How the classic puzzle game Myst came to Android

Nearly 25 years after its debut on CD-ROM, Myst has come to Android more beautiful and captivating than ever. But can this meditative classic capture a new generation of twitchy gamers?

The last time I spent any time in Cyan Inc.’s Myst, the legendary 3D puzzler that remained the most successful PC game ever until The Sims debuted in 2002, I was barely nine years old, enamored with the prospect of sitting in front of a computer and clicking to travel between places and times. Myst, like so many games released in the early 90s, remains in my head as it was: simple, beautiful and exasperating, a feat of early computer game engineering.

The game comes to Android seven years after iOS, but thanks to recent graphical overhauls and a transition to the cross-platform Unity engine, it arrives more beautiful and immersive than ever.

Of course, 24 years later, to return to the original game would be impossible; there have been so many iterations since then, from graphics- and sound-improving remasters to mobile adaptations, the original seems almost quaint. And yet the brothers behind the game, Rand and Robyn Miller, who began development of the classic back in 1990, believe Myst’s primary gameplay still shines, even as it finds itself debuting on another platform, Android, after yet another remastering.

“I’m still as enamored with Myst as I ever was,” Rand Miller told me in a phone interview. “Myst was designed to be simple, and in transitioning to touch [on a smartphone or tablet] it loses a layer of abstraction.” The game comes to Android nearly seven years after it debuted on iOS, but thanks to two recent graphical overhauls and a transition to the cross-platform Unity engine, it arrives more beautiful and immersive than ever.

The game itself isn’t necessarily the one you’ll remember from the early days of whirling 1x CD-ROMs. It’s realMyst, an adaptation originally released in 2000 that added real-time movement to the stillness of the original; a true adventure game rather than a series of vignettes. The assets and locations are all the same, but in realMyst you actually walk between them — something that wasn’t possible with the extremely limited hardware of the early 90s.

“When we were first porting our own games to Android, back in the early days, device parity was so crazy… it scared off most developers at the time.”

To undertake the transition to Android, Cyan called on renowned Saskatchewan-based mobile publisher, Noodlecake, to do the heavy lifting. Noodlecake, which has carved out a niche as the publisher entrusted with bringing prime iOS exclusives to Android — games like Alto’s Adventure, Chameleon Run, Punch Quest, Wayward Souls, and Sage Solitaire, which may not have come to Android at all other — found the game to be in good condition after the Unity conversion, said COO Ryan Holowaty.

Holowaty said that Cyan approached his company to port both realMyst and Riven, which will come to Android devices in the coming months, because of their reputation in deftly handling Android ports, a task daunting for many other publishing houses. “When we were first porting our own games to Android, back in the early days, device parity was so crazy — and we ran into a lot of problems. That’s what scared off most developers at the time. There were too many devices to support, and they didn’t know how to optimize the games [that were originally coded in Objective-C].

“Now, the specs and the hardware have balanced out, and it’s a bit easier to be confident that a game will run great across multiple devices… but we developed a reputation for being the place for iOS developers to bring their games to Android.”

Holowaty acknowledged that not all game ports are financially successful, but the relationships Noodlecake creates, along with the long-term success of the gaming franchise for the original publisher, is worth the trade-off. He noted that, with a game like Alto’s Adventure, which debuted as a paid title on iOS, developer Snowman accepted Noodlecake’s suggestion to make it free-to-play on Android. Some iOS developers, especially smaller teams, don’t have the resources to bring their titles to Android, but feel it necessary from an imaging perspective to have the game present on both major gaming platforms. That’s where Noodlecake shines.

The publisher also enjoys the feedback loop by having a number of high-profile titles living in one place. On iOS, for example, popular retro platformer Punch Quest is published by its developer, Rocketcat; on Android, it lives next to Alto’s Adventure and realMyst.

The adaptation to a fully 3D environment introduced a number of compromises he and his brother weren’t necessarily ready for.

But Myst is unlike anything else in Noodlecake’s repertoire. It’s vast and epic and, while optimized for mobile devices, perhaps requires a bit more patience than the average mobile gamer possesses. The controls, while sensible, are still limited by the game’s original mouse click-heavy navigation, and without the ability to strafe you’ll be doing a lot of backing up away from walls as you endeavor to tap on a sconce or manipulate a lever that could be a clue as to why you’re roaming a seemingly-empty world full of ethereal music and scratchy vocalizations.

Miller acknowledged this issue, saying the adaptation to a fully 3D environment introduced a number of compromises he and his brother weren’t necessarily ready for. “We lived in those models back in those static days. Moving to real-time 3D, we found the biggest issue was some of the things were able to control in 2D, like setting up shots and putting people in exact positions where they were able to interact with things to keep them right on trails — we had to deal with that, by improving the interface and ensuring the navigation was intuitive.”

Ultimately, the game, while still beautiful and eminently playable on Android, is not — and never will be — inherently attractive to a modern generation of gamers brought up on fast-paced twitch controls. That’s a shame, because Noodlecake did a great job bringing the majesty of Myst, the game and the world, to Android, and at $6.99, it’s a piece of gaming royalty you can pick up and take with you any time.

Download realMyst ($6.99)

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ZTE Axon 7 Mini comes to Canada through Virgin Mobile

The ZTE Axon 7 Mini, which we voted as the best phone you can buy under $300, is coming to Canada this week through youth-oriented carrier, Virgin Mobile.

The phone, which will cost $49 CAD on a 2-year contract and $399 CAD outright, will eschew the MiFavor, um, flavor of Android in favor of a more stock experience, though it will still run Android 6.0.1 out of the box. The other main difference from the U.S.-sold unlocked variant is the elimination of the second SIM slot, which isn’t a popular feature up in the Great White North.

The 5.2-inch variant of the larger 5.5-inch ZTE Axon 7 doesn’t have the same power as its sibling — it trades a Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM for a Snapdragon 617 and 3GB — but it does maintain the same excellent metal build, eye-catching design, and front-facing stereo speakers. There’s also a 16MP rear sensor with electronic image stabilization, and an 8MP front-facer that’s identical to the regular Axon 7.

ZTE spokesperson Katie Thomas told us that the Axon 7 Mini also has a slightly newer audio amplifier and codec combination than the Axon 7, which should actually provide better audio from the headphone jack than the more expensive model.

The Axon 7 Mini goes up against other mid-range devices like the Huawei Nova Plus and Moto G4 Plus.

See at Virgin Mobile

HTC 10 update delayed yet again for mainland Europe

European HTC 10 owners are still waiting on their update to Nougat.

While HTC 10 owners in the USA have been enjoying the Nougat update for more than a month now, it’s a different tune for those living in mainland Europe who are still awaiting their OTA update to the latest Android software.

Graham Wheeler, Product and Service Director for HTC, took to twitter earlier today to announce that the Nougat update has started rolling out to devices in the UK, Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East — but that technical issues had forced them to pause on pushing the update to the rest of mainland Europe.

For HTC 10 users in mainland Europe, we’ve unfortunately had to pause the rollout as we look into a technical issue and work to correct it.

— Graham Wheeler (@wheelergd) January 26, 2017

Wheeler offered no insight into what was causing the European delay, but did say he would provide an update and said he expects the update to finally roll out in February.

Reaction to this news was mixed, with some twitter users praising Wheeler and HTC for being forthright with handling the delay, while others were, as you would expect, a tad upset about the added delays.

[custom:htc-10]

Samsung Galaxy S8 to launch 29 March, huge leak and pic reveals all

The Galaxy S8 will be “significantly different” from previous Samsung flagships, according to a report, which has revealed everything you need to know about the phones, including when they’ll launch.

VentureBeat’s Evan Blass has published several leaked details and a photo of the upcoming pair of Galaxy S8 phones, following The Guardian’s piece from Wednesday, which also leaked features we can expect to see, such as an “infinity display” with a nearly bezel-less design. Blass’ report said the phones will lack traditional navigation buttons. They will also feature larger displays than what the Galaxy Note line has offered, as well as an aspect ratio of 18.5:9, thanks to 5.8- and 6.2-inch QHD Super AMOLED screens that curve on both edges.

They will be Android Nougat-powered phones and may feature different processors — such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 or Samsung Exynos — depending on region. Either way, they will both have processors made using 10-nanometer fabrication, and they’ll be roughly 11 per cent faster than the Galaxy S7. They’ll also have improved graphics processing, energy efficiency, and power consumption, which is crucial, considering they’ll only have 3000mAh and 3500mAh battery capacities for the 5.8-inch model and 6.2-inch model, respectively.

Other features include the same 4GB of RAM from the past few models, 64GB of entry-level internal storage, a 256GB-capable microSD slot, a USB-C charging port at the bottom next to a standard 3.5-millimeter jack, stereo speakers, a 12-megapixel main camera, and a 8-megapixel selfie camera with iris-scanning capability. Also, both cameras boast f1.7 focal ratios, and the main camera has a new visual search feature that can do OCR-like reading on photographed text or even search captured products for you, among other things.

The fingerprint sensor has been moved to the back (next to the rear camera lens, rather than underneath). Blass noted this placement “may prove to be problematic” for some users. There is also no Home button on the front. And finally, he said you will be able to connect the handsets to a monitor for a desktop view of Android, and both models will have pressure-sensitive technology similar to Apple’s Force Touch — but only on the lower part of the display, allowing the the phones to recognise and respond to your different types of screen presses.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus: What’s the story so far?

The Galaxy S8 will also come with Bixby, Samsung’s version of Siri and Cortana and Alexa and Assistant. It can supposedly process complex commands and multi-part instructions. To launch it, however, you’ll need to press a button on the side of the devices.

Samsung will debut its next flagships on 29 March in New York City. In Europe, the Galaxy S8 will cost €799 (about £678) for the 5.8-inch model and €899 for the 6.2-inch model when they release on 21 April.

Researchers create first viable hybrid human-pig embryo

Researchers have created a viable hybrid part-human, part-pig embryo for the first time in history. According to a study published in the journal Cell Thursday, researchers were able to successfully inject human stem cells into a pig embryo and grow tissue that would form the early stages of human organs like the heart, liver and neurons. Although it’s in the very early stages, experts believe the human-pig chimera could one day be used to grow transplantable human organs in farm animals.

Adding to the promising scientific breakthroughs, a separate study published in the journal Nature earlier this week details how an international team of researchers successfully performed an interspecies organ transplant using a similar method to create a hybrid mouse-rat embryo. In that study, researchers grew a mouse pancreas inside a rat embryo, which was then transplanted into diabetic mice. As the Washington Post reports, the new pancreatic tissue cured the mice’s diabetes without being rejected by the host. The mice only required a few days of recovery and immunosuppressive treatments before they were able to resume normal, healthy lives.

While the technology is moving forward, the ethics of harvesting human organs from animals — or even creating human-animal chimeras in general — is still a touchy subject. Aside from the symbolic and philosophical questions that come from mixing human and animal genetics, there is a fear that stem cells could one day be used to create an animal with a human brain. For now, however, the authors of the Cell study point out that the system is “highly inefficient,” but the two papers together show the possible benefits of this sort of controversial research.

Via: Washington Post

Source: Cell, Nature

Facebook Slideshows are slowly rolling out on Android

Last June Facebook launched the Google-Photos-like Slideshow feature on iOS and now the social network is ready to spread the love. Android Police reports that the feature is in a slow rollout, so you might not be able to upload photos into a mini-movie of sorts yourself just yet. To see if you have it, make a new status update within the app and hit the “Slideshow” button. It’s denoted with an orange movie camera should reside between the “feeling/activity” and “tag friends” options. And that’s about it. Jealous that you still might not have it? Well, you could always draft a colorful status update to express your discontent.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Android Police

Google Maps warns you about parking woes before you leave

A parking difficulty icon popped up in an Android beta for Google Maps earlier this month, but now the feature is officially rolling out. However, there are a couple of caveats. First, the parking warnings are only available in the Android version of Google Maps for now. The new tool will also only warn you about potential parking headaches in 25 US metro areas.

Those areas include San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, St. Louis, Tampa, the DC area, Cleveland, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Portland and Sacramento. In other words, a lot of the major cities in the US are covered.

Google explains that it calculates parking difficulty in a similar fashion to how it measures Popular Times and Visit Duration for businesses and other points of interest. You’ve likely seen those two tools pop up when you search for a place. When it comes to parking, Maps will show you a rating of difficult, medium or easy based on “historical parking data” for the area you’re about to visit. The icon is displayed near your estimated travel time as well, so you’ll know if you need to leave a few minutes early.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google

Pokémon Company caught almost 6,000 ‘Sun’ and ‘Moon’ cheaters

Cheating in online games is awful because it creates an uneven playing field against those who do play by the rules and those who do not. The Pokémon Company (TPC) noticed some irregularities in Pokémon Sun and Moon online matches and has laid the law down for 5,954 folks using modified save files, according to a translated post from the Company.

As a result, their entries into online tournaments, rating battles and game sync in the Global Link multiplayer portion have been “limited.” The wording is rather vague, perhaps intentionally so, our in-house translator notes. Perhaps that’s to expand upon what deserves punishment in the future.

There’s always the chance that TPC could create a cheater’s pool for the game that keeps the various offenders playing amongst themselves of course, but that seems highly unlikely. Remember: cheaters never win and winners never cheat. Just because it’s trite doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Well, unless we’re talking about politics or the New England Patriots.

Via: Polygon

Source: The Pokemon Company (Japanese)

LG’s G6 reportedly packs Google Assistant instead of Alexa

LG’s G6 smartphone is a leaky flagship: CNET is reporting some good and bad points about the company’s incoming G6 we’ve already heard. It will be water-resistant. Great! But it won’t have a removable battery. Not so great. While phones with batteries that can be removed (and often swapped out by power-hungry power users), are increasingly rare, it’s recently given LG a notable selling point.

What’s more, CNET says the handset will feature Google Assistant as its virtual companion instead of Amazon’s Alexa. According to the report, LG planned on using Alexa like it does in a number of other products, but the integration wasn’t ready for prime time. If you prefer Amazon’s virtual assistant, CNET says LG will still likely ship phones with the feature at some point in 2017.

Now it’s appears that the G6 going to be an awful lot like the rest: slender bezels, curved corners, metallic shimmering finish, inside and out. The battery choice was done to ensure that water resistance happened, apparently. Given how its unusual modular experiment didn’t set the world on fire, it’s hard to blame them… from a business view at least.

Is it a case of can’t beat them, join them? LG’s smartphone arm still weighs down its financial figures, and it’s selling less phones than recent years. The teasers and leaks don’t suggest anything game-changing, but it might be the right time for LG to strike with a populist, more normal, smartphone that can draw in anyone still wary of buying a Samsung smartphone upgrade. That said, LG still has to fend of cheaper Chinese rivals, Google’s own phones, and of course, the iPhone. With what seems like an unremarkable design and water-resistance be enough cut it? Let’s see the full reveal first: perhaps the company has a few more tricks up its sleeve.

Source: CNET

Ludacris releases new ‘Slang N’ Friendz’ crossword app

If you’ve ever been disappointed when Words With Friends refused to accept “bae” as a real word, then noted actor, rapper and pun aficionado Ludacris has a new app for you. The wordsmith behind Word of Mouf and Back for the First Time has partnered with filmmaker and startup founder Edwin Benton to create Slang N’ Friendz, a remixed Scrabble and Words With Friends app with a much less rigid view of the English language.

That’s pretty much the main draw of Slang N’ Friendz: players get bonus points for peppering the board with slang words. And there’s a little dose of Urban Dictionary in there too: if the game doesn’t recognize your new term, you can suggest it be included in the game’s dictionary with your own definition and region of origin. Visually, the game doesn’t look much different than the board game and app it’s based on, but it does allow players to customize the letter tiles and background to keep things from getting too stale.

“I feel like pop culture dictates what is considered as cool in this world,” Ludacris, who is also an occasional tech investor and admitted video game fan, told TechCrunch. “And I think bringing people together and not limiting them to what everyone feels the dictionary is in terms of the english language, brings people closer together. It’s a cool element to it.”

Slang N’ Friendz is currently live on the App Store and Google Play.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Slang N’ Friendz