Technologies

Diablo 4: Release Date, PC Specs and Everything to Know About the Darker Dungeon Crawler

From release date to PC requirements, here’s everything to know about the newest entry in the Diablo series.

Diablo 4, the latest installment of the popular dungeon crawler, is being released on June 6, and if the recent beta tests are any indication, it’s also going to be one of the best games of the year.

Diablo 4 puts players back into the bleak world of Sanctuary, where forces from heaven and hell manipulate humans to do their bidding. The Mother of Sanctuary, Lilith, has returned and intends to spread her evil across the world. It’s up to the players to take on her forces and stop her before it’s too late.

When does Diablo 4 come out?

It’s due out on June 6. Those who preordered the Deluxe or Ultimate edition of the game can start playing on June 1 at 4 p.m. PT.

What systems will Diablo 4 be available on?

Diablo 4 will be released on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S for $70.

Preorder Diablo 4 $70 at GameStop

What are the PC requirements for Diablo 4?

The minimum requirements are:

Operating system: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD FX-8350
Memory: 8GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 or AMD Radeon R9 280
Storage: Solid-state drive with 90GB available space

Publisher Blizzard recommends the following specs:

Operating system: 64-bit Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K or AMD R3-1300X
Memory: 16GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon RX 470
Storage: SSD with 90GB available space

What classes are available in Diablo 4?

There are five classes available in Diablo 4: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Druid and Necromancer.

What’s the story in Diablo 4?

Diablo 4 is the newest entry in the legendary dungeon-crawling action RPG. Players will fight against the horde of monsters controlled by Lilith, the daughter of Mephisto, one of the Great Evils, and called the «mother» of Sanctuary, the world in which the Diablo series takes place.

Will Diablo 4 have microtransactions?

Yes it will, although Blizzard says they will only be used for cosmetic purposes.

How is it?

Diablo 4 is bigger and darker than previous games, which is a much-needed upgrade to its dungeon-crawler formula.

Sanctuary is split into large regions that are then divided into smaller zones. Zones generally have open areas filled with monsters, as well as different towns and encampments where players can interact with merchants or find side quests.

Quests in the game are abundant and will send you to the far reaches of Sanctuary. Some will require killing a number of enemies in the wild, while others are focused on taking down bosses found in dungeons.

Dungeons are scattered throughout the regions, some of which take a few minutes to clear, while others may take up to 15 minutes or more. There are also landmarks to discover and overworld events that will send waves of gruesome enemies your way.

Diablo 4 isn’t just bigger, it also has a far darker feel than previous games in the series. Time and time again, I was creeped out by the events unfolding in the game. Blizzard pushed the envelope in villainy by introducing Lilith, who entices individuals to let their inner demon out and do horrible things. The visuals in Diablo 4 help elevate the darker tone with cinematic sequences zooming in on the characters to give a close-up view of the horror rather than the distant viewpoint used throughout the game.

As remarkable as Diablo 4 is, the review build I experienced did have some issues that could frustrate players. I used the Necromancer during my time playing. It was great to have a gang of skeletons at my beck and call, but they tended to attack targets that posed no harm, like a destructible wall, while ignoring the boss I was fighting. Targeting itself can be a little cumbersome, especially from a distance, as auto-targeting doesn’t always pick the ideal enemy to attack. Some of my minions would also just stand there instead of attacking, but this was a rare occurrence.

Arguably the most frustrating aspect of playing the game was the lack of a basic attack button. For some reason, Blizzard felt it would be better to have players use a skill as the default attack. This means if I have a fancy sword or a giant scythe — I am playing a Necromancer after all — the default attack would be whatever initial skill I picked, instead of me swinging my weapon that I have equipped. It made having a cool weapon somewhat useless, which is almost sacrilegious for a game like Diablo, where the ultimate goal is to have the best-equipped character.

Diablo 4 does many things right to elevate the series. It offers a lot of content to keep players occupied for long periods of time, but it doesn’t do so without meaning. The game also returns to the dark tone of the original game but amplifies it for the modern audience.

Game console reviews

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for May 24, #713

Hints and answers for Connections for May 24, #713.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections puzzle has a fun variety of categories. The purple one appeals to my English major heart. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Goo-goo.

Green group hint: Not shirts.

Blue group hint: City that never sleeps.

Purple group hint: Acclaimed writers.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Baby gear.

Green group: Kinds of pants minus «s.»

Blue group: New York sports team members.

Purple group: Black women authors.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is baby gear. The four answers are bib, bottle, monitor and stroller.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is kinds of pants minus «s.» The four answers are capri, jean, jogger and slack.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is New York sports team members. The four answers are Jet, Met, Net and Ranger.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is black women authors. The four answers are Butler, Gay, Hooks and Walker.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, May 20

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for May 20.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword is a fun one, and now I’m singing the song from 1-Across in my head. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: «Pink ___ Club» (Chappell Roan hit)
Answer: PONY

5A clue: Instrument that might be made with a comb and wax paper
Answer: KAZOO

6A clue: How bedtime stories are often read
Answer: ALOUD

7A clue: On edge
Answer: TENSE

8A clue: Short Instagram video
Answer: REEL

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Less colorful
Answer: PALER

2D clue: Layer of the upper atmosphere
Answer: OZONE

3D clue: Totally pointless
Answer: NOUSE

4D clue: Hit a high note in a high place, perhaps
Answer: YODEL

5D clue: Kit ___ bar
Answer: KAT

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Want to Speak to Dolphins? Researchers Won $100,000 AI Prize Studying Their Whistling

The scientists studied a bottlenose dolphin community in Sarasota, Florida, uncovering evidence of language-like communications.

If any dolphins are reading this: hello!

A team of scientists studying a community of Florida dolphins has been awarded the first $100,000 Coller Dolittle Challenge prize, set up to award research in interspecies communication algorithms.

The US-based team, led by Laela Sayigh of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, found that a type of whistle that dolphins employ is used as an alarm. Another whistle they studied is used by dolphins to respond to unexpected or unfamiliar situations. The team used non-invasive hydrophones to perform the research, which provides evidence that dolphins may be using whistles like words, shared with multiple members of their communities.

Capturing the sounds is just the beginning. Researchers will use AI to continue deciphering the whistles to try to find more patterns.

«The main thing stopping us cracking the code of animal communication is a lack of data. Think of the 1 trillion words needed to train a large language model like ChatGPT. We don’t have anything like this for other animals,» said Jonathan Birch, a professor at the London School of Economics and Politics and one of the judges for the prize.

«That’s why we need programs like the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, which has built up an extraordinary library of dolphin whistles over 40 years. The cumulative result of all that work is that Laela Sayigh and her team can now use deep learning to analyse the whistles and perhaps, one day, crack the code,» he said.

The award was part of a ceremony honoring the work of four teams from across the world. In addition to the dolphin project, researchers studied ways in which nightingales, marmoset monkeys and cuttlefish communicate.

The challenge is a collaboration between the Jeremy Coller Foundation and Tel Aviv University. Submissions for next year open up in August.

Dolphins are just the beginning

Researching animals and trying to learn the secrets of their communication is nothing new; but AI is speeding up the creation of larger and lager datasets.

«Breakthroughs are inevitable,» says Kate Zacarian, CEO and co-founder of Earth Species Project, a California-based nonprofit that also works in breaking down language barriers with the animal world.

«Just as AI has revolutionized the fields of medicine and material science, we see a similar opportunity to bring those advances to the study of animal communication and empower researchers in this space with entirely new capabilities,» Zacarian said.

Zacarian applauded Sayigh’s team and their win and said it will help bring broader recognition to the study of non-human animal communication. It could also bring more attention to ways that AI can change the nature of this type of research.
«The AI systems aren’t just faster — they allow for entirely new types of inquiry,» she said. «We’re moving from decoding isolated signals to exploring communication as a rich, dynamic, and structure phenomenon — whish is a task that’s simply too big for our human brains, but possible for large-scale AI models.»

Earth Species recently released an open-source large audio language model for analyzing animal sounds called NatureLM-audio. The organization is currently working with biologists and ethologists to study species including carrion crows, orcas, jumping spiders and others and plans to release some of their findings later this year, Zacarian said.