Wouldn't it be great if pets could talk? This might be the next best thing
Bobby Johnson, also known as The RxCK STxR, is a popular voiceover artist on social media, giving animals a voice in viral videos.
Johnson's channel began during the pandemic when he noticed a video of a puppy bouncing on beat and made a song out of it.
Johnson watches about 200 animal videos a day, looking for expressive moments where the animals seem to be saying something with their bodies. [ more ]
AI-powered hate speech detection will moderate voice chat in Call of Duty
Activision is partnering with Modulate to implement real-time AI-powered voice chat moderation in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
ToxMod, the AI-powered voice moderation system, aims to identify and take action against harmful language that violates the game's code of conduct. [ more ]
30 years after Descent, developer Volition is suddenly no more
Volition, the game development studio behind popular franchises like Red Faction and Saints Row, has been abruptly shut down after 30 years.
The closure is part of a larger restructuring program by parent company Embracer Group.
The fate of Volition's more than 200 employees is uncertain, with some being laid off and others potentially transitioned to other parts of Embracer's gaming empire. [ more ]
It's-a-no-longer me: Charles Martinet steps down as Mario's voice [Updated]
Nintendo announced that Charles Martinet will no longer voice Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi. Martinet will take on a new role as Mario Ambassador. He has been voicing Mario for over three decades and holds the Guinness World Record for most performances as a single video game character. Nintendo did not provide a reason for the transition. Chris Pratt's portrayal of Mario in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie has drawn confusion and criticism due to Martinet's iconic voice.
Anagramming words can be a fun way to create new words or phrases related to a specific theme, such as baseball.
The challenge encourages listeners to think creatively and apply their knowledge of baseball terms to solve the anagrams.
The game demonstrates the intersection of language and sports, showing how words can be rearranged to form new meanings within a specific context. [ more ]
This alarm clock will wake you up with your worst fears
Alarm clocks have been upgraded to a new level of sophistication with the introduction of the "Fear Clock", which can wake you up in a unique and personalized way by playing audio recordings of your worst fears.
The Fear Clock was developed by a team of psychologists, engineers, and designers in order to provide users with an innovative way to face and face their fears on a daily basis. [ more ]
69% of Russian gamers are pirating after Ukraine invasion pushback
69% of Russian gamers are engaging in piracy, likely due to increasing discontent with the country's economic and political policies.
The game industry in Russia is suffering due to the high rate of piracy, leading to a decrease in profits and potentially a decrease in game development.
The game industry in Russia may be able to benefit from increased public support and better economic and political policies to decrease the rate of piracy and ensure a more profitable industry. [ more ]
Dolphin emulator abandons Steam release plans after Nintendo legal threat
Dolphin Emulator, an open-source project that enabled PC gamers to play Nintendo GameCube and Wii games, has abandoned its plans to release on Steam after receiving a legal threat from Nintendo. [ more ]
On-air challenge: Every answer today is a familiar phrase in the form "___ & ___," in which I've changed one letter in each of the words. You tell me the phrases. Ex. SHOT & WELL --> SHOW & TELL 1. LOFT & SOUND 2. CRUSH & BARN 3. NICKED & LIME 4. COLLARS & DENTS 5. KITS & SELL 6. NOON & CRANKY 7. SURE & DIMPLE 8. PUNT & HECK 9. HIKE & SEED Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge comes from listener Darwin Lange, of Mandan, N.D. Name a sports facility in two words.
On-air challenge: I'm going to give you some clues.For each one, take the last two letters, reverse them, and use those to start the answer to the clue.Ex.Name for a cat --> TABBY 1. Part of the foot 2. Scrabble unit 3. Greek hero 4. Jesuit school 5. Thesaurus author 6. Prophet in the Bible 7. Gun part 8. Chocolaty dessert 9. Italian restaurant offering 10.
GeForce RTX 4060 review: Not thrilling, but a super-efficient $299 workhorse
Nvidia's GeForce 1060, 2060, and 3060 graphics cards are some of the most widely used GPUs in all of PC gaming.Four of Steam's top five GPUs are 60-series cards, and the only one that isn't is an even lower-end GTX 1650.All of this is to say that, despite all the fanfare for high-end products like the RTX 4090, the new GeForce RTX 4060 is Nvidia's most important Ada Lovelace-based GPU.
On-air challenge: I'm going to give you two five-letter words.Change one letter in each word to get two new words that are opposites.Note: The position of the letter you change in one word will be the same position you change in the other.Ex.FLESH SCALE --> FRESH, STALE 1. BLANK WHILE 2. ANGER DEMOS 3. INTER HEAVE 4. SHARK HOARY 5. APPLE SLANT 6. FLOWN STILE Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from listener Joe Becker, of Palo Alto, Calif.
Private email shows PlayStation chief unworried about Xbox-exclusive Call of Duty
Publicly, Sony has been adamant that Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision would give Microsoft too much power over PlayStation's access to key multi-console franchises like Call of Duty.Privately, though, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan seemed less concerned, according to a blockbuster email Microsoft presented Thursday during opening statements in a court hearing on the FTC's attempts to block the Activision purchase.
Beyond missing Titanic sub, handheld gamepads are a common military interface
This weekend's tragic disappearance of an OceanGate Expeditions tourist submersible has led to a fair share of bemused coverage focused on the company's apparent use of a $30 Logitech F710 wireless PC game controller for its interface.But OceanGate is far from the first outfit to use off-the-shelf or slightly modified gaming control hardware to power expensive heavy machinery well outside of the gaming realm.
Amazon originals no longer have to be Amazon exclusives
Following its acquisition of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (MGM) film studio, Amazon is launching the Amazon MGM Studios Distribution unit, which will be responsible for distributing Amazon original movies and TV shows, including the massive library it got through MGM.In March 2022, Amazon closed its $8.5 billion purchase of MGM, giving it power over 4,000 movies, including 12 Angry Men, Creed, Robocop, Rocky, and Stargate and 17,000 TV shows, including The Handmaid's Tale, which has been a hit for Hulu, and Fargo, which has aired on FX, plus upcoming releases.
Quirky Doom II RPG makes the leap from the iPhone 3GS era to PC
"Mobile games" were something else entirely in 2005, a time in which Windows Mobile was a viable platform, the only Apple phone was a Motorola ROKR, and none of them had a shot at running Doom, let alone its sequel.That's why id Software made Doom RPG, the weirdest official Doom game that is also still a bit fun.
Darkest Dungeon 2 is an awkward sequel, but I can't stop playing it
The worst thing you can do when playing Darkest Dungeon 2 is compare it to its beloved 2016 predecessor.Darkest Dungeon was essentially a 2D XCOM, complete with a base that you managed and upgraded over a long campaign.Darkest Dungeon 2 is decidedly not that.Instead, it's a roguelite.Rather than embarking on a long campaign filled with dozens of units to manage and upgrade as you did in the first game, here, you go on one-and-done "runs" with a stable cast of characters.
Star Wars: Luke's Awakening fan art imagines 2D Zelda in the Star Wars universe
Just in time for Star Wars Day, Irish pixel artist and indie game developer Shoehead debuted nine delightful mock-up images of a non-existent Game Boy Color game called Star Wars: Luke's Awakening.It's a fan tribute that melds the design sensibilities of the 1993 Game Boy classic Zelda: Link's Awakening with the storyline of the original Star Wars trilogy.
Here's what caused black stains on Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus
Researchers at the Politecnico di Milan in Italy examined mysterious black stains on a folio of Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus and confirmed the presence of starch and vinyl glues in the affected areas.The glues were most likely applied during an earlier restoration effort some 50 years ago, according to a recent paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Star Trek fans will finally get a Section 31 movie-with an Oscar-winning lead
Paramount+ has announced a new movie called Star Trek: Section 31 that will star Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, reprising her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery.It was announced in 2019 that the streaming network was exploring the idea of a series starring her-in fact, it was one of the first post- Discovery announcements-but it's been radio silence since then, and Yeoh's already illustrious career has reached new heights with the enormous critical and popular success of Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Proton update gets 18 more Windows games running on Linux, including Chex Quest HD
To play Windows-compatible games in its Linux-based operating system, the Steam Deck relies on a compatibility layer called Proton.It's a collection of different technologies, including the venerable Wine software and software that translates Windows-native Direct3D API calls into Vulkan API calls that Linux can handle.
On-air challenge: I'm going to give you some six-letter words.For each one add the same letter of the alphabet twice without rearranging any of the other letters to make a common eight-letter word.Ex.STURDY A --> SATURDAY 1. RESENT C 2. COLLIE D 3. LATISH F 4. SEATED H 5. FESTER I 6.ASSORT P 7. WANGLE R 8. MALLET S 9. HEDGER A 10. REARED P 11.
Apple Arcade still exists, adds 20 new games-and some of them sound neat
Apple Arcade is still around, and it's still a priority-at least, that's the message we imagine Apple's surprise launch of 20 new games on the same day seeks to send.The new games include (but aren't limited to) a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-branded battler titled TMNT Splintered Fate, a Disney-themed Scrabble-like game called Spellstruck developed in partnership with a Words With Friends co-creator, a city builder called Cityscapes: Sim Builder, and a follow-up to the Arcade smash hit What the Golf?
Redfall convinced me that always-online for single-player is just stupid
I have played Arkane's new co-op vampire loot-shooter Redfall for about five hours.From what I've seen and experienced, the reviews are right: The set design, art, music, sound, and voice acting are all solid, sometimes splendid.But the actual gameplay is mostly uninspired marker quests, inventory stat comparisons, and brain-dead-enemy shooting with awkward-feeling guns.
On-air challenge: Every answer today is a 7-letter palindrome in two words reading backward and forward the same.Get the palindromes from their clues.Ex. #1 position (3,4) --> TOP SPOT 1. Indianapolis 500 vehicle (4,3) 2. Vehicle for taking sailors to Annapolis (4,3) 3. Very, very angry (4,3) 4. Call 911, e.g.
Roy Wood Jr. wants laughs from White House Correspondents' speech and reparations
Comedian Roy Wood Jr. is the latest Daily Show correspondent to host the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. Aude Guerrucci /AFP via Getty Images Some of the biggest names in politics and media will gather in Washington, D.C., Saturday night for the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where they will rub elbows, trade notes and crack up.
It's a weird time to build a PC.That's partly because fewer people are doing itsales for parts and prebuilt PCs are down across the industry, as people continue to make do with the stuff they bought early in the pandemic.And GPU prices, while closer to "normal" than they have been over the last two years, are still historically high.
AMD is ready to launch its twice-delayed Ryzen 7000 chips for lightweight laptops
Today AMD announced additional details about its new Ryzen 7040U series of laptop chips, which bring the company's newest Zen 4 CPU architecture and RDNA 3 integrated graphics into thin-and-light laptops.Though just part of AMD's ( often-confusing) Ryzen 7000 laptop lineup, the 7040U processors will be the ones to hold out for if you want to maximize performance without stepping up to a larger laptop with a dedicated GPU.
Grimes says anyone can AI-generate her voice "without penalty"
On Sunday night, Canadian musician Grimes tweeted that she would split 50 percent royalties on "any successful AI generated song" that uses her voice, reports The Verge.As an independent artist, Grimes says anyone can use her voice without penalty."I have no label and no legal bindings," she says.
On-air challenge: Very simple idea.I'm going to give you some words and some familiar phrases.Rearrange the letters of each one to name a state capital.Ex.MEALS --> SALEM (Oregon) 1. ROVED 2. POKE AT 3. ANTI-U.S. 4. UP LAST 5. LEG HAIR 6. IN SLANG 7. IPHONE X 8. MISSED ONE 9. TICKET ROLL 10.ACTOR'S NAME Last week's challenge: Last week's challenge came from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn., who conducts the blog "Puzzleria."
On-air challenge: It's spring, and today I've brought a game of Categories based on the word BIRDS.For each category I give, name something in it starting with each of the letters B-I-R-D-S.For example, if the category were "Flowers," you might say Buttercup, Iris, Rose, Daisy, and Snapdragon.
Chrome will support the WebGPU API by default-here's why that's important
Google announced today that it would enable WebGPU support in its Chrome browser by default starting in version 113, currently in beta.In development since 2017, WebGPU is a next-generation graphics API that aims to bring the benefits of low-overhead APIs like Microsoft's Direct3D 12, Apple's Metal, and Vulkan to web browsers and other apps.