When Charlie Jane Anders was still here at io9—she co-founded the site with Annalee Newitz back in 2008—she wrote several popular posts offering advice and inspiration to both aspiring and veteran authors of sci-fi and fantasy. Those posts gained even more value after she herself became a best-selling fiction author,…
A demographic study shows that the Ayta Magbukun—a Philippine ethnic group—has the highest known level of Denisovan ancestry in the world. The finding shows that the history of archaic and modern humans living on the islands of southeast Asia during the Pleistocene is more complex than we imagined.
In director Jaco Bouwer’s Gaia, which premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, there is something ancient, powerful, and unimaginably dangerous living deep in the Tsitsikamma forest of South Africa. While all of the movie’s characters have a certain degree of reverence for nature when you first meet them, none of…
It was given to Moya Smith, a royal staffer, who preserved it with cling film and dated it July 29, 1981.
If you were addicted to Diablo 2 when it was first released, but are on the fence about playing the new “Resurrected” version, this might be the push you need. Diablo 2: Resurrected cinematics are out – and they look unbelievably good. It’s as if the creators of this renewed title went back and kidnapped the original creators of the … Continue reading
Polestar has confirmed pricing for its most affordable model, with the all-electric 2022 Polestar 2 single motor also managing to extend the range versus the current car. Previewed earlier in the year, the new variant is now expected to deliver up to 265 miles of EPA range on a full charge. That’s considerably greater than the 233 miles of range … Continue reading
Zagreus might struggle to escape the Underworld, but he’s no longer bound by the confines of PC and Nintendo Switch. Hades, widely regarded as one of the best games of 2020, is coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and PS5 on August 13th. It’ll be on Xbox Game Pass on Xbox and PC on the same date.
Supergiant Games says the dungeon-crawling roguelike is targeting 60 frames per second at 1080p on Xbox One and PS4. It’ll run at up to 60 fps in 4K on Series X/S and PS5.
Physical editions will come with a bonus download code for the soundtrack and a 32-page booklet. The Xbox One and Series X versions will be available on the same disk. Both the physical and digital PS4 versions offer a free upgrade to the digital PS5 version.
Unfortunately, unlike the Switch version, you won’t be able to transfer Hades saves between PC and Xbox or PlayStation consoles. Still, Xbox and PlayStation owners will at last get their chance to tackle Hades again and again and again in a couple of months.
Update, 8/12/2021: The listing is now live.
Verizon (currently Engadget’s parent company) is still betting on streaming bonuses to win over new subscribers. The carrier has launched a promo that gives Fios and wireless subscribers up to a year of ‘free’ AMC+ streaming. Not surprisingly, you’ll only get the full 12 months if you spend the most — you’ll have to either sign up for a Mix & Match Fios plan or activate a new line on one of the network’s better unlimited wireless plans (Play More, Do More or Get More) while buying one of the company’s “best” 5G-capable phones.
Cellular subscribers who either activate a Start Unlimited plan or upgrade to a top-tier 5G phone on an existing line will get a more modest six months of AMC+ service. The promo expires for Fios customers on February 10th, 2022, but there’s no mention of an expiry date for wireless.
Verizon isn’t shy about the timing — The Walking Dead season 11 premieres August 22nd for most viewers, and the company is clearly hoping to reel in customers who want to watch more of AMC’s humans-are-the-real-monsters drama. We’d add that this comes just a day after Samsung revealed the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3 — the bonus AMC+ access could serve as an incentive to update your phone.
The question, as with other carrier perks, is whether or not this is really adding value. Verizon already gives all its users at least six months of Disney+, Discovery+, Apple Arcade, Google Play Pass and Apple Music — if you aren’t a hardcore Walking Dead fan, what’s another service you’ll try a few times and cancel? There’s also the question of pricing — what if you were comfortable dropping the freebies in return for a lower rate? While networks like Verizon don’t say how much it costs to offer bonuses like this, there’s a mounting concern that the costs could add up.
Three years after taking on Brexit in Not Tonight, publisher No More Robots and developer PanicBarn are working on a sequel to the satirical political RPG. Not Tonight 2 takes place in a supposedly alternate version of the US, where “capitalism and political greed have taken center stage and democracy is a thing of the past.”
The action takes place across the US as three characters — Malik, Kevin and Mari — try to save their friend Eduardo from deportation or another terrible fate. Not Tonight 2 centers around three intertwined, branching stories written by a group of POC artists and authors.
The original game drew comparisons to Papers, Please for its core gameplay of checking IDs as a bouncer at pubs and nightclubs. Those mechanics are back in the sequel, along with a variety of minigames, including everything from word association and rhythm games to working at the border wall, joining a cult and serving poutine to Canadians.
More than 400,000 people have played Not Tonight, which landed on Nintendo Switch last year. Not Tonight 2 should hit Steam later this year.
The global chip crunch is already affecting multiple sectors including PCs, consoles, and the automotive industry, and now it’s wreaking havoc on AT&T’s fiber-to-the-home plans after the company announced a slowdown in fiber installations affecting around 500,000 homes.
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