Tag: Latest in Technology

Bloodborne fans may not be happy to hear that a remake was reportedly rejected, but that doesn't mean it's completely off the table. Bluepoint Games, Sony's closed-down studio behind many PlayStation remakes, pitched remaking the classic Gothic horror RPG in early 2025, but was blocked by the game's developer, FromSoftware, according to a Bloomberg report.

As Bloomberg reported, Bluepoint pitched a Bloodborne remake after several years of working towards a live-service title in the God of War franchise that was ultimately canceled. Looking for the next project, a modern-day version of Bloodborne made a lot of sense, considering the title came out in 2015 and Bluepoint was responsible for the successful Demon's Souls remake in 2020. However, Bloomberg's sources said that FromSoftware was against it, but didn't offer a concrete reason why. With some digging, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier pointed to an interview from Kinda Funny Games with PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida, which aired last year. In the video, Yoshida mentioned that FromSoftware's president, Hidetaka Miyazaki, wanted to pursue a Bloodborne remake, but was too busy to do it himself and "doesn't want anyone else to touch it."

After failing to get the Bloodborne remake greenlit, Bluepoint wasn't able to secure another project for more than a year, according to the Bloomberg report. Now that Bluepoint has been shut down, we're likely even further away from a remake. That's not to say a remake will never happen, but when it does, it'll have to get a stamp of approval and likely a lot of oversight from FromSoftware.

Alongside a global launch for Xiaomi's 17 Ultra (read about that right here), the company announced a further deepening of its relationship with Leica. The CEO of Leica, Matthias Harsch, took to the stage to announce a new Leitzphone, which appears to be an even deeper collaboration than 17 Ultra by Leica, which is a different phone. Confused? That's fair. 

Design-wise, Leica has shifted back to a single tone body color, which looks more "Leica" to this camera dilettante's eyes. And if you’re thinking you’ve heard of the Leitzphone before, you probably have: it was a series of phones made by Sharp that launched in Japan in 2021. They all had a 1-inch camera sensor, as does Xiaomi’s first Leitzphone. It also has a mechanical, physical ring dial around the camera unit to control settings like zoom, exposure and shutter speed.

The camera interface is also designed by Leica. It's designed to be as intuitive as possible, with an Essential mode in the camera app that strips away all those modes and labels, showcasing whatever you're looking to shoot. You can switch between a monochrome shooting mode and a more familiar punchy, contrasty Leica filter. And that's it.

Aside from that there's no major standout interface or UI changes that I could spot while trying out the Leitzphone briefly at Xiaomi's MWC keynote. However, if you're intrigued by the functionality — or the cameras — check out our hands-on coverage and sample photos of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. The cameras are good.

Image by Mat Smith for Engadget

All three iterations (the regular Xiaomi 17 Ultra , the "by Leica" edition and the Leitzphone) have a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and a 6.9-inch 120Hz display that can reach up to 3,500 nits of peak brightness. While cameras are naturally the focus, it’s a flagship device by pretty much any metric. It also has a 6,000mAh battery for extended vacation photo shoots.

Barring some Leica-tinged wallpapers and design accents, it's a lot like the 17 Ultra by Leica, just with different messaging. This is Leica's phone, made by Xiaomi, but does a rose by any other name still have great low-light photography? Maybe increased Leica branding will be enough to coax its camera fans into making this their next smartphone, perhaps.

Image by Mat Smith for Engadget

After years of collaboration (and cute little badges), this may be the first pure "Leica phone" manufactured by Xiaomi but sold directly by both companies. It's priced at €1,999 (roughly $2,362), but it's not known yet whether this phone will launch in the US. Welcome to MWC, everyone.

President Donald Trump has ordered all US government agencies to stop using Claude and other Anthropic services, escalating an already volatile feud between the Department of Defense and company over AI safeguards. Taking to Truth Social on Friday afternoon, the president said there would be a six-month phase out period for federal agencies, including the Defense Department, to migrate off of Anthropic's products. 

“The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution,” the president wrote. “Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow.”  

Before today, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had threatened to label Anthropic a “supply chain risk” if it did not agree to withdraw safeguards that insist Claude not be used for mass surveillance against Americans or in fully autonomous weapons. In a post on X published after President Trump’s statement, Hegseth said he was “directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security. Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.”

Anthropic did not immediately respond to Engadget's comment request. Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for the company said the contract Anthropic received after CEO Dario Amodei outlined Anthropic's position made “virtually no progress” on preventing the outlined misuses.

"New language framed as a compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will. Despite DOW's recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the crux of our negotiations for months," the spokesperson said. "We remain ready to continue talks and committed to operational continuity for the Department and America's warfighters." 

Advocacy groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) quickly came out against the president’s threats. “This action sets a dangerous precedent. It chills private companies’ ability to engage frankly with the government about appropriate uses of their technology, which is especially important in national security settings that so often have reduced public visibility,” said CDT President and CEO Alexandra Givens, in a statement shared with Engadget. “These threats undermine the integrity of the innovation ecosystem, distort market incentives and normalize an expansive view of executive power that should worry Americans all across the political spectrum.”

For now, it appears the AI industry is united behind Anthropic. On Friday, hundreds of Google and OpenAI employees signed an open letter urging their companies to stand in "solidarity" with the lab. According to an internal memo seen by Axios, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the ChatGPT maker would draw the same red line as Anthropic.  

In a blog post published late on Friday, Anthropic vowed to “challenge any supply chain risk designation in court,” and assured its customers that only work related to the Defense Department would be affected. The company's full statement is available here, an excerpt is below:

Designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk would be an unprecedented action—one historically reserved for US adversaries, never before publicly applied to an American company. We are deeply saddened by these developments. As the first frontier AI company to deploy models in the US government’s classified networks, Anthropic has supported American warfighters since June 2024 and has every intention of continuing to do so.

We believe this designation would both be legally unsound and set a dangerous precedent for any American company that negotiates with the government.

No amount of intimidation or punishment from the Department of War will change our position on mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. We will challenge any supply chain risk designation in court.

Update, February 27, 9PM ET: This story was updated twice after publish. First at 6PM ET to include a link to and quotes from Hegseth about the designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk. Later, a quote from Anthropic was added, along with a link to the company’s blog post on the subject.