Here are some recently released titles to add to your reading list. This week, we read Bora Chung’s Midnight Time: A Novel in Ghost Stories, and started a new series from Mad Cave Studios, It Killed Everyone But Me.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-ghost-stories-to-kick-off-october-182937425.html?src=rss
After Microsoft decided to jack up the price of its Xbox Game Pass subscriptions to up to $30 a month, it has another unwelcome surprise for members. In a statement provided to multiple outlets like Insider Gaming, a spokesperson for Microsoft confirmed it has removed the discounts for DLC that come with a Game Pass subscription, replacing them by offering points for its Rewards program.
While initial reports discovered the change with the Call of Duty franchise, the Microsoft statement later clarified that this major shift isn’t “specific to any one game and reflects all games and DLC purchases.” To replace the discount, Ultimate subscribers will get 10 percent of their purchase back in Rewards points, while Premium members get five percent, when buying qualifying games from the Game Pass library.
Earlier this month, Microsoft detailed in a post that its goal with Game Pass was to “deliver unmatched value” along with an expansive offering of included games. In the same post, Microsoft announced that it would add 45 more games, along with introducing the $10 price hike. With this latest move, Game Pass subscribers even lose out on the immediate 10 percent discount from their purchases and are forced to accept Game Pass store credit instead. This barrage of news has some members questioning their Xbox Game Pass subscription, but there are still ways to secure the previous rate with pre-paid codes.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/microsoft-sneakily-drops-dlc-discounts-that-come-with-xbox-game-pass-160512977.html?src=rss
Cassie Ventura has built an impressive net worth through music, modeling, acting, and brand deals. Find out more about her financial standing here.
Cassie Ventura has built an impressive net worth through music, modeling, acting, and brand deals. Find out more about her financial standing here.
One of Discord’s third-party customer service providers has been infiltrated by an unauthorized party who was able to gain access to users’ information. Discord said it recently discovered the incident, which took place on September 20. The compromised data includes a “small number” of government IDs like driver’s licenses and passports, which some users may have submitted to verify their ages. To be clear, Discord itself wasn’t hacked, and you would only be affected by the data breach if you’ve ever communicated with the messaging service’s Customer Support or Trust & Safety teams. That also means the bad actors didn’t get access to your messages within the service, just whatever you may have communicated with customer support.
Discord has been sending out emails to people affected by the breach, even those who have no accounts but have contacted their support teams for any reason. In the email, the service said that the compromised information may include your real name, your username if you have one, your email and other contact details, the last four digits of any credit card associated with your account and your IP addresses. The service will also specify in the email it sends you if any ID you’d submitted has been compromised, which puts you at higher risk of identity theft than other users. Discord clarified that the breach would not have compromised your full credit card number, your physical address and your password.
The service said it quickly revoked the provider’s access to its system after learning about the breach and notified law enforcement of the incident. It also said that it will “frequently audit [its] third-party systems” to ensure they meet Discord’s standards.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/discord-users-ids-and-data-compromised-in-customer-service-provider-hack-140053655.html?src=rss
If you prefer some variety in your review roundups, we cover quite the gamut this time. The headliner is the new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, but we’ve recently tested a powerful gaming laptop, two action cameras and a wireless mouse (yep, still need those). Catch up on all the reviews we’ve published over the last two weeks by scrolling down below.
While the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses may look similar to the original model, a lot has changed in terms of features. There are also two big upgrades over the last version: battery life and video quality. “The Ray-Ban Meta glasses have a lot of features that didn’t exist when I first reviewed them two years ago, largely thanks to AI,” senior editor Karissa Bell said. “And with the release of its second-generation frames, there’s still a lot to look forward to, like new camera features and AI-powered audio.”
If you’re in the market for a powerful gaming laptop with a unique design, the Alienware 16 Area-51 might be for you. Of course, you’ll have to live with a machine that ‘s big and heavy — and also expensive. “Even though the Alienware 16 Area-51 might not be as portable as some of its rivals, it’s got a lot to offer,” senior reviews writer Sam Rutherford wrote. “There’s a striking design, a nice screen (though more options would be nice), tons of ports and class-leading performance with plenty of configurability so you can dial in its specs exactly how you like.”
GoPro’s new product this fall wasn’t another Hero action camera. Instead, the company opted to take the 360 route, debuting the Max 2 for spherical videos. “With a mix of pro features like Timecode, GP-Log (with LUTs) alongside mobile-focused editing, GoPro clearly hopes the Max 2 will appeal to demanding and casual users alike,” contributor James Trew observed. “The company has also focused heavily on improving the user experience rather than going for pure technological advances and after a week or so of testing, that feels like a sensible move.”
In case you missed it, tiny action cameras with detachable displays are a thing now. DJI’s first attempt at one of these products takes direct aim at Insta360’s duo of Go models. And despite better video quality than the competition, there’s still work to be done for the Osmo Nano. “With the Nano, DJI leaned on its camera experience and mostly matches or beats its main rival in terms of video quality,” reporter Steve Dent said. “However, the company is still lagging behind in a few areas, particularly its editing app — something that’s important for many creators.”
Three years after releasing the MX Master 3S, Logitech is back with another update to its productivity mouse. Shopping for the new version isn’t exactly a straightforward endeavor though. “The MX Master 4 may not be a essential upgrade if you’re happy with an older MX Master mouse, and if those didn’t work for you before, this one probably won’t work for you now,” senior buying advice reporter Jeff Dunn wrote. “But if you’re a power user in the market for a new productivity mouse, we’d expect this newest iteration to be as popular as its predecessors.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-ray-ban-meta-gopro-max-2-and-more-130000492.html?src=rss
The late NFL defensive lineman died at just 39 years old on October 3, 2025.
The late NFL defensive lineman died at just 39 years old on October 3, 2025.
If your PlayStation 5 has started feeling sluggish, freezes mid-game or acts a little weird, clearing the cache might be the quick fix you need. The cache is where your console stores temporary files to keep things running smoothly, but sometimes those files pile up and cause more problems than they solve.
Clearing your PS5 cache won’t delete your games, saves or settings, but it can clear out the junk data that’s slowing things down. Whether you’re troubleshooting crashes or just want to keep your console running at its best, wiping the cache is one of the simplest steps you can take.
In order to clear your PS5 cache, you’ll need to start your console in Safe Mode. Similar to a PC, entering Safe Mode on a PS5 gives you access to basic functions on your console, including restarting your PS5, changing video output, repairing console storage, updating system software, restoring default settings, clearing the cache and rebuilding the database, resetting the PS5 and resetting the PS5 by reinstalling System Software.
Unfortunately, there isn’t an option on your PS5 to enter Safe Mode via the Settings, but you can (safely) enter this mode by following these steps:
Hold the PS button on your controller, then select Power > Turn off PS5. Alternatively, you can hold the power button on the PS5 for three seconds.
Wait for the console to turn off; the power indicator will blink for a few moments before fully turning off.
Press and hold the power button on the console, then release after you hear the second beep (this should take around seven seconds).
Connect the controller with a USB cable, then press the PS button on the controller.
It’s important to note that although you can turn off your PS5 with the controller, you must turn the console on using the power button on the PS5, using the steps above, to enter Safe Mode.
Once in Safe Mode, you’ll see several options appear on the screen. Select Clear Cache and Rebuild Database, then Clear System Software Cache.
Once you’ve selected the Clear System Software Cache option, you’ll need to confirm your choice by selecting OK. Your PS5 will begin the process of clearing the cache. If your console restarts during this process, don’t worry; let it do its thing.
The other option you’ll see in the Clear Cache and Rebuild Database menu is Rebuild Database. This option is also recommended by Sony is users are experiencing system failure issues. Selecting this option will not delete any data from your PS5, so it’s another route to try if clearing the cache doesn’t solve all your problems.
Although clearing the cache on a PS5 won’t result in saved game progress or data being deleted, it’s not a bad idea to know how to back up your data, just in case your PS5 encounters any issues. If you want to be extra safe, do this before clearing your cache.
Connect a USB drive to your PS5 (FAT32 or exFAT).
Navigate to Settings > System.
Select System Software > Back Up and Restore > Back Up Your PS5.
You’ll have the option to select the type of data you want to back up (Games and Apps, Saved Data, Screenshots and Video Clips or Settings). Select the option(s) you want to back up.
Select Next > Back Up. This will start the back up process, where your console will restart.
Once the Backup Complete screen is displayed, select OK.
Like a lot of technology, maintenance is required to keep your tech running top-notch, and the PS5 is no different. You won’t need to clear your PS5 cache often, but when things start going wrong, it can save you a lot of frustration. The cache is where the console stashes temporary system data. Most of the time it helps your games and apps load faster, but once in a while those files can get corrupted or outdated and cause trouble instead.
One of the most common signs is lag in the system menu. If it takes forever to scroll through your library or even open Settings, a clogged cache might be to blame. It can also show up as random crashes, where a game boots up and then kicks you straight back to the home screen for no reason.
You might also notice glitches with online play. Sometimes cached network data interferes with your connection, leaving you with login issues or games that won’t sync properly. After a major system update, clearing the cache can also help smooth over odd behavior, like apps failing to launch or downloads stalling.
The good news is clearing the cache doesn’t wipe your saves, your installed games, or your account. It’s a low-risk way to rule out the simple stuff before you start digging into bigger fixes.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/how-to-clear-the-cache-on-your-ps5-120012999.html?src=rss
Welcome to our latest roundup of what’s going on in the indie game space. A bunch of new games arrived this week, alongside demo drops, reveals and details about upcoming titles. But if there are some you’ve had on your wishlist for a while and have been waiting for a solid discount, now might be the time to take the plunge.
That’s because Steam’s autumn sale is underway. It’s arguably not as massive as the summer or winter editions, but there are still lots of bargains on the storefront. During the platform’s big sales, I think it’s always worth taking a look at the list of deep discounts for some particularly good deals. I’ve been meaning to check out Haven from Cairn developer The Game Bakers for quite a while now, and at 90 percent off, that’s an easy pickup for me.
There are lots of solid offers elsewhere in the sale, including half off Tunic, Cult of the Lamb and Nine Sols; 35 percent off Turbo Kid; 40 percent off Another Crab’s Treasure; and 25 percent off Animal Well and Blue Prince. Lots of blockbuster games are on sale too, of course, including the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 (75 percent off), Returnal (50 percent off), Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered (50 percent off) and Assassin’s Creed Shadows (40 percent off).
Elsewhere, I thought this news nugget was pretty interesting. Evil Empire, the studio behind The Rogue Prince of Persia, has taken over development of Brotato. Original developer Blobfish Games is moving onto other projects.
Brotato never hooked me as much as the similar Vampire Survivors did, but the game has more than 10 million players. Evil Empire is releasing an update for Brotato this month that brings a new mob to the game, but the studio’s track record is what makes this change most intriguing. It handled several updates and expansions for Dead Cells, including the Return to Castlevania DLC. So, there could be some pretty neat stuff on the way to Brotato in the coming months and years, especially with Evil Empire teasing DLC.
Two Lego games arriving in the space of a couple of weeks might seem like a lot, but the latest one is a world away from Lego Voyagers. Lego Party — from SMG Studio and publisher Fictions — is a party game for up to four players and it has dozens of minigames. Think Mario Party, but blockier and with the smooth trademark humor of Lego games.
It supports local and online cross-platform multiplayer and there are tons of different ways to customize your minifigure. Let’s just hope no one gets too mad if you mess up their turn. Lego Party is out now on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.
Alien: Rogue Incursion – Part One is now available for the first time outside of virtual reality platforms thanks to the new Evolved Edition. It hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam and Epic Games Store this week.
This is a first-person shooter from Survios that’s set between Alien and Aliens. The game pits a marine colonel against hundreds of Xenomorphs and other nasty things. I can’t imagine I would have kept my cool if I were playing this in VR and a Facehugger jumped onto my head, but the flatscreen version might not be so scary. Maybe.
Puzzle adventure game Éalú sees you taking control of a wooden, clockwork mouse that’s attempting to escape from a labyrinth. Designer Ivan Owen of Beyond the Bark created all of the stop-motion animations by hand, including all possible outcomes for each scenario, and did so mostly in a garden shed.
It looks charming, though the mouse faces some rather grisly-sounding fates if you’re not careful. Éalú is out now on Steam.
An edition of the PC Gaming Show took place during Tokyo Game Show last weekend, and it featured more than 30 games. One of them was Kaiju Cleanup. This is a cleaning sim in which you’ll clean up kaiju carcasses by slicing up the monsters into smaller pieces, disposing of “various jellies” and powerwashing the last little bits away.
If your character dies due to acidic fluids or explosive organs, just send in a clone and clean up that mess too. It’s dangerous work, but someone’s gotta do it.
This is a fun idea. There’s no release window for Kaiju Cleanup as yet, but Brightrock Games and publisher Mythwright say you can expect it to hit Steam at some point in the next 15 years.
I kind of love the ethos of Wolf Haus Games. “We make the games we wanted to play when we were 13, because now we’re grown ups and nobody can tell us what to do,” the studio says on its website. After collectively accruing decades of experience in AAA games and movies, the team is working on its first game, Join Us.
In this co-op survival RPG, you’ll set up a chapter of a doomsday cult. You can choose the belief system and recruit members for your cause while amassing a stockpile of weapons. Naturally, you’ll need to build a compound for your collective and manage your resources. You can put your followers to work by assigning them roles like farmer, doctor and mission support, which will hopefully help you avoid permadeath.
Join Us is coming to Steam in 2026. I already feel like I might stick with this one for longer than I did Valheim, one of the more prominent co-op survival games of the last few years. That’s largely because this one has buses with machine gun turrets, along with pigs and bears you can ride into battle.
Earth Must Die is another game that was unveiled at the latest PC Gaming Show. This is a point-and-click adventure from Size Five Games and publisher No More Robots that has an appealing, cartoon-y art style, but it’s the cast that really catches the eye here.
It features performances from the likes of Joel Fry (Game of Thrones, Our Flag Means Death), Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hades 2) and a host of people who have appeared on the brilliant comedy panel show Taskmaster, including series creator Alex Horne. Earth Must Die is slated to hit Steam later this year.
Speaking of Taskmaster, a game called Task Time seems like it was inspired by the show. This is a competitive party title from ReadGraves and publisher Wired Productions in which you’ll compete with up to seven other players to complete random tasks. There are more than 500,000 variants of tasks that you might be asked to take on.
It looks chaotic in a good way, and appear to tap into the DNA of the likes of Fall Guys (which shouldn’t be surprising given that some of the dev team has experience of working on that game). There’s local and online multiplayer support for this one. Task Time is coming to Steam and Epic Games Store “soon.” If you’re quick, you can join the Steam playtest, which ends on Sunday.
Rising Heat reminds me a little of Minishoot Adventures, a lovely Zelda-esque RPG from last year (40 percent off in the Steam sale, by the way). The only things they actually seem to have in common, though, is that you play as a little ship and they each have a top-down perspective.
That’s because Rising Heat is a twin-stick, bullet-hell survival roguelike. I dig the explosive, colorful visual effects (is that a black hole I see?) and the co-op mode sounds compelling. You can play with a friend locally or online, and your ships are tethered by a beam that can damage enemies and possibly pull your partner into danger if you’re not careful.
Rising Heat was supposed to arrive on October 14, but Fuzzy Sock Studios and publisher Apogee Entertainment have delayed it until December 2. However, you can try out a demo on Steam now.
Here’s another demo, and I’m very excited about this one. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the latest side-scrolling beat-’em-up from Tribute Games and publisher Dotemu, the teams behind the terrific Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.
Although this game is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S as well later this year, the demo is currently only available on Steam. It features nine of the game’s 15 playable heroes: Spider-Man, Wolverine, She-Hulk, Storm, Venom, Nova, Phyla-Vell, Rocket Raccoon and Captain America. You can pick two and switch between them any time to deliver powerful team-up attacks.
There’s couch and online co-op available, and the demo is fully playable on Steam Deck. I definitely need to carve out some time for this over the weekend. Ghost of Yōtei can wait a bit longer.
Dogpile is another in a long line of Suika Game clones (where you combine two objects to make a larger one without spilling over the top of a container). This is all about smushing together very good dogs, so it’s automatically one of the best ones. It has an utterly perfect title too.
Dogpile switches up the format a bit since it’s a deckbuilder and you can customize the puppers with their own traits. Dog tags alter how the pooches and their traits work, and using them smartly can help you discover synergies.
Studio Folly and Toot Games are the developers behind Dogpile, and they have audio design assistance from A Shell in the Pit and help from the co-publishing team at Wings. There’s no release window as yet. But there’s a demo out on Steam right now and I don’t know why you’re still reading this instead of rushing off to play it immediately.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lego-parties-hundreds-of-xenomorphs-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110000144.html?src=rss
Following Apple’s removal of ICEBlock from the App Store, an app used to report on the activity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, 404 Media reports that Google is also removing similar apps from the Play Store. In a statement to Engadget, Google said “ICEBlock was never available on Google Play, but we removed similar apps for violations of our policies.”
Google says that it decided to remove apps that shared the location of a vulnerable group following a violent act that involved the group and a similar collection of apps. It suggests the apps were also removed because they didn’t appropriately moderate user-generated content. To be offered in the Play Store, apps with user-generated content have to clearly define what is or isn’t objectionable content in their terms of service, and make sure those terms line up with Google’s definitions of inappropriate content for Google Play.
404 Media report specifically focuses on Red Dot, an app that both Google and Apple removed. Like ICEBlock, Red Dot designed to let users report on ICE activity in their neighborhood. Rather than just rely on user submissions, the app’s website says that it “aggregates verified reports from multiple trusted sources” and then combines those sources to determine where to mark activity on a map of your area. “Red Dot never tracks ICE agents, law enforcement, or any person’s movements” and the app’s developers “categorically reject harassment, interference, or harm toward ICE agents or anyone else.” Despite those claims, the app is not currently available to download from the Play Store or the App Store.
The pushback against ICE tracking apps seemed to begin in earnest following a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility that injured two detainees and killed another on September 24. According to an FBI agent that spoke to The New York Times, the shooter “had been following apps that track the location of ICE agents” in the days leading up to the event.
Apple pulled the ICEBlock app from the App Store yesterday following a request from US Attorney General Pam Bondi. In a statement shared with Fox Business, Bondi said that “ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed.” Apple’s response was to remove the app. “Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store,” Apple told the publication.
Google says it didn’t receive a similar request to remove apps from the Play Store. Instead, the company appears to be acting proactively. The test for either platform going forward, though, is if there’s a way that developers can offer these apps without them being removed again.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-is-also-removing-apps-used-to-report-sightings-of-ice-agents-192940612.html?src=rss
There’s a long list of reasons US stability is now teetering between “Fyre Festival” and “Charlie Sheen’s ‘Tiger Blood’ era.” Now you can add cybersecurity to the tally. A crucial cyber defense law, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA 2015), has lapsed. With the government out of commission, the nation’s computer networks are more exposed for… who knows how long. Welcome to 2025, baby.
CISA 2015 promotes the sharing of cyber threat information between the private and public sectors. It includes legal protections for companies that might otherwise hesitate to share that data. The law promotes “cyber threat information sharing with industry and government partners within a secure policy and legal framework,” a coalition of industry groups wrote in a letter to Congress last week.
As Cybersecurity Dive explains, CISA 2015 shields companies from antitrust liability, regulatory enforcement, private lawsuits and FOIA disclosures. Without it, sharing gets more complicated. “There will just be many more lawyers involved, and it will all go slower, particularly new sharing agreements,” Ari Schwartz, cybersecurity director at the law firm Venable, told the publication. That could make it easier for adversaries like Russia and China to conduct cyberattacks.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
Before the shutdown, there was support for renewal from the private sector, the Trump administration and bipartisan members of Congress. One of the biggest roadblocks was Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He objected to reauthorizing the law without changes to some of his pet issues. Notably, he wanted to add language that would neuter the ability to combat misinformation and disinformation. He canceled his planned revision of the bill after a backlash from his peers. The committee then failed to approve any version before the expiration date.
Meanwhile, House Republicans included a short-term CISA 2015 renewal in its government funding bill. But Democrats, whose support the GOP needs, wouldn’t support the Continuing Resolution for other reasons. They want Affordable Care Act premium tax credits extended beyond their scheduled expiration at the end of the year. Without an extension, Americans’ already spiking health insurance premiums will continue to skyrocket.
In its letter to Congress last week, the industry coalition warned that the expiration of CISA 2015 would lead to “a more complex and dangerous” security landscape. “Sharing information about cyber threats and incidents makes it harder for attackers because defenders learn what to watch for and prioritize,” the group wrote. “As a result, attackers must invest more in new tools or target different victims.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/congress-let-a-key-cybersecurity-law-expire-this-week-leaving-us-networks-more-vulnerable-174529522.html?src=rss
