Nintendo’s recent creepy horror teaser is actually for a new Famicom Detective Club game

Nintendo caused a stir last week when it released an ominous 15-second teaser for an unannounced game. The 15-second clip (bookended by the Switch intro and Nintendo logo, of course) shows a still figure wearing a trench coat and a paper bag with a smiling face drawn on it over their head. Eerie music plays as the camera darts around, flashing on a hand that appears to be missing a finger.

It’s all very un-Nintendo-like, especially considering that the teaser was for an M-rated game that the company is publishing itself — a rarity for the family-friendly brand. Speculation mounted that the game was being developed by the horror specialists at Bloober Team, but a week later, we now know what the game is. As it happens, it’s at least as surprising as any of the other suggestions that have been floating around.

The game in question is a new Famicom Detective Club title. It’s the first completely new entry in the visual novel series in an astonishing 35 years. The original two games, The Missing Heir and prequel The Girl Who Stands Behind, were only released on the Famicom (oddly enough) in Japan at first before remakes arrived on the Switch in 2021.

In Emio The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, you’ll play as an assistant private investigator who is helping police solve a murder. The victim’s head was covered with a paper bag with a creepy smiling face on it. Sound familiar? The scene is said to resemble a frequent clue from a series of unsolved murders from 18 years beforehand. It’s up to you to figure out if the latest death is the work of the original killer or a copycat and put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

Famicom Detective Club creator Yoshio Sakamoto, who is better known for his work on the Metroid series, said in a brief interview that while Nintendo was working on the remakes of the first two entries “I thought that we definitely need to continue this series with a brand-new game.” He added that the Smiling Man, an urban legend that the team invented for the game, “is said to offer crying girls a paper bag with a smile drawn on it in exchange for their life.” It all sounds very creepy. You’ll get to find out for yourself just how much that’s the case when Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club hits the Switch on August 29.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendos-recent-creepy-horror-teaser-is-actually-for-a-new-famicom-detective-club-game-165100278.html?src=rss 

Fallout’s 16 Emmy nominations show that successful gaming adaptations are no longer a fluke

Prime Video’s Fallout has followed The Last of Us in video-game adaptations making smashing freshman debuts at the Emmys. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences unveiled this year’s nominations on Wednesday, and Amazon’s adaptation of Bethesda’s franchise picked up an impressive 16 nods, including Best Drama, Best Actor – Drama (Walton Goggins) and Best Writing – Drama.

Fallout, which Amazon didn’t wait long to renew for a second season, follows Lucy (Ella Purnell), a vault dweller who ventures above-ground to try to rescue her father in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Walton Goggins scored the series’ only acting nomination for his scene-stealing performance as The Ghoul. Its writing nod went to Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner for the ironically (yet appropriately) titled premiere episode, “The End.”

Only Murders in the Building, Hulu’s popular comedy-mystery series, led all streaming-only series with 21 nominations. They include Best Comedy, two for Best Actor – Comedy (Steve Martin and Martin Short), Best Actress – Comedy (Selena Gomez) and Best Supporting Actress – Comedy (finally, Meryl Streep gets nominated for something!), Best Supporting Actor – Comedy (Paul Rudd), Comedy Guest Actress (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and Comedy Guest Actor (Matthew Broderick).

Imelda Staunton in The Crown

Netflix

Netflix’s The Crown followed close behind for streaming-only series with 18 noms for its final season, which recounted the passing of Princess Diana and the Royal Family’s transition into the 21st century. It picked up nods for Best Drama, Best Actress – Drama (Imelda Staunton), Best Actor – Drama (Dominic West), two for Best Supporting Actress – Drama (Elizabeth Debicki and Lesley Manville), Best Supporting Actor – Drama (Jonathan Pryce), Guest Actress – Drama (Claire Foy in a memorable return), Directing – Drama (Stephen Daldry for the episode “Sleep, Dearie Sleep”) and Writing – Drama (Peter Morgan and Meriel Sheibani-Clare for “Ritz”).

In other streaming nominations, Amazon Prime’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Apple TV+’s The Morning Show each snagged 16 nods. Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, described as based on a true stalking story by series creator and lead actor Richard Gadd, received 11 nominations.

Apple TV+

Netflix had the most total nominations of any platform, with a staggering 107. Among streaming-only ones, Apple TV+ came in second with 70. (In addition to The Morning Show, Apple’s Palm Royale, Lessons in Chemistry and Slow Horses all charted.) Amazon Prime Video landed 37 total noms, Hulu got 26 and Disney+ received 19.

Zooming out from streaming-only to the broader field, FX’s Shogun led all series with 25 nominations, followed by The Bear with 23 (it was a good day for FX) as it broke the record for most nods for a comedy. HBO’s True Detective: Night Country landed 19, a new sketch-comedy show you may have heard of called Saturday Night Live received 17 and HBO’s Hacks got 16.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fallouts-16-emmy-nominations-show-that-successful-gaming-adaptations-are-no-longer-a-fluke-175555108.html?src=rss 

Spotify’s AI music DJ can now speak Spanish

AI seems to be seeping into every facet of society these days, but that may not be the case in communities where English isn’t the dominant language. Spotify is working to correct that by offering a Spanish-speaking version of its DJ feature.

Spotify announced the new Spanish speaking feature for its DJ mode also known as Xavier or “X” on Wednesday. The new DJ is named Livi and Spotify has even given its new DJ a backstory describing her as a “Senior Music Editor at Spotify based out of Mexico City” and “a music expert who has spent her entire career in the music industry.

It’s basically a cruder version of how Jon Hamm can digitally assign backgrounds and perspectives to “cookies” in Black Mirror’s Christmas episode. Does this mean X and Livia will start screaming if we play Wizzard’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” on an endless loop?

DJ is an AI generated list of curated songs based on a Spotify user’s listening history. The DJ feature also includes an AI voice introducing and commenting on some of the songs it picks just like a radio DJ would except this DJ plays songs you actually want to hear. The music streaming service launched DJ last year using OpenAI. Six months later, Spotify expanded DJ’s reach to 50 countries but only in English.

Spotify’s DJ is also starting to get some competition. YouTube Music just announced its own AI-generated conversational DJ radio generator for select users. If they don’t call him “YouGene,” then they are missing out on pure pun gold.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spotifys-ai-music-dj-can-now-speak-spanish-180022156.html?src=rss 

No Man’s Sky’s newest update is a buried tech module full of new goodies

No Man’s Sky has been sending players on interstellar explorations for more than eight years now, and explorers probably haven’t uncovered a tenth of this computer-generated universe. A huge new update called Worlds Part I expands this already sizable game with a ton of new gadgets, story driven missions and new worlds to discover and explore.

The Worlds Part I update is available now in No Man’s Sky across all consoles as well as PC and Mac. All told, there are over 40 new features, improvements or fixes and additions.

The game already has over 18 quintillion planets but there are a few new types added to this mix. One of the new world types now have “gravitational distortions” that have altered terrains to create floating islands that can be mined, altered or used as a platform to build a new homebase in the sky. No Man’s Sky has also transformed some of its words into “sub-zero” landscapes with new flora, mineral formations and terrains. Some worlds have even generated new forms of life such as plant-animal hybrids with features like “stamen-like whiskers” and “petal-like faces,” according to the official website.

The Worlds Part I update also comes with a bunch of new graphics improvements and features. Hello Games has given pretty much every part of its worlds a new look from the “new volumetric clouds” in the sky to the “high definition water” and “dynamic water” that’s more responsive to wind, depth and weather conditions.

Hello Games

Some planets have visually enhanced atmospheres that can produce familiar weather like rain and snow as well as unusual conditions such as falling ash and ember and storm crystals. The update also provides some engine enhancements to improve the game’s graphics and performance and render environments faster and clearer. There are even new sky and water colors across the universe’s many landscapes and horizons.

The new update isn’t just a cosmetic fix. There’s also some new toys in the game that help you alter planets’ terrains or blow giant holes in your enemies’ spacecraft. The coolest are the Liquidator combat mechs that look like giant Star Wars imperial walkers (if you cut off its head and attached a pair of arms to either side). You can also mount weapons on the arm such as the new Minotaur Flamethrower that can cause “extreme damage at close range.”

A flamethrower will come in handy when you’re engaged in combat in one of the new “walker battles” featuring new, deadly Sentinel units to fight or taking on one of the “vile insect queens” or a hostile beetle (or gentle but still roastable). Once you’ve defeated them, you can turn their carcasses into mounted trophies for your living space. There’s also new biological based accessories you can build including a “Chitin Flight Pack” and an insect based armor set if you want your explorer to look more GWAR-esque.

There’s even a new menu of “strange nutrients” to keep your explorer sated and healthy with ingredients like “nourishing slime,” “syrupy nectar” and “juicy grubs.” These components can create new dishes to consume like “Mucal Doughnuts,” “Seeping Pies” and “Juicy Thoraxes” that make Scottish cuisine sound like items from the French Laundry.

Hello Games

Now that you’ve got new items from your arsenal like bug-based armor and flamethrowers, you can take them out for a test-toast on new story-driven missions like the “Vile Brood Nexus Mission” to eradicate an invasive species. Once you get your Liquidator mech, you can go on a “Bug Hunt Expedition” to exterminate species of giant, dangerous insects and other biological horrors.

Phew, that’s one massive update. No Man’s Sky is known for its huge updates and patches that throw a ton of new stuff into the game’s virtual universe. The Orbital update released in March added new features like a ship editor and a new Guild system. The Echo package generated a new form of mechanical life called the Autophage, multi-tool salvaging and a graphics boost for PlayStationVR 2.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/no-mans-skys-newest-update-is-a-buried-tech-module-full-of-new-goodies-182151743.html?src=rss 

This Prime Day MacBook Air deal is already great, but spending more makes it an even better value

Next to Black Friday, Prime Day is a great time to buy hardware from Amazon and Apple. On the latter brand, we’re seeing some of the best prices to date for the latest models of iPads, AirPods and AirTags, to name a few. And if you’re in the market for a new laptop, it’s also a great time to buy a MacBook, with prices starting at a record low $849 for the latest MacBook Air. It’s currently Engadget’s top pick on our best laptop list.

But I’m here to argue that you should spend $1,249 for that MacBook Air instead.

Here’s why: They get you in the door for that sub-$1,000 price, which is an enticing $250 less than you’d spend at the Apple Store. But Apple is notoriously stingy on memory and storage for its devices: The baseline model only has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB drive. That’s fine if you’re only using your laptop for the basics – say, social media, streaming video and light document creation. But even with cloud storage, that SSD will fill up very quickly with photos, audio and video if you’re doing anything creative. (Yes, you can get external USB drives, but they’re slower and ruin the lines of Apple’s sleek laptop.) And while Apple does a great job of managing software resources on the Mac, that 8GB of memory feels like a low ceiling.

So here’s what I did when Amazon ran a version of this same deal a few months ago: I paid to double both specs. For $1,249 (after clipping that same $50 on-screen coupon), you get 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Yes, a terabyte or more would be even better, but you pick your battles. And this configuration still saves you a cool $250 off the Apple Store price for the same configuration, while being a lot more future-proofed. For instance, if you’re laptop shopping for a high school or college student, this stepped-up model will survive a 4-year academic stint with more comfort than that $849 version.

If that’s still too steep, you can split the difference with the 512GB MacBook Air M2. It doesn’t have the extra RAM, but the otherwise identical slightly older model still gets you a very capable, modern Apple laptop with decent storage for just $999. But don’t wait: these laptop deals end today, and we don’t know if we’ll be seeing them again before Black Friday.

Your Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Amazon Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-prime-day-macbook-air-deal-is-already-great-but-spending-more-makes-it-an-even-better-value-154304978.html?src=rss 

Generated by Feedzy
Exit mobile version