Monster Hunter Wilds' next open betas will let players fight flagship monster Arkveld for the first timePlus more from Capcom's latest reveal.Image credit: Capcom/Eurogamer News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Feb. 5, 2025 We already knew two more Monster Hunter Wilds open betas were on the way ahead of this month's launch, but Capcom has now shared a few more details - confirming they'll give players a chance to go up against flagship monster Arkveld for the first time.That news came courtesy of Capcom's latest Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase, which kicked things off with a fresh trailer. Notably, this offered a first look at the Iceshard Cliffs biome, which join Wilds' previously revealed Windward Plains, Scarlet Forest, and Oilwell Basin. It also unveiled new monster Hirabami - an ice-dwelling leviathan with the ability to float and a pincer-style tail - alongside confirmation of two more returning monsters: the spider-like Nerscylla and the Gore Magala, first seen in Monster Hunter 4.Capcom also took a few moments to hightlight some of Wilds' customisation features. It will, for instance, be possible to customise your pop-up camp, adjusting its layout, adding furniture, changing tent patterns and colours, selecting background music, and more. That's alongside the ability to alter your Seikret's colours and decorations as the story progresses. Monster Hunter Wilds - Into the Iceshard Cliffs trailer.Watch on YouTubeElsewhere, it sounds like layered armour is now automatically registered whenever players craft its original High Rank counterpart, rather than having to unlock it through other means - a boon for fashion fans. Additionally, Capcom revealed Guild Cards have been replaced with Hunter Profile, promising "more features than ever", and there's a photo mode - with settings including camera view and depth of field - that'll pause the game when used in online single-player mode.That single-player online mode - designed for people who want to play without joining a lobby, and which can temporarily be turned to multiplayer by firing off an SOS flare - is one of the features that'll debut in Monster Hunter Wilds' two upcoming open betas, alongside private lobbies and a new base camp training area for solo play.Additionally, open beta players can confront Monster Hunter Wilds' new flagship monster Arkveld, AKA the White Wraith. This fearsome beast features "chain-like appendages extending from its wings", and will be available as part of a "special advanced quest" that's described as being "rather dangerous". February's open beta also include a new Gypceros hunt, and that's alongside the character creation, story trial, and Doshaguma hunt seen in last year's beta.February's first open beta test runs for four days begining on 6th February at 7pm PT (that's 3am on 7th February in the UK) and its second runs from 13th-16th February, with timings remaining the same. Cross-platform multiplayer is enabled for both sessions, and players can transfer their characters (but not their progress) to the full game. Participants also get a bonus pendant and an item pass that'll unlock in the full release. Additionally, Monster Hunter World and Iceborne will receive Palico equipment and a name plate for their hunter profile if they pick up Wilds.Monster Hunter Wilds launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on 28th February, and capcom has confirmed it'll start introducing limited-time event quests - featuring "special looks" as rewards - one week after its release. More updates will follow.

JoJo Siwa has offloaded her suburban Los Angeles mansion, with an assist from Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause that brought in $110,000 over the asking price. Siwa, known for her once-eccentric YouTube presence and starring on Lifetimes hit reality show Dance Moms, has officially sold her spot in Tarzana, California, for $4.1 million, per TMZ.The singer and dancer listed the property, which is located about 45 minutes away from Los Angeles and was unaffected by the citys wildfires, in December 2024 for $3.99 million. The buyer of the home has not yet been revealed. The listing was spearheaded by Selling Sunsets Stause and the Oppenheim Groups Omar Abaza. TMZ reports that the home is slated to appear in season nine of Selling Sunset, which will air later this year.A living area in the home.Photo: The Oppenheim Group / William MyersThe Karma singer bought the Mediterraneanstyle dwelling in December 2019 for $3.43 million. Siwa, then 16, shared a tour on YouTube of the sprawling 6,462-square-foot pad several days after moving in.The six-bedroom, seven-bathroom home comes decked out with a slew of luxury amenities, including an outdoor pool, at-home gym, spa, entertainment room, and sports court. Beyond the foyer is a freshly-renovated kitchen with top-tier appliances and a living room complete with a modern fireplace and a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that opens directly onto the loggia.Join NowBecome an AD PRO member for only $25 $20 per month + receive an exclusive toteArrowA pool and bar area in the home.Photo: The Oppenheim Group / William Myers

Ahead of Way of the Sword next year.Capcom's first broadcast of the year contained some surprises and one of them happened to be the announcement of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny.This title will be getting remastered for multiple platforms including the Switch and will be arriving at some point in 2025.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Super amped for Capcom Fighting Collection 2! Might actually preorder for once just to show Capcom emphatic support for the Power Stone & Project Justice (Rival Schools) series. Would love new modern entries for both of those on Switch too/2!Having some Street Alpha & Capcom vs SNK games in the collection just sweeten the pot also in their own right for me. Awesome variety of classic games all around. Loved the Dreamcast era.

Google Search is in the midst of a journey around AI, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said during the companys earnings call on Tuesday. The start of that journey was AI overviews, a controversial and monumental shift in how Google delivers information to billions of Search users.But that was just the beginning.As AI continues to expand the universe of queries that people can ask, 2025 is going to be one of the biggest years for search innovation yet, said Pichai during his opening remarks on the call.Throughout the call, Pichai laid out the next phase of Googles plan to pack Search with AI features from the companys research lab, DeepMind. The Search product is slowly becoming more like an AI assistant that browses the internet for you, looks at web pages, and returns an answer.Its a long way off from a simple search system that gives you ten blue links.Google has been on this path for a few years now, ever since the search giant was caught flat footed by the release of OpenAIs ChatGPT in 2022. The shift has massive implications for websites that rely on Googles traffic and businesses that buy ads on Google Search.Not everyone is happy about it, but Google is pushing ahead.When asked about the future of AI and Search, Pichai said that, You can imagine the future with Project Astra, a reference to DeepMinds multimodal AI system, which can process live video from a camera or computer screen and answer user questions about what the AI sees in real time.Google has big plans for Project Astra in other parts of its business too. The company says it wants the multimodal AI system to power a pair of augmented reality smart glasses one day, which Google will create the operating system for. Pichai also mentioned Gemini Deep Research an AI agent that takes several minutes to create long research reports as a feature that could fundamentally shift how people use Google Search. Deep Research automates work that people have traditionally done with Google Search. But now, it seems Google wants to do that research for users.You are really dramatically expanding the types of use cases for which Search can work things which dont always get answered instantaneously, but can take some time to answer, said Pichai. Those are all areas of exploration, and you will see us putting new experiences in front of users through the course of 2025.Pichai said further that Google has a clear sense of the Search experiences it could create with another one of Googles AI agents, Project Mariner. That system can use the front-end of websites on behalf of users, making it unnecessary for people to use websites themselves.Googles CEO also said theres an opportunity around letting users interact more and ask follow-up questions with Google Search. Pichai was light on details there, but it sounds like Google is considering ways to make its Search interface more like a chatbot.I think the [Search] product will evolve even more, said Pichai. As you make it more easy for people to interact and ask follow-up questions, etc., I think we have an opportunity to drive further growth.Today, ChatGPT has matured into one of the internets most used products, with hundreds of millions of weekly users. It presents an existential threat to Google Searchs long-term business. To address it, Google is not only building a competitor AI chatbot with Gemini, but also injecting AI features directly in Search.Of course, the first step on Google Searchs AI journey did not go very well. When Google rolled out AI overviews to all of Google Search, the system displayed inaccurate and weird AI hallucinations. These included answers that told people to eat rocks and put glue on their pizza. Google admitted at the time that AI overviews needed some work.Despite this negative rollout, it appears Google is just getting started putting AI into Search.

Cashfree, an Indian payments startup that facilitates and processes more than $80 billion for its customers each year, has raised $53 million in a new round of funding as it gears up to deepen its presence in some international markets.Krafton, maker of sleeper hit titles such as PUBG and BGMI, led Cashfrees Series C financing round alongside existing investor Apis Growth Fund, the two said Wednesday. The funding values the nine-year-old startup, which has raised nearly $100 million to date, at $700 million, according to a source familiar with the terms.Its an unusual deal a gaming company investing in a payments startup but the two firms see strategic value in the partnership, their executives told TechCrunch in an interview.Krafton is a large organization, very active in the digital content space over the internet and payment companies like us see a sizable market opportunity alongside e-commerce, travel and other financial services, Akash Sinha, co-founder and chief executive of Cashfree, said in an interview. There are synergies around building seamless payment flows for smaller ticket sizes.In Cashfree, Krafton has found a reliable payments partner both for itself as well as its growing portfolio of startups in the country, many of which will explore switching to the Bengaluru firms offerings in the future. While the two companies dont currently process payments for games like BGMI, discussions are underway and a partnership is expected soon, they said.Indias fintech industry is experiencing remarkable growth, and we believe Cashfree Payments dominant position in India can be replicated globally, said Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of Krafton India.The Bangalore-based startup, which serves more than 800,000 businesses including prominent names such as Swiggy, Zepto, and Bajaj Finance, offers its customers a wide-range of solutions and the ability to work with over 100 payment options. It has seen merchant sign-ups surge 130% in the current fiscal year. The startup is particularly focused on expanding in the UAE and other Middle Eastern markets.MENA is large enough, Sinha said. We want to be a leader in this market. We are focusing on six big marketplaces like UAE, Saudi, Egypt and three smaller markets like Jordan and Kuwait.Cashfrees founders stumbled into the payments business by accident. In 2015, Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta started with a basic service: helping Bangalore restaurant delivery workers collect cash from customers. Neither had worked in payments before. But when their restaurant clients asked for online payment options, they spotted a bigger opportunity.Early investors werent convinced. Many doubted a payment processing startup could scale quickly enough to matter. Y Combinators acceptance changed that trajectory, even though the founders had missed application deadlines and couldnt make it to the batch on time.The startup has recently secured two additional licenses, including one for cross-border transactions, and has gone live with several international customers.Cashfrees technology stack allows businesses to process up to 12,000 transactions per second during peak demand. The startup has also developed SecureID, an identity verification system that has performed over a billion verifications to date, helping businesses combat fraud while reducing customer drop-offs during onboarding.Cashfree is one of the first companies to receive authorization from Indias central bank to operate as a payment aggregator for both domestic and international transactions. The startup, which was incubated by PayPal, counts Y Combinator and State Bank of India among its earlier backers.For Krafton, the investment aligns with its broader strategy in India, where it has invested nearly $200 million across several startups.

The Polish National Home in Chicopee, Massachusetts, was organized in 1910 as a fraternal service organization catering to the needs of the local Polish immigrant and Polish-American communities. The organization was founded at a time where Polish immigrants were settling in Chicopee, finding work at local factories. The Polish population of Chicopee surged in the late 19th into the early 20th centuries from just 200 residents in 1885 to over 9,000 in 1914, the year this building was completed. One of the other goals for the Polish National Home was to provide class space for new immigrants to take classes in the english language and learn to read and write, to become eligible for U.S. citizenship. The club eventually would build this five-story structure on Cabot Street, architecturally rivaling any other building in town. The building was designed by architect Bruno Wozny, a German-born architect who settled in Springfield and ran his own practice. Spaces inside the building included retail stores, a meeting hall, small meeting rooms, and apartments for some recently arrived immigrants and their families. The adjacent building was designed by local architect George Dion, as a bowling alley and billiard hall. After WWII, the building was converted almost entirely to residential use, which remains today.

Today's NYT Strands hints and answersCredit: New York TimesLooking for Tuesdays Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:Its Wednesday, and we have words to uncover. This is another slightly trickier puzzle, though we havent seen any really hard challenges in some time. Yesterdays Strands was tricky also. In any case, no need to waste time rambling when we could be word-hunting. Lets solve todays grid!Strands is the newest game in the New York Times stable of puzzle games. Its a fun twist on classic word search games. Every day were given a new theme and then tasked with uncovering all the words on the grid that fit that theme, including a spangram that spans two sides of the board. One of these words is the spangram which crosses from one side of the grid to another and reveals even more about the days theme.Spoilers ahead.Todays Strands HintsTodays Theme: Whats your reaction?Hint #1: You might sneeze around these.Hint #2: Or get red, watery eyes.To help you uncover all the words, here are the first two letters of each word:SMMOFRLADADUPOALRemember, spoilers ahead!What Are Todays Strands Answers?Todays spangram is: ALLERGENSHeres the full list of words:SMOKEMOLDFRAGRANCELATEXDANDERDUSTPOLLENHeres the completed Strands grid:Today's StrandsScreenshot: Erik KainTodays Strands BreakdownI found SMOKE pretty quickly, though at first I thought this might mean we were looking for chemical reactions like SMOKE, FIRE and so forth. Then I found DUST and MOLD and POLLEN and was quickly able to work backward to find ALLERGENS, the spangram. The last few, other than LATEX, were the hardest to puzzle out by far. DANDER isnt a word I see that often and I had to think long and hard before I could tease it into being. FRAGRANCE was similarly difficult, though once I began typing the letters out I saw it immediately. Sometimes you just need that visual aid.How did you do on your Strands today? Let me know on Twitter and Facebook.Be sure to check out my blog for my daily Wordle guides as well as all my other writing about TV shows, streaming guides, movie reviews, video game coverage and much more. Thanks for stopping by!

Ecoceres, a spinoff from Hong Kong billionaire Lee Shau Kees gas supplier Towngas, makes environmentally-friendly jet fuel out of animal fat and used cooking oil. It has set its sights on becoming a leading producer of such fuel by the end of this year.As airlines around the world aim to mitigate their climate impact, some have pledged to ramp up the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Meeting the demand for the green jet fuel is Ecoceres, a Hong Kong-based unicorn startup spun off from billionaire Lee Shau Kees utility giant Hong Kong & China Gas and backed by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital.Ecoceres turns animal fat and used cooking oil into renewable fuel. Its SAF, for example, can cut greenhouse gas emissions from air travel by up to 90% compared to conventional kerosene-based fuel. The company is also working to convert other feedstocks into SAF to meet the growing needs from the aviation industry, which has set a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.While Ecoceres is relatively small compared to industry giants such as Neste in Finland, the startups Chief Executive Director, Matti Lievonen, says in a video interview that it aims to differentiate itself by having the highest yield in the field. Lievonen, who was previously the president and CEO of Neste, claims Ecoceres is on track to have the highest yield in the industry by the end of this year, when its new plant in Malaysia equipped with more advanced technology starts operating. Malaysia is the worlds second-largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia; palm oil waste is used to make SAF.Ecoceres will be able to achieve a yield of 85% upon completing the plant in Malaysias Johor state by the end of 2025, adding to its existing one in Chinas Jiangsu province, says Lievonen. The industrys average yield ranges from 40% to 55%, he adds. With the second plant, the company projects it will be able to increase its annual SAF production to about 700,000 tonnes from 100,000 tonnes in 2023. That will boost Ecoceres SAF global market share to more than 30%, from 20% in 2024, as the International Air Transport Association expects the clean jet fuel production to reach 2.1 million tonnes in 2025.Matti Lievonen, Chief Executive Director of Ecoceres.EcoceresWe are really the leading company in providing the airline industry the possibilities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and in providing people the possibilities to fly with good intentions, says Lievonen.Ecoceres was started in 2008 as a biorefining research and development project at Hong Kong & China Gas, Hong Kongs sole gas supplier known locally as Towngas. Ecoceres spun off from Towngas in 2021 and raised $108 million in a Series A round from Kerogen Capital, a private equity firm cofounded by members from JPMorgans Asia energy and natural resources group. In 2023, Towngas sold a 21% stake in Ecoceres to Bain Capital in a deal that valued the startup at nearly $1.5 billion. Towngas retains a 44% stake in Ecoceres as of June 2024.Ecoceres is said to be weighing an initial public offering next year in Europe that could value it at about $5 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg in January, citing unnamed sources. The report added that the company could raise $500 million to $1 billion. Ecoceres declined to comment.Ecoceres is among the growing number of companies manufacturing SAF, which the U.S. Department of Energy said is so far the only viable solution to meaningfully decarbonize the aviation industry. Aviation contributes to about 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the International Energy Agency, and that figure is expected to rise as air travel continues to increase. It is one of the most challenging industries to decarbonize because energy-dense fuels are needed to power long-haul air trips.Ecoceres increasing production capacity is well-timed with a European Union mandate that requires at least 2% of total jet fuel supply to be SAF starting this year, and a minimum of 70% by 2050. Ecoceres biggest revenue stream comes from its SAF output to Europe, with customers such as Germanys Lufthansa, says Lievonen.It will also help satisfy the rising demand from the U.S. and Asia, Ecoceres second and third biggest sales contributor, respectively. The U.S. doesnt have a SAF mandate but offers lucrative incentives for the green jet fuel. Meanwhile, Singapore has planned to require all departing flights to raise their SAF usage from 1% in 2026 to up to 5% by 2030. Hong Kong has also said it will set a target, with HSBC in November signing a deal to purchase SAF from Ecoceres for Cathy Pacific flights departing from the city.Ecoceres' renewable fuel production plant in Jiangsu province, China.EcoceresFor now, SAF only accounts for less than 0.1% of all jet fuel consumption, according to the International Energy Agency. Among the challenges that are hindering its adoption is that it costs two to ten times more than traditional aviation fuel, depending on the feedstocks and technology used, the U.S. Department of Energy has found. Meanwhile, waste oil and animal fat used to make SAF are relatively limited in supply.To overcome the hurdles, Ecoceres is now trying to convert other feedstocks into SAF. Among the promising alternatives is carinata, a green leafy plant with bright yellow flowers that can grow in less fertile lands and is used to protect soil rather than to be harvested for food. Ecoceres is working on the technology to produce SAF out of oil extracted from carinata, says Lievonen.The company is also working on a technology known as alcohol-to-jet, which uses chemical reactions to upgrade ethanol into fuel strong enough to power flights. Ecoceres is already capable of turning agricultural waste into ethanol, a gasoline blend-substitute that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80%.We have over 100 people in our R&D team looking at the alcohol-to-jet technology, novelty feedstocks and other things, says Lievonen. You cannot be successful if you only do one thing and think it will save you. We want to stay ahead.MORE FROM FORBES

Irelands newly appointed minister for AI oversight has admitted that shes never used ChatGPT and hasnt yet downloaded the hot new chatbot DeepSeek to her phone, the Irish Independent reported on Tuesday.Niamh Smyths new role as junior minister at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment involves responsibilities for trade promotion, AI, and digital transformation.Recommended VideosCommenting on the transformative technology, Smyth said that its all a new learning curve, but I will learn fast and apply myself to the new role, adding that she felt she knew as much as any colleague after leading briefings on the subject in recent months. Smyth said that one of her immediate concerns about the AI-powered technology is the degree to which high-school students may be using it to take care of their homework, though shes also looking at the importance of supporting businesses and providing education around the benefits of artificial intelligence to create efficiencies to demystify the use of AI.The story has echoes of the bizarre episode in 2018 when Japan appointed a cyber-security minister who then admitted that hed never used a computer.Since I was 25 years old and independent I have instructed my staff and secretaries I have never used a computer in my life, 68-year-old Yoshitaka Sakurada told said in comments translated by the Kyodo news agency.During a parliamentary session, Sakurada drew criticism when he appeared confused about basic technology-related questions. An opposition lawmaker expressed shock, saying: I find it unbelievable that someone who is responsible for cybersecurity measures has never used a computer.Sakurada resigned from the post about six months later, though the reason for his departure was unrelated to his admission about never having used a computer.Editors Recommendations