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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wikipedia has banned AI-generated articles

English Wikipedia has banned the use of generative AI when writing or rewriting articles. The platform says it came to this decision because using AI to whip up copy "often violates several of Wikipedia's core content policies."

There are a couple of minor exceptions. Editors can use large language models (LLMs) to refine their own writing, but only if the copy is checked for accuracy. The policy states that this is because LLMs "can go beyond what you ask of them and change the meaning of the text such that it is not supported by the sources cited."

Editors can also use LLMs to assist with language translation. However, they must be fluent enough in both languages to catch errors. Once again, the information must be checked for inaccuracies.

"My genuine hope is that this can spark a broader change. Empower communities on other platforms, and see this become a grassroots movement of users deciding whether AI should be welcome in their communities, and to what extent," Wikipedia administrator Chaotic Enby wrote. The administrator also called the policy a "pushback against enshittification and the forceful push of AI by so many companies in these last few years."

There is one thing worth noting. Wikipedia is not a monolith. Each Wikipedia site has its own independent rules and editing teams. Some may decide to embrace LLMs. However, others may go even further. Spanish Wikipedia, for instance, has fully banned the use of LLMs, with no exceptions for refinement or translation.

Also, identifying text written by LLMs is not an exact science so Wikipedia's human moderators could miss some spots of slop every now and again. This is more likely on pages with less frequent moderation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/wikipedia-has-banned-ai-generated-articles-173641377.html?src=rss

AMD’s Ryzen 9950X3D2 chip features an incredible 208MB of on-chip cache

AMD just revealed the Ryzen 9950X3D2 Dual Edition desktop processor, which is a beastly follow-up to last year's 9950X3D. This is the company's first desktop processor where both chiplets have been equipped with AMD's proprietary 3D V-Cache technology, which seems like a boon for gamers. Each chiplet includes 104MB of cache, offering an incredible 208MB total on-chip cache.

"208MB of cache means more game data, more assets and more working data sitting right next to the CPU cores," AMD Senior VP Jack Huynh explained in an announcement video.

Just like last year's release, the 9950X3D2 features a 16-core processor based on the Zen 5 architecture. This new release has increased to a 200W TDP, compared to the 170TDP of the original. This could indicate an increase in speed and performance, but with more heat output. 

A comparison chart.
AMD

AMD says the chip will be great for both gaming and for creative workloads, like compiling game engines, running AI models and rendering 3D objects. The company says it can deliver a five to 10 percent performance boost when using applications like Unreal Engine, Chromium, Blender and DaVinci Resolve.

Last year's 9950X3D chip was already an absolute powerhouse, so we are looking forward to putting this one through its paces. The Ryzen 9950X3D2 chip will be available on April 22, though we don't have a price just yet. The standard 9950X3D currently costs around $675.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/amds-ryzen-9950x3d2-chip-features-an-incredible-208mb-of-on-chip-cache-154137156.html?src=rss

Nintendo to start charging different prices for first-party digital and physical games

Nintendo just announced it will soon start charging different prices for first-party Switch 2 games based on whether the content is digital or physical. This could actually be a good thing for those who like to download their games instead of heading to a brick-and-mortar store to pick up a copy, as digital titles are getting a nice discount.

It starts with the release of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book on May 21, which will be $60 on the eShop but $70 at retail locations. Prior to this, most first-party games were $70 no matter how you bought them. I prefer downloading games, for convenience, and paid that much for both Donkey Kong Bananza and Pokémon Pokopia.

The price of Yoshi.
Nintendo

It's yet another blow, however, for consumers who prefer physical media. They aren't getting any kind of a discount, and many Switch 2 cartridges don't even contain the game nowadays. The boxes include game key cards, which allow the user to download the title to the console but are basically paperweights after that.

This isn't the first time Nintendo has participated in this kind of dual pricing structure. The digital version of Donkey Kong Bananza was cheaper than the physical version in some parts of the world, including the UK.

Is this another sign that making and shipping actual things is getting to be prohibitively expensive? There are storage and memory shortages due to AI and oil shortages due to war, not to mention an ever-shifting tariff policy here in the US. It's tough out there. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-to-start-charging-different-prices-for-first-party-digital-and-physical-games-184249374.html?src=rss

Google’s Lyria 3 Pro can now generate AI music (slop) up to 3 minutes in length

Google just introduced Lyria 3 Pro, an updated version of its AI model that generates songs based on prompts. The biggest improvement here is the ability to make full three-minute songs, up from 30 seconds when the product launched last month.

The tool also brings a lot more customization into the mix. Users can now prompt the model to create specific elements within a song, like intros, verses, choruses and bridges. Google says "Lyria 3 Pro better understands musical composition" when compared to the previous model and that it's "great for experimenting with different styles or generating songs with complex transitions."

It's already available for paid Gemini users and for enterprise customers on Vertex AI. Additionally, developers have access to the tool via the Gemini API and Google AI Studio. The company is also integrating it into Google Vids, an AI-based video-generation platform.

Google says that "responsibility was foundational" when designing and training this model, so it only uses materials that the company has actual rights to. Additionally, all Lyria 3 Pro outputs are embedded with SynthID, which is a watermark for identifying AI-generated content.

That's all well and good, but do we need yet another AI music-making tool? Current estimates suggest that around 50,000 AI-generated tracks get uploaded daily to Spotify alone. The platform had to delete, and this is not a typo, 75 million of these tracks last year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/googles-lyria-3-pro-can-now-generate-ai-music-slop-up-to-3-minutes-in-length-172738752.html?src=rss