Drones Set To Deliver Benefits for Labor-Intensive Industries: Forrester By John P. Mello Jr. June 3, 2025 5:00 AM PT ADVERTISEMENT Quality Leads That Turn Into Deals Full-service marketing programs from TechNewsWorld deliver sales-ready leads. Segment by geography, industry, company size, job title, and more. Get Started Now. Aerial drones are rapidly assuming a key role in the physical automation of business operations, according to a new report by Forrester Research. Aerial drones power airborne physical automation by addressing operational challenges in labor-intensive industries, delivering efficiency, intelligence, and experience, explained the report written by Principal Analyst Charlie Dai with Frederic Giron, Merritt Maxim, Arjun Kalra, and Bill Nagel. Some industries, like the public sector, are already reaping benefits, it continued. The report predicted that drones will deliver benefits within the next two years as technologies and regulations mature. It noted that drones can help organizations grapple with operational challenges that exacerbate risks and inefficiencies, such as overreliance on outdated, manual processes, fragmented data collection, geographic barriers, and insufficient infrastructure. Overreliance on outdated manual processes worsens inefficiencies in resource allocation and amplifies safety risks in dangerous work environments, increasing operational costs and liability, the report maintained. “Drones can do things more safely, at least from the standpoint of human risk, than humans,” said Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm, in Bend, Ore. “They can enter dangerous, exposed, very high-risk and even toxic environments without putting their operators at risk,” he told TechNewsWorld. “They can be made very small to go into areas where people can’t physically go. And a single operator can operate several AI-driven drones operating autonomously, keeping staffing levels down.” Sensor Magic “The magic of the drone is really in the sensor, while the drone itself is just the vehicle that holds the sensor wherever it needs to be,” explained DaCoda Bartels, senior vice president of operations with FlyGuys, a drone services provider, in Lafayette, La. “In doing so, it removes all human risk exposure because the pilot is somewhere safe on the ground, sending this sensor, which is, in most cases, more high-resolution than even a human eye,” he told TechNewsWorld. “In essence, it’s a better data collection tool than if you used 100 people. Instead, you deploy one drone around in all these different areas, which is safer, faster, and higher resolution.” Akash Kadam, a mechanical engineer with Caterpillar, maker of construction and mining equipment, based in Decatur, Ill., explained that drones have evolved into highly functional tools that directly respond to key inefficiencies and threats to labor-intensive industries. “Within the manufacturing and supply chains, drones are central to optimizing resource allocation and reducing the exposure of humans to high-risk duties,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Drones can be used in factory environments to automatically inspect overhead cranes, rooftops, and tight spaces — spaces previously requiring scaffolding or shutdowns, which carry both safety and cost risks,” he said. “A reduction in downtime, along with no requirement for manual intervention in hazardous areas, is provided through this aerial inspection by drones.” “In terms of resource usage, drones mounted with thermal cameras and tools for acquiring real-time data can spot bottlenecks, equipment failure, or energy leakage on the production floor,” he continued. “This can facilitate predictive maintenance processes and [optimal] usage of energy, which are an integral part of lean manufacturing principles.” Kadam added that drones provide accurate field mapping and multispectral imaging in agriculture, enabling the monitoring of crop health, soil quality, and irrigation distribution. “Besides the reduction in manual scouting, it ensures more effective input management, which leads to more yield while saving resources,” he observed. Better Data Collection The Forrester report also noted that drones can address problems with fragmented data collection and outdated monitoring systems. “Drones use cameras and sensors to get clear, up-to-date info,” said Daniel Kagan, quality manager at Rogers-O’Brien Construction, a general contractor in Dallas. “Some drones even make 3D maps or heat maps,” he told TechNewsWorld. “This helps farmers see where crops need more water, stores check roof damage after a storm, and builders track progress and find delays.” “The drone collects all this data in one flight, and it’s ready to view in minutes and not days,” he added. Dean Bezlov, global head of business development at MYX Robotics, a visualization technology company headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria, added that drones are the most cost and time-efficient way to collect large amounts of visual data. “We are talking about two to three images per second with precision and speed unmatched by human-held cameras,” he told TechNewsWorld. “As such, drones are an excellent tool for ‘digital twins’ — timestamps of the real world with high accuracy which is useful in industries with physical assets such as roads, rail, oil and gas, telecom, renewables and agriculture, where the drone provides a far superior way of looking at the assets as a whole,” he said. Drone Adoption Faces Regulatory Hurdles While drones have great potential for many organizations, they will need to overcome some challenges and barriers. For example, Forrester pointed out that insurers deploy drones to evaluate asset risks but face evolving privacy regulations and gaps in data standardization. Media firms use drones to take cost-effective, cinematic aerial footage, but face strict regulations, it added, while in urban use cases like drone taxis and cargo transport remain experimental due to certification delays and airspace management complexities. “Regulatory frameworks, particularly in the U.S., remain complex, bureaucratic, and fragmented,” said Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst with SmartTech Research in Las Vegas. “The FAA’s rules around drone operations — especially for flying beyond visual line of sight [BVLOS] — are evolving but still limit many high-value use cases.” “Privacy concerns also persist, especially in urban areas and sectors handling sensitive data,” he told TechNewsWorld. “For almost 20 years, we’ve been able to fly drones from a shipping container in one country, in a whole other country, halfway across the world,” said FlyGuys’ Bartels. “What’s limiting the technology from being adopted on a large scale is regulatory hurdles over everything.” Enderle added that innovation could also be a hangup for organizations. “This technology is advancing very quickly, making buying something that isn’t instantly obsolete very difficult,” he said. “In addition, there are a lot of drone choices, raising the risk you’ll pick one that isn’t ideal for your use case.” “We are still at the beginning of this trend,” he noted. “Robotic autonomous drones are starting to come to market, which will reduce dramatically the need for drone pilots. I expect that within 10 years, we’ll have drones doing many, if not most, of the dangerous jobs currently being done by humans, as robotics, in general, will displace much of the labor force.” John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John. Leave a Comment Click here to cancel reply. Please sign in to post or reply to a comment. New users create a free account. Related Stories More by John P. Mello Jr. view all More in Emerging Tech

HBO original The Gilded Age returns for a third season on June 22. This series tells a fictionalized story set during America’s Gilded Age. A time of rapidly increasing prosperity and industry, for those lucky enough to capitalize on it. New York City’s social scene is forced to adapt as people with old money (inherited wealth) and those with new money (wealth from rising industries) clash. Carrie Coon, Morgan Spector, Taissa Farmiga, Cynthia Nixon, and more star in this compelling drama. Fans of The Hunger Games series will be happy to find all four movies in the series on Max from the first of the month. If you need a break from Sunrise on the Reaping theories or simply want to revisit the story that started it all, Max is the place to be. A Minecraft Movie will also be available to stream on Max this month, though the date has yet to be revealed by Warner Bros. Discovery. Here’s everything coming to HBO and Max in June. HBO and Max New Releases – June 2025 June 1 A Hologram for the King (2016)A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)A Perfect Getaway (2009)Backtrack (2016)Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons (2022)Black Patch (1957)Blues in the Night (1941)Casino (1995)Fight Club (1999)Gentleman Jim (1942)Hellboy (2004)I Am Not Your Negro (2017)Igor (2008)Illegal (1955)In the Good Old Summertime (1949)Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)Kid Glove Killer (1942)Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)My Scientology Movie (2017)Numbered Men (1930)One Foot in Heaven (1941)Parasite (2019)Presenting Lily Mars (1943)Pride & Prejudice (2005)Public Enemies (2009)Reign of the Supermen (2019)Serenade (1956)Silver River (1948)Spaceballs (1987)Split (2017)Strike Up the Band (1940)Summer Stock (1950)Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)Superman: Red Son (2020)Superman: Unbound (2013)Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)The Death of Superman (2018)The Fighting 69th (1940)The Harvey Girls (1946)The Hunger Games (2012)The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014)The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015)The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)The Match King (1932)The Mayor of Hell (1933)The Mortician (HBO Original)The Nitwits (1935)The Prince and the Pauper (1937)The Sea Chase (1955)The Sea Hawk (1940)The Sunlit Night (2019)The Verdict (1946)They Made Me a Criminal (1939)This Side of the Law (1950)Three Faces East (1930)Three Strangers (1946)Total Drama Island, Season 2 (Cartoon Network)Wagons West (1952)Words and Music (1948)You’ll Find Out (1940)Ziegfeld Follies (1946)June 2 BBQ Brawl, Season 6 (Food Network)June 3 Bullet Train (2022)Ugliest House in America, Season 6 (HGTV)June 4 1000-lb Roomies, Season 1 (TLC)Fatal Destination, Season 1 (ID)June 5 Bea’s Block, Season 1C (Max Original)Chespirito: Not Really on Purpose, Season 1 (Max Original)June 6 House Hunters International: Volume 9, Season 201 (HGTV)Parthenope (A24) June 10 Virgins, Season 1 (TLC) Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! June 11 Guy’s Grocery Games, Season 38 (Food Network)June 12 Bitchin’ Rides, Season 11Mini Beat Power Rockers: A Superheroic Night (Discovery International)June 13 Cleaner (2025)House Hunters: Volume 10, Season 240 (HGTV)Maine Cabin Masters, Season 10 (Magnolia Network)Super Sara (Max Original)Toad & Friends, Season 1BJune 16 Hero Ball, Season 3BJune 17 Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Animal Pharm (CNN Originals, 2025)Super Mega Cakes, Season 1 (Food Network) June 19 Expedition Unknown, Season 15 (Discovery)Mystery At Blind Frog Ranch, Season 5 (Discovery)June 20 House Hunters: Volume 10, Season 241 (HGTV)Lu & The Bally Bunch, Season 1C (Cartoon Network)Now or Never: FC Montfermeil (Max Original)Teen Titans Go!, Season 9B (Cartoon Network)June 21 The Kitchen, Season 38 (Food Network)The Never Ever Mets, Season 2 (OWN)June 22The Gilded Age, Season 3 (HBO Original) June 23 Match Me Abroad, Season 2 (TLC)June 24 Enigma (HBO Original)Mean Girl Murders, Season 3 (ID)The Invitation (2022) June 25 Rehab Addict, Season 10 (HGTV)June 27 House Hunters: Volume 10, Season 242 (HGTV)My Mom Jayne (HBO Original)Pati, Seasons 1&2 (Max Original)The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2025)June 29 #Somebody’s Son, Season 1 (OWN)Family or Fiancé, Season 4 (OWN)June 30 90 Day Fiancé: Pillow Talk, Season 11 (TLC)Truck U, Season 21

Last year Hunger Games social media accounts made shocking news when they announced there would be a new book and movie in the series. Shortly afterward, Collins released the novel on March 18, 2025 where it promptly sold 1.2 million copies in its first week in the U.S.—three times more than what Mockingjay, which closed out Collins’ original Hunger Games trilogy, did in the same time frame.  Sunrise on the Reaping follows Peeta and Katniss’ mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, when he is chosen to compete in the 50th Hunger Games, which due to the anniversary means there will be double the amount of tributes. The novel tells the story of Haymitch’s life in District 12 and his rebellion against the Capitol, which led him to become the unfriendly mentor we know from the original series.  This is the second prequel Collins has released after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which followed a young Coriolanus Snow on his journey to becoming the ruthless president in the original trilogy. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie grossed $349 million worldwide, and Collins and Lionsgate are likely eager to repeat that success at the box office with a Sunrise on the Reaping film.  The most successful movie in the franchise has been The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with a worldwide box office gross of almost $845 million. Hunger Games hasn’t been able to recreate those numbers since. But the Sunrise on the Reaping movie will follow a character the audience already connects with (as opposed to despite like Coriolanus), which may encourage more casual fans to see it. The announcement of Sunrise on the Reaping release brought new life to the Hunger Games audience, with many fans speculating about casting and production choices for the already confirmed movie adaptation, which is set to release in November 2026.  The Sunrise on the Reaping movie starts production in July and reportedly has a budget of over $150 million, according to a Deadline report, which could make it the largest budget Hunger Games movie to date. Fans of the franchise have been eagerly awaiting information about the highly anticipated movie adaptation, and they won’t have to wait long to get it. Here’s a look at some of the casting choices so far and what the expectations are for the upcoming film.  Amazon Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy There were many fan castings following the release of the book involving popular actors such as Outer Banks’ Rudy Pankow and Harris Dickinson from Babygirl. Instead the lead role went to industry newcomer Joseph Zada, who will bring a fresh perspective. Zada is an Australian actor who began his career in 2019 in a film directed by his father, Jeremy Cumpston. He continued acting and has only been involved in four projects before his casting in Hunger Games, two movies (Bilched and The Speedway Murders), one small role in the Australian TV show Total Control, and a lead role in the currently airing Australian show, Invisible Boys. The Sunrise on the Reaping movie will be Zada’s first Hollywood blockbuster role.    In Sunrise on the Reaping, Haymitch’s character suffers unimaginable loss and faces treacherous conditions in the arena, so it will be interesting to see what Zada brings to the emotional impact of his journey.  Zada will also be starring in another anticipated book-adaptation, We Were Liars, which is set to release in June. Also of note, at age 20, Zada is actually the appropriate age to be playing a 16-year-old, which differs from both fan casting and a franchise that previously has cast actors over 25 as teenagers. Photo by: Nick Morgulis Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner Maysilee is a fierce but kindhearted character, which is not uncommon ground for Mckenna Grace. Grace is one of the more well-known additions to the cast, having starred in Gifted alongside Chris Evans, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Many fans were in favor of this choice on social media as well.   Grace will have the task of conveying the multiple layers to Maysilee’s arc. At the start of the novel, the character is viewed as a stuck-up rich girl but as the story progresses, Haymitch realizes there is more to her that meets the eye, and the two characters form a strong bond. Grace’s performance will ride on her ability to capture Maysilee’s development in a way that will have audiences empathizing with her until the very end. Grace already has almost three million followers on Instagram and five million on TikTok because of her popularity with a Gen Z audience, which likely appealed to the Lionsgate marketing department as well. She’s also only 18 years old, making this another case of the filmmakers again avoiding the common Hollywood issue of folks pushing 30 playing teens.  A24 Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee Plutarch is a recurring character in the original trilogy, having a pivotal role in Mockingjay where he helps Katniss take down President Snow and the Capitol. In the film version, he was played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of the actor’s final roles. In Sunrise on the Reaping, we see Plutarch’s rise to power and how he gained the trust of the president while also helping the rebel cause. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Jesse Plemons was cast to play a younger Plutarch in the upcoming movie. It will be hard to live up to Hoffman’s charisma and talent, but Plemons seems up for the job. In fact, Plemons and Hoffman have actually shared the screen together when Plemons played Hoffman’s son in the 2012 film The Master. Plemons has been in the industry for a while and, most notably, played a role in the popular TV series Breaking Bad. He was also nominated for an Oscar as a supporting actor in The Power of the Dog. Max/WBD Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Whitney Peak was cast to play Lenore Dove, the musical, free-spirited girlfriend of Haymitch, who is a part of the traveling musical band in District 12, or the “Covey.” Peak is a relatively new actress, best known for her roles in teen dramas like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix and the Gossip Girl reboot on Max.  We will see if Peak can capture the same wild, whimsical energy that Rachel Zegler did when she played a very similar role as Lucy Gray Baird in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie. Zegler captured the hearts of Hunger Games fans, helping her to land roles afterward like Y2K and the latest Broadway production of  Romeo and Juliet. Zegler has already expressed her support for Peak’s casting on social media, writing, “I know she’s gonna do the Baird name proud.” Searchlight Pictures Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee Beetee is a major character in the second Hunger Games novel, Catching Fire, where he uses his intelligence and knowledge of the arena to help stop the Games. In Sunrise on the Reaping, we learn about his family and his previous involvement in the rebellion, making his actions in the original trilogy more impactful. Young Beetee will be played by Kelvin Harrison Jr. who has had roles in other major movies like Elvis, The Trial of Chicago 7, Luce, and Waves and has been acting since 2013.  The character was previously played by Jeffrey Wright in the original trilogy, who unsurprisingly did a good job of coming across as shy and dorky while simultaneously using his intelligence to take down the Capitol. Harrison will act as a mentor to young Haymitch in Sunrise on the Reaping and aid him in his rebellion against the Capitol, showing that just because he’s nerdy doesn’t mean he’s not dangerous.  Netflix Maya Hawke as Wiress  Wiress is one of Haymitch’s mentors in the novel who won the Hunger Games the year before by outsmarting the gamemakers and the other tributes. Wiress will be played by Maya Hawke, who is known for being the daughter of famous actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman as well as her role in the popular TV series Stranger Things. Many fans of her and the franchise were satisfied with the charismatic choice.  Like Beetee, Wiress’s character is introduced in Catching Fire as the smart but mentally disturbed tribute from District 3. In Sunrise on the Reaping, we see that she used to be able to communicate normally before the Capitol tortured her for her involvement in the rebellion. She was played in the original movies by Amanda Plummer, who embodied her eccentric, odd demeanor well, but Hawke will be playing a more sane and coherent version of Wiress. She will have to embody the young, capable victor who encourages the District 12 kids to use their intelligence to succeed in the Hunger Games without having to kill.  Amazon Prime Lili Taylor as Mags The kind and loveable mentor Mags will be played by Lili Taylor. The American actress has had roles in many successful movies, including Mystic Pizza, The Conjuring, I Shot Andy Warhol and Dogfight. Mags was also introduced in Catching Fire as Finnick’s mentor and a sweet, maternal figure. We see more of her in Sunrise on the Reaping as she helps Haymitch and the District 12 tributes prepare and shows us what she was like before the Capitol’s influence on her.  Mags was played in the Catching Fire movie by Lynn Cohen, but she was nonverbal and frail after years of Capitol torment. The Mags in this movie will be different, more energetic and able-bodied while still retaining the same affectionate nature. We will see her taking care of the tributes and making them feel like human beings even though they are headed to almost certain death.  Sony Pictures Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow Wyatt Callow is one of the District 12 tributes and a mathematical genius. Wyatt is known to take bets on the Hunger Games and calculate the odds of each tribute for his father, which Haymitch doesn’t like. The two characters get off to a rocky start, but Haymitch eventually realizes Wyatt is a good person with how loyal he is to their group.  Ben Wang will be playing Wyatt in the upcoming adaptation. Wang is also about to star in Karate Kid: Legend and has also appeared in the Mean Girls remake and the Disney+ series American Born Chinese.  Wyatt is socially awkward, but kind-hearted, and Wang will have to portray the depth of his character beyond just his intelligence.  Focus Features Ralph Fiennes as President Snow The ruthless President Snow will be played by the legendary Ralph Fiennes. The British actor has received multiple Academy Award nominations for his roles in Schindler’s List, Conclave, and The English Patient. His legacy also extends to some of the most popular movies of the last 30 years, running the gamut from Skyfall to The Grand Budapest Hotel. Fiennes is one of the most veteran members of the cast and someone that the younger actors can look up to as a mentor.  Of course Fiennes is no stranger to playing ruthless dictators either since his transformation into the role of Voldemort in the Harry Potter series is etched into the memories of generations. Fiennes will be playing the heartless president of Panem in Sunrise on the Reaping when he confronts Haymitch, the rebellion, and the 50th Hunger Games. There is no doubt that Fiennes will be able to portray Snow in the movie just as intimidating and coldhearted as fans have imagined him to be. Hulu Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket The most recent casting announcement has been Elle Fanning as the Capitol mentor Effie Trinket. Fanning was actually who many fans suggested should play the role, and it seems like the Hunger Games producers that request seriously. Fanning is the sister of the actress Dakota Fanning and has been in a number of popular films including A Complete Unknown, Maleficent, and The Great TV series.  Effie is a constant character throughout the original series (where she is played by Elizabeth Banks onscreen), and in Sunrise on the Reaping, we get to see how she obtained her position in District 12 and her first meeting with her fellow mentor Haymitch. Effie is sympathetic toward the district kids, but the Capitol propaganda prevents her from fully understanding their struggles. She thinks it’s sad they have to go into the Hunger Games but believes it’s necessary to keep the peace. Fanning will have to play the naïve and extravagant character who has a very ignorant outlook toward the real world. HBO Kieran Culkin as Caesar Flickerman  Caesar Flickerman is the charismatic entertainer and showman we see in the original trilogy interviewing the tributes before they enter the arena. In Sunrise on the Reaping, we get to see more of a younger Caesar conducting interviews before the 50th Hunger Games, but we also get some insight into how he can manipulate and sell a certain narrative to the Capitol audience. The character was previously played by Stanley Tucci who completely transformed himself into the role and really brought the preening media personality to life. And now Kieran Culkin has been cast for the upcoming prequel where he will get the chance to commit to the same eccentric hair, makeup, and outfits that Tucci made iconic.  Culkin is a seasoned actor and will almost certainly be up for the challenge. After all, he just won an Oscar for A Real Pain, and before that he won an Emmy (and was nominated for several more) due to his turn as Roman Roy on HBO’s Succession. Of course for a whole generation of movie watchers, he will always be Fuller from Home Alone. Molly McCann as Louella McCoy and Iona Bell as Lou Lou Louella and Lou Lou are two very similar looking characters who will each have to play very different roles. Louella will be played by Molly McCann who will have to play the sweet, innocent girl who Haymitch vows to protect when she is reaped in the Hunger Games at just 13. McCann is a young Irish actress who has already been a part of 19 projects, including movies and TV shows, and nominated for an Irish Film and TV award in 2021.  On the other hand, Iona Bell is cast as Lou Lou, who is an unknown girl from District 11 who was tortured by the Capitol and has been driven to almost insanity as a result. Bell is a British actress who has only been a part of one project before this casting. The teenage actress is currently filming in a few independent films, as well as a movie with Taika Waititi (Fing!) which will come out later this year. Her character in Sunrise on the Reaping is an odd one, but you can’t help but sympathize with her because of what she’s been through. 

You ever wonder who the first person to put peanut butter and chocolate together was? Part of me feels like whoever it was must be loaded; I mean, you’ve combined two already great flavors into something that Reese’s would more or less build a whole brand on. And then part of me thinks it plays out like the hypothetical guy who invented the Chicken McNugget in The Wire. A pat on the back from a big shot, and then it’s back to the basement to figure out a way to make the fries taste better. I don’t know the answer; I hope it's the former. But every now and then, you come across an idea, a combination of things, that’s so good that you wonder how nobody’s ever done it before. And every time my squad and I sprinted back to our time-traveling dropship, stopping only to deal with the Time Reapers that stood in our way, I wondered how the hell nobody had ever said “Hey, what if we combined Overcooked and Gears of War?” pre-Pizza Bandit.Pizza Bandit’s setup is pretty simple. You’re Malik, a former bounty hunter with dreams of being a chef who is pulled back into the bounty game when he’s scammed out of his pizza shop and his former crew needs his help to get out of a jam. Pizza Bandit’s writing is pretty silly, but that’s part of the charm. I can’t get mad when Albert, the android that upgrades your weapons, tells me he doesn’t know how to apologize for what happened to my pizza shop because he’s just an android, or when my pilot waxes nostalgic about how he misses the fog, or when someone utters the odd nonsensical line. It’s too silly, and the whole setup is just there to, well… set up Pizza Bandit’s wackiness.PlaySee, you’re not just any bounty-hunting crew. You’re a time-traveling bounty hunting crew, and that means you’ll be going all over space and time to get the job done. Don’t ask me how any of this works. All I know is that pizza heals and bullets kill, and that the Time Reapers — nasty little buggers that seem to be invading every timeline — don’t want this pizza shop owner to make any dough. And that’s not gonna fly. Pizza Bandit’s writing is pretty silly, but that’s part of the charm.“What makes Pizza Bandit unique is that you’re not just shooting stuff. You’re also, well, kinda playing Overcooked. After squading up, my first mission saw my crew (you can play with up to three friends) heading to the Restaurant from N owhere, a hidden outpost run by another bandit crew. Our job: fulfill the pizza orders for other bounty hunting teams, and send them off in time-traveling rocket pods. That meant putting together the right type of pizza, getting it to the oven, making sure we were getting their drink orders right, and adding some extra bullets for when things got spicy, cramming it all into a pod, and doing it on time while fighting off the Time Reapers, who really, really don’t like supporting small businesses.Pizza Bandit ScreenshotsAnd that’s where the other part of the Overcooked/Gears of War marriage comes into play. See, the Time Reapers mean business, and you’re not going to talk them out of some time reaping. That’s their whole bag. The only solution, fellow bandit, is incredible violence. I’ve played several builds of Pizza Bandit at this point, and let me tell you, your arsenal is up to the task. You start with your choice of assau lt rifle, minigun, and sniper rifle, but the fun really begins when you start unlocking your secondary weapons by completing jobs. They start simple: landmines, grenades, that sort of thing, but once you unlock the disco ball that attracts enemies and gets them dancing before it explodes? Whew, buddy. And the sentry turret? Perfection. You could slice and dice them Time Reapers with a katana, but have you ever considered using a pizza slicer as big as a man? It’ll change your life.And the Time Reapers will force you to use everything in your arsenal. You got your standard guys who will just run at you, but there are also Time Reapers that’ll crawl around on all fours, Terminator-looking ones that will leap at you, giant ones with hammers, guys who throw fireballs (these can really ruin your day), the works. You gotta prioritize.Pizza Bandit is at its best when you’re with a good team, calling out orders. A good match should be shouts of “We need a pepperoni pie!” and “I’m on the Coke!” and “I’m down!” interspersed with lots and lots of gunfire. Simple choices, like when to call down your own, once-a-mission rocket pod full of pizza and supplies, and more complex ones, like where to put it (you can block off a stairway, for instance), spice things up, too. And here’s the thing: so far, I’ve just talked about Restaurant from Nowhere, which is only the first level. Pizza Bandit isn’t a one-trick pony. One of my favorite levels has you taking over a sushi joint and making sure you have the right stuff on the delivery turntable for your customers. Sometimes that means running downstairs and grabbing a big ol’ tuna, taking that bad boy upstairs, and chopping him up before the Time Reapers whack you and you drop him. Other times that means frying an egg, or making a cucumber roll. You gotta stay ahead of the curve, because new customers are prioritized over old ones, and the Time Reapers aren’t gonna sit there and wait for you to plate your masterpiece.Sometimes, you’re not even cooking food at all. Another favorite level, Wizard’s Tomb, has you exploring a magically booby-trapped tomb in search of a sarcophagus. You’ll have to navigate the tomb’s traps, solve basic puzzles to reveal the way forward, and take out the arcane heart powering the whole enterprise before getting to the sarcophagus itself, which you’ll naturally transport with jetpacks before booking it back to your ship. It isn’t enough to get any given job done; you gotta get home, too. Just another day in the life of a pizza bandit.Pizza Bandit is always ludicrous, and its inspirations are obvious, but it’s never less than fun.“There are more, of course: in one, you’ll defend a cabin with Dr. Emmert Browne (Great Scott, Jofsoft, I see what you’re doing here, and I like it!) while he invents the time travel device that makes your whole business profitable. Winning it all means keeping him warm, satiating his hunger with rabbit or venison, and stopping all those nasty Time Reapers (and Wendigos?) who are trying to stop time travel from happening. You’d think that the Time Reapers would understand time paradoxes, but I guess not. Can’t reap time if there’s no time to reap, y’all. Or maybe you’ll break into an enormous safe with a laser drill, like you’re roleplaying the opening scene of Michael Mann’s Thief with a drill that’s constantly exploding. That seems safe, right? But hey, apparently there’s a magical cookbook in that vault whose recipes can alter reality, and we’re being paid to get it, exploding drill or not. A Pizza Bandit always gets the job done. And there’s always time to do your best Breaking Bad impersonation and help a couple of guys cook some “magic powder” and hide it inside some chicken. Oh, and you have to kill and cook the chickens. Only fresh, never frozen, baby. Pizza Bandit is always ludicrous, and its inspirations are obvious, but it’s never less than fun.Between missions, it’s back to Pizza Bandit (your restaurant), where you can acquire and upgrade your weapons, decorate Pizza Bandit itself, use the ingredients you find during missions to bake and share a pie for some stat boosts on your next run, or get some spiffy new duds for your bounty hunter. The milk carton backpack is a classic choice, if I do say so myself, but I’m still saving up for one of the cat ones. The things we do for fashion, am I right? Then it’s right back to it. A bandit’s work is never done.Sometimes, you don’t know you want something until you get it. I didn’t know I wanted Pizza Bandit until the first time I played it at PAX two years ago. It was one of those games that generated a lot of word of mouth, but it’s one of those concepts that doesn’t seem like it’ll work until you get a controller in your hands and everything makes sense. I don’t know why we’ve never gotten something like Pizza Bandit before, but once I played it, I knew I wanted more. Pizza heals, bullets kill, and Pizza Bandit rocks. If Jofsoft can stick the landing, we’re in for a tasty slice of New York pie.

Most Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping roles were practically cast by Twitter fans. Here's the full list

Succession star Kieran Culkin has secured the part of a young Caesar Flickerman in Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping movie adaptation, following months of rumors.Lionsgate confirmed the news on X/Twitter today, confirming that Culkin would indeed appear as The Hunger Games’ colorful and eccentric TV host in next year’s book-to-movie adaptation. The mystery of who would play Caesar Flickerman has had readers’ heads spinning since rumors began to swirl earlier this year. Now that the fancast has been officially confirmed, all eyes are on Lionsgate to bring its prequel to life.Sunrise on the Reaping is yet another prequel adaptation for eager Hunger Games readers. It takes place after 2023’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and long before the events of the Jennifer Lawrence-led Hunger Games movies that premiered throughout the 2010s. Stanley Tucci was prominently featured as Caesar Flickerman in the film series that finished its story in 2015, leaving Culkin with big shoes to fill as he preps to play a younger version of the character.“Kieran’s scene-stealing presence and undeniable charm are perfect for Caesar Flickerman, the sickeningly watchable host of Panem’s darkest spectacle,” Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-President Erin Westerman said in a statement. “Stanley Tucci made Caesar unforgettable—and now Kieran will make the role entirely his own.”Culkin has left a massive mark on TV and film in the last few years thanks to his roles as characters like Roman Roy in Succession and Benji Kaplan in last year’s A Real Pain (which won Culkin a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award). Movie fans may also recognize Culkin from his time as a child actor in films like 1991’s Father of the Bride as well as 1990’s Home Alone, where he appeared alongside his brother, Macaulay Culkin. Kieran’s recent time in the spotlight has seen him build a career off of his quick wit, making his casting as The Hunger Games’ dystopian TV host in Sunrise on the Reaping feel like a match made in heaven.The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’s release date is currently set for November 20, 2026. When it brings Suzanne Collins’ novel of the same name to the big screen, viewers can expect to see Culkin star alongside Ralph Fiennes (Conclave, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) as President Coriolanus Snow, Elle Fanning (Super 8) as Effie Trinket, Jesse Plemons (Civil War, Breaking Bad) as Plutarch Heavensbee, Joseph Zada (Total Control) as Haymitch Abernathy, and more.Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

“Mixed reality has already changed the way cars are designed with gaming engines like Unity. So it’s already here.” – Jussi Mäkinen, Chief Brand Officer at VarjoVarjo, Volvo Cars, and Unity have a well-established collaborative partnership. This partnership brings together Varjo’s human-eye resolution headsets, Unity’s leading real-time 3D technology, and Volvo’s drive for innovation.Drawing on their joint experiences, Varjo chief brand officer Jussi Mäkinen, Volvo innovation leader Timmy Ghiurau, and Unity director Jeff Hanks participated in a panel discussion at SXSW 2023. Each firmly agrees that mixed reality (MR) is an important technology for the automotive industry.Here, we’ll explore the top three ways that mixed reality is already proving its worth. You can check out the full panel conversation on SXSW.com.The automotive industry has wholeheartedly embraced mixed reality, and it’s changing the way cars are sold, engineered, designed, and repaired. As Ghiurau explains, Volvo Cars was an early adopter of real-time 3D – largely driven by his understanding of the potential of gaming technology to be applied in industry.Their virtual twin of a Volvo car allows design and engineering teams to focus on how the machine interacts with the human, which he argues is essential to build trust between human and machine.By adopting real-time 3D technology, teams at Volvo Cars are able to incorporate the human factor early in the design process, which allows them to consider unique challenges such as driver frustration and address them early on.“With mixed reality, we are putting the human at the center to see how people might react to various scenarios or human factors like entertainment and stress.” – Timmy Ghiurau, Innovation Leader at Volvo CarsVarjo partners with innovative companies across industries to create virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR) products and services for advanced users. As Mäkinen says, their experience clearly shows that the automotive industry is already feeling the benefits of mixed reality tech. These range from a reduced dependence on physical mockups for creating new vehicles, to allowing faster design iteration, greater creativity, and running more efficient testing scenarios.As early adopters of real-time 3D and immersive technology, automotive companies are already reaping the benefits in key use cases like 3D product design and visualization, human machine interface (HMI), and immersive training.Connecting data silos is a fundamental challenge across the automotive industry. Real-time 3D is addressing that challenge by creating paths to interoperability, often through the medium of mixed reality. For example, by overlaying complex engineering data with design options in a mixed reality environment, stakeholders can envision design while retaining accurate engineering specifications. This single, visual source of truth enables design iteration to become a conversation between machine and aesthetics.Take the recently launched Volvo EX90 for example. As Ghiurau explains, Volvo Cars used Varjo mixed reality throughout the design process of this model, and improved efficiency, faster build, and the ability to conduct real-time testing from the back seat were just a few of the benefits.“The tools are already helping us to make design and engineering decisions more efficient and streamlined. With that saved time, we can explore other implications such as circular economy, sustainability, and other aspects.” – Timmy Ghiurau, Innovation Leader at Volvo CarsMäkinen explains how mixed reality delivers further benefits by enabling the interoperability of big data that allows more people from different backgrounds to access the information. Simply put, these solutions help developers, designers, and nontechnical end users to envision, interact with, and collaborate on complex processes more intuitively. The opportunity to better understand end-user challenges results in more inclusive solutions.What does democratization really mean, in the context of the automotive industry?With real-time 3D, Volvo Cars can make simulators and mixed reality functionality available across multiple departments. Crucially, by using Unity, teams are able to adopt the technology for themselves – they’re not dependent on developers to build mixed reality solutions. Because of this democratization, the teams have found that their uses of mixed reality go beyond what was originally anticipated. Ghiurau cites examples of teams using the tech for simulating fluid dynamics and predicting crash test data flows.Future success for automotive companies is dependent on the need to iterate and adapt faster. Many are using Unity’s real-time 3D tech to enable their visions of the future, including testing and simulating for long-term scenarios, or powering next-level infotainment systems. Mixed reality solutions enable teams to go beyond their immediate tasks to anticipate and influence the automotive future.With technology advances like Varjo Reality Cloud and hand-and-eye tracking for menu option selections, the barriers to adopting mixed reality are disappearing everyday. Cross-team collaboration is truly possible in mixed reality.To learn more about what role mixed reality could have for Volvo Cars’ future, check out Timmy Ghiurau’s Unity Creator Day session.Going beyond automotive design teams, there are numerous potential advantages to extending mixed reality to the creation of consumer experiences, such as:Enhancing the driver’s experience: Navigation and infotainment systems could be improved by providing real-time information on the surroundings and road conditions through interactive dashboards or head-up displays (HUDs).Improving driver safety: Automotive companies are working on the development of full-windshield HUDs, as well as sensors that can transmit real-time information about the vehicle conditions and environmental factors.Supporting consumer maintenance: Interactive manuals contain simple step-by-step instructions and video tutorials that allow users to maintain some car functions.Interactive sales experiences: Digital car showrooms give consumers a way to engage with and customize their potential purchases.Contact us to discuss how real-time 3D and mixed reality could work for you, or check out our software suite for Industry.