Image: Nightdive StudiosTurok was released on the Switch eShop way back in 2019 but Nightdive Studios is still updating it with new improvements and fixes. As part of an Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 port this month, the modern version has received another update for all platforms.This latest update comes loaded with new features, new menu options, fixes, and improvements. Nightdive has shared the full patch notes on its subreddit, so here's the full rundown of what you can expect. There are even some Switch-specific features:On this page: Turok patch notes (1st March 2025)Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube797kWatch on YouTube Turok patch notes (1st March 2025)NEW FEATURESOptimized renderer for Vulkan and Nintendo Switch.Support for high refresh rates.Ported to Series X and PS5.Improved gamepad functionality and vibration support.Localized Achievements/Trophies.The Brachiosaurus from a Turok beta rom has been found and recovered. Youll find these dinos stomping around in the Treetops level.You can now swap ammo types for the Tek Bow and Shotgun whenever you want, just like Turok 2.The Run/Walk toggle button has been added from the original game. By moving at walking speeds on the ground, you can get closer to enemies from behind before they notice you.You can now bind multiple weapons to the same button to cycle between them.Restored the High Priests homing blue magic attack and the Purlins unused leap smash melee attack.Restored the Gallery cheat code with the addition of viewing the Bosses and Turok. You can also preview animations on each of the enemies.NEW MENU OPTIONSYou can reset menu options to default with the "Reset to Defaults" menu option.The Input Bindings menus now shows icons instead of text.Added binds in Action Bindings menu for Changing Ammo Type and Walk Toggle.Controller Options: Button Prompts (PC), Look Smoothing, SouthPaw (Swap Sticks), Enable Vibration and Intensity, DeadZones.Gameplay Options: Radial Fog, Player Shadow, Enable Walk Toggle, Enable Change AmmoHead Bobbing Options: Added strafe and jump bobbing options and you can now adjust the scale of how much the screen is tilted for each bobbing option.HUD Options: Automap Show Player, Automap Show Compass, Show All Health Stats (Shows health when you have Armor), Show Alt Ammo, Flash Intensity, Shake Intensity, Horizontal Positioning of the HUD.Graphic Options: Always Show Lens Flares, Antialiasing: SMAA, FXAA, FXAA Fast, OffAudio Options: Master Volume, Audio Output, Low-Pass Filtering, Enable Underwater Music, Ambient Environment SoundsVideo Options: Switch between Vulkan and Direct3D (PC)Save file level names are now localized. The most recent save file is marked in green. The date displayed is now in the format yyyy/mm/dd hh::mm::ss.FIXES & IMPROVEMENTSImprovements to the font.Fixed animated textures skipping the first frame.Enemies that have been blown up into air are now able to fall off cliffs and float/sink in water.Fixed the red and orange Attack Robots from having a huge melee hit radius and removed their random explosion effect being spawned during certain animations.Reduced the frequency enemies will teleport and their animation is updated right away while teleporting in so you won't see them pop in for a frame at the start of their animation.Enemies that are waiting to be triggered can no longer be damaged or killed.Fixes to enemy headtracking.Simple shadows take into account the fog when they are drawn. Fixed shadows appearing briefly at the start of enemies dropping from the sky. Fixed shadows drawing on top of other shadows.The Purlins melee attacks no longer play ambient bird sounds.Enemies no longer stutter in place when they're in their initial animation and transition to a root motion animation.Enemies are no longer removed from the map if they can respawn when the player moves far away from them.Enemy grenades can impact more surface types instead of just disappearing on impact.Bosses are now affected by the difficulty setting and have a modifier for the damage they receive similar to regular enemies, to match the original version.Humvee can no longer be knocked back when damaged and will restore its death state animation correctly when respawning in the arena. The Humvee can be knifed again allowing (glitchless) knife only playthroughs. The wheels no longer spin forever when destroyed and certain sound file paths have been fixed with underscores instead of single quotes.Fixed Longhunter from being damaged during his non fight states.Restored Campaigners original behavior with the weapons that can damage him and what weapons get removed from the player. Additionally you will now see your weapons get taken from you and destroyed.Arrows will now fire from the correct player height when crawling.Restored super arrow shot chance for enemies to drop Mortal Wounds. Also, only enemies that had the "Teleport Avoid Cliffs" spawn flag set could be hit by a super arrow shot. Corrected to be when the "Mortal Wound Impact" flag is set.Restored Quad-Rocket Launcher original ammo usage to 4 and max ammo to 24. (48 with backpack)Particle Accelerator/Shockwave weapon can now freeze dead enemies just like the original and also works on beetles, robots, and turrets.Dealing direct hits to dead enemies from the Tek Bow and Shotgun explosive shells will now blow enemies away.Exiting water from the side will now re-equip your previous weapon.Fixed enemy explosive damage only doing a quarter of the damage to the player.Fixed players height not getting restored when entering and exiting crawl sectors quickly. As well as after certain animations are played.The player's eye height is now used instead of the actor's height to determine if the player is in water.The player is now kept at the correct water surface height when swimming on top of the water and water friction is now applied correctly to the player's z velocity.Explosive damage no longer does very little damage on enemies under certain conditions.When entering a Spirit World portal your exact position will be used when you come back through the portal.Fish will now always try to return to their initial height position in the case you lured them up a ramp.Falling rocks are now hidden until they are activated.Minor fixes to a few models.The small and large cell ammo pickup models were swapped and have been fixed.Extended weapon models for Ultrawide resolutions.The underwater screen color now blends to the water color and is now displayed even when the Show HUD option is off.Water surfaces are now displayed at the correct height and are no longer incorrectly offset down by 8 units.Fixed weapon wheel movement.Fixed issues caused by interrupting map change cinematics.Improved noclip sector positioning.Minor fixes to almost all maps.Fixed the Time Trial map to no longer show the help messages and play sounds.In the Ancient City, the time it takes for the gate to raise after pushing the short timed button has been increased.There were 2 enemies and 2 Life Forces in The Treetops level that were placed far below the floor (in the original as well). They are now placed correctly on the platforms above.When spawning at the Mantis save point you will no longer immediately be asked if you want to save the game.In the Catacombs, the Mantis pillars and bars around a level key and the chronoscepter piece now animate correctly.The water in the outside area in The Catacombs level now drains correctly and will not drain again when reentering the level and stepping on the button.Fixed audio reverb. Spiritual Invincibility no longer has reverb effects. Added reverb effects to the Spirit World levels.Sprite bleeding for the bullet splash, fire, and waterfall steam sprites has been fixed.Fixed artifacts around frames for sprite fx005The Boss and Air bar textures now look more like the original, with color.Platforms that are moving upwards or downwards will no longer force Turok to the floor at high speeds which prevented the player from being able to jump during that time.Fixed issues with actors z position while on platform sectors.LifeForce pickups are no longer snapped to the floor when they start in water. Fixes the LifeForces in the level 4 water pillar area.The precise projectile collision option now works correctly.Projectile collision against sectors that were linked to another sector and had bridge sectors has been fixed.Projectiles that collide with ceilings will now use the sector's wall impact instead of their floor impact.Particle Emitters will continue to be shown even when only partially off screen.Particle Trails will now create a final segment when they impact an object or expire.Fixed some Fx like the pulse rifle shots not being affected by game speed.Billboard Fx are now set to use no culling.Particle Fx with the bStickOnTarget flag now works correctly. (Chronoscepter and Shockwave weapons will hit actors origin point + half height)The Particle Fx RestrictAim flag now works with the Projectile flag, and the target must be within a 90 degree field of view. This allows you to dodge certain attacks such as the Ancient Warriors blow darts if youre fast enough to get behind them.Lots of additional scripting features for modders. (PC)If you are looking for other ways to experience Turok: Dinosaur Hunter on the Switch, you can also check out the original version via the Switch Online + Expansion Pack mature app. Everybody shoot the dinosaurAll the N64 games on NSOEvery retro game available with an NSO sub (plus the Expansion Pack)Will you be checking out this latest Turok update on Switch? What are your thoughts so far? Let us know in the comments.[source reddit.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:00 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesNintendo Highlights Four Brand New Games "Coming Soon" To SwitchMarch is going to be an exciting monthStunning New Physical Edition Of Stardew Valley Is Now Available At FangamerIncludes comic, poster, art cards, and more98 Games You Should Pick Up In Nintendo's 'Play On' eShop Sale (Europe)Every game we scored 9/10 or higher

Update [Sat 1st Mar 2025, 12:30am]: If you've been playing the latest Stardew Valley update and have encountered certain issues, the creator has now provided an update. It seems there is apparently an "error" in the latest Switch patch (Version 1.6.15.1) and the team is working "as fast as possible" to resolve this with another patch.ConceredApe: "I'm very ashamed to say this, but there is an error in the recent Switch patch. The game is mostly playable, but there are a few crashes, and some text will be garbled. Avoid artifact troves and back room of adventure guild. We're working on another patch as fast as possible"Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube797kWatch on YouTube So if you don't want to risk anything, and haven't already updated to the latest version of Stardew on Switch, you might want to hold out for the next patch. You can see the full patch notes for this week's update in the original story below.Original Story: Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone's farming and lifestyle simulation Stardew Valley is the game that keeps on giving and today marks the release of another free update for the Nintendo Switch.This week happens to mark the ninth anniversary of the game and Barone has released the latest update Version 1.6.15.1 on the Switch, containing performance optimisations, a lot of fixes and even some new Easter eggs.You can get the full rundown in the official patch notes below:Stardew Valley 1.6.15.1 Changelog (Consoles): Performance optimizations. Added the Junimo bundle button to fridge and mini-fridge UIs. Fixed debris able to spread under giant crops. Legendary fish ponds now produce roe much more often and have a higher average daily value. Fixed Krobus shop not accessible on Fridays for Japanese players. Fixed some things being less random than intended. Fixed some older items in the lost & found not correctly retrieveable. Fixed crash when collecting empty crab pots. Fixed crash when farm animals somehow end up in multiple locations. Fixed crash when failing to play/resume/pause/stop sound effects. Fixed crash in raccoon menu if you have a base flavored item in your inventory. Fixed crash if a shop somehow has a null item from a player to sell. Fixed rare crash in Calico Jack minigame. Fixed error loading pre-1.6 saves with case-sensitive stat key conflicts; conflicting stats are now merged. Fixed selected tool lost in some cases when obtaining a stardrop. Fixed some mail getting re-sent to farmhands every day. Fixed crash when a farmhand passes out while warping between locations. Fixed co-op menu scroll not reset when switching tab. Improved Hungarian and Japanese translations. Fixed a missing period in the shears description. Fixed some item tooltips on the collection tab in some languages showing a raw {1} token. Fixed gray box behind Russian railroad sign. Fixed Robins start-construction message showing the general building name inconsistently. Fixed a few translated dialogues with broken dialogue commands. Fixed Alexs hand in one of his portraits. Fixed butterflies spawned by statue of blessings glitching out in summer. Added a few extra spouse reactions when interacting with them without dialogue. You no longer lose a fish if you pass out while holding it, or pass out while fishing into a fish pond. Fixed animal products always harvesting with base quality. Fixed chimney duplication when creating a new save. Fixed players inside farm buildings mis-positioned on the world map. Fixed spouses sometimes facing the wrong direction after an interaction. Fixed rare crash when obtaining stardrops with stowed tools. Fixed rare crash when updating Robins construction animation. Fixed roommates requiring two house upgrades instead of one (like marriage candidates). Fixed spouses being warped to 0,0 for farmhands. Fixed crash when homeless farmhands remain after deleting cabins. Fixed legendary fish in fish ponds being more profitable than intended. Signs placed on legendary fish ponds no longer show a 1 under the fish. Fixed NPCs not being able to walk over the beach bridge. Fixed controller rumble being disabled. Fixed secret gift recipient hint no longer showing up on the skills tab. Fixed rare crash when making a call using the telephone. Fixed some minor visual issues with Cyrillic characters. Fixed NPCs not responding the first time you talk to them. Fixed being unable to grab furniture from walls. Improved some French and Russian translations. Fixed crash when the lost items shop sells Pennys 14-heart event items. Fixed chickens disappearing on newly created Meadowlands farms. Fixed rare crash when transitioning between mine locations in multiplayer. Fixed bug where you could harvest unusual quantities of items from crab pots. If you lost an item that cant be found again, a new friend appears in the secret woods who can get it back (for a price). Added new Easter eggs.Timed in with all of this is also the release of a stunning new physical edition of the game for the Nintendo Switch. It's available at Fangamer with options to choose from both standard and deluxe editions. This physical release even comes with items like a poster and comic book!As for the future of Stardew Valley, Barone mentioned not long ago how he doesn't want to close the book on the game's development and could easily add more to the game at any point in the future. Includes comic, poster, art cards, and more"Maybe even 50 years from now, I might add something""I feel like I could work on it for the rest of my life"Will you be checking out this latest update for Stardew Valley on Switch? Let us know in the comments.[source stardewvalley.net]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:04 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesNintendo Highlights Four Brand New Games "Coming Soon" To SwitchMarch is going to be an exciting monthStunning New Physical Edition Of Stardew Valley Is Now Available At FangamerIncludes comic, poster, art cards, and moreStardew Valley's New Update For Nintendo Switch Is Now LiveVersion 1.6.15.1 has arrived

OpenAI intends to eventually integrate its AI video generation tool, Sora, directly into its popular consumer chatbot app, ChatGPT, company leaders said during a Friday office hours session on Discord.Today, Sora is only available through a dedicated web app OpenAI launched in December, which lets users access the AI video model of the same name to generate up to 20-second-long cinematic clips. However, OpenAIs product lead for Sora, Rohan Sahai, said the company has plans to put Sora in more places, and expand what Sora can create.OpenAI initially marketed Sora to creatives and video production studios in the months leading up to its December launch. Now, the company is making a more concerted effort to broaden the appeal of its AI video creation tool.Sahai said OpenAI is actively working on a way to make Sora accessible within ChatGPT, marrying the two products, though he declined to offer a timeline. The version of Sora that ultimately comes to ChatGPT may not offer the same level of control compared to Soras web app, Sahai indicated, where users can edit and stitch footage together.OpenAI may be trying to attract users to ChatGPT by letting them generate Sora videos from the chatbot. Putting Sora in ChatGPT could also incentivize users to upgrade to ChatGPTs premium subscription tiers, which may offer higher video generation limits.One of the reasons OpenAI launched Sora as a separate web app was to maintain ChatGPTs simplicity, Sahai explained during the office hours. Since its launch, OpenAI has expanded Soras web experience, creating more ways for users to browse Sora-generated videos from the community. Sahai also said OpenAI would love to build a standalone mobile app for Sora, noting that the Sora team is actively looking for mobile engineers.OpenAI aims to expand Soras generation capabilities to images, as well.OpenAI is working on an AI image generator powered by Sora, Sahai said, confirming rumors of such a project. While ChatGPT already supports image generation, powered by OpenAIs DALL-E 3 model, a Sora-powered image generator could potentially let users create photos that are more photorealistic.Sahai added that OpenAI is also working on a new version of Sora Turbo, the model that currently powers the Sora web app.

DeepSeek has gone viral.Chinese AI lab DeepSeek broke into the mainstream consciousness this week afterits chatbot app rose to the top of the Apple App Store charts (and Google Play, as well). DeepSeeks AI models, which were trained using compute-efficient techniques,have led Wall Street analystsand technologists to question whether the U.S. can maintain its lead in the AI race and whether the demand for AI chips will sustain.But where did DeepSeek come from, and how did it rise to international fame so quickly?DeepSeeks trader originsDeepSeek is backed by High-Flyer Capital Management, a Chinese quantitative hedge fund that uses AI to inform its trading decisions.AI enthusiast Liang Wenfeng co-founded High-Flyer in 2015. Wenfeng, who reportedly began dabbling in trading while a student at Zhejiang University, launched High-Flyer Capital Management as a hedge fund in 2019 focused on developing and deploying AI algorithms.In 2023, High-Flyer started DeepSeek as a lab dedicated to researching AI tools separate from its financial business. With High-Flyer as one of its investors, the lab spun off into its own company, also called DeepSeek.From day one, DeepSeek built its own data center clusters for model training. But like other AI companies in China, DeepSeek has been affected by U.S. export bans on hardware. To train one of its more recent models, the company was forced to use Nvidia H800 chips, a less-powerful version of a chip, the H100, available to U.S. companies.DeepSeeks technical team is said to skew young. The company reportedly aggressively recruits doctorate AI researchers from top Chinese universities. DeepSeek also hires people without any computer science background to help its tech better understand a wide range of subjects, per The New York Times.DeepSeeks strong modelsDeepSeek unveiled its first set of models DeepSeek Coder, DeepSeek LLM, and DeepSeek Chat in November 2023. But it wasnt until last spring, when the startup released its next-gen DeepSeek-V2 family of models, that the AI industry started to take notice.DeepSeek-V2, a general-purpose text- and image-analyzing system, performed well in various AI benchmarks and was far cheaper to run than comparable models at the time. It forced DeepSeeks domestic competition, including ByteDance and Alibaba, to cut the usage prices for some of their models, and make others completely free.DeepSeek-V3, launched in December 2024, only added to DeepSeeks notoriety.According to DeepSeeks internal benchmark testing, DeepSeek V3 outperforms both downloadable, openly available models like MetasLlama and closed models that can only be accessed through an API, like OpenAIs GPT-4o. Equally impressive is DeepSeeks R1 reasoning model. Released in January, DeepSeek claims R1 performs as well as OpenAIso1model on key benchmarks.Being a reasoning model, R1 effectively fact-checks itself, whichhelps it to avoid some of thepitfallsthat normally trip up models. Reasoning models take a little longer usually seconds to minutes longer to arrive at solutions compared to a typical non-reasoning model. The upside is that they tend to be more reliable in domains such as physics, science, and math.There is a downside to R1, DeepSeek V3, and DeepSeeks other models, however. Being Chinese-developed AI, theyre subject tobenchmarkingby Chinas internet regulator to ensure that its responses embody core socialist values. In DeepSeeks chatbot app, for example, R1 wont answer questions about Tiananmen Square or Taiwans autonomy.A disruptive approachIf DeepSeek has a business model, its not clear what that model is, exactly. The company prices its products and services well below market value and gives others away for free.The way DeepSeek tells it, efficiency breakthroughs have enabled it to maintain extreme cost competitiveness. Some experts dispute the figures the company has supplied, however.Whatever the case may be, developers have taken to DeepSeeks models, which arent open source as the phrase is commonly understood but are available under permissive licenses that allow for commercial use. According to Clem Delangue, the CEO of Hugging Face, one of the platforms hosting DeepSeeks models, developers on Hugging Face have created over 500 derivative models of R1 that have racked up 2.5 million downloads combined.DeepSeeks success against larger and more established rivals has been described as upending AI and over-hyped. The companys success was at least in part responsible for causing Nvidias stock price to drop by 18% in January, and for eliciting a public response from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.Microsoft announced that DeepSeek is available on its Azure AI Foundry service, Microsofts platform that brings together AI services for enterprises under a single banner. When asked about DeepSeeks impact on Metas AI spending during its first-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said spending on AI infrastructure will continue to be a strategic advantage for Meta. During Nvidias fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Jensen Huang emphasized DeepSeeks excellent innovation, saying that it and other reasoning models are great for Nvidia because they need so much more compute.At the same time, some companies are banning DeepSeek, and so are entire countries and governments, including South Korea. New York state also banned DeepSeek from being used on government devices.As for what DeepSeeks future might hold, its not clear. Improved models are a given. But the U.S. government appears to be growing wary of what it perceives as harmful foreign influence.TechCrunch has an AI-focused newsletter!Sign up hereto get it in your inbox every Wednesday.This story was originally published January 28, 2025, and will be updated regularly.

Safe to say, machine learning and AI are here to stay, and it is this realization that led Boxel Studio to adopt and integrate Wonder Dynamics Wonder Studio, a cloud-based 3D animation and visual effects software toolset that combines artificial intelligence with established tools, into their VFX pipeline. Boxel isnt alone in its belief of Wonder Studios value. Just last year, Autodesk purchased Wonder Dynamics, integrating their cutting-edge technology into Flow, the tech leaders M&E cloud on Autodesks Design and Make platform.Boxels partnership with Wonder Dynamics allowed the studio to implement a markerless motion capture system that made it possible to create 134 creature animation shots in six weeks for the final season of the CWs Superman & Lois.Boxel Studio was able to push things even further by developing custom Python-based retargeting tools to seamlessly integrate the machine learning motion data into their production rigs in Maya, Unreal Engine and Cascadeur.Our goal was always not about digital doubles but creating characters that don't exist in real world, whether you're doing a film with an alien or a robot, states Nikola Todorovic, Founder, Wonder Dynamics. We were very cautious about not building something to serve facial replacements or deepfakes. Tye Sheridan and I started this because every time we wrote something it was sci-fi and animation which would be $100 million film. We started with this technology early on because we wanted to figure out how we could tell stories that are visually bigger but at the much lower end of the budget. Then we realized that, This is much bigger than us. Let's turn into a platform. That's how Wonder Studio was born. Todorovic and Sheridan worked in stealth mode for 4 years, in part because they were early in the AI bonanza, as well as because their approach was unique. This took us awhile because we stumbled upon AI much earlier than when it became the hype of the industry, Todorovic explains. AI was so sci-fi at the time and was hard to explain to people what we're talking about. We also approached it a little bit differently in that we don't generate art. The data you get out of Wonder Studio, whether it's your camera track, your lighting info, or your animation data, can be put in a DCC that you already use, like Maya, Unreal Engine or Blender. It's meant to speed up your traditional visual effects pipeline without many requirements on the set. You don't need mocap suits or to shoot clean plates.One of the prevailing fears about machine learning is that imagery will become generic. We wanted to keep that movie magic, so for us, your shot or lighting on your character is only going to be good as it's lit onset, remarks Todorovic. What our system does is analyzes the lighting, color and noise from the plate. We're not generating that based on something else; that is same for characters. It's the artist who is uploading the character. When we first launched, we worked on a project with the Russo brothers and hired professional artists. We asked them, What data and passes do you need to be able to plug this into your existing pipeline? It was important for us to get that feedback from that side, and that's one of the reasons we don't have prompting on our platform. We're big believers that the performance should be driven by an actor because I can't describe a performance in words as much as I want. Every actor is going to perform differently, and that's the beauty of the art. Every cinematographer is going to read a script and do a shot differently than another cinematographer. A director will pick some choices differently. Noting that everyone is confusing tools meant for social media with tools meant for high-end filmmaking, Todorovic says, Most of the AI video tools out there are meant for social media, and the goals are very different. Someone making something for social media is not necessarily going to spend that much time on certain choices. However, in filmmaking, you're going to spend a lot more time on every single detail to make sure its tonally consistent throughout the film.Part of Wonder Studios recent evolution involves dealing with occlusion. According to Todorovic, We knew that occlusion is a big issue, where the actor will go behind some object or behind each other. Were actually releasing something called motion prediction, which uses AI to essentially guess what the characters or actors are doing when theyre not visible. I don't believe we're building one tool that's going to take over the entire pipeline. I don't believe anybody's going to do that. My belief is just like now, we will have multiple tools in a pipeline. For us it is about how I can speed up that process but still communicate with all the other tools where I need to specialize. I like the Boxel Studio team because they're problem-solvers and are not scared to try different things inside of production. Both companies firmly believe machine learning can be used constructively. We should use the tools that we have on our hands to accelerate our creative process, notes Andres Reyes Botello, VFX producer, Boxel Studio. That is different from, Is it okay to simply grab whatever image you generated on the Internet without clarifying or guaranteeing that you have the chain of rights of that?One example where new machine learning-based tools can significantly streamline laborious technical work is rotoscoping. Even today, you have to hire an arsenal of people to go frame by frame with vectors and points to cutout the actor, remarks Botello. In my opinion, thats grunt work. If the computer can do it automatically, you're actually liberating humans to do more creative work rather than repetitive, boring work. AI and machine learning are going to open a huge door for better stories and much more creativity. Everybody can become a storyteller, not only a technician. Rather than be fearful about these technologies, we need to figure out how they help us to craft engaging stories. Coming out of the recent writers and actors strikes, the realities of reduced production time and budget motivated the use of Wonder Studio on Superman & Lois. If you were to present this type of solution to a big budget film, they would have been more hesitant because it was something completely new, states Freddy Chvez Olmos, VFX Supervisor & Creative Director of AI & Innovation, Boxel Studio. But we were lucky that the showrunners took our word, and we delivered the show. In Mexican society, we always figure out things even when we dont have the resources. It was cool seeing an animator doing his motion capture with a garbage bag, simulating Superman being carried up by Doomsday. We found the right people to give the right tools. AI and machine learning also allowed for a closer creative partnership with stunts. We were blessed with having Stunt Coordinator Rob Hayter and his amazing team, states Botello. They had a real actor onset doing the motion of Doomsday. Prior to Wonder Dynamics, we had to grab that reference footage, and the animators would have to go by hand and try to replicate that as well as record themselves on camera. It would take a good animator maybe three weeks to output eight seconds of animation. But now with Wonder Dynamics, the animators can process the footage of the actual performer onset and on the same day get the mocap data inside of their DCC, like Maya. Now the animator can say, What a cool move this performer made. What if I make it better by adding this extra motion? Instead of wasting three weeks to get something really cool, we are able to give two or three options to the showrunners. I do think that animators who embrace this will have more creative options to deliver to their clients.Training data for machine learning requires a lot of GPU power, which makes cloud computing an important component for Wonder Studio. Hopefully, Wonder Dynamis starts making money because right now that computing power is expensive, remarks Botello. The way that Wonder Studio works is you upload your video and machine learning interprets that footage and recognizes the human motion that is then retargeted into a CG character rig. That is heavy in computing power and requires a lot of GPUs. The solution that Wonder Dynamics offers is affordable. We pay a particular amount and can process a lot of footage. Its more cost effective than buying a couple of motion capture suits and buying cameras for triangulating that data. It is getting to the point in 2025 that rendering in the cloud makes more sense than having hardware that becomes obsolete on premise.Central to Boxels use of Wonder Dynamics is their openness to new techniques and technologies. I'm in this position because I was tired of the industry being always the same, Olmos shares. Doesn't matter if you work on a big superhero movie or on a small-scale TV show. Your job becomes repetitive. But being on this side of the equation, where youre doing more R&D, innovation and AI, thats something that excites me and I can see other people on the team also getting excited, because they get to be creative. Machine learning continues to alter the dynamics of the visual effects pipeline. When you are compositing a shot, you need to rely on other resources, like match move and digital doubles, that you get at the end of the chain, states Olmos. But now, compositors are embracing this technology because they can do so much more themselves. It lets them become more of a generalist in a way, which I love, because you get to learn other departments. Before you were constrained. You were just a compositor or modeler.Of course, successful integration of any new toolset requires understanding its limitations as well. There are always limitations to new technologies, Olmos says. You always want to have creative control. And in order to have creative control, you have to learn all the traditional tools needed to solve problems, or workarounds needed to use the new generative AI or machine learning tools. Wonder Studio was a perfect solution, and its secret sauce is not creating the final rendered image but providing all of the components that go into that image. We can extract the motion capture as one of the elements and then give that to animators. Right now, we're more interested in the types of tools that give you control and allow you to iterate.Olmos concludes, You have to come up with a solution that doesnt exist. A lot of companies are catching up, but at the moment, their efforts are still explorative. We are one of the few who are taking a risk by exploring and figuring out things, because regardless of what you think about AI or machine learning, its going to give you a competitive advantage. Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer best known for composing in-depth filmmaker and movie profiles for VFX Voice, Animation Magazine, and British Cinematographer.

How to solve today's Wordle.SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesLooking for Fridays Wordle hints, clues and answer? You can find them here:Hey look, its March! February, the shortest of all months, is behind us and spring is here. Or mostly here. Some say it begins on March 1st, others go by the equinox which falls on March 20th this year. Either way, it sure feels like spring.Okay, lets solve the first Wordle of the month!How To Solve Todays WordleThe Hint: Float.The Clue: This Wordle begins and ends with consonants.Okay, spoilers below!...The Answer:Today's WordleScreenshot: Erik KainWordle AnalysisEvery day I check Wordle Bot to help analyze my guessing game. You can check your Wordles with Wordle Bot right here. Todays guessing game went much better than yesterdays, thats for sure! SPATE wasnt a good opening guess, leaving me with 381 remaining solutions, but CHOIR slashed that down to just 2: HOMER and HOVER. I think we might have already used HOMER in a previous Wordle, so I went with HOVER and sure enough, that was the Wordle!Competitive Wordle ScoreToday's BotScreenshot: Erik KainI get 1 point for guessing in three, and another for beating the Bot, which took a whopping five tries today! 2 points for me! Huzzah!How To Play Competitive WordleGuessing in 1 is worth 3 points; guessing in 2 is worth 2 points; guessing in 3 is worth 1 point; guessing in 4 is worth 0 points; guessing in 5 is -1 points; guessing in 6 is -2 points and missing the Wordle is -3 points.If you beat your opponent you get 1 point. If you tie, you get 0 points. And if you lose to your opponent, you get -1 point. Add it up to get your score. Keep a daily running score or just play for a new score each day.Fridays are 2XP, meaning you double your pointspositive or negative.You can keep a running tally or just play day-by-day. Enjoy!Todays Wordle EtymologyThe word "hover" originates from Middle English "hoveren", which is a frequentative form of the verb "hove" (meaning to linger or remain in one place). "Hove" itself comes from Old English "hofian", meaning to wait, tarry, or remain suspended. The term is related to the Old Norse "hfva", meaning to lift or raise. Over time, "hover" came to mean staying in one place in the air, maintaining a position without moving significantly.Let me know how you fared with your Wordle today on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog where I write about games, TV shows and movies when Im not writing puzzle guides. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.

Apptronik's Apollo humanoid robotDave LinRobotics manufacturer Apptronik announced this week that it has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with design and manufacturing giant Jabil to build, test, and deploy Apptroniks Apollo humanoid robots.Its not exactly a Von Neumann machine, but this is a big deal that will eventually see robots building robots. While Apptronik has significant expertise and just raised a massive $350 million round from investors including Google to make humanoid robots, it only has about 150 employees and a relatively small global footprint. In contrast, Jabil has 140,000 employees at over 100 sites across 25 countries to go with reported revenue of almost $30 billion last year. If this partnership works well, Jabil can significantly accelerate execution of Apptroniks humanoid robot project.Humanoid robots have the potential to revolutionize the way we live and work, but for that to become a reality, we need to be able to build them rapidly at scale, at the right price point, and in geographies where our customers are located, Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas said in a statement. Our partnership with Jabil, along with our unique design for manufacturability and ability to have Apollo humanoid robots handling material movement and assembly tasks in the factory, are critical components needed to create a flywheel effect that could make humanoid robots ubiquitous.Both of those elements are critical. Jabil will serve as a worldwide manufacturing partner, but it will also use Apollo humanoid robots in their factories. That usage is just as important as the manufacturing, because a robot fleet that isnt trained in the kinds of tasks manufacturing and logistics customers need accomplished wont sell a lot of units.The robots will be used to complete an array of simple, repetitive intralogistics and manufacturing tasks, including inspection, sorting, kitting, lineside delivery, fixture placement, and sub-assembly before being deployed to Apptronik customer sites, Apptronik says in its press release.Were seeing a massive acceleration in the development of humanoid robots so far in 2025. Apptronik competitor Figure has aggressive plans to ship 100,000 humanoid robots over the next four years and just announced that it will start alpha-testing its humanoid robot in homes this year, two years faster originally planned.There are 16 leading companies in the humanoid robots space, with probably 100 total working on the problem. And just this month Metaof all companiessaid it would add humanoid robots to its existing social media products like Facebook and Instagram.As part of the just-announced pilot program, newly manufactured Apollo units will undergo real-world validation testing in Jabils factory environment before being deployed to Apptronik customer sites.Apptronik is working on home use too, Apptronik says. Until now, the company has been more focused on the manufacturing and logistics markets. But apparently Apptroniks latest design includes unique actuators that reduce components, manufacturing time, and costs, making mass production cheaper and easier. That should help make general-purpose humanoid robots more affordable and facilitate their expansion into new markets such as retail, elder care, and home use.Weve been committed to advanced automation and robotics across our operations, so piloting Apollo is a logical next step for our division and for Jabil in the long term, says Rafael Renno, a senior VP at Jabil. Not only will we get a first-hand look at the impact that general-purpose robots can have as we test Apollo in our operations, but as we begin producing Apollo units, we can play a role in defining the future of manufacturing.Its worth noting that with Figures announcement that it will be testing its humanoid robot in home this year, futurist and author Peter Diamandis prediction that well have beta tests of humanoid robots in peoples homes by 2026 will come true a full year early.

One of the most famous and beautiful cosmic sights shows its colors in this new image from the Hubble Space Telescope. The Veil Nebula is the remnant of a massive star which exploded in a supernova 10,000 years ago, leaving behind a striking structure of dust and gas that has a delicate draped shape from which the object gets its name.The star which created the nebula was huge, at 20 times the mass of the sun, and its explosion was so epic it would have been brighter than Venus in the sky over Earth, despite being located 2,400 light-years away. Over time, the effects of that explosion have continued to spread, creating the structure we see today.Recommended VideosHubble has imaged the Veil Nebula before, most recently in 2015, but this newer image zooms in on a smaller area of the nebula to show it in detail. Its colors also represent different elements which are present in the nebula, allowing scientists to track the distinct chemistry of the region.You can see the image in full below:In this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, Hubble once again lifts the veil on a famous and frequently photographed supernova remnant: the Veil Nebula. ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. SankritThis view combines images taken in three different filters by Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3, highlighting emission from hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms. The image shows just a small fraction of the Veil Nebula; if you could see the entire nebula without the aid of a telescope, it would be as wide as six full Moons placed side-by-side, Hubble scientists explain.Please enable Javascript to view this contentAlthough this image captures the Veil Nebula at a single point in time, it helps researchers understand how the supernova remnant evolves over decades. Combining this snapshot with Hubble observations from 1994 will reveal the motion of individual knots and filaments of gas over that span of time, enhancing our understanding of this stunning nebula.And you can also compare this image with the original images Hubble took back in 1994 and 1997, showing details of different parts of the nebula:NASAs Hubble Space Telescope photographed three magnificent sections of the Veil Nebula the shattered remains of a supernova that exploded thousands of years ago. This series of images provides beautifully detailed views of the delicate, wispy structure resulting from this cosmic explosion. NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration; Acknowledgment: J. Hester (Arizona State University)With more than 30 years elapsed between some of these images, scientists can see how the structure changes over time and demonstrate how Hubble continues to provide stunning images of space, even as it approaches its 35th anniversary since launch.Editors Recommendations

Raw video shows how a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on February 28 over a potential mineral deal ended with a tense exchange between US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Read the original article on Business Insider

If Nintendo Switch 2 is a failure I fear for the future of gaming Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished March 1, 2025 1:00am Failure is not an option (Nintendo)A reader worries what will happen to the games industry at large if the Nintendo Switch 2 is a failure and fears it will mean a move into PC gaming.These should be exciting times for being a gamer. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S are the most powerful consoles ever made and the companies behind them are rich and fully invested in the industry. Other publishers seem to be making plenty of money too, with Ubisoft the only exception.We have the Nintendo Switch 2 coming up soon, probably around June, with other next gen machines hinted at for a few years after that. It all seems like the perfect set-up for a new golden age of gaming, so why does everything feel so apocalyptically depressing?Sony and Microsoft seem to have gone mad (Sony doesnt make games anymore and Microsoft wants Skynet to make games for them instead of people), everyone else has either been sold off or laid off, and I cant remember the last big name game that wasnt a sequel or a licence. Save us Switch 2, youre our only hope!I dont think Im the first person to worry about what happens if the Switch 2 doesnt knock it out the park. It probably will, since it seems everyone is excited about it and Nintendo has had plenty of time to make new games, but so many Nintendo predictions begin with probably and end up being completely wrong.I was actually feeling relatively optimistic about Xbox after their Developer Direct this year but all this AI stuff theyre going on about at the moment just shows they still dont get it. As usual, Microsoft is always looking for a shortcut instead of just putting in the hard graft and this time its AI thats going to end up costing hundreds, if not thousands, of people their jobs and end up with terrible video games to boot.As for Sony, what more can be said? To be honest I dont care anymore, as to why theyre acting like this, I just know that they are and that theyve gone from one of the most exciting and consistent publishers in the world to an out of touch curmudgeon that seems to hate games.And that leaves Nintendo: the most talented but also most unpredictable of the bunch. Who wouldve thought theyd follow up the Wii with the Wii U? And who would be willing to bet that, while the Switch 2 seems like a slam dunk, they wont find some way to mess it up.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5videoUp NextA hundred different things could go wrong, from the Switch 2 being too expensive, to having bad marketing or a bad line-up of launch games all mistakes Nintendo has made in the past. And thats not counting things they cant control, from tariffs to unexpected hardware failures.If something does go wrong though and the Switch 2 is a failure, or even just not as big as expected, then suddenly Nintendo are in trouble financially and prey to Microsoft and all the other vultures out there, that have been wanting to buy them for decades.If Switch 2 fails then probably so do a lot of other developers, particularly in Japan, that were riding on it being a success, and suddenly Microsoft and Sony have got even less competition and they can make all their destructive plans and nonsense decisions with nobody having any alternative to them.Maybe this is why PC has become so big in recent years, because people no longer trust Microsoft and Sony and they know that Nintendo could flip out at any moment. I understand that but I dont want a PC. Theyre too expensive and complicated and I like the certainty and simplicity of a console.More TrendingHopefully thats what Ill get with the Switch 2 but if not then I predict another generation of turmoil and a gaming PC on my Christmas list, whether I want it or not.By reader Campbell We still know very little about the Switch 2 (YouTube)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.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