Welcome back, Half-Life
Where is Half-Life 3? That’s a question that’s plagued gamers for years, with Valve expressing no interest in pushing Gordon Freeman’s story along for the sake of it, but elevating videogames as a whole. You’ll be pleased to learn (and a little frightened) that Gabe Newell, Valve CEO and creator of Half-Life, is busying himself, not with videogame development, but the creation of a brain chip. That might just be the innovation Valve is chasing.
While Elon Musk’s Neuralink has been very open about the highs and lows that stem from messing with people’s brains, Newell’s company, Starfish Neuroscience, has moved in the shadows for quite some time. Now, however, the company has revealed its plans to produce its brain chip as soon as this year.
Don’t get it twisted. This isn’t meant to directly compete with Neuralink, at least not yet. Starfish makes it clear from its first blog post that this isn’t meant to be an implant, but rather a simpler custom “electrophysiology” chip that’ll record brain activity, and not much else. “We are interested in finding collaborators for whom such a chip would open new and exciting avenues,” the post reads.
It appears as though Starfish will leave the actual implant bit up to the professionals once it’s ready to move forward. The company’s goal seems to be creating a smaller, less intrusive model than the competition – one that can provide “simultaneous access to multiple brain regions.” This might appear separate from videogames, but take a look at Valve’s thoughts on brain-computer interfaces. Yeah, welcome back, Half-Life.
Stay seated, Tarnished. Elden Ring is headed to the silver screen
If you thought George R.R. Martin might finally sit down to finish the long-awaited Winds of Winter anytime soon, think again. FromSoftware’s Elden Ring epic has just earned itself a spot on the silver screen, and it’s got the likes of Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) in the director’s chair. We can’t shake the idea that we’re being punk’d by The Onion, an idea perpetuated by the fact that A24 and Bandai Namco will handle production.
It’s an entirely bizarre combination of words, made even more bizarre because it’s true. All of it. And where does George come into this, you ask? While FromSoftware was building the incredible Soulslike, George was, once again, not finishing A Song of Ice and Fire, but instead drawing up the game’s massively in-depth world and backstory. George will return Peter Rice, Andrew Macdonald, and Allon Reich to serve as producers.
Don’t get your hopes up for the Elden Ring adaptation anytime soon. Other than confirming whose butt will sit in the director’s chair and the houses handling development, nothing else has been confirmed. Not even Jack Black has confirmed his involvement as the titular John Elden Ring – a player who gets trapped inside his game console and must carve out a fresh life inside Miyazaki’s hellscape that is Elden Ring.
Spotify’s in a Jam again
As part of Google’s AI-heavy I/O show last week, we saw how the search giant believes it’s bettering the motoring industry, namely with the inclusion of Gemini AI in your Volvo car, whether you want it or not. It wasn’t just a playground meant to titillate every dystopian sci-fi writer in the area. Also announced was the massive Spotify overhaul for the Android Auto experience, finally delivering support for Jams in the car.
A “Jam” is a collaborative playlist that allows just about anyone in the vicinity (assuming they have a Spotify subscription) to hop on and fiddle with the queue and playlists coming out of a single speaker. It’s an entirely useful feature that can be set up in seconds with a QR code or invite link. Soon enough, the Spotify app in your car will feature a ‘Jam” button in the corner of the ‘Now Playing’ screen.
It’s a handy feature that can be accessed in the car through the same QR code means as the mobile app, and should prove popular by the time it’s ready to roll out. Google reckons Spotify’s overhauled app should be ready “in the coming months.” With the wider changes coming to Android Auto, Google also said customers can expect more fluid experiences from YouTube Music and Amazon Music.
The Switch 2 ain’t afraid of no mice
One of the more baffling features afforded to the Nintendo Switch 2 is its ability to turn the wholly awkward Joy-Con 2 controllers into a mouse. It’s a gimmicky feature that’s led to hundreds of questions from consumers, none of which Nintendo has deigned to respond to. At the very least, we know that players can use a ‘regular’ USB mouse, thanks to developer commentary for Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition.
In the video, we see the game’s producer, Michi Ryu, simply stop and plug in a USB mouse, to which the console responds with a pop-up confirming a mouse has been plugged in. It’s not yet clear whether this’ll be the case for all games, but it’s great to see that Nintendo is putting in a bit more care for mouse support this time around – particularly if its development is itself focusing on mouse-led gameplay features.
We’ll have to wait for the console’s official launch to see whether all Switch 2 games (or the ones that already include mouse features, anyway) will support third-party mice. Nintendo isn’t dishing the dirt yet, anyway.
