Is there a developer better placed than Hazelight Studios to push our perception of what co-operative gaming is capable of? Following on from their retrospectively experimental prison breaker A Way Out the team based in Stockholm came into their own with It Takes Two, an emotive tale of clashing couple Cody and May who are forced to work through their marital differences whilst on a quest to reunite with their daughter following a magical transformation to miniature dolls.This strictly co-operative adventure succeeds in its variety of fantastical environments, each laced with quirky characters and casual puzzles requiring co-ordination and teamwork to solve. Most of all though, the emotional, sometimes hostile, connection between the two controllable characters is shared by you and your gaming companion, whoever they may be; almost immediately, the experience demands communication and patience between you both. Any obstructions you share whilst working together must be ironed out, same as Cody and May in game.It Takes Two reinvigorated couch co-op and won a host of awards including game of the year at The Game Awards 2021. Hazelight Studios upcoming co-operative follow up Split Fiction appears to be taking all the variety afforded by It Takes Two whilst ramping it up into something possibly more remarkable. Will it topple It Takes Two from its pedestal? If it can, itll surely be a shoo-in for more game of the year awards for the Swedish team. Take a look at Split Fictions gameplay trailers and its hard not to be enraptured by the possibility. Hazelight Studios are raising the bar once again.Variety is the spice of life and Split Fiction provides it by the bucketload, with the premise here affording Hazelight Studios vast opportunity to usurp multiple genres and gameplay styles; you and your partner will work together in command of realist sci-fi writer Mio and fantasy novelist Zoe whore sucked into a simulation of their own stories, radically contrasting worlds jumping between sci-fi and fantasy from which theyll overcome varied and expected challenges to forge their escape before the nefarious Radar Publishing corporation steal their most creative ideas for their own. Each of the games levels showcase unique mechanics and abilities distinct to Mio and Zoe, and you the players will need to combine their skills to solve an array of environmental puzzles and to take down numerous end-level bosses.If youve played Astro Bot, youll be familiar with a 3D platformer which demonstrates a host of unique ideas into one cohesive whole, and whilst it isnt clear just yet if Split Fiction will match Team Asobis monumental effort for ideas, it looks like itll at least come close. And much like Astro Bot, theres a Nintendo-style aesthetic running through Split Fictions whimsy of ideas: death-defying escapes from suns turning supernova, scraps with irritated cats, mountain climbs with giants, surfing the deserts on the back of sandfishes, exploring shipwrecked space stations, water-skiing atop translucent oceans in pursuit of hovertrains; lasers, dragons, even stints transformed into pigs who rather grimly learn where sausages come from.The craziest of Split Fictions activities come in the form of side stories; optional side content that, as implored by Hazelight Studios founder Josef Fares, you will not want to miss. These one-off adventures are hidden within the games main campaign levels, and they promise to shake up the mechanics even more so than the main campaigns levels. Narratively, side stories encompass Split Fictions wildest ideas because they are representations of stories both Mio and Zoe wrote when they were younger. Aspiring, juvenile writers without the constraints of book deals and style guides, free to jot down whatever daft thought springs to mind. Such is the imagination of the young, free-spirited mind that Split Fictions side stories end up as the weirdest, most wonderful, and chaotic situations in the entire game.Side stories underpin a central theme in Split Fiction, and its one that was explored overtly in It Takes Two, and that is the meaning of companionship; the necessity for friends, love, of being kind to oneself, of living a wholesome life. Not only are these side stories composed of thoughts and ideas from both our authors younger years, but they contain long forgotten secrets nestled deep within their fiction too. Side stories, and indeed the games main storyline, will peel back the layers of our novelists hardened shells, the deep-rooted personification of themselves which they keep hidden away from each other and the world at large.Its stated that at Split Fictions outset our two central characters dont see eye to eye, but throughout their journey theyll learn to trust each other through sharing these repressed, and possibly traumatic, personal struggles and experiences. Hazelight Studios havent shared whether these back-stories are sad in nature, but it seems likely given both Mio and Zoe grow to share a true bond throughout the game. Theyll heal together, perhaps, going way beyond the pragmatic relationship required to escape the shifting reality they find themselves in.Worry not if you think Split Fiction is going to be too emotionally heavy a rollercoaster. That prior paragraph was speculation, albeit based on the games description as per Hazelight Studios website and media fact sheet, but speculation all the same. Above all else, most importantly the game looks super fun. A core tenet of Hazelight Studios philosophy is for good times to be shared. As an example of this the team in Stockholm regularly host internal game jams, a platform to develop their whackiest ideas together perhaps (some of these ideas, for the record, have made it into Split Fictions final version, so youll get to play through these crazy, communally developed ideas for yourself). Furthermore, for players of Hazelight Studios games, it means experiencing together on the couch via split screen, or online with someone who might not even live in the same country.To that end, a staple feature of theirs in A Way Out and It Takes Two The Friends Pass will return for Split Fiction, enabling one player who owns the game to invite a friend to play online with them for free, whether they own the game themselves or not. Furthermore, Hazelight Studios have plans to introduce crossplay giving friends across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC opportunity to play together should they so wish. It doesnt appear as though crossplay will be available at launch though given the wording in an article published on Hazelight Studios website.Split Fiction will launch March 6th to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, and if the title of this feature seemed a little hyperbolic perhaps now were at the end of the feature you might be someway convinced theres another game of the year award in the waiting. Therell be stiff competition from numerous other games including, perhaps, Monster Hunter Wilds, Grand Theft Auto VI (of course), plus Nintendo Switch 2s barrage of expected titles such as Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and a new 3D Mario, but for a game which will marry imagination, fun, and emotion with sheer gameplay variety plus two disparate genres in sci-fi and fantasy then its tough to see how Split Fiction will be overtaken come awards season.Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

First impressions are absolutely vital for the success of a game and the first hours are typically the last items to get polished in the dev process for good reason. Many players decide if theyll continue within the first chapter of a games narrative, but the first 30 minutes is especially crucial. Most of our favorite openers dont waste time with bloated exposition, thrusting right into an intriguing hook. Some of our favorites opt to take a more minimalist approach, letting the player soak in the settings atmosphere and worldbuilding first. Here are 15 games that will hook you right in the first 30 minutes.Mass Effect 2The opening of Mass Effect 2 is as climactic as most other games endings. This sequel begins with the player controlling a limping Commander Shepard crawling through the carnage and destruction of an all-too familiar locale from the first game; the Normandy ship. What follows is a complete breakdown of everything we built up in the first game. Whats more, Shepard has to work with a mysterious group, Cerberus, to get back what was lost and fight the Reaper threat. Mass Effect 2 feels like The Empire Strikes Back of video games with how high the stakes have been raised and how dire things have gotten.

Neon Machine, the developer and publisher of the Web3 first-person shooter Shrapnel, announced it has settle an investor lawsuit filed in 2023. Neon said it expects the settlement to be submitted for court approval in due course. By entering into this settlement agreement, Shrapnel looks forward to bringing this matter to a close. The team is makinRead More

Despite overall user numbers rising year-over-year, a freefall in third-party revenue paints a less rosy image for the Epic Games Store.Read More

OpenAIs board of directors has responded to Elon Musks bid to buy the company. In a statement on X, OpenAI chair Bret Taylor said, OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musks latest attempt to disrupt his competition.Musk and a coalition of backers offered to buy OpenAI for $97.4 billion earlier this week. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly responded to the news on X, saying no thank you but we will buy twitter for $97.4 billion if you want.Musks bid could still complicate things for OpenAI, which is in the midst of transitioning into a for-profit company. The board has to do whats best for the nonprofit, and thatll mean having to prove that Altmans spinoff plan leaves it in a better place than Musks offer would have. On Wednesday, Musks lawyers said in a court filing that the billionaire will withdraw his offer if OpenAI agrees to remain a nonprofit company.Taylor suggested that concession was off the board. Any potential reorganization of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity, Taylor wrote.

Starting on February 26th, 2025, Amazon is removing a feature from its website allowing you to download purchased books to a computer and then copy them manually to a Kindle over USB. Its a feature that a lot of Kindle users are probably not aware of, given books can be more easily sent to devices over Wi-Fi, but its especially useful for backing up purchases or converting them to other formats compatible with non-Kindle e-readers.There are a few reasons why some Kindle users might miss this feature. Its useful if you dont have access to a Wi-Fi network, and although its a tedious process since purchased books can only be downloaded one at a time, theres some peace of mind in knowing you have offline copies of all your books.It doesnt happen frequently, but as Good e-Reader points out, Amazon has occasionally removed books from its online store and remotely deleted them from Kindles or edited titles and re-uploaded new copies to its e-readers. In 2009, the company removed copies of George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, explaining the books had been mistakenly published. More recently, many of Roald Dahls books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, were replaced with updated copies featuring modified language on various ebook platforms. Its a reminder that you dont actually own much of the digital content you consume, and without the ability to back up copies of ebooks, you could lose them entirely if theyre banned and removed.The feature is also the easiest way to convert books purchased from Amazon to other formats like EPUB that can be used on alternative devices such as a Kobo. Books downloaded through Amazons website are delivered in the older AZW3 format which allows DRM to be easily removed using various software tools.A warning now appears on Amazons website when downloading ebooks. Screenshot: Amazon.comOlder Kindle models also store books in the AZW3 format, and they can be extracted by connecting the device to a computer with a USB cable. But modern Kindles use the newer KFX format (first rolled out in 2015) which introduced improved font rendering, better layout capabilities, and DRM thats nearly impossible to circumvent.The download feature is a carryover from the days when Kindles didnt come with Wi-Fi, allowing users who also werent able to take advantage of Amazons cellular Whispernet service to get purchased books onto their e-readers. Its still accessible through Amazons website by accessing your Content Library while logged into your account. For purchased books you select the More actions menu, choose Download & transfer via USB, select a Kindle device you have registered, and a copy of the book will be downloaded to your computer.But the pop-up that appears when selecting the download option now includes an additional warning. Starting February 26, 2025, the Download & Transfer via USB option will no longer be available. You can still send Kindle books to your Wi-Fi enabled devices by selecting the Deliver or Remove from Device option.Amazon confirmed the removal of the book download feature in a statement to The Verge. Customers can continue reading books previously downloaded on their Kindle device, and access new content through the Kindle app, Kindle for web, as well as directly through Kindle devices with WiFi capability, said Amazon spokesperson Jackie Burke.Once this feature goes away, youll still be able to manually copy ebook files and other documents to Kindles over USB using Amazons apps or third-party solutions like Calibre. You just wont be able to download copies of your purchased books to a computer.Update, February 14th: Added comment from an Amazon spokesperson.See More:

LatestMachine LearningExplaining Transformers as Simple as Possible through a Small Language Model 0 like February 14, 2025Share this postAuthor(s): Alex Punnen Originally published on Towards AI. And understanding Vector Transformations and VectorizationsThis member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.I have read countless articles and watched many videos about Transformer networks over these past few years. Most of these were very good, yet I struggled to understand the Transformer Architecture while the main intuition behind it (context-sensitive embedding) was easier to grasp. While giving a presentation I tried a different and more effective way. Hence this article is based on that talk and hoping this will be effective.What I cannot build. I do not understand. Richard FeynmanI also remembered that when I was learning about Convolutional Neural Nets, I did not understand it fully till I built one from scratch. Hence I have built a few notebooks, which you can run in Colab and highlights of those are also presented here without cluttering as I feel without this complexity it won't be possible to understand in depth.Please read this brief article if you are unclear about Vectors in the ML context before you go in.Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert EinsteinBefore we talk about Transformers and jump into the complexity of Keys, Queries, Values, Self-attention and complexity of Multi-head Attention, which Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

Earlier this week at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann and Sony Santa Monica head Cory Barlog sat down in front of an audience for a chat about a very personal topic: doubt.The two bantered back and forth for roughly an hour on a series of subjects that were clearly very close to both of them, ranging from their own doubts about themselves as creators to how they knew an idea was right or not. The two also answered a few pre-submitted audience questions, including one that Barlog read to Druckmann about sequels: How do you and your teams approach character development over multiple games?Druckmanns answer, though, was surprising for someone whos made quite a few sequels in his day: he doesnt think about multiple games.That's a very easy question for me to answer, because I never think about multiple games, because I'm the game in front of us is so all consuming, he responded. I think you're jinxing yourself if you're starting to think about the sequel when you're working on the first game. So when I was making The Last of Us 2, yeah, sure. Every once in a while an idea pops in your head of where it might go if we get the chance to do another one. But I just approach it as, what if I never get to do another one?...I'm not saving some idea for the future. If there's a cool idea, I'm doing my best to get it into here.Ten-year payoffsDruckmann went on to explain that this is how he approaches everything, with perhaps the exception of the The Last of Us TV show since he already knows its going to have multiple seasons. So when sequels come around, instead of having a plan already in mind, Druckmann says he looks back on what hes already done and asks himself what elements are unresolved and where the characters can go. And if I feel like the answer is, they can't go anywhere, then I go, I think we'll just kill them off.Neil Druckmann. Image credit: Jon Kopaloff/Variety via Getty ImagesI'm half joking, but we just find the next game. When we made Uncharted 1, we had no idea we would do the train sequence of Uncharted 2, or where Nathan Drake would be. We figured it out when we made Uncharted 2. And eventually, the same when we worked on Uncharted 3, same when we worked on Uncharted 4, where we look back and say, "How do we not repeat ourselves? Where else could this character go? What else could get him back into the adventure?" And we have to come up with a new answer. And if we don't have a new answer then we should ask ourselves, is this the right character? Is this the right game for us to work on? Or is it time to find something new?When we made Uncharted 1, we had no idea we would do the train sequence of Uncharted 2.Barlog responded, saying he doesnt work that way at all. Barlog says he has way too much of the Charlie Day crazy conspiracy board of trying to connect and plan with all of these pieces, and especially likes when hes able to connect something hes working on now with something he planned ten years ago.It's just so magical, but it is absolutely, unequivocally the most unhealthy thing ever, because it is insanely stressful to try to fold and connect each of these pieces, Barlog continued. Because give or take five years, there's hundreds of people involved, and then a whole new group of people often are moved in on the next project. That's a bunch of different, and perspectives, and likes and dislikes that are going to negatively impact you setting something up that early. And they're going to be like, Let's talk about this, because that was kind of the dumb. I don't know if I want to do that.I think for me that requires a level of confidence I just don't have, Druckmann later responded. Like this is going to be so successful, I know where this is going next. I'm like, I just want to focus on the next five days in front of me, let alone 10 years down the line.The reason to wake upThe fireside chat spanned a number of topics, with Druckmann and Barlog discussing their own experiences with doubt, and their respective creative processes for determining when an idea is correct. Later in the talk, they alluded to their feelings on their careers as they currently stand. Druckmann spoke on how he doesnt want to go into TV or movies permanently, sharing this anecdote about his love for games:Since we're talking about TV, one time I gave some direction on Pedro Pascal. And I think he was frustrated by my direction, but he said it jokingly. He's like, Do you like art? And I said, defensively, Yeah, do you like art? And without missing a beat, he goes, It's the reason to wake up in the morning. It's why I live and breathe. And to me, that's why we do it....At times, I've had panic attacks. It's just so much stress, but you do it, because you love it so much. I love games so much. I love the stories we tell in games so much. It's the reason to wake up in the morning. It's why we do what we do, and despite all the negatives that come with it, sometimes the death threats and all the negativity and all those things, you just kind of dismiss those things and say, Yeah, but I get to make games with the most talented people. How lucky are we?Cory Barlog. Image credit: Hannah Taylor/BAFTA via Getty ImagesDruckmann then turned a question on Barlog, pointing out Barlogs storied career in light of the recent retirement of his colleague Ted Price. When is it enough?...When is this compulsion enough? When have you proven yourself enough?Barlog gave a lengthy answer that got real real:Is it ever enough? The short answer's, no, it's never enough. It is the voice in your head driving you more, and more, and more, and moreYou struggle, you struggle, you work, you work. And it feels thankless, and you're not being heard. Or the thing you're doing doesn't resonate. Then you reach that point where this mountain you've been looking at it, you've been dreaming about, you've been aspiring to. Finally, you reach the summit of this mountain. And it's like the most amazing and horrible thing all at the exact same time.Is it ever enough? The short answer's, no, it's never enough.Because when you get to the top, this demon of obsession inside of your head doesn't shut up and let you appreciate the moment, the smell of the air, the sound of this sort of successful silence, that you've persevered, you've struggled, you've worked so hard to get all this. And so many people came together, and used this collective creative brain space to give birth to something that was only an idea, or a concept. And just enjoy, and revel, and see that you accomplished this thing, and you are at the top of the mountain. No. The demon just looks and goes, There's another mountain over there that's a lot taller. Okay, well what next? You don't even often take that time. And I don't want to believe that it is intentional. It is this weird, I think silent, not so silent part of your individual makeup. The reason you're in this is because you can't stop. You're driving yourself forward, and to your detriment, to everyone else giving you the advice to stop, and pace, and you don't.Druckmann echoed this sentiment, but softer, ending on an anecdote about Naughty Dogs Jason Rubin. Upon his departure from the company, Druckmann remembers Rubin telling him that him leaving would create a space for everyone else to rise up behind him. I think about those opportunities. Eventually when I am done doing this, it will create a bunch of opportunities for people. So for me, it's like I'm slowly rising up. I'm getting less involved on the day-to-day stuff, like on this project that I'm onAnd eventually I think I'll just be able to remove myself. I don't know how long that will take, but I think about it. And I think about the opportunities I will create for next people to take on this stress, and take on their ideas, and be vulnerable and do all those things.Barlog quipped back, concluding the talk: Very convincing. Im going to retire. Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Spoilers follow for Captain America: Brave New World.After 17 years MIA from the MCU, Liv Tyler is back as Betty Ross in Captain America: Brave New World. Or is she? While Betty is a major part of the character arc for her father President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford), Tylers return is contained to two extremely brief scenes, both of which have some, shall we say, oddities about them. And given Marvels history of digital trickery, they certainly could raise some questions about whether Tyler was on set for this movie at all.Lets get one thing out of the way up front: Tyler is in the movie. After spending most of the flick wanting to make his estranged daughter Betty proud of him, Thaddeus spontaneously tries calling her from the Oval Office before a critical speech and manages to get her on the phone. And in the movie's final scene, at least before the post-credits scene, Betty visits her father at The Raft, the floating prison where the MCU sends their super-powered criminals.Liv Tyler as Betty Ross and the late William Hurt as General Ross in 2008's The Incredible Hulk.But the phone call is brief, and the line fuzzy. All of Tylers dialogue is confined to one- or two-word answers, to the point that given Thaddeus is being manipulated by villain Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) its fair to speculate whether President Ross was really talking to his daughter at all. At least according to the movie, he is (the phone call does not turn out to be part of Sternss plan), but given the strange placement of the scene, and the nature of the dialogue from Betty, one could venture that this was a vestige of a previous version of the scene, or the movie or perhaps from a different scene entirely.Disney, Marvels parent company, also has a habit of using Respeecher, a, per the companys website, AI-powered speech synthesis software that can clone a subjects voice using only 30 minutes of quality recordings. This tech was previously used on The Mandalorian to craft Young Luke Skywalkers voice at the end of Season 2, as well as in The Book of Boba Fett. It was also used for Darth Vaders voice in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series and (non-Disney) recently in Academy Award nominees The Brutalist, Emilia Prez, Alien: Romulus, and Better Man. Theres zero evidence that Respeecher was used here, but it is a tool in Disneys arsenal if they do want to craft a voice for a movie or TV show and there are certainly more than 30 minutes of quality recordings of Liv Tylers voice available.According to a Disney rep, Tyler was on set, and no body doubles were used. To cut through any conspiracy theories on this of the type that would make Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) spring into action, a representative for Disney confirmed to IGN that it is indeed Tylers voice on the phone call with Ross. So case closed on that! Stand down, Captain America and Falcon.But how about the scene where she shows up at The Raft? Again, the scene is odd, to say the least. This may be down to the lighting and camera angles, but the way its shot, with Tylers Betty emerging from the shadows and only seen through the bars of Thaddeuss prison, it looks like her head is separated from her body, and her face has the sheen of digital imagery. Granted, Tyler is unearthly beautiful to the point that she was cast as an elf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so this may just be Liv Tyler being Liv Tyler. But its an extremely brief appearance from a hyped character who barely says more than a sentence in the scene.PlayAnd its perhaps more fair here to speculate that Tyler was not on set at the same time as co-stars Ford and Anthony Mackie (the two other actors in the scene), as Marvel has done this exact thing before. Theres been a lot of reporting about how actors will often film scenes alone on a stage for a Marvel Studios production, and not even be told who theyre acting opposite most famously for the Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. There are reasons for this, including being able to switch cameo characters in and out. But it also leads to infamous out-of-the-movie moments like Elizabeth Olsen noting I dont know him on a lie detector test when asked about working with John Krasinski, who she ostensibly acted opposite in the Doctor Strange sequel.Except, once again, theres no conspiracy here, and Mackie should be able to breathe a sigh of relief when his time in the lie detector chair comes around. Again, according to a Disney rep, Tyler was on set, and no body doubles were used. So likely its just down to lighting, camera angles, and the brief nature of the scene.Which is nice to hear, but still a bit of a bummer for fans of the character and the actress particularly because her return was first revealed in 2023, back when the movie was titled Captain America: New World Order.More From Avengers HQDirector/co-writer Julius Onah addressed her appearance on a recent (February 5) episode of The Official Marvel Podcast, stating, It was sort of a no-brainer to bring Liv back. She just has this real humanity to her. There's a way this character has a sensitivity that I think people really are drawn to. And it's just a natural quality that Liv has that makes her so incredibly watchable. The relationship she ends up having with Thaddeus Ross, Harrison Ford in this film is a real big part of his journey of trying to cement his legacy and redefine who he has been as a human being and as a leader.Certainly, a lot of characters say the name Betty to Fords Ross throughout the film, and Onah is correct that this is a major facet of his characters journey. Hes also correct about how audiences respond to Tyler in general. But her role here is a less-than-one-minute-long cameo plus a few lines on the phone, and thats it, so its not really a character that viewers have much of a chance to be drawn to.The other night (February 11) Tyler made a longer appearance on the red carpet at the Captain America: Brave New World premiere than she does in the movie. In an interview with Extra, she discussed her excitement about returning not just to the MCU, but to movie roles at all The last time she was in a movie was 2019s Ad Astra (though she did appear in 10 episodes of 9-1-1: Lone Star in 2020).Liv Tyler at the Brave New World premiere. Photo credit: Jesse Grant, 2025 Getty ImagesVery, very excited, I was very touched, Tyler said on the return to the MCU. I got a phone call saying Kevin Feige wants to speak to you, and I said, Well doesnt he want to see me? Its been a long time Ive taken a break from acting for the past few years, and Ive been home with my children, I have two small, small ones, and a big one. And it was such a lovely way, after COVID and everything, to come back to something so special, the family, and the character. It was sort of a perfect way to lure me back into remembering how much I love acting.Tyler continued, explaining how her kids have never seen her in a movie, and she is looking forward to sharing her return as Betty with them.So was there more to this role at some point? Theres been a lot of ink spilled about reshoots on Brave New World, though recent reports have called them nothing that was out of the ordinary for Marvel. And it is par for the course for major blockbusters to rejigger the final cut so that someone who is a major star like Liv Tyler ends up with an extremely minor role in the final film, and sometimes cut out entirely (heres hoping no Tyler fans sue for this one).Whatever happened if this brief bit was the original plan or not we do still get Betty Ross back after 17 years, and Tyler on screen after five years away. Though maybe a little less than we expected.

In the category of disappointing but not surprising, Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg that the upgraded version of Siri may not be fully ready for iOS 18.4 when it arrives soon.Apple announced these three Siri upgrades at its Worldwide Developer Conference last June:Personal Context UnderstandingWith the on-device semantic index provided by Apple Intelligence, Siri can understand emails, messages, photos, calendar events, files, and more. It can provide answers to questions that are personal to you. For example, when you say, What was that movie that Jamie told me I should check out? Siri will dig up the message from last week. And when youre filling out a form and say, Add my passport number here, Siri can extract the number from a saved photo of your passport and drop it in.Onscreen AwarenessSiri will be able to understand and take action with things on your screen. So when a friend texts you recommending a new coffee shop in the neighborhood, you can simply say, How long would it take me to walk there from home? and Siri will understand just what you mean.In-App ActionsSiri can take hundreds of new actions on your behalf in both first- and third-party apps. The next time youre editing photos, youll be able to say, Make this photo warmer, and Siri will make adjustments using the Photos app. Siri can also take actions across apps. So after youre done editing that photo, say, Add this to my ratatouille recipe note, and Siri will seamlessly transition from the Photos app to complete the task.However, Gurman reports that software bugs could delay or restrict its release, which was initially expected for April but could be postponed until May. Some of these features may miss iOS 18.4 and instead come with an iOS 18.5 software update.Internally, the company has been planning to introduce the technology as part of iOS 18.4, the version of its mobile operating system coming in April.But now Apple is considering delaying or limiting at least some of the overhaul until iOS 18.5, which will be released as early as May, the people said. []Inside Apple, many employees testing the new Siri have found that these features dont yet work consistently. And its nearing crunch time for the software to be ready. Though iOS 18.4 wont be released publicly until April, the beta version for developers is expected to debut as early as next week.At least we got the new Siri animation Read Gurmans full report here.Apple hasnt shared when these Siri updates will arrive beyond iOS 18 in 2025. That technically provides Apple with runway through August to launch these features, but iOS 19 will be in beta in June. Best Apple accessoriesFollow Zac Hall on X, Threads, and Bluesky, and listen to Runtime with co-host Sophia Tung on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel