Author Archives: Lawrence Bonk

Apple Arcade just got two indie gems

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Two fantastic indie titles just dropped for Apple Arcade. The platform has received versions of Dredge and Unpacking, both of which have been optimized for mobile devices.

Dredge+ is the complete edition of the game, with all released DLC content. This is pretty much a perfect video game that combines fishing with bone-chilling horror. During the day, you sail around and fish, which involves a fishing minigame and a "pack the fish in the bag" minigame. At night, you are hunted by Lovecraftian monsters that may or may not be real. The developers threw in some tricks to make players doubt their own sanity, just like the Gamecube classic Eternal Darkness.

Unpacking+ is the original game, but optimized for touchscreen controls. It's basically a block-fitting puzzle game, in which players arrange items in a home as they, well, unpack. Despite this extremely simple premise, the story is quite moving. There's a reason why it has racked up numerous accolades, including one for Cultural Impact at the 2023 App Store Awards. It's also a fantastic title for short bursts of gameplay.

The pet sim My Very Hungry Caterpillar+ also arrives for the platform today. Otherwise, pre-existing titles are getting updates throughout the month. The word-based puzzle game Disney SpellStruck just got more Star Wars content and Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop gets a new game mode on April 9.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/apple-arcade-just-got-two-indie-gems-133056009.html?src=rss

April’s PS Plus Monthly Games include Lords of the Fallen and a trio of remastered Tomb Raider ports

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Sony just revealed a trio of PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for April and it's a pretty stacked lineup. These will all be playable on April 7 for subscribers on any tier. After downloading, the games will stay in a player's library as long as the subscription remains active.

First up, there's Lords of the Fallen for PS5. This is a sequel to 2014's Lords of the Fallen, despite having the same exact name. The 2023 release boasts a much larger world than the original, but similar fast-paced gameplay. It's an action RPG with nine character classes and hundreds of weapons to choose from. There's also a dual-world mechanic that's (sort of) like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It was generally well-reviewed and a success with players. There's another sequel scheduled for release later this year.

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is a collection of ports first released back in 2024. These updated versions of old-school PlayStation classics boast updated graphics, with the ability to instantly switch back to the retro polygonal look. There's a new challenge mode that offers players the ability to replay levels with customized modifiers to complete achievements. This is a great entry point for Lara Croft fans who never got to play the originals. The collection is available on PS4 and PS5.

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream is a live-service action RPG for PS5 owners with a heavy emphasis on co-op gameplay. Around 20 players can adventure simultaneously in teams of five parties scattered throughout the world. The story is a bit of a mess, pulling in characters from across the franchise's many entries. This approach sort of reminds me of something like Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, which uses narrative trickery to allow characters from multiple games to team up.

As always, the introduction of new titles means that some old games have gotta go. PS Plus members have until April 6 to download March's lineup, which include PGA Tour 2K25, Monster Hunter Rise, Slime Rancher 2 and The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/aprils-ps-plus-monthly-games-include-lords-of-the-fallen-and-a-trio-of-remastered-tomb-raider-ports-172105756.html?src=rss

Lucid Motors recalls over 4,000 Gravity SUVs over seat belt defect

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Lucid Motors has recalled over 4,000 Gravity SUVs after discovering a problem with seat belts. The company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that some of the anchors for the second-row seat belts weren't welded properly. This means that there's a chance they won't actually hold passengers during a collision.

The company blames the issue on a seat supplier changing its manufacturing process "without notice to or approval by Lucid." It says it has reverted to the original design and that newer models aren't impacted by the recall. Vehicles manufactured after February 14, 2026 are good to go.

Lucid will have to inspect each and every Gravity SUV affected by the recall and potentially install a new bracket or a whole new seat. Owners will receive instructions to bring their vehicles to service centers. The company hasn't reported any injuries related to the defect, which is good news.

4,000 may not sound like a particularly high number, but this isn't Toyota or Ford. The number accounts for nearly every Gravity SUV manufactured since it launched last year, according to The Tech Buzz. It's been reported that the company sold around 15,800 vehicles in 2025, but that accounts for every model in the lineup.

This isn't the first issue that has popped up regarding Lucid's Gravity SUV. The company had to recall many vehicles due to an issue with the airbags at the tail-end of last year. The model has also been plagued by software issues, though numerous patches seem to have cleared that up. The three-row electric SUV starts at $80,000.

The company has been burning through cash without too much to show for it, according to Autoblog. This would doom other manufacturers, but Lucid has an extremely wealthy benefactor. The majority stakeholder is The Saudi Public Investment Fund, which has invested billions in the company. Lucid's VP of Communications, Nick Twork, says the country "stands behind us as a long-term partner."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/lucid-motors-recalls-over-4000-gravity-suvs-over-seat-belt-defect-155321460.html?src=rss

A Palworld horror-themed dating sim spinoff is on the way

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Palworld developer Pocketpair just announced a bizarre spinoff called Palworld: More Than Just Pals. This looks to be a dating sim with horror elements in which you can romance the various Pals from the original game.

The gameplay description suggests it's set at a mysterious school, and players can not only fall in love with these creatures, but also "dismantle and eat them." The original game already let you eat Pals, but the ability to romance the gun-toting animals is new.

We don't know too much about the specifics of gameplay, though there is a trailer. Developer Pocketpair insists this is not an April Fool's Day joke, despite today's date. There's an active Steam page complete with system requirements, for whatever that's worth. We don't have a release date or price for this one just yet.

This isn't the first Palworld spinoff. The company recently announced Palworld: Palfarm, which is a farming sim where players can punish Pals that aren't working hard enough. There's no release date for that one yet either.

The original Palworld has proven to be a huge hit. It's a cheeky and violent take on Pokémon that has attracted plenty of negative attention from Nintendo. There's no way to date or eat Pokémon in any of Nintendo's games, though Pokopia lets players move in with the creatures and sleep next to them. Many people are particularly fond of turning Machoke into a house husband, who is basically just a big and buff man.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-palworld-horror-themed-dating-sim-spinoff-is-on-the-way-185429664.html?src=rss

The Super Mario Bros. cartoon is back, but looks really weird and AI might be to blame

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Adults of a certain age will no doubt remember The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, a cartoon from 1989 that starred our favorite sibling plumbers decades before they would take over multiplexes with an animated film franchise. The broadcast channel MeTV Toons has begun airing old episodes of the show, likely to trade on the buzz emanating from the pending theatrical release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. There's just one problem. The episodes seem to have been sloppified by an AI upscaling algorithm, according to a report by Kotaku.

The original series wasn't exactly a visual delight. It was a cash grab cartoon from the 1980s. However, it looks even worse now. MeTV seems to have run the footage through a bargain bin AI upscaler and the results are, in a word, weird.

Everything looks smoothed over in an off-putting way, with some characters looking markedly different from the original footage. Many of the episodes are available on YouTube, so it's easy to do your own comparisons.

The upscaler also seems to have changed the title card to "The Suele Mario Bros. Super Show." These AI tools have never been great with visual representations of written text, but you'd think someone at the station would have given things a look over. Engadget has reached out to MeTV to ask what happened and we'll update this post when we find out.

For the uninitiated, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show ran for just a single season. But this was 1989, so a full 65 episodes aired throughout the year. Seasons didn't mess around back then. It was famous for its live-action segments that starred professional wrestler "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario. It also turned into a Legend of Zelda cartoon every Friday. There's where the famous "well, excuse me princess" meme comes from.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-super-mario-bros-cartoon-is-back-but-looks-really-weird-thanks-to-ai-171536332.html?src=rss

Rec Room, a Roblox-style VR game, is shutting down

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The Roblox-like VR title Rec Room is shutting down after operating for a decade. The free-to-play social game is closing its doors because the developers "never quite figured out" how to make it profitable, despite attracting 150 million players.

"We spent a long time trying to find a way to make the numbers work," the team wrote in a blog post. "But with the recent shift in the VR market, along with broader headwinds in gaming, the path to profitability has gotten tough enough that we’ve made the difficult decision to shut things down."

The shut down officially happens on June 1, but the platform is already making serious changes. Starting today, users will no longer be able to make friends, create new accounts or subscribe to the premium service. However, many features locked behind that subscription paywall will be free from now until June.

The devs are also allowing users to download some of the assets connected to rooms they created. This could, in theory, let them port their creations to other platforms in the future. Snapchat owner Snap has already bought up a bunch of Rec Room's assets and some employees will join the social media company, according to a report by GeekWire.

Rec Room first appeared all the way back in 2016, years before the standalone Meta Quest entered the VR scene. It was a massive hit on the PSVR platform before being ported to other hardware. There's even a traditional version of the game available for non-VR platforms. Just like Roblox, it lets folks design their own spaces to hang out in.

VR is in a tough spot right now. Meta was an industry leader, but the company has been laying off hundreds of people from its Reality Labs division. This is the team that makes VR/AR hardware and software. It's been reported that, instead, the company has been funneling more money into ongoing AI efforts. Sony's PSVR2 was also not a gigantic hit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/rec-room-a-roblox-style-vr-game-is-shutting-down-154350384.html?src=rss

The Shark BlastBoss is basically a leaf blower that can be used indoors

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Shark just introduced a new product called the BlastBoss that's basically a leaf blower rated for both indoor and outdoor use. This means it can actually be used to blow leaves around in the yard, but is also handy for tidying up debris in the house.

It offers adjustable airflow up to 190 mph, making it a "versatile solution for the garage, patio, car, inside the home and beyond." I imagine this would also make it the bane of every dog and cat in the neighborhood.

It's pretty light, at under 1.5 pounds, and cordless. The BlastBoss ships with several attachments, including an extension wand and precision nozzle for getting into tight spots like under appliances or between couch seams. The adjustable airflow means that the power can be dialed down for dusting and other less-intensive cleaning tasks.

The broom attachment.
Shark

It also comes with an attachment called the BlastBroom, which is exactly what it sounds like. This is a broom attachment that blows out air, which can be used to "loosen, lift and clear debris in one pass." The company says this is "ideal for patios, garages and walkways."

The BlastBoss is available to purchase right now and costs $150. It's available in a bunch of different colors, which is a bit odd for a leaf blower but cool for those who like to accessorize.

Five BlastBosses, in a row.
Shark

Shark has been pumping out some pretty wild products lately. There's a personal cooling device called the ChillPill and a skin-care gadget that performs aqua peels.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/the-shark-blastboss-is-a-leaf-blower-that-can-be-used-indoors-123011878.html?src=rss

AT&T now offers a single subscription for both wireless service and home internet

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AT&T just announced OneConnect, a new service that lets customers sign up for both wireless service and fiber home internet under a single subscription. Pricing starts at $90. This could end up saving some serious bucks, especially for those who are paying around $100 per month for each from separate providers.

These plans offer unlimited mobile data, which is great. The home internet speed caps at 1Gbps, which is a decent enough metric.

Pricing starts at $90 per month, which includes a single phone line, unlimited data. This plan also covers mobile data for three devices of the user's choosing, like smartwatches and tablets.

A pricing chart.
AT&T

Family plans shoot all the way up to $225 per month, but the pricier subscriptions increase the number of covered mobile devices to ten and allow up to ten concurrent phone lines. This could be a huge money-saving opportunity for large families. 

The company hasn't said anything about throttling users once they reach a certain cap on mobile data, which should please customers. This is similar to how T-Mobile handles its Magenta Max plan. Taxes and fees are included in the quoted prices, which means there shouldn't be any surprises when the bill comes around.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/att-now-offers-a-single-subscription-for-both-wireless-service-and-home-internet-091501503.html?src=rss

The original Hollow Knight just got an update to fix a glitch with a final boss

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Team Cherry just fixed a bug with the original Hollow Knight, according to a report by GamesRadar. That game came out a full nine years ago, so it's pretty impressive that the dev team is still cranking out updates.

Spoilers follow, but it's been nine years so whatever. The update involves a glitch regarding an attack from The Radiance, one of the final bosses of the game. At later stages, she tosses out these honing balls of light. These are difficult to avoid on their own, but a glitch made it so the balls of light occasionally lingered in the air after finishing. This added yet another way for the player to take some damage and led to numerous unnecessary deaths.

This has now been fixed. The patch notes say the developers "fixed Radiance's orb attack hitbox lingering slightly longer than intended if the orb expires in the air." This is great news for brand-new players and frustrating news to people who have been trying to avoid those lingering orbs for the better part of a decade. Better late than never, right?

We don't know why the company tackled this particular issue right now. It could be that the success of the long-awaited sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, has been driving new players to the original release. It's also possible they just now got around to it. Today's patch includes other stuff, like raising the volume when navigating the inventory and adding more journal notification icons. Team Cherry isn't Ubisoft or Nintendo. It's a relatively small team.

The team has been pumping out updates for Silksong as well. Team Cherry recently added traditional Chinese and German language options, which had become a sticking point for some. It's also busy working on the game's first major DLC expansion, called Sea of Sorrow.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-original-hollow-knight-just-got-an-update-to-fix-a-glitch-with-a-final-boss-173533993.html?src=rss

Blumhouse’s horror-centric cozy game Grave Seasons will be released on August 14

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The spooky, yet cozy, game Grave Seasons is coming out on August 14, which was announced at today's Xbox Partner Preview event. This is basically Stardew Valley, but set in a Lovecraftian nightmare of a town. Players farm, mine and romance villagers, but also solve murders and deal with the occasional bloodthirsty demon or two. It looks fun!

This is being published by Blumhouse Games, which is a division of the film studio that pumps out modern horror hits like Happy Death Day, M3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy's. Perfect Garbage is the development studio behind the game, which previously made the narrative-driven cyberpunk title Love Shore.

Grave Seasons is coming to just about every platform out there, including Xbox Series X/S, Steam, PS5 and the Switch. It's truly a golden age for cozy gamers.

This isn't the only cozy game with a darker undercurrent. Titles like Graveyard Keeper, Cozy Grove and Spiritfarer have all experimented with this idea. Even Nintendo's recent smash Pokémon Pokopia is set in some kind of post-apocalyptic world.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/blumhouses-horror-centric-cozy-game-grave-seasons-will-be-released-on-august-14-184042880.html?src=rss