the world will pick up a newer phone; its the model the whole business is built on.In a world where upgrades are inevitable, iteration is enough. But I still want Nintendo to sell me something. Its been eight years since the Switch came out, and while some of its open-world offerings have started to chug, the absolute need for an upgrade isnt exactly apparent.A video thats sleek, vague, pretty, enticing, and a little hollow is perfect for the hour-plus of technical discussion from Apple execs that normally comes after an iPhone reveal. But Nintendos version of that isnt coming until a Nintendo Direct on April 2, where well have to hope the company reveals why it actually thinks well want to buy this new console aside from the reveal of an anodyne-looking Mario Kart that could simply be another iteration of Mario Kart 8 for all we know.Like Apple, Nintendo is historically not a stupid company. In fact, it usually tends to be a very successful and clever company. Nintendo higher-ups presumably know the company needs innovation and ingenuity more than iteration, and more than another Mario Kart, to successfully follow up the third-best-selling console of all time. And evidence of that innovation is buried within this Switch 2 trailer. Theres compelling evidence that the Joy-Cons can transform into a mouse, and theres slim potential for 24-player multiplayer and voice chat, which would suggest a vastly upgraded online experience. On top of all that, theres still plenty of time for Nintendos publishing arm, as well as other game developers, to reveal games that players can pick up on launch day for the new console.The problem is that Nintendos teaser left us to work all that out for ourselves rather than giving us something concrete to get excited about. And while Nintendo was right in thinking that fans, and websites like Polygon, would scrape the trailer clean of every detail we could, its hard not to feel like the company took our anticipation for granted just a little bit. Its possible, and even likely, that all of this frustration will magically abate when we see Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, or some magical new Mario game, or even Pokmon Legends: Z-A running at playable frame rate during Nintendos April 2 Direct. But until then, Nintendo has left us to make up our own reasons why the Switch 2 is a more than a marginal upgrade.Maybe my old phone is just fine for now.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Apple's AirPods Max are some of the best headphones money can buybut they are also among the most expensive, normally at half a grand. An updated AirPods Max model was released in September, causing the older AirPods Max to drop significantly in price, currently with a $150 discount. But the newer version is also discounted now, down to $449.99 (originally $549.99). That's a record-low price, according to price-tracking tools. If you're coming from the older AirPods Max, be aware that there are some minor but key differences. USB-C Charging, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, Personalized Spatial Audio. (New) Apple AirPods Max $449.99 at Amazon $549.00 Save $99.01 Get Deal Get Deal $449.99 at Amazon $549.00 Save $99.01 Lightning Charging, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, Personalized Spatial Audio. (Older) Apple AirPods Max $399.99 at Best Buy $549.99 Save $150.00 Get Deal Get Deal $399.99 at Best Buy $549.99 Save $150.00 SEE -1 MORE When the AirPods Max came out in 2020, there wasn't as much competition for headphones that could achieve active noise-cancelling (ANC), ambient awareness features, and provide top-tier audio as well. These days, there's stiff competition in all of those categories, especially at this price point. However, buying AirPods Max is a statement. Even though they don't have the Apple logo, you're paying a premium price for the recognition. If that's what you're after, these headphones are it.When it comes to features, the AirPods Max aren't jam-packedbut the few they do have are very good quality, which is on-brand for Apple's minimalist vibe. They are some of the best ANC headphones you can buy (they don't give you that weird pressure sensation when you turn them on), have very good ambient awareness to hear your surroundings well, have adaptive EQ and spatial audio, which adjusts the audio automatically to you and your environment, and hands-free Siri, according to PCMag's "excellent" review. Some of the downsides are that they are heavier than regular headphones at 13.6 ounces. This comes from the choice to use metal for the ear pieces. You also can't manually adjust the EQ to your liking, so if you don't like the sound signature, you're out of luck. Finally, the smart case it comes with is, well, ugly and doesn't protect the mesh that rests on your head (a delicate part of the headphones). You also need that smart case to put your headphones in "sleep" mode so your 20 hours of battery aren't drained.

The Supreme Court has sided with the Biden Administration on a law that could ban TikTok in the coming days. In a unanimous ruling, the court upheld the law, writing in an unsigned opinion that "TikToks scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the Governments national security concerns."The ruling marks the end of TikToks many legal challenges to a law, passed last spring, that requires ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the United States. It comes amid mounting tensions between the US and China, and just days after the Biden Administration moved to restrict the export of GPUs used for AI applications.In a statement, TikTok said that "unless the Biden Administration...provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement" immediately, it will unfortunately be forced to go dark on January 19. "The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok's availability to over 170 million Americans," it said.White House officials said Thursday that the Biden Administration would not enforce the ban on President Joe Biden's last day in office. Incoming President Donald Trump, who will be sworn in one day after the ban is supposed to take effect, has suggested he wants to save the app. Thats caused some speculation that he could instruct the Justice Department not to enforce the law or find some other arrangement that would allow the app to remain accessible."The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation." He also said that he had discussed TikTok with China's Xi Jinping on Friday, but did not provide details. Earlier in the week, The Washington Post reported that Trump was considering an executive order that would give TikTok an additional "60 or 90 days" to comply with the law. TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump's inauguration where he will sit alongside Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.In a brief statement shared on TikTok, Chew thanked Trump, but didn't say whether the app would go dark this weekend when the ban goes into effect. " I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States," he said. "This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship." Representatives for TikTok, Google, Apple and Oracle (which hosts TikTok's US data) have not responded to questions about their plans to comply with the law.In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding TikTok's future. "Even what might happen next to TikTok remains unclear, " he wrote. "All I can say is that, at this time and under these constraints, the problem appears real and the response to it not unconstitutional."Free speech groups have denounced the law and the Supreme Court's decision to uphold it. The Supreme Courts ruling is incredibly disappointing, allowing the government to shut down an entire platform and the free speech rights of so many based on fear-mongering and speculation, Patrick Toomey, deputy director of ACLUs National Security Project, said in a statement. By refusing to block this ban, the Supreme Court is giving the executive branch unprecedented power to silence speech it doesnt like, increasing the danger that sweeping invocations of national security will trump our constitutional rights.The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said in a statement that "the ban or forced sale of one social media app will do virtually nothing to protect Americans' data privacy only comprehensive consumer privacy legislation can achieve that goal."TikTok users have also vocally opposed the ban. Before the law was passed, legions of fans called their Congressional representatives offices, urging them to not support the bill. The move may have had unintended consequences as some members of Congress accused TikTok, which had encouraged users to make the calls, of interfering with the legislative process. More recently, TikTok fans have pushed a number of previously unknown apps, including a Chinese social media app known as RedNote or Xiaohongshu, to the top of the app stores as they search for alternatives.Update, January 17, 2025, 9:45 AM PT: This post has been updated to add details from a statement made by Shou Chew.Update, January 17, 2025, 10PM ET: Added TikTok's statement.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/supreme-court-upholds-tiktok-ban-150901494.html?src=rss

Amazon is ending the Try Before You Buy program in favor of AI tools.