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With this week’s shot across the bows from Nintendo to the emulator community – well, more of a direct hit really, you might expect those involved in the emulation scene to be keeping their heads down a bit for a while. The eradication of Switch Emulator Yuzu from the universe (well, apart from all the clones that have instantly popped up all over the internet) was an example of a corporate giant saying, no, you are not playing our games on anything but our hardware.
Whatever the legal grey areas of emulation and whatever side of the fence you sit on (for disclosure I have been using emulators for years and years from Mame-based arcade cabinets to recreating my console libraries of yesteryear) it’s probably not going away and is an undoubted factor in the purchase of many a handheld gaming PC over the past year or so.
The ability to play modern PC games on a handheld such as the Steam Deck or the Rog Ally is a huge draw, but an awful lot of people choose to install emulators on them as well so they can take large libraries of their favourite games with them when they otherwise couldn’t.
I’ve recently been playing one of my favorite games ever, SSX Tricky for the PlayStation 2 on my ROG Ally and it is amazing to play while you are commuting about.
This has all been made possible by EmuDeck, a piece of utility software that will install a raft of emulators onto your Steam Deck or any other handheld PC and configure them all for easy play.
It doesn’t install anything that any company might consider illegal, such as Switch Bios’ or game ROMs. You can then choose what to supply yourself depending on what you want to play. There’s that grey area again.
Anyway, EmuDeck has been an essential install for me and the new 2.2 version has just been released and brings with it four new emulators – all of older systems:

Flycast for Sega Dreamcast, Naomi, Naomi 2, and Atomiswave
BigPemu for the Atari Jaguar
Model 2 for the Sega Model 2
Model 3 for the Sega Model 3 

So playing classic arcades such as Daytona and Crazy Taxi on the train should now be possible.
More controversially in the current climate, existing EmuDeck installs that have already installed YuZu and Citra will not see them removed, they just can’t be added to new installs. EmuDeck is not in the business of telling people what should and shouldn’t be on your hardware if an individual chooses to have it there. Grey area alert.
There’s also an all-new UI design for emulator installs, but there were some issues highlighted on Reddit last night that the install was causing issues, so if you are an EmuDeck user, or want to try it out, maybe it’s worth hanging on a day or too
The post EmuDeck adds new emulators – won’t remove Yuzu from your Steam Deck & ROG Ally appeared first on ReadWrite.

When people refer to artificial intelligence (AI) tools, they may be referring more specifically to generative AI which is exploding in popularity and usage.
What is generative AI?
Generative AI is a term used to encompass deep-learning language models that generate text, images, videos, and other content using external prompts. They use the datasets they learn from to create various forms of content, ranging from short poems to long articles.
The topic of generative AI came to the fore with the wide release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool, bringing generative AI to the general public at large. While this might have been the first form of generative AI that many people had come into contact with, it certainly wasn’t the only one to hit the market.
There are now dozens of different ways that generative AI can be accessed, with almost every major tech company releasing its own versions, whether that’s Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s massive investment in OpenAI, Github’s GitHub Copilot, and plenty more besides.
Before generative AI became synonymous with chatbots, it was also being used in statistics. It is an enormously helpful tool for analyzing numerical data, being able to quickly read through and identify patterns and trends. It was the growing strength of deep learning that made it possible to use the same technology for images, speech, and other complex data types.
The very first type of this new class of generative AI was introduced in 2013, known as variational autoencoders VAEs). These were widely used for generating realistic images and speech. Over time, the tools were fine-tuned to create ever more realistic images, sounds, and writing.

Introducing Sora, our text-to-video model.
Sora can create videos of up to 60 seconds featuring highly detailed scenes, complex camera motion, and multiple characters with vibrant emotions. https://t.co/7j2JN27M3W
Prompt: “Beautiful, snowy… pic.twitter.com/ruTEWn87vf
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) February 15, 2024

How does generative AI work?
The definition of generative AI means that the tool is turning raw data (which can be anything from a quick prompt to scanning the entirety of a Wikipedia page) into output. The machine learning element means that the AI is learning what kind of output would be most likely, based on the data that it has access to. It cannot truly create anything new; genuine creativity still remains with living creatures alone.
However, it can create fresh pieces of output that are inspired by or similar to what it’s learned from, without it being a direct copy. Generally speaking, a prompt is given in any format, whether that’s text, an image, a video, a webpage, or any other input that the AI system has learned to process. It then uses its internal AI algorithms to create new content in response to the prompt, based off patterns it’s learned.
Digging into the deeper technology required, generative AI tools will usually combine several algorithms to process content. The input given will then be transformed into raw characters, such as turning paragraphs into basic letters, punctuation, and words or images into distinct visual elements. These basic characters are then encoded as vectors, something that the AI can use to create fresh output.

Bias in generative AI
It’s worth noting when explaining generative AI that this process of teaching language models can expose the possibility of teaching AI models human biases. If there is bias in the original data, whether unconscious or otherwise, that bias will show up in the output later created.
In real-world terms, this has resulted in AI creating images or text that have inaccurate identities or references in them. As just one example, Google recently had to shut down its image-generation tools within Gemini because of historical inaccuracies showing up in its results.

Is the United States a better place to live compared to Nazi Germany? Google Gemini says no. pic.twitter.com/kQTJMZW8a3
— The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) February 27, 2024

Generative AI criticism
This is not the only form of criticism leveled at generative AI. Artists of various different disciplines have complained that deep-learning models are ‘stealing’ from human-made art. After all, as established above, generative AI can’t learn from anything.
The data used to ‘teach’ AI models is usually sourced from artistic work. Legally, this must be artwork that is open to the public, but that hasn’t stopped people from resenting the fact that AI images can other forms of output can be created instantaneously, seemingly off the backs of human artists.
How to generate AI images
If you want to try out AI image generation for yourself, there are plenty of tools to choose from. Many graphic design tools, including Adobe, Pixlr, and Canva have incorporated generative AI into their offerings, but some dedicated tools get the job done as well. These include:

Open AI’s DALL-E 2
Imagine
Midjourney
Stable Diffusion

Of course, tools like these aren’t free, with all requiring a paid subscription in order to use them. Midjourney is included in ChatGPT’s $20 monthly subscription, DALL-E with the ChatGPT Plus plan for $20 per user, Stable Diffusion’s Basic plan starting at $27 per month, and Imagine starting from as low as $3 a month.
Once you have access to your tool of choice, you can start straight away. Most generative AI tools appear much like a chatbot, with a dialog box where you can type in your prompt. Getting the best out of your tool requires some nifty prompt use but it’s worth noting that the model will quite literally learn as it gets to know you.
You can ask it to tweak images as you go, remaking the same image in different styles or altering specific areas of the image. Every tool is different in the level of changes you can make, but most offer some sort of tool where you can pick out individual elements that can be altered in different iterations.
Featured image: Unsplash
The post What is generative AI? How does it work? appeared first on ReadWrite.

Following the launch of the PlayStation 5 Slim in November of 2023, console fans haven’t wasted any time in trading rumors about a possible PlayStation 5 Pro that’s rumored to be on its way this year.
As the name would suggest, the PS5 Slim was a smaller, lighter console that still packed a punch, offering increased storage and a detachable disk drive to boot. However, that’s nothing when compared to the potential power of the rumored PS5 Pro. Based on what we know so far, here’s a closer look at the PlayStation 5 Pro release date, the specs, and the possible price.

When is the PlayStation 5 Pro release date?
There’s no clear release date for the PlayStation5 Pro – mainly because Sony hasn’t officially released it yet but that doesn’t mean we can’t make educated guesses. Most gaming tech insiders seem to agree that the rough window for a release date is September 2024, as reported by Hypebeast, or at the very least in the second half of the year.
“There seems to be a broad consensus in the game industry that Sony is indeed preparing a launch of a PS5 Pro in the second half of 2024,” Serkan Toto, CEO of Tokyo-based games consultancy Kantan Games, told CNBC on February 20.
This would line up logically with the planned release of Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2025. Sony is sure to want a flashy console to pair with arguably the most highly-anticipated game of the decade. What better than a souped-up upgrade to its latest iteration of the PlayStation?
What is the PS5 Pro price?
Much like the release date, much of the chatter around a potential PlayStation 5 Pro price is speculative. However, this isn’t the first time Sony has released a Pro console following a Slim version. The company did just that back in 2016 with the PlayStation 4 Pro.
Back then, the Pro console cost $100 / €50 / £50 more than the Slim version. By that logic, we might expect the PlayStation 5 Pro to cost in the region of $599.99 / £529.99 if we just hike up the Slim’s price of $499.99 / £479.99. However, consoles, in general, were less expensive back in 2016. For a 2024 console, it’s possible that the console could be even more expensive, reaching over the $600 mark.
Sony might also employ a price hike for the PS5 Slim, perhaps dropping the price of the PS5 baseline down to $399 for the disk version and $49 for the disk-based SKU to $449. Adding $100 on top of that to account for the PS5 Pro would settle it at around $549.99.
Of course, we won’t for certain until we get a formal reveal from Sony. However, it does give you a rough idea of what to expect to pay for the rumored console.
What are the PlayStation 5 Pro specs?
An area where there are more industry rumors to go on is specs. The ‘Pro’ in PlayStation 5 Pro means we can likely expect some beast mode power to come. It’s reported by industry sources via the YouTube channel RedGamingTech that the PlayStation 5 Pro will feature eight-core Zen 2 CPUs (clocking in at 4GHz), an RDNA 3 GPU at 2.8 GHZ, and 16GB of 18,000 MT/s GDDR6 memory with a bandwidth of 587 GB/s.
That’s a pretty significant upgrade to the Slim, which boasts a still-respectable eight-core custom AMD Zen 2 at 3.5GHz and AMD RDNA 2 at 2.23 GHz – although the same memory stats. All in all, it would represent a decent boost in performance.
Specifically, image quality is believed to be a major focus for the PlayStation 5 Pro, with gaming insider Tom Henderson writing on Key to Gaming that he had heard the new console would “[target] improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution” and “a new ‘performance mode’ for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing.”
Currently, no games support 8K resolution, but this would mark Sony’s continued futureproofing for when that’s the norm that started with the baseline PS5.
Hypebeast also reports that the PS5 Pro will be kitted out with Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS)-style technology developed in-house by Sony. Developed by Nvidia, DLSS refers to a family of real-time, deep-learning image enhancement and upscaling technology that offers another level of visual quality, only available via Nvidia’s RTX line of graphics cards. With the launch of the PlayStation 5 Pro, it seems that Sony might be coming out with its own proprietary technology to rival that of its competitor.
In practical terms, these tech boots would result in a clearer, faster experience for PS5 Pro gamers. Faster memory and CPU clocking speeds would reduce the slow load times many PS5 critics complain about.  Games could load near-instantly, perhaps offering a chance for the PS5 Pro to copy a feature from the Xbox Series X/S known as ‘Quick Resume.’ The console allows multiple games to be suspended at once, so players can quickly jump from game to game, returning directly to where they left off rather than clicking through the traditional start screen.
Featured image: Sony
The post PlayStation 5 Pro: release date, price, and specs appeared first on ReadWrite.

It’s nearly the weekend and time once more for another round of Xbox Free Play Days where we get to play games that we might not own for absolutely nothing as an enhanced try before you buy.
This weekend’s session will definitely be of interest to fight fans who may not, as yet, have plumped for the new Mortal Kombat 1 reboot of the classic gruesome fighting game.
As well as ripping people’s spines out, if that might not be your bag we also have From Space, Moving Out 2, and Ed-0: Zombie Uprising.
The games are free to play from now until 11th March so if you start now you will certainly be able to add to your Gamer scores without spending a single penny.
If you have a Game Pass subscription already From Space is already included in that so it’s probably worth seeing which of the other three you want to spend your time on. We imagine most of the efforts will land with Mortal Kombat 1 as it is a highly-polished AAA fighting game with a great pedigree. Be aware though that the download size is a whopping 175GB – that’s a lot of bandwidth and storage space for a couple of days worth of entertainment. You have been warned!
What are this weekend’s Free Play Days Games?
Moving Out 2
Moving Out 2 is the wacky sequel to the world-famous physics-based moving simulator. Working as a solo F.A.R.T, or with up to three friends, slip into your Smooth Moves uniform and help the residents of Packmore, and beyond, pack up and ship out!
From Space
That’s no bubblegum army, that’s an endless horde of menacingly pink aliens taking over our planet! Enough sweet talk, grab your gear, we need you and your squad to defeat the pink pests!
Mortal Kombat 1
Mortal Kombat 1 ushers in a new era of the iconic franchise with a new fighting system, game modes, and fatalities!
Ed–0: Zombie Uprising
A rogue-like action where traditional Japanese characters (Samurai, Sumo Wrestler, and Ninja) destroy hordes of zombies. Since everything is randomly generated, no run will be the same. Decision-making will be essential but there are some RPG elements as well.
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