Twenty years ago, Apple CEO Steve Jobs poached Ron Okamoto away from Adobe to become vice president of developer relations and later help build the App Store. Now, we’re learning he has retired — less than a couple months before Apple’s App Store is set to go on trial.
The eagle-eyed Mark Gurman at Bloomberg spotted that not only was Okamoto listed as a potential witness in that trial, but that court documents describe him as the former VP of worldwide developer relations, not the current one. Bloomberg is now reporting that he’s been replaced by Susan Prescott, a product marketing exec who started becoming one of the public faces of the company in 2015.
Okamoto’s still set to be deposed in the trial, but perhaps for less than an hour. He’ll seemingly be testifying about the App Store’s policies, business model, how it compares to developing for macOS, and the “transformation of the application software business.”
The next major update for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, Season 2 Reloaded, is on the horizon. Here’s everything we know about the mid-season update.
Season 2 has brought a plethora of new content to both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. New maps, weapons, and Operators have arrived in Call of Duty, and Zombies have begun to overrun both Verdansk and the Ural Mountains.
However, there are plenty of features from the official roadmap that have not yet arrived in the game. It’s most likely that these weapons, Operators, and maps will arrive in the mid-Season 2 update.
Here’s everything we know about the next major update for Warzone and Black Ops Cold War.
Warzone and Cold War Season 2: Reloaded release date
Activision have not released an official release date for Warzone x Cold War’s mid-Season 2 update, however, teasers posted by Treyarch on March 22 give us a likely date.
As discussed further in this article, Treyarch have been teasing a new map arriving in Cold War Zombies’ Outbreak mode. Treyarch tweeted, “Next week, new mysteries of the Dark Aether await…”
This makes it highly likely that Warzone x Black Ops Cold War Season 2 Reloaded will launch on the week of March 29. Updates usually fall on a Thursday, so the most likely launch date is April 1, 2021.
New maps coming to Black Ops Cold War
There are several new maps still to arrive in Black Ops Cold War that were confirmed for Season 2.
Continuing on from the success of Modern Warfare’s Gunfight mode, a new close-quarters map is set to arrive in the mid-season update. Mansion will be pit players against each other in competitive 2v2 matches on the grounds of, you guessed it, a mansion.
Also, Golova, which players have received a taste of in Outbreak will be arriving in multiplayer. It’s unknown whether this scenic Ural Mountains location will be restricted to Fireteam or a smaller 6v6 version will be coming too.
An update to one of Cold War’s most controversial maps will also be coming, with Miami Strike. This new version of the map seeks to fix some of players’ biggest issues with the map – the size and the nighttime color palette. This condensed version of Miami will be played in the daytime, which will allow for faster-paced action in 6v6 modes.
New Warzone and Cold War Season 2 weapons
A total of six new weapons were set to be arriving in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone over the course of Season 2. Ahead of the mid-season update, four have been added to the game: The LC10, FARA 83, Machete, and E-Tool. That leaves the R1 Shadowhunter crossbow and the ZRG 20mm Sniper Rifle.
The R1 Shadowhunter crossbow will be added to the game on March 25, so that leaves only the new Sniper Rifle for the mid-season update.
We don’t know much about the ZRG 20mm Sniper Rifle, but as it’s the last unreleased weapon, it’s very likely to arrive with the mid-Season 2 update.
New Cold War and Warzone Zombies content
Since the beginning of Season 2, the undead have begun to overrun the Fireteam and Warzone map. Season 2’s new Zombies mode, Outbreak, is set to have a new map enter the rotation following Season 2 Reloaded.
Treyarch tweeted on March 20 that, “The Outbreak zone is about to get even bigger.” In the clip provided, we can see the Sanitorium area of the Ural Mountains.
The leaked Plague game mode which is set to nuke Verdansk could also come during this update. Although Zombies are slowly making their way from location to location, it sounds like they will soon overrun the whole of Verdansk and it will be the players’ job to clear them out. This mode is set to end with the announcer shouting, “Extraction canceled, nuke inbound for Verdansk.”
New Warzone and Cold War Operators
There are two Operators yet to be released in Warzone Season 2. The official roadmap for Season 2 reveals that four new Operators will be coming over the course of the season. We’ve already seen Naga and Samantha Maxis, but Rivas and Wolf are yet to arrive.
We first saw these upcoming Operators in the Season 2 trailer, but it’s most likely that they will arrive as part of the mid-season update. There is no word on how they are unlocked, but it will likely be either through challenges or as bundles in the store.
As soon as new details for Season 2 Reloaded are released, including trailers or update sizes, we’ll be sure to update this article.
Video game preservation community Hidden Palace uploaded more than 700 video game demo and prototype files, all from the PlayStation 2 era, over the weekend. The collection, called Project Deluge, consists of “PlayStation 2 builds that were confirmed to be unique and not match the final build” of the games. Many of the games and demos are playable on Windows PC via emulators.
The collections in Project Deluge were uploaded from “various defunct media outlets, developers, and odds and ends from various collectors over a period of time,” Hidden Palace said on its website, all apparently collated by a single person before being handed over to Hidden Palace, as spotted by VGC.
“These aging items were miraculously rescued from being destroyed, thrown away, or sold through the herculean efforts of one person,” Hidden Palace wrote. “This person not only took on the task of backing up everything in their possession single handedly, but was so overwhelmingly kind enough to let us look at and preserve each item in his collection with no strings attached. Yes that’s right, all of it. For nothing in return.”
There are currently 752 games and demos uploaded as part of the collection. Hidden Palace researchers said the project was “so massive” that it “eclipses everything we’ve tackled up until this point.”
The full story on how Hidden Palace took on this massive project is on the organization’s website. The full list of prototypes is on there, too.
The sheer amount of builds in the collection means there’s a ton of stuff to dig through, but some of the highlights include E3 prototypes of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and Shadow of the Colossus, as well as prototypes and previews of Dino Stalker, Katamari Damacy, God Hand, and Final Fantasy 10-2. Hidden Palace played through a whole bunch of the games during a six-hour livestream over the weekend, highlighting games like The Simpsons Skateboarding and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger.
Super Seducer 3 suggests the kinds of “sexually explicit images of real people” that are apparently not allowed on Steam.”/>
Enlarge / An image from the censored version of Super Seducer 3 suggests the kinds of “sexually explicit images of real people” that are apparently not allowed on Steam.
Valve has refused to approve controversial pickup artist game Super Seducer 3 for sale on Steam. The company says the game breaks a rule, saying that Steam does “not ship sexually explicit images of real people,” according to messages posted on Twitter by game creator Richard La Ruina.
La Ruina, who describes himself as a “dating guru” and “the world’s top pickup artist,” describes the Super Seducer series in press materials as “a humorous full-motion-video (FMV) game where you learn the artistry of sexual attraction.” Players do this via choose-your-own-adventure-style conversational prompts interspersed with filmed actors showing the over-the-top results of those choices. “I made it with the intention of helping men who are generally shy, introverted, and scared to approach women,” La Ruina told The Verge in 2018.
The first game in the series was suspended from Kickstarter and then barred from the PlayStation store back in 2018, but that game and its sequel continue to be available on Steam to this day.
A free demo for the third game in the controversial series was briefly featured as part of last month’s edition of the Steam Games Festival but was reportedly pulled from the collection after one hour as Valve decided to give the game additional review. “We’re not sure if we can ship the game at all,” Valve said in an early February message, as shared by La Ruina (Valve has not responded to a request for comment from Ars Technica).
Later in February, La Ruina said he had received “clearer guidelines” from Valve on what changes needed to be made to get Steam approval for Super Seducer 3 and later said he had begun making “targeted cuts” based on that guidance and “lawyer advice.” But over the weekend, La Ruina said that Valve told him they were “at an impasse” and that “we are not going to sell the game or re-review it… this decision is final.”
La Ruina wrote that the decision applies to both the original version of the game and a “censored” version designed to be appropriate for Twitch streaming. He also said he is pursuing an “M for Mature” rating from the ESRB but that Valve suggested this would have no effect on its decision.
Finding the line
Specifics aside, Super Seducer 3‘s situation highlights the difficulty some Steam game-makers have had in finding the line between “appropriate” and “inappropriate” on the platform. While other gaming platforms have detailed (if inconsistently enforced) guidelines regarding what kinds of content is and isn’t allowed, Steam in 2018 announced a new, more expansive standard for Steam. That standard was centered on the idea that, as Valve put it, “if you’re a developer, we shouldn’t be choosing what content you’re allowed to create… we’ve decided that the right approach is to allow everything onto the Steam Store, except for things that we decide are illegal, or straight up trolling.”
“We’re not the taste police,” Valve’s Jan-Peter Ewert told developers at a Russian gaming conference around the time that policy was announced.
Taimanin Asagi, which was barred from Steam in 2019.”>
Enlarge / A rare safe-for-work screenshot from adult dating sim Taimanin Asagi, which was barred from Steam in 2019.
Since then, Valve has tried to clarify that so-called “troll games” are ones that are “just trying to incite and sow discord.” When it comes to non-trolling adult content, though, certain adult-themed games are being barred while others find a comfortable home on the platform. The specific line between those two types of adult games from Valve’s point of view has never been very clear to developers or players. A visual novel localization specialist (who asked to remain anonymous) told Ars in 2019 that “the main factor seems to be they are banning a lot of games based on the fact that characters are wearing school uniforms. There is no other single common thread we can find.”
In the case of Super Seducer 3, Valve seems to be citing a newly articulated standard of “not ship[ping] sexually explicit images of real people” on top of the “illegal” and “straight-up trolling” standards of the past. The vast majority of games listed under Steam’s “Sexual Content” store page feature hand-drawn 2D or computer-animated images of the scantily clad characters in question, rather than photographs or filmed images of real actors. On the other hand, titles like “Bad Ass Babes” or “iStripper” that do feature nude images of real actors have recently been removed from the Steam Store (though extremely NSFW discussion pages still remain on Steam to commemorate their brief availability).
La Ruina previously posted that he feels Super Seducer 3 differs from those more explicit apps because “any frame from Super Seducer 3 would be Instagram safe (no nipples etc).” He also says he’s ready to make whatever changes are necessary to the game to fit Valve’s standards, if Valve could only clearly articulate what they are.
“I do not feel like we are at any kind of impasse,” he wrote in a message to Valve. “I’m ready to take a butcher knife to the game and take weeks to make all kinds of edits.”
This image from the game’s press kit is called “Get Her Into Bed 1.”Screenshot: Richard La Ruina
The third game in dating guru and author Richard La Ruina’s Super Seducer series of full-motion-video dating sims will not be releasing on Steam, because the service does not “ship sexually explicit images of real people,” just tons and tons of anime porn.
After weeks of back-and-forth between La Ruina and Steam, much of which has been documented on the author’s Twitter feed, Valve’s online game store finally dropped the hammer on March 19. “We have finished reviewing the latest build and we aren’t going to be able to ship Super Seducer 3 on Steam,” the message reads. “As we have mentioned previously, Steam does not ship sexually explicit images of real people. After multiple product resubmissions and product reviews, we feel we are at an impasse and therefore this decision is final.”
Steam has removed the store page for Super Seducer 3 completely. The page is gone. The “61,700 wish lists” former sexual assault instructor Richard La Ruina points to as an indication of excitement over the game are no longer valid. The two previous games are still for sale, with no indication that they are in danger of being removed. Richard La Ruina is currently taking donations on his website to try to get the game released.
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Having not seen much of Super Seducer 3, it’s hard to say which content Steam had a problem with. It might have been the room full of women in lingerie making out, a scene that serves as a mechanism to judge player performance after completing seduction scenarios.
In this scene I think La Ruina is supposed to be sex Jesus. Screenshot: Richard La Ruina
It’s kind of racy. Not as racy as say, Sheep Love, a Steam game you should definitely not search for, but that’s okay because it’s cartoons. If you want real people porn you’ll have to look elsewhere, like the internet.
Google Assistant has been around since 2016, so you’ve undoubtedly picked up on a lot of the tricks that Google’s voice-activated helper is capable of, from setting alarms and timers to performing calculations and looking up definitions. But the number of skills at the Google Assistant’s disposal is growing all the time, and there are some that you may not have come across so far.
As always, you need to put a “hey Google” or “OK Google” ahead of each of these commands. Now let’s dive in.
1. Take screenshots
A simple “take a screenshot” will grab an instant screenshot of your Android device, though you can’t use this one on the other devices compatible with Google Assistant—yet.
2. Play podcasts
Like every other company out there, Google is keen on podcasts. You can say “play the latest episode from…” followed by the name of the podcast to start listening.
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3. Dig into your photos
With Google Photos open on a Pixel phone, you can tell Google Assistant to “show me pictures of…” a place, then follow it up with “the ones at…” and a particular landmark. The example Google gives is “show me New York pictures” and then “the ones at Central Park”, so you can adjust the commands to match your own travels and collection of images.
Screenshot: Google
4. Track your exercise
Wear OS might not be the most popular smartwatch platform in the world, but it does feature tight Google Assistant integration. You can use commands such as “track my run” and “start a bike ride” to begin logging your exercise without touching your watch.
5. Watch some TV
You can tell Google Assistant to play particular movies, shows, or types of video on Netflix or YouTube. Just say “play…” and then what you want to watch and on which app. This works with Android TVs and Chromecasts, as well as on Android phones and tablets.
6. Find your phone
This one works with smart speakers and smart displays with Google Assistant on board. Say “find my phone” and your phone will start ringing, even if it’s on silent—as long as it’s an Android phone signed into the same Google account as your speaker or display.
Screenshot: Google
7. Control your apps
Google Assistant can interact with numerous apps on Android, including Mint, Instagram, Outlook, Discord, and Spotify. You can use commands like “search for candles on Etsy” or “send money in Venmo” to save yourself some taps on the screen. Use the command “show my shortcuts” to see all the available ones based on the apps you’ve got installed.
8. Read out articles on the web
If you’re using Google Chrome on Android then you can say “read it” to the Google Assistant with a webpage open, and you’ll get the text of the page spoken back to you.
9. Take a timed photo
Make sure you get the perfect picture every time on Android phones by saying “take a photo in five seconds” or “take a selfie in 10 seconds,” adjusting the countdown as needed.
10. Remember where you put stuff
Google Assistant’s long memory might be a bit of a privacy nightmare, but it can help you keep track of where everything is. Tell the Assistant to “remember that my spare keys are in the filing cabinet” and when you later ask “where are my spare keys?” you’ll get the right answer back. You can choose to get the Assistant to remember other bits of information too, such as what your friend’s favorite cake is, or what your locker number is.
11. Hear animal sounds
You might be surprised at how much educational content is packed into Google Assistant for the kids. Try asking, “What does an elephant sound like?” for example, or choose a different animal (the Assistant can carry on picking animals for you if necessary).
Screenshot: Google
12. Wind down slowly
You probably knew that Google Assistant can play music and set timers, but did you realize that you can combine the two—if you’re drifting off to sleep, for example. Just tell the Google Assistant to, “Stop the music in…” and pick your time period to start the timer.
13. Broadcast to multiple speakers at once
If you’ve got a bunch of Google Nest speakers and displays around the home, then you can broadcast a message to all of them at once—just say “broadcast” and then your message.
14. Flip a coin or roll a die
A classic Google search engine trick has made its way over to Google Assistant—ask to “flip a coin” or “roll a die” and the Assistant obliges, with a nice animation on certain devices.
Screenshot: Google
15. Create and edit lists
Another way to take advantage of Google Assistant’s powers of recall is to have it manage lists. If you’ve got a shopping list, for example, you can say, “Add eggs to my shopping list” and then hear everything at once with a, “What’s on my shopping list?” voice command.
16. Delete voice recordings
You can delete the voice recordings Google Assistant has logged via your Google account page on the web, but you can also do it through the Assistant itself with commands like, “Delete the last thing I said to you,” or, “Delete everything I said to you last week.”
17. Mute your phone
This one is exclusive to recent Pixel phones, but is useful: You can tell Google Assistant to “turn on Do Not Disturb” to apply the quiet mode using the current default settings.
If you’re missing Silent Hill, finally, here’s some good news: you can return to its foggy streets, creepy nurses and Pyramid Heads tomorrow, via the new and officially-licensed Silent Hill DLC for multiplayer indie Steam horror game Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals.
We briefly heard about this crossover back in January, though now we know when it arrives, and can actually see how it all looks. Here’s a gameplay trailer:
This isn’t the first time Konami has let its long-lost survival horror franchise appear in other games. A year ago, Silent Hill similarly popped up in asymmetrical horror Dead by Daylight, where Pyramid Head became a playable character.
Konami seems keen to keep Silent Hill ticking over, though when might we hear about a return for the franchise proper? Last month, Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka set fan hearts fluttering with a teasing video interview that was then abruptly pulled offline.
Before his remarks were officially airbrushed off of the internet, Yamaoka had said he was working on something to be announced this summer – something which Silent Hill fans had been “hoping to hear about”. Silent Hill, we have mist you.
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Images of two of Samsung’s rumored upcoming laptops — the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360 — have leaked early, giving us our clearest look yet at the two devices. The apparent marketing images were posted to Voice by reliable leaker Evan Blass, who says they could launch as early as April.
The Galaxy Book Pro will reportedly be available in both blue and silver, while the Pro 360 will come in navy and gold. Both are available with 13 and 15-inch displays. Blass confirms that the Pro 360 will support Samsung’s S Pen stylus, and his images show that some variants of the laptops will include full size keyboards with numpads. In the images, the Pro 360 appears to have a USB Type-C port, headphone jack, and microSD card slot, while the Pro is shown with a Type-A port visible alongside its card slot and headphone jack.
The Galaxy Book Pro.Image: Evan Blass / Voice
The existence of the two laptops has been known for at least a couple of months after SamMobile spotted that they’d been registered with the Bluetooth SIG back in January. A pair of reports in February from SamMobile and leaker WalkingCat revealed more of the laptops’ specs, including OLED displays, Thunderbolt 4, and optional LTE support. Internally they’re said to be running Intel’s 11th-Gen processors, and the 15-inch version of the Galaxy Book Pro could be available with Nvidia MX450 discrete graphics. According to WalkingCat, the Galaxy Book Pro will release in May alongside an ARM-based laptop called the Galaxy Book Go.
The two laptops join a slew of other Samsung machines released in recent months including the Galaxy Chromebook 2, which runs on Intel processors and includes support for styluses.
A recent sighting of a Tesla Model S refresh has provided what could very well be the first glimpse of software Version 11’s potential user interface, as well as some of its features. The images also showed how Tesla might utilize the Model S refresh’s Cybertruck-sized 17″ infotainment system and its instrument cluster.
In a post in the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, electric vehicle enthusiast u/FridayTheDog111 remarked that the images were taken in one of two high-mileage Model S refresh units that were traveling from Phoenix to Fremont. The EV enthusiast did not state where he encountered the vehicle, though the photos seemed to have been taken at the Kettleman Supercharger.
A look at the photos that the electric car enthusiast shared reveals that software V11 will feature some UI changes compared to V10. The vehicle’s 3D avatar, which seems to be about the same size as those in the Model 3 and Model Y, was displayed in the instrument cluster. This suggests that driving visualizations in the upcoming vehicle will be displayed in the instrument cluster, similar to its predecessor.
The additional screen real estate provided by the 17″ infotainment system seems notable, as could be seen in the display’s support of multiple widgets. But inasmuch as these are interesting, what truly stuck out in the recent photos were some of the features listed in the “Driving” menu of the new Model S. In the images, one could see new features such as “Smart Shift,” a dedicated “Drag Strip Mode,” and an option for “Insane” acceleration.
While the nature of the new features is yet to be announced by Tesla, “Smart Shift” seems to relate to a function that Elon Musk referenced in Twitter recently. In a tweet, the Tesla CEO noted that the Model S refresh would be able to operate without a shifter. A later leaked email provided additional details on the feature, with Musk stating that the system would use Autopilot cameras to determine if a vehicle should be in Park, Neutral, Reverse, or Drive. These capabilities seem to fit the bill of a “Smart Shift” function.
“Insane” acceleration is a throwback to the days of the Model S P85D, a variant of the all-electric flagship sedan that could go from 0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds. Insane Mode is partially responsible for the trend of Tesla owners sharing reaction videos of passengers experiencing the Model S’ acceleration for the first time. “Drag Strip Mode,” considering its moniker, seems to refer to a function that would allow drivers to launch their Model S with the best performance possible.
That being said, the fact that no “Plaid” references were in the recently-photographed Model S refresh’s images suggests that the car is a Dual Motor Long Range AWD variant. Nevertheless, it should also be pointed out that the recent images only displayed a few screens and features that were available in the Model S refresh’s V11 software. Other features, particularly those that would be unique to the Model S Plaid, would likely be even more exciting.
Watch the Tesla Model S refresh perform a three-point turn before accelerating in the video below.
NEW Model S take off video. (See previous post as well) from r/teslamotors
Don’t hesitate to contact us for news tips. Just send a message to [email protected] to give us a heads up.
OnePlus is switching to ColorOS, the variant of Android used by Oppo smartphones, for its new OnePlus 9 series in China. The move was announced on OnePlus’ forums by Gary C, the product lead on OxygenOS, which is what OnePlus phones use in the rest of the world.
“As a global technology company, we always look for ways to address the different usage habits and preferences among our users worldwide,” Gary C says. “We truly believe this customized new operating system will bring our Chinese users a software experience that is better suited to their liking.”
This doesn’t change anything for the global OnePlus 9 series that’s set to be unveiled in full tomorrow — it’ll still run OxygenOS. But it does appear to spell the end for HydrogenOS, which is the China-specific version of Android that OnePlus had previously been using for all of its phones that shipped in the mainland.
ColorOS is already used by a lot more people in China than HydrogenOS; Oppo recently became the biggest smartphone brand in its home country for the first time. I’m using it full-time right now as I review Oppo’s new Find X3 Pro flagship (pictured above), and I generally find it to be sleek and performant. There’s no denying that HydrogenOS (and OxygenOS) provide a more minimalist experience, though — if that’s your thing.
Oppo and OnePlus are both owned by Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics, sharing a supply chain and often critical technology. Realme, another BBK brand, also used ColorOS at first before developing its own software called Realme UI. The companies tend to publicly downplay the connection between themselves, but OnePlus deciding to use Oppo’s software outright is one of the more conspicuous examples of collaboration to date.
