Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai is quitting YouTube sometime in 2024 despite just starting his Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games channel in August 2022.
Sakurai quietly announced the end of his YouTube career in a belated New Year’s message. “It’s a bit late to be saying this, but Happy New Year,” Sakurai said. “I’m planning to wrap up Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games sometime this year. Until then, I hope you’ll stay tuned.”
He didn’t offer any reason for ending the channel, but fans are already speculating its related to the next Super Smash Bros. game at Nintendo.
Nothing has been announced, however, and Sakurai said previously he doesn’t know how the franchise can get any bigger or better than this entry, which even includes characters from beyond Nintendo like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Joker from Persona 5, Steve and Alex from Minecraft, and many more.
Palworld, the hotly anticipated monster-collecting RPG dubbed “Pokémon with guns”, finally has a release date as well as confirmation it’s coming to Game Pass.
In Palworld, players can capture over 100 “Pals”, fight bosses, and build bases. You use your Pals to do tasks for you so you can automate entire production lines. There’s open-world survival and crafting gameplay in there, too, for up to 32 players.
Palworld, developed by Craftopia maker Pocketpair, launches on Friday, January 19 on PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store, Xbox Series X and S, and Xbox One in early access form. According to its new trailer, Palworld is coming to Game Pass day-and-date across Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, and Windows PC.
Palworld was originally revealed in a trailer in 2022, and immediately caught people’s attention with its familiar but very different take on a monster collecting game. Pocketpair said it expects Palworld to remain in early access for at least a year as it adds to the game and makes improvements.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Back in 2019 the original Horrified gave families a frightfully good time at Halloween as well as putting design house Prospero Hall on the collective board gaming map. Its recipe of players cooperating to send various monsters from classic Universal movies back to their graves was enough of a hit to spawn a sequel, Horrified: American Monsters. Now it’s back for a third scary season running, with a move to the ancient world with Horrified: Greek Monsters (see it at Target).
What’s in the Box
Like all Prospero Hall games, Horrified: Greek Monsters has a quote printed on the back of the board to greet players when they first open the box. It’s a lovely touch that hasn’t been spoiled through familiarity. For this game, it’s more a scene-setting exercise, explaining that you’ve been chosen by the gods to rid the world of mythological monsters.
Beneath the fold-out board are the rest of the components. These consist of several punch-out sprues of cardboard tokens and character sheets, tracking sheets, and plastic figures for each of the game’s six monsters in various lurid colors, some nice dice in marbled blue, plastic stands for the cardboard standee figures and two decks of cards. There’s also a bag to store and draw the item chips from which, in contrast to the usual drawstring pouch supplied for this purpose, is a much more utilitarian self-standing affair.
Art-wise, these are solid, with an interesting style that mixes the classical art of the game’s theme with a comic-book vibe that’s common to the whole series. It doesn’t always work: the Hoplite character in particular looks bizarre, an armored punk rocker with a mohawk in place of a crested helmet. And in terms of quality, the card decks and monster sheets are a real disappointment. They’re very thin and flimsy to the point of being hard to handle, and they won’t stand up to repeat plays without some plastic protection, although that is in line with previous entries in the series.
Rules and How it Plays
Horrified: Greek Monsters retains the core of its predecessor and will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s played the original Horrified. Players must work together, spending actions to move across the board and collect items, in the hope of defeating monsters released from Pandora’s Box. Items can be spent either to protect yourself from monster attacks or to work toward banishing a monster from the board. One new addition in this version is the concept of lairs, four tokens you place face-down on the board and spend an item to flip face-up, and which are integral to defeating some of the foes.
The monsters all have very different methods required to destroy them, which are again different from those in the original, and this is where the game gets much of its charm. To defeat Medusa, for example, you must ensure that she sees her reflection in each of four mirrors placed on the board. You can force her to move by going to her location and spending an orange item, which lets you move her a number of spaces equal to the number printed on the item counter. After being reflected in all four mirrors, using further orange items to move her to her lair, she can then be defeated there by spending green items.
Monsters can also move after a player’s turn, which requires them to flip over the top card of the monster deck, place a specified number of items on the board, resolve an event, and move one or more monsters. They move toward the closest target, so as well as spending items to move Medusa, you can also try and lure her towards mirrors by offering a tempting target. This is typical of the way the game offers you interesting dilemmas to solve that revolve around the most efficient way to pick up and use items.
While that sounds like a rather dry exercise, in practice it’s anything but. The whole board hums with activity, not only monsters attacking but also legends, non-player standees that are introduced by event cards. Legends want to get back to their home space and can be moved with actions from adjacent players. They will reward you with a helpful card if you get them there. But in the meantime they’re defenseless monster meat that need protecting. Monsters attack players or legends via a die roll which can hit, miss, or trigger a special ability: Medusa sends players to the furthest temple space. Between rolls and cards, it’s a thrill-ride game that feels very much alive even without the cunning of a human opponent.
The whole board hums with activity.
What makes things really interesting, however, is that you’re playing against multiple foes at once. This means you’ve got to prioritize a number of different threats, and each monster’s specific pathway to defeat can dovetail in all sorts of interesting ways. The Siren’s has a memory element. The Minotaur requires you to solve a simple puzzle. The others involve different combinations of item spending and dice rolls but, as an example, the Basilisk needs a lot of orange items so if you’re playing against it and the Medusa demands difficult trade-offs.
While none of the mechanical concepts behind the monsters are especially imaginative, they’re good examples of the way the game gets lots of variety out of simple mechanics. This isn’t a difficult game to learn — it plays in less than an hour, and it requires players to work together, making it fantastic family fare. Although it has the common issue in cooperative games that a particularly experienced, or loud, player can boss the others around, everyone has an independent character to control and their own hand of perk cards, so they can do their own thing.
Compared with the original, Horrified: Greek Monsters feels slightly more difficult to beat, largely because of the lairs. They suck actions and items out of the game while you hunt for the ones you need to defeat the enemies, which is a bit of a crapshoot. This adds some excitement, but it can make the difficulty a bit uneven, depending on whether you find what you need early on. It’s also hard not to feel that the monsters themselves are less interesting than the original foes, both thematically and mechanically. The puzzle to beat The Minotaur is just less interesting than the puzzle to beat The Mummy, for example. And there’s nothing like the cool double-header of Frankenstein and his Wife.
Diablo 4 has dropped down to just $44.99 on PS5, PS4, and Xbox in the New Year sales, a reasonable $25 off the MSRP of $69.99. That’s a better offer than what we saw over the Black Friday sales, marking this as one of the best gaming deals at the start of 2024.
If you haven’t had the chance to pay the incredible ARPG just yet, well this is the perfect opportunity. We gave the game a 9/10 in our review – stating: “Diablo 4 is a stunning sequel with near-perfect endgame and progression design that makes it absolutely excruciating to put down.”
CD Projekt has deemed Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty a commercial success after revealing it hit similar numbers to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.
Speaking to IGN, CD Projekt confirmed Phantom Liberty has an attach rate of approximately 23%, meaning 23% of players who bought the base Cyberpunk 2077 also bought the expansion. As revealed by co-CEO Michał Nowakowski on X/Twitter, The Witcher 3’s Hearts of Stone expansion had a 22% attach rate and Blood and Wine had a 24% attach rate within three months of launch.
What propels Phantom Liberty even further, however, is its release around two years and nine months after the base Cyberpunk 2077 launched. Hearts of Stone arrived around five months after The Witcher 3 and Blood and Wine arrived around one year after, when downloadable content is traditionally released and general engagement is typically higher.
Obsidian Entertainment studio design director Josh Sawyer pointed this out on X/Twitter in November 2023, when CD Projekt revealed Phantom Liberty had sold 4.3 million copies with an attach rate of 20%, saying his studio hopes for around a 25% attach rate on DLC released within a few months, “so a 20% attach rate on an expansion two-and-a-half years after launch is pretty impressive”.
“To be honest, the decision to go through with the expansion so long after launch of the single-player game was a bit counterintuitive,” Nowakowski said in the post. “But what happened is proof to us that solid content that people are happy with is the way to go.”
Stephanie Tyler Jones, who provided her likeness for the Mary Jane character in Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man series of video games, has called out fans who recently “crossed boundaries”.
Taking to Instagram, Jones said one fan in particular had left multiple voicemails “wanting to speak with me and requesting I call back” at her place of work. This behaviour, Jones said, was “unacceptable” and “considered stalking”, with the voicemails leaving her feeling “unsafe” and “uncomfortable”.
Jones said she is no longer actively acting or modeling after a career change to work in skincare, and called on fans to respect that. “My skincare page is not for Spider-Man or MJ fans,” Jones said.
“I kindly ask for boundaries not to be crossed,” Jones added. “Messages will not be answered, I will block you if you make me feel uncomfortable and you can unfollow me if this disappoints you.”
Harassment remains a significant problem for video game developers. The Game Developers Conference’s annual State of the Game Industry survey found 91% of developers believe player harassment is a problem for the industry. According to the research, women are more likely to experience abuse from players than men, as are members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Video game accessory maker Hyperkin has remade the original Xbox’s Controller S, which was a slimmer version of the infamous Duke, calling it The DuchesS.
As reported by The Verge, the DuchesS takes the original gamepad’s design and updates it with modern features like hall effect joysticks. These use magnets and electrical conductors instead of the electrical resistance used in standard joysticks, essentially extending the controller’s life span as there’s no actually friction.
The controller design isn’t final yet, and Hyperkin hasn’t shared a release date or price for the DuchesS either. Platforms weren’t confirmed, but it will presumably work with the Xbox Series X and S and PC.
The original Xbox Controller S — which sounds like a gamepad to go alongside the Xbox Series S and thus perhaps why Hyperkin rebranded it — was released in Japan as an alternative to the chunky Duke controller, which proved unpopular with gamers more familiar with slimmer Nintendo and PlayStation gamepads.
Larian Studios has kicked off 2024 with a beefy Baldur’s Gate 3 hotfix that tackles multiple bugs and blockers, and makes accessing trinkets much easier.
“Did you accidentally send Minthara’s lute to your camp supplies, thinking nobody could possibly need a lute in this day and age? In this hotfix, you will now be able to access certain quest-related items on the spot – even if they’re not held by your current party! How’s that for magic pockets?”
Elsewhere, the hotfix added categories to the Waypoints list, grouping Waypoints by location. Also of note is yet another fix for a kiss: “Fixed Gale’s dialogue ending abruptly when asking him for a kiss,” Larian said. “Enjoy the moment.”
Meanwhile, Larian told Mac players of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game that it’s “restructuring” to make sure future updates on Mac arrive alongside their PC versions. “It’ll take a bit of time but once finished, there shouldn’t be delays anymore,” Larian said. Until then, Larian expects a delay for updates of a maximum of two weeks. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience and understand this is frustrating,” Larian said. “Thank you for your patience.”
Here are the Baldur’s Gate 3 Hotfix #16 patch notes in full:
HIGHLIGHTS
The cross-save functionality will no longer sync modded saves, as they cannot be accessed by console players.
Added categories to the Waypoints list, grouping Waypoints by location.
You will now be able to access certain quest-related items on the spot, even if they are currently in the camp chest or in the inventory of a companion who is waiting at camp.
Added a couple of Potions of Animal Speaking to the Epilogue.
Karlach will now get her scene in Avernus regardless of whether she’s an avatar or a companion.
Wyll will now follow Karlach to Avernus correctly.
Fixed the Hide Helmet option resetting for companions after saving and loading.
Cazador now has 3 variations of his Legendary Action depending on how many Ritual charges he has. The more charges he has, the more dangerous his Vampiric Swarm is.
Fixed several issues with low resolution textures appearing after extended playtimes.
Fixed a visual bug where certain doors would reappear briefly when destroyed.
Fixed Gale’s dialogue ending abruptly when asking him for a kiss. Enjoy the moment.
CRASHES AND BLOCKERS
Fixed a potential crash related to quickloading.
Fixed a crash that would occur when unloading and then loading a region.
Fixed a crash when changing VSync settings.
Fixed a crash when destroying the spiderweb under the Spider Matriarch.
Fixed the potential cause of not being able to save the game (Error 701, crashing the game).
Fixed a crash that could happen when showing a pop-up message after lockpicking an item.
Fixed an issue that was causing the grenade launchers during Gortash’s fight to bypass Turn-Based Mode and deploy grenades in real-time, which could result in a crash. We call that cheating.
Fixed a crash that would occur when removing condition-based auras from modded savegames.
Fixed a possible crash when getting the available party gold during a trade.
Fixed some issues that could prevent savegames made under rare conditions from loading up.
COMBAT AND BALANCE
The Spectral Form passive is no longer hidden.
Fixed Balthazar’s Spectral Form not triggering when Balthazar succeeded in a Saving Throw but still got damaged.
Fixed Auntie Ethel not using Weird Magic Surge when struck by Repelling Blast in Honour Mode.
Fixed the scrying eyes’ damage mitigation mechanic in Tactician Mode not working the first time they are damaged.
In Tactician difficulty, Cazador now transforms into a unique mist form that threatens his foes with a necrotic aura.
Ability Drain will not be able to reduce a target’s ability below 1.
Improved the way Legendary Resistance works, now only triggering when it is actually useful.
GAMEPLAY
Fixed Astarion not being available through the companion menu at camp if you sent him directly to camp during the recruitment dialogue.
In Honour Mode, the Eggbearer condition is now also applied when the mummy owlbear is dead but the daddy owlbear is alive.
Fixed an issue in Honour Mode where the damage from Smite spells wouldn’t trigger items that activate when damaged.
You can no longer trade with Grukkoh the bugbear via the dialogue button before you’ve, uh, caught his attention.
Using a weapon that uses your Spellcasting Ability Modifier instead of the normal Ability Modifier will now choose the Spellcasting Ability with the highest value.
Fixed Group Hide not working properly when a party character is Downed.
Myrmidons’ weapons cannot be looted from their bodies after Long Rest anymore.
Fixed the Elemental Weapon, Magic Weapon, Heat Metal, and Daylight conditions persisting on the weapon after a Long Rest.
Fixed an issue that would affect some players controlling more than one avatar, which caused several naked characters to appear over them after the first Dream Visitor dream.
Fixed an issue where reconnecting to a multiplayer session would assign a player an avatar in Withers’ Wardrobe without taking said avatar out of the wardrobe. They don’t open from the inside!
Stealing a couple hundred items in one go no longer results in the game becoming unresponsive for quite some time afterwards while it deals with your kleptomaniac overindulgence. It may still freeze for a short period while processing the inventory transfer, though.
NPCs on the floor below you, can no longer ‘see’ you looting corpses up there.
When handing back stackable stolen items (such as healing potions), you will no longer lose all of them, but only the number you stole.
FLOW AND SCRIPTING
Fixed an issue preventing some players from advancing into Act III, looping them back to Act II.
Barcus Wroot should now show up correctly at Last Light Inn if you have saved him from his previous predicaments.
Fixed avatar Karlach being able to initiate the first romance scene with Lae’zel after proving her worth to Lae’zel, which should not be possible for her due to her engine still not being upgraded.
Tweaked the trigger conditions for Lae’zel’s initial romance dialogue after proving your worth to her so that it only triggers if the player controlling her has a single avatar. This is to avoid accidentally triggering the dialogue with an unintended avatar in case you have multiple.
Fixed some wrong character behaviours likely introduced in Patch 4.
Fixed an issue preventing some dialogue options with Alfira and Nadira from showing up.
Fixed Auntie Ethel prematurely teleporting to Act III if you pick up her corpse in Act I.
Gale is now less likely to lie to you about wanting to return the Crown of Karsus when making his decision in the endgame.
Raphael will no longer make a surprise appearance during the Epilogue if you made a deal with him and then decided to kill him.
Wyll will now appear during the initial Epilogue scene if he’s the Blade of Avernus and does not have a partner.
Fixed a couple of issues with Mizora’s dialogue getting stuck.
Fixed a blocker in the House of Hope in which Raphael wouldn’t appear if he was Silenced in Sharess’ Caress.
Fixed a blocker where you were able to banish Hope while she’s chained, preventing you from saving her.
The avatar dismissal dialogue will now be closed if the user rejoins the session while it is still active.
Duke Ravengard will now correctly hold the bars of his cell door while imprisoned in the Iron Throne instead of staying idle, seemingly unbothered by everything going on.
Characters that are attacked while disappearing out of sight will now resume their disappearing after combat ends. Back to the shadows with you.
PERFORMANCE AND OPTIMISATION
Fixed an issue where switching between party members would cause performance to drop.
Fixed a texture issue in Character Creation at Low and Medium settings.
UI
The proficiency bonuses on Explorer difficulty are now correctly accounted for in Character Creation.
Fixed an issue causing the Level Up screen to display the incorrect HP gain when increasing Constitution.
Fixed some instances where incorrect items would be selected when dragging them in the Trade menu.
Fixed an issue that prevented respeccing into a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer if you chose a spell that was already available from the Draconic Bloodline.
The values in the Skill tooltips on the Level Up screen will now update when you add Expertise.
Fixed the ‘Can’t control’ warning not disappearing under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue that briefly prevented you from interacting with an item in the inventory if it had been unequipped or equipped previously with the X button.
When a tutorial pop-up refers to an option in the shortcuts radial menu on controller, the option will now be highlighted.
Fixed ‘(Empty)’ sometimes briefly appearing next to an item’s name when highlighting it on Xbox.
Added descriptions for the different difficulty levels in the Additional Combat Mechanics options on Custom Mode.
Fixed a caching issue in the radial menus. This could, for instance, cause some Disguise Self options to not appear after cancelling and returning to the spell.
The lovely dark veins you get on your face when you become part-illithid now show up correctly in the Magic Mirror.
Fixed surface names sometimes appearing above characters on controller.
Increased the opacity of certain text boxes in the Reactions UI on controller to improve visibility.
Fixed a blocker where UI pop-ups wouldn’t close if the window behind them was closed first. This could happen, for example, when a cinematic dialogue triggered and closed the map while you were still naming a custom marker.
Fixed the loading screen not showing an image when joining a multiplayer session.
Fixed the damage type in the Crushing Fist spell tooltip.
The Legendary Resistance: Incapacitation tooltip now mentions that it can only be used 3 times.
Made sure the grid shown in inventories is correctly drawn if the grid becomes smaller.
Removed a low resolution version of one of the loading screen images.
Fixed an issue that caused some Video Settings like VSync and Refresh Rate to reset back upon starting the game.
Removed the option to confirm or reset options in the Alter Custom Mode menu for players who are not the host of a session.
Total party gold is no longer seen in barter mode.
Fixed an issue with the radial menus on controller causing the same items to get re-added to the same submenu and the Action radial menu to sometimes appear empty.
LEVEL DESIGN
Removed some world labels that were showing up for a pair of dice in Withers’ chapel in the Epilogue camp that made it look like they could be picked up. Also swapped out a cutting board.
ART
Optimised the appearance of platforms with chains in Grymforge.
Fixed some minor visual issues with weapons.
Fixed impact VFX/SFX not working for some projectiles.
ANIMATION
Fixed a zombie that would T-pose when dragged from your inventory.
Fixed some destruction animations that weren’t working properly.
SOUND
Fixed the wrong ambience sounds playing in the Last Light region and Wyrm’s Rock Fortress.
WRITING
Wyll is now appropriately celebratory upon the Netherbrain’s defeat.
Added text to the tooltip for Cazador’s Misty Escape ability on Tactician Mode.
Fixed Gerringothe Thorm’s Sublimation ability tooltip incorrectly stating that it should kill the target instantly.
Wyll now has a line during the ending scene when realising the tadpoles are gone.
Added an extra dialogue option when talking to Shadowheart in the Epilogue to fix a path that only gave you one choice.
Fixed the Wrathful Spirits condition saying the affected entity is Immune to all damage instead of Vulnerable to all damage.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
While the winds of Christmas and New Year are behind us, there’s another name on the lips of PlayStation fans in 2024: PlayStation Portal. While the initial reaction to the ‘play PS5 on your sofa’ device was mild, stock levels have proved extremely limited, and now everyone wants one. We gave the device an 8/10 in our review, stating that it’s a great second screen for your PS5, but lack of Bluetooth and an internet browser limit its use outside the house.
For now, we’re all on the hunt for one of these tidy devices, as the allure of fighting over the TV during the holidays quickly becomes a reality. You’re in the right place, as we’ve got all the details on where and when you can buy the PS Portal for the foreseeable future in the UK. For stock news in the US, check out our other relevant PS Portal buyer’s guide.
PlayStation Portal: When Will It Be Back in Stock?
PlayStation Portal is currently out of stock. There have been little to no new stock updates on the PS Portal in 2024, so we are still awaiting a massive new restock across all retailers again. We’re anticipating there will be one soon, so for instant updates on PS Portal stock, ensure you are following @IGNUKDeals on Twitter/X, or join our dedicated IGN Deals Discord server here where a friendly IGN writer will be happy to answer any queries. Stay tuned for more updates across other retailers who may be restocking this year and beyond.
What is the PS Portal? – Cost, Release Date, and More
PlayStation Portal launched on November 15 in the UK and costs £199.99 RRP. Unlike other handheld consoles like the Nintendo Switch, the PS Portal is a purely a second screen for your PS5. If the TV is being used, or you just want to play on the sofa or in bed, this is the perfect compansion piece for your shiny console — especially those who have just invested in the PS5 over Black Friday deals.
PlayStation Black Friday Deals
Xbox and Nintendo fans, don’t feel disheartened if they’re getting a little bit of special treatment right now — the deals are pretty amazing. For starters we’ve got the PS5 for £360, or the PS5 bundles including two free games for £400; unbelievable jeff.
There’s also a PS5 2TB SSD for less than £100 to maximise that storage, and a DualSense controller for just £39.99. PS Plus is also up to 30% off right now for new and current members, but you can save even more with a ShopTo gift card deal. For example, new members can get 12-months of PS Plus for £83.99 (down from £99.99), but the ShopTo £84 gift card costs just £74.85 so you’re securing a total saving of £25.14.
See More PS5 Deals
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
Sony Honda Mobility not only showed the latest version of its Afeela EV at Sony’s CES 2024 press conference, but the car itself was driven on the stage by a PlayStation DualSense controller. Don’t get too excited yet, however, as it was billed as only a tech demo.
The latest Afeela prototype was driven by Sony Honda Mobility president and COO Izumi Kawanishi, who was on stage with the DualSense. You can check out the clip below via @Knoebelbroet or click here to watch the moment in action on YouTube, but it’s important to remember that Kawanishi said this was just “for the purpose of the tech showcase only.”
They controlled Sony’s and Honda’s Afeela Car with a Dualsense Controller.
“This remote driving demo is for the purpose of the tech showcase only,” Kawanishi said. “However, we believe that software can define new function and value. We want to redefine the relationship between people and mobility.”
This was obviously meant to be a “wow” moment for the press conference, and it did shock those online as well when they first saw it.
This man literally used a DualSense controller to bring a car up on stage. That’s literally ridiculous.
I’m SO glad he said using that DualSense controller to control the Afeela vehicle was for tech purposes only. I was like please don’t give people that! (LAUGHS)
Everyone in the crowd was astounded and chat went galactic speed. #CES2024
— Antonio C. R. Murray = OkashiraStyle (@Haipa_Sonikku) January 9, 2024
Did Sony just tech demo the ability to control a car using the DualSense controller? pic.twitter.com/wGlPxJx8gU
That’s not the only gaming/entertainment-related news for the Afeela, as Kawanishi also showed off some of the possible customization options that include Fortnite and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse themes on the displays in the car.
Additionally, there were more details revealed about Sony Honda Mobility’s collaboration with Epic Games. This was seen in a simulator that that will make use of “virtual spaces to create new user experiences in mobility.”
“This tool simulates external environmental conditions such as information for other vehicles, pedestrians, terrain, and weather,” Sony Honda Mobility wrote. “By combining this technology with AR, users will enjoy an immersive experience that also enhances safety.
“SHM provides a visually stunning 3D map from which extensive metadata from the internet is overlaid. Map data can also be used to broaden the possibilities within the development of gaming and entertainment features.”