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Electronic Arts has announced that it has partnered with Silver Rain Games, welcoming the studio’s upcoming debut title into the expanding library of EA Originals. Silver Rain Games is an indie studio founded and now led by Abubakar Salim (who voiced Assassin’s Creed Origins‘ Bayek and currently portrays Raised By Wolves‘ Father) and Melissa Phillips (who previously worked as the BAFTA games program manager). Prior to EA’s announcement about the partnership, I had the chance to sit down with both co-founders.

“It speaks volumes–the fact that you can’t actually define the genre of what [EA Originals] has built,” Salim told me when I asked as to Silver Rain Games’ reasoning for wanting to partner with EA. “That’s the beauty of the art form of what they support and build. There’s a freedom that the EA and the Originals team bring that allows you as the developer to truly find the strengths and weaknesses of what you bring to the table. At the end of the day, it’s the developer’s game.”

Phillips said that “for now” Silver Rain Games and EA’s partnership is only in regards to this first game that the studio is working on, which is still unannounced. During the interview, both Salim and Phillips remained tight-lipped about the game. “We want to tell you; we totally want to tell you,” Phillips laughed after I jokingly admitted that, though I was trying my best, it was proving difficult to talk around a game that I knew nothing about.

Even if neither one could tell me about Silver Rain Games’ upcoming debut title, the two did share their thoughts on what they hope will be the lasting impact of the game. “It goes back to what we as a studio are just trying to do,” Salim said. “We’re trying to bring thought-provoking content. We’re trying to bring enjoyable content. We’re trying to bring things that people want to escape from, but also just can’t get enough of.”

Phillips added that the idea of “curiosity” is also informing what their game is. “I think we’ve all had that experience early on in our game life, where we find something as children and we’re like, ‘Oh my God, it’s amazing. We want to just enjoy the whole thing,'” she said. “I think that’s the sort of feeling that we want to instill in the next generation of whoever’s playing our game. We’re very keen on welcoming new players, perhaps people that haven’t ever picked up games before as well.”

As our conversation came to a close, I asked both Salim and Phillips as to what their favorite types of games and stories are. Salim quickly jumped in first, praising stories that move the player and “reflects something of you as an audience, as a participant,” perhaps evening revealing a side of you that you didn’t even know existed. Phillips followed up by talking about her love for strategy simulation. “I like stats,” she said. “I don’t need to see any action. Just give me the numbers. It needs to feel like work, and then I’m happy.”

“Take what you can from that, Jordan, and imagine the game we are building,” Salim followed up, which got a good laugh out of all three of us. But in all honesty, I’m intrigued to see what kind of ideas sprout from the combined creativity of two people with such differing tastes. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see. The next EA Original game scheduled to release is It Takes Two, a co-op action-adventure platformer that will launch for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC on March 26.

A recent video surfaced of drone footage travelling through Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and what’s notable is how skilled the pilot is along with how cool the final product of the video looks like. It’s worth your time to check it out for yourself.

It’ll be a few months yet before we can start thinking about things like putting our grubby mitts all over bowling balls thrown by dozens of other bowlers. Even so, we’re anticipating the day when we can once again gather at places like this bowling alley, which is the subject of the stunning short film, captured via drone, below.

The video comes via YouTuber jaybyrdfilms. In the video, an FPV drone begins above the bowling alley and snakes in through the door and around the alley as people bowl and chat. It works its way back into the back of the alley and back out, giving us a look at the whole building before the end.

A lot of work went into the video–the sound work was definitely done in post but adds a lot of atmosphere as you can hear people chatting about scoring a turkey (three strikes in a row) while balls crash into pins. It’s all at once technically stunning and nostalgic. The video is so slick that it almost looks like CGI, but this is a very real place (that I’ve been to once and driven by a few hundred times).

The film has a smashing finish, if you catch my drift. Jaybyrd has another video, also shot in Minnesota, of a motorcyclist driving through a closed-down mall late at night that feels like something usually relegated to Grand Theft Auto games and John Wick movie sequences.

GTA Online‘s latest update sees the return of savvy businessman Lamar Davis, who’ll be handing out double cash rewards and Reputation Points all week long. Davis won’t be the only game in town though as Martin Madrazo will also approach players with the same offer, so it’ll be worth keeping your eye on your phone to see who calls you first.

Double cash rewards and Reputation Points will also be available in a number of other activities, as Transform Races and Business Battles will be vying for your attention with added financial bonuses.

Hunting Pack: Remix will also offer increased rewards within its high-risk and high-reward arena. If you play as a Runner in this mode, you’ll need to keep the speed up to stop the bomb strapped to your vehicle from exploding while Attackers are tasked with bringing you down by any means necessary, avoiding any Defenders in the process.

If you’re looking to expand your wardrobe, you can pick up a Dinka Aged Tee for free this week provided that you picked up the original Dinka T-shirt previously. Completing any prep work for the Doomsday Heist before March 17 will also reward you with the Neon Skull Emissive Mask, which can be claimed up any time after March 22.

There’s also still time to earn the Panic ProLaps Basketball top if you complete the Cayo Perico Heist finale before March 17. To get the matching shorts you’ll need to successfully stuff a secondary target into your loot bag during that heist.

If you stop by the lobby of The Diamond Casino & Resort, you can give the Lucky Wheel a spin to walk away with cash, reputation points, clothing, and other mystery prizes. If you’re really lucky, you may even win the HVY Nightshark, an armored SUV that can absorb a brutal amount of damage.

Discounts this week include deals on real estate and vehicles for budding supervillains. The Unholy Hellbringer shotgun, Rhino Tanks, and facility real estate have all had their prices slashed by 40%.

GTA Online Weekly Deals

• Facilities plus customizations and add-ons — 40% off
• Terrorbyte truck plus customizations and add-ons — 40% off
• Widowmaker plasma machine gun — 40% off
• Buckingham Miljet — 40% off
• HVY Chernobog — 40% off
• Rhino Tank — 40% off
• Progen Emerus sports car — 40% off
• Mammoth Squadie LUV — 40% off
• Unholy Hellbringer — 40% off

After nine seasons, American Horror Story is still going strong with captivating storylines, unforgettable characters, and a bunch of nightmares in between. As many of you already know, some of those nightmares are based on reality. Many of the major plot points and characters are inspired by true stories. While we’re gearing up for season ten, we’ll examine each season’s true crime inspirations.

American Horror Story: Asylum drew a great deal of inspiration from history, and many of Asylum’s most unforgettable characters are based on real figures. In the video above, Greg breaks down AHS Season 2’s true crime inspirations: infamous serial killer Ed Gein, the real life Hans Gruper – Josef Mengele, the abductions of Barney and Betty Hill, and Staten Island’s Willowbrook State School.

Confirming rumors, Microsoft has officially announced it will hold a “roundtable” event today at 10 AM PT where it will share more details on Microsoft’s $7.5 billion buyout of ZeniMax. The deal was officially completed this week, paving the way for Bethesda to become part of Microsoft.

What To Expect

This won’t be a news event where we find out more on The Elder Scrolls VI, Starfield, or the next Fallout game. Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg said, “Note, this is NOT FOCUSED ON NEWS/REVEALS, but a great chance to learn more about the teams & people at Bethesda.”

Microsoft confirmed that Bethesda will develop games that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC, but neither company has said more. Given Greenberg’s statement that this roundtable is not expected to be a news event, we may not hear more, though it’s possible we’ll get some kind of commentary.

For his part, Bethesda’s Pete Hines said the roundtable will introduce people to the “faces behind the Bethesda games and studios you know and love.” The exact list of panelists for the roundtable has not been announced, nor do we know the length of the event.

This isn’t the first time that such a roundtable has happened, either, as Phil Spencer from Xbox and Pete Hines and Todd Howard from Bethesda sat down for a wide-ranging chat about the deal back in 2020. You can watch and listen to that podcast here on YouTube. The big difference is that Microsoft now officially owns Bethesda and may be able to speak more freely about the future.

What Time And How To Watch

You can watch the Microsoft-Bethesda briefing right here through the YouTube embed. It’s scheduled to begin at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM GMT.

More Game Pass Games

A big part of the deal is focused on Game Pass, and we’ll begin to see more of that this week. Microsoft and Bethesda have confirmed that additional Bethesda games will join Game Pass this week. We still don’t know what they are, but all should be revealed very soon, if not on this stream, then sometime later.

We will report back with any and all big news from the roundtable event as it happens, so keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

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Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey has yet again spoken about a potential career in politics, and this time he sounds a little more serious about getting involved.

Speaking on The Balanced Voice podcast (via EW), the 51-year-old said he is thinking seriously about running for Governor of Texas in 2022. He said a potential bid is a “true consideration” of his.

This is a slight change in direction from 2020 when McConaughey said he had “no plans” at the time to run for a political office.

“Politics seems to be a broken business. Politics needs to redefine its purpose,” he told Stephen Colbert on his late-night TV show.

McConaughey wouldn’t be the first actor to get into politics, as Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California from 2003 – 2011. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, more recently, has said he might run for President of the United States if people want him to.

Even if McConaughey doesn’t find a future in politics, he has already branched out into leadership activities beyond his acting career. He is now teaching at the University of Texas, while he said on the podcast that he’s been spending time working with children who come from difficult backgrounds.

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