EVE Online has often been derided as a "spreadsheet simulator." Many dedicated players use spreadsheets to keep track of data like profit margins and to calculate fleet damage output at certain ranges. Developer CCP Games is now leaning into the spreadsheet lifestyle even more with official Microsoft Excel support.
The studio revealed at EVE Fanfest that it reached out to Microsoft and the pair are now building an extension that will pull data from the long-running MMO into an Excel spreadsheet. The news went over well with the crowd:
CCP showed an early prototype of the tool in action and said more details would be revealed later this year. This arguably isn't the first time the studio has embraced spreadsheets. EVE Online has a UI-only mode that ditches 3D space battle graphics for pure data with a spreadsheet-style view.
Sure, other details about the future of EVE Onlinewereannounced at Fanfest, including a bunch of upcoming narrative arcs, a feature to help newcomers pick their class, visual upgrades and a Spanish-language client. But direct integration with Excel could be the biggest quality of life upgrade for the game's most fervent fans.
The finalists that just missed out on a spot this time are Assassin’s Creed, Candy Crush Saga, Minesweeper, NBA Jam, PaRappa the Rapper, Resident Evil, Rogue and Words with Friends. All of those are classics in their own way, but it's hard to argue with any of the four picks.
Ocarina of Time made it into the Hall of Fame as a first-time nominee. The first 3D Zelda title is widely regarded as one of the best games of all time, and it remains the highest-scoring game ever on Metacritic. It paved the way for the last two and a half decades of action games. Ocarina of Time walked so Breath of the Wild could run.
Influential simulation and strategy title Sid Meier's Civilization was first named as a finalist back in 2016 and again in 2019. Arcade icons Ms. Pac-Man and DDR each made the shortlist once before.
They join the likes of Super Mario Bros., Doom, Mortal Kombat, Tetrisand Animal Crossing. As Eurogamer notes, Zelda and Pac-Man are the first two series with more than one entry in the Video Game Hall of Fame, though Super Mario Kart is in there as well.
Lyft is slowly but surely bringing back shared rides in more cities. Users in San Francisco, San Jose, Denver, Las Vegas and Atlanta will once more be able to take shared rides.
That option was suspended soon after the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March 2020. Lyft started offering shared rides again last summer in select cities such as Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia. The company plans to bring the feature back to more markets in the coming months.
Users can save money by taking a shared ride, since they'll be splitting the cost with someone else. Ride requests are currently limited to one person. These rides will have a maximum of two passengers, though one can sit in the front if the driver's okay with it.
The company also says that drivers can opt out of shared rides without penalty through 2022. Last month, Lyft dropped its requirement for drivers and passengers to wear masks, which are now optional for shared rides too (depending on local rules).
Lyft's recovery from the pandemic has been slower than rival Uber's, and greater availability of shared rides could provide a boost to business. This week, the company said it would need to spend more on incentives to entice drivers back to its platform.
As always, Geoff Keighley will be the master of ceremonies for Summer Game Fest Kick Off Live. Expect new game announcements, world premieres and fresh looks at other upcoming titles. Immediately after that event wraps up, Day of the Devs: Summer Game Fest Edition will shine the spotlight on a bunch of indie games.
You'll be able to watch the Summer Game Fest double bill on a wide range of platforms, including YouTube, Twitch, Twitter and Facebook. For the first time, you'll be able to catch Summer Game Fest Kick Off Live (and, in December, The Game Awards) at IMAX theaters in the US, Canada and the UK. If you really want to see a bunch of trailers and teasers for upcoming games in IMAX, you can buy a ticket for Summer Game Fest on May 12th.
“Video games are the most powerful, immersive and spectacular form of entertainment in the world, so it’s only natural to bring them to fans in IMAX, the world’s most immersive cinema format,” Keighley said in a statement.
IK Multimedia has revealed its latest mobile audio interface, a field recorder called iRig Pro Quattro I/O. The device has 24-bit, 96kHz conversion and four microphone and instrument preamps, along with line-in ports. You'll also get two balanced XLR outputs, 3.5mm stereo and headphone ports and MIDI in/out. There's a built-in microphone as well.
There are physical control dials for the inputs, headphones and line out. IK Multimedia says there's a standalone mixer mode and a built-in limiter. You'll be able to take advantage of a safety mode as well. Inputs three and four can be used as safety channels, whereby they capture the same signals as the other two main inputs, but with a 12dB reduction "in case the sound source unexpectedly overloads the main channels," the company said.
You can power the iRig Pro Quattro I/O with a USB cable, 9VDC adaptor or battery. IK Multimedia notes that it'll work with a range of devices out of the box, and it's MFi-certified for better compatibility with iPhone and iPad.
This isn't a standalone device, however. It doesn't have an SD card slot, so you'll need to connect it to a mobile device or computer to actually record audio. As with the iRig Pre 2, you'll be able to hook it up to a DSLR, which would likely help you capture better quality audio than what the camera can pick up by itself.
IK Multimedia
Field recorders have been growing in popularity for on-the-go audio capture, with the likes of Zoom and Tascam making notable models over the years. Fans of IK Multimedia's other gear might be pleased to learn about the iRig Pro Quattro I/O, but the lack of onboard storage might be a sticking point.
The iRig Pro Quattro I/O is available worldwide starting today. It costs $350/€350 and comes with batteries, USB and Lightning cables, a quarter-inch camera thread adaptor and software for Mac, PC, iPhone and iPad.
A deluxe version is also available for preorder. That model costs $450 and should ship at the end of June. If you opt for that, you'll also receive two iRig stereo microphones, a windscreen, a carrying case and a 9V power supply unit.
Folks who enjoy camping or weekend trips in an RV now have another way to access the internet when they set up shop for the night — as long as they don't mind lugging around Starlink hardware and paying $135 per month. A new feature called Portability allows users to temporarily use Starlink when they're away from home.
In the US, Portability costs $25 per month. That's on top of the regular service fee, which SpaceX recently bumped up to $110 per month. The hardware now costs $599 for those without a preorder.
Beyond the cost, there are a few other limits to Portability. For instance, it's not worth taking a terminal with you on a transatlantic trip. Starlink says the feature is only available when users are on the same continent as their registered service address. If you use Starlink in another country for longer than two months, you'll need to change the registered address to one in that jurisdiction.
Starlink still doesn't support in-motion use as yet either, so you'll need to find a stationary spot that's within the service area and has a clear view of the sky. Meanwhile, it says Portability is offered on a "best effort basis." Customers who are at their registered service address will receive priority access to the network. "When you bring your Starlink to a new location, this prioritization may result in degraded service, particularly at times of peak usage or network congestion," Starlink wrote on a support page.
That said, the feature could give users much more flexibility. Starlink can provide internet access in areas that aren't covered by cell towers, which could make Portability particularly useful for digital nomads who want to work from just about anywhere.
AMD has at last made chips with its Zen 3 architecture for higher-end Chromebooks. It created several C-series Ryzen 5000 processors that are designed for Chrome OS. All of the CPUs in this lineup were built on a 7nm process and have Vega graphics.
At the top of the line is the eight-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 5825C. It has eight GPU cores and tops out at 4.5GHz with max boost — just below the 5700G's 4.6GHz. AMD says this is the first Chromebook processor with eight high-performance cores.
A step below that APU is the Ryzen 5 5625C, which has six cores, 12 threads, seven GPU cores and a max boost speed of 4.3GHz. Next up is the Ryzen 3 5425C, with four cores, eight threads and six GPU cores. That maxes out at 4.1GHz. Lastly, there's the Ryzen 3 5125C, which has a top speed of 3.0GHz. That model has two cores, four threads and three GPU cores.
The Ryzen and Athlon 3000 C-series chips, which top out at eight cores and eight threads, use the Zen architecture and are being positioned as mainstream-level options.
With the Ryzen 5000 C-series, AMD is promising up to 94 percent better battery life than you'd get with Intel chipsets. It says machines with the processors will run for up to 13 hours before they need to be recharged. The chips also have multi-monitor support for up to three 4K monitors, fast charging support and Chromebooks using them can instantly wake from sleep.
Among the first manufacturers to use the new chips are Acer and HP with the Chromebook Spin 514 and HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook.
The latest version of Acer's Chromebook is a 14-inch, full HD 2-in-1 that can house up to the Ryzen 7 5825C processor. It has support for WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and up to 256GB of PCIe gen-3 NVMe SSD storage.
Acer says its device has military-grade MIL-STD 810H durability and a 100 percent sRGB color range. It has a 1080p webcam with a shutter, two USB-C gen-2 ports and optional HDMI. The battery will run for up to 10 hours on a single charge, Acer claims.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (CP514-3H) will be available in Q3 in North America and the EMEA region, starting at $580/€749. An enterprise version will also be available in the third quarter, starting at $900 or €849.
HP
As for the HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook, there are multiple display options, including a 14-inch 1080p IPS touchscreen with 250 nits of brightness. There's also a non-touch 1,000-nit panel with low blue light and HP's Eye Ease tech.
This model can be equipped with up to 16GB of soldered LPDDR4X memory, up to 512GB of PCIe SSD storage and an optional smart card reader. It has a 5MP webcam, along with two mics and dual speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen.
In addition, there's support for fast charging and WiFi 6E. The c645 G2 has passed MIL-STD 810H durability tests as well. HP is also guaranteeing Chrome OS support through June 2030.
The HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook should be available in early June and it will start at $559. On top of that, the company announced the HP Elite c640 G3 Chromebook, which has similar specs but runs on Intel chips. That should arrive in mid-May with a starting price of $509.
Enterprise versions of both the AMD- and Intel-powered Chromebooks are expected to go on sale in the same timeframes. Pricing for those will be announced later.
It seems Sonos is gearing up to roll out its own long-rumored voice assistant in the coming weeks. Sonos Voice is said to offer voice control for music playback on many of the company's devices, offering owners another option if they'd rather not use Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Sonos will first roll out Sonos Voice in the US on June 1st as part of a software update, according to The Verge. The feature should arrive in other countries later. Smart speakers and soundbars that support the S2 platform will all reportedly gain Sonos Voice support. A rumored $250 soundbar called Sonos Ray will likely be among those.
At the outset, Sonos Voice is said to support Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, Deezer and Sonos Radio. It's believed that the voice assistant won't work with Spotify or YouTube Music at the jump, which are pretty significant omissions. As you might expect, you'll be able to ask Sonos devices to play artists, albums, songs or playlists from compatible services.
Voice commands will reportedly be handled on-device, and won't be recorded or processed in the cloud. Unsurprisingly, the wake word is expected to be "Hey Sonos." Users should still be able to control other connected home products via Alexa or Google Assistant on Sonos devices.
Sonos has had uneasy relationships with the likes of Amazon and Google over the years. In 2020, Sonos sued Google over alleged speaker patent infringement. The US International Trade Commission finalized a ruling on the case earlier this year, which resulted in Google having to make some minor changes to some products.
Activision Blizzard has been hit with another lawsuit, this time from New York City officials. The suit, which was first obtained by Axios, takes aim at CEO Bobby Kotick. It accuses him of being "unfit" to negotiate his company's pending sale to Microsoft, citing his "personal responsibility and liability for Activision’s broken workplace."
The suit was filed by the New York City Employees' Retirement System and pension funds that represent police, teachers and firefighters. The plaintiffs, who own stock in Activision Blizzard, argue that the Microsoft deal allows “Kotick and his fellow directors a means to escape liability for their egregious breaches of fiduciary duty.”
Since last July, Activision Blizzard has been the target of multiple lawsuits. It has been accused of fostering a "frat boy" culture and some have made allegations of workplace harassment and discrimination. In March, a wrongful death suit was filed against the company. Activision Blizzard also said in a filing yesterday that it's cooperating with a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation on "disclosures on employment matters and related issues."
In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kotick was aware of many of the alleged instances of harassment and that he may have protected employees who were accused of misconduct. That report, and the alleged workplace problems, are said to have prompted the buyout. The companies announced the sale in January.
New York City claims the $68.7 billion Microsoft deal, which was valued at $95 per share, undervalues a company that was trading at close to that price before the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued it last summer and started a wave of litigation. The NYC plaintiffs are demanding access to various company documents, including those related to the pending takeover and details on the five other possible buyers that Activision mentioned in filings on sale talks.
Activision Blizzard shareholders last week overwhelmingly approved the Microsoft deal. The companies hope to close the merger by the end of June 2023, though they require approval from regulators in the US, UK, China, the European Union and some other markets. Should the sale go through, Kotick stands to make as much as $520 million.
Microsoft is rolling out an update to the Xbox app for iOS and Android that includes a new social sharing feature. Players will be able to share screenshots, gameplay clips and achievements with their friends and others as Instagram- or Snapchat-style stories. You'll be able to respond to other people's stories with a reaction or message too.
You'll find the stories on the home screen of the app. To share a clip, screenshot or achievement, access the channel, tap the plus sign on your gamertag and choose what you want to post from the gallery. You'll be able to add a caption before sharing your story.
Although Instagram and Snapchat stories typically disappear after 24 hours, Xbox stories will be available for 72 hours. That means it's more likely that your friends will see your updates, as long as they can tear themselves away from the new Halo Infinite season for long enough.
There's another new feature for Xbox consoles as part of the May update. Microsoft calls it Quality of Service (QoS) tagging. It says this is a way of prioritizing "latency-sensitive outbound networking traffic such as party chat, console streaming and multiplayer." The company says this feature could help to maintain your gaming experience amid connection issues on congested networks.
You can manage QoS tags in the Settings app. After selecting the General option, go to network settings, then advanced settings. You'll then see the QoS tagging settings. DSCP tagging is enabled at the IPv4 and IPv6 packet level and works on both wired and wireless connections. WMM tagging works on the wireless packed level and is active only on Wi-Fi connections.
These updates are now live in Australia. Microsoft says they'll arrive in other regions soon.
