The Strong National Museum of Play has revealed this year's inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity and Ultima have made the cut. While that means the likes of Guitar Hero, Metroid and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater miss out from the slate of finalists, it would be hard to make a case against any of the five inductees.

Games are selected for the hall of fame based on a number of criteria, including cultural impact and their influence on the industry. Asteroids absolutely fits the bill. The 1979 game was an enormous hit. Atari sold more than 70,000 arcade units, making Asteroids its best-selling coin-op machine. The home version on the Atari 2600 was very popular too. While the vector graphics were rudimentary, that didn't take away from the immensely satisfying gameplay loop of blowing up a ton of space rocks.

Slow-paced puzzle game Myst was also a big hit in the '90s, selling more than 6 million copies. Resident Evil is probably the most relevant name on the list for modern audiences. The series is still going strong nearly three decades after the original 1996 game popularized the survival horror genre.

Back in 1989, Maxis released a city builder game called SimCity. Its intricate systems of urban design and problem management spurred a bunch of sequels and inspired the creators of other real-time strategy games, such as Command & Conquer and Age of Empires. As for Ultima: The First Age of Darkness, that 1981 game is one of the foundations of the role-playing genre. The developers of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy are among those who've cited it as an influence, as GamesBeat notes.

These five games are joining a whole bunch of other notable names in the World Video Game Hall of Fame, including last year's inductees The Last of Us, Wii Sports, Barbie Fashion Designer and Computer Space. The inductees are on permanent display at The Strong in Rochester, New York.

Sega has announced its latest iteration of the many Sonic titles: a game called Sonic Rumble that will be coming exclusively to mobile devices. The "multiplayer action game" is reminiscent of Mediatonic's Fall Guys, which even offers a version called Sonic's Adventure. Both games can accommodate up to 32 players, have minigames and are battle royale-style, with only one player left standing as the winner. In Sonic Rumble, players can also collect rings to get new costumes and accessories.

Sonic Rumble isn't the first game to compete with Fall Guys. Kitka Games released Stumble Guys (big name change there) globally in early 2021 and has seen massive success. Like Sega, Kitka targeted mobile users — an area Fall Guys avoided.

While Sega doesn't expect to release Sonic Rumble until the winter, you can get in on the action relatively soon. The company is recruiting closed beta testers to try out the game in different time slots between Friday, May 24 and Sunday, May 26. You can register here anytime before Sunday, May 19 at 11:59PM PT, and Sega will email you if you're selected. Until then, you can get a sneak peek of the game in its announcement trailer.

Netflix has added Sonic Mania Plus to its roster of games subscribers can access for free on mobile without ads or in-app purchases. The company first announced that it was going to add the title to its lineup, along with Game Dev Tycoon, back in December 2023. Sonic Mania Plus was developed for the franchise's 25th anniversary by fans known for their Sonic fangame creations and for their work in the ROM hacking community. It is frequently cited as one of the best Sonic games of all time ever since the original version was released in 2017. Sonic Mania Plus, which came out in 2018, includes additional content. Netflix says the version in its library will come with new levels and bosses, as well. 

On May 14th, Netflix is also adding the anniversary edition of Braid to its gaming lineup. Braid is a time-manipulation platformer, where players control a character called Tim who has to explore old memories across interconnected worlds to find and rescue a princess. Its anniversary edition features upgraded audio, new animation sequences, fully repainted graphics and more puzzles to solve, along with 15 hours of audio commentary discussing the game's development. 

In addition to those two titles, Netflix's gaming library is also getting top-down puzzle adventure Paper Trail on May 21 and a Stories game based on the series Virgin River on May 29. The 2019 platformer Katana Zero, which features a katana-wielding assassin in a dystopian setting, will also make its way to Netflix games, though the company doesn't have a date for its arrival yet. 

As a bona-fide hater of actual reality, virtual reality is very appealing to me. However, I’m not that into 100 hour AAA games like Asgard’s Wrath 2 or Half Life: Alyx. I’m into short interactive experiences that can’t be had anywhere else. Good news for me? The Apple Vision Pro is getting a pretty nifty mixed-reality “interactive story” that could herald the evolution of a new type of entertainment that puts people directly in their favorite shows or movies.

Marvel and Industrial Light & Magic, the company George Lucas built, just announced a forthcoming Apple Vision Pro title based on What If…?, the current Disney+ show that just completed its second season. It’ll be an hour-long experience that uses all of the technology embedded within Apple’s pricey headset, including that stellar passthrough.

The story is being kept under wraps, but you won’t play as The Watcher, that much is clear. The promotional copy says players will “learn the mystic arts”, which recalls Dr. Strange to me. The companies also promise that “fans will step into breathtaking environments that place them in new and iconic MCU locations.” Does this mean we’ll be able to virtually order shawarma with Tony Stark and the gang?

Now, I haven’t played a demo of this, but I have played the Vader Immortal series and plenty of similar titles and absolutely love them. It just seems like such a natural evolution of both games and TV to merge them together. Give the player the illusion of freedom but keep it mostly on rails and call it a day.

Director Dave Bushore agrees, calling this title “the next evolution in how we tell our stories” and that it's a “glimpse of what I’ve been waiting for my whole life.” Bushore doesn’t have a lot of directing credits, but was the interactive marketing executive for Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, among other MCU films. It’s being written by David Dong and Phil McCarty, a duo best known for a short film adaptation of a David Sedaris essay. There are some heavy hitters on the EP side of things, with people who were involved with The Marvels and X-Men ‘97 signing on for the mixed-reality project.

Marvel hasn’t announced any actors returning to reprise their roles, but Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher seems like a given. For the uninitiated, What If…? is an anthology series that examines parallel universes and how things could have shaken out in the MCU if something happened a bit differently. The game/experience will be exclusive to Apple Vision Pro and is coming “soon.”

This isn’t enough to get me to part with $3,500, but come on, it’s a cool sign of things to come. Who wouldn’t want to “play” an episode of The Mandalorian or something like that?

Microsoft has shuttered four ZeniMax teams: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Studios and Roundhouse Games. Arkane Austin is the home of Prey and Redfall, while Tango is responsible for The Evil Within, Ghostwire Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush. Alpha Dog is the creator of Mighty Doom and Roundhouse was a support studio for ZeniMax projects.

In an email to employees published by IGN, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty outlined the upheaval, stating that some workers would transition to other teams under ZeniMax's purview. Most employees, however, will be let go. Here's Booty's breakdown of the layoffs for each affected studio:

Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda. Arkane Austin has a history of making impactful and innovative games and it is a pedigree that everyone should be proud of. Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC.

Alpha Dog Studios – This studio will also close. We appreciate the team’s creativity in bringing Doom to new players. Mighty Doom will be sunset on August 7 and we will be turning off the ability for players to make any purchases in the game.

Tango Gameworks – Tango Gameworks will also close. We are thankful for their contributions to Bethesda and players around the world. Hi-Fi Rush will continue to be available to players on the platforms it is today.

Roundhouse Games – The team at Roundhouse Games will be joining ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS). Roundhouse has played a key role in many of our recent game launches and bringing them into ZOS to work on The Elder Scrolls Online will mean we can do even more to grow the world that millions of players call home.

In summary, at least when it comes to the games: Redfall development has been stopped completely and people who spent $100 on the game's Bite Back edition will be eligible for a partial refund to compensate for the DLC they never received. Sign ups for the refund are right here. Hi-Fi Rush will remain playable. Mighty Doom will shut down on August 7.

The remaining studios under ZeniMax Media, which is owned by Microsoft, are Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, MachineGames, ZeniMax Online Studios, and the Bethesda publishing and corporate teams. Arkane Lyon is currently building Marvel's Blade and it's the home of Deathloop and the Dishonored franchise.

The co-creative director of Arkane Lyon, Dinga Bakaba, shared his reaction to the layoffs on X with the following thread:

This is absolutely terrible. Permission to be human : to any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.

Don't throw us into gold fever gambits, don't use us as strawmen for miscalculations/blind spots, don't make our work environments darwinist jungles. You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we seen it before.

For now, great teams are sunsetting before our eyes again, and it's a fucking gut stab. Lyon is safe, but please be tactful and discerning about all this, and respect affected folks' voice and leave it room to be heard, it's their story to tell, their feelings to express.

Microsoft purchased ZeniMax Media — including Bethesda, id Software, Arkane and Tango — in 2021 for $7.5 billion. The acquisition marked an escalation of Microsoft's efforts to eat the entire industry: The company acquired five mid-size teams in 2018, including Compulsion Games and Ninja Theory, and by February 2019, there were 13 studios under the Xbox Game Studios banner. The ZeniMax purchase cleared regulators in 2021, setting the stage for Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard, one of the largest game producers in the world. The Activision Blizzard acquisition was the most expensive in Microsoft's history, costing around $69 billion. After nearly two years of regulatory negotiations, the purchase was cleared in February 2023.

It's not just Microsoft making the video game industry smaller. Sony, Take-Two Interactive, Tencent, Epic Games and publishers of all sizes have been gobbling up talent in a rash of post-pandemic corporate consolidation, and this has led to an avalanche of mass layoffs in the industry. In 2023, an estimated 10,500 people in video games lost their jobs, breaking previous annual layoff records. Prior to today's studio closures, roughly 9,400 video game workers had been fired in 2024, setting a pace that should outstrip last year's figures. 

In the last five days, Helldivers 2 was removed from the PC market in 177 countries and the game’s Steam reviews collapsed under the weight of more than 200,000 negative ratings, dropping from Positive to Mixed. It’s now Tuesday and the Helldivers 2 Steam page is overrun with people ranting against Sony and celebrating democracy, and for anyone taking their first glance at the game, it’s all a bit confusing.

Here’s what’s going on.

Helldivers 2 is a third-person co-op shooter developed by independent team Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It went live on PlayStation 5 and Steam on February 8, marking a rare instance of cross-platform parity from Sony. Immediately, Helldivers 2 was a hit on PC — it clocked more concurrent players on Steam than any other PlayStation game, beating God of War, Spider-Man Remastered, Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last of Us Part I. Helldivers 2 was so popular in its first few weeks that Arrowhead’s servers had trouble meeting demand and had to be capped at 450,000 players.

“I am completely exhausted by the success,” Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt tweeted one week post-launch. “So is the team, many, many late nights, on-calls, emergency meetings, discussions around server capacity, shards, capacity units, CPU utilization, login rates and CCU. Tired, but very, very pleased.”

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Helldivers 2 is one of the first tests of Sony’s long-term multiplatform goals. While Pilestedt was taking stock of Helldivers 2’s launch week, Sony executives were telling investors about their fresh plans to aggressively chase revenue streams on PC. Sony president Hiroki Totoki said the objective was to “proactively work on” releasing first-party games on PC alongside PlayStation, a shift from the company’s longstanding console-first approach.

Helldivers 2 isn’t a first-party Sony game, but it’s console-exclusive to PlayStation 5 and Sony has been supporting its development as its publisher. As long as Helldivers 2 has had a Steam page, it’s also had a dijon-yellow notification box alerting players that they’ll need to link up a PlayStation Network account in order to play. According to Sony, account linking is all in the name of security and cross-platform play, but of course it also helps boost the studio’s PSN monthly active user numbers.

Due to the game’s early network issues, Sony decided to postpone the account-linking requirement when Helldivers 2 went live on Steam on February 8. It hit the digital PC storefront for $40 with no notable region or account-linkage restrictions. For nearly three months, Helldivers 2 had its moment in the sun.

And then it started to burn. On Thursday, May 2, Sony announced that all Helldivers 2 Steam players would be required to log into their PSN accounts in order to continue accessing the game on PC. The requirement would go live for new players on May 6, and existing players would start seeing a mandatory login prompt at the end of the month.

“Due to technical issues at the launch of Helldivers 2, we allowed the linking requirements for Steam accounts to a PlayStation Network account to be temporarily optional,” Sony’s announcement said. “That grace period will now expire.”

Usually this wouldn’t be a massive issue, since PSN accounts are free and it’s relatively painless to link one to Steam. However, Helldivers 2 had been sold around the world, and PSN is only available in 73 countries. That would leave well over 100 countries and territories in the lurch, with those players unable to play a game they'd already paid for. Refunds were also out of the question for most players — especially the most dedicated ones — since Steam generally limits those to games that’ve been played for less than two hours. The bad reviews started pouring in.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Neither Arrowhead nor Sony seemed to know what to do next. Sony published an FAQ in the Helldivers 2 Discord that didn’t offer solutions, and instead seemed to advise affected players to create PSN accounts in different countries, a violation of the platform’s terms. It became readily apparent through tweets and Discord updates that while Sony was the driving force behind the PSN requirement, Arrowhead developers kind of hated it. They even encouraged the review riot.

“I want people to make their displeasure known in a place where it might actually make a difference, Steam reviews and refund requests will do that, angry posting in the Discord won’t,” Arrowhead associate community manager Spitz posted in the game’s Discord server on Friday. “I’m not happy about this decision either.”

Over the weekend, more than 200,000 people posted negative reviews of Helldivers 2 on Steam, tanking its overall rating. On Sunday, May 5, Sony silently removed Helldivers 2 from Steam in 177 countries and territories that don’t have access to PSN.

That same day, Arrowhead CEO Pilestedt tweeted, “We are talking solutions with PlayStation, especially for non-PSN countries. Your voice has been heard, and I am doing everything I can to speak for the community — but I don't have the final say.”

Sony Interactive Entertainment

On May 6, the day the PSN requirement was set to go live for new players, Sony backtracked. The company tweeted that its account-linking plans would “not be moving forward.” The message continued, “We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.”

Helldivers 2 is now available in every region that has Steam, with the option to link a PSN account. Its PC review score is slowly recovering as the rioters return to adjust their rankings, now alongside cheeky messages about the power of democracy.

On Monday, Pilestedt quoted Sony’s reversal tweet and added, “Firstly, I am impressed by the willpower of the @helldivers2 community and your ability to collaborate. Secondly I want to thank our partners and friends at @PlayStation for quickly and effectively making the decision to leave PSN linking optional. We together want to set a new standard for what a live game is, and how developers and community can support each other to create the best game experiences.”

With Helldivers 2, the account-linking issue was easily avoidable. Sony was knowingly selling a game to people who wouldn’t be able to play it — but first, it gave them a paid trial and three months of false hope. At best, it looks like Sony was completely unaware of the logistics that would support its bold new PC strategy. At worst, it all feels mildly diabolical.

Sony Interactive Entertainment

It’s unclear what the 2024 Helldivers 2 Steam riots will mean for future Sony games on PC, but there’s another test coming up soon with the release of Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut on May 16. Just like Helldivers 2, the game’s Steam page contains a little yellow rectangle warning players that it requires a PSN account for online multiplayer and the PlayStation overlay. According to SteamDB, Ghost of Tsushima is currently on sale in a handful of countries that don’t have PSN. 

As the Helldivers 2 drama began to kick off on May 3, Ghost of Tsushima developer Sucker Punch Productions responded to a concerned fan on X with the following account-linking clarification: "Just so you are aware, A PSN account is required for Legends online multiplayer mode and to use PlayStation overlay. It is not required to play the singleplayer game."

As long as the terms of engagement are clear and Sony doesn't attempt to pull the rug out from under players three months after the game comes out, that all sounds just fine. Account linking isn't a new or even rare scenario in gaming — Microsoft (including Activision Blizzard), Ubisoft, Riot, EA and most other major video game studios require a proprietary sign-in to access their games on Steam and other third-party storefronts. The issue with Helldivers 2 wasn't account linking. The issue was Sony's short-sighted execution of a high-profile PC rollout and its poor communication with upset players after the fact.

Most gaming fans want to see PlayStation titles on PC, and Sony wants to wring as much money out of its core franchises as possible by putting them on additional platforms — this plan should be win-win. With Helldivers 2, it's been more like win-lose-win, but at least we got there in the end.

Fujifilm’s X100 V became a surprising viral hit thanks to influencers who loved not only its performance but also its retro-chic cool factor. Now, the company has launched its successor, the similar-looking but more-capable X100 VI. It’s only been on sale a short time, but retailers are already reporting months-long waiting lists.

It features some key improvements over the previous model, including a much higher-resolution 40-megapixel sensor, in-body stabilization and better video. At the same time, it retains the looks and compact size people loved about the X100 V.

I couldn’t wait to get a hold of one to check out the performance for myself and see if it’s worth a purchase or upgrade. To test, I hopped on the Eurostar over to London with my French photographer friends to see if it’s worth the high price and considerable wait.

Body and handling

The X100 series is beloved in large part because of the vintage rangefinder camera styling, and Fujifilm didn’t mess with that. In addition to the near-identical looks, the X100 VI’s button and dial layout is unchanged. Fujifilm also kept the previous model’s 23mm f/2 lens.

To accommodate the in-body stabilization, the X100 VI is slightly chunkier and weighs 18.4 ounces, about 1.4 ounces more than before. That’s not much, but every bit counts for a camera designed to be carried around all day.

The control design with dedicated dials for ISO, shutter, aperture and exposure compensation is a bit old-fashioned compared to modern cameras. But it does serve a purpose, showing settings at a glance. That’s a must for shooting on the fly.

The X100 VI isn’t just cosplaying as a rangefinder, either. On top of the 3.69-million dot electronic viewfinder (same as the last model), it offers a rangefinder-style optical finder and a hybrid of the two with a picture-in-picture EVF. The last setting is for people who still want a digital security blanket, and it works very well.

Also unchanged is the rear display, allowing basic up and down tilting for high or low angle shooting. That’s not great for selfies or vlogging, but perfect for shooting from the hip.

The menu system is mostly the same, which is a good thing as it’s relatively easy to find key settings. To avoid diving in, though, you can use the quick menu and numerous buttons and dials for easier adjustments. It’s also customizable and I’d advise buyers to set it up to their preferences to avoid any shooting errors.

The X100 VI has a single slot that only supports slower UHS-I cards, unfortunately, along with a USB-C port for charging and data. The MicroHDMI port also lets you use external recorders, though the tiny camera looks awkward with one attached. Finally, the battery is the same smallish one as before, unfortunately — more on that in a bit.

Performance

Samuel Dejours for Engadget

Despite the higher resolution, the X100 VI still shoots at a decent 11 fps, with buffer space for about 17 uncompressed RAW frames. JPEG bursts are a bit faster at 13 fps in electronic shutter mode and the buffer size jumps to 37 frames in that case.

Unless you really need total silence, the mechanical shutter is your best bet. It’s very quiet, and you’ll see considerable rolling shutter in electronic mode.

Autofocus is much-improved compared to the V. It’s more reliable for subject tracking and adds new autofocus modes for animals, birds, cars, motorcycles, airplanes and trains. Fuji’s eye- and subject-detection are in separate modes though, forcing you to change settings.

Fujifilm’s AF system was already middling, lagging behind Sony and Canon. The X100 VI is even less effective than Fujifilm’s larger X-H2 and X-T5, due to the slowish motors on the fixed lens. That means focusing on moving subjects is a bit hit or miss. That said, burst shooting is not what this camera is for and the fact that it’s decent at all is a bonus.

Steve Dent for Engadget

In-body stabilization might be the biggest improvement to come to the X100 lineup. With six stops of shake reduction, you can get sharp photos down to about a quarter second. That lets you blur motion to make interesting, creative shots.

The optical finder takes some getting used to, as it’s not a direct view through the lens like with DSLRs. It’s off to the side of the lens, so this parallax means subjects that are close to the camera may not be framed the way you expect. That’s why the EVF insert mode is so handy as it supplies a second true view of the scene.

One issue is battery life, with only 450 shots on a charge or 310 if you use the EVF. I found that one battery wasn’t enough for a full day’s shooting, so factor extra ones into your buying decision. You may also want an external charger, as Fujifilm doesn’t supply one in the box.

Image quality

The 40MP sensor obviously delivers a big boost in resolution over the X100 V’s 26MP. The extra pixels are also handy if you need to crop in, which is a common requirement with a fixed wide-angle lens camera. And while the lens is the same as before, it’s sharp enough to resolve the extra detail.

If this sensor seems familiar, that’s because it’s the same as the one on the X-T5 and X-H2, so the image quality here is similar to those. In-camera treatment of JPEG and 10-bit HEIF files is handled well, with pleasant, accurate colors and a nice balance of noise reduction and detail. You can often share photos straight out of the camera, too, something that’s important to street photographers who do little to no post-processing.

The 14-bit RAW photos offer plenty of room for fine-tuning, even in bright or dark areas. However, if you underexpose shots and try to boost levels, noise can get out of hand compared to a full-frame camera.

The higher resolution doesn’t hurt image quality much at higher ISOs. Noise is well controlled up to ISO 6400, and you can go up to 12800 if exposure is set correctly. I was impressed with the quality when shooting in bars and other dark environments.

And of course, the X100 VI offers Fujifilm’s full array of film simulation modes. You can experiment with popular looks like Velvia, Eterna or Acros black and white, and still have a full-color RAW backup. As the only major camera company also selling 35mm film, Fuji’s simulations are the most pleasing and realistic.

Video

The X100 VI’s excellent video specs are another bonus. It has nearly the same feature set as the X-T5, so you can shoot 6.2K at 30 fps with a 1.23x crop, or 4K at up to 60 fps with line-skipping and a 1.14x crop. The camera also offers sub-sampled 4K at up to 30p using the full sensor width, or high-quality 4K 30p with a 1.23x crop. Fujifilm also introduced 10-bit and F-Log2.

Samuel Dejours for Engadget

It took me a while to get used to the different modes and cropping levels. At 6.2K and 4K HQ, rolling shutter is pronounced so you’ll need to be aware of that. At the same time, full-sensor sub-sampled 4K is noticeably more low-res than the HQ mode.

Video autofocus matches what I saw with photos, meaning it was decent but not super reliable for moving subjects. The AI-powered AF did lock onto subjects, but again, couldn’t always keep up to flying birds, animals or vehicles.

Handheld video is now a realistic option with in-body stabilization. It worked well as long as I didn’t move around much, and offers a “boost” mode that smooths out jiggles further. Digital stabilization is also an option, but isn’t supported with the 6K or HQ modes, and doesn’t really reduce jolts for walking or fast movements.

Video quality is solid for a small compact camera, offering the same accurate colors you see in JPEG photo modes. Shooting in 10-bit F-Log makes it possible to adjust footage considerably in post or get creative. You can also shoot video using the film simulation modes if you want a specific look straight out of the camera.

Wrap-up

Samuel Dejours for Engadget

Fujifilm has made all the right moves to keep the X100 VI’s popularity high by tucking a very competent street and travel camera into a beautiful retro-cute body. The extra resolution, in-body stabilization and new video features should be more than enough to tempt owners to upgrade.

At $1,600, the X100 VI doesn’t have a lot of competition — which is odd, given its success. Leica springs to mind with the Q3, though that costs a whopping $6,000. Another option is the $1,000 Ricoh GR IIIx, which also offers in-body stabilization and an ND filter. However, resolution is lower at 24MP and it lacks the X100 VI’s high-end video features.

Sony’s ZV-1 II is also in this compact category, but it’s mostly designed for video. Keep an eye on Panasonic, as it may release a new compact camera, according to recent rumors. In any case, if you’re in the market for a high-end compact and can afford the X100 VI, I wouldn’t hesitate — there’s a lot of camera inside that beautiful body.

Apple is adding a bunch of new titles to its Arcade video game subscription service next month, including Return to Monkey Island. It's the first new entry in the franchise by series creator Ron Gilbert since Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, which was released way back in 1991. The game still revolves around the pirate Guybrush Threepwood who's on a journey to unearth the secret of Monkey Island. You'll see some familiar locations from the older games in the new title, which also features Threepwood's wife Elaine Marley and his arch-enemy, the zombie pirate LeChuck. Return to Monkey Island is already available on the App Store, but it's coming to Apple Arcade on June 6 where subscribers can access the whole game, including the in-app purchases non-subscribers would have to buy.  

Ubisoft's Rabbids: Legends of the Multiverse by Ubisoft is also arriving on the subscription service on the same date, along with Tomb of the Mask by Playgendary and Fabulous - Wedding Disaster by GameHouse. Before those games become available on Arcade, though, Where Cards Fall will make its way to the Apple Vision Pro first. The award-winning puzzle game with a coming-of-age narrative will feature tactile controls designed especially for the mixed reality headset. Players will have to use natural gestures to build bridges, pathways and other structures with a house of cards so that they can get around various landscapes. Where Cards Fall for the Apple Vision Pro will be available on May 30. 

Hades II is now available in Early Access for PC players. After performing a technical test from April 16 to 29, Supergiant Games said Early Access for the “bewitching sequel” would follow “relatively soon after.” The developer lived up to its word, as a week after wrapping the preliminary test, PC players can now buy and play the highly anticipated roguelike title for $30.

Hades II builds on the themes and gameplay of the acclaimed 2020 original. This installment introduces a new protagonist, Melinoë, the sister of Zagreus, the original game’s hero. Creative Director Greg Kasavin and Studio Director Amir Rao clarified that you don’t need to have played the first game or be well-versed in Greek mythology to enjoy it. (However, the creative team still sprinkled “delightful references” for those in the know.)

The sequel’s plot revolves around a showdown with a time-controlling rapscallion. “Chronos, the Titan of Time and the wicked father of Hades and his brothers, has escaped his imprisonment in the depths of the Underworld to wage war on Olympus,” Supergiant says. “Can Time itself be stopped?”

The game’s creators said last year they want Hades II’s early access period to have at least as much content as the original did when it arrived in beta in 2018. “Even though early access inherently means a game is not yet complete, we still want to do everything we can to make sure Hades II is worth your while as soon as you can play it in any capacity,” the studio said in 2023.

You can play Hades II on Steam and the Epic Store for $30. The game will eventually launch on consoles, but for now, PlayStation and Xbox gamers will have to hop on a PC or wait it out.

Samsung is expanding its OLED TV range with a new entry-level lineup. It's introducing the S85 series alongside several additional sizes of the S90D.

The S85D includes many of the same features as more premium models, such as the NQ4 AI Gen2 Processor, 4K AI Upscaling capabilities and Pantone Validated Colors. Dolby Atmos, the Samsung TV Plus ad-supported streaming service and Samsung Gaming Hub are also included.

Samsung says the S85D also has Motion Xcelerator technology, as well as a "bold look and feel" thanks to its contour design (though as you can see above, it just looks like a modern TV). Having four HDMI 2.1 ports with support for 4K, 120Hz inputs on each is a welcome touch. One key tradeoff is that the display has a maximum 120Hz refresh rate, compared with the 144Hz of the S90 line.

The S85D models start at $1,700 for a 55-inch TV. A 65-inch model will set you back $2,100, while the 77-inch variant will run you $3,400.

The S90D (which initially had the same three sizes as the S85 lineup) will soon have a less-expensive entry point, with a 42-inch model that costs $1,400. A new 48-inch unit costs $1,600, while Samsung has added a 83-inch S90D that'll run you $5,400.

Samsung is positioning the S90D line as one that's ideal for gamers as the TVs use Motion Xcelerator Turbo+ to help minimize lag. The displays also offer OLED HDR+ for extra brightness and contrast.

These two lineups nestle alongside the higher-end S95D series, which offer OLED Glare-Free and HDR Pro tech. That line starts at $2,600 for a 55-inch model, running up to $4,600 for a 77-inch TV.