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The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S have ray tracing, but the Nintendo Switch 2 has RAYE tracing. The singer-songwriter thought "If it's nice, do it twice" and signed up for another Nintendo Christmas ad directed by Jamie Rafn, who's become the Japanese video game company's go-to guy in the UK. Shame there's no Jamie Rafn Amiibo yet.

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Almost twenty years after the release of 'Medieval II: Total War', players with a soft spot for the Middle Ages have, er, 'Total War: Medieval III' to look forward to. Why publisher Sega and developer Creative Assembly tweaked the title like that is unclear, but it matters little to the cast of this live-action trailer: five monarchs who each rule how they see fit.

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Two years ago, DAVID wrote about a wonderful game called 'Venba'. A tale of family, food, and flavour text, it showed how the taste of home travels thousands of miles. When brands like Elephant Atta explore that theme, it helps to have someone like Zak Razvi at the helm. He directs a 60" commercial about atta, a type of wheat flour used to make flatbreads.

New Signing

Fans of Chris Morris and 'The Day Today' will be pleased to know that Arthur Studholme owns a corn snake called Colin Poppshed. Australia and New Zealand production company Finch, meanwhile, is pleased to welcome the director to its roster. He's already delivered two commercials for Suntory -196, in fact—when life gives you lemons, make chuhai.

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Peruvian-Australian actor Nathalie Kelley ('The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift', 'The Baker and the Beauty') calls herself a "thread torn loose from the blanket of my ancestors". She left Peru when she was a child, but knew she'd return one day. Cue this tactile commercial for PAKA, a sustainable outdoor apparel company that uses alpaca wool from Peru.

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Xbox, unlike Spinal Tap, has never been big in Japan—God loves a trier, though, and the brand continues to plug away at the home of Nintendo and Sony in a number of ways.

Opinion

As another busy year draws to a close, DAVID thought he'd share some of the games he's played over recent months. Recommendations are always welcome, by the way—if you've got a game that keeps you sane, makes you think, or tops up your happy meter, feel free to let him know! In the meantime, here's five titles DAVID ticked off his infinite list...

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Fiona McGee directs a larger-than-life commercial for The Lott, the "official home of Australia’s lotteries". When residents hear that a humongous fish has been spotted in the lake, the whole town goes Captain Ahab, if you will, only much less vengeful. As McGee takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the town, we learn what everyone would do if they landed the legendary beast.

New Signing

'Grafted' director Sasha Rainbow has completed her move to FRIEND. In the wake of her debut feature—a body horror riff on 'Face/Off' that crawls under your skin and threatens to replace it—New Zealand-born Rainbow has looked high and low for a company on her electric wavelength. Spoiler alert: FRIEND is that very company.

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Some father-of-the-bride speeches hit the nail on the head, others feel like a nail in the head. The man in this Irish Toyota commercials wishes to avoid the latter at all costs, so he mulls over every word, every thought, and every memory. Laptop, notepad, pen, pencil… whatever works in the quest for perfection. The stakes have never been higher, after all.

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In this utterly delightful ad for French supermarket Intermarché from animation directors Illogic, a wolf because a convert to the ways of vegetarianism in a bid to secure friendships in the forest. The animation is topped and tailed by two brief live action sequences (directed with great skill by Nadège Loiseau) which are also very charming, as a young child's lupophobia is addressed by a kindly uncle.

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Dr Dre and Gordon Ramsay appear on screen for a collaboration for the former's gin company (co-owned with Snoop Dogg, who provides the VO) and Gordon Ramsay who is attached to HexClad, the cookware company that makes the advertised cocktail shaker. The outcome takes the path you'd expect with Ramsay sending himself up as a wannabe music performer... but the predictability does it no harm as the collaboration is fun, and Dr Dre is so achingly cool that his inclusion elevates the gag.

New Signing

Work Editorial's new editor needs no introduction. Just so we're all on the same page, however, it's Elena De Palma, whose credits include 'The Wonder of Us' for Coca-Cola, 'Bears' for Center Parcs, and 'Ray' for Arthritis Research UK. Before she gets to... work, let's hear what the former tenthree talent has to say about the move.

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This Dr Oetker ad contains scenes of explicit violence and gore, so don't let its sugar-sweet, stop-motion outer layer fool you—this is a straight-up horror movie from the German brand.

News

Ten years after Jonathan and Josh Baker arrived at Academy Films in the UK, the directors known as TWIN have signed to its US roster. Jonathan says: "Academy has always felt like home to us. They're the perfect mix of pedigree, taste, and humanity. They're consistently innovating, in whatever shape of form a project requires, without ever resting on their laurels."

Promo

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice! How do you get to the Menuhin Hall? Er, practice! It's no guarantee of success, though—just ask the pianist (Rob Dimbleby) whose audition is cut short by Catherine Elliott's hard-to-please examiner. Next in line is Perth, Australia-born, London-based singer-songwriter Kat Penkin, though her taste in clothes makes the judge sceptical from the off ("I suppose it'll be Britney or Lady Gaga or something?").