God of War: Ragnarok might make its 2022 launch window after all. Bloombergsources say the marquee PS4 and PS5 game will be released in November despite recent claims it might be delayed to 2023. Sony's Santa Monica Studio is poised to announce the release date later in June, the tipsters said. The debut had supposedly been pushed back from September, but there don't appear to be further worries.
European sources talking to Gamereactor had maintained the game wouldn't be ready until next year. The no-shows at both the June 2nd State of Play event and this week's Summer Games Fest helped fuel speculation about a lengthy delay. The Bloomberg contacts said there had been "several" internal and public delays for Ragnarok since the 2020 announcement, with at least some due to the pandemic and the need for remote work.
Sony hasn't commented on the rumor, and there's no guarantee the new God of War will stay on track. A November ship date wouldn't be surprising, though. Game developers often plan to release their biggest titles during the all-important holiday shopping season, particularly before Black Friday (the day after American Thanksgiving in November). And when Ragnarok could easily be the most important PlayStation game of the near future, a holiday premiere could be crucial for Sony's bottom line.
IKEA has partnered with electronic music giants Swedish House Mafia to release the new OBEGRÄNSAD ("unlimited" in Swedish) collection themed around music and creativity. The highlight so far is a surprisingly slick record player, which has Bluetooth speaker support and a minimalist design.
IKEA has form for intriguing tech-homeware collaborations, having already launched music and lighting products in collaboration with Teenage Engineering just a few years ago. (I still have their tiki cups – I don’t know why the collection included tiki cups…)
There's also some furniture in the new line, including a desk for music production, complete with two speaker stands and a pull-out shelf for MIDI keyboards and other controllers. Expect the collection to land this fall.
Astronomers everywhere have high hopes for NASA's James Webb telescope. But between May 23rd and May 25th, a larger than expected micrometeoroid hit one of the telescope's primary mirror segments. The event was significant enough for NASA to pick up a "marginally detectable effect in the data," but not enough to affect the telescope's performance.
In NASA's announcement, it said the James Webb team performed an initial analysis and found it still performs at a level that "exceeds all mission requirements."
While all eyes are on the flashy new XPS 13 Plus (even if it doesn’t have a headphone jack), Dell hasn't forgotten about its mainstay premium ultraportable — or its convertible cousin.
The XPS 13 is now even slimmer and more power efficient. The XPS 13 2-in-1, meanwhile, has transformed from a foldable laptop into a detachable Surface competitor. The new XPS 13 is available today starting at $999, and the 2-in-1 should land later this summer.
Netflix and CD Projekt Red have unveiled the first trailer for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, their anime series based on the game Cyberpunk 2077. The companies announced the project back in 2020, and it’s set to be released this September. Studio Trigger is known for its wild designs and projects, like Kill la Kill and Promare. Edgerunners looks like it will feel at home with those other anime series. It'll be directed by Studio Trigger founder Hiroyuki Imaishi.
Portals will become business-focused devices instead.
Meta will no longer release Portal devices for consumers, according to The Information and Variety. The company is reportedly repositioning the smart display and home video line as a business product and discontinuing current consumer versions. Variety says Meta will sell all the remaining inventory of previously released models and continue providing support for existing customers. It was also something our Senior Editor, Karissa Bell, mused on years ago.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has deepened (PDF) its investigation into a series of Tesla crashes involving first responders to an engineering analysis. As The Washington Post explains, that's the last stage of an investigation, and the agency typically decides within a year if a vehicle should be recalled or if the probe should be closed. In addition to upgrading the probe's status, the investigation now covers 830,000 units, or almost all the Tesla Model Y, Model X, Model S and Model 3 vehicles the company has sold since 2014.
This development expands upon the investigation the NHTSA initiated back in 2021 following 11 collisions of Tesla vehicles with parked emergency responders and trucks. Since then, the agency has identified and added six more incidents that occurred over the past couple of years. In most of those crashes, Autopilot gave up vehicle control less than one second before impact, though Automatic Emergency Braking intervened in at least half of them.
The NHTSA also found that the first responders on the road would've been visible to the drivers at an average of eight seconds before impact. Plus, forensic data showed no driver took evasive action between 2 to 5 seconds prior to impact even though they all had their hands on the wheel. Apparently, nine of the 11 vehicles originally involved in the investigation exhibited no driver engagement visual or chime alerts until the last minute before the collision. Four of them didn't exhibit any engagement visual or chime alert at all.
The NHTSA also looked into 191 crashes not limited to incidents involving first responders. In 53 of those collisions, the agency found that the driver was "insufficiently responsive" as evidenced by them not intervening when needed. All these suggest that while drivers are complying with Tesla's instructions to make sure they have their hands on the wheel at all times, they're not necessarily paying attention to their environment.
That said, the NHTSA noted in its report that "a driver's use or misuse of vehicle components, or operation of a vehicle in an unintended manner does not necessarily preclude a system defect." As University of South Carolina law professor Bryant Walker Smith told The Post, monitoring the position of a driver's hands isn't effective enough, because it doesn't ensure a driver's capability to respond to what they encounter on the road.
In addition, the NHTSA noted that the ways a driver may interact with the system is an important design consideration for Level 2 autonomous driving technologies. These systems still aren't full autonomous and still mostly depend on the human driver, after all. "As such, ensuring the system facilitates the driver's effective performance of this supervisory driving task presents an important safety consideration," the agency wrote.
Bloober Team is returning to its roots with Layers of Fears, a "psychological horror chronicle" heading to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC in early 2023. The game is a new story chapter in the Layers of Fear universe, building on the spooky psychedelic foundation laid out in the previous installments.
"We are bringing back a franchise that is really special for us, in a new form that will give players a truly fresh gaming experience and that will shed new light on the overall story," Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno said in a press release. "Our plan was to recreate the games, but we didn’t want to make it a simple collection of two remastered games. We’ve worked out a new approach, something that is maybe not yet obvious. But I can tell you there’s a reason why we called it Layers of Fears."
Bloober Team launched its original horror franchise in 2016 with Layers of Fear and an expansion subtitled Inheritance. A full sequel came out in 2019, and throughout the years Bloober Team has partnered with major studios to create spooky games including Blair Witch and The Medium.
Last year, Bloober Team entered into a partnership with Konami, the publisher of the Silent Hill franchise, fueling rumors that the studio was working on a remake of Silent Hill 2. These rumors came to a head just before the Summer Game Fest kickoff show this year — but turns out, it was Layers of Fears all along. The studio is reportedly working on multiple games simultaneously, so there's still a chance for Bloober Team to get in on the Silent Hill franchise.
Bloober Team is co-developing Layers of Fears with Anshar Studios, which also helped out with Observer: System Redux.
Fans of Donut Country creator Ben Esposito won't have to wait much longer to play his new game. At Summer Game Fest, Annapurna Interactive announced Neon White is launching on June 16th on both PC and Nintendo Switch. Alongside news of a release date, the publisher also shared a new gameplay trailer, showcasing the game's unusual mix of platforming and card-based shooting. Engadget senior editor Jessica Conditt interviewed Esposito about the game last March and came away excited to play it.
As fans of the series will expect, it's an open-world adventure game. You'll headbutt and lick anything and everything as you triple-jump across the island of San Angora, which is packed with fresh areas, challenges and events. There's four-player couch and online co-op. You'll be able to explore the island together and butt heads in seven minigames.
You'll be able to customize your goat with gear that enhances their abilities. You can kit them out with questionable fashion choices like tea trays and toilet rolls, or skip to the inevitable and slap a jetpack on their back.
Hertz customers in select cities nationwide will soon have the opportunity to rent a Polestar 2. The EV automaker announced Thursday that it has delivered the first batch of some 65,000 vehicles to the Rental corporation as part of a deal struck between the two in April.
“Our partnership with Hertz is an exciting milestone that provides the opportunity for a significant number of potential new customers to experience an EV for the first time, and it will be in a Polestar,” Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar CEO, said in a prepared statement. “With over 55,000 Polestar cars already on the road across our 25 live markets there is no doubt that our brand is growing at an incredible pace.”
Polestar is quick to point out that this deal is one of the largest single EV purchases in history, a not so subtle dig at rival Tesla which, last October, supposedly had its own deal with Hertz for a whopping 100,000 Model 3s. However, that agreement failed to get beyond Hertz' press release as Tesla CEO Elon Musk subsequently tweeted that "no contract has been signed yet" and the whole deal fizzled from there.
In addition to the Polestar 2s, Hertz will also be acquiring a select number of Polestar 1s, giving its customers a hybrid option to choose from as well. As a Polestar rep told Engadget, the metro areas of "Seattle, LA, Burbank and Orange County CA, San Diego, Phoenix/Scottsdale, Miami, Islip NY, and Newark NJ" will all be among the first to receive the new EVs.
Triband, the studio behind early Apple Arcade standout What the Golf, is back with a new game on a completely different platform. What the Bat is a virtual reality title that's coming to Meta Quest 2 and SteamVR headsets later this year
It looks like another ridiculous physics-based game where part of the fun is in figuring out what exactly is going on in each of the more than 100 levels. This time around, you'll have baseball bats for hands and you'll use them for cooking, petting a dog, painting, playing pinball, pickling, parking and brushing your teeth. Although What the Bat isn't really a baseball game, you will still get to do some batting too.
IKEA is no stranger to technology-driven collaborations, but its latest might be particularly eclectic. The home store has partnered with electronic music giants Swedish House Mafia to release a new OBEGRÄNSAD ("unlimited" in Swedish) collection themed around music and creativity. The highlight so far is a surprisingly slick-looking record player. While the turntable doesn't offer much in the way of known features beyond Bluetooth speaker support, the minimalist design could make it a conversation piece as you spin some vinyl.
This being IKEA, there's naturally some furniture. The OBEGRÄNSAD line also includes a desk aimed at music production, complete with two speaker stands and a pull-out shelf for MIDI keyboards and other controllers. You'll have more space for a computer, mixers and other essential gear. An armchair, meanwhile, can help you relax during listening sessions with adjustable straps.
IKEA
The collection doesn't reach IKEA shops until the fall. The company hasn't mentioned pricing, although its historical focus on affordable products suggests you won't pay much. Moreover, the full collection will include over 20 pieces — there's a real chance you can have Swedish House Mafia shape much of your interior decor.
Parents of young kids just need a break. Even before the pandemic, it was tough to run out to the movies, since that involves setting up a baby sitter and praying nothing goes wrong in the middle of your night out. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to help new dads (and moms) build out their home entertainment options. And it’s even easier if you're aiming to find gifts for someone who hasn't already nerded out on A/V gear.
Sonos Beam
Sonos
There are plenty of soundbars out there, but few are as versatile as the Sonos Beam. It's a sleek box that'll instantly upgrade any TV with expansive and detailed sound. But, it's also a smart speaker with support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. That makes it a viable alternative to devices like the Echo. Being able to shout "Play some Sesame Street songs!" comes in really handy for new parents. Trust me.
These days, it's almost impossible to buy a dumb TV without any internet connectivity or streaming apps. But for folks who have older sets, especially those relegated to bedrooms, a streaming stick like Roku's could change their lives. It offers the company's full suite of apps, excellent 4K and HDR performance, and it's surprisingly inexpensive. And once we can start traveling again, the Roku Streaming Stick+ is great to bring on vacation, so you're never too far from your binge-watch queue. We still love the original model, but if you spring for the newer Streaming Stick 4K+, you'll get longer-range WiFi and an updated voice remote.
The Apple TV 4K finally gets the update it needed this year — and best of all, it has a larger Siri remote with a more responsive, touch-enabled clickpad. It's a solid gift for anyone already embedded in the iOS ecosystem. This latest model also features Apple's A12 Bionic chip, which offers faster video decoding and support for Dolby Vision HDR at higher frame rates. And if you know someone who already has the previous Apple TV 4K, you can always gift them the new Siri remote separately for $59.
If your dad (or anyone else) is in desperate need of a living room TV upgrade, then you can’t go wrong with LG’s award-winning OLED TV from last year. It has incredible picture quality and a long list of features that will keep it current even when you plug in a new-gen game console.
The best part? For as long as the CX is still available, you’ll be able to find some good deals, with prices almost as low as they’ve ever been since these TVs debuted. This one normally costs $1,500, but you can often find it for as low as $1,100. Don’t wait.
If your dad just needs to spend time with an audio book or some music, then a pair of noise-cancelling headphones are a good match and this Sony model provides some of the best technology around. The XM4 can connect to multiple devices at the same time, so it will work with dad’s phone and computer without constantly needing to re-pair and cause more hassle.
One of the few knocks we could find on the XM4s during our review was their high price, which has dropped noticeably since their release. They have a good fit, and can automatically pause when the wearer starts talking — he’ll appreciate that. And if you want to spring for a splurge gifts this year, you could get him the new WH-1000XM5, which add a new design and improved noise cancellation to all of the existing features found on the XM4.
If your entertainment runs through a game console, and dad just wants to kick back to watch a game or some Blu-ray discs, then he’ll appreciate navigating things with a remote instead of a gamepad.
The PS5 Media Remote matches your console aesthetically, and includes shortcut buttons for several popular apps. Plus, its batteries will last longer than the one in a DualSense so it will always be ready to go. Your biggest problem could be probably finding one in stock, although if you managed to snag the console then we think you’ll be able to figure this out too. For Xbox owners, the PDP Media remote works for systems from the One through the new Series X/S. Instead of shortcut keys it includes a fairly standard universal remote setup so that there’s not a lot of re-learning involved.
Whether the house is already leaning into automation or not, this starter kit of Philips Hue White and Color lights should be a good fit. It comes with three bulbs that can glow in millions of colors, as well as a button for easy manual control and a Hue bridge. The latter will be important if dad eventually wants to add to its lighting system as it supports up to 50 connected lights. He’ll be able to control his lights from anywhere using the companion mobile app, set schedules and routines and use Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri commands to change the lighting in the house as he sees fit. That means it’ll be easier than ever for dad to get the right ambiance for his next movie night.
For the biggest and best screen possible, you’ll always want a projector. The BenQ HT2050A is as good of an option as you’ll find, and your dad can brag about how much of a deal it was at just $750. What this 1080p projector lacks in resolution and dynamic range it more than makes up for in value, and is a perfect choice to get someone started on live the projector lifestyle. Just find a blank wall and pop this on a table for an incredible movie or game night with a few vaccinated friends. A proper projection screen, blackout shades and seating upgrades are follow-up gifts that everyone will get to use.
Blu-rays and DVDs aren't dead yet. For the true cinephile in your life, consider a 4K Blu-ray player like Panasonic's UB420. It'll playback UHD discs at full resolution, and it includes support for HDR and HDR10+. While many 4K Bluray owners rely on their gaming consoles, having a dedicated player is a major upgrade in terms of speed and usability. (Plus, it's just a pain to control movies with a gamepad.) As a bonus, you'll also be able to play back your older discs at an upscaled resolution. Sure, it costs a bit more than typical Blu-ray players, but it's a worthwhile gift for anyone who cares about the quality of their films. If you're on a tight budget, consider a Blu-ray player like the Sony S6700. It can upscale HD and DVD video to 4K, and it also has its own suite of streaming apps. Best of all, it's pretty compact, so it won't take up much room on your TV stand.
No, we won't ever stop loving The Matrix. And the series looks better than ever with its 4K Blu-ray remaster, which fixes some egregious errors from the original Blu-ray release. Whatever you think of the sequels, The Matrix fundamentally reshaped action and science-fiction in Hollywood — mostly for the better. Thanks to a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack, the films also sound more immersive than ever. And really, what better gift is there for new dads than a series that wrestles with the nature of humanity? Bringing a new life into the world certainly gets you thinking, especially when the eventual outcome for civilization sometimes seems grim.
While this box set is several years old, it's a worthy addition for any new dad's collection. Somehow, Tom Cruise willed the classic spy series back to life and has managed to keep it fresh and energetic over the past few decades. (I'll defend Mission: Impossible 2 as a staggering work of action opera any day, just come at me.) Consider them the ultimate dad movies: Stories about people who are great at their jobs, and almost always right in the face of insurmountable odds.
Planet Earth II was the best example of 4K HDR we'd ever seen when it was released in 2017. Several years later, it still looks better than most 4K films. This combo set makes a great gift, since it also includes the sumptuous Blue Planet II, which focuses more on marine life. Dads will appreciate the incredible footage and soothing narration. Both series will also make you feel connected to the circle of life, which you can't help but be a part of when holding a child in your arms.
