Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is a new sci-fi game from Naughty Dog

And now for something completely different. Naughty Dog is pivoting from post-apocalyptic fungal drama to interstellar sci-fi bounty hunting with its newest game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. The studio revealed its new title with a cinematic trailer at The Game Awards on Thursday.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet takes place thousands of years in the future and it stars bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun, played by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actor Tati Gabrielle. Jordan finds herself stranded on the planet Sempiria, which has been cut off from the rest of the universe for more than 600 years. She’s on a mission to escape Sempiria, but it looks like some vicious robots are going to get in her way.

The reveal trailer is gorgeous, even if it is just in-game cinematics. It shows glittering galaxies and Jordan being sassy with her superiors in a Porsche spaceship, all set to droning lo-fi tones and upbeat ’80s tunes. Once the camera reaches the planet level, there’s a huge, multi-armed robot with a glowing red sword. Jordan pulls out her own weapon and the fight is on.

This is the beginning of a new IP for Naughty Dog — it’s the studio’s first game that isn’t Uncharted or The Last of Us since 2005. Game director and Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann shared just a little more insight into the game’s story on the PlayStation Blog

“What we can tell you is that this game lives up to the Naughty Dog tradition of creating an emotional, character-driven epic journey. Our narrative goals are rivaled only by our gameplay ambitions. This will be the deepest gameplay in Naughty Dog’s history, taking our learnings from our previous franchises and pushing them beyond anything we’ve ever done before.”

The soundtrack for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is being handled by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (at least when it’s not literally just Pet Shop Boys).

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is in development for PlayStation 5 and it doesn’t have a release window yet.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/intergalactic-the-heretic-prophet-is-a-new-sci-fi-game-from-naughty-dog-042920073.html?src=rss

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is a new sci-fi game from Naughty Dog

And now for something completely different. Naughty Dog is pivoting from post-apocalyptic fungal drama to interstellar sci-fi bounty hunting with its newest game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. The studio revealed its new title with a cinematic trailer at The Game Awards on Thursday.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet takes place thousands of years in the future and it stars bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun, played by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actor Tati Gabrielle. Jordan finds herself stranded on the planet Sempiria, which has been cut off from the rest of the universe for more than 600 years. She’s on a mission to escape Sempiria, but it looks like some vicious robots are going to get in her way.

The reveal trailer is gorgeous, even if it is just in-game cinematics. It shows glittering galaxies and Jordan being sassy with her superiors in a Porsche spaceship, all set to droning lo-fi tones and upbeat ’80s tunes. Once the camera reaches the planet level, there’s a huge, multi-armed robot with a glowing red sword. Jordan pulls out her own weapon and the fight is on.

This is the beginning of a new IP for Naughty Dog — it’s the studio’s first game that isn’t Uncharted or The Last of Us since 2005. Game director and Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann shared just a little more insight into the game’s story on the PlayStation Blog

“What we can tell you is that this game lives up to the Naughty Dog tradition of creating an emotional, character-driven epic journey. Our narrative goals are rivaled only by our gameplay ambitions. This will be the deepest gameplay in Naughty Dog’s history, taking our learnings from our previous franchises and pushing them beyond anything we’ve ever done before.”

The soundtrack for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is being handled by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (at least when it’s not literally just Pet Shop Boys).

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is in development for PlayStation 5 and it doesn’t have a release window yet.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/intergalactic-the-heretic-prophet-is-a-new-sci-fi-game-from-naughty-dog-042920073.html?src=rss

The 13 biggest announcements and new trailers from The Game Awards 2024

The Game Awards are over — congratulations to Team Asobi for Astro Bot taking home the Game of the Year award. As always, the long, long stream was a hybrid award ceremony, advertising reel and game announcement marathon. 

There were countless announcements interspersed throughout the awards, including all-new games like Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet from Naughty Dog, The Witcher 4 from CD Projekt RED and Split Fiction from It Takes Two studio Hazelight. It was also a show of revivals, with long-dormant franchises like Okami, Onimusha, Ninja Gaiden and Virtua Fighter returning.

Here are our top announcements from the show, in no particular order — you can watch all the trailers below, or click on one of the headlines to get the full story.

Naughty Dog is pivoting from post-apocalyptic fungal drama to interstellar sci-fi bounty hunting with its newest game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. The studio revealed its new title with a cinematic trailer at The Game Awards on Thursday. Intergalactic takes place thousands of years in the future and it stars bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun, played by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actor Tati Gabrielle. Jordan finds herself stranded on the planet Sempiria, which has been cut off from the rest of the universe for more than 600 years. She’s on a mission to escape Sempiria, but it looks like some vicious robots are going to get in her way.

Well, let’s be honest: I don’t think any of us expected to see CD Projekt Red preview The Witcher 4 anytime soon, and yet the studio did just that, sharing a lengthy cinematic trailer for the upcoming sequel at the Game Awards. Even if there’s no gameplay footage to be found, fans of the series will love what they see.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is just barely in the rearview mirror and FromSoftware already has a new game in the wings. The first trailer for Elden Ring Nightreign, a standalone co-op action game, at The Game Awards 2024.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio delivered a meaty one-two punch at The Game Awards. First came the news that the Like A Dragon studio is behind a revival of the Virtua Fighter series. Not only that, but the forever-busy studio (which, you may recall, has a Like A Dragon spinoff coming in February) is also making a Like A Dragon-style game set in the 1910s.

There were several major surprise announcements during this year’s edition of The Game Awards, but perhaps none was quite as out of the blue as word of a sequel to Okami. Not only that, the original game’s director, Hideki Kamiya, is at the helm.

It’s only been a short few months since Gearbox announced Borderlands 4, the next game in its long-running looter shooter franchise. Back in August, all we had was a cryptic teaser, but at today’s Game Awards, we got a proper look at the new game.

We told you back in 2021 that The Outer Worlds 2 was a thing that existed, and now, more than three years later, we have evidence in support of this claim: a gameplay trailer.

2K’s consistently sporadic Mafia series will return in 2025. Mafia: The Old Country is set in Sicily in the 1900s, and will explore the origins of organized crime. Developer Hangar 13 announced that a new Mafia title was in development back in 2022, but gave few details beyond that. The game’s first trailer is a melodramatic affair complete with a patriarch monologuing over candlelight, horses galloping across the plains and opera music as a backing track. This is drama, people.

Swedish indie studio Hazelight is synonymous with co-op gaming, so of course its next project is built for two players — but this time, it also features two genres. Split Fiction is a co-op adventure where players leap between sci-fi and fantasy worlds in a bid to escape the clutches of a greedy publishing corporation. It supports local and online co-op, and, fittingly, it plays out in split-screen.

Brawlers Absolver and Sifu put Sloclap on the map thanks to their memorable looks, slick action and crunchy animations. So naturally the next project for the French studio is [checks notes] a 5v5 arcade soccer game. Uh, sure! Rematch, which is slated to arrive next summer, perhaps makes more sense for Sloclap than first meets the eye. The studio says the title falls within its remit of making challenging action games with a stylized look.

Thick as Thieves is a new project from the team of immersive sim and stealth-action icons at OtherSide Entertainment, which includes Deus Ex creator Warren Spector, Looking Glass Studios founder Paul Neurath, and Thief: The Dark Project lead Greg LoPiccolo. Yes, that’s a stacked lineup. Together, the OtherSide crew has created or worked on the System Shock, Deus Ex, Thief and Ultima Underworld series, and (along with Doug Church and Ken Levine) are largely responsible for the existence of immersive sims as we know them.

There are two cool pieces of news here. First, the indie studio behind the Overcooked series, Ghost Town Games, is working on a new title called Stage Fright, and it’ll support both online and couch co-op. Rad! Second, Stage Fright is being published by No Man’s Sky studio Hello Games, a move that marks Hello’s first foray into publishing other studios’ projects. Double rad! Stage Fright is built around co-op, and its mechanics bring Overcooked-style chaos to a series of escape rooms in a spooky, Luigi’s Mansion kind of world.

Resurrecting a beloved gaming series like Ninja Gaiden is always a tricky proposition. Anyone who might have worked on the franchise in its heyday has likely moved on to other projects or left the industry entirely. But judging by the talent working on Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, the new series entry revealed at the Game Awards, I think it’s safe to say the franchise is in safe hands. That’s because Ragebound unites two companies who know a thing or two about making quality games.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-13-biggest-announcements-and-new-trailers-from-the-game-awards-2024-043849892.html?src=rss

Mafia: The Old Country is a Sicilian prequel arriving summer 2025

2K Games’ consistently sporadic Mafia series will return in 2025. Mafia: The Old Country is set in Sicily in the 1900s and will explore the origins of organized crime. Developer Hangar 13 announced that a new Mafia title was in development back in 2022, but gave few details beyond that. Now, we know it’s heading to PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in summer 2025.

The game’s first trailer, which debuted at The Game Awards on Thursday, is a melodramatic affair complete with a patriarch monologuing over candlelight, horses galloping across the plains and opera music as a backing track. This is drama, people.

Mafia: The Old Country is a linear, narrative-driven game with stealth and gunplay mechanics in purposefully cinematic environments. It stars Enzo, a new, original protagonist. Here’s how publisher 2K Games describes his journey: “Enzo has survived a childhood of indentured labor in Sicily’s hellish sulfur mines. Now, through a twist of fate, he has the opportunity to join Don Torrisi’s crime family, and will do whatever it takes to carve out a better life for himself. By swearing an oath, Enzo has committed himself to the Torrisi family’s code of honor, with all the power and hardship it entails.”

The Mafia series started in 2002 as a more serious take on the GTA formula, set in a 1930s nod to Chicago. Mafia II landed in 2010 and took place in a fictionalized version of post-World War II New York City. Another long gap led to 2017, when Mafia III flashed forward to the ’60s in not-New Orleans. 

In 2018, 2K merged Hangar 13, the developer of the third title, with 2K Czech, the team that made the first two games, and that combined studio is now working on The Old Country. A 2025 release window will give us eight years between Mafia installments, which is right on target for the series.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/mafia-the-old-country-is-a-sicilian-prequel-arriving-summer-2025-034422942.html?src=rss

Squid Game: Unleashed will be playable at launch without a Netflix subscription

Netflix announced at The Game Awards that its Squid Game multiplayer mobile title will be playable on Android and iOS without an active Netflix subscription when it arrives on December 17. However, the free-for-anyone period will only be available for an unspecified “limited time.”

Squid Game: Unleashed lets you play with friends online in a series of mini-games. The contests are either ripped directly from the series or thematically similar “classic childhood activities” (only with added death).

The party royale game takes cues from the Mario Party franchise, but its inspiration may have been much more direct… and circular. In 2021, indie developer Dani published Crab Game for Windows, macOS and Linux. The title didn’t try to hide that it was inspired by the Netflix series (crab, squid… get it?), which was taking the world by storm at the time. Its Mario Party-style mini-games were initially Squid Game contests, presented in a cartoonish video-game form. However, it later expanded to include competitions distinct from the series.

Gameplay still from the mobile title Squid Game: Unleashed.
Netflix

Although we haven’t yet played Squid Game: Unleashed, the gameplay in its trailer bears an uncanny resemblance to Crab Game, including (roughly) its cartoon-like art style. To be fair, the two may play much more differently than Netflix’s trailer suggests. But based on what we see now, Netflix appears to have taken inspiration from an indie dev who took inspiration from its series. (Cue Xzibit.) But hey, at least Netflix doesn’t seem to have sued an indie dev into oblivion.

Irrespective of such gaming industry tit-for-tats, Netflix’s party royale game is timed to promote Squid Game Season 2. It starts streaming on December 26. Squid Game: Unleashed launches exclusively in the Netflix app for Android or iOS on December 17. You can check out its trailer below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/squid-game-unleashed-will-be-playable-at-launch-without-a-netflix-subscription-025501236.html?src=rss

Ragebound is a new Ninja Gaiden game from the team behind Blasphemous

Resurrecting a beloved gaming series like Ninja Gaiden is always a tricky proposition. Anyone who might have worked on the franchise in its heyday has likely moved on to other projects or left the industry entirely. But judging by the talent working on Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, the new series entry revealed at the Game Awards, I think it’s safe to say the franchise is in safe hands. That’s because Ragebound unites two companies who know a thing or two about making quality games. 

The Game Kitchen — the Spanish studio behind Blasphemous and its excellent sequel, Blasphemous 2 — is developing the game, with Dotemu (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Streets of Rage 4) on publishing duties. 

Right away, you can see the influence of The Game Kitchen. The studio’s signature pixel art style looks gorgeous in the back half of the reveal trailer, and it looks like the game will reward tight, coordinated play from players. As for the story, it’s set during the events of the NES version of Ninja Gaiden and stars a new protagonist, Kenji Mozu. It’s up to him to save Hayabusa Village while Ryu is away in America.  

Ninja Gaiden Ragebound will arrive in the summer of 2025 on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ragebound-is-a-new-ninja-gaiden-game-from-the-team-behind-blasphemous-015621718.html?src=rss

HUAWEI Mate X6: Foldable Phone With Enhanced Durability And Nice Cameras

HUAWEI has launched its latest foldable smartphone, the Mate X6, internationally alongside the Nova 13 Pro smartphone and Freebuds Pro 4 earbuds. The Mate X6 builds on its predecessor with significant improvements in durability, display, and camera technology, aiming to stand out in the competitive foldable market.

The Mate X6 features a durable design with second-gen Kunlun glass, offering twice the drop resistance and improved scratch resistance. A carbon fiber inner screen plate enhances stiffness by 65% without increasing weight. It also includes a liquid-steel hinge, 27% stronger than before, and an aviation-grade aluminum frame, 17% sturdier. The device is IPX8 certified for water resistance up to 2 meters.

The phone boasts dual OLED displays: a 6.45-inch LTPO cover display with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a peak brightness of 2500 nits, and a 7.93-inch foldable inner display with 1800 nits peak brightness. Both panels feature 1440Hz PWM dimming for low-light eye protection.

The Mate X6’s camera system includes a 50MP primary sensor with a variable aperture (f/1.4-f/4.0), a 40MP ultrawide lens, and a 48MP telephoto lens capable of macro shots. A new Ultra Chroma sensor enhances color accuracy by 120%, delivering natural-looking photos. The device is powered by a 5,100mAh battery with 66W wired and 50W wireless charging. It also supports stereoscopic multi-window multitasking for running three apps simultaneously.

Specs

SpecificationHUAWEI Mate X6
Cover Display6.45-inch OLED, 2440×1080 resolution, LTPO 2.0, 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 2500 nits peak brightness
Foldable Display7.93-inch OLED, 2440×2240 resolution, adaptive refresh rate, 1800 nits peak brightness
DurabilitySecond-gen Kunlun glass, IPX8 water resistance, carbon fiber inner screen plate, liquid-steel hinge
Main Camera50MP primary sensor, variable aperture (f/1.4-f/4.0), Ultra Chroma sensor for enhanced color accuracy
Additional Cameras40MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 48MP telephoto (f/3.0) with macro capability
Battery5,100mAh, 66W wired charging, 50W wireless charging
Frame MaterialAviation-grade 7-series aluminum alloy
Software FeaturesStereoscopic multi-window multitasking (run three apps in parallel)
ColorsNebula Gray, Nebula Red, Black with textured back finish

Availability and Price

The Mate X6 starts at €1,999 for the 12GB RAM and 512GB storage variant; We still don’t know if this phone will be available in the US but, converting from the price in Euros, importers will have to pay around $2,093 to get their hands on this new device.

HUAWEI Mate X6: Foldable Phone With Enhanced Durability And Nice Cameras

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

HONOR MagicBook Art 14: Ultra-Slim Laptop With Snapdragon X Elite

HONOR has unveiled the HONOR MagicBook Art 14 Snapdragon, an ultra-slim laptop powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite platform. Weighing approximately 1kg and measuring just 1cm thick, it features a 14.6-inch 3.1K OLED HONOR Eye Comfort Display, offering a 97% screen-to-body ratio and TÜV Rheinland Flicker Free certification for eye comfort. This lightweight laptop delivers high performance, extended battery life, and advanced AI-driven capabilities.

 

The Snapdragon X Elite platform enables seamless operation of Windows applications on the Windows on Snapdragon architecture, with optimized boot-up times and compatibility for top applications. HONOR’s AI-enhanced Hotspot Library boosts performance by improving scenario-based translation efficiency.
HONOR MagicBook Art 14 Snapgradon’s modular camera

 

Design highlights include a detachable modular camera for privacy, a 60Wh battery capable of supporting 9.5 hours of daily work, and HONOR Six-speaker Spatial Audio with AI noise reduction for premium sound quality. The laptop also integrates the MagicRing system, which ensures seamless cross-device connectivity for enhanced productivity. Users can switch between devices, share peripherals, and control connected smartphones or tablets, creating an integrated AI-powered ecosystem.

In terms of hardware, the MagicBook Art 14 Snapdragon supports up to 32GB of memory and features versatile connectivity options, including Thunderbolt 4, USB-C, USB-A, HDMI ports, and a headphone/mic jack. These features cater to professionals, remote workers, and students requiring multiple peripheral connections.

Specs

SpecificationDetails
ProcessorQualcomm Snapdragon X Elite platform
Display14.6-inch 3.1K OLED HONOR Eye Comfort FullView Touch Display
Resolution3.1K (Crystal-clear visuals)
Screen-to-Body Ratio97%
Display CertificationTÜV Rheinland Flicker Free (4320Hz PWM Dimming)
WeightApproximately 1kg
Thickness1cm
Battery Capacity60Wh
Battery LifeUp to 9.5 hours of daily office work
AudioHONOR Six-speaker Spatial Audio (4 woofers, 2 tweeters) with AI noise reduction
CameraDetachable modular magnetic camera
MemoryUp to 32GB high-frequency memory
Connectivity PortsThunderbolt 4, USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, 3.5mm Headphone/Mic jack
AI FeaturesOS Turbo 3.0, MagicRing for seamless multi-device connectivity, AI scenario recognition
Collaboration FeaturesMulti-screen collaboration, cross-device keyboard and mouse sharing
Special ToolsCocreator and AI Eraser for creative tasks
ColorGrey

Availability and Price

Available in grey, the HONOR MagicBook Art 14 Snapdragon is priced from €1,699 (~$1,777), with pre-orders open in Germany, Italy, and France.

HONOR MagicBook Art 14: Ultra-Slim Laptop With Snapdragon X Elite

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

WB Montreal Games reportedly lays off 99 workers ahead of the holidays

As the gaming industry preps for its night of awards, rampant layoffs continue to put a damper on an otherwise joyful pastime. The latest casualties are reportedly a group of 99 employees for WB Games Montreal.

Radio-Canada says (via Game Developer) that many of the laid-off employees were subcontractors through Keywords Studios, a company that provides technical and creative services for gaming companies. Keywords worked on quality assurance for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Speaking of which, the layoffs coincided with Rocksteady’s announcement that it would stop supporting the Suicide Squad game on January 14. (WB Games Montreal helped develop the game.) The game launched last February, giving it the dishonor of lasting less than a year before its publisher pulled the plug. Its upcoming Season 4 Episode 8 will be its last.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, one laid-off staffer told the French-language Radio-Canada that they were given eight weeks’ notice before termination. WB Montreal is said to have given them a choice between joining a recall list for upcoming projects or receiving help from a job counselor. However, the source said the company doesn’t expect the registry to have any opportunities until 2026. That’s not much of a choice unless someone has savings to burn.

The news follows recent layoffs at Ubisoft, Xbox / Activision Blizzard and… far too many others to list. The gaming industry is projected to generate over $187 billion in 2024, a 2.1 percent annual growth.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/wb-montreal-games-reportedly-lays-off-99-workers-ahead-of-the-holidays-214220373.html?src=rss

OpenAI Launches Sora: Text-to-Video AI Tool

OpenAI has launched Sora, a text-to-video AI tool, as part of its 12-day “ship-mas” product release series. Available on Sora.com, it allows ChatGPT subscribers in the US and many other countries to generate AI-driven videos. Sora Turbo, an enhanced version, supports text-to-video creation, image animation, and video remixing.

Subscribers to ChatGPT Plus can create up to 50 videos at 720p resolution and 5-second durations. The premium ChatGPT Pro plan, priced at $200 per month, offers unlimited generations, 500 priority videos, resolutions up to 1080p, and durations up to 20 seconds. Pro users can also download videos without watermarks and perform multiple generations simultaneously.

Sora introduces features like a “storyboards” tool for creating videos based on sequential prompts and a “remix” feature for tweaking video outputs. Users can blend scenes and convert photos into videos. The explore page showcases a feed of community-generated videos. All Sora-created videos include watermarks and C2PA metadata to signal their AI origin. OpenAI emphasizes content moderation, requiring users to agree not to upload explicit, violent, or copyrighted material. Violations may lead to account suspension or bans.

OpenAI product lead Rohan Sahai acknowledged the challenges of balancing creative freedom with responsible AI use, emphasizing their commitment to ongoing moderation improvements. Non-subscribers can still view AI-generated content via the explore feed.

The launch follows controversy from a group of artists involved in Sora’s alpha testing, who accused OpenAI of exploiting their work for unpaid research and promotion. Additionally, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman noted that while Sora is available in many regions, its rollout in Europe and the UK may face delays.

OpenAI Launches Sora: Text-to-Video AI Tool

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