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Japanese banking subsidiary SMBC Consumer Finance’s annual survey of financial awareness in the country’s 20- to 29-year-olds revealed some troubling findings about the demographic’s gaming habits, Automaton reports. For example, 18.8% of the 1,000 respondents admitted to have spending so much on in-game purchases that it affected their ability to cover living expenses. Men (22.8%)...

There’s yet another Nintendo Direct coming our way, which is the third in less than a month. This one is entirely focused on the upcoming Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World. It starts at 9AM ET and should last around 15 minutes. It’s livestreaming on Nintendo’s YouTube page, but mega-fans can also open up that recently-launched Nintendo Today! app to follow along. We are embedding the YouTube link, so feel free to keep this tab open. We have no idea what information Nintendo is going to spri...

Shooting them isn't good enough.

Despite flying extremely close to the plagiarism sun, Palworld remains one of the biggest and best creature collecting games on PC. A viral sensation when it launched, its blending of a Rust-style survival game with the core Pokemon fantasy remains incredibly popular. Now, turn-based RPG Portal Fantasy attempts to introduce its own cast of monsters into a top-down, pixel art experience that not only resembles the vibes of the early Pokémon games, but gives major Stardew Valley energy too.

Oh, Jimmy... We all know just how influential EarthBound is at this point. Despite initially underselling and putting people off with weird marketing campaigns, the game (and, in turn, series) is one of the most beloved games on the SNES. So it's no wonder that EarthBound-inspired games are a dime a dozen. Here's one that may have flown under the radar for many, however — Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass from solo developer Kasey Ozymy, a "guy from Texas" who loves Japanese and Japanese-style RPGs. ...

If you have been experiencing issues with wireless CarPlay in your vehicle lately, it was likely due to a software bug that has now been fixed. Apple released iOS 18.4.1 today, and the update's release notes say it "addresses a rare issue that prevents wireless CarPlay connection in certain vehicles." If wireless CarPlay was acting up for you, updating your iPhone to iOS 18.4.1 should help. iOS 18.4.1 also includes other bug fixes and security updates. To update your iPhone, open the Settings ap...

If you run across an invitation to a Witcher 4 beta, you should report it, but please don't fall for it.

OpenAI today announced the release of new o3 and o4-mini AI models, which the company says are its smartest models to date. o3 and o4-mini can use and combine all ChatGPT tools, including web searches, analyzing files and data with Python, reasoning about visual input, and generating images. The models have been trained to reason about when and how to use different tools to provide detailed and thorough information, and to better understand and answer multi-faceted questions. They are able to "t...

Remember the good ol’ days of RTS games? Upcoming real-time strategy game Tempest Rising is the blast from the past that strategy fans need, tapping into classic Command and Conquer gameplay while polishing up the graphics, smoothing out performance with Unreal Engine 5, and even bringing award-winning Red Alert musician Frank Klepacki back in to helm the soundtrack.

The Basement is a room in Blue Prince that you’ll need to access in order to reach Room 46. There’s a lot going on down there, and there are several ways to reach it. Our Blue Prince guide will show you how to reach the Basement, give you the map of the Basement and Underground,...

After a long run of unsuccessful attempts via GPU driver updates to fix several common issues with GeForce RTX 5000 series graphics cards, Nvidia claims to have finally found the solution. Driver update 576.02 is available to download right now and fixes a ton of game crashing issues as well as the black screen fault that has been plaguing the company's newest GPUs. Nvidia has faced a ton of criticism lately, in part due to some of its latest graphics cards not delivering the price/performance b...

When the moon hits your eye... At the end of this week, fans of classic turn-based RPGs, charming characters, and a hefty dose of cheesy '90s humour will be celebrating, as the Lunar Remastered Collection launches on Switch (and other platforms).

Bubble Gum Simulator Infinity is a popular new clicker game on Roblox where players can chew gum and hatch cute pets from eggs. Available free-to-play on your phone, computer, or console via the Roblox platform, this game features gameplay where players click to chew gum and then sell the bubbles to earn in-game currency. To...

The iOS 18.4.1, iPadOS 18.4.1, macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, tvOS 18.4.1, and visionOS 2.4.1 updates that Apple released today include fixes for two major vulnerabilities, which means you should install the new software as soon as you can. According to Apple, it is aware of reports that these vulnerabilities may have been actively exploited in the wild. Apple says that the security flaws were potentially used in an "extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals." One of the issues...

Microsoft just announced that Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One owners can now stream select games they own directly from the console. This feature is exclusive to Game Pass Ultimate members. What’s the point of this? It’s intended to save both time and hard drive space. Gamers can jump right in immediately, without having to download and install a giant file. It doesn’t work with every game. As of this writing, there are over 100 titles that enable this feature. They include standouts like Assassin’...

Bloober Team has provided a first proper look at gameplay for its latest project, Cronos: The New Dawn, after a brief tease at the end of the initial reveal in October. The trailer has a very Dead Space-like feel, which shouldn't be too surprising given that this is a third-person survival horror game, but that's hardly a bad thing. There appear to be some other influences at play here, and there's one particular feature that seems quite terrifying. The game takes place across two time periods, ...

Dragons vs drugs.

Apple today released macOS Sequoia 15.4.1, a minor update to the ‌macOS Sequoia‌ operating system that launched in September. ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.4.1 comes two weeks after the launch of macOS Sequoia 15.4. Mac users can download the ‌‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌‌ update through the Software Update section of System Settings. It is available for free on all Macs able to run macOS 15. According to Apple's release notes, ‌‌macOS Sequoia‌‌ 15.4.1 includes important bug fixes and security updates, and is recomme...

Doom: The Dark Ages launches May 13, but you can already arm yourself with an arsenal of themed Xbox accessories worthy of the Doom Slayer. The highlight of the new, limited edition collection is a blood-splashed Series 2 Elite Wireless Controller — easily the coolest game-specific version of the premium gamepad yet. It launches on...

Pokémon Go’s latest event celebrates the anime, thus the long name: “Pokémon Horizons: The Series Celebration.” It runs from April 16-22 and features a bunch of the Pokémon that show up in the anime, like a Pikachu in a captain’s hat and a Floragato with a special hat. The event also has a few neat...

Pokémon Go’s “Pokémon Horizons: The Series Celebration” event has a paid research ticket that gives you a one-step research, “Don’t Tinkatink Twice!,” for $4.99. The research includes rewards like Tinkatink encounters and a special pose, but is it worth buying? Below we explain if the Pokémon Go “Don’t Tinkatink Twice!” paid research is worth it...

Apple today released iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1, minor updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating systems that came out last September. iOS 18.4.1 and iPadOS 18.4.1 come two weeks after the launch of iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. There have been complaints about issues with CarPlay and deleted apps being restored, and iOS 18.4.1 includes several bug fixes. According to...

X DMs may soon be kaput. On Tuesday, a company software engineer posted on the platform that "the whole entire DM's will be gone soon." But the former Twitter isn't getting rid of messaging; the company is said to be replacing it with a full-fledged chatting system called XChat. X Software Engineer Zach Warunek replied to another user who asked whether XChat would replace message requests. "No, not like request messages but like the whole entire DM's will be gone soon," the engineer replied. Eng...

Apple today released visionOS 2.4.1, a minor update to the visionOS 2 operating system that came out in September. visionOS 2.4.1 comes two weeks after the launch of visionOS 2.4. visionOS 2.4.1 can be downloaded on all Vision Pro headsets by navigating to the Settings app, selecting the General section, and choosing the Software Update option. To install an update, the Vision Pro headset needs to be removed, and there is a software progress bar available on the front EyeSight display. According...

In anticipation of Doom: The Dark Ages imminent arrival, Microsoft has unveiled a selection of limited edition Xbox accessories, including a wireless controller sporting the sleek, blood-spattered hues of the Doom Slayer.

Apple today released tvOS 18.4.1, a minor update to the tvOS 18 operating system that came out last September. tvOS 18.4.1 comes two weeks after Apple released tvOS 18.4, and it is available for the Apple TV 4K and ‌Apple TV‌ HD models. tvOS 18.4.1 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the ‌‌Apple TV‌‌. Open up Settings and go to System > Software Update to get the new software. ‌‌Apple TV‌‌ owners who have automatic software updates activated will be upgraded to tvOS 18.4.1 automatically....

A mere two days after announcing GPT-4.1, OpenAI is releasing not one but two new models. The company today announced the public availability of o3 and o4-mini. Of the former, OpenAI says o3 is its most advanced reasoning model yet, with it showing "strong performance" in coding, math and science tasks. As for o4-mini, OpenAI is billing it as a lower cost alternative that still delivers "impressive results" across those same fields. More notably, both models offer novel capabilities not found in...

Netflix only promoted Sean Krankel to the role of general manager of the streamer’s burgeoning “narrative games” division a few weeks ago, so he’s still working on his elevator pitch for exactly what “narrative game” means at Netflix. But he knows one thing: After working on the newly released Black Mirror tie-in game Thronglets with...

Google recently came out with the Pixel 9a, a mid-tier Android smartphone that rivals the iPhone 16e that Apple released earlier this year. We picked up a Pixel 9a to see how Google's lower-cost option compares to Apple's more affordable iPhone. The Pixel 9a joins the flagship Pixel 9 and 9 Pro smartphones that Google released last year, much like Apple added the ‌iPhone 16e‌ to the iPhone 16 lineup. The Pixel 9a is priced starting at $499, so it's $100 cheaper than the $599 starting price of th...

When is the Oblivion Remastered release date? An Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion re-release has been rumored for years now, and given Bethesda’s penchant for repacking Skyrim over the past decade, we’re surprised this hasn’t come sooner. It may not be full remake of the original game, but based on the Oblivion Remastered leaks we’ve seen so far, this is far from a low effort project. It’s fair to say that Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion established Bethesda as the masters of RPGs, setting a new standard for...

"It does seem to run well in some scenarios". Cyberpunk 2077 had a notoriously rough launch back in 2020. The game is in far better shape today, but memories of five years ago had us feeling slightly apprehensive when the open-world RPG was announced as a Switch 2 launch title — are we going to see a launch day repeat? Does Switch 2 have the power for decent performance? What about the sections that even the PS5 struggles with? To put some of those worries to rest, the tech wizards over at Digit...

Testing your strategy game, survival, and city-building skills, the icy, post-apocalyptic Frostpunk is still an absolute gem. Frostpunk 2, released just seven months ago, made a lot of strides forward, but unfortunately hasn’t resonated with fans quite as much as the original. Despite this blip - which developer 11 bit is admittedly working very hard to rectify, I should add - it’s been confirmed that a new project “set in the Frostpunk universe” is in the works.

Like a moonlit shadow.

Could you survive in prehistoric times? What if you weren’t a human, but a stranded alien attempting to make their way on our planet? While Ark asks how you’d manage among the dinosaurs, new survival game Astrobotanica takes a different angle. As Xel, a highly intelligent but out-of-luck extraterrestrial who finds themselves stuck on Pleistocene-era Earth, you’ll have to learn about the world around you and deal with the locals if you’re ever going to make it home. In just one week since develop...

With the A1, Sony was the first to introduce a high-resolution hybrid camera that was equally adept at stills and video — but boy was it expensive. Nikon and Canon followed that template with the R5 II and Z8 models that offered similar capabilities for less money, but those were still well north of $4,000. Enter the S1R II. It’s Panasonic’s first camera that can not only shoot up to 8K video at the company’s usual high standards, but also capture 44-megapixel (MP) photos in rapid bursts. And un...