Hasta La Motion!

Zynga, a global leader in interactive entertainment, today released Elite Customs, a new feature in the popular mobile drag racing game, CSR Racing 2 (CSR2). Elite Customs revamps players’ in-game garages with an upgraded take on customisation performance for their car collections.

Elite Customs gives players access to exclusive custom paints, liveries and interior options, license plate mods and wheel upgrades. The new feature will also give players decals so they can add numbers, player names, crew names and country flags to their cars.

“A huge appeal of CSR2 is that you can collect and race the cars of your dreams. With this feature, you can now customise your rides to showcase your racer identity.Elite Customs takes the performance of your cars to never-before-seen levels with additional fusion slots and better-fitted parts,” said CSR2  vice president Julian Widdows.

Players will initially be able to earn Elite Parts by competing and winning in Showdown, CSR2’s player-versus-player feature, allowing them to use Elite Customs upgrades to customise their cars and max out vehicle elegance and performance. The more players win, the more they unlock favourites like Fusion Upgrades, RP Bonuses and additional Star Rarity Boosts. Players can modify eight Legends vehicles as of today with more packs of cars available in the future.

CSR2 is available to download for free on the App Store as well as the Google Play Store. For more information about CSR2, visit the game’s community channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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Multi-award-winning animation and VFX studio and creators of original kids’ content Jellyfish Pictures, has announced the opening of its new facility in Sheffield. The new studio is the result of the company’s outgrowth of its current location following the expansion to the North of England less than a year ago.

Opening its Northern arm in May 2019, Jellyfish Pictures has witnessed rapid growth in both its Southern and Northern UK offices over the course of the past year. The newest studio will house the burgeoning animation team, which has more than doubled in size in the past three months.

Commenting on the expansion, Jellyfish Pictures CEO Phil Dobree said, “Recognising Sheffield as an area that held great potential for growth in the VFX and Animation industries led to the opening of Jellyfish Sheffield early last year. It’s an incredibly proud moment for me now, to announce our further expansion in the North of England. For it to come about so drastically and quickly, only confirms the hunger for a larger Creative Industries presence outside of London, of which we are committed to cultivating.”

The swift expansion is a testament to the innovative virtual technologies Jellyfish Pictures has been pioneering since 2014 and comes shortly after the company’s announcement, made in December 2019, where it became the World’s largest virtual VFX and Animation studio.

 As with all other Jellyfish Pictures locations, there is no hardware housed onsite in the new Sheffield studio, situated in the city centre within the state-of-the-art Wizu Workspace. Operating in a completely PC over IP environment all technology and pipeline is housed in a centrally based co-location in Hayes. The studio is able to virtualise its distributed workstations through Teradici’s remote visualisation solution; allowing for total flexibility and scalability.

Dobree added, “None of this would have been able to happen without Jellyfish Pictures’ continued investment in pushing the boundaries of virtual technologies. The ability to ramp up as needed and easily move to a bigger facility has been of invaluable worth. Casting off the constraints of our on-premise infrastructure has allowed us to not only remain agile and scaleable when taking on projects, but also allows us to put talent first. This technology has enabled us to reach new heights, and I can’t wait to see where the next steps take us.”

The team working out of Jellyfish Pictures’ Sheffield studio is being overseen by Animation director Kevin Spruce, with a Hollywood animated feature film currently in-production.

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The Bombay High Court has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to look after instructions on deferment of the NTO (new tariff order) 2.0 similar to what they did in the 2017 regime before the Madras High Court.

According to reliable sources, TRAI has to submit a deferment plan at the next hearing scheduled tomorrow, 27 February. As per the sources, today’s hearing went on for more than two hours and TRAI will continue its argument tomorrow. At the beginning, broadcasters argued for the interim relief which was slightly opposed by TRAI.

One of the sources revealed, “The court asked why it can’t be deferred for a month more within which the court can complete the hearing. If this can’t be deferred for one month, then the court will decide on the interim relief tomorrow itself.”

At the beginning of 2020, TRAI modified certain provisions (described as impugned provisions) of the new price regime which was implemented last year, prescribing twin conditions on pricing.

Recently, TRAI asked broadcasters and distribution platform operators (DPOs) to take necessary steps to ensure a smooth rollout of the amended new tariff order from 1 March. Both broadcasters and distribution platform operators (DPOs) had been directed to publish the required information on their website to provide consumers sufficient time to exercise their choice of channels and bouquets before the implementation.

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Ever since its inception, Inox Megaplex at Inorbit has increasingly been emerging as a hotspot for movie screenings and Bollywood gatherings. Glitterati Galore; the special screening of Thappad saw an intimate and definitive gathering of tinsel-town dwellers who graced the event with their presence. Followed by the screening was a dedicated panel discussion moderated by ace filmmaker Anurag Kashyap which cut across the process, the direction and all the major and pressing issues that the movie touched upon.

The session with the starcast of Thappad saw leading lady and superstar Tapsee Pannu, actress Dia Mirza, director Anubhav Sinha and actress Tanvi Azmi discussing a variety of subjects and the key plot points of the movie and its social message. Pannu at the event spoke at length about the grievous issue of domestic violence and why the issue needs to highlighted.

Various discussion points were advanced after which the cast candidly spoke with the members of the press about the movie. Answering AnimationXpress’ questions regarding the authentic style of filmmaking, Sinha shared that it was his observations, middle class experiences and editing process that allowed me him to make the film look so rooted and authentic. He also vouchsafed to Animationxpress there are at least three movies in the pipeline that are hopefully going to be released over the course of the year on being asked about his current projects.

Visual effects of the movie is done by Visual Birds Studio Pvt. Ltd. Stay tuned for the review!

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Unity Technologies, creator of the world’s leading real-time 3D development platform, announced that Riot Games, the developer and publisher of League of Legends, has chosen Unity to power Legends of Runeterra and League of Legends: Wild Rift. By using Unity’s optimized reach for more than 20 platforms, Riot Games is able to bring the renowned gameplay, responsive controls, and rich world of League of Legends to more players on more platforms than ever before. Legends of Runeterra is currently in open beta on PC, and will be coming to iOS and Android later this year. League of Legends: Wild Rift is coming to iOS, Android, and consoles in the future.

“Unity’s technology enables us to focus on delivering the beloved League of Legends experience to as many players across as many platforms as possible. We want to meet our players where they are, and Unity’s world-class tools and platform optimization help us achieve that. With the expert support provided by Unity, we’ve been able to unlock the power of Unity’s technology like never before,” said  Riot Games head of corporate and business development Brian Cho.

“From the beginning, we wanted Legends of Runeterra to be available on both PC and mobile, so Unity was the obvious choice.We relied heavily on Unity’s professional services team for ongoing support and performance advice; they’ve been absolutely integral to the ongoing development of our game,”  said Legends of Runeterra Engineering Lead Dann Webster.

The League of Legends franchise reaches millions of players in more than 150 countries globally. Working with Unity and its Professional Services team enables Riot Games to target billions of players across the 20+ platforms currently supported by Unity. Each platform is optimised to ensure the same consistent high-quality experience regardless of where players chose to play. Players communicate in-game, powered by Vivox voice chat, part of the Unity suite of tools. Voice comms ensure players across Riot’s product suite can strategize, wherever they are in the world, on any device.

“We are focused on providing the solutions and technology that allows creators to immerse their players in fantastic worlds and experiences. Riot Games has woven such a rich tapestry with the world of League of Legends, and our technology now gives them the power to share the same consistent experience with more players, across more platforms, than ever before,”  said  Unity Technologies vice president of research & development Ralph Hauwert.

Unity supports 20+ platforms and currently powers more than half of all new games, including the record-breaking releases of Call of Duty: Mobile (100 million+ downloads week one), and Mario Kart Tour (90 million+ downloads week one). Unity recently released the Unity 2019.3 Tech Stream, which brings forth more than 260 improvements and features, including optimizations for new platforms and the tools and technologies needed to reach them.

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