After seemingly appearing out of nowhere, Schedule I, a drug kingpin simulator created by solo developer TVGS, continues the 2024 trend of indie games giving AAA titles a run for their money, becoming the most popular indie game on Steam in 2025 and the years second-most popular game overall, surpassing Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Sid Meiers Civilization VII, Assassins Creed Shadows, Avowed, and Split Fiction in peak player numbers.TVGSDuring its first weekend since launching on March 24, Schedule I reached an astounding 414K peak players on Steam, surpassing R.E.P.O.s 271K and becoming the platforms most popular indie game of the year so far. It also became the second-best performer overall, only behind Monster Hunter Wilds with its 1.3 million peak concurrent users.Additionally, the Walter White simulator has entered the Top-30 of Steams best performing games of all time and has become the second-best reviewed title on the largest PC gaming store of 2025, achieving a 96.06% positivity rating from 28K reviews and trailing Split Fictions 96.17% (38K reviews) by just a few percentage points.As for the most important metric for most game developers the number of units sold Schedule I is currently estimated to have sold around 1.8 to 2 million copies, effectively making TVGS an overnight millionaire even after accounting for Steam fees. Please note that, at the time of writing, all available sales figures are estimates based on factors like concurrent players, reviews, playtime, etc., as no official numbers have been provided by the games creator as of yet.Try out Schedule I yourself and dont forget tojoin our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Walter White Simulator Schedule I Becomes Steams Most Popular Indie Game of 2025 appeared first on CG SHARES.

The Resident Evil franchise is arguably in a better spot than it's ever been before. Resident Evil's remake series is still selling like hot cakes and performing very well critically, and fans are champing at the bit for a new mainline Resident Evil entry.

Frieren: Beyond Journeys End is an anime set in a fantasy setting featuring races that would be recognizable to any fan. Those include elves, dwarves, demons, and classical humans.

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Amtrak has revealed a first look at its new Airo trains, and they come with panoramic windows, comfier chairs, and more accessibility features.The national rail service is currently constructing 83 of the new-and-improved Airo trains, which will operate on around 15 existing routes in the Eastern U.S. and Pacific Northwest. According to a spokesperson, the Airo manufacturing is currently underway at Siemenss Sacramento plant, with testing of the first trains expected to begin in the second half of this year.By modernizing its fleet with a variety of design improvements, Amtrak is making a play to attract more Americans to train travel instead of flighta step toward its ultimate goal to revitalize Americas passenger rail system and double ridership by 2040.[Image: Amtrak]Nicer seats, bigger viewsIn an announcement released earlier this month, Amtrak revealed a first look at the specs and interiors of its Airo design, and theyre a marked improvement to the rail services existing models.On the inside, new seating offers moveable headrests, a cupholder, bigger and sturdier tray tables, and plenty of legroom, per the release. Panoramic windows have been added to let in plenty of light and allow travelers to take in the passing views. And, to make finding your seat simpler, each car will be color-coded based on its class, while each chair will be labeled with an individual number.[Image: Amtrak]More thought has also been given to the trains amenities. In the Airos cafe cars, riders will now have a self-service option rather than waiting in one long line to order from a single attendant. The cafe caras well as the bathrooms, walkways, and vestibuleshas also been modified to allow wheelchair users to navigate more easily. Aesthetically, the Airos staid gray and blue interiors are still lagging far behind the train designs one might find overseaslike in Frances high-speed TGV Inoui model, which looks like a 70s space age mood board. Still, the Airo represents a technological improvement on former Amtrak models in that it can travel up to 125 mph and produces 90% less particulate emissions in diesel operations. Fast Company reached out to Amtrak for more details on the Airos design and environmental impact, and the rail service declined to provide further information at this time.[Image: Amtrak]Its a good time for Amtrak to be investing in new trains, given that some of its old cars are going out of service: Just last week, the rail service announced that it would be suspending its entire Horizon fleet after inspectors uncovered potentially dangerous corrosion on several cars.[Image: Amtrak]Amtraks plan to revitalize Americas rail systemThe Airo trains, slated to hit tracks in 2026, are the first phase of Amtraks larger plans to refresh its existing fleet and expand its service across the U.S.Last February, former Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner told Fast Company that the U.S. is essentially still operating Victorian railways in the 21st century. Meanwhile countries like France, Japan, Switzerland, and China are moving light-years ahead in terms of their high-speed rail systems (the closest the U.S. has come to high-speed rail is Amtraks Acela route). Amtrak has been working to bring the countrys rail system into the modern era by expanding its routes, enticing younger customers, and, of course, upgrading its trains.So far, its efforts seem to be paying off. In 2024, Amtrak saw a record ridership of 32.8 million passengers, up from 28 million the year before. The rail services ultimate goal is to see 66 million riders by 2040. As Amtrak works to achieve that benchmark, some criticsincluding Elon Muskhave called for the service to be privatized. However, as Fast Company has previously written, such a move could derail the providers expansion plans by raising prices for consumers and even eliminating less profitable routes.In the meantime, if Amtrak is allowed to continue operating under its current structure, a spokesperson predicted that the service is on track to reach operational profitabilityfor the first time in historyduring this administration.

Gerardo Valerio had been looking for a bathroom in Los Angeles Little Tokyo neighborhood for 20 minutes when he stumbled across a blue and white trailer with FREE BATHROOM at the top. At first, he was hesitant to enter the bathroom, which had been installed by the Washington, D.C.-based portable toilet startup Throne. To get in, he had to scan a QR code which pre-loaded a text onto his phone. After sending the text, the door would automatically slide open.What do I text, I need to pee? he jokes.All in all, he says, it was a positive experience: It was pretty to look at but it definitely has a smell to it. It needs to be maintained a bit more. But overall, nice.In Little Tokyo, there are almost no public restroomsin most of the restaurants and shops, you have to buy something first. There should be more, Valerio says.After years of complaints from riders, LA Metro isrolling out more free public Throne bathroomsthis year at transit stations across L.A. County. The portable, touchless trailers are self-contained, requiring no water or electric hookup. This allows the company to rapidly deploy restrooms wherever neededlike a busy train station. The new location at Little Tokyo station has been particularly popular, with 120 to 150 uses per day during the weekend. Thrones have also been deployed in the D.C. area, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Beverly Hills; and in the Bay area at twoCaltrain stations. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Throne Bathrooms (@thronebathrooms)Built on accountabilityThrone says its smart bathrooms use accountability to solve the age-old problem of unwanted bathroom activity. Accessing a Throne requires a unique user ID, usually a cell phone number. For those without access to a phone, Throne also distributes key cards through local service providers.[Its] just behavioral science, explains Throne cofounder and COO Jessica Heinzelman. If somebody knows that theyve used their phone to get into a bathroom, theyre treating it a little bit nicer, kind of the same mentality of if you have somebody in line behind you in a regular bathroom.Every user is asked to rate the cleanliness of the Throne and can report any issues via text. Throne uses this feedback to optimize the cleaning schedule which relies on gig laborand rapidly respond to any issues. As of March 1, there have been 425,900 uses nationally, with 168,600 in L.A., and a rating of 4.07 out of five stars.The biggest issue facing public bathrooms in Metro stations has been preventing inappropriate behavior, says Stephen Tu, deputy executive officer of station experience at Metro.Throne bathrooms are cheaper to clean and maintain because problem users can be banned from the system. So far, only 375 people out of 37,144 unique users across the national Throne network have been access-restricted, according to Heinzelman.Last year, after a six-month pilot at four locations, Metro approved a $22 million four-year contract with Throne to provide up to 64 bathrooms. Currently, there are14 Thronesin the Metro system, with four more set to roll out in April. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Throne Bathrooms (@thronebathrooms)Tapping the gig workforceSome Throne features might be high-tech, but the bathrooms are still cleaned the old-fashioned way: by people, specifically gig workers who sign up to clean specific locations at specific times through an app.It allows us to respond really quickly, while also providing people flexible income opportunities, says Heinzelman. If we had a W-2 workforce, we would probably be able to accomplish a quarter of the cleans in twice the time.Correna T., a public transportation advocate with the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, believes that the bathrooms should be staffed by unionized Metro employees, not gig workers.We would much rather see those jobs go to union employees who have protections and benefits and are staffed publicly, she says.In July of last year, DSA-LA successfullymobilizedto push LA Metro to conduct afeasibility studyon bringing cleaning staff in-house. Over seven months later, the report is still not out. Next City reached out to Metro for a status update on the report but did not receive a response.Throne declined to provide details about how much a member of the cleaning network is paid per clean, but according toThrones website, each clean is priced dynamically.There are all sorts of variables to how we are setting clean tasks including when we have two Thrones co-located next to each other (no transit time or transit cost) [plus] the ability to get bonuses for rapid response, says Heinzelman in an email.Workers can receivean extra $15for extra tough jobs after submitting before-and-after photos that are then confirmed by the company. Thrones top earners are making up to $1,800 per week, says Heinzelman.Having bathrooms is an enormous social service support and health and safety strategy that we wholeheartedly support, says Alfonso Directo, Jr., advocacy director for the Alliance for Community Transit, a coalition of transportation and housing organizations. But ACT-LA would rather see Metro provide stable employment for local residents.Metro, as a public agency with public dollars, could be using those dollars to develop the infrastructure themselves, he says.A temporary fix?Correna T. was initially excited about the Throne bathroom program, but thinks it doesnt go far enough in providing a permanent solution.The bathrooms are portable, not permanent, she points out. Metro doesnt own themThrone does. The contract only extends to 2028the year that L.A. is hosting the summer Olympic games. To DSA-LA, this shows that the Throne partnership is primarily meant to serve tourists during the Olympics.If they dont expand this program past the Olympics, Throne could literally just come in and take them away, and they would no longer be an amenity for the city, she adds.Tu doesnt see the restrooms as necessarily temporary and says the agency has the option to renew the contract at the end of four years.The beauty of its portability allows us to scale very quickly, because to be able to do this with a more traditional approach would take many years to be able to get this at up to 64 locations, he says.LA Metro riders have beenrequesting bathroomsfordecadeswith little success. The system has only three stations with permanent bathrooms in a system with107 rail stationsand about12,000 bus stops(the city of Los Angeles has four bathrooms at Metro stations that it maintains separately).Tu says that the challenge with building and maintaining public bathrooms has been not just the capital costs of adding new bathrooms, but also the amount of money needed to staff them and keep them clean.During the pilot, Metro saw a 50% reduction in public urination and defecation incidents at locations where Thrones were deployed.When Next City asked if Metro could use the money saved on maintenance to build permanent bathrooms, Tu repeated that the partnership with Throne allows the agency to roll out multiple bathrooms in a short period of time.He stresses the high rating that Throne has received from users as evidence of the programs success, though he states that Metro is not opposed to exploring other options in the future.The only solution we see in the market right now is the Throne solution, he says.This story was originally published byNext City, a nonprofit news outlet covering solutions for equitable cities. 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Handheld gaming devices seem to be all the rage these days, and they actually span quite a wide range as well. On the one hand, you have the super-powerful handheld PC like the Steam Deck or the Lenovo Legion Go, letting you play massive AAA titles at the expense of some heft and bulk. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the low-power DIY projects that can even fit on keyrings but are extremely limited in their use, not to mention their ergonomics.And then there are retro kids, handhelds like the new Retroid Pocket Classic that take inspiration from their ancestors in more ways than one. Embracing the old-school design of those old handhelds and consoles, this nostalgia trip tries to bring the past to the present, introducing younger generations to the aesthetics of the 80s and the 90s, all while keeping up with the demanding requirements of modern emulators and the games they run, both old and new.Designer: RetroidThe Nintendo Game Boy is an icon as far as gaming handhelds go. Despite being quite chunky and toy-like by todays design standards, it still possesses a particular charm that has endeared it to many retro designers. But while the likes of the Analogue try to apply modern aesthetic trends to its design language, the Retroid Pocket Classic goes all out on reproducing that same playful vibe, albeit with some upgrades, of course.The Retroid Pocket Classic isnt afraid to use curves and colors, more reminiscent of the psychedelic trends of decades past. Although it has no use for cartridges, the back of the device bulges a little to provide a slightly better ergonomic grip. Sitting on top are four trigger buttons, controls that werent even imaginable in the days of the Game Boy.This Game Boy homage unsurprisingly also embraces some of the colors that made the original an icon, including an accurate Retro palette as well as the translucent Atomic Purple. Amusingly, it also pays tribute to one of the titles that catapulted the gaming handheld to fame with PKM Yellow. The most curious color, however, is the Classic 6, which is actually a whole different model. Rather than the Game Boy, this variant adopts the six-button control layout of the Sega Saturn, another luminary in the video gaming industry.Despite the old-school looks, the Retroid Pocket Classic is clearly a modern device, one that runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon G1 Gen2 processor and uses Android 14 for its software. The screen is a 3.92-inch AMOLED display with a squarish resolution of 12401080, perfect for retro titles. Admittedly, its going to be significantly less impressive than even the cheapest gaming smartphone, but you wont be buying this nostalgia trip for its performance anyway.The post Retroid Pocket Classic pays tribute to the granddaddies of gaming consoles first appeared on Yanko Design.

One of my (many) unfulfilled dreams is to own a vinyl player and to start collecting records of albums that I love. There are several reasons why that still hasnt happened but one of them is that Im worried on how to properly keep those vinyl records that Ill be buying (and probably at not cheap prices). When I used to collect CDs back in the day, keeping them preserved and fully working for a long time was a worry and so I know this can be a problem for those records as well.For the aspiring vinyl enthusiast, the thought of building a cherished record collection often comes with the practical consideration of preservation. Just like those beloved CDs of the past, vinyl records, despite their more robust nature, are susceptible to damage over time. Warping, in particular, is a common ailment that can significantly impact playback quality, leading to frustrating skips, annoying pops, and an overall distorted listening experience.Designer: Pro-JectFortunately, innovative tools like the Pro-Ject Flatten it machine offer a dedicated solution for audiophiles and serious collectors looking to maintain and even restore their precious discs to their original, flat condition. As its straightforward name suggests, the Flatten it is specifically engineered to gently coax warped records back into plane, all while aiming to preserve the delicate grooves that hold the music you love. By carefully addressing the physical imperfections of a warped record, this device promises to eliminate those unwelcome sonic artifacts, allowing you to fully appreciate the rich, unadulterated sound that vinyl is renowned for, even from older or less-than-perfectly-stored acquisitions. The device actually looks like a record player itself but has premium heated aluminum plates so that the heat is evenly distributed and you get consistent results. You can also control the temperature being used and has a low temperature hysteresis of just 2 degrees celsius. The machine itself is made from solid aluminum construction so it can last for a long time. Its also easy to use so even if youre not much of a machine person, you can still operate it on your own. So, while the dream of owning that vinyl player and a curated collection of beloved albums is still on your horizon, know that tools like Pro-Jects Flatten it exist to ease your worries about long-term record preservation. Its a reassuring thought for any budding collector: even if life (or less-than-ideal storage) throws a curveball at your cherished vinyl, theres a way to bring them back to their original glory and keep the music playing. Perhaps this knowledge will nudge that vinyl dream a little closer to reality.The post Flatten It will help preserve those precious vinyl records first appeared on Yanko Design.