In recent months, the attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies have been unrelenting. Since Donald Trumps win in November, several major companies including McDonalds, Target, Amazon, and Meta have announced that theyre either scaling back or outright ending their DEI programs. And since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has been dismantling all DEI programs across the federal government. The assault has been so aggressive that at one point the Trump administration seemed to just be scrapping all references to the words diversity, equity, and inclusion on government websites and handbooks, even in cases where they dont actually refer to DEI programming. According to the Wall Street Journal, that included deleting references like the inclusion of identification numbers on tax forms. But despite the efforts of Republicans to turn DEI into a battlefront for the culture wars, DEI practices are nothing new. In fact, they trace their roots to the civil rights movement and have long been a part of corporate America, let alone organizations in the public sector. Their goal is to build fairer workplaces by focusing on things like diversity in hiring or reducing discrimination creating opportunities that otherwise might not exist for qualified people from marginalized backgrounds. The backlash against DEI has had measurable consequences. In 2023, for example, the Supreme Court ended affirmative action, and since then, enrollment of Black and Latino students at universities has declined. Republicans have also started using the phrase DEI as a slur.Understanding the history of DEI how it came to be, as well as its strengths and weaknesses can help us figure out how we got to this point, and, for organizations that are actually still interested in promoting diversity and fairness in the workplace, where we can go from here. The origins of DEIWhile diversity programs have faced some push and pull, until recently, they were largely cemented as a mostly uncontroversial feature of the American workplace.Before they were known as DEI, these programs started as a civil rights era push toward integration. In the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order that required federal contractors to take active steps to ensure that they dont discriminate against applicants or employees based on race, creed, color, or national origin. This was followed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson which banned all companies with more than 15 employees from engaging in discrimination when it came to practices like job training, hiring, compensation, promotion, and termination. Back then, diversity programs which were called equal employment opportunity programs before the terminology evolved to diversity programs and, eventually, diversity, equity, and inclusion were mostly designed to ensure that companies complied with the law, and consisted of measures like anti-discrimination training that explained to employees what the new laws required and basic company standards.In the late 1960s and early 1970s, some businesses started to go to greater lengths to avoid discrimination suits or bad press. Major companies like IBM and the Xerox Corporation adopted the stance that promoting integration and preventing discrimination was not just a matter of complying with the law but a matter of social responsibility. IBM, for example, started conducting pay equity analyses an effort to ensure that employees with similar responsibilities are paid at comparable rates in order to combat pay discrimination on the basis of race and gender in the 1970s, a practice it continues today. When President Ronald Reagan came into office, he pushed for cutting a lot of red tape. That included threatening to roll back affirmative action laws and advocating that discrimination within companies should be dealt with internally instead of being litigated in the courts. But companies and their employees had already started believing in their diversity programs, and Reagan received pushback from Democrats and Republicans, businesses and civil rights activists alike. In fact, most major companies said that they would keep their diversity programs regardless of whether they were required to.Around the same time, corporate America started settling on a new case for improving diversity in the workplace: It wasnt just the morally right thing to do, it was also good for business. The demographics of the labor force were quickly changing, and so companies developed a renewed interest in promoting diversity and inclusion in order to maintain a competitive advantage. All of this laid the foundation for the DEI programs that are being attacked today. We kind of came to this idea that diversity is going to happen, and as a result, we need to be able to manage it correctly, said Lily Zheng, a diversity and inclusion strategist and consultant. So this spawned a whole bunch of diversity training, racial sensitivity training, gender inclusion training to prepare the modern workforce for what was meant to be this huge influx of diversity.In the 2010s, the rise of social movements like Black Lives Matter and Me Too led to a boom in hiring diversity czars and consultants, and many organizations, from fashion brands to academic institutions, pushed PR campaigns that included diversity pledges. In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, organizations showed a renewed interest in promoting diversity because of the public pressure to do the right thing. But even before the swift retreat from DEI after Trumps election win, it seemed like the so-called racial reckoning many employers promised never really materialized and now companies are trying to pretend their commitments to diversity never really happened.The shortcomings of DEI While there isnt comprehensive data across the labor force to evaluate the impact of DEI programs broadly, studies that focus on different components of diversity programs have shown mixed results. If we look at the big picture, what kinds of things have been effective at actually helping firms to hire and retain a more diverse workforce, theyre not the things that are designed to target individual bias at companies, said Frank Dobbin, a social science professor at Harvard University who has studied corporate diversity programs. Those kinds of initiatives include things like implicit bias training, which seeks to help people become aware of their own biases and figure out how to limit their negative impact, or grievance procedures, where employees can file complaints against their managers or other people in their organizations for discrimination or harassment. These programs have been very popular among companies, in part because theyre a low lift and relatively low cost. The problem is that they arent all that effective and, in some cases, might have unintended consequences. Implicit bias training, for example, tends to make participants defensive rather than open to change. Even when people want to do better, few people think that they actively make racist decisions, and so they dont necessarily think the training applies to them.These trainings and grievance procedures, theyre really designed to show people that theyre biased and change their ways either through education in the case of training or punishment in the case of grievance procedures, Dobbin said. But in practice, those processes, Dobbin says, tend to antagonize people in management, especially white men. In their typical forum, they tend to have adverse effects that are leading to decreases in the ability of firms to hire, retain, and promote Black workers, Hispanic workers, and Asian American workers, he added.This approach of seeing the problem as individual behaviors and beliefs as opposed to the structure and processes of an organization has been one of the critical failures of DEI. Thats created what some have called the DEI-industrial complex. In fact, DEI training has swelled into an $8 billion industry, allowing employers to pat themselves on the back for spending time and money on surface-level diversity programming like hiring consultants or public speakers for their employees, while not investing in an actual long-term strategy that would tangibly improve working conditions and address systemic barriers to entry that women and people of color face. Companies always want to pay for their flashy speakers, for their award ceremonies, for their external-facing communications or heritage month activities and very little is actually spent on doing things like addressing discrimination, ensuring fair pay, or creating healthy workplace processes, Zheng said. And thats a problem because these sorts of deeper investments are whats actually needed if we want to create workplaces that are more fair, that are more equitable, that are better for everyone.Whats worth keeping from DEI? When people think of DEI, they often think about diversity training or job titles like chief diversity officer. But sometimes, the best diversity and inclusion initiatives are much less flashy.In the mid-2000s, a blockbuster study showed that employers are much less likely to give applicants with Black-sounding names a callback than applicants with white-sounding names. Twenty years later, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Chicago did a similar study, and while the results showed that companies had improved, applicants with Black-sounding names are still less likely to get an interview.The researchers found that the companies that were less likely to discriminate had something surprisingly simple in common: centralized processes and standards. Correlation, of course, is not causation, but that pattern shouldnt be dismissed. When hiring processes are not standardized, when theres no scoring rubric, when hiring managers arent trained to give consistent results and actually evaluate based on merit, you see peoples individual biases really impact the demographics of who ends up ultimately hired, Zheng said. And so the takeaway is, if you want to fight this bias, one of the simplest things you can do is very mundane: standardize your hiring process.Companies can be so focused on diversity in recruiting that they avoid making changes that would help retain employees or draw people to want to work there in the first place. Acknowledging this is part of what changed many companies approach from just thinking about diversity in hiring to making the workplace more inclusive so that people can advance their careers once their foot is in the door.Having more objective and standardized processes can reduce the risk of unfair or discriminatory compensation, disciplinary action, or termination. The persistence of pay gaps between men and women or Black and white people, for example, inherently creates a less inclusive workplace and a lasting impression on employees that they arent treated equally. Thats why long-term commitments like pay-gap reviews and corrections or accountability mechanisms like publicly releasing diversity data that would encourage workers to demand more of their employers can go a long way in promoting diversity in the workplace.DEI programs have also been criticized for not paying close enough attention to classism. In practice, DEI programs are often the corporate-friendly approach to desegregation, where the C-suites co-opt the language of social justice while doing little, if anything, to meaningfully improve the workplace for everybody. These kinds of programs are often designed to cater to a certain type of background, like college-educated workers, while ignoring class divides that continue to segregate the labor force.One DEI program that helps address this issue is changing recruiting practices, especially in companies that value graduates of elite colleges, which tend to have mostly upper-middle-class students. By expanding recruitment to all types of schools, including HBCUs, state schools, and two-year colleges, companies are likely to see more racial and class diversity in their applicant pools.So what should the future of DEI look like?With the aggressive attacks on DEI coming from the Trump administration and the kind of kowtowing weve seen from big corporations, its clear that the DEI backlash isnt going away anytime soon. Workers looking to create more inclusive workplaces will have a harder time getting their employers to adopt or expand DEI programs.Thats why companies that are actually interested in advancing equality should hone in on what really works things like standardized hiring processes, pay equity commitments, recruiting from schools outside of Ivy Leagues and the like and leave the ineffective aspects of DEI behind, including one-off trainings, speaking engagements, and half-hearted heritage month celebrations.These off-the-shelf, one shot, feel good, check-the-box kinds of initiatives are not going to be sufficient to produce any change in outcomes like giving people equal opportunity to develop, to be promoted, said Robin Ely, a business administration professor at the Harvard Business School who has studied diversity programs.Companies should be data and outcome-oriented that is, they should figure out what it is, exactly, that needs to be addressed and tailor a solution to address it. Zheng also says that companies have to think about how to get buy-in from everybody. That kind of coalition building, they said, is crucial to DEIs future success. Oftentimes, the way people talk about DEI makes it sound like one racial group will get preferential treatment giving ammo to the charge Republicans often levy that companies are simply lowering standards to increase diversity, even when theyre not. Its often seen, in other words, as a zero-sum game.But Zheng suggests that the most successful DEI programs are win-wins, creating better outcomes for everybody, and advocates should focus on that communal aspect to build stronger coalitions. So before throwing out DEI initiatives altogether, companies and organizations that are actually interested in the ideals of diversity and inclusion should consider a more coalitional approach. Lets look at parental leave. Parental leave policies in the US are abysmal, theyre atrocious, and when advocates try to make them better, they often say things like, Women stand to benefit a lot from these policies, Zheng told me, adding that some advocates might argue that the patriarchy, or simply men, are the problem. Yet we lose the fact when we argue like this that men benefit enormously from parental leave as well.In the long run, this approach could indeed prove popular. The majority of Americans still think DEI programs are a good thing, though that number has been shrinking, and only a fifth of Americans think that DEI is plain bad. By designing these programs to benefit everyone, and by communicating that to workers across the board, DEI practitioners might garner more support. At the end of the day, Zheng says, we just need to design systems that are fair.See More:

I've long been a console gamer, but I switched to PC in recent years and it makes it increasingly tough to go back here's why it could be time for you to do the sameTech16:31, 18 Feb 2025Garish lighting is optional(Image: Lloyd Coombes)The year is 2019. I've just gotten into journalism, and Riot Games is holding a 10th-anniversary event for the studio. The word Covid feels like a misspelling of Trump's 2017 Covfefe. That last one isn't really related, but the point is that it was a different time.In that Riot showcase, the company announced a tactical shooter called Project-A, which would later go on to be named VALORANT. Despite all the talk about its similarities to Counter-Strike, there was something about it that drew me to it but it was only for PC.A console-only gamer, I bristled. PCs are for work, right? Sure, there are PC games, but can they ever be comfortable for people to play games on like lying back on the sofa? I had a computer for work, of course, but it was a MacBook, and I couldn't think of anything worse than trying to play a twitchy shooter on that machine (even if it did run in the first place).When lockdown hit, I had a lot more time at home with an infant son, so started a plan to build a PC build. Hypothetically, of course, or at least that's what I told my now-wife as the price climbed. And yet, with that much time on my hands in between the baby's nap times, I ordered the parts and had a friend put everything together.Now? I've upgraded the machine considerably in the time since, but it's still my favourite way to play.This was the 2020 build. Not exactly portable, but still a great starting point(Image: Lloyd Coombes)It's important to give that context because, as I mentioned above, I had no interest in building a PC, or playing games on one. I love a strategy game (you should subscribe to my Substack, while you're here), but I was playing most of them on Mac.Anything quicker than turn-based and I'd rather be sat on the sofa with a controller in hand, but that bizarre lockdown changed things.Having just broken into the industry, I was able to attend digital previews for the first time, well, ever. I was able to work on a much bigger monitor. And when the day was done and the baby was asleep, I could play, well, anything.Classic old games, newer releases, and everything in between are cheaper on PC. I daresay the money I invested in the original PC build has probably been made up from discounts in things like the Steam Sale, plus free games from the Epic Games Store and titles included on Xbox Game Pass.At a time when the world was increasingly isolated and crossplay still felt like a pipedream, I had a magic key to open up new ways of playing with friends, and whole new games.Then there's the customisation. Switching to a PC has kicked off a bizarre addiction of collecting mechanical keyboards, swapping gaming mice regularly, and rotating my speakers when the mood strikes. It's endlessly tweakable, and that's before we get into performance.Switching between keyboard and mice combos is probably only fun for me(Image: Lloyd Coombes)The 'PC Master Race' meme has been done to death at this point, and while consoles like the PS5 Pro are fantastic, there's something inherently enjoyable about tweaking settings for an ever-higher frame rate count.My telly can support 60FPS, which admittedly isn't ideal for a PS5 Pro, but my PC monitor can support up to 144FPS and it's now looking pretty long in the tooth. New models clear 200FPS if you have the hardware for it, and it can feel a little like magic.So, why am I talking about this now? The GDC State of the Game Industry Survey has confirmed that the PC really is the dominant platform in gaming right now, with 80% of developers working on PC games.Some of that's likely helped by the Steam Deck making the platform more accessible, but given the walls are coming down as far as console exclusives go, grabbing a PC that you can work on during the day and then play pretty much everything on at night might be the way to go.Xbox games, including titles on Game Pass, tend to go to PC on Day 1, while PlayStation megahits like God of War and The Last of Us have jumped to PC after their initial debut.So you get more games, and they can play better what's not to love? Well, the initial outlay on a PC, peripherals, and a monitor (or even a laptop) can be sizeable, plus it's always easier to build a machine if you have someone who knows what they're doing although there's a very good chance you'll find a YouTube tutorial that works for you.NVIDIA's 50-series is finally here(Image: NVIDIA)All of this ties into NVIDIA's new 50-series graphics cards. This isn't sponsored, and they're not cheap, but with all the talk of AI, NVIDIA has done some really impressive things to future-proof its latest lineup of GPUs.One of those is DLSS, which essentially generates frames in between the ones your computer makes. That can turn a respectable frame rate into a drastically more fluid one. It's no 'silver bullet' solution, but it's a really impressive tool that can help you squeeze even more performance out of your GPU.NVIDIA's Reflex tech is also improving, helping reduce input latency so you can more accurately compete in the likes of VALORANT, the game that nudged me to PC curiosity in the first place.With console sales plateauing somewhat (at least until the Switch 2 arrives), you might want to consider picking up a PC instead.With decades of games to play, regular deals, and the option to play at much higher resolutions and frame rates, there really is nothing like it.Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is the latest game in the long-running series by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio as Goro Majima gets to hog the spotlight in huge spin-off on the high seasTech15:00, 18 Feb 2025Pirates life is for Majima, but is that life really for me?(Image: SEGA)Like a Dragon (formerly known as Yakuza here in the UK) fans finally get to see Majima back in the spotlight as he deserves, and boy does he thrive.Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii sees the flamboyant Mad Dog take to both land and sea in what is the wildest game in the series. The franchise is known mostly for following hero Kazuma Kiryu with Majima either sharing or being in the background of most games. Plus in this game, we head back to the impressive-looking Hawaii and the open seas, which in my opinion help this become the best-looking game of the series.Now the fan-favourite and Kiryus ultimate rival (and sometimes friend), gets his first game to himself. But unfortunately, he forgot all about that.Majima has a tough time at the start, as he tries to remember who he really is(Image: Sega)You really don't need to question it, it just works. But to get you quickly up to speed, the whole reason the ex-Yakuza boss is a pirate is because he has amnesia. He wakes up on Rich Island and is helped by a young boy called Noah, who just so happens to live on an island being harassed by pirates.Despite his amnesia, Majima can still fight like the true Mad Dog he is, so taking out these sorry excuses for pirates is easy and even causes their captain to bolt, leaving you his ship.Fast forward and Noah and his father, former treasure Hunter Jason Rich (yep, that's his name), set off with you on a journey on the newly christened Goromaru to find out who Majima is, or was. In the game's opening chapters, I described the game to a colleague as being like Deadpool meets High School Musical in the best possible way. From the fourth wall breaks as Majima narrates his own tale to a new song to rival Majima Construction (if that is even possible), it's a fantastic first impression.As with most games in the series, humour plays a big part and being a pirate only adds to the wild possibilities. Not to mention Majima constantly throws out one-liners at every given opportunity.The gameplay take me back to Devil May Cry (Image: SEGA)Majima has always had a unique fighting style that is fun to play, especially if you've spent most of your time playing as Kiryu, who prefers his fists to do the talking.Somehow I feel like I may have got amnesia too as I don't remember Majima becoming what is essentially a superhero. He's got two fighting styles, and each is packed with powerful attacks, from firing a pistol, to creating clones of himself, to summoning a giant shark.The game can be very unrealistic at times with mystical sharks called by a violin (but who cares?) (Image: SEGA)That's not to say it's a walk in the park. For all of Majima's speed and power, some opponents pack a sizeable punch, and he's often tackling scores of them, too.Running you own pirate crew is so much fun, its like two games is one(Image: Sega)If you played last year's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, you will be familiar with many of the highlights of this vast and detailed area away from the series usual Japanese haunts.There are shops galore, bounties to collect, Crazy Delivery and Aloha Links (it's like Facebook as you can make friends with birds and dogs). However, as good as it is enjoying the missions and recruitment, it's the open seas and Madlantis that take the game to a new level.I cant tell you how much fun it is bringing your own pirate crew together to take on the finest pirates around in the Madlantis Coliseum. Both crew and customization options seem almost endless - even Dr Evil would almost be happy with shark cannons and laser cannons.With boat teams and boarding parties to manage, my advice is to mix up your team to cover every eventuality, continually levelling them.Majima himself can also be customised completely, even allowing you to take him back in time for his Yakuza 0 look.There was Queen Anne's Revenge, now there is only the Goromaru(Image: Sega)Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii may not be what anyone expected, but it's a fitting entry in a series that delights in surprising long-term fans and casual admirers alike.Whether you're interested in building your perfect pirate crew for hours on end, or just want to see the story through, there's a ton of things to do and with Majima around, it's a riot.It trades in some of its sentimentality for the bizarre and the brash, but finally having Majima playable again after so long feels like a breath of fresh sea air.Article continues belowLike a Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One and Steam on February 21.Reviewed on Xbox Series X. Review code provided by the publisher.

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii is not an entirely serious crime thriller (Sega)Goro Majima stars in his first standalone Yakuza spin-off, which adds some pirate panache to last years Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth.With upwards of 15 games over the past 20 years, the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series has always had to think carefully about how to attract new players into its ever-expanding crime universe. Some of the mainline games have been successful gateways, like Yakuza 0 and Yakuza: Like A Dragon, but the best place to start is often the standalone spin-offs, which include the murder mysteries of Judgment and historical samurai throwbacks in Like A Dragon: Ishin.Or now theres this new, spectacularly titled, spin-off. Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii might star fan favourite character Goro Majima as the lead protagonist for the first time, but in this adventure, hes come down with a classic equalising plot device: amnesia. With his past narrative baggage, as an aging ex-Yakuza leader, no longer a constraint Majima is free to gallivant on any whim the developers fancy.Thankfully, the fantasy Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio chose perfectly matches Majimas brand of anarchy. After washing up on an island with no memory of his past, Majima stumbles into the pirate life under the encouragement of his saviour Noah, a young boy who is desperate to leave his island home to see the world and break free from the rules imposed by his drunken father Jason who has his own troubled history as a treasure hunter.After a slow opening, the story grows in typical series fashion, as a tussle between various factions, with pirates, ex-Yakuza, and the leftovers of the religious Palekana cult from Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth all locked in a race for lost treasure. The story is technically set six months after the events of Infinite Wealth but there isnt much important connective tissue, with most of the callbacks locked to optional side missions in the re-used Hawaiian setting.If Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii works as an accessible entry point, long-time fans hoping for a deeper exploration of Majimas character will be disappointed. Captain Majima might be at the helm of the ship but hes largely an eccentric passenger in Noah and Jasons story, which is serviceable at best.In a similar vein to Kiryus spin-off Like A Dragon Gaiden, some great emotional payoff for Majima arrives at the end, but with a longer 20+ hour running-time, Pirate Yakuza In Hawaiis story is stretched and padded out to a far worse degree.While the narrative feels like an afterthought, Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii thrives in its combat. Like other spin-offs in the series, this entry moves away from the turn-based battles seen in the past two mainline games and builds on the original beat em-up foundations.The most transformative change is the jump button, a series first which opens up a surprising amount of possibilities in the heat of a ruckus whether to simply dodge, pull off a dive attack, or launch enemies up for an air combo. Its nothing you havent seen already in other third person action games, but in the context of the Like A Dragon series its a huge improvement over its brawler predecessors.Majimas extensive range of attacks make combat more dynamic. Along with his speedy Mad Dog fighting style from previous games, where he wields a knife, Majima can switch to the pirate licks of his Sea Dog style at the touch of a button. If the former is better suited to small one-on-one confrontations, Sea Dog is designed to wrangle large groups with throwable cutlasses, a whip hook to lasso onto enemies from afar, and a supremely satisfying blunderbuss gun you can charge up to blast foes across the battlefield.Beyond this, and the series staple heat actions, each style has its own special abilities tied to a madness gauge, which charges during battles. With Mad Dog, Majima can spawn multiple doppelgangers who will rush opponents and imitate your attacks, while Sea Dog has extravagant summons you can unlock, from shark attacks to electrifying jellyfish. When its all combined together, and youre ripping through sword combos, counters, and setting off a killer parrot, Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii is a strong contender for the best combat in the series. The ship battles and fighting are the best parts (Sega)For most of our playthrough, we gravitated towards the Sea Dog style because, aside from some boss fights, youre mostly facing off against large pirate crews in the new ship battles. Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii is centred around four main islands Hawaii and Nele island, which return from Infinite Wealth, along with Rich island where you wash up and the secret pirate haunt of Madlantis.While you can fast travel between these four areas, each one has surrounding waters you can freely navigate, where youll encounter enemy fleets and side missions (mostly involving a gauntlet of enemy waves) on small offshore territories.The sailing itself is in step with Like A Dragons goofy, arcade spirit, with speed rings boosting you along the seas and the ability to drift, Fast & Furious style, during battles to line up cannon barrages. Its silly, relatively shallow, but consistently fun throughout mostly thanks to the impressive amount of ship customisation.Beyond your vessels aesthetics, you can upgrade the turret machineguns and cannons (including lasers and flamethrowers) on both sides, make improvements to the ships general durability and speed, buy rocket launchers Majima can wield during ship battles, and personalise the crew youve assembled behind a specific weapon, or as part of your boarding crew when invading other ships.The amount of customisation is impressive but the ease of battles (on normal difficulty at least) means you rarely have to meaningfully engage in these systems. The toughest battles are in the Pirate Coliseum and a dedicated side quest against the Devils Fleet, which is the best part of the game because it actually feels like a challenging pirate romp.Here youre rushing down islands to take on enemy waves for treasure without the usual crutch of healing items, fending off enemy boss fleets at sea, and taking on a Devils Fleet mini-boss with all of your crew members in a huge spectacle brawl. This is when Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii lives up to its potential as a pirate spin-off, so its a shame the systems underneath the hull feel underutilised.More TrendingIf anything, the re-use of Hawaiis huge map from Infinite Wealth feels like an unnecessary retread. There are a stack of new sub-stories, mostly involving returning characters from its predecessor, and a slate of returning mini-games, including Dragon Kart and Crazy Delivery, but the series usual open world tourism is at odds with the pace of the main story. Hawaiis inclusion does extend the overall longevity, but its hard not to think Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii would have been a better, more focused spin-off if it prioritised life at sea throughout.Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii lives up to its absurd name through its hugely entertaining combat and ship battles, but its bogged down by a forgettable story and noticeable padding which dilutes its best qualities. Like A Dragon games are usually impressive because they do so many things at once, but in Majimas swashbuckling case, less might have been considerably more.Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii revie summaryIn Short: A semi-successful pirate take on the Like A Dragon formula, held back by its lack of focus, drawn out length, and surprisingly weak story.Pros: Arguably the best beat em-up combat in the series so far. Impressive customisation, across Majima and the ship itself. Ship combat is well implemented and better than it has any right to be. Nice ending for devout fans.Cons: Compared to past games, the story and supporting characters are forgettable. Some ship management systems are underbaked. Majima feels like a side character in his own spin-off. Starts out slow and drags towards the end. Re-use of Hawaii feels like a detriment.Score: 6/10Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: 54.99Publisher: SegaDeveloper: Ryu Ga Gotoku StudioRelease Date: 21st February 2025Age Rating: 18 Goro provides his own back-up (Sega)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.ArrowMORE: Games Inbox: When will Fallout 5 be released?GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

The Eufy security SoloCam S220 is part of a limited time deal over at Amazon.You can set yourself up with this wireless Eufy security camera along for the reduced price of $66, which is 49% off.Typically, this security camera goes for $130 which means right now you can get it for nearly half off. The Eufy SoloCam S220 is capable of a resolution up to 2K. Many security cams on the market only go up to 720p. That beyond full HD improvement could be the difference between being able to read an unwelcomed vehicles license plate or not.See at AmazonThe cameras are weather resistant and waterproof, with a rating of IP67. Once you set them up, youll never have to worry about a storm or the elements upending them from working properly. This means you can rely on them year round. Additionally, they are designed to work at nighttime. When the sun goes down, the camera can record in an exceptionally clear black and white night vision mode thanks to the f/1.6 aperture.Powered by the SunThis Eufy S220 security camera can be set up anywhere around your property without the concern of needing them placed near a power source because its solar powered. Just three hours of sunlight daily can keep them running all day and all night. Installation is super easy. In just five minutes, you can attach the mount anywhere on your property thanks to the wire-free design and then click the camera into place. Presto, youre done.Real-time response is supported thanks to the built-in two-way audio. If someone you do or do not know approaches the door, you can speak with them without having to come to the door. The system integrates seamlessly with Amazon Alexa so you can maintain control over your surveillance via other smart devices anywhere in your home. And with the help of AI facial recognition, your Eufy SoloCam S220 can spot whos coming from any angle, differentiating between those who live at the house or frequently stop by versus strangers.All videos are stored locally, but can be accessed anytime via a secure 256-bit encrypted connection. Eufy takes your privacy seriously. Local storage can fit up to three months worth of recordings via the 8 GB eMMC.Normally, youd be shelling out $130 for the Eufy SoloCam S220 home security system, but right now you can save 49% and get it for the low price of only $66.See at Amazon

By Isaac Schultz Published February 18, 2025 | Comments (0) | A tomographic image of trace fossils of a burrowing animal. Image: Jussi Hovikoski et al., Nature Communications (2025) Animals living in one of Earths most extreme environmentsbeneath the bottom of the seaare not just making the best of the situation, according to new research. The animals are actually shaping their situation, wriggling through the sediment and paving the way for other forms of life. The team sampled sediment cores from the Pacific Oceans Japan Trench off the coast of Honshu. The group studied the hadal zonethe deepest part of the oceanat about 4.66 miles (7.5 kilometers) beneath the surface. Even there, life finds a way. The teams research was published today in Nature Communications. Bioturbation is an engineering process by which animals or plants oxygenate and irrigate sediment. Many creatures do this by burrowing, and those under the seafloor are no exception. Bioturbation affects the way that nutrients cycle through sediments in an ecosystem, and, in turn, how the ecosystem functions. Deep-sea benthic communities have often been seen as low in diversity and biomass due to harsh conditions like limited food and energy, said study lead author Jussi Hovikoski, a sedimentologist at the Geological Survey of Finland, in an email to Gizmodo. However, recent sampling in hadal trenches has revealed a surprising variety of life, including holothurians, polychaetes, bivalves, isopods, actinians, amphipods, gastropods, and bottom-dwelling fish. Last year, a team of researchers discovered macroscopic life beneath the deep oceans seafloor, complicating our understanding of the living things in one of Earths most extreme environments, while also offering a hint at what life could look like beyond Earthperhaps in the subsurface oceans of moons in our solar system. The recent study adds to that saga, by showing how similar deep sea environments turn over, refreshing the local environment with nutrients and oxygen.In their study, the researchers analyzed 20 sediment cores from the Japan Trench. The group scanned the cores with X-rays to understand their structurehow the sediment was deposited and the sequence of inhabitants that dwelled within it. The data show that as the turbidity current slows down at the bottom of the trench, its sediment particle cloud condenses, locally suffocating the benthic fauna, Hovikoski said. This is followed by intense colonization, where opportunistic benthic species return to exploit the new nutrient-rich and oxygenated bottom sediment.The sediment was laid down by gravity flows, the researchers said, meaning that silt and other matter from higher up in the trench drifted down and deposited onto the sample site. Coming from higher up in the water column, the newly arrived sediment is comparatively nutrient-rich and oxygenateda welcome treat for the most submarine of the bottom feeders. In the video below, you can see a 3D scan of the trace fossil Pilichnus: burrows branching downward through the deep ocean sediment, likely created by bivalvesthe final arrivals to the scene, according to the researchers. Over time, as organic matter decomposes, the bottom sediment becomes anoxic, and the metabolism of the microbial community changes, Hovikoski added. This final phase of colonization is represented by invertebrate species that utilize the microbial communities. Based on burrow morphologies, these likely include certain bivalve species. The bottom of the sea is a lively place. In lieu of sunlight filtering from above, creatures glow with their own bioluminescence, and some rocks even produce oxygen. Were getting better at understanding these deep sea quirks; earlier this year, the famous Alvin submersible was certified to dive more than 21,000 feet (6,500 meters) under the sea, expanding humanitys ability to visit the oceans depths.Taken in tandem with astronomical analyses of nearby moons like Europa and Enceladus, the findings from the waters off Japan have us itching to send a probe to these faraway moons. As far as scientists are aware, life as we know it needs water to eke out existence. The latest findings offer another suggestion at what that alien life could look likebut we wont know whether its out there until we look.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Margherita Bassi Published January 22, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 15, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 13, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 7, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 3, 2025 By Ed Cara Published December 27, 2024

Villa Ulvs / STAM ArkitekterSave this picture! James SilvermanHousesSwedenArchitects: STAM ArkitekterAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:215 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2023 PhotographsPhotographs:James SilvermanManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: BRICMATE, Baseco, Bitus, Hide-a-lite, Hunton, I-Wood, Norrlands Tr, Tapwell, Westcoast Windows Lead Architect: Sarah Ulvs Structure Engineers: BKSHMore SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. On Sweden's rugged west coast, the island of Orust offers a natural serenity, where the weather is as much a character as the land itself. On the eastern edge of the island, Villa Ulvs is delicately positioned on a gently sloping plot. The sea, ever-present, dominates the scene. It is a place where the landscape's quiet beauty is frequently interrupted by the forceful winds, which, over the years, have left their imprint on the architecture. This dynamic between calm and chaos informs the house's design.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The architecture unfolds as a sequence of three distinct sections, each subtly offset from the other, their parallel roofs gently contoured to create sheltering spaces and an undeniable sense of volume. To the southwest, a terrace embraces the house, offering a serene spot to bask in the evening sun, the surrounding greenery softening its edges. The boundary between interior and exterior dissolves in the large glass sections that visually connect the house to the fjord beyond, inviting the landscape in while shielding the occupants from its harsher elements. Inside, the experience is one of movement and discovery. The flow between rooms has been crafted with precision, guiding the eye down long corridors, through openings, and across varying ceiling heights that evoke a sense of intrigue. The space is simultaneously open and intimate, the floor plan a series of rooms that shift between clearly defined pockets and sweeping, fluid areas. Nothing is fully revealed at oncethere is always something to be discovered.Save this picture!Respecting the natural topography, the house sits lightly on the land, raised on concrete piers to minimize excavation and engage harmoniously with its environment. A laminated timber frame, insulated with cellulose fiber, sits atop this base, creating a diffusion-open system that allows the structure to breathe. The result is a home that stands resilient against the region's fierce winds and unpredictable weather. Every detail has been carefully considered, from the dual-layered floor structure that conceals the essential installations to the airtightness that protects against the elements.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Materiality is key in creating the home's sense of calm. Wood, a versatile and inviting material, is used throughoutboth as a structural element and for surfaces that create warmth and continuity between spaces. The faade and roof are clad in linseed oil-treated pine, which will gently weather over time, melding seamlessly with the surroundings. Inside, light pine, oak, and limestone define the understated interior, where a minimalist palette fosters a tranquil atmosphere. Every surface feels purposeful, and every material is selected for its natural quality, creating a sense of peace. Here, in the soft embrace of the landscape and the shelter of Villa Ulvs, the house offers more than just protectionit provides a space that feels as though it has always belonged. It is a home where, in the quiet dialogue between structure and nature, the winds seem just a little more bearable.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on February 18, 2025Cite: "Villa Ulvs / STAM Arkitekter" 18 Feb 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026920/villa-ulvas-stam-arkitekter&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

I want to share with you the city project we were making with ZORE studio 1 for client PUPAVA Development The building is almost finished these days, but we were starting cooperation when there were no building phases started. We were combining photos and 3d renders + made this animationDo you want to see more? More about the project here: https://blenderartists.org/t/city-project-photo-render-combination-animation/1579874

Stream at CG Cookie: https://b3d.cgcookie.com/gmgsvk Purchase standalone at the Blender Market: https://b3d.blendermarket.com/R9GP0c Rigging extraordinaire, Wayne Dixon, unpacks the power of non-destructive linear mesh edits - also known as "shape keys". These come in very handy for fine tuning rigging deformations. We can also build facial rigs based on shape keys. If you're a technical artist seeking to refine your skills, don't miss out on SHAPE:"WHO IS CG COOKIE?"We are real people! (OK, maybe some of us are cyborgs - we don't ask.) CG Cookie is a small crew of Blender artists, baking fresh videos for the Blender community. If you love what we do, consider enrolling to http://cgcookie.com to stream 100's of Blender courses with passionate Blender instructors there to answer your questions. "WHERE SHOULD I START LEARNING BLENDER?"For Blender beginners, we have a free tutorial series "Getting Started with Blender" https://rb.gy/khqdl7 "I WANT MORE CG COOKIE IN MY LIFE!"Got it. Here's where you can reach us!http://instagram.com/cgcookie http://twitter.com/cgcookie http://facebook.com/cgcookieinc Want Blender news in your mailbox? Sign up here for spam-free newsletter https://cgcookie.com/newsletter #CGCookie #blendertutorial #b3d

Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, Northwestern astrophysicists gained the longest, most detailed glimpse yet of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. They found the black hole's accretion disk emits a constant stream of flares with no periods of rest. This video shows the 2.1 micron data taken on April 7, 2024. Farhad Yusef-Zadeh/Northwestern UniversityShareTheres a pretty hot party raging in the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Using new observations from NASAs James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a team of astrophysicists found that the swirling disk of dust and gas orbiting Sagittarius A* is constantly emitting various flares. Called an accretion disk, this ring of matter around Sagittarius A* spewed everything from brief flickers that only last a few seconds to incredibly bright daily eruptions to even faint flickers that steadily lasted for months at a time. The findings are detailed in a study published February 18 in the The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Get the Popular Science newsletter By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.Why is Sagittarius A* important?Sagittarius A* is the supermassive black hole at the center of our home Milky Way galaxy. It has a mass equal to billions of suns and has an accretion disk made up of gas and dust surrounding it. Accretion disks are also the main light source from a black hole. At only 26,000 light years away from Earth, Sagittarius A* is one of the few black holes that scientists can observe to watch the flow of gas and dust in its accretion disk.Flares are expected to happen in essentially all supermassive black holes, but our black hole is unique, Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, a study co-author and astrophysicist at Northwestern University, said in a statement. It is always bubbling with activity and never seems to reach a steady state. We observed the black hole multiple times throughout 2023 and 2024, and we noticed changes in every observation. We saw something different each time, which is really remarkable. Nothing ever stayed the same.Studying Sagittarius A* can help physicists better understand the fundamental nature of black holes, how they interact with their surroundings, and even the evolution of our own galactic home.Black hole fireworksIn the new study, the team used JWSTs near infrared camera (NIRCam). This instrument can simultaneously observe two infrared colors for long periods of time. They observed Sagittarius A* with their NIRCam for a total of 48 hours, using 8-to-10-hour increments across one Earth year. This allowed them to track how the black hole changed over time, similar to a time-lapse video.Using NASAs James Webb Space Telescope, Northwestern astrophysicists gained the longest, most detailed glimpse yet of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. They found the black holes accretion disk emits a constant stream of flares with no periods of rest. This video shows the 2.1 micron data taken on April 7, 2024. CREDIT: Farhad Yusef-Zadeh/Northwestern University.While flares were expected, Sagittarius A* was more active than would be anticipated. The team saw ongoing fireworks of various brightness and durations. About five to six big flares with several smaller sub-flares in between spewed out of the accretion disk.In our data, we saw constantly changing, bubbling brightness, Yusef-Zadeh said. And then boom! A big burst of brightness suddenly popped up. Then, it calmed down again. We couldnt find a pattern in this activity. It appears to be random. The activity profile of the black hole was new and exciting every time that we looked at it.Galactic ripples and tidal wavesThe team suspects that there are two separate processes behind the short bursts and longer flares. These short and faint flickers are like the small ripples that fluctuate randomly at the surface of a body of water. However, the longer and brighter flares are more similar to tidal waves and are caused by more significant events.The minor disturbances within the accretion disk likely generate the faint flickers. Turbulent fluctuations within the disk can compress a hot, electrically charged gas called plasma and create a temporary burst of radiation. According to Yusef-Zadeh, these events are similar to solar flares.Its similar to how the suns magnetic field gathers together, compresses and then erupts a solar flare, said Yusef-Zadeh. Of course, the processes are more dramatic because the environment around a black hole is much more energetic and much more extreme. But the suns surface also bubbles with activity.The big, bright, and dramatic flares are likely more similar to magnetic reconnection events. This is when two magnetic fields collide and release energy in the form of accelerated particles. These particles travel at velocities near the speed of light and shoot out bright bursts of radiation.A magnetic reconnection event is like a spark of static electricity, which, in a sense, also is an electric reconnection, Yusef-Zadeh said.Its a matter of timefor measurementsJWSTs NIRCam can observe two separate wavelengths (2.1 and 4.8 microns) at the same time. With this, the team could compare how the flares brightness changed with each wavelength. Capturing light at two wavelengths is similar to seeing in color instead of black and white, according to Yusef-Zadeh. By observing Sagittarius A* at multiple wavelengths, the team captured a more complete and nuanced picture of the black holes behavior.Even with the powerful NIRCam, the team was still surprised. They unexpectedly discovered that events observed at the shorter wavelength actually changed brightness just before the longer-wavelength events.This is the first time we have seen a time delay in measurements at these wavelengths, Yusef-Zadeh said. We observed these wavelengths simultaneously with NIRCam and noticed the longer wavelength lags behind the shorter one by a very small amountmaybe a few seconds to 40 seconds.According to the team, this time delay provided more clues about what physical processes are occurring around the black hole. One explanation is that the particles lose energy over the course of the flare and could be losing energy quicker at shorter wavelengths than they do at longer wavelengths. These changes are expected for particles that are spiraling around magnetic field lines.In future studies, Yusef-Zadeh hopes to use the JWST to observe Sagittarius A* for a longer period of time, potentially for an uninterrupted 24 hour period. A longer observation could help reduce noise and allow scientists to observe even finer details.When you are looking at such weak flaring events, you have to compete with noise, Yusef-Zadeh said. If we can observe for 24 hours, then we can reduce the noise to see features that we were unable to see before. That would be amazing. We also can see if these flares show periodicity (or repeat themselves) or if they are truly random.