Electronic Arts is "all-in on Battlefield" as it tries to bolster the first-person shooter series. To that end, it has shifted Need for Speed developer Criterion Games over from its sports division to the EA Entertainment unit. Most of Criterion's team will be working with DICE, Ripple Effect and Ridgeline on Battlefield games, while "a core group" will continue with Need for Speed. 

Criterion already has experience with Battlefield after working on vehicles for those games over the years. As such, the studio is a logical fit to help out with the franchise. "Criterion’s experience with Battlefield, our technology and building engaging experiences will have an immediate positive impact as we continue to work on Battlefield 2042, and as we continue pre-production on a connected Battlefield Universe," Vince Zampella — who leads the Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi, Battlefield and Need for Speed teams — wrote in a memo.

Battlefield 2042 wasn't exactly received well. It had a buggy launch and it took DICE several months to fix some of the core issues before the game's first season started. Soon after it released Battlefield 2042, EA added Battlefield to the portfolio of franchises that Zampella (a FPS veteran who previously worked on Titanfall and Medal of Honor) oversees.

EA is arguably in need of another majorly successful franchise it can rely on in the long run alongside EA FC, Madden, Apex Legends and The Sims. Battlefield is one of its best bets for that, given the series' mostly strong track record. Competing with the likes of Call of Duty will remain a tall order. However, it seems like EA has a clearer plan for how to do that and it's beefing up the ranks of developers to help it get there.

Amazon's smart glasses have yet to impress us, but the company made big changes for its third-gen Echo Frames that could go along way in changing our minds. First, the company has upgraded the design, slimming down the area around your temples that houses all of the components. Amazon has also changed the look, continuing to make the glasses and sunglasses options look more like something you'd actually want to wear. What's more, it's working with the more fashion-minded Carrera Eyewear on smart glasses with a refined touch — in addition to its own versions.

First, there's the improved sound quality. Amazon claims the new Echo Frames have three times more bass than the previous model. Additionally, the company says that the audio is more accurately directed to your ear. While the audio is better than previous models, the bass is still lacking, so I'm not sure these will replace a set of earbuds or headphones for music. I can see a compelling use case for podcasts or calls, and Echo Frames are still a solid way to interact with Alexa without reaching for your phone. 

The battery life has also expanded to six hours, so you can nearly get through a full work day now without needed to charge the wearable device. Lastly, the reconfigured speakers that target your ears don't spill as much sound out in the open as before. In Amazon's demo space, I couldn't hear the audio from the person next to me until they turned it way up. People nearby will still hear it at times, but it shouldn't be as much of a distraction for them as before. 

New speech-processing tech improves Alexa's ability to hear your voice in noisy or windy conditions, according to Amazon. The company says it's ten times better than the previous version, and in the company's raucous demo area I found that to be true. My fellow reporters and I had no trouble summoning the assistant in the confines of the loud space as it consistently heard and executed our cues. And calling on Alexa is hands-free, so you don't even have to press a button on the Echo Frames to prime the mics. 

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

One issue I did encounter has to do with fit. I have a huge head, and during my demo I had trouble keeping the Echo Frames in place. They kept wanting to slide down my nose even with minimal movement. Of course, I could only try what was available in the demo area, so maybe Amazon plans to offer options for people with wider faces. For the regular frames and the sunglasses I wore today, fit was a problem for both.

The third-gen Echo Frames start at $270 while the Carrera models cost $390. Both prescription and blue light lens options are available. Right now, though, Amazon hasn't said when the new versions will be available. 

Follow all of the news live from Amazon’s 2023 Devices event right here.

All MGM Resorts hotels and casinos are back up and running as normal, nine days after a cyberattack shut down systems across the company, the company said in an X post on Wednesday. MGM Rewards accounts will be updated "at a later date," and some promotional offers could still be unavailable. This is the biggest system wide restoration the company has experienced since websites went offline, slot machines went down and some transactions became cash only on September 11. 

The ALPHV ransomware group took credit for the attack shortly after systems went offline. The group claimed it used social engineering tactics, or gaining trust from employees to get information, to access systems. Once a group gains access, they usually demand a sum of money in exchange for access or information. 

After the MGM attack went public, reports started surfacing that competitor Caesars Entertainment, which also owns casinos across the Las Vegas strip, recently suffered a similar attack. But unlike MGM, Caesars reportedly paid "tens of millions of dollars" to the hackers that threatened to release company data to avoid damage. Another ransomware group, Scattered Spider, took credit for that attack. Scattered Spider also took credit for the MGM attack, but responsibility is notoriously difficult to verify without security researchers because hackers are motivated to claim as much damage as they can. 

The attacks both started through identity management vendor Okta. MGM and Caesars both use the service, and the company confirmed hackers were able to use its tech as an access vector. The full extent of the damage remains unclear. At least three other Okta clients have been hit by cyberattacks, David Bradbury, chief security officer of the company, told Reuters. 

MGM did not respond to a request for comment on any data leak implications possibly stemming from the attack or whether backend systems such as employee accounts are back up and running. 

One of the biggest announcements at today's AI-filled Amazon event is the all-new Echo Show 8. The company has refreshed the design with edge-to-edge glass up front and softer curves for a more refined look overall. While the aesthetics have changed for the better, most of the interesting stuff is on the inside. That includes updated internals to enable faster responses from Alexa and Adaptive Content based on your proximity to the device. 

Amazon has also outfitted the new Echo Show 8 with spatial audio and room calibration, specifically citing improvements to clarity and bass. In Amazon's busy demo area, I wasn't able to experience this first hand, but even a marginal upgrade over previous Amazon smart displays would be a welcome change. I also wasn't able to test the quicker Alexa experience due to the noise in the room, but the company says a new processor handles those requests on-device. This should lead to 40 percent faster responses to Alexa commands and queries. 

There's also an upgraded 13-megapixel camera up front and microphones that are better equipped to cut down background noise. Up top, meanwhile, volume controls and the ability to disable both the camera and the microphone are dedicated buttons along the edge of the device.

The main feature I was able to try today is the Adaptive Content. Arguably one of the biggest changes to the Echo Show 8, this feature changes what's on the display based on how far you are away from it. So when you're sitting across the room, the device will show you time and weather info, or even a short news headline, that's large enough to be read from a distance. Move closer and content becomes more detailed and personalized, surfacing a playlist or additional news articles. 

While this was tough to accurately test in a crowded space, I still got an overall sense for how it works and how the UI changes. Indeed, the proximity tweaks will make the device more useful and informative without you touching it, and showing you stuff you'll actually want to see. Plus, the Echo Show 8 can pull up shortcuts to your most-used widgets for faster access. 

Amazon says the Adaptive Content feature will be available on second- and third-gen Echo Show 8 next month. It's coming to other Echo Show devices later this year. The third-gen model costs $150 and starting shipping next month.

Follow all of the news live from Amazon’s 2023 Devices event right here.

With Amazon pushing further and further into smart home integration, during a press event on Wednesday the company announced a new device designed to manage all the various devices in your house called the Echo Hub. 

Instead of being a traditional tablet or a portable smart display, the $180 Echo Hub is an eight-inch display meant to be mounted on a wall. Just like an Alexa-powered smart speaker, users can control connected devices using their voice while also being able to view live feeds from security cameras and toggle settings via a customizable dashboard. The Echo Hub was also designed to support Amazon's upcoming Map View UI, which will be added to the device sometime in early 2024. 

The Echo Hub includes support for all the major smart home protocols including Matter and Thread. And while by default it relies on Wi-Fi, there will also be an optional USB-C adapter that allows it to connect to power-over-ethernet routers like those from Eero. 

This story is still developing...

Follow all of the news live from Amazon’s 2023 Devices event right here.

During its fall hardware event on Wednesday, Amazon showed off a new way for folks to control all of their compatible smart home products. It's called Map View and it will first be available on select phones in the US later this year.

You'll be able to create a digital floor plan of your home using your phone. Map View will display all the devices you add to it. Rather than using Alexa or another app to manage a device, you can see its location in your home and tap on it to switch on a light, bump up the volume of an Echo speaker or change the temperature. It looks like a fairly straightforward and intuitive user interface.

Amazon says it's an opt-in experience — you'll have control over which rooms of your home to add to the floor plan and which devices to include. You can delete your floor plan at any time soon.

On a related note, Amazon is attempting to buy iRobot. Several Roomba devices are capable of mapping out your home to help with cleaning them. It's not difficult to imagine how that might integrate into Map View.

Follow all of the news live from Amazon’s 2023 Devices event right here.

During this morning's Amazon hardware event, the tech giant announced a slate of devices and software updates to the Fire TV line. Brand new to the lineage is the Fire TV Soundbar.

The Fire TV Soundbar is "Bluetooth enabled, simple to set up and compatible with all Fire TV streaming products and TVs," according to Daniel Rausch, Amazon's VP of Alexa and Fire TV. It's is available starting today for sale today at a $120 price point.

Rausch also announced a minor refresh of the ubiquitous Fire TV line of streaming sticks. The new 4K Max, which is now nearly two years old, received a 0.2GHz bump in processing power and an upgrade from WiFi 6 to WiFi 6E. There's some other niceties as well, including support for HDR, HDR10+, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. The new Fire TV 4K Max is up for preorder now for $60, and will begin shipping to customers on September 27th. The standard model Fire TV stick also gets a bump in processing power, 4K support and WiFi 6. Preorders for that also start today (though Amazon has not yet confirmed a ship date), and it'll run a slightly cheaper $50. Purchases of new Fire sticks and TVs will now also come with six free months of the MGM+ streaming service. 

Given the focus on AI and large language models (LLM) throughout Amazon's hardware presentation, it was a foregone conclusion some aspect of those buzzy product categories would be finagled into the Fire lineup. Forthcoming improvements to the Alexa voice search feature will draw from Amazon's LLM (as well as data on IMDB, which Amazon bought in 1998) to supposedly understand nuanced questions about what to watch, and supply relevant recommendations. These recommendations will also, according to Rausch's demo of the feature, be personalized to individual user profiles. The new voice search functionality will arrive via an over-the-air update later this year.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Follow all of the news live from Amazon’s 2023 Devices event right here.

Amazon announced Eero Max 7, the WiFi device that combines a router, a range extender and a repeater, at its devices event on Wednesday. The device promises 10 gigabit Ethernet connections, with speeds that let users download a 4K movie in just 10 seconds, according to Amazon. It'll cost $599.99.

"It’ll be great for large homes or high-demand networks, and businesses with densely packed devices where multiple applications are being run," Mimi Swain, vice president of Ring, said at the event. 

Eero devices can be connected to each other to create a mesh network, or a WiFi setup that spreads the system across multiple points for better range and performance. Amazon calls the Eero Max 7 its fastest yet.

Amazon acquired Eero in 2019 as a part of its connected devices strategy. Most notably, Amazon connected Eero to its Echo Dot speakers double as Eero WiFi extenders.

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Amazon’s smart glasses are getting their first significant update in more than two years. The latest version of the Echo Frames will ship with a longer battery life and redesigned audio experience, along with several new colors and styles.

The new Echo Frames can squeeze up to six hours of media playback on one charge. They also come in several new styles for both glasses and sunglasses, including two new looks from eyewear maker Carrera (the Carrera styles will be sold as “Carrera Smart Glasses.”)

Amazon

The Alexa-enabled glasses will also come with better audio than their predecessors. Amazon says the new frames have “more balanced sound, better audio clarity, and less distortion.” The glasses also come with better onboard speech processing so the glasses can more reliably detect the wake word in varied conditions, like wind and noisy rooms.

All of the new Echo Frame will cost $269.99. The company didn’t say when they would go on sale, but people can sign up now for notifications about pre-orders.

Developing...

Amazon has used today’s hardware event to go all-in on Alexa’s new LLM-infused capabilities, touting how easy it’ll soon be to have a natural sounding conversation with the bot. This also extends to kids, as the company just announced Explore With Alexa. This is a pared-down and kid-friendly version of the updated chatbot that specializes in topics like animals and nature. It’ll even play trivia games with your tykes and disperse daily fun facts.

Of course, this is for kids, so the tech has been developed with guard rails to protect them from the more sinister parts of the Internet. Amazon says Explore With Alexa will launch at some point before the holidays and will eventually extend beyond the pre-approved topics of animal and nature.

To accompany this new Alexa technology, there are some forthcoming kid-friendly devices. The Echo Pop Kids is a smart speaker designed for the younger members of your family. It ships in two SKUs that fall along typically accepted notions of gender. There’s an Avengers one and a Disney princess one. The Avengers one specializes in conversational tidbits about Earth’s mightiest heroes and the Disney princess model specializes in Mulan, Cinderella and the like. The Echo Pop Kids releases next month for $50 and includes six free months of Amazon’s Kids+ subscription service. Preorders start today.

Amazon

There’s also a pair of forthcoming tablets. The new Fire Kids tablet is aimed at younger children and the Fire Kids Pro is being marketed to older kids. These are 10-inch tablets that are 25-percent faster than the previous generation, with 1080p FHD screens, 3GB of RAM and access to specialized kid-centric apps. Each tablet costs $190 and ships with a year of Amazon’s Kids+ subscription service. You also get a two-year warranty out of the box that covers the kind of accidental mishaps that parents deal with every single day. Preorders start today and shipments begin next month.

Both tablets boast access to the company’s new Play Together feature that gives kids access to online multiplayer titles, like checkers, and an app called Music Maker. This experience lets children become “composers, blending instruments and other sound effects together, to create a unique composition with the help of AI, all through touch.”

Follow all of the news live from Amazon’s 2023 Devices event right here.