Warwick doesn't have many internet service providers, but there are a few high-speed internet plans in the city. Here are CNET's picks of the best in the Rhode Island city.

The Xiaomi 14 Ultra's amazing camera setup meant it wasn't just one of the best camera phones of 2024, it was one of the best cameras I've ever seen on a phone. It achieved this primarily with its 1-inch type image sensor, which is physically larger than almost any other smartphone camera sensor. That bigger size, together with the wide, variable aperture, let it capture more light to produce some of the best results I've ever seen from a camera phone. It even blew us away when taking images during Taylor Swift's Eras tour.It also packed a top-end processor for lightning-fast performance, a vibrant display and a battery that lasted the better part of a day. All in all, it was a superb flagship Android phone for those of you wanting to focus on your image-taking.But the tech world doesn't hang around for long and already there are rumors circulating around what we might see from its successor, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Here then is what we know about this potential photography powerhouse. We'll be updating this article over the coming weeks and months as more rumors surface, so make sure to check back regularly to find out more about the phone.Xiaomi 15 Ultra release date and priceThe 14 Ultra was announced in China in February and was first shown off to Western press -- including CNET -- at Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona back in February. It wasn't until later in March that I was able to get my hands on it for testing. While Xiaomi has yet to confirm the launch date for the phone, all signs suggest that the company is planning a similar timeframe for the follow-up.It's already taken the wraps off the base Xiaomi 15 and 15 Pro for the Chinese market -- again, following the same schedule as the 14 and 14 Pro last year. The 14 Ultra went on sale in the UK for 1,299 and while it's not officially on sale in the US, that price equates to $1,640. There's been no word on any significant changes in the company's pricing so we'd expect the 15 Ultra to sit in that ballpark. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra's cameras. Andrew Lanxon/CNETXiaomi 15 Ultra camerasXiaomi's Ultra line has always focused on photography, with the 14 Ultra packing not just a massive image sensor, but a variable aperture and an impressive 5x optical zoom. We firmly expect the 15 Ultra to be similarly aimed towards photographers and indeed early leaks support that.Known tipster Ice Universe reported that the 15 Ultra's periscope telephoto camera will feature a whopping 200-megapixel image sensor. That's a huge step up from the 50-megapixel sensor found on the 14 Ultra. The downside? Ice Universe also says the optical zoom will drop from 5x to 4.4x, although the extra resolution will presumably allow for further digital zoom without a noticeable loss in quality. Alleged leaked renders of the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. SmartprixThis change to the telephoto camera unit is apparently backed up by leaked renders of the phone from SmartPrix, which show an off-center camera unit at the top. A further leaked image (via GSM Arena) purportedly showing the internals of the camera setup indicates that it's off center in order to make room for its large periscope unit. The renders, if accurate, also confirm the continued relationship between Xiaomi and Leica, so expect high-quality lens optics and various Leica color presets to spice up your images.More recently, internet tipster Kartikey Singh posted an image to X purporting to be of the back of the 15 Ultra, while confirming the 1-inch type image sensor and 200 megapixel resolution. The image matches the earlier renders.So far there are few other rumors around the rest of the cameras, including any changes to the main camera and its 1-inch type sensor. I'd certainly hope that Xiaomi continues using at least this sensor size -- if not going even larger -- and maintaining its variable aperture, which can go from wide open at f/1.6 to more closed down at f/4, resulting in attractive starbursts around points of light at night.Xiaomi 15 Ultra processor, display and batteryGiven that the 14 Ultra packed the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor when it launched, it's safe to assume that Xiaomi will equip its new model with Qualcomm's next-generation silicon. Qualcomm took the wraps off the Snapdragon 8 Elite in October, and we've already seen the power this chip can offer in the OnePlus 13. It's also the same chip found inside Samsung's entire Galaxy S25 range.Apart from an expected overall increase in speed, the 8 Elite processor promises improved web browsing speed and is particularly geared towards AI tasks, including powering on-device AI tools like Samsung's Galaxy AI. At its launch event, Qualcomm showed off an AI-powered tool that adds artificial lighting to your selfies, which CNET's David Lumb called "delightfully fun and helpful" when he tried it for himself. We expect to see a variety of AI tools on board Xiaomi's 15 Ultra, for both image manipulation and virtual assistance. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra was a powerhouse. The 15 Ultra is expected to be the same, with the latest Qualcomm chips on board. Andrew Lanxon/CNETRumors tentatively suggest that the 15 Ultra's display will remain at 6.7 inches, like the 14 Ultra, although the battery may be expanded to 6,000 mAh, up from 5,000 mAh. Whether this remains the case on models outside of China remains to be seen as the 14 Ultra did have a slightly larger battery size for models sold within China.It's expected that the phone will continue to offer 90W wired charging, although I'd like to see the company take this further. Some of Xiaomi's other phones -- including the 11T Pro, released back in 2021 -- offer 120W fast charging and it's disappointing not to see such speeds on the company's flashiest, most expensive model.

January 26, 2025WHO Withdrawal, Bird Flu News and the Way Prehab Affects Surgical OutcomesA rundown on whats at stake for global health if the U.S. withdraws from the World Health Organization and an update on bird flu are in this weeks science news roundup. Anaissa Ruiz Tejada/Scientific AmericanSUBSCRIBE TO Science QuicklyRachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners. For Scientific Americans Science Quickly, Im Rachel Feltman. Lets kick off the week by catching up on some of the latest science news.[CLIP: None of My Business, by Arthur Benson]Feltman: First, weve got a quick update from one of our SciAm correspondents. On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization, or WHO. Here to unpack that for us is Tanya Lewis, a senior editor covering health and medicine at Scientific American.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Tanya Lewis: The World Health Organization is an agency of the United Nations. It was founded in 1948, and it has nearly 200 member states. It has a pretty broad scope, from working to expand health care access around the world to responding to disease outbreaks and pandemics.So Trump issued an executive order that signaled that he intends to withdraw from the WHO, but the full process actually takes a year. He tried to do this during his last term, but Biden reversed it before it took effect.Trump said hes withdrawing because he thinks the organization handled the COVID pandemic poorly and because he thinks the U.S. pays an unfair share of the agencys funding. Its true that we do pay the most of any member country, but most of our contributions are actually voluntary and earmarked for specific projects.[CLIP: The Farmhouse, by Silver Maple]Lewis: The WHO is definitely not perfect. It did make some notable mistakes during the pandemic. For example, the agency initially dismissed the possibility that the virus was airborne, and it was very slow to correct that idea, but it did still play an important role in communicating information to countries and helping them get access to vaccines and treatments for the disease.The WHO has a very broad remit, which arguably makes it harder to achieve any one goal, and at the end of the day, it really lacks the power to enforce any rules on its member states.Being part of WHO means the U.S. gets a seat at the table for how the rest of the world handles major health challenges, and experts have told me that if we leave, it will create a vacuum that China will probably fill. The WHO also shares important data and information with its member states, such as the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. Our CDC and other health agencies can fill some of these gaps, but the U.S. withdrawing will definitely have a big impact on the WHO and on other countries. Clear global communication will be especially important if we face a pandemic of bird flu, which poses a growing threat here in the U.S.Many of the WHOs member states are low- or middle-income countries that rely on the public health expertise of U.S. scientists because they dont have a strong CDC of their own. These countries could have a much harder time fighting disease outbreaks or improving health care access. And even though it seems like the WHO gets a lot more from the U.S. than the other way around, its really important to be a part of these larger conversations around global public health threats because if theres one thing weve learned from the COVID pandemic, its that viruses and diseases do not respect borders, and if we dont know what threats there are around the world, we wont be able to protect Americans at home.Feltman: Thanks for that explainer, Tanya. Listeners, well keep tabs on this and other executive orders related to science and health as we move forward.Now lets forget things on Earth for a minute by checking out some space news.[CLIP: Handwriting, by Frank Jonsson]Feltman: Last Tuesday scientists publishing in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics described an exoplanet with wind speeds that put those found in our own solar system to shame. WASP-127b, which is about 520 light-years away, has supersonic jet-stream winds unlike any weve seen before. At the planets equator, winds move at around 20,100 miles per hour. While a couple of other exoplanets have been found with faster atmospheric wind speeds, this is the fastest jet stream found circling around a whole planet, according to Reuters. For context our own planets jet streams can sometimes make it over 275 miles per hour. And the fastest winds on Neptune, which is widely thought to have the strongest winds in our solar system, can surpass 1,100 miles per hour.WASP-127b is a type of gas giant known as a hot Jupiter, which, among other things, means that its quite close to its host star. The windy world is about a third larger than Jupiter but has only around 16 percent of the massso its pretty fluffy. It also has one side facing its sun in perpetual daylight. In fact, one of the study's authors told Reuters that this fierce radiation provides the main energy source for those intense winds.Back down on Earth weve got a troubling bird flu update. On January 17 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced new policies and regulations for pet food manufacturers in response to more than a dozen deaths or illnesses among domestic cats. H5N1 cases in domestic and wild cats have been connected to raw food products in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and California, according to the agency. According to the CDC and the American Veterinary Medical Association, cooked and pasteurized pet foods are the safest options, especially given the ongoing bird flu outbreak. But the FDA is now requiring cat and dog food manufacturers that do use raw poultry or beef products to develop and implement food safety plans that take H5N1 into account.[CLIP: It Doesnt End Here (Instrumental), by Nehemiah Pratt]Feltman: For some pets, a bird flu infection can have serious consequences. While dogs seem to generally experience only mild illness when infected with H5N1, cats can experience seizures and blindness. Now, theres currently no evidence that cats can pass bird flu on to humans, but while the risk of such a jump is extremely low, its not zero, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Of course, youre much more at risk if youre partaking in raw dairy and unpasteurized products yourself. But if youre worried about switching up your shopping habits, either for you or your pets, the good news is theres no evidence that raw dairy provides any health benefits for humansat least none that you wouldnt also get from drinking pasteurized dairyand the World Small Animal Veterinary Association says the same is true of raw meat and dairy for cats.In other health news, two new studies offer advice for dealing with surgery and serious illness. A paper published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine focused on how physical fitness can improve outcomes during cancer treatment. The paper, which reviewed 42 previous studies involving nearly 47,000 patients, found that muscular strength was associated with a significantly lower risk of death, and high cardiorespiratory fitness had a similar link. The researchers say its possible that tailored strength training and other workout programs could promote better outcomes for cancer patients.[CLIP: Those Rainy Days, by Elm Lake]Feltman: Another study published last Wednesday in the BMJ explored the importance of prehabilitation, a.k.a. prehab. Youre likely already familiar with the idea of rehabthe kind of physical therapy and support you might get after particular types of surgery. Prehab allows people to access nutritional support, exercise guidance, cognitive training and other potentially helpful services before a planned surgery.According to the new study, which reviewed data from more than 186 clinical trials involving a total of more than 15,000 patients, there is consistent evidence that prehab improves surgical outcomes. The researchers say the effects of exercise-based prehab programs are especially significant. And although the researchers called for further investigation into exactly what kinds of prehab are most effective and why, the studys lead author noted in a press release that if youre preparing to undergo surgery, its always a good idea to ask your doctor about prehab options.Okay, lets end on a fun note. Youve heard of contagious laughter and probably contagious yawning. But what about contagious peeing?In a study published last week in Current Biology, researchers from Kyoto University in Japan described an unusual social phenomenon in captive chimpanzees. After spending more than 600 hours observing the animals, the researchers concluded that chimps are ever-so-slightly more likely to pee after they see other chimps do it. The effect was amplified if chimps were physically closer to each other.[CLIP: Theme music]Feltman: The researchers also noticed that a chimps social standing seemed to impact their urine influencer status: low-ranking chimps were more likely to copy the bathroom behaviors of high-ranking chimps. And to that I say: Gee whiz! Sorry.Thats all for this weeks news roundup. Well be back on Wednesday to talk all about the science of the sun. And on Friday well be chatting with an expert on human behavior about why being cynical might not be as protective as you think.Science Quickly is produced by me, Rachel Feltman, along with Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Subscribe to Scientific American for more up-to-date and in-depth science news.For Scientific American, this is Rachel Feltman. Have a great week!

Ubisoft responds to report claiming it's signed a Saudi deal for fresh Assassin's Creed Mirage contentBacked by controversial Public Investment Fund.Image credit: Ubisoft News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on Jan. 27, 2025 Ubisoft has responded to a report that claims fresh content for 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage is on the way, following investment from Saudi Arabia's controversial Public Investment Fund (PIF).The report, published by French financial newspaper Les Echoes, states that Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot secured PIF funding during a meeting last month in Saudi Arabia (thanks, j0nathan).In a statement to Eurogamer today, a Ubisoft spokesperson declined to offer more detail, but did not offer a denial."We'll decline to comment," a Ubisoft spokesperson said. "We are focused on finishing Assassin's Creed Shadows and excited for players to get to play it on 20th March."Ian goes hands-on with Assassin's Creed Mirage.Watch on YouTubeThe PIF is an initiative designed as a way to diversify the country's revenues via investment in foreign companies, with a large arm focused on the video games industry. It's chaired by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the controversial ruler blamed by the CIA for the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has upheld the country's notoriously poor human rights record.Despite this, the PIF holds a notable stake in a swathe of gaming companies, including Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive, Nintendo, EA, Embracer, Nexon and Capcom.Ubisoft has recently been seeking investment, as the company discusses its future with Chinese stakeholder Tencent and explores sale options.Additional content for Assassin's Creed Mirage is something of a surprise, considering Ubisoft's upcoming push for the long-awaited Shadows.Mirage, set in ninth-century Baghdad, was designed as a smaller project similar in scope to the Assassin's Creed series' earliest entries, and something of a palate cleanser after a trilogy of enormous Assassin's Creed epics.Released in late 2023, Mirage was primarily developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux, a team which is now building Claws of Awaji, the first 10-hour expansion for Assassin's Creed Shadows that anyone who pre-orders the game will now get for free.But DLC for Mirage could tie into Ubisoft's plans for a more cohesive overall storyline for the series, found within its Animus Hub. This will launch alongside Shadows, and serve as a primary home for ongoing story content and free rewards. (Eurogamer recently got to take a deep dive into Assassin's Creed's new Animus Hub, and everything we know so far that it'll contain.)Shadows looks to tell a completely new story, with a modern day now set in the "near future". Could fresh DLC for Mirage be used to tie up some dangling plot threads, perhaps - particularly what happened next in the series' modern day, following the ending of Assassin's Creed Valhalla?Eurogamer recently went hands-on with Assassin's Creed Shadows, which our Katharine described as the series' "biggest shake-up of the series in years".

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap review - a tempered return for this tower defence titanGoing rogue, like.Image credit: Eurogamer/Robot Entertainment Review by Jeremy Peel Contributor Published on Jan. 27, 2025 A typically snappy entry in the best series that action tower defence has to offer, held back by a repeating roguelite structure that's only partially successful.It never goes well for the greenskins at the vanguard of an orc invasion force, but spare a thought for the guys in the second row - no less doomed, and with the added dread of seeing precisely what's coming to them. "Is it just me," bellows one orc to another in a goofy baritone, over the boom of drums and cannon fire, "or are these traps getting stronger?" Seconds later, he rounds the corner into a shipyard and steps onto a briar patch which, by rights, ought not to be there. Not to mention the auto-crossbows firing from the ceiling, the plants belching poison from the corner, and the saw blades ricocheting off the walls. Uruk-bye, my perceptive friend. That's a four-times combo.Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap reviewDeveloper: Robot EntertainmentPublisher: Robot EntertainmentPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out on 28th January on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X/S and Game PassIn the most fundamental sense, it's business as usual. Orcs Must Die! is a series about protecting a portal, or two, at the centre of a map from encroaching waves of fantasy monsters. You do so by creating elaborate Rube Goldberg deathzones for your imminent guests - laying down barricades to block off routes before guiding the flow of orcs, ogres, trolls and frost giants towards choke points, which you then fill with careering mine carts, pits of tar and dispensers of boiling hot molten gold. If you can stick a single enemy with five, six or seven different methods of pain-giving before they're finally torn in half, youll get extra cash for the combo, which is spent fending off subsequent waves with further traps.Watch on YouTubeIt's tower defence, then, but with the breathless twist of a ground-level perspective, and a responsibility to dive into the fray even as you try and hold a high level strategy in your head. It's both art and science - handing you a gridded map you could halfway-solve on graph paper, but for the fact that no plan survives contact with a live environment. You can't always account for the physics flip-trap that sends a single orc wide, hurtling towards the rift from a path you thought closed off completely, forcing you to sprint after it, your blunderbuss shouting, "Stop!".As hybrid genre formulae go, it's one of the finest ever conceived, and has seen the series safely into its second decade, even after a painfully ignored detour into Tencent-funded PvP. This new version is, in the playing, as good as any before it. And it's cheap to boot - the sort of game you could ask your co-op mates to stump up for without prompting a cost-benefit analysis in the WhatsApp group. Image credit: Eurogamer/Robot EntertainmentThe orc with the lovely baritone was right, though. The traps are getting a little stronger - very gradually, match after match, as I slowly push back the borders of Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap's progression system - and it's this wider structural change to the way the series works that I'm less sold on.On the one hand, I'm picking up enough golden skulls from the bodies of my enemies to unlock one, two or even three new trap types to play with after every run. Ooo - now I can freeze flying gargoyles with icy ballistas, or lay down a cursed paving flag that becomes more deadly with every soul it consumes, making it a long-term tactical investment. These are undeniably exciting additions to my arsenal that leave me eager to switch up my loadout and uncover new possibilities.Outside that, however, I'm handing over my hard-won resources to improve the reset speed of burning coals by half a second, or slightly reducing the cost of an arrow-wall so that I can install a couple more per wave. These sorts of highly incremental, barely perceptible upgrades are very modern, aren't they? The ones designed to keep you tending to a screen-filling skill tree, chasing percentage increases across hundreds of hours, rather than tens. Yet I'm rarely convinced they're better for the player than chunky, tangible choices they can feel altering their playstyle. Image credit: Eurogamer/Robot EntertainmentThese background systems tie into a roguelite run structure that replaces the more traditional campaigns of previous Orcs Must Die! games. And there, it must be said, you're presented with meaningful options at every juncture. Before every stage, you're given a choice of three maps, each of which has a different negative modifier attached to it. You might decide you can handle a couple of extra Fire Elementals per wave, or are prepared to work around double-price ceiling traps. You'll weigh that decision against your familiarity with the maps themselves - most of which you'll know from previous runs.After each wave of enemies you'll pick up Threads, magical boons which stack over the course of a run and can shift your approach as you take advantage of, say, a boost in fire damage if an orc is already coated in tar, or double pain helpings from your crossbow once your ultimate is activated. And at the end of a level, you'll decide whether to bank your earnings and return to base for upgrades, or bet a large chunk of your skulls on the conviction that you can handle another map. After a couple of such adventures, you'll be faced with a boss level that will lay you low the first few times you attempt it. Should you win, your next run will be elongated, and your map selection slightly expanded. Image credit: Eurogamer/Robot EntertainmentWhile Deathtrap is very playable in single-player, it's also designed around four-player co-op - and from that point of view, this roguelike business makes quite a bit more sense than a lengthy campaign. No longer will a drop-in companion find themselves halfway up someone else's difficulty curve, struggling for air. Now, everybody's starting fresh together, even if their individual skill trees might be growing at different rates. What's more, while levels can last up to an hour, you're free to quicksave at their conclusion and come back to a run later. In all this, Orcs Must Die! has never been more approachable.Like the Cyclops Druid who insists on flying over my barricades, however, I must admit I prefer the old ways. Part of the creative and strategic joy of the series has always been the process of figuring out a map for the first time - experimentally plonking down barricades, your most powerful tool, to discover how you might funnel monsters coming from multiple doors into one, glorious corridor of death. There might be different ways of doing it, but the solution is yours, and that eureka moment only comes once per level. Image credit: Eurogamer/Robot EntertainmentBy asking you to repeat a handful of maps across its roguelike structure, Deathtrap ensures those moments come about much less frequently. That's not to say that developer Robot Entertainment has failed to think of ways to keep things fresh. Upon returning to a familiar map, you might find that Rift corruption has entangled your favourite choke point in grim, grey roots, forcing you to rethink your plans; or that an end-of-level boon has made wall traps 50 percent more effective, causing you to ditch your usual ceiling lasers. There are strong incentives for teaching yourself new tricks.Nonetheless, in the 18 or so hours I've spent in Deathtrap's company, I've spent 45 minute stretches fighting battles already solved - shunting orcs down the same routes when I'd rather have moved on to new layouts that prompted different solutions. During the first map of a run in particular, the challenge level can be underwhelming for a veteran, before rising sharply for a boss encounter that, more often than not, ends with a serious hit to your resources. Failure might be part of the roguelite parcel, but faced with the prospect of unnecessary repetition, I'm more inclined to return to Orcs Must Die! 3 for the second campaign I never quite got around to. Image credit: Eurogamer/Robot EntertainmentThere are other, smaller issues with the moment-to-moment magic of playing Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap. Beyond some opening videos, there's a curious lack of tutorialisation which meant, across multiple maps, I had no idea the aforementioned Druid could 'silence' my character with his eye laser - leading me to swear fruitlessly as my ultimate failed to activate, and ogres plunged into the Rift. But the fundamentals are so winning that I've had a largely fantastic time in its company regardless.There's something about the meeting of deep strategic thinking and chaotic third-person imprecision that tickles the brain like nothing else - the sweet spot that renders Orcs Must Die! both a casual distraction and an engrossing equation. Deathtrap explores the full spectrum of that identity better than ever before - following maps like Town Plaza, a mathsy network of right angles and tight bridges begging to be cancelled out with barricades, with the wide-open bloodbath of Dry Docks. The latter pushes you to master the MOBA-like synergies of your character abilities - a welcome hangover from the Tencent days. Image credit: Eurogamer/Robot EntertainmentOrcs Must Die! Deathtrap accessibility optionsSeparate sliders for music, sound effects, dialogue and enemy dialogue. Subtitles, voice chat and gore toggles. Aim assist option. Choice of controller vibration. Language, preferred region and crossplay settings. Camera sensitivity sliders, and camera shake and inversion options.In the most important ways, Deathtrap is still wonderfully old-fashioned - eschewing the apologetic design that finds many modern developers tweaking the fun out of their creations in a process of death by patch note. It's happy to let you break its systems with lucky combinations of Threads and traps which can generate more cash than you know what to do with once they click into place. When that happens, you simply stand back and laugh at the factory line mass murder you've facilitated, all fire and lighting and really sharp spikes.Then, before you can get bored, it's all wiped away for you to start anew on the next level. In the past, I've compared the feeling of playing Orcs Must Die! rather pompously to Buddhist sand mandalas - the extraordinary artworks which are ritualistically destroyed as a reminder of the transitory nature of life. And hey, I stand by it. To pick a less pretentious reference point: a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. And this daft thing that Orcs Must Die! has us doing, feeding both id and ego at once, is one of the most beautiful and underrated experiences gaming has to offer. No amount of roguelike revisions to the formula can change that.A copy of Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap was provided for review by developer Robot Entertainment.

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 hereArrowhead has a lot of exciting plans for Helldivers 2 in 2025, albeit all the developers intentions are currently kept secret behind-the-scenes. Fortunately, there are leaks online that potentially pull the curtain aside on massive battles coming to Super Earth, as well as an armor customisation system. Now there are fresh Helldivers 2 leaks that have spilled the beans on a new stratagem upgrade that leaves Jump Packs in the dirt.Helldivers 2 leak reveals new Jump Pack stratagem upgradeThe Jump Pack is a popular stratagem in Helldivers 2. The LIFT-850 allows players to leap across the battlefield, albeit with the condition of a cooldown after being used each for each pounce.On the HelldiversLeaks subreddit, OP Tier5NPC has shared details about a newer and better Jump Pack that is currently in-development. Per the OPs admission, It is important to note that the [new] stratagem doesNOT possess a modeland has a placeholder model identical to its current counterpart in-game.According to Tier5NPC, the High Efficiency Thruster Pack is a more powerful and heavy variation of the Lift-850 Jump Pack that is currently available for Super Earth soldiers. It allows its wearer to jump significantly higher with much more controlled ascensions allowing the Helldiver to shoot much more accurately at the enemies below.While the new Jump Pack leaps higher and comes with the possibility of more offensive accuracy, there is the drawback of a longer cooldown. However, back to the pros, its higher elevation means players can perform a curved high jump over enemies and blast everything underneath them with little worry to trip and fall on landing, which presumably means little-to-no worries of tripping and ragdolling.Its reported that the new Jump Pack is more offensive-based in comparison to the Lift-850 that is more tactical. While the Lift-850 is a tactical pack designed to aide traversal through difficult terrain, as well as perform rapid and successive evasions of enemy attacks, the High Efficiency Thruster Pack is more geared towards combat.The H.E. Thruster Pack lacks forward thrusting, but it has significantly more powerful vertical thrusting, and this, in theory, allows the player to retain control over their manoeuvrability while in air [to] obliterate the threat below them from a safe high altitude.Basically, the differences are that the Lift-850 will remain useful for players who want a Jump Pack more for traversal, whereas the H.E. will become the better option for players who want a Jump Pack with a competitive edge.Check out the Reddit post below for gameplay comparisons. Again, the new stratagem does not possess a unique model at this point in time, so the model used by Tier5NPC for gameplay purposes is not representative of the final product.For more Helldivers 2, check out our guide to thebest warbonds ranked, along with thebest stratagemsandbest throwables. We have also a guide to thebest weapons, and, if youre coming back to HD2 for the first time in a long while, we have a bunch oftips and tricksto help you get reaccustomed to the battlefield.Helldivers 2Platform(s):PC, PlayStation 5Genre(s):Action, Shooter, Third Person8VideoGamerSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

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 hereWith Baldurs Gate 3 developer Larian Studios preparing to leave the game behind as they turn full attention to their next project, its up to modders to keep the already-amazing RPG alive.As cracked mod tools open the door for custom maps, campaigns, dialogue and even fully voiced companions, some modders are going above and beyond. One mod brings players back to the streets of BG2s main city while another aims to combine Larians RPG with World of Warcraft. Both of these are far from release.However, one mod releasing sometime in February offers something truly unique, giving players a Bard-themed adventure that feels like a mini-DLC for Baldurs Gate 3. Dubbed Sell Your Lute to the Devil, this new mod offers a brand-new experience unlike anything players will see in the base game.New Baldurs Gate 3 campaign offers Bard-themed horrorCreated by modder Moezilla, the new Custom Campaign allows players to find a cursed lute that teleports them to The Grand Theatre, a musical celebration that hides a sinister secret.In the mod, players will uncover a dark plot that sees crowds of ever-lovable bards performing against their will. With the Red Wizards of Thay involved, players will find themselves fighting to save the musical class from despair.Sell your Lute to the Devil also features its own music with The Grand Theatre revolving around a new song titled Song of the Silverhand. Shown off in a recent development update, this awesome prog-rock song is a certified banger and a great addition. (Every mod needs its own rock tune now.)The goal is to roll this out at the end of January, the modder explained. Its going to be very limited for now, but, like, it took me three months to build this as a one-person show.While the modder is getting close to release the first version of the mod, theres also plans to continue development. Additionally, if fans are interested, theres also space for volunteers to help with design, coding and other aspects of the mod if they want.Sell your Lute to the Devil isnt the most ambitious Baldurs Gate 3 mod in the works, but its another interesting piece of content from a truly dedicated fan. Were still at the beginning of the games modding scene and nearing an explosion, and its modders like this that are setting the stage for decades of amazing additions in the future.For more BG3 mod coverage, read about how fans are bringing Halos Master Chief to the game or eead about the arrival of functional Pokeballs to the land of Faerun. 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

Tetris animation for immersive experience By Louis du Mont on January 27, 2025 Behind the Scenes Louis du Mont created a four-wall projection video in Blender, and takes us through the creation process.Immersive Gamebox is an in-person games and experience company who are starting to develop more and more joint IP projects, including Tetris! Like previous games, we were brought on for the animated cut scenes.https://files.mastodon.social/cache/media_attachments/files/113/851/091/039/414/281/original/cf821678d11cbc38.mp4The animations are projected on all 4 walls in a "gamebox" and aim to increase immersion with engaging surround motion that feels dynamic, but stops at the point of making people feel nauseous.Starting from a script, we built out previs and sound design for review, then moved onto production. Like before, we used Eevee, in part due to the demanding 7680x1280 pixel resolution, we also utilised geometry nodes for the voxel cube effect, which sampled a texture map to keep the colour information of the original mesh models.https://i.imgur.com/Uksgban.mp4We also used geometry nodes to generate the voxel cube dome explosion, which mimicked the in-game Unity experience. We used instanced circle curves and various maths operations to create a 3D sphere of curves, we then converted the curves to points and instanced cubes on the points.https://i.imgur.com/aqxhRh2.mp4Geometry nodes were also used for the electricity effect with a simple set position node with vector normal and a noise texture.The whole animation was 6 unique scenes blended together. The characters were humanised versions of the Immersive Gamebox Meep characters that we developed with the company. This project was one of the first where we worked closely with the game development team, who are using more and more 3D assets in the Unity builds, sharing more assets back and forth.If you interested there are more Immersive Gamebox video available to watch here:

Facepalm: Apple's much-hyped Siri integration with ChatGPT may have added a ton of useful functionality, but it's apparently done little to improve the digital assistant's knowledge of sports. A damning report highlights just how abysmally Siri performs at recalling simple facts like past Super Bowl winners. According to the report from One Foot Tsunami's Paul Kafasis, when asked "Who won Super Bowl?" for each number from 1 through 60, Siri correctly provided the winner for only 20 out of the 58 Super Bowls that have been played so far. That translates to a success rate of just 34%.The details get even more embarrassing. Kafasis found that at its worst, Siri missed an incredible 15 Super Bowl winners in a row from Super Bowl XVII through XXXII. And in a baffling mishap, it erroneously credited the Philadelphia Eagles with a whopping 33 non-existent Super Bowl wins.Kafasis documented every single one of Siri's wrong answers in a downloadable spreadsheet, which you can find on his blog.Another report by Daring Fireball's John Gruber corroborated these findings. It found that AI assistants and search engines from Google, Anthropic, and DuckDuckGo fared far better when asked similar Super Bowl trivia questions. Gruber even found they could all handle not just past results, but smartly dodge trick questions about future Super Bowls that haven't happened yet.Siri's poor performance doesn't stop at sports trivia either. Daring Fireball posed a more obscure question "Who won the 2004 North Dakota high school boys' state basketball championship?" Incredibly, both Kagi and ChatGPT provided the fully correct answer, with the latter earning bonus points for including a link to video of the championship game. Meanwhile, Siri once again got it wrong.What makes all this particularly damning is that Siri's essentially powered by the same ChatGPT that fares perfectly fine when used without Siri. // Related StoriesThe blog also points out that the old pre-AI versions of Siri at least acknowledged limitations on such queries and provided relevant web links. But new Siri powered by Apple Intelligence with ChatGPT integration lies with confidence a hallmark of unrefined AI making it worse than its predecessor.Both blogs conclude that Apple has more work to do in this area. As Gruber bluntly states, Siri with ChatGPT is currently "a massive regression" over the old Siri when it comes to handling simple factual prompts.

Fly AwayYes, it does look like Sega has renewed its trademark for Dreamcast classic Skies of Arcadia, but I wouldn't get your hopes up just yetSega has also recently renewed its trademark for Ecco the Dolphin.Image credit: Sega News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 27, 2025 Sega has seemingly renewed its trademark for Skies of Arcadia, a classic Dreamcast RPG, though that doesn't necessarily mean it's making a comeback.As spotted by Sega Informant over on Twitter, trademark tracking website Chizai Watch has indicated that Sega has recently renewed its trademark for both Skies of Arcadia and Eternal Arcadia, the latter being the name used in Japan. Pages for both titles appear to show that the trademark renewal went through last week, January 24, and follows not long after it was spotted that the trademarks for Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco had also been renewed. Now, if you're a fan of either of these games, I'd be pretty understanding if you started to get excited about this, but it is worth noting that a trademark renewal doesn't always mean much.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. There's been plenty of older titles that have had their trademarks renewed by their respective owners simply to retain the trademark - Sega obviously wouldn't want some other company picking up the trademark for Skies of Arcadia just because it didn't plan on making a new one or even releasing a remaster, because there's always the chance that somewhere down the road it would want to do either of those things. So, right now it's kind of a Schrodinger's Skies of Arcadia right now; maybe there's something in the works, maybe not! To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Sega is working on bringing back a lot of its older titles at the moment, including iconic titles like Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Crazy Taxi, and more besides those. Not to mention there's that new Virtua Fighter in the works, so anything is possible.Skies of Arcadia was an incredibly well received title upon its release in 2000, and even received a GameCube port in 2002, but a sequel never materialised despite the strong reviews. Perhaps now is the time, Sega? Hint hint?