Jurang Tayo

Kamis, 02 Mei 2019

The Morning After: Epic bought the maker of 'Rocket League' - Engadget

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Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Are you ready for the first 5G-connected TV? Huawei may have one on the way; however, we're probably closer to seeing all of Google's Pixel 3a and the Moto Z4. Also, NASA uncovered a fraud scheme that resulted in a couple of destroyed rockets, and tinkerers should check out this DIY smartwatch project.

A fairing failed to separate and destroyed two rocketsNASA was sold faulty rocket parts for almost 20 years

When the launch of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory and Glory missions failed in 2009 and 2011, the agency said it was because their launch vehicle malfunctioned. Now, a NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) investigation has revealed the malfunction was caused by faulty aluminum materials. More importantly, the probe blew a 19-year fraud scheme perpetrated by Oregon aluminum extrusion manufacturer Sapa Profiles, Inc., which Orbital ATK fell victim to, wide open.

As long as you have a reservation.Tesla's Model 3 finally goes on sale in the UK

Including VAT and the UK's Plug-In Car Grant, prices for the Model 3 start at £38,900 ($50,853) for the Standard Range Plus model, rising to £47,900 ($62,691) for the Long Range model and £56,900 ($74,385) for the top-end Performance model. Meanwhile, in Canada, Tesla is selling a software-limited 93-mile range vehicle, which starts at $44,999, just $1 under the $45,000 limit to be eligible for a $5,000 EV credit.

We'll see what this means for Steam.Epic buys 'Rocket League' creator Psyonix

Fortnite-maker Epic has acquired Rocket League-creator Psyonix for an unspecified amount and will bring the vehicular soccer game to the Epic Games Store by late 2019. Needless to say, that has people worried about Rocket League's fate -- will it disappear from Steam? Epic said it had "not announced plans" to stop selling the game on Steam, but it's only guaranteeing existing customers will "continue to be supported."

Imagine a shooter that's not a battle-royale game.'Borderlands 3' hands-on: More of the same, but in space

When it comes out on September 13th, Borderlands 3 will have a four-player online co-op, and it'll also support local, split-screen multiplayer for up to two people. It has more than one billion guns, comic-book-inspired visuals, new narrative arcs with famous in-game folks, customizable skill trees and heaps of enemies to mow down. Perhaps most importantly, every scene is dripping with crass sarcasm.

We'll see if that satisfies audiophiles.Netflix upgrades to 'studio-quality' audio for streaming

The company is increasing its audio bitrate up to 640 kbps on devices that support 5.1 surround sound and up to 768 kbps for Dolby Atmos -- though you'll need to be a Premium subscriber for that. It's also bringing adaptive streaming, a feature it's long used for video, to your speakers.

Did it do the MCU justice?What we're watching: 'Avengers: Endgame'

This month's IRL focuses on the Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest achievement -- Avengers: Endgame. While we can already tell you how to watch the movie (go IMAX or go home), now it's time to talk about how we felt once it was over and the lights came back on.

But wait, there's more...

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/02/the-morning-after/

2019-05-02 10:30:31Z
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Harry Potter: Wizards Unite beta opens in Australia and New Zealand - The Verge

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, the Pokémon Go-style smartphone game co-developed by Niantic and WB Games, is now available in open beta in Australia and New Zealand. Players in the two countries can play the game now on both iOS and Android. The announcement follows a couple of false starts for the game, which included it appearing on the iOS App Store last month before quickly being pulled.

Back in 2016, Pokémon Go also launched in Australia and New Zealand first, before coming later to the US, Europe, and the rest of the world. However, at the time it was possible to get access to the game early on Android by downloading its APK from a third-party source. That doesn’t appear to be the case for Wizard’s Unite. Although we were able to successfully install the app using this method, it refused to load any content beyond a brief initial tutorial.

Wizard’s Unite is set to be a much more complex game than Pokémon Go was at launch, with artifacts to collect, characters to rescue, and an intricate set of skills to level up . When we tried it out for ourselves back in March, we found that this meant it was harder to immediately understand than Pokémon Go’s relatively simple gameplay loop of hunting for Pokemon and battling at gyms. However, its developers have noted that the game’s features could change over the course of the beta.

Harry Potter: Wizard’s Unite is available to download now in Australia and New Zealand on both iOS and Android. A worldwide release date is yet to be announced, but you can sign up to receive updates on the Wizards Unite website, or pre-register on the Google Play Store.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/2/18526512/harry-potter-wizards-unite-beta-australia-new-zealand-niantic-portkey-games-pokemon-go

2019-05-02 10:03:40Z
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'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is now beta testing in Australia and NZ - Engadget

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Niantic is giving Harry Potter fans in Australia and New Zealand the chance to be among the first to wave their augmented reality wands and vanquish rogue magical objects. The beta version of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is now live on the Apple App Store and Google Play in those two countries. Since it's just a test run, the company says the available features, languages, design and even the game's overall appearance aren't final -- they'll likely change based on the first players' feedback. Also, testers can expect to encounter bugs and unstable environments common to most beta software.

In Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, players become new recruits to the Statute of Secrecy Task Force, which has to capture and subdue rogue magical creatures and objects that escaped the wizarding world after an event known as the "Calamity." Like Pokémon Go, it's a location-based AR game, so they have to walk around to find encounters.

Enter AR encounters with the Foundables, and dispel the "Confoundable" magic protecting them by tracing glyphs on your device. pic.twitter.com/cJg0dj9Hmh
— Pottermore (@pottermore) March 11, 2019

While it's only out in two countries at the moment, wannabe-wizards can sign up for future updates on the Wizards Unite website. They can also pre-register on Google Play if they're using Android devices and want to double down and make sure they don't miss any announcements.

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/02/harry-potter-wizards-unite-beta/

2019-05-02 07:05:43Z
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Google’s Pixel 3a price leak suggests prices from $399 - The Verge

Google’s all-but-official budget smartphones, the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL, will cost from $399 and $479 respectively, according to the YouTube channel This is Tech Today. Both prices are for the 64GB storage models of the phones, which will reportedly also be available with 128GB of storage. The host of the channel, Brandon Lee, says he was sent images of the Pixel 3a’s retail packaging, along with a number of other details about it and its larger XL variant.

The details shown on the packing appear to confirm its legitimacy. The Universal Product Code (UPC) number shown corroborates a Walmart listing for a factory-unlocked Pixel 3a. The packaging also confirms the name of the phone’s rumored purple color scheme, which will apparently be called “Purple-ish,” as well as the Pixel 3a’s 5.6-inch display size.

Along with the price, Lee also shared a number of other details about the upcoming handsets which corroborate previously leaked details. Both phones will be made of plastic, and will feature downward-facing speakers, 1080p screens, and headphone jacks.

Lee didn’t have any new details to share about the phones’ specs, but previous rumors suggest the phones will run on Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 processors, and will have 4GB of RAM, 12-megapixel rear cameras, and 3,000mAh batteries.

Google’s expected release of a pair of mid-range smartphones comes in the wake of its announcement that it has been struggling to sell its flagship handsets due to industry-wide pressures. All signs currently point towards a reveal for the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL during Google’s I/O 2019 keynote on May 7th next week.

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https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/5/2/18526492/google-pixel-3a-xl-price-budget-specs-features

2019-05-02 08:28:04Z
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'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' is now beta testing in Australia and NZ - Engadget

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Enter AR encounters with the Foundables, and dispel the "Confoundable" magic protecting them by tracing glyphs on your device. pic.twitter.com/cJg0dj9Hmh
— Pottermore (@pottermore) March 11, 2019

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/02/harry-potter-wizards-unite-beta/

2019-05-02 07:03:16Z
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Rabu, 01 Mei 2019

Epic acquires Rocket League studio, bringing game to Epic's store this year - Ars Technica

Enlarge / The blue car represents Psyonix leaping over Steam's... orange car? Look, it's a loose metaphor. Work with me here, people.

In a surprise move today, Epic Games announced it has "signed a definitive agreement" to acquire San Diego-based Psyonix and its 132 employees, who make the hit car-based soccer game Rocket League.

As part of the deal, the PC version of Rocket League will be moving to the Epic Game Store "in late 2019," Epic announced. "In the meantime, it will continue to be available for purchase on Steam; thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers." Psyonix says it will continue to sell and support Rocket League on other platforms, including the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch, going forward.

"In the short term, nothing will change at all!" Psyonix writes in a blog post accompanying the announcement. "We’re still committed to providing Rocket League with frequent updates that have new features, new content, and new ways to play the game for as long as you’ll have us."

"In the long-term, we expect to bring Rocket League to the Epic Games store and to leverage our new relationship to grow the game in ways we couldn’t do on our own before," the post continues. "We believe that bringing Rocket League to new audiences with more support is a win for everybody."

Psyonix also says it sees the acquisition, which is due to close in May or June, as "significantly increas[ing] our potential reach and resources" for the game as an esport.

"We've been working closely with Epic since the early days of Unreal Tournament, and we've survived changing tides as partners, so combining forces makes sense in many ways," Psyonix founder and studio director Dave Hagewood said in a statement. "The potential of what we can learn from each other and accomplish together makes us truly excited for the future."

The Psyonix acquisition is the latest aggressive move for Epic, which is flush with cash following the massive success of Fortnite. Since launching the Epic Games Store late last year with a Steam-beating revenue share of 88 percent for developers, the studio has gone about buying up numerous high-profile exclusives for the platform and giving away free games every other week to attract customers.

Founded in 2001, Psyonix worked behind the scenes on Unreal Engine games, including Gears of War, Mass Effect 3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Bulletstorm, Unreal Tournament III, and Unreal Tournament 2004. The company didn't have a breakout hit to its own name, though, until 2015's Rocket League became a standout release of the year. The game reached 50 million unique players as of last September, according to Psyonix, and offered a $1 million prize pool for its most recent esports season.

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https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/epic-acquires-rocket-league-studio-bringing-game-to-epics-store-this-year/

2019-05-01 20:13:00Z
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Google opens Android infotainment system to third-party media apps - Engadget

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Now that Google has a full-fledged car infotainment platform in Android Automotive, it's opening the door to apps built for that platform. As of Google I/O, developers will have the power to create media apps for Android Automotive-equipped cars like the upcoming Polestar 2. It's using the same underlying framework as Android Auto, which should ensure that a favorite music or audiobook app will work properly across different touchscreen sizes and car customizations.

You'll have to wait a while for the first apps when the Polestar 2 doesn't arrive until 2020, and there aren't any publicly announced partners (although a preview graphic does show NPR One). Don't be surprised if the app ecosystem expands over the months ahead, though.

And yes, Google intends to open Android Automotive to more than just media apps. The company has "plans" to enable apps for navigation, communication "and beyond," so you might have alternatives if you don't care for Google Maps or need a third-party internet calling service. The aim is ultimately to create an app ecosystem for cars that more closely resembles what you see on phones, rather than another take on the walled-off environments you see today.

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/01/android-automotive-third-party-media-apps/

2019-05-01 17:03:12Z
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