Archaeologists have discovered evidence of an Egyptian army where an Israelite king was killed. The discoveries at Megiddo, which inspired "Armageddon," reinforce biblical stories about King Josiah of Judah.

Having a hard time deciding whether you should play as Yasuke or Naoe in Assassin's Creed Shadows? These two protagonists have their own unique playstyles, weapon options, and even specific challenges that they could complete. We take a look at all these facets in our comprehensive guide.Should you play as Yasuke or Naoe in Assassin's Creed ShadowsThe dual protagonist system in Shadows is quite unlike what we've seen in previous iterations of the Assassin's Creed franchise. Characters like Kassandra and Alexios (Odyssey), and male/female Eivor, were more like peas in a pod. Evie and Jacob (Syndicate), meanwhile, had notable differences, though not quite on the same level as Yasuke and Naoe this time around. How to switch between Yasuke and Naoe?You can play as either Yasuke or Naoe in Assassin's Creed Shadows through the following means:While free-roaming, you can swap between the two via the inventory screen. A prompt should appear at the bottom of the screen, so just hold the button down to make the switch.Alternatively, you can mouse over a fast travel point on the world map. Pressing the button lets you fast travel as your current character, while holding the button lets you swap.There are also several segments in the campaign where you're prompted to choose whether you'd control Yasuke or Naoe.Certain activities that grant Knowledge Points can only be completed by a specific character. Note that Knowledge Points and Mastery Points (i.e. skill points) that you've earned equally apply to both characters. Naoe's playstyle: ShinobiMelee weapons: Katana, kusarigama, and tantoRanged weapons: Kunai (thrown)Traversal methods: Grappling hook, faster/higher climbing, and tightrope walkingAdditional perks: Eagle VisionNaoe has trained all her life to be a ninja, a shinobi from the land of Iga, making her a silent killer. She does not have a lot of quirks that allow her to stand toe-to-toe against tougher foes, but she can take out her enemies through deft avoidance, swift strikes, and stealthy assassinations. Yasuke's playstyle: SamuraiMelee weapons: Long katana, naginata, and kanaboRanged weapons: Bow and teppo (medium-ranged musket)Traversal methods: Barreling through doors and moving heavy obstaclesAdditional perks: N/AConversely, Yasuke is all about going into the thick of battle and pounding his enemies into the dirt. His movement might be more cumbersome, and his attacks are slower, at least when compared to Naoe, but every blow is bone-crunchingly terrifying to behold. Yasuke can stand his ground when facing multiple foes, but he does struggle with general traversal. Who is the better character: Yasuke or Naoe?If you still need to decide between Yasuke or Naoe in Assassin's Creed Shadows, then think of them as having two different facets of the series' previous offerings:Yasuke exemplifies the series' focus on action and adventure, such as having to fend off countless soldiers in Greece or England--with maybe a Spartan Kick or two.Naoe is your traditional stealth-focused character--she can't survive numerous direct engagements, but you're going to enjoy sneaking around and stabbing foes with your Hidden Blade.Given the above, we can say that Naoe is the better character in Assassin's Creed Shadows. Her movement is faster and she can climb easily, especially with the use of her grappling hook. In fact, she can walk on ropes without issues, whereas ropes themselves would snap if Yasuke attempts to use them. What seals the deal further is her Eagle Vision, which causes the bright red outlines of enemies to appear. With it, you'll be able to move around restricted areas while watching out for nearby threats.Considering how enemies are at a set level throughout the regions of Japan, both Yasuke and Naoe will have a tough time unless you grind more experience points. However, if you enable the Guaranteed Assassinations option, and with Naoe's inherent quirks, you should find progression much easier even when going through high-level areas.Do you need more help as you continue your adventure throughout Sengoku Jidai era Japan? We've got you covered, so just take a look at our Assassin's Creed Shadows guides hub.

Assassin's Creed Shadows takes players all the way to Japan during the Sengoku Jidai, the warring states period. As warlords vie for control, it's up to you to aid Yasuke and Naoe, to see how their destinies are intertwined. One is a samurai, a peerless warrior who can go toe to toe against multiple foes. The other, meanwhile, is a shinobi, striking from the darkness to silently eliminate her targets. Our Assassin's Creed Shadows guides hub has everything you need to help you tackle missions and learn about new intricacies in the latest entry to Ubisoft's open-world series.Table of Contents [hide]Assassin's Creed Shadows guides hubStarter guides Assassin's Creed Shadows guides hubStarter guidesThe Assassin's Creed Shadows guides below are primarily for those who are just starting their journey. We discuss basic mechanics, such as gaining Knowledge Points to unlock higher-tier skills, as well as the differences between Yasuke's and Naoe's playstyles.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Supermassive Games' interactive horror titles have largely been set in the present day, but its next big release, Directive 8020, takes place in an entirely new time period. Like many of its recent works, Directive 8020 is a part of The Dark Pictures Anthology series, which currently includes four mainline installments and one VR-exclusive spin-off. The game will serve as the first installment of the franchise's second season, and it's going to take place entirely in a colony spaceship called the Cassiopeia, which, after crash-landing on a distant planet in the far future, gets infected by a dangerous, shape-shifting alien organism.

Spider-Man is one of the most popular characters within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Marvel Studios hasn't always treated him that way. Spider-Man 4 provides the perfect opportunity for those in charge to change that. Peter Parker is developing and maturing within the MCU, but while he has been in the lead role in three movies, the character has often been overlooked.

The power and utilities sector keeps the lights on for the worlds populations and industries. As the global energy landscape evolves, so must the tools it relies on.To advance the next generation of electricity generation and distribution, many of the industrys members are joining forces through the creation of the Open Power AI Consortium. The consortium includes energy companies, technology companies and researchers developing AI applications to tackle domain-specific challenges, such as adapting to an increased deployment of distributed energy resources and significant load growth on electric grids.Led by independent, nonprofit energy R&D organization EPRI, the consortium aims to spur AI adoption in the power sector through a collaborative effort to build open models using curated, industry-specific data. The initiative was launched today at NVIDIA GTC, a global AI conference taking place through Friday, March 21, in San Jose, California.Over the next decade, AI has the great potential to revolutionize the power sector by delivering the capability to enhance grid reliability, optimize asset performance, and enable more efficient energy management, said Arshad Mansoor, EPRIs president and CEO. With the Open Power AI Consortium, EPRI and its collaborators will lead this transformation, driving innovation toward a more resilient and affordable energy future.As part of the consortium, EPRI, NVIDIA and Articul8, a member of the NVIDIA Inception program for cutting-edge startups, are developing a set of domain-specific, multimodal large language models trained on massive libraries of proprietary energy and electrical engineering data from EPRI that can help utilities streamline operations, boost energy efficiency and improve grid resiliency.The first version of an industry-first open AI model for electric and power systems was developed using hundreds of NVIDIA H100 GPUs and is expected to soon be available in early access as an NVIDIA NIM microservice.Working with EPRI, we aim to leverage advanced AI tools to address todays unique industry challenges, positioning us at the forefront of innovation and operational excellence, said Vincent Sorgi, CEO of PPL Corporation and EPRI board chair.PPL is a leading U.S. energy company that provides electricity and natural gas to more than 3.6 million customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Rhode Island and Virginia.The Open AI Consortiums Executive Advisory Committee includes executives from over 20 energy companies such as Duke Energy, Pacific Gas & Electric Company and Portland General Electric, as well as leading tech companies such as AWS, Oracle and Microsoft. The consortium plans to further expand its global member base.Powering Up AI to Energize Operations, Drive InnovationGlobal energy consumption is projected to grow by nearly 4% annually through 2027, according to the International Energy Agency. To support this surge in demand, electricity providers are looking to enhance the resiliency of power infrastructure, balance diverse energy sources and expand the grids capacity.AI agents trained on thousands of documents specific to this sector including academic research, industry regulations and standards, and technical documents can enable utility and energy companies to more quickly assess energy needs and prepare the studies and permits required to improve infrastructure.We can bring AI to the global power sector in a much more accelerated way by working together to develop foundation models for the industry, and collaborating with the power sector to y apply solutions tailored to its unique needs, Mansoor said.Utilities could tap the consortiums model to help accelerate interconnection studies, which analyze the feasibility and potential impact of connecting new generators to the existing electric grid. The process varies by region but can take up to four years to complete. By introducing AI agents that can support the analysis, the consortium aims to cut this timeline down by at least 5x.The AI model could also be used to support the preparation of licenses, permits, environmental studies and utility rate cases, where energy companies seek regulatory approval and public comment on proposed changes to electricity rates.Beyond releasing datasets and models, the consortium also aims to develop a standardized framework of benchmarks to help utilities, researchers and other energy sector stakeholders evaluate the performance and reliability of AI technologies.Learn more about the Open Power AI Consortium online and in EPRIs sessions at GTC:Accelerate Energy Transformation With Industry Domain AI Models Arshad Mansoor, president and CEO of EPRIEnergy Transition: Impact of Generative AI in the Power Ecosystem of Generation, Transmission and Distribution Swati Daji, executive vice president and chief financial, risk and operations officer at EPRITo learn more about advancements in AI across industries, watch the GTC keynote by NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang:See notice regarding software product information.

The Gran Turismo World Series 2025 is set to be a classic with a live events calendar that includes London, Berlin, Los Angeles, and culminates with World Finals in Fukuoka, Japan in December.Play VideoAnyone with a copy of Gran Turismo 7, an internet connection, and a PlayStation Plus membership can compete to try and qualify for a place (subject to eligibility criteria) at the thrilling Gran Turismo World Series international events, where they will race in front of an in-person and global broadcast audience.Players can sign up in Sport mode in Gran Turismo for the Nations Cup racing to represent your home country or territory and/or the Manufacturers Cup, racing for your favourite manufacturer.The action gets underway with the Online Qualifiers, starting with:Manufacturers Cup Wednesday, April 2 to Saturday, April 19Nations Cup Wednesday, April 23 to Saturday, May 10The calendar for the Gran Turismo World Series 2025 live events is as follows:Round 1 London, UK | Saturday, 7 JuneRound 2 Berlin, Germany | Saturday, 20 SeptemberRound 3 Los Angeles, USA | Saturday, 8 NovemberWorld Finals Fukuoka, Japan | Saturday, 20 and Sunday, 21 DecemberAll the live events will be open to the public and details of how to buy tickets will be posted on the Gran Turismo website and social channels. Full details of the Gran Turismo World Series 2025 and how to get involved can be found here. A more in-depth look at the rules and a link to the terms and conditions can be found here.Fans unable to attend the live events wont miss any of the action, with each round set to be broadcast live on https://www.gran-turismo.com/world/live/ and https://www.youtube.com/@GRANTURISMOTV .A fantastic 2024 season saw Team Lexus, comprising Spains Coque Lpez, Kanata Kawakami of Japan, and Chilean Harald Walsen (who stepped in to replace the absent Igor Fraga of Brazil), crowned Manufacturers Cup Champions at the World Finals in Amsterdam. Japanese driver Takuma Miyazono re-took the Nations Cup crown that he last won in 2020 with a masterful performance in front of a sell-out crowd.The action in 2025 should be no less exciting and will be watched closely by Gran Turismo World Series partners Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR), Mazda, Brembo, and Fanatec.

March 20 marks the official beginning of spring. Separately, there have been a lot of new and exciting series premiering in the last few weeks, including Daredevil: Born Again. Born Again boasts the talents of directing duo Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead,MCU regulars who worked on Moon Knight and the second season of Loki. But outside of their Marvel TV work, Benson and Moorhead are known for their experimental sci-fi films like The Endless, Synchronic, and Something in the Dirt. With Born Again out and spring in the air, nows a perfect time to revisit one of the pairs more underrated movies: the 2014 body horror romance Spring.The film centers on Evan Russell (Lou Taylor Pucci), a man grieving the loss of his mother to cancer. After getting into a violent confrontation after his moms funeral and subsequently losing his job, Evan figures its as good a time as any to get the hell out of dodge and clear his head. After booking a one-way ticket to Italy on a whim, Evan hitches a ride to the coast with a pair of backpackers on holiday and meets Louise (Nadia Hilker). The two strike up a whirlwind romance, but theres more to Louise than meets the eye.Spring plays out like a strange hybrid of Before Sunrise, The Animal Kingdom, and Species: a symbiotic genre mashup whose elements of horror and romantic drama cohere far better than you might expect at first glance. The film has a wry sense of humor, with believable banter and charming characters casually shooting the shit and communicating with one another in a way that feels naturalistic and inviting. This is especially true with Evan and Louise, whose free-flowing conversations and emotional chemistry feel reminiscent of the effervescent meet-cute energy of Jesse and Celine from Richard Linklaters aforementioned classic.Moorheads cinematography matches and emphasizes the naturalism of the films tonal aesthetic, with a grainy, sun-bleached, and handheld quality that makes the audience feel almost as though theyre riding shotgun with Evan, or walking just a few feet apart from him and Louise as they slowly but surely pour their hearts out and into one another. Levity and romance sit comfortably between tension and horror, as Louises attempts to hide her sudden transformations from Evan result in some particularly jarring and macabre sequences. When Evan eventually does learn Louises secret, its as horrifying as it is a cause for relief, knowing that the two can finally see one another on equal footing.Spring is a very, very different experience than watching a blind vigilante exhaustingly grunting and shouting hiyaa while whaling the shit out of evildoers with a pair of billy clubs. But its a wholly satisfying and surprising film that could easily charm both horror-averse audiences and travel lovers, if given the chance.Spring is available to stream for free on Tubi and rent on Amazon and Apple.

Things were not normal in March 2020, to say the least. As the world started to spin apart due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other terrible things happening simultaneously in the U.S., solace took an unexpected form for many gamers: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which was released five years ago Thursday.Nintendos cutesy life simulator carried significantly more weight on its shoulders than ever before. People have always used games particularly cozy games, like Stardew Valley as an escape from the stressors of life, but the thirst for relaxation in 2020 was dire, and the masses converged on New Horizons, a veritable geyser of joy. And with a robust multiplayer system, the game proved that not even the Switchs dreadful friend code system would keep people from inviting online friends and strangers to their New Horizons islands.As of Dec. 31, 2024 (just two weeks before the Switch 2 was officially unveiled), it sits comfortably as the Nintendo Switchs second-best selling title behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe selling 15 million more units than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild proving Animal Crossing to be of Nintendos major franchises. While most popular online multiplayer games make it incredibly easy to link up with others, Nintendos friend code method (as well as New Horizons one-time-use Dodo Code option) are tantamount to telegrams. And yet, trading friend codes felt, dare I say it, cool for a while.It felt like everyone was playing New Horizons, so exchanging friend codes gave you round trip tickets to hang out with someone during an otherwise isolating time. It felt strangely intimate and vulnerable to show your virtual home to visitors, hoping that theyd admire your interior design chops (and ignore the pesky roaches running around). Not only that, you got to do a lot of other things during visitation, including scoping out their islands layout, snagging some native fruit, and buying unique items on offer by Timmy and Tommy. And, of course, taking advantage of the local turnip prices.During a period of historic financial instability, players enjoyed flocking to New Horizons to buy and sell stalks. This capitalism simulation introduced many to buying and dumping investments, sometimes selling at tremendous profits or at losses thatd have you swear off stocks, I mean stalks, for good. Each players island has a different buy and sell rate for turnips, and having a low buy/high sell combination meant that your island instantly became the hottest travel destination of the moment. At the games peak, you could have probably gotten away with charging actual money in exchange for a Dodo Code that granted access to your island. Maybe some of you did!Animal Crossing: New Horizons likely could have kept finding ways to please players for years to come. That said, I respect Nintendos decision to stop the flow of new, major updates in late 2021 with the introduction of update version 2.0 and Happy Home Paradise, the games only paid DLC. It gave players more content to experience, yet it allowed the game that took the gaming world and Nintendo by storm to end on a high note. And I havent used friend codes since.

Nothing has been experimenting more with phone design than perhaps any other company, at least when it comes to traditional slide phones. The London-based tech brand just unveiled its latest and greatest devices in the form of the new Nothing Phone (3a) and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. Thankfully, the new phones are as unique as ever though the Pro model is perhaps the most interesting.Like previous generation Nothing devices, the phones have their signature transparent look, which gives them a futuristic vibe. The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is the first in Nothings lineup to offer a large circular camera module on the back, which is surrounded by Nothings Glyph Interface made up of three LED lights that can indicate notifications, phone status, and more.Nothing isnt radically changing design for this generation, but it doesnt necessarily have to, considering how well its built up its brand over the past few years. Theres definitely room for more experimentation when it comes to smartphone design, and its nice to see someone being a little more bold.Theres another unique feature on the two devices. Both have Nothings new Essential Key on the side, which is an AI button that lets users quickly capture a screenshot or a voice note. This information is then sent to the essential space on the device, where its organized and processed. AI can then pull useful information out from that data, including things like dates, locations, and so on. You can then easily search through it without having to endlessly scroll.The phones arent all about design, though. Theyre actually very impressive phones in their price range. Thats largely due to the triple-camera array on the back of both of them, which is very uncommon for phones in the $350-$500 price bracket. Both devices have a telephoto camera, which can zoom at 2x on the standard Nothing Phone (3a) and 3x on the Phone (3a) Pro. That zoom is doubled through sensor cropping technology that allows the devices to capture 2x or 4x photos, respectively, without any loss in detail.Both devices have a crisp display with a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth animations and a high level of brightness to make them easy to see outside. They have solid processing power, and they have Nothings well-regarded Android skin, which gives everything a kind of retro-minimalistic pixel design.Both the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro are now up for order, with the Nothing Phone (3a) priced at $379 and the (3a) Pro at $459. They can be purchased from us.nothing.tech.Photography courtesy of Nothing.