Technology

The Mass Effect franchise isn’t done just yet, according to a strange new teaser at The Game Awards. In a short clip, a hooded figure uncovers a piece of equipment bearing the game’s N7 logo from the snow. The teaser closes with words “Mass Effect will continue.” On Twitter, BioWare said that the next game is now in “early production.” Bioware’s beloved space series wrapped its original trilogy with Mass Effect 3 in 2012. Curiously, the teaser appears to feature Liara — or, at least someone bearing a strong resemblance to her — one of the game’s Asari shipmates and possible love interests. Asari live for hundreds of years, however, meaning any future games don’t necessarily have to take place during the Shepard era of the trilogy. The last in the series, Mass Effect: Andromeda — a game fea...

There weren’t any bombshells on the scale of last year’s Xbox Series X reveal, but the 2020 edition of The Game Awards was still packed with news and trailers. There were game reveals like Perfect Dark and Open Roads, more characters for Fortnite and Super Smash Bros., and a lot more. If you missed the show, or just need a refresher, here are the biggest moments. Master Chief comes to Fortnite [embedded content] As has been long-expected, Epic revealed that Halo star Master Chief is coming to Fortnite. He’s available today, and joining him later this season will be characters from The Walking Dead. Among Us gets a new map [embedded content] The breakout social hit Among Us is getting a bit bigger. At The Game Awards the development team revealed a brand-new map, which should give you even ...

One of the most interesting musical performances at this year’s Game Awards was from an unknown pop group called OFK. The twist? Not only is it a virtual group, but next year they’ll star in a new game. The performance was the first reveal of We Are OFK, an interactive series that’s slated to debut next year. It sounds sort of like a documentary series, except for a fictional band, with a premise that’s a mix between the Gorillaz, K/DA from League of Legends, and Sayonara Wild Hearts. Here’s the description: We Are OFK’s visuals, interactivity, and music tell a story of the creative process of music making, and all the shit that gets in the way. The virtual band will debut a new single in each episode, with an accompanying interactive music video. Find yourself immersed into the lives of f...

Disney is moving a couple of its 2021 movies to Disney Plus and seemingly removing them from theaters in an effort to bolster its streaming service. Peter Pan & Wendy and the live-action adaptation of Pinocchio are heading to Disney Plus as streaming originals, Disney Studios head Sean Bailey announced tonight at a streaming event. Disenchanted, a sequel to the studio’s 2007 film, will also debut on Disney Plus alongside Sister Act 3. More are likely to be announced as Disney figures out its plans moving into 2021. Unlike Warner Bros., which announced its moving every one of its films in 2021 to a hybrid release, appearing on HBO Max the same day they land in theaters, Disney is only moving a number of titles. These live-action titles Pinocchio, and Peter Pan & Wendy will skip thea...

Nintendo just unveiled the identity of the next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter as the opening announcement of The Game Awards: it’s Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII. That’s right, if you just can’t wait for the next part of Final Fantasy VII Remake to come out, you’ll be able to see Sephiroth and Cloud do battle right there in Smash Bros. Sephiroth is the third character available from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s second Fighters Pass, following the addition of Min Min from Arms in June and Minecraft mascots Steve and Alex in October. The Fighters Pass costs $29.99 for six characters — three of which remain a mystery — or you can pay $5.99 for each individually. The first Fighters Pass costs $24.99 and includes Joker from Persona 5, a Dragon Quest Hero, Banjo and Kazooie from Banjo-Kaz...

Microsoft’s The Initiative, a secretive studio the company opened in Santa Monica back in 2018, has revealed its first game: a new Perfect Dark title. The announcement, made via a trailer that debuted during The Game Awards on Thursday evening, marks the return of the iconic shooter Rare shooter series, which hasn’t seen a new release since the 2005 prequel Perfect Dark Zero. It also confirms longstanding rumors that The Initiative would be reviving Perfect Dark for the first time in more than 15 years. Little is known about the new game, like whether it’s a full reboot of the series or a sequel to the original 2000 classic. What we do know is that the game will be released for Xbox consoles and likely also on PC, but with no concrete release window whatsoever. But The Initiative did post ...

In 2016, Apple launched a new iPhone app called Music Memos. It was meant to expand on the built-in Voice Memos app’s ease of use while adding some features for musicians. You could record something with an acoustic guitar or piano in uncompressed audio, and Music Memos would detect the chords you played and could also add in drum and bass backing tracks that kept with your tempo. You could name those tracks and give them star ratings, or tag certain parts of a recording like the bridge or chorus. But considering how infrequently Apple updated Music Memos after its release, it’s fair to assume that the app never took off like the company might’ve hoped. It was an awkward middle child between the wonderfully simple Voice Memos and more capable GarageBand. And today, as noted by 9to5Mac, App...

T-Mobile might look as thought it’s late to the game by unveiling its first 5G hotspot today, along with a variety of 5G standalone hotspot plans. After all, Verizon and AT&T have offered 5G hotspots for a while now (although they began with significantly limited coverage). But T-Mobile’s particular blend of wide 5G coverage and better-than-LTE speeds means the device should be more accessible to more people. Plus, the carrier’s standalone 5G hotspot plan is priced to compete, starting at $30 for 10GB and $40 for 30GB, and topping out at 100GB for $50. In comparison, AT&T’s standalone hotspot plans start at $60 per month for 15GB; Verizon’s offerings start at $80 for 15GB of 5G. T-Mobile’s standalone 5G hotspot plan is priced to compete T-Mobile’s Inseego 5G MiFi M2000 hotspot is a...

Netflix is making a 3D animated Sonic the Hedgehog TV show, the company announced in a (since-deleted) tweet from its NX Twitter account. The series, set to debut in 2022, will be based on the character from the long-running Sega games, although there are no specific details yet as to what the show will entail. The series is being produced in partnership with Sega, along with WildBrain (a production company behind numerous popular children’s TV shows) and Man of Action Entertainment (best known for Ben 10 and Disney’s Big Hero 6 TV series.) Gotta go fast While there’s not much information about the series itself, Netflix’s teaser image shows a silhouette of the modern 3D Sonic design (as opposed to the chubbier and stubbier “classic Sonic” that’s featured in games like Sonic Mania.) Assumi...

SMS messages have stopped working for some Android users, and it appears Google is rolling back some changes to help fix the issue. The issue seems to be due to a recent update to the Carrier Services app, which “enables the latest communication services from mobile carriers, including battery-optimizations and support for enhanced features in the Android Messages app,” according to the app’s description on the Play Store. The app has more than a billion installs. Version 50 of the app started rolling out on December 2nd, and reports of issues with SMS started hitting around then, according to 9to5Google. OnePlus, LG, Motorola, Samsung, and TCL phones have reportedly been affected. If you’re seeing issues, uninstalling the app fixes the problem, 9to5Google found. As of Thursday, though, Go...

In 1902, famed inventor and futurist Nikola Tesla set up shop on Long Island to begin work on his grandest experiment yet. He imagined the construction of a worldwide wireless power delivery system: a network of towers that could light up cities, send communications, and even power aircraft in the sky, all without wires. On the grounds of his lab, he built the first prototype transmission device, a massive structure that came to be known as the Wardenclyffe Tower. Today, of course, we live in a profoundly wired world. Over-the-air communication is ubiquitous. But with a handful of exceptions like cellphones and toothbrushes, we still send and receive electricity through wires. So what went happened to Tesla’s big ambition? We traveled to Wardenclyffe to check out the remains of the lab and...

Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t just one of the biggest games of the year; it’s also one of the most technically demanding. CD Projekt Red’s ambitious roleplaying game takes place in a huge, dense open world, and — as anyone who has ever played a Bethesda game can attest to — technology is often a step behind the designers in these kinds of experiences. Glitches and bugs are not uncommon occurrences, and early demos are far cries from what the game may look like on the standard hardware most players have in their living room. Cyberpunk is also somewhat unique in that it’s releasing across a number of different platforms at launch — nine, to be exact. We initially reviewed Cyberpunk on PC, where we ran into a handful of glitches that were annoying but didn’t exactly render the game unplayable. Since t...