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Grab your popcorn. Nintendo just announced the official release date of the live-action Legend of Zelda movie. It hits theaters on March 26, 2027, which is just about two years from now. The film was first announced back in 2023. The company dropped this bombshell on the official Nintendo Today! app that was surprise-released during a recent Direct livestream. The stream promised that the app would be a constant source of news and information. It looks like that promise was not hyperbole. The Legend of Zelda live-action film releasing on March 26, 2027 (via Nintendo Today!) pic.twitter.com/8DzgH5e1YF Wario64 (@Wario64) March 28, 2025 Anyone who opened up the app this morning saw a short video of a Tri-Force floating alongside the iconic Zelda theme music. After that, text confirmed the release date for the movie. Now well all have to check that darned app every day for more news. The release date, however, is pretty much all we know about the film. Its being directed by Wes Ball, who made Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and the Maze Runner trilogy. Theres no casting information yet, or a look at sets or anything like that. We dont even know who is writing it. Ball has said that he envisions the film as live-action Miyazaki," referring to the legendary Studio Ghibli director. Will Nintendo ready a Zelda game to accompany the film? We have no idea, but Super Mario Bros. Wonder followed the release of the Super Mario Bros. Movie a couple of years back.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-legend-of-zelda-movie-hits-theaters-on-march-26-2027-150145662.html?src=rss
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Google is revamping its smart home lineup, ending production on two of its devices in favor of integrations with third-party manufacturers. First, it will sunset the Nest Protect smoke & CO alarms. Existing products will continue to function and receive security updates until their expiration dates. They will also remain available for purchase while supplies last. Second, it will end production for the Nest x Yale smart lock. As with the Nest Protect, the remaining inventory will still be available for purchase and the devices will continue receiving security updates. Rather than manufacture its own smoke alarm, Google announced that it will take a partnership approach. The company is teaming up with First Alert for a new smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarm that will integrate with existing Nest Protect devices and can be controlled from the Google Home app. First Alert hasn't provided an exact release date, but says the new alarm coming soon to the US and Canada and will be priced at $130. It'll be available in both Google and First Alert's stores, and also sold through retail stores and "professional distribution partners." And on the lock side, Google will again partner with Yale. The pair is developing the Yale Smart Lock with Matter, which is meant to work with the Google Home ecosystem just as well as the Nest-branded lock. As the name suggests, it'll play nice with all manner of devices using the Matter smart home protocol, and Yale says its battery will last for up to a year. It'll be available "later this summer" at $170 in a variety of finishes.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/google-will-stop-making-the-nest-protect-smoke-alarm-150024379.html?src=rss
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Baby Steps is a video game about hiking. This is, of course, a ridiculous concept. Before we get to the games protagonist, an adult toddler in a thin onesie, or its unserious side characters and nonsensical narrative, we have to acknowledge the absurdity at its very core. Leisurely walking around in nature is perhaps the most organic, least technological activity a person can engage in, and the desire to digitize this experience, recreating it for consumption from the butt-shaped cushions of your couch, is silly. Its such a patently Game Developer impulse that, actually, I find it adorable. Much like the rest of Baby Steps. Baby Steps is a walking simulator from a trio of veteran game developers: Dance Central creator Maxi Boch, Ape Out developer Gabe Cuzzillo, and Bennett Foddy of QWOP and Getting Over It fame. Its heading to PC and PlayStation 5 this year, and since its announcement video dropped in June 2023, its been a hotly anticipated curio for fans of annoyingly precise traversal mechanics and offbeat indie shit. Its a larger audience than you might think. I played about 45 minutes of Baby Steps at GDC 2025 while Boch, Cuzzillo and Foddy looked on and intermittently told me how good I was at walking. The game stars Nate, an unemployed adult dude who lives in his parents basement, as he explores an arid mountain landscape one shaky, unsure step at a time. Maneuvering his body in the proper way is the main goal, and its a tricky one. Using a gamepad, you control Nates legs individually, one per trigger, and his limbs are incredibly sensitive to small changes in button depression. Pull a trigger tight to lift and bend one of his knees, and release it bit by bit to swing out his lower leg and place his foot precisely where it needs to be. Press forward with the left stick to give Nate just the right amount of momentum, get your trigger rhythm right, and suddenly, hey, youre walking here. It sounds easier than it is. Thanks to the games incredibly precise mechanics, Nate falls over easily, faceplanting in the dirt and tumbling backward over rocky slopes like a ragdoll, covering his grey onesie in mud and sweat. This same precision also makes Nate shockingly sturdy at times, like when he pulls his whole body onto a ledge with a single step, ending in a perfectly balanced flamingo stance. Theres room in the controls for both mastery and mayhem, and by the time I put down the gamepad, I was walking Nate around with all the grace of a perfectly adequate five-year-old. I was proud of this accomplishment, too, damn it. Devolver Digital Literally placing one foot in front of the other requires so much concentration in the games first few minutes that its easy to ignore Nates surroundings, but as walking becomes easier, youre finally able to look around and ask, What the hell am I doing here? The first two chapters of Baby Steps are set on a mountainside dotted with craggy rocks, patches of brown grass, long-abandoned wooden buildings, random carousel horses and dirt pits, and the only indication of where to go is an orange glow emanating from a ridgeline high above Nates spawn point. The few folks Nate meets along the way a charmingly aloof guide and at least one other, much more prepared hiker are incredibly entertaining to interact with, but theyre also pretty unhelpful with existential questions. Nate murmurs and monosyllabizes his way through conversations, and he tends to get cut off by the NPCs eager observations. Like when I was playing, Nate fell and got stuck at the bottom of a muddy hole, and his guide friend showed up and immediately said, This hole used to be dry. Hey, did you pee in the hole? Did you pee in this hole? In response, Nate made anxious noises and generally panicked. The comedy in Baby Steps is sharp and chaotic, with a delirious, improvised edge. Foddy does the voice work for most of the characters, and he tends to just make up their lines at the mic. The result is a messy yet refreshing conversational flow, and every cutscene I encountered made me chuckle. Devolver Digital Most aspects of Baby Steps made me smile, in fact. At one point I entered a fast-walking groove while wandering along a rocky path on the edge of the canyon, and I realized the birdsong and the thuds of my own steps had morphed into a rhythmic song, encouraging my gait with a steady, organic beat. The games soundscape comes courtesy of Boch, and it intentionally ebbs and flows according to the way you play the game. Combine this responsive, immersive soundtrack with the constant focus you have to keep on Nates movements, and Baby Steps quickly becomes a hypnotic experience. The games details only encourage this feeling the mountain is strangely beautiful, rendered in crisp 3D graphics, and its completely explorable, with no invisible walls in sight. If you can see it, you can attempt to climb it. Nates onesie collects sweat along the small of his back, under his arms, and in all the crannies youd expect, and it also picks up mud when he falls, but the stains wash away when you get in water. On-screen prompts are rare. There are hidden hats to wear and penis graffiti to admire, and Nate can take numerous paths to reach the same point, bouncing pancake butt leading the way. Behind all the absurdity, Baby Steps is an incredibly well-crafted, hyper-detailed relaxation tool. While it is laugh-out-loud funny, its mechanics cut deeper than its oddball trailers suggest, and in practice, it actually left me feeling meditative. Baby Steps is a serious silly game. Baby Steps is being published by Devolver Digital, and its due to hit PS5 and PC via Steam later this year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/baby-steps-preview-serious-gameplay-in-a-silly-walking-sim-150008737.html?src=rss
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