Prey gameplay preview: Bethesda reboot looks set to live up to expectations

So-called development hell – into which games can fall when they just, for whatever reason, aren’t coming together – can, it seems, sometimes be a good thing. That’s certainly true in the case of Prey – originally mooted as the sequel to 2006’s well regarded first-person shooter of the same name, the rights to which were acquired by Bethesda Softworks as long ago as 2011.

Somewhere along the line, Bethesda embarked on a major rethink, decided that Prey 2 would instead simply be dubbed Prey and handed the development reins to French outfit Arkane Studios, of Dishonored fame. Despite that chequered history, the resulting Prey, due to hit the shops on 5 May, has managed to retain the status of one of 2017’s most-anticipated games.

We managed – at Bethesda’s London office – to play through the first hour or so of Prey, a tantalising session which confirmed that it looks well set to live up to its considerable expectations.

The hands-on session also comprehensively demonstrated that the only thing Prey has in common with its 2006 predecessor is its name: it’s very much an Arkane Studios project, rather than some sort of reboot, and while it does contain guns, to describe it as a mere first-person shooter would be far too simplistic.

Prey review: An alternate reality

Prey’s action starts with a choice: your character has the usefully unisex name Morgan Yu, so you must decide whether to play through as a male or female Morgan.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

Morgan, you instantly discover, works for a space-exploration company called TranStar. Prey posits an alternate reality in which President John F Kennedy was never assassinated, so by the time 2032 – when the game is set – comes around, mankind has conquered space much more comprehensively than it is likely to have done in real life.

Morgan is being prepared for a stint on the TranStar space station Talos I, so your first task is to get her (we chose to play the female character) to TranStar’s office in preparation for final tests before blasting off. Which involves leaving her agreeably flashy apartment and taking a short helicopter ride, revealing an imaginative take on what San Francisco’s skyline might look like in 2032.

After a brief encounter with Morgan’s brother Alex, we begin the test – involving answering faintly ludicrous psychological-response questions. But then disaster strikes: through the test area’s glass a coffee-mug magically appears. One of the TranStar scientists picks it up, at which point it morphs into a small black alien, which attacks the scientist. Security arrives, gas flows into the test-chamber and we pass out.

Prey review: The initial twist

Upon awakening back in our apartment, a massive story-twist kicks in – sorry, but there’s no way of dealing with this without a spoiler. We’re informed by an artificial intelligence called January that we’re in danger and must escape from the apartment.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

In the corridor outside, a dead maintenance employee holds a wrench – which becomes Morgan’s first weapon. We use it to smash the apartment’s window, and instead of finding ourself on a balcony overlooking San Francisco, we gain access to a lab. Morgan had been on Talos I all along; a bit of exploration revealed the “helicopter” we had previously travelled in to be a sort of mock-up firmly tethered to the ground.

Next task is to reach the space station’s lobby. Having passed through various areas familiar from the testing session, and being given a hint by a moving element of the film set-like environment, we call the lift, which reconfigures the scenery, opening a path to the lobby. As we continue to explore, Prey unveiled its main gameplay mechanics.

Prey review: Play your way

Before even reaching the lobby, we encountered the odd alien – January informs us they are called Typhon, but are generally known as mimics. They certainly don’t like a wrench to the face.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

In the lobby, we discover a key gameplay element, called a Neuromod – a liquid that cab be injected into the eye, bringing a new ability. Neuromods are clearly at the heart of Prey’s gameplay – later on in the game, they will allow you to take on the mimics’ shape-shifting abilities.

Initially, the Neuromod abilities-tree has three branches: Security, Engineer and Scientist. We played it safe by bumping up our health in the Security branch – which also governs weapons-related abilities. The Engineer branch improves mechanical repair skills – we swiftly encountered various objects like pipes leaking gas and a sparking control panel that were begging to be restored to working order. Bumping up your Scientist abilities will clearly allow you to do things like acquire the mimics’ attributes.

Prey review: Weapons and ammo

During play we started to accumulate some weaponry, which had the feel of signature to them. The GLOO gun, for example, shoots out foam which hardens instantly, so can be used to immobilise enemies before you batter them with the wrench or shoot them, and can even be used to build platforms allowing you to get to out-of-reach areas. Indeed, we were able to use it to access the Security area via a vent we wouldn’t otherwise have managed to jump up to. We were also told that the GLOO gun can put out fires and temporarily extinguish sparks.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

The scene is definitely set for some elaborate puzzles, but unfortunately in the early stages to which we were confined, puzzling merely involved accessing new areas.

Prey takes pains to point out – typically for an Arkane game – that it sets great store in allowing you to play however you choose. Clearly, the play-off between Security, Scientist and Engineer abilities will be at that heart of that ambition, as well as being able to build platforms with the GLOO gun.

We also found a Fabricator: a kind of 3D printer which turned the junk we collected (like burnt-out circuit-boards and rubber piping) into objects like health packs and wrenches. It had loads of empty slots, so obviously operates with a blueprint-style system.

Plus there was a machine which generated a hovering, robotic medical assistant, and we found movable turrets which automatically shot at aliens.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

You’ll need these weapons and upgrades for what’s in store. As well as the mimics, we encountered a larger, bipedal alien, which could have been a mutated human. And ammo seems to be in conspicuously short supply: dead mimics often yielded a handful of shotgun shells.

Prey review: Use your brain

Prey is clearly a game that demands you use brainpower, rather than fast-twitch skills. It feels more BioShock than first-person shooter; and unlike Dishonored, there’s no evidence of any need to employ stealth.

Vibe-wise, it has bags of promise. The game looks fabulous, with a graphics engine that is clearly more modern than that of Dishonored 2 and some neat art-direction touches: although Talos I is suitably futuristic in many respects, it also has plenty of Art Deco-style interior décor.

Bethesda / Arkane Studios

The creepy, oppressive atmosphere generated by being trapped on an empty space station with nothing but robots and a fast-multiplying population of shape-shifting aliens comes through loud and clear, even in what was effectively an extended tutorial session.

The control system, too, feels spot-on – it was noticeably more minimal and less fiddly than that of Dishonored 2, with a fast-access wheel for weapons, objects and abilities, and the chance to map key weapons and abilities to the d-pad.

First Impressions

Our brief experience of Prey has left us itching to be able to immerse ourselves more comprehensively in the game.

While we merely had the chance to scratch its surface, it feels like a title that contains a treasure trove of horror-inflected sci-fi, along with some potentially imaginative and distinctive gameplay.

Thankfully we’ll only have to wait a couple of months for it to reveal its full glory. Here’s praying it doesn’t get delayed, because Prey looks like one of 2017’s sure-fire successes.

Sony files patent for Vive-style PSVR tracking device

Sony is experimenting with its own Vive-style VR tracking device, according to a patent filing from June. The document hints at a tracker working similarly to HTC’s current virtual reality tech. Functioning as an external projector, the device would use lights and mirrors to map the player’s real world movements straight into PSVR. While Sony’s VR offering currently uses a camera to detect light from the player’s headset, the existing tracking limits users to an incredibly small space. With light often interfering with the PS4’s camera, if this new tech makes it to production it could not only give gamers more mobility but also potentially provide a more accurate and immersive PSVR experience.

While merely filing a patent doesn’t guarantee that the tech will ever see the light of day, Sony investing in a more immersive PSVR experience makes a lot of sense. Being able to physically walk around a virtual world does wonders for creating a feeling of presence and if it makes it to market, this new device could help PSVR stand toe-to-toe with the more technically accomplished Vive.

Interestingly, the patent states that the tracking device is wireless, suggesting it would connect to a PS4 through either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. With the competition already announcing wireless peripherals of their own, it’s no surprise that Sony may be following in their footsteps.The patent gives no indication, however, whether the tracker would be an add-on for the existing headset or incorporated as a part of a PSVR successor.

PSVR was released last October. Since then, Sony has kept quiet about the tech, omitting sales numbers from end of year press releases and failing to announce many new titles for the platform at its last conference. Yet with more bundles hitting the shelves and Sony’s recently released PS4 Pro offering a noticeable bump in VR performance, these patents help suggest that the company’s not done with VR just yet.

Via: CG Mag

Source: Free patents online

Bethesda’s ‘Prey’ reboot makes you fear everything

Prey is all about deception. The first-person shooter starts off simple enough: You’re a scientist beginning a new job at your brother’s massive research company. You wake up in your bedroom, do some exploring and board a helicopter on top of your roof to head to work, where you’re then subjected to some first-day testing. Everything seems to be going fine, until — much like Valve’s 1998 classic Half-Life — all hell breaks loose. Aliens run rampant in the compound, and you black out during an attack.

That’s when Prey, the upcoming retelling of the 2006 game of the same name, twists the notion of what you know. You wake up in your bedroom again, just like before, as if the first 30 minutes of the game were a bad dream. But once you start exploring, you discover you’re not in an apartment. You’re in the middle of a giant sound stage simulating parts of your life, Truman Show-style. Once escaping the sound stage, you learn you’re not in a futuristic version of San Francisco but instead on a space station that seems to be largely deserted. But one part of that earlier vision is true: The station is overrun with aliens.

Those aliens, too, are deceivers. They’re not too imposing one-on-one; a few smacks with the wrench you carry is enough to dispatch them. But they’re masters of surprise, because they can take on the form of everyday objects scattered around the space station, lying in wait for the right time to strike. At one point during the preview, I picked up a seemingly innocuous item and stored it in my inventory, only to have it start to strangle me. It was my first time playing through the game, and I didn’t know what to do, so it killed me quickly. After that, I was a lot more careful about what items I picked up.

Even the game’s name, Prey, is a bit deceptive. As Arkane has already admitted, the game has basically no common DNA with the original, outside the name. A sequel to the original Prey was announced all the way back in 2006, shortly after the original game’s launch. But it lingered in development hell for years before publisher Bethesda picked it up in 2011.

A few years after that, news broke that the forthcoming game would be essentially a ground-up reboot, with all the previous work on what would have been Prey 2 tossed aside. Somewhat ironically, this might be one of the biggest things 2017’s Prey has in common with the original: a long, protracted development cycle. When the original game came out for the Xbox 360 and Windows in 2006, it had been in development for over a decade.

There is, of course, one other big similarity as well. At a high level, the space/sci-fi/alien theme is all in line with the original, although that’s a pretty broad template to play with. But Prey may have a lot more in common with Arkane’s two Dishonored games than its namesake.

“No matter what kind of game we work on, there’s two things we always try to do,” said lead designer Ricardo Bare following last week’s media preview. “One is we try to make the world as deeply and richly detailed as possible — we treat the world and a setting as a character.” I didn’t totally get the sense that the world is a character from the brief demo I tried, but the world is vast and encourages exploration. The game’s physics also encourage you to pick up and interact with as many things as you can find.

The second thing Bare cited as Arkane’s goal was to “give the player a bunch of interesting tools, powers [and] gadgets and try to encourage them to improvise solutions to problems.” That’s another design goal that will need more gameplay time to come to fruition, as the first part of the game is fairly linear. But Bare and lead systems designer Seth Shain said the goal is to provide players with as many different ways to progress through the action as possible.

“We try not to ever make it so there’s only one way to get into a place,” Shain said. Both Shain and Bare explained that the the game’s “soft gates” would have multiple solutions depending on your play style and that they would only force players into a “hard gate” where you have to have a certain skill or object to advance as ways to drive the campaign’s story forward.

Similarly, encounters with the mimic aliens are entirely unscripted. “It’s part of their AI behavior that they know when they go into a room, they’re allowed to mimic any physics object that’s of a certain size,” Bare said. “Even as the developers, we are constantly surprised; we don’t know what object is going to be a mimic.”

That notion of giving players unusual objects and weapons was definitely on display in the Prey demo. The first weapon I got my hands on was a basic wrench for clobbering things, but then I picked up a gun that shot giant globs that stuck aliens in their tracks. A few wrench hits usually ended the threat. The fact that I went through the entire demo without ever shooting a bullet at a bad guy was unexpectedly refreshing for a first-person shooter.

At one point, you can even get your hands on a Nerf-style toy bolt gun — and Shain confirmed that it’s not only a joke but also something you can use to advance in the game. For example, at one point you’ll find that some of the office’s former inhabitants made capacitive tips for the darts, so you can shoot them at faraway computer screens to open doors.

It’s too early to tell whether this will all add up to a full, compelling experience. But based on the demo, Prey appears to offer a few things that separate it from the average first-person shooter. You may be fighting creepy aliens, but the oddball weaponry and promised improvisational puzzle-solving should help it stand out.

That will hold true even more if Arkane can continue throwing twists at the players like I saw in the game’s first hour. “We knew that we wanted to play on people’s paranoia and fear, especially thematically with the intro that sets the player up to feel deceived,” Shain said. “Then when the mimics make you feel like you can’t even trust the environment around you — that was a core piece of our design from the beginning.” The key will be whether or not Prey, which launches for the Xbox One, Windows and PS4 on May 5th, can keep players feeling unbalanced for the entire game.

Makeblock’s Lego-like ‘Neuron’ teaches kids robotics and code

Makeblocks, a company known for kid-friendly robotics and DIY hovercraft-drones, is launching a new gadget-building platform called Neuron. It’s like Lego meets Littlebits — you get over 30 blocks with different functions that kids can snap together and then program to create science experiments or gadgets like an internet-connected cat feeder. The system is platform agnostic, the company says, so it can work with products like Lego and even Microsoft’s Cognitive Services AI platform.

There are six kits available: Explorer, Explorer Pro, Light Wizard, Science Lab, Smart Life and All-in-One. Each is equipped with basic blocks like a light sensor and adjustment knob, with the different kits featuring specialized blocks geared toward a child’s interests, like cold cathode, WiFi and camera blocks. Others include a voice sensor, Bluetooth, ultrasonic and display module.

Once your kit is set up, you can program it using Makeblock’s mBlock, a graphical and flow-based programming system, with “no prior coding knowledge necessary,” the company says. It also promises steady updates to allow for new projects and capabilities. mBlock is based on Scratch 2.0, a code teaching program, so it should be easy for kids who’ve done some Arduino programming to pick up.

Other features include remote control via WiFi (letting kids water plants or feed pets via a smartphone), high durability, third-party software (including Microsoft’s Cognitive Services AI platform) and Lego compatibility, presumably letting you marry Neuron with Mindstorms, or at least use Lego blocks as structural elements in projects.

The Makebot Neuron project is launching on Kickstarter starting at $69, meaning you’re taking a mild risk ordering it. However, the Shenzhen, China-based company says its products are in over 25,000 schools, and it has done a bunch of successful Kickstarter campaigns, including the mBot robot building kit (above), Codeybot code-teaching robot and Airblock drone-cum-hovercraft, which garnered $830,000 by itself.

Source: Makeblock

Russia-backed malware can now target Macs

The state-backed Russian group accused of hacking the Democratic National Committee appears to be expanding its repertoire. Bitdefender Labs researchers have obtained a sample of a Mac-native variant of Xagent, the backdoor malware linked to Russia’s APT28 (aka Fancy Bear or Strontium). The code not only allows swiping passwords and capturing screenshots, but includes a module that can swipe iOS device backups created by iTunes. While it’s easy to encrypt those backups, this theoretically gives intruders a chance at snooping on iPhone data without having to compromise the iPhone itself.

As for the evidence? The modules in the Mac variant of Xagent show a “number of similarities” to the components for Linux and Windows, Bitdefenders says. The malware’s command-and-control addresses are also eerily similar to the ones APT28 uses for another malware tool, Komplex.

There’s still a lot left to be uncovered. The security team only has the malware itself, not a full picture of how an attack works — Komplex, which infects Macs through a hole in the notorious MacKeeper antivirus kit, is one possible vector. It’s also unclear what other modules are available. Either way, this isn’t exactly comforting for Mac users who may find themselves in Russia’s crosshairs. It’s possible to protect against Xagent (Bitdefender says its AV software will work, and others likely will too), thankfully. The concern is that Russia might have already used the malware, or that it may target people who are unaware of the threat.

Via: CSO

Source: Bitdefender Labs

HTC’s mobile VR headset won’t be a copycat

HTC is quickly establishing itself as a virtual reality-focused company, and that’s evident with its plans to enter the mobile VR arena. In an interview with CNET, company CFO Chia-lin Chang has revealed that it’s launching a mobile VR headset in 2017 (teased last year) that is “not a phone slapped onto a headset.” It’s not just another spin on the familiar Gear VR or Daydream View formulas, to put it another way. The exec drew parallels to the Vive, which targets the high end of the PC-based VR space.

Given the Vive’s relative success (it managed to upstage the Oculus Rift to a degree), it’s not surprising that HTC would bet on conquering mobile VR as well. The question is whether or not this bet on VR will work. Although the Vive has helped stem the bleeding, HTC is still losing money — a second headset isn’t guaranteed to bring the company back to profitability. It’s still too soon to tell how large the VR market will get, and HTC may end up becoming the champion of a category that never truly reaches the mainstream.

Source: CNET

Apple Begins Selling D-Link’s HomeKit-Enabled ‘Omna’ HD Camera With 180º Lens

D-Link today announced that its new Omna 180 Cam HD Camera, unveiled at CES 2017 last month, is now available to purchase at Apple.com for $199.95.

The cylindrical Omna 180 Cam HD features a 1080p camera with a 180-degree field of view, a built-in microphone and speaker with two-way audio, infrared night vision up to 16 feet, and motion detection with the option to record motion-triggered video clips directly to a microSDXC card up to 128GB with no subscription costs.

HomeKit support enables users to control the Omna 180 Cam HD with an iPhone or iPad through Apple’s Home app on iOS 10. When the camera detects motion, users can receive Lock screen notifications to get a snapshot of what’s happening in their homes. The camera can also trigger Scenes with other HomeKit products.

D-Link said the Omna 180 Cam HD Camera will also be available to purchase at Apple retail stores around the world later this month.

Tags: HomeKit, Apple retail, D-Link
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Huawei and Pantone collaborate to give products a splash of colour

Huawei has confirmed it has partnered up with The Pantone Colour Institute to “feature the latest colour trends in Huawei’s upcoming product launches”. The partnership has been created to help Huawei’s new products, most notably and likely the P10 and P10 Plus, stand out from the crowd and allow users to “express themselves to the world around them”.

• Huawei P10 and Watch 2 confirmed, announced during MWC on 26 February

Huawei has been teasing information, including confirming the P10’s existence, on its Twitter account and lately has been making several references to different colours. Particular reference has been made to green – Greenery is Pantone’s colour of the year 2017 – blue and gold. No prizes for guessing which colours the P10 will be available in.

• Huawei P10 and P10 Plus: Release date, rumours and everything you need to know
• Huawei P10 video render shows more rounded edges and front-mounted home button
• Mobile World Congress 2017: Nokia, Sony, Huawei, smartphones and more

Huawei has said more details about the partnership and the products to benefit from it will be announced at its press conference on the 26 February, a day before Mobile World Congress kicks off. We’re also due to the P10 officially unveiled, alongside the Huawei Watch 2, which should come running Android Wear 2.0 out-the-box.

Panasonic will update top-tier 2016 televisions to support hybrid log gamma

There’s a lot of chatter in HDR land about a new format called hybrid log gamma, or HLG to its friends. 

Hybrid log gamma is a new system for high dynamic range that’s been co-developed by the BBC and it could be a future solution for broadcast HDR. While the regular HDR10 and Dolby Vision work when you’re streaming a big budget movie or the latest blockbuster series from Netflix, but HLG is designed to be backward compatible, not require a complete change in workflow and be easy for studios to adopt.

Additionally, HLG doesn’t require any specific hardware – as Dolby Vision does – meaning its a format that’s fairly easy to add to existing TVs.

• What is Hybrid Log Gamma and why should you care?

So 2017 is rapidly turning to the year of HLG announcements, with Panasonic confirming that it will be adding support for the format to its top-tier 2016 TVs (e.g., DX750, DX802, DX902). This might not happen in all territories and there’s no confirmed timeframe, but it is happening.

That is in addition to the new 2017 TVs that will support HLG, meaning you’re well placed should the format be adopted by broadcasters.

The BBC has already run some HLG trials and LG was vocal of its support when it announced its new OLED televisions at CES 2017; Sony has subsequently also confirmed that it is going to be updating its 2016 TVs, as well as including support in new 2017 sets.

All we really need is some actual content and Panasonic has a solution there too, as the new Lumix GH5 is the first camera that will capture content in HLG format.

• What is HDR, what TVs support HDR, and what HDR content can I watch?

Pansonic’s All Connected audio vision explored: Much improved multi-room audio

Panasonic has taken the wraps off its new range of audio products, that join the company’s All Connected multi-room streaming platform.

The new products include a one-box hi-fi micro system, slimline, wall-mountable all-in-one sound system and a new soundbar with wireless subwoofer.

Panasonic has undergone extensive research and testing with the three to not only improve the sound quality, but the whole user experience, ease of use and ultimately synchronisation with other products in its repertoire.

We were invited to a private listening session of the new products, to see how things have changed and to hear about Panasonic’s audio plans going forward.

Panasonic PMX-152 connected micro hi-fi system

We started with the PMX-152 [pictured above], which is the succeeding model to the PMX-100 micro hi-fi system.

At £549 it’s not cheap, but Panasonic believes the sound quality and list of features more than justifies its price. It’s the first Panasonic CD micro hi-fi system to benefit from the company’s CD High-Res Master feature which claims to up-sample CD audio to high-resolution quality.

MP3 Re-Master and Bluetooth Re-Master technologies also aim to deliver the best possible sound from compressed sources.

The 152 is compatible with other All Connected multi-room speakers too, and Panasonic says it’s tapping into a segment of the multi-room market that nobody is currently filling, or at least filling well.

Sonos may be the name that first comes to mind when you think of multi-room, but it relies on integrated music streaming services or an external source via line-in when connected to a Control or Control:Amp.

Panasonic’s system lets you stream music via DLNA, AirPlay or Spotify Connect over Wi-Fi to other products, but can also re-stream external sources via Bluetooth. For example, you can play a CD on the PMX-152 and it can be streamed to another speaker in the same room, or even one in the kitchen. Although it does rely on Bluetooth, so the other product(s) will need to be in range.

Volume levels for all speakers or systems in a group can be controlled together or individually, but for now you can only play the same song on all speakers rather than separate ones in different rooms.

Panasonic SC-HC1020 connected lifestyle hi-fi system

Panasonic

The SC-HC1020 is Panasonic’s lifestyle hi-fi system, serving up a slim design that can be wall mounted if you don’t have a surface to put it on, or just prefer the overall look. The new model has received more external design changes than internal upgrades, and now sports a more symmetrical design compared to its predecessor.

Panasonic has also developed a new wall-mount sound mode, that noticeably changes the sound from it being placed on a surface, to on a wall.

When on a surface, it delivers a sound with a generous amount of bass weight, while keeping the vocals clear. Move it to a wall and that bass weight becomes a bit overpowering, turn the wall mount mode on however and a fair amount of it disappears. You’re left with a clear, full-bodied sound that also benefits from wide dispersion around the room, ideal for a one-box system that may not be in the centre of your room.

Like the other products announced, the SC-HC1020 can re-stream music to any other All Connected speaker.

Panasonic SC-HTB488 connected soundbar

Panasonic

Finally, Panasonic has a new soundbar, the SC-HTB488, which sports a completely new design. The new model ditches the upward firing speakers from its predecessor, instead focusing on pushing sound straight at the audience rather than up over their head. This is partly to help it fare better with music as well as movies. Panasonic says a lot of soundbar owners want to use their ‘bar for both purposes, but often find they can’t compete with a dedicated system when it comes to music.

The new design, coupled with improvements to the internal speaker drivers and rethinking the wireless subwoofer have had a significant effect. Music has a lot more impact than before and vocals are much clearer. The bass could be a bit too much for some, but settings for this can be adjusted.

The same powerful sound is carried across to movies too. Whereas before dialogue was good, you never felt the full force of explosions or high-action scenes, fortunately that’s now been addressed and the new soundbar delivers a lot more oomph. Our only niggle from our brief time listening to the soundbar was that we noticed some other sound effects, such as birds chirping in the background or glass shattering were lost a little.

Panasonic All Connected app for iOS and Android

Panasonic has made several improvements to its All Connected app for iOS and Android too. The app will automatically find any All Connected speaker or systems on the same network, and if you want to create a group of speakers to send audio to, you simply drag and drop them together. It’s a nice touch and something that sets the app apart from the competition.

Also, when you insert a CD to one of the CD systems, the app will read it and access Gracenote to download album artwork and track names. Before, the app wasn’t able to do this and just showed ‘Track 1’, ‘Track 2’ and so on.

We’re impressed with Panasonic’s new offerings, hearing the new products versus the old side by side made it clear several improvements had been made to the sound quality. The addition of the All Connected multi-room platform across all products makes them a viable alternative to the likes of Sonos and Bose as you can stream other soures such CD or vinyl around your home.