The company which has a 30-year concession to run the 109km rail line between St Pancras International in London and the Channel Tunnel is recruiting a team to carry out a RIBA Stage 2 study focusing on the landmark William Henry Barlow-designed terminus.The procurement for a design and operational concept feasibility partner comes shortly after HS1 announced the findings of a study looking at the potential for expanded passenger capacity at the Grade I-listed of St Pancras International terminus.According to the report, there are various opportunities to increase the current capacity of 1,800 travellers an hour to nearly 5,000. Landolt + Brown Architects was selected to work on the initial study last year. Key aims include delivering more efficient operations and enabling additional international rail services.AdvertisementAccording to the brief: International rail services are currently provided by Eurostar who have expressed an aspiration to grow their passenger volumes from 19m today to 30m by 2030 across their network.To support these growth aspirations, HS1 has commissioned an initial feasibility study to explore a) the likely future passenger numbers that will need to be accommodated in the international part of St Pancras station and b) the required spatial and operational changes that will be necessary to unlock the required capacity.This initial work has identified that expansion is feasible. HS1 is now ready to progress to design and operational concept feasibility stage (RIBA2) to design, deliver and operationalise a reconfigured ground floor operation of the International Zone delivering a significant uplift in passenger capacity that meets forecast requirements until at least 2035 and potentially 2040.St Pancras station is a major central London terminus for international rail services to France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Designed by William Henry Barlow in 1868, the Grade I-listed station underwent an 800 million refurbishment and redevelopment by Arup and Chapman Taylor Architects in 2007.The upgraded station complex features a 150 million overhaul and extension of George Gilbert Scotts former Midland Grand Hotel, designed by RHWL and Richard Griffiths Architects. Following Brexit, new border check requirements mean it suffers from capacity limitations and long processing queues for international travel.AdvertisementThe latest project comes six years after Chapman Taylor Architects drew up the SPICE growth study for the interchange and delivered a series interim measures to improve the departure experience for passengers.Landolt + Brown worked with design consultancy agency Active Thinking on the exploration of options for future passenger growth. Both were appointed by HS1 Ltd following a competitive tender process.The project aims to boost capacity at the congested St Pancras International where, in coming years, new train operators are planning to run services alongside Eurostar, which itself hopes to increase capacity from 1,800 passengers an hour to 2,700 passengers an hour by 2025.Applicants must hold employers liability insurance of 10 million, public liability insurance of 10 million and professional indemnity insurance of 5 million.Competition detailsProject title Call for Competition - St Pancras Enhancement Project RIBA 2 Design and Operational Concept Feasibility StudyClient HS1Contract value TBCFirst round deadline Midday, 12 February 2025Restrictions TBCMore information https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/a84b5103-785a-4eca-8298-e72f277a270f

There are many sleep hacks out there. The most popular options have promising results, like reading in bed or having a soothing cup of tea. But after you've tried a few, it can be discouraging to find the best fit for you. One you might not have thought of is light yoga. It's one of our favorite calming activities to do before bed.There's some science behind why yoga can help you sleep better. Yoga and breathing techniques help calm your nervous system, which puts your body in a more relaxed state, ideal to help you fall asleep. However, you need to know the right poses to make that happen, because not all poses will assist you with your sleep issues. The key is to aim for relaxing movements that help calm your body and clear your head.If you've landed on yoga as a solution you'd like to try, keep reading to see the top yoga poses we recommend for better sleep.For more natural ways to get better sleep, try these seven sleep aids for insomnia, or check out our sleep tips from CNET's wellness editors.Read more: Best Mattresses for 2024How yoga can help you sleep Yoga, much like any form of exercise, can be a beneficial way to unwind and alleviate stress. Research suggests that engaging in yoga may lead to reduced levels of cortisol, the hormone associated with stress. The extent of cortisol reduction may vary depending on factors such as the frequency and intensity of yoga practice. Additionally, some studies have shown promising results regarding yoga's impact on depression symptoms. Yoga can complement traditional treatment approaches and promote overall well-being.So, what does this mean for your sleep? Well, cortisol levels have a significant influence on sleep patterns. Higher cortisol levels are often associated with difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. A study conducted in 2019 found that incorporating yoga into one's routine can have a positive effect on treating and alleviating symptoms of insomnia. These findings suggest that practicing yoga may offer potential benefits for improving sleep quality and overall sleep health.9 yoga poses to try before bedThese poses are for any level of experience and are easy enough for beginner yogis. While moving between these poses, remember to pay attention to your breath and where you feel most tension in your body. Breathe and try to relax if you experience any discomfort. Move through these poses for about 20 to 30 minutes before bed.Read more:Best Yoga Mats for 20241. Cat-cow poseTo get into this pose, start on your hands and knees. Your hands should be shoulder-width apart, and your knees should be below your hips. Take a deep breath and tilt your head towards the ceiling while also sticking up your pelvis, which should mimic a "cow." Then, on your exhale, arch your back and bring both your head and pelvis down like a "cat." You can repeat these two motions a few times before moving on.2. Forward foldThis pose is as easy as standing up straight and leaning over to reach for your toes. If you are able, place your hands on the ground. If you are unable to touch your toes, you can do a half-forward fold and grab below your knees. Looking for a challenge? Try reaching around your ankles and holding on. Make sure your back is straight and you are taking deep breaths.3. Bridge poseStart by lying down on your back, legs and arms stretched out and on the ground. Take a deep breath, raise your core off the ground and shift your arms closer to your body to balance. Your knees should be at a 90-degree angle. Your hands can lie flat, or you can bring them together underneath your core.4. Happy babyThis is an easy pose to transition into after Bridge, since you start this pose on your back. Lift your legs to the ceiling and out a little past your shoulders (or however far you can go). Then, grab onto the outside of your feet with both hands. Gently rock left and right to relieve tension in your lower back.5. Legs-up-the-wallYou will need to clear a space beside a wall for this pose. Facing the wall, lie on your back and walk your legs up high or lift your hips with your arms. Your hips can be against the wall or a little away. Once you get in a comfortable spot and you feel like you can balance, stretch your arms out beside you. This pose is great for destressing and improving your circulation.6. Child's poseYou can start this pose by kneeling or getting on your hands and knees. Tuck your feet underneath your hips and bring your head close to the ground. Reach your hands out in front of you, stretching your spine. The further you reach, the better the stretch will be for you. Getty Images/Mapodile/E+7. Seated twistIf you are coming out of Child's pose for this next one, sit back up and extend your legs out in front of you. Cross one leg over the other, pulling the heel of the crossed leg to your outer thigh. With the opposite arm, cross your body and twist yourself, pushing with your elbow on the raised knee. Twist and breathe. Repeat with the other side before moving on.8. Butterfly poseFrom a seated position, straighten your posture and press the bottom of both your feet together. Placing your hands on your feet, attempt to press your hips as low as you can to the ground. The lower you go, the bigger the stretch. If you are looking for more of a challenge, move your feet closer to your body.9. Head-to-knee poseThis is a basic pose. Start in a seated position with your legs out in front of you. Bring one foot to the inner thigh of your opposite leg and extend your hands out over your extended leg. Sit up taller, breathe deeply and grab ahold of your foot in front of you. If you can't fully reach your foot, no problem: Grab your ankle or the back of your knee. Lean into the stretch and try to bring your forehead to your knee. Repeat on the opposite side.Still want more? Learn how getting some sun can improve your sleep, which foods to eat for a happiness boost and how the Scandinavian sleep method might save your relationship.

Key takeaways Today's top CDs offer up to 4.65% APY.While APYs are largely holding steady, all eyes on are the Federal Reserve's next moves.Opening a CD now allows you to lock in a high APY while rates are still high. After months of steadily falling, rates for certificates of deposit have plateaued. That means you still have time to maximize your earnings by investing your money in a CD. But don't wait too long -- rates could go down later in the year.With today's best CDs, you can earn up to 4.65% annual percentage yield, or APY, which is more than 10 times the national average for some terms. By locking in a fixed APY now, your returns will stay high even if banks start dropping interest rates. The Federal Reserve is expected to cut its benchmark rate again in late spring or early summer.Here are some of the highest CD rates and how much you could earn by depositing $5,000.Today's best CD rates Term Highest APY*BankEstimated earnings6 months 4.65%CommunityWide Federal Credit Union$114.931 year 4.45%CommunityWide Federal Credit Union$222.503 years 4.15%America First Credit Union$648.695 years 4.25%America First Credit Union$1,156.73 Experts recommend comparing rates before opening a CD account to get the best APY possible. Enter your information below to get CNET's partners' best rate for your area.Lock in your APY now while rates are still highAPYs on CDs and savings accounts have been dropping since the Fed cut interest rates at its last three meetings. But with inflation inching back up, experts believe the Fed will hold rates steady at its Jan. 29 meeting. And banks are hedging their bets by keeping CD rates relatively flat for now, particularly given the uncertainty around the new administration's policies."Current signals suggest a cautious, wait-and-see approach to determine the pace of interest rate cuts this year," said Chad Olivier, certified financial planner and CEO of The Olivier Group.While the Fed is still projected to ease rates later this year, "the markets are, in some respect, waiting to see what happens with the new administration before they really step in and get aggressive on lower interest rates," Olivier said.By securing a high APY now, you can maximize your savings. Your APY is locked in when you open a CD, which means your rate of return stays the same regardless of where the Fed's benchmark rate goes after that.You can earn up to 5% APY on the best high-yield savings accounts. Check out today's rates.How CD rates have changed over the last week Term Last week's CNET average APYThis week's CNET average APYWeekly change**6 months 4.11%4.10%-0.24%1 year 4.05%4.06%+0.25%3 years 3.53%3.54%+0.28%5 years 3.52%3.55%+0.85% Consider these things when comparing CDsA competitive APY is important, but it's not the only thing you should keep in mind.To find the right CD for you, weigh these factors, too:When you'll need your money: Early withdrawal penalties on CDs can eat into your interest earnings if you need your money before the term ends, so choose a timeline that makes sense. Alternatively, you can select a no-penalty CD, although the APY may not be as high as you'd get with a traditional CD of the same term.Minimum deposit requirement: Some CDs require a minimum deposit to open an account, typically $500 to $1,000. Knowing how much money you have to set aside can help you narrow your options.Fees: Maintenance and other fees can cut into your savings. Many online banks don't charge fees because they have lower overhead costs than banks with physical branches. Read the fine print for any account you're evaluating.Safety and security: Make sure the bank or credit union you're considering is an FDIC or NCUA member so your money is protected if the bank fails.Customer ratings and reviews: Visit sites like Trustpilot to see what customers are saying about the bank. You want a bank that's responsive, professional and easy to work with.MethodologyCNET reviews CD rates based on the latest APY information from issuer websites. We evaluated CD rates from more than 50 banks, credit unions and financial companies. We evaluate CDs based on APYs, product offerings, accessibility and customer service.The current banks included in CNET's weekly CD averages include Alliant Credit Union, Ally Bank, American Express National Bank, Barclays, Bask Bank, Bread Savings, Capital One, CFG Bank, CIT, Fulbright, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, MYSB Direct, Quontic, Rising Bank, Synchrony, EverBank, Popular Bank, First Internet Bank of Indiana, America First Federal Credit Union, CommunityWide Federal Credit Union, Discover, Bethpage, BMO Alto, Limelight Bank, First National Bank of America and Connexus Credit Union.*APYs as of Jan. 27, 2025, based on the banks we track at CNET. Earnings are based on APYs and assume interest is compounded annually.**Weekly percentage increase/decrease from Jan. 21, 2025, to Jan. 27, 2025.More on CDs

Eternal Strands review - a game of real pluckRed thread redemption.Image credit: Eurogamer/Yellow Brick Games Review by Christian Donlan Contributing Editor Published on Jan. 27, 2025 An action RPG with magical powers that feel genuinely dangerous, married to level design that offers scale and prettiness.The story Eternal Strands tells is pretty good. A bunch of magic-users known as Weavers are attempting to recover their cultural homeland, which has been sealed behind a mystical barrier for ages. I am always up for any decent pulpy story that involves getting a gang of misfits together and returning to a hallowed place after centuries have passed. You know, and then trying to find out what went wrong.Eternal Strands reviewDeveloper: Yellow Brick GamesPublisher: Yellow Brick GamesPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out on 28th January on PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Game PassAll excellent stuff, and I really like it a lot. But what I legitimately love is how much Eternal Strands' designers seem to love the game's story, too. This love shows not only in endless dialogue choices and vast amounts of codex entries that have been scattered across the land and must be reclaimed and stitched back together, but also in the little details and embellishments that a story only gets if the people writing it have thought way too much about things.Testify! Some of the magicians have formed a book club where the price of entry is a knack for not spilling the red wine that gets drunk at every meeting. One of the vendors, meanwhile, has gone a bit Frasier and insists on referring to their humble shop as an "atelier." Both of these snippets of information deepened the feelings I have for Eternal Strands quite significantly. And both of them came from loading screen tool tips.Here's the launch trailer for Eternal Strands.Watch on YouTubeI'm starting with the story because Eternal Strands is the debut action RPG from Yellow Brick Games, whose founders include Mike Laidlaw of BioWare and Dragon Age. Surely, the story is where you begin with a Laidlaw joint. Hmm. Not so sure, actually. Over the hours I've taken working my way through Eternal Strands, while the story has been rich and textured and filled with human weaknesses and charm, what's stuck out the most is just how systemic this game is. It's a narrative-based adventure, but more than that it's a sandbox for magic and elemental clashes you didn't see happening but should have. It's a riot. It's explosive and silly, often brilliant and frequently hilarious.At the heart of all this are the powers the Weavers wield, which are generally split across ice, fire and kinetic abilities - that is, you're freezing stuff, setting it on fire or lobbing it around. Each of these powers forms a strand that can be woven into your toolset and strengthened. You still have a sword and shield and additional weapon options such as a two-handed heavy weapon and a bow and arrow, and you still have combat that favours the Dark Souls' lock-on and stamina system. But I spent the first 40 minutes hacking through the game and cursing the fact that every grunt enemy's health bar was a little too generous. That's until I stepped back and realised that I was approaching it all wrong. Image credit: Eurogamer/Yellow Brick GamesInstead, I should have been using those powers, along with the elemental aspects of the world around me. Eternal Strands' environments are lush and detailed, and we'll get to them properly in a moment. For now, all you need to know is they're filled with stuff you can use in combat. Tree and rocks you can uproot and fling with Weavers' Grasp, a kind of magical Gravity Gun deal. Stuff you can set on fire. Stuff that might freeze in interesting ways. Exploding stuff. Hold me.So while an early game encounter might have seen me trying to separate a group of foes and then hack away at them individually, a few hours later I was playing the game very differently. I would set the landscape on fire and try to keep ahead of the flames while forcing enemies into the midst of the inferno. I would freeze a foe in place and then lob rocks at them. I would make a foe heavy but slippy with ice and push them off something. I would place little kinetic bombs that would implode and set off any nearby barrels of magical napalm. Image credit: Eurogamer/Yellow Brick GamesThis stuff never gets old, and it keeps fights exciting throughout as they scale to both your imagination (or desperation) and your understanding of the systems. I don't think I ever used fire and ice to make steam to blind enemies, for example, but the systems are there to support this as an option. I also used these powers while navigating the environment. Just as Eternal Strands lifts what it needs from Souls games, it takes the climb-anything-but-track-your-stamina approach from Breath of the Wild, too, and combined with fire and ice, the whole landscape can be a puzzle. Cool down the flaming tunnel with ice blocks before you pass through, or craft armour with flame resistance and just run? Blast through an ice cave that will slow you down and eat your health, or climb the wall above it and look for a route past? Vines blocking a wall? Chuck a bomb at them and try not to set yourself on fire.Both combat and puzzley traversal all have one thing in common: it's very easy to accidentally freeze yourself, blow yourself up, set yourself ablaze or fling yourself into the abyss. This, it turns out, is something Eternal Strands doesn't try to avoid. It's hilarious, and you sort of want that untamed disaster approach from a game about meddling with magic. Also, you might learn something through exploding yourself in a novel way. Who knows? At its heart, what it means is that Eternal Strands' magic joins the likes of Magicka and Noita. It feels like magic should feel: dangerous, uncontrollable and scary. Image credit: Eurogamer/Yellow Brick GamesSince this is an action RPG, magical powers can also be levelled up and new abilities can be unlocked. When it comes to armour and weaponry (which governs basic stats such as resistance to things, damage dealt, health and all that jazz), you're collecting resources from downed foes and the environment and plugging them into different armour and item designs to see which boosts they give you. Enemies will give you different resources depending on whether you set them on fire or froze them before you did them in, too. It's a neat system, and feels a bit like tweaking recipes when cooking.But in terms of levelling up magic and gaining new abilities, Eternal Strands deploys a really big idea. Wandering its worlds are various giant beasts - dragons, ice birds, a sort of chilly ferret and some massive towering human figures. Take them down once and they grant you a new power, but then take them down again - and meet criteria specific to each one in the vein of Capcom's Monster Hunter games, such as knocking off bits of armour first - and you can start to harvest them and level up your powers.All of this involves clambering over them, Shadow of the Colossus-style, hanging on while they try to shake you loose and hacking away when you see an opening. Each creature is distinct and memorable in its own ways. I loved the flaming hat man with the bronze bird feet who had gems I had to explode at certain points on his joints. I loved that chilly ferret who I had to descale and then - I still feel bad about this - set their hair on fire. Image credit: Eurogamer/Yellow Brick GamesThe beasts are found roaming the levels, and I think the game's world design might be my surprise favourite part of Eternal Strands. Levels are vast and studded with different areas to uncover. You have tumble-down cities, caves, mountain crags, castles and defences, forests and marshes. All fantasy staples, but the sheer scale of each map and the artistry with which it's put together just completely won me over. I spent a day on a recent mission climbing the honeyed walls of a valley looking for hidden camps in the rocks while fighting off flaming wasps. I spent a morning in a shattered town square trying to work out how to get into a secret area I could see through a crack in the paving but couldn't access.All of these areas tell the story of the game and its world just as much as codex entries do. You can tell which society got a bit too full of itself, and who was paranoid, based on the stuff they built and the stuff they left behind. And in between travelling to new and old areas and sounding them out for their secrets, you have a hub which you can level up with the resources you found so you can get better skills, build better weapons and armour and all that jazz that makes an RPG feel like a proper RPG - especially one like this where you level through loot rather than on a character level. Image credit: Eurogamer/Yellow Brick GamesI'll admit: sprinkled throughout all this are a handful of things I found slightly annoying. I never found basic enemies that interesting in terms of their combat design, although they always looked great. I also rarely found a mission that moved too far beyond: head here and look for stuff and see what happens, eh? There's also a bit of obvious padding towards the final act, and while the game gives you brilliant magic to use, I worry that it didn't prod me enough to really get the most out of it all. Perhaps this is, in part, my own failing, in that I'm lacking in imagination and I retreat to reliable solutions, but a team of this talent must also have it in them to work out how to get me out of my safety zone a bit more.Eternal Strands accessibility optionsOptions to change subtitle size and background. Auto-play dialogue. Colour-blindness options for deuteranope, protanope and tritanope, and settings to adjust severity of colour-blindness displays.But crucially I understand all of this. Eternal Strands looks gorgeous and the polish is everywhere, but I suspect the team was pretty small and it's also the studio's first game. Padding in a game like this is often a case of a budget being used intelligently, ditto a system that applies different weather states to areas randomly, so one day it's too hot and another day it's too cold or riddled with poisonous magical gas. It feels like a smart way of getting the most out of what you have without working your artists until they leave work every night with a migraine.In other words, it's hard not to fall for Eternal Strands, and this is why I worry slightly. If you asked me what this game is, I'd say it's a mixture of Fable's bucolic loveliness and loose approach to action RPGing, and something like Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy in terms of being a combustible and hilarious sandbox. But it has a name that I still find hard to remember even though I've played it for the past two weeks, and while its art is charming and often really beautiful, it lacks a distinctive hook that makes it immediately identifiable. Put another way, I had a lot of fun here and I don't want people to pass this by because they don't notice it. Please know, then: this is a game made of sheer pluck and ingenuity. I would love to see what a sequel looks like.A copy of Eternal Strands was provided for review by developer Yellow Brick Games.

DF Weekly: Doom: The Dark Ages pushes current-gen tech hard - and it looks phenomenalNew details on the latest idTech - direct from the developer.Image credit: id Software Blog by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry Published on Jan. 27, 2025 January is usually a muted month for the games industry - but not so this year. CES 2025 was innovative, dynamic and exciting on a number of levels, game releases are actually happening and the excitement for the year ahead is palpable. Microsoft's Developer_Direct just added to the hype, delivering four very different, very impressive looking games. We discuss all of them in the latest edition of DF Direct Weekly, but I'm going to focus on Doom: The Dark Ages in this particular blog. It looks fantastic!The latest idTech has been enhanced, updated and revamped for the current generation, while the potential for the PC version is sky high - my colleagues saw the game running with path traced lighting during Nvidia's CES 2025 editor's day. Developer_Direct wasn't hosting the top-end experience with footage that looked much more along the lines of the console feature set - but it still looked spectacular. What we're seeing here is id Software delivering its first game of the generation that truly taps into the potential of the hardware.What does that actually mean though? The scale and scope of the Dark Ages is like nothing we've seen before from the developer. Levels are larger, traversal is swift, detail is immense. id's Marty Stratton describes an "enormous increase in overall world detail and player immersion feedback compared to Doom Eternal/idTech7" in very simple terms: "more AI, more geometry, more gore, more destruction."Got a couple of spare hours? Enjoy the latest DF Direct Weekly, also available in audio form on your favourite podcast provider.Watch on YouTube0:00:00 Introduction0:00:56 News 1: Developer Direct 2025 - Doom: The Dark Ages0:17:36 Ninja Gaiden 40:22:54 Clair Obscur: Expedition 330:27:55 South of Midnight0:32:38 News 2: RTX 5090 review reaction1:14:39 News 3: Radeon 9070 cards arriving in March1:27:53 News 4: Sony cancels Bluepoint and Bend Studios live service games1:36:27 Supporter Q1: Could the Switch 2 pack unanticipated custom hardware?1:42:18 Supporter Q2: Will GTA 6 cost $100 US?1:48:11 Supporter Q3: Should the PS5 Pro be supported with new games for longer than the PS5?That's a pretty good summary of much of the game content seen at Developer_Direct, but there's more. The new Doom sees id get to grips with the complex problem facing swift traversal over a detail-rich, AI-heavy game world. Stratton tells us that the new idTech features "ultra-fast proprietary continuous sector streaming technology to support the largest levels we've ever created and provides almost non-existent level-load times". And id being id, we're also expecting this traversal to occur with none of the hitching and stuttering we've seen across this generation as developers struggle to cope with channeling so much data through the hardware.Similar to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Doom: The Dark Ages requires a GPU that supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing. For PC users, that may require a GPU upgrade, but with minimum specification suggesting an RTX 2060 Super for 1080p60 gaming at low settings, id Software looks to have supplied a great deal of scalability here - as you might imagine for a game that needs to run on Xbox Series S. Still, there's a good reason why RT is needed here. idTech 7's dynamic interactive lighting uses it, with fully dynamic lighting and shadows. There's even ray-traced material detection in gameplay - the truth is that RT has many uses beyond rendering.Returning to the PC settings, id's recommendations here are intriguing, particularly on the CPU side. For 1080p60 on low settings, a Zen 2 processor like the Ryzen 7 3700X is recommended, alongside an Intel 10700K (which I would say is considerably more capable). However, moving onto recommended and ultra 4K settings, the spec requirement shifts to a Ryzen 7 5700X or an Intel Core i7 12700K. Again, the Intel chip is significantly more performant here, especially when paired with DDR5 memory, but the point is that the 'windows' of CPU recommendations here is pretty narrow and higher-end processors outstrip anything seen here, so like Doom Eternal before it, we're hopeful for plenty of opportunities for high frame-rate gaming on higher refresh rate displays.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Also of interest is the inclusion of path-traced rendering for high-end PCs - but my colleagues only saw a trailer displayed via a projector and they were sitting some way off! However, my view is that this is going to be one of the more challenging implementations for Nvidia users - not so much in actual frame-rate terms, as the new Doom shares similar spec requirements to Indiana Jones, which ran great with path tracing. I'm thinking more about the idea of a fast paced shooter using the technology when denoising is known to have some kind of latency to it. Extreme frame-rates are likely with DLSS multi frame generation, but to what extent is MFG a good fit for this style of content? I guess in a few months, we'll find out.There's a lot more to enjoy in this week's DF Direct Weekly, not least our comments on the other excellent games that made the Developer_Direct line-up. First of all, there's the general reaction to last week's RTX 5090 reviews and the concept of multi frame generation. We have this interesting situation where well-respected commentators like Daniel Owen are providing insightful commentary on the technology but can't actually show the technology in action.We had our own attempt with the DLSS 4 preview earlier in the month and we still feel it's not sufficient. We've just posted our DLSS ray reconstruction analysis, with super resolution to follow, but we're examining different techniques to try to show off multi frame generation effectively before we post anything more about it. It's a difficult one because right now, I can't help but feel that as journalists, critics and communicators, we can't actually demonstrate the technology particularly well - something that will also apply to this week's RTX 5080 review, which I'm working on now.We also spent a little time this week talking about AMD's RDNA 4 graphics cards. It's understood that retailers have stock, but the release has been pushed back to March. Why? The most obvious reason is that AMD wants to price according to Nvidia's RTX 70-series cards - which sounds like a decent strategy to me. If it also means that more FSR 4 titles will be available at launch (and for the review period) that can only be a good thing - a good quality upscaling solution is key to getting this launch right. We've seen some pretty outlandish claims made for the RX 9070 XT - which, if verified, would represent perhaps the greatest generational leap in GPU performance I can ever remember - but AMD's own CES slides suggest top-end performance in line with the RX 7900 XT. This seems more plausible, but makes the pricing even more crucial.So, there's lots going on in what is the busiest January in tech I can remember. It's been punishingly hard to keep but I hope you're enjoying the coverage!

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 hereBaldurs Gate 3 Patch 8 is the last major content drop for Larians massive RPG adding 12 new subclasses to the game, cross-play, a photo mode and more. While fans can sign up to play the new content before its official release, player are not supposed to have access to the unfinished update yet.However, Baldurs Gate 3 players on PS5 are currently getting access to Patch 8 accidentally. Developer Larian Studios confirmed that although the stress test has not yet gone live for the upcoming patch, PS5 players have somehow got their hands on it.Baldurs Gate 3 PS5 players jump into Patch 8In a quick statement statement on X, aka Twitter for normal people, Larian Studios explained that: No, the Patch 8 stress test hasnt yet begun.Yes, PS5 players do currently have access to Patch 8, the studio told players online. While we work with our partners to understand whats going on, please note that any new saves made while on Patch 8 will not be compatible with Patch 7.This is a developing story and being updated in realtime.Subscribe 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 hereGames can be expensive, which is why most handheld users wait for sales events to grab their favourite games at discounted prices. However, if you own a Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, or any other handheld, then youll be glad to know that there are plenty of titles you can grab for free right now.Handheld games that you can get for free right now Most of the games that handheld users can get for free right now require an active Amazon Prime membership. If you dont already have one, you can sign up for it here. The best part is that if youre between 18 and 24 or are a student, you can get a free 6-month trial. Also, for the Steam Deck, since none of the games are on Steam, you will need to rely on a third-party launcher like Heroic to play them. However, we have mentioned the compatibility for each game to make things easier for you.In any case, heres a complete list of games that handheld users can get for free right now. GameSteam Deck compatibilityClaim fromBehind the Frame: The Finest Scenery Verified Epic Games (Offer ends on January 30, 2025) Zombie Army 4: Dead WarPlayableAmazon Prime For Epic Games (Offer ends on February 26, 2025)Eastern ExorcistPlayableAmazon Prime For Epic Games (Offer ends on March 5, 2025)The BridgeVerifiedAmazon Prime For Epic Games (Offer ends on March 5, 2025)Skydrift InfinityPlayableAmazon Prime For Epic Games (Offer ends on April 9, 2025)Jurassic World EvolutionVerifiedAmazon Prime For Epic Games (Offer ends on February 25, 2025)Elite DangerousPlayableAmazon Prime For Epic Games (Offer ends on February 25, 2025)Deaths DoorVerifiedAmazon Prime For Epic Games (Offer ends on January 29, 2025)Deus Ex: Game of the Year EditionPlayableAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on February 26, 2025)BioShock 2 RemasteredPlayableAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on April 9, 2025)GRIPPlayableAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on March 19, 2025)SteamWorld Quest: Hand of GilgamechPlayableAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on February 19, 2025)The Town of LightVerifiedAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on February 26, 2025)Shogun ShowdownVerifiedAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on February 26, 2025)The Outer WorldsPlayableAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on March 5, 2025)Heros HourVerifiedAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on February 12, 2025)MoonscarsPlayableAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on February 19, 2025)CoromonVerifiedAmazon Prime GOG Edition (Offer ends on January 29, 2025)Spirit MancerPlayableAmazon Prime(Offer ends on April 9, 2025)Aces of the Luftwaffe Squadron Extended EditionVerifiedAmazon Prime(Offer ends on March 19, 2025)SimulakrosVerifiedAmazon Prime(Offer ends on March 19, 2025)Bang Bang RacingVerifiedAmazon Prime(Offer ends on Feb 5, 2025)In terms of our best picks of the bunch, theres a decent selection here. For starters, if youve been living under a rock and havent played Bioshock 2, then thats an absolute must for any gamer. The Outer Worlds is also fantastic, for those who enjoyed the likes of Fallout New Vegas. Elsewhere, Deaths Door is a great indie title thats been universally praised by critics and fans alike. Whats there to think about? Theyre all free. Enjoy.Related TopicsSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Washington Vice President JD Vance said Saturday that "we believe fundamentally that big tech does have too much power," despite the prominent positioning of tech CEOs at President Trump's inauguration last week. "They can either respect America's constitutional rights, they can stop engaging in censorship, and if they don't, you can be absolutely sure that Donald Trump's leadership is not going to look too kindly on them," Vance said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."The comments came in response to the unusual attendance of a slate of tech CEOs at Mr. Trump's inauguration, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Tesla's Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook, and Google's Sundar Pichai. The tech titans, some of whom are among the richest men in the world and directed donations from their companies to Mr. Trump's inauguration, were seated in some of the most highly sought after seats in the Capitol Rotunda.Vance noted that the tech CEOs "didn't have as good of seating as my mom and a lot of other people who were there to support us."In an August interview on "Face the Nation", the vice president outlined his thinking on big tech, saying that companies like Google are too powerful and censor American information, while possessing a "monopoly over free speech" that he argued ought to be broken up.The tech sphere went on to play an outsized role in Trump's 2024 election victory, with Musk spending more than a quarter of a billion dollars to back Mr. Trump and other Republican candidates. Musk became a key ally to the president and in November, Mr. Trump tapped the Tesla CEO to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, a new temporary agency aimed at reducing wasteful federal spending. Meanwhile, other tech CEOs cozied up to the president with visits to Mar-a-Lago ahead of the inauguration.But Vance said in Saturday's interview that big tech and the tech giants, despite their recent closeness to the president, are "very much on notice."More from CBS NewsKaia HubbardKaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.

Back On The TrailEA Sports WRC hasnt scratched my rallying itch enough to become a staple of my racing diet, and its latest DLC feels like it embodies whyTheres still the core of a good rally game in there, but its no Dirt Rally 2.0.Image credit: EA/VG247 News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Jan. 27, 2025 Theres still something there.Once you get into the flow of a stage like the seven kilometers of winding, snaking gravel spaghetti that is the Portuguese Fafe stage. Once you really feel the car come to you like this agile, zippy 2012 Citroen DS3 has.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Why, then, has it taken this long - until the week of 2025's Monte Carlo rally - for me to come back for a proper, days-long second helping of what EA Sports WRC has to offer after reviewing it back in late 2023? Why hasnt it lured me back earlier, before digging its claws in, and convincing me to rack up over a hundred hours of stage runs that either end in a roll, dish out a slight battering, or - when everything hooks up concentration-wise - form perfectly-executed time-toppers? Why hasnt it done what Dirt Rally 2.0 managed?My playing habits in general have shifted towards spending 20 to 50 hours with a wider spectrum of rapidly-changing games more often than ploughing hundreds into a fairly static block of a few titles, but is there more to it than that?Having now delved back into WRC to check out its latest DLC pack - Le Maestros - I think there might be.As I alluded to in the intro, theres still a strong driving experience at the heart of the first Codemasters rally title released following the studios absorption into EA. You might have some qualms with specific aspects of how the game handles things like the hybrid power deployment of the modern WRC cars or its racetrack-style tarmac rallying, if youre the kind of hardcore simmer who really digs into the nerdy minutiae. Generally speaking, though, if youre just a casual racing fan armed with a standard wheel or controller looking to have a bit of fun sliding or powering through stages, theres a good time to be had. Seb Ogier's Polo - a car he did a lot of sliding in. | Image credit: EA/VG247The Le Maestros DLC pack, which adds a smattering of new cars and stages into the mix, is no different. Themed around celebrating all things French, its heavy on Citroens - giving you the keys to the DS3 WRC, 2018 C3 WRC, C2 R2 Max, and Xsara kit car - with Sebastien Ogiers 2013 VW Polo and a super 1600 Peugeot 206 rounding things out.Its a fairly modern lineup, with the most retro ride being the late 90s Xsara, but theres a solid amount of variety, with cars added to four existing categories, as well as the creation of a WRC 2012-16 category for the DS3 and Polo. If Im getting nitpicky, itd still be nice to see the games behemoth 1997 to 2011 WRC car category split more cleanly into the two late 90s/early 00s and late 00s to 2010s categories itd lend itself to, just for roleplayings sake, but the car choice has never been EA WRCs problem.As you glide through the 12 new stages added to the Monte Carlo and Portuguese rallies by the DLC, youll still feel some of the same main bugbears that people had with the game on release. Aside from the odd bit of stuttering or drop in frames, I didnt run into as many performance issues as others reported back then on my PC, and the game still runs pretty well on it now. The addition of anti-cheat software that seems to account for a good portion of the negative reviews which have landed the game a Mixed rating on Steam didnt noticeably impact my experience either. However, on second reflection, its obvious to me how much the switch from in-house engine to Unreal has put a damper on things.The stages Le Maestros adds - headlined by the lengthy Brianonnet-Entrevaux and Fafe routes that the other stages are, as in the base game, often just reversed or shorter sections of - are still struggling to match the visual fidelity of Dirt Rally 2.0. Neither game fares all that well in the wider shots of replays, but the amount of foliage pop-in in WRC when the shot switches - even when installed on a C drive so it can pull on all the tech juice it should need - is pronounced. You can see why this became a place fans congregate, can't you? | Image credit: EA/VG247Its by no means terrible, but its clear that further optimising and developing this aspect of things - as well as things like the physics and visuals of how the cars and environment interact with mud, rain and snow - should be a focus going forwards, in order to try and conclusively surpass 2019s 2.0. Its sad too, because driving these stages is generally great, the main two are both classics that are steeped in WRC history - especially Fafe with its iconic jump.As someone whose favourite video game rallying experience came on Dirt Rally 2.0s fast, flowing New Zealand stages, definitely theres something of that in the newly-added Portuguese routes, with rapid switchbacks requiring you to anticipate each kink and be ready to switch your direction of perma-slide perfectly. When youre in rhythm, its brilliant. The DS3s my favourite of the Le Maestros additions, and I had as much of a ball slinging it about as I ever did the early 2000s Impreza that became my 2.0 staple.The Polo and 2018 C3 boast similar performance and 4WD grip, with the only hangup being that as cars of similar era and regulation-spec, all three dont sound that unique. The Xsara kit car really came to life on the Monte tarmac, as youd expect of an F2 machine. The super 1600 206 is another addition to a category I love due to its ability to provide the same kind of grip as beefier 90s/2000s machines, but with less grunt so you can be a bit more of a hooligan with the throttle without worrying as much about hurling yourself at the scenery. The C2 R2 Max is a decent addition to the Rally4 ranks, and a plucky little charger that might grow on me more with time. The 2018 C3's pretty fun through the Portuguese bends. | Image credit: EA/VG247Time will tell whether EA Sports WRC ends up getting that time from me by sliding its way into my regular rotation. This Le Maestros re-visit has definitely whetted my appetite, and Im still rock-steady in my conviction that the driving at the heart of WRC is stil good.However, its pretty clear to me now that EA Sports WRC isnt going to be something I hold up like I do its predecessor in five or ten years time. Like its latest DLC pack, its doing enough in the fun department, but it won't blow away your expectations. Its a hop into a different looking car thats got some teething troubles, but on its day can be just as fast as one you previously finished top of the standings in.The hope is that with some more refinement of the new bits, its successor can vault things back up to - or above - that kind of level.

Dulled BladeAssassin's Creed Shadows might be set in Japan, but Japan itself won't get to see how violent the game actually isThis comes after the game received the highest age rating.Image credit: Ubisoft News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 27, 2025 Assassin's Creed Shadows is finally bringing the series to Japan, but the Japanese release of the game won't be the same one the rest of us are getting.The Assassin's Creed series has obviously long been a violent one given all the, you know, assassinating you get up to, so Shadows of course continues that lineage. It's also the first game to be set in Japan, a setting long requested by fans, and the game is being released in Japan too, but due to its age rating the violence won't be quite as intense as it will be in the west. The Japanese version of the game has received a Z rating from the ratings organisation CERO, which means that nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to buy it. Except, CERO apparently found that gore so extreme that Ubisoft has been led to tone it down in the final release.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "Regarding Assassins Creed: Shadows (CERO: Z), there are some differences in the in-game content of the version sold in Japan in order to comply with the regulations of the reviewing organization," Ubisoft Japan said in a statement on Twitter (translations via VGC). "The option to switch dismemberment on and off has been removed from the game settings, and now dismembering the heads and limbs of enemies while playing is permanently disabled. The way severed body parts are depicted has also been changed." To see this content please enable targeting cookies.It's a decision that was obviously made so that the game could be released in Japan, even with the high age rating, but it is obviously a bit ironic that Japanese players won't be getting the intended experience, despite the game being set there. What can you do!Our own Dom got to go hands-on with the game recently, coming away thinking the dual protagonists might be the refresh the series has needed for a while, and that its new Immersive Mode will be one to play for fans of Shogun.Assassin's Creed Shadows is due out March 20 on Xbox Series, PS5 and PC.