The developers that helped with God of War's successful PC port are making a new PlayStation live game.

Jetpack Interactive, who spent 2 years working on God of War's highly-optimized PC version, are developing a new live game for Sony. The Vancouver-based studio has been entrusted with a "prized IP" and is currently hiring a number of vital positions like network engineers and system designers for the project.

"We are hiring programmers to join our small & nimble team at JETPACK. We're excited to embark on a new live services title with Sony - and we're ready to launch," the studio wrote on LinkedIn.

Engineers from West Virginia University are working on robots tasked with improving on-the-job safety for retail workers. Researchers want to test the robot in actual grocery stores after the locations are closed, providing a more accurate testbed environment.

As part of $367,000 in funding from the National Science Foundation, WVU researchers want to analyze workplace dangers - and find ways to reduce falling risks in retail stores. The robots can provide situational awareness, monitor risks and offer walkability maps, and should be able to help reduce the number of occupational injuries related to slips and falls.

Instead of trying to rely on a security camera to identify and detect workplace hazards, the robot equipped with a camera can move closely to the spill area - and is able to identify how slippery it is.

The new Skyrim Anniversary Edition is the Nintendo Switch's first $69.99 mainline base game, and the RPG is currently more expensive on the eShop than any other digital storefront on the market.

Today marks the seventh time Bethesda has released Skyrim. The new Skyrim Anniversary Edition is now up on the Nintendo Switch with an eye-opening price tag. For some reason, the game is listed as $70 on the Switch eShop, which cements it as the first base Switch game priced at PS5 and Xbox Series X/S prices. Every other eshop game with a $69.99 price tag includes bonus DLC or an expansion pass.

This price tag means Skyrim Anniversary Edition is currently more expensive on the eShop than any other digital storefront on the market by a significant margin. The game is $20 more on the eShop than other store; it's currently $49.99 on Steam, the PlayStation Store, the Xbox store, the Humble Store, and is even discounted to $24.99 on GOG.com without any DRM.

Earlier this week, the Alice electric aircraft from Eviation took to the skies to its maiden voyage, hopefully opening the door for zero emission regional flights. Not only will the flights be more environmentally friendly, they'll also greatly reduce noise pollution for people living around airports.

The aircraft reached 3,500 feet maximum altitude and flew for eight minutes before landing back at the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington. After the MagniX engines were revved up, they sounded about as loud as electric grass trimmers, and provided a responsive experience to fly.

The passenger plane will hopefully support up to nine passengers and their luggage, and will need to finalize a design to be certified by US regulators.

Sony has kicked off controversy by using its new PlayStation Rewards loyalty program to prioritize access to its PlayStation support help section.

Sony's new PlayStation Stars loyalty program has a lot of perks. The idea is simple: Play games, earn points, and trade them in for free games, PSN cash, or little digital collectibles. PS Stars also has a ranking system. The more games you buy, trophies you unlock, and challenges you complete, the higher you rank up. There's four ranks and the highest tier has the best rewards.

This rewards program has one hidden perk: priority on PlayStation Support. In Japan, users with higher PS Stars ranks will be able to skip the general line and have more direct access to PS support (spotted by Automaton). Earlier this year, Sony made it even harder to contact PlayStation Support by stopping all Twitter responses and direct message responses on the Ask PlayStation Twitter account.

It'll be a while longer before gamers can set sail in Ubisoft's new pirate simulator.

Ubisoft has announced Skull and Bones has been delayed to March 9, 2023, right before the company's fiscal year ends (although the game's release won't make much of an impact on FY22 revenues, it will however help buffer the Q1 period of the following year...assuming the game does well).

As IGN notes, this is the fifth time Skull and Bones has been delayed. The game has been in development for some 10 years after being announced in 2013, and has been rebooted multiple times. Skull and Bones had originally started off as an Assassin's Creed expansion, and then morphed into an MMO at one point. The pirate sim's current iteration puts emphasis on online multiplayer, ship decoration and naval combat (which should offer monetization potential), as well as crafting and gathering and exploration of the High Seas.

Saudi Arabia is prepared to invest nearly $40 billion into gaming to make the country the "ultimate global hub for the games and esports sector" by the year 2030.

As announced by the Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Arabia is funding its new game-centric plan through its sovereign Public Investment Fund, and is prepared to invest a total of 142 billion riyals ($37.8 billion based on today's conversion rates) into multiple key points. The Saudi-owned Savvy Gaming Group will execute the strategy which includes strategic minority stakes in various game developers and publishers similar to Tencent's approach, as well as a buyout of a major games publisher.

The kingdom is prepared to spend up to 50 billion riyals ($13.3 billion) for the "acquisition and development of a leading game publisher to become a strategic development partner."

Artificial intelligence company Nala Robotics has introduced The Wingman, a self-cleaning autonomous robot that can be used in fast food restaurants.

The Wingman can pick up and load frying baskets with French fries, chicken wings and other types of frozen food, dip the basket in oil, and shake off any excess oil once finished. Once collected, the foods can be dispensed to individual seasoning bins so spices and sauces and can be added in the appropriate proportions.

Nala Robotics uses artificial intelligence paired with a high-performance camera and vision systems to support a built-in clean in place functionality - and ensure all foods are made to desired high quality.

The US Defense Innovation Unit and jet ski manufacturer T3MP3ST are working together to look for ways to make electric jet skis a suitable tool for elite military units. One day, it's possible the T3MP3ST could be fully autonomous drones that can be used without human operators for specific missions.

Jet skis might be fun to ride but haven't been suitable for military use because they simply aren't very efficient. In addition to producing "200 times the emissions of a single car," according to Nico Sell, CEO of T3MP3ST, in a statement published by Defense One, the gas-guzzling jet skis also create a logistical nightmare: "If you have gas, then you have guards. And you have mechanics. So we can get rid of all of those logistics."

The T3MP3ST Maverick GT Ski can be equipped with radar, sonar, cameras or lidar, along with autonomous functioning using GPS waypoints. The base model of the Maverick GT is $150,000, and the full RIB package is $500,000 - featuring a 350-horsepower 3D-printed electric engine that provides a top speed of more than 70 mph. Its electric range is 50 to 100 miles, and can navigate surf up to 100 feet high, developers claim.

Google is officially shutting down Stadia, its failed game streaming service.

Today Google confirmed that it will shut down its Stadia game streaming platform and storefront in 2023. Google is refunding all purchases of games, subscriptions, and hardware, and users have until January 18, 2023 to access their games. After that, the service will be pulled offline and access will be revoked.

"A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia. And while Stadia's approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected so we've made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service," Google's Phil Harrison said in the announcement.