Metaphor: ReFantanzio is one of 2024’s best games racking up a stack of Game Awards including best RPG, best art direction, and best narrative. But one category in which Metaphor particularly stood out was its music. The soundtrack, produced by Shoji Meguro – the long-time music director of the Persona series, is one of the outstanding achievements in video game music this year, particularly its battle theme which became a viral hit. In an interview with The Verge, Meguro talked about his work on the Metaphor soundtrack including what went into what is perhaps the coolest piece of video game battle music ever made.

Meguro, known for his work producing the pop-y, jazzy vibes of the Persona soundtracks, acknowledged that Metaphor’s heavy orchestral / choral sound is not something Persona fans would expect from him and definitely outside his own wheelhouse. He said in order to effectively change gears from Persona to Metaphor, he had to relearn classical music theory.

“But that’s what makes creating this score so exciting,” he said. “When I was first told about Metaphor: ReFantazio, I was told it would be an epic, high-fantasy RPG. And immediately I heard the sound of great...

Read the full story at The Verge.

Amazon might have released a new Kindle Scribe earlier this month for $399.99, but after testing it, I still don’t think it can compete with its rivals. If you’re looking for a good e-reader with more useful note-taking capabilities, the Kobo Elipsa 2E is still one of my favorites, and it’s down to an all-time low of $349.99 ($50 off) at Amazon or Target. Rakuten Kobo will also throw in $10 in credit when you buy a $50 gift card, which you can use toward buying books or styli.

If you’re the type of person who likes to scribble in margins while reading ebooks, you’ll likely prefer the Kobo Elipsa 2E. The Elipsa 2E lets you directly write on ebook pages, taking notes in margins or anywhere else you’d like, just as you would on paper. The new Kindle Scribe lets you directly write on pages, too, but it’s a lot more complicated and you can’t even circle phrases or words.

The Elipsa 2E also offers other helpful features beyond just a more natural note-taking experience. It boasts double the storage (32GB) as the entry-level Kindle Scribe, for example, and accurately converts handwriting into typed text faster than the Scribe. The biggest drawback, of course, is that it doesn’t natively support Kindle ebooks, so you’ll have to convert your library if you want to read them from your Kobo device.

Just a few more deals

• Sony’s WH-CH720N noise-canceling headphones are currently down to just $74.99 ($75 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, which is their all-time low price. Their noise cancellation isn’t as effective as rivals like Sony’s WH-1000XM5, but for the price, they do a decent job of tuning out noise. They also deliver good sound, support for multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, and up to 35 hours of continuous playback, rendering them a great option if you’re on a budget.
• If you’re in need of USB-C chargers, you can buy the Anker PowerPort III and the eco-friendly version of the 30-watt Anker 511 Charger bundled together for $24.99 ($29.99 off) from Best Buy. Both are USB-C chargers that’ll quickly power up your phone, laptop, tablet, and electronics, but the 30-watt Anker 511 Charger is smaller and thus more portable with a single port. In contrast, Anker’s PowerPort III is a 65-watt wall charger that lets you quickly juice up to three devices at once.
• If you’re looking out for porch pirates, the Blink Outdoor 4 camera is on sale for $49.99 ($50 off) — one of its better prices to date — at Amazon with a Sync Module 2 included. Blink’s 1080p security camera offers better image quality than its predecessor, two-zone package detection, and an impressive two years of battery life. You don’t need a premium subscription to record motion events either, thanks to the included Sync Module 2, which lets you record motion-activated video locally (with a USB stick) for free.

• More than 100 of North Korea's elite troops were killed in their first battles for Russia, per South Korean intel.
• A futher 1,000 were wounded in the fighting, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said.
• The troops are ill-prepared for drone attacks and the local terrain, the agency added.

More than 100 of North Korea's best "Storm" troops have been killed and a further 1,000 injured fighting alongside Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean intelligence.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers on Thursday that the troops' losses came in their first battles for Russia, The New York Times reported.

One lawmaker, Lee Seong-kweun, also told reporters that a general-ranking officer may be among the dead, the report said.

North Korean troops arrived in Russia in October. Ukraine said the following month that it attacked North Korean forces for the first time.

Since then, North Korean troops' casualties have mounted. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that preliminary estimates say over 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in Russia's Kursk region.

That region, into which Ukraine launched an offensive in August, is where North Korean troops are now fighting.

North Korea's "Storm" Corps are among the most well-trained in Pyongyang's military, as well as the most indoctrinated, the Times reported.

But despite that elite status, they were still not ready for the fight in Ukraine, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said.

It told lawmakers that they were poorly prepared for drone attacks and the local terrain.

It's not the first time reports have suggested North Korea's forces are ill-prepared for the war.

The BBC reported that the Storm troops get more advanced training than other soldiers, but they are still underfed and can be malnourished.

Ukrainian officials and soldiers have also said that North Korean troops have been killed by drones that they did not realize were dangerous.

Ukrainian intelligence previously reported that North Korean troops accidentally killed eight Russian soldiers in Kursk, describing it as a "friendly fire" incident caused by a language barrier.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service reportedly told lawmakers that North Korean troops were sent to Russia so quickly that Moscow could not properly integrate them into the military and that they only learned a few military phrases in Russian, like "open fire," "artillery," and "in position" before being sent to battle.

But warfare experts warn that the troops' potential impact should not be dismissed, especially given that Russia's tactics have been to use poorly trained soldiers to overwhelm Ukraine.

For its part, Ukraine is reportedly trying to get North Korean troops to surrender, making videos and dropping leaflets on troops in a bid to get them to desert. It has also warned that Russia will treat North Korean troops like disposable cannon fodder, as it appears to have done with many of its own troops.

However, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said that North Korea appeared to be preparing to put more troops in Russia, the Times reported.

Zelenskyy also predicted that North Korean soldiers will at some stage be sent to the front lines in Ukraine.

Ahead of its launch in January, OnePlus has detailed a few more points around the hardware of the OnePlus 13, including a new type of vegan leather and how its flat display isn’t really flat.

Google Messages is becoming one of the most feature-rich messaging clients on mobile with tons of features. The RCS app’s selection of settings makes it a fantastic default messaging app for the Google Pixel or any Android phone. This guide will take you through everything we think you should set up in Google Messages on your Android device.