Color blocking is a powerful photographic technique that uses bold, solid colors placed strategically within an image to create visual interest, impact, and drama. By embracing simplicity and contrast, photographers can craft visually striking images that command viewer attention and evoke strong emotions. Here’s how to master color blocking and transform your photographic storytelling. Understanding the Impact of Color Blocking Color blocking involves composing photographs around large, defined areas of color, usually complementary or contrasting hues. This method draws the viewer’s eyes directly toward key elements in the image, creating a memorable and dynamic visual effect. Choosing the Right Colors Effective color blocking starts with careful color selection: Complementary Colors: Colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel—such as blue and orange, or red and green—create visually arresting contrasts and emphasize each color vividly. Analogous Colors: Colors adjacent to each other on the wheel, such as blues and greens or reds and oranges, produce a harmonious yet still impactful aesthetic. Choose colors that reinforce your intended emotional tone—warm colors (reds, oranges) can evoke passion or excitement, while cool colors (blues, greens) can suggest tranquility or introspection. Creating Effective Compositions Composition is key in color blocking. Consider these tips to enhance your images: Simplicity is Strength: Focus on simplicity by eliminating clutter and distractions. Solid backgrounds and minimalist settings amplify the strength of your color choices. Balance and Proportion: Arrange your colors and subjects thoughtfully to create visual balance. Strategic use of negative space can heighten the impact of bold colors. Contrast for Clarity: High contrast between colors helps each element stand out clearly, ensuring your photograph’s composition remains compelling and visually accessible. Utilizing Light to Enhance Color Blocking Lighting dramatically influences how colors appear: Natural Light: Natural daylight, especially during golden hour, enhances color saturation and brings warmth and vibrancy to your image. Artificial Lighting: Creative use of studio lighting or off-camera flashes can emphasize or isolate color blocks, adding depth and dramatic flair to your photos. Advanced Techniques for Exceptional Results Take your color blocking to the next level with these advanced approaches: Layering Colors: Layer foreground and background colors strategically to add depth and intrigue, inviting viewers to explore multiple layers within your composition. Color Gradients: Introduce subtle gradients or transitions between color blocks to soften the effect slightly and add complexity to your visual storytelling. The Power of Intentionality The essence of successful color blocking lies in intentionality. Every color and placement should contribute meaningfully to your composition, enhancing the story or emotion you’re conveying. Thoughtful planning and deliberate execution are essential to mastering this compelling technique. By carefully selecting your palette, simplifying your compositions, and effectively leveraging lighting, color blocking can dramatically elevate your photographic narrative. Embrace boldness and let color guide your creative vision to produce unforgettable images. Extended reading: Color clashes and bold choices in photography The post Making Bold Statements with Color Blocking in Photography appeared first on 500px.

Microsoft has announced price increases for its current line-up of Xbox consoles and accessories. The Xbox Series X will cost $599.99, while its digital variant costs $549.99 in the United States. The Xbox Series S 512 GB is now $379.99, while its 1 TB variant costs $429.99. As for controller prices, the Xbox Wireless Controller (Core) will retail for $64.99 ($69.99 for a color). A Special Edition costs $79.99 while a Limited Edition is $89.99. The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 (Core) is now $149.99, while the Full version is an eye-watering $199.99. Check out the above link to see the list of price increases in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. However, even regions that aren’t listed will see increases (depending on the retailer). If that isn’t enough, games will also increase in price by this Holiday season. Windows Central notes that this depends on the title’s scale, with “smaller” games costing $50 or less and triple-A offerings like Call of Duty going for the new $80 pricing model. DOOM: The Dark Ages is exempt from this increase, but Game Pass looks like the better deal in the long term. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.

“What I’m into,” says Marianne McKenna, “is architecture as a game-changer for the institution you’re building for.” Her community-centred work has created Positive, lasting change for clients in Toronto, Montreal, New York City, and beyond. Here’s our interview with Marianne McKenna. Elsa Lam: Tell me about your early life and what brought you to architecture. Marianne McKenna: It was inherent in my upbringing that the girls and the boys in my family got the same education, and the expectation was that when much is given, much is expected. There was an expectation to be a major contributor: either you were a contributor as a kind of genius, or you would organize genius. The history of my family is more about organizing genius—making sure that you were the kind of leader that could take brilliant people, and bring them together around an objective. And they knew how to lead. My brother’s an internationally famous cardiologist, my father was a research gastroenterologist, but also a professor of medicine, my grandfather started a pharmaceutical company when he was a poor boy from the Quebec countryside.  In 2023, Marianne McKenna became the first woman to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Design Futures Council. Photo courtesy Design Futures Council EL: And you were growing up in Montreal as well, where certainly the kind of cause of women’s rights was much more in the air. MM: When I was growing up, I was the only girl on the ski team with all the French boys. I didn’t even notice I was the only girl. Afterwards I thought, where are the girls? They said, oh, the girls are at home taking care of their fathers or sweeping. So we came out of mediaeval times quite quickly, but then, you still changed your name [when you married]. You didn’t inherit in the same way. So it had a bad start—but the history of women’s rights in Quebec in the last 30 years has been astounding.  In 1967 when I was just in high school, there was Expo 67, there was the CIBC building by Peter Dickinson. My father would drive us around and say, “Look at the city, how it’s changing.” He’d take us up on the Bonaventure Expressway, sometimes in our pyjamas.  But growing up as an English Canadian in Montreal, it was clear at a certain point, I thought: this is not my battle, you’re not going to be successful. It was the first year of the cégeps, and my father said, “I don’t recommend going to the first of the cégeps because you don’t know what it is. Go somewhere more established, you’ll know what you’re getting, and you’ll get a great education.” My brother was already an undergraduate at Yale, so that’s where I went. In 2001, Concordia University held a design competition to rehouse three major faculties—Engineering, Computer Science, Visual Arts, and the John Molson School of Business—on either side of Guy Street. This initiated the first phase of its long-term vision, led by Marianne McKenna, to create Le Quartier Concordia. In a second phase, Marianne McKenna led the win of another design competition for the university’s John Molson School of Business. Both projects were completed in joint venture with Fichten Soiferman et associés architectes. Photo by Tom Arban EL: Eventually, you did go back to Montreal with the Concordia project. MM: The Concordia project, and the McGill project, let me feel like I was going home. Every three or four years, Bruce, Shirley and I would ask, “What do you want to do?” I said, “I’d like to work back home in Montreal.” And they said, “That’s never going to happen, kiddo.” I said, “You don’t know that.” And then one of them said, “Well—target an English-speaking university.” When we won the Concordia competition, there were five firms, four Quebec, and then us from Ontario. It was an undeniably great scheme. We won fair and square. EL: That project at Concordia was a game-changer for that whole part of the city.  MM: Parents say very proudly to me, “My son goes to Concordia.” In the old days, you’d say, “because he works a day job,” or “because he’s blue collar” or what not. It’s given the whole university a prestige. What an incredible thing that architecture can change image, identity status, the way people feel, the way it brings communities together. So that’s really what I’m into—architecture as a game-changer for the institution that you’re building for. The 2008 TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, including the 1,135-seat Koerner Hall, is the final phase in KPMB’s 1991 master plan for Canada’s premier music and arts educator, the Royal Conservatory of Music. Photo by Tom Arban EL: Here in Toronto, I wanted to talk about Koerner Hall. I only realized recently that when you did that project, you had been involved with the Royal Conservatory of Music for decades. So that building didn’t come out of nowhere. Can you tell me a bit more about that story and your involvement? MM: When my son was four, he began doing his violin lessons there. He came home and had a stomachache, because he wouldn’t go poop. I asked why, and he said, “Have you seen the washrooms?” Anyway, we began with renovating the washrooms, and just continued working.  We did a roof renovation in the late 1980s—they only had the money to do half the roof. EL: And you also did a master plan at some point as well. MM: We did a master plan which was quite different, where we had two wings of performance and academic. It was an iterative process—they didn’t have the money, but they didn’t even know they didn’t have the money.  It’s been a fantastic relationship with Peter Simon. He had just arrived as President and I took the master plan to him. He said, “What’s this?” I said, “You have to get your board to approve it.” He said, “Why?” And I said, “Because if you have an approved master plan, you’ve got status and we can take it to the City and show the City. Otherwise you have no status.” So they had that when the University of Toronto, in the early nineties, was trying to develop the stadium site, and they wanted to reduce the development rights on all but four or five of their own properties, including the ROM and the Royal Conservatory.  It’s about having a voice, feeling that along with these clients of yours, you’re part of a dynamic organization that can actually transform a building. When the Koerner Hall project started, Peter Simon said, “I want three things. I want amazing acoustics. When the cameras turn on the stage, I want people to say, that’s that hall in Toronto. And I don’t want the ceiling to look like a gym—no perforated metal deck.” And then he was like: “You got it. You can do this.” I’d never done a hall ground-up in my own city. It was pretty amazing. I was confident, but not that confident. Again, any of us are part of a larger team. We’re just those organizing-genius people that see who has great talent, then bring them into your orbit, help to develop some of them. EL: KPMB has a reputation of fostering all of these great architects who have gone on to do their own thing, but also being very generous about that. MM: That’s me. It’s really important to actually encourage and support them. You’ve seen all the people that have catapulted out of here. Those are the people that we trained, and we’re seriously attached to in a way. I call them alumni. These guys make us look good. And it makes better architecture in the city that we have been in. It was no threat to us, and there was no harm in getting more voices for great architecture and planning in the city. So it’s been about being able to sustain this incredible organization over almost 40 years, without losing the culture by losing those people. EL: I’m interested in trying to tease out a little bit what that dynamic is like between the three partners. I get the strong sense from Shirley that she’s very much the social justice voice in the partnership.  A café occupies the atrium connecting Koerner Hall to the legacy heritage building at the Royal Conservatory for Music. Photo by Tom Arban MM: I’m about community. My citation for Order of Canada was about building community—from your family, through to other families, and your neighbourhood, right through the culture. How can you use that architectural spirit of problem-solving to sustain great culture and great ideas?  Now we’re seeing how an idea can flip. I’m working in the States too. I’m thinking about how to balance what we say and do, how not to lose our values in the face of this, but how not to get kicked out of the country—to still have your integrity and your values and to share them with other people in a way that’s not confrontational. I’m so impressed with Canada—because coming from Quebec, you could think that, okay, Canada says one thing, and the Quebecers will go the other way. We could have fractured into all the pieces of a country. But instead there’s been this incredible movement. And when I heard Quebec say, “We’re in,” I was just like: “Wow, this is the national spirit, they actually recognize that what we have is so unique.”  I feel like it’s a very big opportunity. It could be terrific for art. I’m interested in institutions like the Royal Conservatory of Music, like the University of Toronto, or the colleges and the smaller schools, and how they are the foundations of our society. How do you make those into the glue that build better communities around them? It is about creating spaces that transform how people live in those buildings, how they work in those buildings, how they engage each other.  Look at the lobby of the Royal Conservatory. If you put high-top tables down that lobby at intermission, people gravitate to them, even if they don’t buy a drink. And I said to the Massey [Hall] people, you should do that. Otherwise, people go in there, they line up at the bar and then they don’t know what to do with their bodies. Creating places where bodies come together is one of those things—whether it’s great corridors that have high-top tables in them, or desks so you can pull out your laptop, or you can hang out somewhere, in the café at the Conservatory. Places where you feel at home with others. They call it the “third place,” but I don’t think of it that way—it’s just that you feel comfortable in your city, being with other people who may not look like you or talk like you. I love riding the subway. I think it’s those systems—the systems and the institutions, and green spaces—are what make the city exciting. When we built the conservatory, we decided to put furniture in the plaza on Bloor Street. And they were saying, “Why would you do that?” And I said, “So people will hang out there.” And of course the maintenance guys didn’t want to lock it up every night. I said, “Well, lock it up every night—is that such a big deal?” They said, “People will steal the chairs.” I said, “Then we’ll replace them.” It was about making it so people feel comfortable—because the threat is a discomfort with each other, and the uncomfortable identification of others as different. That’s what Trump is doing—is making the differentiation. And we have just blended, particularly Toronto—we don’t see colour or nationality, other than as an asset that gives us better food, better music, more contact, more diversity. That’s exciting. We live in an international city, unlike many cities in the world.  Marianne McKenna at the construction site for the revitalized Massey Hall. Photo by Jag Gun EL: Tell me about cultivating the next generation of leaders at your office. MM: That’s a big thing for us, to have new partners who bring different perspective. I mean, they’ve worked with us for 15 or 20 years, but they don’t want to be us. I’m a very optimistic person, I think it could be great. I can feel it happening that you have your partners taking initiatives that you think are smart. They are beginning to demonstrate that they can get out there, get the work, do it, stick with it. And so I’m beginning to see the apple hasn’t dropped too far from the tree.  I think we [as the founding partners] have taken the time and not been impetuous like some other firms I know where they just said, okay, on that date, I’m leaving, pay out, goodbye. For us, it’s been slow—and we haven’t been pushed to get out, and they seem to like us when we’re here. And I’m kind of incredulous that it actually is such a positive experience. There’s a realignment of how younger partners are going to work in this practice and deliver value, because we bring so much value. We bring 38 years of value, when these are guys who did buildings for us who never looked up—now suddenly they’re learning how not to miss the nuance, how to make sure we get the second phase, and all these things. And it’s maybe not exactly the way I would’ve done it, but I think it’s actually pretty good, and the work looks good in the end.  EL: It circles back to what you were saying about being tactical in terms of how you use your voice. And it sounds like I’m hearing a lot about being tactical in how you communicate, and how you listen, and how you cultivate relationships with a very long-term horizon in mind. MM: It comes back to people. Who are we building for? We get those extraordinary clients who are not entirely sure how to do it, but they know they want to change. They have something great, but they need to build a ballet school around it, or they need to build a Royal Conservatory around this idea, and change their institutions that may have been there for a long, long time. Marianne McKenna was the partner-in-charge for the Grand Valley Institution for Women, a correctional facility that provides a residential environment and aims at opening new life pathways for incarcerated women. Photo by Steven Evans EL: I’m wondering if you could speak a little bit about one of your very early projects, the Grand Valley Institution for Women. MM: Yeah. Who wants to do a prison? Amanda Sebris [now KPMB’s Director of Business Development Strategy] comes along with this RFP and says, this is a really interesting program. This is about creating choices. If you look at the profile of federally incarcerated women, the average age was 24, and 85% of them were accessories to men’s crimes. They were taken from across Canada and put in the Kingston penitentiary. It’s really unfair. This was a program to build five institutions across the country—regional institutions that could change the world for these women. I did things in my youth that if I had been caught, I would’ve probably gone to jail, but I would’ve gotten bailed out—I know kids that were in that Concordia riot, and some of them didn’t get bailed out, Montreal girls.  So Amanda brought it to us, and it was embraced by the partners: to do a prison based on the program of creating choices. We did a village green-type space, then you have a bit of a roadway, then you have a sidewalk, then you have a path in, then you have houses with porches and living spaces. Typically with eight bedrooms, you’d have four at the ground floor and four up. And we said, no, four half-down, four half-up. Make it more equal. We put the laundry machine in the kitchen, because these are women who’ve never used equipment before. We were saying they would alternate the chores. So the kitchen was really important as the communal area. We were thinking deeply about these people who have not had privacy, not had their own room, in fact. We made a kind of a spiritual place because women heal together. Men heal on their own, they’ll go to the chaplain. Whereas women want to tell other women; they want to get things off their chest, and they want to do it repeatedly. So these communal spaces were more feminine. When I went back, the chef, the commissary, said, “I can’t even meet my budget with what they want me to buy.” And I said, “What are you talking about?” He said, ”Well, they want pigs’ feet.” And it was really this interesting ethnicity of who was in the prisons, which you can read through this. One woman did the gardening and one woman did the cooking, they kind of divided that way. And they’d also began to work on the houses a little bit, attaching a fence to the side. The people who hired us said, “Of all the five centres, you’re the ones who when you came in and told us what you were going to do, and you actually did it.” And I think that’s a signature of KPMB—that you have a real narrative that tells the story of how people will live here. And then you deliver that, with modifications as you’re learning more. People relate to stories.  In Manhattan, Marianne McKenna led the team that designed and constructed the new 12-storey expansion for The Brearley School. The design is conceived as a mini-vertical campus for the all-girls’ school. Photo by Nic Lehoux EL: I’d also like to talk a little bit about Brearley School, as another explicitly feminist space. MM: My husband laughed at me and said, “It’s the Gossip Girls.” I said, “It’s not—lay off.” In fact, it is a private girls’ school in New York where 50 percent of the girls are on financial assistance. They may come from an hour away or more to get there. They’re looking for girls with curious minds. It’s very disciplined—they’re not out at Macy’s in the afternoon to get a new lipstick. It’s an interesting ethos.  The first two levels of the Brearley School act as a community hub where students, parents and teachers can gather formally and informally. Photo by Nic Lehoux It was a really complicated project, because they had an old building on the East River where girls used to come by boat and climb up the wall to get into the school, 120 years ago. And then they bought a site that was 80 steps away, but not contiguous—across the street. Who goes to the new building? They said, “We thought the middle school.” I said, “I think you should bring the little girls there, and also the senior labs—any technical space that you couldn’t do in the old building. Bring the little girls and let them aspire to be in the Hogwarts building. And also for parents coming in, they’ll know that their kids have great gyms, great art, maker spaces.” David Constable worked with me on the sustainability, so the building is totally green. I think it’s been very successful. The head of school called at the end of Covid, and she said, “We didn’t close one day. We’re the only private school in Manhattan that didn’t close a single day.” Who gets to build a new ground-up in Manhattan, 80,000 square feet on a corner lot? We were just very, very lucky. At the Kellogg School of Management, a project stewarded by Marianne McKenna, the interior is connected through pathways and terraces that facilitate circulation and visual transparency. The five-storey LEED Platinum building provides a variety of signature classrooms and convening spaces for all scales of learning and collaboration. At its heart is Gies Plaza, a three-storey atrium and meeting place for students, faculty, and visitors. Photo by Bruce Damonte EL: One last question. I’m hoping to circle back to the beginning, when you were talking about working in the States. How do you retain your values, but communicate them in a way that allows you to work in the States at this moment? MM: When we did the Yale interview, we did a land acknowledgement—they’d never seen it before. I said, “Let me explain to you what it is, what it means in our day, in our time, in this place where we haven’t seen a Mohawk in 50 years. It is about respect for the land, about respect for community, and it’s about thinking seven generations. Don’t think about only your children, your grandchildren who are going to go to Yale—think about seven generations and what that building means in the city.” Subtly as the world has changed, Canadians had a certain authority and voice, and they were interested in a way—maybe it was post-Trump term one—to actually understand what another country like Canada might be doing, interested in hiring Canadians, for the values that you bring.  I think it’s a challenge to influence in the most positive way and to establish that we are to be respected, that we have a sovereign nation, that we are a certain culture, and that we respect each other, and we acknowledge and benefit from the knowledge of each other.  Marianne McKenna with then Governor General of Canada David Johnston, upon receiving her Order of Canada medal. Photo by Cpl Roxanne Shewchuk, Rideau Hall, OSGG EL: Do you have anything else to add? MM: One of the things that happened at the beginning [of KPMB] is we worked together, and then slowly we worked apart. I really struck out early, beginning to do my own projects and get other partners off it. And that’s been very successful for me, because I work at a different pace. But I wanted to do it, and I also wanted to be consultative: I’ll make the decision, but let’s talk about my idea, your idea, how you make those ideas work together.  To me, this is the fulfilment of the whole practice. The four of us who started out together said: instead of dividing up tasks between design, production, marketing, finance—the boys would’ve happily put us in finance and management—Shirley and I both said, I want to do my own projects. And so we’ve all worked together to do that. There’s a kind of cross-pollination that happens, and not only from looking at the work and competing with each other to do something different. So that’s been the full evolution of the 38 years to see that.  I think we’ve each fulfilled our mandate. Shirley has launched off, has found the link to her personal and professional childhood reasons. Bruce, being Japanese, is now going to do the Japanese Canadian Monument in Victoria, BC. I’ve been able to go back to Montreal, and to go back to Yale where I was a graduate student, and where my family went to school. If you live long enough and you keep practicing at what you do and just get better, the apotheosis of that is that you become a distinct individual in a group. I’m incredibly proud of that.  The Gold Medal is a wonderful acknowledgement. Things like this elevate the platform for you to do more—not less, not retire. I feel it’s an incentive. When I got the Order of Canada, Cornelia [Oberlander] said, “You must wear it [the pin].” She said, “It gives you courage.” So I think about it sometimes—I walk into a meeting and think, okay guys, here is what we’re going to do. And I have the courage to launch off and bring people together to share ideas. As appeared in the 2025 RAIC Gold Medal issue of Canadian Architect magazine (May 2025) The post 2025 RAIC Gold Medal: Community Champion appeared first on Canadian Architect.

1,800-Year-Old Horse Buried With Grave Goods Suggests Deep Bond Between a Roman Soldier and His Steed Archaeologists were preparing for the construction of a new housing development when they found more than 100 equine skeletons dating to the second century C.E. Archaeologists unearthed more than 100 equine skeletons near the site of a Roman military base. State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council / ArchaeoBW Roughly 1,800 years ago, a Roman cavalry horse died of unknown causes. The animal’s human rider, a Roman soldier, buried the creature in a shallow grave. As a parting gift, the soldier tucked a few mementos into the crook of one of the horse’s legs: two jugs and a small oil lamp—“items commonly associated with human graves in Roman culture,” as the Greek Reporter’s Nisha Zahid writes. That’s the scenario archaeologists say likely played out nearly two millennia ago in what is now southern Germany. They recently unearthed the equine skeleton and the accompanying grave goods while excavating a massive Roman horse cemetery in Stuttgart, according to a statement from the State Office for Monument Preservation of the Stuttgart Regional Council. Researchers made the discovery last summer while preparing for the construction of a new housing development. In total, their excavations turned up more than 100 horse skeletons, which radiocarbon dating revealed were from the second century C.E. One of the horses appears to have been buried with grave goods, which suggests the animal and its rider shared a deep bond. State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council / ArchaeoBW The creatures were likely part of a Roman cavalry unit that was stationed in the area from roughly 100 to 150 C.E. At the time, the region was home to an important Roman military base. Historians think the cavalry unit likely consisted of more than 700 horses and nearly 500 men. When the animals died, they were buried in a special area. The skeletons were found approximately 1,300 feet from the site of the cavalry fort. Each horse appears to have been dragged into a shallow pit, then placed on its side. Some of the horses were buried with their legs bent, while others had their legs stretched out. The horse that was buried with grave goods appears to be the exception, not the rule, as archaeologists didn’t find any others like it. The grave goods suggest the owner felt a very close bond with his steed. “Even after about 1,800 years, the grief over the death of this one animal is still apparent,” Sarah Roth, the archaeologist in charge of the dig, says in the statement, per a translation from Popular Mechanics’ Tim Newcomb. Archaeologists suspect Roman soldiers marked the location of each grave, because there was very little overlap between the horses’ burial sites. Researchers were preparing the site for the construction of a new housing development in Stuttgart. State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council / ArchaeoBW The horses did not die at the same time from some sort of major event, like a disease outbreak or a battle. Instead, it appears they died one at a time, probably from illnesses or injuries that prevented them from fulfilling their duties in the military. Archaeologists think that if a horse could still walk, it was likely led to the location of the cemetery and then euthanized on site, so that soldiers wouldn’t have to drag its heavy body. The body of an adult man was also discovered among the horses. The man was found lying on his stomach, without any grave goods. He was “seemingly an ‘outsider’ buried with little care,” as All That’s Interesting’s Kaleena Fraga writes. This is not the first time archaeologists have discovered equine remains in the area. As early as the 1920s, crews constructing residential buildings stumbled upon equine skeletons and began referring to the area as a Roman horse cemetery. (Coincidentally, Stuttgart means “a garden for the horses.” The city traces its origins back to a tenth-century stud farm.) Archaeologists think they’ve only scratched the surface. They suspect the horse cemetery is larger than the area they’ve already excavated. In the future, the researchers hope to study the remains to determine the horses’ sex, age, size, cause of death and overall health. They’d also like to learn more about how the Romans kept, fed and bred the animals. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Gamefam is launching Karate Kid Training Simulator, a title that will immerse players in the world of the upcoming film Karate Kid: Legends, on Roblox.Read More

Xbox Series X will now cost $600 as Microsoft increases console and game prices Upcoming games will cost $80, while there's a $100 rise for 2020's Xbox Series X News by Samuel Roberts Editorial Director Published on May 1, 2025 Microsoft has confirmed global price rises for Xbox hardware and software, including a $100 bump for the Xbox Series X in the US. First-party game prices will remain the same for the time being, but will climb to $80 from $70 from the holiday season onwards. How those prices translate overseas has not been revealed. Prices for existing Xbox games will not change. The recommended retailer price hikes kick in today, May 1, 2025. The reasons given for the increases by Xbox are "market conditions and the rising cost of development", with Microsoft acknowledging that the changes are "challenging". The cheaper Xbox Series S console will increase by $80 for both the 512GB and 1TB models (to $380 and $450 respectively). The 512GB Xbox Series S also sees a price bump in Europe to £349.99/€349.99, an increase of £50/€50. Across Europe, Xbox Series X's standard disc edition is climbing by £20/€50 to £499.99/€599.99, having previously increased to £479.99/€549.99 in 2023. The US price rise of the disc model from $499.99 to $599.99 is the first in the market to date since the console's launch almost five years ago. The disc-free Series X model will rise to $549.99 from $449.99, while the 2TB model will see an even higher price rise of $130 ($599.99 to $729.99). In Europe, the 2TB console increases by £40/€50 to £589.99/€699.99. Controllers are also increasing in price globally, while the US and Canada markets specifically will see price increases for headsets. The news follows Nintendo's Switch 2 reveal, where upcoming launch title Mario Kart World was revealed to be an $80 game, prompting discussion about game price hikes.

TechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.Xbox is increasing hardware prices and bumping first-party titles to $80Xbox is increasing hardware prices and bumping first-party titles to $80Without once mentioning the word tariffs, Xbox announced that consoles, accessories, and games just got more expensive.Diego Arguello, ContributorMay 1, 20252 Min ReadImage via XboxXbox is increasing console and controller prices across the board, effective immediately, affecting all eligible markets worldwide.In an announcement with zero mentions of the word "tariffs," the company said the price hikes are starting today, May 1, sharing an updated MSRP list for the United States, Europe, United Kingdom and Australia.The markets not listed will also be affected, and local pricing "may differ by country to reflect exchange rates and market conditions," although there are no specific details. In the US and Canada, specifically, headsets are also becoming more expensive.Some examples in the US: The Xbox Series S 512 is now $380, up from $300, while the Xbox Series X is $600, up from $500. As for accessories, the Xbox Wireless Headset is now $120, up from $110, and the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 (Full) is now $200, up from $180.Moreover, starting this holiday season, "some" first-party games will cost $80. This includes both physical and digital versions. This is the second price hike in two years, with the company bumping first-party titles to $70 in 2023."We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration given market conditions and the rising cost of development," the company said in the announcement, following quarterly financial reports stating a decline in Xbox hardware revenue. "Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and ensuring value for Xbox players."Related:This is the second wave of Xbox price hikes in a two-year spanThe last time Xbox increased console prices—affecting the Series X in Europe, Canada, and Australia—the company said that they had been made to "reflect the competitive conditions in each market." While the latest wave has a global impact, the timing goes hand-in-hand with the Trump administration announcing tariffs on April 2.The government backed down the following week, setting a temporary 10 percent tariff for most countries during a 90 day period. China, however, received a 145% tariff. In January 2020, GameIndustry.biz reported that over 96% of consoles imported into the US in 2018 came from China, according to figures from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.The Xbox news comes weeks after Nintendo delayed the Switch 2 pre-orders in response to tariffs. When the company announced the new April 24 date, it stated that console prices would remain as is, but most accessories saw "price adjustments."After the reveal that Mario Kart World will cost $80, Nintendo of America boss Doug Bowser explained that it‛s an example of a "variable pricing" philosophy adopted by the company. Similarly to Xbox, it‛s not the universal price tag moving forward, but depending on the game, first-party titles can be sold at $80 moving forward.Related:Read more about:TariffsXboxTop StoriesAbout the AuthorDiego ArguelloContributorSee more from Diego ArguelloDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Google is preparing to publicly unleash its AI Mode search engine tool for the first time. The company announced today that “a small percentage” of people in the US will start seeing an AI Mode tab in Google Search “in the coming weeks,” allowing users to test the search-centric chatbot outside of Google’s experimental Labs environment.In contrast to traditional search platforms that provide a wall of URL results based on the enquiry or descriptions a user has entered, Google’s AI Mode will answer questions with an AI-generated response based on information within Google’s search index. This also differs from the AI Overviews already available in Google Search, which sandwich an AI-generated summary of information between the search box and web results.AI Mode will be located under its own dedicated tab that will appear first in the Search tab lineup, to the left of the “All,” “Images,” “Videos,” and “Shopping” tabs. It’s Google’s answer to large language model-based search engines like Perplexity and OpenAI’s ChatGPT search features. These search-specific AI models are better at accessing the web and real-time data than regular chatbots like Gemini, which should help them to provide more relevant and up-to-date responses.If you’re already familiar with chatbot UI then AI Mode won’t take much to get used to. GIF: GoogleGoogle is also scrapping the waitlist for Labs users in the US to test AI Mode, allowing more people to opt in to try the Search feature before it becomes widely available. AI Mode is still only available to users who are over 18 and paying for a Google One AI Premium subscription, however.AI Mode itself has also been updated with some new capabilities, including a feature that will save past searches to a new left-side panel, allowing users to quickly revisit topics or ask follow-up queries without starting a new conversation. Visual, clickable cards for products and places are also now starting to appear in AI Mode, providing information like opening hours, reviews, and ratings for businesses, and images, inventory, shipping details, and real-time prices for shoppable products.See More:

All the way back in August of 2020 Epic Games launched an antitrust lawsuit against Apple mostly revolving around the 30% fees charged by the Apple app store. In response, among other actions such as pulling Fortnite, Apple launched a countersuit. After years of legal battles in April of 2023, Apple won 9 of 10 counts. However that 10th count where they lost was a very big deal: The decision concludes the first part of the battle between the two companies over Apple’s App Store policies and whether they stifle competition. Apple won on nine of 10 counts but was found to engage in anticompetitive conduct under California law, and will be forced to change its App Store policies and loosen its grip over in-app purchases. The injunction will come into effect in December. “The Court concludes that Apple’s anti-steering provisions hide critical information from consumers and illegally stifle consumer choice,” Rogers wrote. “When coupled with Apple’s incipient antitrust violations, these anti-steering provisions are anticompetitive and a nationwide remedy to eliminate those provisions is warranted.” This ruling basically meant that Apple had to allow applications to be able to use 3rd party payment systems. In an act of malicious compliance, Apple instead imposed a 27% fee (in place of the usual 30%) for apps that used external payment systems. This action is what ultimately lead us to the ruling today. The following from GameIndustry.biz: Epic Games has claimed victory in its legal battle against Apple, after a US court enforced an injunction which prohibits the tech giant from collecting fees on app purchases made outside its App Store. In addition, Apple is no longer allowed to stop developers from encouraging US-based users to make payments via alternative methods – like web transactions – that circumvent its ecosystem. The ruling is effective immediately. As a result, Fortnite will return to the App Store in the US next week, Epic’s Tim Sweeney revealed on Twitter. “The Court enjoins Apple from implementing its new anticompetitive acts to avoid compliance with the Injunction,” reads the order. “Effective immediately Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users nor will they levy or impose a new commission on off-app purchases.” Even worse for Apple, the judge recommended Apple and a key VP be referred for criminal contempt charges: The full ruling by the Northern District of California Court also refers Apple and its vice president of finance Alex Roman to the local US attorney for investigation regarding criminal contempt. The Verge reports that Apple will appeal the order. Regarding Roman specifically, the order states he “outright lied under oath”. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney made the following Twitter post about the ruling and offered a bit of an olive branch to Apple. Key Links Game Industry Article Epic v. Apple Contempt order | DocumentCloud You can learn more about the ongoing lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games and this newest ruling in the video below.

Amazon UK is back with one of the only means that general Pokémon TCG fans can get packs from the Scarlet & Violet Prismatic Evolutions and 151 sets: an invite system. While booster packs alone aren't available, the retailer has added the Prismatic Evolutions Accessory Pouch Special Collection and the 151 Blooming Waters Premium Collection to its stock. The only way to have a chance at getting either is by requesting an invite to purchase on each collection's product page.Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Prismatic Evolutions Accessory Pouch Special CollectionPokémon TCG: Blooming Waters Premium Collection£79.99 at AmazonAfter doing this ourselves, we got an email notification for both right away stating that the invitation requests were received. If you end up being picked within the next 12 months to purchase either collection, you will then be emailed a link that's valid for 72 hours, of which you can use to buy your new cards and accessories. Within those 12 months, you won't need to request an invite again whenever Amazon UK makes any restocks, as yours will still be connected to each collection's product page. Essentially, it's a lottery where a decent amount of luck is required in order to grab one for yourself. In return, however, you'll have the chance to buy a collection that's actually at a fair price compared to the higher prices for Prismatic Evolutions and 151 collectors have been having to deal with over the recent months, in light of their low supply vs demand. PlayThe Prismatic Evolutions Accessory Pouch Special Collection includes both five booster packs and an Eevee accessory pouch for just £29.99. With Amazon's current price of £16.49 for just one Prismastic Evolutions booster — on open, no-invite-required listings — you would need to pay £82.45 for five packs individually.The same goes for the 151 Blooming Waters Collection. Charging you £79.99, you'll get 12 booster packs, individual foil cards; Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Blastoise ex, and Venusaur ex; and an oversized Blastoise ex card for display as well. Even when only taking the packs into account, individual boosters for 151 cost a massive £19.49 at Amazon UK — meaning you would have to put up £233.88 just to buy 12 without getting an invite. Pokemon TCG's major supply issues around sets like 151 and Prismatic Evolutions don't seem like they'll be letting up anytime soon. With that, keeping an eye out for invitation listings like these is one of the best ways to get new cards from them without needing to refresh retailer pages 24 hours a day, or applying for a bank loan.With other new sets like Destined Rivals or Journey Together selling out almost instantly to scalpers as soon as they're in stock, we wouldn't be surprised if other retailers didn't start applying an invite system as well, to give everyone a fair chance.Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.