Horizon
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UK rejoins EU science and space programs it left after Brexit
The UK is set to rejoin Europe's Horizon scientific research program as an associate nation via a new "bespoke deal."
A Horizon multiplayer game is on the way
Guerrilla Games is recruiting developers for a Horizon multiplayer game as well as more ‘epic solo adventures for Aloy.’
'Horizon Burning Shores' will take Aloy to a volcanic Los Angeles on April 19th
The story will pick up from where 'Forbidden West' left off -- but only on PS5.
Oura's third-generation smart ring brings a smoother, more comfortable design
The Oura Gen3 Horizon loses the awkward flat side of its predecessor.
Lego is releasing an $80 ‘Horizon: Forbidden West’ Tallneck set
Lego knows that you're low-key obsessed with the Tallnecks from 'Horizon.'
Withings puts its heart-monitoring ScanWatch in the body of a diver’s watch
It's the same ScanWatch you know and love, but in a beefier body.
Square Enix’s mysterious PS5 exclusive ‘Project Athia’ is coming in early 2022
During Sony's CES presentation, sharp-eyed viewers spotted some PS5 gaming news next to the usual copyright nods.
'Horizon Zero Dawn' arrives on PC this summer
It turns out the reports were accurate: Sony will release Horizon Zero Dawn on PC. Herman Hulst, the company's recently promoted head of worldwide studios, confirmed the news in an interview with the PlayStation Blog. While Hulst didn't share an exact release date, he did say the game will make its way to PC this summer, with Guerrilla Games, the game's developer, sharing more details "pretty soon."
Social VR world 'Facebook Horizon' comes to Oculus in 2020
Facebook, at its core, is a social networking company, so it's perhaps not too much of a surprise it has a major social project in the works for Oculus. At Oculus Connect 6, Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Horizon, described as a "social VR world coming to Oculus Quest and the Rift Platform." However, as it focuses on that new VR experience, the company will shut down Facebook Spaces and Oculus Rooms October 25.
From indie development to Guerrilla Games: The 'Gravity Ghost' story
Erin Robinson Swink knows when someone has actually finished her game, the hand-painted physics-based adventure called Gravity Ghost. "I can usually tell if they played it until the end based on the way they say that to me," she said. "Like, 'Yeah, I played your game.' Or like, 'I played your game,' and then they look off into the distance. OK, that person played to the end."
Facebook open-sources its Horizon AI platform
If you could crack open Facebook and see the gears turning under the social network's face, you'd find a surprising amount of artificial intelligence being applied in all sorts of ways. As of today, the company is pulling back the curtain and making Horizon -- the company's end-to-end applied reinforcement learning platform that helps fine-tune that AI -- open source.
Even genuine replacement Apple displays can mess with iPhones
Following the news that the latest iOS update can break phones with non-official replacement screens, repairers are encountering a different, more subtle problem: If you put a genuine Apple replacement display into an iPhone 8, 8 Plus or X, it'll no longer be able to adjust its brightness automatically. If Apple or one of its authorized partners were to put the same display in the same phone, though? No problem. The aftermarket repair community has verified the behavior in phones from the US all the way to Australia. It's confirmed to be an issue with phones running iOS 11.1, 11.2 and 11.3, which led sources to suggest it's been a problem since the launch of the latest batch of iPhones last fall. I was able to confirm that even swapping the displays of two brand-new iPhones causes the ambient light sensor to stop working, despite it not being altered or touched in any way. Experiments have shown that the sensor is disabled by iOS during the boot process.
Apple is taking its secret iPhone repair machines to 25 countries
Apple is further loosening its grip on tricky iPhone repairs and allowing owners to get their devices fixed at a place other than the Apple Store, Reuters reports. According to the news agency, the company intends to install its fabled "Horizon" machines in about 400 external repair centers across 25 countries by the end of the year in order to reduce waiting times for screen replacements and other iPhone-related issues.
The next 'Horizon Zero Dawn' patch ups Aloy's selfie game
Horizon Zero Dawn is already a fantastic game, but that doesn't mean it can't get any better. Next week, Horizon patch 1.20 will go live and bring a raft of changes to the game, with a focus on improving photo mode and squashing bugs (in the code, that is). Sony and developer Guerrilla Games laid out the fixes on the European PlayStation Forum.
The strange life of video game voice actor Ashly Burch
It took two years for Ashly Burch to record all of Aloy's dialogue in Horizon Zero Dawn. This was after about a year of auditioning for a mysterious new project from the creators of the Killzone series -- Burch had no idea what this new game was or even which role she was auditioning for. She had no idea it was the beginning of a new mainstream, multi-million dollar franchise from Sony Interactive Entertainment, and she didn't even realize she was reading for the lead role. "I think I'm just extremely lucky," Burch says. "I had no idea what Life is Strange was going to be when I auditioned. I had no idea what Horizon was going to be when I auditioned."
'Horizon Zero Dawn' made me fall in love with open-world RPGs
There's something about Aloy. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's an enchanting kind of magic in the way she shoots a bow, speaks her mind and sprints across vast valleys littered with monstrous metal beasts. Aloy is powerful and loyal, an underdog outcast who rises to glory on an epic scale, and it's impossible to not root for her. She's as clever as Hermione Granger, as tough as Lara Croft and better with a bow than Katniss Everdeen -- and she's the reason I fell in love with Horizon Zero Dawn. As is often the case, love hit me out of nowhere, when I least expected it. See, Horizon is not my typical kind of game. I'm generally drawn to experiences I can play in bursts, like League of Legends, TowerFall, Neko Atsume or Overwatch, and I've never been tempted to play all the way through massive, open-world role-playing games like Dragon Age, Skyrim or The Witcher. I see the appeal of these series -- I'm a nut for the fantasy and sci-fi genres in general -- but they never hold my attention for long.
Four hours with 'Horizon Zero Dawn'
Personally, I don't put much stock in video game previews. Pre-release gameplay events for major, AAA titles are generally controlled and precise experiences, with scenes handpicked by developers to show only the best, most complete parts of a game. They're representative of the studio's goals, but not necessarily the final product. However, most preview events aren't four hours long. For Horizon Zero Dawn, Guerrilla Games and Sony opened up the robot-dinosaur-infested world and set me loose for nearly four hours. I played straight through the very beginning, skipped a section that apparently includes some spoilery story points, and then ran around the game's massive world completing side quests and following the main narrative. It was a sizable chunk of the game that actually felt representative of a complete experience. I can't say definitively whether Horizon is a good game just yet. But after playing it for a few hours, I can say one thing wholeheartedly: I'm more excited than ever to play Horizon when it comes out on February 28th.
Six futuristic off-road vehicles
By Cat DiStasio "Where we're going, we don't need roads." When Doc Brown said it, he was driving a flying time machine, of course. But not all vehicles need to become airborne to travel off the grid. This capability is especially important in rural areas where roads have never existed, or in disaster recovery situations where pathways are no longer passable due to earthquakes or flooding. No matter the reason, a slew of innovations are tackling off-road transportation like never before. Some futuristic all-terrain vehicles are built to drive over just about anything, while others have been engineered to carry their own road surface and pick it back up as they truck along. Whether the situation calls for traveling over impassable obstacles or creating a road for other vehicles, there's a tough machine out there to tackle the job.
Rumor: Killzone dev's new game has robot dinosaurs
Robot. Dinosaurs. Images posted on a Chinese forum present the next game from Killzone series creator Guerrilla Games, according to the forum member and corroborating reports. The two pictures show giant robot dinosaurs fighting against Viking-esque human warriors in a snowy landscape. One of the fighters is a red-haired woman with a compound bow, a description that fits previous rumors surrounding Guerrilla's next move. NeoGAF picked up the images, watermarked with the Chinese forum's name. NeoGAF says the game is code-named "Horizon," and initial reports suggest it's an RPG. If all goes according to rumor, Guerrilla should reveal this thing at E3 2015, with a planned launch that fall. [Image: A9VG]
Fez studio starts Polytron Partners to 'give back'
Polytron Corporation is breaking into the not-publishing (but kind of publishing) business with Polytron Partners, beginning with Panoramical, an audio visualizer from designer Fernando Ramallo and Proteus music man David Kanaga. Fez creator Phil Fish announced Polytron Partners on his blog: "We only got to make Fez in the first place because of the help and support of a LOT of cool people. Time to give back a little, you know? When I offered to help with the release, Fernando explained that he was already working out a somewhat similar deal with Adam and Bekah Saltsman's FINJI. They would provide help with day to day operations, payment logistics, things like that. The kind of details independent developers often need help with when they're busy trying to ship the damn thing. What Polytron could help with was production and promotion."
