Peloton is expanding a rental program for its Bike and Bike+ fitness equipment. Now, anyone in the contiguous US (sorry, Alaska and Hawaii) can try one of the connected exercise bikes at home without having to shell out at least $1,445. The company started testing the program in select markets earlier this year. It's worth noting that the rentals may still not be available in some remote locations.

A Bike rental costs $89 per month, while Bike+ costs $119 per month. You'll need to pay a $150 setup fee as well. Both options include an All Access Membership, which features Peloton's swathe of live and on-demand fitness classes. You can return the equipment for free at any time. After 12 months, you'll be able to buy the Bike or Bike+ at a reduced rate ($895 and $1,595, respectively).

News of broader availability of the rental program comes after it emerged that two of Peloton's co-founders are departing the company. As CNBC notes, John Foley is stepping down as executive chairman. Karen Boone will take over as the chair of the board. Chief legal officer Hisao Kushi, another co-founder, is leaving and will be replaced by Tammy Albarrán, Uber's chief deputy general counsel.

Additionally, chief commercial officer Kevin Cornils, who joined Peloton in 2018, will move on later this month amid a broader organizational shakeup. Chief strategy officer Dion Sanders will take on many of Cornils' duties in a new role as chief emerging business officer.

These executive changes are the latest developments in a turbulent year for Peloton as CEO Barry McCarthy tries to resolve the company's woes. Just as McCarthy took over the position from Foley earlier this year, Peloton laid off around 2,800 workers. In July, Peloton let go around 570 employees in Taiwan amid a shift away from in-house manufacturing, and last month, the company cut another 784 jobs in the distribution and customer service departments. It will rely on third-party companies for deliveries.

Whether McCarthy's ambitious plan to steady the Peloton ship pays off remains to be seen. It's been a rough year financially for the company to say the least. McCarthy told shareholders last month that, despite incurring an operating loss of $1.2 billion last quarter, he sees "significant progress driving our comeback and Peloton’s long-term resilience."

McCarthy said this week that Peloton would start selling its products in some brick-and-mortar stores after announcing the closure of many of the company's own retail locations. It recently listed its equipment on Amazon for the first time. McCarthy also mused on making it easier for people to access third-party content on Peloton's displays, something that's already possible to do by jailbreaking the device.

You'll soon have a way to play one of the most beloved Nintendo 64 games on your Switch without having to jailbreak the console. During today's Nintendo Direct, it emerged that GoldenEye 007 is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. What's more, you'll be able to hop into the iconic multiplayer mode with your friends through online play. Nintendo didn't say when the first-person shooter will arrive on Switch, other than to say it's "coming soon." In the meantime, you can check out a new documentary about the game.

The company also revealed a bunch of other N64 titles that it will gradually add to the service. Pilotwings 64, Mario Party and Mario Party 2 will all be available later this year. In 2023, Mario Party 3, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Stadium 2, 1080 Snowboarding and Excitebike 64 will join the Expansion Pack lineup.

Today's Nintendo Direct kicked off with a bang, with the reveal of a new, mainline Fire Emblem game. You won't have to wait too long to get your hands on Fire Emblem Engage either. It's coming to Nintendo Switch on January 20th. 

Along with the announcement, Nintendo offered a first look at gameplay. Fire Emblem Engage appears to have grid-based, real-time strategy elements, along with turn-based battles and open-world exploration. You'll be able to summon heroes such as Marth (who's making his return to the Fire Emblem series) and Celica in your battle against "a great evil." 

If you've been on the lookout for a new Apple TV but don't want to break the bank, it's worth considering a solid deal on the most recent HD model. The 2021 Apple TV HD has hit an all-time low of $99 on Amazon. That's $50 off the regular price.

While this isn’t the cheapest streaming media player around, it does grant access to the Apple ecosystem on your TV. You’ll be able to play Apple Arcade games, share content from iPhone to your TV via AirPlay, listen to Apple Music and use Apple Fitness+. Apple TV HD supports HomeKit as well, so you can get a live feed of compatible cameras and control certain smart home devices.

Of course, you'll be able to stream TV and movies using the device. Along with Apple TV+, you can access Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and other services. Apple TV HD comes with a new Siri remote with a touch-enabled clickpad, the option to connect AirPods to listen privately and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound support.

One thing Apple TV HD doesn't do, unfortunately, is stream video in 4K (the name might have given that away). For 4K streaming, take a look at the 2021 Apple TV 4K, which isn't too much more expensive at the minute. The 32GB model is $120 and the 64GB version is $140, for savings of $60 on both models. We gave the most recent Apple TV 4K a score of 90 in our review. Given the fairly steep discounts, it's worth wondering if Apple is trying to clear out some stock just ahead of new Apple TV models hitting the market.

Roku is expanding its lineup of wireless speakers with a new, more affordable subwoofer. The Roku Wireless Bass, which costs $130, is $50 less than the Roku Wireless Bass Pro. It has one 5.25-inch subwoofer, compared with the Pro's 10-inch subwoofer, and is front-firing instead of downward-firing. The Wireless Bass has less oomph as well, with 120W of peak power against the Wireless Bass Pro's 250W.

Still, Roku says the speaker will deliver "deep, dynamic bass" and "rich depth" to movie, TV and music playback. It has a slim design and it can be positioned anywhere within 30 feet of your TV. You'll need to pair it with a Roku Streambar, Streambar Pro, Smart Soundbar or Roku TV with Wireless Speakers. It's available for pre-order as a standalone item or as part of a $250 bundle with the Roku Streambar. It will ship on November 7th.

Roku also revealed a new version of its entry-level streaming media player, Roku Express. The latest model comes with dual-band WiFi, which will likely improve streaming performance. The $30 device streams video in 1080p quality, so you'll need to consider other models if you want to watch TV and movies in 4K. The Roku Express also comes with the company's simple remote, which doesn't have a headphone jack. The new Roku Express is up for pre-order and will ship on October 13th.

Roku

Meanwhile, Roku previewed the next version of its operating system, which introduces more content discovery features and will roll out to compatible devices in the coming months. Roku OS 11.5 will add a new feature called The Buzz to the home screen. There, you'll find posts with trailers, interviews and clips from various streaming channels. You can follow channels to keep up to date with news, save content promoted in the posts to watch later or start streaming the show or movie right away.

A Continue Watching feature (found on the What to Watch screen) should make it easier for you to resume something you didn't finish on Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount+, The Roku Channel and other supported apps. Also on the What to Watch menu and the Roku mobile app, you'll find a Save List. You'll be able to save movies and shows to watch later from various apps and access them all from the Save List.

Elsewhere, Roku will bring its private listening mode to the latest Roku Ultra, Roku Streambar and Roku Streambar Pro. You'll be able to connect Bluetooth headphones to these streaming players directly. Until now, private listening has only been available through the Roku mobile app and by connecting headphones to the company's higher-end remotes, so this should simplify things a bit. Among other updates, Roku OS 11.5 will rebrand the channel store as The Roku Store and introduce categories to the live TV guide.

This is not a drill (or a tweet from a phony Nintendo account). Nintendo has at long last revealed when its next showcase takes place. It has set a Nintendo Direct for September 13th at 10AM ET. You can watch it on Nintendo's YouTube channel or below.

Expect around 40 minutes of announcements, updates and trailers this time around, with a focus on games coming to Nintendo Switch this winter. Expect the likes of Bayonetta 3 to feature. Fingers crossed for more details on the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as well, including the actual name of the game and a firm release date.

There will surely be a bunch of surprises. It's always fun when Nintendo announces a game at a Direct and releases it on the Switch eShop on the same day. Here's hoping Vampire Survivors is one of them. Maybe the Advance Wars remake will get a new release date too.

This marks the second full-fledged Nintendo Direct of the year. There have been several more narrowly focused Nintendo events in recent months, including an Indie World Showcase in May, followed by Directs focused on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3 and third-party games. 

Marvel has teamed up with Pokémon Go developer Niantic to create an augmented reality mobile game that will be available worldwide next year. In Marvel World of Heroes, you can create your own superhero in a Marvel game for the first time, according to a Niantic blog post. 

Players will be able to forge their hero's identity and origin story. They'll be tasked with patrolling their neighborhood to thwart crimes, take on missions and fend off interdimensional threats and super villains. As you level up, you'll unlock more gear and abilities. You'll be able to team up with your friends, as well as the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America and Wolverine. It seems players can also visit multiple alternate realities — in a virtual sense, anyway.

If you're interested in checking out the game, you can pre-register on the Marvel World of Heroes website. As it often does, Niantic will soft launch the game in select markets before rolling it out more broadly. 

Marvel's Midnight Suns has a new release date, and it's sooner than you may have expected. It was revealed during the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase that the tactical RPG from Firaxis will hit PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on December 2nd. The Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will arrive at a later date.

The game was initially slated for October, but publisher 2K announced last month that it was pushing back the release date until sometime later in its fiscal year, which ends in March. Thankfully, you won't have to wait that long to play it. In the meantime, the first Marvel's Midnight Suns prequel short will hit Marvel's YouTube channel on October 31st. 

It seems that nine long months after a remastered bundle of Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: Lost Legacy debuted on PlayStation 5, PC gamers will be able to find out what all the fuss is about. According to a listing on the Epic Games Store spotted by Twitter gaming deals maestro Wario64, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection will hit that storefront on October 19th. It appears Epic published the information ahead of schedule, as the game's page currently displays a 404 error. The leak backs up a previous hint from SteamDB that October 19th was the release date.

Legacy of Thieves Collection is supposed to be coming to Steam before the end of the year as well, but it appears that if you pre-order through Epic, you'll gain access to a Sully's Seaplane glider in Fortnite at no extra cost. Nathan Drake and Chloe Frazer skins arrived in that game earlier this year to promote the Uncharted movie.

The apparent timing of the Legacy of Thieves Collection PC release is interesting, since Sony said Spider-Man: Miles Morales is coming to that platform sometime this fall. One would think they'd try to space things out a bit. In any case, perhaps Sony will soon host a PlayStation showcase that clears everything up.

Disney and Marvel are holding what's shaping up to be a newsworthy gaming event today at the D23 Expo. The first Disney and Marvel Games Showcase (to give its official name) starts at 4PM ET and you'll be able to watch it below.

Expect updates on Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 20th Century projects. There's something new in store for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (a timely expansion focused on Rogue One, perhaps?), along with info on Disney Dreamlight Valley, which arrived this week, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Perhaps most enticingly, we'll get a peek at the Marvel action-adventure game that Amy Hennig’s studio, Skydance New Media, is working on. 

On top of those, rumors suggest the showcase will include a peek at an Iron Man game from EA. Maybe we'll finally learn a bit more about the Indiana Jones game Bethesda announced early last year or even get a look at Spider-Man 2 gameplay. In any case, we won't have to wait long to find out.