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Arcane concluded its second and final season last Saturday. The adult animated action series produced by French studio Fortiche set in the universe of Riot Games’ League of Legends ended with a finale as spectacular as it was bittersweet, with the resolution of several major character arcs and the future of Piltover and Zaun’s continued coexistence affirmed. Fans of Arcane needn’t be too upset by its absence, though, as showrunner and co-creator Christian Linke told Polygon that Riot and Fortiche are already at work on several unannounced projects based in the League of Legends universe. That’s fine in the long term, sure, but what about right now ? If you’re looking for something, anything , to tide you over while you wait for Fortiche to return to the world of Runeterra, your immediate first reaction might be to boot up League of Legends , naturally, or maybe even Teamfight Tactics , which recently got a new set themed around the second season of the Netflix show. I’m gonna make another suggestion, though: If you’re only familiar with Arcane and not the rest of the Riot universe, don’t play League of Legends . Play Dishonored 2 . You’re probably wondering, “Why shouldn’t I play League of Legends ? I like those characters and that setting; shouldn’t I play the game Arcane is based off of?” Normally, I would agree with that sentiment. But while the characters and setting of Arcane are pulled directly from League of Legends , the story and plot are more or less a wholesale invention for the show, woven out of the piecemeal sketches of personality added to the game over the past decade and a half. Furthermore, the moment-to-moment gameplay of League of Legends , a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game à la Dota 2 or Heroes of the Storm , is a far cry from the vibe and visual style of Arcane . Dishonored 2 , however, fits that description almost perfectly — especially in its look and steampunk-inspired atmosphere. While bookended by sections that take place in Dunwall, the principal setting of the first Dishonored , the 2016 sequel is set predominantly in Karnaca, the southernmost tip of the empire. Like Dishonored ’s Dunwall, and more pertinently Arcane ’s Piltover and Zaun, Kanarca is a city marked by the stark divide between the haves and the have-nots. The island’s upper class is comfortably ensconced in lavish, modernist apartments and palaces of the island’s verdant crest, while the lower castes are cast off to the offal-drenched docks, dust-choked canyons, and bloodfly-infested hovels of Karnaca’s most uninhabitable corners. If there’s one thing Arcane and Dishonored 2 share in abundance, it’s their love of architecture, particularly turn-of-the-century styles like art deco and art nouveau. Karnaca confidently earns its nickname as the “Jewel of the South” in Dishonored’s universe, with an aesthetic that combines the Mediterranean style of Greek, Italian, and Spanish architecture with extravagant flourishes of art nouveau-inspired illustration. The architecture of Piltover in Arcane is heavily inspired by art deco , with its elaborate stained-glass windows and golden accents, while the undercity of Zaun derives most of its aesthetic from a combination of steampunk and art nouveau — especially in various posters and illustrations that decorate the city’s interiors. The visual style of Arcane also shares more than a few common touchpoints with Dishonored 2 , with its angular character silhouettes, sharp profiles, and richly detailed facial features and expressions. Dishonored 2 is one of the most visually beautiful games of the eighth console generation, and so it’s little wonder that Arcane , one of the most visually distinctive and adventurous animated series in recent memory, would share an abundance of common inspirations. While Dishonored 2 ’s premise of a deposed empress fighting to reclaim her throne from a despotic immortal sorceress may appear several degrees removed from Arcane ’s sibling feud turned civil war, there are more than a few similarities in the narratives once you examine both up close. Both center on societies on the brink of civil unrest, with wealth disparity and class divides in full focus. Both prominently feature supernatural adversaries in the form of Arcane ’s Black Rose society and the Brigmore coven of witches led by Delilah Kaldwin, Dishonored 2 ’s main antagonist. And gifted genius savants play crucial roles in both Arcane ’s and Dishonored 2 ’s stories, with Viktor appearing in the former and Kirin Jindosh in the latter. If that weren’t enough, Viktor’s Hexcore-corrupted form and personality bear a striking resemblance to that of the Outsider, the supernatural entity who has appeared in every Dishonored game to date and exists as an anthropomorphic manifestation of the “Void,” a primordial dimension that essentially functions as Dishonored’s equivalent to the arcane in Arcane . If you’ve watched Arcane and wondered what it would be like to play a game where you could leap effortlessly across the rooftops of a city like Piltover, or slink undetected through the underbelly of Zaun, you’re in luck; Dishonored 2 is just the game that delivers on that experience, and then some. Even if first-person stealth games aren’t your forte, I guarantee you won’t regret giving Dishonored 2 a chance on the strength of its environments and world-building alone. And hey, if you happen to enjoy your time with it, you can easily pick up the rest of the Dishonored series and dive more deeply into its dark fantasy world. Dishonored 2 is available to play on PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One, and through Game Pass. Action Fantasy Gaming Polygon Picks What to Play
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Springworks Therapeutics COO sells $839,335 in stockMacerich Announces Commencement of Public Offering of Common StockSouth Carolina is off to an uneven start, but that hasn't obscured the steady rise of Collin Murray-Boyles. The 6-foot-7 sophomore will be the player to watch when South Carolina (6-3) hosts South Carolina Upstate (4-8) Saturday afternoon in Columbia. Murray-Boyles leads the Gamecocks in points (16.2), rebounds (9.4), steals (1.2) and blocks (1.1) per game. As South Carolina struggled to a 75-68 victory over East Carolina on Saturday, Murray-Boyles carried the Gamecocks, making all 10 of his shots from the floor and finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds. "He's been working on pivoting towards the basket and getting on balance and then making a strong move through some contact," South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said. The Gamecocks have been highly dependent on Murray-Boyles. In the two games in which he has fouled out, South Carolina lost to Xavier and Indiana. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks are unbeaten in the six games in which he has collected at least eight rebounds. "He's still growing and it's exciting to see," Paris said. "He's got phenomenal natural touch." Also emerging lately have been Norfolk State transfer Jamarii Thomas, who had season highs of 22 points and seven assists against East Carolina, and Morris Ugusuk, who has hit 10 of 14 shots from 3-point range in the last three games. South Carolina Upstate has been sparked by a pair of guards who each have won multiple Big South freshman of the week awards. Carmelo Adkins had 31 points and 12 rebounds in wins last week over Division III Brevard and at Western Carolina, while Mister Dean leads the Spartans in points (15.7), rebounds (5.6) and steals (2.0) per game. "He sparks runs because he'll make a dynamic dunk," Spartans coach Marty Richter said of Dean. "He brings energy with how he scores the basketball, in a hurry. He can score in bunches." The Spartans enter on a high as the win over Western Carolina was Richter's first over a Division I team. South Carolina Upstate is 1-8 all-time against South Carolina. This year, the Spartans are winless in four games against power conference schools. In an 85-80 loss a month ago at Wake Forest, however, they led for much of the second half. --Field Level Media
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Wheel of Fortune contestants whiffing their bonus puzzles is nothing new, but on December 4’s episode, a player came up short on a $40,000 puzzle that left fans joking that she may never want to visit a Disney theme park again. The game show’s latest big miss involved Vandana Patel, an Indian fusion food expert from Chicago. She won the episode and proceeded to the coveted bonus round with $20,600, a trip to Florida, and the selection of “What Are You Wearing?” as her category. Joined by host Ryan Seacrest and the off-side support of her waving mom, daughter, and husband, she faced the two-word puzzle. Choosing a “DMH” and “A,” Vanna White added a mere “H” to the first word. “We want more!” Seacrest chanted. With that tough break, the 10-second timer began. The puzzle read as, “‘_ H _ T E’ ‘_ L _ _ E S.'” A stern Patel did her very best to concentrate on cracking it, successfully saying “White” was the first word. But she couldn’t figure out the second word, and the timer ran out. The full puzzle was unveiled, “WHITE GLOVES.” Seacrest revealed the gold envelope contained the $40,000 amount and put a consoling arm around Patel’s shoulder. “This was on your bucket list!” he told her. “It was,” she replied. The game show shared the big miss on Youtube, where fans reacted to the loss with the top comment being about how the contestant will likely never want to see Mickey Mouse, or Mario of the Nintendo games, again given their white gloves. “Now she never wants to see mickey or mario again,” the fan wrote scoring 20 likes. “Or the keeper of the Stanley Cup,” replied another. A third fan wrote, “I knew it said WHITE GLOVES and I even solved it before the timer was displayed.” A fourth penned, “Don’t worry, Vandana, I was stumped too. I got the first word, but not the second. That’s alright, you’re a winner regardless. $20K is nothing to sneeze at. Great job! A fifth said, “I knew gloves from the initial and her h got me white. Tough puzzle “Wow. At least it wasn’t the hundred thousand dollar wedge,” wrote one more. Meanwhile , Seacrest, of course, had huge shoes to fill replacing the legendary Pat Sajak after four decades for Season 42. His debut month was the strongest ratings month for WoF in the past three years, and viewers were already treated to a viral moment (via a round of sausage) . That said, there have been some questionable hosting moments. In September, Seacrest suffered what fans dubbed his “first blooper” , involving a prolonged reaction to rewarding a bonus round. Fans also called out the host for ruling against another player before the timer was up. Most controversially, last month, fans called out the host for not reminding a player to pick a letter , leading to him losing the game in a misunderstanding and by a mere $147. This past two weeks, a more puzzling issue has come to light, which is that there has been a mere one bonus puzzle win out of the last eight episodes , many fans blaming the players and not the host. Wheel of Fortune , Weeknights, Check your local listings More Headlines:
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Struggling to score away from home in Europe is certainly no longer a concern for Arsenal after this dominant victory in Lisbon. Gabriel Martinelli scored their first Champions League goal away from the Emirates all season, following blanks at Italian sides Atalanta and Inter, within 10 minutes against Sporting CP after neat work down the threatening right side, and two more duly followed as Mikel Arteta’s side cruised to a 3-0 half-time lead. Advertisement Sporting, having lost manager Ruben Amorim to Manchester United , had looked bewildered but pulled one back early in the second half as the home crowd got behind their side, before Arsenal regained control through a penalty from Bukayo Saka just past the hour after Martin Odegaard had been brought down by Ousmane Diomande. The Sporting defender was already on a yellow card and was fortunate to avoid being sent off for the foul. Leandro Trossard completed the win late on, as Arsenal scored five away in the Champions League for the first time in 16 years. Amy Lawrence, Jordan Campbell and Mark Carey analyse the action. How important a statement was that first-half blitz? Believing they can be their best selves is a big deal for this Arsenal team in the Champions League. They arrived in Lisbon knowing they had been inhibited in their Champions League campaign so far, and started the game as if determined to make up for it in record time. The intensity of the press, with a front four on the front foot with fire in their boots, was a nightmare for Sporting. Odegaard bewitched behind the galloping runs of Saka, Martinelli and Kai Havertz . As a blueprint for how to make inroads away from home in Europe, Arsenal could not have been more dominant in that dazzling first half. Their control, focus and efficiency were cranked up. It had supporters racking their brains for the last time they had seen Arsenal so electric, and so mature, in the Champions League. Maybe the famous 5-1 win at Inter in 2003, or the legendary victory against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in 2006. More recently there was a fine 4-2 in Valencia’s Mestalla in 2019, but that was the Europa League . “You have to make it happen,” said manager Arteta in the build-up to the match. “Those steps are what we have to take next.” Advertisement Arsenal now know they can jump up those steps when their game is in tune. Amy Lawrence Is Odegaard already back to the top of his game? Arsenal fans hardly needed reminding of Odegaard’s quality, but the 25-year-old has wasted no time finding his rhythm since he returned from injury. It is not just the individual skill that Odegaard brings to Mikel Arteta’s side, it is also his ability to unlock Arsenal’s attacking potency on the right flank. Much was made of the attacking triangle of Odegaard, Saka and Ben White last season, but Jurrien Timber looks more than capable of joining the right-sided trio in the latter’s absence. The rotations of that triangle were key in Arsenal’s opener. Odegaard pulled wide and Saka drifted inside, leaving space for Timber to deliver a pinpoint cross for Martinelli to finish at the back post. In truth, Sporting’s five-man defence should not have been pulled apart so easily, given their numerical advantage across the back line, but Arsenal’s rotations forced the Portuguese champions into areas they didn’t want to go. Odegaard’s tendency to consistently pull midfielder Hidemasa Morita out of position allowed Arsenal to exploit gaps on the right side of the pitch — with a similar pattern occurring for their second goal. Morita’s preoccupancy with Odegaard gave Thomas Partey the time and space to lift a ball over Sporting’s back line to Saka, who rolled a simple pass for Kai Havertz to finish. If people thought that Arsenal’s engine had begun to sputter, Odegaard’s recent return from two months out with an ankle injury certainly looks to have clicked them back into gear. Mark Carey How did Saliba and Gabriel control Gyokeres? It was the Swedish striker’s celebration we have come so used to seeing. Sadly for Viktor Gyokeres, it was his direct opponent on the night, Gabriel , who performed it. After timing his run perfectly to meet Declan Rice ’s deep delivery, the Brazilian centre-back headed the ball home to make it 3-0, then clasped his hands over his face in front of the Sporting fans in the corner of the ground. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but the copying of Gyokeres’ goal celebration was likely seen as payback for Pedro Goncalves doing the same with Granit Xhaka ’s two seasons ago as Sporting knocked Arsenal out in the last 16 of the Europa League. Gabriel’s goal here capped off a dominant performance in which he shackled Gyokeres, who was the main focus in the lead-up to the game. With Arsenal failing to score in their previous four away games in the competition and the Sporting forward spearheading their 4-1 Champions League win here against Manchester City earlier this month, there has been discussion about whether he is the type of striker Arsenal could do with. Advertisement The only person who refused to talk about his impressive tally of 24 goals in 19 games this season during the build-up to the match was Arteta but he struggled against Gabriel and centre-back partner William Saliba , who was making his 100th Arsenal appearance. Gyokeres likes to drift to the left and cut in on his right foot but tonight he peeled onto Gabriel’s side of the pitch instead. He did not find much joy there, however, as Gabriel repeatedly manhandled him or stepped in front to cut out a pass to his feet. Sporting did find Gyokeres running into space several times but Gabriel managed those situations calmly and did not dive in. The Swede’s two clearest sight of goal came in the second half but he skied both shots well over the bar on a night when he did not produce his best. His best bit of play came late on, when he isolated Jakub Kiwior and got down the outside of the Polish defender but, while his left-footed shot beat David Raya , the ball smacked off the post. Jordan Campbell What are Arsenal’s prospects now for the top eight? Hopes of automatic qualification for the serious stuff, without the need for an extra knockout round, via a top-eight finish feel a lot healthier for Arsenal now. They moved into eighth place with this handsome win, although there may be some movement to the table with the Wednesday matches to come. Scoring five has done wonders for their goal difference, which might be important as the final table shapes up in the new year. Arsenal have three games remaining — Monaco of France’s Ligue 1 at home on December 11, and then in January they host Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia and visit Spain’s Girona, two teams who have not pulled up trees in the league phase so far with three combined wins from eight matches. Is it imperative to finish in the top cluster? No, but it is undeniably favourable. Advertisement Who knows, maybe Arteta will be able to squeeze in a few days for his players in the Dubai sunshine if they avoid that extra knockout round in February. Boosting their performance levels, on top of the standards they have set in the past few days, is a tantalising thought. Amy Lawrence What did Mikel Arteta say? Speaking after the match, Arteta said to TNT Sports: “It’s a big result against a big opponent. They haven’t lost a game here in 18 months and we wanted to make a statement. “I felt really good energy and belief before the match, but you have to put it into practice. I think the first half was exceptional, it gave us the platform to win the game. It was a really positive and important win for us. When asked about the space his side found in the first half, Arteta said: “You have to earn that space, they don’t usually give it. But I think we were really clever and really intelligent, really efficient in the way we attacked them.” On dealing with the goal Sporting pulled back just minutes into the second half, he added: “You could feel the atmosphere was changing, the last thing you want to do is concede in the first minute and give them any belief. But after that we showed after that we showed a lot of personality to bring the game down and to have the ball again and defend deeper. And we went on to score the fourth and I think that is when the game changed again.” What next for Arsenal? Saturday, November 30: West Ham United (A), Premier League , 5.30pm UK, 12.30pm ET Recommended reading (Top photo: FILIPE AMORIM/AFP via Getty Images)WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has identified what he sees as an all-purpose fix for what ails America: Slap huge new tariffs on foreign goods entering the United States. On Monday, Trump sent shockwaves across the nation's northern and southern borders, vowing sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada , as well as China, as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. In a pair of posts on his Truth Social site Trump railed against an influx of immigrants lacking permanent legal status, even though southern border apprehensions have been hovering near four-year lows. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders. He said the new tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” The president-elect asserts that tariffs — basically import taxes — will create more factory jobs, shrink the federal deficit, lower food prices and allow the government to subsidize childcare. Economists are generally skeptical, considering tariffs to be a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money. They are especially alarmed by Trump’s latest proposed tariffs. Carl B. Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi, economists with High Frequency Economics said Tuesday that energy, automobiles and food supplies will be particularly hit hard. “Imposing tariffs on trade flows into the United States without first preparing alternative sources for the goods and services affected will raise the price of imported items at once," Weinberg and Farooqi wrote. "Since many of these goods are consumer goods, households will be made poorer.” High Frequency Economics believes the threats are not meant to support new trade policy and are instead a tool to elicit some changes along the borders and for imports from Canada, Mexico and China. Though Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump’s tariff threats as unserious during her failed bid for the presidency, the Biden-Harris administration retained the taxes the Trump administration imposed on $360 billion in Chinese goods. And it imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. Indeed, the United States in recent years has gradually retreated from its post-World War II role of promoting global free trade and lower tariffs. That shift has been a response to the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs, widely attributed to unfettered trade and an increasingly aggressive China. They are typically charged as a percentage of the price a buyer pays a foreign seller. In the United States, tariffs are collected by Customs and Border Protection agents at 328 ports of entry across the country. The tariff rates range from passenger cars (2.5%) to golf shoes (6%). Tariffs can be lower for countries with which the United States has trade agreements. For example, most goods can move among the United States, Mexico and Canada tariff-free because of Trump’s US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. Trump insists that tariffs are paid for by foreign countries. In fact, its is importers — American companies — that pay tariffs, and the money goes to U.S. Treasury. Those companies, in turn, typically pass their higher costs on to their customers in the form of higher prices. That's why economists say consumers usually end up footing the bill for tariffs. Still, tariffs can hurt foreign countries by making their products pricier and harder to sell abroad. Yang Zhou, an economist at Shanghai’s Fudan University, concluded in a study that Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods inflicted more than three times as much damage to the Chinese economy as they did to the U.S. economy By raising the price of imports, tariffs can protect home-grown manufacturers. They may also serve to punish foreign countries for committing unfair trade practices, like subsidizing their exporters or dumping products at unfairly low prices. Before the federal income tax was established in 1913, tariffs were a major revenue driver for the government. From 1790 to 1860, tariffs accounted for 90% of federal revenue, according to Douglas Irwin, a Dartmouth College economist who has studied the history of trade policy. Tariffs fell out of favor as global trade grew after World War II. The government needed vastly bigger revenue streams to finance its operations. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the government is expected to collect $81.4 billion in tariffs and fees. That's a trifle next to the $2.5 trillion that's expected to come from individual income taxes and the $1.7 trillion from Social Security and Medicare taxes. Still, Trump wants to enact a budget policy that resembles what was in place in the 19th century. He has argued that tariffs on farm imports could lower food prices by aiding America’s farmers. In fact, tariffs on imported food products would almost certainly send grocery prices up by reducing choices for consumers and competition for American producers. Tariffs can also be used to pressure other countries on issues that may or may not be related to trade. In 2019, for example, Trump used the threat of tariffs as leverage to persuade Mexico to crack down on waves of Central American migrants crossing Mexican territory on their way to the United States. Trump even sees tariffs as a way to prevent wars. “I can do it with a phone call,’’ he said at an August rally in North Carolina. If another country tries to start a war, he said he’d issue a threat: “We’re going to charge you 100% tariffs. And all of a sudden, the president or prime minister or dictator or whoever the hell is running the country says to me, ‘Sir, we won’t go to war.’ ” Tariffs raise costs for companies and consumers that rely on imports. They're also likely to provoke retaliation. The European Union, for example, punched back against Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum by taxing U.S. products, from bourbon to Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Likewise, China responded to Trump’s trade war by slapping tariffs on American goods, including soybeans and pork in a calculated drive to hurt his supporters in farm country. A study by economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Zurich, Harvard and the World Bank concluded that Trump’s tariffs failed to restore jobs to the American heartland. The tariffs “neither raised nor lowered U.S. employment’’ where they were supposed to protect jobs, the study found. Despite Trump’s 2018 taxes on imported steel, for example, the number of jobs at U.S. steel plants barely budged: They remained right around 140,000. By comparison, Walmart alone employs 1.6 million people in the United States. Worse, the retaliatory taxes imposed by China and other nations on U.S. goods had “negative employment impacts,’’ especially for farmers, the study found. These retaliatory tariffs were only partly offset by billions in government aid that Trump doled out to farmers. The Trump tariffs also damaged companies that relied on targeted imports. If Trump’s trade war fizzled as policy, though, it succeeded as politics. The study found that support for Trump and Republican congressional candidates rose in areas most exposed to the import tariffs — the industrial Midwest and manufacturing-heavy Southern states like North Carolina and Tennessee.