Technology

“idk what this is yet but I had an idea.” That’s how game developer @davemakes started a Twitter thread last January, sharing a GIF of colorful tiles floating through a diagonal game space. Follow Dave’s thread, though, and you’ll see how they develop this single idea over the months into a fully fledged rhythm and puzzle game called Mixolumia, available to buy on Itch.io as of last weekend. idk what this is yet but I had an idea pic.twitter.com/w9JbNxZ0Zt — davemakes mixolumia ✨ (@davemakes) January 29, 2019 The game itself looks extremely fun, pairing a simple and bold art style with immersive music and sound effects, and gameplay that looks to be a cross between Tetris and Puyo-Puyo. What’s really fascinating about the thread,… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make M...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Unlike the Xbox One, the Xbox Series X will launch in Japan at the same time as other major markets, meaning it’ll see release this November. Microsoft confirmed the news in response to an inquiry from Japanese site Game Watch. The Xbox One came out in November 2013 in 13 countries, but Japan had to wait until September 2014 along with several other regions, despite its outsized importance to the games industry. Some countries saw their announced release dates slip with Microsoft citing localization issues; the Xbox One’s initial focus on Kinect and voice commands made it more complex to support a wide variety of languages. The Xbox One has not performed well in Japan The Xbox One has not performed well in Japan, to put it lightly. Sales… Conti...

The Stealth 600 Gen 2 gaming headset | Turtle Beach Turtle Beach is releasing new versions of its Stealth 600 and 700 gaming headsets, improving on the 2017 models with a refined design that moves its buttons to a more convenient location while swapping out Micro USB charging for much-needed USB-C across the entire lineup. The peripheral maker is still splintering the headsets by gaming platform, with a Stealth 600 and 700 for Xbox owners and options made specific for PlayStation gamers. Really, the major differences are what they’ve been for a while now: color and connection type. For the Stealth 600, you can get a headset that matches the color scheme of either console (or simply in white if you don’t feel like displaying your allegiance). And while the PlayStation version relies on a...

illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Last month, the world’s biggest tech show announced that CES would go online-only in 2021 instead of expecting companies and journalists to brave Las Vegas in January. But the Game Developers Conference (GDC) just announced it isn’t following suit: it’ll hold a “hybrid event taking place physically in San Francisco” that also includes a “robust virtual offering.” While it’s not yet clear how robust the virtual portion will be, GDC 2021 does have one thing going for it right away: it’ll be held July 19th–21st of next year, instead of the typical March timeframe. Perhaps we’ll have a vaccine by then or at least be more confident about gigantic business and social gatherings. Or perhaps it’ll simply be a smaller event: GDC has never been… Continue...

Image: iFixit iFixit, a company known for its tech product teardowns, has dissected Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds Live wireless headphones. Despite not officially calling them Galaxy Beans, the word “bean” is actually printed inside each earbud — which shows that at one point or another, the company was totally calling these earbuds the vegetables they resemble. Comparing to other wireless earbuds like Apple’s AirPods Pro, iFixit points out the Galaxy Buds Live are not hard to pry open, and actually some of the easiest buds they’ve ever dissected. Inside, you can clearly see “bean left” and “bean right” on the cable that connects the two halves of each earbud. Image: iFixit iFixit also found that the battery is a standard size and… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Money Even ...

Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images AMC Theaters has detailed its plans to reopen movie theaters throughout the US, in addition to a new deadline for its MoviePass-style A-List subscription, in an email sent to customers on Wednesday. Starting August 20th, AMC plans to have more than 100 theaters open, and it says it will continue opening locations “such that about two-thirds of our theatres across the country should be open no later than September 3.” AMC has repeatedly delayed its reopening as spread of the coronavirus has caused massive spikes in positive cases in parts of the US that have started to ease restrictions. AMC says it hopes to have 100 theaters or more open for the release of The New Mutants and Tenet The company, the largest theater chain in the country,… Continue readi...

Image: Ubisoft Ubisoft entered the crowded battle royale market yesterday with Hyper Scape, a new first-person shooter promising a unique twist on the crowded formula. Ahead of its release, the game looked like it had potential to be a big hit on Twitch, even topping the streaming giant’s most-viewed charts the day it was announced and its technical test first went live. Sadly, the hype for Ubisoft’s futuristic free-to-play game has fallen off significantly, as it’s now pulling in abysmal viewership just one day after release on console and PC. As of this afternoon, Hyper Scape has over 240,000 followers and just 11,000 viewers tuning in to watch various content creators stream it live. (Compare that to Fall Guys, another battle royale game that… Continue reading… You Deserve ...

Playdate, the tiny yellow handheld game console from software developer and indie game publisher Panic, is still in the works without a firm release date. But Panic had quite a few new updates to share on Wednesday regarding its growing third-party developer program, including some really interesting-looking indie games being made to run on the Game Boy-inspired gadget. One of these titles, from game developer Nic Magnier of Keen Games, is the original Doom, which Magnier inexplicably got running on the monochrome 2.7-inch display. You can even turn the Playdate’s signature physical hand crank, which is an optional control input, to fire the iconic Doom chaingun. And finally, it didn’t take long for DOOM to show up, as per tradition!… Continue reading… You Deserve to Make Mone...

Image: Steven Crowder / YouTube YouTube is allowing conservative pundit Steven Crowder to monetize his YouTube channel again, more than one year after Crowder was removed from the company’s Partner Program following complaints of homophobic and racist harassment from another creator. “Creators who are suspended from [YouTube’s Partner Program] can reapply for access, and after careful consideration, we will be reinstating him into the program today,” a YouTube spokesperson told The Verge. “If there are further violations on this channel we will take appropriate action.” YouTube says Crowder has “taken steps to address the behavior that led to his suspension” Crowder lost his monetization privileges (which include the ability to run ads) after former Vox.com host and Y… Continue readi...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Lyft said it would shut down operations in California if forced to classify drivers as employees, the company’s executives said in an earnings call with investors on Wednesday. Lyft joins Uber in threatening to pull out of one of its most important US markets over the question of drivers’ employment status. At issue is the classification of ride-hailing drivers as independent contractors, which Uber and Lyft say most drivers prefer because of the flexibility and ability to set their own hours. But labor unions and elected officials contend this deprives them of traditional benefits like health insurance and workers’ compensation. Earlier this week, Uber and Lyft were ordered by a California superior court judge to classify their… Continue r...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft’s dual-screened Android phone, the Surface Duo, will release on September 10th, following close to a year of waiting since its reveal in 2019. It will cost $1,399, but you’ll only pay that much upfront if you buy it unlocked. Otherwise, you’ll owe a smaller monthly payment if you buy it on an installment plan through AT&T or Best Buy. The Surface Duo can be preordered through the Microsoft Store, and doing so now should ensure that you get it on the release date. Paying $1,399 will get you the Duo with 128GB of storage, while an extra $100 will double that to 256GB of built-in storage. You can choose at the time of checkout to get the unlocked version or a phone that includes an AT&T SIM card. AT&T will begin accepting…...

Photo by Robert Reiners/Getty Images Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek, one of the most popular live streamers in the world, returned to Twitch on Wednesday following Microsoft’s decision to shut down the competing Mixer platform, attracting nearly 500,000 active viewers in his comeback stream before it even officially started. Many of those viewers showed up only to find a “starting soon” message, before Shroud turned his camera on at roughly 2:50PM ET. Twitch users continued to pour in, and Shroud surpassed half a million active viewers just a few minutes past the hour. Shroud says his lateness was due to technical difficulties, a common culprit he cites when showing up late to scheduled streams that has become a bit of an inside joke among his legion of fans. But he did say the… Continue ...