Tag Archives: Media

Amazon Music’s Fan Groups are a refreshingly old-school way to share and find tunes

Posted on by

Amazon is in the middle of rolling out Alexa+, the long-awaited, AI-infused update for its voice assistant. At the same time, the company has also been giving a fair bit of attention to Amazon Music, adding things like Alexa+ integration and AI-powered playlists. And as of today, Amazon is rolling out a new community-focused feature called Fan Groups. As the name suggests, Fan Groups are a way for users to connect around different musical interests — and what makes this more fun to me is that these aren’t limited to Amazon-curated groups.

Once Fan Groups fully rolls out, anyone will be able to create a public group in Amazon Music based around a genre, region, time period or anything else you want to focus the group on. Right now, Fan Groups are only available in Canada during a a beta period, but they’ll come to other countries (including the US) early next year. Amazon has had testers building out some Fan Groups in the meantime so that testers don’t walk into a ghost town.

When you first open the Groups tab, which will be part of Amazon Music’s bottom navigation, you’ll see a top rail with Groups you’ve joined and a scrolling list of ones you can check out. Some of the examples Amazon showed off include “K-pop Now,” “Red Dirt Americana” and “Indie Insiders,” all of which feel pretty self-explanatory. Each group includes a “featured” playlist at the top and then a scroll of posts by people who’ve joined the group.

Members can share any song, album or playlist on Amazon Music along with a comment; you can then have a discussion on the post. It’ll be familiar to anyone who has used a Facebook Group over the years. Somewhat interestingly, Amazon is also letting you share external links Beyond the “posts” view, there’s also a music-only tab that just shows everything that has been shared to the group. One of the more intriguing features in Fan Groups is the ability to just hit “play” and listen to everything that’s been shared over time — it’s something that should be good for exploration as well as just seeing if the group’s tastes are aligned with your own.

In the quick demo I saw of Fan Groups, it felt like the rare new social tool that could be useful. Music is obviously an extremely social art, one that so many love sharing with other fans. Discovery is also a huge part of being a music fan, and I appreciate the fact that Amazon is building a way to get recommendations from other human beings and not just algorithms and AI. The only issue is that getting traction for a social network built inside of a specific service isn’t the easiest thing to do — you could just as easily share music on Facebook or any number of other apps. But the potential for finding new music and sharing what you’re into with other fellow obsessives make this feature worth a look once it fully launches.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-musics-fan-groups-are-a-refreshingly-old-school-way-to-share-and-find-tunes-150000084.html?src=rss

YouTube TV is giving subscribers a $20 credit as consolation for the Disney blackout

Posted on by

YouTube TV has notified subscribers that a $20 credit is heading their way in light of its ongoing standoff with Disney, which has resulted in numerous channels going dark on the platform, including ESPN, ABC News and Disney Channel. In an email to subscribers, the YouTube TV Team said subscribers should expect to see an email in the coming days about the credit, which will be applied to their next bill after it's redeemed. 

"We know it’s been disappointing to lose Disney content, and we want you to know we deeply appreciate your patience," the email said. YouTube TV and Disney had a deadline of October 30 to reach a new agreement about Disney's content moving forward, but that date passed with no deal. Negotiations are ongoing, according to the company. "We've been working in good faith to negotiate a deal with Disney that pays them fairly for their content and returns their programming to YouTube TV," the team said in the email. If that $20 still isn't enough to make up for the weeks of lost content, you can always pause your subscription in the meantime. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtube-tv-is-giving-subscribers-a-20-credit-as-consolation-for-the-disney-blackout-231000002.html?src=rss

Steam store pages get a mini makeover to better suit wide screens

Posted on by

Store pages on Steam are looking a lot less cramped thanks to a new update. Pages have been made wider, with support for higher resolution images and new viewing modes for trailers and screenshots. You'll notice changes in the top carousel and in the "About the Game" section, where some new formatting options should make things look a bit more organized. The update just rolled out to the public after first being tested among beta users.

With this update, pages have been widened to 1200 pixels, which Valve says "felt like a good balance where we can show more content on screen without overwhelming the page and making it hard to navigate." There's now the option of a large pop-up view called theater mode in the carousel, as well as full-screen mode. In addition to games' store pages, Valve has slightly tweaked the appearance of search results and recommendation pages to be wider, and made store hubs, Steam Charts and the News Hub look more uniform.

You may also notice some more colorful backgrounds on games' store pages and in bundle detail pages. Where you won't see changes yet, though, is the homepage. While Valve says it's working on "similar adjustments" for the homepage, those aren't rolling out with this update.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/steam-store-pages-get-a-mini-makeover-to-better-suit-wide-screens-200142506.html?src=rss

Ports-a-plenty, a zen garden creator and other new indie games worth checking out

Posted on by

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. This week saw the arrival of some fairly high-profile ports, a relaxing garden creation game and much more. I've even managed to tear myself away from Football Manager 26 for long enough to tell you about some of them.

Barely a week goes by without a fun theme event taking place on Steam and one that runs until November 10 is also going down on the Nintendo eShop. The Metroidvania Fusion Festival is a celebration of — what else? — the broad spectrum of Metroidvania games. It features 245 projects, including upcoming games and demos, and a sale with discounts of up to 90 percent. 

I've grabbed a few demos to check out this weekend, including Key Fairy (a pacifist bullet-hell game that sees you grappling and dancing your way around enemies), Echo Weaver (a time-loop puzzler that I've mentioned before) and 2D platformer Little Ghost, in which you explore a mixed media world as a cute specter.

In terms of deals, Blasphemous is 75 percent off, Blasphemous II is half off, 2D action game Gunbrella (which I've had on my wishlist for years) is 65 percent off and body horror delight Carrion is 22 percent off. I can wholeheartedly recommend Turbo Kid, a quasi-sequel to one of my favorite films of the same name. That's 35 percent off in this sale.

Elsewhere this week, I read a solid profile of developer Lente Cuenen in the The New York Times. Cuenen is the developer of Spilled!, a relaxing waterway cleanup game I've been meaning to check out for a while. The piece is an intriguing look into the life of Cuenen, who makes games about boats while living on her boat in the Netherlands.

New releases

A couple of notable indies made the leap onto Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 this week, including 1000xResist. This narrative-driven sci-fi adventure from Sunset Visitor and publisher Fellow Traveller Games earned widespread acclaim when it debuted on Steam and Nintendo Switch last year, particularly for its storytelling, visuals and how it explores various themes. It won a Peabody Award too.

I have yet to dive into 1000xResist, even though it's been on my PC and Steam Deck for months. PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players now have the chance to jump in as well. What's more, 1000xResist is on Game Pass Premium, Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

A little over a year after releasing the full version of the Satisfactory on PC, Coffee Stain Studios and Coffee Stain Publishing have brought the multi-million-selling factory builder to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. You can play solo or with friends as you construct factories on an alien planet. You'll explore the planet to find resources and maybe even engage in a little combat.

In general, both critics and players have rated Satisfactory highly. Some might say it’s more than satisfactory.

Pools was one of my favorite games of last year. It's a disquieting walking simulator, an eerie journey through a liminal space. I could almost smell the chlorine as I explored the mazy swimming pool-inspired environments. It's more eerie than downright scary. Developer Tensori brought the experience to iPhone, iPad and Mac this week. The iPad version also works on Apple Vision Pro. 

To that end, a virtual reality version of Pools is coming to PS VR2 on November 25. You'll be able to check it out in flatscreen on PS5 on the same day.

Thrasher is the latest title from Brian Gibson, the artist and composer of the intense rhythm game Thumper (and also the bassist for the noise rock band Lightning Bolt). The arcade action game debuted on Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro last year. It made the leap to Steam (and SteamVR) this week, so you can now play it on a flatscreen for the first time.

Thrasher is a very trippy-looking game from developer Puddle and publisher Creature Label. It seems like quite the wild ride and it was named Apple's Vision Pro game of the year for 2024. For what it’s worth. the team behind Thrasher says that the game runs at 90 fps on Steam Deck.

Here's a completely different change of pace. Dream Garden is all about creating a relaxing garden space for yourself. You can use hills, rivers, ponds and pebbles to shape the landscape, then add decorations. With the rake tool, you can trace patterns in the sand. 

There are no limits or timers in this Japanese-inspired game from the duo at Campfire Studio. Dream Garden is out now on Steam.

The Falconeer first took flight five years ago — it was an Xbox Series X/S launch title, fact fans. A new edition for Steam called The Falconeer: Revolution Remaster is a complete rework, as solo developer Tomas Sala rebuilt the game from the ground up. It features new tech, overhauled and expanded environments, gameplay upgrades and all of the previous DLC.

I'm glad to hear that Sala has improved the flight mechanics. I found it a bit tough to get to grips with the aerial combat when I played The Falconeer back in 2020, but I enjoyed it otherwise. 

The remastered version (which looks much grander in scope than the original game) is available as a free upgrade for existing owners on Steam. Everyone else can hop in for free until 1PM ET on November 10. While the remaster is now the default option, you'll still be able to access the original version of The Falconeer via a dedicated Steam branch, Hooray for game preservation!

Upcoming 

It wouldn't be an edition of our weekly indie roundup without a dog game, would it? You can play Sheepherds! solo, but Ultimo Disco primarily designed it as a party game for couch co-op or online multiplayer. 

It is, as the name suggests, a sheepherding game in which you'll corral flocks of sheep to shear their wool. You can earn cosmetic items and outfits for your pooch, and bump up the difficulty with optional challenges if you like. Sheepherds! is coming to Steam on November 17.

We're big fans of the Playdate around these parts and it's always fun to learn about new games that are coming to the wonderful little handheld. Panic held a showcase this week to shine a spotlight on some upcoming games, as well as others included in the fall sale that runs until November 13.

Fauna is Cadin Batrack's follow up to Playdate comics The Botanist and To Dust. It's choose-your-own-adventure visual novel with a branching narrative, this time set in a near future in which large language models have advanced to the point where humans can talk to animals. The animals use their newfound communication skills to seek equal rights. Fauna seems pretty interesting! It's coming to Playdate soon.

Zachary Snyder's Diora is a puzzle adventure that tasks you with discovering a "mysterious force that is manipulating structures and the people around them." At first glance, it reminds me a bit of Fez and the Monument Valley series. Diora will hit Playdate on December 16.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ports-a-plenty-a-zen-garden-creator-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120000091.html?src=rss

Bioware says next Mass Effect is still in development despite turmoil at EA

Posted on by

Development on the next Mass Effect is still underway, Mass Effect executive producer Mike Gamble confirmed in a blog post celebrating the series' "N7 Day" fan holiday. Bioware shared that it had started work on the new game in 2020, but Electronic Arts' decision to go private have naturally called the future of the series into question.

Gamble's blog post doesn't share many details about the new game beyond the fact that Bioware "is heads-down and focused exclusively on Mass Effect." What does seem more clear is that the game could have some kind of connection to the Mass Effect TV show currently in development at Amazon. "The writers room is going strong, and we’ve got a lot figured out about how it fits within the Mass Effect canon, and where it sits in respect to the new game," Gamble says. Notably, the series is set after the events of the original trilogy of games, and follows a new story in the universe's timeline. "It won’t be a retread of Commander Shepard’s story." 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Bioware's last game, was not the smash hit EA apparently wanted it to be, and Bioware has appeared to go through a period of contraction in response. High-profile senior staff were let go in January 2025, and even before the game was released, EA began moving Bioware developers to other studios. EA itself may also be adjusting its larger game development strategy. Following its proposed acquisition, the publisher announced a partnership with Stability AI in October to create new AI-powered tools to better streamline its development process.

The Mass Effect series is beloved, and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the 2021 remaster that packaged all the trilogy's DLC and games into a single package, was a great reminder. With a new entry and a TV show in the works, Bioware seems poised for a comeback. It just needs to survive EA until then.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/bioware-says-next-mass-effect-is-still-in-development-despite-turmoil-at-ea-200000050.html?src=rss

Engadget Podcast: Our favorite gadgets of 2025

Posted on by

2025 is almost over (gasp!), so it's time to look back at all of the best devices we've seen so far. In this episode, Engadget Deputy Editor Billy Steele joins Devindra to talk about the highlights of the year, which range from the usual suspects (like Google's Pixel and the iPhone 17 Pro), to surprises like the Ninja Swirl. Also, we chat about yet another super-thin phone and the latest sampler from Teenage Engineering.

Subscribe!

Topics

  • Engadget’s Best of 2025: phones, tablets, cameras, even EVs! – 1:40

  • Reuters reports Meta projected 10% of its revenue ($16B) came from ads for scams this year – 32:20

  • Moto Edge 70 is another super thin smartphone, but who wants it? – 41:43

  • Netflix is going big on video podcasts in 2026 – 42:56

  • You can now stream PS5 games you own to the PS Portal via the cloud – 48:23

  • Around Engadget: Why DJI drones may be banned in the U.S. – 52:27

  • Pop culture picks – 56:05

Credits

Host: Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Billy Steele
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-our-favorite-gadgets-of-2025-143000733.html?src=rss

Guillermo del Toro delivers a Frankenstein for the tech bro era

Posted on by

There's a reason the story of Frankenstein endures. Its examination of mankind's hubris and inhumane scientific progress has only become more relevant since Mary Shelley's time. The pursuit of "innovation at all costs" has led to new monsters, born from people who failed (or refused) to consider the consequences of their actions. So it's no wonder that Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro's Netflix adaptation feels so much like a modern day tech bro. He is practically their template.

Squint a bit, and you can see Frankenstein’s recklessness in Mark Zuckerberg ignoring Facebook’s role in promoting the genocide in Myanmar, with Elon Musk lying about Tesla’s real self-driving capabilities (potentially leading to several crashes), or Sam Altman’s OpenAI building a hallucinating AI search engine trained on stolen content. Screw the consequences, they just want to shout “it’s alive!” as their products go viral (and as their investors lap up the engagement).

Del Toro's Frankenstein is a remix of the major elements of the novel — there's the doomed love story, the mad scientist driven by his ego and the sympathetic monster who demonstrates far more humanity than his creator — refashioned in the director's opulent style. But it's also clear from the film's explosive opening, where an Arctic ship encounters Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) being chased by a seemingly unkillable Creature (Jacob Elordi), that del Toro isn't shying away from his campier horror roots. Arms are torn off, gallons of blood are spilled. This Frankenstein contains multitudes.

Why did Victor Frankenstein go through hell to reanimate the dead? Because he could. In the novel and this film, the whole ordeal was always about bragging rights and demonstrating his greatness as a scientist. He didn’t consider what he owed to the new life form, or the cruelty of bringing a being into the world with no companion. It didn’t matter who he hurt. Sound familiar?

Mia Goth and Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein
Mia Goth and Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein
Netflix

  What truly makes del Toro's Frankenstein work is his understanding of the characters. As Victor Frankenstein, Oscar Isaac embodies the punk rock charm of a rebel scientist who thinks he alone can invent a way to reanimate life. But he also lives with the memory of an abusive father who likely killed his beloved mother. Elizabeth fascinates and intrigues Victor, but she's also disgusted by his apathy for the natural world. It's not hard to see why she feels immediate sympathy for the Creature, who is portrayed by Jacob Elordi as a sort of child-like super human. He's an immediate disappointment to Frankenstein, who can't help but repeat the cycle of abuse he experienced with his father.

Looking back at his career, it's as if del Toro has been trying to adapt Shelley's novel through all of his films. You can see elements of the story in his debut feature Cronos, which centers on a device that makes people immortal (but also curses them with a thirst for blood). The tragic father and son relationship between Frankenstein and the Creature is mapped directly onto the evil vampires in Blade 2. The Gothic romance between Frankenstein and his sister-in-law Elizabeth (who also has eyes for the Creature) echoes Crimson Peak. And the desire for a seemingly "evil" being to fit into normal human life is front and center in del Toro's Hellboy films.

Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein
Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein
Netflix

In an interview with NPR, del Toro mentioned that, as a child, seeing the monster appear for the first time in the 1931 Frankenstein film was "an epiphany." It was an experience that helped him understand his own faith, and seemingly his entire view of life and art. His Frankenstein is the work of someone who has been living with the story for decades. It comes to life with lavish sets, his love of voluptuous colors (there's a scene of a red scarf floating in the air that haunts me) and his fascination with the macabre.

There’s a lesson in Frankenstein for today’s tech elite, but given their current obsession with AI despite its potentially massive societal and environmental impacts, I have little hope they’ll learn anything from it. But when Guillermo del Toro was asked about using generative AI by NPR, he spoke as someone who truly understood Shelley’s novel. “I’d rather die,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/guillermo-del-toro-delivers-a-frankenstein-for-the-tech-bro-era-080000058.html?src=rss

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has been delayed with no new release window

Posted on by

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has been delayed again. The project had already been pushed back in May from a planned 2025 release date to a rough early 2026 window. In a post on X today, Skydance Games said the title won't be ready for even longer. "We've made the decision to shift our release window beyond 2026," the statement reads.

Amy Hennig's studio, which is part of Skydance, is the main driver of the project, which we know is a story-driven title with a quartet of Marvel characters in occupied Paris during World War II. Hennig was a core part of the creative team behind the Uncharted series, and was more recently a story consultant on Forspoken. She's also been long tied to some mysterious Star Wars title, but that game has also been pretty light on details for a few years. 

That's two high-profile AAA delays in one afternoon. Fans worldwide will have to wait longer for the eventual arrival of Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar's eventual mega-hit has been pushed to a November 19, 2026 launch date.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/marvel-1943-rise-of-hydra-has-been-delayed-with-no-new-release-window-000121455.html?src=rss

CRKD is making a drum controller for rhythm games

Posted on by

CRKD is expanding its lineup of rhythm game controllers. The gaming accessory maker previously released guitar controllers that are compatible with games like Fortnite Festival and open-source projects like Clone Hero, and based on a recent teaser video, it looks like it's doing a drum kit controller next.

The teaser is brief, but CRKD appears to be covering all the basics that old Rock Band and Guitar Hero controllers did, with four separate colored pads, a pedal and cymbals. In a blog post, the company says that it plans to incorporate "the good lessons (and the bad)" from its previous controllers, mix them with customer feedback and hopefully make an even better controller when the drum controller is formally introduced in Q1 2026.

While rhythm games aren't as big as they used to be, they never fully left the indie scene, and they could be primed for a bit of a comeback in 2026. Nintendo plans to release a new entry in its Rhythm Heaven series, Rhythm Heaven Groove, in 2026, and Epic Games continues to support Fortnite Festival with new songs. CRKD also happens to be owned by Embracer Freemode, the same parent company of the revived RedOctane Games, which is working on new rhythm games after helping to popularize the genre with the original Guitar Hero.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/crkd-is-making-a-drum-controller-for-rhythm-games-190154673.html?src=rss

Spotify introduces weekly listening stats

Posted on by

Spotify delivers a lot of personalized, data-driven music recommendations, and now the streaming service is adding new weekly snapshots of your listening activities. Listening stats will highlight the artists and songs that a user has heard the most over the previous four weeks and creates a playlist inspired by those selections. And according to the blog post: "Each week, it also includes a special highlight that captures what makes your listening unique, whether it’s a milestone, a new discovery, or a fan moment." That's a pretty vague introduction, and how engaging the highlights are in practice will likely depend on how much they actually surprise and delight listeners. 

It sounds like a midway point between the company's year-end Wrapped data package and its daily mix playlists. More ways to view listening data are always fun, and several competing services like Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music have already upped how often they share reports with their users. This seems to be Spotify’s move to catch up on that trend.

The listening stats will live under your profile and can be shared internally on Spotify or as an external link. The new features will be available for both free and paying listeners across 60 international markets.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotify-introduces-weekly-listening-stats-140000577.html?src=rss