Inverse - 🎮 'Warzone 2.0' has an identity crisis

Tuesday

Nov 29 2022

Video games are a rare example of a medium where sequels often improve upon the original. Expectations were high heading into this month's launch of Call of Duty Warzone 2.0, the sequel to Activision's free-to-play shooter that took the gaming community by storm in 2020. But the latest installment doesn't live up to the hype.

Playing Warzone 2.0 is fun, but it’s also frustrating more often than it should be. Instead of a suped-up sequel, it's an alienating experience with growing pains galore. Find out more in our full review below.

What's New

Future of Sleep

Science

These scientists sleep in the world’s most extreme environments

There’s no shame in an elaborate sleep setup. A weighted blanket, pillows of varying density and squish factor, dueling humidifiers and dehumidifiers, and soft LED lighting can help carry someone to dreamland.

But sometimes, one needs to sacrifice the comfort of a curated bedroom in pursuit of, say, science and adventure. Exploration leads researchers to some of the planet’s most extreme climes, from tundras to mountaintops to outer space. In these unfamiliar environments, investigators must relearn how to doze.

Sleep is essential for human survival, after all. With a little practice, a good night’s sleep can come even to those far from a bed — or civilization. Inverse spoke to three experts about how they get a decent slumber deep in caves, high in the treetops, and even in orbit around Earth. Here’s what they had to say.

Inverse Interview

Culture

How Darren Aronofsky's oddest sci-fi movie inspired a quest for longevity

Chris Hemsworth realized he might have made a mistake when he fully submerged in Arctic waters.

“It's one thing to be swimming in an ice bath with your head out of the water, but once I put my head in and I'm swimming and going for it, it was one of the worst pains I've ever felt, this sort of ice cream headache,” the actor best known portraying Thor Odinson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe tells Inverse.

But this wasn’t a stunt for the latest Avengers movie. Instead, Hemsworth had teamed up with director Darren Aronofsky for Limitless with Chris Hemsworth, a National Geographic series exploring the concept of longevity (how humans can live better for longer).

In conversation with Inverse, Hemsworth and Aronofsky talk about life, death, and why viewers should (re)watch The Fountain.

Review

Gaming

Warzone 2.0 has an identity crisis

The original Warzone was a wonky work in progress that never truly reached its full potential. That’s why Warzone 2.0 was so promising. It could finally address many of the original’s biggest issues, such as an imbalanced weapon meta and overcomplicated mechanics. But instead of being a suped-up sequel, Warzone 2.0 is an alienating experience that has faint echoes of former greatness and growing pains galore.

Warzone 2.0 tries to cater to a wider audience by borrowing ideas from its competition, but it delivers a hodgepodge of ideas that seems to forget what made the original Warzone so iconic.

Tesla

Gear

Tesla Semi just hit a huge milestone that proves it's ready to hit the road

It’s been a long haul, but Tesla’s Semi is finally proving that it’s ready to traverse the open road.

According to Tesla, its electric Semi truck, which has been more than five years in the making, just hit a major milestone by traveling 500 miles on a single charge. As noted in a celebratory tweet from Elon Musk, not only did the Semi complete a 500-mile journey, but it did so while shuttling 81,000 pounds of cargo. Not bad for a battery-powered set of wheels.

LONGEVITY

Mind and Body

This is how much you need to move to offset a day of sitting

Popular wisdom says that humans spend about one-third of their lives sleeping, but how much of the other two-thirds do we spend off our feet? Sitting isn’t even particularly fun, and its detriments are sometimes compared to those of smoking. Of all the fun things that are evidenced to shorten one’s lifespan, sitting is among the more mundane.

The question becomes: Just how much (or little) movement counteracts the scourge of sitting? Researchers have investigated how different lengths of sedentary time, frequency of movement, and length of movement impact health. They’re starting to find conclusive results on daily movement practices that balance time in a chair.

Meanwhile...

Octopus intelligence may come from a molecule also found in human brains

Why Twitter’s rocky takeover has Elon Musk teasing his own smartphone

55 years later, Star Trek rethinks a famously aggressive alien race

The 'Guardians Holiday Special' has a secret Star Wars reference

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Inverse - 🎮 'Warzone 2.0' has an identity crisis

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