Steam will no longer allow games that enable NFT (non-fungible token) and cryptocurrency trading through the blockchain. Steam's onboarding page for Steamworks users and partners now states that they shouldn't publish "applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs" on Steam. The rule was added at some point after October 6th, according to a version of the page cached by Google.

Some developers have spoken out about the rule. SpacePirate Games, the studio behind a sci-fi action-adventure title called Age of Rust, said Valve was booting blockchain games off of Steam "because NFTs have value." Some puzzles in Age of Rust, which is in development, will reward players with NFTs as achievements. "Steam's point of view is that items have value and they don't allow items that can have real-world value on their platform," SpacePirate said. The developer plans to publish the game elsewhere.

It's unclear how many games already on Steam will be affected. Searching for "NFT" and "crypto" turns up 14 and 64 results respectively. Not all of those necessarily allow real-world trading though. Crypto Mining Simulator, for instance, lets you pretend you're mining cryptocurrency, which sounds like a barrel of laughs.

Engadget has contacted Steam for more details about this rule, including why it was brought in. NFT scams do exist, and unless you know what you're doing, it's not hard to get burned on crypto trading. That said, Valve does allow people to exchange virtual goods for Steam Wallet funds through the community market, so SpacePirate's belief that Steam doesn't permit items with real-world value doesn't entirely hold water.

Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of Signal, has created an NFT (non-fungible token) that mocks the entire concept of NFTs. "At my whim, #1," as the piece is titled, renders differently depending on where you see it. It has a contrasting appearance on NFT marketplaces OpenSea and Rarible, but the real fun will start if and when someone buys it. As noted by The Verge, Marlinspike says it will look like a big ol' poop emoji in the owner's wallet.

An NFT is a unique digital token that's essentially a certificate of authenticity showing that someone owns a digital artwork, music or other collectible. It lives on the blockchain, with the idea that the blockchain's public ledger adds more security and transparency. Often, though, the media an NFT relates to isn't on the blockchain. The NFT is effectively a verified link to it.

That's the aspect of NFTs that Marlinspike is playing off of with "At my whim, #1." Whoever controls the URL's destination can change the image at any time. Marlinspike says his NFT renders differently depending on the IP or user agent "so the NFT image data isn't ever consistent, and what you bid on isn't what you get."

The description of the NFT on OpenSea and Rarible hints at that. "You may own (?) the results of this function call, but I own the function," it reads. At the time of writing, the highest bid on the NFT is around $1,067 worth of Ethereum, but Marlinspike can't be entirely sure that the bidders know what they're getting into. He asked on Twitter if any bidders would be willing to host an AMA (ask me anything) session and answer queries such as "Is it clear to you that what you're bidding on will render as Pile of poo emoji in your wallet?"

As promised, Microsoft will start shipping its Xbox Series X Mini Fridge in time for the holidays. The company said the fridge costs $100 and pre-orders start on October 19th. It will ship in December.

The mini fridge has its roots in an image Xbox tweeted to show the scale of the Xbox Series X versus a full-sized fridge. Microsoft actually made a six-foot fridge last year to promote the launch of the console. Now, after a Twitter battle of the brands victory, a mini version of the fridge is something you'll actually be able to buy.

Microsoft worked with merchandise manufacturer Ukonic! on the mini fridge, which has LEDs and a design to match the Xbox Series X. The small appliance can hold up to 12 cans of your favorite energy drink or another beverage. There's some space in the door's shelves for snacks too. A DC power adaptor is included, and there's a USB port, which could come in handy for recharging your Xbox Wireless Controller.

The mini fridge will be available via Target in the US and Canada. Folks in the UK can buy it from Game for £90. The fridge will also ship in France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Netherlands and Poland at the outset. Microsoft plans to bring the Xbox Mini Fridge to more markets next year, though where and when depends on regulatory approvals and restrictions in each country.

Alienware began operations 25 years ago in a garage near Miami, and the Dell-owned brand is celebrating the milestone anniversary with a stylish gaming PC. The latest Aurora system has a redesigned chassis that has extra internal space and more efficient airflow, and it should run more quietly.

The open-air Legend 2.0 chassis increases the internal volume by 50 percent compared with Aurora R12 or R10 without major changes to the overall size of the machine, Alienware says. You won't need any tools to open up the shell, so you'll have easier access to the components. There's an optional transparent side panel, so you can look inside and see a motherboard lit up with up to eight zones of AlienFX lighting. In addition, Alienware is also offering an optional magnetic cable cover to keep the back of the system in order.

Alienware

As part of the redesign, Alienware focused on improving the airflow. Every system has two 120mm fans, an intake and an exhaust. Depending on the configuration, Alienware may include one or two more fans: first, a second intake and then, if needed, a top exhaust. Since this is an Aurora system, there are of course liquid cooling options too.

Along with keeping your system cool while you're running games at max settings, Alienware says the fans can make the PC quieter. Compared with the previous generation system, the brand claims the new Aurora is up to 16 percent quieter when idle and up to nine percent less noisy during CPU-intensive tasks. While you're overclocking, the PC can make up to 15 percent less noise. In addition, Alienware says the PC can offer a five percent increase in graphics performance compared with the Aurora R12.

There are two color options for the Aurora: Lunar Light and Dark Side of the Moon. In other words, white and black. Alienware will reveal more details about the specs, pricing and availability later this fall.

As is the way of things when it comes to revealing a major game's features these days, EA has been drip-feeding info about Battlefield 2042 over the last several months. To wit, it has only just pulled back the curtain on Hazard Zone, one of the game's three main modes, a month before the November 19th release date.

Hazard Zone is about getting into the arena, retrieving data drives and escaping via an extraction point before a storm overwhelms you or enemies take you out. Only two teams can make it out, as only a couple of extraction windows will pop up at random locations (though only one player needs to get out for their team to win). Matches run for up to 20 minutes and will take place across all seven of Battlefield 2042's maps.

Survival is key here. You only have one life, but one of your three teammates can resurrect you if you're killed. Once your entire team is wiped out, it's game over. Still, if you're sneaky enough, you can win a match without firing a shot. Some satellites will already be on the ground at the start of a game, and more will drop in as the round progresses, so you'll need to adjust your strategy as you go.

Before the start of a round, you and your teammates can kit yourselves out with gadgets. Players can use money earned in previous matches (primarily by making it out with data drives) to buy gear like a scanner that shows data drive locations, a healing upgrade and a Squad Redeploy Call-in. The latter lets you revive dead squad mates; otherwise, you'll need to find a Redeploy Uplink somewhere on the map to bring back your buddies.

All of the XP you earn will go toward your overall Battlefield 2042 progression, which will boost your player level and unlock weapons. Teams are made up of unique characters — players will need to find specialists and loadouts that work in harmony to increase their chances of success.

Hazard Zone isn't quite a battle royale mode, since you don't need to be the last squad standing to win. Instead, it's objective-based and actually sounds a little like the main mode of Ubisoft's recently announced (and delayed) Ghost Recon Frontline. As with the other Battlefield 2042 modes, Hazard Zone supports 64 players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. On PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, up to 128 players will square off on larger maps.

Boston Dynamics, the company most commonly associated with robot dogs, prohibits the weaponization of its Spot devices. That's not the case for all robot dog manufacturers, however. One of them, Ghost Robotics, showed off a version of its Q-UGV device that many will have been dreading. It's a robot dog with a gun attached to it.

Ghost Robotics has made robot dogs for the military, and it displayed this deadly model at the Association of the United States Army’s 2021 annual conference in Washington DC this week. A company called Sword International built the "special purpose unmanned rifle" (or SPUR) module. According to The Verge, it has a thermal camera for nighttime operation, an effective range of 1.2km (just under three quarters of a mile) and a 30x optical zoom.

"Due to its highly capable sensors the SPUR can operate in a magnitude of conditions, both day and night," a blurb on Sword's website reads. "The Sword Defense Systems SPUR is the future of unmanned weapon systems, and that future is now."

It's unclear how autonomous a SPUR-equipped Q-UGV will be in the field, as Popular Science notes. It remains to be seen whether a human operator will guide the robot to an otherwise hard-to-reach position and manually aim and take shots (which seems more likely), or if the robot will handle entirely things by itself. Either way, it's an unsettling prospect, and that's before we get to the possibility of enemy hackers taking control of these machines.

As if a robot dog with a gun attached wasn't dystopian enough, Ghost Robotics tweeted about a Q-UGV with a different kind of payload: a Lockheed Martin drone and a Digital Force Technologies recon sensor. Sniper robot dogs. Flying robot spy dogs. The future's looking just peachy, isn't it?

LinkedIn will shut down the Chinese version of its service later this year. The company cited "a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China" as the reasons for closing the local edition of its social network for professionals.

"While we’ve found success in helping Chinese members find jobs and economic opportunity, we have not found that same level of success in the more social aspects of sharing and staying informed," LinkedIn said in a statement. As such, the company isn't abandoning China completely. It's working on a standalone job board app called InJobs, which won't have a social feed or any way to share posts or articles.

LinkedIn agreed to adhere to state restrictions and block certain content when it launched in China in February 2014. However, some signs of trouble bubbled up this year. In March, the company prevented new Chinese users from signing up for a spell while it made sure it was abiding by the countries' laws. A couple of months later, China said 105 apps were violating data collection laws, including LinkedIn.

The Microsoft-owned service was the last major US social network that was still officially operating in China. The country banned Signal and Clubhouse earlier this year. Facebook and Twitter have been blocked there since 2009, and China barred Instagram in 2014.

Spotify is expanding US availability of its Car Thing, an $80 music and podcast player for vehicles. The company debuted the gizmo back in the spring on an invite-only basis and only charged users for shipping during a test phase.

Those who signed up for the Car Thing waitlist before now will get first dibs on the company's first hardware device. In addition, both free and Premium Spotify members in the country can now sign up for the waitlist, though the Car Thing requires a Premium subscription and a smartphone for connectivity. Everyone who signs up for the waitlist will eventually be offered a Car Thing.

Spotify worked on Car Thing for several years before it started shipping the device a few months ago. The idea is to bring infotainment features to almost any car, particularly older ones without newfangled touchscreens. Once you hook up Car Thing to your vehicle with the help of one of the included mounts, you can use it to play music and podcasts with either physical controls or "Hey Spotify" voice commands.

Four years after Monument Valley 2 hit iOS and Android, Ustwo Games has added a new chapter. The developer released “The Lost Forest” as its contribution to Playing for the Planet’s Green Game Jam, which promotes tree conservation.

The chapter includes “four intimate scenes” and Ustwo hopes that by playing through them, people will be inspired to sign a Play4Forests petition to show their interest in protecting forests. Play4Forests is an initiative run by the United Nations’ climate and forest partnership and the Playing for the Planet Alliance. The goal is to work with major names in gaming to highlight the “importance of conserving and restoring forests.”

“Our forests, one of our best allies in fighting the climate emergency, are facing mounting threats,” the Play4Forests website reads. “Your voice can help secure a better future for forests and humans.”

It might initially seem unusual to bring extra content to a game like Monument Valley 2 four years later, but there’s an admirable reason in this particular case. Tiny Wings, a popular iOS title from a decade ago, was updated with more levels in 2016, so such a long gap between a mobile game’s release and more content isn’t exactly unheard of.

As for the future of the series, Ustwo announced in 2019 it was working on Monument Valley 3, but there's no word of a release date as yet.

Solar Ash, Heart Machine's follow-up to the influential Hyper Light Drifter, will arrive a little later than previously planned. The studio and powerhouse indie publisher Annapurna Interactive are delaying the action platformer from October 26th until December 2nd. The team needs a little more time to polish Solar Ash and fix some bugs. As such the extra few weeks will allow the game to debut "in its best form."

Solar Ash will be released on PlayStation 4, PS5 and PC. You'll take on the guise of a Voidrunner named Rei who tries to save her home from a supermassive black hole. To do so, she'll need to make her way through treacherous lava-filled areas, sunken cities and other perilous and colorful biomes.