Blind people and people with visual impairments who were using a retinal implant to gain some vision have been abandoned by the company that manufactured and sold the medical devices.
Second Sight is no longer supporting the implants and has declared the devices obsolete.
It’s left people with the implants with a choice to leave defunct tech in their brains or having it surgically removed.
The full story is at IEEE Spectrum and details how the lives of patients have been impacted by the failure of a business, a company that had, in the words of one patient, “fantastic technology” but that couldn’t manage to keep solvent.
This came to my attention because of a twitter post by my friend, Ryan Knighton, author of the memoir, Cockeyed.
My specialist said I was eligible for this and encouraged me to consider it. I did. Within minutes I said no thanks. My reason, among others, was this nightmare. I spoke about it on CBC. I was the downer guest. The other guest had the implant. I hope she’s OK https://t.co/YyfuaLlgxO
This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on Windows, Destiny 2’s Lightfall, Gamescom 2022 opening night, and Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip4, Z Fold4, Galaxy Buds2 Pro, and the Galaxy Watch5 and Watch5 Pro.
The benefit to playing games on a computer is that players have more control over the build of their computer and the settings they play on. So a fully kitted out gaming rig with an ultrawide, 4K monitor serves up some vibrant visuals.
This game has an unlocked frame rate, which can make it run faster and smoother depending on the computer components, and it supports triple-monitor set-ups, too, for a surround viewing experience.
Sony and PlayStation have been steadily releasing some of their best games on the Windows platform, and sales figures suggest this is a trend that will continue. These are games that have had their time on the PlayStation consoles, so making them available to gamers who prefer playing on their Windows boxes is only increasing the size of the audience.
Bungie unveils Lightfall, the next chapter of Destiny 2
In an online showcase on Tuesday, Bungie spent time laying out the plan for the next year or so of Destiny 2.
The most significant news was of the next chapter of the game. Lightfall releases on February 28, 2023, and delivers a bunch of new things.
There’s a new enemy called the Witness, a creepy entity of the Darkness that is hellbent on destroying the Traveler, the thing that brought Light to humanity,
Strand is a new darkness power, a psychic energy of threads that guardians can weave and wield. This includes a grappling hook that can be used anywhere because it connects to a “cosmic web” of Strand psychic energy.
And we get to play in a new environment on Neptune, a shiny futuristic city called Neomuna. This is the most dramatic tonal shift we’ve seen in a Destiny geography, and I can’t wait to explore it.
In the meantime, while we wait for Lightfall, we can enjoy the Season of Plunder, which will run until December. This has us forming a crew of ne’er-do-wells to try and find a pirate treasure before the enemy. It’s Destiny with pirates.
And Destiny 2 is now available on the Epic Games Store, and downloading the free game from there will also get you the 30th Anniversary Pack of content for free.
Destiny 2 avatars are also headed to Fortnite and Fall Guys.
Notable reveals from the opening night of Gamescom
Every year – most every year – Cologne, Germany is the location of Gamescom, Europe’s prominent gaming event.
Opening the event this year was a Geoff Keighley hosted event (you can watch the replay below) during which a number of announcements were made. Here are some of them.
A survival massively multiplayer online game set on Arrakis.
Lies of P
An action adventure based on Pinocchio that has the tone of Bioshock and the fighting mechanics of Bloodborne. Coming in 2023 to computers and consoles and also to Xbox Game Pass.
In an online event earlier this month, Samsung showed off the latest versions of its folding and wearable technology. All of this new stuff becomes available on Friday (August 26).
Smartphones
The Galaxy Z Flip4 and the Galaxy Z Fold4 are the latest iterations in the folding device category (which Samsung seems to be the sole occupant of these days).
While these two smartphones both fold, they are being aimed at distinct user groups. The Flip4 ($1,260 for 128 GB, $1,330 for 256 GB, $1,500 for 512 GB), which folds arcoss the width, is more of a lifestyle device, with two 12 MP cameras on the front and a 10 MP selfie camera.
The Fold4 ($2,270 for 256 MB, $2,430 for 512 MB), which folds down the length, is positioned as more of a productivity device which can be unfolded when you need more screen and the device supports the S Pen stylus.
Wearables
The latest version of Samsung’s Galaxy Buds2 Pro ($290) has improved active noise cancelling, and they will detect if you’re talking and will automatically disconnect ANC so you don’t need to remove them.
And if you’ve got a Samsung TV, you can connect the Buds2 Pro wirelessly, and if you get a call on your phone you can take the call without needing to disconnect from the TV.
The Watch5 comes in 40 mm and 44 mm sizes, and the Watch5 Pro is 45 mm, and both models come in Bluetooth only, or Bluetooth and LTE, if you want to use the watch while away from your connected mobile.
The Watch5 series introduces sensors that allow for monitoring of heart rate and ECG.
Become a cat in Stray, fight the zombies in Walking Dead: Last Mile, and earn points for playing on your PS4 and PS5 consoles.
Help a cat survive a strange, futuristic city in Stray
One of the summer’s surprise delights is Stray (PS4, PS5, Windows), in which you are a cat in a rundown city of the future.
The city you get lost in is a slum inhabited by robotic denizens with CRT monitors for heads. These residents have lives and you will interact with them in order to solve the mystery of what happened and so you can escape to the surface and rejoin your family.
You’re assisted by a small, flying robot that can communicate with you and translate the droids speech. It will also collect objects in the environment that you’ll need to solve the puzzles.
You use your feline dexterity to navigate hard-to-reach places, and what the developers at BlueTwelve really nailed was the biomechanics of the cat’s movement: the pause before the leap, the saunter, the delicate placement of feet.
Even the way your cat swats at an object with a slight head tilt seems entirely authentic.
There are occasional episodes where you need to run and avoid some strange, dangerous bug creatures that can hurt and kill. There’s no way to fight them – you’re a cat – so finding a way to attract them before dashing away is the only way to survive.
Published by Anapurna, I was able to play Stray because it is one of the games available as part of the Playstation Plus Premium subscription plan.
Charming and beautiful, Stray is a perfect summer distraction.
The Walking Dead: Last Mile debuts on Facebook Gaming
Fans of the Walking Dead franchise can interact with the zombie-filled world on Facebook now.
The Walking Dead: Last Mile is a massively interactive live event (MILE) developed by Genvidtech in conjunction with Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment.
Set in Alaska, the game has players creating a character, selecting a class (I made mine a scavenger) and joining one of two factions. Along with weekly story moments, you can play a number of minigames to help out your faction, and you can also participate in live events with others who are playing the game at the same time.
You can even send your character on assignments for the community – these are passive, so you don’t interact – but you are rewarded with supplies and ammunition.
The real interesting feature here is that you can spend the currency you earn playing the game to vote in the decisions made by the community that affect the story being told.
And those decisions are going to be canon in the Walking Dead universe, promises the writing team at Skybound.
Technically still in “beta”, Walking Dead: Last Mile is a bit buggy, and a bit tedious, but it is also an interesting experiment in the realm of interactive entertainment.
PlayStation shares details of Stars loyalty program
In addition to a revamped PlayStation Plus subscription program, PlayStation is rewarding people who game on its systems with a new loyalty program, PlayStation Stars
Launching later this year, players will be able to collect points by playing, by making purchases on the PlayStation Store, and by participating in various promotional campaigns.
Those points will redeemable for things like DLC, games, and even top-ups for a PSN wallet.
PlayStation Stars will be free to join when it launches later this fall.
The Mind Control Division is the intelligence arm of Blaine Kyllo's Solo Corps Creative Incorporated. This department conducts investigations and experiments into media and technology culture.
