England’s Commonwealth Games hockey match against Canada was marred by a wild fight — and one player was sent off after “choking” a rival during a fit of rage.
The hosts were leading the match in Birmingham 4-1 when the fight broke out, The Sun reports.
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An England player appeared to tackle a Canadian rival with his hockey stick before receiving a yellow card.
But a melee swiftly ensued between England’s Chris Griffiths and Canada’s Balraj Panesar in the aftermath.
Griffiths appeared to pull on Panesar’s stick, sending his opponent into a blind rage. Panesar lashed out by grabbing Griffiths’ shirt as the two men’s butted heads.
However, Panesar took things up a notch when he then took hold of Griffiths’ neck, appearing to choke the England ace momentarily.
Griffiths responded as such, grabbing Panesar’s shirt while shoving him away.
Players from both sides then stepped in to defuse the situation.
Griffiths picked up a yellow card for his troubles but Panesar did not get off as lightly. He was shown a straight red card for his actions on the pitch.
England took advantage of the extra man as they went 5-1 up almost instantly.
They then ended the game on a high, winning 11-2. The result means England will play Australia in the semi-finals.
This story first appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
Many a friendship has begun at the pub over a sherbet or two.
But for mates Andrew Morgan and Dave Wise, a chance meeting at the university bar led not only to a long friendship, but also the creation of Australia’s first drowned timber company.
It’s logging but with a big twist.
The pair extract dying logs from under the surface of Lake Pieman, which was dammed for hydropower in 1986, flooding Tasmania’s remote north-west forests.
Sometimes the logs are more than 20 meters deep
Andrew Morgan and David Wise had to invent an underwater harvester to extract the logs.(ABC Movin’ to the Country: Tim Noonan)
.
A time-consuming process
If you are scratching your head thinking, “If this is so genius, why hasn’t it already been done?”
It turns out extracting logs in tannin-stained, pitch-black water in freezing conditions in a remote part of the wilderness is a bit tricky.
For the Hydrowood lads it meant making up a lot of the processes themselves.
They invented a complex and robust underwater harvester, and had to find workers with unique skills, as well as maneuvering through a lot of red tape.
“We’ve definitely had some challenges,” Mr Morgan said.
“We had to do the feasibility study, design the equipment, build it, find our fantastic staff that run the operation, work out how to drive the timber, how to market it and keep it going into the market.”
It took three years from creating the concept to pulling up the first tree.
“I think one of the biggest learnings I’ve had, is business takes time,” Mr Morgan said.
“I think the media is to blame somewhat, in that those success stories that someone’s come up with an idea and sold it for x-gazillion dollars in a week. That’s not the real world.”
A chance flight
Like many great moments of ingenuity, necessity was the mother of invention.
The pair were forced to come up with a new business during the global financial crisis, when the major plantation companies they had been working for collapsed.
Up until that point, managing plantations on behalf of big companies had been the bulk of their bread and butter.
Mr Morgan said they lost all of their clients when those companies closed.
“We really needed to seek new sources of revenue and new clients,” he said.
They needed a new idea and as luck would have it, Mr Wise, a pilot, spotted it when he was flying out of the north-west one day.
Logging waste timber is expensive, and the final product costs up to 30 per cent more than a standard piece of timber.(ABC Movin’ to the Country: Tim Noonan)
“I saw the trees sticking out of the water and thought ‘Is that a potential resource?'” Mr Wise said.
“[We] had a look at what they were doing in Canada with the same use of drowned timbering, fundamentally in hydro lakes. Then we started looking at the feasibility of doing it in Tasmania, and nearly 10 years later, here we are.”
Taking on the controversy
Tasmania has a long history in the forest industry and was one of the pioneers in hardwood plantation development.
But harvesting native forests is controversial.
Mr Wise and Mr Morgan said that it was their point of difference: they use a product that would otherwise go to waste.
“It is deteriorating slowly underwater,” Mr Morgan said.
“This product’s been sitting here for 30 years, everyone else has looked at it and decided it had no value until we came along and had a crazy idea that we could actually salvage it.
“So yeah, it’s a waste product.”
Lake Pieman is located near the coast in Tasmania’s rugged north-west.(Supplied: Adam Gibson)
It is that story which has attracted a niche and lucrative market.
Companies are drawn to the sustainability as well as the beauty of the timber, which is getting harder to source.
It’s also why they charge a pretty penny.
“The timber that we’re pulling out is obviously more expensive than your standard terrestrial logs,” Mr Morgan said.
“It’s not a cheap process to pull them out. In general… it’s 20 to 30 per cent more expensive than a standard piece of timber of the same species.”
Demand for a ‘waste story’
Furniture designer Simon Ancher embraces using salvaged underwater timber in his designs.(ABC Movin’ to the Country)
Furniture designer Simon Ancher was one of their first clients and said his customers were increasingly asking questions about where timber was sourced and how.
“I think it’s really important,” he said.
“In this current climate change discussion and growing awareness around our consumption of resources and so forth, we really need to pride ourselves for the planet as much as for ourselves and be knowledgeable about where things come from and why.
“To make use of this lost resource in a really positive way — without cutting down old growth forests but actually just extracting it from this frozen state — is a fantastic story and really positive one in making the most of available resources.”
A table made from hydrowood has found itself at the heart of politics at Tasmania Parliament Square. (Supplied: Adam Gibson)
Mr Morgan said he sometimes marvels at how far his mate’s crazy idea has taken them.
“One minute I can be talking to a contractor, talking about harvesting a forest, the next minute I’m talking to a world-renowned designer,” he said.
To learn more about Hydrowood and other regional innovators, watch Movin’ to the Country on ABC TV, Fridays at 7.30pm or any time on ABC iview.
Four people were found dead on Thursday at two homes that were on fire in Laurel, Neb., a small city about 100 miles northwest of Omaha, the authorities said.
Just after 3 am Thursday, the authorities in the city of about 1,000 people received a call about an explosion in the 200 block of Elm Street, Col. John A. Bolduc, the superintendent of the Nebraska Highway Patrol, said at a news conference.
When the authorities arrived, they found a person dead inside the home, Colonel Bolduc said. As they were investigating, they received another call about another fire at a home three blocks away and found three people dead inside it, Colonel Bolduc said.
The names or ages of the victims were not released. The authorities were searching for a suspect and believed the deaths were the result of foul play, Colonel Bolduc said. He said he believed the two episodes were related.
“We have two fires with deceased people three blocks apart,” he said. “It would be a stretch to say there’s no connection, but it’s very early in the investigation.”
Larry Koranda, the Cedar County sheriff, did not immediately return phone and email messages. At the news conference, he called Laurel a tight-knit community where “everybody knows everybody.”
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla dataminers recently discovered files of an Iron Man skin that shoots a Unibeam from the chest. The skin is currently not available in Ubisoft’s digital store, but fans are hoping that it gets released sometime in the future.
The armor was found by an Assassin’s Creed dataminer named Pedder, who previously mined DLC information from the game files that later proved to be accurate. The YouTube videos show a red-and-yellow armor set that shoots a laser beam from the chest and a similar looking white variant. The Unibeam can be activated with the “Battlecry” ability in Valhalla. The pack also includes a mechanical raven, a mount, and two swords.
This isn’t the first time that Marvel-related Assassin’s Creed cosmetics have surfaced. Previously, Andy showed off a video of a Thanos skin called “Master of Elements.” This unreleased skin includes colorful gem-studded gloves that activate a different ability every few seconds. Some fans are a little disappointed Ubisoft hasn’t actually released any of these skins — or even confirmed their existence. Kotaku reached out to Ubisoft about whether or not these skins will be released, but was not able to obtain a comment at the time of publication.
A Marvel collab wouldn’t even be the most unusual crossover to appear in the Assassin’s Creed series. back when Origins was still getting updates, players could stumble upon a final-fantasy Easter egg in ancient Egypt. Iron Man’s robot mount may be a little out there for medieval England, but I’d say that the Chocobo mount was far more jarring to ride into the desert sands. Assassin’s Creed‘s Fortnite-ification continues.
Despite Ubisoft’s troubles with delays and cancellations, Valhalla has enjoyed a relatively robust release schedule. This spring, the publisher launched the major dawn of ragnarok expansion, which added a ton of Norse mythology quests to the already-massive open world RPG. Ubisoft has released a Valhalla expansion every year since the game’s initial release, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. So I’m not too bothered if the developers spend a little more time tweaking the skins that absolutely no one was even expecting from a viking game.
Marvel Studios has put a renewed focus on providing more representation in its projects across theaters and on Disney+. Studio president Kevin Feige has publicly confirmed on numerous occasions that the MCU intends to expand in this area, and the franchise is taking small steps forward in that regard for the Multiverse saga.
Phase 4’s final movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, will reportedly put Danai Gurira’s General Okoye into a same-sex relationship as the Wakandans find their own place in the world. Additionally, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Xochitl Gomez’s America Chavez gave her long-awaited MCU debut, fully telling her story even though it got the movie banned in some countries around the world.
Rumors have even pointed to Marvel looking to cast its first non-binary character in next year’s iron heart, more representation of previously under-represented groups of people. Now, that news has been made official thanks to news surrounding the latest addition to the cast of this highly-anticipated Disney+ show.
Ironheart Casts MCU’s First Non-Binary Actor
Shea Coulee
Deadline revealed that Shea Couleé will join the cast of Marvel Studios’ iron heartwhich is set to release in Fall 2023.
The star’s addition to the Disney+ series makes them the first non-binary actor to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe under Marvel Studios.
Couleé was a recent winner on RuPaul’s Drag Race, although their role in the series is currently being kept under wraps. They responded to the news on Twittersharing how excited they are “to be part of this amazing project” with Marvel Studios:
“BEYOND excited to be strutting out of the Werkroom right into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Words cannot express how excited I am to be a part of this amazing project! Acting was my first love, and I’m thrilled to be doing it again in such a big way!”
Couleé also took to Instagram to celebrate the announcement, noting how much they wanted to act is something they’ve always to do even before getting into the world of Drag:
“I’m trying to find the words to express the deep excitement I feel about this project. Acting was my first love long before Drag. So it only seems fitting to end my Drag Race journey and begin my acting career in the biggest way I could imagine. Stepping into the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been like stepping into OZ. ‘Ironheart’ is top to bottom going to be an absolutely STUNNING experience for the viewers, and I’m so humbled everyday that I get to work on set with some of the best and most dedicated artists in the industry. Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my journey, and I look forward to sharing the exciting new chapter with you all”
Marvel Making Progress with Representation
With only a couple of acting credits to their name thus far, iron heart will unquestionably be Shea Couleé’s breakout project after making a name for themselves on RuPaul’s Drag Race. The big question now is what specific role they will play, especially alongside such an impressive cast of co-stars backing up Dominique Thorne’s leading heroine.
Solo: A Star Wars Story‘s Alden Ehrenreich will take on his first MCU project after working with Lucasfilm, and In The Heights‘Anthony Ramos is set to reportedly make the first of numerous Marvel appearances in iron heart as well. With Couleé now bringing their own talents to the equation, iron heart should bring that same level of quality in its cast that fans have come to expect from the MCU over the years.
Filming for iron heart will continue over the next few months before its Fall 2023 release date, which falls directly between the marvels in July and Blade in November. While there may not be much more information about Couleé’s role or any other details about the cast before the end of the year, anticipation is building to see this MCU’s newest young heroine fully evolve into a power player.
iron heart is set to debut on Disney+ in Fall 2023.
Aabout 2,000 people live on Norfolk Island, an Australian external territory 1,400km off the coast of New South Wales. Remarkably, 10 of them – fully half a percent of the entire population – are currently in Birmingham representing the island at the Commonwealth Games. All 10 are participating in the one sport in Birmingham: lawn bowls.
A 35 square kilometer dot of land amid the vast Pacific Ocean, between New Zealand and New Caledonia, Norfolk Island was initially settled as a prison colony in the early 1800s. It was subsequently abandoned and remained uninhabited until 1856, when the community of descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers – having outgrown the Pitcairn Islands, another British territory in the Pacific – relocated to Norfolk. Many Norfolk Islanders today are descendants of these settlers.
Norfolk was governed from New South Wales for decades, and formally incorporated into Australia in 1913. In 1979 the islanders were granted limited self-government by federal authorities, with an elected assembly responsible for governance of Norfolk. This unusual status allows it to compete in the Commonwealth Games – which, unlike the Olympics, permit participation from certain non-state territories. Hence Norfolk Island joined the likes of the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Saint Helena, Turks and Caicos, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man and Niue during the opening ceremony in Birmingham last week.
“Norfolk Island has participated in the Commonwealth Games since 1986,” explains the team’s chef de mission Sheryl Yelavich, an administrator at the local hospital. The island has competed at every Games since and won two bronze medals; the appearance in Birmingham is the island’s 10th Games. “We’re part of the 72 Commonwealth nations,” she says. “We’ve been in the Games before as an external territory of Australia – nothing has changed, it has remained the same.”
Norfolk Island bowling team member Carmen Anderson at a monument to mark the Women’s World Lawn Bowls Championships. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
Nothing might have changed on the sporting front, but politically much has changed in recent years – making Commonwealth Games participation even more symbolically important for Norfolk Islanders. In 2015, self-government was abolished by the federal government, “to address issues of sustainability”, including financial difficulties, that had arisen. Since 2016, Australian laws have applied to the island and travel between Australia and Norfolk is considered domestic. The island is federally represented through the Australian Capital Territory; new-elected representative senator David Pocock visited recently.
The end of self-government remains a sore point. Some locals have advocated for Norfolk Island to break away from Australia and join New Zealand, which might allow greater autonomy (as it does with Niue and the Cook Islands). Norfolk residents have even petitioned the United Nations, represented by eminent barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC, seeking to be added to the body’s list of non-self governing territories, which have rights to self-determination under international law.
In a recent column, former ACT chief minister Jon Stanhope criticized the reforms for returning the island to “what is, in effect, colonial status”. I have asked: “How long [does] the Commonwealth intend to deny the people of Norfolk Island a say in the governance of their community and the same democratic rights enjoyed by the residents of, let’s say, Canberra?”
Susie Hale, a school teacher on Norfolk and mother of Ellie Dixon, the youngest bowler on the team in Birmingham, says that the Games are an important opportunity to be represented as Norfolk Islanders. “To march under our flag and sing our anthem, when all other rights and liberties have been stripped from the Norfolk Island people, it’s one of very few opportunities when we get to publicly represent under our flag,” she says.
That’s particularly the case for descendants of the original Pitcairn settlers, who are represented in the team. “They’re very proud people and very proud to represent their club, their sport and their nation,” says Yelavich.
One Norfolk Islander to march under the flag in Birmingham was Shae Wilson, who bowled her way through to the semi-finals. Wilson, 23, is competing in her second Ella Games – she is considered a rising star in the Norfolk lawn bowls community. Back home Wilson works as an early childhood teacher. “I just do a few hours at the local bowling club in between,” she says.
The Norfolk Islanders march at the opening ceremony. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters
Wilson came up against an Australian opponent, Ellen Ryan, in the semi-final. In the Australia vs. Norfolk grudge match, Ryan stormed out to lead 9-0, before Wilson came back to level the score at 17-all. But a “loose end” from Wilson (bowls is scored first to 21) saw the Australian win through. While Wilson was not able to add a third medal to Norfolk’s all-time record, after losing to Malaysia’s Sita Zalina Abmad in the bronze medal decider, she reflected positively on the Games.
“I couldn’t quite finish it off, but I nearly got there,” she says. “It’s such a great opportunity to compete with people from around the world. And it puts our island on the map. Obviously we’re tiny, in the middle of the ocean, and a lot of people don’t know we exist. It’s amazing to represent our home.”
Back in Norfolk, locals have been delighted by the success of Wilson and strong performances from other bowlers. “It’s an absolute buzz,” says Phil Jones, who won bronze at the 2018 Games in the men’s triples but is not competing this time around. “The whole island is behind this team. Everyone is watching, listening, talking. It’s all about the Commonwealth Games here at the moment.”
Even in Birmingham (or, more accurately, Leamington Spa, where the lawn bowls are being held), the support from home is being felt. “Obviously we know everyone, so everyone is very excited for us,” says Wilson. “Everyone is so supportive back home.”
Jones, an elder statesman of the sport in Norfolk, attributes the island’s bowling prowess to the opportunities presented by the Games – in addition to the world championships and regional tournaments, like the Pacific Games, which also welcome the territory. “Everyone wants that opportunity to test themselves,” he says. “All of our players want to be in the [Commonwealth Games] team – they see what’s ahead of themselves, they put in the extra practice.” It helps them enjoy it, too. “There’s just a love of the game,” adds Yelavich.
Carmen Anderson in action in the women’s fours third round in Leamington Spa. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
The lawn bowls competition at these Games concludes on Saturday, but the Norfolk Island team are already looking ahead to the 2026 Games in Victoria. Norfolk Islanders have previously competed in shooting at the Commonwealth Games, but the sport was dropped from the roster for Birmingham. Efforts are underway to push for shooting to be reinstated in four years’ time, which would be a boost for the islanders. “We’ll just have to wait and see what the scheduled sports will be for those future Games,” says Yelavich.
While Norfolk’s political status hangs in the balance – Senator Pocock has said he will advocate for the islanders, and might use his power in the Senate to push for reform – the territory’s relative sporting success looks set to continue. Whatever happens politically, the lawn bowlers of Norfolk Island will be back at the next Commonwealth Games.
A quick-thinking truck driver saved more than 100 head of cattle after one of his trailers caught fire while he was traveling on one of the Northern Territory’s roughest and most remote roads.
Key points:
The Tanami is a vital connection from Central Australia to WA’s Kimberley region
Road train driver Cory Stirling was able to save more than 100 head of cattle after his trailer caught fire
One of his trailers was destroyed and had to be left more than 350kms from Alice Springs
Late last month Cory Stirling was transporting six decks of cattle to Alice Springs via the Tanami Road when he heard a loud bang at about 10pm.
Colloquially known as the Tanami, the road connects Central Australia to the Kimberley region of WA, stretches over 1,000 kilometers, and is notorious for its poor condition.
Mr Stirling explained he pulled the road train up immediately and ran down the side of the 50-metre-long rig to find his rear airbag brake had blown and was on fire.
“I see my airbag was alight so, I just ran back up to my truck to grab my fire extinguisher, went back, tried to extinguish, but it ran out of fire powder,” Mr Stirling said.
“Then it got under the tires, then once they lit up, she was all over.”
Fire damage to a trailer on the Tanami Road.(Supplied)
Mr Stirling had to act quickly to separate the trailers to ensure the safety of the cattle.
“I dropped the front run-throughs and then just started jumping as many cattle off [as possible],” he said.
One died on the crate and another had to be euthanized.
“You’ve got love animals and if you love doing something, like I love carting cattle… it’s really tough to watch.”
A representative of the station where the cattle came from ABC Rural has informed that the remaining cattle on the front two trailers have safely arrived in Alice Springs.
The cattle let off the burning trailer were tracked by helicopters the next morning and moved to a water point on a nearby station and will be collected at a later date.
A defaced truck stop road sign along the Tanami Road.(ABC Rural: Hugo Rikard-Bell )
Poor condition of Tanami an old foe
Mr Stirling pointed to the poor condition of the road as the primary culprit for the loss of cattle and damage to his truck.
“You have a brand-new crate that could do the same thing,” he said.
“You prep yourself for it, but it’s very harsh conditions, you let your tires down to half the per cent of PSI but still it’s terrible.”
For decades, truck drivers have been calling for maintenance of the Tanami Road.
Local companies in the Northern Territory told ABC Rural they were losing up to $10,000 a week to repairs.
Losing a trailer is a lot of money to a small business.
Mr Stirling said this was a hefty blow to his haulage company.
“Income revolves around having a crate cattle now I’ve lost a crate,” he said.
“So, I won’t be able to get the income.
“Hopefully [we can] source or replace, but they’re very hard to find at the minute.
“We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on maintenance a year.”
A road train travels down the Tanami Highway(Rural ABC: Xavier Martin)
Bitumen is on the way
The NT government is funding upgrades to the Tanami Road, with work underway to seal a further 60 kilometers of the road beyond the Yuendumu turn-off.
In a statement to ABC Rural, a spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure said “150 kilometers of the Tanami Road is set to be sealed over the next two years.”
This would seal past the point where Mr Stirling’s truck caught fire but, for the road train industry, the bitumen for the road could not come quick enough.
NT Road Transport Association CEO Louise Bilato said the expansion of the Tanami gold mine meant there were a lot more trucks on the road.
“The corrugations on the Tanami Road are very well known … corrugations will appear very quickly after a grade, and as it gets hotter it will get worse,” Ms Bilato said.
Ms Bilato said last week’s incident was not the first time she had heard of a bad road causing a fire in a truck.
“If it’s not batteries, brakes or shock-absorbers, it can be something else [that catches fire],” she said.
“My strongest urging to the road transport industry is to constantly monitor your equipment and don’t assume that you know the Tanami Road.”
Albert Woodfox, who is thought to have been held in solitary confinement longer than any individual in US history, having survived 43 years in a 6ft x 9ft cell in one of America’s most brutal prisons, has died aged 75.
Woodfox’s death was made public on Thursday by his long-term lawyers, George Kendall and Carine Williams, and by his brother Michael Mable. They said he had died from complications caused by Covid.
Woodfox was a member of the so-called “Angola Three” prisoners – who were wrongfully convicted of the 1972 murder of a prison guard, Brent Miller, in Louisiana state penitentiary. The prison was built on the site of a former slave plantation and was commonly known as Angola, after the country from which most of the plantation’s enslaved people had been transported.
Before the murder, Woodfox and his fellow Angola Three member Herman Wallace had set up a chapter of the Black Panther party inside the prison. They used it to protest against the segregation of prisoners and the unpaid cotton picking to which Black prisoners were subjected in chain gangs in the outlying fields.
He always insisted that his false conviction and consequent treatment were punishment for his Black radicalism. Soon after his conviction of him in Miller’s death, Woodfox and Wallace were both placed in solitary confinement, where they both remained almost without break for more than 40 years.
Wallace was released after a concerted legal battle in 2013, even as prison authorities continued to try to get him back inside. He died from cancer two days later.
Woodfox was released in 2016 on his 69th birthday. Days after walking free, he told the Guardian that he had managed to endure decades of solitary, despite frequent terrifying bouts of claustrophobia, through sheer force of willpower.
“We made a conscious decision that we would never be institutionalized. As the years went by, we made efforts to improve and motivate ourselves,” he said.
In later interviews with the Guardian over the years, and in his 2019 book Solitary, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize, he gave more detail on the extraordinary strength that allowed him and Wallace – “the other part of my heart”, as Woodfox described his friend – to withstand solitary. The conditions they endured have been known to cause mental breakdown in individuals within a week, let alone 40 years.
Woodfox said that he buried himself in prison books, studying Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey. He organized games played up and down the line of solitary cells by shouting down the tier or banging on pipes – that way they held maths tests and general knowledge quizzes about Black history.
He was most proud of having in similar fashion taught several young prisoners how to read.
“Our cells were meant to be death chambers but we turned them into schools, into debate halls,” Woodfox told the Guardian. “We used the time to develop the tools that we needed to survive, to be part of society and humanity rather than becoming bitter and angry and consumed by a thirst for revenge.”
In the six years of freedom that Woodfox enjoyed he devoted himself to educating the public in the US and beyond about the atrocities of the US criminal justice system. He traveled widely domestically and around the world to address audiences of school children and judges.
At home back in New Orleans, I found joy wherever I could. He visited the grave of his beloved mother, Ruby Mable Hamlin, who had died while he was still incarcerated, and enjoyed untrammeled time with his daughter, Brenda Poole, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and his life partner, Leslie George.
I have also adopted a stray dog found wandering on a levee near Lake Pontchartrain. I have named the pup Hobo.
Notwithstanding all the institutional cruelty that was rained down on him over so many years, Woodfox remained an incurable optimist to the end. In his book he writes: “I have hope for humankind. It is my hope that a new human being will evolve so that needless pain and suffering, poverty, exploitation, racism, and injustice will be things of the past.”
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch received its second wave of Booster Course Pass DLC today, which adds eight new courses and finally fixes an old one. Let’s just say Coconut Mall’s Shy Guys aren’t so shy anymore, and if you get too close you will get merc’d.
The first set of new courses arrived back in March, one of the most anticipated among them being Coconut Mall, a breezy classic from mario kart wii remastered for the modern game. But there was just one problem: the Miis that ram players near the end of the course were replaced with Shy Guys. Adding insult to injury was the fact that the Shy Guys no longer drove. Their cars remained stationary. Mario Kart fans were disturbed.
Well, in an extremely rare turn of events, Nintendo listened to fans and restored Coconut Mall’s death alley to some of its former glory. The Miis are still Shy Guys, but they now ratchet slightly forward and start spinning around in a spiral of vehicular carnage.
Today’s DLC also adds New York Minute (Tour), Mario Circuit 3 (SNES), Kalimari Desert (N64), Waluigi Pinball (DS), Sydney Sprint (Tour), Snow Land (GBA), Mushroom Gorge (Wii), and Sky -High Sundae, an entirely new level exclusive to MK8. Waluigi Pinball is a cult-favorite deep-cut. Mushroom Gorge returns with its infamous Gap Cut intact. Sky-High Sundae is a visual feast. But Coconut Mall’s Shy Guys are still stealing the show.
— Matt | 6amerBr0 🏁 30 YEARS OF MARIO KART!! (@6amerBr0) August 4, 2022
Today’s update isn’t just a content drop, though. Nintendo is also still tweaking the underlying game. With the arrival of March’s DLC, it patched Item Boxes to make them regenerate faster after players pick them up. Today it did so again. The developers also increased the number of time trial ghosts players can download from 16 to 32 and adjusted how far vehicles get thrown based on their weight.
It’s far and away the most Nintendo has ever updated a game five years into its lifecycle, let alone one that was originally released on the Wii U back in 2014. While some analysts claim mario kart 9 is already in the works, there are still another 24 courses coming to MK8 through the end of 2023. No doubt by that point the Shy Guys will be tearing up more than just Coconut Mall and the Item Boxes will regenerate faster than Nintendo’s lawyers can send a DMCA notice.
Karl Stefanović and wife Jasmine Yarbrough are enjoying some relaxing time in the sun.
Yarbrough, 38, shared a cute photo of her and her Nine presenter husband, and their daughter Harper having a float on a paddle board in a sunny escape.
“Swimming with our little mermaid,” she captioned the photo.
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