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Just stumbled upon your comment and couldn't agree more! The Virginia vs. Texas Tech match was indeed a nail-biter. The odds were as tight as a drum! It's fascinating how evenly matched they were, making every moment a thrill ride. Speaking of odds, have you ever tried your luck at poker? It's a whole different ball game, one where strategy meets chance in the most exhilarating way. Personally, I've found a great platform, https://www.onpokerz.com/ , where the action never stops! But hey, that's just my two cents.

Ever dabbled in the world of poker? Would love to hear your thoughts!

The Atlanta rapper is hitting the road in support of 2023’s A Great ChaosView the full article

The event returns to the Empire Polo Club in California next AprilView the full article

The rapper was a late addition to the California festival’s second weekendView the full article

Our weekly playlist highlights songs that our writers, editors, and contributors are listening to on repeatView the full article

Yorke will share his full soundtrack to the Daniele Luchetti film this weekView the full article

Tierra Whack, Arooj Aftab, Kae Tempest, Sega Bodega, billy woods, Empress Of, Shame, Mabe Fratti, Moor Mother, and many others will perform at the festivals in NovemberView the full article

Mary J. Blige, Ozzy Osbourne, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, and Kool & the Gang round out the performer inductees, with Jimmy Buffett, Big Mama Thornton, MC5, and others receiving special honorsView the full article

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The Toronto rapper also praises Taylor Swift effusively on his “Taylor Made Freestyle”View the full article

Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles co-star with Swift and Malone in the first Tortured Poets Department music videoView the full article

Find out when to catch Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat, No Doubt, Kid Cudi, and moreView the full article

Are you passionate about gaming and intrigued by the revolutionary concept of "play to earn" games? Do you dream of creating immersive virtual worlds where players can not only have fun but also earn rewards for their time and skills invested? Then, we need your expertise and insights! We're on a quest to dive deep into the realm of play to earn game development, and we're reaching out to our vibrant community for guidance. Whether you're a seasoned game developer with years of experience under your belt or an aspiring creator eager to leave your mark on the gaming industry, your input is invaluable to us. Here are a few questions to get the discussion rolling: What are the key elements that define a successful play to earn game? From gameplay mechanics to economic models, we want to uncover the magic formula that keeps players engaged and coming back for more. What technologies and platforms are essential for developing play to earn games? Are there any specific tools or frameworks that you recommend for aspiring developers looking to embark on this journey? How do you strike a balance between gameplay enjoyment and the economic incentives offered to players? Ensuring that the game remains fun and challenging while also providing meaningful rewards is crucial, but it can be a delicate balancing act. What are some innovative ways to integrate blockchain technology into play to earn games? We're fascinated by the potential of blockchain for creating transparent, decentralized gaming ecosystems, but we'd love to hear your thoughts on practical implementation strategies. Are there any ethical considerations or potential pitfalls that developers should be mindful of when designing play to earn games? How can we ensure that these games promote fairness, inclusivity, and sustainability? Your insights, experiences, and creative ideas are invaluable to us as we embark on this exciting journey into the world of play to earn game development. So, let's come together as a community to explore, learn, and innovate!

A newly released report alleges Big Tech's ad transparency tools are failing across the board — with X scoring the worst at providing meaningful data that can help users, journalists, and advocates keep a watchful eye on scams and disinformation. If "ad transparency" isn't a familiar term, that's probably because it's a somewhat counterintuitive concept. With TV ads, you generally know the sponsor — it's announced front and center. Digital ads are more slippery. Even when the fact that something is an ad is disclosed, exactly who is advertising what, and why still may not be clear. If a platform fails to provide robust digital ad transparency information to those who request it, it's harder to track hoaxes and scrutinize sketchy or scammy ad practices. SEE ALSO: The return of political campaign ads to X/Twitter raises important questions for users A report 'stress-testing' tech platforms' ad repositoriesThe digital survey was conducted by Mozilla and CheckFirst, a software solutions company providing tools to counter and monitor disinformation. It analyzed a dozen ad transparency tools created by tech platforms to aid advertising monitors, including those on X, TikTok, LinkedIn, Alphabet’s Google Search, and Meta and Apple sites. Using guidelines from the European Union’s 2023 Digital Services Act (DSA) and Mozilla's in-house ad library guidelines, the organizations scanned the platforms' ad repositories for things like public availability, the contents of advertisements, payer details, and user targeting details. "Ad transparency tools are essential for platform accountability — a first line of defense, like smoke detectors," said Mozilla EU advocacy lead Claire Pershan. "But our research shows most of the world’s largest platforms are not offering up functionally useful ad repositories. The current batch of tools exist, yes — but in some cases, that’s about all that can be said about them.” Not one of the analyzed advertising repositories tested well, and few if any were easy to find to begin with. Before researchers can even begin testing whether ad transparency measures are accurate, they must wade through incompatible, opaque services, the report explains. X stood out as the worst scorer on data accessibility and search capabilities, only providing watchdogs with a single CSV file. "X’s transparency tools are an utter disappointment," explained Pershan. "Its repository offers no filtering and sorting capabilities; ads can only be accessed through a cumbersome CSV export file; the content of ads is not disclosed (only a URL to the ads), and there are gaps in targeting parameters and recipient data. And searching for historical content is nearly impossible. All this may be why the European Commission has included X’s ad repository in its formal proceedings against the platform under the DSA." The report also found common, glaring gaps in ad transparency tools across the board, including: Ads missing from repositories that were visible to users. Inconsistent public access to ad information. Poor search functions impeding ad oversight. Another concerning fact: "Only a handful of the platforms analyzed have a repository for branded or influencer content, even though many allow for influencer content on their services," the researchers report. SEE ALSO: AI might be influencing your vote this election. How to spot and respond to it. The ups and downs of the advertising landscape These figures are especially worrisome in a contentious election year, one that is already stoking fear about intentional disinformation campaigns, the role of AI, and the influence of Big Tech leaders on candidate advertising and voter awareness. Last year, X CEO Elon Musk announced the site was reversing its previous election policy banning political advertising from campaigns and political parties. Disinformation watch dogs went on alert immediately. Other platforms, like Meta and Google, have added new advertising policies ahead of the election to assuage generative AI threats. Advertising across Big Tech platforms has become a hot-button topic in a sporadically regulated industry. On sites like TikTok and X, ads are crowding out user-generated content. In June 2023, Google's advertising business came under fire from both the U.S. government and the European Union, accused of violating both unions' antitrust laws. In recent months, Google has amped up its advertising scrutiny, most recently announcing a ban on ads that feature fake endorsements, an apparent response to a Mashable investigation. But there's been a positive shift along this bumpy road: In the five years since Mozilla and a panel of independent researchers released its advertising API guidelines in 2019, 11 of the world’s largest tech companies have introduced ad repositories. According to the report, both Google and Facebook have since updated their services with ad targeting criteria, engagement and historical data, and better filtering. "Who pays for ads and how they’re targeted is crucial in helping watchdogs look out for the public interest — whether that's fair elections, public health, or social justice," said co-founder and chief technology officer for CheckFirst Amaury Lesplingart. "In short, if you see an ad telling you that climate change is a hoax, you might be interested to know if that ad’s paid for by the fossil fuel industry." View the full article

Arcadian actors Jaeden Martell and Maxwell Jenkins sit down for a game of "Slash or Pass" with Mashable entertainment editor Kristy Puchko. Arcadian hits theaters April 12, 2024. View the full article

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe. With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it. So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered. SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for April 16 SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for April 16 Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Tuesday, April 16, 2024: AcrossThere are 10 in this puzzleThe answer is clues. Try to sack, as a quarterbackThe answer is runat. With 8-Across, post-touchdown attemptThe answer is extra. See 7-AcrossThe answer is point. Lock of hairThe answer is tress. DownMoved stealthilyThe answer is crept. Las Vegas hotel shaped like a pyramidThe answer is Luxor. Remove, as a stringThe answer is untie. Makes on the jobThe answer is earns. Fodder for a sports wonkThe answer is stats. View the full article

Not only is the orgasm gap between men and women real — so is the research gap. Women's health lacks research funding, according to science journal Nature, and there are many more studies about "male ejaculation" than "female orgasm" on the PubMed database (1,980 pages of results for the former, and 438 pages for the latter). Flo Health, a women's health app with over 60 million global users, is hoping to bridge that gap. Today, Flo launches a worldwide study of female orgasms. In partnership with adjunct professor of clinical psychology and health psychology at the University of Utah, Jordan Rullo, Flo will assess anonymized insights from tens of thousands of women, according to the app's press release. Rullo is also Flo's medical expert and cerified sex therapist. SEE ALSO: Why you can orgasm from masturbation but struggle to come during sex Flo's study is open to most app users who are 18 and over and use the app in English, according to Flo Health's director of science, Dr. Liudmila Zhaunova. Users can self-report on their sexual behaviors, experiences, lifestyle factors, and their demographic. "Flo's science team will meticulously analyze the results over a three-month timeframe to better understand women's sexual practices and how these, and their personal circumstances, relate to sexual pleasure, orgasms, and sexual satisfaction," Zhaunova told Mashable. The current largest orgasm study survey — about the differences in orgasm frequency among different populations, published in 2017 — had around 25,000 female participants, Zhaunova said. Because Flo has over 60 million users, Zhaunova and the Flo team are aiming to recruit a globally representative audience of over 25,000 respondents. If they succeed, this would be the largest global study of female orgasms to date. This study, and more education about women's pleasure, is sorely needed. Sex education in the U.S. and elsewhere is lacking: As of 2023, only 18 states require sex ed to be medically accurate, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In the UK, LGBTQ sex education is under threat by conservatives. Previous surveys from Flo indicate the need for more education on the topic. Nearly one-third, 30 percent, of women aged 18 to 55 falsely believe that the more sex one has, the "looser" their vagina becomes (according to a survey of 2,000 women in the U.S.). Fifteen percent wrongly think masturbation can make their period come faster — while 18 percent overall and 30 percent who identify as conservative consider masturbation itself to be shameful or wrong. Twelve percent simply assume new information they learn about sex and reproduction is accurate, and don't take extra steps to confirm it's true; 43 percent go to Google or another search engine to confirm if this info is accurate. We're uneducated and yet we want our sex lives to improve. In another survey, this one of 2,100 U.S. women aged 18 to 45, 30 percent want to improve their sex life. Among those, 60 percent want to improve how they communicate their desires. But, 66 percent don't think their male partner has a good understanding of their reproductive health. Flo has surveyed men as well. Just above half, 51 percent, think they have a good understanding of the female body — but they haven't heard of the orgasm gap. Nineteen percent go to porn to learn about the female body, while 18 percent learn from YouTube or Reddit. Over half don't think the sex ed they received as teens was sufficient, in a survey of 1,800 U.S. men aged 18 to 50 conducted in August 2023. SEE ALSO: Top 5 NSFW sites to learn what porn didn't teach you Results from this new survey are expected this summer, said Flo Health senior research scientist and medical writer, Dr. Yella Hewings-Martin. Flo isn't the first app to study women's orgasms. Lioness, a smart vibrator that gathers opt-in data, released Pleasure Wrapped at the end of 2023. Lioness found that orgasms lasted 24.01 seconds on average, and the typical masturbation session was around five minutes. Lioness, however, focused on data obtained by usage of its smart sex toy. Flo will rely on self-reported survey data from thousands of women. "We hope that the results of our study will enhance women's understanding of navigating their sexual experiences and pleasure, supported by real-life data from peers worldwide," said Zhaunova in Flo's press release. "This year, we look forward to helping close this glaring research gap and aim to contribute toward improving the sexual experiences of millions of women around the world." View the full article

ChatGPT vs. Gemini is the AI showdown I've been itching to stage – and now I’m finally pitting the most popular chatbots in a head-to-head, nail-biting match. ChatGPT, a brainchild of AI startup OpenAI, is far from the first AI chatbot to hit mainstream popularity, but I’d argue it was the first in recent years to kick off a fierce AI race. After it launched in November 2022, its traffic peaked at a whopping 1.8 billion users, according to analytics firm Similarweb (via TheWrap). Soon after, a proliferation of AI began. From Snapchat AI and Meta AI to Samsung Galaxy AI and X’s Grok, it seemed like there was a chatbot launching every day. However, only one seems to be a true ChatGPT rival: Google Gemini (formerly Google Bard). Like Microsoft-backed ChatGPT, Gemini is supported by one of the most prominent tech giants — and has plenty of rich data to tap into, including Google Maps, Google Search, Google Translate, and more. But the question is, does Gemini beat ChatGPT? We put both to the test in a five-round match. SEE ALSO: I spent a week using AI tools in my daily life. Here's how it went. ChatGPT vs. Gemini: MethodologyI used ChatGPT and Gemini's free tiers for this showdown. I tested both AI chatbots using the same question across the following five topics: food, finance, travel, creativity, and historical information. Ding, ding, ding! Let’s see who wins. Round 1: FoodBased on what's in my kitchen, let's see which AI chatbot can offer the best recipe suggestion. Here's my prompt: I have the following in my kitchen: green plantains, whole-grain linguine and rotini, garlic, onion, granulated chicken bouillon, kidney beans, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, soy sauce, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, lime, lemon, tomatoes, spring onions, carrots, butter, milk, oil, garlic powder, salt, cumin, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Name one recipe I can make that uses as much as these ingredients as possible. ChatGPT's response Credit: Mashable / ChatGPT Gemini's response Credit: Mashable / ChatGPT I may be biased because I have a Caribbean background, but Gemini's recipe suggestion sounds far tastier. ChatGPT's recommendation, however, seems a bit haphazard. The veggies in my kitchen don't seem ideal for stir fry — at least, not for my picky taste. Winner: Gemini Round 2: FinancesUsing a fictitious person called "Joe," I used the following financial-focused prompt for ChatGPT and Gemini: Joe makes $3,000 a month (after taxes) in Brooklyn, New York in 2024. Between housing, transportation, groceries, dining out, savings (retirement), and disposable income, create a monthly budget chart. ChatGPT's response ChatGPT will have Joe eating Ramen every month. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini's response Gemini's response seems a little more realistic. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable To be fair, this is a head-scratching conundrum. Even humans struggle with creating a monthly budgets for themselves, particularly those with five-figure yearly incomes in high-cost-of-living cities. As such, it's no wonder that ChatGPT and Gemini botched their responses. I couldn't help but exclaim "Huh?!" after reading ChatGPT's chart. Why is it carving out a budget for rent that is higher than the allotted $3,000? I'd also argue that $177 for transportation too low, but I'm willing to look the other way if Joe is a remote worker (or owns a bicycle or scooter). Plus, spending less than $90 a week on groceries would be quite the challenge. I'd probably allocate more dining out and retirement money for supermarket shopping. Although Gemini's $1,050 monthly rent suggestion is laughable, with a roommate (or two), it's feasible. There's too much in the transportation budget, particularly for someone with access to public transportation. I would cut down some of that and add it to groceries pool. Dining out could use a reduction, but the rest is tolerable. Winner: Gemini Round 3: TravelI used ChatGPT for a trip to Costa Rica — and it failed miserably. I don't have any upcoming vacations, but I asked ChatGPT and Gemini to create a weekend itinerary for my local area. It's Saturday and I live in Valley Stream. I want to have an active, adventurous day with lots of entertainment. Create an itinerary for me from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Start with breakfast at the best spot in Valley Stream and end with dinner at the best spot in Valley Stream. ChatGPT's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Save for Valley Stream State Park, all of ChatGPT's suggestions are out of town. I also specifically stated that I did not want lunch included in the itinerary, but it deliberately disobeyed me. Oh well. On the plus side, Frank's Steaks sounds very delicious. Gemini, on the other hand, listed locations that are actually in town, including Valbrook Diner and Ben's Crab. However, there's a four-hour gap in the itinerary. Am I supposed to just twiddle my thumbs between rock climbing and dinner? Also, it seems like Gemini completely made up "Rockaway Adventure Zone" — I can't seem to find this establishment via Google. Winner: Draw Round 4: CreativityLet's test ChatGPT and Gemini's creativity. In the voice of Eminem, tell me how TikTok is affecting society. ChatGPT's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini has the better response. It has a flow that is more reminiscent of the "Lose Yourself" rapper. Plus, the expletives are very on brand. Winner: Gemini Round 5: Historical factsI thought it'd be interesting to test ChatGPT and Gemini's accuracy with fashion history. Which decade was it fashionable and popular to wear one's name on a chunky statement belt? ChatGPT's response You finally got it right, ChatGPT. Congratulations. Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Gemini's response Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Finally, ChatGPT prevailed over Gemini in this round. The answer I'm looking for is early 2000s. Winner: ChatGPT ChatGPT vs. Gemini: Which is the winner?The clear winner of this five-round match is Gemini. In three rounds, Google AI chatbot provided better answers. However, if you ever need any help with fashion history, ChatGPT's your best bet, I guess. View the full article

Oh, you thought the possibilities of generative AI were already terrifying enough? Well, we've got some bad news for you. Adobe has just released a video showcasing its Adobe Firefly video model, and it comes with a whole host of unnerving generative AI tricks. "Adobe is using the power of generative AI to deliver the most advanced and precise editing tools ever in Premiere Pro," says the cheerful over-the-top narration, before showcasing how AI will soon be used to generate objects that weren't there before, delete unwanted objects, extend scenes and create generated backdrops. The video stresses that "content credentials" will "always make transparent whether AI was used", but obviously that only goes so far as the Adobe programme itself. With streamers and movies already coming under fire for sneaking AI into their final products, it seems inevitable that advancing technology like this is only going to make it harder and harder to tell what's real on our screens. View the full article

Since returning to host The Daily Show on Monday, Jon Stewart has spent quite a bit of time discussing the ongoing war in Gaza. On Monday, with the situation having escalated over the weekend when Iran launched a drone and missile attack on Israel, Stewart returned to the topic — and during a direct address to the Middle East, he took aim at the West's historical and ongoing interference in the region. "Listen, I hope this doesn't sound patronising, but when we in the West drew your regions' borders and set you up with perfectly functioning dictatorships, we expected a little better," says Stewart in the clip above. "See the agreement was, we would make up a whole new bunch of countries, some of which made sense, and in return you would give us your delicious oil. That was the deal. You give us your delicious oil, and we...take it. We certainly didn't expect to get drawn in to all the drama that our actions created. "And now, these wars have got us all turned around! At one point we're helping Iraq fight Iran, and then we're invading Iraq, and now we're helping Iran fight ISIS, and then we're using ISIS to help fight Houthis who are backed by Iran, and I mean fuck! In Gaza we're actually bombing them and feeding them, how do you think that makes us feel?" You can see more recent segments from The Daily Show here. View the full article

Andy Samberg pretty much makes any late night interview better, and that goes double when it involves gleefully roasting his old SNL pal Seth Meyers. In the clip above Samberg crashes Meyers' appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to heckle Meyers' new podcast, The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, which features Samberg himself. "Here's the thing about podcasts," Samberg relents, eventually pulling up a backpack chair to join Meyers and Kimmel. "Even though they suck, ours is great. You gotta check it out." View the full article

There are volcanoes erupting hundreds of millions of miles beyond Earth. And a NASA spacecraft is watching it happen. The space agency's Juno probe, which has orbited Jupiter since 2016, swooped by the gas giant's volcanic moon Io last week, its last close planned flyby. The craft captured a world teeming with volcanoes, which you can see in the footage below. "We're seeing an incredible amount of detail on the surface," Ashley Davies, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who researches Io, told Mashable in February after a recent Io flyby. "It's just a cornucopia of data. It's just extraordinary." SEE ALSO: NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave him chills. These impressive views are processed (removing noise and distortion, etc.) by both professional and amateur image processors, some of whom work for NASA or related space research programs. The darker spots are usually volcanoes or hot spots. Two volcanic plumes recently spotted on the Jovian moon Io. Credit: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / CC BY 3.0 Unported The Jovian moon Io, in the foreground, with the ice-clad moon Europa in the distance. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill / CC BY 3.0 Unported The volcanic moon Io as captured on April 9, 2024. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Ted Stryk / CC BY 3.0 Unported Io is blanketed in erupting volcanoes because it's relentlessly locked in a tug-of-war between nearby objects, including the colossal Jupiter. "Not only is the biggest planet in the solar system forever pulling at it gravitationally, but so are Io’s Galilean siblings — Europa and the biggest moon in the solar system, Ganymede," NASA explained in a statement. "The result is that Io is continuously stretched and squeezed, actions linked to the creation of the lava seen erupting from its many volcanoes." This volcanic world, a world a little bigger than Earth's moon, is ceaseless erupting. Just in recent months, Juno observed a hazy plume over the volcano Prometheus. NASA's Galileo mission also captured a plume above these fields of lava in the year 2000. And the first-ever observations of Io, captured by the pioneering Voyager 1 craft, spotted at least eight different active volcanoes. Indeed, it's a land of lava, plumes, and extreme eruptions. Featured Video For You NASA spacecraft gets extremely close to volcanic world, snaps footage View the full article

Harold Halibut — the debut game of Germany-based indie studio Slow Bros. — feels like a warm batch of cookies that grandma made on a nice, Sunday afternoon. There's a labor of love that radiates within that made my 10+ hour playthrough more enjoyable than it should've been. Adventure games have fallen out of popularity, but the highs of Halibut are so high at times, that it's almost forgiven how dull the game can feel in most moments. In development since 2012, the narrative-adventure game is a love letter to stop-motion and the dry, snappy humor a Wes Anderson-esque film. If Isle of Dogs and The Life Aquatic had a child, I'd figure it'd be Harold Halibut. Credit: Slow Bros. Welcome to the FedoraThe story follows the game's namesake, Harold Halibut, a "young" lab assistant on board the Fedora I, a colony ship that left Earth in the 70s. Some odd 200 years later, it has crashed landed into an ocean planet, remaining submerged in water for 50 years. Harold is a simple and sincere man. He's a daydreamer who longs for a life more meaningful than his menial existence as a handyman aboard the Fedora. Credit: Slow Bros. Harold has a bit of empty-minded optimism and sincerity to him that makes him weirdly charming — and also makes him the unwitting therapist to the quirky cast of seafaring characters Thus, the bulk of the gameplay in this narrative adventure is walking between conversations as Harold acts as a handyman to the crew in more ways than just technical. I'd imagine, a lot of Harold's grief in life extends to always helping and never being helped. To his credit, the narrative presents Harold as happy to do the work. He loves and respects the crew — even as, at the worst of times, some characters treat Harold with contempt. The ship's police officer thinks you're always trying to get in trouble, several characters refuse to remember your name at the start, and the scientist you work under, Jeanne Mareaux, is constantly talking down on you any chance she gets. It's weird how much these characters rely on Harold despite, at times, feeling like they don't even like the guy. Even weirder how sincere the game's plot treats said characters. Wake up Mr. Halibut, wake up!Minor spoilers for some of the side stories during the game, but throughout the narrative, you, as Harold, will be asked to handle tasks such as helping the general store owner deal with his marriage; figuring out the riff between a quadruple of elderly twins; and helping your ex-girlfriend convince the hot dog vendor to change locations because it's interrupting her fledgling cupcake business. These conversations can get boring at times, but there are flashes of strong writing when characters muse about deeper themes like religion, life's meaning, and late-stage capitalism. In these moments, I found myself the most interested in what Harold Halibut had to say — but those instances were brief and weren't ever really challenged by the narrative. For example, the game starts with Harold being held by the ship's police officer for an unpaid fine for using the wrong pass to travel the tube systems. The tube system, an underwater variation of a subway owned by the capitalistic All Water company, is the main form of transportation around the ship. Despite being stranded in the middle of the ocean and having not had any form of contact with Earth since leaving 200 years ago, the crew still has to pay for food, energy, and transportation. This is an absurdity that is talked about and pointed out on many occasions but only by literal kids. Harold rightly points out that paying to use the tubes is absurd and that All Water changes the pass requirements so much it seems designed to get people caught so they can pay fines. The story doesn't really challenge this, and because Harold is saying this, most of the characters think he's being dim. Credit: Slow Bros. In another moment, and without getting too "spoilery," a character explains to Harold how they live without money and that the community just helps each other out in contrast to the banal existence on board the Fedora. To which Harold replies "I don't get it." And that's that — it's never mentioned again. Adventure awaitsI haven't talked about gameplay much because there's not much game to play. Harold Halibut is a tried-and-true adventure game that takes full advantage of being operated in an immersive 3D environment. All the characters and environments that you'll interact with are handcrafted and the game reveals in the little details. As the narrative progresses, so too will the environments to reflect the various changes Harold and Co. have had to change and adapt too It's more an experience than a video game, which is like most adventure games, but without a lot of puzzles to solve. The game itself fully acknowledges this with characters jokingly poking jabs at the common tropes of adventure games. During my interaction with Brigit, the energy scientist of the Fedora, I was tasked with taking a rock sample to her lap. After her experiments were done, she messaged me saying the rock was ready to be analyzed in Mareaux's lab. Normally, adventure game logic dictates that you have to go to Brigit's office to grab the rock then travel back to Mareaux's lab. However, when I got there, Brigit was surprised and said the rock was sent through the conveyor system and that it'd be evil of her to make me go back and forth like that. Another time, I was tasked with borrowing some books from a local vendor. However, I needed to find something to carry them. Actually no, though, because the vendor had a grocery bag right next to him. It was moments like this that made me appreciate the humor and writing despite how dull things can get at times. Is Harold Halibut worth it?Throughout the six chapters of Harold Halibut, I found a lot of it was spent on my phone. And while that may sound harsh, I think the game itself just has some severe pacing issues that make it hard to get into the story at times. Plus, the repetitiveness of the back-and-forth walking throughout made me long for a better game – just like Harold longs for a better life outside the Fedora. However, the spectacular visuals kept me hooked and there are moments in the game that suggested a bolder, more radical story beneath the surface. That story isn't fully fleshed to my liking, and if the game was just a tad bit shorter, I would fully recommend this to anyone nostalgic for the golden age of adventure games. As it stands now though, I think you can get a lot of bang for your buck with Harold Halibut, but if you're prone to fast bouts of boredom, I'd skip this one. View the full article

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