You’ve got a friend in me Instagram
Ever wanted to build the perfect best friend? No? Well, Instagram is letting you do it anyway. All with the help of AI, of course. According to several screenshots shared by Alessandro Paluzzi (via TechCrunch), Instagram is developing an “AI friend” that’s designed to be as malleable as possible.
That means the AI friend can be moulded to each user’s liking. You’ll be tasked with deciding the bot’s age, ethnicity, and personality – all from the predetermined list of character traits Instagram’s got on offer. For instance, the AI friend can be “creative,” “empowering,” or “pragmatic,” etc. Choosing its list of interests will further develop the bot’s personality as it learns from you – its only friend (and, we’re guessing, while you train Meta’s other AI models).
Finally, all that’s left to do is choose a name and avatar befitting your new friend. Harmless, right? Not exactly. While most people possess the necessary brain power to distinguish an AI friend as an AI and not “really” a friend, that’s not the case for everyone. We’re of course talking about the Queen’s would-be assassin who claims he was nudged to murder the monarch by a chatbot app called Replika. That’s not terrifying in the slightest.
There’s no telling what sort of AI tools Meta is using to construct the AI friend or the sort of safeguards it’ll have in place. It’s more than likely being built upon the same technology powering Snoop Dogg the Dungeon Master. We’ll have to wait and see.
Duracell’s new power station is one big battery. Literally.
Portable power is all the rage in South Africa. Can you really blame us? Eskom won’t be saving us from the scourge that is load shedding any time soon, meaning South Africans are forced to turn to other measures: generators, solar panels, and of course, power stations. Those glorious little batteries can power almost anything if you’ve got the budget to back it up. Now Duracell is getting in on the action.
Duracell has launched a pair of portable power stations capable of keeping your smartphones and laptops afloat during a nasty bout of load shedding. The smaller of the two – the Duracell M150 – stands 16cm tall and 7cm wide, weighs a kilo, and looks just like a massive battery. It’s rocking a 25,000mAh battery capable of a 150W maximum load through a wired connection. Topping it off is a wireless charger that’s got 15W delivery and MagSafe support.
Stepping it up is the M250. It’s bigger and better in every way, toting a 60,000mAh battery and 250W of power through a wired connection. It keeps the 15W wireless delivery and all the same ports on the smaller model but with an extra outlet for power cords.
Both the M150 and M250 are already available for purchase through Duracell’s website directly – with prices of $200 and $300 respectively. Unfortunately, the company only ships to the US, with no immediate plans to change that. We’re sure it’ll turn up on some import-exclusive site eventually, with a price to match the shipping fees.
God of War: Ragnarök is getting DLC
It’s no surprise that God of War: Ragnarök was one of our favourite games of 2022. It was the runner-up to Elden Ring at the Game Awards, for good reason. In fact, it’s still sitting comfortably in Stuff’s Top Ten Games (you’d know that if you stayed up to date with the mag). Imagine our excitement when we heard the news that we might be getting DLC to further the God of War universe.
That’s if Spanish outlet Areajugones (via Insider Gaming) is to be believed. It’s been right in the past when it comes to leaks, so we’re more inclined to believe them here, too. According to sources “close to Sony”, the game could receive an expansion or “half-sequel” akin to that of Insomniac’s Miles Morales standalone story and could be announced at this year’s Game Awards.
What a DLC or sequel game would look like, however, we’re not so sure. It’s thought to be an Atreus-centric story that might not even see Kratos feature as a playable character and expand upon Atreus’ somewhat-limited moveset from the previous game.
It’s still worth taking the news with a pinch of salt. It’s possible that Sony’s got other plans for the God of War franchise that have nothing to do with DLC or half-sequels. But The Game Awards does seem to be the place to announce new and upcoming games in a post-E3 world.
Bloodborne Kart is real, and it’s coming soon
Bloodborne Kart:
🗓 RELEASING 1/31/2024! 🗓➡ 12 racers!
➡ 16 maps!
➡ Full single player campaign mode!
➡ Boss fights!
➡ Local split screen multiplayer!
➡ VS Battle mode!🩸🏎LETS RACE THESE FOUL STREETS 🏎🩸
Happy Halloween 🎃 pic.twitter.com/wdumqS0lHX
— 🪄💫 PSX Bunlith 🐰🏳️⚧️ BLM ACAB 🇵🇸 (@b0tster) October 31, 2023
Bloodborne Kart isn’t a joke. It’s a “real” game that’s being developed by the same people that made the BloodbornePSX de-make (because From Software is depriving us of a remaster) that turned Yharnam into a PS1-looking game. Bloodborne Kart is a kart-racer in the same vein as the de-make, and it’s finally got a release date: 31 January 2024
What originally started as a meme (because the Bloodborne community is slowly losing touch with reality), the kart-racer is now a fully-fledged meme complete with 12 racers, 16 tracks, boss fights (?), a campaign mode, and split-screen multiplayer. Don’t believe us? There’s a trailer documenting the whole thing (found above).
If it wasn’t already obvious, we’ll be there from day one. Again, that’s 31 January 2024. Mark it down in your calendars.