A core team update from Ubisoft announces a change at the top of the Rainbow Six Siege team (thanks PCGamesN). This includes a message from Leroy Athanassoff, who explains he is being replaced as the game's Creative Director. He's staying with Ubisoft, and says he "won't be going too far." This raises the possibility he's been extracted to help with Rainbow Six Extraction, with that game due in 10 days, but nothing to that effect has been announced. There's also this message from new Rainbow Six Siege creative director Alexander Karpazis, who expresses enthusiasm for the future of the tactical shooter:

My journey with Siege started all the way back when the project was in its Alpha. I joined some friends and competed in Siege's first internal tournament where we made it to the finals. Even in the early stages of the game I knew there was something special about Siege, but at the time I had no idea how profound of an impact it would have on my life. Fast-forward to the present: I’ve spent the last four years working with an incredible team of people, on one of the most successful competitive shooters in the world. The next step of that journey starts today, and I couldn’t be more excited about the future of Siege.

I’m truly thankful for Leroy’s mentorship over the years. He’s taught me what exemplary leadership, creativity, and passion look like in the position of Creative Director. Leroy’s hard work will be visible in future seasons as the team and I prepare for one of the most ambitious years in Siege’s history. I’m extremely humbled by the team’s trust in me, and I hope to earn the trust of the community in my new role as well.

With Monster Hunter Rise set to rise on PC this week, reviews of the Windows edition of the action/RPG are now showing up. Here's a first roundup:

• Monster Hunter Rise Review - IGN.
• Monster Hunter Rise review -- Battle of the beasts - PC Invasion.
• Monster Hunter: Rise review - PC Gamer.
• Monster Hunter Rise PC review – happy hunting - PCGamesN.
• Monster Hunter Rise PC review: Barely better than Switch - Polygon.
• Monster Hunter Rise (PC) review: every bit as great as Monster Hunter World - Rock Paper Shotgun.
• Monster Hunter Rise PC review impressions: Looks like I won't be going back to Switch for Sunbreak - VG247.
• Monster Hunter Rise PC Review - Don't Fear the Rampage - Wccftech.

Movie Games announces Lust from Beyond: M Edition will be released a month from today on February 10th, offering a less lusty version of this Windows horror game. The original AO-rated game no longer seems to be listed, and there is no word on an upgrade path for owners to get the M Edition (Update: The AO version is still available on Steam, you just need to be logged in to see it, thanks NotOneOfUs). There is a chance to check it out via a playable demo on GOG.com and Steam. Here's a Date Reveal + Demo Trailer and here's word on how the M Edition tones things down a bit:

The original Lust from Beyond is an Adult Only experience. The M Edition is the same game tastefully tailored for a wider audience. M stands for the new Mature rating, but also for the many motifs of the Lust universe. The omnipresent Mystery, the iconic Masks, and overwhelming Madness.

The M Edition contains the following changes from the Adult Only edition:

• Nudity has been covered by outfits appropriate to the themes and setting.
• Some scenes have been rearranged to keep their meaning but reduce the explicit factor.
• Some animations, scene framing and models have been changed to meet the Mature rating requirements.

Continue here to read the full story.

Today's NY Times Metaverse article (may require registration or subscription) is the source:

• Phil Spencer says Xbox has ‘changed how we do certain things’ with Activision, following abuse allegations.
• Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Calls For Cross-Platform Ban Program.
• Phil Spencer Says Xbox Is 'Not a Free Speech Platform' for Politics.

• Apex Legends Fuse trick turns him into a wallhack God.

• Xbox Series X-S consoles continue to sell at a record pace, Microsoft has claimed.
• Monster Energy Supercross 5 Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One And Xbox Series X-S.
• Super Sami Roll Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X-S.

• Aya Neo Pro Review: This Switch-Like Handheld Gaming PC Is Superb - GameSpot.
• Why is Zynga worth a whopping $12.7 billion- (Hint- It’s not FarmVille).
• Honor unveils its first foldable smartphone, the Magic V.
• Apple Arcade breaks free-to-play, but not how you'd think - Opinion.
• Apple quietly discontinues the Beats Pill Plus, its last battery-powered speaker.
• Apple says App Store developers have earned more than $260 billion.

• To Understand the Metaverse, Look to Video Games (may require registration or subscription).
• ISPs must accept gov’t subsidy on all plans—no more upselling, FCC chair says.
• Ethereum Drops 22% in Value Over the Past Week.
• "Emily In Paris" Renewed For Two More Seasons.
• Top Twitch Streamer Amouranth Buys Inflatable Pool Company.

Thanks RedEye9.

• Intel Changes Senior Executives: VP That Led CES is Out, New CFO.
• AMD: We’re Using an Optimized TSMC 5nm Process.
• Nvidia argues it should be allowed to buy Arm because Intel and AMD are really, really good.
• Production Studio Taylor James Elevates Remote Workflows With NVIDIA Technology. Thanks Hypothermia.
• 3D-printed OLEDs could soon lead to DIY screens.
• Cows Strapped Into VR Headsets To Make Them Produce More Milk.
• Western Digital Announces Closing of Debt Offering. Thanks Hypothermia.
• New year, new job: The tech resignations are coming, so get ready.
• Remember when Apple seemed to know about their own products?
• Razer Pulls N95 Mentions From Zephyr Face Mask Sites.

• Vulnerability Summary for the Week of January 3, 2022 - CISA. Thanks Ant.
• No Software Required: Raspberry Pi Uses Electromagnetic Waves to Detect Malware. What wizardry is this? Thanks Neutronbeam.
• CISA director: 'We have not seen significant intrusions' from Log4j -- yet.

• SEC charges ‘decentralized’ cloud computing company Crowd Machine.

• Quantic Dream's next game is reportedly based on a nearly decade-old tech demo…
• Playing Doom On Rotary Phone Looks Absolutely Hellish…
• Take-Two shares suffer major decline following Zynga deal announcement…

Last Link of the Day: Jackass Forever - Final Trailer (2022 Movie) (NSFW).

Obituary: Robert Durst, convicted murderer and subject of HBO's 'The Jinx,' has died.

This announcement on Steam officially announces Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem, a new installment in the rapid-fire Serious Sam series of first-person shooters. This will be a standalone expansion to Serious Sam 4, so the original game will not be required. Devolver Digital teased this news last week, and as that tease stated, the game will arrive this month. Specifically on January 25th. This Reveal Trailer lives up to its name with a gameplay reveal. Here's more mayhem, which started as a project from a mod team:

Independent developer Timelock Studio and Serious Sam 4 developer Croteam have teamed up to unload standalone expansion Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem into the ongoing adventures of ‘Serious’ Sam Stone. The cold winds of chaos blow onto Steam later this month when Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem launches on Jan. 25.

Make your way through the vast Russian landscapes in five massive new missions set along Arctic coastlines, desolate forests, abandoned villages and a chilling ghost town. A new set of dangerous foes and bosses join the Horde including some of the most advanced and intimidating creatures the hallowed FPS series has ever seen. Lock and load new weapons like the experimental crossbow or jump into vehicles from snowmobiles to towering mechs.

Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem took an unusual path, starting as an ambitious project from longtime Serious Sam community modding team Timelock Studio. It quickly evolved into a standalone expansion under the guidance of Croteam.

Continue here to read the full story.

Developer/publisher feneq announces Rogue Command, a real-time strategy game coming to Early Access for Windows on Steam in Q3 of this year. This is described as a "love letter" to classic RTS, deckbuilding, and roguelike games, but it will also come to macOS and consoles when it graduates from Early Access next year. The Reveal Trailer offers a first look, and the announcement has more details:

Command the adorably dangerous Engineer, an A.I. with recently gained sentience who decided working endlessly isn’t a way to live for the next millennia. The Engineer is going rogue and will put it all on the line to push back the interstellar planet core mining corporation coming for his solar system and his day off.

Lead this robotic uprising against the Planetary Core Extractor Company (PCX) by building a base from scratch in procedurally generated battlefields across a star system with 16 distinct planet biomes. Explore through the fog of war, harvest resources to construct foundries, and assemble an insurmountable army.

Continue here to read the full story.

Bazinga! Take-Two Interactive announces it is acquiring Zynga, saying it is paying about $12.7 billion for the studio. This is about a decade out from the heyday of FarmVille, but the company has pivoted to mobile development since then. Most of the article discusses share prices and other financial considerations. Despite the large price paid, word is Take-Two is "still looking" for additional acquisition targets. Here's a bit on the gaming implications of the news:

While FarmVille is Zynga’s most well-known game, it has published several other notable titles including CSR Racing, Empires & Puzzles and Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, which is based on Warner Bros.′ Harry Potter franchise.

Take Two, which is known for Grand Theft Auto and other blockbuster console and PC franchises, is hoping to tap into the continued growth of mobile gaming, which accounts for more than half of the entire video game industry.

The Steam Listing for Autobahn Police Simulator 3 once again offers a playable demo of this simulation of policing one of the world's fastest roadways. The demo was previously temporarily available for the last week in 2021, and this release is time-limited as well, running until next Sunday. Here's word:

The demo version puts the police officers of the German Highway Police in a delicate situation: A herd of cows has broken through a fence and is now blocking the Autobahn! Already an accident happened: The first driver to notice the animals has crashed. Now the police have arrived to secure the scene, talk to the persons involved in the accident and – find a way to get the cows out of the way so the traffic can flow again.

Outerverse is now available in Early Access on the Epic Games Store and Steam, offering an open-world Windows game similar to Minecraft in space with an increased emphasis on building automated machines. This can be seen in action in the Release Date Announcement Trailer. Here's more:

Chart a course across a multitude of cube-shaped planets throughout outer space awaiting an explorer to quell galactic giants and restore order. Collect nearly 100 different crafting materials to build efficient and automated bases over six randomly generated planet types, and expand your cosmic reach. Flex planning and project-management skills with more than nine million combinations of schematics and tools capable of creating contraptions like farms, factories, weapons, and teleporters.

After six sinister cubic colossi culled the majority of intelligent life, survival for those remaining is not guaranteed. Discover over 60 quests across three story acts called Ages; each concluding with world-altering cosmic events. Soar through the main questline, turn the terrible titans into stardust, develop bigger and better inventions, and go where no cubi-naut has gone before outside the visible universe… the Outerverse!

Continue here to read the full story.

A playtest is underway for Espresso Tycoon, an upcoming coffee mogul game in the works at DreamWay Games. Selling coffee is a way of printing money, but presumably this will brew up some challenges along the way. Sign up on Steam if you want to give this a shot. Here's a bit on the game:

Espresso Tycoon – the future of tycoon games is here! The sound of the coffee machine, the unique aroma of coffee grounds... in your own café! Jump into a world full of hardcore management, picky customers, and fierce competition! Build your coffee business from a small place into a whole empire!

• Days Gone Director Says Shawn Layden's Departure Killed Chances for Sequel.

• Weekly Sale: survival games up to 90% off - GOG.com.

Thanks FakeSpyder.

• SHINORUBI - Bullet Hell Game Launch Trailer.

↑ Official trailers. ↓ Content creator videos.

• STALKER Fan film - Contract.
• ANTI-CITIZENS - A Half-Life- Alyx Short.

• Celebrating the past 20* winners of Mod of the Year - Mod DB.
• tinyBuild Gaming PC Giveaway.

• Twisted Metal Reboot Reportedly Now In Works At A First-Party Sony Studio.
• YouTube Streamer Leaves Switch OLED on 1800 Hours Straight to Test Burn-In. Thanks Max.
• YouTuber creates adapter to play PS5 with one hand.
• PlayStation Store- December 2021’s top downloads.

• Samsung looks set to hold its Galaxy Unpacked 2022 event on February 8th.
• Tesla adds assertive self-driving mode with rolling stops.

• Pokimane unbanned on Twitch.

• A new Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU with 12GB of VRAM may be revealed tomorrow.
• Slashed EVGA GPU Step-Up Rules Stifle Upgrade Options.
• UltraRAM Breakthrough Brings New Memory and Storage Tech to Silicon.
• AMD's $199 Radeon RX 6500XT officially gets €300-324 MSRP from ASUS. Thanks Simon.
• Stolen EVGA GeForce RTX 30 cards reportedly discovered in a Vietnamese store. Thanks Max.
• A Tesla owner says he makes up to $800 a month mining cryptocurrency with his car. He says it's worth it, even though it could void his warranty. Thanks RedEye9.
• Kitty In Pink Case Mod of the Day. Show us your war face!

• Open source developer corrupts widely-used libraries, affecting tons of projects.
• FBI: Cyber criminals are mailing out USB drives that install ransomware.
• WordPress update fixes a series of high-severity vulnerabilities.
• Indian Patchwork hacking group infects itself with remote access Trojan. Congratulations, you played yourself.
• Abcbot botnet is linked to Xanthe cryptojacking group. If you keep cryptojacking you could go blind.

• Hard Drive: Silicon Power Armor A66 5TB Portable HDD - Mad Shrimps.
• Microphone: Streamplify MIC RGB USB Microphones - Nikk Tech.
• Misc: EPOS-Sennheiser GSX 1200 Pro Gaming Series Audio Amplifier Review - TweakTown.
• Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Apex review - PC Gamer.
• Mouse: Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Review - APH Networks.

• Fallout: A Deep Dive Into Nuka-Cola. Thanks Neutronbeam…

The NFL regular season concluded yesterday. There were some bizarre outcomes and extreme upsets yesterday to cap an unpredictable season. Hats off to Vikesman for winning our Pigskin Pick'em Pool, managing to go 179-76 for the season. He and second-place finisher WarPig even managed to rack up 12 winners amid the chaos yesterday. They were the only two pickers in double digits, demonstrating the skill that landed them at the top of the pile. I ended up 10th for the season myself, and as always, vow to do better next time (apologies to Tony Kornheiser). Speaking of doing better, the season may be done for the also-rans, but the postseason still looms for the playoff teams, so we'll dust off the playoff pool for next week. The season is also over for my Giants, who were "barely rans" this season. There is talk of the team moving on from GM Dave Gettleman and keeping head coach Joe Judge. I never favored this plan, believing the GM should hire his own coach. But I have now also lost faith in Judge anyway. Running a QB sneak in the second quarter deep in your territory on third-and-long is the cowardly call of the year. The Giants finished with fewer than 100 net yards passing each of the past two weeks, lost their final six games in a row by double digits (a first in the team's almost 100 year history), and scored two touchdowns over their final four games. The good news is the team has two top 10 picks next year. The rest is bad news. The roster is thin and the salary cap is a mess. This is a team in desperate need of a fresh start. Here's hoping ownership has come around to this thinking.

Obituary: Bob Saget, comedian and 'Full House' star, dead at 65.
Obituary: Woodstock Impresario Michael Lang Dead at 77.

End of Season Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Breakfast Link

• The 2022 Golden Globe Winners. Suppose they gave awards and nobody came?

Story

• LAPD officers pull injured pilot from crashed plane moments before train slams into wreckage. Thanks RedEye9.

Science

• Omicron variant may have come from mice, China study says. Thanks Max.
• T-cells from common colds can provide protection against COVID-19 - study.
• Turkmenistan's leader wants 'Gates of Hell' fire put out. A decision 50 years in the making. Thanks RedEye9.
• Scientists observe a red supergiant going supernova for the first time.

Media

• OMG What is he doing?
• Original slinky commercial. Thanks VideoSift.

The Steam Game and Player Statistics Page shows Valve's online service passed a new concurrent user milestone in the wee hours this morning (thanks SteamDB). Just a week after setting the previous record at just under 28 million simultaneous users, Steam has now passed that milestone. At around 6:20 am EST today, Steam reports a total of 28,230,661 users were on at the same time.

In a tweet, Techland explains just how much content is being crammed into Dying Light 2: Stay Human. Word is it will take 500 hours to complete every quest and side-quest in the action/RPG sequel: "To fully complete Dying Light 2 Stay Human, you'll need at least 500 hours—almost as long as it would take to walk from Warsaw to Madrid!" This recalls the famous song lyric: "I would walk 500 hours and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked from Warsaw to Madrid and back." On the off chance that there are heathens out there who do not view this as positive news, a follow-up tweet explains you do not actually have to spend almost three full weeks in the game if you're not a completionist. A later tweet expands on that explanation:

500 hours is related to maxing out the game - finishing all the quests, endings, and exploring every part of the world, but a regular player should finish the story + side quests and do quite a lot of exploring in less than 100 hours, so don't worry!

Valve counts off the bestselling titles on Steam for last week in this new top 10 list:

1. Ready or Not.
2. Save 50% on It Takes Two.
3. Pre-purchase MONSTER HUNTER RISE.
4. Project Zomboid.
5. Valve Index VR Kit.
6. Five Nights at Freddy's- Security Breach.
7. Pre-purchase ELDEN RING.
8. Rust.
9. Forza Horizon 5.
10. Sea of Thieves.

Unofficial games, patches, and mods.

• Star Wars: Republic Commando gets an HD Texture Pack.
• Doomed Is A New Minecraft Mod That Turns It Into Doom 2016.

• Bleak Faith- Forsaken - Gameplay Updates. Thanks DSOGaming.

↑ Official trailers. ↓ Content creator videos.

• Baal's Throne Room - DiabLoL Ep42 - Carbot. Thanks Ant and Rhialto.

• Four veteran combat designers on how to make a battle system memorable - GamesRadar+. Thanks Max.

• 'Unpacking' and 'Inscryption' Lead in IGF 2022 Nominations.
• Awesome Games Done Quick 2022 now underway.

• InWith promises world's first soft smart contact lens. Thanks Neutronbeam.

• ‘Crazy good’: Rural Canadians are raving over Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite-based internet service. Thanks Max.
• Wi-Fi 6 gets an upgrade with Release 2, promising better upload performance. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Amazon Trims Covid-19 Isolation Period for Workers but Doesn’t Mirror CDC (may require registration or subscription). Thanks Hypothermia.
• Reality Star Stephanie Matto Made $200K From Fart Jars, NFTs Next Market. We live in magical times.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Forced by shortages to sell chipless ink cartridges, Canon tells customers how to bypass DRM warnings.
• Core i9-12900HK Beats Threadripper 1950X In Cinebench R20 Benchmark.
• The positive side of ransomware for data transformation.
• Qnap's 4-Bay NAS Gets 80TB, Thunderbolt 4, 10GbE Connectivity.
• 7 ways the technology sector could support global society in 2022.
• AI is quietly eating up the world's workforce with job automation.
• CES 2022: 5 takeaways from the giant tech trade show.
• Microsoft Provides Workaround for Outlook Search on Windows 10.
• VeraCrypt version 1.25.7 for Windows and macOS. Thanks Ant.
• Corsair Withdraws Products In China Due To Packaging Misprint.

• 500M Avira Antivirus Users Introduced to Cryptomining.

• Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL ROG - OCinside (German).
• Headset: Klipsch T5 II True Wireless ANC Review - Headfonics. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Misc: Adafruit KB2040 Review- Custom Keyboard Creator - Tom's Hardware.
• SSD: Crucial X6 4TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 Portable SSD - Nikk Tech.

• Still balancing Democracy 4 with data…

We are temporarily stranded in the Blue Tower due to the weather. We're not snowed in, we're iced in. Freezing rain started overnight, and while it continues to come down wet, it's forming ice on the ground. There are a few cars going by, but you have to be extra daring (and maybe a few other adjectives) to risk the roads as they ice up. Luckily there's nothing we need that badly, so we'll just wait this out. And we have week 18 football and swans walking around on the frozen pond to watch, so we have no shortage of entertainment to distract us.

Icy Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Brunch Link

• ShlinkedIn Content Generator.

Stories

• Uber driver DaVante Williams gets hotel for teen passenger, then a job offer.
• Marble Arch Mound to close after just six disappointing months. I don't mow art, but I mow what I like.
• Their cats took their Vitamix hostage. Three weeks later, the standoff continues (may require registration or subscription). Thanks RedEye9.
• Birds are real, a US government agency wants to assure you. Bird is the word, Peter Griffin wants to assure you.

Science
Thanks Max.

• Your attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen.
• The Heaviest Drinker in the Animal Kingdom (may require registration or subscription).
• Fleshing out the bones of Quetzalcoatlus, Earth’s largest flier ever.

Media

• Skiers Sprayed With Freezing Water, 2 In The Hospital. What a nightmare! Thanks Acleacius.
• Assuming the pregnancy test strip as vape. Thanks VideoSift.

Follow-ups

• Cyprus reportedly discovers a Covid variant that combines omicron and delta.
• The James Webb Space Telescope is fully deployed. So what's next for the biggest observatory off Earth?
• Feds Sue Auto Shop Owner Who Paid Ex-Employee’s Final Check in 91,000 Pennies.