FazzNoth

V2 - Text & Effects

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Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: MKIceAndFire Name of the game: The Callisto Protocol Link video: Rate this video 1-10:-

With Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion’s release date fast approaching, you may be debating what platform to buy it on. It’ll launch on everything from PC to Nintendo Switch, and there’s a fair reason to get it on each. A PS5 or Xbox Series X copy will provide a smooth, reliable experience, while a PC copy will allow you to run it at ultra-high frame rates if you so desire. After playing through the action-RPG’s first three chapters, I’ve come bearing an initial recommendation: prioritize portability over power. Though it may look like a flashy remake, Crisis Core is still very much the PlayStation Portable game that first launched in 2007. As such, devices like the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch are a much better match for its design philosophies. Its pick-up-and-put-down nature simply holds up better when you’re taking it on the go, not grinding in front of a TV. If you didn’t know that Crisis Core was originally a PSP exclusive, that fact would become immediately clear when starting its remake. Despite its modern touches meant to give it parity with Final Fantasy VII Remake, Square Enix isn’t going for a high-concept reimagining here; it’s simply applying a new coat of paint. The basic structure of the original remains almost entirely untouched, with tweaks just making combat feel smoother and UI look cleaner. There’s an immediately noticeable contrast in something that looks like a console game from 2022, yet feels like a handheld title created for comparatively modest hardware in 2007. Take its mission structure, for instance. Its main quests are more bite-sized in nature, sending Zack Fair into compact maps with only a few side routes to explore. They usually feature some linear traversal, a handful of fairly static conversations to move the plot along, and a big boss fight against an enemy like Ifrit to round things out. Despite the fact that it looks closer to Final Fantasy VII Remake thanks to some asset sharing, it’s all a bit more straightforward. I can feel how the original was originally built to be played in chunks as opposed to a few long sit-downs. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/crisis-core-final-fantasy-vii-reunion-preview-portable/%3famp

Over 13 years playing Dwarf Fortress, I've seen my share of legends. I've witnessed one-armed dwarven generals strangle dragons as old as time. I've watched in horror as an artisan emerged from months trapped in the caves below my fortress halls, clinging to life just long enough to craft one last work: a puzzlebox of obsidian and bone. Now, I get to see Dwarf Fortress arrive on Steam, the colony sim's emergent storytelling more approachable than it's ever been but only just. The ever-evolving life's work of brother developers Tarn and Zach Adams, Dwarf Fortress is entering a new age, shedding its text-based graphics for proper pixels and the basic modernity of native mouse support. Still inscrutable, still magnificent, Dwarf Fortress remains an incomparable treasure trove of procedural mythmaking for those willing to delve its depths. Striking the earth At its most basic level, Dwarf Fortress is a settlement sim. With a small group of dwarves, you embark from the Mountainhomes to stake your claim on a plot of distant wilderness. It's up to you to establish a fortress capable of lasting the ages, from the ground up—or down, in the typical dwarven fashion. Winter is only months away. Start digging. Meanwhile, your livestock are brawling because you put them in too small a pasture, your lone huntsdwarf is being chased home in a panic after antagonizing a giant capybara with their last crossbow bolt, and your best farmer's in a depressive spiral over your dining hall's lack of chairs. And that's all before your first goblin siege Leaving that delicate balancing act of fortress management aside, the Steam release's most obvious changes are visual. Until now, Dwarf Fortress has been an ASCII-based enterprise, requiring mods for any imagery more engaging than a letter "D" facing you in martial combat. You're responsible for every component of your fledgling dwarven society, and there are a hell of a lot of components. Dwarf Fortress now boasts its own lovely tile-based graphics. They're charming enough to look at, your dwarves' physical features realized in sprites. The visual overhaul joins an expanded soundtrack, which moves between the gruff warmth of dwarven work songs, plaintive acoustic plucking, and haunting atmospherics. It nails the vibe sometimes whimsical, sometimes punishing, often doomed. In terms of playability, the biggest changes involve the interface and controls. Limited before to keyboard input, Dwarf Fortress now has native mouse support. Clicking to designate/interact with/inspect things is a much-needed and welcome change, but the new UI struggles to accommodate every aspect of this bottomless game. Hard-won wealth Dwarf Fortress's daunting reputation is not unearned. In building and managing your new mountainhome, the game does very little work for you. It's just you, a bunch of menus, and whatever ragged scrap of self-preservation instinct your dwarves can muster. https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-review/

The IMF has welcomed the “very strong” economic recovery of the Seychelles economy, Seychelles News Agency reported, citing Seychelles Finance Minister Naadir Hassan.This came after the IMF board completed its third review of Seychelles’ economic performance on Thursday, allowing the island nation to draw new funding under the 32-month Extended Fund Facility, Xinhua news agency reported.”This approval of the implementation of the economic reform program by the IMF board is a further indication that the government’s decisions have proven to be the right ones so far and, more importantly, that the actions taken have been responsible and are laying the foundation for Seychelles’ prosperity,” the news agency quoted Minister Hassan as saying on Saturday.The IMF said in a report that Seychelles’ economic recovery remained very strong in 2022, fuelled by a faster-than-expected rebound in the tourism sector. By the end of September 2022, tourist arrivals were 125 per cent higher than in the same period in 2021, with stronger-than-expected demand from Europe and the Middle East.It added that the recovery was accompanied by significant fiscal consolidation and social support for the most vulnerable.However, the IMF warned that while Seychelles’ economic outlook is positive, “it remains subject to risks, including a deteriorating economic outlook in many of Seychelles’ key tourism markets, high food and fuel prices and their effect on the most vulnerable, a resurgence of Covid-19, higher-than-expected inflation, and an increase in non-performing loans from old dependent loans.”Seychelles and the IMF have agreed on an economic reform programme under the Extended Fund Facility at the end of July 2021, due to the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s economy. https://newstodaynet.com/2022/12/05/imf-hails-strong-economic-recovery-in-seychelles/

Wildlife is abundant in Gorongosa National Park. Situated in the center of Mozambique in east Africa, Gorongosa is home to tens of thousands of animals, including lions, leopards, elephants, and zebras. It is a remarkable sight, given the park's history — and the transformation has not only been for animal residents. Decades ago, Gorongosa was a world-famous park, renowned for its abundant wildlife. But from the 1960s until the 1990s, Mozambique was rocked by 28 years of war, first as the country gained its independence from Portugal, and then as a civil war broke out between the two main political movements. During the civil war, Gorongosa was often a battlefield; 95 percent of the wildlife was either poached by soldiers and local villagers desperate for food, or slaughtered for profit. Carr's grand vision for the park went well beyond animals, however. It also extended to the people living around the park, who were surviving on not much more than a dollar a day. "The idea is, take the beauty of the park and use that to do human development," Carr told Pelley in 2008. "Attract the tourists who will spend the money to create the jobs and lift everybody out of poverty. For an entrepreneur, it's kind of a compelling opportunity to, you know, one plus one equals ten." Fourteen years later, Pelley and 60 Minutes returned to Gorongosa to see how Carr's equation was working out. The transformation was immediately evident. "We used to drive on the trails here in 2008, and we would drive for hours and not see an animal, not one," Pelley told 60 Minutes Overtime. "Today you can't drive 100 yards without running into all kinds of spectacular African fauna and flora." Restoring Gorongosa National Park after decades of war Carr's bet on human capital has also made a leap forward. Gorongosa now employs 1,600 mostly Mozambican workers. Carr's organization works in all 89 primary schools that surround the national park and trains hundreds of schoolteachers. Carr has also begun 92 after-school clubs that serve some 3,000 young girls. Part of his investment into the people of Gorongosa includes sending young people to the United States to go to college, including one young woman named Gabriela Curtiz. Fluent in numerous languages, Curtiz grew up in the Gorongosa area and is now enrolled at Boise State University in Idaho, where she's getting a degree in management. Her goal is to return and help manage Gorongosa. Curtiz told Pelley that Carr's changes to Gorongosa have helped its people by giving them opportunity, especially women. "Here in Mount Gorongosa specifically, we have 800 people working on the coffee harvesting and planting native species. And half of them are women," Curtiz said. "So that gives prosperity. That gives voice to the women to express their opinion." In the years to come, Carr has next set his sights on attempting to make the park self-sustaining. Ecotourism is the main initiative, and Carr has begun building high-end lodges to expand the park's revenue. Another income-generating idea is selling carbon credits, which act somewhat like a permit for a company's carbon emission. When a company, usually from a developed country, purchases a carbon credit, the company is then enabled to generate one ton of carbon emissions. For Gorongosa, the way for companies to offset their carbon usage is to buy trees. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/gorongosa-mozambique-history-60-minutes-2022-12-04/

In Baerbock's talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, India's relationship with China is likely to be discussed in addition to the Russian war against Ukraine and its consequences, for example in the energy sector, the statement said. During the visit, cooperation in the energy transition away from oil, coal and gas will also play a role, a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office said on Friday in Berlin. In this context, Baerbock will visit projects for renewable energies and sustainability in the rural surroundings of New Delhi. In Baerbock’s talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, India’s relationship with China is likely to be discussed in addition to the Russian war against Ukraine and its consequences, for example in the energy sector, the statement said. According to the spokesperson, the minister will also visit the Election Commission of India. Meetings are also planned with representatives of civil society and NGOs working for women’s rights.The spokesperson added that the minister will also participate in a trilateral India forum of the transatlantic foundation German Marshall Fund, which is about cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The forum is an annual meeting of American, European and Indian experts from politics, think tanks and business at different locations. https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/india/german-foreign-minister-arrives-on-two-day-visit-today-8305892/lite/

Happy birthday to you bro! I wish you the best in your life! @-Artisan 🥳

Happy Birthday!

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GameSir's X3 combines a customizable Android phone gaming controller with a remarkably effective cooling system. From the front, it looks a lot like other mobile gaming controllers such as the Razer Kishi or Backbone One -- with the exception of a large silicone-coated pad between the two control grips. That pad adds more than just some grip to help hold your phone: It's a Peltier cooling module backed by a heat sink and a seven-blade fan to pull heat away. Originally an Indiegogo project, the X3 Type-C controller is available from Amazon and direct from Gamesir for $100 or £100. (It's currently unavailable in Australia, but the UK price converts to AU$178.) The price is average for a controller like this, though others don't have integrated cooling systems. GameSir also includes a carrying case, two concave and two convex thumbstick caps, two high-rise thumbsticks, a faceted D-pad and a 1.5-meter USB-C cable.I tested the X3 out with my Google Pixel 6 Pro and mainly playing Xbox Game Pass games. The Pixel slots in a little easier thanks to the flexible, tiltable USB-C connector. The controller can't be used with a case on your phone... not because it won't fit (though it didn't with either of the slim cases I tried) but because the phone has to be touching the cooling pad to be effective. The controller accommodated the Pixel 6 Pro's big camera bump though, and the controls were active and ready for gaming as soon as the USB-C connector was in the phone's port. Out of the box, the ABXY buttons are set up like an Xbox controller. However, you may have to update the controller's firmware before they actually correspond to those buttons when used with Game Pass. To do that, download GameSir's mobile app, open the app and connect your phone to the controller. The app should then ask you to update if it's necessary. For those who want a Nintendo Switch controller layout, the buttons are magnetically attached and can be lifted out and moved into the layout you want. Again, the controls work almost as soon as a phone is connected so you can start gaming right away and it only draws 2mAh of power from your phone to use. There's no built-in battery. The cooling system requires an external power source like a power bank or a wall adapter (neither are included) to be connected to the USB-C port at the bottom of the cooler. There is a second USB-C port on the bottom right of the controller. That port is used to charge your device while gaming if you connect a power bank or wall adapter to it and your phone supports passthrough charging (the Pixel does). That means if you want to cool and keep your phone charged simultaneously two USB-C cables will need to be connected to the controller. The cooling starts nearly instantaneously when connected to a power source. There is no power switch or anything so when you plug the controller in, the rear fan spins up and its colorful RGB lights kick on. The silicone pad then gets ice cold and starts pulling heat away from your phone. It seemed to only take seconds before my phone completely cooled off. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/gamesir-x3-type-c-mobile-game-controller-review-cool-combo-for-android-phones/

Fun fact: if F-Zero GX the last home console game in Nintendo’s seminal futuristic racing series were a person, they would be old enough to vote now. Indeed, it’s been far too long since we’ve gotten a new F-Zero, which has led to copycats filling the void as best as they can. Some of these, like Fast RMX or WipEout Omega Collection, have done a great job of adding their own spin on that intense gameplay. Others, like Warp Drive, have fumbled the ball a bit. Warp Drive started as a mobile game a couple of years ago and now has made its way onto the Switch, but don’t let its origins immediately turn you off. Despite its shortcomings, there’s a genuinely enjoyable time to be had here; we only wish it could be more consistent. Though Warp Drive is certainly a fast game, we would say that its gameplay has more in common with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe than it does with F-Zero or Fast RMX. Though you’re moving at lightspeed through gravity-defying courses, much of your success hinges on how effectively you can acquire and use items to give yourself an edge. Much like in Mario Kart, there are various points on the track where you can drive over a line of ‘warp crystals’ that will give you an item, though here the effect is not random. You can hold onto each crystal as long as you want, and each one can be used to either launch a missile, activate a short boost, drop a mine behind you, or teleport you to an alternate route on the track at specific points. We appreciated the removal of the randomized items as it allows you to take a more strategic approach to driving and doesn’t leave you out of luck if you get a bad roll. Everyone’s been there in Mario Kart 8 where you desperately need help holding down first place, but get a useless coin from an item box. Here, there’s always something useful you can do with your crystals, although we found that their application leaves a little bit to be desired. The missiles, for example, can only be fired if you’ve locked onto an enemy in front of you. Not only is it difficult to lock on to target the specific car you want to hit, but we noted many instances where firing the missile crashed into the wall instead of another car. Track layouts are a little homogenous, they do have a multi-tiered track design, and we enjoyed how each course had distinctive themes, though we wish these themes were integrated better as gameplay mechanics. At various points in a track, you can choose to either trigger a boost to go through a false floor or a short-range teleport to take you to an alternate route. These secondary routes take about as much time to traverse as the primary path, but they’re useful for those moments when you’re stuck in the middle of the pack and keep getting blasted by items, as you can thin out the herd a bit by taking another way. The main draw of the experience here is the tournament mode, which sees you going through themed bundles of four tracks at a time. After each race, you’re then given coins and experience points according to your performance. We’re not really sure what the experience points actually do maybe unlocking access to better things in the shop? but the coins can be spent to randomly selects three upgrades or cosmetics you can apply to your car. Once you’ve bought it in the shop, you then own that part forever and can later swap it with any other parts you’ve acquired. At first, we were a little bothered by this shop system, as it doesn’t give you full control over how to build your car. Maybe one of the parts on offer is somewhat appealing, but you’re never sure if the next round of shop offerings might have something better that you won’t be able to afford if you buy something now. Still, we appreciated how this controlled approach to the shop keeps you guessing and makes you try out parts you otherwise might not have considered. Plus, it doesn’t take that long to unlock all the parts anyway. In addition to the core tournament mode, there are also mission and survival modes. Mission mode tasks you with objectives like collecting a certain number of coins in a tight time window or hitting a specific number of rivals with missiles within a single lap. Each track has its own suite of missions on offer, which helps familiarize you more with their layouts while sharpening your driving skills, and the missions progressively get more difficult as you unlock more. https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/switch-eshop/warp-drive

The Callisto Protocol begins like all good prison films do: with a mood of unbearable doom. Workingman pilot Jacob Lee has crash-landed on the dead moon of Callisto, after his cargo ship is boarded by a notorious terrorist group. Someone else has died a bizarrely gruesome death during the crash, and we are given ample opportunity to study this misfortune. Next, Lee is arrested, and it's made clear that he has a life spent in the moon's Black Iron prison to look forward to. But almost immediately the prison falls afoul of some mysterious disaster that turns its inhabitants into crazed mutants. These events cascade efficiently during the first half-hour, and what better way to set the tone of a relentlessly gory survival horror game than with a disaster, an injustice, and then the abrupt invasion of some walking pus buckets? The Callisto Protocol is not subtle about dropping us into a place of utmost dread. Somewhat counterintuitively, dread is strangely comfortable for us, the players of this determinedly nasty horror game. The stakes are clear: Lee, played with action hero stoicity by Josh Duhamel, is in deep shit and must dig himself out of it. Perhaps we'll learn a bit about that terrorist group. Inevitably, some subplots will creep in, and we'll meet some characters who keep us company. But The Callisto Protocol wastes no time cementing the terror of its setting. Now we just need to walk in a mostly straight line for 15 hours and butcher our way through it. I'm not joking when I say that The Callisto Protocol is a comforting videogame, albeit on the far end of the same axis occupied by, say, Dragon Quest. Familiarity is comfort, and The Callisto Protocol is a consistent big-budget joyride. The indie horror scene has potent psychological discomfort covered (see Visage, Signalis), and is also the natural home of grindhouse schlock (see Murder House, and countless uncanny PS1 era throwbacks). The big-budget horror game, in the Resident Evil sense, and most saliently in the Dead Space sense, is about roaming moody corridors and getting your shit regularly effed up. https://www.pcgamer.com/the-callisto-protocol-review/

The Biden White House had hoped to see continued moderation in US jobs growth in the November jobs report to bolster what it sees as growing evidence that inflation is starting to slow -- but newly released data Friday morning defied the Federal Reserve's aggressive efforts to cool down the economy. The latest employment report comes after a string of promising economic data over the last week that appeared to show a resilient economy and moderating prices. Friday's news that the US economy added 263,000 jobs in November -- with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.7% -- came in well above economists' expectations. White House officials have viewed several key economic reports released in recent days as signs that the US economy is in the process of making an important transition, as taming inflation still remains a top domestic concern for President Joe Biden. Leading up to Friday, officials were anticipating the US economy to have added in the ballpark of 200,000 new jobs last month, continuing the recent trend of a slowdown in the labor market. Expenditures price index, a key measure of consumer prices, rose 6% in October compared to the previous year -- down from the 6.3% annual increase reported for September. The reading is a critical indicator for gauging inflation and one that the Federal Reserve watches closely. Meanwhile, the US economy also grew much faster than expected in the third quarter of 2022, according to the latest gross domestic product report, at an annualized rate of 2.9% -- a sign of resilience for the US economy. That figure marked a revision from the initial government reading in October which had showed 2.6% in economic activity. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell -- while saying that the economy still has a "long way to go" -- indicated this week that the central bank could pull back on its pace of aggressive rate hikes as soon as December. Those comments were welcome news for investors and prompted the stock market to surge. And one other critical development that has thrilled the White House in recent weeks: falling gas prices. As of Thursday, prices at the pump in the US had fallen below levels that existed before Russia invaded Ukraine, with a gallon of gas costing an average of $3.47 nationally, according to AAA. All of those data points reinforce the idea, one White House official told CNN before the release of Friday's jobs report, "that the economy is strong, the recovery is durable and the transition that we would hope to see is happening." "Of course, there can be setbacks as this is a very interconnected global economy, but we are coming from a position of strength," the official added. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/12/02/politics/white-house-economy-november-jobs-report/index.html

Under Queensland’s first update of animal welfare laws in more than two decades, offenders will face up to three years in prison if they breach their duty of care and cause the death, disablement, or prolonged suffering of animals. The updated Animal Care and Protection Act also puts in place a ban on the use of pronged collars and gives animal welfare inspectors powers to intervene if an animal is found to be in distress. A statement by the Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities, Mark Furner, explained that the new offense of aggravated breach of duty of care was just one of a range of changes being made to the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001. “Queenslanders want animals to be better protected and people who don’t comply punished appropriately, and that is exactly what these updated laws provide,” said Furner. Key amendments include: New offense for causing death, serious deformity, serious disablement or prolonged suffering of an animal. The maximum penalty is up to three years imprisonment. Greater use of animal welfare directions to enforce compulsory codes of practice, extending inspectors’ powers to enter a place to provide shelter to an animal, recognition of interstate prohibition orders, and the ability for an inspector to enter a livestock slaughterhouse when a horse is being killed. Dogs must be properly secured while traveling in a vehicle, or a trailer attached to a vehicle. A dog’s body must not protrude from an open window. A ban on inhumane practices such as firing or blistering of horses, which is a part of soring. Anyone using CSSP Pig Poison can be prosecuted for animal cruelty. Implementing some of the recommendations of the Martin Inquiry into the treatment of racehorses. Implementing some of the recommendations of the Queensland Audit Office to improve the appointment and training of inspectors and the governance of animal welfare investigations and prosecutions by the RSPCA Queensland. “Being able to love and keep pets like dogs is an important part of many people’s lives and Queenslanders want those pets to have strong protections,” continued Furner. “Queenslanders want animals treated with care and respect and the updated Animal Care and Protection Act will contribute to that.” https://www.google.com/amp/s/worldanimalnews.com/breaking-queensland-australia-passes-stricter-animal-welfare-laws-for-the-first-time-in-more-than-two-decades/amp/

The Bombay High Court will hear on December 6 the bail plea of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh in a corruption case lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). On Friday, a single-judge bench of Justice Makarand S Karnik said that it will hear Deshmukh’s plea on merits from December 6, after concluding that the matter can be heard on priority considering the health grounds raised by the petitioner. Last week, the bench had adjourned the matter after the CBI counsel had urged the court to do so as Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh, who was to appear for the central agency, was unwell. In other news, according to news agency PTI, Mumbai on Thursday recorded 23 new measles cases and zero fatality, the civic body said in a release. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also inoculated 1,162 children against the viral infection on the first day of its Outbreak Response Immunisation drive. The Maharashtra health department has also formed a state-level task force headed by Dr Subhash Salunke to tackle rising measles cases, an official statement said. Partially rolling back the ban on plastic items imposed across Maharashtra in 2018, the state government on Thursday allowed use of single-use disposable plastic items such as straw, plates, cups, glasses, forks and containers like bowls, among other things, made of compostable material. This brings relief to plastic manufacturers, traders and users of plastic such as restaurants, shops and businesses across the state. The notification was issued by the environment department on Wednesday. https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/mumbai-news-live-updates-8299580/lite/

Voted.

The second one is more original and I like the color it has. Vote: V2

@-_-Moltres-_- has been added back to our team. Welcome back!

Nickname: @FazzNoth Video author: SMii7Y Name of the game: Goat Simulator 3 Link video: Rate this video 1-10:-

Humankind, Amplitude Studios' turn-based historical strategy game, is coming to PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series S/X, and Xbox One on Nov. 4, it was announced during today's Summer Game Fest. It will also make its debut on Xbox Game Pass (it's already available for PC Game Pass). It's now available for pre-order on console. The game also announced its second paid DLC, Cultures of Latin America, plus a free new patch called the "Bolivar Update." Expanding further in a blog post, Amplitude said Cultures of Latin America will include six new cultures (Caralans, Nazca, Taino, Inca, Argentinians, and Cubans), two new Cultural Wonders (Teotihuacan Pyramid of the Sun and Maracana Stadium), and four new Natural Wonders (Desert of Atacama, Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Salar de Uyuni, and Salto Angel). It's now available on on Steam, Epic Game Store, and the Microsoft Store. Among the improvements announced in the Bolivar Update: "Force Surrender" is no longer mandatory, civics now show their unlock conditions, Natural Wonders have unlock effects, infrastructures show their unexpected yield, and more. Humankind was first released in August 2021, and was nominated for best sim/strategy game at that year's Game Awards. https://www.ign.com/articles/humankind-console-game-pass-dlc

Synopsis: A dark menace consumes the Old West. In solo or coop, fight with style in visceral, explosive combat against bloodthirsty monstrosities. Eradicate the vampiric hordes with your lightning-fueled gauntlet and become a Wild West Superhero. Developer Flying Wild Hog has a history of wild action games with the Shadow Warrior series. Evil West, a new IP from them, continues the same focus, but this time in a third-person perspective. The gameplay is still the focus, with a wild and over-the-top group of characters and narrative seeding everything together. Evil West feels like something from the previous generation, and I can't remember the last time I played such a linear action game, which may be a big selling point for some. You play as Jesse Rentier, heir to the Rentier Institute, a government-funded group of soldiers and scientists working to fight off vampires and other dark creatures in America in the 1800s. Jesse is a macho soldier type who prefers to do killing to diplomacy. When his father is attacked along with the whole institute earlier in the game, Jesse is set on a trip all around America as he kills thousands of vampires and looks for a way to find the one responsible for the attack.The first few levels of Evil West are relatively slow and could easily have been trimmed to a faster pace. Nonetheless, Jesse will have access to his core weapons when you've played for a little bit. A pistol, a rifle and his electro-charged fists. These fists will also do most of the talking, with a one-of-a-kind gauntlet allowing Jesse to stun enemies, electro-whip them, or to them from a distance and powered-up state, allowing him to rip enemies to shreds. Evil West's combat feels most inspired by DOOM as Jesse must balance different weapons and tools to take down ever-growing numbers of enemies as the game progresses. You must also prioritise high-damaging targets over weaker enemies and know which weapons will help you the most, saving your shotgun blast for the big guys before it goes into cool-down. Managing your resources is key to victory, even on normal difficulty. Using a high-powered weapon or skill early in a fight on a weaker enemy only to have a mini-boss spawn will make things unnecessarily harder for you. https://explosionnetwork.com/game-reviews/evil-west-review

The local shelter has a wish list, and there's lots of ways to give to the GTHS this seson The Georgian Triangle Humane Society is inviting people back into its animal shelter for the annual holiday open house. The local shelter announced its excitement for the return of their holiday tradition, extending an open invitation to the community for shelter tours and meet-and-greet with animals up for adoptions, and festive treats (for people). The open house takes place Dec. 8 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. “This event is one of our favourites of the year, so we are thrilled to welcome the community back to the animal centre again after our three-year hiatus," said GTHS Executive Director Sonya Reichel, in a news release. "We look forward to taking a moment to thank our community for the extraordinary support that they show us every single day. We celebrate the lives we have saved and the stories that have touched our hearts." The open house is also the official kick-off for the annual supply and food drive. The shelter has an urgent and ongoing need for cash donations to cover costs, and other is a wish list of food and supplies needed for the shelter available at gths.ca. The shelter is also participating in Giving Tuesday (Nov. 29) with a campaign highlighting the work of the shelter and spreading awareness that operational costs are all raised through sponsorships and donations, not government funding. “This Giving Tuesday we want the community to be aware of the work we do," stated Reichel in a news release. "Our primary mission is to help homeless animals in need, however, our work extends to people in need, as we believe that this is a critical step towards building a humane community. Numerous studies have shown the benefits to humans from animal companionship. Our pet support services programs, which includes emergency medical assistance as well as our pet pantry, exist to assist loving families to keep their pet in their home, which is in the best interest of the animal and the community. The need for these services has never been more important, especially in today’s economic climate. Food and housing insecurity, unfortunately, impacts pets too.” There's a third way to support the shelter right now. Collingwood Brewery has made "Happy Tails Ale," a special brew meant to pour more support into the local shelter. Designed as a partnership between the local brewery and the animal shelter, with a portion of proceeds being donated to the shelter, the themed-beer launched last December, and is now also in LCBO stores. https://www.collingwoodtoday.ca/local-news/animal-shelter-welcomes-people-back-for-holiday-tradition-6166446

A new style of activism in the white-collar workplace is reshaping corporate life. Michael Scott, the office manager, requires his employees to choose an upside-down index card from a tray and place it on their forehead. The cards bear a racial or ethnic label black, jewish, italian, and so on and Michael tells the employees to treat one another according to the label listed on the card and to “stir the melting pot” by playing to racial stereotypes. The scene, which ends with Michael getting slapped in the face, mocks corporate America’s ham-handed approach to diversity training. Back in 2005, almost no one saw the C-suite or the human-resources office as an engine of progressive change. Indeed, the idea that workers would look to their employers for leadership on any delicate social or political matters seemed risible.Donald Trump’s presidency led companies to start regularly issuing political statements on major developments in the news. In 2020, the murder of George Floyd, and the subsequent protest movement, prompted companies not only to incorporate more diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives into the workplace, but also to adopt “anti-racism” messaging, for which merely showing tolerance wasn’t enough. Participants are urged to actively promote anti-racist policy goals rendering these sessions far more overtly political than their predecessors of the 1990s and early 2000s.Although political chitchat has always been part of office culture, the volume of the discourse and the extent to which it is coming from management are departures from the past. As a senior manager at a New York insurance firm recently told me, “I probably get just as many emails” from the company’s executives “about social-justice or environmental stuff as I do about how the company is doing. And that’s just not how it was … That’s a major shift that’s only happened in the last two or three years.” Bosses across the country, particularly in white-collar workplaces, are pumping out tweets and press releases about the midterm election, abortion rights, and the war in Ukraine. They are hosting mandatory trainings and workshops that come uncomfortably close to the TV parody. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/11/office-politics-activism-democrat-republican/672214/