Honda has revealed more details about its all-electric Prologue SUV. The EV will have a listed range of 300 miles when the first deliveries arrive in early 2024. The automaker says the vehicle’s MSRP is “expected to start in the upper $40,000s” before subtracting any available incentives or tax credits.

The Prologue’s pricing puts its entry point well above rival SUVs like the Volkswagen ID.4, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Mustang Mach-E — all of which start at around $40,000. Meanwhile, the range on Honda’s EV is much shorter than the Ioniq 6’s 361 miles and even lags slightly behind the Hummer EV (314 miles).

The Prologue is built on the GM Ultium EV architecture, the same platform as GM electrics like the Chevy Blazer EV. Honda’s new model has an 85-kWh battery pack that applies to both rear-drive and all-wheel-drive models. However, note that the 300-mile estimated range only applies to the 2WD variant, and we don’t yet know how far to expect the AWD one to last. The automaker only lists engine performance stats for the AWD version, which generates an estimated 288 hp and 333 lb-ft of torque.

Honda

Elsewhere, the Honda Prologue has a 121.8-inch wheelbase, five inches longer than the longer Honda Pilot’s. The SUV seats five people and has 136.9 cubic feet of interior space. The vehicle supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, and it includes an 11-inch instrument display with an 11.3-inch HD infotainment screen.

Honda will give buyers several charging packages to choose from at purchase. First, they can get an 11.5kW home charging station with a $100 charging credit and a $500 installation credit. Second, they can opt for a 7.6kW portable charging kit, a $300 public charging credit and a $250 installation credit. Alternatively, customers can go with $750 in public charging credits.

Honda has revealed more details about its all-electric Prologue SUV. The EV will have a listed range of 300 miles when the first deliveries arrive in early 2024. The automaker says the vehicle’s MSRP is “expected to start in the upper $40,000s” before subtracting any available incentives or tax credits.

The Prologue’s pricing puts its entry point well above rivals like the Volkswagen ID.4, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Mustang Mach-E — all of which start at around $40,000. Meanwhile, the range on Honda’s EV is much shorter than the Ioniq 6’s 361 miles and even lags slightly behind the Hummer EV (314 miles).

The Prologue is built on the GM Ultium EV architecture, the same platform as GM electrics like the Chevy Blazer EV. Honda’s new model has an 85-kWh battery pack that applies to both rear-drive and all-wheel-drive models. However, note that the 300-mile estimated range only applies to the 2WD variant, and we don’t yet know how far to expect the AWD one to last. The automaker only lists engine performance stats for the AWD version, which generates an estimated 288 hp and 333 lb-ft of torque.

Honda

Elsewhere, the Honda Prologue has a 121.8-inch wheelbase, five inches longer than the longer Honda Pilot’s. The SUV seats five people and has 136.9 cubic feet of interior space. The vehicle supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, and it includes an 11-inch instrument display with an 11.3-inch HD infotainment screen.

Honda will give buyers several charging packages to choose from at purchase. First, they can get an 11.5kW home charging station with a $100 charging credit and a $500 installation credit. Second, they can opt for a 7.6kW portable charging kit, a $300 public charging credit and a $250 installation credit. Alternatively, customers can go with $750 in public charging credits.

Looks like Cities: Skylines II is truly going to be colossal. The console release of Cities: Skylines II has been delayed to spring 2024, and the game's minimum and recommended PC specs are now slightly more demanding. The PC version of the game will still land on October 24, 2023, as originally planned.

Anyone who pre-ordered the game on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S should automatically receive a refund through those platforms. Developer Colossal Order is shutting down pre-orders of the console version for now. Cities: Skylines II is still coming to PC Game Pass on October 24, and it'll hit Xbox Game Pass next spring, alongside the console release.

The new minimum and recommended PC specs aren't wildly different than the original figures, but there are two notable changes. The recommended specs now call for an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X processor, rather than a Ryzen 5 5800X. The minimum specs start with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 graphics card (or AMD equivalent), an upgrade from the original GTX 780.

Colossal Order explained that the console delay and the PC update stem from the same root cause: This game is bigger and requires more optimization than they first thought. Here's how the studio explained the adjustment to the game's PC specs:

"Cities: Skylines II is a next-generation title and therefore has certain hardware requirements. The recommended specs were set when the game was still in development. After having done extensive testing with different hardware we made the decision to update the minimum/recommended specs for a better player experience."

It's been a rough year for PC games in general. The diversity baked into the PC market has always been a challenge for developers, but ninth-generation console hardware is now outstripping many common PC setups, leading to ambitious games with lots of bugs on PC. With today's Cities: Skylines II news, it seems like Colossal Order is attempting to insulate itself from this phenomenon.

Developers have also had a tough time offering parity between the Xbox Series X — the most technically powerful console this generation — and the Series S, Microsoft's cheaper and less powerful option. Microsoft requires all games to launch with the same features on both consoles, and this has led to a handful of delays, dropped features, and at least one accidental PS5 console exclusive. Microsoft recently allowed Baldur's Gate 3 creator Larian Studios to bend these rules, but the requirement remains in place generally.

Colossal Order has an FAQ about the changes to Cities: Skylines II right here.

Beyerdynamic is no stranger to the gaming community, as the company’s wired headsets are regularly seen at professional esports events and the like. However, it’s never released a wireless gaming headset, until now. The company just revealed the Beyerdynamic MMX 200 and this headset’s packed with modern features, all without frustrating wires to get in the way.

The company says the MMX 200 offers the “same competitive advantage” of its wired cousins, thanks to 40mm high-performance drivers that provide expanded detail across the entire frequency range. There’s also an integrated digital signal processor (DSP) that promises to add more oomph to the sound, helping to create the “ultimate gaming experience.”

Gaming is more than just listening, however, especially when you’re playing with friends. You also have to trash talk. The MMX 200 features a detachable boom mic with an integrated 9mm condenser capsule that Beyerdynamic says will make listeners think your voice is coming from a podcast studio. That’s quite a lofty promise, as the microphones that typically accompany gaming headsets are, in a word, trash.

Being a wireless headset, connectivity options are extremely important. To that end, the MMX 200 integrates with a wide variety of audio codecs and features Bluetooth 5.3, along with a low-latency wireless adapter. There’s even an interesting hybrid mode that allows the headphones to connect via an analog wired connection and Bluetooth at the same time.

The advertised battery life is certainly impressive, allowing for 35 to 50 hours of use per charge. This metric doesn’t even include idle periods, so the real-world battery life could creep even higher. You can also charge the headset during use, which is always a nice time-saver and a feature more companies should implement. As with most gaming headsets intended for prolonged use, there are some comfort-forward features here, like memory foam padding on the earpads and a light clamping force that shouldn’t squeeze your head like a grape.

All of the components have been designed for self-repair, with replacement parts available. Additionally, Beyerdynamic doesn’t really trade in gimmicks, so there’s no RGB lights or anything like that. The MMX 200 headphones are available today for $250 straight from the company or via Amazon.

While this is Beyerdynamic’s first wireless gaming headset, it’s not the company’s first foray into wireless audio. It released a pair of wireless earbuds last year, called Free Byrd.

Just when Microsoft's buyout of Activision seemed to finally be near complete, the Federal Trade Commission said it will revive its attempt to block the $69 billion deal in an adjudicative process. The FTC plans to restart its in-house trial against Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar acquisition of the Call of Duty maker.

This effort by the FTC is unlikely to be anything more than a nuisance for Microsoft. It already received EU approval over the summer when the European Commission endorsed the deal as long as the tech giant could ensure “full compliance with commitments.” And more recently, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority issued a preliminary approval of the merger. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick called it “a significant milestone for the merger” in a statement and said he remains optimistic that the deal will complete soon. The CMA's consultation on Microsoft's proposed changes is expected to be complete by October 6, just days ahead of the October 18 deadline for the CMA’s review process.

Normally, the FTC typically drops its challenges to deals when efforts are lost in federal court and despite the agency’s effort, this move will not delay the deal from going through. The likely worst-case scenario for Microsoft would be divestiture. Being forced to sell Activision or parts of it after the fact would not be ideal, but at least short term there seems to be little chance of the FTC derailing things.

The agency’s failed attempt to block the acquisition over the summer in the US should have put an end to the bargaining when the FTC’s injunction request to block the deal got rejected and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the agency’s last-ditch effort. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley said in her ruling that the FTC did not prove the deal would harm consumers.

Microsoft told Bloomberg that it's not overly concerned about the move preventing its purchase. Regardless of what impact it could have, the FTC’s in-house hearing will only start after the Ninth Circuit issues an opinion on the appeal, according to the filing.

Lulu Cheng Meservey, the CCO of Activision, said the company is focused on closing the deal with Microsoft. In a jab on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, she questioned the FTC for how it “uses limited taxpayer resources.”

Sega announced on Thursday that it’s canceling multiplayer shooter Hyenas. Citing “lower profitability of the European region,” the company said it would also shutter other unannounced titles under development.

According to Sega, it will “implement reduction of various fixed expenses” at Hyenas developer Creative Assembly. Unfortunately, that sounds like corporate jargon for “layoffs” at the studio, also known for Total War and Alien: Isolation.

Sega also braced investors for a loss in the current fiscal year. “As a result of implementation of the structural reform described above in Consumer area, we expect to record losses of approximately 14.3 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024,” Sega wrote. Engadget reached out to Creative Assembly and will update this article if we receive a comment.

Creative Assembly / Sega

Creative Assembly staff allegedly learned about the game’s cancellation today at the same time Sega issued its statement, according to IGN. Yanking Hyenas so close to its scheduled launch was reportedly a shock to employees at the UK-based developer, although there was apparently internal concern at the studio about the game’s prospects. IGN’s sources say Creative Assembly employees face redundancy but also expect company-wide cuts at Sega.

Announced in 2022, Hyenas was billed as a team-based extraction shooter for PlayStation, Xbox and PC, with players looting coveted pop-culture objects in wild zero-gravity environments. The over-the-top multiplayer title completed a closed beta earlier this month, dropped its final trailer in August and was still slated for a 2023 launch before today’s news.

Reddit has announced a slew of changes to its user preference settings, the most notable being that users will no longer have a say in whether they see personalized ads based on their site activity. Reddit’s Head of Privacy, Jutta Williams, shared a breakdown of the impending updates in a post to r/reddit on Wednesday night, writing that only users “in select [unspecified] countries” will be exempt from the new ad policy. For the rest, advertisers will be able to target users based on “what communities you join, leave, upvotes, downvotes, and other signals.”

Users were also sent a private message notifying them of the update, which is expected to take effect over the next few days. While users are losing control over activity-based ad personalization more broadly, they will be able to limit certain types of ads from appearing. Reddit is adding opt-out buttons for “sensitive advertising categories” including Alcohol, Dating, Gambling, Pregnancy & Parenting, and Weight Loss. Jutta notes that these will be identified both by manual tagging and machine learning, so it may take a while for the filters to work effectively.

In an attempt to get ahead of users’ concerns about their data, the post insists that “the vast majority of redditors will see no change to their ads,” further stating that “[for] users who previously opted out of personalization based on Reddit activity, this change will not result in seeing more ads or sharing on-platform activity with advertisers.” Responding in a later comment, Jutta wrote that “this update does not change the way we collect or share data.”

“This data informs how we target ads on our platform,” Jutta continued. “We do not share your information or activity with third parties for advertising outside Reddit.” Unsurprisingly, a lot of users are neither pleased nor convinced. Though Reddit hasn’t named the exact countries that will continue to have opt-out abilities, the exemption is likely intended to keep the platform in compliance with the GDPR, the EU's data protection law that came into effect in 2018. 

In addition to changing the ad preferences, Reddit has also reorganized its location customization settings and made some tweaks to its privacy settings’ descriptions for clarity. Users should see the changes in their settings over the coming weeks.

Netflix held a virtual event called DROP 01 to celebrate its forthcoming slate of animated projects. The showcase was an absolute cornucopia of trailers and announcements for animation fans, particularly those who enjoy video game adaptations (all of us.) It started with a global livestream of Castlevania: Nocturne’s first three episodes ahead of the official premiere later today.

After that, the hits kept on coming. We knew there was a Devil May Cry anime being produced, adapting the popular game series, and now we have a trailer. There’s no release date, other than “coming soon”, but the show’s being produced by Capcom and animated by Studio Mir, the same folks behind The Legend of Korra, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf and My Adventures With Superman. In other words, we should be in for a good time.

Sonic Prime is coming back for season three and there’s a trailer to prove it. The new episodes focus on the fallout of chapter two as the speedy hedgehog faces off against Nine Tails for the fate of the entire Green Hill Zone. Netflix makes games now and also showed off a trailer for the related mobile title Sonic Prime Dash.

It’s been nearly three years since the announcement of a Tomb Raider animated series, leaving fans wondering if the show would evaporate into vaporware heaven. Worry no longer. It’s real and it’s coming soon. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is a team effort between game developer Crystal Dynamics and media dynamos Legendary Television. It’s being drawn by Powerhouse Animation, the studio behind Castlevania and Masters of the Universe. There’s no release date on this one yet but it looks nifty. 

Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix isn’t exactly a video game adaptation, but it’s inspired by the world created in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. As such, Ubisoft is on board, as is Netflix’s animation wunderkind Adi Shankar. This is a cyberpunk show, through and through, with the unusual addition of Ubisoft mascot Rayman. The series releases soon, on October 19.

We don’t have that long to wait before Scott Pilgrim Takes Off graces our screens, as it premieres on November 17. To hype up fans, Netflix dropped a sneak peek with an actual scene from the show. The eight-episode series brings back every single cast member from the movie, including Michael Cera, Brie Larson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans and Aubrey Plaza.

It wasn’t all video game adaptations. Netflix also showed off trailers for the cinematic anime Blue Eye Samurai, a new season of Masters of the Universe: Revolution and a series based on Astro Boy called PLUTO. Prepare to go cartoon crazy in the coming months.

The Xbox Series X is once again on sale for $450 at Dell. That's $50 off its usual going rate. We've seen this deal pop up before, but discounts on Microsoft's highest-end game console have generally been rare since it arrived in late 2020, so this is another good opportunity to save.

Compared to the $300 Xbox Series S, Microsoft's other current-gen Xbox, the Series X packs a stronger GPU and 6GB more RAM, which lets it more consistently play demanding games at higher frame rates and resolutions. It also has a disc drive and twice as much storage by default at 1TB. You can still play every Xbox game on either console, but the gulf in power between the two devices is starting to become more evident; the hit RPG Baldur's Gate III, for instance, recently arrived on the Series S without split-screen co-op — something that is available on the Series X — after developer Larian Studios had issues achieving feature parity with the less powerful machine. Broadly speaking, the Series X is built to play games in 4K at 60fps (or higher), while the Series S is more for 1440p or 1080p displays. 

As for the games themselves, Microsoft has had some struggles producing first-party hits — we were lukewarm on its most recent blockbuster, the space RPG Starfield — but the Xbox library still has tons of titles we like, from blockbusters like Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite to smaller gems like Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment. If you like to sample a variety of games, an Xbox Game Pass subscription is still a decent value as well, though a recent price hike has made it a little less of a must-have.

The caveat to any Xbox deal right now is the trove of documents that accidentally leaked earlier this month as part of the FTC v. Microsoft court battle. That leak included details of an apparent Xbox Series X refresh that could arrive next year with a cylindrical design and 2TB of storage but no disc drive, which could make the current model more appealing for those who don't want to go all-digital. As that info stems from older internal documents, however, it's possible that those plans have changed over time. 

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Apple has introduced all kinds of useful features to the iPhone in iOS 17. One, called Check In, can automatically let your friends and family know when you've arrived somewhere safely or if you've been delayed. The feature can also tell you when you're moving in the wrong direction.

If you're delayed, you can add extra time to complete your check in. If you don't do so before the timer runs out, your device will send your friend or family information such as your location, battery percentage and cellular signal (you can decide which details to share.

How to turn on Check In

To set up a Check In, find an existing conversation in the Messages app or start a new one with the person or people you want to keep tabs on your safe arrival. Tap the Plus button, then More > Check In > Edit.

Here, you have two options. The first is called When I Arrive. Punch in your destination and specify how you're getting there. You can add extra time if you need to. If your iPhone isn't moving toward your destination for a certain period of time or it doesn't reach that location as expected, Check In will notify your trusted contact and inform them about your phone's journey. When you do reach your destination on time, Check In will let your friend or family member know you've arrived.

The other Check In option is time-based. If you don't end the Check In before the time limit expires, your iPhone will notify your friend. This could be a useful option if you're on a first date or otherwise hanging out with a new pal.

Apple

Whichever Check In option you go with, tap the blue up arrow (as if you were sending any other type of message) to confirm the Check In and start the timer. If you lose service or your iPhone shuts off before a Check In is complete, the friend or family member you set it up with may receive a notification early or later than expected and access the details you decided to share with them.

To add extra time to a Check In, go to the conversation with the person you shared it with. Find the Check In message, then tap Details > Add Time. You can then choose how much time to add.

How to cancel a Check In

If you'd like to cancel a Check In for any reason, find the Check In message, then tap Details > Cancel Check In. You'll be asked to confirm the request.

How to modify Check In data

Selecting the details you want to share with Check In recipients is a little different. To do so, go to the Messages section of your iPhone's Settings app, then find the Check In Data option. When you arrive at your destination, Check In can share your location, network signal and iPhone and Apple Watch battery level if you select the "When I Arrive" option. The "Full" option will share all of that data, along with the route your iPhone took and details about the last time you unlocked your phone or Apple Watch.