Friday, September 10, 2021

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Google and Jio's low-cost 'made for India' phone delayed due to chip shortage

Posted: 10 Sep 2021 02:25 AM PDT

Google and Jio, India's largest mobile network, were supposed to launch their first joint product today. It's a low-cost 4G smartphone called JioPhone Next that's designed to give more people in the mobile-first country access to the carrier's high-speed network. The companies have just announced, however, that they're pushing back the smartphone's launch by a couple of months. 

According to the announcement, they've made "considerable progress" with the phone and are currently testing it with a limited number of users. They'll make "further refinement[s]" as needed based on testers' feedback and are working towards launching it in time for the Diwali festival scheduled for early November this year. 

While the companies didn't talk about the reason behind the delay at length, they did say that the additional time will "help mitigate the current industry-wide, global semiconductor shortages." The global chip shortage caused mainly by factories closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected tech and auto companies around the world. Automakers such as Ford, BMW, Honda and GM had to cut and suspend production due to the crisis. It's also the reason why Sony still can't manufacture the PS5 in bigger quantities and why iPhone 12 shipments were delayed by a few weeks. 

When Google purchased a $4.5 billion stake in Jio last year in hopes of expanding its presence in India, the companies revealed that they're planning to develop low-cost phones together. The JioPhone Next will have the capability to automatically read aloud and translate any onscreen text, such as text from messages, web pages, apps and photos. It'll also apparently feature a better camera than other similar low-cost phones, one with HDR support and with the capability to capture low-light images. Further, Snapchat augmented reality lenses, including India-centric filters, will be integrated into the camera. Finally, users will be able to ask Google Assistant to play music via Jio's streaming service Saavn or to check their balance on Jio's payments app. 

Twitter tests a way for accounts to let people know they're bots

Posted: 10 Sep 2021 01:39 AM PDT

Twitter is testing a new label that lets automated bot self-identify as such in their labels, the company has announced. The feature is designed to help help people tell human and automated accounts apart, while giving "good bots a way to increase their legitimacy and build trust and transparency with their audience," the company wrote.

The new feature appears to be an extension of Twitter's edict last year that high-quality bot accounts must self-identify as such. At the time, it said that developers must "clearly indicate" if an account is a bot, and also identify the person running the account. 

Examples of legitimate bot accounts cited by Twitter "include bots that help you find vaccine appointments and disaster early warning systems," the company wrote in a FAQ on its help site. "When accounts send automated Tweets to share relevant information about content on another account, automated labels help you identify good bots from spammy ones and are all about transparency."

The label will roll out to 500-plus developer accounts to start with, and be available to all developers "by the end of the his year." It said that adopting the label isn't required right now, but implied that not using it would essentially be a breach of its updated developer policy that requires the use of labels. 

Here's your first look at 'Alan Wake' in 4K for the PS5

Posted: 10 Sep 2021 12:10 AM PDT

Alan Wake is coming back on October 5th, and you'll be able to help him find his wife in 4K. Remedy Entertainment first announced that it's releasing a remastered version of its beloved story-driven horror title a few days ago. Now, it has published the first trailer for the 4K version of the game with enhanced character models and richer environmental details. It shows Wake writing a warning to not go out in the dark and to stay in the light, waking up in a nightmare and looking for his wife in a town where strange things are happening... like locals are being possessed by something supernatural.

The PS5 version of the game runs at 4K at 60fps. On the PS 4 Pro, it can run on either of two modes: Performance at 60fps or Quality at 30fps 4K. Meanwhile, the PS4 version is capped at 30fps. Each weapon in the game has different feedback for the DualSense controller's adaptive trigger, and there are Activity cards for each episode and mission. 

In his post on the PlayStation blog, Remedy Creative Director Sam Lake said the team retouched a ton of individual items and not just the cut scenes and the biggest things you can see in the environment. They touched up the props, textures, sound effect files and the art for the game's user interface. 

The remastered version of Alan Wake includes the base game and The Signal and The Writer, which were expansions that were originally released as DLCs. This is the first time it will be released on the PlayStation, though it's also coming to the Epic Games Store, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. 

Epic is hoping to re-release 'Fortnite' on iOS in South Korea

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 10:06 PM PDT

Epic has asked Apple to restore its access to its developer tools so it can make Fortnite available on iOS again — in South Korea, at least. The developer has revealed asking Apple to reinstate its App Store account on the official Fortnite Twitter, where it also said that it intends to offer "both Epic payment and Apple payment side-by-side in compliance with the new Korean law." Apple said in a statement, however, that there's no legitimate basis for Epic's account to be restored.

Apple terminated Epic's App Store account back in August 2020 shortly after the developer offered discounts on Fortnite's V-bucks currency and other cash purchases if players bypassed the App Store. The tech giant quickly removed the battle royale game from its store after that update went up, and Epic responded by suing Apple over its policies. Epic also tried to get the court to stop Apple from pulling its developer tools to no avail, and Fortnite hasn't been available to download on iOS ever since.

By the end of August this year, though, South Korea passed a bill requiring major app stores to allow alternative payment methods other than their own. As TechCrunch notes, the legislation is not yet in effect, but even if it already is, Korean authorities can't force Apple to reinstate or approve developer accounts under the law. The tech giant told the publication in a statement:

"As we've said all along, we would welcome Epic's return to the App Store if they agree to play by the same rules as everyone else. Epic has admitted to breach of contract and as of now, there's no legitimate basis for the reinstatement of their developer account."

Apple recently changed its App Store policies to allow some developers to add external links to their applications for payments. The change only covers apps for digital magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music and video, though, such as Spotify and Netflix.

Apple Music will use Shazam's tech to ensure proper royalties for DJ mixes

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 09:00 PM PDT

DJ mixes are mostly absent from "premium" streaming services. That's mostly due to the fact that properly sorting out royalties for all the samples is a nightmare. You can find them on platforms like SoundCloud (unless they get taken down), but these songs can have literally hundreds of rights holders between the DJ, original artist, labels and even a festival or venue. To remedy the problem, and to massively expand the amount of DJ-mixed content on the platform, Apple worked with both major and independent labels on a system that identifies and directly pays rights holders on a mix. What's more, the company leveraged Shazam technology to do it for Apple Music. 

Apple explains that its new tool will let the streaming service ID and compensate individual creators in a DJ mix, even artists who recorded any sampled tunes. It's also the first major streaming service to do so. In collaboration with DJs themselves alongside festivals, clubs, promoters, curators and independent labels, the company says it's working with all parties involved to ensure fair compensation. Apple says this will give DJ mixes a longer shelf life when it comes to revenue since individual tracks, collections, compilations and even full festival sets will be available to stream like studio albums on Apple Music. 

There are thousands of DJ mixes on Apple Music already, and the service says it's adding more all the time. The company has already commissioned mixes for Black Music Month and Pride in addition to housing content from Tomorrowland's 2020 and 2021 digital festivals. Thanks to this new system, there's about to be a lot more to choose from. 

Starting this Friday, !K7's DJ-Kicks archive will be available for streaming. The label explains that 14 of those editions haven't been "in the market" for more than 15 years. Previously unavailable for streaming, Tomorrowland performances from Alesso, Charlotte de Witte, David Guetta, Diplo, Major Lazer, Martin Garrix, The Chainsmokers, Tiësto and more will be easily accessible. Mixmag is opening up its vault as well, and livestream platform Cercle will have a dedicated hub on Apple Music where listeners can stream archived mixes and live performances. And yes, much of this will be available for lossless streaming and you'll be able to listen offline too. 

This isn't the first time Apple has dabbled in managing royalties for DJ mixes. In 2016, the company began working with Dubset to bring previously unlicensed content to Apple Music. Dubset used a Gracenote database of clips to identify and assign rights. The system even allowed original artists to prohibit their songs from being used in mixes and to limit how much of a track could be repurposed. Dubset was purchased by Pex in 2020, where the system is used to scan social media audio and video content for unlicensed material. Apple's new Shazam-based setup, on the other hand, compares all parts of a mix to Apple Music's library of 75 million songs.

As you can imagine, all of the new content will be easy to find. Apple says DJs will have artist pages, if they don't already for any original music. And while the focus is on DJ mixes for now, the company says this system can be applied widely, for things like assigning royalties for hip-hop remixes and more. 

Vivo's X70 Pro+ does optical stabilization on all four rear cameras

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 08:00 PM PDT

The Vivo brand may not immediately ring a bell in the West, but its recent mobile photography ambitions are worth paying attention to. The company's latest flagship, the X70 Pro+, is the world's first smartphone to feature optical image stabilization (OIS) across all four of its rear cameras. Like the previous model, these all have Zeiss optics and Zeiss T* lens coating, but the main camera is further enhanced by an SLR-grade high-transmittance glass lens to reduce chromatic aberration.

Vivo X70 Pro+ camera app
Vivo

Vivo continues to offer one of the more versatile sets of cameras I've seen lately. The X70 Pro+ comes with a 48-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, which is further stabilized by Vivo's now-signature micro gimbal; a 50-megapixel f/1.57 main camera powered by a large Samsung GN1 sensor (as featured on the X50 Pro+); a 12-megapixel f/1.6 portrait camera with the much newer Sony IMX663; and an 8-megapixel f/3.4 5x zoom periscopic camera. 

All four rear cameras support electronic stabilization for video shooting, and if you really want to, the main camera can film at up to 8K resolution. The X70 Pro+ also packs Vivo's very own "V1" AI imaging chip for better noise reduction in low-light video recording, as well as more efficient motion smoothing in video playback and gaming.

I don't usually spend much time in the camera filter section, but Vivo's selection of bokeh effects look fun, as they were apparently meant to mimic classic Zeiss lenses. The X60 series already introduced the "swirly" Biotar filter, and with the new X70 series, you also get the "anamorphic" Distagon, the "genuine" Planar and the "creamy" Sonnar. Apparently Zeiss took part in developing these bokeh effects, so that should speak for their faithfulness.

On the other side of the X70 Pro+, you get a 32-megapixel f/2.45 punch-hole selfie camera at the top of a 6.78-inch screen. This 3,200 x 1,400 AMOLED panel offers better colors (10-bit or 1 billion colors) and brightness than before, thanks to Samsung's latest E5 LTPO tech. It also delivers a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and a touch sampling rate of up to 300Hz, which should deliver some silky smooth scrolling and gaming.

Vivo X70 Pro+ display
Vivo

The Android 11-based X70 Pro+ comes with many other flagship elements, namely a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ processor, fast LPDDR5 RAM, IP68 dustproofing and waterproofing, stereo speakers and a dedicated Hi-Fi chip. There's even an infrared remote feature to let you control home appliances the old-fashioned way.

As for charging, the 4,500mAh battery here supports Vivo's 55W FlashCharge and 50W Wireless FlashCharge. The latter requires a special charging stand, which packs two coils to handle both portrait and landscape orientations. You can also use any Qi pad, with the trade-off being a slower charging rate, obviously. The phone itself does 10W reverse wireless charging, should you need to revive other phones, smartwatches or wireless earbuds.

Vivo X70 Series
Vivo

The X70 series includes two other models: the quad-cam X70 Pro and the tri-cam X70. Both models are powered by MediaTek's Dimensity 1200-vivo chipset, and their smaller 6.56-inch AMOLED screens (2,376 x 1,080, 120Hz) translate to smaller batteries as well. But hey, you still get an infrared remote on either model.

While the X70 Pro and X70 also receive the Zeiss treatment, they baked the micro gimbal into their main cameras (50 and 40 megapixels, respectively) instead of their 12-megapixel ultra-wide cameras. It's also worth mentioning that their 12-megapixel portrait cameras lack OIS. Given their missing V1 imaging chip, it'll be interesting to compare their low-light shots with the X70 Pro+.

Vivo X70 Pro and X70 Pro Plus
Vivo X60 Pro and X60 Pro+.
Vivo

For what it's worth, the version of the X70 Pro sold in China will be powered by a Samsung Exynos 1080, and it also includes a V1 chip.

Outside of China, Vivo's X70 series will initially roll out in markets like India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates, among others. We currently only have China prices for reference: the X70 Pro+ starts from 5,499 yuan or about $854, the X70 Pro starts from 4,299 yuan or around $668, and the X70 starts from 3,699 yuan or around $575. There's no word on a European launch just yet, but Vivo might want to plan one soon to keep up with the likes of Oppo and Xiaomi. Meanwhile, stay tuned for our upcoming X70 Pro+ hands-on.

Apple fires Ashley Gjøvik, senior employee who alleged sexism at work

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 07:58 PM PDT

Apple has fired Ashley Gjøvik, a senior engineering program manager who's been outspoken about her experiences working for the tech giant. Gjøvik said she has experienced sexism and a hostile work environment while working for Apple and spent months talking to the company about it. According to tweets from Gizmodo's Dell Cameron, Apple asked Gjøvik for a talk this afternoon. When she asked for the conversation to take place via email so there would be a written record, though, Apple replied that she had "chosen not to participate in the discussion." She was then fired hours later.

In a tweet from early August, Gjøvik said she was put on indefinite paid administrative leave after raising concerns about sexism in the workplace and having an unsafe and hostile work environment. Further, she was discouraged from using the company Slack where she'd been openly criticizing Apple. Her complaints against the tech giant include being asked to make her tone less authoritative during presentations. She was also allegedly told that it was "ok" that she received complaints for her diversity training, including ones finding her "too hard on the white man." The former Apple engineer also said in a tweet that the company told her it was "fine" that a male director colleague asked her out for drinks and talked about cheating on his wife and mistresses entire time.

By the end of August, Gjøvik filed a complaint against Apple with the US National Labor Relations Board, alleging 13 instances of retaliation against her. In her filing, she said she experienced workplace harassment. She also said her supervisory responsibilities were re-assigned to colleagues, while she was given undesirable tasks. 

In a statement she told The Verge, it seems wasn't unprepared to be fired. She said: "When I began raising workplace safety concerns in March, and nearly immediately faced retaliation and intimidation, I started preparing myself for something exactly like this to happen. I'm disappointed that a company I have loved since I was a little girl would treat their employees this way."

When the news about Gjøvik first broke, Apple said in a statement: "We are and have always been deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace. We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised and, out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters."

Facebook is reportedly developing custom server chips

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 04:15 PM PDT

Add Facebook to the list of companies that could be trying to reduce its dependence on Intel and Qualcomm. According to The Information, the social media giant is developing a suite of custom chips for its data centers. One of the processors is reportedly designed to power machine learning tasks, including the algorithm that handles Facebook's content recommendations, while another would assist in transcoding videos to improve the quality of livestreamed videos.

In addition to helping reduce its dependence on outside chipmakers, the move to custom silicon could help Facebook lower the carbon footprint of its data centers. The new chips would work alongside the third-party processors the company currently uses in its servers, and reportedly aren't meant to completely replace what it already has.

"Facebook is always exploring ways to drive greater levels of compute performance and power efficiency with our silicon partners and through our own internal efforts," a spokesperson for the company told Engadget when we reached out to the company about the report. "We have nothing new to share on our future plans at this time."

It wouldn't be a stretch for Facebook to dip its toes in custom silicon. The company has already dabbled in semi-custom chips. In 2019, for instance, it announced it was working on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for video transcoding and inference work. It also wouldn't be the first company to look at designing its own chips to improve efficiency and save on costs. Google has had its Tensor chips since 2016, and, as of last year, Microsoft was reportedly exploring custom chips for its own servers as well.    

Apple has reportedly appointed wearable chief Kevin Lynch to lead its car division

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 03:30 PM PDT

Apple has reportedly appointed a new executive to lead the development of its secretive self-driving car division. According to Bloomberg, the company has tapped Kevin Lynch to oversee Project Titan following the departure of executive Doug Field, who left the iPhone maker for Ford earlier this week. 

The name may not be familiar, but if you've watched any Apple event in recent years, you've seen Lynch on stage. After a stint at Adobe, he joined Apple in 2013 to oversee the company's wearable and health unit and has frequently been the one to present whatever new features Apple is working on for watchOS. 

Bloomberg reports Lynch joined the division earlier in the year but is now overseeing the entire unit. The outlet notes Lynch's appointment suggests Apple is likely focusing on underlying software that a self-driving car would need to navigate the road, instead of a vehicle that we could see the company release anytime soon.

Radiohead and Epic Games team up for a virtual 'Kid A Mnesia' exhibit

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 02:57 PM PDT

Early-aught headliner Radiohead has teamed with Epic Games, makers of Gears of War and Fortnite, to compose "an upside-down digital/analogue universe created from Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood's original artwork and audio design by Nigel Godrich. It commemorates the coming of age of Radiohead's records, Kid A and Amnesiac," per an Epic Games rep.

The project, developed by namethemachine and Arbitrarily Good Productions, will be available on multiple platforms including PS5, PC and Mac this November. The news follows earlier reports of upcoming reissues for Kid A and Amnesiac this fall (and as soon as late this month) along with Kid Amnesiae, an LP of b-sides, which you can listen to one of below.

'Uncharted 4' and 'Uncharted Lost Legacy' are coming to PS5 and PC

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 02:10 PM PDT

The Uncharted collection helped me survive the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and now, in addition to a live action movie expected to arrive in 2022, the two latest iterations of Naughty Dog's popular adventure series are scheduled to arrive on PS5 and PC next year. 

Both Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the finale of the Nathan Drake saga, and the follow-up DLC The Lost Legacy will be made available next year. The graphics, of course, look gorgeous running on next-gen hardware. However there's no word yet on whether Naughty Dog will insist on additional platform upgrade costs — a la Sony Interactive's short gambit with charging extra to update Zero Dawn Forbidden West from the PS4 to the PS5. 

The new iterations are slated for release in "early 2022."   

'Wolverine' is getting his own PS5 game from Spider-Man studio Insomniac

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 02:09 PM PDT

Insomniac Games is working on Marvel's Wolverine, a standalone game coming exclusively to the PlayStation 5. There's neither a release date nor many details about the project for now, but the studio showed off a teaser during today's PlayStation showcase. Check it out here:

Insomniac is the studio behind Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sunset Overdrive and other iconic franchises. The developer is known for building agile, rapid-paced games with slick movements and gorgeous environments, so we'll see how that translates to Wolverine.

Insomniac's head of franchise strategy Ryan Schneider shared how Wolverine came to be greenlit in a PlayStation Blog post directly following today's showcase. 

"Our goal here is to not only respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular, but also look for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit," Schneider said. "Even though Marvel's Wolverine is very early in development, from what I've seen of its emotional narrative and cutting-edge gameplay (see what I did there?), the team is already creating something truly special." 

Of course, he would say that.

Insomniac is also developing Marvel's Spider-Man 2, starring Venom.

First look at 'God of War Ragnarök' shows a war with Asgard

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:59 PM PDT

It's been about a year since Sony first said that God of War Ragnarök was officially on its way, and today we're finally getting our first look at the game. As expected, it look like God of War, with the familiar dual-weapon wielding that Kratos excelled at in the 2018 game. His son, Atreus, looks like he's grown up in the last few years, and he's challenging his dear old dad's decisions as well as proving to be a more capable fighter.

As for the game's story, it looks to be setting up a conflict with the Norse pantheon of gods — just as Kratos destroyed all of the Greek gods in the first trilogy of games, he might be on that path again here. But he's definitely fighting it, while Atreus sounds like the one who is more convinced that full-on war is necessary here. As noted in an extensive blog post about the new game, a lot of the conflict seems to come from Atreus trying to understand what his now-dead mother wanted for him, after it was revealed he was part-giant at the end of the first game.

As for the enemies, Freya, an ally-turned-foe, will be a main antagonist, as will Thor. We only saw brief teases of each character, but both characters have lost family to Kratos and Atreus, and they seem about as thirsty for revenge as Kratos used to be when he was a Greek god. Particularly intriguing is the news that veteran actor Richard Schiff (The West Wing) will play Odin, king of the Norse gods.

Unsurprisingly, the game looks fantastic, with a variety of new environments and enemies as well as more ways to use Kratos' Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos. But the familiar boat returns, as does the disembodied head Mimir, so get ready for more story time and cutting remarks about Kratos' perpetually grumpy mood.

Sony unfortunately didn't have a release date to share; a year ago, the company said God of War Ragnarök would arrive in 2021, but the blog post said "see you next year" at its end.

We did learn in a post-show interview that Eric Williams, a longtime Santa Monica Studio veteran will be directing God of War Ragnarök, rather than Cory Barlog, who helmed the 2018 title. Williams has worked on every God of War title so far, so he seems a logical choice for the job. Williams mentioned that each game has historically had a different director, with Barlog the only one doing two installments. "You're really exhausted at the end of finishing one of these things," Barlog said, "so you've gotta con someone else into doing it, like him." 

'Marvel's Spider-Man 2' brings Venom to PlayStation 5 in 2023

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:58 PM PDT

Sony is working on not one but two new Marvel games. During its PlayStation Showcase, the company revealed Insomniac Games is developing a sequel to 2018's Marvel's Spider-Man and 2020's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Slated to come out sometime in 2023 exclusively on PS5, Spider-Man 2 will feature both Peter Parker and Miles Morales, with the two set to face off against Venom.   

Sony didn't share many other details on the project, but based on the trailer it looks Spider-Man 2 may support co-op play. In a post over on the PlayStation blog published following the event, Insomniac's Ryan Schneider said much of the original team that worked on the first game is back for the sequel. He also revealed Tony Todd, best known for his role in the Candyman films, will voice Venom. Both Yuri Lowenthal and Nadji Jeter will also reprise their roles as Peter and Miles.    

'Gran Turismo 7' comes to PS4 and PS5 on March 4th, 2022

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:54 PM PDT

Polyphony Digital has narrowed down the release date for Gran Turismo 7 following its delay in February. The developer now expects its next big racing game to reach PS4 and PS5 on March 4th, 2022. Appropriately, the company has released a gameplay trailer that shows what you can expect from the PS5 version's visuals — this will definitely be a showcase for the console.

While the title still has that almost-too-polished sheen you've seen in many racing games, it's considerably closer to real life than you might expect. That's particularly true in low light and rain, where there's an eerily high level of realism.

Whether or not that translates to gameplay is another story. Polyphony said after the PlayStation Showcase that it was bringing back many familiar modes, and you can expect a range of past GT experiences that include off-roading and rallying. But will the physics, AI and other elements take a step forward? You might not get those answers until much closer to release.

'Ghostwire: Tokyo' will land on PS5 next spring

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:47 PM PDT

Bethesda has narrowed down the release window for Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire: Tokyo (which, if you remember, is a PlayStation 5 exclusive from a Microsoft-owned publisher). The supernatural action-adventure game will hit PS5 in spring 2022, after it was delayed from sometime later this year. 

Another pretty terrifying trailer emerged during Sony's PlayStation Showcase too. It shows otherworldly beings possessing people and more of the first-person action you can expect from this paranormal tale. Fun for all the family.

'GTA V' heads to PlayStation 5 in March 2022

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:40 PM PDT

Nearly a decade after its initial release on the seventh generation of consoles, Grand Theft Auto V will come out on PlayStation 5 in March 2022. Rockstar first announced GTA V was making its way to Sony's latest console at the company's previous PlayStation 5 showcase last summer. The enhanced and expanded port was originally supposed to come out in the second half of 2021. 

The new trailer Rockstar shared during Sony's promised the game will feature improved graphics, gameplay enhancements and seamless character switching between its three protagonists. At launch, it will also come with the game's immensely popular GTA Online multiplayer component included for free.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands brings twisted fantasy to gamers on March 25th, 2022

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:30 PM PDT

Gearbox is finally ready to set a firm release date for Tiny Tina's Wonderlands — and offer a peek at gameplay in the process. The studio has revealed that its Borderlands fantasy spin-off will launch on PS5 (and presumably other platforms) on March 25th, 2022. The gameplay appears to have some very familiar elements, although not all of them are from Gearbox's sci-fi shooter.

Yes, to some extent it looks like Borderlands with crossbows — Tiny Tina even throws in guns just because. But there are also some tributes to role-playing game tropes, including silly top-down navigation, parties... and, of course, lots of loot. It looks promising, even if it's not a radical reinvention of the Gearbox formula.

Square Enix's 'Forspoken' will hit PS5 and PC in spring 2022

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:28 PM PDT

Sony offered another look at Square Enix's Forspoken during its PlayStation Showcase. The game, which is being developed by Luminous Productions, will hit PC and PlayStation 5 in spring 2022.

A new story-focused trailer shows protagonist Frey Holland (Ella Balinska, 2019's Charlie's Angels) being transported from New York City to the fantasy world of Athia. The clip provides a few more details about the gorgeous-looking game, including the fact that Frey has a talking bracelet wrapped around her arm, as well as more peeks at the combat, traversal and Frey's magical powers. The trailer also shows off some of the enemies she'll battle including, of course, a dragon.

Take a good, long look at Korean action RPG 'Project Eve'

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:28 PM PDT

Project Eve is a futuristic action RPG built for the latest console generation, and today Korean studio Shift Up provided the longest look yet at how it'll play. From today's trailer, it feels like a cyberpunky blend of Nier, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta and God of War, with an energetic undercurrent. And bonus, some of the enemies are truly horrifying.

Shift Up showed off the new trailer during today's PlayStation showcase. The studio didn't provide a release date, but the game is certainly looking closer to completion.

The first teaser trailer for Project Eve hit in 2019 and the game has garnered a small yet fervent group of followers, mainly drawn to the impressive-looking graphics. Shift Up published a second trailer in November 2020 and provided the following description: 

"The video depicts 'Eve' and the battle against unknown invaders, NA-tives, to reclaim the lost Earth after its collapse. Intense battle scenes were realized with overwhelming live-action-grade graphics, showing advanced technology of SHIFTUP since the title's first trailer video. SHIFTUP now operates an independent studio for console games, utilizing technology such as high-density 3D scan system and performance capture system. Development is in progress to show maximum performance on various platforms including consoles."

'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic' is getting a PS5 remake

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 01:21 PM PDT

The rumors were true, BioWare's classic Star Wars RPG Knights of the Old Republic is getting a remake. Sony announced the title during its PlayStation showcase, revealing Aspyr, a studio best known for its macOS ports, is working on the project. 

"We're rebuilding one of the greatest RPGs of all time for a new generation with modern tech, features, visuals and more, while maintaining the integrity of the story and characters that we've come to cherish," Ryan Treadwell, lead producer on the project, said. According to Aspyr, the team working on the remake includes "industry veterans," as well as some of the people who worked on the original game almost 20 years ago.  

Following the showcase, Sony confirmed the game is a "console exclusive on PlayStation 5." Knights of the Old Republic was originally released on Xbox and Windows PC in 2003. It was later ported to macOS, iOS and Android by Aspyr. The remake does not currently have a release date. 

Epic will shut down its Houseparty video chat app in October

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 12:55 PM PDT

Houseparty's video chat may have been a popular choice in the early days of the pandemic, but that hasn't won it much favor with its owner Epic Games. Houseparty is shutting down its app sometime in October. Fortnite's Houseparty integration will vanish around the same time, the developers said. The app has already disappeared from stores.

The team explained the move as a matter of focus. Houseparty is crafting "meaningful and authentic" new socialization features that would be useful at a metaverse level across Epic Games titles, according to the creators. The company didn't provide any clues as to what would come next.

It's a slightly odd decision. Epic bought Houseparty in 2019, and the app bloomed in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to socialize online. There were over 17 million downloads in March 2020 alone, Sensor Tower said. The Fortnite tie-in also gave the younger crowd a way to hang out in a favorite game. While the pandemic is (hopefully) winding down, Epic is effectively cutting off Houseparty near its peak.

That shift toward the metaverse may be difficult to ignore, however. Epic has increasingly turned Fortnite into a social space between pop star concerts, virtual museums and non-competitive modes like Party Royale. The more work Epic can devote to that space, the greater its chances of attracting (and keeping) users who aren't always ready fight intense last-one-standing battles.

Microsoft indefinitely delays employees' return to its offices

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 12:19 PM PDT

Microsoft had a lot of news to share about remote work today, including a bunch of upcoming updates for Teams centered around hybrid meetings. But perhaps most pertinent to the company's employees was an announcement that it's delaying their return to the office yet again. Microsoft is putting the plans on hold indefinitely due to the COVID-19 delta variant.

Most recently, the aim was to fully reopen the headquarters in Redmond, Washington and several other US offices no earlier than October 4th. "Given the uncertainty of COVID-19, we've decided against attempting to forecast a new date for a full reopening of our US work sites in favor of opening US work sites as soon as we're able to do so safely based on public health guidance." Jared Spataro, Microsoft's corporate vice president for modern work, wrote in a blog post.

Once Microsoft has a date in mind for reopening, it will tell workers about a 30-day transition period so they can make preparations. That window, according to Spataro, will let Microsoft "continue to be agile and flexible as we look to the data and make choices to protect employee health, safety and well-being." As The New York Times notes, Microsoft will require employees, vendors and guests to have proof of vaccination before being allowed to enter its offices.

"It's a stark reminder that this is the new normal," Spataro wrote. "Our ability to come together will ebb and flow."

With that in mind, it seems Microsoft employees will be taking advantage of the hybrid meeting features that are coming to Teams. They include support for intelligent cameras; more immersive PowerPoint presentations with live video in slides; a way to tell co-workers if you plan to attend meetings in person or remotely when you RSVP; and Apple CarPlay support for audio-only meetings.

Other major tech companies have delayed returns to the office. Amazon previously planned to bring corporate employees back to its offices this week. In August, it pushed back those plans once again, this time until January.

Watch Sony's PlayStation Showcase 2021 right here at 4PM ET

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 12:00 PM PDT

As promised, Sony is ready to offer a peek at the PS5's future. The company is livestreaming PlayStation Showcase 2021 at 4PM Eastern, and you can watch the whole event below. It won't be a short presentation — Sony said the Showcase will clock in at about 40 minutes, with an after-show providing updates from featured studios.

The stream will officially focus on upcoming PS5 games (including for the holidays) from both PlayStation Studios as well as third-party developers. However, we also wouldn't be surprised if Sony devotes some time to system updates for the console. The company has teased a number of significant OS improvements as part of the beta program, including the option to add SSD storage. This is Sony's big chance to set its agenda for the next year, and it might not limit that agenda to the console's game lineup.

The largest direct carbon capture plant is now making a small impact on emissions

Posted: 09 Sep 2021 11:55 AM PDT

The world's largest direct-air carbon capture plant is up and running, although you might want to keep your expectations in check. Bloombergreports Climeworks has started operations for Orca, a plant in Iceland that grabs CO2 from the air, storing it underground and using a Carbfix solution to mix the chemical with water and (in two years) trap it in stone. The facility will capture 4,000 tons of CO2 per year, and it's 'permanently' removed from the environment, not recycled.

A carbon offset isn't a trivial purchase. It currently costs $600 per ton for bulk requests, and as high as $1,200 for eco-friendly individuals. Climeworks hopes to shrink the cost to $300 or less per ton by 2030 as it ramps up its overall capacity.

While Orca represents an important milestone for actively reducing humanity's carbon footprint, it's not much to brag about at this stage — if anything, it reveals just how far the technology has to go. That 4,000 tons of capture is equal to just 250 US residents, half the total capture output in the world, and nowhere near matching Climeworks' initial plan to capture 300 million tons (1 percent of the world's emissions) by 2025. The company now expects to reach 500,000 tons per year by 2030.

There are still reasons to be optimistic. Demand is very high, according to Climeworks, to the point where the company plans to expand Orca tenfold in the next three years. Lower carbon reduction prices could also accelerate adoption by tempting companies that would otherwise pay penalties when they can't meet emissions targets. This won't be a true substitute for reducing CO2 output, but it could help mitigate the impact in the short term.
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