Army advances as it seek to recapture Khartoum
Army advances as it seek to recapture Khartoum
Residents of Sudan’s capital Khartoum say the army has recaptured large parts of the city from RSF paramilitaries, marking its biggest victory in a year.
“Shrapnel and stray ammunition are falling on my neighbourhood,” a doctor we are calling Mustafa tells the BBC. “The clashes these days are heavy”.
Key sites recaptured by the army this week include the mint – where money is printed.
At the time of writing, the RSF still controls most of Khartoum proper. Whereas the army now holds the majority of territory across the wider tripartite capital – meaning Omdurman, Bahri and Khartoum.
But, after winning back near total control of the crucial state of Gezira, the army believes it now has the momentum to take the capital too, and break the RSF’s almost two-year siege.
“Very soon there will be no rebels in Khartoum,” announced army leader and de facto ruler Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Tuesday.
An end to this conflict cannot come fast enough.
Aid workers say people are starving across the country as a result of the war – in Khartoum alone more than 100,000 people are suffering from famine, according to UN-backed researchers.
Since war broke out almost two years ago between Gen Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo who leads the RSF, 12 million people have been forced from their homes and tens of thousands of civilians have been butchered.
Sudan is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, agree international aid agencies.
They say both the army and the RSF are guilty of committing some of the gravest atrocities imaginable against innocent civilians, including that the RSF has carried out a genocide in Darfur.
Both forces deny the accusations.
The army has been jubilantly welcomed by many inhabitants of the areas it has recently recaptured, as the RSF has been widely accused of killing and raping civilians in Khartoum, as well as looting the homes of the many residents who have fled the city.
Reports of the army’s advance have been dismissed by the RSF as “lies and rumours”. They have made similar denials ahead of every retreat in recent weeks.
Analysts say the army’s recent successes have been the result of enlisting more fighters and buying more weaponry. Winning back the besieged army headquarters was also a huge boon earlier this month.
The army’s expulsion of the paramilitary group from the central city of Wad Madani in January was marred by allegations of summary executions and arbitrary retribution attacks on those perceived to be RSF informants or collaborators.
This will no doubt raise fears among some Khartoum residents that the same fate awaits them.
“When you open social media and you see all the killing, if you’ve committed something wrong you must be worried,” Mustafa told the BBC.
“Some of them led fighters to people’s homes. Others joined [the RSF] and stole property, terrorised people – even held women against their will [as sex slaves]. They did horrible things.
“Are they terrified of what is to come? Of course.”
But sometimes there is a fine line between being seen as a collaborator, and the reality of survival in war.
“I am worried for my cousin,” says Amir, who lives in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, which lies just across the River Nile.
“He is not a collaborator or an informant – he often has to deal with these people [the RSF] because he’s looking after his mother and his kids. Will he be slaughtered [by the army] or will he be left alone?”
For now, as the army approaches and Sudan’s future hands in the balance, all that Mustafa and Amir can do is wait.
Some names have been changed in this report for reasons of safety
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Big Helmet Heroes Review (Xbox Series X) – The Silly Co-op Adventure | The Outerhaven
Big Helmet Heroes Review (Xbox Series X) – The Silly Co-op Adventure | The Outerhaven
Michael Kitchin writes, “Big Helmet Heroes provides a lengthy and varied campaign to brawl through. It does feel disjointed with levels not quite flowing together and the combat is light on depth. It’s a forgiving game with a presentation that probably suits younger players. As such, I find it competent without feeling very memorable.”
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Why are energy bills going up, if there is more green power?
Why are energy bills going up, if there is more green power?
Mark Poynting & Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify
PA
The Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is standing by the government’s pledge to bring down household energy bills by “up to £300 by 2030”.
Energy bills went up in January and are expected to rise again in April and Miliband has faced repeated questions about whether that pre-election promise is deliverable.
He has blamed fossil fuel prices for the rises and says the answer is clean, home-grown power: “the cheapest forms of power are… solar, offshore wind and onshore wind”.
The government wants to remove nearly all fossil fuels from *** electricity production by 2030.
More power is coming from renewable sources than ever before, so why isn’t this translating into cheaper household bills?
There are a number of reasons, including the time and money it takes to make the power system greener, the question of who pays and the way the electricity market is set up.
How do *** prices compare with other countries?
The ***’s electricity is expensive.
Compared with countries in the European Union, *** domestic electricity prices ranked fourth highest in the first half of 2024 – the most recent government data.
This is for consumers with medium usage, including taxes and subsidies.
For industrial electricity, the *** had the highest prices – for medium users – over the same *******.
The *** has much higher electricity prices – both domestic and industrial – than other large economies outside Europe, such as the US and Canada.
The largest, and most variable, component of a *** customer’s electricity bill is the “wholesale” price. This is the cost at which suppliers buy it from the companies that generate it.
Other parts of the bill include “network” costs for operating, maintaining and upgrading the power grid, and “policy” costs, which include government levies to help fund environmental projects.
The main reason for the spikes in electricity bills over the past few years has been changes to wholesale costs. This is linked to an increase in international gas prices.
How is the price set?
The price for wholesale electricity is set by a bidding process, with each generating company saying what it would be willing to accept to produce a unit of electricity.
Once built, the cost of generating power from renewables is very low, so these typically come in with the cheapest bid. Nuclear might come next.
Gas generators often have the highest costs, because they have to buy gas to burn, as well as paying a “carbon price” – a charge for emissions.
The wholesale cost is set by the last unit of electricity needed to meet demand from consumers. This means that even if gas only generates 1% of power at a given time, gas will still set the wholesale price.
In Great Britain, this generally happens more often than its European counterparts, where demand can be met more often without relying on gas.
“The main reason why electricity prices are currently high is because the cost of gas – which is what sets the electricity price – is also high,” said a spokesperson from the Climate Change Committee, the government’s independent adviser on cutting emissions.
How cheap is renewable energy?
Renewables can generate electricity cheaply.
But building a wind farm on land – and particularly out at sea – comes with high up-front costs and the planning process is often lengthy.
The government needs to triple wind and solar capacity and to get developers to build this, it needs to provide certainty that they will get a return on their investment.
It does this by agreeing a fixed price – or strike price – that they will be paid for each unit of electricity they generate for 15 years into the future.
If the wholesale price is below this fixed price, the renewable generator gets paid a top up by a government-owned company; if the wholesale price is above the strike price, the generator pays the difference back.
Any costs or savings are then passed onto consumers via bills.
Strike prices were expensive, but have fallen considerably, apart from a small rise from 2022-24 linked to global supply chain pressures.
As more renewables are connected – and operational improvements mean the grid can be safely run on this type of power – there should be more times when gas is not setting the wholesale price.
“There are in practice very few hours at the moment in which gas does not set the price despite being a ********* of the overall generation,” said Adam Berman, director of policy at Energy ***, the trade association for the energy industry.
“The more that you are able to have a renewable infrastructure that can deliver electricity at any hour of the day and in any circumstance, the more you are able to move away from gas setting the price.”
What about extra costs?
The *** has an ageing electricity grid, which needs upgrading, partly to accommodate new renewable power sources. There are times when wind power is actually paid not to generate, because the grid cannot handle all the electricity that it could produce.
This adds to the network costs in a bill.
Intermittent renewable sources also require backup for when it’s not windy or sunny. In the short term, this role will be largely filled by gas, but eventually it could be met by storing renewable energy in batteries or by hydrogen power.
Great Britain’s island location means it is more expensive than in continental Europe to build interconnectors – cables to connect electricity systems of neighbouring countries – to help meet periods of low output.
Some analysts have also argued that placing extra social and environmental taxes on electricity bills – rather than gas bills or general taxation – makes electricity artificially expensive.
What is being done?
The government is reviewing the structure of the electricity market, alongside its push for clean power through renewables and nuclear.
In the long term, renewables “will be bringing down overall energy bills, and specifically electricity bills, for the ***,” argues Dr Iain Staffell of Imperial College London.
But savings in the short term are not guaranteed. A faster rollout of renewables could mean upfront costs – for things like upgrading the grid – being passed onto consumers more quickly.
Some analysts have also expressed concern that a rush to secure enough renewables to meet the 2030 goal could mean less competitive “strike prices”, locking in higher costs.
“If you think 10-15 years down the line, you are likely to see the cost for technologies like offshore wind decrease further… but potentially the rush to have to do this in the next couple of years means that you have to lock in a lot of these projects now to make sure that it can deliver [for 2030],” said Pranav Menon, research associate at the Aurora Energy Research think tank.
“That does mean that you are going to push up against stretched supply chains, which could mean that cost to procure that [extra capacity] increases.”
But a rapid roll-out of renewables would also reduce the ***’s dependence on gas – the main cause of the price spike of the past few years – and so there could be benefits sooner if gas prices remain high.
We have asked the government if it is still confident about the £300 fall in bills but have not yet heard back.
Additional reporting by Chris Jeavans and Becky Dale
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Mutant Football League 2 Predicts Super Bowl Score… Sort Of
Mutant Football League 2 Predicts Super Bowl Score… Sort Of
With Super Bowl LIX on Sunday with the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, taking on the Philadelphia Eagles, all eyes are on New Orleans, with every sportsbook ready and waiting. There have already been some Madden 25 simulations from excited fans, but Mutant Football League wanted to take a stab at trying to predict the outcome.
While sadly the Superdome won’t have death traps and allow powerbombs, Mutant Football League 2 has players covered. The simulation pitted the Karcass City Creeps against the Killadelphia Evils, with the Creeps taking the win. You can check the highlights below.
“In one of the bloodiest, most bone-crunching Mayhem Bowls to ever take place over, the Karcass City Creeps, led by future Hall of Maim quarterback, Hatrick Myhomies, beat the Wailen Hurtz lead Killadelphia Evils in a game that bled into overtime,” the company said via press release.
“The game gave millions of viewers around the world a hefty dose of deja vu as the Creeps came from behind to [take the win] just as they did two years ago (In fact, we’re not sure they actually played a new game, because we were seeing babies pitching eTrade and we’re pretty sure that already happened). And just like in the first match-up of these two great franchises, late questionable calls by the refs helped pave the way to a Karcass City victory.”
You can watch the full Mayhem Bowl LIX simulation here, if you want to kill time in your lunch break.
Looking at Madden’s official simulations over the past 12 years, the game has predicted the correct outcome about half the time. EA got off to a solid start by accurately predicting the Super Bowl winners four straight years, from Super Bowl 38 to Super Bowl 41. However since then, the simulation never got it right for more than two years in a row, though it also never got it wrong for more than two straight years.
Mutant Football League 2 is available now on Xbox Game Preview as well as on Steam.
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Intel Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake CPU specs break cover — leak suggests up to 16 CPU cores and 180 total AI TOPS
Intel Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake CPU specs break cover — leak suggests up to 16 CPU cores and 180 total AI TOPS
In a flurry of tweets detailing Intel’s upcoming processors, avid hardware leaker Jaykihn has shared specifications for Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake. Arriving in H2 this year, Panther Lake is the successor to Arrow Lake-H, which launched at this CES. Meanwhile, Wildcat Lake is rumored to power Intel’s next-gen N-series chips, designed for lightweight laptops and mini-PCs.
Lunar Lake, crowned with the fastest integrated GPU per our testing, is a one-off design, as integrating memory directly into the CPU die has proven too costly for Intel to standardize. With no direct successor to Lunar Lake, Panther Lake follows Arrow Lake in less than one year, built using Intel’s flagship 18A process technology.
Wildcat Lake has remained chiefly undercover, apart from a few design tools that surfaced at NBD. The same leaker claims it is designed for low-power and low-cost Chromebooks, mini-PCs, and embedded devices, and it succeeds the Alder Lake-N series.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
CPU Codename
Core Configuration
Xe Cores
PCIe 5.0 Lanes
PCIe 4.0 Lanes
Thunderbolt 4 Ports
Memory Support
AI TOPS (CPU+NPU+iGPU)
Panther Lake
16 Cores (4P + 8E + 4LPE)
12
x4
x8
4
LPDDR5X-7467/8533
180 TOPS (10+50+120)
Panther Lake
16 Cores (4P + 8E + 4LPE)
4
x12
x8
4
LPDDR5X-7467/8533, DDR5-7200
100 TOPS (10+50+40)
Panther Lake
8 Cores (4P + 0E + 4LPE)
4
x4
x8
4
LPDDR5X-6800, DDR5-6400
100 TOPS (10+50+40)
Wildcat Lake
6 Cores (2P + 0E + 4LPE)
2
N/A
x6
2
LPDDR5X-6800, DDR5-6400
40 TOPS (4+18+18)
There have been rumors of an 18-core counterpart of Panther Lake, though the exact specifications of these SKUs haven’t been confirmed, per Jaykihn. Nonetheless, as reflected in the table below, the leaker has relayed details of three finalized Panther Lake variants. The top-end Panther Lake configuration boasts 16 CPU cores, likely based on Cougar Cove and Darkmont, alongside 12 Xe3 (Celestial) GPU cores. The second variant has fewer Xe3 cores but more PCIe 5.0 lanes, likely for a dedicated GPU. The third and last configuration features no E-cores, sticking to a 4P + 4LPE design.
Wildcat Lake seemingly only has one variation with six cores (2P + 4LPE), presumably using the exact Cougar Cove and Darkmont cores as Panther Lake. However, the Compute Tile will likely only house the two P-cores, while the LPE-cores are expected to reside in the SoC Tile. On the other hand, 40 AI TOPS could make for some fascinating use cases of these processors in edge and mobile machine learning applications.
Some SKUs may use LPCAMM, which offers fast and upgradable memory simultaneously. We don’t have an expected release timeframe for Wildcat Lake, but early 2026 or even late 2025 may be potential candidates.
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Fowler’s Man City and Kerr’s Chelsea set for four epics
Fowler’s Man City and Kerr’s Chelsea set for four epics
Mary Fowler, fresh from shooting Manchester City towards a League Cup final meeting with Chelsea, has now learned she’ll also be facing the English champs in the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals.
Fowler scored two terrific goals in the semi-final 2-1 win at Arsenal on Thursday night that earned City a spot in the League Cup final against Sam Kerr’s Blues to be played in Derby on Saturday, March 15.
But Friday’s Champions League draw has now also pitted the two English Women’s Super League clubs against each other just three – or four – days later in the first leg of the last-eight tie in Manchester.
Indeed, runaway leaders Chelsea and City are now poised to face each other four times in just two weeks as they’ll also be squaring off in the WSL in March.
There was plenty of other interest involving *********** players and management in the draw too, as Arsenal, with their three Matildas, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord, were drawn to play Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Olympique Lyonnais, the record eight-time winners of the competition who are now on a brilliant run under *********** manager Joe Montemurro, will face Bayern Munich, with Lyon’s Ellie Carpenter seeking a third winner’s medal.
Holders Barcelona, winners of three of the last four Champions League finals, will face Wolfsburg in what will be a repeat of the 2023 climax, when Barca famously battled back from 2-0 down to win 3-2.
The semi-final draw was made too on Friday, with Barcelona or Wolfsburg facing the winner of the all-English tie between City and Chelsea, while Real or Arsenal will face either Bayern or Lyon.
The first leg of the quarter-finals will be played on March 18-19, followed by the second legs on March 26-27. The semi-final will be held on April 19-20 and April 26-27, with the final to be staged on May 24 in Lisbon.
WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINALS
Real Madrid v Arsenal
Manchester City v Chelsea
Wolfsburg v Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Olympique Lyonnais
WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINALS
Wolfsburg/Barcelona v Man City/Chelsea
Real Madrid/Arsenal v Bayern/Lyon
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Civilization 7 Players Hear Coughing In Game Music, But No One’s Choking
Civilization 7 Players Hear Coughing In Game Music, But No One’s Choking
Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 is finally in the hands of players who paid for early access, and one of the 4X strategy game’s weirder bugs has already been discovered. During Age transitions, players can hear weird noises, some of which sound like coughing, when picking a new civilization to play as.
One of the biggest changes Civilization 7 makes to the series’ core formula is that playthroughs are split into three Ages. Players pick a new civilization to control at the start of each new Age. A piece of music plays in the background as players do this, but fans quickly started hearing weird audio as they did this and discussed their findings on Reddit. There was speculation that some unintentional sounds made their way into the orchestral music track already, but the Civilization 7 support website revealed the actual issue.
“During an Age Transition, players might hear strange noises. This is likely due to the audio from the Main Menu being played over Age Transition screens,” a support page explains. “This means you may hear short voice lines, shuffling around, and general idle noises while on the Age Transition menu.”
Essentially, players hear the Leaders’ idle voice lines and actions that typically play on Civilization VII’s main menu screen while they’re mid-playthrough. Currently, 2K and Firaxis have not outlined any clear way to resolve this issue. They’re aware of the issue and have already committed to thorough post-launch support for Civilization 7, so hopefully, a fix isn’t too far off.
Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 will get a wide release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on February 11. You can play now if you purchase the more expensive Deluxe or Founder’s editions of the game.
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Los Angeles sheriff deputy found guilty of excessive force in arrest of woman caught on video
Los Angeles sheriff deputy found guilty of excessive force in arrest of woman caught on video
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who was recorded violently tackling and pepper-spraying a woman while she filmed a man being handcuffed was found guilty of excessive force Thursday, according to federal prosecutors.
Trevor James Kirk, 32, of Santa Clarita, went on trial after being charged with one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law in the assault of the woman outside a supermarket in Lancaster in June 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Kirk’s lawyers did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
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Deputies went to the supermarket after receiving reports of robbers at the grocery store in Lancaster, 72 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of Los Angeles. The couple, whose names were not released, reportedly matched the descriptions of the robbers, the sheriff’s department said.
Body-cam video released by the sheriff’s department shows the man sitting on a large rock on June 24, 2023, outside the store and holding a cake before deputies handcuff him as the woman stands a few feet away filming the encounter.
Kirk tried to grab her phone, but when the woman turned away, he threw her face-first to the ground, according to prosecutors. A bystander caught the arrest on cellphone footage.
The woman’s arrest followed several cases that have drawn scrutiny to the department amid allegations of excessive use of force by its deputies. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Thursday that Kirk has been relieved of duty without pay.
“These actions are completely contrary to the values and standards upheld by the Sheriff’s Department. Law enforcement officers not only take an oath to uphold the law but are held to the highest standards of accountability and integrity. No deputy is above the law and any abuse of power which violates the public’s trust will not be tolerated.”
Kirk faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on April 21.
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Magic: The Gathering Film and TV Universe Announced
Magic: The Gathering Film and TV Universe Announced
Hasbro has partnered with Legendary Entertainment to create a Magic: The Gathering live-action film and TV universe.
According to a report by Deadline (via Eurogamer), Hasbro and Legendary Entertainment will first work on a Magic: The Gathering film, followed by a TV series and other content. Legendary Entertainment has extensive experience in adaptations, with movies like Dune, Detective Pikachu, and more under its belt. It is also currently working on several video game adaptations, such as the Minecraft movie and Street Fighter film.
Zev Foreman, Hasbro Entertainment’s Head of Film, has called the partnership with Legendary Entertainment “exciting and complementary”. As the franchise has “inspired decades of epic world-building and creative storytelling”, Foreman believes that Magic the Gathering’s film and TV universe will be “a perfect match for Legendary’s diversified approach to marquee IP”.
Mary Parent, Legendary’s Chairman of Worldwide Production, stated that the company prides itself “on being thoughtful caretakers of singular, beloved IP”, and Hasbro’s highly popular trading card game matches that description. Hasbro and Legendary Entertainment wish to create a Magic: The Gathering “multimedia universe that thrills longstanding fans and creates a broad wave of new ones.”
Magic: The Gathering is the world’s first trading card game, released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. By February 2023, it had gathered a staggering 50 million players and generated more than $1 billion annually since 2022. Magic: The Gathering is known for being highly strategic and customisable in gameplay, which suits all types of players. The game has received decades of expansions and collaborations with franchises like Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and more. A partnership with Final Fantasy is coming this year, too.
In other news, Take-Two Interactive reconfirmed GTA 6 is launching in Fall 2025. Also, Project Arc has been renamed to PUBG: Blindspot. Will Magic: The Gathering film and TV universe become the new MCU? Let us know in the comments or on our new community forum!
For more information from Insider Gaming, read about the 20 free Prime Gaming titles for February 2025. Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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Secure software procurement in 2025: A call for accountability
Secure software procurement in 2025: A call for accountability
The software security landscape is at an interesting juncture. As Jen Easterly, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), pointed out, there is a lesson to be drawn from the automotive industry of the 1960s. Its approach to improving car safety by building better designs – including seatbelts, crumple zones, and reinforced frames – proved far more effective at saving lives than responding to accidents after they occurred.
Software providers need to take the same approach and deliver secure solutions by design, moving from reactive risk management to taking proactive accountability for tackling escalating cyber threats. That will require a clear understanding of the fragmented and overlapping nature of many of the industry standards, adopting innovative tools like Cyber Protection Level Agreements (CPLAs), and ensuring through-life service management.
Fragmented and overlapping standards
There have been a rapid expansion in the number of security frameworks across the world in recent years, including ISO 27001 (including ISO/IEC27034), NIST, OWASP, and the EU Cyber Resilience Act. Many organisations, often driven by regulatory, client or customer pressures, have tried to follow these standards. However, for those operating across multiple geographic jurisdictions, these overlapping and, at times, conflicting standards make it difficult to comply. When it comes to software procurement, many CISOs are struggling with supplier evaluation and worried about the likelihood of gaps in security.
Without a unified approach to standards, organisations risk exposure to vulnerabilities that exploit gaps. Supply chain attacks, like the SolarWinds Sunburst breach or the CrowdStrike software update incident, are reminders of what’s at stake: operational disruption, legal action, and damage to stakeholder trust. More consistent standards would not only mitigate these risks but simplify compliance.
What are CPLAs?
CPLAs offer a practical solution by formalising suppliers’ security commitments within procurement contracts. They provide a way to ensure that secure software suppliers are thinking about compliance with the many cyber security standards both current and future. Modelled on Service Level Agreements (SLAs), CPLAs define measurable standards, such as vulnerability assessments, patching timelines, and incident reporting protocols to create clear and enforceable obligations.
Ambiguity in supplier commitments often leads to preventable risks, but by specifying requirements drawn from the applicable standards and regulation, CPLAs create accountability. This prevents suppliers from cutting corners and ensures a consistent level of protection.
CPLAs should specify:
Time-to-patch guarantees: Critical vulnerabilities patched within 72 hours.
Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) transparency: Full disclosure of software components, including third-party libraries.
Incident response KPIs: Defined recovery time objectives and reporting obligations for breaches.
Lifecycle commitments: Ongoing updates and end-of-life transition plans.
By setting out clear, enforceable targets for their suppliers, organisations should see reductions in downtime, minimised attack vectors, and fewer incidents.
Through-life service management
Secure software procurement requires ongoing management. This can be achieved with through-life service management, which includes regular audits, vulnerability monitoring, and clearly defined end-of-life plans to manage security from acquisition to decommissioning. Without through-life management, organisations risk inheriting unsupported or insecure software, leading to operational vulnerabilities and escalating costs.
Building accountability into secure software procurement
These risks underline the need to embed security into procurement and make sure it is seen as a continuous process, not a one-off task. This starts by aligning procurement with long-term security goals and requiring vendors to demonstrate secure-by-design principles. CPLAs should be integrated into contracts and vendors’ SBOMs and secure development practices evaluated as part of the process.
At the point of service transition, software must be validated through rigorous testing, such as penetration tests. Once the service is then in operation, there needs to be monitoring of performance against CPLA metrics. All this should be accompanied by a focus on continual service improvement to leverage incident reviews to learn lessons for future contracts.
Embedding these principles puts organisations in a stronger position when negotiating with suppliers.
Leveraging AI to consolidate standards
Artificial intelligence (AI) can also play a pivotal role in navigating this fragmented security landscape. Current processes for assessing and harmonising standards are manual, inconsistent, and error prone. AI tools equipped with natural language processing can map overlaps between standards, creating unified requirements that are traceable to the original frameworks, saving time for procurement teams. Emerging real-time compliance monitoring tools have the potential to enforce security obligations automatically, reducing human error and increasing efficiency.
Collaboration: A path to harmonised standards
While CPLAs and AI tools offer internal solutions, systemic change requires collaboration. Buyer consortia and regulatory alignment, as seen with the EU Cyber Resilience Act, can establish universal security baselines.
This kind of collaboration reduces duplication, streamlines compliance, and lowers costs for suppliers and buyers alike. Universal standards create a level playing field, making it easier for organisations to identify secure and reliable vendors.
Next steps for CISOs and procurement leaders: Conclusion
Secure software procurement in 2025 is vital. By unifying fragmented standards, enforcing supplier accountability through CPLAs, and adopting through-life service management, organisations can mitigate risks and improve resilience. The stakes are high, but so are the opportunities. Acting decisively now can protect organisations from cyber threats and reshape the software industry into one that prioritises security as much as innovation.
Robert Campbell, is a cyber security expert at PA Consulting
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This fintech could be about to pop, but this trade is not for the faint of heart, says Carter Worth
This fintech could be about to pop, but this trade is not for the faint of heart, says Carter Worth
(Check out Carter’s worthcharting.com for actionable recommendations and live nightly videos.) Lending platform software company, in the consumer finance space, Upstart Holdings (UPST) is due to report earnings this coming Tuesday. The stock gapped up 39.51% and 46.02% in response to earnings the last two quarters, respectively. We are buyers here for a prospective pop. See how volatile the stock is post-earnings: This is a very straightforward trade and it is not for the faint of heart. DISCLOSURES: (None) All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL’S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. Click here for the full disclaimer.
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****** Names 3 Hostages To Be Released in Next Cease-Fire Exchange
****** Names 3 Hostages To Be Released in Next Cease-Fire Exchange
Feb. 7, 2025
****** on Friday announced the names of three Israeli hostages it said it would release this weekend in exchange for ************ prisoners, the latest in a tense series of steps outlined in a cease-fire deal with Israel that has now held for nearly three weeks.
Abu Obeida, the spokesman for ******’s armed wing, identified the three men as Eli Sharabi, 52; Or Levy, 34; and Ohad Ben-Ami, 56. All three men were abducted during the ******-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war in Gaza.
****** published the three names later than anticipated , raising concerns that the agreement had hit a roadblock. By Friday evening, Israeli government officials said they had received the list and informed the men’s families.
Since the cease-fire went into effect, it has been buffeted by several crises as both sides have accused the other of violating the agreement. This time, Israel accused ****** of not releasing the names at the agreed upon time. ******, in turn, accused Israel of breaching the cease-fire by preventing sufficient aid deliveries as outlined by the deal. Israeli officials did not comment on ******’s specific claim, but said they are committed to upholding the agreement.
In this first phase of the cease-fire, slated to last 42 days, ****** has pledged to release at least 33 hostages in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinians jailed by Israel. In three previous exchanges, about 18 hostages have been freed for more than 550 ************ prisoners.
************ officials were expected on Friday night to publish the names of dozens of ************ prisoners slated for release by Israel. Under the deal, at least some of the prisoners to be released are serving life sentences for committing deadly attacks.
The truce has paused more than a year of devastating warfare that began with the attack on Israel, in which roughly 1,200 people were killed and 250 others taken hostage, mostly civilians. More than 70 captives remain in Gaza, at least 35 of whom are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli government.
In response, Israel launched a campaign against ****** in Gaza that killed more than 45,000 people, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Palestinians in the enclave have lived through a year of hunger and fear; many no longer have homes to which they can return.
Israel and ****** have both committed to negotiating a longer-lasting end to the fighting and the release of the remaining living hostages. But it remains unclear whether the two sides can reach such an accord, which would force them both to make painful concessions.
This week, President Trump — whose administration helped mediate the cease-fire — proposed removing Gaza’s roughly two million ************ residents and the United States taking over the enclave. Some analysts viewed his remarks as an effort to kick-start the negotiations, while others said his far-reaching ideas could torpedo them.
Mr. Sharabi, one of the hostages slated for release, lived in Be’eri, an Israeli community near the Gaza border that was hard-hit by the ****** attack. His wife and two daughters were killed in the assault. His brother Yossi was also taken as a hostage to Gaza, where he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the Israeli military later told his family.
Also from Be’eri, Mr. Ben-Ami was taken hostage alongside his wife, Raz Ben-Ami. She was freed alongside more than 100 other captives during a weeklong cease-fire between Israel and ****** in November 2023.
Mr. Levy and his wife, Eynav Elkayam Levy, had left their two-year-old son in the care of Mr. Levy’s parents before heading south to the Nova music festival, which was being held just a few miles from the Gaza border. During the ****** attack, the rave became a massacre. More than 300 people there were killed, including Ms. Elkayam Levy. Mr. Levy, like dozens of others at the scene, was taken to the Gaza Strip.
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Avowed Dev Is Sick Of Dwarves All Having Scottish Accents
Avowed Dev Is Sick Of Dwarves All Having Scottish Accents
Avowed game director Carrie Patel has discussed Obsidian’s effort to “make everything intentional” in the RPG, and that meant not simply following other fantasy tropes but instead crafting the game to stand on its own. Among other things, this means there was no rule for Avowed that said dwarves had to have a Scottish accent like they do in lots of other fantasy media.
“With all our games, and certainly with the lore of Pillars, we want to make everything intentional,” Patel said in an interview with Xbox. “Dwarves don’t need to have Scottish accents just because they do in other fantasy settings, and elves don’t need to all speak with Received Pronunciation.”
Instead, Patel said an intentional effort was made to focus on “stripping back those tropes” for Avowed to stand out.
“One example was the idea of mountain dwarves tending to be more itinerant. Traditional dwarven societies build impressive places but then scatter and move on due to resources, personal disagreements, or political rifts,” Patel said. “This created an interesting opportunity for us in Avowed to explore: What it would be like if one of these settlements stuck around. What would that culture be like? Why would those characters have made that decision, and what would that mean for the story?”
Avowed was previously set for release at the end of 2024 but was delayed to February for scheduling purposes, not due to quality. The game officially launches on February 18, but the $90 Premium edition unlocks five days early, beginning February 13.
Like Microsoft’s other first-party games, Avowed is included with Game Pass Ultimate at launch. Members can buy an upgrade add-on to the Premium edition for $22.50 to get all the perks, including early access.
In addition to Avowed, Obsidian is currently at work making The Outer Worlds 2, which is planned for release this year. For more, be sure to check out GameSpot’s Avowed preorder guide.
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How Chablis Winemakers Are Fighting Back Against Climate Change
How Chablis Winemakers Are Fighting Back Against Climate Change
Good Chablis is the most distinctive chardonnay wine in the world. I’ve long been convinced of this, and a wine I drank on a recent visit to Chablis reaffirmed my conviction.
It was a 2015 Montée de Tonnerre from William Fèvre, one of Chablis’s best producers. The wine was saline and stony, like drinking liquid seashells. It may sound strange, but it makes sense given that the best Chablis vineyards have Kimmeridgian limestone bedrock and soils, composed partly of fossilized shellfish.
Chardonnay is the world’s most popular wine grape, grown almost anywhere that people make wine. Great chardonnays abound, including some reasonable approximations of the best white Burgundies from the Côte de Beaune, the heart of white Burgundy production. But never have I had a chardonnay that remotely tasted like Chablis, despite claims from wineries worldwide that their wines were “Chablis-like.”
What gives Chablis that singular underlying mineral ***** that tastes like no other wine? It’s partly those soils, but also the entirety of its terroir. Chablis is the northernmost part of Burgundy, about 90 miles northwest of the primary white Burgundy regions, on the jagged edge of where, historically, chardonnay could grow.
There, the geology, climate, topography and the beliefs and practices of Chablis’s vignerons combined to produce this remarkable wine. It’s been a fragile equation for decades, as, for much of the 20th century, vignerons struggled to ripen their grapes sufficiently to soften the sharp angles of a wine that could easily be all elbows and knees.
But now the changing climate threatens to upend this delicate balance. As the planet warms, can Chablis retain its particular character. Would it still be Chablis? Or just another chardonnay.
Over four days visiting with producers last November, the consistent message was that climate change was indeed a major threat, but not strictly because of hotter temperatures. It was the catastrophic events that have become so much more frequent in the warmer climate — hail, spring frosts, relentless rains or prolonged droughts — that posed the ******* threat.
“The weather has become much more aggressive and violent,” said Julien Brocard, who manages Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard, founded by his father, one of the largest estates in Chablis, as well as his own smaller estate, Julien Brocard. Because of these climate disasters, he said, the vines were becoming more fragile.
“Chablis becomes chardonnay if the vines are not healthy,” he said at the estate in the small town of Préhy. “Our work is to keep minerality, freshness and acidity, and we can do this. It was easy to extract minerality in the past. Now we have to do more work.”
Since he started working with his father in 1997, Mr. Brocard has converted much of the estate to organic farming and parts of it to biodynamic. All the Julien Brocard wines are biodynamically grown.
The difference is apparent in the wines. Those made from biodynamically farmed grapes, like the 2022 Julien Brocard from the premier cru Vau de Vey vineyard, are purer, deeper, more textured and precise.
But a vintage like 2024, which began with frost and hail, followed by three months of continual rain, has convinced Mr. Brocard that organic or biodynamic farming is not enough.
“Many in Chablis stopped organic farming in ’24 because the vines were overwhelmed with mildew,” he said. They resorted to chemical sprays to preserve part of their crop.
Instead, Mr. Brocard is part of a movement to add biodiversity to Chablis’s monotonous landscape, which is dominated by grapevines. He is planting trees in and around vineyards, adding small bushes and cover crops, and letting the vines grow higher rather than trimming their tops.
The idea is to increase soil health, prevent erosion and strengthen the ability of the vines to withstand diseases and violent events.
“Naked soil is damaged soil,” he said. “Monoculture is not good. We must accept losing part of the vineyard territory.”
His hope is to plant 30,000 trees over the next decade, and to persuade his fellow vignerons to join in.
“We have to engage neighbors and convince them,” he said. “Not enough people are doing the work, but they are searching.”
Edouard Vocoret, who with his wife, Eleni, makes fresh, subtle wines full of character just outside the town of Chablis, was one of those organic farmers who had to revert to chemicals in 2024. He says he had no choice.
“Financially, I could not sustain,” he said. “The bankers do not care if you are organic. I hope it’s the only year I have to do that. You want to stay organic, but you have bills to pay.”
It’s doubly frustrating for him because he broke off from his family’s large estate precisely because he wanted to focus on a small estate where he could farm organically and make the best possible wines.
But the 10 to 15 years of warmer weather he has experienced have left him unsure of the best methods in the future.
“Change rootstocks? Grow the vines higher?” he asked. “There are many things we don’t know. I have lots of questions.”
Like Mr. Vocoret, Athénaïs de Béru of Château de Béru, believes climate change has created a lot of unknowns. Ms. Béru, whose estate is situated around a 13th-century château on a hill, has been farming biodynamically for 15 years, and organically for 20. But the once-predictable growing season has been disrupted by the changing climate.
“The vineyard awakens three to four weeks earlier than before,” she said, making the tender young plants particularly susceptible to spring frosts. In 2016, she lost her entire crop to frost, causing her to rethink when and how she prunes the vineyard.
“The whole cycle of the vine is disorganized,” she said. “Fermentations are different, we pick earlier, the yeast of August is different than the yeast of October, and the bacteria is different. But if you pick at the right time, you can still make Chablis.”
Regardless of the difficulties she faces, the recent Béru vintages are gorgeous. A 2022 Côte aux Prêtres, made without sulfur dioxide, a widely used antioxidant, is super saline and finely structured, while a 2021 Clos Béru, from a vineyard with walls from the 12th century, is fresh, energetic, textured and marine.
“We have to adapt, we are working with nature,” she said. “There is not only one taste of Chablis. There are as many tastes as there are hills and terroirs. A lot of things change. We don’t want to make the same wines as 50 years ago.”
Adaptation is the message one hears all over. Didier Picq of Domaine Picq in Chichée, which makes almost textbook racy, tense wines, says the climate of Chablis is now like the climate 15 years ago in Mâcon, 135 miles to the southeast, the southernmost part of Burgundy. Yet his wines are still discernibly Chablis.
“The vines have the capacity to adapt,” he said. “The wines are easier to drink now, but will they age in the cellar? We don’t know.
“What’s right today may not be right tomorrow. You have to be humble and listen to the plants. You cannot try to dominate the vine.”
Didier Séguier, the director of Domaine William Fèvre, which made that 2015 Montée de Tonnerre that I found so stunning, is optimistic about the future, although he occasionally has doubts.
“For now, we are able to keep our identity,” he said. “In the future, perhaps not.”
Fèvre farms organically and biodynamically. It’s a large, well-financed estate, so it was able to withstand losing 90 percent of its crop in 2024 to mildew. In 2004, Mr. Séguier said, Fèvre invested roughly $40,000 per acre to string electric cables in its vineyards to warm young shoots and buds in case of spring frosts.
“It was very expensive, but also economical,” he said. “In the long run, it’s more sustainable and cheaper than candles,” the traditional method of battling frost.
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Eli Manning says he’s happy for the players who made the Hall of Fame – NBC Sports
Eli Manning says he’s happy for the players who made the Hall of Fame – NBC Sports
Eli Manning says he’s happy for the players who made the Hall of Fame NBC SportsManning has had ‘Hall of Fame moments, but not a Hall of Fame career’ ESPNEli Manning’s Hall of Fame Enshrinement Is Inevitable Sports IllustratedPro Football Hall of Fame snubs draw strong social media reaction: ‘What a joke’ Fox News.500 reasons why Eli isn’t a Hall of Famer. Who SHOULD be in Canton Class of 2025 from modern era? Canton Repository
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Passenger train engulfed by flames in Pennsylvania
Passenger train engulfed by flames in Pennsylvania
More than 300 people were evacuated from a passenger train in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania after a fire started under the first car. The blaze quickly engulfed an entire carriage.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) said all passengers were safely evacuated and no one was injured. “The pictures really tell the story of how serious this situation was,” said Andrew Busch, SEPTA Director of Media Relations. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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Prime Gaming Has 20 Free Games for You in February – Here’s What They Are
Prime Gaming Has 20 Free Games for You in February – Here’s What They Are
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February 7, 2025
Amazon Prime Gaming is giving away 20 free games in February 2025, including BioShock Infinite Complete Edition, The Tales Principle, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and more.
Today, players can try out five of the 20 free Prime Gaming titles for February. However, they need an active Prime Gaming membership to play these games. Game codes are also provided through various platforms, such as the Epic Games Store, Amazon Games App, GOG, Microsoft Store, and more.
Every Free Game on Prime Gaming in February
Prime Gaming is continuing the BioShock fever, with BioShock 2 arriving last month and BioShock Infinite available in February. Also, one of the free games for this month can be played on an Xbox through a Microsoft Store Code; it’s none other than Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Check out all the free Prime Gaming titles for February, their date of availability and platforms below:
Available Today
BioShock Infinite Complete Edition (GOG Code)
Surf World Series (Amazon Games App)
AK-xolotl: Together (Epic Games Store)
Sands of Aura (Epic Games Store)
The Talos Principle: Gold Edition (GOG Code)
February 13
Stunt Kite Party (Amazon Games App)
The Smurfs 2 — The Prisoner of the Green Stone (GOG Code)
Hardspace: Shipbreaker (Epic Games Store)
Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior (Epic Games Store)
Dark Sky (GOG Code)
February 20
Wolfenstein: Youngblood [Xbox and PC via Microsoft Store Code]
El Hijo — A Wild West Tale [Epic Games Store]
Colt Canyon [GOG Code]
Republic of Jungle [Epic Games Store]
Royal Romances: Cursed Hearts Collector’s Edition [Legacy Games Code]
February 27
Deus Ex: Human Revolution — Director’s Cut [GOG Code]
Night Reverie [Amazon Games App]
Sine Mora EX [Amazon Games App]
Redemption Reapers [Epic Games Store]
Yes, Your Grace [GOG Code]
In other news, Secret Level has been renewed for a second season at Amazon. What are your thoughts on February’s free Prime Gaming titles? Let us know in the comments or on our new community forum!
For more information from Insider Gaming, read about Take Two’s plans to support Nintendo Switch 2. Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam.
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Trump delays ending of de minimis trade exemption targeting China
Trump delays ending of de minimis trade exemption targeting China
Employees package and sort express parcels at an e-commerce company on Nov. 1, 2024, around the Double 11 Shopping Festival in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province of China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that puts a pause on his closing of the de minimis trade exemption, a provision commonly used by ******** e-commerce companies Temu and Shein.
The order states that de minimis will be restored for small packages shipped from China, “but shall cease to be available for such articles upon notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue” on those items.
Trump on Saturday suspended the exemption as part of new tariffs that include an additional 10% tax on ******** goods. The nearly century-old exception, known as de minimis, has been used by many e-commerce companies to send goods worth less than $800 into the U.S. duty-free, creating a competitive advantage.
It was predicted that its removal could overwhelm U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees, as the mountain of low-value shipments already making their way into the U.S. would suddenly require formal processing.
De minimis has helped fuel an explosion in cheap goods being shipped from China into the U.S. CBP has said it processed more than 1.3 billion de minimis shipments in 2024. A 2023 report from the House Select Committee on the ******** ********** Party found that “likely nearly half” of all de minimis shipments originate from China.
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****** names next hostages to be released
****** names next hostages to be released
****** has released the names of the next hostages to be freed in Gaza on Saturday in exchange for ************ prisoners held by Israel.
They are male civilians Eli Sharabi, 52, Ohad Ben Ami, 56, and Or Levy, 34.
Eighteen hostages have been freed since the ceasefire began on 19 January. Israel has released 383 prisoners in return.
Some 33 hostages and 1,900 prisoners are due to be freed by the end of the first stage of the ceasefire in three weeks’ time. Israel says eight of the 33 are dead.
****** seized 251 hostages and killed about 1,200 people when it attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, triggering the war.
At least 47,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s ******-run health ministry. About two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed by Israel’s attacks, the UN says.
Eli Sharabi was taken from Kibbutz Beeri with his brother, Yossi, who has since been confirmed dead. Eli’s wife and two daughters were murdered in the attack.
Ohad Ben Ami was also taken from Kibbutz Beeri, along with his wife, Raz. She was later released by ******.
Or Levy, from Rishon LeZiom. a city south of Tel Aviv, fled the Nova festival with his wife Eynav, when gunmen attacked the event. Mr Levy was taken hostage and Eynav’s body was found in a bomb shelter where the couple had been hiding.
Earlier on Friday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters welcomed “news about the expected release” of the three hostages.
“We will not give up or stop at any stage until all hostages return home under the current agreement – down to the very last one – the living for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial,” the statement said.
Hours before the hostages’ names were released, ****** accused Israel of failing to abide by its commitment to boost the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal.
The head of ******’s media office in Gaza, Salama Marouf, told a news conference in Gaza City “the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic due to Israeli obstruction,” according to media reports.
He said only 8,500 out of an expected 12,000 aid lorries had entered Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect, and that medical equipment and shelter supplies had been deliberately delayed, according to the reports.
The allegation contradicts UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who on Thursday said 10,000 lorries with food, medicine and tents had crossed into Gaza since the start of the ceasefire in what he called “a massive surge”.
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What rating would you give Sniper Elite: Resistance?
What rating would you give Sniper Elite: Resistance?
Barring a 2023 VR title, Sniper Elite made a return with Sniper Elite: Resistance earlier this year, with its last traditional entry being Sniper Elite 5 in 2022.
In its short time on ***** thus far, it dominated retail sales charts in the ***. But, in our review, we said: “Sniper Elite: Resistance can have exciting moments. Getting spotted while finishing your last objective and making a hasty escape from the area can be exhilarating. However, these moments are squandered by rigid mission structures and stealth mechanics that have been implemented in more interesting ways in other games. It is a serviceable game that is functional but not exceptional.” Ultimately, landing on a 5/10.
So our question to you is…
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Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger Editor-in-Chief
Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he’s been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to TV and film. Starting as a contributor for PSX Extreme, he’s worked his way up to its Managing Editor. Using what’s he learned over the years, he founded Smash Jump to remind everyone to smash jump.
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The Epic Games Store Wants You to Go Beyond With this Week's Free Game
The Epic Games Store Wants You to Go Beyond With this Week's Free Game
Get ready to dive into the deep with this week’s free game from the Epic Games Store, plus a bonus free game as well.
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Actors win top film awards – without being on screen
Actors win top film awards – without being on screen
Robbie Williams biopic Better Man has won a swag of gongs at the AACTA Awards, including best lead actor in film for Jonno Davies.
He portrayed the British pop star as a monkey through the use of motion capture technology, with the 2025 the first time that motion capture performances and voice acting have been recognised at the awards.
“Thank you AACTA not only for this award, but for celebrating motion capture in the way that you have, for putting it in the same spotlight as more traditional methods of acting,” said Davies.
The *********** Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, Australia’s answer to the Golden Globes, was held at the Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast on Friday night.
Better Man won a total of nine AACTA Awards, including best film, with best director going to Michael Gracey.
Robbie Williams, who got a standing ovation earlier in the night for a rendition of his hit Angels, joined the filmmakers onstage to accept the gong for best film.
He thanked a long list of problems including drugs, ADHD, depression, addiction and alcoholism.
“And a lower than average sized ******, without which none of this film would be possible,” he joked.
As for award-winning voice actors, Sarah Snook won best lead actress in film and Jacki Weaver won best supporting actress, for their work on Adam Elliot’s animated feature Memoir Of A Snail.
Netflix series Boy Swallows Universe was the other big winner at the AACTA Awards, winning a grand total of 12 gongs including best lead actor in a drama for 15-year-old Felix Cameron.
Production outfit Working Dog, which is behind classics such as The Castle, Frontline, and Utopia, was recognised with the Longford Lyell Award for advancing excellence in screen culture.
Musician Paul Kelly was also recognised with an outstanding contribution award for his work scoring films, and played his classic song How To Make Gravy, which inspired a film directed by Nick Waterman.
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3 new PlayStation Plus games to play this weekend (February 7-9)
3 new PlayStation Plus games to play this weekend (February 7-9)
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
High on Life
PayDay 3
Pac-Man World Re-Pac
It’s the shortest month of the year, but PlayStation is still packing it full of new games joining the PlayStation Plus catalog. The first week is always dedicated to the Essential tier, meaning these games are available to anyone with a subscription. Time is at a premium this month with all the massive upcoming PS5 games, like Monster Hunter Wilds and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, but they aren’t here just yet. This weekend, we have a series of games that are perfect holdovers to make the wait for your next giant time investment more bearable. We’ve got a fantastic co-op game, a shorter game you might be able to beat in a day or two, and a surprising remake you might just fall in love with. If you’ve got nothing else planned, these are the 3 new PlayStation Plus games you should check out this weekend.
High on Life
HIGH ON LIFE Official Game Trailer
Games very rarely attempt to be funny on purpose. Comedy is already incredibly subjective, and because the player has so much control over the pace of a game it makes it almost impossible for every joke to land as it is intended. High on Life comes from Squanch Games and is one of the rare examples of a game that uses the medium of games to its advantage when crafting jokes. It is a brisk first-person shooter set in a sci-fi world where you become an alien bounty hunter welding living weapons called Gatlians that are all voiced by comedians such as J. B. Smove, Tim Robinson, Betsy Sodaro, Jack ******, and many more. If the humor of Rick and Morty doesn’t hit for you, it may not do it for you here either, but if it does then you’ll have a blast.
High on Life is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
PayDay 3
The initial launch of PayDay 3 left a lot to be desired, to say the least. It was buggy, plagued with server issues, and light on content compared to the previous entries, but has been steadily improving since. It still isn’t at the level hardcore fans were hoping for, but newcomers who haven’t tried out this unique style of co-op shooter can easily get a full weekend of fun out of it with some friends. You join a crew of criminals to take on various heists that play out dynamically depending on your approach. If you’re coordinated and sneaky enough, you can rob a bank without anyone being the wiser. Or, you can go in guns blazing and treat it like a traditional shooter. Either approach is valid and makes for a great time.
PayDay 3 is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Pac-Man World Re-Pac
Astro Bot reminded us all just how fun old-school 3D platformers can be on PlayStation. We’re not going to say that is on that same level of quality, but this remake of the OG PS1 title has all that whimsy and charm we used to enjoy. This updated version completely overhauls the controls, adds new modes, and obviously looks far better than ever. It is still a simple game but has a lot of variety to keep it interesting without getting too frustrating. Even if you’re not a fan of the original Pac-Man, this is a completely solid 3D platformer you can chill out with this weekend.
Pac-Man World Re-Pac is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC.
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