Tag Archives: author_name|Kris Holt

Hotline Miami meets football, the power of video editing and other new indie games worth checking out

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Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. As always, we've got a bunch of neat games to tell you about. Perhaps I'll tear myself away from playing as Chappell Roan in Fortnite or Jetpack Cat in Overwatch long enough to check more of them out.

Thanks to the folks at Aftermath, I learned about a short, text-based game from Woe Industries from a while back called You Have Billions Invested In Generative AI. Surprisingly enough, you take on the role of a venture capitalist who has plowed gobs of money into genAI technology and might be starting to have doubts about that investment. Other characters warn you about the dangers of the tech and real-life headlines showing the impact of genAI hallucinations pop up. It's tagged as a horror game, for what it's worth. 

It's both satirical and all too real, and it's pretty funny. Plus, any game that allows me to yell at Noam Chomsky is A-OK in my book. You can play You Have Billions Invested In Generative AI for free on Itch.io.

Tackle for Loss had a very timely arrival this week, just ahead of a certain other big, real-life game. This is a football-themed take on action-heavy, top-down games like Hotline Miami. Developer Indifferent Penguin took some inspiration from the Taken film series as well — you take on the role of a CTE-afflicted former football player who sets out to rescue his kidnapped daughter.

The combat sounds pretty interesting here. You need to clear out all of the bad guys on each floor of a multistory building before you can progress, but you only have four offensive actions at your disposal each time (this draws from the four-down format of football). You'll need to plan things out before you go on the attack, not least because your character and the enemies all die in a single hit.

Tackle for Loss is out now on Steam. It'll usually run you $11, but it's 15 percent off until February 12. 

Trust Me, I Nailed It is an intriguing turn-based strategy game from Team Afternoon and publisher Jungle Game Lab. A useless warrior hires you as a video editor to make them look like a true hero capable of slaying any beast. 

Enemy attacks and other actions appear on the edit timeline as pre-recorded footage, and the idea is to plot out the warrior's movements around those. You have post-processing visual effects tricks at your disposal, so you can let the warrior teleport and convert low-power strikes into critical hits.

It's a fun idea, and a reminder (as if we should need one in the current climate) not to always take videos at face value. Trust Me, I Nailed It is on Steam now and it's free-to-play.

Tomb of the Bloodletter is a spin on the roguelike deckbuilder genre that I haven't really seen before. Your deck consists of magic powers that are applied to letters of the alphabet. Spelling out words using these Magicks can result in powerful combinations, particularly if you use the same letter multiple times. That's right, this is a typing game — a roguelike deckbuilder that the likes of Wordle players might be interested in.

It's really about coming up with words that put the right letters in a specific order. For instance, certain letters are more effective if you place them at the end of a word. So, this should get your brain ticking.  

Tomb of the Bloodletter — from Ethan's Secretions and indie.io — debuted during the Steam Typing Fest. It'll typically cost $8, but there's a 20 percent discount until February 19.

Shadowstone is an upcoming turn-based tactical co-op roguelike for up to four players from developer Secret Door and Dreamhaven (Blizzard co-founder and ex-CEO Mike Morhaime's company). It's set in the same universe as Secret Door's Sunderfolk. 

The action plays out on a hexagonal board with randomized rooms and enemies. Positioning will be key, and finding synergies between the abilities of the playable characters will put you in good stead.

Shadowstone will hit Steam in early access later this year for $15. It's also coming to the Epic Games Store.

Meanwhile, a major update for Sunderfolk is set to go live on March 10. It will introduce a new tank-style character and two fresh sets of missions. Secret Door will also add two much-requested features to PC versions: online multiplayer and — so you don't have to use your phone to play the game anymore — mouse and keyboard controls.

I really loved Planet of Lana and the sequel is among my most-anticipated games of this year. There's now a release date for the upcoming puzzle platformer. Wishfully and Thunderful Publishing are bringing it to Steam, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch on March 5. It'll also be on Game Pass on day one.

A Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf demo will hit Steam, Xbox and PlayStation on February 11. It will arrive on Switch a bit later.

Is Sticker/Ball the first Ball x Pit-like? I'm not entirely sure. Still, it is now firmly on my radar. Instead of firing balls at a horde of constantly-advancing enemies, here you'll shoot them at dice to earn points. You'll unlock stickers that can be applied to said dice and they’ll interact with each other too. For instance, spiders can create webs and these can catch flies that are attracted to poop stickers. 

The trailer describes another interaction, "frog jumped and triggered cigarette pack." Frogs can also hijack spaceships, apparently, and there's a bouncing DVD (well, "VID") logo. There are more than 100 types of stickers and dozens of different enemies.

I don't really understand what's going on in the trailer, but it's somehow making my brain happy, so this is going on my wishlist. Solo dev Bilge is behind Sticker/Ball, which is coming to Steam soon through the help of publisher Future Friends Games. A demo is available now, so that's my weekend sorted.

Skate City has long been one of the best games on Apple Arcade. Its creator, Daniel Zeller, (Zellah Games) has revealed a new project. Skate Style is billed as a "next-gen skateboarding game with high-end graphics." You'll be able to take to the virtual streets of Barcelona and Prague to show off your best moves. 

What could help Skate Style really stand out from the pack is the animation editor, which enables you to create completely new tricks. The game is slated to have an "advanced" character creation tool as well as mod support, so there'll be a high level of customization available. 

A Skate Style demo is available on Steam now. The full game should land on PC later this year. Here's hoping the soundtrack can match up to those from the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series.

Crimson Capes is billed as a 2D Soulslike action RPG with four playable characters, elemental magic, more than 25 bosses, swordfighting, lots of secrets, co-op, optional hunts with randomized dungeons and invasions from other players. That all sounds neat enough, but most exciting to me here is the pixel-art, rotoscoped animation work. It looks modern and retro at the same time, and I'd love to see this sort of style in more games. I also dig that you get a PDF instruction manual and game guide as well as a printable world map when you buy the game.

You (and I) won't have to wait long to play Crimson Capes, which is from Poor Locke. It's coming to Steam on February 12 for $15, though you'll get 10 percent off if you pick it up within the first nine days. Console versions are in the pipeline too.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hotline-miami-meets-football-the-power-of-video-editing-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120000628.html?src=rss

Guerrilla reveals Horizon Hunters Gathering, a co-op action spin-off for PS5 and PC

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Horizon is one of PlayStation's biggest franchises at this point. Alongside Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, there are a bunch of spin-off games. Joining them is Horizon Hunters Gathering, a co-op action game that original Horizon developer Guerrilla is making for PlayStation 5 and PC. We've known since 2022 that the studio was working on a Horizon multiplayer game.

Here, you'll be able to team up with a couple of friends to hunt killer machines, Monster Hunter style. Guerrilla says it's designing the hunts to be challenging and replayable. "Combat is tactical, reactive, and deeply skill-based, building on the tactical precision of the Horizon games while embracing the dynamics of team play," game director Arjan Bak wrote on the PlayStation Blog. The game also has a more stylized look compared with the more grounded visuals of the mainline games.

Horizon Hunters Gathering has multiple game modes. In Machine Incursion, you'll battle waves of machines plus a tough boss. Guerrilla is pitching Cauldron Descent as a longer, multi-stage mode with a series of chambers to work through. These will contain things like battles with machines and "hidden doors that promise power and reward for teams prepared to open them."

There's a roster of characters to choose from that will expand over time. Each hunter has their own melee or ranged weapons and playstyles. The game has a roguelite perk system too, through which you'll be able to shape your hunter's build on each run, and you can select a class that alters their abilities. There's a social hub where you can customize your characters, visit shops, upgrade your gear and assemble a team for a mission.

Guerrilla says Hunters Gathering is canonical to the Horizon universe. It has a narrative campaign with "new mysteries, characters and threats." You’ll be able to play through the story with bots or with friends in co-op. The studio says it will add more adventures over time.

There'll be support for cross-play and cross-progression between PS5 and PC. Guerrilla says it'll have more to share about the game in the coming months, but you won't necessarily need to wait a long time to try it out. The first closed playtest will take place later this month. You can sign up through the PlayStation Beta Program.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/guerrilla-reveals-horizon-hunters-gathering-a-co-op-action-spin-off-for-ps5-and-pc-162058264.html?src=rss

Fallout 4 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle get Switch 2 release dates

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Todd Howard made a surprise appearance at the end of Thursday’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase to share updates about a few Bethesda Game Studios that are coming to Nintendo Switch 2 this year. The first of those is Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, which will hit the console on February 24.

This version of Fallout 4 debuted on PC, Xbox and PlayStation in November. It includes the base game and all DLC, as well as Creation Club mods. It’ll land on Switch 2 just a few weeks after the second season of the Fallout TV show wrapped up. A Switch 2 version was previously announced, but we didn’t have a release date until now.

In a few months — on May 12, to be exact — you’ll be able to play the fantastic Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on your Switch 2 (a port of that game for Nintendo’s system was also announced last year). And then, later this year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will arrive on the console. Let’s just hope Bethesda has properly optimized that for Switch 2.

Of course, these aren’t the first Bethesda games to land on Nintendo systems. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has long been available for the Switch. A Switch 2 version arrived in December.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/fallout-4-and-indiana-jones-and-the-great-circle-get-switch-2-release-dates-150023624.html?src=rss

Overwatch will drop the ‘2’ as Jetpack Cat and four other heroes arrive on February 10

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Blizzard is running a series of showcases for several of its major franchises and on Wednesday, it was time for Overwatch to step up to the plate. That’s Overwatch, by the way, and not Overwatch 2. The studio is formally nixing the number from the game's name. 

"Overwatch is more than just a digit: it's a living universe that keeps growing, keeps surprising, and keeps bringing players together from around the world," the Overwatch team said in a statement. "This year marks a huge turning point in how the development team envisions the future of Overwatch, so we are officially dropping the '2' and moving forward as Overwatch."

Blizzard made a big hullabaloo about Overwatch 2 being a sequel to the original game when it went live in October 2022 as part of a shift to a free-to-play model. There were a ton of major changes, not least a format switch from 6v6 to 5v5, with one tank being dropped from each team — a contentious decision that has been walked back with the return of 6v6 modes. 

The grand vision Blizzard originally had for Overwatch 2 never quite came together. The studio canceled its planned hero missions, which were going to have RPG-like talent trees and long-term progression, but it carried some of that DNA over to the Stadium mode.

We only got one round of co-op story missions as well. That paid expansion reportedly sold poorly, leading Blizzard to scrap work on the player vs. environment elements of Overwatch to focus on the competitive player vs. player modes.

Over the last couple of years, though, Blizzard really seems to have steadied the ship. Overwatch is arguably in the best shape it's been in for a long time. 

This is shaping up to be a big year for Overwatch. May will mark its 10th anniversary (I have to imagine the team has something significant planned for that). Blizzard laid out much of the roadmap for 2026 during the Overwatch Spotlight showcase. We won’t have to wait long at all to see significant changes to the game. 

When the next season goes live on February 10, it will be the biggest update to Overwatch at least since the Stadium mode and perks system went live last year, and arguably since the dawn of the Overwatch 2 era. That’s partly because Blizzard is adding five new heroes to the mix all at once next week.

One of those is a character that the studio said in 2017 it had experimented with but ultimately, um, scratched. Jetpack Cat is alive after all, and is coming to Overwatch in a matter of days.

This is a support hero with a permanent flight ability who can "tow" an ally, carrying them through the air while healing them. Jetpack Cat's ultimate ability sees the kitty diving into the ground to knock down enemies and tether the closest one to them, she can drag them toward a pit for an environmental kill, for instance. The ultimate is called Catnapper, which is delightful. Also, Jetpack Cat’s primary weapon is called Biotic Pawjectiles.

I adore her already. It’s fun to see weird Wrecking Ball-type characters coming to Overwatch again. 

Overwatch hero Anran, with a fan that's on fire.
Blizzard Entertainment

The other new heroes joining the fray next week are Domina (a zone-control tank with "long-range precision"), damage dealer Emre (a "fast‑paced, mobile soldier archetype with conflicting identity due to cybernetic modification"), Mizuki (a support who can throw a hat to heal allies) and Anran (a high-mobility hero who deals fire damage and can self-resurrect with their ultimate).

As with Jetpack Cat, the latter of those is aligned with the Overwatch faction. You can try Anran out starting February 5 as part of a hero trial. The other three have ties to the villainous Talon organization. Expect another hero to join the fray every couple of months this year as each new season gets under way. That means more heroes will be added to Overwatch in 2026 than in any year since the game’s debut.

A "story-driven era"

Vendetta in Overwatch
Blizzard Entertainment

The next season spells the beginning of what Blizzard is calling a "new story-driven era" for Overwatch, starting with a year-long narrative arc called The Reign of Talon. All of the lore, heroes, events and so on that emerge over the next 12 months will be tied to the rise of Talon.

The studio says this is the "the first fully connected annual storyline in Overwatch history." A new arc will begin next year with Season 1 of 2027 (Blizzard is resetting the season counter when The Reign of Talon begins).

Elsewhere, each role will be split into sub-roles, and the heroes in each will share a passive ability. For instance, "initiator" tanks heal more while they're in the air, several damage heroes can detect enemies that are below half health through walls after damaging them and some supports have excess ultimate charge that carries over after you use their most powerful ability.

Also on the way soon is a "meta event" called Conquest. This is billed as a faction war between Overwatch and Talon that will run for five weeks, with dozens of loot boxes and other rewards (such as some legendary Echo skins) up for grabs.

Overwatch's home screen with a redesigned user interface
Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard has overhauled the Overwatch interface too, with updated menus, a new hero lobby, a notification hub and the promise of faster navigation. Stadium will have some updates, such as refreshed ability icons and recommended builds based on global data that will be updated between rounds. Vendetta is joining that mode's roster as well.

Along with all the new heroes and other updates, a Hello Kitty collaboration will run for two weeks starting on February 10 with themed cosmetics for several heroes. Lots of other cosmetics are in the pipeline, including Crimson Wolf weapon skins you can unlock using competitive points, and rainy day and Valentine's items. Shop items from the last six seasons are going into loot boxes, while mythic cosmetics for Mercy, Juno and Mei will be available in Season 1.

Hello Kitty cosmetics in Overwatch
Blizzard Entertainment

Looking further ahead, a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Overwatch will arrive alongside Season 2, which will start in April. Some heroes will be getting their second mythic skins, including Ana and Genji. Genji, Hanzo and Sojourn will have mythic weapon skins in the coming months. Two new maps, including a Japan Night one, for the main modes are coming, along with the return of post-match accolades.

There’s so much on the way for my go-to game. I don't know how I'm going to be able to take a long-enough break from Overwatch to play cool indies ever again.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/overwatch-will-drop-the-2-as-jetpack-cat-and-four-other-heroes-arrive-on-february-10-184500327.html?src=rss

Overwatch will drop the ‘2’ as Jetpack Cat and four other heroes arrive on February 10

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Blizzard is running a series of showcases for several of its major franchises and on Wednesday, it was time for Overwatch to step up to the plate. That’s Overwatch, by the way, and not Overwatch 2. The studio is formally nixing the number from the game's name. 

"Overwatch is more than just a digit: it's a living universe that keeps growing, keeps surprising, and keeps bringing players together from around the world," the Overwatch team said in a statement. "This year marks a huge turning point in how the development team envisions the future of Overwatch, so we are officially dropping the '2' and moving forward as Overwatch."

Blizzard made a big hullabaloo about Overwatch 2 being a sequel to the original game when it went live in October 2022 as part of a shift to a free-to-play model. There were a ton of major changes, not least a format switch from 6v6 to 5v5, with one tank being dropped from each team — a contentious decision that has been walked back with the return of 6v6 modes. 

The grand vision Blizzard originally had for Overwatch 2 never quite came together. The studio canceled its planned hero missions, which were going to have RPG-like talent trees and long-term progression, but it carried some of that DNA over to the Stadium mode.

We only got one round of co-op story missions as well. That paid expansion reportedly sold poorly, leading Blizzard to scrap work on the player vs. environment elements of Overwatch to focus on the competitive player vs. player modes.

Over the last couple of years, though, Blizzard really seems to have steadied the ship. Overwatch is arguably in the best shape it's been in for a long time. 

This is shaping up to be a big year for Overwatch. May will mark its 10th anniversary (I have to imagine the team has something significant planned for that). Blizzard laid out much of the roadmap for 2026 during the Overwatch Spotlight showcase. We won’t have to wait long at all to see significant changes to the game. 

When the next season goes live on February 10, it will be the biggest update to Overwatch at least since the Stadium mode and perks system went live last year, and arguably since the dawn of the Overwatch 2 era. That’s partly because Blizzard is adding five new heroes to the mix all at once next week.

One of those is a character that the studio said in 2017 it had experimented with but ultimately, um, scratched. Jetpack Cat is alive after all, and is coming to Overwatch in a matter of days.

This is a support hero with a permanent flight ability who can "tow" an ally, carrying them through the air while healing them. Jetpack Cat's ultimate ability sees the kitty diving into the ground to knock down enemies and tether the closest one to them, she can drag them toward a pit for an environmental kill, for instance. The ultimate is called Catnapper, which is delightful. Also, Jetpack Cat’s primary weapon is called Biotic Pawjectiles.

I adore her already. It’s fun to see weird Wrecking Ball-type characters coming to Overwatch again. 

Overwatch hero Anran, with a fan that's on fire.
Blizzard Entertainment

The other new heroes joining the fray next week are Domina (a zone-control tank with "long-range precision"), damage dealer Emre (a "fast‑paced, mobile soldier archetype with conflicting identity due to cybernetic modification"), Mizuki (a support who can throw a hat to heal allies) and Anran (a high-mobility hero who deals fire damage and can self-resurrect with their ultimate).

As with Jetpack Cat, the latter of those is aligned with the Overwatch faction. You can try Anran out starting February 5 as part of a hero trial. The other three have ties to the villainous Talon organization. Expect another hero to join the fray every couple of months this year as each new season gets under way. That means more heroes will be added to Overwatch in 2026 than in any year since the game’s debut.

A "story-driven era"

Vendetta in Overwatch
Blizzard Entertainment

The next season spells the beginning of what Blizzard is calling a "new story-driven era" for Overwatch, starting with a year-long narrative arc called The Reign of Talon. All of the lore, heroes, events and so on that emerge over the next 12 months will be tied to the rise of Talon.

The studio says this is the "the first fully connected annual storyline in Overwatch history." A new arc will begin next year with Season 1 of 2027 (Blizzard is resetting the season counter when The Reign of Talon begins).

Elsewhere, each role will be split into sub-roles, and the heroes in each will share a passive ability. For instance, "initiator" tanks heal more while they're in the air, several damage heroes can detect enemies that are below half health through walls after damaging them and some supports have excess ultimate charge that carries over after you use their most powerful ability.

Also on the way soon is a "meta event" called Conquest. This is billed as a faction war between Overwatch and Talon that will run for five weeks, with dozens of loot boxes and other rewards (such as some legendary Echo skins) up for grabs.

Overwatch's home screen with a redesigned user interface
Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard has overhauled the Overwatch interface too, with updated menus, a new hero lobby, a notification hub and the promise of faster navigation. Stadium will have some updates, such as refreshed ability icons and recommended builds based on global data that will be updated between rounds. Vendetta is joining that mode's roster as well.

Along with all the new heroes and other updates, a Hello Kitty collaboration will run for two weeks starting on February 10 with themed cosmetics for several heroes. Lots of other cosmetics are in the pipeline, including Crimson Wolf weapon skins you can unlock using competitive points, and rainy day and Valentine's items. Shop items from the last six seasons are going into loot boxes, while mythic cosmetics for Mercy, Juno and Mei will be available in Season 1.

Hello Kitty cosmetics in Overwatch
Blizzard Entertainment

Looking further ahead, a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Overwatch will arrive alongside Season 2, which will start in April. Some heroes will be getting their second mythic skins, including Ana and Genji. Genji, Hanzo and Sojourn will have mythic weapon skins in the coming months. Two new maps, including a Japan Night one, for the main modes are coming, along with the return of post-match accolades.

There’s so much on the way for my go-to game. I don't know how I'm going to be able to take a long-enough break from Overwatch to play cool indies ever again.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/overwatch-will-drop-the-2-as-jetpack-cat-and-four-other-heroes-arrive-on-february-10-184500327.html?src=rss

February’s Xbox Game Pass additions include High on Life 2, Madden NFL 26 and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

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Microsoft has revealed the first wave of Xbox Game Pass additions for February, and it feels like there's a bit of something for everyone this time around. Two of the titles land on the service today across the Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass tiers: Final Fantasy II (cloud, Xbox Series X/S and PC) and Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (cloud, console, handheld and PC). Final Fantasy II is a "remodeled 2D take" on the classic 1988 RPG, while Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a wild-looking spin-off of the main Like a Dragon series with pirates and naval combat.

Madden NFL 26 is hitting Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass across cloud, console and PC on February 5, so subscribers will be able to get in a few virtual downs before the Super Bowl on Sunday at no extra cost. Paw Patrol Rescue Wheels: Championship will join the Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass lineups on the same day across cloud, console, handheld and PC.

On February 10, a game I've been looking forward to, Relooted, joins Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on cloud, Xbox Series X/S and PC. I really enjoyed the demo of this heist game, in which the goal is to recover African artifacts from Western museums. Two days later, you can check out BlazBlue Entropy Effect X, which is a 2D roguelite action game set in the BlazBlue universe, on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass (cloud, Xbox Series X/S and PC).

Also on February 12, Roadside Research will become available in game preview on cloud, Xbox Series X/S and PC on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. This is a co-op (or solo) game for up to four players in which you run a gas station as a group of aliens. You'll examine humans and try to gather as much data as you can without raising suspicion and a potential visit from the feds. The aliens’ disguises, as shown in the trailer, are pretty funny.

A third game is on the docket for February 12, with life sim Starsand Island arriving on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass (cloud, Xbox Series X/S, and PC). A day later, High on Life 2 lands on the same tiers and platforms with a whole new bunch of strange, talking weapons. That's a day-one addition to the line up. Also on February 13, Kingdom Come Deliverance will become delivered to Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass across cloud, console and PC. 

On February 17, you can embrace your inner Na'vi in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora on cloud, Xbox Series X/S, handheld and PC on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. I quite enjoyed my initial hands-on with the game, but I haven't jumped into the full version as yet. 

Last, but not least, Avowed will join the lower Game Pass Premium tier on February 17 across cloud, Xbox Series X/S and PC. It will do so almost exactly a year after its debut and on the same day it hits PlayStation 5 and a major update goes live. Avowed was one of our favorite games of 2025.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/februarys-xbox-game-pass-additions-include-high-on-life-2-madden-nfl-26-and-avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-160656985.html?src=rss

Firefox will soon offer a way to block all of its generative AI features

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Like practically every other tech company under the sun, Mozilla has been jamming generative AI features into its products. The organization has now acknowledged that not everyone wants things like plagiarism machines chatbots in the Firefox sidebar, so it’s giving you the option to turn off all of that. 

On February 24 (or earlier in Firefox Nightly builds), Mozilla will roll out Firefox 148, which will include an AI controls section in the desktop browser settings. From here, you’ll be able to block current and future generative AI features, or only enable select tools. 

At the jump, you’ll have the option to disable (or enable) chatbots in the sidebar, automated translations and alt text generation for PDFs. You’ll also be able to nix a tool called AI-enhanced tab grouping (which offers suggestions of related tabs and group names), as well as webpage previews that display “key points" before you actually click on a link. If you’d prefer to get rid of all of these — and for Firefox to not bother you with pop-ups and notifications about current and upcoming AI features — just make sure the "Block AI enhancements" toggle is on. 

Perhaps Mozilla has come to realize that, rather than having AI cruft soaking up resources and causing apps to bloat, what many people actually want is a fast, secure and streamlined web browser. At the very least, giving users a way to opt out of features they don’t want is a positive step. Now then, Google, about AI Overviews...

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/firefox-will-soon-offer-a-way-to-block-all-of-its-generative-ai-features-203132958.html?src=rss

A developer turned Wikipedia into a social media-style feed

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While it's important to stay informed about what's going on in the world, endlessly scrolling through your social media feeds and absorbing what's likely to be a largely negative influx of information can't be great for your mental wellbeing. Perhaps with an eye on stopping you from doomscrolling, developer Lyra Rebane created Xikipedia, a social media-style feed of Wikipedia entries.

The web app algorithmically displays info from Simple Wikipedia. "It is made as a demonstration of how even a basic non-[machine learning] algorithm with no data from other users can quickly learn what you engage with to suggest you more similar content," the Xikipedia landing page reads. "No data is collected or shared here, the algorithm runs locally and the data disappears once you refresh or close the tab."

You can opt to see entries from certain categories (including custom ones) and you can like “posts,” each of which is a summary of the relevant Simple Wikipedia entry. Liking a post makes it more likely for posts from the same category, parent categories and linked articles to appear in your feed, Rebane explained.

You can click or tap on a post to visit the full article. It's important to note that, since Xikipedia pulls text and images from random articles, you'll probably see some NSFW material if you scroll for long enough, so be warned. You'll also likely need to wait a beat for Xikipedia to load its 40MB of data.

As someone who has a bookmark that takes me to a random Wikipedia article whenever I click it, I love the idea of Xikipedia. The Simple English Wikipedia has more than 278,000 articles, so there are hundreds of thousands of posts available to scroll through. However, it doesn’t seem to be updated as often as the main version of Wikipedia. The discography section of one musician's page I ended up on was missing their two most recent albums. Still, it's worth treating this like Wikipedia proper: as a starting point for discovering new things (sort of in the tradition of StumbleUpon).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/a-developer-turned-wikipedia-into-a-social-media-style-feed-174924280.html?src=rss

Blizzard’s quality assurance workers finally have a union contract

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Almost three years after starting the bargaining process with Microsoft, quality assurance workers at two Blizzard locations have ratified a union contract. The agreement covers 60 workers at Blizzard Albany and Blizzard Austin.

The agreement includes guaranteed pay increases across the three years of the contract, assurances that workers will be given fair credits and recognition on games that ship, discrimination-free disability accommodations, restrictions on crunch (i.e. mandatory overtime) and "protection to immigrant workers from unfair discipline and loss of seniority while streamlining legal verification." Stronger rules around the use of AI are included in the contract as well.

“At a time when layoffs are hitting our industry hard, today is another big step in building a better future for video game workers at every level,” Blizzard Albany quality analyst Brock Davis said in a statement. “For quality assurance testers, this contract provides us wages to live on, increased job security benefits and guardrails around artificial intelligence in the workplace.”

As with other unions in Microsoft's game divisions, the Blizzard QA workers organized with the Communications Workers of America. This marks the third union agreement at Microsoft after ZeniMax and Raven Software workers ratified contracts last summer. Several other Blizzard divisions have unionized within the last year, including the cinematics team, Overwatch developers and a unit that works on Diablo.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/blizzards-quality-assurance-workers-finally-have-a-union-contract-162614979.html?src=rss

Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 hits Netflix on April 23

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While the main series might be over, Netflix is far from done with Stranger Things. The first spin-off to hit the streaming service will be Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85. The company had said that the animated show would arrive sometime this year and now, alongside a new trailer, it confirmed a release date of April 23. 

The trailer is a bit of an odd watch given that Stranger Things wrapped up only a month ago. Going from that to this animated style with a whole new voice cast is jarring, but a fun gag at the end of the clip taps into certain misconceptions the audience might have.

Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 is set during the winter between seasons 2 and 3 of the original show. After Eleven closes the gate to the Upside Down, some nasties from the other dimension still persist in our heroes' world. The trailer doesn't give too much away on the story front otherwise, but there's a suitably hairy moment involving a circular saw.


This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/stranger-things-tales-from-85-hits-netflix-on-april-23-150436136.html?src=rss