Hasta La Gadget!

The suspected shooter is a Chinese American man believed to have targeted the Taiwanese community.

It’s been over a year since Mediatonic confirmed Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout was coming to Xbox and Nintendo Switch. After somedelays, the wait is almost over. The ridiculously fun battle royale platformer is coming to those platforms, as well as Epic Games Store, on June 21st. A dedicated PlayStation 5 version is on the way too. Full cross-play and cross-progression will be available across all platforms as well.

What’s more, Fall Guys is going free-to-play. Epic pulled a similar move with Rocket League after snatching up Psyonix. Existing players on PlayStation and Steam will receive a legacy pack, which includes three costumes and some other bonuses. Newcomers who pre-register can claim some swag as well. 

It’s not a huge shock that Fall Guys is coming to the Epic Games Store — Epic bought Mediatonic parent Tonic Games Group last year. Users have needed an Epic account to play Fall Guys since November, when cross-progression was added.

A new season will also get underway on June 21st. Mediatonic is resetting the counter and calling it Season 1: Free For All. It will be the first seasonal update since November and, as ever, there will be new levels and more cosmetics.

For the first time, there will be a premium (i.e. paid) season pass with 100 tiers and extra cosmetic items. Those who receive the legacy pass will get free access to the premium season pass for season one. A free season pass will still be available with other items to unlock. 

Crowns will no longer be used for currency to buy items in the store. The crown rank feature will be boosted with more rewards. Unspent crowns will be converted into Kudos. There will be another in-game currency called Show-Bucks, which can be used to buy the premium season pass. Costumes that are on the way include Ezio from the Assassin’s Creed series, along with Mecha Godzilla and Mothra.

There’s one more big update on the way: a level creator. This was announced as being “under construction” and, while it won’t be arriving any time soon, it’s an exciting feature to look forward to.

The game debuted on PS4 and Steam in August 2020 and was an instant hit, racking up millions of players on PC in just a few days and becoming the most-claimed game in the history of PlayStation Plus at the time. It seems player numbers have dropped quite a ways since the early days — having increasingly lengthy seasons likely hasn’t helped. However, the arrival of Fall Guys on more platforms, the free-to-play shift and a new season should all bring new and lapsed players into the fold.

Time is a flat circle and every day, streaming platforms get closer and closer to replicating network television. Password sharing is out, commercials are in, and there’s a centralized hub where you can combine all of your subscriptions onto one platform.

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Regular people are barely using 3d-printers at home, and 3D-printed homes are not yet commonly printed, but China is already planning to 3d-print a massive dam in Tibet, with an AI-powered design and no human laborers. The endgame is to deliver 5 billion kWh of electricity per year.

The project originated from the laboratory of hydroscience and engineering at Tsinghua University 10 years ago, with the overall idea being to build the largest 3d-printer in the world effectively. That would be many times larger than what we use to print 3d homes today.

Like a consumer-level 3d-printing, the 180-meters high dam would be built in one slice (layer) at a time in a very precise and systematic way.

But putting human workers aside only to use robots piloted by an AI could prove more challenging than it looks. In theory, robots could work faster and more precisely even in dangerous conditions.

However, the terrain and weather condition might be a challenge, and I expect that many engineers and staff will be on-site to keep things going. Any situation that the robots can’t handle will have to be done by humans.

The project is supposed to be done by 2024, which would be extremely impressive if that timeline could be met. As we’ve recently covered, 3d-printing is slowly revolutionizing how things are made. Sometimes, it’s with high-tech materials and tiny details, and now it could be with something enormous built at an unprecedented speed.

China To 3D-Print A 590-Foot Dam, Without Human Workers

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Following the beta release in April, Apple has finally pushed out iOS and iPadOS 15.5 for everyone, adding new features and many security fixes.