Technologies

The Ultimate Dead Space Remake Survival Guide

Even Dead Space veterans might want to check out these tips.

Dead Space might be the best video game remake ever. But whether you’re a longtime fan of the series or brand new to it, the sci-fi survival horror game can be a little tricky.

The remake of the 2008 game came out Friday, and players are stepping back into the role of Isaac, an engineer who finds himself in the middle of an utter nightmare. Even though the game is 15 years old, developer Motive Studios made some small changes to its formula to create a fresh experience for anyone playing.

Here are nine tips to survive Dead Space.

Always go for the limbs

Several characters in the game mention cutting off the limbs of the Necromorphs, the game’s alien bad guys. It can’t be said enough how important this is.

Shots to the head and body don’t do nearly as much damage as cutting off a limb, making the effort a waste of ammo. Most of the weapons available to Isaac are intended to be used to cut off the extremities, but you have to make sure to target limbs accordingly. For most enemies, focus on the legs in order to decrease their mobility.

Use the right weapon on the right enemy

Speaking of weapons, with so many options, it’s important to know which one is best for the job. Isaac starts off with the Plasma Cutter, ideal for the commonly found Slashers, with their long limbs, or the doglike Lurkers. Isaac’s second weapon, the Plasma Rifle, is perfect for the Exploders, who have a pouch of chemicals attached to them. It takes only a few bullets for the pouch to explode. Since ammunition is limited in Dead Space, picking the right weapon will help prevent you from running out of ammo at the worst time. The Ripper is the third weapon Isaac acquires and is the best to take down multiple Stalkers.

Keep the weapons you like on you

There are seven weapons in Dead Space, but you may find yourself gravitating to a few of them. If that’s the case, keep only those weapons you like in your inventory and put the rest in storage. Ammo dropped by enemies will only match the weapons you carry. Sticking to the weapons you like will open up space in your inventory, and ammo for those weapons will be prioritized by the game.

Never forget to stomp

Necromorphs can take a lot of damage and still move around with only one or two working limbs. Because of this, one way to make sure they’re dead is by stomping on them. Not only does smashing them to bits with Isaac’s boot provide some satisfaction, it’ll also cause an item to drop from the Necromorph. Practically every one will have some useful item on it.

Use your Stasis

The Stasis Module is a suit upgrade that lets you slow down an object or enemy. At the start of the game, Isaac can use it just a few times before it’s depleted, but upgrades to his suit extend the amount available. Though initially Statis is used to get past an out-of-control door, it’s an incredibly helpful tool for dealing with Necromorphs. A shot to an individual or group of enemies will slow them down tremendously, giving you more time to evade attacks, lop a limb or run away.

Use Kinesis to get hard-to-reach items

Kinesis is another module Isaac acquires early in the game to move obstacles in his way. It can also be used to solve puzzles and to throw pipes and exploding canisters at Necromorphs.

Kinesis can also be used to grab items. Keep an eye out for the glowing green or white dots on items. Instead of running, or floating, to get them, you can use Kinesis to bring items right to you. There are some items purposely placed out of reach that can be acquired only with Kinesis.

Watch out for useful weapons around you

Thanks to Kinesis, many objects found around the Ishimura can be used as weapons. The two obvious ones are the bright red canisters that explode on impact, and the glowing blue-ish containers, which can cause a Stasis effect to enemies caught in the blaster. Isaac can also yank poles from the ship with Kinesis and then hurl them at a Necromorph. Even the Necromorphs themselves can act as a weapon. Once a Slasher’s arm has been severed from its body, that giant claw can be thrown at the enemy to deal damage.

Don’t let your health get too low

Isaac’s health is viewable on his back and goes from green to yellow to red as it’s depleted. Since Dead Space is a survival horror game, healing items are hard to come by. The problem is that certain Necromorphs have a grab attack that can immediately kill Isaac if his health is in the red. If it’s that low, make sure to keep your distance.

Save often

Modern games autosave a player’s progress frequently. Dead Space, however, predates that feature, which means it’s important to save your progress often. There are segments of the game when an autosave happens, but don’t rely on these, or else you’ll risk incurring a significant setback.

Technologies

Google I/O Announcements: The Latest AI Upgrades Coming to Gemini, XR and More

From its new Project Aura XR glasses to Chrome’s wants-to-be-more-helpful AI mode, Gemini Live and new Flow generative video tool, Google puts AI everywhere.

As you’d expect, this year’s Google I/O developer’s conference focused almost exclusively on AI — where the company’s Gemini AI platform stands, where it’s going and how much it’s going to cost you now for its new AI Ultra subscription plan (spoiler: $250 per month). Meanwhile, a new Flow app expands the company’s video-generation toolset, and its Android XR glasses make their debut.

Plus, all AI usage and performance numbers are up! (Given that a new 42.5-exaflop Ironwood Tensor processing unit is coming to Google Cloud later this year, they’ll continue to rise.)

Google’s Project Aura, a developer kit for Android XR that includes new AR glasses from Xreal, is the company’s next step in the company’s roadmap toward glasses-based, AI-driven extended reality. CNET’s Scott Stein goes in-depth in an exclusive interview with Shahram Izadi, Google’s VP and GM for Android XR about that future. And headset-based Project Moohan, developed in conjunction with Samsung, is now available, and Google’s working with Samsung to extend beyond headsets.

For a play-by-play of the event, you can read the archive of our live blog.

Google already held a separate event for Android, where it launched Android 16, debuting its new Material 3 Expressive interface, updates to security and an update on Gemini integration and features.

A lot of the whizzy new AI features are only available via one of its subscription levels. AI Pro is just a rebranding of Google’s $20-per-month Gemini Advanced plan (adding some new features), but Google AI Ultra is a pricier new option — $250 per month, with half off the first three months for the moment — that provides access to the latest, spiffiest and least usage-limited of all its tools and models, as well as a prototype for managing AI agents and the 30 terabytes of storage you’re going to need to store it all. They’re both available today.

Google also wants to make your automation sound smarter with Personalized Smart Replies, which makes your generated answers sound more like you, as well as plowing through pieces of information on your device to provide relevant information. It’ll be in Gmail this summer for subscribers. Eventually, it’ll be everywhere.

Also, it includes lots of better models, better coding tools and other details on developer-friendly things you expect from a developer conference. The announcement included its conversational Gemini Live, formerly part of Project Astra, its interactive, agentic, voice AI, kitchen sink AI app. (As Managing Editor Patrick Holland says, «Astra is a rehearsal of features that, when they’re ready for the spotlight, get added to Gemini Live.») And for researchers, NotebookLM incorporates Gemini Live to improve its… everything.

It’s available now in the US.

Chrome AI Mode

People (that is, those over 18) who pony up for the subscriptions, plus users on the Chrome Beta, Dev and Canary tracks, will be able to try out the company’s expanded Gemini integration with Chrome — summary, research and agentic chat based on the contents of your screen, somewhat like Gemini Live does for phones (which, by the way, is available for free on Android and iOS as of today). But the Chrome version is more suited to the type of things you do at a computer rather than a phone. (Microsoft already does this with Copilot in its own Edge browser.)

Eventually, Google plans for Gemini in Chrome to be capable of synthesizing using multiple tabs and voice navigation.

The company is also expanding how you can interact with its AI Overviews in Google Search as part of AI Mode, with interactions with AI Overviews and more agentic shopping help. It’s a new tab with search, or on the search bar, and it’s available now. It includes deeper searches, Personal Context — which uses all the information it knows about you, and that’s a lot — to make suggestions and customize replies.

The company detailed its new AI Mode for shopping, which has an improved conversational shopping experience, a checkout that monitors for the best pricing, and an updated «try on» interface that lets you upload a photo of yourself rather than modeling it on a generic body.

Google plans to launch it soon, though the updated «try on» feature is now available in the US via Search Labs.

Google Beam

Formerly known as Project Starline, Google Beam is the updated version of the company’s 3D videoconferencing, now with AI. It uses a six-camera array to capture all angles of you, which the AI then stitches together, uses head tracking to follow your movements, and sends at up to 60 frames per second.

The platform uses a light field display that doesn’t require wearing any special equipment, but that technology also tends to be sensitive to off-angle viewing. HP is an old hand in the large-scale scanning biz, including 3D scanning, so the partnership with Google isn’t a big surprise.

Flow and other generative creative tools

Google Flow is a new tool that builds on Imagen 4 and Veo 3 to perform tasks like creating AI video clips and stitching them into longer sequences, or extending them, with a single prompt while keeping them consistent from scene to scene. It also provides editing tools like camera controls. It’s available as part of Gemini AI Ultra.

Imagen 4 image generation is more detailed, with improved tonality and better text and typography. And it’s faster. Meanwhile, Veo 3, also available today, has a better understanding of physics and native audio generation — sound effects, background sounds and dialogue.

Of course, all this is available under the AI Pro plan. Google’s Synth ID gen AI detection tool is also available today.

Technologies

WWDC 2025 Set for June 9. What to Expect From iOS 19 and How to Watch

The tech giant has published the lineup for its summer software event, including details of how to stream the keynote.

Apple has revealed the lineup for this year’s WWDC, its annual developer conference, which is scheduled to take place from June 9 to June 13, with a mix of online and in-person sessions. The company has scheduled a special event for the first day at Apple Park, where it will stream its keynote and platforms state of the union address.

The June 9 keynote is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. PT, and will detail «groundbreaking updates coming to Apple platforms,» according to a press release. During the keynote, we expect to see the company announce its plans for iOS 19 and other software updates across iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV.

The platforms state of the union will take place on the same day at 1 p.m. PT, offering «a deeper dive into the new tools that will further empower Apple developers, including advances across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS.»

You can watch both events online via apple.com, the Apple TV app, and the Apple YouTube channel.

As always, iOS 19 likely won’t arrive later in the year (probably after the annual September iPhone event), but WWDC will provide us with our first glimpse of Apple’s plans for our devices. In the meantime, check out our iOS 19 wish list of features that CNET staff hope will be coming with this next big software update.

What is WWDC?

WWDC is a conference for the developers who create the apps we use across our Apple devices, from our iPhones to our MacBooks, to learn about new tools and features they can take advantage of that year. However, the event also garners significant attention from beyond the developer community, since it tells us all we need to know about what to expect from the next generation of software updates that will come to our devices.

The online event is free to attend for all developers, and anyone who is curious can tune into Apple’s keynote. But those who want to attend the June 9 event at Apple Park in person need to apply online. In the days following, students and developers will attend sessions where they can engage more deeply with the changes to Apple’s platforms, which will allow them to ensure their apps are fully compatible with and that they take advantage of those changes.

«We’re excited to mark another incredible year of WWDC with our global developer community,» said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of worldwide developer relations. «We can’t wait to share the latest tools and technologies that will empower developers and help them continue to innovate.»

What to Expect at WWDC 2025

If rumors are to be believed, Apple’s operating systems are set for a dramatic design overhaul this year. According to Bloomberg, iOS 19, iPadOS 19 and MacOS 16 will all feature new icons and menus, which will also change how our devices and controlled and navigated. The aim is reportedly to create a more cohesive style across platforms that will be reminiscent of VisionOS, the operating system designed for the company’s mixed-reality headset.

But that’s not all — Apple will likely use WWDC to outline the progress its made in the field of AI. «I’m looking forward to seeing more details about Apple Intelligence and the new features that will become available,» said Francisco Jeronimo, VP of devices at IDC. «This is critical for Apple, as Google Gemini and the Android vendors have taken significant steps forward with their AI offerings.»

Last year at WWDC 2024, Apple announced iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence — as well as updates to Siri that have yet to materialize.

Technologies

This Belkin Wireless Phone Charger Is Just $15, but Time’s Running Out to Get Yours

Wireless chargers are handy to have around. This one is now 67% off at Woot.

Sure, you can plug your phone into a cable when it comes time to top it off, but that’s so boring and kind of old school. Instead, why not treat yourself to a new wireless charger and power that phone in style? You might be surprised how inexpensive the switch to wireless charging is, especially if you take advantage of this deal. Right now, Woot will sell you a Belkin Qi-certified charger for just $15, and you’ll even get a power adapter in the box. That’s more than you can say about your phone these days.

This wireless charger comes in a stand form so you can use your phone’s screen and watch content even while it’s charging. It has a stylish black finish, so it’ll look right at home whether on your desk or table beside your bed.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

In terms of specs, the charger is Qi-certified, so it is rated for 15 watts of charging power, while the adapter is rated for 24 watts. That means that you’ll charge at the maximum speed allowed by the Qi standard when using a compatible phone.

It’s worth keeping in mind that this deal isn’t going to hang around for long, though. Woot says it will end in just a few days, and it could end sooner if stocks run dry.

Why this deal matters

Wireless chargers are a quick and easy way to get some juice into your phone while still having access to its display. But the best part is the fact that you won’t have to go fishing for your cable down the back of the nearest piece of furniture anymore. Can you really put a price on that?

If you could, we reckon it’d be much more than the $15 needed to get one of these wireless chargers, that’s for sure.