 |
|
|
|||||
The spiritual successor to Life is Strange is heading to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog as a day-one freebie. The first installment of Dont Nods Lost Records: Bloom & Rage hits Sonys subscription service later this month, along with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and immersive tennis in TopSpin 2K25. In addition, Sony previewed a couple of other cool-looking day-one titles heading to the service before long: Blue Prince and Abiotic Factor. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage tells the story of four high school friends (and punk rockers!) living in a deceptively picturesque Michigan town in 1995. The narrative adventure jumps between that era and 2022 as we gradually peel back the layers of, well, some freaky-ass stuff the girls uncovered. Don't Nod Each timeline gives you more of a glimpse into the life-changing secrets they stumbled upon back when Blues Traveler was on the charts and why theyre reuniting 27 years later. If you were into the Life is Strange series, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage should be right up your alley. PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium members can claim the game on its February 18 release date. And if you get sucked into the world, you wont have long to wait for the next chapter: It arrives in the April 15 batch of Sonys catalog. EA / Respawn Thats also when Extra and Premium subscribers can claim Respawns Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. The follow-up to Jedi: Fallen Order puts you back in the boots of Cal Kestis as he tries to fend off the Empire and rebuild the Jedi Order. In our 2023 preview, Engadgets Igor Bonifacic found it to be a bigger and better (if perhaps a bit too safe) sequel with larger worlds and new Force abilities to explore, as well as a handy grappling hook to kick it like Bionic Commando. Arriving a bit later is Blue Prince, Dogubombs clever title that takes the escape room concept and expands it into an entire mansion. Set in 1993, you inherit Mount Holly Estate, a sprawling building with a layout that changes daily. You get to choose its room configurations. The mansion has 45 rooms; your challenge is to find the 46th before all of your allotted movements expire. Each door is a decision, the developer promises. And each room you pick adds another layer of strategy, puzzles and exploration to your adventure. PS Plus subscribers can step into the mysterious world of Blue Prince on its release date this spring. Playstack / Deep Field Games Another day-one Plus title, Abiotic Factor is a six-player survival crafting game. Deep Field Games creepy title has throwback graphics and a survival crafting vibe. Up to six players (but you can play solo, too) take on the roles of scientists stranded miles underground in a strange research facility. Caught between paranormal containment failure, a military crusade and chaos from a dozen realms, the worlds greatest minds must survive against the universes biggest threats, the game blurb reads. It arrives as a day-one Game Catalog release this summer. Other titles available for Premium and Extra members on February 18 include Hangar 13s TopSpin 2K25, where you can play as (among others) Serena Williams, Roger Federer or even throwbacks like Maria Sharapova and John McEnroe. The 2021 remake of the 1998 RPG SaGa Frontier is also on tap, as well as narrative sci-fi adventure Somerville, puzzle game Tin Hearts and the medieval slash-em-up Mordhau.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/lost-records-and-blue-prince-are-coming-to-the-playstation-game-catalog-at-launch-213659797.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
Metas Oversight Board is coming under new pressure to respond to the companys recent policy changes on fact-checking and moderation, which were made without input from the advisory group. A coalition of civil society organizations has published an open letter to the Oversight Board saying the group should resign en masse as recent developments make it clear that the company has abandoned any pretense of oversight and acts with no regard as to the consequences. The letter, which was first reported by The Washington Post, comes from the Global Coalition for Tech Justice, which is made up of more than 250 human and digital rights advocates, fact-checking organizations and other civil society groups from around the world. A mass resignation would be a historic act of conscience one that makes clear Metas reckless disregard for human rights cannot be excused, ignored, or concealed behind the curtains of an oversight board that has no real power, the letter says. By stepping down collectively, you would show solidarity with all those communities impacted by Metas unconscionable actions, increase public pressure on Meta and demonstrate that true accountability cannot exist within a system designed to suppress it. Last month, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would end its long-running fact-checking programs and roll back content moderation standards that protected immigrants and LGBT people on its platform. The Meta CEO, who upon creating the board said that Facebook should not make so many important decisions about free expression and safety on our own, reportedly decided to make the changes following a visit with then President-elect Donald Trump last year and consulted only a handful of people at Meta. The Oversight Boards co-chair later said that these changes came as a surprise to the group, which was created to help shape platform-wide policy but was not consulted ahead of time in this instance. The Global Coalition for Tech Justice isnt the first group to question the Oversight Boards role in the wake of Zuckerbergs sweeping policy changes. Members of Congress also recently raised the issue in a letter addressed to the Meta CEO. The Oversight Board, once touted as a beacon of accountability, is rendered toothless when Meta itself refuses to adhere to the principles of trust and safety, they wrote. One member of the Global Coalition for Tech Justice has been even more direct. If the Oversight Board has no role (even consultory) in the single biggest change in content moderation since their founding, clearly the experiment has failed, the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a group of longtime Oversight Board critics, said in a statement last month. Meanwhile, the Oversight Boards response to Metas changes has so far been muted. The group published a statement shortly after Zuckerbergs announcement, saying that it would engage with Meta on its plan to implement community notes. It later added a brief update that said it would be reviewing the implications of the various changes that go beyond fact-checking. Representatives for Meta and the Oversight Board didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement to The Washington Post, the board said that it planned to propose nuanced policy recommendations that Meta must respond to.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/civil-society-groups-urge-metas-oversight-board-to-resign-in-protest-211134922.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
Blue Origin, the SpaceX competitor founded and funded by Jeff Bezos, is cutting 10 percent of its employees or about 1,400 people, according to The Seattle Times and CNN. Staff were informed of the news by Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, in an email reviewed by Engadget, who claims the layoffs are an attempt to address a lack of focus and an excessive amount of bureaucracy at the company. The areas of the business primarily impacted by the cuts are program and project management, research and development and engineering. Blue Origin is making these changes as it finalizes its annual operating plan, CNN notes, which is focused on increasing manufacturing and the pace at which the company launches rockets. For example, Blue Origin is one of several space companies with commercial moon missions planned for 2025. The company has been on a bit of a hot streak as of late. Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn orbital rocket in January, and retrieved the rocket's second stage when it landed back on the launch platform. That's a trick that took SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket a few years to master. In December 2024, Blue Origin also returned to space tourism, launching six paying customers into space. Despite the progress, the company is still seen as lagging behind SpaceX, at the very least because Elon Musk's space company has spent more time actually launching rockets into space. Reducing staff doesn't change that, but it may save Blue Origin money, something that's been a goal of Bezos' for a while now, according to Ars Technica. Dave Limp's full email is reproduced below: Subject: Difficult Org News Changes To Our Team Folks,We just finished this mornings meeting, during which I gave an update on our organization. As I mentioned, we have made the tough decision to reduce our workforce by about 10%. The impact this has is not lost on any of uswe are saying goodbye to our friends and colleagues who have helped us build Blue into what it is today.I know this is a lot to absorb, and I would like to explain how we got here. Over the last few months, as a leadership team, we have worked together to define our 2025 Annual Operating Plan and growth strategy. Our primary focus in 2025 and beyond is to scale our manufacturing output and launch cadence with speed, decisiveness, and efficiency for our customers. We grew and hired incredibly fast in the last few years, and with that growth came more bureaucracy and less focus than we needed. It also became clear that the makeup of our organization must change to ensure our roles are best aligned with executing these priorities. Sadly, this resulted in eliminating some positions in engineering, R&D, and program/project management and thinning out our layers of management.While I acknowledge that these messages are better delivered personally and individually, the reach of these changes across multiple locations and teams makes that difficult. We will notify impacted employees immediately via their work and personal email addresses of their status with Blue. We will also email employees who are not impacted to confirm their employment with Blue. Both emails will arrive by 7:30 AM PT/10:30 AM ET today. While our sites are open, I encourage you to work from home for the rest of the day if your role allows you to do so.We are doing what we can to support everyone impacted. The email notifications will provide support details, which include severance packages, COBRA coverage, career support services, and access to counseling through our Employee Assistance Program.Let me add that I am extremely confident in the enormous opportunities in front of us and have never been more optimistic about our mission. We will continue to invest, invent, and hire hundreds of positions in areas that will help us achieve our goals and best serve our customers. We will be a stronger, faster, and more customer-focused company that consistently meets and exceeds our commitments. This year alone, we will land on the Moon, deliver a record number of incredible engines, and fly New Glenn and New Shepard on a regular cadence.To our colleagues who are impacted today, thank you so much for your hard work and passion for our mission. I hope we all support one another with grace and empathy while upholding our leadership principles during this time.Dave-This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/blue-origin-is-cutting-10-percent-of-its-workforce-203642991.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||