

Canada
How Digital Domain Turned the World into a Video Game for ‘Free Guy’
In 20th Century Studios’ Free Guy, the lines between real and digital are deliberately blurred, with the focus jumping between live-action and CG based on the point of view of the characters. For the filmmakers, it was like creating two movies in one, each requiring different techniques, from replacing actors with digidoubles to creating entire CG cities. With only a handful of visual effects studios in the world capable of doing it all, 20th Century Studios turned to veteran VFX house and Oscar® winner, Digital Domain.
“We worked closely with Shawn Levy and the filmmakers to essentially create Free City twice, once by augmenting live-action footage with digital additions, and again as a fully CG environment right out of a video game,” said Nikos Kalaitzidis, Digital Domain VFX supervisor. “There’s really nothing else out there that is quite like it, and that allowed us to do things we’ve never done before.”
The Two Sides of Free City
Free Guy begins with a live-action introduction to the metropolis of Free City, as one of the game’s top players makes his dramatic entrance. As the character “BadAss” plummets toward the city, filmmakers used a combination of digital and practical effects, beginning with footage of the actor in a wire harness suspended by a retractable crane. BadAss soon turns his descent in a low-opening skydive, featuring a CG parachute, landing perfectly in a waiting convertible supercar. To make the transition from the fall to the landing, artists at Digital Domain created digidoubles of the actor, making an otherwise impossible stunt seem natural.
As the car speeds off into Free City, the filmmakers used a multi-camera rig and a crane on the car itself to film on the streets of Boston and against green screens. Digital Domain took that real footage of the car, the actor and the actress in the passenger seat, and created a new set of digi-humans for each performer, along with a CG model of the car. They then switched between live-action and digidoubles as the car dodges grenades, crowds, trees, motorbikes and more, all added by Digital Domain. Using a combination of live city footage with plates and CG buildings, the scene then pans up and through the window of the film’s protagonist Guy (Ryan Reynolds), as he awakes blissfully unaffected by the insanity around him.
Digital Domain began with previsualization, providing the filmmakers with multiple iterations of the city and what the world in general looked like, from both the live-action and game sides. Once Guy begins to gain notoriety, players frequently see his avatar wandering through the digital version of Free City. To create the game setting, Digital Domain used the previs assets, and built over 89 3D environments, created from modular buildings, then altered with different textures and materials. Artists then added individual flourishes by hand to replicate and stylize the real-world locations, including storefronts, residential and commercial buildings and more.
Mixing Worlds
To populate the digital version of Free City, Digital Domain created digital versions of many of the characters, including Guy. To create the digital protagonist, Reynolds went to Digital Domain’s motion capture stages, where the actions for his movements were recorded and added to a library. He participated in a series of facial scans, all of which were combined to create a game-version of Guy that was similar to Reynolds, but slimmed down and stylized.
With Guy’s legend growing, the two worlds blur more and more, leading to a confrontation at a construction site. As two players sent by the developers – one dressed as a pink bunny, the other as a cop – chase Guy into an unfinished skyscraper, Digital Domain created both the interior and exterior of the building. The actors then performed in front of green screens and physical set pieces, allowing the filmmakers to create a superhuman chase.
As the action progresses upward, Guy jumps from floor to floor with inhuman ability, dodging weapons fire throughout. To allow Guy to move with unnatural movement, Digital Domain introduced a digidouble of Reynolds, while also adding additional props and environmental damage to fill out the scene. The environment then begins to morph thanks to the machinations of the game’s programmers. Digital Domain then ensured the shifting building retained the proper scale against the actors, while artists continually adjusted the lighting and textures. Guy eventually reaches the top of the building, where drone and helicopter footage was used to convey the sense of movement. It also gave a foundation for the live-action world outside, which was altered to reflect the fictional city’s skyline.
After falling from the building, Guy selects a “bubble suit,” which allows him to bounce safely – if awkwardly – toward the ground. To create the scene, the filmmakers used a stunt performer on wires positioned against a green screen for close shots, and a digidouble version of Reynolds for the wide shots and the more extreme bounces. Reynolds himself was then filmed in a prop bubble to show Guy after reaching the ground. The footage was then combined with recordings of a fast descent captured by a drone.
Digital Domain also helped to create Free City’s “Multiplayer Lounge,” a location where avatars can mingle, explore in-game weapons and watch feeds of the game world on large jumbotron screens. The multi-story structure regularly features dozens of players, all of which were recorded separately against a blue screen and added later by Digital Domain. The footage of the game – including a memorable moment when the live-action Guy sees a digital version of himself – were also provided by the VFX studio.
Along with the digital version of the main actors, Digital Domain also created an additional 46 3D hero and background assets to help populate Free City.
The End of the World
When Guy grows too popular, the developers decide to reboot the game and start over. The sequence needed a unique look that still honored the game motif, so Digital Domain went back in time. Artists referenced low-res texture mapping and glitches from 80s video games.
The deletion of the world was completed using a relatively new technique known as “data-moshing,” where movement in one layer of footage is applied to another. The result is a scene that looks as if a digital video has been pixelated and damaged. To create this effect, Digital Domain used Houdini to render low-res texture maps, while combining it with Nuke. After a psychedelic final swirl, the world disappears, leaving a white void where only Guy remains.
Rebuilding Actors
Along with the traditional digidouble work and animated characters, Free Guy also marks one of the first feature film uses of Digital Domain’s proprietary face-swapping tool, Charlatan. Utilizing neural networks, Charlatan takes existing footage and analyzes the movements down to the minutia. Artists then introduce a new face digitally constructed by hand, and the neural network in Charlatan matches it with the existing footage, replacing the original performance. Artists can then alter the facial movements to incorporate new expressions.
Late in the film, BadAss gives a speech with far-reaching implications. It’s vital to the plot and tone, and after seeing the finished results, the filmmakers decided that they needed to change the dialogue and add to it for the scene to have the necessary impact. Rather than schedule a new series of reshoots and force the actor back to read a handful of lines, various methods of animating the digital character were employed, with none producing a realistic and acceptable result. So Digital Domain decided to try Charlatan.
Artists created a new facial model of BadAss by hand, then used Charlatan to combine it with the original performance. Once the neural network was able to link the two and replace the original animation, the results were a more realistic digital avatar that could then mimic the actor’s facial mannerisms and movements to mimic reading the new lines. The actor then later recorded the new dialogue in ADR.
“Free Guy was an ambitious project that required expertise in multiple techniques and disciplines to make it. And that’s exactly what Digital Domain was built for,“ said John Fragomeni, global VFX president at Digital Domain. “We worked closely with the filmmakers to help create a unique look and feel for the live-action world of Free City and the gameplay world, and we think audiences are going to be blown away by what they see.”
Free Guy is in theaters now.
AGLC
Casino ATM Scam in Edmonton Reveals Money Laundering and Drug Links

Law enforcement in Alberta continues to search for the last suspect in a sophisticated fraud operation that targeted ATMs in Edmonton-area casinos and resulted in over CAD 1 million ($720,487) in losses throughout Western Canada.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has confirmed that Hisham Ismaeel, 28, remains at large with a province-wide warrant for his arrest. He faces charges of fraud exceeding $5000 and possessing proceeds of crime. Police have already arrested four other men linked to the scheme. Investigators describe the operation as a well-planned effort to exploit financial systems and clean dirty money.
The accused, Elliot Miao, 42, Van Bau Ta, 39, Hassan Jaafar Haydar Ahmad, 37, and Dennis Jones, 42, showed up in the Alberta Court of Justice last week. They face charges from fraud and money laundering to owning criminal property. Miao also has a narcotics trafficking charge after police found cocaine when they searched with warrants.
Investigators claim the group made coordinated withdrawals at several casino ATMs, timing their transactions to avoid getting caught. This action messed up ATM networks in the area and showed flaws in the systems that banks and casinos use to stop misuse.
The RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region led an investigation that involved six search warrants in Edmonton. The Edmonton Police Service, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC), and several banks supported this effort. Officials said the case shows how teamwork between public agencies and the private sector plays a key role in combating modern financial crime.
AGLC representatives pointed out that casino operators in the province must follow strict reporting and surveillance rules under Canada’s anti-money laundering laws. The specific casinos affected remain unnamed, but the Edmonton region has seven licensed facilities. AGLC said its policies helped spot problems and backed the RCMP’s investigation.
Compliance experts say this fraud shows how criminals change their methods to take advantage of weak spots in reporting limits and transaction checks. They claim that casinos, which deal with lots of cash, are still easy targets unless they keep improving their detection systems and teach their front-line workers to notice coordinated actions like several big withdrawals happening one after another.
For now, the case highlights both the money and crime aspects of casino-related fraud. Besides the million-dollar losses, finding drugs during the raids points to a bigger criminal operation where financial crimes and drug dealing overlap.
The post Casino ATM Scam in Edmonton Reveals Money Laundering and Drug Links appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
Bragg Gaming
Bragg Confirms Cyber Attack – Hackers Access Internal IT Systems

Bragg Gaming Group, a leading online gaming technology provider, has confirmed a major cybersecurity incident that compromised its internal IT infrastructure in the early hours of Saturday, August 16, 2025.
The company detected unauthorized intrusion attempts that successfully breached its internal network, triggering an immediate and comprehensive incident response.
Key Takeaways
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Bragg Gaming Group experienced a cybersecurity breach involving access to internal IT systems.
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No customer personal data or payment information appears to have been compromised.
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The company has enacted full containment and investigation protocols.
Details of the Breach
According to a preliminary forensic analysis by Bragg’s internal security team, the attack was a targeted breach aimed at the company’s internal computer environment. While the exact method of intrusion is still under investigation, early indicators suggest a sophisticated exploit of internal network vulnerabilities.
Fortunately, the company’s customer-facing systems, including sensitive user data and financial information, appear to have been unaffected. Bragg’s existing encryption protocols and access control systems successfully prevented the attackers from accessing customer information.
Immediate Response Measures
In response to the breach, Bragg launched a multi-tiered containment strategy, including:
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Network Segmentation to isolate affected systems
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Enhanced Monitoring of data flows across its Remote Games Server (RGS) platform
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Security Audits of critical infrastructure, including the Bragg Hub and PAM systems
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Engagement of Independent Cybersecurity Experts to assist in incident analysis and system hardening
Bragg’s Security Operations Center has also elevated its alert level, initiating 24/7 monitoring across all server clusters and network endpoints. In addition, company-wide penetration testing is now underway to proactively identify any residual vulnerabilities.
Business Continuity Maintained
Despite the severity of the breach, Bragg reports that its operations remain unaffected. All gaming services, including iCasino and sportsbook offerings across regulated markets, continue to function without disruption.
“While this incident is deeply concerning, we are confident in the rapid and thorough response initiated by our team,” a company spokesperson stated. “We remain committed to protecting our infrastructure, our partners, and most importantly, our players.”
Looking Ahead
As part of its response, Bragg has also launched mandatory security awareness training for all employees to reinforce best practices and prevent future incidents.
Cybersecurity analysts will continue working with Bragg to determine the full scope of the attack, improve system resilience, and maintain the trust of its users and stakeholders.
Bragg’s handling of the incident highlights both the evolving nature of cybersecurity threats and the importance of robust, responsive defense systems in the digital gaming sector.
Source: cybersecuritynews.com
The post Bragg Confirms Cyber Attack – Hackers Access Internal IT Systems appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
AGCO
AGCO Removes Cap on Seller Commission for Charitable Lottery Products

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has updated several lottery policies to remove the cap on seller commission for Paper Raffles and Media Bingo, along with removing the prohibition on Catch the Ace paper lotteries, to align with other charitable lottery products.
Licensed charities may now negotiate commissions directly with sellers and determine commissions, provided they are reasonable and tied to the cost of service provided by the seller.
These updates further the AGCO’s commitment to adopt an outcomes-based regulatory approach and reduce burden for the charitable gaming sector. Local charitable organizations will have greater flexibility to make decisions that best serve their fundraising objectives.
Important Reminders
• Charities must still receive approval for other expenses incurred under their licence and retain receipts for seller commission paid.
• Licensing authorities will not require documentation to be submitted as part of the application process, however, charities are still subject to audit to determine compliance.
• Charities are reminded of their legal requirement to meet their obligations under the Criminal Code and with respect to conducting and managing a charitable gaming scheme.
• As with all licensed charitable lottery events, charities must take the necessary steps to ensure that they are conducting and managing the lottery event within Ontario.
For charitable gaming-related inquiries, email an AGCO Eligibility Officer at [email protected] or call AGCO Customer Service at 1-800-522-2876, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The post AGCO Removes Cap on Seller Commission for Charitable Lottery Products appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.
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