ArduinoMania

You'll soon have a way to revisit Rocksteady's best-known games on a Nintendo handheld. Warner Bros. Games has revealed that Batman: Arkham Trilogy will release on the Switch sometime this fall. The bundle will include Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham Knight as well as all the previously-released DLC for the trio. There's no mention of Switch-specific features, but Turn Me Up Games (involved in Switch ports for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 and It Takes Two) is responsible for the adaptation.

Arkham Asylum revolves around Batman's fight against The Joker and allies as they take over the game's namesake asylum. Arkham City expands the battle to Gotham and includes more classic villains, such as Mr. Freeze and The Penguin. Arkham Knight adds its titular supervillain and introduces more open-world gameplay that includes a drivable Batmobile.

For the most part, all three games earned a reputation for an engaging story and varied gameplay that included combat, stealth and puzzle solving. The brawls were a particular highlight — you were rewarded for performing seamless combos while dodging opponents that can come from multiple directions at once. The series arguably popularized a fight formula that has surfaced in games ranging from Spider-Man to Shadow of Mordor. Throw in the animated Batman' series voice cast (such as Mark Hamill and the late Kevin Conroy) and it's easy to see the appeal for fans of the caped hero.

This won't thrill Switch fans who were hoping for a version of Rocksteady's upcoming Suicide Squad game. This is more a bid to reach an untapped audience than to set the stage for the studio's first new game in nearly eight years. Still, you might not mind if you're either new to the franchise or want to revisit the series. If nothing else, it may serve as a palate cleanser for those who thought Gotham Knights missed the mark.

As expected, Nintendo announced a bevy of new games for the Switch during today's Direct. Among them is another entry in the WarioWare series. This time around, you'll need to use your entire body to succeed at the various microgames.

There are more than 200 microgames in WarioWare: Move It!. It will ask you to hold a pair of Joy-Cons and "move your body to take on a flurry of lightning-fast microgames," according to Nintendo. You'll need to sync your movements with what you see on the screen to win. 

The games include ones in which you swing your arms to skate faster, wriggle to free your character from being tied up and pretend to use a towel to clean your back. There's also one that appears to use a sliding section from Super Mario 64. There's local co-op for up to four players as well. WarioWare: Move It! will land on Switch on November 3rd.

Qualcomm expanded its S3 Gen 2 Sound platform today with an eye on gamers. The new chip, designed for dongles and adapters, can deliver sub-20ms latency while supplying an additional backchannel for voice chat.

The expansion to Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 Sound combines Snapdragon Sound and LE Audio for “ultra-low latency of less than 20ms for lag-free wireless audio with voice back-channel for in-game chat.” The chip-maker notes that it reduces latency even more when skipping the voice chat and delivering game audio only. Additionally, a Qualcomm representative tells Engadget that it could also work with wireless charging cases with audio-transmission features (handy for wireless listening to in-flight entertainment).

It also supports the latest version of Auracast, a broadcast standard based on Bluetooth LE Audio. Dongles and adapters using Qualcomm’s platform can cast from devices like TVs, phones, PCs and consoles to a virtually unlimited number of nearby listeners. The tech can be used for assistive listening at public events, broadcasting announcements or simply sharing your music with nearby friends.

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Qualcomm

“With every generation of Snapdragon Sound, we have driven down latencies and improved audio quality, and with this latest addition to our Qualcomm S3 Gen 2 Sound portfolio, we are providing our best wireless gaming experience yet,” said Qualcomm marketing director Mike Canevaro. “We know from our annual State of Sound survey that consumers want lag-free audio for gaming, but until now this immersive wireless audio experience has been reserved for proprietary gaming solutions.”

Qualcomm hasn’t yet announced specific devices where we’ll see the extended platform, but the reveal could mean compatible accessories aren’t far behind.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) isn't done with Amazon despite two recentsettlements. The agency has sued Amazon over claims the company fooled customers into signing up for Prime while simultaneously thwarting attempts to cancel. The online retailer allegedly violated the FTC Act and Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act through misleading designs that got users to register for Prime without true consent. Leaders even "slowed or rejected" design changes that would have made it easier to cancel Prime, the FTC argues.

We've asked Amazon for comment. In a statement, FTC chair Lina Khan maintains that Amazon "tricked and trapped" customers. This both angered users and cost them "significant money," she says. The FTC also asserts that Amazon made multiple attempts to "delay and hinder" the investigation. 

As CNBCnotes, the FTC has been investigating Amazon Prime sign-up and cancel systems since March 2021. The investigation deepened in 2022 after Insider said it obtained internal documents purportedly showing that Amazon was aware of customer objections as early as 2017. Shoppers were encouraged to sign up for a 30-day trial with a single click during checkout, but had to wade through multiple pages to cancel service before the trial ended. Amazon even used the term "Iliad" to describe the cancellation process, alluding to the sheer length of Homer's epic poem.

The FTC under Khan has closely scrutinized Amazon's practices. Officials have examined the internet giant's acquisitions of MGM and One Medical as well as privacy issues with Alexa and Ring doorbells. Khan was a notable critic of Big Tech before her nomination as FTC chair, and Amazon even called for her recusal in antitrust cases over claimed bias.

The concept of deceptive design, also known as "dark patterns," isn't new. In 2020, the European Union said that many websites made it unnecessarily difficult to reject tracking cookies. However, the lawsuit against Amazon represents a significant test of those patterns' legality in the US.

The terrific Vampire Survivors is on the way to the Nintendo Switch. You'll have another way to play the game on the go or on your TV when Poncle's hit game lands on Switch on August 17th. The base game will cost $5 and the two expansions will each cost $2.

Best of all, couch co-op is coming to all platforms, meaning you can slay thousands of enemies with the help of up to three friends. This new mode will be available on August 17th as well. While there won't be official support for online co-op, Poncle noted in an FAQ that you'll be able to use workarounds such as Steam Remote Play Together.

Vampire Survivors debuted on Steam in late 2021 and it later came to Xbox and mobile devices. For the uninitiated, the game asks you to pick a character with a unique starter weapon and perk. Your weapon fires automatically. The only agency you have during runs is your movement and the choice of an upgrade or a new weapon or perk when you level up. 

Runs last for up to 30 minutes — or longer if you can figure out how to survive Death. That makes Vampire Survivors a great game to play while commuting (or at any other time, if we're being honest).

Super Mario Bros. Wonder, a new but classic adventure featuring Mario and friends, is coming to Nintendo Switch on October 20th, 2023. The new game is a 2D sidescroller with busy, bright environments and plenty of secrets to uncover, starring Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy and Yoshi as playable characters. It also introduces Mario's newest power-up, which transforms him into Elephant Mario. Why not, you know?

Nintendo describes Super Mario Bros. Wonder as the next evolution of the series' traditional 2D sidescrolling mechanics.

"When you touch a Wonder Flower in the game, the wonders of the world unlock — pipes could come alive, hordes of enemies may appear, characters might change their looks, for example — transforming the gameplay in unpredictable ways," Nintendo says in a press release. 

Pre-orders are live now for Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

A rumor suggested that today's Nintendo Direct would include a remake of a SNES classic, and that looks to have held up. Super Mario RPG is back with "brand-new graphics" and it's coming to Nintendo Switch on November 17th. 

The 1996 original was the very first Mario RPG. It tasks Mario, Bowser, Peach and friends with taking down a mechanical enemy named Smithy and recovering stolen pieces of the Star Road. The remake uses the same art style as modern Mario games. Although there's still some platforming involved, you'll need to engage in turn-based combat to overcome opponents. 

That's not the only new version of an older game Nintendo announced during the Direct. The company is also working on an updated version of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon. That's perhaps not a huge surprise given the success of Luigi's Mansion 3. Remastering a decade-old 3DS title for the Switch will introduce it to a new audience. The Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon remake will arrive next year.

Detective Pikachu Returns is due to hit Nintendo Switch on October 6th, 2023, and it's available to wishlist today. Nintendo announced a new entry in the franchise back in 2019, hot on the heels of the Detective Pikachu movie, which was an overall, adorable success.

Detective Pikachu, the original game, came out worldwide in 2018. It gave Pikachu a new friend and a voice, transforming him into a gruff private investigator and infusing the game with Ace Attorney vibes. It's more of a narrative adventure than traditional Pokemon games — which makes sense, considering the film that followed.

The new installment reunites Pikachu with his pal Tim Goodman, and as the debut trailer shows, hijinks ensure. Regardless of the game's plot, it's always a treat to see Pikachu in a little hat, holding a cup of coffee and contemplating life's mysteries.

Texas says it will require state-funded electric vehicle charging stations to have a connector for Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). The news comes as automakers such as Ford, GM and Rivian shift to adopting the NACS and away from the Combined Charging System (CCS).

The Texas Department of Transportation told Reuters that the automakers’ move to NACS prompted the requirement for EV charging companies to install NACS connectors if they want to be included in a state program that involves federal funding. DC fast chargers in the state will still need to have a CCS connector to obtain federal dollars through the program.

The US Department of Transportation has earmarked up to $7.5 billion in funding for high-speed charging stations along highways. It said EV charging companies would need to include a CCS connector, and now Texas is adding another requirement. States are free to add extra provisons as long as they abide by the federal rules.

Tesla said last year it would open source the NACS in the hopes of getting other automakers to adopt it. Tesla has the largest slice of EV charging infrastructure in the US — it claims its more than 21,000 Supercharger points account for around 60 percent of the country’s fast-charging stations. 

In the last several weeks, GM and Ford announced they would offer owners of their vehicles (which currently use CCS) an NACS adapter before fully embracing that standard in future models. Rivian followed suit with a similar announcement this week. EV charging companies such as ChargePoint and EVgo have said they’re looking into adding NACS to their charging points.

As Reuters notes, Texas’ move may prompt other states to push EV charging companies to include an NACS connector. The report suggests that states including California, Michigan and Iowa are reviewing the state of the charging market, while at least one other is said to be considering an incentive for companies to include an NACS port.

It’s back again. This time, it’s real-time. With Final Fantasy XVI, the series’ creators have decided that the future of the franchise is action-centric and storyline driven. And it’s been inspired by epic fantasy series from television. Until now, the Final Fantasy games have never quite had their angry, moody dark moment. With nuanced, occasionally horny characters and often a lot of violence, is this the series’ moody teenager era?

FFXVI is the first game in the series made for the PS5, expanding the detail of both character models and environments. While the significant characters move and emote realistically, Square Enix has kept an artistic touch to character design. The most impressive parts are the environments, with gorgeous forests, medieval fortresses and major landmarks towering over the usual fields and cliffs you’ll be exploring and fighting at. The quality isn't consistent enough in an era of games like Horizon: Forbidden West, Dead Space and Elden Ring, though. I noticed when character models and environments weren’t given the same attention as key scenes and chapters.

Unlike previous Final Fantasy games, while there’s still an ensemble cast, you’ll only ever control the protagonist Clive — yes, an interesting choice in hero name, one that even some in-game characters are... surprised by. You’ll eventually be able to offer simple commands to your faithful wolf, Torgal, and you’ll be joined by other companions that will fight entirely independently of you. These include your childhood friend Jill, the mysterious daddy of thunder, Cid, and several more spoiler(ish) additions.

Fortunately, and unlike an awful lot of non-playable battle allies in RPGs, they can usually attract the attention of a monster or two and even finish off enemies by themselves. Still, there’s no escaping the fact that it’s an even looser party battle dynamic than its predecessor Final Fantasy XV, let alone older titles.

The tale of FFXVI is achingly Game Of Thrones-y. It starts out as a battle of warring states, of religion versus monarchy, wars for the sake of controlling resources — or escaping inhospitable land. Sometimes the inspiration is a little on the nose: Dad dies early on? Check. Mysterious wolves? Check. Creepy mother-son relations? Check. However, the series has always drawn on pop-culture inspiration over the years: Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings have all been tugged at for monster names, storylines and more.

Within the opening hours, we meet Clive, his sickly (but ‘chosen’) younger brother Joshua and their childhood friend, Jill. Clive and Joshua’s mother, the Cersei-styled Anabella Rosfield, swiftly betrays her family and the entire nation. The leader, her husband, is slaughtered in front of Joshua, whose latent powers as a dominant fully awakened due to this trauma. Arguably even more harrowing, a chocobo (the game series’ giant bird mounts) gets bricked in the head and someone kills an owl. This all happens in the span of a couple of minutes.

In the form of the giant fire Eikon (elemental deity), Phoenix, Joshua burns enemies and allies alike to ash, and as Clive watches, horrified, he somehow unleashes a new, never-before-seen Eikon of his own, Ifrit, who has a surprisingly grisly encounter with Phoenix. Clive wakes up with no memory of this, however, while a foreboding figure in a hood watches all of this unfold, So yeah, the perfect pilot episode of a fantasy series on HBO. The superb voice acting and writing really helps sell the melodrama and seriousness of the story. For a series often criticized for cliche or awkward translations, this is all so much better. The voice actor for Cid is Ralph Ineson – who was even in GoT. Get ready for lots of Yorkshire accents: It’s time for all to learn what “ta-ra” means. Square Enix notes that, even if you pick the Japanese language setting, the game’s lip sync is set to the English version.

Square Enix

If you haven’t played a Final Fantasy title before — and Square Enix is positioning this as an action game for that kind of player — Ifrit is usually a run-of-the-mill summonable demon. He’s rarely a crucial plot pivot, so it’s cool to see the series subvert expectations and pay tribute to the games of the past. There are lots of Easter eggs like this, both subtle and obvious.

The crystal theme, originally penned for the first Final Fantasy game on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is remixed and dropped in during multiple points of the game, while Cid (a character found in every FF game, either as a non-playable character or party member) has a daughter called Mid — a reference to the grandson of Final Fantasy V's version of Cid.

While other games, including spin-offs and Final Fantasy XV, have touched on real-time combat, Final Fantasy XVI goes all in. It’s dangerous new territory for a series with some die-hard fans, but possibly a necessary move to attract a new audience.

But it’s not Devil May Fantasy. It doesn’t appear to be a particularly deep system on either the default or story-centric difficulties. I found myself leaning on abilities I knew could do sustained damage, doing well-timed dodges and countering.

There are layers to battles – but they’re easy to ignore. Mid-game skills like the ability to jump and then kick-off an enemy, or launch yourself into the air with a pull attack normally used to sling smaller enemies toward you, offer some more vertical approaches to combat. However, I rarely needed to figure this out during battles, and it was more about relentlessly attacking and paying attention to incoming attacks that enemies usually signposted. Clive will bolster his initial fire attacks, courtesy of Phoenix, with skills from other Eikons, adding new forms of attack or counters. If there’s some kind of elemental scissors-paper-rock dynamic, I didn’t notice it, or missed an explanation.

The major difference between action- and story-focus modes is the inclusion of several accessories that make FFXVI one of the most accessible (and forgiving) action RPGs I’ve ever played. You’ll start the game with a handful of accessories like the Ring of Timely Focus which slows down when an evadable attack approaches, giving you ample time to dodge. The Ring of Timely Strikes will unleash a barrage of complex attacks just by spamming the square button. I played with the Ring of Timely Focus occasionally equipped, helping me to hold my own in more difficult scenes filled with enemies, but tried to fight the bigger enemies (and bosses) with only my own skills. There is a new game plus mode that offers hardier enemies and challenges, but I haven’t had time to play it yet.

The bosses, while spectacular, have a tendency towards being damage sponges – especially the Eikon-on-Eikon fights that typically include three or more transitions in a single battle. Once you’ve figured out the timing of dodges to attacks, it’s often repeated to boredom. But hey, they always look cool. Some of these boss fights are.. incredibly epic – and I mean Bayonetta-level of ridiculous. There aren’t many boss battles in video games that reach the level of Clive’s duel against Bahamut…

Final Fantasy XVI also has a wonderful hidden weapon: Its own built-in wiki. Active Time Lore, a play on active time battles from the series’ arguable heyday of the late-’90s, not only fills in the narrative gaps plaguing FF but plenty of other politically tilted RPGs.

Both FFXII and FFXIII suffered from lots of fictional terminology and complicated back-story. With the latter, developers relegated anything close to a glossary to menus that were difficult to navigate and consequently rarely investigated.

Square Enix

Active Time Lore, which can be summoned from the touchpad during almost any scene or area, brings a convenient shortcut to that tip-of-the-tongue, which-warring-state-is-he-from-again quandary. It’s an elegant solution, inspired by Amazon Prime Video’s X-Ray feature. It also ensures gamers don’t come undone when there are so many political maneuverings, time skips, false deaths and hooded strangers.

All of this is augmented by Vivian, a character whose sole purpose appears to be educating Clive about the wider political implications of his fight to dismantle the political structure around huge magical crystals (by destroying them), dominants (by besting them, usually) and freeing indentured magic-wielding slaves. All while seeking vengeance for his brother.

Talking with her at your base of operations will open a handy personnel chart of all the main characters, their associates, and the rest. It also comes with a chronological slider, so you can guess who’ll betray who next. If you came undone during a season of Game of Thrones, you might understand why this could be needed.

Square Enix

Final Fantasy XVI is different – perhaps due to the producer, Naoki Yoshida, who worked on the online MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV as both producer and director. But with Final Fantasy VII Remake (including the next chapter) offering the party battles I want, I don’t see a problem in Square Enix taking the series in this direction. I miss the party battle dynamics, but I didn’t feel hamstrung by my own mediocre action game reflexes or skills. If you are looking for challenging battles, the game comes with post-game content aimed at completionists and the muscular of thumb. But for those looking for a fantasy adventure with a plot that’s kept me hooked – so far – the sixteenth Final Fantasy delivers.