Tech
Gameplay Preview – Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom is nearly here, seven years after its critically acclaimed, genre-defining predecessor, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, launched. Prior to release, GamesHub was able to get hands-on experience with a preview build of this blockbuster Nintendo sequel, and based on our initial impressions, it feels like the sky is the limit in this boundless, creative adventure.
Beginning the gameplay demo with only simple weapons and an inventory full of crafting materials, our hero, Link, initially seems under-prepared for this new puzzle and enemy-filled world of Hyrule. However, when these rudimentary items are paired with the game’s new, mysterious Zonai Devices – seemingly relics from the Zonai tribe first mentioned in Breath of the Wild – they become key ingredients to creating your very own weapons, shields, and tools.
New Abilities: Ultrahand, Fuse, Ascend, and Recall
These creations are productions of new abilities Link has at his disposal, like Ultrahand and Fuse. Both are focused on the act of combining objects – Ultrahand lets you craft vehicles and structures out of objects in the environment, and Fuse lets you combine weapons, items, and crafting materials within your inventory.
Need to get across a river with a strong current? Use Ultrahand to create your own raft out of fallen trees, powered by Zonai Fans. Want to deal some extra damage while defending against a larger enemy? Fuse a nearby explosive barrel to your shield, and let it explode in their face as you block their next swing.
Read: Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – New gameplay mechanics detailed
A new Tears of the Kingdom marketing campaign, aptly titled ‘You Can Do What?’, leans into stoking player creativity to overcome the game’s many challenges, and from our experience so far, the game is certainly conducive to open-ended, creative problem solving when tackling puzzles and problems at hand.
It really seems as if there is no one way to fix a broken pathway to your next destination, and you are really encouraged to think outside the box. For those who were fond of the sense of freedom that Breath of the Wild fostered, this increased open-endedness is likely to go down well.
In the preview build we played, ‘correct’ solutions could be well thought-out, but also extremely goofy. For example, you could use the Zonai Hot Air Balloon to float through the sky, avoiding a major combat encounter, or more interestingly, fuse the hot air balloon to your weapon for a new, ‘bouncier’ spear to fight your way in – whether this extra bouncy quality deals additional damage or knocks enemies back further is unclear, but it does make for a more amusing way to get through some Bokoblins.
Fuse also comes into play very well with ranged weaponry, with the game’s large assortments of random, collected materials each adding a variety of fun effects to arrows. Chuchu Jelly in its multitude of colours can create different elemental effects on impact, while certain flowers can shed light into a dark space when seedlings are fused to an arrow, and shot into the environment.
Experimentation with all of the weird and wonderful elements found throughout Tears of the Kingdom is likely to reveal even more new effects, and thankfully, fusing materials pauses time, allowing for you to stop and think about the best possible combinations for the situation at hand.
Fuse and Ultrahand weren’t the only two abilities given a major spotlight during the Tears of the Kingdom preview, with the new Ascend ability also put to good use. It’s a key ability that lets you leap into a ceiling and come out on the other side, which is incredibly useful in a map that features a high degree of verticality. The ability to pop your head back down before fully emerging through a ceiling – should your point of entry into a new area land you in a sticky situation – is particularly helpful.
Meanwhile Recall, one of the other abilities at Link’s disposal, allows you to send moving objects back to where they originated from. It comes in handy not only while forcing projectiles back at far-off enemies, but also for recalling seemingly lost Ultrahand creations or materials while exploring the floating landmasses of the Great Sky Island.
The risk of your well-thought-out creations seemingly falling off the face of the earth may vary depending on your adeptness, but Recall has you covered in these instances, regardless.
Futhermore, there’s also yet another ability that you’ll acquire at a certain point in the game which makes building structures and vehicles with Ultrahand even easier – but you’ll have to wait to experience it for yourself.
Zonai Devices
One of the most interesting new additions to Tears of the Kingdom is the aforementioned Zonai Devices. These Devices are collected from Zonai Device Dispensers, which look like ancient gacha machines and can be activated by inputting Zonai items – little fragments of objects from the Zonai tribe that otherwise don’t seem to have much utility beyond activating the dispenser.
Zonai Devices are dispensed at random, in little capsules that fit comfortably in your inventory. Once a capsule is opened and released into the world, it can’t be packaged back up. The devices are powered by Zonai Charge, a mana-like resource that Link can collect from defeating certain enemies. Extra charge can also be distilled into batteries, and added to creations for extended use. Once whatever unconventional contraption you’ve built is assembled, you simply power it up with a strike from your weapon.
Given a number of these devices, such as the rocket, have a high level of power behind them, placement is key to ensuring your newest creation moves you in the correct direction, or works in the ways intended. Trial and error is certainly necessary, especially given the random nature of obtaining Zonai Devices, and this adds a level of challenge and ingenuity to mastering the Ultrahand ability fully.
Beyond the utility of the Zonai Devices, their existence within Tears of the Kingdom is interesting in its own right. The Zonai in Breath of the Wild are only seen through the abandoned architecture and ruins left behind throughout Hyrule, but are said to be long gone by the time the events of the game occur. While the preview didn’t show any further evidence of the Zonai, the tribe’s contribution to the world and story of the upcoming title could go beyond their powerful devices left behind in conveniently placed gumball machine-style dispensers.
With such a focus on improvisation and creative problem-solving, Nintendo’s next foray into the world of The Legend of Zelda has left a promising first impression, based on our initial preview. This version of Hyrule is a blank canvas filled with countless tools and possibilities that will hopefully let your imagination run wild.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases on Nintendo Switch on 12 May 2023.
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Videos
With roots dating back to 1991, the Sea Otter Classic is one of the biggest biking events and tradeshows each year and brings together all sides of the biking industry from athletes to brands, spectators and consumers. Taking place in April in the sunny hills of Monterey, California, that means this event really feels like the official start to the biking season in North America. Christina Chappetta covers why it’s much different to an indoor European biking tradeshow, a World Cup racing weekend or even Crankworx mountain bike festival, in that it encompasses nearly ALL of the biking disciplines, including road cycling, enduro, downhill, dual slalom, XC, trials riding and more.
In the past fortnight, we have seen large amount of new tech releases. However, Sea Otter 2024 represents some of the first opportunities for many riders to see these things in the flesh, as well as take a deeper dive into what the product aims to do.
Welcome to a video summary from Day 2 of the Sea Otter Classic.
There are so many giveaways, interesting new products and colourful characters at Sea Otter Classic that it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Ben Cathro takes a lap of the venue to find his favourites.
Well, that was quick. On May 18, a respected industry insider predicted a new display technology for the iPad Air that’s expected in the coming days—Apple just announced its latest special event.
The new 12.9-inch iPad Air, the report claimed, would have the same miniLED backlighting currently found on the larger iPad Pro, using the leftover inventory from the current Pro as that model switches to OLED. That was exciting news.
But now, Ross Young, the analyst who made the claim, has changed his mind. The new prediction, shared with paid subscribers only, is that the miniLED technology won’t be coming to the iPad Air, in either size.
While it made sense that the inventory could be maximized in this way, it now “makes sense” that it won’t.
Young says that while he’d heard from supply chain sources that it would, he’d now had contact from “even more supply chain sources” that it won’t.
And the reason this change of heart now makes sense is that this miniLED technology is expensive, so it would be surprising if it made it to the iPad Air, which is more affordable than the Pro.
That’s not quite all the analyst shared. He also said that there are now reports of a new iPad coming later in the year. This is a 12.9-inch iPad, with miniLED backlighting and it could arrive between October and December this year.
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This is intriguing. What could it be? Assuming that the iPad Pro and iPad Air are released in May, it’s extremely unlikely either will be updated later in the year. And if the iPad Air isn’t pricey enough for miniLED to be included, what tablet could Apple be introducing that is the same size as the bigger Pro, with a pricey screen tech, which would sit between the Air and the Pro, it seems?
Young is highly reliable, but this seems slightly preposterous to me. The only other iPad in the range due a refresh is the regular iPad (at 12.9-inches, the iPad mini is clearly out of the picture) and that doesn’t seem likely either.
It seems to me that any regular iPad will almost certainly have the same screen size as now, 10.9 inches. The regular iPad only grew to this size screen in the current generation, and Apple almost never changes designs after one iteration.
Perhaps things will become clearer as the year goes on.
Tech
Woman who left beaten dad on floor for 2 days was 'overwhelmed' with his care, judge told – CBC.ca
A Calgary woman who abused her sick, 77-year-old father was “overwhelmed” at the task of caring for him, a judge heard Wednesday at a sentencing hearing.
In January, Tara Picard, 52, pleaded guilty to charges of assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life after her father (whom CBC News is not naming) was found injured on a basement floor, where he’d been lying for two days.
On Wednesday, prosecutor Donna Spaner and defence lawyer Shaun Leochko asked the judge to allow Picard to serve her sentence in the community under conditions as part of a conditional sentence order.
Justice Indra Maharaj agreed to a two-year conditional sentence for Picard followed by a year of probation.
“There is no doubt she became overwhelmed,” said Spaner in her submissions. “There is no question Ms. Picard has remorse.”
Leochko told the judge that caring for her father “was really more than [Picard] could handle.”
Maharaj heard that Picard is Indigenous and was the victim of abuse growing up. She lives in a sober dorm-style facility and is working with a mental health and addictions navigator, according to Leochko.
A ‘willingness to give back’
As part of the sentence, Picard must complete 300 hours of community service.
Justice Maharaj commended Picard for “taking that on.”
“That shows me Ms. Picard sincerely does recognize what has happened here,” said the judge.
“What I interpret from that is Ms. Picard’s willingness to give back to her community.”
During Picard’s plea, court heard that in November 2021, Picard and her father fought over his drinking.
Nurses discover victim
The victim suffers from a number of medical issues, including diabetes, heart disease, dementia and alcoholism.
At the time, home-care registered nurses were assigned to help provide supplementary care.
Nurses found the victim wearing a soiled adult diaper and suffering from two black eyes with blood on his head.
He told the nurses who discovered him that he’d been there for two days.
Picard admitted she knew her father had fallen and she had “administered a number of physical blows.”
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