Category: Technology

The full trailer dropped today for Apple’s F1 movie. The film is getting an international theatrical release starting June 25, and will be in theaters and IMAX domestically beginning June 27. F1 has received extensive involvement from the Formula 1 world, so it’ll be fascinating to see how well it walks the line between being a good movie and feeling like a dramatic promo for the organization.

The movie is a star-studded affair, with Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies and Kim Bodnia in the cast. Joseph Kosinski, who helmed Top Gun: Maverick, is the director, Ehren Kruger wrote the screenplay and the legendary Hans Zimmer did the score. Every shot in the trailer promises that this is a luxe production, fitting for the huge piles of money that go into developing F1 cars and teams. 

F1 has the glossy sheen of a Hollywood sports drama to it. Even though it’s a work of fiction, several personalities and teams from the actual Formula 1 teams will appear in the final cut. There’s been a surge in filmmaking about this type of car racing, with Netflix also hosting its own documentary series about Formula 1.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/see-brad-pitt-behind-the-wheel-in-the-trailer-for-f1-224420723.html?src=rss 

Meta is adding a new incentive to get people to create and share photos and videos on Facebook. The company announced today that creators in Facebook’s Content Monetization program can now earn money off people viewing their Facebook Stories.

Since you can already easily share photos and videos you post to your Stories, this should be a low-effort way to earn a bit more money off the content you share on Facebook. The ability to earn money on Stories is available globally, according to Meta, though it is based on performance, and Stories need to be public to be monetized. Creators who aren’t already in the Content Monetization program can apply to be considered right now on Meta’s website. 

The new payment option is just Meta’s latest attempt to get creators posting content to Facebook instead of Instagram or competing apps. In January, the company debuted a “breakthrough bonus program” that offered an extra $5,000 to creators with an existing presence on another social media platform for posting a certain amount of photos and videos to Instagram and Facebook. 

The timing of the program made it clear that Meta was interested in luring in creators who would soon lose access to TikTok. The app’s temporary rescue by the Trump administration has made the need to leave slightly less urgent, but Meta obviously still wants to benefit from the chaos as much as it can.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/facebook-creators-can-now-monetize-their-stories-221139957.html?src=rss 

AirPods are arguably Apple’s most popular post-iPhone product, and it sounds like the company has plans to make them even more essential. Bloomberg reports that Apple is adding a live-translate feature to AirPods later this year as part of an upcoming software update.

The feature sounds like it would work in a similar way to the translation feature on the Pixel Buds, only without the need to ask Google Assistant or in this case, Siri, to start listening for a specific language first. Apple’s feature would reportedly automatically detect that something other than your native language is being spoken, and start converting what you’re hearing into a language you understand.

Pixel Buds have had live-translation since 2020, one of the few abilities that makes Google’s earbuds superior to Apple’s. With the addition of the Translate app in iOS 14, Apple took at least one major step towards offering something similar, but the company never expanded on it in the years that followed.

Assuming it’s released, this update would follow another major upgrade to the AirPods: Apple’s Hearing Health features. In 2024, the company gave the AirPods Pro the ability to perform hearing tests and act as over-the-counter hearing aids. Adding translation could give AirPods owners even more reason to never take their headphones out. When you add in rumors that Apple might add heart-rate tracking to the AirPods like it did on the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, its even easier to imagine how the headphones could go from wireless accessory to something you wear all the time, like an Apple Watch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/apple-reportedly-plans-to-add-a-live-translation-feature-to-airpods-211402313.html?src=rss 

Nintendo has set the date for its second US store to set up shop. Following the announcement last year, Nintendo’s brick and mortar location in San Francisco will open its doors on May 15. The opening is happening almost exactly two decades after Nintendo launched its first US store, which is in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza.

The San Francisco business “will offer a unique shopping experience filled with Nintendo’s characters, worlds and exclusive products including accessories, apparel, home goods and souvenirs available only at this location,” according to the press release. The jury’s still out on whether the Switch 2 will be on the store’s shelves when it opens.

In true Nintendo fashion, the company is hosting a sweepstakes for fans who want to attend the store’s grand opening in grand style. One lucky person will win a four-day trip to San Francisco with up to two guests, including a tour of the store during the launch event.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-san-francisco-store-will-open-on-may-15-213532685.html?src=rss 

Disco Elysium is a critically acclaimed RPG from 2019 that won many accolades for its smart storytelling and writing. Later this year, the game is getting reimagined exclusively for Android devices. This mobile version is slated for a summer 2025 launch.

The new format looks akin to what you’d find in a visual novel app rather than to a traditional RPG, based on the trailer and screenshots shared today. ZA/UM, the company behind the game, said that the first two chapters can be played for free, then the full, ad-free game will be a one-time paid unlock.

“We intend to captivate the TikTok user with quick hits of compelling story, art, and audio, ultimately creating an all new, deeply engaging form of entertainment,” ZA/UM studio head Denis Havel said.

Many of the original Disco Elysium creators have left ZA/UM. Creator Robert Kurvitz, art director Aleksander Rostov and writer Helen Hindpere were all fired in 2022 by the company’s new leaders, and all parties have been mired in lawsuits since the game’s international success. Several new studios have sprung up from various former team members, and ZA/UM has announced work on a new game of its own.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/disco-elysium-is-coming-to-android-mobile-this-summer-194536643.html?src=rss 

Jeff and Annie Strain, the owners of publisher Prytania Media, are suing NetEase over claims of “defamation, unfair trade practices and interference with business relations,” Polygon reports. The new lawsuit runs counter to the couple’s previous claim that leaks shared with Kotaku led to them shutting down their studios Crop Circle Games and Possibility Space, before Prytania Media itself closed.

Per Polygon’s reporting, the Strains claim that NetEase “spread false and defamatory statements that caused the demise of Prytania Media,” and specifically, that the Chinese company suggested Prytania Media was engaged in financial fraud, scaring away other investors.

Prytania Media shutdown Crop Circle Games without warning in March 2024, before closing Possibility Space a month later. Possibility Space was notable for the variety of talent it had working on its first AAA title, including former Waypoint editor-in-chief Austin Walker, Watch Dogs: Legion designer Liz England and Jane Ng, the lead environment artist on Firewatch. At the time, the Strains suggested that information shared with Kotaku about an in-development title called “Project Vonnegut” led to an unnamed investor backing away from offering further funding. If the new lawsuit is to be believed, that was not the case.

The lawsuit is headed to federal court. For more color on what the Strains claim NetEase did, read Polygon’s report. However things play out, it doesn’t change the fact that a lot of people were laid off and Prytania Media did little to make things right. “Severance never materialized btw,” Walker shared in a Bluesky thread going over the details of the lawsuit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/jeff-strain-is-suing-investor-netease-claiming-internal-gossip-caused-his-game-company-to-shut-down-202342126.html?src=rss 

The Emperor protects! Warhammer 40K fans, it appears you won’t have to wait nearly as long for a new Space Marine game as you did for a sequel to the 2011 original. Games Workshop announced today that Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment are working on a new installment in the series. 

“Specific details on gameplay, setting and factions are tightly under wraps, but we can confirm Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 will boast an all-new immersive campaign and multiplayer modes,” Games Workshop said. 

The fact the miniature maker has been so quick to green light a sequel is not surprising. As of last fall, the game had sold more than 4.5 million copies across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, and I made sure to include it in Engadget’s list of the best games of 2024. More broadly, Warhammer 40,000 is enjoying greater popularity than probably at any other point in its nearly 40-year history. The 40K episode of Amazon’s Secret Level anthology, which follows directly after the events of Space Marine 2, was a highlight of the series and did a lot to bring the franchise to a broader audience.      

Games Workshop did not share a release date or trailer for the new game, so enjoy this teaser for Astartes II, another 40K project fans are excited about, instead.       

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/warhammer-40k-space-marine-2-is-unsurprisingly-getting-a-sequel-200055031.html?src=rss 

Microsoft just announced the pending availability of Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered assistant that’s being advertised as a novel way to help players get better at their favorite titles. The company says it will accompany people through games, offering tips, guides and useful information along the way.

Microsoft boasts it can also help folks download and launch games, solving the eternal problem of, uh, pressing a button. Copilot for Gaming will be available as part of the Xbox mobile app, so it’s being positioned as a second screen type of thing.

We aren’t entirely sure how it works. There are demo videos but they are just proof of concept designs. One shows Copilot recommending a hero for Overwatch 2 that complements the rest of the team. Another video found the AI assistant answering questions about Minecraft building techniques. The demo also showed Copilot enabling cheats in Minecraft, with the bot telling a player where crafting materials could be found. Hopefully, this tech will be ready the next time Elon Musk wants to show off his Path of Exile 2 “skills.” 

Microsoft says that Copilot will be able to see your game screen, via app integration, to offer real-time guidance. Again, we don’t know how that will work or what kind of information it will be able to cook up. None of the aforementioned tasks will be available during the initial launch, so we don’t even know what, if anything, players will be able to do with this thing. That’s modern AI for ya!

In any event, Copilot for Gaming will be available to Xbox Insider members in April. Microsoft says it will iterate according to user feedback. Once the company has ironed out some kinks, it should become available to more players.

Microsoft also shared today that the Xbox Play Anywhere program now allows access to more than 1,000 games. This is a cross-platform service that lets people enjoy a game on both Xbox consoles and PC. The platform even keeps track of saves, progress and achievements.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-is-making-a-copilot-ai-assistant-for-gamers-but-its-not-clear-what-it-does-185603482.html?src=rss 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown will be released on May 22 for PC via Steam. As the name indicates, this is a turn-based strategy RPG. It also happens to be the first turn-based game in franchise history.

It’s being developed by Strange Scaffold, who made the fantastic El Paso, Elsewhere. There’s a new trailer with plenty of gameplay, which is always nice. One thing that sets this tactical RPG apart from rivals like Unicorn Overlord is that the battles take just a few minutes to complete. As a matter of fact, they look even zippier than the streamlined fights found in the Mario + Rabbids series.

The story sounds downright depressing for a TMNT game. “Splinter and Shredder are dead, and as the Turtles approach adulthood, they’re not just growing up… they’re growing apart,” a description reads. To that end, most of the levels are played solo with just a single turtle. Come on guys. Hash things out over a large pizza pie!

There’s no price yet, but preorders are open. Publisher Paramount Game Studios has yet to say anything about a potential console release.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-tactical-takedown-comes-out-on-may-22-191533579.html?src=rss