FazzNoth

Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: Super Name of the game: Street Fighter 6 Link video: Rate this video 1-10:-

Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion continues Square Enix’s trend of creating mind-meltingly long and stupid titles for their remakes, remasters and reimaginings of all things Final Fantasy VII, with this title being the second of the three. A remaster of the 2007 (2008 outside of Japan) PlayStation Portable game, what I’ll from now on refer to as Crisis Core Reunion aims to create a solid, modern version of the game for every platform under the sun, no doubt due to Final Fantasy VII’s increased relevance thanks to Square Enix’s ongoing remake series of the title. By that metric, the company certainly succeeded. Crisis Core Reunion takes what used to be confined to the old, unpo[CENSORED]r handheld device and not only ports it to every platform you could hope for, but also updates the graphics considerably from their original grainy aspect ratio. Assuredly a remaster and not a remake, there are no major (or even minor, from what I can tell) changes to the game’s script or scenarios, unlike 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, which essentially creates a new timeline for the series to follow. As I never owned a PSP and I’m a new fan of Final Fantasy VII thanks to the remake, I never experienced Crisis Core when it originally came out. As such, I’m judging a portable game from 2007 by the standards of playing a console game in 2022. Given the circumstances, Crisis Core Reunion stands on its own pretty well. But judged by its own merits in the present day, the game fares less favorably. The game stars Zack Fair (Caleb Pierce), a young and overly energetic member of the nefarious Shinra’s SOLDIER program, where the strongest members of the company do its bidding. Although Shinra is definitely led by Bad Guys, the blame is shielded from Zack as he just tries to do his best without knowing the shady stuff his bosses are up to. There are two parts of Crisis Core’s story. The first part is the stuff with the cast of Final Fantasy VII, including Zack hanging out and completing missions with Aerith (Briana White), Cloud (Cody Christian) and a pre-evil Sephiroth (Tyler Hoechlin), among others. Although “completing missions” with Aerith means doing a long quest in order to build the dinkiest little flower wagon whereas with Cloud, Sephiroth and the gang it means fighting enemies, it’s all mostly interesting stuff that builds out these beloved characters’ backstories and motivations prior to the events of Final Fantasy VII. The second part, which takes up a larger percentage of the game than I’d have liked, deals with characters that seem new to me, especially the game’s main antagonists, Angeal (Bill Millsap) and Genesis (Shaun Conde). Both sprout single giant wings out of their backs, which of course means they’re evil now and they have to fight Zack and the rest of Shinra (even though Shinra is also evil… look, it’s confusing). I feel like some of this story might have made more sense had I played through the original Final Fantasy VII, but as is, there was a lot of stuff that just flew right over my head and devolved into a lot of nonsense. The gameplay is comparatively simple, feeling a lot like the combat from Final Fantasy VII Remake even though Crisis Core obviously came first. There isn’t the cool mechanic from the remake where you can stop time to choose from a series of moves, but you’re still able to attack and dodge in real time while choosing from various spells and special moves you can upgrade and swap out with materia as time goes on. It didn’t blow me away, but combat was mostly unchallenging yet engaging throughout, aside from one point where I had to grind out a few side quest missions to progress. I call it grinding because that’s really what the side quests feel like. There’s little to no story to contextualize why you’re doing what you’re doing. You just fight a bunch of enemies in a separate liminal space until they’re all gone. There are a lot of these quests, but they’re all optional and aside from that one point, I never felt underleveled from not doing them. I was also let down by the game’s ending, which I had heard from many was the best part of the game. After heading in one direction for hours, the game’s final few minutes shifts somewhere entirely different. I won’t spoil what happens, but it’s almost entirely cutscenes and seems like an abrupt ending that didn’t hit me emotionally in the way I think it was intended to. Overall, I enjoyed Crisis Core Reunion’s 10-ish-hour story well enough, and I’m grateful to know more about Zack before his anticipated reappearance in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Unfortunately, the game’s age shows, with the random encounters and constricted corridors designed for a handheld released in 2004 not holding up as well on modern platforms in 2022. Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion was developed by Tose and Square Enix and published by Square Enix. Our review is based on the PlayStation 5 version. It is also available for the Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/crisis-core-final-fantasy-vii-reunion-review/

I think there’s little I can say about 2018’s Spider-Man game that hasn’t been said already. One of my favorite PS4 exclusives, it was the one game that did the impossible, removing the old Spider-Man 2 game from the mid-2000s from the throne of “best superhero game of all time”. A “spin-off-quel” of sorts, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, came out two years later, as a launch title for the PS5. I… did not play it at the time. I was being consumed by the twin threat that was playing Demon’s Souls and Cyberpunk 2077 pretty much at the same time, so I had to ignore Miles Morales for a while. With its brand new PC release, and the fact Sony’s Steam releases have been pretty good as of late, I now have the perfect chance to find out what I’ve been missing. Let’s swing into the action.My biggest worry before playing Miles Morales proper, was that fear I was going to play what was essentially a standalone DLC, with very little substance when compared to its big brother. Being short and unmemorable, all while being sold at a near-AAA price. Also, was I really going to go through an origin story when the 2018 original itself skipped that tried and true “with great power blablabla” nonsense we’re all tired of hearing? Neither of these concerns were warranted, however. I definitely should not doubt Insomniac’s ability to deliver great experiences at a fraction of the development time required by other studios. Miles Morales, as you all know by now, is its own thing. It deserves to be held in the same regard as the 2018 Spider-Man game, despite its shorter length, and it’s a phenomenal game as a whole. There are tons of elements in Miles Morales that make this game stand out, but first and foremost, we need to talk about its plot. This is the main reason I fell for the game so quickly. I’m not saying the plot from the 2018 Spider-Man game wasn’t good (it was AMAZING, pardon the pun), but Miles Morales hits differently. It knows the titular hero isn’t as mature or ready to tackle cosmic beings, world-destroying menaces, and the like. The game threw some big baddies at me, with a sizeable threat, but it also managed to make the overarching plot really personal, down-to-earth, and relatable. Miles doesn’t know that many people, he is still fresh as a Spider-Man (although he has received training), he is trying to become a superhero as cool and important as Peter Parker himself. Speaking of… Peter is mostly absent from the game as a whole. He shows up in the very beginning of the game, as the mentor to Miles, and from then on mostly via phone conversations, as he is on vacation. Yes, it sounds a bit bizarre, a bit lame, but it works for the whole “my mentor is gone so I need to mature by myself” vibe of the plot. Also, the less I have to see this ultra-childish Peter Parker face, the better. It just doesn’t look anywhere near as acceptable from the 2018 game, save for the character’s voice. Every other character looks great in cutscenes, Pete is the only one who decided to reside in the deepest marshes of the uncanny valley. Thank goodness for mods. But graphically, Miles Morales is clearly superior to its 2018 counterpart, not only because it features an option for ray-tracing (I never even bothered using it), but because it just looks much better in general… while running at double the framerate. It allows for much smoother gameplay, especially when it comes to swinging around an icy cold Manhattan with your webs. Not only that, but the four year interim between the original Spider-Man game and the PC version of Miles Morales made me finally get 100% used to the web swinging traversal system, making going from A to B one hell of a fun breeze. The same can be said about the camera. Either I got used to it or Insomniac tweaked it a bit. Whatever the case, it feels better than before. One thing I loved from Spider-Man: Miles Morales is that Insomniac did its best to make Miles feel more than just a skin swap of Peter Parker. Not only does he move around town in a more joyful, “I still haven’t lost my innocence” kind of way, but his combat moveset is more varied than Pete’s, all due to his comic book superpowers being featured in the game. For the uninitiated, or those who have sinfully not watched Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (seriously, go watch that right freaking now), Miles has a few extra superpowers when compared to Peter Parker. He can control electricity, meaning that he can throw electric webs at circuits to solve puzzles, perform area of effect bursts of energy, and stun brutes with a massive Venom Punch. Furthermore, he has cloaking skills, making stealth sections even more fun, if not a cakewalk. I loved these new abilities and gadgets, but I have to say I still don’t like how Insomniac wants me to perform three button combinations for some of these skills. Being a much shorter game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales needed to add some extra features to make its overall package feel less like a standalone DLC and more like the actual game it is. It all boils down to the Friendly Neighbor app, which throws a few scripted (and well-animated) tasks at you, with better writing and payoffs than the side activities from the 2018 game. Those are still here as well, but in less numbers. It’s less about quantity, more about quality in this case, and I’m more than okay with this approach.I have no major complaints about Spider-Man: Miles Morales. If anything, I have just minor nitpicks or the feeling that, maybe, the 2018 game did something better than this one. That would mostly center around the voice acting, which is good, let me be clear, but not as good as the previous game. Nadji Jeter does a good job as Miles himself, but he doesn’t come anywhere near as Yuri Lowenthal’s now-iconic role as Peter. Then again, it’s just a minor gripe. Even if I didn’t like the voice acting that much, I did like the soundtrack, be it the score comprised of orchestral tunes mixed with trap beats, or the half a dozen licensed songs included in the mix, such as Gente de Zona’s “La Gozadera“.A likeable protagonist, new abilities and a personal, down-to-earth story made up for the fact Spider-Man: Miles Morales is shorter than its 2018 predecessor. It’s a game with enough qualities to stand on its own, one that proves that Miles isn’t just some fluke character being pushed by Marvel over the past few years. Not only that, but this PC port is the real deal, with some pretty good optimization and performance. Whether you play this on a PC or PS5, you’ll have a blast. Though I may now think this version is slightly better than its console counterpart just for the fact you change Peter’s face to the 2018 one with a mod… https://www.google.com/amp/s/waytoomany.games/2022/12/26/review-spider-man-miles-morales-pc/amp/

The leader of conservative advocacy group Empower Mississippi is launching a new nonprofit news organization in 2023 and will absorb the assets and work of conservative blog Y’all Politics. Russ Latino, president of Empower, wrote in a Dec. 27 email to his friends and family that he will launch a new venture, called Magnolia Tribune, which was founded in response to “a significant gap in the current (media) marketplace.” “Mississippi has a positive story to tell. We will tell it,” Latino wrote. “Faith in traditional media has been undermined by blatant bias and often by careless reporting of complex issues. We will work to restore trust.” Leaders of the new organization have been developing the concept for months, pitching it to their allies across the political spectrum and in nonprofit circles since the fall. Latino, an attorney who previously worked for the Koch Brothers-funded conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, has never worked in professional journalism. Latino has long served as a conservative voice at the Capitol and in Jackson. He has advocated for conservative causes at numerous press conferences at the Capitol over the years. In 2021, he was selected by Republican legislative leaders to testify at a hearing in favor of eliminating the individual income tax. He has also served as a fill-in host on SuperTalk Radio, a conservative network that broadcasts across the state. On a webpage soliciting donations for the news outlet, Latino writes that Magnolia Tribune will be a “non-profit, non-partisan newsroom.” In his Tuesday email to colleagues, he writes that “our commentary will often appeal to conservatives.” Latino did not clarify in his email whether the newsroom will be a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit under IRS guidelines, which bar partisanship. “The concept is to be an in-state Wall Street Journal, with reliable straight news, unique business and culture coverage, and thoughtful perspective,” Latino wrote to his friends on Tuesday. “Our goal will be to balance the media ecosystem to ensure that all points of view are heard. While our commentary will often appeal to conservatives, we will not shy from providing a platform for divergent viewpoints. We believe that people benefit from hearing the whole story and being able to make their own decisions with good information.” The new outfit will absorb the assets and work of Y’all Politics, a political blog founded in 2004 by Alan Lange. Lange has boasted his cozy relationships with Republican elected officials, long amplifying their perspectives and even attacking traditional media in the state seen as too critical of his colleagues. Y’all Politics employs a small staff of reporters who closely cover legislative sessions and major statewide political interest stories. Y’all Politics, Latino wrote on Tuesday, will cease operation in January 2023. While Y’all Politics staff will reportedly move over to the new organization, Lange has told people he’s close with that he will not be directly involved with Magnolia Tribune. Empower Mississippi, which Latino said on Tuesday he will leave, actively lobbies lawmakers at the state Capitol for conservative causes and champions specific legislation. In recent years, Empower has pushed for increased funding for charter schools and other “school choice” initiatives, tax reforms like eliminating the individual income tax, and criminal justice reforms. Latino said he is raising money for Magnolia Tribune and will build the team “over the next several months and beyond.” “The news media serves a vital function in a thriving democracy,” Latino wrote on the fundraiser page. “When healthy, it informs citizens, presents a robust marketplace of diverse ideas, and holds leaders accountable. Unfortunately, upheaval in the media landscape has resulted in news that is often agenda-driven, intentionally negative, and hostile to alternate viewpoints. Mississippi is not immune from this trend. It doesn’t have to be this way, though.” https://mississippitoday.org/2022/12/27/mississippi-conservative-news-outlet/

The Paws Animal Hospital recently relocated to a new facility in York County. Founded back in 2010 by Dr. Jessica Friedland, Paws Animal Hospital was originally located on 1053 Baltimore St. in York. According to Paws Animal Hospital’s office manager Jessi Ortner, after years of leasing this previous location, the hospital decided it was time to buy a home of their own. Humane PA hosts ’12 Days of Adoptions’ Paws Animal Hospital is now located at 1263 Hoff Rd. in York. According to Ortner, this facility was previously utilized as a dog kennel. After purchasing this new space approximately one year ago, it took about 4-6 months of internal renovations in order to transform the new space into the animal hospital that it is today. According to their website, Paws Animal Hospital offers an abundance of animal care services, such as: Wellness Exams Vaccinations Emergencies Bloodwork Radiographs Surgery Reproductive Services In addition to these common veterinary services, Paws Animal Hospital also offers a unique service that they refer to as ‘Paws in Balance’. According to their website, ‘Paws in Balance’ is the practice of animal acupuncture, which can have many positive physiological effects for animals, such as pain relief, promoting tissue healing, anti-inflammatory effects, and much more. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.abc27.com/local-news/animal-hospital-in-york-county-relocates-to-new-facility/amp/

China will scrap quarantine for travellers from 8 January, officials said, marking the last major shift from the country's zero-Covid policy. After almost three years of closed borders, this will reopen the country to those with work and study visas, or seeking to visit family. Travel overseas for Chinese citizens will become easier, the immigration authority said on Tuesday. Covid has spread ferociously in the wake of restrictions being lifted. Reports say hospitals are overwhelmed and elderly people are dying. The true toll - daily case counts and deaths - is currently unknown because officials have stopped releasing Covid data. Beijing had reported about 4,000 new Covid infections each day last week and few deaths. On Sunday it said it would stop publishing case numbers altogether. But British health data firm Airfinity estimated China was experiencing more than a million infections and 5,000 deaths a day. China is the last major economy in the world to move to "living with Covid" after three years of lockdowns, closed borders and mandatory quarantine for Covid cases and contacts. The so-called zero-Covid approach battered the economy and made citizens weary of restrictions and repeated tests. Resentment against the policy exploded into rare public protests against President Xi Jinping in November, which was followed by authorities dropping Covid rules just a few weeks later. Closed borders remain the last major restriction. Since March 2020, anyone entering China had to undergo mandatory quarantine at a state facility - for up to three weeks at a time. That was recently reduced to five days. But on Monday the National Health Commission announced that Covid would be formally downgraded to a Class B infectious disease on 8 January. That meant quarantine would be axed - although incoming travellers will still need to take a PCR test. A cap on the daily number of flights allowed into China would also be scrapped. Authorities said they would also "optimise" visa arrangements for foreigners wishing to come to China for work and study, as well as family visits and reunions. It's unclear if that includes tourist visas, but officials said a pilot programme would begin for international cruise ships. Chinese citizens wishing to apply for passports to travel abroad will also be able to do so from 8 January, the immigration authority announced on Tuesday. Prior to the pandemic, the number of outbound tourists from China stood at 155 million in 2019, according to Statista. This number dropped to 20 million in 2020. The new rules have been welcomed by many Chinese who will now be able to travel overseas again. The country's top online travel agencies reported a spike in traffic within hours of the announcement. Many people will be hoping to visit family and loved ones during Chinese New Year, which begins on 22 January. But many have also expressed anger over the sudden freedom after years of controls. "I'm happy about it but also speechless. If we're doing this [reopening] anyway - why did I have to suffer all the daily Covid tests and lockdowns this year?" said Rachel Liu, who lives in Shanghai. She said she had endured three months of lockdown in April, but nearly everyone in her family had become infected with the virus in recent weeks. She said her parents, grandparents and partner - living across three different cities in Xi'an, Shanghai and Hangzhou - had all come down with fever last week. Many have also expressed concern online about borders reopening as Covid cases peak in China. "Why can't we wait until this wave passes to open up? The medical workers are already worn out, and old people won't survive two infections in one month," read one top-liked comment on Weibo. People in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, which experience chilly temperatures in the winter, say they're running out of flu and cold medicine. It's feared that hundreds of deaths may be going unreported as crematoriums are overwhelmed. In the capital, Beijing, authorities say they are planning to distribute the Pfizer tablets, Paxlovid, in order to try and reduce the severity of infections and ease the pressure on hospitals. But health centres contacted by The Global Times on Monday said the drug had yet to be delivered. On Monday, President Xi issued his first remarks on the changes, calling on officials to do what was "feasible" to save lives. State media quoted him saying the country faced a new situation with pandemic control, and needed a more targeted response. China's about-turn on how it manages the pandemic has put Mr Xi in a tough spot. He was the driving force behind zero-Covid, which many blamed for restricting people's lives excessively and crippling the economy. But having abandoned it, analysts say he now has to take responsibility for the huge wave of infections and hospital admissions. Many have questioned why the country was not better prepared. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64097497.amp

Request Rejected. I have not seen more activity and interest from you, since your request was pending. Come back in 1 week with another request and activity as well.

Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: Techno Gamerz Name of the game: Choo-Choo Charles Link video: Rate this video 1-10:-

As the first of the four large “Holy Grail” states to expand into mobile sports wagering, there was plenty of pressure on operators and bettors in New York a year ago to meet expectations once it became clear that then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo would legalize it — even if it would not be his preferred state-run monopoly via lottery. The application process settled upon by the New York State Gaming Commission made for strange bedfellows. One group approved had three of the industry’s heaviest hitters in FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM, with Bally Bet rounding out the quartet. The other, which had multiple parties aligned under the Kambi betting platform, included Caesars Sportsbook, BetRivers, PointsBet, WynnBET, and Resorts World. Bet365 was left at the altar having met the technical standards, but not doing enough to grow overall tax revenue for New York. PENN Entertainment, which runs Barstool Sportsbook, was left on the outside looking in. So was rapper and mogul Jay-Z, who aligned himself with Fanatics as part of a second application submitted by Kambi. When nine approved operators were announced in November, the other ground-shaking part of it was the tax rate — all FIFTY-ONE PERCENT of it, an unprecedented figure for a competitive market in the still relatively nascent U.S. sports wagering betting space. New York would have the nation’s highest tax rate on operator revenue by a wide margin, with Pennsylvania a distant second at 36%. Yet for all the grumbling from operators about the high tax rate, they willingly paid the price of admission to take their chances on the biggest market to date opening to them. Fast forward almost 12 months later, and there have been a few clear winners as New York has rewritten the post-PASPA record book when it comes to monthly handle, operator revenue, and tax revenue. January: The emperor throws down gauntlet There is something wonderful about launch month in a new market with various offers of risk-free bets, matching deposits, and other assorted giveaways as operators hope to land loyal customers and market share. Caesars opted for maximum chaos in the Empire State with an astonishing promotion of a $300 free bet in addition to matching a customer’s initial deposit up to $3,000. It was an unprecedented launch offer, one that CEO Tom Reeg had hinted in 2021 would be needed given the rebrand from William Hill. Caesars got its short-term and long-term rewards, aided by the most exciting NFL postseason in recent memory. It snared more than 40% of the market share for handle in the first three weeks of live wagering in New York and totaled $487.4 million in the process. That lead was not sustainable, given the database depth of customers that FanDuel and DraftKings had amassed through daily fantasy play, but the effects of Caesars’ promotion remain visible. It is a strong No. 3 for handle in New York’s weekly reports and generated more than $2.6 billion handle through mid-December. New York’s mobile debut was a smash hit in all key metrics, as the state grabbed the “triple crown” of monthly national records for handle, operator revenue, and state tax receipts. New York has recorded eight of the top 10 monthly handles in the post-PASPA era. https://sportshandle.com/2022-in-review-new-york-mobile-sports-betting/

Platform: PC Publisher: Malte Glade Developer: Malte Glade Medium: Digital Players: 1 Online: No ESRB: Not rated I don’t want to reduce a game to a single screenshot, but pretty much everything you could possibly want to know about Valkie 64 can be summed up with this: Not only is the game heavily indebted to the N64 era of gaming, it’s particularly indebted to N64-era Zelda. You obviously have a female protagonist instead of a male one, but beyond that, everything here – from the blocking graphics to the sword-based combat to the fact there are gems hidden in most of the objects you break – comes straight out of the late’-90s. I mean, you could probably have guessed the same from the game’s name, but the screenshot captures it even more perfectly.Of course, the big difference between the two is that I don’t think people will be remembering Valkie 64 25 years from now with the same sort of reverence they currently hold for Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. This is because Valkie 64 doesn’t have much of an identity of its own. It wears its influences proudly, as we’ve established, and it’s enjoyable enough if you don’t expect anything more from it than simply being an homage to N64 Zelda, but beyond that? It’s tolerable, but nothing more. And honestly, even tolerating it will require making some concessions towards quality. The combat is your basic hack-and-slash: you have a sword, and you can use it to parry attacks, but generally speaking you’ll just be running at every enemy you come across and hitting it. To be fair, both the hacking and the running are better following a recent update, but they’re still nothing to write home about. The same goes for everything else here, too. The music is repetitive piano tinkling that, again, wouldn’t have been out of place in an N64 game, but it also wouldn’t be remembered today. The world, too, looks exactly like you’d imagine an N64 game would look, but there’s nothing about it that makes it stand out. Which is a perfect way to describe Valkie 64. It’s neat to see someone capture the feel of a bygone generation as well as this game does, but absent any real identity of its own, it’s hard to see why you’d play this instead of going back and replaying the originals. https://www.google.com/amp/s/gaming-age.com/2022/12/valkie-64-review-for-pc/

Stocks closed higher Friday, capping off a rough week of trading, after November inflation data showed signs of a moderation in prices that are still historically high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 177 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.2% higher. For the week, the Dow gained 0.9%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq closed 1.9% lower. Core PCE climbed 4.7% in November from a year ago, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in line with economists’ expectations. Core PCE climbed 5% in October. Personal income increased 0.4% and personal consumption expenditures, or spending, climbed 0.1% month over month. Both of those increases were lower than the previous month's climbs. “The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation continues to go down, which is good news for their most important objective, but unfortunately for the market, it is happening at the same time as consumers continue to reduce their spending,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance, wrote Friday. Investors also looked at consumer sentiment data Friday. According to results from the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers, the consumer sentiment index rose to 59.7 this month, which was higher than economists were expecting. “Sentiment remains relatively downbeat at 15% below a year ago, but consumers’ extremely negative attitudes have softened this month on the basis of easing pressures from inflation,” Joanne Hsu, director of surveys at the University of Michigan, said in the news release. Economic data were a major focus of investors throughout the week, who are looking to see signs of cooling inflation and what the likelihood of a recession will be. “We were reminded, yet again, that this isn't a normal holiday season,” Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL financial, wrote about the markets this week. “A clutch of solid economic data including a surprisingly solid GDP report, lower than expected continuing claims, and personal consumption data that suggests a still resilient consumer, coupled with higher expectations, had the market veer instantly into the ‘good news is bad news’ scenario.” The Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation that hit 40-year highs earlier this year and concerns those efforts will push the U.S. into a recession have weighed on the market in 2022. They also have weighed on trading in December and have reduced hopes for a so-called Santa Claus rally. “The Santa rally looks to be short-lived across the pond as U.S. stocks came under pressure from renewed interest rate fears,” said Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown in the U.K. Third-quarter U.S. GDP growth that was revised higher “wasn’t expected and led many investors to fear interest rate hikes would continue for longer in the absence of any real data to suggest the US economy is in distress.” According to the CME FedWatch tool, about 66% of trades expect the next interest-rate hike to be 0.25-point. https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-122322/card/stock-futures-mostly-higher-ahead-of-inflation-data-VbyclnycmsBTEvdxReyi

Every day we are inundated on social media with feel-good dog and cat videos that warm our hearts and make us smile. The temptation is certainly there to try and spread that same kind of joy in real life toward family and friends in the name of the Christmas spirit. But gifting someone a surprise pet is a bad idea and not recommended by animal welfare advocates. The responsibility of caring for a living, breathing animal is a huge commitment that may not be welcome by many on your Christmas list. A warm little puppy with loving eyes or a tiny purring kitten can be hard to resist, but that phase of life is short-lived. Animal lovers remind people that a pet can be a serious commitment of up to 20 years, and with that comes the cost of food and medical expenses that can be prohibitive for some And don’t forget about time. It takes a lot of precious time to cater to the needs of a pet, with walking a dog, and the time that needs to be set aside for the love and attention that animals require for stable mental health. Thrusting these responsibilities onto someone else would certainly strain relationships and should be well thought out ahead of time, and in tandem with the person you are gifting to. It should never be an impulse buy. When the honeymoon period of the gift of a pet wears off, many times these poor unwanted animals end up in a shelter, or in rare, documented cases, abandoned outside to face a terrible fate. Of course, there are times when it is properly thought out and planned ahead of time, a pet can make a great gift for your own family household when there is an agreement, and you are ready for the responsibility of caring for a furry new family member. It is also wise to think about where the pet comes from. Reputable and well-established breeders are recommended, while pet stores and small-time “backyard breeders” should be avoided. The best choice of all is to open your home to the less fortunate in the pet world. The Ontario SPCA has a seasonal program called iAdopt for the Holidays, which aims to help find loving homes for many of their animals in need. Erin Belsher, who's the community development coordinator with the Barrie Animal Centre, says pets do not make good surprise gifts. She recommends that the decision be made together as a family. “Gifting is not the right way to go about it,” says Belsher. “Coming in together as a family and spending the time completing our science-based, meet-your-match quiz to see what kind of animal suits your lifestyle, and meeting the animals and making sure it’s a good fit. It should be a whole-family decision.” https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/pets-as-christmas-gifts-not-the-right-way-to-go-about-it-6277135

China's National Health Commission will no longer release daily Covid-19 figures from today, Sunday, the NHC said in an official statement. The commission published such data for the past three years in the country, according to the news agency Reuters. "Relevant Covid information will be published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention for reference and research," the statement read. The NHC has not specified any reasons for the change or how frequently China CDC will update Covid-19 information. In China, intensive care units are turning away ambulances, relatives of sick people are searching for beds, and patients are slumped on benches in hospital corridors and lying on floors for a lack of beds. AP journalists visited five hospitals and two crematoriums in towns and small cities in Baoding and Langfang prefectures, in central Hebei province over two days as Covid spreads across these areas. The area was the epicentre of one of China's first outbreaks after the state loosened Covid-19 controls in November and December. For weeks, the region went quiet, as people fell ill and stayed home. Experts have forecast between a million and 2 million deaths in China next year, and the World Health Organisation warned that Beijing's way of counting would “underestimate the true death toll." According to radio Free Asia citing leaked government documents circulating on social media, almost 250 million people in China may have been affected by Covid-19 in just 20 days after the 'zero-covid policy' was diluted in the first week of the month. As per Radio Free Asia, the data on covid cases released by government officials on December 20 is different from the reality as nearly 37 million were estimated. A senior Chinese journalist told Radio Free Asia on Thursday that the document was genuine, and had been leaked by someone who attended the meeting who was acting deliberately and in the public interests. The report came at the time when British-based health data firm Airfinity, said that the infections in China are likely to be more than one million a day with deaths at more than 5,000 a day. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemint.com/v/s/www.livemint.com/news/world/china-no-daily-covid-data-from-today-says-nhc-amid-doubts-over-actual-figures/amp-11671936381484.html%3famp_js_v=0.1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#ampf=

Happy Birthday @Ral23 Best wishes to you & God bless you! 🥳🥳

Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: Techno Gamerz Name of the game: Hello Neighbor 2 Link video: Rate this video 1-10:-

Seven years since its first release, the new The Witcher 3 Complete Edition aims to enhance an already iconic game with a huge suite of extras. On PS5, Xbox Series X, S and PC, it's a free update listed as patch 4.0. Visuals are enhanced, quality of life improvements are added, plus we get extras to tie into the Netflix TV show. This much we already knew from our preview after a visit to CD Projekt RED's offices - but now it's time to put the console code to test across all of our established test areas. We'll be kicking off with Series X and PS5 analysis, covering off performance and RT modes, with the non-RT Series S version to follow. First impressions? Neither mode on either console is the finished article, but right now, we'd recommend the performance mode on both flagship consoles. The original release looked good, but the next-gen patch - the Complete Edition - does indeed benefit from enormous improvements. A bulk of the textures and models are reworked, with CDPR contracting PC modder Halk Hogan - who produced the HD Reworked Project mod - to incorporate new, updated assets into the official release. Foliage is improved too, filling out the landscape with more plant life. There are smaller touches as well, like brand-new skyboxes, weather states and lens effects, adding variety as Geralt travels the world. Performance and RT modes on both Series X and PlayStation 5 have an established visual set-up in terms of the core artwork and engine 'settings', the differences coming down to native resolutions and the optional inclusion of ray tracing features. Pitting PS5 against Series X in their RT modes first, each targets a native 1440p, reconstructed to 4K using FSR 2.1, with dynamic resolution scaling taking the pixel count down to 1080p at its lowest. A bulk of pixel counts do hit that top 1440p number, however. Meanwhile, performance mode is bumped to a higher target on each, aiming for a native 4K - with 1080p remaining as the lower bounds. The net result is that both PS5 and Series X do on average look sharper in the performance modes compared to running on the RT mode. heads and in-depth analysis of both the RT and performance modes. There are key visual differences between PS5 and Series X. Firstly, it's clear Series X often runs at a higher pixel count on average than PS5, within theiir dynamic range. In particular on performance mode, a Novigrad run in puts us at 1440p on PS5, and closer to 1800p on Series X for a spell. Secondly, there are very visible differences in foliage and shadow draw distance. Curiously, PlayStation 5 level of detail is ramped up in a way that Xbox Series X is not - and it's certainly noticeable in head-to-head comparisons in terms of the density of grass to the far distance - and also the shadow map cascade. The star of the show is the ray tracing mode. PS5 and Series X's ray tracing mode lowers resolution and adjusts target frame-rate to 30fps - and similar to the effect on PC, the transformation is remarkable. Ray-traced ambient occlusion and RTXGI global illumination replace the more approximate cubemap-based lighting, radically transforming the fidelity of the scene. Light bounces more realistically, darkened areas lack the blue-ish glow of the original lighting and the net result is often extraordinary. In retaining AO and GI features, CD Projekt RED has brought the best of the PC's upgrades to console users. Of course, not every effect makes it to the PS5 and Series X. The RT shadows of the PC version are not present (and as is, they are bugged, per Alex's tech review), while PC's RT reflections are replaced with a screen-space alternative, only present in the 30fps RT mode. This SSR solution is significantly improved over what came before: it's higher resolution and now applies to more materials in the game, including armour and bodies of water. Previously The Witcher 3 used simpler cube-mapping to create a base reflection for puddles, but now we get a much improved effect. It's not ray tracing, then sadly but the SSR upgrade is huge compared to the performance mode, which still uses the older technique. https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2022-the-witcher-3s-next-gen-upgrade-ray-tracing-and-performance-modes-tested-on-ps5-and-xbox-series-x

The Pinball Wizard is one of those games that are based on really interesting ideas, but that are more interesting as a concept than as a game. In this case, we’re talking about a game that mixes together pinball with dungeon-crawling. You’re tasked with guiding your character through a series of dungeons, with each dungeon leading you further up a tower. The twist – and where the game gets its name – is that each new dungeon is also a new pinball table, complete with a set of flippers at the bottom of the room. If you fall through the flippers, you lose a little bit of health, and if you lose enough health, it’s game over. You proceed to the next dungeon/level/table by killing the monster that holds the key to unlock the door to the next room. As I said, it’s a neat idea, but the execution leaves a little something to be desired. The levels mostly all feel the same, with the same visuals for each dungeon. It’s cute to look at, but by the 10th or 11th dungeon without much in the way of variation, it starts feeling like you’re just playing the same table over and over again. The bigger issue, though, is that the gameplay isn’t all that fun. Since you don’t directly control your character – again, you flick them around using your pinball paddles – it can often feel like you’re just bouncing around each table, hoping you get a lucky bounce that helps you defeat the monsters, pick up the key, and exit to the next level. Admittedly, my pinball skills have always been a little lacking, but I also never felt like The Pinball Wizard offers you the kind of precision you get in proper pinball games. Which, ultimately, is why The Pinball Wizard doesn’t live up to its intriguing premise. In setting out to combine two very different genres, it put itself in a situation where it had to be both a solid pinball game and a decent dungeon crawler. Instead, it’s only so-so at both halves of that equation, which makes it difficult to recommend. https://gaming-age.com/2022/12/the-pinball-wizard-review-for-switch-pc/amp/

With the fall of confetti and a fiery victory speech, Gov. Ron DeSantis ended his run for reelection on the night of Nov. 8 after a blowout victory. That hasn’t stopped the flow of donations to his political committee. In November, Friends of Ron DeSantis raked in about $5.5 million, most of that coming in on or before Election Day. Still, the committee has received more than 1,000 donations totaling nearly $900,000 since the election, including the rest of November into the first half of December, according to state campaign finance records and data posted on the political committee’s website. As of early December, the committee had more than $60 million leftover cash on hand. None of these figures include the governor’s separate reelection campaign account, which stopped reporting in early Novembe. The donations come at a time of sustained presidential buzz surrounding DeSantis. A few of the donors who contributed to DeSantis’ committee in November have also traditionally been backers of former President Donald Trump, who has already announced his 2024 run. One of those contributors is Rebekah Mercer, who wrote a $25,000 check to DeSantis the day before the election. Mercer, the daughter of New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, is a prominent Republican donor who helped create Parler, a social media site po[CENSORED]r with conservatives, and who owns a stake in the alt-right site Breitbart News. The Mercers have also been high-profile backers of former President Donald Trump, though according to a report by CNBC, they are not planning to support Trump’s 2024 bid. Prior to this latest check, Rebekah Mercer had not given to DeSantis since his 2018 campaign for governor. One of the largest contributions in November came from Trish Duggan, the world’s top donor to Scientology and a Pinellas County resident who gave DeSantis $500,000 on Nov. 4. Duggan, the ex-wife of billionaire venture capitalist Bob Duggan, was a top Republican donor to federal races in the 2020 cycle, according to Politico. Both she and a trust in her name gave millions to a pro-Trump Super PAC that year, federal campaign finance records show, but she has not written a check to that committee since then. The Tampa Bay Times tried to reach Duggan for comment, sending emails to an attorney who has represented her and to the executive director of Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, which Duggan founded. Neither one responded. “You’re seeing (some Trump donors) be more public about that transition of support and I just think it speaks to the continued slow but gradual shift away from the former president towards Ron,” said Stephen Lawson, a Georgia Republican political strategist who was on DeSantis’ 2018 campaign team and who worked for several campaigns during the midterms, including a super PAC supporting Hershel Walker. After Republicans nationally underperformed in the midterms, “a lot of people in our party are tired of losing and I think Ron provides that alternative,” Lawson added. “When you sort of layer on top of that all the ongoing stuff Trump has got with J6, the Mar-a-Lago documents, the tax stuff, the impeachments ... I think people are increasingly ready to move on.” Some recent polls (though not all) support this idea. They include recent surveys by the Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY/Suffolk University, which both found Republican voters favored DeSantis over Trump by double digits. Also in early November, DeSantis’ committee received more than $16,000 in in-kind contributions listed as “transportation” from Redge Air LLC, a Jacksonville company. The company is the registered owner of a Hawker 800 private jet, according to a Federal Aviation Administration database. Florida governors are prohibited from using state planes for political events, so they sometimes hitch rides on donors’ private planes. The LLC’s president listed in business filings is Aubrey L. Edge, whom DeSantis in 2020 appointed to the Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s public universities. Edge is the CEO of First Coast Energy L.L.P., a large distributor of Shell gasoline in Florida. DeSantis’ committee also received a $304,000 donation after the election from a company called Roma-HC Bridge LLC, though it’s unclear who is behind it. In the contribution records, it’s listed as an “entertainment” entity, with its address at a Palm Harbor UPS store. The business is registered in Delaware, a state that provides little public information on corporations. Separately from the governor’s political committee, the Republican Party of Florida is also collecting contributions from donors who want to fund DeSantis’ second inauguration, which is scheduled for Jan. 3. The sponsorship packages range from $25,000 to $1 million, with some of the highest caliber contributors getting an invitation to a candlelight dinner with the governor. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2022/12/20/desantis-political-committee-has-received-close-900000-since-election/%3foutputType=amp

Those who do well on human empathy tests are also measurably better at decoding the emotional sounds of animals, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen. Other aspects, such as age and work related to animals, are also shown to play a crucial role. If you have a Jolly Jumper in the barn or have ever made bacon out of Babe, chances are you're better at hearing when an animal is having a good or bad time than other people are. And, if you are between 20-29 years old and empathetic towards fellow humans, then your chances are even greater. This is demonstrated by new research from the Department of Biology, conducted in a collaboration with Swiss institutions, ETH Zurich and Agroscope. In the big picture, the researchers were looking for traces of a so-called common emotional system among mammals, but the research also has specific applications related to animal welfare. "Our results show that based on its sounds we, humans, can determine whether or not an animal is stressed (or excited), and whether it is expressing positive or negative emotions. This applies across a number of different mammals. We can also see that our ability to interpret the sounds depends on several factors, such as age, close knowledge of animals and, not least, how empathetic we are towards other people," says behavioural biologist Elodie Briefer from the Department of Biology. This marks the first time that so many different animal sounds were tested on humans, both in terms of arousal (i.e. stress/excitement) and valence (i.e. the charge of emotions positive vs negative). 1024 people from 48 different countries participated in the study, which included the vocalizations, or calls, of 6 mammals. The sounds of goats, cattle, Asian wild horses (Przewalski's horses), domesticated horses, pigs and wild boars were played to participants along with the sounds of human gibberish from actors. Ability to interpret animal sounds varies On average, we humans, among animal species, can "guess" accurately more often than if you rolled a single dice and got random bids, the results show. For arousal, the correct answers amounted to 54.1% and for valence, that figure was 55.3%. Participants were also asked to provide information about a range of factors including their age, gender and level of education, just as they wrapped up their participation with an empathy test, and the researchers observed several interesting factors in relation to how well humans understand animal sounds. First and foremost, the results are significantly better when participants work with animals - even when the task is to listen to animals other than the ones that they are immediately familiar with. Thus, the results suggest that an intimate knowledge of animals generally promotes the understanding of animals' emotional lives. "This is good news for animal welfare. For example, farmers who want to ensure that their pigs are thriving are well-equipped to capture that," says Elodie Briefer. Age plays a role as well. Here, the study data shows that the better scores were found among the 20-29-year olds. On the other hand, the results demonstrate that participants under the age of twenty are the worst performers, and that the number of correct answers decreases with age. Empathy for humans and animals is linked Most surprising to the researchers was that their results showed a marked correlation between empathy for humans and animals. "It was really surprising for me and very interesting that those who performed well in a recognized test to assess people's empathic level - towards other people, mind you - were also significantly better at understanding the emotional lives of animals," says Elodie Briefer. "We could have used other tests that measure how a person relates to animals, but to make it simpler, we stuck to this particular empathy test, which was translated and validated for the eight languages in the study. It is a recognized test, but it measures empathy towards other people. Nevertheless, we see a clear correlation with the ability to interpret animal sounds," she continues. Animal welfare is all about emotions "Today, animal welfare is defined by the emotional life of animals. Therefore, new knowledge provided by this study is important for both basic and applied research. On the one hand, it increases the understanding of animal emotions, and it opens opportunities to improve that understanding," says Elodie Briefer. According to the researcher, the knowledge contributed by the study shows the path to concrete ways to work on improving animal welfare through an understanding of their emotional lives. "For example, the development of an app where AI supports those who work with animals offers promising perspectives. But it is also important to note that there is nothing to prevent someone from beginning to improve their own skills now if they interact with animals on a daily basis," Briefer points out. "When students try the test in class, they obtain an average of 50 percent of correct answers on the first try. After we talk about the sounds and knowledge that we have about animal vocalizations, they improve. On their second attempts, they typically get above 70% correct. It is natural to explore this potential in future studies. I definitely think that it's possible to practice and improve this ability for the vast majority of people," says Elodie. https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/people-with-more-human-empathy-better-understand-animal-sounds-368651

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will meet with President Biden at the White House on Wednesday and later deliver a prime-time address to a joint session of Congress, a daring trip abroad intended to reaffirm American support for his country, White House officials announced late Tuesday night. “Three hundred days ago, Russia launched a brutal assault against Ukraine,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said in a statement confirming Mr. Zelensky’s trip to Washington. “The visit will underscore the United States’ steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through the provision of economic, humanitarian and military assistance.” Senior administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about Mr. Zelensky’s safety, said the risks involved in such a visit with the wartime leader leaving his country for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine in February were high, and that planning for his arrival had been conducted under intense secrecy. Mr. Zelensky will arrive in the United States almost 10 months after President Vladimir V. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine and as Congress considers approving nearly $50 billion in aid to help Ukraine’s forces battle Russia next year. That would bring the total amount of American aid to more than $100 billion. “He’s a national and global hero I’m delighted to be able to hear from him,” Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, said Tuesday after hearing of Mr. Zelensky’s visit. The Ukrainian president’s trip comes as Russia’s assault heads into a second, brutal year. Russia’s hopes for a quick defeat of Ukraine failed, but have given way to a series of grinding and devastating attacks on civilians that have left major cities without heat or electricity in the bitter cold of Ukraine’s winter. During his meeting with Mr. Biden at the White House, Mr. Zelensky is set to accept the latest American pledge of military assistance: a highly sophisticated Patriot missile battery that senior administration officials said would provide Ukraine with far better defenses against air attacks from Russian missiles and drones. The missile battery will be part of a nearly $2 billion package of security assistance that will also include other support for Ukraine’s air defenses. White House officials said the announcement of the new security package by the American president with Mr. Zelensky by his side was meant to send a powerful message to Mr. Putin and other world leaders, along with people in Ukraine and America, that Mr. Biden would not waver in his efforts to help Ukraine defeat its Russian aggressors. In her statement Tuesday night, Ms. Jean-Pierre said the meeting of the two leaders would “underscore the United States’ enduring commitment to Ukraine” and was part of a continuing effort by Mr. Biden to rally “the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity.” A senior administration official said that Mr. Biden would not come to the meeting on Wednesday “with a message that is about pushing or prodding or poking Zelensky in any way” toward finding a diplomatic end to the war with Russia. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the trip had not been formally announced, said Russia had given no indication it was willing to engage in good-faith talks about ending the war. But the official also said Mr. Biden would not allow the United States to be drawn into an active war with Russia on Ukraine’s behalf, a pledge the president had made before Russian forces entered Ukraine at the end of February. After meeting with Mr. Biden and members of his national security team, Mr. Zelensky is expected to hold a news conference at the White House, officials said. He will then head to Capitol Hill for what is likely to be an electrifying appearance before a joint session of Congress as Democratic control of the House and the reign of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California as speaker nears its end. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/us/politics/zelensky-washington-biden-congress.amp.html

@Andy アンディ has been removed from our team. Reason: Retired

Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: Hollow Name of the game: Hogwarts Legacy : L'Héritage de Poudlard Link video: Rate this video 1-10:-

Syberia – The World Before is a great story-driven adventure game reminiscent of older classics just before the genre died off for a bit. As a newcomer to the series, Dana is a fantastic lead character and those returning will enjoy discovering her story through the protagonist Kate. I originally reviewed the game on PC, but console players now have the chance to experience the story. Let’s see how it holds up. If you’re not in the know, The World Before is actually the fourth game in the Syberia series. The games follow Kate Walker in her globetrotting adventures, featuring some steampunk technology and automaton characters. The World Before is mostly a standalone story, though there are some references and continued character arcs that you won’t understand playing this first even if you watch the Previously On video. In my review earlier this year, I really enjoyed the game’s story and in particular deuteragonist Dana Roze. It has some very inventive puzzles that are fun to solve, though it suffers from some pacing issues and Kate was very hard to like as a newcomer. The first thing you’ll notice is how beautiful the game is. Of course it doesn’t have the budget for super high fidelity graphics like God of War, but the steampunk aesthetic is wonderfully realized with great architecture and lighting. In terms of pure visual quality, it’s clear no concessions were made from the PC version. However, performance is another story. While the PC version can obviously reach high framerates, it feels like the PS5 struggles to reach a consistent 30. This is a graphically intense game for what it’s worth, even my decent PC setup couldn’t achieve 60 fps for the whole game, but it feels like the PS5 should be able to handle it. There are no graphics options to speak of either, making it feel like you’re actually playing the PS4 version of a title that should have stayed next-gen only. https://gamingtrend.com/feature/impressions/syberia-the-world-before-impressions-for-ps5-a-decent-way-to-play-a-great-game/