If you need additional insights before shopping, check out these rave reviews from Dermstore shoppers.
Best of Dermstore Problem Solution: Anti-Aging Regimen Reviews
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Someone else shared, “I found so many products in here that worked wonderful that I never knew existed. Dr. Dennis peel wipes are INCREDIBLE, Revision facial cleanser is a definite game changer in the way my skin has changed as far as dryness, texture and radiance. Image hydrate mask is so good and really does work.. I use twice a week. PCA little rebalance moisturizer in the white and black little containers is a miracle worker for dry skin! Give this a try and you will be adding some awesome products to your skin regimen.”
A Dermstore customer reviewed, “This amazing bundle allowed me to try some great products without having to commit to a sometimes pricy full size quantity. I found a new favorite sunscreen, did the Dr Gross peels (easy and effective) and love the travel friendly packages of Skinmedica and Skinceuticals favourites. Well worth the price (and my husband adopted the clear carry case!).”
Another stated, “Great kit! Good value! High quality products!”
A fan of the set wrote, “I initially bought this set as I needed microneedle roller but due to price of this set comparing to roller itself I decided to give it a try. This was such a great purchase – I loved every each of the products included and already noted the difference after two days. This is amazing way to try new products before committing to full size/price of them. Already recommended this set to few of my friends!”
“Such an amazing price for a well thought out kit. I found myself in a skincare rut, aimlessly trying to figure out I needed to do to see more changes. This was kit is perfect for what I needed, and I love discovering new products without the hefty price tag or commitment,” a Dermstore shopper said.
Another explained, “I purchased this gift box because of the microneedling roller and Skinceutical samples. I was planning to give the Alpha-Beta Extra Strength Daily Peels to my sister, who has much less reactive skin than I do. I read reviews on many different websites and decided to give them a try on a night I was not using tretinoin… My skin reacts (turns red with irritation) to various things such as wearing mask on a plane (skin dries out and gets red), windburn and of course, some masks/treatments, I was very worried about the peel being too strong for my skin and causing irritation/dryness. I followed the instructions to the T and had zero discomfort.”
A shopper said, “I bought this pack for the Revision Brightening Face Wash and was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved all of the goodies. I am a long-time fan of Elta, SkinMedica and Skin Ceuticals and certainly wasn’t disappointed with these options. The real bonus was the face wash – love – and will buy separately. I am also kind of obsessed with the Dr. Dennis Gross peels. You’ll definitely want to check them out!”
“The death of twenty people in the Libyan desert yesterday is yet another wake-up call for the whole international community and a reminder that we are very far from achieving the goal of ‘leaving no one behind’, the mantra of the 2030 Agenda,” said Federico Soda, Chief of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Mission in Libya.
‘Unacceptable and avoidable’
On 28 June, the bodies of 18 people believed to be Chadian, and two Libyans, were reportedly recovered near the border area between the two countries.
The continuing loss of life in the Mediterranean Sea and in the deserts of southern Libya are both unacceptable and avoidable.
IOM calls for stronger action to protect migrants following death of 20 people on Chad-Libyan border.https://t.co/kt25Ua50Ze
— IOM – UN Migration 🇺🇳 (@UNmigration) July 1, 2022
According to the Libyan Ambulance and Emergency Services, it’s believed they all died of dehydration.
“The loss of lives we are witnessing both in the Mediterranean Sea and in the deserts of southern Libya are both unacceptable and avoidable,” said Mr. Soda.
Lethal travel
The Sahara Desert is among the world’s most perilous and deadliest migration routes.
According to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, more than 2,000 migrant deaths have been documented since 2014 in the Sahara Desert alone, but experts believe the numbers are higher.
“These tragedies must be a call to action to provide minimal standards of protection to migrants, enable search and rescue operations, reinforce humanitarian border management, and provide urgently required assistance in this extremely remote area,” said Anne Kathrin Schaefer, IOM Chad Chief of Mission
Gold mining-related fatalities
Since the intensification of gold mining in northern Chad in 2012, the Chad-Libya border area has seen an increase of incidents related to migrants being abandoned by traffickers and smugglers, or transporters getting lost.
And last month, clashes between gold miners in the town of Kouri Bougoudi, close to the border with Libya, left hundreds dead and displaced an estimated 10,000 mine workers in northern Chad.
“In the absence of safe migration pathways, migrants take risky roads, fall into the hands of traffickers, or get lost in the desert – with often devastating consequences,” Ms. Schaefer said.
Call for protection
Between January and March, more than 45,000 migrants were recorded at the Faya, Zouarké and Ounianga Kébir “Flow Monitoring Points” in Northern Chad.
Among the migrants surveyed by IOM during that period, 32 per cent were headed towards Libya – despite the lack of basic preconditions to ensure their safety and protection.
IOM reiterated its call to protect migrants and their rights through dedicated search and rescue efforts, and the investigation and prosecution of smugglers and traffickers who take advantage of people’s despair and vulnerability.
While Mel Tucker does amazing things at Kirk Cousins’ alma mater, the Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback better be worried about Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards becoming a two-sport athlete. Overcast days may have never turned Prince on, but look at Edwards signing the pill like a Raspberry Beret, the kind you’d find at a second-hand ACC school.
The Atlanta native threw the best pass down on The Flats since Reggie Ball threw it out of bounds.
Anthony Edwards needs to be a two-sport star in Minnesota to win chips, Dawg!
Look. It does not really matter if Cousins likes this or not. What does is Edwards had the supreme confidence to go into hostile territory and dominate on the practice field of another sport. He is an absolute … DAWG! Why would we be shocked he named his pup after himself? This is the man who will bring Minnesota its first men’s professional championship since Kirby Puckett won No. 2.
He may play in the Twin Cities now, but Edwards will always have that Dawg inside of him. Having a little bit of that Atlanta swag will go a long way towards the Timberwolves getting back to and hopefully eclipsing the peak Kevin Garnett years. Heck, he might get his number retired before K.G. does. Regardless, Cousins will not be sleeping tonight, as Ant-Man coming. He has his job to take.
Not only can Edwards throw for more yards on a single play than the Yellow Jackets would muster in a game under Paul Johnson, but you can absolutely flex the Timberwolves star out wide and call four verts, bruh! If Justin Jefferson leaves like Stefon Diggs, Percy Harvin and Randy Moss did before him, Edwards clearly has the talent to lead the Vikings in both receiving and passing yards.
If Joe Mauer played basketball instead of baseball, this is exactly what you would have in Edwards.
Children at the San José Obrero School use the primary school’s computer lab. At their homes in the municipality of Peñalolén, to the east of Santiago de Chile, many do not have computers because 90 percent of them come from poor families. CREDIT: Courtesy of San José Obrero
by Orlando Milesi (santiago)
Inter Press Service
SANTIAGO, Jul 01 (IPS) – A Chilean government plan seeks to ensure connectivity in remote areas, in a first step to address a deep digital divide among the country’s inhabitants that includes a lack of access to technology and digital education deficits, exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, during the social isolation at the height of the pandemic, 76 percent of children in higher income segments had their own computer, laptop or tablet and 23 percent had access to a shared one.
But in the lowest income segments, only 45 percent of children had their own computer or laptop, while 16 percent had none. The rest managed to get access to a shared computer or tablet.
There are also notable differences according to the type and location of schools.
One school that illustrates the gap
“People here don’t have computers, although it may seem strange,” said Cecilia Pérez, principal of the San José Obrero School in Peñalolén. “Computers are just a dream for many. Nor do they have their own connection, or wi-fi. They have cell phones with prepaid minutes or very cheap plans that do not give them a good enough connection to support a lesson.”
In a conversation with IPS at the school, she said “this is a disadvantage that has nothing to do with the children’s desire to study, their intelligence, or their worried families. It is something external that is difficult to solve.”
To illustrate, Pérez said that “if homework is posted on the platform, it is very hard for children to read it and do it from their cell phones.”
Her school is in a poor neighborhood located at the end of Las Parcelas Avenue, in the Andes foothills of Santiago, the capital. Most of the first to eighth grade students come to school on foot.
At the San José Obrero School in the municipality of Peñalolén, in the foothills surrounding the Chilean capital, 90 percent of the students come from poor families, with parents who work as street vendors, cleaners or similar trades. Parental support for homework is almost non-existent, says the principal of the primary school, Cecilia Pérez. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi/IPS
This public primary school in the municipality of Peñalolén, which serves 427 students, is an example of the connectivity problems faced by students in the most deprived urban and rural areas.
In this South American country of 19 million people, there are 3.6 million primary and secondary students. Two million students are enrolled in the first to eighth grades (six to 13 years of age) and the rest are in secondary school (13 to 17 years of age).
Of the total number of students, 53 percent study in state-subsidized private schools, 40 percent in municipal schools and seven percent in private schools.
“We have third grade students today who started first grade in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when they had to learn to read and write. These children had only gone to kindergarten and are now coming to class in the third grade with a very significant delay,” she said, referring to the effects of distance learning during the pandemic.
Because of this, Pérez said, “we had to set priorities in the curriculum and reinforce language and math which are super important to continue learning.”
She added that another serious problem is that many of their students experience situations of domestic violence. “Their emotional and social support is the school, and when they couldn’t be with their classmates, they lost two years of socializing,” she said.
“We have children between the fifth and eighth grades who have experienced a lot of violence, a lot of individualism, a lot of sexualization that never happened before. Partly because there is no parental control over cell phones at home,” she said.
An additional problem is connectivity because in Peñalolén “there are many hills and in some parts the internet does not work. There are families who returned the ‘router’ (a device that receives and sends data on computer networks) that we lent them because the signal does not reach their homes.”
Older children at the San José Obrero School in the municipality of Peñalolén, near Santiago de Chile, stay two hours longer at the school, doing sports and other activities as part of their education. In this way they avoid excessive leisure time and a lack of supervision at home, which can be dangerous for them. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi/IPS
Tackling inequality
The deep digital divide among Chileans is aggravated by the difficulties in accessing the internet in isolated villages, rural localities and also in poor urban neighborhoods where telecommunication companies do not provide service or where criminals steal the cables.
“Inequality in our country is also manifested in internet access,” said leftist President Gabriel Boric, in office since March. “Thousands of students were unable to exercise their right to education during the pandemic due to a lack of connectivity.”
To address this situation, he said in a recent communiqué, “our Zero Digital Divide Plan will ensure, by 2025, that all the country’s inhabitants have access to connectivity.”
“This requires a sustained effort to continue with current initiatives such as the Internet as a Basic Service Bill and the generation of new projects that will allow us to reach isolated and rural areas,” he said.
As an example, Boric mentioned the town of Porvenir, which a month ago became the southernmost part of this long narrow South American country with access to the 5G network.
The 36-year-old president won the elections in the wake of the huge 2019 protests, in which one of the demands was to end the social inequality gap, one of the largest in the world according to international organizations, and where more equitable access to education was one of the main points.
Paulina Romero, a first-year chemistry and pharmacy university student, became a symbol of the digital divide that Boric seeks to eliminate, when two years ago images of her climbing onto the roof of her house in the small community of San Ramón, in the southern region of La Araucanía, in a dangerous attempt to find a signal to be able to do her assigned homework, went viral.
A colorful mural decorates the staircase leading to the second story of classrooms at the primary school in Peñalolén, located in the snowy Andes foothills seen here in the background in the middle of Chile’s southern hemisphere winter. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi/IPS
Plans to close the gap
Claudio Araya, undersecretary of telecommunications, told IPS that all efforts are focused on improving connectivity.
“A bill was approved in Congress a month ago that guarantees internet access for students,” he said. He pointed out that in part this access already exists but it is not operational for schoolchildren, because “many students in areas with coverage had problems with distance learning because their families could not afford cell phone plans.”
Araya added that a project is being implemented to ensure that all public schools, whether run by municipalities or the State, as well as subsidized private schools, have coverage for remote areas and connection speed.
“One part of the project is being completed now, by August, for 8,300 schools, a second part with 500 more by March 2023, and a third with a call for bids before 2023, which will cover just over a thousand schools,” he explained.
His office has also allocated resources for a new project, called “last mile”, which seeks to bring connectivity to isolated or rural areas. “We have already invested some 200 million dollars and we are contemplating an additional 150 million dollars to provide service coverage to the communities,” he said.
There are 40 computers available at the San José Obrero School for the children to search for information and complete their learning in various subjects under the supervision of the teacher in charge. But there is no possibility of laptops that they can take to their homes, where most of them have no computers. CREDIT: Courtesy of the San José Obrero School
Another school stumbling over connectivity issues
Connectivity is the main problem for the 73 students at the school in the small town of Samo Alto, in the Andes foothills area of the municipality of Rio Hurtado, 440 kilometers north of Santiago.
“We are educating 21st century children with 20th century resources and technology,” Omar Santander, principal of the primary school, told IPS by telephone.
“The connection to the global world does not exist. You turn on a computer, log on to the network and all the other computers disconnect. It is impossible to work online. We have computers and tablets, but there they are, and they can only be used with resources and programs downloaded ad hoc,” he said.
The students cannot communicate and “these are gaps that keep us from providing greater opportunities,” he said.
“The lack of computers is the smaller problem. We have achieved internet efficiency and we have the equipment. The big problem is connectivity,” Santander stressed, adding that an antenna they made to capture the signal was not enough.
He said that “last year when we held hybrid classes, half at home and half at school, one day we tried to connect and it was a terrible disappointment.
“There is a wealth of information, of pedagogical resources available to students that unfortunately we don’t have access to,” Santander complained.
The principal explained that “everything that has to do with access to resources that enrich reading, writing, calculus and mathematics is there and we cannot make use of it.”
From the San José Obrero School, Santiago de Chile can be seen in the background, under a cloudy sunset after a recent rain on the first day of the southern hemisphere winter in Chile. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi/IPS
More than internet access
Luciano Ahumada, head of the School of Informatics and Telecommunications at the Diego Portales University, said that “reducing the digital divide goes far beyond having an internet plan.”
“It also involves promoting the use and daily impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to maximize people’s well-being. It is a much more complex and time-consuming challenge than access,” he told IPS.
In his view, “we must work on access, but also on economic, ethnic and gender barriers and establish a framework concept of cybersecurity or basic concepts in the population to live in a healthy way in this new world.
“There is an economic gap, an age gap, an ethnic gap, which in different countries has become very evident,” he said.
Ahumada said that “access is just the starting-point. It is a good initiative, necessary to massify internet access, but we must think about massification of high-speed connections because with networks of the past we cannot carry out actions of the future and establish the basis for an information society.”
Nintendo appreciates its passionate and patient fan base, but says it’s difficult to make (and remake) all the games it’s asked for.
At the company’s annual general meeting (independently translated by IGN), Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked if there were any plans to release remakes or new entries in long-dormant franchises such as F-Zero.
“In truth, it is difficult to fulfil all the requests we receive for new titles, remakes, or sequels in Nintendo series,” he said. “That said, we are grateful to our fans and their patience in these matters.”
Every Nintendo Game in Development
Another Nintendo executive, Shinya Takahashi, also weighed in, saying that making fun games was always the priority, whether that comes through a remake, sequel, fresh franchise, or whatever else.
“We always take a broad perspective, looking at ways to make new and remake titles enjoyable for as many people as possible,” he said. “Previously, at the 79th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (held in 2019), we were asked if we had any plans to remake the “NES Detective Club” series, and it so happened that we were planning a remake in that series.
“We cannot comment on plans regarding remakes of specific titles, but we are always considering various possibilities in our development efforts so that our customers can enjoy our games.”
Remakes of Nintendo games aren’t uncommon, of course, with Pokémon perhaps headlining its efforts in that department – most recently with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. As it stands, however, a bundle of the first two Advance Wars games is the only remake in development that we know of.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
The billion-dollar music industry is undergoing a major transition as artists begin to understand the potential of owning their work through nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Ashanti, the multi-platinum-selling singer, actress and co-founder of EQ Exchange — a women-led Web3 platform — recently shed light on this during a Cotton Candy Records meetup that took place on June 20 in New York.
Speaking on a panel alongside Janice Taylor, founder and CEO of EQ Exchange, Ashanti went into detail about how important ownership is for creators today. Drawing from personal experience, Ashanti said:
“It is incredibly important to continue the narrative that owning is the way to go. Who wants to wake up and pour their heart, blood, sweat and tears into a project and have someone else next to you reap all the benefits while you do all the work? That was the way my contract was set up years ago, but now I have the right 20 years later to go in and re-record and own new masters of my first album.”
Kayley Hamilton moderated a panel with Ashanti and CEO of EQ Exchange, Janice Taylor, at a music NFT meetup presented by Cotton Candy Records. Photo Credit: @darnopolis
Why owning is important for creators
Ashanti told Cointelegraph that the process of creating an album prior to Web3 and the launch of music NFTs was very “disheartening,” noting that an artist would sign a record deal and create an album that would then sell for about $15. “Out of that amount, an artist would only receive about $0.38, which was on the high-end,” the R&B legend said. Once Ashanti began to realize that this was a common process, she started looking into alternative ways to own her intellectual property.
On March 25, 2022, almost 20 years after her debut album was released, Ashanti formed a partnership with EQ Exchange, making her the first Black female artist to co-found a Web3 company. Following this, Ashanti released an NFT collection with EQ Exchange on April 6, 2022, which launched on the artist’s 20-year anniversary of her first album titled Ashanti. According to Taylor, Ashanti sold her first five NFTs in minutes. While impressive, Ashanti noted that the underlying message behind music NFTs is “that owning your work is so important.”
In addition to ownership, Ashanti explained that her NFT collection is meant to benefit her fans in a number of ways. “Fans will receive exclusive rights to hear my music first, meaning they get to own the music as well. They will also receive percentages of royalties for new records, along with tickets to shows, vacations and access to limited merchandise drops,” she said.
Women in Web3 aim to inspire
Ashanti further remarked that she aims for her NFT collection and role in the Web3 space to inspire greater female involvement. This is incredibly important, as the media company EWG Unlimited and The Female Quotient recently found that men continue to dominate Web3. According to the report, only 16% of creators in Web3 identify as women, which has led to inherent male bias. This in mind, Ashanti said:
“I never thought in a million years I’d be in the Web3 space. But, diving into this sector as an independent artist was necessary. The Cotton Candy Records meetup is the first crypto-focused event I’ve spoken at, and I hope to do more of these to continue to inspire other female creators and women of color to become involved.”
Ashanti with CEO of EQ Exchange, Janice Taylor, at a music NFT meetup presented by Cotton Candy Records. Photo Credit: @darnopolis
Taylor added that education and events are critical for bringing more women into the Web3 space, noting that she was initially told to hire a crypto-native male co-founder for EQ Exchange in order to appear “legitimate.” “Some of my first investors told me this because they thought it would help me appear as if I understood the crypto industry better, even though I am a three-time tech founder.”
Fortunately, Taylor ignored this comment and brought Ashanti on as EQ Exchnage’s co-founder. “I specifically wanted a woman and a woman of color to be my partner because that’s the message that needs to be heard here,” she said.
Echoing Taylor, Sarah Omolewu, founder of Access Abu Dhabi — a program designed to encourage women and minorities to enter UAE’s business ecosystem — told Cointelegraph that joining the crypto community offers an opportunity for women to build new career paths regardless of their age or financial status. She said:
“Women in America weren’t able to receive credit from a bank until 1974 when the Equal Credit Act was passed. Fast forward to 2022 and less than 2% of venture funding goes to women-led businesses. Web3 could become the equalizer that changes this narrative by getting women involved at the very beginning of blockchain technology, a space where currently 93–95% of all cryptocurrency users are male.”
Although women still make up the minority of Web3 users, Omolewu explained that Access Abu Dhabi recently partnered with Unstoppable Domains — a platform that grants ownership of NFT domains — to provide all nationalities of women living in Abu Dhabi free blockchain domains. “Partnering with Unstoppable Domains to provide for the first time ever a gifting of free blockchain domains to all women in the country is the first step in our longer-term goal of disrupting this space for women in the region,” she remarked.
Access Abu Dhabi founder Sarah Omolewu moderates a panel session with supermodel turned businesswoman Tyra Banks and Abdulla Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi, Acting Director-General of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office. Source: Sarah Omolewu
Adding context to this, Sandy Carter, senior vice president of Unstoppable Domains, told Cointelegraph that Unstoppable Domains represents a user’s digital identity, making it easy for non-crypto natives to enter Web3. “For example, users don’t have to enter a complicated wallet address to send and receive crypto transactions, as they can just use their NFT domain.”
According to the Unstoppable Domains website, Coinbase Wallet, ShapeShift and other crypto wallets are supported applications. “We have over 300 partnerships. In fact, Paris Hilton recently changed her Twitter handle to ParisHilton.NFT,” Carter added.
Paris Hilton’s twitter handle. Source: Twitter
Now is the time for women to enter Web3
Even with the benefits of music NFTs and encouragement from influencers, women may still find it challenging, or intimidating, to enter the Web3 sector. However, Carter advised that women should get started sooner rather than later, pointing out that the space is still very early. “I like to say that we are in a dial-up phase of Web3 — we are recrafting what the internet is and we need diverse voices now.”
In terms of financial inclusion, Taylor added that EQ Exchange is helping provide a sustainable financial system that allows artists — particularly women — to thrive. Although the platform was established in March of this year, Taylor shared that other women creators are already planning to launch NFT collections. For example, Monifah, the recording artist, actress and producer, told Cointelegraph that she will be launching an NFT collection with EQ Exchange in July 2023, to mark the 25-year anniversary of her single Touch It.
Monifah also mentioned that she believes music NFTs are the future of the industry, noting that artists should do their own research and get involved now.
“I think it would be crazy if I did something in a traditional way at this point. I would tell artists to really focus more on Web3 and figuring out how to command this space,” she said. Yet Monifah also shared that she still finds Web3 to be challenging. “I am still navigating the Web3 space, but it’s exciting. I want to help introduce the younger generation to Web3.”
Since last year, the number of people in urgent need of support has risen by 46 per cent, said the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon and UN Resid
ent Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, speaking in Geneva.
2.2 million vulnerable – and counting
“Lebanon’s crisis is affecting everyone, everywhere across the country, with women bearing the brunt of the profound impact of this multi-layered crisis…2.2 million vulnerable Lebanese, 86,000 migrants and 200,000 Palestine refugees in Lebanon currently require emergency aid; in addition to 1.5 million Syrian refugees that are unable to afford or even access health, food, electricity, water, education and waste-water management, not to mention lifesaving protection services.”
Since 2019, Lebanon has endured a complex economic and financial crisis – deepened by political deadlock – which has offset development gains and increased humanitarian needs for the most vulnerable populations in severely deprived areas.
This already difficult situation has been made worse by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut Port explosions in August 2020 and now the global food and fuel crisis.
According to World Bank estimates, the country’s economy is projected to contract by more than six per cent per cent this year, after declining 10.5 per cent and 21.4 per cent in 2021 and 2020 respectively.
Ukraine war impact
Asked specifically about the fallout on global food and fuel insecurity in already struggling Lebanon from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ms. Rochdi told journalists that the country was “no exception”, after suffering a spike in fuel prices, greater food insecurity and difficulties importing food.
Even hospitals had been affected, faced with an “acute shortage in medical supplies and power shortages, at a time when over 40 per cent of Lebanon’s doctors and 30 per cent of nurses have left country, since the beginning of the economic meltdown”, she added.
Youth hopes dashed
Unemployment – and in particular growing youth unemployment (at 47.8 per cent among 15 to 24-year-olds) – has forced many of the country’s youngest and brightest jobseekers to leave Lebanon, she noted, with almost one-third of the population out of work now, compared with 11.4 per cent before COVID-19.
For those in work, their minimum monthly wage is less than $25, Ms. Rochdi continued.
Women are also facing an alarming rise in sexual exploitation, in inverse proportion to the country’s “economic meltdown”, the UN official said, pointing to widespread reports of women and children “feeling unsafe in public spaces, such as streets, markets or when using public transport”.
To help meet these and many other challenges, Ms. Rochdi issued a revised humanitarian appeal for $546 million for more than one million Lebanese, refugees and migrants.
Positive action
Highlighting how the UN and its partners have taken action to help, she noted that emergency fuel supplies had been distributed to more than 600 health facilities and water pumping stations “to ensure the provision of lifesaving services to the most vulnerable populations affected by this ongoing energy crisis and maintain the provision of basic services across Lebanon”.
Casting ‘magic’ in the Warhammer 40,000 universe is incredibly risky business. A psyker (see: space wizard) must draw their power from the Warp, a volatile dimension that’s home to daemons and chaotic gods. As such, every spell, no matter how trivial or powerful, comes with the chance of injury, insanity, demonic possession, or death. In Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, the upcoming RPG from Owlcat Games, you’ll have to weigh up that risk every time you consider eviscerating a foe with your mind.
Perils of the Warp, the system that governs whether your head explodes or you live to cast another day, is one of Alexander Gusev’s favorite mechanics from 2009’s Rogue Trader, a tabletop RPG set in the grimdark future of the 41st millenium. He and other members of the Owlcat dev team played the game for years, and so the chance to turn this pen-and-paper hobby into a video game was something of a dream. But one golden pitch to Games Workshop later and that dream is a reality; Gusev is now creative director on the very first Warhammer 40k video game RPG.
“We were making more sandbox-style RPGs than most [other developers],” Gusev says, referring to the studio’s incredibly open Pathfinder games. “You had your kingdom. You were traveling, exploring the map, learning stuff about this unknown place, The Stolen Lands. And this constantly reminded me about what parties in Rogue Trader do.”
Most Warhammer 40k video games have you take part in mankind’s millenia-long quest to wipe out every other race in the galaxy (there are no good guys here, sorry). But the Rogue Traders, with their opulent spaceships and impeccable fashion tastes, are not your battle-hungry Space Marines. “Rogue Traders shine in a way that differs from many other factions in Warhammer’s Imperium in that you can also interact with xenos [aliens] in ways other than just killing them,” explains Gusev.
A Rogue Trader’s mission to explore, trade, and broker deals in regions beyond the limits of Imperial space means they are free to see the stranger side of the universe. “It’s probably the best [subject] within the Warhammer 40k setting to approach from a CRPG perspective,” says Gusev. “It allows us the opportunity to give you powerful enemies and do really epic stuff, without going completely away from the RPG part and completely into the combat. It also allows us to show the world and show how normal people live there, and to show how peaceful parts of Imperium look.”
A Rogue Trader Imperial Cruiser. (Image credit: Games Workshop / Owlcat Games)
A Rogue Trader’s freedom to negotiate with, and even recruit aliens means that tensions will inevitably run high among your crew. Your protagonist will be surrounded by characters that can only be described as religious zealots, and each has their own interpretation of how one should serve the God Emperor of Mankind. For many, uttering a simple “hello” to someone outside of your species is considered heresy of the highest order. And so it seems that part of Rogue Trader’s challenge will be managing the clashing viewpoints of your party.
“There are certainly high points of conflict in our game,” teases Gusev. “There are certain points where you can just allow one character to kill another. An Adepta Sororitas character wouldn’t be comfortable around unsanctioned psykers, for example.”
Should you wish to see those particular sparks fly, you can… just recruit both an Adepta Sororitas (warrior nun) and an unsanctioned psyker into your retinue. Other hireable companions include a Seneschal (your right-hand pulled from the Imperial Navy), an Adeptus Mechanicus Magos (cyborg engineer), an Interrogator from the Inquisition, a Navigator, and – of course – a Space Marine from the tribal Space Wolves chapter.
“We were looking for characters that will show the universe from different points of view,” says Gusev of Owlcat’s companion choices. While the aforementioned characters all hail from the Imperium, they each have very different cultures and conflicting beliefs. Of course, the real oddity will be the Aeldari Ranger, a space elf from an empire much older than mankind’s, who no doubt will be looked upon with suspicion by their human bunk mates.
We were looking for characters that will show the universe from different points of view.
“
Settling debates among your quarreling crew will be just one of the many, many choices in Rogue Trader. Gusev promises a fully branching narrative, “There will be significant differences, depending on which choices you make in different parts of the game,” he assures me. “Some decisions that you make in the first half of the game can change later parts of the game very dramatically.”
“We are still making a companion-focused classic RPG,” Gusev says, so Owlcat fans can be assured the values of Pathfinder will find their way into the 41st millennium. “You will be able to change these characters. They will have personal quests, they will have their own epilogues. Some of them will not be very comfortable with some choices that you’re going to make. And you will be able to – by the way that you interact with them, by the way you have dialogues with them, how you react to their interruptions in some dialogues, and so on – you will be able to change their fate.”
While Rogue Trader may bring a huge focus on your crew, their personal tales are just part of the grander picture. As the announcement trailer revealed, the story will involve several of Warhammer 40k’s most notable factions, including Chaos, Aeldari, Dhrukari, and Necrons. Where Warhammer stories typically take two or three factions and throw them into battle, Rogue Trader is set on exploring multiple fronts.
“We have an advantage here, because our games are quite long, so the stories aren’t short,” explains Gusev. “Those enemies aren’t introduced as a deus ex machina. We have time to introduce them properly, and to tie them to the story.”
Imperial Servitors. (Image credit: Owlcat Games / Games Workshop)
At the bare minimum you can expect excellent enemy variety, then, with a collection of foes lovingly translated from their plastic miniature form to digital models. You can then blow them to bits in turn-based combat, which is a new venture for Owlcat (real-time-with-pause was used for Pathfinder). “We chose to go with turn-based because we wanted to focus more on combat encounters, and to focus more on each individual character and what they do,” says Gusev.
That brings us back to Perils of the Warp. While Gusev holds back on explaining exactly how Owlcat has adapted the tabletop rules for Rogue Trader’s combat system, it’s obvious that your unsanctioned psyker could potentially burn out their own brain if you’re not careful. But Gusev promises an array of artifacts from the 40k armory will be present, correct, and blessed by the Machine God. “We’ll have both melee and ranged weapons. It is not quite common for many turn-based games, but it is very common in Warhammer to have a bolt pistol and a sword at the same time.” Hopefully this leads to an interesting blurring of the lines between ranged and close-combat battles.
Right now there’s no word on when we can expect Rogue Trader to see release, but Owlcat already has a series of beta stages planned that can be accessed by purchasing a Founder’s Pack. Getting hands-on as soon as I can is something I’m personally greatly interested in, as there’s simply nothing like Rogue Trader in the extensive library of Warhammer video games currently available.
This kind of character-led storytelling is really only accessible via the Black Library; Games Workshop’s colossal collection of novels. And even then, most are war stories that see legions of Space Marines unloading freighters-worth of ammunition into alien forces. To see the kind of party-based adventure that an RPG tells is a rarity in the 41st millenium, and I’m fascinated to see what Owlcat does with the freedom Rogue Trader provides.
Williamson’s deal will be for five years and will last through the 2027-28 season.
When Williamson was asked about signing an extension with New Orleans following the Pelicans’ first-round loss to the Phoenix Suns, the 2021 All-Star said that he “couldn’t sign it fast enough.”
Injuries have plagued Williamson’s career during his young career, but when he’s been healthy, he’s been an All-Star, averaging 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game on 61.1 percent shooting from the field.
A joke made by EA’s official Twitter account making fun of single player games did not go well for the company – and the internet’s reaction forced the company to address its mistake.
Getting on board with a popular meme, EA tweeted (below) “they’re a 10 but they only like playing single-player games”. The tweet in itself was a little odd, given that EA itself publishes plenty of single player games including Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and The Sims 4, but what started as perhaps just a poorly-chosen joke escalated once the post gained traction.
The mostly negative 10,000 quote tweets and nearly 9,000 replies prompted EA itself to acknowledge the blunder. Four hours after the original post, the company tweeted: “Roast well deserved. We’ll take this L cause playing single player games actually makes them an 11.”
Every EA Game in Development
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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