Technologies

Meow Wolf Enters the Mini-Golf Metaverse

Exclusive: Walkabout Mini Golf is adding a new VR course designed by immersive art pioneer Meow Wolf. The designers gave us hints of what’s to come.

Walkabout Mini Golf, one of the best multiplayer apps for VR headsets, is adding a course made by art collective Meow Wolf and based on the group’s real-world experiences. It’s Meow Wolf’s first big dip into virtual reality, and it’s scheduled to arrive later this year.

It’s not as strange a move as you might think for Meow Wolf, the group behind the cult hit House of Eternal Return, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a growing bunch of other in-person destinations (Omega Mart in Las Vegas, Convergence Station in Denver).

Or maybe it is.

But in a VR/AR landscape that still doesn’t really know what a metaverse is supposed to be, this collaboration could point toward creative teams actually trying to figure this out ahead of a wave of new headsets coming later this year.

Let me back up a bit. I find well-built, custom-crafted VR experiences wonderful. I also love immersive physical spaces and theater experiences that take similar care with how groups of people explore strange new worlds together.

VR and AR’s metaverse push of the last couple of years, however, has tried to just create big open social tools with no real guidance or superstructure. These places — VRChat, the soon-to-be-closed AltSpace VR, Meta’s flailing Horizon Worlds, Rec Room — seem to either be spots where fun stuff emerges, or confusing and poorly run experiments that feel empty or alienating unless you know who you’re meeting with and where you’re going.

Sometimes, I find that it’s the in-person experiences that can craft what the virtual ones can’t yet. Meow Wolf’s in-person, multilayered, maximally dense art collective spaces struck me as the sort of way to guide more-elaborate social virtual worlds of the future. The Meow Wolf–Walkabout collaboration sounds like a bizarre and whimsical mirror-world experience that’s also a foot in the door for Meow Wolf’s future explorations in VR and AR.

meow-wolf-walkabout-vr-2 — Meow Wolf’s course will involve an intelligent alien world called Numina that plays with reality.

Meow Wolf

Weird golf

«We’ve been dreaming about making mini-golf forever,» Caity Kennedy, one of Meow Wolf’s co-founders and the group’s senior creative director, said to me during a Zoom chat. «Since a lot of our exhibits are a big thing compartmentalized with a bunch of little things, mini-golf is like a pretty hilarious and very accessible version of that.»

Another Meow Wolf co-founder, Vince Kadlubek, had been playing in VR games and experiences for years, which led to the collaboration with the team at Walkabout Mini Golf. Meow Wolf had made its own AR companion app for the House of Eternal Return installation years ago, but translating some of those designs into a VR mini-golf course is a different type of crossover experience.

Kennedy already uses some VR art tools, including Gravity Sketch, to work on designs for Meow Wolf’s physical installations. Gravity Sketch was also used as a collaborative place to dream up the VR course. «We have VR artists, we have VR developers that are working on things,» Kennedy hinted, suggesting that Walkabout’s relatively contained structure might be a good starting point.

If you haven’t been paying attention, Walkabout Mini Golf has already become one of the best social VR destinations if you have a small group of friends. This game, and Demeo, are where I tend to join a few old friends for a casual game that lasts about an hour, allows us to chat and explore, and then stop. It feels like going for a walk, or getting coffee, or going to a museum. Or playing mini-golf. Unlike more-intense VR games, or way too open social worlds with no real focus, it gives us something to do while we’re talking. It works.

«It aligned a lot with our sense of humor,» Kennedy said of the collaboration. «You can be good at golf, you can be bad at golf, you can just not play golf and go explore.»

Golf as a strange doorway

Walkabout’s golf courses have already been getting a lot more immersive over time, becoming more like walk-through theme parks or stories than just a bunch of golf holes. A course based on the classic Jim Henson film Labyrinth is like a tour of the film’s plot, and even has a side labyrinth to wander around in. There are Jules Verne courses. There’s a Myst course.

The Meow Wolf course, based on the living other-dimensional jungle world of Numina that’s part of Meow Wolf’s in-person Convergence Station experience in Denver, is meant to be a sort of parallel virtual visit, or maybe a golf course that ends up being visited by and mutated by Numina.

Kennedy hints that the way Meow Wolf’s course will work is a lot stranger and more whimsical than even previous Walkabout courses, which of course excites me. Also, the presence of Numina as a character will loom large over the experience, a «living universe that is curious about us simple animals that are wandering around, falling down stairs and things.»

«It’s not just a duplicate,» Kennedy said of the VR version of Numina versus the physical creation in Denver. «There will be a familiar experience that is twisted and freed by the mechanics of virtual reality. People who’ve been to Numina in real life [at Meow Wolf] will see a lot of things that they got to see in real life, but a lot of people who have only seen pictures will get to wander around something akin to the pictures they’ve seen.

«But, lots of differences: I mean, gravity doesn’t exist in VR. We can make things slip. We don’t have to have electrical wires, or speakers or a lot of the things that limit what we’re able to do. And we’re able to have animation that we can’t do. There’s so much fluidity that is really only possible at the moment in VR.»

A massive furry art creature sculpture in a dim jungle world room — One of the areas in Numina at Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station in Denver. The VR experience will refer to the real-world place in strange ways.

Scott Stein/CNET

Virtual and real winking at each other

Disney has explored crossovers of the virtual and real. It’s created a Star Wars Tales From the Galaxy’s Edge VR game that’s set in the outer realms of the same planet Batuu as the real-life Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge parks. In theory, visiting the virtual game could inspire you to go to the actual park, or the game could be a living souvenir.

Future planned metaverse-ish explorations could have a similar vibe. Meow Wolf’s own physical spaces communicate with each other via telephones, and a ton of merchandise already extends the stories into some take-home souvenir directions. You can buy Omega Mart merchandise from the alternate-universe store’s gift shop, for example, or get books and artifacts, much like you can at Disney’s stores in Galaxy’s Edge. In some ways, Meow Wolf’s virtual spaces may aim to do the same.

«Mini-golf is not a collective world, so there can’t be live feeds into anything, but having connections between the two, where people can at least see one from the other, or use something they found in one to affect the other… this is going to be kind of our test case,» Kennedy said. «This is our first foray into connecting a real world exhibit with virtual reality.»

Lucas Martell, the director of Walkabout Mini Golf, said the Meow Wolf course «is going to be much more of an experience,» admitting that the company is starting to flex out with more experimental designs that start becoming more like one-hour excursions for groups, as opposed to just a casual sport.

Even though Walkabout is a VR game, the company has also released a phone-based version that’ll use augmented reality, sort of: Courses can be seen through the phone screen, and swings happen by moving your phone like a real putter. The phone version is arriving ahead of Meow Wolf’s course, meaning more people could try it out.

«The irony is that a lot of people playing probably haven’t even been to an actual Meow Wolf,» Martell said. Considering Meow Wolf is still an organization some people haven’t heard of, much less seen, a little mini golf game like Walkabout could be a chance to open up awareness to a whole bunch more people. As someone who’s been lucky enough to check out the real-world Meow Wolf spaces, I’m looking forward to visiting a small virtual shard of it in my home.

Meow Wolf’s course isn’t available until later this year, but I can’t wait to play it with a few friends. We could explore those strange spaces together in VR as we talk, just like we’d do in the real world, too.

Gemini AI Lands in Android Auto. Here’s How It Could Change Your Drive

Those who have upgraded from Google Assistant to Gemini will have access to Gemini AI in their cars.

Google is bringing AI conversations to drivers in 45 countries with an update to Android Auto that adds Gemini software as a passenger. The ambitious global rollout of the AI chatbot technology to a potential 250 million Android Auto customers will be available to those who have upgraded Google Assistant to Gemini AI on their phone.

Once enabled, Google Gemini will be able to engage in hands-free conversations with drivers who want to do things like get recommendations for activities at their destination, sort through emails, or compose and edit texts while driving.

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In a blog post, the company offered five ways to use the new features. These include asking for recommended stops while on a route, composing or editing messages (including translations for 40 languages), looking for things in your Gmail inbox or Google Calendar, creating music playlists, or rehearsing a speech on the way to, say, a wedding rehearsal dinner.

Whether it is a good idea to do those things at highway speeds is a separate debate. While the features are hands-free, Google does not address the distraction factor of, for example, verbally building a playlist while driving down the highway.

A representative for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

How Gemini works in Android Auto

Google says that accessing Gemini happens when you say «Hey Google,» hit the mic button in Android Auto, or do a long press on the voice control button if your steering wheel has one.

Google says it will add more features and capabilities in the future. For now, the Gemini update can access information from Google Calendar, Google Tasks, Google Keep, Samsung Calendar, Samsung Reminder, and Samsung Notes, with additional third-party app support expected in the future.

Technologies

Score 6 Months of Apple TV for $36, Plus More Prime Video Add-On Bargains

Ready to binge shows and movies this winter? This deal could be for you.

You can nab a Black Friday deal on Apple TV right now, but you need to take a slightly unconventional route to sign up.

The streaming service formerly known as Apple TV Plus is one of the add-on subscriptions that Prime Video offers, and now you can sign up for a subscription for only $6 per month for six months. You need a Prime membership, which costs $15 per month or $139 per year, to get Apple TV through Prime Video (and snag the deal). The offer ends Dec. 1.

Apple TV typically costs $13 per month and is ad-free. This Apple TV discount is just one of many deals you can score as Amazon enters Black Friday mode. Here are some more Prime Video offers to consider right now.

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Prime Video subscription deals

Apple TV: $6 per month for six months. Typically $13 per month.

Starz: $2.75 per month for two months. Typically $11 per month.

MGM Plus: $2 per month for two months. Typically $8 per month.

BritBox: $2.75 per month for two months. Typically $11 per month.

BET Plus: $1.50 per month for two months. Typically $6 per month.

Crunchyroll: $3 per month for two months. Typically $12 per month.

PBS Kids: $1.25 per month for two months. Typically $5 per month.

AMC Plus: $1.75 per month for two months. Typically $7 per month.

Acorn TV: $2.25 per month for two months. Typically $9 per month.

Hallmark Plus: $2 per month for two months. Typically $8 per month.

BBC Select: $1.50 per month for two months. Typically $6 per month.

PBS Masterpiece: $1.75 per month for two months. Typically $7 per month.

Moviesphere Plus: $1.25 per month for two months. Typically $5 per month.

UP Faith & Family: $1.50 per month for two months. Typically $6 per month.

Ryan and Friends Plus: $1 per month for two months. Typically $4 per month.

PBS Documentaries: $1.25 per month for two months. Typically $5 per month.

Great American Pure Flix: $2.50 per month for two months. Typically $10 per month.

The Great Courses Signature Collection: $2 per month for two months. Typically $8 per month.

You can also save on streaming service bundles. Browse all of the options right now at Amazon.

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Technologies

‘High-Risk, High-Reward Personified’: Overwatch Devs Talk Upcoming DPS Hero, Vendetta

Overwatch’s new sword-wielding gladiator should appeal to players who want the tension of feasting on enemy backlines or dying in the process.

Next weekend, you can try out Overwatch 2’s next hero ahead of her official release with season 20 of Blizzard’s online multiplayer hero shooter in December. Or, at least, you can race the other DPS player for the honor.

Vendetta is a sword-wielder in a game where almost everyone else has guns. She’s not the first melee-ranged hero in Overwatch: We’ve always had Reinhardt bonking enemies with his hammer, and Brigitte’s rocket flail is similarly close-range. And before Doomfist was moved over to the tank role for Overwatch 2, he was the first melee-focused damage hero. But it’s still an ambitious thing to put a hero with very limited range into a game focused on shooting firearms.

In group interviews with the media, Associate Game Director Alec Dawson said one of the goals behind Vendetta was to «make sure there’s a play style … that players haven’t seen before and one that might be really attractive for a whole new subset of players.»

She’s also a fascinating addition from the narrative side of things. Vendetta’s father, Antonio, was killed by Reaper as part of Overwatch’s black ops branch, Blackwatch, in the playable Retribution mission. Her story trailer and hero name make it clear she’s out for revenge, and it seems like both Overwatch and their enemies, Talon, might be on her hit list.

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Vendetta’s trial weekend comes two years after Activision Blizzard was acquired by Xbox-maker Microsoft. Since the acquisition, Overwatch 2 has ramped up bold experiments such as changes to health and projectile sizes, and the addition of perks as part of the core gameplay loop. Meanwhile, Xbox continues to balance its hardware ambitions, like the Xbox ROG Ally, against its general push to expand Xbox Game Pass (including a hefty price hike). We’ve also seen the gates between Xbox and PlayStation lower, as Xbox brought longtime Xbox exclusive Gears of War to PS5.

Ahead of Vendetta’s hero trial, I spoke with Dawson and Bryan Bedford, a senior character artist for the game, about the new hero, her abilities and what it’s like designing such a distinct hero.

Vendetta abilities

Dawson and Bedford described Vendetta as a «high-octane» character who’s highly mobile but also very dependent on her abilities. Here’s a quick rundown of what those abilities do.

Passive: Onslaught

If you played the Haunted Masquerade mode, you may have gotten a taste of this ability already. When her attacks connect, Onslaught gives Vendetta boosts to movement and attack speed, allowing her to stay on top of and quickly dispatch targets. One of her minor perks, Relentless, allows her to stack those bonuses up to three more times.

Primary fire: Palatine Fang

Look, it’s a sword. You swing your sword. But there is a small combo element to Vendetta’s primary: two horizontal swipes followed by an overhead slash that’s narrower but hits for critical damage.

Alternate fire: Warding Stance

Vendetta draws her sword across her body, reducing incoming damage, including melee damage. The block is tied to a resource meter that drains as you negate damage. You can also trade some of that resource to send out a projectile, giving you a potential finisher for enemies who escape your reach. It can also be used to trigger Onslaught and start gaining stacks before enemies are in range of your sword.

Ability 1: Whirlwind Dash

This ability, bound to Shift on PC, causes Vendetta to lunge forward and swing her sword in a circle, potentially hitting multiple enemies simultaneously. I imagine this to be a good way to build Onslaught stacks against groups of enemies.

Ability 2: Soaring Slice

This ability, bound to E on PC, lets Vendetta throw her sword into the air and dash to it. In the gameplay trailer, we see her use it to dodge Junker Queen’s ultimate. Soaring Slice also skips her primary fire to the overhead swing part of the combo, allowing you to drop down and immediately deal critical damage to an enemy.

Ultimate: Sundering Blade

Vendetta’s ultimate doesn’t care about your defenses. «It’ll go right through armor. It’ll eliminate overhealth. You can’t block it with a barrier,» Dawson said. On paper, that makes it an effective counter against support ultimates like Lucio’s Sound Barrier and Lifeweaver’s Tree of Life, which provide significant overhealth to their team.

Here are all of Vendetta’s abilities and perks laid out together.

How Vendetta fits into Overwatch’s roster

The devs said Vendetta is designed for dive compositions, which aim to use their abilities to quickly close the distance on their opponents and burst them down. But the team also gave her some perks to help her function in other compositions, especially up-close brawl compositions. One of Vendetta’s minor perks, Siphoning Strike, gives her lifesteal on overhead swings, allowing her to stay in a fight longer, and one of her major perks, Raging Storm, doubles up her Whirlwind Dash ability.

I asked Dawson and Bedford about the challenge of balancing melee-based DPS in a hero shooter, where it can feel like a razor’s edge separates them from feeling useless versus overpowered, and asked what the team’s «safe side of strong» philosophy looks like for a hero like Vendetta.

«It’s a tricky problem, especially for her,» Dawson admitted, saying the team spent a lot of time figuring out how to tune her Warding Stance, mobility and lethality. But he also pointed to the hero’s ability-focused nature as an area for counterplay. «You have to be very, very cognizant of your cooldown management…While there’s a lot of mobility, there’s gaps in that mobility as well.»

If a team can turn on Vendetta, she’s easy to shut down, Bedford said, but a smart Vendetta can also gauge that overcommitment to get back out. He pointed out that an enemy Zenyatta is an enticing target for Vendetta, but his Orb of Discord, which increases incoming damage, is particularly threatening to her.

The tension of either getting a kill or dying in the attempt is «exactly what she’s there for,» said Dawson. «If you enjoy that type of frenetic gameplay, I think she’s for you.»

Vendetta will be available to play from Nov. 26 to Dec. 1 before joining the roster in season 20.