Category: author_name|Jessica Conditt

The Talos Principle 2 is the ideal blend of puzzle and story

Ancient, vine-draped monuments and towering obelisks protrude from the forest floor, connected by a maze of stone paths and one hyper-speed transit capsule. Statues loom among the monoliths: hooded human figures and mythological beasts surrounded by saintly geometry in gold and turquoise. I’m running down an overgrown platform by the…

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All the hilarious corporate BS you might have missed in the Xbox leaks

It's the day after the largest document leak in Xbox's history, and now that the important news is on the record, we can all take a step back and process the ridiculousness of the whole situation. One facet that made the debacle so delicious was the insight into Xbox's corporate…

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Amazon’s Echo Show 8 offers spatial audio and a dynamic, proximity-based UI

Amazon debuted an updated Echo Show 8 during its annual fall event on Wednesday, highlighting the device’s new display, camera, microphones and spatial-audio capabilities. Generative AI helps the Echo Show 8 respond dynamically to the user’s position in the physical world, offering different displays depending on how far away someone…

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Talos Principle 2 and the quiet subversion of optimistic sci-fi

“What are we willing to fight for? What do we deserve, morally speaking? What is our place, our relationship with the universe, with nature?” During a preview of The Talos Principle 2 in August, series writer Jonas Kyratzes posed 19 questions about the essence of humanity in just 90 seconds.…

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Forza Motorsport preview: A warm welcome for casual racing fans

I’ll admit that, between Forza Horizon and Forza Motorsport, I’m more of a Horizon player. I’m interested in driving and crashing beautiful cars in exotic locations, and occasionally entering a low-stakes race, rather than perfecting my times on professional tracks with top-tier equipment. Despite this predilection, I’ve had a lot…

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Starfield review: You will like some of it

Patience. Starfield is a huge game set in a universe of newly inhabited planets, and it combines interstellar travel with furious gunplay, alien exploration, spaceship management, character customization and interpersonal strife, and it takes a moment for all of these layers to merge into a coherent experience. But, give Starfield…

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