Latest news with #Pandemic
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
As calls for Star Wars Battlefront 3 grow stronger, an ex-Pandemic dev explains why the original games never got a third entry: "We started working on it and then negotiations just didn't take off"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Star Wars Battlefront 2 is having a resurgence in popularity at the moment, with calls for a sequel to the 2017 DICE-developed title to come out being so strong that even former devs are getting in on it. But it wouldn't be the first Star Wars Battlefront 2 to not get a sequel, as the mid-2000s version of the series also never made it past the number 2 (and no, I'm not counting the squadron games on handhelds). A Pandemic Studios follow-up never surfaced, and Free Radical Design's take on it never came out despite being allegedly very close to completion. Battlefront 2 designer Dan Nanni claims that Pandemic did in fact start working on a third game, but a breakdown in communication with LucasArts is what caused it to never happen. "We started working on it and then negotiations just didn't take off," Nanni told VideoGamer, adding that the one-year development time of the previous two games wouldn't fly a third time due to the transition to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. "When you're moving to a new console it's not as easy as saying, 'let me just make a game for it like we did for the old console'. New consoles have new hardware and new hardware comes with new limitations and you don't know exactly what you're working with until you've got it." Nanni added, "I think, negotiations stalled out because I think we wanted more time to work on it. But obviously, Lucas was also trying to align it with their own marketing beats." One of the big elements found in the leaked Battlefront 3 from Free Radical was the inclusion of missions that took place in both flight and ground sections. Nanni told Videogamer that this was actually in the cards for Pandemic's version too, "We had some tech on it that was pretty fun. And was working really well," adding "in Battlefront II we had space missions and we were like, 'well, what's the evolution of that' and everyone was like 'well, it's ground to space'. A big battlefield that is Star Wars all the time." Nanni said that if the team had been "given the time, we'd have made something really special." Pandemic would move on from Star Wars, with the closest thing to a sequel from the studio being The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, which adapted the gameplay of Battlefront into a better property. After that, it was the underrated WW2 game The Saboteur before EA threw the studio into its big landfill of shuttered studios. "We cough up a chunk of our soul": 32 game devs, from Doom's John Romero to Helldivers 2 and Palworld leads, explain what people get wrong about games.
Forbes
25-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
What Is Cultural Drift? How To Keep Workplace Progress From Slipping
What Is Cultural Drift? How To Keep Workplace Progress From Slipping In one of the courses I teach, my students are asked if it's harder to change an individual's way of thinking about things or to change an organization's culture. The truth is, both are complicated. Individuals come with their own beliefs, experiences, and perceptions that can lead to resistance. Organizations come with systems, hierarchies, and unspoken rules. But it's important to recognize that culture starts at the top. So, leadership sets the tone, and the rest of the organization either follows it or quietly resists it. The leaders who contact me for help already understand this and are the ones looking to build something better, more curious, and more innovative. They are easier to deal with, because they already value change. Those leaders are more likely to keep their organizations from experiencing cultural drift. What Is Cultural Drift? Cultural drift is the gradual return to old ways of doing things, especially after a period of growth or progress. It's a slow slide into the habits that once held the organization back. You may not notice it at first, but over time, the effects include less innovation, less engagement, and fewer people willing to speak up. Why Cultural Drift Became So Common After The Pandemic According to PwC's 2021 Global Culture Survey, organizations with a distinctive culture were 79% more likely to report increased employee satisfaction during the pandemic. These companies also saw greater improvements in performance and morale, especially when culture was intentionally supported by leadership. That may seem surprising, given the stress and uncertainty of those years. But the shift to remote work brought unexpected benefits. People had more flexibility, more autonomy, and in many cases, more empathy from their leaders. It became acceptable to say you were struggling. Leaders learned to check in more often, listen more carefully, and communicate more clearly. Even so, there's a growing recognition that remote work is not the right fit for every role or every person. Some jobs require in-person collaboration, access to physical equipment, or constant coordination. And not everyone thrived in a virtual setting. Some took advantage of the system. Others struggled with isolation or a lack of structure. For those reasons, bringing people back to the office has been a better solution in some cases. But when that return is handled poorly, driven by fear or control instead of purpose and flexibility, it can trigger culture drift. Now, a few years later, I'm seeing some of that progress start to slip. Cultural drift happens gradually. You might start to notice that people stop asking questions, meetings feel more like going through the motions than solving real problems, and it starts to feel like leaders are managing people instead of working with them. Then fear starts to take the place of psychological safety. What Causes Cultural Drift To Happen? One cause of cultural drift is fear. Some leaders experience fear of losing control, fear of falling behind, and fear of looking unproductive. After a period where leaders trusted their employees to manage their time and workload from home, some companies are now swinging back toward micromanagement. While it might make them feel more in control, it also sends a message, even if it's unintentional. It says, "We don't trust you anymore." Another factor is habit. The status quo is comfortable. It's easy to slip back into old ways of doing things, especially when those old habits are familiar and predictable. Leaders start defaulting to the same routines, the same hierarchies, the same top-down decision-making. Even small signals, like bringing back mandatory in-person meetings or eliminating flexible schedules, can start to undo the gains made during the pandemic. The truth is, change requires maintenance. You can't build a healthy culture once and expect it to stay that way. It needs to be protected, reinforced, and adapted as new challenges arise. That's what many leaders are forgetting right now. How Can You Tell Cultural Drift Is Happening? Cultural drift is not always obvious. You start to notice that employees who used to contribute ideas now stay quiet. Managers spend more time defending decisions than listening. Teams lose their edge because no one wants to take risks. These are signs that something is shifting underneath the surface. You might also see turnover among the very people who once championed the changes you made. When employees who thrived under your more flexible, supportive culture start leaving, it can be a signal that your culture may no longer be supporting the people it was built for. Why Cultural Drift Pushes Curiosity Out Curiosity is one of the first things to fade when cultural drift happens. In healthy cultures, people feel safe to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and explore new ideas. They're encouraged to speak up, not penalized for it. That's what makes curiosity so powerful. It's both a driver of change and a signal that the culture is still healthy. When curiosity is missing, people stop exploring. They avoid hard conversations, which keeps things from evolving. If your goal is to maintain a workplace where people can think, grow, and contribute meaningfully, curiosity must be part of the process. How Leaders Can Prevent Cultural Drift Start by acknowledging that culture work never ends. Leaders should regularly ask themselves, "What are we doing today that supports the kind of culture we want? And what might be slowly pulling us in the wrong direction?" Make time to revisit the values you set during the pandemic. Which ones mattered most? Which ones did your team respond to? Recommit to those values publicly and often. That includes modeling behaviors like transparency, empathy, and flexibility. Create spaces where people can share concerns without fear of backlash. That doesn't mean you'll always agree, but it shows you're listening. People will keep speaking up if they believe it matters. If they feel ignored or punished for doing so, the silence that follows is a sign your culture is drifting. Encourage your teams to challenge how things are done, ask better questions, and reward thoughtful push back. Make it easier for people to test new ideas without having to justify them with a ten-slide deck. Those are the actions that build momentum and keep culture moving in the right direction. What Can You Do Now To Address Cultural Drift? If your workplace experienced growth, connection, or resilience during the pandemic, that came from deliberate choices. It came from empathy, trust, and flexibility. If those things start to slip, so will your culture. Cultural drift can be reversed, but it takes intention. You have to notice it and then decide what kind of culture you want to move toward. Daily actions matter. Keeping curiosity alive in your workplace is the best way to protect the culture you've worked hard to build.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Homebound: Scorsese backed Indian film that got a nine-minute ovation at Cannes
In 2010, Indian filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan made a striking debut at Cannes with Masaan - a poignant tale of love, loss, and the oppressive grip of the caste system, set against the holy city of main lead in the film (Vicky Kaushal) performed a job assigned to one of the lowest castes in the rigid Hindu caste hierarchy – cremating dead bodies along the Ganges. Masaan played in the "Un Certain Regard" section at the festival, which looks at films with unusual styles and or that tells non-traditional stories. It won the FIPRESCI and the Avenir - also known as the Promising Future Prize - then, Ghaywan was in search of a story about India's marginalised communities. Five years ago in the middle of the pandemic, a friend, Somen Mishra - the head of creative development at Dharma Productions in Mumbai - recommended an opinion piece called Taking Amrit Home, published in The New York Times. It was written by the journalist Basharat Peer. What drew Ghaywan to Peer's article was that it tracked the journeys - sometimes of hundreds or even thousands of miles - taken by millions of Indians who travelled on foot to get home during the nation's strict lockdown during the pandemic. But he was also drawn to the core of the story, which focused on the childhood friendship between two men – one Muslim and the other Dalit (formerly known as the untouchables).Ghaywan's new film Homebound, inspired by Peer's article, premiered at Cannes Film Festival's "Un Certain Regard" section this week, ending with a nine-minute long standing ovation. Many in the audience were seen wiping away tears. Ghaywan gave the lead producer Karan Johar a tight hug, while he and his young lead actors – Ishan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor - came together in a larger group hug later. Since this was the biggest South Asian event at Cannes 2025, other film luminaries showed up to support the screening. India's Mira Nair (who won the Camera d'Or in 1988 for Salaam Bombay) leaned across two rows of seats to reach out to Johar. Pakistan's Siam Sadiq (who won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2022 for Joyland) was seen making a reel of the mood inside the theatre that he later posted on film also received backing from a rather unexpected quarter. Its main producer is Johar, the leading Indian commercial filmmaker (known for blockbuster films like Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham and the recent Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani). But last month Martin Scorsese stepped in as the executive producer after he was introduced to the film by the French producer Mélita Toscan du is the first time Scorsese has stepped in to support a contemporary Indian film. Until now he has only backed restored classic Indian films. "I have seen Neeraj's first film Masaan in 2015 and I loved it, so when Mélita Toscan du Plantier sent me the project of his second film, I was curious," Scorsese said in a statement last month. "I loved the story, the culture and was willing to help. Neeraj has made a beautifully crafted film that's a significant contribution to Indian cinema." According to Ghaywan, Scorsese helped nurture the film by mentoring the team through a number of rounds of edits. But he also tried to understand the cultural context which helped the exchange of context was important to Ghaywan, since he had been trying to capture the right spirit of the subject he was tackling. The film's two lead characters – Mohammed Shoaib Ali (Khatter) and Chandan Kumar (Jethwa) have shared histories – the weight of centuries of discrimination at the hand of upper caste Hindus, but also similar goals to rise above the barriers imposed on them - in this case by joining their state's police has openly shared that he was born into a Dalit family - a reality that has cast a long shadow over his life, haunting him since childhood. As an adult, he went on to study business administration and then worked in a corporate job in Gurgaon outside the capital, Delhi. He said he never faced discrimination but was acutely aware of his position in the caste hierarchy and still lives with the weight of where he was born. "I am the only acknowledged person from the community who is there behind and in the front of camera in all of Hindi cinema history. That is the kind of gap we are living with," he says. A majority of India lives in its villages, but Hindi filmmakers rarely talk about bringing the villages to their stories, says Ghaywan. What also offends him is that marginalised communities are only talked about as statistics. "What if we pick one person out of that statistic and see what happened in their lives?" he says. "How did they get to this point? I felt it was worth narrating a story."When he sat down to write the script, he tried to fictionalise the backstories of the two protagonists until the point that they took the journey during Covid – which is the beginning of Peer's a child in Hyderabad, Ghaywan had a close Muslim friend, Asghar, so he felt deeply connected to Ali and Kumar's lived experiences in the film."What appealed to me more was the humanity behind it, the interpersonal, the interiority of the relationship," he says, that took him back to his childhood in Ghaywan's hands, Homebound has the wonderful glow and warmth of the winter sun. It is gorgeously shot in India's rural North, capturing simple joys and the daily struggles of its Muslim and Dalit protagonists. The two men, the woman one of them loves (Kapoor and Jethwa both portray Dalit characters), and their interactions offer much to reflect on and the most part, Ghaywan's script keeps viewers on the edge. Back in 2019, none of us truly grasped the scale of the coming pandemic - but the film subtly foreshadows a shift, reminding us that a crisis can cut across class, caste, and ethnicity, touching seamless blend of fiction and reality has produced a powerful public document, grounding its characters in authenticity. More than just moving its audience to tears, the film is bound to spark meaningful conversations - and, one hopes, a deeper understanding of those who live in the shadows.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Quirky takeaway voted 'best' in county celebrates three years in the business
A "quirky" fish and chip van created in a Herefordshire market town is celebrating three years in the business. Bromyard-based Alfie's Kitchen was created in 2022, with the business name being a nod to owner Rebecca Potter's son. Rebecca and her husband, Ashley, took a 1980s converted caravan, adding chic touches to turn it into a portable food haven. Set up after a local demand for quality fish and chips, the business boomed in its first year, with the pair "totally and utterly overwhelmed" on their first weekend. The food van now offers gourmet smash patty burgers, "heavily loaded" crispy fries, and are proud to deliver comfort food, "with a gourmet twist". Celebrating the milestone, the team said in a Facebook post that the business was "still going strong". "Thank you for all your continued support and following, reviews and likes," they said. "Also to the staff/ family the hours and times, the laughter and the stress. We do love you all". READ MORE: Hundreds of runners take part in Hereford challenge Coroner retires after more than 30 years of service Changes coming to Hereford's Christmas entertainment In 2023, the business was named as one of Herefordshire's best takeaways in the Hereford Times Best Takeaway competition. 'It's nice to hear that we've got such a good follower base," Mrs Potter said of their win. 'I didn't think we'd get anywhere near the top three.' Mrs Potter previously ran a tearoom; however, due to the Pandemic, the business struggled. After winning a small sum from a bingo game, the couple created the unique food van, with Mrs Potter saying they "wanted to be different".
Irish Independent
20-05-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
Sligo active retirement group write about their memories of Covid and present them to local library
Inspiration for the project came from the Folklore schools project of the 1930s when school children were asked to write about their community. They felt that in the future people will ask 'what was it like during the Pandemic'? How did people survive? In preparation for writing their memories a conversation day was held and what surprised people was just how much they had forgotten. Members of the group were asked to write on an aspect of the pandemic and how it impacted on them or their family. People described dealing with serious illness, bereavement, funerals, births and even things like going shopping. Positives were also addressed such as people in the community setting up WhatsApp groups to provide assistance to those unable to go out shopping. Through this neighbours got to know one another which was so important as many younger families had moved into the area. Another community met, socially distanced, on their green area for exercises and dance twice a week. The material will be available in the next few weeks, in the Archive section, Bridge Street.
