Forza Horizon 5 is the entire reason I have an Xbox Series S. Im not really a car guy in real life if money, practicality and burning through fossil fuels were less of a concern, Id get a fun hot hatch with a stick, for sure. I dont care about luxuries or exotics, and I drive a 12-year-old Prius C in real life. But Forza Horizon 5 so skillfully melds open-world exploration, intense competition and replayability while also letting me try out dozens of cars Ive daydreamed about driving that it felt like a must-buy.
My colleague Jess Conditts review of Forza Horizon 5 in 2021 pushed me over the edge. A couple months later, I got my hands on my first Xbox console and had put a startling amount of time into the game; I was far more addicted than I expected and having an absolute blast. In the three-plus years since, I have fallen off it a bit. Its not a daily or weekly play at this point, but there are definitely times where it gets its hooks back into me and I hit my favorite tracks, try different cars or dive into the weekly challenges.
And now, Forza Horizon 5 is available on the PS5, my preferred console. Its probably the biggest Xbox-born franchise to go cross-platform at this point and just the latest example of how Microsoft appears to be done thinking about console exclusives. More broadly, the company has given plenty of signs that consoles that sit under your TV arent its main priority moving a high-profile game like Forza Horizon 5 is just another example.
It works for me, though, because it means I really dont need an Xbox anymore. I might keep it around for a bit, because Im a pack rat and there are still a handful of titles on Game Pass Id like to play at some point. But there are so few games that one needs an Xbox for at this point that I could dump it and really not miss much of a beat there are already tons of games Ill never get around to without worrying about Game Pass.
And unsurprisingly, Forza Horizon 5 runs perfectly on the PS5. Everything that makes the game great on the Xbox shows up here, and I generally prefer the DualSense controller over the Xbox one. The triggers feel great for pumping the gas and brakes, and the haptic feedback is generally better too. Im a little sad to give up all my progression on the Xbox version specifically my garage full of cars Ive earned over the last few years. But, its also fun to start fresh and have a reason to unlock everything again and start fresh on the games many missions.
Even though this game is three and a half years old, its still worth picking up now. Developer Playground Games has been consistently adding new content, including the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions from 2022 and 2023. And along with the PS5 launch, theres a new Horizon Realms feature (coming to all platforms) that rounds up 11 limited-time evolving world areas that were previously featured in seasonal updates. Im not expecting much more in the way of major content updates at this point, but if youre new to the game on PS5 there is more than enough to keep you busy for a long time.
Playground Games
Visually, the game matches its Xbox Series X counterpart, with 60 FPS performance mode and 30 FPS graphics mode. Its an upgrade over the Series S version Ive spent so much time with, as that console maxes out at 1440p, and there are graphical upgrades that go beyond just resolution. But Forza Horizon 5 is an absolutely gorgeous game regardless of what console youre playing on, and Im not a pixel junkie. If you have the game already on an Xbox console, theres no real reason to buy it on the PS5 unless youre looking to streamline how much is under your TV.
As it turns out, thats where Im at right now. I need to cut back on my hoarding tendencies, and as much as I appreciate the tiny footprint of the Xbox Series S and the solid selection of Game Pass titles, I do not have unlimited space or time. I really appreciate what I got out of this little console over the years, but I dont think its a stretch to say that 75 percent of the time I used the Series S as a Forza machine. But hey, Microsoft got its cash from me and I got years of enjoyment, so Im not mad. I just hope if theres another Forza Horizon game in the future that it hits the PlayStation at the same time as the Xbox assuming there still is a console called Xbox, that is.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/forza-horizon-5-is-on-the-ps5-so-i-no-longer-need-an-xbox-110016202.html?src=rss
A Los Angeles-based startup is bringing an unexpected twist to the fertility industry with a social impact model typically seen in consumer goods. Cofertility's Split program allows women to freeze their eggs for free when they donate half of the retrieved eggs to families who cannot otherwise conceive. This innovative approach transforms the traditional egg donation process, which has historically been criticized for commodifying women's bodies and reproductive capabilities.For people who want to preserve all of their eggs for their own use, the company also offers a 'Keep' program at a cost, while still providing community access and preferential storage rates. Cofertility recently secured Series A funding of USD 7.25 million. The capital will fuel expansion of Cofertility's proprietary platform, which handles everything from matching donors with recipients to managing the complex fertility journeys of its members.TREND BITEWith the average age of first-time mothers continuing to climb in developed countries, demand is growing for life-stage flexibility and reproductive agency. Meanwhile, healthcare is evolving from transactional to relational. Today's consumers especially Millennials and Gen Z increasingly expect healthcare solutions to reflect their values.Cofertility is tapping into those broader cultural shifts by moving fertility from a medicalized, often opaque and costly journey, to something more values-driven, community-oriented and transparent. Through no-cost options via the Split model, it democratizes access to egg freezing historically an expensive and exclusive option while building an emotionally powerful value exchange around helping others. The platform isn't just about eggs it's about empowerment, equity and agency.
Picture this: youre zooming through space in a torpedo-shaped ship doing the dangerous job of salvaging material in a planets cluttered orbit when some giant, alien cousin of a fangtooth fish pops up out of nowhere and starts chomping at your tail. Pretty stressful day at work if you ask me. One might even be forgiven for, ahem, accidentally crashing the ship in such conditions. In the Playdate game Suborbital Salvage, though, your supervisor isnt so sympathetic.
Slam into an asteroid or drone and youll be ridiculed til kingdom come by the snarky cat who writes your performance reports. If the fish catches you with one of its enormous teeth, any resulting losses are your fault for feeding it (a violation of company policy). That cat has something to say about every slip-up you make, and its hilarious. In a weird way, it almost becomes part of the reward for finishing a run. Every time I catastrophically ended my turn, I wasnt only eager to see my scores, but also what new insult the cat would have ready for me.
Your actual goal in Suborbital Salvage is to collect as many of the little C tokens as you can, and travel as far as possible while navigating a space filled with hazardous objects.
Games Right Meow
Controlling the ship is a bit tough at first, too. You have to use the crank to point it in the right direction, while also pressing the B button (or D-pad buttons) to fire the thrusters. The physics takes some getting used to and theres that fish chasing you all the while. The farther you get, the more complex the areas get, and youll have to dodge everything from asteroids and mines to what look like giant space mushrooms, and navigate through labyrinthine pipe systems. Flying through rings will give you a boost to get away from the fish, as will flipping the ship in a 360.
The game had me on the edge of my seat concentrating on my survival at just about every second, but its not needlessly difficult. Once I got the hang of the controls and how my ship behaves, I was able to get pretty far. But there are leaderboards to show how you stack up against other players in the different areas of the mission salvage recovery, distance and overall performance which is always humbling. As are the remarks of that damn cat. Come for the thrilling space adventure, stay for the trash-talking feline.
Some of my favorite lines so far include: I dont know if its occurred to you but You really should try flying through the rings, not into them; You know, most people try to steer AWAY from space rocks; and Are you between a rock and a hard place? No really. Where did you go? At one point, the cat simply said, Just be better. (In the Settings menu, there's an option to toggle the dialogue from Roast me to Shutup cat, but really, why would you do that?) Suborbital Salvage, by Games Right Meow, is available in the Playdate Catalog for $8.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/suborbital-salvage-is-a-thrilling-endless-runner-for-playdate-that-pelts-you-with-asteroids-and-insults-230014518.html?src=rss
Metas AI chatbots were caught having sexual roleplay conversations with accounts labeled as underage, which sometimes involved its celebrity-voiced chatbots, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. In test conversations conducted by WSJ, both the Meta AI official chatbot and user-created chatbots would engage in and even steer towards sexually explicit conversations. The fantasy sex conversations continued even if the users were said to be underage or if the chatbots were programmed as minors, according to WSJ.
Even worse, the investigation found that chatbots using the voices of celebrities like Kristen Bell, Judi Dench and John Cena would engage in these morally questionable conversations too. WSJ reported that a Meta AI chatbot with Cenas voice said, I want you, but I need to know youre ready, to an account labeled as a 14-year-old, adding that it would cherish your innocence.
The chatbots reportedly acknowledged that the fantasy scenarios described illegal behavior in some cases. According to WSJ, the John Cena chatbot detailed the legal and moral fallout that would follow a hypothetical scenario in which its caught by police after engaging in a sexual act with a 17-year-old. In a statement to WSJ responding to the investigation, Meta accused the report of being manipulative and unrepresentative of how most users engage with AI companions.
Nevertheless, weve now taken additional measures to help ensure other individuals who want to spend hours manipulating our products into extreme use cases will have an even more difficult time of it, Meta wrote in response to WSJ.
The world of AI chatbots has grown rapidly in the last few years, with more competition coming from the likes of ChatGPT, Character AI, and Anthropics Claude. The WSJ report claimed that Metas CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, wanted to loosen the ethical guardrails for a more engaging experience with its chatbots to remain competitive. However, in response to WSJ, a Meta spokesperson denied that the company overlooked adding safeguards. The report also claims Meta employees were aware of these issues and raised their concerns internally. We reached out to Meta for comment and will update the story once we hear back.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/metas-ai-chatbots-were-reportedly-able-to-engage-in-sexual-conversations-with-minors-193726679.html?src=rss
4chan, the infamous forum known for its anonymous user base posting unhinged material, has made its comeback. A post on the websites official blog, titled Still Standing, detailed the timeline of events that led to 4chans shutdown earlier this month. According to the sites own status checker, the boards and front page are up, but posting and images are still down.
The 4chan blog post explains that moderators shut down the servers on April 14 to prevent any more damage after a serious database attack where hackers gained access to the sites source code. The blog post labeled the incident catastrophic since it breached a ton of 4chans databases along with its most important server. The hack even vandalized the website and revealed personal information of the 4chan moderation team and many of its users.
The blog post attributed the hack to the sites inability to update the code and infrastructure due to a lack of skilled man-hours. Unsurprisingly, the site was starved for money to address these concerns since its hard for 4chan to find willing financial backers. Advertisers and payment providers willing to work with 4chan are rare, and are quickly pressured by activists into cancelling their services, the blog post read. Putting together the money for new equipment took nearly a decade.
Now that the website is back, there will be some crucial changes. According to the blog post, the /f/ board will stay shut down since the 4chan team cant prevent exploits related to the commonly-posted .swf file format. For similar reasons, the resurrected 4chan will also disable PDF uploads for now, but will reintroduce them in the near future. Moving forward, 4chan says it is bringing on volunteers to keep up with the workload of putting the website back together. The moderation team apparently isnt going to let 4chan die easily the blog post read no matter how hard it is, we are not giving up. Still, it feels inevitable that 4chan will run into a similar problem in the future, considering it hasnt solved the root issue of securing money to keep its servers up-to-date.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/4chan-is-back-after-a-nearly-two-week-shutdown-but-it-still-has-some-serious-problems-171124240.html?src=rss
Its safe to say people are loving Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 so far. The turn-based RPG which is the debut game from French developer Sandfall has been racking up rave reviews in the days around its release, and already soared past some big sales milestones. On Sunday morning, publisher Kepler Interactive shared on social media that the game has sold a million copies since its release on April 24. It hit the first 500,000 in one day. On the games BlueSky account, the team said that the latest figure includes units shipped to retailers, and does not encompass our awesome GamePass players!
Expedition 33 follows a group of Expeditioners who have set out to destroy the entity known as the Paintress, who every year paints a number on a monolith that dooms everyone of that age to death, whittling down the population down as the number gets smaller and smaller. Engadgets Mat Smith called Expedition 33 a gorgeously made and well-considered world, and found it to be a solid, enjoyable RPG. The game is available now for PC, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/clair-obscur-expedition-33-sold-1-million-copies-in-its-first-three-days-155554248.html?src=rss
The Curiosity Mars rover covers a lot of ground for a robot that only moves at a max speed of .1 mph. A photo snapped recently by NASAs Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provides a pretty cool visualization of what the rover has been up to so far this year, showing the tracks Curiosity left behind as it journeyed from its previous science target an area called the Gediz Vallis channel to its next destination. The rover itself is just a tiny speck at the front of the roughly 1,050-foot-long trail, and according to NASA, this snap is believed to be the first orbital image of the rover mid-drive across the Red Planet.
The image was captured on February 28 by the orbiters HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, and shows Curiositys movement over 11 drives starting at the beginning of that month. While a few weeks might seem like a long time for tire tracks to stick around in the dirt, this is normal for Mars. The tracks are [l]ikely to last for months before being erased by wind, NASA says. Curiosity is expected to reach its next science destination, which is home to formations thought to have been created long ago by groundwater, in the coming weeks.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-mars-orbiter-snapped-this-image-of-curiosity-trucking-along-down-at-the-surface-211404950.html?src=rss
Spoilers for The Well.
Sometimes, in fiction, you dont need to say a Very Important Thing in a Very Important Way to make a good point, just ask how a thing would work if it played out in the world. This weeks episode of Doctor Who, The Well, does exactly that, and brilliantly.
Picking up straight after Lux, the Doctor and Belinda, still in their 50s outfits, are trying to get the TARDIS to work. Belinda helps with the controls, but the vessel still refuses to land on May 24, 2025, which panics the nurse even more. If the TARDIS isnt broken, she assumes that the date or the Earth itself could be broken, and frets about her parents. The Doctor shares her concerns, but promises that she will be reunited with her family.
The Doctor persists with his plan to land in a few more spots with the Vindicator (the gadget he built last week) to orient the TARDIS. This time, its 500,000 years in the future, and Belinda asks if humanity even exists by now. He assures her it does, as humans spread to the stars and wormed themselves into every corner of the universe. The pair head to the TARDIS wardrobe to get into some appropriate clothes before heading out.
They step out onto the gantry of a spaceship where an advance party of marines are leaping into the void. With no choice but to join them, they land on the planet below, enabling the Doctor to take the Vindicator reading. But, alas, the planets heavy radiation means the ship (and by extension, the TARDIS) has to glide down slowly over the next five hours. So they tag along with the mission, the Psychic Paper enabling the Doctor and Belinda to insinuate themselves with the team.
The planet is inhospitable, occupied only by a small mining colony that has dug down into the world to extract its last remaining useful resources. The colony went silent a few days before and, before you can say Oh, is this going to be an(other) Aliens riff? one of the marines suggests it would have been wiser to nuke the site from orbit.
All of the colonists are dead, half from gunfire, half from injuries that look like they fell and broke every bone in their body. The mirrors are all smashed and the systems are offline, the records of what went on inaccessible. But there is one survivor, the colonys chef, Aliss Bethick (Rose Ayling-Ellis) who, like the actress who portrays her, is deaf. Aliss has been waiting in the middle of a large cargo turntable (which reads on camera as a big circle) for days.
Aliss is isolated, both physically in the staging and because of her hearing loss, and while she can lipread, its still a barrier between her and the soldiers. The Doctor can communicate with Aliss in sign, and the soldiers all have their own captioning screens on their lapels. Much of the second act is taken up with the interrogation of Aliss as the marines work through the logistics of how to communicate with her. For instance, getting her attention by casting to another soldiers screen in her eye-line to get her to turn around. Belinda enters the circle to treat Aliss injuries but keeps seeing something lurking behind her new patient.
It isnt long before the Doctor learns that the desolate planet they stand on was once covered in diamonds. This is the planet Midnight from the series four episode of the same name when the Doctor, trapped in a shuttle, tries and ultimately fails to defeat a sinister entity that possessed one of the passengers. Like then, the Doctors pleas for calm fail. Two of the soldiers mutiny and attempt to lure the entity out and kill it. They do not survive.
Its Belinda who works out and explains the rules: If you imagine the host Aliss at the center of a clock, then whoever stands directly behind her is attacked by the unseen monster. If you stand at six oclock then youre fine, but youll die at midnight. Quite literally, as whoever is in the entitys way gets thrown around like a ragdoll half the crew shooting each other to kill the entity, the other half getting minced by the alien.
The Doctor approaches Aliss to speak to the monster but since its time for the third act to start wrapping up, he just stares for a bit before working out the solution. In order to mine the diamonds the colonists would dump down mercury, using a pipe which is conveniently running behind Aliss head. Shooting the pipe will cause a river of mercury to cascade down, creating a mirror that should be enough to banish the monster.
They make their escape, but the Doctor cant help but wait behind to see the monster, giving it a chance to latch onto Belinda. The captain of the marines shoots Belinda enough that the entity thinks shes about to die and switches hosts, after which point they leap into the mineshaft. Belinda wakes up in the TARDIS in the Doctors care, ready for the next adventure. Meanwhile, the marines debrief their boss Mrs. Flood! Who knows all about the Vindicator, too before revealing the alien did make it on board their spaceship after all.
One of the threads in the episode is Belinda keeps discussing human terms and superstitions to shrugs from everyone around her. Its something thats got both her and The Doctor puzzled, as there seems to be something very wrong with all of reality.
You die at midnight...
James Pardon / BBC Studios / Disney / Bad Wolf
Showrunner Russell T. Davies was asked about bad faith criticisms that the show had somehow gone woke. Someone always brings up matters of diversity and there are online warriors accusing us of diversity and wokeness and involving messaging and issues and I have no time for this, he said. What you might call diversity I just call an open door, he added, its cold and its bracing and theres a world in front of you! Theres a blue sky, theres clouds and theres noise, theres birdsong, theres people arguing.
Whats notable about this is that Davies open-minded (and open-hearted) approach to making the show creates storytelling possibilities. For instance, the last time an episode of Doctor Who featured a deaf character (2015s Under The Lake), she relied upon a colleague to interpret on her behalf. And her ability to lipread wound up being part of the solution to the episodes problem reducing her to little more than a plot mechanism.
Here, while Aliss deafness is a core part of the plot, it doesnt feel as if shes defined by that one facet. Effort has been made to flesh out her character, and its more a venue to explore how technology and communication intersect with someone with different accessibility needs. Especially as (co-writers) Sharma Angel-Walfall and Russell T. Davies made the effort to think through how this would work.
BBC Studios / Disney / Bad Wolf
Whenever Im watching an episode of nü-nü-Who, in the back of my mind Im mulling what the injection of Disney money changed. Midnight, the episode The Well is a sequel to, was produced as a double banked episode splitting the leads to shoot two episodes at a time. Midnight was also intended as a cheap story, with the bulk of the script taking place in a single room. If were being honest, The Well could have worked just as well given the bulk of the action takes place in a handful of rooms.
Thats not to say the extra cash lavished upon this episode is wasted: The Well feels almost indulgent by Doctor Who standards for the sheer breadth and depth of its sets. I cant help but recall the Aliens riff Strange New Worlds produced in its first season, which re-used the series standing sets for the wreck of the USS Peregrine. It sounds weird to say that Doctor Who is luxuriating in the fact it can afford to show a trashed bunkroom for all of a minute, but it is.
Perhaps part of the reason it does feel indulgent is that this is an episode relatively low on incident and high on character. Belinda gets a real showcase here, both asserting herself on the narrative at several points, but also being rebuked for doing so. She tries to take charge to help the injured Aliss but the medical kit is so advanced shes not able to use it. Shes smart enough to work out the rules of the alien, but also it gets the better of her in the end.
Whereas the first two episodes this season felt overstuffed and rushed, the smaller story and focus on character lets everything breathe. That an accessibility tool is a key focus of the plot and used as a venue for storytelling and character development is marvelous.
Look, Im as bored saying it as you are reading it, but once again I cant help but point out the influence of Steven Moffat on this season. One of the inspirations for monsters like the Weeping Angels and the Silence was the idea of them being easy to turn into a schoolyard game. The unnamed entity here, with the mechanic that if you stand directly behind the host you will die, seems perfectly in that tradition.
But The Well also offers instances where Davies is in conversation with the rest of this season and his earlier work. In both Midnight and The Well, the Doctor is at risk of losing his grip on the situation because the threat of the unknown makes people paranoid and jumpy. A streak of deeply dark pessimism runs through all of this work and while its also on show here, theres a little more hope than there was before.
Its also interesting how Davies, who has always structured his seasons in a fairly rigid manner, seems to be deliberately repeating motifs and beats. The parallels between this season and the last feel almost like theyre trying to draw attention to themselves. Space Babies and The Robot Revolution, The Devils Chord and Lux and now the Boom paired with The Well feel like episodes vying for the same space in different realities. Not to mention the repetition of moments from episode to episode like the TARDIS wardrobe sequence and the repeated hand injuries. If next week's "Lucky Day" is predominantly featured on Ruby Sunday without the Doctor and revolves around physical distance and / or the supernatural, then perhaps we might assume that this is more than coincidence.
Mrs. Flood Corner
Ive always hated The End or is it? fake-outs that often undermine the drama of whatever denouement theyre tacked on to. Sure, it can be effective if you want to cheapen the sacrifices your characters made to vanquish the villain, but often it comes across as hacky. Not to mention that people with poor media literacy will assume that its actually a teaser for a cliffhanger to be resolved the following week.
Here, eh, its essentially a way to shoehorn Mrs. Flood in as the soldiers' boss taking the debrief after the Doctor and Belinda depart. She knows about the Doctors use of the Vindicator, and has now seen it in action thanks to the soldiers recording. But theres no breaking the fourth wall, which means shes operating here in the same manner as Susan Twist did last year. Which is, uh, interesting.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/doctor-who-the-well-review-signing-makes-you-feel-heard-200528202.html?src=rss
The hit co-op adventure game Split Fiction is already headed for Hollywood with Sydney Sweeney in a starring role, according to Variety. Along with the Euphoria actor, the film adaptation welcomed Wickeds Jon M. Chu as the projects director and screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who worked on Deadpool & Wolverine. Sweeney will also reportedly be an executive producer for the Split Fiction movie. Split Fiction features two authors named Mio and Zoe who get trapped in fictional worlds they penned up. Its still unknown which of the two Split Fiction protagonists Sweeney will portray.
Shortly after the video games release in March, Variety reported on a bidding war for a film adaptation of Split Fiction. Hazelight Studios, an indie video game developer out of Sweden, created the game that centers around split-screen combat and bounces between sci-fi and fantasy worlds. The game saw early success, selling two million copies in its first week, which may have led to the quick turnaround of a proposed Hollywood adaptation. It was picked up by Story Kitchen, a studio known for adaptations of franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog and Tomb Raider, but theres no release window yet.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/split-fiction-movie-adaptation-lands-sydney-sweeney-as-star-180322064.html?src=rss
Etsy is selling Reverb, six years after it purchased the online marketplace for musical instruments. Reverb didn't say how much money is changing hands, but Etsy purchased the company for $275 million in 2019. In its announcement, Reverb said that the investors Creator Partners, which was founded by former SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor, and Servco, the owner of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, have entered an agreement to buy the company. The marketplace will not be merging with either investor and will be "privately-held [and] independently operated" like it was before Etsy's acquisition.
Reverb CEO David Mandelbrot said the deal is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. He assured users that they can continue buying and selling on the platform without any disruption during the process. He also briefly talked about what the company is working on for its users, including preparing for the pilot of a new selling option that would allow people to get paid faster and to drop off their instruments locally without even needing to create a listing for them. This could help buyers who want to get their gear locally when available or those who don't want to pay extra on top for tariffs. Reverb is also working on a way to make it easier for find what a buyer is looking for and on a way for sellers to be able ship their instruments more safely.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/etsy-is-selling-online-music-gear-marketplace-reverb-160002119.html?src=rss
