Experts think the sketch dates to between 1809 and 1814. TennantsA previously unknown oil sketch by the renowned British landscape artistJohn Constable is headed to auction. The early 19th-century artwork depicts Dedham Vale, a green, sprawling valley some 70 miles northeast of London. Its thought to be an early draft of Constables 1815 paintingView of Dedham Vale From East Bergholt.The 12- by 15-inch sketch will be sold at Tennants Auctioneers next month, and its expected to fetch as much as 200,000 (about $250,000), according to astatement from the auction house. Constables impressive and vigorous earlyplein-air sketch depicts the green, rolling countryside near his childhood home. I shall never cease to paint such places, he laterwrote. They have always been my delight.Oil sketches, much like drawings, have an immediacya direct link to the mind and working practices of an artist, says Jane Tennant, director and auctioneer with Tennants, in the statement. As she tells BBC News Georgia Levy-Collins, It will cause great excitement, no doubt, in the auction world. The sketch may be an early draft of Constable's View of Dedham Vale From East Bergholt(1815). Bavarian State Painting Collections, MunichBorn in1776, a young Constable first learned to paint from a Suffolk plumber and amateur artist. Growing up, he sketched the countryside: Its natural scenes made me a painter, and I am grateful, he laterwrote. The sound of water escaping from mill dams willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts and brickwork. I love such things.Constable began studying art in 1802 at theRoyal Academy Schools, where he rejected classical landscape painting styles in favor of the guidance of nature herself. When he returned home, Constable developed a colorful and highly expressive oil sketching style, which is evident in the piece being auctioned, per the statement.Executed when he was just starting out on his extraordinary career, he has managed to imbue the sketchily painted landscape with such vitality with his deft handling of dramatic light and shade, says the auction house.Based on the sketchs style, experts have dated it to between 1809 and 1814, as Tennant says in a video. The piece depicts Dedham Vale from the north, looking towards the nearby village of Langham. Compared to similarly dated Constable sketches, this one has a more dramatic use of light and shade, exemplified by a burst of sunlight through the clouds illuminating the bottom of the valley, Tennant adds.An Early Sketch by John ConstableWatch on She suggests that the sketch is an early version of Constables finished painting, View of Dedham Vale From East Bergholt. The final painting includes additional people and animals in the foreground but keeps the same sunlight breaking through distant clouds.Constables artistic attraction to nature was imbued with sentimentality. As he oncewrote to a friend, I should paint my own places bestpainting is but another word for feeling. Due to the artists special attention to Dedham Vale, the area earned the moniker Constable Country.Its not every day that a work by Constable comes to auction, as Tennant tellsArtnets Brian Boucher. Though the sketchs owners always knew it to be a Constable work, it hasnt previously been recorded in the literature, she adds. But as we have seen time and time again, thats what makes the art world interesting!Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Art History, Artists, Arts, Auctions, British History, England, Nature, Painters, Painting, Visual Arts

Chorus waves can produce high-energy killer electrons that can damage satellites. Michael Dunning via Getty ImagesScientists have detected something strange in Earths magnetosphere, some 100,000 miles away from the ground. Split-second bursts of energy known as chorus waves were found chirping in an area where theyve never been seen before, baffling researchers.To be clear, theres no actual chirping being heard in space, since space is a vacuum that doesnt transmit sound. Chorus waves, instead, earned their name because they sound like birdsong when converted to audio signals. Theyve been picked up since the late 1960s at the Halley Research Station in Antarctica. NASA has also detected the waves with its Van Allen Probes, which measure the radiation belts surrounding our planet.Until now, these waves were observed to occur close to Earth, around 32,000 miles away. But using NASAs Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, researchers found chorus waves at much more distant locations, placing them in an area that challenges the existing theory on how these perturbations are produced. The findings were published in the journalNature in January.Its a very important paper, says study co-author James Burch of the Southwest Research Institute to Jonathan OCallaghan at Scientific American. This could be occurring anywhere in the universe where theres a magnetic field, which is just about everywhere.Scientists previously thought that chorus waves could only be generated near a dipolar magnetic fieldthat is, one with a north and south pole, like the one surrounding Earth. Theyve also been found around other planets with magnetic fields, such as Saturn and Jupiter.The leading idea suggests these waves are caused by plasma instabilityionized gas thats outside its equilibrium state. This disturbance can lead electrons to behave chaotically, spiraling along Earths magnetic field lines and producing radiation that interacts with other electrons. The resulting chorus waves travel along the curved magnetic field from pole to pole, creating their chirp as they go.But these newly detected waves were found in a strongly stretched, relatively flat and distant region of the magnetosphere, pointing to another possible reason for their occurrence. Instead, they could be produced by changes in frequency across the magnetic field, per Scientific American.Experts arent ruling out the original theory entirely, but the new paper suggests a need for more research. It is a surprising result in a surprising region, and it prompts further investigation of chorus waves in regions in which Earths magnetic field deviates substantially from a dipole,Richard Horne, head of space weather at the British Antarctic Survey who contributed to peer review of the study, writes in a commentary on the paper for Nature.Its very captivating, very compelling, Allison Jaynes, a space weather physicist at the University of Iowa who was not involved in the study, says to Adithi Ramakrishnan of the Associated Press. We definitely need to find more of these events.The team also spotted an electron hole, or an absence of electrons at a particular spot in the wave. That observation offers a key piece of evidence in support of the chorus wave theory, Horne writes.These findings have important practical implications for future space exploration, because chorus waves have the ability to produce high-energy killer electrons that can scramble satellite communications. Understanding these powerful particles could also help protect astronauts on human missions.If youre pumping electrons up to very high energies, you want to know, for crewed spaceflight and spacecraft assets, how many of these killer electrons are in the magnetosphere, Jaynes adds to Scientific American. Chorus waves are very important to understand that.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomy, Mysteries, NASA, New Research, Outer Space, Satellites, Weather

Electronic Arts developer and publisher of games like Madden and EA Football Club has announced an extensive community testing initiative for their latest and thus far untitled next Battlefield game. If successful, this project could mean a much more player-focused testing path for multiplayer games before launch. Dubbed Battlefield LabsRead More

The Entertainment Software Association said it is concerned that tariffs on video game devices and related products could cause significant harm to Americans and the fast growing sector. In a statement first published by Kotaku, the game industrys lobbying group has asked President Donald Trump and the United States government to consult with the private sector on the tariffs.Video games are one of the most popular and beloved forms of entertainment for Americans of all ages. Tariffs on video game devices and related products would negatively impact hundreds of millions of Americans and would harm the industrys significant contributions to the U.S. economy. We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress to find ways to sustain the economic growth supported by our sector, the ESA statement said. While digital game software can avoid the tariffs, physical products like game discs and consoles will likely be hit with tariffs, as those are made overseas. China, Mexico and Canada were hit with tariffs on Saturday. Its not yet known how much prices will be affected for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, computer graphics cards, and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2.Regarding Mexico, Trump tweeted this morning that he had reached a deal with Mexicos president to postpone the tariffs for a month while the Mexican authorities send 10,000 troops to the border to deal with illegal immigration and drug smuggling.Daily insights on business use cases with VB DailyIf you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI.Read our Privacy PolicyThanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.An error occured.

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord wins Grammy | News-in-brief

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 becomes second-highest-grossing video game movie of all timeEarning $462m worldwide, Sonic 3 has surpassed Detective Pikachu's $450mImage credit: Paramount Pictures News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Feb. 3, 2025 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has become the second-highest-grossing video game movie of all time.Second only to The Super Mario Bros. Movie's $1.26bn, the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie has earned $462m worldwide, cementing itself as one of the world's most successful video game movies ever.By comparison, Detective Pikachu grossed $450m, whilst 2016's Warcraft secured $439m.Rampage, Uncharted, and the second Sonic the Hedgehog movie grossed $428m, $407m, and $405m, respectively.Sonic the Hedgehog 4 will release in cinemas on March 19, 2027.

Justin Carter, Contributing EditorFebruary 3, 20252 Min ReadImage via Nintendo.At a GlanceThe ESA warns that new tariffs against China, Mexico, and Canada may have a negative effect on console and accessory sales.The Entertainment Software Association is warning that the incoming tariffs in place by the Trump administration will cause "significant harm" to video games and everyday Americans.In a statement to Kotaku's Ethan Gach, the trade group said the tariffs could affect "Americans of all ages across the country." It later issued a modified statement that reiterated how the tariffs will "negatively impact hundreds of millions of Americans and would harm the industrys significant contributions to the U.S. economy."Over the weekend, President Trump signed an order to impose tariffs on goods coming from Mexico, China, and Canada, most of which are set to take place tomorow, February 4. Semiconductors, which are used to make game consoles (like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2) and accessory hardware, are included in those tariffs.Several electronics companies have semiconductor factories in Mexico and China. The former's 25 percent tariff is currently paused, but China's 10 percent tax is still in effect at time of writing. Tariffs against China have previously threatened to affect the price of game consoles in the US, but did not manifest.While the exact implications of President Trump's tariffs are presently unclear, hardware makers like Sony and Microsoft have released newer, often pricier iterations of their consoles. Sony in particular upped the price of its original PlayStation 5 system in several territories when semiconductors were in short supply a few years ago.The ESA added that it would work with Congress and the Trump administration to "find ways to sustain the economic growth supported by our sector."Video games and the industry at larger may be further affected by the Trump administration due to its connection to the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. The document includes a wider-reaching definition of pornography (which could affect developers that feature transgender characters or include inclusive character creators), and lets agencies hold platform holders and digital storefronts liable for the content they store.About the AuthorJustin CarterContributing Editor, GameDeveloper.comA Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.See more from Justin CarterDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Justin Carter, Contributing EditorFebruary 3, 20252 Min ReadImage via Treyarch.At a GlanceAkemann also ran Skydance Interactive, which has made the VR games Behemoth and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.Peter T. Akemann, co-founder of Call of Duty studio Treyarch, recently plead guilty and took a deal after piloting a drone during the Los Angeles fires this past January, which damaged a firefighting aircraft.On January 9, Akemann's drone flew over Palisades as a Super Scooper water dumping plane was dousing the fires. His drone struck the Scooper's left wing and forced it to be grounded for repairs.By pleading guilty, he avoided a potential year in prison, and will have to perform 150 hours of community service in support of Southern California's wildfire relief efforts. He will also pay the $65,000 cost to repair the Scooper.According to the plea agreement, his drone was "at least 2,500 meters away from its launch point, and [he] lost visual sight of the Drone while flying it. [...] Defendant admits that his use and control of the drone recklessly interfered with, and disrupted the operation of the Firefighting Aircraft, and that such Drone operations posed an imminent safety hazard to occupants of the Firefighting Aircraft."In a statement, acting US attorney Joseph McNally said the damage from Akemann's drone "is a stark reminder that flying drones during times of emergency poses an extreme threat to personnel trying to help people and compromises the overall ability of police and fire to conduct operations. As this case demonstrates, we will track down drone operators who violate the law and interfere with the critical work of our first responders."Per The Verge, Akemann recently left his role as Skydance Interactive's president. He first joined in 2016, and both his LinkedIn and X page have been scrubbed after the verdict.Akemann's lawyers issued a statement saying the Treyarch co-founder is "deeply sorry" for the incident, and that he "accepts responsibility for his grave error in judgment, and is cooperating with the government in effort to make amends."Read more about:CultureTop StoriesAbout the AuthorJustin CarterContributing Editor, GameDeveloper.comA Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.See more from Justin CarterDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

EA has announced a new Battlefield Labs community testing program to give people the opportunity to test the next Battlefield game. You can sign up for the program now, and EA says that the first phase of testing will go live in the coming weeks for invited players in Europe and North America.As I write this, theres a long queue to attempt to sign up for Battlefield Labs; there are just under 200,000 people ahead of me and my estimated wait time is more than an hour. EA says that your position in the registration queue does not affect your chances of being invited, so if you dont want to deal with the queue, you might want to wait a bit to try to register.Battlefield Labs follows other early testing initiatives from EA like its work with the new Skate game and with the Project Rene game in The Sims franchise. But Battlefield Labs is also likely an attempt to avert another Battlefield 2042 situation; that game had a rough launch and didnt meet EAs expectations.In a video accompanying the announcement, EA detailed how its Battlefield Studios Dice (which created the franchise), Criterion (known for its racing games), Motive (which worked on Dead Space and is making a new Iron Man game), and Ripple Effect (which made 2042s Portal mode) are teaming up on the development of this next game, which will have single player and multiplayer modes. The series is under the oversight of Respawn Entertainment head Vince Zampella following a shakeup shortly after 2042s launch.

Audi is launching a new global nomenclature system for its vehicles to more clearly represent a vehicles type, size, shape, and powertrain.The updated system will still begin with letters like A for low-floor vehicles or Q for high-floor ones. That will be followed by numbers 1 through 8 that help represent the size or classification of the vehicle. However, Audi says it will no longer use odd or even numbers to represent what powertrain technologies it uses. Then comes the body style, which includes Avant, Sedan, or Sportback, where applicable. Finally, Audi will add to the end a powertrain code, including the TFSI (Turbo Fuel Stratified Injection) combustion engine, TFSI e (plug-in hybrid), and E-tron (all electric). The system also replaces Audis two-digit power output representation which really made things confusing.This new naming system will debut with the new combustion engine version Audi A6, which will be revealed on March 4th. You can expect Audi A6 models to have names like A6 Avant TFSI or A6 Sedan E-tron. (Current models will not be renamed.)E-tron vehicles were especially confusing in the past. The original US line was a Q8-style SUV but was just called the Audi E-tron. A Sportback version was made afterward, and both were renamed to Q8 E-tron (which are now being phased out). Today, theres a Q6 E-tron that is similar in size but built on Volkswagens modular Premium Platform Electric (PPE) platform shared withthe A6 E-tronand Porsche Macan EV.