Games

Games

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.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO-Every year at the Game Developers Conference, a handful of competing companies show off their latest motion-capture technology, which transforms human performances into 3D animations that can be used on in-game models.Usually, these technical demonstrations involve a lot of specialized hardware for the performance capture and a good deal of computer processing and manual artist tweaking to get the resulting data into a game-ready state.

The 8BitDo SN30 Pro has repeatedly been called one of the best controllers for playing retro console games, particularly those originally made for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)-which makes sense, since its design is based on the SNES controller.Now that controller works much better on Apple platforms like the Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV thanks to new firmware updates from 8BitDo.

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.

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.

On-air challenge: Today's puzzle is based on the meditation syllable "om."Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase with the initials O-M.Ex.Rembrandt, da Vinci, and Botticelli, for example --> OLD MASTERS 1. Gold, silver, or bronze item awarded every four years 2. Hand protector for a chef 3. Aid for breathing during an airplane emergency 4. Session at a club when anyone can sing or do standup 5. 60 seconds 6. Again 7. Something found on the back of a speedboat 8. Preserve made from the juice and peel of a citrus fruit 9. Group of stores selling national brands 10.

Coffee Talk takes place in a fantasy-inflected version of Seattle.Toge Productions I'm on record as a huge fan of Indonesia's Toge Productions, and previously noted that Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly was my most anticipated game of the year.I thoroughly enjoyed 2020's Coffee Talk, a slice-of-life game where you play a barista serving a diverse cast of fantasy-inspired characters in an alternate version of Seattle.

Mad Magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee attends an event to honor veteran contributors to the magazine at the Savannah College of Art and Design and the National Cartoonists Society on Oct. 11, 2011, in Savannah, Ga.Jaffee died Monday at the age of 102.Stephen Morton/AP NEW YORK Al Jaffee, Mad Magazine's award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions," has died.

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.

I was in my early 30s when I first played The Settlers of Catan.I had been at a bar with a small group one freezing winter night in 2012 in Buffalo, New York.One of us, eager to share his recent obsession, declared it was time for the outing's next stage.We went to his barely unpacked new apartment nearby.

Back in 2020, we reported that emulator developers were using a hole in the Xbox Store's app distribution system to get around Microsoft's longstanding ban on emulators running on Xbox consoles.This week, though, many of the emulators that were distributed through that workaround have stopped working, the apparent victims of a new crackdown by Microsoft.

Sébastien Guillet, an environmental scientist at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, was rocking out to Pink Floyd's classic Dark Side of the Moon album one day when he made a prescient connection.The darkest lunar eclipses all occurred within a year or so of major volcanic eruptions.And astronomers know the exact days of those eclipses.

Is there anything better than a good superhero origin story?There's something about watching an ordinary person, struggling with self-doubt, discover their unique hidden strengths and own their power that never fails to capture our imaginations.It's the bread-and-butter of the superhero genre, and we're getting yet another origin story this August, when Warner Bros. releases Blue Beetle, focused on the latest incarnation of the classic comic book character.

The all time great Jackie Robinson, featuring his classic Monarchs uniform for MLB The Show 23's Storylines mode.Sony Interactive Entertainment Eric B. and Rakim's "I Ain't No Joke" rock my headphones when I load into MLB The Show 23.The track, with its ruthless audacity and punchy braggadocio, sets the tone for what's certainly my favorite sports video game experience to date.

For a major game that was first announced nearly four years ago and is set to launch in less than two months, we've seen remarkably little gameplay footage from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom beyond some very sparse trailers.Nintendo set out to partially fix that today, releasing a new video in which Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma showed off some of Link's new abilities in a guided 10-minute gameplay presentation.

SAN FRANCISCO-When The New York Times acquired daily puzzle mega-hit Wordle at the beginning of 2022, there were plenty of skeptics who were sure it signaled the end of the game's incredible viral rise.Apparently, those skeptics included some of the people at the Times itself.At a presentation at the Game Developers Conference Thursday, Times game producer and industry veteran Zoe Bell said the new owners expected Wordle's daily users "would just immediately decline" after the acquisition.

Valve Software has announced a sequel to one of its most storied games.Counter-Strike 2 will launch this summer after a few months of testing within the online shooter's community.Counter-Strike began as a mod for Half-Life back in 1999.It was acquired by Half-Life developer Valve Software and released as a commercial product in 2000.