Sometimes you really don’t need to reinvent the wheel when designing a spiffy new product. That seems to be Aokzoe’s approach with its forthcoming A1 X handheld gaming PC, as it looks almost exactly like its current A1 Pro—just with a bigger battery and a nice AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 chip.
There’s not a wealth of detail about the new handheld in the teaser post on X, but the A1 X will sport a full-fat Strix Point APU. That means you’ll be getting 12 CPU cores (4x Zen 5, 8x Zen 5c) and 16 RDNA 3.5 compute units for graphics. Compared to the Ryzen 7 7840U in the A1 Pro, it’s a reasonable uplift in hardware.
#AOKZOE A1 X is coming soon!!!!Equipped with #AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 37072.7Wh Large Battery8 inches native landscapeIs this the #console you are looking for? pic.twitter.com/ghdPJsMI4bJanuary 16, 2025
That chip has eight Zen 4 CPU cores and 12 RDNA 3 compute units, so you’re potentially looking at up to 33% performance in games on the A1 X, compared to the A1 Pro. I say potentially because it will come down to what power and clocks Aokzoe decides to use, and there’s no word on those so far.
So, what else is better? Well, the screen for one—it’s still 8 inches in size (and that’s plenty big enough for a handheld) and while its resolution is unknown, the refresh rate is 120 Hz and it has VRR (variable refresh rate) support. The A1 Pro sports a 1200p 60 Hz panel, so even if the resolution is unchanged, it should be a much nicer display to stare at for hours on end.
Whether you actually get hours of game-staring will come down to the battery, of course, and Aokzoe has seen fit to shoehorn a 72.5 Wh cell into the A1 X. The A1 Pro makes do with a 65 Wh battery, so you’re only getting a 17% increase in capacity, but given that it lasted for over two hours of Elden Ring gaming in its 15 W mode, I should imagine you’ll get around the same with the A1 X.
The standard version of the Aokzoe A1 Pro boasts a whopping 32 GB of LDDDR5x-7400 and I really hope that the A1 X has the same amount of RAM. As there’s no dedicated VRAM for the Ryzen‘s GPU, the more memory you have, the more stable and better performing a handheld will be.
You can see this with the Asus ROG Ally X, which outperforms the standard ROG Ally, due to having 24 GB of memory (16 GB in the non-X Ally), even though the two have the same processor.
What we really want Aokzoe to get right with the A1 X is software. The system used in the A1 Pro is far clunkier than Asus Armory Crate, in the ROG Ally, and it’s not a patch on SteamOS. Windows 11 isn’t especially suited for handhelds and they rely heavily on a vendor’s software to overcome its desktop nature.
The one thing you can be sure of about the Aokzoe A1 X is that it almost certainly won’t be cheap and not even remotely so. The A1 Pro is $910 at Amazon so if the A1 X sports the same amount of RAM and a 1 TB SSD, then I expect it will launch at over $1,000 or more.
Whatever it costs at launch, if we get our hands on one for review, we’ll be sure to let you know whether it’s worth every cent or not.
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KICKSTARTER LAUNCH TRAILER – Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone – YouTube
2021’s Chernobylite was a survival-stealth FPS set in the Zone of Alienation, only a version of the Zone where the laws of physics had been broken and a whole lot of people with guns moved in. The obvious similarities to STALKER ended at the concept, and Chernobylite was actually about putting together a heist crew, recruiting companions and reinforcing your base of operations between missions around the Zone. It was thoroughly decent—not great, not terrible—exactly the kind of game a sequel could improve on in interesting ways.
Which is why it’s good news that a Kickstarter for Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone has already passed its funding target. It’s raised enough in the opening days of its crowdfunding campaign to pay for a couple of stretch goals, namely the option to switch between third-person and first-person in play, and all the guns from the original game being carried over into the sequel.
Chernobylite 2 promises to be more of an open world RPG than the original, one letting you build your reputation with three competing factions (scientists, mercs, and mutants), and also build your character’s, er, build. There are six classes to choose from and six attributes to improve, as well as a bunch of skills, meaning you can be a sharpshooting recon specialist or a crystal-powered techwizard if that’s your thing.
You can respec on the fly, which is explained in-universe by the busted physics of the Zone. In the first game when you died you had the option to spend chernobylite crystals to alter the timeline when you returned, in the sequel the twisted nature of timey-wimey stuff will let you “planewalk” to switch between character builds if you suddenly need to, for instance, become a master of melee combat.
On that subject, Chernobylite 2 promises to have a new melee combat system. Other new features include online co-op missions “embedded” in the otherwise singleplayer campaign, and companions who act as teachers rather than just basebuilding labor, and can help improve your skills.
With more than three weeks left to go, there’s plenty of time for the Kickstarter to unlock more stretch goals. Next on the list is first-person weapon customization at €125,000, which is currently €10,000, or $US10,285 away.
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It’s easy to forget that, before the release of its first beach volleyball spin-off, the Dead or Alive series were taken fairly seriously as fighting games. We may have joked about the ridiculous jiggle physics, but the original was still considered a decent successor to Virtua Fighter 2.
Nowadays, of course, the Dead or Alive series is a joke, promising that new entries will be less jiggly, then turning around and flogging dozens of bikini, maid, and schoolgirl costumes as DLC. Which is why it’s so absurd to read Tomotoshi Nishimura, the executive in charge of Koei Tecmo’s legal affairs division, say they had no choice but to take action against fan art that might damage the image of the Dead or Alive cast—because their creators’ think of them “like daughters”.
The specific word used in the original Japanese is musume, which can mean “young girl” as well as “daughter”, but not only is that still creepy in this context, it’s a dated and overly formal use of the word. Nishimura almost certainly means “daughter” here.
Nishimura was speaking at a panel on intellectual property rights held at Tokyo Esports Festa, as reported by Game Watch. While he explained the company was grateful to its fans, and even sponsored the doujinshi convention Comiket, he also said between 200 and 300 Dead or Alive doujinshi available online had been suspended following legal action—in one case for using art from a game yet to be released. Nishimura also said that Koei Tecmo takes action against between 2,000 and 3,000 works of fan art posted to social media and artist community Pixiv each year.
Further explaining the company’s stance, Nishimura suggested that some adult Dead or Alive fan art could damage the characters’ image, and that image needed to be protected because other companies produced official merchandise of those characters. But also, you know, the daughter thing.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard of Koei Tecmo taking legal action to protect the virtuous ladies of Dead or Alive. In 2021 it sued the producers of a DVD that used footage from nude mods. Meanwhile, the next game in the series will be Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme, a dating sim with a photography mode, which will only be released in select Asian countries.
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We’ve got all the help you need to win Sunday’s Wordle right here. Maybe you’re just looking for a few tips, something to blow away the brain-fuzz—we’ve got your back. Perhaps you’d enjoy reading a hint for the January 19 (1310), or you might just want to win, and win now—that’s why today’s answer’s waiting for you below.
It took me more guesses that I was happy using to reach today’s answer, but looking back it didn’t really feel like a fight. My first few lines were as helpful as I hoped they’d be, and nailing that last letter never felt impossible—I just had to keep going until I’d won. Don’t worry if your game doesn’t go so smoothly, today’s clue is bound to help you out.
Wordle today: A hint
Wordle today: A hint for Sunday, January 19
This is typically a sporting term, used to describe someone who moves across the water in a rhythmic, oar-powered kind of way. These people often work in teams.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
Yes, a letter is used twice in today’s puzzle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If you’ve decided to play Wordle but you’re not sure where to start, I’ll help set you on the path to your first winning streak. Make all your guesses count and become a Wordle winner with these quick tips:
- A good opener has a mix of common vowels and consonants.
- The answer could contain the same letter, repeated.
- Avoid words that include letters you’ve already eliminated.
You’re not racing against the clock so there’s no reason to rush. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Sometimes stepping away for a while means you can come back with a fresh perspective.
Today’s Wordle answer
What is today’s Wordle answer?
And here’s your second win of the weekend. Enjoy! The answer to the January 19 (1310) Wordle is ROWER.
Previous Wordle answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
Previous Wordle solutions can help to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer isn’t likely to be repeated. They can also give you some solid ideas for starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle answers:
- January 18: SILLY
- January 17: PROSE
- January 16: FLINT
- January 15: KNACK
- January 14: FANCY
- January 13: CLOAK
- January 12: TOTAL
- January 11: DINGY
- January 10: CRAWL
- January 9: WAFER
Learn more about Wordle
There are six rows of five boxes presented to you by Wordle each day, and you’ll need to work out which five-letter word is hiding among them to win the daily puzzle.
Start with a strong word like ALIVE—or any other word with a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You should also avoid starting words with repeating letters, so you don’t waste the chance to confirm or eliminate an extra letter. Once you’ve typed your guess and hit Enter, you’ll see which letters you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
Your second guess should compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you might have missed on the first row—just don’t forget to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. After that, it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the correct word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words and don’t forget letters can repeat too (eg: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
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As reported by Polygon and TorrentFreak, Mob Entertainment, the studio behind popular Five Nights at Freddy’s-alike Poppy Playtime, has filed a lawsuit against Google for failing to remove fraudulent Poppy Playtime apps from its Android Play Store.
At first blush, I assumed this had to do with those weird fake games whose ads you see all over YouTube and Twitter, but it’s somehow even worse than that: The outfit in question, Daigo Game 2020, has products on the Play Store literally titled “Poppy Playtime Chapter 4” and “Poppy Playtime: Chapter 3.” At the time of writing, these apps are still available for download. Daigo Game 2020’s previous works, including “Minecraft 2020” and a sampling of similarly unlicensed Skibidi Toilet games, have unsurprisingly been removed from the store.
The false Poppies have a staggering 1.1 million downloads between the two of them. The apps are free, a sort of “too good to be true” temptation likely targeting Poppy Playtime’s younger and less savvy fans. Like FNAF before it, Poppy Playtime strikes me as one of those little cousin/nephew phenomena, and Mob Entertainment boasts a mind-boggling 40 million players of its games across all platforms. After downloading the fake apps, users are prompted to pay between $30 and $95 to access the “game,” with the payment netting you nothing more than a “link to a dead webpage” according to the lawsuit.
Mob Entertainment says Google took the imposter apps down after inquiries and a DMCA request, only to bafflingly reinstate them days later. Mob Entertainment is asking for the apps to be taken down for real this time, as well as $150,000 in damages for each one.
I know that Google is an enormous company, with YouTube and the Play Store likely existing in their own silos, but this utterly confounding unforced error is only more absurd when you consider how aggressive Google is about copyright takedowns in the company’s other initiatives. Stories of YouTubers dinged with fraudulent or frivolous copyright claims are pretty common, and Nintendo has even used this system to target channels that show off emulators. The Daigo Game 2020 situation is decidedly not that, and it’s a wonder the outfit was even allowed to continue uploading to the app store after its Minecraft and Skibidi-related ventures.
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The biggest fight in Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 lasts an entire episode. It’s almost exhausting to watch, so stuffed with over-the-top animation that you could put it on repeat for hours and still catch new details each time. That action blowout is the most exciting part of an uneven season, but the moment I keep thinking about actually came a few episodes earlier. It’s lighter on action, but still the most violent moment of a show that features frequent beheadings and fountains of blood. You’ll know it when you get there—which Castlevania animation directors Sam & Adam Deats credit to animator Tam Lu.
“Our top tier, best animators here in the US take on the most important stuff, and some animators will come to us with thoughts on how to spice the shot or sequence up,” Adam Deats said in an interview with PC Gamer. “Sometimes they’re just nuts and do their own thing with it.”
With Season 2 of Nocturne still fresh, I won’t spoil what I’d call the season’s first “holy shit” moment in detail—I’ll just say that it’s about young vampire hunter Maria Renard working through some feelings. As Maria’s anger bubbles over in episode four, a rougher, sharper style creeps into the animation, with more dramatic camera angles further exaggerating the intensity of the scene.
“In that part, Tam Lu, who’s been on the series since Season 3 of the original, came to me and said ‘Hey, I want to do this thing with it,” Sam Deats added. “And I was like, ‘that’s gonna be awesome.’ He went nuts and did something really cool and interesting, and that’s one of the beauties of having this team of animators we have a close-knit relationship with you can trust. You can hand something to them and they’re going to understand how to bring it to life in a way that is special and goes beyond your original vision in some cases. That’s a beautiful lightning in a bottle moment.”
If you like 2D animation but don’t know Tam Lu’s name, you should—here’s a montage of his work in earlier seasons of Castlevania, along with some other projects, like Hyper Light Breaker’s announcement trailer.
Lu also collaborated with former Castlevania animator Spencer Wan on the Hades 2 reveal trailer, which is another incredible-looking couple minutes of action animation. I’ll leave you with an unfinished shot that let you see the raw detail in one of his best Castlevania scenes:
Castlevania Season 3 Animation by Tam Lu (@tml096) 🦇 pic.twitter.com/hkoCeWVnANJuly 12, 2024
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The headquarters of League of Legends and Valorant developer Riot Games is a large office complex in Santa Monica, not far from the Palisades neighborhood that has been flattened by one of the deadly Los Angeles wildfires that started last week. Those offices have been closed since the start of the fires—which still haven’t been fully contained—but Riot has found ways to make its campus useful with the help of employee volunteers.
“Early in the crisis, we provided a backup generator to a local fire station that had lost power, enabling them to continue fighting fires and protecting homes,” Riot said in a blog post on Thursday. The developer also donated 400 meals from its employee cafeteria to nearby emergency responders, and says that it will “explore different ways to use our physical space to help the community in the weeks and months to come.”
Last week, Riot CEO Dylan Jadeja said that the game developer intends to “stand up for Los Angeles” and give back however it can.
To that end, Riot has also made donations to the California Fire Foundation and International Medical Corps, offered to triple employee donations to firefighting and relief efforts, and says it has provided “temporary housing, emergency stipends, and access to advisory services” for Riot employees who evacuated or lost homes—thousands of structures have been destroyed by the fires.
Next week, Riot will launch fundraisers in League of Legends and Valorant:
- Valorant: From January 22 until it leaves the Featured Store on January 30, the EX.O Collection will become a Give Back Bundle. Similar to other VALORANT fundraisers, proceeds from weapon skins and accessories in the bundle during this time will go to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund, a donor-advised fund account sponsored by ImpactAssets.
- League of Legends: From January 23, 12:00 pm PT to February 5 11:59 am PT, proceeds from Firefighter Tristana (unvaulted for this fundraiser) will go to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund, a donor-advised fund account sponsored by ImpactAssets.
“Recovery doesn’t end when the fires are extinguished,” Riot’s blog post concludes. “Rebuilding communities takes time, and this crisis—so close to home for our headquarters—has inspired us to strengthen our commitment to natural disaster relief and prevention on a global scale. Whether it’s supporting frontline responders, helping displaced families, or contributing to long-term recovery efforts, we remain dedicated to standing with communities in need, here in Southern California and across the world.”
Game developer Necrosoft has also been organizing a California Fire Relief Bundle on itch.io, which should be available soon.
Cal Fire currently reports that the Palisades Fire, the largest of them by area, is 31% contained, while the Eaton Fire is 65% contained. According to the LA Times, those fires have so far resulted in 27 confirmed deaths and over 10,000 structures destroyed.
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Nintendo finally revealed the new Switch 2 handheld console yesterday after months and months of rumours and speculation. While most people just seem to be happy that there’s finally confirmation, one person can’t seem to look past the leaks that led up to its announcement.
Hideki Kamiya, the game designer of Devil May Cry, Okami, Bayonetta, and currently directing Okami 2, has decided that those who leaked the Switch 2 just before its release deserve some eternal punishment (via Eurogamer). “I hope that all of the people who leaked Switch 2 information/those who helped leak it will be cursed for the rest of their lives to always have poop on the soles of their shoes when they get home.”
I can only assume this is said in a kind of jokey frustration, but even so, a curse that plagues people to drag poop through their house every time they come home sounds like a creative and likely very effective curse, to be sure. But he doesn’t stop there.
“The shitty leaker only acts for his own pleasure and self-satisfaction—not only is he not contributing to anyone’s benefit, he is incurring all sorts of opportunity losses and has done nothing to be proud of in front of others,” Kamiya says. “He is the worst of scum, so he should be covered in shit from head to toe and thrown out of the atmosphere.”
New leaks about the Switch 2 surfaced just days before the official reveal. Even if the photos were blurry, they dampened the big surprise a bit. A couple of former PR managers even mused about how the leaks would affect company morale ahead of the launch: “I am 100% sure that they are really mad, to the most severe level” (via GamesRadar).
スイッチ2の情報をリークしてた奴ら／リークに加担してた奴らは全員この先の人生ずっと、家に帰ったら靴の裏に必ずウンコ付いてる呪いにかかれ……と、大神の発表でサプライズをユーザーのみんなと一緒に楽しめた今、心底思う…糞リーカーどもは一人残らず呪われろ…January 16, 2025
I don’t doubt that everyone over at Nintendo is likely very upset about that whole situation, but even still, I think Kamiya takes the cake: “These damn leakers are in a position of responsibility where they have access to information that only a very select few know, yet what they do is nothing more than an expression of a filthy desire for approval that lacks a shred of rationality—they are shameful people. So it is not the manufacturers whose secrets have been exposed who should be blamed, but these damn people, and they need to be crushed as soon as possible.”
This is a bit hyperbolic in places—crushed is a strong word—but almost every videogame dev has had to think up ways to counteract the possibility of leaks so I can understand the frustration with the problem.
Just last year, former Bungie lead counsel explained how the studio managed to nail one of Destiny 2’s most infamous leakers. After a content creator leaked some images for clout, some of the devs kept an eye on everyone who had seen the content and managed to line up someone’s icons at the bottom of their screen to the ones in the leaked images. While this stopped the creator from leaking any more content, that doesn’t mean that the devs don’t still have to be careful.
Some of the biggest leaks over the last few years, other than the Switch 2, include GTA 6’s trailer dropping a day before it was meant to be released, screenshots of the next Sims game, Project Rene, and a fumble that saw Sony accidentally leak the whole of Destiny 2’s latest expansion. Long story short, leaks are hard to stop and seem easy to come by so, even with Kamiya’s curse looming, I doubt they’ll stop.
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What does it mean to “Integrate”? – YouTube
Zara Dar is an engineer who dropped out of a PhD to become an OnlyFans model and content creator. Her channels on both YouTube and Pornhub often share the same videos: math concept explainers that teach you what a neural network is or where the concept of pi came from, and which just happen to be delivered by an attractive woman in a low-cut top. As Dar explained on LinkedIn (via 404 Media), the same video will earn her $340 per million views on YouTube, and $1,000 per million views on Pornhub.
Admittedly, her videos get more views on YouTube because I imagine there are less people going to Pornhub to find out what integrals are. But there is a surprising amount of non-pornographic stuff on Pornhub, including loads of Minecraft let’s play videos. Comedian Ryan Creamer has a whole channel of wholesome videos that just happen to have suggestive titles. (That link is still NSFW, by the way, unless your work is cool with you checking out Pornhub while you’re on the clock like mine is. I hope.)
Dar told 404 Media that she’s not entirely sure why her videos are doing so well on Pornhub, “but it could be because my SFW videos stand out against the typical NSFW content on the platform. That contrast might make them more intriguing or refreshing to viewers. But that’s just my speculation.”
After posting an explanation of her business model to LinkedIn, which briefly went viral, Dar’s account on the website where business bros go to explain how great it is to ignore your family in favor of being a workaholic was banned. “I was engaging professionally,” she said, “but LinkedIn’s strict handling of this situation feels counterproductive to its purpose.”
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