To make up for an incredibly laughable inaugural event, Beijing is running back its humanoid robot half-marathon. Fortunately, the event that pits humanoid robots made by Chinese companies against each other across 13 miles went a lot smoother this year.

This year's half-marathon hosted more than 100 competitors, with first place going to Honor, better known for its smartphones, and its red-clad robot named Lightning. Living up to the name, the gold medalist finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. That's several minutes faster than the human record that was recently set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo last month.

Honor swept the other podium spots, with the important caveat that they all navigated the course autonomously, according to the state-sponsored television news agency CCTV. That's a massive improvement over last year, where the fastest time among 21 robots was achieved by Tiangong Ultra with a record of two hours and 40 minutes. Last year's event saw many of the bipedal robots receiving assistance from human operators who ran alongside them, as well as some comical mishaps, like falling at the starting line.

However, the BBC reported that around 40 percent of the robots competed autonomously this year, while the rest were remote-controlled. Despite the rapid improvements, this year's event still had its fair share of crashes, even from Honor's robots.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/beijings-robot-half-marathon-is-back-for-its-second-year-with-far-less-embarassing-results-191308396.html?src=rss

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While I dabble in other Overwatch modes, I spend the vast majority of my time there in Mystery Heroes, a casual mode in which you load in as a random character and automatically switch to another one when you respawn. It's by far my favorite way to play Overwatch (which I do a lot!), since it helps me switch off and relax. Others play it as a warmup for competitive action. It requires a particular skillset, as players need a working knowledge of all 51 heroes to help them coordinate with teammates and know what the opponents have on deck. But with the arrival of the new Overwatch season this week, Blizzard changed Mystery Heroes, and made it much less fun to play. 

The developers say they modified Mystery Heroes "to help keep the mode's casual pace intact while mitigating some of the more extreme pain points it's had in the past." That might have something to do with how the mode handled perks. In other modes, players earn perks (upgrades to their existing tools or entirely new abilities) throughout a match. In Mystery Heroes, they load into a round with random perks already equipped. That's fun! I love the chaos of Mystery Heroes and trying to make things work with whatever hero and perks I have. 

Now, perks are gone from Mystery Heroes. I kind of get it. Nixing them helps players clock what's going on a bit faster — they won't feel the need to quickly check which perks they have when they're racing back to the action when the time is running out. Perks were only added to Overwatch a little over a year ago and they've helped make the game more enjoyable. Removing them from Mystery Heroes diminishes it compared with other modes, especially given that some heroes are now more oriented around their perks.

Blizzard Entertainment

The other major change in Mystery Heroes is a switch from teams of five players to 6v6. I'm fine with 6v6 in other game types, but it makes Mystery Heroes much worse. 

In other 6v6 formats, you typically have two tanks, two supports and two damage heroes. In Mystery Heroes, the defense might load in with four tanks and two supports (teams are limited to three heroes from any class after respawns). While tanks generally have lower health pools in 6v6 modes, that's still an oppressive composition to run into. Attackers lack the agency to switch to other characters that can counter such a setup. For instance, if the attackers don't spawn in as heroes that can get behind a chokepoint and take out those supports, they might never break through. That doesn't make for a fun round. Trying to keep five other players alive as a solo support isn't exactly a blast either.

I’m not the only one who’s disappointed with these changes. In every single Mystery Heroes game I’ve played since the update, other players have lamented the loss of perks (the reaction to the 6v6 switch is more mixed). They're protesting on Reddit and the Overwatch forums too. 

It’s not like I’m averse to change. Blizzard has made a ton of updates to greatly improve Overwatch over the last few years. It added the big Stadium mode in 2025 and the game recently had a soft, successful relaunch. Even in this season, there are lots of positive tweaks, including some welcome hero updates (and some that are less welcome) and the return of post-match awards. New damage hero Sierra is rad too. 

The Mystery Heroes changes, though, are a step in the wrong direction. I dearly hope Blizzard reverses course on those soon. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/blizzard-just-made-overwatchs-best-mode-much-worse-185114683.html?src=rss

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Playdate is getting a third season of curated, surprise games, Panic announced today. We don't know much beyond the fact that Season Three is officially happening, but Panic's Head of Playdate Greg Maletic said in an announcement video that it will be here "in time for the holidays" this year. Considering we had to wait a whole three years for Season Two to come out following Season One's release with the console in 2022, that doesn't sound so bad.

Panic hasn't yet said how many games Season Three will include, or how much it will cost. While Season One had a total of 24 games — with a release schedule of two games per week for 12 weeks — last year’s Season Two had half the amount (plus Blippo+), and cost $39. But that drop in quantity thankfully didn't mean a drop in quality. Season Two was great, with a collection of games that felt stronger overall than the first. I, for one, can't wait to see what Season Three brings. In other exciting news, Panic also announced today that the much, much-awaited game Office Chair Curling is finally available for purchase on Playdate and Steam, with the option for online cross-play.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playdate-season-3-is-coming-later-this-year-181340117.html?src=rss

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