Robert's been a dedicated PlayStation fan since the days of Tekken 2, and he still loves a good dust up. When he's not practising combos, he's usually getting lost in the latest 100-hour RPG, or, y'know, replaying The Witcher 3.
Konami has officially announced a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake for PlayStation consoles.
Revealed during a PlayStation Showcase on Wednesday, ‘Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater’ will release for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Konami describes the title as “a faithful remake”. “A new generation of players and loyal fans alike can experience the origin story of the famed Big Boss, and witness how his legend was forged in the crucible of Operation Snake Eater,” it said.
Konami also confirmed “Volume 1” of a Metal Gear Solid remaster collection, featuring Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, releasing in autumn 2023.
The company wrote: “Currently, the development team are working together to create an environment where fans can experience and enjoy the Metal Gear series on the latest platforms.
“We are remaking Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, one of the most beloved instalments of the Metal Gear series, revealing the origin story of Snake, as Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater. We are working hard for Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater to be a faithful recreation of the original story and game design, while evolving the gameplay with stunning visuals and a seamless user experience.
“Simultaneously, we will deliver the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection series, the most complete compilation that celebrates the 35th anniversary of the series. The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection allows fans to play the games as they were, as first released on the latest platforms.
“We hope you will enjoy the Metal Gear series on the latest platforms.”
VGC first reported in 2021 that Konami was working on a new version of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, alongside revivals of the Silent Hill and Castlevania franchises.
According to sources, Konami is understood to have softened its stance over licensing its game properties. Evidence of this was seen recently with the reveal of several new Silent Hill projects, including a remake of Silent Hill 2.
Konami published the following screenshots of Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater:
A man who was paralysed in a cycling accident in 2011 has been able to stand and walk with an aid after doctors implanted a device that reads his brain waves and sends instructions to his spine to move the right muscles.
Gert-Jan Oskam, 40, was told he would never walk again after breaking his neck in a traffic accident in China, but has climbed stairs and walked for more than 100 metres at a time since having the operation.
“A few months ago, I was able, for the first time after 10 years, to stand up and have a beer with my friends,” said Oskam, who is from the Netherlands. “That was pretty cool. I want to use it in my daily life.”
The “digital bridge” is the latest from a team of neuroscientists in Switzerland who have a longstanding programme to develop brain-machine interfaces to overcome paralysis. The project aims to use wireless signals to reconnect the brain with muscles that are rendered useless when spinal cord nerves are broken.
In a previous trial, Oskam tested a system that recreated the rhythmic steps of walking by sending signals from a computer to his spinal cord. While the device helped him take several steps at once, the movement was quite robotic and had to be triggered by a button or sensor.
For the latest update, Prof Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon at Lausanne University hospital, installed electrodes on Oskam’s brain that detect neural activity when he tries to move his legs. The readings are processed by an algorithm that turns them into pulses, which are sent to further electrodes in his spine. The pulses activate nerves in the spine, switching on muscles to produce the intended movement.
“What we’ve been able to do is re-establish communication between the brain and the region of the spinal cord that controls leg movement with a digital bridge,” said Prof Grégoire Courtine at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. He said the system could “capture the thoughts of Gert-Jan and translate those thoughts into stimulation of the spinal cord to re-establish voluntary leg movements”.
The device does not produce swift, smooth strides, but Oskam said the implant, described in Nature, allowed for more natural movements than before, because standing up and walking were initiated and controlled by thinking about the actions. The signals stimulate muscles needed to flex the hip, knee and ankle.
The device also appears to boost rehabilitation. After more than 40 training sessions with the implant, Oskam, who did not sever all the nerves in his spine, regained some control over his legs, even when the device was turned off. Courtine believes that reconnecting the brain and spine helps to regenerate spinal nerves, recovering some of the patient’s lost control.
While the work is at an early stage, the researchers hope that future, miniaturised devices will help stroke patients and paralysed people to walk, move their arms and hands, and control other functions, such as the bladder, which is often affected by spinal cord injuries. Arm and hand movements may be more difficult, as they are more complex than walking.
With Oskam showing progress more than a decade after his accident, the team is confident that other patients with more recent injuries could fare better. With Oskam “it’s more than 10 years after the spinal cord injury”, Courtine said. “Imagine when we apply the digital bridge a few weeks after spinal cord injury. The potential for recovery is tremendous.”
Amazon has announced the launch of a brand new tablet – the Fire Max 11.
The latest addition to the global retailer's Fire tablet family is available to pre-order, along with complimentary accessories.
In terms of specs, the Fire Max 11 has, as you'd expect from the name, an 11-inch screen with 2000 x 1200 resolution.
It's got 8MP cameras to the front and rear for video calling, a 2.2Ghz octa-core processor, WiFi 6 connectivity and 4GB RAM.
Shop Fire Max 11 tablet at Amazon
It's Dolby Atmos ready, and is also the first of Amazon's Fire tablets to include fingerprint recognition tech.
Amazon says the Fire Max 11 is close to 50% faster than its next fastest tablet, and customers can expect up to 14 hours of battery life.
There are 64GB and 128GB storage options – and, of course, it's Alexa-ready, including 'Show Mode' to mimic the Echo Show's functionality.
The Fire Max 11 is priced from £249.99 in the UK, with pre-orders open now ahead of shipping in June.
It can also be purchased as part of a 'Productivity Bundle' with pricing starting at "just under £375". This includes the tablet, a keyboard case with a full-size magnetic keyboard (£89.99) and a stylus pen (£34.99).
A slimline cover/stand for the new Fire Max 11 tablet can also be purchased separately, priced at £49.99.
Amazon's announcement comes only a few days after it confirmed a new version of the Echo Show 5 was on its way, along with a brand new addition to its smart speaker family, the Echo Pop.
It has also launched the Fire TV Omni QLED 4-Series and 2-Series in the UK this year, complementing its existing Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Cube range.
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WhatsApp will finally let people edit messages after they are sent.
It means the app joins a range of other platforms, such as iMessage and Slack, in letting people fix problems in a message. And it follows the recent addition of the option to delete messages entirely.
The feature is now rolling out to users across the world and will be available to everyone in the “coming weeks”, said Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of WhatsApp parent company Meta.
When it is available, users will be able to long press a message and click the “edit” button to change what it says.
That option will be available for fifteen minutes after it has been sent. That is much shorter than the option to delete a message – which is now two and a half days, after being extended last year.
As with deleted messages, it will not be possible to secretly delete messages, to avoid embarrassing situations or being able to make chat transcripts look misleading. Any message that has been changed will show a small “edited” message next to it, to make people aware of the change.
WhatsApp said the feature could be used for “correcting a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message”.
The new change is just the latest in a series of small tweaks to WhatsApp intended to make the app easier and less frustrating to use. That includes a new feature for “secret chats”, fixes for the way that polls and message forwarding works, and the option to keep disappearing messages.
They also come shortly after the app was criticised for apparently accessing people’s microphones while the app was not even in use. WhatsApp said that was a bug that resulted from software in Google’s Android operating system, and insisted that it does not listen to users.
WhatsApp says it will allow users to edit messages, in a move that will see it match a feature offered by competitors like Telegram and Signal.
The firm says messages can be edited for up to 15 minutes after being sent.
The instant-messaging service is part of US technology giant Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram.
The feature will made be available to WhatsApp's 2 billion users in the coming weeks. It counts India as its largest market, with 487 million users.
"From correcting a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message, we're excited to bring you more control over your chats," the messaging service said in a blog post on Monday.
"All you need to do is long-press on a sent message and choose 'Edit' from the menu for up to fifteen minutes after," it added.
Edited messages will be tagged as "edited", so recipients are aware that the content has been changed.
However, they will not be shown how the message has been tweaked over time.
WhatsApp's announcement came after the feature was offered by messaging services Telegram and Signal.
The edit function was introduced by social media platform Facebook almost a decade ago.
Around that time, Facebook revealed that more than half its users accessed the site on mobile phones, which are more prone to typing errors.
On Facebook, updates that are modified are marked as edited. A history of the edits is also available for users to view.
Last year, Elon Musk's social media platform Twitter said it was giving its paying subscribers the ability to edit their tweets.
Tweets can be edited a few times in the 30 minutes after posting.
"Tweeting will feel more approachable and less stressful," Twitter said in a blog post at the time.
"You should be able to participate in the conversation in a way that makes sense to you and we'll keep working on ways that make it feel effortless to do just that," the platform added.
Miles Morales voice actor Nadji Jeter has shared some new information about Insomniac's Spider-Man 2, along with an apparent tease of co-op play that developer Insomniac Games has already shut down.
In a panel from SacAnime Summer 2022 (that was recently noticed in a resetera thread), Jeter answers a few questions about Miles Morales' role in the upcoming game.
In the question and answer portion of his panel, Jeter was asked if Spider-Man 2 will have co-op, where two players team up as Miles and Peter Parker. Jeter responded, "I don't know if it's been announced or not, but I think so."
Developer Insomniac Games confirmed on Twitter that Spider-Man 2 is an "epic single-player adventure", so it's likely that Jeter was simply referring to multiple playable characters rather than co-op. For example, there could be character swapping throughout the campaign between Miles and Peter.
Nope! It is an epic single-player adventure!
— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) May 22, 2023
A fan also asked Jeter if Miles was going to get infected with the Venom symbiote in Spider-Man 2, and Jeter simply replied, "They're everywhere. [Symbiotes] are going to be everywhere."
Later in the panel, Jeter talked about how Miles' skillset will grow in Spider-Man 2, after the character was learning to grapple with his newfound responsibility in Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
"He gets clever with his webs in this next one. Yeah, he gets real clever. So you all stick around for that part two… He's getting the hang of it now."
It likely won't be long until we see more of Spider-Man 2 from PlayStation itself, as Sony is holding a PlayStation Showcase this week on May 24. The event is set to be over an hour long, focusing on games coming to PS5 and PSVR 2. Given that Spider-Man 2 is slated to arrive this year, it seems like a lock for the showcase.
Spider-Man 2 was first announced in September 2021. The game will introduce Venom to Insomniac's Spiderverse, and the initial trailer teased Miles and Peter taking down criminals together.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
