It’s been a while since we’ve heard any news from Amy Hennig, but now we know what the former Naughty Dog and Visceral Games writer and creative director has been working away at since going indie in 2018. On Friday, Marvel announced its working with Hennig’s Skydance New Media studio on a new narrative-driven action-adventure game set in its comic book universe. Details on the project are sparse, but the Disney-owned company teased the title will feature a “completely original story and take on the Marvel Universe.”
After holding our cards close to the vest for so long, we’re excited to finally be able to share the news! We’re having a blast working with @MarvelGames on our first project at @Skydance New Media, and can’t wait until we can share more. Excelsior! https://t.co/opj87SJwQ6
“I can’t imagine a better partner than Marvel for our first game,” said Hennig. “The Marvel Universe epitomizes all the action, mystery and thrills of the pulp adventure genre that I adore and lends itself perfectly to an interactive experience. It’s an honor to be able to tell an original story with all the humanity, complexity, and humor that makes Marvel characters so enduring and to enable our players to embody these heroes that they love.”
In some ways, it’s a surprise to find out Hennig is working on a AAA title. When she left EA after the publisher shut down Visceral, it seemed like she wanted a change of pace. "I would love to have a little company of about six to eight people, 15 at the most, and then do smaller projects," she said at the time. But then the possibility of working with Marvel may have been too difficult to ignore, especially for a new studio working on its first-ever game. Much like it’s done in Hollywood, the company has started to pull in talent from every corner of the gaming industry. Between Eidos Montreal, Firaxis and now Skydance New Media, some of the best studios are working on Marvel properties.
Countess Alcina Dimitrescu isn't technically a vampire, but she's definitely an icon.
From the moment she appeared in an early trailer for Resident Evil: Village, Lady Dimitrescu captured the attention of the internet: her towering, sultry frame; her sickly-sweet smile; her massive hat; her proper yet authoritative tone. Viewers were instantly obsessed, labeling her "tall vampire lady" and demanding to know everything about her, which prompted Capcom to reveal her exact height — 9'6" including her hat and heels — months before Village launched in May.
In-game, Lady Dimitrescu commands three fly-infested, murderous daughters, and hunts the main character, Ethan Winters, across the opulent rooms of her castle. She crouches through doorways and slices at Ethan with long, blade-like fingernails, hurling insults like "rat" and "man-thing" at him the entire time, a mutant dominatrix in a flowing white dress.
Twilight Sparkle
The intrigue surrounding Lady Dimitrescu has persisted since Village's launch, and fans are betting (or maybe just hoping really hard) that the game's first bit of DLC will focus on her specifically.
Until then, and in the spirit of Spooky Season, we have insight into Lady Dimitrescu's creation from Village presentation director Masato Miyazaki, the person in charge of the game's motion-capture process. Earlier this year, Miyazaki shared details with Engadget about how Lady Dimitrescu came to be, from concept to mocap, including the ways actress Maggie Robertson brought her to legendary life.
Engadget: Did Lady Dimitrescu's design change throughout development?
Masato Miyazaki: Alcina Dimitrescu’s incredible height was conceived from the beginning and was not changed during development. The same goes for her wide brim hat and her white dress as well. However, the characteristic of her long protruding nails was something added part way through the development process. It was an idea that was implemented later as a means of adding physical elements that would make her more terrifying when you encounter her.
Lady Dimitrescu is alluring and seductive — was she always meant to be a sultry character, or did that emerge during mocap?
In the early stages of development, she was described as a bewitching character who would capture and toy with her victims. She was designed to embody equal parts beauty and horror. Based on this, the scenario writer fleshed her characterization out even further with dialogue, but she wasn’t fully realized just yet. It was through Maggie’s performance that the character was finally given life.
As with any character, I believe that the moment the script is handed over to the actor, the character becomes theirs. The character's personality and intentions are very much refined by the actor. The character Lady Dimitrescu was truly realized and came to fruition with each of Maggie’s performances.
Capcom
What tricks did you use to make Maggie Robertson as tall as possible during mocap sessions?
Although Maggie Robertson is quite tall herself, she still cannot reach the height that we envisioned for Lady Dimitrescu. Utilizing some means of extending out her height would jeopardize her performance, so it wasn’t something we could consider. We asked Maggie to act naturally. However, that still left us with the height difference between Maggie and Lady Dimitrescu that had to be addressed. We devised a few methods to counteract this issue.
First off, we shot with a mixture of backgrounds according to two standards: human scale and Lady Dimitrescu scale. While other characters performed with surroundings that fit human scale, Lady Dimitrescu’s acting was done in front of a background that fit her scale. Everyone performed with one another, but with this mixture of environments. We figured this would be the best means of allowing the actors to give their best performances without any kind of impediment. We made sure the furniture was laid out in a way so that the actors would be facing each other.
The other aspect that we made sure to stay conscious of was making sure the actors’ lines of sight were in the right positions. We set up markers so that the actors could imagine the correct height. These markers show the correct position of the eye lines and where the limbs actually are. It's a simple adjustment, but it makes a big difference in the actors' performances.
How the sausage gets made part 2: This is what we used to mark Lady D's actual size and eye lines. Clearly, she's grumpy after chasing people around the castle all day. 💅 #thegrumpystandin#LadyDimitrescu#ResidentEvilVillage
The third adjustment was the rig itself. We carefully set up the rigs of the CG characters to gracefully handle as much of the physical differences between the character and actor as possible. We wanted to make sure that we set things up so that the animators would have a relatively easier time handling any kind of miscalculations that happened along the way.
What was the strangest prop you used throughout the mocap process?
There are several, but there are two that I would like to mention. The first is the cane carried by the old woman we meet at the beginning of the village. When you see it in the game, it’s a strange artifact with a lot of components jingling about. The studio crew crafted a prop that resembles the design.
The second is the goggles that our actor Todd wore as he played the role of Ethan Winters. Since the game is from a first-person perspective through the eyes of Ethan Winters, the camera movements are based on the movements of Todd's head. Todd reprises his role as Ethan from the previous game and his performances are absolutely excellent, but there were moments where the camera would go wild during more heated scenarios. In order to suppress this from happening, the studio engineer created a pair of special goggles by hand.
They actually turned out to look very similar to swimming goggles. The assumption was that the narrower field of vision would result in less head movement. I’m still not entirely sure how effective they ended up being, but the engineer’s enthusiasm and Todd having fun wearing the goggles are one of the many wonderful memories I have from the whole experience.
It’s been a busy week! For our special 100th episode, Cherlynn and Devindra dive into their MacBook Pro and Pixel 6 reviews, answer audience questions, and they chat with Engadget’s Karissa Bell about what we’ve learned from the Facebook Papers. (Unfortunately, this episode was recorded before Facebook renamed itself to Meta, but we’ll be chatting about all of that next week!)
Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Guest: Karissa Bell Producer: Ben Ellman Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos,Luke Brooks Graphics artists: Luke Brooks, Kyle Maack Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
While Facebook the social network is still Facebook, the overarching company that it created is now called Meta. Facebook Inc. is changing its name in order to distinguish its myriad parts from the social network, which has an increasingly poor reputation pretty much everywhere. Particularly in the last few weeks.
While the company hopes it’ll offer some degree of distraction from current sentiment (and political focus), it’s not going to stop people talking about Facebook Meta.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name during his keynote for the company’s Connect event. He said: "From now on, we're going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook first."
The change appears very similar to how Google, the search and tech part, was bundled inside Alphabet — a bigger company to contain all the other parts.
The timing is, perhaps, even odder. The Facebook Papers — internal documents detailing the social network’s major failings and issues — encompassing misinformation, hate speech and censorship, are now public knowledge. Is this a distraction or Facebook wilfully forcing its own transformation at a time when most of us are more interested in how it’s going to fix its current state.
If I don’t want to use Facebook — why would I want to use its take on VR and the metaverse?
Facebook Portal will also be known as Meta Portal moving forward.
Following the above announcement, a Facebook post from incoming CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth revealed that Meta is retiring the Oculus brand. Beginning in early 2022, the Oculus Quest will instead be known as the Meta Quest. Similarly, the Oculus App will be called Meta Quest App. According to Bosworth, the intention is "to make clear" to consumers Quest is a Meta product. "We all have a strong attachment to the Oculus brand, and this was a very difficult decision to make," Bosworth said. The name is trickling down to other physical products. Facebook Portal will also become Meta Portal.
Teenage Engineering is best known for its synths, but it likes to explore other avenues, from designing wireless buds to games consoles and even an IKEA collaboration. It has announced an ITX PC case it’s calling the Computer-1. The company says it has been working on the design since 2014. “It’s not a ground-breaking PC case, but we like it, and use it every day,” TE says on its website. Alas, iIt’s currently sold out, but you can sign up to get a notification once it is available — which is what I just did.
The company just reported its results for the quarter ending on September 30th, and Apple made 29 percent more revenue than a year ago — that's $83.4 billion, for those keeping track. While iPhone sales made up almost 47 percent of Apple's total revenue. While Mac revenue was only up two percent, that was just enough for Apple to say it was a new all-time high for the Mac.
A boost in third-party games helped offset a drop in first-party sales.
Sony's PlayStation 5 sales remain relatively steady and strong, despite widespread supply shortages, with 3.3 million units sold in fiscal Q2 compared to 2.2 million last quarter. That brought total sales up to 13.4 million units, Sony announced. Game sales were also up significantly at 76.4 million units compared to 63.6 million in the previous quarter. The company has already stated that it has enough components for 22.6 million units to be sold by March 2022. That would be enough to meet its sales projections, but if sales really explode during the holidays, that could mean shortages could continue.
Bloomberg has published an image showing a Facebook/Meta smartwatch with rounded corners. It also has a notch with a front-facing camera. App developer Steve Moser found the image inside the company's app used to control its Ray-Ban Stories AR sunglasses, hinting that it could also be used to control the watch in the future.
Back in September, Twitter announced that it was planning to add recording and playback features for Spaces so that listeners can access shows after they air. Now, the website has rolled out the ability to a limited number of Spaces hosts on iOS and to all listeners on iOS and Android. Twitter says it's a way for hosts to extend the value of their work and to reach audiences who couldn't always keep an eye out for live conversations.
Hosts who already have access to Spaces Recording will have to toggle on "Record Space" before launching a new conversation to switch on the feature. A recording icon will be visible to everyone, including listeners, during the show. Hosts will have access to the recording for 30 days after initial broadcast, and they'll be able to share and tweet it for their followers to see. Listeners will be able to play back recordings right on their timeline — they'll also be able to share them, which could translate to more listeners and fans for hosts.
While the recording will be available for a month, hosts can delete it anytime. Twitter says it will still keep a file for up to 120 days, though, so it can check for hateful content that goes against its ToS, in case users report a recording.
TikTok is testing a new tipping feature that would give creators another way to receive gifts from their followers. The company already allows its most popular users to receive tips when live streaming, and now it's trying out something more direct.
TikTok is rolling out a Tips feature to some creators
The existence of the feature was first spotted by TikTok creator Jera Bean and later more widely shared by consultant (and former The Next Web writer) Matt Navarra. Per the clip Bean posted, those who TikTok has enrolled in the test can apply to get a Tips button on their profile page.
They need at least 100,000 followers and an account that’s in good standing for consideration. Notably, TikTok is not taking a cut of those tips. It’s possible that could change when and if the company rolls out the feature more widely.
TikTok told TechCrunchit has been testing the tool with a limited number of users. “We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” a spokesperson for the company said.
TikTok is far from the only social media platform to allow tipping. Twitter has had a “tip jar” feature since the start of May. More recently, it added the ability for users to send and receive Bitcoin tips. The push into tipping comes as companies look for ways to keep creators on their platforms.
Facebook, the social network, will no longer define the future of Facebook, the company that will now be known as Meta. Facebook Inc. is changing the name in order to distinguish its beleaguered social network, which has an increasingly poor reputation around the globe, from the company that is pinning its future on the promise of a “metaverse.”
"Our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can't possibly represent everything that we're doing today, let alone in the future," Zuckerberg said. "From now on, we're going to be metaverse-first, not Facebook first."
Zuckerberg announced the new name during a virtual (meta-virtual?) keynote for the company’s Facebook Connect conference. Under its new arrangement, Facebook and its “family of apps” will be a division of the larger Meta company.
The restructuring bears some similarities to when Google restructured itself into Alphabet, the holding company that now operates Google, along with its “other bets” like DeepMind and Nest. Facebook has already said it plans to separate Facebook Reality Labs, its AR and VR group, from the rest of the company when reporting its financial performance.
Facebook
Facebook is positioning the name as more reflective of its future ambitions to evolve from social network to metaverse company. Zuckerberg still has yet to clearly define exactly what being a “metaverse company” means for its main platform and users, but augmented and virtual reality are central to the vision. The company has already shown off an early version of one project, called Horizon Workrooms, that allows people to conduct meetings in VR. The company also previewed new "Horizon Home" and "Horizon Venues" experiences. And, earlier this month, the company announced plans to hire 10,000 new workers in Europe in order to build out its metaverse.
The name change also comes at one of the most precarious moments in the company’s history. The social network is reeling from the fallout of the “Facebook Papers,” a trove of internal documents collected by a former employee turned whistleblower. The documents have been the basis for a series of complaints to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the source of more than a dozen reports about the company’s failings to stem the tide of misinformation, hate speech and other harms caused by the platform.
One of the most-loved entries in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series is coming to VR. On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a port of 2004's GTA: San Andreas is in development for the company's Quest 2 VR headset. "This new version of what I think is one of the greatest games ever made will offer players an entirely new way to experience this iconic open world in virtual reality," Zuckerberg said during the event.
Zuckerberg didn't go on to say when Quest 2 owners can expect to play the game, and the blog post the company published after the event didn't provide many other details either. "This is a project many years in the making, and we can’t wait to show you more of it," the company said. Whatever form the final product takes, it's likely to look a lot like the Resident Evil 4 remake Facebook and Capcom released last week.
Virtual reality can be a powerful teaching tool, but it's only as good as the content available for the medium. Facebook is looking to grow the availability of content for VR learning as part of its efforts to shift its focus on the metaverse, and it has created a US$150 million fund to achieve that goal. The social network has announced that it's spending that much to reach its VR learning goals over the next three years at its Connect 2021 event.
Since Facebook is hoping to build a robust ecosystem for learning in the metaverse, it plans to do more than just create immersive educational experiences. Part of the money will go towards training augmented reality and virtual reality creators, so they can make their own experiences. Facebook is working with Unity to teach people the skills necessary to create educational VR content — mainly, it's using Unity's "Create with VR for Educators" tool with Quest 2 devices to teach nonprofits and educational institutions. In addition, it's working with several educational institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities, as well as non-profits to create immersive experiences for them.
Finally, Facebook says it's taking steps towards increasing people's access to educational VR materials. After all, all that work will go to waste if nobody ends up using them to learn new things.
Mark Rabkin, VP of Oculus, said in a statement:
"VR isn’t all fun and games. If you’ve ever traveled the world with Wander, explored Japan with Tokyo Origami, or admired the heavens in Titans of Space PLUS, then you know that VR can be a powerful tool for education as well...A lot of work exists between where we’re at now and where we see the metaverse in the future. We’re excited, and we hope you’ll come with us on the journey."
As part of its broad vision of becoming a metaverse-focused company, Facebook announced Polar, a free iOS app that makes it easy for just about anyone to create AR filters, effects and 3D objects. Think of it like an easy-to-use implementation of the company's Spark AR platform for developers. The goal is to give creators a simple tool to design custom AR effects — perhaps glowing demonic eyes, or 3D text of your personal hashtag or slogan — that they can deploy across the web, or share with their followers.
The company plans to launch a closed beta program later this year, so it'll likely be a while before it's open to everyone. But if Facebook wants the metaverse to thrive, it'll need to loop in creators to help make some meme-worthy content. Let's just hope there's also a way to pay people for this free labor.
