Ubisoft has cancelled an extraction shooter set in the Far Cry universe according to a report, in favour of a new spin-off. 

While Assassin’s Creed continues to be a key priority at Ubisoft, one of its other major franchises has dropped off the radar in recent years. 

Far Cry hasn’t seen a new entry since 2021’s Far Cry 6, which proved divisive among fans and critics. Ubisoft hasn’t officially announced a new game, but there have been rumours for some time that a mainline sequel and a multiplayer spin-off are in development. 

However, according to a new report, the multiplayer game has now been shelved, as work gets underway on a new spin-off.

As reported by Insider Gaming, the Far Cry multiplayer spin-off codenamed Maverick, which was apparently an extraction shooter, has been cancelled. 

However, a new game set within the Far Cry universe, codenamed Kodiak, has reportedly passed the conception stage at Vantage Studios – the newly created Ubisoft subsidiary. 

This project has been described as ‘really ambitious’ by sources, although it’s built on the foundations of Maverick. It’s said to be several years away from release. 

Per the report, Kodiak is described as an open world first person shooter where ‘player interactions and player-driven stories take centre stage’ – a description which could apply to almost every Far Cry game so far.

It’s unclear if Kodiak will be multiplayer or single-player focused. However, the next mainline Far Cry game, codenamed Blackbird, is said to have a multiplayer element where several players can experience the world together at once. 

It’s unclear when Blackbird will launch but it will likely be the next Far Cry game on the way, if Kodiak has only just passed the conception stage. 

The big question is what the next mainline Far Cry game could do to spice up the formula, which has grown stale over recent entries. Far Cry 6 starred Giancarlo Esposito as a dictator on a fictional Caribbean island, but all the recent sequels have struggled to make the same impact as Far Cry 3.

Vantage Studios is managing development across Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six titles. The only game we know they’re working on is Assassin’s Creed Hexe, which has been subject to notable shifts in senior management over recent months.

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Equity release is only available to homeowners that own a property within the United Kingdom. 

If you choose a mortgage with required payments during your lifetime, your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up with the payments. Borrowing with a lifetime mortgage or retirement interest-only mortgage will reduce the value of your estate. Receiving a cash lump sum may also affect your entitlement to means-tested benefits. Think carefully before securing other debts against your home.

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The actress, who played barmaid Gina Ward for 18 years, revealed that she had bought The Goathland Hotel – known to millions as the Aidensfield Arms – alongside two business partners, marking a full-circle moment for fans of the long-running series.

Following the announcement, Press readers shared their own stories of the much-loved pub and its role both on and off screen.

Heartbeat fans’ memories as TV star takes on Goathland Hotel, pictured. (Image: Submitted)

Taking to The Press website and Facebook page, some recalled how the show was made, with filming taking place both in Goathland and beyond.

Philip Hopkinson said: “The internal scenes were indeed initially filmed inside the Goathland Hotel for the first 2/3 years but after that, like many internal scenes, were filmed in an old mill in Farsley, West Yorkshire.

“My wife and I were invited to the sets during the final months of filming.”

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Others pointed to scenes filmed closer to York.

Granville Durkin said: “A lot of the exterior scenes were filmed in the Acomb, Foxwood and Chapelfields areas of York.

“One of the most memorable episodes, where Greengrass gets his private parts caught in a mousetrap, was filmed on Bramham Road in Chapelfields.”

For many, however, the pub’s importance goes far beyond television.

The Aidensfield Arms, in Heartbeat. (Image: Submitted)

Keith Thompson said: “It was ‘village central’ for many years, the social hub of the village, not some fictitious place depicted on a TV screen.

“If you wanted something, wanted help, needed advice, an opinion, or just to talk then the pub bar of the Goathland was that place.

“People think that TV ‘made’ the village, brought tourism, ‘put it on the map’ is the oft trailed expression, the village was a tourist destination long before YTV ‘discovered’ it.”

The show’s global reach was also clear, with fans travelling from afar to visit.

Susanne Linde, from Sweden, said: “I came to Goathland 2014 to visit the pub and stay at the hotel – all because of the TV series ‘Heartbeat’. And – I love steam trains! So NYMR was a dream come true.

“I fell in love with both The Aidensfield Arms and Goathland. So I came back from Sweden to visit every year after that, sometimes twice and even three times a year.

“I got friends with the owners of the hotel and I did even work at the pub and hotel a couple of times for some weeks.  ..Lovely memories.”

Others shared connections to the show itself.

Wendy Coates said: “My husband worked on the set of Heartbeat for 10 years. Providing period car, Volvo Amazon 130. Knows Miss Penrose, lovely lady.”

And there was excitement about what the future might hold.

Chris Hoggard said: “I just hope we can say ‘Pint please Ginna’.”

James Birkinshaw said: “Nice for her, it played a big part of her life and now gets to share it with other that the way to do it. Well done lass – all them hours well worth it; things always come at the right time.”

Brian Womble added: “Had a wonderful time visiting Goathland and the pub for a drink a few years ago. Need to go back xxx.”

Reader Gloria Tyler Daykin suggested a name change: “I wish them all the best and I’m pretty sure they’ll change the name to the Aidensfield Arms in keeping with the show.”

The Goathland Hotel has long attracted visitors from across the world thanks to its starring role in Heartbeat, which ran from 1992 to 2010 and was filmed across North Yorkshire.

Now, with one of its best-known faces at the helm, many fans are hoping the spirit of the Aidensfield Arms will live on for years to come.

What are your memories of Heartbeat and filming in North Yorkshire? We’d love to hear – email nadia.jeffersonbrown@newsquest.co.uk

Josh Miller, 29, was jailed for a year at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Friday.

An offender who has spent much of his adult life in custody is behind bars again after he was caught carrying a knife in Uddingston.

Josh Miller, 29, was jailed for a year at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Friday.

He admitted having a lockback knife in Gardenside Avenue on July 11 last year.

Connor McIntyre, prosecuting, said police went to the area about 2.20pm after a report that a man was “in distress”.

He stated: “Officers saw the accused and began to speak to him. He was under the influence of drink or drugs.

“The knife was found in a pocket of his tracksuit top. The accused was arrested but not formally charged at that stage due to his level of intoxication.”

Defence lawyer Ian Scott said Miller, now of Portwell, Hamilton, was living in a hostel in Uddingston at the time.

Mr Scott told the court: “He was a chaotic drug user. He is easily led and follows a bad crowd.

“It wasn’t unexpected to find him under the influence with a knife in his possession.

“He has spent a lot of his adult life in a custodial setting where he is an exemplary and trusted prisoner.”

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We’re officially experiencing a drought in various parts of the UK, and while you could face a fine of up to £1,000 if you use a hosepipe in some areas, we wouldn’t blame you for wanting to keep your beloved plants alive.

A lot of love goes into our gardens – and there aren’t many places you want to be during a heatwave other than the comfort of your own home, so you might as well take care of it!

Should you be living in an area with a hosepipe ban, though, there is another way to keep your garden all in a row.

Water butts could be the solution to keeping your garden watered year-round. These barrels act as a way to collect rain, so that not only can you save on your water bill when watering the garden, but when it comes time for a hosepipe ban, you have another trick up your sleeve.

And while we’re not exactly experiencing a lot of rain right now, investing in a water butt now could future proof you for warm and dry summers to come.

There are some basic water butts out there, that come in a black or green plastic container – and there’s nothing wrong with going with what works.

But if you’re after more of a whimsy effect or a colourful pop, we’ve also found the most aesthetically interesting water butts to shop now.

What does it mean?

He’s the man who delivered a King – and, for that matter, a Queen – masterminded the banishment of one particularly problematic relative, while cunningly corralling another.

In short Sir Clive Alderton, Principal Private Secretary to His Majesty King Charles III, is arguably the most formidable and consequential courtier of the modern era.

But to many readers of the Daily Mail, he will be simply known as ‘The Wasp’.

That was the ostentatiously offensive nickname given to him by the Duke of Sussex (or perhaps, more appropriately, his ghostwriter) in his vengeance-laden memoir, Spare – although one that, in the circumstances, must now surely be worn as a badge of honour?

And while there are bound to be cheers from Montecito today when they learn that Sir Clive is sensationally set to retire after 20 years working as King Charles’ gatekeeper, the news will sadly leave Buckingham Palace without one of its ‘big beasts’.

For it can be confirmed that after two decades of the most loyal of service, leonine Sir Clive has announced that he will leave the royal household next May, a move that coincides with his 60th birthday (a revelation that has prompted some fans to enquire whether he has a Dorian Gray-style portrait in the attic).

The feeling is that now is as good a time as any for him take a well-earned break: to start with he has helped to deliver a relatively problem-free accession (leaky pens aside) and a successful coronation.

The King has also just completed the ‘last of his firsts’ (starting with his first public engagements and home nations visits as monarch, to the big test so far of his reign, this year’s State Visit to the US, and his first to a British Overseas, Territory, Bermuda).

Sir Clive Alderton, Principal Private Secretary to His Majesty King Charles III, is arguably the most formidable and consequential courtier of the modern era

He has also steered the King – and indeed the nation – through the dark days of the monarch’s cancer diagnosis in 2024. Charles himself, I am told, is in a ‘good place’ health-wise, as it stands.

In all (and safely assuming that as a long-term diplomat Sir Clive’s pensionable age is 60), next year is a natural moment to move on.

While those outside of royal circles may ask why the departure of a courtier is so significant, it is worth casting your mind back.

When life-long diplomat Mr Alderton, as he was then, joined the then Prince of Wales’ Household in 2006 as Deputy Private Secretary, Charles’ public standing was in a very different place.

With a household dubbed ‘Wolf Hall’ for its interpersonal rivalries and the prince suffering from a perennially poor public image, there was much to work on.

While no-one, not even his most ardent admirers, would claim Sir Clive and his team have always got it right, there is no doubt that he was absolutely instrumental in turning the tanker round.

In 2009 he was promoted to Private Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to the prince and the Duchess of Cornwall (and made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, a sign of royal favour, in 2013).

His rise in the royal household was only briefly halted when he necessarily left in 2012 to become Ambassador to Morocco, before being lured back in 2015 when he was appointed the couple’s Principal Private Secretary – a title created especially for him.

Sir Clive shakes Andy Burnham’s hand as he arrives at Buckingham Palace for an audience with King Charles III where he was invited to become Prime Minister — July 20, 2026

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Keir Starmer, Sir Clive Alderton, King Charles, and Idris Elba during a Youth Opportunity Summit at St James’s Palace in London — July, 2025

He served in that position until the prince’s accession to the throne on September 8 2022, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, when he became Principal Private Secretary to His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen.

He is also a member of the Privy Council and a Trustee of the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.

Outsiders would say that one of his greatest successes was to ‘de-politicise’ the notoriously interventionist heir to the throne – ‘no more ‘black spider memos for you, Sir!’ – in time for him to accede to the throne, while ensuring a proud legacy of national and international change as Prince of Wales.

Insiders would probably add to that the transformation of his wife, Camilla, from Duchess of Cornwall to Queen, something that was simply unthinkable when he joined royal service.

While there will always be those who have strong opinions on the matter, few can argue that she hasn’t carried out her duties with enthusiasm, diligence and good humour and carved a space for herself in public life, tackling some truly thorny issue such as domestic abuse.

Needless to say, the King is a much, much happier man with his wife standing by his side.

That’s not to say, of course, backs haven’t been put up or hackles raised along the way.

There’s no doubt that Sir Clive relishes the game of diplomacy – ‘he puts the ‘M’ into Machiavellian,’ says one wag.

Best-selling crime thriller writer Peter James’ recent detective novel, set in the royal household, described the King’s fictional long-standing aide, Sir Peregrine Greaves, as an aide so silky-smooth it appears he is ‘gliding on wheels’ and, to be fair, he didn’t have far to look for inspiration.

King Charles III and his private secretary Sir Clive arriving for the King’s Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace in December 2024

King Charles III and Donald Trump meet Sir Clive Alderton at Windsor Castle during the US President’s state visit in September, 2025

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To say that Prince Harry hates his father’s gatekeeper is an understatement, and he didn’t hold back in his memoir, as he described the then triumvirate of powerful royal aides at the heads of each of the three royal households (Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace) as ‘the bee, the fly and the wasp’.

Sir Clive, it seems, was the worst of the three in his book, being ‘arrogant’ and ‘great at pretending to be polite, even servile’, but would ‘put you on his list’ and ‘give you such a stab with his outsized stinger that you’d cry out in confusion’.

Harry firmly blamed the courtier for being a roadblock in attempts to reconcile with his father.

While that may in part be true, friends of the diplomat pour scorn on this claim, suggesting no aide would be so arrogant to stand in the way of father and son on a personal basis.

But, of course, if the prince behaved in such a way that would place his father in potentially constitutionally tricky waters, he would not be doing his job if he didn’t protect the monarch, they add.

Whether his departure changes relations in the future will be interesting to see.

The same, it might be said, went for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, another family member who might not mourn Sir Clive’s departure. For there is no doubt that the courtier was instrumental in finding a way to banish the former Duke of York from royal life, strip him of his titles and effectively evict him from Royal Lodge.

While that problem is far from solved yet, the foundations to do so are now laid.

Spares aside, though, Sir Clive is a delightful companion (albeit one whose political antennae are never on pause) and it’s fair to say that having handled some of the most delicate constitutional issues since the abdication of 1936, his fingerprints are most definitely all over the high points of this reign.

He is genuinely passionate about both king and country and if he has enjoyed pulling the levers of power along the way, the best interests of both have always been foremost in his mind.

The search for his successor will take place both internally and externally will start soon, with a replacement hopefully in place by spring of next year.

It is understood that Sir Clive elected to share this news now so that an ‘open and rigorous recruitment process’ for his successor can begin, with the aim of identifying the ‘highest calibre external and internal candidates’.

The timeframe additionally allows for an appropriate period of handover to his eventual successor in spring/ summer next year, once an appointment is made.

Fellow aides have paid tribute to the ‘immense and critical’ role he has played in supporting Their Majesties over his time in service, in particular through the meticulous planning for Accession over many years, his chairing of the Coronation Committee, and managing the significant first years of the new reign with all their highlights and complexities, nationally, internationally – and closer to home.

In a message to staff today he said: ‘It has been the greatest imaginable honour to serve The King and Queen in my present role through such historic times and with unforgettable humour along the way. That support will continue, in a less formal capacity, for all of my life.’

The King and Queen are said to be ‘deeply grateful’ to Sir Clive for his ‘tireless support and wise counsel’ over the years, and for the enduring loyalty that will ensure a smooth transition to his successor.

One court jester joked that he would take a while to consider the ‘longer term opportunities and possibilities – for which spending a little less time supporting the Royal Family and a little more focussing on his own family is an understandable ambition. He will be sorely missed.’

Royal writer Valentine Low, author of ‘Power and the Palace’ and ‘Courtiers’ described Sir Clive as the ‘quintessential courtier’ – smooth, charming and urbane – and says: ‘Alderton is one of the significant and successful courtiers of recent years, up there with the late Queen’s private secretary Christopher Geidt.

‘He played a vital role in helping Charles transition from Prince of Wales to King, moulding a once-meddlesome prince who would fire off letters to ministers into a monarch who was scrupulous about keeping within the constitutional guidelines. The fact that Charles has been largely free of political controversy since ascending the throne is without a doubt down to Alderton.

‘As such [he] was adept in handling Charles, whose private secretaries did not always last the course. He used humour skillfully to defuse tricky situations, but was not afraid to have difficult conversations.

He was not without his critics, however, who saw him as Machiavellian. One insider said Alderton was like a figure from Wolf Hall, ‘a schemer, a chess player’.

‘And that was one of his friends.’

A Ryanair passenger asked the airline to add a common feature to their plane seats — something most other aircraft have — only to receive a short and sharp response back

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While Ryanair is well-known for its budget-friendly fares, seasoned and first-time passengers alike will be well aware that this comes at a price. The airline has repeatedly made clear that it is able to offer some of the most competitive flight prices across Europe by cutting costs on non-essential luxuries.

This translates to reduced legroom in order to accommodate more passengers on each flight, no Wi-Fi connectivity, and no charging points for travellers’ devices. However, many passengers are prepared to forgo these common comforts in exchange for lower fares.

One traveller, Maxine McCourt, called on the airline to install pockets on the backs of seats – a feature found on most other aircraft – to give passengers somewhere to keep smaller belongings during their journey.

“@Ryanair would it really have broke the bank to put a wee net here?” Maxine wrote in the overlay text of her TikTok video, as she gestured to the seat in front of her on the flight while holding her earphones case in her hand.

The majority of airlines feature mesh or fabric pockets on the reverse of their seats, typically housing the safety information card, and which passengers can use to stow items such as headphones, snacks, or reading material.

Rather than rummaging through a bag while cramped in a narrow seat, passengers can simply remove their belongings prior to take-off and have them readily accessible throughout the flight.

However, Ryanair evidently saw no need to incorporate this additional feature into its aircraft. Instead, the carrier delivered a three-word response to Maxine through its own video.

After re-posting Maxine’s video, an image of a Ryanair aircraft appeared, complete with a face superimposed on it, as the airline proceeded to share its blunt reply.

“You have hands, use them. If you don’t like it, buy your own plane,” it stated in the video, underlining in the post’s caption: “Use your hands.”

Viewers quickly flooded the comments section to express their opinions, with some supporting Ryanair’s choice not to install the pockets in their seats.

“They removed them pockets, because people are dirty, and this decision saves time on cleaning,” one person remarked.

Another concurred, writing: “Ryanair got a point here. It’s not just the cost of the net, but the fuel to transport it across a continent 1,000 times.”

A third commenter noted: “Makes sense as whenever you fly on a plane with a net behind the seats everyone just leaves rubbish in them, means you don’t waste time cleaning.”

Another observer added: “I agree with Ryanair whole agenda, their whole market is not ‘we are the best’, it’s ‘we are the most affordable’, this is exactly how lower prices and fight the big names, they have to get profit from the flights, so they have to remove anything unnecessary so they can maintain low prices, I am all for that.”