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Spiritually, Might and Magic X can be neatly summed up in its first real conversation, when the captain of the first town's guard jokes "Don't worry, I won't send you to go kill rats in a cellar," and then without irony presents a quest called "Spiders In The Well". It's a deliberate and careful throwback to the hack-and-slash RPGs of old, in a style even its own series hasn't done since 1993's Darkside of Xeen - the fifth game, and hardly a cutting edge one even then. That goes to the core. While Legacy uses the Unity 3D engine and isn't afraid to use it to both create a world and deploy a few special effects, like volumetric lighting, the action remains turn based and locked tight to a grid rather than allowing freeform movement. For the most part though, this works oddly well. Cities and dungeons are carefully designed, looking good and not feeling too much like shoeboxes. There are however regular reminders of why most games of this style stick to cramped dungeons and locations like forest mazes rather than expansive overworlds, the biggest being that ranged characters often aren't allowed to take a pop at an enemy standing right in front of them because officially they're around a corner. Despite nominally being the tenth game in the series, it's easy to get into the action. No knowledge of the series is required, and despite an intro so astoundingly long and overwritten that it's a wonder that the party doesn't emerge blinking in Might and Magic XI, the story is kept firmly in the background. You're a team of rookie adventurers taking the ashes of your mentor to a locked down city in the middle of a ludicrously dangerous peninsula, in the wake of political reforms that everyone spends far too much time arguing about instead of dealing with all the monsters everywhere. A smarter party might 'accidentally' trip while holding his sodding urn on a windy cliff and go home. But no. Not Heroic enough, apparently. While even getting close to that town is a slow business, Legacy's actual action is surprisingly pacey. The four-man party primarily levels horizontally, with lots of skills, but plenty of points to spread between them. This quickly allows for a flexible team where a Ranger can be both archer and healer, or a Freemage take up various magical schools without becoming a master of none, with melee characters getting their own 'spells' revolving around skills like taunting and diverting blows. Combat still isn't usually too tactical outside of bosses, where bad luck can also screw the party over in a hurry, but Legacy makes carving through armies feel very satisfying. Luckily too, because while the killing is occasionally interrupted by a trivial puzzle or conversation popping its head into the action, this is firmly a game of 20% exploration, 70% combat, and everything else fighting over the scraps. What gives Legacy its old school charm though is that as much as it's weighed down by an obviously low budget and the mechanical sacrifices of jumping back a decade, there's a love for its style underpinning the action. The result isn't likely to do much for anyone raised on a diet of The Elder Scrolls, and even at its best is a nostalgia trip rather than call for revolution. Even so, for old-school RPG fans as sad as its creators seem to be that nobody makes games like this any more, it's a solid way to relive the good old days.

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The United States saw nearly 2,000 coronavirus deaths for a second day running as the toll soared again in Europe, despite US President Donald Trump's insistence that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Governments are grappling with how to balance public safety against the devastating economic impact of stay-at-home orders that have erased millions of jobs in a matter of weeks. More than 86,000 people worldwide have died in the virus crisis, which has sent the global economy spiralling and forced billions of people to remain at home as much as possible. As the economic downturn starts to bite, health experts stressed that any premature loosening of restrictions could accelerate the spread of a contagion that has already infiltrated nearly every country. In France, one of the hardest-hit nations in Europe with more than 10,000 deaths, President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation next week to explain the path forward. The confinement order issued on March 17 "will be extended" beyond the current deadline of April 15, an official close to Macron told AFP. The United States reported the highest one-day toll on record, with 1,973 deaths over a 24-hour period — reaching nearly 2,000 for the second day in a row. Italy and Spain are still recording hundreds of deaths a day, and the situation is also deteriorating in Britain, which saw a record 938 fatalities Wednesday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a third day in intensive care. The 55-year-old leader's condition is "improving" and he is in "good spirits", officials assured the public. In New York, the epicentre of the US outbreak, the state's governor noted the new single-day high for virus deaths at 779, but offered an optimistic view for the weeks to come. "We are flattening the curve," Andrew Cuomo told reporters, as he cited a decreasing hospitalization rate due to stay-at-home orders. That optimism was shared by US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who both said the data seemed to indicate a turn for the better. "We are hopefully heading towards a final stretch, the light at the end of the tunnel," Trump told reporters. Pence chimed in: "We're beginning to see glimmers of hope." In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus first emerged in December, there was cause for celebration as a ban on outbound travel was lifted. But Malta joined the ranks of those in mourning, recording its first death. Global trade to plummet The head of the World Trade Organisation, Roberto Azevedo, issued a dire warning, saying the economic fallout from the health emergency could be "the deepest economic recession or downturn of our lifetimes". Germany and France, the EU's two largest economies, are bracing for a painful hit. Gross domestic product in export powerhouse Germany is expected to shrink by nearly 10 percent in the second quarter, the country's leading research institutes said. France is already in a technical recession, the Bank of France said. Its first-quarter performance was its worst since 1945. But officials at the US Federal Reserve said the wide-ranging shuttering of businesses should not have the lasting impact that was seen in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008. As some European countries weighed easing lockdown measures to allow economic activity to resume in earnest, the World Health Organization urged against it. "Now is not the time to relax measures," said WHO's Europe director Hans Kluge. "It is the time to once again double and triple our collective efforts to drive towards suppression with the whole support of society." Stages of grief Around the world, medical staff are bearing a heavy physical and emotional toll as they work in overflowing intensive care units and makeshift hospitals erected in sports stadiums, on ships and even in a New York cathedral. In Spain, another 757 deaths were reported Wednesday, bringing the toll up for a second day after several days of decline. Antonio Alvarez, a 33-year-old nurse at a Barcelona hospital, described his experience as akin to bereavement. "I've had my phases of anger, of denial — you go through all of them," he told AFP. "Now we are still a little overwhelmed but it is better. Fewer patients are dying." In Italy, police have started to tighten lockdown controls as cabin fever and a slowing of the death toll tempted residents out in increasing numbers. Jews around the world marked the start of Passover without the large family gatherings normally organised for the seder meal, with some turning to virtual platforms. "The Passover holiday is celebrated with friends and families," Yigel Niasoff, 45, told AFP from his balcony in New York's Crown Heights neighbourhood. "Right now with the pandemic, it's a very, very sad time." Bailout efforts Governments worldwide are rolling out staggering stimulus measures to ease the economic pain. In Washington, Democrats demanded an additional $500 billion to battle the crisis, doubling the government's request to help small businesses and imperilling the rapid approval of emergency aid lawmakers sought this week. The eurozone is also mired in bickering over a bailout plan for its hard-hit members that would come on top of measures enacted by individual governments. Talks resume Thursday. The markets continued their volatile movement, with the Dow closing up 3.4 per cent in New York after European stocks faltered. For those who have lost their jobs during the crisis, survival is already a struggle. "With the coronavirus, I'm suffocating," 55-year-old Gabriel Rodriguez told AFP in Miami, where he spent five hours in line to apply for unemployment benefits. "I have to pay for the car, I have to pay the phone bill — how am I going to pay that? And the rent too!"

The Chinese city of 11 million people that was Ground Zero for what became the global coronavirus pandemic partly reopened on Saturday after more than two months of almost total isolation. Wuhan was placed under lockdown in January with residents forbidden to leave, roadblocks ring-fencing the city's outskirts and drastic restrictions on daily life. But the major transport and industrial hub has now signalled the end of its long isolation, with state media showing the first officially sanctioned passenger train arriving back into the city just after midnight. People are now allowed to enter but not leave, and many trains had been fully booked days in advance. AFP saw crowds of passengers arriving at Wuhan station on Saturday, most wheeling suitcases alongside them. Some had managed to slip back into the city a day earlier on rail services that were stopping in the city — but nominally banned passengers from disembarking — as enforcement of the travel ban began to ease. One woman who arrived on Friday said she and her daughter had been away from her husband for nearly 10 weeks. "As the train neared Wuhan, my child and I were both very excited," the 36-year-old told AFP on Saturday. "It felt like the train was moving faster than before, and my daughter said the driver must know we really want to go home. "She rushed toward her father, and watching them from behind I couldn't help but cry," she added. Staff at Wuhan station were all clad in full protective gear with reception desks lined up ready to process returnees who had been overseas. China is now battling to control a wave of imported cases as infections soar abroad. As passengers lined up to exit the station Saturday — some wearing two face masks, gloves, face screens or full protective suits — a worker in a hazmat suit shouted for anyone returning from overseas to come forward. All arrivals in Wuhan have to show a green code on a mobile app to prove that they are healthy. Elsewhere in China long lines of travellers queued up at train stations to board high-speed services back to Wuhan. Passengers in Shanghai had their temperatures checked by staff in goggles and masks after boarding their Saturday morning service. Restrictions on residents heading out of Wuhan will not be lifted until April 8, when the airport will also reopen for domestic flights. Wuhan is the last area of Hubei province to see overland travel restrictions lifted, although some highways leading into the city had already reopened this week. Gao Xuesong, a worker in Wuhan's auto industry, arrived in the city Friday night. "It almost feels like returning to an alien land, because I haven't been back for more than two months," he told AFP. Zero Cases, Not Zero Risk The new coronavirus was detected in December and has been linked to a market in the city that sold wild animals for human consumption. Wuhan has paid a heavy price for the outbreak, with more than 50,000 people infected and more COVID-19 deaths than any other city in China. There were three more deaths in the city on Saturday, health officials reported. Wuhan initially struggled to contain the outbreak and AFP reporters saw long queues of sick patients at one overwhelmed city hospital in January. But numbers have fallen dramatically in recent weeks. Official figures show there have been fewer than 20 new cases across the province in the past fortnight. Most of Wuhan's subway network restarted on Saturday, while some shopping centres will open their doors next week. Banks reopened earlier this week and bus services resumed but residents have been warned against unnecessary travel and those over 65 have been told to avoid public transport. A study this week found the lockdown in Wuhan succeeded in stopping the fast-spreading virus in its tracks and gave health care facilities crucial breathing room — but warned against opening up the city too soon. More than 2,500 people are still hospitalised with the disease in Wuhan, including nearly 900 "severe" cases. Liu Dongru, of the Hubei Health Commission, said Friday that although parts of Wuhan had been reclassified as "low-risk" areas, work to control the virus needed to continue. "Zero reported cases does not equal zero risk," he said.

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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for a unified national response to the coronavirus threat, after coming under fire for downplaying the pandemic and allowing states to go their own way. Trump´s call came as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House was presenting a massive economic stimulus plan to Congress and was looking at sending direct payments to all Americans, as well as aid to embattled airlines. In a White House appearance that was striking for its mostly measured and sober tone, Trump praised the Democratic governors of New York and California and excoriated states that were not adhering to strict new guidelines on social distancing. "We are looking to save the maximum number of lives. Everything else is going to come back, but a life is not going to come back," Trump said. The number of US cases has surged to more than 5,600 with 94 deaths, according to a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University. Those figures seemed to be driving a sense of urgency as schools close their doors, businesses shift to teleworking and hospitals prepare to meet a wave of expected patients. Trump has been repeatedly accused of underplaying the pandemic, particularly in its early stages, in order to avoid spooking the markets. But he no longer appeared to be using that playbook and hailed a markedly improved feeling of bipartisanship. "It´s been a great thing to see...getting along with Democrats, getting along with Republicans," said Trump. "There´s been a lot of spirit with things happening that I haven´t seen in almost three and a half years." - Most Cases In New York - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday issued new guidelines to be followed for up to two weeks, advising against gatherings of more than 10 people and urging against visiting public spaces like restaurants or gyms.That led to criticism of public officials who had just days earlier called for people to go about their daily lives -- including Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and Californian congressman Devin Nunes, both Republicans. Democratic presidential primaries nevertheless went ahead Tuesday in three states -- Florida, Illinois and Arizona. A top coronavirus task force official, Deborah Birx, said: "We believe that every mayor and every governor should implement these guidelines that came from the White House and the President of the United States." Trump then chimed in: "And we´ve been very tough on those states, I know exactly who you´re talking about, we´ve been very tough on them," without naming names. And he praised Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California, saying of the former: "We´re both doing a really good job and we´re coordinating." The US epidemic had been centered on northwest Washington state, but new figures issued overnight now give New York state the highest number of cases with almost 1,400. Cuomo warned reporters Tuesday the epidemic may not peak for 45 days and said experts had told him the state would need to devote 55,000-110,000 hospital beds to the crisis, including tens of thousands in intensive care units. Asked his views on when the national epidemic was set to peak, Anthony Fauci, the head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, told reporters at the White House 45 days "is not unreasonable." "From our standpoint, from the federal government, we´re talking about a range," he added, saying the taskforce would evaluate if even more draconian measures were required in the next two weeks. And he called for young people to play their part by remaining at home even if they themselves were not particularly vulnerable to the illness. "You don´t want to put your loved ones at risk, particularly the ones who are elderly and the ones who have compromised conditions," he said. "We can´t do this without the young people cooperating, please cooperate." - ´Very Accurate´ - Trump´s administration is drawing up a massive emergency spending package while the Federal Reserve has opened the floodgates of financing to contain the growing economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. The president called for bipartisan support for rushing out immediate cash payments to American families. Trump did not specify a total for the stimulus package, but The Washington Post said it could amount to $850 billion. While Tuesday´s appearance by the president signaled a shift in rhetoric -- there was one area where he remained particularly combative, doubling down on referring to the pathogen as the "Chinese virus" despite objections from Beijing. "It did come from China, so I think it´s very accurate," he said, indicating it was payback for a Chinese disinformation campaign that called the virus a US bioweapon.

The Last of Us 2 has us wishing the rest of 2019 away since news of its delay until 2020, but from everything we've seen of the PlayStation exclusive, it will absolutely be worth the wait. Our hands-on with the game, a chance to see a new, deadlier Ellie in action, was a wild ride of emotions and brutal violence that promises The Last of Us 2 will pack the same emotional punch as the critically acclaimed The Last of Us did way back in 2013. Developer Naughty Dog has still be careful to keep the storyline under wraps, so while we know we'll get to see Ellie making a new life, and a love story, with a group of fellow survivors, there are still questions we need answers to. Where is Joel, so ominously absent from the hands-on or the trailers? Can Ellie's love interest survive the first few chapters? Who knows Ellie's secret? We'll have to wait until May 29, 2020 to find out, but The Last of Us 2 is shaping up to be a wonderful swan song for the PS4. Fast facts The Last of Us 2 release date: May 29, 2020. Formats: PS4, PS4 Pro Developer: Naughty Dog The Last of Us 2 Release Date The Last of Us 2 will now be released on PS4 and PS4 Pro on May 29, 2020. "I know," director Neil Druckmann wrote on a recent PlayStation blog announcing news of the delay. "It was just about a month ago when we had our big blowout for the game, letting media play over two hours of it along with debuting our new story trailer and revealing the release date... However, it was during the last few weeks, as we were closing out sections of the game, that we realized we simply didn’t have enough time to bring the entire game up to a level of polish we would call Naughty Dog quality." The Last of Us 2 Story Will Focus On Joel And Ellie. But Joel Is Still (Mostly) Missing We haven't seen Joel yet, but we (probably) know he's still around, as the latest E3 gameplay demo makes explicit reference to Ellie's "old man". Still, that doesn't name Joel explicitly, so there's still a chance his presence will be a psychological one rather than a literal one. Naughty Dog does love misdirecting its audience before its big games release. When discussing the possibility that the game might follow a new cast, director Neil Druckmann has stated that “The Last of Us is about these two characters specifically,” at last year's PlayStation Experience. “‘Part 2’ is saying this is going to be a larger story; it’s going to be a complementary story to the first game, but together, the two combined are going to tell this much larger tale.” So yes, Joel will be a major part of the story. We just don't yet know in what capacity. Joel's daughter, Sarah, was the driving force of the first game, and, well... Intriguingly, Joel's voice actor Troy Baker recently revealed at a Manchester Comic Con panel that "I don’t think Joel believes he’s a hero. If he was to lean anywhere I think that Joel would consider himself a villain, which is why he can say that he’s been on both sides." Either way, judging by Druckmann’s comments, this follow-up is going to be much more closely linked to its predecessor than many other triple-A sequels. Seeing as the last game ended on such a wonderfully ambiguous, quasi-cliffhanger, we expect The Last of Us 2 to deal with the lie Joel told Ellie during that emotional epilogue. *Spoilers below* Don’t forget, the weathered Texan smuggler basically doomed humanity to extinction when he stopped the Fireflies from performing a lethal operation on Ellie that could have produced a cure for the Cordyceps Brain Infection. Sure, he saved his surrogate daughter’s life, but he also went against her wishes; damning humanity to generations of scratching out an existence against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse. Whether or not Ellie bought Joel's lie is currently unknown, but what we do know is that she seems really, really angry - though not without humanity. In the game's first trailer, she states an intent to "Kill every last one of them" (whoever "them" might be), and the E3 2018 trailer intercuts moments of tender friendship and romance with extreme violence on a par with with the graphic horror of French New Extreme cinema. Whatever's going on, Ellie is in an interesting place. The Last of Us 2 Gameplay Shows Ellie Meting Out A Whole Lot Of Bloody Violence As of Sony's E3 2018 presentation, we've now, finally, had an intensive look at some The Last of Us 2 gameplay. And "intensive" is indeed the world. Very much taking its cues from the first game's meaty, improvisational, evasion-driven guerrilla combat, The Last of Us 2 looks to take a somewhat quicker, more nimble approach with Ellie as its protagonist - she can grab bottles and hurl them seamlessly at attackers without breaking a sprint, for instance, and her transitions between various types of cover and combat look a lot slicker than Joel's. That said, the level of graphic violence has clearly gone up. The Last of Us was no slouch when it came to uncomfortable gore, but the Last of Us 2 gameplay demo is on a whole other level. Following a tender scene of friendship and romance, we starkly cut to Ellie, knife already in a man's throat, gutting him like a fish. It only stays messy from there on out, the violence depicted as hovering somewhere between extravagantly graphic bloodletting and gritty, anatomically realistic unpleasantness. It's nasty, crunchy, choking, gurgling, and wheezing stuff throughout. Hopefully there's a reason for that. The first game was, after all, a violent game about violence, in which the unglamorous depiction of killing with repercussions formed a great deal of the point. With so little context for Ellie's actions so far, it's hard to know whether The Last of Us 2 is doing something clever here, or just trying to win a 'maturity' arms-race with itself. We'll probably only know for sure when we get hold of the final game. The Last of Us 2 Trailer Selection Is High On Mood And Threat, Low On Context We've actually now had a few different The Last of Us 2 trailers, yet still, somehow, we have very little idea of what's going on. The first was an ambient piece, reintroducing Joel and Ellie while giving very little detail of the scenario. The second was a sustained, grueling bout of violence, depicting a bunch of characters we don't know, but hinting at a far more tribalized society with at least one murderous cult in its midst. As of E3 2018 though, we have a proper, focused look at Ellie and her story, told through both cutscene and The Last of Us 2 gameplay. Though you probably watched it on the way to scrolling down here. No, we're still not sure what's going on either. The Last of Us 2 Takes Place In Seattle (Partly) A fiery scene links The Last of Us 2 to current Seattle landmarks. Fans had already worked this one out pretty well, but The Last of Us 2 director Neil Druckmann confirmed it at PlayStation Experience 2017: a "large part" of the game will take place in Seattle. The original began in Boston then went on a journey across the United States as far west as Salt Lake City. When we last saw Joel and Ellie, they'd headed back east a ways to Jackson County in Wyoming, planning to stay at the settlement led by Joel's brother Tommy. We don't know how long that arrangement lasted, but Ellie's clearly done more traveling since then. Still, that's just a "large part". It seems unlikely that The Last of Us 2 will remain rooted in the Pacific Northwest after how much roving the first game did. Maybe Ellie will make her way down the coast? We don't know if things are as bad on the western seaboard in terms of infection and military oppression. But it wouldn't be much of a survival story if Ellie just traipsed down to Portland and lived happily ever after. The Last of Us 2 Is Being Co-Written By One of Westworld`s Writers Gross is actually a talented Jack - should that be ‘Jill’(?) of all trades - having also acted in shows as diverse as Comedy Central’s Broad City to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. It’s not clear if Naughty Dog approached Gross following Westworld’s astronomical success, or if she’s been helping out on The Last of Us 2 for a while. Regardless, it’s super exciting to see a writer who’s penned scripts for the hottest show on the planet get involved with the story of The Last of Us 2. The Last of Us 2 is not co-directed by Bruce Straley After directing both The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 alongside Neil Druckmann, it’s been revealed that Bruce Straley won’t be co-directing The Last of Us Part 2. Considering his last two games are stone cold classics, it’s an undeniable bummer. Naughty Dog confirmed Straley won’t be involved with The Last of Us 2 in a statement to Kotaku, though the developer did hint he may be working on his own game (a new IP, perhaps?) when he returns to work: “Bruce recently decided to take some much deserved time off after shipping two critically acclaimed games in the last few years. He’s looking forward to returning to the studio soon and jumping back in on his next project.” Whether Druckmann will take on the dual roles of both creative director and game director on The Last of Us 2 is unclear. Perhaps Naughty Dog will bring in a new director to allow Neil to concentrate fully on ensuring this sequel’s script lives up to the impeccable standards set by the original. The Last of Us 2 soundtrack will feature the original game's composer Gustavo Santaolalla is the man. Specifically, a man who is very, VERY good at writing music. The Argentine composer won back-to-back Best Original Score Oscars for his work on Brokeback Mountain and Babel, before going on to conduct The Last of Us’ masterfully melancholic soundtrack. Druckmann recently confirmed Santaolalla is returning to compose the music for the Last of Us 2, especially notable as it’s the first time he’s returned for a sequel. “We’ve been talking about this project for a couple of years,” Druckmann admits at the PlayStation Experience. “He’s never done a sequel to anything he’s done. He’s so prolific and so good. He has these passion projects he just picks and chooses. He doesn’t care about the money. He started writing some new themes for us, and for this trailer you hear some new themes at the beginning, and a new rendition for the original theme at the end.” Buckle up, eardrums. If /that/ giraffe scene is anything to go by, The Last of Us 2 is going to be one of PS4’s most invigorating audio experiences… Update: Bruce Straley has since left Naughty Dog, so he definitely won't be joining back in on the company's future projects, either.

SHANGHAI:A new strain of virus spreading across China has claimed its first victim in Beijing, officials said on Tuesday, as the death toll climbed to 106, the United States warned citizens against trips to the country and financial markets again recoiled. As concern mounted about the impact of the coronavirus on the world’s second-biggest economy, health authorities reported a new surge in cases, while adding that all but six of the dead were from the central city of Wuhan. Although cases of the flu-like virus have appeared in more countries, with Sri Lanka and Cambodia the latest on the list, no fatalities have been reported outside China. Wuhan, a city of 11 million in Hubei province, where the virus emerged late last year, apparently in a market illegally selling wildlife, has been all but put under quarantine, with a lockdown on almost all transport and public gatherings. Tens of millions of others in Hubei live under some form of travel curbs, in a bid to stifle the virus before it can radiate out across China and beyond. Social media images showed residents of city apartment blocks plaintively chanting, “Wuhan, you can do it!” and singing the national anthem out of their windows. Tuesday’s toll of 106 was up from 81 the day before. The number of total confirmed cases in China surged to 4,515 as of Monday, from 2,835 the previous day, the National Health Commission said. Global stocks fell again as oil prices hit three-month lows, and China’s yuan currency dipped to its weakest level in 2020 as investors worried about damage to the economy from travel bans over the Lunar New Year holiday period, which China extended in a bid to keep people isolated at home. Analysts said China’s travel and tourism would be the hardest-hit sectors, together with retail and liquor sales, though healthcare and online shopping were seen as likely outperformers. ‘Full Confidence’ Officially known as “2019-nCoV”, the newly identified coronavirus can cause pneumonia, but it is too early to know just how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads. Some health experts question whether China can contain it. Chinese health officials say the incubation period could range from one to 14 days, and the virus is infectious during that time. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated an incubation period of two to 10 days. US President Donald Trump on Monday offered China whatever help it needed, while the State Department said Americans should reconsider visiting all of China due to the virus. Canada, which has two confirmed cases of the virus and is investigating 19 potential cases, warned its citizens to avoid travel to Hubei. Authorities in Hubei, home to nearly 60 million people, are coming under increasing criticism over what many see as a bungled initial response to the virus. In rare public self-criticism, Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang said on Monday the city’s management of the crisis was “not good enough” and indicated he was willing to resign. Premier Li Keqiang visited Wuhan on Monday to spur medical workers to step up the fight and to promise reinforcements. China’s ambassador to the United Nations, following a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said his government put “paramount importance” on the prevention and control of the epidemic and was working with the international community in a spirit of “openness, transparency and scientific coordination”. Guterres said the United Nations had full confidence in China’s ability to control the outbreak and stood ready to provide any support. Selling Pressure Communist Party-ruled China has been eager to seem open and transparent in its handling of the epidemic, after it was heavily criticised for efforts to cover up an epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that killed about 800 people globally in 2002-2003. SARS, which was also believed to have originated in a wildlife market, led to a 45% plunge in air passenger demand in Asia. The travel industry is more reliant on Chinese travelers now, and China’s share of the global economy has quadrupled. With Chinese markets shut for the holiday, investors were selling the offshore yuan and the Australian dollar as a proxy for risk. Oil was also under pressure as fears about the wider fallout grew. The US S&P 500 closed down nearly 1.6%. Echoing concern from South Korea on economic consequences, Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura warned that corporate profits and factory production might take a hit. China is Japan’s second-largest export destination and a huge market for its retailers, while Chinese make up 30% of all tourists visiting Japan. Some European tour operators canceled trips to China, while governments around the world worked to repatriate nationals.

Hollywood's directors handed World War I thriller 1917 their top annual prize Saturday, one of the final major award shows that typically spells success at next month's Oscars. The win makes British auteur Sam Mendes hot favorite for the best director Oscar — the Directors Guild of America Awards have correctly predicted the victor the past six years running. The movie, which follows two British soldiers on a perilous mission across no man's land, has already scooped the Golden Globe for best drama, and has 10 Oscar nominations. Mendes praised the work of fellow nominees Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood), Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) and Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit.) "To those who kick dirt on the grave of the movies — not so fast," he said, dedicating the win to his grandfather, whose life inspired the film. "I know it sounds a bit loopy but I did feel he was with us in a couple of occasions when I was struggling," said Mendes. Victory also boosts the film's frontrunner status for the best picture Academy Award. The win comes more than two decades after Mendes first received the DGA award for "American Beauty," a victory that led to Oscars wins for that film. Mendes told AFP his first win had been "frightening to be pitched into this sort of frenzy," adding: "I'm 20 years older and I'm probably a little less scared." The film's two lead actors paid tribute to Mendes. "He's a master of so many mediums... he's pretty much done it all," said George MacKay. "We'll be very excited to see what happens at the Oscars — I've never been before!" his co-star Dean-Charles Chapman told AFP. 'New Voices' A-list presenters at the glamorous downtown Los Angeles event Saturday included Al Pacino, Leonardo DiCaprio and Alfonso Cuaron, with Judd Apatow returning as host. Like the Oscars, the DGAs were criticized this year for excluding women from the top prize shortlist. DGA president Thomas Schlamme said the movie industry "still have a lot of work to do" on boosting diversity but pointed to the recently introduced first-time director category, featuring three women. Alma Har'el (Honey Boy) won the prize, praising fellow female nominees Mati Diop (Atlantics) and Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim) as "the future." The category means "new voices like us can be included and celebrated," said Har'el, voicing support for a campaign to assist new mothers in the movie industry. Around 50 Hollywood women including Amy Schumer, Amy Poehler and Greta Gerwig recently co-signed a letter stating women "are penalized for having children in a way that their male counterparts are not." 'Zeitgeist film' American Factory, a film about a US Rust Belt factory reopened by a Chinese billionaire, and which was produced by the Obamas, won best documentary. "When we started (the film), we didn't have President Trump even, let alone trade wars and the conflict with China," director Julia Reichert told AFP. "I think we're kind of a zeitgeist film." The DGAs also honor television — Bill Hader won for directing dark hitman comedy Barry, in which he also stars, while the limited series prize went to Chernobyl. Superhero series Watchmen won the drama prize, seeing off an all-HBO shortlist including the much-maligned final season of Game of Thrones. Although lower key than the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards, the DGAs are longer-running and offer prestigious recognition from 18,000 voters including top directors. "To be nominated alongside these absolute legends is very surreal for me," Waititi told AFP. "I am amongst the greats right now." The Oscars will be handed out in Hollywood on February 9.

To understand Oddworld: Soulstorm, you need to understand Oddworld’s history. You need to understand that Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, released in 1997, was meant to be the first part of a five-game series, each starring a brand new protagonist—and you need to understand that those plans immediately fell apart. First came success. With Oddysee a surprise hit, publisher GT Interactive demanded a sequel for the following Christmas. The result was 1998’s Abe’s Exoddus, a stopgap release. Still well-received at the time, it didn’t advance the core Oddworld storyline and was considered a “bonus” game by both developers and fans. Then came circumstance. Munch’s Oddysee, released in 2001, was considered the true successor to Abe’s Oddysee—the second part of the original five-part plan. But a late-stage deal to make it an Xbox-exclusive saw Munch’s Oddysee essentially rebuilt from scratch in simplified form, rushed to release alongside Microsoft’s console debut. Then came Stranger’s Wrath. A cult classic, the fourth Oddworld game strayed even further from the original five-part story and essentially used the universe as backdrop for a faux-Western. It also sold poorly at the time, after which Oddworld went dormant. Finally, came Lorne Lanning himself. He devised the original plan, all those years ago, and he can damn well blow it up if he wants to. “Abe’s back.” That’s how the latest Soulstorm trailer ends, and that’s the key to Lanning’s adapted vision. Soulstorm is a direct sequel to Abe’s Oddysee, or rather to the 2014 remake New ‘n’ Tasty, and it’s also (as the trailer puts it) “The all-new second episode of the Oddworld Quintology epic.” No more different-protagonist-for-every-game. Oddworld is, at least in this reimagined Quintology, the story of Abe, the unwitting slave who sparked a revolution almost by accident. Abe and Abe alone. Sorry, Munch. “But wait, Abe’s Oddysee already has a sequel. You mentioned it up top.” True enough, and Soulstorm incorporates aspects of Abe’s Exoddus. Both Exoddus and Soulstorm revolve around Soulstorm Brew, an energy drink that keeps consumers stupid and complacent and which becomes the latest target of Abe’s growing insurrection as he liberates those involved in (quite literally) making it. Soulstorm is not a New ‘n’ Tasty-style remake though. It’s not elevating Exoddus from a so-called “bonus” game to a core part of the series. It’s, at least to hear Lanning tell it, grander and more ambitious than that, lifting elements of the original Quintology plan but refocusing them around Abe. It’s also an evolution of the classic 2.5-dimension Oddworld mechanics, a fact that’s immediately clear when Lanning starts the demo. “Everything you can see in a level becomes playable, even if it’s way back in the distance,” says Lanning, as we start trudging through a familiar Oddworld factory landscape. And there’s a lot in the distance. Lanning calls it 2.9-D, this sensation of added depth in Soulstorm. The factory stretches back four or five discrete layers, with workers patrolling and machinery clanking around. It’s all real, stored in memory and rendered in real-time, and Abe will eventually enter these areas as he progresses through the level. It’s impressive. It doesn’t change the way Soulstorm plays really, with each area somewhat self-contained. But it’s cool to see them all laid out at the start, and to get a preview of what’s to come later on. Which is not to say Soulstorm plays like Oddysee. Quite the opposite, really. “We built something we refer to as a scavenger’s economy,” says Lanning, as Abe roots around in a trash can. “He can take what he can buy—Brew, Fizzy Pops, Bubblegum, Lighters—and craft them a la Anarchist’s Cookbook with the collectibles he’s finding, so it’s really more in the revolutionary spirit.” Yes, crafting. And weapons. The system seems remarkably robust, with Lanning showing off at least two-dozen different variants during my demo. Items can be used as-is, so Abe can throw a jawbreaker at a guard to knock him out—or he can wrap one in rubber bands first so it bounces off walls. A fire extinguisher is self-explanatory, but combining an extinguisher with Brew, a lighter, a battery, and a wire will create a flamethrower, for the opposite effect. These ideas aren’t new per se, but they’re new to Oddworld, in part because most of them became trendy after the series disappeared. Right now the system seems a bit finicky, a bit heavy on micro-managing multiple resources, but it’s still an interesting direction for the series now that the platforming challenges in Oddysee and Exoddus don’t seem like enough to keep people interested. “We wanted to shift out of the super-tight twitch puzzles, like get underneath these blades that will kill you, and get more to the point where the puzzle is keeping everyone alive,” says Lanning. And on that note, the people Abe liberates are a lot more hands-on this time around as well. “Traditionally your followers were beasts of burden. In this case, we wanted you to feel like you had delicate characters in a dangerous world. Then you can empower them, so you become this dangerous gang.” Anything you can craft, you can give to your followers. The result is emergent chaos, as I witnessed multiple times in the demo. Lanning was fond of giving his followers flamethrowers and molotov cocktails, which as you might expect ended up with a whole lot of stuff on fire—enemies and friends alike. A helpful tip: You can give your followers bottles of water, and they’ll try to extinguish any crispy friends with it. In classic Oddworld tradition, your method of approach also influences how the story plays out. “You can get through the whole game without killing anybody. Not even the bad guys,” says Lanning, “Or you can kill everyone, even the guys you’re supposed to be rescuing, which leads to very different dark or light endings.” Though it’s also tradition for Oddworld to consider the light ending canon. “We’re not doing the Peter Molyneux thing, like ‘What if I go dark?’” says Lanning. “We want you to go light.” Something to keep in mind for an eventual Quintology, Part Three. Bottom Line Soulstorm will be divisive I bet, especially to longtime fans who’ve waited nearly two decades for the third entry (reputedly Squeek’s Oddysee) in the original Quintology. I think it’s the right move though. I admittedly haven’t seen much of Soulstorm’s story yet, but was shown the nearly-ten-minute movie that opens the game. It hints at the character growth Abe will go through, from naive and reluctant hero to battle-hardened veteran. That tease alone already pushes the overarching plot forward more than Munch’s Oddysee did. And that’s ultimately what I want, if the alternative is the story left unresolved. I voiced similar concerns with Darksiders III last year, a series which planned a similarly ambitious series of interconnected games—the first four taking place concurrently, the fifth tying the plot together. And while I loved that idea when the first two games released, six years and the near-death of the series made it seem foolhardy to stick to that plan when Darksiders III released. What if we never get a fourth? Or a fifth? With nine years between Stranger’s Wrath and New ‘n’ Tasty—and nearly twenty between Munch’s Oddysee and a proper Oddworld sequel—perhaps a bit of focus is precisely what’s needed. Look for Oddworld: Soulstorm to release in early 2020, provided everything goes to plan from here on out.

WUHAN: The Chinese army deployed medical specialists Saturday to the epicentre of a spiralling viral outbreak that has already killed 41 people and spread around the world, as millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown. The country's most important celebration has been all-but cancelled for people in a dozen cities who have been ordered to hunker down. On Saturday, when they should have been celebrating, citizens of Wuhan stood in line at a pharmacy to buy masks from employees in full-body protective suits and surgical gloves. China has launched a massive quarantine effort across much of Hubei province, affecting more than 40 million people. On the eastern outskirts of Wuhan — Hubei's capital and the original source of the previously unknown 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) — police manning a roadblock turned away a handful of vehicles trying to escape the city. "Nobody can leave," an officer told AFP. But the respiratory contagion continues to spread. The nationwide death toll has now jumped to 41, the government said Saturday, after 15 more people died in Wuhan. Confirmed cases of infection nationwide also surged, to 1,287, up from 830 reported 24 hours earlier. Most of the deaths and overall cases have been in Hubei. In a dramatic escalation of the central government's involvement, China deployed 450 military medical staff to Wuhan, state media said. The medics, who arrived on military aircraft late Friday, include doctors with experience combating SARS or Ebola, and will be dispatched to hospitals that are reportedly short on beds due to a crush of infected patients and worried locals. Protect Yourself "Everyone is just trying to protect themselves," said a man in a surgical mask at a store where customers were stocking up on protective gear. But the man, who declined to give his name, expressed confidence in Chinese authorities. "The government is in control of this. It's not a problem." The virus has caused global concern because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003 and spread to a number of other countries. It has now been reported nationwide and in a dozen other countries, with France on Friday saying three cases had been confirmed there — the first known infections in Europe. Australia and Malaysia on Saturday became the latest countries to confirm infections. Beijing's Forbidden City, Shanghai Disneyland, and a section of the Great Wall are among many attractions that have closed until the coast is clear. "Usually we celebrate as a family. Now, because of the virus I'm not even visiting my parents," said Wang Fang, a 49-year-old Wuhan native. "It'll be great just to be able to make it through (the outbreak)." Trump Praise China's aggressive response has won praise internationally, especially compared to its handling of SARS, when it was accused of a sluggish response and stonewalling the international community. "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus," US President Donald Trump tweeted, hours after the United States confirmed its second case. "The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency," he added. "It will all work out well." The virus has struck at a bad time for containment, with hundreds of millions of Chinese rushing home for the festival. The timing could limit the economic impact, however, since much of China normally shuts down anyway during the week-long break. The outbreak emerged in late December and has been traced to a Wuhan seafood and live animal market that sold a vast range of exotic animals and other bushmeat. The World Health Organisation on Thursday stopped short of declaring a global health emergency, which would have prompted greater international cooperation, including possible trade and travel restrictions. Wuhan, however, now resembles a ghost town due to the clampdown, but hospitals bustled with worried patients being screened by staff wearing full-body protective suits. Wuhan's Guiyuan Temple is normally thronged for the Lunar New Year with tens of thousands of devotees paying respects to a deity associated with wealth.