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Valorant's new healer agent will change the game
With Valorant’s second competitive season almost at an end, Riot Games has begun detailing what’s coming to its 5v5 tactical shooter on October 13th. Instead of teleports or climbing ropes, found in two of the game’s other maps, Icebox will encourage players to utilize ziplines to retain the high ground. “Icebox was designed to emphasize skirmishes, sharp aim and adaptive play,” notes Salvatore Garozzo, Level Design Lead at Riot Games.
'Skye' exists in the soothing space between 'Spyro' and 'Journey'
In the midst of all the neon pixels, gun blasts, stylized narrative adventures and action-packed space romps scattered around the Indie Megabooth at GDC, Skye immediately caught my eye. It was crisp and bright, showcasing a rich fantasy world in a soft, cartoonish 3D style. Something about it was soothing at first sight -- perhaps it was the way the main character, a bright blue dragon, soared around the valley like a serpentine kite. Maybe it was the lush green grass draped over the landscape and its series of floating islands. Whatever the reason, this is precisely the vibe that Skye developers at Puny Astronaut are going for: eye-catching calm. And, so far, they're succeeding.
Auris Skye turns your old 30-pin speaker dock into an AirPlay speaker
As Apple devices rapidly migrate to Lightning cables, you may have a few 30-pin docks with speakers around. While you could use something like Airfoil Speakers (a great app, I might add) to push sound around, attaching a US$300-plus device to an old dock seems excessive. Enter the Auris Skye -- a small device with built-in WiFi and a 30-pin connector that will allow you to set up your dock as an AirPlay speaker. The Skye itself is much smaller than an iPod touch, and surprisingly light. It needs no battery, and has one LED on top to indicate whether it is broadcasting or not. White means yes, orange means no. Setup requires attaching the Skye to a dock, waiting for the white LED to stop blinking, then using an app to finish setup. If the LED blinks orange, or the Skye's WiFi can't be found, you'll have to reset the device using a paperclip. More on this in a moment, as I feel it's one of the only issues with this product, but it's not always the product's fault. The Skye broadcasts its own WiFi, so you'll go to Settings and "join" its network, then launch the Skye app to complete setup. Once you've joined, it's a pretty simple matter of a few taps to get things going. Like a Sonos device, you can set up a Skye for the living room, bedroom, etc. and use labels to keep track. Once you find the Skye (which can take several minutes or a few restarts with a paperclip), you'll need to attach its WiFi to your home WiFi, then you're off to the races. From there you can close the Skye app and you'll see the device listed in your AirPlay options. That is, if it sticks. Unfortunately I had problems with the test unit I received. While the LED light indicated it was connected, for some reason the Skye would drop out and I had to reset, wait for the white light to stop blinking (about two minutes), and walk through the entire setup again. And again. And again. Part of this isn't really the device's fault, because if you change channels on your router or it reboots for any reason, the ad hoc network will break. Dropping out moments after setup, however, is a problem. I'm hoping it was more a concern with the prototype and that shipping units will be more reliable. In any event, the Auris Skye is a nice idea and it got plenty of funding during its Kickstarter run. Now you can pre-order one on the Auris site for $73.99 or get two for $139.98. Auris has a good return policy, so if you're having problems as I was, at least there's that.
Japan gets a Gyakuten Saiban 4 calendar and we don't? OBJECTION!
Capcom put this gorgeous "school calendar" (it starts at April) up for sale in their Japanese store today, and we're dying over here. Look at that cover! That is better than most posters, there. There's Ema Skye, and Phoenix Wright, and the whole group is surrounded by new guy Odoroki Housuke's bracelet thing.And there's six pages of official art inside. This is too much. We don't really have anything clever to say about it. Look at it. It's a thing we want, a lot, and probably won't be able to purchase.Oh, man, we feel so inadequate. How can we be Phoenix Wright fans if we can't look at some Gyakuten Saiban characters when we want to see what day it is? We're going to have to look into placing an order for this thing. 1,260 yen turns out to be ... $10.45.Oh, and while you're at the e-Capcom store, check out these other just-out-of-reach Gyakuten goods!Sample calendar page after the break. You could resize it and make a very blurry, artifacty wallpaper out of it!
Ema Skye returning for Gyakuten Saiban 4
Ema Skye, the science-obsessed, Luminol-toting teen sidekick from Case 5 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban: Yomigaeru Gyakuten) is making a return appearance in the new DS sequel, pink goggles and all. Her new character art portrays her as a little more grown-up, so maybe she'll be less annoying. Even if not, we really started to feel sympathetic to Phoenix's junior-detective friend in that case (Don't know what we're talking about? PLAY THE GAME!).Speaking of return appearances, you know who else will be returning when this comes out? Us. Our frothing demand for this game increases. You might as well call us "Phoenix Wright Fanboy." Click past the post break to scientifically investigate a few screenshots.
