The Daily Populous

Monday May 18th, 2026 day edition

image for Take-Two CEO says the original Borderlands' art style overhaul cost a year of dev time and $50 million: 'Had we not done that, Borderlands wouldn't have been a hit'

CEO of publisher Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, said in a recent interview with podcaster David Senra that the game's final look took a big overhaul that cost $50 million dollars and an extra year of development time.

"We had not turned around the company yet, we had very limited capital, and we were developing a game that was about to be released two months later, which is to say it's done.

I mean, we had spent a lot of money," he said in the interview.

"The head of the division came into my office and said, 'Look, we just don't think this is good enough and we think we screwed up, and the art style is not appropriate and it's not differentiated, we want to remake the game.'".

While it was a costly risk for Take-Two, Zelnick said he "dug in and did my homework" and ended up supporting the decision, though he noted it was "non-obvious … no one else in the business would have done it.".

Rage and even Fallout 3 look a bit dated and indistinct now that we can view the dominance of muddy brown shooters in retrospect—love or hate Borderlands, it certainly has a style all its own. »

New York high school's graduating class breaks school record with 21 valedictorians

Authored by abc7.com

New York high school's graduating class breaks school record with 21 valedictorians.

JERICHO, Long Island -- Whoever said perfection is overrated, has never met the 21 valedictorians from this year's graduating class at Jericho High School in New York.

There were many nights where I wondered why I was putting myself through this," said Jericho High School Valedictorian Riya Shah. »

Cuba buys more than 300 drones from Russia and Iran — report

Authored by dw.com
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Cuba has also discussed plans to use drones to attack US targets such as the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, according to Axios news outlet.

Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones, according to classified intelligence cited by Axios news outlet.

Cuba has been acquiring attack drones from Russia and Iran since 2023 and is seeking to buy more, US officials told Axios. »

Subnautica 2's no-killing ethos "will be a continued point of resistance" among players, say Unknown Worlds, but they have no plans to change it

Authored by rockpapershotgun.com
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"I've never believed that video game violence creates more real-world violence," he wrote on Steam during the original Subnautica's early access period.

That stance continues to define the Subnautica series today, following Cleveland's acrimonious departure from Unknown Worlds.

As with the original Subnautica, Subnautica 2's disinclination to let you knife and gun your way through the menagerie makes perfect sense in the hands. »