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Never Alone 2 teaser shows Nuna and Fox coming face-to-face with giant creatures

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Two years after E-line Media revealed it was working on Never Alone 2, the first look at gameplay emerged at the Triple-i Initiative indie games showcase. The brief clip shows Nuna and her spirit companion Fox running across ice and encountering a pair of giant creatures. There's not much to the video (it's a teaser, after all), but it gives a sense of the game's look and feel.

You'll venture through the Alaskan wilderness to look for ways to support your home village. Along the way, you'll unravel a mystery that poses a threat to the community. While the 2014 original (which nearly 15 million people have played) married 3D graphics and 2D gameplay, Never Alone 2 is billed as a "3D open-map sequel."

Never Alone included solo and co-op modes (we found the latter made playing the game much better). The follow-up is designed primarily for two players, in either online or couch co-op modes, to place a focus on the theme of interdependence.

Never Alone 2 has an original story from Iñupiat writer Nasugraq Rainey Hopson, and it was designed with input from Alaska Native elders, writers, storytellers and community members. E-line Media hasn't revealed a release window for Never Alone 2 yet, but the developer has teamed up with publisher Humble Games to get it out into the wild. In the meantime, fans can wishlist the sequel for updates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/never-alone-2-teaser-shows-nuna-and-fox-coming-face-to-face-with-giant-creatures-174736706.html?src=rss

Never Alone 2 teaser shows Nuna and Fox coming face-to-face with giant creatures

Posted on by

Two years after E-line Media revealed it was working on Never Alone 2, the first look at gameplay emerged at the Triple-i Initiative indie games showcase. The brief clip shows Nuna and her spirit companion Fox running across ice and encountering a pair of giant creatures. There's not much to the video (it's a teaser, after all), but it gives a sense of the game's look and feel.

You'll venture through the Alaskan wilderness to look for ways to support your home village. Along the way, you'll unravel a mystery that poses a threat to the community. While the 2014 original (which nearly 15 million people have played) married 3D graphics and 2D gameplay, Never Alone 2 is billed as a "3D open-map sequel."

Never Alone included solo and co-op modes (we found the latter made playing the game much better). The follow-up is designed primarily for two players, in either online or couch co-op modes, to place a focus on the theme of interdependence.

Never Alone 2 has an original story from Iñupiat writer Nasugraq Rainey Hopson, and it was designed with input from Alaska Native elders, writers, storytellers and community members. E-line Media hasn't revealed a release window for Never Alone 2 yet, but the developer has teamed up with publisher Humble Games to get it out into the wild. In the meantime, fans can wishlist the sequel for updates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/never-alone-2-teaser-shows-nuna-and-fox-coming-face-to-face-with-giant-creatures-174736706.html?src=rss

Vampire Survivors hits PlayStation this summer

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Vampire Survivors is preparing to invade a whole new platform. More than two years after breaking through the noise on Steam, Android, iOS and Xbox, Vampire Survivors is due to hit PlayStation 4 and PS5 in summer 2024. Yep, the summer that starts in just a few months. The PlayStation version will include all DLCs and latest updates.

Alongside the fresh platform announcement, Vampire Survivors is also getting a batch of crossover DLC on May 9. Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns brings Contra characters and weapons into the game with the mission statement, "The President’s cousin’s sister’s dog has been kidnapped by Red Falcon. Are you bad enough to come to the rescue?" We bet you are.

In classic Contra fashion, the characters added in Operation Guns will encourage min-maxing and stat manipulation, and there will be 11 new players total. The DLC adds 22 guns, a new stage and an old-school arcade difficulty curve. Its soundtrack has six songs that combine Contra jams with Vampire Survivors remixes.

Who said vampires don't like sunlight? With two big updates landing this spring and summer, it seems like Vampire Survivors enjoys the light just fine. Of course, that could be because there are no actual vampires in the game, just hordes of other monster types and hours of mindless, bloody entertainment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vampire-survivors-hits-playstation-this-summer-174515287.html?src=rss

Vampire Survivors hits PlayStation this summer

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Vampire Survivors is preparing to invade a whole new platform. More than two years after breaking through the noise on Steam, Android, iOS and Xbox, Vampire Survivors is due to hit PlayStation 4 and PS5 in summer 2024. Yep, the summer that starts in just a few months. The PlayStation version will include all DLCs and latest updates.

Alongside the fresh platform announcement, Vampire Survivors is also getting a batch of crossover DLC on May 9. Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns brings Contra characters and weapons into the game with the mission statement, "The President’s cousin’s sister’s dog has been kidnapped by Red Falcon. Are you bad enough to come to the rescue?" We bet you are.

In classic Contra fashion, the characters added in Operation Guns will encourage min-maxing and stat manipulation, and there will be 11 new players total. The DLC adds 22 guns, a new stage and an old-school arcade difficulty curve. Its soundtrack has six songs that combine Contra jams with Vampire Survivors remixes.

Who said vampires don't like sunlight? With two big updates landing this spring and summer, it seems like Vampire Survivors enjoys the light just fine. Of course, that could be because there are no actual vampires in the game, just hordes of other monster types and hours of mindless, bloody entertainment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vampire-survivors-hits-playstation-this-summer-174515287.html?src=rss

Massively co-op game 33 Immortals will have a closed beta at the end of May

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33 Immortals feels like a game that's going to need a lot of pre-release testing, and thankfully, that's exactly what developers at Thunder Lotus are setting up. Following a smaller alpha test, the closed beta for 33 Immortals will kick off on May 24 and run through June 2. Interested players can sign up to participate at the game's official site.

Aside from the Dante's Inferno-inspired landscape and retro-cartoony visuals, the unique draw of 33 Immortals is its raid size. The game features 33-player co-op with a cast of seven unique fighters, and each round lasts about 25 minutes. It's all raids, all the time, and felled players are able to be revived if another warrior takes the time to chase down their ghost.

UK Bureau Chief Mat Smith got his hands on 33 Immortals at Summer Game Fest 2023 and he saw the potential in Thunder Lotus' idea, writing, "With plenty of enemies on-screen, especially in the more challenging portal dungeons, it’s a lot of fun just chaotically spamming attacks, helping the rest of your team finish off mid-bosses, or picking off easier foes at a distance before they coordinate their attacks." And that was with just six players at once — now add 27 more, and that's the base chaos level of this game.

33 Immortals is due to enter early access on the Epic Games Store, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Xbox later this year, and it'll be available on Game Pass.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/massively-co-op-game-33-immortals-will-have-a-closed-beta-at-the-end-of-may-174022411.html?src=rss

Massively co-op game 33 Immortals will have a closed beta at the end of May

Posted on by

33 Immortals feels like a game that's going to need a lot of pre-release testing, and thankfully, that's exactly what developers at Thunder Lotus are setting up. Following a smaller alpha test, the closed beta for 33 Immortals will kick off on May 24 and run through June 2. Interested players can sign up to participate at the game's official site.

Aside from the Dante's Inferno-inspired landscape and retro-cartoony visuals, the unique draw of 33 Immortals is its raid size. The game features 33-player co-op with a cast of seven unique fighters, and each round lasts about 25 minutes. It's all raids, all the time, and felled players are able to be revived if another warrior takes the time to chase down their ghost.

UK Bureau Chief Mat Smith got his hands on 33 Immortals at Summer Game Fest 2023 and he saw the potential in Thunder Lotus' idea, writing, "With plenty of enemies on-screen, especially in the more challenging portal dungeons, it’s a lot of fun just chaotically spamming attacks, helping the rest of your team finish off mid-bosses, or picking off easier foes at a distance before they coordinate their attacks." And that was with just six players at once — now add 27 more, and that's the base chaos level of this game.

33 Immortals is due to enter early access on the Epic Games Store, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Xbox later this year, and it'll be available on Game Pass.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/massively-co-op-game-33-immortals-will-have-a-closed-beta-at-the-end-of-may-174022411.html?src=rss

The EA Play subscription service is getting more expensive

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Electronic Arts just raised the price of its EA Play subscription service. The standard EA Play tier increased from $5 per month to $6 per month, while the annual fee rose to $40 from $30. These updated prices also impact premium EA Play Pro subscriptions, which allows access to the publisher’s games as soon as they launch. This tier now costs $17 per month, an increase from $15, and $120 each year, an increase from $100. 

EA confirmed the changes to Engadget via email and noted that the prices are increasing in every country the company does business in. According to a report by Gamesindustry.biz, the new cost structure was decided on to “bring fees in line with market value.” The price increase is live for new members but pre-existing subscribers won't get dinged until May 10. 

For the uninitiated, EA Play is a subscription service that gives players access to a select number of games from the company, along with additional incentives like discounts and DLC. It’s available on Xbox consoles, PlayStation consoles and PC. The service is in line with Microsoft Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Ubisoft+, among others. As previously mentioned, EA Play Pro takes things a step further by letting subscribers play newly-released games. It's worth noting that Game Pass Ultimate members still have access to the standard EA Play tier as part of their subscription.

It’s always a bummer when these subscriptions go up in price, and EA is hardly alone here. Sony raised the price of PS Plus last year and Microsoft did the same for Game Pass subscriptions. Ubisoft+ Premium is likely the closest analog to Play Pro and it costs $18 per month, which is right in line with EA’s updated pricing model.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ea-play-subscription-service-is-getting-more-expensive-172942011.html?src=rss

The EA Play subscription service is getting more expensive

Posted on by

Electronic Arts just raised the price of its EA Play subscription service. The standard EA Play tier increased from $5 per month to $6 per month, while the annual fee rose to $40 from $30. These updated prices also impact premium EA Play Pro subscriptions, which allows access to the publisher’s games as soon as they launch. This tier now costs $17 per month, an increase from $15, and $120 each year, an increase from $100. 

EA confirmed the changes to Engadget via email and noted that the prices are increasing in every country the company does business in. According to a report by Gamesindustry.biz, the new cost structure was decided on to “bring fees in line with market value.” The price increase is live for new members but pre-existing subscribers won't get dinged until May 10. 

For the uninitiated, EA Play is a subscription service that gives players access to a select number of games from the company, along with additional incentives like discounts and DLC. It’s available on Xbox consoles, PlayStation consoles and PC. The service is in line with Microsoft Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Ubisoft+, among others. As previously mentioned, EA Play Pro takes things a step further by letting subscribers play newly-released games. It's worth noting that Game Pass Ultimate members still have access to the standard EA Play tier as part of their subscription.

It’s always a bummer when these subscriptions go up in price, and EA is hardly alone here. Sony raised the price of PS Plus last year and Microsoft did the same for Game Pass subscriptions. Ubisoft+ Premium is likely the closest analog to Play Pro and it costs $18 per month, which is right in line with EA’s updated pricing model.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ea-play-subscription-service-is-getting-more-expensive-172942011.html?src=rss

Amazon will stop paying bonuses to Alexa developers

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Amazon has decided to cut off paid perks for Alexa developers. The company confirmed to Engadget on Wednesday that it will end the Alexa Developer Rewards Program at the end of June. A second program that rewards developers for using Amazon Web Services as the backend for their Alexa apps will wrap up at the same time.

With the emergence of generative AI, the pioneering voice assistant’s third-party apps (“skills”) no longer appear to be a central focus for the company. The news was first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Engadget with the company.

Amazon described the move as a case of phasing out an old project that had run its course. “These are older programs launched back in 2017 as a way to help newer developers interested in building skills accelerate their progress,” an Amazon spokesperson wrote to Engadget. “Today, there are over 160,000 skills available for customers, a well-established Alexa developer community, and new LLM-powered tools that will help developers build new experiences for Alexa. These older programs have simply run their course, so we decided to sunset them.”

The company told me the program launched when developers were still learning to make voice apps, and it was designed to help them get started. Amazon told Engadget that fewer than one percent of developers were using the program. It said Alexa developers will still get paid for in-app purchases from their Alexa skills, adding that the cost of making them has gone down while developer knowledge has gone up.

The Alexa Developer Rewards Program was created to incentivize developers who made high-quality skills for the assistant. Launched in 2017, when Alexa was all the rage, the program paid developers bonuses for skills that met engagement thresholds in specific categories. It was part of Amazon’s quest to turn Alexa Skills into a booming app store for a new generation of voice-first devices, a vision that never fully came to fruition.

Now, the renewed interest in AI assistants is about generative AI, which can handle many of the same tasks as Alexa’s skills (likely much better in some cases). At its fall 2023 devices event, Amazon previewed a next-generation version of Alexa with ChatGPT-like generative AI abilities. The company has also gradually integrated the next-gen tech into its seller tools and product pages.

Bloomberg reports that third-party apps weren’t making Amazon much money (unsurprising, given today’s news). The company cut the available funds for Alexa developer payments in 2020. Amazon also laid off several hundred employees in its Alexa division late last year. Meanwhile, Google threw in the towel long ago: It eliminated third-party voice apps for Google Assistant altogether in 2022.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-will-stop-paying-bonuses-to-alexa-developers-171610161.html?src=rss

Amazon will stop paying bonuses to Alexa developers

Posted on by

Amazon has decided to cut off paid perks for Alexa developers. The company confirmed to Engadget on Wednesday that it will end the Alexa Developer Rewards Program at the end of June. A second program that rewards developers for using Amazon Web Services as the backend for their Alexa apps will wrap up at the same time.

With the emergence of generative AI, the pioneering voice assistant’s third-party apps (“skills”) no longer appear to be a central focus for the company. The news was first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Engadget with the company.

Amazon described the move as a case of phasing out an old project that had run its course. “These are older programs launched back in 2017 as a way to help newer developers interested in building skills accelerate their progress,” an Amazon spokesperson wrote to Engadget. “Today, there are over 160,000 skills available for customers, a well-established Alexa developer community, and new LLM-powered tools that will help developers build new experiences for Alexa. These older programs have simply run their course, so we decided to sunset them.”

The company told me the program launched when developers were still learning to make voice apps, and it was designed to help them get started. Amazon told Engadget that fewer than one percent of developers were using the program. It said Alexa developers will still get paid for in-app purchases from their Alexa skills, adding that the cost of making them has gone down while developer knowledge has gone up.

The Alexa Developer Rewards Program was created to incentivize developers who made high-quality skills for the assistant. Launched in 2017, when Alexa was all the rage, the program paid developers bonuses for skills that met engagement thresholds in specific categories. It was part of Amazon’s quest to turn Alexa Skills into a booming app store for a new generation of voice-first devices, a vision that never fully came to fruition.

Now, the renewed interest in AI assistants is about generative AI, which can handle many of the same tasks as Alexa’s skills (likely much better in some cases). At its fall 2023 devices event, Amazon previewed a next-generation version of Alexa with ChatGPT-like generative AI abilities. The company has also gradually integrated the next-gen tech into its seller tools and product pages.

Bloomberg reports that third-party apps weren’t making Amazon much money (unsurprising, given today’s news). The company cut the available funds for Alexa developer payments in 2020. Amazon also laid off several hundred employees in its Alexa division late last year. Meanwhile, Google threw in the towel long ago: It eliminated third-party voice apps for Google Assistant altogether in 2022.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-will-stop-paying-bonuses-to-alexa-developers-171610161.html?src=rss