• WWW.VIDEOGAMER.COM
    Fortnite releases huge Godzilla buff making the King of Monsters impossible to avoid
    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 hereEpic Games Godzilla collaboration in Fortnite is going harder than ever before with the King of Monsters now a guaranteed addition to the battle royale game. If you thought avoiding Tohos iconic kaiju was difficult before, hold onto your rear, because the Big-G has just received a monumental new buff.Fortnite Godzilla always spawnsRevealed by reknowned leaker Loolo, Fortnite developer Epic Games has significantly buffed Godzillas spawn rate inside the standard battle royale matches. On release, the G-Man only had a spawn rate of 20% which was later increased to 40%, but now players will encounter the horrifying metaphor for nuclear destruction in 100% of Fortnite matches.With players wondering how to play the Godzilla event in Fortnite, Epic Games has now made the monsters appearance unavoidable. While you wont have to defeat Godzilla in every match, the iconic monster will now be present no matter what you do.Alongside the increase spawn rate, Epic has also increased G-Mans overall stats. Via FN_Assist, the world boss Weak Spot Health has been buffed by 88% up to 1500 points and the creatures Damage Multiplier when max damage taken has been decreased by 27%.Of course, Epic has not changed the rewards for killing the monster, although it would be cool if players now needed to find an Oxygen Destroyer for the ultimate Kaiju experience. This means that youll still be able to nab the Godzilla Medallion, giving you a recharging dash ability, as well as the Burst Quad Launcher.Additionally, anyone who picks up the Godzilla Medallion will still be snitched out by the game and have their location shown to every other looter in the map. Good stuff.For more Fortnite coverage, read about the massive leak that reveals an awesome new theme and read about the best new landing spot in the game.Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share
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  • WWW.ARCHITECTURALDIGEST.COM
    My Apartment Burned Down 6 Years AgoThese Are the Vital Lessons Ive Learned Since
    In early January I watched in horror as beloved communities in Los Angeles burned in the Palisades and Eaton fires. While I live two hours east of LA, near Joshua Tree, witnessing the lives of friends and strangers splinter in an instant felt all too familiar: In April of 2019 I lost my apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to a five-alarm fire started by a careless neighbor who left a candle burning by a curtain on a windy day. In minutes the conflagration tore through the roof, leaving our 56-unit, six-floor, pre-war building uninhabitable.Now, watching thousands of Angelinos try to make sense of their loss, I remember how I rebuilt my life and the surprising lessons I learned about accepting community support, mourning, and moving on.The loss of a future is as painful as the physical and financial lossId lived in Sunset Park, a working- and middle-class neighborhood in southwest Brooklyn thats home to generations of immigrants from Scandinavia, Latin America, and China, for 17 years and owned my one-bedroom condo for 10. I planned to make it my forever home. I was at work when the fire began, so I only had the belongings in my purse and gym bag, and I had no chance to rescue my cat, Crackers.Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where the author previously lived.Photo: Bus Photography/Getty ImagesIt took time to understand how to grieve. I could mourn Crackerss passing, but I was physically safe, and no people died. Unlike some of my neighbors, I had personal property insurance and could stay with my boyfriend at the time. Its just stuff, well-meaning acquaintances told me, but my loss was a dark hole that had been kicked through my life. Trauma studies professor Sandra Stark Shields recently noted on KCRW that losing a home is similar to the sudden death of a family member, and this short sentence helped articulate the grief I tumbled into.When the ash settled, the damage assessed, and repairs estimated, it became clear that the condo board lacked sufficient insurance coverage and could not afford to rebuild. We would not get our homes, or their equivalent value, back. As reality sunk in, I grieved the future I once dreamed of: Growing old in Sunset Park, a predictable routine of summer park picnics and swims in the public pool and stunning winter sunsets observed from my fifth-floor fire escape. I was experiencing ambiguous loss, a term coined by Pauline Boss in the 1970s, to describe loss without true closure. More than the undoing of financial or physical security, losing my imagined future has been the hardest to reconcile.I had to be specific about what I neededIn the dizzying aftermath of the fire, support from our neighbors through donation drives, fundraisers, and skill sharing enabled me and other building residents to get our immediate bearings. However, securing what I would need to move forward was overwhelming. After a few weeks, I had a rental apartment, but little furniture; a refrigerator, but no desire to cook; blank walls, and empty bookshelves. I learned to ask for the specific help I needed in order to establish some kind of normalcy. My friends set up a gift registry of necessary household items, from baking dishes and spatulas to pillows and a pressure cooker. Others dropped off homemade lentil soup and kitchen staples like fresh spices and Maldon salt. A fellow writer arranged for book lovers to send me my favorites to rebuild my library. These generous acts grounded me, and these objects serve as a daily reminder of the community support I received.Solidarity is energizing, but only goes so farThough I had scarcely known many of my immediate neighbors before the fire, in the aftermath the solidarity between owners and tenants, and English, Chinese, and Spanish speakers was energizing. We shared resources, attended community meetings in search of solutions, and checked in regularly to support each other in person and over text. However, our unity was fragile, and within a year fractured along the lines of class and language. While I quickly moved into a nearby rental, paid by my personal insurance for one year, others had to move out of the city, and later the country, because they did not have sufficient support. The disintegration of our community as residents attempted to move on was a deep, and unavoidable, loss.
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  • WWW.ARCHITECTURALDIGEST.COM
    Watch: The AD PRO LIVE Road to AD100
    Being named to the AD100ADs list of the worlds leading talentis a professional milestone that can make a designers career, opening the doors to new, high profile clients, brand and licensing deals, and a closer relationship with one of the worlds top magazines. In this one-hour virtual event, AD100 designers open up about the path that got them into the pages of AD, share the lessons and surprises they encountered along the way, and offer up their best advice for others.On January 22, Alison Levasseur, ADs Global Interiors & Garden Director, caught up with three AD100 2025 debuts, Heidi Caillier, Little Wing Lee, and Ross Cassidy, to glean their lessons learned in navigating client projects, product deals, building a brand, and more. Watch the full video recap below.Meet the Panelists
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  • WWW.VG247.COM
    Helldivers 2's latest mission is about collecting samples, but it could have a much more interesting payoff: using the Gloom to zip about faster than light
    Don't Be GloomyHelldivers 2's latest mission is about collecting samples, but it could have a much more interesting payoff: using the Gloom to zip about faster than lightGimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme the extra FTL travel I desire.Image credit: VG247/Arrowhead News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Jan. 24, 2025 Helldivers 2 just got a fresh Major Order and no matter whether you're still reeling from failing the last one, or have just discovered that you can access the game via Steam for the first time in ages, you might want to pay attention not just to your latest task, but what it could lead to.After the last MO brought the freshly-updated Democracy Space Station back into play to help battle the Illuminate, now you're back off to the bug front. Not that you necessarily weren't there last order, if you're a hardcore bugdiver.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. At a glance, this latest MO looks like nothing special. Extract 22 million common samples from Erata Prime, 15 million rare ones from Gacrux, and make sure Super Earth's in control of Fenrir III by the end of the order in about four days' time.It's what this is in aid of that's a bit more interesting. You'll be helping develop tech to aid the divers in dealing with "The Gloom" - that's the weird spore cloud that's long filled a bunch of Terminid-controlled sectors. As it turns out, it might be useful for more than just making your ship need foglights. To see this content please enable targeting cookies."Recent experimentation on Terminids using collected Gloom spores indicate that Gloom-induced mutations may dramatically increase Element 710-yield," reads Arrowhead's full briefing, adding that tests have suggested that yield can go up to as much as ten times the norm."The implications of this result are monumental," it continues, "The Gloom may represent a vast, untapped source of new energy. Its exploitation could enable FTL travel beyond military and colony settlement operations - expanding to trade and research sectors, as well as to more military and colony settlement operations."So, maybe it'll help add some new elements to the stuff Super Earth has at its disposal, beyond just the DSS. Or, maybe it do exactly what a lot of players think - go totally wrong and have a consequence like making a bunch of even tougher bugs, possibly escaped Gloom mutation test subijects or something like that.We'll just have to wait and see, but this is Helldivers 2 - it'll probably be both.
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  • WWW.VG247.COM
    No Rest for the Wicked's The Breach update will be its first big one of 2025; and here's our first look at it
    Back On WickedNo Rest for the Wicked's The Breach update will be its first big one of 2025; and here's our first look at itMoon Studios promised to make 2025 a big year for No Rest for the Wicked, and the developer is finally ready to tease some of what's to come.Image credit: Moon Studios News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on Jan. 24, 2025 Just before the end of last year, No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios apologied for the extended period of radio silence that followed the games early access launch, and promised to communicate more regularly with players throughout 2025.This is part of a plan to release big new content updates for the game throughout the new year, and today, the developer lifted the veil - slightly - off the first one of those.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. The first major No Rest for the Wicked update to arrive in 2025 is dubbed the Breach. The developer calls it a "monumental" update, and released a stunning - and a little terrifying - two-minute teaser.Its hard to glean much from it, but it seems to be teasing a new region, and what looks to be a big new boss to take on. Unfortunately, this is one of those announcements of announcements, because the teaser is really more of a preamble to the next Wicked Inside showcase, scheduled for March 11.Presumably, this is when were going to get an actual release date for the Breach. The good news is that the update looks to be significant enough to warrant an entire showcase of its own, not a simple blog post. So expect a deep dive into everything coming to the game with the Breach. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.On that note, Moon Studios also promised to release an updated roadmap then, too, which only bodes well. Even unfinished as it was - and is - No Rest for the Wicked remains one of last years most interesting genre-blending games. It ended up in my top three favourite games last year, and Im certainly looking forward to seeing what Moon has been cooking up.
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  • WWW.NINTENDOLIFE.COM
    Opinion: My Daughter Made Me Realise That Mario Wonder's Difficulty Options Need Work
    Image: Nintendo LifeI suspect many of my fellow parents can relate to this, but when you have your first child, a whole bevvy of problems that never existed before are suddenly thrust upon you.Do we have enough nappies?Oh God, she missed the potty again.No, you cant sit there Daddy, my Peppa Pig toy is sitting there.Granted, a lot of these arent necessarily problems as such, rather minor inconveniences that, along with frequent moments of unbridled joy, make up the weird and wonderful world of parenthood. I do, however, have a bit of a bone to pick with Nintendo; specifically with its approach to game difficulty in the last mainline Mario, Super Mario Bros. Wonder.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube794kWatch on YouTube Before having a child, the idea of lowering a games difficulty had honestly never really entered my mind. If anything, I would crank the difficulty up wherever I could in the hope that it would both extend my overall playtime and provide a unique sense of accomplishment. Halo on Legendary? No problem. Bayonetta on Climax? Is that all you've got?This all changed, however, when my daughter expressed interest in playing Mario Wonder. She watched the Super Mario Bros. Movie and became somewhat obsessed with the characters especially Princess Peach. Shes only three, so I knew immediately that if Im going to let her play, Id need to make sure it was as approachable as possible, despite my own proclivities.As you might know, however, Super Mario Bros. Wonder essentially locks its lower difficulty setting to specific characters: Nabbit and four Yoshis. So when the character select screen came up, I gently tried to explain this to my daughter, knowing full well how the conversation would go.Now listen, if you go for one of these characters, the game will be a bit easier for you and youll have a lot more fun.I want to be Princess Peach thoooough!That might be a bit trickier. If you go for the purple rabbit, itll be better.No, Princess Peach!"You'll play as Nabbit and you'll LIKE IT!"Sigh. Anyone whos had the pleasure of raising a three-year-old knows that its borderline impossible to change their mind once their heart is set on something. In this case, Princess Peach is my daughters favourite character from the movie, so of course shes going to want to play as her. This meant we'd have to do without the perks including invincibility that come with Yoshi or Nabbit.Wonder's Badge system would have potentially eased certain tricky scenarios, but they're not a comprehensive replacement for proper difficulty optionsSo how did it go? Well, rather predictably, not well. The opening stage Welcome to the Flower Kingdom was doable, but it went rapidly downhill from there. I knew that changing to Yoshi or Nabbit wasnt suddenly going to make the game a cakewalk; after all, while both characters boast unique abilities that would theoretically make most scenarios easier, theres still the task of actually navigating the levels. Given my daughters age and inexperience, even that would no doubt prove quite the challenge.Still, it seems baffling to me that Nintendo would create a game aimed at children and families and not offer any optional difficulty settings for the majority of its 12 playable characters. No offence to Nabbit, but no child wants to play him when the likes of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach are sitting right there; especially when the Illumination movie had such an immediate, profound influence on my daughter's perception and preferences.And yes, I know Wonder's Badge system would have potentially eased certain tricky scenarios, but they're not a comprehensive replacement for proper difficulty options, in my eyes.I wish I could say that I managed to convince her so she could enjoy the game, but she was exceptionally stubborn in her desire to play as Peach. And honestly? I'm quite proud of that. It makes me think that perhaps, way off in the future, she'll be playing her games on higher difficulties just like me... Or she just loves Peach and wants to play as her yeah, that's probably it. In the end, though, she gave up and went back to playing with her Peach plushie.Yeah... She never got this far.Games like Celeste have proven that even the most challenging of experiences can be accessible to almost anybody when it has the right options in place. Quite frankly, I think with invincibility turned on and unlimited stamina applied, my daughter could probably have more fun with Celeste than she did with Mario Wonder and I consider the latter to be much easier on its default settings.So come on, sort it out Nintendo. You've made some strides with difficulty and accessibility options over the years, but you've clearly got a long way to go. Applying blanket difficulty settings to a tentpole Mario title seems like the most basic of tasks when your goal is to reach as many potential players as possible, but as ever, the company stubbornly things its own way.Forcing those who want a breezier time to play as a specific character, though..? Nah, that ain't it.
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  • TECHCRUNCH.COM
    iOS 18 hits 68% adoption across iPhones, per new Apple figures
    Apple released new figures Friday, highlighting user adoption of iOS 18. Released in public form back in September 2024, the mobile operating system is now installed on 68% of compatible devices. That number jumps to 78% on iPhones released in the last four years.As for the remaining iPhones out there, 19% are running iOS 17, and 13% are using an earlier version. Similarly, 19% of iPhones released in the last four years are currently running iOS 17.The figure drops to 5% with earlier iOS builds understandable, given the overall percentage of those devices that shipped with either iOS 17 or 18, along with early adopters propensity to keep their devices running the latest OS updates. As 9 to 5 Mac points out, the figures presented are similar to those Apple issued in 2024 around iOS 17 adoption.The companys small model approach to generative AI, Apple Intelligence, was the marquee feature for iOS 18. That arrived with the operating systems first major update, 18.1, with additional features arriving with 18.2. The current public version is 18.2.1. Of course, Apple Intelligence has had some stumbles out of the gate, including one that required the company to roll back News notification summaries.iPadOS 18s adoption figures, meanwhile, are markedly lower than its mobile counterpart. Currently, 53% of all iPads are running iPadOS 18. That figure jumps to 63% for those released in the last four years.
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  • TECHCRUNCH.COM
    Neko Healths unicorn-sized Series B is larger than some Series C rounds
    Welcome to Startups Weekly your weekly recap of everything you cant miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here.This week was supposed to be a short one in the U.S., as it started with a holiday. But Inauguration Day kept some founders busy, and the following days brought us more than their fair share of startup news.Most interesting startup stories from the weekImage Credits:David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via GettyThis week reminded us that not all sales are created equal, and that it is often worth looking beyond the price tag. Plus, there were legal troubles for an AI decacorn.No divvy: Divvy Homes, a rent-to-own startup backed by a16z, is selling to a division of Brookfield Properties for about $1 billion. However, some shareholders may not see a dime from the sale.Beauty for sale: Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever agreed to acquire Peak XV-backed Indian skincare startup Minimalist for about $342 million more than the $300 million valuation it reportedly sought in a fundraising attempt last year.Big markdown: AI-powered parking platform Metropolis acquired computer vision company Oosto for a fraction of what the startup had raised to date. Formerly known as AnyVision, it had lost backers over its technology being used in controversial surveillance applications.Legal clash: Valued at $13.8 billion last year, Scale AI is facing its third worker lawsuit of 2025, with contractors claiming they suffered psychological harm from writing prompts about disturbing content. A spokesperson for Scale AI said it had numerous safeguards in place.Most interesting VC and funding news this weekImage Credits:Ati MotorsSeries B rounds announced this week varied greatly in size, with some of these exceeding other Series C rounds. And for companies that dont quite feel like going public yet, there are still more letters in the alphabet.Pre-IPO letters: Data analytics platform Databricksclosed a $10 billion Series J equity funding roundat a $62 billion valuation, with an additional $5.25 billion in debt financing. Meta is backing the company as a strategic investor.From cat to unicorn: Neko Health, the Swedish body-scanning startup co-founded by Spotifys Daniel Ek, and whose name means cat in Japanese, raised a $260 million Series B round of funding at $1.8 billion post-money.Money to move: Lindus Health, a startup backed by Peter Thiel and Creandum that is currently moving its HQ from the U.K. to the U.S., secured a $55 million Series B round to fix the broken clinical trial industry.Spending less: AI-powered SaaS spend management platform Vertice raised a $50 million Series C round of funding led by Lakestar, at a valuation close to $500 million, according to sources.Indian robotics: Indian-based autonomous mobile robots startup Ati Motors raised a $20 million Series B to grow internationally. The U.S. already dominates Atis revenues, and the company hopes to further benefit from demand for robotics manufactured outside of China.Crypto crypto crypto: Capitalizing on cryptos comeback, AngelList and CoinList teamed up to launch crypto special purpose vehicles and crypto roll-up vehicles that will let crypto founders raise capital using crypto coins.Last but not leastImage Credits:Getty ImagesAI is still red hot, but there are always subsectors that VCs are more interested in. To figure out which types of AI startups theyd most like to back this year, TechCrunch rounded up some findings from our recent survey of 20 enterprise VCs. In short: Think companies, not features.
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  • WWW.AWN.COM
    UK Government to Invest 60 Million in Creative Industries
    Hundreds of creative businesses and projects across the UK are set to receive government funding, marking the first step of the Governments Sector Plan for the creative industries.Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy brought together more than 250 creative businesses and cultural leaders at the The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead earlier this month. Starting with a 60 million package of government support, investments include start-up video game studios, grassroots music venues, and creative businesses to boost British music and film exports. Nandy also announced that shorter apprenticeships will be available from August 2025.Our 60 million funding boost will support creative and cultural organizations across the UK to turbocharge growth by transforming local venues, creating jobs, supporting businesses and spreading opportunity across the country, said Nandy. But this is by no means the limit of our ambitions, which is why the creative industries are at the heart of the forthcoming Industrial Strategy and will continue to play a key part in this Governments Plan for Change.The 60 million package includes 40 million in funding over the next financial year with a further 16.3 million for the Create Growth Programme, 2.5 million for the Supporting Grassroots Music Fund, 5.5 million for the UK Games Fund, 1.6 million for the Music Export Growth Scheme, and 7 million for the UK Global Screen Fund. Four cultural projects receiving 16.2 million from the Cultural Development Fund include The Centre for Writing, Glassworks, Harmony Works, and The Tropicana.The recently held Summit aimed to identify key barriers currently holding back the sectors growth potential so that groundwork can be laid for the publication of the full Creative Industries Sector Plan in the spring.Priority regions for Creative Industries are the North East, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, Greater London, West of England, South Wales, Glasgow, Edinburgh-Dundee corridor, and Belfast. Additional funding will be provided as part of the Spending Review to six Mayoral Combined Authorities.The British Business Bank, which supports 17.4 billion of finance to over 64,000 smaller businesses, has committed to increase its support for creative businesses to access the finance they need to grow.Our number one mission is to grow the economy, and our creative industries are a British success story with a big part to play, said Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves. Building on our plans to boost our AI sector, this is another step as we go further and faster to deliver growth so we can put more money in peoples pockets.The Culture Secretary and Foreign Secretary David Lammy also confirmed the membership of a new Soft Power Council, which will act as an advisory board to the UK Government. Members include former rower and chair of UK Sport Katherine Grainger, former athlete and television presenter Baroness Grey-Thompson, and V&A director Tristram Hunt.Soft power is fundamental to the UKs impact and reputation around the world, said Lammy. I am often struck by the enormous love and respect which our music, sport and educational institutions generate on every continent. But we have not taken a sufficiently strategic approach to these huge assets as a country. Harnessing soft power effectively can help to build relationships, deepen trust, enhance our security and drive economic growth.Source: Animation UK Journalist, antique shop owner, aspiring gemologistL'Wrenbrings a diverse perspective to animation, where every frame reflects her varied passions.
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