Hasta La Gadget!

Get ready to feel old and/or cluttered, depending on how many consoles are hooked up to your game room TV right now. The Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace are coming to a close later this month. Microsoft announced this last year and put an official end date of July 29, according to its official FAQ page. In case you didn’t notice, the end of July is fast approaching.

All of the games, DLC and any gaming tidbits for Microsoft’s second generation console won’t be available to purchase or download on the Xbox 360 console. Your games and movie purchases are still safe, however, if you’ve got any throwback titles on your Xbox One or Series X/S console. You can also still watch your purchased movies and shows on Windows 10 and 11 devices.

Phew! For a minute there, I thought I might not be able to play NBA Jam: On Fire Edition on my Xbox One. Running an even bigger headed Dirk Nowitski up and down the court is the only way to let out the frustrations from my day (and the last NBA Finals) without breaking stuff.

Microsoft first announced the shuttering of the Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace last year. It may be unrelated, but Microsoft has had a tough year on the Xbox side. Most recently, the company announced a price increase for its Game Pass Ultimate game buffet and online live plan from $17 a month to $20 and its Game Pass Core plan from $60 to $75. The Game Pass Core plan also includes access to PC games and comes with an EA Play membership.

So basically, the Xbox 360 is being taken off life support right now and we’re all just waiting for it to pass on to that great, big used game store in the sky. You’ve only got a few weeks left to offer your condolences.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-xbox-360-stores-will-close-up-shop-on-july-29-195630594.html?src=rss

The maker of Xbox Game Pass stalwart Palworld said on Wednesday it’s forming a new company in partnership with… Sony. Palworld developer and publisher Pocketpair announced its new team-up with Sony Music Entertainment to create Palworld Entertainment, Inc. The joint venture’s stated purpose: “accelerating the multifaceted global development of Palworld and its further expansion,” which sounds like corporate-speak for “merch, baby.”

The deal includes Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. and anime studio and game publisher Aniplex, Inc., both part of the broader Sony Corporation. Pocketpair says Palworld merchandise will soon be available for pre-order at Aniplex Online.

The joint venture’s new website describes the newly formed Palworld Entertainment, Inc. as handling Palworld’s licensing operations. “We are responsible for various domestic and international licensing operations for the Pocketpair game Palworld, with the aim of accelerating the multifaceted development of Palworld and further expanding the IP,” according to the website’s About section.

A press release added that the conglomerate will aim to develop the IP’s reach and expand “commercial business endeavors.” In other words, there’s money to be made here, and capitalize, they will.

Pocketpair

When Palworld launched in Early Access in January, many in the gaming industry speculated Nintendo would sue it into oblivion. The game, which sold over a million copies in eight hours and exceeded 25 million players within its first month, isn’t subtle about its Pokémon influence. It includes nearly 1:1 likenesses of some of the longstanding franchise’s creatures, which the player — yes — collects and battles. But so far, The Pokémon Company has held back its lawyers. We can only speculate about its reasons, but fears of alienating fans of a beloved new game or worries about parody and fair use protections could be possibilities.

You can’t make up the irony of the newly established alliance, as the Pokémon Company was established as a similar joint venture between Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures in 1998. Well-played, Sony.

Palworld Entertainment says it will kick off its new licensing push with a series of “exclusive merchandise based on the game.” The joint venture will debut its new lineup of goods (plushies, perhaps?) at Bilibili World 2024, which kicks off in two days in Shanghai, China.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-makers-of-palworld-have-formed-a-new-company-in-partnership-with-sony-184823203.html?src=rss

NASCAR recently unveiled its first electric racecar prototype at the Chicago Street Race, marking a significant step toward its goal of going all-electric by 2035. This $1.5 million prototype, developed in partnership with ABB, Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota, is part of the NASCAR Impact program aimed at reducing carbon emissions. The initiative seeks to gauge fan interest in electric racing and its future potential.

Tested by NASCAR driver David Ragan at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, the electric racecar demonstrated impressive performance, coming within two-tenths of the average time of a V8-powered NASCAR racer. Despite having twice the acceleration and remarkable braking ability, the electric car’s overall weight limits its speed in corners.

Ragan noted that while he could have pushed the car faster, the current focus is on collecting comprehensive test data rather than risking hardware damage.

The prototype, built on a modified Next Gen chassis, features three STARD UHP 6-Phase motors—one at the front and two at the rear—producing a peak output of 1,000 kW.

These motors are powered by a liquid-cooled 78 kWh battery, with additional energy derived from regenerative braking. This technology converts kinetic energy from braking into extra power, enhancing the car’s efficiency.

Sustainability extends beyond the powertrain; The car’s body is made from a flax-based composite material, and many components, including the steering wheel, suspension, brakes, and wheels, are repurposed from a 2022 NASCAR Cup Series car.

However, unlike traditional gas-powered V8s, the electric racecar lacks the iconic roar, a feature NASCAR plans to replicate using artificial sound through an exterior speaker.

This prototype represents NASCAR’s commitment to sustainable racing, aligning with broader trends in motorsports like Formula-1’s shift toward sustainable fuels and Formula-E’s focus on clean racing.

NASCAR Unveils First Electric Racecar Prototype

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

It’s been three years since Sony debuted the ZV-E10, a camera it targeted at vloggers, so it’s high time that model got some upgrades. The company just announced the mirrorless ZV-E10 II. Sony says this variant adds some new features while retaining those that creators liked from the original, including a background defocus capability and the vari-angle flip screen.

The ZV-E10 II has a 26MP Exmor R CMOS sensor, an upgrade from the 24MP sensor in the original model. The larger-capacity battery (the NP-FZ100 found in some full-frame Sony cameras) may be a more compelling update. Sony claims that, with this battery, users will be able to shoot up to 195 minutes of video continuously.

Other features include a cinematic vlog setting that automatically optimizes the aspect ratio, frame rate and autofocus transition speed for a more cinematic look to videos, Sony claims. There’s also a new vertical-oriented user interface and upgraded “connectivity for easy live streaming and data transfer,” according to the company. All of this and the camera still weighs just 377 grams.

The ZV-E10 II will be available at the end of this month and it will cost $999 for the body only. If you’d prefer a $1,099 bundle with a new PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS II lens, you’ll need to wait until early August. The lightweight kit lens offers autofocus and video performance improvements over the previous version, according to Sony.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-reveals-the-more-vlogger-friendly-zv-e10-ii-163122315.html?src=rss

On Wednesday, Amazon claimed that it reached its goal of sourcing all its power from clean energy sources in the past year. If taken at face value, the announcement would mean it hit the milestone seven years ahead of schedule, which would be a monumental achievement. But environmental experts speaking to The New York Times, including a group of concerned Amazon employees, warn that the company is “misleading the public by distorting the truth.”

The company’s claim of achieving 100 percent clean electricity is based in part on billion-dollar investments in over 500 solar and wind initiatives. The company’s logic is that the energy these projects generate equals the electricity its data centers consume — ergo, even Steven.

But the renewable energy sources it uses for those calculations are fed into a general power grid, not exclusively into Amazon’s operations. Environmental experts caution that the company is using “accounting and marketing to make itself look good,” as The New York Times put it.

“Amazon wants us to think of its data centers as surrounded by wind and solar farms,” the group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice wrote in a statement to The NYT. “[But] the reality is the company is heavily investing in data center expansions fueled by West Virginian coal, Saudi Arabian oil and Canadian fracked gas.”

Amazon

Clean energy experts say Amazon’s inclusion of renewable energy certificates (RECs) in its calculations can be highly misleading. This is because if any power plants on a grid burn fossil fuels, businesses can’t know that the grid uses only clean energy. The Amazon employee group told The New York Times that, after subtracting the company’s use of RECs in its calculations, its clean-energy investment was “just a fraction of what was publicized.”

“Buying a bunch of RECs doesn’t help anything,” Leah Stokes, associate professor of environmental politics at UC Santa Barbara, told The NYT. “You just have to be investing in real projects.”

To be fair, any movement toward clean energy should be applauded. Amazon still received a “B” grade from the nonprofit CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), which was lower than Google and Microsoft’s “A” but still a passing grade. The problem comes when companies use the smoke and mirrors more often associated with marketing and PR to mislead the public into believing they’re doing more for the environment than they are.

“A company needs to actually outline, what are the sources that you are accounting for in that calculation?” Simon Fischweicher, a CDP director, told The NYT.

With the meteoric rise of AI and the financial pressures to compete in this new gold rush, companies are now reshuffling their decks and finding new ways to meet their climate goals. However, if that shakeup offers less tangible movement and more weasel words and sketchy logic, then that’s creating a new problem on top of their alleged solutions for a genuine crisis.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/environmental-groups-accuse-amazon-of-distorting-the-truth-in-latest-clean-energy-claim-170633705.html?src=rss