Latest news with #Itch
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Record
Free flea treatment for pets this summer amid high infestation risk warning across Scotland
An online brand is offering pet owners a free flea treatment kit No one wants a home overrun with fleas, but as the mercury rises, so does the risk of your furry friend bringing these pesky parasites indoors. However, an online brand is offering pet owners a golden opportunity to nip a potential infestation in the bud with a complimentary treatment kit. With our four-legged companions spending more time in the great outdoors and temperatures becoming increasingly hospitable for parasites, the flea menace becomes all too real. Experts at Itch caution that a mere five fleas on an untreated pet can lead to over a million eggs infiltrating your home within a month - indeed, a single female flea can lay up to 50 eggs daily, just 24 hours after mating. The warm British summer encourages these eggs mature into larvae, metamorphose into pupae and soon emerge as adult fleas, ready to kickstart the cycle anew. Under ideal conditions, this entire process takes only a few weeks, turning a minor flea problem into a full-scale home invasion if not tackled promptly. What many pet owners may not realise is that a staggering 95% of flea eggs, larvae and pupae are found not on their pet, but within the home. Fleas lay eggs on pets, which then tumble onto carpets, sofas, bedding, and other soft furnishings, according to the Mirror. From there, they develop out of sight, lying in wait until they can spring back onto your pet. To fend off fleas, it's recommended to regularly treat your dog or cat with flea treatment every month. Free flea treatment Product Description Itch offers a monthly subscription service to help pet owners remember when it's time to apply the treatment, with the first month being offered for free. The firm is offering new subscribers their first month at no cost, with only the postage fee of £2.99 to be paid. If customers choose to continue with the subscription, each subsequent month will cost £9.50, but delivery will be free of charge. Itch also offers customers the flexibility to pause, shift or cancel their subscription whenever they wish. Itch tailors the perfect dosage for each cat or dog based on their breed and size to ensure they receive a safe and effective dose. Pet owners simply need to answer a few quick questions about their pets and Itch will recommend the suitable treatment. The vet-approved treatment contains the ingredient fipronil, which eliminates adult fleas, and (S)-methoprene, which prevents eggs and larvae from developing. It's scientifically proven to kill and prevent fleas, but it is recommended to treat both your pet and your home, using something like Itch Flea Home Spray to eradicate fleas and their offspring around the house. Regular hoovering and washing pet bedding on a hot wash (60°C or above) are also essential steps. There are also several other reputable flea treatment brands available that offer an alternative to Itch. Frontline is among the most recognised brands, and is available on Amazon, containing the same active ingredient as Itch. However, some pets may not respond well to the ingredient, in which case, Advantage uses imidacloprid, which is also effective against fleas and is suitable for both cats and dogs. The downside with these is that it may require a bit of research to determine which pack and dosage is best suited to your pet, whereas Itch does all the hard work for you. According to Itch, more than 100,000 pets are using their treatment each month to eliminate fleas and prevent them returning. The brand has a 4-star rating based on more than 10,000 reviews on TrustPilot, with many delighted with the service for banishing infestations. One said: "I've been an Itch subscriber for more than 2 years and love it. Treatment works well for both my dog and my cat and it's great not to have to remember to buy it each month. Don't miss the days of forgetting to buy and finding ourselves infested." "My dog Rudy became infested with fleas, for a second time in a year," another explained. "I Googled 'flea treatment' for small dogs. "Itch" came well recommended, and I opened an account with them. 24 hours later, the flea treatment, together with a dog toothpaste and toothbrush, was in my letterbox." Some customers have voiced frustration with the delivery service, stating: "Whilst I'm happy with the products, delivery leaves a lot to be desired. It's difficult to keep flea and worming treatment up to date when Royal Mail deliveries are so haphazard." Another customer branded it 'the only thing that works for my dogs'. They added: "No more flea problems. I have a subscription, and although it's only on the third month, they have never arrived late. All the worry of making sure I buy them on time and working out which product is best is taken out of my hands."
West Australian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Dannii Minogue: Aussie star set to make long-awaited TV return in UK drama Imposter
More than three decades after she departed Home and Away's golden shores, Dannii Minogue is set to make her acting comeback in a bitter family drama also starring Neighbours icon Jackie Woodburne. The new TV series, titled Imposter, is being produced for the UK's Channel 5 and shot in Australia. Spotted filming in Melbourne, Minogue, 53, cut a radiant figure as she donned a white summer dress matched with blue and tan heels, and a sky blue coat. In shots from filming, Minogue cosies up to co-star Harrison Popple, an emerging Perth-born talent whose best known credit to date is Australian children's drama Itch, filmed in Perth and Albany from 2019-2020. Woodburne, 69, looked a far cry from her beloved Susan Kennedy character on the soap, seen sporting a grey coat and dusty silver hair. Imposter has been described as a Succession-like family feud with a fight for money at its core. Its Aussie cast also features familiar faces Don Hany and Jane Harber, both of whom starred in popular drama Offspring. Harber is also known for Upper Middle Bogan. UK actress and singer Kym Marsh, who became a show favourite on Coronation Street, is also set to star. An Australian broadcaster is yet to be announced but it is set to screen in the UK in 2026.
Perth Now
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Dannii is back on TV! Singer spotted filming in Aus
More than three decades after she departed Home and Away's golden shores, Dannii Minogue is set to make her acting comeback in a bitter family drama also starring Neighbours icon Jackie Woodburne. The new TV series, titled Imposter, is being produced for the UK's Channel 5 and shot in Australia. Spotted filming in Melbourne, Minogue, 53, cut a radiant figure as she donned a white summer dress matched with blue and tan heels, and a sky blue coat. In shots from filming, Minogue cosies up to co-star Harrison Popple, an emerging Perth-born talent whose best known credit to date is Australian children's drama Itch, filmed in Perth and Albany from 2019-2020. Woodburne, 69, looked a far cry from her beloved Susan Kennedy character on the soap, seen sporting a grey coat and dusty silver hair. Imposter has been described as a Succession-like family feud with a fight for money at its core. Its Aussie cast also features familiar faces Don Hany and Jane Harber, both of whom starred in popular drama Offspring. Harber is also known for Upper Middle Bogan. UK actress and singer Kym Marsh, who became a show favourite on Coronation Street, is also set to star. An Australian broadcaster is yet to be announced but it is set to screen in the UK in 2026. Dannii Minogue is starring in a new TV drama Imposter with emerging talent Harrison Popple who is from Perth Credit: Harrison Popple / Instagram
Engadget
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
A terrific 2D Ninja Gaiden, housefly bucket lists and other new indie games worth checking out
Welcome to our latest recap of what's going on in the indie game space. A bunch of new games dropped this week that are more than worthy of your attention, including a modern take on an old-school Ninja Gaiden side-scroller and a joyful (perhaps even profound) puzzler about the life of a housefly. By far the biggest story in indie games over the last few weeks concerns payment processors pressuring the likes of Steam owner Valve and Itch to remove or de-index games that feature adult, NSFW and LGBTQIA+ themes. Under the guise of helping to protect women and children, an conservative activist group in Australia has taken credit for the delistings, as well as stricter rules regarding adult-themed games that Steam and Itch have implemented. But some affected developers suggest this is a smokescreen to push forward an agenda of anti-LGBTQIA+ censorship. This week, Engadget senior editor Jess Conditt spoke with solo developer Cara Cadaver of Final Girl Games about the impact of the censorship campaign. Valve permanently banned Cadaver's new game, VILE: Exhumed , from Steam for allegedly depicting "sexual content with depictions of real people," though the developer says that assessment is inaccurate. While Cadaver and publisher DreadXP are working on alternative distribution for VILE: Exhumed , Steam is the go-to marketplace for many PC gamers and the ban cuts off what surely would have been a critical source of revenue for the game. For its part, Itch has started reindexing free adult-themed games on its platform. The company has relied on Stripe and Paypal for processing payments. It has suspended payments via Stripe for 18+ content and it's talking to other potential payment partners "that are more willing to work with this kind of content." In any case, payment processors should not be the arbiters of morality, and they certainly should not be helping activists restrict access to perfectly above-board works of art. One other piece of news that caught my eye this week is about a game jam that's taking place this month. Participants will have just over three weeks to make games based on real-life investigative reporting. According to Global Game Jam, the teams will gain access to exclusive reporting on organized crime and corruption from around the world and be able to ask journalists behind those stories questions about their work. It's a fascinating idea, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the developers that get involved come up with. New releases Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is what I like to call a 'hell yeah" game. There are few purer joys than getting about 15-20 minutes into a new game and thinking 'hell yeah, this rules.' Even better, that feeling lasted through the other four hours or so I spent with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound . This is a throwback 2D hack-and-slash platformer from The Game Kitchen — the studio behind the Blasphemous series — and publisher Dotemu, which is building quite the reputation for itself as a purveyor of retro-style games ( Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge , the upcoming Marvel Cosmic Invasion ). Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound looks and sounds sumptuous, with gorgeous pixel art and stellar level, character and audio design. It's got combat that's somehow both sticky and slick, and it's challenging without being too frustrating. I've had a tremendous time with this one, which, if memory serves me correct, is the first Ninja Gaiden game I've played. I can't really find any notable faults with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound . It's well worth checking out. It's out now on Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. Here's another 'hell yeah" game. I've been looking forward to Time Flies ever since I clapped eyes on it during a Day of the Devs showcase a couple of years ago. You play as a fly and the goal is to check off a bucket list of items before the insect perishes (their lifespan equates to the average life expectancy of a country of your choosing but in seconds). It's a clever, funny and slightly rude — in a playful, Thank Goodness You're Here sort of way — blend of exploration and puzzle game that makes a strong case as to why we should make the most of our limited time. It's a short game, as it took me about 90 minutes to roll credits. That's pretty much the ideal length for this one. The controls are simple (only a D-pad, pause button and a way to call up the bucket list are required) and the aesthetic, which features hand-drawn art, is delightfully low-key too. In fact, this would be a perfect fit for the Playdate, which just happens to come from Panic, the publisher of Time Flies . For now, though, you can check out this lovely little game from the team at Playables on Steam, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Whatnot Games released the 1.0 version Star Racer on Steam this week after over a year of early access. This is a retro racer very much in the vein of the F-Zero series that features local multiplayer (here's hoping for online multiplayer at some point) and music from Grant Kirkhope of Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye 007 fame. You can also create your own tracks and share them with others online. I love the launch trailer for Star Racer , which blends gameplay with '80s-style animation. I also adore that — per Rock Paper Shotgun — one of the characters is a "detective-looking fella called Thrash Whiplash." If that's not in the running for the best video game character name of the 2020s, we're all going to need to take a long, hard look in the mirror. We have yet another flavor of pretty, retro-tinged pixel art this week thanks to developers Ancient Corporation and Bitwave Games, as well as publisher Limited Run Games. Their 16 bit-style shoot-'em-up Earthion landed on Steam this week. It features music from legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro ( Streets of Rage, ActRaiser, Shenmue and many more games). That probably should not come as a huge shock given that he co-founded Ancient. Earthion is also slated to hit consoles starting in September. Being a Limited Run title, physical editions are of course on the way for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch. Expect those later this year. A physical version is also expected for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 2026. Surgent Studios went in a completely different direction for its follow-up to its well-received Metroidvania from last year, Tales of Kenzera: Zau . Its latest project (released with the help of the publishing arm of Palworld creator Pocketpair), Dead Take , is a first-person psychological horror about an actor who is looking for a friend who has vanished after a Hollywood party. There's top-tier videogame acting talent here, with Neil Newbon (Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3 ) and Ben Starr (Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI ) taking on the lead roles, and a litany of other well-known performers — from Laura Bailey to Sam Lake — also making appearances. That cast alone makes this worthy of attention. Dead Take is out now on Steam and the Epic Games Store. It feels like we've been waiting forever for Hobbit life sim Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game to drop and, following some delays, it's now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Steam. (This is now technically an indie game because Take-Two sold off publisher Private Division last year.) I love games that tell you exactly what they're about in their title and A Game About Digging A Hole sure is one of those. You dig a hole, find buried goodies, and sell them to help you buy better gear. Developer DoubleBee and publishers Rokaplay and Headup brought this exploration game to iOS and Android this week after a hugely successful debut on Steam earlier this year. A Game About Digging A Hole has now sold more than 1 million copies. Perhaps you're looking for a different digging game to check out this weekend. In that case, Mashina may be worth considering. The titular character is a robot that searches for valuable minerals to help repair and expand her community. Mashina can also use the minerals to build machines that can help with her digs, while she can use items she stumbles upon for base decoration. Developers Jack King-Spooner and Talha Kaya (who previously released Judero ) used traditional stop-motion techniques to animate Mashina . This charming-looking puzzle/exploration game is now available on Steam. Let's wrap up this section with a short, experimental game about anxiety. A Dream About Parking Lots has been out on Steam for a few months and the aptly named Interactive Dreams (with the help of Take It Studio!) brought it to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch this week. It's said to be based on real dreams and will see you looking for your car among parking lots and mazes while chatting with a therapist. Upcoming Wander Stars — from Paper Castle Games and publisher Fellow Traveller — was supposed to be arriving this week, but the developers have pushed the release date back until September 19. The team wants to carry out some changes to improve the game following feedback from an open beta. I really like the look of this one, and though turn-based combat isn't usually my cup of tea, I'm very intrigued by the system that's in use here. You'll find and combine words into phrases that convert into devastating attacks. There are more than 200 words and they have cooldowns, so combining them in smart ways will be a key to success. Using words "with honor" can seemingly help you unlock more useful phrases too. Very curious to see how all of that works in practice. We'll get a better idea next month, when Wander Stars lands on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC. Speaking of games with a killer look, a gameplay trailer for I Hate This Place hooked me in this week. This is an isometric survival horror game that pulls from the visual stylings of its comic book origins. Crafting is vital here, both in terms of your arsenal and strengthening your shelter before nightfall. This stylish title from Rock Square Thunder and publisher Broken Mirror Games is bound for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch later this year. If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
GOG is giving away a selection of adult games to protest censorship
In partnership with developers, game marketplace GOG (Good Old Games) has launched a new website called that'll let you download select "adult" games for free. GOG believes the website takes a stand "against the quiet erasure of creative works from digital shelves," a response of sorts to recent decisions from Steam and Itch to delist certain violent and sexuality-explicit games from their respective platforms. GOG is currently offering 13 games for free for the next 48 hours, some with well-known scandals and others that seem to fall into the "NSFW visual novel" bucket that makes up the majority of sexually-explicit games on digital storefronts. The titles available to download are: Leap of Love Being a DIK — Season 1 Leap of Faith POSTAL 2 House Party HuniePop Lust Theory Agony + Agony Unrated Treasure of Nadia Summer's Gone — Season 1 Fetish Locator Week One Helping the Hotties Sapphire Safari POSTAL 2, a graphically violent open-world game, is a notable inclusion because it was banned in New Zealand in 2004 and delisted from the German version of Steam in 2016. HuniePop, one of several "adult-only" games Twitch streamers are explicitly forbidden to stream, makes sense on the list, too. GOG has made a concerted effort to preserve games of all types, including maintaining them so that they run on current hardware. The point of making these games available to download is as much about preservation as it is about highlighting how apparently easy it is to pressure digital storefronts to remove content, though. Valve's decision to delist titles from Steam was chalked up to a new rule that requires games to abide by the standards set by the payment processors that work with Steam. Itch offered a similar explanation for the delistings on its storefront, pointing to pressure payment processors were receiving from a nonprofit called Collective Shout. In the process, indie games like VILE: Exhumedhave been delisted, primarily for depicting things that might make a certain group of people uncomfortable. Itch, for its part, seems to be trying to bring back as many games to its storefront as it can. The platform is restoring free NSFW games, and says it's still in talks with its payment partners about restoring paid games to its storefront.
