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Moderators from popular Reddit communities say they plan to extend their blackout protests indefinitely. Many of the subreddits protesting the company’s API changes were initially scheduled to participate only from Monday to Wednesday this week. But the vow to extend the demonstration came after CEO Steve Huffman reportedly sent a memo to staff saying Reddit would “get through it” while opining that “like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well.” In response to Huffman doubling down, a user wrote, “Let them fuck around and find out.”

Moderators from well-trafficked subreddits, including r/awww, r/music, r/videos, r/futurology, r/apple and r/NBA (among many others) chimed in to commit to an indefinite protest. The blackout is in response to Reddit taking a page from Elon Musk’s Twitter playbook, hiking API prices to astronomical levels ahead of its planned IPO. The move essentially kills all third-party Reddit clients — including the popular Apollo iOS app — leaving Reddit’s own app as users’ only option. In a moderators’ thread (spotted byThe Verge) promoting the extension, u/SpicyThunder335 described Reddit’s app as “widely regarded as poor quality, not [accessible], and very difficult to use for moderation.”

Volunteer mods responded to the proposed extension with enthusiasm. For example, u/britinsb commented, “The 48 hours was just the ‘proof of concept.’ The fact [Huffman] is so dismissive of coordinated action by 20,000+ mods and 10,000 subreddits just shows how badly out of touch he is. Now for the real pain.”

Meanwhile, u/strolls suggested taking more drastic measures. “I’ve been thinking that maybe we should stop moderating — remove only NSFW images, but allow spammers and shitposters to turn Reddit to trash.” When another user pointed out that Reddit could use that as justification for removing those mods and replacing them with lackeys, a now-deleted user replied, “Let them do it then honestly. They currently have roughly 30k mods protesting that have been doing free labor for them [for] decades, keeping these subreddits usable. It’s not that simple and will only further affect the site’s image with any possible IPO attempt. Twitter fucked around with their paid staff and dropped to a third of pre-purchase valuation. Reddit can learn as well.”

In the same thread, u/SpicyThunder335 suggested common-sense measures for communities with a more urgent need to stay online. “For example, r/StopDrinking represents a valuable resource for communities in need, and the urgency of getting the news of the ongoing war out to r/Ukraine obviously outweighs any of these concerns.” They suggested subtler protests for those forums, including a stickied announcement or weekly gesture of support.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/popular-subreddits-plan-to-extend-blackouts-indefinitely-205005565.html?src=rss 

Phasmophobia, like Among Us and Animal Crossing, was a staple of pandemic-era gaming — the co-op ghost hunts were a way to connect when real-life meetings were much scarier. If you missed out or just have fond memories, then, you’ll be glad to hear that Kinetic Games is releasing the title on PlayStation 5, PlayStation VR2 and Xbox Series X/S in early access this August. The living room version has cross-platform support, so you shouldn’t have to venture into spooky houses without some help.

The premise remains the same. You and up to three other players are tasked with producing evidence of ghosts using familiar pseudoscience tools like thermometers, EMF readers and Ouija boards. The more you discover, the more you can sell to ghost removal teams. The catch, of course, is that these aren’t friendly apparitions. They may go on the hunt and kill players, especially as your team’s sanity declines. It’s not uncommon to see the last surviving player make a panicked run for the exit.

The console launch is coming almost three years after the PC debut. As with Among Us, its heyday has passed. There’s still a sizeable fan base, though (over 10,800 average daily players on Steam as of this writing), and the availability on other platforms could both expand the audience and give PC gamers more help with their paranormal investigations.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pandemic-era-hit-phasmophobia-is-coming-to-consoles-this-august-210215700.html?src=rss 

During the Xbox Games Extended Showcase, it emerged that several more indie titles are bound for Game Pass. One of them is Neon White, which was one of Engadget’s favorite games of 2022. It debuted on PC and Nintendo Switch last June before landing on PlayStation in December. There’s no Xbox release date as yet, but as soon as Neon White lands on Microsoft’s consoles, Game Pass subscribers can try it at no extra cost.

Neon White is a fast-paced platformer that could help you to live out whatever dreams you have of being a speedrunner. You’ll need to take out every demon on a level before you can reach the exit. Chances are you’ll want to do that as quickly as possible to achieve the best time possible and beat your friends on the leaderboard. Oh, there are dating sim elements too. It’s a strange, stylish game, but what else would you really expect from publisher Annapurna Interactive?

Microsoft revealed during its second showcase of the week that nine more indies are coming to Game Pass on their respective launch days through the ID@Xbox program. Little Kitty Big City, an adorable narrative puzzle game in which you’ll help a lost cat get home, is coming to Xbox, Switch and PC early next year (a demo will be available during Steam Next Fest later this month). Another Crab’s Treasure, a charming Soulslike, is also coming to those three platforms early next year.

Techtonica is a first-person factory automation game, while The Wandering Village is a city-building sim that plays out on the back of an enormous, roaming creature. The other indies that Microsoft said are bound for Game Pass are the turn-based RPG Sea of Stars, social simulation adventure Mineko’s Night Market, handmade narrative title Harold Halibut, hospital management game Galacticare and narrative adventure The Bookwalker.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fast-paced-platformer-neon-white-is-coming-to-xbox-212556461.html?src=rss 

Google has a long history of building in easter eggs into its search engine, whether that’s minigames or animations when searching specific keywords. The company is continuing the fun with a built-in minigame when you search for “Katamari” (via Kotaku), a game series that originally launched on the PlayStation 2. The minigame lets you roll everything on the page into a virtual ball. To start, you click on the Katamari ball icon on the right side of your screen. You play the game by using your keyboard’s arrow keys if on a desktop or laptop or with your finger if on a mobile device.

The easter egg is likely referencing the recent remaster of We Love Katamari earlier this month. The game, which was originally released on PlayStation 2 in 2005, got a remaster titled: We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie. The title was made available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and on Steam.

The Katamari series is developed by Bandai Namco and revolves around a series of puzzle-action games where you play as the Prince of All Cosmos. In the surreal series, you’re tasked with rolling up a ball of random things such as cats, cars and more – those balls replace the stars in the sky that were destroyed by your father, The King of the Cosmos.

Thankfully, Google’s version is a little less stress-inducing. There’s no goal or time limit per-se, you just roll a Katamari ball till your heart’s content (or if you have nothing left to catch). I spent more time than I’m willing to admit “testing” the game on my computer and it runs pretty well in my experience. Mobile, on the other hand, is a bit rough. The game seems to have a decent amount of input lag which makes the experience less than desirable. But as a little easter egg, Katamari fans should still get a laugh out of this.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-katamari-damacy-easter-egg-lets-you-roll-up-your-search-results-220033724.html?src=rss