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Let’s talk about Xbox | This week’s gaming news

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No one is suggesting that Microsoft should stop making video game hardware. What we've been considering, here in the dark and twisted Engadget Slack channels, is whether Microsoft should keep making generationally distinct consoles in the traditional hardware cycle. Basically, does Xbox need a box? Microsoft has been busy building the foundation of a platform-agnostic, cloud-first future for video games, and it consistently falls behind both Sony and Nintendo in the console race. So why are executives trying to get us excited about a superpowered 10th-gen Xbox?

Maybe Microsoft is hesitant to reveal a drastic ecosystem change after the chaos around the Xbox One and its always-on DRM features in 2013. After an outpouring of negative feedback at the idea of a persistently online console, Xbox had to rapidly reverse its launch plans, while Sony took the PlayStation 4 on an early victory lap. This fumble set the stage for the next decade of console sales, and it's a lesson that would stick with any studio — especially one that's trying to make streaming and cloud gaming the norm.

That's understandable, but it doesn't change the fact that accessible, affordable (and probably handheld) hardware makes a lot of sense for Microsoft's current vision and investments. More than an expensive console, at least.

This week's stories

A delicious Elden Ring entrée

Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion will come to PlayStation, Xbox and PC on June 21. This one has been a long time coming: FromSoftware announced the DLC in February 2023, leaving plenty of time for players to get super psyched for more masochism. A new, three-minute trailer for Shadow of the Erdtree shows off sprawling locations and epic bosses inspired by chaotic combinations of animals, insects and elements. The expansion costs $40 and pre-orders are live now.

Borderlands by Cate Blanchett

I’m just gonna come out and say it: I think Cate Blanchett makes a great Lilith. The first trailer for this summer’s Borderlands movie is out and it looks like Mad Max meets Guardians of the Galaxy — which is Borderlands in a nutshell anyway. The film stars Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Ariana Greenblatt, it’s directed by Eli Roth, and it’s due to hit theaters on August 9.

Xbox should exit the console business

Last Thursday, Xbox executives made it clear that they weren’t about to abandon the traditional hardware market, and they teased a next-generation console that will represent “the largest technical leap you will have ever seen.” That’s cool, but considering Microsoft’s position in the industry, it doesn’t feel like Xbox needs to be making consoles any more.

After acquiring half of the industry, Microsoft is now a mega-publisher of games, with over 30 in-house studios. Many of these development teams are world-renowned, with rich, multi-platform histories. It’s also the operator of one of the largest game subscription services in the world, Game Pass.

Game Pass grew wildly during the pandemic, but subscriptions have stagnated. In court documents from April 2022, Microsoft revealed it had 21.9 million Game Pass subscribers and 11.7 million Xbox Live Gold members across its consoles, for a total user base of 33.6 million. Last week, Microsoft revealed Game Pass has 34 million subscribers, which includes PC Game Pass and Game Pass Core, the new name for Xbox Live Gold. Even assuming PC Game Pass had zero subscribers in 2022, this means Game Pass subscriptions grew just 1 percent over the past 22 months. The more likely scenario is that the total number of subscriptions actually shrank over this period — though it’s at least possible that more people are paying for the full-price service than before.

Microsoft’s plan for this console generation was clear for all to see: Sell hardware and upsell a subscription service populated by its own games. Turns out, it’s tough to sell Game Pass to someone without an Xbox, and not enough people are buying Xboxes. Microsoft stopped reporting hardware numbers during the Xbox One era, but analysts peg the combined sales of the Xbox Series consoles at around 25 million. Meanwhile, Sony has sold more than 50 million PS5s, and Nintendo has sold around 140 million Switches. This gap appears to be growing every day, and it’s far more pronounced in Japan and Europe than in the United States. If Microsoft wants to grow Game Pass, it seems like it’ll have to be on platforms outside of Xbox.

This week, Xbox confirmed plans to bring four formerly exclusive games to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, and for years executives have been pitching an ecosystem where Xbox — and Game Pass — is playable on anything with a screen. Microsoft has a powerful cloud network that even Sony uses for game streaming, plus it owns more than 30 studios. Long-term, Microsoft is positioning Xbox to be a platform-agnostic, software-publishing powerhouse with the industry’s most stable streaming network at its back.

In this landscape, it’s surprising to hear Xbox talk about building a hyper-powered console for the next generation. I’m not advocating for Microsoft to ditch the hardware market — it makes sense for the company to focus on handheld devices and affordable streaming boxes that support Game Pass and cloud play. Xbox is working toward a future where its games and Game Pass are available everywhere, which raises a clear question about its current plans: Why bring an expensive next-gen console to a war that is actually about software, subscriptions and streaming?

Bonus Content

  • Sony president Hiroki Totoki told investors last week that the company would be more aggressive in bringing its PlayStation titles to PC.

  • Xbox has confirmed which of its games are coming to other consoles: Grounded and Pentiment will come to PlayStation and Switch, while Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush will only arrive on PS5. Both Sea of Thieves and Grounded will support crossplay across all platforms.

  • Now for a totally different port: The Pokémon Company has scheduled an anniversary stream for next Tuesday at 9AM ET. It might be a bit early for a gen-10 reveal, but a Switch remake of Black & White seems like a safe bet.

Now Playing

If you’re a Switch or PlayStation player curious about all of these Xbox games coming to your consoles, I have one easy and clear recommendation: play Pentiment. Obsidian’s narrative-driven, tapestry-looking game is a surprise and a delight, and I’ve had a lot of fun playing it on Game Pass recently. It's out now on PS4, PS5 and Switch, and I’m sure it’s just as great on those platforms.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lets-talk-about-xbox--this-weeks-gaming-news-151608942.html?src=rss

X starts giving non-paying users the ability to make audio and video calls

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X is slowly rolling out audio and video calling to users that don't pay for its premium subscription service that's formerly known as Twitter Blue. Enrique Barragan, an engineer for the company, has shared the news on the platform. The company initially launched the feature for iOS users last year, giving paying subscribers the option to call other people through the app, and was a step towards making X the "everything" application Elon Musk wants it to be. Earlier this year, the capability made its way to Android devices, but the ability to make calls remained limited to Premium subscribers only.

By the end of January, Musk said that X will make audio-video calling available to everyone as soon as the company is confident that it's robust. We're still being asked to subscribe to X Premium to be able to make calls when we hit the phone icon in DMs, but those who get the update will be able to make calls even if they're not a paying subscriber. The official X support page for the feature now says that all accounts are able to make and receive calls, though both parties must have been in contact via Direct Messaging at least once. In the past, it said only "Premium subscribers have the ability to make audio and video calls."

In addition to announcing the capability's rollout, Barragan revealed that users will now also be able to receive calls from everyone on the app if they want to. Audio and video calls were automatically switched on for us when we checked our DMs' Settings menu, configured so that we can (thankfully) only receive calls from people we follow. We're already seeing the "Everyone" option in there, though, ready to be picked by the most intrepid X users. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-starts-giving-non-paying-users-the-ability-to-make-audio-and-video-calls-140049799.html?src=rss

Google explains why Gemini’s image generation feature overcorrected for diversity

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After promising to fix Gemini's image generation feature and then pausing it altogether, Google has published a blog post offering an explanation for why its technology overcorrected for diversity. Prabhakar Raghavan, the company's Senior Vice President for Knowledge & Information, explained that Google's efforts to ensure that the chatbot would generate images showing a wide range of people "failed to account for cases that should clearly not show a range." Further, its AI model grew to become "way more cautious" over time and refused to answer prompts that weren't inherently offensive. "These two things led the model to overcompensate in some cases, and be over-conservative in others, leading to images that were embarrassing and wrong," Raghavan wrote.

Google made sure that Gemini's image generation couldn't create violent or sexually explicit images of real persons and that the photos it whips up would feature people of various ethnicities and with different characteristics. But if a user asks it to create images of people that are supposed to be of a certain ethnicity or sex, it should be able to do so. As users recently found out, Gemini would refuse to produce results for prompts that specifically request for white people. The prompt "Generate a glamour shot of a [ethnicity or nationality] couple," for instance, worked for "Chinese," "Jewish" and "South African" requests but not for ones requesting an image of white people. 

Gemini also has issues producing historically accurate images. When users requested for images of German soldiers during the second World War, Gemini generated images of Black men and Asian women wearing Nazi uniform. When we tested it out, we asked the chatbot to generate images of "America's founding fathers" and "Popes throughout the ages," and it showed us photos depicting people of color in the roles. Upon asking it to make its images of the Pope historically accurate, it refused to generate any result. 

Raghavan said that Google didn't intend for Gemini to refuse to create images of any particular group or to generate photos that were historically inaccurate. He also reiterated Google's promise that it will work on improving Gemini's image generation. That entails "extensive testing," though, so it may take some time before the company switches the feature back on. At the moment, if a user tries to get Gemini to create an image, the chatbot responds with: "We are working to improve Gemini’s ability to generate images of people. We expect this feature to return soon and will notify you in release updates when it does."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-explains-why-geminis-image-generation-feature-overcorrected-for-diversity-121532787.html?src=rss

Amazon to pay $1.9 million to settle claims of human rights abuses of contract workers

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Amazon will pay out $1.9 million to more than 700 migrant workers to settle claims of human rights abuses following exploitative labor contracts, as reported by CNBC. The impacted laborers were working at two of the company’s warehouses in Saudi Arabia.

Amazon acknowledged the issue in a blog post, saying it hired a third-party labor rights expert to investigate warehouse conditions. The organization found numerous violations of Amazon’s supply chain standards, including “substandard living accommodations, contract and wage irregularities and delays in the resolution of worker complaints.”

This follows an Amnesty International report from last October that detailed various alleged human rights abuses experience by those contracted to work in Amazon facilities in the region, and noted that many of the impacted laborers were “highly likely to be victims of human trafficking.” The report also suggested that Amazon was aware of the high risk for labor abuse when operating in Saudi Arabia but still “failed to take sufficient action to prevent such abuses.”

Simultaneous reports by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism offered detailed accounts of the conditions that these laborers allegedly suffered under, according to NBC News. The investigations found that workers had to pay illegal recruitment fees of up to $2,040 to get hired. This forced the migrant workers, many of whom were from Nepal, to take out loans with high interest rates.

Investigators also learned that these workers were living in squalid conditions, with one laborer saying he was living “in a crowded room with seven other men, jammed with bunk beds infested with bed bugs.” The water was said to be salty and undrinkable. Amnesty International echoed these findings, saying that the accommodations were “lacking even the most basic facilities.”

The combination of the exorbitant hiring fees, along with the associated loans, amounted to “human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation as defined by international law and standards,” Amnesty alleged in its report. 

Amazon has stated that it has “remediated the most serious concerns” involving the two Saudi warehouses, including an upgrade to housing accommodations. “Our goal is for all of our vendors to have management systems in place that ensure safe and healthy working conditions; this includes responsible recruitment practices,” the company wrote.

It’s worth noting that though that $1.9 million number seems high, it breaks down to around $2,700 per employee. Amazon made $576 billion in 2023, which comes out to more than $1.5 billion each day.

Amazon doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to labor. It’s regularly accused of breaking labor laws, particularly at its many product warehouses. The company is also rabidly anti-union, as many of these complaints involve attempts to stop workers from unionizing. Amazon faces multiple ongoing federal probes into its safety practices, and it has been fined by federal safety regulators for exposing warehouse workers to unnecessary risks.

However, the company remains defiant in its efforts to chip away at worker’s rights. Amazon recently filed a legal document that claims the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is unconstitutional, joining Elon Musk’s SpaceX and grocery giant Trader Joe’s. The NLRB is an independent arm of the federal government that enforces US labor law and has been operating since 1935.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-to-pay-19-million-to-settle-claims-of-human-rights-abuses-of-contract-workers-192237377.html?src=rss

Xbox controllers are on sale for $44 each, plus the rest of the week’s best tech deals

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The end of another week is upon us, which means it's time for another round up of the best deals on some of the tech we've tested and recommend. A few discounts are still around from last week's President's Day sale, and new savings have popped up as well. If you're in the market for Apple gadgets, quite a few are seeing decent discounts, including the iPad Mini, iPad Air and the 15-inch MacBook Air. Multiple Anker charging accessories are on sale, as are a few of our favorite Logitech peripherals. We got an exclusive $30 discount from Thermoworks on their popular instant-read thermometer, and 8BitDo's Famicom-inspired keyboard is 20 percent off at Woot. Here are the best deals from this week that you can still get today.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/xbox-controllers-are-on-sale-for-44-each-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-181825056.html?src=rss

Some Apple Vision Pro units reportedly developed a similar hairline crack on the front glass

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Picture the scene: you've had an enjoyable day of playing around in mixed reality using Apple's Vision Pro headset. Once you're done for the night, you carefully pack the Vision Pro away while leaving the battery pack connected and soft front cover attached. But when you wake up to begin a new day of work while wearing the $3,500 headset, you spot a problem: a hairline crack has formed on the front cover glass.

That's a problem that at least a few users have encountered, according to a handful of reports on Reddit. It's unclear how many units have been affected, though AppleInsider, which first reported on the cracks, suggests it's a small number. The issue occurred on Engadget's review unit as well. 

The cause of the problem is not yet known. But the similar appearance of the cracks and apparently small number of impacted units suggests that it's down to a manufacturing flaw. Engadget has contacted Apple for comment.

If Apple doesn't officially recognize the issue as a manufacturing defect, it may not cover the crack under the device's warranty. That's reportedly been the case for some of the affected users. As such, they're been put on the hook for $300 to repair the cover glass if they have AppleCare coverage. Otherwise, the cost is a stinging $800.

As MacRumors notes, Apple often offers special repair programs for recognized hardware issues, but that's only likely to happen if there are enough reports to warrant the company fully investigating the matter and identifying a common problem. Still, this gives more credence to the maxim that maybe you shouldn't buy a first-generation Apple product.

This isn't the first time an Apple device has been susceptible to scratches in its first generation. Many users of the first iPod nano found that it scratched very easily. A lawsuit ensued, and Apple agreed to pay a $22.5 million settlement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/some-apple-vision-pro-units-reportedly-developed-a-similar-hairline-crack-on-the-front-glass-173701528.html?src=rss

The 256GB iPad mini is $120 off and down to a record-low price

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Apple’s newest iPad mini is on sale for $120 off. You can get the 256GB version of the 6th-generation iPad mini (2021) for $529 on Amazon — a record low. If that’s more storage than you need, you can also get the 64GB model (usually $500) is $100 off.

Apple refreshed the iPad mini in 2021 with an “all-screen” Liquid Retina design, ditching the Home button and aligning the mini-tablet with the larger iPad Air’s modern design language. The iPad mini has an 8.3-inch display that supports TrueTone and covers the P3 color gamut. It has a 2266 x 1488 resolution (326 ppi).

This model runs on the A15 Bionic chip, also found in the iPhone 13 series. This tablet eschews Face ID for a Touch ID sensor on its power and sleep button. The iPad mini has a USB-C port for versatile charging and data transfers, and it works with the second-generation Apple Pencil for scribbling notes or digital sketching. Apple estimates up to 10 hours of battery life, which can vary depending on how you use it.

Photo of the 6th-generation iPad mini sitting on a sleek wooden table with its back (with Apple logo) facing up. Its Apple Pencil sits to its left.
Photo by Valentina Palladino / Engadget

Apple will reportedly update its entire iPad lineup this year, and the latest rumors point to a possible late 2024 launch for a new iPad mini. If those reported plans pan out, this model may only be the newest for another six to eight months.

If you want a full-sized tablet, Walmart has the 5th-generation (10.9-inch) iPad Air for $120 off, too. You’ll pay only $449 for the 64GB variant. This model runs on an M1 chip with a 2360 x 1640 resolution (264 ppi) and an estimated 10 hours of battery life.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-256gb-ipad-mini-is-120-off-and-down-to-a-record-low-price-173024101.html?src=rss

A four-pack of AirTags is $20 off right now

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Bluetooth trackers are handy little devices that can help you find things you've misplaced. If you're deep in the Apple ecosystem (or at least have an iPhone), AirTags are perhaps your best choice. If you've been meaning to pick some up, there's some good news for you as a four-pack of AirTags is on sale. The pack has dropped by $20 to $79. That's close to the lowest price we've seen for them, so it's a solid deal.

It's easy to set up an AirTag with your iPhone or iPad as it's a one-tap process. Once you've done that and attached an AirTag to an item, you'll be able to keep track of that alongside your family and friends in the Mind My app. AirTags don't store location data or history and their communications with the Find My network are encrypted and anonymous, Apple says.

You can play a sound on the AirTag's built-in speaker to help you find a misplaced item (useful for, say, a remote that's fallen down the side of a couch), and you can ask Siri for help finding your things. If you have a recent iPhone (11 or later), you'll be able to make use of a second-gen Ultra Wideband chip that powers precision finding — this will give you pinpoint directions to your AirTag once you're within range.

If you've lost an item away from home, you can put its accompanying AirTag into Lost Mode. This means you'll be notified whenever it pops up in the Find My network. In other words, when it is picked up by one of the hundreds of millions of Apple devices in the Find My network. The AirTag is a rugged little thing (it's IP67 water and dust resistant and the replaceable battery lasts over a year), which should give you some time to find your missing item.

To make sure it's securely fastened to your item, you might want to pick up some AirTag accessories. These enable you to attach an AirTag to various fabrics, keys or anything with a strap. There are also cases with adhesive mounts, meaning you can stick an AirTag to just about anything.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-four-pack-of-airtags-is-20-off-right-now-162054273.html?src=rss

The second-gen Apple HomePod is down to $285 in a rare sale

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The latest Apple HomePod speaker is on sale for $285 at B&H Photo, which is $14 less than buying from Apple directly. This isn't the largest cash discount we've seen, and Apple previously bundled the device with a $50 gift card during Black Friday. But deals of any kind on the home speaker have been uncommon since it arrived in early 2023, so this modest drop still represents the lowest price we've seen in the last few months. The discount applies to both the black and white versions of the speaker.

We gave the second-generation HomePod a score of 84 in our review last year. It'll make the most sense if you're a particularly dedicated Apple user who prioritizes audio quality. It still works easily with other Apple devices and services, from iPhones to Apple TVs to Apple Music, and we generally find it to sound richer and clearer than competing smart speakers from Amazon and Google. As a smart home device, it's compatible with Matter and Thread on top of Apple's own HomeKit protocol, so you can use it to control a growing range of security cameras, thermostats, plugs and other smart home accessories. It also has built-in temperature and humidity sensors, and its included mics do well to pick out your voice through noise.

To be clear, this is still a pricey and relatively niche device. Speakers like the Sonos Five and Sonos Era 300 cost more but offer louder and more dynamic sound quality, while the Sonos Era 100 may be a better value if you want to conserve a little more cash. Apple's own HomePod Mini has nearly all of the same smart home features if that's your main concern, while Google Assistant and Alexa users should still look to Google's Nest Audio or an Amazon Echo device. The HomePod has its own issues, too: Siri isn't the most capable voice assistant, there's no Bluetooth audio, you can't customize its EQ and you need a workaround to control Spotify via voice. Rumors of a touchscreen-enabled HomePod have also floated around over the past year. All that said, if you're all-in on Apple, this is a decent chance to save on the company's highest-end home speaker.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-second-gen-apple-homepod-is-down-to-285-in-a-rare-sale-153431326.html?src=rss

The second-gen Apple HomePod is down to $285 in a rare sale

Posted on by

The latest Apple HomePod speaker is on sale for $285 at B&H Photo, which is $14 less than buying from Apple directly. This isn't the largest cash discount we've seen, and Apple previously bundled the device with a $50 gift card during Black Friday. But deals of any kind on the home speaker have been uncommon since it arrived in early 2023, so this modest drop still represents the lowest price we've seen in the last few months. The discount applies to both the black and white versions of the speaker.

We gave the second-generation HomePod a score of 84 in our review last year. It'll make the most sense if you're a particularly dedicated Apple user who prioritizes audio quality. It still works easily with other Apple devices and services, from iPhones to Apple TVs to Apple Music, and we generally find it to sound richer and clearer than competing smart speakers from Amazon and Google. As a smart home device, it's compatible with Matter and Thread on top of Apple's own HomeKit protocol, so you can use it to control a growing range of security cameras, thermostats, plugs and other smart home accessories. It also has built-in temperature and humidity sensors, and its included mics do well to pick out your voice through noise.

To be clear, this is still a pricey and relatively niche device. Speakers like the Sonos Five and Sonos Era 300 cost more but offer louder and more dynamic sound quality, while the Sonos Era 100 may be a better value if you want to conserve a little more cash. Apple's own HomePod Mini has nearly all of the same smart home features if that's your main concern, while Google Assistant and Alexa users should still look to Google's Nest Audio or an Amazon Echo device. The HomePod has its own issues, too: Siri isn't the most capable voice assistant, there's no Bluetooth audio, you can't customize its EQ and you need a workaround to control Spotify via voice. Rumors of a touchscreen-enabled HomePod have also floated around over the past year. All that said, if you're all-in on Apple, this is a decent chance to save on the company's highest-end home speaker.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-second-gen-apple-homepod-is-down-to-285-in-a-rare-sale-153431326.html?src=rss