Steven Universe is animated, but the show’s characters are complex people with vibrant backstories. For a few seasons, there was one exception: Lars Barriga, Beach City’s disaffected Big Donut employee. When the series first introduces us to Lars, his sour attitude, hostility, and selfishness paint him as an annoying and frustrating character. But for me, and others with roots in the Filipinx diaspora, a subtle nod to Lars’ ancestry was as big a reveal as any Pink Diamond twist. In the show’s 14th episode, “Lars and the Cool Kids” we learn that Lars may suffer from a compulsive desire to fit in. The episode opens with him standing against the wall of Fish Stew Pizza, waiting for a chance to befriend with the Cool Kids. When the group does hang out with him and Steven, Lars spends the entire time worrying about the opportunity, ultimately self-sabotaging his dreams of connecting with Beach City’s coolest teens. By seeing this drive manifest … [Read more...] about Steven Universe made Lars the most fascinating character by revealing his heritage
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Hackers can control Alexa and Siri to hijack your bank account and break into your home using ‘silent’ messages
HACKERS can control popular voice assistants like Alexa and Siri to steal money from your bank account and unlock smart locks to enter your home. Researchers have discovered a bug in Amazon, Apple and Google's bots that can be triggered with 'silent' commands hidden in music, reports The New York Times. These subliminal messages are undetectable to the human ear and could be used to buy things on Amazon and elsewhere online using your payment details. Smart speakers are quickly becoming one of the must-have home gadgets, with almost half of UK households expected to own such a device by 2022 (up from 10 per cent today), according to consulting firm OC&C. Gadgets like the Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple HomePod allow users to control their speakers using voice commands. With Amazon's Alexa digital assistant (which is built into the Echo speaker), you can play music, shop on Amazon, ask about the weather, order a pizza, and even make phone calls. But new research suggests that … [Read more...] about Hackers can control Alexa and Siri to hijack your bank account and break into your home using ‘silent’ messages
Q&A: Translating the humor & tone of Yakuza games for the West
Each of Sega's Yakuza games contains multitudes. For example, Yakuza 0 (the series prequel released outside of Japan early last year) sets itself up as a playable crime serial set in '80s Japan. But it can also be a cabaret management game, a blind date sim, a 3D beat-'em-up, an emulator of old Sega arcade classics, a rhythm game, a light-hearted RPG about solving stranger's problems, a real estate management game, and a surprisingly good place to learn the basics of tabletop games like shogi and mahjong. From a developer's perspective, the scope of such a project seems daunting. From a player's perspective, it can be overwhelming -- my partner and I recently completed Yakuza 0, and saw that our 87 hours of combined play merited a "completion" score of roughly 33 percent. The hook that holds together all these disparate game design elements, that pulled us and scores of Western players like us through the game, is the writing. For all … [Read more...] about Q&A: Translating the humor & tone of Yakuza games for the West
6 tips for getting started in Dragon Ball FighterZ
In its first day on PC, Dragon Ball Fighter Z had triple the number of players as Street Fighter V. That means a swathe of fresh-faced Saiyans are now jumping into the arena for the very first time, eager to fight. While DBFZ is much easier to get into compared to other fighting games from Arc System Works, relying on the game’s easy autocombos will only get you so far. To lessen some of those starting beatdowns you might soon be facing at the hands of skilled opponents, we’ve compiled some tips and tricks that should help you along the path to becoming a Super Saiyan God. So put on your weighted clothing, jump in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and get to training! Do the Tutorial and Combo Challenges As boring as it is to sit through tutorials, Dragon Ball FighterZ’s is perfect for running you through the basics of combat. Along with the essentials of blocking and attacking, this tutorial introduces more advanced concepts like airdashing, meter management and using … [Read more...] about 6 tips for getting started in Dragon Ball FighterZ
Walking Heavy is a stealth game about English gangsters that’s flown under the radar
The train drops me off in Tynewich. It's raining, like always. As the train leaves I cross the tracks immediately rather than exploring on this side, a superstitious act I repeat every mission because it worked one time. It works again and I find my target quickly. He wears the distinctive red of a drug supplier carrying a new substance called HYPE. There's a police officer walking in the same direction, so I casually trail both. We pass ugly council houses and the visibility circle around me pulses in and out like a heartbeat, growing larger every time I step from a pool of shadow into the light of a streetlamp. Finally the target and the police officer separate. I follow the red man until a particularly dark shadow shrinks the visibility circle around me to almost nothing, at which point I opportunistically whip out my pistol and shoot him. The police officer immediately rounds the corner, having not gone nearly as far as I hoped. I sprint back toward the train, hoping for one … [Read more...] about Walking Heavy is a stealth game about English gangsters that’s flown under the radar