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When setting out on an adventure as epic as that of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth you want to get things right from the off. We have already discussed what the max level is, and how it may prove to be too much of a pain to get there if you simply opt for the Easy level from the off.
Indeed, if you want that shiny Platinum Trophy you are going to have to go through the game more than once anyway, so it doesn’t really make much sense to ease back on the throttle from the off. So let’s just go for it. Let’s check out what our options are.
Final Fantasy VII Difficulty Levels
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth serves us up four different difficulty levels, not all of which are available to us to choose from initially. We can get at three of the four, however, so let’s concentrate on those from the off, then check out the fourth and final mode which comes available later on.
Easy
If you are new to Final Fantasy or just prefer to play your games to enjoy the story, rather than for any real challenge, Easy is for you. Levelling up your character and party won’t be anywhere as quick, but you won’t need it to be as the game will not put you under quite so much pressure.
Normal
As you might expect from the name, this is the mode the game expects you to play it. It is how it is how was designed to be played with the combat forming more of a challenge than Easy, but never causing you to hurl your controller across the room.
Dynamic
This mode sees the game vary the challenge on how it perceives you to be playing. If it thinks you are too good, it will tweak things up a bit, but if it thinks you are struggling it will tone it down. I never trust these kinds of modes, but you might. You do you.
Hard
Finally, we have Hard mode which only becomes available after you have finished the game for the first time. Combat is much tougher and certain items may be unavailable, so if you enjoyed the game and completed it the first time, why not make it too frustratingly difficult for yourself and taint your memories with Hard mode?
Featured Image: Square Enix
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Artificial Intelligence gains another win over humans, as a new study suggests it can have ‘creative thought.’
In a study conducted by PhD students at the University of Arkansas, 151 people were pitted against ChatGPT-4 with the aim of measuring divergent thinking.
This is often thought to be a sign of creativity and imagination, as it involves a thought process that is used to generate ideas and explore possible solutions to a concrete or abstract issue.
In the study, the multimodal language model created by OpenAI was found to provide more ‘original and elaborate answers than the human participants.’
The first take involved people coming up with creative uses for everyday objects (like a fork or rope). The second called the Consequences Task, asked people (and their AI counterparts) to imagine the outcomes of a made-up situation. The third, named the Divergent Associations Task, required 10 nouns that are as ‘semantically distant as possible.’
Researchers then looked at the length of response and semantic difference between words. The ChatGPT-4 model was found to be ‘more original and elaborate than humans on each of the divergent thinking tasks, even when controlling for fluency of responses.’
While the full insight into AI’s creativity hasn’t yet been extensively looked at, this study marks one of the first in the exploration of its capabilities.
Researchers have some ‘caveats’
Conducted by Kent F. Hubert, Kim N. Awa, and Darya L. Zabelina, the students have explained that some caution should be exercised.
In a press release published on the University of Arkansas’s website last Friday (March. 1), the authors say: “It is important to note that the measures used in this study are all measures of creative potential, but the involvement in creative activities or achievements are another aspect of measuring a person’s creativity…
“AI, unlike humans, does not have agency,” and is “dependent on the assistance of a human user. Therefore, the creative potential of AI is in a constant state of stagnation unless promoted.
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The annual integrity report from Sportrader has been released, with 1,329 suspicious matches detected across 2023 – with 880 coming from football and a rise seen in Asia.
Titled the ‘Betting Corruption and Match-fixing in 2023’ report, the findings look at suspicious betting on a global scale from approximately 850,000 events and matches across 70 sports. Europe was found to have the highest number of suspicious matches (with an increase to 667 from 630 in 2022) but Asia saw a jump, going from 240 the year before to 302 in 2023. This was the most significant jump worldwide.
As it has been in the past, football was the most affected sport with 880 suspicious matches, while basketball remained in second place at 205 matches. This was then followed by table tennis, tennis, and esports.
A majority of the issues came from men’s sporting events, with just 34 activities happening during women’s games.
Speaking in the Sportrader press release via their website, Andreas Krannich, EVP, Integrity, Rights Protection, and Regulatory Services, said: “Continued investment in the development of technology is key to detecting otherwise hard-to-find occurrences of match-fixing…
“In combination with access to account-level data, collaboration across the industry, and human experts, we have a suite of powerful tools to help prevent and detect risks to sports integrity.
“Further advancements in the fight against match-fixing will be possible as the AI models continue to learn and we will keep honing our expertise to protect sport from manipulation.”
Artificial Intelligence helped with the mass amount of data, detecting almost three-quarters of all occurrences. Analysis by the ‘integrity experts’ also took place alongside the AI.
Sporting and criminal sanctions
The company worked alongside 220 global partners including sports organizations, state authorities, national platforms, and law enforcement agencies to tackle match-fixing.
The data from Sportrader in 2023 contributed to a total of 147 sporting and criminal sanctions, spanning 10 sports in 23 countries across 23 cases.
Featured image: Via Ideogram
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Activision has officially confirmed that the far-flung warzone of Warhammer: 40,000 is coming to Call of Duty. Rumors were flying like the artillery of the dystopian future about a possible team-up between Call of Duty and the Nottingham-based tabletop strategy game.
On the Official Call of Duty social media channels the followers of the God Emperor of mankind were given a rousing lift to their spirits:

Operators are only as strong as the oaths they uphold
Inspired by the @Warhammer 40,000 universe, Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Astra Militarum skins and more are coming to Call of Duty #Warzone and #MW3 pic.twitter.com/du3PNWTEbB
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) March 1, 2024

The post has announced that skins “inspired by the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Astra Militarum skins, and more are coming to Call of Duty.”
The small wax seal is iconic of the Warhammer universe and has a line to get fans excited for the coming battle in the garb of the heroes of the imperium:
“There can be no bystanders in the battle for survival. Anyone who will not fight by our side is an enemy we must crush. There is no peace among the stars. Only the eternity of carnage and slaughter and the laughter of thirsting Gods.”
Call of Duty X Warhammer
The Space Marines are essentially walking tanks that patrol the cosmos in the futuristic setting and are loyal to their Emperor as well as the “chapters” they represent. Some are inspired by Vikings like the Space Wolves, the Khans of the Mongolian steeps in the White Scars and the iconic Ultramarines are inspired by the legionnaires of Rome.
The Sisters of Battle are an order of monastic female space warriors that dish out penance to heretical cultists and anyone not following the rigorous doctrine of their religion. They are represented by the purple fleur-de-lis in the X post.
The Astra Militarum are the rank-and-file soldiers of this battle-scarred universe. They are the endless waves of loyal military individuals who fight across countless worlds in service to the army of Terra.
40k rumours
As we reported last month a prominent leaker going by the name of Semtex had taken the time to unearth the leaks in the upcoming update code of the game.
Since then a number of users across social media have been posting the possible animations of the Space Marine skin for juggernaut finishers.

god i love this game pic.twitter.com/I4Rq21172Y
— bryan. (@HYP0ESTHESIA) February 24, 2024

We will have to wait for more information about this epic collaboration with Warhammer and to legitimize the rumored content, but fans of the series will be waiting with anticipation for the first time they can don their chapter armor and seek out heretics across Call of Duty multiplayer.
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Amazon Prime is set to be home of the upcoming series Fallout, a TV show based of the hit RPG game series of the same name, and they’ve shared some sneak peeks as the countdown is on.
With just a month to go, three posters were released to the public yesterday (March 3) via Prime Video’s X account, giving viewers an insight into the characters.

We’re in for a delightful time with these three. @falloutonprime @sxsw pic.twitter.com/L4lUnnnFZC
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) March 3, 2024

pic.twitter.com/xk2uCOwAGk
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) March 3, 2024

People took to social media to share their excitement and hope that it lives up to the legacy of the beloved video game. 
One user said ‘Oh we’re ready!’ while others replied to the X account ‘Discussing Film’ with concerns: ‘So scared for this show, based on the costumes and marketing so far, it seems like they understand the core aesthetic of the series but hopefully they pull off the story and unique characters.’  
Set in the world of the best-selling global video game franchise, the series starts 200 years after the apocalypse and follows a community of people living in luxury fallout shelters who are forced to return to the ‘irradiated hellscape’ their ancestors left behind.
British actress Ella Purnell will play ‘Lucy,’ who is described in an Amazon Prime press release as being ‘an optimistic Vault Dweller with an all-American can-do spirit.’
Also in the show is the young soldier ‘Maximus’ played by Aaron Moten, ‘The Ghoul’ played by Walton Goggins and ‘Overseer Hank’ which will be actor Kyle MacLachlan’s character. They’ll be joined by dog ‘CX404,’ the companion navigating the post-apocalyptic world.
The series comes from Kilter Films, with executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner are also executive producers, writers, and co-showrunners.
When is the Fallout TV series being released?
The new ‘Fallout’ TV series will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on April 12, 2024. It can be watched in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. The teaser trailer was published in a press release on the streaming service’s website back in December, with more marketing likely to take place ahead of the series being published.
Featured image: Via @PrimeVideo on X
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