There’s a reason that, month after month, Vampire Survivors has been the most-played game on Steam Deck: it’s a blast. Your character auto-fires weapons as thousands of enemies invade the screen. All you have control over in the heat of the moment are the character’s movement and their weapon and item loadout (there are persistent powerups you can unlock as well). It’s one of those games that you have to play to really get the appeal, and it’ll soon be far easier for many people to check it out.

Vampire Survivors will make its console debut on November 10th, when it will hit Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The game will also be available on Xbox Game Pass. While it only costs $5, this will lower the barrier to entry even further. 

The fact that Microsoft is bringing one of this year's biggest breakout hits to Xbox Game Pass isn’t a big surprise. Vampire Survivors was already available to PC Game Pass members.

Also coming to Xbox consoles and Game Pass this month is Return to Monkey Island. The revival of the adventure series landed on PC and Switch in September. It’ll be available on Xbox, PC Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming on November 8th. According to publisher Devolver Digital, Return to Monkey Island will hit Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 then, but not Xbox One or PS4.

The console edition of Football Manager 2023 will hit cloud, console and PC on November 8th as well. The full-blown PC version of the game will land on Game Pass then too. On the flip side, Football Manager 2022 and Football Manager 2022 Xbox Edition will leave Game Pass that day.

There's a lot of other stuff for Game Pass members to look forward to this month. A 2D metroidvania game called Ghost Song, which sees you exploring a distant moon, will arrive on cloud, console and PC on November 3rd. Obsidian's Pentiment, one of the few remaining first-party Xbox exclusives for this year, will land on all three platforms on November 15th. Somerville, from a studio cofounded by Inside and Limbo executive producer Dino Patti, will debut on the same day.

Meanwhile, you can play the full seasons of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and The Walking Dead: Michonne on PC Game Pass as of today. Sidescrolling beat-'em-up The Legend of Tianding just landed on console, cloud and PC as well.

Elsewhere, Halo Infinite's winter update will arrive on November 8th. That will finally bring online campaign co-op and Forge mode to the game, along with new maps, a fresh game mode and (at last) a way to earn XP just by playing multiplayer games. On November 11th, Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Editionwill be available as a free update. Helicopters, gliders and a true-to-life airliner are among the additions.

Update 11/1 11:40AM ET: Noting that Return to Monkey Island isn't coming to last-gen consoles for the time being.

Amazon Prime members can now listen to much more music without any ads — as long as they do so in shuffle mode. They'll have access to Amazon Music's full catalog of more than 100 million songs (50 times more than before) without ads. Prime users can also check out on-demand All-Access playlists that are personalized for their tastes. It's possible to download these for offline listening.

It's not quite as positive a step forward as full ad-free listening, but it's still a change for the better. Amazon still needs to keep some features locked behind an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, after all. Those include on-demand access to the full catalog, more than 100 million songs in HD quality and an expanding selection of music in the Ultra HD fidelity and spatial audio lineups.

Elsewhere, the Amazon Music app is getting a redesign and a new feature called "podcast previews." You'll be able to listen to curated clips from podcast episodes. These could help you figure out if a show might be for you before listening to a full episode. Amazon offers some podcasts ad-free, including its exclusives, shows that premiere on its servicesbefore they're available elsewhere and other third-party shows, such as ones from The New York Times, ESPN and NPR.

It's been nearly a decade since the Pebble smartwatch started shipping to backers of its wildly successful initial Kickstarter campaign, but there's still life in the ol' dog yet. The wearables are now compatible with Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, as well as 64-bit-only Android devices that will arrive later.

As noted by Ars Technica, Katharine Berry, who works on Wear OS and is a prominent member of the Rebble group that's keeping the Pebble ecosystem alive, wrote that the latest Pebble update comes four years after the previous one. The last update allowed for many of the Pebble app's functions to run on independent servers. Fitbit, which Google has since bought, shut down Pebble's servers in 2018, two years after buying some of the smartwatch maker's assets.

Along with Pixel 7 compatibility, the latest update also improves Caller ID reliability on recent versions of Android. While the app isn't available on the Google Play Store, the APK is signed with official Pebble keys and retains Google Fit integration, Berry noted.

On the surface, this might finally appear to be the end of the line for Pebble in terms of official support. "Thanks to Google for providing us with one last update," Berry wrote on Reddit. However, as Ars Technica points out, it looks like a Pebble hackathon is set to take place next month. So if your Pebble's e-ink screen and battery are still holding up, it might be useful for a while longer yet.

Telegram and its users are looking into ways to make more money from the platform. One method users have tried is using third-party payment bots to sell paid individual posts on their channels. However, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says the company had to shut down paid posts on iOS due to a complaint from Apple.

Durov said it "was great" that creators were receiving nearly the full sum of what their fans or subscribers paid for one of their posts. "Unfortunately, we received word from Apple that they were not happy with content creators monetizing their efforts without paying a 30 percent tax to Apple," he wrote. "Since Apple has complete control over its ecosystem, we had no alternative but to disable such paid posts on iOS devices."

The "30 percent tax" refers to the cut that Apple takes from in-app payments and app purchases. The company's App Store fees have been the target of criticism from many corners, including news publishers, Spotify and, perhaps most famously, Epic Games.

Durov took a swipe at Apple, claiming it was a monopoly that "abuses its market dominance at the expense of millions of users who are trying to monetize their own content." He expressed hope that regulators in various jurisdictions will take action "before Apple destroys more dreams and crushes more entrepreneurs."

The Telegram CEO added that his team is working on ways to provide creators with easy-to-use options to make money from their content. He aims to help them do so "outside of Apple's restrictive ecosystem."

Telegram introduced paid features in June with a $5 per month Premium subscription. That opens up larger file upload sizes, faster downloads, the ability to follow many more channels and the option to pin chats. While the company itself hasn't embraced paid posts as yet, it's intriguing to see creators trying to find their own ways of making money from Telegram — even if Apple isn't too happy about it.

NASA has released another image that the James Webb Space Telescope has captured of the Pillars of Creation. While the picture that the agency offered up last week provided a detailed look at stars forming in the region, the latest one is a spookier and more ethereal image.

Bathed in orange and black, the image that Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) captured is certainly timely, given that Halloween is just a few days away. NASA says the rendering provides a fresh perspective on the Pillars of Creation, with a focus on the region's gas and dust.

Last week's image was captured with Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which was able to look through the columns of dust to observe thousands of new stars in the region in more detail than before. However, many of the stars aren't bright enough to shine through at the wavelengths MIRI focuses on.

NASA says that, with this image, astronomers have mid-infrared light data at higher resolution than has been available in the past. The agency notes that researchers will look at more precise dust movements to form a fuller 3D landscape of the Pillars of Creation. This will help to develop a deeper understanding of how stars form.

The Pillars of Creation is in the Eagle Nebula, some 6,500 light years away. In case you're wondering how vast the whole thing is, take a look at the bright red star that juts out from the right side of the top pillar, around halfway up. NASA says the star and its dusty shroud are bigger than our entire solar system, which may or may not spark an existential crisis or two. Have a wonderful Halloween weekend.

The Tesla Cyberquad for Kids is being recalled by Radio Flyer (which built the product) after the Consumer Product Safety Commission found that it violates all-terrain vehicle (ATV) federal safety standards for youths. The agency determined that, among other issues, the mechanical suspension and maximum tire pressure weren't adequate. Moreover, it said the Cyberquad for Kids lacked an approved ATV action plan, which lays out safety requirements and is needed to build, import, sell or distribute ATVs in the US.

In the recall notice, which was spotted by The Verge, the CPSC said that around 5,000 units of the Cyberquad for Kids had been sold. Tesla was offering the product through its website. Radio Flyer said folks who bought one should immediately return the motor controller (the removal of which will permanently disable the Cyberquad) for a full $1,900 refund. The company will reimburse at least some costs involved in returning the motor controller and disposing of the other parts. It's not clear whether new Cyberquad for Kids models will be sold at a later time.

The electric Cyberquad for Kids has up to 15 miles of range and a top speed of 10 mph. It has a steel frame, cushioned seat and LED light bars. While there haven't been any reports of serious injuries, Radio Flyer said it learned of one case where the Cyberquad for Kids — which is designed for a single rider — tipped over while being driven by a child and a woman, with the adult sustaining a bruised shoulder.

Radio Flyer noted that Tesla's main involvement with the Cyberquad for Kids, other than selling it, was consulting on the ATV's appearance. It's designed to look like the standard Cyberquad, which Tesla announced alongside the Cybertruck. Radio Flyer has also sold rideable toy versions of Tesla cars for kids. 

Meanwhile, there's a Tesla recall of another sort. As noted by Electrek, the company is recalling just over 24,000 Model 3 vehicles built since 2017 due to a possible seat belt issue.

Almost two years after Netflix tweeted (and deleted) about an animated Sonic the Hedgehog series that's coming to the streaming service, the show has a release date. Season one of Sonic Prime will hit the platform on December 15th. The first season will have 24 episodes.

Alongside the release date announcement, Netflix unveiled character posters for Sonic, Amy Rose, Shadow, Knuckles, Rouge, Big the Cat and, of course, Eggman. The company will offer another look at the show during the weekly Geeked: Toon-In show, which will be broadcast at 8PM ET today on the company's Twitch channel. The latest teaser will likely pop up on Netflix's YouTube channel and elsewhere soon after.

The Sonic franchise has enjoyed a resurgence over the last few years, particularly in the wake of two well-received and successful movies. Back in June, Sega released a decent, remastered bundle of four classic Sonic games. On the horizon is Sonic Frontiers, an open-world 3D platformer that will arrive on November 8th.

YouTube is attempting to make it easier for folks to find reliable and high-quality health information on the platform. It's opening up its health product features to certain healthcare professionals and information providers in the US. It started offering those features last year to educational institutions, public health departments, hospitals and government bodies. "This new step will allow us to expand to include high quality information from a wider group of healthcare channels," Dr. Garth Graham, the global head of YouTube Health, wrote in a blog post.

The features include labels under videos that clearly state the information is coming from a healthcare professional or accredited organization. When a user searches for a term such as "bipolar" or "breast cancer," they may see a carousel of videos under the label “From health sources” near the top of the search results.

YouTube says healthcare professionals can apply for the program starting today. They'll need to submit proof of their medical license and for their YouTube account to be in good standing. They'll also need to follow the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, the National Academy of Medicine and the World Health Organization best practices for sharing health information. YouTube plans to expand the program to more markets and other types of medical specialties.

Helping people obtain credible health information from a verified professional is inherently a positive move. YouTube will still have to tread carefully with this program, given the COVID-19 and vaccine misinformation that has been rife on the platform over the last few years. Meanwhile, YouTube points out that people shouldn't consider health-related information they learn from verified professionals as medical advice (and nor will the videos apply to everyone). You'd still be best served to get in touch with a healthcare provider if you have a medical concern and to contact emergency services if the need arises.

The United Nations has issued another stark warning that, under current policies, the planet is falling far short of the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the rise in global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius. That's the threshold scientists say we have to remain under in order to mitigate extreme, life-threatening weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts and tropical storms. Under current policies, the UN suggests we're nowhere close to meeting that climate change target and that there's "no credible pathway to 1.5C in place."

The UN laid out the dire state of affairs in a report it released just a week before the start of the COP27 climate conference in Egypt. It said that pledges made by national policy makers since COP26, which was held in Glasgow last year, "make a negligible difference to predicted 2030 emissions" and that progress over the last 12 months has been "highly inadequate." In fact, the report suggests that current active policies will lead to a 2.8C rise in global temperatures by the end of the 21st century and that implementing pledges that have been made will only limit the rise to between 2.4C and 2.6C. Even that would require perfect implementation of plans, with wealthier countries helping poorer ones to enact them.

"In the best case scenario, full implementation of conditional NDCs [nationally determined contributions], plus additional net zero commitments, point to a 1.8C rise," Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said. "However, this scenario is currently not credible."

The 13th edition of the Emissions Gap Report argues that major societal and infrastructure changes are required. It lays out the necessary actions for sectors including electricity supply, industry, transport and buildings, along with the food and financial systems. The report notes that, in order to get on course to meet the 1.5C goal, we'd need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a further 45 percent by 2030, compared with projections based on current policies. To limit the rise in temperatures to under 2C, an extra 30 percent reduction in emissions is required.

"Is it a tall order to transform our systems in just eight years? Yes. Can we reduce greenhouse gas emissions by so much in that timeframe? Perhaps not. But we must try," Andersen wrote. "Every fraction of a degree matters: to vulnerable communities, to species and ecosystems, and to every one of us."

Autonomous vehicle company Argo AI is shutting down. In an earnings report, Ford (a major investor in Argo AI) noted that the company is being wound down and that it will hire engineers from the startup to expand and speed up development of Level 2+ and Level 3 autonomous driving systems.

Ford says that it made a decision to refocus its self-driving capital spending from the Level 4 systems Argo was working on (where the vehicles handles most driving operations) to Level 2+ (advanced driver assistance) and Level 3 (conditional automation) tech it's developing in-house. It noted that Argo AI wasn't able to attract new investors and that it was taking a "$2.7 billion non-cash, pretax impairment on its investment" in the company, which led to it posting an $827 million net loss for Q3.

According to TechCrunch, which first reported on Argo AI's closure, Volkswagen and Ford will snap up the company's tech and other assets. It's not clear how the automakers, which invested at least $3.6 billion into Argo AI between them, are divvying things up nor how many of Argo AI's more than 2,000 workers they plan to make employment offers to. All Argo AI employees will receive bonuses as part of their severance package, with those who Ford and VW don't keep on receiving additional payments and health insurance, according to the report.

In 2017, Ford said it would invest $1 billion into Argo AI over five years. Two years later, VW committed $2.6 billion in capital and assets toward the startup. Around that time, Ford and VW said they would work on vehicles that harness Argo AI's autonomous driving tech. Between them, the automakers held a "substantial majority" stake in Argo AI.

Argo AI had been testing its tech on public roads in the US and Germany. In May, it commenced driverless operations in Austin and Miami without a safety driver at the wheel. Lyft was among the companies that were looking at deploying Argo AI-powered vehicles. Just last month, Argo AI announced a number of tools and services designed to support autonomous delivery and robotaxi operations.

It's not clear what prompted the apparent closure of Argo AI — Engadget has contacted the company for comment. However, creating a robust and safe self-driving system is not exactly an easy challenge. Full Level 5 autonomy is still at least several years away from becoming truly viable for the mass market. To that end, Ford said in its earnings report that "the auto industry’s large-scale profitable commercialization of Level 4 advanced driver assistance systems will be further out than originally anticipated."