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Tencent's own battle royale game has hackable zombies
At first glance, Synced: Off-Planet looks like a battle-royale blend of Left 4 Dead, The Division and World War Z. When Tencent Next Studios debuted the game at NVIDIA's Gamescom 2019 press conference, social media lit up with comparisons to these existing franchises. Some comments wrote off the game as a cheap clone, while others were intrigued by the idea of a new, yet familiar-looking shooter. "You can argue it looks like World War Z and The Division," Next creative director Clark Jiayang Yang said the day after Synced's reveal. "But to be honest, having so many players -- we have 48 players in a round and 1,500 AI zombies in the same place. That's something that in any other games we haven't really seen before."
White House invites tech companies to discuss violent online extremism
The White House plans to host a meeting with tech companies to discuss the rise of violent online extremism. According to The Washington Post, this is the Trump administration's first major engagement on the issue after the recent mass shooting in Texas left 22 people dead. Trump is scheduled to be at fundraisers in the Hamptons, so he may not attend.
Original 'Burnout Paradise' servers shut down August 1st
All good things must come to an end, and that includes multiplayer support for the original Burnout Paradise. Emails sent to players and a tweet from Criterion confirm that the game's servers -- which have been in operation since it launched in 2008 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC -- will shut down on August 1st. There's still offline play, but getting every trophy, even using backwards compatibility, will be impossible unless you make the jump to the Remastered edition that launched last year for newer platforms.
Amazon will close its Chinese platform for third-party sellers in July
Amazon is pulling the plug on its e-commerce marketplace for third-party sellers in China. The decision follows a long struggle by American e-commerce companies in the country, who have fallen behind China's faster shopping rivals.
Tesla decides to keep more stores open and raise prices instead
After saying that it will close most of its stores and go online-only, Tesla has changed its mind. The automaker announced that it will "only close about half as many stores" as it previously said, while reducing staff in some locations. In order to keep its revenue on track, Tesla added that it will raise vehicle prices "by about 3 percent on average worldwide."
Tesla's car sales are going online-only
Along with launching its long-awaited $35,000 Model 3, Tesla announced that it is taking car sales to the internet -- exclusively. That shift is apparently a part of why it's going to be able to lower prices by a claimed 6 percent on average, as it winds down "many" store locations. A few spots in high-traffic areas will remain as galleries and showcases, even as it ramps up the service system with a goal of providing same-day or even same-hour appointments where techs come to you. That does mean Tesla will fire some employees. On a call with the media, CEO Elon Musk said "We will be closing some stores and there will be some reduction in head count as a result." For customers, Tesla is hoping that by offering the ability to return their car at no cost within the first 7 days or 1,000 miles is enough to remove the need for a test drive. Musk sent out an internal memo to employees expanding on his statements about layoffs. CNBC posted it in full, as the exec told employees: "Unfortunately, this means that some jobs will be impacted or transitioned to other areas of the business. This is a hard decision, but it necessary to make our cars more affordable...In the coming weeks, we will be evaluating all of our sales and marketing organization to understand where there are operation efficiencies"
'Baby Shark' has gone so viral it's now a Billboard Top 40 song
Unless you spent the latter half of 2018 on the moon with your hands over your ears, it's highly likely you're at least aware of Baby Shark, the infectious kids' song and scourge of parents everywhere. So popular is this viral sensation that it's now entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart, meaning it's not going away any time soon. Sorry.
Get new manga when Japan does with Shonen Jump's subscription service
Shonen Jump, one of the most beloved and longest-running manga magazines on Earth is once again reinventing itself. First printed in 1968, the publication has hosted its American localization as an online magazine since 2012 and, come December 17th, will offer a subscription service delivering the latest chapters from popular series the same that that they're released in Japan.
Motiv's fitness ring will log you in with a wave of your hand
Motiv has made a number of significant functional improvements since first releasing its fitness monitoring ring back in 2017, including Android support and sleep tracking. As of today, your Motiv ring will be capable of even more technological feats, though they're not the sorts of tricks one normally associates with fitness wearables.
'Hitman 2' introduces multiplayer versus mode
The surefire way to tell identical twins apart is to check their fingerprints and the barcodes on the back of their heads. Developer IO Interactive has released a trailer for Ghost Mode, a new addition to the upcoming Hitman 2, that brings competitive multiplayer to the series for the first time. It's a 1v1 online mode that pits you against an opponent to see who can eliminate their target as quickly and cleanly as possible. Each Agent 47's goal is to earn five points before the other, with each kill awarding a single point. Earning a point means killing the target unnoticed and hiding the body without it being immediately found. Players will lose points by eliminating innocent NPCs. There will also be pick-ups throughout, with disguises, weapons, and "Ghost Crates." Players that find a Ghost Crate can only take one item, and that item will be removed as a choice for their opponent. You won't be trying to kill your doppelganger, not even with a pair of scissors or a fish. Each player will be in their own "reality," where they can see a ghost Agent 47, including what they're wearing and what they're holding. It will, however, be possible to throw your opponent off balance by using a Ghost Coin, kind of an interdimensional totem, which when thrown in your reality to attract the attention of an NPC, will do the same in their reality. Hitman 2 is set to release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 13th.
'Red Dead Redemption 2' will be a massive 105GB download
Red Dead Redemption 2 is finally dropping next month, and Sony has revealed some of what's in store with the pre-order launch of its PS4 Pro Bundle. The box refers to a "timed exclusive for 30 days" and mentions online content. We knew PlayStation users were getting some unique content, but this confirms they'll get it ahead of everyone else, too.
Facebook's Dating feature aims to prevent harassment and dick pics
Where will you meet your next bae? If Facebook has anything to do with it, it'll be through its new dating feature, which it's now testing in Colombia. Announced back in May at the F8 developer's conference, Facebook wants to help its 200 million+ single users find more meaningful, deeper connections – and given its monopoly in online social interactions, it's pretty well-placed to do that.
'Red Dead Online' arrives this November
If you're preparing to strap on your cowboy boots and venture into the world of Red Dead Redemption 2 when the sequel hits consoles at the end of next month, you'll have to wait a little longer to play the game's online mode. Rockstar Games said that Red Dead Online will arrive in November, and it will be a public beta at first.
Catch the September 2018 Nintendo Direct right here, right now
The time has come. Nintendo delayed the September edition of its Nintendo Direct live stream after an earthquake rocked Hokkaido, Japan, earlier this month, but it's full steam ahead today. The show kicks off at 6PM ET / 3PM PT, and Nintendo will finally share details about the Switch's coming online features. Watch it in the embedded stream below, and we'll break out all of the big news as it lands, so keep the Engadget homepage fresh.
SNES Party lets you play classic ROMs with friends online
Nintendo promised online play for the retro games it'll make available via the Switch's online service, but if you'd rather not wait until this September for that, there's an unofficial way to play games of yore over the internet. It's through an emulator called SNES Party. "SNES Party is an experimental way to play SNES games with your friends online all from within your browser using WebRTC," the developers write. It works pretty well too.
Mojang card game 'Scrolls' reborn as 'Caller's Bane'
When Scrolls was hit by a Bethesda lawsuit and its online servers died an ugly death, the future of Mojang's collectible card game was looking rather grim. But Scrolls is still alive, and it's just been rebranded as 'Caller's Bane'. Unlike before, it now costs nothing to play.
Valve adds more flexibility to 'Dota 2' pro competitions
The world of eSports is growing at a rapid pace. Games like League of Legends and CS:GO are becoming more mainstream by the day. While Dota 2 holds the record for the highest total eSports prize money but Valve feels its competitive scene has lacked structure. To rectify that, it's unveiled a number of changes that it hopes will legitimize its Dota Pro Circuit (DPC).
Avast claims its secure browser is 30 percent faster than yours
Avast has updated its browser to give users greater control over their online privacy. According to the company, its renamed Avast Secure Browser (formerly SafeZone) is designed to plug the security gaps that result from users' misplaced protection expectations. Features such as Stealth Mode, HTTPS Encryption, anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting have been designed to account for the 69 percent of UK consumers who believe standard private-browsing modes will anonymize their identity, and the 81 percent who believe their browser would alert them to web-based threats, such as malicious cryptomining and extensions.
Robomart autonomous bodegas will deliver produce to your door
Shopping for fresh produce online has always been a bit of a gamble, since you're not actually selecting the fruits and veggies yourself. Santa Clara, California–based startup Robomart aims to change that by bringing online produce shopping to your front door.
UK watchdog has to remind MPs not to share their passwords
With the number of computer-based attacks steadily rising in the UK, Britons have been warned over and over again to use strong passwords, to ensure they're not recycled and to never disclose them to a third party. So when three Conservative MPs came out over the weekend admitting to sharing their credentials with interns and other members of staff, it's easy to see why the UK's data watchdog is none too pleased.
