Month: February 2022

Enlarge / OK, a little to your right. Little more… there. Hold it. OK, say “cheese.”

I’ve never been able to get very deep into Demon’s Souls or any of the thematically similar follow-ups developer From Software has become known for in recent years. The last time I seriously tried, delving into Dark Souls II in 2014, I documented the “maddeningly beautiful suffering” I endured while dying 65 times in an eight-hour slog to beat a single boss.

While that experience gave me some appreciation for From Software’s uncompromising game design, it was also enough to convince me that I didn’t have the temperament to pour dozens of hours into these sorts of games. I get why so many people find this unforgiving style appealing, and I’ve even willingly dipped my toes into From Software’s further catalog from time to time. But I just couldn’t overcome the frustration factor necessary to really commit to a deep dive into these meticulously crafted worlds.

Then the buzz began for Elden Ring, the latest game in what has become known as From’s “Soulsborne” style. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki promised in interviews that the new title would be more accessible than his previous From Software work, with quality-of-life improvements like more frequent checkpoints, easier health management, and an open-world design that doesn’t gatekeep progress behind nigh-impossible bosses.

“I don’t want to enforce any playstyle or particular route because I’d like [players] to experience that sense of freedom,” Miyazaki said. “And I realize that while we offer games with a high level of challenge, we design them in a way that feels fulfilling to overcome.”

Enlarge / Virgin Galactic’s new vehicle, VSS Imagine, is lighter than its predecessor, VSS Unity. (credit: Virgin Galactic)

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2021, and the full year, on Tuesday afternoon. As usual, for a company that has yet to begin commercial service of its space plane, the results were grim.

During the final quarter of 2021, Virgin Galactic reported revenue of $141,000 and a net loss of $80 million. The cumulative results were even more sobering. According to the publicly traded company’s consolidated statements, Virgin Galactic has now lost $1 billion during the last two years.

Company officials sought to put a positive spin on these financial results.

Enlarge / Logitech G413 SE mechanical keyboard. (credit: Scharon Harding)

A common complaint about mechanical keyboards is that they’re expensive, especially if you prefer an established brand. But Logitech challenges that with its new G413 SE, which is one of the company’s least expensive mechanical keyboards. At $80, it barely squeaks into the budget category, and there’s also a $70 tenkeyless version.

Logitech comes through with a quality, mildly unusual typing experience. The G413 SE’s conservative design will also win over users who feel mechanical keyboards, especially gaming devices, have become too flashy.

Despite a reputation for high prices, $80 mechanical keyboards can still offer a lot these days. But if you’re comparing feature sets among budget mechanical keyboards, the G413 SE costs more than it should.

Enlarge / A health care worker treats a patient inside a negative-pressure room in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, Missouri, on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

Spread of COVID-19 within US hospitals hit a record high in January, with more than 3,000 hospital-acquired infections each week during the month and a peak of over 4,300, according to an analysis of federal data by Politico.

The surge of hospital transmissions mirrored the towering wave of cases in the overall population driven by the ultratransmissible omicron variant. The previous record for hospital-transmission of COVID-19 occurred in January 2020 when federal data caught over 2,000 infections per week within hospitals.

Still the numbers overall are likely to be significant undercounts given that they only capture patients who spend 14 consecutive days in a hospital and become infected during their stay. The data does not account for shorter stays or people who test positive after discharge.

Enlarge / Bethesda will finally dispose of its publisher-exclusive PC-game launcher starting in April. (credit: Getty Images / Sam Machkovech)

In a welcome change of pace, a video game maker has announced the retirement of a “launcher” app for PCs, as opposed to announcing and releasing yet another one to a crowded market.

Bethesda Launcher, as maintained by the game maker and publisher of the same name, will fully shut down at some point in “May,” the company announced on Tuesday. Thankfully, affected users will get to carry every BL purchase and license over to Valve’s Steam storefront starting in “early April.”

This week’s announcement FAQ does not clarify exactly how license transfers will be handled, leaving us to assume that users will log in with their affected credentials to a website and receive a list of Steam redemption codes. In promising news, Bethesda insists that all games’ paid DLC and microtransaction currencies will transfer to the Steam versions seamlessly, so long as players log into a Bethesda.net account while in-game. The same goes for Fallout 76‘s “Fallout 1st” membership, though any recurring subscriptions handled via BL will not auto-renew in April and beyond. Those users will have to set up a new subscription plan via the game’s Steam version.