• Finally, an awards show gives Silent Hill 2 Remake and other horror games the love they deserve
    www.eurogamer.net
    Finally, an awards show gives Silent Hill 2 Remake and other horror games the love they deserveSilent Hill 2 Remake, Mouthwashing, and Still Wakes the Deep clean up at the Horror Game Awards.Image credit: Bloober Team News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Dec. 15, 2024 Silent Hill 2 Remake may have been robbed of the awards it was nominated for at The Game Awards, but it took home the top Game of the Year prize at the 2024 Horror Game Awards last night.Konami's horror game also won Best Survival Horror, Best Soundtrack, and awarded James Sunderland mocap and voice actor, Luke Roberts, Best Performance in the third annual horror game showcase, but did lose out in several other categories it was nominated for given the glut of brilliant horror games we've seen this year.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. What Was Life Like in Silent Hill 2 Before Its Downfall?Watch on YouTubeBest Indie Developer went to Chilla's Art, Best Multiplayer went to the brilliant Lethal Company, and the Chinese Room's Still Wakes the Deep took home Best Indie Horror, as well as Best Technical Achievement. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Pyramid Head designer Masahiro Ito also secured an individual lifetime achievement award.Here's the full list of nominations and winners:Best PerformanceAlec Newman/Caz - Caz in Still Wakes the DeepLuke Roberts/James Sunderland - Silent Hill 2 (WINNER)Vito Z. Holmes/Rambley the Raccoon - Indigo Park: Chapter 1Most Accessible Horror GameDead By Daylight - Behaviour InteractiveMouthwashing - Wrong OrganSlay the Princess The Pristine Cut - Black Tabby Games (WINNER)Best NarrativeSilent Hill 2 - Bloober TeamMouthwashing -- Wrong Organ (WINNER)Slay the Princess - The Pristine Cut -- Black Tabby GamesBest SoundtrackIndigo Park: Chapter 1 - UniqueGeesePsychopomp GOLD - Fading ClubSilent Hill 2 - Bloober Team SA (WINNER)Players ChoiceMouthwashing - Wrong Organ (WINNER)Silent Hill 2 - Bloober Team SABuckshot Roulette - Mike KlubnikaBest Survival HorrorCrow Country - SFB GamesSilent Hill 2 - Bloober Team (WINNER)Until Dawn - Ballistic MoonBest Indie DeveloperChillas Art (WINNER)Puppet ComboWrong OrganBest Indie Horror GameBuckshot Roulette - Mike KlubnikaMouthwashing - Wrong OrganStill Wakes the Deep - The Chinese Room (WINNER)Best Multiplayer Horror GameDead By Daylight - Behaviour Interactive Inc.Lethal Company - Zeekerss (WINNER)Phasmophobia - Kinetic GamesBest VR HorrorFive Nights at Freddys: Help Wanted 2 - Steel Wool StudiosPhasmophobia - Kinetic GamesResident Evil 4 VR - Capcom & Armature Studio (WINNER)Best DeveloperCapcom (WINNER)Wrong OrganPuppet ComboHorror Content Creator of the YearIGPManlyBadassHeroMarkiplier (WINNER)Technical AchievementMouthwashing - Wrong OrganStill Wakes the Deep - The Chinese Room (WINNER)Silent Hill 2 - Bloober Team SALifetime Achievement AwardMasahiro Ito (WINNER)Scott CawthonSam LakeMost Anticipated Horror GameAlien: Isolation Sequel - Creative Assembly (WINNER)Little Nightmares III - Supermassive GamesResident Evil 9 - CapcomHorror Game of the YearSilent Hill 2 - Bloober Team SA (WINNER)Mouthwashing - Wrong OrganStill Wakes the Deep - The Chinese RoomThe awards also showcased several world first premieres of upcoming indie horror games, including Shiver, Cold Abyss: Directors Cut, Deadcam, Feed the Pit, Bye Sweet Carole, and Animal Use Protocol."Against the odds, Bloober Team has delivered a remake that both expands Silent Hill 2 in just the right places, and gives careful attention to what it preserves," I wrote in Eurogamer Silent Hill 2 Remake review, awarding the game an impressive five out of five stars.In related news, Silent Hill 2 Remake players are still waiting for a fix for the game's poor performance on PS5 Pro.Although Bloober Team deployed an update to address graphical glitches affecting the horror game on PS5 Pro after Silent Hill 2 Remake players called on Konami to address the technical issues still plaguing the game on PS5 Pro weeks on from the Pro's release, all the patch has done is remove PSSR and fails to address any of the underlying issues.
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  • Feds are urged to deploy high-tech drone hunters to solve mystery behind sightings
    abcnews.go.com
    Top New York political leaders are urging the federal government to deploy high-tech drone hunters to crack the mystery of who is behind the numerous sightings of what are believed to be unmanned flying objects that have been buzzing over communities in New York and New Jersey, and even prompting authorities to shut down an airport over the weekend.New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday that he's asking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to immediately deploy special drone-detecting technology, which has been unclassified, to get to the bottom of what has been alarming and baffling residents in the region.New Jersey drone mystery: What to know and what can be done"If the technology exists for a drone to make it up into the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on," Schumer said during a news conference. "And that's what the Robin [radar system] does today.""We're asking the DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, to deploy special detection systems like the Robin, which use not a linear line of sight, but 360-degree technology that has a much better chance of detecting these drones. And we're asking DHS to bring them to the New York, New Jersey area," he said.This photo provided by Brian Glenn shows what appears to be multiple drones flying over Bernardsville, N.J., Dec. 5, 2024.Brian Glenn/TMX via AP, FILEHe said the technology was initially used to detect birds and prevent them from flying into airplane engines."Drone radar is based on the use of radio waves. The radio waves are sent out for the pulses, and that means it's detectable," Schumer said. "The question is, why haven't the federal authorities detected them yet?"Earlier Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in an interview on ABC's "This Week" the federal government is taking action to address the spate of drone sightings that have rattled the nerves of residents in New Jersey and New York."There's no question that people are seeing drones," Mayorkas told "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos. "I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings."Mayorkas said some of the sightings are drones while others have been manned aircraft commonly mistaken for drones.This photo provided by Trisha Bushey shows the evening sky and points of light near in Lebanon Township, N.J., on Dec. 5, 2024.Trisha Bushey/AP"I want to assure the American public that we are on it," Mayorkas said, adding that he's calling on Congress to expand local and state authority to help address the issue.Numerous sightings of alleged dones have been reported along the East Coast since mid-November, most of them in New Jersey.Witnesses have described seeing drones the size of compact cars lighting up the night sky and hovering over homes. There have also been sightings of what appeared to be several large drones clustered together flying near military installations and President-elect Donald Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed drone flight restrictions while authorities investigate.'Multiple' drones entered airspace at New Jersey naval station: OfficialOfficials from several agencies on Saturday emphasized that the federal government's investigation into the drone sightings is ongoing. During a call with reporters, an FBI official said that of the nearly 5,000 tips the agency has received, less than 100 have generated credible leads for further investigation. A DHS official said they're "confident that many of the reported drone sightings are, in fact, manned aircraft being misidentified as drones."The FBI official also talked about how investigators overlayed the locations of the reported drone sightings and found that "the density of reported sightings matches the approach pattern" of the New York area's busy airports including Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.An FAA official said there have "without a doubt" been drones flying over New Jersey, pointing to the fact that there are nearly 1 million drones registered in the United States.MORE: Drones pose 'considerable danger,' will push for new legislation: NJ officialOfficials at Stewart International Airport in New Windsor, New York, about 60 miles north of New York City, said they were forced to close their runways for an hour on Friday night after the FAA alerted them of a drone spotted in the area.The Boston Police Department said Sunday that two men were arrested Saturday night after they allegedly flew a drone "dangerously close to Logan International Airport." A third suspect fled the scene in a boat and is being sought by police.MORE: Pentagon shoots down Iran 'mothership' claim amid New Jersey drone mysteryThe incident, according to police, began earlier Saturday afternoon when a Boston police officer specializing in real-time crime surveillance detected the drone operating near Logan International Airport. Using monitoring technology, the officer was able to locate the drone's altitude, flight history and the operator's position on Long Island in Boston Harbor, where police found the suspects in a decommissioned health campus, authorities said. The suspects ran, but police managed to chase down two of them and continued to search for the third suspect on Sunday.This image taken from video provided by MartyA45_, shows what appears to be several drones flying over Randolph, N.J., on Dec. 4, 2024.MartyA45_ /TMX via APThe suspects, identified by the Boston Police Department as 42-year-old Robert Duffy and 32-year-old Jeremy Folcik, both of Massachusetts, were arrested on trespassing charges.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday that the federal government has agreed to deploy state-of-the-art drone detection systems to New York, but it was not immediately clear if she and Schumer were speaking about the same technology."In response to my calls for additional resources, our federal partners are deploying a state-of-the-art drone detection system to New York state," Hochul said. "This system will support state and federal law enforcement in their investigations. We are grateful to the Biden administration for their support, but ultimately we need further assistance from Congress."Hochul said she is pressing Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, which will give "New York and our peers the authority and resources required to respond to circumstances like we face today."During a House Homeland Security joint subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, officials from the Department of Justice, the FBI and Customs and Border Protection told lawmakers that the current legal authorities are insufficient to deal with drones.Schumer said he would co-sponsor federal legislation to give the FAA and local agencies more oversight of drones and expand their methods of detection.Last week, Schumer, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim sent a letter to the heads of the FBI, FAA and DHS requesting a briefing on the drone sightings."We write with urgent concern regarding the unmanned aerial system (UAS) activity that has affected communities across New York and New Jersey in recent days," the letter stated.ABC News' Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
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  • I received a first but it felt tainted and undeserved: inside the university AI cheating crisis
    www.theguardian.com
    The email arrived out of the blue: it was the university code of conduct team. Albert, a 19-year-old undergraduate English student, scanned the content, stunned. He had been accused of using artificial intelligence to complete a piece of assessed work. If he did not attend a hearing to address the claims made by his professor, or respond to the email, he would receive an automatic fail on the module. The problem was, he hadnt cheated.The Guardians journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.Learn more.Albert, who asked to remain anonymous, was distraught. It might not have been his best effort, but hed worked hard on the essay. He certainly didnt use AI to write it: And to be accused of it because of signpost phrases, such as in addition to and in contrast, felt very demeaning. The consequences of the accusation rattled around his mind if he failed this module, he might have to retake the entire year but having to defend himself cut deep. It felt like a slap in the face of my hard work for the entire module over one poorly written essay, he says. I had studied hard and was generally a straight-A student one bad essay suddenly meant I used AI?At the hearing, Albert took a seat in front of three members of staff two from his department and one who was there to observe. They told him the hearing was being recorded and asked for his name, student ID and course code. Then he was grilled for half an hour about his assignment. It had been months since hed submitted the essay and he felt conscious he couldnt answer the questions as confidently as hed like, but he tried his best. Had he, they asked, ever created an account with ChatGPT? How about Grammarly? Albert didnt feel able to defend himself until the end, by which point he was on the verge of tears. I even admitted to them that I knew the essay wasnt good, but I didnt use AI, he says.Four years have passed since Chat GPT-3 was released into the world. It has shaken industries from film to media to medicine, and education is no different. Created by San Francisco-based OpenAI, it makes it possible for almost anyone to produce passable written work in seconds based on a few basic inputs. Many such tools are now available, such as Googles Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Claude and Perplexity. These large language models absorb and process vast datasets, much like a human brain, in order to generate new material. For students, its as close as you can get to a fairy godmother for a last-minute essay deadline. For educators, however, its a nightmare.More than half of students now use generative AI to help with their assessments, according to a survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute, and about 5% of students admit using it to cheat. In November, Times Higher Education reported that, despite patchy record keeping, cases appeared to be soaring at Russell Group universities, some of which had reported a 15-fold increase in cheating. But confusion over how these tools should be used if at all has sown suspicion in institutions designed to be built on trust. Some believe that AI stands to revolutionise how people learn for the better, like a 24/7 personal tutor Professor HAL, if you like. To others, it is an existential threat to the entire system of learning a plague upon education as one op-ed for Inside Higher Ed put it that stands to demolish the process of academic inquiry.In the struggle to stuff the genie back in the bottle, universities have become locked in an escalating technological arms race, even turning to AI themselves to try to catch misconduct. Tutors are turning on students, students on each other and hardworking learners are being caught by the flak. Its left many feeling pessimistic about the future of higher education. But is ChatGPT really the problem universities need to grapple with? Or is it something deeper?Turning the page: education has been shaken by the arrival of Chat GPT-3. Illustration: Carl Godfrey/The ObserverAlbert is not the only student to find himself wrongly accused of using AI. For many years, the main tool in the academys anti-cheating arsenal has been software, such as Turnitin, which scans submissions for signs of plagiarism. In 2023, Turnitin launched a new AI detection tool that assesses the proportion of the text that is likely to have been written by AI.Amid the rush to counteract a surge in AI-written assignments, it seemed like a magic bullet. Since then, Turnitin has processed more than 130m papers and says it has flagged 3.5m as being 80% AI-written. But it is also not 100% reliable; there have been widely reported cases of false positives and some universities have chosen to opt out. Turnitin says the rate of error is below 1%, but considering the size of the student population, it is no wonder that many have found themselves in the firing line.There is also evidence that suggests AI detection tools disadvantage certain demographics. One study at Stanford found that a number of AI detectors have a bias towards non-English speakers, flagging their work 61% of the time, as opposed to 5% of native English speakers (Turnitin was not part of this particular study). Last month, Bloomberg Businessweek reported the case of a student with autism spectrum disorder whose work had been falsely flagged by a detection tool as being written by AI. She described being accused of cheating as like a punch in the gut. Neurodivergent students, as well as those who write using simpler language and syntax, appear to be disproportionately affected by these systems.Dr Mike Perkins, a generative AI researcher at British University Vietnam, believes there are significant limitations to AI detection software. All the research says time and time again that these tools are unreliable, he told me. And they are very easily tricked. His own investigation found that AI detectors could detect AI text with an accuracy of 39.5%. Following simple evasion techniques such as minor manipulation to the text the accuracy dropped to just 22.1%.The students you end up catching are the ones who are most at risk of their academic careers being damaged anywayAs Perkins points out, those who do decide to cheat dont simply cut and paste text from ChatGPT, they edit it, or mould it into their own work. There are also AI humanisers, such as CopyGenius and StealthGPT, the latter which boasts that it can produce undetectable content and claims to have helped half a million students produce nearly 5m papers. The only students who dont do that are really struggling, or they are not willing or able, to pay for the most advanced AI tools, like ChatGPT 4.0 or Gemini 1.5, says Perkins. And who you end up catching are the students who are most at risk of their academic careers being damaged anyway.If anyone knows what that feels like, its Emma. A year ago, she was expecting to receive the result of her coursework. Instead, an email pinged into her inbox informing her that she had scored a zero. Concerns over plagiarism, it read. Emma, a single parent studying for an arts degree, had been struggling that year. Studies, childcare, household chores she was also squeezing in time to apply for part-time jobs to keep herself financially afloat. Amid all this, with deadlines stacking up, shed been slowly lured in by the siren call of ChatGPT. At the time, she felt relief an assignment, complete. Now, she felt petrified.Emma, who also asked to remain anonymous, hadnt given generative AI much thought before she used it. She hadnt had time to. But there was a steady hum of chatter about it on her social media and when a bout of sickness led her to fall behind on her studies, and her mental capacity had run dry, she decided to take a closer look at what it could do. Logging on to ChatGPT, she could fast-track the last parts of the analysis, drop them into her essay and move on. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but that feeling was completely overpowered by exhaustion, she says. I had nothing left to give, but I had to submit a completed piece of work. When her tutor pulled up a report on their screen from Turnitin, showing an entire section had been flagged as having been written by AI, there was nothing Emma could think to do but confess.Her case was referred to a misconduct panel, but in the end she was lucky. Her mitigating circumstances seemed to be taken into account and, though it surprised her particularly since she had admitted to using ChatGPT the panel decided that the specific claim of plagiarism could not be substantiated.It was a relief, but mostly it was humiliating. I received a first for that year, says Emma, but it felt tainted and undeserved. The whole experience shook her her degree, and future had hung in the balance but she believes that universities could be more aware of the pressures that students are under, and better equip them to navigate these unfamiliar tools. There are many reasons why students use AI, she says. And I expect that some of them arent aware that the manner in which they utilise it is unacceptable.Cheating or not, an atmosphere of suspicion has cast a shadow over campuses. One student told me they had been pulled into a misconduct hearing despite having a low score on Turnitins AI detection tool after a tutor was convinced the student had used ChatGPT, because some of his points had been structured in a list, which the chatbot has a tendency to do. Although he was eventually cleared, the experience messed with my mental health, he says. His confidence was severely knocked. I wasnt even using spellcheckers to help edit my work because I was so scared.Many academics seem to believe that you can always tell if an assignment was written by an AI, that they can pick up on the stylistic traits associated with these tools. Evidence is mounting to suggest they may be overestimating their ability. Researchers at the University of Reading recently conducted a blind test in which ChatGPT-written answers were submitted through the universitys own examination system: 94% of the AI submissions went undetected and received higher scores than those submitted by the humans.Students are also turning on each other. David, an undergraduate student who also requested to remain anonymous, was working on a group project when one of his course mates sent over a suspiciously polished piece of work. The student, David explained, struggled with his English, and thats not their fault, but the report was honestly the best Id ever seen.David ran the work through a couple of AI detectors that confirmed his suspicion, and he politely brought it up with the student. The student, of course, denied it. David didnt feel there was much more he could do, but he made sure to collect evidence of their chat messages. So, if our coursework gets flagged, then I can say I did check. I know people who have spent hours working on this and it only takes one to ruin the whole thing.David is by no means an AI naysayer. He has found it useful for revision, inputting study texts and asking ChatGPT to fire questions back for him to answer. But the endemic cheating all around him has been disheartening. Ive grown desensitised to it, he says. Half the students in my class are giving presentations that are clearly not their own work. If I was to react at every instance of AI being used, I would have gone crazy at this point. Ultimately, David believes the students are only cheating themselves, but sometimes he wonders how this erosion of integrity will affect his own academic and professional life down the line. What if Im doing an MA, or in a job, and everyone got there just by cheatingWhat counts as cheating is determined, ultimately, by institutions and examiners. Many universities are already adapting their approach to assessment, penning AI-positive policies. At Cambridge University, for example, appropriate use of generative AI includes using it for an overview of new concepts, as a collaborative coach, or supporting time management. The university warns against over-reliance on these tools, which could limit a students ability to develop critical thinking skills. Some lecturers I spoke to said they felt that this sort of approach was helpful, but others said it was capitulating. One conveyed frustration that her university didnt seem to be taking academic misconduct seriously any more; she had received a whispered warning that she was no longer to refer cases where AI was suspected to the central disciplinary board.They all agreed that a shift to different forms of teaching and assessment one-to-one tuition, viva voces and the like would make it far harder for students to use AI to do the heavy lifting. Thats how wed need to do it, if were serious about authentically assessing students and not just churning them through a 9,000-a-year course hoping they dont complain, one lecturer at a redbrick university told me. But that would mean hiring staff, or reducing student numbers. The pressures on his department are such, he says, that even lecturers have admitted using ChatGPT to dash out seminar and tutorial plans. No wonder students are at it, too.If anything, the AI cheating crisis has exposed how transactional the process of gaining a degree has become. Higher education is increasingly marketised; universities are cash-strapped, chasing customers at the expense of quality learning. Students, meanwhile, are labouring under financial pressures of their own, painfully aware that secure graduate careers are increasingly scarce. Just as the rise of essay mills coincided with the rapid expansion of higher education in the noughties, ChatGPT has struck at a time when a degree feels more devalued than ever.The reasons why students cheat are complex. Studies have pointed to factors such as a pressure to perform, poor time management, or simply ignorance. It can also be fuelled by the culture at a university and cheating is certainly hastened when an institution is perceived to not be taking it seriously. But when it comes to tackling cheating, we often end up with the same answer: the staff-student relationship. This, wrote Dr Paula Miles in a recent paper on why students cheat, is vital, and it plays a powerful role in helping to reduce cases of academic misconduct. And right now, it seems that wherever human interactions are sparse, AI fills the gap.Albert had to wait nervously for two months before he found out, thankfully, that hed passed the module. It was a relief, though he couldnt find out if the essay in question had been marked down. By then, however, the damage had been done. He had already been feeling out of place at the university and was considering dropping out. The misconduct hearing tipped him into making a decision, and he decided to transfer to a different institution for his second year.The experience, in many ways, was emblematic of his time at the university, he says. He feels frustrated that his professor hadnt spoken to him initially about the essay, and disheartened that there were so few opportunities for students to reach out for help and support while he was studying. When it comes to AI, hes agnostic he reckons its OK to use it for studying and notes, as long as its not for submitted work. The bigger issue, he believes, is that higher education feels so impersonal. It would be better for universities to stop thinking of students as numbers and more as real people, he says.Some names have been changed
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  • Hidetaka Miyazaki's five words of advice for the director of Elden Ring: Nightreign probably sum up his own ethos better than any of us ever could
    www.vg247.com
    Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki is taking a backseat for Nightreign, but he did have some solid advice for the spin-offs director. Read more
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  • While you wait for The Witcher 4, a bunch of former CD Projekt Red devs hope to get you interested in what they're working on with a title reveal and a promise of a proper showcase
    www.vg247.com
    Bloody HellWhile you wait for The Witcher 4, a bunch of former CD Projekt Red devs hope to get you interested in what they're working on with a title reveal and a promise of a proper showcaseNot sure on the title, though.Image credit: Rebel Wolves News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Dec. 15, 2024 Rebel Wolves isn't quite ready to show you what it's working on yet, but a small teaser has revealed the name of its first game.It's been a couple of years since Rebel Wolves, a team composed of former Witcher and Cyberpunk devs, revealed itself, but it sounds like the new team is finally ready to show off what it's working on next month. Following the announcement in October that Bandai Namco would be publishing Rebel Wolves' first title, the Elden Ring publisher shared a title reveal trailer today, announcing that the game will be called The Blood of Dawnwalker. There was a fancy logo shown off too, though I'm not exactly convinced of the title just yet - it's a bit generic sounding honestly, but the trailer had more to say at the very least.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. #"Join us under the full wolf moon for the game reveal event," the trailer shares. "The world needs what it fears." I've no idea what that last line means, but I can explain that the full wolf moon bit means there will be a proper reveal of the game on January 13, almost exactly a month away, and the next scheduled day for a full moon (it's a full moon today too, so an obviously purposely timed announcement here). That'll be at 1pm PST/ 4pm EST/ 10pm CET, though the trailer doesn't explain whether any gameplay will be shown off, or if it'll just be a cinematic trailer.Watch on YouTubeThe YouTube video's description explains that "The Blood of Dawnwalker is the first chapter of Rebel Wolves brand new role-playing saga - a single-player open-world dark fantasy action-RPG with a strong focus on story and narrative," which could easily be how you'd describe The Witcher too, so the devs have clearly stuck to what they know. Well, the title might be a bit naff, but maybe a strong trailer will be the hook that it needs! I'll find it in a month, let's just see if it can tide fans over until The Witcher 4 comes out.
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  • Capcom Intends To Continue "Re-Activating Dormant IPs"
    www.nintendolife.com
    Okami and Onimusha are paving the way.Some of the biggest surprises at this year's Game Awards show were provided by Japanese video game giant Capcom with the revival of classic IPs like Okami and Onimusha.In a company press release on its official website, Capcom has now made it clear this is all part of an initiative to focus on "re-activating dormant IPs" in its library that "haven't had a new title launch recently".Read the full article on nintendolife.com
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  • Get Ready For Okami's Sequel With This Bargain eShop Sale
    www.nintendolife.com
    Experience the original "legendary masterpiece" in HD.One of the standout announcements at The Game Awards this week was the news Capcom's legendary action-adventure game Okami would be getting a sequel.The original game's director Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry, Bayonetta) will be leading the project, but it could potentially be some time before another update as it's still "a small bud that is blossoming". So, if you haven't played the first entry - now is the perfect time!Read the full article on nintendolife.com
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  • Revisiting 19th-century Paris with VR
    techcrunch.com
    While I have fond memories of past efforts to combine VR content with real-world locations, Id assumed the pandemic had put those ambitions to an end. If I wanted VR in 2024, I thought Id have to buy a headset, and it would be a largely solitary experience at home or in the office not something I shared with a crowd in a converted retail space.But a new immersive experience proved me wrong.Created by French startup Excurio in collaboration with the Muse dOrsay and another startup, Eclipso, Tonight With The Impressionists, Paris 1874 commemorates the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist art exhibition by taking visitors back to 19th century Paris first onto the citys streets, then into the exhibition itself, then to other key locations from Impressionist history.After launching in France and Atlanta, Tonight With The Impressionists opened Friday at the Eclipso Center in New York. (As I understand it, Eclipso provides the space for virtual reality experiences, while Excurio created the VR content.) Like other Excurio experiences, this one uses VR to make history and culture more accessible, while also providing a showcase for the companys tech.Image: ExcurioAt a press event earlier in the week, my partner and I joined a long line of people donning VR headsets before stepping into a large white room 11,000 featureless square feet that would be transformed into apartments, galleries, lakeside retreats, and more.Unlike The Void (my main reference point for this type of experience), Excurio and Eclipso dont attempt to build a physical space or provide props that correspond to the virtual experience. That means the Eclipso Center can host multiple experiences at the same time, but it can also lead to some awkward moments like when the virtual environment sloped upward while the actual floor stayed flat, or when a Parisian sofa was blocked by a floating red X, reminding us that wed end up on the floor if we tried to sit down.Despite the awkwardness, it really felt like we were in Paris, gazing at classic paintings and speaking to their creators. In perhaps the most breathtaking moment, we shared a balcony with Claude Monet as he painted Impression, Sunrise, with his work expanding beyond the canvas to fill the horizon.Excurio highlights the fact that its experiences dont require you to wear bulky VR backpacks, just the headsets, and that it allows for many participants at once in fact, the company says it recently broke the record of more supporting than 100 simultaneous, free-roaming participants in the same space. It manages those crowds by offering a specific narrative that leads you through the space; with staggered start times, there shouldnt be much risk of bumping into someone else.Image: ExcurioIn practice, our crowd was dense enough that we frequently saw the white silhouettes indicating the proximity of a real person. We never bumped into them, but it added a bit of traffic-dodging stress to the experience. And in the end, the 45 minutes of Tonight With The Impressionists felt a bit long for relative VR newbies like us enough time to feel some eye strain and discomfort from the equipment.Still, I havent really experienced anything like it. Its worth checking out for anyone interested in Impressionist art, and even more in the creative and educational possibilities of VR.
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  • NeurIPS keynote speaker apologizes for reference to Chinese student
    techcrunch.com
    A speaker at the annual NeurIPS AI conference has drawn criticism not for her opinions about AI, but the way she referred to a Chinese student.During her keynote presentation on How to optimize what matters most, MIT Media Lab Professor Rosalind Picard (pictured above) included a slide quoting an excuse given by a Chinese student who is now expelled from top university for using AI, with the student supposedly saying, Nobody at my school taught us morals or values.The slide also includes a note from Picard saying, Most Chinese who I know are honest and morally upright.Google DeepMind scientist Jiao Sun shared a photo of the slide on X, writing, Mitigating racial bias from LLMs is a lot easier than removing it from humans! Yuandong Tian, a research scientist at Meta, reposted Suns comment and added, This is explicit racial bias. How could this happen in NeurIPS?In Q&A footage that was also shared on X, an attendee noted that this was the only time anyones nationality was referenced in Picards presentation, suggested that it was a bit offensive, and urged her to remove the reference if she gave the presentation again a suggestion that Picard seeming to agree with.Following the talk, NeurIPS organizers posted an apology, writing, We want to address the comment made during the invited talk this afternoon, as it is something that NeurIPS does not condone and it doesnt align with our code of conduct. We are addressing this issue with the speaker directly. NeurIPS is dedicated to being a diverse and inclusive place where everyone is treated equally.Picard also apologized in a statement in which she expressed regret for mentioning the students nationality.I see that this was unnecessary, irrelevant to the point I was making, and caused unintended negative associations, Picard wrote. I apologize for doing this and feel very badly about the distress that this incident has caused. I am learning from this experience, and I welcome ideas for how to try to make amends to the community.
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  • Intro to Substance Designer for VFX
    realtimevfx.com
    Hey everyone we just announced our 3rd course and the last one for this year.Intro to Substance DesignerIn this course, youll learn how to create VFX textures using Substance Designer! Well go through everything you need to know to build a wide range of textures, whether theyre realistic or stylized. Youll also get a solid understanding of the core principles and techniques along the wayBy the end of this course, youll have the skills to design high-quality textures and bring your creative ideas to life.Our instructors for this course will beMicha Potakowski @Manus and Bjrn Riemann @Atiwe have a pre-sale going right now get 25% off using the code madvfx25mad-vfx.comVFX in Games: Intro to Substance DesignerLearn how to create stunning VFX textures in Substance Designer! This course will teach you everything you need to know to build a variety of textures, whether realistic or stylized. Well show you how to approach texture creation step by step,
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