Horizon Forbidden West has been the topic of some speculation recently. While the game was originally slated to come out sometime in late 2021, reports from earlier in the summer suggested that Sony had decided to delay the game. During Gamescom 2021 Opening Night Live, that delay was confirmed as Sony announced the release date for Horizon Forbidden West on … Continue reading
Popular video conferencing app Zoom has announced its latest update, including new features centered around privacy, functionality, and Apple’s tablet lineup. One of the more notable additions this time around is Zoom’s new ability to automatically react to iPad users’ gestures during a meeting. This isn’t the first time Zoom has released an update with features specifically for its iPad … Continue reading
We haven’t heard much about Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga since TT Games delayed it indefinitely back in April. At Gamescom’s Opening Night Live event, the studio and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment showed off a new trailer that embraces the series’ trademark irreverent humor, in-jokes and sleek visuals.
There are a bunch of nods to famous scenes from the Star Wars movies (the game adapts all nine entries in the Skywalker saga). Along with X-wing battles and lightsaber duels with the likes of Darth Vader and Darth Maul, you’ll see moments like Rey flipping over Kylo Ren’s TIE fighter. The game includes 20 unlockable planets you can travel between and more than 300 playable characters.
While there’s no firm release date as yet, the game should arrive in spring 2022 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.
This is the first game in the Lego Star Wars series since 2016, when TT Games Legofied Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It marks the first time that the studio has adapted The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Warner Bros. initially planned to release Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga in 2020, and then in spring 2021, but TT Games needed “more time” to finish it.
Splitgate, an FPS that combines the best of classic Quake multiplayer and Portal, is an unlikely shooter success story. It reached an astounding 10 million downloads during its open beta last month, when it made its way to consoles and unveiled cross-platform play. And to celebrate that success, today developer 1047 Games launched its next beta phase: Season 0.
“In the span of a month, our servers went from supporting 4,000 players at once to 175,000 players!” Splitgate creator and 1047 Games CEO Ian Proulx wrote on the PlayStation blog. “All in all, our servers had some growing pains, so we had to implement short-term solutions to prevent back-end crashes.”
Given the influx of new users, Proulx says he chose to delay the game’s official launch and extend the beta phase. Existing players can expect a slew of new content in Season 0, including Karman Station, a new map, as well as a new Infection gameplay mode. There’s also a Season 0 Battle Pass and plenty of new gear to pick up. They have to support a free-to-play game somehow, right?
After spending more than 10 hours in the previous Splitgate beta, it’s easy to see why the game has caught on so quickly. It combines solid shooter mechanics with something entirely new: The ability to place portals around the map, which you can use to teleport or take out enemies. If anything, it’s a welcome respite from the flood of Battle Royale titles on the market.
While Splitgate doesn’t have an official launch date yet, the beta is pretty stable in my experience. Proulx says 1047 Games is also work on a map editor, as well as additional maps, weapons and other items in the future.
The rumors of a Horizon Forbidden West delay were true, although the wait won’t be as long as you might think. Guerilla has revealed that Forbidden West will be released on February 18th, 2022 for both PS4 and PS5 owners, with pre-orders starting on September 2nd. The developer previously promised a free upgrade to the PS5 version if you have to continue Aloy’s journey on the older console.
The open-world adventure was originally slated to arrive in holiday 2021. However, the COVID-19 pandemic “hugely impacted” development, Guerilla said. Like many game creators, the team had to rethink its work strategy while also trying to maintain a “healthy” work-life balance.
If you can’t wait that long, you’ll still have a reason to revisit Horizon Zero Dawn. Guerilla has released a free Enhanced Performance Patch for the earlier game that gives PS5 players a “targeted” 60FPS. This won’t suddenly drag the game into the next-gen console era, but the improved frame rate should make it that much easier to dodge charging robots and line up bow shots.
Jurassic World Evolution 2, the next installment in everyone’s favorite dinosaur-based park-management franchise, is heading to Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 4, PS5 and PC on November 9th. Pre-orders are open now, and buying the game early will net players three vehicle skins inspired by the 1997 film, The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 allows players to build, manage and mess around in a world of Spielberg-inspired dinosaurs. There are four modes: campaign, chaos theory, challenge and sandbox. Campaign mode takes players through a narrative arc set after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the 2018 movie. Chaos theory presents classic moments from the film franchise, but with a twist, playing out “what if” scenarios. Challenge is the mode for folks who want to test their dino-rearing skills, while sandbox is the creative way to play.
Jurassic Wold Evolution 2 is made by Frontier Developments, the studio that handled the 2018 game Jurassic World Evolution.
YouTube has removed 1 million videos for dangerous COVID-19 misinformation since February 2020, according to YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mahon.
Mahon shared the statistic in a blog post outlining how the company approaches. misinformation on its platform. “Misinformation has moved from the marginal to the mainstream,” he wrote. “No longer contained to the sealed-off worlds of Holocaust deniers or 9-11 truthers, it now stretches into every facet of society, sometimes tearing through communities with blistering speed.”
At the same time, the Youtube executive argued that “bad content” accounts for only a small percentage of YouTube content overall. “Bad content represents only a tiny percentage of the billions of videos on YouTube (about .16-.18% of total views turn out to be content that violates our policies),” Mahon wrote. He added that YouTube removes almost 10 million videos each quarter, “the majority of which don’t even reach 10 views.”
Facebook recently made a similar argument about content on its platform. The social network published a report last week that claimed that the most popular posts are memes and other non-political content. And, faced with criticism over its handling of COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation, the company has argued that vaccine misinformation isn’t representative of the kind of content most users see.
Both Facebook and YouTube have come under particular scrutiny for their policies around health misinformation during the pandemic. Both platforms have well over a billion users, which means that even a small fraction of content can have a far-reaching impact. And both platforms have so far declined to disclose details about how vaccine and health misinformation spreads or how many users are encountering it. Mahon also said that removing misinformation is only one aspect of the company’s approach. YouTube is also working on “ratcheting up information from trusted sources and reducing the spread of videos with harmful misinformation.”
A team of scientists say they’ve come across the first known instance of animals building fluorescent homes. In a new paper, they detail finding nests built by certain wasp species that glow green under exposure to ultraviolet light. What’s more, related wasps in other parts of the world also seem capable of creating…
When the Supergirl TV series comes to a close later this fall, it’s nice to know the Girl of Steel won’t face the end alone. Of course, she’ll be helped by her current friends/castmates Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath), Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh), Martian Manhunter (David Harewood), Brainy (Jesse Rath), Dreamer (Nicole…
Kanye (or “Ye,” as it were) is going all out in the promotion of his upcoming tenth studio album, “Donda” (named for his late-mother, Donda West). In July, there was a massive listening party at New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Stadium (where he also took up residence in a locker room). For an upcoming listening party in his native Chicago, meanwhile, the rapper is rebuilding his childhood home at Soldier Field.
The forthcoming LP also sees West launching a $200 music gadget called, Stem Player, under his Yeezy Tech brand. The product is designed to isolate stems — specific elements like vocals, bass, samples and drums. It can add effects and remix the song elements according to the site.
The device reportedly ships with a copy of the new record pre-loaded. A FAQ on the site helpfully adds, however, while the product is being released in conjunction with “Donda,” it can also be used for other music.
Image Credits: Kanye West
Interestingly, the device was created in tandem with Kano, a London-based startup known for a different kind of STEM product. The company creates educational devices to help children learn things like programming. In 2019, Kano struggled through layoffs, in spite of releasing a number of Disney-branded devices.
It seems the company’s found an interesting new bit of life here, and the product even goes so far as crediting Kano on the back of its silicone skin exterior with a Yeezy Tech x Kano branding on the rear.
West name-checked the device (or its predecessor) during an interview around his previous album, “Jesus Is King” in 2019. At the time, it appeared to be a collaboration with design firm Teenage Engineering. “This portable stem player that we designed with Teenage Engineering for this album and the albums before it, is to spread the gospel,” West told Zane Lowe at the time.
The product is set to ship this summer.
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