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Bosses

young workers being productive in an office meeting
Gaming Gear

Over half of SMB employees say they’re considering quitting – so how can bosses keep their best talent?

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  • Half of HR leaders are struggling to attract under-30 candidates
  • Younger workers want more flexible working options
  • Greater AI training opportunities are needed, Personio says

More than half (54%) of British SMB employees have considered quitting over dissatisfaction with poor pay (33%), their work-life balance (29%, stressful environments (29%) and a lack of career progression opportunities (27%), new research has claimed.

The figures from Personio show how workers quitting has had a major impact on SMBs, with an average expense of £233-235k over the past year wasted on preventable turnover, mis-hires and skill mismatches.

Two in five (38%) HR leaders also agree that talent shortages are now their biggest risk, so is it time to rethink hiring?


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SMBs are struggling to retain talent

The report found three-quarters (76%) of UK HR leaders now say they’re hiring for skills and aptitude rather than degrees, with two-thirds (67%) anticipating a rise in skill-based hiring over the next year.

Workers are clearly on-board with this, with 73% wanting employers to prioritize transferable skills allowing them access to new opportunities.

However, it’s become evident where companies are failing their workers – only 43% of employees feel they’re getting adequate AI training and support at work. A lack of it is said to make employees 22% more likely to leave.

With 49% of HR leaders now struggling to attract under-30 candidates, despite 74% agreeing that junior talent is important, it’s clear that companies need to offer more engaging learning opportunities to retain talent.

Personio’s report also reveals evolving post-pandemic trends, with 39% of younger workers saying they’d quit if asked to work from the office more than three days per week. Three in five (62%) agree that the traditional 9-5 is outdated, with 55% across all ages noting better performance when choosing their own hours.

Personio Chief People Officer Lenke Taylor summarized some of the changes companies can make to put them at an advantage: “Investing in development, trusting employees to work flexibly, and hiring for potential – not just on their credentials.”

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Hornet sits on a bench in Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Product Reviews

The next Silksong update helps the bosses but does little to allay our own, interminable suffering

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The first Silksong patch was released last week and, among other things, nerfed a couple of the tough early game bosses like Moorwing and Sister Splinter. But if the patch notes for Silksong’s second update are any indication, Team Cherry doesn’t intend to keep dialing down the difficulty. If you were hoping for some more boss nerfs or perhaps fewer obstacles on the way to bosses, then give up all hope ye who enter here.

No, the latest Silksong patch—which is currently live in the public-beta branch on Steam, but will roll out officially in the coming days—is mostly about making sure the bosses themselves don’t keep making dumb mistakes.

Spoilers follow, but this includes:


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Preventing the Savage Beastfly in Far Fields from getting stuck under lava, preventing Shrine Guardian Seth from exiting the battle arena mid-combat, and making sure Lugoli stops “flying off screen and not returning during battle”.

I like a tough metroidvania and wouldn’t advocate for any difficulty tweaks, but I know there are plenty of players who are frustrated with Silksong’s difficulty. I guess the message is clear: if Silksong is too hard for you, keep trying. There’s the chance Team Cherry will tweak difficulty in future patches, but my gut feeling is that they won’t.

Other than those fixes it’s a pretty low-key patch dedicated to fixing some small bugs that most people probably haven’t encountered. I’ve posted the patch notes below, but there could be “a few more additions and tweaks before full release”.

  • Added Dithering effect option in Advanced video settings. Reduces colour banding but can slightly soften the appearance of foreground assets. Defaults to ‘Off’.
  • Updated Herald’s Wish achievement description to clarify that players must both complete the wish and finish the game.
  • Fixed Savage Beastfly in Far Fields sometimes remaining below the lava.
  • Fixed rare cases of Shrine Guardian Seth getting out of bounds during battle.
  • Added catch to prevent Lugoli sometimes flying off screen and not returning during battle.
  • Further reduced chance of Silk Snippers getting stuck out of bounds in Chapel of the Reaper battle.
  • Fixed various instances of dying to bosses while killing them causing death sequences to play messily or out of sync.
  • Fixed Shaman Binding into a bottom transition causing a softlock.
  • Cocoon positions in some locations updated to prevent it spawning in inaccessible areas.
  • Fixed Liquid Lacquer courier delivery not being accessible in Steel Soul mode.
  • Fixed some NPCs not correctly playing cursed hint dialogues in certain instances.
  • Fixed Pondcatcher Reed not being able to fly away after singing.
  • Fixed Verdania memory orbs sometimes replaying layered screen-edge burst effects.
  • Fixed the break counter not working for certain multihitter tools eg Conchcutter.
  • Fixed Volt Filament damage multiplier not applying for certain Silk Skills.
  • Fixed Cogflies and Wisps inappropriately targeting Skullwings.
  • Fixed Cogflies incorrectly resetting their HP to full on scene change.
  • Fixed Curveclaw always breaking on the first hit after being deflected.
  • Fixed Plasmium Phial and Flea Brew sometimes not restoring as intended at benches.
  • Various other smaller tweaks and fixes.



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Hollow Knight Silksong Widow boss fight
Product Reviews

Hollow Knight: Silksong player melts its hardest bosses with an endless fountain of tools: ‘I think I unlocked easy mode’

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The Strongest Build in SILKSONG [SPOILER FREE] Architect Crest Silkshot Railgun Silksong Build – YouTube

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I’ll admit, I wasn’t as creative with my build in Hollow Knight: Silksong as I’d like to admit. I found one of the early weapon upgrades and kind of stuck with that for the next 30 hours.

It got the job done, but it was nowhere close to the power of YouTuber Syrobe’s “easy mode” build where you have an endless supply of powerful tools. Before I explain how it works though, you should know that it requires fairly late-game unlocks to put together. I’d wait until you’re several hours into Act 2 before attempting this.

The heart of the build is the Architect Crest which has the unique ability to repair your tools on the fly. Normally, you have to rest at a bench to do that, but this Crest gives you the option to forgo healing yourself to replenish your tools in the middle of combat.


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Tools are extremely powerful in Silksong and no other Crest lets you spam them like this one. The only drawback is that you can’t equip any of Hornet’s high-damage skills with it, but the amount of tools you can fling out more than makes up for it.

You can pretty much equip any tools you want, but Syrobe recommends the Tacks, Silkshot, and the Voltvessels. He adds in the Pollip Pouch so every hit applies a poison DoT on enemies and Quick Sling to double the amount of tools you throw at a time.

Nothing in the game can survive you laying traps all over the place and shooting everything down with buckets of laser beams and silk bullets. Bosses run into them and get ripped apart while you sit back and watch. Watching Syrobe tear through waves of enemies in seconds looks like he has cheats on.

He has a separate, spoilery video where he melts the last two bosses in the game in under a minute. Both fights took me much longer because I spent most of them dodging around and hitting the boss with my little sword.

Acquiring all the stuff might take you a while. Syrobe goes into detail on where to track it all down, but here’s a quick list of what you need and where to get it:

  • Architect Crest – Buy the Architect’s Key and unlock a room in the Underworks
  • Quick Sling – Found behind a false ceiling in Bilewater
  • Pollip Pouch – Complete the Rite of the Pollip quest in the Wormways
  • Tacks – Complete the Roach Guts quest in Sinner’s Road
  • Silkshot – Bring the Ruined Tool from Bilewater to the top of Mount Fay
  • Voltvessels – Found in northeastern Memorium

“I think I unlocked easy mode, I don’t know what everyone else is doing,” Syrobe said after humiliating one of the final bosses with a room full of traps. Here he is casually watching a boss get shredded while I remember each and every attempt I made in my own playthrough where I—a fool—chased the boss around with my sword. If only I had known about the devastating power of tools.



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Elden Ring Nightreign's pre-Deep of Night patch rebalances all characters, tweaks some Everdark Sovereign bosses
Game Reviews

Elden Ring Nightreign’s pre-Deep of Night patch rebalances all characters, tweaks some Everdark Sovereign bosses

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Elden Ring Nightreign will, very soon, get its higher difficulty mode – The Deep of Night. The game is clearly about to have a moment again. FromSoftware knows this, of course, so the developer decided to roll out a big update to tweak several things ahead of the new mode’s release.

This latest patch, version 1.02.2, arrived moments ago across all platforms, bringing with it a number of unexpected balance changes and gameplay tweaks that were no doubt made with Deep of Night in mind.

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Patch 1.02.2 released following an hour of server maintenance. While it does contain Deep of Night content, that higher difficulty mode won’t be available until tomorrow, September 11, as previously announced.

What you are going to see today, however, is a list of wide-ranging balance changes to all of (except Ironeye) the game’s Nightfarer character classes. Here are some of the highlights: Wylder now has increased poise while casting Claw Shot, and the ability now deals increased Stamina damage to blocking enemies. Guardian now gains more Strength and Dex with each level, and their Steel Guard passive has a wider range.

Duchess has a lot of changes of her own. She gets more Dexterity with each level up, and some of her dagger attacks deal more damage. Her ever-popular Finale Ultimate now lasts longer, too. Executor gets a flat attack power increase while Cursed Sword is in use, and a boost to the skill itself. While Aspects of the Crucible: Beast is active, the class now deals more damage. Revenant is the recipient of another interesting change, as other players can now pass through her summoned spirits. Their transparency has also been adjusted, perhaps to better signal to players that they can be passed through.

Image credit: Bandai Namco/VG247

Beyond the individual changes for each Nightfarer, 1.02.2 makes changes that affect everyone using certain weapons. For example, dual-wielded jump attacks performed with small and medium weapons now deal more stagger damage, but doing the same with larger weapons will deal less.

Death Flare of Eclipse Shotel, a weapon skill that applies Death, should now be more effective at doing so. Interestingly, there’s now a cap on the cumulative effects of the Power of Vengeance and Power of House Marais passives, which is something that might mess with some builds out there.

The other big component of the patch affects a couple of the Everdark Sovereign bosses. Everdark Sovereigns are more challenging versions of the game’s Nightlord bosses, and though some have seen balance tweaks in the past, today’s changes have a wider reach. Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest, Equilibrious Beast, and Darkdrift Knight have received a mix of buffs and nerfs to their attacks, as well as how they respond to attacks/status effects from players.

Image credit: Bandai Namco/VG247

Read on below for the full change log.

Nightfarers adjustments

Wylder

  • Increased Poise while casting Claw Shot.
  • Increased Stamina damage dealt by Claw Shot to blocking enemies.

Guardian

  • Increased Strength and Dexterity gain when leveling up.
  • Increased the Steel Guard passive ability angle range.
  • Increased the range of the Wings of Salvation Ultimate Art’s weapon portion.
  • Increased the attack power of Halberd guard counters.

Duchess

  • Increased Dexterity gain when leveling up.
  • Increased the attack power of some Dagger attacks.
  • Decreased the two-handed Dagger’s second heavy attack damage.
  • This change does not affect charged attacks.
  • Increased the duration of the Finale Ultimate Art.

Raider

  • Increased the Greataxe’s and Great Hammer’s ability to stagger enemies with attacks.
  • Increased the attack range of the Retaliation skill.

Revenant

  • Adjusted the transparency of Revenant’s summoned spirits.
  • Players can now pass through Revenant’s spirits Helen and Frederick.

Recluse

  • Increased the offensive spells attack power of Magic Cocktail.
  • Decreased the time required to cast spells using Magic Cocktail.

Executor

  • Increased attack power while Cursed Sword is in use.
  • Increased the attack power of the Cursed Sword weapon skill when the skill is in use and the blade is in its unleashed state.
  • Increased the attack power of some attacks while Aspects of the Crucible: Beast is active.

Weapons, Passive Effects, and Special Effects adjustments

  • Increased the stagger damage with dual-wielded jump attacks for some small and medium weapons..
  • Decreased the stagger damage with dual-wielded jump attacks for some large weapons.
  • Increased the potency of the death status ailment applied by the weapon skill Death Flare of Eclipse Shotel.
  • Set a cap on the cumulative effects of the Power of Vengeance and Power of House Marais passive effects and adjusted their potency accordingly.
  • Adjusted the stagger effect of the “Guard counters trigger holy bursts” passive’s explosion to ensure that it doesn’t reset the enemy’s posture break state.

Relic Effects adjustments

  • Adjusted the effect “[Wylder] Standard attacks enhanced with fiery follow-ups when using Character Skill (greatsword only)” to consume stamina when performing follow-up attacks.
  • Increased the attack power of the “[Wylder] Art activation spreads fire in area” burn effect.
  • Adjusted the effect “[Wylder] Art activation spreads fire in area” so that the burn effect’s attack power does not vary between one-handed and two-handed weapon wielding.  Increased the duration extension of the “[Ironeye] Extends duration of weak point” effect.
  • Increased the potency of the “Continuous HP Recovery” effect.
  • Increased the potency of the “HP restored when using medicinal boluses, etc” effect.
  • Increased the potency of the “[Recluse] Activating Ultimate Art raises Max HP” effect.
  • Changed the “[Recluse] Activating Ultimate Art raises Max HP” effect so that the HP increase persists until an attack is received, even after the art’s duration ends.
  • Increased the amount of Runes obtained through the “Critical Hits Earn Runes” effect.
  • Increased the potency of the “HP Restoration upon (specific weapon type) attacks” effect.
  • Increased the potency of the effect “FP Restoration upon (specific weapon type) attacks” effect.
  • Reduced the duration of the “Improved Poise & Damage Negation When Knocked Back by Damage” effect.

Other Nightfarers adjustments

  • Adjusted the visibility of the “Rykard’s Rancor” sorcery.

Everdark Sovereign adjustments

Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest

  • Increased attack and stamina attack power against guarding Nightfarers while possessed by Animus, Ascendant Light.
  • Adjusted and modified the attack actions of Animus, Ascendant Light, Gnoster, Wisdom of Night, and Faurtis Stoneshield.
  • Reduced the stagger duration when Nightfarers is hit by some attacks of Animus, Ascendant Light.

Everdark Sovereign Equilibrious Beast

  • Adjusted the effect granted to summoned condemned Nightfarers so that it can be dispelled by Law of Regression.
  • Increased the enhancement granted by the light dropped by defeated condemned Nightfarers.
  • Reduced the attack power of the condemned Guardian.
  • Removed the effect that increased damage negation upon re-summoning condemned.
  • Reduced the death status effect resistance of condemned Nightfarers.
  • Adjusted the reaction of condemned Nightfarers to player character’s ranged attacks.
  • Adjusted the targeting priority of condemned Nightfarers under specific combat rules.

Everdark Sovereign Darkdrift Knight

  • Increased the HP and stamina attack power against guarding Nightfarers for Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow.
  • Increased the attack power of some attacks from Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow.

Other enemies

  • Adjusted the reaction to player character’s ranged attacks of condemned Nightfarers that appear during events.
  • Added a stagger reaction when strong attacks, such as Ultimate Arts, hit the Red Wolf of the King Consort boss.
  • Fixed a bug where some attacks of the Marionette Soldiers were less likely to hit player characters.

Limveld adjustments

  • Increased the Night’s Tide damage after defeating the second night boss.
  • Adjusted the spawn locations of Sentient Pest incursions so they are less likely to occur far from player characters.

Menu adjustments

  • Adjusted the design of the Holy attribute icon.

Penalties for disconnecting from online sessions

  • Adjusted the penalties rate for session disconnection.
  • Disconnecting from a session due to network issues or quitting the game during a session in progress will result in penalties, which may limit multiplayer capabilities. Rejoining the session you left will remove the penalty imposed upon disconnection.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed a bug where the post-attack delay for right-handed Greatswords when handled by Wylder was shorter than expected when using Sorceries or Incantations with a left-hand weapon right after attacking.
  • Fixed a bug where Guardian’s Wings of Salvation Ultimate Art could be interrupted by enemy attacks or other factors during its activation.
  • Fixed a bug where Guardian’s Wings of Salvation Ultimate Art could be deflected and interrupted.
  • Fixed a bug where backstepping as Duchess did not accept pre-inputs for skill commands.
  • Fixed a bug where spells cast through using the Magic Cocktail skill could be casted again under certain conditions.
  • Fixed a bug where allied player characters could clip through tombstones when Totem Stella was used.
  • Fixed a bug where spirits summoned by Revenant did not revive if their HPs were depleted.
  • Fixed a bug where special effects applied to spirits summoned by Revenant would appear above Revenant.
  • Fixed a bug where Executor could not perform critical hits using the Cursed Sword while holding a weapon in the right hand that cannot land critical hits.
  • Fixed a bug where the Relic Effect “HP Restoration upon Thrusting Counterattack” did not apply to the attacks of Executor’s Cursed Sword.
  • Fixed a bug where Executor could not use pre-inputs for actions after deflecting an enemy attack with the Cursed Sword under certain circumstances.
  • Fixed a bug where accumulated effects of Power of Vengeance and Power of House Marais Passive Effects would disappear when opening the large door and moving to the final battle area by using the “Open the door” action prompt in the Spirit Shelter.
  • Fixed a bug where the rarity of weapons placed directly on the field from Dormant Power might not be displayed correctly.
  • Fixed an issue where Passive Effects triggered by walking did not activate during horizontal movement with precision-aimed shots using “Bow” and “Crossbow”.
  • Fixed an issue where the player character could become unresponsive for several seconds after performing an attack from a stance with certain Skills.
  • Fixed an issue where the passive effect “Improved Charged Sorceries” was not applied to the sorcery “Shattering Crystal”.
  • Fixed an issue where the status ailment “Frostbite” could be inflicted on the player character due to the accumulation of the frostbite status ailment from some enemy attacks while using an Ultimate Art.
  • Fixed an issue in the battle with the Everdark Sovereign “Equilibrious Beast” where “Libra, Creature of Night” could move below the ground under certain conditions.
  • Fixed a bug where levels would decrease without healing from flasks when False Blessing occured during the battle against Everdark Sovereign Equilibrious Beast.
  • Fixed a bug where the player would level down if the False Blessing effect was activated during the battle against Everdark Sovereign: Equilibrious Beast, even if the action was interrupted by an enemy attack before the HP recovery effect occurred.
  • Fixed a bug where blessings would become usable again after defeating the second night boss.
  • Fixed a bug where the player character could perform unintentional moves when using the Spectral Hawk.
  • This addresses issues that were not fully resolved in App Ver. 1.02.
  • Fixed a bug where the player might not be correctly transported to the battle area if they died from falling during the cutscene while moving to the final battle area in the Spirit Shelter.
  • Fixed a bug where Dormant Power might not appear upon defeating an enemy under unstable network conditions.
  • Fixed a bug where the effect of an used Wending Grace could activate when rejoining a session after a disconnection.
  • Reduced rendering load for some attacks of the Everdark Sovereign Tricephalos on PS4 and Xbox One.
  • Fixed a bug where it was difficult to switch targets with a diagonal input (PC only).
  • Improved game stability in some environments (PC only).



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Product Reviews

Silksong’s first patch should give you a chance against its early bosses

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Video game difficulty is a real balancing act. You want to be challenged and earn each new level, but when it’s too hard there’s more frustration than fun. Apparently, a number of players have found the new Hollow Knight: Silksong game a bit too hard, struggling to defeat some of the bosses.

Now, Team Cherry, the indie studio behind the Hollow Knight series, is making things a bit easier. Team Cherry has announced Hollow Knight: Silksong‘s first patch, which includes a “slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses.” This update includes the bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter.

Otherwise, the patch mostly includes bug fixes, such as gamers remaining cloakless or getting stuck floating. It also brings an increase in rosary rewards from relics and psalm cylinders, as well as for courier deliveries. These retroactive updates should come by mid next week, but eager players can join the public-beta to get the fix. Team Cherry notes that its already working on more fixes in a second patch.

The long awaited sequel to Hollow Knight finally launched on September 4, with eager fans crashing Steam, the Nintendo eshop and the Xbox Store. It’s available now for $20.



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Hollow Knight: Silksong's first patch makes some early bosses slightly easier, out now in Steam and GOG beta
Game Updates

Hollow Knight: Silksong’s first patch makes some early bosses slightly easier, out now in Steam and GOG beta

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The notes for Hollow Knight: Silksong’s first proper post-release patch have arrived. Team Cherry have been busy fixing bugs and making some “slight balance adjustments in the early game”, which you can now give a go early via beta branches on Steam and GOG.

That’ll mean you’re testing the changes ahead of the update’s planned full deployment next week, with Team Cherry aiming for a mid-week arrival “barring any unforeseen issues”. Now you know that, let’s get into the changes, which the studio have outlined in a post on the Steamy platform.

First of all, the bit that might prove controversial among hardened Skongers. As part of those early game balance tweaks, Team Cherry have opted to roll out a “slight difficulty reduction” for the boss fights against Moorwing and Sister Splinter. How you feel about that will likely depend on whether you’ve spent the past few days yelling at folks for seeking out mods or guides to help make their path through the metroidvania a bit less stressful.

Outside of that, the balancing’s also seen Sandcarvers have their damage reduced, plus increases in the rosary rewards dished out by relics, psalm cylinders, and courier deliveries. The prices of bellways and bell benches you run into around the game’s midway point have also dropped a bit. Oh, and there’s been a “slight increase in pea pod collider scale”.

That’s it for the balancing, with the rest being bug fixes for problems like “getting stuck floating after down-bouncing on certain projectiles”, “courier deliveries sometimes being inaccessible in Act 3”, and that “situation where players could remain cloakless after Slab escape sequence” I mentioned in the strap. No prolonged Hornet nudeness for the horn-dogs. Well, coatlessness really, but either way she might have gotten a bit cold, so an important fix.

I’ll list the rest of the fixes below, so you can scan through to see if anything you’ve run into crops up:

  • Fixed wish Infestation Operation often not being completable during the late game.
  • Fixed wish Beast in the Bells not being completable when Bell Beast is summoned at the Bilewater Bellway during the late game.
  • Fixed craft bind behaving incorrectly when in memories.
  • Fixed Lace tool deflect soft-lock at start of battle in Deep Docks.
  • Fixed Silk Snippers in Chapel of the Reaper sometimes getting stuck out of bounds.
  • Fixed Claw Mirrors leaving Hornet inverted if taking damage during a specific moment while binding.
  • Fixed Snitch Pick not giving rosaries and shell shards as intended.
  • Removed float override input (down + jump, after player has Faydown Cloak).

“All fixes will apply retroactively, so players who’ve hit a significant bug that prevents progress may want to switch over to public-beta to receive the fix,” Team Cherry wrote. “Further fixes are already being worked on for a second patch. If you have an issue and you don’t see the solution in the list above, we may be working on it.”

If you’re planning on jumping into the patch’s Steam beta, instructions for getting access can be found here. Just remember that you’ll likely need to disable any mods, such as these freshly released multiplayer ones, that you’ve got installed first.



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Photograph bosses to death in this head-pulsing whirligig of a bullet hell
Game Updates

Photograph bosses to death in this head-pulsing whirligig of a bullet hell

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I fear and covet no videogame genre on this Earth like the bullet hell shoot ’em up. I find these scions of the arcades irresistibly beautiful. They look like how I imagine human nervous systems appear to thunder spirits. By the same token, I’m not sure they’re actually designed to be processed by the human nervous system. They’re the sort of game the androids will play, once they’ve hunted down and incinerated the last of our kind.


Within the shmup genre, the Touhou Project series stands as a diamond-hard constellation of electrochemical pizazz. Dating back to 1997, it spans 20 mainline games and 13 spin-offs, all created by Team Shanghai Alice, a studio that apparently consists of a single guy, Nagano, Japan-based Jun’ya Ōta. The series has spawned a vast cosmos of fanworks. Today sees the release of another fan game, Touhou Kouzougi ～ Flickerframe Shutter Festival from Brazilian game developer Ryann Thierry. ‘Tengu paparazzo’, you say? Seems worth a quick post. Here’s a trailer.

Watch on YouTube


I’m writing about Flickerframe Shutter Festival partly because I really like that trailer soundtrack – the game’s score is the work of Benji Tunez, and is apparently full of references to other Touhou productions – and partly, because this is my first exposure to the concept of a “photography bullet hell”. As in other shmups, the basic idea here is to survive on a screen that looks like a tornado full of stinging jellyfish. The twist is that rather than just shooting bullets back at the source of those projectiles, you’re trying for a Kodak moment.


“Use your camera to take shots of the bosses, while also clearing the projectiles shot by them!” explains the blurb. “Acquire new skills given to you by your clients to aid you in your sessions! Try getting the craziest shots to overcome your highest scores!”


Photographing bosses to death – what a concept! I actually think I might be able to master this one, inasmuch as a lesser-known vidyagame gurnalist skill is taking screenshots during fights. For the professional hack, there is no shame greater than having to illustrate a breathless description of a nuclear haymaker with a picture of the protagonist looking at a table, or something.


True, you can automate the taking of screengrabs nowadays, but I’ve always preferred the personal touch – and I’m sure that old school obstinacy will stand me in good stead as I try to beat Flickerframe Shutter Festival. Which you can find on Steam.



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Pokemon Go September 2025 Events: Raid Bosses, Spotlight Hours, Community Day, And More
Game Updates

Pokemon Go September 2025 Events: Raid Bosses, Spotlight Hours, Community Day, And More

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Pokemon Go’s new Tales of Transformation season is officially underway, and the mobile game is kicking it off with a variety of events and Pokemon debuts in September. In keeping with the season’s theme, numerous Mega Pokemon will appear in Mega raids this month, including the debuting Mega Sharpedo.

That’s certainly not the only new Pokemon coming to the game. A few other monsters are set to make their debut this month, such as the psychic Pokemon Indeedee and a special Psyduck wearing a swim ring to celebrate the new season of the Netflix hit Pokemon Concierge. You’ll also have more chances to catch the rare fairy Pokemon Flabebe during September’s Community Day.

There are plenty of other activities lined up for the next few weeks. You can read more about all the biggest events happening in Pokemon Go this month below.

September Raid Schedule

A new month means new raid bosses, and there will be plenty to challenge in September.

The legendary Pokemon Palkia and Dialga will return to five-star raids at different points in the month, while a slew of Mega-Evolved Pokemon will cycle in and out of Mega raids over the next few weeks. Some new and returning Dynamax Pokemon will also be appearing in Max Battles this month.

You can see September’s full raid schedule below:

Five-star raids

September 2-16

September 23-October 7

Mega raids

September 2-9

  • Mega Venusaur
  • Mega Charizard X
  • Mega Charizard Y
  • Mega Blastoise

September 9-16

  • Mega Pidgeot
  • Mega Gyarados

September 16-23

  • Mega Gardevoir
  • Mega Gallade
  • Mega Latios
  • Mega Latias

September 23-30

  • Mega Kangaskhan
  • Mega Lopunny

September 30-October 7

  • Mega Steelix
  • Mega Scizor
  • Mega Lucario

Max Battles

September 2-7

September 8-14

September 15-21

September 22-28

September 29-October 5

September Spotlight Hours

Pokemon Go is hosting more Spotlight Hour events every week in September.

Every Tuesday evening from 6-7 PM local time, one particular Pokemon will appear in the wild more frequently, making this a good opportunity to stock up on that species’ candy. Additionally, you’ll earn an extra bonus when you participate in the event, such as double Stardust or XP when you catch Pokemon.

You can see September’s full Spotlight Hour schedule below:

September 2

  • Featured Pokemon: Pidgey
  • Bonus: 2x evolution XP

September 9

  • Featured Pokemon: Trubbish
  • Bonus: 2x catch Stardust

September 16

  • Featured Pokemon: Gothita
  • Bonus: 2x catch XP

September 23

  • Featured Pokemon: Hoothoot
  • Bonus: 2x catch candy

September 30

  • Featured Pokemon: Aron
  • Bonus: 2x transfer candy

Kanto Celebration

Pokemon Go is kicking off its latest season with a Kanto Celebration from September 2-7.

Throughout the event, Pokemon from the original Red and Blue versions, like Chansey, Snorlax, and Abra, will appear in the wild more frequently than usual. On top of that, there will be a variety of event-themed Field and Timed Research tasks to complete, which will net you Mega Energy, Pokemon encounters, Stardust, and other rewards.

Finally, a few bonuses will be active throughout the entire event. You’ll earn double the usual amount of XP when you spin the Photo Disc at PokeStops, and Mega Evolution will last three times longer than normal. Not only that, but any Ivysaur, Charmeleon, or Wartortle that you evolve during the event will learn their Community Day-exclusive attacks (Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, and Hydro Cannon, respectively).

Bonuses

  • One guaranteed candy XL for evolving Pokemon
  • 3x Mega Evolution duration
  • 2x XP for spinning PokeStops
  • Ivysaur will learn Frenzy Plant upon evolving into Venusaur
  • Charmeleon will learn Blast Burn upon evolving into Charizard
  • Wartortle will learn Hydro Cannon upon evolving into Blastoise

Mega Sharpedo Raid Day

Mega Sharpedo is making its Pokemon Go debut during a special Mega Raid Day event on September 7.

From 2-5 PM local time, you’ll be able to challenge Mega Sharpedo in raids. Each time you successfully defeat one, you’ll earn Mega Energy and other rewards. You’ll also have an increased chance of encountering a shiny Sharpedo through these battles.

Additionally, a handful of bonuses will be active during the event. The game is temporarily increasing the number of Remote Raid Passes you can hold to 20. On top of that, you’ll be able to earn up to five additional free Raid Passes when you spin the Photo Disc at gyms.

Bonuses

  • Remote Raid Pass limit will be increased to 20 (from September 6-7)
  • Receive up to five additional free Raid Passes when you spin the Photo Disc at gyms
  • Increased chance of encountering a shiny Sharpedo in Mega raids

Pokemon Concierge Celebration Event

Pokemon Go is commemorating the new season of Pokemon Concierge with a special crossover event from September 9-14.

As part of the event, you’ll be able to catch a special Psyduck wearing a swim ring. On top of that, other Pokemon that appear in the Netflix series will be available in one- and three-star raids.

There will also be free Field and Timed Research tasks to complete, as well as a few different bonuses to earn. You’ll receive double the usual amount of candy when you catch Pokemon during the event, and your buddy Pokemon will bring you items more often.

One-star raids

Three-star raids

Bonuses

  • 2x candy for catching Pokemon
  • Increased chance of encountering a shiny Psyduck wearing a swim ring
  • Your buddy Pokemon will bring you items more often

This month’s Community Day takes place on September 14 and stars the fairy Pokemon Flabebe.

From 2-5 PM local time, Flabebe will appear in the wild more often, making this a good chance to catch the rare fairy type. The color of Flabebe’s flower will vary depending on what region of the world you’re in:

  • Red Flower Flabebe: Europe, the Middle East, Africa
  • Blue Flower Flabebe: Asia-Pacific
  • Yellow Flower Flabebe: The Americas
  • Orange Flower Flabebe: All regions
  • White Flower Flabebe: All regions

For a limited time, the game is also making it easier to obtain a Florges. You’ll now be able to evolve Floette after earning seven hearts with the fairy Pokemon set as your buddy. If you can evolve one before the end of September 21, the Pokemon will also learn the special water-type Charged Attack Chilling Water.

Finally, a few different bonuses will be active throughout the event. Eggs that you place in Incubators will hatch at a quarter of the distance they normally require. You’ll also earn double the usual amount of candy when you catch Pokemon, and any Lure Modules or Incense that you use during the event will last for three hours.

Bonuses

  • Evolve Floette into Florges after earning seven hearts with Floette as your buddy
  • 1/4 egg hatch distance
  • 2x candy for catching Pokemon
  • Lure Modules will last for three hours
  • Incense will last for three hours
  • One additional Special Trade can be made
  • Trades will require 50% less Stardust

Psychic Spectacular: Taken Over

Team Go Rocket is crashing this year’s Psychic Spectacular from September 16-21.

Throughout the event, psychic-type Pokemon like Abra, Beldum, and Ralts will appear in the wild more frequently. In addition, Lunatone and Solrock, which are normally only available in specific regions, will both appear in the wild regardless of your location.

On top of the wild spawns, certain psychic Pokemon like Smoochum, Espurr, and the debuting Indeedee may hatch from 5 km eggs during the event. Team Go Rocket is also increasing their presence; you’ll encounter grunts more frequently at PokeStops and in hot-air balloons.

Finally, a new Special Research story will be available during the event. Complete these Special Research tasks to work your way up to a battle with Team Go Rocket boss Giovanni, who’ll have a Shadow Tornadus at his command.

5 km eggs

  • Smoochum
  • Chingling
  • Espurr
  • Indeedee

Three-star raids

  • Alolan Raichu
  • Hisuian Braviary
  • Wyrdeer

Bonuses

  • Additional candy for Nice throws or better
  • 1/2 egg hatch distance
  • Lunatone and Solrock will appear in all regions
  • Team Go Rocket will appear more frequently at PokeStops and in hot-air balloons
  • You can use a Charged TM to help a Shadow Pokemon forget Frustration

Shadow Raid Weekend

This year’s Psychic Spectacular is wrapping up with a Shadow Raid Weekend on September 20-21.

Throughout the weekend, the legendary Pokemon Groudon will appear at gyms as a Shadow raid boss. You’ll also have your first chance to encounter a shiny Shadow Groudon during the event, and you can earn an additional free Raid Pass each day when you spin the Photo Disc at gyms.

Completely Normal

Pokemon Go’s Completely Normal event is set for September 23-27. More details will be announced later this month.

Mega Raid Day

Pokemon Go is hosting another Mega Raid Day on September 28. Additional details will be announced closer to the event.

Steel Skyline

Pokemon Go is capping off the month with a Steel Skyline event from September 30-October 7.



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Gaming Gear

Space Marine 2 unveils a roadmap for its second year of updates including a new playable class, bosses, weapons, and more

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Space Marine 2 – Year 2 Trailer – YouTube

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Good news for fans of Space Marine 2’s multiplayer modes, which Saber Interactive has committed to supporting for a whole ‘nother year. As the developer announced, patch 10, on the first anniversary of Space Marine 2’s release, will be the beginning of a second year of updates and additions.

Patch 10 is apparently the “biggest patch to date.” Due on September 4, it includes a new boss (the Chaos Spawn, in three variants), a new PvP arena and mode (Helbrute Onslaught, in which you can play as a big robotic Helbrute), three new weapons, a new PvE map and mode, and the Chaos Armour cosmetics pack (the U in Armour is part of the name because Warhammer is quintessentially British).

There’s another patch scheduled to be squeezed in before the end of the year, but the update kicking off 2026 looks like a more notable one since it includes the techmarine, a new playable class who comes armed with an Omnissiah axe. It’ll be interesting to see how an engineer fits in with the existing six classes, especially if they’re a melee-focused addition. In 40K, techmarines often serve as drivers and pilots, but also mix it up in hand-to-hand with their gigantic axes and a proliferation of mechanical arms that would make Doctor Octopus jealous. I suspect Space Marine 2 will probably embrace the latter depiction.


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As well as all these free updates, Space Marine 2 is getting a second season pass of champion and cosmetic packs, so if you really want to cover yourself in the rad shark logo of the Carcharadon marines you’ll be able to do that when patch 12 comes out. There’s also a new chapter coming in patch 13: the Iron Hands. As the space marine chapter closest to the tech-priests, they’ll make a good match for techmarines.

(Image credit: Saber Interactive)

While Space Marine 3 is currently in development, Saber Interactive is committed to continuing support for Space Marine 2. Which is nice for all the people who have stuck with its multiplayer modes. As someone who loved the original for its singleplayer campaign and found the sequel just kind of OK in that department, it’s a reminder that maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up too high. At least Dawn of War 4 is doubling down on singleplayer to keep me and the rest of the cranky loners appeased.

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Product Reviews

Disgruntled coder who admitted to deploying a malware ‘kill switch’ to get back at his bosses sentenced to 4 years in prison

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After a total wait even longer than his prison sentence and being convicted in March, former software developer Davis Lu has finally been sentenced for a malware kill switch scheme he deployed in 2019.

Lu will have to serve four years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. It’s the end to a long saga that began with a frustration many are all too familiar with: a demotion. In 2018, the company Lu worked for as a senior software developer, Eaton Corporation, went through a corporate realignment.

As a result, Lu was demoted. He stayed at the company until September 9, 2019, when he was finally put on leave and asked to return his company laptop. Lu had apparently been planning for this. When he was demoted, he “began sabotaging his employer’s systems,” according to the Department of Justice.


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Lu’s havoc on his former employer included malicious code that sparked system crashes, blocked logins, deleted files, and ultimately ended with a “kill switch” that, according to the DoJ, locked out all users if Lu’s credentials were ever disabled. Lu even named the kill switch “IsDLEnabledinAD,” short for “Is Davis Lu enabled in Active Directory.”

When Lu was put on leave, that kill switch automatically triggered. The kill switch and Lu’s other malicious code resulted in “hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses” for his former employer. Now, it has also resulted in jail time for Lu, who was convicted in March. That conviction is not surprising since he straight up admitted to sabotaging his former employer all the way in October 2019.

However, Lu didn’t plead guilty and even reportedly designed his malicious code to make it look like it was coming from co-workers who took over his duties. Lu also deleted encrypted data from his company laptop before handing it over. But that clearly wasn’t enough to stop the FBI from tying the cyber sabotage back to Lu.



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