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 here Contents hide Call of Duty has often attempted to reinvent various mechanics with varying degrees of success. After five years of simplistic boots-on-the-ground movement, Treyarch pushed the boat out with Black Ops 6 in the form of Omnimovement, a new system enabling players to sprint, slide, and dive in any direction.In addition to changing the way you move in the single-player campaign and in fast-paced multiplayer matches, the movement changes are present in the hugely popular Zombies mode too. While there are many fans of the more fluid movement, those who prefer the classic CoD movement believe the change has ruined the endless slaying of undead opposition.Simple Call of Duty movement is betterMore linear movement is a staple of older Call of Duty games and often requires players to use unorthodox tactics to make it to the higher rounds. Modder Stepbro is one of many who misses the simplicity of movement in Zombies. Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25! Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only! *Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit. I miss the old movement, the modder told VideoGamer. I miss being limited to the simplicity of just running around and making the most of what you have in a tight space with no sliding and no vaulting.I feel as if Zombies now is just the multiplayer client changed to fit Zombies, instead of the mode being a separate entity packed with features that are exclusive to the mode. While Black Ops 6 Zombies does have its fair share of new innovations, its clear to see there is a high demand for features from Call of Dutys previous generation. Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson VideoGamer Podcast Listen Now Will simple movement ever return?With Activision and its developers constantly hunting for new ways to innovate Call of Duty for the current generation of fans, the state of Zombies remains a hot topic of conversation. Modders continue catering to the older generation of fans thanks to their incredible creations using the Black Ops 3 mod tools to inject some nostalgia into the mode many remember so fondly.Theres always a chance developers manage to strike a balance between the new features such as Omnimovement and the simple mechanics that once made Zombies a challenge. For now, Treyarch is managing to keep the momentum rolling as Black Ops 6 Zombies continues to engage fans as they continue exploring the Dark Aether.For more CoD intel, take a look at the best controller settings along with the best XMG loadout for zombie-slaying action.Related TopicsCall of Duty: Black Ops 6 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 here Contents hide Grand Theft Auto 6 is still primed to release in Fall 2025. As recently as this week, publisher Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told investors that GTA 6 is still slated for its originally revealed launch period. However, we still dont know when that is.However, with Borderlands 4s release date now officially set for September 23, 2025, the release date for the upcoming open-world game has been narrowed down significantly. While theres still no second trailer for the game or any official word from Rockstar Games, it seems that the game is coming out sometime after September.GTA 6 potential release monthIn the past, via RockstarIntel, GTA 6 publisher Take-Two told investors that the new open-world games release would not conflict with Borderlands 4. With rival game publishers afraid of releasing their games in the same period as the new Grand Theft Auto, it makes sense that Take-Two would not want their two biggest games of the season to release next to each other. Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25! Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only! *Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit. With the start of the Fall season being September, this means that the GTA 6 release date is likely planned for October or November. In the past, Rockstar Games released Red Dead Redemption 2 in late October, although that was after a year-long delay.While not confirmed by Take-Two or Rockstar Games, the release timing does make sense. With the new game already predicted to be the biggest entertainment launch in history, the pre-Holiday season is certainly the best time to release such a momentous title. Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson VideoGamer Podcast Listen Now Alongside Take-Twos annual sports games, the release of GTA 6 poses the company as a massive earner for the end of 2025. Lets just hope the publisher doesnt raise the price of the games RRP like others want them to.For more Grand Theft Auto 6 coverage, read about why the games delayed PC release doesnt bother its publisher. Additionally, read our thoughts on GTA Vice City: NextGen Edition, a fan-made remake of Vice City in the GTA 4 engine. Its pretty damn fantastic.Grand Theft Auto 6Platform(s):PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Action, Action AdventureSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Had Guillaume Coutheillas, the founder and creative director of AD PRO Directory firm FrenchCalifornia, not been such an eagle-eyed Instagram scroller, he and his husband would be living somewhere entirely different right now. Two years ago, the mere glimpse of a bit of molding and a sliver of a marble mantle on a friends Instagram Stories sparked enough curiosity about an unlisted West Village apartment, which he patiently waited for until it could be theirs.It looked like a mix of a little French, a little Victorian, Greek Revival, and Federal elements, but it was just this little tiny snapshot. I couldnt tell if it had a lot of natural light; I couldnt tell anything, says Coutheillas of the classic 900-square-foot flat he now shares with husband. I just saw the potential. The interior designers well-honed eye picked up on the little details that ultimately told him a lot about the 1834 building and what was originally its parlor.Eagle House, as Coutheillass building is known, has its original eagle medallion plaque showing that it was served by the 19th-century private Eagle Hose No. 2 firehouse. Also still intact: its classic West Village stoop with the metal railing for removing mud from shoes, something very few townhouses still have, says the designer of his magical building where everybody knows everybody.Growing up in Paris, Coutheillas was intimately familiar with living in a historical space, and a small one at that. But whats just so shocking is this apartment is older than the one I grew up in, he says. The small footprint posed an exciting design challenge: I could have definitely gotten something much larger with less character somewhere else, but I preferred to take this apartment. Once they did, Coutheillas set about repainting, changing all the hardware, replacing cabinets, installing window treatments, and swapping out light fixtures. The original floors, molding, and mantlesone Greek Revival, the other Federal styleall stayed, naturally.Furnishing the storied pad took a full year, he says, for one because clients always come first and, two, because everything had to be thoughtful and beautiful. Because theres only a select number of pieces that fit in this apartment, I wanted to look around and love every single object. Coutheillas sourced a high-low blend of furniture from France to the UK and Michigan to Louisiana, through dealers, galleries, Facebook Marketplace, 1stDibs, eBay, and Chelsea Flea. For the couples bed, Coutheillas designed a bespoke piece for his carpenters to build. The custom creation sits slightly higher than usual to accommodate four suitcases and countless winter coats beneath it. Its almost like designing for a boat where you dont have much space and you need storage everywhere, says the designer.

Onscreenacross genres, but mostly in the rom-com-spherea few key professions dominate the working world. If youve spent any meaningful length of time with a Hallmark movie marathon or sifting through Netflix for the latest love story offerings to add to your queue, you know the ones. When the protagonist is a writer or a journalist? Literally of course she is. (Write what you know, right, screenwriters?) With regards to the career of the average love interest, these are not the doctors and lawyers your mother would like you to end up with (yawn). A baker or chef regularly captures the heart of the lead, which feels simple enough to parse as the sex appeal of the culinarily gifted is beyond obvious. But among the most overrepresented jobs in the romance genre, and for love interests in general, is the architect. Somebody has to build a wholesome B&B in our main characters hometown, someone who might even charm her away from her high-powered, high-pressure NYC joba job she never really loved, as it turns out. Someone capable, clever, artistic, and for some reason, toned, because in this universe I guess hes sketching out the blueprints and building the place top to bottom with his own two hands. Swoon!In Hallmarks 2022 romantic comedy Moriahs Lighthouse, the titular protagonist (Rachelle Lefevre), dreamily, resides in a coastal French locale. American architect Ben (Luke Macfarlane) threatens the future of her beloved lighthouse with his restoration plans, but the odds of that dynamic bringing them closer seem promising; those look like forearms we can trust.Photo:Eric Caro/Crown Media United States LLCThe tropes originsThe foundation for this archetype was laid by the likes of Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle and Keanu Reeves in The Lake House, though the pieces had been in place since the 1969 debut of certified family man Mike Brady in The Brady Bunch. Nowadays, I see the trope surface most frequently in the dime-a-dozen holiday movies on streaming platforms that, more often than not, lack the juice to forge the cultural staying power of a Hanks or Reeves vehicle. But since audiences eat them up like Christmas cookies every December, studios continue to churn them out. (Its me, Im audiences.)Hard to say whether this is a trope screenwriters stole from real life or the other way around, but it seems to hold true both in the movies and IRL. Late last year, Vogues very own Jack Schlossberg posed a question to his 500,000+ Instagram followers via Storiesspecifically to anyone sexually attracted to men: Whats the hottest career path? The Kennedy scion narrowed the options down to architect, famous musician, famous VC/PE, and famous chef. The odds were stacked against our hero with three of the four options given the famous edge. But the architect still prevailed with 40% of the vote. In an informal survey of my single friends, responses ranged from yes to hell yes when asked whether theyd be into someone with the title. Apparently, it reads as the perfect blend of left- and right-brained, like a smartcrucially: employedartist.The lying/aspiring architectThe architect is such a hot sell onscreen that there is an established canon of characters who have pretended to hold the title specifically to impress a potential date. True Seinfeld fans know George Costanza lies like a rug, but one of his favorite fabulations that pops up in a handful of episodes is his desire to be seen as an architect. (As he complains in the acclaimed season five episode The Marine Biologist after one of Jerrys own lies gets out of hand: Why couldnt you make me an architect? You know Ive always wanted to pretend that I was an architect!) A chronic job hopper and frequent firee, Costanza doesnt want to design a new addition to the Guggenheim; he wants to nap under his desk. But hes looking, as always, for the easiest way to cheat the dating game, and architecture sure seems like an elegant faade to hide his true self behind.George Costanza makes reference to his desire to be seen as an architect on numerous occasions, sometimes going as far posing as one under the pseudonym Art Vandelay.Photo: Joey Delvalle/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty ImagesMatt Dillon, as the sleazy private investigator Pat Healy in the 1998 absolute all-timer Theres Something About Mary, attempts to construct the same front for essentially the same reasons. Better: Hes not even the only one in this rom-com posing as an architect to impress the titular dream girl, played by Cameron Diaz. Her pal Tucker (Lee Evans), operating his own long con, had been laying identical groundwork for years to win the affections of the brainy beauty, who has a soft spot for design.When Mary realizes the pair of them are as phony as Healys cartoonishly massive veneers, they both lose her for good. But a real architect, one who knew the difference between Art Deco and Art Nouveau, probably couldve given Ben Stillers plucky protagonist Ted, a writer, a run for his money.Tucker, Pat, and Ted all vie for the affections of Mary, who sees an architect as the kind of guy shell end up with.Photo: 20th Century-Fox/Getty ImagesIn (500) Days of Summer (2009), greeting card writer and hopeless romantic Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fantasizes about pursuing architecture. On a date with Summer (Zooey Deschanel), he draws his vision for the skyline on her arman act that was framed as deeply endearing and one that made me fall in love with the character even though we werent supposed to. He ultimately fails to get the girl; perhaps because it wasnt meant to beperhaps because he wasnt actually an architect until he reached the redemptive end of his arc on the 500th day of Summer, 210 days after shed already dumped him.Photo: Entertainment Pictures/Alamy Stock PhotoIn the sitcom How I Met Your Mothers season two episode Ted Mosby: Architect, playboy Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) has a point to make to his friend, nice guy protagonist and architect Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), about the clout architecture holds on the dating scene, so, Stinson poses as oneas Ted, in factwhile pursuing women on a night out.Photo: CBS via Getty ImagesWhy we fall for the hot architectand why the job looks so good onscreenRom-com aficionado Ilana Kaplan, a journalist and the author of Nora Ephron at the Movies, acknowledges that theres something sexy about the idea of an architect. But what is it about the profession that does it for us? Designing a home is such a massive task that I feel like the person who does it has to be incredibly methodical, she says. When I think of an architect, I literally picture Keanu Reeves. I picture Steve Martin in Its Complicated. To me theyre not villain [types]. This job is not villainous to me like some other career paths. Jessica Callahan has an insiders perspective on why viewers dont see bad guy potential in architects. As Hallmarks VP of programming, overseeing rom-coms across all platforms, she knows a thing or two about crafting a love interest people will buy.In the Hallmark world, the lawyer is always the guy that doesnt get the girl. The architect gets the girl. CEOs dont get the girl, she says, adding that developer is another bad-guy-coded job. I think the fantasy around the architect is that hes both creative and mathematical. Its very solid. You can build a home with this guyliterally and figurativelythats the romance of it. This is a job that people feel is attainable, but aspirational; you could know an architect, or at the very least, its a job that youre very easily able to define what it is in your head.Steve Martin plays an architect named Adam in the 2009 Nancy Meyers rom-com, Its Complicated.Photo: Collection Christophel Relativity Media/Waverly Films/AlamyStock PhotoIn all likelihood, the average viewer can readily call up a picture of the architect at work in their minds eye. Maybe not accuratelybut you can picture something. That slanted desk (a.k.a., a drafting table)? Biting a pencil, agonizing over sketches and blueprints? It certainly makes for a more telegenic workstation than whatever the rest of us are doing craned over a laptop, if you ask culture critic and screenwriter Hunter Harris, who pens the newsletter Hung Up and co-hosts Wonderys Lemme Say This podcast.Visually, its very rich. You can have models, you can have sketches, and that is better to show than just tell. Obviously thats the big screenwriting advice, she says. I think about Wesley Snipes [as an architect] in Jungle Fever. Theres this one really beautiful shot of him and (Annabella Sciorra) where theyre having sex or making out on his drawing board and its just such a great visual. You couldnt do that with a doctor; I dont want to be on an operating table having sex.Spike Lees 1991 romantic drama Jungle Fever casts Wesley Snipes as an architect opposite Annabella Sciorra, a temp secretary at his office with whom he begins an affair.Photo: Universal/Getty ImagesFantasy is the real driver here. While the rom-com world may boast a job market composed of roughly 70% architects, there are tragically fewer in off-screen life, so most of us will never actually date one. I asked a couple of IRL architects how the jobs movie magic translates to real-world romance, and apparently its quite common for those within the profession to find their way toeach other.Fellow architects understand each others messianic ambitions and their all-encompassing work schedules, says Charles Renfro of Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Amale Andraos, an architect at the firm WORKac, has observed the same. I have often heard people say they didnt date architects in college because all they did was work. It might explain why many architects date other architects, she says.The onscreen depiction of the architect as desirable is no secret to those in the industry. Renfro, who grew up in the 70s, cites the Brady patriarch as one such example that impacted his own trajectory. Mike Brady from The Brady Bunch was my first introduction to an archetypal architect. The Brady Bunch was a revelation in many ways: It was about a blended familya radical idea for American television, which until then only promoted the idea of a natural, nuclear family. It was one of the first TV series in which contemporary architecture was an unvoiced character: The familys stylish and unconventional home became a symbol of social progress. The portrayal of Mike as such an all-around good guy left a lasting impression on Renfro, who felt he could follow that same virtuous path regardless of how his future family might compare to the Bradys. I didnt understand it at the time, but somehow I intuited that architecture and by extension being an architect would make being gay okay. I didnt have the hots for Mike Brady. (Maybe his son, Greg). But Mike could feed his family of eight in style and was always calm. For me, Mike Brady established architects as good partners.You have an entire generation of Gen X-ers and late millennials who grew up coming home from school and watching 3:00 reruns of The Brady Bunch, where the classic dad and perfect husband was Mike Brady, and he was an architect played by the beautiful Robert Reed: tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed, warm, compassionate, Callahan says. He just felt like a good husband and a good father figure.Photo: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty ImagesWhile men loom large as the tropes most well-known examples, women clock in to mock up models and fall in love as well. The 1996 romantic comedy-drama One Fine Day casts Michelle Pfeiffer as an architect, opposite George Clooneys male journalist love interest (!). Though she doesnt get the formulaic suave persona written for many a rom-com dude: Shes a busy, frazzled mom, and trying to navigate hectic big city life is a balancing act between her demanding work schedule and her young sons needs. Andraos doesnt think the stereotype skews male per se, in fact one of the most recent examples she can recall is of Jennifer Garner in the 2023 Netflix body-swap comedy Family Switch, which sees the 13 Going on 30 star as a big shot architect on the cusp of making partner at her firm.One Fine Day follows two New Yorkers (George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer) who fall in love while trying to balance their obligations as working single parents.Photo: Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty ImagesIt seems to me that the architect as depicted in movies and films is precisely one able to soften the gender stereotypes, where the characters are seen as being able to be both/and, Andraos says. If you are Jennifer Garner [as Jess in Family Switch], you are both an independent and highly accomplished professional while also having this creative side which still allows you to connect with peopleyour team, your daughter, et cetera. And if you are a man like Steve Martin in Its Complicated, you are both able to compete with the super macho ex-husband character played by Alec Baldwin while still being sensitive and the object of Meryl Streeps characters desire.But in their single days, was being an architect a draw on the dating scene? Andraos has been married so long now, she cant quite remember how it was read. As for Renfro, hes been with his concert pianist husband for over 13 years. While the job may or may not have played a part in securing a few real-life happy endings, at least studio execs can rely on the blueprint of the hot architect to get us giddy over a man with a floor plan in the movies.

swatted down Serial swatter behind 375 violent hoaxes targeted his own home to look like a victim He now faces four years in federal prison. Nate Anderson Feb 12, 2025 2:21 pm | 123 Alan Filions mug shot. Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreA teacher in high school once quoted an old proverb to me: "Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life!"Perhaps 18-year-old Alan Filion encountered a similar teacher during his school years in California, because once Filion learned that he truly loved making fake "swatting" calls to law enforcementwell, he turned the crime into a job, using handles like "Nazgul Swattings" and "Third Reich of Kiwiswats." Originally it was all about the "power trip," but it soon became about "money and the power trip.""Prices: $40-Gas leak/Fire for EMS/Fire/Gas Leak [$35 for returning customers]," Filion wrote in a 2023 advertisement that ran on various social media channels. "$50 for a major police response to the house [$40 for returning customers]; $75 for a bomb threat/mass shooting threat (they will shut down the school or public location for a day) [$60 for returning customers]. All swats will be done ASAP or present time."He worked hard at the job. Between August 2022 and January 2024, for instance, when Filion offered his swatting service to others for money, he made 375 calls. That's an average of 21 a month, which means that every day and a half, Filion was firing up his many VoIP services, turning on his VPNs, and activating his text-to-speech apps in order to cause mayhem across the US, UK, and Canada.To make sure everything worked smoothlyand by smoothly, I mean "cause maximum chaos"Filion even tested his methods against his own home address in late 2022. He made numerous "self-swatting" calls, which he later wrote about. "I swatted myself like 3 times to test my methods," he said. "It was hard keeping a straight face... When I swatted myself the cops' extreme reaction was due to my special scenario."Filion would purposely create extreme scenarios to ensure that police reactions were themselves extreme. The goal, he wrote in 2023, was to "get the cops to drag the victim and their families out of the house, cuff them, and search the house for dead bodies."Repeat offenderFilion was willing to harass just about anyoneand more than once. He targeted public schools in Skagit County, Washington, on October 10, 2022, for instance, leaving a voicemail that said, "I am going to commit a school shooting with my AR-15 and Glock. I will kill as many kids as I can and then I will shoot myself. I have pipe bombs that I have placed in the bathrooms..." He also identified an actual 17-year-old student at the school as the perpetrator of this threat. A bomb squad responded to the school.On October 12, he called back, again threatening pipe bomb explosions in various cars in the school parking lot. Cops were deployed to search the vehicles and the entire school building.On October 13, he posted on social media that he had "called in a fake shooting threat" just so that "I could get you pigs to search the school and declare an 'all clear' so you would not be prepared for when the real school shooting comes. Now, it is too late for you to stop me."On October 14, he called a crisis hotline and told them that he had stolen his father's Glock, was in the bathroom of the high school, and was going to take revenge on those who had mocked him. Law enforcement cleared the whole school this time.On November 9, he called a local suicide prevention hotline in Skagit County and said he was going to "shoot up the school" and had an AR-15 for the purpose.In April, he called the local police departmenttwicethreatening school violence and demanding $1,000 in monero (a cryptocurrency) to make the threats stop.In May, he called in threats to 20 more public high schools across the state of Washington, and he ended many of the calls with "the sound of automatic gunfire." Many of the schools conducted lockdowns in response.To get a sense of how disruptive this was, extrapolate this kind of behavior across the nation. Filion made similar calls to Iowa high schools, businesses in Florida, religious institutions, historical black colleges and universities, private citizens, members of Congress, cabinet-level members of the executive branch, heads of multiple federal law enforcement agencies, at least one US senator, and "a former President of the United States." An incident report from Florida after Filion made a swatting call against a mosque there. Who, me?On July 15, 2023, the FBI actually searched Filion's home in Lancaster, California, and interviewed both Filion and his father. Filion professed total bafflement about why they might be there. High schools in Washington state? Filion replied that he "did not understand what the agents were talking about."His father, who appears to have been unaware of his son's activity, chimed in to point out that the family had actually been a recent victim of swatting! (The self-swattings did dual duty here, also serving to make Filion look like a victim, not the ringleader.)When the FBI agents told the Filions that it was actually Alan who had made those calls on his own address, Alan "falsely denied any involvement."Amazingly, when the feds left with the evidence from their search, Alan returned to swatting. It was not until January 18, 2024, that he was finally arrested.He eventually pled guilty and signed a lengthy statement outlining the crimes recounted above. Yesterday, he was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison.Nate AndersonDeputy EditorNate AndersonDeputy Editor Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds. 123 Comments

DOGE days Largest data breach in US history: Three more lawsuits try to stop DOGE DOGE and Musk face three more lawsuits over "brazen ransacking" of private data. Jon Brodkin Feb 12, 2025 4:31 pm | 153 People hold signs at a Save the Civil Service rally hosted by the American Federation of Government Employees outside the US Capitol on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images | Kent Nishimura People hold signs at a Save the Civil Service rally hosted by the American Federation of Government Employees outside the US Capitol on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images | Kent Nishimura Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe US DOGE Service's access to the private data of ordinary Americans and federal employees is being challenged in several lawsuits filed this week.Three new complaints seek court orders that would stop the data access and require the deletion of unlawfully accessed data. Two of the complaints also seek financial damages for individuals whose data was accessed.The US DOGE Service, Elon Musk, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell were named as defendants in one suit filed yesterday in US District Court for the Southern District of New York."The Privacy Act [of 1974] makes it unlawful for OPM Defendants to hand over access to OPM's millions of personnel records to DOGE Defendants, who lack a lawful and legitimate need for such access," the lawsuit said. "No exception to the Privacy Act covers DOGE Defendants' access to records held by OPM. OPM Defendants' action granting DOGE Defendants full, continuing, and ongoing access to OPM's systems and files for an unspecified period means that tens of millions of federal-government employees, retirees, contractors, job applicants, and impacted family members and other third parties have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords."The lawsuit names Musk as a defendant "in his capacity as director of the US Doge Temporary Service," which was created by President Trump and has a mandate lasting until July 4, 2026. The temporary organization is separate from the US DOGE Service, which used to be called the US Digital Service. DOGE, of course, is a reference to the popular meme involving a Shiba Inu and in the government context stands for the Department of Government Efficiency.Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO; the Association of Administrative Law Judges; and individuals who are current or former government workers. The legal team representing the plaintiffs includes lawyers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the State Democracy Defenders Fund, and two law firms.Data access for Musk and a cadre of loyalistsAnother lawsuit filed Monday in US District Court for the District of Maryland said that DOGE gained access to records of both government employees and people outside of government:For example, Defendants Treasury Department and Secretary of the Treasury [Scott] Bessent have improperly disclosed to DOGE representatives the contents of the Federal Disbursement System, which is the government's mechanism for sending payments it owes to individual Americans (as well as other payees). That system contains records relating to every American who receives (among other things) a tax refund, social security benefit, veterans pay, or a federal salary. To facilitate these payments, the system maintains highly sensitive information about millions of Americans, including Social Security numbers, date of birth, bank account information, and home addresses.The lawsuit in Maryland was filed by the American Federation of Teachers, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, the National Federation of Federal Employees, and six individuals. In addition to the Treasury Department and Bessent, defendants include OPM, Ezell, the Department of Education, and Acting Secretary of Education Denise Carter."Defendants are permitting Elon Musk and a cadre of loyalists imported from his private companies to help themselves to the personal information of millions of Americans, in violation of [the Privacy Act's] legal requirements," the lawsuit said.Yet another lawsuit was filed Monday in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and one unnamed resident of the district ("Doe 1") who is a federal government employee. The EPIC lawsuit's defendants include OPM, Ezell, the US Treasury Department, Bessent, the US DOGE Service, and the US Doge Service Temporary Organization."This action arises from the largest and most consequential data breach in US history, currently ongoing at the US Department of the Treasury and US Office of Personnel Management. This unprecedented breach of privacy and security implicates the personal information of tens of millions of people, including nearly all federal employees and millions of members of the American public," the lawsuit said, alleging that defendants "have allowed the unlawful misuse of critical data systems housed in OPM and the Treasury Department, endangering plaintiffs and millions of other Americans."This includes tax return information, the lawsuit said. In late January, a longtime Treasury Department official announced his retirement shortly after a clash with DOGE over access to the Fiscal Service payment system that collects and disburses trillions of dollars.The EPIC lawsuit described this incident and alleged that "basic security failures have resulted in the unlawful disclosure of personal dataincluding Social Security numbers and tax informationbelonging to tens of millions of individuals stored in Bureau of Fiscal Service systems and the unlawful disclosure of personal data belonging to millions of federal employees stored in Enterprise Human Resources Integration."Musk may or may not be acting US DOGE administratorThe EFF and EPIC lawsuits both list the "Acting US DOGE Administrator" as a defendant, indicating that it is not clear who holds this position. But the EPIC lawsuit says that Musk "is either the Acting USDS Administrator or otherwise exercising substantial authority within USDS."We sent inquiries about the lawsuits to DOGE, the White House, OPM, Treasury Department, Education Department, and Department of Justice. OPM and the Education Department declined to comment. We will update this article if we get any comments about the lawsuits.This week's lawsuits add to the mounting litigation over DOGE and Musk's access to government records. Last week, a federal judge approved an order that temporarily blocks DOGE access to Treasury payment systems and records until there's a ruling on a motion for a preliminary injunction. The Department of Education was also sued Friday by a California student association over DOGE's access to student financial aid and loan data.EFF: Brazen ransacking of Americans dataThe EFF said on its website that the "brazen ransacking of Americans' sensitive data is unheard of in scale. With our co-counsel Lex Lumina, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and the Chandra Law Firm, we represent current and former federal employees whose privacy has been violated. We are asking the court for a temporary restraining order to immediately cease this dangerous and illegal intrusion. This massive trove of information includes private demographic data and work histories of essentially all current and former federal employees and contractors as well as federal job applicants."The EFF said the OPM database is one of the largest collections of employee data in the US, given that the federal government is the nation's largest employer."In addition to personally identifiable information such as names, Social Security numbers, and demographics, it includes work experience, union activities, salaries, performance, and demotions; health information like life insurance and health benefits; financial information like death benefit designations and savings programs; and classified information [in] nondisclosure agreements. It holds records for millions of federal workers and millions more Americans who have applied for federal jobs," the EFF said.The EFF said "DOGE's unchecked access puts the safety of all federal employees at risk of everything from privacy violations to political pressure to blackmail to targeted attacks," adding that Musk last year "publicly disclosed the names of specific government employees whose jobs he claimed he would cut before he had access to the system."A Washington Post report last week said that some federal "officials have raised concerns that DOGE associates appeared to violate security protocols by using private email addresses or not disclosing their identities on government calls."The individual plaintiffs in the EFF's lawsuit include federal employee Vanessa Barrow, a New York resident who works at the Brooklyn Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "As a federal employee since September 2008, Ms. Barrow's sensitive personal and employment information was included in the OPM records that Defendants disclosed and continue to disclose," the lawsuit said.Seeking financial damagesThe lawsuit has two other named plaintiffs who are former federal employees, and 100 Doe plaintiffs who are current and former employees or contractors of the US government. Plaintiffs, including members of the unions that are part of the lawsuit, are entitled to financial payments because they "have sustained and will continue to sustain actual damages and pecuniary losses directly traceable to Defendants' violations," the lawsuit said.The separate lawsuit filed by EPIC in Virginia said that case's single Doe plaintiff is entitled to statutory damages of $1,000 per each act of unauthorized inspection and disclosure, and punitive damages "because the Treasury Department and DOGE's unlawful disclosure of their confidential return information was either willful or a result of gross negligence.""Taxpayers have a private right of action to seek damages under 26 U.S.C. 7431 for the knowing or negligent unauthorized inspection or disclosure of returns or return information in violation of 26 U.S.C. 6103," the lawsuit said.The lawsuit filed in the District of Maryland by unions and several individuals said the "plaintiffs include veterans who receive benefit payments as provided by law, current and former federal employees whose confidential employment files reside in the Office of Personnel Management's system, and teachers, first responders, and health care workers whose pathway to careers in public service included relying on student loans to fund their own educations."All of these plaintiffs had personal data "improperly disclosed to DOGE representatives in a manner completely divorced from the legitimate purposes for which it was maintained and in violation of their privacy rights," the lawsuit said. The plaintiffs are said to be "concerned that the breach may well result in serious personal, social, and economic harm, from being targeted for harassment and threats to doxxing, swatting, and identity theft."Military veterans worried about data accessPlaintiff Donald Martinez of Colorado served in Iraq for the Army and now receives Social Security disability insurance and other government benefits. "Especially because of his previous military service in a geographically sensitive area and involvement in high-level negotiations because of which he received death threats from terrorists, Plaintiff Martinez is worried that unauthorized access and disclosure of his personal information held within the federal government will compromise his personal safety and security," the lawsuit said.Plaintiff Christopher Purdy of Georgia served in the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq and currently leads a nonprofit advocacy group. Purdy is "very worried that Musk and DOGE may use their unauthorized access to his personal information to stop his VA disability payments, a major source of income in his household," the lawsuit said.The Trump executive order establishing DOGE said its goal was "modernizing federal technology and software to maximize efficiency and productivity." It said that US agencies must give DOGE "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems."An incident this week may add to concerns about Musk's understanding of government systems. On Monday, he criticized a user on X for stating that the US government uses SQL."This retard thinks the government uses SQL," Musk wrote. The federal government is in fact a heavy user of SQL in multiple forms, including Microsoft SQL server and MySQL Enterprise Edition for Governments.Musk's comment came in a discussion of another post in which Musk claimed without evidence that a lack of de-duplication in the Social Security database "enables MASSIVE FRAUD!!" because "you can have the same SSN many times over." The comment that earned Musk's rebuke was, "TIL Elon has never used SQL."Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 153 Comments

PILLAR OF FIREAvowed review: the next great cult classicAvowed is unlikely to be marked as a trailblazer, but everything it sets out to do it accomplishes with style and confidence. I expect to many it'll be regarded as a cult classic in years to come. Review by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor Published on Feb. 13, 2025 Role-playing games come in all shapes and sizes, but something I really rather appreciate is when a game in the genre doesnt sweat the gritty stuff. I do respect and enjoy when a game really goes for crafting a world experience, I admit - but sometimes, I just want my RPG fix to come in the form of a truly video gamey video game. Avowed is that - still immersive, but gleefully unashamed of doing whatever it can to shine a light on mechanics first to deliver a fun and memorable world to noodle around in.In a sense, this months release of Avowed thereby pitches it as an interesting antithesis to the recently released and also-excellent Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. These two games represent the two extremes of the western-made RPG lineage - the grit of a real feeling world and this. More joyful, more approachable. Theres serious themes to be found, but at the same time, its just a bloody good romp. I expect this will inspire no small degree of critic and audience division.Some will doubtless find Avowed to be a little bit unserious. But if you embrace what it is presenting, its a total joy. Pretty early on in my playthrough I began to sense a future cult classic, the sort of game that becomes certain players muse, the sort of game that a small subset of people will never shut up about. In a sense, that shouldnt surprise. This is an Obsidian game, and this studio has made rather a lot of games like that. I would kill a man for Alpha Protocol. But lets be clear on something else: this is a tightly-wound, smartly-scoped, polished, balanced game. Theres little in the way of jank here.Alright then, you say. Its good. But what is it? A first glance at a character meandering around a town in first-person will give impressions of an Elder Scrolls style open world RPG. Its a little bit of that, sure, though its also quite deliberately scoped as something a little different - and smaller - than that. Theres not the crazy world persistence of every object being movable or the like, and rather than one huge open world the setting of The Living Lands is carefully segmented into several modestly-specced open zones you freely travel between via a world map, vaguely bringing to mind the world structure of Dragon Age Inquisition.In role-playing terms, its a generous full-fat experience. Avowed is a spin-off of Pillars of Eternity, which is a capital C CRPG - that is to say, a full-on dungeons and dragons-like experience. Youve got the familiar six stats to pump points into on level up, plus three different categories of abilities divided into traditional character classes (Fighter, Ranger, and Wizard). Despite the class system on show with skills, theres no hard class divisions - you choose your starting skills, but you can equip everything and buy any skill you like as you progress.This all leads to a delightfully squishy and flexible approach to character development that I feel engenders exciting role-playing and build construction. I fell in love with the guns of Avowed - great big blunderbuss-style guns that take an age to reload. Theres a primary hand/off hand system, so I settled on a heaving pistol in my right hand and a grimoire in my left. Grimoires allow the casting of magic spells without investing ability points into them, but exactly what spells you have access to are of course limited by the book.Over the course of the game my character began to trend towards a hybrid battlefield control build. I became deeply attached to a specific gun which had some perks I loved, plus a book that gave me spells that could freeze a group of enemies in place with ice and then bounce devastating chained lightning between them. Id do this, then strafe away, firing powered-up shots with my gun. What started out as me picking Ranger at the onset of the game became something very different indeed.If things got dicey, I had backup plans. Your companions, of which two can join you at any given time, have a handful of abilities you can trigger - so I made sure they had skills which helped to draw aggro off me. And if things got really bad, Id drop back to my secondary weapon set - a trusty spear and shield combo. Avowed has a one-click switch between primary and secondary weapon sets in combat, and even has stats and skills that are built to make the switching faster. Obsidians designers knew that some people would make switching weapon multiple times per encounter the centerpiece of their playstyle - and so the flexibility to lean into that system is there. You'll battle against bandits, soldiers, wildlife, lora, fauna, and a variety of species of bear. | Image credit: Obsidian EntertainmentAdd in a low barrier to entry for refunding skill points and respecing your character, and youve got all the makings of a role-playing experience with a wonderful degree of experimentation at its heart. Combine that with the fact that this is generally good-feeling, crunchy-enough action combat for a game that is ultimately driven by numbers, and the point is this: I never got tired of fighting. Theres a whippet-fast energy to combat in this game at its best, where managing the enemies, cooldowns, and your own attributes becomes frenetic and fun. The best sort of combat encounter in Avowed could be summed up as organized chaos, which I love.My approach quickly morphed into aiming to fully explore each new area and attempt to exhaust side quests before even attempting to advance the main narrative. Hunts, which I usually initially enjoy but usually eventually tire of, became and remained an absolute priority. My love of the combat, systems, and RPG mechanics arguably drove the rest of my enjoyment of the game - and I dare say ones opinion of these systems will likely truly define your experience with Avowed.Theres plenty to love here if youre less interested in blasting and casting, though. All I can really say is this - its an Obsidian game, and a good one. This is a studio that knows its way around a story with consequences - and real ones. These guys made Fallout New Vegas, lest we forget. I genuinely agonized over a few choices - which is how it should be.At the start of the game youll pick a character role which will help to frame your place in the world and add new dialogue options. Theres also plenty of speech checks based on your character stat choices. Should you wish, there is plenty of opportunity to through intimidation, compassion, or completionism deescalate tense encounters and solve issues without firing a shot, uttering a spell, or drawing a blade. In a game that trades so heavily on the strength of its combat, this is in fact a little bit brave! The world features more typically medieval locales and some heavy fantasy swings for the fecnes. | Image credit: Microsoft/Obsidian EntertainmentWell-written characters verbally spar and charming companions have fierce and often conflicting opinions on matters. Your character often faces preconceptions and judgement over their status as a Godlike - a fact visible to all. Some will regard you as a savior; others an abomination. Its an interesting story beat, and you have some decent latitude in terms of how you navigate peoples various responses to you.The world itself can feel a touch static when youre meandering through it compared to some rivals. You cant slaughter a town of innocents or get in trouble with the guards. Tossing a grenade in town will just result in it harmlessly going off. NPCs dont have much reaction to you that isnt part of a specific dialogue or quest. This feels cheap, but it also is absolutely in keeping with the stall the game sets out early on: this isnt that sort of RPG. I didnt feel short-changed by this, because narratively theres a hell of a lot going on and some great choice-and-reaction stuff. When youre in a conversation Avoweds Pillars lineage stands tall - it feels more like a slower-paced tactical, story-driven RPG than it does a console-first action combat extravaganza.In fact, probably my only scope-related complaints rest on the companions. Theyre good, charming folk - but I wish there were a little more to do with them beyond conversations at camp - and I wish their ambient dialogue werent so reactive. Crouch for a second, even mid-combat, and someone might go, be quiet as a mouse! because, yep, crouching is often used for stealth. But when my finger brushes C while trying to jump in the middle of an explosive combat encounter were not stealthing, are we, mate? While Im nitpicking, food is key for buffs and health restoration - but the cooking system related to food feels fairly half-baked, if youll excuse the pun, and is far too divorced from RPG systems for my liking - a cooking-related skill wouldve been neat to see.But I digress. Back to what I like: I also think its all rather striking looking. This is a gorgeous world, and though a joined-up approach is sacrificed in favor of the smattering of open zones, the advantage here is that each biome can feel unique. Dawnshore is, I think, one of the strongest first zone, dip-your-toe-in zones Ive experienced in a game of this type. It teaches you the rhythms of picking up quests, of solving cute environmental puzzles with elemental magic, of combat, and of both directed treasure hunt quests and unguided listening for the subtle twinkling noise in the background that indicates that theres a chest of valuable loot nearby. The instincts trained here stick with you for the rest of the game. Charming companions make for not just buddies, but vital combat crutches as well. | Image credit: Obsidian EntertainmentUltimately, Dawnshore will suck you in, but its also gloriously a little bit run-of-the-mill - which means surprises can be saved for more hair-raising areas later. This comes both in story terms, where you travel from more prosperous areas to places shattered by the forces of nature herself - but also in striking visual design and an incredible level of visual polish, especially on a higher-end PC (though the spec requirements are mercifully modest, as this is a game that still needs to run well on Xbox Series S).If I can level a criticism at Avowed, its arguably that it simply is very classic. Theres no reinvention of the wheel here. It brings to mind and was evocative of a similar warmth of some of my favorite role-playing games of eras gone by. Noodling around the open world sort of gave me that fuzzy feeling I most keenly associate with Oblivion - but in a streamlined package. The most revolutionary thing on offer, in a sense, is how the lore and world view of Pillars of Eternity is reinterpreted for this new type of game. These are wildly different products, but they feel utterly cohesive at their heart.In that sense, Avowed is perfect proof of a great proof in all game design and in the execution of all art: you sometimes dont need to pitch a revolution. Instead, you just need to have something to say, and then use the established tools and concepts to say it well. Thats what Avowed is: strong storytelling, great combat, lovely visuals, and utterly charming. Its not going to light everyones hair on fire, but thats fine - because I know for a certain subset of people - refined people of taste, if you ask me - Avowed will enjoy cult classic status. It doesnt necessarily push the envelope, but nor does it need to. Its exactly what it needs to be.

Extended DramaHBO's The Last of Us is "likely" getting four seasons to properly adapt all the happy events from Part II, but plans aren't finished yetNo gut punch left behind.Image credit: HBO News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on Feb. 13, 2025 HBO's The Last of Us is rapidly approaching its second season, set to arrive in April, and it sure as hell ain't looking like a happy time. Those who have played The Last of Us: Part II know it's a long video game full of twists and gut punches, so it comes as no surprise to hear that the current plan is to make at least two more seasons after this one.The post-apocalyptic saga became much bigger and deeper with the release of the second game in 2020, and season 2 of the show is set to follow the same path after its commitment to fidelity, all while expanding on certain fronts and making a few intelligent tweaks, paid off big time with casual viewers and longtime fans alike.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "We don't have a complete or final plan, but I think it's looking like four seasons. I wouldn't want to confirm that, but it's looking like this season and then two more seasons after this and we're done," current HBO drama chief Francesca Orci said (via Deadline).Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann, who jointly created and have been shepherding the HBO series, teased the same last year. "We don't think that we're going to be able to tell the story even within two seasons [2 and 3] because we're taking our time and go down interesting pathways which we did a little bit in Season 1 too," Mazin explained.Fans of the games will also be well aware of how the harsh world of The Last of Us is quickly expanded as new factions and several new characters are introduced. While we may not properly meet all of them this season, Orci made sure to highlight how that's a large part of what makes season 2 so interesting: "There's certain elements in terms of the various factions that are competing for survival that reveal themselves as a really intriguing survivalist group, and I think they just have a quality to them that feels distinct in how they present it."We're still waiting for a definitive release date for The Last of Us season 2, but that could change any day now with a proper full trailer that elaborates a bit on the plot and the new relationship dynamics while teasing a bunch of the new threats for the viewers that are going in blind.For TLOU as a franchise, more seasons of HBO's hit series may be the only new addition for what's left of the decade, as Naughty Dog's expansive multiplayer take on the IP was canned in late 2023 and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will keep the studio busy for the foreseeable.

Image: NintendoAs the entirely new Mario & Luigi RPG in some time, and the first home console entry in the series, Mario & Luigi: Brothership brought plenty of new skill to the table. One of these is Battle Plugs and Power Taps, which you get access to early in the game. These allow you to enhance your attacks and defenses in battle. You start with two Taps, but you can eventually get five.It takes a while to get all five of these but some fans have discovered that there's an easy way to get every Power Tap immediately. First discovered by Reddit user TheHeroShade on r/marioandluigi and investigated further by CM30 at Gaming Reinvented, you can get all five Power Taps as early as after beating Merrygo Island.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube796kWatch on YouTube Get your health relatively low and talk to the tutorial NPC to kick off a tutorial on Battle Plugs. You'll need to do this twice once where he confirms he's getting a tutorial set up, and another where you can do it.When the tutorial fight starts, all you need to do is mess up your timed attacks so you don't defeat the Seedles, and let the enemies defeat you. Then select the Try Again option to start the fight again.You can then go into the menu and head to the Set Battle Plugs to discover that yes, you now in fact have five Power Taps, so you can now equip five Battle Plugs right from the get-go. You can watch a video on how to do all this below.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube796kYou don't lose these after fighting the Lighthouse Bosses which is when you're supposed to get the Taps so really, you've just opened up way more options earlier in the game.There's always a chance Nintendo will patch this out, as it seems like a rather big oversight, but for now, enjoy this extremely easy glitch and power through Brothership with a few more options on hand.What do you think of this glitch? Do you enjoy Battle Plugs in Brothership? Let us know in the comments.

"This request is conservative, reasonable".Nintendo and Amazon are seeking a default judgement on a joint lawsuit filed back in October 2023 against sellers alleged to have sold fake Nintendo products on Amazon. (Thanks, Polygon.)The plaintiffs filed documents in the US earlier this week requesting a default judgement awarding $7 million in statutory damages against third-party sellers accused of selling $2 million worth of counterfeit Nintendo gear, including amiibo and game carts. Summonses were served to the defendants but they failed to respond, according to new court documents.Read the full article on nintendolife.com