Latest news with #DarthVader
Time of India
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
How to get the Ferrari 296 GTB in Fortnite
Image via Epic Games. Crossovers are nothing new in Fortnite. This Epic Games title has recently collaborated with the Star Wars franchise, where it brought Darth Vader as an AI NPC. These numerous and exciting collaborations are the reasons that this battle-royale title is still so much popular, even after eight long years. Now it's time for the famous and luxurious car brand Ferrari to enter into the world of Fortnite. And as a result, you can make a V6 supercar as your own from this company in this game. The Ferrari 296 GTB in Fortnite: How toget it? These are all the bundle contents. | Image via Epic Games. In an occasion of collaborating with Ferrari, Fortnite is bringing the 2021 beast into the game, Ferrari 296 GTB. However, this supercar comes in the Ferrari 296 GTB Bundle, which was released on May 29, at 8 PM ET in the game. Along with the car body, which is usable as a Sports Car skin in Fortnite, the bundle also comes with custom accessories, which are exclusive to your Fortnite 296 GTB. These accessories include exclusive 296 GTB wheels and seven decals: Assetto Fiorano, Assetto Fiorano Custom, Flames, Lightning, Stripers, Wings, and Rosso Corsa. The exciting part about these accessories is that three of these decals are absolutely original, which come from the real life world. So, how to get this car? It's simple, all you have to do is to buy the whole bundle through the Fortnite Item Shop for 2,800 V-Bucks, which will cost around $20. You can also buy this bundle via the official Item Shop website of Fortnite, where you just have to login with your Epic Games id, and upon purchasing the bundle, all the goodies will be sent straight to your in-game account. You can't buy the car model separately, so you have to purchase the whole bundle to enjoy the Ferrari 296 GTB in Fortnite. Players need to keep in mind that this bundle will be available to be purchased until June 13, 2025 at 5.30 AM (GMT+05:30). If you are a Rocket League player as well, then this bundle is actually a double treat for you. As the Ferrari 296 GTB is available in Rocket League as well, you don't need to buy that again in this game if you have already purchased it in Fortnite. All you need to do is to log in with the same Epic Games account of Fortnite in Rocket League as well, and your Fortnite's 296 GTB will be available in Rocket League as well. Read More: How to control a Star Destroyer in Fortnite
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
L.A. Mayor Vows to Cut Red Tape and Make It Easier to Shoot Movies and Shows In the City
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is advancing efforts to streamline film and television production in Los Angeles amid cries for further policymaker intervention on the issue of runaway production. Bass calls for a reduction of city staffers on shoots and improved access for crews to iconic Los Angeles locations like the Griffith Observatory, the Central Public Library and the Port of Los Angeles in an executive order that was signed Tuesday at the L.A. headquarters of performers' union SAG-AFTRA. The directive further enlists city departments to cut red tape and help ease basic production headaches in a bid to improve the city's friendliness to filmmakers. More from The Hollywood Reporter AI Is Disrupting Commercial Shoots, But Actors May Get New Guardrails SAG-AFTRA Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Over Darth Vader AI Voice in 'Fortnite' Can Cannes Help California Get Its Groove Back? At SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday, Bass emphasized that Hollywood supports middle-class jobs, small businesses and the city's economy. Her executive order, she said, 'will make it far easier to film in Los Angeles movies, television shows and commercials.' Specifically, the order, which takes effect immediately, directs city departments to create a process such that 'no more than one total City staff member is required to be on-site at a filming location.' Currently, at any one time multiple municipal employees, from off-duty and retired cops to park monitors, might be on a film production as it's shooting locally. The directive further orders a reduction of filming fees at Griffith Observatory and the reopening of downtown's Central Public Library to production. The Port of Los Angeles, meanwhile, is required to cut its insurance review process from seven to four business days, while the Department of Water and Power is instructed to create 'procedures and safeguards' so filming can take place at its facilities. The mayor also calls for departments to review all 'City assets' to see if they could be utilized by film crews as locations and/or parking, among other potential uses, and to put forward proposals on how to allow night-time scouting on city-owned locations. The executive order requires police and fire departments, among others, to meet with the mayor's office and industry stakeholders including local film office FilmLA on a monthly basis to solve 'any ongoing issues' that shoots are encountering. Departments are ordered to provide notice to potential and upcoming public infrastructure projects that could impact filming to her office and FilmLA. At SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday, Bass said the film industry has been complaining about 'bureaucracy, bureaucracy, red tape' when it comes to filming in the city, which this order aims to resolve. During the press conference, various entertainment union leaders spoke to the difficulties their members have faced amid a downturn in local production. Vanessa Holtgrewe, an international vp of the crew union IATSE, said multiple Locals are facing unemployment of nearly 50 percent. Added Lindsay Dougherty, who oversees motion picture work for the Teamsters, the executive order 'could not come at a better time,' with workers and small businesses 'devastated' by the lack of local work in the industry. Jamie Patricof, a member of the grassroots advocacy group Producers United, said he's shot films all over the globe but only two in Los Angeles. (The recent release The Accountant 2, which Patricof executive produced, is one of them, having shot scenes in downtown L.A., Santa Clarita and Simi Valley.) 'This has to change and the mayor is taking right actions to do that,' Patricof said. The move comes after the L.A. City Council passed a measure penned by Councilmember Adrin Nazarian in late April that pushed city departments to propose efforts to reform the city's film permitting process. 'The entertainment industry has been the reason why Los Angeles was put on the map,' Nazarian said at Tuesday's press conference. But 'over the course of the last 30-40 years, we've fallen asleep,' he added, by allowing production to go to other states and countries. 'All we need to do is keep up with everybody else.' Meanwhile, state legislators are currently reviewing bills that would amplify California's film and television tax credit program after Gov. Gavin Newsom called for more than doubling the cap on the state's program, from $330 million to $750 million. But there are concerns that these measures might not get the green light as the state faces a $12 billion budget shortfall. When asked whether she thought the $750 million proposal would pass, Bass said it was possible that figure would be reduced. Still, she said, 'I think people recognize the $700 million as an investment.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hollywood Commission's Workplace Misconduct Resource Opened Up to All Entertainment Industry Workers
In 2024, the Anita Hill-led Hollywood Commission launched a first-of-its-kind workplace misconduct reporting tool tailored to the entertainment industry that was quickly adopted by unions and select studios. Now, one aspect of the MyConnext platform is being opened up to all industry workers: its ombuds program, which offers human advisers for workers faced with tricky situations on the job. The two-person ombuds office provides a space for workers to confidentially learn about their rights and options as they face conflict or bad behavior on set or in the office. More from The Hollywood Reporter L.A. Mayor Vows to Cut Red Tape and Make It Easier to Shoot Movies and Shows In the City AI Is Disrupting Commercial Shoots, But Actors May Get New Guardrails SAG-AFTRA Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Over Darth Vader AI Voice in 'Fortnite' Previously, the ombuds office was only accessible to members of unions that participate in MyConnext, including the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America West and IATSE, and workers on projects from Netflix, Amazon Studios and the Kennedy/Marshall Company. Now, any worker regardless of union status can participate, from production assistants to producers. 'One year ago, we launched MyConnext with our participating organizations, and since then, their leadership and commitment to worker well-being have paved the way for this expansion,' Hollywood Commission executive director Malia Arrington said in a statement. 'In the year since launch, one of our most important discoveries has been what an invaluable resource the Ombuds has been, and what an opportunity it is to bring it to everyone. As the first-of-its-kind, industry-wide resource, the Ombuds is an industry-wide game changer.' MyConnext's one full-time ombuds, Lillian Rivera, said in a statement that the program is 'making a real difference in these individual lives.' She added of workers who participate, 'I think they appreciate that I'm a real person — not a phone tree of mysterious options, not a chatbot or AI.' The ombuds office is described as an unbiased resource that can help advise workers on when to keep records, what reporting behavior can look like and what confidentiality and anonymity mean in that context, but cannot offer legal advise or counseling. Though launched by the Hollywood Commission, MyConnext operates separately from the organization, which formed in the wake of the #MeToo movement by producer Kathleen Kennedy, lawyer Nina Shaw and activist-entrepreneur Freada Kapor Klein to combat harassment, discrimination and abuse in Hollywood. Aside from its ombuds program, the MyConnext platform offers workers affiliated with participating organizations a tool to report misconduct in real time, for their own personal use and/or to submit to their union or employer. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Business Insider
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Fortnite's AI-powered Darth Vader is everything alarming and exciting about AI
He is what they made him. In the week since Epic Games, the maker of " Fortnite," introduced its AI-powered Darth Vader to the game, it has come to symbolize all that is exciting and risky about the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence. The character relies on conversational AI and the licensed voice of the late James Earl Jones, who played Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Players can interact with Darth Vader, who responds in natural language. It has introduced a new immersive element that players say they love. It has also gone off the rails, cursing at players, and has attracted opposition from unions working to protect human talent. The risks Epic Games President Adam Sussman said in a statement after Darth Vader's release that the collaboration is "a new and immersive way for players to interact with a legendary 'Star Wars' character." However, within days, players found ways to manipulate the AI to circumvent its content settings. The character swears, for example, in one viral clip from a Twitch streamer. The ease with which the "Fortnite" Darth Vader veered outside the parameters set by its developers is a small example of the larger fears many have about AI as the technology hurtles toward more autonomy and human-level intelligence. The threat an autonomous AI poses to humanity has long been a concern for those at the forefront of developing the technology (and fans of science fiction). Safety and its benefit to humanity are at the core of OpenAI's mission, for example. But as pressure from investors rises to justify their enormous financial stakes, some engineers and executives have raised concerns that AI companies are prioritizing the release of new products over ensuring their safety. Several top officials have left OpenAI in the last year, citing concerns about the company's commitment to safety. Last month, OpenAI announced it would consider relaxing its safety standards if "another frontier AI developer releases a high-risk system without comparable safeguards." Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said recently that while the benefits of AI are big, the risks are too. "If you look at our responsible scaling policy, it's nothing but AI, autonomy, and CBRN — chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear," Amodei told The New York Times' "Hard Fork" podcast. "It is about hardcore misuse in AI autonomy that could be a threat to the lives of millions of people. That is what Anthropic is mostly worried about." Many workers also worry that artificial intelligence is an existential threat, and the use of an AI version of Jones' voice has stoked those fears. Disney, which now owns the "Star Wars" franchise and has a significant stake in Epic Games, began developing an AI version of Jones' voice in 2022, with the permission of Jones' estate. The company said in a statement that it "closely consulted" with Jones' family on the release of the "Fortnite" Darth Vader. The decision, however, attracted the attention of SAG-AFTRA, a union representing actors and other entertainers. It has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board that Epic Games did not bargain or negotiate with the union before using Jones's voice. "We celebrate the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas and welcome the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of those legacies and renowned roles," the union said in a statement. "However, we must protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members, including those who previously did the work of matching Darth Vader's iconic rhythm and tone in video games." SAG-AFTRA, along with the Writers Guild of America, went on strike in 2023 for 148 days in part to force studios to negotiate terms around the use of AI in media. The potential Despite these risks, there's little stopping AI's advancement. And players have so far given the AI-powered Darth Vader in "Fortnite" positive reviews. Nicholas Amyoony, a "Fortnite" YouTuber with more than 8 million subscribers, said in a video that he has "never seen this many people" in one place in the game before. Amyoony said Epic Games seemed to give Darth Vader a lot of information about in-game players. It even knew about his buyable "skin." "Darth Vader had that information and knew a lot about me," he said. Though the character has had some hiccups, the bot is an early example of what's possible. Generative AI opens a whole new world of immersive experiences for gamers, one where characters talk back to players in natural language. Some popular franchises, like "Call of Duty," are experimenting with using AI to develop their games. Other studios are working on tech that can measure a player's emotions and convey that emotion to non-player characters, who then use AI to respond. "From generating real-time dialogue that responds to player emotions, to dynamically altering game environments or creating custom assets, our fusion of affective computing and generative AI brings gaming to life in ways never before possible," Ovomind, a GenAI company working to develop AI for video games, says in a blog post. As for Disney and Epic Games, the AI-powered Darth Vader in "Fortnite" is just the beginning of what will likely be significant gaming advancements, all the result of artificial intelligence. "Disney, Lucasfilm, and Epic Games are honored to bring his voice to Fortnite for millions of players to experience — showcasing how we responsibly embrace emerging technologies to expand storytelling while keeping people at the heart of the creative process," Sean Shoptaw, Disney's executive vice president of Disney Games and Digital Entertainment, said in a statement.
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Telegraph
Welcome to the 2025 workplace, where sighing could count as discrimination
One of Britain's biggest banks has ordered staff still cheekily working from home to turn up or face a cut in their pay. Actually, it's a slice of their HSBC bonuses that will be affected, so it's hard for the rest of us suckers to sympathise. Besides, they only need to get dressed and turn up three days a week, which is still a huge skive. Or it would be, were it not for the fact that staff who have gone WFH -feral will be shocked to learn how office life has changed while they were shopping online and taking long naps with the cat. For a start, sighing in frustration at a colleague is the latest human right to be infringed in the parallel universe that is the world of employment tribunals. Oh yes. Those of you still baffled by the recent mahoosive payout to the NHS worker who, among other incidents, took umbrage at being compared to Darth Vader after colleagues filled in a larky online Star Wars personality test on her behalf, better take a deep breath. And asphyxiate yourselves – because if you are caught making 'exaggerated exhales' you too could be found guilty of discrimination. Nothing is as it once was. Eye-rolling has gone the way of the fax machine. Huffing (including but not limited to) puffing? Beyond the pale. As for all the other once perfectly standard interactions between stressed, busy humans, all I can say is get yourself lawyered up before you even think of tutting over an unwashed coffee cup. And, in case it passed you by, calling a man 'bald' is comparable to commenting on the size of a woman's breasts and amounts to sexual harassment, according to a West Yorkshire employment tribunal in 2022. The ruling came in a case between electrician Tony Finn and his manufacturing firm employers. Speaking after the hearing, Mr Finn said he hoped the judgment would stop other men being 'verbally assaulted and intimidated because they are bald'. This new ruling about sighing came in the case of Robert Watson, a software engineer with ADHD who successfully sued a tech company after complaining about his manager's 'sighing and exaggerated exhales'. He's now in line for compensation from Roke Manor Research, inventors of the Hawk-Eye ball tracking system – who, ironically, never saw that one coming. What a difference a decade makes. Back in 2014, the University of Warwick was forced to reinstate a professor after his nine-month suspension for 'inappropriate sighing' in job interviews, and for giving off negative vibes and making ironic comments. Frankly, I think he sounds great. Either way, a tribunal cleared him of the charges; I do hope he greeted the news with an exaggerated exhale. Here in 2025, it's now a behavioural minefield. No thanks needed all you HSBC employees, just something to ponder before you try and cram your feet into proper shoes and struggle into work three whole days a week. The cat doesn't care if you sigh, or call it bald. What price freedom?
