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James Bond producers defend maligned series entry Quantum of Solace. The direct sequel to 2006’s Casino Royale found Daniel Craig’s 007 out for revenge after the death of his lover Vesper Lynd.

Unfortunately while Casino Royale was almost universally praised, Quantum of Solace found itself being battered by critics and Bond fans alike, and is now the consensus pick for worst movie of the Craig era of Bond. Indeed Craig himself recently talked about the disappointing Casino Royale follow-up, calling the process of making it a “s—tshow.” Thankfully the Bond series would recover with the critically praised blockbuster Skyfall, followed by the financially successful Spectre.

Quantum of Solace may be something of a black sheep among Craig-era James Bond films but not everyone is lining up to bash the movie. In fact, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson recently spoke up to defend the work, explaining to /Film why they think the movie is an important one in the development of Craig’s Bond portrayal. Broccoli said:

"I'm really proud of the movie. I think it's part of the whole evolution of Bond. And I think after 'Casino Royale,' when he shuts down emotionally, the next step was going out for revenge. I think the story of that film is that revenge is an empty challenge. You don't get any benefit from revenge. So I think it's important in the whole history of the evolution of this character. I'm very proud of it for sure."

Unfortunately for Broccoli the intended meaning of Quantum of Solace may have gotten lost amid the so-called “s—tshow” the movie ultimately became. A catalog of exactly what went wrong on the Casino Royale follow-up of course begins with the unfortunate fact that the film went before cameras without a polished script due to the writers’ strike going on at the time. Fans have also pointed to the movie’s revenge angle as a problem – despite Wilson and Broccoli apparently thinking the revenge plot was actually a good idea. Another issue that crops up in discussions about Quantum of Solace is that Mathieu Amalric’s villain is a weak one compared to other Bond baddies. It can also be argued that Marc Forster was a poor choice to direct the movie, especially after Martin Campbell did such a solid job on Casino Royale.

It is also interesting that after Quantum of Solace the Bond franchise did undergo several adjustments, including the arrival of Sam Mendes to direct Skyfall, and in Spectre the introduction of a tweaked version of classic Bond villain Blofeld. So it’s clear that while Broccoli and Wilson may have personally liked the direction things were taken in Quantum of Solace, they also recognized the need to change course in subsequent movies. Which just goes to show that the stewards of the Bond franchise are plenty wise when it comes to reading audience reaction and making needed changes. And thanks to these adjustments, the Bond series was able to build to the big climax promised in the about-to-be-released No Time to Die. So Quantum of Solace may be a black sheep among Bond films, but its failure at least taught producers some valuable lessons they were able to use later, making the Bond series better overall.

With No Time To Die already a blockbuster at the global box office, James Bond continues to be incredibly popular after 60 years. Created by Ian Fleming, who wrote 15 novels and several short stories about secret agent 007, James Bond was already well-known when EON Productions released the first Bond movie, Dr. No starring Sean Connery, in 1961. Since then, James Bond has become the longest-running movie franchise in history, and the British spy's popularity continues unabated.

James Bond was conceived as a product of his era; the character was born in the 1950s from Ian Fleming's experiences as a naval intelligence officer during World War II. When Sean Connery first played 007 in the 1960s, he was an idealized man of his time: suave, irresistible to the opposite sex, but also ruthless and unafraid to use his license to kill as he saw fit. Connery set the mold for all of the James Bond actors who followed him but each one added to the mythos and to the character. George Lazenby was more laid back than Connery while Roger Moore played up his comedic charms for his seven films as James Bond from 1973-1985. Timothy Dalton brought back Bond's grit for the action hero era of the 1980s while Pierce Brosnan combined his predecessors into a fusion of wit, sophistication, and violence as a world-saving hero.

Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond elevated 007's prestige to even greater heights. By playing Bond for 15 years, he's the longest-serving actor in the role, and arguably the most popular since Sean Connery. Craig also redefined the role of James Bond by breaking from Connery's mold while still honoring the character's tropes. No Time To Die is Craig's 007 swansong but the film is earning rave reviews and making bank at the box office despite being delayed several times due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It's frankly amazing that James Bond continues to be so popular 60 years after he first debuted on movie screens. The James Bond fandom now spans generations and every James Bond actor is someone's favorite 007. Yet beyond the suits, the martinis, the cars, the girls, and the action, there are deeper reasons why James Bond continues to be popular for the last 60 years, and likely for 60 more.

One of the most memorable moments in 1995's GoldenEye was when the new M (Judi Dench) dressed down James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and called him "a sexist, misogynist dinosaur... a relic of the Cold War." By the 1990s, this was indeed the public image of James Bond, which GoldenEye called out immediately. Criticism has been levied at 007 since the character's creation, that the spy is an immoral womanizer, an alcoholic, a gun-toting government lackey who is no hero, and just an empty suit.

However, James Bond has evolved through the decades and has been reinvented to suit each era and to fit the actor playing him. Sean Connery's James Bond was the epitome of 1960s swagger and, frankly, sexism, although George Lazenby tried to give Bond some romantic sensitivity. Roger Moore made James Bond a hero for the outlandish 1970s, not taking things too seriously. Timothy Dalton ushered in a huge change for Bond in the 1980s where Bond stopped smoking cigarettes because it was now public knowledge that tobacco causes cancer, and Dalton also drastically reduced Bond's womanizing. Pierce Brosnan then tried to bring back some of his predecessors' excesses but he was very much an all-purpose action hero for the 1990s.

Daniel Craig's James Bond found his incredible success by being different, and not just because Craig has blond hair. While Craig's 007 still drank vodka martinis and romances beautiful Bond Girls, his James Bond was a secret agent for today, a hero who would do whatever it took to do what's right regardless of the personal cost. As each of his films proved, Craig's 007 had the most well-rounded internal life, has suffered love and loss, and his movies delved into his origin so that audiences had a greater understanding of what makes James Bond tick than ever before.

With Daniel Craig's first Bond movie, Casino Royale, 007's producers took a huge gamble by delivering a total reboot of the Bond movie franchise, but it paid off royally. Casino Royale was a completely new beginning that severed ties with the loose but sprawling canon established by the Bond movies that began with Sean Connery and ended with Pierce Brosnan's 2002 Die Another Day. Instead, Casino Royale, with its black and white, ultraviolent opening sequence that showed Craig's 007 earning his license to kill, ushered in a completely new era for James Bond that was phenomenally successful.

The fact that Craig's James Bond had his own continuity saved his version of 007 and his movies. Audiences were free to discover James Bond all over again, and newer fans didn't have to worry about catching up on 20 prior movies to understand the secret agent and his adventures. Meanwhile, older Bond fans could revel in the changes Craig brought to the super spy while still maintaining the key tropes that make him James Bond. Craig's five Bond movies also embraced serialization, which is so popular in the Peak TV era, so that all of his films, from Casino Royale to No Time To Die, told a complete story about Craig's James Bond, with a definitive ending. As a result, Daniel Craig's James Bond canon comfortably exists alongside the original 007 continuity so that every Bond fan can enjoy each version of 007 without fretting over retcons or violations of established canon.

Daniel Craig's James Bond movies were also an ideal fusion of 007 nostalgia with modern moviemaking. When fans think of James Bond, they visualize a perfectly tailored suit, a Walther PPK handgun, a vodka martini, and an Aston Martin DB5. Ingeniously, instead of arriving fully-formed, Craig's Bond movies had 007 gradually earn all of his classic tropes, thereby making the old new again. For example, in Casino Royale, audiences got to see Bond invent his favorite martini, which he named after his love, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). By Skyfall, a new M (Ralph Fiennes), Miss Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), and Q (Ben Whishaw) were introduced, completing Bond's classic supporting cast. 2015's Spectre even rebooted Bond's classic enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), and made their rivalry personal.

Every return or reinvention of James Bond's classic tropes helped make Craig's 007 movies feel more and more like the ultimate Bond, and audiences responded, not just with ticket sales but with a desire to mimic the Bond lifestyle. Craig's James Bond movies largely wiped away the negative stigma around 007 that he was a "misogynist dinosaur." Craig simply made 007 cool again, to men, women, and kids. All of this translated to Craig's Bond becoming a global sensation at the box office, while EON Productions' careful management of the 007 brand kept it from being diluted.

One of the greatest masterstrokes of James Bond's popularity is the incredibly careful and successful casting choices of each James Bond actor. Sean Connery was so perfect as Ian Fleming's master spy brought to life that he remains the standard all others are judged, but every Bond actor was ideal in his own way. George Lazenby had difficulty filling Connery's shoes but decades later, his lone 007 film, 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, has been reconsidered and is now heralded as a top-level Bond film. Roger Moore's reinvention of 007 for the 1970s was wildly successful while Timothy Dalton brought Bond closer to Ian Fleming's original character and Pierce Brosnan's dashing and bold 007 was a huge hit in the 1990s. While they are all very different actors, they each made James Bond their own and contributed to 007's iconic status.

To be sure, Daniel Craig's success is instrumental in maintaining James Bond's popularity in the 21st century. Craig's films brought 007 into modern times and continuously deliver awe-inspiring action and spectacle, while Craig's version of Bond has a deeper, conflicted inner life that audiences connect with and leads James to rise to heroism time and again. Craig's British spy is immensely popular with both male and female audiences and, for this generation, Daniel Craig has become the definitive James Bond. The next actor to succeed Daniel Craig in the role after No Time To Die will certainly have a tough act to follow but, as 007 history has proven, James Bond will continue to evolve with the times and his popularity will likely continue for another 60 years.

Universal Studios Japan has announced a partnership with The Pokémon Company for a mysterious new virtual reality experience. Nintendo currently has an attraction at Universal Studios Japan called Super Nintendo World, with plans to branch out to Universal's Hollywood, Orlando, and Singapore locations by 2025. Unfortunately, these plans have been hindered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which also forced Super Nintendo World to temporarily close its doors less than a month after its grand opening back in March.       

So far, Super Nintendo World’s rides and attractions have been primarily focused around Mario, with attendees riding the interactive Mario Kart rollercoaster, dining at the Toad Café, unlock exclusive Miitopia character costumes with special interactive wristbands, and even making pleasant conversation with fully-voiced characters like Princess Peach. However, there are plans for Super Nintendo World to branch out into non-Mario Nintendo franchises in the future, as evidenced by an upcoming Super Nintendo World Donkey Kong expansion based around the equally iconic character. Now, it looks like Pokémon could be joining the theme park fun soon, though it’s too early to tell.

On October 6, Universal Studios Japan announced it is entering a partnership with The Pokémon Company that will begin in 2022. So far, there are few details about what this partnership will bring (with no mention of any Pokémon attractions at Super Nintendo World in the release), but Universal Studios Japan’s announcement does mention plans to develop an interactive virtual experience that will “immerse guests into the world of Pokémon.” Both Universal Studios Japan President and CEO J.L. Bonnier and President and CEO of The Pokémon Company Tsunekazu Ishihara expressed excitement at this long-term deal between their companies.

This new partnership with Universal Studios Japan comes right as fans continue to celebrate the Pokémon franchise’s 25th anniversary this year. To commentate the milestone, Nintendo is releasing several Pokémon games on Nintendo Switch over the next few years, including the upcoming Pokémon Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and the open-world Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Rumors speculate that there will be more major Pokémon announcements in 2022, so perhaps the details of the Universal Studios partnership will prove to be related to those reveals.

It's still too early to tell if the VR experience described by The Pokémon Company and Universal Studios Japan will be a part of Super Nintendo World or something entirely different, but the idea of exploring the vast world of Pokémon and interacting with its assortment of titular collectible creatures is certainly an exciting concept. It may take a while to see these plans come to fruition, though, as the newly announced partnership between The Pokémon Company and Universal Studios Japan doesn’t officially take effect until next year.

Source: Universal Studios Japan

Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons, host and judge of Bravo's Top Chef, took to the streets of Houston on a rainy Saturday as part of a mass nationwide women's march in protest of Texas' restrictive abortion law. Top Chef season 19 is currently filming in Houston, their second time in the Lone Star State in more than a decade, formerly filming in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio. The new season will feature a panel of all-star judges made up of former Top Chef contestants, and Padma and Gail will be joined by judge and chef Tom Colicchio.

The abortion law by the State of Texas has been a controversial topic that has sparked the attention of celebrities and even the federal government. Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), as it is formerly known, outlaws abortions after six weeks of pregnancy with no further leniencies in instances of rape or incest. Some shows have decided not to film in Texas, including an upcoming show from the creator of The Wire. As of September 9, the Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas to prevent them from enforcing Senate Bill 8, claiming it violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The Women's March was held in major cities on Saturday, including Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Houston, where Top Chef's Padma and Gail led a large group of women shouting, "Our body, our choice!" in the march to City Hall. The duo took a break from filming to be a part of the protest, where they not only participated in the march but also spoke to a large audience. As reported by Houston's local news outlet, CHRON, Padma recalled her own personal experiences where her mother had to have an abortion at Planned Parenthood after sustaining severe injuries from a car accident. "At that time, not only could my parents not afford another child, but her body could not physically sustain another pregnancy," she said. "It's out of love for me that they made the difficult decision to do what was right for our family and it's out of love for my mother and all families that I stand here today, ready to fight." Padma also revealed that she was raped when she was 16 years old. "My only saving grace was that I didn't become pregnant," she said. "I know how sexual violence can make people feel powerless, and this bill is a knife in the heart to those very same people."

Gail shared that she had mixed feelings about filming the upcoming season of Top Chef in Houston due not only to the passing of SB 8 but also Texas' voting rights restrictions. However, she told the crowd that the people of Houston's stance on the bill contradicted that of the state's, and it was important to recognize that. "I know that Houston is a deeply diverse and vibrant place," said Gail. "I know that my beloved restaurant industry, let alone the women of Houston and all of Texas, need our support now more than ever and that personally choosing to back out of coming here would only serve to hurt the local people and the local economies that I set out in my career to uplift and stand behind."

Padma and Gail didn't come to Houston just to film Top Chef. These strong women used their voices to call upon local and national governments to stop SB 8 and to call out the Governor of Texas. The women were bringing the heat to the Women's March and calling on the state officials to pack their knives and go.

Source: CHRON

The first image of the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts designs for the G-1 Autobots and Decepticons has been revealed. The Transformers live-action films, adapted from the cartoon and toy line of the same name, began in 2007 with the Michael Bay Transformers starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Rise of the Beasts, which is currently filming, is the seventh film in the franchise, including the successful 2018 spin-off film Bumblebee. The film was written by Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters and is directed by Steven Caple Jr., who previously helmed Creed II.

The film is based on Transformers: Beast Wars, the cartoon series from the '90s. It's a prequel that will introduce several new characters to the live-action universe, including Rhinox and the "beast mode" Optimus Primal, a captain of the Maximals. Other beloved characters like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime will also be appearing. Rise of the Beasts will also explore how Optimus Prime became devoted to protecting humanity.

On his Instagram, Steven Caple Jr. posted a first-look image of the designs for the first-generation Transformers. The first image displays the Autobots, decked out in pastels with retro designs, looking not dissimilar to vehicles James Bond would have driven back in the day. The second image shows the Decepticons looking menacing with more muted, militaristic colors. Indeed, one design looks almost exactly like the evil truck in Steven Spielberg's Duel. Check out the images below:

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is set about seven years after the events of Bumblebee and follows two archaeologists who get mixed up in a war between the Maximals, the Predacons, and the Terrorcons. It's set in Brooklyn and parts of Peru, including Machu Picchu, as revealed in the Instagram post. The film will star Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Vélez, Tobe Nwigwe, and Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal. Transformers 7 will storm theaters on June 24, 2022.

This new glimpse at the Autobots and Decepticons continues the trend of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts pushing for more accurate interpretations of the original Transformers from the animated series. Caple focuses on brighter, poppier colors and sleek designs over the complicated CGI-laden work the Michael Bay films were known for. This is also in line with the style of Bumblebee, the more stripped-down tale that Rise of the Beasts directly follows on the Transformers timeline.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Inferno #1

In Marvel Comics' new Inferno event, the X-Men's Wolverine can't escape reliving one of his most iconic deaths over and over again. The anti-mutant organization Orchis has grown too powerful with the return of the Sentinel Nimrod, though there's been very little the mutants of Krakoa have been able to do to stop them. While the island nation has been continually sending teams to try and destroy Orchis, none have been successful despite resurrecting and sending the same mutants with each attempt. This includes Wolverine, who's been stuck in a brutal loop experiencing one of his most brutal deaths multiple times over.

In this first issue of Inferno from Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti, it's revealed that Krakoa has already tried sixteen times to destroy Orchis and Nimrod using a variety of means. While a few attempts have involved hiring assassins and sending the alien Brood to do the job, the majority have been the deployment of the same mutants over and over again. However, no matter what they've tried everything has failed. Nimrod has proven to be too powerful, able to counter all kinds of abilities and destroying the mutant teams with extreme prejudice. While Wolverine has been a part of the X-Force teams sent with every resurrection, the end result has never been pretty.

Inferno #1 depicts Krakoa's sixteenth attempt, seeing Nimrod defeating Domino, Omega Kid, and Wolverine as he's apparently done several times before. However, Nimrod sears all of the flesh from Wolverine's adamantium-covered bones, a nod to Logan's most famous death by Sentinel as seen in Days of Future Past. Furthermore, as Orchis reviews the footage of this latest incursion, it's revealed that they've been collecting Wolverine's skeletons of which they now have several thanks to Logan's vicious cycle of resurrection after continually experiencing one of the worst ways he's ever gone out in Marvel Comics' past.

While Krakoa has a store of adamantium they've been using to regraft the metal to Wolverine's skeleton whenever he needs to be resurrected, they must be running low of the nearly indestructible and rare metal. Logan's past skeletons continue to fall into Orchis' hands, and there's no telling what they might do with them going forward. It's certainly possible that it could all come back to haunt the former Weapon X with the upcoming X Lives/Deaths of Wolverine event. Perhaps Orchis finds a way to weaponize the adamantium skeletons down the line, forcing Wolverine to fight elements of his own past selves.

In any case, it's going to be interesting to see where Krakoa goes from here. Seeing as how the resurrected mutants have no memory of the incursions, it looks as though they're going to keep trying until they succeed (despite their inability to learn and adapt from their mistakes). All Krakoa knows is that Nimrod is back online and Orchis must be destroyed. As such, Wolverine seems determined to stop them at all costs, even if it means continually reliving one of his worst deaths ever.

Nuclear Blaze is an upcoming 2D action platformer that puts players in the role of a firefighter tasked with putting out radioactive flames - and rescuing cute cats along the way. It is being developed by Deepnight Games, who impressed gamers with 2017’s corpse-possessing roguelike Dead Cells. Dead Cells would go on to inspire plenty of indie Metroid-like titles such as last year’s Forgone, and a DLC expansion subtitled Fatal Falls was released back in January.

Last month, Deepnight announced its newest 2D side-scrolling adventure Nuclear Blaze, which is currently set to launch on Steam on October 18. As a firefighter who is airdropped inside a secret underground military facility, players will have to explore Metroid-style levels as they work to extinguish constantly spreading fires by aiming their trusty fire hose in any direction they please, investigate the source of the ongoing inferno, and even engage in the time-honored firefighter’s tradition of rescuing cats. Nuclear Blaze features the smooth controls of Dead Cells (as designed by former Motion Twin associate Sébastien Benard), a designated “Kid Mode” for younger players, and multiple unique levels packed with hidden secrets and side-stories as players unravel the mystery behind the shady military complex.

Nuclear Blaze looks to be a fun take on the classic Metroidvania formula of exploring large maze-like dungeons packed with hidden secrets and Easter Eggs. This formula can also be seen in the critically acclaimed Metroid Dread, which will release on October 8th. Firefighting is a relatively unexplored profession among recent video games save for a few simulators, so this title will hopefully stand out from the Metroidvania crowd. Players will be able to strap on their fire hoses, put out a few loose flames and even rescue some adorable kitties when Nuclear Blaze launches on Steam on October 18.

Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.

Is World of Warcraft still worth playing in 2021? Blizzard's long-running MMORPG has certainly gotten up there in age, but the commitment to making changes to improve the game's overall experience, including the approach of Patch 9.1.5 for Shadowlands, has meant playing the game in 2021 is still worthwhile. In fact, the MMORPG seems to keep getting better - and, considering the last several years for context, it's definitely possible that Shadowlands is at least the game's best showing in its modern era, even with all the recent controversies surrounding Blizzard.

Answering whether or not World of Warcraft is worth playing can be difficult since the answer varies so dramatically based on what players want. With that said, those looking for hyper-specific, niche benefits to playing may not always find what they're looking for, even if the general consensus surrounding the MMO's overall gameplay is positive. There were plenty of players who enjoyed Warlords of Draenor, after all, despite that expansion's less-than-stellar reputation within the game's larger community. Ignoring the fact that there will inevitably be no unified opinion, however, the question of "is World of Warcraft worth playing in 2021?" can be broken down into two separate responses: one detailing whether new players will enjoy it, and one discussing the experience of returning veterans.

The answer to both those questions is yes, albeit each group may find World of Warcraft worth playing in 2021 for different reasons. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands reviews were positive, player engagement is waning but still strong, and the world of Azeroth is still very much alive. Here's why WoW is worth playing in 2021, regardless of a player's previous involvement with the MMORPG.

For new players, "is WoW worth playing in 2021?" boils down to "how hard is it to get into World of Warcraft in 2021?" The answer to that question has been "not very" for some time now, as Blizzard consistently worked to make its MMORPG more accessible to newer players. However, the massive overhauls that came with Shadowlands have set a high bar for the new player experience in WoW, making it easier than ever for beginners to start their adventures in Azeroth.

The Shadowlands release brought with it a completely revamped leveling system that makes World of Warcraft progression feel smoother and more meaningful. Blizzard reduced the inflated level cap to a much more reasonable 60, condensing the game's scattered abilities, talents, and upgrades into a much tighter path of progression. The result is each level earned feeling like a meaningful addition to a larger experience, and the game's introductory levels have also been streamlined, making what was once a daunting experience a much more digestible endeavor.

Finally - and perhaps most importantly - Shadowlands' level squish also fixed the game's story. World of Warcraft progression pre-Shadowlands wasn't necessarily a mess, but the result of years of expansions being stacked on top of each other (with tweaks that only directly considered whichever one was most recent) made for an uneven narrative. Players progressed through cool environments way too rapidly, often departing stories mid-way through because they'd out-leveled the adventure. Part of the reason WoW has been so successful over the years is the way it marries its storyline concerns to the way players progress to its endgame, and emotional investment in characters like Thrall and Jaina is hard to build when they're jumping in and out of the player's arc at seemingly random times.

Thankfully, Shadowlands introduced a much tighter narrative progression system, one that sees newer players guided through the story content that's most relevant to the new WoW expansion prior to engaging with it. If new players decide to reroll a character afterward, they'll be able to choose a zone to make their focus leveling, letting them stick to one story arc and see what it has to offer without feeling like their progression path is suboptimal or outright nonexistent. It's a welcome change and one that's likely had even veterans revisiting their favorite expansions with new characters just to relive iconic story beats.

For the most part, Blizzard has World of Warcraft down to a science, which is why WoW is still popular in 2021. Character arcs, class roles, itemization, and more have all been carefully honed over the years and are now implemented with mostly minor hiccups. If there's one thing that has seemed virtually unsolvable in World of Warcraft's long history, though, it's how to make the WoW endgame fun for the entirety of an expansion - if that's even possible. For veteran players, "is WoW worth playing in 2021?" is almost certainly a question that can only be answered by an assessment of its current endgame design.

How Shadowlands endgame feels probably depends a lot on a given player's reception to the Great Vault mechanic, but it's got some strong characteristics going for it. The Great Vault essentially provides a hub for endgame players that helps them sort out which content they're "meant" to be doing in a given week, giving players loot based on the content they did in the week prior. The Great Vault also gives players choices - the more content they complete in a given week, the more options they'll have with regards to the loot they acquire from the system, removing some of the frustration of reward gear not being a good fit for a player's needs.

The Great Vault also helpfully keeps track of what a character has accomplished that week, further reducing the frustration of missing out on one of WoW's endgame loot cycles. There are still some concerns over the Great Vault - like whether or not it's enough of a reward for those sinking in the most time - but by and large, the system is a new idea from Blizzard that's helped make the Shadowlands endgame more accessible without making it feel too simplified or mundane.

There's also Torghast, the World of Warcraft answer to rougelike dungeon exploration. Torghast mixes up the way endgame progression usually goes, randomizing more than just loot drops while also offering Torghast-specific character builds that grow more powerful the deeper a player gets in a run. Torghast hasn't been for everyone, and it can still be a vexing element of the game whenever runs go awry, but it's yet another addition to World of Warcraft's endgame content that has improved and diversified its experience.

Since Shadowlands launched last year, WoW has gotten bug fixes and balancing updates, including the most recent fixes to the Sanctum of Domination on September 24. Of course, the recent lawsuits and controversies surrounding Activision-Blizzard have likely diminished some of the goodwill players felt after Shadowlands' release, but looking at the game solely as an MMO, WoW still holds up incredibly well. In the meantime, fans are eagerly awaiting Patch 9.1.5, which will add a number of player-requested changes to WoW. For these reasons, World of Warcraft is still very much worth playing in 2021.

Amazon has set a new release date for Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, days following the film's original release date. The fourth and final entry in the Hotel Transylvania franchise has had an interesting development. It is the first film in the series not directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. It sees Adam Sandler and Kevin James depart the project and Brian Hull and Brad Abrell take over their roles.

It is now the first film of the series not to get a theatrical release. The film had multiple release dates, including July 23, 2021, August 6, 2021,  and December 22, 2021. The film was set to open in theaters on October 1, 2021, but in August 2021, Sony Pictures sold the movie to Amazon Studios, where the film will be released on Prime Video due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Sony eventually gave Hotel Transylvania: Transformania release date to Venom: Let There Be Carnage, where it set the record for the biggest opening weekend of 2021.

Now it appears that Amazon has set a new release date for the film, as the studio announced that Hotel Transylvania: Transformania will release on the streaming service on January 14, 2022, in over 240 countries and territories on Amazon Prime Video. This will be the first time a film in the franchise has opened in January. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke and Sony Pictures Animation President Kristine Belson said of the release date in an official press release:

Jennifer Salke: "The success of the Hotel Transylvania franchise over the years speaks for itself. Audiences around the world have fallen in love with the films created by the brilliant Genndy Tartakovsky, and the latest installment is the perfect ending to an incredible journey. We could not be more excited to work with Sony, Genndy, Jennifer Kluska, Derek Drymon, Selena Gomez, and the talented producing team to bring this funny, heartwarming film to our customers early next year.”

Kristine Belson: "The Hotel Transylvania franchise has been exceptional for Sony Pictures Animation, spanning nearly a decade and introducing the world to Genndy Tartakovsky's singular vision, and we’re so proud of what our extraordinary directors Jennifer Kluska and Derek Drymon have brought to this special property. These films have thrilled audiences and paved the way for so many artists working in CG animation, and now the family saga of Dracula and his daughter Mavis, son-in-law Johnny, and monster BFFs is coming to a close. We are thrilled to work with Amazon to bring this film to families everywhere.”

The news of the release date comes days after many parents and fans filled complaints on Amazon's social media, wondering where the film was on October 1, 2021, the film's original release date and one that was still present on the Sony website. Amazon spent $100 million to acquire the distribution of Hotel Transylvania: Transformnania from Sony Pictures, so it was not likely they would forget about releasing the film, and in the original announcement of the purchase, no mention was made about the release date, either staying on the October 1, 2021, slot or moving from it. Though now, it will not be available for families to watch over the Halloween season as many had planned.

Releasing Hotel Transylvania: Transformania in January is likely to upset and confuse many as the film is completed, and a Halloween adjacent release date seems ideal. Various streaming services have high-profile October releases to cash in on the month of Halloween, including Halloween Kills on Peacock and Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin on Paramount+. It would seem that Amazon Studios would want to have a high-profile release on their streaming service to draw viewers to their service.

Source: Amazon Studios

It's not uncommon for online games like Genshin Impact to celebrate a player's birthday with a little treat. Genshin Impact takes birthdays one step further, however, by also celebrating the birthdays of its many collectible playable characters. While celebrating specific Genshin birthdays, players can earn rewards on that character's special day, whether they've been acquired yet or not.

Genshin Impact has made a name for itself by combining gacha mechanics with an incredibly dense and well-executed open-world game. Players get an impressive amount of content for free but are encouraged to spend money on Wishes, gacha pulls, which give players a small chance to add a new character to their Genshin Impact roster. These characters have unique backstories, favor different elements and weapon types, and have different favorite foods. They also have an assigned birthday in Genshin Impact, which can be found in their character description.

On a character's birthday in Genshin Impact, players will receive in-game mail from that character, talking about how they spent their birthday. The mail includes that character's Special Dish (a dish that can only be cooked by that particular character) and a batch of level-up items associated with them. Unlike mail that arrives for a player's birthday in Genshin Impact, which can be claimed within one year, character Genshin birthday rewards must be collected within 30 days of that specific character's birthday or the mail expires. The good news is that a player doesn't have to own the character to get Genshin Impact's birthday rewards, so if they missed out on collecting Venti, they'll still get birthday mail for him.

Now that miHoYo's RPG has been out for over a year, many of these characters will be celebrating their Genshin birthdays for a second time. This opens the door for new or additional rewards, although it's certainly possible the gifts will remain the same. Characters in Genshin Impact have the following birthdays, arranged in order by month:

• Diona - January 18
• Rosaria - January 24
• Beidou - February 14
• Kokomi - February 22
• Bennett - February 29
• Qiqi - March 3
• Jean - March 14
• Noelle - March 21
• Xiao - April 17
• Diluc - April 30
• Fischl - May 27
• Paimon - June 1
• Lisa - June 9
• Venti - June 16
• Yoimiya - June 21
• Raiden Shogun (Baal) - June 26
• Barbara - July 5
• Hu Tao - July 15
• Tartaglia (Childe) - July 20
• Klee - July 27
• Yanfei - July 28
• Amber - August 10
• Ningguang - August 26
• Mona - August 31
• Chongyun - September 7
• Razor - September 9
• Albedo - September 13
• Ayaka - September 28
• Xingqiu - October 9
• Xinyan - October 16
• Sayu - October 19
• Kazuha - October 29
• Xiangling - November 2
• Xinyan - November 4
• Keqing - November 20
• Sucrose - November 26
• Kaeya - November 30
• Ganyu - December 2
• Zhongli - December 31st

The level-up items players receive from characters on their Genshin Impact birthdays are a nice reward for players, as some of them are otherwise only obtainable in drops from completing Domains, including certain dungeons that are only accessible on certain days of the week. And if a player doesn't have a character but receives their birthday rewards, it might not be a complete waste. Xiangling, for instance, rewards players with 10 Slime Secretions on her birthday, a Character Ascension material that is also useful for other Genshin Impact characters like Lisa, Venti, and Zhongli, as well as for ascending several weapons.

Mailed gifts in Genshin Impact have been a nice way to reward players since the game launched, and it remains to be seen if the rewards are the same every year. As more playable characters are continued to be added in, it's possible Genshin's birthday system will be altered in the future. Regardless, it's a nice way to gift players a small reward - and to encourage them to log back into the game frequently.

High-profile The Bachelorette couple Clare Crawley and Dale Moss have called it quits and many fans aren’t surprised, as their relationship has been a rollercoaster ride from start to finish. Clare and Dale’s second breakup will reportedly be for good, though that seemed to be the case with their first breakup as well. The couple’s romance didn’t last long, but it sure made a splash in Bachelor Nation.

Fans had their doubts from the get-go, mostly because the couple’s engagement (which upended Clare’s season of The Bachelorette) happened so quickly. Clare and Dale didn’t have much time to get to know each other before getting engaged, and that seems to have been a problem in their relationship. Their first break-up was sudden and dramatic, and Clare claimed to be blindsided by it. There were even rumors that Dale had cheated on her. It appeared that they were completely done, but there were a few more twists in store for reality stars.

After Clare and Dale reunited, they seemed like they were doing better than ever, and that caught a lot of fans by surprise. However, unfortunately, the couple’s reconciliation was short-lived and Clare and Dale are now supposedly moving on. The latest rumor is that Abigail Heringer from Matt James' season of The Bachelor somehow got between the two, and The Bachelorette fans again suspect that Dale was unfaithful. There will no doubt be more drama unfolding in the wake of Clare and Dale’s latest split.

Clare and Dale’s relationship began last July when The Bachelorette finally began filming after its initial shutdown due to COVID-19. From the minute Dale stepped out of the limo on night one, it was pretty much game over for the rest of the men. Clare and Dale were only on the show a couple of weeks before getting engaged. They left so another reality star, Tayshia Adams, could become The Bachelorette.

Of course, the newly engaged couple had to keep their relationship under wraps until the season premiered in the fall. However, by mid-October, Clare and Dale went public with their engagement. The couple faced significant scrutiny from fans, who suspected Clare and Dale were in communication while the show was shut down due to COVID-19. Clare and Dale insisted that their first interaction happened when Dale stepped out of the limo. For several months, the two reality stars seemed to be deeply in love and were reportedly even discussing starting a family.

In January, The Bachelorette fans were shocked and upset when heartthrob Dale said he and Clare had broken up in an Instagram post. Clare claimed to be blindsided by the announcement, even though she apparently knew their relationship was in trouble. For weeks, fans speculated about what caused the breakup, and there were rumors circulating that Dale had been unfaithful to Clare.

However, their relationship didn’t end there, and not even a month later, Clare and Dale were seen together in Florida. Though Clare and Dale were tight-lipped about their reconciliation, it was clear that they had rekindled their initial spark. The couple wouldn’t confirm their relationship but Clare and Dale were spotted getting cozy together multiple times.

Clare and Dale seemed to be on track for a re-engagement, and in March, the two of them took a trip to wine country. Despite Clare and Dale’s relationship questions and the couple’s reluctance to confirm they were back together, social media clues confirmed the two had taken a relaxing trip. They went to Napa to celebrate Clare’s 40th birthday.

For months, Clare and Dale wouldn’t address their reunion, though even a cursory investigation into their social media activity provided ample proof that the couple was spending a lot of time together. The next big step in the pair’s relationship came in April when Clare and Dale went Instagram official. They shared their first couple pic since their January breakup.

Though many fans had doubts about Clare and Dale’s rekindled romance, they seemed to be getting stronger and stronger after their reconciliation. In May, Clare and Dale took a trip to Hawaii and posted a lot of content from their vacation. Based on what followers saw on social media, Clare and Dale appeared to be more in love than ever.

A happy Clare teased a “big move” to her followers in June when she and Dale went furniture shopping. Clare is a long-time Sacramento, CA resident, but by summer, rumors were swirling that she and Dale were making plans to live together in New York City. Fans just assumed that meant the couple would be moving in together, though Clare and Dale didn’t provide any details.

In late July, Dale celebrated his anniversary with Clare, one year after they got engaged on The Bachelorette. “When we first met I knew god’s hand was at work but I could have never imagined the journey he had in store for us. Love you with all my heart @clarecrawley,” Dale commented on Instagram. It seemed like Clare and Dale had successfully proven their haters wrong, despite their brief breakup at the beginning of the year.

The couple seemed to be doing well, and this was the catalyst for last month's rumors that Clare and Dale had gotten married secretly and filmed the wedding. Reportedly, the couple was shopping the footage around to various networks. However, Clare had just gotten her breast implants removed and was recovering from surgery, so it’s unlikely that the secret wedding actually took place.

Although Clare and Dale’s relationship appeared to be going strong, out of nowhere, news broke that the couple had called it quits and that there was no chance of them reconciling this time around. Clare recently took to Instagram to say she will not be discussing the breakup just yet, though she made sure to throw some shade at Abigail in the process.

After raising viewers’ eyebrows on The Bachelorette, Clare and Dale have proven their doubters right with this latest breakup. There seems to be a lot of pain and hurt feelings on both sides. These famous exes may greatly benefit from time away from the spotlight.

Source: Dale Moss/Instagram

Apple has released a firmware update for the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max that opens up new 'Find My' possibilities. Losing one or both of the relatively small earbuds can be easy to do and happens often. Losing AirPods Max is a bit harder, but when tucked in a bag or if they've slipped behind a cushion that can occur. Worse, if lost when away from home or the office, tracking down AirPods becomes more of an urgent challenge. Whichever gremlin causes the problem, it will be easier to locate them with the new firmware.

AirPods have always had the ability to be found via 'Find My Device' in the Find My app. However, as this tended to simply show a map location and play a sound, it isn't quite as robust as the AirTag or Bluetooth beacons. AirTag is Apple's newest item location tracker. A small round tag about the size of a bottle cap, AirTag features Bluetooth and ultra-wideband (UWB) technology along with a speaker, resulting in a wide range of tracking possibilities.

The new firmware for the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max will help users track these items down in the event they are misplaced, lost, or stolen, as explained by Apple. The update is rolling out and will automatically install so there is nothing the user needs to do. The new finding method appears quite similar to that of the AirTag, but uses a blue color theme rather than the green of the AirTag. To locate a missing AirPods Pro or Max, the user will be able to open the Find My app and tap the Items tab, then the AirPods to begin finding. The app will begin searching for the AirPods Bluetooth signal, in case they are nearby. The feedback is not precise since AirPods don't have UWB capabilities, meaning the screen may show far, near, or here if very close. A sound can be triggered at any time using the on-screen button that looks like a speaker icon.

With Apple's new firmware update for AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, these items can be found much easier than before. However, if the user is not currently at the map location shown, it might be a good idea to use 'Lost Mode.' Previously only available for the AirTag and other Find My items, which include some Bluetooth beacons and a few third-party devices, AirPods Pro and Max are also now able to use Lost Mode as well.

After tapping the AirPods in the Find My app, a map appears at the top showing general location and a panel below shows a few options for locating AirPods. Dragging this panel upward will reveal more options, including Lost Mode. There is an option to leave contact information, email or phone number, along with a message. If someone finds the AirPods, the information can be scanned and shown to the person that has the earbuds. The addition of AirPods Pro and AirPods Max in Find My Items is a nice upgrade that comes for free.

Source: Apple

Steven Johnston from 90 Day Fiancé did a companionship inventory with Russian girlfriend Alina in Turkey, and the way he shooed a dog away was his biggest red flag yet to many fans. 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way episode 6 saw Steven dropping one bombshell confession after another to Alina. Not only did Steven reveal that he wasn’t a virgin, but he also came clean about him cheating on her with several girls despite warnings. While Alina is sticking around and hoping that Steven deleting his social media might change things, fans saw him treating a dog as terribly as he treats his partner.

While making it clear that he’s not ready to get married to Alina yet, and having her wonder if she could even trust him, Steven wanted to do the practice called companionship inventory. This is something that Steven did when he was a Mormon missionary involving two people telling each other about their strengths and weaknesses, along with things that need to be changed. As per Steven, this would help them have a stronger relationship and be “more effective together.” Alina took this as an opportunity to ask Steven about his girlfriends, and he blamed her for being insecure. But Steven admitted that he wasn’t ready to be “exclusive” with Alina, and up until a month before going to Turkey, he was going out on dates.

But before Steven could spill these horrific secrets, he wanted to have a “special moment” at the park with Alina and thought of the local street dogs as a distraction. Steven said “get out of here” to the dogs in an attempt to shoo them and pushed one of them with his foot. As Reddit user u/cedwards13 noted, it was during this moment that their “hatred for Steven grew more” than they thought it could. As Steven was already getting slammed for his bizarre and hypocritical wine tasting behavior, fans such as @Vegasgirlblog noticed, “Steven’s little laugh while he tries to kick the dog away.” 90 Day Fiancé viewer @nicoleshanique tweeted, “Steven would’ve definitely kicked the dog if there was no camera crew.”

Meanwhile, @Bjess74 addressed their tweet to Alina, saying, “Dump Steven now. How he treated those dogs tells you all you need to know.” What’s interesting to fans is that Steven had previously admitted that he’s "all for bugs not being killed because you know, they have spirits too” despite working in pest control. But Steven clearly didn’t care about the dogs, indicating that he may have been lying. Still, some fans are defending Steven by saying he meant no harm to the animal and that he just “gently scooted” it away using his foot. In fact, in a later scene, he was seen carrying pet food to feed stray cats with Alina.

With the range of red flags that Steven has shown on 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way so far, everything he does is making him look like a hypocrite. Steven has been intimate with women in the past and is not a virgin. Yet, he wants Alina to be one and stay away from wine to exercise her faith since she’s agreed to get baptized. Fans think that Alina should abort the Turkey mission and go back to Russia and adopt a dog instead of choosing to marry Steven.

Sources:  u/cedwards13/Reddit, @Vegasgirlblog/Twitter, @nicoleshanique/Twitter, @Bjess74/Twitter

IMF Chief Georgieva Marks Top Issues for Policymakers Exploring CBDCs

Among the members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 110 countries are exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the fund’s chair and managing director Kristalina Georgieva revealed at an event hosted by Bocconi University in Italy. Speaking remotely to the audience, she noted that the key challenge for monetary authorities now is to guarantee the interoperability of these currencies.

According to Georgieva, a major consideration is whether state-backed digital currencies can serve as a means of exchange trusted by the public, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Other questions policymakers need to answer are if CBDCs can contribute to domestic economic stability and how they would fit within international regulatory frameworks introduced by organizations like the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

The BIS Innovation Hub is leading several projects to test the use of state-issued digital currencies in international transactions such as a collaboration between the Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the South African Reserve Bank. These also include joint trials conducted by China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and UAE as well as a wholesale CBDC test carried out by Banque de France and the Swiss National Bank.

In reference to cooperation between international financial organizations and national monetary authorities regarding CBDCs, Kristalina Georgieva further stated:

"It is very impressive how much the international community, the central banks, institutions like ours are now actively engaged to make sure that in this fast moving world of digitalization, money is a source of confidence and helps the economy function rather than [being] a risk".

The head of the IMF emphasized that she views digital currencies issued by central banks as the most reliable form of digital money while remarking she finds it hard to think of cryptocurrencies as money. “De-facto assets” like bitcoin are not backed by assets that hold their value stable and can rise and fall sharply, Georgieva elaborated, insisting:

In her address at the Italian academic event, the IMF chief also spoke about Europe’s efforts to deal with challenges caused by the spread of Covid-19. Kristalina Georgieva noted that the Old Continent is now more prepared to avoid another debt crisis such as the one with Greece after the last global financial crisis. However, she stressed that governments need to plan their course carefully as they shift to medium-term fiscal consolidation so they can erase the debt burden related to the pandemic.

• Bitcoin, in terms of market value, rose 4.6% to $53,859.6.
• It passed $50,000 mark for first time in four weeks on Tuesday. 
• Bitcoin fell below $50,000 in early September.

Bitcoin hit its highest level since mid-May on Wednesday as bulls bid up the cryptocurrency after it breached the $50,000 mark in the previous session.

The world's largest cryptocurrency in terms of market value rose 4.6% to $53,859.6. It passed the $50,000 mark for the first time in four weeks on Tuesday on mounting institutional interest. 

In early September, bitcoin fell below $50,000 during a broad selloff in shares of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms. It fell further in September, hitting a low of $40,596 on September 21.

According to reports on Wednesday, Soros Fund management, owned by billionaire investor George Soros, confirmed at a Bloomberg summit that the fund is trading bitcoin. "We own some coins — not a lot," Dawn Fitzpatrick, the fund's chief executive, was quoted as saying.

 Frances Haugen’s testimony that social networking company puts profit before people ‘just not true’

Mark Zuckerberg has hit back at the testimony of the Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, saying her claims the company puts profit over people’s safety are “just not true”.

In a blogpost, the Facebook founder and chief executive addressed one of the most damaging statements in Haugen’s opening speech to US senators on Tuesday, that Facebook puts “astronomical profits before people”.

“At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritise profit over safety and wellbeing. That’s just not true,” he said.

He added: “The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical. We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don’t want their ads next to harmful or angry content.”

Zuckerberg said many of the claims made by Haugen – and in the Wall Street Journal, based on documents she leaked – “don’t make any sense”. The most damaging reporting in the WSJ, reiterated at length by Haugen in testimony to the US Senate on Tuesday, was that Facebook failed to act on internal research showing that its Instagram app was damaging teenagers’ mental health.

“Many of the claims don’t make any sense. If we wanted to ignore research, why would we create an industry-leading research program to understand these important issues in the first place?” he said.

Responding to Haugen’s claims that Facebook’s attempts to limit harmful content were constantly hampered by a shortage of staff, he said: “If we didn’t care about fighting harmful content, then why would we employ so many more people dedicated to this than any other company in our space – even ones larger than us? If we wanted to hide our results, why would we have established an industry-leading standard for transparency and reporting on what we’re doing?”

Haugen’s testimony, and accompanying statements by US senators in the hearing, repeatedly questioned whether Facebook could be trusted. “Facebook has not earned a right to just have blind trust in them,” said Haugen, a former Facebook employee who worked on the company’s unit monitoring electoral interference before she quit in May.

Zuckerberg said a change to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm in 2018 was implemented because it increased wellbeing. According to Haugen, internal Facebook research showed that the change to News Feed – a customised scroll of content that is a core part of Facebook users’ interaction with the platform – had amplified divisive content.

Zuckerberg said: “This change showed fewer viral videos and more content from friends and family – which we did knowing it would mean people spent less time on Facebook, but that research suggested it was the right thing for people’s wellbeing. Is that something a company focused on profits over people would do?”

Addressing company staff in the Facebook post, made late on Tuesday, Zuckerberg said he expected many employees would not recognise the business portrayed in the WSJ coverage and Haugen’s testimony.

“I’m sure many of you have found the recent coverage hard to read because it just doesn’t reflect the company we know,” he wrote. “We care deeply about issues like safety, wellbeing and mental health. It’s difficult to see coverage that misrepresents our work and our motives. At the most basic level, I think most of us just don’t recognize the false picture of the company that is being painted.”

Zuckerberg opened the post with a reference to Monday’s platform outage when the company’s services – including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms – went offline for nearly six hours. Facebook has 3.5 billion monthly active users across its platforms including Instagram and WhatsApp.

“The deeper concern with an outage like this isn’t how many people switch to competitive services or how much money we lose, but what it means for the people who rely on our services to communicate with loved ones, run their businesses, or support their communities,” he said.

On October 4, Google announced Android 12 open source under the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) series. The software maker announced that this version will be available to test on many smartphone makers including Samsung, Oppo, OnePlus, Relme, Tecno, Vivo, Xiaomi, and other devices.

According to Google, over 225,000 people took part in the beta activity and sent over 50,000 issues and bug information to the company to resolve issues and improve the Android 12 software system.

Now, let’s check what the latest installment of the Android 12 Open Source brings for the developers before it lands for the general users.

Material You: There’s a new Android 12 design language called “Material You” that helps developers to polish their Android apps to the fullest. There are Redesigned widgets that bring more useful and contentful widgets on the go with improved layout structure.

 There are improvements and design changes made to the notification UI, stretch overscroll, the app launched splash screens that have more customizations to attract users and improve the UX.

Software is known for its performance and simplicity and Android 12 seems to promise something similar. Google said to reduce the CPU time used by core system services by 22% and the use of big cores by 15%. The company has also improved app startup times and optimized I/O for faster app loading and improved CursorWindow by as much as 49x for large windows for database queries.

There are new responsive notifications to reduce latency for apps started from a notification. In addition, the Android 12 AOSP, will help you to deliver, better machine learning and AI performance features through the Neural Networks API.

Time to jump into a most important topic – user experience. Android 12 aims to deliver a new unified API that lets you receive rich content in the app’s UI from any source including

• Clipboard
• Keyboard
• Drag and drop

There’s also back-compatibility added the unified API to AndroidX.

Rounded corners are also a new use case that will be widely available on Android 12. Google confirmed to exceed the limits, and deliver a new UX experience with rounded corners and details that you can manage on your UI elements as the developer.

Time to mention another hit feature – blurs, color filters, and other effects.

The new Android 12 APIs make it easier to apply common graphics effects to your Views and rendering hierarchies. You can use RenderEffect to apply blurs, color filters, and others to RenderNodes or Views.

Developers can also create frosted glass effects for your windows background using a new API or use blur all of the content behind a window. There’s more…

Enhanced haptic experiences – Android 12 expands the tools you can use to create informative haptic feedback for UI events, immersive and delightful effects for gaming, and attentional haptics for productivity. More here.

New camera effects and sensor capabilities – New vendor extensions let your apps take advantage of the custom camera effects built by device manufacturers—bokeh, HDR, night mode, and others. You can also use new APIs to take full advantage of ultra high-resolution camera sensors that use Quad / Nona Bayer patterns. More here.

Better debugging for native crashes – Android 12 gives you more actionable diagnostic information to make debugging NDK-related crashes easier. Apps can now access detailed crash dump files called tombstones through the App Exit Reasons API.

Android 12 for Games – With Game Mode APIs, you can react to the players’ performance profile selection for your game – like better battery life for a long commute, or performance mode to get peak frame rates. Play as you download will allow game assets to be fetched in the background during install, getting your players into gameplay faster.

If the Professor is missing, there is one likely saboteur. At the end of part 1 of the final season, there are questions about Alicia Sierra's loyalty. Though her government disgraced her name and she let the Professor help deliver her baby, she also slips into the restroom and seemingly hides a small pair of scissors in her sleeve as a weapon. Before her baby's birth, she wanted to bring the Professor and his accomplices to justice. But instead, she let him go out of necessity. So if the Professor is in trouble, Sierra has to be the prime suspect.

Alternatively, there could be more to the Professor's disappearance than meets the eye. It's unknown if the Professor is actually missing in the first look for part 2. For instance, the disappearance could be part of the plan. If Money Heist has taught fans anything, it's that the Professor is always planning. Also, the trailer has Denver question if the Professor is in the "Bermuda Triangle." The Professor previously mentioned the Bermuda Triangle in part 1 of the final season. "Madrid isn't the Bermuda Triangle," he said while discussing how to hide Marseille (Luka Peroš) and a helicopter from the police. That plan involved significant deception, and the Professor's disappearance likely does too.

Developer Turtle Rock Studios has recently decided to add the controversial Denuvo Anti-Tamper software to its upcoming title, Back 4 Blood. Considered to be the spiritual successor to the highly popular Valve title Left 4 Dead, Back 4 Blood is a four-player co-op survival shooter that aims to put zombies back onto players’ crosshairs.

Created by Turtle Rock Studios, the same developers behind Left 4 Dead, the zombie shooter has garnered strong interest from fans, with the title hitting over 100,000 concurrent players on Steam alone during its open beta. While Back 4 Blood includes a campaign mode familiar to fans of Left 4 Dead, Turtle Rock Studios has insisted that its upcoming title will differ in many ways, adding a currency system and an in-game shop. The game will also feature a deck building mechanic, with which players can collect cards and utilize them to grant bonuses during matches.

Related: Back 4 Blood Won't Have Left 4 Dead's Versus Campaigns

As reported by PCGamesN, the developers behind Back 4 Blood updated the game’s Steam page in late September to reflect that the title would be released with the controversial third-party digital rights management software, Denuvo. The anti-piracy software’s inclusion in games has often prompted a largely negative response from fans in the past, due to its tendency to negatively affect a game’s performance. However, this is not always the case, with id Software’s Doom Eternal having received high praises from fans and critics alike for its excellent optimization and performance on PC, despite utilizing Denuvo’s DRM software.

The inclusion of the controversial software in the recently released Deathloop greatly angered its fans, with many blaming Denuvo for the game’s stuttering frame rates on PC. Upset players decided to vent their frustrations by review bombing Deathloop on Steam, calling on developer Arkane Studios to fix the game’s performance problems by removing the DRM software. While the stuttering glitch has been partially fixed during a recent patch, Arkane did not mention if the issues were tied to its use of Denuvo.

Considering Back 4 Blood exceeded 5.6 million players during its beta in August, the game may be in store for a sizable backlash from its fans should any issues arise regarding its performance. Due the fast paced nature of Back 4 Blood, any performance issues would greatly hinder a player’s experience. However, developers have been known in the past to remove Denuvo from their games due to negative reactions from fans, thus its inclusion in Back 4 Blood may not be entirely set in stone.

Next: How Back 4 Blood's Deckbuilding Makes Each Round Different

Back 4 Blood will release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on October 12.

Source: PCGamesN