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Sony closes UK PSVR studio before it even released a game

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It’s not clear whether the mysterious project has been canned completely, or if it will be picked up elsewhere. The company is certainly running out of UK options, in any case. PlayStation’s Evolution Studios shut down in 2016, and the Cambridge-based Guerrilla followed suit in 2017.

The decision may well have been made in response to Sony’s recent earnings announcement, which revealed that unexpectedly-low PlayStation and third-party games sales had decreased the company’s entire earnings forecast. Again, though, PlayStation is going through a period of transition as it moves into the next generation of its console. This studio closure may well be part of a longer-term plan.

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Google’s new Assistant speaks a second language: Japanese

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According to Android Police, to use Assistant in Japanese, it must be the only language you’ve enabled — you’ll have to disable any other language on your device. Don’t worry, though: you can still activate the voice AI simply by saying “OK, Google” even if you switch to Japanese. It certainly took Google quite a while to introduce another language for the improved Assistant experience, which boasts deeper integration and improved speech processing among other features. We could only hope that the company is working on adding support for more languages, and that Japanese is just the first of many it’s planning to roll out.

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‘Saints Row IV: Re-Elected’ comes to Nintendo Switch on March 27th

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If you haven’t had a chance to experience it, the story of Saints Row IV is insane. You play as the President of the United States of America as you attempt to fend off an alien invasion. All you really need to know is that one of the weapons you can use in Saints Row IV is a dubstep gun (remember dubstep?) that causes your enemies to dance when you shoot them with it.

The Nintendo Switch version of Saints Row IV will come with 25 pieces of DLC, including the game’s two story expansions: Enter The Dominatrix and How The Saints Save Christmas. It will also feature co-op, as well as a new weapon customization system.

While you can pre-order Saints Row IV today for $40, it’s probably best to wait for reviews of the port to come out first. Last year’s Switch release of Saints Row: The Third was plagued with framerate and input lag issues. Here’s hoping Saints Row IV does better.

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2021 Cadillac Escalade packs 38-inches of curved OLED screens and Super Cruise

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Autoblog reports that it’s getting a new independent rear suspension setup that’s largely shared with the new Tahoe and Yukon, and although the interior is revamped for Cadillac’s truck, it also shares those trucks’ optional 12.6-inch touchscreens for passengers in the second row.

Other than the plush appointments, one option is the first AKG speaker system designed for a vehicle, which features 36 speakers powered by three amplifiers. Other tech enhancements with the high-end system include embedded microphones that help front and rear passengers hear each other, audio prompts for navigation that come from the left or right depending on which way you need to turn, and independent volume control for each front seat.

One other optional feature is the soft-close doors — an electric motor pulls the doors closed so you’ll never hear a hard door slam again. One thing that’s not shown in the pictures is its augmented reality navigation. According to Cadillac, “A live street view in front of the vehicle is projected on the cluster display with turn indicators and other directional information overlaid on the scene.”

There are five trim levels for the new Escalade,in Luxury, Premium Luxury, Platinum Luxury, Sport and Platinum Sports. All of them include bits like the OLED screens, NFC, wireless charging and five USB ports — two USB-A and three USB-C. The new SUV will go on sale later this year.

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Samsung iOS app confirms the existence of new Galaxy Buds+

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Samsung’s Galaxy Buds+ are very, very real. A listing for the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ application (via CNET) has popped up on the Apple App Store as a preview, essentially confirming the updated earbuds’ existence. Unfortunately, the app’s description doesn’t say much about the earbuds other than they’re only compatible with iPhone 7 and newer devices running iOS 10 or higher. According to previous reports, though, the Galaxy Buds+ will lack active noise cancellation but will be able to run for 12 hours on a single charge, which is double the battery life of the current model.

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YouTube will retire its classic web interface in March

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If you are holding on to the older version, you’ll see a notice asking you to switch. YouTube will also let you know if your browser is too old or otherwise won’t support the modern interface. This could leave some viewers in a tough spot if they can’t upgrade their software, but YouTube is no doubt betting that there are few viewers who’ll be left behind.

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Drone network provides early warnings for natural disasters

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These drone sentries should be relatively inexpensive, costing less than some professional drones. It’s more resilient than some warning systems, too. Where river monitoring stations frequently collapse in floods and other natural catastrophes, the drones can fly above the chaos as long as they have a charge.

Unlike many research projects, there’s already a customer. Vietnam’s Disaster Management Authority has picked the drone network to help monitor extreme weather and get in touch with emergency services. Whether or not other countries follow suit is less than certain. The US Interior Department, for instance, recently grounded its Chinese-made drones over security fears. It may take a lot of persuasion (and non-Chinese drones) before you see drones keeping watch over American waterways.

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Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser is leaving the company

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It’s no secret that Houser helped preside over one of the most successful developers in gaming history. Between the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead games, Rockstar has pulled in massive sales — in some cases thriving with titles that are several years old. Unlike some co-creators of very large studios, though, he still had a more direct hand in producing games. He was an executive producer and writer for Red Dead Redemption 2, for instance.

His commitment got him in trouble in recent years. When he boasted of 100-hour work weeks for RDR2, that led many to think he was referring to the entire studio. He later clarified that he was only referring to the senior writing team, but the initial statement led many to worry that Rockstar (and many other developers) was fostering an unhealthy work climate.

Rockstar won’t be in dire straits without Houser. It has a much larger team than it did when it was founded in 1998, and his brother will still play a key role. This could influence Rockstar’s game design process, though, even if it’s unlikely to make a radical change any time soon.

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Instagram brought in more money than YouTube in 2019

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The site might be more profitable, too. YouTube shares most of its ad revenue with creators, and its video-only focus could mean steeper costs for streaming clips.

Facebook has declined to comment on the data. The company hasn’t broken out Instagram’s revenue so far, and at last check hasn’t updated Instagram’s user count beyond the 1 billion reported in 2018.

It’s not entirely shocking that Instagram would pull in that kind of money. Advertising is everywhere in the app these days, including posts in the regular feed and Stories. Instagram is also going out of its way to make shopping easy. This is still a milestone if accurate, mind you, and shows that Instagram is much more than a side project. Not that Facebook will want to cheer too loudly — the revelation could fuel calls to break up Facebook and reduce its clout.

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LG pulls out of Mobile World Congress over coronavirus concerns

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Instead, LG will hold separate events in the “near future” to reveal its batch of 2020 smartphones, which is expected to include a sequel to last year’s ambitious, underwhelming G8 ThinQ.

The show, which officially begins on February 24th, played host to over 100,000 attendees last year, many of whom were based in China or attended on behalf of Chinese companies. Unfortunately, the coronavirus situation — which the World Health Organization now considers a global health emergency — has hit China hardest of all. At time of publication, of the 20,630 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection, 20,471 are inside China, and 425 people diagnosed with coronavirus in China have died.

So far, LG is the first major company we’re aware to pull out of Mobile World Congress entirely, though at least one other has drastically altered its plans for the show. A spokesperson confirmed this afternoon that China-based ZTE, which has been lying low since the United States lifted an export ban in July 2018, will not be holding its customary MWC press conference.

Meanwhile, GSMA, the organization that stages MWC each year, said that the outbreak has had “minimal impact on the event thus far” and that it will continue to “monitor and assess the potential impact of the coronavirus.” Beyond that, though, GSMA was quick to outline the measures it is taking to mitigate the spread of the virus. For now at least, the show must go on, but that might not be the case if companies that tend to anchor the show follow LG’s lead.

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