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Riot’s long-awaited fighting game 2XKO, previously called Project L, will be released for PC as an early access title on October 7. That’s just two weeks away.

The company dropped a development update video that’s filled with nods to the source material. 2XKO is set in the League of Legends universe and features many characters from across the franchise. Players can fight as icons like Jinx, Yasui, Braum and many more. The early access version will feature 10 playable characters, with more coming down the line.

For the uninitiated, this is a 2 vs. 2 tag-based fighting game that’s somewhat similar to the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Folks can play solo or recruit friends as tag partners. Riot promises the game will feature a “high level of depth and mastery.”

2XKO has already experienced a bit of controversy, as LoL fans have found the game’s name somewhat difficult to pronounce. This led Riot to put out a social media post showing the correct pronunciation.

The title will eventually be released for multiple platforms, including PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The early access build, however, is just for PC players. This is a free-to-play game.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/riots-2xko-fighting-game-hits-early-access-on-october-7-165651941.html?src=rss 

You know how annoying it is to click multiple edits on a photo? What’s that? It’s actually pretty easy to do. Well, Google says otherwise and has a solution for you: conversational editing, a feature that lets you tell Google your requested edits, rather than have to make them yourself. 

Google first introduced conversational editing to Pixel 10 phones, but the company is now rolling it out to Android users in the US. It should be available for any adults who have their Google account set to English, have Face Groups turned on and location estimates enabled. 

To use conversational editing, first click “help me edit” in the editor. Then you can say exactly what edits you want either using your voice or text. The feature uses “advanced Gemini capabilities” to make the changes. You can do things like edit strangers out of the background, lighten the colors or get rid of a glare. It will show you the original and updated photos side-by-side to compare. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-photos-conversational-editing-is-rolling-out-to-android-users-170057906.html?src=rss 

Disney might be trying to put the Jimmy Kimmel Live fiasco to bed by bringing the show back on Tuesday night (good luck with that). But the company isn’t exactly putting itself back in customers’ good graces. Once again, it’s hiking the prices of Disney+ subscriptions in the US.

Several standalone plans and bundles are getting price increases. The changes come into effect on October 21.

After that date, subscribers will be paying $2 extra for the standard Disney+ plan (the one with ads) at $12 per month. The ad-free Disney+ Premium option will soon cost $19 per month, an increase of $3. For those playing along at home, that means the monthly ad-free Disney+ plan will have nearly tripled in price in the six years that the service has been around.

Bundle price increases are as follows:

Disney+ and Hulu with ads: currently $11 per month, going up by $2 to $13

Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select with ads: currently $17 per month, going up by $3 to $20

Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Select Premium (ad-free): currently $27 per month, going up by $3 to $30

Disney+ Premium (ad-free), Hulu and ESPN Select (both with ads): currently $22 per month, going up by $3 to $25 — note that this is a legacy plan for existing subscribers, and it’s not possible to switch to it

Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max Basic with ads: currently $17 per month, going up by $3 to $20

Disney+ Premium, Hulu Premium and HBO Max (No Ads): currently $30 per month, going up by $3 to $33

Ad-free Hulu Premium ($19 per month) and the ad-free Disney+ and Hulu Premium bundle ($20 per month) are not changing in price for now. The Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Unlimited bundles are remaining the same too, at $36 with ads on all three services and $45 with ad-free Disney+ Premium and Hulu Premium. The company will combine Disney+ and Hulu into the same app next year, but there will still be standalone plans for each service.

Disney is following Apple and Peacock in raising prices of their streaming services over the last couple of months. But the timing of the Disney+ increase is an especially ill-judged one.

The announcement comes amid many subscribers canceling their plans in protest against Disney’s decision to temporarily remove Jimmy Kimmel from its airwaves. A price hike isn’t exactly likely to entice them to sign back up as Kimmel’s show returns to ABC.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-prices-are-increasing-in-october-yes-again-171830091.html?src=rss 

Meta is launching a national super political action committee (PAC), according to a report by Axios. This super PAC will be committed to fighting “onerous” AI regulation across the country. It’s called the American Technology Excellence Project and Meta spokesperson Rachel Holland said the company is investing “tens of millions” into the effort.

The goal of the PAC is to elect pro AI state candidates from both parties. It’s being run by longtime Republican operative Brian Baker with an assist from Democratic consulting firm Hilltop Public Solutions.

The tech-friendly federal government has no plans to regulate AI but fell short on banning states from doing so. There have been over 1,000 state-level policy proposals introduced this year, which Meta thinks could hurt America in the AI race with China.

“State lawmakers are uniquely positioned to ensure that America remains a global technology leader,” Meta VP of public policy Brian Rice said in a statement. “This is why Meta is launching an effort to support the election of state candidates across the country who embrace AI development, champion the U.S. technology industry and defend American tech leadership at home and abroad.”

The company has not released any information as to which forthcoming state elections would be disrupted by the aforementioned tens of millions of dollars. We also don’t know how many people the PAC will employ.

This is just the latest move into politics by Meta. It recently launched a PAC in California to protect tech and AI interests. The state has been fairly proactive about enacting protections against potentially harmful AI use cases. It passed a law protecting the digital likenesses of actors and has attempted bills that block election misinformation and protect against “critical harm” caused by AI.

While the Trump administration loves itself some AI, there are limits. The president recently signed an executive order banning “woke AI” from being used in the federal government. I haven’t come across any woke AI in the wild, but I have seen whatever this is.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-to-launch-national-super-pac-against-ai-regulation-154537574.html?src=rss 

The long-running joke about Hideo Kojima is that he’d secretly rather be making movies than video games. Kojima somehow nearly got into double figures on Metal Gear games without any of them receiving the adaptation treatment (though not for the lack of trying on his part), but it’s looking like a very different story for the Death Stranding series on which he’s been working since departing Konami.

A live-action adaptation of the post-apocalyptic walking simulator landed a writer and director back in the spring, and it was announced a few months later that an animated Death Stranding movie was also on the way, with Aaron Guzikowski (Raised by Wolves) penning the screenplay. We now know what film will be called, and there’s a trailer.

Death Stranding Mosquito is directed by ABC Animation’s Hiroshi Miyamoto, with Kojima himself serving as a producer, and will apparently tell an original story within the “surreal and emotionally resonant” Death Stranding universe. If you’ve played the original game or its 2025 sequel, the teaser will look very familiar, with the film seemingly focusing on a character who definitely isn’t Norman Reedus’ Sam Porter Bridges, but is sporting very similar get-up.

The hooded figure comes face to face with what appears to be a BT-ified doglike creature, and then has a brutal fist fight with another character. We don’t get any more context than that, nor any whiff of a release date, but visually Death Stranding Mosquito looks absolutely stunning.

It’s been a busy few days for Kojima-related announcements. We got the first gameplay trailer for Kojima Productions’ upcoming horror game, OD, and found out that Kojima is also releasing his own credit card in Japan. Yes, really.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-death-stranding-anime-now-has-a-title-and-its-first-trailer-155516913.html?src=rss 

The European Union has asked Apple, Google and Microsoft to explain how they police online financial scams, stepping up enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), as first reported by the Financial Times. Formal information requests were also sent to Booking Holdings, the owner of Booking.com, regarding how the company handles fake accommodation listings. Likewise, regulators will be probing fake banking apps in Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Additionally, they will be taking a close look at fake search results in Google search and Microsoft’s Bing.

Speaking with the Financial Times, EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said criminal activity is increasingly moving online and platforms must do more to detect and prevent illegal content. Virkkunen said that financial losses from online fraud exceed €4 billion a year (around $4.7 billion) across the EU, and that the rise of AI has made detecting these scams more difficult.

The four companies will be given the chance to respond to these information requests, but under the DSA companies can face penalties up to 6 percent of their global annual revenue for failing to adequately combat illegal content and disinformation.

Earlier this year Apple and Meta were fined around $570 million and $228 million, respectively, after the European Commission found them in violation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), though both companies are appealing the fines. The DMA is a set of rules governing online platforms that was adopted alongside the DSA in 2022.

European fines on American companies, particularly a recent $3.5 billion fine levied on Google for antitrust violations, have drawn the attention and ire of President Donald Trump. The president has threatened a trade probe over what he views as “discriminatory actions” against American tech companies.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-eu-wants-apple-google-and-microsoft-to-clamp-down-on-online-scams-145333226.html?src=rss