General Motors and Samsung SDI have chosen Indiana for their joint EV battery plant. The state’s governor, Eric Holcomb, announced today that the companies will build the $3 billion facility in St. Joseph County, scheduled to open in 2026. The factory, designed to help GM meet rising EV demand, is expected to bring 1,700 new manufacturing jobs to the Hoosier State.
The plant will manufacture nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells. GM and Samsung SDI expect the completed factory to have “more than 30 GWh of capacity.” The automaker currently runs five plants in Indiana, employing more than 5,700 people, and it is now the second-largest EV maker in the US, behind Tesla. GM aims to produce more than one million EVs annually by 2025 and “accelerate from there,” completing its transition to electric-only vehicles by 2035.
GM and Samsung SDI announced the joint venture in April without naming the location. It follows GM’s three previous US factory partnerships with LG Energy Solution, including a 900-worker plant in Warren, OH and upcoming Spring Hill, TN and Lansing, MI facilities.
The companies plan to begin construction within the next year, creating over 1,000 jobs during that period. “This joint venture and the 1,700 people there will help supply cells for millions of all-electric vehicles for customers across North America,” said Mary Barra, GM’s Chair and CEO. “The strong support of local and state leaders in Indiana and the combined resources and expertise of GM and Samsung SDI will help us move faster than we could on our own.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gm-and-samsung-sdi-are-building-a-3-billion-ev-battery-cell-plant-in-indiana-162424130.html?src=rss
In a world where every Apple laptop is thin and light, do we still need to market some of them based on that alone? In many ways, a 15-inch MacBook Air makes you wish Apple would bring back the suffix-free MacBook name for its mainstream machines. But, silly branding aside, is the biggest, newest Air worth your cash? Your friend and mine, Nathan Ingraham has spent the last week running the rule over the new hardware to see what’s good.
On paper, the 15-inch Air (nope, still sounds weird) is just a bigger version of its 13-inch sibling. You’ll get the same design language, port selection and chip options carried over, but that’s no bad thing. After all, the M2 MacBook Air marked a quantum leap in Apple’s hardware design, building a gorgeous and speedy machine into such a slender body. The only real downside is the Air’s focus on affordability means you’ll get a 60Hz display rather than the 120Hz on the new Pros.
– Dan Cooper
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If Reddit CEO Steve Huffman’s AMA was meant to defuse tensions between the company’s leadership and its users, it wasn’t very successful. More than 6,000 subreddits have now gone dark in protest of the service’s API changes that have boxed out several third-party apps. This includes several of its biggest communities, all of which going dark at once being enough to temporarily topple the site.
Reading Devindra Hardawar’s review of the M2 Mac Studio left me wondering why the Mac Pro still exists. Sure, expandable RAM and having free PCI-E slots are still valuable for some use cases, but for everything else? This tiny machine has the raw grunt, if you spec it up enough, to make even the most powerful pro computers weep into their cereal. Read on to learn how jaw-droppingly swift this thing is, and if it’s worth your cash.
Waiting on an open-world Star Wars game? You won’t have to wait much longer, thankfully. Star Wars Outlaws has broken cover entirely. At its Ubisoft Forward event on Monday, the game publisher shared 10 minutes of gameplay footage that touched on exploration, stealth and good ole-fashioned gunplay. You’ll be able to traverse the game's world on a speeder bike and even take to the skies and space with a starship, with seemingly no loading between game elements. (I think I’ve heard of that before…) Star Wars Outlaws will be available next year on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Engadget’s Jessica Conditt watched a 30-minute hands-off preview of Alan Wake II at Summer Game Fest, and she liked what she saw. The original Alan Wake came out in 2010, so the timeline in the sequel has also progressed by that same period. In it, writer Alan Wake has been missing for 13 years, while FBI agent Saga Anderson is hunting the ghost of FBI agent Robert Nightingale, who was killed off at the end of the first title. The big innovation in Alan Wake II is the ability to swap between Saga and Alan, playing as both characters throughout the game. Chapter one begins with Saga in the driver’s seat, and after that, players can choose to play as her or Alan at the beginning of each new section. Intrigued? Read on for more first impressions.
Before Nintendo and its iconic mascot plumber, Atari used to run things in the console space. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw a slew of high-profile releases for the Atari 2600 console, from Pitfall to Pac-Man, but the once-popular gaming system was relegated to the dustbin of history, until now, as Atari just announced a brand-new physical cartridge for the console. Mr. Run and Jump is a 2D platformer that’s taken plenty of design cues from recent indie games like Celeste.
Atari says this is the first 2600/VCS cartridge launch for a new title since 1990, despite an active DIY homebrew scene that has created plenty of its own retro carts in recent decades. The Mr. Run and Jump cartridge ships in a sealed box and comes with an actual instruction manual, a rarity these days. The cartridges are manufactured using all new parts and materials, with modern design cues like beveled edges to prevent pin damage and gold-plated connectors. Preorders for the physical release start on July 31st with a price of $60.
The game was actually developed for the ancient platform to showcase the “enduring capabilities of the 2600 hardware, even four decades after its initial release.” Despite the old-school pedigree, a snazzier version of the title is also being developed for modern consoles like Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam and Epic. This version includes more than 30 hours of gameplay, with a new time trials feature and a “glowing explosion of color, action and personality.” In other words, there’s no way it would run on the original 1977 hardware.
The Atari 2600 cartridge, however, does feature six worlds, 80 levels, five enemy types and a unique scoring system that decreases points when you collide with baddies, though does not include a download code for the modern version. Not bad for a console that once had to dump 14 truckloads of unsold cartridges into a landfill. Mr. Run and Jump will work with actual retro 2600 consoles, but also with newer VCS remakes.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mr-run-and-jump-will-be-the-first-official-cartridge-for-the-atari-2600-since-1990-110010790.html?src=rss
The distance EVs can go on a single charge has steadily increased over the years, with top options from the likes of Mercedes, BMW and Tesla all touting an estimated range of over 350 miles. Now, Toyota, a long-time hybrid maker (who can forget when having a Prius was the marker of being environmentally conscious?) is among the car manufacturers pushing toward even longer-lasting charges for EVs. In an announcement of new technology, Toyota very boldly claims "will change the future of cars," the Japanese company shared its plan for future cars to reach a range of 1,000 km (~621 miles).
According to Toyota, it will achieve this goal through the "integration of next-generation batteries and sonic technology" and plans to launch a full EV lineup by 2026. It already offers the bZ4X all-electric SUV, which can go about 270 miles on one charge and starts at $42,000. Plus, it plans to release a "next-generation" EV for Lexus, its luxury brand, in the same timeframe.
The company first started "actively investing in future-oriented areas" in 2016 and, as of March, had since shifted about half of its R&D staff and expenses into its Advanced Development work. In May, Toyota launched BEV Factory, a space designed specifically for innovating battery EV technology. The company has adopted giga casting, the use of high-pressure aluminum die casting machines to create larger car parts, first used by Tesla — a move it says will lower manufacturing costs. The car's body will be manufactured with only three pieces.
Toyota's other venture comes in the form of the Hydrogen Factory, an organization it plans to open this July in hopes of streamlining decisions and offering more advanced, cheaper fuel cells through alliances and its own innovation. Hydrogen itself is not inexpensive or widely accessible, creating additional barriers to adaptation. It can cost about $0.30 per mile, though Toyota offers $15,000 or three years for leasers and six years for buyers — whichever comes first — in complimentary fuel as an incentivization. Its hydrogen car, the Toyota Mirai, currently has a range of up to 402 miles and takes about five minutes to fill up. Toyota also recently unveiled a GR H2 Racing Concept for future entry into Le Mans 24 Hours race's new hydrogen car category, where quick fill-up is vital.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/toyota-claims-its-future-evs-will-have-a-range-over-600-miles-104555944.html?src=rss
Ubisoft’s open-world Avatar game is almost here. At the company’s Summer Game Fest preview event, we got a substantial look at the story and gameplay of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. James Cameron introduced the game in a prerecorded segment, teasing “new environments new flora and fauna and characters”.
A cinematic trailer lays out how this tale will fit in with the Avatar movies. In short, it’ll cover the events of both games, with the protagonist being kidnapped during the events of the first film and schooled by the human invaders. After the events at the end of Avatar, you are cryogenically frozen… then unfrozen 15 years later in time to fight the RDA’s continued invasion.
The game itself is an open-world first-person action-adventure game, where you'll be able to combine Na'vi skills and weapons with human assault weapons and a casual rocket launcher or two. It wouldn't be an Avatar thing without the ability to bond with sentient animals you can ride. The trailer teases the ability to ride direhorses as well as your very own ikran. You'll be able to feed and customize your partner when not flying down waterfalls. Frontiers of Pandora will include a new western expanse not seen in the movies, where you'll meet as-yet unseen Na'vi clans, including a secretive healer clan.
You'll be able to equip and grow your character to fit your own playstyle, crafting weaponry and items from resources and upgrading your own skills as you see fit.
Frontiers of Pandora launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, PC and, oddly, Luna. (Yes, Luna!) on December 7th 2023.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-launch-date-sgf-2023-174516354.html?src=rss
When I saw the announcement trailer for Immortals of Aveum in the winter of 2022, I was surprised by my own interest in the game. Immortals came from an unproven studio founded four years prior by Bret Robbins, a AAA creative director who most recently built a trio of Call of Duty titles: Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and WWII. Ascendant Studios, his independent venture, was partnering with EA on its debut game, a first-person shooter in a militaristic fantasy world. On the surface, it didn’t sound like something I’d be drawn to.
But Immortals of Aveum caught my eye. Its cinematics were beautiful and the trailer showcased frenetic combat with bright beams of magic, all while actors Gina Torres (Firefly) and Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever) narrated an epic story of rebellion, political sabotage and dragons. From a first-person perspective, the protagonist’s hand movements were quick and sharp, and they looked like a satisfying build-up to powerful attacks.
With a few months of hindsight, I remain interested in Immortals of Aveum and I think I’ve figured out why. There aren’t a ton of first-person action games that rely on mechanics other than guns — Dishonored, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hexen come to mind, but it’s a small field overall. That might be one reason Immortals of Aveum stands out as something fresh, but it’s also nice to see a new, AAA-level game that’s single-player and narrative-driven with a contained campaign, rather than an open world of live-service features. Learning more about Ascendant helped, too: Robbins was also the creative director of the original Dead Space and his team included former Telltale Games members, lending weight to the assertation that Immortals of Aveum would center a dense storyline.
I played a demo of Immortals of Aveum at Summer Game Fest 2023, and it was gorgeous. Its cinematics were particularly impressive: The motion capture was smooth and the character models were finely detailed, with delicate eye markings and layers of gear. The clarity of the cutscenes made it easier to get lost in the dialogue and the ravaged fantasy world of Aveum, even in a short period of time.
Gameplaywise, I had access to the blue type of magic, which granted me two abilities: a whip that pulled enemies toward me, and a burst of balled-up energy, spammable as fast as my finger could press R2. I also used the Animate ability on a giant rock hand, using a telekinesis-type power to manipulate its fingers and bridge a gap between two cliffside landings. Playing with a gamepad on PC, I found the mechanics to be almost too smooth, with my reticle often sliding beyond my intended targets, but this is something I think I’d get used to after 30 minutes longer with the game. Even with the hyper-lubricated controls, I appreciated the lack of a noticeable aim assist.
EA
I didn’t encounter the sheer number of enemies that Ascendant has shown off in trailers for Immortals of Aveum; my hordes maxed out at about eight. But by the end of my play time, I felt like I’d started to learn the rhythm of the game’s combat, and I can see it becoming frenzied — in a great way — with the addition of new magical powers. And, sure, some more enemies.
The most jarring part of the demo was actually traversing the terrain — there were plenty of craggy mountainsides and rock walls that looked perfectly climbable by modern action-adventure standards, but they weren’t. Maybe I needed to spend more time learning the intricacies of gap-jumping and ledge-grabbing, but I found my character to be slightly less spry than I wanted, unwilling to fully double-jump or pull himself onto platforms. However, the movement restrictions seemed purposeful, and the game wasn’t sluggish by any means: Immortals of Aveum felt more like a puzzle game than a climbing adventure, with a series of locked stone doors and multicolored gems to throw magic at in specific patterns.
EA
My demo broke once, when a bug prevented a stone door from opening, and a developer had to get me back on track. I was assured that the game will be in full working condition by launch day, in about six weeks.
Ascendant Studios is independent, but it’s marketed as a AAA team and it has about 100 employees. Immortals of Aveum certainly looks like a big-budget game; it’s built in Unreal Engine 5 and heading to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on July 20th. I remain intrigued; I'm excited to get my hands on a few more magical powers and see where this world of high-fantasy politics leads.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/immortals-of-aveum-first-look-a-little-more-magic-and-this-might-be-wonderful-133034089.html?src=rss
The gigantic OLED panel costs $2,200, but the company will throw in a $250 Samsung gift card to anyone that preorders. This gift card can be used for any Samsung product or service, and you have plenty to choose from. That, sort of, lowers the price to the more palatable sum of $1,950.
For the price, you get a whole lot of monitor. The Odyssey OLED G9 offers dual-quad high definition resolution (5,120 x 1,440), a stark 1800R curvature and the aforementioned 32:9 aspect ratio. There’s a 240Hz refresh rate and a 0.03ms response time, making for smooth gameplay. The panel includes over 8 million self-illuminating pixels and a “near-infinite” color contrast ratio.
The monitor includes built-in speakers, exterior lighting that matches gameplay, a premium metal design and access to Samsung’s Gaming Hub app, as well as a variety of smart TV apps. There are plenty of port options, including HDMI 2.1, Micro HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4 and more. As previously mentioned, preorders start today with an asking price of $2,200.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsungs-49-inch-curved-oled-gaming-display-is-2200-130009839.html?src=rss
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol recently declared the chip manufacturing industry to be in an "all-out war," and the latest developments certainly support that statement. Prosecutors in the Suwon District have indicted a former Samsung executive for allegedly stealing semiconductor plant blueprints and technology from the leading chipmaker, BusinessKorea reports. They didn't name the 65-year-old defendant, who also previously served as vice president of another Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, but claimed he stole the information between 2018 and 2019. The leak reportedly cost Samsung about $230 million.
The defendant allegedly planned to build a semiconductor in Xi'an, China, less than a mile from an existing Samsung plant. He hired 200 employees from SK Hynix and Samsung to obtain their trade secrets while also teaming up with an unnamed Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company that pledged $6.2 billion to build the new semiconductor plant — the partnership fell through. However, the defendant was able to secure about $358 million from Chinese investors, which he used to create prototypes in a Chengdu, China-based plant. The plant was reportedly also built using stolen Samsung information, according to prosecutors.
"It's so serious that it's difficult to compare it in terms of the scale of the crime and the degree of damage with previous individual semiconductor technology leakage cases," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. "It's a grave crime that could deal a heavy blow to our economic security by shaking the foundation of the domestic chip industry at a time of intensifying competition in chip manufacturing." Six co-conspirators, including one Samsung sub-contractor, were indicted alongside the lead defendant. These charges follow continued efforts from China to acquire South Korea's technologies across a range of industries and Korea creating stricter punishments for related offenses.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/former-samsung-executive-accused-of-trying-to-copy-an-entire-chip-plant-in-china-121008690.html?src=rss
Stoic Studio, makers of the tactical-RPG Banner Saga franchise, announced a new game today at the Summer Game Fest Xbox Showcase. Towerborne is an action-RPG brawler that appears to be a contrast to the studio’s previous work.
The game’s fantasy world reveals humanity hiding out in The Belfry, a massive tower overlooking a world overrun by monsters and other strange enemies. Gameplay appears to blend classic co-op brawling with strategy and RPG elements — all with a family-friendly feel. “We really wanted to make a game that we could play with our families, play at conventions — make it a sit-down-and-have-fun kind of experience,” Principal Game Designer Alex Thomas said in a blog post. “We all love and are inspired by classic beat ’em up games and wanted to make one with persistence, where we can continue to expand the features and the gameplay modes for as long as possible.”
Thomas says death for the game’s heroes (known as Aces) is a key element in Towerborne. Instead of dying and respawning as if nothing happened, your hero’s death plays into the storyline. “As an Ace, you’re a special force for good because you’re able to go out and face the most dangerous stuff, die, and then come back,” Thomas said. “We didn’t want to just gloss over it like a normal gameplay thing, but instead ask what that would be like for a group of people experiencing it. You’re not just doing it because you’re some kind of superhero, you’re doing it because you’re supporting this whole civilization during something of a cataclysm.”
Stoic Studio / Xbox
Towerborne is a seasonal game, and the developers plan to add new content over time — while continuing to unfold the overarching narrative. “The premise that we’ve created revolves around how you can do a seasonal game that doesn’t feel artificial,” Thomas says. “How can you make a story where the content updates and the changes that happen to the gameplay feel like they’re intertwined with the world?”
Towerborne is an Xbox-published title that will arrive in 2024 on Xbox Series X / S, Xbox Game Pass and PC via Steam.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/towerborne-is-an-action-rpg-brawler-from-the-makers-of-the-banner-saga-185826861.html?src=rss
Indie studio Thunder Lotus announced a game today that invites you to “Face the Wrath of God.” 33 Immortals is the Spiritfarer developer’s new co-op action / roguelike that supports up to 33 players.
“Pick-up and raid, cooperate to survive hordes of monsters and rise above the Almighty,” the title’s description reads. The game’s trailer shows 33-player co-op rendered with an art style that reminds me of old Space Ghost cartoons (meant as a compliment). However, the somewhat retro appearance may have made it easier for Thunder Lotus to render 33 simultaneous co-op players along with enemies and its dungeon-crawling environment.
Thunder Lotus says 33 Immortals will be available on Game Pass (Xbox Series X / S) and the Epic Games Store in 2024. You can check out the reveal trailer below.
Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/roguelike-33-immortals-has-33-player-co-op-173652402.html?src=rss
