Panic, the company behind the tiny and excellent Playdate console, is taking a stand on generative AI. The company has published an AI disclosure that says as of this month, the Playdate Catalog “will no longer accept titles that use ‘Generative AI’ for art, audio, music, text, or dialog.” Panic does allow for developers to use AI assistance for coding, but also says that “we will flag any title as such and specify the extent that it was used (for example, “Lua debugging”) so the customer can decide whether to support it or not.”

This comes a day after Panic announced that Playdate season three was happening and would arrive later this year. For those who don’t recall, the Playdate includes a “season” worth of games when you buy it, 24 titles in total with two revealed every week. Season two came out last year with 12 games — but, as Game Developer notes, one of those games used generative AI for writing and coding. On Bluesky, someone asked Panic if it would disclose what games in season three used AI, and the company confirmed that it was a requirement for season three that developers not use AI for art, music, writing or coding.

Specifically, Panic says you can’t use large language models like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, AI image generators like Stable Diffusion or audio generators like MuseNet and Suno. Previously-approved games with generative AI will be allowed to stay on the catalog with a disclosure that indicates what exactly AI was used for. The company says these guidelines are “under constant discussion and is subject to change at any time.”

I recall seeing AI disclosures on games in the Playdate Catalog in the past, but it makes sense to be up-front and clear on exactly what Panic allows and what it will reject. That said, it’s fairly easy to sideload games onto a Playdate, so anyone who wants to use generative AI to make a game isn’t entirely out of luck — though distribution and discovery for Playdate owners will obviously be harder.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/panic-says-the-playdate-catalog-wont-accept-games-made-with-generative-ai-160615022.html?src=rss

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If the real world isn’t grim enough for you, Ukranian developer 4A Games has your back: Metro 2039 has been announced and is scheduled to arrive this winter. And based on the developer’s first look at the title, Metro 2039 looks to be an even darker affair than previous titles in the series. A tall order, but the real-world turmoil that has enveloped 4A Games since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sounds like it has turned into a painful inspiration for the developer.

The lengthy cinematic reveal, which also contains a brief bit of gameplay at the end, doesn’t give much of the story away. But it does serve to place you right in the ruined, terrifying world of the Metro series. Metro 2039 arrives about 25 years after a nuclear apocalypse wiped out most life on the planet. The series focuses on survivors who live in Moscow’s ruined metro system. 4A says that this time out, the different underground factions have been united by a group known as “the Novoreich,” complete with a new ruler, the Spartan known as Hunter.

Despite Hunter promising “salvation and a new life” for the survivors left on the surface, things aren’t exactly rosy underground. As you might expect, this supposedly “united” society is still a complete disaster, with propaganda, authoritarian rule and violence the hallmark of the regime.

4A Games

The Metro series is based on novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky, a Russian author who has been in exile due to his public denouncement of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 4A Studios says that while this new game isn’t based specifically on one of his works, they worked in collaboration with Glukhovsky on the story for Metro 2039 “shaped by shared values of freedom and truth, and informed by the harsh realities of the world today.”

In statements from the studio, 4A directly acknowledges the conditions that Metro 2039 was created under. “Many developers continue to work from multiple locations, facing daily challenges never anticipated,” the studio says. “Through power outages, reliance on generators, and disruptions from missile and drone attacks, development has continued – driven by resilience, shared support, and a commitment to the work.”

It goes on to state that: “The war has directly shaped the development of Metro 2039, with its story focused acutely on choices, actions, consequences, and the cost of securing a future. While told from a distinctly Ukrainian perspective, Metro 2039 remains an authentic Metro story.” While the Metro series has been unfailingly bleak, it’s not hard to imagine how Russia’s invasion could have influenced the storytelling coming out of a Ukranian studio with an exiled Russian being part of the story team. But the limited bit of the game we’ve seen so far doesn’t make anything too explicit.

4A Games

The trailer shows off the new player-character known as The Stranger, the first voiced protagonist in the series (though we don’t hear him do anything but scream in the preview). The Stranger has apparently been surviving in the above-ground wasteland but is forced to return to the metro. The little bit of gameplay we saw was the standard first-person shooter view of The Stranger heading underground to be immediately ambushed by a pretty horrific monster that he barely escapes from — he’s then dragged to “safety” by a group of survivors who just get the doors to their shelter shut before being overrun by a larger horde. Creepy stuff.

The rest of the preview largely feels like a dream (or nightmare) sequence — but while it’s hard to put together what is going on, there’s no doubt that the detail in the environments and characters is top-notch. Given that the last metro game, Metro Exodus, was released way back in 2019, it’s fair to say that we’re getting a more graphically impressive rendering of ruined Moscow and the tunnels beneath it.

There’s no exact release date yet, but 4A Games says Metro 2039 will arrive this winter for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-first-look-at-metro-2039-shows-how-its-ukrainian-developer-turned-the-darkness-up-to-11-171500713.html?src=rss

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