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Tough LuckSorry, Agatha All Along lovers, but it sounds like any season 2 hopes you might had have been dashedAnd there's an extra confirmation as to why its creator didn't want to make WandaVision season 2.Image credit: Marvel News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 28, 2025 If you were hoping to get a second season of Agatha All Along, I've got some bad news, as it sounds like its showrunner turned it down.Spoilers ahead for the end of Agatha All Along.It took quite a while to come out after WandaVision, but Agatha All Along finally released last year and was generally met with a pretty positive reception from fans. That was likely in no small part thanks to some good direction from creator Jac Schaeffer, as well as a strong cast, which included musical theatre icon Patti LuPone. But, in a recent interview on Andy Cohen Live, LuPone shared that fans shouldn't expect a second season, because, quite simply, Marvel isn't making one. "There wont be one," LuPone said of a second season. "Jac Schaeffer, the creator, came into my trailer and she said, 'Patti, Im just here to tell you that Lilias going to die,' and I went, But I wanted a second season.'"To see this content please enable targeting cookies. LuPone continued to explain that Schaeffer's reasoning behind not doing a season 2 for Agatha All Along is the same one she had for not doing WandaVision season 2: "[Schaffer] said, 'I dont do second seasons.' She said, 'They wanted me to do a second season of Wanda Vision and I didnt.' She said, 'Theres too much to write,' so she does one-offs and Im really hoping and praying that someday I get to work with her again because shes magic."That'll obviously be disappointing to fans of the first season, but that's just the way things go sometimes. Those of you that do want to see WandaVision's story continued in some way at the very least will be happy to know that Vision Quest, a show following the titular character played by Paul Bettany, is in the works, and it's even bringing back a surprising MCU character.

Stunt CastingWe have Phil Spencer to thank for the idea to bring Team Ninja and PlatinumGames together for Ninja Gaiden 4Uniting two of the most respected action game makers to create the next Ninja Gaiden once sounded like a dream, and we now know who came up with the idea.Image credit: Team Ninja, PlatinumGames, Xbox. News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on Jan. 28, 2025 The reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4 at last weeks Xbox Developer Direct was one of the shows highlights. Not only did the announcement unveil an unexpected collaboration between original series developer, Team Ninja, and the spectacle fighter masters at PlatinumGames, Xbox sweetened the deal with a shadow drop of a modern remaster of Ninja Gaiden 2.To bring together two storied teams from two different sides of the action game genre, however, wasnt easy, but it was Xbox boss Phil Spencer who made it happen.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Tea Ninja producer, Fumihiko Yasuda, revealed in a new Game Watch [Japanese] (via VGC) interview that the studio had been trying to come up with a plan to bring back Ninja Gaiden in a big way and create a new game in the series, but couldnt quite figure out all the details.It wasnt until meeting with Phil Spencer that ideas began percolating. The veteran games executive was the one to suggest bringing three entities together for the next numbered Ninja Gaiden: Team Ninja, Koei Tecmo, and PlatinumGames.Prior to that, Koei Tecmo president Hisashi Koinuma, and PlatinumGames president Atsushi Inaba toyed around with the idea of a possible collaboration, but it was ultimately Spencer who brought it all together. A lot of anticipation for this one. | Image credit: Team Ninja, PlatinumGames, Xbox.We have developed action games ourselves, but as we were about to launch Ninja Gaiden for the first time in over a decade, PlatinumGames has previously created a variety of fantastic action titles, such as Bayonetta, and NieR: Automata, so we were keen to work with them, and that's how we began our collaboration, Yasuda added (machine translated).PlatinumGames has a history of delivering stellar titles built on other studios' franchises. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, as well as NieR: Automata are two great examples of that, so theres a lot of hope for Ninja Gaiden 4 to join the list of all-time great action games - and that reveal certainly struck a few right cords.Ninja Gaiden 4 arrives this fall on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Image: NintendoOne of the biggest surprises that came with Nintendo's announcement trailer for the Switch 2 was the confirmation that the company would be holding a number of global 'Nintendo Switch 2 Experience' hands-on events for members of the public following its April Direct presentation.You were free to file your application of attendance so long as you had an active Nintendo account, but the catch was that your place would only be granted via a randomly selected draw. Yikes. So naturally, then, social media is alight at the moment with users either elated at their confirmed attendance or somewhat saddened by Nintendo's denial.I've seen so much rejection on my timeline today for the Switch 2 Experience. When even Geoff Keighley can't get in, that's an exclusive event! Stealth40k (@stealth40k.bsky.social) 2025-01-27T21:53:07.607ZAt a quick glance, we've seen a lot more posts from people who have been refused entry than those who have been granted attendance, which suggests that a lot more people applied than Nintendo is physically able to acommodate; certainly a comforting signal of the console's early popularity, at least.So now, we'd like to hear from you, dear reader - did you get in? Cast your vote in the below poll and let us know. If you didn't even apply, we'd love to also know your reasoning; are you located too far away from one of the events, or are you simply content to wait until the console's launch day to finally get your mitts on it? Leave a comment to elaborate on your choice.Were you accepted for the Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on event? (212 votes)Yes, and I can't wait!13%No, sadly not42%I still haven't heard back2%I didn't even apply42%Wait, there's a Switch 2?!1% The wait is over!Followed by a hands-on tourShare:00 Nintendo Lifes resident horror fanatic, when hes not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesSteam Deck Sales Business As Usual For Valve During Week Of Switch 2 RevealUpdate: Sales chart "updated" by ValveRandom: Donkey Kong Country's Artist Reacts To Nintendo's Redesign"Everything changes!"Xbox Is "Really Looking Forward" To Supporting Switch 2Phil Spencer: "We love the work that we do with Nintendo"Opinion: My Daughter Made Me Realise That Mario Wonder's Difficulty Options Need WorkYoshi or Nabbit, make your choiceNintendo Joins 'Fuji TV' Commercial Boycott Following Sex ScandalOne of many companies pulling ads

Image: Alex Olney / Nintendo LifeThe enormously popular Pokmon Trading Card Game continues to attract huge numbers of players willing to pay vast sums to catch 'em all, especially rare cards. However, some detective work by PkmnFlyingMaster on EliteForum (thanks, VGC) suggests that prototype cards from the mid-'90s which first went up for auction last year could be fakes.First, a little background. Prior to the debut of the Pokmon Trading Card Game in Japan back in 1996, the makers printed up prototype cards during the game's development. The rarity of these pre-release 'playtest' cards makes them highly sought-after and a significant cache of them went up for sale in 2024 having been verified by card grading company CGC. CGC highlighted how they worked closely with Takumi Akabane, one of the original designers of the card game, to verify the cards' authenticity.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube794kWatch on YouTube However, upon close examination and armed with knowledge of the near-invisible 'watermarks' modern printers use, many of these playtest cards appear to be recently printed replicas, as detailed in PFM's research.The original card and the metadata revealed in black and white Images: Fanatics Collect, BANKS / Elite FourumPFM's forensic analysis is based on a series of small tracking dots that are practically invisible to the naked eye but which can be better seen by tweaking the colour values of a high-res scan. This form of metadata typically gives the time and date it was printed and the serial number of the printer itself and is used by law enforcement and other agencies to track the origin of documents.In this case, PFM has enhanced and analysed the patterns on several of the cards and they appear to contain data indicating a print date of June 2024. Although the "higher quality" cards show no sign of the data," I have yet to find a low-quality beta playtest that doesnt have a similar dot pattern," PFM wrote in their post.Various cards that came from Akabane's personal collection are said to have this pattern on them, and other users have come forward showing similar markings on their cards. Speaking to PokeBeach, PFM said it was a "really disheartening" discovery.One 'Alpha Prototype' Pikachu card sold by auction house Goldin fetched $24,400 in December, and with hundreds of these cards on the market, the allegations have shaken the TCG community. Pokntial earnings"The technology is not going away, and people know what it can do"Man and accomplice scammed 2 million from buyersThe Pokmon TCG scene is no stranger to controversy, with rushes on newly released sets regularly causing a ruckus at retail and causing The Pokmon Company to address the situation. There's no shortage of allegations when it comes to shadiness in the grading industry, either.The October release of Pokmon Trading Card Game Pocket has invigorated mainstream interest in the game, with the mobile game generating over $120 million in revenue in its first month.[source elitefourum.com, via videogameschronicle.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:01 Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 before joining the site full-time the following year, rising through the ranks to become Editor. He can currently be found squashed beneath a Switch backlog the size of Normandy. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesOpinion: The Hyped-Up New Pokmon TCG Set Is A Total Bummer To OpenPokntial earningsPokmon TCG Pocket's New Expansion And Trading Feature Arrive Next WeekBring on the SmackdownPokmon Trading Card Game Pocket Taking Action Against Inappropriate ConductIncluding "data tampering, real money trading and other behaviors"

Quantum computing remains something of a holy grail in the world of technology: it promises a huge leap in computing power, but only if someone can figure out how to square away the fault rates that prevent any scaling of the tech. Now, one of the more promising quantum startups in Europe is announcing a big round of funding to help it work towards a solution.Alice&Bob, a Paris startup that is a pioneer in the area of cat qubit quantum architecture, has raised 100 million ($104 million). It plans to use this Series B to continue work towards building a fault tolerant quantum computer accepting errors and working around them based on cat qubits, a concept that the startup has been chipping away at for years already. Alice&Bob believes its first useful quantum computer will be available by 2030.From the get go, Alice & Bob had a very clear vision of how quantum computers should be made [and] it was all about fault tolerance, said CEO and co-founder Thau Peronnin in an interview. What weve seen in the whole industry over the last 12 to 18 months is really a complete shift to align with our vision.The appetite for more computing power is at the highest it has ever been a belief underscored by major projects like the $500 billion Stargate AI data center commitment in the U.S. and the huge boost that computing chip makers like Nvidia have seen in recent times.As Peronnin sees it, traditional computing architecture is a race that is untenable in the longer run, and that that will be the driver for more investment and work in building quantum computers, with their promise of more efficiency over even the most cutting-edge traditional processors.Computing is becoming the core resource for productivity, and quantum is a potential game changer here, he said. The game is on.The investment is co-led by Qatari-backed Future French Champions (FFC), AVP (AXA Venture Partners) and Bpifrance, which also co-led its Series A of $30 million in 2022. While the startup is not disclosing valuation, for some guidance, Riverlane (a partner of Alice&Bobs) was valued last year at around $400 million and we understand from multiple sources that Alice&Bob is at a comparable valuation, more likely between $300 million and $400 million.The deal represents one of the larger rounds for a quantum computing startup in Europe, and notably for the quantum industry, its not happening in a vacuum.Some of the more notable fundraises have included in August 2024, Riverlane, which also builds technology to correct quantum errors, raising $75 million; quantum chip maker SEEQC raising $30 million earlier this month; and Quantum Machines out of Israel reportedly also in the process of raising $100 million.And perhaps the biggest of all, last year, Quantinuum (a spinout of Honeywell that merged with Cambridge Quantum), raised $300 million in equity at a $5 billion valuation. There is now talk of it listing at a $10 billion valuation.Meanwhile, Google had a breakthrough in the fault-removal race in November 2024 with AlphaQubit, an AI system that it said could automatically identify (yet still not fix) errors in quantum computations. And Microsoft and Atom Computing promised they would release a commercial quantum computer sometime this year.The startups name and the cat qubit are both key to what it is building. Alice&Bob is a reference to the two fictional characters that are often used asarchetypesfor hypothetical thought experiments in areas like cryptography and quantum physics.The building block of Alice&Bobs system also has a theoretical reference in it. Rather than pursuing ways to reduce faults by throwing more qubits at the problem (qubits being the typical building block of a quantum computing system), Alice&Bob devised an architecture that it calls a cat qubit. This is a reference toSchrdingers catand the idea of something being in two states at once. Effectively, it accepts some faults (hence fault tolerant) while fixing others.As Peronnin describes it, Cat qubit is a special kind of design of qubit that is meant to correct errors directly at the hardware level not all of them, half of them, to be precise, but that is really the result of the cat qubit. Its to have this first layer of built-in error correction. And the reason why we went for that is because we believed it would dramatically simplify the total machine.Alice&Bobs investors believe that this could be the key to making quantum into a commercial reality.Reality is at the core of our debate about quantum in the investment industry, Francois Robinet, a partner at AVP, said in an interview. He said that while he has been watching Alice&Bob for years, AVP hadnt wanted to invest before because it was just R&D like so many others. But now, he said, with quantum chip architecture appearing to be capable of supporting 48 qubits, we believe the R&D phase is over.Francois Charbonnier, a partner at Bpifrance, seconds this, Getting rid one of two major errors as Alice&Bob is doing, is the game changer for scaling, he said. Of course, its still a long-term marathon, but we are convinced that Alice&Bob will be in the race.

Breakdown & ShowreelsGladiator II: Creating the Colosseum by ILMBy Vincent Frei - 28/01/2025 The Colosseum returns to life! Watch as ILM transforms the legendary amphitheater into a living, breathing spectacle for Gladiator II. With impressive visual effects, this behind-the-scenes journey unveils how history meets epic storytelling!WANT TO KNOW MORE?ILM: Dedicated page about Gladiator II on ILM website.Mark Bakowski: Heres my interview of Production VFX Supervisor Mark Bakowski. Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2025

Secretariat Building in Chandigarh | East Med Wanderer, Flickr UserAfter Indias independence in 1947, Chandigarh was planned as a new administrative capital for Punjab, intended to represent modernization and progress. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehrus directive was to create a functional and forward-looking city. Le Corbusier was commissioned to design the master plan, including the Capitol Complex, which houses the Secretariat, the High Court, and the Legislative Assembly.Secretariat Building Technical InformationArchitects1-6: Le CorbusierLocation: Chandigarh, IndiaClient: Government of IndiaArea: 220,000m2 | 2.4 millionSq. Ft.Project Year: 1953 1959Photographs: See Caption DetailsChandigarh is free from the routine of the past. It is a city of today and of tomorrow. Le CorbusierSecretariat in Chandigarh PhotographsExterior View | Brian Hunter, Flickr UserFacade | Julia Zorich, Flickr UserAerial | Michel Richard, Flickr UserFacade | FLCFacade | Personne de Chandigarh, Flickr User Personne de Chandigarh, Flickr User Doctor Casino, Flickr User Scott Norsworthy, Flickr UserRooftop | Doctor Casino, Flickr User Scott Larsen, Flickr UserSecretariat Building in Chandigarh Architectural LanguageThe Secretariat is the largest building in the Capitol Complex, designed as the main administrative office for the government. The project follows modernist urban planning principles, emphasizing order, functionality, and efficiency. It reflects Le Corbusiers Unit dHabitation concept, adapted for an office building with a linear, rectilinear form and modular faade.Constructed primarily of reinforced concrete, the building follows Brutalist aesthetics, with an exposed raw materiality that aligns with Le Corbusiers philosophy of honest structural expression. Its modular grid system, with alternating solid and open sections, responds to both functional and environmental considerations, following his Modulor system for human-scaled proportioning.A key feature of the Secretariat is its brise-soleil (sun-shading system)deep concrete louvers designed to reduce direct sunlight and heat gain, improving thermal comfort while maintaining natural ventilation. This strategy helps adapt the building to Chandigarhs extreme climate, characterized by hot summers and cold winters.The structure is elevated on pilotis, a common feature in Le Corbusiers architecture, allowing for open circulation at the ground level and improving ventilation and temperature regulation. The roofscape is used as a functional space, featuring large-scale brise-vent (windbreak) structures to regulate air movement.Internally, the Secretariat consists of large, open office spaces connected by long corridors that facilitate movement. The structural grid ensures flexibility, allowing for modifications in office layouts based on administrative needs.Scale, Functionality, and Material PerformanceThe Secretariats scale dominates its surroundings. While designed for efficiency, its size creates challenges for navigation. Long corridors and uniform spaces contribute to an environment that can feel monotonous. The buildings monumentality, while architecturally significant, does not always support ease of use for those working inside.The Secretariat influenced later government buildings in India, particularly those adopting modernist and Brutalist principles. It reflects a shift in architectural priorities toward efficiency and large-scale planning. The work of Indian architects such as B.V. Doshi shows an evolution of these ideas, incorporating a greater sensitivity to climate and culture.The buildings strengths lie in its structural clarity and climate-adaptive design elements. However, its limitations raise questions about the human experience of large-scale government architecture. The rigid modernist approach to planning does not always align with contemporary concerns about adaptability and social interaction. The Secretariat remains an important case study in how architectural ideals are translated into built form and the practical consequences of those decisions.Secretariat in Chandigarh PlansElevation | Le CorbusierGround Level | Le CorbusierFloor Plan | Le CorbusierFloor Plan | Le CorbusierSecretariat in Chandigarh Image GalleryAbout Le CorbusierLe Corbusier, born Charles-douard Jeanneret-Gris in Switzerland, was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century and a key figure in the development of modernist architecture and urban planning. His architectural philosophy, encapsulated in the Five Points of Architecture, emphasized functionality, open plans, and modern materials like concrete and steel. He championed urban planning principles based on rational design and efficiency, as seen in his Ville Radieuse (Radiant City) concept. Le Corbusiers work ranged from private villas to large-scale housing projects and government buildings, with Chandigarh, India, standing as one of his most ambitious urban planning projects. Credits and Additional NotesChief Architect: Le CorbusierAssociate Architects: Pierre Jeanneret, Jane Drew, Maxwell FryIndian Collaborators: M.N. Sharma, Aditya Prakash, and othersBuilding Height: Approx. 55 meters (180 feet)Structural System: Reinforced Concrete Frame

Justin Spaulding and his wife, Sarah (Cooley) Spaulding erected this house on Springfield Street in Chicopee, Massachusetts, in 1886, and would later be known for their philanthropic gifts to their home city. Justin Spaulding (1838-1906) was a wealthy grocer who amassed a small fortune operating stores in the industrial Lower Pioneer Valley. The Spaulding House is one of the finest Queen Anne style buildings in Chicopee, and is notable for its asymmetrical form, tower, ornate gable detailing, porches with original balustrade, and the chimney with inlaid terracotta tiles. Justin Spaulding died in 1906, and Sarah C. Spaulding (1840-1907) would pass away a year later. They had no children. In her will, Sarah bequeathed funds for the first purpose-built library in Chicopee and money for a memorial chapel in a local cemetery. The Spaulding House was acquired by the Academy of Our Lady of the Elms (now Elms College), moved to its present location in 1920, and was converted to the Office of Admissions for the College. Besides the need for a new coat of paint, the house is lovingly preserved!

Following last weekends introduction of the latest large language model (LLM) from DeepSeek, ChatGPTs new artificial intelligence (AI) rival has topped the Apple App Store for iPhone downloads.The DeepSeek R1 LLM is open source and uses reasoning combined with what the company calls cold start data, which means that rather than trawling the internet and social media sites to amass vast quantities of machine learning data, it relies instead on reinforced learning to improve accuracy.On its GitHub page, the developers of DeepSeek describe R1 as a large-scale reinforcement learning on the base model. We directly apply reinforcement learning to the base model without relying on supervised fine-tuning as a preliminary step, it says. This approach allows the model to explore chain-of-thought for solving complex problems.An estimated 2.1 million searches for DeepSeek were recorded over the weekend, with at least 1.6 million of these on Sunday 26 January alone. This is 12.3% of ChatGPTs 13 million searches in the same timeframe.Along with taking a different approach to ChatGPT, the interest in DeepSeek is also being driven by competitive pricing and the fact that the code is open source.While OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, charges $2.50 per million input tokens for its GPT-4o model, DeepSeek is priced at $0.14 per million input tokens in situations where the AI engine is able to draw on previously cached information. Non-cached inputs are priced at $0.55 per million tokens.The extent of interest in the AI from the Chinese firmresulted in turmoil in the valuation of tech stocks in the US. Reuters reported that Nvidia saw its share price drop 17%, which effectively wiped $593bn off its market valuation.In a speech on Monday, US president Donald Trump described DeepSeek as a wake-up call for the US tech sector.Among the numerous subjects Trump spoke about in his speech to Republican party members of Congress were the executive orders revoking the AI regulations introduced under former president Joe Biden. We dont want to have any future president ever sabotage our economy with out-of-control regulations, he said. Last week I signed an order revoking Joe Bidens destructive artificial intelligence regulations so that AI companies can once again focus on being the best, not just being the most woke.He then referenced DeepSeek as he continued talking about why deregulation is important for AI in the US. Today and over the last couple of days Ive been reading about China and [one Chinese company] in particular coming up with a faster method of AI and a much less expensive method. Hopefully the release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win.DeepSeeks developers have been able to combine cutting-edge algorithms to slash the energy demands of AI training and deployment. In his speech, Trump described what DeepSeek had achieved as good, since companies aiming to develop AI applications that use DeepSeek do not have to spend as much money compared with rival LLMs. I view that as a positive, as an asset, he added.Commenting on what the rise of DeepSeek has meant to financial markets, Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at investment platform Saxo, pointed out that DeepSeek took only two months to develop and less than $6m to build, using reduced-capability chips from Nvidia called H800s. This is significant given that the Biden administration banned the export of high-end Nvidia graphics processors (GPUs) to China in 2023.US tech companies are trading at premium valuations, with major AI players like Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet commanding forward P/E [price to earnings] multiples far above historical averages, she said. With these stocks priced for perfection, even minor disruptions, such as DeepSeek proving advanced AI can be built without top-tier chips, could weigh heavily on share prices. For Nvidia, in particular, its role as a key supplier of AI chips makes it vulnerable if demand for its high-end products wanes.Read more about LLM power usage and pricingHow to stop AI costs from soaring: Generative AI promises to improve business efficiency, but Gartner has found many projects are failing to get beyond pilot roll-outs.Developing AI datacentres: Has the UK government got what it takes: The UK government has unveiled its 50-point AI action plan, which commits to building sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities and accelerating AI datacentre developments - but questions remain about the viability of the plans.The idea of lower-cost and more energy-efficient AI coming from DeepSeek appears to have an immediate impact both on the US tech giants and the energy sector, which has been banking on the growth of AI-fuelled power consumption.DeepSeeks breakthrough signals a shift toward efficiency in AI, which will redefine both energy and AI markets, said Nigel Green, the CEO of global financial advisory giant DeVere Group. The opportunities for investors willing to act now are enormous.This challenges the assumption that AIs growth is tied to ever-increasing energy consumption. While the market is reacting to short-term uncertainty, efficiency-driven AI models will expand adoption into new markets and industries.This means more widespread use, deeper integration and, ultimately, sustained demand for energy solutions.Arguably, its the fact that DeepMind has been able to achieve results using inferior hardware and offer its LLM at a highly competitive price that is set to change every organisations approach to AI: it doesnt necessarily require throwing vast amounts of costly GPUs at the hardware and having to recoup these costs by charging end users a premium.By developing cutting-edge generative AI models without relying on the latest, most expensive hardware, DeepSeek has demonstrated that agility and strategy can outpace raw computational power, said Kjell Carlsson, head of AI strategy at Domino Data Lab. Their achievements also highlight the vulnerability of incumbents in the generative AI space proving that open-source innovation continues to be a powerful equaliser, enabling challengers to match and even surpass established players years into the revolution.What all this means is that DeepSeek signifies Chinese competition to Silicon Valleys existing AI models. Michael Guan, CEO of Final Round AI, said the pricing model is profitable, unlike models that many other AI organisations offer. Its code is also open source, he added. This is very unconventional, as companies tend to keep the code behind their latest models a closely guarded secret.