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Underwater adventure game 'Abzû' is coming to the Nintendo Switch
Abzû, the award-winning underground aventure game from Giant Squid Studios, is making its way to the Nintendo Switch. The game will be available on the platform starting November 29th. It will sell for $19.99, but you can save 10 percent off by pre-ordering it.
Abzû's deep sea adventure is coming to Xbox One
Abzû, the best game about exploring the depths of the ocean (sorry Ecco the Dolphin), will get a physical release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this January. It's a beautiful and relaxing adventure, focused on a deep sea diver as he tries to learn more about the world and its complex ecology. The short, atmospheric title is already available through Steam and the PSN store; the big news, therefore, is its debut on Xbox hardware. The game was developed by Giant Squid, a new studio founded by Flower and Journey art director Matt Nava. Consequently, the art direction is stunning -- if you like taking beautiful screenshots, this is the game for you.
'Abzu': a scuba diving game that's part Zen, part 'Journey'
Abzû, the debut game from game development house Giant Squid, may as well have the subtitle Journey 2 or maybe even Flower 3. Studio founder Matt Nava, the former thatgamecompany art director of those aforementioned art house gaming touchstones, is making yet another emotionally bald, deeply pretty game about communing with nature through fluid controls here. In playing Abzû, though, any cynicism born out of its similarity to Nava's past work floats away like so much foam on a wave. This undersea adventure is immediately familiar, clearly of a piece with Journey's nomadic wandering and Flower's breezy environmentalism. Even in just a brief demo session, though, Abzû is equally transcendent. Of all the games from E3 2015 I got to play at early events, Abzû is the one I didn't want to stop playing. Even in a pre-alpha state, Giant Squid's game makes you feel like you're somewhere else.
Underwater robot has sense of touch, class and style
At the Fraunhofer Institute in Bremen, Germany, a group of researchers, in conjunction with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence DFKI, is developing an underwater robot with a sense of touch. The octopus-esque robot is equipped with a strain gauge which triggers electrical resistance changes when an obstacle is encountered. The strain gauges -- which are printed onto the robot -- which are ten micrometers wide (about half the width of a human hair), are made up of atomized nanoparticles, and are extremely sensitive. The researchers intend for the robot to be able to distinguish between actual obstacles and water currents. The robot's first stop will be a public trade show at the end of May in Nuremberg, after which it will presumably make it's way to the dark depths of the sea to meet up with Captain Nemo and the giant squid.
Robot, giant squid have epic battle in Japanese tourism videos
You have to be a special kind of city to think that insane videos of a giant squid / robot attacking and duking it out while destroying your beautiful, historic buildings is a great way to bolster tourism. World, meet Hakodate: their official tourism board has produced an amazing series of videos over the past few months that you really just have to see for yourself. Oh, did we mention that the videos worked? Yeah, we're totally there. Hit the read link for all three videos; our favorite, Hakodate's winter video, is after the break.[Via Pink Tentacle]
