There are over 14,000 species of mushrooms on Earth, ranging from poisonous death caps to delicious morels to mushrooms of the psychedelic variety. I’m sure you’ve seem them growing from soil, cow paddies, rotten wood, and just about everywhere else, and maybe thought, “How hard could it be to grow edible mushrooms at…
Look, I’m not anti-bidet. I have one at home and I appreciate it. But there are some nonsensical bidet related myths going around that need to be flushed away. Chief among them: the idea that if you don’t use a bidet, you are walking around with a poop-encrusted butthole.
SLUDGE LIFE is a first-person / open-world / vandalism-centric stroll through a polluted island full of cranky idiots and a vibe so thick you can taste it and it's free on Steam until March 30th!
The post Free Game on Steam: Sludge Life appeared first on Indie Game Bundles.
Surprise! The long-promised patch that brings ray tracing to Elden Ring is here, over a year after release. There’s much more in the version 1.09 update besides – the patch notes list plenty of balance changes and bug fixes – but given the sheer amount of time the new ray tracing features have been in the works, not to mention the fact that Elden Ring has never exactly been an exemplar of technical reliability, I wanted to focus in on 'em and see what performance is like on PC.
On March 15, 2023, the SEC announced a proposal for new cybersecurity requirements for covered entities.
The post Analysis: SEC Cybersecurity Proposals and Biden’s National Cybersecurity Strategy appeared first on SecurityWeek.
This article contains spoilers for season 3, episode 6 of "Star Trek: Picard," "Bounty."
Fans who have been watching "Star Trek: Picard" are already well aware that the Klingon warrior Worf (Michael Dorn) has changed quite a bit since we last saw him in "Star Trek: Nemesis," but the rest of the crew he worked with on the U.S.S. Enterprise weren't quite up to speed. After helping to uncover more information about the weapons at the Daystrom Institute and the possible motives and plans of the terrorist Changelings, Worf and his work partner, Raffi (Michelle Hurd), convene with Admiral Picard (Patrick Stewart), Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Commander Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), and Captain Shaw (Todd Stashwick), and it's the first time some of these old comrades have seen each other in a long, long time. Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) is overwhelmed with joy, giving Worf a big hug even though Riker reminds her that he's "not a hugger." It's an awkward reunion for Seven and Raffi as well, as they didn't leave their romantic relationship on a great note in season 2, so everyone's a little unsure of themselves in an already tense situation.
What no one could have expected was that Worf's pacifism and new ways would annoy the heck out of Riker so much, or that it would be so much stinking fun to watch them butt heads in a very non-Klingon way. When the two team up, along with Raffi, to go get the superweapon out of the super-warehouse below Daystrom, there's a lot of charming and authentic banter between them, and it helps keep the fanservice-filled episode aloft.
When Worf and Picard first reunite in the teleporter room of the Titan, Picard mentions that it's been a long time since they last saw one another, and Worf knows the exact time: 11 years, 5 months, 4 days. In those 11 years, he's had some contact with Riker through calls and video messages and Riker has sent him sour mead from Chateau Picard once a year, but the two have still missed a lot of one another's lives. While Picard seems shocked at Worf's appreciation for sour mead, he explains that "it is quite tart, sir." Given the Klingon's love of cranberry juice, it makes total sense that he would love a sour and slightly sweet alcoholic beverage. Mead is also the drink of Vikings, who bear cultural similarities to Klingons, but I digress.
Much more surprising to everyone is that Worf has adopted a new life code that revolves around pacifism. That's right, a peaceful Klingon. Riker cannot even begin to believe that this could be true and questions his old friend with a simple "whoa, seriously?," to which Worf replies with an extremely on-brand "I just said it." Worf has never been one to mince words, but then again, he shows later in the episode that he has been working on more effective communication with non-Klingons.
If someone on the Enterprise of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" or the titular space station of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" needed a blunt, honest opinion, they could always go to Worf. The Klingon officer may have been raised by humans, but he didn't have much of a filter or patience for human social norms, which meant that he could be hilariously frank. Even that seems to have changed, as he reacts to the awkwardness between Raffi and Seven by trying to comfort them with an anecdote about how he has "gone into battles with lovers countless times" and "it can be therapeutic." While he definitely went into battle with his Par'Mach'kai, Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) on a few occasions, this seems like a pretty strange reassurance for Worf to say. When Seven interrupts him to explain that she's not coming along, Worf sighs and explains:
"That is a relief. I was practicing deceit. Breakups on my home world seldom end without bloodshed."
Worf is trying to practice deceit, people! He's learning how to lie in order to prevent hurting other people's feelings. This Worf cares about people's feelings. Given his track record of being a stubborn, bull-headed dork used to getting his own way, that's pretty impressive. Honestly, Worf has grown and become a much more healthy, whole person, though there is still a sadness that lingers in him (likely grief over Jadzia, which never fades completely). One person doesn't like this more mature Worf, however, and that's Riker.
Poor Riker is absolutely flabbergasted by the change in Worf, trying to reconcile the pacifist sorta-samurai in front of him with the wild, grumpy barbarian he once knew. When Worf explains his commitment to pacifism, Riker sees it as an omen that they're all going to die, and he jokes as much. Joking has been his way of handling stress since "Next Gen," and he continues to joke by teasing Worf when he's startled by a genetically engineered "attack Tribble" being held in the basement at Daystrom. Worf, truly a changed man, points out that Riker finds "comfort in humor and humor in other people's discomfort." While he's not wrong, Riker is shocked, wanting to know why his old friend doesn't poke back like he used to.
By the time Worf says that they will enter the dangerous, AI-booby-trapped room as "friendly energy," Riker has had enough. He mutters that he doesn't understand the world anymore, and even ends up finding comfort in the fact that the returned Moriarty (Daniel Davis) is still a jerk and therefore "consistent."
Despite all of this weirdness between Worf and Riker, the latter still sacrifices himself and gets captured by the enemy to save his Klingon comrade, along with Raffi and an android that's part Data (Brent Spiner). That sacrifice in turn makes Worf swear an oath to Picard that he will find Riker and bring him home. Even though these two men don't quite understand one another anymore, there's still a lot of love and respect there, and their friendship will endure.
New episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" premiere Thursdays on Paramount+.
Read this next: 14 Reasons Why Star Trek: Lower Decks Is The Best Star Trek Show
The post Worf Is a Changed Klingon On Star Trek: Picard Season 3 And No One Likes It (Except Us) appeared first on /Film.
This post contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Picard."
Throughout his seemingly unending tenure on "Star Trek," actor Brent Spiner has played the android Data, his own twin brother Lore, an android prototype named B-4, and the creator of all three, the elderly Dr. Noonien Soong. Additionally, since "Star Trek" takes place over such a broad timeline, Spiner also played the son of Noonien Dr. Altan Soong, as well as two of the character's ancestors, Dr. Arik Soong, and Dr. Adam Soong, the latter of whom lived in Los Angeles in 2024. That's six different characters.
At the end of Start Baird's 2002 film "Star Trek: Nemesis," Data sacrificed his own life to blow up an enemy ship and save the U.S.S. Enterprise from destruction. At that point in "Star Trek," Lore had been deactivated, and the last Dr. Song had died of old age. The only remaining Data-adjacent character was B-4. Perhaps not content with only one Spiner in their universe, in 2020, the writers of "Star Trek: Picard" invented a dubious way to resurrect Data for the show's first season. It seems that someone salvaged a single particle of Data's body out in space somehow, and was able to — heavy sigh — clone his entire android brain, somehow. Data's consciousness and personality were encoded in a computer database, but not shunted into an android body. When the consciousness of Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) was downloaded into the same computer database, he was able to speak to Data briefly. Data felt he had lived a good life, and that mortality was increasingly appealing. Picard deactivated Data, effectively killing the character a second time.
And yet, for the third season of "Picard," Data has returned. The reasons how are a little complicated.
In the sixth episode of "Picard," called "The Bounty," Worf (Michael Dorn), Raffi (Michelle Hurd), and Riker (Jonathan Frakes) have broken into the Daystrom station to investigate a mysterious weapon theft. They find that the station is guarded by a complex A.I. program that temporarily stymies them with holograms of crows and of Professor Moriarty (Daniel Davis). They eventually learn that the security system is tied into the android consciousness of ... well, it's not Data exactly. But it is Brent Spiner.
A hologram of Altan Soong appears to explain that the aged android in front of them — Spiner is 74 — is a new android model that contains the complete experiences of Data, Lore, B-4, and even Data's short-lived android daughter Lal (Hallie Todd) from the "Next Generation" episode "The Offspring." When Worf and crew revive this new android, it begins to cycle through its personalities rapidly. It's Data for a few moments, but then becomes B-4, not recognizing anyone. Then Lore snarls at them. Spiner used to play various members of the same family, but it's rare that he is afforded the opportunity to play them all at once.
This new composite character — Datalore-4? — is of course a somewhat cheap opportunity for the writers if "Picard" to bring back a twice-dead character in as organic a fashion as they could muster (without time travel, at least). But it may have also been alluring to Spiner, as he wouldn't merely be reprising Data for the umpteenth time. Spiner has said in interviews that he is ambivalent about playing Data, and that he was finished with the character multiple times over. The composite android would, as audiences see, allow him to give a broader, more challenging performance.
Spiner understood the dangers of playing a well-recognized character on "Star Trek." Many cast members of the 1966 series, for instance, became typecast and struggled to find high-profile work after their tenure on the show. Spiner once said in a TV guide interview that he could win an Academy Award for playing a role wildly against his type and aggressively demanding of his talents, and Data would still be listed first in his obituary. The idea of merely playing Data again was likely uninteresting to the actor.
The composite android is not Data. It's a new character, recently constructed. It's several characters at once. Data, as Trekkies are able to point out, was constantly striving to be more human, fascinated by our species and the strange social foibles we adhere to. He didn't have emotions, however, beyond slight rudimentary reactions to things. While the "Star Trek" writers took a great deal of delight in teaching Data objective lessons about humanity, Data was often seen, even after seven years, approaching humanity with a fresh face every day. Data was, to employ an acting term, always on the same note.
Throughout "Picard," however, Spiner has had a chance to do a lot more. His two Soong characters are dramatically different. Altan was timid and peaceful, Adam was aggressive and villainous. Now, with his new character, Spiner is allowed to be all his old characters at once, as well as something completely new. It's the ultimate Spiner "Star Trek" performance, a handy package for the actor to deliver everything at the same time. What audiences have seen so far has been nothing short of astonishing.
Read this next: The Strongest Star Trek Villains Ranked
The post Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is Giving Us the Ultimate Brent Spiner Performance appeared first on /Film.
This post contains spoilers for episode 6, season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard."
The most recent season of "Star Trek: Picard" initially sold itself as essentially a reunion special. Early trailers boasted that most of the main cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" would return, including Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, and Brent Spiner (even though Data had died several times over). While some Trekkies may have been excited about the promise of a reunion, other more cautiously pessimistic fans could immediately envision a plodding nostalgia-fest wherein characters do nothing but repeat old lines of dialogue, walk around on old sets, and become weepy over the tricorders they used several decades prior.
Quite mercifully, in the new season's first five episodes, the nostalgia has been relegated to a mere steady drip. The "Next Generation" characters have been introduced slowly, making the reunions more organic. Additionally, they have all been allowed to grow up a little since audiences last saw them in "Star Trek: Nemesis," making the relationships strained rather than warm. This has made for better drama and better storytelling in general. Even when Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) was brought back in episode five, it was handled with tact rather than nostalgia. It was fitting that Picard (Patrick Stewart) kind of hated her now. When the Changelings from "Deep Space Nine" were re-introduced, it was more mysterious than exploitative.
Episode six, however -- called "The Bounty" -- seems to have collapsed under its own restraint. "The Bounty" goes full-bore nostalgia, throwing in dozens of Easter eggs, cameos, and old-world "Star Trek" ships included for no other reason than for Trekkies to point in recognition. Frankly, it's embarrassing.
At this point in the series, Worf (Dorn), Riker (Frakes), Crusher (McFadden), Picard, and Geordi La Forge (Burton) have all reunited thanks to the dictates of the season's plot. Worf and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) have been investigating who stole a particularly dangerous piece of technology from the Daystrom space station. That station happens to be located next to Earth and right by a well-regarded Starfleet ship museum. La Forge has become the curator and maintainer of said museum, allowing him to enter the story. While Worf, Riker, and Raffi break into the Daystrom station, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) stay on board the U.S.S. Titan and look out over the ships in the museum.
A painful amount of time is spent looking at the ships. Seven scrolls through a database, and she and Jack comment on each of the ships that come up. Each ship comes with its own musical quotation from the series or movie in which it appeared. The U.S.S. Defiant gets a few strains of Dennis McCarthy's theme song. The Voyager gets the same from Jerry Goldsmith. Seven wistfully recalls it at the place where she was reborn. Jack looks at the Enterprise-A, last seen in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," and declares himself to be "a Constitution-class man." Even the H.M.S. Bounty, the Klingon ship used in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" appears, and it is implied that its still-working cloaking device may come in handy.
Each musical cue elicits nostalgic mistiness as well as bitter resentment. Trekkies do love canon references and have a sci-fi machine fetish -- we practically invented the practices -- but this kind of wallowing in the past is self-indulgent, even for a series called "Star Trek: Picard."
Even a moment's thought might have Trekkies questioning the very need for a starship museum. While it may be historically valuable to retain a few ships for their significance, I personally always got the impression that Starfleet vessels were recycled. Some of these ships are enormous, and the actual raw materials needed to make them can't be infinite. As such, surely the Utopia Planitia shipyards would constantly be receiving decommissioned ships to salvage for parts. Also, on "Picard," the ships appear to be constantly powered up, their lights shining through their windows and their warp engines lit. Are the ships always powered up and ready to go? Is life support on? Why use all that power to keep a century-old ship flight ready when there's no crew to operate it and no missions for it to go on? In light of these admittedly nerdy questions, the whole ship museum sequence emerges as gross pandering.
Also pandering are the scenes on board the Daystrom station. It was established in the previous episode that Daystrom station is protected by an artificially intelligent security system that, as it turns out, adapts itself to the people breaking on board. When the station sees Worf and Riker sneaking inside, it initiated a security hologram program that resurrects the Sherlock Holmes villain Moriarty (Daniel Davis). This is a reference to two "Next Generation" episodes wherein the Enterprise accidentally created a sentient holodeck character that, in one instance, tried to take over the ship. There is no real reason for the character to appear on Daystrom station other than that Riker -- and the audience -- might recognize him.
While Riker, Worf, and Raffi are sneaking around the institute, they creep past any number of Easter eggs and references, passing lockers containing, say, the remains of Capt. Kirk, salvaged from the Veridian system. Worf finds a locker with a tribble in it, despite a story he told on "Deep Space Nine" where the Klingons destroyed the tribble homeworld. "Picard" is implying that every artifact from "Star Trek" has been stored here. The references and the corresponding theme music are insufferable, and they introduce strange new wrinkles into "Star Trek" lore. Why, for instance, keep a tribble in a space station? Either it's too dangerous to proliferate, or it's an extinct species that can be resurrected. Having one squirreled away in a remote secret locker doesn't help anyone.
I want to state openly, however, that the references on "Picard" are of a different flavor than the many, many references one might find on any average episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks," the animated series. It's notable that "Lower Decks" is a comedy series that plays openly with the usual formalism seen throughout "Star Trek." The characters are all ensigns, often called upon to do the most undignified jobs on a starship that has little to no prestige in the Federation. When massive elements of extant Trek lore appear on "Lower Decks," it serves as a comedic juxtaposition of the characters' smallness. Fans recognize it, but then the characters run past it, and we all have a hearty chuckle.
"Picard" has no such humor, hanging its references with sticky, undue reverence. Just because a character, a ship, or a piece of technology is important to us the viewers, doesn't mean the characters would treat it the same. Trekkies can smell inorganic references a mile away.
Read this next: Every Star Trek Series Ranked From Worst To Best
The post Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Proves There is Such Thing as Too Many Easter Eggs appeared first on /Film.
This post contains spoilers for the sixth episode of season 3's "Star Trek: Picard."
"Star Trek: Picard" has all but reinvented itself in its ongoing third and final season, which has turned the spin-off series following the retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) into a "Next Generation" reunion special. Although opinions may vary regarding exactly how well-handled all the nostalgia continues to be (/Film's own Witney Seibold discussed this very aspect in his review of episode 6), it's difficult to deny the pleasures of seeing Picard and Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) joined by the aged Klingon warrior pacifist Worf (Michael Dorn), Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), and especially Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton). The beloved engineer's long-awaited appearance in the latest episode, however, brings more than mere nostalgia — it provides a whole new dynamic to the show's main cast.
In short, Geordi comes back just in time to set our renegade heroes straight and take on the role of the lone adult in the room.
Seriously, let's recap. To this point, Picard and Riker have essentially hijacked a Starfleet exploration ship (twice!) that was simply minding its own business, are responsible for the casualties of several officers who never signed up for this galaxy-spanning mission, and recklessly broke pretty much every regulation in the book along the way. These older versions of our "Next Generation" bridge crew are a lot different in both temperament and technique than they used to be, but at least some things apparently never change.
Thankfully, Geordi remains a voice of reason in the middle of all the chaos. And that's exactly why we love him.
Who knew that the "Next Generation" characters would evolve quite a bit in the decades since we last saw them? "Picard" has gone to great lengths to test its title character's innate sense of idealism and self-righteousness through the reveal of Jean-Luc and Beverly's son, Jack (Ed Speleers). In addition, the reappearance of the defected Bajoran, Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes), exposed how the conflict between her and Picard has festered over the years. Riker has also changed — he's built a family with his "imzadi," Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), which has tempered his more impulsive instincts. Even Worf has undergone a dramatic transformation, becoming much less hotheaded and more prone to meditation than he used to be (to Riker's dismay, hilariously).
And when their adventure brings the USS Titan to Geordi's doorstep at the Fleet Museum space dock — home to the preserved relics of "every legendary starship" in Starfleet's service over the years — the desperate crew experiences a very different welcome than they expected.
Unlike Worf or Riker's tendency to follow Picard with no questions asked, a visibly angry Geordi promptly cuts the Starfleet fugitives down to size. No matter how genuinely urgent and desperate their plight (and being chased by Changelings who have infiltrated the highest levels of the Federation most definitely counts as that!), they still thoughtlessly endangered the well-being of those Geordi cares about most. It's no surprise that the engineer would eventually settle down, have kids, and that both his daughters Alandra (Mica Burton, LeVar's real-life daughter) and Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) would follow in his footsteps and join Starfleet. What shocks Picard, however, is his unwillingness to help in any way.
And, honestly, his reasoning is perfectly sound ... but, refreshingly, perhaps a little misguided.
With age comes wisdom ... and maybe a little bit of overcautiousness. The years have been kind to Geordi La Forge — he's graduated from the rank of Lt. Commander to Commodore and is the current station keeper of the Fleet Museum. But when Picard drops out of warp, unannounced and fully expecting his old engineer from the USS Enterprise to be genuinely happy to see him, well, Geordi is nothing short of peeved at his former captain's behavior. Unlike the good ol' days, when he chose to put himself at risk day in and day out, he had no say in this latest situation. And more importantly, neither did his daughters.
But even the most level-headed Starfleet commodore can still have room to grow. To his credit, showrunner Terry Matalas gives Geordi an interesting arc of having to come to terms with the fact that, like it or not, he himself taught his now grown-up children to follow their own convictions -- much as he once did while serving under Picard. In this case, that means being willing to provide whatever aid he can to the beleaguered Titan. Importantly, Geordi's reversal doesn't automatically justify Picard's run-and-gun attitude. Instead, the Commodore realizes that respecting his daughters' agency and reaffirming his faith in them is his top priority. Helping his old friends comes as a secondary concern, even though they're important to him.
So when the going gets tough, Geordi once again gets going. Forced into jerry-rigging a Klingon cloaking device onto the Titan, the Commodore rises to the occasion, makes use of his legendary engineering skills, and gets right back to work.
Of course, not everyone in "Star Trek: Picard" immediately capitulates to Jean-Luc's whims. Though they've since come to a much greater understanding of one another, his roguish and estranged son Jack never lets Picard off the hook for his past mistakes. Riker himself, in fact, had to dress down his former Captain in a previous episode, when his insistence on attacking the villainous ship commander Vadic (Amanda Plummer) nearly cost them everything. But nobody, not even Geordi with his initial misgivings, can even approach the amusing vehemence of Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick).
Shaw's entire demeanor changes, however, once the venerable Geordi La Forge steps foot on his starship. His icy exterior melts in the presence of such Starfleet royalty, completely changing the stone-faced captain into a total fanboy. The fact that both are former engineers gives them an immediate common ground to appreciate one another's skills. Shaw, of course, has nothing but admiration for all the feats that Geordi accomplished in his heyday. As for the good Commodore, even he takes a beat in the middle of their dire emergency to communicate how impressed he is with Shaw's maintenance of the Titan amid extremely trying circumstances. Two nerds from entirely different walks of life bonding over their shared nerdery? That's what "Trek" is all about, baby!
The arrival of LeVar Burton in "Picard" had to be perfect, and episode 6 delivered just about as well as anyone could've hoped. By giving us an older, wiser, but still relatable Geordi, his potentially distracting presence only adds more meaning to the ongoing action. By gracing us all once again with his cool, calm, and collected personality, Geordi proves that a parent was just what everyone on "Star Trek: Picard" truly needed.
Read this next: 14 Underrated Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes
The post Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Has Needed Adult Supervision, So Here's Geordi appeared first on /Film.
This post contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Picard" episode 6.
As one of the latter-most series in the "Star Trek" chronology, "Star Trek: Picard" often delivers fans the gift of retrospect. When the show isn't taking a critical look back at some of Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) leadership decisions, it's basking in the glow of nostalgia with a full "Star Trek: The Next Generation" reunion and references to various "Trek" shows of the past. This week was no different: a trip to Daystrom Station brought back a vicious tribble, Professor Moriarty (Daniel Davis), and a new Data (Brent Spiner), while Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) brought back a relic from Captain Kirk's days: the HMS Bounty.
"Trek" fans might remember the Bounty from "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," the fourth installment in the "Trek" film series and the second directed by Leonard Nimoy. "The Voyage Home" is one of the more successful "Trek" films; it won over fans, made back five times its reported production budget at the box office, and was even nominated for four Oscars. Often referenced as "the one about saving the whales," the film also featured a unique and distinctive aircraft that the Enterprise crew temporarily called home: the stolen Klingon bird-of-prey that McCoy (DeForest Kelley) renamed the H.M.S. Bounty.
The Bounty actually first appeared in "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock," when Kirk (William Shatner) commandeered it while on a mission to rescue his Vulcan second-in-command and best buddy (Nimoy). In the opening scenes of "The Voyage Home," though, we see that the crew has painted the vessel's new name on its side. The Bounty was never seen again after "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," until it suddenly made its triumphant — and stealthy — return in this week's episode of "Star Trek: Picard."
Although this week's episode is titled "The Bounty," it's not immediately clear that the Klingon bird-of-prey is going to be integral to the action. The plot picks up with Vadic (Amanda Plummer) on the hunt for Picard's crew, while a reunited team including Worf (Michael Dorn) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) attempts to get to the bottom of the Changelings' new plan, which includes getting up to something dastardly on Frontier Day. Some of the crew heads to Daystrom Station to figure out what weapon the Changelings have stolen, but their mission isn't exactly as under-the-radar as they'd hoped it would be. Vadic's goons soon take aim at the Titan, putting Picard in a pickle. "Short of being invisible, we can't come back, not until they're unable to track us," Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) points out, and suddenly, Picard has an idea.
That's where Geordi comes in: Picard's crew visits him at the Fleet Museum, where he apparently works among the legendary decommissioned spacecraft of years past. It's a setting that allows for some nice walks down memory lane, as when Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) tells Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) about the U.S.S. Voyager, the ship she called home, where she was "reborn." The conversation takes a surprising turn, though, when Seven tells Jack about the history of the Bounty. "Ah, right, the whole whale thing," Jack replies. It turns out, the Fleet Museum pulled the Bounty from the bottom of the San Francisco Bay after the events of "The Voyage Home."
"The story goes they had a hell of a time finding it," Seven says knowingly, adding, "It disappeared." A-ha! No wonder Picard suddenly has time to talk to his old pal Geordi; the Bounty could be the key to keeping the Titan safe. While the two are busy trying to hash out their differences, the Titan suddenly gets a cloaking device upgrade. Geordi accuses Picard of stealing the cloaking tech from the Bounty — which he endearingly calls "my bird-of-prey" — but it's actually proactive Sidney and Jack who co-opted the Bounty's cloaking device to help their ship go dark.
While this is apparently a treaty violation that Picard says Starfleet can 'put on his tab,' the Bounty ends up helping the crew stay stealth long enough to get to the bottom of the Changeling mystery. In the end, the familiar ship is just a drop in the bucket of the episode's nostalgia, but at least it's a more clever and less extraneous reference than some of the other callbacks. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fans have spent years hoping to see what Geordi's up to these days, and while "Star Trek: Picard" sometimes misses the mark with its character re-introductions, it does right by the engineer by tying him to the legacy of the franchises' most important and beloved ships.
"Star Trek: Picard" streams new episodes on Paramount+ each Thursday.
Read this next: Every Star Trek Movie Ranked Worst To Best
The post Picard Season 3 Returns to One of the Most Popular Star Trek Movies Ever appeared first on /Film.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Elden Ring update 1.09 will be rolled out for all platforms later today following server maintenance, FromSoftware has announced.
The news was posted on Twitter via the official Elden Ring Twitter account earlier today. Server maintenance will begin at 0:00 PDT | 08:00 CET | 16:00 JST and will take roughly 3 hours on platforms. The exact contents of the new patch haven't been shared just yet, but FromSoftware did reveal that it will offer bug fixes alongside balance adjustments. As soon as the full patch notes have been released, we'll update you.
The #ELDENRING servers will undergo maintenance today, March 23, 2022 to deploy patch 1.09.
This update contains balance adjustments and bug fixes.Maintenance will begin at 0:00 PDT | 08:00 CET | 16:00 JST and last 3 hours on all platforms.
Thank you for your patience.
— ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) March 23, 2023
Elden Ring is available globally now for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game was released back in February of this year and has been amazingly successful ever since. As covered earlier today, FromSoftware's hit title won the Game of the Year Award at the GDC Awards 2023 last night. Previously, the game already won a GOTY award at the Game Awards, as well as our own GOTY award. Exact sales numbers haven't been shared, but we do know that the game has sold over 20 million copies worldwide.
An expansion for Elden Ring, called 'Shadow of the Erdtree', was officially announced last month. The DLC has yet to receive a release date but is expected to release by the end of this year. Here's what we had to say about FromSoftware's latest Souls title in our review:
"I tried hard to find any faults in Elden Ring, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find any outside of some technical issues that the developers could fix via patches", Francesco De Meo wrote in his review. "I firmly believe that perfection doesn't exist and that it is always possible to improve, but I really couldn't think of anything that Elden Ring could have done better. As such, the game wholly deserves a perfect score, an honor I would have given only to a couple of other modern games, not only for its extremely high quality but also for what it accomplished with its open world and for how it will surely influence video games as a whole in the future."
The post New Elden Ring Update 1.09 Being Deployed Today Following Maintenance; Includes Balance Adjustments and Fixes by Aernout van de Velde appeared first on Wccftech.
Are you sitting uncomfortably? I hope so, as it's time for the third episode in Nippon Animation's anime short series Leon and the Mysterious Village — commissioned by Capcom to promote this week's release of the highly anticipated remake, Resident Evil 4.
Episode 3, titled "Help us, Old Man", sees Leon and Ashley ask a friendly villager for help with escaping the crazy village and its infected cultists. As with Episode 1 and Episode 2, it, unfortunately, does not work out too well for our heroes — Though, to be fair, The Old Man does come through with their request, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. I actually thought that this was the funniest episode to date!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgDgKfauShw&ab_channel=capcomasia
Resident Evil 4, a remake of the 2005 GameCube classic, will offer fans a fresh, modern take on the terrifying odyssey of Leon and Ashley as they pick their way through a mysterious European village, fending off wild cultists, infected locals, and some of the creepiest enemies the Resident Evil series has ever known. Bolstered with the power of the tip-top RE Engine, Resident Evil 4 is looking to freak out even the most veteran fan of the original release.
Resident Evil 4 launches tomorrow, March 24, on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms.
The post Episode 3 of Resident Evil 4 anime Leon and the Mysterious Village is the best yet appeared first on Destructoid.
Wherein we discuss the 2023 Oscars, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Batman, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Kingdom Hearts III, Diablo IV, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, the end of the Wii U and 3DS eShop, the Dead by Daylight comic, and Star Trek: Picard.
Rob Zombie's first feature film, 2003's "House of 1000 Corpses," is a filthy little nightmare of a movie. Shot for only $7 million, Zombie's film took a lot of tonal and visual cues from Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," but filtered through the director's ultraviolent heavy metal sensibility. The film was bleak, violent, grimy, and uncomfortable. It also didn't make a lot of sense. What, for instance, was the true nature of the subterranean cyborg named Dr. Satan? It wouldn't be until the 2005 sequel, "The Devil's Rejects," that the true nihilism of the film's villains would be explored. Zombie didn't seem to care much about the victims of the wicked Firefly family -- mostly traveling students and tourists who stumble into the Firefly's unsavory roadside attractions -- choosing instead to focus on a family who have found solidarity in their mutual evil and innate need to kill and destroy.
"House of 1000 Corpses" was not well-received upon its release -- it currently holds a mere 20% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes -- but it can now be seen as the bold first step in the career of an undeniably fascinating filmmaker. Every Rob Zombie horror movie, though often cheap, is always harrowing, and undeniably his. He is capable of oily, unpleasant exploitation movies -- "31" and "3 From Hell" fit this designation -- but he began skewing into more thoughtful, adult material as he matured. His 2012 film "The Lords of Salem," for instance, recast Satan as a tool of feminist vengeance.
According to a report from Bloody Disgusting, Zombie, now 58, will be recording a brand new audio commentary track for "House of 1000 Corpses" to celebrate its 20th anniversary. A special edition Blu-ray will be made available on April 11, and Zombie's new commentary will be on it.
The news of the track was announced on Zombie's Instagram account, the place where he most often contacts his fans (it was from Instagram that the public learned details of Zombie's most recent film, "The Munsters"). The filmmaker said he was working on recording the track that very day, posting, "In the studio today recording a new director's commentary for HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES. Last one I did was 20 years ago."
He also pointed out that his parking spot at the recording studio was, quite randomly, located right next to that of Chuck Norris.
The Bloody Disgusting article also pointed out that the Blu-ray will possess the usual litany of special features, including interviews with the cast (including Zombie himself, the late Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, Karen Black, Rainn Wilson, Chris Hardwick, and others), a brief making-of documentary film, and other behind-the-scenes footage.
The 2-disc Blu-ray will be released through Lionsgate, and a limited edition steelbook will be available exclusively at Best Buy. There must be an irony indeed of entering such a notoriously sterile retail environment like Best Buy to pick up one of the bloodiest and least pleasant movies of the last 20 years. Be sure to wear a clown costume when you pick up your copy, as to frighten the clerks and other customers. Then blast Zombie's cover of "Brick House" that he recorded with Lionel Ritchie especially for the film.
The Best Buy version will cost $21.99. The expanded edition will retail for $44.99, as it will also contain miniature art prints, a miniature poster, and a 60-page book of photos.
Read this next: 14 Horror Movie Flops That Became Cult Classics
The post Rob Zombie Celebrates 20-Year Anniversary of House of 1000 Corpses with Brand New Commentary Track appeared first on /Film.
Amanda, Rich, Daryl, and Glendon talk Code Vein, The Last Spell, Octopath Traveller 2, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and the Long Run in games.
When SpaceX's residential satellite internet company, Starlink, was first introduced, I had high hopes. Legitimate high-speed internet isn't widely available where I live in rural Kansas. Over the past 11 years, I've had to make do with an OG Verizon data-only plan for a hotspot, HughesNet satellite internet, US Cellular home internet, local fixed wireless, T-Mobile Home Internet, and more. But as of spring 2021, I have primarily relied on Starlink to provide internet to my home.
It's not just Android phones that are vulnerable to a screenshot security flaw. Developer Chris Blume has discovered that Windows 11's Snipping Tool falls prey to a similar exploit. The utility doesn't completely erase unused PNG image data, making it possible to recover some of the cropped-out picture and potentially obtain sensitive data. As BleepingComputerverified with researcher David Buchanan, you can extract the supposedly hidden info using a slightly modified version of the script used to demonstrate the Android vulnerability.
The issue doesn't affect some PNG files, including optimized images. You can also wipe the unused data by saving the cropped picture as another file in an image editing tool. JPEG files also leave data from the original screenshot, but the exploit isn't known to work with the format at this stage.
holy FUCK.
— David Buchanan (@David3141593) March 21, 2023
Windows Snipping Tool is vulnerable to Acropalypse too.
An entirely unrelated codebase.
The same exploit script works with minor changes (the pixel format is RGBA not RGB)
Tested myself on Windows 11 https://t.co/5q2vb6jWOnpic.twitter.com/ovJKPr0x5Y
We've asked Microsoft for comment and will let you know if we hear back. In a statement to BleepingComputer, Microsoft says it's "investigating" the security reports and will "take action as needed" to protect users.
Buchanan and programmer Simon Aarons recently found a severe "aCropalypse" flaw in the Markup screenshot feature on Google Pixel phones. While Google has since patched the security hole with its March update (now expanded to Pixel 6 phones), the fix only addresses images created after installing the patch. Provided Microsoft releases a corresponding Windows 11 update, existing images may have the same problem.
The concern, as you might guess, is that an intruder with access to your images might use a script to recover information you intend to hide, such as contacts and business secrets. The culprit could use the info for harassment, blackmail or espionage. While this may not be as much of a headache for locally stored screenshots (you have larger problems if an attacker already has access to your device), it could be very troublesome for unmodified images you save in the cloud.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/windows-11-security-flaw-exposes-cropped-out-screenshot-data-131519887.html?src=rss
To start with: No. You should not have (or perform) a lobotomy. It would be impossible to find a surgeon willing to take on the procedure, and whatever is wrong with you would be better handled through other means. Hypothetically, however, you could have a friend perform a lobotomy on you with a few tools and without…
Many of the most successful cybercriminals are shrewd; they want good ROI, but they don’t want to have to reinvent the wheel to get it.
The post Malware Trends: What’s Old Is Still New appeared first on SecurityWeek.
Wccftech recently participated in a Redfall preview event in London's Bethesda headquarters. You can check out my hands-on preview of the game here. After playing, I interviewed Arkane Austin veteran and Redfall creative director Harvey Smith, who revealed that there won't be any in-game store or microtransactions in the game. He also confirmed that Redfall is set to become the most supported title ever made by the studio after its debut.
We try to be very clear that there are no microtransactions and there is no store in the game. We're very proud of that. If you find a costume in the game, then you can have it, as simple as that. Other than that, Redfall will be our most supported game post-launch. We went with a server model, so we can update the game constantly. If we see a lot of people falling from ladders and dying, we can update the ladder code. If we see that nobody is playing this character, we can tweak this character and make them more appealing. We have plans for additional guns, costumes, monsters, characters, and more that we can't talk about right now. But we have a strong year of updates, and it's all either in the current game or it will be DLC. We try to do it as fairly as possible for people.
Fans had been worried about Redfall having microtransactions and/or an in-game store for cosmetics following a set of leaked images from a playtest in the second half of 2021. Those images clearly showed that an in-game shop was at some point included, but Arkane, Bethesda, and/or Microsoft have obviously since reconsidered.
Originally scheduled for Summer 2022, Redfall was delayed to the first half of 2023 alongside the big next IP of Bethesda Game Studios, Starfield. Both games now have their new release dates, with Redfall pinned for May 2nd and Starfield for September 6th. Both games will be exclusive to PC and Xbox Series S|X, as well as available on Game Pass from day one.
The post Redfall Has No In-Game Store or MTX, Will Be Arkane’s Most Supported Title by Alessio Palumbo appeared first on Wccftech.
Arkane Studios is quite the unique game developer in the triple-A development scene. They've been known to make critically acclaimed games in niche genres like immersive simulations and continue on this path even though the sales are perhaps not as high as they would like (and as the games would deserve, I might add).
With their next game, Redfall, the Austin-based Texan branch is once again dipping its toes into something new, even though the direction is certainly a popular one these days. This will be their first open world and their first co-op multiplayer game.
I had the chance to play the game for around ninety minutes earlier this month during a preview event hosted by Bethesda in London. Let's clarify something right away: there have been discussions on various forums and social media where Redfall was compared to games such as Left 4 Dead, Back 4 Blood, and the like.
While the preview session was limited to solo play and co-op play with three or four players will be more chaotic, as admitted by Harvey Smith himself during our one-on-one Q&A (the entire transcript of which is available below), I'm confident to say that Redfall is very different from those games. Whereas those co-op focused titles include AI bots and have only the skeleton of a narrative, Arkane's game played solo is very immersive and strongly based on taking in all of the storytelling that the developers have disseminated throughout the island, whether of the environmental or traditional kind.
Beyond this important distinction, while playing by myself, I could definitely see that the Arkane DNA is clear in this game, albeit with a few differences. First of all, the atmosphere is top-notch, and it's one of the reasons why I believe this game will be best enjoyed solo for the first playthrough. This may be one of the creepier games made by Arkane to date, particularly when played in a pitch-black room with headphones as we were set up in Bethesda's headquarters.
The vampires in Redfall are not the sexy, glamorous ones seen in Twilight and countless other adaptations of vampire lore in recent years. They're ugly, they're nasty, and they're terrifying in how they appear and disappear, not to mention the deranged whispers they make. Of course, that's not to say Redfall is a horror game, but it can have a bit of that vibe when you're sneaking through a dark mansion full of these vampires.
The game was at its best during the story mission which saw the player character entering the former house of The Hollow Man. From the looks of it, it was The Hollow Man's experiments that turned a few power-hungry humans into vampire demigods. The mission provided a lot of insight into his motivations and the tragic story of his family.
It also served as a good reminder that the developer's famed level design is largely retained even in this open world setting. There were many ways and paths to complete the missions, although the stealth options are a bit more limited in Redfall compared to Dishonored or Deathloop.
During the preview, we were also able to explore the world as we saw fit. Arkane wasn't kidding about Redfall being their biggest game yet, as the game seems to include a lot more content than any of their previous titles. There are several types of side content, such as vampire nests and safe house missions where you need to unlock the safe house and then secure it in a number of ways, in addition to just the random open world encounters.
There's also a system where if you kill too many vampires too quickly, an in-game notice reveals that the vampire gods are watching you, and an elite vampire could be sent on your heels. Those are pretty tough fights, especially as vampires cannot be simply finished off with normal rounds - you either need a special weapon or, after taking down their health, quickly drive a stake through their heart to avoid their regeneration.
When it comes to the gunplay, the game felt solid, though I missed the adaptive triggers featured in Arkane's previous game Deathloop, which made each weapon feel unique. That's an unfortunate downside of Bethesda's titles now being exclusive to Xbox, whose controller doesn't have any of those features.
For my character choice, I went with cryptozoologist Devinder Crousley, who comes with interesting tools like the Translocate device (kind of like Dishonored's Blink, albeit more clunky) and the incredibly useful Ultraviolet light that stuns and shatters petrified vampires. Also, I should mention that Redfall has RPG elements like character levels, full-fledged skill trees, and various rarities of loot.
The preview session took place on PC (the specs of which were not shared by Bethesda). The build didn't exactly shine on the optimization front, but there's no telling how old it was, so it's hard to imagine how the game will fare at launch. On PC, GeForce RTX 40 owners will be able to activate DLSS 3 at launch, though ray tracing won't be available until some time after the release.
As mentioned above, right after the preview session, I also spoke with Arkane Austin's Harvey Smith, the renowned game director and writer behind Deus Ex, Thief, Dishonored, Prey, and more. Smith, the creative director for Redfall, was all too happy to discuss the game at length.
This is a bit of a change for you in that you're going towards something new. Redfall is the first open world game and the first co-op game for Arkane. How does that feel, and why is it the right time to get into this?
Well, I would say we love those games as much as you do. We love the single player, we love the immersive sim, we love the approach of tools, not weapons. We love the sort of narrative-rich environment, explore and play the game creatively, and find a different path. All of that we love, and we tried to put all of that into this game. You can play it single player as much as you can play it co-op. As much time went into the single player as when into the coop. That said, I think in the future, we would go back to basics. Actually, the next thing I'll work on is likely to be a single player immersive sim. But for this, we had just worked on Dishonored games for eight years straight, worked on Dishonored, the Knife of Dunwall and Brigmore Witches DLCs, Dishonored 2, and Death of the Outsider. It's eight years in the same fiction, the same setting. After a while your brain just goes like 'I need something else' you know.
Ricardo (Bare, the co-director of Redfall) and I always talked about open world and how would the Arkane values work with open world design. Would they work well? Would it be a struggle? Would it be too much work? If I had a whiteboard, I would draw it. If you imagine a Dishonored level, you start here, you go to the end of the street. There's an encounter. You can go this way, Granny Rags is throwing some stuff out of an apartment, you can explore, talk to her, you can go down here, you can get on the rooftop. That's like eight points that you have to build stuff for a path, an encounter, environmental story-telling, but all the space around the city around it you don't have to do. As soon as you go open world like that, instead of eight points, it becomes 50 points, and it's a lot of work.
We tried to do that across Redfall and it was indeed a lot of work. But we needed a change, we needed to take the immersive and stretch it in some way. Dishonored goes deep on stealth; Prey goes deep on physics. Deathloop tries an interesting multiplayer mode and has a repeat time loop. Mooncrash has a repeat time loop. We're always taking this formula and doing something different to it.
With Redfall, the idea was: what if we drop it into an open world? And then what if we add multiplayer? As we said, you can play single player and I think the experience is close to the one you love. You can play with one other person and it's still close to that, like you and a friend, playing carefully, being stealthy, exploring, staying together, talking, it's a pretty good experience. With three or four people, it's a different experience, it's fast, and it's loud. Some people love that. They love to co-op together through Borderlands or whatever. Redfall is not exactly like that. It's story-based, it's got missions. You saw the campaign missions. But I think, more than anything, it was about keeping your creativity fresh and going.
You've mentioned stealth, which was of course a big part of Dishonored, but I think you could also sneak up on people in Prey. I didn't see any of that in the Redfall preview session. Can you sneak up on people and stab them in this game?
You can sneak up on them and attack them, but we don't have the synced assassination, so stealth is still a matter of you getting by encounters without fighting them, as long as they don't hear you or see you, and whether you have a silencer on your gun matters. Some people play through the whole game, only hitting the points where they really have to fight. But stealth is less of a focus in Redfall, for sure.
Can you lure enemies in some ways?
If you set off an alarm or you fire a shot, you can often get enemies to come into an area. There's also powers, like Bribón (Remi's robot) has a power where he draws all the enemies to him. But yeah, you can't throw a rock or whatever. That's the way in which it's stealth-lite. Redfall is not a full stealth game, for sure, because you're missing some of the stealth tools basically.
You could, though, lure the enemies near environmental hazards and blow them up at the right time.
Yes, and wait for their patrol to get near the hazard and blow it up. All of those things work. And avoiding conflict is fine. You can sneak past people. Perhaps you see a group of Bellwether guys, you know it's going to be a hard fight and your health is low, so you just slip past them. You wait till the guy turns the other way, and you go past.
Was there any version of Redfall where you had support for AI bots when playing solo?
From minute one, we knew that was not the focus because we wanted to make the single player game as important as the co-op version, and so as soon as you have the AI bots with you, it doesn't feel the same. It would feel like Left for Dead, which is a great game. I love it, but for single player, you really want to be alone.
Absolutely, but when you do have other players with you in the match, can they heal you? Are there any powers to heal other players?
You can help each other when downed. If you're downed I can rescue you, pull you up. And then some characters have the power, like Remy has a power called Rally - I think it's called Rally - where it spreads out in a big circle and everybody inside the circle heals. You can heal each other and then some people have powers like add it to your blood remnant, where if you stake a vampire, all your allies within 15 feet heal a little bit. We have things like that scattered through where you going to aid each other.
Usually, these co-op games designed for three or four players focus a lot on boss fights. Is that also a focus for Redfall, or perhaps not as much?
We have four boss fights in the game, but it's not the focus. It's not our style really, but they are very useful for chapter breaks. Like you've reached the end of the Hollow Man, so you got to fight the Hollow Man and move on. The real focus of the gameplay is wandering the open world. Yeah, we'll do that, we'll do boss fights.
I checked out a vampire nest, but there seemed to be no boss there.
That was the tutorial nest. Vampire nests have different mutators, so sometimes it's a dark nest, sometimes it's a nest on fire, and sometimes it's a nest where everybody's awake. There's different variations of nests, but there are no bosses inside.
You mentioned procedural content. Is that just for vampire nests, or also in the open world?
In the open world, the encounters you have along the way are procedural, so those would be different every time. If you saw a group of guys set up where somebody's got the bullhorn and goes 'Everybody listen!', that may not be there the next time. A group of people standing around a fire barrel with a checkpoint, that may not be there the next time, and so enemy placements, nests, but also how powerful the enemies are, because sometimes you roll the dice and you get an elite. So this vampire has a shield around it. Some of the cultist NPCs, the elites, have traits. Sometimes a cultist will have a trait called favored where if you kill this cultist, a vampire will teleport in and be like 'This was my favorite human and I'm going to fight you now'. Each human or vampire can have a trait if they're elite. And so that's dynamic. Also, the loot that you find is dynamic, it's procedural as well. But the vignettes are the main thing I would think you would notice. Like you walk down a street and one time there's a fire and some guys are warming their hands around it. The next time there's nothing there, the next time people have built a structure, and they're standing on top of it yelling. The next time, maybe someone built a little shrine and the vampires are all dormant. They're floating inside of it, resting, so each time you play there is something different like that.
Redfall also includes a day/night cycle. Do the enemies differ depending on the time of day?
Yeah. Vampires are usually dormant during the day, even though there is an eclipsed Sun so they don't blow up or burn up, but they're dormant more often. At night there's different configurations.
If you sneak up on a dormant vampire, do you deal more damage?
Yes, any enemy you attack who's unaware takes more damage. That's why often if you move up behind them, you can just kill them outright. You can also upgrade those powers to be more effective against unaware enemies.
Does Redfall have character levels?
Yes, definitely. That's one of the reasons why you're always looking for a good gun, because you can always outlevel your gun and you then want to find a good gun that's of your same level.
Is there a level cap?
Yes, it's level 40. If you do one playthrough, you'll probably get to level 12 or 15, which means you won't have all the powers.
How long do you reckon it'll take to finish the game?
It depends so widely. You may be able to finish Redfall in 20 hours if you race through, but for lots of people, it's going to take more than that, especially if you do Safe Houses, Nests, exploring the whole world. There's also this whole system called Grave Locks that allows you to upgrade some of your powers. I think the completionists will be happy. And then, of course, you could want to swap characters.
What you saw today was district one, Redfall Commons. It's a pretty big space, but there's actually two districts in the game. When you finish the first district, you transition to the second, Burial Point, which is another huge space. The first one is more urban, with tourist boats and the like, while the second is more rural, with farms, barns, and things like that.
What are your plans after the launch?
We try to be very clear that there are no microtransactions and there is no store in the game. If you find a costume in the game, then you can have it, as simple as that. Other than that, Redfall will be our most supported game post-launch. We went with a server model, so we can update the game constantly. If we see a lot of people falling from ladders and dying, we can update the ladder code. If we see that nobody is playing this character, we can tweak this character and make them more appealing. We have plans for additional guns, costumes, monsters, characters, and more that we can't talk about right now. But we have a strong year of updates, and it's all either in the current game or it will be DLC. We try to do it as fairly as possible for people.
Redfall runs on Unreal Engine instead of Arkane's Void Engine, right?
Indeed. We're using Unreal Engine 4. Halfway through the project, Epic came up with Unreal Engine 5, but the game is based on Unreal Engine 4.26. If we had more time, we would have probably gone with UE5, but it was a lot of work just upgrading to 4.26.
Thank you for your time.
The post Redfall Hands-on & Q&A – Harvey Smith Talks Length, Open World Challenges, and Differences with Previous Games by Alessio Palumbo appeared first on Wccftech.
Remember when Arkane said their co-op vampire 'em up Redfall is more akin to Far Cry than Left 4 Dead? I do! I remember a chill ran down my spine as I cast my mind back to Far Cry 6, where the tutorial island itself was longer than anything else I'd played that year. I was scared Redfall might succumb to a similar fate. I imagined it filling my head with map markers until my head swelled, popped like a balloon, and dropped grey rarity brain matter.
Well, having given Redfall a go for 90 minutes I was, perhaps, being a bit dramatic. The game may be open world, and may have some slightly jarring open world-isms, but I felt like Arkane's magic wasn't diluted by it all. Their talent for storytelling and level design bubbled to the surface constantly, making exploration a genuine joy. Sure, I have some reservations, but I can't deny that I'm itching to play it again.
