XrossExam Member Nov 1, 2017 2,171 I'm a big FromSoftware fan, I pretty much buy any new release from them. I've been keeping my eye on Nightreign since its announcement (didn't get into the beta to try it though) but I'm finding it hard to justify getting it. I'm still on the fence but I'm leaning towards skipping it entirely. There are many factors for me as to why I think I'll be skipping it, one major reason is that I was able to secure a Switch 2 pre-order and given that the Switch 2 comes out a mere 6 days after Nightreign's release I find that if I bought Nightreign, that I would play it until the Switch 2 comes out and then completely forget about it. Another reason for me is that I feel like the game will get boring and doing runs will just become repetitive after a while. I do think it's hard to know for sure but something about the multiplayer focused aspect of it is a turn off for me compared to a traditional FromSoft game. The other aspect of this related to my previous point is the fact that FromSoftware are also currently developing The Duskbloods, which seems to be the true/fleshed out vision of Nightreign but in a different world. I'd almost rather just wait for The Duskbloods (which is being directed by the GOAT (Hidetaka Miyazaki) than sinking time into Nightreign which I feel like may be dropped by most players after a few months. I'm not trying to be negative about the game's release as it doesn't look like a bad game by any stretch, it looks quite good for what it is. I was just curious what others thought and if others are feeling the same way or are instead super hyped about the game? I would love to hear what people think, especially diehard FromSoftware fans.  carlsojo Shinra Employee Member Oct 28, 2017 37,429 San Francisco Honestly I am so burned out on the game I can't imagine going back again.   PlanetSmasher The Abominable Showman Member Oct 25, 2017 132,494 The network test really didn't do anything for me and I don't really think the core structure of the game as a multiplayer-only title holds any long-term appeal. So yeah, I'm probably skipping it unless something changes markedly between now and launch.   super-famicom Avenger Oct 26, 2017 30,385 I love Elden Ring, but don't want to play a MP only game mode. Yes, I know I can just go in solo, but how far is that gonna get me? Plus, the game is designed around MP anyways.   Bigmac Member Oct 27, 2017 521 I am for sure. The multiplayer aspect just isn't really my thing, I'll wait patiently for their next single player epic.   Coyote Starrk The Fallen Oct 30, 2017 62,907 Diehard fan here. I will be there day 0 and play on dumping a LOT of time into the game if it's as fun as it seems in the trailers.  Lukar Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth Member Oct 27, 2017 28,088 Really depends on how well it's received closer to launch. I'm not fully sold on it yet, and I'm disappointed I won't be able to play with just one other person.   Tagyhag Member Oct 27, 2017 15,093 Yeah, it's the same as with Duskbloods, I'm more interested in watching streamers play them than playing them myself. Will just wait for the next "Main" game.  Nameless Hero Member Oct 25, 2017 23,320 I have zero interest in a multiplayer run based Souls game so unless my friends all get this I will definitely skip it   Killyoh Member Oct 28, 2017 1,782 Paris, France I'm waiting for the reviews. I enjoyed the beta but I'm not sure I would play more than five hours.   Zeal543 Next Level Seer Member May 15, 2020 7,155 I'm burned out on the souls formula with ER/SotE so on top of this being pvpve iit's an easy skip for me (same with duskbloods)   Gavalanche Prophet of Regret Member Oct 21, 2021 25,713 Yeah for sure. Elden Ring is great, I got enough of it without playing a weird rogue-like multiplayer mode.   SnipeyMcGee Member Jul 1, 2020 321 Zero interest in it, I'm not a fan of their current direction.   J_ToSaveTheDay "This guy are sick" and Corrupted by Vengeance Avenger Oct 25, 2017 22,494 USA I'm planning to skip it, but there's one friend who could put in a good word about it that I'd end up picking the game up to play coop with. That friend is the only person that's going to convince me to play it, though.  Bulgowski Member Apr 8, 2022 665 I'm in for Duskbloods but skipping this one.   Barrel Cannon It's Pronounced "Aerith" The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 11,096 I won't at launch but if m23 gets it I will   skeezx Member Oct 27, 2017 23,674 looks fun but not really my thing if it still has a playerbase in a few years and it's on sale, maybe  Noisepurge Corrupted by Vengeance Member Oct 25, 2017 9,740 Skipping indeed. It seems antithetical to (at least my) Elden Ring. Where you get to wonder the world, make your character and go on adventures. Here you choose a premade hero class, and gotta HAUL ASS all the time because there isn't any time to take in the scenery! 😂  teed Member Aug 25, 2023 1,039 I thought I'd give it a go when it was announced but a month or so later, I thought nah no point. I'd be playing solo so there are much more suitable games I haven't got around to yet (like Nioh 2). I not interested in Duskbloods either and didn't like AC6 very much, so I don't really think of it as skipping, as, even though they're probably my favourite dev, I've lost the expectation that I will be into everything they put out.  RoboPlato Member Oct 25, 2017 8,322 I wanted to play it but no crossplay kind of kills it for me. Most people I'd play with are on Xbox or PC while PS5 is my main console. No two-player option, only 1 or 3, is frustrating too. I think the game looks pretty cool but those are huge missteps.  Citizen Rizer Member Oct 27, 2017 292 Skipping both Nightreign and Duskbloods. Multiplayer-focused From is hopefully just a phase.   Musubi Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth Member Oct 25, 2017 27,419 Too much else coming out this year for me to spend time on a mid-ass multiplayer game   harinezumi Member Oct 27, 2017 20,485 Buenos Aires, Argentina I'd totally buy it if my friends bought it too, but since it looks like they won't I probably won't either. Zero interest in playing with randoms.   modernkicks Member Apr 7, 2020 393 I'm glad I got to play the network test because it confirmed it's probably not going to be my thing even though I did have a little bit of fun in it. It just seemed like it would get old pretty fast to me but obviously the full game could be a different story. Going to wait and see what some of my friends who are getting it day 1 think and then I might join in but as of now I'm going to hold off.   Cruxist Avenger Oct 27, 2017 4,735 Nope. I love the combat and the speed from the beta was super fun. I also love the idea of crafting a build on the fly. Can't wait!  Dyno AVALANCHE The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 16,729 Easy pass on this and Duskbloods. Tbh I'm kinda growing tired of the formula in general for their games so ER may have been the end of the line for me in general   BigHatSean Member Apr 21, 2025 12 Nope because it was cheap enough, ended up getting it for about £22? I like ER even if the boss fights are the worst thing about it, but the 40ish minute length makes for a nice session on an exercise bike or something while playing.   Sire Red Member Feb 11, 2025 123 France Liked the beta when it worked well, but given how packed the week after will be + the nature of the game, I'm good with not playing more of it.   Nimby Member Oct 27, 2017 4,429 Zeal543 said: I'm burned out on the souls formula with ER/SotE so on top of this being pvpve iit's an easy skip for me (same with duskbloods) Click to expand... Click to shrink... Nightreign is just PvE isn't it? I'm still on the fence and all my time is dedicated to playing The Hundred Line right now. If my friends are interested I might try it. Regardless, I'm okay waiting for the next main Souls game.  Retrosmith Member Mar 2, 2020 1,019 If the main bosses are manageable to beat solo, for sure I will buy it. If they are just damage sponges, nah. Not going to rely on strangers online for a chance to have fun.  DontHateTheBacon Unshakable Resolve Member Oct 27, 2017 14,409 I don't really play co-op games often so yeah, I'll just wait for the next single player joint from them.   makman3x Member Apr 18, 2025 280 I have no friends so I'll probably pass unless reviews indicate the solo experience is fine.   DNAbro Member Oct 25, 2017 29,980 My friends are all going getting it, so not skipping.   CupOfDoom Member Dec 17, 2017 5,134 No two player, no buy.   Crankafoo Member Dec 3, 2018 162 Canada I almost never play multiplayer solo and don't have anyone in my group getting it, so big skip for me. Next singleplayer game they do I'm day 1, though.   Gots Member Feb 20, 2019 1,882 Canada I'll skip this for now, will probably grab Duskbloods though.   Slick Butter Member Oct 25, 2017 3,655 It looks fun as hell and it seems like an interesting smaller arcade-y title for people who just want more reason to play a FROM souls with friends. Also will be cool to experience what kind of experiments they are doing to shake up their combat for their Souls games further. Hopefully wherever they take Souls next will take a lot of what they learn from making this and The Duskbloods to make the combat more interesting and online functionality better. Zeal543 said: I'm burned out on the souls formula with ER/SotE so on top of this being pvpve iit's an easy skip for me (same with duskbloods) Click to expand... Click to shrink... This literally is breaking the Souls formula and doing something different with its core gameplay (though I understand it also is using mostly existing Elden Ring assets). Also, it's only PvE.  StarPhlox Member Oct 25, 2017 5,512 Wisconsin I was so excited at the reveal and I am definitely still very much open to it but lack of cross play and not having friends on PS5 that are big Souls people (they all play on PC) makes it a tough proposition.   closer Member Oct 25, 2017 5,519 Im pretty excited to play it   Drachen Member May 3, 2021 8,471 Yeah, I personally am skipping it. The thing with From Soft's Souls games is that the total package is what draws me in. The roleplaying, the combat and bosses, the exploration, the lore and worldbuilding, the characters and quests, and so on. Plucking out just the combat and building an entire roguelike game around that doesn't really do anything for me when the rest of the formula is missing.   Naha- Member Feb 6, 2019 1,515 After Shadow of the Erdtree, I'm pretty much done with anything Elden Ring related. Duskbloods will also be a skip if it's main feature is being a MP game too. Maybe I should finally get Sekiro instead.  Rainer516 Member Oct 29, 2017 1,478 Really looking forward to playing it.   MangoUltz "This guy are sick" Member Mar 24, 2019 4,074 Ya I'm skipping it. Loved Elden Ring but I'm not into the multiplayer/online aspect of this. I'll have a good time watching some streams of it though   Deranged Hermit Member Oct 25, 2017 5,426 I'll probably try it but it's not really in my lane and that's okay. Let From do what they want, they've earned it.   hog Member Mar 9, 2021 1,127 Not sure how much I'll like it but I love Elden Ring too much to skip out on any new Elden Ring stuff. Plus this kind of thing is best to get in on while it's fresh.   SirKai Member Dec 28, 2017 10,118 Washington Nah, I'm still pretty excited for it, especially since it's budget-priced.   blainethemono Member Oct 27, 2017 650 Since the release of Demons Souls i've enjoyed every game From Software has released but Im very closed off with experimenting with different weapons and builds on a single character. I generally just stick with 1 or 2 weapons my first time through one of these games and never really experienced other playstyles other than the ones I fell into as a result of whatever choices I made in the early game. I always enjoyed seeing other people's builds and all the stuff you could do that I never interacted with, especially in Elden Ring Then I played the Nightreign test and it kind of opened my eyes to the type of experimentation i've never done before. You get dropped on the map with your squad, there's random loot everywhere and you have to throw something together. One of the people in the squad keeps running off by themselves and you feel like you can't sit there thinking about it for an hour, you just have to make a choice and keep going. There are comparatively fewer choices to be made but it's still fun messing around with unfamiliar weapon types That's a different mode of playing these games than i'm used to and after experiencing it I now want to install a randomizer for Dark Souls 1 lol. Also was inspired enough by the network test to play sorcery builds in DS1 and Elden Ring over the last few months since i've never actually done that. It brought me back to replaying the series. Been trying to get a few friends together to play Seamless Really excited to play the full game with some friends now  Last edited: Monday at 2:50 PM Optional Objectives Member Oct 27, 2017 3,516 It looks fun - I really liked the details in the recent preview video - and I love multiplayer in From's games. But I also look around and think that I won't have much of a squad to play it with. I was barely able to connect with what used to be a really active group for Monster Hunter. If we couldn't get it together for that, I doubt we will for Nightreign. And without a crew to play it with, I might as well play one of From's single-player games, instead. I still have a few, including Elden Ring, left unfinished.   ghibli99 Member Oct 27, 2017 20,459 I was, but after that last video I'm in. Hopefully I'm making the right choice. LOL   KingFrost92 Member Oct 26, 2017 1,124 Oregon I've got friends who I played the Elden Ring co-op mod with and loved it. But even with that experience, I'm waiting on reviews and player feedback for this one. It could be great, but I'm not curious enough to pre-order or anything like that. I'd love to hear that it's actually amazing and dive in with some friends though.  

An illustration of what the Amniote (early reptile) would look like from 350 million years ago. CREDIT: Martin Ambrozik. Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. One of the most impactful stories in evolution is getting a rewrite, thanks to the exciting discovery of the earliest known set of reptile footprints. Craig A. Eury and John Eason, two amateur paleontologists exploring the fossil-rich Snowy Plains Formation in Australia, found a rock with an intriguing set of fossilized prints. They brought the intriguing specimen to professional paleontologists, who soon discovered that the roughly 356 million-year-old fossilized claw prints likely belong to an amniote–an early reptile relative.  Though small in stature, amniotes were a large evolutionary leap forward towards land-dwelling, four-limbed animals called tetrapods. The age of these prints suggest that amniotes evolved millions of years earlier than expected, according to a study published May 14 in the journal Nature.  “I’m stunned,” Per Ahlberg, a paleontologist at Uppsala University in Sweden who coordinated the study, said in a statement. “A single track-bearing slab, which one person can lift, calls into question everything we thought we knew about when modern tetrapods evolved.” When fish grew legs Tetrapods include all vertebrates with four limbs that primarily live on land, including everything from frogs to turtles to eagles, to tigers to humans. Their story began as fish left the water between 390 and 360 million years ago. Their descendants began to diversify into the ancestors of modern amphibians and amniotes–the group that includes birds, reptiles, and mammals. Originally, the timeline for how this massive diversification of life occurred was fairly clear-cut. The first tetrapods evolved roughly 390 million years ago during the Devonian period. Amniotoes and the earliest members of the modern groups of animals we see today followed fishapods during the Carboniferous period. Previously, the earliest amniote fossils dated back to  about 320 million years old to the late Carboniferous. Based on this new evidence, researchers concluded the start of the point on the evolutionary tree where the ancestors of amphibians and amniotes split actually happened in the earliest days of the Carboniferous or 356 million years ago.   Proof in the prints The newly discovered 356 million-year-old sandstone slab from this new study potentially changes this entire timeline by about 35 to 40 million years. The well-preserved footprints of long-toed feet with distinct claw impressions at the tips dot the stone and are the earliest known clawed footprints. Two sets of tracks were identified on the stone, seemingly from the same animal.  Footprints are important for paleontologists, as they can indicate the types of behaviors an extinct animal may have exhibited. The team compared the ancient tracks with a modern water monitor (Varanus salvator) lizard, since they have similarly shaped feet to what is seen on the footprints. They examined the spacing between the front and hind footprints against that living lizard’s feet. With these measurements, the team estimates that the ancient amniote may have been around 2.5 feet long, but that the exact proportions of the animal are still unknown. “Claws are present in all early amniotes, but almost never in other groups of tetrapods,” Ahlberg said. “The combination of the claw scratches and the shape of the feet suggests that the track maker was a primitive reptile.” If this new interpretation is correct, it pushes the origin of reptiles, and thus amniotes as a whole, back by roughly 40 million years to the earliest Carboniferous. A new set of fossil reptile footprints uncovered all the way across the globe in Poland are also detailed in the study and bolster the evidence. These European footprints are not as old as the ones from Australia, but are still older than previous specimens.  “The implications of this discovery for the early evolution of tetrapods are profound,” John Long, a study co-author and paleontologist at Flinders University in Australia, said. “All stem-tetrapod and stem-amniote lineages must have originated during the Devonian period – but tetrapod evolution proceeded much faster, and the Devonian tetrapod record is much less complete than we have believed.” A place on the evolutionary tree According to the team, this recalibration of the origin of reptiles has a ripple effect on the whole timeline of tetrapod evolution. Tetrapods must be older than even the earliest amniotes, since it has a deeper branching point on the evolutionary tree.  “It’s all about the relative length of different branches in the tree,” said Ahlberg. “In a family tree based on DNA data from living animals, branches will have different lengths reflecting the number of genetic changes along each branch segment. This does not depend on fossils, so it’s really helpful for studying phases of evolution with a poor fossil record.” The fossil trackways with the different tracks on it highlighted. CREDIT: Flinders University The team believes that amphibians and ammonites split apart further into the Devonian period and were likely a contemporary of the primitive, transitional “fishapod” called Tiktaalik. This evidence indicates that a diverse group of tetrapods existed when only transitional “fishapods” were believed to be dragging themselves around muddy shorelines and starting to explore the land.  If this new theory holds, it is likely that the evolution of tetrapods from aquatic creatures to those fully living on land may have occurred even faster than previously believed.   “The Australian footprint slab is about 50 cm [1.5 feet] across,” said Ahlberg, “and at present it represents the entire fossil record of tetrapods from the earliest Carboniferous of Gondwana – a gigantic supercontinent comprising Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia and India. Who knows what else lived there?”   “The most interesting discoveries are yet to come and that there is still much to be found in the field,” added study co-author and paleontologist Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki. “These footprints from Australia are just one example of this.” 

North Boulder Library / WORKacSave this picture!© Bruce DamonteLibrary•Boulder, United States Architects: WORKac Area Area of this architecture project Area:  12800 ft² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024 Photographs Photographs:Bruce Damonte Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:  ELEVATE, Holcim, Alucobond, American Hydrotech, Daltile, Forbo, Guardian Glass , InCord, Kawneer, Montel, Overhead Door Corp., Swing Set Mall, Wilsonart More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. The Boulder Public Library issued an open Request for Proposal (RFP) in 2018 for a new branch library in North Boulder, a project the community had anticipated for over two decades. The RFP called for an "iconic" building, which many competitors interpreted as a visually striking design. However, WORKac www.work.ac - the architecture firm based in New York City and led by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood - proposed a vision where the library's iconic status would stem from its sustainability and its positive impact on the community and environment.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!This innovative approach resonated with the library. The building stands out as an original project rooted in WORKac's significant past experiences. Andraos and Wood have always been deeply committed to issues in education, a dedication that culminated in Andraos' role as Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University, where Dan Wood is an Associate Adjunct Professor. At the time this project was commissioned, their Kew Gardens Hills Library in Queens, NY had just recently opened, a source of pride for its community, and their joyful Miami Museum Garage - which inventively transforms the simple and often frustrating act of parking a car into an unexpected opportunity for social interaction - had reached wide international resonance.Save this picture!Save this picture!Rooted in community engagement - The North Boulder Library is situated within a diverse neighborhood that blends new developments for young professionals, art studios, galleries, and two manufactured home communities that include Boulder's largest Spanish-speaking population. The chosen site is a triangular plot bordered by Broadway to the west and Three Mile Creek to the south, with stunning views to the Boulder Flatirons. WORKac's approach to the project was deeply rooted in community engagement.Save this picture!Save this picture!WORKac worked for almost eight years on the project, including a three-year Community Engagement and Site Planning process, which entailed more than twenty public presentations of the design during different phases to community groups, politicians, and stakeholders. More than 3,000 people attended the opening ceremony on June 29, 2024. "Today and every day we endeavor to render architecture more human, to turn the pragmatic fantastic, and to reclaim the 'best' in 'best practice' away from the technocratic and towards the creative. We approach every project, regardless of scale, program, type or context with the same passion, drawing resolute realism together with polemical optimism," say Amale Andraos and Dan Wood.Save this picture!Site, Program and Architecture - Boulder's unique geographical position at the intersection of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains has historically shaped its rugged architectural vernacular. The North Boulder Library design celebrates this context, acknowledging the area's complex relationship with the natural environment. Through its connections with the urban surroundings, the library not only reflects its environment but also enhances its visual and functional relationship with the local community.Save this picture!The design of the North Boulder Library was directly informed by the community's input, leading to the inclusion of key programs such as Boulder Reads, which supports literacy development for children and adults, and a "Maker Kitchen," which evolved from the community's desire for a maker space together with ideas for a community garden and kitchen area. "Our greatest delight is for others to feel a sense of joy, of belonging, and of possibilities for the future," state the architects.Save this picture!The building negotiates the triangular site that includes a seasonal creek running diagonally through it with a building that respects the scale of its residential neighbors to the north while opening up to views of the Flatiron Mountains and Rocky Mountain foothills to the south and west. The library is designed with the major community spaces on the second floor. The lower northern side integrates a shallow, fully- accessible ramp that allows these second-floor community and ESL classrooms to open at night when the library is closed, reinforcing the library's role as a community hub. This ramp is enhanced by a public art installation by Montreal-based Daily tous les jours that plays music as users ascend or descend. Despite its modest size, the building has four entrances and a variety of public spaces that seamlessly extend outdoors, connecting with both the residential neighborhood to the north and the Fourmile Canyon Creek park to the south.The building's design is both intriguing and unexpected. Its irregular geometry, a convergence of triangular forms, mirrors and influences the internal layout. This interplay of shapes creates a series of surprising spatial experiences.Save this picture!Save this picture!The main public floor is divided into a large reading room for adult patrons and a children's area with a private nook for story-reading and windows onto a slide that can be accessed through a rope climbing structure, allowing kids to climb up through the building and slide down into the library's new playground. Other key areas on the ground floor include the Maker Kitchen, which connects to an edible garden and playground, and large windows that offer breathtaking views of the mountains. The interior design incorporates custom elements like a wallpaper by graphic designer Andrew Freeman, principal at afreeman, featuring historical photos from Boulder's archives, celebrating the region's indigenous heritage. The building's exposed ceiling structure adds to the space's acoustic performance and aesthetic richness.Save this picture!WORKac's architecture is both unpretentious and inspiring. It embodies a sense of freedom that invites people to engage with the space and take ownership of it. This approach reflects a profound commitment to civic responsibility. Sustainability is a central focus of the project, with initial plans aiming for net-zero energy. Although some features were scaled back due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic challenges, Boulder's stringent sustainability regulations ensured that the library maintained its high green building standards. A rooftop solar array supplies a significant portion of the building's energy, while the site includes a rainwater garden planted with native, butterfly-attracting flowers and shrubs to protect the seasonal creek from runoff.Save this picture!A testament to the power of thoughtful design - The North Boulder Library is a testament to the power of thoughtful, community-driven design. Despite a modest budget, WORKac has created a building that is both beautiful and functional, serving as a model for equitable public architecture. Funded entirely by the City of Boulder, the library stands as a beacon of progressive values, sustainability, and community engagement, reflecting the spirit of the city it serves. WORKac is the recipient of the 2023 Arts and Letters Award in Architecture, a prestigious honor given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters to recognize exceptional American architects whose work embodies artistic excellence and has made a significant impact on the field of architecture. They are currently working on the Beirut Art Museum in Lebanon and projects at Vassar College, including a renovation to its main library.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Boulder, United StatesLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeWORKacOffice••• MaterialSteelMaterials and TagsPublished on May 14, 2025Cite: "North Boulder Library / WORKac" 14 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030123/north-boulder-library-workac&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Marvel’s next genius is Riri Williams, who sets out to build something iconic in the first trailer forIronheart. After first appearing in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, MIT student Riri (Dominique Thorne) returns to Chicago with plans to build an armor suit similar to the one worn by Tony Stark. Riri’s quest leads her to Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), aka The Hood, a mysterious figure who offers the young heroine a chance to complete her vision. However, Robbins is willing to bend the law and do some “questionable things” to get the job done. Riri’s loved ones warn her about Robbins’ intentions, fearing it will send her down a dark path. Ultimately, it will be Riri’s decision as to how she wants to achieve greatness. Related Ironheart’s cast includes Lyric Ross, Alden Ehrenreich, Regan Aliyah, Manny Montana, Matthew Elam, and Anji White. Marvel Televison/Disney+ Chinaka Hodge is the creator and head writer of Ironheart. Executive producers include Zoie Nagelhout and Black Panther’s Ryan Coogler. The series balances elements of magic with science, resulting in a “crazy combination.” “Riri is definitely in conversation with a street-level show like Daredevil,” Coogler explained to Marvel.com. “You’ve got characters trying — both heroes and villains — to make do with what they have. Then you combine that with cosmic Marvel, characters who would be at home in Doctor Strange or WandaVision. That [mix] of street-level Marvel and magical Marvel is a pretty crazy combination.” Ironheart will conclude Phase Five of the MCU. The Fantastic Four: First Steps will kick off Phase Six in July. Ironheart will consist of six episodes that stream on Disney+. The first three episodes will premiere at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on June 24.

Imagine Montessori School | © Mariela Apollonio Located along the edge of the En Dolça ravine in Paterna, Valencia, the Imagine Montessori School by Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes reimagines the relationship between educational space and nature. More than an academic facility, the project is a mediating layer between the urban grid and a Mediterranean pine forest. With an architectural strategy that prioritizes child-centered learning, spatial legibility, and material authenticity, the school articulates a pedagogical framework through its built form. Imagine Montessori School Technical Information Architects1-23: Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes Location: Paterna, Valencia, Spain Area: 2,922 m2 | 31,449 Sq. Ft. Project Year: 2017 – 2024 Photographs: © Mariela Apollonio The building is not intended to be an object in the landscape, but a part of it, an extension of the terrain that disappears so that nature becomes the true façade. – Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes Imagine Montessori School Photographs Street View | © Mariela Apollonio Entrance | © Mariela Apollonio Facade | © Mariela Apollonio Facade | © Mariela Apollonio Courtyard | © Mariela Apollonio Opening | © Mariela Apollonio Facade | © Mariela Apollonio Terrace | © Mariela Apollonio Balcony | © Mariela Apollonio Stairs | © Mariela Apollonio Interior | © Mariela Apollonio Classroom | © Mariela Apollonio Classroom | © Mariela Apollonio Classroom | © Mariela Apollonio Classroom | © Mariela Apollonio Classroom | © Mariela Apollonio Contextual Foundations: A Site-Driven Pedagogy The school’s defining gesture is its orientation, not toward the street but toward the landscape. In rejecting the street-facing urban façade, the building signals a reversal in conventional institutional typologies. The access route begins within a pine grove, where children traverse elevated wooden walkways between trees. This procession is not simply aesthetic but symbolic: a transition from the ordered rhythms of the city into the fluid, unpredictable logic of nature. Here, the site is not an inert backdrop but an active participant in shaping architectural decisions. The building emerges as an extension of the ravine itself, folding, settling, and disappearing beneath a green roof that mimics the topography. The landscape is not curated; it is left raw and wild, with pinecones, roots, and mushrooms serving as didactic tools. The design resists the sanitization often found in contemporary schoolyards and instead engages directly with the ecological conditions of the terrain. Spatial Strategy and Pedagogical Integration Formally, the building adopts an elongated S-shaped footprint, generating two distinct outdoor voids: a western entry plaza and an eastern natural playground. This configuration does more than optimize views; it choreographs an internal spatial rhythm aligned with Montessori principles. Each classroom opens onto the ravine, allowing daylight, ventilation, and natural stimuli to become integral components of the educational environment. Interior planning is liberated from hierarchical spatial orders. There is no teacher’s desk nor any central focal point. Classrooms are divided into five zones: sensory, practical life, language, mathematics, and cultural studies, enabling fluid movement and diverse learning modes. Circulation is not relegated to corridors but expanded into informal gathering spaces: widened paths, seating niches, double-height voids, and interior balconies foster spatial democracy and autonomy. Crucially, the architecture speaks to children through scale. Arched thresholds, lofted alcoves, and floor-level seating areas are intentionally designed to accommodate bodies in formative stages. These gestures create an environment where children encounter the building not as a fixed container but as a responsive medium. Imagine Montessori School Material Honesty The building’s construction is didactic. Clay and timber, the two principal materials, are left exposed, allowing the tectonic logic of the building to remain legible. The 60 cm-thick brick walls serve as a load-bearing structure, thermal mass, and finish. There is no applied cladding; instead, the imperfections of material tool marks, tonal variation, and subtle cracks are embraced as part of the building’s expression. Wood complements clay in both structural and experiential ways. Timber roof panels, partitions, and joinery elements soften the masonry mass, introducing warmth and tactile variation. Concrete use is minimized, restricted primarily to foundations, while steel appears only in strategic elements such as railings and slender columns. Mechanical and electrical systems are not concealed behind ceilings or walls. Their visibility transforms the building into a diagram of its operation, offering students insight into energy, water, and ventilation flows. This transparency reinforces the project’s pedagogical ethos: education begins not only in the classroom but also in the fabric of the building itself. Landscape as Curriculum Rather than isolating the building from its context, the project incorporates the landscape into every facet of the educational experience. Each classroom opens directly to a semi-covered terrace with a water fountain, a deciduous tree, and tiered seating. These thresholds become spatial hybrids, neither entirely interior nor exterior, blurring the division between architecture and ecology. The ravine functions as a temporal and sensory field. Its shifting hydrology during rains, the seasonal shedding of trees, and the growth of wild asparagus are not distractions but phenomena to be observed and interpreted. There is a deliberate absence of traditional sports infrastructure; the sloped terrain is manipulated into ramps, climbing walls, and caves, inviting exploration and risk within a safe environment. This approach aligns with contemporary ecological pedagogy but avoids its typical tropes. There is no simulation of “naturalness” through curated green spaces or artificial turf. Instead, the landscape is allowed to be what it is: dynamic, coarse, unpredictable, and children are entrusted to navigate it. Imagine Montessori School Plans Ground Level | © Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes Level 2 | © Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes Roof Plan | © Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes Sections | © Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes Elevations | © Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes Imagine Montessori School Image Gallery About Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes is a Valencia-based architecture studio founded by Carmel Gradolí and Arturo Sanz, known for their context-driven, materially honest, and environmentally conscious designs. Since 1993, the practice has developed a diverse portfolio of public and private projects that respond sensitively to their cultural and physical surroundings. Their work often engages with heritage, pedagogy, and sustainability themes, characterized by restrained formal language and thoughtful use of local materials. Guided by a commitment to civic responsibility and architectural clarity, the studio seeks to create functional and emotionally resonant spaces. Credits and Additional Notes Lead Architects: Arturo Sanz, Carmel Gradolí, Fran López Collaborating Architects: J. Luis Vilar, María Navarro, Daniel López Quantity Surveyor: Francisco Vallet Traditional Structure Engineering: Adolfo Alonso Timber Structure Engineering: Albura Wood & Concept Acoustic Consultant: Silens Acústica  Green Certification Consultant: GBCE  Phase 1 Installations & BREEAM Consultant: Zero Consulting  Phase 2 Installations: GME  Lighting Design: Cosmo Stil General Constructor: Grupo Valseco Brick Vaults: Cercaa Exterior Wood Carpentry: Morata Interior Carpentry: DISBEA Showlutions  Metalwork: Martí Cots  Glasswork: Cristalería Crevillente  Landscape Design (Phase 1): GM Paisajistas  3D Visualizations: Drawfield Client: Zubi Educational Real Estate Built-up Area: 2,922 m² Usable Floor Area: 2,298 m² Plot Size: 4,556 m² Construction Cost: €4.6 million

As Brian Chesky tells it, the reinvention of Airbnb started with the coup at OpenAI. On November 17, 2023, the board of OpenAI fired company CEO Sam Altman. His friend Chesky leapt into action—publicly defending his pal on X, getting on the phone with Microsoft’s CEO, and throwing himself into the thick of Altman’s battle to retake OpenAI. Five days later Altman prevailed, and Chesky—“I was so jacked up,” he says—turned his buzzing mind to his own company, Airbnb.Thanksgiving weekend was beginning. The Chesky extended family had already held their turkey get-together a week earlier, and the Airbnb CEO had no holiday plan. He was completely alone in his sprawling San Francisco apartment except for Sophie, his golden retriever.Still wired out of his mind from the cathartic corporate rescue, Chesky began to write. He wanted to bust the company he’d cofounded out of its pigeonhole of short-term home rentals. Amazon, he was fond of pointing out, was first an online bookstore before it became the everything store. Chesky had long believed that Airbnb should expand in a similar way. But things kept getting in the way—dealing with safety issues, fighting regulation, coping with the existential crisis of a global pandemic. The company was in danger of being tagged with the word that ambitious entrepreneurs dread like the plague: mature.Now Chesky was emboldened to lay out his vision. Home rentals are simply a service, so why stop there? Airbnb could be the platform for booking all sorts of services. While other apps cover specific sectors—food delivery, home maintenance, car rides—Chesky figured that Airbnb’s experience in attractively displaying homes, vetting hosts, and responding to crises could make it more trustworthy than competitors and therefore the go-to option for virtually anything.In a frantic typing spree at the dining room table, on the couch, the bed, and at times in his office, Chesky specced out how he would redesign the Airbnb app. Its users—now at 2 billion—would open up the app not only at vacation time but whenever they needed to find a portrait photographer, a personal trainer, or someone to cook their meals. Chesky reasoned that Airbnb would need to significantly strengthen its identity verification. He even thought he could get people to use the app as a credential, something as respected as a government-issued ID. If he could transform Airbnb into a storefront for real-world services, Chesky thought, he’d catapult his company from a nearly $10-billion-a-year business into one that boasted membership in tech’s pantheon.Over the next few days, Chesky spilled these thoughts into an Evernote document. “I was basically going from room to room just pouring out this stream-of-consciousness manifesto, like Jack Kerouac writing On the Road,” he says, referring to the frenetically produced single roll of teletype paper that catalyzed the beat movement. “I dusted off all my ideas from 2012 to 2016,” Chesky tells me. “I basically said, ‘We’re not just a vacation app—we’re going to be a platform, a community.’” By Friday he had around 10,000 words, “incomprehensible to anyone but me.” He began to refine it, and by the time the weekend was over, Chesky had distilled his document down to 1,500 words.PHOTOGRAPH: GABRIELA HASBUNAfter the holiday, Chesky gathered his leadership team into a conference room. He handed the team copies of his memo à la Jeff Bezos and waited as his direct reports took it in. “Usually when I share ideas, people aren’t bought in,” he says. “But this time, there wasn’t a lot of feedback. People were really excited. And two years later, that document will now be executed with an exacting detail to what I wrote.”This month, Airbnb will launch the first stage of its more than $200 million reinvention: a panoply of more than 10,000 vendors peddling a swath of services in 260 cities in 30 countries. It is also revitalizing an unsuccessful experiment the company began in 2016: offering bespoke local activities, or what it calls “experiences.” The next stage, launch date unspecified, involves making your profile on Airbnb so robust that it’s “almost like a passport,” as Chesky puts it. After that comes a deep immersion into AI: Inspired by his relationship with Altman, Chesky hopes to build the ultimate agent, a super-concierge who starts off handling customer service and eventually knows you well enough to plan your travel and maybe the rest of your life.“Brian’s been badly underrated as a tech CEO,” Altman says of his friend. “He's not usually mentioned in the same breath as Larry Page or Bill Gates, but I think he is on a path to build as big of a company.”That’s a stretch—Airbnb is nowhere near the size of those oligarchic powers. But Chesky was feeling the need for big changes; While impressive, Airbnb’s growth rate doesn’t suggest that the company will soon reach the trillion-dollar heights of Google and Microsoft. “I’m 43 and at a crossroads, where I can either be almost done or just getting started,” he tells me. “There's a scenario where I'm basically done. Airbnb is very profitable. We've kind of, mostly, nailed vacation rentals. But we can do more.”In early April, I visited Chesky at the company’s lavish San Francisco headquarters. The relaunch was five weeks away. The second floor—where signs warn employees not to bring visitors—had become a sprawling eyes-only command center. The walls were covered with dozens of large poster boards, each one featuring a city, that read as if a group of McKinsey consultants had tackled a fourth-grade geography assignment. Austin, Texas, was written up as “a funky come-as-you-are kind of place” with a handful of “first principles,” one of which was “Outlaw of Texas,” with pointers to food trucks and vintage markets. Another so-called principle was “Live and Alive,” referring to music venues and bat watching; a third was “Dam Lakes,” referring to various water sports. Other blindingly obvious notations included barbeque, tacos, and the two-step. The Paris poster painted a “revolutionary” city marked by slow living and enduring culture.Chesky strode up and greeted me enthusiastically. Dressed in a slim T-shirt that exposed his swole physique, he bounced on his heels with a jittery energy that reminded me of the first time I met him, in January 2009. He had just joined Y Combinator’s famous program for startups, and he and his classmates were at a party at the home of YC cofounder Paul Graham. (Graham told me then that he thought Airbnb’s business plan was crazy but was impressed by their determination.) I mentioned to Chesky that I was headed to Washington, DC, for Barack Obama’s inauguration, and he and his cofounders immediately tried to convince me to use their service to sleep on someone’s couch. I declined, but somehow over the next 15 years they managed to sell the idea to 2 billion people, including me, and now the company has a market cap worth more than Marriott.Chesky ushers me into a conference room to get a preview of the new Airbnb app. His engineers and designers have rebuilt the app from scratch, and he waves around a stick of lip balm as a talisman as he talks me through the redesign. Also in the room is his product marketing head, Jud Coplan, while his vice president of design, Teo Connor, Zooms in from London. While customers likely think of Airbnb as a travel company, its leaders view the operation as an achievement in design. Which makes sense; both Chesky and his cofounder Joe Gebbia were students at the Rhode Island School of Design.Airbnb's new user interface featuring experiences and services.COURTESY OF AIRBNBChesky explains that historically, people used Airbnb only once or twice a year, so its design had to be exceptionally simple. Now the company is retooling for more frequent access. Open the app, and you see a trio of icons that act as gateways to the expanded functions. Within minutes Chesky and his lieutenants are applauding the cheery, retro style of the icons—a house for traditional rentals, a hotel bell for services, and a Jules Verne-ish hot-air balloon representing activities. “We really thought deeply about the metaphor—what was the right visual to express an experience?” says Connor. Once they decided on the balloon, they drilled into how much fire should belch from the basket. The icons were drawn by a former Apple designer whose name Chesky would not divulge. “He’s a bit of a secret weapon,” he says.A less-secret weapon is Chesky’s collaboration with the iconic, also ex-Apple, industrial designer Jony Ive. Chesky’s north star, it should be said, is Apple. “Steve Jobs, to me, is like Michelangelo or da Vinci,” he says. Despite never meeting Jobs, “I feel like I know him deeply, professionally, in a way that few people ever did, in a way that you only possibly could by starting a tech company as a creative person and going on a rocket ship,” Chesky says. By hiring Ive’s LoveFrom company and working with Jobs’ key collaborator, Chesky gets a taste of the famous Jobs/Ive dynamic. Ive himself doesn’t make that comparison, but he does praise Chesky’s design chops. “There are certain tactical things where I hope that sometimes I'm of use to Brian, just as as a fellow designer,” Ive says. “But the majority of our work has been around ideas and the way we frame problems and understand opportunities.”Another key part of the app is the profile page. “You need trust,” Chesky says—meaning a verifiable identity. Airbnb has been vetting the new vendors, which it calls “service hosts.” For months, Chesky says, an army of background researchers has been scrutinizing the résumés, licenses, and recommendations of chefs, photographers, manicurists, masseuses, hair stylists, makeup artists, personal trainers, and aestheticians who provide spa treatments such as facials and microdermabrasions. They’re all being professionally photographed.Airbnb's new guest profile interface.COURTESY OF AIRBNBFor the next phase—turning Airbnb’s user profiles into a primary internet ID—Connor and her team have engaged in some far-out experimentation. She rattles off a list of technologies they’ve been exploring, including biometrics, holograms, and the reactive inks used to deter counterfeiting on official ID cards. But it’s far from easy to become a private identity utility (hello, Facebook), and even Chesky notes that getting governments to accept an Airbnb credential to verify identity is “a stretch goal.”Now that a whole slew of people will have new reasons to chat with each other and coordinate plans, Airbnb has also enhanced its messaging functions. Fellow travelers who share experiences can form communities, stay in touch, even share videos and photos. “I don’t know if I want to call it a social network, because of the stigma associated with it,” says Ari Balogh, Airbnb’s CTO. So they employ a fuzzier term. “We think of it as a connection platform,” he says. “You’re going to see us build a lot more stuff on top of it, although we’re not an advertising system, thank goodness.” (My own observation is that any for-profit company that can host advertising will, but whatever.)This brings us to the services—the heart and soul of this reinvention. Those now on offer seem designed to augment an Airbnb stay with all the stuff that drives up your bill at a luxury resort, like a DIY White Lotus. It will be interesting to see how the company handles the inevitable cases of food poisoning or bad haircuts (and skeezy customers), but Airbnb can draw on its 17 years of experience with dirty sheets, all-night discos on the ground floor, or a host who is literally terrorizing you. Eventually, Chesky says, Airbnb will offer “hundreds” of services, perhaps as far-ranging as plumbing, cleaning, car repair, guitar lessons, and tutoring, and then take its 15 percent fee.Crafted cuts by Bryan, Chicago, IllinoisCOURTESY OF AIRBNB; LYNDON FRENCHTrain with Steve Jordan, Trainer to the Stars, Los Angeles, CaliforniaCOURTESY OF AIRBNB; JACKIE BEALEThe other key feature of the company’s reinvention, of course, is Experiences. If the idea sounds familiar, that’s because Airbnb launched a service by that name almost a decade ago, with pretty much the same pitch: special activities for travelers, like architects leading tours of buildings or chefs showing people how to fold dumplings.It flopped, although Airbnb never formally pulled the plug. Chesky’s excuses include tactical errors: After a big initial splash, the company didn’t follow up with more marketing, and it didn’t establish a strong flow of new experiences. But the big reason, he says, was that it was too early. Now the company has five times as many customers and an ecosystem to support the effort. “It was like our Newton,” says Chesky, referring to Apple’s handheld device that predated the iPhone. (Another Apple reference, for those keeping score.)Chesky’s crew has arranged for more than 22,000 experiences in 650 cities, including a smattering of so-called “originals,” with people at the top of their field—star athletes, Michelin chefs, famous celebrities. In the pipeline is Conan O’Brien selling a perch behind a mic in his podcast studio. (Don’t expect it to air.) Taking a lesson from his earlier flop, Chesky has planned a steady cadence of these short-term promotional stunts, which, of course, is what the Conan experience ultimately is. “We’re going to have thousands of originals and maybe one day hundreds of thousands—a regular drumbeat of some of the biggest iconic celebrities,” Chesky says.He shows me how someone could take a trip to, say, Mexico City and book experiences instantly. “Fun fact—I’ve always dreamed of being a professional wrestler in Mexico. I want to be a luchador!” he tells me, then immediately regrets it. Regardless: In an Airbnb experience, he says, you can meet a real luchador, get in the ring with him, and learn some moves. Can you keep the mask?“Probably,” says Chesky. In any case, you’d share the photos with others in your group. (But don’t call it a social network.)Megan Thee Stallion in Los Angeles, CaliforniaCOURTESY OF AIRBNB; ADRIENNE RAQUELHorseback riding through four hidden temples of the Inkas, Cusco, PeruCOURTESY OF AIRBNB; PAZ OLIVARES-DROGUETTAirbnb’s planned transformation tracks with another reinvention: that of its leader.Chesky had originally taken the title of CEO over his two pretty-much equal cofounders because his personality was more forward facing—it wasn’t even formalized until 2010. But then, in 2011, the company had its first real crisis when a host publicly shared a horror story about how an Airbnb guest from deep, deep hell pillaged and trashed her home. What wasn’t stolen—the customer broke into a locked closet to grab a passport, cash, and heirloom jewelry—was ravaged and burned in the fireplace. “The death-like smell from the bathroom was frightening,” wrote the host. The story threatened to destroy the cheerful person-to-person vibe the company had cultivated. It didn’t help that Airbnb’s initial response was clueless and weak.Chesky stepped up to become the face of the company and instituted overdue safety protocols. Over the next few years, Chesky cemented his alpha status. In 2018 his cofounder Joe Gebbia stepped down from daily duties, though he still sits on the board. (Recently Gebbia has been in the news for his very public participation in DOGE’s remaking of the US government. When asked about it at a Q and A session with employees, Chesky said that Gebbia was free to have his own opinions, but they are not the company’s. Chesky did not attend Trump’s inauguration.) The third cofounder, Nathan Blecharczyk, is still with the company, though it’s notable that as I sat in meetings with over a dozen executives, the only time his name came up was when I mentioned it.Chesky was totally in charge during the pandemic, when Airbnb lost 80 percent of its business in eight weeks. He laid off a quarter of the staff. Now that bookings surpass pre-2020 levels, he thinks the company is stronger. And he learned a big lesson: “The pandemic was the turning point of the company,” he says. “My first principle became ‘Don’t apologize for how you want to run your company.’ Most of all you should not apologize for being in the details. The number one thing people want to do is keep you out of the details.”When Chesky shared some of these views at a Y Combinator event in 2024, Paul Graham was inspired to write an essay called “Founder Mode.” Graham used Chesky’s story to argue that only the person who created a company knows what is best, and the worst mistake is to listen to management types who haven’t built their own. The essay struck a nerve; people were stopping Chesky on the street and yelling “Founder mode!” Someone dropped off a baseball hat for him with those words; it now sits on a shelf in his conference room.Chesky, meanwhile, has been deep in the details, especially on this reinvention, itself kind of a classic founder move. “I did review work before the pandemic, but people kind of hated it. There were negative associations to a CEO reviewing everything; it’s considered micromanaging.” Also, his idol Steve Jobs was famous—infamous?—for his unsparing criticism. Chesky contends that once he went all-in on dishing out criticism, with no sheepishness, people seemed happier. But even if they weren’t, he’d do it anyway. Curious to see how this worked, I arranged to attend a Chesky review.Gathered in a conference room, the design and engineering teams presented near-final app tweaks affecting how hosts set up their services. Chesky seemed fairly pleased with what he was seeing—so much so that he apologized to me afterward that I didn’t get to see him go animal with his underlings. Nonetheless, even during this lovefest of a product review, Chesky babbled a constant stream of minor corrections. The cursor is oddly centered … Those visual cues are a little confusing … We need a subtle drop shadow here … The next line doesn’t seem centered vertically … That address input is pretty awkward … That button looks oddly short, is it supposed to be that short? … That shimmer, do we think we need it? Get rid of it … That top module doesn’t make sense … We need to rewrite all the copy on this page … I think we need a better empty state … That title’s not clear …The group shuffles out satisfied and a bit stunned that they got away so easy. But when I meet Chesky a day later to sum things up, he tells me that I’d just missed a spicier product review. Then he gets serious, explaining what the reinvention means to him. “I felt a little bit like the vacation rental guy,” he says. “Like we as a company are a little underestimated.” He brings up Apple again, saying that both companies embody the idea that a business relationship can generate emotion. “My ambition is kind of like the ambition of an artist and designer,” he says.At that point Chesky gets a little woo. “Magic, in hindsight, is not technology,” he says as he reflects on Apple’s wizardry. What he’s realized is that magic lies in forging connections with those who offer you a bed, a microdermabrasion, a sparring match in a lucha libre ring. “The magic that is timeless is, like, the stuff you remember at the end of your life.”He lets that sit for a minute. Then he puts a cap on that insight, sounding less like a CEO than a life coach. “I’ve never had a dream with a device in it,” he says. Leave it to the subconscious to highlight what matters. That said, his day dreams certainly involve a new kind of device. In his off hours he’s helping with a secret project headed by his friends Altman and Ive to create a device that Altman says is the next step beyond computers. (“This is not theoretical memo-swapping,” Altman tells me. “We’re hard at work on it, prototyping.”)But that’s somewhere off in the future. In the realm of products that actually exist in the world, Chesky will have to face competition from dozens of domain leaders including Yelp, Instacart, DoorDash, Ticketmaster, Hotels.com, Tinder, OpenTable, and Craigslist, to name but a few. You can probably add Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, since Chesky wants Airbnb to be a universal credential and what certainly looks like a social network. Even Steve Jobs might have blinked at taking on that crowd all at once.Images styled by Jillian Knox.Featuring: Liv Skinner, Liv Well and Francesca Lopez, Zinnia Wildflower BakehouseLet us know what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor at mail@wired.com or comment below.

While EA Motive has been quiet about its ongoing development of a game based on the Iron Man franchise, a new job listing has been spotted on EA’s jobs website that indicates that single-player will be a major component of the game. The job listing is for a Level Designer that would be in charge of designing “major singleplayer levels”. Along with designing levels, the responsibilities for the job posting include bringing the levels through every phase of development, from concept all the way up to polishing. The level designer will also need to incorporate feedback from research and playtest data, while also communicating with the rest of the team when it comes to feedback on the levels they design. According to the posting, the position requires a potential level designer to have experience with single-player action RPG titles, as well as creative skills when it comes to conceptualising and designing environments. The posting also requires familiarity with Epic’s Unreal Engine. The last time EA Motive spoke about Iron Man was with general manager Patrick Klaus revealing that the team in the studio working on the game had hit a major internal milestone. In his update, Klaus mentioned that the project, led by Olivier Proulx and Ian Frazier, has laid “a robust foundation for the journey ahead.” The major internal milestone would likely have to do with the pre-production phase of the development of Iron Man. Back in October 2023, Klaus had revealed that EA Motive was still in the early stages of the game’s development, having started work on the title after wrapping up the Dead Space remake earlier that year. “Since [Dead Space’s launch], our focus has switched to the Iron Man project, giving us the opportunity to work (and play!) with another extraordinary property,” Klaus wrote back then. “We’re still early in pre-production and taking our time to make sure we set the best possible foundation for development. But already, we’re finding so many opportunities to explore story, design and gameplay with Iron Man, and it’s exciting to see the fantasy start coming alive.” While we don’t yet know too much about the Iron Man project, back in 2023, author Ryan North had announced that he was joining the writing team for the game. Nolan, who has worked on a host of comic books (Jughead, Adventure Time, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) as well as 2022 video game Lost in Random, said that “You are not ready for how amazing this game is going to be.” Owing to the general silence regarding the game, EA had confirmed that development on Iron Man, along with another project based on superhero Black Panther, hadn’t been cancelled. The statement came in light of lay-offs at the time affecting 670 employees throughout the company. Currently, no further details about EA Motive’s Iron Man game have been revealed, including what platforms it would be coming to, or even a potential launch window. Going by EA’s general multiplatform release strategy, however, the title is likely being made for PC and consoles.

A bill that allows medical clinics to sell unproven treatments has been passed in Montana.  Under the legislation, doctors can apply for a license to open an experimental treatment clinic and recommend and sell therapies not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to their patients. Once it’s signed by the governor, the law will be the most expansive in the country in allowing access to drugs that have not been fully tested.  The bill allows for any drug produced in the state to be sold in it, providing it has been through phase I clinical trials—the initial, generally small, first-in-human studies that are designed to check that a new treatment is not harmful. These trials do not determine if the drug is effective. The bill, which was passed by the state legislature on April 29 and is expected to be signed by Governor Greg Gianforte, essentially expands on existing Right to Try legislation in the state. But while that law was originally designed to allow terminally ill people to access experimental drugs, the new bill was drafted and lobbied for by people interested in extending human lifespans—a group of longevity enthusiasts that includes scientists, libertarians, and influencers.   These longevity enthusiasts are hoping Montana will serve as a test bed for opening up access to experimental drugs. “I see no reason why it couldn’t be adopted by most of the other states,” said Todd White, speaking to an audience of policymakers and others interested in longevity at an event late last month in Washington, DC. White, who helped develop the bill and directs a research organization focused on aging, added that “there are some things that can be done at the federal level to allow Right to Try laws to proliferate more readily.”  Supporters of the bill say it gives individuals the freedom to make choices about their own bodies. At the same event, bioethicist Jessica Flanigan of the University of Richmond said she was “optimistic” about the measure, because “it’s great any time anybody is trying to give people back their medical autonomy.”  Ultimately, they hope that the new law will enable people to try unproven drugs that might help them live longer, make it easier for Americans to try experimental treatments without having to travel abroad, and potentially turn Montana into a medical tourism hub. But ethicists and legal scholars aren’t as optimistic. “I hate it,” bioethicist Alison Bateman-House of New York University says of the bill. She and others are worried about the ethics of promoting and selling unproven treatments—and the risks of harm should something go wrong. Easy access? No drugs have been approved to treat human aging. Some in the longevity field believe that regulation has held back the development of such drugs. In the US, federal law requires that drugs be shown to be both safe and effective before they can be sold. That requirement was made law in the 1960s following the thalidomide tragedy, in which women who took the drug for morning sickness had babies with sometimes severe disabilities. Since then, the FDA has been responsible for the approval of new drugs.   Typically, new drugs are put through a series of human trials. Phase I trials generally involve between 20 and 100 volunteers and are designed to check that the drug is safe for humans. If it is, the drug is then tested in larger groups of hundreds, and then thousands, of volunteers to assess the dose and whether it actually works. Once a drug is approved, people who are prescribed it are monitored for side effects. The entire process is slow, and it can last more than a decade—a particular pain point for people who are acutely aware of their own aging.  But some exceptions have been made for people who are terminally ill under Right to Try laws. Those laws allow certain individuals to apply for access to experimental treatments that have been through phase I clinical trials but have not received FDA approval. Montana first passed a Right to Try law in 2015 (a federal law was passed around three years later). Then in 2023, the state expanded the law to include all patients there, not just those with terminal illnesses—meaning that any person in Montana could, in theory, take a drug that had been through only a phase I trial. At the time, this was cheered by many longevity enthusiasts—some of whom had helped craft the expanded measure. But practically, the change hasn’t worked out as they envisioned. “There was no licensing, no processing, no registration” for clinics that might want to offer those drugs, says White. “There needed to be another bill that provided regulatory clarity for service providers.”  So the new legislation addresses “how clinics can set up shop in Montana,” says Dylan Livingston, founder and CEO of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives, which hosted the DC event. Livingston built A4LI, as it’s known, a few years ago, as a lobbying group for the science of human aging and longevity. Livingston, who is exploring multiple approaches to improve both funding for scientific research and to change drug regulation, helped develop and push the 2023 bill in Montana with the support of State Senator Kenneth Bogner, he says. “I gave [Bogner] a menu of things that could be done at the state level … and he loved the idea” of turning Montana into a medical tourism hub, he says.  After all, as things stand, plenty of Americans travel abroad to receive experimental treatments that cannot legally be sold in the US, including expensive, unproven stem cell and gene therapies, says Livingston.  “If you’re going to go and get an experimental gene therapy, you might as well keep it in the country,” he says. Livingston has suggested that others might be interested in trying a novel drug designed to clear aged “senescent” cells from the body, which is currently entering phase II trials for an eye condition caused by diabetes. “One: let’s keep the money in the country, and two: if I was a millionaire getting an experimental gene therapy, I’d rather be in Montana than Honduras.” “Los Alamos for longevity” Honduras, in particular, has become something of a home base for longevity experiments. The island of Roatán is home to the Global Alliance for Regenerative Medicine clinic, which, along with various stem cell products, sells a controversial unproven “anti-aging” gene therapy for around $20,000 to customers including wealthy longevity influencer Bryan Johnson.  Tech entrepreneur and longevity enthusiast Niklas Anzinger has also founded the city of Infinita in the region’s special economic zone of Próspera, a private city where residents are able to make their own suggestions for medical regulations. It’s the second time he’s built a community there as part of his effort to build a “Los Alamos for longevity” on the island, a place where biotech companies can develop therapies that slow or reverse human aging “at warp speed,” and where individuals are free to take those experimental treatments. (The first community, Vitalia, featured a biohacking lab, but came to an end following a disagreement between the two founders.)  Anzinger collaborated with White, the longevity enthusiast who spoke at the A4LI event (and is an advisor to Infinita VC, Anzinger’s investment company), to help put together the new Montana bill. “He asked if I would help him try to advance the new bill, so that’s what we did for the last few months,” says White, who trained as an electrical engineer but left his career in telecommunications to work with an organization that uses blockchain to fund research into extending human lifespans.  “Right to Try has always been this thing [for people] who are terminal[ly ill] and trying a Hail Mary approach to solving these things; now Right to Try laws are being used to allow you to access treatments earlier,” White told the audience at the A4LI event. “Making it so that people can use longevity medicines earlier is, I think, a very important thing.” The new bill largely sets out the “infrastructure” for clinics that want to sell experimental treatments, says White. It states that clinics will need to have a license, for example, and that this must be renewed on an annual basis.  “Now somebody who actually wants to deliver drugs under the Right to Try law will be able to do so,” he says. The new legislation also protects prescribing doctors from disciplinary action. And it sets out requirements for informed consent that go further than those of existing Right to Try laws. Before a person takes an experimental drug under the new law, they will be required to provide a written consent that includes a list of approved alternative drugs and a description of the worst potential outcome. On the safe side “In the Montana law, we explicitly enhanced the requirements for informed consent,” Anzinger told an audience at the same A4LI event. This, along with the fact that the treatments will have been through phase I clinical trials, will help to keep people safe, he argued. “We have to treat this with a very large degree of responsibility,” he added. “We obviously don’t want to be killing people,” says Livingston.  But he also adds that he, personally, won’t be signing up for any experimental treatments. “I want to be the 10 millionth, or even the 50 millionth, person to get the gene therapy,” he says. “I’m not that adventurous … I’ll let other people go first.” Others are indeed concerned that, for the “adventurous” people, these experimental treatments won’t necessarily be safe. Phase I trials are typically tiny, and they often involve less than 50 people, all of whom are typically in good health. A trial like that won’t tell you much about side effects that only show up in 5% of people, for example, or about interactions the drug might have with other medicines. Around 90% of drug candidates in clinical trials fail. And around 17% of drugs fail late-stage clinical trials because of safety concerns. Even those that make it all the way through clinical trials and get approved by the FDA can still end up being withdrawn from the market when rare but serious side effects show up. Between 1992 and 2023, 23 drugs that were given accelerated approval for cancer indications were later withdrawn from the market. And between 1950 and 2013, the reason for the withdrawal of 95 drugs was “death.” “It’s disturbing that they want to make drugs available after phase I testing,” says Sharona Hoffman, professor of law and bioethics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. “This could endanger patients.” “Famously, the doctor’s first obligation is to first do no harm,” says Bateman-House. “If [a drug] has not been through clinical trials, how do you have any standing on which to think it isn’t going to do any harm?” But supporters of the bill argue that individuals can make their own decisions about risk. When speaking at the A4LI event, Flanigan introduced herself as a bioethicist before adding “but don’t hold it against me; we’re not all so bad.” She argued that current drug regulations impose a “massive amount of restrictions on your bodily rights and your medical freedom.” Why should public officials be the ones making decisions about what’s safe for people? Individuals, she argued, should be empowered to make those judgments themselves. Other ethicists counter that this isn’t an issue of people’s rights. There are lots of generally accepted laws about when we can access drugs, says Hoffman; people aren’t allowed to drink and drive because they might kill someone. “So, no, you don’t have a right to ingest everything you want if there are risks associated with it.” The idea that individuals have a right to access experimental treatments has in fact failed in US courts in the past, says Carl Coleman, a bioethicist and legal scholar at Seton Hall in New Jersey.  He points to a case from 20 years ago: In the early 2000s, Frank Burroughs founded the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs. His daughter, Abigail Burroughs, had head and neck cancer, and she had tried and failed to access experimental drugs. In 2003, about two years after Abigail’s death, the group sued the FDA, arguing that people with terminal cancer have a constitutionally protected right to access experimental, unapproved treatments, once those treatments have been through phase I trials. In 2007, however, a court rejected that argument, determining  that terminally ill individuals do not have a constitutional right to experimental drugs. Bateman-House also questions a provision in the Montana bill that claims to make treatments more equitable. It states that “experimental treatment centers” should allocate 2% of their net annual profits “to support access to experimental treatments and healthcare for qualifying Montana residents.” Bateman-House says she’s never seen that kind of language in a bill before. It may sound positive, but it could in practice introduce even more risk to the local community. “On the one hand, I like equity,” she says. “On the other hand, I don’t like equity to snake oil.” After all, the doctors prescribing these drugs won’t know if they will work. It is never ethical to make somebody pay for a treatment when you don’t have any idea whether it will work, Bateman-House adds. “That’s how the US system has been structured: There’s no profit without evidence of safety and efficacy.” The clinics are coming Any clinics that offer experimental treatments in Montana will only be allowed to sell drugs that have been made within the state, says Coleman. “Federal law requires any drug that is going to be distributed in interstate commerce to have FDA approval,” he says. White isn’t too worried about that. Montana already has manufacturing facilities for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer. “That was one of the specific advantages [of focusing] on Montana, because everything can be done in state,” he says. He also believes that the current administration is “predisposed” to change federal laws around interstate drug manufacturing. (FDA commissioner Marty Makary has been a vocal critic of the agency and the pace at which it approves new drugs.) At any rate, the clinics are coming to Montana, says Livingston. “We have half a dozen that are interested, and maybe two or three that are definitively going to set up shop out there.” He won’t name names, but he says some of the interested clinicians already have clinics in the US, while others are abroad.  Mac Davis—founder and CEO of Minicircle, the company that developed the controversial “anti-aging” gene therapy—told MIT Technology Review he was “looking into it.” “I think this can be an opportunity for America and Montana to really kind of corner the market when it comes to medical tourism,” says Livingston. “There is no other place in the world with this sort of regulatory environment.”

A team led by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago and UC Davis has developed a method to 3D bioprint tissue-specific, high cell-density bioinks capable of forming complex multiphase constructs. Published in Materials Today, the study introduces a platform that combines individual or aggregate-based stem cell bioinks with localized growth factor delivery, offering precise control over spatial differentiation and tissue development. Using a shear-thinning, photocrosslinkable alginate microgel supporting bath, the research team successfully printed structures with high shape fidelity and tunable degradation. These constructs enable self-assembly through cellular condensation and localized differentiation into distinct tissues such as cartilage and bone. After four weeks of culture, the bioprinted structures maintained their original geometry and exhibited clear phase separation between chondrogenic and osteogenic regions. A new approach to bioink precision Conventional bioprinting approaches often rely on biomaterial-laden inks that can interfere with direct cell–cell interactions and degrade unpredictably. To overcome these limitations, the researchers developed bioinks containing either individual stem cells or multicellular aggregates, combined with gelatin microparticles (GMs) loaded with growth factors such as TGF-β1 and BMP-2.These formulations demonstrated favorable rheological properties, shear-thinning, self-healing, and low yield stress, making them well-suited for extrusion-based bioprinting. Critically, the growth factor-loaded GMs allowed for spatially controlled, sustained biochemical signaling without requiring external supplementation.Following 3D printing and stabilization of the supporting bath, stem cells underwent lineage-specific differentiation, resulting in stable osteochondral constructs. Histological and biochemical analyses confirmed targeted extracellular matrix deposition and distinct tissue boundaries at the cartilage–bone interface.3D printing of the tissue specific high cell-density bioinks within the OMA microgel supporting bath, which fluidizes via its shear-thinning property. When the printing needle fluidizes the mechanical stable OMA microgels (i, disordered region), tissue specific high cell-density bioinks can fill the shear-thinning region (ii). After the needle passes, the OMA microgel bath can be stabilized by its self-healing property (iii, self-healing region) to firmly hold the printed bioinks. Image via Jeon et al., Materials Today. From biomaterials to biofunction While 3D bioprinting has long promised the recreation of complex biological architectures, printing functional, multicellular, multi-tissue constructs remains a key challenge. Cell-only bioinks often require preformed strands or aggregates, limiting resolution and design flexibility. The approach developed by Jeon et al. addresses this gap, enabling high-resolution deposition of cell-dense bioinks that self-organize into biologically relevant structures. Characterization of resolution and shape fidelity and chondrogenic differentiation of 3D bioprinted constructs. (A) Photomicrographs of the 3D printed individual cell-based tissue specific bioink filaments [i and ii; TGF-β1-loaded GM + hMSCs. iii and iv; bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2)-loaded GM + hASCs] into OMA microgel supporting baths with a 22G printing needle and (B) quantification of their mean diameters, demonstrating the capability of high-resolution printing with narrow filament diameter distribution. Scale bars indicate 500 μm. N.S.: Not significant. (C) Digital images and (D) photographs of the 3D printed structures, demonstrating high shape fidelity. The scale bars indicate 5 mm. (E) Photomicrographs of Saf-O/Fast Green stained construct sections cultured in BPM (i and ii) and CPM (iii and iv). The scale bars indicate 500 μm. (F) Quantification of GAG/DNA in the chondrogenically differentiated 3D printed constructs. These demonstrate hMSC differentiation and deposition of chondrogenic extracellular matrix (ECM) in the individual cell-based tissue specific bioink printed constructs. N.S.: Not significant. Image via Jeon et al., Materials Today. Recent innovations have similarly advanced bioink design and tissue engineering. Researchers at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, developed a  SCOBY-derived bioink to 3D print cellulose scaffolds for direct tissue repair, while another team created a personalized heart-on-a-chip using photopolymerizable, patient-specific bioinks. Bio INX and Readily3D launched a ready-to-use bioink for volumetric bioprinting, and Texas A&M engineered a specialized vascular-specific bioink tailored for blood vessel formation. Elsewhere, studies have demonstrated functional brain tissue constructs with active neural networks, and Frontier Bio received a 2024 3DPI Award for developing lung-like tissue in vitro. Jeon et al.’s work builds on these efforts by integrating localized growth factor delivery into high cell-density bioinks, enabling the fabrication of multiphase tissues with fine spatial control and biological fidelity.By controlling the spatial presentation of bioactive cues within densely cellular environments, the platform holds promise for regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and drug screening. Future research will aim to enhance tissue maturation and incorporate vascularization to improve functionality and translational potential. What 3D printing trends should you watch out for in 2025? How is the future of 3D printing shaping up? Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter to keep up with the latest 3D printing news.You can also follow us onLinkedIn and subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry Youtube channel to access more exclusive content.

Remedy hopes FBC: Firebreak can defeat the "predatory" live-service trap - with help from small budgets, Game Pass, and PS Plus "It's very much about spreading the risk." Image credit: Remedy News by Chris Tapsell Deputy Editor Published on May 14, 2025 I am quietly optimistic about FBC: Firebreak, Remedy's upcoming co-op, PvE Control spin-off. Having played a couple of hours of it, particularly towards the end of my time, as the systemic complexity began to compound, its coming together at the last minute almost feels like a strength, as I wrote in our big FBC: Firebreak preview. But naturally at a time when live-service, multiplayer-only games - particularly ones from studios known for the purely single-player output - are hardly the most popular pitches in the world, there is plenty of scepticism out there. Speaking to game director Mike Kayatta, lead designer Anssi Hyytiäinen, and PR director Thomas Puha, however, the sense was - maybe predictably - that the studio remained bullish. They gave a few reasons. "For me, at least one element there in that conversation is always the predatory practices in player retention," Hyytiäinen explains. Instead of battle passes, daily objectives and the like, for instance, Firebreak has a somewhat old-school approach of a set of upgrades to your weapons and kits, and a set of unlockable perks, both earned through the main loop of playing rounds of the game, collecting resources and spending them on said unlocks. FBC: Firebreak gameplay trailer.Watch on YouTube As Hyytiäinen puts it, Remedy has intentionally aimed to make it something you can dip in and out of, "the session lengths are short - we're almost thinking: we don't have time to play games ourselves, what kind of game would we like to play that doesn't need to be sucking us in? You know when you lock in, you have 12 phases of stuff that has happened, that just reading through that is already your time gone for the night?" Kayatta makes similar noises, describing the studio's inspiration in Left 4 Dead (along with many others), as a case of looking back and saying, "Wow, wasn't that game great - but also from the perspective of nostalgia, like: wasn't it great when you could kind of buy a game, and it might be supported over time, but ultimately, I can pick it up and put it down? And I can enjoy that game on my own terms, and not on the game's terms. Because it feels like so many things that tried to come for Left 4 Dead went in the opposite direction, where they're like, "Oh here's the fun gameplay - oh yeah but: battle passes and seasons!"" "I'm not saying all those things are always evil..." "I'm not saying all those things are always evil," he adds, "it's not true. But ultimately, it is something that starts to try to tell you how to engage, and not just like, when you're in the game, but actually when you're out of the game, when do you come back to the game? How often do you need to play the game? Check in, do this, do that." The inspiration instead, he says, "is more of a meta inspiration to say: what if we came back and we said, let's just focus on making a game that people like, and if they only play it for an hour a week and then they need to step away for six months, what if that was okay? What if it's okay that they go play other stuff? What if we built a game and a mandate - and a product, even, on the business level - around this idea that that's actually okay for a multiplayer game, and just get it in people's hands?" The natural follow-on there is Remedy's decision to put Firebreak immediately onto Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. I asked Kayatta whether that helped take the pressure off a little, amongst the wider, tougher context of similar multiplayer games - most notably the high-profile failure and ultimately pulling from sale of Sony's Concord - having some difficult launches. "From a wider industry perspective, obviously, there's always the question of: is it cannibalising sales? But of course, it's not like people put things on Game Pass for free either," Kayatta says. "I wouldn't call it a safety net for us," he adds, in that "games can't just survive exclusively by trying to be available in one service or another service." Still, he notes that Game Pass and PS Plus were both "a very welcome partnership". "We never used 'games-as-a-service', 'live-service' with this game, very consciously," adds PR director Thomas Puha, during a separate conversation. "The connotation of those games is, you know, it's gonna be 'battle pass' this, Call of Duty, Destiny, all these things that were so far from that." "[It's] a very contested market - but then everything is contested..." Puha adds, too, that the studio is aware it's "a very contested market - but then everything is contested. There's tons of games. It's not like there isn't a contest with single-player games, I mean we're up against, you know, Sony heavy-hitters... there's no point in trying to build something where you've got to be playing every day, because then the machinery we've got to build here is not something we could even afford - so what's the point?" According to Puha, the studio's other backstop here, meanwhile, is its shift in approach towards making multiple games at once, which Remedy's been doing since 2016. "It's very much about spreading the risk," he says, "you can see it's near impossible to survive with making a single game and then hoping that it, against all odds, does phenomenally well, and you get some money out of it. Part of our business model is that we work on multiple things, and we've said we try to ship something every year." The last point the team is keen to make is that FBC: Firebreak has been made with a significantly tighter budget than what you might consider some of its multiplayer competitors. "Of course, not just taking crazy risks by doing massive budgets and so on" is also a factor, as Puha puts it. "Of course we need this game to do well, but then we have realistic expectations." The team is still only around 50 developers strong, for instance - Control's team, by comparison, was in the low hundreds. "It's not like a 200-person, five-year dev cycle." To Kayatta, FBC: Firebreak's director, it also just comes back to the reasons why it exists in the first place. "I think there's a lot of cynicism around multiplayer games," he says. "And I think there's double cynicism about multiplayer games that come from, traditionally, single-player studios. And obviously I feel that - I mean I'm also a gamer. "But at the end of the day, one thing that is quite nice about working on this project here is that I know - because I live it every day - that this did not come from any amount of cynicism. It has just come from passion and creative people have been given a license to say, you know, what is fun? What do we just want to do? What's interesting?" This article is based on a press event at Remedy's headquarters, for which it assisted with travel and accommodation.