Welcome to hump day, and we have a mixture of good and bad news. Read about how a smart breast pump proved that CES can give us useful gadgets that solve real problems and the cancellation of a highly-anticipated Xbox title that let you fight alongside a dragon buddy. We also reported from the first million-dollar e-race, where Formula E’s pro drivers were bested by the world’s best simulator racers.
Xbox One’s ‘Scalebound’ gets canceled
Scalebound is no more. Platinum’s Xbox exclusive has been canceled by Microsoft, killing the dream of a Devil May Cry–meets–Last Guardian mashup. This won’t reflect well on developer Platinum. Since 2014, when the excellent Bayonetta 2 was released on Wii U, the company has put out a string of mediocre games, including Transformers: Devastation and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, which were all decent, but far from extraordinary. The studio’s reputation will now rest its next big-budget title: ‘Nier: Automata‘. Here’s hoping gamers like female androids that swing giant swords. (Spoiler: they probably do.)
Choose Today’s Trump news
While the Senate considered the President-elect’s choice for Attorney General, a pair of other stories made the headlines. In one, vaccine denier Robert F. Kennedy said Donald Trump asked him to chair a commission on vaccine safety, which the transition team later denied. In the other, both Trump and Obama have apparently been briefed by US intelligence on an unconfirmed report, allegedly compiled by a former British spy, claiming there was information shared between Russia and the Trump campaign. The document, released in full by Buzzfeed, also claims that Russia has compromising information about Trump which it may try to use against him.
Obama’s exit
In the final days of Barack Obama’s presidency, Science has published his essay titled “The irreversible momentum of clean energy.” That same optimism was reflected during his farewell address in Chicago, where the President implored us to stop arguing with strangers on the internet, and instead talk to them in real life.
Who would win if you pitted the entire Formula E roster against some pro simulator racers?
At the final day of CES, the organizers of Formula E offered a million-dollar prize pot for 30 simulator competitors, made up of 20 professional racers and the best sim drivers in the world. The race was not without some bumps along the way, however…
Lionsgate will make another move about eSports
Film and television production company Lionsgate has invested an undisclosed amount into Immortals, a relatively new eSports organization with teams competing in the likes of League of Legends, Overwatch and Super Smash Bros. This isn’t Lionsgate’s first foray into the rich new world of professional gaming. In May, Lionsgate announced it was partnering with the Electronic Sports League and Pilgrim Media on an eSports television show — turns out, that will be a reality program all about the competitive side of Halo 5.
How Willow the smart breast pump won CES
Willow, solves a real problem in the world. The device slides into a nursing mother’s bra and allows for hands-free pumping. At CES, it won two of our Best of CES awards and generated press coverage across the internet. While the promise of the Internet of Things has largely gone unrealized thus far, our readers seem to have a fascination with the weirder connected devices that we cover. It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that a smart breast pump garnered so much attention — but the fact that it turned out to be actually useful made it more than just a punch line.
But wait, there’s more…
- LG’s G6 phone will feature an 18:9 screen aspect ratio
- Fitbit swallows up another smartwatch startup, this time it’s Vector
- AI friends will keep passengers engaged when future cars drive themselves
- The Steadicam Volt handheld gimbal is up for grabs on Kickstarter for $139
- Facebook’s diversity push hampered by its own hiring practices
