FCC Chair Brendan Carr Slams ‘Completely Out of Touch’ Scott Pelley Following ’60 Minutes’ Firing
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is seemingly weighing in on the controversy surrounding the firing of…
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is seemingly weighing in on the controversy surrounding the firing of…
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast is mourning the loss of actor Anthony Stewart Head…
Ambrosia Sky, a sci-fi game about death where you have to clean up alien fungi, will be getting its second act as a free update on August 6th. The game was originally planned to have three acts, but developer Soft Rains announced in March that it would be brought down to two. When Act Two launches, the game’s price will go up from $14.99 to $24.99.
The sci-fi RPGs Citizen Sleeper and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector are getting Switch 2 versions on June 25th. If you already own them on the original Switch, you can play the Switch 2 versions at no extra charge. Developer Gareth Damian Martin also says they will be revealing their next game during Sunday’s PC Gaming Show.
This trailer for Desktop Explorer, a horror puzzle game where you click through a creepy version of an old, Windows-like operating system, might be the scariest way to use a computer. It’s launching on July 17th.
The upcoming paid DLC for Demonschool, a tactical RPG from Necrosoft that channels Buffy and Persona, has a focus on “puzzle battles” where players work to clear out enemies using certain characters in one turn. Both the DLC and the Switch 2 version (which includes mouse support and an improved frame rate) will launch sometime this year.
Powerhoof, the studio behind last year’s retro-styled mystery game The Drifter, is now working on The Telwynium, a “fantasy adventure epic.” “Book One” of the game is now available on Steam, though you can also grab it from Itch.io if you prefer.
SFB Games, the studio that made games like Tangle Tower and Crow Country, is releasing its next game, The Mermaid Mask, on July 16th. It’s a locked-door mystery that’s fully voice-acted and features hand-drawn animations — looks like a great story to settle into this summer.
Ambrosia Sky, a sci-fi game about death where you have to clean up alien fungi, will be getting its second act as a free update on August 6th. The game was originally planned to have three acts, but developer Soft Rains announced in March that it would be brought down to two. When Act Two launches, the game’s price will go up from $14.99 to $24.99.
The sci-fi RPGs Citizen Sleeper and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector are getting Switch 2 versions on June 25th. If you already own them on the original Switch, you can play the Switch 2 versions at no extra charge. Developer Gareth Damian Martin also says they will be revealing their next game during Sunday’s PC Gaming Show.
This trailer for Desktop Explorer, a horror puzzle game where you click through a creepy version of an old, Windows-like operating system, might be the scariest way to use a computer. It’s launching on July 17th.
The upcoming paid DLC for Demonschool, a tactical RPG from Necrosoft that channels Buffy and Persona, has a focus on “puzzle battles” where players work to clear out enemies using certain characters in one turn. Both the DLC and the Switch 2 version (which includes mouse support and an improved frame rate) will launch sometime this year.
Powerhoof, the studio behind last year’s retro-styled mystery game The Drifter, is now working on The Telwynium, a “fantasy adventure epic.” “Book One” of the game is now available on Steam, though you can also grab it from Itch.io if you prefer.
SFB Games, the studio that made games like Tangle Tower and Crow Country, is releasing its next game, The Mermaid Mask, on July 16th. It’s a locked-door mystery that’s fully voice-acted and features hand-drawn animations — looks like a great story to settle into this summer.
Fellow Traveller, the publisher behind games like Titanium Court and 1000xResist, just wrapped up its Story-Rich Showcase, which featured a bunch of narrative-driven indie games. With more than 20 games on display, there was a lot to follow, but we’ve pulled together some of the most notable announcements below. You can also catch the full show on Fellow Traveller’s YouTube channel.
Ambrosia Sky, a sci-fi game about death where you have to clean up alien fungi, will be getting its second act as a free update on August 6th. The game was originally planned to have three acts, but developer Soft Rains announced in March that it would be brought down to two. When Act Two launches, the game’s price will go up from $14.99 to $24.99.
The sci-fi RPGs Citizen Sleeper and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector are getting Switch 2 versions on June 25th. If you already own them on the original Switch, you can play the Switch 2 versions at no extra charge. Developer Gareth Damian Martin also says they will be revealing their next game during Sunday’s PC Gaming Show.
This trailer for Desktop Explorer, a horror puzzle game where you click through a creepy version of an old, Windows-like operating system, might be the scariest way to use a computer. It’s launching on July 17th.
The upcoming paid DLC for Demonschool, a tactical RPG from Necrosoft that channels Buffy and Persona, has a focus on “puzzle battles” where players work to clear out enemies using certain characters in one turn. Both the DLC and the Switch 2 version (which includes mouse support and an improved frame rate) will launch sometime this year.
Powerhoof, the studio behind last year’s retro-styled mystery game The Drifter, is now working on The Telwynium, a “fantasy adventure epic.” “Book One” of the game is now available on Steam, though you can also grab it from Itch.io if you prefer.
SFB Games, the studio that made games like Tangle Tower and Crow Country, is releasing its next game, The Mermaid Mask, on July 16th. It’s a locked-door mystery that’s fully voice-acted and features hand-drawn animations — looks like a great story to settle into this summer.
Fellow Traveller, the publisher behind games like Titanium Court and 1000xResist, just wrapped up its…
Back in 2015, the two-person studio Metanet released N++, a brutally hard 2D platformer that was a decade in the making, building off of previous releases dating back to the freeware Flash title N. At the time, cofounder Raigan Burns issued some famous last words: “We hope it’s not another 10 years before we come up with a game.” But now here we are, more than a decade later, and N is getting another sequel. And this time the focus is on multiplayer.
The new game is called, absurdly, N Plus Infinity Times Two. Whereas N++ was meant to be the ultimate single-player version of the N concept, this game is described as “the ultimate virtual couch party game with a low skill floor and no skill ceiling.” That means the same slick, acrobatic platforming action and gorgeous graphic design-inspired visuals, but now built around playing competitively or cooperatively with pals across a handful of different modes. It’s launching on the PS5, Xbox, Switch 2, and PC at some point in 2027.
The duo at Metanet was up to a few different things over the last 11 years. In addition to uprooting from Toronto to Montreal, they’ve been prototyping ideas for a few potentially bigger projects, and last year released a 10-year anniversary update for N++. But then, “We started getting the ‘let’s take another crack at it’ bug in 2022,” Burns tells The Verge.
The studio operates in an unusual way, at least compared to most of the game industry. Despite having two hits in N+ and N++, Metanet hasn’t grown or scaled up in any way. And the reason comes down to the way they make games: It simply takes a lot of time to find a game idea that’s worth pursuing as a commercial project. “We’ve resisted doing something that would compromise our ability to keep iterating and prototyping until something good shows up,” says Burns.
“It’s important to feel that magic,” cofounder Mare Sheppard adds. “That’s what’s compelling about making games. That’s when we know that we’re doing it in a way that’s right for us.” Burns has a clear analogy for how they work: “We like being in a band. That’s fun. Being in a lot of meetings and doing a lot of managing: not fun.” This philosophy seems especially prescient given the state of the games industry, where even the biggest hits operate in a way that’s clearly unsustainable.
“We like being in a band. That’s fun. Being in a lot of meetings and doing a lot of managing: not fun.”
In the case of N Plus Infinity Times Two — unfortunately I can’t think of a good way to shorten that title — the spark came in part from watching how younger players interact with games. Even when they’re playing solo, kids are typically still chatting with friends on their phones, essentially turning everything into a multiplayer experience. Burns and Sheppard wanted to find a way to marry that idea with the couch co-op experiences they grew up on, which led to revisiting the N concept but with a multiplayer spin.
The two describe making N++ as a grueling experience. If you think the game’s levels are hard, just imagine having to playtest them over and over. Part of the excitement about N Plus Infinity Times Two wasn’t just finding a spin on the formula that would be fun to play, but also to develop. “This one really feels like we’re having fun,” says Burns. “We’re really fluent in this one instrument. So now the fun challenge becomes playing new styles of music we’ve never played before, but with this thing we’re really comfortable with.”
As creative industries from games to Hollywood become increasingly homogenous, Burns also believes that there’s something important about doing work that’s distinct, even if it means revisiting a previous idea, like through the multiple versions of N. It’s similar to titles like Hades II and Silksong: indie-developed sequels that iterated a core concept, but with a fresh angle that made them more than a by-the-numbers follow-up. “Being yourself is more fun and exciting anyways,” Burns explains. “But I honestly think it’s more commercially viable to do something only you can do, because then you have no competition.”
As for what’s next after N Plus Infinity Times Two, the pair obviously aren’t revealing anything just yet. There are a few bigger 3D game ideas kicking around, but those would necessitate some of that scaling up that the studio has so far avoided. What they won’t close the door on, however, is coming back to the idea of N again at some point in the future.
“If we can do something that expresses something new, or lets us see things in a different way, or we get a different perspective on what this game is or how to play it, that’s exciting,” says Sheppard. “I think we no longer think this is definitively going to be the last one. We’ve abandoned that idea. It doesn’t have to be.”
Back in 2015, the two-person studio Metanet released N++, a brutally hard 2D platformer that was a decade in the making, building off of previous releases dating back to the freeware Flash title N. At the time, cofounder Raigan Burns issued some famous last words: “We hope it’s not another 10 years before we come up with a game.” But now here we are, more than a decade later, and N is getting another sequel. And this time the focus is on multiplayer.
The new game is called, absurdly, N Plus Infinity Times Two. Whereas N++ was meant to be the ultimate single-player version of the N concept, this game is described as “the ultimate virtual couch party game with a low skill floor and no skill ceiling.” That means the same slick, acrobatic platforming action and gorgeous graphic design-inspired visuals, but now built around playing competitively or cooperatively with pals across a handful of different modes. It’s launching on the PS5, Xbox, Switch 2, and PC at some point in 2027.
The duo at Metanet was up to a few different things over the last 11 years. In addition to uprooting from Toronto to Montreal, they’ve been prototyping ideas for a few potentially bigger projects, and last year released a 10-year anniversary update for N++. But then, “We started getting the ‘let’s take another crack at it’ bug in 2022,” Burns tells The Verge.
The studio operates in an unusual way, at least compared to most of the game industry. Despite having two hits in N+ and N++, Metanet hasn’t grown or scaled up in any way. And the reason comes down to the way they make games: It simply takes a lot of time to find a game idea that’s worth pursuing as a commercial project. “We’ve resisted doing something that would compromise our ability to keep iterating and prototyping until something good shows up,” says Burns.
“It’s important to feel that magic,” cofounder Mare Sheppard adds. “That’s what’s compelling about making games. That’s when we know that we’re doing it in a way that’s right for us.” Burns has a clear analogy for how they work: “We like being in a band. That’s fun. Being in a lot of meetings and doing a lot of managing: not fun.” This philosophy seems especially prescient given the state of the games industry, where even the biggest hits operate in a way that’s clearly unsustainable.
“We like being in a band. That’s fun. Being in a lot of meetings and doing a lot of managing: not fun.”
In the case of N Plus Infinity Times Two — unfortunately I can’t think of a good way to shorten that title — the spark came in part from watching how younger players interact with games. Even when they’re playing solo, kids are typically still chatting with friends on their phones, essentially turning everything into a multiplayer experience. Burns and Sheppard wanted to find a way to marry that idea with the couch co-op experiences they grew up on, which led to revisiting the N concept but with a multiplayer spin.
The two describe making N++ as a grueling experience. If you think the game’s levels are hard, just imagine having to playtest them over and over. Part of the excitement about N Plus Infinity Times Two wasn’t just finding a spin on the formula that would be fun to play, but also to develop. “This one really feels like we’re having fun,” says Burns. “We’re really fluent in this one instrument. So now the fun challenge becomes playing new styles of music we’ve never played before, but with this thing we’re really comfortable with.”
As creative industries from games to Hollywood become increasingly homogenous, Burns also believes that there’s something important about doing work that’s distinct, even if it means revisiting a previous idea, like through the multiple versions of N. It’s similar to titles like Hades II and Silksong: indie-developed sequels that iterated a core concept, but with a fresh angle that made them more than a by-the-numbers follow-up. “Being yourself is more fun and exciting anyways,” Burns explains. “But I honestly think it’s more commercially viable to do something only you can do, because then you have no competition.”
As for what’s next after N Plus Infinity Times Two, the pair obviously aren’t revealing anything just yet. There are a few bigger 3D game ideas kicking around, but those would necessitate some of that scaling up that the studio has so far avoided. What they won’t close the door on, however, is coming back to the idea of N again at some point in the future.
“If we can do something that expresses something new, or lets us see things in a different way, or we get a different perspective on what this game is or how to play it, that’s exciting,” says Sheppard. “I think we no longer think this is definitively going to be the last one. We’ve abandoned that idea. It doesn’t have to be.”
Back in 2015, the two-person studio Metanet released N++, a brutally hard 2D platformer that…
एशा देओल फिल्म बंदर – फोटो : सोशल मीडिया
एशा देओल फिल्म बंदर – फोटो : सोशल मीडिया
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When the company originally announced the Machine and Frame alongside its new Steam Controller late last year, it said that it would start shipping the new gadgets in early 2026. But in February, the company announced that the ongoing memory and storage crunch had forced it to revisit its pricing and shipping plans. And in March, Valve said in a blog post that it would be “shipping all three products this year” — though that was after the company initially said in the post that “we hope to ship in 2026,” which it removed in an update.
Valve opted to release the Steam Controller on its own, putting it up for sale in early May. For the Machine and Frame, while “summer” isn’t exactly a specific date, it narrows the window for when the products might finally come out.
Ahead of actually launching the devices, Valve is redesigning the Steam store and sharing information about the Verified programs for the hardware so that developers can prepare their games. Like with the Steam Deck, if a game is verified for the Machine or the Frame, the badge signals that the game should work well without any tweaks from the user.
For the Machine, the requirements for a game to be verified are “nearly identical” to what they are for the Steam Deck. With the Machine being “roughly six times as powerful” as the Deck, in theory, many more games will be verified for it. Valve also says that it’s testing “every title on Machine that fell below our performance requirements on Deck.”
For the Frame, Valve’s verified badge will signify games that run well while being played natively on the headset — as opposed to games that work well streamed to the headset, which the Frame is also capable of. “Like Steam Deck Verified, the Steam Frame Standalone Verified program focuses on the experience customers will have with the device out-of-the-box in standalone mode,” Valve says.
Now, we just need Valve to share exactly when the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will be released and how much they might cost. After last week’s price hikes for the Steam Deck, I’m gearing up for sticker shock.
When the company originally announced the Machine and Frame alongside its new Steam Controller late last year, it said that it would start shipping the new gadgets in early 2026. But in February, the company announced that the ongoing memory and storage crunch had forced it to revisit its pricing and shipping plans. And in March, Valve said in a blog post that it would be “shipping all three products this year” — though that was after the company initially said in the post that “we hope to ship in 2026,” which it removed in an update.
Valve opted to release the Steam Controller on its own, putting it up for sale in early May. For the Machine and Frame, while “summer” isn’t exactly a specific date, it narrows the window for when the products might finally come out.
Ahead of actually launching the devices, Valve is redesigning the Steam store and sharing information about the Verified programs for the hardware so that developers can prepare their games. Like with the Steam Deck, if a game is verified for the Machine or the Frame, the badge signals that the game should work well without any tweaks from the user.
For the Machine, the requirements for a game to be verified are “nearly identical” to what they are for the Steam Deck. With the Machine being “roughly six times as powerful” as the Deck, in theory, many more games will be verified for it. Valve also says that it’s testing “every title on Machine that fell below our performance requirements on Deck.”
For the Frame, Valve’s verified badge will signify games that run well while being played natively on the headset — as opposed to games that work well streamed to the headset, which the Frame is also capable of. “Like Steam Deck Verified, the Steam Frame Standalone Verified program focuses on the experience customers will have with the device out-of-the-box in standalone mode,” Valve says.
Now, we just need Valve to share exactly when the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will be released and how much they might cost. After last week’s price hikes for the Steam Deck, I’m gearing up for sticker shock.
Valve now says that the delayed Steam Machine PC and Steam Frame VR headset are set to launch sometime this summer. In a Thursday blog post detailing its Verified programs for both pieces of hardware, Valve concludes by saying that “We’re excited for players to try your titles on the new Steam hardware once they launch this summer.”
When the company originally announced the Machine and Frame alongside its new Steam Controller late last year, it said that it would start shipping the new gadgets in early 2026. But in February, the company announced that the ongoing memory and storage crunch had forced it to revisit its pricing and shipping plans. And in March, Valve said in a blog post that it would be “shipping all three products this year” — though that was after the company initially said in the post that “we hope to ship in 2026,” which it removed in an update.
Valve opted to release the Steam Controller on its own, putting it up for sale in early May. For the Machine and Frame, while “summer” isn’t exactly a specific date, it narrows the window for when the products might finally come out.
Ahead of actually launching the devices, Valve is redesigning the Steam store and sharing information about the Verified programs for the hardware so that developers can prepare their games. Like with the Steam Deck, if a game is verified for the Machine or the Frame, the badge signals that the game should work well without any tweaks from the user.
For the Machine, the requirements for a game to be verified are “nearly identical” to what they are for the Steam Deck. With the Machine being “roughly six times as powerful” as the Deck, in theory, many more games will be verified for it. Valve also says that it’s testing “every title on Machine that fell below our performance requirements on Deck.”
For the Frame, Valve’s verified badge will signify games that run well while being played natively on the headset — as opposed to games that work well streamed to the headset, which the Frame is also capable of. “Like Steam Deck Verified, the Steam Frame Standalone Verified program focuses on the experience customers will have with the device out-of-the-box in standalone mode,” Valve says.
Now, we just need Valve to share exactly when the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will be released and how much they might cost. After last week’s price hikes for the Steam Deck, I’m gearing up for sticker shock.
Valve now says that the delayed Steam Machine PC and Steam Frame VR headset are…
A long-overlooked reboot has found a fresh audience after climbing HBO Max’s movie rankings. The…
Source link #NERD #memeswith #late #nite #Geek #fun
Netflix is losing Sex and the City, as the show is leaving the streaming platform…
Thanks to EU regulations, gadgets with user-replaceable batteries are making a comeback, as my colleague Dominic Preston wrote recently. Starting on that February 2027 date, EU rules mandate that many types of gadgets, including portable game consoles, must allow users to relatively easily remove and replace their batteries.
Nintendo doesn’t specify exactly what it will change with this new version of the Switch 2 to make battery replacements easier — currently, taking out the battery in the Switch 2 is an involved, multi-step process, as shown by iFixit. It’s also unclear if a revised model with a replaceable battery will be available in other regions. Nintendo didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
On its website, Nintendo says that, “For current products with model numbers starting with ‘BEE’” — which is used with the Switch 2, as shown in Nintendo’s filings with the FCC — “future compliant versions will have unique model numbers and the additional code ‘OSM’ visible on the packaging, designating them as separate products for regulatory purposes.” Switch 2 controllers like the Pro Controller and the Joy-Cons also carry the BEE moniker, and we’ve asked Nintendo if those will have user-replaceable batteries as well.
Thanks to EU regulations, gadgets with user-replaceable batteries are making a comeback, as my colleague Dominic Preston wrote recently. Starting on that February 2027 date, EU rules mandate that many types of gadgets, including portable game consoles, must allow users to relatively easily remove and replace their batteries.
Nintendo doesn’t specify exactly what it will change with this new version of the Switch 2 to make battery replacements easier — currently, taking out the battery in the Switch 2 is an involved, multi-step process, as shown by iFixit. It’s also unclear if a revised model with a replaceable battery will be available in other regions. Nintendo didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
On its website, Nintendo says that, “For current products with model numbers starting with ‘BEE’” — which is used with the Switch 2, as shown in Nintendo’s filings with the FCC — “future compliant versions will have unique model numbers and the additional code ‘OSM’ visible on the packaging, designating them as separate products for regulatory purposes.” Switch 2 controllers like the Pro Controller and the Joy-Cons also carry the BEE moniker, and we’ve asked Nintendo if those will have user-replaceable batteries as well.
Nintendo is planning to launch versions of Switch 2 hardware in the EU that will let users easily replace the battery. To meet its obligations from a new EU regulation that’s set to go into effect on February 18th, 2027, Nintendo says on its website that it is “implementing measures to comply with these requirements by preparing versions of products to meet the Regulation.”
Thanks to EU regulations, gadgets with user-replaceable batteries are making a comeback, as my colleague Dominic Preston wrote recently. Starting on that February 2027 date, EU rules mandate that many types of gadgets, including portable game consoles, must allow users to relatively easily remove and replace their batteries.
Nintendo doesn’t specify exactly what it will change with this new version of the Switch 2 to make battery replacements easier — currently, taking out the battery in the Switch 2 is an involved, multi-step process, as shown by iFixit. It’s also unclear if a revised model with a replaceable battery will be available in other regions. Nintendo didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
On its website, Nintendo says that, “For current products with model numbers starting with ‘BEE’” — which is used with the Switch 2, as shown in Nintendo’s filings with the FCC — “future compliant versions will have unique model numbers and the additional code ‘OSM’ visible on the packaging, designating them as separate products for regulatory purposes.” Switch 2 controllers like the Pro Controller and the Joy-Cons also carry the BEE moniker, and we’ve asked Nintendo if those will have user-replaceable batteries as well.
Nintendo is planning to launch versions of Switch 2 hardware in the EU that will…