A woman has been dubbed a ‘Karen’ after demanding a home run ball back from a man who gave it to a child at a Phillies vs. Marlins game.
A woman has been dubbed a ‘Karen’ after demanding a home run ball back from a man who gave it to a child at a Phillies vs. Marlins game.
The Square Enix team behind Final Fantasy Tactics — The Ivalice Chronicles didn’t just remaster the iconic strategy RPG, they had to go through the trouble of remaking the source code from scratch, according to Bloomberg. In an interview with Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier, the game’s director Kazutoyo Maehiro explained the arduous process of designing The Ivalice Chronicles, which is set to release at the end of the month.
When getting to work on the remake, Maehiro and his team discovered they had to rebuild the source code from the ground up since it was lost thanks to the industry’s unstandardized practices in the ’90s, according to Bloomberg. When translating Final Fantasy Tactics from Japanese to English for the global release, the company would overwrite the original Japanese version’s code. For Maehiro, that meant the team had to undertake a ground-up overhaul and recreate the source code by playing the original game that released in 1997, consulting the game’s master disc and looking at the 2011 version called Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, according to Bloomberg. Maehiro also said during a PAX West 2025 panel that the team gleaned a lot of lost info from fan-made databases.
Revealing more of the behind-the-scenes decisions for The Ivalice Chronicles, Maehiro told Bloomberg about the debate surrounding Count Cidolfus Orlandeau. Better known as Cid, and appropriately nicknamed Thunder God Cid, this overtuned character joins you later in the game, but many fans complained about him being overpowered. Instead of nerfing Cid, Maehiro told Bloomberg that keeping this character’s power level the same would better represent the storyline since “his role in the story is being that very powerful character who joins your party.” To quell any concerns of Cid being too broken, Maehiro told Bloomberg that the team decided to buff the other characters to even things out. Looking ahead, Maehiro also hinted at exploring sequels for the Final Fantasy Tactics franchise or even brand new games in the strategy RPG genre, given that The Ivalice Chronicles does well, according to Bloomberg.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-ivalice-chronicles-team-had-to-remake-the-original-final-fantasy-tactics-source-code-from-scratch-190253342.html?src=rss
8BitDo makes some of our favorite gaming accessories, and right now you can get one of its Nintendo Switch 2 controllers for the lowest price we’ve seen yet. A deal on Amazon shaves 14 percent off the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 controller’s usual $70 price tag, bringing it down to $60 — and with a coupon you can apply before checkout, it drops a bit more to $54. The discount only applies to the white color option.
The Ultimate 2 Bluetooth controller is one of the best Switch 2 accessories out there. (It’s also compatible with PC). This controller has TMR joysticks for greater sensitivity and durability, and has trigger mode switches to flip between linear Hall Effect triggers and non-linear tactile triggers. It’s a great option for those who prefer an Xbox-style controller. The Ultimate 2 charges on an included charging dock, and it’ll automatically reconnect to the console when you pick it up.
It’s also customizable using the Ultimate Software, so you can adjust the button mapping, joystick and trigger sensitivity, vibration and more. It offers three custom profiles so you can save the different configurations. You can play around with the visual effects too. The Ultimate 2 controller has RGB rings around the joysticks with multiple lighting modes to choose from, including Fire Ring Mode, Light-tracing and Rainbow. You can further adjust the colors with the Ultimate Software as well.
It’s a versatile controller that offers a lot of bang for your buck. If you’ve been thinking about picking up a good third-party controller for your new Switch 2, you can’t go wrong with the Ultimate 2.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/8bitdos-ultimate-2-controller-for-switch-2-is-on-sale-for-only-54-170940439.html?src=rss
Starting September 9, Porsche and Audi will be the latest non-Tesla brands to utilize the Supercharger network. The two automakers announced that some of their owners will get adapters that allow them to charge via the NACS port, which Tesla developed and opened up to other automakers. The rollout comes after the Volkswagen Group, which owns both Porsche and Audi, announced that it would implement NACS compatibility for Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Scout Motors in December 2023.
Porsche is kicking off its NACS adoption with a “soft launch,” where existing owners of Taycan and Macan Electric models have to reserve a free NACS to DC adapter with the My Porsche app to connect to the Tesla Supercharger network. During this initial phase, drivers of compatible Porsche EVs have to use the Tesla app at Superchargers, but will eventually be able to charge with the My Porsche app in “the coming months,” according to Porsche. Like Porsche, Audi is getting its own branded adapter that will arrive with newer 2025 model year options, including its Q6 e-tron, A6 Sportback e-tron and e-tron GT. Notably, Audi said its Q4 e-tron won’t currently have access to Tesla Superchargers.
For Porsche, any Taycan and Macan Electric from model year 2026 onward will include a free NACS adapter. However, Porsche EVs from model year 2024 or older will have to buy the adapter from Porsche’s online shop or dealerships, which will go for $185. Porsche and Audi are also working on software updates to show Tesla Superchargers on their navigation systems. Despite Porsche and Audi now gaining access to the Supercharger network, Volkswagen Group’s other subsidiaries, including Lamborghini and Bentley, still haven’t committed to adopting NACS.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/porsche-and-audis-evs-can-now-recharge-on-any-tesla-supercharger-in-north-america-173333649.html?src=rss
Two authors have filed a lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of infringing on their copyright by using their books to train its artificial intelligence model without their consent. The plaintiffs, Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, claimed that Apple used a dataset of pirated copyrighted books that include their works for AI training. They said in their complaint that Applebot, the company’s scraper, can “reach ‘shadow libraries'” made up of unlicensed copyrighted books, including (on information) their own. The lawsuit is currently seeking class action status, due to the sheer number of books and authors found in shadow libraries.
The main plaintiffs for the lawsuit are Grady Hendrix and Jennifer Roberson, both of whom have multiple books under their names. They said that Apple, one of the biggest companies in the world, did not attempt to pay them for “their contributions to [the] potentially lucrative venture.” Apple has “copied the copyrighted works” of the plaintiffs “to train AI models whose outputs compete with and dilute the market for those very works — works without which Apple Intelligence would have far less commercial value,” they wrote in their filing. “This conduct has deprived Plaintiffs and the Class of control over their work, undermined the economic value of their labor, and positioned Apple to achieve massive commercial success through unlawful means.”
This is but one of the many lawsuits filed against companies developing generative AI technologies. OpenAI is facing a few, including lawsuits from The New York Times and the oldest nonprofit newsroom in the US. Notably, Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude chatbot, recently agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a class action piracy complaint also brought by authors. Similar to this case, the writers also accused the company of taking pirated books from online libraries to train its AI technology. The 500,000 authors involved in the case will reportedly get $3,000 per work.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-faces-lawsuit-over-alleged-use-of-pirated-books-for-ai-training-160016161.html?src=rss
The Pokémon series has had staying power ever since its debut in the 1990s, but it has felt especially popular in recent years, thanks to Pokémon GO and the resurgence of the trading card game. Given that more Pokémon fans are experiencing new ways to play, it’s the right time for developer Game Freak to refresh the video game series. The upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A looks to do just that with a more action-oriented focus on a Pokémon trainer’s journey.
At a special Nintendo showcase during PAX West 2025 in Seattle, I spent some limited time with Pokémon Legends: Z-A and its revamped combat system that ditches turn-based combat for real-time action. So far, this new entry in the long-running series is showing promise for a follow-up that could shake up the pokémon meta in the right direction.
Set in the Paris-inspired Lumiose City, Pokémon Legends: Z-A focuses on a new trainer coming into their own as they improve their skills and expand their roster of pokémon. However, Lumoise City has a darker mystery brewing after an unknown force is causing several pokémon to enter a frenzied state that triggers their Mega Evolution mysteriously. As the protagonist rises in the ranks, they’ll soon come to find out what’s behind the rise of rogue pokémon.
Speaking as a lapsed Pokémon fan who occasionally revisits the series for its more interesting entries, I’ve found that Pokémon games tend to be very familiar, stopping a few steps shy of reaching a broader scope that many players have imagined Pokémon games to be since watching the animated shows.
Recent Pokémon games like Legends: Arceus and Scarlet/Violet have moved the series forward in the right ways, and Legends: Z-A is continuing that trend by focusing more on the moment-to-moment actions of being a trainer.
Real-time combat is a significant game changer in Legends: Z-A, and it’s a shift that many returning players will need to adjust to. Arceus set the foundations of a more open-ended style of player activity, but it still reverted to the turn-based tactical approach when the combat kicked in. Legends: Z-A moves away from that.
The demo started with a nighttime training session, in which I had to engage in several pokémon fights with trainers in a designated battle zone in the back alleys of the city. This led me to round corners and find trainers waiting for a fight, employing either a direct approach or more sneaky methods.
During my demo, I was given the team of Chikorita, Weedle, Mareep, and the flying pokémon Fletchling. When you engage in a fight, your trainer stays locked onto their enemy pokémon, with your chosen fighter right at your side. During these fights, you move around in real-time and have active skills that are on cooldowns. This sounds pretty standard for games, but for a Pokémon game, it’s quite the adjustment, one that I really liked after a few matches.
What’s interesting about Pokémon Legends: Z-A is that it’s turned Pokémon into an action RPG, somewhat akin to a smaller-scale Xenoblade Chronicles. In addition to having to engage the right skills at the right time, I also had to dodge enemy attacks to keep my pokémon from taking heavy damage. This action-focused approach gives you far more options in how you want to engage enemies, and there are even opportunities to sneak up on unsuspecting trainers to engage in a sneak attack to start the fight off well. It seems odd at first, but it’s honestly quite amusing to see trainers get walloped by a pokémon’s attacks.
The next phase of the demo focused on another of Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s other innovations – boss fights with rogue pokémon. As you start to track them down, you’ll eventually face off against them in battle, and they’ll even activate their Mega Evolved forms. The boss fight I encountered with Rogue Mega Absol felt right out of other role-playing games, like Final Fantasy or Nier: Automata, and Legends: Z-A presents them as showstopping encounters where you have to subdue these powerful enemies in a special battle zone. The battle was made especially exciting was the addition of the pokémon Lucario joining the fight.I could also activate their own Mega Evolution for a temporary buff – like Final Fantasy’s limit breaks, but for pokémon.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A, much like its predecessor Arceus, takes a new approach to a traditional Pokémon adventure, focusing on interactive exploration and engagement with the world. I liked how it felt like a stylized JRPG, with the addition of quirky side characters and an epic boss fight to clear. It’s very strange to play a Pokémon RPG without turn-based combat, but I found its most laid-back approach to be fair and engaging.
There has often been a desire among Pokémon fans that the series needs a shake-up to reach greater heights, but it has been clear that this is an ongoing process and won’t happen all at once. Pokémon Legends: Z-A does hang onto the familiar premise of a trainer’s journey in the Pokémon world, but a more action-oriented approach to commanding your Pokémon does show some solid promise, and could very well be a strong step forward for the series. And as a lapsed Pokémon fan, it’s definitely one I’ll be keeping an eye on.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A will be released on October 16, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-legends-z-a-hands-on-135651443.html?src=rss
Welcome to our latest recap of what’s going on in the indie game space. Folks, it’s here. You know it’s here. So, we’ll touch on it, but briefly. Some developers and publishers opted not to delay their games out of this week (others have done that to get some breathing space from you-know-what), so there are several other newcomers to highlight.
Before we get there, there’s a sale worth mentioning on a PC storefront that does not offer Hollow Knight: Silksong. The Epic Games Store’s End of Summer Sale is running until September 18 and there are some pretty solid deals. Cyberpunk 2077 is 65 percent off for the base game and 50 percent off for the ultimate edition, which includes the Phantom Liberty DLC (which is also 30 percent off for those who have the base game already).
Other discounts of note include Red Dead Redemption 2 (75 percent off), Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced (50 percent off), Assassin’s Creed Shadows (33 percent off), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition (80 percent) and Alan Wake 2 (70 percent off). A bunch of PlayStation games are on sale too, including Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (20 percent), The Last of Us Part 1 (50 percent), Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut (33 percent), God of War (60 percent off) and God of War Ragnarok (20 percent). You’ll get 20 percent back in Epic Rewards on your purchases too.
The Epic Games Store offers totally free games every week (no need to have a subscription for those!), and the freebies tend to be for well-known games whenever there’s a major sale on the store. Right now, you can pick up an all-timer in Monument Valley for exactly zero dollars. You have until 11AM ET on September 11 to claim the classic puzzle game. When that game cycles out, Epic Games will rotate three more titles into its lineup: Monument Valley 2, Ghostrunner 2 (which I enjoy very much but am terrible at) and a strategy game called The Battle of Polytopia. Again, you’ll have a week to claim those.
Meanwhile, if you have an Amazon Prime subscription, there’s usually a solid selection in the Prime Gaming library. Games you claim here are yours to keep forever, even if you don’t maintain your Prime membership. Amazon offered up a particularly tasty one this week in the shape of Into The Breach, a hugely acclaimed strategy game, but there are plenty of others to check out. And speaking of games you can play right now…
Yes, Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally here. It’s out on consoles and PC for $20 and it’s included with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. It’s broken storefronts and probably some controllers that players have hurled at the wall after dying to a tough boss.
After a seven-year wait, Silksong is by some distance the highest-profile indie game to arrive in 2025 so far. Perhaps if we start mentioning another long-awaited game — say, Kingdom Hearts 4? Beyond Good and Evil 2? — it may arrive sooner rather than later. Or in, like, another five years.
I made a few attempts to play Hollow Knight, but bounced off quickly each time. I’ll be sure to give Silksong a proper go, though.
It might be the case that Silksong isn’t quite your thing. Never fear, there’s lots of other new stuff from this week for you to dive into.
If a game pops up that reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (aka the best game of all time) in terms of looks, I’m duty bound to mention it. Fortunately, Rogue Labyrinth seems like it could be fun to play too. This action-narrative roguelite from Tea Witch Games and publisher indie.io hit Steam this week. It usually costs $15, but it’s 20 percent off with a limited-time launch discount.
Another thing that’s very much in Rogue Labyrinth‘s favor is that your weapon is a smacking stick, which you can use to turn objects (including vanquished enemies) into projectiles. The combat is a blend of bullet-hell dodging and hack-and-slash action. Being a roguelike, there’s randomization when it comes to things like the arenas, enemies and powers you’ll encounter on each run. The game is also said to feature dynamic narrative systems and you’ll forge alliances with other characters as you try to survive a lethal reality show.
Although so many other indie games scrambled to get out of the way of Silksong, Hirogami stuck to its September 3 release date. I had to chuckle when a press release with a title of “3D origami platformer Hirogami refuses to fold” hit my inbox last week. An easy pun, but I appreciated it.
Anyway, this is indeed a 3D platformer with an origami focus. You can flatten out your character into a sheet of paper so that a gust of wind can send you soaring to an elevated platform. You can transform into an armadillo to roll through enemies, an ape to explore treetops and a frog to jump higher. That seems like a real bananza of animal transformation options. Hirogami is available now on Steam, Epic Games Store and PS5.
Fling to the Finish has been out on PC for some time, and now this co-op platform racing game from SplitSide Games and publisher Daedalic Entertainment has swung over to consoles. You and a friend are tethered by an elastic rope that will inevitably snag on parts of the environment. But you can actually use this to your advantage to swing your teammate onto a ledge or send you both hurling through the air.
The obstacle-filled courses bring to mind Fall Guys, while the items that players can deploy to slow down race leaders remind me a bit of the Mario Kart games. Fling to the Finish does support solo play, as well as local and online multiplayer, where communication will be key (cross-play is available too). As was the case with Overcooked, you and your pal can play the game by sharing a single controller, which may make it easier to play the game in splitscreen if you’re with a bunch of friends.
Jetrunner is an action platformer in the vein of Ghostrunner and Neon White from Riddlebit Software and publisher Curveball Games. The folks behind it say it has “a gameplay loop that can be best described as Trackmania meets Titanfall.” So, there are lots of comparisons to make here. Ultimately, you’ll be parkouring your way through various courses while shooting targets, hooking onto grapple points and looking for shortcuts.
Finding the optimal route — and, of course, actually completing it with as few errors as possible — is the path to climbing the global leaderboards. You can race against ghost replays of your previous runs for a clear visual comparison. In addition, there’s a story mode that sees your character Nina (voiced by Sara Secora) trying to become a legendary jetrunner, with commentator Mick Acaster (Matthew Mercer) charting her progress. I’m digging the visuals here too.
Jetrunner is out now on Steam and the Epic Games Store for $20 (there’s a 10 percent launch discount on Steam). There’s a speedrun contest that’s taking place until September 11 with a $2,000 prize pool. You can snag a share if you can complete all of the campaign levels in a row quickly enough in the marathon mode and stick to the rules. It also seems that the exodus of other games this week due to Silksong helped Jetrunner gain extra visibility on Steam.
A rhythm RPG in which you can use your own music and manually adjust the BPM is interesting enough. But add giant, repurposed mechs to the mix, and now we’re really cookin’. In Steel Century Groove, you’ll compete in robot dance battles as you try to claim a championship. These mechanical beasts were used in warfare long, long ago. Now they’re just literal groove machines.
Steel Century Groove, which is from Sloth Gloss Games, is coming to Steam on January 28. A demo is available now, and your progress will carry over to the full game.
When I was assembling the list of games to include in this week’s roundup, I left myself a single, two-word note about The Legend of Baboo: “big floof.” The floof in question is the large, titular dog that accompanies human hero Sepehr in this third-person action adventure from Permanent Way and publisher Midwest Games.
You’ll play as both characters as you take on enemies, solve puzzles and navigate treacherous lands. When you conquer bosses, you’ll learn powerful magical attacks. Most importantly, you can zhush up Baboo with outfits and ornaments that you discover on your journey. He’s the best boy and he deserves to look and feel good. It’s also crucial to note that, as Sepehr, you can pet, ride and high-five Baboo.
A release date (or even a release window) has yet to be announced for The Legend of Baboo. It’s coming to Steam, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
Dreams of Another looks quite unlike any game I’ve seen before. It uses point cloud rendering tech for its remarkably pretty visuals. This fantasy exploration game from Q-Games (under the leadership of Baiyon, the director of PixelJunk Eden) is set in a dream-like world where you create the world by shooting at it.
Dreams of Another is coming to PS5, PS VR2 and Steam on October 9, and it might just prompt me to set up my VR headset again. A demo dropped this week on Steam, but it’s only available until September 16.
Tombwater looks kinda rad. It’s a 2D pixel-art Soulslike Western from Moth Atlas and publisher Midwest Games. The developers took (another?) leaf out of FromSoftware’s playbook by pitting you against creepy eldritch horrors. This one is coming to Steam on November 12.
I always appreciate when a labor of love comes to fruition. Former Uber, MapQuest and Microsoft engineer John Lansing said that, nine years ago, “I built a Final Fantasy Tactics inspired football prototype, and 691 commits later I am proud to present the Fantasy Football Tactics Demo!” This is a turn-based RPG in which the aim is to outscore your opponents rather than taking them out in combat.
The demo hit Steam this week. There’s no release date as yet for the full game.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/silksong-smacking-sticks-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110020156.html?src=rss
Mark Zuckerberg has certainly come a long way in his relationship with President Donald Trump. Almost exactly a year after the president threatened the Meta CEO with imprisonment, the two sat side-by-side at a White House dinner, alongside numerous other tech CEOs.
The nearly three dozen CEOs and execs in attendance took turns praising and thanking Trump. But Zuckerberg’s comments were especially notable. In one moment that was widely shared on social media, Trump turns to Zuckerberg and asks “how much are you spending, would say, over the next few years?” Zuckerberg responded that it was “probably going to be something like, I don’t know, at least $600 billion through [20]28 in the US.” Trump seemed to approve. “That’s a lot, thank you Mark, it’s great to have you.”
But it was a hot mic moment captured later between the two that was especially telling. Zuckerberg, turning to Trump, apologizes and says “sorry, I wasn’t ready …I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with.”
You can watch the whole moment play out in the clip below:
Zuckerberg saying Meta intends to spend at least 600 billion in the US
Zuckerberg at the end caught on a hot mic pic.twitter.com/PZhG4slWa9
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 5, 2025
While Zuckerberg has spent the last year trying to curry favor with Trump, their interactions show just how much those efforts have been paying off. A year ago, the then-former president was threatening the Facebook founder with jail time. Now, after donating $1 million to his inauguration, changing Meta’s policies and renouncing DEI, adding a pro-Trump booster to his board, paying $25 million to settle a four-year-old lawsuit and several private meetings, the two seem to have patched things up. Not only is Zuckerberg promising to spend massive amounts on money in the US on AI infrastructure, he’s seemingly confirming that Trump approves of the specific number.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/zuckerberg-caught-on-hot-mic-telling-trump-i-wasnt-sure-how-much-to-promise-to-spend-on-ai-in-the-us-211915608.html?src=rss
John Candy was married to Rosemary Margaret Hobor, with whom he shared two children, Jennifer and Christopher. Find out more about his wife and family here.
John Candy was married to Rosemary Margaret Hobor, with whom he shared two children, Jennifer and Christopher. Find out more about his wife and family here.
Unity is updating its game engine to support native screen readers in both macOS and Windows. The feature is available now in the Unity 6000.3.0a5 alpha, and should make the process of making games accessible for blind players cheaper for developers, Can I Play That? writes.
Screen readers narrate on-screen menus so blind and low-vision players can navigate a game or a piece of software without additional assistance. Typically, screen reading software is custom-built for each game, which can make them resource-intensive for developers to implement. “Building something like that from scratch has to be decided upon early in development so you have the time/resources allocated to make it properly,” Steve Saylor, an accessibility consultant and creator, shared on Bluesky. “Having it in-engine can mean the heavy lifting is done for you, and the cost of time/resources now is significantly lower.”
Unity previously offered APIs for both Android and iOS’ built-in screen readers in its Unity 6.0 release, but hadn’t yet added support for Windows Narrator or macOS VoiceOver. With this new alpha and its eventual release as Unity 6.3, developers creating games with Unity will have access to a native screen reader in all of the engine’s major platforms. Considering how popular Unity is as a game engine, that could vastly improve the accessibility of future games.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/unity-developers-can-now-tap-into-system-screen-reader-tools-on-macos-and-windows-200348860.html?src=rss
