Donkey Kong may have been Nintendo's first breakout star, but for decades, the character was more commonly associated with other developers than he was with his creators. While numerous studios have put out Donkey Kong titles over the years, the simian really came into his own under the stewardship of Rare, who reinvented the character with 1994's seminal Donkey Kong Country. Though it hasn't been involved with the series since the early 2000s, Rare's work was so beloved that it effectively defined Donkey Kong for the next two decades--and that influence can still be felt throughout the newly released Donkey Kong Bananza.

It's surprising how much of Rare's DK survived in Bananza. Despite some visual references to past Donkey Kong titles, everything Nintendo had shown off leading up to the game's launch suggested it would be a complete reboot of the series. Even beyond the lore implications of Donkey Kong teaming up with an inexplicably young Pauline, Bananza's freewheeling, destructive gameplay and subterranean setting are a marked departure from the Donkey Kong Country of old, giving the game a flavor and identity that's wholly distinct from every DK title before it.

This first impression is not entirely off the mark; right from the outset, Bananza feels like a new direction not just for the character, but the series as a whole. While the game boasts plenty of platforming challenges to overcome, its core loop revolves around smashing your way through dense environments, using DK's mighty strength to carve up the terrain and unearth hidden collectibles. It makes for a decidedly different gameplay experience than previous Donkey Kong titles. And yet, despite this stark change in direction, Bananza still retains a number of elements that Rare's Donkey Kong games pioneered.

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BlackShark V3 Pro Wireless Gaming Headset

$250

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BlackShark V3 Wireless Gaming Headset

$150

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BlackShark V3 X HyperSpeed Wireless Gaming Headset

$100

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Razer just launched a V3 series of its flagship BlackShark gaming headset. The lineup is headlined by the BlackShark V3 Pro Wireless Gaming Headset. The $250 wireless headset is the only model in the lineup with active noise cancellation. It's available in Xbox, PlayStation, and PC versions, but it's worth noting the Xbox edition of all of the V3 models has universal compatibility. If the V3 Pro is a bit too expensive for your budget, Razer also released two substantially more affordable models--the $150 BlackShark V3 and the $100 BlackShark V3 X HyperSpeed. The V3 Pro releases August 4, while the other two models are available now.

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While all three BlackShark V3 models share the same over-ear form factor and core features, there are, of course, some notable differences--one of the biggest being their wireless connection quality. The BlackShark V3 and V3 Pro are the first to use Razer’s HyperSpeed Wireless Gen-2 connectivity, which the company says offers playback latency as low as 10ms. The BlackShark V3 X HyperSpeed uses the previous version of the technology, which is still a solid low-latency 2.4GHz option. All models also support Bluetooth wireless pairing and wired connections via USB or 3.5mm.

The BlackShark V3 Pro is also the only of the three with ANC, and it uses Razer’s high-end Gen-2 TriForce Bio-Cellulose 50mm drivers. By contrast, the BlackShark V3 uses the Gen-2 TriForce Titanium 50mm drivers, while the V3 X HyperSpeed is equipped with TriForce 50mm drivers. The V3 Pro also features a detachable HyperClear full-band 12mm mic, while BlackShark V3 has a detachable HyperClear super-wideband 9.9mm mic, and the V3 X HyperSpeed uses a detachable HyperClear 9.9mm cardioid mic.

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Marvel Rivals' Season 3.5 update is coming August 8, and it will not only add the long-awaited vampire-hunter Blade, but also bring major changes to team-up abilities and competitive play.

Blade enters NetEase's hero shooter with a number of sword-based abilities capable of slicing through foes in a deadly series of spins and slashes. However, he also comes equipped with a shotgun ideal for dealing damage at mid-to-close range. His ultimate ability sees him draw the Sword of Dracula to leave a deadly trail of slashes in his wake. Combined with the ability to prevent incoming enemy heals for a brief period of time and his maneuverability, and Blade looks to be a potent addition to the game's Duelist lineup.

The Daywalker isn't the only new addition coming with the game's August 8 patch. As outlined in a new Dev Vision video, it will also add, remove, and adjust a number of team-up abilities. Guardian Revival, which saw Mantis and Star-Lord take advantage of Adam Warlock's regenerative abilities, is being removed, as is Luna Snow and Iron Fists's Atlas Bond.

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What do you make when you combine Scrabble, Wordle, and Balatro? It's Birdigo and it's out now. This single-player word and deckbuilding game combines elements from those games, guiding a flock of birds on a global migration by forming words from a deck of letter cards. Each word propels the flock forward, with longer or more strategic words generating more "flaps," which determine how far the birds travel.

Gameplay centers around building words using a hand of letter cards drawn from your evolving deck. Some cards come with special abilities and certain letter combinations that can dramatically increase your score. As the game progresses, you collect new cards, upgrades, and modifiers like enchanted feathers or bird songs that change the rules in your favor. The key is to balance word-building with careful deck management to keep your flock moving along.

Help birds migrate using big words.Gallery

Birdigo uses roguelike mechanics, so each game is a fresh run with randomized elements, and the challenge increases the further you get. You'll face progressively harder levels and need to adapt your strategy based on the cards you collect and the goals of each round. The objective is to travel as far as possible and rack up a high score before your flock can no longer continue.

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With Fortnite OG existing as its own permanent mode now, we aren't expecting another throwback mini-season in the vein of last year's Chapter 2 Remix or the original OG season the year before. But with the upcoming Chapter 6 Season 4 starting on August 8, we're pretty much guaranteed a new mini-season in November, because Fortnite has never had a four-month season on purpose before. Instead, the hot rumor since the beginning of May is that we'll be getting another collaboration mini-season like Star Wars season in May, this time with The Simpsons taking center stage.

When you consider Epic's cozy relationship with Disney, plus its long history of Fox Animation collabs--including three cartoon dads Fortnite dropped for Father's Day this past June--this rumor sounds pretty plausible. Indeed, there's been nearly no skepticism about it at all. November is still a long ways away, though, and a lot can happen between now and then. While we wait, let's see what exactly the rumor mill has said about this one.

When would the Simpsons mini-season start?

According to next season's update schedule, Chapter 6 Season 4 should end on Saturday, November 1, which indicates it'll have a live finale event to wrap things up during the day. If things work the way they did after the Death Star Sabotage event in June, the new mini-season would begin that same evening after 4-7 hours of maintenance. Otherwise, it would start the next morning, on November 2.

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Horror movie veteran Gary Dauberman has announced that his company has bought the movie rights to the 2021 horror game The Medium, which was developed by Polish studio Bloober Team.

Specifically, Dauberman's Coin Operated production company acquired the rights, and he will produce the movie. It's still very early days, but The Hollywood Reporter said a search is now underway for a writer and a director. Casting announcements could follow if the movie progresses through development.

Dauberman previously worked on Sony's Until Dawn movie, along with Stephen King's It, Annabelle, and The Nun.

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Between 2021-2023, a former employee at one of game publisher Bandai Namco's subsidiaries allegedly "misappropriated" around 500 million yen (approximately $3.38 million USD), resulting in the employee's arrest and a temporary pay cut for many of the subsidiary's leadership, the company has announced.

While the arrest happened in January 2024 and Bandai Namco has since been pursuing civil and criminal charges against the former employee, the company is just now able to disclose the incident, according to a press release outlining the alleged misconduct and the steps Bandai Namco has taken to remedy the situation.

The alleged embezzlement occurred at Bandai Namco's Hong Kong subsidiary Bandai Logipal and was discovered via an internal audit. Following the former employee's arrest, Bandai Logipal took disciplinary actions against many of its leadership in the form of a temporary pay deduction. Four officers and three full-time directors saw a 30% pay deduction for three months starting in April 2024, with two other full-time directors seeing a 15% pay deduction for the same period.

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Sean Connery's James Bond Movies on 4K Blu-ray

$25-$30 | Six films release on September 23.

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Sean Connery 6-Film Collection (4K Blu-ray)

$100 (was $105)

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Sean Connery's James Bond films are already available in 4K Blu-ray--but only as part of a 6-Film Collection that released in June. If you've been waiting to add specific movies like Dr. No and From Russia With Love to your home theater, you'll be glad to know all six movies will be released separately on September 23. Preorders are now open for Connery's 007 films for $25-$30 each, but the 6-Film Collection offers substantial savings if you want to own all of them.

Sean Connery's James Bond Movies on 4K Blu-ray $25-$30 | Six films release on September 23.

All six of Connery's films produced by EON Productions are up for preorder. Connery actually starred in a seventh film--Never Say Never Again--but it isn't in the Bond film canon, as it was produced by a different company.

The list below is in chronological order:

• Dr. No -- $30
• From Russia With Love -- $30
• Goldfinger -- $25
• Thunderball -- $30
• You Only Live Twice -- $30
• Diamonds Are Forever -- $25

Each movie includes 4K Blu-ray and digital copies of their respective film. They also come with bonus features, such as commentaries and behind-the-scenes content. Support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, plus Dolby TrueHD 7.1 should make the old films look and sound great on modern screens.

See at Amazon Sean Connery 6-Film Collection (4K Blu-ray) $100 (was $105)

The 6-Film Collection launched on June 10 and is available for $100 (was $105) at Amazon. You'll miss out on the stylish matching cases included with the standalone editions, but you'll save $70 overall based on current prices.

This collection includes the same technical specifications and bonus features as the individual films.

Amazon had an exclusive, limited-edition Steelbook Library Collection with six steelbook cases and a fancy metal display box for $140, but this edition sold out shortly after preorders opened earlier this year.

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The James Bond Collection Blu-ray

$70 (was $120)

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The only Bond movies with 4K editions are the ones starring Daniel Craig or Sean Connery. Craig's movies are available on 4K Blu-ray individually and as part of a 5-Film Collection that's discounted to $59 (was $90). If you don't mind watching the series in 1080p instead, The James Bond Collection is an absolute bargain at $70 (was $120). This 24-film box set includes every official James Bond movie except for Craig's last appearance as the MI6 agent, 2021's No Time to Die. To complete the set, you can get No Time to Die for $10 on Blu-ray. If you're partial to Pierce Brosnan's portrayal of 007, there's a 4-film standard Blu-ray collection for only $16.

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EA Sports has officially revealed the ratings for the top rookies in Madden 26. This comes after the 99 Club was revealed, which includes some new and familiar faces. The rookie class in Madden 26 is one of the most exciting in years, as there are terrific prospects at every position. There's also a prospect who plays two positions, so it'll be interesting to see how that plays in the virtual world of the NFL as well as in real life.

Below, you can see the top 10 rookies by rating in Madden 26, along with some of their individual stats.

Travis Hunter - 84 OVR

It's no surprise that the Jacksonville Jaguars' stud Travis Hunter is the highest-rated rookie in Madden 26. The second overall pick is slated to play both wide receiver and cornerback in the NFL and could be a star at both positions if he fully realizes his potential.

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The latest update to Nintendo Switch Online's Super Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Classics app includes a new and improved CRT filter to better capture what playing SNES games on an older CRT television was really like.

While it may seem counterintuitive given how much better TVs are today, new high-definition displays often don't do older games justice visually, as the games were originally designed with the scanlines and interlacing seen in CRT displays in mind.

The Super Nintendo app already had a CRT filter, but this new version, added alongside the same update that added Mario Paint to the service, is a noticeable improvement. According to one user on Reddit, it's an "NTSC S-Video" style filter that more accurately displays what playing on an actual CRT is like.

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Whether you're an avid cosplayer or just gearing up early for an epic Halloween, you'll want to check out Amazon's deals on the Marvel Legends Series Iron Man and Green Goblin helmets, which are down to their lowest prices ever. You can grab the Iron Man helmet for $62 (was $100) and the Green Goblin mask for $80 (was $125). Officially licensed and built to high standards, both helmets are great for cosplay or as collectible display pieces. The Green Goblin mask even comes with a stand if you want to show it off in your home theater when you're not actively running around as the supervillain.

Marvel Legends Series: Iron Man Helmet $62 (was $100)

The Iron Man Helmet is the cheaper of the two, clocking in at just $62. Inspired by the Mark 85 design, it’s a sleek and clean helmet that'll suit just about every cosplay or Halloween costume. It's built with premium materials and looks far better than the cheap masks you'll find at your local costume shops. It also features screen-accurate details like illuminated (with adjustable brightness levels) and sculpted interior elements for added authenticity. This is a 1:1-sized helmet measuring 10.5 inches tall, 9.5 inches wide, and 14 inches long, but it includes adjustable interior padding so it can fit a wide range of head shapes and sizes.

See at Amazon Marvel Legends Series: Green Goblin Mask $80 (was $125)

Inspired by the version of Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it's rare to find this mask under $100--so snagging it for $80 is a steal. Unlike the Iron Man model, the eyes don't glow on the Green Goblin mask, instead opting for a gold lens that better replicates the version of the mask found on the big screen. A hinge on the back of the helmet makes it easy to slip it on and off or adjust its sizing. It also comes with a display stand for storing and showing off the piece.

To round out your Green Goblin cosplay, there's also the Electronic Pumpkin accessory, which lights and plays sound effects from the movie.

See at Amazon

Iron Man and Green Goblin aren't the only masks in the Marvel Legends Series. There's also a Doctor Doom Helmet for $100, which is designed with a removable fabric hood and comes with a display stand, and a new Spider-Man Mask arriving on September 1. Inspired by Spidey's look in Homecoming, the flexible silicone mask is sculpted to tuck under the chin for a smooth fit. It also features moving eye parts controlled via an included wireless remote. It's a bit pricey at $130, but it's arguably the coolest mask in the collection.

Marvel Legends Series Spider-Man Homecoming Animated Mask

$130 | Releases September 1

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The revival of NCAA Basketball from EA Sports aims to feature "all 350 programs" for the sport. At least, that's what EA CEO Andrew Wilson said he'd love to see when talking on a quarterly earnings call earlier this week.

According to Insider Gaming, Wilson was asked about the company's recent announcement of a new college basketball game after 16 years since the last one. Like the reveal, Wilson stayed relatively vague with details, though he noted his desire to include every university. "We’d love to do the same for basketball [as the company does with EA Sports College Football]. All 350 programs, men's and women's teams, the iconic traditions and rivalries, and of course, March Madness," Wilson said.

There is no set date for when EA's college basketball is set to release, though 2028 was mentioned in a memo obtained by Extra Points. The last game in the series was 2009's NCAA Basketball 10. The sports franchise began in 1998 with NCAA March Madness 98 and only was known as NCAA Basketball for the last two installments.

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After the struggles of Battlefield 2042, EA is now going "all-in" on Battlefield 6 and the future of the series as the company looks to build Battlefield into a "platform" as opposed to a single product.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said this during the company's latest earnings call, as reported by VGC. He said, "We've been investing more behind this Battlefield than any Battlefield product before it."

"And really, the big reason for that is this isn't just a product. We're really building out Battlefield as a platform. All will become more clear about the nature of our investment over the last four years, with four studios building against this launch to date," he added.

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Peak is, despite being a game about climbing massive mountains in order to be rescued from a crash landing on an uninhabited island, generally quite a sweet-looking game. It also released a new update yesterday, within the features section of the patch notes quite literally just saying "added cannibalism." As developers Aggro Crab and Landfall put it, "Totally normal update to the game. Nothing to see here."

This update comes in spite of Aggro Crab literally saying it can't add cannibalism to Peak, but hey, the people get what the people want. Luckily, this new feature doesn't force you to Hannibal-style cut up the cute little avatars that are your friends. Instead, when your player character is too hungry, your friends' avatars start to look like a walking rotisserie chicken. If you manage to successfully eat them, they turn into a skeleton (and die, unsurprisingly).

Thankfully, cannibalism wasn't the only thing added in with this update. In the options menu you'll find a few new additions, like the ability to adjust your field of view while climbing, and a push-to-mute setting ("No more having to listen to your streamer friend talk to chat"). There's also been some big fixes, one being a temporary solution to a bug that caused a lot of fall damage from short distances, and performance has been "greatly improved" too.

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Apex Legends Season 26: Showdown launches on August 5. The first-person shooter has been live for just over six years now, and this season is adding a new permanent game mode called Wild Card--the chaotic new party mode that takes a hard left away from the structure of the regular battle royale experience players are accustomed to.

We attended a press event ahead of the season's launch and got the chance to ask a few questions about the mode while speaking to members of the dev team. Apex Legends senior technical designers Chris Ruvolo and Kevin Wolski answered all of our questions about Wild Card.

What is Wild Card?

Wild Card is a battle royale mode that throws in mode-specific perks called wild cards, several kitted weapons, and exciting features that both streamline and speed up the experience. For example, the ring is condensed and filled with just 30 players, giving you less of the Kings Canyon map to explore, while adding in new ziprails, gravity cannons, and more. A smaller playable area with extra traversal options likely means quicker deaths, so Wild Card gives each player a self-revive kit for a second chance.

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Battlegrounds might be literally built into the acronym PUBG, but Krafton sees something far bigger for the battle royale game's future. The company wants PUBG to become a "gameplay platform" in the vein of Fortnite and Roblox--featuring various modes and even user-made content.

GameFile reports that Krafton chief financial officer Dongkeun Bae discussed the company's expanded vision for PUBG on an earnings call earlier this week. "In the age of PUBG 2.0, it will not simply be a battle royale game per se," Bae said. The CFO wants the game to turn into a platform, noting that they're "developing wide-ranging modes under that objective."

14 Best Battle Royale Games To Play In 2025See More

A major part of this transition will include the switch to Unreal Engine 5 for PUBG. Krafton has openly talked about this change since March 2024, with the Epic game engine opening up user-generated content to become a part of the experience. (Things have really come around, considering the PUBG Corp. once sued and then dropped a lawsuit against the Fortnite maker.)

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A new soccer game hit the market this year with Sloclap's Rematch, and EA CEO Andrew Wilson welcomes new competition in the market. Wilson said during EA's latest earnings call that, "We love competition" after being asked if EA sees any "competitive pressure" with its FC series.

To be sure, Rematch and EA's FC series are not exactly true competitors given the size and scale of EA's franchise. But Rematch is nonetheless a new player in the soccer market that EA is paying attention to.

"We come to work every day to compete--that's been true for all of our games, especially our sports games, for the best part of 30 or 40 years," Wilson said, as reported by GamesRadar. "I think competition makes us better. We're always watching what the competition does. We're always evaluating where there are new needs being met for new players. We're always looking to work that into the offerings that we have for players."

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Arcade1Up Big Buck Hunter Mossy Oak Deluxe Arcade

$600

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Arcade1Up has just released one of its most unique cabinets ever--the Big Buck Hunter Mossy Oak Deluxe Arcade. Built in collaboration with the outdoor lifestyle brand, Mossy Oak, the cabinet comes with four Big Buck Hunter games pre-installed, and features a unique camo design inspired by Mossy Oak along with the original Big Buck artwork. The cabinet is limited to just 3,000 units and exclusive to Walmart, so swing by the retailer and check it out while you still can.

Arcade1Up Big Buck Hunter Mossy Oak Deluxe Arcade $600

This cabinet stands over 68 inches tall and features a 17-inch monitor, two light guns for co-op multiplayer, and four pre-installed Big Buck Hunter games, each with multiple single-player and multiplayer game modes. Here's a look at the full list of games:

• Big Buck Hunter Safari
• Big Buck Hunter Safari Outback
• Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season
• Big Buck Hunter Pro

See at Walmart The Big Buck Hunter Mossy Oak Deluxe Cabinet

This is certainly one of the most unique products ever released by Arcade1Up, folks looking for a more traditional cabinet will likely find the Big Buck Hunter Pro Deluxe to be more their style. It forgoes the Mossy Oak-exclusive camo design, instead offering a wildlife scene on the side panel. Beyond its looks, everything else is the same. That means you'll get two light guns, a 68-inch cabinet, a 17-inch monitor, and access to the four games above. Of course, both also come with built-in speakers.

Want to round up your home arcade? Arcade1UP offers plenty of other cool machines. Fighting game fans can grab the Mortal Kombat II Deluxe cabinet that's pre-loaded with 14 games, including Mortal Kombat 2 and 3, and arcade classics like Rampage, Joust, Defender, and more. There's also The Fast & The Furious Deluxe cabinet that has The Fast & The Furious and The Fast & The Furious: Drift arcade games with support for local network multiplayer between multiple devices. Check out a few more of our favorite Arcade1Up cabinets below, or browse the full catalog at Amazon.

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 received a brand-new update yesterday, mostly focusing on quality-of-life improvements, but it also introduces a big performance and visuals feature. With this update, frame generation and low-latency mode support for DLSS and XeSS has been added in for compatible GPUs on PC. Developer Sandfall also noted that it's "still exploring support for FSR, but we need more time to work on it. Stay tuned for more updates on that in a future patch!"

On to the quality-of-life improvements! The completionists amongst you that hate getting booted out to the overworld again after failing a boss fight will be very happy to hear that a "Battle Retry Prompt" has been added in as of this update, simply "giving you the option to quickly retry the battle."

You also can relax a bit more in dialogue scenes, as an autoplay option has been added in for dialogue outside of cutscenes. There are separate volume sliders allowing you to adjust the volume for exploration and combat phases, and the Pictos menu "clearly displays the Lumina cost of each ability for better planning."

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Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has revealed he originally thought he might become a doctor before he had a fateful chance meeting at Microsoft where future CEO Steve Ballmer gave him some pointed advice.

Speaking to YouTuber Zalkar Saliev (via PC Gamer), Newell said when he started programming in high school, it wasn't necessarily thought to be a real career path. Video games didn't exist at that time, either, he said. "So when I was a kid I thought I was going to be a doctor, and programming was what I did when I should have been doing something else," he said. "It wasn't a career path, you know, there were no classes in it, and my first programmable device was a calculator, a [Texas Instruments] calculator."

Newell's brother Dan worked at Microsoft and was an early hire for the company, which was founded in 1975. At the time, Microsoft wasn't a big player in software development, with Newell saying it was only the third-largest software developer in Washington state. "So there was no notion of having any of the reputation that it would have, say, 10 years later," he said.

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