- Megalopolis: Adam Driver Stops Time In The First Clip From Francis Ford Coppola’s Ambitious New Drama Empire
- Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ First Teaser Out, Dedicates It To His Late Wife Deadline
- First look at Megalopolis, the ‘crazy’ film self-financed by The Godfather director The Independent
- ‘Megalopolis’ First Look: Francis Ford Coppola Says ‘I Must’ve Rewritten It 300 Times’ Before Self-Financing the $120 Million ‘Roman Epic’ Variety
- Adam Driver Is on the Edge in First Clip of Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ IndieWire
Tag Archives: ambitious
‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Director James Mangold Breaks Down His Ambitious and Emotional Ending – Hollywood Reporter
- ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ Director James Mangold Breaks Down His Ambitious and Emotional Ending Hollywood Reporter
- Review: ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’: Stop with ‘Last Crusade’ National Review
- Dial of Destiny Director Explains the Fate of Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones IGN
- Disney’s New Indiana Jones Show Has Nothing To Do With Harrison Ford Inside the Magic
- ‘Indiana Jones 5’: How a Military Adviser Helped James Mangold Shoot Authentic Battle Scenes Yahoo Entertainment
- View Full Coverage on Google News
The ambitious quest to map every cell in our body
So to tackle the issue, a consortium of scientists (as part of the Human Cell Atlas project) analysed around 70,000 cells from the placenta and lining of the womb from women who had terminated their pregnancy at between six and 14 weeks.
The placenta is the organ where nutrients and gases pass back and forth between the mother and developing baby. It was once thought the mother’s immune system must be switched off in the lining of the womb where the placenta embeds, so that the placenta and foetus weren’t attacked for being “alien” (like an unmatched transplant) on account of half the foetus’s genes coming from the father. But this view turned out to be wrong – or too simple at the very least.
We now know, from a variety of experiments including this analysis, that in the womb, the activity of the mother’s immune cells is somewhat lessened, presumably to prevent an adverse reaction against cells from the foetus, but the immune system is not switched off. Instead, the immune cells we met earlier, natural killer cells, well known for killing infected cells or cancer cells, take on a completely different, more constructive job in the womb: helping build the placenta.
Furthermore, the scientists’ analysis of 70,000 cells has highlighted that all sorts of other immune cells are also important in the construction of a placenta. What they all do, though, isn’t yet clear – this is at the edge of our knowledge.
Muzlifah Haniffa, a professor in dermatology and immunology at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Newcastle University Biosciences Institute in the UK is one of the three women who led this analysis. Haniffa sees the body from two perspectives on an almost daily basis: as a computational analysis of cells on a screen, and as patients who walk through the door. Both as stones and the arch they make.
Right now, these two views don’t easily mesh. But in time, they will. In the future, Haniffa thinks the tools doctors use on a daily basis – such as a stethoscope to listen to a person’s lungs, or a simple blood count – will be replaced by instruments that profile our body’s cells. Algorithms will analyse the results, clarify the underlying problem, and predict the best treatment. Other physicians agree with her – this has to be what is coming in the future of healthcare.
What this could mean for you
Babies are now routinely born by IVF, organ transplants have become common, and cancer survival rates in the UK have roughly doubled in recent years – but all these achievements are nothing to what’s coming.
As I’ve written about in The Secret Body, progress in human biology is accelerating at an unprecedented rate – not only through the Human Cell Atlas project but in many other areas too. Analysis of our genes presents a new understanding of how we differ – the actions of brain cells give clues to how our minds work; new structures found inside our cells lead to new ideas for medicine; proteins and other molecules found to be circulating in our blood change our view of mental health.
Of course, all science has an ever-increasing impact on our lives, but nothing affects us as deeply or directly as new revelations about the human body. On the horizon now, from all this research, are entirely new ways of defining, screening and manipulating health.
NASA Reveals Ambitious New Plan to Detect Signs of Life on Distant Planets
NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts is famous for supporting outlandish ideas in the astronomy and space exploration fields. Since being re-established in 2011, the institute has supported a wide variety of projects as part of its three-phase program.
However, so far, only three projects have gone on to receive Phase III funding. And one of those just released a white paper describing a mission to get a telescope that could effectively see biosignatures on nearby exoplanets by utilizing the gravitational lens of our own Sun.
That Phase III distinction comes with US$2 million in funding, which in the case went to JPL, whose scientist, Slava Turyshev, was the principal investigator on the project’s first two phases.
He teamed up with The Aerospace corporation for this latest white paper, which describes a mission concept in more detail and defines what technologies already exist and what needs further development.
However, there are several striking features of this mission design, one of which is touched on in detail over at Centauri Dreams.
Instead of launching a large craft that would take a long time to travel anywhere, the proposed mission would launch several small cube-sats and then self-assemble on the 25-year journey out to the solar gravitational lens (SGL) point.
That “point” is actually a straight line between whatever star the exoplanet is around and somewhere between 550-1000 AU on the other side of the Sun. That is a tremendous distance, much further than the measly 156 AU that Voyager 1 has so far taken 44 years to traverse.
So how could a spacecraft get to three times the distance while taking almost half the time? Simple – it will dive (almost) into the Sun.
Using a gravitational boost from the Sun is a tried and true method. The fastest human-made object ever, the Parker Solar Probe, used just such a technique.
However, being boosted to 25 AU a year, the expected speed at which this mission would have to travel isn’t easy. And it would be even more challenging for a fleet of ships rather than just a single one.
The first problem would be material – solar sails, which are the mission’s preferred method of propulsion, don’t do so well when subjected to the intensity of the Sun that would be required for a gravitational slingshot.
In addition, the electronics on the system would have to be much more radiation hardened than currently existing tech. However, both of these known problems have potential solutions under active research.
Another seemingly obvious problem would be how to coordinate a passage of multiple satellites through this sort of gut-wrenching gravitational maneuver and still allow them to coordinate joining up to effectively form a fully functional spacecraft in the end.
But according to the paper’s authors, there will be more than enough time on the 25-year journey out to the observational point to actively rejoin the single Cubesats into a cohesive whole.
What could result from that cohesive whole is a better image of an exoplanet that humanity is likely to get short of a fully-fledged interstellar mission.
Which exoplanet would be the best candidate would be a topic of hot debate if the mission moves forward, as more than 50 so far have been found in the habitable zones of their stars. But that is certainly no guarantee as yet.
The mission hasn’t received any funding nor any indication that it will do so in the near future. And plenty of technologies would still have to be developed before such a mission would even be feasible.
But that is precisely how such missions always start, and this one has more potential impact than most. With luck, at some point in the next few decades, we would receive as crisp of an image of a potentially habitable exoplanet as we are likely to receive in the even medium future.
The team behind this research deserves praise for laying the groundwork for such an idea in the first place.
This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.
In a ‘bold, ambitious step,’ Big Ten grows to 16 with additions of USC, UCLA | Football
USC and UCLA are officially set to join the Big Ten Conference beginning with the 2024-25 season, marking perhaps the largest seismic and historic shift yet amid the ever-changing landscape of college athletics.
The shocking news played out publicly across roughly seven hours Thursday as the two flagship Pac-12 Conference schools went from being reportedly interested in changing leagues to each school and league officially acknowledging their future destinations by the end of business hours on the West Coast.
UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet (24) runs the ball in for a touchdown as Southern California defensive lineman Jacob Lichtenstein (97) tries to stop him during the second half of the team’s game in 2021.
The Big Ten’s Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously to accept the application of membership from each school Thursday evening. And while the news sent shockwaves through college sports, national reports indicated — and the Big Ten confirmed — the move had been in the works behind the scenes for weeks.
One source told The Athletic that each school was asked two weeks ago to conduct a feasibility study about adding USC and UCLA.
The feedback, evidently, was positive.
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Now the Big Ten joins the SEC as a 16-team league, only with a truly national footprint from Jersey Shore to Malibu Beach. The Los Angeles-based schools will bring along every sport that the Big Ten fields when they become full members Aug. 2, 2024.
“Ultimately, the Big Ten is the best home for USC and Trojan athletics as we move into the new world of collegiate sports,” USC athletic director Mike Bohn said in a release. “We are excited that our values align with the league’s member institutions.”
USC and UCLA reportedly approached the Big Ten with a desire to join and become the league’s first new schools since it added Rutgers and Maryland in 2014 and Nebraska in 2011 during the early stages of conference realignment. The move is also viewed as a response to the SEC landing Texas and Oklahoma out of the Big 12 Conference last summer and yet another step closer to the SEC and Big Ten separating themselves financially and in total membership from everyone else, including their other Power Five peers.
The additions are also likely why the Big Ten had yet to announce its plan to keep or do away with football divisions while other leagues including the Pac-12 and ACC have already scrapped them.
Husker OL Nouredin Nouili to miss 2022 season due to failed drug test
Breaking down the quarterbacks Nebraska will face in 2022
Meanwhile, the conference remains in the midst of negotiating its television rights deal with Fox and others, with previous estimates that it will net north of $1 billion in its next round of contracts. That figure is guaranteed to now rise further with the addition of another major media market in Los Angeles and two brand-name universities. Apple has already reached out asking to reengage in negotiations, according to a report from Sports Business Journal.
Such financial stability will be a boon for the newcomers. The LA Times in January reported that UCLA’s Athletic Department absorbed a loss of $62.5 million for the 2021 fiscal year.
“Although this move increases travel distances for teams, the resources offered by Big Ten membership may allow for more efficient transportation options,” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and athletic director Martin Jarmond said in a statement.
The transition could in theory be relatively smooth for USC and UCLA because their grant of rights are linked to the current Pac-12 TV deal, which expires after the 2023-24 school year.
Multiple reports also indicated Big Ten expansion may not be over. Would remaining Pac-12 members like Washington and Oregon also be possibilities to change leagues? What about other holdovers in that conference like Stanford?
Notre Dame — a longtime siren of the Big Ten — may be more in play once again to join a conference in football. The Irish and their contract with NBC runs through at least 2025 on a deal reportedly worth $15 million annually. Should NBC be part of the Big Ten’s new-look media rights deal moving forward, it could potentially help bridge the longtime distance between the league and school.
“It’s really unsustainable to be an independent now,” a source told ESPN.
Nebraska football adds Northern Iowa to 2024 schedule
Elkhorn South’s Maverick Noonan commits to Nebraska, continuing family story
The two Pac-12 additions on their own are watershed moments in the 126-year history of the Big Ten, originally known as the Western Intercollegiate Conference, and send ripple effects throughout the league.
For Nebraska, the decision moves it from the western frontier of the conference to the geographic center. Husker administrators released a statement Thursday evening welcoming the Bruins and Trojans.
“This is an exciting and historic day for the Big Ten Conference and the University of Nebraska,” Chancellor Ronnie Green and athletic director Trev Alberts said in a joint statement. “The addition of UCLA and USC to the Big Ten is a bold, ambitious step during a time of historic change in the collegiate athletics landscape. These institutions will add two world-class athletic departments and brands to the Big Ten and stretch the Conference footprint from coast to coast.”
The statement also cited NU’s large base of alumni in California that can watch games and its history of recruiting success in the state.
“For the University of Nebraska, there are many positives associated with this expansion,” the statement said. “UNL has a large alumni base in California that will have a great opportunity to regularly watch our teams compete in historical athletic venues in Southern California. Nebraska has had a history of success recruiting athletes from California, and this will only enhance Nebraska’s profile in a fertile recruiting ground. We welcome UCLA and USC to the Big Ten Conference and look forward to competing with them in the future.”
The next move for the Pac-12 remains unclear. It could seek to add current or future Big 12 members including BYU or attempt to stand pat. The conference had been part of a so-called “Alliance” with the Big Ten and ACC for the last year.
That partnership, for all intents and purposes, now ceases to exist.
Said the Pac-12: “While we are extremely surprised and disappointed by the news coming out of UCLA and USC today, we have a long and storied history in athletics, academics, and leadership in supporting student-athletes that we’re confident will continue to thrive and grow into the future.”
Nebraska nets worst-ever finish in Learfield Directors’ Cup
Four-star pass rusher headed to Nebraska for official visit
The 2022 Nebraska football schedule
Northwestern Wildcats
When: 11:30 a.m., Aug. 27
Where: Dublin, Ireland
2021 record: 3-9, 1-8 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 9-6
Last meeting: Nebraska won 56-7 (Oct. 2, 2021)
North Dakota Fighting Hawks
When: 2:30 p.m., Sept. 3
Where: Lincoln, Nebraska
2021 record: 5-6, 3-5 Missouri Valley
Nebraska’s record against: 1-0
Last meeting: Nebraska won 33-0 (Sept. 23, 1961)
Georgia Southern Eagles
When: 6:30 p.m., Sept. 10
Where: Lincoln, Nebraska
2021 record: 3-9, 2-6 Sun Belt
Nebraska’s record against: Never played
Oklahoma Sooners
When: 11 a.m., Sept. 17
Where: Lincoln, Nebraska
2021 record: 10-2, 7-2 Big 12
Nebraska’s record against: 38-46-3
Last meeting: Oklahoma won 23-16 (Sept. 18, 2021)
Indiana Hoosiers
When: 6 or 6:30 p.m., Oct. 1
Where: Lincoln, Nebraska
2021 record: 2-10, 0-9 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 8-10-3
Last meeting: Indiana won 38-31 (Oct. 26, 2019)
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
When: 6 p.m., Oct. 7
Where: Piscataway, New Jersey
2021 record: 5-7, 2-7 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 5-0
Last meeting: Nebraska won 28-21 (Sept. 18, 2020)
Purdue Boilermakers
When: Oct. 15
Where: West Lafayette, Indiana
2021 record: 8-4, 6-3 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 5-5
Last meeting: Purdue won 28-23 (Oct. 30, 2021)
Illinois Fighting Illini
When: Oct. 29
Where: Lincoln, Nebraska
2021 record: 5-7, 4-5 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 13-5-1
Last meeting: Illinois won 30-22 (Aug. 28, 2021)
Minnesota Golden Gophers
When: Nov. 5
Where: Lincoln, Nebraska
2021 record: 8-4, 6-3 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 25-35-2
Last meeting: Minnesota won 30-23 (Oct. 16, 2021)
Michigan Wolverines
When: Nov. 12
Where: Ann Arbor, Michigan
2021 record: 11-1, 8-1 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 4-6-1
Last meeting: Michigan won 32-29 (Oct. 9, 2021)
Wisconsin Badgers
When: Nov. 19
Where: Lincoln, Nebraska
2021 record: 8-4, 6-3 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 4-11
Last meeting: Wisconsin won 35-28 (Nov. 20, 2021)
Iowa Hawkeyes
When: 3 p.m., Nov. 25
Where: Iowa City, Iowa
2021 record: 10-2, 7-2 Big Ten
Nebraska’s record against: 29-20-3
Last meeting: Iowa won 28-21 (Nov. 26, 2021)
Final Fantasy 16 Is An Ambitious, More Mature Entry In The Series, Says Producer
The Final Fantasy franchise is fighting fit in a way it hasn’t been for quite some time. Final Fantasy XIV underwent a huge revitalization that took it from a floundering MMO to one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved games in the genre. Final Fantasy VII Remake, meanwhile, defied expectations and delivered an incredibly strong, modernized version of the iconic Japanese role-playing classic.
Now, Square Enix looks to be making some smart moves to ensure Final Fantasy continues to shine while in the spotlight. The recently revealed Crisis Core Reunion is set to take the much-loved but oft-forgotten PSP spin-off of Final Fantasy 7 and bring it to modern platforms for a new generation to experience. And a trailer for Rebirth, the second part in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, looks to be continuing the bold reimagining of the original’s story.
Perhaps most exciting is Final Fantasy XVI, the next installment in the mainline Final Fantasy series. Little is known about the game and, instead, much of the excitement around it is tied to its creative team. Director Hiroshi Takai has worked on a number of Saga titles, as well as The Last Remnant. Writer Kazutoyo Maehiro, meanwhile, has previously been involved with Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, and Vagrant Story.
Much of the attention, however, has been focused on Final Fantasy XVI’s producer Naoki Yoshida, who is credited for the successful salvaging of Final Fantasy XIV. The positive response to his involvement is unsurprising considering there is resounding agreement that Final Fantasy XIV’s narrative and characterization are incredible. Naturally, expectations are high for what this creative team can do for Final Fantasy XVI and, following the debut of the game’s latest trailer, we talked to Yoshida-san about what players can expect in terms of gameplay, narrative themes, and more.
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Final Fantasy XVI Gameplay Trailer | Sony State of Play June 2022
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How much of a gameplay factor are the big Titan battles we saw in the recent trailer? What’s the ratio to those versus more recognizable FF15-like human combat?
Naoki Yoshida: So what you saw in the trailer with that Titan battle, the Eikon versus Eikon battles, is only actually a tiny sample of the battles that we have in store in the game. In the trailer, you had the one scene where Shiva and Titan are battling. Actually, this is not a playable part of the game; this is a cutscene, but while that’s happening Clive will be in that same area, kind of experiencing the battle from a different perspective.
However, later in the trailer, you saw a different type of battle with Titan involved. That part of the battle is actually fully playable. But again, what you’ve seen there is only a very, very small part of that battle. So the battles with Titan, for example, it’s only about maybe a 20th of what you actually get to experience.
So in that [trailer], the battle was tightened. The battle itself goes through many different stages, many different phases, and all of these change in real time. And the player ends up experiencing something that is large-scale, action-packed, and high-octane. And hopefully, a lot of players will see that and [think], “I can’t believe you created something that’s so crazy.” And again, that’s just the battle with Titan. There are several other summon versus summon battles and they are all unique from a game design perspective.
For example, while one of these battles is reminiscent of a 3D shooting game, another feels like a pro wrestling match, while another, like the one with Titan, incorporates an entire area as the battlefield.
And again, what we saw in the trailer, that’s a good example of those battles. The [user interface] that you saw on there, again, it’s showing that this is all in real time. However, that UI, we’ve had to actually remove parts of the UI from the trailer because they would be spoilers for the story. But we did want to show that these battles exist, and that, again, Clive will be able to control one of the summons and have these summons versus some in battle.
We’ve talked a lot about the Eikon versus Eikon battles, but there are different type of battles, as well. A lot of the battles that Clive will face just while journeying around the realm will be smaller-scale. You have Clive versus smaller-size enemies, or maybe waves of these enemies. And then, of course, as he progresses through that, he’ll encounter elite enemies or what you could call mini-bosses. And then he will encounter, finally, bosses or these giant creatures. [There are] even times where Clive will encounter, [in] human size, the full size Eikons himself.
You also have a lot of pressure from the [development] team itself because the dev team has expectations in what they want from the game. And so, to tell you the truth, no one should ever tackle two Final Fantasy games at once like I did
Which previous Final Fantasy games would you liken this game to and how has FFXIV served as a source of inspiration?
As the game will be focusing heavily on action featuring these real-time battles, sometimes on a massive scale–things that the series hasn’t fully explored yet–Final Fantasy XVI will end up feeling like a truly new experience for many fans–unlike any of the past FFs. So it will still have that look and feel of a Final Fantasy game, but still feel different. One thing that did kind of serve as a source of inspiration, at least for the summons, was in Final Fantasy XIV. The story there and game design there also put a lot of emphasis on how we portrayed the summons known as the Primals in Final Fantasy XIV. And so, players will see some of those influences in Final Fantasy XVI, and in how they’re portrayed and how they appear in the game.
FF15 was very consciously about male friendships and masculinity, what overall themes is this game trying to express?
One of the main themes explored in Final Fantasy XVI’s narrative deals with the inevitable clash of values and ideals when you get multiple different people with different ideals in the same room; what is truly right and what is truly wrong? Again, because we focus so much on their Dominants, and they have such a large part in this story, you’re going to see how they think the world should be and what they think is right for the world. You’re going to focus on those motivations and those struggles, and then, you’re going to delve even deeper and into darker themes when it comes to how people should live; should people live the life that was chosen for them or fight to break free from that kind of destiny?
Are there plans to support the world with tertiary lore material, or is it more self-contained?
Currently, there are no plans to create anything, for example, like a lore book like we had in Final Fantasy XIV. So, the development team is currently working really hard to make the final release of the game a complete experience so that no other tertiary content will be required to enjoy or understand it. And so, how the story and the narrative progresses is that we follow the life of Clive Rossville through three different stages: his teens, his 20s, and his 30s.
And because we’re covering such a large amount of time with those jumps, it’s safe to say that a lot will be happening in the background with regards to the state of the realm. And while we have a few side quests available in the game that will touch upon what’s going on in the world in the background in addition to that main scenario, we also will have these in-game compendiums, and a lot of stuff to read in-game that will hopefully help provide a lot of the lore to those people who wish to delve deeper into the game world.
There was implied nudity in the recent trailer. Is this a more adult, M-rated Final Fantasy?
So this is something you can say, not just with the Final Fantasy series, but in general, compared to the past, video game ratings have become more and more restrictive recently regarding what can or cannot be shown. That said, I do believe that ratings are very important to ensure that younger players, younger children, are shielded from extreme material.
But on the other hand, when trying to tell a story with difficult adult themes, these ratings can end up becoming somewhat of a hindrance. And you find yourself changing things that you wanted to do in the game based on that rating. You wanted to show something, but because you have this certain rating that you need to go to, you need to move the camera away. And that ends up making the entire experience feel a little bit cheaper. And so, this time, to make sure that we could tell the story that we wanted in the way that we wanted to, we decided to pursue a mature rating in most of the regions that will be releasing the game. But again, this is not because we simply wanted to make the game more violent or the game more explicit, this is because we felt it was necessary to allow us to explore those more mature themes that the game tackles.
What is it like to go from revitalizing an MMO to now being in charge of the next main entry in the franchise. Is that something of a graduation or do you just feel like, hey, this is just another Final Fantasy game. I’m going to do my best.
To tell the truth, to be in charge of the next mainline Final Fantasy, it’s a lot of pressure. And so, you have the pressure from the fans who want a lot of different things and have a lot of different ideas about the direction that the series should go in. You have that pressure of the history of Final Fantasy. It being a 35-year-old franchise, and having all of that history there, the weight of that history. You also have a lot of pressure from the [development] team itself because the dev team has expectations in what they want from the game. And so, to tell you the truth, no one should ever tackle two Final Fantasy games at once like I did.
The one thing, though, that is very different from XIV, is that on XIV, I am producer and director, but luckily, on Final Fantasy XVI, I’m only the producer. So that whole amount of pressure that comes with being a director is not on my shoulders. It’s on the director’s shoulders. So in that sense, there’s a little bit less pressure on me. I know that when the company came to me and asked the development team to tackle the next Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XVI, I told them that we would do it as long as I didn’t have to be director as well, because there was no way I could direct two projects of this scale at once.
That said, being asked by the company to create the newest mainline Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XVI, was an honor. And it was an honor that was only made possible by what we were able to achieve on Final Fantasy XIV and the amount of feedback that we’ve gotten from the fans and the amount of support that we’ve had from fans and players and the media around the world. You guys supporting us, gave us this opportunity to take on the next Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XVI. And for that, we’re very appreciative.
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Final Fantasy 16 Is An Ambitious, More Mature Entry In The Series, Says Producer
The Final Fantasy franchise is fighting fit in a way it hasn’t been for quite some time. Final Fantasy XIV underwent a huge revitalization that took it from a floundering MMO to one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved games in the genre. Final Fantasy VII Remake, meanwhile, defied expectations and delivered an incredibly strong, modernized version of the iconic Japanese role-playing classic.
Now, Square Enix looks to be making some smart moves to ensure Final Fantasy continues to shine while in the spotlight. The recently revealed Crisis Core Reunion is set to take the much-loved but oft-forgotten PSP spin-off of Final Fantasy 7 and bring it to modern platforms for a new generation to experience. And a trailer for Rebirth, the second part in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, looks to be continuing the bold reimagining of the original’s story.
Perhaps most exciting is Final Fantasy XVI, the next installment in the mainline Final Fantasy series. Little is known about the game and, instead, much of the excitement around it is tied to its creative team. Director Hiroshi Takai has worked on a number of Saga titles, as well as The Last Remnant. Writer Kazutoyo Maehiro, meanwhile, has previously been involved with Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, and Vagrant Story.
Much of the attention, however, has been focused on Final Fantasy XVI’s producer Naoki Yoshida, who is credited for the successful salvaging of Final Fantasy XIV. The positive response to his involvement is unsurprising considering there is resounding agreement that Final Fantasy XIV’s narrative and characterization are incredible. Naturally, expectations are high for what this creative team can do for Final Fantasy XVI and, following the debut of the game’s latest trailer, we talked to Yoshida-san about what players can expect in terms of gameplay, narrative themes, and more.
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Final Fantasy XVI Gameplay Trailer | Sony State of Play June 2022
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How much of a gameplay factor are the big Titan battles we saw in the recent trailer? What’s the ratio to those versus more recognizable FF15-like human combat?
Naoki Yoshida: So what you saw in the trailer with that Titan battle, the Eikon versus Eikon battles, is only actually a tiny sample of the battles that we have in store in the game. In the trailer, you had the one scene where Shiva and Titan are battling. Actually, this is not a playable part of the game; this is a cutscene, but while that’s happening Clive will be in that same area, kind of experiencing the battle from a different perspective.
However, later in the trailer, you saw a different type of battle with Titan involved. That part of the battle is actually fully playable. But again, what you’ve seen there is only a very, very small part of that battle. So the battles with Titan, for example, it’s only about maybe a 20th of what you actually get to experience.
So in that [trailer], the battle was tightened. The battle itself goes through many different stages, many different phases, and all of these change in real time. And the player ends up experiencing something that is large-scale, action-packed, and high-octane. And hopefully, a lot of players will see that and [think], “I can’t believe you created something that’s so crazy.” And again, that’s just the battle with Titan. There are several other summon versus summon battles and they are all unique from a game design perspective.
For example, while one of these battles is reminiscent of a 3D shooting game, another feels like a pro wrestling match, while another, like the one with Titan, incorporates an entire area as the battlefield.
And again, what we saw in the trailer, that’s a good example of those battles. The [user interface] that you saw on there, again, it’s showing that this is all in real time. However, that UI, we’ve had to actually remove parts of the UI from the trailer because they would be spoilers for the story. But we did want to show that these battles exist, and that, again, Clive will be able to control one of the summons and have these summons versus some in battle.
We’ve talked a lot about the Eikon versus Eikon battles, but there are different type of battles, as well. A lot of the battles that Clive will face just while journeying around the realm will be smaller-scale. You have Clive versus smaller-size enemies, or maybe waves of these enemies. And then, of course, as he progresses through that, he’ll encounter elite enemies or what you could call mini-bosses. And then he will encounter, finally, bosses or these giant creatures. [There are] even times where Clive will encounter, [in] human size, the full size Eikons himself.
You also have a lot of pressure from the [development] team itself because the dev team has expectations in what they want from the game. And so, to tell you the truth, no one should ever tackle two Final Fantasy games at once like I did
Which previous Final Fantasy games would you liken this game to and how has FFXIV served as a source of inspiration?
As the game will be focusing heavily on action featuring these real-time battles, sometimes on a massive scale–things that the series hasn’t fully explored yet–Final Fantasy XVI will end up feeling like a truly new experience for many fans–unlike any of the past FFs. So it will still have that look and feel of a Final Fantasy game, but still feel different. One thing that did kind of serve as a source of inspiration, at least for the summons, was in Final Fantasy XIV. The story there and game design there also put a lot of emphasis on how we portrayed the summons known as the Primals in Final Fantasy XIV. And so, players will see some of those influences in Final Fantasy XVI, and in how they’re portrayed and how they appear in the game.
FF15 was very consciously about male friendships and masculinity, what overall themes is this game trying to express?
One of the main themes explored in Final Fantasy XVI’s narrative deals with the inevitable clash of values and ideals when you get multiple different people with different ideals in the same room; what is truly right and what is truly wrong? Again, because we focus so much on their Dominants, and they have such a large part in this story, you’re going to see how they think the world should be and what they think is right for the world. You’re going to focus on those motivations and those struggles, and then, you’re going to delve even deeper and into darker themes when it comes to how people should live; should people live the life that was chosen for them or fight to break free from that kind of destiny?
Are there plans to support the world with tertiary lore material, or is it more self-contained?
Currently, there are no plans to create anything, for example, like a lore book like we had in Final Fantasy XIV. So, the development team is currently working really hard to make the final release of the game a complete experience so that no other tertiary content will be required to enjoy or understand it. And so, how the story and the narrative progresses is that we follow the life of Clive Rossville through three different stages: his teens, his 20s, and his 30s.
And because we’re covering such a large amount of time with those jumps, it’s safe to say that a lot will be happening in the background with regards to the state of the realm. And while we have a few side quests available in the game that will touch upon what’s going on in the world in the background in addition to that main scenario, we also will have these in-game compendiums, and a lot of stuff to read in-game that will hopefully help provide a lot of the lore to those people who wish to delve deeper into the game world.
There was implied nudity in the recent trailer. Is this a more adult, M-rated Final Fantasy?
So this is something you can say, not just with the Final Fantasy series, but in general, compared to the past, video game ratings have become more and more restrictive recently regarding what can or cannot be shown. That said, I do believe that ratings are very important to ensure that younger players, younger children, are shielded from extreme material.
But on the other hand, when trying to tell a story with difficult adult themes, these ratings can end up becoming somewhat of a hindrance. And you find yourself changing things that you wanted to do in the game based on that rating. You wanted to show something, but because you have this certain rating that you need to go to, you need to move the camera away. And that ends up making the entire experience feel a little bit cheaper. And so, this time, to make sure that we could tell the story that we wanted in the way that we wanted to, we decided to pursue a mature rating in most of the regions that will be releasing the game. But again, this is not because we simply wanted to make the game more violent or the game more explicit, this is because we felt it was necessary to allow us to explore those more mature themes that the game tackles.
What is it like to go from revitalizing an MMO to now being in charge of the next main entry in the franchise. Is that something of a graduation or do you just feel like, hey, this is just another Final Fantasy game. I’m going to do my best.
To tell the truth, to be in charge of the next mainline Final Fantasy, it’s a lot of pressure. And so, you have the pressure from the fans who want a lot of different things and have a lot of different ideas about the direction that the series should go in. You have that pressure of the history of Final Fantasy. It being a 35-year-old franchise, and having all of that history there, the weight of that history. You also have a lot of pressure from the [development] team itself because the dev team has expectations in what they want from the game. And so, to tell you the truth, no one should ever tackle two Final Fantasy games at once like I did.
The one thing, though, that is very different from XIV, is that on XIV, I am producer and director, but luckily, on Final Fantasy XVI, I’m only the producer. So that whole amount of pressure that comes with being a director is not on my shoulders. It’s on the director’s shoulders. So in that sense, there’s a little bit less pressure on me. I know that when the company came to me and asked the development team to tackle the next Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XVI, I told them that we would do it as long as I didn’t have to be director as well, because there was no way I could direct two projects of this scale at once.
That said, being asked by the company to create the newest mainline Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XVI, was an honor. And it was an honor that was only made possible by what we were able to achieve on Final Fantasy XIV and the amount of feedback that we’ve gotten from the fans and the amount of support that we’ve had from fans and players and the media around the world. You guys supporting us, gave us this opportunity to take on the next Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XVI. And for that, we’re very appreciative.
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Onyx Boox Nova Air C review: color E Ink on an ambitious tablet
Some people use camomile tea, others use breathing exercises, but, for me, the most reliable tactic for getting to sleep quickly is to avoid screens before bed. Yet, actually doing so requires some creativity if I want to keep up with news online. My current system involves saving articles to the read-later app Instapaper, which sends a daily digest to my Kindle each evening. But it’s a hacky approach where articles often aren’t formatted properly and sometimes don’t appear at all.
I could switch to a Kobo, which offers native integration with rival read-later app Pocket, but the Onyx Boox Nova Air C offers a much more tantalizing alternative. Unlike either a Kindle or Kobo, its E Ink display is capable of showing colors, and it’s running a modified version of Android that allows you to download and run a variety of apps that go far beyond reading ebooks. It opens the door to numerous read-later apps as well as full-on word processors and third-party note-taking software. It even includes a stylus for handwritten notes.
At $420, it’s pricey compared to Amazon’s Kindles, which often cost well under the $200 mark. But that price gets you something closer to a full-on Android tablet than an e-reader. It’s just a shame that the total package doesn’t fully deliver on the promise.
The Onyx Boox Nova Air C is an unassuming device, with big bezels around its 7.8-inch screen and a generally plastic-feeling construction. Its power button is on the top left, while a USB-C port is on the bottom alongside a pair of downward-firing speakers. They’re roughly as bad as I expected them to be, but it’s better than nothing. (Amazon’s Kindles haven’t included them for years.) Internally, the Nova Air C is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.
The main attraction here is the color E Ink display. The Nova Air C is equipped with E Ink’s Kaleido Plus screen, which uses a color filter layer on top of a more typical E Ink panel to offer 4,096 colors. The approach comes with some obvious drawbacks. For starters, the screen can’t display color content with the same resolution as black and white, so while the display reaches 1404 x 1872 in black and white (300ppi), it’s limited to a paltry 468 x 624 (100ppi) when showing color. And even then, the colors are far more muted than what you’d get from even a cheap LCD panel, whose range of colors can be counted in the millions — not the thousands. My former colleague Sam Byford described the colors on the similar Kaleido-equipped PocketBook Color as like “a newspaper that’s faded over a few days,” which felt like a very apt description of the Nova Air C.
And yet, even basic color is better than no color at all. The Nova Air C’s colors might look washed out and low resolution, but the essence of the image remains — unlike on a Kindle, where color imagery just looks broken. I’d almost liken using the Kaleido screen to watching a foreign movie with subtitles; you miss out on a lot of the subtlety, but you can still fundamentally understand what you’re looking at.
I briefly tried watching video on the Nova Air C’s screen via YouTube, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Content looks incredibly juddery thanks to the screen’s low refresh rate, colors look washed out, and there’s a huge amount of ghosting. You can see what’s going on in a pinch, but I’d rather watch video on literally any other screen.
Despite the color, the tablet retains the benefits of an E Ink display. I had no issue reading the Nova Air C in bright sunlight, and, with a small boost to its screen illumination feature, I was also able to read it in low light before bed with no eye strain. Battery life is also as impressive as any other e-reader. I’ve been using the tablet on and off for the better part of two months, and its battery level is still sitting at 55 percent.
That said, part of the reason for this impressive life is likely to be the Nova Air C’s aggressive power management settings, which, by default, see the tablet fully shut down if you don’t use it for just 15 minutes. This can mean waiting around 27 seconds for the tablet to boot up every time you want to use it. I’d suggest adjusting the “Power-off timeout” in settings to one or even two days, which will allow the laptop to wake in a couple of seconds when you want to use it. But be prepared to sacrifice a little battery life for this increase in responsiveness.
The highlight of the Onyx Boox Nova Air C is its built-in note-taking app. Handwriting notes feels great with the included stylus, with pen strokes appearing on the screen near-instantaneously and 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity that offer a lot of versatility. There are a variety of different brush styles and colors, and the software can attempt to transcribe your handwriting into typed text and even emoji.
This character recognition worked okay in limited cases but struggled with lengthy passages. Once written, it’s easy to export notes to a PDF or PNG file by simply scanning a QR code with your smartphone or sharing them to another app on the tablet. It all makes the Nova Air C a great device for taking notes by hand.
But trying to use the tablet like a traditional e-reader is more complicated, and you’ll have to jump through more hoops than on competing devices like the Kindle. Although the Nova Air C technically comes with a built-in “Store,” in practice it seemed to be filled mainly with public domain works, and I couldn’t find any of the modern books I was hoping to read.
That leaves you with a couple of other options. You can download ebooks from elsewhere on the internet and then transfer them to the tablet, and it supports a good range of filetypes, including PDF, ePub, TXT, RTF, and MOBI. But, when I actually purchased an ePUB from eBooks.com and tried to load it onto the Nova Air C, I discovered that it doesn’t support the Adobe DRM the store uses. (The only DRM the e-reader supports is the Chinese-focused JD DRM.)
Thankfully, Onyx is using a heavily modified version of Android 11 as software on the Nova Air C, which means you’re not limited to using its built-in software. You can download and install most apps from the Play Store as though you were using any other Android tablet, including, crucially, Amazon’s Kindle app. Getting Google Play Services set up on the device is a bit of a weird process that requires you to hop through a couple of strange hoops. But, once I was set up, it was relatively easy to benefit from my preexisting Kindle library. While I was there, I downloaded a couple of other Android apps: Instapaper for reading all the web articles I bookmark for reading later throughout the course of my day; Obsidian for note-taking; and Comixology for reading comics.
This is what I was hoping would be the Nova Air C’s superpower: the ability to download and install whatever Android apps I wanted.
Take note-taking. The Nova Air 2 comes with a decent note-taking app that works very well with the stylus. But it works less well for typed notes, which you might want to do if you have a Bluetooth keyboard to pair with the tablet.
So, instead, I downloaded the note-taking app Obsidian. It worked well, allowing me to type up notes far faster than I could ever handwrite them. And, unlike when using a laptop or my phone, I could happily do so late at night without having to look at a bright screen. You could use whatever word processing or note-taking software takes your fancy — so long as it has an Android app. It’s also possible to download alternative stylus-compatible apps, but my experience was a bit hit and miss. OneNote worked well, but INKredible felt laggy with Onyx’s stylus.
I was also able to get Instapaper up and running with minimal hassle. I had full access to all my saved articles ready for me to read without having to go through the clunky sync process that Instapaper’s Kindle integration requires. Comixology worked okay for reading comics, but the screen was just slightly too low in resolution and small for it to feel like I was getting the most of the experience.
But, very quickly, I started encountering issues with these apps that had obviously never been designed with E Ink screens in mind. You control apps on the Nova Air C with a combination of taps and swipes, same as you would on any other Android tablet. But its E Ink screen is so much less responsive than the 60Hz LCD or OLED panels found in most other Android devices that it’s hard to “feel” your way around each app. You can’t half-swipe to check what a full swipe might do; you have to fully commit and hope you got it right.
Things feel a lot better when you start using physical buttons to control the tablet, which is made possible via Onyx’s magnetic Nova Air case. This not only adds a protective cover to the tablet but also includes a pair of physical volume buttons, which many reading-focused Android apps will let you remap into page-turning controls. If you’re going to pick up a Nova Air C, I’d strongly recommend getting this case for it. It’s sold separately from the tablet for $59.99, which feels expensive given how necessary it is.
I had very high hopes for the Onyx Boox Nova Air C. I wanted it to be able to do it all: read books; read online articles; and act as a repository for all my notes — all in a form factor that I could happily use late at night without eye strain.
And, yes, it can absolutely do all of these things. But the more I asked of the tablet, the more I could feel its E Ink screen creaking under the pressure. E Ink panels are more than responsive enough for reading books using software designed specifically with them in mind. But throw in an app designed for a 60Hz touchscreen, and it can be a struggle to use. And packing in this much functionality means that the Nova Air C struggles to match a simple Kindle when it comes to simply being able to flip it open and immediately start reading. You have to choose the app, and possibly even the book, first.
I wanted a lot from the Nova Air C, and at $450, I think it’s reasonable to expect it. Amazon’s Kindles cost roughly half of what Onyx is asking, and you can even get an alternative e-reader with a color screen from PocketBook for $234. Or, if your priorities are less about having an E Ink screen and more about having the functionality of a tablet, you could get an iPad Mini with an 8.3-inch screen for $499 or a base level iPad with a 10.2-inch screen for $329. None of these devices will tick all the boxes. But, then again, neither does the Nova Air C.
Photography by Jon Porter / The Verge
Meta Plots Ambitious VR Release Schedule of Four Headsets by 2024 — The Information
Meta Platforms is planning to release four virtual reality headsets between now and 2024, according to an internal road map viewed by The Information. The aggressive timeline reflects Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s desire to advance his vision of the metaverse by getting more people to use VR devices. Whether he can meet the timeline, however, is far from certain.
Meta is planning to release Project Cambria, a high-end VR and mixed-reality headset it is billing as a device for the future of work, around September, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cambria was originally supposed to come out last year but its launch was delayed by supply chain and other pandemic-related issues, which could again push back the launch date, the person said. A second version of Cambria, code-named Funston, is slated to come out in 2024.
How Many Seasons Will Hulu’s The Kardashians Have? Kim Kardashian And Kris Jenner Have An Ambitious Number In Mind
The most infamous reality TV family of all time, that is the Kardashian-Jenners, has found a new home on Hulu. Their upcoming show for the streaming platform, simply called The Kardashians, will again showcase their various personal lives and businesses – with a few notable absences like Caitlyn Jenner. The first season is slated to drop in just a few days, but there is already talk about how many more seasons are in store for the future. Apparently, Kim Kardashian and her mother, Kris Jenner, have a specific and ambitious number in mind.
Hulu’s The Kardashians had its Los Angeles premiere on Thursday – and Kim Kardashian interestingly walked the red carpet for it without boyfriend Pete Davidson. (More on them later.) The Hollywood Reporter caught up with the stars at the event and tried to nail down an estimate for what’s next after the 40 episodes/2 seasons worth of the series that have already been filmed. Matriarch Kris Jenner commented that a “nice even number” of seasons would suffice, and Kim seemingly agreed. Here’s their exchange from the outlet:
Kris Jenner: Another 20, why not?
Kim Kardashian: I hope another 20, right? If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it.
It’s hard to say if the two were just being glib or not, considering how Keeping Up with the Kardashians had a fairly decent 20-season run itself. But in all actuality, the potential for The Kardashians lasting just as long is no joke. When the family initially announced their “global content” partnership with Disney/Hulu, they would state that it was a “multi-year” deal. How many years constitutes multiple remains to be seen, but Disney will most likely desire to capitalize on the frequently viral group of women for however long they wish.
Suffice to say, the family’s “content” is seemingly neverending in that new potential “storylines” crop up almost daily. In the interim since filming the Hulu series, Kim Kardashian has waded into quite the controversy for reflecting on women in business and their work ethic (or lack thereof). Not to mention, a social media feud has erupted between the Skims CEO, her new boyfriend, and ex-husband Kanye West. The new show, in theory, could run for many-a-season on just that storyline alone.
What we know so far about the forthcoming reality TV show, though, is that there will evidently be more of a balance between screentime for their personal drama and their billion-dollar companies. Nevertheless, the drama itself will be in spades, as seen in The Kardashians’ first official trailer. In it, Kim Kardashian’s rapper ex-husband and Khloe Kardashian’s ex Tristan Thompson are both brought up, and it looks and sounds very emotional for the sisters.
All in all, Kim Kardashian told The Hollywood Reporter that they really missed filming as a unit and that their latest endeavor is “different” this time around. She continued that even if sometimes they may opt to not show something too sensitive on-camera, they have a standing “no-boundaries” theory when it comes to filming for the masses.
Whatever the case may be in the long-term, the immediate future promises that viewers are in for a big splash. Hopefully, The Kardashians can follow through on such a promise. The first of the 10-episode premiere season debuts on April 14 and then every Thursday thereafter with a Hulu subscription!