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Autonomous vehicle company Cruise is laying off around half of its workforce, according to reporting by TechCrunch. The cuts even extend to the CEO and other top executives. This is part of a major restructuring effort by parent company GM that will eventually see a total shutdown of operations. These layoffs are expected to impact well over 1,000 people and include CEO Marc Whitten, chief safety officer Steve Kenner and global head of public policy Rob Grant. Chief technologist Mo Elshenawy is also being laid off, but will stay on until the end of April to help with the transition. To that end, some of Cruises workforce and resources will carry on. They are being shuffled to the Super Cruise team, which is GMs driver assistance system. These layoffs dont come as too much of a surprise, given that GM already announced it was giving up on the development of robotaxis. The company, however, hasn't stopped chasing the dream of autonomous vehicles. GM is still planning on rolling out driverless cars for personal use at some point in the future. Cruise has had a rough last couple of years. The company faced scrutiny after one of its robotaxis struck a pedestrian and dragged them 20 feet. Prior to the crash, the companys algorithm was fairly notorious for being buggy, as it repeatedly failed to recognize children. The ensuing investigation forced Cruise to stop all operations for its manned robotaxi service. GM was fined $1.5 million for omitting key details about the aforementioned crash. There were also serious layoffs. In recent months, Cruise had resumed some limited activity, though only with human drivers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/cruise-lays-off-half-its-staff-after-gm-sunsets-robitaxi-program-191417313.html?src=rss
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Netflix has been revamping its games division in recent months, including making adjustments to the library of titles that it offers subscribers at no extra cost. The company has canceled release plans for six games that were previously bound for iOS and Android through its platform. As first reported by What's On Netflix, the company will no longer bring Thirsty Suitors, Compass Point: West and Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game to its library. Nor will it offer three titles from Klei Entertainment: Don't Starve Together, Lab Rat and Rotwood. A Netflix spokesperson confirmed the decision to Engadget, noting that nixing the planned additions was "just a natural part of adjusting our portfolio as we learn more about what our members like." Tales of the Shire, a cozy life sim game featuring hobbits, is still coming to Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S next month. Action RPG Thirsty Suitors received positive reviews when it debuted on PC and consoles in 2023. As for Don't Starve Together, that was a co-op expansion to Don't Starve, a hit survival game from 2013. Netflix has been retooling its games division after bringing in a new leader for the department last summer. It has removed several games from its library and it emerged in October that it had shut its AAA studio, which was dubbed Team Blue. Meanwhile, Leanne Loombe an executive who helped bring the likes of Hades and Grand Theft Auto to Netflix's library while leading second- and third-party development and publishing efforts recently became the head of games at Annapurna Interactive following an exodus there. Meanwhile, Netflix aims to add more high-profile mainstream games to its catalog the WWE 2K series is on the way later this year. Other areas of focus include its well-known franchises, narrative-driven games, party and couch co-op titles and games for kids, per a recent earnings call.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/netflix-scuttles-plans-to-add-six-previously-announced-games-to-its-service-192946233.html?src=rss
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Proving that truly no IP is safe from modern reboot culture, Ataris Breakout is back. The upcoming version of the simple 1976 brick-smashing hit rotates the playing field by 90 degrees and adds auto-scrolling, neon effects, power-ups and local co-op. In other words, Breakout Beyond is the Tetris Effect formula applied to the Led Zeppelin-era arcade classic. The original Breakout was a product of dramatically more limited 1970s hardware, but its simplicity was part of its magic. Rows of bricks sat up top, a player-controlled paddle lived down below and a ball (actually a square, thanks to 70s graphics) bounced in between. Move paddle, hit ball, smash bricks, wow bellbottom-wearing arcadegoers. The core formula moving a paddle to bounce projectiles against bricks remains intact in Breakout Beyond. But the games landscape perspective, while better suited for todays televisions and monitors, may be hard for old-school gamers to get used to. Ditto for auto-scrolling, as this version pans left-to-right toward a goal rather than simply requiring you to break all the bricks on a fixed screen. Atari Visually, the new versions ball is more like a comet, with a long neon tail trailing off behind its round head. Seizure-inducing effects abound. And there are multiple balls to contend with, not just one. (However, Super Breakout, the original games direct sequel, had two modes with extra balls.) Like Tetris Effect, Breakout Beyond introduces combos, rewarding you with intensified visual and sound effects for stringing together streams of broken bricks. You can also break special blocks that unlock power-ups: bombs that clear out everything from a set radius, a force field to shield the ball and a freakin laser cannon that lets you blast bricks out of your way, a la Space Invaders. The game supports two-player local co-op so you can smash bricks with a couch buddy. It has 72 levels and an optional focus mode that slows down time (at the expense of higher scores). Breakout Beyond will arrive later this year for PC, Switch, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One, PlayStation 5/4 and Ataris rebooted VCS console. Theres no pricing info yet. You can check it out in the trailer below and learn more on Ataris product page. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ataris-breakout-is-getting-a-side-scrolling-reboot-175410378.html?src=rss
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