This may have been a short workweek, but the chaotic world of gaming never rests. Read on for Kotaku’s top stories from Thanksgiving week.
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Saturday, 30 November 2024
This Week A Studio Was Shut Down, Rumble Rescued A Pariah, And Water Remained Wet
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Bluesky implements a 'more aggressive' impersonation policy
Bluesky has updated its impersonation policy to be "more aggressive" after third-party analysis highlighted its verification problem. The Bluesky Safety account said that the social media service is removing accounts that are impersonating other people and those squatting on handles. Bluesky doesn't have a conventional verification system, so it's easy for unscrupulous users to pretend to be someone else either for attention or to scam other people. That may not have been a serious problem in the past, but the recent influx of new users threw the issue into stark relief.
While users can verify their identities on Bluesky by linking their account to a domain name, the process isn't as straightforward as paying for a checkmark. They'd have to add a string of text to the DNS record associated with their domain so that they could claim their URL. For instance, we could claim the Engadget.com handle on Bluesky if we go through this self-verification process. Individuals can link their accounts to personal domains or pay for Bluesky's custom domain service. In its new announcement, the platform say's it's working with organizations and high-profile individuals to set up their verified handles.
That said, when a user verifies their account, their old handle (typically username.bsky.social) gets freed up and becomes available to other people who sign up. Alexios Mantzarlis, the third party from Cornell Tech who analyzed the app's userbase, found that 44 percent of Bluesky's 100 most-followed accounts have a doppelganger. That is why Bluesky now requires parody, satire or fan accounts to label themselves as such in both their handles and their bio. If they don't, or if they only indicate the nature of their account in one of those elements, then they'll be treated as an impersonator and will be removed from the platform.
Bluesky now explicitly prohibits identity churning, as well. Accounts that start as impersonators with the purpose of gaining new users, and who then switch to a different identity in an attempt to circumvent the ban, will still get booted off the app. Finally, it says it's exploring "additional options to enhance account verification," though they're not quite ready for rollout.
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Friday, 29 November 2024
Pokémon TCG Pocket's New Venusaur Event Features The Most Beautiful Card
After getting stale for a bit too long for a launch month, Pokémon TCG Pocket has finally launched a new event into its rather echoey corridors—the Venusaur Drop Event. And oh wow, it comes with a winnable card that’ll go straight to the top of your binder.
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The Best Games Of 2024 (So Far)
We’re nine months through 2024 now, and this year has carried over two significant trends for the video game industry from 2023 into 2024: a lot of excellent games are coming out, and, unfortunately, the people who make them are suffering. We’ve gotten some fantastic new games like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and the…
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Best Black Friday Deals of 2024: Witness the Greatest PlayStation Deals!
To all our fellow PlayStation fans, the biggest and the best Black Friday deals of 2024 are here. This sale is filled with some incredible deals for almost every category that you could imagine. And since the holiday season is also near, it could be a great time to buy presents for your friends and family, too. With a hobby that is as expensive as gaming on the PlayStation, Black Friday sales are truly helpful in getting exactly what you want at extremely affordable prices. So, don’t hesitate to go a little big.
If you’re looking for the best PS5 Black Friday deals on items like controllers, video games, or PS5-related accessories, this is your best chance to shop top deals on electronics at great discounts. If you’ve been saving up for the PS5 Pro and still feel it is out of your budget, then go for the PS5 Digital Edition NBA 2K25 Bundle for $374.99, which is a 25% discount! This is one of the best PS5 Black Friday deals that should not be missed.
During this entire sale of Black Friday, our team is going to be working hard to bring you only the best-handpicked deals from the thousands of products that are on sale right now. So go ahead and check them out below. And, we highly recommend that you get a Prime Membership here so that you can make the best of the sale.
30-Day Free Trial, Just in Time for Black Friday!
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Best PlayStation Black Friday Deals of 2024
Why You Should Buy an Amazon Prime Membership
Best PlayStation Black Friday Deals of 2024
Here are some of the best Black Friday deals that we’ve picked for you. More are on your way.
Console
For the first time since its release, we saw the PS5 console go on sale last month. And thankfully, the console is on sale today as well.
PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition NBA 2K25 Bundle
Price: $499.99 | List Price: $374.99 | Discount: 25% | Save: $125
PlayStation 5 Slim
Price: $449.99 | List Price: $374.99 | Discount: 17% | Save: $75
PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition
Price: $499.99 | List Price: $424.99 | Discount: 15% | Save: $75
Hard Drives
Hard drives or expansion drives are essential for anyone who likes multiple games installed. Be it an internal or external drive, there are all kinds of them on sale today.
WD_BLACK 8TB SN850P NVMe M.2 SSD
Price: $1,029.99 | List Price: $799.99 | Discount: 22% | Save: $230
Kingston Fury Renegade 4TB NVMe M.2 SSD
Price: $401.99 | List Price: $271.99 | Discount: 34% | Save: $130
Samsung 980 PRO 2TB NVMe SSD
Price: $204.95 | List Price: $119.99 | Discount: 41% | Save: $85
Samsung T7 Shield 2TB, Portable SSD
Price: $284.99 | List Price: $149.99 | Discount: 47% | Save: $135
Seagate Game Drive for PS5 5TB
Price: $149.99 | List Price: $129.99 | Discount: 13% | Save: $20
MOVE SPEED HB7450 1TB SSD
Price: $99.99 | List Price: $79.99 | Discount: 20% | Save: $20
Best PS5 External Hard Drives in 2024
Check out our list of the best PS5 external hard drives!
Displays
The graphics for games are getting better each year so it only makes sense to play them on the best displays, which you have the chance to get at discounted prices right now.
Samsung 75-inch Class Neo QN90C Series QLED 4K TV
Price: $2,997.99 | List Price: $1,398.99| Discount: 53% | Save: $1,599
LG UltraGear QHD 27-inch Gaming Monitor 27GL83A-B
Price: $299.99 | List Price: $189.99 | Discount: 37% | Save: $110
Gigabyte M28U 28-inch 144Hz Gaming Monitor
Price: $599.99 | List Price: $389.99 | Discount: 35% | Save: $210
HP OMEN 27q QHD 165Hz Gaming Monitor
Price: $299.99 | List Price: $179.99 | Discount: 40% | Save: $120
CRUA 30-inch Curved Gaming Monitor
Price: $299.99 | List Price: $161.98 | Discount: 46% | Save: $138
Samsung 34-inch Odyssey G5 Ultra-Wide Gaming Monitor
Price: $549.99 | List Price: $329.99 | Discount: 40% | Save: $220
Uperfect 22-inch 2K Portable Monitor
Price: $349.99 | List Price: $297.49 | Discount: 15% | Save: $52
Headsets
For anyone who wants the complete gaming experience or plays multiplayer games regularly, headsets are an absolute must-have! This year, even the PSVR headsets are on sale, take a look.
PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2)
Price: $549.99 | List Price: $349.99 | Discount: 36% | Save: $200
PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of The Mountain Bundle (PSVR2)
Price: $599.99 | List Price: $349.99 | Discount: 42% | Save: $250
PlayStation Pulse Elite Wireless Headset
Price: $149.99 | List Price: $129.99 | Discount: 13% | Save: $20
HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 Wireless Gaming Headset
Price: $99.99 | List Price: $59.99 | Discount: 40% | Save: $40
ASUS ROG Delta S Animate Gaming Headset
Price: $249.99 | List Price: $148.64 | Discount: 41% | Save: $101
Havit H2002d Gaming Headset
Price: $69.99 | List Price: $38.99 | Discount: 44% | Save: $31
HyperX Cloud Alpha Gaming Headset
Price: $99.99 | List Price: $59.99 | Discount: 40% | Save: $40
Games
Video games are one of the main items that every gamer looks forward to buying on sale. This allows you to try new games that you haven’t tried before and who knows, you might find a new favorite genre altogether!
Silent Hill 2
Price: $69.99 | List Price: $49.99 | Discount: 29% | Save: $30
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Price: $69.99 | List Price: $49.99 | Discount: 29% | Save: $30
Helldivers 2
Price: $39.99 | List Price: $29.99 | Discount: 25% | Save: $10
Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition
Price: $79.99 | List Price: $49.99 | Discount: 38% | Save: $30
God of War Ragnarök
Price: $69.99 | List Price: $29.99 | Discount: 57% | Save: $40
The Last of Us Part I
Price: $39.99 | List Price: $29.99 | Discount: 25% | Save: $10
The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Price: $69.99 | List Price: $49.99 | Discount: 29% | Save: $30
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – PS5 Launch Edition
Price: $69.99 | List Price: $39.99 | Discount: 43% | Save: $30
Demon’s Souls
Price: $69.99 | List Price: $29.99 | Discount: 57% | Save: $40
Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach
Price: $69.99 | List Price: $29.99 | Discount: 57% | Save: $40
Accessories
There are quite a few accessories on the market that will help you make your PS5 gaming setup better. Items like controllers, controller chargers, and cooling stations are going to be of great value.
PlayStation DualSense Wireless Controller
Price: $79.99 | List Price: $54.99 | Discount: 31% | Save: $25
CYKOARMOR PS5 Cooling Station with Dual Controller Charging Station
Price: $59.99 | List Price: $31.99 | Discount: 47% | Save: $28
OIVO PS5 Charging Station
Price: $16.99 | List Price: $11.99 | Discount: 29% | Save: $5
Why You Should Buy an Amazon Prime Membership
Keep in mind that it is not necessary to have a Prime Membership, but with the membership, you not only are given access to members-only deals but also can make use of their same-day delivery, one-day, and two-day delivery services. Additionally, you gain access to other services like Prime Gaming, Prime Video, Prime Fuel, and so much more!
How Much Does a Prime Membership Cost?
A Prime Membership comes at a decent price tag of $14.99 per month or $139 per year. You also get a 30-day free trial if you’re a new user. Students who are between the age of 18 and 24 can get the membership at $7.49 monthly or $69 yearly and also a 6-month free trial. And for anyone who is a qualified government assistance recipient, they can get it for a monthly fee of $6.99.
Tips and Tricks to Get the Best Deals
Here are a few tips and tricks that will help you grab the offers that you’re interested in at the right time. Some deals may be time-bound, so the faster you can access them the better.
Our Page
Throughout the sale, we’ll be updating this page with only the best deals. So, make sure you keep checking back here.
Newsletters & Apps
Signing up for Amazon promotional emails will allow you to get updates about your favorite products and top deals directly from Amazon.
Create a Wishlist
When you have a wishlist, Amazon sends out alerts when the prices of the items on your list change. This way, you get exactly what you need without having to manually search the site.
Use Alexa
You can program Alexa on your smart home devices to notify you about deals and offers on certain items.
There you have it! That’s all the best deals from Black Friday. Lastly, make sure you have a Prime Membership, too. You can get it here right now.
The post Best Black Friday Deals of 2024: Witness the Greatest PlayStation Deals! appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
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Thursday, 28 November 2024
Starter Packs are the latest Bluesky feature that Threads is going to shamelessly adopt
Threads is readying a feature inspired by Bluesky’s Starter Packs, according to reporting by TechCrunch and others. Chris Messina, who invented the hashtag, posted a screenshot of the tool to the social media app. He also says you can see an early version of the tool yourself by pasting "installedbarcelona://recommended_follow_lists" into Safari on iOS if you have the latest Threads app. We gave this a shot and, lo and behold, it worked.
Meta/Threads
For those who have yet to wander over to Bluesky, Starter Packs are curated lists of people to follow that help newcomers get started on the app. These packs can be built in a number of different ways. Engadget has one with many of its writers and editors, myself included. Come for the promise of tech news, but stay for random photos of my cats.
The version likely coming to Threads looks to work in a similar way. The lists of users are “handpicked by people on Threads” and can be about pretty much anything. Messina showed off a list called “NBA Threads," as seen above.
The feature has become so popular on Bluesky that there’s even a searchable database, complete with over 37,000 of these bundles of humans. The packs can also be shared directly in feeds, though we don’t know if Threads will allow that.
Bluesky
Bluesky has responded to this move with snark, writing on Threads that “if this app is going to keep copying our features, you might as well just join Bluesky.” For those who have been paying attention, Threads has been “paying homage” to all kinds of pre-existing Bluesky features in recent days and months. The platform recently rolled out custom feeds and the ability to change the default feed to people you follow. This is like Sega and Nintendo all over again, only with pithy messages instead of genre-defining gaming classics.
Why is Threads so eager to mimic some of Bluesky’s most popular features? Well, the latter has seen tremendous growth spikes over the last couple of months, recently hitting 20 million users. Folks are fleeing the sinking ship that is X in droves and looking for a replacement app. Threads wants to be the one. Bluesky also wants to be the one. You know the drill.
Threads may be acting like the underdog here by adopting some of Bluesky’s features, but it actually has a massive head start. The platform recently announced that it had over 35 million signups in November alone.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/PtIBv75from Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/PtIBv75
How to watch the 2024 Black Friday NFL game
David Eulitt via Getty Images
Maybe you're a huge football fan, maybe you're someone who wants to kick up your feet on the couch and enjoy something on in the background while you scroll for Black Friday deals on your phone and recover from Thanksgiving. Either way, we (and the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs) have got you covered.
This Friday, the Chiefs (10-1) host the Raiders (2-9) in a game that the home team is unsurprisingly favored to win. But last holiday season the two teams faced off on Christmas just for the Raiders to win in a shocking upset — proof that anything could happen on Friday afternoon. And if that's not enough drama for you, odds are Taylor Swift may show up to support Travis Kelce.
Are you ready to watch yet? The game kicks off on Friday, November 29 at 3PM ET (12PM PT) inside Allegiant Stadium. Here's what you need to know before tuning in.
Black Friday football game time
The Raiders vs. Chiefs Black Friday game kicks off at 3PM ET on Amazon Prime Video and locally on KSHB-TV 41 (Kansas City market). You can tune into pregame coverage starting at 1:30PM ET.
How to watch the Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs game
Unlike the NFL's usual Sunday slate, which airs across several channels and live streaming platforms, this year's Black Friday football game will stream nationally only on Amazon Prime Video (which is also the exclusive home for the NFL's regular season Thursday night games).
Game coverage will include play-by-play by Al Michaels, Color Analysis by Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporting from Kaylee Hartung.
Amazon Prime Video is included in a standard Amazon Prime subscription ($15 per month or $139 per year), but you can also subscribe directly to the video streaming platform for $9 per month. Amazon Prime offers a 30-day free trial, so you could tune into Friday’s game totally free.
How to watch the Raiders vs. Chiefs game locally
For out-of-market viewers, the Black Friday game airs on Amazon Prime Video. But for those in the Kansas City market, the game will air on KSHB-TV 41. For Las Vegas viewers the channel is still TBA.
Are there any Black Friday deals tied to the game?
Last year was the debut of a Black Friday NFL game, and Amazon used the occasion to proffer a handful of deals to the captive audience. We expect the same for this year, but the vast majority of Amazon's Black Friday deals are already up and running, including the usual bevy of Black Friday discounts on Amazon devices, including Kindle readers, Ring doorbells, Fire tablets and Echo smart displays. There's no need to wait for Friday.
NFL Thanksgiving week schedule
This game is squarely in the middle of the NFL's holiday weekend schedule. If you want to catch all of the action, the games start on Thanksgiving day proper and finish up on Monday night with the Browns taking on the Broncos.
All times Eastern
Thursday, Nov. 28
-
Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions: 12:30PM (CBS)
-
New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys: 4:30PM (FOX)
-
Miami Dolphins vs. Green Bay Packers: 8:20PM (NBC, Peacock)
Friday, Nov. 29
-
Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs: 3:00PM (Prime Video)
Sunday, Dec. 1
-
Los Angeles Chargers vs. Atlanta Falcons: 1PM (CBS)
-
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals: 1PM (CBS)
-
Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings: 1PM (FOX)
-
Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots: 1PM (CBS)
-
Seattle Seahawks vs. New York Jets: 1PM (FOX)
-
Tennessee Titans vs. Washington Commanders: 1PM (CBS)
-
Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: 1PM (FOX)
-
Los Angeles Rams vs. New Orleans Saints: 4:05PM (FOX)
-
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Carolina Panthers: 4:05PM (FOX)
-
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Baltimore Ravens: 4:25PM (CBS)
-
San Francisco 49ers vs. Buffalo Bills: 8:20PM (NBC, Peacock)
Monday, Dec. 2
-
Cleveland Browns vs. Denver Broncos: 8:15PM (ABC, ESPN+)
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Bluesky has a verification problem
Bluesky is bigger than ever. But as the upstart social media service surges, the platform is facing some growing pains. Among them: The influx of new users has opened up new opportunities for scammers and impersonators hoping to capitalize on the attention — and Bluesky’s lack of a conventional verification system.
A recent analysis by Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security Trust and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech found that 44 percent of the top 100 most-followed accounts on Bluesky had at least one “doppelganger,” with most looking like “cheap knock-offs of the bigger account, down to the same bio and profile picture,” Mantzarlis wrote in his newsletter Faked Up.
Unlike many of its counterparts, which offer checkmarks and official badges to government officials, celebrities and other high profile accounts, Bluesky has a more hands-off approach to verification. Instead of proactively verifying notable accounts itself, the company encourages users to use a custom domain name as their handle in order to “self-verify.”
For example, my employer Engadget currently has the Bluesky handle engadget.bsky.social. But if we wanted to “verify” our account, we could opt to change it to Engadget.com. Some media organizations, like The New York Times, Bloomberg and The Onion have done this for their official accounts. Individuals are also able to verify by using a personal website.
But, the process is more complicated than simply changing your handle. It also requires entities to add a string of text to the DNS record associated with their domain. While in some ways it’s a clever solution to verification — only the actual owner of a website would be able to access the DNS record for a domain — it also has a number of drawbacks. It’s a manual process that’s not readily accessible to everyone who might wish to be verified. (Bluesky does sell custom domains for users who don’t already have one.)
Verification is even more complex for those wishing to verify multiple accounts associated with the same domain, which may explain why some outlets, like The New York Times and NPR have custom handles, but don’t extend that verification to their reporters on Bluesky. Even Bluesky’s own tutorial suggests organizations seek assistance from their IT departments.
There are other issues. Once you change your handle to match a domain you own, your old alias (engadget.bksy.social, for instance) becomes available again. So you’ll either need to set up a new account to “squat” on your old handle, or risk an impersonator scooping it up. And even if you add a custom domain, it doesn’t offer foolproof protection against impersonation. A dedicated scammer could use a lookalike domain and “verify” an imposter account.
Screenshot via Bluesky
To make things more confusing, Bluesky itself gives no indication, other than the handle name, that an account has been “verified.” Verified accounts don’t have a visual indicator — like a check or a badge — that differentiates them from unverified ones,
To combat this, some Bluesky users are coming up with their own makeshift workarounds. Hunter Walker, an investigative reporter for Talking Points Memo and early Bluesky user, has been proactively verifying journalists, celebrities and other high-profile accounts himself. So far, he’s verified more than 330 people, including New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Flavor Flav, Mark Cuban and Barbra Streisand.
“I have a pretty high standard for journalism and reporting, and everything I say, I like to triple check the sources,” Walker tells Engadget. “I like to make sure it's confirmed. And it became apparent to me, participating in Bluesky, that on a basic level, nothing was confirmed.”
Walker estimates he’s spent about 16 hours over the last couple weeks verifying accounts. He has different methods depending on the user, but it often involves communicating with someone from another account officially linked to them, like a company email address. For celebrities, their representatives are often able to confirm their official Bluesky handles.
“I’ve caught so many scammers and imposters, and it's not always who you would expect,” Walker says. “Regular journalists sometimes have three or four imposters.” He says he’s been inundated with requests for his unofficial verification, and notes that a number of people he’s verified also use a custom domain. “They want something else … because a domain is not verification of identity.”
Walker maintains “starter packs” of journalists and other prominent accounts he’s verified. Recently, he took it a step further, working with another user to create a custom labeling service that will append different emojis to accounts he’s verified to make his “verification” more prominent. Users who subscribe to the service will see a 😎 next to celebrities and public figures, and a 🌐 next to journalists.
Screenshot via Bluesky
While these kinds of efforts can act as a stopgap, Walker won’t be able to verify every notable account on Bluesky himself. He’s suggested that other communities, like university researchers, could undertake a similar ad hoc verification effort. But, without help from Bluesky or a third-party identity service, he expects impersonation to remain an issue.
And widespread impersonation can often lead to bigger problems for a platform like Bluesky. “Sloppy verification is an early signal of broader deception and catnip for organized disinformation actors,” Cornell Tech’s Mantzarlis wrote, noting that Vice President Kamala Harris “at one point had 20 impersonator accounts” on Bluesky even though she’s never had an official presence on the platform.
On its part, Bluesky has acknowledged that impersonation is an issue. In an update this week, the company said it had seen “a predictable uptick in harmful content” that coincided with its recent growth. In a statement to Engadget, Bluesky spokesperson Emily Liu said the company had “quadrupled” its moderation team, which would help ensure reports of impersonation are handled more quickly. Liu also said that Bluesky was working on “easier visual signals we could use for verification so it's a better user experience,” though it’s not yet clear what form that might take.
But Bluesky, which currently has just 20 full-time employees, seems reluctant to consider other approaches to verification outside of custom domains. “We've been working behind the scenes with official organizations and high-profile individuals like celebrities and elected officials to get their accounts verified on Bluesky with their website,” Liu said. “With domains as verification, we want to put the tools of verification in each org's hands, instead of making Bluesky the company the sole arbiter of who deserves to be verified on the network.”
Bluesky’s hesitation to play the role of verifier is in many ways understandable. Verification has a long and messy history on other platforms. On Twitter, a symbol that was originally created to fight impersonators quickly morphed into a sometimes divisive status symbol. On Instagram, verification has often been exploited by scammers. Now, both companies allow users to buy blue checkmarks, though both platforms also proactively verify certain types of accounts, like those belonging to government officials.
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, however, has signaled that she’s potentially open to alternate approaches to verification. In a livestream on Twitch this week, she said the company “might at some point” become a “verification provider.” TechCrunch, which reported the remarks, said that her comments suggested a future system in which there are multiple “providers” of verification. Graber added that she’s “not sure when” such a scenario would play out.
Walker, who repeated several times his firm belief that “Bluesky has the juice,” hopes that his verification project might be able to nudge Bluesky to take a different approach. “I'm really hoping that people pay attention to the question of trust and the question of identity. The cool thing about the open source nature of it all, is we have a chance to build things on this and make it how we want it.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/DioNRVYfrom Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/DioNRVY
The latest Switch Online Expansion Pack update includes three classic Sega Genesis games
It’s been more than a hot minute since we’ve seen some new Sega Genesis classics in the Nintendo Switch online library, but we’re finally getting some today. The Switch Online Expansion Pack brings the frantic platformer VectorMan, the run-n-gunner Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS and the totally awesome ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron to the Switch’s classic games library.
VectorMan from BlueSky Software is a 2D platformer with impressive graphics for its time that often gets overlooked in the long hallway of the Sega Genesis’ legacy. The protagonist is a robot made of floating left on a resource ravaged Earth to clean up the mess humanity made when one of the supervisor robots named WarHead connects to a nuclear weapon and holds the planet hostage. VectorMan must blast his way through waves of enemies to free the Earth from WarHead’s clutches. So just think of VectorMan as Wall-E with a deathwish. The game has a pretty notorious degree of difficulty, but the slick graphics and fast pace of the gameplay makes VectorMan an underrated gem.
Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS is a top-down military style shooter that started in the arcade before migrating to Sega’s Mega Drive and the Genesis in the early 90s. The concept is simple: run across the screen and shoot everything that moves before it shoots you. MERCS also has a huge arsenal of special weapons and some really cool boss battles that pit your puny mercenaries against a big ol’ battleship and even a harrier jet.
If you don’t know the names ToeJam & Earl, then welcome to one of the greatest slices of joy from gaming’s history. The most 90s video game duo ever got the sequel treatment with Panic on Funkotron in 1993. The second ToeJam & Earl title took its titular alien heroes away from the unique isometric map that made the first game so memorable to a more traditional 2D platform game but they are just as vibrant, goofy and animated in their second outing.
This is the first Sega Genesis update for the Nintendo Switch in over a year. The previous Genesis pack was released in June of 2023 and came with four games including Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, The Revenge of Shinobi, Landstalker and Crusader of Centy.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/Za1iNRufrom Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/Za1iNRu
Wednesday, 27 November 2024
The Morning After: Huawei launches its Android-free mobile OS
Alongside a new foldable and flagship phone, Huawei has revealed its first mobile OS made entirely in-house. It’s part of Huawei’s plans to build a platform entirely free of major US tech sources, both for hardware and software — because the company is banned from using some of them.
Huawei
Case in point: the Mate 70 series follows the Mate 60, the first Huawei smartphone to use a fully made processor in China. Huawei said the new OS still needs several months of refinement to improve the user experience, but the aim is to install it on all future smartphones.
While we haven’t tested it yet, many of the features and screens look rather iOS-inspired, like the drop-down menu. There is also design consistency across Huawei’s phones, tablets and foldables. Of course, there’s an AI assistant, too, called Xiaoyi.
— Mat Smith
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The biggest tech stories you missed
X says The Onion can’t have Alex Jones’ Infowars accounts
So now it has rules?
X filed a limited objection to the transfer of Infowars’ X accounts to The Onion in a federal bankruptcy court on Monday. Jones’ assets, including the Infowars website, went into a liquidation auction earlier this month to raise money for the nearly $1.5 billion in damages he accrued in civil trials brought by the family members of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, stepped in to purchase the Infowars site after receiving permission from the families to accept a lower bid. X Corporation cites its own terms of service (TOS) agreement in its objection. The TOS states accounts cannot be transferred, gifted, sold or assigned to other parties “without X’s express written consent.”
Uber tries offering coders for hire
It’s the new gig economy.
Uber’s new Scaled Solutions division is a platform of “analysts, testers and independent data operators,” according to the company’s website. Bloomberg reports the once in-house team is now offering coders and data labelers to outside companies, like the makers of Pokémon Go and self-driving trucking software company Aurora. According to an onboarding FAQ reviewed by Bloomberg, contractor pay is distributed monthly, based on the tasks contractors complete.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/NPLD4CXfrom Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/NPLD4CX
Tuesday, 26 November 2024
The Morning After: Sony might make another handheld console
While the PlayStation Portal offered a way to play PS5 games remotely, it wasn’t a standalone handheld. In fact, it’s been about 14 years since the PS Vita appeared, and now, according to a report from Bloomberg, the company is developing another portable console able to play games on device, as well as any cloud-based/ remote play tricks.
The report cites unnamed sources, and Sony isn’t commenting. But since Nintendo’s Switch proved there’s still an appetite for handheld consoles, the boom in handheld PCs, like the Steamdeck, might have inspired a second look.
As the report notes, smartphones (augmented by controller peripherals) dominate mobile gaming and prove there’s plenty of appetite for gaming on the move.
— Mat Smith
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The biggest tech stories you missed
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NVIDIA’s new AI model Fugatto can create audio from text prompts
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Engadget review recap: An iMac, a coffee maker and an Amazon tablet
Threads’ latest test lets you make the ‘following’ feed the default
It’s a big complaint with the current feed.
Meta’s Threads is experimenting with allowing users to set the non-algorithmic “following” feed as the default, Mark Zuckerberg shared in a post. The change, according to Zuckerberg, lets users select any feed as their default. This could (should?) curtail the sloppy engagement bait rife on Threads, and its uncanny ability to push a mix of bizarre posts from total strangers.
The best tech gifts and gadgets of 2024
We want these.
Engadget
Trying to find the right gift for a gadget lover — and probable Engadget reader — during the holidays can be difficult. So let us help! We’ve rounded up some of our favorite gadgets and gear that just might satisfy the avid geek in your life — consider it a list of devices to keep an eye on during all those Black Friday sales.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/HF6kPUifrom Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/HF6kPUi
Monday, 25 November 2024
Gran Turismo Free Version Coming Soon for All PS5, PS4 Players
Sony‘s gearing up to release Gran Turismo 7‘s free trial version for all PS5 and PS4 players soon, if a rating board entry is anything to go by. Called Baby‘s My First Gran Turismo, the freebie was announced as part of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary celebrations, with a release date window of “this holiday.”
My First Gran Turismo (GT) free launch release date to be announced soon
As spotted by Gematsu, My First GT has just been rated in Taiwan, indicating a release date announcement soon. With the holiday season kicking off later this week in the U.S., we’re expecting to hear something by The Game Awards 2024 at the latest, if not sooner than that. The event will take place on Thursday, December 12.
As for what My First GT will entail, Sony says the free version will include “some of the favorite cars, tracks, and race events that evoke the nostalgia and excitement of the very first GT experience.” The trial is specifically designed to “attract diverse players of all skill levels to the globally acclaimed Gran Turismo 7.”
Complete details will be announced in due course, so stay tuned.
Gran Tursimo 7 released in March 2022. The game currently isn’t on sale on the PS Store, but its disc version is discounted at several retailers.
The post Gran Turismo Free Version Coming Soon for All PS5, PS4 Players appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
from PlayStation LifeStyle https://ift.tt/2LsPd3O
Sunday, 24 November 2024
Get Through Insufferable Family Time This Thanksgiving With These Mobile Games
If you’ve got a big family but very little to talk to them about, the holidays can see you go from happy to helpless real quick. What are you to do when Thanksgiving dinner is two hours late and you’ve run out of small talk with that one uncle from out of town who may or may not have voted for the worst person in the…
from Kotaku https://ift.tt/ED6Veql
Saturday, 23 November 2024
This Year's Game Awards Nominees Revealed, Next Year's RPG Avowed Is Looking Great, And More Of The Week's Top News
This week Geoff Keighley graced our phones and laptops to reveal which games will compete for honors at this year’s Game Awards. Games like Astro Bot and Black Myth: Wukong were among those earning several nods, while Dragon Age: The Veilguard saw itself almost entirely locked out (though there’s likely a pretty good…
from Kotaku https://ift.tt/RoyiFZW
Friday, 22 November 2024
Thursday, 21 November 2024
Wednesday, 20 November 2024
The Morning After: DOJ wants Google to sell Chrome
The Department of Justice is reportedly planning to make Google sell its Chrome browser to address its search monopoly. It’s in response to a 2020 lawsuit filed by the DOJ and several US states that was finally ruled upon in August. Google has, naturally, said such a sale would be a terrible idea and would harm American competitiveness in the tech industry. I’m more curious about how much inherent value Chrome has without the backing of its parent company.
— Dan Cooper
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News in Brief
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The Oura Ring Gen 3 drops to a record low of $249 for Black Friday
It’s a good deal if you don’t wear a smartwatch. -
Meta wants its Llama AI in Britain’s public healthcare system
How do you reduce wait times?More staff members…AI, somehow. -
Bluesky hits 20 million users
It’s the new home for the soul of old Twitter.
Minecraft is getting its own theme parks
And view a new trailer for its forthcoming movie.
Merlin Entertainments
The company behind Legoland is teaming up with Mojang to build Minecraft theme parks in the US and UK. Both locations will have interactive attractions based on the game, as well as rides, gift shops and restaurants designed to milk cash out of weary parents. The announcement came on the same day as the first full trailer for A Minecraft Movie, another sign of the game’s growing cultural dominance. Given I can’t move in my own home without hearing famous Minecraft YouTuber Aphmau screech-shouting at the top of her lungs, I can’t wait to grind my teeth into powder taking my kids to enjoy both.
Continue Reading (Theme Parks)
Sony will trial cloud streaming for the PS5 Portal
i.e. The thing it should have had from the start.
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
Someone at Sony has finally noticed the PlayStation Portal was shipped without its raison d’être: cloud streaming. The company is pushing a software update for users to test the feature with more than 120 PS5 Plus games. It only took them a whole damn year to get around to it.
Germany says cut undersea data cables were sabotaged
Finger pointing is happening.
Over the weekend, two undersea data cables in Europe were cut, with one German politician claiming sabotage. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has gone public with his belief the two lines were deliberately cut, but admits he has no proof to support his claim. Both Germany and Finland, two of the countries affected, say a thorough investigation is in progress.
What is Sonos Sound Motion technology?
A guide for the perplexed.
Sonos
Sonos hasn’t had a great year, but one highlight has been the Arc Ultra soundbar, the first model to debut its Sound Motion technology. Now, I bet you’re wondering what that tech is and what it does, which is why Engadget’s audio expert Billy Steele has cooked up this guide. He’ll talk you through what it’s good for, why Sonos spent $100 million to own it and what it means for the future of your home audio.
I wish Blizzard loved Warcraft as much as I do
These games deserve better than this.
Blizzard Entertainment
I’ve got fond memories of playing Warcraft II as a kid, with “They’re destroying our city!” a regular rallying cry in me and my friend Shane’s playground games. Engadget’s Igor Bonifacic has a similar love for the series and leapt in to play the recently released remaster. Sadly, it looks like Blizzard phoned this one in, prompting Igor to look a little closer at what’s going on.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/STPNcfDfrom Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics https://ift.tt/STPNcfD
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