The ‘Final Fantasy XV’ soundtrack was a decade in the making
What were you doing 10 years ago? Try to think back. Maybe you had a different job or lived in another apartment. I was still a college student, waiting tables at a pub in my spare time. It feels like a lifetime ago. Now, consider this: Back then, Japanese composer Yoko Shimomura had just been asked to work on Final Fantasy XV. She wrote the first track in 2006, while it was still called Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Ever since, she’s been waiting. Waiting and working through 10 years of tumultuous development, for the moment that fans could hear her work as it was intended — as part of the full game.
“The basic scenario and story concepts haven’t changed that much,” she explains, speaking through a translator. “They’re quite similar to what they were originally. There have been some changes, small scenario tweaks and the game’s functionality itself has changed. But overall, from a musical perspective, the concepts that we wanted to use from the start, they’re pretty much as they were. It’s kept on the same theme, basically.”
I’m meeting Shimomura at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios. We’re in a room overlooking Studio One, where the London Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing the game’s tracks later that evening. It’s a cramped, gloomy space — a typical refuge, I suspect, for sound engineers — filled with squishy chairs, mixing desks and other high-end recording equipment. The downbeat atmosphere has had little effect on Shimomura’s mood, however. She’s a calm, dignified bundle of sunshine. Always cheerful, always smiling.
“I’ve been a fan of Final Fantasy for a long time, and I never thought that I would get the chance to do it,” she says. Shimomura is an industry veteran, having worked with Capcom, Square Enix and Nintendo for almost 30 years. Final Fight. Street Fighter II. Super Mario RPG. Breath of Fire. Kingdom Hearts. The list goes on and on. During that time, she never once considered what her own Final Fantasy score would sound like. Not until Square Enix called, anyway. “It wasn’t, not having a desire to want to do it professionally,” she offers. “It was just such a surprise.”
The franchise is steeped in history. Whether it’s the “Theme of Love” from Final Fantasy IV, or “One-Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII, every game has its share of memorable, distinctive tracks. Sweeping scores that underscore tense, mystical battles. Delicate melodies that reinforce a party member’s sadness, confusion or unrequited love. The tracks stand on their own but take new meaning when you know the characters, locales and events they were originally paired with. Many are the work of Nobuo Uematsu, one of the most respected video game composers of all time.
Nobuo Uematsu performs at La Cigale in 2012. Credit: Redferns via Getty Images
No pressure for Shimomura, then. Final Fantasy XV, which comes out at last on November 29th, is a slight departure from previous games. The combat is faster and more “active” than before. The universe is a curious blend of high fantasy and contemporary technology; modern skyscrapers and sleek sedans surround individuals who can teleport, cast spells and wield magical weapons. Smartphones and pinball machines exist alongside colossal, lumbering monsters. Similar contrasts can be found in other Final Fantasy games — Final Fantasy VII and its depiction of Midgar, for instance — but here, it’s a new take.
Shimomura loves this idea. She points to the steampunk elements of earlier Final Fantasy games and how they were paired with traditional fantasy tropes. Final Fantasy XV, she says, is “not quite as different as some people say.” It’s edgy and experimental but also respectful of the franchise’s long-held traditions. (Crystals! Chocobos! Summons!) That same philosophy can be applied to the new game’s soundtrack. “That’s how I approach, personally, the making of the music,” she says, “and I think that’s what makes the franchise. That attempt to keep a universal fantasy style of music but mix in new themes and influences each time.”
Final Fantasy XV is no exception. American blues, for instance, can be heard in some of the game’s locations. Bossa nova, a Brazilian style of music combining samba and jazz, plays jubilantly while Noctis and his friends set up camp. Both of these genres are new for Final Fantasy, adding another dimension to the world and your actions within it. As Shimomura explains all of this, her voice starts to quicken. Maybe it’s excitement, or pride. After 10 years of waiting, I would have both in abundance.
Each new track is a collaboration between Shimomura and the studio. Most started as a request from the writers — a song that was needed for a particular cutscene, battle or locale. Shimomura would go away, work on a demo, and then send it to the team for review. Some songs were given the okay immediately while others required a little extra work. The specifics were debated “quite late at night” on conference calls. “A lot of back and forth was done by email as well,” she says. “But I certainly did discuss with them. What went in and what small changes needed to be made.”
Her involvement extended to the recordings too. Some of Final Fantasy XV’s music was performed in Boston; Shimomura traveled there twice to listen and provide feedback in person. “Obviously, it’s quite difficult to get into every single session from there, so we set up a remote video satellite link, and I’ve been listening in real time from Japan. But generally I do like to participate and take part in all of the recordings,” she says.
Soon, Shimomura will hear those tracks once more. Only this time, the public will be able to listen to them, too. A small audience has been invited to Abbey Road Studios while thousands, possibly millions, watch a livestream at home. After a decade of toil, of suspense, I can think of no better tribute to Shimomura and her contributions to the game.
Who knows if Final Fantasy XV will live up to fans’ expectations. Final Fantasy XIII and its direct sequels were, for many, a low point for the franchise, with a story that made little sense and characters that were difficult to care about. Square Enix is aware that it needs to bounce back — this time, there’s no room for mistakes. And while the quality of the game is a mystery, there’s one statement I can make with absolute confidence: With Shimomura at the helm, the music is in capable hands.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 9: What’s he building in there
Managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O’Brien to dig through all the big Google news from the week, including the launch of the Pixel phones. Plus they take a brief detour to talk about what makes the PlayStation VR better than its competitors.
The Flame Wars Leaderboard
Wins
Loses
Winning %
Chris Velazco
3
1
.750
Christopher Trout
2
1
.666
Devindra Hardawar
9
7
.563
Dana Wollman
5
4
.555
Cherlynn Low
6
7
.461
Nathan Ingraham
4
6
.400
Michael Gorman
1
2
.333
Relevant links:
- With Assistant, Google is becoming a lot more like Apple
- Google’s ‘Assistant’ is at the core of its new hardware
- Google baked its AI ‘Assistant’ into the new Pixel phones
- A look back at Google’s Android flagships: the Nexus family
- Google’s play for the living room starts with Home
- Google’s AI-powered ‘Home’ hub ships next month for $129
- PlayStation VR review: Great games outweigh limited specs
- With the Pixel line, Google finally takes control of its phones
You can check out every episode on The Engadget Podcast page in audio, video and text form for the hearing impaired.
Watch on YouTube
Subscribe on Google Play Music
Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe on Stitcher
Subscribe on Pocket Casts
Amazon makes food delivery cheaper for Prime members
Amazon has cut the price of an AmazonFresh membership down to just $14.99 a month as long as you also subscribe to Prime. For that, you’ll be entitled to unlimited grocery deliveries in the locations where the service operates, including Boston, Seattle and San Francisco. It makes the business effectively a bolt-on for Amazon’s paid tier which has developed substantially in the last few years. Users will be able to save almost $120 with the new charges compared to its predecessor, which was a $299 flat rate for a whole year. That should help beat back competition from traditional retailers like Walmart and Target, who are trying to catch up on this whole tech-based delivery lark from a standing start.
Unlimited grocery delivery just got even easier! #AmazonFresh is now $14.99/month, exclusively for Prime members: https://t.co/D00Pf3qaxy pic.twitter.com/BygThOn2IG
— Amazon (@amazon) October 5, 2016
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Amazon
Google’s tech lab for teens sows the seeds of diversity
One of the best ways to solve the tech sector’s lack of diversity is to start ’em young. New York City’s mayor, Melinda Gates, and tech titans like Microsoft and Google all know that. In fact, the big G has just opened a computer science lab in Oakland called Code Next that was built specifically to teach black and Latino teens how to code.
According to a Google study from 2015, one of the reasons why tech corporations have very few minority employees is that half of black and Latino kids in the country don’t have access to computer science classes. As a result, Facebook’s, Apple’s, Microsoft’s and Google’s workforces are overwhelmingly white (and male). This program will bring the classes to them, and Oakland is an ideal location as one of the most diverse cities in the US.
Besides coding classes, participants will also do hands-on activities during their weekend and after-school programs. Topper Carew from MIT’s Media Lab, which helped develop Code Next’s curriculum, told TechCrunch that they “want to get [the students] to a point where they are competent, comfortable and champions in the coding space” and to ultimately get them ready for college.
While participants won’t have to pay a single cent, only those recommended by their schools and local non-profits like Black Girls Code will be able to get in. They have a better grasp of their own communities, after all, and Google decided to build with (and not for) the community from the start. Code Next is currently working with 70 eighth-grade students in Oakland, half of which are girls, and will work with 70 more in Harlem when that location opens in 2017.
As you can guess, the kids who get in already have one foot in the door. April Alvarez, Google Student Experience Program Manager, told TC that “these kids will definitely be set up to work at Google and will be highly competitive applicants. They will also be set up to start their own companies — to start their own next Facebook or Apple.”
Source: TechCrunch, Wired
FBI Looking Into ‘Legal and Technical Options’ for Entering Another Terrorist’s iPhone
A new case might lead the FBI and Apple into another fight over security and privacy on smartphones, following a confirmation yesterday by FBI special agent Rich Thorton that the FBI has the iPhone of Dahir Adan in its possession (via Wired).
Adan was the culprit behind the stabbing of 10 people in a Minnesota mall in mid-September, and was eventually shot and killed by police. After the event, terrorist organization ISIS claimed credit for the attack on social media, but “no evidence has emerged to suggest ISIS had a hand in planning or executing the attack.”
During a press conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota yesterday, Thorton confirmed that the FBI has Adan’s iPhone and that it is locked with a passcode. According to the special agent, the organization is “still trying to figure out how to gain access to the phone’s contents.” The issue currently is that the model and version of iOS running on the iPhone is known only to the FBI. Following the launch of iOS 8 in 2014, any iOS device running the software is encrypted to an extent that no malicious outsider — or even Apple itself — can get into the iPhone or iPad.
“Dahir Adan’s iPhone is locked,” Thornton told reporters, “We are in the process of assessing our legal and technical options to gain access to this device and the data it may contain.”
Because of this, the deciding factor on whether or not the new issue could lead to another San Bernardino-related debate between Apple and the FBI hinges on the software and model of his iPhone (iOS 8 can run on iPhone 4s and newer devices). For now, Thorton said that the FBI is simply “assessing” its “legal and technical options” for ways to enter the iPhone and extract any potentially helpful data it might contain.
The San Bernardino case began much the same way, with the FBI ordering Apple to provide assistance in opening up Syed Farook’s iPhone 5c because the company had the “technical means” to do so. A long battle between the two organizations eventually led to the Justice Department dropping the case against Apple, reportedly due to an anonymous source providing the iPhone’s password to authorities.
During the controversy, everyone from former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates to President Obama chimed in on the issue. Throughout multiple interviews and quotes, Apple CEO Tim Cook remained adamant on the company’s continuing stance for user privacy, calling the FBI’s request for entering an iPhone “the software equivalent of cancer.” Its implementation could lead to a slippery slope in terms of invasive technology in everyday smartphones, as pointed out by Apple executive Eddy Cue, and even a potential surveillance state.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Tag: Apple-FBI
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DJI Mavic Pro preview: Insanely powerful, portable drone
DJI recently launched its latest drone, and what is easily the most impressive step towards making these high-tech hobby gadgets accessible to the average consumer.
It features many of the same specs and technological advances of the Phantom series drones, but packs them all in to a much smaller, foldable drone capable of fitting in anyone’s backpack or purse.
DJI Mavic Pro: Design
Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Mavic Pro is its size. We’ve seen a lot of the technology before, on drones like the Phantom 4, but we’ve never seen it packed in to such a compact and portable product.
It’s also a much meaner-looking product, with more of the contours and angular sharp edges of a stealth bomber, than the bulbous, round finish of the Phantom.
Also, unlike the Phantom series, the Mavic Pro doesn’t rest on a built-in set of helicopter-like stands. It almost lies flat on its belly, resting on the short legs which protrude downwards from the quadcopter arms.
Pocket-lint
These arms themselves are completely redesigned too, in the fact that they can be easily folded in to the body. The front arms fold inward towards the top of the chassis, while the rear arms pivot downwards to tuck in to the underside, leaving you with a product which easily fits in your hand and can be thrown in to a backpack.
To make it so compact, the designers also had to recreate the camera and three axis gimbal system which holds it in place, and offers smooth stabilisation. It’s not only much smaller than the Phantom’s, it sits on the front of the drone, rather than dangling from underneath.
As for the quadcopter blades, they’ve been designed in a manner which means you don’t have to set them up in the right position before taking flight. Just starting up the motors is enough to force them in to their correct orientation, optimised for flight.
Pocket-lint
DJI Mavic Pro: Features
As feature lists go there aren’t many that match the plethora of useful and market-leading technological capabilities of the Mavic, at least not at this price point or in a device this small.
First up, the 2970mAh battery – despite being compact – has been designed to handle between 21 and 27 minutes of flight time, depending on what kind of flying you’re doing, in what conditions and how fast. That’s a maximum distance of eight miles, providing there’s no wind. Obviously the battery is a little less long-lasting if the drone is being forced to contend with a stiff breeze.
Then there’s the proprietary OcuSync transmission built in to the new controller, which has a range up to 4.3 miles (7km). In other words, if you fly it as far away as you can before losing signal, it would more than likely run out of battery before making its way back to you. This same transmission technology is used in the new Goggles VR-type headset for first-person-view through the drone’s camera.
Pocket-lint
As with the Phantom, there are a number of important sensors and processors built in to the Mavic, which make it both incredibly easy to use and very high-end.
Starting with the basics, there’s GPS and GLONASS to keep it connected to over 20 positioning satellites to ensure it knows where it is all the time. Then, on the underside, there are sensors to detect how far away from the ground it is as well as cameras to recognise specific parts of the ground.
These cameras are vital for its insane landing accuracy. We witnessed the Mavic Pro landing precisely (within a cm or two) where it took off from using its homing feature.
Pocket-lint
To do that, it records some video as it’s taking off, you go fly the drone, and hit the return home button icon on the smartphone screen. It uses GPS/GLONASS to return to the location, then records some more video with the bottom-firing cameras, overlays it on to the video captured at take-off, then matches them up so that it lands in exactly the same place it started from.
DJI claims it can land within an inch of its starting position, and our time with the Mavic so far hasn’t done anything to make us question those claims. It’s really impressive.
Lastly on the sensor side, there are the obstacle avoidance sensors on the front. The drone will automatically detect when something’s coming up ahead, and can see objects up to 15 metres ahead. It’s worth noting, these only work when flying forwards.
Pocket-lint
DJI Mavic Pro: Controlling and flight modes
If you’re a first-time drone flyer, there’s no better drone to start with than the Mavic. It’s almost too easy to control.
The aforementioned control pad has two joysticks, these control your height, the direction the drone faces and make it move in any way you see fit. There are also two scroll-wheels on the back, one of which adjusts the angle of the camera gimbal, and the other is programmable.
It’s compact and easy to hold, and can be used on its own, or in conjunction with your smartphone. The smartphone – in essence – becomes a monitor to view the live camera feed at up to 1080p resolution, but also has its own onscreen buttons for landing, returning home and looking at information like drone battery life, signal strength and such.
Pocket-lint
Once the drone is in the air, you can signal it with a handful of preset gestures. First wave to get its attention, then tell it to take a selfie, or to track you as you move around. You can even tell it to circle around you at a set height.
Once new flight mode is terrain mode, which uses the sensors on the bottom to ensure it never gets too close to the ground as you walk up a hill, regardless of how high or steep the ground gets.
Of course, for the racers, there’s Sport Mode that gets the drone up to 40mph, which – incidentally – turns off the obstacle avoidance system. On the opposite end of the spectrum is tripod mode which slows things right down, and boosts the sensitivity of the controller to get nice, smooth and slow movements. Perfect for cinematic film-making.
Pocket-lint
DJI Mavic Pro: Camera
DJI’s new, smaller camera is capable of shooting video up to 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. Still images are just under 13-megapixels, but more importantly, the stabilisation of the three-axis gimbal ensures everything is smooth and sharp. It’s also controllable, so you can tell it which way to point.
Unlike the Phantom’s, and traditional action cameras, the camera lens isn’t crazy wide. At a little under 79-degrees view, you still get a relatively wide shot, but without so much distortion to blurring towards the edges.
First Impressions
Our first impressions of the drone have been very positive overall. It’s great to see something so small, and so feature rich, hit the market for under £1000. Sure, it would be great if the drone had obstacle avoidance sensors that work at the back, or around the sides, but as it stands, it seems the Mavic Pro is the most exciting drone on the market right now, at least for the average consumer.
You can find all of our other drone coverage in our dedicated hub.
‘Robo Recall’ for Oculus Touch is fun, frantic and completely free
At Oculus Connect 2 last year, Epic Games’ Bullet Train demo stole the show — leaning heavily on the “bullet time” effect popularized by the Matrix films to create a smooth, action-packed shooter that let players take down multiple enemies in slow motion. It had a neat gimmick: it used virtual reality to bend reality in a way we’ve only seen in the movies. The team brought the concept back to Oculus developer conference again this year as the heavily refined Robo Recall: a frantic, physics-based shooter with a sense of humor. Hands-down, it’s one of the best Oculus Touch experiences I saw at the show. Even better? When it launches early next year, it will be absolutely free.
There’s no shortage of VR shooting gallery demos out there, but Robo Recall won me over by making firearms just part of the players arsenal. The rest of it? Well, that’s everything around you. The game tasks the player with “recalling” rogue robot servants — tracking down the rebellious automatons and deactivating them by force. Shooting them works, but it’s a lot more fun to pick up one attacking robot and simply throw it at another. Run out of bullets? Throw your gun at the offending machine, it’s just as effective. Half of the fun of the game is to find less obvious ways to defeat your enemies.
The remnants of Bullet Train are here too: if the player is moving slowly, the flow of time slows down to match — giving you plenty of time to snatch a bullet out of mid-air and fling it back an enemy. It’s a lighthearted, but action-packed experience, and a great showcase of the kind of physicality the Oculus Touch controllers can add to a game. It’s not due to launch until a few months after the motion controllers ship, but if you’re going to go all-in and buy Oculus Touch, you may as well check it out. After all, you can’t beat free.
A ‘Made by Google’ pop-up store is coming to New York
With a slew of new hardware, Google is finally aiming for scale. The new Pixel phones, the smart Home speaker — these aren’t Nexus-level side projects. These are polished, premium projects that Google wants to sell in large numbers. For that to happen, the company will need to spend some marketing dollars — and based on the official Made by Google website, it’s prepared to do just that. One page with “popup” in the URL shows the Google logo and the address “96 Spring Street” underneath. Further down, the page confirms the New York store will be opening on October 20th.
The “popup” reference seems to indicate that this will be a temporary store. That’s in contrast to Apple and Microsoft, who both have permanent footholds in New York. Still, it’s a notable move on Google’s part. Following its earlier “Made by Google” marketing materials — which included billboard posters and mysterious, rectangular statues — the company seems serious about advertising its new hardware. That’s important if Google is going to fight Apple’s iPhone and Amazon’s Echo effectively. As we’ve seen with companies like Sony and HTC, it’s not enough to simply build great products — they have to be marketed heavily too.
Google has experimented with stores before. While Google Glass was still a curiosity, the company experimented with some showroom-style installations. Since then, it’s also set up a store-within-a-store as part of a Currys PC World in London. A retail presence like Apple’s seems unlikely — but that could soon change if the Pixel struggles in carrier stores.
Via: The Next Web
Source: Made by Google
ICYMI: Wetsuits will be modeled on the cutest sea creatures
Today on In Case You Missed It: MIT researchers are creating a two-layer wetsuit modeled off of the pelts of sea otters and beavers, who are able to stay warm in chilly water despite not having the layer of blubber that whales and dolphins have. Meanwhile bumblebees are being trained to pull strings to get a sweet reward. The ease with which they’ve taught each other is surprising scientists, who hadn’t known the little guys could be trained.
If you’re interested in the origami bird that can be controlled with hand motions, that’s here. And the video of Blue Origin being tested is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Xiaomi sells 500,000 phones in India in three days, claims third spot in the country
Xiaomi’s stock is on the rise in India.
This year’s Amazon Great Indian Festival and Flipkart Big Billion Days are behind us, and it looks like Xiaomi has emerged victorious from both sales. A statement issued by the company earlier this week reveals that it sold 500,000 smartphones from October 1 to October 3, setting a new record in the country.
Xiaomi’s phones are rarely discounted, and the modest savings introduced by the company paid dividends, with the entry-level Redmi 3S becoming the best-selling product on Flipkart and the budget Redmi Note 3 topping the charts on Amazon. The phone, along with the Mi Band 2 fitness band and the 10000mAh power bank were the most sought-after products on Amazon.
Xiaomi’s India head Manu Jain talked about the achievement, stating that the company surpassed its sales tally from last October during the three-day period:
We are extremely proud to be sharing this milestone with our fans, partners and employees. More than six months of rigorous planning and hard work has helped us set a new benchmark in the industry. Last year we sold more than half a million phones in 30 days during the month of October, and this year we were able to achieve a similar number within three days. Based on what we know, no other brand has ever achieved this in India.
We are extremely thankful to all our Mi Fans for their amazing support, and will continue to work hard to constantly outdo ourselves as we have done on many occasions this year. One thing I would like to share with our Mi Fans is that this is just the beginning of a beautiful Mi India journey and there will be many more reasons to celebrate.
The success of the Redmi Note 3 boosted Xiaomi to third spot in the country with a market share of 8.1%. Samsung is leading the fray with a 28.5% market share, but Micromax with its 11.9% share is within Xiaomi’s sights.
The Chinese company is finally targeting offline buyers by selling the Redmi 3S+ at 7,000 retail stores across the country, which will give its sales an added boost. Online-only is a strategy that worked for Xiaomi during its meteoric rise, but the brand is now recognizing the need to set up stores to target buyers in tier 2 and tier 3 cities that are unwilling to purchase goods online.
AIVAnet 