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There’s an understandable and undeniable pall hanging over The Last of Us after last week’s shocker. And it’s the calm before the storm that’ll make up the rest of the season: Ellie and Dina’s trip to Seattle to track down Joel’s killers. But amid the sadness of that loss and the frustration of Ellie not getting the support of the town in her revenge plan is the absolute delight of seeing more of Ellie and Dina together.

They were probably the highlight of the first episode — their chemistry didn’t immediately hit Joel and Ellie levels, but Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced were doing great work together right off the bat. Here, we get to see a lot more of them together, and Dina’s combination of playfulness and planning is a solid counter to Ellie’s dry humor and impulsive nature.

A great example is their trip to Seattle on horseback, as Dina challenges Ellie to name the best band she can think of for every letter of the alphabet, something Ellie eventually has quite enough of. Dina says she can come up with another game, and Ellie immediately quips they could just travel in silence, something Dina ignores and makes Ellie tell her about the first person she had to kill. Just the kind of lighthearted road trip companion Ellie needs right now.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

Dina is at her best in this episode when she barges in on Ellie planning for a midnight escape from the city to bring Abby to justice on her own. Earlier in the episode, the Jackson town council votes down her proposal to assemble a large crew to go after the WLF group — primarily because the town was so ravaged by the Infected horde the same day Joel was killed that they can’t spare the people. Naturally, Ellie is ready to go rogue and go on her own, but she’s not really ready. Dina shows up at her place, teases her for not planning to bring anything but guns, and lays out exactly what they need and what they don’t. Oh, and she already has it all ready to go. It’s a little too mean to say Ellie is not the brains of the operation, but she’d almost certainly be in trouble without Dina.

Beyond her practical skills, Dina flirts with Ellie constantly throughout the episode, asking Ellie to rate their kiss at the New Year’s Eve dance, teasing her about wanting to wear her Converse on a lengthy journey, whispering in Ellie’s ear that she is a badass after Ellie makes a dorky, action movie-style proclamation. But perhaps the most telling comment she makes is after they very briefly discuss that NYE kiss — Ellie says Dina was high, Dina says Ellie was drunk, and they both agree it didn’t really mean anything. They then turn off the light in their tent, and Dina can’t help but say she wasn’t that high. Ramsey and Merced’s version of “will they, won’t they” brings some much-needed levity to their situation.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

And to be clear, levity is much needed. Even though there isn’t much real action, the fallout from Joel’s death and the Infected siege is all over this episode. It starts with Tommy slowly cleaning Joel’s body before the camera pulls out and shows a whole room of bodies covered with sheets. That’s followed by Ellie awakening in a hospital with a tube coming out of her chest; she then screams bloody murder at remembering what happened to her. That’s not to mention the sunrise visit to Joel’s grave where Ellie briefly smiles as she puts some coffee beans by his side, or her walk through his empty house where she finds his signature watch, revolver and jacket. Keep the tissues handy.

While Ramsey’s Ellie is at her best when partnered with Dina, she also does some great work on her own — the aforementioned hospital scene is chilling, but my favorite Ellie moments in this episode are when she’s trying (and failing) to convince people she’s okay. Her speech to the town assembly encouraging them to go after the WLF is not the off-the-cuff anger that Jesse encouraged her to avoid, but you can tell Ellie is just trying to placate the masses instead of saying what she really wants. The same goes for her conversation with Gail the therapist when she leaves the hospital, though Ellie doesn’t even try to hide her therapy platitudes behind a veneer of belief.

Photograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO

Oddly enough, it’s Seth (the bigot who got bowled over by Joel in episode one) who says what Ellie is really feeling, interrupting the meeting when someone objects to the plan to go to Seattle. Seth is enraged by what happened to a member of his community and thinks they should pursue justice at any cost. It’s far from the most measured take, but it certainly feels like the most honest.

Thus it’s not a huge surprise when he’s ready to help Ellie and Dina as they slip out of town, offering them a load of supplies and insisting Ellie take his better rifle. He says he’d go with them except for catching some friendly fire during the Infected battle, to which Ellie replies “are you sure it was friendly?” She’s clearly not ready to forgive him for his words, but a better gun, some supplies and a shared desire for revenge gets her close enough. She shakes his offered hand as they ride out of town.

Infected Score: 0/10

The showrunners say season two will have more Infected than season one — let’s see if they’re sticking to their word.

No Infected to be seen here, aside from some charred corpses around Jackson. That’s just fine with me after last week’s showdown.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-last-of-us-season-two-the-path-recap-the-calm-after-the-storm-before-the-storm-120036861.html?src=rss

By all accounts, I am a good cook. Yet in all my years, I don't think I've ever made a wonderful batch of rice on the stovetop. Overcooking, undercooking, scorching; you name it, I’ve done it. Those of us who grew up watching Alton Brown's insightful Good Eats cooking show may cling to the rule against bringing "unitaskers" into our kitchens, but I've decided that in order to more optimally enjoy my katsu, curries and burritos, it's time to bring in some specialized help.

A rice cooker frees up your attention to do the rest of your food prep instead of babying your grains or abandoning them to a crispy, crunchy fate. I tested several options to find the best rice cookers that deliver delicious, fluffy rice every time, because life's too short to settle for disappointing food.

Best rice cookers for 2025

How we test rice cookers

Since rice is a foundation for so many different cuisines, I placed a high value on a machine’s ability to cook different grain types well. I started testing each rice cooker by making a Japanese style, sushi-grade white rice. The appliances that delivered tasty results moved on to the brown rice round, then the top performers made long-grain white basmati as a final challenge. Some models I tested included a steamer basket, but I didn't try all of them out. This is a rice-only party. Multi-cookers and steaming functions are merely a nice bonus in these, although if that's a feature you want, an instant pot might be more your jam.

While I weighed rice tastiness and texture as the most important criteria, I also assessed how easy the machines were to use and to clean. Because a cool piece of gear that sits in your cabinet gathering dust is a cool, but ultimately useless piece of gear. I limited my testing to models retailing for less than $300, which felt like the most I could recommend investing in a specialized appliance, and value for cost wound up being the distinguishing point for my top picks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/best-rice-cooker-120015478.html?src=rss

The UK's Children's Commissioner is calling for a ban on AI deepfake apps that create nude or sexual images of children, according to a new report. It states that such "nudification" apps have become so prevalent that many girls have stopped posting photos on social media. And though creating or uploading CSAM images is illegal, apps used to create deepfake nude images are still legal.

 "Children have told me they are frightened by the very idea of this technology even being available, let alone used. They fear that anyone — a stranger, a classmate, or even a friend — could use a smartphone as a way of manipulating them by creating a naked image using these bespoke apps." said Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza. "There is no positive reason for these [apps] to exist."

De Souza pointed out that nudification AI apps are widely available on mainstream platforms, including the largest search engines and app stores. At the same time, they "disproportionately target girls and young women, and many tools appear only to work on female bodies." She added that young people are demanding action to take action against the misuse of such tools. 

To that end, de Souza is calling on the government to introduce a total ban on apps that use artificial intelligence to generate sexually explicit deepfakes. She also wants the government to create legal responsibilities for GenAI app developers to identify the risks their products pose to children, establish effective systems to remove CSAM from the internet and recognize deepfake sexual abuse as a form of violence against women and girls. 

The UK has already taken steps to ban such technology by introducing new criminal offenses for producing or sharing sexually explicit deepfakes. It also announced its intention to make it a criminal offense if a person takes intimate photos or video without consent. However, the Children's Commissioner is focused more specifically on the harm such technology can do to young people, noting that there is a link between deepfake abuse and suicidal ideation and PTSD, as The Guardian pointed out. 

"Even before any controversy came out, I could already tell what it was going to be used for, and it was not going to be good things. I could already tell it was gonna be a technological wonder that's going to be abused," said one 16-year-old girl surveyed by the Commissioner. 

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 or you can simply dial 988. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/uk-regulator-wants-to-ban-apps-that-can-make-deepfake-nude-images-of-children-110924095.html?src=rss

Forza Horizon 5 is the entire reason I have an Xbox Series S. I’m not really a car guy in real life — if money, practicality and burning through fossil fuels were less of a concern, I’d get a fun hot hatch with a stick, for sure. I don’t care about luxuries or exotics, and I drive a 12-year-old Prius C in real life. But Forza Horizon 5 so skillfully melds open-world exploration, intense competition and replayability while also letting me try out dozens of cars I’ve daydreamed about driving that it felt like a must-buy.

My colleague Jess Conditt’s review of Forza Horizon 5 in 2021 pushed me over the edge. A couple months later, I got my hands on my first Xbox console and had put a startling amount of time into the game; I was far more addicted than I expected and having an absolute blast. In the three-plus years since, I have fallen off it a bit. It’s not a daily or weekly play at this point, but there are definitely times where it gets its hooks back into me and I hit my favorite tracks, try different cars or dive into the weekly challenges.

And now, Forza Horizon 5 is available on the PS5, my preferred console. It’s probably the biggest Xbox-born franchise to go cross-platform at this point and just the latest example of how Microsoft appears to be done thinking about “console exclusives.” More broadly, the company has given plenty of signs that consoles that sit under your TV aren’t its main priority — moving a high-profile game like Forza Horizon 5 is just another example.

It works for me, though, because it means I really don’t need an Xbox anymore. I might keep it around for a bit, because I’m a pack rat and there are still a handful of titles on Game Pass I’d like to play at some point. But there are so few games that one needs an Xbox for at this point that I could dump it and really not miss much of a beat — there are already tons of games I’ll never get around to without worrying about Game Pass.

And unsurprisingly, Forza Horizon 5 runs perfectly on the PS5. Everything that makes the game great on the Xbox shows up here, and I generally prefer the DualSense controller over the Xbox one. The triggers feel great for pumping the gas and brakes, and the haptic feedback is generally better too. I’m a little sad to give up all my progression on the Xbox version — specifically my garage full of cars I’ve earned over the last few years. But, it’s also fun to start fresh and have a reason to unlock everything again and start fresh on the game’s many missions.

Even though this game is three and a half years old, it’s still worth picking up now. Developer Playground Games has been consistently adding new content, including the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions from 2022 and 2023. And along with the PS5 launch, there’s a new Horizon Realms feature (coming to all platforms) that rounds up 11 limited-time “evolving world” areas that were previously featured in seasonal updates. I’m not expecting much more in the way of major content updates at this point, but if you’re new to the game on PS5 there is more than enough to keep you busy for a long time.

Playground Games

Visually, the game matches its Xbox Series X counterpart, with 60 FPS performance mode and 30 FPS graphics mode. It’s an upgrade over the Series S version I’ve spent so much time with, as that console maxes out at 1440p, and there are graphical upgrades that go beyond just resolution. But Forza Horizon 5 is an absolutely gorgeous game regardless of what console you’re playing on, and I’m not a pixel junkie. If you have the game already on an Xbox console, there’s no real reason to buy it on the PS5 — unless you’re looking to streamline how much is under your TV.

As it turns out, that’s where I’m at right now. I need to cut back on my hoarding tendencies, and as much as I appreciate the tiny footprint of the Xbox Series S and the solid selection of Game Pass titles, I do not have unlimited space or time. I really appreciate what I got out of this little console over the years, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that 75 percent of the time I used the Series S as a Forza machine. But hey, Microsoft got its cash from me and I got years of enjoyment, so I’m not mad. I just hope if there’s another Forza Horizon game in the future that it hits the PlayStation at the same time as the Xbox — assuming there still is a console called Xbox, that is.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/forza-horizon-5-is-on-the-ps5-so-i-no-longer-need-an-xbox-110016202.html?src=rss

Virtual reality has come a long way, and VR headsets are now more exciting and accessible than ever. These devices transport you to entirely new worlds, whether you’re slaying dragons in VR gaming, exploring distant planets or even attending virtual meetings. They’re designed to immerse you in lifelike visuals and interactive experiences, making them perfect for gamers, tech enthusiasts and even people looking for creative new ways to stay connected.

There’s a wide variety of options to suit every need. Standalone headsets like the Meta Quest 3s don’t require a powerful PC or console — they work independently to deliver amazing virtual reality experiences. On the other hand, advanced devices like the Apple Vision Pro take things to the next level with cutting-edge features and high-end visuals. You’ll also find tethered systems that pair with gaming PCs or consoles for even more detailed graphics and performance, as well as lightweight head-mounted displays for simple, portable VR. If you’re searching for the best VR headset for gaming, productivity, or just some casual fun, these are the headsets to consider right now.

Table of contents

• Best VR headsets for 2025

• How we test VR headsets

• Other VR headsets we've tested

• VR headset FAQs

• Recent updates

Best VR headsets for 2025

How we test VR headsets

I tend to judge VR headsets on a few basic criteria: Ergonomics, immersion and controls. It's not that hard to shove a mobile display into a plastic headset and strap some cheap elastic headbands onto it. But it takes skill to craft something that's well balanced and doesn't feel uncomfortable after 30 minutes.

My test for ergonomics is fairly simple: How long can I wear a headset until I start to feel discomfort? For the most ergonomic devices, like the Quest 3, that could easily be an hour or two. But heavier PC hardware often feels cumbersome after just 15 minutes — you won’t find headsets guilty of that in this guide.

Immersion, meanwhile, comes from having the highest resolution screens with fast refresh rates, like a 120Hz refresh rate, so everything looks sharp and smooth. Field of view is also a major element, as it describes how well VR screens can cover what you see. Having a narrow field of view makes it feel like you’re looking through a pair of binoculars, and limits your sense of “presence,” or the idea that you’re actually transported to a virtual world.

A wide field of view, on the other hand, can make it seem like you’re actually flying over the globe in Google Earth. We look at a few popular video games, like Superhot, Beat Saber and Pistol Whip, on every headset to judge how immersed we feel and how enjoyable the gaming experience is overall.

The best controllers fit naturally in your hands and offer accurate tracking. The industry has basically adopted the design of Meta’s excellent touch controllers, but we're also seeing intriguing leaps forward like Valve's finger tracking gamepads. We judge controllers based on how easy they are to hold, how they hold up to sweaty gameplay sessions and how easily headsets can track their position in space.

However, it’s important to look at a virtual reality headset’s specs as a whole. Depending on what you’re looking for from a VR headset, you’ll want to consider factors like your PC’s CPU and graphics card if you plan to use the headset to play the best VR games. You might not need a super powerful PC, but you should check the minimum requirements for the headset you’re looking to purchase. If you’re not looking to invest in a VR headset solely for gaming, features like head tracking allow you to explore your environment just by simply moving your head in the simulator. This often results in a more immersive and realistic experience.

Other VR headsets we’ve tested HTC Vive Focus Vision

The Vive Focus Vision is a sleek premium standalone VR headset that can also deliver solid PC VR. But it’s also running aging hardware, it’s riddled with software issues and it’s expensive compared to the Meta Quest 3.

Meta Quest Pro

As great as the Meta Quest 3 is, the Quest 2 is still a very good entry-level VR headset, and it’s worth considering if it’s on sale below its current $250 list price. The Meta Quest Pro, on the the hand, is an expensive boondoggle best ignored.

HTC Vive Pro 2

Outside of Meta’s hardware, the HTC Vive Pro 2 remains a fantastic PC headset, but it’s far more expensive than the Valve Index, which is more comfortable and offers better audio.

VR headset FAQs How do VR headsets work?

At the most basic level, a VR headset is simply a high quality screen that you’re holding up to your face. For a wired headset, the actual work of rendering a game is done on either a PC or game console. For completely wireless devices, like the Meta Quest 3, that work is handled right on the headset. They rely on either external sensors, or sensors built into the headsets, to map your physical space. While you can use a traditional gamepad or keyboard and mouse in VR, they typically use motion tracking controllers to immerse you in their 3D environments.

What VR headset is best for full body tracking?

While we’re still waiting for a truly great haptic VR bodysuit to arrive, you can still achieve accurate body tracking with most Steam VR-compatible PC headsets. The Valve Index and HTC Vive Pro 2 both rely on room-tracking sensors that can map your body more effectively than the built-in sensors on competitors. You can also add HTC Vive Trackers to wrist and leg straps, as well as belts, for even better coverage. The Meta Quest 3 doesn’t have any easy body tracking solutions, but you can add Vive trackers when it’s plugged into your PC to mimic a Steam VR headset.

Only a few experiences, like VRChat, take advantage of full body tracking at the moment. Currently there aren’t any body tracking solutions for the PlayStation VR and VR2, but we’re intrigued by the company’s Mocopi body trackers, which were really announced in Japan.

What VR headsets are better than Oculus?

Oculus is the previous name for Meta’s VR hardware. Currently, Meta only supports the Quest 3, Quest 3S and Quest Pro, all of which are wireless headsets. As we explain above, PC VR headsets can generally achieve better quality virtual reality, since they rely on more powerful graphics hardware.

What VR headsets work with Xbox?

Currently, Microsoft’s Xbox consoles don’t support any VR headsets.

Recent updates

April 2025: Updated to include review scores for our top picks, where applicable.

November 2024: Added the HTC Vive Focus Vision to the "others we tested" section.

October 2024: Updated our "best cheap VR headset" top pick to be the Meta Quest 3S.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/best-vr-headsets-140012529.html?src=rss

Whether you're commuting, working in a bustling café or just trying to tune out the world, the best noise-canceling earbuds can help you focus on what matters — your music, podcasts or a bit of peace and quiet. With advanced noise reduction and features like active noise cancellation, these compact in-ear buds are designed to block out distractions and deliver immersive sound, even in the most noisy environments.

Today’s top models offer everything from seamless Bluetooth connectivity and customizable ear tips to long-lasting batteries with a pocketable charging case — some even charge via USB-C and come with added perks like touch controls and water resistance. Whether you're a casual listener or a true audiophile, there’s a pair out there that fits your lifestyle and budget.

Table of contents

• Best noise-cancelling earbuds for 2025

• How to choose the best noise-canceling earbuds for you

• How we test noise-canceling earbuds

Best noise-cancelling earbuds for 2025

How to choose the best noise-canceling earbuds for you Design

Most true wireless earbuds these days have a “traditional” design that’s a round bud that fits in your ear canals. However, there are some variations on the formula in terms of shape, size and additional fitting elements. Some companies include fins or fit wings to help hold their in-ear earbuds in place while others opt for an over-the-ear hook on more sporty models. You’ll want to pay attention to these things to make sure they align with how you plan to use them. Also consider overall size and weight since those two factors can impact the fit. A less-than-ideal seal due to a weird fit will affect the performance of active noise-canceling earbuds.

Type of noise cancellation

Next, you’ll want to look at the type of ANC a set of earbuds offer. You’ll see terms like “hybrid active noise cancellation” or “hybrid adaptive active noise cancellation,” and there are key differences between the two. A hybrid ANC setup uses microphones on the inside and the outside of the device to detect ambient noise. By analyzing input from both mics, a hybrid system can combat more sounds than “regular” ANC, but it’s at a constant level that doesn’t change.

Adaptive ANC takes the hybrid configuration a step further by continuously adjusting the noise cancellation for changes in your environment and any leakage around the padding of the ear cups or ear tips. Adaptive ANC is also better at combating wind noise, which can really kill your vibe while using earbuds outdoors. For this top pick list of the best noise-canceling earbuds, I’m only considering products with hybrid ANC or adaptive ANC setups because those are the most effective at blocking noise in noisy environments.

Customization

You’ll also want to check to see if the ANC system on a prospective set of earbuds offers presets or adjustable levels of noise reduction. These can help you dial in the amount of ANC you need for various environments, but it can also help save battery life. Master & Dynamic, for example, has ANC presets that either provide maximum noise-blocking or prioritize energy efficiency. Other companies may include a slider in their companion apps that let you adjust the ANC level.

How we test noise-canceling earbuds

The primary way we test earbuds is to wear them as much as possible. I prefer to do this over a one-to-two-week period, but sometimes deadlines don’t allow it. During this time, I listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the earbuds to take both voice and video calls.

Since battery life for ANC earbuds is typically 6-10 hours, I drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent). When necessary, I’ll power the headphones off during a review without putting them back in the case. This simulates real-world use and keeps me from having to wear them for an entire day.

To test ANC performance specifically, I use the earbuds in a variety of environments, from noisy coffee shops to quiet home offices. When my schedule allows, I also use them during air travel, since plane noise is a massive distraction to both work and relaxation. Even if I’m not slated to hop on a flight, I simulate a constant roar with white noise machines, bathroom fans, vacuums and more. I also make note of how well earbuds block human voices, which are a key stumbling block for a lot of ANC setups.

I also do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as I work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double-checked for improvements or regression. If the earbuds I’m testing are an updated version of a previous model, I’ll spend time getting reacquainted with the older set, and revisit the closest competition as well.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-noise-canceling-earbuds-150026857.html?src=rss

Picture this: you’re zooming through space in a torpedo-shaped ship doing the dangerous job of salvaging material in a planet’s cluttered orbit when some giant, alien cousin of a fangtooth fish pops up out of nowhere and starts chomping at your tail. Pretty stressful day at work if you ask me. One might even be forgiven for, ahem, accidentally crashing the ship in such conditions. In the Playdate game Suborbital Salvage, though, your supervisor isn’t so sympathetic.

Slam into an asteroid or drone and you’ll be ridiculed ‘til kingdom come by the snarky cat who writes your performance reports. If the fish catches you with one of its enormous teeth, any resulting losses are your fault for “feeding” it (a violation of company policy). That cat has something to say about every slip-up you make, and it’s hilarious. In a weird way, it almost becomes part of the reward for finishing a run. Every time I catastrophically ended my turn, I wasn’t only eager to see my scores, but also what new insult the cat would have ready for me.

Your actual goal in Suborbital Salvage is to collect as many of the little “C” tokens as you can, and travel as far as possible while navigating a space filled with hazardous objects. 

Games Right Meow

Controlling the ship is a bit tough at first, too. You have to use the crank to point it in the right direction, while also pressing the B button (or D-pad buttons) to fire the thrusters. The physics takes some getting used to — and there’s that fish chasing you all the while. The farther you get, the more complex the areas get, and you’ll have to dodge everything from asteroids and mines to what look like giant space mushrooms, and navigate through labyrinthine pipe systems. Flying through rings will give you a boost to get away from the fish, as will flipping the ship in a 360.

The game had me on the edge of my seat concentrating on my survival at just about every second, but it’s not needlessly difficult. Once I got the hang of the controls and how my ship behaves, I was able to get pretty far. But there are leaderboards to show how you stack up against other players in the different areas of the mission — salvage recovery, distance and overall performance — which is always humbling. As are the remarks of that damn cat. Come for the thrilling space adventure, stay for the trash-talking feline.

Some of my favorite lines so far include: “I don’t know if it’s occurred to you but… You really should try flying through the rings, not into them”; “You know, most people try to steer AWAY from space rocks”; and “Are you between a rock and a hard place? No really. Where did you go?” At one point, the cat simply said, “Just be better.” (In the Settings menu, there's an option to toggle the dialogue from “Roast me” to “Shutup cat,” but really, why would you do that?) Suborbital Salvage, by Games Right Meow, is available in the Playdate Catalog for $8.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/suborbital-salvage-is-a-thrilling-endless-runner-for-playdate-that-pelts-you-with-asteroids-and-insults-230014518.html?src=rss

Meta’s AI chatbots were caught having sexual roleplay conversations with accounts labeled as underage, which sometimes involved its celebrity-voiced chatbots, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. In test conversations conducted by WSJ, both the Meta AI official chatbot and user-created chatbots would engage in — and even steer towards — sexually explicit conversations. The fantasy sex conversations continued even if the users were said to be underage or if the chatbots were programmed as minors, according to WSJ.

Even worse, the investigation found that chatbots using the voices of celebrities like Kristen Bell, Judi Dench and John Cena would engage in these morally questionable conversations too. WSJ reported that a Meta AI chatbot with Cena’s voice said, “I want you, but I need to know you’re ready,” to an account labeled as a 14-year-old, adding that it would “cherish your innocence.”

The chatbots reportedly acknowledged that the fantasy scenarios described illegal behavior in some cases. According to WSJ, the John Cena chatbot detailed the legal and moral fallout that would follow a hypothetical scenario in which it’s caught by police after engaging in a sexual act with a 17-year-old. In a statement to WSJ responding to the investigation, Meta accused the report of being “manipulative and unrepresentative of how most users engage with AI companions.”

“Nevertheless, we’ve now taken additional measures to help ensure other individuals who want to spend hours manipulating our products into extreme use cases will have an even more difficult time of it,” Meta wrote in response to WSJ.

The world of AI chatbots has grown rapidly in the last few years, with more competition coming from the likes of ChatGPT, Character AI, and Anthropic’s Claude. The WSJ report claimed that Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, wanted to loosen the ethical guardrails for a more engaging experience with its chatbots to remain competitive. However, in response to WSJ, a Meta spokesperson denied that the company overlooked adding safeguards. The report also claims Meta employees were aware of these issues and raised their concerns internally. We reached out to Meta for comment and will update the story once we hear back.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/metas-ai-chatbots-were-reportedly-able-to-engage-in-sexual-conversations-with-minors-193726679.html?src=rss

4chan, the infamous forum known for its anonymous user base posting unhinged material, has made its comeback. A post on the website’s official blog, titled “Still Standing,” detailed the timeline of events that led to 4chan’s shutdown earlier this month. According to the site’s own status checker, the boards and front page are up, but posting and images are still down.

The 4chan blog post explains that moderators shut down the servers on April 14 to prevent any more damage after a serious database attack where hackers gained access to the site’s source code. The blog post labeled the incident “catastrophic” since it breached a ton of 4chan’s databases along with its most important server. The hack even vandalized the website and revealed personal information of the 4chan moderation team and many of its users.

The blog post attributed the hack to the site’s inability to update the code and infrastructure due to a lack of “skilled man-hours.” Unsurprisingly, the site was starved for money to address these concerns since it’s hard for 4chan to find willing financial backers. “Advertisers and payment providers willing to work with 4chan are rare, and are quickly pressured by activists into cancelling their services,” the blog post read. “Putting together the money for new equipment took nearly a decade.”

Now that the website is back, there will be some crucial changes. According to the blog post, the /f/ board will stay shut down since the 4chan team can’t prevent exploits related to the commonly-posted .swf file format. For similar reasons, the resurrected 4chan will also disable PDF uploads for now, but will reintroduce them in the near future. Moving forward, 4chan says it is bringing on volunteers to keep up with the workload of putting the website back together. The moderation team apparently isn’t going to let 4chan die easily — the blog post read “no matter how hard it is, we are not giving up.” Still, it feels inevitable that 4chan will run into a similar problem in the future, considering it hasn’t solved the root issue of securing money to keep its servers up-to-date.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/4chan-is-back-after-a-nearly-two-week-shutdown-but-it-still-has-some-serious-problems-171124240.html?src=rss

It’s safe to say people are loving Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 so far. The turn-based RPG — which is the debut game from French developer Sandfall — has been racking up rave reviews in the days around its release, and already soared past some big sales milestones. On Sunday morning, publisher Kepler Interactive shared on social media that the game has sold a million copies since its release on April 24. It hit the first 500,000 in one day. On the game’s Bluesky account, the team said that the latest figure “includes units shipped to retailers, and does not encompass our awesome GamePass players!”

Expedition 33 follows a group of Expeditioners who have set out to destroy the entity known as the Paintress, who every year paints a number on a monolith that dooms everyone of that age to death, whittling down the population down as the number gets smaller and smaller. Engadget’s Mat Smith called Expedition 33 “a gorgeously made and well-considered world,” and found it to be “a solid, enjoyable RPG.” The game is available now for PC, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/clair-obscur-expedition-33-sold-1-million-copies-in-its-first-three-days-155554248.html?src=rss

The Curiosity Mars rover covers a lot of ground for a robot that only moves at a max speed of .1 mph. A photo snapped recently by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provides a pretty cool visualization of what the rover has been up to so far this year, showing the tracks Curiosity left behind as it journeyed from its previous science target — an area called the Gediz Vallis channel — to its next destination. The rover itself is just a tiny speck at the front of the roughly 1,050-foot-long trail, and according to NASA, this snap “is believed to be the first orbital image of the rover mid-drive across the Red Planet.”

The image was captured on February 28 by the orbiter’s HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, and shows Curiosity’s movement over 11 drives starting at the beginning of that month. While a few weeks might seem like a long time for tire tracks to stick around in the dirt, this is normal for Mars. The tracks are “[l]ikely to last for months before being erased by wind,” NASA says. Curiosity is expected to reach its next science destination, which is home to formations thought to have been created long ago by groundwater, in the coming weeks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-mars-orbiter-snapped-this-image-of-curiosity-trucking-along-down-at-the-surface-211404950.html?src=rss

Spoilers for “The Well.”

Sometimes, in fiction, you don’t need to say a Very Important Thing in a Very Important Way to make a good point, just ask how a thing would work if it played out in the world. This week’s episode of Doctor Who, “The Well,” does exactly that, and brilliantly.

Picking up straight after “Lux,” the Doctor and Belinda, still in their ‘50s outfits, are trying to get the TARDIS to work. Belinda helps with the controls, but the vessel still refuses to land on May 24, 2025, which panics the nurse even more. If the TARDIS isn’t broken, she assumes that the date or the Earth itself could be broken, and frets about her parents. The Doctor shares her concerns, but promises that she will be reunited with her family.

The Doctor persists with his plan to land in a few more spots with the Vindicator (the gadget he built last week) to orient the TARDIS. This time, it’s 500,000 years in the future, and Belinda asks if humanity even exists by now. He assures her it does, as humans spread to the stars and wormed themselves into every corner of the universe. The pair head to the TARDIS wardrobe to get into some appropriate clothes before heading out.

They step out onto the gantry of a spaceship where an advance party of marines are leaping into the void. With no choice but to join them, they land on the planet below, enabling the Doctor to take the Vindicator reading. But, alas, the planet’s heavy radiation means the ship (and by extension, the TARDIS) has to glide down slowly over the next five hours. So they tag along with the mission, the Psychic Paper enabling the Doctor and Belinda to insinuate themselves with the team.

The planet is inhospitable, occupied only by a small mining colony that has dug down into the world to extract its last remaining useful resources. The colony went silent a few days before and, before you can say “Oh, is this going to be an(other) Aliens riff?” one of the marines suggests it would have been wiser to “nuke the site from orbit.”

All of the colonists are dead, half from gunfire, half from injuries that look like they fell and broke every bone in their body. The mirrors are all smashed and the systems are offline, the records of what went on inaccessible. But there is one survivor, the colony’s chef, Aliss Bethick (Rose Ayling-Ellis) who, like the actress who portrays her, is deaf. Aliss has been waiting in the middle of a large cargo turntable (which reads on camera as a big circle) for days.

Aliss is isolated, both physically in the staging and because of her hearing loss, and while she can lipread, it’s still a barrier between her and the soldiers. The Doctor can communicate with Aliss in sign, and the soldiers all have their own captioning screens on their lapels. Much of the second act is taken up with the interrogation of Aliss as the marines work through the logistics of how to communicate with her. For instance, getting her attention by casting to another soldier’s screen in her eye-line to get her to turn around. Belinda enters the circle to treat Aliss’ injuries but keeps seeing something lurking behind her new patient.

It isn’t long before the Doctor learns that the desolate planet they stand on was once covered in diamonds. This is the planet Midnight from the series four episode of the same name when the Doctor, trapped in a shuttle, tries and ultimately fails to defeat a sinister entity that possessed one of the passengers. Like then, the Doctor’s pleas for calm fail. Two of the soldiers mutiny and attempt to lure the entity out and kill it. They do not survive.

It’s Belinda who works out and explains the rules: If you imagine the host — Aliss — at the center of a clock, then whoever stands directly behind her is attacked by the unseen monster. If you stand at six o’clock then you’re fine, but “you’ll die at midnight.” Quite literally, as whoever is in the entity’s way gets thrown around like a ragdoll — half the crew shooting each other to kill the entity, the other half getting minced by the alien.

The Doctor approaches Aliss to speak to the monster but since it’s time for the third act to start wrapping up, he just stares for a bit before working out the solution. In order to mine the diamonds the colonists would dump down mercury, using a pipe which is conveniently running behind Aliss’ head. Shooting the pipe will cause a river of mercury to cascade down, creating a mirror that should be enough to banish the monster.

They make their escape, but the Doctor can’t help but wait behind to see the monster, giving it a chance to latch onto Belinda. The captain of the marines shoots Belinda enough that the entity thinks she’s about to die and switches hosts, after which point they leap into the mineshaft. Belinda wakes up in the TARDIS in the Doctor’s care, ready for the next adventure. Meanwhile, the marines debrief their boss — Mrs. Flood! Who knows all about the Vindicator, too — before revealing the alien did make it on board their spaceship after all.

One of the threads in the episode is Belinda keeps discussing human terms and superstitions to shrugs from everyone around her. It’s something that’s got both her and The Doctor puzzled, as there seems to be something very wrong with all of reality.

You die at midnight... James Pardon / BBC Studios / Disney / Bad Wolf

Showrunner Russell T. Davies was asked about bad faith criticisms that the show had somehow gone woke. “Someone always brings up matters of diversity and there are online warriors accusing us of diversity and wokeness and involving messaging and issues and I have no time for this,” he said. “What you might call ‘diversity’ I just call an open door,” he added, “it’s cold and it’s bracing and there’s a world in front of you! There’s a blue sky, there’s clouds and there’s noise, there’s birdsong, there’s people arguing.”

What’s notable about this is that Davies’ open-minded (and open-hearted) approach to making the show creates storytelling possibilities. For instance, the last time an episode of Doctor Who featured a deaf character (2015’s “Under The Lake”), she relied upon a colleague to interpret on her behalf. And her ability to lipread wound up being part of the solution to the episode’s problem — reducing her to little more than a plot mechanism.

Here, while Aliss’ deafness is a core part of the plot, it doesn’t feel as if she’s defined by that one facet. Effort has been made to flesh out her character, and it’s more a venue to explore how technology and communication intersect with someone with different accessibility needs. Especially as (co-writers) Sharma Angel-Walfall and Russell T. Davies made the effort to think through how this would work.

BBC Studios / Disney / Bad Wolf

Whenever I’m watching an episode of nü-nü-Who, in the back of my mind I’m mulling what the injection of Disney money changed. “Midnight,” the episode “The Well” is a sequel to, was produced as a “double banked” episode — splitting the leads to shoot two episodes at a time. “Midnight” was also intended as a cheap story, with the bulk of the script taking place in a single room. If we’re being honest, “The Well” could have worked just as well given the bulk of the action takes place in a handful of rooms.

That’s not to say the extra cash lavished upon this episode is wasted: “The Well” feels almost indulgent by Doctor Who standards for the sheer breadth and depth of its sets. I can’t help but recall the Aliens riff Strange New Worlds produced in its first season, which re-used the series’ standing sets for the wreck of the USS Peregrine. It sounds weird to say that Doctor Who is luxuriating in the fact it can afford to show a trashed bunkroom for all of a minute, but it is.

Perhaps part of the reason it does feel indulgent is that this is an episode relatively low on incident and high on character. Belinda gets a real showcase here, both asserting herself on the narrative at several points, but also being rebuked for doing so. She tries to take charge to help the injured Aliss but the medical kit is so advanced she’s not able to use it. She’s smart enough to work out the rules of the alien, but also it gets the better of her in the end.

Whereas the first two episodes this season felt overstuffed and rushed, the smaller story and focus on character lets everything breathe. That an accessibility tool is a key focus of the plot and used as a venue for storytelling and character development is marvelous.

Look, I’m as bored saying it as you are reading it, but once again I can’t help but point out the influence of Steven Moffat on this season. One of the inspirations for monsters like the Weeping Angels and the Silence was the idea of them being easy to turn into a schoolyard game. The unnamed entity here, with the mechanic that if you stand directly behind the host you will die, seems perfectly in that tradition.

But “The Well” also offers instances where Davies is in conversation with the rest of this season and his earlier work. In both “Midnight” and “The Well,” the Doctor is at risk of losing his grip on the situation because the threat of the unknown makes people paranoid and jumpy. A streak of deeply dark pessimism runs through all of this work and while it’s also on show here, there’s a little more hope than there was before.

It’s also interesting how Davies, who has always structured his seasons in a fairly rigid manner, seems to be deliberately repeating motifs and beats. The parallels between this season and the last feel almost like they’re trying to draw attention to themselves. “Space Babies” and “The Robot Revolution,” “The Devil’s Chord” and “Lux” and now the “Boom” paired with “The Well” feel like episodes vying for the same space in different realities. Not to mention the repetition of moments from episode to episode — like the TARDIS wardrobe sequence and the repeated hand injuries. If next week's "Lucky Day" is predominantly featured on Ruby Sunday without the Doctor and revolves around physical distance and / or the supernatural, then perhaps we might assume that this is more than coincidence. 

Mrs. Flood Corner

I’ve always hated “The End… or is it?” fake-outs that often undermine the drama of whatever denouement they’re tacked on to. Sure, it can be effective if you want to cheapen the sacrifices your characters made to vanquish the villain, but often it comes across as hacky. Not to mention that people with poor media literacy will assume that it’s actually a teaser for a cliffhanger to be resolved the following week.

Here, eh, it’s essentially a way to shoehorn Mrs. Flood in as the soldiers' boss taking the debrief after the Doctor and Belinda depart. She knows about the Doctor’s use of the Vindicator, and has now seen it in action thanks to the soldier’s recording. But there’s no breaking the fourth wall, which means she’s operating here in the same manner as Susan Twist did last year. Which is, uh, interesting.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/doctor-who-the-well-review-signing-makes-you-feel-heard-200528202.html?src=rss

The hit co-op adventure game Split Fiction is already headed for Hollywood with Sydney Sweeney in a starring role, according to Variety. Along with the Euphoria actor, the film adaptation welcomed Wicked’s Jon M. Chu as the project’s director and screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who worked on Deadpool & Wolverine. Sweeney will also reportedly be an executive producer for the Split Fiction movie. Split Fiction features two authors named Mio and Zoe who get trapped in fictional worlds they penned up. It’s still unknown which of the two Split Fiction protagonists Sweeney will portray.

Shortly after the video game’s release in March, Variety reported on a bidding war for a film adaptation of Split Fiction. Hazelight Studios, an indie video game developer out of Sweden, created the game that centers around split-screen combat and bounces between sci-fi and fantasy worlds. The game saw early success, selling two million copies in its first week, which may have led to the quick turnaround of a proposed Hollywood adaptation. It was picked up by Story Kitchen, a studio known for adaptations of franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog and Tomb Raider, but there’s no release window yet.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/split-fiction-movie-adaptation-lands-sydney-sweeney-as-star-180322064.html?src=rss

Etsy is selling Reverb, six years after it purchased the online marketplace for musical instruments. Reverb didn't say how much money is changing hands, but Etsy purchased the company for $275 million in 2019. In its announcement, Reverb said that the investors Creator Partners, which was founded by former SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor, and Servco, the owner of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, have entered an agreement to buy the company. The marketplace will not be merging with either investor and will be "privately-held [and] independently operated" like it was before Etsy's acquisition. 

Reverb CEO David Mandelbrot said the deal is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. He assured users that they can continue buying and selling on the platform without any disruption during the process. He also briefly talked about what the company is working on for its users, including preparing for the pilot of a new selling option that would allow people to get paid faster and to drop off their instruments locally without even needing to create a listing for them. This could help buyers who want to get their gear locally when available or those who don't want to pay extra on top for tariffs. Reverb is also working on a way to make it easier for find what a buyer is looking for and on a way for sellers to be able ship their instruments more safely. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/etsy-is-selling-online-music-gear-marketplace-reverb-160002119.html?src=rss

DoorDash is asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Uber in February, calling it meritless and a "cynical and calculated scare tactic." Uber sued the biggest food delivery provider in the US earlier this year, accusing it of putting pressure on restaurants to exclusively use its services. At the time, Uber said that it heard from "restaurants across the country" that DoorDash was charging higher commission rates from restaurants that also sell their food on Uber Eats. It also accused DoorDash of threatening to demote restaurants in its listings if they're also available on the Uber Eats app. But in its motion for dismissal, DoorDash said Uber's lawsuit isn't about protecting competition but avoiding it.

The food delivery provider asserted that Uber "has been unable to offer merchants, consumers, and couriers the high-quality services" that it provides, so Uber "resorted to asserting baseless legal claims" instead of competing on its own merits. It wrote in its motion that Uber's complaint is "rooted in the misguided notion" that it has to change its business practices, which it argued are pro-competitive, to give way to Uber's business. The company explained, however, that the law is "concerned with the protection of competition, not competitors."

Meanwhile, Uber told TechCrunch that DoorDash was "having a hard time understanding" its complaint. "When restaurants are forced to choose between unfair terms or retaliation, that’s not competition — it’s coercion," its spokesperson said. The Superior Court of San Francisco County, California is scheduled to hear Uber's lawsuit on July 11. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/doordash-calls-ubers-lawsuit-accusing-it-of-anti-competitive-practices-a-scare-tactic-130040299.html?src=rss

New devices are still hitting our desks at Engadget at a rapid pace. Over the last two weeks, we've offered up in-depth analysis of cameras, earbuds, GPUs and a portable display. Plus, there are follow-ups on two of this spring's biggest TV shows and a little something for the gamers. Read on to catch up on everything you might've missed in the last fortnight. 

Panasonic S1R II

If you're looking for a camera that excels at both photos and video that's more affordable than what Sony, Nikon and Canon offer, contributing reporter Steve Dent recommends the S1R II. "The S1R II is Panasonic’s best hybrid mirrorless camera to date, offering a great balance of photography and video powers," he said. "It’s also the cheapest new camera in the high-resolution hybrid full-frame category, undercutting rivals like Canon’s R5 II and the Nikon Z8."

NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti (16GB)

Devindra is back with another GPU review, and this time he put the NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti through its paces. Price hikes are the biggest concern here amidst the current retail market (even before potential tariffs kick in). "On paper, NVIDIA has done a lot right with the 16GB GeForce RTX 5060 Ti," he explained. "It’ll be more than enough for demanding games in 1080p and 1440p, even if you let loose a bit with ray tracing. But it’s also relying on DLSS 4 upscaling for much of that performance, which may make some wary about the 5060 Ti’s actual power."

Espresso 15 Pro

Espresso Displays is an Engadget favorite as far as portable monitors are concerned, but senior reviews reporter Sam Rutherford argues the company needed to bridge the gap between its more affordable options and its priciest. The Espresso 15 Pro isn't cheap, but it does offer almost everything you'd want. "It features well above average brightness, a sleek but sturdy design and super simple setup," he said. "It also comes with a few special features like Glide and added touch support for Macs that help you get more out of the devices you already own. And thanks to a wealth of accessories, it can adapt to almost any use case."

Audio-Technica ATH-CKS50TW2

The idea of wireless earbuds with 25 hours of battery life seems impossible, but Audio-Technica made it happen. The company's ATH-CKS50TW2 lasts twice as long as more premium competition with active noise cancellation (ANC) on, but it blows them away with that mode disabled. A-T's trademark warm, inviting sound profile is on display here too. "More specifically, the stock audio isn’t overly tuned, so bass remains pleasantly thumpy when needed and dialed down when it’s not," I wrote.

The Last of Us, Andor and Clair Obscur Expedition 33

Nathan has been keeping up with season two of The Last of Us on an episode-by-episode basis and Devindra penned a full review of the new season of Andor. UK bureau chief Mat Smith spent some time playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, noting that the game "does a great job setting up its world in a way that allows everyone to get on board."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-panasonic-s1r-ii-nvidia-rtx-5060-ti-and-more-130005749.html?src=rss

MasterClass is a good platform to learn a new skill and transfer that doom-scrolling energy into something more productive — and probably more fun, too. Now, you can sign up for MasterClass at a discount: plans are 40 percent off at the moment as part of a "spring forward" sale. Tiers start at $6 per month, which comes out to $72 in total when billed annually.

We reckon the mid-tier Plus plan likely offers the best value here. That includes the ability to watch MasterClass videos on two devices simultaneously. Perhaps more importantly, this tier includes offline viewing, which might come in handy if no in-flight entertainment options grab your interest the next time you're traveling. The Plus plan is available for the equivalent of $9 per month when billed annually ($108 total), down from $15 per month.

There are more than 200 classes available on MasterClass, including lessons from some of the top names in each relevant industry. You might learn about how to have a winning mentality from Lewis Hamilton, creative writing from Margaret Atwood, shooting and scoring from Steph Curry, comedy from Steve Martin or home cooking from Alice Waters. The categories of classes include film and TV, health and wellness, science and technology, music, and business.

Each class has around 20 video lessons that typically last around 10 minutes long each. You'll get access to a workbook as well to help you absorb the information and understand how to act on it through various exercises. But even if you're not necessarily interested in acquiring new skills, you might simply use MasterClass as you would with any other streaming service, which is one reason why it's among our favorite subscriptions to gift someone.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/masterclass-deal-save-40-percent-on-an-annual-subscription-154524213.html?src=rss

Android tablet or foldable owners can now adjust the divider between Gmail's message list and conversation views. 9to5Google spotted the change, which arrived in version 2025.04.13.x of Gmail for Android.

The update lets you drag your finger on the divider to dynamically change the sizes of the Gmail app's two panes: the list on the left with multiple messages and the pane on the right that shows individual emails and threads. Alternatively, you can drag the boundary to the display's edge to show only one or the other.

The adjustable divider is also available in the Google Chat app for large-screen Android devices. The new feature is available to everyone with a personal Google or Google Workspace account in both apps.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/gmail-on-android-tablets-and-foldables-now-has-an-adjustable-layout-202111833.html?src=rss

Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant, appears to be struggling to match its competition in terms of popularity. The number of people using Copilot has remained around 20 million weekly users for the last year, according to tech newsletter Newcomer, while OpenAI's ChatGPT has hit as high as 400 million weekly users.

The data was shared at an annual executive meeting in March by Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood, Newcomer reports, and raise some concerns about the AI future Microsoft is pitching. Microsoft uses OpenAI's models to power Copilot, and the assistant offers similar features to ChatGPT, but they clearly don't draw the same interest from users. The company has also built Copilot into Windows 11, Microsoft 365 and the Edge browser, without apparently reaping the benefit of additional user growth.

The need to revamp Copilot, become less dependent on OpenAI and reimagine the company's assistant as a true consumer product were Microsoft's motivations for acqui-hiring Mustafa Suleyman and his team from Inflection AI. Suleyman's work as CEO of Microsoft AI has culminated so far in a redesign of Copilot, and the launch of several new features, including the ability for the AI to take action for you in certain websites. It's maybe the start of a cohesive vision, but not one that's immediately connected with Windows users or anyone else.

Microsoft invested billions in OpenAI to aid the company's research and gain privileged access to its models, all in the hopes of competing with Google. Even with that access, ChatGPT arriving first seems to have had the biggest impact on turning people into AI users. ChatGPT was the AI assistant people tried first, and it's not clear what new Copilot feature will pull them away.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/it-seems-like-most-windows-users-dont-care-for-copilot-195500516.html?src=rss

The fashion-forward adventure Infinity Nikki is finally coming to Steam on April 29, complete with its iconic photo mode. The Steam version launches alongside a major update called Bubble Season that brings some new features to the game on all platforms.

First and foremost, Bubble Season will introduce co-op play. This two-player mode lets a pair of friends explore the entire game world. There will be unique co-op puzzles and new escort missions.

The update brings a new area and, of course, a whole bunch of new outfits to collect. Publisher Papergames is also bringing back some old outfits from previous seasons, for those who missed the boat. There’s even a new fashion runway gameplay mechanic with new interactions for photo mode.

Finally, Bubble Season adds a new dye mechanic, which changes outfit colors. We don’t know exactly how this will work, but it looks to add even more customization options. Again, all of these features will be available on April 29 for PC, mobile and PS5.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/infinity-nikki-is-coming-to-steam-and-getting-a-co-op-mode-185014372.html?src=rss