PlayStation Executive Jade Raymond Leaves Studio She Founded

Jade Raymond, the founder and head of Sony Group Corp. 's game developer Haven Studios, has left the company.
PlayStation leadership didn't give Haven staff a reason for her departure, but it came several weeks after an external test of Haven's first game, the online shooter Fairgames, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some developers at Haven were concerned about how the game was received and its progress, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren't authorized to speak publicly.

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Digital Trends

2 hours ago

• Digital Trends

In a sea of giant games, Rematch's simplicity is a gift

There are a lot of words I'd use to describe Rematch, the new multiplayer soccer game from Sifu developer Sloclap. It's fun, it's approachable, it's elegant. But there's one word I wouldn't use: ambitious. I don't mean that in a derogatory way; in fact, that's exactly what I love about it. Rematch needs little setup or explanation to get across what it is, which separates it from so many modern, formula-twisting video games. It's an online multiplayer soccer game where teams of three to five, depending on the playlist, compete in six minute matches. The teams are dropped on a basic pitch, the only notable twist of which is that all the sides are walled off. Players pass, block, and shoot and the team with the most points at the end wins. There are no gimmicks, no tricks, and no flourishes like flying cars that make for a cool sales pitch. It's just soccer. Recommended Videos With such an elementary premise on paper, you may be surprised to hear that I'm absolutely loving my time with Rematch so far. At a time where I could be playing the more involved FBC: Firebreak or Splitgate 2, I'm simply opting to kick the ball around. So what is it about Rematch that's grabbing me despite the fact that there's seemingly so little to it? For one, there's a lot more to it than what I've described. Rematch may look shallow at first glance, but there's a lot of depth hidden beneath its surface. As I play, I learn lots of small nuances that beg to be mastered. I can kick the ball away from me if I know a rival is planning to slide kick it from me, forfeiting control for a brief moment only to regain it quickly. I can perform a rainbow flick to fake opponents out, or bounce the ball off a wall to set a teammate up for a goal. These aren't flashy maneuvers by any means, but each one raises the skill ceiling in subtle ways that push me to keep learning. Even with those extra techniques, Rematch's strength lies in simplicity. Those who don't learn how to do any of that can still just pick up a controller and enjoy the simple thrill of kicking a ball into a goal or jumping to block a goal shot. In that way, Rematch is the closest I've felt a modern sports game has come to reaching the ethos of NES classics like Golf and Baseball. Throughout the 1980s, Nintendo loaded its home console up with very fundamental sports simulations that were easy to pick up and play. It would follow up on that philosophy decades later with Wii Sports (and eventually Nintendo Switch Sports), a game that would boil a game as complex as physically Tennis down to its essence. It understood that the joy of hitting a ball with a racket is powerful enough to fuel a video game, no further tricks attached. Rematch carries that same torch; Sloclap could have just called it Soccer had Nintendo not already taken the name in 1985. As I've repeatedly queued up for another round, I've found myself thinking about other games I appreciate and how they relate to Rematch. See, I've spent a long time this year thinking about what I value in video games. It started around the time Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 came out. Like many, I very much enjoyed Sandfall Interactive's impressive debut, but I simply wasn't as high on it as others. For every bit I liked, there was something else that I didn't. I found the whole thing messy, filled with clutter that didn't always work for me. I had conversations with fans at the time where I expressed that critique and would even find some advocates who agreed. However, the refrain I kept hearing was that the RPG's ambition made up for the flaws. I started thinking about that word: ambition. It's something I've heard to describe a lot of critically acclaimed games over the past few years. It was inseparable from Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 during their respective Game of the Year runs. It's being used right now to describe Mario Kart World's divisive open-world component. More and more, 'ambitious' has become a synonym for 'exemplary,' showing that there's a large contingent of players out there who value massive creative swings over functional ones. It's perhaps why Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one of the year's best reviewed games, while Avowed was received like a disappointment for not living up to The Elder Scrolls' scale. Avowed, as it turns out, is one of my favorite games of the year. The pieces that its loudest critics see as thin are what I see as focused. It tells a clear story and does not waste a single one of its RPG systems. Everything is in its right place, a design philosophy that allowed Obsidian to create an elegantly streamlined RPG that still sticks with me. Many of my favorite games this year share a similar strength. Despelote is a 90 minute game where not a second of its runtime feels superfluous. The Midnight Walk doesn't do anything new with the adventure genre, but it excels at feeling like a playable folktale. Rift of the NecroDancer is a fairly typical rhythm game, but one that is perfectly sharpened. All of these games rank far above Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on my personal Game of the Year tracker. I'm not sure where Rematch will land on that list, but my current obsession with it is consistent with the other games currently topping my charts. I appreciate the fact that Sloclap walked into the project with a very clear vision and set out to fine tune that as much as possible rather than dress it up in flashy distractions. At this point in my artistic tastes, I just prefer something that executes on a clear creative vision. It's why Videoverse and Venba were in my top five favorite games of 2023, while Baldur's Gate 3 wasn't. I do respect ambition in games, but I've come to value restraint even more. Rematch doesn't take 100 free shots only to miss half of them. It winds up a few careful shots and puts them square in the goal each time. It only takes one point to win a game soccer if you play your cards right. Rematch is out now PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Yahoo

4 hours ago

• Yahoo

Honda Now Makes VTOL Rockets and Early Tests Are Encouraging

If we needed any further indication that the 21st-century space race is heating up, Japanese car maker Honda has thrown its hat in the ring with a successful test of a reusable first-stage rocket. Said to have been under development for at least six years, the rocket flew to a height of 900 feet before returning carefully and safely to the launch pad, completely intact. Although the space shuttle pioneered the idea of reusable launch vehicles in the 1970s, it was only in the 2000s and 2010s that the idea really took off. The SpaceX Falcon 9 became the first commercial launch vehicle to nail the reusable first-stage concept, but others have followed in its wake, and many more are expected from US and Chinese aerospace firms in the 2020s. Honda just demonstrated the first potential Japanese launch vehicle that could do much the same. In this test, Honda launched a small rocket, measuring just 21 feet tall and 2.8 feet in diameter, weighing just under 2,900 pounds when fully fuelled up. The rocket took off from its launch pedestal, retracting its landing legs in the process. It then flew carefully to its intended height of around 900 feet before extending fins similar to those of the Falcon 9 and performing a controlled descent. It touched back down within just a few inches of its intended target, according to Honda. The flight lasted just under a minute. Honda said that this test represented the successful deployment of "key technologies essential for rocket reusability, such as flight stability during ascent and descent, as well as landing capability." Honda has discussed its rocket efforts before. As Ars Technica points out, in 2021 it said it had been working on a small launch vehicle for the previous two years and hoped to develope a reusable rocket design that could take a metric ton of payload into orbit. Honda hasn't suggested whether this rocket is the prototype for that design or just a way to test key technologies. It has previously said it would work on rocketry until 2025/2026 and then make a decision on whether to continue, so this test may have been an important indicator of Honda's future plans. "In this market environment, Honda has chosen to take on the technological challenge of developing reusable rockets by utilizing Honda technologies amassed in the development of various products and automated driving systems, based on a belief that reusable rockets will contribute to achieving sustainable transportation," Honda said in a statement.

Forbes

6 hours ago

• Forbes

As SpaceX Explodes Again, Honda Successfully Launches Reusable Rocket

Honda's reusable rocket blasts off in northern Japan. The latest SpaceX rocket explosion is the fourth failure in a row for the company's embattled CEO and Tesla boss Elon Musk as he tries to rebuild his brand after controversial political aspirations. Meanwhile, Honda—not meaning to shine a light of SpaceX problems—has just successfully conducted a launch and landing test of its experimental reusable rocket in northern Japan. Honda's rocket climbed to 890 feet before landing just 15 inches away from where it took off. Honda's rocket flew for 57 seconds and then landed Honda is well-known in industry circles as one of the few carmakers who produces a multitude of non-car products including motorcycles, ATVs, power equipment such as generators, lawnmowers, outboard motors and snowploughs, the HondaJet and robots such as ASIMO. And now it's entered rocket R&D in earnest. At Honda's test facility in Taiki Town located in Hokkaido, Japan's northern-most island, the company launched a reusable rocket that flew for almost a minute to an altitude of 890 feet and then landed with pinpoint accuracy just 15 inches from where it took off, according to Honda. The rocket weighs 2800 lbs which equates to a small car. Developed in-house by Honda R&D Company, the rocket—which weighs 2800 lbs or around the same weight as a small car—shot up vertically, blasting off using its four legs from the company's test site in the northern island of Hokkaido. Honda says its Hokkaido facility 'has been developing itself as a 'space town' through the joint efforts of public and private sectors,' including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The 21-foot high rocket, ascended for 57 seconds before landing around 15 inches from the target touchdown point using its four retractable legs that also aided in its take-off. Honda first revealed its goal to go into space in late 2021. But while the carmaker has been tight-lipped about its R&D progress, it is using existing technology from other areas, such as automated driving systems, to assist in the development of its first reusable rocket. The company says that the reason for developing its own launch system is the need for more satellites that will potentially benefit its other businesses. According to Honda, its rocket research is still in its infancy, and no decisions have yet been made on potential commercialization of these rocket technologies. The company has the ambitious goal to enable a suborbital launch by 2029 but success here will require significant testing and perhaps a few failures. A suborbital flight – upwards of 62 miles above sea level – would be a significant achievement for Honda, even though that is not far enough to put a satellite into orbit. It will be interesting to see if Honda goes all the way, and ends up competing with other private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin that are capable of conducting orbital flights.