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Grand Theft Auto V is still going strong nearly eight years after it first debuted on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (remember those?), followed by a slightly newer re-release on Windows PCs and the the PS4 and Xbox One. To date, publisher Take-Two Interactive has sold over 150 million copies of GTA V on various platforms.
The publisher revealed the impressive sales stat as part of its earnings report for its fiscal first quarter of 2022. Looking at the data from the previous quarter, it means T2 sold an additional 5 million copies in the past three months. Not too shabby, given that GTA V is far from a new game at this point. That is not the end of it, either.
T2 plans to launch an "expanded and enhanced version" for the latest generation game consoles, those being the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, on November 11, 2021. Developer Rockstar Games had previously said the updated version will bring "new features and more" to the table, but the details are still largely a mystery.
"The new generation versions of GTAV will feature a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades and performance enhancements to take full advantage of the latest hardware, making the game more beautiful and more responsive than ever," Rockstar Games said last year.
We presume the retooled version of GTA V will tap into the fast storage capabilities of modern consoles, to drastically reduce game load times. It will also leverage the newer hardware in the latest gen consoles, namely the custom SoC based on AMD's Zen 2 CPU cores and RDNA 2 graphics.

Rockstar Games, the studio behind the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto franchise, has confirmed that the highly anticipated GTA 6 will have a revolutionary new storyline and characters. According to insiders, the game will take place in a new location and feature a fresh cast of characters, all with their own unique backstories and motivations.
Rumors are circulating that the game will take place in a fictional city based on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a focus on the criminal underworld and the struggles of everyday people caught up in it. The game is said to tackle themes of corruption, poverty, and social inequality, with players able to choose their own path through the narrative.
While details about the storyline and characters are being kept tightly under wraps, fans are already speculating about who might be involved. Some are hoping to see the return of fan-favorite characters like Trevor, Michael, and Franklin from GTA V, while others are looking forward to meeting brand new characters with their own unique personalities and abilities.
Regardless of what direction Rockstar takes with the story and characters in GTA 6, fans can expect the same level of high-quality gameplay and immersive open-world environments that the series is known for. The game is expected to be released on next-generation consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, as well as PC.
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So I know next to nothing about monitors, but I was hoping I could get some help picking out one that I could use for my Xbox Series X and PC. I have an older Dell 4K 60Hz monitor that I got back in 2018. Definitely want to prioritize performance over quality this time around. Not afraid to spend some money but don't want to break the bank either.

Grand Theft Auto V is notable for all kinds of reasons. It's the most expensive video game ever made, and also one of the very most successful, by any measure. It sold so well that Rockstar kept the online service for the 7th-generation (PS3 and Xbox 360) releases of the game going from release in 2013 until late last year. It had moved over 150 million copies as of last August, in fact.
That number has surely gone up since then, and it's probably going to continue going up for years to come thanks to the updated re-release that's now available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. We've already written about what's included in the re-release, but the short version is that it adds higher-quality assets, ray-traced lighting, and 60 FPS options to the exclusively-30-FPS console releases.
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Unfortunately, another notable aspect of GTA V is its interminable loading times, especially on the consoles. Well, arguably the biggest change this console generation has been the move to solid-state storage instead of the spinning rust used previously. Both families of 9th-generation game consoles support disk I/O tens of thousands of times faster than the 8th-generation consoles.
Naturally the new release of GTA V reaps the benefits of that in its load times. Over at IGN, they put the new release through its paces and found that load times are drastically improved across the board. Selecting "replay mission" can find load times as much as 75% faster on the new system, while loading autosaves was slashed from over two minutes to around 20 seconds on Sony's latest machine.
ign gtav ps5 loading
As showcased in IGN's video, the difference upon starting a new game is even more mind-blowing. On the PlayStation 4, it took 2 minutes and 18 seconds to load from the menu to the new-game heist sequence. Performing the same operation on the PlayStation 5 took just eleven seconds. The player was able to get halfway through the mission on the PS5 by the time the older system finished loading.
We feel it's likely that this enormous improvement isn't merely the work of the fancy SSD, but also that of the PS5's potent Zen 2 CPU cores as well as some software optimizations. Players of GTA Online may recall that an enterprising developer found a simple optimization (arguably, a bugfix) that slashed loading times by 75%. Rockstar even paid out a bug bounty to the developer.
We still haven't heard back from Rockstar on when or if these improvements will be finding their way to the PC version of the game, nor whether there will be a charge for the update if they do. It seems likely that Rockstar is gauging the playerbase's reaction to such a thing. You can pick up the refreshed release on PS5 for $10 right now, or on Xbox Series XS for $20, but both prices will rise to $40 after three months, so get while the getting's good if you're not willing to wait a few years for GTA 6.

Note: Adapted from a devlog posted to itch.io. Edited for clarity, specificity, and usefulness.
Hello again, gamemaker. As part of the ongoing development efforts for my project, Reality Layer Zero, I've been tinkering around with optimization and profiling recently. I wanted to share some of my personal discoveries here, on the off-chance they're remotely useful to anyone other than me.
To preface matters, this post will largely be talking about diagnostic techniques. When you know you've got a problem and you don't know what it is, you might employ some of these steps to figure things out. The appropriate optimizations to apply, once appropriate diagnosis has occurred, tends to be a somewhat obvious thing, so that side of development is of lesser interest to us for the duration of this write-up. We'll still talk about it a little bit, in-brief, but not to any satisfactory degree if you're not yet totally comfortable with common optimization techniques and why they work. Just a little bit of optimization talk, as a treat.
I should also mention that, while much of this post will be spent discussing very "3D graphics"-related topics, the techniques outlined here should be fairly universal across all Game Maker projects (2D and 3D) and, indeed, game development in general. The only difference will be what numbers you think are acceptable, depending on what your target platforms are and how your game "ought" to run.
So, about two weeks ago, a friend of mine tried to run my game on a 10-year-old laptop with a 2GB VRAM discrete graphics card. This was the result:
Hey... That's not the usual crash message box...
After doing a real quick Google, I found that this error is (usually) caused by the DirectX application-- in this case, my game-- allocating more texture memory than is available on the host device.
To be honest, at the time, I dismissed this as being not a very critical issue-- after all, the hardware was old, probably not representative of a typical modern system, and could have had untold other problems of its own that caused the crash.
However, something kept bugging me about it and, after about 2 weeks of sitting on it, I decided to properly investigate.
As it turns out, this wasn't exactly the first sign that not all was well with the game's VRAM usage. The first time happened almost a month prior when a different friend recorded this clip of the game running on a GTX1050. There's a stutter in the framerate that occurs once every three seconds or so, and, curiously, only in "exterior" scenes. The GTX1050, for reference, has 4GB of VRAM.
On first brush with this footage, I couldn't even hazard a guess as to what was going on-- after all, the profiler said the game was running fine! The framerate was comfortably in the middle-hundreds, and memory usage was reported at around... 900MB. Well, okay, I guess that sounds a little bit high, but it's a 3D game with real-time lighting and shadows! Besides that, RAM is cheap! It... it is 900 MB of RAM, isn't it?
So, the only answer I can give is... Maybe? The documentation is somewhat vague on this point. I'm actually still not sure whether the memory usage displayed in the debugger graph is RAM, VRAM, or a lump sum of both.
After applying the optimizations I'll talk about in a moment, the profiler reports memory usage as being <= 500 MB (or 300 MB less than the control) under the same conditions. I'm not sure if this was a product of the optimizations to VRAM usage or of a separate, unrelated effort wherein I applied compression to some of the internal audio files (thus reducing their memory footprint when loaded by the game). I'm leaning toward the latter as the explanation, which would indicate that the debugger graph only shows RAM usage. This... Seems like, possibly, not the best thing in the world for video game diagnostic purposes. However, I'm unwilling to say that I've confirmed this to be the case definitively.
My favorite corner of the screen.
In a similar information deficit, the more in-depth profiler view only shows call count and execution time. This is great for figuring out certain performance bottlenecks-- stuff that isn't executing as efficiently as it could be-- but not so good for figuring out when you've, say, allocated an unreasonable amount of texture memory for a shadow map that, in truth, just doesn't need to be that nice in the first place. Not to spoil the punch-line or anything.
First place is good, right?
So, VRAM, right? There's something going on with the VRAM, according to the DirectX error in the first image. Furthermore, it might have something to do with exterior scenes, judging by the video clip. However, the Game Maker debugger isn't doing a very good job of telling me how much VRAM the game is using-- I can't, using the built-in tools, watch the game and see how the memory reacts to figure out what's going on (at least, I don't think I can-- would love to be proven wrong, though).
To give me a little bit more insight, I enlisted the help of a 3rd party profiling tool-- GPU-Z, in case you're interested. Then, I cracked open my IDE and started tweaking areas of the code that seemed memory-inefficient.
At first, I thought the overuse of VRAM was related to the way I'm rendering text-- I'm actually using multiple surfaces at 1080p to render nice outlines and drop-shadows underneath the letters in a reasonably-fast manner at runtime (and then simply downsampling to lower resolutions, which results in some pretty nice-looking words, I think). However, whenever I reduced the size of these text surfaces, I noticed that GPU-Z was only reporting a very slight reduction in VRAM usage-- like, between 30-50MB. That's not nothing, but it's not really "make-or-break" numbers for a GPU, either. So, what gives? What's the real problem?
To borrow the words of Tetsuya Nomura, it was the darkness.
... Or more specifically, the shadows.
Angry duck noises.
The effect pictured above is accomplished using fairly traditional texture mapping as described in this excellent thread. The summary explanation of how it works is that, to figure out what parts of the scene should be "shaded" and what parts should be "lit", we basically snap a photograph from the perspective of the light that's casting a shadow, and anything that shows up in that photograph gets lit up-- everything else remains tinted by only the "ambient" color of the scene, which determines the darkness (and color) of the shadows that remain.
In order to accomplish this, though, you need paper to print the photograph onto-- virtual paper, of course, for virtual photos. In Game Maker, this is accomplished by rendering the snapshot to a surface and then converting that surface to a texture. There are simpler ways to do this in more recent versions of GMS2-- surface formats-- but I'm still running version 2.3.0.529, so I can't use 'em!
The smaller the shadow map surface, the worse the "quality" of the shadows. If you don't know what I mean by "quality", take a look at this:
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Chunky pixel shadows!
See how the shadows become kind of boxy and deformed? That's the "quality" I'm talking about.
Now, the above image, admittedly, looks kind of cool, in a stylized sort of way-- but, low-quality shadows can introduce some weird-looking visual artifacts due to, I think, rounding errors-- one of the main offenders being "shadow acne" that jitters around and is, overall, not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the shadows in the above image.
So, you don't want to go too low-- avoid the artifacts. However, you also don't want to go too high. Every time you create a texture, you need somewhere to put it, after all. Further, since it's a texture we're talking about, the only place for it is in texture memory. What happens if the texture you create is just way way way too big to fit into the available texture memory on the host device? May I refer you back to the image at the top of this post?
So, yeah, basically the problem was that the shadow map quality in the exterior scenes was turned up absurdly high, resulting in absurdly large textures that 2GB graphics cards (and below) simply couldn't deal with. I figured this out when I, by total chance, entered an exterior scene and noticed GPU-Z reading-out these numbers:
<_>
Your eyes might go cross-eyed looking at this image at first, but the important row is the one labelled "Memory Used". It's reading out 3481 megabytes! That's over 3 gigabytes of texture memory! That's not just eye-crossing, that's eye-popping!
Mind, it's not 3 gigabytes from the game alone. My GPU (yours, too, probably) allocates what I'm gonna call "ambient memory" for basic system tasks, other open applications, and all of those Google Chrome tabs you're keeping open for whatever reason. For my development PC, this ambient usage is usually between 500 MB to 1 GB, and at the time this number was recorded, was close to 1GB.
In other words, the shadow map for this exterior scene required around 2 gigabytes to store in memory. That's, put simply, excessive!!
This was caused entirely by turning the quality of the shadow map up too high, which resulted in a texture that was unnecessarily large being generated and subsequently taking up far too much space on the GPU. I cut the quality of the shadow map in half, which bought back about 1.5 GB of texture memory without resulting in... really, any noticeable visual difference. Huh. Well how about that.
I should mention here that this isn't something unique to shadows or my implementation of them. Any time you create a surface, that surface is stored in texture memory. Create one that's too large, and you'll quickly exceed the limits of many GPU's. This is something important to keep in mind, both because it might not be intuitively obvious and because Game Maker (and your own development hardware) might not do a good job of warning you when you've done something unreasonable.
While I was testing all of this, I noticed that VRAM would also creep up turn-by-turn in the debate mode until the debate ended (at which point, the allocated memory would be freed)-- a kind of "localized" memory leak, so-to-speak. This, too, was related to shadow maps-- or, specifically, to the class which manages all of the shadow maps. Turns out, it wasn't cleaning up the maps associated with the temporary spotlights created by card effects in the debate mode. In effect, that means you'd play a card, and then the pretty lighting effect would flash, and then the shadow map that the light generated would just hang out in memory for the rest of the debate, taking up valuable space! Fixing this problem was simple, but I wouldn't have ever noticed it if I wasn't looking. Since this could potentially result in progressively terrible performance or even a hard crash if a debate goes on long enough on a small-enough GPU, I'm rather glad I managed to catch this problem when I did. Even if it was a, uh, a month after the first public release...
In the interest of not doing anything halfway, I added a graphics option in the options menu to allow the player to further reduce the shadow map quality if desired (all the option does is modify a scalar "shadow quality" global). This can save a respectable amount of VRAM as well, although the majority of the performance gains here came from the reduction on my end.
- To Wrap Up -
At this time of writing, I can confirm that the fix I applied here did fix the crash that kicked off this post. The 10-year-old laptop in question is now able to run Reality Layer Zero largely without complaint... At between, usually, 30 and 50 FPS on the lowest settings. So... It's not perfect, but it's a fair measure better than it used to be! I wonder if it'll run on a 1GB card...
In conclusion, test early, test often, and make sure you profile your VRAM usage in addition to your RAM. And, perhaps most importantly... Remember to play Reality Layer Zero on Steam or Itch, since it's both a really cool demonstration of what you can do with GM and, if I'm allowed to say so, a pretty cool game in its own right!

It seems like we have been hearing rumors about Grand Theft Auto 6 since the beginning of time, though in reality, it has only been almost that long. If you were hoping for some clarity with a release finally being around the bend, well, brace yourself—we could be in for several more years of rumors, not just weeks or even months.
Naturally, the folks at Rockstar Games are not offering up any juicy tidbits about the inevitable release. So everything we know, or think we know, has come by way of leaks and rumors. To that end, multiple leakers are reporting that GTA 6 might not come out until 2024 or even sometime 2025. As things stand right now, YouTuber Tom Henderson says the next version of GTA is very early in development.
Henderson notes that, historically, he has not been associated with GTA leaks (he's been more plugged into the Battlefield scene), but the information he shared in a YouTube video is based on what he has heard from multiple sources. He is not the only one that is hearing GTA 6 is still several years away from being released, either.
GTA 6 Tweet
Given the success of GTA Online, it seems Rockstar Games might not be in a rush to push out another major release. At the same time, it's said the developer is focusing "very heavily on employee well being," which in part means avoiding the crunch that precedes a game's release. However, there is at least one other factor at play as well.
It's said GTA 6 will launch on PC and the latest generation game consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S). By taking its time in releasing GTA 6, Rockstar Games will have a much wider audience of compatible console owners to drum up sales. And while not mentioned, the same could be true in the PC space, as hopefully discrete GPUs will be plentiful again by the the time GTA 6 arrives.
As for the setting, Henderson says GTA 6 will in fact mark a return to Vice City. Rockstar Games may opt to add more locations to the map over time (post launch), but it looks like a modern take on Vice City is headed to the GTA universe.
Given how much we had playing Grand Theft Auto V when it came to PC several years ago (and still holds up today), we're excited to see what GTA 6 brings to the table, even if it means waiting another 3-4 years.

This is my second year of bingo, so naturally I had to extra challenge myself and do a themed card this time. I set out to do strictly re-tellings, but I ended up broadening the category to include strongly inspired by or incorporating folk tales or mythology. It’s a category I read a lot in anyway, and I love that the genre is exploding to include cultures world-wide. And yet somehow I only ended up with 13 authors of color (out of 40 - counting all the short stories). But this year was about 90% women (with 3 non-binary and one man), so huzzah for feminist re-tellings! And all but four of the authors were new to me. I didn’t quite hit all hard mode, but the theme was my hard mode, really.
I tried to cover a variety of inspiration texts (myths, folk tales, “classic literature,” film) as well as stories from around the world, but I’m missing any representation from Australia and the Pacific Islands as well as South America. The origins of a lot of the stories are Western European, but some have been re-told in settings elsewhere in the world. East Asia also ended up well represented.
I did end up substituting a square this year. Instead of “weird ecology,” I opted for 2018’s “a god is a character” square. There were a couple books that had some weird landscaping in them, but none of them quite fit the spirit of the square. Things like a magical forest in an otherwise standard-issue earthly landscape rather than a fundamentally different ecosystem overall. If anyone has any recs for re-tellings set on far-flung planets, let me know! I tend not to do deep researching – mostly I read somewhat mindfully, hoping for the best, and panic in January.
Here’s the visual card: https://imgur.com/4XRW9W9
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Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (LGBTQIA list)
The Iliad from Patroclus’ perspective, but starting with his childhood and teenage years in which he and Achilles grow up together and fall in love.
If you remember the Iliad or just the general arc of the story of the Trojan war, then you will go into this knowing it’s going to be a tragedy. That doesn’t make the pain any less exquisite. The time we spend growing up with Patroclus moves from lonely and neglected to beautiful, golden, idyllic. The voice of Patroclus – pacifist and healer – is expertly written and his relationship with god-like Achilles is full of moments that make the heart ache. This is still on the best-seller list for a reason.
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Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe (Substitute square: god character, HM)
Olympus is a contemporary city, albeit still only inhabited by gods, and Hades and Persephone might be falling for each other.
Graphic novel. The limited color palettes in this volume are excellent, emphasizing mood and character. It’s beautiful to read. The Greek gods are notorious for having very human flaws, and this telling feels very rooted in human emotions. Olympus feels a bit like a college campus in this telling. There’s a lot of loneliness, and trying to figure out how to fit in. It also gets a big content warning for rape.
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Hag: Forgotten Folk Tales Retold by Imogen Hermes Gowar, Naomi Booth, Emma Glass, Irenosen Okojie, Daisy Johnson, Natasha Carthew, Eimear McBride, Liv Little, Mahsuda Snaith, Kirsty Logan (2+ authors, HM)
Strange folk tales from every corner of the U.K. are re-imagined – often in contemporary settings – giving women voices they may have been denied in the originals.
It took me a long time to read all these short stories because almost every one deals with death or brutality towards women. That’s not to say they all have unhappy endings – indeed, some have joyously vengeful endings – but there’s quiet tragedy and outright violence woven throughout. Powerful stories, strong narrator voices, and often poetic prose, but read when in a strong mental state.
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A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix by C.B. Lee (Historical, HM)
Treasure Island set in 1826 in the South China Sea with a pirate crew of queer misfits sailing for treasure and a better life – plus actual historical Pirate Queen Zheng Yi Sao as Captain Flint.
With contemporary prose and an updated cast, this still feels true to the source material with the adventurous quest deciphering maps and clues. Long John Silver doesn’t have an exact analogue, but his surprisingly complex parental feelings come through with found-family bonds as well as a wild ride of birth-family feelings, and a fraught lesbian love interest.
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Once & Future by Cory McCarthy, A.R. Capetta (Set in Space, HM)
This time, King Arthur is a queer teenage girl on the run from the big bad capitalist Mercer Corporation – in space!
In this re-telling, the characters are aware of the King Arthur story as a myth from Old Earth, but when they find themselves re-incarnating the well-worn pattern, they don’t seem to recognize it beyond the magic sword and Ari’s renewed determination to be a hero. Merlin has lived through every iteration, and has his own interests at play. Our heroes spend a fair bit of time in their space ship or on planet-sized space-stations, though it may be pushing the rule to say it’s 50% actually in space. This is a YA book and it definitely reads that way, but it’s fun. I thought the “Renaissance Faire Planet” was a bit of a stretch and the big bad was almost a caricature of every evil empire, but if you can look past a bit of cheesiness, there’s plenty of sci-fi action, a quick pace, and some intrigue under the surface.
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The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid (Standalone, HM)
Hungarian and Jewish folklore plus the early spread of Christianity weave together to create a world where magic manifests differently depending on your religious tradition, the Christians are ardent new converts in charge of a poor besieged country, and persecution abounds.
The first person perspective came with a lot of (justified) rage and some pretty violent moments, but I found Évike’s voice to be frustratingly naïve at times. The pacing was uneven, and with a lot of elements in play the story was lacking cohesion. I felt okay on the enemies-to-lovers trope in this one. Overall, this book was redeemed for me by the imagined folk stories woven in, and the heart-warming moments spent in the Jewish community. (I forget the actual names of the religions in the book, but they’re pretty obvious stand-ins.)
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These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (Anti-hero, HM)
This time, Romeo and Juliet are in rival gangs in 1926 Shanghai, but their teenage romance is already dead from betrayal at the start of the book and a strange madness is devastating the city they struggle to rule.
I usually read-read, but this one I listened to and I loved the narrator! I had a few hang-ups on Juliet as a character (though perfect anti-hero material). Which was tough since she got of lot of screen time, but thankfully we also got Roma and some absolutely wonderful side characters, including a trans woman and a refuses-to-admit-it gay couple. There were some moments of lovely prose, plenty of action, and all the jostling factions in the city were well-balanced in the narrative. First of a series, I definitely want to pick up the second one soon.
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All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter (Book Club, HM)
Drawing primarily on Irish folklore, this is the story of a girl who wants to escape her family obligations - ones that come with generational trauma and greed.
It’s a little hard to talk about this one without spoilers since there are basically three distinct sections and each could almost stand as a story on its own, but each depends on the earlier one. Another angry woman in this one, taking matters into her own hands and trying to break spells, break open dark family secrets, and get free of men who are trying very hard to be in charge. I liked the gothic atmosphere, the prose, and probably the middle journey section with fairy-tale creature encounters was my favorite. The family history is also told in mini fairy-tales throughout. The ending fell a bit flat, and I didn’t really connect to the main character, but neither of those were deal-breakers for me.
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Spear by Nicola Griffith (Cool Weapon, HM)
From the King Arthur mythos, the story of Percival and the quest for the holy grail, but Percival is a supernatural queer woman who lives in sixth century Wales when the pagan gods still have power.
Novella. The story opens slowly and with some very poetic prose to start Peretur’s early life in the wilderness with her mother – a mythic feeling that I fell hard for right off the bat. And yet it also felt very much a story from history – the details of the setting showed the research Griffith put in. I wish it were just a touch longer to give some more room to the relationship developments that get packed into the back half of the book. But the interweaving of historical details, tidbits from myth and story, and imagination was so flawless that this re-telling feels like it could be the "true" history of the story-figure. Even including the gender flip - a skillfully handled "woman dresses as a man to be a knight" trope that works even better when the woman is queer.
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Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (Revolution/Rebellion, HM)
On a distant planet in the far future, the original colonizing crew have set themselves up as gods, specifically taking on the roles of the Hindu pantheon. One member heartily disagrees with how the rest are running things.
The prose in this one was a little tough and I’m pretty sure the style is a deliberate choice to make this book feel more akin to reading a religious text. And as a play off of Hesse’s 1922 Siddhartha, since they share the same main character. But some of it may also simply be because it was written in 1967. Still, the content is intriguing. The struggle is between the immortal gods who like being the ones with all the advanced tech (including re-incarnation to transfer themselves into new bodies), and the one who thinks this is some kinda bullshit, why make the inhabitants here go through the dark ages when they could have medicine and electricity now. The premise and watching it play out is the interest here, not so much any emotional investment in the characters.
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The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White (Name in the Title, HM)
Still asking, “who is the monster?” and giving the same answer even more definitively than the original, this is a re-telling of Frankenstein from Elizabeth’s POV with some distinctive twists.
In 2022 I did the Dracula read-along and then promptly decided it was finally time to do Frankenstein as well. Which meant I could now read re-tellings of these classics. Elizabeth, when you get to hear her side, turns out not only to be independent-minded, but also a remarkable anti-hero character trying desperately to maintain the only stability she’s ever known. Though there are a lot of grim happenings and emotional abuse, this version has more hope for humanity than the original (which, imo, has almost none). Also, unlike narrator Viktor, Elizabeth doesn’t make you hate her guts regularly; she’s just trying to survive. The prose was the weak point in this one, especially coming off Mary Shelley, but not detrimentally so.
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What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher (Author Uses Initials, HM)
Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” leaves plenty of room for embellishing and this novella does so perfectly with nightmare fungus, more rounded-out characters (including a non-binary protagonist), and horrifyingly possessed creatures.
Alex is a rational narrator, the best kind for encountering increasingly creepy phenomena. Even with the addition of a no-nonsense mycologist and a competent American doctor, the atmosphere of oppressive, inevitable horror from the original short story suffuses this novella. There certainly are rational lines of thoughts to follow to unravel the mystery of the Ushers’ illnesses, but that doesn’t stop each revelation from setting everyone on edge and fearing madness of themselves. Gothic. Horror. Perfection.
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Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan (Published in 2022, HM)
The Chinese story of Chang’e is the basis for this re-telling, but this focuses on her daughter and starts after the original stories end. Xingyin’s quest is to obtain freedom and forgiveness for her mother’s actions that gained her goddess status, but exiled her to the moon.
The world building of the Celestial Kingdom was a highlight of this one for me since I’m not super familiar with the Chinese pantheon. The story itself relied on some classic YA tropes (including a love triangle, one of my least favorites) and I found the narrator’s voice somewhat simplistic. She’s also a very emotional character, which at times was endearing and at others frustrating. Wise, peaceful dragons do make an appearance, though, and there’s some good political intrigue and a few unforeseen twists. An entertaining read overall, and there’s set-up for the second book, but this one wrapped up nicely enough and I’m not feeling pressed to read the second one right away.
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The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (Urban Fantasy, HM)
The Great Gatsby, but from Jordan Baker’s perspective and she’s a bi Vietnamese adoptee in a New York where magic makes all the parties more dazzling.
It’s hard to like any of the characters in the Gatsby story, but Jordan Baker as narrator certainly gets more sympathy from me in this go-round. Raised in a rich white family, she carries internalized racism with her, and yet struggles against it every day in a country that is trying to enact a law that will force her to leave. Where the original story condemns classism and unbridled ambition, this story expands its criticism to America’s long history of excluding people of color and the LGBTQ+ community. The prose is gorgeous, and where it overlaps with original scenes it dovetails perfectly. The magic adds an extra shimmer to this story, but doesn’t outshine the character work. I hope this one gets added to curriculums to pair with the original.
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Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen (Set in Africa, HM)
Inspired by West African mythology with the Little Mermaid for some plot points. Simi was a human who became a Mami Wata and is struggling to fit into her role bringing home the souls of those who died at sea. One decision endangers all the Mami Wata and sends her on a quest with a boy that will entangle her with the gods and other legendary creatures.
This story is chock full of magical beings, young adults attempting to navigate dangerous situations as well as their relationships, and quests of mythic proportions. The dark underbelly of the story is the destruction of West African communities as colonizers take their people into slave ships. Though tragedy runs alongside the story, our heroes mostly manage to stay one step ahead of the worst outcomes. The quest did some meandering, and characterizations were a bit uneven, but I think it really came together in the latter half. The main plot wraps up well, but makes set-up for the next book clear and I do intend to get to it eventually.
​
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger (Non-human protagonist, HM)
With roots in Lipan Apache storytelling traditions, this is the story of a cottonmouth snake and a human girl whose worlds run in parallel, but become entangled as they try to save friends and family from existential threats.
This technically has two protagonists, but the snake is the one whose chapters are in first person and the human’s are in third person. This also would have been great for the hard mode BIPOC author square since the author is Lipan Apache. I absolutely loved everyone in this story. Nina is an intrepid modern girl and a loner, but with strong family ties; and Ollie is a homebody snake setting out to make his way in the wide world. The friends Ollie makes help him to discover his own bravery, and they are a delightfully colorful bunch of creatures! Nina is trying to help her grandmother and unravel the mysteries of their family’s past and possible connections to the animal people. Read this story to be filled with the love of friendship and family, and hope in the face of climate change and social media ills.
​
Fractured Fables: A Spindle Splintered & A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow (Timey Wimey, HM)
Zinnia Gray’s illness means she likely won’t live past 21, but when she falls into a Sleeping Beauty parallel universe, she might be able to at least save someone else from that fate. In book two, she’s dealing poorly with life in the “real” world, but busting out into a new fairy tale multi-verse (Snow White’s), and finding even more complications in the re-tellings there.
I read both novellas currently out in this series, and our hero does a fair bit of jumping around the fairy tale multiverse which makes it clear that time doesn’t run evenly across it all. It’s not really the focus, but it’s there, and it does affect a couple plot points. I think Alix Harrow read the same book I did about disability in fairy tales (Disfigured by Amanda Leduc) and took it to heart to create her hero in this contemporary fairy tale take. Zinnia’s chronic illness is both from an industrial accident and an embodiment of a fairy tale curse. These books don’t take themselves too seriously, but do handle disability and the emotional impacts that come with it pretty well, I think. Disney’s re-telling style features in book one, and book two gets some darker, more horror-esque takes.
​
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (Mental Health)
The re-telling of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth you didn’t know you needed with extra depth from Germanic folk roots and a little Hades-Persephone flavor. Set in early 19th century Bavaria, protagonist Liesl is a composer stuck helping run her family’s inn; in the woods, Der Erlkönig (the Goblin King), may be a relic of a pagan past, but that doesn’t stop him from meddling with her heart and her family members.
Liesl is bipolar and her brother (prodigy violinist) has anxiety and (in book 2) severe depression. Her father is an alcoholic. The family member who gets stolen and must be retrieved is her beautiful sister, the life of the family. Liesl’s wild up and down swings are on full display when she enters the realm of the Goblin King and is trying to navigate her relationship with him, her relationship with her music, and her love for her family. This is an emotional book and you will be angry at almost every character at some point. But it’s also heartbreakingly beautiful. The romance sizzles; it’s unhealthy and you want them to fix it. It’s probably not a book for everyone, but I spent a fevered day and a half devouring it. For extra doses of struggling with mental health, sobbing, and musical composing, read book two – Shadowsong.
​
In the Shadows of Giants by Lazette Gifford (Self-published, HM)
In the far future, the Norse pantheon ends up pitted against the Chinese pantheon and an elder god in a potential new Ragnarok with Loki trying to avoid the mishaps of the last one – in space!
Loki gets some good character work in this book, but other characters are a little light on depth. Though Loki is the main focus, I liked that we got some chapters in the Chinese pantheon as well, getting some insight into the politics of the situation from their perspective – and not everyone in their pantheon is on board with the way things are going. Loki is also not really convinced of teaming up with the rest of his own pantheon again either, but he still has a few good ties there and room to mends some relationships. This wasn’t a stand-out novel for me, but neither do I have any strong complaints. It’s a solid sci-fi-fantasy mix, good prose, and well-paced plotting.
​
Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste (Runner-up, HM)
It’s 1967 in San Francisco and Lucy (from Dracula) and Bertha (from Jane Eyre) are the titular reluctant immortals trying to keep their tormentors from destroying more lives.
This seems like it could be an action-packed super-powered immortal battle, but instead it’s the mundanity of simply surviving as an undead being, escalating slowly into a horrifying body count. Obviously I had to read this after finishing the Dracula read-along. The tone is such a contrast! Where Dracula’s heroes struggle nobly against the darkness, this version is full of quiet desperation and bleakness more fitting as the successor to Jane Eyre. As the action ramps up in the last third, it plays out more like a contemporary horror film, including a strange liminal space in the afterlife and scenes of a modern mansion filled with the decay that the undead bring. The drug haze of California in the 60’s suffuses the story. I’m not entirely convinced this was a re-telling we needed, but I’m also not mad about it.
​
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (BIPOC author)
Kaikeyi is only briefly in the Hindu epic The Ramayana, but her “wicked stepmother” action sets the plot of it in motion. In this novel, she is given a voice and a backstory and a complex world she must navigate as a woman who wants more independence not only for herself, but for all the women of her country.
The relationship building in the latter half is one of the highlights of this book. It’s helped by some magic, but Kaikeyi puts in the work to build bonds of love and mutual respect in the royal household where she is youngest of three wives. Rama (her step-son) is the main character in the original epic (a god incarnated to vanquish evil forces), and so the reader is clued in early that disaster will befall the family because of a conflict between Kaikeyi and her husband and Rama; the threat of that tragedy seeps into even the happy parts of the story. Kaikeyi is a champion of early feminism in this telling, but she’s still human with plenty of flaws and struggles and imperfect vision. I found this book to be a bit of a slow build to connect with characters, but by the end I was absolutely tearing up. A powerful telling.
​
Malice by Heather Walter (Shapeshifters, HM)
In this Sleeping Beauty re-telling (perhaps prequel), the villain is not yet the villain – though society certainly treats her as an outcast – and a forbidden love is blooming.
This is a coming of age story for an already young adult character. Alice wants to be accepted (and loved), proving she’s not the evil pariah society thinks she is, but she also wants to escape the role she’s forced into. The build-up of tension between her warring desires is well done. As she discovers her true powers (spoilers since I used it for the shapeshifting square!) she’s put even more at odds with the establishment, and yet her growing love for Princess Aurora gives her hope for a more idyllic outcome than the escape she’s trying to plan. This was another enjoyable but not necessarily a stand-out read for me. Excellent character work for the protagonist and a slower pacing, but never felt like it was dragging. I will definitely read book 2 since this one ends with a bang.
​
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust (No Ifs, Ands, or Buts, HM)
This book mushes up elements from Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, and probably others, and spins a whole new story with Persian flair. A poisonous princess is kept hidden away, but when knowledge of her curse comes from a demon, her decisions will have far-reaching consequences for her whole family and the question of who to trust becomes thorny.
This was another one where the protagonist is striving to be a good person, caring for her family, and yet she understandably wants to escape her curse and is maybe willing to do some questionable things to make it happen. It’s hard to keep being good when, even though you are loved, you can’t touch anyone and have to live in a gilded cage. This story took a lot of twists and turns, including betrayals of all kinds. The romance elements were laced with emotional tension, but kept sexual feelings to a bare minimum. I felt this could have used a bit of plot streamlining, but I liked the Persian-inspired world, the overall arc of the story, and I felt it wrapped up well for a complex stand-alone.
​
For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten (Family Matters)
I thought this would be primarily Little Red Riding Hood, but it’s got a huge helping of Beauty and the Beast and a dose of fairy tale sisters tropes as well. Red is the sister that will be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wilderwood in hopes of the gods’ return. Turns out, that whole Wolf and Wilderwood thing is really complicated.
This has a lot of elements that I tend to look favorably on – a broody love interest, a magical forest, sibling bonds – but it didn’t quite pull together for me in this book. Both characters in the romance got good development and their choices did make sense for who they were, but it was a very frustrating one to read and caused a lot of drag in the middle. The sibling relationship was much better and the sister who gets to become queen has a wonderfully tragic arc in the name of saving her lost sister. The forest itself and the religion/magic that goes with it don’t get a ton of satisfying explanation, but that’s partly due to everyone actually struggling to figure out how it works. It gets an A+ for creepy atmosphere, though! Imagery from Grimm’s more grim tales abounds and I appreciated the slight edge of horror that creeps in. Not super likely to pick up book 2.
​
I’ve done a terrible job being concise here, so I’ll try to do a really quick run-down on the short stories. I just listed the first collection on my official bingo turn-in to make it easy, but I like being able to fill in all the slots in my spreadsheet, so there are five things here. Hopefully someone has made it this far down – if so, thank you for reading!
​
The Bloody Chamber & Other Stories by Angela Carter (collection)
The titular story is one of the better ones – a re-telling of Bluebeard. Covering the classics of western European fairy tales, this collection features a lot of liberated sex with a 70s feminist lean (publication date: 1979). Girls and beasts are the big theme. There were a few excellent ones and several that left me going “but why?”
The Bride of the Blue Wind by Victoria Goddard
Closer to a novelette, but that gave this story room to get some solid world-building in. Bluebeard again, but with Bluebeard being a djinn sort of character. I loved the trader communities and desert setting and the family dynamic with the wife’s sisters.
Tales of Old Gods & New by Kate MacLeod (collection)
This collection had two specific re-tellings: another “Norse gods in the far future” re-telling which was also a sci-fi survival story, and an African inspired goddess trying to escape the cycle of her story. These were two solid ones, some of the other in the collection I felt were unfinished scribbling thoughts for novel-sized stories.
Hunting Monsters series by S.L. Huang (2 short stories, one novella)
This collection mashed up eastern and western settings and stories, including Red Riding Hood, Beauty & the Beast, the Legend of the White Snake, and Hou Yi the Archer. The main characters of the novella are middle-aged women long past the prime in which their original stories took place and I liked that take a lot. The short stories focus on a daughter and deal with culture clashes and parent-child tensions.
A Cathedral of Myth & Bone by Kat Howard (collection)
The feature in this collection is a novelette of the King Arthur story set on a college campus with grad students who are themselves studying the mythos of King Arthur. Most of the other stories in the collection take inspiration from saints’ lives or myth and folk tale tropes (or the concept of storytelling itself) and play with them in new settings. I found a lot more hits than misses in this collection.

Much to the delight of fans of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Rockstar Games earlier this month released Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, a remastered collection of three of the most popular and iconic titles from the ongoing series. Unfortunately, it also debuted with a multitude of issues, prompting an apology by the developer. Good news though—the game's first update is now out and it purports to fixe dozens of bugs.
In case you missed it, the collection includes remastered versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Rockstar Games prettied up all three games with high resolution textures, increased draw distances, GTA V style controls, and other modern updates the freshen up and revive these older titles.
However, graphical glitches and performance issues plagued what had been a much-anticipated release. Or as the developer put it in an apology note, the collection suffered "unexpected technical issues."
"Firstly, we want to sincerely apologize to everyone who has encountered issues playing these games. The Grand Theft Auto series—and the games that make up this iconic trilogy — are as special to us as we know they are to fans around the world. The updated versions of these classic games did not launch in a state that meets our own standards of quality, or the standards our fans have come to expect," Rockstar Games said.
GTA Trilogy
The developer says it has "ongoing plans to address the technical issues and to improve each game going forward." Rockstar Games did not get into specifics, but its first update for the collection brings with it a massive list of fixes spanning more than 60 issues, including ten that apply to each game. They include... Fixed multiple localization issues Fixed multiple instances of missing or misaligned collision Fixed multiple instances of holes in the map Fixed multiple instances of incorrect or misplaced textures Fixed multiple instances of the camera clipping through objects Fixed multiple instances of incorrect subtitles being displayed Fixed multiple instances of incorrect help text being displayed Fixed multiple instances of misplaced objects Fixed multiple instances of issues with character models in cutscenes Fixed multiple instances of audio lines being skipped, delayed, or repeated There are dozens of other issues this update aims to fix, the most of which apply to San Andreas. You can check out the patch notes for the full list.
On a related note, this update applies to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series XS, and Xbox One owners. What about the PC version? Funny thing—Rockstar Games pulled the title offline for PC shortly after launch in order to "remove files unintentionally included" in these versions." Speculation is that it's because the PC release contained unlicensed music files, which were discovered in a data-mining effort.
Rockstar Games said it will be adding the PC version of the collection to its store sometime soon. "Additionally, everyone who has purchased Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition for PC from the Rockstar Store through June 30, 2022, will receive these classic versions in their Rockstar Games Launcher library at no additional cost. We will update everyone as soon as these are back in the Rockstar Store," the developer added.

Hey I've been playing Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin on my Series X and I've been having some achievement issues with the game. So my first 3 achievements unlocked no problem, those being Self Recollection, This is Dark Souls and Covenant of the Meek and I unlocked each of those in consecutive days, then the next day when I went to play and unlock the Covenant of the Fittest achievement the achievement did not unlock. I tried joining and leaving the covenant multiple times. I eventually unlocked the achievement by starting a new character and rushing to that point. I was playing again today with my original character and defeated the Last Giant and no achievement unlocked. - I was online both in game and on xbox - The Xbox achievement tracker did jump 3% when I picked up my first sorcery so I know it was connected at some point. So I don't know if theres some glitch with my original character that can't unlock achievements or there is some connection issue or other know glitch any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Grand Theft Auto V is still going strong nearly eight years after it first debuted on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (remember those?), followed by a slightly newer re-release on Windows PCs and the the PS4 and Xbox One. To date, publisher Take-Two Interactive has sold over 150 million copies of GTA V on various platforms.
The publisher revealed the impressive sales stat as part of its earnings report for its fiscal first quarter of 2022. Looking at the data from the previous quarter, it means T2 sold an additional 5 million copies in the past three months. Not too shabby, given that GTA V is far from a new game at this point. That is not the end of it, either.
T2 plans to launch an "expanded and enhanced version" for the latest generation game consoles, those being the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, on November 11, 2021. Developer Rockstar Games had previously said the updated version will bring "new features and more" to the table, but the details are still largely a mystery.
"The new generation versions of GTAV will feature a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades and performance enhancements to take full advantage of the latest hardware, making the game more beautiful and more responsive than ever," Rockstar Games said last year.
We presume the retooled version of GTA V will tap into the fast storage capabilities of modern consoles, to drastically reduce game load times. It will also leverage the newer hardware in the latest gen consoles, namely the custom SoC based on AMD's Zen 2 CPU cores and RDNA 2 graphics.

Hello,
I ordered an Xbox Series X today to play this game, it arrives on Monday. I’ve always been a PlayStation guy but my wife and kids play this game a lot. My wife is a Pirate Legend and has played since launch. My son is almost a pirate legend.
I’m looking for tips and tricks for a newbie, I’m eager to play and love the lore around the game. My wife has told me some things but I want to surprise her when we start voyaging together.
Thanks!

It seems like we have been hearing rumors about Grand Theft Auto 6 since the beginning of time, though in reality, it has only been almost that long. If you were hoping for some clarity with a release finally being around the bend, well, brace yourself—we could be in for several more years of rumors, not just weeks or even months.
Naturally, the folks at Rockstar Games are not offering up any juicy tidbits about the inevitable release. So everything we know, or think we know, has come by way of leaks and rumors. To that end, multiple leakers are reporting that GTA 6 might not come out until 2024 or even sometime 2025. As things stand right now, YouTuber Tom Henderson says the next version of GTA is very early in development.
Henderson notes that, historically, he has not been associated with GTA leaks (he's been more plugged into the Battlefield scene), but the information he shared in a YouTube video is based on what he has heard from multiple sources. He is not the only one that is hearing GTA 6 is still several years away from being released, either.
GTA 6 Tweet
Given the success of GTA Online, it seems Rockstar Games might not be in a rush to push out another major release. At the same time, it's said the developer is focusing "very heavily on employee well being," which in part means avoiding the crunch that precedes a game's release. However, there is at least one other factor at play as well.
It's said GTA 6 will launch on PC and the latest generation game consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S). By taking its time in releasing GTA 6, Rockstar Games will have a much wider audience of compatible console owners to drum up sales. And while not mentioned, the same could be true in the PC space, as hopefully discrete GPUs will be plentiful again by the the time GTA 6 arrives.
As for the setting, Henderson says GTA 6 will in fact mark a return to Vice City. Rockstar Games may opt to add more locations to the map over time (post launch), but it looks like a modern take on Vice City is headed to the GTA universe.
Given how much we had playing Grand Theft Auto V when it came to PC several years ago (and still holds up today), we're excited to see what GTA 6 brings to the table, even if it means waiting another 3-4 years.

Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most profitable entertainment franchises in the history of games. It came along as a return to form after what many fans would argue was a misstep with the more gritty and realistic GTA 4. Originally released back in 2013 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3—yes, it spans three console generations—developer Rockstar has supported the game's online mode with continual updates adding new content, new areas, and even all-new mechanics.
GTA V was such a runaway success—and GTA The Trilogy: Definitive Edition was such a dumpster fire—that Rockstar gave up working on a Red Dead Redemption 2 DLC, and has now reportedly abandoned plans to remaster more of its beloved older titles to instead focus on both further GTA Online content as well as the development of GTA 6.
gtaonline fukaru
Naturally, expectations for GTA 6 are incredibly high, and given the advanced age of GTA V, fans are chomping at the bit for any bit of news. That's why there's so much buzz around a report at Bloomberg that focuses on Rockstar's new corporate culture. Company co-founder Dan Houser left Rockstar in 2020, and ever since then the development house has been trying to reshape a corporate culture that the report refers to as being "like a frat house".
Given the nature and tone of the humor in the Grand Theft Auto series, it's really not surprising to hear that the atmosphere inside Rockstar was juvenile and chauvinistic. The report remarks that the workplace culture at Rockstar was "full of drinking, brawling, and excursions to strip clubs." That may sound like a good time to some, but it's admittedly not very professional.
gta1 katie Katie from the OG Grand Theft Auto (1997) on PC (left) and Game Boy Color (right).
As part of the report, author Jason Schreier casually reveals that GTA 6 will have at least two playable protagonists, and that one of them will be a Latina woman. This technically isn't the first playable woman nor even the first playable Hispanic woman in the GTA series; the very first GTA game featured a Latina named "Katie" as one of its eight playable characters.
Still, very few of the series' modern fans even remember the old DOS-based Grand Theft Auto, so we can forgive everyone for forgetting about poor Katie. Regardless, the new girl will apparently be part of a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like crime duo, calling to mind the partnership between Claude and Catalina in the beginning of Grand Theft Auto III. Hopefully the partnership between the new player characters in GTA 6 doesn't end the same way that one did.
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KOwen 29 July, 2022
Release the PC version at the same time as the consoles please!
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As time marches onward, new developments and technologies come along, requiring the sunsetting of that which came previously. It appears that time has come for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as Rockstar has announced the shuttering of Grand Theft Auto Online on December 16th for the antiquated yet beloved consoles.
Around 2005 and 2006, the original Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were revealed, bringing gaming into more people's living rooms. Then in 2010, both consoles got a facelift with a "slim" version that gave upgrades and fixes to both platforms. Three years later, GTA V and GTA Online released on both consoles, beginning the saga of one of the most played video games in current history. After being enjoyed by millions of people racing, stunting, and engaging in general shenanigans akin to the Achievement Hunter group of Rooster Teeth Productions, the game moved on to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 before more recently going to the Xbox Series XS and PlayStation 5.
vehicles gta online being shutdown in december on playstation 3 and xbox 360
As we are now two console generations deeper, it is time to say goodbye to where we started the GTA Online experience. "PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of GTA Online, including website stat tracking via the Rockstar Games Social Club, will officially be shutting down on December 16th, 2021," says Rockstar's blog post. This is change comes because the company is "mov[ing] forward with updates and support for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto Online." Furthermore, Rockstar is working on "this Fall's launches of the new expanded and enhanced versions of Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series XS."
With this announcement, Rockstar states that it would "like to thank the GTA Online community for their continued support and look forward to seeing players continue their journey in Los Santos with us on new platforms." Though this may ultimately be a sad sunset, the future is bright for GTA moving forward.

This chapter was one that seemed to split the community in half but honestly I was not suprised by any of what I saw. I made a post on why Isagi can have a good body before the Ubers game and have an even better body before the PXG game. I also made a post on why Isagi is already good with his left and it should not come as a surprise if he starts using it.
The Body Evolution
Isagi being damn near ambidextrous even before the training.
Now lets get onto why Ubers conceded that goal. There are 2 sides as to why Ubers conceded that goal and that is because of how good Isagi is and also how inflexible Ubers were.
Isagi X Kurona
Its made obvious that Niko and thus Aiku were not expecting Isagi to come charging at them the way he did due to how they set up their formation but Isagi already knew that and thats exactly why he attacked them directly.
https://preview.redd.it/c7rvo4vvhlqa1.png?width=1115&format=png&auto=webp&s=3624ab5f8074e9208f905e01ff067e7aef538591
Isagi choses to go to Niko's left and as soon as he tries chasing Isagi he goes the opposite way which not only throws Niko off but leaves Aiku not even reacting and we see on the next page anyway that Aiku had gone to mark Kurona so there was really nothing Aiku could do. This was a battle between Niko x Isagi and Kurona X Aiku and they both won their duels.
Yes the goal seemed almost too easy for a defensive sided team like Ubers but it was supposed to be. Coupled with Isagi's immense growth which was "UNKNOWN" there is also the factor of Ubers sealing Aiku's and Nikos real ability. This is because their whole formation relies on Lorenzo. Have you wondered why especially Aiku has such a low bid despite us knowing how good he can be?
Is there possibility of an offside?
I would say there's a very small possibility its an offside but I highly doubt it looking at how the ball was already midair when Isagi seemed offside. Isagi also mentioned how it was perfect and I doubt he will be saying that if its an offside and add onto high IQ players like Noa and Kaiser reaction. A good amount of time also passes before Isagi scores and it could be called then and there.
Tactics, Reliance and Sealed ego
https://preview.redd.it/ksdvgev6glqa1.png?width=1115&format=png&auto=webp&s=0f1a8a46d0b2e2559a336a05f46aa8a6231453e1
Now Ubers know that they may sometimes lose the ball while countering and thus will result in them being counter attacked. Their first priority is to stall so that most of the Ubers players can get back into formation which will help Lorenzo get back into position and restart their defense=attack style. This is all well and good on paper but we see the disadvantage of this system a couple of pages later which is that it leaves the defense to the mercy of the attacker. What I mean is that the defenders have to react to whatever the attackers are doing and cant really commit themselves.
Aiku= The best version of Aiku was the Aiku who was free to roam and commit himself in order to stop anyone from scoring. His ability to read the field, physicals and send good passes are best used when he is proactive. What do we see Aiku doing here?
Niko= This post pretty much explains what Niko does very well. To give a short summary he's essentially like a watchtower who watches everything and takes measures to stop it before it happens. Well what do we see from Niko before Isagi attacks? If Niko was playing at his best he could have somewhat read that play and tried to destroy it before it even took shape.
Aiku X Niko X Lorenzo
Yes Lorenzo is good but Snuffy would have to change his tactics and let Aiku and Niko play more to their strengths in which they are more free to follow their own logic/instincts while playing. Everything can not start/end with Lorenzo because that makes their attack and defense very much predictable. When Aiku and Niko are free to follow their own logic that's when we will see them enter flow and probably unlock MV. I don't see them giving Isagi any trouble otherwise.
This also serves as a nice parallel to Isagi and the BL players in Ubers as Isagi did not simply accept the rational of BM when his ego didn't allow him while the Uber players have done the opposite. Its why in the u20 game Isagi could not even get past Aiku but once. Now he does in the first opportunity he gets. He followed his ego and thus evolved and became better than Aiku.

I have 3 systems that I use regularly but are aging badly. Have been debating which way to go for over a month now, so figured I'd post here to get others opinion on best route. I don't play anything crazy with my system, hardly game anymore even. Most games are stuff like factorio, satisfactory, wow, sons of forest, maybe diablo 4
Main: Ryzen 2700X, MSI X470, 2x16GB DDR4 Unraid: i3-4150, 4x8GB ESXi: i5-2500, capped at 4x8GB
First plan is to build a new main PC with i5-13600k($300), z690 ddr5 board($250ish), 2x16GB DDR5-6000($110ish), 850w PSU($150ish). I could then just shift the 2700X, board, ram and PSU to another case for my unraid and basically be set. And deal with upgrading my ESXi at a later date. Around $1000 total. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3GD7Q6
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor	$299.84 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	Purchased For $0.00
Motherboard	MSI MAG Z690 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard	$259.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory	$114.99 @ Newegg
Case	Corsair 5000D AIRFLOW ATX Mid Tower Case	Purchased For $0.00
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$149.99 @ Corsair
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$824.81
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-03-28 23:42 EDT-0400

Second option would be to do above for Main pc, but instead of using the 2700X as Unraid to use it as the ESXi. Build a new Unraid using a i5-13400($220)-would gain QuickSync capability for 4k hardware transcoding, basic z690 ddr4 board($180ish), use existing 2x16GB DDR4. ~$400 for Unraid. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YJH7Q6
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-13400 2.5 GHz 10-Core Processor	$219.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	-
Motherboard	ASRock Z690 Steel Legend ATX LGA1700 Motherboard	$171.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory	Purchased For $0.00
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory	Purchased For $0.00
Storage	Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Storage	Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Storage	Seagate EXOS Enterprise 14 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	$224.69 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate EXOS Enterprise 14 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	$224.69 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate EXOS Enterprise 14 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	$224.69 @ Amazon
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Pro Tempered Glass ATX Full Tower Case	$139.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$99.99 @ Corsair
Custom	LSI LSI00194 PCI-Express 2.0 SATA / SAS 9211-8i Controller Card	$60.00
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1366.03
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-03-28 23:43 EDT-0400

ESXi with 2700X, existing X470 board, buy 4x16GB ddr4($150ish)-Want 64GB for ESXi, 750w PSU($100), $250ish for ESXi. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bGNsTn Around $1600 total, but would have all 3 systems upgraded.
Third option, replace 2700X with 5800X3D($300) for Main. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VYHcwc. Move 2700X to Unraid, buy Asus b550 ddr4 board($180), 2x16GB DDR4($80), 750w PSU($100). Deal with ESXi upgrade later. Cheapest option, around $700 total. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hxzb3y
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor	Purchased For $0.00
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$50.00
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II ATX AM4 Motherboard	$184.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory	$88.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Storage	Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Storage	Seagate EXOS Enterprise 14 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	$0.00
Storage	Seagate EXOS Enterprise 14 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	$0.00
Case	Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case	$124.99 @ B&H
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$99.99 @ Corsair
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$548.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-03-28 23:45 EDT-0400

Items in partpicker linked slightly vary from what I mentioned, still undecided on replacing PSU and cases or using existing. Also GPU is currently a nvidia 1070 but will be replacing with probably a 6750XT or 6800XT shortly. So not fully factoring those into costs above as they would be needed regardless of how I go, same for Peerless Assassin heatsink when needed
Any help is greatly appreciated, I'm indecisive as hell and may just end up rotating out the parts on pcpartpicker for another 6 months, as I've basically been doing for a year now

We now have an official launch date for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 remasters of Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5). Rockstar announced this morning in a blog that the remaster will arrive on November 11th, which is nearly six months away. While GTA 5 runs and still looks good on the newest consoles (if you can get one), there’s still plenty of room for improvement to take advantage of the hardware capabilities of these Ryzen 3000/RDNA 2-fueled gaming beasts. To that end, Take-Two boss Stauss Zelnick explained in early March that making a simple port just isn’t in Rockstar’s DNA when it comes to games.
“We’ve done [remastering] differently than the competition – we don’t just port titles over, we actually take the time to do the very best job we can making the title different for the new release, for the new technology that we’re launching it on,” said Zelnick at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. “So, we improve the technology, we upgrade the visuals, and we make performance enhancements.
Play “I’m confident that Rockstar is going to deliver just a great experience, but you can’t do that if you’re just doing a simple port.”
Rockstar says that in addition to the visual enhancements, the GTA 5 remaster will also have “new features and more” that Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 gamers can enjoy. “Plus, in honor of the upcoming 20th anniversary of the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto III, we’ll have even more fun surprises to share — including some specifically for GTA Online players,” Rockstar added.
GTA 5 has enjoyed a relatively long period of success and user engagement in the world of video games. The game initially launched in 2013 at the tail end of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 generation and flourished with the release of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 families.
While the GTA 5 single-player campaign was praised for its gameplay, strong characters, and deeply engaging story, the game has really thrived thanks to its online components: GTA Online. GTA Online has become a cash cow for Take-Two, and Rockstar has understandably introduced continual updates to keep it fresh.

I got 5 External HDD with games for my Series X. There are only 3 USB ports on console. Can I buy a switch or a hub to have all the external HDD connected and available all at once? Or is there a 3 external HDD limitation?