The Verge

Oculus is beginning to roll out redesigned avatars that are more expressive and customizable than those that launched in 2016. They’ll appear starting today in just a few games for the Quest VR platform, including Epic Roller Coasters, PokerStarsVR, and Topgolf with Pro Putt. Soon, they’ll appear in Synth Riders, and later in the year, a new game called ForeVR Bowling will feature them.The avatars launching today, starting with those few select games, seem far more fleshed out. They’ll have legs in the editor, for one (though they won’t yet appear on your avatar in VR). The new avatar editor apparently allows for a quintillion possible combinations of hair, eyes, body type, facial hair, piercings, clothing, and other features. There’s... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is testing a new feature for sellers that will let them contact customers directly by email to notify them of things like new product announcements or sales. It’s a major change from Amazon’s current policy, which is to limit the amount of interaction between customers and companies that sell on Amazon, outside of resolving things like returns or order issues.As CNBC reports, the new “Manage Your Customer Engagement” tool won’t let companies just spam previous customers with promotional emails. They’ll only be able to contact Amazon users who have specifically chosen to follow a particular company.Crucially, Amazon isn’t giving sellers blank-check access to customers’ personal contact information. Rather, Amazon will tell... Continue reading…

Amazon fulfilment center in Sosnowiec, Poland, in May 2019. | Photo by Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto via Getty Images A group of shareholders has asked Amazon to disclose how much of its plastic packaging winds up in the environment. The retail giant’s plastic pollution could damage the company’s reputation or lead to financial penalties from regulatory action or clean-up costs, according to the shareholder proposal. So they’d like to see a report published by December that shows how much plastic waste the retail giant is responsible for and what it’s doing to reduce plastic packaging.Amazon has stayed pretty tight-lipped about its plastic problem. It was accused of generating 465 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2019 by the nonprofit organization Oceana. More than 22 million pounds of that trash wound up in freshwater and marine... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge You may have heard of the new Apple products announced at the company’s “Spring Loaded” event this week — including the redesigned colorful iMac, the location-tracking AirTags, and the boosted specs on the next iPad Pro. But there was another big event focused on Apple this week: on Capitol Hill.This week on The Verge’s flagship podcast, The Vergecast, co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss Apple’s Tuesday hardware event with Verge news editor Chaim Gartenberg as well as Wednesday’s congressional hearing dedicated to antitrust in the App Store with Verge politics reporter Makena Kelly.The show bridges the gap between Apple announcing a Tile competitor and Tile speaking in front of Congress the following day.Listen here or in... Continue reading…

Photo by Chuck Zlotnick / Marvel Studios The season finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has arrived, bringing an end to the latest Marvel saga and settling the legacy of Steve Rogers and his emblematic shield. But the show doesn’t just answer the question of “Who is the next Captain America?” It charts a path forward for the next generation of Marvel heroes — and it uses a solution borrowed right from the comics.Spoilers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier below. Photo: Marvel Studios As basically everyone expected, the finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sees Sam Wilson step fully into the role as the new Captain America — complete with a ripped-from-the-comics outfit and a new title card at the end of the series for “Captain America... Continue reading…

Job Simulator, HTC Vive Last week, Humble launched its Spring Into VR Bundle, which includes a pack of games for use with a virtual reality headset. Originally set to end on April 21st, the company has decided to extend the deal until April 28th, giving you more time to take advantage of it.You can pay as little as $1 to receive one game or pay at least $15 to unlock all eight games available in the pack — once you’ve paid, you’ll get keys that you redeem on Steam. The bundle contains the following games, all of which are compatible with wired headsets that support Steam VR:

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge Honda said it will stop selling gas-powered vehicles by 2040. The automaker expects 40 percent of its sales globally to be comprised of battery-electric and fuel-cell vehicles by 2030, followed by 80 percent in 2035, and 100 percent of sales by 2040.Honda is the latest car company to commit to an all-electric future, with General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Volvo, and others making similar promises in recent months. Honda also said it would “strive to realize carbon neutrality for all products and corporate activities” by 2050.“I believe it is the responsibility of an automaker to achieve our carbon-free goal on a ‘tank-to-wheel’ basis”The announcement came from Honda’s new CEO, Toshihiro Mibe, who took the helm in April. Speaking at a... Continue reading…

Nier: Replicant is a shape-shifter. It makes you think it’s a simple action roleplaying game set in a bleak fantasy universe, but steadily reveals itself to be a lot more. It’s a game that shifts wildly in both tone and play style. It’s weird and heartbreaking, frustrating and playful, often all at the same time. This release is also a second chance for a game that failed to reach a big audience when it first launched in 2010, now updated for modern tastes. It still requires a little patience — but it’s worth putting up with some clunky gameplay to find all that Replicant has to offer.If the Nier name sounds familiar, it’s probably because of Nier: Automata, a 2017 action-RPG from director Yoko Taro and studio PlatinumGames that became... Continue reading…

Apple’s new AirTag tracking devices | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Apple’s new Tile-like AirTags, long-rumored and finally announced at this week’s Spring Loaded event, are now available for preorder on Apple’s website. The small circular trackers work with Apple’s “Find My” app on iOS and have a built-in speaker, accelerometer, Bluetooth LE, and a replaceable battery. They cost $29 for one set or $99 for a four-pack.Apple says the AirTags’ battery should be good for a year. They should start delivering between May 3rd and May 5th.The existence of AirTags first became known nearly two years ago, in copies of the iOS 13 beta. Apple accidentally confirmed the AirTags name in a support video last year that has since been deleted.Also revealed at Spring Loaded was the new purple iPhone 12. It’s... Continue reading…

The Evercade VS can stow two of the company’s proprietary cartridges at once. | Image: Evercade The Evercade handheld that released in 2020 can connect to your TV through its Mini HDMI port, but its 4.3-inch screen proves it was designed more for retro gaming on the go. Now, there’s a version of the Evercade just for your TV. It’s called the Evercade VS, and it can output retro games at 1080p, delivering “top-of-the-line emulation,” with support for up to four wired USB controllers for multiplayer in games. It’ll cost $99.99 when it launches on November 3rd, 2021, and preorders start on May 28th, 2021.Crucially, the Evercade VS will be able to play games from the same kind of proprietary cartridges used by the handheld, and this home console can store two at a time under the NES-style flap that opens at its top. Each cartridge... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Spotify is reportedly planning to debut its in-app podcast subscription offering next week. The Wall Street Journal reports today that the company will not take a cut from podcasters who choose to sell in-app subscriptions and also will allow them to set their own pricing. Listeners on its iOS app will be routed through a website to purchase the subscriptions, thereby allowing Spotify (and podcasters) to skirt around Apple’s fees.The news comes right after Apple Podcasts debuted its own in-app subscriptions. The company will allow podcasters to sell access to ad-free, bonus, or early-access content at whatever price they choose to set. Unlike this reported Spotify plan, however, Apple requires podcasters to pay $19.99 per year to even... Continue reading…

A long look at the workspace of one of The Verge’s leading tech enthusiasts. Visit the office of a Verge gearhead Continue reading…

Microsoft is releasing a preview version of Office 2021 for Mac and Office LTSC this week. While Office LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) is designed for commercial customers, both versions are perpetual versions of Office that don’t rely on subscriptions or the cloud. Microsoft announced its plans for Office 2021 back in February, and a Windows version — which won’t be available in preview — will also be released later this year.Office 2021 for Mac will support both Apple Silicon and Intel-based Macs, and require at least 4GB of RAM and 10GB of storage space. It’s designed to be a static release of Office, but during the preview there will be monthly updates that could include new features. Once Office 2021 for Mac is final and... Continue reading…

The confirmation emails were sent out in error. | Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge Twitter has apologized for accidentally sending out emails asking users to “confirm your Twitter account.” The company says the messages were sent out by mistake. “If you received one of these emails, you don’t need to confirm your account and you can disregard the message,” the company said.The Verge’s own Tom Warren was a recipient of one of the emails, which looks like the one Twitter sends out to validate an email address during its sign-up process. Users who weren’t expecting to receive the emails quickly assumed they were being sent out by someone trying to imitate Twitter as part of a phishing scam, BleepingComputer reports.

A federal judge has rejected a motion by Apple to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit over the company’s use of the labels “buy” and “rent” when selling digital content. As first covered by The Hollywood Reporter, the suit can now continue, though could yet be settled before ever reaching trial.The lead plaintiff in the case, David Andino, argues that Apple is misleading consumers when it tells them it can “buy” digital versions of albums, TV shows, and films from its stores. Why? Because the iPhone-maker retains the power to terminate customers’ access to this content whenever it likes. This can happen, for example, when the company loses distribution rights to content that users haven’t secured by downloading to their device.“... Continue reading…

The K3 is remarkably thin, but at the cost of versatility Continue reading…

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images SpaceX launched its third crew of astronauts to the International Space Station early Friday morning, reusing a Crew Dragon space capsule to fly humans for the first time. The mission, dubbed Crew-2, is the latest flight under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and will add four more astronauts to the orbital space station.A used Falcon 9 rocket, last flown for SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission last year, lifted off at 5:49AM ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying Endeavor, the same Crew Dragon capsule that first launched SpaceX’s debut astronaut mission nearly one year ago. For this flight, the Endeavor capsule carried four astronauts from three different countries — SpaceX’s most diverse NASA-managed crew yet.“Off the Earth, for the Earth,... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The latest version of Chrome on Android has started rolling out a new price tracking feature to alert you about price drops. SmartDroid reports receiving the new feature in Chrome version 90, though it doesn’t seem to be live for everyone. Once activated, Chrome monitors your open tabs for any price drops, and sends you a notification if any happen.It could be a useful bit of functionality for the Android app, which isn’t compatible with price tracking extensions like Keepa that are available for Chrome’s desktop client. But the requirement that you keep a tab open in order to track its prices seems clunky. Hopefully Google finds a sleeker solution before the feature gets a widespread rollout. Screenshot: 9to5Google... Continue reading…

(NASA/Joel Kowsky) SpaceX is slated to launch its third crew to the International Space Station early Friday morning, ferrying two astronauts from NASA, one from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the first European Space Agency astronaut to fly a private US spacecraft to orbit. The four-person crew will launch atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 5:49AM ET on Friday.The mission, dubbed Crew-2, marks the second operational mission under the Commercial Crew Program, NASA’s public-private initiative to revive its human spaceflight capabilities after a 10-year dependence on Russian rockets. It will mark the first time NASA astronauts fly a reused crew capsule — Crew-2’s ride first flew in May 2020 as SpaceX’s first astronaut mission, carrying Bob... Continue reading…

Image: Apple Apple’s new Siri Remote doesn’t come equipped with an accelerometer or gyroscope, which means it won’t work as a motion controller in certain Apple TV games. The omission was initially spotted by Digital Trends, and can be seen on the remotes’ product pages. The old Siri Remote lists an “Accelerometer” and “Three-axis gyro” in the tech specs, but they’re missing from the new listing (we’ve linked to a Google Cache because as of this writing Apple’s store is down ahead of AirTags pre-orders going live).The change means that the new Siri Remote won’t work with certain Apple TV games that rely on motion controls. According to code in tvOS 14.5 seen by MacRumors, trying to play an incompatible game will lead to the following error message:... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Apple announced on Wednesday that it’s once again extending the deadline for requiring in-app purchases for iOS apps that sell access to online classes and group events until December 31st, 2021, effectively meaning it won’t impose its 30 percent cut on businesses providing those services until next year. Apple extended the deadline initially to June 30th, 2021, but now developers have another six months.Apple cites the ongoing pandemic as its main justification for the change, but we have to wonder if it might also have something to do with the Congressional antitrust hearings that have zeroed in on whether Apple and Google’s app stores are monopolies. Helping out small businesses by not taking its traditional 30 percent cut is an... Continue reading…

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures. For a series about people getting their spines ripped out, Mortal Kombat has a surprising amount of story. Over three decades the fighting franchise has amassed a large mythos, filled with histories, lore, and motivations for its many combatants, which are mostly used to answer the question of why somebody is having their spine and / or arms removed. You wouldn’t really know that from watching the new movie, though. The film features plenty of callouts to the games — gruesome fatalities, goofy one-liners, and lots of familiar faces — but it never stops long enough to tell you why you should care about anything. It’s also not particularly fun, despite all of the aforementioned ripped-off arms.Mortal Kombat largely follows the same basic... Continue reading…

After launching a little over a year ago, Call of Duty: Warzone is one of the most popular free-to-play titles right now, with 100 million people playing the battle royale shooter. Following a nuclear missile that destroyed the game’s map, the in-game city of Verdansk is back with a new map set in the year 1984, as seen in the announcement trailer above. This mirrors a similar move made by its competitor Fortnite, which destroyed its original map and replaced it with a new one in 2019.Despite the shape and layout remaining the same as its predecessor, players will notice changes to most locations along with a 1980s vibe that fits the game’s new time period. Verdansk ’84, the name of the new map, has some alterations to make it a new... Continue reading…

After launching a little over a year ago, Call of Duty: Warzone is one of the most popular free-to-play titles right now, with 100 million people playing the battle royale shooter. Following a nuclear missile that destroyed the game’s map, the in-game city of Verdansk is back with a new map set in the year 1984, as seen in the announcement trailer above. This mirrors a similar move made by its competitor Fortnite, which destroyed its original map and replaced it with a new one in 2019.Despite the shape and layout remaining the same as its predecessor, players will notice changes to most locations along with a 1980s vibe that fits the game’s new time period. Verdansk ’84, the name of the new map, has some alterations to make it a new... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook wants to inspire, apparently. The company announced changes to its News Feed today that are supposed to fill feeds with things users like, rather than the content that annoys them. At the end of March, Facebook began introducing filters to allow users to customize their feed, and now, the company is hoping to learn more about what users like and dislike, with what seems like a special focus on moving away from political content and toward “inspirational posts.”The company has been under intense scrutiny for helping fan the flames of political division in the US and even playing an outsized role in elections. Facebook’s influence on both issues has largely stemmed from the misinformation that’s been spread on the platform. It’s... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Congressional Democrats have introduced a bill that would make it easier for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to warn people about unsafe products, by repealing part of a 49-year-old law that limits what information the agency can release publicly.The Sunshine in Product Safety Act (PDF) comes after reports that exercise machine company Peloton “obstructed CPSC’s investigation” into its Peloton Tread Plus treadmill, according to the members of Congress. The Tread Plus has been involved in some 39 accidents where children were injured, including one death.The CPSC “was unable to alert the public of the reported incidents related to children, pets, and objects getting pulled under the treadmill until a month later,” according to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge The University of Minnesota has been banned from contributing to the Linux kernel by one of its maintainers after researchers from the school apparently knowingly submitted code with security flaws.Earlier this year, two researchers from the university released a paper detailing how they had submitted known security vulnerabilities to the Linux kernel in order to show how potentially malicious code could get through the approval process. Now, after another student from the university submitted code that reportedly does nothing, kernel maintainer and Linux Foundation fellow Greg Kroah-Hartman has released a statement calling for all kernel maintainers to reject any code submissions from anyone using a umn.edu email address.In addition... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Snap has finally reaped the benefits of building a fully functional Android app. The company announced in its earnings report today that its user base mostly uses Android instead of iOS. That overall user base continues to grow, too. During the first quarter of 2021, Snapchat reached 280 million daily active users, an increase of 22 percent year over year.CEO Evan Spiegel called the moment Android users overtook iOS users a “critical milestone that reflects the long-term value of the investment we made to rebuild our Android application,” in his prepared remarks today. As a reminder, Snapchat originally launched only on iOS and released its first Android app in 2012. The team later spent over a year rebuilding the app to bring it up to... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitch users will be able to make threaded replies in Twitch chat starting today, the popular streaming platform announced. Threaded replies could make it a lot easier to have side conversations within Twitch chats, which are sometimes chaotic waterfalls of text with no easy way to tell who might be talking to another. Twitch is calling the new feature Chat Replies.To start a threaded reply, just hover over a message, click the arrow that will appear, and then type your message.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Robot cars are back in the spotlight on Capitol Hill after previous efforts failed to pass comprehensive legislation allowing more autonomous vehicles on the road.US Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and John Thune (R-SD) plan to introduce an amendment to a funding bill that would grant federal regulators the power to exempt tens of thousands of vehicles from requirements to have traditional controls for human drivers, according to Reuters.The power to exempt 15,000 vehicles per manufacturerThe amendment would give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the power to exempt 15,000 vehicles per manufacturer from certain safety standards, with that number increasing to 80,000 in three years. The effect would be to grant... Continue reading…

Garmin Garmin has upgraded its premium Venu smartwatch for 2021 (via DC Rainmaker and Ars Technica). It now comes in two sizes instead of a single 43mm-sized model. The 45mm Venu 2 houses a 1.3-inch 416 x 416 OLED screen. For smaller wrists (or those who just prefer a less wrist-dominating device), the 40mm Venu 2S has a 1.1-inch 360 x 360 OLED screen. Both watches have an optional always-on mode, and they are available now for $399.99, which is the same price as the original Venu.It doubles the battery life in some cases versus the originalOther than the differences in case sizes, there isn’t much else distinguishing the Venu 2 lineup visually from the predecessor. They’re slick-looking touchscreen wearables with Gorilla Glass 3-covered... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Federal Communications Commission has decided to look into letting people text the upcoming shortened National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number in a bid to increase accessibility and use of the service by those who need it most (via Politico reporter John Hendel). Last May, the FCC approved the creation of a new short code, 988, that will act as an easier-to-remember phone number for the lifeline.Please note that calling 988 will not connect you to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline until July 16th, 2022.It’s worth noting that today’s approval is just a first step and doesn’t mean that people will, for sure, be able to text the 988 number when it goes live in July 2022. However, it does mean that the FCC will be looking... Continue reading…

Daily Steals is giving Verge readers a special discount on Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio Case for the 11-inch iPad Pro. Normally $179, you can buy this case for only $70 when you enter code VERGEAPLE at checkout. This price includes the accessory in new condition and a one-year warranty with Apple.This device is compatible with the 11-inch iPad Pro models, which were released in 2018 and 2020. According to Apple, it will also work with the iPad Air released in 2020 and the 2021 model refresh that’s set to launch in the second half of May.Woot is offering a deal on TCL’s Alto 8 Plus soundbar, which is down to $70 — $130 off its usual retail price. It includes a built-in subwoofer, which allows for rich and deep bass, and has an Amazon... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge The world’s most popular podcast app gets subscriptions Continue reading…

Photos: XDA / Digital Chat Station (Weibo) It looks like Oppo will be the next company to throw its hat in the Bluetooth tracking tag game, with a leak of the company’s new Smart Tag appearing over on XDA (via Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station).Oppo’s tracker looks to distinguish itself in at least one key way from other major tracking tags by offering a USB-C port for recharging the tags, instead of requiring replaceable coin cell batteries (or even worse, nonremovable batteries, as is the case on some Tile trackers). That should make the new Oppo tags a bit more environmentally friendly, although it’s unclear what the impact on battery life will be compared to a more traditional battery system.And while details are slim on the Oppo Smart Tag, the leak does confirm that the... Continue reading…

Photo by James Bareham / The Verge Two Senate Democrats are urging federal regulators to take “corrective actions” against Tesla to prevent further misuse of the company’s advanced driver assist feature. The request comes in the aftermath of a fatal crash in which two men from Texas were killed after their Tesla Model S crashed with no one in the driver’s seat.In a letter sent to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Acting Administrator Steven Cliff, Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) implored the agency to determine the exact cause of this recent crash to “better inform” future legislation around advanced driver assist systems like Tesla’s Autopilot.“We strongly urge you to conduct a complete investigation into Saturday’s fatal Tesla... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge YouTube is making it easier for creators to change the name and profile picture on their channels. Creators will now be able to update their channel name and picture inside YouTube, and those changes will only impact their profile on YouTube.Until now, creators had to change their name and icon for their entire Google account — so their name on YouTube would be the same name they send emails from in Gmail. That didn’t necessarily make sense from a branding or professional perspective, and the new system should offer a bit more flexibility for creators who might prefer to send emails under their actual name instead of their channel name.There is one substantial caveat to the new feature, though: creators with a verification badge will... Continue reading…

Image: Alex Castro / The Verge Like hundreds of school districts across the country, Edgecombe County Public Schools in North Carolina had to move their coursework online to keep their students safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Worksheets became websites and school assemblies became Zoom conferences with outside speakers.But for students without a stable internet connection, teachers had to hand-deliver packets of homework that would normally have been put online. In assemblies, students are asked to turn off their cameras so their streams don’t cut out.“We tell the kids, it’s not your fault”“We just let the speakers know, our students are probably not going to be on camera. And it’s because we don’t have good internet speeds out here,” Arlane Gordon-Bray,... Continue reading…

CARLOS GONZALEZ/NETFLIX TikTok’s Hype House is getting a Netflix reality show that will follow the lives of some of the biggest creators on the social media platform.The new series is set to feature Kouvr Annon, Nikita Dragun, Sienna Mae Gomez, Chase Hudson, Larri Merritt, Thomas Petrou, Alex Warren, and Jack Wright — collectively some of the largest creators on TikTok, each with millions of followers — and promises “the stories of the most popular personalities on social media as they come into their own, fall in love and tackle the next stage of their lives.”The Hype House was founded in December 2019 and is a content collective similar to David Dobrik’s Vlog Squad or Jake Paul’s Team 10 — but with a focus on TikTok creators and content instead of YouTube.... Continue reading…

Marvel Meow, starring Chewie. | Image: Marvel and Viz Media Marvel and manga publisher Viz Media announced three Marvel-themed manga that will be released in English, and one of them features an adorable cat.The first manga will be Marvel Meow, starring Captain Marvel’s cat, Chewie. (If you follow Marvel’s Instagram account, you may have seen some comics starring the furry feline already.) Based on Viz Media’s description, it sounds like her primary goal is to annoy people in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which I approve.

Google’s MVNO wireless service adds another, more conventional plan option. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Google Fi has announced a basic, less expensive unlimited plan called Simply Unlimited in addition to its current unlimited offering, now called Unlimited Plus. The new plan costs $60 per month for a single line and forgoes a couple of features available on the more expensive plan: international data and mobile tethering. It’s the second time the MVNO has introduced a new unlimited plan, each marking a step toward a more conventional wireless plan pricing structure.Simply Unlimited covers the expected basics of an unlimited cellular plan: unlimited data, calls, and texting in the US. While the newly dubbed Unlimited Plus (still $70 per month for one line) provides high-speed data and texting in over 200 countries for international... Continue reading…

A screenshot from Cyberpunk 2077. | Image: CD Projekt Red Despite Cyberpunk 2077’s disastrous and bug-filled December 10th launch, the title was “the largest game in CD Projekt Red’s history,” the studio said on Thursday (PDF). The game sold 13.7 million copies in 2020, according to CD Projekt Red.We already had a pretty good idea that Cyberpunk 2077 has been a major financial success for the studio. On December 9th, one day before the game’s launch, CD Projekt Red announced that Cyberpunk 2077 had accrued 8 million preorders. One day after the game’s release, CD Projekt Red said digital preorders had recouped all of the game’s development and marketing costs. And the studio said that the game had sold more than 13 million copies as of December 20th in a memo shared on December 22nd.Cyberpunk... Continue reading…

Microsoft is enabling its Xbox FPS Boost mode on 13 EA games, with 12 now supporting up to 120fps. The FPS Boost feature for Xbox Series X and Series S consoles is designed to make existing games run better. While Microsoft has improved frame rates with some backward-compatible games, FPS Boost specifically bumps performance to improve older games without developers having to put in any additional work.Titles like Battlefield V, Titanfall, Titanfall 2, and Star Wars Battlefront II are all getting support for up to 120fps today. These updates come just months after Microsoft enabled FPS Boost on a number of Bethesda games.Here’s the full list of games getting support for up to 120fps with FPS Boost:

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge Consumer Reports said Thursday it was “easily” able to trick Tesla’s Autopilot system to operate without anyone in the driver’s seat. The publication’s test came amid questions about the safety of the company’s advanced driver assist system in the aftermath of a fatal crash in Texas in which authorities said there was no one behind the steering wheel.Using a weighted chain attached to the steering wheel to simulate the pressure of the driver’s hands, two Consumer Reports researchers were able to use the steering wheel dial on a Tesla Model Y to accelerate from a full stop, and then “drive” around on a closed-course test track for several miles — all while sitting in the passenger seat and backseat. They stopped the vehicle by again... Continue reading…

The new Windows 10 taskbar feature. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft is starting to roll out its biggest change to the Windows taskbar in years. A new weather and news taskbar widget will be available in Windows 10 starting today, offering weather information directly in the Windows taskbar. The widget also expands to include a feed of news, stocks, sports, and weather information.The mini-feed of content only appears when you activate the widget, and it can be fully personalized with the latest sports news, headlines, and weather information. Microsoft is using its Microsoft News network to surface news and content from more than 4,500 sources, and the company will use AI to learn what news is relevant to you when you dismiss or like stories in the feed. Image: Microsoft ... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony will begin rolling out support for 1080p streaming with PlayStation Now beginning this week, upping the streaming quality from the cloud gaming service’s previous 720p cap.“The rollout will occur over the next several weeks across Europe, US, Canada, and Japan, where PlayStation Now is available,” Sony said in a tweet.

Following a leak yesterday, Sony confirmed that it is testing out a service called PlayStation Plus Video Pass, with a one-year trial in Poland that will allow subscribers to stream movies and TV shows, as the company looks at ways to expand its online subscription, Video Game Chronicle reports.Speaking with Polish website Spider’s Web, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s global services VP Nick Maguire said that the service would be a streaming app available to PS4 and PS5 owners with an active PS Plus subscription, at no additional cost. The service will include 15 movies and six TV shows owned by Sony Pictures, with more on the way every three months until the trial concludes.The service will include fifteen movies and six TV shows... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge The Strategist’s Two-Day (Actually Good) Sale Continue reading…

Almost a great gaming gadget Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge How Nick ‘Nickmercs’ Kolcheff battled his way to the top of Twitch Continue reading…