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There's something inherently compelling about one-button games since developers are giving themselves a tight constraint for their creativity. Sometimes, they take full advantage of that. One of my favorite games from this year, One Btn Bosses, gets it right thanks to tight controls and never seeming like it's unfair. Faraway is an upcoming game in a similar vein. This procedurally generated title from developer Steph Thirion (aka Little Eyes) and publisher Annapurna Interactive is coming to PC in 2025. Faraway has been a long time coming Thirion announced it for iPhone all the way back in 2010. Since the initial unveiling, the solo developer has remade the game with a captivating new art style. You play as a shooting star and you use the gravitational force of the closest star to swing your way toward your destination. When you get there, you'll use the same mechanic to draw a constellation of random stars. If you create loops between them, you'll get a score multiplier. Along with the main procedurally generated levels, there's a mode that asks you to draw specific shapes. Another puzzle mode prompts you to get the highest possible score from a certain formation. During Wednesday's Day of the Devs showcase, Thirion (who made early iPhone standout Eliss) said he took inspiration from Tetris to create a minimalist, replayable game with random elements and lots of depth. On the surface, Faraway has relaxing audio and visuals, but you'll need to keep your brain engaged if you want to get a great score.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/chill-puzzle-game-faraway-sees-you-drawing-star-constellations-with-one-button-172138741.html?src=rss
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Astro Bot has a new level coming, and it wont cost a thing. Team Asobi said on Wednesday that Winter Wonder, a surprise bonus stage, will arrive on Thursday, December 12 at 9PM ET. The developer promises jingle bells, new bots and fun for all ages. Team Asobi describes the update as a show of gratitude to fans for their lovely comments and critical response to the Game of the Year nominee. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for showing your appreciation, the developer wrote in the PlayStation Blog. It truly means a lot to us. Winter Wonder will only be available after youve completed the game. Team Asobi is tight-lipped about most details, but you can catch a zoomed-out glimpse in the above image. The developer says you can expect a fun-filled level, shiny presents (yay!) and special bots (presumably winter- or holiday-themed) to add to your crew. So, expect more winter delight and less throw your controller difficulty. Team Asobi, a PlayStation Studios subsidiary, had quite the year. Astro Bot launched to rave reviews, making the robot mascot the closest thing Sony has had to a Mario-like tentpole franchise since Sackboy and Crash Bandicoot were in their respective primes. In our review, Engadgets Jessica Conditt called the PS5 game easily one of the best games that Sony has ever produced, describing it as Super Mario Bros. for a new generation of video game fanatics, at once an introduction to common mechanics and also a significant challenge for seasoned players. Astro Bot picked up seven nominations at the Game Awards, including (deep breath) Game of the Year, Game Direction, Art Direction, Score and Music, Audio Design, Action / Adventure and Best Family Game. The Game Awards will be on December 12 at 7:30PM ET. To get the new level when its hot off the press, make sure youve beaten the game and have an active internet connection at 9PM ET tomorrow. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/astro-bot-is-getting-a-free-holiday-themed-bonus-level-171920527.html?src=rss
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The battle for AI supremacy is heating up. Almost exactly a week after OpenAI made its o1 model available to the public, Google today is offering a preview of its next-generation Gemini 2.0 model. In a blog post attributed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the company says 2.0 is its most capable model yet, with the algorithm offering native support for image and audio output. It will enable us to build new AI agents that bring us closer to our vision of a universal assistant, says Pichai. Google is doing something different with Gemini 2.0. Rather than starting todays preview by first offering its most advanced version of the model, Gemini 2.0 Pro, the search giant is instead kicking things off with 2.0 Flash. As of today, the more efficient (and affordable) model is available to all Gemini users. If you want to try it yourself, you can enable Gemini 2.0 from the dropdown menu in the Gemini web client, with availability within the mobile app coming soon. Moving forward, Google says its main focus is adding 2.0s smarts to Search (no surprise there), beginning with AI Overviews. According to the company, the new model will allow the feature to tackle more complex and involved questions, including ones involving multi-step math and coding problems. At the same time, following a broad expansion in October, Google plans to make AI Overviews available in more languages and countries. Looking forward, Gemini 2.0 is already powering enhancements to some of Googles more moonshot AI applications, including Project Astra, the multi-modal AI agent the company previewed at I/O 2024. Thanks to the new model, Google says the latest version of Astra can converse in multiple languages and even switch between them on the fly. It can also remember things for longer, offers improved latency, and can access tools like Google Lens and Maps. As you might expect, Gemini 2.0 Flash offers significantly better performance than its predecessor. For instance, it earned a 63 percent score on HiddenMath, a benchmark that tests the ability of AI models to complete competition-level math problems. By contrast, Gemini 1.5 Flash earned a score of 47.2 percent on that same test. But the more interesting thing here is that the experimental version of Gemini 2.0 even beats Gemini 1.5 Pro in many areas; in fact, according to data Google shared, the only domains where it lags behind are in long-context understanding and automatic speech translation. Its for that reason that Google is keeping the older model around, at least for a little while longer. Alongside today's announcement of Gemini 2.0, the company also debuted Deep Research, a new tool that uses Gemini 1.5 Pro's long-context capabilities to write comprehensive reports on complicated subjects. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-20-is-googles-most-capable-ai-model-yet-and-available-to-preview-today-170329180.html?src=rss
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