The Verge

Ahead of its release on March 25th, Ghostwire: Tokyo is getting a free visual novel, available now on PlayStation. Ghostwire: Tokyo - Prelude, will introduce players to KK, the deuteragonist of Ghostwire, and his squad of spirit detectives as they investigate paranormal disturbances throughout Tokyo. Players will be able to make different choices throughout the visual novel to unravel the story of Ghostwire’s world and the spirits who haunt it.Ghostwire: Tokyo is the latest game from The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks. Its slick and extremely unsettling gameplay trailer showcases a world overrun by apparitions that KK must banish with the help of Akito, the human KK possess and imbues with supernatural ghost-killing power.G... Continue reading…

Instagram has added auto-generated captions to videos. | Image: Instagram Instagram head Adam Mosseri said Tuesday the company is adding auto-generated captions to the videos in your feed. He acknowledged the captions have been “a long time coming” — rival TikTok introduced auto-captions last April — and said the captions will be on by default for creators on the platform.

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge Domain registrar and hosting provider Namecheap is terminating service provision for customers based in Russia in the face of what it describes as “war crimes” committed in Ukraine.An email sent Monday from Namecheap to customers, and shared online by various customers of the company, reads:“Unfortunately, due to the Russian regime’s war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine, we will no longer be providing services to users registered in Russia. While we sympathize that this war may not affect your own views or opinion on the matter, the fact is, your authoritarian government is committing human rights abuses and engaging in war crimes so this is a policy decision we have made and will stand by.”The original email gave... Continue reading…

Oleg Kutkov with his Starlink dish he bought off of eBay. | Image: Oleg Kutkov On Monday night, in between the hourly air alarms reverberating outside his home, Oleg Kutkov stuck his SpaceX Starlink dish outside of his window in Kiev, Ukraine, and pointed it up at the sky. To his surprise, he got a signal in just 10 seconds from one of SpaceX’s satellites overhead, indicating he was receiving broadband internet.“I honestly didn’t believe that it would work,” Kutkov tells The Verge. “I thought there might be some problems with obstructions, might be some problems with my Dishy. But no, it just connected. I got really good speed, really good connectivity.”“I honestly didn’t believe that it would work”Kutkov has actually had a Starlink dish for a few months now, but wasn’t able to use it. A software and... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute was the first to apply the gene-editing tool CRISPR to human cells, the US Patent and Trademark Office said Monday. The decision stymies years of efforts from the University of California, Berkeley to obtain lucrative patent rights to the technology. UC Berkeley is home to Jennifer Doudna, who won a 2020 Nobel Prize with Emmanuelle Charpentier for discovering the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique.It also complicates the work of some biotech companies to develop gene-editing therapies based on CRISPR: many, including companies like Caribou Biosciences (co-founded by Doudna) and Intellia Therapeutics, which licensed the CRISPR tech from the UC Berkeley group.“This decision once again confirmed Broad’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta has stopped recommending content by Russian state media to all users of Facebook, and soon Instagram, as the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine wages on.In a call with reporters on Tuesday, Meta executives said Russian media affiliated with the government had been demoted in the main Facebook Feed, and that it was no longer being recommended algorithmically anywhere on the social network. Instagram is also in the process of blocking all recommendations of Russian state media globally, the executives said, adding that links to outlets under the influence of the Russian government will be labeled on both apps.The moves come after the Russian government last week started throttling internet access to Facebook and Instagram in the... Continue reading…

Image: Nomad Nomad has finally revealed its first officially licensed MagSafe charger, the Base One (that is to say, one that actually has the Apple MFi-approved MagSafe module built in, and not one with a separate charging cable threaded through). Unfortunately, that convenience doesn’t come cheap: the Base One costs $129.95.As is typical for a Nomad product, the Base One is a handsome slab of glass and aluminum that promises a more refined experience than simply slapping Apple’s $40 charging puck on your nightstand. And it certainly looks nice enough, with a neat floating glass effect and about a pound of heft to keep it from falling off your nightstand. Image: Nomad But the $130 price tag here is definitely rough,... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Waymo, the autonomous vehicle unit of Alphabet, got the green light to start charging for rides in its autonomous taxis in San Francisco. The California Public Utilities Commission awarded the company a permit that allows them to charge for rides as long as there’s a human safety driver behind the wheel.California requires that AV companies obtain a series of permits in order to start earning money from their autonomous vehicles. The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles oversees test permits, while the CPUC determines when those companies can start commercial businesses. The permit obtained by Waymo is one of the last steps required before the company can launch a fully fleshed-out robotaxi business. The company will need to obtain a... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge, Shutterstock Accuracy doesn’t have to trump safety Continue reading…

President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver his first State of the Union address at the US Capitol on Tuesday, March 1st, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate.This will be Biden’s first State of the Union address, as he had not been in office long enough to officially deliver the address last year. Last year, Biden did give a speech before a joint session of Congress laying out his administration’s plan to invest in infrastructure, including broadband expansion and creating a nationwide electric vehicle charging grid. He also announced plans to address the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.This year, Biden is expected to make similar remarks during his Tuesday address. He is also expected to focus heavily on the ongoing... Continue reading…

Screenshot: Crunchyroll via YouTube Crunchyroll is inheriting a slew of titles from Funimation in a move that’s supposed to unify the two biggest anime streaming services under one subscription. This also consolidates Funimation’s French-language subsidiary, Wakanim, and the Crunchyroll-owned streaming service, VRV, into the sole Crunchyroll platform.The consolidation of Crunchyroll doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Last August, Sony — which also owns Funimation — completed its acquisition of Crunchyroll for $1.175 billion and announced plans to unify both services under a single subscription.An FAQ page notes that Crunchyroll subscribers will now have access to simulcast content that was previously only available on Funimation and Wakanim, as well as 80 percent of... Continue reading…

Just days after Disney quietly confirmed that all of Netflix’s Marvel shows are set to migrate over to Disney Plus for Canadian audiences this March, we now know when all six of the series will make a similar jump to Disney’s own streaming service in the US as well.Today, Disney announced that in mid-March, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders, The Punisher, and ABC’s Agents of SHIELD will begin streaming on Disney Plus alongside all of Marvel’s other superhero programming, a sign that may point to those characters’ futures in the MCU. In a press release shared this morning, Disney’s president of streaming, Michael Paull, framed the impending IP homecoming as a further unification of Marvel’s brand and as a sort... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last week, we held Hot Pod Summit 2022, our invite-only event about the future of the podcast industry. It was a day of laughs, gasps, and jabs at all our favorite audio giants.Ashley helmed nearly all the panels, and at the end of the day, she publicly shared that she’s beginning a new adventure. After more than six years at The Verge and many months in charge of Hot Pod (including weeks spent writing “test runs” before she officially started??), she’s now off to Bloomberg. Hot Pod will be getting someone new soon, but until then, we’re going to take things a little slower to get all our ducks in a row. And also allow our ducks to sleep. I am one of those ducks.I’m going to be off until next week’s Insider issues, so our editor Jake... Continue reading…

Photo Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge Protecting your patents against tech giants Continue reading…

Image: Sonos Last year the Sonos Roam arrived as a portable smart speaker option that not only provided quality sound you could take with you, but also access to assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. It was initially priced at $169, but Sonos cited the global chip shortage as a reason for bumping the price up to $179 last fall. If you were interested in the product but want to save a few bucks, Sonos is now introducing the Roam SL, a mic-less version that costs $159, and mimics the similarly mic-less One SL it released two years ago.According to the FAQ, losing the microphone doesn’t just cut out support for either voice assistant. It also means no automated Trueplay sound tuning, and living without the Sound Swap feature that lets you... Continue reading…

How Endwalker explores the relationship between video game food and tech culture Continue reading…

The new Xbox app update is available now. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is finally allowing games from the Windows store to be installed to any folder that can be accessed freely. The software giant started testing this functionality last year, and it’s now rolling out in the Xbox all for all Windows 10 and Windows 11 users today.This will greatly improve the game install process from the Windows store, allowing PC gamers to install titles into any folder of their choice with unrestricted access to game files. It should address the many headaches of installing games from PC Game Pass, and Windows users should be able to backup game files and restore them in the future. The new install features on the Xbox app. Microsoft previously forced Windows users to install PC games from... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Photography by Sergei Guneyev / Getty Images But how much will it matter? Continue reading…

Microsoft Flight Simulator is launching on Xbox Cloud Gaming today, allowing Xbox One owners to access the game for the first time. The Xbox Series X / S exclusive was previously only playable on the latest Xbox consoles, but you can now play Microsoft Flight Simulator through a web browser, on Android and iOS devices, and on Xbox One consoles.Microsoft Flight Simulator first launched on PC in 2020, before arriving on Xbox Series X / S nearly a year later. It was missing from the Xbox Cloud Gaming part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and is now available in the cloud thanks to Xbox Series X hardware upgrades that Microsoft has made to its datacenters. Before the upgrades, Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud) was powered by Xbox One S consoles, and the... Continue reading…

Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2 are selling for their second-best price to date at Amazon. A good pair of noise-canceling headphones can be useful when you need to tune out the world around you, especially if you need to multitask or are on a deadline. That’s why today’s deal on Microsoft’s Surface Headphones 2, currently one of the best pairs of noise-canceling headphones you can buy, is a standout.Right now, multitaskers on the market for a solid set of headphones can pick up the gray model at Amazon for $225.50 instead of $249.99. That’s not as low as their sale price during Black Friday, but it’s the lowest price we’ve seen on the headphones since and their second-best price to date. If you prefer the matte-black model, you can pick them up for just a few bucks more at Target for $229.99.Boasting excellent multipoint... Continue reading…

Thermacell’s new Liv smart mosquito repellent system runs on-demand, taking about 15 minutes to form an invisible dome of protection around your patio. | Image: Thermacell When the snow melts and the flowers start to bloom, biting, buzzing mosquitos appear out of nowhere. Tackling these bloodsuckers is no easy task. While covering up and dousing yourself in bug spray or blanketing your garden in pesticides may work, it's not always the nicest experience nor the most environmentally friendly.Thermacell, makers of a mosquito repellent that creates a zone of protection around you rather than you having to cover every inch of your skin, has an intriguing solution: the Liv Smart Mosquito Repellent System.Launching today, Liv is Thermacell’s first connected, on-demand mosquito repellent system for the home. Starting at $699 for a three-repeller kit plus a hub, the app-controlled system should protect about... Continue reading…

Photo: Razor Razor, the company that helped kick off the scooter craze over two decades ago, announced new, electrified versions of its classic kick scooter models. And this time, they’re built for adults.Razor is launching a Kickstarter campaign for the new scooters, with the first models scheduled to start shipping in August 2022. The scooters, modeled on the company’s iconic kick scooters originally built for kids, will come in five different colors: orange, blue, red, pink, and black. And thanks to powerful 350W motors, these scooters will go a little faster than those that rely solely on leg muscles.Razor is looking to tap into Gen Z’s nostalgia for the simpler times of their childhood with their marketing pitch for these new, electrified... Continue reading…

Amazon Luna — the company’s cloud-based game streaming service — is officially launching in the US today for anyone to use, in addition to adding a variety of new features, including free games for Amazon Prime members.Luna was announced in fall 2020, but since then, it has only been available to a limited number of customers through an invite-only “early access” program. Today’s launch, however, finally opens up the service for anyone to use in the United States, which could significantly expand the number of Luna customers.Alongside the broader launch, Amazon also announced three additional “channels” (Luna’s term for bundles of games that customers can subscribe to on a monthly basis, similar to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass) that... Continue reading…

The Mobvoi TicWatch GTH Pro claims to measure long-term heart health. | Image: Mobvoi While smartwatches have generally opted to measure heart health through EKGs, Mobvoi announced today it’s taking a different tack. The company claims its latest fitness tracker, the TicWatch GTH Pro, can measure a person’s long-term arterial health.The watch was developed over two years in partnership with global health tech firm Cardie X. According to Mobvoi, the $99 TicWatch GTH Pro introduces a new “Arty Heart Health” analytics platform that noninvasively measures central arterial waveforms. It’s essentially measuring the strength of your pulse to deliver insights about your heart health. While the watch does not measure your blood pressure, the platform is based on tech that measures central and brachial blood pressure data. Experts... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Uber introduced a new app feature called “Explore” that allows customers to buy concert tickets, book restaurant reservations, and get discounted rides to popular destinations. It’s the latest attempt by the ride-share company to turn its app into more of a lifestyle product.Uber has always had aspirations outside of just being a taxi broker. But as the company shifts more into food and grocery delivery, it can be hard to remember its roots as a product used by people to move around cities. Now, Uber wants to remind its customers of that legacy, while also bringing more Yelp-style features into its app.Starting March 1st, Uber customers in over a dozen North American cities will see the new Explore tab when they open the app. Tapping... Continue reading…

The high-end Android phone of choice in 2022 — just go easy on the battery Continue reading…

Newell personally handing an early Steam Deck to a customer. | Screenshot: Valve One of my favorite things about famous game developers is how hyper-specific their fame is. So naturally I was delighted to see a promotional video put out by Valve showing its co-founder and president Gabe Newell — one of the most famous game developers in the world — confusing the heck out of some members of the public by hand-delivering Steam Decks in person.To be fair, a handful of recipients immediately recognize a face-masked Newell when he shows up at their doorstep with a Steam Deck in hand. But in a lot of other cases the deliveries are accepted on behalf of other members of the household. “What’s with the camera crew?” the confused wife of a man on a ski trip asks, while another politely checks whether they need to sign... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube has blocked Russian news channels RT and Sputnik across Europe in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Alphabet-owned company confirmed the news on Twitter, saying it would “take time for our systems to fully ramp up” and that it would continue to “monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action.”It’s the latest example of internet platforms blocking Russian media outlets in response to the war. Yesterday, Meta blocked RT and Sputnik on both Instagram and Facebook after receiving requests to do so from a number of governments in the EU. TikTok also banned the two channels. YouTube had already stopped these outlets from generating revenue on its platform via advertising and restricted access to these channels... Continue reading…

Dozens of cameras suspended from the store’s ceiling track customers and their purchases. | Image: Amazon Amazon has brought its cashierless Just Walk Out technology to a Whole Foods store for the first time, allowing customers to shop and leave the store with their items without having to interact with any kind of cashier. The revamped store opened on February 23rd in Washington, DC’s Glover Park neighborhood, where there’s been a Whole Foods store for over 20 years.Although Amazon has been operating cashierless grocery stores in increasingly large Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh-branded stores, this is the first time it’s bringing the technology to a Whole Foods store. Amazon bought the grocery chain for $13.7 billion in 2017, but until now the brand’s integration with Amazon has been more minimal, consisting of discounts and free delivery... Continue reading…

Image: Honor Along with its 100W charging-capable Magic 4 phone, Honor has announced new Earbuds 3 Pro that include built-in temperature monitoring technology. According to Honor, this technology is an industry first, that owners can experience once the €199 buds are released.Temperature monitoring, among other signals, has become especially important to tracking someone’s health during the pandemic, and checking your temperature at home using infrared ear thermometers is already widely available. Wearables incorporating temperature monitoring sounds like something that isn’t far off, and the idea even reportedly caught Apple’s eye while developing updates to its AirPods. Image: Honor Wearers can tap the buds three times to... Continue reading…

RIP, IGTV. | Image: Instagram Instagram has announced that it will no longer be supporting the separate IGTV app, saying in a blog post that it will instead focus on keeping all video in the main Instagram app (via TechCrunch). While the writing’s been on the wall for Instagram’s YouTube competitor for a while, the official shutdown announcement marks the end of an era for one of Instagram’s forays into video.In its post, Instagram says that it’s getting rid of the standalone IGTV app as “part of [its] efforts to make video as simple as possible to discover and create.” The post also says that any videos in the main app will have a full-screen viewer and tap-to-mute, and that Instagram is working on a consistent way to share the different types of videos (such as... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has blocked Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik across the European Union, the company said Monday. The change means that the RT and Sputnik pages aren’t visible in the EU on Facebook and Instagram, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone tells The Verge.“We have received requests from a number of Governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state controlled media,” Nick Clegg, the company’s newly-named president of global affairs, said Monday on Twitter. “Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time.”

Poco’s M4 Pro has a 6.43-inch display with a 180Hz refresh rate. | Image by Xiaomi The Xiaomi-owned Poco debuted the X4 Pro 5G and M4 Pro at Europe’s MWC 2022, both of which offer fairly impressive specs for prices you’d typically find on mid-range phones. Image by Xiaomi The Poco X4 Pro 5G features a 6.67-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Poco describes its X4 Pro 5G as providing a “flagship-level experience,” but for a price of €299 (~$335) or €349 (~$391), depending on the storage level you choose. The cheaper model comes with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage, with the more expensive model providing 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage.Poco’s X4 Pro 5G is the successor to the X3 GT Poco released last July, with similar specs for an affordable price tag. The X4 Pro features a 6.67-inch... Continue reading…

Photo by Andrew Hawkins / The Verge Luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors is slashing its production forecast for 2022, citing supply chain constraints. The Newark, California-based company announced it was revising down its production expectations to 12,000 to 14,000 vehicles from the original prediction of 20,000 vehicles.“This reflects the extraordinary supply chain and logistics challenges we’ve encountered and our unrelenting focus on delivering the highest-quality products,” Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson said in a statement. “We remain confident in our ability to capture the tremendous opportunities ahead given our technology leadership and strong demand for our cars.”“Supply chain and logistics challenges”Shares of the company fell 14 percent in after-hours... Continue reading…

Rockstar Games has released a major update for the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy that brings improved performance across all platforms, including graphics modes that are included with the likes of the PS5 and Xbox Series X.Generally, the update improves stability, fixes checkpoint issues and collision detection, along with touching up numerous textures and signage. It also addresses errors where achievements weren’t earned under specific circumstances. All of the fixes are listed on Rockstar’s support site (it’s an exhaustive list), with specific update notes listed under each game.These fixes seem minor, but they could make particularly difficult sections within each game a little easier to bear. The collection, which launched in November... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Netflix will not distribute a number of state-run channels in Russia as mandated by a new law, the company says, following reports that it could soon be forced to carry the networks.Variety reported Monday that Netflix was among a number of services added to a register maintained by Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor of content distributors that reached over 100,000 subscribers. The new law, which Variety reports has not yet fully gone into effect, requires large streamers to carry 20 Russian broadcast channels, including state-funded Channel One.Channel One was among a number of channels The Associated Press cited last week as skewing the narrative to align with the Kremlin’s messaging around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Other... Continue reading…

DisplayPort 2.0 is finally starting to make its way out into the world after months of delays, and the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) is working hard to make sure that customers will be able to actually tell whether cables or devices support the benefits of the standard with a new certification program, the group announced today.The new program is specifically aimed at clarifying when a device supports the DisplayPort UHBR (Ultra-high Bit Rate) data transfer rates supported by DisplayPort 2.0. To that end, VESA is introducing new DP40 and DP80 UHBR cables. DP40-marked cables will be guaranteed to support the UHBR10 standard of 10Gbps across four lanes for a total of 40Gbps, while DP80 cables will support the UHBR20... Continue reading…

Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth day, a coalition led by the US and Europe has mounted a coordinated response focused on financial sanctions and, increasingly, military aid. While the conflict grows in scale and intensity, organizations far beyond the apparatus of military and government are being drawn in — including ransomware groups active in Russia and Ukraine.That gravitational pull is particularly fraught in Russia, where the borders between hackers and the Russian intelligence services are sometimes porous, and one group in particular has been made to pay for its allegiance to the Putin regime.On Friday, the notorious ransomware gang Conti surprised many observers by explicitly casting its lot with Putin’s... Continue reading…

Privacy is probably one of the biggest buzzwords in tech these days, and even the data-loving Google is getting in on the action.The Android 12 update boasts a handful of privacy-related additions you’d be wise to explore. Some of them are under the hood and automatic — such as the new Private Compute Core that’ll allow certain types of sensitive computing to happen in an isolated environment, entirely on your device. But others are more on the surface. And that means it’s up to you to take advantage of them — or at least understand what they’re doing.Here are the three most significant privacy-related additions in Android 12 and what you need to know in order to take advantage of them. (Note that these directions are for Pixel phones;... Continue reading…

Leaked render of the Sony Xperia 1 IV | Image: OnLeaks / Giznext It looks like the new Sony Xperia 1 IV is coming soon, based on newly leaked renders coming from reliable leaker OnLeaks through Giznext (via Android Authority). The purported sequel to last summer’s Xperia 1 III looks to retain a very similar design, including a 6.5-inch OLED display on an elongated flat-edged slab.The leaked render looks like the Sony Xperia 1 IV will also have a headphone jack, side fingerprint sensor, and top / bottom bezels that house front-facing stereo speakers and a selfie camera. And there are three cameras shown on the rear of the Xperia 1 IV, each reportedly touting 12MP sensors, including one that seems to be telescopic. Image: OnLeaks / Giznext The leaked Xperia 1 IV has a shutter... Continue reading…

Image: Mykhailo Fedorov SpaceX sent a truck full of Starlink user terminals to Ukraine, according to an image tweeted by the country’s vice prime minister, who had asked CEO Elon Musk for assistance during Russia’s invasion. Over the weekend, Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted at Musk, asking him to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations. In response, Musk said that the satellite internet service had been activated for the country and that more terminals were on their way. Today, it seems that promise has been fulfilled, with Musk responding to Fedorov’s latest tweet, “You are most welcome.”As fighting continues in Ukrainian cities, there have been concerns that there could be cyberattacks on critical internet infrastructure, which could make it harder for news to leave... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri once again shot down the possibility of an iPad app (because who cares about the millions of iPad users out there, right?). It’s been 12 years since Instagram’s release — over a decade without an accompanying iPad app — and we’re tired.Just think about it for a second: how absurd is it that iPad users either have to settle for an iPhone-sized Instagram app experience on their tablet or must succumb to browsing the platform on a web browser — as Marques Brownlee points out — in the year 2022?

A view of the Kizelovskaya State District Power Plant at the Gubakhinsky Coke and Chemical Works. Russian businessman Alexei Kolesnik bought the Kizelovskaya State District Power Plant to create a data center and a bitcoin mining farm. | Photo by Maxim Kimerling / TASS via Getty Images Bitcoin’s carbon dioxide pollution has gotten even worse since China ousted Bitcoin miners last year, according to a new analysis. It’s likely the result of Bitcoin miners substituting China’s abundant hydropower with coal and gas, experts say.“We actually see Bitcoin becoming less green than ever before,” says Alex de Vries, lead author of the analysis published last week in the journal Joule. That directly counters continued claims by industry groups that renewable energy would clean up Bitcoin’s operations.The new report shows that the Bitcoin boom is becoming a bigger problem for the world’s efforts to eliminate fossil fuel pollution. Mining bans, like the one China put in place last year, don’t seem to be very effective in curbing... Continue reading…

An artistic rendering of the Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars. | Image: ESA A joint Russian-European mission to Mars will likely be delayed in light of new sanctions against Russia and the country’s ongoing assault of Ukraine. The delay is the latest space partnership to feel the side effects of Russia’s invasion here on Earth.Known as ExoMars, the mission entails sending a series of robotic spacecraft to Mars, culminating in the launch of a robotic rover to explore the Red Planet’s surface. The European Space Agency and Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos have been working together on the program for the last decade. As part of the initiative, ESA and Roscosmos launched the first phase of the mission in 2016, sending a spacecraft to orbit Mars and sniff out its atmosphere, as well as a test lander to... Continue reading…

Needles Kane was the terrifying face of the Twisted Metal games. | Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment via Peacock Sony’s Twisted Metal TV show, an adaptation of the video game series starring Falcon actor Anthony Mackie, will debut on the Peacock streaming service and is officially labeled as a comedy. Early last year, we heard the vehicular combat-themed show was in the works and being produced by Will Arnett and helmed by Michael Jonathan Smith. On Monday, we learned that each episode of the PlayStation Productions show will be 30 minutes and will attempt to make audiences laugh.It’s understandable if your memory of the Twisted Metal video games is a bit hazy — the first one was released in 1995, and we haven't gotten a new one since 2012. As a refresher, they mainly center on driving around a heavily armored car and trying to defeat others who... Continue reading…

PC or console? Mouse and keyboard, or controller? It’s a debate that’s raged for nearly as long as video games themselves. So in 2013, Valve — creator of games like Half-Life and Portal, and the founder of Steam, the beating heart of PC gaming — attempted to fuse the two camps together.The Steam Controller was originally introduced as part of Valve’s Steam Machine push. The initiative attempted to convince partners to build gaming PCs that would sit in a living room like an Xbox or a PlayStation, but run the massive library of PC games already available on Steam. Plenty of PC owners have hooked up their computer to their television, but the Steam Machine project had bigger ambitions to turn living room PC gaming into a platform.The... Continue reading…

Image: Bandai Namco It seems like everyone, even people who don’t usually partake in FromSoftware games, is playing Elden Ring. It’s currently the seventh most played game on Steam based on number of concurrent players and has a score of 97 on Metacritic, putting it on track to be this year’s highest rated game.And while I have enjoyed the bits of Elden Ring I’ve played, I’m not too keen on joining the rest of my Tarnished colleagues in the Lands Between just yet. I’m gonna wait for the guide writers, speedrunners, and wiki editors to catch up, because from my dabblings in FromSoftware games, I know that in order to truly enjoy Elden Ring, I’m gonna need a lot of help that just doesn’t exist yet.Elden Ring is a game that’s meant to be mysterious. The... Continue reading…

The Xbox Series X is selling for $499.99 at Walmart, but you’ll have to act quickly if you want one. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Update 12:50PM ET, February 28th: Walmart has sold out of the Xbox Series X for now, however, the Xbox Series S is available today at Woot for $249.99. The disc-less console features less storage and isn’t as powerful as the Series X, but it can handle the same games.Good news for those who have yet to nab the Xbox Series X: right now, Walmart is selling Microsoft’s next-gen console for its usual price of $499. Even better, unlike previous restocks, this one is open to all and not just those who subscribe to the retailer’s premium subscription service, Walmart Plus. This restock came up very suddenly out of the blue, and it isn’t utilizing Walmart’s typical queue system, so be sure to keep trying to add the console to your cart, even if... Continue reading…

Robert Pattinson in The Batman. | Photo: Jonathan Olley / Warner Bros. The Batman franchise has seen better days Continue reading…