Get Even review: Unlike any other game you will have ever played

If you value originality higher than polish and slickness in your videogames, you’ve probably enjoyed a number of indie games recently. At the moment, the indie developer scene is thriving, and Get Even – created by tiny Polish outfit The Farm 51 – comes close to exemplifying what indie games should be all about.

That’s because, thanks to a clever premise and unconventional structure, it does a fine job of refusing to fit into any established games genre. If pressed, we’d describe it as a psychological puzzle-stealth-shooter, but that still wouldn’t do it justice.

Get Even review: What’s kind of game is it?

At first, Get Even feels like it will be an action-puzzler. You play Cole Black, a hard-bitten ex-military type proceeding through a derelict building near Birmingham, racing against time to free a kidnapped young woman named Grace.

Black has a phone equipped with a DNA scanner, an ultraviolet light and a map that can display enemies and their lines of sight – so at first, Get Even feels a bit like the detective missions in the Batman: Arkham games.

Black also has a gun and can perform takedowns, and when he reaches the captors, he dispatches them. But he can’t stop the bomb strapped to the girl from going off – even though she’s adamant that she knows the code to defuse it.

Instantly, things take a turn for the very weird indeed.

Get Even review: What’s the story?

Black wakes up in a super-creepy, gloriously run-down mental asylum populated by assorted psychos who are obsessed with a shadowy figure they call the Puppet-master. Moving around this asylum, he picks up clues about their backgrounds and psyches, must solve the odd puzzle (such as restoring power to electrified doors) and make choices about which ones to either kill when they threaten him or to release into other parts of the building.

Bandai Namco

Soon, the man who runs the asylum – known only as Mr Red, and viewed via television screens which litter the place – comes into play, and it emerges that Black is actually participating in an exercise involving a sort of VR headset that has the ability to let its wearers relive their (and others’) memories.

Black, it seems, is acting as a sort of virtual private investigator for Mr Red, and interspersed with the odd sequence back in the asylum, he must negotiate a series of stealth-heavy missions such as stealing a gun that shoots around corners (a handy piece of kit which he gets to use), and finding out what happened to other people who were murdered in the vicinity of the kidnapping.

Bandai Namco

He also often finds himself in a nightmarish reconstruction of a house, the floor of which assembles itself as he walks, discovering the intimate details of the troubled family life of a man called Robert Ramsey. If he completes his investigations, Black learns, he will be freed from the asylum.

Get Even review: How does it play?

Initially, it all seems a bit random and disjointed – especially since wonderfully sinister music enhances the feeling of creeping unease – but slowly, the disparate strands draw together to form a coherent whole. At which point, realisation begins to dawn, and Get Even reveals itself as a disturbing but thoroughly thought-provoking meditation on the nature of guilt and the unreliable nature of memory (even Alzheimer’s is touched upon).

Bandai Namco

Black’s VR helmet, codenamed Pandora, provides him with a room in which key findings from his investigations are laid out on pinboards, from whence he can revisit sequences in which he missed clues, which is a clever way of ensuring that Get Even’s gameplay constantly chops and changes. It’s the perfect antidote to those games in which you spend tens of hours doing the same thing over and over again.

Luckily, Get Even’s gameplay is pretty good, ranging from the intense to the meditative. Puzzles are interspersed among the shooting and stealth, and you often have to swap your gun for your phone in order to scan things like bloodstains and trigger key memories. Graphical cues like glitchy characters who semi-disassemble into wireframes remind you that you’re in a VR simulation, and as you work your way through the game, you learn much about the nature of the Pandora headset itself.

Towards the end of the game there are sequences in which Mr Red urges you to take a stealthy approach, but which only seem possible to negotiate if you adopt a full-on first-person shooter attitude. Anyway, the opportunity to hide behind cover and shoot enemies with the corner gun is too much fun to pass up.

Bandai Namco

Eventually, the game reaches an almighty crescendo of weirdness which, at times, is surprisingly emotional. Get Even’s writing duo are best known for their work with Derren Brown, and have succeeded brilliantly in their aim of messing with your mind. Naturally, there’s a huge false ending, after which further twists and revelations keep on coming.

Verdict

For an indie game, Get Even is satisfyingly long: it takes over ten hours to complete, and significantly more if you adopt a completist mindset.

It’s an interesting game, but not a perfect one. Graphically, although taking you through plenty of convincing (if rather depressing) real-world settings, it lacks the sort of polish you would expect from a game made by a 100-strong team (which, of course, it didn’t have).

One aspect of Get Even is beyond doubt: it really doesn’t feel like any other game that you will ever have played. It will also leave you emotionally drained, with plenty of new insights into the human psyche, and somewhat perturbed about the potential psychological drawbacks of what will happen if virtual reality ever reaches the stage when it allows us to relive our memories as if they were happening in real-time.

If you seek intellectual insight from videogames, you will love Get Even. It’s different; good different.

LG might launch its next LG V30 smartphone in September at IFA

LG is working on another flagship. It’ll be the successor to the LG V20. And it’s supposedly going to debut this autumn.

A report from Korean media outlet ETNews has claimed that LG will unveil the LG V30 at the IFA annual trade show in Berlin, Germany. This year’s show is set to take place from 1 September to 6 September 2017, though the phone will likely get unveiled a day earlier, on 31 August, presumably to beat the onslaught of phone announcements expected at the major expo.

• LG V30 could get August launch, LG G7 to move to January 2018 launch
• Best smartphones 2017: The best phones available to buy today
• LG and Qualcomm are working together on the Snapdragon 845 processor

Keep in mind the LG V20 arrived at IFA 2016, and LG is due for its yearly refresh cycle. Also, the LG V20 was the first phone to come with the current version of Android, Android 7.0 Nougat. In other words, there’s a possibility that the LG V30 will get another exclusive software collaboration; it could launch with Android O, which is scheduled for a mid-August release.

Other rumoured features include a 5.7-inch Quad HD display (possibly OLED with minimal bezels) and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835. ETNews said the LG V30 could cost 800,000 KRW in South Korea, which translates to $700/£550. It’s also expected to release in South Korea first, in mid-September, followed by other markets soon after. There’s no word yet on which markets.

Check out Pocket-lint’s LG V30 round up for more rumours.

Sony’s Koov is a candy-colored coding course for kids

STEM skills are in high demand right now, making toys that teach science and engineering popular with parents hoping to give their kids a leg up in the job market. Products like Hasbro’s new robot that teaches coding have joined kits like Lego Mindstorms on store shelves. Now Sony is making its own plunge into STEM education using the Koov robotics kit, with decades of design experience being put to work in the hopes of training the next generation of engineers.

Koov has a lot in common with Lego Mindstorms: Both are building sets that revolve around taking a “core” processing unit and attaching motors, sensors and non-connected colored blocks to it, with the assembled robot programmed via an app. But Koov blocks are more cube-like, as each piece is designed around sets of four boxes reminiscent of Tetris. The proprietary design isn’t just about being different, however. It means fewer pieces to manufacture and makes it easier for users to take an idea they have and envision it as pixel art.

Those are just the standard “dumb” blocks, however. The core unit, motors and battery are solid white to stand out, and shaped to accommodate their switches and ports. One thoughtful touch Sony added was the ability to separate the core processor and the battery pack. This means users don’t always have to design their projects around a huge central unit.

Budding programmers can choose the starter kit, which gives kids some basic lights and sensors to use. Or they can get the advanced set, which steps things up a bit by adding gears, wheels and an accelerometer to the mix. All of the pieces click together by pegs and holes placed at various places on each block, which are a bit difficult to pull apart. No worries, though, Sony included a block separator.

While very well designed, on a hardware level there’s nothing particularly unique here. STEM products like LittleBits’ new Code Kit also gives kids basic colorful components to put together simple games or robots. But those sets are also happy to just let users jump in, essentially saying “Here’s some pieces, here’s a few examples of what you could do, now build something.” That’s fine for more adventurous types, but what about aspiring builders who may feel intimidated by the amount of options and learning curve?

The Koov app for iPad, Windows and Mac takes a slower, more measured approach. Instead of asking users to just hop in, it takes small steps — the first mission is actually called “What is coding?” And, while this may be frustrating to kids itching to just build something, Sony wants Koov users to be cognizant of every step of the process. The instructions for each project include short animations showing where pieces go, and the 3D models can be rotated for a better look at how they’re put together. Subsequent lessons walk users through how to use the motors, how to program lights and even how to properly balance their robots so they don’t topple over.

The code is just as easy to assemble as the physical blocks. In the coding screen of the app, commands are represented by colorful pieces that users can push together like a puzzle. The corresponding code is printed within each virtual block so kids can see how it works and gain practical knowledge that can be applied to coding in the real world.

Gradually Koov’s lessons combine skills until kids are using every technique they’ve learned to build completely original creations. It focuses on creating a sense of comfort and fun, with colorful graphics and game-like mechanics that give users a feeling of progress. You can also go back at any time should you need a refresher or don’t fully understand something. It also doesn’t punish you for not logging in every day. (Though, in the future Sony may add some kind of reminder notification.)

Once kids are familiar with the basics of how everything works, they’re ready to start creating their own robot recipes and put them online. The social aspect is a big part of Koov. Users can share pictures and videos of their projects, explain what they did and interact with other users in the comments. And all uploaded projects will be vetted by an actual person, so parents don’t have to worry about their children seeing something inappropriate (at least not on Koov anyway). It also obeys the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), a federal law that bans storing the personal information of children younger than 13. This is important given that the target audience for Koov starts at age eight. While younger children could give it a try, Sony feels that eight is the sweet spot for students to really understand the concepts without feeling overwhelmed or needing a lot of help from their parents.

Right now there’s not much to look at terms of projects, since it’s only available in Japan right now. An English-language version is expected to ship in November, if the Indiegogo campaign that launched this week is a success. Kits are selling for around $300, but going the crowdfunding route also helps to stir up interest and lets Sony collect feedback before committing to a full retail launch. This is the first project from the company’s new Global Education division, and the hope is Koov will inspire the next generation of designers, builders and, just maybe, Sony employees.

Charmin’s ‘Van-Go’ is the on-demand toilet NYC deserves

Everybody’s favorite cartoon shit bear (slow your roll there, Mike Isaac), is coming to New York City! On June 21st and 22nd, the Charmin toilet paper company is running a promotional event wherein folks will be able to order an on-demand, mobile port-a-potty in select neighborhoods throughout the city, right from their smartphones.

If you feel the need to pop a squat on Wednesday or Thursday and don’t want to simply poop in the gutter like we did in the good old Cholera days, go to CharminVanGo.com, follow the instructions and pretty soon a modified runner van will arrive for you to defecate in.

Not only will you be able to poop privately on a minibus parked in some of NYC’s busiest neighborhoods, but Anthony Anderson, star of ABC’s hit family sitcom Black-ish, will be onboard as well, “surprising and delighting people with bathroom humor along the route” according to Business Wire.

The vans will be in operation between 8am and 5pm ET. On Wednesday the 21st, they’ll be available for hire at Columbus Circle on W. 57th, Herald Square and Bryant Park. On Thursday the 22nd, you can find them at the Lincoln Center, the High Line, Rockefeller Plaza and Union Square.

Charmin’s promotion, albeit temporary, joins the growing ranks of wacky on-demand products. These days you can get everything from snacks to scooters, manual labor to McDonald’s meals, with just a couple of clicks. At least now when that drone-delivered sushi makes you sicker than that time you ate gas station nachos, you won’t have to hold it till you get home. You’ll just have to make small talk with Anthony Anderson.

Source: Business Wire

Google Glass adds Bluetooth support for whoever still uses it

Google Glass seemed headed for awkward retirement after the device’s most recent update in September 2014 appeared to be its last. But out of nowhere, almost three years later, the augmented reality pioneer is getting its code refreshed with the usual performance boosts and bug fixes — as well as added Bluetooth support.

Which means users can add keyboards or mice or whatever else links up via the wireless protocol. But what volume of users are we talking about? Why now, and cui bono? Last we heard back in December 2015, the Google Glass designers (rechristened under the Project Aura name) were preparing to present a sleeker, tougher version for enterprise that has yet to launch. In any case, if you’re one of the AR diehards still trucking around the consumer Explorer model, this update’s for you. And possibly only you.

Via: The Verge

Source: Google Glass

Instagram gives social media influencers the benefit of the doubt

The chaos surrounding the cancelled Fyre Festival is a perfect example of how social media influencers can misguide consumers. Instagram users were led to believe they would be rubbing shoulders with supermodels like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid in the Bahamas, after both of them heavily promoted the event on their accounts without ever disclosing they were paid to do so. People who spent thousands of dollars to attend eventually realized this was far from reality. Instead, the promised “cultural experience of the decade” left some stranded at airports. This led to a long list of legal problems organizers have had to deal with since Fyre Festival was shut down on its opening day in May. Celebrities have been getting away with this type of stealth shilling on social networks for years now, but that may be coming to an end soon — at least on Instagram.

Naturally, the Federal Trade Commission is doing its part by sending warning letters to influencers who violate its guidelines, which include labeling sponsored posts as #Ad or #PaidAd. But Instagram recently announced it would be taking matters into its own hands with a new tool on its app. The “Paid partnership with [enter brand name here]” post format is designed for users who want to advertise products on their page, letting them easily disclose when one of their posts is actually an ad. Instagram says this is an effort to bring the platform some much-needed transparency. The feature is set to roll out in the coming weeks to a “small number” of creators and businesses, according to the company.

In a blog post last week, Instagram said its branded content tool is only the first step in a larger plan to tackle this issue, noting that in the coming months it plans to unveil a formal policy for influencers “based off of Facebook’s current practices.” Instagram declined to comment for this story, but a glimpse at Facebook’s “Branded Content Policies” suggests influencer profiles will be treated differently than regular ones, with access to tools like “Paid partnership with” and others that may not be live yet. “We define branded content as a creator or publisher’s content that features or is influenced by a business partner for an exchange of value,” reads Facebook’s Branded Content policy.

Instagram’s tool will let users tag brands they’re working with, making it easy for both parties to gather analytics and, most importantly, for followers to know when a post doubles as a product placement. The question is: Will influencers actually use the feature? And what will happen if they don’t? Unfortunately, we won’t know those answers until Instagram shares definite details about its policies. Facebook does make it clear to both users and brands that any partnership must “comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including by ensuring that you provide all necessary disclosures to people using Facebook, such as any disclosures needed to indicate the commercial nature of content posted by you.” It’s unclear if the FTC, which declined our request for comment, did anything to influence Instagram’s new tool.

That said, the government agency is of course trying to keep people from committing violations. Back in March, it sent over 90 letters to social media influencers, including A-list celebs like Heidi Klum and Victoria Beckham, reminding each of them they must clearly disclose paid endorsements on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and anywhere else on the web. The problem is, the FTC’s efforts to crack down on dubious advertising don’t seem all that effective.

Getty Images for Absolut Elyx

Julie Zerbo, editor-in-chief of legal site The Fashion Law, says that a large number of influencers who received an FTC warning letter are still violating its advertising guidelines. This includes people such as Emily Ratajkowski, the model-actress who just happened to be revealed as a OnePlus brand ambassador earlier today, during the company’s launch of its latest smartphone, the OnePlus 5. Zerbo, who has been covering the lack of ad disclosures on social media since 2014, says she believes Instagram is introducing its new tool to avoid secondary liability in the future.

As we saw with the Fyre Festival, Instagram has become the platform of choice for many influencers who want to promote products, be it their own or another from a third-party brand. Because of that, she says “it’s not a huge stretch that the FTC might take action against Instagram for providing a platform for such FTC Act violations, and/or failing to police the potentially illegal content of its users.” On a broader scale, tackling misleading content seems to be an ongoing problem for Facebook, as shown by how slow the company tends to take down graphic material from its site, or even ads promoting counterfeit goods. And even though you can’t compare the livestreaming of murders, suicides and rapes to shady paid ads, at least Instagram is trying to change for the better.

Amazing facial today with @skinesis x my favorite…..Intense hydrating booster for winter dehydration,good for glowing skin! X VB

A post shared by Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) on Feb 23, 2017 at 7:28am PST

Ultimately, though, the FTC needs to take tougher action if it wants to put an end to the issue at hand. Because as of this writing, the agency has yet to file a legal case against any individual, although it did settle charges with Lord & Taylor last year for deceiving consumers through sketchy advertorial and paid Instagram posts by 50 fashion influencers. There was no monetary fine, however, only an agreement to put a monitoring program in place for the brand.

This remains the highest profile case to date related to the topic, despite clear evidence of new violations in situations like the Fyre Festival. And brands, too, are partially responsible for the rise of stealth shilling, since they should be doing their due diligence and educating their partners on how to properly disclose paid advertisements. Adidas, one of the companies who works with influencers for product activations on Instagram, did not respond to our request for comment.

“I am not terribly optimistic that Instagram’s new feature will change [anything],” Zerbo says, “especially since the FTC has not officially penalized any influencers or brands by way of monetary fines.” As such, she added, these social media celebrities will continue to view their actions as a non-issue. Still, we won’t know if Instagram can reverse this problematic trend until its new transparency tools are fully implemented, so there’s some hope. Until then, Instagram’s 700 million users (and counting) will have to question if their favorite celebrity is really on Bumble or if it’s just an ad.

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ hits Netflix July 18th

That exclusive deal with Disney that Netflix made back in 2012 started to pay off last fall. We wondered when we might see any Lucasfilm releases at the time, but it looks like the time is ripe for spending some time with Jyn Erso and her band of plucky Rebels. Rogue One is headed to Netflix on July 18th.

If you watch Netflix’s upcoming releases trailer above, you’ll note that Rogue One won’t be available to download for offline viewing, unlike the rest of the announced movies and TV shows. If you’re wondering why you still can’t stream The Force Awakens on Netflix in the US, blame a Starz licensing agreement that covered Disney films released through the end of 2015. Canadians, though, can stream the first reboot just fine.

Source: Netflix

Samsung puts you on the field with MLB VR videos

Are you a baseball aficionado with a Gear VR headset? You’re in for a treat beyond Intel’s weekly live games. Samsung and MLB have unveiled plans to release “over 20” virtual reality videos over the course of the league’s 2017 season. Some of them will include highlights of key moments, such as All-Star events and division championships, while others will give you close-ups with players and “unrivaled” views of ballparks. Some of these will have supplements, too, such as stats and trivia.

The videos will be available in the US and several other baseball-loving parts of the world, including Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan.

Regular live VR games aren’t coming anytime soon. Outside of the Intel deal, MLB isn’t focused on as-it-happens experiences. However, this gives you a sense of what could happen with VR baseball viewing (and VR sports in general) going forward: it’s less about the outcome of a game and more about giving you a sense of what it’s like to walk on to the field.

Source: Samsung Newsroom

WannaCry ransomware causes Honda plant to shut down

WannaCry isn’t done yet. Honda Motor Co. had to shut down its Sayama plant on Monday after finding the ransomware in its computer network. The plant’s production resumed on Tuesday.

The WannaCry ransomware got everyone’s attention in May when UK NHS hospitals fell victim to it. It then quickly spread around the world, affecting over 150 countries and hitting companies like French car manufacturer Renault and FedEx.

WannaCry was made possible by a Windows vulnerability uncovered by the NSA and subsequently stolen and released by a hacking group called The Shadow Brokers. WannaCry, which US agencies suspect a North Korean group was behind, took advantage of that vulnerability in computers that hadn’t been updated with Microsoft’s patch or had versions of Windows that were too old to use it.

Honda’s Sayama plant, located outside of Tokyo, manufactures the Accord, Odyssey and Step Wagon models and produces around 1,000 vehicles each day. Production at other plants wasn’t affected.

Via: Road Show

Source: Reuters

Dailymotion is trying to clean up its act with major redesign

Dailymotion announced this week that it has completely redesigned its app and advertising strategy. And the company hopes to attract viewers with higher quality content created through partnerships with media and entertainment brands. Three new partnerships with Universal Music Group, CNN and Vice were also announced.

On the new app, video content will now be divided into four themes — news, sports, music and entertainment — and geared towards 18- to 49-year-olds. Dailymotion is also offering less intrusive advertising formats that they say will “promote a more fluid user experience and stronger brand integration.”

Dailymotion, which Vivendi acquired a majority stake in two years ago, has had its share of issues. Users have had a history of posting pirated content, which led to the company being found guilty of copyright infringement in France and a ban in Russia. The site was also hacked last year.

According to a statement, Dailymotion has 300 million unique users per month — well below competitor YouTube’s nearly one billion visitors. Reuters reported that the video-sharing site hired around 100 engineers to work on the redesign that it hopes will bring in more viewers.

The app should be available soon for both iOS and Android and a desktop version is scheduled for a worldwide release on July 25th.

Via: VentureBeat

Source: Dailymotion