Ghost Bike is dead; long live Wheel World. The scenic cycling adventure from the creators of Nidhogg was revealed in 2023 with a darker storyline. After design pivots to make it more fun to play (always a good idea!), the new naming convention matches its lighter tone. Initially slated for this year, the Annapurna-published game will now arrive in early 2025.
Wheel World is developer Messhofs first 3D game and its first with a big team. The studio made its bones with Nidhogg, a side-scrolling sword-fighting game with old-school Atari-style graphics. With Wheel World, the team shifts gears (sorry) to a gorgeous cel-shaded art style. Unlike Messhofs previous titles, this one will have a narrative with characters and dialog boxes!
Messhof explained its rebranding in a press release. [Ghost Bike] was a game about dying on a bike after being hit by a car and ending up in a cycling valhalla, Messhofs Mak Essen and Kristy Norindr wrote. While it wasnt directly based on real world ghost bikes (those white bikes memorializing cyclists killed by drivers), there was enough overlap to feel like the name was justified and the associations would be a positive one from both directions. But as things changed in the gameplay (to make it more fun to play), and thus the story (especially in tone) it fit less and less. Wheel World, it is.
Messhof / Annapurna
You play as Kat, a young cyclist determined to save Wheel World from total collapse. Its gameplay combines racing, bike upgrades, recovering stolen parts and ultimately performing The Great Shift ritual to save the world.
The trailer also showcases a roaming mode for times when you want a relaxing gaming experience. An original soundtrack from the electronic label Italians Do It Better helps you chill out while cruising the beautifully cel-shaded countryside.
When it arrives in early 2025, Wheel World will be on Game Pass on day one. In addition to the Xbox Series X/S, it will also be available on PS5 and PC.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-annapurna-published-cycling-adventure-ghost-bike-is-now-wheel-world-173009766.html?src=rss
Amazon Prime Video will host a live election night special hosted by Brian Williams. The veteran newscaster will deliver election results and analysis starting at 5PM ET on November 5. Interestingly, this is a free special and doesnt require a Prime membership. Itll also be live streaming throughout the world, and not just America.
Williams will be joined by a bevy of contributors to discuss election returns and the whole thing is being directed by industry veteran Glenn Weiss. Hes directed a whole bunch of live events, from the Oscars to the Emmys and beyond.
Amazon doesnt have a news division, so itll be pulling results and commentary from third-party sources across all political affiliations, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Williams said in a statement that he will follow the storyline on election night wherever it leads us.
Albert Cheng, VP and head of Prime Video, says this is a one-night-only event, but its not without precedent. Prime Video made its first Black Friday NFL game available to stream live, even to people who dont subscribe to the service.
As for Williams, he hosted the NBC Nightly News broadcast for more than a decade. The newscaster stepped down after exaggerations were found in some of his reporting, particularly with regard to stories from Iraq and related to Hurricane Katrina.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/amazon-will-stream-an-election-night-special-with-brian-williams-172040097.html?src=rss
The Super Nintendo World theme park in Orlando is nearly ready for visitors. Universal Orlando Resort just announced that the Mario-friendly attraction will open its doors on May 22, 2025. That gives you over six months to find the perfect Goomba costume to wear on opening day.
This is the third Nintendo theme park throughout the world, as the Orlando location joins pre-existing parks in Los Angeles and Japan. If the layout looks anything like the other two parks, you should expect a large interactive area to explore, special themed rides and, of course, all kinds of Nintendo-adjacent dining and shopping. The original Japanese park just got a nifty Donkey Kong Country area, but it remains to be seen if thatll make the jump to the states.
This is part of a larger expansion of Universal Resort Orlando, called Universal Epic Universe. This includes five areas to explore. Theres the aforementioned Super Nintendo World, but this expansion will also host the pre-existing Harry Potter attraction.
The area will be home to a theme park based on the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and another based on the Dark Universe franchise. That last one is pretty odd to me, being as how the Dark Universe franchise peaked with a few middling horror films in the 2010s. Most of the planned films in this shared cinematic universe were scrapped after 2017s The Mummy crashed and burned.
Finally, theres Celestial Park. This looks to be a standard amusement park with a slight sci-fi bent. There are space-themed roller coasters and the like.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/super-nintendo-world-orlando-opens-next-may-164506895.html?src=rss
Apple Pay debuted almost 10 years ago to the day, and Apple is marking the occasion by rolling out some features it revealed at WWDC. If you have iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 installed on your iPhone or iPad, you'll now be able to use the payment service on third-party browsers on those devices, as well as desktop computers. In the latter case, you'll be asked to scan a QR code with your iPhone or iPad to complete the payment. However, Apple says the feature is only available in select markets.
It'll be easier than ever to add supported cards to Apple Wallet on your iPhone. Thanks to the Tap to Provision feature, you can simply tap an eligible NFC-enabled card to the back of your phone, though you may have to enter the security code manually. Again, though, Tap to Provision isn't available everywhere.
Apple is now starting to support third-party buy now, pay later (BNPL) services in Apple Pay. This starts with the option to check out with Klarna in the US and UK. The company will add more installment payment options in the future, including Citi, Synchrony and eligible Apple Pay issuers via Fiserv in the US. Klarna will also be available as an option in Canada at a later date. Apple discontinued its own Pay Later option earlier this year
Meanwhile, US Apple Pay users can redeem rewards on eligible Discover credit cards at checkout. Support for rewards from other issuers and in more countries is on the way.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apple-pay-now-works-with-third-party-ios-and-desktop-browsers-163048055.html?src=rss
2K and developer 31st Union just unveiled Project: Ethos, a free-to-play 3rd-person hero shooter. Its entering a crowded and fraught marketplace, but the publisher says this is an exciting evolution of the genre.
That evolution seems to take the form of some light roguelike mechanics. The playable characters evolve throughout each match, via semi-randomized upgrades unique to each hero. The publisher gives an example of evolving a sniper into a close-range skirmisher or a support role into a powerful lone wolf.
2K
The abilities, stakes and challenges change from match to match and players can eventually unlock powerful Augments to further enhance runs. It remains to be seen if these mechanics can set it apart from the pack, but you can find that out for yourself. Theres a community playtest going on right now.
Players can test out the games signature Trials mode, which is an ongoing, persistent fight or check out the Gauntlet. This is your standard head-to-head tournament mode, with teams and brackets.
This community playtest goes until October 20 in the US, Canada, Mexico and much of Europe. There is a fairly annoying hurdle to jump through to access the early build. You have to complete a Twitch Drop and stream 30 minutes of content from one of 2Ks partner creators. Theres no information yet regarding an actual release date for people who dont want to sit through a 30-minute stream.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/2k-games-wades-into-risky-waters-and-announces-a-free-to-play-hero-shooter-160059725.html?src=rss
Netflix has released the first trailer for The Electric State, a post-apocalyptic road movie from Marvel (and Community) mainstays The Russo Brothers. The adaptation of Simon Stlenhag's 2018 graphic novel is set in a retro-futuristic version of the '90s after a robot uprising. It tells the story of Michelle, an orphaned teenager (Millie Bobby Brown) who ventures across the west of the US to look for her younger brother with a smuggler (a mustachioed Chris Pratt) and a pair of robots.
The movie's look draws heavily from Stlenhag's gorgeous artwork, right down to the oversized VR helmets. The robots, in particular the one accompanying Michelle, have a cartoon-inspired aesthetic that wouldn't look out of place in Fallout. A large teddy bear robot can be seen as part of a parade of machines, while our heroes appear to face off against a massive one that looks a little like Sonic the Hedgehog.
Meanwhile, the whole "slowed down iteration of a popular song in a movie trailer" thing might have jumped the shark with the version of Oasis' "Champagne Supernova" that plays over the top of this. It fits the '90s setting, of course, but I couldn't help but laugh as soon as I recognized it.
The movie has a hell of a cast. Alongside Brown and Pratt, it stars Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci. The Electric State hits Netflix on March 14.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/netflixs-the-electric-state-trailer-shows-off-cartoony-robots-and-oversized-vr-headsets-143628514.html?src=rss
Londons W1 is somewhere to go if youve got too much money to spend on something. Within minutes of each other, you can visit the citys priciest private doctor, buy a Steinway and a pair of designer glasses that cost more than my mortgage. Wigmore Street is also where the ultra rich go to buy a kitchen that Thorstein Veblen would weep at the sight of. Its also the new home of Moley Robotics, a company selling luxury kitchens and the robot arm thatll kinda/sorta do all of the cooking for you, too.
Moley is the brainchild of Dr. Mark Oleynik and is one part kitchen showroom and one part robot lab. Its a spartan space with three demo kitchens, a wide dining table and some display units showing you the different types of artisan marble you can have for your countertop. The point of interest is the working X-AiR robot just behind the front window that acts as a lure for would-be consumers. Its got its own cooktop, shelves, oils and utensils and, with the proper help, can even whip up a meal.
Moley
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
Oleynik explained he wanted to create something to help people eat better food with less reliance on preservatives. His dislike of reheated and processed food sent him looking for alternatives, which led him to finding a way to automate fresh cooking. If youre coming back late from work, the obvious temptations are microwave meals or delivery food. He believes people would much rather healthy recipes where you just prep the raw ingredients and let the robot do the rest. The focus on health extends to the database of potential meals, many of which have been created by the SHA Wellness Clinic.
Moley has its own in-house chef, James Taylor, who adapts each recipe so it can be made by a one-armed robot. The company says it hopes to add two or three new recipes each month, and that if you have a family dish youd love to see automated, you can send it in. Oleynik said the movements are mapped onto the robot after watching a human chef prepare the same meal. And that, once it had learned what to do, the robot would be far less error-prone than its human counterpart.
The initial demonstration of Moleys vision (above) used a two-armed chef that ran on overhead tracks that earned the company so many plaudits initially. Unfortunately, Oleynik admitted the cost for such a robot would have likely reached north of 250,000 (Around $330,000). Which is probably too rich even for the sort of people who frequent Wigmore Street for their kitchen appliances. To reduce the price, the company stripped down the project from a mobile, two-armed version to a single arm. The robot that Moley is actually selling is bought off-the-shelf from Universal Robots, an industrial robotics company.
The robot
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
The one-armed version thats currently up for pre-order is known as the X-AiR, which is what sits in the front of Moleys showroom. If you want one for yourself, youll need to buy a new countertop, two custom shelving units, a cooktop, control tablet and the robot itself. The prices are in the if you have to ask, you cant afford it range but the price to get in the door is 80,000 (around $105,000). So far, Moley hasnt installed a single robot, but expects the process to begin in the next three to six months. But there are people who have already laid down cash to get one of these in their homes, and the kitchen that goes around it.
X-AiR has no built-in vision or sensing technology enabling it to perceive or engage with its environment. The system does come with a camera, embedded in one of the shelves, that I understand is more for technical support than to aid cooking. Instead, the robot arm moves around its space from memory, knowing where all of the ingredients, oils and tools should be. The saucepans are held in place over the jobs on the cooktop to keep the environment as controlled as possible.
I was present to witness Moleys now standard demonstration using an SHA Clinic recipe for Asian Tofu Saute. Staff members had pre-prepared the ingredients and placed them in the pots necessary for the robot to grab. In order to start the process, the user needs to tell the system which ingredients are in which sections. Theres even a little diagram of the shelf layout, so you can tap Bean Sprouts and tap that the pot with them is seated in position A1, for instance. Once youve done that, you can set the machine going and theoretically leave it be until its time to eat.
The system is set up to call out every instruction from the recipe so its easy to follow along with it. In the video, you should be able to see why its an interesting thing to watch as the arm starts its ballet to start cooking your food. It almost theatrically turns on the cooktop before pouring a liberal quantity of oil into the pan to begin warming. After that, it begins adding the ingredients as and when commanded to, and stirring the mixture in between. The stirring is more of a back and forth pushing of the mix, which is obviously less thorough than a human would be. After each stir, the robot scrapes its spatula on the side of the pan before returning it to its hook.
There are similar touches when the robot adds the next ingredient from its dedicated bin, double tapping the pot on the side to ensure everything falls out. I noticed, however, that there were a few ingredients still attached to the spatula and the pots when they were returned to the shelf. This is the big issue with a robot that lacks any sort of vision to perceive its local environment. During my demonstration, a few strips of leek clung to the spatula and fell off, onto the cooktop itself, while in motion. It was quickly wiped away, but I couldnt help but wonder what would have happened if itd landed a millimeter closer to the burner and pan and started burning.
What it cant do
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
Im much happier tending to a pan and actually cooking than I am peeling carrots and trying to dice onions. The obvious question, then, is why Moley sought to automate the ostensibly fun part of cooking rather than the bit people dislike? Oleynik said it might be possible in a far-flung future but there are just too many variables to make a carrot-peeling robot work. Not to mention, he added, the safety risks inherent in giving a robot a bladed instrument to wield.
Moleys first-generation robots are also limited by the volume of food they can cook in a single session. Depending on the meal, they can make between eight and ten portions, enough for a dinner party but nothing more extravagant. Not to mention the robots cant make much of any adjustment if you dont have exactly the right ingredients ready for use. You can remove any you dont have, naturally, but theres no ability to improvise beyond that, or to variate its program to take into account seasonal differences in ingredient quality.
The food
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
When I was told the robot was making me tofu, I had to work hard to keep myself standing upright. If they could have seen my soul, theyd have watched my shoulders droop so hard they fell through the floor, through the basement, and into the subway line below. Friends, I cannot stand tofu and grimace my way through it whenever my vegan chums insist we go to a meat-free restaurant. Even when they insist Im eating really good tofu, it just tastes like stringy matter, devoid of any inherent flavor as I try to mash it in my mouth. So bear that in mind when I say that the tofu the robot cooked me was actually delicious. It had a nice texture and tasted pretty delicious, meshing beautifully with the vegetables.
The future
Oleynik believes his robots will find a variety of niches to fill, first with money-rich, time-poor folks in London and beyond. The internet tells me that a private chef would set you back around 300 a day, so youd burn through that 80,000 in less than a year. Naturally, its likely anyone who can drop 80,000 on a cooking robot can probably afford to buy their ingredients pre-prepared, so they could just dump them in the bins and set things going.
After that, Oleynik believes the technology could be used to prepare fresh meals for business and first-class airline passengers. Or in small kitchens where one employee supervises a production line of robots all making fresh dishes. His vision stretches to any situation where there may be a desire for fresh-cooked food, but the economics of a trained chef wont allow it.
He cited the example of a hotel with 24/7 room service, where people are paid to wait around on the off-chance someone wants food. Or service stations in remote areas where theres potential demand for meals but no need to hire a professional chef. Similarly, Oleynik cited care homes where theres a similar conflict between a desire to produce good food but limited budgets.
Of course, its not clear, given there would need to be a human preparing the raw ingredients and dishing up, how much labor is being saved. And anyone who is involved with food would likely need to be trained and paid accordingly, which may eliminate any potential savings. But Oleynik is certain that a business can expect to see a return on its investment within its first year of service.
As for the price, Oleynik believes the technology will refine to the point that the cost will fall quite far. He gestured to one of the demo kitchens in the showroom, which had a Miele-branded oven and fridge, saying each model cost 5,000 (around $6,500) each. He hopes hell be able to sell a cooking robot for 10,000 to the sort of people who dont blink when spending 5,000 on an oven and another 5,000 on a fridge. But, if nothing else, its entirely in keeping with everything else you can buy on Wigmore Street.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/a-105000-robot-arm-nobody-needs-cooked-me-a-delicious-lunch-140050065.html?src=rss
B2B tech marketing is constantly shifting as products, channels, and strategies evolve. However, some core principles remain constant amid all the change. Here are eight such "laws" of B2B tech marketing. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
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Update 10/17/24 11:05am ET: Amazon has raised the price of the 55-inch model by $100, which brings the final price down to $1,297. While not quite as low as it was just a few hours ago, that's still about $500 off the original price and a good deal.
I don't know about you but I will be spending most of the upcoming cold months sitting on my couch and watching television (with some books thrown in). The only thing I'm missing is a really good television set and, while I'll be opting for a more budget-friendly pick, I'm tempted by the sale on LG's C3 Series OLED TV. Right now, the 55-inch model is down to $1,197 from $1,800 a 34 percent discount. The all-time low price isn't the only version on sale, with the 42-inch option dropping to $997 from $1,197.
LG released the C3 series last year as a mid-range OLED option. It offers an a9 AI Processor Gen6, HDR tone mapping, AI upscaling and object-based picture sharpening. The TVs also come with Brightness Booster, which though not to the level of some of its competitors makes it easier to watch even in a relatively sunny room.
If you want the newest model then check out LG's C4 OLED series. The 2024 release is also on sale, with the 55-inch version down to $1,297 from $2,000 the same 35 percent discount we recently saw on Prime Day. The C4 TVs offer nearly 1,000 nits of brightness and a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. This model will also wirelessly connect with LG soundbars, foregoing the need for messy cables.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/lgs-c3-oled-tvs-are-more-than-600-off-before-black-friday-135916937.html?src=rss