You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereMany analysts and industry professionals have claimed that the games industry is nearing critical mass as budgets balloon and massive projects such as PlayStations Concord become record-breaking failures. Speaking on social media, Baldurs Gate 3 director of publishing Michael Douse explained the true issue with the industry right now.Baldurs Gate 3 dev on the state of the industryWith many publishers hoping that GTA 6 will result in game prices increasing to as much as $100, Douse joked that publishers arent supposed to say this out loud!However, the Baldurs Gate 3 publishing director explained that game prices havent risen with inflation. In fact, games are still cheaper on the whole than they were during the SNES era, although sales are typically much higher in quantity.Douse explained that the real reason for raising game prices would also result in higher wages for individual developers. However, with the constant demand for higher profit margins from shareholders, this will never happen.A good company raises salaries in line with inflation so that their staff dont die or something, but games prices havent risen with inflation, Douse explained. This isnt the reason the industry is in the shit for now, but it is an uncomfortable truth.Douse also explained that the result of higher game prices should also give developers a bigger responsibility for a game developer is to make sure that the game they show lives up to that promise as players investments increase.At the time of writing, Baldurs Gate 3 has an RRP on PC of $59.99, almost half of what publishers are wanting to charge for new AAA releases. With thousands of hours of content and more on the way, BG3 is a massive hit that has managed to recoup its costs, but Douse explains that chasing a big hit is sometimes pointless.The industry is very aware that its a hit based industry, but living up to a hit is statistically impossible for everyone, he explained. This was much easier to manage when there were retail middlemen and people had less access to information, but for now its created chaos.While GTA 6 could survive at a $100 price tag, many other games could not. In fact, the majority of titles attempting to charge $100 for entry would fail, especially as services like Xbox Game Pass cheapen the barrier of entry for AAA experiences.That is indeed the problem. We are at a strange moment where retail is not defining output & content, but now nobody is. Theres no standard. Its difficult to parse. Its the wild west. The point is that perhaps Rockstar have enough clout to lay down the new law. And with that others will sink or swim? Douse explained.Additionally, Baldurs Gate 3 has been praised for being a complete package with no microtransactions and very minimal DLC. In AAA gaming, many companies crowbar microtransaction content into every possible facet of their titles for example, the NBA 2K sports games to make more money. Douse explains that even with a price hike to $100, games wouldnt leave this additional revenue on the floor.For now, theres no confirmation that GTA 6 will cost $100 or even $80 at launch. In fact, despite the games massive budget, the title is expected to launch at a now-standard $70, and its already expected to be the biggest entertainment launch ever at this price.Baldurs Gate 3Platform(s):macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Adventure, RPG, Strategy10VideoGamerSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

In 1993, Hanks bought and customized a Model 34 Limited Excella trailer to better suit the demands of his busy filming schedule. I got it in the days when movies moved slower, he told Bonhams Magazine decades later. I had spent too much time in regular trailers with ugly decor and horribly uncomfortable furniture, so I decided to buy a brand-new Airstream shell with an interior made to my own request. At 33 feet long, it held a kitchen, a bathroom, a bed, a couch, and a wooden table and chair set. There was even a faux fireplace for extra coziness. By the time Hanks put it up for auction in 2021, it had traveled to 18 locations across the countryincluding South Carolina for Forrest Gump and Seattle for Sleepless in Seattleand it featured stickers on the window denoting each place. The Airstream ultimately sold for $235,200 at auction that August; its unknown how much the actor originally paid for it.Idaho vacation homeIn the early 2000s, Hanks and Wilson custom-built a residence in the small town of Ketchum, Idaho, likely meant to be a ski vacation home. They reportedly paid around $12 million for the villa, which made headlines in subsequent years because of an ongoing dispute between the couple and the construction company that built the abode. In 2007, Hanks and Wilson reportedly sued the company for $3 million for shoddy construction that had impacted their ability to live in and enjoy the home. (Oregon Live reported that among the complaints was the fact that sliding snow from the roof damaged the kitchen windows and the roof itself just one year after construction.) Hanks and Wilson unfortunately lost the legal battle and even had to pay the full cost of arbitration: $167,623. They still own this home.Neighboring Pacific Palisades padsNext, the duo expanded their footprint in the Pacific Palisades with the purchase of two neighboring properties, each situated on one-acre lots overlooking the sea. First, in 2003, they snapped up a 1930s Spanish Revivalstyle villa formerly owned by Dog Day Afternoon screenwriter Frank Pierson. The abode measured 4,000 square feet and featured four bedrooms, four and a half baths, beamed ceilings, a tiled staircase with iron rails, a library, and a wood-paneled dining room.Four years later, Hanks and Wilson expanded their estate with the purchase of the seven-bedroom English cottagestyle mansion next door. It spanned 7,260 square feet and boasted a screening room, an eat-in kitchen, and a billiard room with a fireplace and a pub. The pair paid a total of $13.1 million in separate off-market transactions for the two homes, which were listed together for $18 million in 2016. They were both picked up by the same buyer for a combined price of $17.5 million the following year.Greek getawayYears before they became honorary Greek citizens, Hanks and Wilson (the latter has Greek ancestry) were big fans of family getaways to the picturesque nation. Specifically, the couple enjoyed the small island of Antiparos, where they bought a plot of land to build a dream vacation home in 2004. Not much is known about the propertypart of the draw of the location is the privacy that they are afforded therebut what is known is that the house is a stone villa that spans a modest 1,476 square feet and is situated on about six acres of land.Pacific Palisades primary residencePerhaps Hanks and Wilsons best-known home is their $26 million Pacific Palisades residencethe one that recently went viral for surviving the Palisades fire. The contemporary-style mansion clocks in at 14,513 square feet, with four bedrooms and five bathrooms scattered throughout its three stories. The home, which the couple bought in 2010 from the Sixth Sense film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, was originally built in 1996 but significantly updated in 2006. Amenities found on the 1.5-acre property include a two-level limestone pavilion, a wine cellar, a cliffside swimming pool and deck area overlooking downtown Los Angeles, and a tree-lined motor court. The couple still owns this Gwathmey Siegeldesigned home and consider it their main residence.A second villa in GreeceHanks and Wilson adored their frequent vacations to Greece so much that they reportedly purchased a second home in the Skala area of Patmos Island in 2018. The seaside villa is reportedly built from stone in the Dodecanese architectural style, with an expansive terrace looking out over the sea. Greece is a haven, Hanks proclaimed in 2020. The land, the sky, the water, its good for the soul, its a healing place. Particularly if you get into that fabulous Greek schedule of sleeping until noon, staying up until 3 oclock in the morning and arguing in a taverna until 3:00 am. Its just the best life one can have.

Debut: Dcors Barbares conceives a 17-piece collection with legacy earthenware atelier GienNathalie Farman-Farma, founder of Dcors Barbares, in her London studio.Photo: Francis AmiandNathalie Farman-Farma has always been a detective of details. To create the enchanting folkloric patterns for which her textile and design studio Dcors Barbares is known, shell pore over archival materials from the Middle East, Central Asia, Russia, and beyond. But her research spans contemporary channels too. Somebody will post something on Instagram, only Im looking at the dress that the lady in the background is wearing, she confesses. Such was the case for her first foray into tableware. Realized in collaboration with the legacy earthenware atelier Gien, the 17-piece collection reinterprets a clover motif spotted in a black-and-white snapshot. Shes appropriately named the line Chance Folle, or Crazy Luck in English. Without any chromatic clues, Farman-Farma imagined her own fortifying palette of forest green, Turkey red, sunny yellow, ink black, and indigo blue. The latter, she says, posed a challenge to perfect using Giens age-old chromolithography firing process. I try to do things that are not being done by others, she says. Theres a lot out there that I love, but there wasnt very much in these bandana colors. I felt that we could add a little fun.The collection on Farman-Farmas own dining table.Photo: Francis AmiandCake plate by Dcors Barbares for Gien.Photo: Francis AmiandSaucer by Dcors Barbares for Gien.Photo: Francis AmiandAs with Dcors Barbares textiles, she approached these pieces as compatible parts, deconstructing pattern details. Whereas florals frolic within large-scale clovers on platters, pitchers, and cake plates, the motif appears as a more refined border on cups and saucers. Its the same as with the fabricyou can stack things up differently, she says. Bring out a mix-match of mugs. The idea is that thats not a mistake, but the intention. gien.com Mel StudachCereal bowl by Dcors Barbares for Gien.Photo: Francis AmiandMug by Dcors Barbares for Gien.Photo: Francis AmiandReboot: Cassina resurrects an iconic pendant light by Charles EamesA pendant light from Cassinas new partnership with the Eames Office.Lighting: Courtesy of Cassina.

This Blender Shader is the Secret to Magical 3D Art By Levi on January 21, 2025 Videotutorials Levi shows how to set up a stylized crystal shader in Blender for manga-like effects, using only shader nodes!In this tutorial I walk you through, the process of creating a procedural, stylized crystal shader in Blender. I made it beginner-friendly, so if you havent touched shader nodes yet, you should also be able to follow along.In this video youll learn how to: Build complex shader setups Create hand-drawn looking lineart Use compositing to make the shader shine Watch it to level up your shading skills:

Donald Trump took aim atThe United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity, Trump said during a ceremony at Capitol One Arena, where he signed a raft of executive orders before a roaring crowd.One of those orders revokes 78 Biden-era actions, including a 2021 executive order aimed at making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric.That target was not binding. It also won support from top automakers.These clean car rollbacks will burden Americans with a Trumpfecta of higher prices, more pollution and weaker competitiveness, said Dan Becker, director of the safe climate transport campaign at the environmental non-profit Center for Biological Diversity. Our kids and everyone with lungs will pay the price for these politically motivated rollbacks of protections for our air and the climate.Trumps order is part of a promised push to repeal environmental protections introduced by Biden and to support US makers of gas-powered cars. He has also promised to roll back auto pollution standards finalized by Bidens administration last spring a rule Trump calls an EV mandate, though it did not directly require the production of electric vehicles.Read more of the Guardians Trump coverageFactchecking Trumps speechElon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutesActivists ask: is there any point in mass protest?

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Nora-t Good NewsUnannounced Horizon MMO from NCSoft reportedly cancelled, possibly leaving us with only one other multiplayer Horizon thing in the worksThe Horizon multiplayer thing Guerilla itself's been working on is seemingly still coming at some point.Image credit: Guerilla Games News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Updated on Jan. 21, 2025 An unannounced MMO based on PlayStation's Horizon series has reportedly been cancelled, with this being one that was in the works at South Korean publisher NCSoft.This MMO - which is seemingly separate from the Horizon multiplayer game that's reportedly in the works at Guerilla itself - was first reported to be a thing back in 2022, with the studio behind games like Guild Wars and Throne and Liberty working on it as part of a partnership with Sony.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Now, however, South Korean publication MTN - which was also the source of that 2022 report - is seemingly reporting that NCSoft's Horizon MMO has been cancelled, assuming a translation that comes via ResetEra is accurate.The report cites a "feasibility review" at NCSoft having been followed by the canning of this game - codenamed Project H - as well as some others, with H and a project codenamed J being cited as having "already disappeared from the company's organisational chart".VG247 has reached out to PlayStation for comment."The decision to stop development of 'Pantera,' 'H,' and 'J' was made at the end of last year, and at the beginning of the year, the development team members were reportedly notified to prepare for internal transfers," the report's translation adds, "In the case of 'H', it is reported that the team will be transferred to Lineage's IP headquarters after the development office is disbanded."This news would come not long after Sony cancelled live service games in the works at Bend Games and Bluepoint Games, the latter of which was reportedly a God of War live service thing. That was just the latest bit of bad news for the live service push PlayStation embarked on a couple of years ago, which has so far produced Helldivers 2, and not much else in terms of big successes, with many titles being cancelled before they're even released.

He's Got The LookThe live-action How To Train Your Dragon's latest teaser trailer doesn't look much better than the first, but it does have a bunch of semi-realistic dragons that will make you question why Toothless looks like thatMaybe this one should have stuck to being animated.Image credit: Universal Pictures News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 21, 2025 There's a new teaser trailer for the live-action adaptation of How To Train Your Dragon, and it has some slightly too realistic looking winged lizards if you ask me.Last year, Universal Pictures released the first trailer for the live-action How To Train Your Dragon which led me to one simple question: why? This weekend saw it release the second teaser, and to be honest, I'm still asking that same question. To be honest, it doesn't show all that much more off than the first one, but there are a whole lot more dragons this time around, which has led me to another question: why does Toothless look like that? The live-action version of everyone's favourite dragon looks exactly the same as he does in the animated version, albeit a bit more realistically textured. All these other dragons though? They look mighty realistic.Watch on YouTubeDragons aren't real (sorry to break this to you), so you know, there's only so realistic they can look, and you can spot a few designs that are ever so slightly cartoonish in nature, but for the most part you could put them in a more serious film about dragons and not bat an eyelid. Toothless, in turn, just looks a bit silly, sillier than he normally does. It feels particularly odd considering the original film has a whole bunch of different designs for the dragons, all of which are just as if not occasionally more cartoonish than Toothless. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. There's not much to be done about it now though! At the very least, the director of the animated original Dean DeBlois is back for this one, and Gerard Butler is reprising his role as Stoick the Vast, so there should at least be some amount of consistency, even if the dragons look a bit off. You'll have to wait a little while longer to find out how it actually is though, as it's not due out until June 13, later this year.

@PtM @ErigenJapan's worker protection is much better then what you would find in the US, but lags behind most of the UK and the EU, and can't hold a candle to places like Germany and Norway.Like most countries, they have The Labor Standards Act that sets the foundation for working conditions while regulating wages and working hours, and they have the Labor Union Act to protect the right to organize and bargain collectively. About 17% of people are in a union, which is high ... but not top tier.With that said, no law or no union I am aware of offers protection to people who have committed sexual assault. You can fire people for doing crimes, especially contracted workers who will have standards of behavior worked into their contract. Idols, for example, get fired all the dang time for dating, which is often forbidding in their contract.The complication here is that he settled, so the accusations where never proven in court. That's why he wasn't flat out fired.People are upset with Fuji TV because the socially accepted "correct" thing to do would have been to:1) Immediately disclose the accusation.2) Start a private investigation into the accusations,.3) Publicly disclose the results of that investigation4) Take appropriate action based on the findings.5) Disclose that he settled out of court, and the settlement was unfavorable for him.Instead they went with don't tell anyone, hide the whole thing and hope no one ever finds out. That's the problem. It's not really that this guy might have done a crime, it's that Fuji TV covered it up and betrayed the public trust.

Payments and financial solutions are two-a-penny at this point, but mostly for online e-commerce. What about physical stores? In 2023 Qomodo, a Milan-based all-in-one payment methods aggregator for physical merchants, came out with a 34.5 million ($36.9 million) pre-seed round (mostly debt), which we covered, to expand the BNPL model into other categories.Its now raised 13.5 million ($13.9 million) in a Series A funding. The round was co-led by RTP Global and LMDV Capital, with participation from Proximity Capital, Primo Capital as well as other notable investors including the founders of FACEIT, Fiscozen and Freetrade (the latter through Lumen Ventures). That means its now raised 48 million in total ($49.6 million so, 18 million of equity, 30 million of credit facility).Founded in 2023 by entrepreneurs Gianluca Cocco and Gaetano de Maio, Qomodo claims to now serve 2,500 physical merchants, mostly in Italy.The idea is that Qomodo lets small businesses improve their cash flow and increase revenue with a BNPL solution which lets consumers make flexible, interest-free installments on items purchased in-store.This means retailers are more likely to make sales, while at the same time reducing the credit risk from customers.Speaking to TechCrunch Gianluca Cocco, CEO and Co-Founder of Qomodo, said: Our software basically simplifies the merchant transaction to help them reduce payment fees and streamline their operation. You can say that we are digitizing SMBs that have been left behind by FinTech in the physical world.Its a sort of 360 degrees approach, he added. We have a BNPL and POS solution but we are also going to launch other banking products like cards and bank accounts.He said they are in a space where FinTech is not that present, or not at all: Because this is about physical merchants. Usually, financial institutions provide personal loans and traditional lending products, or banking products. So those are our actual main competitors.Louis Dussart, VP, Europe, RTP Global, commented in a statement: Italy has been waiting for a B2B fintech champion and thats why we are delighted to back Qomodo. Theres a huge opportunity, given Italys significant domestic market and standing as the nation of SMBs, to revolutionize and enhance in-store shopping experiences for both retailers and consumers.Qomodo has already partnered with retailers such as Decathlon, Calzedonia, Moschino, Samsonite, Nike, and Pandora.