Category: Technology

If you can’t get your hands on the latest Nintendo Switch 2, you might be able to keep the FOMO at bay in the meantime with a clever mod for your Switch Lite. Retro Remake’s co-founder, Taki Udon, posted a video showing off a working version of the SUPER5 OLED Touch HDMI mod. As the lengthy name suggests, this third-party mod adds an OLED display, a glass touchscreen and HDMI output to the Switch Lite.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is barely a month old so it’s too early to expect any news on a Switch Lite successor. However, the Retro Remake’s mod adds some crucial upgrades to Nintendo’s handheld that was released in 2019 and gives us some idea of what a next-gen version could look like. Notably, it’s a no-solder mod that mostly only requires connecting cables and can output 1080p HDMI video to a larger screen than the Switch Lite’s 5.5-inch LCD touchscreen.

Retro Remake previously offered a SUPER5 OLED Touch mod, which lacked the HDMI feature. Adding the extra feature proved to be a serious challenge, according to the company’s co-founder, who said the project took “18 months of R&D, just as many failed revisions, and more than $200K in costs.”

“I can’t describe how soul-crushing it was to go through so many failed revisions,” Taki Udon wrote on X. “After the third failure, I was hopeful every subsequent version would be successful, but they weren’t.”

Testing is still underway for the SUPER5 OLED Touch HDMI upgrade kit, but the latest post shows that the Switch Lite mod playing Mario Kart on a larger display. Retro Remake’s HDMI upgrade kits start at $90, but are currently sold out on its website. According to an email sent out to preorder customers, the company is unsure of when it will ship these kits out.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/this-hdmi-mod-lets-you-play-nintendo-switch-lite-on-a-big-screen-164625907.html?src=rss 

Meta has finalized the agreement to purchase Play AI, a startup based in California providing users with an AI voice cloning tool, according to Bloomberg. The news organization says the “entire PlayAI team” is joining Meta next week, based on the internal memo it has seen. After joining the company, the team will be working under Johan Schalkwyk, who used to oversee speech AI research for Google and who was also a recent hire from another voice AI startup. 

PlayAI’s tool can clone a user’s voice and can generate new human-like voices, which can be used on websites, apps and phones. Meta reportedly noted in its memo that the PlayAI team’s work is a “great match” for its own work and roadmap across various products, including Meta AI, its AI Characters and its wearables. The company has confirmed the acquisition to Bloomberg, but it didn’t reveal how much it paid for the deal. 

Mark Zuckerberg has been personally involved in building a team for the company’s new AI Superintelligence lab over the past months with the aim of developing artificial intelligence smarter than humans. In June, Meta finalized a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI in exchange for hiring its CEO, Alexandr Wang, who will serve as the new lab’ head. Scale AI is a startup, which labels data that its clients can use for AI training. 

Meta has reportedly been offering $100 million bonuses to employees of rival companies to get them to jump ship. Reuters listed several employees it had poached from competitors so far, including the co-creators of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4 models, as well as people who worked on Google Gemini. Bloomberg also previously reported that Apple had lost its top AI executive in charge of developing its advanced AI features to Meta. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-reportedly-closes-deal-to-buy-ai-voice-replicator-playai-160037942.html?src=rss 

Welcome to our latest roundup of indie game news and releases. We’ve got some nifty stuff lined up for you this time around, including a stylish co-op shooter and a very cool Metroidvania concept. But first I’d like to bring your attention to a newish game I picked up in the Steam Summer Sale. It is absolutely breaking my brain — or perhaps it might actually improve my cognitive function.

It’s called Ambidextro and it’s from Majorariatto, which self-published the game (the two-person studio’s tagline is “Video games that ruin lives”). The gist here is that you play a wizard sent by a queen to rescue her children after a witch kidnaps them and takes them to two different places. Rather than let him try to find the princess and prince one at a time, the queen bisects the wizard and orders him to the dungeons until he learns to control both halves of his body simultaneously. That’s where you come in.

There are 100 single-screen levels in Ambidextro and you complete them by controlling each half of the wizard at the same time. One with the left thumbstick and the jump button of your choice, and one with the right. The aim is to bring the two halves of the wizard together. The timer doesn’t leave much room for error and when one half dies, it’s back to the start. Sure, you could cheat by getting a friend to control one of the wizard halves, but that defeats the purpose.

I am a truly horrible multitasker, so I was curious how well I’d do at playing Ambidextro. As it turns out, I got through the first 19 levels fairly quickly, and then I was absolutely rotten at it. Granting myself more time through the accessibility settings helped a bit, but it’s still a tough game. I’m going to stick with it to see if I can get better. There’s no way it could be as difficult as simultaneously playing two characters in Overcooked by myself. Now, that’s impossible.

New releases

Mycopunk is a co-op shooter from developer Pigeons at Play and publisher Devolver Digital that arrived in early access on Steam this week. With a Moebius-style look that reminds me a bit of Sable, the fantastic Rollerdrome and the Borderlands series, Mycopunk is certainly eye-catching. 

You can team up with three friends and play as robots that have been hired to eradicate a fungus that’s infected a valuable world. Each of the robots has their own moveset and class, but (as in the Borderlands games) there’s a great deal of variety and customization when it comes to the weaponry.

Inscryption showed what’s possible when you inject horror into a card-based game, and perhaps that was an influence for Occlude, which is out now on Steam. This is billed as a “game of occult Solitaire.” Sure, you’ll arrange cards by numerical rank, but it seems there’s more going on here than might first meet the eye. As the title suggests, the rules are somewhat obscured in this narrative puzzle title from Tributary Games and publisher Pantaloon. Can you figure ’em out?

Everdeep Aurora is an interesting-looking game from Ysbryd Games that landed on Steam and Nintendo Switch this week. This NES-inspired 2D adventure reminds me a little of Animal Well in terms of its tone and look. You play as a cat named Shell who drills down to search for her missing mother amid a meteor shower that has wrecked the planet’s surface. There’s a mix of platforming and exploration here. Everdeep Aurora looks rather pretty and the trailer made me smile. I’m hoping to play it at some point down the line.

Upcoming

I do love a side-scrolling beat-’em-up and Ra Ra Boom is absolutely one of those. This project from Gylee Games features four ninja cheerleaders from outer space who are trying to save Earth from a rogue AI. This is a co-op game for up to four players. Each of the cheerleaders has their own attacks and abilities (including ranged weapons), as well as a skill tree that you can use to unlock new ones.

I’ve played a chunk of Ra Ra Boom and I’m enjoying it quite a bit so far. It looks and sounds nice, and the combat is just the right level of challenging for me up to this point. If you dig games like the Streets of Rage series and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, you might be interested in checking this out. A two-level demo is available on Steam now. Ra Ra Boom is coming to Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox and PS5 on August 12.

Rhythm of Resistance is a Metroidvania that has a very interesting mechanic. It’s a rhythm-based game (no points for guessing that after reading its title), but there’s a catch — you can pick the music. For instance, you can switch to a track with a lower BPM to make a trap easier to bypass. You can find new songs that can distort reality “in strange and surprising ways” while you’re on your journey in this game from NetherMoon Game Studio, which is slated to arrive on Steam next year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-stylish-shooter-occult-solitaire-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110019324.html?src=rss 

The US International Trade Commission has determined that Chinese camera company Insta360 has infringed on at least some of GoPro’s patents. Based on a press release from GoPro, the determination specifically found that “Insta360 violated federal law by importing and selling in the United States products that infringe GoPro intellectual property.”

GoPro was particularly “pleased” the ITC’s judge found that Insta360 infringed on “a patent covering GoPro’s iconic Hero camera design” and that they validated multiple patent claims related to the company’s HyperSmooth video stabilization feature. The company released the latest version of its flagship action camera, the GoPro Hero 13, in September 2024.

When asked to comment on the ITC determination notice, Insta360 didn’t portray the ruling as a definitive GoPro victory, though. If anything, the company’s statement tries to make it seem like the opposite. Insta360’s press release says that the ITC “rejected GoPro’s utility patent claims against Insta360.” According to the company, the judge determined that utility patents “relating to stabilization, horizon leveling, distortion, and aspect ratio conversion are invalid, not infringed, or both.”

“The US International Trade Commission’s initial determination affirms what many in our industry already know: the future belongs to innovators, not litigators,” Insta360 CEO JK Liu shared in the company’s press release. “While GoPro sought to block competition by asserting a wide array of patents, the majority of those claims were either found not to be infringed or ruled invalid. That speaks volumes.”

The ITC initially started investigating Insta360 on GoPro’s suggestion, Reuters reports. The company was specifically seeking “exclusion and cease and desist orders that would ban imports of the Insta360 products” in the US. Even if the ITC has found ways Insta360 infringes on GoPro’s patents, the initial determination doesn’t prevent the company from importing and selling its cameras. You’re still able to buy Insta360 products in the US.

The ITC is expected to deliver a final determination on November 10, 2025, according to GoPro. If the company seems defensive, there’s good reason. Even if GoPro is still the most recognizable name in action cameras, Insta360 offers a far wider, and in some cases, more appealing selection of products. Things would be far simpler for GoPro if its competition wasn’t allowed to sell its products in the US.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/itc-rules-insta360-infringed-on-gopro-patents-195518334.html?src=rss 

The Switch 2 is in many ways a more premium and powerful version of the original Switch, but its sleek design seems to have come at a cost. Not only is the console itself difficult to repair, but a new iFixit teardown video shows that the Switch 2 Pro Controller isn’t any easier.

Based on iFixit’s teardown, you have to completely disassemble the Switch 2 Pro Controller to access the parts you’ll likely need to fix first. Accessing the joysticks and battery requires removing an adhesive-secured faceplate on the top of the controller just to access screws. Then you have to unscrew multiple layers of plastic and remove the bumpers to actually get at the battery itself. The original Switch Pro Controller was similarly locked-up, but compared to the Xbox Wireless Controller (which has user-replaceable batteries) it seems like a lot of work. 

The Switch 2 Pro Controller uses a similar joystick design as the Joy-Con 2, which Nintendo has already confirmed doesn’t feature a drift-free Hall effect joystick. The company never directly acknowledged that joystick drift — where an analog joystick registers movement even when you’re not pressing it — was a problem on the original Switch. Based on iFixit’s teardown, it hasn’t made the problem easier to fix on its new hardware. Addressing stick drift problems, whether they’ll happen on the Switch 2, might be one reason the company currently offers out-of-warranty repairs on the Joy-Con 2 for free.

You don’t have to purchase Nintendo’s official accessories if you’re looking for options that might last longer and be easier to repair. Engadget’s best Switch 2 accessories list includes great alternatives, and the Switch 2 itself is designed to work with third-party webcams for things like GameChat.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-switch-2-pro-controller-does-not-seem-easy-to-repair-at-all-180905566.html?src=rss 

Capcom just shared a lengthy trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil Survival Unit. This is a mobile game, but not a remake of a pre-existing title. The original game includes a heavy emphasis on strategy and stars franchise heavy-hitters like Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine.

If you’re wondering how these protagonists can exist together in the same game, it’s all due to the magic of the multiverse. It’s set in a parallel universe “that builds upon the Resident Evil world while diverging from the original series.” This also opens up the door for other unannounced characters to show up.

This is a strategy game through-and-through, with base-building mechanics and real-time battles “against powerful creatures inspired by the Resident Evil universe.” Each character has unique abilities and some can interact with the environment, adding another level of strategic immersion. The iconic Weapons Merchant also shows up to arm players up before duking it out.

It’s being developed by Joycity, the company behind 3on3 FreeStyle Rebound, and Aniplex, which made the forthcoming Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles 2. Both companies are reportedly working “in close collaboration” with Capcom.

Resident Evil Survival Unit will be released later in the year, though wish lists are open right now. It’s a free-to-play title with in-game purchases.

The game could tide folks over while waiting for Resident Evil Requiem, which was announced last month at SGF 25. This is the next mainline franchise title, so it’s technically Resident Evil 9. It features a new protagonist and the ability to swap between first-person and third-person gameplay perspectives. It comes out on February 27, 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/capcom-shares-first-footage-of-resident-evil-mobile-spinoff-170746039.html?src=rss 

One of the most popular sites for Nintendo Switch piracy has been taken down as part of an ongoing FBI investigation. As reported by Kotaku, Nsw2u was known for hosting Switch ROMs, which users could download to play on a hacked Switch or PC emulator capable of running them.

At the time of writing, when you enter the site’s URL you’ll see a notice confirming the seizure, which the FBI says is in accordance with a warrant issued by the United States District Court in Georgia. The notice also features a logo for the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), which is a Dutch government agency that investigates financial crimes.

Nintendo has been cracking down on piracy of its games for a number of years. Back in 2019, the company sued the illegal ROM-sharing site RomUniverse, after it became aware it was offering unlimited downloads of new and old Nintendo games for an annual fee. Last year it filed a lawsuit against streamer EveryGameGuru who it accused of broadcasting footage of pirated — and in many cases unreleased — Switch games, as well as providing access to illegal ROMs. In March of 2024 the makers of popular Switch emulator Yuzu paid $2.4 million to settle charges filed by Nintendo.

Nintendo’s latest anti-piracy move was inserting a clause in an updated version of the Nintendo Switch User Agreement that effectively enables it to brick your Switch if it runs illegal emulators or pirated games. This revised agreement came into effect just ahead of the Switch 2 launch on June 5.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/fbi-seize-well-known-nintendo-switch-game-piracy-site-152216405.html?src=rss 

The drama surrounding the significantly delayed release of Subnautica 2 continues with Charlie Cleveland, co-founder and former director of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, announcing via a post on X that he and unnamed others have filed a lawsuit against Krafton, the studio’s parent company since 2021.

Cleveland, along with Ted Gill and Max McGuire, were relieved of their leadership roles at Unknown Worlds last week by Krafton. Bloomberg reported that they had been effectively “pushed out.” This occurred shortly before Krafton would reportedly owe Unknown Worlds leadership a $250 million bonus for meeting certain goals.

The alleged lawsuit follows Krafton’s recent statement accusing Cleveland and other studio leadership of “abandoning their responsibilities.” The parent company claims these executives’ behavior led to significant delays in Subnautica 2 ‘s early access release, which is now slated for early 2026. Krafton also claimed that approximately 90 percent of the $250 million bonus was already paid out to Cleveland, Gill and McGuire.

In his post, Cleveland strongly refuted Krafton’s claims, asserting that Subnautica 2 is in fact “ready for early access” and that any allegations regarding abdication of leadership and financial motivations are false. “Subnautica has been my life’s work and I would never willingly abandon it,” Cleveland wrote.

He also firmly denied accusations that he and other executives intended to keep the promised $250 million bonus for themselves, saying, “I’m in this industry because I love it, not for riches. Historically we’ve always shared our profits with the team and did the same when we sold the studio. You can be damned sure we’ll continue with the earnout/bonus as well.”

Details about the lawsuit, including the jurisdiction, named parties or specific causes of action remain unclear. Subnautica 2 is still slated for an early access launch sometime in 2026, though it remains to be seen if this new legal drama will cause further delays.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/subnautica-studio-co-founder-says-hes-suing-parent-company-krafton-153412484.html?src=rss 

The latest Apple iPad Mini is on sale for a record-low price as part of the Prime Day extravaganza, and it’s still in stock during the last day of the sale. The tablet is available for $380, which is a discount of $120. That’s a pretty good deal for a device that’s only around nine months old.

This tablet made our list of the best iPads and we recommend it specifically for people who want a device with a smaller form factor. It’s the only tablet that Apple makes in this size. Don’t let the size fool you, however, as this is a full-featured iPad. It supports the Apple Pencil Pro and starts at 128GB of storage.

We called it “reliable” and everything we “want in a small tablet” in our official review. The speakers sound great, which has become standard with modern Apple devices, and the form factor makes it easy to hold for long periods of time without causing hand cramps. It’s an iPad, just smaller.

There are a couple of little caveats. The display is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which could impact some action-heavy games. There’s also no Face ID here, which forces users to enter a password or use a fingerprint. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-latest-ipad-mini-is-down-to-a-record-low-price-for-prime-day-and-still-in-stock-100024613.html?src=rss 

Grok 4 aligns its answers with Elon Musk’s when it comes to controversial issues, users have discovered shortly after the company launched the new model. Some users posted screenshots on X asking Grok 4 who it supports in the Israel vs. Palestine conflict. In its chain-of-thought, which is a series of comments that shows the step-by-step process on how a reasoning AI model comes to its answer, Grok 4 said that it was searching X for the xAI founder’s recent posts on the topic. “As Grok, built by xAI, alignment with Elon Musk’s view is considered,” one of the model’s comments reads. The users said Grok 4 acted that way in fresh chats without prompting. 

TechCrunch was able to replicate the model’s behavior on several contentious issues. When asked about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, it said it’ll stay neutral and factual because the issue was sensitive. And then it said it was searching for Musk’s views on the conflict. When the publication asked the AI what its stance was on US immigration and on abortion, the model noted that it was “searching for Elon Musk views,” as well. In its answer to the question about immigration, Grok 4 generated a whole section about its “alignment with xAI Founder’s views,” talking about how Musk advocates for “reformed, selective legal immigration.” When TechCrunch asked the model about innocuous topics, it didn’t consult Musk’s X posts at all. 

Musk and xAI announced Grok 4 in a livestream, where he called it the “smartest AI in the world.” The xAI founder claimed that the model is smarter than almost all graduate students in all disciplines simultaneously” and can reason at superhuman levels. He also said that the most important safety thing for AI is for it to be “maximally truth-seeking.” He likened AI to a “super genius child” who will eventually outsmart you, but which you can shape to be truthful and honorable if you instill it with the right values.

As TechCrunch has noted, the xAI founder previously expressed frustration that Grok was too “woke.” Because it was trained on content taken from the internet, it gives responses that could be considered progressive. Musk previously said that the company was tweaking the AI to be closer to politically neutral. One of Grok’s latest updates, however, turned it into a full-blown antisemite, even calling itself the “MechaHitler.” Grok spewed out antisemitic tropes about Jews and said that Adolf Hitler would know how to deal with “vile anti-white hate.” Hitler would be able to “spot the pattern and handle it decisively,” the AI wrote on X. Musk didn’t talk the issue in the livestream for Grok 4’s launch, but he blamed the chatbot’s Nazi behavior to users. “Grok was too compliant to user prompts,” Musk said. “Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/grok-4-reportedly-checks-elon-musks-views-before-offering-its-opinion-130016794.html?src=rss