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Meeting an online friend in person for the first time can be pretty awkward. If only there were a way to skip the weird small talk part and get right into the flow of real conversation — like, say, getting shrunk down to the size of a chess piece and trapped in a series of board games, forcing you to communicate so you can find your way out. That’s exactly the scenario in which characters Alex and Sarah find themselves in the Playdate game Escape the Boardgame, and it’s incredibly charming.

Escape the Boardgame is kind of like an interactive comic, and it’s the second such game by Julie and Anders Bjørnskov, following 2024’s Escape the Arcade. You use the crank and sometimes the D-pad to move the story forward panel by panel, running into puzzles along the way that will serve as temporary roadblocks until you’ve come up with the solution. While it is an escape room of sorts, this isn’t a high-tension situation; Alex and Sarah are stuck in a cozy boardgame cafe, not Jumanji. As they try to make their way out the door by traversing various game boards, they encounter a bunch of quirky but ultimately harmless characters.

Just because it’s casual doesn’t mean it’ll be a breeze to solve the puzzles, though. They’re really creative, sometimes requiring you to pay close attention to every little detail on the screen in order to crack some obscure code, and other times forcing you to zoom out and consider the whole picture to see what’s hidden in plain sight. The games within the game, like one in which you need to match pets with their correct owners, are a delight to take in. There are multiple hints for each puzzle, which you can access in the menu, so you can have varying degrees of assistance depending on how stuck you are.

Savvy puzzle solvers will probably finish Escape the Boardgame in under an hour, so this one is perfect for when you just want to play something easygoing that can be wrapped up neatly in one sitting. Instead of leaving you frustrated, it’s a brain teaser you’re likely to walk away from feeling all warm and fuzzy.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/if-you-like-puzzles-check-out-this-trippy-comic-style-escape-room-game-for-playdate-200003217.html?src=rss 

Netflix will embrace AI-generated ads, whether we like it or not. The streaming service will roll out AI-generated ads in 2026 that will play in the middle of a show or whenever users hit pause for its ad-supported plans. During Netflix’s Upfront event for its advertisers, Amy Reinhard, the company’s president of advertising, showed off the upcoming feature for interactive midroll and pause ads that use generative AI for custom content.

We’ve come a long way since Netflix’s origin story of mailing out DVDs starting in 1997 and transitioning to an ad-free streaming service. Now more than ever, it feels like Harvey Dent’s famous quote from The Dark Knight about living long enough to become the villain rings true for Netflix. The streaming service’s longevity in the industry could be attributed to making compromises, like including ads, that take away from its initial glory. In a poetic turn of events, The Dark Knight trilogy was added to Netflix’s library on April 1.

This won’t be the first time Netflix dabbled with AI. Last month, Netflix offered regional users a new search feature that uses OpenAI to find something to watch. Looking beyond AI-generated ads in 2026, it’s not likely that the company will slow down on finding new ways to generate revenue.

“So if you take away anything from today, I hope it’s this: the foundation of our ads business is in place,” Reinhard said during the Netflix event. “And going forward, the pace of progress is going to be even faster.”

The golden age of binge-watching an entire season of a Netflix show without ads could be a long-forgotten memory. Next year, don’t be surprised if Netflix tempts you with a Baconator while you watch people succumb to the deadly consequences of Squid Games. If this eventual change has you rethinking your Netflix subscription, you can always cancel it or begrudgingly upgrade it to the Standard or Premium plans to avoid ads. Don’t forget, Netflix has been steadily increasing subscription costs for its ad-free plans, which could push more users towards the standard plan with ads as the most accessible option.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-has-figured-out-a-way-to-make-ads-even-worse-using-ai-180623064.html?src=rss 

Activision announced on the official X account of its Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile title that it would sunset updates and delist it from the Google Play store and the App Store. Activision is giving players a last chance to download the departing game, which will be removed by the end of today.

According to Activision, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile “has not met our expectations with mobile first players like it has with PC and console audiences.” Considering the game’s troubled launch, this discontinuation doesn’t come as a surprise to its player base. Activision’s mobile adaptation of its battle royale title launched in March 2024, which was two years after it was first announced. Looking at the overall timeline of Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, fans spent more than two years waiting for its release, only to get roughly a year’s worth of gameplay that had poor optimization and serious battery life demands.

If you install Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile before May 19, 2025, you’ll still have access to the game with “continued cross-progression of shared inventories using existing content,” Activision wrote on the X post. The publisher added that servers will stay online and that it’d notify players of any changes. For diehard fans, that’s not much of a guarantee that the Warzone Mobile servers will remain active in perpetuity.

To incentivize existing players to migrate to its other titles, Activision said that you can log into Call of Duty: Mobile with your Activision account to claim two times amount of COD points you had in your Warzone Mobile account, along with “other awesome rewards.” However, Activision added that any unused COD points and whatever you have already purchased in Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile can’t be refunded.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/activision-is-abandoning-call-of-duty-warzone-mobile-161023019.html?src=rss