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CNN is starting to narrow down the launch details for its CNN+ streaming service. The online-only offering is now slated to debut this spring at a price of $6 per month. You'll have a strong incentive to sign up quickly, though — CNN will offer lifetime monthly subscriptions at 50 percent off for anyone who signs up within the first four weeks.

The company also outlined how you'll access the service. A unified CNN app will provide access to CNN+ as well as live and on-demand content for conventional TV subscribers. This will encourage everyday CNN users to subscribe to CNN+, of course, but you also won't have to switch apps to view the content you want.

CNN+ is banking on a combination of recognizable hosts and shows to pull you in. Former Fox News host Chris Wallace will provide live daily news, for instance, while other hosts range from CNN veterans (such as Anderson Cooper and Poppy Harlow) through to outside talent like cook and writer Alison Roman. You can expect some on-demand material, including the Big Tech-focused The Land of the Giants to back catalog releases like Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.

Whether or not the pricing is right, there's little doubt CNN+ faces some competition. There are direct rivals such as Fox Nation, but services like NBCUniversal's Peacock and Paramount+ mix live news and sports with plenty of on-demand entertainment. The success of CNN+ isn't guaranteed, particularly when subscription fatigue might make it harder to justify yet another outlay.

CD Projekt Red says it will stop selling its games until further notice in Russia and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine. People in those two countries will no longer be able to buy the publisher's own games — such as Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — or any title from its GOG store.

"Today, we begin working with our partners to suspend digital sales and cease physical stock deliveries of CD PROJEKT Group products, as well as all games distributed on the GOG platform, to the territories of Russia and Belarus," CDPR wrote in a statement on Twitter. The publisher's games are sold on several digital platforms, including the Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch stores, as well as Steam, Epic Games Store and Google Stadia.

In a note to investors, CDPR said that Russia and Belarus accounted for around 9.1 percent of sales of its games and titles on GOG over the last 12-month period.

CDPR said it "stands firm with the people of Ukraine." The day after the invasion started, It donated approximately $242,000 to a humanitarian group in support of the conflict's victims.

"While we are not a political entity capable of directly influencing state matters, and don’t aspire to be one, we do believe that commercial entities, when united, have the power to inspire global change in the hearts and minds of ordinary people," CDPR said. It acknowledged the decision will impact gamers in Russia and Belarus who aren't involved in the invasion and perhaps oppose it, "but with this action we wish to further galvanize the global community to speak about what is going on in the heart of Europe."

The move follows a request from Ukraine's vice prime minister for gaming companies to temporarily block player accounts in Russia and Belarus. EA Sports said on Wednesday it's removing Russian and Belarusian teams from FIFA and NHL games.

Because I'm the editor of Engadget by day and a volunteer coach in my free time, I often get asked which GPS watch to buy. (People also ask what I'm wearing and the answer is: All of them. I am testing all of them.) For my part, the best running watches are quick to lock in a GPS signal, offer accurate distance and pace tracking, last a long time on a charge, are comfortable to wear and easy to use.

Advanced stats like VO2 Max, or maximum oxygen intake during workouts with increasing intensity, are also nice to have, along with training assessments to keep your workload in check and make sure you're getting in effective aerobic and anaerobic workouts. It's also a plus when a watch supports other sports, like cycling and swimming, which all of these do to varying extents. As for features like smartphone notifications and NFC payments, they’re not necessary for most people, especially considering they drive up the asking price.

Without further ado, I bring you capsule reviews of four running watches, each of which I ultimately recommend, none of which is perfect. And keep in mind, when it comes time to make a decision of your own, there are no wrong answers here: I like Apple and Garmin enough, for instance, that I switch back and forth between them in my own training.

The best running watch that’s also a smartwatch: Apple Watch Series 7

Engadget

What you get: A jack-of-all-trades GPS watch that also happens to be our favorite smartwatch.

Pros: Stylish design; a great all-around smartwatch you'll want to use even when you're not exercising; automatic workout detection; heart-rate and blood oxygen monitoring; support for lots of third-party health platforms; auto-pause feels faster than on Garmin watches; zippy performance and fast re-charging; optional LTE is nice to have.

Cons: For iPhone users only; shorter battery life than the competition might concern endurance athletes; fewer performance metrics and settings than what you'd find on a purpose-built sports watch.

Don't think of the Apple Watch as a running watch. Think of it as a smartwatch that happens to have a running mode. Almost seven years after the original Watch made its debut, Apple has successfully transformed its wearable from an overpriced curiosity to an actually useful companion device for the masses. But being a gadget for the masses means that when it comes to running, the Apple Watch has never been as feature rich as competing devices built specifically for that purpose.

Before I get to that, a few words on why I like it. The Apple Watch is the only one of these watches I’d want to wear every day. (And I do: After reviewing Apple Watches for years, I finally purchased one in fall 2021.) The Series 7 is stylish, or at least as stylish as a wrist-worn computer can be, and certainly more so than any running watch I've encountered. The aluminum, water-resistant body and neutral Sport band go with most outfits and will continue to look fresh after all your sweaty workouts and jaunts through the rain. And the always-on display is easy to read in direct sunlight.

The battery life is 18 hours, according to Apple. Indeed, I never have a problem making it through the day. I’m often able to put the watch back on after a night of forgetting to charge it and still have some juice left. If you do forget, even a few minutes of charging in the morning can go a long way – Apple claims you can go from zero to 80 percent in 45 minutes, and that the Series 7 charges up to 33 percent faster than the Series 6.

That said, it’s worth noting that other running watches claim longer usage time — between 30 and 40 hours in some cases. When it comes to workouts specifically, Apple rates the battery life with GPS at up to seven hours. Given that, I would trust the Series 7 to last through a short run or even a half marathon, but I'm not sure how it would fare in one of my slow, five-hour-plus marathons.

The built-in Activity app is simple and addictive: I feel motivated to fill in my "move" (active calorie), exercise and stand rings each day. I enjoy earning award badges, even though they mean nothing. I'm grateful that the Apple Health app can pull in workouts from Garmin and every other brand featured here, and then count that toward my daily exercise and stand goals (but not my move goal, curiously).

My one complaint is that the sensors don’t always track standing time accurately. I have failed to receive credit when standing for long periods in front of a stove, but occasionally I’ve been rewarded for doing absolutely nothing.

As for running specifically, you're getting the basics and not much else. You can see your distance, calorie burn, heart rate, average pace and also rolling pace, which is your pace over the past mile at any given moment. You can also set pace alerts — a warning that you're going faster than you meant to, for example. Like earlier Apple Watches, you can also stream music or podcasts, if you have the cellular-enabled LTE model.

Because the watch has a GPS sensor, you can leave your phone at home while running. Of course, no two brands of running watches will offer exactly the same distance readout on a run. That said, though Apple never explicitly claimed the Series 7 offers improved accurate distance tracking, the readouts here do feel more accurate than the Series 6, which itself felt more on-point than earlier models. It’s possible that Apple is making ongoing improvements under the hood that have added up to more accurate tracking performance.

For indoor runners, the Apple watch integrates with some treadmills and other exercise equipment, thanks to a two-way pairing process that essentially trades notes between the device and gym gear, formulating a more accurate estimate of your distance and effort using that shared data. In my experience starting with the Series 6, the watch usually agrees with the treadmill on how far I ran, which is not always the case with other wearables.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

I also particularly appreciate that the Apple Watch automatically detects workouts after a certain period of time. I use this feature daily as I walk to and from the subway and around my neighborhood. After 10 minutes, the familiar vibrating tick, with a message asking if I want to record an outdoor walk. The answer is always yes, and the watch thankfully includes the previous 10 minutes in which I forgot to initiate a workout.

Regardless of the workout type, all of your stats are listed on a series of pages, which you swipe through from left to right. In my early days using the watch, it was tempting to use the Digital Crown as a stopwatch button, similar to how I use other running watches. This urge has mostly subsided as I've gotten more comfortable with the user interface.

Like many of its competitors, the Series 7 has an auto-pause option, which I often use in start-and-stop workouts. I also found in side-by-side comparisons (one watch on each wrist), that auto-pause on the Apple Watch reacts faster than on Garmin models.

Conveniently, the Apple Watch can export workouts to MyFitnessPal so you get credit for your calorie burn there. Of note, the watch has all of the health features that the Series 5 did, including a built-in ECG test for cardiac arrhythmias, along with fall detection, a blood oxygen test, emergency calls and menstrual tracking. New in the Series 7 is overnight respiratory tracking. Like previous models, there’s also a built-in compass and international emergency calling.

Unfortunately, the stats themselves are fairly limited, without much room for customization. There's no mode for interval workouts, either by time or distance. There's also not much of an attempt to quantify your level of fitness, your progress or the strenuousness of your workouts or training load. None of this should be a dealbreaker for more casual runners.

For more detailed tracking, your best bet is to experiment with third-party running apps for the iPhone, like Strava, RunKeeper, MapMyRun, Nike Run Club and others. It's through trial and error that I finally found an app with Watch support and timed intervals. But at the end of the day, it's easier to wear a purpose-built running watch when I'm running outdoors, sync my data to Apple Health, get my exercise and standing-time credit, and then put the Apple Watch back on the first chance I get. But if you can only afford one smartwatch for training and life, there's a strong case for choosing this one.

The best watch for triathletes: Garmin Forerunner 745

Garmin

What you get: Myriad training and recovery features for serious runners and cyclists.

Pros: Accurate distance tracking; long battery life; advanced fitness and training feedback; stores up to 500 songs; works with Garmin Pay.

Cons: Garmin’s auto-pause feature feels slower than Apple’s; more advanced features can sometimes mean the on-device UI is tricky to navigate; features like Garmin Pay drive up the price but may feel superfluous.

If the Apple Watch is for people who want a smartwatch that also has some workout features, the $500 Garmin Forerunner 745 is for athletes in training who want a purpose-built device to help prepare for races. The various sensors inside can track your heart rate, VO2 Max and blood oxygen (with the option to track all-day and in-sleep, as opposed to just spot checking). On the software side, you get daily workout suggestions, a rating that summarizes your performance condition, animated on screen workouts, a cycling power rating, a sleep score and menstruation tracking. You can also create round-trip courses as well as find popular routes though Garmin’s Trendline populating routing feature.

Like other Garmin watches, even the entry-level ones, you also get feedback on your training load and training status (unproductive, maintaining, productive, peaking, overreaching, detraining and recovery), a “Body Battery” energy rating, recommended recovery time, plus Garmin Coach and a race time predictor. And you can analyze “running dynamics” if you also have a compatible accessory.

The slight downside to having all of these features is that the settings menu can be trickier to navigate than on a simpler device like the entry-level Forerunner 45. Fortunately, at least, a homescreen update released back in fall 2020 makes it so that you can see more data points on the 1.2-inch screen with less scrolling required.

Speaking of the screen, the watch, available in four colors, is easy to read in direct sunlight, and weighs a not-too-heavy 47g. That light weight, combined with the soft silicone band, makes it comfortable to wear for long stretches. Garmin rates the battery life at up to seven days, or up to 16 hours with GPS in use. (That figure drops to six hours when you combine GPS tracking with music playback.) In my testing, I was still at 88 percent after three hours of GPS usage. Most of my weekday runs are around 35 minutes and that, it turns out, only puts a roughly two- or three-percent dent in the battery capacity.

In practice, the watch also seemed quicker than my older Forerunner 645 Music to latch onto a GPS signal, even in notoriously difficult spots with trees and cover from tall buildings. As always, distance tracking is accurate, especially if you start out with a locked-in signal, which you always should. Like I said earlier, though, I did find in a side-by-side test, Garmin’s auto-pause feature seems sluggish compared to Apple’s.

Aside from some advanced running and cycling features, what makes the 745 one of the more expensive models in Garmin’s line are its smartwatch features. That includes Garmin Pay, the company’s contactless payments system, and the ability to store up to 500 music tracks on the device. You can also mirror your smartphone notifications and use calendar and weather widgets. Just know you can enjoy that even on Garmin’s entry-level model (more on that below).

I can see there being two schools of thought here: if someone plans to wear this watch for many hours a week working out, it may as well get as close as possible to a less sporty smartwatch. Then there’s my thinking: You’re probably better off stepping down to a model that’s nearly as capable on the fitness front, but that doesn’t pretend as hard to be a proper smartwatch.

For those people, there’s another mid-range model in Garmin’s Forerunner line that’s cheaper and serves many of the same people who will be looking at the 745. The $300 245 offers many of the same training features. It also mostly matches the 745 on pool swimming, but you do appear to lose a bunch of cycling features, so you might want to pore over this comparison chart before buying if you’re a multisport athlete.

What you give is Garmin Pay; the option of all-day blood oxygen tracking; the sleep score; a gyroscope and barometric altimeter; floors climbed; heat and altitude acclimation; yoga and pilates workouts; training load focus; the Trendline feature; round-trip course creation, Garmin and Strava live segments; and lactate threshold tracking (and for this you would need an additional accessory amway).

At the opposite end of the spectrum (for people who actually wish the 745 could do more), there’s the $650 Forerunner 945 LTE which, true to its name, adds built-in LTE connectivity. This model also holds 1,000 songs, up from 500 on the 745, and adds niceties like preloaded maps and a host of golfing features, iif golf is also your jam.

The best running watch for most people: Garmin Forerunner 45S

Garmin

What you get: An affordable watch that offers everything you need to start tracking your runs, along with some basic smartwatch features to boot.

Pros: Accurate distance tracking, long battery life, heart rate monitoring and interval training at a reasonable price; lightweight design; offered in a variety of colors; smartphone notifications feel limited, but could be better than nothing.

Cons: Garmin’s auto-pause feature feels slower than Apple’s.

I purposefully tested the $500 Garmin Forerunner 745 first, so that I could start off with an understanding of the brand’s more advanced tech. Testing the $150 Forerunner 45S, then, was an exercise in subtraction: If I pared down the feature set, would I miss the bells and whistles? And would other runners?

It turns out, mostly not. As an entry-level watch, the 45S offers everything beginners (and even some intermediate) runners could want, including distance tracking, basic fitness tracking (steps, calories), heart rate monitoring and a blood oxygen test. Also, as much as the 45S is aimed at new runners, you’ll also find modes for indoor and outdoor cycling, elliptical machines, stair climbers and yoga.

Coming from the 745, I was especially pleased to see that many of Garmin’s best training and recovery features carry down even to the base-level model. That includes training status, training load, training effect, Garmin Coach, Body Battery, stress tracking, a race time predictor and running dynamics analysis (again, an additional accessory is required). Like other Garmin watches, you can enable incident detection, with the caveat that you'll need your smartphone nearby for it to work.

It even functions as a perfunctory smartwatch, with smartphone notifications, music playback controls, calendar and weather widgets, and a duo of “find my phone” and “find my watch” features. Although I’ve criticized Garmin’s smartwatch features in the past for feeling like half-baked add-ons, I was still pleasantly surprised to find them on what’s marketed as a running watch for novices.

As for the hardware, the watch feels lightweight, at 32 grams for the 39mm model (36g for the 42mm). It’s available in five colors, slightly more than Garmin’s more serious models. The 1.04-inch screen was easy to glance at mid-workout, even in direct sunlight. The battery, which is rated for seven days (or 13 hours in GPS mode) does not need to be charged every day. In fact, if it really is beginners using this, their short runs should barely put a dent in the overall capacity. As with the Forerunner 745, my complaint is never with the battery life, just the fact that you have to use a proprietary charging cable.

And, while this watch wasn’t made for competitive swimmers, you can use it in the pool without breaking it. The 5 ATM water resistance rating means it can survive the equivalent of 50 meters of water pressure, which surely includes showering and shallow-water activities.

For what it’s worth, Garmin sells a similar model, the Forerunner 55, which for $50 more adds respiration rate tracking, menstrual tracking, an updated recovery time advisor and pacing strategies.

The best watch under $100: Amazfit Bip S

Dana Wollman/Engadget

What you get: An inexpensive sports watch from an upstart brand with more features than you’d expect at such a low price.

Pros: Lightweight design; long battery life; accurate GPS tracking; built-in heart rate monitor; water resistant; basic smartwatch features.

Cons: Crude user interface; limited support for third-party apps; can’t customize how workout stats are displayed on the screen; pausing workouts feels labored (which is a shame because you’ll be doing it often).

I kept my expectations low when I began testing the Bip S. This $70 watch comes from Amazfit, a lesser known brand here in the US that seems to specialize in lower-priced gadgets. Although I didn’t know much about Amazfit or its parent company Huami, I was intrigued by the specs it offered at this price, most notably a built-in heart monitor — not something you typically see in a device this cheap.

As you might expect, a device this inexpensive has some trade-offs, and I’ll get to those in a minute. But there’s actually a lot to like. The watch itself is lightweight and water resistant, with a low-power color display that’s easy to read in direct sunlight. That low-power design also means the battery lasts a long time — up to 40 hours on a charge. Perhaps most importantly, it excels in the area that matters most: as a sports watch. In my testing the built-in GPS allowed for accurate distance and pace tracking. If you’re not a runner, or you just prefer a multi-sport life, the watch features nine other modes covering most common activities, including walking, yoga, cycling, pool and open-water swimming and free weights.

And did I mention the heart rate monitor? These readings are also seemingly accurate.

What you lose by settling for a watch this cheap is mainly the sort of polished user experience you’d get with a device from a tier-one company like Apple or even Garmin (not that Garmin’s app has ever been my favorite either). In my review, I noticed various goofs, including odd grammar and punctuation choices and a confusingly laid-out app.

I was also bummed to learn you could barely export your data to any third-party apps, other than Strava and Apple Health. You also can’t customize the way data is displayed on-screen during a workout, while your goals don't auto-adjust the way they might on other platforms. Fortunately, at least, these are all issues that can be addressed after the fact via software updates — hopefully sooner rather than later.

Console generations are generally thought to last about half a decade, which is what makes today’s Switch anniversary so momentous. Nintendo’s hybrid home-handheld console turns five today, and it shows no signs of slowing down: Though rumors persist, there’s no announced plans for a new console on the horizon. The most we’ve gotten are two redesigns — the Switch Lite and the OLED Switch — and the expansion of Nintendo Switch Online to include more classic console games. But while it’s certainly fun to revisit old favorites like Super Mario Bros., Kirby's Adventure and Earthbound, it’s the games made for the Switch that have captured the hearts of the Engadget crew, along with a few other titles that made their debuts elsewhere but really shined on Nintendo’s portable system.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Regular Engadget readers know there’s no way I would let a “favorite Switch games” post pass without even one Animal Crossing: New Horizons mention. I’ve been a huge fan since the game launched way back in March 2020, and the big update from last fall really rejuvenated my love for it by introducing a boatload of new features — enough for an entirely new game, if Nintendo has decided to go that route. But no, this was entirely free and new players are sure to get more than their money's worth as they work through it all.

The game certainly benefited from launching at the start of the pandemic, leaving millions stuck indoors with nothing to do. Animal Crossing’s bright colors and relaxed pace were exactly what people needed in stressful times. But in another reality, would New Horizons still have been a big hit? I’d say yes: The series has always been a big seller and New Horizons was a huge, accessible improvement on previous installments. Once I achieve the basic in-game goals I always tended in drift off in previous Animal Crossing titles, but New Horizons is interesting enough that I still play it regularly two years after its release. — Kris Naudus, Commerce Writer

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Three Houses is an almost-perfect Fire Emblem game.

I'd been a fan of the series since its English-language debut on the Game Boy Advance, but like many, it was the 3DS games that really made it a firm favorite. 2013's Awakening was more accessible than anything that came before, softening the sometimes brutal difficulty curve, and expanding the support/ship system in clever ways. Fates in 2016 was a truly massive game that attempted to expand on everything Awakening did, but in doing so made the general experience weaker. There was a sense that the developers had ambitions that just couldn't be achieved on the 3DS.

Through the 3DS era, there was a growing schism inside the Fire Emblem series where the various mechanics and tones didn't quite gel. The move to the Switch for Fire Emblem: Three Houses restructures the game for the better. Centering things around "castle life" integrates relationship building, recruitment and battling in a way that just feels natural. And the way the game's multiple plot paths are handled is so, so, so much better than in Fates.

The battles themselves are probably the area with the most room for improvement. Generally there are only a handful of maps that require you to carefully think about your approach, and the difficulty is only softened by the ability to rewind moves if you mess up. It's rare that you actually encounter the series' signature permadeath mechanic, which on one hand means you really love all the characters by the time one of them dies, but on the other takes away a lot of the tension.

But yet, I pumped 215 hours into this game through 2019, driven by the cast of characters and the genuinely divergent story paths you can take. My final playthrough also introduced me to my favorite map in the game — the different paths actually have some genuinely different levels. At this point I think I've experienced everything the game has to offer, but after replaying Awakening and Fates during the various coronavirus lockdowns, just writing this has made me realize it's time to start Three Houses all over again. — Aaron Souppouris, Executive Editor

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

Playing DS back in the early 2000s was probably my peak gaming era, not just because I was working at a gaming company (Pokémon) but also because it was around then that I was introduced to various franchises and genres that would become lifetime interests for me. One was Animal Crossing, another was the Ace Attorney series. The DS wasn’t where the series first appeared, but it is where it was first released in the United States. I’ve played every installment since and am now a big fan of visual novels as a genre. However, I was disappointed when I heard the prequel series, Dai Gyakuten Saiban, was unlikely to get an American release due to the difficulty of localization.

Well, until last year when they went and released it anyway as The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. And, while it doesn’t feature familiar faces and some gameplay techniques introduced in the previous titles, it still has plenty of new tricks and charm to offer both new and returning players. Instead of hiding the game’s Japanese origins, Great Ace Attorney embraces them fully, and the resulting experience is as rich as it is fulfilling. The story somehow has even more twists and turns than previous installments, and I like how everything weaves together into a cohesive whole by the end. I only wish I had time to play it last year so I could have included it among Engadget’s favorite games list of 2021. — K.N.

Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight wasn't a Switch exclusive, but after spending dozens of hours exploring the murky depths of Hollownest, I'll always feel like it's inextricably tied to Nintendo's handheld. It stands out from the crowded field of Metroidvanias (and the subset with Dark Souls elements), with its elegantly atmospheric aesthetic, gorgeous sprites and a soundtrack that evokes the melancholy of exploring a lost kingdom. It's tough, but unlike the Souls games, it never feels overtly punishing. (Can't beat a boss? Try exploring another corner of the map, collect some charms and upgrade your trusty Nail.)

What truly hooked me, though, was being able to take the experience of Hollow Knight anywhere. I played it on my couch when I should have been working, during flights across the world and while I was stuck with a newborn sleeping in my arms (a fun balancing act, for sure). While I could have played Hollow Knight earlier on my computer, or on vastly more powerful systems, the Switch ended up giving me a level of freedom I didn’t know I wanted. — Devindra Hardawar, Senior Reporter

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

It’s worth acknowledging that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild didn’t invent the open world genre. But, it did bring the format to a series that was beginning to get too reliant on its formula of “explore a dungeon, use this item to beat dungeon boss, repeat.” Breath of the Wild instead offers players the ability to explore literally any corner of the world they can see in any order they choose. Even the short intro section on Hyrule’s Great Plateau offers very little in the way of guidance.

Zelda games have always encouraged exploration, despite the linear dungeon-based format, but Breath of the Wild took this to new heights. Hyrule is positively massive, on a scale unlike any prior game in the series, and the lack of traditional guidance means every player will have an entirely different experience with the game. I poured dozens of hours into Breath of the Wild when it came out and eventually beat the game’s main goal, but I’ve gone back to it on and off in the years since to keep finding more dungeons and challenges. I don’t think I’ll ever be done exploring this exquisitely rendered version of Hyrule. — Nathan Ingraham, Deputy Editor

Metroid Dread

Metroid Dread faced a tall order when it launched in late 2021. It was the first all-new Metroid game since 2010’s disappointing Metroid: Other M, and the first new mainline, side-scrolling game in the series since Metroid Fusion way back in 2002. Fortunately for Metroid fans, Nintendo pulled it off. Dread works just as well whether you’ve played all of Samus Aran’s earlier adventures or if it’s your first time giving the series a shot.

Developer MercurySteam kept the familiar Metroid loop of exploration that leads to new weapons that opens up new areas that were previously inaccessible, but it also added a major stealth element this time out. Some areas you explore are populated by an E.M.M.I. robot that you’ll need to avoid until you find the appropriate power-up to defeat it, and those robots can kill you in one hit. So sneaking around is key, but the game mercifully gives you plenty of opportunities to retreat to safe ground and reconsider your strategy. It adds a whole new wrinkle to Metroid Dread — but the game’s focus isn’t solely on stealth. There are plenty of monsters to battle, caverns to explore and huge bosses to take down. It’s the complete Metroid package, whether you’re new to the series or not. — N.I.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

Super Mario Odyssey may be the Mario title that got the most attention in the last five years — but don’t sleep on the awkwardly titled New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. If, like me, you grew up worshiping at the altar of Super Mario World, U Deluxe is the best side-scrolling Mario game Nintendo has released in decades. It’s right up there with all-time greats World and Super Mario Bros. 3.

The game was originally released for the Wii U, a system that got no traction in sales, so plenty of Switch owners had never experienced its joys when the game was released in 2019. And, while it’ll feel familiar if you’ve played any side-scrolling Mario game before, the level designs are fresh, the challenges are just the right amount of hard and the world looks just gorgeous. It doesn’t exactly break new ground, but New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe shows that the original Mario format still has a place in 2022. — N.I.

Sayonara Wild Hearts

Sayonara Wild Hearts was once described as "Give Carly Rae Jepsen a Sword: the Game." If that alone doesn't sell you on this gem, I don't know what will. It's an ultra-stylish fever dream of an arcade game tied to a killer pop soundtrack.

It should take just over an hour to propel through the 23 levels, which are packed with slick visuals and clever gameplay ideas that'll keep you on your toes. There's so much to take in that, if you're anything like me, you'll replay the whole thing at least a few times over (especially if you want to complete the Zodiac Riddle objectives).

There are some tricky sections, but Sayonara Wild Hearts is a forgiving game with a ton of checkpoints and an option to skip parts you might struggle with. The developers are determined to help you reach the emotional finale and find out whether the protagonist can repair her broken heart. It's absolutely a worthwhile journey. — Kris Holt, Contributing Reporter

Super Mario Maker 2

Super Mario Maker 2 did what Breath of the Wild couldn't. It convinced me to buy a Switch. As a lifelong Mario fan who didn't buy a Wii U to play the original Super Mario Maker, I wasn't going to miss out this time around.

I love knowing that, at any moment, I can pick up my Switch and play a Mario level I've never seen before. I might even be the first person (other than the creator) to try it. Sure, there are a ton of garbage stages filled with too many Bowsers, but it doesn't usually take long before I play one that puts a smile on my face.

I've dabbled in making levels, though there's only one I liked enough to share. It's a puzzle stage inspired by, of all things Marie Kondo. That's kind of fitting, given how many times Super Mario Maker 2 has sparked joy for me. — K.H.

Stardew Valley

Of all the Switch games I’ve played, Stardew Valley is one of the very few that I continuously go back to — particularly when I need some “me” time. Growing up, I spent a lot of time playing games like Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, so Stardew fills that hole for me now as an adult. I love the repetitive humdrum of building my farm up from nothing, cultivating a pleasant little green space where my character and all their chickens, rabbits, cows and goats can flourish. Harvesting pumpkins, strawberries and corn has never been more satisfying, and I’m always eager for the change of seasons when I can kick the dirt up on all of my plots and start fresh with a plethora of new veggie and fruit seeds.

There are a ton of side storylines and quests to complete, and I love that I can do them on my own time, or not at all. Maybe I spent too much time tending to my cows and sheep and missed the deadline to deliver a bunch of leeks to Evelyn. It’s OK, she won’t hold it against me… too much. And when I feel the urge to get a little dangerous, there are plenty of mine levels to explore with treasure to discover, monsters to defeat and prismatic shards to desperately search for. However, Stardew doesn’t have the highest of stakes, and sometimes I’m in the mood for tougher battles and the possibility of death (preferably by Lynels). But nothing beats going back to the farm that you built from scratch and picking up where you left off once again. After all, there’s always something more to do. — Valentina Palladino, Commerce Editor

Sennheiser's Ambeo soundbar is a big and impressive all-in-one Dolby Atmos option, but it also carries a $2,500 price tag. That's almost double compared to most other flagship Atmos models from the competition. However, the company says it's working on more affordable Ambeo soundbars that offer similar performance. At an event this week primarily focused on its new IE 600 in-ears and overall strategy under Sonova, the new owner of Sennheiser's consumer business, the company teased new Ambeo soundbars that should debut later this year. 

"Our plan in the future is to bring this technology into those price points here the competition is playing," Sennheiser's director of portfolio management Stefan Krämer explained. Reading between the lines, this would likely mean at least one new Ambeo model should clock in around $1,000 as that's where much of the Dolby Atmos-equipped competition resides. He also said we can "expect a very similar experience" to the model that debuted in 2019.

The company says it's also working on a third-generation version of its flagship Momentum True Wireless earbuds. Details are scarce here, but we won't have to wait long to get more info. Krämer said that model will debut next month during this week's event. It should offer most, if not all, of the bells and whistles you expect in a set of premium true wireless earbuds. The company did say that there will be a new design and "next level ANC" (active noise cancellation) in addition to great audio performance. Previous Momentum True Wireless models debuted at $300, but offered some of the best sound quality of any buds we've tested. 

Now might be a good time to snap up a Switch game that caught your eye. Amazon is selling the $50 Nintendo eShop digital gift card for $45, or 10 percent off. That's enough of a discount to effectively grab a classic or indie game for free, or at least to take the sting out of buying a full-price blockbuster title.

The timing might be ideal. The Switch game of the season, Pokémon Legends Arceus is still relatively fresh and unlikely to go on sale any time soon. Indies like OlliOlli World are worth your time, too. There are also major games on the horizon, like Kirby and the Forgotten Land (March 25th) and Nintendo Switch Sports (April 29th). It might be worth buying a Nintendo eShop card now to have funds on hand, even if you don't intend to buy anything in the immediate future.

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A set of 47 Starlink internet satellites might soon be making its way low Earth orbit: SpaceX is targeting a March 3rd launch for the upcoming additions to its Starlink constellation. It's the third launch since the company lost 40 satellites in February to a geomagnetic storm, which caused atmospheric drag to increase and hinder the satellites' movement. As a result, the satellites deorbited and re-entered the atmosphere, where they burned up completely and left no debris.

SpaceX launched 46 satellites on February 21st and another 50 on February 25th since that event, so it's safe to say that it has already replaced the 40 it had lost. The company has launched over 2,000 Starlink satellites to date and currently has permission to send up to 10,000 more.

This particular set will blast off on top of a Falcon 9 rocket with a first stage booster that previously flew with GPS III-3, Turksat-5A, Transporter 2 and seven Starlink missions. The reusable booster, which has quite the flight history, will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean after separation — and will most likely fly on future missions if everything goes according to plan. 

Today's instantaneous launch window is at 9:35AM EST, and you can watch its live webcast starting at 9:15AM below. In case the conditions aren't quite right for a liftoff or if technical issues arise, SpaceX will attempt another launch tomorrow, March 4th, at 9:10AM EST.

Twitter is today announcing an expansion to its Birdwatch scheme, which sees volunteer fact-checkers vet potentially-misleading tweets. The company said that, as of right now, a small randomized group of US-based users will see fact-checking notes appended to controversial missives. Rather than a full rollout, however, Twitter says that this is more an expansion in the “visibility of the pilot.” Its intention is to help gain more feedback from a broader number of users rather than anything more wide-ranging.

Birdwatch works by allowing these unpaid fact-checkers to attach contextual notes which, until now, have only been visible on a separate Birdwatch site. These notes won’t, however, reach general users during this expanded trial unless enough other Birdwatch volunteers vote on them positively. And these votes will need to come from a users with a broad number of “different perspectives,” which Twitter defines as having voted in opposition to their fellow volunteers. (Birdwatch has been criticized previously for the partisan slant to its fact-checking and subsequently moved to make its contributors anonymous.) 

The move comes just 48 hours after The Washington Post posted a report criticizing Twitter for failing to get Birdwatch rolled out to its global user base. Birdwatch is described as being “invisible to ordinary Twitter users,” and cited figures saying that, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, less than 50 tweets per day were being flagged and appended by volunteers. (That figure has since risen to more than 150 tweets per day, although that’s still nothing compared to what Twitter pumps out each day.)

If you're looking for a way to improve your home WiFi setup, Amazon's Eero mesh systems could do the trick. The most advanced version you can get right now is the Eero Pro 6, which covers up to 2,000 square feet with one router and supports gigabit internet. Prime members can get a two-pack for $80 off, bringing the final price down to $319. It's not the record low that we saw during the holiday shopping season ($299), but it's the best price we've seen in the new year.

Only the two-pack has this discount, but it should be enough for even large homes. With the router and the access point, you'll get up to 3,500 square feet of coverage, with gigabit speeds and support for WiFi 6.

Setting up the Eero Pro 6 should be quite simple — you only need to download the companion mobile app, plug the system in, and follow the prompts. In addition to improving your WiFi setup, the device also has a built-in Zigbee smart home hub, meaning you can connect compatible devices like lights, locks and more to it without buying a separate hub. And if they are Alexa-enabled gadgets, you'll be able to control them with your voice, too. If you already have a smart home system in place, the Zigbee feature many not be that appealing, but it will be handy for those that are just starting to bring IoT gadgets into their home.

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Netflix has announced that it'll serve as home to a definitive documentary on Pamela Anderson's life, a month after the limited series Pam & Tommy debuted on Hulu. According to Entertainment Weekly, Anderson vowed never to watch the Hulu series, which focuses on the actress' short marriage with Tommy Lee and the theft and illegal distribution of their sex tape, or even its trailer. While the Hulu series was created without the involvement or even the permission of the actress, Anderson herself promoted the Netflix documentary on Instagram. 

"Not a victim, but a survivor and alive to tell the real story," she said in a handwritten note she posted on the app. The documentary film will feature interviews with Anderson, along with previously unreleased archival footage and journals. Netflix promises that the pop culture icon will "set the record straight" and that the movie, directed by Ryan White (The Keepers), will paint an "intimate portrait" of her. In comparison, the Hulu series was based on a 2014 Rolling Stone article and fictionalized some parts of the actual events. 

Anderson's camp also reportedly took issue with the fact that the Hulu series used clips from the actual sex tape, which became one of the first ever viral sex videos. According to The Washington Post, that tape demonstrated how powerful the internet is, even during its early days, as a platform for the sex industry and content distribution as a whole. 

While Anderson's sex tape debacle went down in the '90s, the rivalry between streaming giants prompt them to find new ways to get into current discussions and events. Netflix and Hulu each released their own Fyre Festival documentaries in the past, for instance, as well as their own takes on Britney Spears' life and career.