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Sir Ian Wilmut, the scientist who led the team that cloned Dolly the sheep in 1996, has died at 79. The University of Edinburgh, where he served as a professor before his 2012 retirement, announced his passing today. Dolly was the first successful cloning of a mammal from an adult somatic cell, demonstrating the viability of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). The controversial milestone helped pave the way for today’s research on regenerative medicine.

Born near Stratford-upon-Avon (also Shakespeare’s birthplace) in 1944, Wilmut discovered an interest in biology while at school in Scarborough; he later switched his major at the University of Nottingham from agriculture to animal science, kicking off the work he would be most known for. His Ph.D. studies at the University of Cambridge foreshadowed his later breakthroughs, focusing on “the preservation of semen and embryos for freezing.” In 1972, he became the first scientist to successfully freeze, thaw and transfer a calf embryo, which he called “Frostie,” to a surrogate mother.

Wilmut’s work at The Roslin Institute in Edinburgh continued to push the boundaries of animal genetics. He strived to create modified sheep that would produce milk with proteins that could treat human diseases. A year before Dolly, he successfully cloned two lambs (Megan and Morag) whose cells were taken from sheep embryos.

Dolly’s successful birth in 1996 marked the first time a mammal was successfully cloned from an adult cell. The scientifically groundbreaking announcement also set off a media firestorm as experts and casual observers wrestled with lab-made mammals’ ethical implications. Specifically, many wondered: If they’re doing sheep now, how long until they clone humans? Religious groups accused the researchers of “playing God.” Even those who focused more on the natural world than supernatural ones worried about the potential for making “designer humans” or something out of The Island of Dr. Moreau.

While Dolly proved that cells could be used to create a copy of the animal they came from, Wilmut’s next experiment proved that they could also be altered. Polly, born in 1997, was the first genetically modified cloned mammal. His team spliced the host’s genes with a human gene to create a sheep that would produce a protein missing from people with hemophilia. Polly was Wilmut’s last cloning experiment.

Wilmut moved to the University of Edinburgh the following decade, focusing on using cloning to make stem cells for regenerative medicine. He was knighted in 2008 and retired in 2012. Wilmut was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2018 and became a patron of a new research program at the university working to slow the disease’s progression with next-gen therapies.

According toThe Guardian, Sir Ian is survived by his wife Sara, his children — Helen, Naomi and Dean — and his five grandchildren: Daniel, Matthew, Isaac, Tonja and Tobias.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sir-ian-wilmut-who-cloned-dolly-the-sheep-has-died-164536893.html?src=rss 

Mario Kart Tour has carved out a niche for itself in the mobile gaming space since launching as a beta in 2019, but all good things must come to an end. Nintendo just announced that there are only three more “tours” (original multiplayer events) scheduled for the next month and after that the tours will repeat from the beginning. There will be no new courses, drivers, karts, gliders or features of any kind added after October 4th, according to an in-game screengrab posted to Reddit.

Does this mean the game is heading to the digital scrapyard? Yes and no. Nintendo is abandoning the development of new content for the free-to-play racer, but it’ll still be available to download and experience. Without the lure of fresh content, however, the player base will likely shrink dramatically, despite Nintendo saying they hope people will continue to use the app.

Engadget reached out to Nintendo for clarification as to why the content spigot was turned off and we’ll update this post when we get something official. However, every game eventually runs out of new content, and it could be just as simple as that. It’s worth noting that Mario Kart Tour has been a success for the company, raking in nearly $300 million as of last year, which was originally reported by Eurogamer. This haul makes it Nintendo’s second-most profitable mobile title, behind the massively popular Fire Emblem Heroes.

Despite financial success, Mario Kart Tour has had its share of controversy. Like most free-to-play mobile games, it constantly asks you for money and the most egregious instance of this was something called “Spotlight Pipes.” This gacha mechanic provided loot boxes with undisclosed odds, so you had no idea if it was worth it or not. Gamers rallied against this mechanic and Nintendo removed the pipes last September. However, the company faces a class-action lawsuit after a parent claimed his child spent $170 on Spotlight Pipes, as reported by Kotaku.

Nintendo’s still churning out content for other mobile games, including Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, Super Mario Run and the aforementioned Fire Emblem Heroes. The company recently partnered with mobile giant DeNA to create something called Nintendo Systems, which presumably is developing new smartphone games and related experiences.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendo-is-sunsetting-mario-kart-tour-next-month-170533206.html?src=rss 

I’ll admit that, between Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport, I’m more of a Horizon player. I’m interested in driving and crashing beautiful cars in exotic locations, and occasionally entering a low-stakes race, rather than perfecting my times on professional tracks with top-tier equipment. Despite this predilection, I’ve had a lot of fun tinkering around in the first few hours of Forza Motorsport’s serious, car-obsessed world.

I played a near-final version of the new Builders Cup Intro Series, which features three tracks and three cars — a 2019 Subaru STI S209, 2018 Honda Civic Type R, and 2018 Ford Mustang GT. On top of the actual races, the Builders Cup career mode includes a robust vehicle-customization system and the Challenge the Grid betting module. Developers at Turn 10 Studios have discussed this section of the game at length, but the preview marks the first public playtest of these roads, cars and systems.

Put simply, they feel fantastic.

Turn 10 knows how to build a smooth, responsive racing game with dynamic vehicles and tracks. Forza Motorsport is the ultimate showcase of these skills. Each car in the intro series handles differently, but none of them feel unwieldy. The Ford can’t cut corners as sharply as the Subaru or Civic, but it’s a powerhouse on the straightaway; the Civic is more floaty than the Subaru; the Subaru can handle quick braking better than the other two. These unique features are baked into each vehicle, but the customization screen also allows for fine adjustments that truly affect the way they drive.

The beginning of Forza Motorsport is inviting in numerous ways. It offers a difficulty slider, three modes of play, a bounty of training and real-time assist options, and a rewind button (my absolute favorite feature). In Driving Assists, I turned the Global Presets down to light, set the Suggested Line on for braking only, and I kept ABS on, with automatic shifting. This configuration helped me feel in control on the tracks, and the customization made me comfortable experimenting with new angles and turn speeds in practice laps.

This is also where the rewind button became my best friend. If you’re new to Forza, rewind might seem like a silly feature for a game that takes racing so seriously, but it’s absolutely necessary for the pacing of practice rounds specifically. Rewind allows racers to mess up and quickly reset without leaving the track, and it encourages players to try, try again. It encourages play, and it’s a lovely feature — one you can turn off at any time, if you think gaming should be pure punishment.

One of the main reasons Forza Motorsport feels so great is its framerate. Motorsport runs at 60 fps on all platforms, including Xbox Series S, and I didn’t notice any dropped frames during my playthrough on that console. This is vital for a racing sim, but feels especially notable when many AAA games today are either locked at 30 fps or fail to hit 60 fps on Series S. Microsoft requires feature parity between the Xbox Series X — the most technically powerful console on the market — and the Series S, Microsoft’s less powerful, cheaper and most popular option this generation. In the case of games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Redfall and Starfield, developers have prioritized high resolutions in big, dense worlds over framerate, often to the detriment of combat and animations on the cheaper console.

Responsiveness is paramount in a racing game, and Turn 10 clearly knows this. The studio prioritized the proper things in order to hit 1080p and 60 fps on Xbox Series S, and the result is a game that looks pretty, but plays beautifully. Ray-traced global illumination and dynamic lighting make the cars and roads sparkle, and the environments along the tracks are busy without being distracting. So far, Forza Motorsport offers a strangely serene, high-octane experience, and I’m eager to dive into the full game.

There was drama recently over some features that won’t be in Forza Motorsport at launch, namely spectator mode, AI racing in featured multiplayer, and splitscreen — and that last one is a sensitive topic for Xbox owners. In August, Baldur’s Gate III creator Larian Studios had to delay the game’s Xbox versions because they couldn’t make splitscreen work on Series S, despite it running fine on Series X. Larian eventually worked out a deal with Microsoft and it plans to release Baldur’s Gate III on Series S without the feature later this year, but Xbox players still remember that sting.

After playing Forza Motorsport‘s Builders Cup intro series, I’m finding it hard to be concerned about the missing features. Turn10 is crafting a solid racing sim that nails the basics of responsiveness, customization and accessibility. It’s a clean, polished foundation for years of DLC to come, and there’s already plenty to mess around with in the game’s first hours.

Forza Motorsport is made to be replayed. After 18 years and seven installments, 2023’s Motorsport is the final game that Turn 10 plans to release in the series, and it’ll serve as the foundation of a live-service system. The goal is for Motorsport to be a hub for regular content drops (new maps, vehicles and challenges) over the coming years, with social and sharing features built into the experience. It makes a lot of sense for the franchise.

In the game’s introductory stages, Motorsport strikes a compelling balance between customization and complexity, making each track bingeable off the bat. The game’s forgiveness stems from its malleability; nearly every setting is customizable, from vehicle upgrades, to AI difficulty, accessibility options and actual driving mechanics. This means that, when something goes wrong during a race, it doesn’t feel like the game’s fault. Forza Motorsport offers a true, repeatable test of player skill. Plus, it’s really pretty, even on Xbox Series S.

Forza Motorsport is scheduled to hit Xbox Series X/S and PC on October 10.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/forza-motorsport-preview-a-warm-welcome-for-casual-racing-fans-160010843.html?src=rss