May 20, 20253 min readWhy Tornado Season Has Been So DestructiveSeveral devastating tornado outbreaks have cut swaths of destruction across the U.S. What’s driving these damaging storms?By Andrea Thompson edited by Dean VisserA U.S. Air Force aerobatic team flies in formation over community members and crews cleaning up debris on May 18, 2025, in the community of Sunshine Hills outside of London, Ky. A tornado struck the neighborhood just after midnight on May 17, 2025. Michael Swensen/Stringer/Getty ImagesNearly 900 tornadoes have torn through more than 30 states so far this year, killing dozens of people, shredding buildings and landscapes across big chunks of the Eastern U.S., and costing billions. The oddly fickle and precise mix of atmospheric ingredients needed to generate tornadoes just happens to have occurred over and over again since mid-March—and the season isn’t over yet.How do tornadoes form?“In order to get a tornado, you need to have a thunderstorm that’s capable of producing a tornado,” says Jana Houser, a tornado researcher at the Ohio State University. Most often, these are what meteorologists call “supercell” thunderstorms, which feature a circulation pattern called a mesocyclone.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Supercell formation requires a set of conditions that make the atmosphere unstable, and these start with warm, moist air at the surface and cold, dry air above. The instability comes from warmer air’s greater buoyancy, which makes it rise upward. And this mix needs yet another specific ingredient, wind shear, “where winds change speed and direction as you go up with height” in the atmosphere, Houser says. This can create sort of a “tube” of horizontally rotating air. Next, the nascent twister needs an updraft, or upward-moving air, which tightens and speeds up the rotating air, taking it “from spinning like a bike tire” to “spinning like a top.”All of these conditions are necessary—but they’re still not always enough. “Most supercells don’t even actually produce tornadoes in their lifetime,” Houser says.The exact mechanics of tornado formation aren’t yet fully understood, but essentially, air rotation at the ground needs to meet a strong updraft aloft; this pulls the rotation in like a figure skater pulling in their arms, as Houser puts it.Where do tornadoes form?Tornadoes can—and do—happen wherever the right conditions are present, from Argentina to Italy to Bangladesh. But the U.S. is by far the leader in the average annual number of these storms. North America’s geography naturally promotes a crucial collision of air masses: juicy air streams northward from the bathtub warmth of the Gulf of Mexico, while cool, dry winds rush eastward over the Rockies. The air masses meet over the center of the country, which is how the region centered around northeastern Texas and Oklahoma came to be called Tornado Alley. “If you were to design a place that would get repeated severe storms, you would build something like the central U.S.,” says Rich Thompson, chief of forecast operations for the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.But over the past decade or so, that tornado bull’s-eye has changed a bit. A “new Tornado Alley” has emerged about 400 or 500 miles to the east, in part because moist Gulf air is reaching farther east than in the past.Why do tornadoes mainly form in spring?“Spring tends to be the peak because it’s a transitional season,” Houser says. Coming out of winter, there is still abundant cold air at northern latitudes and aloft, and at the same time, the sun is shining much more, heating up the surface air to promote instability.Fall is also a transitional season, but the air aloft remains generally warmer for some time after summer. Tornado activity doesn’t tend to pick up again until later in the fall, when the atmosphere has cooled down again.The local peaks in tornado occurrence tend to move northward as spring rolls into the summer: the Gulf Coast peaks earlier in the spring, the Southern Plains in May and June, and the Northern Plains and upper Midwest in June and July.The Clear Creek post office lays in rubble after a tornado destroyed it. Several tornadoes hit Greene and Monroe counties in south-central Indiana, leaving a path of destruction.Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Stock PhotoWhy has the current tornado season been so active?By mid-May the U.S. has had an estimated 886 tornadoes. “We’re on the upper end of what is typical” at this point, Thompson says. Until this month, the most active periods this year were in mid-March and early April. “Those were the two that really pushed us above what is typical,” he adds.The meanderings of the jet stream—a narrow band of strong winds high in the atmosphere—are part of what determines how active a season becomes. The jet stream “really dictates what kinds of weather we end up getting at the surface,” Houser says. It influences the paths storms take, and it forms the boundaries between warmer and cooler air masses.In the case of this spring, “we just have periodic high-energy systems that are moving through,” Houser says, and they have been very effective at producing severe weather when they occur. “It’s just a matter of getting the ingredients to show up and getting the storms to take advantage of them,” Thompson says.

nintendoByEthan GachPublished44 minutes agoWe may earn a commission from links on this page.Image: Nintendo / KotakuSwitch 2 pre-orders have basically been sold out since they went live last month, but a lucky few might still be able to nab the new Nintendo console in person when it launches on June 5. GameStop, Best Buy, and others have promised limited quantities on site at certain stores when fans go to pick-up their midnight pre-orders.Suggested ReadingNintendo Switch 2 Could Launch With Almost No Reviews Share SubtitlesOffEnglishSuggested ReadingNintendo Switch 2 Could Launch With Almost No Reviews Share SubtitlesOffEnglishNintendo Switch 2 Could Launch With Almost No ReviewsBest Buy was the first to signal that at least some of its Switch 2 inventory at certain stores was being set aside for day-one sales. The electronics retailer promised “limited inventory of systems, games, accessories [and] the chance for a free Nintendo collectible” for those showing up at 12:01 a.m. ET on June 5. Target appears to be doing something similar. According to multiple reports, certain locations will have anywhere from 30 to 100 Switch 2 consoles available to the first customers to arrive without existing pre-orders. The company hasn’t announced anything official yet, and it’s not clear if its stores will be doing midnight pre-order pickups or customers there will have to wait until regular opening hours. GameStop, on the other hand, is all-in on the Switch 2 midnight launch party. “Additional Switch 2 units will be available in-store and online while supplies last,” the retailer confirmed last week. The “launch event” begins at 3:00 p.m. local time, with pre-order pickups beginning at midnight. The suggestion is that if you want a shot at one of those on-site consoles, you’ll need to be some of the first in line for that 3:00 p.m. start time. You’ll also get a free Red Bull. Walmart hasn’t yet confirmed its plans for launch day inventory yet, and Amazon has been completely silent about pre-orders and when it will begin selling the Switch 2, if at all. Nintendo is still slowly going through its own My Nintendo Store pre-order process with invitations going out on a rolling basis. But those units aren’t guaranteed to arrive on launch day and some might not arrive until days or weeks later. Basically, what I’m saying is that if you failed to lock down a pre-order in the initial frenzy last month, there’s still hope. Now, does that mean showing up on the day of or camping out for a week? Knowing Nintendo fans, and with the Switch 2 being the biggest console launch in the company’s history, I wouldn’t put anything past them. .

Hi Everyone! A memorable storyCome read my first Dev Blog post to find out how you can craft memorable, unique background stories for your heroes (or villains) in The Guiding Spirit! When I was designing the background generation system, my goal was to show to the player how much the selected Traits/Spells/Skills actually matter and have an impact on their characters' story right from the start. Let’s say you pick the Scurg ancestry for your character. These are adrenaline-addict creatures, always looking for danger, tough situations keep them alive.For Class, you choose the bard. Because bards are cool. In the world of The Guiding Spirit, bards do not neccesarily have access to the Intellect (magic), they might simply be a chanter making a living in shady taverns or a jester hired by the Wind-King to entertain their royal court. How they became a bard will depend on their Origin story.Speaking of! For Origin, you pick „Merchant family”, but let’s say that when you distribute your skill-points you don’t put any points in Trade. So how that is presented in their backstory? Well, your character was raised by merchants but every time their father counted his profit, their mind was elsewhere. Where exactly? If you did put points in Arcane skills, the story will call out that instead of learning the basic principles of trade, the character was secretly reading books about performing complex magical practises. If you designed the character to be a warrior, their story will mention that when nobody looked, they practised combat stances with a wooden sword (or any other weapon, depending on which weapon proficiency you selected!) in the backyard. From where do they get the equipment to do those things? It depends on what personality traits you gave to the character. A Swindler might carefully „borrow” those books and training materials. An agressive, maybe evil character might bully someone to get what they want. A creative, quick-thinker person will do it in a way nobody expects...But let’s keep this simple for now, you can go crazy when you'll try out the demo (coming later this year for free!). Your scurg character never wanted to be a merchant, they took their father’s old, never-before-used lute and went to seek adventure and danger (mind, you are a scurg, you need danger!). You pick the „Rich Start” and „Missing Finger” capability traits, among others. But wait... you didn’t pick the „Noble Kid” Origin, so how Rich Start is going to work? Let’s see what has been added to their backstory:„She was even lucky enough to find a small fortune by accident during her first day of travel. It only costed her a finger as the bandits who hid the chest found her later that day... At least she made it out alive.”Okay, that’s tense. But why exactly the character decided to become an adventurer, leaving behind their past? Maybe they have a more complex, specific reason? Lucky for you, you can define that as well! For simplicity, let’s choose the „Wants to be famous” Aspiration as it goes well with the bard class. If you mix that with the „Ambitious” personality trait, I promise you will get some very cool story-scenes!And there you go, you just created a unique, complex backstory with twists and turns. There’s even more, you can (beyond the above) define your character's core memories, followers, faith, constellation, specializations and special abilities (spells and combat abilities) and more! You change any aspect, you get a different concept. Find the one suitable for you and see how it plays out!There are myriad of choices you can select from when it comes to Origins, Core Memories, Aspirations, Capabilities, Personality, Skills, Proficiencies, Followers and the unique combination of these will create memorable characters. Even if you pick the same Trait for two heroes in the party, every other aspect you selected for them will alter their background story enough to make them feel distinctive.You can create a character who works alone. You can create a character who doesn’t speak at all, not a word during the entire adventure. You can create a character who struggles to understand what others are saying. You can create a bard who is kicked-out of every tavern at their early days - and then witness exceptional character development - because you forgot to put points into the Performance Skill.The choice is yours.And keep in mind, your choices do not only change their backstory, they change the actual journey, they guide the story. Their aspirations, their past, their identity will decide what's happening to them, each npc will react to them based on who they are, what they do, in a nutshell: how you designed them. Also, it goes beyond the combination of an individual’s traits, the mixture of all your team members’ features will create unique outcomes, story beats. There are a lot of very-well hidden storylines in there which you can only find with a certain combination of characters!Cheers,Dice Impact

Haga clic aquí para leer esta historia en español.SONORA, Mexico — This landscape didn’t seem like a place to find jaguars, the world’s most famous jungle cat. The ground was parched and rocky and mostly brown, other than the occasional cactus or palm tree. It was so hot and dry that even some of the prickly nopales were wilting.Yet there it was — in the playback screen of a motion-sensing camera, strapped to an oak tree near a dry stream bed. Less than a week earlier, a large jaguar had walked exactly where I was now standing. Even from the small camera display, the cat looked imposing, with its oversized paws and a wide, skull-crushing jaw. The Northern Jaguar Reserve is nestled in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. During our visit in April, the dry season, there was little green vegetation other than desert plants like organ pipe cactuses and agave. Ash Ponders for VoxIt was a blistering afternoon in April, and I was in the Northern Jaguar Reserve, a protected area in Sonora about 125 miles south of the US border in Arizona. The reserve and the region around it are home to the world’s northernmost population of jaguars, the largest cats in the Western Hemisphere, as well as three other species of wild felines: ocelots, bobcats, and mountain lions, or pumas.The cat on the screen was named El Guapo. He’s the largest of five or six resident jaguars in the reserve and has likely fathered a handful of kittens, Miguel Gómez Ramírez, the reserve manager, told me.El Guapo has a bold personality: While some of the park’s jaguars get spooked by the flash or sound of motion cameras scattered through the reserve, jumping in the air like surprised house cats, El Guapo doesn’t seem to care. It’s as if he knows he’s at the top of the food chain. 1/4El Guapo. Courtesy of the Northern Jaguar ProjectWhile jaguars are often associated with the tropics, they once ranged as far north as Southern California, the Grand Canyon, and possibly even Louisiana. The US had jaguars! Then they were gone. By the mid-1900s, ranchers and hunters had exterminated these felines, largely because they were seen — like many other wild predators — as a threat to cattle. Jaguars do occasionally kill cows, though few cases of livestock predation in the US have actually been verified. Over the last few decades, several male jaguars have been spotted in their historic territory in the American Southwest — most recently, in December 2023. The extraordinary sightings give environmental advocates hope that jaguars could one day return to the US, fixing a broken food chain and recovering an important missing piece of Indigenous culture in the southern borderlands.A jaguar pelt is on display at the Ecological Center of Sonora, a zoo in the state capital of Hermosillo. Ash Ponders for VoxThose cats all came from northern Mexico. They came from the region where I was now standing, slipping through some of the last remaining gaps in the border wall. That means any chance that jaguars now have of returning to the US depends on maintaining openings in the wall — and on an ample reserve of cats in northern Mexico. Jaguars can only reestablish in their northern range if they’re sufficiently abundant in Mexico, where they’re endangered. And like in the US, ranchers in Sonora have a long history of killing felines for their perceived, and occasionally real, threat to cattle. While the Northern Jaguar Reserve helps protect wild cats in Sonora, what had ultimately brought me to Mexico was a project to conserve jaguars that extends far beyond the park’s boundary. For many years, a small group of scientists and advocates have been working to cast Sonora’s jaguars in a different light — to turn them from beef-hungry villains to important features of the ecosystem that can bring ranchers financial reward. Those efforts appear to be paying off: The population of jaguars in the reserve and the ranching region around it is stable, if not growing, offering hope that people can live harmoniously with the predators they once loathed.The Northern Jaguar Reserve is, without exaggerating, in the middle of nowhere.I traveled there last month with Roberto Wolf, a veterinarian who leads the Northern Jaguar Project (NJP), an American nonprofit that oversees the refuge. After crossing the border south of Tucson, we drove another four hours or so to a charming ranch town called Sahuaripa, where the narrow streets were lined with brightly colored homes and full of stray dogs.Homes in the town of Sahuaripa are brightly painted and often have crosses mounted on their front doors. Ash Ponders for VoxA man named Don Francisco sells warm tortillas at dawn in Sahuaripa. Ash Ponders for VoxA one-armed statue of Jesus overlooks the town of Sahuaripa. The other arm, I was told, fell off in a lightning storm. Ash Ponders for VoxFrom there it was another few hours on to the reserve, largely on rugged dirt roads. (I felt like we were in one of those car commercials for all-terrain vehicles that are only useful in this exact scenario.)Some time after entering the reserve we stopped by a log on the side of the road. It was covered in scratch marks, like the arm of a couch in a home filled with cats. That was the work of a mountain lion marking its territory, said Gómez, who met us in the park. He pointed out a motion camera nearby that had previously captured the behavior. Right before arriving at our campsite, a skunk ran across the front of the car, did a handstand, and then disappeared into the scrub. The next morning, which was cloudless and crisp, we hiked to a place called La Hielería — the spot where the trail cam had recently spotted El Guapo. Large winged shadows crossed our paths, cast by vultures hunting for carcasses. On the drive from Arizona to Sahuaripa, we crossed the Yaqui River, just west of the Northern Jaguar Reserve. It cuts through the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. Ash Ponders for VoxDozens of motion-detecting trail cameras are scattered throughout the reserve. Here, the display shows a mountain lion that walked by several days earlier. Ash Ponders for VoxLa Hielería, once part of a cattle ranch, has an important place in cat conservation. In the late 1990s, when jaguars were reappearing in the US, a team of researchers began exploring northern Mexico to find out where they were coming from. As part of that work, a biologist named Gustavo Pablo Lorenzana Piña set up a motion camera by a stream bed in La Hielería. The camera captured, as expected, cow after cow after cow. But then, as Lorenzana kept clicking through, he saw it: a jaguar, “the undisputed ruler of the neotropical forests, captured in a beautiful shot with shrubs and cacti in the background,” he said. The image, taken in early 2000, was the first ever photo of a live jaguar in Sonora. It was a female, later named Gus, in honor of Gustavo.The first ever photo taken of a live jaguar in Sonora. GP Lorenzana/CA López-GonzálezHer story ended — as most other jaguar tales do — at the hands of humans. The animal was pursued and killed for allegedly harming cattle, Lorenzana told me. Although it’s technically illegal to kill jaguars in Mexico, hunting them for real or perceived harm to livestock was once a common practice. And it’s still a threat today. In the late 20th century, at least five animals were killed on average per year in the state, according to the book Borderland Jaguars by David Brown and NJP co-founder Carlos López González.One man I met, in his 70s, told me he’d killed six jaguars on a ranch that is now part of the reserve. (He’d typically use dogs to track down the cats and chase them into a cave or a tree. Then he’d shoot them.) Ranch owners would pay around 5,000 Mexican pesos — worth around $260 in today’s US dollars, and nearly double that in the early 2000s — per slain jaguar. Heraclio “Laco” Duarte Robles killed several jaguars when he worked for a ranch in what is now the reserve. Now Laco is employed by the Northern Jaguar Project, where he helps keep the cats alive. Ash Ponders for VoxJaguars do occasionally kill calves, though they prefer to feed on wild prey, such as deer or javelina, a small, fierce peccary that looks like a pig. In Sonora, jaguars and pumas might each kill a few calves per year, which typically amounts to only a fraction of a rancher’s production.While Gus was on the losing side of encounters between ranchers and cats, she left a lasting conservation legacy. By showing up on a trail cam in La Hielería, she helped prove that Sonora was home to a breeding population of jaguars. That spurred an effort to buy up ranches — including the one comprising La Hielería — and turn them into a reserve. NJP purchased its first ranch in 2003, and has since added several more. Together they cover more than 56,000 acres. Today the Northern Jaguar Reserve has a small yet healthy population of five or six jaguars, according to Carmina Gutiérrez González, a biologist at NJP. Motion cameras have spotted another 10 or so jaguars passing through the region, said Gutiérrez, who identifies individuals by their unique patterns of spots. Our only in-person encounter with a jaguar was at the Ecological Center of Sonora, a zoo within a half-day’s drive from the reserve. Ash Ponders for VoxAfter seeing El Guapo on the camera in La Hielería I wandered down the dry stream bed, where I stumbled upon a pile of feces. Jaguar feces, Gómez suspected. I’ve never been so excited to find a pile of shit in my life. People like Gómez who have spent more than a decade in the reserve have never seen jaguars face to face. My chance was close to zero. So poop? I’ll take it.The reserve is essential though insufficient — it’s relatively small, covering less than 3 percent of the area of Yellowstone, for example. Jaguars in Sonora, meanwhile, have incredibly large home ranges, and can travel as much as 10 miles a day, Gómez said. Protecting them in one small area isn’t enough in a region where hunting still occurs. So the Northern Jaguar Project had came up with another solution.One morning, after a few nights in the reserve, we drove to a cattle ranch just beyond the boundary. We parked our dusty 4Runner next to a handful of cows and their calves, who froze and stared at us as if they had never seen humans before. Uriel Villarreal Peña on his ranch, Saucito, near the Northern Jaguar Reserve. Ash Ponders for VoxA rancher named Uriel Villarreal Peña, who owns the property, came out to greet us, trailed by two dogs. As we sat around his outdoor table, under the shade of a tin roof, he told us he owns a little more than 100 cattle — each worth several hundred dollars — that he sells in Sahuaripa to be exported to the US.For more than a decade, Villarreal, who wore a ball cap, jeans, and a button-down shirt, has been part of a program called Viviendo con Felinos. The program, launched by NJP in 2007, works with ranchers to place motion cameras on their land. When those cameras detect a wild cat — a jaguar, puma, ocelot, or bobcat — the nonprofit pays the rancher from a pool of funds they’ve raised from donors. The idea, Wolf told me, is “to make living wild animals more valuable than dead ones.”Photos of jaguars are worth 5,000 pesos each (~$260), which is similar to what hunters might make for killing them. Photos of ocelots earn 1,500 pesos (~$78), pumas 1,000 pesos (~$52), and bobcats 5,000 pesos (~$26). Each rancher can earn a max of 20,000 pesos (~$1,038) a month for their photos — more than double the minimum monthly wage in Mexico. By joining Viviendo con Felinos, ranchers also agree not to kill any wild animals on their ranch, including deer and javelina. Roberto Wolf rests for a moment on our hike in La Hielería. Ash Ponders for Vox(Mexico has another, unrelated program run by its national livestock confederation that partially reimburses ranchers for cattle killed by wild predators. Ranchers complain that these funds, which are similarly meant to reduce hunting, are hard to access and inadequate.)Villarreal told me he joined the NJP program partly for the money. Cat photos taken on his ranch earn him a few thousand dollars each year, he said, which amounts to about 10 to 15 percent of his annual income from the ranch. But he also just likes jaguars. “I’m interested in seeing animals, in preserving animals because they look pretty,” he said. It helps that jaguars haven’t caused him many problems. When he was young, Villarreal thought wild cats were bad because they ate cattle, a rancher’s livelihood. But over time he learned that predators will avoid calves as long as they have plenty of deer and javelina to eat. After sampling a bit of Villarreal’s homemade Bacanora — an agave-based liquor, similar to mezcal; my job is hard, I swear! — he took us to see one of his motion cameras. It was “nearby,” though getting there involved a short drive, a half-hour hike in the sun, and a run-in with a road runner, a manic-looking ground bird that always seems to be in a rush.Wolf and NJP field technician Heraclio “Laqui” Duarte López show us a map at an overlook on our way to the reserve. Ash Ponders for VoxHiking in the reserve takes you across volcanic rocks and scrubland, often in the blistering heat. Ash Ponders for VoxA cattle skull on the outskirts of Peña’s ranch. Ash Ponders for VoxA vermilion flycatcher takes wing across the bank of the Aros River in the reserve. Ash Ponders for VoxStrapped to a wooden post, the camera was plastic, colored in camo, and roughly the size of a brick. We opened it up and clicked through the recent photos. Me approaching. Rabbit. Deer. Fox. A raccoon-like creature called a ringtail. Coati. Ocelot. Javelina. Javelina. Javelina. Javelina. Javelina.And more javelina. I asked Villarreal what he thinks when he sees a wild cat on the camera. “1,500!” he joked, referring to the money in Mexican pesos he earns from each picture of an ocelot. He then added, more seriously: “It feels good to be able to say that they do exist.”To date, 21 ranchers near the reserve have joined Viviendo con Felinos. And together, their land comprises 126,000 acres — an area more than twice the size of the actual reserve. The program has in effect expanded the area across which jaguars and their prey are protected. What’s more, it’s so popular among ranchers that there’s actually an informal waitlist to join, Wolf said. NJP has been slowly growing the program, but adding more ranches — and all of the photos they may take — is expensive, Wolf noted. Between fall 2023 and fall 2024, NJP spent well over $100,000 on photo awards alone. That doesn’t include staff time or the cost of cameras, which run around $150 each. And those cameras often need to be replaced because, of all things, woodpeckers occasionally hammer out the lenses and sensors, Gómez told me.Viviendo con Felinos has given jaguars in Sonora more space to roam, and that alone is huge. But these iconic animals are also benefiting from a more fundamental shift in the region — a shift in its culture and customs. After our visit with Villarreal, we stopped at his neighbor’s property, a large ranch owned by Agustín Hurtado Aguayo. Hurtado, now in his 80s, is the former president of the state’s livestock association and a sizable figure in Sonora’s ranching community. Several years ago, “I hated felines,” he told me at his home in the city of Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, a few hours west of Sahuaripa. Cowboy hats and a pair of bull horns hung from the wall. “I had a very bad image of them,” Hurtado said. Agustín Hurtado Aguayo at his home in Hermosillo. Ash Ponders for VoxRanch-life photos and a longhorn bull mount line the wall of Hurtado’s home. Ash Ponders for VoxHunting wild cats was a practice that older generations passed on, he said, and it stemmed from the belief that cats hurt production. “That’s the training we had,” he told me. It was also normal for cowboys to hunt and eat deer, he said, which diminished an important food source for predators.After Villarreal joined Viviendo con Felinos, Hurtado grew curious about the program. He liked the cat photos from his neighbor’s ranch. “When I began to see photos from the cameras, I began to appreciate the animals,” he said, showing me his iPhone wallpaper of a mountain lion. “Little by little, my vision of wild cats began to change.”Hurtado, who later also joined the program, realized that by limiting the number of cattle on his ranch, his cows would be healthier and there’d be more grass left over for deer. If he had more deer — and his workers refrained from hunting them — wild cats would kill fewer of his animals. These ideas are becoming increasingly common among ranchers in Sonora who have joined the program.“If we as ranchers or as owners of property preserve the normal food chain, we have no problem,” said Jose de la Cruz Coronado Aguayo, another rancher in Viviendo con Felinos. There are other ways, too, to protect cattle from predators, such as by making sure calves don’t roam the mountains alone. In other regions of the world, installing predator deterrents, such as electric fences, alarms, and flashing lights, is also effective in preventing predation. “Cats can really coexist with livestock,” Hurtado told me.The reserve is surrounded by cattle ranches that mostly sell calves for meat. Ash Ponders for VoxWhile it’s clear how photos of jaguars might make someone fall in love with wild cats, that doesn’t explain how ranchers like Hurtado learned how to farm in such a way that protects both felines and cattle. Wolf, of NJP, says it often comes down to individual experiences. Ranchers learn over time that by leaving deer alone or creating new water sources for animals, fewer livestock go missing. What’s also crucial, he said, is that by earning money for photos of cats, people in the program become more tolerant of their presence — and more open to compromise and finding ways to live with them. Before we left his home, Hurtado took out his laptop and showed us photos from the motion cameras on his ranch. They were spectacular: a mountain lion, close to the camera and wearing a look of surprise. An ocelot with what looks like a mouse in its mouth. And several jaguars, including the image below, taken in 2023 — which he had set as his desktop background. 1/3Photos from motion cameras on Hurtado’s ranch. Courtesy of the Northern Jaguar ProjectNot everyone in Sonora suddenly loves cats. Ranchers still blame jaguars when their calves disappear or turn up dead. And some jaguars are still killed discreetly. One rancher who’s not part of Viviendo con Felinos told me that since November he’s lost more than a dozen of his calves, and he suspects that wild cats are behind the damage. He says the reserve should be fenced in for the benefit of ranchers. (There’s no evidence that mountain lions or jaguars killed his calves, Wolf said.)Tension in the region boiled over earlier this year, when a mountain lion apparently entered the house where a ranch worker was staying and attacked his dog. The worker, a man named Ricardo Vazquez Paredes, says he hit the cat with a pipe and the lion ran away, but not before injuring his dog, Blaki. While Wolf and some of the other ranchers I spoke to suspect his account might be exaggerated — it’s rare for mountain lions to go near human dwellings — the story raised concerns around Sahuaripa about jaguars and efforts to protect them. Climate change might also worsen conflict in the region. Ranchers I spoke to say Sonora is getting drier, meaning there will be less and less grass for cattle — and for animals like deer that wild cats eat. That could make cows weaker and more likely to starve and jaguars hungrier and more likely to attack. Research suggests that jaguars kill more calves when it’s dry. In 2023, a rancher in Viviendo con Felinos named Diego Ezrre Romero lost a calf to a jaguar. “The most critical thing on my ranch is water,” Ezrre told me. “There are few deer because of the conditions.”Diego Ezrre Romero, a rancher in the Viviendo con Felinos program, in the verdant courtyard of his home in Sahuaripa. Ash Ponders for VoxThis is to say: Conflict in Sonora isn’t about to disappear altogether. Yet Viviendo con Felinos appears to be helping. Along with NJP’s other efforts to engage the community — education programs, for example, and painting murals that depict the iconic cats in Sahuaripa and other towns — the group is making ranchers in jaguar territory more tolerant to cats. And thanks to payments, more tolerant to losses that they may cause. “Without them [NJP] there wouldn’t even be a jaguar here right now,” said Fausto Lorenzo, a rancher near Sahuaripa who’s not affiliated with the reserve. “All the ranchers would have killed them because that was the custom.”From Hurtado’s home in Hermosillo, we drove back toward Arizona. The highway cut through fields of saguaro cactuses. Dust devils spun in the distance, moving like flying whirlpools across the scrubland.The sun sets behind the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains near the reserve. Ash Ponders for VoxThe success that NJP has had in Mexico ultimately bodes well for efforts to restore jaguars to the US. The number of jaguars in the reserve is stable, Gutiérrez says, but motion cameras suggest that year-over-year more individuals are passing through the region. That’s more individuals that could potentially spill into the US.One big problem, however, remains. As we neared the US border, the wall came into focus. It was metal and brown and rose 18 feet above the desert. Now stretching hundreds of miles across the Southwest, the wall has made the border largely impassive to wildlife — including jaguars. And it’s still expanding. The Trump administration is now planning to complete one of the last unwalled sections of the border, a 25-mile stretch in the San Rafael Valley, about 150 miles northwest of the refuge, where jaguars have crossed into the US. The future for Sonora’s jaguars appears promising regardless of whether Trump finishes his wall. NJP and other organizations have given these animals more space to live and helped lessen the threats they face. The real loss will be felt in the US. And not just among environmentalists and other wildcat advocates. Jaguars have lived in the US long before any of us. They’re part of the country’s nature heritage — of the ecosystems that are truly American — and their absence leaves our landscapes impaired. Ranchers in Sonora teach us that we can live alongside the continent’s great predators. We just have to choose to. Update, May 20, 11:25 am ET: This piece was originally published on May 20 and updated to include both peso and dollar amounts where applicable.See More:

Interviews A Minecraft Movie: Piotr Karwas (VFX Supervisor) & Elizabeth “Liz” Bernard (Animation Supervisor) – Digital Domain By Vincent Frei - 20/05/2025 With 20+ years in film and advertising, Piotr Karwas has supervised VFX for top directors including David Fincher and Tim Burton. His recent work includes The Electric State, Elevation, he’s here today to talk about the Digital Domain work on A Minecraft Movie. After discussing The Electric State with us a few months ago, Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Bernard is back—this time to talk about her work on A Minecraft Movie. How did you and Digital Domain get involved on this show? Piotr Karwas: We were approached by the Warner Bros. VFX team as they were looking to bring on an additional vendor to help complete the remaining visual effects work. It was also an opportunity to be the best dad ever, since both of my kids are huge Minecraft fans. How was the collaboration with Director Jared Hess and VFX Supervisor Dan Lemmon? Piotr Karwas: I’ve known Dan Lemmon since our time working together at Digital Domain. We collaborated on several projects in the early 2000s, so it was a great opportunity to team up again. As for Jared, I’ve been a fan of his work ever since his first feature, Napoleon Dynamite. Years ago, I also had the chance to briefly work on his film Gentlemen Broncos. The blend of Jared’s signature humor with the global phenomenon of Minecraft was simply too exciting to pass up. I knew I wanted to be involved. Although Digital Domain joined the project later in the production process, we quickly got up to speed and delivered our work on time, despite some challenges. What are the sequences made by Digital Domain? Piotr Karwas: Our primary focus was the final battle sequence, but we also contributed to several fully live-action shots featuring set extensions and some CG animation, primarily around the entrance to the mine. Could you walk us through the process of creating the 500+ Piglins and Iron Golems clashing in that 360° battlefield? What were some of the major technical challenges in making that sequence come to life? Piotr Karwas: One of the key creative challenges was striking the right balance between honoring the iconic look and feel of the game while delivering a cinematic, action-packed experience. The goal was to blend a sense of realism through the movement and design of characters and environments with the charm and style of the Minecraft universe. Under the guidance of Jared and Dan, and in close collaboration with the other vendors, we were able to craft something truly unique. The battle unfolds during the Piglin invasion, as the sunny atmosphere of the Overworld begins to transform into a darker, more menacing environment reminiscent of the Nether. The entire battlefield was designed to function seamlessly in both visual states, capturing the warmth and cheer of the original Overworld, while also supporting its dramatic shift into a hellish landscape filled with fire and gloom. Additionally, the stylized world of Minecraft presented some technical hurdles, especially in large scale crowd sequences. The characters’ unconventional anatomy, limited range of motion, and signature fighting styles added an extra layer of complexity but also pushed us to be creative and innovative. Liz Bernard: We started out with 10 piglins, each of which had 2-6 costumes, plus 8 weapons and 2 torches. We were able to get a lot of variety out of that for our piglin horde. The golem army was smaller and more uniform, and golems are too powerful to be messing around with weapons. Instead, they prefer to use their iron arms to smash through their opponents, so we didn’t have as many different iterations, costumes, and such for the iron golems. In Animation, we moved as fast as possible to clean up and modify a big pile of motion capture so that we could provide our Crowds team with over 300 unique animation cycles and clips. Those clips included everything from golems doing windmill arm attacks, to piglins hacking at golem legs with axes and swords, to baby piglins running around in circles, freaking out. Although we started with motion capture for most of the piglin actions, transferring those actions from a full sized human mocap actor onto 10 different blocky piglins with giant angular heads and different body proportions meant each mocap clip needed a lot of adjustment. For example, piglins cannot raise their square little arms very high because their shoulders will quickly crash into the head. Once we had ploughed through that chunk of work, our Crowds team strung those actions together in Autodesk’s Golaem software to create the crowds seen in the backgrounds of our shots. In the mid-ground, we animated a custom set of longer battle vignettes that we could reuse in a number of shots by reorienting them to camera and offsetting their timing. And of course, there was quite a lot of hero animation to fill in the foreground and tell the story of the ebb and flow of battle. Minecraft is known for its blocky aesthetic. How was the animation rigging approached to stay true to that while enhancing the characters’ performance for live action? Liz Bernard: The piglins, hoglins, and wolves were rigged as pretty standard fleshy characters. The wolves had blocky chests and hips, which our Rigging team kept relatively stiff to preserve the original block shape even when we posed the characters in action. Because we were in a hurry on this fast-paced show, we needed to get rigs into Animation’s hands as quickly as possible, so we ended up relying on our shot modeling/sculpting team to adjust some of the characters’ bodies after animation was approved. They paid special attention to the final look of their shoulders, elbows, and knees, to make sure that the bend at each joint stayed as blocky as possible. The iron golems were a lot trickier to get right because they were made of stiff blocks of metal, had no deforming parts, and their joints were extremely simple. We discovered right away that making an iron golem walk meant instant intersections where the legs attach to the hips and the arms attach to the shoulders. So, to solve that problem and get the golems engaged in the battle, we had to give the animators complete control over every body part. This is not something we typically do because it’s easy to go overboard and end up “off model,” but in this scenario, it was absolutely required. This level of control gave the animators the option to offset body parts to achieve the necessary range of movement without visible intersections on screen or gaps in silhouette. Houdini was used to procedurally generate environments for the film. What were some of the most challenging aspects of creating such vast, dynamic landscapes? Piotr Karwas: The environments posed a unique challenge, not just because of their blocky nature, but because it was essential to make the Overworld feel like a tangible, real place. Some design choices were influenced by physical sets that had been built, while others drew inspiration from the real world. We focused on introducing a sense of natural imperfection, subtle elements like slightly uneven lines, worn edges, scuff marks, scattered debris, dirt, and even touches of realistic vegetation. All of this had to be carefully integrated into the strict, grid-based aesthetic of the Minecraft universe. Our environment team rose to the challenge and delivered a highly detailed immersive location, while working under a demanding production schedule. What were the biggest challenges in adapting Minecraft’s creatures and characters into a live-action setting while retaining their iconic charm? Liz Bernard: Because we came onto the project towards the end of shot production, we were able to use other vendors’ work as a rough guide for how our characters should move and behave. The Iron Golems in particular were a fun challenge, and although Sony had a few shots that we could refer to for the overall movement, it was up to us to establish their combat style. We researched how the golems fight in the game, which, as it turns out, is quite simple. We stuck with the game’s stiff legged walk, simple straight arm swings and skyward scoops to match the game’s iron golem attack style as closely as we could. However, purely matching the game wasn’t going to look quite right in a live action environment with human actors. So, on top of the simple performance, we layered weight shifts to counterbalance the heavy arms. We also added some additional step patterns to get them into position to attack piglins so that they would appear clever and more agile without straying too far from the game aesthetic. We also improved the contacts between the golems’ arms and each piglin to really sell the sense of effort and weight in each attack and hit. The destruction of the Overworld Portal seems like a monumental task. How was such an epic scene created, and what role did the environment and FX teams play in bringing it to life? Piotr Karwas: One of the biggest challenges was figuring out the mechanics of how large-scale destruction would play out in the Minecraft world. We had to carefully determine which elements would follow real-world physics and which could behave in a more stylized, game inspired way. We also spent considerable time designing the post-collapse remains to ensure they were visually compelling and cohesive for the staging of the shots that followed. The portal destruction sequence, in particular, appeared in the two widest shots of the entire sequence. These moments required both armies to be on screen, complete with fallen Iron Golems, defeated or pork-chopped Piglins, and digital doubles for every actor. It was a massive technical, logistical, and creative undertaking. We worked on these shots all the way to the final hour. Can you describe the bespoke zombification transformation pipeline developed for the Piglins? How did this process differ from traditional character transformations? Piotr Karwas: By the time we joined the project, the zombification effect had already been largely developed by Weta FX. One of our main challenges was matching their established look while ensuring visual consistency across both their shots and ours. At the same time, we knew we had to push the effect further. After all, this was the grand finale, where the evil army was being defeated. We also wanted the transformation to feel distinct, especially when applied to large numbers of Piglins. To achieve that, we went as far as building complete skeletal systems that could be revealed during the transformation. How was lighting handled to simulate firelit nighttime chaos? What tools or techniques were critical in creating that atmosphere? Piotr Karwas: To achieve the most realistic look, we used actual fire simulations to drive the lighting on both the characters and the environment. We initially started with just a few fires, but Jared was drawn to the striking visual accents and the warm hues they cast on the characters. As a result, we ended up populating the scenes with hundreds of fires. The air was also filled with atmospheric elements like smoke, ash, and embers, all contributing to a richly textured, apocalyptic feel in every shot. To manage this across numerous shots, we developed semi-automated methods to batch simulate the effects efficiently. How was humor incorporated into the animation, especially with subtle gags like pork chops dropping onto the battlefield or background antics? What approach was used to time these moments? Liz Bernard: We had a good time adding easter eggs and gags into this epic battle scene! Piotr let me know early on that Jared would welcome goofy touches, especially on background characters, so I made sure to pass that information on to my team of animators. What did I get back? Nose picks, butt scratches, belly slaps, and all sorts of goofy behaviour in the background. We usually didn’t center those things in the action unless it was called for in the script (in fact, Jared and Dan had to pull us back a few times), but if you look carefully, you’ll find maximum silliness all over the place. And, of course, I have to mention the Great Hog here. He was probably our funniest character and the most challenging to animate. His style of movement was dictated by his unusual proportions, in particular, his itty-bitty legs and long chunky arms. Those stumpy legs meant his stride was super short unless he broke out into a full quadruped gallop, which our team animated with extra oomph and effort to get a good laugh. The Great Hog’s low rider pants took a dive after one particularly strenuous sprint across the battlefield to attack Natalie. When he rose up on hind legs in anticipation of smashing her with his giant blocky fists, Jared wanted to make sure that the audience could see clearly the gag that his butt crack was showing. In VFX, we traditionally call a gradient of options that we would pitch to the client a “wedge.” In this case, we needed to get a read on how low to go with the pants before we simulated them in CFX, so we sent over a “wedge” for the pants and butt crack for Jared to pick from. In this case, I guess it was actually…a wedgie. How was the visual humor seamlessly integrated into the more intense action sequences, and was there a particular moment that captured this balance perfectly? Liz Bernard: The visual humour was baked into the action from the get-go, from game to storyboards to previsualization. I mean, there’s something inherently funny about dozens of piglins in shorts getting smacked high up into the air and then poof! turning into porkchops. When I welcomed each animator to the show, I made a point of mentioning that they were a little more free to tell jokes with pantomime on this show than they might be used to on more realistic productions. Because we were always in a mindset to make each shot as funny as possible without distracting from the story points, the flavour in animation dailies was always funny. My team pitched piglins getting run over by the Great Hog by accident, baby piglins riding on an iron golem attempting to attack its head, some utterly hilarious slow-mo action with exaggerated overlap a la Baywatch, a hoglin and piglin rider mugging for the camera as they gallop by in the foreground, wolves clamped on by their teeth to the waistband of the Great Hog, and a whole lot of over-acted melodramatic writhing as the piglins zombified after the portal collapsed. You don’t have to tell animators twice to be silly. With such a large-scale project, how did the animation and VFX teams collaborate to maintain a cohesive style across both departments? Were there any specific moments where this collaboration stood out? Liz Bernard: This was a ripsnorter of a project timeline, so all departments were hitting the ground running and developing their parts of the project concurrently. That’s always challenging and requires a lot of communication to pull off. We had a bullpen of experienced folks in our show leadership, and knowing what each other’s departments could and couldn’t do saved us a lot of time as we ramped up. For example, we were able to establish a single groundplane early in our animation schedule, which helped us avoid having to adjust the character’s feet contacts to an evolving environment even as artists were still building the overworld battlefield. The Environments team did a great job set dressing the environment after we had placed our animation and crowds’ characters, so that we did not need to worry about running through plants, pebbles, fires, or corpses. The FX department established a workflow with the Crowds team to “porkchop” any crowds piglin that got smacked by crowds’ iron golems. Setting these rules and criteria helped each department streamline their processes. And, our production team did an absolutely incredible job making sure that every department stayed on target, communicated their roadblocks and breakthroughs effectively downstream (and sometimes upstream!), and adjusted the schedule to compensate. I think the moment where this collaboration really shone was when we saw all of the zombification shots at the end of the sequence starting to fall into place. One day, it felt like we had all of them left to tackle, and the next, we had our methodology kinks worked out and they all started to drop like dominoes. Piotr Karwas: As Liz mentioned, the schedule was extremely tight, especially for executing the film’s grand finale. We had to move quickly and strategically, knowing that things would evolve and change throughout production. I’m incredibly grateful to our amazing team at Digital Domain. Across all four locations, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Montreal, and Hyderabad, our artists worked around the clock to bring it all to life. Yes, there were long hours, high stress, and the usual frustrations with technology that doesn’t always behave but in the end, it was all absolutely worth it. Seeing kids enjoy the movie so much made everything worthwhile. Chicken Jockey! Looking back on the project, what aspects of the visual effects are you most proud of? Piotr Karwas: Without a doubt, the Great Hog’s butt crack was the highlight for me. Liz Bernard: Just the sheer scale of this thing is wild. This is one of those “more is more” kinds of projects that don’t come around so often in our world of photorealistic visual effects. Nothing was supposed to be “real” here, everything was exaggerated, every frame we produced was chock full of crazy action, over the top humor, and easter eggs. I’m very proud of our animation team for embracing this hilarious show in a more cartoony style that we don’t often have the opportunity to tackle. And, man, it tickles me that the fans got such a huge kick out of it all when the movie hit theatres. What else can you ask for? How long have you worked on this show? Piotr Karwas: About six months Liz Bernard: Just six months from start to finish. What’s the VFX shots count? Piotr Karwas: Digital Domain delivered 187 shots not including omits. What is your next project? Piotr Karwas: A Minecraft Movie I hope. Jokes aside, I’m looking at a whole slate of different projects. Liz Bernard: All I can say right now is that it’s a science fiction film that comes out in 2026. Stay tuned! A big thanks for your time. WANT TO KNOW MORE?Digital Domain: Dedicated page about A Minecraft Movie on Digital Domain website. © Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2025

NotDaRealSlimShady Member Mar 8, 2025 631 You've been playing this great open world for a few hours now and you start a mission asking you to travel to an undiscovered part of the map when all of sudden different music starts playing.You're still playing but just by adding music you feel the vibe shifting,it brings you closer the character,what they might be thinking, are they afraid they might not come back?Do they have any regrets? I believe Red Dead Redemption 1 is the first game that that really pulled off this moment, not just once but three times if you include Undead Nightmare. Red Dead 2 has lots of these moments as well,although the biggest one is the ride back from Guarma as D'Angelos Unshaken starts playing. I pulled together a poll of the most memorable ones to me, do you have a favorite not on the list? Doesn't need to have any lyrics. Uncharted 4 is not an open world game but it qualifies.Nate and Elena at the lowest point in their relationship. View: https://youtu.be/t66-a8m1HjQ?si=6Ft603-xXJ0Y2vH8 Red Dead's ride to Mexico (Jose Gonzalez-Far Away) View: https://youtu.be/AUXGW6sWYDY?si=VIIjmUtF_z9PWXCi Death Stranding lonely walk while Silent Poets is playing View: https://youtu.be/0R3QybOmGjU?si=Wy1FQNhVEQ5T5R8I Undead Nightmare's bombastic surf rock ride in the last mission. Deja Vu by The Kreeps View: https://youtu.be/A1iM3HRXlmU?si=eAHqwSEGSmPqciNv  Last edited: Today at 9:33 AM OP OP NotDaRealSlimShady Member Mar 8, 2025 631 Red Dead 1 "Head home to your family" (Compass by Jamie Lidell) View: https://youtu.be/x_dBxGThEx8?si=IElZAshsNX1N-aRD Red Dead 2 "May I Stand Unshaken" by D'Angelo View: https://youtu.be/ulTH0MHwa8c?si=UkWqtzxOFJgt-RDt  Last edited: Today at 9:32 AM MadMod Member Dec 4, 2017 4,816 Legit thought you were talking about Death Stranding from the title, so that's my pick, always sad when it ended. Doesn't qualify but Max Payne 3 - Travelling with bullets to the other side of the airport with HEALTH playing sticks out for me.  OP OP NotDaRealSlimShady Member Mar 8, 2025 631 MadMod said: Doesn't qualify but Max Payne 3 Click to expand... Click to shrink... Deserves an honorable mention.I almost put it in the poll,it's that good View: https://youtu.be/ovl6TcX-G-E?si=Yw56wXncl3cZ16JP   Bucca Member Oct 25, 2017 5,512 Death Stranding the thread lol   NoctisLC Member Jun 5, 2018 1,691 Unshaken was so friggin good in RDR2   Danielsan Member Oct 26, 2017 7,013 The Netherlands Death Stranding was definitely the first thing to come to mind.   Pyccko "This guy are sick" Member Oct 25, 2017 4,021 i still regularly remember my first ride into mexico in RDR. Unmatched high for me   OP OP NotDaRealSlimShady Member Mar 8, 2025 631 Danielsan said: Death Stranding was definitely the first thing to come to mind. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Bucca said: Death Stranding the thread lol Click to expand... Click to shrink... Kojima even put it in the trailer which kinda took away the surprise for me but it's such a great song   Jedi2016 Member Oct 27, 2017 20,047 Death Stranding was the one that popped into my head first, but I feel like RDR2 hit a lot harder in the moment. I still have the recording of that ride.   Rassilon Member Oct 27, 2017 11,286 UK it's a tie between RDR2 and Death Stranding for me they hit for different reasons  NewDust Visited by Knack Member Oct 25, 2017 7,719 Docking DS points for using Asylums pre-release. The impact of Far Away was much bigger while playing, so that gets my vote.   YaBish Unshakable Resolve - One Winged Slayer Member Oct 27, 2017 5,885 I think it's damn close between Death Stranding and RDR1. I think I'd give it to the former, but I love Jose Gonzales the most out of the artists in the poll.   GokouD Member Oct 30, 2017 1,346 Not an open world game, but the boat ride to the island in Disco Elysium was my first thought on seeing the title. Such a great scene.   onibirdo Member Dec 9, 2020 3,569 Pour one out for the people who didn't steal that obviously placed horse for Unshaken.   Kapten Avenger Nov 1, 2017 1,545 RDR2 with Unshaken and then hitting us with "That's the way it is" is unmatched for me.   OP OP NotDaRealSlimShady Member Mar 8, 2025 631 NewDust said: Docking DS points for using Asylums pre-release Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah,part of these moments is the surprise.It's still a really great song and i guess lots of people haven't seen that trailer. But like,imagine if Rockstar used Unshaken in a trailer before RDR2 released? 😂 View: https://youtu.be/rP3UngLFou4?si=wRxxAqU2COFgdMfB  Magnus Member Oct 25, 2017 9,633 I'm having trouble remembering the specific moments but I feel like a bunch of RPGs do this. Clair Obscur, Rebirth come to mind. After a poignant series of story/events, the status quo for the characters and world is different, and the music acknowledges that while you are given control to keep on going, knowing things aren't the same. It's very powerful.   OP OP NotDaRealSlimShady Member Mar 8, 2025 631 onibirdo said: Pour one out for the people who didn't steal that obviously placed horse for Unshaken. Click to expand... Click to shrink... A very good example of simple game design.The game does its best to tell you "PICK THIS DAMN HORSE" i did see some let's players who didn't get the clues 😂   selfnoise Member Oct 25, 2017 1,552 "Far Away" happened for me in the middle of the night game-time and it is one of my most memorable open-world memories. Just slowly riding in a desert bathed in moonlight.   adventureracing2 Member Feb 13, 2025 246 Not sure if this is what you were thinking of but my immediate thought was of the second mission on the original halo. You leave the tunnel on your warthog out into the big open world for the first time and this badass bombastic tune kicks in letting you know what the game is all about. It's one of my greatest gaming memories.   Lbbaker Member May 21, 2018 2,347 Sometimes I think about Unshaken in RDR2 and still get chills. Absolutely perfect.   Katbobo Member May 3, 2022 8,227 the "Weight of the World" segment at the end of Nier Automata Just absolute chills  Rookhelm Member Oct 27, 2017 3,784 The metal gear solid 3 long ladder climb is such a weird but cool moment. It plays a vocals-only version of the main theme while you climb this insanely long ladder.  Ant_17 Member Oct 28, 2017 2,943 Greece You confused the hell out of me. Its Bad Voodoo, not Deja vu   scottbeowulf Member Oct 27, 2017 10,934 United States I've been playing through Assassin's Creed Shadows and they do this sometimes when you start fighting. This cool 70s sounding music will start like I'm in a Tarantino movie and I'm like oh shit ok shit getting real   petetnt Member Oct 28, 2017 1,692 Kojima is all time GOAT with I'M STILL IN A DREAM SNAKE EAAAATERRRR View: https://i.imgur.com/0u8PAgn.png In the Ladder boss fight.  Mary Celeste Member Oct 25, 2017 14,267 Asylums for the Feeling drop is my fav game moment of the PS4 gen   MadJosh04 Member Nov 9, 2022 2,761 The ride into Mexico gave me goosebumps. Absolutely perfect part of an amazing game.   Clay Member Oct 29, 2017 9,583 NoctisLC said: Unshaken was so friggin good in RDR2 Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah, that easily takes it for me. Getting to Mexico in the first game was great too, blew my mind a bit at the time, but the Unshaken scene is just on another level.  MadMod Member Dec 4, 2017 4,816 Just remembered another - Days Gone - Jack Savoretti Soldier's Eyes. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqhh18gp5l0   Xwing This guy are sick of the unshakeable slayer Member Nov 11, 2017 11,595 That part in MGSV The Phantom Pain - 10 year anniversary DLC where Invisible by Duran Duran starts playing.  

We're glad to see everyone enjoying Apocalypse Rising! It's been three weeks since release and this marks our first major balance pass! We are also releasing the modding SDK so users can look into our tools for custom projects! Posted by FRAYDO on May 16th, 2025 We are glad to see everyone playing and enjoying Apocalypse Rising so far! It has been three week since release and this update marks our first major balance pass. The initial feedback has reported that the "Allies are overpowered", and we aim to address that notion with this major patch. This post will include patches 0.9.0.1 through 0.9.0.5 in descending order to describe everything that has been adjusted since our release. At the bottom of this post, after all of the patch notes, we are also including information on the release of our Modding SDK! Patches 0.9.0.3 - 0.9.0.5 There are three patches here because we ran internal testing before settling on the final build (0.9.0.5) Based on game experience and player feedback, it was identified that the Allies were winning the majority of the games. This patch brings the Soviets up to compensate whilst also nerfing some key Allied units. Soviet will now have more of a chance in the face of the Allied teamwork machine. Bug Fixes Fixed several crashes reported by players via crash dumps (thank you!) Fixed Nvidia App "game filters" crashing the game Keyboard keys no longer get stuck when the window loses focus (e.g. Alt+Tab would leave Alt stuck) Less hitching when units spawn Fixed an issue relating to Chrono Miner Objective Markers Performance has been improved by optimizing some game objects General Changes Team remixing/rebalancing logic was re-implemented to improve team variety for players from match to match Players can no longer refill when in combat. Players can now set max FPS to any value instead of an arbitrary selection Bots can path their way out of buildings now (mostly) Mesh optimizations have been applied to the War Factories and Refineries. The legacy "Battlefield Key Success Tips" document has been removed from the game. Several PT icons have been updated Reinforcement Bays are no longer targetable by enemies. Kill messages: Grand Cannon kill strings no longer fill the feed on FreezingStraits. Added crushed kill string. Revolver kill string has been added to the nagant. Shotgun kill string has been added to the shotguns. Map Changes Fort Bradley: Fixed a bunch of buildings, improving performance and removing ngons Adjusted some of the building roofs to prevent degenerate gameplay FreezingStraits: Added visible boundary stripes. The hills behind the bases are now considered out of bounds. Removed a chunk of terrain sticking into the Radar Tower basement. LittleBigLake: Fixed a floating rock on the cliff behind the Allied base. SnowBound: The cliff to the northwest of the Allied base is now considered out-of-bounds. Fixed a couple texture seams at the main road north of the Allied base. Updated the screenshot on loading screen. Updated the overhead map. Dune Patrol: Adjusted out of bounds area to prevent degenerate gameplay General Balance Changes The targeting ranges of several weapons were increased by 3m in order to for units to be able to target enemies a little way before they are actually in range. Lock-on untrack time increased: 1.25s -> 1.75s Prevented some map objects from being locked onto (i.e. Bridge repair Huts) Deployed Infantry Damage Resistance Reduced: 50%->40% Damage from Explosions now affects Mines, C4 and Dynamite Infantry that are crushed by vehicles now register on the kill feed Proximity Mines are now placed at the player's feet. This is in order to prevent mines from being placed on walls and in other weird places. All thrown cooldown-based weapons now autoswap back to the unit's Primary after being used. i.e. After using Molotovs, the Conscript will switch back to it's PPSH automatically Dogs can now reload their bite and bark weapons whilst sprinting. Allies Guardian GI Secondary Fire now shoots a missile that does not lock-on Rocketeer Jetpack Cooldown increased 1s->2s Projectile Damage Reduced: 25->20 Projectile Explosion Damage Outer Radius Increased: 3m->3.25m Projectile Explosion Damage Inner Radius Increased: 1.5m->2m Sniper Projectile Range Decreased: 350m -> 220m Corrected Damage Falloff Range (Within the last 50m of range, the damage falls off by around half) Navy SEAL Projectile Warhead changed: Bullet -> Bullet Anti Infantry This change nerfs the MP5N vs armoured targets Primary Projectile Damage: 15->14 Primary Projectile Spray angle Increased: 0.24°->0.75° Secondary Projectile Damage: 15->14 Secondary Projectile Burst Delay time: 0.12s->0.15s Secondary Projectile Spray angle Increased: 0.1°->0.5° C4 Inventory Count Reduced: 2->1 C4 Explosion Damage Increased: 60->90 Tanya Projectile Damage Increased: 20->22 Projectile Rate of Fire Increased: 6->12 Weapon now fires in 2 round bursts Weapon Clip Sized Increased 18->36 Tanya is supposed to be holding two pistols, so this new clip size aims to reflect that C4 Range: 5m->10m IFV Guardian GI Range Decreased: 120->115 Seal Damage Increased 12->14 Rate of Fire Increased 14->16 Range Increased 95m->115m Sniper Changed Warhead form Bullet_AV to Bullet_AI Projectile Damage: 102 -> 100 Projectile Range: 300 -> 275 Corrected Damage Falloff Range (Within the last 50m of range, the damage falls off by around half) Mirage Tank Range Decreased: 115->110 Prism Tank Projectile Range Increased 145m->150m Tank Destroyer Projectile Range Decreased: 135m->120m Cost Increased: 900->1000 Howitzer Adjusted the model so that it looks less like the Tank Destroyer Harrier Projectile Range Decreased: 130m->120m Black Eagle Projectile Velocity Decreased: 120->100 Projectile Range Decreased: 130m->120m Soviets Crazy Ivan Grenade Launcher Explosion Damage Increased: 50->75 Large Dynamite Inventory Count Reduced: 2->1 Large Dynamite Explosion Damage Increased: 60->90 Terrorist Self Explosion Damage Inner Radius Increased: 4m->6m Weapons are now hidden when not being held. Boris Airtsrike Timer Reduced: 15s->12s Terror Drone The physics have been altered for better handling and cliff climbing performance Jump Height Increased: 12->15 Flak Track Has a new model! Weapon Reload Time: 1.5s ->1.25s Primary Projectile Damage Decreased 33->30 Secondary Projectile Velocity Increased: 400->500 V3 Rocket Launcher Projectile Velocity Decreased: 112->90 Projectile Gravity Increased: 7.0->3.75 Projectile Extension Adjusted Explosion Damage Inner Radius Increased: 10m->12m ***TOTAL RANGE IS AROUND 230m*** Tesla Tank: Weapon handling adjusted to reduce the arc of fire overall Demo Truck Cost Reduced: 1500->1400 Explosion Damage Increased: 400->500 Radiation Radius Increased: 24m->30m Apocalypse Tank Cannon Velocity Increased 250m/s->275m/s Missile Range Increased 135m->140m Missile Lock-on Time Decreased: 1.25->2 Missile Turn Rate increased: 350°/s->420°/s Siege Chopper Model updated with Rotor Blur Cameras re-worked Physics altered to make the controls more responsive Projectile Explosion Damage Outer Radius Increased: 1.5m->2.5m Projectile Explosion Damage Inner Radius Increased: 1m->1.85m Kirov Airship The Kirov now takes half as much damage from all non-AA weapons Points Given on Death: 200 -> 175 MG Damage Increased: 10->11 MG Spray Decreased: 1°->0.9° Bomb Impact Damage Increased: 110->125 Explosion Damage Increased: 100->110 Patch 0.9.0.2 This patch introduced more fixes and altered the balance of some of the most egregious units ingame. Bug Fixes Fixed a crash when spotting a disguised Mirage Tank as an Attack Dog, Tentatively fixed an exploit where GIs and GGIs could become invincible after using a parachute General Changes Added Siege Chopper Weapon Strings, Removed a Projectile Blocker from the doors of the Allied Power Plant Elm and Aca trees now have less upper branch projectile collision Fixed Allied Supply Truck and Siege Chopper entry/exit zones Fixed Shotgun Scaling Terror Drones and Robot Tanks now tell the pilot that the vehicle will be killed if they leave it Added a missing texture fron the loading screen AI turrets on the Battle Fortress and War Miner will now search for targets Terror Drone now has an attack sound Desolator Weapons no longer leave black marks everywhere New Soviet Technician PT Icon Re-ordered the infantry purchase list When using Artillery Auto-Aim feature when out of range, the auto aim will now adopt the max weapon elevation Updated the Credits Map Changes Little Big Lake: Fixed a hole in the ground by the Allied base. Adjusted pathfinding for Harvesters. Dune Patrol: Removed out-of-bounds lines in the small infantry tunnel next to the Soviet base. Snowbound: Added more ground clutter New terrain textures Added some rocks Fort Bradley: Fixed a bunch of NGons on the Urban Buildings Balance Changes The Attack Dog's Bark can now pierce through multiple targets Engineer + IFV Repair Reduced: 0.65 -> 0.6 Technician + IFV Repair Reduced: 0.32 -> 0.3 Technician IFv Self Healing Halved Deployed Infantry now take 50% less incoming damage from all sources (was inconsistent beforehand) AA Flak Damage vs Helicopters Increased Sniper IFV Laser now uses the correct range Patch 0.9.0.1 Released shortly after the game launched, this patch contained key fixes to the game. Bug Fixes Fixed a Server Crash that was sometimes occurring when a player added a vehicle to the queue and then left the server Siege Chopper can no longer deploy in mid-air Siege Chopper animation has been fixed Fixed an issue with Fort Bradley where Allies were getting 500 free points at the start of the match Fixed some graphical issues with Fort Bradley General Changes Added Siege Cameras to the V3 Launcher and Howitzer Added Encyclopaedia entries for the weapons and infantry Ricardo Engineer credit to Scorched Earth! Check out his RA2 and Apocalypse Rising videos on his YouTube channel! Youtube.com Over the course of these past few weeks, we have heard several requests from our players to release the tools for the game so they can make mods, dive into unit statistics, and translate the game into various languages. We are proud to announce we've made the modding SDK available here: Gitlab.com Whenever we release we will aim to update the tools to match the latest public version, much like we do with the server (also found here: Gitlab.com). If you're looking for tutorials and documentation, we have a wealth of info in our Tutorials forum but also on Tacitus, which is our documentation resource. Links below the image. Tacitus: Documentation Tutorials: W3D Tutorials Over time we will aim to add more to these tools, like pieces of example content and maps for you guy to dissect. In the meantime though, we can't wait to see what you'll all end up making and if you need any help creating things, please feel free to reach out to us over Discord! Found here: Discord.gg Keep 'Em Coming! That's all for now. Please feel free to leave your feedback and report bugs in our Discord and on our forums. We've got eyes on both platforms, so we'll make sure that every point gets a fair shake. Thanks again for supporting the game and our community! - The W3D Hub Team

Vex Member Oct 25, 2017 25,591 Were you ever bullied or made fun of for liking video games growing up (by Relatives/Friends/Enemies)? It was kind of in the same category as liking paper back comic books back in the day (i.e. "nerd culture"). Just curious. I know things are kind of different now (mostly), but I am wondering if you were made fun of by the "uninitiated" as they say. Back during a time where video games were kind of "niche" to enjoy in the capacity we do now on a much broader scale. Personally my parents thought it was odd that I enjoyed video games and would often ridicule me for enjoying a quiet game during the summer months. They'd say "why don't you go outside" and take my console away sometimes. They'd also say very hurtful things but I won't get into that. I figured as long as I wasn't doped up and doing drugs like all the other "cool kids", or getting an early pregnancy, I was good wtf MOM 🤣  Last edited: 48 minutes ago Baphomet Member Dec 8, 2018 21,845 Nope.   Mephissto Member Mar 8, 2024 1,145 No, video games were always hot shit in my school etc. I remember in elementary school almost everyone was playing Pokemon during breaks.  Dan Thunder Member Nov 2, 2017 16,965 Occasionally made fun of but I grew up in the 80's and there was a much bigger stigma in the 80's and early 90's around playing computer/videogames.   Jus Do It ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 25, 2017 43,755 South Central I'm a millennial, so I act like I was an outsider because of video games even though everybody else my age was also into video games. Gen Xers were the last true nerds.  Jubilant Duck Member Oct 21, 2022 9,214 The only people who made negative comments about how many videogames I played were my parents.   Dal Uncle Works at Nintendo Member Aug 18, 2024 2,197 No, video games were huge in my school (and bullying was uncommon fortunately since everyone knew everyone and hitting another kid or making fun of them was a good enough way to get you in trouble with the rest of the school)   Okada Member Nov 8, 2017 749 I'm a millennial and everyone around me was playing video games. It wasn't weird even then. Not liking football would have been seen as much weirder and more likely to lead to bullying.  THANKS Prophet of Regret Member Oct 22, 2018 1,587 Yes because I played JRPGs.   ConflictResolver Member Jan 1, 2024 4,856 Midgar I don't think this was ever a thing in the UK. But American pop culture made it look like a thing there (nerds vs jocks) but maybe that's just a made up thing from TV and movies and was never true? Vex said: Personally my parents thought it was odd that I enjoyed video games and would often ridicule me for enjoying a quiet game during the summer months. They'd say "why don't you go outside" and take my console away sometimes. They'd also say very hurtful things but I won't get into that. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Ah yes I can relate. I'm married in my 30s, have my own house, my own kid and my parents still sometimes scrutinise my lifelong videogame hobby. It's weird. My Dad is more about scrutinising the finances of it, but my Mum sometimes says throwaway comments like "wow you are a big man now and still play game?". It's actually really hurtful considering how big a part of my identity videogames and videogame culture is (and she knows it too). As if I am going to give up the thing you have seen me passionately into since I was a toddler lol.  Last edited: 37 minutes ago Ravelle Member Oct 31, 2017 20,328 No, never. Everyone played video games, that's the thing you spent your lunch break talking about with classmates.   Dead Man Typing Member Oct 27, 2017 7,601 Kinda but not really. I was definitely known as the video game guy all through school. Most people played games so it wasn't like they bullied me for it. There were definitely jokes about how much I loved my Dreamcast.  Lamptramp Member Oct 27, 2017 2,871 Germany I grew up in the UK in the late 80s early 90's Games weren't really a thing that got you marked for bullying that I recall. That's not why I was bullied all the time I was at school.  Greywaren Member Jul 16, 2019 13,079 Spain Oh yes. Quite often, actually. It stopped when video games became more mainstream, though.   onibirdo Member Dec 9, 2020 3,566 No, if anything it was a lot easier to out yourself as a gamer as a kid than it is as an adult.   julia crawford Took the red AND the blue pills Member Oct 27, 2017 40,539 No memory of it, but it might have happened. I really don't discuss games with pretty much anyone IRL. I have however used the words "magic circle" at one point.   ConflictResolver Member Jan 1, 2024 4,856 Midgar Lamptramp said: I grew up in the UK in the late 80s early 90's Games weren't really a thing that got you marked for bullying that I recall. That's not why I was bullied all the time I was at school. Click to expand... Click to shrink... UK bullying from my recollection was mainly mainly about outward appearance. If you looked the part you can be into whatever you want.   AerialAir Member Oct 25, 2017 2,326 Portugal Nah, but I was born in the 90s. By the 2000s, gaming was already a dominant form of mainstream media.   Dunfish Member Oct 29, 2017 1,577 Was it ever actually a thing? I know it was portrayed in every teen movie in the 80s and 90s but never experienced it or saw it growing up. There was a lot of tribalism around brands though, so weird how people carried that into adulthood.   Fudgepuppy Member Oct 27, 2017 5,841 Yes, specifically because I had a Gamecube.   DaveB Member Oct 25, 2017 5,134 New Hampshire, USA Oh god, yeah. Me and my friends at the time were called nerds and bullied incessantly over it. Kids around school called it "No-friendo". It wasn't until we were in high school - around the first PlayStation - that they started to become mainstream.   Derbel McDillet ▲ Legend ▲ Member Nov 23, 2022 24,298 I can't really relate to the whole "they made fun of us for playing video game or watching anime" thing. I can think of single instance where I was made fun of for playing Pokémon in elementary school, but just about everyone else was playing Pokémon. But outside of that, to my knowledge, no one cared. Elementary school everyone had Gameboys. Middle school everyone had GBAs and then DSs. High school, we'd play our DSs together for lunch and a lot of kids had 360s at home. There was also video games club where we played PC games during lunch or after school. In college, only a handful of people I knew played games, but people were up for any game nights I hosted. I just wish I had a bigger TV. At least one of my friends today has this weirdly negative perception of video games to the point where she was weirdly stubborn about not watching a trailer I wanted to show her that literally two minutes. It was like giving a 6 year old broccoli. Dunfish said: Was it ever actually a thing? I know it was portrayed in every teen movie in the 80s and 90s but never experienced it or saw it growing up. There was a lot of tribalism around brands though, so weird how people carried that into adulthood. Click to expand... Click to shrink... School felt like it was a melting pot of all types. Some of the band kids were jocks. People were getting into Naruto. 90% of the manga readers I knew were girls. Like no one really gave a shit what other people liked, and if they did, that was a bonding experience. We had the Halo PC demo on some of the better computers and played at every opportunity, sometimes during computer lab. I remember in chemistry if the teacher finished the lesson early he'd just give us the last 20 minutes to do whatever and like 8 of us would just play Mario Kart via DS download. That's not to say I never had a rough time in school, it just had nothing to do with my hobbies. Or maybe I was just super oblivious.  Mass Effect One Winged Slayer Member Oct 31, 2017 19,186 No. Video games were widely played when I was in school.   Shopolic Avenger Oct 27, 2017 8,089 Bullied? No. Made fun of? Yes. Not a serious thing though and it was mostly friendly.  Hrodulf Member Oct 25, 2017 5,761 Might be one of the few things people didn't try to bully me about in school, honestly.   Nameless Member Oct 25, 2017 17,247 Nope. It wasn't a secret I loved games, but I also had enough social awareness not to pull an EGM out of my bag or start extolling the virtues of Chrono Cross while sitting at the "cool kids" table.   Giga Man One Winged Slayer Member Oct 27, 2017 23,162 No. Everyone was into some form of video game adjacent pop culture, whether was Pokemon/Pokemon cards in elementary school or sports games in middle/high school. I was bullied for other reasons. If we're talking parents, I was blessed with a loving, albeit passive, pair who, while not into games themselves, would play with me if I asked. They let me keep to myself more often than not, which was too my detriment in development if I'm being honest. They didn't really challenge me, and if they tried, I'd reject it and go to my room where it was safe.  Eidan AVALANCHE Avenger Oct 30, 2017 9,840 No.   Kemono ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 27, 2017 8,621 No. Most kids around me played or liked games in some kind of way.  Derbel McDillet ▲ Legend ▲ Member Nov 23, 2022 24,298 I guess there's also the factor of what you put out there. Like, I openly carried my DS with me and could be seen playing in the library and some classes, but the average person wouldn't know or care what systems I had at home. Nor would they know or care what I watched at home unless we specifically talked about it at school. I wasn't hiding it, it just had no reason to come up. You had your cliques, but everyone knew each other from like middle school, so it was easy to just group hop. My friends got super into Magic the Gathering, I didn't care for it as much, I bought a $10 starter deck and borrowed a few cards to give it a try a few times and then I just pulled back from that group just bit (because I wanted to do things I found fun for lunch) to chill with another (theater kids, burnouts, student government, national honor society), they didn't play video games at all, so it was mostly something I just did at home or at the end of Chemistry. Like, no one was made fun of for liking Naruto, but there was the kid that could be seen doing the Naruto run to lunch everyday. And it was more laughing from a distance (the fact that they got the reference was telling).  Lamptramp Member Oct 27, 2017 2,871 Germany ConflictResolver said: UK bullying from my recollection was mainly mainly about outward appearance. If you looked the part you can be into whatever you want. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah, pretty much or if you were LGTBQIA+ not that we knew what that was or would dare to say so. Hell even if someone just said you were "gay" on a whim. Everyone else had school had a c64 or spectrum when I grew up and aside from "warring" over which was better there wasn't any bullying.  Chainshada Member Oct 25, 2017 3,010 My parents were fine with it, after like 8-10 years old my brother and I were pretty much left to play on our own, I have a few memories of them playing games with us when we were little. I don't want to say there was no bullying in school, as I have no clue what other kids went through around me as a straight white kid, but I always bounced between 2 friend groups, 1 more for nerdy stuff (D&D, Warhammer, etc) and the other for sports..but both groups played games, both watched anime, occasionally the groups merged without issue, never heard either side shit talk the other behind their backs.  TheEchosOfTheCyborg Member Feb 24, 2018 7,684 Not bullied for playing games but playing the "wrong" and "kiddie" games like loving Pokémon, Halo, Minecraft and Tekken rather than "mature" stuff like COD, FIFA, the Saw franchise, Max and Paddy, Little Britain etc  

Red Dead Redemption 2 – Rockstar’s best game? (Rockstar Games) The Tuesday letters page asks whether video game execs need to be gamers or not, as one reader predicts Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe will be a while yet. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Rockstar #1 Interesting to see people having the confidence to speak out against GTA, which I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of as the game gets closer. I won’t pretend I don’t enjoy the games, and still play GTA Online occasionally, but what I will say is that GTA 5 is not my favourite Rockstar game at all and I do feel it’s a shame they don’t make a wider range of games like they used to.Bully was great and so was The Warriors, but I especially liked the first Manhunt and I’m very upset that never became a regular franchise. I don’t think Midnight Club or L.A. Noire were as good but at least they were something different, as was Max Payne 3 (although I prefer Remedy’s two games). I would say that Red Dead Redemption 2 is easily their best game. It has all the scope and size of GTA but none of the flaws that people have been pointing out. It has a good, clear plot. The characters are all interesting and many of them are likeable. They act like people too, not just try hard characters. The gameplay still isn’t great but it’s no worse than GTA 5 and I definitely prefer riding a horse to driving a car, at least one designed by Rockstar. So while I am looking forward to GTA 6 there are quite a few other Rockstar games I’d rather see get a sequel first.Focus One for two Is it me or has Shuhei Yoshida been acting like a bit of chump in his recent round of interviews? He was very down on Switch 2 for no reason that I could really see, other than he’s ex-Sony, and now he, who is presumably very rich, is trying to tell us all that £80 for a video is a bargain and we shouldn’t complain?I’m sure it is good value for money but at the end of the day that’s money that a lot of us don’t have lying around spare. Only a few years ago I would’ve been able to get two triple-A games for £80, at least a couple of months after launch, and soon I’m only going to be able to get one. I don’t see how that’s good for gaming or publishers or anyone else. It’s definitely not good for my wallet.Brian Summer secrets So, the Switch 2 is out on June 5 and the Summer Game Fest is June 6… does that mean there’s going to be some kind of big annoucement? I know people are 50/50 on whether there’s a secret Christmas game still to be revealed but if there was I would’ve though this would be a good time to do it.I can’t see anyone getting all that excited when Nintendo try to make the reveal of the release dates for checks notes Hyrule Warriors 3 and Kirby Air Ride 2 seem like some epic reveal. I’m with everyone else that thinks they are very strange things to be out in the first year, especially when that could mean there’s really only big first party game out all year. I’m not going to try and predict anything, because it’s Nintendo and who knows, but does GC think the two dates are coincidence or are they going to end up being connected?Paulie GC: Our guess is that it’s just a coincidence. Nintendo doesn’t tend to use third party events to announce anything significant. They may try and squeeze something in at the last minute, just because the timing is so odd, but we wouldn’t count on it. Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk Strange ideas Like a lot of readers, I find Hideo Kojima a fascinating but flawed character. He’s got so much obvious talent, but he’s squandered so much of it on one franchise, that faded from public view surprisingly quickly. Dead Stranding was interesting but I’m not sure how a sequel is going to work if the core gameplay is still… walking very slowly and delivering parcels to holograms.I’m painting the game in its worst possible light there but even so, Death Stranding was just flawed as anything else Kojima has done and I would’ve liked to see him give it another roll of the dice with a different idea. Instead, he’s working on a sequel, and what seem to be spiritual sequels to Silent Hills and Metal Gear. By which time he’ll be well into his 60s… If all the ideas on the USB stick are as weird as the guy forgetting his abilities over time, I’d rather he do them now. It just feels he’s permanently got one foot in the past and it’s a real shame.Kurgen Come back later If Nintendo does do a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe edition for the Switch 2 do we have any idea who could be added to it? I would’ve said someone from a new Switch 2 IP but there really hasn’t been one yet, which is a real shame. Maybe they could try and do one of the wheelchair basketball people, but I can’t see many people queuing up for that.I also thought maybe a couple more Microsoft games, back when I expected them and Nintendo to be all chummy. Now it seems that was all just talk and Xbox doesn’t have any plans at all, or at least none so urgent they’ve felt the need to talk about them so far. So if a Deluxe edition does happen, I don’t think it’s going to happen for a while, for the simple reason that there isn’t anyone new to add, because they’re all already been done.Roel Dungeons master I was going to compose a missive contemplating the likelihood of Dungeons 4 being ported to the Switch 2, only to find out that it’s actually already out on Switch?! That would be an amazing feat if it worked but apparently it’s a bug ridden, almost unplayable mess from the only review I can find (I literally had no idea and can’t be the only one unaware of the port).So now, instead I’m wondering if they’ll release a Switch 2 Edition or complete edition with all the DLC, or even just put some fixes through so the game runs better on the new hardware. I hope they do the same for Tropico 6 (both are by Kalypso, so if ones done the other will probably be too). As an aside, put me on the boat for people not really interested in GTA 6. Five or six years ago I’d been down for it but current, me who replayed GTA 5 before getting shot of my PlayStation 4, I found it pretty awful actually. The characters, the controls, the story, were all just urgh. I appreciate the characters aren’t supposed to be likeable (except Franklin, maybe) but my god what were they thinking of with Trevor? Every time I had to play as him it felt like my soul was dying a little more, until I just gave up playing. I don’t expect much from the single-player campaign of GTA 6, if there even is one…Solabound Glory days I don’t think I’m the first person to say it on here but if Bungie lasts to the end of the year I will be shocked. I’ll also be relatively surprised if Marathon isn’t cancelled within the next few months. It’s a game no one wants, in a genre no one will admit to liking, by a developer that seems to be in a downward spiral.It’s sad to think how this sort of thing can happen. Halo 3 was 18 years ago now, and it’s at least five years since Destiny 2 was relevant. It’s unfortunate but Bungie were never the same after leaving Microsoft and I think the initial success of Destiny 1 just hid that for a while and now it’s obvious.Tony T. Management sim I’m in two minds as to whether the head of a big games company needs to be a gamer or not. It feels like it should be a thing but at the end of the day what’s most important is that they’re a good business person, which the Take-Two guy seems to be. At least going by how long he’s been in the job.Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata was a great leader and actually used to make games, but his replacement is just a businessman with no developer background at all, and yet he seems to be doing a decent job. Then there’s that other obvious example: Phil Spencer. He can’t stop talking about what a keen gamer he is, and I think he genuinely is a fan, but I also think it’s increasingly hard to pretend he’s doing a good job at Xbox. Ultimately, I don’t think it matters whether you’re a gamer or not, whether you’ve ever been a developer or anything. The only thing that matters is being good at your job, which has nothing to do with making games but backing the right people that do, making sure they have the resources, and not interfering with them. I believe that’s pretty much what the Take-Two guy himself said. Where you get a bit of a grey area is something like EA or Ubisoft, where you definitely feel like their leaders could stand to actually play some games once in a while, instead of just making decisions by spreadsheets. Remember that the team that made Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 used to work on Ubisoft, so they clearly weren’t being creatively fulfilled there and that’s a management problem.Lemmy Inbox also-rans I was thinking of getting Doom: The Dark Ages after the positive reviews but I was shocked to discover it was £70. This isn’t Call Of Duty, this is a single-player only game that apparently is quite easy. I’ll come back on Black Friday.PancusIf Red Dead Redemption 2 is out on Switch 2 this year I think that could be a really good selling point, because the obvious comparison, in terms of graphics, is Zelda and Rockstar’s game is lightyears ahead of that.Bosley More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. 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