There are two cool pieces of news here. First, the indie studio behind the Overcooked series, Ghost Town Games, is working on a new title called Stage Fright, and it'll support both online and couch co-op. Rad! Second, Stage Fright is being published by No Man's Sky studio Hello Games, a move that marks Hello's first foray into publishing other studios' projects. Double rad!Stage Fright is built around co-op, and its mechanics bring Overcooked-style chaos to a series of escape room environments in a spooky, Luigi's Mansion kind of world. It doesn't have a release date but it's available to wishlist now on Steam.Overcooked and its sequel have helped re-energize the co-op genre in recent years, serving up frantic restaurant gameplay that always feels more fun - and shouty - with a friend. Overcooked supports cooperative couch play and Overcooked 2 introduced online co-op to the series. Stage Fright represents the culmination of everything that Ghost Town has learned about co-op gaming from Overcooked, complete with local and online play."Nothing else really played like Overcooked when it came out and Stage Fright is just as innovative, but in a really different direction," Hello Games publishing lead Tim Woodley said.Ghost Town Games has a core team of just three people, founders Oli De-Vine and Phil Duncan plus writer Gemma Langford. They've been developing Stage Fright under the codename Project Attic - because they've literally been building this game in their attic - and their website lists six additional contributors. There's also the Hello Games of it all.Ghost Town GamesDe-Vine and Duncan have been friends with the Hello Games crew - including founders Sean Murray, Grant Duncan, Ryan Doyle and David Ream - for years. After Hello found success with Joe Danger in 2010, they helped connect Ghost Town with the eventual publisher of Overcooked, Team17. Overcooked came out in 2016 and the rest is culinary co-op history."Phil and Oli came to visit us for advice with the very earliest demo of Overcooked about ten years ago," Woodley said. "We have such fond memories of the four founders of Hello playing that Overcooked demo, screaming at each other about onions - it was instantly obvious this was something special."Hello Games is currently developing Light No Fire, a cooperative survival and exploration game that takes place on a fantasy planet as large as Earth, offering a mix of role-playing and sandbox mechanics. The studio is also still very much supporting and expanding its breakout hit, No Man's Sky (and things seem to be going really well). Stage Fright will be Hello's debut as a third-party publisher, but it doesn't mean the studio is pivoting to publishing full-time.Ghost Town Games"Hello Games has a bunch of experience we can lend behind the scenes, support we can give, but if we're honest it really appeals to us to have fun working with a bunch of creative people we just love spending time with," Woodley said. "When we played an early version of Stage Fright we got the same buzz as we had with Overcooked all those years ago. It's just something we wanted to be involved in."Expect more information about Stage Fright over the next 12 months.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-overcooked-team-has-a-new-creepy-cute-co-op-game-called-stage-fright-030009063.html?src=rss
Netflix announced at The Game Awards that its Squid Game multiplayer mobile title will be playable on Android and iOS without an active Netflix subscription when it arrives on December 17. However, the free-for-anyone period will only be available for an unspecified limited time."Squid Game: Unleashed lets you play with friends online in a series of mini-games. The contests are either ripped directly from the series or thematically similar classic childhood activities" (only with added death).The party royale game takes cues from the Mario Party franchise, but its inspiration may have been much more direct... and circular. In 2021, indie developer Dani published Crab Game for Windows, macOS and Linux. The title didn't try to hide that it was inspired by the Netflix series (crab, squid... get it?), which was taking the world by storm at the time. Its Mario Party-style mini-games were initially Squid Game contests, presented in a cartoonish video-game form. However, it later expanded to include competitions distinct from the series.NetflixAlthough we haven't yet played Squid Game: Unleashed, the gameplay in its trailer bears an uncanny resemblance to Crab Game, including (roughly) its cartoon-like art style. To be fair, the two may play much more differently than Netflix's trailer suggests. But based on what we see now, Netflix appears to have taken inspiration from an indie dev who took inspiration from its series. (Cue Xzibit.) But hey, at least Netflix doesn't seem to have sued an indie dev into oblivion.Irrespective of such gaming industry tit-for-tats, Netflix's party royale game is timed to promote Squid Game Season 2. It starts streaming on December 26. Squid Game: Unleashed launches exclusively in the Netflix app for Android or iOS on December 17. You can check out its trailer below.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/squid-game-unleashed-will-be-playable-at-launch-without-a-netflix-subscription-025501236.html?src=rss
We told you back in 2021 that The Outer Worlds 2 was a thing that existed, and now, more than three years later, we have evidence in support of this claim: a gameplay trailer.The new trailer, which debuted at The Game Awards, shows off a vibrant universe of flora, fauna and firearms, with a layer of classic Obsidian cheekiness. The joke here is that The Outer Worlds 2 is just more of the original game - more action, more weapons, more graphics. You get the idea.All chuckles aside, that's not a terrible pitch for a new game. The Outer Worlds came out in 2019 and offered an engaging universe filled with quirky characters and strange adventures, complete with dystopian sci-fi vibes and a helping of dark satire. Obsidian is the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights, and The Outer Worlds 2 is an RPG in a similar vein.Notably, today's trailer confirms The Outer Worlds 2 is definitely heading to PlayStation 5. Obsidian is owned by Microsoft and, until now, it wasn't entirely clear whether the sequel would be exclusive to Xbox platforms. The Outer Worlds 2 is set to hit Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, PS5 and PC via Steam in 2025.Obsidian is also working on Avowed at the moment and it's looking like a fabulous entry in next year's lineup of fantasy RPGs. Avowed is due to his PC and Xbox Series X/S on February 18, 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-outer-worlds-2-gameplay-trailer-reveals-its-coming-to-ps5-as-well-as-xbox-022608769.html?src=rss
It's only been a short few months since Gearbox announced Borderlands 4, the next game in its long-running looter shooter franchise. Back in August, all we had was a cryptic teaser, but at today's Game Awards, we got a proper look at the new game.Gearbox says the new Borderlands game will arrive with four new Vault Hunters with "the deepest and most diverse" skill trees in the series' history. The game's story will focus on the Timekeeper, "a ruthless dictator who dominates the masses from on high." As with all the Borderlands games, 4 will support solo or co-op gameplay with up to three players.The last Borderlands game was 2019's Borderlands 3, which debuted on PS4, Xbox One and PC. It was well received - though less so than the first two mainline games - and sold over 5 million copies. Since then, Gearbox also developed and released Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, a fantasy-infused spinoff with a sizeable contingent of diehard fans, and took over development of Risk of Rain 2.Gearbox was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in March 2024, following the extended and expansive implosion of its former owner, Embracer Group. Borderlands 4 will be Gearbox's first release since the acquisition and there's something about this that feels like coming home, considering Take-Two's label 2K Games is the Borderlands series' longtime publisher.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/borderlands-4-gameplay-trailer-shows-four-new-vault-hunters-having-a-bad-day-021532109.html?src=rss
Resurrecting a beloved gaming series like Ninja Gaiden is always a tricky proposition. Anyone who might have worked on the franchise in its heyday has likely moved on to other projects or left the industry entirely. But judging by the talent working on Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, the new series entry revealed at the Game Awards, I think it's safe to say the franchise is in safe hands. That's because Ragebound unites two companies who know a thing or two about making quality games.The Game Kitchen - the Spanish studio behind Blasphemous and its excellent sequel, Blasphemous 2 - is developing the game, with Dotemu (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and Streets of Rage 4) on publishing duties.Right away, you can see the influence of The Game Kitchen. The studio's signature pixel art style looks gorgeous in the back half of the reveal trailer, and it looks like the game will reward tight, coordinated play from players. As for the story, it's set during the events of the NES version of Ninja Gaiden and stars a new protagonist, Kenji Mozu. It's up to him to save Hayabusa Village while Ryu is away in America.Ninja Gaiden Ragebound will arrive in the summer of 2025 on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ragebound-is-a-new-ninja-gaiden-game-from-the-team-behind-blasphemous-015621718.html?src=rss
If you're a PlayStation fan, you're likely at least familiar with Shadow of the Colossus, Ico and The Last Guardian. They're three atmospheric and unique titles that have influenced plenty of games over the last decade. And we're going to get more from director Fumito Ueda, but it was quite the mysterious and brief reveal. All we know is that Ueda has a new title coming out, published by Epic, and it fits in right alongside with his prior work. It's about the most minimal game reveals I can think of - there's a spaceship taking off, and that's about all I can really say at this point - but Ueda fans will be excited for this nonetheless. There's no timeframe for release, but when it does arrive it'll be out on PC and Xbox for the first time as well as PlayStation.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fumito-uedas-follow-up-to-the-last-guardian-is-an-untitled-dark-sci-fi-game-014455329.html?src=rss
As the gaming industry preps for its night of awards, rampant layoffs continue to put a damper on an otherwise joyful pastime. The latest casualties are reportedly a group of 99 employees for WB Games Montreal.Radio-Canada says (via Game Developer) that many of the laid-off employees were subcontractors through Keywords Studios, a company that provides technical and creative services for gaming companies. Keywords worked on quality assurance for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.Speaking of which, the layoffs coincided with Rocksteady's announcement that it would stop supporting the Suicide Squad game on January 14. (WB Games Montreal helped develop the game.) The game launched last February, giving it the dishonor of lasting less than a year before its publisher pulled the plug. Its upcoming Season 4 Episode 8 will be its last.According to GamesIndustry.biz, one laid-off staffer told the French-language Radio-Canada that they were given eight weeks' notice before termination. WB Montreal is said to have given them a choice between joining a recall list for upcoming projects or receiving help from a job counselor. However, the source said the company doesn't expect the registry to have any opportunities until 2026. That's not much of a choice unless someone has savings to burn.The news follows recent layoffs at Ubisoft, Xbox / Activision Blizzard and... far too many others to list. The gaming industry is projected to generate over $187 billion in 2024, a 2.1 percent annual growth.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/wb-montreal-games-reportedly-lays-off-99-workers-ahead-of-the-holidays-214220373.html?src=rss
If you're looking for a place to watch the 10th annual Game Awards on Thursday, December 12, then guess what? You found it. Host Geoff Keighley will open the Game Awards at 7:30PM and you can watch it right here in this post.A total of 96 games, studios and developers received nominations for this year's awards. The two biggest contenders are Astro Bot from Team Asobi and Sony Interactive and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth from Square Enix, with seven nominations each including Game of the Year.The other nominees for Game of the Year include five-time nominee Balatro, the action RPG Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and six-time nominee Metaphor: ReFantazio. Silent Hill 2 didn't make the cut for Game of the Year but it also picked up five nominations.PlayStation is leading the publisher pack with 16 nods. Square Enix and Xbox each picked up 12 nominations and Sega finished third with 11.You can watch the Game Awards on its official YouTube channel, Twitch and a bunch of other places. You could also just stay put and watch the stream below in the embedded video.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/dont-miss-the-game-awards-2024-right-here-at-730pm-et-213044226.html?src=rss
Reddit is taking down posts linking to the manifesto of the suspected shooter of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The company says it's enforcing a longstanding policy, but its actions have angered and frustrated some users.Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old who was arrested and charged with murder earlier this week, has been the subject of widespread fascination online since New York police first released images of the suspected killer. Small excerpts of the 261-word manifesto were published by the New York Times, while journalist Ken Klippenstein obtained and published it in its entirety on his Substack Tuesday. Links to Klippenstein's newsletter containing the manifesto began to disappear off Reddit, with some being removed by individual subreddits' community moderators and some being taken down by Reddit staff.In a widely viewed post in r/popculturechat, a moderator explained that Reddit had instructed them to remove posts of the manifesto. We have officially been notified by Reddit that we must adhere strictly to their site-wide rules regarding violent content," moderator clemthearcher wrote. Specifically, Reddit has told us that we are not allowed to post Luigi Mangione's manifesto, even if it is reported neutrally."Reddit removed a post linking to the manifesto in r/interestingasfuck, which had nearly 20,000 upvotes, which was later detailed in a lengthy post in r/subredditdrama. Posts were also removed from other subreddits, including r/witchesVsPatriarchy and r/antiwork. Engadget confirmed that the site now automatically blocks posts attempting to link to the Substack post with the manifesto.Though the move has angered many Redditors, the company says it's not a new policy. A Reddit spokesperson confirmed that manifestos related to violent acts" violate the company's violent content rules, which state:
Threads is rolling out its take on the Starter Packs concept from Bluesky. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri's post about the update explains that collections of recommended profiles will be suggested when users start following topics and as part of the For You feed.Interestingly, Threads doesn't seem to have a name for this feature. But it's not the first time that Threads has adopted an idea that originated at rival platform Bluesky. Custom feeds were the last concept that made its way from Bluesky to a brief testing phase to an official release on the Meta-owned social network.Bluesky is aware of how many of its features have started popping up on Threads. Last month, when Meta's platform first announced that it would have its own take on Starter Packs, the company posted a dig at its competitor on its own Threads account. The pair of platforms have been vying to draw in disaffected former users of X (once known as Twitter). Bluesky reached 20 million users in November, while Threads reported 35 million signups just in that month.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-take-on-bluesky-starter-packs-is-live-193106158.html?src=rss
The United States Postal Service unveiled a plan to buy a fleet of all-electric mail trucks for its mail carriers back in 2022, of which 3,000 were supposed to be delivered by now. Unfortunately, those plans aren't even close to fruition. The Washington Post reported that defense contractor Oshkosh has only delivered 93 vehicles so far.In 2022, The Postal Service announced its plan to buy at least 60,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles" (NGDV) for its mail carriers by 2028 and start replacing its aging fleet of trucks. The Postal Service's initial order called for 5,000 all-electric vehicles along with new, gas-powered vehicles, but calls from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Biden Administration pushed them to increase the share of NGDVs that would run on electricity.The Washington Post obtained nearly 21,000 government and internal company records and spoke with 20 people familiar with the trucks' manufacturing and design process. Its reporting shows that Oshkosh ran into significant manufacturing delays of the electric NGDVs that caused lower than expected delivery numbers. Some of the anonymous sources said that engineers struggled to calibrate the mail trucks' airbags, and the vehicles' body and internal components are unable to contain water leaks to an alarming degree.The turnaround time for building these new mail trucks is also very slow. The Post reports that the South Carolina factory can only build one truck per day even though Oshkosh hoped it could build at least 80 vehicles a day by now.Oshkosh also failed to inform the Postal Service about these delays. Four of the background sources say a senior company executive tried to update the Postal Service about these manufacturing issues only to have those efforts blocked by their corporate superiors.An Oshkosh spokesperson said in a statement that the defense contractor is still fully committed to being a strong and reliable partner" with the Postal Services and insists we remain on track to meet all delivery deadlines," according to The Post.The failure of these plans doesn't just affect the Postal Service's ability to modernize and update its fleet of aging mail trucks. It could also throw a wrench into President Biden's plans to combat climate change. Reutersreported on Friday that President Donald Trump's transition team is considering cancelling the electric mail truck program altogether.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/postal-services-plan-to-electrify-mail-trucks-falling-far-short-of-its-goal-190317071.html?src=rss
Epic Games has struck a deal with Telefonica to have its mobile storefront pre-installed on millions of compatible Android devices. As such, those who buy a phone from a Telefonica network such as O2 or Movistar in Spain, the UK, Germany and Spanish-speaking Latin America will immediately have the app, which offers access to Fortnite, Fall Guys and Rocket League Sideswipe. Epic will bring third-party games to the storefront as well, while the partners plan to offer mobile gamers on Telefonica's networks extra perks over the next year or so.Telefonica has more than 392 million customers. As such, this deal could bring Fortnite and Fall Guys to an even bigger audience.Epic debuted its mobile games store a few months ago after years of wrangling with Apple and Google over the duo's purported smartphone and tablet duopoly - and having to give the companies a share of revenue from in-app purchases. Among other things, Epic accused Google of blocking OnePlus from offering users a way to install Fortnite without having to go through the Google Play store.However, Epic has had mixed results in its legal battles with Apple and Google. It won an antitrust case against the latter, with a judge determining last year that Google had an illegal monopoly on app distribution and in-app billing on Android devices. The judge also ruled that Google's distribution deals with other games companies were anticompetitive. But it largely lost a similar case against Apple.The Epic Games Store mobile app is available on iOS in the European Union (where Apple was forced to open up iOS to third-party app marketplaces) and around the world on Android. Epic also plans to bring it to iOS devices in the UK in the second half of 2025.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-games-app-store-will-be-preinstalled-on-millions-of-android-phones-175158241.html?src=rss
Remember when YouTube TV was supposed to be a scrappy disruptor that undercut cable prices and gave cord-cutters a cheaper and often better way to watch live television? Well, that dream died a long time ago, but cable may end up being a relative bargain if things continue at this rate. YouTube TV emailed subscribers on Thursday morning, announcing yet another rate change: from $73 to $83 monthly.The price hike is already in effect for new subscribers. Existing members will start paying the new rate during the first billing cycle on or following January 13.YouTube launched at a mere $35 in 2017. Subsequent price increases took the price to $40 in 2018, $50 in 2019 and $65 in 2020. Just when things had stabilized for a few years, 2023 brought yet another hike to $73. (That doesn't include all the optional add-ons, like 4K Plus and sports packages.) And here we are today with $83 cable TV by another name and through another pipe.If you're a YouTube TV subscriber facing an existential crisis now that the underdog hero you once rooted for has completed its heel turn, help is available. You can cancel your membership.Unfortunately, alternatives are either more expensive or limited. Hulu + Live TV offers a package that costs the same $83, but at least it also gives you Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ (all with ads) for that price. Sling TV is more customizable and can be had for as little as $40 monthly, but it's broken down into color-coded channel collections seemingly organized for maximum upsell potential.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/youtube-tv-completes-its-heel-turn-with-yet-another-price-hike-171518919.html?src=rss
Google's latest push into extended reality is taking shape. While the company isn't entirely ready to show off any products just yet, it has laid out a vision for a unified Android XR ecosystem that will span a range of devices - such as virtual reality headsets and mixed reality glasses - in partnership with Samsung and Qualcomm.This is evidently Alphabet's latest attempt to compete with the likes of Meta and Apple on the extended reality front. The company has dabbled in this arena in the past with the likes of Google Glass, Daydream and Google Cardboard, programs that have found their way to the Google Graveyard. Android XR seems much more ambitious, and having some big-name partners on board from the jump indicates that Alphabet is much more serious about extended reality this time around.Google has been beavering away on XR behind the scenes despite shutting down some of its higher-profile projects in that realm. "Google is not a stranger to this category," Sameer Samat, president of Android Ecosystem at Google, told reporters ahead of the announcement. "We, like many others, have made some attempts here before. I think the vision was correct, but the technology wasn't quite ready."One area where Google thinks that technology has advanced to the point where it's ready to try again with XR is artificial intelligence. Gemini will be deeply integrated into Android XR. By tapping into the power of the chatbot and having a user interface based around voice and natural conversation, Google and its partners are aiming to deliver experiences that aren't exactly possible to pull off using gestures and controllers."We are fully in what we refer to as the Gemini Era, and the breakthroughs in AI with muti-modal models are giving all of us totally new ways of interacting with computers," Samat said. "We believe a digital assistant integrated with your XR experience is the killer app for the form factor, like what email or texting was for the smartphone."Google believes that smart glasses and headsets are a more natural form factor to explore this tech with, rather than holding up your smartphone to something in the world that you want Gemini to take a look at. To that end, the wide array of XR devices that are popping up, such as VR headsets with passthrough (the ability to see the outside world while wearing one) is another factor in Google's push into that space.We'll get our first real look at Android XR products next year, including one that Google is developing in partnership with Samsung. The first headset, currently dubbed Project Moohan (which means "infinity" in Korean), will feature "state-of-the-art displays," passthrough and natural multi-modal input, according to Samsung. It's slated to be a lightweight headset that's ergonomically designed to maximize comfort.Renderings of the Moohan prototype (pictured above) suggest the headset will look a little like the Apple Vision Pro, perhaps with a glass visor on the front. Along with the headset, Samsung is working on Google XR glasses, with more details to come soon.GoogleBut nailing the hardware won't matter much if you can't do anything interesting with it. As such, Google is now looking to bring developers into the fold to create apps and products for Android XR. The company is offering developers APIs, an emulator and hardware development kits to help them build out XR experiences.On its side of things, Google is promising an "infinite desktop" for those using the platform for productivity. Its core apps are being reimagined for extended reality as well. Those include Chrome, Photos, Meet, Maps (with an immersive view of landmarks) and Google Play. On top of that, mobile and tablet apps from Google Play are said to work out of the box.On YouTube, it looks like you'll be able to easily transition from augmented reality into a VR experience. And in Google TV, you'll be able to switch from an AR view to a virtual home movie theater when you start a film.A demo video showed a headset wearer using a combination of their voice and a physical keyboard and mouse to navigate a series of Chrome windows. Circle to Search will be one of the many features. After you've used the tool to look up something, you can use a Gemini command to refine the results. It'll be possible to pull 3D image renderings from image search results and manipulate them with gestures.GoogleAs for AR glasses - essentially next-gen Google Glass - it seems that you'll be able to use those to translate signage and speech, then ask Gemini questions about the details of, say, a restaurant menu. Other use cases include advice on how to position shelves on a wall (and perhaps asking Gemini to help you find a tool you put down somewhere), getting directions to a store and summarizing group chats while you're on the go.Thanks to advances in technology, AR glasses look much like regular spectacles these days, as we've seen from the likes of Meta and Snap. That should help Google avoid the whole "Glass-holes" discourse this time around given that there shouldn't be an obscenely obvious camera attached to the front. But the advancements might give cause for concern when it comes to privacy and letting those caught in the camera's cone of vision know that they're perhaps being filmed.Privacy is an important consideration for Android XR. Google says it's building new privacy controls for Gemini on the platform. More details about those will be revealed next year.GoogleMeanwhile, games could play a major factor in the success of Android XR. They're a focus for Meta's Quest headsets, of course. On the heels of its various missteps with Stadia, Google is hoping to make it as easy as possible for developers to port their games to its ecosystem.Not only that, Unity is one of the companies that's supporting Android XR. Developers will be able to create experiences for it using the engine. Unity says it will offer full support for Android XR, including documentation and optimizations to help devs get started. They can do that now in public experimental versions of Unity 6.Resolution Games (Demeo) and Google's own Owlchemy Labs (Job Simulator) are among the studios that plan to bring titles built in Unity to Android XR. The process is said to be straightforward. "This is as simple a port as you're ever going to encounter," Owlchemy Labs CEO Andrew Eiche said in a statement.Meanwhile, Unity has teamed up with Google and film director Doug Liman's studio 30 Ninjas to make a "new and innovative immersive film app that will combine AI and XR to redefine the cinematic experience."Since gaming is set to play a sizable role in Android XR, it stands to reason that physical controllers will still be a part of the ecosystem. Not many people are going to want to play games using their voice.But that's the key: Android XR is shaping up to be a broad ecosystem of devices, not just one. This strategy has paid dividends for Google, given the spectrum of phones, tablets, cars and TVs that variants of Android are available on. It will be hoping to replicate that success with Android XR.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/google-lays-out-its-vision-for-an-android-xr-ecosystem-160001103.html?src=rss
Australia is not messing around when it comes to big tech. Last month the country introduced a law that, if passed, would ban all people 16 and younger from social media. Now, its coming after social media and search engines alike, ensuring they pay publishers for their content after Meta backed out of doing so, the Financial Times reports. The Australian Taxation Office would be in charge of collecting the money, though it shouldn't profit from the deal in any way, instead sending all the profits to media companies.The new amendments would require any platform that makes more an Australian revenue of more than $250 million (160 million USD) to pay a set fee or create a direct agreement with publishers. In 2021, Meta and Google made a deal to paid a range of large and small Australian media companies more than 200 million AUD (128 million USD) per year - though these agreements were pretty much forced by legislation. Meta backed out earlier this year, claiming its users don't come to its platforms for news content.Leaders in the industry like Michael Miller, executive chair of News Corp Australia, applauded the government's recent step, with Miller stating, "This will provide a foundation for rebuilding the media industry after the loss of an estimated 1,000 jobs this year, and ensuring Australian news media businesses will continue to deliver inquiring and professional journalism, which has never been more important to cohesive, democratic societies."Canada previously took a similar step, enacting a bill in 2023 that required social media platforms and search engines to pay publishers. Meta responded by pulling news in the country but, while Google first threatened to take action, the company agreed to pay news publishers about 100 million CAD (71 million USD) each year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/australia-demands-big-social-platforms-pay-local-news-publishers-153044135.html?src=rss
When the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter finally flew for the last time and went silent, many people thought that would be the last we heard about it. However, NASA engineers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California are assessing its final flight right now. This is the first-ever aircraft accident investigation performed on a craft on another planet. Ingenuity already had the distinct honor of being the first aircraft to fly on another world.Ingenuity was only meant to fly five times over 30 days, but it flew for almost three years, clocking 72 total flights. Flight 72, its last, resulted in a crash that caused it to be permanently grounded. All four of its rotor blades snapped as the helicopter fell onto a sand ripple and rolled, permanently grounding it.Since Ingenuity's vision navigation system couldn't find enough surface features in the Jezero Crater to track, it couldn't land properly. The hard landing likely caused the helicopter to roll, but this tragic final flight isn't all bad news. Today, scientists and engineers use data from Ingenuity's flights to work toward a better aircraft design. The Mars Chopper is one such example, a rotorcraft that could theoretically fly up to two miles a day.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/nasa-is-investigating-the-ingenuity-helicopters-final-flight-on-mars-152714096.html?src=rss
With a TikTok ban in the United States looking more and more likely, a new report from Pew Research on teen social media use underscores just how influential the app is among its youngest users. Not only is it one of the most-used social media services by teens, 57 percent of 13 to 17-year-olds scroll TikTok every single day, Pew reports.The report underscores the impact a ban would have on teens. Sixty-three percent of teens report ever" using the app, while 57 percent say they log on at least once a day. TikTok also has the highest percentage of teens reporting that they use the service almost constantly," with 16 percent. A little more than a third report checking the app several times a day."Pew Research CenterPew's report arrives as TikTok is running out of options to avoid a ban in the United States. The company lost its initial legal challenge to a law requiring that parent company ByteDance sell the app or face a total ban in the country. TikTok has asked the courts for a temporary delay of the law, which is currently scheduled to take effect January 19, while it looks to take its next appeal to the Supreme Court.Should the ban actually happen, Pew's report suggests that YouTube and Instagram are best-positioned to benefit. YouTube was once again the most-used app among teens, with 90 percent of 13 to 17 year-olds saying they use the service and 73 percent reporting daily use. Meta's Instagram, which ranked just below TikTok with 61 percent of teens, is another likely successor, though only half of teens said they check the app daily.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/most-us-teens-still-use-tiktok-daily-as-ban-looms-150002335.html?src=rss
LG has discontinued all of its Blu-ray players, including its UBK80 and UBK90 UHD Blu-ray players, according to FlatpanelsHD. Remaining stock will still be available, but the company doesn't have plans to make more. This decision isn't surprising, as LG isn't the first company to pull out of the UHD Blu-ray player market.UHD Blu-ray is a separate format from standard Blu-ray, as the former has a maximum resolution of 3840x2160 pixels (4K). Blu-ray is 1920x1080 (FHD) instead.The UBK80 and UBK90 UHD Blu-ray players were introduced in 2018, which was also the year Oppo exited this market. Samsung would make its own exit in 2019, giving consumers even fewer choices for UHD Blu-ray players. Even though LG is discontinuing all of its Blu-ray players, LG Korea has confirmed in a statement to FlatpanelsHD that a total exit isn't what's happening, as the company as a whole is leaving the door open for a comeback if demand grows.There's a bit of a silver lining for the UHD Blu-ray market still. Magnetar's UDP800 player can handle the format and more, even functioning as a hi-fi audio player. Plus, the PS5 can also handle the format, but it can't play Dolby Vision, a favorite of high-end video enthusiasts. And the Xbox Series X only plays Dolby Vision for games and streaming apps, not optical discs.Streaming has only become more popular by the day, and many people no longer own a functioning CD player, much less a Blu-ray one. With demand being so low, it's not hard to see why LG decided to discontinue its Blu-ray players.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/lg-will-stop-making-all-of-its-uhd-blu-ray-and-blu-ray-players-145054425.html?src=rss
There are far too many fads that are blown out of proportion, as if a single item could really change your life. The air fryer - arguably one of the most talked about devices of the past few years - does not fall into this category. Having an air fryer is as good or better than everyone makes it out to be. Yet, there are two barriers to getting an air fryer: cost and counter space. While, there's nothing we can do to expand your kitchen, we're happy to point out a great deal on the Cosori 6-quart 9-in-1 air fryer. Our runner up for best air fryer of 2024 is currently down to $88 from $120 - a 27 percent discount. This price is only $3 more than its all-time low as a Prime Exclusive a few months ago. The Cosori 6-quart 9-in-1 air fryer fits a ton of food considering its not a horrible footprint in your kitchen. It has nine present modes, including preheat, broil, bake, roast, proof and frozen settings. The air fryer also includes a touchscreen, basket-release button and spacious cooking basket. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-air-fryers-is-27-percent-off-right-now-144244059.html?src=rss
BeReal, the in the moment social media platform, is far from its 2022 heyday, but that hasn't stopped one organization from going after it. Austrian advocacy group Noyb has filed a complaint surrounding the platform's data consent banner practices. The organization claims that the banner disappears if users accept that their personal data can inform advertising practices, but if they click reject then the banner appears daily. Noyb filed its complaint with the French data protection authority (CNIL) as Voodoo, a French company, bought BeReal in June - the practice in question started in July."BeReal's daily attempt to pressure its users into accepting the tracking for personalised advertising has a significant impact on user behaviour. Consent given under these circumstances is not freely given, which means it doesn't meet the requirements established in Article 4(11) GDPR," Noyb argued in its complaint. It asked the CNIL to fine BeReal and force it to be compliant.Noyb also pointed to guidelines the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted in early 2023 around such a technique. "The continuous prompting deceptive design pattern occurs when users are pushed to provide more personal data than necessary for the purposes of processing or to agree with another use of their data, by being repeatedly asked to provide additional data or to consent to a purpose of processing," the EDPB stated. "Such repetitive prompts can happen through one or several devices. Users are likely to end up giving in, as they are wearied from having to refuse the request each time they use the platform. "This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/bereal-accused-of-annoying-users-into-sharing-their-data-160024570.html?src=rss
Spoilers for Lower Decks, Fissure Quest."It turns out you can have your cake and eat it.The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks is an exercise in box ticking for the show's creative team. It does the grunt work of laying the table and raising the stakes for next week's series finale. But it's also the show's last - for now - chance to wring a gag or two out of all those deep-cut, Extremely Online Trek in-jokes. It's fortunate that while the episode is a little on the thin side, the stuff that's thrown at the wall is charming enough for it not to matter.For the second week in a row, we're pulling focus from the lead quintet to catch up on William Boimler. (That, if your memory isn't too sharp, is Bomiler's transporter clone, last seen faking his death to join Section 31.) He's now captain of the USS Anaximander on a secret mission to close up the interdimensional fissures the show has been encountering all season.Boimler, the show's avatar of a Star Trek fan, has been picking up stray figures from the canon during dimension hops. His crew includes T'Pol, Garak and an EMH version of Dr. Bashir, all played by their original actors.. And yes, Garak and Dr. Bashir are a married couple in this universe, because of course the show has to embrace that piece of fan lore that launched a thousand pieces of slash fiction.The ship picks up an escape pod with Lt. Harry Kim inside, who learns most of the rest of the crew is Harries Kim as well. He's the only one who's ever been promoted above the rank of ensign, nodding to the rumor that longtime series head Rick Berman said someone had to be the lowest-ranked member of the crew. And / or as punishment for clashing with the production team, as outlined in an interview Wang gave in 2011.They soon encounter an alternate universe Mariner who, unlike our version, is a timid engineer. She, however, has worked out a way to track the vessel that's punching holes in the fabric of the universe. So the Anaximander lays a trap, only to reveal that it's an old Enterprise-class ship called the Beagle. It's an exploration vessel with a human and Vulcan crew, led by Lily Sloane.Paramount+Sloane isn't trying to tear the universe to shreds, their universe just discovered to discover interdimensional travel ahead of warp. They've been leaping between universes exploring strange similar worlds, the same life and civilizations boldly... examining the differences. It's a mission statement that outrages Boimler, who's gorged himself on fanservice and is now looking for something, anything new to cleanse his palate.Naturally, this is Lower Decks winking toward its own major flaw, given its reverence for 90s era Trek. I've always found it quite successful in bobbing and weaving around simply milking the audience's memberberries. But that doesn't mean it isn't at least complicit in the concept of serving up the same old crap, again and again.Sloane disagrees, saying her crew looks to explore the ways in which people grow and evolve in different environments. She says she's met several different Boimlers, all of whom have their own Mariner, as their connection endures across the universes. And that exploration isn't just about exploring what's beyond us but finding what's true inside us. That's a journey that can be just as perilous, and rewarding, as traveling to the furthest edges of the universe.Kim, outraged at his namesakes' stalled careers, steals the Beagle with plans to return to his own dimension. The Anaximander pursues, and while the other Kims mutiny and beam back, the Beagle successfully makes a jump but explodes in the process. That sends a huge wave of energy that will wipe out every universe in existence unless it's dumped in a single place. Thankfully, Boimler knows where to send it - to his transporter twin and the crew of the Cerritos.See you next week for the finale.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/star-trek-lower-decks-sets-up-its-finale-elbowing-its-own-ribs-140054114.html?src=rss
Toyota just introduced a new compact electric SUV and dug into the past for inspiration. The new Urban Cruiser EV borrows its name for a car that first came along in the early 2000s and is based on the company's Urban SUV Concept unveiled last year. It looks like it's designed to compete with Volvo's EX30 and much like that vehicle, will come with a number of battery and drive options.To give you an idea of size, the Urban Cruiser will be slightly larger than Toyota's hybrid compact SUV, the Yaris Cross. It'll be built on a new battery electric vehicle (BEV) platform that frees up extra space for the battery and occupants.It'll come with two battery pack options, 49kWh and 61kWh, a bit smaller than the EX30's offerings (51kWh and 69kWh). The smaller pack supports up to 144 HP and 140 pound feet, while the larger pack option ups that to 174 HP and the same torque. If you upgrade to the dual-motor system, you'll see 184 HP and 221 pound feet of torque. Those power levels are far less than the EX30, which offers 268 HP as standard and a wild 422 HP on the twin-motor performance version.ToyotaThe Urban Cruiser will offer active safety features like adaptive cruise, active collision avoidance and lane-departure warning, along with a 360 degree camera. Inside, you'll get a 10.1-inch infotainment display along with a 10.25-inch driver's display, all in one unit. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will be standard.ToyotaPrice and range have yet to be revealed, but Toyota will be in tough against the much more powerful Volvo EX30 if the sticker isn't substantially lower. The Urban Cruiser is also arguably less attractive as well. It's set to arrive in the UK and elsewhere in Europe in the third quarter next year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/toyota-takes-on-volvos-ex30-with-the-urban-cruiser-compact-electric-suv-143041000.html?src=rss
The American Civil Liberties Association (ACLU) is sounding a warning about the use of AI in creating police reports, saying the tech could produce errors that affect evidence and court cases. The nonprofit highlighted the dangers of the tech in a white paper, following news that police departments in California are using a program called Draft One from Axon to transcribe body camera recording and create a first draft of police reports.One police department in Fresno said that it's using Draft One under a pilot program, but only for misdemeanor reports. "It's nothing more than a template," deputy chief Rob Beckwith told Industry Insider. "It's not designed to have an officer push a button and generate a report." He said that the department has seen any errors with transcriptions and that it consulted with the Fresno County DA's office in training the force,However, the ACLU noted four issues with the use of AI. First off, it said that AI is "quirky and unreliable and prone to making up fact... [and] is also biased." Secondly, it said that an officer's memories of an incident should be memorialized "before they are contaminated by an AI's body camera based storytelling." It added that if a police report is just an AI rehash of body camera video, certain facts might be omitted and it may even allow officers to lie if they did something illegal that wasn't captured on camera.The third point was around transparency, as the public needs to understand exactly how it works based on analysis by independent experts, according to the ACLU. Defendants in criminal cases also need to be able to interrogate the evidence, "yet much of the operation of these systems remains mysterious." Finally, the group noted that the use of AI transcriptions might remove accountability around the use of discretionary power. "For these reasons, the ACLU does not believe police departments should allow officers to use AI to generate draft police reports," it said.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/aclu-highlights-the-rise-of-ai-generated-police-reports--what-could-go-wrong-133030452.html?src=rss
United Airlines announced that it is integrating the Share Item Location feature from Apple into its mobile app. This development could make it easier to track down baggage equipped with AirTags or a Find My network accessory when it somehow winds up in Paris rather than arriving with you in Perth.The United integration will allow passengers to send information about their bag's location directly to the company's support staff in the mobile app. If a traveler isn't using the United app and their bag takes a detour, they will receive a text notification from the airline prompting them to submit a Share Item Location report.Share Item Location is part of Apple's iOS 18.2, which just began rolling out this week. When the resource was initially introduced in the public beta, air transport tech company SITA said that it would use the feature in its WorldTracer system for tracking airline baggage, so this isn't the first time travel brands are realizing the potential of Share Item Location. However, it will only be available to customers who are using an iPhone running at least iOS 18.2.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/united-airlines-will-integrate-apples-share-item-location-feature-into-its-mobile-app-130049823.html?src=rss
After a particularly lean week for tech news, yesterday exploded. We've got Google's next-generation AI model, Gemini 2.0, a barrage of games to intrigue us in 2025, MasterClass is going AI and, finally, Apple's most headline-grabbing AI tricks and features broke cover, built into the latest iOS update.That's what I want to kick off with. A lot of features in iOS 18.2 are only for the iPhone 15 Pro, 16 and 16 Pro, which pack the necessary chip smarts to run Apple Intelligence. (Access is also limited to users in the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK for now.)Image Playground, available as a standalone app and through Messages, can generate image suggestions based on your text prompts or contents of your conversations. You can use a photo from your iPhone's camera roll as a starting point. Note Image Playground can't produce photorealistic images of people. That's by design.Then there's Genmoji, to make your own custom emoji. Tap the new Genmoji button and enter a description of the character you want to make. You can even type the name of a contact, and contextually, it'll ask if you want to use photos of that person (if you have them in your photos) to generate the emoji.Both Siri and Writing Tools can now call on ChatGPT for assistance, although devices will always ask permission before doing so.Anyway, back to creating an entire library of Genmoji, featuring... me.- Mat SmithThe biggest tech stories you missed
Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Messenger are coming back online after widespread "technical issues" took down many of Meta's biggest apps for several hours Wednesday. "We're 99% of the way there - just doing some last checks," the company wrote in an update on X nearly four hours after first acknowledging the outages.The company didn't elaborate on the source of the issue, or when the problems might be resolved entirely. As of 4:30 PM PT Wednesday, Meta's status dashboard still showed some "major disruptions" to its business and transparency tools, though other services were marked as "resolved" or "recovering." Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads and Messenger seem to have largely recovered, though.
Make your holiday plans now, because Sony has announced which games will be joining the Playstation Plus Game Catalog starting in December. The biggest highlight for PlayStation Plus Premium and Extra subscribers is Forspoken, a parkour and magic-filled RPG released by Square Enix in 2023. We didn't think the PS5 game fully matched the eye-popping visuals of other games like Horizon Forbidden West when we reviewed it, but a holiday vacation seems like the perfect time to bop around and experiment with some spells.For a different take on open-world running and jumping, Sonic Frontiers is also joining the catalog. The game fuses high-speed platforming with a Breath of the Wild-inspired open world full of enemies and collectables. If you miss more of the traditional Sonic experience, there are bespoke challenge levels inspired by past Sonic games to run through too.Both those games should hopefully be rewarding time sinks, but the two additions that most caught my eye were A Space for the Unbound and Coffee Talk. I've basically heard nothing but good things about A Space for the Unbound since it came out in 2023, primarily because of its unique setting in late 90s rural Indonesia." It's a slice-of-life adventure game," according to Sony, but with some supernatural elements for added drama. Coffee Talkhas been kicking around since 2020, and has some shared cultural DNA since its developer, Toge Productions, published Unbound and is based in Indonesia. Coffee Talk is a visual novel about running a coffee shop where you talk to patrons about their problems and make them drinks, a delightfully pleasant premise for a game.Toge ProductionsRounding out the new additions to the catalog are a grab bag of sequels, racing games, multiplayer puzzle games, and more than one title where you play as a rabbit: Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly, Rabbids: Party of Legends, WRC Generations, F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow, Jurassic World Evolution 2, PHOGS and Biped.If you're a PlayStation Plus Premium subscriber, and like me, you're looking to blow the dust off your PSVR 2, Sony is also throwing in Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge. It's a virtual reality experience that gives you a sampling platter of Star Wars things to do in immersive" first-person, like training to be a Jedi, blasting enemies, and palling around with droids. It's much more cost effective to live" Star Wars than going to Disneyland.Premium members will also get to stream a few new games in the Classics Catalog, with the shared theme of PlayStation mascot duos: Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves, Sly Cooper 3: Honor Among Thieves, and Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. I'm more of a Ratchet & Clank fan myself, but this is a great opportunity to play the very first Jak and Daxter game.PS Plus Premium and Extra subscribers will be able to play these games starting December 17. If you're a Premium subscriber with a PlayStation Portal, you'll be able to stream some of them directly to your handheld as part of Sony's cloud streaming beta test, too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/playstation-plus-game-catalog-additions-for-december-include-forspoken-sonic-frontiers-and-vr-star-wars-232621272.html?src=rss
MasterClass is expanding beyond pre-recorded video lessons to offer on-demand mentorship from some of its most popular celebrity instructors. And if you're wondering how the company has gotten some of the busiest people on the planet to field your questions, guess what? The answer is generative AI.On Wednesday, MasterClass debuted On Call, a new web and iOS app that allows people to talk with AI versions of its instructors. As of today, On Call is limited to two personas representing the expertise of former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss and University of Berkeley neuroscientist Dr. Matt Walker. In the future, MasterClass says it will offer many more personas, with Gordon Ramsay, Mark Cuban, Bill Nye and LeVar Burton among some of the more notable experts sharing their voices and knowledge in this way.This isn't just another generic AI chatbot pulling data from the internet," David Rogier, the CEO of MasterClass, said on X. We've built this with our experts - training the AI on proprietary data sets (e.g. unpublished notes, private research, their lessons, emails, [and] expertise they've never shared before)."Per Inc., MasterClasssigned deals with each On Call instructor to license their voice and expertise. Judging from the sample voice clips MasterClass has up on its website, the interactions aren't as polished as the one shown in the ad the company shared on social media. In particular, the voice" of Chris Voss sounds robotic and not natural at all. On Call is also a standalone product with a separate subscription from the company's regular offering. To use On Call, users will need to pay $10 per month or $84 annually.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/masterclass-on-call-gives-you-on-demand-access-to-ai-facsimiles-of-its-experts-215022938.html?src=rss
The US Supreme Court dismissed an NVIDIA case it previously agreed to hear as improvidently granted." In other words: Oops, we never should've taken this one." The decision lets most of the lawsuit, brought by shareholders against the chip maker, proceed.An investment firm and a pension fund brought the case against NVIDIA, claiming the company misled investors about its reliance on the crypto-mining industry. The suit claims NVIDIA concealed its dependence on the market before a 2018 crash that sunk the chip maker's stock prices. (For better or worse, cryptocurrency has rebounded, and Bitcoin recently passed the $100,000 plateau for the first time.)The court's unanimous dismissal reflected its apparent aversion to hearing the case's complex technical details. The writ of certiorari is dismissed as improvidently granted" is all the decision said. That language was identical to a remarkably similar dismissal in a case SCOTUS heard last month against Meta, which also accused it of deceiving investors.The Washington Post reports that the justices offered hints at the NVIDIA dismissal when they heard arguments in mid-November. It becomes less and less clear why we took this case ... and ... why you should win it," Justice Elena Kagan reportedly said. The New York Times says court members across the ideological spectrum sounded frustrated with the arguments. This is a highly technical subject," Justice Samuel Alito said at one point. It just seems to me that you're asking us to engage in a kind of analysis that we are not very good at and weren't expecting to when we took this case," Kagan said.As AI's thorny and ultra-high-stakes legal and ethical questions loom, we can take comfort in the fact that the highest court in the world's most powerful nation sounds... utterly uninterested in diving into Big Tech's often head-spinning technical details. At least the stakes are much lower in this case, only affecting the finances of a crazy-rich corporation and a group of (likely rich) Wall Street investors.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/us-supreme-court-bails-on-nvidia-case-allowing-a-shareholder-lawsuit-to-proceed-214001377.html?src=rss
Microsoft has started a beta test that will finally bring cloud streaming to Xbox consoles. Participants in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha tiers of the Xbox Insiders program can start using this feature now on their Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles.This news is an extension of the "stream your own game" feature that Microsoft announced in November. That initial launch allowed Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to stream select games they've digitally purchased to their televisions, Meta Quest VR headsets and to some supported browser setups. The company said at the time that it planned to also bring streaming to Xbox consoles and to the Windows Xbox app in 2025.While this update is a welcome addition to the "stream your own game" hardware, there are still some caveats on the feature. First, it's limited to Game Pass Ultimate members. Second, the game needs to support cloud streaming. There's a short list of titles included in the program for now, but several of them are excellent ones that are well worth a look: Baldur's Gate 3, Balatro, Cyberpunk 2077, Animal Well, Stray and the first six Final Fantasy games, to name a few highlights. Once this goes live to the whole Xbox audience, it should be a useful way to streamline game downloads and to access your whole library without needing to shell out for external storage.In related Microsoft news, the Windows Xbox app is getting a couple updates. The new Home screen for the app will highlight curated game collections and suggested titles, as well as recent game news, releases and sales.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-previews-cloud-streaming-of-games-you-own-on-consoles-211008822.html?src=rss
The advent of Bluetooth trackers has made it a lot easier to find your bag or keys when they're lost, but it has also put inconspicuous tracking tools in the hands of people who might misuse them. Apple and Google have both implemented tracker alerts to let you know if there's an unknown Bluetooth tracker nearby, and now as part of a new update, Google is letting Android users actually locate those trackers, too.The feature is one of two new tools Google is adding to Find My Device-compatible trackers. The first, Temporarily Pause Location" is what you're supposed to enable when you first receive an unknown tracker notification. It blocks your phone from updating its location with trackers for 24 hours. The second, Find Nearby," helps you pinpoint where the tracker is if you can't see it or easily hear it.By clicking on an unknown tracker notification you'll be able to see a map of where the tracker was last spotted moving with you. From there, you can play a sound to see if you can locate it (Google says the owner won't be notified). If you can't find it, Find Nearby will connect your phone to the tracker over Bluetooth and display a shape that fills in the closer you get to it.Google / EngadgetThe tool is identical to what Google offers for locating trackers and devices you actually own, but importantly, you don't need to use Find My Device or have your own tracker to benefit. Like Google's original notifications feature, any device running Android 6.0 and up can deal with unknown Bluetooth trackers safely.Expanding Find Nearby seems like the final step Google needed to take to tamp down Bluetooth tracker misuse, something Apple already does with its Precision Finding tool for AirTags. The companies released a shared standard for spotting unknown Bluetooth trackers regardless of whether you use Android or iOS in May 2024, following the launch of Google's Find My Device network in April. Both Google and Apple offered their own methods of dealing with unknown trackers before then to prevent trackers from being used for everything from robbery to stalking.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/android-will-let-you-find-unknown-bluetooth-trackers-instead-of-just-warning-you-about-them-204707655.html?src=rss
Apple's Voice Memos app just got the promised layering functionality that was shown off back in September at the iPhone event. This allows people to layer another track on top of a pre-existing track, which turns the app into an extremely-limited, though still useful, recording tool. This update is part of iOS 18.2, which also brings more AI tomfoolery like a custom emoji maker.There's one major caveat here. The Voice Memos software tweak is only available for the iPhone 16 Pro and the Pro Max. This is a bummer, given that track layering isn't exactly rocket science, but the company says there's a good reason to exclude other models.The software lets people add that second layer without wearing headphones, which is possible thanks to some algorithmic wizardry, the A18 Pro chip and those new studio-quality" microphones that come with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. That's a pretty neat trick but, you know, not exactly necessary. I don't mind wearing headphones for a minute.The update can also split the voice memo into its two composite tracks, for use later with legitimate recording software. That's another neat little trick and sort of similar to what The Beatles did for their latest (and final) song. Singer Michael Buble and country star Carly Pearce used the Voice Memos app to make a little Christmas song, as seen below.As with all things recorded with Voice Memos, the files will be synced across devices thanks to Apple iCloud. These multi-layered tracks will also be available on Mac computers to drag-and-drop into a session with Logic Pro.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/apple-finally-launches-its-multi-track-recording-tool-for-voice-memos-194623218.html?src=rss
The Academy Awards ceremony is streaming live for the very first time in its 97-year history. The Oscars will stream on Hulu at the same time as it airs on traditional network TV via ABC. The ceremony starts on March 2 at 7PM ET, though there's a live red carpet show that kicks off a half hour before that.It's very strange that it took this long but, whatever, I'll take it. I don't even have regular TV, so Hulu will be the only way I'll be able to watch the telecast live, aside from picking up a shady stream somewhere. It's likely the same for many of you reading this.To that end, the Hulu stream could lead to a serious uptick in ratings, with some industry experts saying that the telecast will hit 30 million live viewers. The Oscars haven't gotten that many eyeballs since 2017 when Moonlight famously snatched victory from the jaws of La La Land defeat. The 2024 ceremony drew 21.5 million viewers, but this was a huge uptick from the COVID years.This year's broadcast is being hosted by the king of hot wings himself, Conan O'Brien. The awards nominees won't be announced until January 17 and there are plenty of flicks that could end up in the top spot. These include Wicked, The Brutalist, Anora and I Saw the TV Glow, among many others.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-oscars-will-stream-live-for-the-very-first-time-on-hulu-191638415.html?src=rss
Earlier today, Google debuted Gemini 2.0. The company says its new machine learning model won't just enhance its existing products and services. It will also power entirely new experiences. To that point, Google previewed Project Mariner, an AI agent that can navigate within a web browser. Mariner is an experimental Chrome extension that is currently available to select trusted testers."As you can see from the video Google shared, the pitch for Mariner is a tool that can automate certain rote tasks. In the demo, Mariner assists Google's Jaclyn Konzelmann with finding the contact information of four outdoor companies.Clearly, there's more work Google needs to do before the software is ready for public use. Notice that Konzelmann is very specific when prompting Mariner, instructing the agent to memorize" and remember" parts of her instructions. It also takes Mariner close to 12 minutes to complete the task given to it.As a research prototype, it's able to understand and reason across information in your browser screen, including pixels and web elements like text, code, images and forms," Google says of Mariner.If Project Mariner sounds familiar, it's because The Information reported in October that Google was working on something called Project Jarvis. The publication described it as a computer-using agent" that Google designed to assist with tasks like booking flights. In November, an early version of Jarvis was briefly available on the Chrome Web Store. A Google spokesperson told Engadget Jarvis and Mariner are the same project.The confirmation of Mariner's existence comes after Anthropic introduced a similar but more expansive feature for its Claude AI, which the company says can use a wide range of standard tools and software programs designed for people." That tool is currently available in public beta.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/jarvis-googles-web-browsing-ai-is-now-officially-known-as-project-mariner-191603929.html?src=rss
Sony's PlayStation 2024 Wrap-Up has a slight problem: It isn't working. The site for accessing your year-end PlayStation stats and achievements has been down for maintenance since it launched nearly 24 hours ago. Push Square reports that, although some folks could briefly access their summaries, it quickly began showing errors to many before eventually collapsing. It now displays the We'll be back soon" message in the above image. Oops!The year-end replay is similar to Spotify Wrapped and other year-end summaries. Assuming Sony eventually gets it back up and running, it will show stats like your most played games, achievements, monthly gaming breakdowns, personal gaming style and more.For the first time this year, Sony added historical data like the number of games played since creating your account and reflections on trophies you've earned. The 2024 edition includes a nod to PlayStation's 30th anniversary, with a retro PlayStation aesthetic and graphics that pay tribute to the brand's history.The year-end rewind will be continually updated until the end of the year, so (once the kinks are ironed out), you'll still have a chance to change it with some furious December marathon sessions.When Wrap Up returns, you can find it here. However, there are several requirements to be eligible. You'll need to be 18 or older with an active PlayStation Network account in your region and have played at least 10 hours on a PS4 or PS5 in the 2024 calendar year. Another point to consider is that you'll have to opt in to share Full Data" (or Additional Data" in some regions, including the EU) from your PS5 console. So, if you're (wisely) cautious about big corporations hoovering up your data, consider whether a few moments of profiled nostalgia justify that cost.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/playstations-2024-wrap-up-has-been-mostly-out-of-commission-for-24-hours-190522062.html?src=rss
The latest Day of the Devs showcase has come and gone, but the stream placed a spotlight on a whole bunch of promising indie games. The event is curated by Double Fine and iam8bit and this digital showcase highlighted dozens of in-progress titles to keep an eye on. The virtual show included some world premieres and release date announcements, along with a bunch of new trailers about games we already knew about.We winnowed down the list to our 14 favorites, so it's a baker's dozen plus one. These are all vastly different titles, with their own publishers, genres, budgets and visual styles. They have just one thing in common. These are indie games, in the truest sense of the word.New gamesNeon Abyss 2The hit run-and-gun roguelite is getting a sequel, and it looks like an improvement over the original in every major way. There's an updated weapons system and plenty of new melee and long-distance weapons to choose from, including a gun that quite literally shoots out a giant dragon. Item synergies are back, and are even crazier this time around. The sequel also includes many of the random elements from the original, like slot machines and claw games.There are brand-new minigames, such as a nifty-looking match-three puzzler. The graphics look similar to the original, but that's not a bad thing. I put like 80 hours into the first one on my Steam Deck, so this is definitely going on my wishlist. Neon Abyss 2 is due to hit early access in 2025.RecurThis goofy-looking puzzle platformer tasks players with controlling a postal worker that can manipulate time. Is a pack of angry dogs (they hate postal workers) harassing you on the beat? Rewind time and put them behind a locked gate. There look to be all kinds of unique puzzles that take advantage of the overlaying game mechanic. The graphics look gorgeous, with a cartoony art design, and the world looks both silly and dangerous. It's being published by Astra Logical, who released the well-received Rebots and Star Stuff. We don't have a release window for this one, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.PBJ - The MusicalAs the name suggests, this is a musical game that stars peanut butter and jelly. The handcrafted art style is breathtaking, calling to mind stuff like the recent Yoshi games. The title chronicles the invention of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so it follows a peanut and a strawberry on their journey to get grinded up, salted, sugared and spread between two slices of bread. We don't know exactly how this game will play, though I spied some quick-time events in the trailer, but the music sounds great and the child-like mangling of Shakespearean dialogue is super-cute.Read the full story here.TankheadThis is a third-person action game in which players control flying drones that can connect to robots and vehicles, allowing for unique vehicular combat scenarios. The title Tankhead is quite literal, as the drone typically sits atop the head of a tank. The trailer shows other bizarre combinations, like some kind of nightmare hybrid between a building and a horse. Customization seems to be the name of the game here, with a myriad of chassis and weapon combos available. Want some good news? Tankhead is available right now on the Epic Games Store.Blippo+Here's something really interesting from Panic, the publisher behind Untitled Goose Game and the creator of the adorable portable console Playdate. Blippo+ looks less like a game and more like those interdimensional cable episodes of Rick and Morty. The FMV title is a portal to an entire cable platform of made-up TV shows, complete with a directory of what's airing and more oddities than you can shake a stick at. It's being developed by YACHT and Telefantasy Studios, and seems to have a similar vibe to the latter company's archive, drag performer included. We aren't sure what the actual game will be, or if there even is one beneath the layer of public access grime, but the trailer sure has us intrigued. It'll be available for PC via Steam in the near future.Release date announcementHyper Light BreakerCan you believe it? The successor to the surprise hit Hyper Light Drifter is nearly here, as the game releases as an early access title on Steam on January 14. Notice I said successor" and not sequel." Hyper Light Breaker drops the retro 2D Zelda aesthetic in favor of an all-new 3D engine, while the story itself is positioned more as a prequel. It's also no longer a single-player affair, as this game places an emphasis on co-op play. One thing that hasn't changed? The action is still relentless and there will still be waves of enemies to slash through. This follow-up has faced some delays, so it's good to see we are only a month out from giving it a go.Read the full story on Hyper Light Breaker here.Other stuff that looks dopeKingmakersHave you ever wanted to change the course of history by going back in time with a few machine guns and laying waste to hordes of medieval-era bozos? That's the basic premise of Kingmakers. The game asks players to grab a gun and lead an army of thousands into massive, real-time simulated battles." It's a blend of action and strategy, like many medieval real-time strategy games, but with an exceptionally strong hook. Also, everything is destructible and can be blown up, which is always a nice touch. The game can be played solo or in a co-op mode with up to four players. It comes out sometime next year as an early access title.Bionic BayThis nifty-looking title takes its inspiration from games like Gravity Rush and Limbo. It's a side-scrolling platformer with a gorgeous aesthetic, just like the aforementioned Limbo, but the protagonist has the ability to control time and gravity. He can also teleport objects. This leads to all manner of precision-based platforming and plenty of unique puzzles, all set across an ancient biomechanical world. Publisher Kepler Interactive, who released the incredible Pacific Drive, are calling it a platformer like no other." It comes out on March 13 for PS5 and PC via Steam. It's available for wishlisting right now.FarawayLooking for something simple, yet hopelessly addictive? Faraway is a one-button affair that tasks folks with exploring the furthest reaches of space. This is done by drawing constellations and connecting stars together. It's a puzzle game, complete with various modes, a high-score counter and multipliers. The maps are procedurally generated and the graphics look appropriately minimal. This one has the Annapurna pedigree, so it's definitely worth keeping an eye on. We could all use a new iconic puzzle game. Faraway will be released for PC sometime in 2025.Read the full story on Faraway here.Sleight of HandThis is a third-person hybrid game that combines stealth action with deckbuilding, all set in a magical noir-tinged city. It's extremely easy on the eyes, with a darkened color palette and a cast of oddballs. Players control an occult detective pulled out of retirement to do one last job. You know the drill. It's noir. As for gameplay, the developer's say it's like Metal Gear Solid, only with the guns and tools replaced by cards. These cards dictate what moves and powers are available. The protagonist can disappear in a puff of smoke or set a bunch of nameless thugs on fire, so long as the deck is right. It looks fun! Sleight of Hand is available to wishlist right now and will be released for Xbox consoles and PC via Steam. It'll also be available on Game Pass when it launches.Read the full story on Sleight of Hand here.Blue PrinceThis game is described as a roguelike Gone Home mixed with a board game." From the trailer, that doesn't sound so far off. The game tasks players with exploring a large estate that changes every day, due to an ever-shifting blueprint (thus the title.) There are plenty of family mysteries to unravel and a strategy component that allows for purposeful rejiggering of the aforementioned blueprint. The vibe is appropriately eerie and, well, who doesn't like exploring a creepy old mansion? Blue Prince is a PC title that launches in the early part of next year.Read the full story on Blue Prince here.FeltopiaThis hand-felted stop motion" game looks absolutely stunning and it was developed by a pair of twin siblings. The felt. The fabric. It all looks so real. Feltopia is, basically, a shmup, but with some unique mechanics that set it apart from rival shooters. First of all, there will be no killing of enemies. Instead, players shoot positive vibes that transform monsters into friends. The developers are calling it a cute-em-up" instead of a shoot-em-up. Also, every single sprite in the game has been needle-felted by hand. That's some dedication. You can wishlist this one on Steam right now, but it doesn't actually come out until 2026. All of that fabric work takes time.Read the full story on Feltopia here.Incolatus: Don't Stop, Girlypop!Here's something I've never seen before. Incolatus: Don't Stop, Girlypop! is a first-person shooter inspired by early 2000s girly pop. The soundtrack is pumping, everything is pink and players communicate via a Nokia-style flip phone. There's another twist, beyond those retro-soaked vibes. The game encourages people to never stand still, like the early 2000s action flick Crank. Constant movement will reward players with bonus damage and healing. Finally, there's a dress up minigame that's inspired by CD ROM titles from the 1990s and early 2000s. Inject this game into my Y2K-loving veins please. It's available to wishlist on Steam right now and will be released soon."Read the full story on Incolatus here.LOK DigitalAs the name suggests, this is a digital version of a pre-existing puzzle book. It may look like a traditional word search puzzle, but players are dropped in without any guidance. We'll have to figure out the rules on our own, which can be deduced by working through the 90 puzzles. There's a legitimate story and an entire made-up language. That's right. The words that comprise each puzzle grid will not be in English, or in any recognizable language. Every time a player unlocks (or unloks) a new word, it provides a unique power up. The whole point is to use these power ups to black out the entire grid. It looks pretty fun and, guess what, it's available right now on PC. The devs say it'll be released for mobile devices next year. This does seem like the perfect tablet game.If those 14 games aren't enough, check out the whole Day of the Devs stream here!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/here-are-the-14-most-interesting-titles-from-the-day-of-the-devs-game-awards-stream-183001600.html?src=rss
There's been a bit of a resurgence of stop-motion games in recent years. For one thing, The Spirit of the Samurai is set to arrive on Thursday and it looks pretty compelling (you can play as a cat in some sections!). During the Day of the Devs showcase, we got a look at another intriguing stop-motion game that's a bit further out. This one's animated entirely with felt.Feltopia is the first project from creative director Andrea Love and her team at Wooly Games. Love has long used needle-felted wool to create stop-motion animations for commercials, short films and social media, but hadn't seen the medium being used in a game before. "We realized there was a gap in the market for this type of aesthetic, and decided to fill it," Love said.Love describes Feltopia, a cozy spin on the side-scrolling shoot 'em up genre, as a "cute 'em up." You play as a sheep herder named Skyrider who uses magical powers to purge the world of an encroaching smog and save their Rainbow Flock. You're not killing enemies here. Instead, you're restoring infected creatures and bosses to their true forms.Wooly Games"Wool lends itself really well to the natural world, so I knew I wanted to create a game with sweeping landscapes and lots of elemental effects," Love said. "The classic side scroller mechanics mixed with our hand-felted, stop-motion techniques gives Feltopia both a novel and nostalgic feeling, which is a balance I like to hit with my animation work. Our goal is to take a typically violent genre and invert it so it is about transformation and healing rather than destruction and death."Feltopia looks charming as heck. It's immediately apparent that Love and her team have infused a ton of personality into their first game, and this could be one worth keeping your eye on.Wooly Games, which started work on Feltopia last year, is aiming to release the game in mid-2026. It'll hit Steam first and arrive on other platforms later.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/feltopia-is-a-side-scrolling-shoot-em-up-animated-in-felt-182353538.html?src=rss
What would it look like if you took the fast-paced arena shooter stylings of Doom Eternal and flipped the gory, grimdark aesthetics upside down? You might end up with something like Incolatus: Don't Stop, Girlypop!.It's a "Y2K girly-pop arena-style movement shooter where standing still is not an option," as game director Jane Fiona of Funny Fintan Softworks put it during the Day of the Devs showcase on Wednesday. "The faster you go, the more damage you deal and the more you heal."In Incolatus, a mining corp is trying to drain the world of love, its most precious resource. Trees are dying and fairies have been ejected into the world at large, and it's up to you to save their homes - so you might argue that it's even darker than Doom Eternal. Thanks, capitalism.Funny Fintan SoftworksAfter you (a revolutionary eco warrior) eliminate an enemy robot, you can grab the remaining love that it was running on to power up your weapons and deliver more damage. The love that you collect also plays a factor in the dress-up metagame. You can change the look of your character's arms to personalize things a bit. If you donate love to fairies you encounter, you'll get more customization options for your arms and guns.Five cool points to anyone who correctly guessed that movement is a critical aspect of Incolatus. The quicker you move, the more your guns expand with additional barrels and scopes.Funny Fintan has incorporated its own take on bunny hopping (a classic arena shooter movement technique that a player can use to boost their speed). It's called wavehopping, and you'll need to slam to the ground, double jump and dash - oddly enough, mimicking the form of a wave - to take advantage of it.Incolatus, which is coming to Steam "soon,"immediately stands out thanks to its hyperpop vibe with bright pinks and greens, as well as the era-appropriate soundtrack. As it happens, the "don't stop moving" mantra has lodged that one S Club song firmly in my brain.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/incolatus-dont-stop-girlypop-may-be-the-y2k-fever-dream-arena-shooter-you-never-knew-you-needed-182348483.html?src=rss
The much-anticipated follow-up to Hyper Light Drifter has a new early access date. At Day of the Devs, Heart Machine announced that Hyper Light Breaker will enter Steam early access on January 14.The project is a co-op action game where you can play alone or with up to two allies to face down enemies and bosses in the colorful biomes of the Overgrowth. In classic roguelike fashion, players can try different builds, weapons and abilities on each run, and it should be interesting to see how those skills combine when multiple people are in battle. There is also, and this is very important, a hoverboard.Hyper Light Breaker was first announced back in 2022 as a spiritual successor to the team's original indie hit. Since then, there have been a couple of delays slowing the game's arrival in early access, but today's announcement seems like the real deal. The studio hasn't shared any additional details yet about a full release date or additional platform support, but we're excited to see this latest installment of the neon universe Heart Machine has created.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/hyper-light-breaker-will-begin-steam-early-access-on-january-14-180858877.html?src=rss
"If Shakespeare lived today, what would he write about?" Philipp Stollenmayer asked the audience during this week's Day of the Devs 2024: Game Awards stream. According to Stollenmayer, Shakespeare would write about the invention of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the perspective of a rebellious strawberry and a disillusioned peanut. Also, it would be a musical. Oh, and it would take the form of an interactive scrapbook with kids as the main voice actors. Obviously.PBJ - The Musicalis the latest mobile game from Stollenmayer's studio, Kamibox, and it offers an utterly unique approach to interactive play. PBJ is a side-scrolling narrative adventure built out of real-life paper collages, with images cut from vintage cookbooks and stitched together via stop-motion. The vibe is modern Monty Python mixed with Julia Child, plus a dash of theater nerdery for balance.In PBJ, players can push, pull and drag everything to transform the story, which involves adorable, food-based interpretations of Shakespeare quotes and lots of singing. On the musical side of things, Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist Lorraine Bowen writes and performs all the songs in PBJ, and everything seems to have her signature upbeat, oddball feel. There are also unlockable remixes in each of the 10 stages.Mixing mediums is kind of Stollenmayer's thing: He's a papercraft artist who turned to game design, and many of his projects blend the two disciplines in some way. Under Kamibox, he's made the mobile games Sometimes You Die, Bacon - The Game, Song of Bloom and two dozen other titles, and he's picked up an Apple Design Award, nominations at the Independent Games Festival and other accolades since founding the studio in 2012.PBJ is due out in early 2025, and it's heading to iPhone and iPad.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pbj--the-musical-is-a-coming-of-age-game-with-shakespearean-sandwiches-175413688.html?src=rss
Blue Prince has been making the rounds at physical and virtual conventions like EGX, Gamescom and the PC Gaming Show, and it's already high on the puzzle community's figurative list of most anticipated titles for 2025. It was just featured in the Day of the Devs showcase before The Game Awards, one of its highest-profile debuts yet. So, if you're getting excited about Blue Prince for the first time, hello and welcome to the club. There are snacks in the parlor - but in order to eat them, first you'll have to build the parlor.In Blue Prince, you are the literal architect of your own future. It's 1993 and you've inherited the expansive estate of Mount Holly from your uncle, but the bequest comes with a catch. There are 45 rooms in the manor, and you have to find the mysterious 46th room in order to collect your inheritance. If you don't discover the impossible space, you lose everything. It's not just a matter of exploring a mazelike mansion, either: The estate changes shape every day and the layout of its rooms is up to you.DogubombEvery time you approach a door, you get to select what lies behind it from three options, which include areas like a den, dining room, kitchen, billiards room, patio, bedroom, cathedral, pool, and observatory, to name just a few. Connecting the doorways of these spaces in logical ways is crucial to progression, as it seems you'll have to touch every available square on your blueprints (get it?) to unlock the 46th room. Each area comes with its own riddle, item dump or unique function that resets at dawn. Entering a room costs one step and you'll start each day with just 50 steps, so strategizing is key, especially considering all the backtracking you'll likely do.The demo, which is live on Steam right now, gives you four days to explore Mount Holly and it's a solid introduction to the game's House of Leaves loop. The entryway has three doors, and you start by choosing one and manifesting the room beyond. Bedrooms grant you two steps every time you enter; the storage room offers keys, gems and coins; the cathedral costs one coin per entry; a meal is served in the dining hall only after reaching rank eight; the parlor has a three-box puzzle that changes every day; the observatory's telescope triggers a specific event based on the constellation in view; the coat check can hold an item for a future run - and so on.DogubombYou'll find objects like a sledgehammer, keycard, magnifying glass, compass, metal detector and shovel in various places, and you can carry these around to help solve puzzles in adjoining spaces. The billiards room is one of my favorites because it has a straightforward but satisfying dartboard riddle, and I can feel in my bones that there are oodles of secrets and room types that I haven't discovered.The environments of Blue Prince are dotted with symbols, paintings and statues that I'm sure will be relevant in later mysteries, and the game's art style and execution welcomes close scrutiny. It inhabits a cel-shaded 3D world with hand-drawn touches and heavy blue shadows, where interactable objects can truly stand out. Each room is crisply rendered, even down to the fine details. Using the magnifying glass to zoom in on the signature at the bottom of a letter, for instance, doesn't uncover jagged edges in the ink. Blue Prince is supremely compelling to look at and it has smooth, intuitive first-person controls - excellent traits for an exploration game.DogubombThe puzzles come in a variety of difficulty levels and mechanical flavors, from deduction riddles and engineering logic to esoteric math problems, and that's just what's included in the four-day demo. Pieces of lore scattered around the estate lay the foundation for a broader family mystery, and much like the mechanics of the game itself, the narrative tension builds smoothly throughout the early stages. There's more to uncover here than spare rooms and heirlooms.Blue Prince feels like a build-your-own escape room wrapped up in a strategy game and tied together with home-renovation sim twine. Even though it supports a broad mix of unrelated concepts, Blue Prince feels a lot like home. And it will be, once I find that 46th room.Blue Prince is due to hit Steam in spring 2025. It's developed by Los Angeles film and game studio Dogubomb and published by Raw Fury.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/blue-prince-preview-build-your-own-escape-room-and-then-live-there-173816152.html?src=rss
Nintendo has purchased the remaining shares of Monolith Soft, according to a report by Automaton. Up until recently, Monolith's founders have held onto a four percent stake in the company, likely for symbolic reasons, but those days are done. Nintendo now owns the whole dang thing.Monolith is primarily known for the Xenoblade Chronicles franchise, but recent years have seen the developer assist with big-time Nintendo IPs. It has provided support on games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Additionally, the company helped out on recent Splatoon and Animal Crossing entries.Monolith Soft was originally founded in 1999 by Hirohide Sugiura, Tetsuya Takahashi and Yasuyuki Honne, along with a hefty investment from Bandai Namco. The company created the Xenosaga series, a spiritual successor to Square's Xenogears that co-founder Takahashi originally wrote and directed.Monolith made a trio of Xenosaga games before Nintendo swooped in and bought 80 percent of company shares from Bandai Namco in 2007. Nintendo increased its stake to 96 percent in 2011 and now, well, it's got the full hundo.We don't exactly know when this final transaction took place. Monolith's company brochure for 2024 still showed the founders owning four percent. This held as far as October 1, but changed by November 21, as spotted by VGC. We are also in the dark as to what Monolith has been working on, aside from helping Nintendo on key franchises, but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 sure was good.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-buys-remaining-four-percent-of-monolith-soft-as-a-little-treat-173510990.html?src=rss
There's something inherently compelling about one-button games since developers are giving themselves a tight constraint for their creativity. Sometimes, they take full advantage of that. One of my favorite games from this year, One Btn Bosses, gets it right thanks to tight controls and never seeming like it's unfair.Faraway is an upcoming game in a similar vein. This procedurally generated title from developer Steph Thirion (aka Little Eyes) and publisher Annapurna Interactive is coming to PC in 2025. Faraway has been a long time coming - Thirion announced it for iPhone all the way back in 2010. Since the initial unveiling, the solo developer has remade the game with a captivating new art style.You play as a shooting star and you use the gravitational force of the closest star to swing your way toward your destination. When you get there, you'll use the same mechanic to draw a constellation of random stars. If you create loops between them, you'll get a score multiplier. Along with the main procedurally generated levels, there's a mode that asks you to draw specific shapes. Another puzzle mode prompts you to get the highest possible score from a certain formation.During Wednesday's Day of the Devs showcase, Thirion (who made early iPhone standout Eliss) said he took inspiration from Tetris to create a minimalist, replayable game with random elements and lots of depth. On the surface, Faraway has relaxing audio and visuals, but you'll need to keep your brain engaged if you want to get a great score.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/chill-puzzle-game-faraway-sees-you-drawing-star-constellations-with-one-button-172138741.html?src=rss
Astro Bot has a new level coming, and it won't cost a thing. Team Asobi said on Wednesday that Winter Wonder, a surprise bonus stage, will arrive on Thursday, December 12 at 9PM ET. The developer promises jingle bells, new bots and fun for all ages. Team Asobi describes the update as a show of gratitude to fans for their lovely comments" and critical response to the Game of the Year nominee. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for showing your appreciation," the developer wrote in the PlayStation Blog. It truly means a lot to us." Winter Wonder will only be available after you've completed the game. Team Asobi is tight-lipped about most details, but you can catch a zoomed-out glimpse in the above image. The developer says you can expect a fun-filled level, shiny presents" (yay!) and special bots (presumably winter- or holiday-themed) to add to your crew. So, expect more winter delight and less throw your controller" difficulty. Team Asobi, a PlayStation Studios subsidiary, had quite the year. Astro Bot launched to rave reviews, making the robot mascot the closest thing Sony has had to a Mario-like tentpole franchise since Sackboy and Crash Bandicoot were in their respective primes. In our review, Engadget's Jessica Conditt called the PS5 game easily one of the best games that Sony has ever produced," describing it as Super Mario Bros. for a new generation of video game fanatics, at once an introduction to common mechanics and also a significant challenge for seasoned players." Astro Bot picked up seven nominations at the Game Awards, including (deep breath) Game of the Year, Game Direction, Art Direction, Score and Music, Audio Design, Action / Adventure and Best Family Game. The Game Awards will be on December 12 at 7:30PM ET. To get the new level when it's hot off the press, make sure you've beaten the game and have an active internet connection at 9PM ET tomorrow. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/astro-bot-is-getting-a-free-holiday-themed-bonus-level-171920527.html?src=rss
The battle for AI supremacy is heating up. Almost exactly a week after OpenAI made its o1 model available to the public, Google today is offering a preview of its next-generation Gemini 2.0 model. In a blog post attributed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the company says 2.0 is its most capable model yet, with the algorithm offering native support for image and audio output. It will enable us to build new AI agents that bring us closer to our vision of a universal assistant," says Pichai.Google is doing something different with Gemini 2.0. Rather than starting today's preview by first offering its most advanced version of the model, Gemini 2.0 Pro, the search giant is instead kicking things off with 2.0 Flash. As of today, the more efficient (and affordable) model is available to all Gemini users. If you want to try it yourself, you can enable Gemini 2.0 from the dropdown menu in the Gemini web client, with availability within the mobile app coming soon.Moving forward, Google says its main focus is adding 2.0's smarts to Search (no surprise there), beginning with AI Overviews. According to the company, the new model will allow the feature to tackle more complex and involved questions, including ones involving multi-step math and coding problems. At the same time, following a broad expansion in October, Google plans to make AI Overviews available in more languages and countries.Looking forward, Gemini 2.0 is already powering enhancements to some of Google's more moonshot AI applications, including Project Astra, the multi-modal AI agent the company previewed at I/O 2024. Thanks to the new model, Google says the latest version of Astra can converse in multiple languages and even switch between them on the fly. It can also remember" things for longer, offers improved latency, and can access tools like Google Lens and Maps.As you might expect, Gemini 2.0 Flash offers significantly better performance than its predecessor. For instance, it earned a 63 percent score on HiddenMath, a benchmark that tests the ability of AI models to complete competition-level math problems. By contrast, Gemini 1.5 Flash earned a score of 47.2 percent on that same test. But the more interesting thing here is that the experimental version of Gemini 2.0 even beats Gemini 1.5 Pro in many areas; in fact, according to data Google shared, the only domains where it lags behind are in long-context understanding and automatic speech translation.It's for that reason that Google is keeping the older model around, at least for a little while longer. Alongside today's announcement of Gemini 2.0, the company also debuted Deep Research, a new tool that uses Gemini 1.5 Pro's long-context capabilities to write comprehensive reports on complicated subjects.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-20-is-googles-most-capable-ai-model-yet-and-available-to-preview-today-170329180.html?src=rss
The Pokemon Company and stop-motion studio Aardman just announced that they are working on a special project" together. We don't have too many details about the project, except that it will allow Aardman to bring their unique style of storytelling to the Pokemon universe in brand-new adventures." That sounds like a TV show or movie, right?We also know that this mystery project will be released to the public in 2027, so that's something to look forward to. The companies said that more information will be shared in the near future.Aardman are masters of their craft, and we have been blown away by their talent and creativity. What we have been working on together ensures our global Pokemon fans are in for a treat," said Taito Okiura, VP of Marketing and Media at The Pokemon Company.Okiura isn't kidding. Aardman has been in the animation game since 1972 and is most famous for stuff like the Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run franchises. The company is a claymation and stop-motion animation powerhouse. Remember that classic music video for Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer"? That's Aardman, as is the video for Nina Simone's My Baby Just Cares for Me."This partnership tells me one thing. The Pokemon Company is still interested in stop-motion animation, after the success of Pokemon Concierge on Netflix. Season two of that show is currently in production and will likely drop well before 2027. At least it'll tide us over until we get our eyeballs on whatever Aardman is cooking up.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-pokemon-company-is-teaming-up-with-wallace-and-gromit-studio-aardman-on-a-mystery-project-162122458.html?src=rss
Your phone is a gateway to an increasingly large swathe of gaming options. However, using a touchscreen to control a game, especially one that requires precise inputs, isn't for everyone. So a dedicated physical controller may be a more optimal solution. One of the best mobile game controllers is the Backbone One, which is back on sale. The second-gen USB-C PlayStation Edition has dropped down to $69, while the black model is a dollar more. As such, you can save $31, but to see the lower price on Amazon, you'll need to add the controller to your cart. Backbone added iPhone support to the USB-C model around the time of the iPhone 15 announcement. That was the first iPhone lineup with a USB-C connector after Apple shifted away from the Lightning port. Along with native App Store and Play Store titles - such as those included with Apple Arcade and Netflix subscriptions - the Backbone One is compatible with cloud gaming services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming, Amazon Luna and GeForce Now. It also works with remote play apps for PC, PlayStation and Xbox. The Backbone One doesn't require a dedicated power supply as it runs on your phone's battery. Since it hooks into the USB-C port, there's minimal latency. Passthrough charging and a 3.5mm jack for your headset are available too. Backbone designed the device with help from the team behind the Xbox 360 controller. The company says the One features responsive triggers, tactile buttons and clickable thumbsticks. It was also created with ergonomics in mind. The controller comes with a trial of the Backbone+ subscription. One of the main perks is that you can use it to play games on any compatible device with a USB-C port, such as an iPad, Mac or PC. Other features include screen recording and game recommendations. However, you don't need to be a member to use the Backbone One as a games controller. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-backbone-one-mobile-controller-is-back-on-sale-for-69-160035667.html?src=rss
When Google debuted Gemini 1.5 Pro in February, the company touted the model's ability to reason through what it called long context windows." It said, for example, the algorithm could provide details about a 402-page Apollo 11 mission transcript. Now, Google is giving people a practical way to take advantage of those capabilities with a tool called Deep Research. Starting today, Gemini Advanced users can use Deep Research to create comprehensive but easy-to-read reports on complex topics.Aarush Selvan, a senior product manager on the Gemini team, gave Engadget a preview of the tool. At first glance, it looks to work like any other AI chatbot. All interactions start with a prompt. In the demo I saw, Selvan asked Gemini to help him find scholarship programs for students who want to enter public service after school. But things diverge from there. Before answering a query, Gemini first produces a multi-step research plan for the user to approve.For example, say you want Gemini to provide you with a report on heat pumps. In the planning stage, you could tell the AI agent to prioritize information on government rebates and subsidies or omit those details altogether. Once you give Gemini the go-ahead, it will then scour the open web for information related to your query. This process can take a few minutes. In user testing, Selvan said Google found most people were happy to wait for Gemini to do its thing since the reports the agent produces through Deep Research are so detailed.In the example of the scholarship question, the tool produced a multi-page report complete with charts. Throughout, there were citations with links to all of the sources Gemini used. I didn't get a chance to read over the reports in detail, but they appeared to be more accurate than some of Google's less helpful and flattering AI Overviews.According to Selvan, Deep Research uses some of the same signals Google Search does to determine authority. That said, sourcing is definitely a product of the query." The more complicated a question you ask of the agent, the more likely it is to produce a useful answer since its research is bound to lead it to more authoritative sources. You can export a report to Google Docs once you're happy with Gemini's work.If you want to try Deep Research for yourself, you'll need to sign up for Google's One AI Premium Plan, which includes access to Gemini Advanced. The plan costs $20 per month following a one-month free trial. It's also only available in English at the moment.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-gemini-deep-research-tool-is-here-to-answer-your-most-complicated-questions-154354424.html?src=rss
I am a huge fan of Anker so I typically end up buying something every time the brand's products go on sale. Well, my wallet is currently grumbling at me because it's that time again: A slew of Anker products are discounted on Amazon. This sale includes Anker's 3-in-1 5,000mAh USB-C portable charger in black, down to $20 from $40. The new all-time low price comes courtesy of a 38 percent discount, followed up with a $5 coupon. Anker makes up a good chunk of our best power bank and portable charger list for 2024. This particular portable charger is worth calling out because, among other things, its compact and has a 22.5W output as a battery or 30W output when plugged into the wall. It also has a foldable AC plug, a USB-C port and an integrated USB-C cable. If you're looking for a longer charge then check out Anker's 10,000mAh version of the 3-in-1 power bank. It's also down to a record-low price at $30 from $45 in every color - a 33 percent discount. It's comes with a USB-C cable, but provides 30W of output whether it's plugged in or used as a battery. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-anker-power-banks-drops-to-only-20-153018011.html?src=rss
Donald Trump has named current commissioner Andrew Ferguson as the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair, the president-elect posted on Truth Social. Ferguson has previously decried what he called censorship by big tech and worked as an antitrust enforcer for the FTC and Department of Justice."At the FTC, we will end Big Tech's vendetta against competition and free speech," Ferguson wrote on X. "We will make sure that America is the world's technological leader and the best place for innovators to bring new ideas to life."Ferguson will take over from Linda Khan, who drew the ire of big tech by launching antitrust cases against Apple and Google, while also blocking a number of multi-billion-dollar corporate mergers. Under her hand, the FTC has gone after large companies of all stripes over concerns that large mergers would undermine competition and harm consumers with higher prices.Ferguson's pitch for the job reportedly included plans to "reverse Lina Khan's anti-business agenda" and "hold big tech accountable and stop censorship," according to Punchbowl News. However, he stated that the agency should continue its strong scrutiny of the dominance of large tech firms, according to The New York Times' sources.With Khan leaving her post as FTC chair, Trump also appointed Mark Meador as commissioner, which will result in a Republican majority on the five-person commission. Trump previously named commission member Brendan Carr as FCC chairman.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/donald-trump-names-andrew-ferguson-as-new-ftc-chair-143009879.html?src=rss
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