Sony has revealed the lineup of games PlayStation Plus members can add to their library in June. For the first time, players will have access to PS VR2 titles through the Premium plan.
First up, subscribers on all tiers will be able to claim SpongeBob Squarepants: The Cosmic Shake, Streets of Rage 4and the solid wrestling game AEW Fight Forever starting on June 4 and retain access as long as their PS Plus membership stays active. Those with a Premium plan and a PS VR2 headset will be able to play Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord, Walkabout Mini Golf, Synth Riders, Before Your Eyes and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapters 1 & 2 at no extra cost starting on June 6. Premium members can also dive into PS2 games Tomb Raider Legend, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus starting on June 11.
In addition, Sony will gradually bring more offerings to the PS Plus Catalog for Extra and Premium members over the coming weeks. Dredge, one of last year’s standout indies, will join the lineup on May 29. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 (May 31), Cricket 24 (June 5) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition(June 7) will also be available. More Game Catalog additions will be revealed soon.
Meanwhile, Sony’s Days of Play sale will start on May 29 and run for two weeks. It will include discounts on the PlayStation 5 and PS VR2 (with a year of Netflix Premium bundled in for PS Plus members who buy either), savings on PS Plus plans for newcomers and deals galore on digital games, including 24-hour flash sales.
One interesting thing to note is that Sony announced all of this on a Tuesday morning. It normally reveals PS Plus additions on Wednesdays. That could mean Sony has more PlayStation announcements up its sleeve for this week, such as details about a long-rumored showcase.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/junes-playstation-plus-offerings-include-ps-vr2-games-for-the-first-time-140040334.html?src=rss
Japan’s hit virtual pet, Punirunes, will be released in the US this summer and I can almost guarantee most of you have never seen a toy quite like this before. A play on the Japanese mimetic word for “squishy” (punipuni), Punirunes has a design quirk that sets it apart from other gadgets of its ilk: a doughy button at the center of the device that serves to simulate physical contact with your pet. How do you get to that button? By sticking your finger into the quarter-sized hole in the side of the plastic shell.
It is undeniably a little weird. The device will even display an animation of your finger on the screen when you do this (you can choose from a variety of skin colors during setup). But once you get past the strangeness of the aforementioned act and really get into the things it allows you to do, Punirunes’ oddest feature actually makes for a pretty rich virtual pet experience. The squishy button feels like a joystick wrapped in mochi, which makes sense because the characters themselves are adorable, gummy-like creatures that start their lives as small blobs. You can pat them on the head to show them affection and bounce them to catch items; you can even drag them around to clean the virtual floor using their sticky bodies as a mop.
Spin Master/Takara Tomy
The device has a full-color, LCD display and the potential to raise 55 different characters. There are 6 built-in games, each of which make use of the squish mechanism, plus a food cooking activity in which you have to mix the ingredients yourself. To play the mini-games or visit the other locations — including the marketplace and the forest — you have to bounce your character through a window portal Super Mario 64-style. You can also accessorize your pet and change up the decor in its room. I've been playing around with Punirunes for a few days now, and I've got to say, I'm having a lot of fun with it. The characters are so cute it hurts.
Spin Master/Takara Tomy
Anyone who follows the digital pet space closely has probably come across Punirunes at some point. The toys were first released in Asian markets from Takara Tomy in 2021 and have since grown to include multiple generations of the devices. They even inspired an anime series, which was released in the fall of 2022. I myself have had my eye on Punirunes for some time, but was hesitant to purchase the Japanese-language version because the gameplay seemed a bit more complex than something like a Tamagotchi.
Their expansion to the US comes through a partnership with Spin Master, the company behind Paw Patrol, Hatchimals and a slew of other popular kids’ brands. Punirunes will make its US debut in August and be available in the teal shell from all major retailers for $40.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-popular-japanese-digital-pet-with-the-weirdest-mode-of-interaction-is-coming-to-the-us-130050165.html?src=rss
Two weeks ago, Google announced a slew of new AI-powered features at its I/O developer conference. Microsoft followed suit last week with the introduction of its Copilot+ PCs that have, you guessed it, a slew of new AI-powered features. Somewhat predictably, Google is announcing its answer to the Copilot+ PC initiative with… the humble Chromebook. The Chromebook Plus line that it first announced last October, to be specific. When Google first announced Chromebook Plus, it focused on a combination of higher-performance hardware as well as some modest AI software features compared to what you’d get on regular Chromebooks.
Now, however, Google is delivering on what it first announced: Chromebook Plus models are getting a host of features that Google first teased last year as well as some new ones we haven’t heard about before.
Google
AI features
For starters, the “help me write” feature Google soft-launched earlier this year is now available on all Chromebook Plus laptops. This should work across any text entry field you find on a website, whether that’s a Google product like Gmail or a site like Facebook. You can use it to get a prompt, or have it analyze what you’ve already written to make it more formal, or more funny (though Google did admit the jury’s out on whether AI can actually be funny). Basically it’s a generative text tool that you can use across the web. It’s not surprising to see it show up in Chromebooks, as Google said you could turn it on in Chrome for Windows and Mac back in February. But Google says that it's being implemented at the OS level on Chromebooks so that you can use it outside the browser
The next feature is another one Google announced last fall, and it’s purely for fun. A built-in image generator will enable you to generate wallpaper and video call backgrounds by typing in a prompt. It’s not at all dissimilar to what you’d do with other image generators, though I can’t yet say how fast it works or how well it sticks to what you ask it for. Google is including a few prompts for you to try or customize to get you started.
Google
The last update is that the Magic Editor in Google Photos is coming to laptops exclusively as a feature for Chromebook Plus devices. First available on Google’s Pixel devices, Magic Editor was part of the Google One subscription plan for a while, but now it’s more broadly available provided your phone meets the minimum specs. As for laptops, though, Chromebook Plus models are the only ones that can use Magic Editor. The reasoning seems pretty simple: Chromebooks can run Android apps, including Google Photos.
Google
Still, if you’ve wanted to mess around with Magic Editor on a bigger screen than your phone, doing so on a Chromebook seems like a decent option. As a refresher, Magic Editor basically lets you manipulate your photos in a variety of ways to change the reality of what you captured, but much faster and easier than using something like Photoshop. You can select people or objects to move them around, have the app turn a cloudy sky blue, resize or delete other objects and generally make it even harder to trust that photos you create or share are authentic.
Unsurprisingly, Google is also baking its Gemini chatbot more directly into Chromebooks by having the app pre-installed and sitting right on the launcher. More significant though is that Google is giving Chromebook Plus buyers a full year of its Google One AI Premium plan, which puts Gemini features right in Gmail, Docs and other Workplace apps. It also includes access to Gemini Advanced, which adds support for things like uploading documents for analysis and access to Gemini Pro 1.5 and its 1 million token context window (which Google said would grow to 2 million tokens soon).
Given that the Google One AI plan costs $20 a month, double the standard pricing for the 2TB storage plan, this is a pretty good perk for Chromebook Plus buyers, even if they don’t care about using Gemini. And it sounds like even if you already subscribe to another Google One plan, you'll be able to get the year of Google One's AI option.
Smaller tweaks
There are also a number of new software tweaks coming to all Chromebooks too. Probably most notable is Game Dashboard, a sort of control center for gaming-related activities. While most Chromebooks still can’t run a lot of games, there are more options now between cloud gaming services like GeForce Now and Android titles. Indeed, Google said that 25 percent of Chromebook owners use them for games, and they’ve seen a 40 percent year-over-year increase in the number of people gaming on a Chromebook.
Google
Game Dashboard has a handful of features, but the most notable one is a comprehensive key-mapping system. This lets you take games that are designed for a controller or touch screen and map their buttons to various keys on your laptop. For Android games with specific swiping patterns, you’ll be able to say pressing a key is the same as doing a certain swipe in a certain direction.
It also provides one-click recording — that’ll start recording both your gameplay as well as a view of you playing via the laptop’s webcam, if you want to be in the video. And you can quickly upload to various services like YouTube or Discord from the Game Dashboard, as well. This feature is exclusive to Chromebook Plus, at least for now.
Google
Other new features include Google Tasks integration into the menu bar — there’s already a calendar widget that shows you your upcoming appointments there, and now it’ll also show you items from your Tasks list, making it a solid one-top look at what’s coming in your day. The screen recorder can now generate GIFs, something we all want to be able to do at any time. And you can set up an Android phone via your Chromebook now, as well. If you scan a QR code on your Chromebook with the phone you’re setting up, your Google account and Wi-Fi info will all sync over.
Future updates
It doesn’t stop there, though. Google also announced a bunch of forthcoming software features to look forward to, just like they did last fall. I appreciate the little sneak peak at what’s coming, and since Google is indeed delivering on what they showed in October I feel confident we’ll see most of these sooner or later.
Chief among them is Google’s Gemini-powered “help me read” feature. As the name suggests, it’ll offer summaries of web pages, documents or PDFs, and you’ll be able to ask follow-up questions. Of course, your results may vary on how useful this all is. Google’s also working on an AI-powered overview screen that’ll pop up when you open your laptop — rather than throw you back into the dozens of tabs you have, it’ll try and organize and show you the apps and pages you have open so you can decide where you want to go from there. It’ll also take into account things you’re doing on Chrome on other devices, so if you’ve been reading on your phone you can jump back in on your laptop.
Google
In the same vein, there’s a new focus tool that combines Google Tasks and YouTube Music with a count-down timer. You can basically pick an urgent task, a playlist and a timer and you’ll go into do not disturb mode while you crank away on what you’re supposed to be doing. Not exactly a game-changer, but it’s kind of clever.
Google
Perhaps most interesting is a new accessibility feature based on the hands-free “Project Gameface” tool it showed off at I/O in 2023 and 2024. Google says it’s building Gameface right into ChromeOS, which will use face and gesture tracking to help people do things on their computer without a keyboard or mouse. It’s “early” in the project’s timeline, so I don’t think we’ll see this six months from now, but it’s definitely an important feature that could make Chromebooks a lot more useful for more people.
Google
Of course, Google and its hardware partners are launching a slew of new Chromebook Plus devices to go along with all of this — you can read about the new hardware here. As for the software, everything should start rolling out today, aside from all of the stuff Google is promising for a later date.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-is-bringing-a-slew-of-ai-powered-software-features-to-chromebook-plus-laptops-130049652.html?src=rss
Google just announced a slew of new features coming to ChromeOS, many of them coming to the more premium Chromebook Plus models that were announced last fall. But today's news isn't just about the software — Google's hardware partners have a bunch of new laptops ready to take advantage of these features. Here's a quick run-down of what's coming.
Acer
Acer has two updates to existing models, the Chromebook Plus Spin 714 and Chromebook Plus 516 GE. These were already two of my favorite Chromebooks, and they've now been updated with new Intel chips. The Spin 714 starts with an Intel Core Ultra 5 115U processor, while the 516 GE has the Core 5 120U processor. Both of these laptops already had solid performance, but it's good to get them with some of the newest chips Intel is offering.
The Spin 714 keeps its lovely 14-inch touchscreen with a 360-degree hinge and a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution; it also includes up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. The 516 GE is one of the game-focused Chromebooks you can buy — as such, it has features like a large 16-inch screen with a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate. It also has customizable RGB keyboard lights and anti-ghosting technology, an ethernet port and Wi-Fi 6E. You can get up to 2TB of storage and 16GB of RAM on this machine. Despite the gaming focus, I've found it to be the best performance-oriented large-screen Chromebook you can buy, regardless of what you want to do with it. The Spin 714 starts at $700 and the 516 GE starts at $650; both are available at Best Buy for starters.
ASUS
Probably the most interesting new device from ASUS is the ExpertBook CX54 Chromebook Plus, a high-end laptop that should compete with Acer's Spin 714. Given its highfalutin name, it's not surprising that you can get the ExpertBook CX54 with up to Intel's Core 7 processor, paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The display also sounds like a standout: the 14-inch touchscreen has a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, significantly more pixel-dense than the Spin 714. It also has an 8-megapixel front camera as well as two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and an HDMI port — that'll enable you to hook up three external monitors. Finally there are two USB-A ports and a microSD slot, making this laptop a good option if you need to hook up a lot of devices. ASUS hasn't yet said when this device will be available, or how much it'll cost.
The company is also updating its Chromebook Plus CX34 model with a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 processor, though that extra power will cost you — it's selling for $499 at Best Buy, compared to the $399 you can get it for at Target with a 12th-gen i3 chip.
ASUS also has a new 2-in-1 Chromebook, the CM30. There have been a few Chromebooks like this over the years, but they've never really caught on. Regardless, the CM30 has a 10.5-inch screen with a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution plus 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $299. It includes a MediaTek Kompanio 520 processor, so this won't be a performance beast. But if you want a small device for your kid to bang away on this could be a decent option.
HP
Confusingly, HP has two new models, both of which come as "Plus" and "non-Plus" options for lack of a better descriptor. The HP Chromebook 14-inch and HP Chromebook x360 14-inch both come with Intel's N100 or N200 processors, both of which only have four cores. The Plus models, meanwhile, come with a Core i3-N305 chip, which offers eight cores. Both chips were introduced in early 2023, so they're not the most current, but of the two options I think it's safe to say you should opt for the i3 options.
The two models are actually pretty similar, with the main difference being the x360's hinge that lets you flip the laptop all the way around, a gimmick many Chromebooks have offered for years that I don't fine useful. But your milage may vary. Both laptops have 1080p displays (the HP Chromebook Plus 14 offers touch and non-touch options), and the x360 has thinner bezels. Both have two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, and come with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage. If you want the lightest option, x360 weighs just over 3 pounds, while the standard model weighs 3.2 pounds.
The HP Chromebook 14-inch starts at $249 at Walmart — while its processor may not be the fastest, that's not bad for a budget option. You can get the Plus model for $449 at CostCo. As for the Chromebook Plus x360, that'll set you back $429 at Walmart.
What to buy?
While Google has made things consistent by using the Plus labeling to assure people they're getting a certain level of performance, there are still a ton of options on the market to sort through. HP's $429 x360 Plus sounds like a solid option, while both of Acer's new laptops should be good for people who are OK spending more money for a more premium experience. That said, my favorite Chromebook is still probably Lenovo's Chromebook Plus IdeaPad Flex 5i — but I'll dig into these laptops soon and see if any of them offer a better value.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/acer-asus-and-hp-all-have-new-chromebook-plus-laptops-with-googles-built-in-ai-features-130029246.html?src=rss
Opera users can already rely on the capabilities of OpenAI's large language models (LLMs) whenever they use the browser's Aria built-in AI assistant. But now, the company has also teamed up with Google to integrate its Gemini AI models into Aria. According to Opera, its Composer AI engine can process the user's intent based on their inquiry and then decide which model to use for each particular task.
Google called Gemini the "the most capable model [it has] ever built" when it officially announced the LLM last year. Since then, the company has announced Gemini-powered features across its products and has built the Gemini AI chatbot right into Android. Opera said that thanks to Gemini's integration, its browser "will now be able to provide its users with the most current information, at high performance."
The company's partnership with Google also enables Aria to offer new experimental features as part of its AI Feature Drop program. Users who have the Opera One Developer version of the browser can try a new image generation feature powered by Google's Imagen 2 model for free — in the image above, for instance, the user asked Aria to "make an image of a dog on vacation at a beach having a drink." In addition, users can listen to Aria read out responses in a conversational tone using Google's text-to-audio model. If everything goes well during testing, Opera could roll out the features to everyone, though they can still go through some changes, depending on early adopters' feedback.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/opera-is-adding-googles-gemini-ai-to-its-browser-120013023.html?src=rss
I hope you had a quiet Memorial Day. It was a quiet one tech-wise, and I briefly fought the urge to copy and paste yesterday’s TMA into today’s newsletter hopper.
There were a few teases and glimpses of gaming news, with E3 successor Summer Games Fest kicking off in just over a week. SGF’s game showcase is set for June 7. Leaks suggest we may see a new soccer game to rival EA’s non-FIFA franchise at some point, while there will also be more 2D remakes of classic RPGs and hopefully big reveals at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9. Expect to hear a lot more about the next Call of Duty title. And what is PlayStation up to? It’ll have a presence, but will it have any new games?
While SGF is a young show, it’s done a good job at platforming indie games, something Devolver Digital may capitalize on, while celebrating its 15-year anniversary. In summary, there should be lots of games to play. And if you’re not a gamer? Don’t worry: Apple’s WWDC kicks off just as SGF ends.
The biggest question though: Where are the best tacos in DTLA and can you tell me? I’ll be in Los Angeles to report on the games show in a few weeks.
Hot off the back of that new color ereader from Kobo, we take another look at the ereader landscape and select our top picks. Yes, there’s a lot of Kindle. No surprise. But there are other valid options too. And if your ereader’s seen better days, maybe it’s time for an upgrade.
Engadget’s Dan Cooper contends with breadmaking, both manual and with helpful appliances. He tests some of the top breadmakers, while kneading out his own creations. Would a breadmaker work for you? Or is it time to get your hands dirty? (No more rhetorical questions in this newsletter, I swear.)
Square Enix has largely kept its lips sealed about the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake since announcing it three years ago, but the publisher has now revealed which platforms it's coming to. When it eventually arrives, you'll be able to play it on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (via Steam).
The new version may not be too far away either. The teaser suggested that the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake "draws near," several months after series creator Yuji Horii said he was playtesting it. With Summer Game Fest and all its associated events just around the corner, we could find out more details about the remake very soon.
Square Enix released the teaser on Dragon Quest Day, which marks the anniversary of the very first game in the series debuting in Japan in 1986. Horii took the opportunity to provide an minor update on the next mainline entry as well. Square Enix announced Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate back in 2021, but there's been no sign of a release date as yet. That said, Horii wants it to live up to the legacies of key Dragon Quest creatives Akira Toriyama and Koichi Sugiyama.
“Thank you so much to everyone for the many [Dragon Quest Day] congratulations!” Horii wrote on X, according to a Gematsu translation. “There has been some worry about Dragon Quest XII, but I was actually in a meeting [about it] until just a bit ago. While I can’t share any details yet, I want it to be something worthy of the posthumous work of the two [Toriyama and Sugiyama] who passed away. I’ll do my best!”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-dragon-quest-3-hd-2d-remake-is-coming-to-switch-xbox-series-xs-ps5-and-pc-191015449.html?src=rss
Here’s an open secret: Every cheap streaming stick kind of sucks. Yes, it’s great that people can access so many shows and movies with devices that cost less than $50. It’s great that the best of them no longer force you to suffer through constant lag and performance hiccups, too. But over time, the Faustian bargain we make with these things becomes increasingly obvious. We save cash upfront, then we repay our debt through a shoddy user experience.
I’ve been thinking about this since buying Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max a couple of months ago. It’s a good example of that handshake: It’s been on sale for $40 for most of the past few months, and at that price, its hardware is a tremendous bargain. It’s fast, it works with the major HDR formats and Dolby Atmos and it supports all the requisite apps.
But Amazon’s Fire OS is shamelessly bloated. Big honking ads dominate the UI, most of which put Amazon services like Freevee or MGM+ or Prime Video — still the Blockbuster bargain bin of streaming services — front and center. Some ads straight up promote products you can shop on Amazon. Friend, you have not seen the dystopian future until the top third of your 55-inch TV suggests you buy a KitchenAid espresso machine. Once I’m actually streaming something, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is great. But I have to resist all the ads it peddles to me, to mentally block parts of the device I bought with my own money, to get the most out of it.
So why did I still buy one? Mainly because I’m not using it the way Amazon intends. Instead, I’m using it to emulate old video games, which is forever the easiest path to my heart. It’s possible to run retro games on just about anything today, of course — a PC, an iPhone, a million different handhelds, a fridge and more. You can do this kind of thing with other Android streamers such as the Google Chromecast or Amazon’s cheaper Fire TV Stick 4K as well. The Delta emulator was newly allowed on iOS, and you can also get at it with an Apple TV too, albeit over AirPlay instead of a native connection. I settled on the 4K Max simply because it seems to have more of a performance safety net than most other low-cost streamers. And it’s much cheaper than a higher-end box like the Apple TV or NVIDIA Shield.
Regardless, having a dedicated device for TVs is convenient in a way those non-streaming sticks aren’t. I’m not lugging a giant gaming PC from my desk to my living room, and I’m not paying extra for a mini PC when I can spend so much less on a dongle that emulates well enough. Official consoles like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 have plenty of retro games in their libraries, but far from everything. And while I’m a collector who has spent way too much on consoles and games from decades past, the process of getting that original hardware to run decently on a modern TV is famously laborious. Sometimes I just want to play a half-hour of NHL ‘94, Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball or Chrono Trigger without having to pull out the SNES (or Genesis), upscaler and heap of cables from my closet. (Related: I’d also like a bigger apartment, but c’est la vie in NYC.) Emulating on the Fire TV Stick isn’t as faithful as the real thing in terms of image quality, but it’s certainly playable and generally less of a hassle to just turn on and use.
After you get it set up, that is. Turning a Fire TV Stick into a retro game center isn’t especially complicated but requires a little prep. There are plenty of tutorials out there that’ll walk you through the full process, but here’s how I got it to work. First, I needed a few accessories: a Bluetooth controller, some sort of USB thumb drive (any older USB 2.0 model will do) and an OTG adapter with a microUSB connector that can power the Fire TV while connecting that external storage. I’ve been using this old SNES-style 8BitDo controller, just to get a more period-appropriate feel, though a PS4 or PS5 gamepad would also work. The USB drive holds the ROM and BIOS files for the games and systems I want to emulate. This is where I remind you that Engadget does not condone piracy, and while emulators are perfectly legal, sharing ROMs on the internet is not, so tread lightly. But backing up files of old games I’ve already bought, for personal use only, is at least fuzzier.
After formatting my thumb drive and loading it up with my games, it was simply matter of downloading the popular frontend RetroArch from Amazon’s app store, downloading the “cores” for each console I wanted to emulate within RetroArch, pointing the app toward the right folders on the USB drive and configuring my gamepad’s controls. I’ve done this on dozens of devices over the past couple years as I’ve sunk deeper into the retro-gaming rabbit hole, so the whole process took me well under an hour. Demystifying RetroArch would take me another 1,000 words, so I’ll direct you to this superb video tutorial from Retro Game Corps. It’s long, but this stuff always requires a little pain upfront, and I think it’s worth it. Turning a device like this into something completely different feels like I’m getting away with something. It’s exciting, even if it means I end up sounding like this guy.
As for what’s actually playable on this thing, I’ve found the 4K Max to work best emulating consoles up to the original PlayStation. Games from the PS1, NES, SNES, Game Boy, GBA, Genesis and old arcade machines have been consistently smooth. It’s technically possible to run stuff from the N64, Dreamcast, PSP or Nintendo DS, but those are more hit-or-miss, so I wouldn’t bank on them unless you’re the kind of sadist who enjoys futzing with resolution scaling and cycling between emulators. Still, this leaves me with hundreds of games to enjoy. Some are essential (Donkey Kong), some have been lost to time (U.N. Squadron), some make me want to self-defenestrate (Ecco the Dolphin) and none are live-service dross designed to disrespect my time.
I understand that this is a weird, niche pursuit. Emulators are daunting at first, and many old games feel like relics for a reason. Yet, in a small way, turning this ad-riddled, data-sucking streamer into a mini retro console has felt like reclaiming ownership of the gadget I paid for. The ads are still there, and my home screen will continue to badger me to watch Anne Hathaway’s latest rom-com on Prime Video. (My wife and I caved; it was fine.) But with a little trickery, I’ve bent it to show more of what I want to see — and gained an easier way to engage in some nostalgic fun in the process.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-fire-tv-stick-4k-max-is-better-as-a-retro-gaming-device-than-a-streamer-160022685.html?src=rss
The top-of-the-line MacBooks are undoubtedly expensive, so we're happy anytime there's a sale. Right now, Apple's 2023 MacBook Pro laptop with an M3 Max chip is touting a 7 percent price cut, dropping to $3,249 from $3,499. Yes, the device's 1TB of storage and 36GB of unified memory still require a large investment, but we'll gladly take the $250 in savings. This deal is running on Amazon and B&H, but if you want to bump things up to 48GB of unified memory, that model is down to $3,699 from $3,999 on Amazon — an 8 percent discount.
Apple's MacBook Pro with an M3 Max chip is great for anyone who needs a really powerful laptop, such as creatives, software engineers or developers. It offers a 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display and more than 1,000 nits of brightness for HDR content or up to 600 nits of brightness for SDR content. The MacBook Pro comes with one port for MagSafe charging, one for HDMI and three Thunderbolt 4 ones. Plus, it has an SDXC card slot and a headphone jack. Sound-wise, it has a three-mic array and a six-speaker system with Spatial Audio.
If a MacBook Pro isn't your thing, the new 15.3-inch MacBook Air with M3 chip is also on sale. The model is down to $1,199 from $1,299 — an 8 percent discount — and comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of memory. Apple recently released the 2024 MacBook Air 13-inch and 15-inch models with M3 chips. While they're not going to measure up completely to the Pro (the MacBook Air never does), it performed really well in our Cinebench R23 single-core and multi-core CPU tests, compared to its predecessor.
I’m a big fan of the British comedy game show Taskmaster. Each season, five comedians compete against each other to complete ridiculous objectives. The competitors are often rewarded for lateral thinking, as long as they stick within each task's rules.
Every time I watch a player hilariously mess up, I often think “well, I could do better than that.” But sit me down in front of a puzzle game that demands adept use of logic or pushes me to think outside of the box, and l often get frustrated and give up quickly (unless I find a decent guide to help me out). That’s quite irritating, especially since we’re in a golden age of puzzle games.
After a busy day of work, I’m far more inclined to play something relatively mindless, like Overwatch 2 or Fortnite. I tend to bristle at anything that slows me down, such as turn-based games. But the more I push myself to stick with puzzle games, the more I appreciate them. There are three recently released options that I've been bouncing between recently in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Animal Well and Paper Trail.
I had enormous expectations for Lorelei. The last offering from developer Simogo, Sayonara Wild Hearts, is easily in my top three games of all time. Lorelei is completely different and it's not like anything I’ve experienced before.
It opens with a woman named Lorelei standing next to her car. The vehicle won't start, but fortunately there's a hotel close by. As it turns out, that's where Lorelei is supposed to be to help an artist complete his magnum opus. This is a place where time is nebulous. It's 1963, but there are computers where you save your progress and a Game Boy-style system to use. The hotel is the only real constant, and even that is built out of puzzles.
The visuals are astonishing, even on the Nintendo Switch. Shocks of Giallo-esque reds and pinks frequently punch through the monochromatic environments. The design language is unusual yet meticulously crafted to guide you from one puzzle to the next until Lorelei's photographic memory is overflowing with conundrums to conquer.
There are all kinds of riddles to solve here, and they all feel intertwined. At first, you’ll have a few simple math problems to figure out. From there, you’ll be dealing with everything from mazes to pattern matching and spatial awareness puzzles. You’ll need a decent grasp of Roman numerals and the ability to pull together disparate scraps of information. Unfortunately for my scatterbrained self, plenty of logical thinking is required.
I’m nowhere close to finishing Lorelei. Even so, I already appreciate the way that Simogo slotted the intricately layered puzzles together. My only quibble in the early going is the over-reliance on padlocks and three-digit codes that secure document tubes.
My brain is not well tuned for logic-heavy puzzles, so I need to be in the right mindset before sitting down with Lorelei for an hour or two. I want to savor this one at my own pace over the coming weeks and months. I'll forego guides and try to figure out another of Simogo’s strange, intoxicating worlds by myself.
While Lorelei gives the player an in-game manual in the opening moments, Animal Welloffers barely any guidance at all. You (as a squishy little meatball thing) emerge from a flower into a cave with a large, ghostly squirrel on one side. It's not clear which direction to move in, what the objective is, what your character is or why you're there. All you can do is explore and try to figure it all out.
This has been described as a Metroidvania, a format that sees players backtracking to unlock a new area once they acquire a certain skill or upgrade. It’s taking most folks between four and six hours to finish the main game. But Animal Well is really more of a puzzle platformer. If you know what to do and how to do it, it’s possible to beat the game in a few minutes.
That’s part of Animal Well’s charm and beauty. Solo developer Billy Basso has weaved an intricate web of secrets, many of which are hidden in the shadows of its gorgeous pixel art (the game feels great too, thanks to smart use of haptic feedback on the PS5's DualSense controller). Without spoiling anything, I appreciate that the puzzles, many of which are traversal-based, are often open-ended. There are ways to progress even if you don't use an intended item or route.
I don't find the puzzles here nearly as taxing as those in Lorelei. The answers are all there, you just have to poke around and try things to see what happens.
The same could be said for Paper Trail from Newfangled Games. The painterly art style caught my eye when this started showing up at game showcases a couple of years back. The core mechanic is fascinating too.
The aim is to guide protagonist Paige through a swathe of mazy environments toward her goal of attending school and becoming an astrophysicist. But there are many obstacles in her way. Fortunately, Paige (and the player) can bend reality. This means folding over the edges of the world, which has two planes — just like a piece of paper — to open up new paths.
Newfangled finds clever ways of building on the central idea and the difficulty curve is fair but challenging. Paper Trail has a nice hint system that shows what folds to make, but not how to move Paige or any objects around.
Although the controls can be finicky, even while playing it on mobile (where it's available for Netflix subscribers), it's perhaps the puzzle game I've found the easiest to engage with lately. I enjoy contorting the world around Paige and lining up some patterns to unlock a path. It's the kind of game that makes me feel smart and satisfied whenever I figure out a solution.
I wager that the more I play these games and ones like them, the better I’ll get. We’ve had some downright great puzzle-centric titles over the last few years. Unpacking, Tunic and Cocoonimmediately spring to mind. So does Teardownand its wildly fun destructive heists. Planet of Lana, Venba, Viewfinder, Humanityand Jusantwere all among my favorite 2023 games in general.
I wish I'd been able to get into The Case of the Golden Idol, but I at least appreciate what it was going for. I might also finally get around to checking out Chants of Sennaar now that it's on Game Pass.
In any case, as in all great puzzle games, there's a bigger picture. All of these are merely practice for the ultimate test, because a VR version of Taskmaster is coming in June. I'll soon get to find out whether I'm better at lateral thinking than comedians after all.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/its-a-golden-age-of-puzzle-games-even-for-people-who-suck-at-puzzle-games-130024186.html?src=rss