The Morning After: Super Nintendo World in the US opens on February 17th

If you envy Universal Studios Japan and its Mario-themed area, the US equivalent is almost here. Hollywood’s Super Nintendo World is less of a self-contained theme park and more of a new area at Universal Studios, and it will open on February 17th, 2023. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge will be the centerpiece attraction, an augmented reality-powered go-kart simulator inspired by Nintendo’s racing franchise. You wear an AR visor displaying a digital world with fantastical racetracks, Koopa Shells and familiar competitors, who you blast using your steering wheel trigger.

But, this will be the only ride inside the US’s Mushroom Kingdom tribute. The Japan equivalent has a second ride, and US work is already underway on a Donkey Kong-centric addition for 2024. That’s still enough reason to visit, right? The February opening should roughly coincide with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

– Mat Smith

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The biggest stories you might have missed

Tesla launches Steam game portal integration for the new Model S and X vehicles

It will give owners access to thousands of games.

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Tesla

Tesla is officially rolling out Steam integration for the latest versions of its Model S and X cars as part of its holiday update. In its promo video of the feature, you’ll see Tesla’s infotainment system running Steam Beta and even graphically demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077. By “new” Model S and X vehicles, Tesla likely means the “Plaid” versions, which started deliveries last year. Both models’ infotainment systems use AMD’s RDNA 2 GPUs, which are also the technology behind PlayStation 5, and AMD’s Ryzen chips.

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Twitter is shutting down the newsletter platform it bought last year

It bought Revue at the start of 2021.

One day after Jack Dorsey took to Revue to share his thoughts on the Twitter Files, Twitter announced it would shut down the newsletter platform early next year. “From January 18th, 2023, it will no longer be possible to access your Revue account,” Revue said on Wednesday. At the time, the company said the acquisition was a natural expansion of its platform. And for a while, it had a point, since paid newsletters were all the rage last year. At first, the company added Revue signup buttons to Twitter profiles. A month later, it rolled out a feature for users to sign up for Revue newsletters directly from tweets.

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YouTube users will get a 24-hour timeout if their toxic comments are removed

The video service will notify them first, too.

YouTube is rolling out updates today around toxic comments that violate community guidelines. Previously, it has used tools like popups to encourage “respectful” interactions, but it’s now taking a (slightly) more assertive approach. If YouTube detects and removes abusive comments, it will notify users that they’ve violated community guidelines. If the same person continues to post toxic comments, they’ll get a “timeout” and be unable to leave further comments for 24 hours.

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Eight charged in $114 million pump-and-dump stock scheme on Discord and Twitter

The fraud allegedly included a podcaster, too.

A federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission have charged eight men with allegedly operating a stock pump-and-dump scheme on Discord and Twitter between January 2020 and April 2022. They reportedly used their social media presences (including a combined 1.5 million Twitter followers) to artificially inflate the value of stocks, only to sell their shares without disclosing their plans. They made a $114 million profit off the campaign, the Justice Department said. The nature of the manipulation isn’t surprising, but the scale is. It follows the meme stock saga on Reddit, which boosted stock prices, including GameStop, and showed how online communities can influence share prices in the right circumstances.

The group went beyond Twitter, supposedly using a Discord server (Atlas Trading) to share misinformation about stocks. One participant, Daniel Knight, also co-hosted a podcast that apparently played a role in the fraud.

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‘Resident Evil Village VR’ will be available on PSVR2 launch day

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was a key game for the PlayStation VR launch back in 2016, and the franchise is set to play a role for Sony’s upcoming VR headset as well. Resident Evil Village VR will arrive at the same time as PlayStation VR2 on February 22, 2023 as free DLC for the standard PS5 game, Capcom and Sony announced. That means anyone with the standard game (no Gold Edition required) will get some instant PSVR2 content for free.

Developer Capcom teased a PSVR2 edition of Resident Evil: Village earlier this summer (below), nothng at the time that it would feature the entire PS5 version of the game. “The VR Mode supports the entire campaign and lifts the award-winning experience to new heights,” it said in the latest press release. “A deeper and more captivating adventure awaits with PlayStation VR2… VR Mode utilizes the 4K HDR display, eye tracking, and 3D audio to make Resident Evil Village more realistic and intense than ever.”

At the same time, Capcom’s promising that the PSVR2 Sense controllers will allow players to interact with their surroundings in new ways. “With one controller in each hand, you can feel the vibration, recoil, and resistance as you interact with objects in the world and fire weapons,” according to Sony’s PR.

For instance, players can hold up their arms to guard against enemies that get too close, while weapons will feel “tangibly more realistic in VR mode,” Capcom said. You’ll also see new gameplay elements like dual wielding and natural motion controls for reloading firearms and fighting with knives. 

As mentioned, the Resident Evil Village VR DLC will arrive when the $550 PSVR2 launches on February 22, 2023. To play it, you’ll need the PS5 version of Resident Evil Village or Resident Evil Village Gold Edition to play. Sony said that up to 20 games will be available for PlayStation VR2 upon launch, including Horizon Call of the Mountain and Among Us VR. 

Amazon’s God of War series will tell the story of the 2018 Norse reboot

Earlier this year, Sony announced that God of War would be developed as an Amazon Video series, and since then, the latest installment Ragnarok has become a huge hit on PlayStation. Now, the series is officially a go and we’ve learned more about what will take place, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

The series will follow the main character Kratos, The God of War, through roughly the events of the 2018 reboot based on Norse mythology. In that, he has quit his violent past and exiled himself to the Norse Midgard realm. 

“When his beloved wife dies,” Amazon’s description reads, “Kratos sets off on a dangerous journey with his estranged son to spread her ashes from the highest peak — his wife’s final wish. [The quest] will test the bonds between father and son, and force Kratos to battle new gods and monsters for the fate of the world.” 

The series will be produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios in association with PlayStation Productions. The showrunner will be The Wheel of Time‘s Rafe Judkins, aided by Oscar nominees Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man) who will take on writing and executive producing duties.

The original God of War series revolves around Greek mythology wrapped up in 2013 with God of War: Ascension (PS3). It rebooted with 2018’s Norse mythology-based God of War for PlayStation 4, which led to God of War Ragnarök, released last month to rave reviews.

Amazon is also producing a Fallout series for Prime that started production early this year and should be arriving soon. Other series based on high-profile games either released or coming soon include The Last of Us (HBO), Halo (Paramount) and Horizon Zero Dawn (Netflix). 

Oppo says its Find N2 is the ‘lightest horizontally folding phone’

Back in August, Xiaomi showed us how to make a thinner horizontal folding phone with its Mix Fold 2, but now it’s Oppo’s turn to demonstrate how to make them lighter. The new Find N2 shares a similar landscape screen design with its predecessor, yet it weighs as little as 233 grams. That’s 42 grams lighter than before, around 30 grams lighter than the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 and even a few grams lighter than an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Oppo therefore claims the new device is the “industry’s lightest horizontally folding phone.” Both the green and white versions of the Find N2 weigh an extra 4 grams due to their glass back, but still come in lighter than the competition.

Oppo uses a smaller second-generation flexion hinge, as well as its carbon fiber underframe (instead of aluminum) for its flexible screen. According to TÜV Rheinland’s certification, the Find N2 can apparently withstand over 400,000 folds under normal conditions (doubling Find N’s record), and over 100,000 folds at 50°C (122°F ) or down to -20°C (-4°F). The same company also gave a green tick to the phone’s 1.2-meter drop test. The battery is about the same size as before, bumping slightly up to 4,520mAh, but now supports faster 67W SuperVOOC charging, which takes 10 minutes to go from zero to 37 percent, or 42 minutes for a full charge.

This Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-powered foldable phone has a slightly larger 5.54-inch external display, and while its 7.1-inch flexible screen has kept the same 9:8.4 “golden” aspect ratio (1,792 x 1,920), it apparently has a less visible crease along with improved visibility. To make full use of this big landscape screen, the company is also releasing the Oppo Pen, which supports 4,096 levels of pressure and has a battery life of 11 hours. You can also use the pen’s button as a camera remote, which comes in handy when you prop up the camera for “FlexForm Capture.”

Speaking of, the Find N2 has a new set of cameras that have benefitted from some extra help from Hasselblad. You’ll find a 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera (24mm equivalent) with optical stabilization, a 48-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera (14mm equivalent) and a 32-megapixel f/2.2 telephoto camera (47mm equivalent) on the back. There’s also a 32-megapixel f/2.4 front-facing camera tucked into the top-left corner of the foldable screen. With Oppo’s very own MariSilicon X imaging neural processor, the Find N2 can also capture 4K ultra night video and 4K ultra HDR video.

Oppo also unveiled the Find N2 Flip which, as you can tell from the name, is a direct competitor of Samsung’s pocket-sized Galaxy Z Flip 4. The 3.26-inch external display here is apparently the “largest cover screen in any flip” device, which is handy for taking selfies, checking calendars and previewing messages. This device also packs the “biggest” battery in this form factor — 4,300mAh as opposed to Samsung’s 3,700mAh, along with 44W fast charging support. Chief Product Officer Pete Lau added that the Find N2 Flip supports dual SIM dual 5G standby, which is apparently also a first for a small foldable phone, thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor. Like the Find N2, the 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera, 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera and 32-megapixel f/2.4 front-facing camera all get the Hasselblad treatment.

The Find N2 comes in two price tiers: the 12GB RAM with 256GB storage model is asking for 7,999 yuan (around $1,150), and the more advanced 16GB RAM with 512GB storage version costs 8,999 yuan (around $1,290). As for the Find N2 Flip, it starts at 5,999 yuan ($860) with the 8GB RAM plus 256GB storage version, and it maxes out at 6,999 yuan ($1,000) with the 16GB RAM plus 512GB storage variant.

Both phones are available for pre-order in China today, ahead of the December 23rd launch for the Find N2 and then the December 30th launch for the Find N2 Flip. Oppo reps also told Engadget that the Flip will launch in international markets, but they are still evaluating whether to do the same with the bigger Find N2.