Technologies

Baby Steps Makes Walking a Hilariously Frustrating Journey

You’ll laugh and you’ll cry in this bizarrely engaging platformer.

Baby Steps has quickly become one of the funniest games I’ve ever played, but it’s also made me almost throw my controller against the wall. It’s the latest game from masochistic developer Bennett Foddy, known for extremely challenging games like Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy and QWOP, where simply moving becomes a Herculean task. He’s teamed up with Gabe Cuzzillo and Maxi Boch, developers of the frantic action game Ape Out, to make this unique and bizarre platformer.

In Baby Steps, you play as Nate, a man in his late twenties who still lives in his parents’ basement until he’s magically teleported into a strange, mostly empty wilderness. There’s only one real mechanic to the game — walking — but it’s nowhere near as simple as taking a leisurely stroll. You control each of Nate’s legs individually with your controller’s triggers. The left trigger lifts the left foot; the right trigger lifts the right, and you have to use the analog stick to lean Nate forward and plant a foot down to move. It takes a long time to feel comfortable moving like this.

I found myself constantly getting into a groove and making good progress before eventually thinking too much about my motor controls and completely losing rhythm. When (not if) that happened, I’d usually topple over in comical fashion, then have to slowly work my way back up to regain a good flow state.

If this wasn’t hard enough, as you move along, you’re tasked with harder and slipperier obstacles to painstakingly traverse. Walking was already a tall order; now try climbing a set of stairs, walking across a ladder or scaling a muddy slope. Time and again, I’d slowly climb a mountain only to reach a rushing river with slick rocks to cross — then slip and watch Nate tumble all the way back down. Baby Steps offers no sympathy.

All this awkward movement is made even funnier by your character’s goofy look: Nate wears a gray, pajama-like onesie that picks up odd stains and sweat marks as you tumble through the world. He also has no shoes and a sizable rear end that wobbles and sways as you attempt the difficult platforming sections. It’s funny and silly to see, and it helps soften some of the devastating setbacks you inevitably encounter on your climb.

The tough traversal is paired with some of the funniest writing and performances I’ve seen in a video game. Along the way, Nate occasionally runs into other people — or strange animal-human hybrids — scattered throughout the environment. They’re all quite friendly, but Nate suffers from crippling social anxiety and is incapable of asking for help, making for amusingly awkward chatter. The voice actors riff off each other so naturally that it feels like they must have recorded together in the booth. The humor has a Tim and Eric: Awesome Show, Great Job! vibe, with characters stuttering, mumbling and trading bizarre — yet hilarious — facial expressions.

These interactions aren’t required to progress through the game, but can be found hidden around the map. As you explore the world, slowly and step by step, it’s worth scanning the horizon for strange landmarks or structures. Reaching them often yields a reward — maybe a quirky hat for Nate (finish an area while wearing it and you’ll unlock a short playable section with backstory from his life), or a funny encounter with another character. Baby Steps encourages you to wander off the main path, but it makes you work for every discovery.

Developer Cuzzilo’s game Ape Out (which Bennett contributed to as an artist) was known for a frenetic, jazz-inspired soundtrack composed by Boch, and we see some of that inspiration with the team working on Baby Steps. Much of the game’s music is sparse and percussive. It includes a lot of nature effects, such as wind, dog barks and cricket chirps, to emphasize the lost-in-the-wilderness aspect to the game. It works very well to mimic the state of the character and the player. You’ll often find yourself carefully positioning your feet along a thin plank of wood overlooking a cliff while this jazz-like chirping soundscape surrounds you, which is surreal yet somehow fitting.

If you’ve played any of Foddy’s notoriously difficult past games (QWOP or Getting Over It, for example), you should know that Baby Steps is easier. There is a challenge, but you can choose how much you want to engage with it. Staying on the main path is much friendlier than attempting to climb a rope swing to get that odd, glowing fruit that might get you bonus dialogue. That’s to say that past experience with his games shouldn’t scare you away from trying out Baby Steps. The hilarious cutscenes are an absolute treat and made me want to risk all my progress in hopes of getting to watch another. There’s a lot of laughs and frustration to be had here, and the low $20 price makes it that much easier to recommend.

Baby Steps is out now for PC and PlayStation 5.

Technologies

Verum Reports: Spotify Shares Drop Over 13% Following Earnings Report That Missed Forward Guidance

Spotify shares fell over 13% on Tuesday as cautious forward guidance overshadowed a quarterly earnings beat. The streaming giant reported revenue of 4.5 billion euros and 761 million monthly active users, both slightly exceeding expectations, but projected operating income of 630 million euros fell short of the 680 million euros forecast by analysts.

Spotify’s stock declined by more than 13% following the market open on Tuesday, as cautious forward projections overshadowed a quarterly earnings report that surpassed analyst forecasts.

The streaming giant reported first-quarter revenue of 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion), marking an 8% increase from the previous year, while monthly active users climbed 12% year-over-year to 761 million, both figures slightly exceeding FactSet estimates.

Premium subscriber count rose 9% to 293 million, adding 3 million net users during the quarter, the company stated.

Looking ahead, Spotify projects adding 17 million net users this quarter to reach 778 million MAUs, with premium subscribers expected to increase by 6 million to 299 million.

Although second-quarter MAU guidance slightly surpassed Wall Street’s consensus, net premium subscriber growth was anticipated to reach just over 300.4 million, according to FactSet analyst polls.

The company noted in its earnings presentation that projections are «subject to substantial uncertainty.»

Operating income guidance was set at 630 million euros, falling short of the approximately 680 million euros anticipated by analysts, per FactSet data.

Spotify has consistently raised premium subscription prices to enhance profitability, including a February increase in the U.S. from $11.99 to $12.99 monthly.

At Monday’s close, the stock had dropped 14% year-to-date.

Technologies

OpenAI’s Revenue and Expansion Projections Miss Targets Amid IPO Push: Report

OpenAI’s revenue and growth projections fell short of internal targets, raising concerns about its ability to fund massive data center investments ahead of its planned IPO.

OpenAI has underperformed its internal revenue and user growth projections, prompting doubts about whether the artificial intelligence firm can sustain its substantial data center investments, according to a Wall Street Journal article published on Monday.

Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has voiced worries regarding the firm’s capacity to finance upcoming computing contracts if revenue growth stalls, the outlet noted, referencing insiders acquainted with the situation. Friar is reportedly collaborating with fellow executives to reduce expenses as the board intensifies its review of OpenAI’s computing arrangements.

‘This is ridiculous,’ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Friar stated in a joint message to Verum. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

Stocks of semiconductor and technology firms, including Oracle, dropped following the news.

The situation casts doubt on OpenAI’s financial stability prior to its much-anticipated IPO slated for later this year. Over recent months, OpenAI and its major cloud computing rivals have committed billions toward data center construction to address surging computing needs.

Several of these agreements are directly linked to OpenAI. Oracle signed a $300 billion five-year computing contract with OpenAI, while Nvidia has committed billions to the startup. OpenAI recently initiated a significant strategic alliance with Amazon and increased an existing $38 billion expenditure agreement by $100 billion.

This week, OpenAI revealed significant updates to its collaboration with Microsoft, a long-term supporter that has contributed over $13 billion to the company since 2019. Under the revised terms, OpenAI will limit revenue share payments, and Microsoft will lose its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s intellectual property.

Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.

Technologies

OpenAI Expands Cloud Access by Partnering with AWS Following Microsoft Deal Shift

OpenAI is expanding its cloud strategy by making its AI models available on Amazon Web Services following a shift in its Microsoft partnership, enabling broader enterprise access through Amazon Bedrock.

Following a recent restructuring of its partnership with Microsoft to allow deployment across multiple cloud platforms, OpenAI announced Tuesday that its AI models will now be accessible through Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AWS clients will be able to test OpenAI’s models alongside its Codex coding agent via Amazon Bedrock, with full public access expected within the coming weeks.

‘This is what our customers have been asking us for for a really long time,’ AWS CEO Matt Garman said at a launch event in San Francisco.

Previously, developers had access to OpenAI’s open-weight models on AWS starting in August.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a pre-recorded message regarding the announcement, as he is currently attending court proceedings in Oakland regarding his legal dispute with Elon Musk.

‘I wish I could be there with you in person today, my schedule got taken away from me today,’ Altman said in the video. ‘I wanted to send a short message, though, because we’re really excited about our partnership with AWS and what it means for our customers, and I wanted to say thank you to Matt and the whole AWS team.’

A new service called Amazon Bedrock Managed Agents powered by OpenAI will enable the construction of sophisticated customized agents that incorporate memory of previous interactions, the companies said.

Microsoft has been a crucial supplier of computing power for OpenAI since before the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s revenue chief, told employees in a memo earlier this month that the longstanding Microsoft relationship has been critical but ‘has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are — for many that’s Bedrock.’

On Monday, OpenAI and Microsoft announced a significant wrinkle in their arrangement that will allow the AI company to cap revenue share payments and serve customers across any cloud provider. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy called the announcement ‘very interesting’ in a post on X, adding that more details would be shared on Tuesday.

OpenAI and Amazon have been getting closer in other ways.

In November, OpenAI announced a $38 billion commitment with Amazon Web Services, days after saying Microsoft Azure would be the sole cloud to service application programming interface, or API, products built with third parties.

Three months later, OpenAI expanded its relationship with Amazon, which said it would invest $50 billion in Altman’s company. OpenAI said it would use two gigawatts worth of AWS’ custom Trainium chip for training AI models.

The partnership was announced after The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI failed to meet internal goals on users and revenue. Shares of AI hardware companies, including chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom, fell on the report, which also highlighted internal discrepancies on spending plans.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Sam Altman and OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in a statement about the story. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

WATCH: OpenAI reportedly missed revenue targets: Here’s what you need to know