Gmail’s New AI Will Answer Your Emails for You
Google is launching a new feature to smartphones this week called Smart Reply that scans emails and suggest replies.
The system was created as a tool to help take the hassle away from replying to emails on smartphones. The email assistant scans which emails can be answered with a short reply and suggests three responses to each email. Users then simply tap on the Smart Reply suggestion of choice to start editing and adding to it, if required.
Private Lobbies Introduced to Driveclub in Latest Update
The latest update for Driveclub on PS4 has brought with it the long-awaited arrival of private lobbies for multiplayer.
Developer Evolution explains via Driveclub's Facebook page that private lobbies include “a wide variety of customisable options and modifiers for things like grid position, penalties, vehicle collisions, drafting, gear changes, camera perspective, and more.”
Evolution has also raised the club level cap from 50 to 55, with a new reward to unlock at level 55, and added new ELITE Driver Levels from 76-80 (with a new reward to unlock at each level).
Evolution also notes it has added an optional Braking Assist for players less familiar with the tracks, which will make the game friendlier for novice drivers, and that more cars, bikes, and tours are still on the way.
New Cars and Handling Update for Dirt Rally
Codemasters has added another four new cars to its continually expanding racing simulator Dirt Rally, alongside a host of other additions and community requests.
Codemasters has added a separate class (R4) to Dirt Rally to accommodate the newly-added Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2011. The Citroën C4 Rally 2010 and the Ford Focus RS Rally 2007 have been introduced to the game’s existing 2000s class.
Group B 4WD and Group A classes will receive the latest handling updates, and Codemasters has massaged in a host of community requests too, including manual control for headlights and wipers, a display for stage distance and elevation on the stage information screen, some new liveries, and various other tweaks. You can read through the rest of the changes here.
Skullgirls Dev Lab Zero Adding Indie Guests to Indivisible
Skullgirls developer Lab Zero Games has revealed its new 2D action role-playing game Indivisible will feature guest characters from other indie games.
According to Polygon, Lab Zero said Indivisible will have more than 25 playable Incarnations—characters the game’s protagonist Ajna can fuse with or fight alongside with—to include Annie from Skullgirls, Shovel Knight, and Zackasaurus from Super Time Force Ultra to name a few.
Lab Zero CEO Peter Bartholow also said “each character’s abilities and personalities” will be adapted into Indivisible’s combat system and they hope to add more guest characters later.
Hearthstone’s Co-op Tavern Brawl Challenge
Hearthstone's Tavern Brawl mode, which presents a new competitive challenge to players each week, will play host to something a little different this week.
In Unite Against Mechazod, players actually team up to defeat Gearmaster Mechazod, a 2 attack, 95 health minion. How does it work? He sits on the board like any other minion, and players must work together to defeat him. Each player is given a pre-built deck, and if one player dies it's game over.
A teaser of how this week's Brawl will look.
PS4 Users Can Purchase Avatars Soon
Beginning next week, PlayStation 4 owners will be able to purchase avatars from their consoles.
The official PlayStation Twitter account sent out a tweet saying PS4 users can purchase avatars now, but no options are available on the console or the PS Store website. A PlayStation representative confirmed the tweet was in error and the PS4 avatar update will hit next week.
Update! PS4 users can now purchase avatars through PlayStation Store. Previously purchased PS3 avatars will transfer over in the coming days
Rumor: Slave Leia Bikini Merch Being Retired
It appears Disney is phasing out Star Wars’ Slave Leia bikini merchandise and marketing.
The costume, which Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher wore in Star Wars: Episode VIII - Return of the Jedi, has been a mainstay in merchandise and cosplay for many years.
Making Star Wars ran a story about how a reader tipped the site off to a Facebook conversation with Star Wars comic book artist J. Scott Campbell about Disney “wiping out” the Slave Leia outfit.
We Talk Ash vs Evil Dead, Gotham and Supergirl
Hey guys, on this week's Channel Surfing, after chatting about this year's Halloween, we discuss, among other topics:
-Supergirl's premiere ratings-When Person of Interest should grab a new viewer and how it changes from Season 1
-If Gotham: Season 2 has shown improvements
-New shows that have been given full-season orders (and a few that are clearly on their way out)
-Ash vs. Evil Dead
Channel Surfing Podcast Episode 254
Key and Peele Team With Nightmare Before Christmas Director
The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline director Henry Selick is working with Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key to produce a new stop-motion film called Wendell and Wild.
The animated feature is based on one of Selick's original works, which, the director tells Variety, "is a comedy about two scheming demon brothers who must face their arch-nemesis, the demon-dusting nun Sister Helly, and her two acolytes, the goth teens Kat and Raoul."
Fox Theme Park Includes Simpsons, Aliens and Predator
Fox has licensed a branded theme park to be built in Dubai, called 20th Century Fox World.
Planned attractions include ones themed after Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, The Simpsons, Titanic, and Sons of Anarchy, alongside more kid-friendly inclusions like Ice Age, Rio, and Night at the Museum. The announcement promises that the rides will tell "new stories based on Fox film and television."
Naturally, the theme park will also feature shops, restaurants, and the first themed resort hotel centered on Fox properties.
It's set to open in 2018. This will be the second Fox theme park to open, as one is under construction in Malaysia. The deal with Al Ahli Holding Group also allows for up to three more Fox resorts in areas outside Dubai.