It's Friday, which means it's once again time for us to round up all the gadget and tech gear discounts that are catching our eye. Our latest selection includes all-time lows on Sony's still-excellent WH-1000XM4 headphones, both sizes of Apple's latest MacBook Air, the adorable Nintendo Switch Lite, and a handful of wireless earbuds and gaming accessories we recommend in our various buying guides. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still buy today.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/take-150-off-a-set-of-sony-noise-canceling-headphones-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-171225186.html?src=rss
Here’s some bad news for those longing to run over civilians in a monster truck while in virtual reality. The VR-focused remake of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is “on hold indefinitely,” according to reporting by IGN.
This refresh was announced three years ago and was originally to be a Quest 2 title. Here we are, deep in the lifecycle of the Quest 3, and nothing. In other words, the news isn’t exactly surprising. This doesn’t mean the project will never come to fruition, but the words “on hold indefinitely” doesn’t inspire us with hope.
“GTA: San Andreas is on hold indefinitely while we both focus on other projects," Meta Quest VR's official YouTube account confirmed in the comments of an unrelated trailer. “We look forward to working with our friends at Rockstar in the future.”
The VR remake was first announced during the Facebook Connect event in October 2021. That’s right. The original announcement occurred before the Meta branding. At that time, the company described GTA: San Andreas VR as “a project many years in the making.” It looks like three more years on top of that didn’t help to create a finished product.
It’s worth noting that we never even got any screenshots or in-game footage. There hasn’t even been a trailer. However, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg likely played a build at some point, because he once wrote “this new version” of the game will “offer players an entirely new way to experience this iconic open world in virtual reality.”
There has been no reason given as to the indefinite hold. It’s likely been an extremely expensive undertaking to translate the game into VR, and this is at a time when reports indicate that the market is shrinking. So that could be it.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/meta-puts-grand-theft-auto-san-andreas-vr-on-ice-170702048.html?src=rss
The castle construction game Tiny Glade that’s got the Internet uttering a collective “Awwwww, ain’t that cuuuute?” has a release date. Wholesome Games announced today in a new trailer that Tiny Glade will be released on September 23 on Steam. If you can’t wait that long or just wanna get a head start on your virtual village, a demo is available right now on the game’s Steam page.
Tiny Glade is a sandbox building game that seems to go against the competitive grain of most construction games. City building and construction games are fun, but maintaining a huge, virtual metropolis can get harrowing sometimes. You’re just trying to relax at the end of a hard day by playing a game and before you know it, you’re stressing over things like sewer taxes, industrial zones and giant monster attacks.
Tiny Glade is carving out its own space in the building game genre by eliminating all those annoying municipal obstacles and just letting you build something simply for the joy of building it. You can construct huge towering castles or just an adorable little British hamlet that would look like the perfect setting for an Elizabethan-era love story.
The level of detail that you can control is stunning as well. As you move your cursor to build a brick wall or tiled roof, you can see every individual piece pop out of thin air and gradually pile up into your imaginative creations. Everything you can click in your model village can be altered, added or decorated. There are tools to alter the terrain so you can create hills or smooth out the land and add a pristine pond with lily pads, trees and even wildlife like ducks.
Best of all, you don’t have to worry if your hours of creation are in danger of being sacked and torn down by invading hordes or warring factions. Based on this trailer, it looks like Tiny Glade is the relaxing gaming equivalent of taking a long, warm bath.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/the-adorable-building-game-tiny-glade-is-coming-to-steam-on-september-23-165958935.html?src=rss
It feels like The Plucky Squire has been popping up at game events forever. It first came onto my radar during one of publisher Devolver Digital’s bizarre showcases in 2022, and was instantly appealing. Yesterday, Devolver announced it would be coming out in just over a month, on September 17. After playing through a few hours of the game over two sessions, I’m happy to say this is one to keep an eye out for.
The Plucky Squire is the first game from All Possible Futures, a studio founded by Jonathan Biddle and James Turner. Turner is an artist best known for his work on Pokémon at GameFreak — if you know what a Vanillite is, you have Turner to thank for that. Biddle previously created the 2017 ARPG Swords of Ditto, and the pair have brought other developers who worked on Ditto onto the team.
All Possible Future’s debut mixes classic 2D and 3D gameplay styles into a unique whole. You play as Jot, the character in a series of kids’ books who defeats evil and saves the day. When the series’ antagonist figures out that he can change the story, it’s your job to stop him. A large chunk of the game takes place on the 2D plane of the book, from the same classic birds-eye-view as in Ditto. The “cut scenes” are also book pages, and there are a few interstitial side-on platforming segments, à la Mario, thrown in for good measure. There’s a real sense of whimsy weaved through everything, aided by the game’s narrator, who is telling your story with each page turn.
Devolver Digital
Jot is able to slash, jump, roll and everything else you’d expect, and you will unlock more combat skills as you go, such as a sword throw or Zelda-spinny-sword-attack™. There are twists to the formula, though, with a variety of puzzle mechanics thrown in. The first you’ll come across is word puzzles: With a swipe of his sword Jot can dislodge certain words that you can then move around the page. At its most rudimentary, you might swap the words “closed” and “open” from a pair of sentences to make your way past a gate. There are some playful elements to this that reminded me of Scribblenauts — making something “huge” will never not be fun.
The real unique thing here is Jot’s ability to leap out of the flat plane of the storybook and into a fully 3D world. Whenever you come across a green swirly icon, you’re able to jump out of the book and onto its owner’s desk. Often this is a quick hop-out-hop-in move to solve a puzzle, but you’ll also go on longer desktop adventures.
Devolver Digital
While they’re not quite as charming as the in-book segments, I loved exploring the desk and seeing the wider world of the game. The 3D gameplay feels like a throwback, somewhere between the classic mascot games of the PlayStation era and the LittleBigPlanet series. On a high-end gaming PC, the environment of the desk was gorgeous, with hyper-detailed textures and realistic lighting that contrasted against the cartoony figure of Jot. There are also 2D elements within the 3D sections, where you can jump onto a surface to progress, similar to the mechanic in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
The reason for this jump into 3D also plays into the game’s larger story: By breaking the confines of his 2D world, Jot discovers the influence his tales have and will have on the child who owns the storybook. If the game’s antagonist succeeds in changing the story, Jot will no longer inspire the child.
“You’re fighting for your own land, and also fighting for the owner of the book and his future,” Turner explained to me earlier this year at Summer Game Fest.
I’ve played through the first few chapters of the game, as well as a chunk of chapter six, and am starting to get an idea of how its disparate worlds fit together. In one segment, my progress in the book was brought to a halt, and I had to jump out onto the desk and navigate across the clutter to find a single (unbranded) Magic: The Gathering card. This gave me the item I needed to defeat the enemy I was stuck on. Turner said that items later in the game will allow you to modify the book in more ways, which suggested more mechanics and degrees of complexity will be introduces as progresses.
Devolver Digital
Breaking up proceedings further are minigames. These are fairly frequent, and generally pull liberally from well-known properties. My favorites so far were a Punch-Out!-style boxing game and a shoot ‘em up inspired by one of my all-time favorites, Resogun. In a nice accessibility move, these minigames can be skipped if you’re not up for the challenge. I’m sure there are more delightful things to come from the 2D and 3D exploration, but as of right now these minigames are the highpoint of my experience.
None of the individual elements in my playthrough were wild, unique things, but the way they connected and the level of polish to everything made me very excited to play the full game. It felt like, behind each turn of a page, there was a new little surprise just waiting to make me smile. The Plucky Squire was originally slated for a 2023 release, but is now due out on September 17. It's coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and will be free on PlayStation Plus’ Extra and Premium tiers.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-plucky-squire-expertly-transforms-old-ideas-into-something-new-160012926.html?src=rss
If you work in a business that needs to transport cargo but not that heavy that needs an actual truck, there are few options in the market that can fit that need. And of course if you’re looking for something that is eco-friendly and easy to manage and maintain, then of course the options become fewer. A German startup is offering something that operate like a mini HD truck but also seems like a pedaled dump truck.
Designer: Dynamic Drives Giessen
The Intelectra E-cargo bike is a four-wheeled, pedal-based tool that can work in cargo transport in urban areas. It is also easy to drive around in as it uses the INTELECTRIC drive system (iSHS) that turns your pedaling power into up to 250 Watts of electrical power to drive the 270-lb truck-cycle forward. So the driver will not be so stressed in “carrying” the cargo even as they pedal to their destination.
It actually looks like a regular bike or trike but with a rear cargo box with an aluminum frame at the back that is 4-foot-long, can carry up to 450kg (driver included) and can load up to 12 euro boxes. The square aluminum tubes are supported by tall, plastic-rimmed wheels. The pedal drive that extends past the wheelbase lets the driver sit upright as they power the bike through their pedaling.
The purely electric drive technology gives the Intelectra a maintenance-free system so there’s no need for things like oiling and less wear and tear. The drive system can go for 30,000 km without needing any maintenance. It can travel up to 93 km per charge while the battery can charge for an hour and a half. There are L and XL options with the latter being one euro crate width longer.
A phishing campaign that the FBI believes is linked to Iran has been targeting members of the Trump and Harris camps as they seek to be elected as the president of the United States later this year. While the bad actors have reportedly been trying to spear-phish several advisers of the Biden-Harris and Trump campaigns, The Washington Post specifically named senior Trump adviser Susie Wiles as one of the targets.
In June, federal agents worked with Microsoft and Google when they started investigating the spear phishing emails the presidential candidates' staff had received. Google recently published a report detailing how an Iranian government-backed threat actor called APT42 has been targeting high-profile users in Israel and the US for years. It also confirmed that its threat analysis group continued "to observe unsuccessful attempts from APT42 to compromise the personal accounts of individuals affiliated with President Biden, Vice President Harris and former President Trump, including current and former government officials and individuals associated with the campaigns." The company apparently had to block numerous attempts by the hackers to log into the staff members' email accounts.
The feds said that Roger Stone, an informal advisor to Trump, fell victim to the phishing emails sent by the Iranian hackers who were then able to take control of his account and send messages with phishing links to other people. Authorities reportedly didn't find evidence indicating the hackers had also successfully compromised the account of anybody in the Harris camp.
Feds blamed Iran and Russia for spreading misinformation related to the 2020 US Presidential Election four years ago. However, the US still doesn't see Iran as a major threat when it comes with cyber attacks — The Post said officials are concerned that other countries like Russia and China have also launched more sophisticated attacks that won't be as easily detected. US authorities had linked Russia to various attempts at meddling with elections in the US for years, and officials even believe that Vladimir Putin directly ordered the launch of a campaign to destabilize the American vote and denigrate Hillary Clinton when she ran for president in 2016.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/fbi-says-iranian-hackers-are-targeting-both-presidential-campaigns-150019590.html?src=rss
Apple has recently released macOS 15.1 Beta 2 and macOS 15 Beta 6, bringing a host of updates and improvements to the operating system. These betas offer users a glimpse into the future of macOS, with enhancements to Apple Intelligence, new wallpapers, app updates, and more. The video below from Zollotech gives us a look […]
It's a big day for Epic Games. Not only has the company rolled out the latest season of Fortnite, it has achieved a long-held ambition by bringing the Epic Games Store to mobile devices. The app marketplace is now available on iOS in the European Union (after the bloc required Apple to allow third-party app stores on iPhone and iPad) and on Android worldwide. As a result, that means Fortnite is once again available on iOS in the EU without having to rely on cloudgamingservices.
You may recall that, back in 2020, Epic tried to bypass the cut Apple and Google take from in-app purchases by telling Fortnite players on iOS and Android they could save money by buying the in-game V-Bucks currency directly from the publisher. Apple and Google removed Fortnite from their stores, making the game unplayable on their platforms as Epic was no longer able to update it to maintain parity with the console and PC versions. Epic swiftly suedboth companies, kicking off legal battles that are still rumbling on today.
But the EU kicked open the door for Fortnite to make a return to iOS in the bloc with the Digital Markets Act coming into force this year. (As Android's a more open platform, Epic can make its store and Fortnite available worldwide there.) Epic said in early 2024 that it would bring its games store and Fortnite to iOS in the EU this year. After yet more cattiness from Epic when Apple twice rejected the app marketplace, the latter eventually approved an iOS version of the Epic Games Store in July.
Along with the official return of Fortnite on mobile, the Epic Games Store is bringing Fall Guysto iOS and Android for the first time. The mobile version of the excellent platformer battle royale has nearly full parity with the console and PC versions — the level-building creative mode isn't available on iOS or Android for now. Otherwise, the game supports full cross-play and cross-progression with the other versions as everything's synced through your Epic account.
Rocket League Sideswipe, a mobile spin-off of Rocket League, is available via the Epic store on iOS and Android too. Epic plans to work with other developers to bring their titles to the storefront in the future.
In addition, Epic is making its games available on other third-party mobile storefronts, starting with AltStore PAL today. It also plans to do so on Aptoide’s iOS store in the EU, ONE Store on Android and other app marketplaces.
“The tide is turning and the mobile ecosystem is finally opening up to competition. We are grateful to the European Commission for making it possible to launch the Epic Games Store and offer our games to iOS users in the European Union," Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said in a statement. "Now European iOS users and all Android users can access our store and games, as they've always been able to do on open platforms like PC and Mac. The fight is far from over, but this is tangible progress for developers and consumers who can begin to benefit from competition and choice."
Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to dropping back into Fortnite, in part because for the last several years my iPhone's nickname has been Doctor Doom, aka the Marvel villain who is the central figure in the new season. Also, I'm dearly hoping that in short order Epic gives the people whattheytrulywant: an emote of Chappell Roan's "Hot To Go!" dance in Fortnite. I would gladly spend all the V-Bucks I have on that.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-returns-to-ios-in-the-eu-as-the-epic-games-store-debuts-on-mobile-142457411.html?src=rss
Samsung has announced the expansion of its innovative Circle to Search feature to more devices within the Galaxy ecosystem. Initially launched on the Galaxy S24 series, this transformative search tool is now available on the A35 5G and A54 5G smartphones, as well as the Galaxy Tab S9 FE series. This move underscores Samsung’s commitment […]
