After researchers flagged verified users on X (formerly known as Twitter) as top superspreaders of Israel/Hamas misinformation and the European Union launched a probe into X, Elon Musk has vowed to get verified X users back in check.
On Sunday, Musk announced that “any posts that are corrected by @CommunityNotes”—X’s community-sourced fact-checking feature—will “become ineligible for revenue share.”
“The idea is to maximize the incentive for accuracy over sensationalism,” Musk said, warning that “any attempts to weaponize @CommunityNotes to demonetize people will be immediately obvious, because all code and data is open source.”
The loss of actor Matthew Perry was a staggering blow to just about every single one of us. Perry is one of those actors who, at any given moment, could magically become part of our lives, especially if we happen to stumble on a rerun of his mega-hit show Friends. Throughout his career, Perry used that fame to do all…
X will no longer pay creators for tweets promoting misinformation. Elon Musk said the company is making a “slight change” to its monetization program and that tweets that are fact-checked via community notes will no longer be eligible for payouts as part of X’s revenue-sharing program.
The update appears to be an attempt to remove incentives for high-profile accounts to spread viral misinformation. “The idea is to maximize the incentive for accuracy over sensationalism,” Musk said. X also recently started to require community notes contributors to cite their sources in fact checks.
The latest change comes as researchers, fact checkers and journalists have raised the alarm about the amount of viral misinformation spreading on X amid the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. European Union officials have opened an investigation into the company’s handling of misinformation related to the war.
Following Musk’s takeover of Twitter a year ago, the company laid off teams responsible for curating and promoting reputable tweets about breaking news events and removed tools for reporting misinformation in the app. Instead, the company has relied on its crowd-sourced fact checking tool, community notes.
But critics have said that community notes are subject to manipulation and that the user-contributed fact checks are often unable to keep up with the sheer amount of viral falsehoods, particularly those promoted by verified accounts. A recent analysis from NewsGuard, a nonprofit that tracks the spread of misinformation, found that 74 percent of “the most viral posts on X advancing misinformation about the Israel-Hamas War are being pushed by ‘verified’ X accounts.”
As BBC researcher Shayan Sardarizadeh pointed out, the change to make tweets with community notes ineligible for payments has already been criticized by a number of high-profile accounts whose tweets are often “community noted.” Musk added that “any attempts to weaponize @CommunityNotes to demonetize people will be immediately obvious,” but didn’t say how the company would deal with attempts at manipulation. X didn’t respond to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-wont-pay-creators-for-tweets-that-get-fact-checked-with-community-notes-174206477.html?src=rss
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai took the stand Monday in the tech giant’s antitrust trial, a pivotal moment in a case that could result in major changes to the company’s search engine. From a report: Pichai described Google’s search dominance as the result of its innovation and early investment in its Chrome browser. “We realized early on that browsers are critical to how people are able to navigate and use the web,” Pichai said during questioning by Google lawyer John Schmidtlein.
“It became very clear early on that if you make the user’s experience better, they would use the web more, they would enjoy using the web more, and they would search more in Google as well,” Pichai said. […] The nonjury trial is being heard by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who could ultimately order a breakup or other changes to Google’s business practices. Schmidtlein, Google’s lead counsel, questioned Pichai about the deal at the heart of the case: the search giant’s contract with Apple that makes it the default search engine on Apple’s Safari web browser. The Apple deal “makes it very, very seamless and easy for users to use our services,” Pichai said. “We know that making it the default will lead to increased usage of our products and services, particularly Google search in this case. So there is clear value in that and that’s what we were looking for.”
Enlarge/ Official controllers like this will have no problem working with the Xbox going forward. (credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft has begun warning Xbox users that “unauthorized” accessories will no longer work on the company’s consoles. The move is likely an effort to limit online cheating that can be enabled by certain external devices, but it seems set to have unintended consequences for communities that rely on adapters for more legitimate users.
In recent days, users on sites like ResetEra and Windows Central began reporting encounters with “error 0x82d60002” when they plug certain accessories into their Xbox. An on-screen message appearing alongside that error indicates that “using unauthorized accessories compromises your gaming experience” and refers users to Microsoft’s list of officially supported accessories.
A recently added Xbox support note clarifies that the error appears when “one of the accessories you’re trying to connect was not manufactured by Microsoft or another licensed Xbox hardware partner.” After the error appears, Microsoft says that “you’ll have two weeks to use the accessory, after which time it will then be blocked from use with the console. At that time, you’ll receive error code 0x82d60003. We encourage you to contact the store or manufacturer where you obtained the accessory to get help with returning it.”
Threads Software Limited demanded Meta stop using the Threads name in the UK, saying it has owned the trademark in Britain since 2012. Threads Ltd. told Meta in a letter dated Oct. 30 that it is giving the company 30 days to discontinue using the Threads name, saying if Meta doesn’t comply, it will seek an injunction…
Apple is telling its legions of fans they’re going to be absolutely terrified by just how much (pumpkin) juice is in the company’s new line of desktop devices. New iMacs and MacBooks with newfangled M3 processors should be in store for Apple’s “Scary Fast” event, set to go late into the night just before Halloween.
I’ve always dreamed of revisiting classic RPGs with my kids — I wanted them to jump across time with me in Chrono Trigger, or pretend to be sky pirates in Skies of Arcadia. It’s not that tough to transform a well-told RPG into an interactive storybook for children (though I may have to shield their eyes from the more gruesome bits of Final Fantasy VII). I’ve been planning my “intro to RPGs” playlist for years, waiting for the moment my daughter Sophia began to look beyond the storytelling stylings of Peppa Pig.
But one night she saw me playing Sea of Stars, the recent Chrono-inspired retro RPG from Sabotage Studio, and she was hooked. I didn’t need to entice her like I originally thought. The game’s gorgeous 2D pixel art, catchy music (including some tunes from Chrono Trigger composer Yasunori Mitsuda) and epic story were more than enough to captivate her. While I held the Switch, she kept an eye out for enemies and treasure chests, and she stayed engaged with the story as I broke it down for her. She also clapped whenever I hit the action button at just the right time to deliver an extra hit, or to block an enemy’s blow (a nifty feature taken from Super Mario RPG).
Sabotage Studio
Sophia loved the two leads — Valere and Zale, who she calls Moon Girl and Sun Boy — and their colorful companions. She teared up when a major character sacrificed themself to defeat the Big Bad (that was a long conversation). And she held tight as we took on the final boss, setting the two leads up for a larger adventure once we defeated them. Now, we’re mopping up additional side quests and working towards the “true” ending. Sophia doesn’t want to stop until we’ve seen everything the game has to offer, a sign that she’s going to be quite the completionist when she’s ready to play on her own.
Don’t judge me, but games have become an integral part of my daughter’s wind-down time at night. They help her to calm down and relax before bathtime, a sort of pre-storytime before we read some actual books before bed. We’re not playing anything fast-paced or loud, and the games offer plenty of teachable moments when it comes to spelling words, counting and complex moral choices. From what I can gather, watching a screen at night (which I keep distant from her and a bit dim) hasn’t affected her ability to fall asleep on schedule either. (Yes, I know it’s not recommended. I also waited until Sophia was over four years old before we started nightly gaming — I’m sure it would have been more troublesome if I started earlier.)
Before Sea of Stars, we also played around 20 hours ofDave the Diver, another recent release with a glorious pixel art aesthetic. Recently, we’ve also spent some time with the delightfulSuper Mario Bros. Wonder. But after playing a few levels of that, Sophia almost always wants to play Sea of Stars instead. Now she can tell the difference between a platformer like Mario, a game with a variety of experiences like Dave the Diver and an RPG (she calls them “adventure games,” officially settling that debate). I’m sure she’ll appreciate the mechanics of other genres more once she learns how to both run and jump at the same time in Mario. For now, she leans towards story.
Sabotage Studio
Once it was clear that Sophia was truly into RPGs as a concept, I introduced her to Chrono Trigger. For whatever reason, Square Enix hasn’t re-released it yet on the Switch, and I wanted to play it on a more portable system than the Steam Deck. That left me with the iPhone port of the game, which looks pretty great on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. While there’s no option to use the game’s original graphics — a perk of the Steam release — the iOS version of Chrono Trigger still has all of the charm and whimsy that made me fall in love with the SNES version. (And as a nice bonus, there’s an auto button to speed through minor fights!)
Sophia immediately noticed the many (many!) similarities between Sea of Stars and Chrono Trigger. The overworld map is framed similarly, they both feature some of the best pixel art of their time and they both ultimately weave an epic story. Playing both games back-to-back reveals some of Sea of Star’s weaker elements — it takes a while to truly get going and the writing is a bit more simplistic. But it also makes me really want to play a proper Chrono sequel with Sea of Stars’ battle system.
Within 15 minutes of starting Chrono Trigger, Sophia and I were thrown back 400 years into the past. We were looking for Marle, the princess-in-hiding, who vanished soon after we found her. Then I had to explain the potential consequences of timeline interference to a 5 year old. And Sophia immediately understood what was happening: We had to save Marle’s ancestor before Marle ceased to exist! Just try competing with that, Peppa!
Sabotage Studio
To be clear, this isn’t really Sophia’s first rodeo with complex storytelling. She’s devoured almost all of Miyazaki’s films (we’re holding off on Princess Mononoke because it may be too scary, and she’s probably not ready for the mature exploration of death and art in The Wind Rises), and I’ve guided her through Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. So I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s fully embracing the power of RPGs. After envisioning this moment for years, I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.
It won’t be too long before she’ll be regaling me with stories of her own RPG adventures. And when she’s ready, I’m going to blow her mind with a one-two punch of Xenogears and Neon Genesis Evangelion. She’ll thank me later.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/i-taught-my-daughter-to-love-rpgs-by-playing-sea-of-stars-170038097.html?src=rss
Enlarge/ Spy satellite images taken by the CIA during the Cold War have revealed hundreds of Roman forts across the Fertile Crescent. (credit: J. Casana et al./US Geological Survey)
Back in the early days of aerial archaeology, a French Jesuit priest named Antoine Poidebard flew a biplane over the northern Fertile Crescent to conduct one of the first aerial surveys. He documented 116 ancient Roman forts spanning what is now western Syria to northwestern Iraq and concluded that they were constructed to secure the borders of the Roman Empire in that region.
Now, anthropologists from Dartmouth have analyzed declassified spy satellite imagery dating from the Cold War, identifying 396 Roman forts, according to a recent paper published in the journal Antiquity. And they have come to a different conclusion about the site distribution: the forts were constructed along trade routes to ensure the safe passage of people and goods.
Poidebard is a fascinating historical figure. A former World War I pilot, he later became a priest and joined the French Levant forces, helping pioneer the use of aerial photography as an archaeological surveying tool to discover and record sites of interest. (Previously, hot air balloons, scaffolds, or attaching cameras to kites were the primary means of gaining aerial context.) For his mapping missions, Poidebard clocked thousands of hours flying over Syria, as well as Algeria and Tunisia along the Mediterranean coast. He published his catalog of ancient Roman forts in his 1934 book, The Trace of Rome in the Syrian Desert, including some of the largest and best-known sites, including Sura, Resafa, and Ain Sinu.
It’s the most horrifying time of the year. A time when the most dastardly, terrible, disgusting, and shocking creatures come out for tricks, and sometimes, treats. We, of course, mean it’s Halloween, and if you’re like us, all month long you’ve been celebrating by watching horror movies, dressing up, eating candy, and…
Sony has revealed when you’ll be able to snap up the only two wireless audio devices that will work with its PlayStation Portal handheld any time soon. The $200 Pulse Explore earbuds will hit markets including the US, UK, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on December 6. The $150 Pulse Elite headset will arrive in most markets starting on February 21, Sony says.
Pre-orders for both products, as well as extra PlayStation Link USB adapters, will open on November 9. You can lock in an order for the earbuds, headset or adapter on PlayStation Direct or at other select retailers.
PlayStation Link, you may recall, is Sony’s own wireless audio tech. The company claims it will deliver low latency, lossless audio. Sony says it’ll be easy to switch between PlayStation Link devices, such as the PlayStation Portal and your PS5 (which can only connect to the Pulse Explore or Pulse Elite with the help of a USB adapter).
Sony Interactive Entertainment
The earbuds and headset both include Bluetooth. Multipoint support means you can connect them to your PS5 or Portal and your phone at the same time, so you can answer a call while playing the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. However, there’s no Bluetooth option on the PlayStation Portal, Sony’s PS5 remote play handheld that’s arriving on November 15. As such, you’ll need to either use the device’s speakers, plug a wired headset into the 3.5mm jack or connect a Pulse Explore or Pulse Elite.
For the time being, those are the only two devices that will support PlayStation Link. According to IGN, Sony eventually plans to allow third-party makers of audio devices to use the standard in their products.
Low-latency, lossless wireless audio is certainly nothing to sniff at. However, Sony’s decision to refrain from offering Bluetooth support in the Portal and instead nudge consumers toward an expensive headset and earbuds that use its proprietary tech is disappointing, if not surprising.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sonys-200-pulse-explore-earbuds-will-be-available-on-december-6-165017764.html?src=rss
On Monday, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on AI that outlines the federal government’s first comprehensive regulations on generative AI systems. The order includes testing mandates for advanced AI models to ensure they can’t be used for creating weapons, suggestions for watermarking AI-generated media, and provisions addressing privacy and job displacement.
In the United States, an executive order allows the president to manage and operate the federal government. Using his authority to set terms for government contracts, Biden aims to influence AI standards by stipulating that federal agencies must only enter into contracts with companies that comply with the government’s newly outlined AI regulations. This approach utilizes the federal government’s purchasing power to drive compliance with the newly set standards.
As of press time Monday, the White House had not yet released the full text of the executive order, but from the Fact Sheet authored by the administration and through reporting on drafts of the order by Politico and The New York Times, we can relay a picture of its content. Some parts of the order reflect positions first specified in Biden’s 2022 “AI Bill of Rights” guidelines, which we covered last October.
An anonymous reader shares a report: PFAS stands for “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,” a family of upwards of 15,000 or more human-made and incredibly durable chemical compounds that have been used in countless industrial and consumer applications for decades. Firefighting foams, waterproof hiking boots, raincoats, nonstick frying pans, dental floss, lipstick, and even the ink used to label packaging — all can contain PFAS. The compounds are ubiquitous in drinking water and soil, even migrating to Arctic sea ice. PFAS are called forever chemicals because once present in the environment, they do not degrade or break down. They accumulate, are transferred throughout the watershed, and ultimately persist.
The quest to reduce the amount of PFAS in the environment is what led me to an industrial park in a southern suburb of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The jar of PFAS concentrate in my hand is part of a demonstration arranged by my hosts, Revive Environmental, during a tour of the company’s PFAS destruction site, one of the first in the country to operate commercially and at scale. A few yards in front of me sits the company’s PFAS “Annihilator” in a white shipping container.
The Annihilator represents just one of several technologies now vying to break down and destroy PFAS. These span the gamut from established processes like electrochemical oxidation and supercritical water oxidation to emerging techniques relying on ultraviolet light, plasma, ultrasound, or catalyst-driven thermal processes. Some are deployed in field tests. Other companies are actively running pilot programs, many with various divisions of the US Department of Defense and other government agencies. And many other technologies are still undergoing laboratory research. There’s good reason for this. Not only are PFAS everywhere around us; they’re also in us. Humans can’t break down PFAS, and our bodies struggle to clear them from our systems. Studies suggest they’re in my blood and yours — the majority of Americans,’ in fact — and they have been linked to increased risks of kidney and testicular cancer, decreased infant birthweights, and high blood pressure. And that’s only what we know about now: researchers continue to grapple with the full impacts of PFAS on human and environmental health.
Amazon’s flagship Fire Max 11 tablet just dropped to a record-low price of $150, representing a savings of $80 from the MSRP of $230. That’s 35 percent off, for you math-heads out there. This deal is for the standard tablet and doesn’t include a stylus, keyboard or any other accessories. Being as this is an Amazon tablet, you also get those ads on the lockscreen, but they are fairly unobtrusive.
This is the most powerful Fire tablet out there, with an 11-inch LCD screen, a slim aluminum frame and Alexa-powered smart home controls. You get a fingerprint sensor in the power button, WiFi 6 support and split-screen/picture-in-picture features. We were impressed by the inherent value of the tablet at its full price, so we are 35 percent more impressed now.
The Fire Max 11 is also light, weighing around a pound, and is designed around multi-tasking, with an octa-core MediaTek processor that is nearly twice as fast as any other Amazon-branded tablet. In other words, this is a far cry from the kinds of affordable, kid-friendly tablets the company typically releases.
There’s a keyboard and stylus available for this device, but you’ll pay extra for the added functionality. There are bundles that include these accessories that are also on sale, ranging from $185 to $275.
Speaking of sales, this is part of a larger early Black Friday event that includes many other Amazon tablets. You can snag the Fire HD 10 for $75, which is half off, or the Fire 7 Kids edition for just $55. The Fire 10 Plus and the Fire 10 Kids Pro tablets are also both on sale for a limited time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-fire-max-11-tablet-just-dropped-to-a-record-low-price-of-150-163018884.html?src=rss
With news of actor Matthew Perry’s passing over the weekend, fans are understandably reacting by re-watching episodes of Friends, the hit NBC sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004 and featured an ensemble including Perry as Chandler Bing. All 10 seasons are streaming on Max, and the streamer has added a tribute to the…
The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to ditch 26 over-the-counter eye drop products found at big retailers—including CVS, Rite Aid, and Target—due to a risk of infection. Consumers should not buy any of the products and should immediately stop using them if they’ve already purchased them.
The products include Target’s branded Up & Up Dry Eye Relief Lubricant Eye Drops and Up & Up Extreme Relief Dry Eye, as well as Lubricant Eye Drops and Lubricant Gel Drops branded by CVS Health and Rite Aid. The warning also includes eye drop products branded as Rugby and Leader (both from Cardinal Health) and Velocity Pharma. A full list can be found here, as can links to report adverse events.
In an advisory posted Friday, the FDA reported that no infections or adverse events have been linked to the products so far. But the agency said it “found insanitary conditions in the manufacturing facility and positive bacterial test results from environmental sampling of critical drug production areas in the facility.”
Google’s Pixel Tablet is one of the more compelling options for those in the market for an Android tablet, as it’s designed to double as a smart display when you aren’t holding it. If you’ve been thinking of picking one up, now looks like a good time to do so: The 11-inch slate is on sale for $399 at multiple retailers, including Amazon, Target, Best Buy and Google’s own online store. While there’s always a chance we see a better offer on Black Friday, this $100 discount marks a new all-time low. It’s also $10 less than the previous low we saw during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale earlier this month. This price applies to the base models with 128GB of storage; if you need more space, the 256GB versions are also $100 off at $499. Google says the offer will run through November 5.
We gave the Pixel Tablet a score of 85 in our review this past June, and we highlight it in our guide to the best tablets. While we don’t think it’s better purely as a tablet than our top Android pick, the vibrant Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, it’s a good ways cheaper, and it’s still more than competent for streaming video, playing games and doing most of the other casual things people do with a tablet. Its 2,560 x 1,600 LCD is crisp and punchy, its Tensor G2 chip is fast enough, its 5,000mAh battery should last a full day and the hardware doesn’t feel cheap. This is still an Android tablet, so some apps aren’t as optimized for this large display as they are on an iPad, but Google at least promises to supply the device with OS and security updates through June 2026 and June 2028, respectively.
That smart display functionality is the Pixel Tablet’s big selling point, though. Included with the device is a dock that both charges the device and provides a dedicated speaker — plop the Pixel Tablet on, and the slate becomes something like a detachable Nest Hub Max. You can use it to control and monitor smart home devices, access the Google Assistant, cast video from your phone, display photos, stream music and so on.
There are still issues: There’s no headphone jack, the display is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and we had a few software quirks with the tablet’s “Hub Mode” during the review process. Generally speaking, though, the Pixel Tablet is a clever melding of two useful devices. A few other Google devices are also on sale this week, including the unlocked Pixel 7a for $374, the Pixel Buds Pro for $119 and the indoor Nest Cam for $70, among others.
As part of the next phase of human spaceflight beyond Earth, one question remains when it comes to the exploration, and possible colonization, of another world: Can we have babies in space?
After 30 minutes or so withAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, I was fully invested. A broad grin crept across my mug as my Na’vi bounded from platform to platform up a mountain in the sky. The rousing music, lush vegetation and minimal user interface pulled me into Ubisoft’s take on Pandora. Having ikran, the distant moon’s answer to dragons, swooping around during my ascent helped me feel like I was actually exploring this alien environment.
The journey up to the ikran rookery was the highlight of my two hours or so with the game, closely followed by having the chance to explore Pandora from the skies after bonding with my new companion. Calling your new irkan flying friend to swoop in and rescue you in mid-air is thrilling, and your sidekick can land pretty much anywhere.
Ubisoft/Massive Entertainment
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world adventure game from Ubisoft studio Massive Entertainment. It’s a canonical part of James Cameron’s fictional universe and it’s set shortly before the events ofAvatar: The Way of Water, the sequel to the original 2009 film. Frontiers of Pandora was initially supposed to arrive at around the same time as The Way of Water, but Ubisoft pushed it back to this year.
As massively successful as the Avatar movies have been at the box office, they’ve hardly made much of a lasting cultural impact. I saw Avatar three times in theaters because of its absorbing spectacle, but had forgotten almost everything within a year and had to rewatch it before checking out the long-delayed sequel. I appreciate the technical wizardry and astonishing visuals of the films, as well as their salient points about environmentalism and colonialism, but the plots are largely rudimentary.
With more time and scope, the game has a chance to tell a richer narrative. Your character and some other Na’vi were kidnapped at a young age and were trained to serve under the RDA, a human military operation that’s harvesting resources from Pandora. Something goes wrong and the protagonist is put into emergency cryosleep. After waking up 15 years later, you’re effectively an outsider and need to relearn the ways of the Na’vi.
That’s a setup that effectively draws the player in as someone who needs to gradually understand how everything works. Naturally, as one of the Na’vi, you’ll square off against the RDA and try to drive them from Pandora.
My demo started with a modest fetch mission. I had to harvest some nectar needed for a ritual. After taking a few minutes to drink in the unusual flora and get my bearings, I made my way over to a mangrove hive. Harvesting the nectar involves a minigame that I’m sure will become annoying after having to do it a few times. You need to use a thumbstick to find the correct angle to pull an item from a plant or tree. Thankfully, Ubisoft offers the option to turn off this special interaction, much like you can skip the irritating pickpocketing minigame in Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
The publisher’s most recent open-world title is a blast. That was largely helped by Ubisoft showing restraint and avoiding much of the bloat for which it’s become notorious over the last several years. I was worried that Ubisoft would revert back to its old habits and stuff too many things into Frontiers of Pandora; it’s difficult to say whether that’s the case, based on a relatively brief look at an early section
Between side missions, looting, crafting and exploring, there’s certainly going to be lots to keep you busy outside of the main quests. You’ll be able to experiment with cooking by combining ingredients and seeing what happens (a familiar task to anyone who has played a recent Zelda game). This doesn’t seem too complex as you can only cook with two ingredients at once. Eating food can be helpful as meals can provide temporary boosts to things like base health and damage delivered while in stealth. It can also help you recover health. There are the expected multiple skill trees to juggle too, focused on survival, combat, hunting, crafting and ikran riding.
Most of these features seem additive rather than things that will pull you too far from the main story. On that note, it’s too early to say whether the narrative of the game will be much better than the humdrum narratives of either Avatar film (I’m still not over the rare mineral humans were mining from Pandora being called “unobtainium”).
Ubisoft/Massive Entertainment
After learning how to use your ikran, you’ll need to disable some aerial devices that are disrupting a Na’vi clan and then take out an enemy base. Destroying those floating beacons isn’t too difficult. You’ll need to use your hacking tools to disable the device before blowing it up. This section gave me a chance to try out aerial combat as RDA aircraft hover around the beacons to protect them. Playing on normal mode, I found that it was pretty easy to take down the flying machines with an automatic rifle (your Na’vi is pretty comfortable with guns after their RDA training).
Defeating mechs and human opponents is relatively straightforward too — unless you get overeager and rush headlong into an RDA base, only to get overwhelmed by enemies. I did just that a couple of times and died on each attempt. Taking a stealthy approach was both more successful and satisfying. Your Na’vi is powerful, so their bows are effective against humans and mechs alike. Taking out a soldier from a long distance with the longbow and thunking large arrows into mechs using the heavy bow helps to thin out the numbers without causing too much of a ruckus.
I deftly snuck between tunnels and pipes as I disabled drill towers and generators. When the enemies eventually discovered me, I made good use of my rifle as well as the staffsling to hurl explosives at them. Frontiers of Pandora affords you a lot of freedom when it comes to combat, and I enjoyed figuring out the best approach to various encounters.
The side missions I was able to try add some flavor too. One will see you taking out RDA installations and outposts to reduce pollution. Elsewhere, you’ll free animals that the military operation has captured.
Some aspects of the demo were unintuitive, however. I spent a few minutes figuring out how to ascend a steep cliff face before realizing I had to shoot a plant with my bow so it would drop a climbable vine. That was a little frustrating, as was not immediately knowing how to use the hacking tool — you need to apply just enough pressure to the controller’s trigger to line up two circles.
Overall, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is showing a lot of promise. I went into the demo with low expectations after a gameplay showcase in June left me underwhelmed, much like the two Avatar movies did. But now I can’t wait to jump back in and once again soar through the skies on my own ikran.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will hit PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Amazon Luna on December 7.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/avatar-frontiers-of-pandoras-adventurous-spirit-might-just-win-you-over-160024430.html?src=rss
