Old Skies review Fia effect. Image credit: Eurogamer/Wadjet Eye Games Review by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on April 23, 2025 Acclaimed point-and-click studio Wadjet Eye's gently paced, time-travelling genre-hopper blends elegant puzzling and intricate, affecting storytelling to beautiful effect. As a dead poet once famously wrote (in this timeline, at least), "No man is an island, entire of itself". But what if you were? What if you were a single unmoving point in an ever-churning ocean of temporal uncertainty; where everything you knew, everything you loved, could suddenly cease to exist - to have never existed - in the blink of an eye? Who would you be in a world without constants or connections, and who might you become? Old Skies review Developer: Wadjet Eye Games Publisher: Wadjet Eye Games Platform: Played on PC (Steam) Availability:Out 23rd April on Switch and PC (Steam, GOG). Welcome to the far-flung future of Old Skies, where reality is in constant flux thanks to the commodification and corporatisation of time travel. For the right price, anyone can go back in time and interfere with history; righting wrongs, wronging rights, even saving the dead – just as long as its impact on the future isn't deemed too great. Here, whole histories can be unwritten and rewritten in an instant; people can pop out of existence, great works of art can be unmade, wars can be unwon, and entire skylines can change multiple times a day. And anchored unchanging within this temporal chaos is time agent Fia Quinn and her colleagues at the ChronoZen agency, striving to maintain some semblance of identity in this ephemeral churn. Watch on YouTube It's a wonderfully compelling – and existentially terrifying – starting point for Old Skies, the latest from indie developer Wadjet Eye Games, a studio you'll almost certainly be familiar with if you're a point-and-click fan. Wadjet Eye has been crafting critically acclaimed narrative adventures in the classic 90s mold since 2006, starting with its now five-part Blackwell saga (of which Old Skies shares a universe) through to 2018's Unavowed. The latter was particularly remarkable; an extraordinarily ambitious, RPG-inspired spin on the genre, delivering a malleable urban fantasy adventure in which whole chapters could shift depending on who you chose to be and the characters you brought along. Old Skies, though – perhaps surprisingly, given its thematic focus on the choices we make and the impact they have - dials back on its predecessor's ambitious design, instead following a largely fixed path, with seemingly only a few minor choices rippling out across the rest of the game. Image credit: Eurogamer/Wadjet Eye Games Old Skies builds its narrative around half a dozen or so several-hour-long excursions to different time periods, all essentially working as complete stories as Fia attempts to fulfil each of her ChronoZen clients' demands. It's an anthology approach that initially feels a little unfocussed as storylines wrap up and characters depart just as you're beginning to settle into them, but Old Skies slowly coalesces into a more intricate whole, clear parallels forming between Fia's excursions and her own emotional journey. But even ignoring the bigger picture, Wadjet Eye has crafted a series of wonderful stories here. Each begins with a request; a client wants to learn a secret from a long-dead hero, or recover a lost great work of art, or perhaps revisit a treasured memory before they die - but rarely do these tales follow a predictable path. There's romance, mystery, farce, intrigue, subterfuge, and even a spot of murder as Old Skies gamely leaps between genres - often multiple times within each tale - and Fia hurtles through New York's history, each era brought to life by a wonderful jazz noir soundtrack, and some beautifully evocative art. This is Wadjet Eye's first HD game (three times the resolution of Unavowed, its marketing material exclaims!) and the studio doesn't waste a pixel as its story leaps from its gleaming, pink-skied vision of the future to the cobblestone streets of the 1870s; from the smoke-wrapped speakeasies of Prohibition era 1920s to a New York in the shadow of the Twin Towers on 10th September 2001, and beyond. It's lovely stuff, invoking the spirit of each era rather than attempting to slavishly replicate them. Image credit: Eurogamer/Wadjet Eye Games Unusually, even refreshingly, Old Skies' interest in time travel isn't a particularly philosophical one. Rather than using the past and future to interrogate the present as is often the case with these kinds of things, Wadjet Eye's interest lies at a far more intimate level, its focus firmly on the human stories, and the centuries-spanning tapestry of emotional connections, at the heart of its narrative – a focus it sometimes uses to devastating effect. Even the specific time periods Fia visits aren't especially critical to the narrative beyond their basic chronology (aside from perhaps the symbolism of its Twin Towers segment, an affecting chapter handled with tenderness and tact), merely serving as evocative background texture for its diverse selection of tales. But that's not to say Wadjet Eye doesn't have fun exploring the possibilities of time travel, and that's felt especially keenly within the playful chronology of its individual stories and its elegantly intertwining puzzle design. At its most basic, Old Skies follows the point-and-click genre's familiar rhythms of kleptomaniacal object acquisition and incessant NPC bothering to propel players through its tale. But Wadjet Eye uses its well-honed design instincts to streamline the experience (the roll-over 'look at' descriptions are a nicely efficient touch) then build out from there, introducing elements of clue-gathering, cross-referencing, and reasoning that provide an unexpectedly strong investigatory focus. You'll pick locks, converse with characters, mooch through emails, crack codes, and amass useful objects to uncover new leads. And at the centre of it all is the Historical Archive; a grand database of literally everything that ever was or ever will be. Image credit: Eurogamer/Wadjet Eye Games This repository of lives, deaths, notable achievements, and familial ties can be accessed using keywords gleaned over the course of each trip and provides a focal point of sorts for Fia's investigations. There's a bit of smoke and mirrors here - the entries you're able to search are always tightly regulated, and the archive is used sparingly - but it's incorporated into the broader puzzling loop brilliantly. It pushes you toward new conversations, new locations, new possibilities, and eventually back to the archive, with Wadjet Eye frequently engineering situations where you'll need to puzzle your way to uncovering new keywords – sleuthing out a first name to go with a surname found on a screwed up bit of paper in a bin, perhaps – before you can proceed. It feels like proper detective work and, from a story telling perspective, lends your actions an unexpected sense of weight whenever you log back into the archive and discover a person's entire timeline has changed. Old Skies plays around with time in other entertaining ways too. There's a spot of paradoxical puzzling, for instance, and a few chapters that splinter across multiple timelines as players hop between past and future versions of the same locations in order to manipulate events and achieve their goals. Old Skies strikes an effective balance between different modes of puzzling, and while it's never a particularly difficult adventure, foregoing friction in favour of consistently paced storytelling, it's generally a rewarding one – offering a clear sense of puzzle logic that makes for satisfying solutions. Image credit: Eurogamer/Wadjet Eye Games Old Skies accessibility options Subtitle toggle; speech text size options; auto-advance text toggle; music, voice, and SFX volume controls; mouse and controller support. Where things start to come a little undone, though, is Old Skies' big time loop set pieces. Fia and her clients are essentially time locked while travelling, meaning fatalities are easily reversed by ChronoZen HQ. And with death no longer a hindrance, Wadjet Eye positively delights in peril, intermittently bringing Fia's adventures to an end in a spray of bullets or with a well-hurled meat cleaver. Conceptually, these crescendo moments are lovely stuff, building puzzles around foreknowledge gained after the fact in classic time travel fashion. By observing, interacting, and exhausting dialogue options before Fia's demise, players can gain new knowledge to exploit on their next loop around, perhaps finding a hiding spot or laying a trap where the killer will tread. It almost works, but Wadjet Eye struggles to offset the inherent tension-sapping repetition of these trial-and-error sequences, and aside from a smartly structured closing effort - one of the few with sensible checkpointing – they can feel a bit of a chore. Thankfully, these moments are relatively sporadic, and only a minor blemish on an otherwise strong game. Old Skies might not reach the dazzlingly ambitious highs of Wadjet Eye's remarkable Unavowed, but then it doesn't try to – instead building its quieter, gentler adventure around some bold narrative swings. It doesn't always work – its enthusiastic cast occasionally struggles to bring emotional authenticity to Old Skies' more challenging moments – but it succeeds far more often than it flounders over its 18-ish-hour runtime. It's beautifully written, intricately structured, and shows real elegance of design; that it does all this while turning its existentially bleak, high concept premise into a gorgeous, deeply human, and surprisingly moving tale of love, loss, and the legacies we leave is all the more impressive. A copy of Old Skies was provided for review by Wadjet Eye Games.

We've seen plenty of bad tech bills in recent years, often cloaked in vague language about "online safety." But Florida’s SB 868 doesn’t even pretend to be subtle: the state wants a backdoor into encrypted platforms if minors use them, and for law enforcement to have easy access to your messages. This bill should set off serious alarm bells for anyone who cares about digital rights, secure communication, or simply the ability to message someone privately without the government listening. Florida lawmakers aren’t just chipping away at digital privacy—they're aiming a wrecking ball straight at it. TAKE ACTION SB 868 is a blatant attack on encrypted communication. Since we last wrote about the bill, the situation has gotten worse. The bill and its House companion have both sailed through their committees and are headed to a full vote. That means, if passed, SB 868 would: Force social media platforms to decrypt teens’ private messages, breaking end-to-end encryption Ban “disappearing” messages, a common privacy feature that helps users—especially teens—control their digital footprint Allow unrestricted parental access to private messages, overriding Florida’s own two-party consent laws for surveillance Likely pressure platforms to remove encryption for all minors, which also puts everyone they talk to at risk In short: if your kid loses their right to encrypted communication, so does everyone they talk to.  There Is No Safe Backdoor If this all sounds impossible to do safely, that’s because it is. There’s no way to create a “just for law enforcement” access point into encrypted messages. Every backdoor is a vulnerability. It's only a matter of time before someone else—whether a hacker, abuser, or foreign government—finds it. Massive breaches like Salt Typhoon have already proven that surveillance tools don’t stay in the right hands for long. Encryption either protects everyone—or it protects no one. We must protect it. Encryption Matters—Especially for Teens Encryption isn’t optional in today’s internet—it’s essential. It protects your banking info, your health data, your personal chats, and yes, your kids' safety online.  SB 868 pretends to “protect children,” but does the opposite. Teens often need encrypted messaging to talk to trusted adults, friends, and family—sometimes in high-stakes situations like abuse, mental health crises, or discrimination. Stripping away those safeguards makes them more vulnerable, not less. Investigators already have powerful tools to pursue serious crimes, including the ability to access device-level data and rely on user reports. In fact, studies show user reporting is more effective at catching online abuse than mass surveillance. So why push a bill that makes everyone less safe, weakens encryption, and invites lawsuits? That’s a question we all deserve an answer to. It’s Time to Speak Up Florida’s SB 868 isn’t just a bad bill—it’s a dangerous blueprint for mass surveillance. Tell Florida Legislators: SB 868 is unsafe, unworkable, and unacceptable. If you live in Florida, contact your lawmakers and demand they reject this attack on encryption.  TAKE ACTION If you're outside the state, you can still speak out—public pressure matters, and the more people who call out how egregious this bill is, the harder it becomes for lawmakers to quietly push it forward. Make sure you follow us on social media to track the bills’ progress and help amplify the message. Privacy is worth fighting for. Let’s stop SB 868 before it becomes law.

Image: Nintendo Nintendo has kept the F-Zero spirit alive over the past few years with all sorts of retro revivals and game updates, and this week it's rolled out Version 1.6.0 of its online battle royale F-Zero 99. You can update the game now from the Switch home menu. It adds five mirror tracks from the Ace League, five classic tracks to the Ace League, a mini world tour and much more. Here are the official patch notes, courtesy of Nintendo's support page: F-Zero 99 - Version 1.6.0 (22nd April 2025) New AdditionsSubscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube809kWatch on YouTube Five Mirror tracks from the Ace League have been added. Mirror tracks will appear in F-ZERO 99 races as well as Pro Tracks, Team Battle, Mini Prix, Mirror Grand Prix, and Mini World Tour game modes. The usual tracks are flipped horizontally, and tracks where the gimmicks are rearranged will appear. Five Classic tracks have been added to the Ace League. These Classic tracks have been modified from F-ZERO 99 tracks in places to bring them closer to the track layouts from the BS F-ZERO GRAND PRIX Ace League. Classic tracks appear in both Classic and Classic Mini Prix game modes. Added Mini World Tour, a special event where pilots compete in seven consecutive races to compete for the top rank. The first Mini World Tour will be held on May 5. The Mini World Tour is a special event that will be held at regular intervals. The event will last for one week. The Mini World Tour is a series of seven races with each race consisting of three laps. The rules are based on a score system in which the rankings are determined by the total points awarded for each lap, the number of KOs, and the number of Gem Sparks collected during the three laps of the race. In Mini World Tour, the more players there are in the lobby, the more potential points players can earn during the race. During Mini World Tour races, a Mini World Tour tab will be displayed on the weekly leaderboard. A Mini World Tour category has been added to Prix under Records in the Workshop. This will be displayed while the Mini World Tour is being held and will remain displayed if a record is set. A player ranking in 999th place or above in the Mini World Tour weekly ranking will get a special badge. Mini World Tours will be held regularly, but this badge can only be obtained once during times when the event is live. Two types of decals and 15 color variations have been added for each of the BLUE THUNDER, LUNA BOMBER, GREEN AMAZON, and FIRE SCORPION machines. These can be used for customization when certain conditions are met. You can check the specified conditions and perform customization by selecting Workshop from the Main Menu. New backdrops, badges, and borders have been added for Pilot Card customization. All of these can be unlocked when certain conditions are met. You can check the specified conditions and perform customization by selecting Workshop from the Main Menu and then selecting Pilot Cards. Other Adjustments and Changes Changed the conditions for obtaining the black machine color to finishing in 1st in any of the following: F-ZERO 99, Pro Tracks, Grand Prix, or Mini Prix races. The color cannot be obtained by placing 1st in Team Battle, Classic races, or World Tour races. If conditions have been met with save data from Ver. 1.5.6 or prior, then the color will be obtained when the game is updated to Ver. 1.6.0. Made adjustments to machine balance. Machine Adjustments All Machines The amount of Super Sparks required to trigger the Super Boost has been slightly reduced. Increased the minimum amount of time to be on the Skyway from four seconds to five seconds. Increased speed when traveling on the Skyway without touching the wall and when using the Skyway dash plate. Adjusted the amount of increase in the Power Meter when scoring a KO against another machine. BLUE FALCON Reduced the amount of repulsion when colliding with other machines. GOLDEN FOX Reduced the amount of damage received and slightly reduced the amount of repulsion when colliding with other machines. The amount of Power Meter increase when you KO another machine will decrease with each KO after the first one. The advantage gained by getting many KOs early on in the World Tour and Grand Prix has been rebalanced. The maximum Power Meter value from stacking KOs remains at 200%, the same as before. The BLUE FALCON and GOLDEN FOX machines have been adjusted as they tend to keep getting knocked away by other machines and lose more power than desired in crowded situations. SILENCE, WHITE LAND II, and FIRE FIELD will appear as course candidates for Classic races. Other Fixes Fixed issues to make for a more pleasant gaming experience. As you can see there'll be mirror and ace leagues, new machine colours, new race world tours and more. This follows a previous update earlier this year in February. There's also some more F-Zero action on the way in the form of F-Zero GX, which will be returning on 5th June 2025 as part of the GameCube Switch Online library. This particular game library will be exclusive to the Switch 2 and you'll need to be an 'Expansion Pack' tier subscriber to access it. GameCube games are coming to Switch 2 Got 99 problems, but F-Zero ain't one Are you still playing F-Zero 99 in 2025? Let us know in the comments. [source en-americas-support.nintendo.com, via gonintendo.com] Related Games See Also Share:0 1 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment... 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In Brief Posted: 9:08 PM PDT · April 22, 2025 Image Credits:Joan Cros/NurPhoto / Getty Images Intel reportedly plans to lay off over 21,000 employees Intel is set to cut over 21,000 people, or roughly 20% of its workforce, with an announcement due this week, according to a Bloomberg report.  The news comes ahead of Intel’s Q1 earnings call helmed by recently appointed CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who replaced longtime chief Pat Gelsinger last year.  With the layoffs, Tan aims to “streamline management and rebuild an engineering-driven culture,” according to Bloomberg. The company had around 108,900 employees at the end of last year after it announced 15,000 job cuts in August 2024. Intel has been struggling for quite some time; over the past five years, the company’s stock has dipped around 67%. Since assuming the role of CEO toward the end of 2024, Tan has moved to spin divisions of Intel into “non-core” units. Earlier this month, Intel sold 51% of its Altera semiconductor business to private equity firm Silver Lake. Intel didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Topics

Meta’s Oversight Board, the independent group created to help Meta with content moderation decisions, on Tuesday issued its response to the social media company’s new hate speech policies announced in January. The Board says that Meta’s new policies were “announced hastily, in a departure from regular procedure,” and called on the company to provide more information about its rules. In addition, the Board asked Meta to asses the impact of its new policies on vulnerable user groups, report those findings publicly, and update the Board every six months. The Board says it’s in discussions with Meta to retool its fact-checking policies in regions outside the U.S., as well. Just weeks before President Donald Trump took office, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg embarked on an overhaul of the company’s content moderation policies in an effort to allow “more speech” on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. As part of this push, Meta rolled back hate speech rules that protected immigrants and LGBTQIA+ users across its various platforms. Regarding Meta’s new policies, the Board says it issued 17 recommendations to Meta that, among other things, ask the company to measure the effectiveness of its new community notes system, clarify its revised stance on hateful ideologies, and improve how it enforces violations of its harassment policies. The Board says it has also asked Meta to uphold its 2021 commitment to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by engaging with stakeholders impacted by the new policies. The Board says Meta should have done so in the first place. The Oversight Board is limited in its ability to steer Meta’s broader policies. However, Meta must follow its rulings on individual posts, per the company’s own rules. Should Meta grant the Board a policy advisory opinion referral — something it’s done a few times before — the group might have a channel to reshape Meta’s content moderation. In decisions published on 11 cases concerning issues across Meta’s platforms — including anti-migrant speech, hate speech targeting people with disabilities, and suppression of LGBTQIA+ voices — the Oversight Board appeared to criticize several of the new content policies Zuckerberg announced earlier this year. Meta’s January policy changes did not affect the outcome of these decisions, the Board said. In two U.S. cases involving videos of transgender women on Facebook and Instagram, the Board upheld Meta’s decision to leave the content up, despite user reports. However, the Board recommends that Meta remove the term “transgenderism” from its Hateful Conduct policy. The Board overturned Meta’s decision to leave up three Facebook posts concerning anti-immigration riots that occurred in the U.K. during the summer of 2024. The Board found that Meta acted too slowly to remove anti-Muslim and anti-immigration content that violated the company’s violence and incitement policies.

Do not make cvalls if yoiu see this message.getty Update: Republished on April 23 with a new report into the massive scale of organized criminal gangs now pushing these threats to your phone. Your phone, your data and your money are at risk. There is a surge in Chinese attacks against iPhone and Android users in America and Europe, driven by sophisticated platforms designed in China and operated by organized gangs of cyber criminals. With millions of smartphones targeted, you will come under attack. And it all starts with a dangerous message on your phone, per the latest warning of one such attack. Package delivery and unpaid toll texts have taken most of the headlines, but an even worse threat is proving a nightmare for phone users. This is where a helpful bank or technical support employee reaches out to let you know there’s a problem and to help you fix it. This could be to protect your phone or computer from an attack or to protect your money from an ongoing fraud in real time. We even now have fake police officers and federal agents contacting citizens to solicit payment to avoid arrest. All these calls are dangerous scams. Every single one of them. As the FBI has warned, no tech support desk or bank or law enforcement official will ever reach out to you for any of these reasons. Do not take or make these calls. And if you receive a text or email that you find worrying, use publicly available channels to find a number or email address for the organization, and contact them directly. The latest warning from the team at Cleafy is yet more of the same. The new threat is frighteningly sophisticated. “A significant new trend,” it says, “challenging traditional banking institutions, payment institutions, and card issuers [with] This attack starts with an urgent text or WhatsApp message “impersonating bank security alerts, notifying users of a suspicious outgoing payment. The message prompts potential victims to call a specific number to dispute the transaction.” Once you make that call, you will be tricked into checking your banking app, confirming your PIN and — here’s the novel bit — holding your bank card near your phone so the threat actors can read the details of the card using NFC and then make contactless transactions. The threat actors, Cleafy explains, “persuade the victim to install a seemingly innocuous application. A link to this malicious app, often disguised as a security tool or a verification utility, is sent via SMS or WhatsApp. Without the victim’s knowledge, this application hides the SuperCard X malware, incorporating the NFC-relay functionality.” Cleafy explains the manipulation of a victim comes in three parts: "PIN Elicitation: Exploiting the victim’s potential anxiety regarding the fraudulent transaction, the TAs convince them to ‘reset’ or ‘verify’ their card. Since victims often do not recall their PIN immediately, the attackers guide them through their mobile banking application to retrieve this sensitive information. Card Limit Removal: Once they have gained the victim's trust and potentially their banking app access (through verbal guidance), the TAs instruct the victim to navigate to the card settings within their banking app and remove any existing spending limits on their debit or credit card. This crucial step maximizes the potential for fraudulent cash-out.‍ Malicious Application Installation: Subsequently, the TAs persuade the victim to install a seemingly innocuous application. A link to this malicious app, often disguised as a security tool or a verification utility, is sent via SMS or WhatsApp. Without the victim’s knowledge, this application hides the SuperCard X malware, incorporating the NFC-relay functionality." Once your card has been read, the attackers initiate “contactless payments at POS terminals or, more alarmingly, contactless cash withdrawals at ATMs.” We have seen other NFC vulnerabilities exposed, but this remote attack combined with the surge in text scams makes this easily scaleable with no need for physical proximity to victims.New attack on smartphone users.Cleafy Just as with other scams — including the fake Google emails doing the rounds this week, the key isn’t to dissect the technical cleverness of the attack, albeit it is clever. The key is to ensure smartphone users know never to take or make these calls. Once a scammer has you on the phone, they have a good chance of stealing from you. This is what they do for a living, and they’re often frighteningly good at it. None of the objections you raise will be new to them, they’re well rehearsed. Don’t put yourself at risk. Your bank will never reach out to you in this way — do not call any of those numbers if you receive any of those messages. It really is as simple as that.While the majority of scams that start with messages use SMS texts, so-called smishing, this latest attack also uses WhatsApp messages to hook victims. WhatsApp is currently running a campaign to warn users “you always have the option to block unwanted contacts or messages. When you block a contact, you’ll stop receiving calls, messages and Status updates from that person." The platform is also advising users that they can “also block high volumes of unknown messages,” by going to “Settings > Privacy > Advanced > Block unknown account numbers.” What this highlights is that WhatsApp isn’t immune from such abuse, albeit it’s much rarer. As a rule, be very wary of any messages from unknown numbers unless you’re expecting the contact and know who it is. What’s also critical is not to click links or open attachments from unknown numbers.Fortunately, “if someone who isn’t saved to your contacts sends you a link, you won’t be able to tap or click on it to open it,” WhatsApp says. “You can choose to save their phone number to your contacts if you know or trust the person. You should then be able to tap or click any links they send to open it.” There are also protections built into group messages, given you cvan be added to a group. “When you’re added to a group with people who aren’t saved to your contacts, you’ll need to message the group to tap or click on any links.” There was further evidence of the sheer scale of the organized criminal gangs behind scam calls on Tuesday, with a United Nations report into the “epidemic” now affecting Asia. Clearly, this continent has its own attacks and its own victims, but Asia in general has become the epicenter for those designing and developing the attacks elsewhere. The UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned these “transnational organized crime groups in Asia which carry out these types of scams are expanding their operations deeper into the region and far beyond.” Per The Register, “Scam call centers are metastasizing worldwide "like a cancer," according to the UN, which warns the epidemic has reached a global inflection point as syndicates scale up and spread out. Recent crackdowns in East and Southeast Asia - where scam centers took root at industrial scale - have coincided with organized criminal groups (OCGs) shifting operations to more permissive regions.” In December, the UN adopted a new cybercrime treaty, with its Convention against Cybercrime acknowledging “the significant risks posed by the misuse of information and communications technologies (ICT), which enable criminal activities on an unprecedented scale, speed, and scope.” The scourge of unpaid toll messages plaguing America has its origins in China, with Chinese phishing kits and criminals driving the scam state to state. This includes the likes of Smishing Triad, which is responsible for many of the phishing kits used and which — as I reported earlier in in the month — is now turning from undelivered packages and unpaid tolls to banking, where it will mimic U.S. banks to target their customers in scams moving money to their own accounts.SlashNext’s J Stephen Kowski told me these Chinese gangs "have evolved from targeting toll road and shipping customers to directly attacking international financial institutions, using sophisticated smishing techniques that bypass traditional security measures. These attackers are enjoying remarkable success converting phished payment card data into mobile wallets from Apple and Google.” “Previous UN reports,” The Register says, “flagged growing activity in regions like South America and the Middle East. The latest update expands that scope, citing overseas crackdowns and evidence of scam operations tied to Southeast Asian crime syndicates in Africa, South Asia, select Pacific islands, and links to related criminal services—such as laundering and recruitment—as far as Europe, North America, and beyond.” Threat Stop warns “we’ve long known that the group referred to as Smishing Triad has been operating on a massive scale, rotating thousands of malicious domains and spoofing major brands worldwide.” This follows a report from Silent Push outlining how the gang’s fake messaging now targets users in more than 120 countries and operates tens of thousands of domains, with frightening implications for what comes next.

Looking for help with today's New York Times Wordle? Here are hints, clues and commentary to help you solve today's Wordle and sharpen your guessing game.

The popular Netflix show receives a theatrical spinoff that favors visual spectacle over human drama.

Close Shut the Jaws of Oblivion You can play the Unreal-powered The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remaster today "Surprise" dropped today, the game overhauls leveling and graphics. Samuel Axon – Apr 22, 2025 12:17 pm | 29 The Oblivion remaster runs on Unreal Engine—but Bethesda's own engine is still involved. Credit: Bethesda The Oblivion remaster runs on Unreal Engine—but Bethesda's own engine is still involved. Credit: Bethesda Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more The worst-kept secret in the gaming industry in 2025 is no longer a secret: Bethesda Game Studios' 2006 RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been remastered, and that remaster has already been released on all supported platforms today. A livestream featuring developer sound bites and gameplay footage ran on Twitch and YouTube today, making it official after years of leaks. Oblivion was the immediate precursor to The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim, which became one of the most popular games of all time—but Oblivion was pretty popular in its time, too, and it was the first game in the franchise that would end up feeling at all modern by today's standards. (I personally will always love The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, though.) Like Skyrim, it straddles the line between story-based fantasy RPG and systems-based, emergent gameplay playground. It's less structured and accessible than Skyrim, but it offers far more robust character customization. It's infamously janky, but largely in an endearing way for fans of the franchise. (Players who prefer a polished, curated experience should surely look elsewhere.) The <em>Oblivion</em> livestream reveal. The port was not handled directly by the original developer, Bethesda Game Studios. Rather, people within BGS worked closely with an outside developer, Virtuos. Virtuos is a sprawling, multi-studio organization with a deep history as a support studio. It contributed to a whole range of games, like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, The Outer Worlds, and more. It also was involved in some previous well-received remaster efforts and ports, including Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster. Based on the footage in Bethesda's reveal video today, it appears that Oblivion Remastered was largely developed by Virtuos Paris. It's important to note that this is a remaster, not a remake. This project uses Unreal Engine, but only for the presentation aspects like graphics and audio. Bethesda's proprietary Creation Engine is still there handling the gameplay logic and systems. That said, Virtuos has also made changes on that front. Most notably, today's announcement revealed that the remaster will have a completely overhauled leveling system, which is described as combining elements from Oblivion and Skyrim. That will be welcome news for many players. In many ways, Oblivion feels like a modern game, but its leveling system—which incentivizes players to delay leveling up to grind certain skills—was controversial even when it launched. It's not completely clear what the new one will look like, but this is likely a case where most fans will consider any change a good one. Other aspects of the game that are a bit odd and anachronistic are still in place, though, like the persuasion system for conversations with NPCs. Oblivion's appeal is largely about its jazzy gameplay systems, so the team likely didn't want to compromise that too much. Lockpicking is the same as before, too. On the presentation side, Virtuos has added a much more robust lighting system than before, and the game looks hyper-detailed. NPC faces and talking animations have been overhauled for the better, but there are still some wacky-looking people. (Would we really have it any other way?) Considerable effort has gone into remastering the character faces, as you can see on this Khajiit. Bethesda Considerable effort has gone into remastering the character faces, as you can see on this Khajiit. Bethesda The UI has also been redone, but it follows the motif set by the original. Bethesda The UI has also been redone, but it follows the motif set by the original. Bethesda Considerable effort has gone into remastering the character faces, as you can see on this Khajiit. Bethesda The UI has also been redone, but it follows the motif set by the original. Bethesda All told, the stream made it look like we're getting a promising new coat of paint on a game that made an enormous impact when it first arrived in 2006 but which was overshadowed by Skyrim a few years later. The Elder Scrolls VI is still in development, and Skyrim was much closer in time to Oblivion than it is to today. So apart from The Elder Scrolls Online, fans of the franchise have been experiencing a historic drought. A remaster certainly isn't the same as a new game, but if Bethesda and Virtuos pulled it off, this release is sure to be popular. The game is available on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S for $50 today. It’s also on Game Pass. Samuel Axon Senior Editor Samuel Axon Senior Editor Samuel Axon is a senior editor at Ars Technica, where he is the editorial director for tech and gaming coverage. He covers AI, software development, gaming, entertainment, and mixed reality. He has been writing about gaming and technology for nearly two decades at Engadget, PC World, Mashable, Vice, Polygon, Wired, and others. He previously ran a marketing and PR agency in the gaming industry, led editorial for the TV network CBS, and worked on social media marketing strategy for Samsung Mobile at the creative agency SPCSHP. He also is an independent software and game developer for iOS, Windows, and other platforms, and he is a graduate of DePaul University, where he studied interactive media and software development. 29 Comments

Elon Musk will be stepping back from his role at the White House DOGE office. Carlos Barria/REUTERS 2025-04-23T04:06:33Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Tesla reported a weaker-than-expected first quarter, missing its revenue target by nearly $2 billion. Elon Musk said he will step back from his role with DOGE, staying involved part time. The company also unveiled a new timeline for robotaxis and details on its more affordable model. Tesla came up short in its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, missing Wall Street's estimates amid a slump in sales and looming uncertainty in the auto industry.The EV giant used its Tuesday call to share key updates that address some of investors' concerns hanging over a particularly weak quarter.For instance, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that he would be stepping back from his role with the White House DOGE office and answered questions about how tariffs would impact Tesla.Musk also unveiled new details on the much-anticipated "more affordable" Tesla model, as well as new timelines on the company's robotaxi rollout.Here are the five biggest takeaways from Tesla's call and how analysts are taking it:1. Musk said he'll be stepping back from DOGEMusk said Tuesday he plans to significantly scale back his involvement in the White House DOGE office to refocus on Tesla."Starting next month, I will be allocating far more of my time to Tesla," he said, adding that "the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done."He said he'll continue to spend a day or two a week on government matters, for as long as President Donald Trump wants him to.Musk did not directly address how his involvement with DOGE may have damaged Tesla's brand. The company's chief financial officer, Vaibhav Taneja, said that vandalism and anti-Tesla hostility "had an impact in certain markets."2. New details on the robotaxi rolloutTesla is set to debut its long-anticipated robotaxi service in Austin this June, starting with "maybe 10 to 20 vehicles," Please help BI improve our Business, Tech, and Innovation coverage by sharing a bit about your role — it will help us tailor content that matters most to people like you. What is your job title? (1 of 2) Entry level position Project manager Management Senior management Executive management Student Self-employed Retired Other What products or services can you approve for purchase in your role? (2 of 2) Advertising / Marketing Client / Account Management Company strategy HR / Training / Office support Managing budgets IT / Telecoms / Tech Recruiting new employees Sales Software development Financial Other None of the above By providing this information, you agree that Business Insider may use this data to improve your site experience and for targeted advertising. By continuing you agree that you accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . Thanks for sharing insights about your role. "We want to make sure that we're paying very close attention," said Musk, adding that operations will "scale up rapidly after that."Tesla also confirmed on the call that the initial launch will include remote human operators who can intervene if a vehicle becomes stuck or encounters an issue.Musk said the goal is to bring the service to "many other cities in the US by the end of this year," predicting that "there will be millions of Teslas operating fully autonomously in the second half of next year."In a dig at Waymo, Musk said the3. A more affordable Tesla modelInvestors have long been pressing Tesla for an affordable model, which it has delayed. A more affordable car would mean a broader market of possible buyers."Plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025," the company said. "Given economic uncertainty resulting from changing trade policy, more affordable options are as critical as ever."Lars Moravy, the vice president of vehicle engineering, said during the call that it "doesn't make bad cars," and that the goal is to produce a vehicle that's no worse than the cars it has previously released."The key is affordable," said Moravy.4. Tesla says it's more insulated from tariffsMusk said that Tesla would be "the least affected car company" when it comes to tariffs."With respect to supply chain risk, something that Tesla has been working on for several years, is to localize supply chains," Musk said. "Tariffs are still tough on a company when margins are still low, but we do have localized supply chains in both America, Europe, and China, so that puts us in a stronger position than any of our competitors."Musk also said that he does not support high tariffs and has told Trump his take on tariffs."I'm an advocate of predictable tariff structures, and generally, I'm an advocate for, you know, pro-trade and lower tariffs," said Musk.Analysts are monitoring how tariffs affect automakers and their suppliers. Yun Mei, an EV analyst with wealth manager China Great Wall Securities, said on Bloomberg TV on Wednesday that suppliers have little room for price changes because the market is highly competitive. If tariffs increase "too much, there is no room for Tesla or its suppliers to survive," she said.5. Tesla ticks up in after-hours tradingIn after-hours trading, Tesla stock ticked up more than 5%.Craig Irwin, a senior research analyst at Roth Capital Partners, told Business Insider before the earnings call that Tesla needs to emphasize its on-track production for the affordable model and its robotaxis."The conversation there is what's going to drive the stock," said Irwin.Mei, the China Great Wall analyst, said the call gave her "strong faith" in Tesla's sales recovery. But any further sales declines, coupled with tariffs, could make the company's margin "very ugly," she said on Bloomberg TV. In a Tuesday night note, Cantor Fitzgerald analysts maintained their expectation that Tesla stock's total return could exceed 15% over the next year.The analysts also said that Tesla's risks include regulatory approval for its robotaxi, a slowdown of EV demand, and the removal of the EV tax credit. Recommended video