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An inventive Raspberry Pi user and cat owner, Tennis Smith, has created a clever way to know when the cat is ready to come in from the cold. It's a Raspberry Pi doorbell, but for cats. That's right, a Raspberry Pi doorbell for cats.
Whenever the cat is back from doing cat things, it meows at the doorbell, which sends the owner a text message (thanks, Hardware Info).
The doorbell is a small box set at cat height. Inside is a small USB microphone plugged into an RJ45 adapter. Holes on the bottom of the box are there to hear the meows better. And, inevitably, a cat five cable from the RJ45 socket is run through the house into a Raspberry Pi.
The Raspberry Pi is then loaded with Amazon Web Services (AWS) software and a machine learning app, Tensorflow Lite. The Tensorflow application works off a database of meows (seriously), so when it hears a cat's meow, it sends a text to your phone to let you know your cat is ready to come back inside.
I'm hoping the database contains some prerecorded meows of Milo (Tennis' cat), so it can tell the difference between him and some trouble-making stray. Because if not every kitty in the neighborhood could prank the doorbell day and night.
Tennis says the project should take an afternoon to finish assuming you have all the parts already, and have some working knowledge of Python, AWS, and Tensorflow Lite.Your next machine(Image credit: Future)
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines from the pros
Best gaming laptop: Perfect notebooks for mobile gamingOh, and yes, you can make a doorbell for a dog, as well. Apparently, all you have to do is change one line in one file to "dog." Coding, it's easy. For everything you need to get going, consult the FAQ at the bottom of Tennis' cat doorbell GitHub page.
I've always loved seeing what folks can do with Raspberry Pi. Whether building a cheap retro gaming console or an unnecessarily elaborate alarm system; these projects all consistently put a smile on my face. -
Pentiment knows exactly what it is. The June reveal trailer for Obsidian's 16th century murder mystery declared itself "a narrative adventure most unexpected," and it's definitely not the kind of game we'd expect from a studio and director known for RPGs. But that's also exciting: director Josh Sawyer is clearly jazzed to be making a smaller-than-usual game set in post-medieval Bavaria, full of period-authentic artwork and a protagonist a bit reminiscent of monk supersleuth Brother Cadfael.
Cadfael, though, always catches his killer—Pentiment doesn't plan to give you that kind of certainty.
In a Q&A session ahead of this week's Gamescom, where Pentiment is playable, Josh Sawyer and art director Hannah Kennedy gave an introduction to the game and talked about what to expect from its mystery. There will be branching dialogues and events based on your choices, but you're not going to get a "good" or "bad" ending for identifying the true killer or blowing your investigation.
"One of the things we talked about early on is that there are a number of suspects for these murders, and it's not very clear—you don't have DNA evidence, you don't even have anything resembling forensic science," Sawyer said. "The justice system itself is pretty odd to a modern viewer. There's a lot of ambiguity here and you're put in a position where you have to pin the murder on somebody, and it's never going to be clear if that's really the person."
"You have to either use your best judgment or pick the person that you want to see go, because the punishment for murder in this time period was pretty severe. We really want you to see the consequences play out over a long period of time."
In other words: Don't expect Pentiment to tell you whether you were right after you deliver a verdict, but do expect whoever you implicate to meet a grisly end. Frogware's recent young, sexy Sherlock game similarly let you get a mystery completely wrong and carry on nonetheless. Sawyer confirmed that who you accuse will have ripple effects in your town, but there's a core story focused on your character that will play out regardless.
"We're trying to do the classic thing where we interleave the choice and interactivity within a very strong storyline," he said. "I thought it would be interesting to tell a story that's a very personal story that's about this guy, Andreas, and the community he lives in, within the historical context of the events happening around them."
Andreas is an artist at a fictional abbey and a town called Tassing, who ends up "caught up in a series of murders and scandals." Pentiment is set over the course of 25 years, so you're not going to be investigating a single murder. Sawyer didn't specify the structure, but I'm guessing one murder (or scandal) per act, with five acts making up the whole story. A multi-act structure like that would be ideal for showing how your choices affect the abbey and town over time.
A few more things I learned about Pentiment:
- You can choose Andreas' background, like whether he studied astronomy or the occult in university, and that affects both your skills and dialogue choices
- Don't expect visible meters for how popular you are with characters you talk to, but Pentiment will give you some info. "We just try to track the things that feel like characters would pay attention to, let you know when they're paying attention to them, and when they come up in conversation again," Sawyer said.
- There's an in-game glossary that looks essential if you aren't up on your 15th century religious terminology
- The glossary also includes characters you meet in the game, so you can easily reference faces and names
- Different characters' dialogue text uses different fonts, related to their social class and background
- There's an accessibility option to switch to simplified fonts for easier legibility
- If you want to buy a couple books that the developers themselves heavily referenced to brush up on the art of the period, check out The Nuremberg Chronicle (free on the Library of Congress website) and Durer's Journeys
- Watch Andrei Rublev for another inspiration
- Pentiment comes out on Steam and PC Game Pass on November 15
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Come one, come all to the Future Games Show at Gamescom 2022! Featuring industry luminaries like Team 17, 505 Games, Ravenscourt, and others, the show will feature over 50 games and consist of interviews, scoops, world premieres, and much more besides. It kicks off today, August 24 at 11 AM PDT / 2 PM EDT / 7 PM BST / 8 PM CEST on Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, and the GamesRadar+ website.
HOW TO WATCH THE FUTURE GAMES SHOWIt's the first in-person Gamescom since 2019, and the Future Games Show is set to take full advantage of having so many devs in one place. Expect a buffet of trailers and presentations from games as varied as Layers of Fears, Deliver Us Mars, and—what else?—Goat Simulator 3. If you want to gorge on AAA blockbusters or sample a selection of fine indies, or you're just way into goats, the show will have something for you.
It's all being hosted by Christopher Judge—whose rich baritone you'll recognise as Kratos from God of War—and Danielle Bisutti, who voices Freya. Together, they'll guide you through the many treats and goodies that have been prepared for this year's show. Personally, I'm hoping for the "Boy!" count to reach stratospheric levels.
Make sure to keep an eye on the show's Twitter to keep on top of any updates. And once you've seen the show, don't forget to check out the Future Games Show Steam page to get your hands on playable demos of some of the games showcased.
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It's a good job the next generation of AMD and Nvidia graphics cards are purporting to be capable of such extreme gaming frame rates, because BenQ has just announced its own 48-inch 4K Mobiuz OLED around Gamescom, and it looks like the next generation of gaming monitors is going to demand some powerful hardware.
We've already had the gorgeous Alienware 34-inch OLED gracing our desktops. In fact, our Jacob's been out racing around with Asus' new OLED lovelies.
All of these panels are, of course, 4K. And if you want to chuck about some 8.3 million pixels around in the latest ray-traced game worlds, then you're going to need some serious hardware to back you up.
These are the gaming monitors I've been clamouring for ever since I sat down in front of my first OLED TV. But why is OLED such a big deal? It's all about those self emissive pixels and the fact they can actually deliver true black. This makes them all about the contrast, meaning you don't have to drive your panel to retina-searing peak luminance levels just to deliver a bit of meaningful HDR.
They're also quick. Damned quick. The pixel response time is many times faster on an OLED versus a traditional LCD panel, and that can still make a huge difference in your gaming experience even if the rated latency times are relatively close.
Look at the latest OLED offerings from Alienware, Asus, and BenQ; they're all sporting 0.1ms response times. The new 55-inch Odyssey Ark Mini-LED screen from Samsung, meanwhile, is only rated at 1ms for its GtG rating. Theoretically you could have the OLED pixels changing colour (refreshing the display) ten times for every one time the Samsung screen does. In reality it might even be more than that because of the sometimes fudged nature of those grey-to-grey measurements manufacturers use.
The colours and motion of these OLED screens are outstanding, too, adding a level of vibrancy to an image you don't get from more traditional panels.
So, what's the downside? There are still the issues of burn-in for OLED panels, where static images can leave a residual, almost spectral image on the screen forever more. But the real issue is cost. OLED panels are bastard hard to manufacture, and that makes them incredibly expensive, too.
(Image credit: LG)For a long while only LG manufactured OLED panels, because it was the only one prepared to make that investment. South Korean rival, Samsung, gave up pursuing the self-emissive tech years ago, and has only recently dipped its techie toes back in—the Alienware is actually using a Samsung OLED panel, for example.
The price is more of an issue in the burgeoning world of the gaming monitor, where OLED displays are only a relatively modern phenomenon. In the world of TVs they've been around for a while… which might actually make things a bit messy when Asus and BenQ are trying to sell 48-inch panels (ostensibly ripped straight off a TV line) for around $2,000.
LG's outstanding OLED Evo C2 series comes in the same 42- and 48-inch sizes that Asus is touting for its new Swift screens, but for a chunk less cash. It still has the same 0.1ms response time, 120Hz refresh rate, and low input lag settings specifically for gaming.
What Asus can offer, however, is a DisplayPort connection and the potential to overclock to a 138Hz refresh rate. Though, honestly, this extra 18Hz isn't that big a deal for me.
(Image credit: BenQ)Screen queens(Image credit: Future)Best gaming monitor: Pixel-perfect panels for your PC
Best high refresh rate monitor: Screaming quick screens
Best 4K monitor for gaming: When only high-res will do
Best 4K TV for gaming: Big-screen 4K PC gamingBut while this new OLED era is a big deal for the high-end monitor enthusiast—and we would absolutely recommend spending big on the best gaming monitor as they will likely outlast your current gaming setup—there is hope at the other end, too.
We've seen lots of great deals recently on quality IPS gaming monitors, and BenQ itself has shipped us a couple of its more affordable sub-$200 Mobiuz screens. So if, like most of the rest of us, you can't in good conscience drop $1.5K on a new panel, there are still great options out there. And with new entrants into the monitor market arriving with great mid-range options, such as NZXT's Canvas 32 and now the HyperX Armada—under its new HP overlords—the future sure is looking good.
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Greetings Inheritors!
We will be conducting scheduled maintenance at the following times:
Maintenance Start Time:
UTC: Aug 25 at 08:00 am
CEST: Aug 25 at 10:00 am
EDT: Aug 25 at 04:00 am
PDT: Aug 25 at 01:00 am
Maintenance End Time:
UTC: Aug 25 at 1:00 pm
CEST: Aug 25 at 3:00 pm
EDT: Aug 25 at 09:00 am
PDT: Aug 25 at 06:00 am
* Please note that the game will shut down before maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.
Thank you for your understanding!
The ArcheAge Team -
A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.
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When I was smacking my head against the desk as another batch of citizens died in Banished, I could not have guessed that the survival city builder would prove to be such a resilient and fruitful subgenre, but now it's inescapable. What a wonderful time to love misery and slogging away in the cold. Vikings knew a thing or two about that, and you'll be able to put their survival skills (and yours) to the test in Land of the Vikings.
Iceberg Interactive and developer Laps Games are showing off the new city builder at Gamescom and have released an announcement trailer to whet your appetite for longships, longhouses and long beards. You don't need to be in Cologne to check it out, mind. The Steam demo is up now, letting you start your own Viking village.
As you might be used to if you've dabbled with survival city builders, you'll have to start by harvesting the basic essentials, hunting game, fishing, chopping down trees, to eventually grow a sustainable village and, beyond that, a thriving city. The demo map is a handsome place, plonking the start of a village—a few houses and a carpentry workshop—down in a picturesque bay surrounded by reassuring, snow-capped mountains. I almost felt bad when my citizens started chopping down trees, despoiling the beautiful spot. But they need all the resources they can get their hands on.
(Image credit: Iceberg Interactive)poopoo weather, naturally, will be a constant threat, with storms, freezing temperatures and earthquakes trying to destroy your settlement. And then there are more mundane but equally troublesome crises to worry about, like running out of food and firewood. You can get a hand from your neighbours, however, by trading with them, sending villagers off in a longship to make new friends and maybe some gold. Or you can be a bit more direct, raiding villages for fame and fortune.
Your villagers are individuals with their own luck, strength, speed and intellect stats, as well as traits that enhance them. One my villagers, Ljot Adilssdottir, was a quarrelsome beefcake of a women and mother of four who loved to argue and work out. It looks like there are still kinks to be worked out, however, because as well as being strong and muscular, she was also apparently "unusually scrawny". Some people are just so indecisive.
The survival city builder space is pretty crowded at the moment, and Land of the Vikings isn't even the only Viking-themed city builder around—there's also Frozenheim and the bluntly-named Viking City Builder. That's good news for us, though, as we've got plenty of choice when it comes to picking our next survival destination.
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A recent developer diary details how an upcoming Crusader Kings 3 update will change the AI, resulting in more stable realms, and—most importantly for the most pernickety of map painters—less border gore.
For those unfamiliar, "border gore" is the term among Paradox players for when a country's boundaries, instead of being neatly blobbed together (and ideally belonging to their lawful ruler), are fractional and odd. France, but the shape of a giraffe, with a number of its counties belonging to Wales, with an odd little exclave far up North in Norway? That's border gore.
(Image credit: Paradox)The update, focusing on diplomatic and economic behaviour, will lead AI to prioritise their realm's stability, instead of hoarding gold and leaving their counties fractured to be picked off.
With four new economic archetypes, AI rulers will be biased differently towards whether to invest in domain buildings, their armies, or their war chest. Interestingly though, the AI will also for the first time accept tyranny—the negative opinion a ruler takes for acting unlawfully towards their citizens. Even a Just and Generous ruler will now accept a little tyranny to revoke their vassals' titles to consolidate their own domain. Less rational rulers may risk even more.
It looks to be an interesting update for both war-oriented players and roleplay-oriented players. Increased realm stability from your enemies should be a boon for players who have complained that it's too easy to min-max your way into becoming a super empire—and who want to murder their way into inheriting a non-giraffe shaped France.
I'm personally intrigued by the kinds of stories of revenge and allyship and generations-long grudges that will be brought about when land disputes involve thoroughly built castles, and or when a well-liked neighbour I was befriending vassalizes a shattered realm before I can.
As a substantial overhaul, the AI update will be part of the upcoming 1.7 update, which doesn't yet have a date attached. Perhaps we'll find out more at PDXCON in September, but for now you can read the full details on the Paradox Forum.
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Greetings Inheritors,
The game has been updated.[Content Updates]- Added Specialty Preservation Bag Collector (Rotten Specialty Merchant) to the Community Center across all regions.
- Moved the respawn spot near Great Prairie of the West's Corrupted Zone to somewhere that does not obstruct the way of the guardians.
- The Mirage Sky Race event has started.
Please check the link below for the details about the update.[Content Update][archeage.playkakaogames.com][New Products][archeage.playkakaogames.com][New Event][archeage.playkakaogames.com]
Thank you. - Added Specialty Preservation Bag Collector (Rotten Specialty Merchant) to the Community Center across all regions.
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A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.
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The Genshin Impact Dendroculus is the Sumeru version of the collectibles you use to level the Statues of the Seven across Teyvat. Now that version 3.0 is here, we can finally head to Sumeru, the land of the Dendro Archon. This lush forested region has plenty to explore, but you should also be on the lookout for these green orbs.
Like Electroculus in Inazuma, or Geoculus and Anemoculus in Liyue and Mondstadt, respectively, these Dendro orbs can be gathered and used to upgrade their region's statues—in this case, Sumeru—and to claim rewards, increasing your stamina and getting you shrine keys. So if you need a helping hand, here's how to find every Dendroculus in Genshin Impact.
Genshin Impact Dendroculus: How to find these green orbs
Dendroculi are found all over the new region of Sumeru. Like the orbs from the other areas, you'll have to look high and low to find every last one. Some are easy to spot, hovering at the top of a tree or building or next to another landmark, while others are harder to find and might be hidden in a cave beneath you or floating high in the air.
Once you've found a few Dendroculi, you should take them to one of the Statues of the Seven in Sumeru. You'll find the first statue just as you enter the new region for the first time, east of Gandharva Ville. Once at a statue, offer each of the Dendroculus you've collected to level up the statues—this applies to every statue in the Sumeru, so it doesn't matter which one—and you'll be rewarded with Dendro Sigils and Shrines of the Depths keys to gain access to additional treasures.
Image 1 of 2Dendroculus locations in Sumeru. (Image credit: Teyvat Interactive Map / miHoYo)Image 2 of 2These green orbs are found throughout Sumeru. (Image credit: miHoYo)Genshin Impact Dendroculus locations
There are a lot of Dendroculi to collect—over 100, in fact—but luckily you can find the location of every one of them on the Teyvat Interactive Map. The screenshot above should help get you started. Just remember that if you think you're in the right location but still can't see it, look around for possible puzzles or hidden caves the green orb might be hiding in.
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Hello MURAMASA,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
MURAMASA joined on the 08/24/2022.
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Failbetter Games recently announced that their gothic horror dating sim, Mask of the Rose, was going to be delayed from its original spooky autumn release date to next April.
In a candid blog post, Failbetter lays out the reasons for choosing to delay the game, saying that there were signs the schedule was too tight: team workers were stressed, and reluctant to take time off.
"In this situation, there are three things we could do in principle. We could ask our team to put in significant overtime to meet the current schedule, but it’s important to us to provide a good workplace where everyone has time for personal and family life," the post reads.
"We could cut features and parts of the story, releasing a game that didn’t fully meet our intentions and ambitions. Our sense, though, is that our players and backers would rather get the game later in its best state, rather than sooner in a worse form. So that leaves us with the third option, moving back the schedule."
Mask of the Rose joins a number of other games delaying until the first half of next year, indie and large-scale alike. Bethesda neatly delayed two major upcoming releases in Starfield and Redfall at the same time, and adventure platformer Planet of Lana that Natalie Clayton described as like a less existentially terrifying Limbo announced its own delay only the day before Failbetter.
Fraser spoke to creative director Emily Short about Mask of the Rose's approach to being a murder mystery-slash-dating sim in not-quite-Victorian-London (if you're still with me), and the demo is still available on Steam, for anyone curious in the meantime. Fallen London, the setting's originator, has also been up and running for over ten years—so no fear of a delay there.
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It's been a moment but Meta has finally removed the mandatory Facebook login for the Quest 2 VR headset.
To login to your Meta Quest 2, you now need to set up a Meta account. And yes, that does sound like they've replaced one mandatory login with another, but this Meta account doesn't require you to connect any social media account in order to use it. In fact, you don't need to own any social media accounts whatsoever, as you can set up a Meta account with only an email address.
If you have an account set-up on your Meta Quest already, formerly known as an Oculus account, you may have received an email already notifying you of the change. This includes a link to update your account. Mine wasn't actually working, but this Meta blog page works just as well.
Otherwise, if you're starting a new account for the first time, you should now see the new login process pop up first thing when you sync your device with the Oculus app. In the app, you should be able to choose to use either Instagram, Facebook, or an email address to create your new Meta account.
If you don't see these options, it may be that Meta is updating the login process gradually around the world, so you might be a little too early.
It's worth noting that in order to avoid having to do a full factory reset on an existing headset you will need to make sure that it's running the latest software. That means booting it up while connected to a power source and a Wi-Fi network. If you set everything up before updating your goggles there's a good chance you'll lose anything currently installed on there.
Meta's shift away from mandatory Facebook accounts has been a long time coming, having initially been announced way back in October last year. The decision was met with positivity, however, as Meta's insistence on a Facebook account has been criticised by many since its arrival with the Quest 2.
Though the shift to Meta accounts does come a little too late for any bargain hunters. Meta only recently increased the price for all of its Quest 2 models by $100, meaning the headset isn't as wildly cheap as it once was. It's still a good buy, however, as you're looking to spend a whole lot more for something like a Valve Index. More so now that the mandatory login has been removed. I know at least a handful of people that refused to buy a Quest while it was still in place, but I wonder if the ship has sailed for that lot now, anyways.
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Map fragments are one of the most important currencies in the new Season of Plunder, since they can be used to create treasure maps that will lead you to seasonal loot, or other plunder of your choosing. But unlike treasure coordinates, which come from doing basically every major activity in the game, you have to do something specific to get these.
In this Destiny 2 map fragments guide, I'll explain how to get the currency so you can create treasure maps, but also how to get new map types that will change what you get during your expeditions. Just like the lures from the Season of the Hunt, this time it's all about slotting in different map types to change what you get from the expedition.
If you're late to Bungie's big showcase, you may also be curious about the new destination of Neptune, the new Strand subclass, or the news that they are adding preset loadouts and in-game LFG when the expansion arrives.
Destiny 2 map fragments: Where to find them
You get map fragments in the Season of Plunder by completing the Ketchcrash activity. This unlocks after you've helped the Drifter retrieve his stolen goods and have talked to the Spider in the Eliksni Quarter of the last city, accessible through H.E.L.M. All you have to do is finish the six-person activity, also through H.E.L.M, and beat the last boss to get the fragments. A regular Ketchcrash seems to drop around ten map fragments.
Image 1 of 2You can slot a variety of maps into the Captain's Atlas (Image credit: Bungie)Image 2 of 2Ketchcrash rewards you with 10 map fragments for completion (Image credit: Bungie)Things are a little buggy right now, and some people are reporting that they aren't receiving map fragments, whereas for others, like me, they are receiving map fragments but they don't appear as a reward when the activity finishes. A new season launch is always a little buggy for Destiny 2, so hopefully Bungie will fix the issue before long.
How to get more treasure map types
Once you get map fragments and treasure coordinates, you can use them to slot a treasure map into your Captain's Atlas, which is available via your quest screen. This will allow you to claim an additional reward chest at the end of the Expedition activity. You only start with one treasure map, but you can unlock more as crew upgrades at the star map in H.E.L.M.
(Image credit: Bungie)Each upgrade does require Repute, though. Like Bound Presence from last season, you can only get this currency through a couple of the seasonal challenges each week which appear at the top of the list, so be sure to complete those if you want the maximum choice of available rewards for your Expeditions. No matter which treasure map you slot, you'll still get Plundered Umbral Energy, which can be used to focus engrams for seasonal weapons and armor. That's all there is to it!
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It's time to shore up your Plex account, people, as the best media streaming service has announced it's been hit with a large scale data breach. An email went out this morning to affected users explaining that on August 23 a "third-party was able to access a limited subset of data that includes emails, usernames, and encrypted passwords."
Although the potentially stolen passwords would all have been obscured, the company is still saying that, "out of an abundance of caution" it is making sure all Plex accounts have their passwords reset and are recommending upgrading to two-factor authentication if that's not already in place.
As I was writing this the actual Plex website went down, with the support page stating that it was investigating a problem on its side. There's no indication that this was part of the data breach, and could potentially be down to a whole swathe of users suddenly trying to login and alter their password details. Hopefully, anyway.
There are certainly a whole bunch of users on Twitter decrying a perceived lack of preparedness for a large proportion of its users crashing the site by all going there the moment they're told to change their login details.
Plex has noted that no credit card or other payment information would have been accessed in this breach, as those aren't stored on the company's own servers, which means the hackers will have only gotten away with some encrypted passwords, emails, and usernames.
Still, now the site is back online it would certainly be worth getting your account details changed as soon as possible to prevent any potential further breaches on your side.
The company has provided a simple how to reset your password guide that is still accessible even if the site is down, as is the request password reset page. Though it does still seem to be struggling actually getting those emails out given the current status of the site infrastructure.
On the plus side, once you are logged back in you can immediately stream this absolute classic gratis.
https://t.co/3xYXo9PsAl (Availability: US) https://t.co/AiXyamHGHsAugust 23, 2022See morePlex also recommends that when you alter your existing password you check the box which reads: "Sign out connected devices after password change."
This will be a royal pain in the butt when you forget all about this in a couple months' time and try and boot into some old device, only to have to try and remember what your new password might be this time around. But it will add another little layer of security because any automatically logged in device will require a fresh login next time you turn it on.
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Scars Above, an upcoming Sci-Fi action adventure from Serbian studio Mad Head Games was announced at Gamescom's Opening Night Live.
There are parts of the trailer that remind me of Control — not least the ominous inverted pyramids, which is in-universe referred to as the Metahedron, according to its Steam page. It looks to lean far more into the alien than the eldritch, however, as you play as astronaut and scientist Kate Ward, stranded from her crew in a strange, hostile environment.
With the trailer showing Kate both trapping and gunning down gruesome, fleshy aliens, it's curious that the listing emphasises that she's not a soldier, but a scientist, but it also promises multiple environments to explore, analyse and learn from.
It looks extremely genre without a hint of irony, which I can appreciate. Sometimes, you're just a scientist who has crash landed on a mysterious planet because of, uh oh, problems, and now you're in the thick of both mysteries and alien hostilities.
Scars Above is one of 12 games signed to Prime Matter last year — many of which are equally Sci-Fi, but include among them Mount and Blade II: Bannerlords, which finally has its full release date.
For now, Scars Above doesn't have a release date, with its reveal trailer promising only that it's "coming Soon". For more details, keep an eye on its Steam page.
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If you're itching to get to Sumeru in Genshin Impact, you're in luck. Now that version 3.0 is here, we can finally venture to the home of the Dendro Archon, a forested region with plenty to explore. There are a couple of new characters to unlock, as both Tighnari and Collei are available during the first phase.
There are some prerequisites for unlocking this new Dendro region, but I'll go over what you need to know below. So without further ado, here's how to get to Sumeru in Genshin Impact 3.0.
Genshin Impact Sumeru quest: How to unlock it
If you've been keeping up with the Archon quests in Genshin Impact, you shouldn't have any trouble getting to Sumeru as there's a good chance you've met all the requirements. If you're having trouble picking up the quest that sends you to the new region, make sure you meet the requirements listed below:
- Raise your Adventure Level (AR) to 35 or higher.
- Complete the Archon Quest "Requiem of the Echoing Depths".
If you meet both criteria, you should find the new Archon Quest, "Through Mists of Smoke and Forests Dark" in your log. It's time to head to Sumeru.
(Image credit: miHoYo)How to get to Sumeru in Genshin Impact
The first step of the quest tells you to "go to the land of the Dendro Archon", so you'll need to head to The Chasm over to the west of Liyue. Your best bet is to use the Statue of the Seven located there, then hop off the side of the cliff and glide a little to the south.
You'll find an opening in the side of the cliff near ground level—there's a Teleport Waypoint right outside. Head through the tunnel towards the quest marker, and you'll soon arrive in a lush forested area. Congratulations, you've made it to Sumeru!
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TaleWorlds has led an early charge into Gamescom with an announcement that Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord—first announced when the world was young and dinosaurs roamed the Earth—will finally leave Early Access on October 25. The announcement of the release date was even accompanied by a new trailer, showcasing the white-knuckle tension of medieval sieges, battles, and opening a small business.
If you've played any Bannerlord while it's been in Early Access, it doesn't look much different, but it will be strange to live in a world where Mount & Blade 2 is actually out, rather than in some liminal space between announcement and full release. The game was one of my most-anticipated releases for nearly all of the last decade, from its announcement in 2012 until it finally got an Early Access release in March 2020. I don't know what I'll do with myself now that it's a fully-realised thing.
Well, kind of fully-realised. The announcement that the game is leaving Early Access does contain the statement that this isn't "the end of the road" for the game, which will continue "receiving updates in the months to come". Presumably, those updates will be fewer in number and smaller in scope than the kind it received during Early Access, or maybe words just don't mean anything anymore.
The meat of the announcement is that the game will also hit consoles at the same time it leaves Early Access, but we're not enormously concerned about that round these parts. Still, the announcement does say the devs have found "synergies" that they weren't expecting between the console and PC versions of the game. They're probably talking about development shortcuts, but who knows? Maybe crossplay is in our future.
It's not the biggest announcement to come out of Gamescom so far, but it is the end of a long and winding saga that began an actual, literal decade ago. We rather liked Bannerlord in its ramshackle, Early Access form here at PCG, and as someone who poured way too much of his life into Mount & Blade: Warband I'm excited for the sequel to achieve its final-ish form.
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If you need the answer to today's Wordle then you've come to the right place. And if you'd just like a little help with the August 24 (431) Wordle instead I've got some great news for you, because you're in the right place for that too. Whatever tips, tricks, or hints you need with today's puzzle, you'll find them all below.
It's hump day, the special day that's too far from the weekend to feel excited about an upcoming break and too far from Monday to ignite any positive "I'm really going to do my best this week" vibes. It's on days like this I appreciate Wordle's relaxed approach to a daily challenge—it'll get done whenever I'm ready, and take as long as I want it to.
Wordle hint
Today's Wordle: A hint for Wednesday, August 24
Today's word is often a demanding one; someone desperate to receive an unhealthy amount of attention or affection. The term can also refer to extremely poor people, or those lacking basic essentials such as food and medicine too. There's one vowel used twice today.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If there's one thing better than playing Wordle, it's playing Wordle well, which is why I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:
- A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
- A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
- The solution may contain repeat letters.
There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by midnight. So there's no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you're coming up blank.
Wordle answer
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)What is the Wordle 431 answer?
Allow me to make things easy for you. The answer to the August 24 (431) Wordle is NEEDY.
Previous answers
Wordle archive: Which words have been used
The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today's Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that's already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle solutions:
- August 23: WOVEN
- August 22: MERIT
- August 21: WASTE
- August 20: TREAT
- August 19: SHRUG
- August 18: TWANG
- August 17: TWICE
- August 16: GRUEL
- August 15: POKER
- August 14: KHAKI
Learn more about Wordle
Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.
You'll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns
️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. 
means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 
means you've got the right letter in the right spot.You'll want your second go to compliment the first, using another "good" word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer.
After that it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used you'll find those below.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
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Hearthstone's auto-battler mode Battlegrounds remains popular, even among players who don't bother with regular Hearthstone. On August 30 Blizzard will launch Season 2 of Battlegrounds, which will add quest mechanics and two new heroes, but it's also going to bring some things players are less excited about: premium currency and a premium rewards track to go with it.
Real-money purchases in the Hearthstone shop will be phased out in favor of a virtual currency called Runestones, though as Blizzard's FAQ notes, "Some products, like Pre-Purchase Bundles, the Hearthstone Tavern Pass, and Packs (purchasing more than one at a time) will be able to be purchased with money or Runestones." Typically, premium currencies are sold in amounts that don't correspond directly to the cost of items in the shop, meaning customers have to buy more than they want. Blizzard says some Runestone bundles will be sold in "quantities that correspond to our major products (like the Battlegrounds Season Pass)", though that leaves the question of what count as minor products unanswered.
Chadd Nervig, Hearthstone features lead, tried to reassure players on Twitter by explaining the actual prices in the shop wouldn't be changing, and said, "We've chosen Runestone bundle sizes to exactly match the top selling products, and minimize wasted Runestones." He also explained that having a premium currency makes it easier to "offer smaller products for sale, like individual BG skins or emotes", presumably because of how the cut Apple and other storeowners take on each purchase works out.
What players seem most upset about is that the Battlegrounds season pass will give buyers access to a premium tier of its reward track. While everything else on that track is cosmetic, the first reward is two additional hero slots, which will not be obtainable any other way. (Previously it was something you could buy with in-game gold earned through play.) Players who don't fork out for the season pass will be stuck choosing from two random heroes, while those who pay will get to choose from four.
"We're committed to maintaining hero and gameplay balance so that the choice from four heroes is more about optionality than power", Blizzard says, to which players reply with a hollow laugh. Battlegrounds' heroes are considered wildly unbalanced, with Ysera and Heistbaron Togwaggle sitting way up high in the current meta. As streamer Old Guardian breaks down, with two heroes to choose from you'll get access to a better-than-average pick 62% of the time, while with four heroes to choose from your odds go up to 86%.
Streamer and Hearthstone beta tester Zeddy delivered a nine-minute rant declaring the change to be predatory. "I fricking knew this was going to happen," he says, "because it's Blizzard. That when they introduce a new monetization system it's going to be greedy, it's going to be predatory, and they're gonna try and be underhanded about it." He says that before this Battlegrounds was "the most free-to-play-friendly mode they've ever done", and that by selling extra hero slots Blizzard will "make it the only true pay-to-win mode in Hearthstone."
Given the backlash to Diablo Immortal's microtransactions, you might have expected Blizzard to be a bit cautious about the way it rolls out changes to the monetization of Hearthstone and Battlegrounds, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Instead, it's jumped right into the premium currency quagmire and the community isn't happy about it. Though at least the memes are pretty good.
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Hello Neurolepticer,
Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Neurolepticer joined on the 08/24/2022.
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Based on the Gamescom announcement trailer, Where Winds Meet looks like an Assassin's Creed-sized undertaking, so it's a little surprising that I've never heard of its developer, Everstone Studio. The game is a real thing, though: It's backed by NetEase, the second largest game publisher in China.
It looks cool, too, and I almost didn't notice it during Gamescom Opening Night Live. Although the trailer starts with a poem by Southern Tang ruler Li Yu, and I am fond of Chinese poetry (not joking), it's all a bit sleepy, so I tuned out. At around 1.22, though, the trailer switches to gameplay, and we see a character strolling through a city. (To reiterate a take I probably last published in 2010: Down with cinematic trailers, up with gameplay trailers!) The footage looks a bit jaggy and artifacted, but ignoring that, it's a subtly impressive scene, with around three dozen locals going about their business in a small area.
And then there's horseback riding, mountain climbing, frigid wind walking-against, wuxia-style floating, and the most essential videogame activity, blowing up barrels. The combat looks like the dash-in, combo, roll-out-of-the-way stuff you'd expect.
"The player can counter enemy blows, use Tai Chi to reflect their attacks, or use acrobatics to slip through their guard and strike them from all angles," says NetEase. "The player also has access to a number of martial arts skills and ranged weapons, allowing them to break free from one fighting style and use a mixture of abilities to defeat their enemies, creating their own approach to combat."
There's apparently quite a bit more to Where Winds Meet than combat, though. The open world RPG takes place in "the final days of the Ten Kingdoms era of Chinese history," says NetEase. Li Yu was a better poet than ruler, and was captured by the Song dynasty that would go on to conquer the other kingdoms, so the trailer's opening lyrics are relevant to the period. That choice perhaps reflects the studio's desire to build something genuinely representative of history, despite the fantasy beasts.
According to the press release, you can wander away from the main storyline and become a merchant or doctor, and according to IGN, there's an online element, so you can heal other players, as well as NPCs. A studio representative also told the website that a player could become an "orator who uses the power of words to convince NPCs to follow their advice," as well as a bodyguard or ferryman. There's also a construction system with "over 600 authentic components that allow the player to build structures in the world and make it their own," according to the press release.
(Image credit: Everstone Games)It's not clear how engaging these side jobs will be—little breaks from the main quest, fixations for novelty roleplayers, or something players will genuinely want to spend a lot of time doing—but it sure sounds like a lot of game to try to pull off. The building system was a surprise to me.
And there's another little surprise here: Where Winds Meet is a PC-only game. It really is a trip to the past, eh?
There's no release date set for Where Winds Meet, but a beta test is planned for this year. Regarding the mystery studio, Everstone, NetEase says it's using "international game production techniques" to "reconstruct the distant past with cutting-edge technologies and bountiful detail." I've asked NetEase where it's based.
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I was reminded during Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live show today that CrossfireX, the sequel to massively popular Counter-Strike clone Crossfire, came out this year. It released free-to-play in February with a complete singleplayer campaign developed by Remedy Entertainment, a full suite of multiplayer modes, and a battle pass. You might have forgotten about CrossfireX because it was panned by critics at launch, but it quickly left my head because it only ever came out on Xbox.
A competitive FPS with origins on the PC, exclusive to one console. What's up with that?
I can't remember the last time someone tried to release a competitive shooter without a PC version. Halo 5, maybe? If this were Sony trying to bring back Killzone I'd understand, but this is Xbox we're talking about: The PC-friendly platform. The publisher that, for the past four years, has released every single one of its exclusive games simultaneously on console and PC. CrossfireX is the first game to break that streak, and is maybe the worst possible candidate to do so.
Microsoft CrossfireX's developer, Smilegate, is leaving a lot of players on the table by console-gating an FPS that would probably be way more fun with a mouse and keyboard. I suspect that some of the most damning criticisms CrossfireX received at launch, like unresponsive controls and imbalanced guns, could have been mitigated by a PC version with more customizability and input options.
I get why Sony is letting its big fancy adventure games be console-exclusive for a few years before making the jump to PC, but why CrossfireX? It's not some graphical powerhouse and it's definitely not selling consoles for Microsoft. My best guess is that, in a handshake attempt to make Crossfire more popular in North America and Xbox more popular in China, Smilegate and Microsoft decided a long time ago that CrossfireX would only ever come to Xbox. That's a shame—CrossfireX is simple, but its shooting looks slick and I'd like to give it a shot. (Just not with a controller. Oh god no.)
CrossfireX's console situation is a bummer, but dwelling on it has been a nice excuse to relive memories from when console-exclusive FPSes were more common. I loved Halo 3. I walked the mean streets of Killzone 2 and Resistance 3 in my PS3 days. For a few months in 2012, I was probably one of the greatest CS:GO PS3 players who ever lived. That's right, Valve commissioned Xbox 360 and PS3 ports for CS:GO when it launched in 2012, both of which were immediately abandoned. They did the same thing with Team Fortress 2 in 2007, which still had a small but active community as of 2019.
The truth is, "exclusivity" is now a dirty word for multiplayer games. We are firmly in the era of crossplay, where all games are expected to be playable on every platform and with every platform. This was a bad way to release CrossfireX, and it's unclear if it'll ever be remedied. The console wars are over, and the PC won. Somebody should probably tell CrossfireX.
Horse girls rejoice: the horse game genre returns
in Gaming News
Posted
If you were a child in the '90s, then you'll remember the horse games. Like other pet simulations, the gameplay was often minimal, but you could brush the horses and click-and-drag little bows into their manes. At least one I remember let you add sparkles, though that truly might just be the early '00s all blending together. (Remember butterfly clips?)
All this to say that that the horse game is back, with newly announced Horse Tales - Emerald Valley Ranch. Described as an "equestrian open-world adventure", it looks extremely reminiscent of those games of old - but with the a key addition. You can both choose your horse's hairstyle, and actually leave the stable.
There's a touch of Breath of the Wild in its art style and hilly village environments, as if someone looked at it and went "what if the horse part of this was the whole game (and also it released for PC?)"
Horse Tales will allow players to restore their family's estate and make friends with nearby residents and multiple horses, each with their own unique personality, preference, and training needs. It looks exceptionally mellow, while being the next-generation throwback to the '90s horse games I could never have pictured.
Horse Tales - Emerald Valley Ranch comes out on November 3rd, except in North America, where it will release on November 15th. In the meantime, you can wishlist it on Steam.
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