Latest news with #CrashBandicoot
Chicago Tribune
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Donna Vickroy: A little bit of chaos is life-affirming if it comes courtesy of the grandkids
You're never too old to grow. Sure, it's important for grandparents to share knowledge and skills with their grandchildren. From recipes to hobby hacks to family lore, there is much to be said for handing down treasures that can enrich a child's life. But, remember, the love supply chain goes both ways. In exchange for our time and attention, these little humans radiate joy, stretch our imaginations and introduce us to new challenges, all the while reminding us of what really matters in life. For example: Nothing warms the heart more than a smiling child running up your walkway because they can't wait to see you. Car seats are as heavy as the car and as complicated as a power grid. But we can meet the moment because they're counting on us and we've got places to go. It is essential to have a drawer strictly devoted to wound care, in assorted shapes, sizes and glow-in-the-dark colors. Because sometimes only a tie-dyed tourniquet will make a hangnail feel better. A sanguine smile turns a dropped popsicle, shattered Christmas ornament, trampled tomato seedling and the phrase, 'I almost made it to the bathroom,' into an easy fix. To truly dance with abandon is to be under age 10. If they can memorize 20 sight words, you can remember which characters are heroes and which are villains. Crash Bandicoot, Bowser, and Shadow all have interesting back stories you should know about. One way to inspire make-believe ideas is to Google the meaning of their first name. Everything tastes better dipped in peanut butter. You are never too old to wear face paint, an Ursula mask or a SpongeBob tattoo. Did you know that once you get the hang of making slime, you can easily slide into mermaid slime, floam slime, unicorn slime and spaghetti slime? Don't toss that ribbon/Styrofoam/cardboard delivery box away. 'I have an idea.' If you move tables, rearrange chairs, make several batches of popcorn and turn off all the lights, your house can become a movie theater. Of course, the youngest patrons get the recliners. Some kids don't mind getting dirty; others mind it a lot. Keep extra clothes on hand. The youngest player is so helpful. He will not only find you a great hiding place, he will promptly alert the seeker to where you're hidden. Hallmark can't compete with a birthday card made by a 5-year-old. A clean house is really a blank canvas, just waiting to be transformed into a fairy forest or a fancy restaurant or a lava-spewing volcanic park. So, 'let's get started.' No, it doesn't make any sense that you can have breakfast for dinner but not dessert for lunch. Children possess an inner filing system for every Barbie dress, Matchbox car, colored marker and polished rock. Don't think you can toss things without consequence. Hosting an art show with all of their recent works will make them glow – and your living room come alive. It doesn't matter how lopsided the cake comes out or how sparse the frosting job is, if they made it, you can't wait to eat it. If you say they can have 10 raspberries, they will look you in the eye as they count out 11. If you let them choose who sits where for dinner, they just might jump at the task of setting the table. Washing hands is so much more fun if you sing the birthday song while they do it. If they ask who you love most, tell them the answer is in the mirror. Spring flowers are 'beautiful,' including 'dandy-lions.' So, yes, grab a vase. You will never win the argument that a grandma going down the tunnel slide at the park is not a good idea. Parents may be wonderful but sometimes they need a break from the chaos — almost as much as grandparents need a visit with the chaos.
Campaign ME
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
Campaign's Creative Faces to Watch 2025 – Mohammad El Tayech, Strategy Manager, Havas Middle East
Campaign's Creative Faces to Watch 2025 – Mohammad El Tayech, Strategy Manager, Havas Middle East Campaign's Creative Faces to Watch 2025 – Mohammad El Tayech, Strategy Manager, Havas Middle East Age: 25 Nominated by Alejandro Fischer, SVP Strategy: Mo is a passionate strategist who seamlessly bridges data-driven insights with cultural intuition, making his work both rigorous and deeply relevant. Beyond his sharp thinking, he is highly collaborative, always engaging with the team to push ideas further. His ability to connect the dots between numbers and human truths sets him apart, ensuring his strategies are both impactful and actionable. What truly defines Mo, though, is his relentless drive to improve—constantly refining his craft, challenging himself, and elevating those around him. He is a valuable asset to any team and a strategist who consistently delivers with thoughtfulness and ambition. Career highlights With a background in data & analytics, I took a road less taken and took on and entered the world of advertising & creative strategy. And that has definitely made all the difference. I started off my career by working across different categories, with a strong focus on automotive. After that, I decided to make the shift to Havas, where I have played an integral role in working on strategies across the agency's different clients, bringing in new business opportunities and was part of the team that helped bring Adidas' recent 'Desert Runner' campaign to life. Guiding principles Learning never stops; always be hungry to learn new things. Every problem, big or small, always has a solution. Side hustle I recently started watching a lot of cooking videos and practising making certain recipes. And gaming has always been a huge part of my life, from playing Crash Bandicoot on my PS2 in 2006, to playing it on my PS5 today. Go back to main article: Campaign's Creative Faces to Watch 2025
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Finding a new and inventive way to annoy everybody, Activision has company use AI to generate fake advertisements for games that don't exist
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Activision, which has recently fully doubled-down on using AI slop art assets in its games, has also coincidentally invented a new and bespoke way to annoy you for seemingly precious little gain. Picture this: You see an advertisement for a new game from a trusted developer. You think hey, that looks interesting, let me give it an install. Then, like the world's most irritating and harmless bear trap, a market research firm pulls back the rug and says haha, you fool, you absolute moron, that wasn't a real game. That is, in essence, what is happening—including with the purported Guitar Hero Mobile advertisement that made the rounds on Instagram for its shoddy AI-generated artwork. Turns out no, there isn't a Guitar Hero Mobile game, it's just a devious scheme to get you to do a survey. Other non-games advertised by the big A include (thanks, Eurogamer) such industry-shaking concepts as "Call of Duty: Zombie Defender", "Call of Duty: Sniper", and "Crash Bandicoot Brawl" Here's the artwork for the very latter, by the way, which features such iconic Crash Bandicoot characters as Crash Bandicoot, another Crash Bandicoot, a third Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot with Googly Eyes, and Mutant Squirrel with Palm Leaf Growth. Clicking on any of these leads you to a spoof store page with more AI-generated garbage, including fake review scores, downloads, and age ratings. Click "install", and Geeklab finally gives up the charade, writing: "Thanks for your interest! This isn't a real game, but [it] could be some day! We'd love if you could answer this short survey, which could help inform the potential future of this game. Your feedback really matters to us!" Just out of curiosity, I decided to fill one of these out. First off, Geeklab has the gall to ask me what made me click on the advertisement—well, I'm not a journalist, but I think the layman might've been tricked by your fake store page. Answers include such valuable data as "the colors" and "the characters", which presumably will give Activision such vital data as, uh, people like colours and Crash Bandicoot. After answering if I play mobile games often (I don't) or if I've played any of the Activision mobile games that actually exist (I haven't), we get to the real meat of this market research. In theory, this whole shebang could inform Activision what types of games they're hungry for—a sort of gently coerced brainstorming session. Still annoying, but I can see the objective at least. Except, when I'm asked "based on the advertisement what would you expect the game to be?" The answers are pretty much useless. If I were a suit at Activision, and the market research firm I'd paid just told me my userbase expects my games to be 'High Quality, Interesting, and Exciting', I might very well throw them out the window. Lastly, Geeklab wants you to tell Activision why you play mobile games. I chose "to escape from my day to day", because I currently have a nasty bronchial cough and it's the most honest answer I could give them. My reward? A random confetti spray of explosion, rainbow, and party emojis. I cannot fathom… well, several things about the decisions that were made to get up to this point. I do understand that data is incredibly valuable in our digital age, sure—but, like a lot of AI-generated nonsense that's made its way into gaming as of late, I can't help but wonder whether the value generated by this info is worth pissing everybody off. These adverts, in isolation, make Activision look like it's becoming an AI-generated slop company, churning out mobile game after mobile game—and even if someone gets hoodwinked into wanting to play one of these things, they'll be left with a sour taste in their mouth as a survey gets shoved in their face. But hey, at least Activision knows I wanted to escape to the world of three Crash Bandicoots and his melty-faced friends. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releasesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together
