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It pains me to say this, but its been 20 years since David Firths Salad Fingers made its debut and irrevocably altered the humor of the internet. The first episode of the web series hit Newgrounds on July 1, 2004. To mark this milestone birthday, Firth dropped a 20th anniversary special earlier this week that sees the titular Salad Fingers taking a walk down memory lane, bringing us all the way back to those early moments that seared the phrase I like rusty spoons into the collective consciousness of an entire generation of internet users. Things wont be exactly as you remember them, though. This is how it all went down according to Salad Fingers and, well, are we really expecting Salad Fingers to be a reliable narrator? The 7-minute video expands the lore a bit and revisits characters like the shrieking young child (who has some clarifications to make regarding their identity) and the disturbing finger puppet friends Hubert Cumberdale, Marjory Stewart-Baxter and Jeremy Fisher. If youve followed the series over the years and made it all the way to 2023s Harvest, youll also recognize the absolutely horrifying Melvin Wishcake, who Salad Fingers refers to this time as Manky Melvin, the stinky reject. Ive got a soft spot in my heart for this deranged cartoon, as Im sure many of you do, and this was a real treat. I might just have to dive back in and rewatch the whole series now, which is up to 13 episodes not counting this latest special. Thanks for the (cursed) memories, Salad Gregory Stuart Fingers.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/salad-fingers-turned-20-this-week-and-theres-a-new-episode-out-to-commemorate-it-163230203.html?src=rss
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Epic says that Apple has once again rejected its submission for a third-party app store, according to a series of posts on X. The company says that Apple rejected the latest submission over the design and position of the install button on the app store, claiming that it too closely resembles Apple's own get button. Apple also allegedly said that Epics in-app purchases label is too similar to its own label, used for the same reason. The maker of Fortnite suggests that this is just another salvo in the long-running dispute between the two companies. Epic says that its using the same install and in-app purchases naming conventions found across popular app stores on multiple platforms. As for the design language, the company states that it's following standard conventions for buttons in iOS apps and that theyre just trying to build a store that mobile users can easily understand. 1/3 Apple has rejected our Epic Games Store notarization submission twice now, claiming the design and position of Epics Install button is too similar to Apple's "Get" button and that our "In-app purchases" label is too similar to the App Store's "In-App Purchases" label. Epic Games Newsroom (@EpicNewsroom) July 5, 2024 Epic has called the rejection arbitrary, obstructive and in violation of the DMA. To that end, it has shared concerns with the European Commission in charge of tracking potential Digital Markets Act (DMA) violations. The company still says it's ready to launch both the Epic Games Store and Fortnite on iOS in the EU in the next couple of months so long as Apple doesnt put up further roadblocks. This is just the latest news from a rivalry that goes back years. The two companies have been sparring ever since Epic started using its own in-app payment option in the iOS version of Fortnite, keeping Apple away from its 30 percent cut. This led to a lengthy legal battle in the US about Apples walled-garden approach to its app store. Epic sued Apple and Apple banned Epic. A judge issued a permanent injunction as a way to allow developers to avoid Apples 30 percent cut of sales. This didnt satisfy anyone. Apple wasnt happy, for obvious reasons, and Epic contested the language of the injunction, which didnt call out Apple for having a monopoly. Both companies appealed, eventually making its way to the Supreme Court. The court decided not to hear the case. The justices must have had other things to do. As the two companies continued bickering in the US, the EU passed the aforementioned DMA. This forced Apples hand into allowing third-party storefronts on iOS devices in Europe. Since then, Epic has been trying to get its storefront going but has been met by resistance from Apple. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/epic-says-that-apple-rejected-its-third-party-app-store-for-the-second-time-183914413.html?src=rss
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Dont look down. Dont look down. Dont look down. Waves the size of skyscrapers explode beneath me as I creep across a busted metal beam in the middle of the North Sea, suspended at the base of an oil rig thats in the process of collapsing. Im crawling swiftly but carefully, knees sliding on the wet metal and eyes locked on the platform in front of me. Dont look down. I look down. The cold sea is boiling just inches from my beam, white spray reaching up, threatening to pull me under miles of suffocating darkness and pressure. Fuck. The Chinese Room In Still Wakes the Deep, horror comes in multiple forms. Violent creatures stalk the walkways on thin, too-long limbs that burst from their bodies like snapping bungee cords. Human-sized pustules and bloody ribbons grow along the corridors, emitting a sickly cosmic glow. The ocean is an unrelenting threat, wailing beneath every step. And then theres the Beira D oil rig itself, a massive and mazelike industrial platform supported by slender tension legs in the middle of a raging sea, groaning and tilting as its ripped apart from the inside. Each of these elements is deadly; each one manifests a unique brand of terror. Still Wakes the Deep is a first-person horror game from The Chinese Room, the studio behind Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Dear Esther and Everybodys Gone to the Rapture. The game is set in the winter of 1975 and its action is contained to the Beira D, a hulking metal maze that offers mystery, a growing familiarity and death at every turn. The rig is filled with a rich cast of characters from the British Isles, most of them Scottish. Players assume the role of Caz, an electrician on the rig whose best friend is Roy, the cook. The Chinese Room Still Wakes the Deep feels like a hit from the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, devoid of modern AAA bloat. Its restrained like the original Dead Space, with a core loop that serves the narrative and vice versa. The mechanics steadily evolve without becoming repetitive or cumbersome. Its monsters are murderous but not overplayed. In Still Wakes the Deep, the horror is unrelenting but its source is constantly shifting vicious eldritch beasts, the crumbling rig, the angry North Sea and this diversity infuses the game with a buzzing tension until the breathtaking final scene. The game is fully voice acted and its crew members are incredibly charming. An undercurrent of good-natured ribbing belies every interaction, and the dialogue is earnest and legitimately funny, even in life-or-death situations. This skillful sense of character development only makes the carnage more disturbing once the monsters board the Beira D. After the oil rig drills through a mysterious substance deep in the North Sea, a giant eldritch organism takes over the structure, crunching its metal corridors and infesting the bodies of some crew members. Caz is on a mission to survive the creatures and escape the rig and help save Roy, whose body is fading fast because he cant get to his insulin. The Chinese Room Gameplay in Still Wakes the Deep is traditional first-person horror fare, executed with elegance and expertise. The action involves leaping across broken platforms, balancing on thin ledges, running down corridors, climbing ladders, swimming through claustrophobic holes and hiding from monsters in vents and lockers. There are no guns on the Beira D, and Caz has just a screwdriver to help him break open locks and unscrew metal panels, placing the focus on pure survival rather than combat. Interactive materials tend to be highlighted in yellow, so its never a question of what to do or where to go, but rather how to get there without falling prey to the monsters, the sea or the rig. Each input feels perfectly precise and responsive. Climbing a ladder, for instance, requires holding RT and pressing the analog stick in the proper direction but if Caz slips, players need to suddenly press and hold LT as well, so he can regain his grasp in a quicktime event. In these moments of sudden panic, squeezing both triggers feels like the natural thing to do. Its deeply satisfying to clasp the gamepad as tightly as Caz is holding the rungs of the ladder, player and character completely in sync in the aftermath of a sudden scare. Still Wakes the Deep is a prime example of intuitive game design. The Chinese Room Its also just a gorgeous game. I stopped short multiple times while playing Still Wakes the Deep simply to admire the crisp lines, complex lighting and photorealism of specific scenes, but every frame is dense with thoughtful and well-rendered details. The otherworldly structures littering the rig cause Cazs vision to bubble like a melting film reel, and multicolored circles overtake the screen every time he passes too close to a pustule its disorienting and eerily pretty, much like the rest of the game. Still Wakes the Deep is an instant horror classic. Its filled with heart-pounding terror and laugh-out-loud dialogue, and it all takes place in a setting thats rarely explored in interactive media. Amid the sneaking, swimming, running and climbing on the Beira D, Still Wakes the Deep manages to tell a heartfelt and powerful story about relationships and sacrifice. Caz and Roy have a special friendship, but they also have family back on shore and returning to these people alive, ideally is a constant driving force. The Chinese Room Still Wakes the Deep is available now on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and its included in Game Pass. Its developed by The Chinese Room and published by Secret Mode.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/still-wakes-the-deep-is-a-modern-horror-classic-175304800.html?src=rss
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