Trailer Tuesday analyzes signals from outer space, helps a pip find its place on a die, and rushes to create an anti-shrinking formula before you get too tiny. Voices Of The...
The post Trailer Tuesday – The 100 Super Voices appeared first on Indie Games Plus.
Trailer Tuesday listens to problems over tea, plays a tense card game against an eerie creature, and quits a job by beating down your-ex colleagues. A TAVERN FOR TEA “A...
The post Trailer Tuesday – Untitled Tavern Override appeared first on Indie Games Plus.
Paradox Interactive's streak of game delays continues with the news its Chinese-Room-developed Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is now targeting a release in the "first half of 2025", rather than its previously announced "late 2024" window.
In a post on its website, Paradox called the delay a "proactive decision" derived from its commitment earlier this year to deliver "high-quality games" to its players. "Though [Bloodlines 2] is in a good enough place that we could have maintained our planned release window," it wrote, "Paradox and The Chinese Room collaboratively decided to prioritise polish."
Paradox says the delay will "create a quality assurance buffer, giving more time between testing and launch, ensuring we release the game when it's ready." More specifically, The Chinese Room will use the time to expand Bloodlines 2's story, providing twice as many endings as its predecessor, and to "adjust certain areas" such as Fabien - the voice in its protagonist's head.
Last week AMD did their 'Tech Day' and it was anything but.
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The post AMD’s Zen 5 is a missed opportunity in messaging appeared first on SemiAccurate.
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
The title of this video is “Silly Robot Dog Jump” and that’s probably more than you need to know.
[ Deep Robotics ]
It’ll be great when robots are reliably autonomous, but until they get there, collaborative capabilities are a must.
[ Robust AI ]
I am so INCREDIBLY EXCITED for this.
[ IIT Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia ]
In this 3 minutes long one-take video, the LimX Dynamics CL-1 takes on the challenge of continuous heavy objects loading among shelves in a simulated warehouse, showcasing the advantages of the general-purpose form factor of humanoid robots.
[ LimX Dynamics ]
Birds, bats and many insects can tuck their wings against their bodies when at rest and deploy them to power flight. Whereas birds and bats use well-developed pectoral and wing muscles, how insects control their wing deployment and retraction remains unclear because this varies among insect species. Here we demonstrate that rhinoceros beetles can effortlessly deploy their hindwings without necessitating muscular activity. We validated the hypothesis using a flapping microrobot that passively deployed its wings for stable, controlled flight and retracted them neatly upon landing, demonstrating a simple, yet effective, approach to the design of insect-like flying micromachines.
[ Nature ]
Agility Robotics’ CTO, Pras Velagapudi, talks about data collection, and specifically about the different kinds we collect from our real-world robot deployments and generally what that data is used for.
[ Agility Robotics ]
Robots that try really hard but are bad at things are utterly charming.
[ University of Tokyo JSK Lab ]
The DARPA Triage Challenge unsurprisingly has a bunch of robots in it.
[ DARPA ]
The Cobalt security robot has been around for a while, but I have to say, the design really holds up—it’s a good looking robot.
[ Cobalt AI ]
All robots that enter elevators should be programmed to gently sway back and forth to the elevator music. Even if there’s no elevator music.
[ Somatic ]
ABB Robotics and the Texas Children’s Hospital have developed a groundbreaking lab automation solution using ABB’s YuMi® cobot to transfer fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) used in the study for developing new drugs for neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s.
[ ABB ]
Extend Robotics are building embodied AI enabling highly flexible automation for real-world physical tasks. The system features intuitive immersive interface enabling tele-operation, supervision and training AI models.
[ Extend Robotics ]
The recorded livestream of RSS 2024 is now online, in case you missed anything.
[ RSS 2024 ]
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
At ICRA 2024, in Tokyo last May, we sat down with the director of Shadow Robot, Rich Walker, to talk about the journey toward developing its newest model. Designed for reinforcement learning, the hand is extremely rugged, has three fingers that act like thumbs, and has fingertips that are highly sensitive to touch.
[ IEEE Spectrum ]
Food Angel is a food delivery robot to help with the problems of food insecurity and homelessness. Utilizing autonomous wheeled robots for this application may seem to be a good approach, especially with a number of successful commercial robotic delivery services. However, besides technical considerations such as range, payload, operation time, autonomy, etc., there are a number of important aspects that still need to be investigated, such as how the general public and the receiving end may feel about using robots for such applications, or human-robot interaction issues such as how to communicate the intent of the robot to the homeless.
[ RoMeLa ]
The UKRI FLF team RoboHike of UCL Computer Science of the Robot Perception and Learning lab with Forestry England demonstrate the ANYmal robot to help preserve the cultural heritage of an historic mine in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK.
This clip is from a reboot of the British TV show “Time Team.” If you’re not already a fan of “Time Team,” let me just say that it is one of the greatest retro reality TV shows ever made, where actual archaeologists wander around the United Kingdom and dig stuff up. If they can find anything. Which they often can’t. And also it has Tony Robinson (from “Blackadder”), who runs everywhere for some reason. Go to Time Team Classics on YouTube for 70+ archived episodes.
[ UCL RPL ]
UBTECH humanoid robot Walker S Lite is working in Zeekr’s intelligent factory to complete handling tasks at the loading workstation for 21 consecutive days, and assist its employees with logistics work.
[ UBTECH ]
Current visual navigation systems often treat the environment as static, lacking the ability to adaptively interact with obstacles. This limitation leads to navigation failure when encountering unavoidable obstructions. In response, we introduce IN-Sight, a novel approach to self-supervised path planning, enabling more effective navigation strategies through interaction with obstacles.
[ ETH Zurich paper / IROS 2024 ]
When working on autonomous cars, sometimes it’s best to start small.
[ University of Pennsylvania ]
MIT MechE researchers introduce an approach called SimPLE (Simulation to Pick Localize and placE), a method of precise kitting, or pick and place, in which a robot learns to pick, regrasp, and place objects using the object’s computer-aided design (CAD) model, and all without any prior experience or encounters with the specific objects.
[ MIT ]
Staff, students (and quadruped robots!) from UCL Computer Science wish the Great Britain athletes the best of luck this summer in the Olympic Games & Paralympics.
Walking in tall grass can be hard for robots, because they can’t see the ground that they’re actually stepping on. Here’s a technique to solve that, published in Robotics and Automation Letters last year.
[ ETH Zurich Robotic Systems Lab ]
There is no such thing as excess batter on a corn dog, and there is also no such thing as a defective donut. And apparently, making Kool-Aid drink pouches is harder than it looks.
[ Oxipital AI ]
Unitree has open-sourced its software to teleoperate humanoids in VR for training-data collection.
[ Unitree / GitHub ]
Nothing more satisfying than seeing point-cloud segments wiggle themselves into place, and CSIRO’s Wildcat SLAM does this better than anyone.
[ IEEE Transactions on Robotics ]
A lecture by Mentee Robotics CEO Lior Wolf, on Mentee’s AI approach.
[ Mentee Robotics ]
Trailer Tuesday analyzes signals from outer space, helps a pip find its place on a die, and rushes to create an anti-shrinking formula before you get too tiny. Voices Of The...
The post Trailer Tuesday – The 100 Super Voices appeared first on Indie Games Plus.
Trailer Tuesday listens to problems over tea, plays a tense card game against an eerie creature, and quits a job by beating down your-ex colleagues. A TAVERN FOR TEA “A...
The post Trailer Tuesday – Untitled Tavern Override appeared first on Indie Games Plus.
The World of Warcraft’s Love is in the Air event is just around the corner, and players are gearing up for the love-filled celebration in Azeroth. This guide will provide players with all the essential information they need to make the most of this special occasion. Whether you want to earn some WoW mounts, buy WoW gold, or simply enjoy the festivities, this guide has covered you.
The Love is in the Air event features a series of fun and challenging quests that will test your skills and reward you with some of the most sought-after s in the game. From battling against the forces of evil to delivering love letters, there’s something for everyone during this celebration.
Love is in the air in the World of Warcraft, and what better way to celebrate than by embarking on heart-warming quests and completing exciting challenges? Players can experience the magic of Love is in the Air through a series of quests that take them on a journey throughout Azeroth. From collecting sweet-scented flowers to completing special tasks, there’s no shortage of romantic adventures.
One of the most memorable quest lines takes players to the Grand Ballroom, where they can dance the night away with their significant other. This quest line is a true test of love, as players must work together to complete tasks and overcome obstacles. Whether it’s gathering ingredients for a special dish or finding the perfect gift for their sweetheart, players will be sure to create unforgettable memories as they celebrate their love in the World of Warcraft.
So, gear up, grab your partner and get ready to experience the Love is in the Air celebration in Azeroth. Whether you’re a seasoned player or a newcomer to the world, this event is the perfect way to show your love and appreciation for the special people in your life.
From special WoW mounts and pets to unique items and cosmetics, there’s plenty to earn during this special celebration. And with the option to buy WoW gold, players can easily make the most of their time and effort during the event.
Love is in the air and so are the rewards! The annual Love is in the Air event in World of Warcraft (WoW) offers players a chance to complete quests and earn unique and rare rewards. From adorable pets and WoW mounts to cosmetic items, the Love is in the Air event has something for everyone.
One of the most coveted rewards during the Love is in the Air event is the Big Love Rocket mount. This mount, which resembles a heart-shaped rocket, can only be obtained by completing specific event quests. Additionally, players can earn the Love Fool title, a cosmetic item that displays the player’s character name with hearts around it, by completing all the Love is in the Air achievements.
In addition to WoW mounts and cosmetic items, players can also earn love tokens, which can be traded for various rewards, including rare pets, mounts, love potions, and a variety of other rewards by participating in the Love is in the Air event. The Love is in the Air event is a great opportunity for players to score big and add some unique and rare items to their collections.
Happy Valentine's Day, Azeroth! From #Warcraft with love.
— World of Warcraft (@Warcraft) February 14, 2013#LoveisintheAir pic.twitter.com/VEubujSG
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a newcomer to World of Warcraft, the Love is in the Air event is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the spirit of love and friendship in Azeroth. So gather your friends, grab some buy WoW gold, and get ready to experience one of the most exciting and heart-warming events in the game.
Every year, the citizens of Azeroth celebrate the Love is in the Air festival, a heartwarming event filled with love and joy. During this time, players can embark on a journey to complete love-themed quests, collect unique rewards, and participate in the Grand Ballroom event. The festival is a perfect opportunity for players to experience the spirit of love and friendship in the World of Warcraft.
The Love is in the Air festival offers players the chance to explore new areas, interact with various NPCs, and complete romantic quests to earn festive rewards. Whether you’re a seasoned player or a newcomer, this event provides a fun and engaging way to participate in the spirit of love in Azeroth. From acquiring new WoW mounts to obtaining special in-game items, the Love is in the Air festival is packed with exciting opportunities for players to get involved.
The Dragonflight Love is in the Air event in Azeroth is a perfect opportunity to embrace the spirit of love and celebrate with heart-warming quests and gifts. With the grand ballroom, love-filled celebration, and the exciting Love is in the Air quests, there’s something for everyone in Azeroth. So, whether you’re looking to earn some fantastic rewards or simply want to soak in the festive atmosphere, this event has it all. So, gather your friends and start celebrating the ultimate way to show your love in Azeroth today!
Don’t miss out on the Love is in the Air event in World of Warcraft! Get your buy WoW gold today and join the celebration in Azeroth. Embrace the spirit of love in the World of Warcraft.
Nintendo.com microsite – Official website – Wikipedia page
When you purchase games on the Nintendo eShop, you earn store credit. I usually save up a lot of my credit and purchase a smaller title with it. One of these titles I purchased a few months ago is named Little Noah – Scion of Paradise. After playing it for a bit, I was surprised that it was the perfect game to play on my commute to and from work. I played it on a few train rides, and I think I’m ready to share my opinion on this game. This game is something unique and now that I have beaten it once, I really want to talk about it. Wait, beaten it once? What do I actually mean? Let’s talk about it in this article, while I invite you to leave a comment with your thoughts and/or opinions on this game and/or the content of this article in the comment section down below.
Zipping Kitty Attempts
In this game, we play as an alchemist called Little Noah. She is in a long journey to reunite with her father. While she is looking for her father, her airship gets caught in a storm, and she crashes near a mysterious ruin.
In that ruin, she meets an amnesiac cat named Zipper. Well, she names it Zipper. Together, they start to explore this ruin because they encountered a dark wizard named Greigh, who wants to enable a powerful machine which is dormant in the ruin.
Now, if you are looking for a deep story… I’m going to have to disappoint you. The story of this game isn’t the main focus of this game. The story in this game is fine for what it is and does its job, but there is nothing more to it. Personally, I don’t think it’s a negative for this game. Because the story takes a backseat, the gameplay loop is a lot more polished. Also, I don’t think it was the intention to have a very in depth story.
The voice actors in this game did an amazing job and brought the characters and the world of this game to live. The amount of personality they brought to their characters is really well done and really fits the atmosphere of this game like a glove. The amazing voice acting is one of the main reasons why I didn’t mind the “To be continued” at the end of the game at all. This small title really feels like the developers are testing the water if people who be interested in a larger game set in the world of Little Noah.
So, what do I mean by “small title”? Well, this game can be beaten in an afternoon. Now, the game has quite a lot of replay value in my opinion. The gameplay loop of this game is quite enjoyable. It has quite the potential to grow into something unique that I don’t often see in these rouge lite games. But, I’ll talk more about the gameplay later.
According to various sources online, this game has been worked on by a small team of 30 people. Even by some industry legends like Yukio Futatsugi, who had his hand on another title I played in the past called World’s End Club. The amount of love and care put into this title is quite impressive and gets a thumbs up from me. I know that this game is based upon an earlier mobile game from the same developers called Battle Champs. Yet, I think it’s great to see the developers repurpose the assets after the shutdown of that game and make something new about it.
If you have ever played a game like Rouge Legacy, you’ll feel right at home in this game. In this game, you have to explore a dungeon and fight bosses. During your exploration run, you gain various special items that give you all sorts of buffs.
In terms of difficulty, this game is very balanced. While you can get lucky and get amazing items and buffs to make it quite far in the game, with enough skill and understanding of the game… you can even outplay the game if you get bad items and not good buffs. Now, I’m reading mixed things about the hard difficulty online, but I have been playing through this game on normal difficulty and I found it pretty fair and balanced. So, let’s do one more dive to explain how this game works.
One More Dive
I want to talk about the unique mechanic in this game. The combat system in this game is something I wanted to play for a long while. In this game, you are accompanied by Lilliputs. These are special creatures who attack for you. You start each run with three basic Lilliputs. During your run, you can find other Lilliputs and make yourself stronger.
Each Lilliput is very different in terms of strength, element, attack, and unique attack. You can only have five Lilliputs for your main attacks, and you have two special attack slots where you can place one Lilliput in each. So, you really need to balance your Lilliputs well. The order is also quite important, you don’t want a whole row of slow attacking Lilliputs in an area with a lot of range attacking enemies. Also, you don’t want to use a weak element compared to the enemies you are facing. If you are focusing on wind, you will have trouble with fire enemies.
It’s extremely important to understand your Lilliputs. Since, once you started an attack, you are somewhat locked into that attack. You can’t start another attack while an attack is in progress, excluding the special attacks that is. So, if the enemy moves to the other side of your attack, though luck. This game is a whole balancing and time act, and it’s a lot of fun. The randomness in this whole game makes each run unique, and you can never predict how far you’ll be able to go.
Now, dying in this game isn’t the worst thing. All your items and Lilliputs get converted into mana, which you can use to repair your airship. The more you repair your airship, the more advantages and buffs you can unlock to make even better runs. You can also use special treasure chests you can pick up in your run to either increase the strength of your unlocked Lilliputs or give to Zipper for a special bonus for your next run.
So, how does a run go? Well, allow me to compare it to a crusade in Cult of the Lamb to a degree. In that game, you go into a dungeon, and you have to go from room to room, defeating every enemy in that room before you can progress to the next room. Unlike Cult of the Lamb, some rooms give you a special challenge. These challenges are reaching a certain amount of chained damage or hits, not being hit or defeating all the enemies in a limited amount of time. When you complete this challenge, you receive an additional bonus when you defeat the room.
There are also special rooms that can spawn. A shop where you can spend the gold you earn during a run, platform challenges with a strong treasure chest at the end, (combat) challenge rooms and rooms where you can get special buffs from a crystal and a room where you can get Lilliputs or a buff item. All of these special rooms have a special icon on the map. The map also shows little icons when there is still something you can pick up in the room.
Complete exploration of a dungeon is a very risk/reward thing. You do risk your health to go into an additional room to get additional buffs, or do you want to save your health for the next (mid)boss level? In order to beat this game, you have to beat three worlds. Each world works like this: level – level – midboss – level – boss. Be warned, you can only replenish your health potions at the start of a level. During (mid)boss fights, you can’t replenish your health potions, so keep that in mind when you are deciding if it’s worth the risk to go into that challenge platforming room.
Overall, the gameplay in the dungeon is quite addictive and the fast-paced decision-making you have to make is something that got me hooked. I don’t spend a lot of time on my airship, outside repairing it and setting up the right buffs for my next run. I always want to do one more dive and try and beat the game again. Now, the airship itself is build quite well. You can also re-read the tutorial boxes in case you want to refresh your memory on certain mechanics.
Repetition of Diving
Something that really impressed me is how smooth this game actually runs. The optimization of this game is incredible. I didn’t have any frame rate issues or slowdowns at all. Even when I’m preforming my ultimate attack, which causes a lot of visual flair and effects on the screen.
The controls are extremely responsive as well. Very rarely I felt like I wasn’t in control, and I think some of these moments might even have been a false positive where I was trying to blame my mistake on the game. In terms of the controls, there are only a few nitpicks I can give. The first is the decision to place “R” as the interaction button. This feels quite unnatural and took me some getting used to. Also, I think a left-handed mode would have been welcome since I think left-handed people who appreciate the “L” button then for interactions.
Why am I placing so much attention on this? Well, because you don’t pick up items or Lilliputs automatically. You have to stand next to them and interact with their medal or crystal. But items like health drops or burst gauges are picked up automatically.
The other nitpick I have is that when you start your dive, you get a fixed amount of mana from the first dungeon. Why can’t we skip this little cutscene that plays every time? It breaks the flow of the start of a run. Since you are stopped in your tracks every time.
Another nitpick I have with the controls is how the Lilliput attack order can be decided. The problem comes when I just want to swap two Lilliputs of their place. This is something you can’t do. Unless you swap them from your inventory to the main line OR from the main line to a special attack slot and vice versa. Swapping two Lilliputs in the main line is somewhat clunky to do and feels unpolished.
Visually, this game is extremely colorful and charming. While this is a side view game, like a 2D Mario game, the backgrounds are also incredible. The team that worked on the visual presentation of this game did an amazing job. I only have one nitpick about it and that’s somewhat shared with a nitpick I have with the audio design.
I feel like the frozen status isn’t communicated clearly enough to the player. Several times I was unable to move Noah and I couldn’t figure out why. It took me sometime to realize that she was frozen and that’s the reason why I couldn’t preform an action. Either a more exaggerated visual of a frozen Noah could solve this or more sound effects when you try to do something while frozen.
Apart from that, I don’t have any complaints about the visuals. The animation feels amazing, and you feel the impact of the attacks of your Lilliputs and it feels so rewarding, adding more immersion to the gameplay loop. This game is something where I felt: “One more dive” after each time I died and returned to the airship. Each time I wanted to go and explore the amazing caverns. While I was afraid that this game would suffer from long play sessions, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t the case for me. At the end of a long play session, I have to admit that the game felt a bit repetitive… But I don’t mind repetitive gameplay too much when the core gameplay loop and level design is fun.
The only negative I have about the level design is that you very quickly see all the possible room lay-outs there are in this game. While the dungeon is randomized each run, it doesn’t take long before you see similar rooms. A couple of times, I even had the same room back-to-back. This isn’t a huge problem perse, but I felt that the developers could mask this a bit better with different decorations or minor changes like one of the platforms having a possibility of crumbling or not.
The music and sound effects in this game are really catchy. I would love to add it to my playlist. Sadly, I can’t really find a way to listen to the soundtrack or even buy it. The tracks in this game are charming when they need to be but are also quite action-packed during fight scenes. The sound effects and visuals inform you quite well when an enemy is going to attack.
Now, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I think it’s high time for my conclusion of this game. Let’s dive into the summary and my final thoughts of this game.
Summary
The bad:
– Some minor nitpicks with the controls.
– Story is fine, but lacks some depth and is predictable.
The good:
+ Very addictive gameplay loop with high replay value.
+ Amazing voice acting.
+ Breath taking visuals.
+ Extremely optimized gameplay.
+ …
Final thoughts:
This game is a small indie title created from the remains of an old gotcha game. It’s only 15€ on the Nintendo eShop and it’s totally worth it’s price in gold. While the game lacks some depth and is quite short, the replay value this game has is something that’ll make you replay this game just one more time.
While playing this game, I felt that this game was an experiment. The developers were testing the waters if the gameplay would work or not. This game feels like a prequel to a much larger game and if I’m right, I can’t wait to see what the full game or the sequel is going to be like.
Even when this game is going to be a standalone game, I don’t really mind if that’s the case. This game is a game I can highly recommend if you enjoy games like Rouge Legacy or Cult of the Lamb. While it doesn’t have a lot of, if any, base building… It’s another amazing title in the genre.
While outside of the combat mechanics, it doesn’t do a lot of things you haven’t seen (a lot) before in other similar games. But, that isn’t a bad thing. Since, sometimes a game where all the good ideas from other games come together into one title can be a lot of fun as well.
I’d love to see another game in this universe where there are a bit more stakes in using your Lilliputs. What if certain Lilliputs get weaker when you pick up items of their opposite element? Or Lilliputs that can do a special attack with another Lilliput present…
There is so much more you can do with this combat system and I think that if the developers expanded on the core mechanics, this game sequel could reach quite far. Since, the game we already got placed an amazing foundation for an amazing series. I love this game to bits and I’m so glad I gave this game a chance, since it was an amazing pleasant surprise to playthrough. It comes highly recommend from me. After I finished the game once, I let me hunger for more. I wanted to play it even more. And the fact that I barely have any complaints about this game apart from a weak story and some nitpicks… This game just has a lot of care and lot put in by the developers and everything works and fits together so well.
With that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I want to thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.
Score: 90/100
Trailer Tuesday analyzes signals from outer space, helps a pip find its place on a die, and rushes to create an anti-shrinking formula before you get too tiny. Voices Of The...
The post Trailer Tuesday – The 100 Super Voices appeared first on Indie Games Plus.
Trailer Tuesday listens to problems over tea, plays a tense card game against an eerie creature, and quits a job by beating down your-ex colleagues. A TAVERN FOR TEA “A...
The post Trailer Tuesday – Untitled Tavern Override appeared first on Indie Games Plus.
US workers body SAG-AFTRA says its voice actors strike could still impact projects that have been in development for over a year, including games like GTA 6, despite the terms of its agreement stating they should be safe.
Initially, last week's shock announcement of strike action by video game actors over AI concerns was thought to have minimal impact on games expected to release later this year, as it did not include games that commenced production before August 2023.
Now, however, SAG-AFTRA says all "members who want to show solidarity with the union can elect voluntarily not to work", intimating that it believed the strike could be more disruptive than previously suspected and impact "non-struck" games.
This is your friendly reminder that Microsoft is set to close its Xbox 360 digital store on 29th July – that's next Monday – so you have just a few days left to make the most of those last discounts on some of the best Xbox 360 games of the generation.
Microsoft announced a raft of discounts on Xbox 360 digital games back in May. Whilst some games will live on via other platforms and services – including Microsoft's comprehensive backwards compatibility system – there are a handful of games that will disappear from sale forever. So, if you've ever fancied one, now's the time to pick it up.
X user Kalyoshika has shared a list of the games/DLC that "will not survive", as well as "a couple of games that are going from cheap, easy-to-get digital copies", to "impossible-to-get, expensive, piracy only, jump-through-hoops to play".
A group of scientists from the Smithsonian Institutes and research universities believe it's high time that we create a doomsday vault for Earth's biodiversity. Sure, we have the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in a Norwegian mountain but it's susceptible to terrestrial destruction, by humans or natural disaster. — Read the rest
The post Doomsday vault on the Moon would hold back-up of Earth's plants and animals appeared first on Boing Boing.
US workers body SAG-AFTRA says its voice actors strike could still impact projects that have been in development for over a year, including games like GTA 6, despite the terms of its agreement stating they should be safe.
Initially, last week's shock announcement of strike action by video game actors over AI concerns was thought to have minimal impact on games expected to release later this year, as it did not include games that commenced production before August 2023.
Now, however, SAG-AFTRA says all "members who want to show solidarity with the union can elect voluntarily not to work", intimating that it believed the strike could be more disruptive than previously suspected and impact "non-struck" games.
This is your friendly reminder that Microsoft is set to close its Xbox 360 digital store on 29th July – that's next Monday – so you have just a few days left to make the most of those last discounts on some of the best Xbox 360 games of the generation.
Microsoft announced a raft of discounts on Xbox 360 digital games back in May. Whilst some games will live on via other platforms and services – including Microsoft's comprehensive backwards compatibility system – there are a handful of games that will disappear from sale forever. So, if you've ever fancied one, now's the time to pick it up.
X user Kalyoshika has shared a list of the games/DLC that "will not survive", as well as "a couple of games that are going from cheap, easy-to-get digital copies", to "impossible-to-get, expensive, piracy only, jump-through-hoops to play".
Yesterday's dramatic announcement of strike action by video game actors over AI concerns may have less of an immediate impact on upcoming titles than first thought.
While the SAG-AFTRA union has indeed voted for voice artists and performance capture personnel to strike from today, a large swathe of projects now appear unaffected.
This includes any video game in development as of a year ago, including (for now) live service games, according to statements from both SAG-AFTRA and the companies the strike will hit, first shared by Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach.
While he's "blown away" by the beach scenes in the first GTA 6 trailer, former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij thinks the forthcoming open worlder might underwhelm players hoping for a palpable technological update on GTA 5, which has been reworked and re-released extensively since its 2013 launch. This has less to do with GTA in itself, Vermeij says, than with the fact that changes in computing capacity today simply aren't as dramatic as in the days of the very first PlayStation. It's becoming rare, he suggests, that you see a "jump" akin to GTA going 3D.
While he's "blown away" by the beach scenes in the first GTA 6 trailer, former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij thinks the forthcoming open worlder might underwhelm players hoping for a palpable technological update on GTA 5, which has been reworked and re-released extensively since its 2013 launch. This has less to do with GTA in itself, Vermeij says, than with the fact that changes in computing capacity today simply aren't as dramatic as in the days of the very first PlayStation. It's becoming rare, he suggests, that you see a "jump" akin to GTA going 3D.
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
We introduce Berkeley Humanoid, a reliable and low-cost mid-scale humanoid research platform for learning-based control. Our lightweight, in-house-built robot is designed specifically for learning algorithms with low simulation complexity, anthropomorphic motion, and high reliability against falls. Capable of omnidirectional locomotion and withstanding large perturbations with a compact setup, our system aims for scalable, sim-to-real deployment of learning-based humanoid systems.
This article presents Ray, a new type of audio-animatronic robot head. All the mechanical structure of the robot is built in one step by 3-D printing... This simple, lightweight structure and the separate tendon-based actuation system underneath allow for smooth, fast motions of the robot. We also develop an audio-driven motion generation module that automatically synthesizes natural and rhythmic motions of the head and mouth based on the given audio.
[ Paper ]
CSAIL researchers introduce a novel approach allowing robots to be trained in simulations of scanned home environments, paving the way for customized household automation accessible to anyone.
[ MIT News ]
Okay, sign me up for this.
[ Deep Robotics ]
NEURA Robotics is among the first joining the early access NVIDIA Humanoid Robot Developer Program.
This could be great, but there’s an awful lot of jump cuts in that video.
I like that Unitree’s tagline in the video description here is “Let’s have fun together.”
Is that “please don’t do dumb stuff with our robots” at the end of the video new...?
[ Unitree ]
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang presented a major breakthrough on Project GR00T with WIRED’s Lauren Goode at SIGGRAPH 2024. In a two-minute demonstration video, NVIDIA explained a systematic approach they discovered to scale up robot data, addressing one of the most challenging issues in robotics.
[ Nvidia ]
In this research, we investigated the innovative use of a manipulator as a tail in quadruped robots to augment their physical capabilities. Previous studies have primarily focused on enhancing various abilities by attaching robotic tails that function solely as tails on quadruped robots. While these tails improve the performance of the robots, they come with several disadvantages, such as increased overall weight and higher costs. To mitigate these limitations, we propose the use of a 6-DoF manipulator as a tail, allowing it to serve both as a tail and as a manipulator.
[ Paper ]
In this end-to-end demo, we showcase how MenteeBot transforms the shopping experience for individuals, particularly those using wheelchairs. Through discussions with a global retailer, MenteeBot has been designed to act as the ultimate shopping companion, offering a seamless, natural experience.
[ Menteebot ]
Nature Fresh Farms, based in Leamington, Ontario, is one of North America’s largest greenhouse farms growing high-quality organics, berries, peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. In 2022, Nature Fresh partnered with Four Growers, a FANUC Authorized System Integrator, to develop a robotic system equipped with AI to harvest tomatoes in the greenhouse environment.
[ FANUC ]
Contrary to what you may have been led to believe by several previous Video Fridays, WVUIRL’s open source rover is quite functional, most of the time.
[ WVUIRL ]
Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company, is developing Lunar Utility Navigation with Advanced Remote Sensing and Autonomous Beaming for Energy Redistribution, also known as LUNARSABER. In July 2024, Honeybee Robotics captured LUNARSABER’s capabilities during a demonstration of a scaled prototype.
Bunker Mini is a compact tracked mobile robot specifically designed to tackle demanding off-road terrains.
[ AgileX ]
In this video we present results of our lab from the latest field deployments conducted in the scope of the Digiforest EU project, in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland. Digiforest brings together various partners working on aerial and legged robots, autonomous harvesters, and forestry decision-makers. The goal of the project is to enable autonomous robot navigation, exploration, and mapping, both below and above the canopy, to create a data pipeline that can support and enhance foresters’ decision-making systems.
[ ARL ]
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
If the Italian Institute of Technology’s iRonCub3 looks this cool while learning to fly, just imagine how cool it will look when it actually takes off!
Hovering is in the works, but this is a really hard problem, which you can read more about in Daniele Pucci’s post on LinkedIn.
[ LinkedIn ]
Stanford Engineering and the Toyota Research Institute achieve the world’s first autonomous tandem drift. Leveraging the latest AI technology, Stanford Engineering and TRI are working to make driving safer for all. By automating a driving style used in motorsports called drifting—in which a driver deliberately spins the rear wheels to break traction—the teams have unlocked new possibilities for future safety systems.
[ TRI ]
Researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) have demonstrated that under specific conditions, humans can treat robots as coauthors of the results of their actions. The condition that enables this phenomenon is a robot that behaves in a social, humanlike manner. Engaging in eye contact and participating in a common emotional experience, such as watching a movie, are key.
[ Science Robotics ]
If Aibo is not quite catlike enough for you, here you go.
[ Maicat ] via [ RobotStart ]
I’ve never been more excited for a sim-to-real gap to be bridged.
[ USC Viterbi ]
I’m sorry, but this looks exactly like a quadrotor sitting on a test stand.
The 12-pound Quad-Biplane combines four rotors and two wings without any control surfaces. The aircraft takes off like a conventional quadcopter and transitions to a more-efficient horizontal cruise flight, similar to that of a biplane. This combines the simplicity of a quadrotor design, providing vertical flight capability, with the cruise efficiency of a fixed-wing aircraft. The rotors are responsible for aircraft control both in vertical and forward cruise flight regimes.
[ AVFL ]
Tensegrity robots are so weird, and I so want them to be useful.
Top-performing robots need all the help they can get.
[ Team B-Human ]
And now: a beetle nearly hit by an autonomous robot.
[ WVUIRL ]
Humans possess a remarkable ability to react to unpredictable perturbations through immediate mechanical responses, which harness the visco-elastic properties of muscles to maintain balance. Inspired by this behavior, we propose a novel design of a robotic leg utilizing fiber-jammed structures as passive compliant mechanisms to achieve variable joint stiffness and damping.
[ Paper ]
I don’t know what this piece of furniture is, but your cats will love it.
[ ABB ]
This video shows a dexterous avatar humanoid robot with VR teleoperation, hand tracking, and speech recognition to achieve highly dexterous mobile manipulation. Extend Robotics is developing a dexterous remote-operation interface to enable data collection for embodied AI and humanoid robots.
[ Extend Robotics ]
I never really thought about this, but wind turbine blades are hollow inside and need to be inspected sometimes, which is really one of those jobs where you’d much rather have a robot do it.
[ Flyability ]
Here’s a full, uncut drone-delivery mission, including a package pickup from our AutoLoader—a simple, nonpowered mechanical device that allows retail partners to utilize drone delivery with existing curbside-pickup workflows.
[ Wing ]
Daniel Simu and his acrobatic robot competed in “America’s Got Talent,” and even though his robot did a very robot thing by breaking itself immediately beforehand, the performance went really well.
[ Acrobot ]
A tour of the Creative Robotics Mini Exhibition at the Creative Computing Institute, University of the Arts London.
[ UAL ]
Thanks, Hooman!
Zoox CEO Aicha Evans and cofounder and chief technology officer Jesse Levinson hosted a LinkedIn Live last week to reflect on the past decade of building Zoox and their predictions for the next 10 years of the autonomous-vehicle industry.
[ Zoox ]
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
Perching with winged Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has often been solved by means of complex control or intricate appendages. Here, we present a method that relies on passive wing morphing for crash-landing on trees and other types of vertical poles. Inspired by the adaptability of animals’ and bats’ limbs in gripping and holding onto trees, we design dual-purpose wings that enable both aerial gliding and perching on poles.
[ Nature Communications Engineering ]
Pretty impressive to have low enough latency in controlling your robot’s hardware that it can play ping pong, although it makes it impossible to tell whether the robot or the human is the one that’s actually bad at the game.
[ IHMC ]
How to be a good robot when boarding an elevator.
[ NAVER ]
Have you ever wondered how insects are able to go so far beyond their home and still find their way? The answer to this question is not only relevant to biology but also to making the AI for tiny, autonomous robots. We felt inspired by biological findings on how ants visually recognize their environment and combine it with counting their steps in order to get safely back home.
[ Science Robotics ]
Team RoMeLa Practice with ARTEMIS humanoid robots, featuring Tsinghua Hephaestus (Booster Alpha). Fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer match with the official goal of beating the human WorldCup Champions by the year 2050.
[ RoMeLa ]
Triangle is the most stable shape, right?
[ WVU IRL ]
We propose RialTo, a new system for robustifying real-world imitation learning policies via reinforcement learning in “digital twin” simulation environments constructed on the fly from small amounts of real-world data.
[ MIT CSAIL ]
There is absolutely no reason to watch this entire video, but Moley Robotics is still working on that robotic kitchen of theirs.
I will once again point out that the hardest part of cooking (for me, anyway) is the prep and the cleanup, and this robot still needs you to do all that.
[ Moley ]
B-Human has so far won 10 titles at the RoboCup SPL tournament. Can we make it 11 this year? Our RoboCup starts off with a banger game against HTWK Robots form Leipzig!
[ Team B-Human ]
AMBIDEX is a dual-armed robot with an innovative mechanism developed for safe coexistence with humans. Based on an innovative cable structure, it is designed to be both strong and stable.
[ NAVER ]
As NASA’s Perseverance rover prepares to ascend to the rim of Jezero Crater, its team is investigating a rock unlike any that they’ve seen so far on Mars. Deputy project scientist Katie Stack Morgan explains why this rock, found in an ancient channel that funneled water into the crater, could be among the oldest that Perseverance has investigated—or the youngest.
[ NASA ]
We present a novel approach for enhancing human-robot collaboration using physical interactions for real-time error correction of large language model (LLM) parameterized commands.
Husky Observer was recently used to autonomously inspect solar panels at a large solar panel farm. As part of its mission, the robot navigated rows of solar panels, stopping to inspect areas with its integrated thermal camera. Images were taken by the robot and enhanced to detect potential “hot spots” in the panels.
Most of the time, robotic workcells contain just one robot, so it’s cool to see a pair of them collaborating on tasks.
Thanks, Roman!
Meet Hydrus, the autonomous underwater drone revolutionising underwater data collection by eliminating the barriers to its entry. Hydrus ensures that even users with limited resources can execute precise and regular subsea missions to meet their data requirements.
Those adorable Disney robots have finally made their way into a paper.
[ RSS 2024 ]
Trailer Tuesday analyzes signals from outer space, helps a pip find its place on a die, and rushes to create an anti-shrinking formula before you get too tiny. Voices Of The...
The post Trailer Tuesday – The 100 Super Voices appeared first on Indie Games Plus.
Trailer Tuesday listens to problems over tea, plays a tense card game against an eerie creature, and quits a job by beating down your-ex colleagues. A TAVERN FOR TEA “A...
The post Trailer Tuesday – Untitled Tavern Override appeared first on Indie Games Plus.
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
We present Morphy, a novel compliant and morphologically aware flying robot that integrates sensorized flexible joints in its arms, thus enabling resilient collisions at high speeds and the ability to squeeze through openings narrower than its nominal dimensions.
Morphy represents a new class of soft flying robots that can facilitate unprecedented resilience through innovations both in the “body” and “brain.” The novel soft body can, in turn, enable new avenues for autonomy. Collisions that previously had to be avoided have now become acceptable risks, while areas that are untraversable for a certain robot size can now be negotiated through self-squeezing. These novel bodily interactions with the environment can give rise to new types of embodied intelligence.
[ ARL ]
Thanks, Kostas!
Segments of daily training for robots driven by reinforcement learning. Multiple tests done in advance for friendly service humans. The training includes some extreme tests. Please do not imitate!
[ Unitree ]
Sphero is not only still around, it’s making new STEM robots!
[ Sphero ]
Googly eyes mitigate all robot failures.
[ WVUIRL ]
Here I am, without the ability or equipment (or desire) required to iron anything that I own, and Flexiv’s got robots out there ironing fancy leather car seats.
[ Flexiv ]
Thanks, Noah!
We unveiled a significant leap forward in perception technology for our humanoid robot GR-1. The newly adapted pure-vision solution integrates bird’s-eye view, transformer models, and an occupancy network for precise and efficient environmental perception.
[ Fourier ]
Thanks, Serin!
LimX Dynamics’ humanoid robot CL-1 was launched in December 2023. It climbed stairs based on real-time terrain perception, two steps per stair. Four months later, in April 2024, the second demo video showcased CL-1 in the same scenario. It had advanced to climb the same stair, one step per stair.
[ LimX Dynamics ]
Thanks, Ou Yan!
New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that programming robots to create their own teams and voluntarily wait for their teammates results in faster task completion, with the potential to improve manufacturing, agriculture, and warehouse automation.
[ HCRL ] via [ UMass Amherst ]
Thanks, Julia!
LASDRA (Large-size Aerial Skeleton with Distributed Rotor Actuation system (ICRA18) is a scalable and modular aerial robot. It can assume a very slender, long, and dexterous form factor and is very lightweight.
[ SNU INRoL ]
We propose augmenting initially passive structures built from simple repeated cells, with novel active units to enable dynamic, shape-changing, and robotic applications. Inspired by metamaterials that can employ mechanisms, we build a framework that allows users to configure cells of this passive structure to allow it to perform complex tasks.
[ CMU ]
Testing autonomous exploration at the Exyn Office using Spot from Boston Dynamics. In this demo, Spot autonomously explores our flight space while on the hunt for one of our engineers.
[ Exyn ]
Meet Heavy Picker, the strongest robot in bulky-waste sorting and an absolute pro at lifting and sorting waste. With skills that would make a concert pianist jealous and a work ethic that never needs coffee breaks, Heavy Picker was on the lookout for new challenges.
[ Zen Robotics ]
AI is the biggest and most consequential business, financial, legal, technological, and cultural story of our time. In this panel, you will hear from the underrepresented community of women scientists who have been leading the AI revolution—from the beginning to now.
[ Stanford HAI ]
Cities: Skylines 2 has found a delightfully straightforward solution to the very real-world problem of greedy landlords demanding excessive rent payments. The city-builder sequel will simply delete all its virtual leeches in its next patch, helping to bring down the cost of living in your digital metropolis.
Cities: Skylines 2 has found a delightfully straightforward solution to the very real-world problem of greedy landlords demanding excessive rent payments. The city-builder sequel will simply delete all its virtual leeches in its next patch, helping to bring down the cost of living in your digital metropolis.
Vlastně, bude vůbec mít hra režim pro více hráčů? Gears je samozřejmě série, která historicky kladla velký důraz na nabídku multiplayeru, a ačkoli The Coalition a Microsoft zatím oficiálně nepotvrdily, že E-Day bude dělat totéž, kreativní ředitel Matt Searcy naznačil, že tomu tak skutečně bude.
V nedávném rozhovoru pro Windows Central Searcy sice přímo nepotvrdil, že Gears of War: E-Day bude obsahovat multiplayer, ale uvedl, že jako další hra hlavní řady série nabídne takovou rozmanitost režimů, jakou hráči od Gearsů očekávají.
„Řekl bych, že je to další hlavní hra Gears,“ řekl. „Hra Gears má poměrně jasnou DNA herních režimů, takže pravděpodobně můžete předvídat, kam se budeme ubírat s E-Day.“
O tom, jaké režimy můžeme přesně očekávat, bude The Coalition mluvit později, ale pro případ, že by existovaly nějaké pochybnosti o tom, zda hra bude obsahovat multiplayer, toto by je mělo vyvrátit.
Gears of War: E-Day je ve vývoji pro Xbox řady X/S a PC. Žádné okno vydání nebylo oficiálně oznámeno, ale zprávy tvrdí, že by hra mohla směřovat k vydání v roce 2025.
Článek Gears of War: E-Day bude mít multiplayer, naznačuje kreativní ředitel se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Nenechte se však zaskočit slovem „den“ ve slově „E-Day“ – příběh se odehrává v průběhu více dní, jak uvedl kreativní ředitel Matt Searcy pro GamesRadar na Summer Game Fest 2024. Hráči budou vše prožívat svýma očima, od okamžiku invaze až po pád města a jeho obyvatel.
„Není to jeden den, je to více dní. Ale je to o události, jako by šlo o to, zůstat s těmi postavami od okamžiku, víte, nastavení okamžiku, kdy se to stane, a být s nimi každou minutu, po celé dny, které se odehrávají ve městě, a skutečně to prožívat jejich očima, jak to, co se děje s nimi, tak i to, co se děje s městem kolem nich, s lidmi kolem nich, s ostatními postavami.“
Ačkoli se Gears of War: E-Day vrací k hororovým kořenům série, věrnost je mnohem lepší než v první hře. Obsahuje destrukci nové generace, nové animační technologie, a dokonce i hardwarové raytraced osvětlení, odrazy a stíny. Technická ředitelka studia Kate Rayner také uvedla, že ve srovnání s Gears 5 mohou hráči očekávat „více než stokrát více detailů prostředí a postav“.
Hra Gears of War: E-Day vyjde na konzole Xbox řady X/S a PC, datum vydání však není známo. Více se možná dozvíme na veletrhu Gamescom, kde prý Microsoft představí další tituly. Do té doby zůstaňte naladěni na další aktualizace.
Článek Gears of War: E-Day se odehrává během několika dní, říká kreativní ředitel se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Ukázalo se však, že tomu tak nebude. V rozhovoru pro Game File ředitelka série Nicole Fawcetteová prozradila, že nedávno odhalený Gears of War: E-Day bude zcela lineární hrou, což znamená, že nebude navazovat na experimenty s polootevřeným světem Gears 5. V tomto případě se jedná o hru, která bude mít zcela lineární charakter. Bylo také odhaleno několik dalších detailů, například to, že se hra bude odehrávat ve městě Kalona – které, což je zajímavé, hodlá The Coalition „rozcupovat“ pomocí technologie Unreal Engine 5.
Fawcette také dodal, že E-Day bude klást důraz na charakteristickou „brutalitu“ a „melancholickou atmosféru“ série a zároveň přinese „over the top“ akci, kterou byla série vždy známá.
Fawcette v rozhovoru pro Xbox Wire také zopakoval tento názor a uvedl, že Gears of War: E-Day bude „opravdu moderní pojetí“ známých hrdinů, kteří budou „mnohem zranitelnější“, než jak byli vykreslováni dříve.
„Jsou mnohem zranitelnější a myslím, že to je opravdu moderní pojetí těchto dvou postav,“ řekl Fawcette. „Je tu tíha, kterou mezi sebou nesou, a to vytváří opravdu zajímavé napětí, když se pohybují ve svém vlastním vztahu.
„Máte tento intimní příběh zasazený do širšího pozadí toho, co se děje v tento apokalyptický den. Myslím, že pro fanoušky bude opravdu podmanivé proniknout do hloubky a prozkoumat jejich pouto a to, jak se v průběhu času mění.“
Společnost Coalition také poskytla podrobnosti o technických a grafických pokrocích hry Gears of War: E-Day, včetně hardwarového raytracingu, destrukce a krve nové generace a dalších prvků.
Technická ředitelka studia Kate Rayner sděluje, že hra se může pochlubit „více než 100krát více detailů prostředí a postav než Gears 5“.
Konkrétně Rayner říká, že hra bude obsahovat hardwarové raytracované osvětlení, odrazy a stíny, destrukce nové generace a gore technologie, novou animační technologii a spoustu dalšího, co podle ní „učiní z Gears of War: E-Day bezkonkurenční vizuální zážitek“.
„Naší ambicí je opět nastavit nový standard v technické dokonalosti,“ řekl Rayner. „Zcela jsme od základu zmodernizovali Gears a vložili do DNA Gears všechny možnosti moderních herních technologií. Každá postava, prostředí a animace v Gears of War: E-Day byly kompletně přestavěny v Unreal Engine 5, což nám umožňuje vykreslit vesmír Gears s nebývalými detaily a věrností.“
Microsoft a The Coalition také zdůraznili, že Gears of War: E-Day není spinoff a bude „utvářet budoucnost“ franšízy, přestože byla zasazena čtrnáct let před první hrou.
Gears of War: E-Day je ve vývoji pro Xbox Series X/S a PC.
Článek Gears of War: E-Day bude lineární hra , odehrávající se ve městě Kalona; hra bude obsahovat hardwarový raytracing, destrukce nové generace, nejmodernější animace se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Vzhledem k tomu, že Gears of War: E-Day je spíše prequelem série než přímým pokračováním Gears 5, přičemž hra se odehrává čtrnáct let před Emergence Day, Searcy hru označuje za jakýsi „příběh co kdyby“.
„Pro nás je to něco jako příběh typu „co kdyby“,“ řekl Searcy v rozhovoru pro IGN. „Co kdyby se země otevřela a vylezly příšery? Ano, odehrává se to na fiktivní, jiné planetě, ale jsou v tom velmi lidské reakce a příběhy, které můžeme vyprávět. Abychom to dokázali, musíme být schopni vyprávět příběh, který působí jako horor.“
Vývojáři se chtějí u hry Gears of War: E-Day vydat spíše hororovou cestou a zároveň zachovat sci-fi kořeny série. Pro hráče, kteří možná neměli možnost hrát původní Gears of War, obsahovala hra spoustu hororově laděných momentů, které se zaměřovaly spíše na ukázku hrůzy invaze hordy Locustů.
„Podívali jsme se zpětně na to, jak se lidé cítili, když hráli Gears of War nebo kterýkoli z dílů Gears – včetně Gears 4,“ řekl Sceary. „Ale když vám lidé vyprávějí, co si pamatují z hraní, jaké věci pro ně vyčnívaly, jaké měli pocity, hodně z toho se týká těchto, tak trochu temných, téměř hororových, děsivých momentů.“
„Takže jsme v podstatě vzali ten pocit, tu vizi, kterou má každý v hlavě, a řekli jsme si: ‚To je hra, kterou postavíme‘. Postavíme tu hru se všemi dovednostmi, které jsme se naučili, se všemi technologiemi, které jsme vybudovali, a tak nějak na to půjdeme tvrdě,“ pokračoval. „Takže rozhodně je součástí příběhu znovuzavedení kobylky do hry Gears jako děsivé příšery ze země, která se vynoří. A pak si uvědomíte, jak to pokračuje, že to nejsou jen příšery, je tu armáda a je větší, než si kdokoli myslí.“
Sceary a Fawcette dále hovořili o tom, jak může studio využít současnou technologii Unreal Engine 5, aby díky vyšší úrovni věrnosti oživilo své vize děsivých momentů hry Gears of War.
„Díky Unreal Engine 5 nyní můžeme kobylky zobrazit s takovou vizuální věrností, která je věrohodná jako děsivá stvoření z podzemí,“ řekla Fawcette. „A tak, jak jste viděli v traileru, se opravdu tak trochu opíráme o ty hororové vibrace, jak si je fanoušci pamatují a jak se posunula doba. To, co bylo děsivé v roce 2006, je úplně jiné než v roce 2024. Je tam takové to prostě zdvojení toho, jak si to lidé pamatují, jak to cítí.“
O víkendu představená hra Gears of War: E-Day postaví hráče do role klasických hrdinů série Marcuse Fenixe a Doma Santiaga. Hra postaví hráče proti hordě Locustů.
Hra Gears of War: E-Day zatím nemá datum vydání. Hra se chystá na PC a Xbox řady X/S.
Článek Gears of War: E-Day se vrátí k hororovým kořenům první hry se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
Máme skvělou zprávu pro všechny fanoušky Gears of War z České republiky a Slovenska. Včera představený prequel Gears of War: E-Day bude mít českou lokalizaci ve formě titulků. Informaci potvrdil výpis hry na Steamu.
Doufejme, že češtin u her od Microsoftu bude více a více. Dosud si americká společnost vybírala a do našeho mateřského jazyka překládala zejména hry s menším počtem textů, jako jsou například závody Forza Horizon 5 a Forza Motorsport, stejně tak nedávný psychologický thriller Senua's Saga Hellblade 2. Češtinu má také real-time strategie Age of Empires IV a bude ji mít i Age of Mythology: Retold, které vyjde v září na PC a Xbox.
Gears of War: E-Day se odehrává čtrnáct let před událostmi série a zaměřuje se na hrdiny Marcuse Fenixe a Doma Santiaga. Ti musejí čelit nové noční můře: Sarančatům. Tyto zrůdné a houževnaté podzemní nestvůry vylézají z hlubin země a obléhají lidstvo.
Hru vytváří studio The Coalition v Unreal Enginu 5, díky kterému mají vývojáři přinést nevídanou grafickou vyspělost. Technologie od Epic Games mají umožnit stokrát více detailů postav a prostředí ve srovnání s Gears 5. Datum vydání ale neznáme.
V poslední době se spekulovalo o vývoji remasterované trilogie Gears of War po vzoru kolekce Halo s příběhem Master Chiefa. Nakonec nás ale čeká prequel nazvaný Gears of War: E-Day. Odehrává se 14 let před událostmi prvních Gears of War a umožní nám zažít nelítostnou hrůzu Dne vynoření očima Marcuse Fenixe.
„Čtrnáct let před událostmi Gears of War, se váleční hrdinové Marcus Fenix a Dom Santiago vrací domů, aby čelili nové noční můře: Sarančatům. Tyto zrůdné a houževnaté podzemní nestvůry vylézají z hlubin země a obléhají lidstvo,“ láká popisek a slibuje návrat charakteristické akce z pohledu třetí osoby, která je založena na krytí.
Hra je od základu vytvořena v Unreal Enginu 5, díky kterému přináší nevídanou grafickou vyspělost. Dle všeho nebudou chybět další známé prvky série, včetně Lanceru s motorovou pilou, ovšem v raných podobách. Takto uvidíme i mladší verze oblíbených postav, včetně Marcuse Fenixe a Doma Santiaga.
Bohužel, datum vydání neznáme. Místo něho studio The Coalition ubezpečuje, že tohle není konec příběhu Gears of War. V týmu jsou na příběh v Gears 4 a Gears 5 hrdí, ale převládlo nadšení pro ikonický příběh o samotném začátku. Tohle nadšení bylo příliš velké na to, aby ho ignorovali. Příběh dne E a původ Marcuse a Doma jsou tak silné a zásadní události, že se v The Coalition nemohli dočkat, až je budou vyprávět. Z toho důvodu nejde ani o spin-off, nýbrž o zcela nový příspěvek k hlavní linii série, zasazený do dřívějšího časového období.
Spíše než nový číslovaný přírůstek oznámily společnosti Microsoft a The Coalition hru Gears of War: E-Day, prequel, který se odehrává čtrnáct let před událostmi původního Gears of War, během Emergence Day. Zajímavé je, že se v něm opět vrací Marcus Fenix jako ústřední hrdina a vrací se i Dom Santiago.
Ve hře, která je popisována jako další hlavní díl série Gears, se Marcus a Dom postaví hordě Locustů. Její odhalovací trailer, který si můžete prohlédnout níže, obsahuje také nové provedení písně Mad World, kterou budou fanoušci série pravděpodobně znát. Podívejte se na ni níže.
Hra Gears of War: E-Day je ve vývoji pro konzole Xbox řady X/S a PC. Datum vydání není v současné době známo.
Článek Gears of War: E-Day je další hlavní hrou série Gears s Marcusem a Domem v hlavních rolích se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.
The rumours of a new Gears of War appearing at today’s Xbox Games Showcase were accurate - well, mostly. The next Gears of War won’t be a sequel like Gears of War 6, but instead looks to be a prequel to the entire series that returns to the very beginning of the bloody battle between humanity and the alien Locust.
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.
Enjoy today’s videos!
In this video, you see the start of 1X’s development of an advanced AI system that chains simple tasks into complex actions using voice commands, allowing seamless multi-robot control and remote operation. By starting with single-task models, we ensure smooth transitions to more powerful unified models, ultimately aiming to automate high-level actions using AI.
This video does not contain teleoperation, computer graphics, cuts, video speedups, or scripted trajectory playback. It’s all controlled via neural networks.
[ 1X ]
As the old adage goes, one cannot claim to be a true man without a visit to the Great Wall of China. XBot-L, a full-sized humanoid robot developed by Robot Era, recently acquitted itself well in a walk along sections of the Great Wall.
[ Robot Era ]
The paper presents a novel rotary wing platform, that is capable of folding and expanding its wings during flight. Our source of inspiration came from birds’ ability to fold their wings to navigate through small spaces and dive. The design of the rotorcraft is based on the monocopter platform, which is inspired by the flight of Samara seeds.
[ AirLab ]
We present a variable stiffness robotic skin (VSRS), a concept that integrates stiffness-changing capabilities, sensing, and actuation into a single, thin modular robot design. Reconfiguring, reconnecting, and reshaping VSRSs allows them to achieve new functions both on and in the absence of a host body.
[ Yale Faboratory ]
Heimdall is a new rover design for the 2024 University Rover Challenge (URC). This video shows highlights of Heimdall’s trip during the four missions at URC 2024.
Heimdall features a split body design with whegs (wheel legs), and a drill for sub-surface sample collection. It also has the ability to manipulate a variety of objects, collect surface samples, and perform onboard spectrometry and chemical tests.
[ WVU ]
I think this may be the first time I’ve seen an autonomous robot using a train? This one is delivering lunch boxes!
[ JSME ]
The AI system used identifies and separates red apples from green apples, after which a robotic arm picks up the red apples identified with a qb SoftHand Industry and gently places them in a basket.
My favorite part is the magnetic apple stem system.
[ QB Robotics ]
DexNex (v0, June 2024) is an anthropomorphic teleoperation testbed for dexterous manipulation at the Center for Robotics and Biosystems at Northwestern University. DexNex recreates human upper-limb functionality through a near 1-to-1 mapping between Operator movements and Avatar actions.
Motion of the Operator’s arms, hands, fingers, and head are fed forward to the Avatar, while fingertip pressures, finger forces, and camera images are fed back to the Operator. DexNex aims to minimize the latency of each subsystem to provide a seamless, immersive, and responsive user experience. Future research includes gaining a better understanding of the criticality of haptic and vision feedback for different manipulation tasks; providing arm-level grounded force feedback; and using machine learning to transfer dexterous skills from the human to the robot.
[ Northwestern ]
Sometimes the best path isn’t the smoothest or straightest surface, it’s the path that’s actually meant to be a path.
[ RaiLab ]
Fulfilling a school requirement by working in a Romanian locomotive factory one week each month, Daniela Rus learned to operate “machines that help us make things.” Appreciation for the practical side of math and science stuck with Daniela, who is now Director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
[ MIT ]
For AI to achieve its full potential, non-experts need to be let into the development process, says Rumman Chowdhury, CEO and cofounder of Humane Intelligence. She tells the story of farmers fighting for the right to repair their own AI-powered tractors (which some manufacturers actually made illegal), proposing everyone should have the ability to report issues, patch updates or even retrain AI technologies for their specific uses.
[ TED ]
Now, when I talk about “the future” of the Gears of War series, I don’t necessarily mean the newly announced Gears of War: E-Day game. Going back in time to seeing the world of Sera in peace and witnessing young Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago become friends through the crucible of a new war against an incomprehensible enemy sounds fascinating, and I totally understand why The Coalition took this opportunity. However, I worry about about the future of the series when we eventually get to continue the plot threads left hanging in Gears 5.
In a recent interview with The Coalition, the developers reassured fans of the series that they are "not retreating” from the storylines that started in the series games Gears of War 4 and continued in Gears 5. While this can sound comforting, I can’t help but think that it will be a really long time until we see or even hear about a hypothetical Gears of War 6. When you consider how long video games take to develop and how expensive they are nowadays, I fear we might not see a resolution to the events and cliffhangers left in Gears 5, at least not in the way fans expect. The latest game in the Gears franchise shipped in September 2019, almost 5 years ago. With no announced date for Gears of War: E-Day, it could take a while for this new title to appear.
If things go swimmingly for The Coalition, a direct continuation of Gears 5 could take another four to five years to get greenlit and released. Unless the team is magically working on two titles at the same time (something which could be catastrophic when taking in account the massive financial risk), we could be talking about a direct sequel appearing sometime around 2030. That would be well over a decade after Gears 5. Of course, this is all hypothetical. But no matter the result, by the time we get to experience a direct sequel, it will have been way too long for audiences to keep the same level of interest than they had when the game originally came out.
Don’t get me wrong, I am actually very excited to experience Gears of War: E-Day. I completely understand the allure of going back to the very origin of the series. Showing the overwhelming and terrifying threat of the Locust Horde in its heyday, when humanity had no tools to fight back against a never-before-seen enemy, is promising. I can’t help but imagine how different it would be to play this game, compared to the action-focused romps of the original trilogy. The idea of combat encounters being more threatening than ever before for the series, a lower number of Locust drones feeling overpowering, compared to the hordes of enemies Marcus and the COG mowed down in the original trilogy could truly breathe new life into the franchise.
Of course, I’m not expecting the game to completely change genres into survival horror, although I wouldn’t really mind it, but I keep wondering what new ideas this new scenario could bring. Seeing Marcus and Dom fight a single enemy in the reveal trailer and barely survive the encounter really fascinates me. From a narrative standpoint, seeing their relationship flourish in real time after both experienced unspeakable loss sounds right up my alley. Even seeing the creation of the iconic Lancer or Hammer of Dawn, among other memorable tools in the franchise, to successfully face the Locust excites me. But there’s only so much The Coalition can do before they run out of material to cover for this prequel.
Once all it’s said and done, I just can’t imagine the future of the Gears of War franchise after E-Day. Once it’s time to go back to the present, there will be a whole new generation of players to bring into the fold. Maybe revisiting the past with E-Day, and with the release of the rumored remaster of the original Gears of War trilogy, could bring a renewed interest into the franchise for old and new audiences alike. But that’s hedging on too many bets at that point. And even if we end up seeing a continuation of the story of Gears 5, by that point it will be a completely different story from the one that started all the way back in 2016 with Gears of War 4.
The long development cycles, hyperinflated budgets, expectations for triple-A games, and constant layoffs are keeping the industry stagnant. Taking any type of risk is untenable for big name developers. That’s why remakes, remasters, and looking at the past of once-popular series is safer and easier. There’s no window for risk or experimentation in the triple-A market. And I worry that, with how long it takes to ship a game nowadays, the Gears of War franchise might not have much of a future after this detour to its past with E-Day.
Gears of War: E-Day is currently in development for the Xbox Series X and PC via Steam. There is no announced release date for the game yet.
The post I Worry About the Future of Gears of War Series After E-Day appeared first on Siliconera.
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