Latest news with #Flashpoint
Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Overwatch 2: Map Voting And A New Map Are Coming In Season 17
The map voting screen in Overwatch 2. There's a major new feature coming to Overwatch 2. As Blizzard promised earlier this year, map voting is coming to the game and it'll be available when Season 17 goes live on June 24. There's also, at last, a brand-new Flashpoint map. The map voting feature will be in both Quick Play and Competitive – it wouldn't really make sense for Stadium. Here's how it works: once the roles are set, three randomized map options will pop up. Your vote will add a one in 10 chance to the odds of your preferred map being selected. A "roulette-style roll" will then determine which map the two teams will play on. The more votes a map gets, the more likely it is that's where you'll do battle. If you don't love any of the maps that pop up in the voting screen, you might be out of luck. Leaver penalties will be in play when voting starts, so if you back out, you might be locked out of playing Quick Play or Competitive for a while. During the map voting phase, you won't be able to see which specific players picked each map. Battle tags and team chat are also hidden. It's unclear whether you'll still be able to discuss map picks with your teammates in group voice chat. Along with map voting, there will be a brand-new map in Season 17 of Overwatch 2. It's been a very long time coming, but there will finally be a new Flashpoint map available. Aatlis will be just the third Flashpoint map in the game, and it'll be nice to have anotehr one in the rotation. Aatlis is set in Morocco. Here's how Blizzard describes it: "From lush gardens to luxury resort spaces, this one is built for tighter fights, cleaner rotations and fast-paced momentum." That sounds pretty good to me. I don't have much else to say about Aatlis, in large part because I don't know anything else about it at the minute, but here are some screenshots to tide you over until Season 17 of Overwatch 2 arrives next week: New Overwatch 2 Flashpoint map Aatlis New Overwatch 2 Flashpoint map Aatlis New Overwatch 2 Flashpoint map Aatlis There's a lot more coming in Season 17 of Overwatch 2, so check out my blog for more of what we know so far. Follow my blog for coverage of video games (including Overwatch 2) and word games. It helps me out a lot! Follow me on Bluesky too! It's fun there. And make sure to subscribe to my newsletter, Pastimes!
Newsweek
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Fox Reporters in Tel Aviv Capture Missile Strikes Live: 'Everyone Move Now'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A barrage of ballistic missiles on Israel forced a television reporter to take cover as he shouted for his colleagues to urgently move to safety. Fox News reporter Trey Yingst was standing on a balcony as short-range missiles behind him appeared to come closer before being intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defense system. The footage of the incident preceded a night in which Israel and Iran traded fire, with explosions heard in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Tehran. Andrew Borene, the executive director for global security at the threat intelligence firm Flashpoint, told Newsweek that escalation was likely. An emergency worker carrying a rescued dog named Tes from a building damaged in an overnight strike in Ramat Gan, Israel, on June 14. An emergency worker carrying a rescued dog named Tes from a building damaged in an overnight strike in Ramat Gan, Israel, on June It Matters The Fox News footage of Israel's air defenses showed the extent of Iran's retaliation to Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities and military bases in the Islamic republic on Friday. Israel's attack killed senior commanders and scientist. The air strike exchange between the countries has raised the alarm over how the conflict may escalate. What To Know While reporting on a balcony, Yingst said Tel Aviv was facing a "massive amount of fire." The blasts behind him could be seen getting closer as Israel's Iron Dome targeted the missiles, but the Fox News reporter raised concerns that some were not being intercepted. Yingst shouted instructions to his production team to prepare for a hasty exit. "Right, let's go, time to go," he said, adding, "Everyone move now." When reporting from indoors later, Yingst said he had not seen such an attack on an Israeli city in the seven years he had reported from the Middle East. Overnight Friday, ballistic missiles hit parts of Israel as alerts sounded for the public to take shelter in the strikes, which Israeli emergency services said killed at least two people and injured dozens. 🚨#BREAKING: Watch as a fox reporters take cover as dozens of ballistic missiles hit downtown Tel Aviv as a massive attack is underway 📌#TelAviv | #Israel A massive wave of ballistic missiles is striking Tel Aviv, Israel, forcing FOX News reporters to evacuate live on air… — R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) June 13, 2025 Iran's attack followed Israel's strike on sites in Iran. The Israeli military said its air force had hit "dozens" of targets in Tehran overnight, including surface-to-air missile infrastructure. Iran's representative to the United Nations said 78 people were killed in Israeli strikes and at least 320 injured, most of whom were civilians. Borene, a former senior staff officer at the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said hostilities would get more intense and that Iran's response could include regional ballistic missiles and drones attacks, cyberattacks, or "most concerning, expanding active terrorism worldwide." He said it was highly unlikely that any other regional players would enter the fray, with Iran's closest allies being not states but proxies—such as Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas. What People Are Saying Fox News reporter Trey Yingst said during a live report: "There's a massive amount of fire coming to Tel Aviv right now. … Guys, come on, everyone move." Andrew Borene, the executive director for global security at Flashpoint, told Newsweek: "There's no clear calculus for what happens next—'If Israel does X, Iran will do Y.' … What's most likely now is further escalation, both on the ground and in the darkest corners of the web, before any calm." What Happens Next The Israel Defense Forces said the country's air force would resume striking targets in Iran. IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir and Israeli Air Force Chief Major General Tomer Bar said in a joint statement on Saturday, "The way to Iran has been paved." Borene said the attacks marked the opening of yet another rapidly expanding flash point within the global context of a new hybrid cold war.
West Australian
08-06-2025
- Politics
- West Australian
Andrew Miller: Trump & Musk remind us humans are predictable in moral vulnerability and propensity for hubris
Whenever a wedding scene comes on TV, Mum says 'it starts when you sink in his arms and ends with your arms in the sink.' Their passion was hot, but now the bromance is over. President Trump has thrown his virgin red Tesla out of the cot, and Elon Musk says he won't let Donald play with his rockets anymore. If they are correct now, they must have been terribly wrong just last week. Either way, neither is fit to run a lemonade stand, and the world is sick of their drama. Their clowning example makes their mutual war on diversity, equity and inclusion in the name of 'merit' even more grotesque. America will neither be the first nor last empire to fall. 'We are all Greeks,' wrote the nineteenth-century English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, acknowledging the intellectual heavy lifting of the Hellenics, which underpins all modern western civilisations. The Greeks told all the important stories. Humans are nothing if not predictable in our moral vulnerability and propensity for hubris. Icarus' father Daedalus gave him the advice that all caring parents try to impart — 'try to neither fly too low, nor too high.' Back in the loved-up days of February, Musk swung a chainsaw about and paraphrased Robert Oppenheimer, claiming unironically, 'I am become meme.' The world's richest alleged ketamine user triggered not only massive cringe, but a vision of young Icarus, flying too close to the orange sun. Mind altering substances are never far from the action — even in ancient Greece. Nicotine, alcohol, methamphetamine, cannabis, ketamine, opiates, psychedelics — none of these are new. Percy Shelley used opium and laudanum to 'dampen his nerves,' between arguments with his neighbours about his pistol shooting, radical politics and 'science experiments.' President Trump spuriously claims his right to impose tariffs is based on a fentanyl trafficking crisis. A year ago, I wrote of Musk — 'when it comes to the chemical modulation of our impossibly complex brain, the stakes are much higher than boring old money.' Now his whole house of cards is wobbling and the one president who possibly might have shored it up is brandishing a flame-thrower. In properly trained hands, drugs can be useful. I have been employing ketamine and opiates all week. How to use them safely and sparingly though is a matter of dispassionate science — populism does not make for good medicine. In November 2019, I appeared on Channel 7's Flashpoint programme, alongside then low-flying WA Health Minister, now Premier Roger Cook. As he announced that GPs would be permitted to openly prescribe medicinal cannabis henceforth, I was watching the face of another panelist — the CEO of a start-up cannabis supplier. Her blushing visage could only be described as 'just told she won the lottery.' I was called cynical at the time, but in the second half of 2024 eight doctors alone — assisted by eager pharmaceutical companies — wrote over 80,000 scripts for the highest strength cannabis, much of it to be smoked. Over 400,000 Australians started prescriptions for the highest THC content cannabis during that period. It's way out of control. Mental health services picking up the pieces of addicted young people are not amused at this State-sponsored jump in the boringly predictable complications of cannabis. 'First doing no harm' won't be good for the online reviews of doctors or politicians, but that's our job. Shelley's brilliant wife Mary wrote an excellent warning about science gone morally wrong. Her protagonist was Doctor Frankenstein. Percy Shelley's 1818 sonnet Ozymandias interpreted a statue of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses the Great as saying, ' Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! ' He points out the irony of egotistical monuments: ' No thing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away .' Time kills the importance of all men. It ends when we sink in the sand, so let's strive to do no harm.
Geek Vibes Nation
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Lost Shot At Playing Batman In A Flashpoint Movie
When Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit theaters in 2016, fans were intrigued—and a bit puzzled—by the casting of Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan as Thomas and Martha Wayne. These were big-name actors, known for gritty roles in projects like The Walking Dead , yet their screen time was limited to a brief, tragic flashback. Almost immediately, speculation swirled: was this a sneaky setup for a future Flashpoint film, with Morgan stepping into the cowl as a darker, alternate-universe Batman? Fast forward nearly a decade, and those fan theories have been both validated and dashed. In a recent interview on the Den of Geek YouTube channel, Morgan, alongside Cohan, confirmed that there were plans for him to play Thomas Wayne as Batman in a Flashpoint adaptation. Sadly, the project never materialized, leaving fans to mourn yet another missed opportunity in Zack Snyder's DC Universe. A Tease That Sparked Hope The Flashpoint storyline, based on the 2011 DC Comics event, flips the Batman mythos on its head. In this alternate timeline, it's Thomas Wayne, not Bruce, who becomes Batman after a tragedy reshapes the Wayne family. Morgan's casting in Batman v Superman seemed like perfect foreshadowing. Fans imagined him as a grizzled, morally complex Batman, a role that would've leaned into his knack for intense, layered characters like Negan in The Walking Dead . Cohan as a twisted Martha Wayne—potentially the Joker in this universe—only fueled the excitement. But as the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) evolved, those dreams fizzled. The 2023 Flash movie, while loosely inspired by Flashpoint , sidelined Thomas Wayne entirely, opting instead to bring back Michael Keaton as Batman. Many assumed Snyder had simply tossed Morgan and Cohan into Batman v Superman as a favor to old pals, with no bigger plan in mind. More on The Flash. Photo Credit: DC Comics Morgan Confirms the Scrapped Plan Turns out, the fans were onto something. While promoting The Walking Dead: Dead City , Morgan dropped a bombshell during the Den of Geek interview. He revealed that Snyder had indeed envisioned a Flashpoint film where Thomas and Martha Wayne would play 'a much bigger role.' 'Truthfully, Zack was gonna do more movies,' Morgan said. 'And I think there was a time when Flashpoint Batman would have seen these two characters in a much bigger role. And that was part of the Zack world of all of it, and then I never got a chance to do that, unfortunately.' The collapse of this project ties directly to Snyder's gradual exit from the DCEU. After creative differences and personal challenges, Snyder stepped away from Justice League , and his broader vision for the DC Universe—including films like Flashpoint —was shelved as Warner Bros. pivoted to new directions. Why It Hurts For fans, this revelation stings. Morgan as Thomas Wayne's Batman could've been electric—a chance to see a darker, more vengeful take on the Caped Crusader, clashing with Ben Affleck's weathered Bruce Wayne. The Flashpoint comics are beloved for their bold twists, and Morgan's intensity would've been a perfect fit. Pair that with Cohan's potential as a chaotic Martha/Joker, and you've got a recipe for a game-changing superhero movie. The DCEU's history is littered with what-ifs, from Affleck's unmade Batman solo film to the scrapped Justice League sequels. Morgan's Flashpoint joins that list, a casualty of a franchise that struggled to capitalize on its stellar casting and ambitious ideas. Affleck himself has spoken about his frustrations with the DCEU, particularly the grueling experience of playing Batman, which he detailed in interviews about the physical and creative toll. What's Next for DC? While Morgan's Batman dream didn't pan out, the DC Universe is far from done. Under James Gunn and Peter Safran's leadership, the rebooted DCU is taking shape, with projects like Superman (2025) and The Brave and the Bold on the horizon. Could Morgan still don the cowl in a future multiverse story? Never say never—DC loves its alternate realities, and fans would lose their minds for it. For now, you can revisit Snyder's vision with Zack Snyder's Justice League , streaming on HBO Max. And keep an eye on Morgan and Cohan in The Walking Dead: Dead City , where they're still kicking zombie butt.
Geek Tyrant
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Jeffrey Dean Morgan Confirms He Was Meant to Play Flashpoint Batman in the DCEU — GeekTyrant
There was a point where DC fans held out hope that Jeffrey Dean Morgan would one day play Flashpoint's Batman, and it turns out, it almost happened! Morgan has officially confirmed that he was in line to play the brutal Thomas Wayne version of the Dark Knight in the DCEU. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , Zack Snyder kicked things off with the Wayne murders in Crime Alley and Morgan played Thomas Wayne and Lauren Cohan plays Martha. You don't cast these two die and never see them again. Fans instantly started speculating about Flashpoint and alternate timelines. Thomas as Batman. Martha as Joker. The pieces were all there. In a new interview promoting The Walking Dead: Dead City , Morgan confirmed what many had long suspected: "Truthfully, Zack was gonna do more movies, and I think there was a time when Flashpoint Batman would have seen these two characters in a much bigger role. And that was part of the Zack world of all of it, and then I never got a chance to do that, unfortunately." Snyder had a broader vision, and Flashpoint Batman was part of it. But like so many things in the ever-shifting sands of the DCEU, that vision never materialized. Snyder stepped away and the projects he was developing just faded away. The Flash project was handed off to a rotating door of directors and writers. What we got in the end was a multiverse mashup that leaned into nostalgia, with Michael Keaton returning as Batman and a CGI blur of cameos. Morgan's co-star Lauren Cohan didn't weigh in during the interview, but it's long been rumored that if Morgan's Thomas became Batman, Cohan's Martha would've become a Joker twisted by grief. This was such a wild version of the Batman story. This is now one of those DC 'what ifs' that will sting fans of the DCEU a little more now, knowing how close we were to something potentially wild and different.
