Sony just announced an interesting feature coming to the PS5 that should streamline the whole process of wrangling people into a multiplayer game. The new tool will let you invite people into a game even when they aren’t at a console or using the PlayStation app. The system generates a link, via the app, that can be shared anywhere online. When the recipient clicks the link, they will be able to hop into a multiplayer session. You don’t even have to be friends. Easy peasy. That sure beats having to send out a lengthy numerical code (side-eyes Nintendo.)
The obvious use case scenario here? You meet some people online via social media and want to jump into a game quickly, without having to pass usernames back and forth. Sony says you’ll be able to “start playing together right away.” The tool will also generate a QR code along with the link, which is something PS5 owners are already familiar with when it comes to multiplayer games.
There are some caveats. This feature isn’t coming until later in the year and it’s only for PS5 games. Sony also warns that some titles may require an update before everything works seamlessly. Of course, most PS5 games require a PlayStation Plus subscription to use multiplayer, and those subscriptions went up in price last year.
Sony has even developed a custom live widget for multiplayer invites in Discord. When you share a link via Discord, the widget automatically refreshes to show whether or not a multiplayer session is active or not, so you won’t jump into an empty lobby to watch tumbleweeds roll by. Just like the forthcoming invite tool, the Discord widget is only available for PS5 games.
Sony
Finally, the company’s working on a related tool that will let people share their PlayStation Network profile on any messaging or social app by generating a link on the PlayStation app, similar to how the aforementioned feature will work. This is also coming later this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ps5-update-will-let-you-invite-people-to-multiplayer-games-through-your-smartphones-apps-184933903.html?src=rss
The bad news? It’s the beginning of the month, so rent is due. The good news? Sony just revealed the PlayStation Plus games lineup for May, and there are some serious standouts. The lineup includes Ghostrunner 2, Tunic, Destiny 2: Lightfall and EA Sports FC 24. Most of these games are available for both PS4 and PS5, except Ghostrunner 2 which is only for PS5 players.
So let’s start with Ghostrunner 2. It’s a brutally difficult, yet consistently engaging, first-person slasher with a fast-paced traversal mechanic that recalls games like Mirror’s Edge. You will die often, our reviewer died 164 times on one level, and you are likely to love every second of it. Perishing isn’t that big of a deal, as there are checkpoints just about everywhere and you can respawn instantly with the press of a button. It’s also a blast, offering a “satisfying gameplay loop that's hard to walk away from.”
Tunic is somehow both critically-acclaimed and underrated. This top-down isometric adventure is an absolute gem, with gameplay that brings to mind old-school Zelda adventures. By old-school, we mean really old-school. Tunic is most similar to the very first Zelda game for the NES, as there are no objective markers, no towns filled with cute villagers and not much by way of a story. You are just plopped into the world and tasked with exploring. The puzzles are tough and the combat can be even tougher. It’s nearly as polished as a Nintendo title and the protagonist is a cute fox. What’s not to love?
EA Sports FC 24 is the latest entry in the company’s flagship soccer series. There are more than 19,000 fully licensed players, 700 teams and 30 leagues, including the men’s and women’s UEFA Champions League. This is actually the first time in franchise history in which men and women can be on the pitch together. That’s pretty neat. It features crossplay with Xbox Series X/S, PC and Xbox One.
Destiny 2: Lightfall is an expansion that adds grappling hooks to the game’s arsenal. There’s a new Darkness subclass called the Strand and plenty of updated perks, weapons, armor and more. It’s also set in a neon metropolis, which is a nice change of pace. This was actually the first Destiny 2 expansion released after Sony bought Bungie.
All of these games will be playable on May 7. Ghostrunner 2, Tunic and Destiny 2: Lightfall will be available for download until June 3, and EA Sports FC 24 until June 17. To that end, April’s PS Plus games are about to hit the chopping block. You only have until May 6 to download Immortals ofAveum, Minecraft Legends and Skul: The Hero Slayer.
May includes another treat for PS Plus subscribers. The sidescrolling Metroidvania Animal Well, the first game published by popular YouTuber Dunkey, is a day-one release on May 9.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mays-playstation-plus-games-include-ghostrunner-2-and-the-modern-classic-tunic-172000294.html?src=rss
LinkedIn, the professional network known for job listings and unsolicited career advice, is jumping into gaming. The platform is officially introducing a set of Wordle-style puzzle games, weeks after they were first spotted in the app.
The company is starting with three games: Pinpoint, a word game where players must guess the theme that ties a series of words together; Queens, a puzzle game that’s a bit like a cross between Sudoku and Minesweeper; and Crossclimb, a trivia game that involves guessing a series of four-letter words and placing them in the correct order.
LinkedIn describes them as “thinking-oriented games,” though the format will likely look familiar to fans of The New York Times Games app. Each game can only be played once a day, and players can share their score with friends in cute emoji-filled messages reminiscent of the “Wordle grid.” The service will also keep track of “streaks,” to encourage players to come back every day. Given the similarities, it shouldn’t be surprising that games were developed by LinkedIn’s news team, which recently hired a dedicated games editor.
Games have been a boon for The New York Times since it acquired Wordle in 2022, and other publications have tried to emulate that success with their own lineup of word and puzzle games. I asked LinkedIn’s editor-in-chief and VP of Product Dan Roth if the company was inspired by the success of Wordle and the NYT’s Games app. He said that the inspiration was actually much older: “the very first crossword puzzle” in the New York World newspaper more than 100 years ago. He added that there aren’t currently plans for a standalone gaming app.
“These games aren't designed to be just played,” Roth told Engadget. “We're not getting into the gaming world to get into the gaming world. The idea is games that can help you think differently and connect with your network.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/linkedin-now-has-wordle-style-games-you-can-play-every-day-133035046.html?src=rss
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just announced new federal safety standards for automobiles. These standards include a mandate for advanced automatic braking systems for all new cars, which manufacturers must comply with by 2029. That’s just five years out.
This applies to all passenger cars and light trucks under 10,000 pounds. The automatic emergency braking systems must be able to bring a car traveling up to 62 MPH to a complete stop while avoiding a collision. These systems will also have to account for oncoming pedestrians at speeds up to 45 MPH in both daytime and nighttime conditions.
Automatic emergency brakes use a bevy of sensors, lasers and cameras to detect collisions. When a crash is imminent, the system brakes on its own or applies brake assist to help the driver quickly and safely come to a stop. It’s worth noting that manufacturers already include these systems in 90 percent of new cars, according to reporting by The New York Times, but many of these tools don’t meet the MPH thresholds as mentioned above. The NHTSA says that most manufacturers should be able to meet these requirements with software updates.
The federal agency estimates that these new rules will prevent over 360 road deaths per year and should reduce the severity of more than 24,000 injuries. It’s also expected to save people a lot of money on property damage costs. Cathy Chase, the president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told The Washington Post that the new rules were a “major victory for all consumers and public safety.” There were over 41,000 automobile-related deaths in the US in 2023 alone, and that’s actually a slight decrease from the previous year.
The actual auto industry, however, isn’t quite as bullish about the mandate. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group that works on behalf of auto manufacturers, has urged the NHTSA to consider other options. One major suggestion is to lower the speed threshold in certain cases, as the group stated that “significant hardware and software changes will be needed to achieve a level of performance that no production vehicle can currently achieve.”
To that end, tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicate that these systems will likely require major overhauls to adequately comply with the mandate. The research group says it tested crash avoidance systems on 10 small SUVs at speeds up to 43 MPH, and many failed to stop in time to avoid a crash in the most difficult testing scenarios. The Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V performed best, for those in the market.
Heavy-duty vehicles, like larger trucks, could be getting their own mandate in the near future. The NHTSA is currently working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a truck safety agency, to draw up similar standards for chonky vehicles.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-will-require-all-new-cars-to-have-advanced-automatic-braking-systems-by-2029-184455802.html?src=rss
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just announced new federal safety standards for automobiles. These standards include a mandate for advanced automatic braking systems for all new cars, which manufacturers must comply with by 2029. That’s just five years out.
This applies to all passenger cars and light trucks under 10,000 pounds. The automatic emergency braking systems must be able to bring a car traveling up to 62 MPH to a complete stop while avoiding a collision. These systems will also have to account for oncoming pedestrians at speeds up to 45 MPH in both daytime and nighttime conditions.
Automatic emergency brakes use a bevy of sensors, lasers and cameras to detect collisions. When a crash is imminent, the system brakes on its own or applies brake assist to help the driver quickly and safely come to a stop. It’s worth noting that manufacturers already include these systems in 90 percent of new cars, according to reporting by The New York Times, but many of these tools don’t meet the MPH thresholds as mentioned above. The NHTSA says that most manufacturers should be able to meet these requirements with software updates.
The federal agency estimates that these new rules will prevent over 360 road deaths per year and should reduce the severity of more than 24,000 injuries. It’s also expected to save people a lot of money on property damage costs. Cathy Chase, the president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told The Washington Post that the new rules were a “major victory for all consumers and public safety.” There were over 41,000 automobile-related deaths in the US in 2023 alone, and that’s actually a slight decrease from the previous year.
The actual auto industry, however, isn’t quite as bullish about the mandate. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group that works on behalf of auto manufacturers, has urged the NHTSA to consider other options. One major suggestion is to lower the speed threshold in certain cases, as the group stated that “significant hardware and software changes will be needed to achieve a level of performance that no production vehicle can currently achieve.”
To that end, tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicate that these systems will likely require major overhauls to adequately comply with the mandate. The research group says it tested crash avoidance systems on 10 small SUVs at speeds up to 43 MPH, and many failed to stop in time to avoid a crash in the most difficult testing scenarios. The Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V performed best, for those in the market.
Heavy-duty vehicles, like larger trucks, could be getting their own mandate in the near future. The NHTSA is currently working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a truck safety agency, to draw up similar standards for chonky vehicles.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/us-will-require-all-new-cars-to-have-advanced-automatic-braking-systems-by-2029-184455802.html?src=rss
Microsoft has officially announced the next Xbox Games Showcase. In a blog post, the company said the summer version will be on Sunday, June 9, at 10AM PT / 1PM ET.
The event will be followed by a cryptic “[REDACTED] Direct” that probably isn’t much of a mystery. The teaser logo looks like something ripped from the Call of Duty franchise, and reports already pointed to the military shooter’s next installment arriving this year. Microsoft describes the direct event as “a special deep-dive into the next installment of a beloved franchise.”
Further squashing any intrigue, The Vergesays it’s confirmed the event will focus on Activision-Blizzard’s long-running franchise. This will be the first Xbox showcase with the Call of Duty maker officially within Microsoft’s grasp.
The company wants to turn heads with its new post-acquisition portfolio, and Xbox will use the entire week (which coincides with Summer Game Fest) to pump up its lineup. “June 9’s double-feature broadcast also kicks off a week’s worth of coverage here on Xbox Wire and The Official Xbox Podcast, featuring updates and deep-dives on a ton of games,” the company wrote.
Engadget will have all your Xbox Games Showcase and Summer Game Fest news in early June.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-confirms-its-next-xbox-game-showcase-is-on-june-9-at-1pm-et-153704263.html?src=rss
Microsoft has officially announced the next Xbox Games Showcase. In a blog post, the company said the summer version will be on Sunday, June 9, at 10AM PT / 1PM ET.
The event will be followed by a cryptic “[REDACTED] Direct” that probably isn’t much of a mystery. The teaser logo looks like something ripped from the Call of Duty franchise, and reports already pointed to the military shooter’s next installment arriving this year. Microsoft describes the direct event as “a special deep-dive into the next installment of a beloved franchise.”
Further squashing any intrigue, The Vergesays it’s confirmed the event will focus on Activision-Blizzard’s long-running franchise. This will be the first Xbox showcase with the Call of Duty maker officially within Microsoft’s grasp.
The company wants to turn heads with its new post-acquisition portfolio, and Xbox will use the entire week (which coincides with Summer Game Fest) to pump up its lineup. “June 9’s double-feature broadcast also kicks off a week’s worth of coverage here on Xbox Wire and The Official Xbox Podcast, featuring updates and deep-dives on a ton of games,” the company wrote.
Engadget will have all your Xbox Games Showcase and Summer Game Fest news in early June.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-confirms-its-next-xbox-game-showcase-is-on-june-9-at-1pm-et-153704263.html?src=rss
Fujifilm’s Instax cameras have been around for a while. They offer instant photo printouts in cute frames, taking over where Polaroid left. Over the years, the company has experimented with pastel colorways, retro styles, hybrid digital and manual photography, and even collaborations with Pokèmon and Taylor Swift.
The new Instax mini 99, which was released this month, comes in black. It looks more like my X-T2 and other Fujifilm models than a Polaroid. From a distance, it looks like a pricey digital camera, although it costs only $200. When you get to handle it though, you might be a little disappointed by the plasticky build. Still, there are parts where Fuji has lavished the camera with machined elements, like a tripod stand converter and some of the controls.
With a matte finish, the Instax mini 99 looks more professional, even cooler, than most of its predecessors. While there are no hybrid digital camera features, it delivers far more versatility than pretty much any other instant camera.
Mat Smith for Engadget
There are a lot of controls here for an instant camera, including three shooting options with different focal lengths. You twist the lens to switch between landscape, macro and standard settings, and each is (fortunately) labeled with a distance marker so you can best eyeball your shot. While there is a viewfinder, it won’t scale based on your shooting mode. Again, let’s not forget this is an instant camera. Having said that, with the mini 99 you do get access to filters and some basic exposure options.
Those filters attempt to strike those nostalgia chords. Normal is your typical shooting mode, and there’s faded green, soft magenta, light blue, warm tone and of course, sepia.
Light leak, meanwhile, sort of messes up your shots with LEDs built inside the camera, adding a burnout effect to your photos as they’re captured. What impressed me further were even more shooting modes, adding the ability to capture double-exposure shots, a manual vignette switch – which was nearly always on when I was shooting – and even fill-in flash, red-eye removal and automatic flash options. There’s also a sports mode that attempts to avoid blur when capturing moving subjects. Photos weren’t pin-sharp, but the mode seemed to capture things a little bit more crisply than in auto mode.
It’s an awful lot for an instant camera, and I found half the fun was in experimenting with modes and shooting effects. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call each shot a risk, it’s been so long since I’ve used film of any kind that each time I reached for the shutter button (of which there are two), I tried extra hard to nail framing and composition – probably more than I would with digital.
A lot of the shots I took (at a family birthday party with constantly moving babies and toddlers) were in ideal sunny outdoor lighting, but when I was indoors or areas with less light in general, I leaned heavily on the flash, which muddied a lot of the photos.
Mat Smith for Engadget
The learning curve is a bit steep if you haven’t owned an Instax over the last decade(or three). Each messed-up shot is roughly a dollar down the drain. But with each attempt, you begin to gauge lighting and focal distances better. An hour and ten photos later, I got nice shots of my nieces’ birthday party, even catching them looking at the camera on a few instances. Some photos I seemed to nail the correct focal distance, but that was the exception rather than the rule. Fortunately, half the appeal is off-focus moments, off-center framing and other happy accidents. I chose to apply a light leak effect – why would I complain if it’s not as pin-sharp as my iPhone 15 Pro?
There are a few things I’d love to see Fujifilm tackle if it attempts to make another premium Instax mini. First, add a small mirror for taking photos of yourself with the lens facing you. Many cameras offer a tiny mirrored surface so you can loosely tell you're pointing in the right direction. One selfie attempt with my niece cropped her almost entirely from the shot. Also, to recharge the Instax mini 99, you must take out the battery and put it into the included charger with a USB cable. That's too much of a hassle, and Fujifilm should offer a simpler method in future. Fortunately, I didn’t ever need to recharge the camera as I captured over 20 shots.
The Instax mini 99 uses the same smallish Instax film as other models, but with more controls, options and effects, it delivers on its attempt to be the premium instant camera. The film is still expensive, yes, and the device feels a little cheap for the price, but ultimately it delivers satisfying instant photo moments.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-instax-mini-99-could-pass-for-a-real-fujifilm-camera-150018817.html?src=rss
Fujifilm’s Instax cameras have been around for a while. They offer instant photo printouts in cute frames, taking over where Polaroid left. Over the years, the company has experimented with pastel colorways, retro styles, hybrid digital and manual photography, and even collaborations with Pokèmon and Taylor Swift.
The new Instax mini 99, which was released this month, comes in black. It looks more like my X-T2 and other Fujifilm models than a Polaroid. From a distance, it looks like a pricey digital camera, although it costs only $200. When you get to handle it though, you might be a little disappointed by the plasticky build. Still, there are parts where Fuji has lavished the camera with machined elements, like a tripod stand converter and some of the controls.
With a matte finish, the Instax mini 99 looks more professional, even cooler, than most of its predecessors. While there are no hybrid digital camera features, it delivers far more versatility than pretty much any other instant camera.
Mat Smith for Engadget
There are a lot of controls here for an instant camera, including three shooting options with different focal lengths. You twist the lens to switch between landscape, macro and standard settings, and each is (fortunately) labeled with a distance marker so you can best eyeball your shot. While there is a viewfinder, it won’t scale based on your shooting mode. Again, let’s not forget this is an instant camera. Having said that, with the mini 99 you do get access to filters and some basic exposure options.
Those filters attempt to strike those nostalgia chords. Normal is your typical shooting mode, and there’s faded green, soft magenta, light blue, warm tone and of course, sepia.
Light leak, meanwhile, sort of messes up your shots with LEDs built inside the camera, adding a burnout effect to your photos as they’re captured. What impressed me further were even more shooting modes, adding the ability to capture double-exposure shots, a manual vignette switch – which was nearly always on when I was shooting – and even fill-in flash, red-eye removal and automatic flash options. There’s also a sports mode that attempts to avoid blur when capturing moving subjects. Photos weren’t pin-sharp, but the mode seemed to capture things a little bit more crisply than in auto mode.
It’s an awful lot for an instant camera, and I found half the fun was in experimenting with modes and shooting effects. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call each shot a risk, it’s been so long since I’ve used film of any kind that each time I reached for the shutter button (of which there are two), I tried extra hard to nail framing and composition – probably more than I would with digital.
A lot of the shots I took (at a family birthday party with constantly moving babies and toddlers) were in ideal sunny outdoor lighting, but when I was indoors or areas with less light in general, I leaned heavily on the flash, which muddied a lot of the photos.
Mat Smith for Engadget
The learning curve is a bit steep if you haven’t owned an Instax over the last decade(or three). Each messed-up shot is roughly a dollar down the drain. But with each attempt, you begin to gauge lighting and focal distances better. An hour and ten photos later, I got nice shots of my nieces’ birthday party, even catching them looking at the camera on a few instances. Some photos I seemed to nail the correct focal distance, but that was the exception rather than the rule. Fortunately, half the appeal is off-focus moments, off-center framing and other happy accidents. I chose to apply a light leak effect – why would I complain if it’s not as pin-sharp as my iPhone 15 Pro?
There are a few things I’d love to see Fujifilm tackle if it attempts to make another premium Instax mini. First, add a small mirror for taking photos of yourself with the lens facing you. Many cameras offer a tiny mirrored surface so you can loosely tell you're pointing in the right direction. One selfie attempt with my niece cropped her almost entirely from the shot. Also, to recharge the Instax mini 99, you must take out the battery and put it into the included charger with a USB cable. That's too much of a hassle, and Fujifilm should offer a simpler method in future. Fortunately, I didn’t ever need to recharge the camera as I captured over 20 shots.
The Instax mini 99 uses the same smallish Instax film as other models, but with more controls, options and effects, it delivers on its attempt to be the premium instant camera. The film is still expensive, yes, and the device feels a little cheap for the price, but ultimately it delivers satisfying instant photo moments.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-instax-mini-99-could-pass-for-a-real-fujifilm-camera-150018817.html?src=rss
I allowed myself to play Fire Emblem Engage on the easiest possible mode, and it finally got me back into gaming. The first time I picked up a Fire Emblem game back in 2010, a friend told me that the only correct way to play is in Classic mode with permanent death. For some reason, I took that to heart, and I played each subsequent game ready to restart my console during every skirmish and story battle so that I didn’t lose any of my friends. Due to unexpected upheavals in my personal life over the past few years, I mostly stopped gaming, even though I kept buying new titles I'd typically play. That included Persona 5: Royal, which I have yet to even touch, and Fire Emblem Engage, which sat sealed in my cabinet for over a year.
I wanted to play Engage since I got my pre-ordered copy, but the mere thought of having to find the best class for all my units and having to grind by fighting one skirmish after another so that they can maximize their stats and not get killed in the battlefield was overwhelming. It felt like a chore and not at all appealing for someone who's trying to get back into gaming. One day, though, I decided to pop the cartridge into my Nintendo Switch and see if I could get anywhere. Upon being asked to choose a difficulty, I squashed the persistent voice in my head that kept saying: "If you're not playing with permadeath, are you even playing Fire Emblem?" As quickly as I could, I chose Normal difficulty, the easiest option available, and Casual mode that merely pulls units from a fight instead of killing them completely after they get defeated in battle.
I had no idea whether I'd end up finishing the game when I started, but I did — and I had tons of fun. The biggest reason why I was able to keep playing was because I didn't feel stressed like I did when I played Fates and Three Houses. I didn't have to plan out every single move on the battlefield, and I didn't have to look up other people's class choices for their units because a character that started as a swordsman might do better as a Wyvern Knight. I didn't have to keep notes like I usually do for strategy games. The only information I searched for online was the same-sex romance options for this installment's protagonist. It truly felt like I was playing to relax, which is something I've never said before in relation to a Fire Emblem game.
In the grand scheme of things, having an internal conflict over a game's difficulty is really quite silly. But it's a reflection of how we tend to be harsher on ourselves than on other people, because I would never judge anybody else on how they want to play their games. Sure, winning battles and matches in more difficult modes will feel more rewarding, but not every gaming experience has to be a challenge. It's okay to play to decompress, to have some joy in your life and in my case, to get started after years of being in gaming limbo. Someday, I might pick up Engage again and play in Maddening difficulty, most likely in Casual mode now that I've broken free from the shackles of permadeath. That is, however, a long way off — for now, I want to get through the titles I missed over the past five years one by one. I've started with the newest one in my collection, Eiyuden Chronicle, which I'm absolutely excited to play as a long-time Suikoden fan. And, yes, I'm still taking it easy on myself by playing it in the least difficult mode possible.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/i-played-fire-emblem-engage-on-easy-mode-and-it-got-me-back-into-gaming-120010358.html?src=rss