Google Stadia announces first official game with Direct Touch controls

Back in March, we reported that Google Stadia was adding a new update that included touchscreen controls and Android App TV support. Users can now play games on Stadia using the proprietary controller, third-party controllers, a mouse and keyboard and now touchscreen controls. The update added the ability to use touch screen controls on games when played on devices such as a phone or tablet. The only issue was that there were no games that made use of the controls. But, things look to be changing as the first ‘touchscreen’ game has been announced. 

Dubbed Humankind and developed by Amplitude Studios, the game launches out on Stadia on August 17. The game will implement ‘Direct Touch’ which detects multitouch inputs. Actions like gestures etc can now be converted to controls on games. You can check out the image below to find out more about the controls and how they function in the game. 

According to The Verge, the game will also feature a share feature called the Stadia’s State Share Feature. This will allow a friend to pick up when you left off through the sharing of a screenshot of a short video clip. We can’t really say how these controls will work but for a game like Humankind, these controls seem to have been built from the ground up. 

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Hacker Returns Crypto Worth 600 million After The Firm Said Please

An unknown hacker returned $600 million worth of cryptocurrency which he stole from Poly Network Exchange, a company that claims to be building the “next generation internet infrastructure,” when they posted a letter on Twitter urging him to do so. 

In a fatherly way, Poly Network reminded the hacker that the money they stole is large enough to attract major consequences from law enforcement. They firmly stated their disappointment with the hacker by saying “it is fairly unwise for you to do any further transactions.” Additionally, the firm echoed the statement “think of the children” by reminding the hacker that the money belongs to thousands of community members, which I am guessing have families and mouths to feed as well. 

Surprisingly, the pleading and veiled scolding worked, giving Poly Network their money back and all of us a lesson in parenting, if your child stole hundreds of millions of dollars online that is.

Poly Network Hack: Hacker Returns Crypto Millions Worth Millions

Soon after the cyber attack, the hacker themselves alerted the Poly Network by posting notes on the public blockchain and asking for different ways to launder their stolen crypto. Following which the Poly Network alerted its user base of the illicit transaction. After that, the firm posted the now-famous “Dear Hacker” letter on Twitter and soon got their money back. 

The anonymous hacker said in an online Q&A that they aren’t interested in money and only stole the money for fun and also to bring to light the vulnerability in the Poly Network’s system. 

In exchange for, I guess we can call it a “good job,” the Poly Network promised the hacker a sum of $500,000 and immunity. To this, an FBI official said, "private companies have no authority to promise immunity from criminal prosecution.”

As of now, most of the stolen money is back with the Poly Network and they are continuously working with the hacker to get the rest of their crypto back. The hacker still has $33.4 worth of Tether, a stable cryptocurrency, with them.

The main reason for attacking the Poly Network was to protect it, said the hacker in an online Q&A. When he spotted the vulnerability he could’ve politely asked the network to fix it but given the $1 billion at stake, anyone could become a traitor, the hacker further said. So they took it upon themselves to solve the issue, read the Q&A.

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Realme India CEO has confirmed that Realme GT Series will replace the X series

Realme is all set to launch the new Realme GT series. The GT series is launching in India on August 18. And right ahead of the official launch, Realme India CEO Madhav Seth has confirmed that the brand’s Realme X series will be replaced by the GT series.

“The X will be replaced by the GT; so the GT is the new X", Madhav Seth confirmed to TechRadar. This means no new phones will be launched in the Realme X series going forward. The X series has reached its end of line and the GT series will get bring the upper-midrange phones to the market now.

Unleash the potential of GT performance with 3 innovations. Stay tuned for the ultimate experience with the GT Mode in realme GT Master Edition. Get ready for the biggest launch of 2021 with the #realmeGT series and #realmeBook Slim at 12:30 PM, 18th Aug.https://t.co/vYRTS1HIs6 pic.twitter.com/jDqPVBvUvZ

— realme (@realmeIndia) August 14, 2021

Realme X series had some really good phones under its name. Devices like the Realme X2 Pro, Realme X7 Pro, etc. stood out the most from the series. As for the GT series, the company is bringing the Realme GT 5G and the Realme GT Master Edition to India next week. It will be interesting to see the kind of devices we'll get under the new series.

The Realme GT 5G will bring a 6.43-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED panel with support for up to a 120Hz refresh rate. We should also be seeing the Snapdragon 888 5G chip at work along with up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM. The Realme GT 5G will also pack a 4,500mAh battery inside with support for up to 65W fast-charging. The phone will offer Dual-5G mode, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack, and USB Type-C port for charging. Realme GT 5G will also have a triple-camera setup at the back whereas, on the front, it'll house a 16MP selfie camera.

Realme GT 5G Pricing & Availability

Realme GT 5G was launched in China back in the month of March. The device starts at CNY 2,799 which is roughly Rs 31,450 for the 8GB + 128GB variant. It will be interesting to see how much the device will cost here in India when it's officially launched next week. The company will also be launching its first laptop alongside the new phones on August 18.

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Nvidia used a CG version of CEO Jensen Huang for a part of Aprils GTC keynote presentation

Earlier this year, we all saw Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang standing in his kitchen to deliver a press conference showing the company's latest technology. April's GTC keynote was very important for Nvidia to showcase everything that they've been building behind the scenes, and well, they delivered it in style.

Nvidia, just like many other companies, switched to an online press conference due to the coronavirus pandemic. April's GTC keynote was no different in that regard, however, Nvidia put in a lot of work behind the scenes to make it happen. In fact, they ended up creating a CG version of CEO Jensen that appeared in the keynote.

Pretty sure none of us noticed that but Nvidia has confirmed that the CG version of CEO appeared on screen for exactly 14 seconds. Here's a video explaining how it was done - 

The engineers did a full face and body scan of the CEO to create a 3D model of him, then programmed it to mimic his gestures and expressions. In addition to the CEO, they also scanned the kitchen and created it in Omniverse to make it look photorealistic. Quite impressive if you think about it.

Not only that, but Nvidia also detailed that all the slides and cinematics used for the presentation were all made in Nvidia's own platform called the Omniverse. It's kind of impressive how they put in so much work for something like the slides that could've simply be done with basic software.

The video goes into detail about the entire process that happened behind the scenes. Nvidia's creative team came together and used a whole bunch of applications (the third-party ones included) to make it happen. What stood out for me, however, is how Nvidia created the "NVIDIA DGX Station A100 Animation" in Omniverse.

Here, check it out - 

This is a very reminder to tell you guys exactly the kind of efforts all these companies are putting in to make sure the information is being delivered in the correct way with an impressive presentation. Not being able to attend these events in person is obviously a huge bummer but at least we're glad to see such efforts being made to make it a great experience for us, the consumers.

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Xbox Cloud Gaming Works Well On Valve Steam Deck, Confirms Chief Phil Spencer

Project xCloud, a feature of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, works as intended on the recently announced handheld gaming console, Valve Steam Deck, according to Xbox chief Phil Spencer. Colloquially known as the “Nintendo Switch Pro Killer,” the Steam Deck already has blessings from one of the most influential men in gaming history.

Spencer revealed his Steam Deck on Twitter and praised the Valve development team for making a handheld gaming console with a good library of games, screen size and controls. The Xbox Chief also mentioned that he enjoyed playing Halo and Age of Empires on his Steam Deck.

Xbox Cloud Gaming Runs Great On The Steam OS

The Valve Steam Deck comes with a custom version of Steam OS, a Linux-based operating system. Therefore to run games, the Steam Deck uses a Proton emulation layer, as most titles cannot run natively on Linux. It is a popular method and it works really well. In fact, according to a report, developers stopped making native Linux games because the Proton emulation is great at its job. Furthermore, it is now clear that Project xCloud, a third-party cloud gaming application, works well on the Linux-based platform as well. 

Spencer’s tweet also gives us a hint at Steam Deck’s controller capabilities. The tweet implies that Spencer played Age of Empires, a strategy game that requires a keyboard and a mouse, using the inbuilt Steam Deck controller. Although people primarily play strategy games like Halo Wars 2, available on Xbox console, using a controller, it is refreshing to see that Steam Deck also has similar or probably better capabilities. 

Are we looking at a future collaboration between Valve and Xbox soon? Probably not, but Steam Deck continues to look better with each new report/leak. 

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GTA PS2 Titles May Get Remastered Versions From Rockstar Games’ Dundee Studio

Rockstar Games' Dundee studio is said to be currently working on remastered versions of its three classic PS2-era GTA titles — Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

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Pokémon Go Creator Says The Metaverse Is A Nightmare

Niantic's CEO and founder John Hanke called the metaverse a nightmare concept born out of science fiction dystopias, rather than a technological ideal. He said that Niantic is committed to connecting people to the world around them with Augmented Reality, rather than disappearing into Virtual Reality.

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