Sometimes, you tire of guns, zombies, and sequels; sometimes, you want to lead a bunch of tiny creatures and rhythmically march them into combat, letting the waves of confusion wash over you. That’s what Ratatan is here to do.
It’s the spiritual successor to Japan Studio and Pyramid’s beloved Patapon rhythmic action series. However, you don’t control Patapons, anymore, but Ratatans – which are completely different. These animal(ish) characters bark button-timing orders to their little squad of Cobun characters, who can launch attacks, assemble around the character you control, evade attacks and more. Inputting command sequences promptly also charges up the "Fever" bar, improving the effectiveness of those actions as well.
I haven’t played the Patapon series, which stretched to three (!) games on the PSP, in years, and while the mechanics are similar, Ratatan is more elaborate, evolved and customizable. At its core, though, it’s the same mechanic that demands you maintain the rhythmic input of commands and avoid attacks. It sounds simple enough, but corralling your Cobuns to follow you into battle and balance special attacks with avoiding damage felt like the gaming equivalent of patting your head and rubbing your stomach. Also, it’s 2025, so it’s a roguelike flavor of rhythmic action. Of course.
You can select between several different animals-with-weapons-and-one-eye, and each comes with a different load-out of Cobun warriors. Some are melee fighters, while others are ranged attackers. You can also buy (or craft) more powerful weapons for each Cobun, adding to the sense of progression. I think that’s needed, as Ratatan is a roguelike take on the Patapons that came before it. You’ll dive into a portal and battle multiple waves of enemies, often picking up buffs or treasure at the end of each wave.
Each run is then typically capped off with a boss fight, either against a smarter, smaller enemy (and its underlings) or a more monstrous threat. During my demo, I was mostly getting beaten by a giant hermit crab, despite having picked up a very useful freezing attack buff during that run. I had to learn that lesson: You can pick up all the buffs you want, but you’ll still need to nail the rhythm of attack and defense, while simultaneously keeping an eye on enemy attacks and the placement of both your character and your adorable Cobun fighters. (Ratatan’s character designs are inspired by Nelnal, best known for their work on Pokémon and Deltarune.)
Further fight dynamics include a jump move and guard move that combines the Ratatan and Cobun movements to avoid game-ending damage. Fortunately, the early parts of the game didn’t demand mastery of these.
There’s an early Ratatan demo still available to play on Steam, but the build available at SGF 2025 seems much closer to a finished release. I was able to explore the game’s hub world, filled with shops for upgrades, crafting and organizing your Ratatans’ band of Cobun warriors. These parts felt a little confusing when served alongside the starting levels of the game, but should add longevity and interest when folded into the whole game.
Ratatan will launch later this year on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ratatan-demands-your-attention-rhythmically-160048067.html?src=rss
After a symphony, online multiplayer and a remaster, the well-regarded (and often handheld) puzzler Lumines is getting Enhance’s full synesthetic, Tetris-flowing, treatment. Lumines Arise is almost here.
If you haven’t played the game before, Lumines’ premise centers on rotating and dropping four-square blocks made of one or two colors, building up larger squares of a single color. The game’s timeline sweeps across the playfield – to the beat of the soundtrack – erasing completed squares in its path, while also giving you the brief opportunity to quickly drop more squares, add multiplier combos and score even more points.
Lumines Arise adds a new mechanic to the addictive yet simple puzzle. 'Burst' is a refillable bar that you can trigger with L2/R2, which locks a square on the playing field, allowing you to pile on subsequent blocks. You can initiate Burst once the counter has rolled above 50, although it maxes out at 100. As you might expect for a synesthesia-tickling game like Arise, Burst mode has its own low-key musical accompaniment.
Lumines has never looked better. But that’s not just due to 2025 hardware power, but also design choices for Lumines’ skins – the unhinged wallpaper design and block themes that bubble up as you advance through puzzle stages. They’re delightfully mad and, at times, distracting. (As you play, the view of your Lumines blocks will occasionally ‘zoom’ closer – this is intentional. Game Director Takashi Ishihara said this was to both add some dynamism to what are typically static blocks, but also to pull the players’ attention back to the game at hand. Lumines Arise wants you to focus on the now, not the score, your Burst meter, or your customizable avatar.)
My favorite part of the demo was the final stage, which featured two chameleons simply raving along to the dance music. The soundtrack is, naturally, a banger, too. Lumines Arise features new music from Hydelic, also responsible for the award-winning soundtrack of Tetris Effect: Connected. (The band has already launched one track, "Only Human," on Bandcamp – it’s coming to other streaming services, too.)
On another stage, two skeletal hands, seemingly strung up like puppets, twitch and wriggle as you shift and rotate your blocks. If anything, I think Enhance missed a trick not mapping the finger movements to a DualSense controller. I said that in front of Ishihara because I have zero sense of decorum — apparently, he'd had the same idea. I now consider myself a game designer.
I got to briefly see Lumines Arise running on a Steam Deck, too. The time of the handheld console and PC is now, so it's nice to see a typically made-for-consoles game ready for this new gaming PC form factor.
Ishihara teased that there’s more to reveal ahead of Arise’s launch. The game will launch on both PS5 and Steam, and it will also feature VR compatibility on both platforms. While Enhance wasn’t yet willing to reveal the details, there will also be some form of multiplayer, but it seems like it’ll be in a different form compared to the more adversarial nature of Tetris Effect’s multiplayer modes.
Additionally, Ishihara wanted to highlight that the avatars, which dance and emote in sync with your in-game actions, now feature legs. That is important, apparently. Enhance is promising more answers in due time. Lumines Arise is set to launch in fall 2025.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/lumines-arise-hands-on-interview-takashi-ishihara-000038767.html?src=rss
While many of us soldier on with the remakes and VR takes on the Resident Evil story, Capcom is prepping the next chapter of the story: Resident Evil Requiem. The sequel was fully revealed as part of Summer Game Fest Live, kicking off a week(ish) of gaming announcements and release dates.
Intercutting the starting moments of REs of the past, Capcom did a fake-out, teasing that we'd have to wait a little longer to see Resident Evil Requiem — it turns out they only meant a 30-minute wait.
The teaser trailer raised more questions than answers, teasing locations from previous games, like Raccoon City — and its ruined police department. It appears the game will follow Grace Ashcroft, as she tries unveil grim mysteries and, er, gets kidnapped. She's the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft — a Resident Evil character that I do not remember at all.
Capcom confirmed a year ago that veteran director Koshi Nakanishi will lead what is definitely not the ninth chapter of Resident Evil. (If you don't count Code Veronica, who even are you?) Nakanishi was involved in the development of Resident Evil Revelations and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, among other Resident Evil titles.
Resident Evil 9 is set to launch on February 27, 2026, but a demo will be playable in August at Gamescom, so book your tickets for Cologne, Germany.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/resident-evil-requiem-announced-at-summer-game-fest-2025-231136129.html?src=rss
A new co-op adventure is coming from Epic Games. Made by WiredFly and Kong Orange, Out of Words will offer a stop-motion-flavored platform adventure that's a little bit cozy and a little bit fantasy. The controllable humans have had their mouths stolen — that's why it's called Out of Words. (It's a little On The Nose.)
The cute figures and creatures have been crafted by hand, and cutscenes suggest they've been stop-motion animated alongside the gaming parts. Alongside the two humans you seemingly control, there's also a cute flying stingray. According to Epic Games, much of that whimsy originates from the mind of acclaimed poet Morten Søndergaard.
Epic Games
A core navigation dynamic will be the ability to invert gravity, allowing players to run upside-down alongside each other. There are other traversal powers, including monstrous arms that can grab and slingshot players across spaces.
Out of Words launches in 2026, and is coming to the Epic Games Store, PS5 and Xbox Series X and S.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/out-of-words-is-a-cozy-stop-motion-co-op-adventure-from-epic-games-220803056.html?src=rss
It’s time to game. Kicking off June 6, with Summer Game Fest Live, SGF 2025 runs through to June 9, with the likes of Xbox Games Showcase and even Death Stranding 2 live game premiere likely to make headlines. There is a bunch of others in store, including Day of the Devs. Devolver Direct and Wholesome Direct are peppering the schedule.
For Xbox, games in the pipeline include the new Fable, Perfect Dark, Gears of War: E-Day, Everwild, State of Decay 3, Clockwork Revolution, Hideo Kojima’s OD and Contraband.
What about Nintendo (although it’s a bit busy) and Sony? Traditionally, both have their own presentations, but there is no word yet on either. Ubisoft usually does a thing too, but nothing’s on the docket.
The most recent headline-makers include a glimpse at The Witcher 4, courtesy of Unreal, and a closer look at IO Interactive’s 007 First Light, a James Bond game from the studio responsible for the incredible Hitman series. Hopefully, there are further surprises. Maybe a Silksong release date? Gosh, I can be silly.
How SGF gave games media a better kind of trade event
Summer Games Fest kicks off at the end of the week. We’re sending a small team of editors to watch, play and interview their way through all the biggest reveals and experiences. While it doesn’t yet have the iconic weight of E3 — which is all but dead — SGF is a crucial lightning rod for most of the gaming industry. Jessica Conditt lays out why she prefers the new form of the gaming trade show — and how she might have cursed the whole thing with her witchy powers.
Director Danny Boyle has discussed the use of iPhones for 28 Years Later in an interview with IGN. The movies used three special rigs for the iPhone sequences: one for eight cameras, which one person can carry, another with ten and another with 20.
“I never say this, but there is an incredible shot in the second half [of the film] where we use the 20-rig camera, and you’ll know it when you see it,” Boyle told IGN. He described the 20-iPhone rig as “basically a poor man’s bullet time.”
While I thought they’d keep the Stranger Things train rolling until Bobby Milly Brown morphed into Winona Ryder, this is the end. Netflix has finally revealed the release date for the show’s fifth and final season: November 26. Volume one has four episodes, followed a month later by three episodes for volume two on Christmas Day (December 25) and the final episode on New Year’s Eve (December 31).
When I got an early look at Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Edge, the first of a new supposed wave of thinner smartphones, it was easy to spot what I’d take issue with. But you know what? Those issues may not matter as much as I thought.
Engadget’s Sam Rutherford has put the device through its paces, and thankfully, the impressive battery life of the S25 series continues. Our rundown test lasted a minute shy of 26 hours. That’s less than other S25 phones with bigger batteries but roughly equal to Google’s Pixel 9 Pro.
And while there’s no optical zoom, the substantial 200-megapixel main camera sensor can crop in a lot, offering some kind of zoom, even if image quality doesn’t match true telephoto cameras.
I’ve got the S25 Edge with me, and these compromises are fine. I also like it thinner. And lighter. I’ve suffered enough with Ultras and Pro Max phones. If anything, I wish the S25 Edge had a smaller screen, closer to the base S25, Pixel 9 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro.
The biggest weakness I didn’t note with the S25 Edge? The perennial curse of measuring devices in millimeters and fractions of an inch means your protective case will almost certainly add those millimeters back on.
Sure, the Nintendo Switch 2 is almost here, but early June also means a whole host of gaming showcases as part of Summer Game Fest. Along with the two big events — Summer Game Fest Live and the Xbox Games Showcase — there are many others in store, including the always-delightful Day of the Devs. We’ll be there in person, and I’ll be flying out on Switch 2 launch day. So I won’t get to touch my Switch 2 until a week later. Bah.
We’ve pulled together all the livestream details revealed so far.
A bill banning social media for anyone under 18 recently moved past the Senate committee and is due for a vote in the Texas State Senate. If made into law, the bill would force social media platforms to verify the age of anyone setting up an account, like how Texas passed legislation requiring porn websites to implement an age verification system.
Texas’ social media ban also proposes letting parents delete their child’s social media account, which definitely won’t start blazing arguments in households across the state.
On June 9, the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote will showcase the changes coming with its 2025 software. What can we expect besides new numbers after every flavor of Apple software? Apparently, a platform-wide visual overhaul. The revamp is said to be a dramatic change, drawing inspiration from Apple’s mixed reality headset. The aim is to integrate all the OSes to a singular design, so jumping from iPhone to iPad to Mac feels like different screens showing the same thing.
We could also see the iPad get even more Mac-like (thanks to those powerful M-series chips), Apple Intelligence delivering on those promises (Siri?) and more health coaching.
When it comes to headphones, we can’t shut up about Sony’s top-tier buds and over-the-head options. In each iteration, the company adds new features, develops better technology and hones its strengths in portable audio, and three years on from the WH-1000XM5, the sixth-gen model does it yet again.
Sony’s overhauled its flagship headphones in all the right ways. The WH-1000XM6 sound better, with improved active noise cancellation and convenient features that match the best-sounding and the most feature-packed rivals.
You should definitely check out Billy Steele's full review. The headphones' only major challenge remains a non-clunky naming convention.
As spoiled by Google itself, Android is getting a major visual refresh. Dubbed Material 3 Expressive, it’s the latest evolution of the Material You design, adding customizable color swatches and, I guess, spicier fonts.
Google says the Quick Settings menu can now fit more actions, and there is an addition of live-updating notifications, similar to Apple’s Live Activities.
In Android 16 (and even Wear OS 6), expect more animation between menus and items, while notifications will jiggle and offer haptic responses to your touch.
Google is basing a lot of these tweaks on research: The company claims up to 87 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds prefer expressive design — a term hard to define. There’s a lengthy post on Google’s design blog if you want to get into all that.
Sony has now folded in Hi-Fi sound from its Walkman series, as well as the company’s Bravia screen tech and Alpha camera smarts. The Xperia 1 VII has launched quietly with an array of new audio features, including high-end Walkman components. Unlike other smartphone makers, Sony has kept its headphone jack and improved wired sound via a premium-grade integrated circuit. The Xperia 1 VII supports Sony’s DSEE Ultimate AI sound upscaling technology, along with 360 Reality audio or Dolby Atmos formats.
The latest Xperia also features a new 48-megapixel ultrawide camera with a good-sized 1/1.56-inch sensor, significantly improving the specs of the Xperia 1 VI’s ultrawide. That’s on top of the main 48MP 1/1.35-inch 24mm camera and a 12MP telephoto zoom.
Sony is also trying to differentiate its smartphones through camera features, with improved Bokeh mode, real-time tracking, and even real-time eye autofocus. It claims low-light shooting is “in line with full-frame cameras, " which is bold!
I’m wondering what other parts of Sony’s corporate machinery it will integrate next. Maybe Aibo dog ears?
Want a cheaper sub for Peacock? You’ll need a code, but if you input SPRINGSAVINGS at checkout you’ll get $55 off the standard annual price of the Premium plan. It does include ads, however. The big draw for this particular streaming service is likely the long-awaited spinoff of The Office, called The Paper. That premieres in September, so you’ll be primed and ready to watch (and rewatch).
Years after the Federal Trade Commission sued Meta in a bid to halt acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, the trial that will shape its future is finally underway. The trial kicked off last month when CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand, and it’s expected to last several weeks.
Facebook’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram is a central part of the FTC’s case against Meta. The government says Zuckerberg bought Instagram to neutralize it as a competitor. When Instagram’s cofounder and former CEO Kevin Systrom took the stand, he didn’t exactly defend the move. While Zuckerberg had testified Meta had helped Instagram grow, Systrom testified Zuckerberg saw Instagram as a “threat” to Facebook’s growth and intentionally withheld company resources.
Further still, Facebook’s decision to pay $1 billion for Instagram — an app with no revenue and just a handful of employees — seemed like an incredible sum. Sheryl Sandberg thought Zuckerberg had overpaid for Instagram. In an exchange between the two from 2012, she said, “Yes, of course it’s way too much.”
There are more nuggets, too. Like how Meta sees TikTok as an earnest threat, how Europeans aren’t buying the ad-free subscriptions (duh), and why Zuckerberg thought about nuking users’ friend lists annually to boost engagement. Read Karissa Bell’s full breakdown of the FTC v. Meta antitrust trial so far.
Samsung is ready to finally launch its slim iteration of the S25. It says it’ll offer a look at “the next evolution of Galaxy” devices and unveil “more about the latest addition to the Galaxy S series.” Then the teaser coaxed something “beyond slim.” So it’s the S25 Edge, even if Samsung isn’t saying the S25 Edge. The Unpacked event will kick off May 12 at 8PM ET.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned the National Weather Service of possible attacks from an armed conspiracy group. According to a report from CNN, the group Veterans on Patrol is going after government radars because it believes they’re being used as “weather weapons.” Despite its cooler-than-average name, the NEXRAD or Next Generation Weather Radar is fairly mundane, used by NWS to detect precipitation in the atmosphere. NEXRAD plays a vital role in locating thunderstorms and tornados. National Weather Service staff have been advised to buddy up when working at remote radar sites and report anything suspicious to the authorities.
Google I/O 2025 should be one of the more exciting tech keynotes in recent memory. Plus, for the first time, Google has spun out a dedicated Android showcase a whole week earlier. What can we expect to see in Android 16? We’ve had lots of hints at an upcoming design change to the platform, reportedly called Material 3 Expressive. A leaked blog post discusses the research behind Material 3 Expressive and how the visual overhaul led to action elements standing out more and greater responsiveness on the users’ part. Then there are Gemini AI updates, more Google service updates and everything else. We break down what we’re expecting to see.
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 14: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg departs E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House on April 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has begun an antitrust trial against Meta over the company's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp and allegations that the company holds a monopoly over the social networking market. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
It’s been eight years since Nintendo released its revolutionary hybrid console, and while many have spent the last couple of those itching for sequel hardware, it’s a good time to recall how Nintendo smashed expectations and continued to forge its own path in gaming, graphical fidelity be damned.
Whether it was its core conceit — a handheld and a TV-connected console — or Nintendo’s continued production line of hit games, which included arguably the best game of the decade, we have a lot to say. And let’s not forget the Switch came before the Steam Deck and the tidal wave of handheld gaming PCs that have appeared in recent years. Nintendo proved people would play triple-A games without being tethered to their TV.
We've pulled together some of the Engadget team’s reflections. I love to say "reflections".
A judge’s ruling this week may have finally ended Apple’s anti-competitive app commissions.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple was using loopholes to circumvent her own ruling against the company from 2021. Companies are wasting no time streamlining payments outside of Apple’s walled garden, and Spotify is the latest to make these changes.
With the latest update available in the App Store, the Spotify app has added external links, so it can advertise lower prices and different tiers without giving nearly a third of its revenue generated back to Apple.
This could be a major change for the App Store ecosystem and Apple’s business if it comes into effect. Developers would no longer have to fork over 30 percent of iOS app revenue to Apple, which could cost the company billions. Spotify and Netflix are among the major companies that don’t allow users to sign up for a subscription through their iOS apps, due to the cut Apple takes.
Netflix has released a teaser trailer for the final season of Squid Game. It suggests that the games restart after a failed uprising led by the show’s protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, or Player 456.
In the teaser, Player 456 is brought back into a room full of players — inside a coffin. When he wakes up, the games resume, players are segregated into groups, mother and son are separated and, curiously, there’s a baby crying by the end of the teaser.
For the first time, Google is breaking out some Android updates into a separate event.
Google’s annual I/O developer conference is coming on May 20, but for the first time, there are two events. The classic I/O 2025 kicks off on May 20, and a week earlier, on May 13, there’s also The Android Show: I/O Edition, a dedicated showcase for, you guessed it, Android.
Google’s I/O keynote will be available to watch on Google’s YouTube channel and right here once the livestream is up on May 20 at 1PM ET. The Android Show: I/O Edition will also go up on Google’s Android YouTube channel on May 13 at 1PM ET — we’ve already embedded it above. Oh, and here’s what we’re expecting to see.
Nintendo may not have enough Switch 2 consoles for everyone, it seems. It’s struggling to meet demand both in Japan and the US, where pre-orders were already delayed due to the tariff fiasco. The official release date for the console, June 5, remains unchanged. However, if you signed up ahead of time on Nintendo’s site, you may have received an email granting you access to place your order through Nintendo.
The company recently emailed users to inform them it has noted “very high demand” for the console, so “your invitation email may arrive after the Nintendo Switch 2 launch, scheduled for June 5.” Yeah, your chance to pre-order might happen after the console has already gone on sale.
In Japan, when Nintendo offered the chance to “register your interest” in purchasing a Switch 2, 2.2 million people applied. That’s almost two percent of the country’s population.
You don’t have to buy your console direct from Nintendo, of course, but getting the Switch 2 elsewhere has also been challenging. Best Buy, Walmart and Target pre-orders opened at midnight yesterday, while GameStop in-person and online pre-orders started at 11am. And all of those retailers have either already sold out, or list the console as “coming soon.”
Did you manage to get an order in? And did you get the Piranha Plant camera?
After adding music and math to its app, Duolingo is now introducing lessons for the true love language: chess. Lessons for beginners and intermediate players will initially be in beta in its iOS app.
The app will start by asking you how much you know about chess, then tailor lessons based on your level — I assume it asks you what the horsey piece is called. If you already know how each piece moves, you’ll face Duolingo’s Oscar in mini -puzzles, where you have to capture certain pieces using a specified piece. You can also play full level-appropriate games against Oscar — but no other humans for now.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has many excited. Maybe it’s the dreamy Belle Époque aesthetic and design. Maybe it’s the gloriously pulpy concept of an all-powerful Paintress dooming humankind to an ever-shortening mortal clock. Maybe it’s the characters, bolstered by a starry voice-artist roster, and nuanced animation and story. (Maybe, at this point in gaming, it’s the $50 price tag.) The surprise boss, however, might be the remake of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, which stealth-launched the day before Expedition 33. Our lives can only take one RPG at a time — this compelling, gorgeous RPG is worth your time. And it’s already on Xbox Game Pass.
Razer’s Pro Click V2 Vertical Edition is the company’s first vertical mouse. Vertical designs can be a more ergonomic mouse options, particularly if you experience discomfort when spending long stretches at a computer. Like me, hi.
The Pro Click V2 Vertical Edition has eight programmable buttons and promises a battery life of up to six months. It has a 71.7-degree tilt, so you hold it in a handshake-like grip, which can reduce strain in long-use sessions. There’s also a support on the base that aims to cut down on wrist friction. The cost of ergonomic comfort? $120.
Motorola is introducing the Moto Buds Loop, the company’s first take on wireless open-ear earbuds. Instead of completely covering your ear, the Moto Buds Loops cuff the outside, almost like a piercing, blocking out less of the world around you, while still letting you hear your music. Motorola says the earbuds have 12mm drivers and Sound by Bose technology, which means they’re tuned for clarity and balance. They also use a combination of AI and dual microphones to minimize background noise.
It’s rare for a turn-based RPG to excite the editorial team beyond Engadget’s usual core RPG fans. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has many excited, however. Maybe it’s the dreamy Belle Époque aesthetic and design. Maybe it’s the gloriously pulpy concept of an all-powerful Paintress dooming humankind to an ever shortening mortal clock. Maybe it’s the characters, bolstered by a starry voice artist roster, and nuanced animation and story. Maybe, at this point in gaming, it’s the $50 price tag.
Maybe it’s just the treat of a turn-based RPG for those of us not looking for another real-time action RPGs. Expedition 33 does a great job setting up its world in a way that allows everyone to get on board. Lumiere, which seems to be a chunk of Paris plus change, is doomed to repeat a cycle of death, with a powerful godlike figure, the Paintress, looming on the horizon. The vestiges of humanity send out expeditions each year to “the Continent” in a bid to stop the death. This is the story of Expedition 33, although it’s not the 33rd, but closer to the 77th, with the clock counting down from 100.
Sandfall
Once you’re exploring the dangerous world beyond the safety of the city, you’ll discover that each expedition, while failing at ending the Paintress, made progress in different ways, paying it forward for the expedition that followed. Some groups set up grapplehook points across the world, while others figured how to use the world’s painty powers to tattoo themselves to boost their combat powers. Some tried to reach the Paintress on boats and submarines, but failed miserably.
It gets the player excited about exploring the world and the lore, even before you’ve left the safety of Lumiere. You start the game as Gustave, picking up party members throughout the early part of the game. While not all of them are part of your battle party, Gustave seems to have a connection with many other members of Expedition 33. A farewell party, tinged with hope, pessimism and loss, sets up the journey before things go wrong, pretty much as soon as they land.
Expedition 33 introduces its battle system and its take on turn-based RPGs in easy-to-digest parts. First you’re taught the basics of parrying and dodging, as well as a Free Aim shooting mode, which gobbles up your activity points just as much as a straightforward attack, but can be used to hit weak points or sabotage powerful attacks of your enemies. Quick-time actions, pressing the right button at the right time, will ensure your skills do even more damage, but are more crucial for parries and dodges.
You’ll want to refine your ability to parry attacks as soon as possible. Parries have a shorter success window than dodges, but offer extra action points for the character, and if performed perfectly, set up an automatic (and powerful) counterattack. Later abilities, learned from Pictos (sort-of accessories) can augment your parries to offer mild healing, extra action points, and even more powerful counter attacks. From the mid-game onwards, parrying will likely be your life.
Sandfall
There’s then the addition of elemental attacks, which can apply status effects, augment future attacks and more. Initially, I found the skill sets of each character, which are entirely different, a little complicated. Sure, Gustave’s shot ability was laced with Lightning, but it also applied the Mark status effect, which adds 50 percent more damage to whoever attacks the same enemy next. It all soon clicked into place, though, and I was cuing up each character’s attack to build upon the last.
Alongside their unique skills and spells, each character has their own fight mechanic too. Our preview touched on Gustave’s super-charged robot arm, Lune’s elemental stains which she can store up and apply to add more oomph to spells, and Maelle’s battle stances that can risk weakened defense for heavier hits.
The party is eventually joined by Sielle, who has a light-dark mechanic that tags enemies, building up momentum to convert into considerable damage, or a mixed hit-and-heal attack. Then there’s monkey-monk Monoco who is both the comic relief and blue mage, collecting defeated monster’s feet (!) and wielding their moves in combat. Those skills are further complicated by a Beastial wheel, which spins after each attack Monoco makes, and augments certain families of attacks. For example, if wearing the Caster mask, a regen spell will also heal the party substantially. Like I said, initially confusing, but you get to grips with it.
In the later game chapters, enemies will often deliver seven-hit combos, with some attacking all of your party each time. You’ll find yourself dodging, parrying and leaping over attacks in a bid to shore up ability points, or just keep yourself alive, and it can get a bit stale at times.
But! When you nail that boss’ attack pattern, flawlessly countering the evil older man (there shouldn’t be anyone alive over 33!) and his eight laser cane attacks, and your three-person party coalesce into a group counter attack, severing a considerable chunk of his health bar.
Urgh. I felt like an athlete—an artist.
Sandfall
There are no random encounters, so like Metaphor Re:Fantazio (There are a lot of parallels there) enemies exist in the world, ready for you to sneak attack – or just avoid. The auto-save system is forgiving, and even kindly keeps three saves at hand, so you can perhaps retreat from an area you’re not quite ready for. And you will get thrashed by a random super enemy when you push your luck. There are also a few difficulty spikes, but it’s often a matter of attack pattern recognition.
While there are distractions and optional areas to explore, Expedition 33 guides you in a relatively linear fashion for most of the game. As more exploration options become available, you’re eventually able to easily return to past areas, and go obliterate that one monster with the giant spear that shamed you in the early hours of your playthrough.
Most transport options come from befriending a giant plushie-kind-of-mythical-creature called Esquie, who can swim, blast through rocks and eventually fly you around the world. To do so, however, you’ll have to find his friends. Those friends are stones that add skills. So while he can fly as soon as you meet him, he can’t carry you until you find his special stone buddy. I love this kind of RPG nonsense. Gestrahl villages (another species that inhabits the continent) add some welcome comic relief amid all the death, family strife, and betrayal.
Fortunately, the cast of Expedition 33 have the dramatic bonafides to deliver on the emotional beats, including Charlie Cox (Daredevil), Jennifer English (Baldur’s Gate 3’s Shadowheart) Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI) and Andy Serkis (do I even have to say?).
There are both French and English VAs, and I’d recommend playing through at least part of the game in both. It adds a certain je ne sais quoi – or at least made me feel somehow cultured. There are numerous other playfully French touches and clichés, including a droopy Eiffel Tower and a series of formidable enemies: a tribe of mimes.
Sandfall
Sandfall decided to forgo maps; there’s an overworld map, accessible by pressing up on the D-pad, but it lacks an overlay, and you’ll have to zoom in significantly to see the areas’ labels.
The bigger frustration is the lack of mini maps in core areas. While it’s not an open-world exploration kind of game, there’s some latitude for exploring off the beaten path, which is nearly always rewarded with new equipment (or a strong enemy). However, without a map, I often found myself running in circles, struggling to find a way forward.
It’s a good thing, then, that the environments are gorgeous and filled with detail. I need a camera mode added to this game, as soon as possible. The sinister Monolith, counting down the years, always seems to be visible from cliff sides, valleys, and abandoned train stations, always in a very aesthetically pleasing way. Even the campsite that the group uses to save, rest and develop friendships overlooks the Paintress’ countdown clock.
We covered the faux underwater level from the early part of the game in our preview, but there are several more meticulously designed levels and areas later in the game. One optional distraction partway through is a vertiginous structure made of gravity-defying floating objects and parts of buildings that you can climb up for a (frustrating) mini-game. There’s also a fractured snowy Belle Époque ski resort that you have to hike up, and a broken city, skewered by swords of light, to fight through on your way to confront the giant, weepy Paintess, who’s always slumped on the horizon.
Side quests and distractions from the main story are minimal until later in the game, and I found myself happily moving on without completing them, hoping for an easy way to backtrack to areas. That doesn’t quite ever happen, although a Doctor Who-esque house found within the game, with doors attached to various places across the Continent, would have made a convenient shortcut. Instead, you have to wait until you’ve found Esquie’s stone for flying, which comes pretty late into the game.
Once Esquie takes to the skies, there’s no shortage of mini quests and new areas, including gorgeously hued floating islands, paintings to test your battle strategies and curios that help bolster smaller story beats. I haven’t finished all of the optional bosses and quests, but the only frustrating ones so far have hinged on some precarious platforming segments. It’s not great; it's frustrating. These characters were not built for leaps of faith. And if you’re sprinting, don’t be surprised if you parkour roll off the platform you landed on, and fall to your death.
Without spoiling the story, many of the characters have a degree of plot blindness that stretches incredulity. It can be especially jarring when woven amid a lot of heaviness, themes of loss, death of close friends and the whole attempting-to-save-the-world when no-one even knows if it’s possible.
Sandfall
I’m willing to forgive the high-concept wankery to an extent (It’s an RPG!). Still, when new characters join you, almost certainly connected to mysterious enemies trying to kill you, you’d expect other party members might have a few questions.
You can tell the team loves RPGs. The director said he was “starving for turn-based RPGs” and he’s helped make quite the meal. The RPG inspirations come from many places. You can easily see the affection for both the Persona and Final Fantasy series in places. Still, during the battles, it was Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, of all things, that came to mind, with the judicious use of timing and quick button presses being the best way to win – or at least survive.
Another thing that Expedition 33 does right is a rather fantastic run of battles, cinematic set-pieces and exploration towards the end. The final villain, too, is someone I was hoping to fight – no random evil big bad here, like we have suffered in one or ten RPGs past.
Expedition 33 is a solid, enjoyable RPG – and I’ve already started. However, later into the game, and on the higher difficulty level, it devolves into a rhythm action game, especially on damage-sponge bosses. Although that might not be what turn-based RPG fans want, it adds urgency and focus to fights. It’s also a gorgeously made and well-considered world. A strong endorsement for it all is that I’m still hunting down records of every expedition that came before Gustave, Maelle and Lune.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/clair-obscur-expedition-33-review-an-original-hit-rpg-090012488.html?src=rss
The Insta360 X5 ($550) is the company’s latest 8K 360 action camera and, while it remains a different proposition to traditional action cams, it is more powerful, more reliable and easier to use.
The X5 has a larger 1/1.28-inch sensor compared to the X4's 1/2-inch sensor, ensuring more detail and a notable boost to low-light performance. The issue with wide-angle camera capture is that detail gets lost, especially in low-lit settings. The specification upgrades this time around reduce that substantially, including up to 13.5 stops of dynamic range.
Over the years, I’ve tried to incorporate 360-degree cameras into my workflow, using them both on vacation or at events. However, a lot of the content I capture is either during the evening or in a dark venue, literally the main weakness of these kinds of cameras. In a bid to address those shooting conditions, Insta360 introduced a new PureVideo mode that with AI noise reduction and dynamic range optimization for clearer, brighter footage in low-light conditions. It’s not perfect, but it moves dim video from unusable to decent, if not outright good. With a 5nm AI chip and two imaging chips, the X5 can also now capture Active HDR on footage at up to 5.7K 60 fps.
Image by Mat Smith for Engadget
This chip array also reduces processing time. Insta360 doesn’t specify how much faster, but anecdotally, on-device processing and file transfers to my smartphone were noticeably faster. Videos are saved almost instantly onto the camera, while saving several short clips to my phone took around 30 seconds, compared to minutes on previous devices.
While the X5 doesn’t offer higher resolution video than its predecessor, it packs in even more shooting options, like InstaFrame, which is fast becoming my go-to shooting mode. InstaFrame can record a typical “flat” video and a 360-degree video at the same time. The notion is that this gives an “instantly shareable” flat video, with no reframing or heavy editing needed.
But when you do have to, Insta360’s companion smartphone app has been further improved, with some incredibly useful editing tools. You can re-edit 360-degree video to focus on the user, or force a single view. It’s all quite intuitive too, which is a trait that shouldn’t be ignored.
Image by Mat Smith for Engadget
The X5 an incredibly versatile tool, and there’s something to be said for a camera that can capture everything. However, in less favorable conditions (or when you’re not the camera person), you might prefer the simpler settings and shooting methods of a traditional action camera.
The X5 does perform better in lower light, but it doesn’t quite match the improvements we’ve seen in low-light smartphone photography in recent years. Despite my cautiously walking around in the late evening to capture low-light footage, there was a vibration after-effect as the camera struggled to stabilize the footage. This can be reduced by staying still, but even with PureVideo (which can also be a little too aggressive addressing noise), it’s not quite there yet. I will continue to test the camera and provide further impressions. Insta360 pushed a firmware update to the X5 hours before I published this story, adding 4K60fps recording in single-lens mode, and several resolution bumps across other recording modes.
Design-wise, you have to get up real close to tell the difference between the X5 and the X4. They’re largely the same size, although Insta360 has switched to a polygon effect on the front, with a panel for the mic (and a new mesh wind guard).
The battery compartment and microSD slot are secured with a double latch where the microSD slot lives, and are protected by solid covers with sliding locks. Both sides of the camera have a grippy texture, with record and mode buttons nestled under the screen.
With the same threaded mount, Insta360’s existing selfie sticks will work with its latest camera, although fast-chargers and cases won’t, due to hardware changes. The most important thing: Insta360’s bullet time effect is still here – if you have the right peripheral.
Most of the settings adjustments, like its predecessors, are found in pull-down menus from, well, pretty much every side of the screen. Swiping right will take you to the gallery, while manual camera options are a left swipe away. Toggles and lock settings are located in the dropdown menu. There’s a lot, but if you’ve used a smartphone, you should find the basic navigation familiar.
Image by Mat Smith for Engadget
There’s a whole list of smaller notable hardware improvements on the X5 compared to the predecessor, too:
Scratch-resistant glass lenses —- which are replaceable
Larger capacity battery that lasts up to 180 minutes
Faster-charging battery (0 to 80 percent in 20 minutes)
New built-in steel mesh wind guard
IP68 waterproofing up to 49 feet
Magnetic mounting system
‘Twist to shoot’ record feature, to initiate recording by twisting a connected selfie stick
The Insta360 X5 is now on sale, priced at $550, with an Essentials Bundle also available for $660. The bundle includes an extra battery, fast-charge case, “invisible” selfie stick, lens guards and a carry case. That’s $50 more than the Insta360 X4 was at launch. The improvements to both low-light performance and new shooting modes may be worth the price increase, but don’t expect crisp 4K (or 8K) video if light is an issue.
Competition in this category remains relatively limited. Ricoh continues its Theta series, with a similar camera form factor, but seems to focus on stills more than video, while GoPro’s Max 360 camera lacks features like traditional 4K video capture, let alone 8K recording. The best alternatives are arguably Insta360’s other 360 cameras, like last year’s X4.
While there are less major spec and design changes compared to last year, the Insta360 X5 is another step forward for this type of camera, both in terms of imaging and in simplifying how you share what you capture.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/insta360-x5-launch-date-price-hands-on-132439941.html?src=rss
After that whole tariff tango, Nintendo is readying its North American pre-order system for the Switch 2. The original Switch 2 price will remain the same, $450, as will the original $500 for the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle. However, some Switch 2 accessories will receive price adjustments due to “market conditions.”
There are some fine-print details attached to pre-ordering directly from Nintendo. You must be 18 years or older, sign in with your Nintendo account and register your interest in pre-ordering. Then, you’ll get an invitation email when it’s time to play your pre-order, and the invitation will be valid for 72 hours. And for extra jeopardy: “Invitation emails will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis for registrants who have purchased a Nintendo Switch Online membership with a minimum of 12 months of paid membership and a minimum of 50 total gameplay hours, as of April 2, 2025.”
If you don’t meet those criteria of die-hard/flush with cash Nintendo fan, there are other options: Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart and Target have confirmed they’ll open pre-orders on April 24.
Bluesky is adopting an official verification system, after all. The company said it plans to grant blue checkmarks to “authentic and notable” accounts. It will also allow some trusted organizations to verify users.
The platform previously resisted centralized verification, relying instead on a domain-based verification system, which allows users to change their handles to match domains they’re associated with.
It’s a bit of a mess. For example, when Barack Obama joined Bluesky recently, his handle did not use a custom domain. Individual Bluesky employees ended up publicly vouching for the former president.
The company will now proactively verify certain accounts and add a prominent blue checkmark to their profile. It’s still not clear what criteria Bluesky will use to verify its users.
Nintendo is going after the leaker behind last year’s massive Pokémon data breach. It wants Discord to reveal the identity of the person behind the leak, who goes by the name GameFreakOUT on the platform. Nintendo said in a subpoena the person uploaded “confidential materials not released to the public” to a Discord server called FreakLeak. After that, the leaked materials spread to every corner of the internet.
It included early character designs, source codes and even an upcoming Pokémon MMO.
Both The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez came under fire for using AI.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided AI is fine. The issue of award-nominated films using AI was first raised in 2024 when the productions behind Best Picture nominees The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez both admitted to using the tech to alter performances. “With regard to Generative Artificial Intelligence and other digital tools used in the making of the film, the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination,” AMPAS writes.
Google is back with another entry-level smartphone, the Pixel 9a. With more AI smarts, a new hardware design, and the biggest battery on any Pixel yet, on paper, it sounds good. Especially the sub-$500 price tag.
In our full Pixel 9a review, Sam Rutherford breaks down where corners have been cut compared to the rest of the Pixel 9 family, namely screen (which is still nice!) and sluggish charging.
While there is support for nearly all of Google’s AI features, the $499 Pixel 9a doesn’t get access to Google’s Screenshots app, which is an odd oversight. Especially when the phone has the Tensor G4 chip.
With ‘only’ two cameras, once again the Pixel 9 offers accurate images and enough versatility for most of us, including a macro focus mode for pin-sharp close-ups. In short, it’s likely to elbow out last year’s Pixel 8a as the best mid-range smartphone.
Samsung’s Ballie will go on sale in the US and South Korea this summer and will now pack Google’s Gemini AI model. Samsung says it can manage your smart home devices and even offer health and styling recommendations, for some reason. Having said that, we don’t know what kind of OS is running on the device, but it will process voice, audio and visual data. And struggle... with stairs. Samsung has yet to announce pricing for the robot ball, however. Probably for good reason.
Apple TV+ is on sale right now for $3 per month for the first three months, bringing the total cost to just $9 for the entire period. That saves you $21 off the standard $10 monthly cost of the subscription. The deal is available through April 24, and the good news is that both new and qualified returning subscribers (those who haven’t been subscribed for the past 30 days) are eligible.
In the market for a drone? We break down the best options at different budgets, including some impressive budget models, like DJI’s Neo and Flip drones, along with the HoverAir X1 Pro lineup, all under $500. If you want the best flight experience (or camera quality), expect the budget to circle $1,000.
Timing is everything. Hours after I published our Friday newsletter, debating the price of Nintendo’s new console, the company announced it would delay US pre-orders for the Switch 2 as it wrestled with a new set of tariffs introduced by President Trump.
“Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9, 2025, in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” Nintendo told Engadget. It added that the console is still set to launch on June 5, however.
Last week, the Trump administration announced a set of new tariffs on a swath of countries, including Japan (Nintendo’s base of operations), China and Vietnam. Those last two countries, where Nintendo manufactures much of its hardware, will be subject to import duties of 54 percent and 46 percent.
Nintendo said the Switch 2 would cost $450 at launch — and we’ve discussed the rises enough — but there’s no word yet on whether that price will get readjusted, or whether the company will just distribute fewer consoles to the US.
It’s not the only one reassessing things in the wake of the recent tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover is pausing shipments to the US. Vehicle imports face a 25 percent tariff, and the company told the AP it was “taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”
Relatively smaller companies are also figuring things out: Framework, best known for its modular, repairable laptop series, announced it was also suspending US sales for some of its laptops.
Anker’s lifestyle brand, Eufy, is expanding from its successful move into robot vacuums and going outdoors. The company has been sharing details of its first two robot mowers for a few months, but now the pricey robo-gardeners are on sale: The Eufy E15 ($1,599) can cover up to 800 square meters (sqm) and the E18 ($1,999) can handle 1,200 sqm, and they’re available to order today from Eufy and Amazon. We’ve been testing them, and we’re impressed. They’re also surprisingly quiet. Read on for our full verdict.
Brands still need websites in the Amazon app for it to work.
Amazon’s latest AI-powered feature to make you buy more things is called Buy for Me, where the company can make purchases for you from other websites. The feature is built into the Amazon app. When you search for an item from a particular brand, you may see results labeled Shop brand sites directly, separate from your usual results. Amazon will purchase the item for you, using agentic AI, a type of AI that doesn’t need human intervention, to provide your name, address and payment details for the checkout process. Amazon says it’s not getting a cut from these sales, at least at this experimental stage, but there must be something in it for Amazon.
In a study published in the journal iScience, researchers from the US and Denmark say they were able to make decent-tasting miso on the International Space Station — but the flavor and smell was different from similar miso made on Earth. The team suggests the findings reflect a sort of space terroir, playing off the term used in relation to wine grapes to describe unique, location-specific flavor characteristics.
“There are some features of the space environment in low earth orbit — in particular microgravity and increased radiation — that could have impacts on how microbes grow and metabolize and thus how fermentation works,” co-lead author Joshua D. Evans of Technical University of Denmark said in a press release.
It was Tuesday June 25, 2019. San Francisco became the first US city to (temporarily) ban the sale of vapes, SpaceX successfully launched and deployed 24 satellites and I sat in Nintendo’s UK office on the outskirts of London, playing a demo of a game that still isn’t out.
Oh Silksong, oh Hollow Knight: Silksong, oh Hollow Knight’s repurposed DLC. The second Hollow Knight game from Team Cherry was initially meant to be a DLC addition to the original, but plans changed, with the developers saying that it had become “too large and too unique." (This many years later, exactly how large and unique will Silksong be?)
Later, as part of the 2022 Xbox and Bethesda Games showcase, a Silksong trailer teased a release date in the next 12 months as part of Xbox’s attempt to deliver a wave of exciting games after a lackluster start to the Series X/S launch.
When the early 2023 release date passed us by, Team Cherry delayed the game into 2024 and now, well, it’s 2025. I played that demo so long ago that it might have just been a dream.
Without rewriting my six-year-old hands-on impressions entirely, the new game features a new playable character named Hornet, who featured as a repeatable boss fight in the original Hollow Knight, with silk-based attacks and faster, more agile gameplay. It also offers a more aggressive play style, with Hornet able to heal herself using silk charges and even repair damage with silk bundles left behind from prior unsuccessful attempts. It's a different gameplay twist from having to beat the Hollow Knight shadow in the original.
I subtitled my hands-on impressions, saying it would be “worth the wait.” Back then, I'd recently finished Hollow Knight on the Switch, putting in a few too many hours and was hungry for more bug-shaped Metroidvania adventures. Silksong felt fresh, more responsive, faster and flashier — and I just wanted to play more Hollow Knight.
Barely six seconds of footage during Nintendo's Switch 2 presentation was enough to re-ignite the Silksong fandom, when it revealed nothing new more than some downhill traversal. It's proof that a lot of people are still excited — and still waiting.
I'm excited, and six years on, it feels like it must be pretty close.
Right?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/that-one-time-i-played-hollow-knight-silksong-160022483.html?src=rss
Nintendo’s new console has finally been revealed in full, with magnetically attaching Joy-Cons, a new chat function and a bigger higher-res 7.9-inch screen that supports 120Hz and HDR.
Then there are the new Joy-Cons. Alongside larger SL and SR buttons made of metal, the controllers can be disconnected by pressing a more pronounced release button on the back. The big upgrade, though, is using either Joy-Con like a mouse. (And even use them on your pants, if you want to.)
The Switch 2 also uses DLSS, so it’s easier for developers to port games across to the hybrid console. In a very Nintendo way, it didn’t actually talk up the hardware specifics, so NVIDIA had to fill in the gaps.
According to NVIDIA, responsible for the chip inside, the Switch 2 has “ten times” the graphical performance of the original. DLSS tech means games can be rendered at a lower resolution, and trained AI models and dedicated Tensor Cores can be used to fill in extra details.
With that extra power, the Switch 2 supports up to 60 fps at 4K resolution and 120 fps at 1440p or 1080p resolutions, docked. The 1080p screen can handle variable refresh rates up to 120Hz in handheld mode, too.
Yes, catching up with the last two decades, the Switch 2 can also do video chat (and voice chat, but yawn). However, it demands a sold-separately camera, costing $50. Boo.
I think that strikes at the issue of price. The original Switch was $300 at launch, the PS5 starts at $399 now. The Switch 2 is $450. Sure, that includes the screen and (technically) two controllers, but it’s a bit of a jump.
Is Nintendo factoring in tariffs? Possibly. While some of us think $450 is an appropriate price for the console itself, the costs are creeping up in every direction. Want the new must-have Mario Kart World? That’s $80 now. Meanwhile, older games re-released on the Switch 2 also won't be cheap. Cyberpunk 2077 rings in at $70. Oof.
If you want to expand storage, well, you’d need a microSD express card, the faster, pricier version of the tiny storage card. Need another pair of Joy-Cons? That will be $90, please.
Want to pre-order a Switch 2 ahead of the June 5 launch? We’ve got all the details, but it’s worth noting Nintendo is trying to get ahead of scalpers by offering a dedicated pre-order system for existing heavy Switch users with a Switch Online subscription.
In Nintendo’s words: “Invitation emails will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis to registrants who have purchased a Nintendo Switch Online membership with a minimum of 12 months of paid membership and a minimum of 50 total gameplay hours, as of April 2, 2025.”
While we didn’t get to try it at the early hands-on event, voice chat is an integral part of the new Nintendo console. By pressing the new C button on the right Joy-Con, players can jump into a GameChat with friends and family. Nintendo demoed the feature during its recent Switch 2 Direct, alongside a new Switch 2 Camera, enabling video chat too, with a cut-out profile. It looks a lot like a stream on Discord, with windows along the bottom of the screen for every chat participant. Up to four friends can share their screen and join with video chat if they own the Switch 2 Camera.
It’s not long since that Signal messaging app disaster, but US politicians continue showing off their minimal national security expertise. The Washington Post reports that members of the White House’s National Security Council have used personal Gmail accounts for official government business. National security advisor Michael Waltz and a senior aide of his both used their own accounts to discuss sensitive information with colleagues. Government departments typically use business-grade email services, while the federal government also has its own internal communications systems with additional layers of security.
Google’s latest wireless earbuds are on sale via Amazon for just $179. This is a record-low price, down from $229. As per our review, they sound great. They provide a good low end, which is tough to do with earbuds, and crunchy highs. Google says it redesigned the entire audio system, and it shows. We called out the “noticeable improvement” over the original Pixel Buds Pro earbuds.
This will be Wynn-Williams’ first remarks since Meta took legal action against her.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former Facebook policy director who wrote a best-selling memoir about her time at the company, will testify at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing next week. In her book, Careless People, Wynn-Williams recounts Meta executives’ interactions with world leaders and government officials as Facebook’s influence expanded globally in the early 2010s. Her account has resurfaced information about Facebook’s attempts to operate in China and revealed new details about its overtures to Chinese government officials.
Prior to her book’s publication, Wynn-Williams also filed whistleblower complaints about alleged misconduct at the company.
Meta’s attempts to curtail sales of the memoir spectacularly backfired, with the book seeing explosive sales after reports suggested Meta took legal action against the author. Now there’s a senate hearing too.
Engineers at Northwestern University have developed the world’s smallest pacemaker. It’s so small that it fits in the tip of a syringe. It safely dissolves into the bloodstream after a time, so it’s a temporary solution. It’s designed for folks who need heart help short-term, like newborn babies with congenital defects. The pacemaker pairs with a wireless device mounted to a patient’s chest. When it detects an irregular heartbeat, it shines a light that activates the pacemaker.
If you were hoping for Bloodborne 2, I have good and bad news. This isn't that, because that' Sony thing. However, FromSoftware's new game, coming to the Switch 2, looks to borrow a lot of the gothic cues and style of Bloodborne.
The Duskbloods leans into a slightly more Steampunk style too, with what appears to be steam-powered automatons. There are also vampire shenanigans, a man with an axe in a pyjama onesie, a dinosaur and a rune-covered rodent. In short, there's lots of mystery, lots of violence and some magic, too.
In today's brief trailer, we saw one of the characters leap into a busy Victorian cityscape, toured some shady churches and got a glimpse of a huge beast that we'll probably need to slay. We also got teases of several characters wielding different weapons and attack patterns.
For now, The Duskbloods doesn't have a specific release date; it will land on Nintendo's new console sometime in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/fromsoftware-the-duskbloods-switch-2-2026-release-142025792.html?src=rss
Nintendo won't let you escape two of its most critically-acclaimed games ever. It's announced there will be Switch 2 versions of both Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Both titles will benefit from the next-gen console's increased power, with enhanced framerates and resolution during play, as well as HDR support for deeper colors and contrast. Nintendo wasn't specific on the difference between handheld and TV play just yet, but we know the new console will feature several resolutions for play, from 1080p through to 4K.
The Switch 2 is also capable of up to 120 FPS, so you're likely to see a difference. For reference, Tears of the Kingdom on the original Switch was locked at 30 FPS in both the Switch's handheld and TV modes.
Also, the new mobile Switch App will have new Zelda-specific features for these new editions. It can turn your smartphone into a (sort-of) Sheikah Slate. It'll guide you around maps with voiced directions, and you'll be able to share your creations with QR codes so that others can create your Mad Max destruction machines in their games.
And if you're a Switch Online subscriber with the Expansion pack, you'll get both upgraded iterations for free, provided you own the originals.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-announces-upgraded-switch-2-editions-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-and-tears-of-the-kingdom-134039778.html?src=rss
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