Sucker Punch Productions is seeing out the generation in the same way that it saw it in, by unleashing a massive open world adventure game. The studio has spent much of the last six years penning its love letter to samurai cinema, Ghost of Tsushima; it is undoubtedly worlds apart from the punkish sprawl of the title that preceded it, Infamous: Second Son.
The truth is, this is an important milestone for the generation. Infamous: Second Son was the first post-launch, first-party exclusive for PS4, landing just four months after the console’s release in 2013. Ghost of Tsushima is the last first-party exclusive for PS4, landing just four months out from the suspected release of the PS5. Speaking with Jason Connell, creative and art director at Sucker Punch, he assures me that the studio never planned to bookend the generation. “The length of time that it can take to create something new is… you know what, when you look back on it and you count it up, it really is staggering, isn’t it? Like, wow, that took a long time,” he says, laughing.
Developing an idea
(Image credit: Sony)
Ghost of Tsushima represents the longest stretch of development Sucker Punch has ever endured as a studio. Six years between releases may seem like an eternity for players, but Connell tells me that, for the team, it was business as usual. “It didn’t really feel that way while we were working on it. We would have these milestones every six weeks, which is where you’d see what the team had contributed to the game and come up with new philosophies for the way we were making the game.”
Those philosophies have evolved over the years, although the studio never veered from its initial dream of casting you in the role of a Samurai in an exotic, open-ended overworld. “After Second Son, Nate [Fox, game director] and I were trying to figure out what fantasy we wanted to make next. Sly Cooper was about a thief; Infamous was about a superhero; so we are writing these ideas down and we got to Samurai and were like, wait, that sounds awesome,” says Connell. “I felt like I hadn’t played that game and I would love to make it. It was exciting.”
“As you can imagine, over six years, the idea evolved a tonne. But I think you have to embrace the fact that things are going to change and shift; you’re going to change direction, and you’re going to get curve balls thrown at you. You have to embrace what you initially set out to make, and it’s a dream come true if you can create that by the end,” he says, adding, “fast forward many years later and now Ghost of Tsushima is out there – we made our samurai open world game.”
(Image credit: Sucker Punch)
“My team wasn’t upset with me, but they definitely poked me pretty hard about that statement.”
Jason Connell, Sucker Punch
Speaking of curve balls, Connell is actually responsible for throwing one at his team back in 2017. Ghost of Tsushima was a surprise reveal at that year’s Paris Games Week, although with little more than a teaser trailer to go on we all had a lot of questions and few answers. One that made waves at the time came after Connell teased that “player choice in this game will mean something very different than other games we’ve made in the past”, before going onto claim that Ghost of Tsushima would not only feature no waypoints but that navigation would be driven almost entirely by curiosity in the world itself. Years later, he’s willing to admit that he went off script on that one.
“It’s funny you ask that, I’m so glad that someone finally asked me this question,” Connell says, breathing a sigh of relief. “My team wasn’t… they weren’t upset with me, but they definitely poked me pretty hard about that statement.”
“At that point in time, if you were to play our game, some of those elements totally existed. The beauty was there. You’d be like, ‘well, what’s in that forest? What’s on top of that mountain? Look, there’s a cool shrine!’ but the concept was not embedded deeply in every aspect of the game. And now, over the course of a couple of many years, it found its way to being – for the most part – a pretty true statement about our game. I think that, uh, I think I have to thank the team for that because they went and actually came up with the cool ideas to make it happen,” he says, adding, “it was a fun part of development because of that particular quote.”
The Cranes are a lie
(Image credit: Sucker Punch)
GHOST OF TSUSHIMA REVIEW
(Image credit: Sucker Punch)
Want the final verdict on Sucker Punch’s first game in six years? Then you’ll need to read our Ghost of Tsushima review.
The sparsity of Tsushima Island is an incredible departure from the Infamous games, the dense urban expanse that Second Son was contained within in particular. As different as the games are, Connell tells me that Ghost of Tsushima wouldn’t have been possible without first going through the experience of releasing Second Son in 2014. “We learned a lot by making our first game for PS4 – one of the first big games on the platform. We had to learn how to make the graphical fidelity impressive and… you know, we’re not a huge AAA team. We’re a big team by standards of indie studios, obviously, but we don’t have thousands of people at the studio – there’s like 160 people here.”
“So when we were creating Second Son, we knew we couldn’t create every rendering feature known to Earth. We had to work out what could create a gritty, realistic, and wet version of Seattle and focus our energy on that. We spent all of our time working on the powers and on making wet Seattle,” he laughs, explaining that the studio had to stick to this philosophy strictly; as much as it wanted to explore new rendering techniques to take advantage of the newfound power of the PS4, it had to reign in its ambitions if it ever wanted to ship the title. Game design is about creatively cutting corners to get the best results, after all.
“That philosophy actually held true when we moved to Ghost of Tsushima as we were trying to create a beautiful, serene, and nature-filled open world feudal Japan. Some of the tech actually carried over, such as what we used to create the wet environments and how we used particles in cool new ways,” says Connell, before surrendering an example. “The birds; the Cranes in our game, that you see flying off from you, they aren’t actual animated rigs… they are particles.”
Moving on from Infamous
(Image credit: Sucker Punch)
While many of these development philosophies certainly helped Sucker Punch deliver Ghost of Tsushima to the quality that we see it is today, it also can’t be understated just how disruptive the switch between projects would prove to be. Connell tells me that the art and environmental teams, in particular, had a hard time shifting from the “punk rock” aesthetic of Infamous to the more post-rock, “take a moment to chill” vibe that carries throughout Ghost of Tsushima. If you’re wondering why this game took so long to come out, this is undoubtedly it.
“We had a practised style. It was grungy. Full of graffiti and trash, rain and loud car exhausts, loud music and punk rock, you know. It was just this hugeshift, explains Connell, noting that this reverberates out across every department. It disrupts almost every one of the established design philosophies and practises that the teams have in place, right down to how the team puts texture into the environment for Ghost of Tsushima. “Think about how we even texture something like wood. Suddenly it’s like, okay, we don’t want to be grungy, we want to be minimal and we want the wood to create less noise.”
“We needed almost painted, realistic wood, but we have all of this imperfect, scanned, noisy wood – it’s hard, this is a hardship! We had to create tools in our engine with ‘view-modes’ that you can turn on in debug that would show us noisy textures on the screen or highlight textures that are too noisy in comparison to the rest. You could look at it and say ‘hey, this tree bark is a little too noisy’,” he says, noting that this level of granular attention to detail was important for the studio. “We wanted to try and create a unified look as much as possible, because it’s in a different style. That’s just one example, but it was a pretty big shift for us.”
(Image credit: Sucker Punch)
For Connell, he says it was all worth it to deliver on the studio’s initial vision of putting you in an expansive open world as a Samurai. For as different as Infamous: Second Son and Ghost of Tsushima are in just about every respect, there is a shared philosophy behind them both. Sucker Punch makes games that let you fulfil a fantasy, and it’s something Connell is proud to be able to do at Sucker Punch.
“I know some people are maybe fatigued on the standard open world experience, but I quite like games that let me have a sense of escapism. Games that let me roam a beautiful countryside, or a place that I’ve always wanted to go but couldn’t because it’s hundreds of years in the past, or maybe I can’t fly there because of the pandemic. To me, I think that having a true open world, where there’s an express sense of freedom – where you can, for the most part, go do whatever you want – I don’t know, man, that’s a sense of agency you don’t find too often in many other games. That’s integral to the way that we think.”
The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
