Carter Lipscomb, a game industry veteran with a big personality, has passed away.Read More

StreamElements latest report shows the success of Marvel Rivals, which jumped to the top 10 most-watched games on Twitch.Read More

YouTube is about to officially launch a cheaper, premium lite version of its subscription service in the US, Australia, Germany and Thailand, according to Bloomberg. This new tier will target viewers who primarily want to watch programs other than music videos, Bloomberg says. The publication didnt say what the price might be.YouTube piloted a no-ads version of a tier called Premium Lite in some European countries beginning in 2021 before axing the plan in 2023. But the company confirmed to The Verge in October that it was testing a different version of Premium Lite, and at least one user reported that the new version had limited ads. That user saw that the price of Premium Lite was $8.99 AUD per month (vs. $16.99 AUD for regular YouTube Premium).In a statement, YouTube spokesperson Paul Pennington tells The Verge that the company has been testing a new YouTube Premium offering with most videos ad-free and that were hoping to expand this offering to even more users in the future with our partners support. Pennington did not specifically say if the service might launch in the US or how much it might cost.

Occidental, the oil giant that has tried to fashion itself as a climate tech leader, is being real clear now about capturing carbon dioxide emissions, which it sees as the next big thing for fossil fuel production.That shouldnt be surprising coming from a petroleum company. But Occidental has built up an entire arm of its business purporting to fight climate change. It acquired the startup Carbon Engineering, a pioneer in the development of technologies that filter CO2 out of the air, back in 2023. Occidental subsidiary 1PointFive is building giant facilities in Texas using Carbon Engineerings tech. Those projects got support from the Biden administration and from big companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, with their own climate goals to meet. Sucking carbon dioxide out of the air is supposed to get rid of the pollution causing climate change.But that strategy, called direct air capture (DAC), doesnt get at the root of the problem: extracting and burning fossil fuels is what produces that planet-heating pollution in the first place. What happens to that carbon once its captured is an even hairier question. DAC is sold as a climate solution because the captured carbon can be sequestered underground, keeping the greenhouse gas from building up in the atmosphere and raising global average temperatures.We believe the next round of technology thats going to add significant barrels 50 to 70 billion barrels of reserves will be production that comes from the use of CO2 in enhanced oil recovery.But fossil fuel companies have historically used CO2 in a process called enhanced oil recovery, shooting carbon into depleting oil fields to force out hard-to-reach reserves. In an earnings call this week, Occidental described its DAC business as imperative to the companys ability to produce more oil.We believe the next round of technology thats going to add significant barrels 50 to 70 billion barrels of reserves will be production that comes from the use of CO2 in enhanced oil recovery, Occidental president and CEO Vicki Hollub said on the call. This was in response to a question about how the company was thinking about its carbon-removal business with the change in administration this year from one that prioritized action on climate change under Joe Biden to one that aims to drill, baby, drill under Donald Trump.Hollub essentially characterized the use of captured carbon for enhanced oil recovery as the biggest boon for fossil fuels since fracking enabled the US shale revolution. Taking CO2 out of the atmosphere is a technology that needs to work for the United States, and President Trump knows the business case for this, Hollub said, adding that shes had several conversations with Trump.Occidentals seen a slight slump in its enhanced oil production over the past few years, but company leadership thinks it can turn that around with the help of captured CO2. Theres not enough organic CO2 in the country to be able to flood all the things that were going to need to flood to get that 50 to 70 billion barrels, according to Hollub.Direct air capture is still a prohibitively expensive endeavor, however, costing hundreds of dollars per ton of CO2 captured. Its future in the US could hinge on whether the Trump administration keeps Biden-era tax credits for the technology, which Hollub mentioned on the call. After all, the company doesnt want to risk its DAC plants becoming stranded assets. Its first large DAC plant, called Stratos, is slated to come online this year in Texas, and the company has plans for an even bigger project at King Ranch that was awarded federal funding in 2023.Microsoft struck a deal with 1PointFive last year for 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide removal. And Amazon agreed to pay for 250,000 metric tons of carbon removal from 1PointFives first forthcoming DAC plant. Both of those agreements, at least, include stipulations that the captured carbon be permanently sequestered without being used to produce more oil and gas.But theres another worrisome outcome with these kinds of deals. The DAC plants Occidental is building have to succeed for that CO2 to be sequestered. Other companies that purchase carbon-removal services budget that into their carbon accounting to meet their own climate goals. Time and money that could have been spent reducing greenhouse gas emissions by other means say, by switching to cleaner energy sources could be squandered on carbon-removal technologies that might never become commercially viable.Occidental will still have its fossil fuel business to fall back on, even if DAC fails, however. And for now, it can profit off its oil and gas business, profit from cleaning up some of the CO2 pollution it creates, and then use the pollution it captures to produce even more fossil fuels.See More:

Fine-Tuning vs Distillation vs Transfer Learning: Whats The Difference? 0 like February 20, 2025Share this postAuthor(s): Artem Shelamanov Originally published on Towards AI. What are the main ideas behind fine-tuning, distillation, and transfer learning? A simple explanation with a focus on LLMs.This member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.Fine-tuning vs distillation vs transfer learning, Image by authorWith the launch of Deepseek-R1 and its distilled models, many ML engineers are wondering: whats the difference between distillation and fine-tuning? And why has transfer learning, very popular before the rise of LLMs, seemingly became forgotten?In this article, well look into their differences and determine which approach is best suited for which situations.Note: While this article is focused on LLMs, these concepts apply to other AI models as well.Although this method was used long before the era of LLMs, it gained immense popularity after the arrival of ChatGPT. Its easy to see the reason behind this rise if you know what GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer. The pre-trained part indicates that the model was trained already, but it can be further trained for specific goals. Thats where fine-tuning comes in.Fine-tuning, image by authorIn simple terms, fine-tuning is a process where we take a pre-trained model (which has already learned general patterns from a huge dataset) and then train it further on a smaller, task-specific dataset. This helps the model perform better on specialized tasks or domains (like medical advice Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

#63: Full of Frameworks: APDTFlow, NSGM, MLFlow, and more! 0 like February 20, 2025Share this postAuthor(s): Towards AI Editorial Team Originally published on Towards AI. Good morning, AI enthusiasts! This week, we are introducing new frameworks through hands-on guides such as APDTFlow (addresses challenges with time series forecasting), NSGM (addresses variable selection and time-series network modeling), and MLFlow (streamlines ML workflows by tracking experiments, managing models, and more). You will also find useful tools from the community, collaboration opportunities for diverse skill sets, and, in my industry-special Whats AI section, I will dive into the most sought-after role: LLM developers. Enjoy the read!Whats AI WeeklyThe demand for LLM Developers is growing rapidly, and because this field is so new, there are very few experts out there. But who exactly is an LLM developer, and how are they different from software developers and ML engineers? This week in Whats AI, I dive into what this specialized role looks like, how to develop the skills for it, and what the future of work will look like. Well, briefly, software developers focus on building traditional applications using explicit code. Machine learning engineers specialize in training models from scratch and deploying them at scale. LLM Developers, however, operate in a middle ground. They customize existing foundation models, use prompt engineering to guide outputs, and build pipelines that integrate techniques like RAG, fine-tuning, and agent-based systems. Read the complete article here or watch the video on YouTube! Louis-Franois Bouchard, Towards AI Co-founder & Head of CommunityLearn AI Together Community section!Featured Community post from the DiscordCmenser has built Text Loom, a fun workspace for creating networks that manage queries and build on them, all from your terminal. It provides a powerful environment for building and manipulating node-based workflows through a text interface. Check it out on GitHub and support a fellow community member. If you have any questions or feedback, share it in the thread!AI poll of the week!With Nvidias recent drop and political tensions, do you think the company will continue to thrive with its GPUs and offers? Lets discuss this in the Discord thread!Collaboration OpportunitiesThe Learn AI Together Discord community is flooding with collaboration opportunities. If you are excited to dive into applied AI, want a study partner, or even want to find a partner for your passion project, join the collaboration channel! Keep an eye on this section, too we share cool opportunities every week!1. Cyberbubblegum_77929 is working on multiple advanced projects, such as implementing something similar to tinyGPT, building an AI research assistant, developing face detection software, and creating a clone of Google Translate. If these ideas sound exciting, join them and improve your project portfolio. Contact them in the thread for more information!2. Laufeyson5190 is learning ML basics and is inviting other beginners to create a study group. If you are starting out and prefer learning in a group, reach out in the thread!3. Rushi8208 is building a team for an AI-based project. If you are skilled in Python or computer vision, diffusion models, or GANS, you might be a great fit. Connect in the thread to learn more!Meme of the week!Meme shared by ghost_in_the_machineTAI Curated sectionArticle of the weekExplaining Transformers as Simple as Possible through a Small Language Model By Alex PunnenThis article simplifies the complex Transformer architecture, focusing on its foundational concepts like vector transformations, self-attention, and multi-head attention. It begins by explaining vector transformations, a core idea in neural networks, and contrasts traditional methods like SVMs with learned feature mappings in Transformers. It then dives into self-attention, highlighting its role in creating contextual embeddings by assigning importance to tokens based on their sequence. It also explains how Transformers achieve scalability through vectorization and parallelization, enabling efficient training on GPUs. It includes practical examples, including a small language model trained on the TinyStories dataset to demonstrate these concepts.Our must-read articles1. A Practical Approach to Time Series Forecasting with APDTFlow By Yotam BraunForecasting time series data involves challenges such as sequential dependencies, seasonal effects, and non-stationary behavior. The article introduces APDTFlow, a modular framework designed to address these issues. It explains key components such as multi-scale decomposition, Neural ODEs for modeling continuous dynamics, probabilistic scale fusion, and a Transformer-based decoder for accurate predictions. The article also discusses how APDTFlow can be applied to experimental and real-world forecasting tasks through examples and code.2. Investigating Transformer Attention and Reinforcement Learning Dynamics Using Self-generated Structural Data By Shenggang LiThis article explores using structured synthetic data to enhance the development of LLMs by focusing on algorithmic improvements rather than noisy, real-world datasets. It introduces Multi-Head Latent Attention (MLA) and Group Relative Policy Optimization (GRPO) to optimize attention mechanisms and reinforcement learning strategies. Inspired by AlphaGo, the study employs multi-path exploration and Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) to refine token relationships and improve efficiency. It also highlights applications in recommendation systems, where dynamic attention mechanisms adapt to user behavior. The approach enables controlled experimentation by leveraging synthetic data, reducing computational costs while improving LLM performance, with potential scalability to real-world NLP tasks.3. A Neural Sparse Graphical Model for Variable Selection and Time-Series Network Analysis By Shenggang LiThis article introduces the Neural Sparse Graphical Model (NSGM), a framework designed to address variable selection and time-series network modeling for high-dimensional data. NSGM combines a sparse adjacency matrix to identify key relationships among variables with a neural network to capture nonlinear dependencies. The model is particularly suited for stock price forecasting, gene interaction analysis, and demand prediction. It employs lagged temporal aggregation and sparsity penalties to ensure interpretability and efficiency. It also provides implementation details, including training results, validation metrics, and code, demonstrating NSGMs ability to model complex multi-variable dynamics effectively.4. MLflow Experiment Tracking: The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Streamlining ML Workflows By Harshit KandoiThis article provides a beginner-friendly guide to MLflow, designed to streamline machine learning workflows by tracking experiments, managing models, and ensuring reproducibility. It highlights MLflows core components: Tracking, Projects, Models, and Model Registry, explaining how they simplify experiment logging, parameter tracking, and model deployment across frameworks like Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, and PyTorch. It also covers setting up MLflow locally or in cloud environments, automating workflows, and deploying models using Flask, Docker, or AWS SageMaker. Practical tips for organizing experiments and leveraging MLflow for scalable, collaborative ML projects are included.If you are interested in publishing with Towards AI, check our guidelines and sign up. We will publish your work to our network if it meets our editorial policies and standards.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

As our world has grown more interconnected, so too has our awareness of how fragile all of this is. Our money, our electricity, our water they could be taken from us in the blink of an eye. Netflixs Zero Day is ostensibly interested in how people would react to a devastating attack on that delicate web. What truths would we choose to believe? How do we keep ourselves and our people safe? Are we doomed to repeat our past mistakes in the name of justice? All of that sounds fascinating; unfortunately, its all surface-level themes layered on top of an incredibly dumb political thriller (with no genuine political convictions) thats never exciting or crazy enough to justify turning off your brain enjoying the ride. The problems present themselves early with the introduction of George Mullen, our main character and, according to the script, the last president in modern memory who was able to consistently rally bipartisan support. Mullen stepped down after one term to pass the torch to the current president, Evelyn Mitchell and if that doesnt have enough of a real-world ring to it, perhaps the fact that these characters are played by Robert De Niro and Angela Bassett will help you out. Given that De Niro has stayed away from American television his entire career, youd assume the role that lured him to Zero Day must be pretty meaty. But even if he werent coming off the late-career high of Killers of the Flower Moon, his portrayal of George would be disappointing. For the majority of the six episodes, hes phoning it in, occasionally getting the chance to turn on the charm or yell, but mostly stuck in a rote mode that gives us precious little insight into who the former president is as a person. Episode 1 has him joining a commission to investigate the titular attack, which disabled power grids, transportation and communication systems, and other critical infrastructure across the U.S. (you name it, it was hacked) and displayed the menacing message THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN on cell phones across the country. Zero Day GalleryAfter this initial opening blip of excitement, Zero Day slides into a default tedium. It opens up storylines that seem like they could be, if not exciting, then at least thematically engaging, but these always seem to wrap up quickly in order for something else to be thrown into the mix. Theres very little sense of discovery or even conspiracy and at their worst, the creators Narcos showrunner Eric Newman, former NBC News head Noah Oppenheim, and national-security reporter Michael S. Schmidt pull it directly out of their collective asses.Perhaps the most eye-rolling thread is Georges frequent attacks of dementia and memory loss (again, with more exhaustion this time: sound familiar?), which Zero Day represents as staticky droning and the admittedly neat disappearing and reassembling of objects in his office. Real-world analogues aside, this actually attempts to grapple with the ideas at the shows core: How much of Georges investigation including the sighting of a woman killed in episode 1 is just in his mind? Can he even admit to himself that hes unwell, and could that affect the investigation? Unfortunately (and without going into spoilers), the show chooses the most insulting route to the answers. Like a lot of other Netflix miniseries, Zero Day is hampered by too many characters and not enough time to devote to them. Making matters worse: Theyre all played by actors who are overqualified for such a tepid potboiler. Jesse Plemons reunites with his Killers of The Flower Moon co-star De Niro as Georges right-hand man. Lizzy Caplan plays Georges daughter, a congresswoman who becomes a part of the oversight committee watching her dad a conflict of interest that Zero Day tries to shove aside despite being almost unprecedented. Joan Allen is Georges (ex?) wife Sheila, looking into a government position on her own. Connie Britton, Matthew Modine, Bill Camp, McKinley Belcher III none of these very talented actors turn in a bad performance, but youve definitely seen them do much better work elsewhere. The bigger problem is that characterization as a whole is scant, and the antagonists especially come off as confusingly drawn.The height of that incoherence is Dan Stevens Evan Green: In dialogue and performance, Evan appears to be a riff on conspiracy-spouting fearmongers like Alex Jones. But he appears to be broadcasting a largely left-wing populist show on some sort of cable channel whose name positions it as an equivalent to the conservative outlet Newsmax a conflict of worldviews that has not and will not ever exist anywhere in any reality. Without spoilers, both Evans storyline and that of Elon Musk stand-in Monica Kidder (Gaby Hoffmann) point to real-world issues, but thats all they do: Get you to say Oh, I see what you did there without ever feeling satisfying narratively or making some actual statement in the ideological soup. (For example: The fact that power-grid sabotage is a distinctly right-wing cause seems to have entirely passed this writers room by.) This would all be less galling if Zero Day werent so baldly dedicated to a certain level of verisimilitude news networks with their actual anchors are featured heavily, someone mentions Axios at one point while also getting shockingly hand-wavey when it comes to the actual details of the zero-day attack.Zero Days fatal flaw is that its lazy.It would take an entire review full of spoilers to really catch all the ways in which no one involved with Zero Day seemingly understands how computers and technology work. Suffice it to say, Mr. RobotZero Days fatal flaw is that its lazy, both in its worldbuilding and in the plot itself. It would rather remind you of one news item or another rather than actually building a story around it, and over the course of six hours it becomes exasperating. Theres an overbearing sense of the show being written mainly by D.C. and machine insiders (which certainly aligns with Schmidts and Oppenheims claims to journalistic infamy), and often leads to the most obnoxious moments when it spinelessly tries to spread the blame for the attack (and the paranoia it spawns) across the political spectrum. The Best Netflix Original Movies and TV ShowsZero Day almost seems to rally back in its second half. Its not that it suddenly becomes good, but rather it gains something of a pulse, to the point where I actually wanted to learn the truth behind all these grand plots and conspiracies. That is, until I did, and the answers were so offensively stupid that I had to hold my head and take a deep breath. Its not so much that it comes out of nowhere though it kind of does but that the villains have the absolute barest of motivations, and their plan itself is so idiotic and full of holes that its a wonder it didnt implode at the very first keystroke. On top of that, it drowns itself in so much self-satisfying both sides are bad speechifying and stance-taking that even Aaron Sorkin would tell them to tone it down. It would be laughable if it werent so intent on trying to sound smart.

The streaming service that retains the streaming rights to an abundance of multi-million dollar movie franchises, Disney+ came late to the game but towers over much of the competition. Home to Marvel, Lucasfilms, Pixar, National Geographic, Star Wars, and the multitudes of Disney classics and modern hits, Disney+ can be difficult to compare to other streaming services. What makes Disney+ truly special though, is that there is a large selection of content for the whole family to watch, including the kids. As Disney continues to push out more and more content, the youth section grows every day with kid-friendly spinoffs of Star Wars (Young Jedi Adventures) and Marvel (Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man) as well as unique, quality cartoons like Bluey or Disney Channel classics like Phineas & Ferb. Overall, Disney+ packs a punch and appeals to families in a big way, making it one of the most popular streaming services available. Because of all that, looking for an alternative to Disney+ can be quite challenging. Below are some options of the best streaming service free trials that can offer at least a somewhat similar experience. If you're hoping to remove Disney+ from your monthly bill, you can test drive these services before making the switch. You can also take a look at our guide to cancelling Disney+ if you're ready to leave.Amazon Prime (30-Day Free Trial)30 Days Free Amazon Prime Free TrialPrime Video is included with an Amazon Prime subscription.See it at AmazonAttracting more of an adult audience with their latest films and series (like Reacher, Fallout, and Invincible), Amazon Prime has been consistently releasing original content mostly not suited for a younger audience. The overall selection of original content is ever-expanding and available with a membership after a 30-day free trial. After the 30-day trial is concluded, users will be charged only $14.99 a month (or $139.00 a year) to continue viewing and enjoy free shipping on orders from Amazons shopping center. There is also a student discount of $7.49 a month (or $69 a year). Read our review of Prime Video.Hulu (30-Day Free Trial)7 Days FreeHulu Free TrialSee it at HuluNow fully owned by Disney, Hulu is streaming service with a known reputation for streaming a vast library of popular shows and original movies. Relating to Disney+ and their National Geographic section, Hulu also has a quality selection of original documentaries to dive into. After exploring the vast library that Hulu has to offer in this generous 30-day trial, there are a wide range of subscription options to opt into from $7.99 a month up to just over $100 a monthif you want to include live TV or premium add-ons such as MAX, ESPN+, Disney+, Cinemax, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, STARZ, and more. If you are interested in watching the first season of Shogun or the most recent season of What We Do in the Shadows, Hulu is the only place you can.Read our review of Hulu or check out all of the Hulu bundles available.Paramount+ (7-Day Free Trial)Paramount+See it at Paramount+The studio that already boasted a large portfolio even before the establishment of their streaming service, Paramount+ offers exclusive access to original content such as the Mission Impossible movies, the Halo series, and the entire Star Trek film/series universe. They also have the rights to classic Nickelodean shows like Spongebob Squarepants and Fairly Odd Parents. With new movies and shows being regularly released, Paramount+ is catching up to its original content competitors and is also the only place to watch Yellowjackets. After the 7-day free trial of their services, the recurring monthly amount to stay subscribed will be as low as $4.99 (or $59.99 a year) with limited ads, or $11.99 a month (or $119.99 a year) to add SHOWTIMEs full library and remove almost all ads. Read our review of Paramount+.Apple TV+ (7-Day Free Trial)7 Days Free Apple TV+ Free TrialSee it at AppleWith a growing library of original, blockbuster-sized films and series, Apple TV+ doesnt match the quantity of Disney+ but has much quality to offer. Featuring some highly appraised, original shows (Severance, Ted Lasso, Masters of the Air) and movies (Killers of the Flower Moon, Spirited, Napoleon), Apple TV+ blindsided the streaming competition with their impressive offers and final products from filmmakers. After the 7-day free trial has expired, the monthly subscription will cost $9.99 at base cost, depending on how many users are added to the account. If you recently bought any other Apple product, like the new iPhone 16E, you'll get access to a three-month free trial to Apple TV+. As a disclaimer for those without Apple products, you will have to create a verified Apple ID to access the premium Apple TV+ streaming library.Read our review of Apple TV+.Mubi (7-Day Free Trial)7 Days Free Mubi Free TrialSee it at MubiWhile the genre and overall tone of the options on Mubi differ greatly from the selection on Disney+, Mubi has a good amount of quality, original content available to stream. Outside of the Mubi-produced content available (The Substance), there are plenty of arthouse films to watch on this unique streaming service. Presented as a movie theater in a subscription, users can pick from a limited selection of filmsevery day one is added and one is removed. After the 7-day free trial, subscribers will be charged $14.99 a month to retain their membership.Read our review of Prime Video.Disney+ FAQsCan you Watch Disney+ Shows and Movies Without a Subscription?Since the rights to many blockbuster film sagas/series and animation studios such as Lucasfilms, Marvel, Pixar, and more now belong to Disney, most of this content is available exclusively on Disney+. Unfortunately, Disney+ no longer offers the free trial option. As mentioned above: certain streaming services such as Hulu and Amazon will sometimes temporarily be given streaming rights to some high-demand films, making it possible to catch some Disney+ content without a subscription. However, if their wide array of animated classics and modern marvels is too great to ignore, Disney+ offers bundle deals that are worth looking into.You can also purchase physical copies of some of the more popular shows, like The Mandalorian, allowing you to sidestep the need for a subscription.Does Disney+ Have a Free Trial?Although Disney+ did have a free trial when the service first launched, the service no longer offers this benefit to new subscribers. For more information about what Disney+ can offer, check out their help center page.Connor Sheppard is an Oregon-grown culture writer for IGN with previous work on The Manual. Intrigued from a young age by pop culture and movies, he has developed into an experienced critic and consumer of all things media. From his time earning a bachelor's degree in digital communications at Oregon State University, he found a love for writing and appreciating specific actors and directors in the many films he watches. When he's not tapping away on his computer, you can find him watching new movies, practicing Muay Thai, or spending time with great friends and family.

Atelier games have been around since the late 90s, with more than two dozen titles shipped in that time but youre forgiven some unfamiliarity the series, asAtelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Landwill be the very first to arrive on Xbox. After playing through the first few hours of the game and speaking with producer Junzo Hosoi, its becoming clear that the first Atelier title on Xbox isnt simply the latest in the series, its the most ambitious entry yet.As a huge Xbox fan, Im thrilled to finally bring the series to the system, Hosoi told me via email, But when I look at the game as a whole, I dont describe Atelier Yumia as the next Atelier game. I describe it as a completely new JRPG series that has Atelier features.My preview session bore that out; players will find familiar RPG elements aplenty strategic, real-time battles, crafting, exploration but they come together in way that feels altogether different from others in the genre. The secret ingredient, if you will, lies in the super deep crafting system.The charm of the Atelier series is about synthesis and the alchemy process, Hosoi-san confirmed. The game cycle is pretty unique as there is collecting in the field, fighting in battle, and utilizing the synthesis system, and all three of those things are related.That charm is also evident in the playable cast of characters, especially the eponymous Yumia Liessfeldt, a more grown-up character than some past series headliner heroines.Hosoi-san shares more background: Since Yumia is 21 years old, the story is about her growing into adulthood. This is shown throughout the story through her strong core values independence and charm. With [heroes of previous titles] Ryza and Sophie, they were younger, so they needed mentors in order to grow up, but with Yumia, she has her own identity and decision-making skills. Oh, and she owns a motorcycle!Because Aladiss, the new continent introduced in Atelier Yumia, inherently distrusts alchemy, the games early hours see Yumia seeking to prove her worth. While her synthesis skills differentiate her from other characters in the game, bolstered by a new building system that crafting survival fans will enjoy, in my playthrough, it was Yumias battle prowess that surprised most.For nearly all of the series history, Atelier titles were turn-based affairs. The recent Atelier Ryza titles were to first to move to real-time, and for Atelier Yumia, the team heard player feedback, resulting in a huge amount ofc ombat options for players to master.The mechanics of battle have been completely redesigned for this game as close and ranged combat has been added, Hosoi-san explains. Within the two attack zones, players can move the active character freely around the enemies or between the two attack zones in battle. You can also guard and dodge attacks in real-time and even pull off a powerful cooperation attack with other characters when an enemy is stunned. For Atelier Yumia, we are focusing on actually showing the players skills during battle.In practice, battles move quickly; players can control Yumia or shift at any time to one of her traveling companions. Placement is key; you can see when and where attacks will hit, but timing out a precision guard (or getting the heck out of the way) takes good timing. Its not too challenging when going 1 on 1 with a regular mob, but in a multi-enemy rumble, with fewer safe areas, theres a whole lot to account for.Add in varying enemy weaknesses, opportunities to execute powerful Friend Actions, balancing offense and defense at different ranges I didnt expect a game this adorable to require such situational awareness! Fortunately, your squad enters and exits battle seamlessly as you explore, and its fast and fun to build up fighting experience, or to avoid encounters when you just wanna zipline back to town.As mentioned, Yumia isnt on this journey alone; youll meet several companions in the games prologue before rewinding to an earlier point in the tale. I found one character particularly entertaining, and Hosoi-san surprised me by unexpectedly bringing up an Xbox icon when asked about Flammi, Yumias floating, funny little companion.Flammi was actually inspired by Halos Cortana. I wanted to make something where we could have a conversation between a main protagonist and somebody close to them who are always together. Playing Halo was so much fun and thats why I really wanted to add a mascot for Atelier Yumia.Atelier Yumia arrives at a very prolific time for Koei Tecmo: Dynasty Warriors Origins was well-received on its recent launch, Team Ninja surprised everyone with Ninja Gaiden 4s announcement, and weve been spoiled with shadow drops of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black and Warriors: Abyss. To hear it from Hosoi-san, the positive energy is boosting everyones projects.Within Koei Tecmo games, the brand producers get along really well with each other. We have a conference where games under development receive opinions from each of the brands, so not only do we listen to each others opinions, we then get to see their games in development as well. We utilize each others opinions to help us develop and create better games. In the end, that helps in my goal of making Atelier Yumia known worldwide as the best game in the series.

Tripsy, a popular app to help users plan and organize their trips, has just received another major update with some useful new features. The new version of the app makes it easier for users to check their expenses in different currencies and also to see nearby places on a map.Whats new with TrispyFor those unfamiliar, Tripsy is a trip planner that helps you plan your entire trip in one place. You can share your itinerary with family and friends, receive flight alerts, and make wish lists of places to visit.The app also shows weather forecasts, flight information, and lets users store any documents needed for travel.Version 3.3 of the app adds some great new features, including Nearby Places. As the name suggests, this feature helps users see their list of places for a trip organized by distance on a map. You can tap on a place or even use your current location to see which places of interest are nearest in a circle.Another long-awaited feature coming with the update is currency conversion. Although the app already supported multiple currencies, it can now automatically convert your spending from one currency to another. No matter how many different currencies appear in a trip, Tripsy will convert them to your preferred currency using real conversion rates based on your trip dates.In addition, Tripsy now has custom categories, so you can create your own categories with a custom title, color and icon to save any activity or place on your trip. Custom categories are also visible to other users when you share a trip with them.Tripsy is availavle for free on the App Store, but some features require a subscription of $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year.Theres also a lifetime license available. Its worth noting that the app can be used oniPhone, iPad,Mac, andApple Watch.The app was one of the 2024 App Store Awards finalists in the iPhone App of the Year category. More details about Tripsy can be found on itsofficial website.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel