Sixteen-year-old beat-em-up Castle Crashers actually has new DLC coming

Castle Crashers, the side-scrolling multiplayer beat-em-up that launched in 2008, is getting premium DLC. This is significant because, in addition to launching in 2008, it hasn’t gotten a DLC update since 2012, but it obviously still has enough of an audience to rate an update worthy of a live-service game.
As explained by developer The Behemoth over the weekend, the DLC will let players customize skins for their characters, play with a new character, and enjoy new weapon artwork.

The trailer is somewhat lore-specific, so try to follow along. But the idea is “Painter Boss, Jr.” is a new playable character, as well as the spokesperson for the new DLC. Bottom line, fans can go back in, draw up new characters, and see them fully animated within minutes, no extra work needed.
This of course means players can go zany with who they make, but The Behemoth is careful to ask folks to keep things within Steam community guidelines — aka, please don’t rip off other people’s IP. These creations are still shareable, so … anything goes, somewhat like create-a-wrestler in the WWE 2K series. But unofficially, you can still customize to your heart’s content.
What else is The Behemoth updating?
BattleBlock Theater, also developed by The Behemoth (and launched in 2013) is getting what’s billed as a big quality-of-life update. That doesn’t mean new features or expansions per se, but the studio promises better frame rates, resolution, support for more controller types, and the obligatory bug fixes and enhancements (PC version).
In all it’s just a sign that people who have made very good games, even if that was more than a decade ago, are still around to support it. And fans who remember them should consider coming back. There is no release date yet for this DLC or Battleblock’s update, unfortunately, but it looks like a lot of fun.
The post Sixteen-year-old beat-em-up Castle Crashers actually has new DLC coming appeared first on ReadWrite.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Sixteen-year-old beat-em-up Castle Crashers actually has new DLC coming

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chip aims to bring 5G to sub-$100 devices

Qualcomm has launched the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 chip to 5G smartphones in the sub-$100 price segment in India and other emerging markets.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chip aims to bring 5G to sub-$100 devices

Zoe, a microbiome-focused nutrition company, raises $15 million to expand in the U.S.

Zoe sends customers at-home testing materials to collect blood or feces to test blood fat, blood sugar, and gut microbiome health. Following those results, the company scores every food (on a scale from 0 to 100), so people can make better choices of what to eat.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Zoe, a microbiome-focused nutrition company, raises $15 million to expand in the U.S.

Self-driving tech company WeRide accelerates global expansion as transportation industry adopts AI

WeRide said it is the only company which has driverless permits from the U.S., China, UAE and Singapore, and plans to enter more markets.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Self-driving tech company WeRide accelerates global expansion as transportation industry adopts AI

Apple brings Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 dev beta, but there are a lot of limitations

Users will be able to get the first taste of Apple Intelligence as Apple has started to make some of the features of its AI suite available with the iOS 18.1 developer beta released Monday. The company launched Apple Intelligence at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. However, the first set of developer beta […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Apple brings Apple Intelligence with iOS 18.1 dev beta, but there are a lot of limitations

Canva acquires Leonardo.ai to boost its generative AI efforts

Canva has acquired Leonardo.ai, a generative AI content and research startup, as the company looks to deepen its investments in its AI tech stack. The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but Canva co-founder and chief product officer Cameron Adams said it’s a mix of cash and stock. All of Leonardo.ai’s 120 employees will […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Canva acquires Leonardo.ai to boost its generative AI efforts

U.S. Commerce Department report endorses ‘open’ AI models

The U.S. Commerce Department today issued a report in support of “open-weight” generative AI models like Meta’s Llama 3.1, but recommended the government develop “new capabilities” to monitor these models for potential risks. The report, authored by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), finds that open-weight models broaden generative AI’s availability to […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on U.S. Commerce Department report endorses ‘open’ AI models

Lime is piloting two new e-bikes to attract more women and older riders 

Shared micromobility giant Lime is piloting two new vehicles designed to appeal to women and older folks who might appreciate a lower step-through frame, smaller wheels and an upgrade from pedal-assist. Lime has experimented with several new form factors over the years in a bid to capture customers and adapt to changing tastes and trends. […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Lime is piloting two new e-bikes to attract more women and older riders 

Apple says it took a ‘responsible’ approach to training its Apple Intelligence models

Apple has published a technical paper detailing the models that it developed to power Apple Intelligence, the range of generative AI features headed to iOS, macOS and iPadOS over the next few months. In the paper, Apple pushes back against accusations that it took an ethically questionable approach to training some of its models, reiterating […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Apple says it took a ‘responsible’ approach to training its Apple Intelligence models

Huang and Zuckerberg swapped jackets at SIGGRAPH 2024 and things got weird

A fireside chat on Monday between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the SIGGRAPH 2024 conference in Colorado took a few unexpected turns. It started innocently enough, with Huang waxing positive about the capabilities of Nvidia GPUs and Zuckerberg speaking about his vision of an AI chatbot future. But by the […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Posted in Tech | Tagged | Comments Off on Huang and Zuckerberg swapped jackets at SIGGRAPH 2024 and things got weird