“Grand Theft Auto”, a highly anticipated sixth opus
Twelve years after the release of GTA Vthe successful video game series Grand Theft Auto sets the table again. This license, offering adventure games in a vast open world where you can do anything that is not permitted by law, will be expanded with a sixth opus, soberly called “GTA VI”.
The least we can say is that the wait has been long for fans of this franchise published by the company Rockstar Games. And the impatience of some led to a major data leak in September 2022. Following a network intrusion, ninety videos were illegally disclosed and published on a forum dedicated to Grand Theft Autoshowing fifty minutes of gameplay sequences. The first images of the sixth opus, before the release of a official trailer in December 2023, became the third video in history with the most views on YouTube in twenty-four hours, with 91 million views.
Next to the torrent of rumors and speculations circulating on video game forums, the official information that we are aware of to date is very meager. As for the first GTA of the name, the story will take place in the city of Vice City – a parody of Miami, itself integrated into a vast fictional state called “Leonida”, inspired by the landscapes of Florida. Regarding the characters, a couple played by Jason and Lucia will play the leading role.
For the rest of the plot, you will have to wait until fall 2025 (no precise date has yet been communicated) and the release of the game, unless a second trailer comes to spoil the most impatient new clues.
While waiting to know the first sales figures for this game which could well set new records, GTA VI can already boast of having won an award even before its release: on November 21, 2024, it was elected “most anticipated game of 2025” during the Golden Joystick Awards.
The Olympic Games are getting into e-sport
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is entering a new era. Gathered in Paris on July 23, 2024 on the occasion of their 142nd sessionthe members of the IOC voted unanimously in favor of the creation of the e-sport Olympic Games, the first edition of which will be held in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.
This competition should, at a minimum, bring together three categories of video games:
- virtual sports, such Just Dance or the indoor cycling app Zwiftrequiring real physical effort;
- sports simulation games, as have been FIFA et PES in football, or NBA 2K au basket-ball;
- more traditional e-sport games, already having their own competitive scenes, like League of Legends or even Rocket League. According to the daily L’Équipethe publishers of these two video games were reportedly approached by the IOC to join the cast of the first edition of the e-sport Olympic Games.
For the first edition, the IOC wants to include around fifteen video games in its program and bring together more than sixty different nations. Another major desire: to respect gender equality by welcoming as many female players as male players.
The exact date has not been communicated nor has its frequency been officially decided, although we seem to be moving towards an event organized every two years during odd years.
New Northern Lights observable in France?
After the magnificent northern lights observed in France in May 2024, our night sky could once again light up with these vast red and green drapes in 2025.
As announced by a NASA statement broadcast on October 15, the Sun has officially entered its peak of cyclical activity. Approximately every eleven years, the magnetic poles of our star reverse and cause a sharp increase in its activity. The Sun goes from a stable state to very active, numerous sunspots form on its surface and cause flares, more frequent and more intense. When they face us, they send significant quantities of particles and plasma towards the Earth.
When these solar particles outwit the Earth’s magnetic field and penetrate the upper layers of our atmosphere, they cause geomagnetic storms classified from G1 to G5 depending on their intensity. Regardless of their degree, they remain harmless to humanity. The strongest (G4 and G5) can, of course, disrupt electrical networks and cause damage to telecommunications systems, but offer our eyes a magnificent nocturnal spectacle. These are the famous Northern Lights, which are usually observed at the poles.
During the most intense geomagnetic storms, the Earth’s magnetic shield is not effective enough to contain solar particles. Result: northern lights appear at much lower latitudes and can be observed as far away as France. This is what happened in May and October 2024, and it could color our sky again for several months in 2025.
End clap for “Mission Impossible”?
In any case, this is what the name of the eighth opus of the saga, entitled The Final Reckoning (“The Final Report” in French), as well as a enigmatic trailer unveiled in November. This approximately two-minute video begins with a nostalgia sequence showing cult scenes from previous films and ends with a shot of Tom Cruise, in his role as Ethan Hunt, asking an off-screen person to trust him “one last time”. It was enough for this new opus to be interpreted as the last in the saga that began in 1996.
With a release scheduled for May 2025, the latest Mission impossible is the direct sequel to its predecessor, Dead Reckoning (“Death toll”), released in 2023. Still supervised by director Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise once again dons his Ethan Hunt costume and continues the pursuit of a dangerous artificial intelligence called “the Entity”. This hunt, begun in the previous opus, did not end before the end credits.
As usual, the 62-year-old actor gives of himself and continues to perform his own stunts. After hanging on to a plane taking off in Mission impossible: Rogue Nationhaving flown a helicopter on a mountainside in New Zealand and having thrown himself into the void on a motorbike from the top of a cliff in the last opus, Ethan Hunt this time seems to venture into the depths of the oceans to discover a submarine wreck. Is this the omen of a new stunt performed in apnea by Tom Cruise, comparable to that of Rogue Nationfor which he had trained to hold your breath for six minutes? Response in May.
Source: www.slate.fr
