Category: 4. Technology

Ubisoft is handing control to AI in its latest blockchain experiment, Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E., launching a new text-based governance experience to the Ethereum-based game this week at ETHCC in Paris.

In the game, AI agents tied to NFT-based characters don’t just exist—they vote, govern, and evolve based on player choices.

Developed in partnership with French AI developer LibertAI, the latest Captain Laserhawk twist introduces AI-powered features to the existing NFT characters called Niji Warriors. The agents connected to each of the 10,000 NFTs can act autonomously and make in-game decisions on behalf of their owners, analyzing proposals, casting votes, and logging actions on-chain.

Set in the dystopian universe of Ubisoft’s Netflix animated series “Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix”—which is inspired by a game in the Far Cry series—the project spans two interconnected experiences: a top-down multiplayer shooter launched in December on Ethereum’s Arbitrum network, and a new text-based governance simulator debuting in July.

Both experiences rely on the same Niji Warrior NFTs. But while the shooter emphasizes action and crossover content from other Ubisoft franchises, the upcoming text-based component focuses on decentralized storytelling and AI-driven decision-making, all built on LibertAI’s technology.

The teams showed a first glimpse of the planned AI governance experience back at the ETH Denver conference in February.

“What’s changed since Denver is that NFTs and PFPs can now vote on Snapshot,” Didier Genevois, Technical Director and Executive Producer at Ubisoft, told Decrypt. “The NFTs are initialized with personas tied to their metadata—this is the first iteration—so they have distinct personalities. If you don’t vote, your NFT will vote based on that persona and explain why.”

Genevois described the game as an experiment in AI governance, set within a world that blends characters and content from various Ubisoft IPs, including Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Watch Dogs 2, Assassin’s Creed, Rayman, and Rainbow Six.

Each AI agent is built with specific traits—such as age, profession, personality, and values—and powered by LibertAI’s models. These agents cast votes using compatible wallets and justify their choices using memory, game context, and player history. All decisions and memory states are logged on Aleph Cloud to ensure transparency and prevent tampering.

“The goal is to connect in-game actions to governance. Unlocking content in the text-based game can influence how your Niji votes in the future,” LibertAI Lead Contributor Jonathan Schemoul told Decrypt. “Eventually, Nijis could govern the game world itself. The game will likely evolve based on their decisions, which are shaped by your in-game actions.”

While AI agents act autonomously, players can intervene if they choose. Genevois emphasized that the tension between AI agency and human control is central to the experience.

“It’s important for us to leave room for humans,” he added. “If you want to have an impact and you’re concerned, then you can vote, propose ideas, and find a way to push back against a world ruled by AI agents. That tension is what interests us.

Both Genevois and Schemoul stressed that each player’s experience is distinct. Unlike recent AI gaming mishaps—such as an AI-controlled Darth Vader in Fortnite that spiraled into hate speech—the Captain Laserhawk AI agents are isolated to each user’s environment.

“If you make it derail, it will only be for your own experience,” Genevois said. “It won’t affect the experience of other players. So if you make it curse, then you’ll see some curses on your terminal—but that’s it.”

Ubisoft and LibertAI have built guardrails into the system to protect players from inappropriate content. While decentralized AI allows for uncensored models, Genevois said the models used in Captain Laserhawk are curated.

“In decentralized AI, anybody can provide uncensored models. But for this experience, the model used is censored, and for good reason,” he said. “If players aren’t adults, you don’t want the model to say weird or inappropriate things. The world prompt and the way the model is used are designed to avoid that.”

Captain Laserhawk is also designed to meet players where they are. Whether you’re a seasoned in-game hacker or a curious beginner, the game adapts its difficulty and dialogue in real time based on skill level.

“If you don’t know anything about hacking, you can just say, ‘I want to enter the system,’ and the LLM will guide you,” Genevois said. “If you’re a real hacker, it will challenge you more. Everyone gets a different experience, but the goal is the same.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward

As stated by Remedy’s Communications Director Thomas Puha in an interview with GameSpot, the team is aware of Firebreak’s less-than-stellar performance on Steam, however, while the platform is a “very important part of the business” for Remedy, “it isn’t everything.” “We aren’t naive, we had hoped for a better launch,” Puha said, “but the team here is super-motivated to continue building the game and responding to player feedback.”

Although the game’s SteamDB numbers are currently in double digits, which almost certainly indicates the game failed to capture attention and probably reflects similar trends on other platforms as well, the spokesman noted that “there is a good number of new players coming in every day on consoles,” though what exactly this number is hasn’t been disclosed.

When asked how Remedy plans to change Firebreak’s course and attract new audiences, Puha explained that the team is betting heavily on post-launch content, aiming to expand the experience with new features going forward.

Action was the highest-grossing genre on Steam, accounting for 58.37% of total platform revenue. Next came RPGs (17.11%), strategy games (13.97%), simulators (9.76%), and sports games (1%).

Among action games, arena shooters made the most money – 18.99% of the genre’s revenue, or $9.52 billion. The second-highest subgenre is first-person shooters, with $6.67 billion in revenue.

The report also named top-earning RPG subgenres, which are action RPGs (26.45% or $3.89 billion), MMORPGs ($3.69 billion), and CRPGs ($2.69 billion).

Steam users also like strategy games – in particular, they prefer MOBAs (19.23% or $2.31 billion), RTS games ($1.84 billion), and grand strategy titles ($1.16 billion).

The money makers in the simulator category are general simulators (44.57% or $3.74 billion), job simulators ($1.36 billion), and racing games ($942.89 million).

Another thing: they attempted to define the highest average revenue per game. The results are as follows: arena shooters ($634.8 million), battle royales ($354.2 million), and hero shooters ($206.7 million). The subgenres making the least money are visual novels and roguelike deck builders, which generate $4.2 million and $3.4 million, respectively.

Of course, the results cannot be trusted 100% as they are more like predictions, but the report is good for assessing different trends in the industry. The full breakdown is available here.

Earlier today, Metacritic admitted that “veteran” gaming journalists have greater influence in determining a game’s final score.

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Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling technology is the most exciting thing happening in gaming that sounds like the least exciting thing. I’ve been crowing about what an amazing tool DLSS is for years, going all the way back to when we thought the Switch 2 was just the Switch Pro.

I mean, I guess it kind of is… but I digress.

DLSS 4 released alongside the newest generation of 50-series GPUs, and I’ve been putting some of the new features through their paces to find out if they’re everything Nvidia says they are. In particular, I was interested to see how multi-frame generation, which now supports 4x on 50-series cards, can be used to improve performance and visual fidelity beyond my system’s normal limits. After much testing, it’s safe to say the marketing isn’t deceptive: DLSS 4’s multi-frame generation is so good at creating frames out of thin air, it practically looks like magic.

You Get Some Frames, And You Get Some Frames

A lot of graphics and gaming tech is hard to parse because it sounds like a bunch of technobabble, but multi-frame generation is exactly what it sounds like. While DLSS, or deep-learning super sampling, boosts performance by running your game at a low resolution using AI to infer a higher quality image, multi-frame generation uses AI to, well, generate more frames. Nvidia gets into the nitty-gritty of how it’s able to do that here, but what I’m really interested in is whether it or not it actually works, and what drawbacks, if any, it comes with.

To test multi-frame generation, Nvidia provided me with an RTX 5080, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Dune: Awakening, to see how the feature works in both single player and multiplayer settings. There are already 100 games that support multi-frame generation, with new releases like Mecha Break, Phantom Break Zero, and Tides of Annihilation on the way, but between Doom and Dune, I got a pretty good sense of what DLSS 4 has to offer modern games. I also tested God of War Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2 to see what the tech does for slightly older games too.

RTX 40-series cards don’t support multi-frame generation, but still offer 2x frame generation.

Doom: The Dark Ages is one of the most frenetic shooters out there, so multi-frame generation would have to be pretty precise to keep up with the Slayer’s rampage. As a basic test I started with DLSS in balanced mode and tuned my settings until I got a stable 60fps. I use a 5120×2160 super ultrawide display, so even with a 5080 slotted in, locking in at 60 is a lot easier than it sounds.

On 50-series cards multi-frame can scale from 2x to 4x, so I turned on 2x and voila, 120fps. I skipped 3x and went right to 4x, and what do you know, 240fps. One click of a button, and my framerate quadrupled. Could this be true? Is it really that simple? Well, yes and no, but mostly yes.

Could It Really Be That Easy?

Going from 60fps to 240 with the click of a button is pretty incredible. As someone who has been PC gaming since the ‘90s and has spent hours tweaking shadow settings to squeeze two extra frames out of my rig, I couldn’t believe how easy this was. No really, I couldn’t believe it.

I played hours of Doom: The Dark Ages, and my conclusion is that multi-frame generation is incredible, but it’s not perfect. You will find some occasional artifacting if you’re looking for it, especially in things that are difficult to render like detailed foliage or when objects move out from behind UI. Even around the target reticle, which is where your focus is when locked when you’re playing, you can see some of the calculations happening in front of your eyes, depending on what you’re aiming at. The flaws are the most notable on 4x, while on 2x, I barely noticed any flaws at all.

The other thing to consider is that using multi-frame generation increases latency. This won’t be a huge deal in some games, but for something super twitchy like Doom, it can feel a little bit floaty. The latency didn’t bother me nearly as much in Spider-Man or God of War, but I definitely noticed it in Doom. While getting lots of free frames may sound great for competitive shooters, because of the latency, I wouldn’t recommend this feature for Marvel Rivals or Apex Legends players.

But for something like Dune: Awakening, it’s incredible. The smoothness you get from having a higher frame rate has a big impact. Driving and flying across the desert is that much more immersive, and the scale of the world, along with its muted color palette, makes any potential flaw a lot harder to detect. Of all the games I tested, Dune was the most impressive.

Who Is Multi-Frame Generation For?

My first instinct when I learned about multi-frame generation was that, like DLSS itself, it would help future proof our gaming PCs. It doesn’t matter if your hardware is too low to hit a stable 30 when you can hit one button and turn 30 into 120. It turns out that, at least for now, low end machines won’t get as much out of multi-frame generation as machines that can already hit a decent frame rate. Going from 30 to 120 introduces significantly more artifacting than going from 60 to 240, simply because your starting point is so much lower.

That doesn’t mean it’s useless for low-end machines, and different people will have different sensitivities to defects. There’s a good chance you will be able to squeeze more life out of lower end 4060 and 5060 GPUs thanks to this feature, because the benefits will be worth more than the sacrifices.

The best use for multi-frame generation seems to be maxing out the refresh rate of your display. My monstrous super ultrawide has a 240Hz refresh rate that I’ve never been able to take advantage of, but with multi-frame generation, I can finally get there. It’s not uncommon for gamers to have 120, 240, or even 360Hz displays these days, and for modern triple-A games, this is the only way you’re going to be able to hit those kinds of numbers.

Is multi-frame generation a magical make more frames button? Well yeah, it kind of is. When you consider the drawbacks, it’s pretty impressive how much more you can get out of your rig. After three years with the Samsung Odyssey G9, I’m finally getting to see its full potential thanks to this feature, and this is only the start.

AppsFlyer today unveiled its comprehensive State of App Marketing in Asia 2025 report, revealing the region’s remarkable mobile growth trajectory and the strategic evolution reshaping the app economy.

Asia has achieved unprecedented scale, tripling its app installs in just six years and growing by 150%. The region now accounts for more than half of global mobile activity, driven by expanding smartphone penetration, maturing digital economies, and sophisticated full-funnel performance marketing strategies.

“Asia’s app economy has entered a transformative phase characterized by exceptional complexity alongside sustained growth, and the region now hosts the world’s most dynamic mobile markets and sophisticated marketing ecosystems,” said Ronen Mense, President and Managing Director of APAC, AppsFlyer. “Beyond sheer scale lies a fundamental evolution: the decisive shift from volume-driven acquisition to strategy-led performance optimization. India, Indonesia, and the Philippines have emerged as critical growth engines, each requiring precisely calibrated creative, pricing, and product strategies to unlock value at scale. Our new report, launching after our latest successful MAMA Asia event, examines that strategic evolution and provides a comprehensive framework for marketers seeking to navigate Asia’s next chapter with strategic clarity and purposeful execution.”

The report analyses billions of app interactions across 14 Asian markets, revealing how marketers are navigating divergent growth strategies. While emerging markets prioritize speed and scale, mature markets emphasize user quality, privacy compliance, and profitability optimization.

  

Key Findings from the 2025 Report:

• $14.77 billion in user acquisition spend. Finance, Food & Drink, and Shopping verticals dominate investment, with marketers doubling down on performance-driven strategies across emerging and mature markets.

• Gaming hybrid monetization grew 3.4x since 2023. Non-gaming verticals increasingly rely on in-app purchases for revenue stability, while gaming successfully balances ads and purchases for optimal monetization.

• $4.47 billion invested in remarketing campaigns. Lifecycle marketing has become critical, especially in high-growth markets like India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, signaling a strategic shift toward full-funnel engagement.

• Bots comprised over 80% of fraudulent installs in 2024. Fake publisher fraud increasingly targets re-engagement campaigns, particularly on iOS, while install hijacking shows declining trends across the region.

Strategic Market Segmentation

The report identifies two distinct growth paradigms across Asia’s diverse markets, emerging versus mature markets, and platform versus vertical strategy. Emerging markets, led by countries like India, prioritize high-velocity, cost-efficient user acquisition strategies to capitalize on rapid market expansion. These markets emphasize scale and speed, focusing on broad reach to capture the expanding user base as smartphone penetration accelerates.

Vertical performance patterns show Food & Drink and Shopping categories demonstrating strong recovery momentum following earlier market disruptions, while Gaming maintains consistent growth through increasingly sophisticated hybrid monetization models that balance advertising revenue with in-app purchases.

The data reveals Asia’s app marketing landscape rapidly diversifying, with marketers implementing increasingly nuanced strategies tailored to specific platforms, verticals, and user segments.

Methodology

The 2025 Asia App Marketing Report is based on anonymized and aggregated data sourced from AppsFlyer’s platform, covering over 30,000 apps, 15 billion installs, and $14 billion in user acquisition and remarketing spend across Android and iOS. The data spans January 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, and includes 14 key markets in Asia, such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Australia. Insights were drawn from app categories with statistically significant activity, including Gaming, Finance, Shopping, Food & Drink, and Entertainment. Fraud trends were identified using AppsFlyer’s proprietary machine learning-based detection tools, analyzing patterns such as bot-driven installs, install hijacking, and fake publisher fraud. All monetary values are in USD, and data has been normalized to account for market size, attribution differences, and regional skews to ensure an accurate and representative view of Asia’s mobile marketing landscape.

(Image by Iqbal Nuril Anwar from Pixabay)

Google has issued an emergency update for Chrome users, after its own Threat Analysis Group discovered and reported an actively exploited vulnerability last week. When a single security fix is rolled out this quickly, it’s critical to update immediately.

Google warns it is “aware that an exploit for CVE-2025-6554 exists in the wild,” and that “access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix. We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed.”

ForbesGoogle Update Warning—30% Of All Android Users Now At RiskBy Zak Doffman

The high-severity vulnerability is a “Type Confusion in V8,” Google’s Javascript engine, which could allow hackers to remotely execute code on devices. This issue was mitigated “by a configuration change pushed out to Stable channel across all platforms.”

That config change took place a week ago and has been followed by this urgent software update. As usual, it will download to your device. You then need to restart your browser to ensure it installs. All your regular browsing tabs should be restored, but your Incognito private browsing tabs will not, so save any work before you exit Chrome.

Attacks exploiting CVE-2025-6554 will come by way of specially crafted HTML pages, and as usual while the assumption is this is very specifically targeted for now, once a vulnerability is in the public domain that can change quickly.

ForbesChange Your Browser Settings Now—‘Massive Security Risk’By Zak Doffman

Chrome is essentially the default browser on Windows, despite Microsoft’s efforts to push Edge more widely. As such, this is primarily a Windows threat. That said, whatever device you’re using to run Chrome should be updated today.

We saw something similar last month — with another emergency update — which should frame the urgency. The latest update for Windows/ Mac is 138.0.7204.96/.97. We can expect this to prompt a U.S. government update mandate and deadline.

Intuitive and efficient monitoring 

Ready for personal and institutional use 

ECG feature available now 

It’s not just high-end watches and world-class chocolate that come out of Switzerland; the last 30 years have taught us that the Swiss are pretty darn good at making bike wheels too. DT Swiss has become one of the leading manufacturers of all things related to bike wheels, and, learning from its watch-making brothers and sisters, has ventured into the intricate realm of developing and manufacturing suspension.

In the brand’s lineup is a wheel for almost every discipline of cycling, including the D 1900 wheelset seen here, designed specifically for the demands of dirt jumpers and pump-track riders alike. The theme tune for this wheelset sings reliability and durability, ready to case that gap you’ve been eyeing up at the pump-track or under-rotate that 360° you’ve been trying to nail.

Related:

DT Swiss D 1900 Wheelset

Starting from the inside, the D 1900 wheels spin on a pair of DT Swiss 370 hubs, but these aren’t the same as what you’d find on a trail bike. The front hub comes in a Boost 110mm width, and includes end caps for both 15mm and 20mm axles, however has no provisions for a front disc brake. Generally speaking, a lot of folk only run a single rear brake on dirt-jump or pump track bikes for simplicity and to reduce the number of cables, hence the move by DT Swiss to eliminate the front brake mount from the hub.

In the rear, we have another DT Swiss 370 hub, but this time configured for a 135mm axle spacing and in a bolt-up configuration. This will suit the majority of hardtail DJ frames with sliding dropouts on the market, and allows for simple adjustments to chain tension. The hub comes preconfigured with a singlespeed specific freehub inbuilt with a 12T cog, and runs the DT Swiss Ratchet LN36 internals. This is the brand’s 3-pawl system with 36 engagement points, and is well known for being extremely durable and easily rebuildable.

Key Details

• Wheel Size | 26in Only
• Hub Spacing | 110x20mm Front (15mm adapters included), 135mm Bolt-Up Rear
• Disc Mounting | No Brake Interface Front, 6-Bolt Rear
• Freehub | Singlespeed w/12T Cog, Ratchet LN36 internals
• Rim Material | Aluminium
• Rim Width | 30mm Internal
• Spoke Count | 32H
• Wheelset Price | $250 AUD Front, $360 AUD Rear
• Hub Only Price | $159 AUD Front, $299 AUD Rear
• Wheelset Weight | 1,060g Front, 1,294g Rear, 2,354g Total (Claimed)

Spokes are taken care of by DT Swiss’s own double-butted Competition spokes configured in a traditional 3-cross lacing pattern, and secured to the rim via Brass ProLock Squorx nipples.

And to finish things off, a sturdy aluminium, pin-joint rim with a 30mm internal width keeps the D 1900’s rolling. They come pre-wrapped in tubeless tape, but can be run with tubes if preferred. It’s worth noting that the D 1900 wheelset does carry a maximum recommended rider weight of 120kg to be able to handle the trashing they are built for. These are available only in 26in to suit the majority of dirt jump bikes available on the market.

As for price, the wheels are sold individually, with the front retailing for $250 AUD and the rear for $360 AUD. The DJ-specific 370 hubs will be available separately for $159 AUD and $299 AUD for the front and rear, respectively. Given the small price difference, the complete wheelset appears far better value than buying the hubs alone and building the wheels from scratch. However for those just chasing hubs, it’s excellent to see this as an option nevertheless.

We fitted the D 1900 hoops to a Canyon Stitched 360, which were a direct swap for the stock wheels. Following a fair share of heavy landings, they’ve stayed true and haven’t had any detensioning issues.

Aside from that, there’s not a whole lot to be said. We were a little surprised that DT didn’t choose the EX471 rim for the wheel build, as this is the rim of choice for many elite DJ riders. This likely would have pushed the price a bit higher though, and as it stands this is a great value wheelset.

Of course they’re not super-light at 2.35kg for the pair, and the ride quality was similar to the stock wheelset. With weight not being the drawcard, durability and cost becomes the primary selling point of the D 1900s. The pre-built wheelset options in this space are few and far between, forcing a lot of riders to opt for custom-built wheels. These generally carry significantly higher price tags once you factor in the labour to build the wheels. This makes the D 1900s an attractive choice as a replacement upgrade for your DJ bike’s stock wheels once they look like tacos.

For everyone who is looking to relive their childhood, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 will be re-released.

The legendary games will be released on major consoles on July 11, marking the second time that Hawk’s games have been re-released in this current generation. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 was re-released in 2020 and 2021 on the current generation of consoles.

“The nostalgia is obvious, and with our game coming out, the nostalgia for that is very strong,” says Hawk in a one-on-one interview.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is one of the most iconic video game franchises of all time. The first game was released in 1999 at a time when extreme sports was just starting to become a mainstream genre. The game’s release came just months after Hawk landed the first-ever 900 at X Games V.

The original series generated over $1.4 billion in sales, with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 being the best-selling game of the franchise with over two million copies in the United States alone.

The new edition will feature all of the notable skaters from the original games — Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist, Chad Muska and Hawk himself — along with multiple new current skaters. The game will also feature skateboard legend Bam Margera, something that Hawk had to push tremendously for. Margera will be included as a secret skater in the re-release of the game.

While the game is very true to the original versions — Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4 were released in 2001 and 2002 — Hawk mentions that the re-release will feature new added elements, including new maps and levels.

“Based on the success of our last remaster (1+2), I think it’ll be great,” says Hawk of the game’s re-release. “This one is more of a remake. We have some of the iconic levels from three and four, I think the ones that people most identify with. We also added some new maps and new levels, which I wanted to do.”

There will be several new skaters added to the original lineup, including Chloe Covell — youngest women’s street gold medalist in X Games history — Rayssa Neal, Yuto Horigome, Jamie Foy and Zion Wright. There’s a number of new international skaters in the game, which represents the growing popularity of extreme sports across the world.

Foy is considered the “best street skater” these days, according to Hawk. Meanwhile, Hawk calls the 26-year-old Wright a “machine.” The game will also feature new songs, with Hawk saying he didn’t want to repeat the old soundtrack. He also cites wanting to bring songs that resonates with the current generation.

“I’m excited to venture into new territory and give people a chance to skate and do combos in different areas in new areas,” says Hawk. “We’ve updated the skaters so they reflect the current roster of the people you see either competing or in Thrasher Magazine, while still honoring the original characters.”

Skateboarding debuted at the Olympics in 2020 and Hawk points towards that as a major reason for the international growth of the sport.

“With the Olympics inclusion, that has helped to open eyes to skating in other countries that maybe hadn’t embraced it or considered it before,” says Hawk. “I feel like the international growth is even bigger. If you look at the top competitors now, so many are from Japan, from Australia, from Brazil, and that element is growing.”

A total of 80 skateboarders participated in the 2020 Summer Olympics from 25 different countries. Japan won the most medals (five, three gold) with Brazil pulling in three total medals. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 features Horigome (who won gold in the men’s street competition) and Brazilian skater Rayssa Leal, who won silver in the women’s street competition.

“Obviously, the United States is still doing well, but I feel like it has become much more international,” says Hawk. “I’m thankful for that, because it gives kids a chance to try it wherever they are.”

Tony Hawk Partnering With Tony The Tiger For Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4

In collaboration with the re-release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, Hawk is partnering with an old friend of his — none other than popular cereal character Tony The Tiger. For those that aren’t familiar, Hawk was Tony The Tiger’s stunt double in 1990 for a commercial.

“I’ve been a fan of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes since I could choose my own breakfast,” says Hawk. “But I got to work on a commercial in 1990 where I was the stunt double for Tony The Tiger. It’s the early days of animating things over actual video. It was a little archaic, but I think it looked great. I had to wear a skin tight suit.”

While Hawk is a mega star and has been over the past quarter century, that wasn’t the case in the early 90’s. This preceded the debut of the X Games and Hawk hitting the innovative 900 move. It also preceded the release of his popular video game series by nearly a decade.

The 57-year-old says he was just thankful to get work at that time, considering vert skaters didn’t receive much recognition in the early 90’s.

“My friend Chris Miller was the main character in the commercial, so I ended up filming him as well,” Hawk details. “I was the cameraman, and I was Tony The Tiger in that commercial. At the time, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for skateboarders, especially vertical half-pipe skateboarders, so I was thankful to get a job, to be honest.”

The two Tony’s will be teaming up again at the Vert Alert Legends Demo in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Here we are 35 years later, and we’ve incorporated Tony the Tiger into the game with some of the merch,” says Hawk. “I got to hang out with him on my ramp a couple weeks ago, and he is coming to our big event in Salt Lake City, the Vert Alert on July 18 and 19th. He’ll actually be there in person. It’s beyond any dream I would have had, because I didn’t imagine I’d even get to be a pro skater into my old age.”

Limited edition skateboards will be released to five fans, including autographed merchandise at the Vert Alert Legends Demo.

“To bring those two elements together for me is an amazing collaboration,” says Hawk of teaming up with Tony The Tiger again. “We’ll be doing some giveaways with some prize packs, Tony the Tiger skateboards, limited edition Frosted Flakes boxes. I’m doing some social media stuff with Tony. It’s a meeting of the Tonys, which has been pretty cool. We actually created our own handshake.”

Tamron has announced the 16-30mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 zoom lens for both Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount, completing its second generation trinity — the “Daisangen” as Tamron calls it — as the new lens joins the 28-75mm f/2.8 G2 and 70-180mm f/2.8 G2 telephoto zooms.

Daisangen is a term that originated from the game of mahjong, Tamron explains, and refers to a winning hand made by collecting three sets of dragon tiles.

“Drawing from this concept, the photography industry uses the term “daisangen lenses” in Japan to describe a set of three zoom lenses—a wide-angle, a standard, and a telephoto—all featuring a constant f/2.8 aperture throughout their zoom range,” Tamron says.

This third lens in its trifecta of G2 optics builds upon what Tamron calls the success of the “highly acclaimed” 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD (Model A046). The 16-30mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 expands the zoom range but maintains a compact form factor and lightweight design along with maintaining the company’s promise of exceptional image quality. Tamron also says that the lens features improved autofocus performance which contributes to overall better operability.

Tamron also says that from a design perspective, it improved the ergonomic design of the body and made the lens with an “enhanced” exterior surface. The lens also comes with the promise of exceptional optical performance along with beautiful bokeh.

The Tamron 16-30mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 features a construction of 16 elements arranged into 12 groups, although the company does not note the inclusion or number of any special glass elements or coatings in that formula. It has an aperture range of f/2.8 through f/16 — an unusually tight aperture range, especially for a zoom lens — via a nine-bladed diaphragm. The lens has a minimum object distance of 7.5 inches at the wide end and 11.8 inches at the telephoto end. It measures four inches long on Sony E-mount and is a slightly longer 4.1 inches on Nikon Z-mount. Similarly, the lens weighs 440 grams for Sony cameras and is slightly heavier 450 grams for Nikon cameras.

Tamron says the lens has a moisture-resistant construction, a fluorine coating on the front element, and the 16-30mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 also has a common 67mm front filter thread. It is also, of course, compatible with Tamron’s Lens Utility software.

Below are a few sample photos taken with the new lens, courtesy of Tamron:

The 16-30mm f/2.8 Di III VXD G2 zoom lens will be available for Sony E and Nikon Z mounts for $929. The Sony E-mount version will be available on July 31 and the Nikon Z mount on August 22.

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Image credits: Tamron