In a nutshell: The OS updates coming to Apple devices later this year will institute the company's first major UI design shift in over a decade, but eagle-eyed observers noticed similarities with an old version of Windows – comparisons that haven't escaped Microsoft's notice. Thankfully, users concerned about Apple's upcoming interface will have options to change its visual presentation. Some of Microsoft's social media accounts recently poked fun at the upcoming "Liquid Glass" user interface design language Apple unveiled at WWDC this week. Although the Cupertino giant has hailed the update as a major innovation, many immediately began comparing it to Microsoft's nearly two-decade-old Windows Vista UI.         View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Windows (@windows) Liquid Glass is Apple's name for the new visual style arriving in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26, which will launch this fall. Inspired by the Apple Vision Pro's visionOS, the design language favors rounded edges and transparent backgrounds for inputs and other UI functions. It is Apple's most significant design change since iOS 7 debuted almost 12 years ago, and the first to establish a unified language across all of the company's devices. On the left: nice Liquid Glass UI minimalistic look. On the right: Liquid Glass looking all kinds of wrong in the current beta. Apps, wallpapers, and other background content will be visible through app icons, notifications, and menu elements for a glass-like appearance. Apple claims that the effect will improve cohesion across the interface, but beta testers are concerned that text will become less readable. Others, including Microsoft, mocked the update's resemblance to Windows Vista's glass-like "Aero" aesthetic, which debuted in 2007. That OS also made UI elements partially transparent, but Microsoft eventually phased it out when it began moving toward its current design language. The official Windows Instagram account recently responded to Apple's presentation by posting a slideshow of Vista screenshots played over a nostalgic Windows boot tune. The Windows Twitter account also shared a picture recalling the Vista-era profile icons. Other social media users joined in on the fun. Some highlighted the unfortunate placement of the YouTube icon in Apple's Liquid Glass explainer video, which the company altered. Others compared the design language to the unique chassis for Apple's 2000 Power Mac G4 Cube and the main menu for Nintendo's 2012 Wii U game console. Fortunately, users can customize Liquid Glass by switching between transparent, light, and dark modes. They can also opt for a slightly more opaque presentation with a toggle located under Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency.

The French Open is one of the most exciting Grand Slams—especially with this year’s lineup. Djokovic, Alcaraz, and Sinner—just those names alone promise a show. Even better, there’s a way to watch the French Open live on a free channel, so you won’t miss a single moment. In this guide, we’ll highlight two free channels for streaming Roland Garros and explain how to access them from anywhere in the world. We’ll also include a few premium streaming services from the UK, Canada, and the US that broadcast the event. Schedule May 25 to June 8 Free channels 9now (Australia) / France TV (France) The schedule for Thursday, June 5 This Thursday at Roland-Garros, we’ll be treated to the two women’s singles semifinals. Here is the detailed schedule: [1] Aryna Sabalenka vs [5] Iga Swiatek (POL) – Not before 3:00 PM CET / 9:00 AM ET / 6:00 AM PST [2] Coco Gauff (USA) vs [WC] Lois Boisson (FRA) Which free channels are broadcasting the French Open live? Reigning and upcoming champs will battle it out on the clay-filled courts and honor us with some epic showdowns. As exciting as it sounds, it doesn’t have to cost a penny. Two free channels broadcast the French Open 2025: 9Now (Australian TV channel) France TV (French TV channel) If you’re in one of these countries, you know you can boot them up and start watching. However, as these are foreign channels for many of you, it’s good to know what they actually provide. 9Now broadcasts the best French Open 2025 matches online for free every day. You’ll need a free account, which takes less than a minute to create. 9Now also offers English commentary, making it a great option for English-speaking viewers. 9Now broadcasts the French Open for free © 9now.com.au France TV is a French channel, so naturally, it features French commentary. It broadcasts all matches (you can follow the action on every court) except for the night sessions. The night sessions refer to the matches played on the Central Court after 8:15 PM Paris time. This TV channel also requires a free account, but again, creating one takes a minute or two, as you can sign up without a TV license. The main gripe with these two is that they’re region-locked to their respective regions. 9Now works only in Australia, whilst France TV works only in France. Trick to Watch the French Open 2025 on a Free Channel from Anywhere To sidestep this inconvenience, people have been relying on VPNs for years. Watching the French Open for free online was never an issue with a popular option like NordVPN. You’ve likely heard of it by this point. Watch the tournament for free with NordVPN As the world’s #1 provider by popularity (and quality), NordVPN provides quintessential servers in Australia and France. It’s also equipped with unrestricted bandwidth and fast 10 Gbps server ports built for speed. The main advantage of NordVPN, according to people online, is compatibility. It works on all desktop and mobile devices, but its VPN app for Fire TV and Apple TV is also there. This makes it easy to watch Roland Garros live for free on your TV. NordVPN allows for a swift IP address change. Once your IP originates from another country, you can overcome stubborn geo-blocks and access new content. Simply put, you’ll need an IP from Australia or France to unblock 9Now or France TV. With NordVPN installed, you just need to connect to a server in the respective country, go to the free channel that streams the French Open 2025, and enjoy. Keep in mind that NordVPN isn’t free, but in this case, it can be. After all, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee. In this period, you can stream the entire Grand Slam and still have ample time left to request and get a full refund. If necessary, we have a tutorial that explains how to test NordVPN free of charge for 30 days. How to Stream the French Open Live in the USA Even in the USA, using the two free channels is a more sensible option. That’s because US-based streaming services are costly. Still, if you don’t want to mess around with VPNs, you can opt for one of these three: Sling TV (TNT) — at least $45.99/mo (Sling Orange or Blue) DirecTV (TNT) — at least $79.99/mo + $69.99/mo for MySports HBO Max — at least $17/mo Sling TV provides access to TNT where the stream will be available — Blue and Orange plans are both eligible. You’ll find that Orange also contains ESPN. DirecTV requires a $69.99/mo MySports package for this purpose. It includes TNT and ESPN Plus for free if you wish to stream other sports. You don’t have to have an eagle eye to see the prices. Sling TV and DirecTV are way out of many people’s budgets. Plus, they don’t have lengthy free trials that would allow you to watch the French Open for free. DirecTV has a risk-free 5-day trial, but that’s roughly a third of the event. Bear in mind that, even if you have an account with one of these three, you still won’t be able to access them abroad. HBO Max can be watched outside the USA, along with DirecTV and Sling TV, but with a caveat — you’ll need a VPN! Watch the French Open With NordVPN Watching Roland Garros 2025 in the UK Brits don’t have a vibrant selection of channels for this case. They do lack horses for the race, but there’s Discovery Plus that comes to the rescue. Unfortunately, Discovery Plus is no joke price-wise and costs £31/mo in the United Kingdom. A notable free trial is missing, as well. Once you spend your £31, you won’t be able to get it back, either. On top of that, Discovery Plus works abroad only with a VPN, even if you have an active subscription paid for regularly. It’s worth noting that Discovery Plus also provides access to Eurosport, which will broadcast the French Grand Slam for the rest of Europe. Eurosport also isn’t free and costs £3.99 for Discovery Plus subscribers. How to Watch Roland Garros Live in Canada Canadians, similarly to Brits, don’t have plenty of choices — TSN is once again there to quench their tennis thirst. Of course, at a price. TSN is relatively inexpensive, so it might be a good option if you’re in Canada. The subscription starts at $8/mo or $80/year if you pay upfront. Like 9Now and Discovery Plus, TSN provides Full HD coverage and includes English commentary for better immersion. Just bear in mind that TSN is Canada-exclusive, so being on vacation rids you of access to it. NordVPN can help you regain access risk-free if you so desire. Other than that, TSN doesn’t provide a free trial and won’t allow you to sign up as a new user without a Canadian payment method. As explained, TSN is adequate only for native Canadian tennis fans. Final Thoughts Your vacation or business trip doesn’t have to squander your plans to watch the French Open 2025 on a free channel. 9Now and France TV are there, and with risk-free NordVPN, you’ll catch up to all major matches with no issues. If you’d rather use premium platforms and don’t mind the price tag, so be it. You have a myriad of options in the US, the UK, and Canada. Sling TV, DirecTV, HBO Max, Discovery Plus, and TSN — six excellent premium channels. Try NordVPN Risk-Free for 30 days

These Australian Cockatoos Learned to Operate Drinking Fountains With Their Feet to Quench Their Thirst Birds in Sydney’s western suburbs have figured out how to get a sip from the fountains, even though they have access to nearby streams Cockatoos in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, will wait in line for a taste of drinking fountain water. Klump et al., Biology Letters, 2025 Australia’s suburban-dwelling cockatoos are adept at picking up new skills. The clever birds had already figured out how to open trash cans to access scraps in neighborhoods outside Sydney—and now, scientists have observed others using their claws to turn on drinking fountains. Barbara Klump, a behavioral ecologist now at the University of Vienna, first noticed the cockatoos drinking from public water fountains west of Sydney in 2018. She thought someone had forgotten to turn off the water, but video footage from her research project showed a bird operating the handle with its foot. “Then, of course, a million questions went through my mind,” she tells Gemma Conroy at the New York Times. “How the hell did it figure that out?” Now, after monitoring cockatoos with wildlife cameras placed near one drinking fountain in Sydney’s western suburbs, Klump and her research team have confirmed that the birds regularly do this in local parks—something local wildlife experts also told her, per the New York Times. Over 44 days, the team recorded nearly 14 hours of the cockatoos around the fountain. The birds made 525 drinking attempts, of which 41 percent were successful. The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters. Smart cockatoos use their beaks and claws to drink from water fountain Watch on Turning on the water fountains takes skill, so it makes sense that not all attempts worked out. To quench their thirst, the birds would place one foot on the fountain’s stem and the other on the spring-loaded handle, twisting it clockwise by leaning their body weight. “It’s a bit of an awkward body position they have to hold, but it’s pretty impressive,” says Lucy Aplin, an ecologist at the Australian National University and a study co-author, to Peter de Kruijff at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The researchers don’t yet understand why the birds go through the effort of maneuvering the fountains when there are easily accessible streams and creeks nearby. At the fountains, meanwhile, the cockatoos will wait for as long as ten minutes to get a turn to drink. “They appear to be quite willing to queue for a considerable amount of time,” Aplin says to Science News’ Jake Buehler. One possibility is that the birds have gotten a taste for the purer water coming from the fountains, explains Klump to Jack Tamisiea at Science. Or, the birds may prefer the height of the fountain, as drinking from a ground source leaves them less able to see predators like eagles and falcons. Spending time at the fountains could also be a form of social cohesion for the birds. “I think all three are possible,” Aplin says to Science News. The cockatoos might also just enjoy turning on the fountains, adds Alice Auersperg, a cognitive biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, who was not involved in the research, to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “If there is no super urgent need and you’re not dying of thirst, then why not do something you enjoy?” Klump says to the New York Times. For now, the fountain drinking behavior hasn’t spread widely among Sydney’s cockatoos. The researchers looked through the citizen science platform Big City Birds, but they didn’t find any evidence of the behavior happening outside of the western suburbs. That’s unlike the species’ trash bin-opening habit, which has inconvenienced homeowners across at least 44 different suburbs. Residents in Brisbane, Australia, however, have also spotted cockatoos drinking from water fountains, Alpin says to the New York Times. The birds don’t migrate, so the two populations couldn’t have learned the behavior from each other. This suggests there’s potential for the “independent invention of the behavior and local spread in other places,” Alpin adds. Given their cleverness, it might not be long until more cockatoos are drinking from Australia’s fountains. Klump tells Science that she believes the birds are likely to come up with more ways to operate them, even fountains that turn on in a different way. “They’re so innovative and good at problem solving that they seem to eventually figure out a solution,” says Klump. “In a weird way, cockatoos constantly surprise me, but I’m also never that surprised.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

PlayStation Studios, Arc System Works (Arc), and Marvel Games have joined forces to realize the latest in tag team fighters, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls! Experience the Marvel Universe like never before with reimagined characters and stages, a heart-pounding soundtrack, intuitive gameplay mechanics, and jaw-dropping visuals that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Whether this is your first fighting game or you are a veteran of the genre, Arc has incorporated gameplay controls and mechanics that are easy to pick up and play, and yet still offer the depth and versatility for high level competition. Play Video “From the beginning, we aimed to make MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls a title that could be enjoyed by a wide variety of players,” explains Game Director and Lead Battle Designer, Kazuto Sekine. ”Generally, a team VS fighting game requires the player to learn multiple characters, but for MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, you only need to master one character in order to play the game. We have designed the mechanics in such a way that you can perform a variety of actions with either traditional fighting game inputs or simple inputs. With the press of a few buttons, multiple characters can appear on screen to provide backup or attack together – creating a new and exciting team VS battle experience.” “Since day one, our long-time and trusted collaborators at PlayStation and the team at Arc System Works have poured incredible amounts of talent and passion into reimagining the Marvel Universe in a way that only they can,” said Michael Francisco, Senior Product Development Manager, Marvel Games. “MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls demonstrates that they are absolute masters of their craft and are true Marvel fans at heart. Players are in for a wild ride.” Characters Enter the fray with iconic Marvel heroes and villains such as Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, Storm, Ms. Marvel, Star-Lord, and Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) – each with Arc’s unique twist on their character designs and gameplay styles. Arc Producer, Takeshi Yamanaka, states, “There are so many amazing Marvel characters that it was quite a struggle to choose our roster, but we did have some criteria for the selection process. First and foremost, we wanted to include characters who we feel to be the ‘face’ of Marvel. At the same time, we also needed to select characters that would give us a balance of battle types and styles. Lastly, we wanted to sprinkle in a few surprises and leave room for characters who have never been playable in a fighting game before.” Yamanaka-san continues, “Early on in the project, we experimented with a shader to recreate a more western comic-book visual style, but the Marvel team expressed a desire for us to lean into something more Arc-like. It was then that we switched our approach to the game’s visuals and began to lean more into the Japanimation style Arc is known for.” Gameplay mechanics From short-ranged jabs to the cinematic Ultimate Skills, each character features a bespoke set of Normal, Special, and Unique attacks inspired by their abilities and powers in Marvel lore. Arc have gone to great lengths to ensure that gameplay style, movement, and feel of these legendary characters is fresh, new, and wholly unique to MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls. But it’s not just the individual gameplay of the characters that has been enhanced; significant dedication has gone into reimagining and redefining what it means to be a tag team fighter. “Team VS fighting games have a long tradition of 2v2 or 3v3 team formats, so this is something we discussed in-depth within the development team. We went back and forth many times, from thinking we might be better off making a 1v1 game or sticking to the established 3v3 format.” Sekine-san continues, “At its core, we felt that the appeal of team VS fighting games is the intensity of battles with multiple characters on screen at once. Additionally, one of the appeals of Marvel comics is seeing the vast cast of characters coming together to create all kinds of unique team-ups.” “With these two ideas in mind, we concluded that creating a 4v4 team VS system would be the best way to not only create those over-the-top moments, but to further evolve the tag fighting genre.” Stages The stages come to life in MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, filled with easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans to find. Most stages also feature multiple areas. These transitions between areas are not just action-packed and stunning to witness, but they also play a strategic role. Check out the screenshots from Marvel’s New York City to see what you can find.  More to come Today’s announcement is just the beginning of our journey. From characters and stages to gameplay modes and the online experience. There’s so much more we can’t wait to share with you!

June 02, 2025 Eagles Star Hurdles into Madden 99 Club and Iconic Madden NFL 26 Covers After Championship and Record-Setting Season Fans Can Pre-Order* The EA SPORTS MVP Bundle Now To Get Madden NFL Deluxe Edition and Early Access To Madden NFL 26. REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) and EA SPORTS™ announced today that Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley will grace the cover of EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL 26, the first Eagle to do so in 20 years. Barkley’s record-setting season earned him both the cover and induction as the first member of the coveted Madden NFL 26 ‘99 Club.’ Barkley appears on two unique covers with one memorializing his spectacular reverse hurdle from last season. New features coming to Madden NFL 26 will be revealed this Wednesday, June 4 and Madden NFL 26 will launch worldwide on August 14 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via EA app for Windows, Steam, and Epic Games Store.Eagles Superstar Saquon Barkley Soars Onto Standard and Deluxe Covers Following Record-Setting, Super Bowl-Winning Season“Starring on the cover of Madden NFL 26 and being named to the Madden NFL ‘99 Club’ are both dreams come true,” said Barkley. “I’m grateful to my teammates, coaches, and Eagles fans for their support, and I can’t wait to hit the field again to give Madden players more highlight-reel moments in Madden NFL 26.”Barkley etched his name in the record books in 2024 with one of the most dominant seasons ever, becoming the first player in NFL history to rush for more than 2,500 yards in a single season, including playoffs, and leading Philadelphia to a Super Bowl LIX victory over the Kansas City Chiefs."Saquon's reverse hurdle was one of the rare, defining moments in NFL history that would have once been described as 'something out of a videogame,'” said Evan Dexter, VP, Franchise Strategy & Marketing, EA SPORTS Madden NFL. “Now, it’s a display of the athleticism and creativity of one football's most electrifying athletes. Madden NFL 26 will deliver the most real NFL experience we've ever built so that players can experience more of the unreal moments that Saquon put on display all season long. The full reveal is this Wednesday - don’t miss what’s next."Fans can pre-order* the Madden NFL 26 Deluxe Edition now to unlock a host of benefits, including 3-day early access, 4600 Madden Points, and a range of amazing extras. Pre-ordering* theEA SPORTS™ MVP Bundle for PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S gets fans deluxe editions of EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 and Madden NFL 26, complete with 3-day early access and a suite of rewards for both games. EA Play** subscribers will enjoy a 10-hour early access trial alongside recurring monthly in-game bonuses for Madden NFL 26.Follow the Madden NFL 26 journey on the official website and social channels (Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube) for the latest updates and stay tuned for the trailer and feature reveal coming Wednesday, June 4. Madden NFL 26 is developed by EA SPORTS in Orlando, Florida, and Madrid, Spain.*Conditions & restrictions apply. See https://www.ea.com/games/madden-nfl/madden-nfl-26/legal-disclaimers for details. **Conditions, limitations and exclusions apply. See EA Play Terms for details.For Madden NFL 26 assets, visit: EAPressPortal.com.About Electronic ArtsElectronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers.In fiscal year 2025, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7.5 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS FC™, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL, EA SPORTS™ College Football, Need for Speed™, Dragon Age™, Titanfall™, Plants vs. Zombies™ and EA SPORTS F1®. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS FC, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, The Sims, Dragon Age, Titanfall, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission.Category: EA Sports Erin Exum Director, Integrated Comms [email protected] Source: Electronic Arts Inc. Multimedia Files:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 now shows you microtransaction ads when you swap weapons "Actively witnessing Call of Duty become the Krusty Krab." Image credit: Eurogamer / Activision / u/whambampl News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on June 1, 2025 Eagle-eyed Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players have spotted a new feature on the weapon selection menu. Right at the top there now sits advertisements promoting premium weapons and skins, so players get exposed to ads for microtransactions in-game. As some players point out, it's not an advert in the classic sense, and no one's trying to flog you a cheeseburger or a pair of jeans every time you swap a weapon. Nonetheless, it's a new and insidious addition that we haven't seen in Call of Duty games before. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Opening Scene and Gameplay (4K).Watch on YouTube "One of the unwelcome changes I’ve noticed with Season 4 is that they’ve now inserted a new ad spot at the top of the list of your weapon specifics builds," wrote one player. "So now every time you toggle between weapon builds you get to stare at ads for $20-$30 skins. I’m sure the Activision developer who suggested this terrible feature is very proud of themselves. "This change is especially unneeded because you could already toggle from Builds to Shop on any given weapon and apparently not being thrown directly in our faces didn’t make them enough money. Many of us payed [sic] $60-$100 for a feature game and don’t want to be bombarded with additional ads." "Actively witnessing Call of Duty become [SpongeBob SquarePants'] the Krusty Krab," replied another. Season 4 brings new ad spot in game for weapons byu/whambampl inblackops6 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "Well guys looks like COD can suck a fat one," replied someone else. "This ad mess is ridiculous. They make huge bank already for them to even do this should be illegal. I've never been done with a COD this fast ever. But she's getting deleted. You can't scrounge people for money and not have a decent game. I'm not asking for a great game, just not a buggy game." In a separate thread that's been upvoted almost a thousand times, one player opined: "I wouldn't even be mad if this was just in warzone, a free game, but putting it in a pay-to-play premium title, with how expensive they're getting?" "Agree 100%, it really feels like one of those free cell phone games from a tiny indie studio begging you for money at every turn. Pathetic for a full price, stand alone game from a huge developer," replied another. Earlier this year, in a update shared on social media, developer Treyarch said it recognised cheaters "are frustrating and severely impact the experience for our community" but insisted it was addressing the issue, and will continue to do so "throughout 2025". At the same time, it confirmed 136,000 ranked play accounts were banned for cheating across both Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Like shopping on Amazon itself, Prime Video can sometimes feel like a jumble sale: a proliferation of TV and movies from every era, none of it terribly well-curated. There’s a lot to sort through, and the choices can be a little overwhelming. Presentation issues aside, there are some real gems to be found, as long as you’re willing to dig a bit—the streamer offers more than a few impressive exclusives, though they sometimes get lost amid the noise. Here are 20 of the best TV series Prime Video has to offer, including both ongoing and concluded shows.Overcompensating (2025 – ) Comedian Benito Skinner plays himself, sort of, in this buzzy comedy that sees a former high school jock facing his freshman year in college, desperately trying to convince himself and everyone else that he's as straight as they come (relatable, except for the jock part). Much of the show's appeal is in its deft blending of tones: It's a frequently raunchy college comedy, but it's simultaneously a sweet coming-of-age story about accepting yourself without worrying about what everyone else thinks. The impressive cast includes Adam DiMarco (The White Lotus) and Rish Shah (Ms. Marvel) You can stream Overcompensating here. Étoile (2025 –, renewed for season two) Amy Sherman-Palladino and David Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) are back on TV and back in the dance world (following Bunheads) with this series about two world-renowned ballet companies (one in NYC and one in Paris) that decide to spice things up by swapping their most talented dancers. Each company is on the brink of financial disaster, and so Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby), director of the Metropolitan Ballet, and Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), director of of Le Ballet National, come up with the plan, and recruit an eccentric billionaire (Simon Callow) to pay for it. Much of the comedy comes from the mismatched natures of their swapped dancers, and there's a tangible love of ballet that keeps things light, despite the fancy title. You can stream Étoile here.Fallout (2024 – , renewed for second and third seasons) A shockingly effective video game adaptation, Fallout does post-apocalyptic TV with a lot more color and vibrancy than can typically be ascribed to the genre (in the world of Fallout, the aesthetic of the 1950s hung on for a lot longer than it did in ours). The setup is a little complicated, but not belabored in the show itself: It's 2296 on an Earth devastated two centuries earlier by a nuclear war between the United States and China, exacerbated by conflicts between capitalists and so-called communists. Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) emerges from the underground Vault where she's lived her whole life protected from the presumed ravages of the world above, hoping to find her missing father, who was kidnapped by raiders. The aboveground wasteland is dominated by various factions, each of which considers the others dangerous cults, and believes that they alone know mankind's way forward. It's also overrun by Ghouls, Gulpers, and other wild radiation monsters. Through all of this, Lucy remains just about the only human with any belief in humanity, or any desire to make things better. You can stream Fallout here.Deadloch (2023 –, renewed for a second season) Both an excellent crime procedural and an effective satire of the genre, this Australian import does about as well as setting up its central mystery as Broadchurch and its many (many) imitators. Kate Box stars as Dulcie Collins, fastidious senior sergeant of the police force in the fictional town of the title. When a body turns up dead on the beach, Dulcie is joined by Madeleine Sami's Eddie Redcliffe, a crude and generally obnoxious detective brought in to help solve the case. Unraveling the web of secrets and mysteries in the tiny Tasmanian town is appropriately addictive, with the added bonus of cop thriller tropes getting mercilessly mocked all the way. You can stream Deadlock here.The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022 – , third season coming) All the talk around The Rings of Power in the lead-up to the series had to do with the cost of the planned five seasons expected to be somewhere in the billion dollar range. At that price point, it’s tempting to expect a debacle—but the resulting series is actually quite good, blending epic conflict with more grounded characters in a manner that evokes both Tolkien, and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Set thousands of years before those tales, the series follows an ensemble cast lead by Morfydd Clark as Elven outcast Galadriel and, at the other end of the spectrum, Markella Kavenagh as Nori, a Harfoot (the people we’ll much later know as Hobbits) with a yearning for adventure who finds herself caught up in the larger struggles of a world about to see the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the idyllic island kingdom of Númenor, and the the last alliance of Elves and humans. You can stream The Rings of Power here.Reacher (2022 – , fourth season coming) Getting high marks for his portrayal of the Lee Childs’ character (from both book and TV fans) is Alan Ritchson (Titans), playing Reacher with an appropriately commanding physical presence. The first season finds the former U.S. Army military policeman visiting the rural town of Margrave, Georgia...where he’s quickly arrested for murder. His attempts to clear his name find him caught up in a complex conspiracy involving the town’s very corrupt police force, as well as shady local businessmen and politicians. Subsequent seasons find our ripped drifter reconnecting with members of his old army special-investigations unit, including Frances Neagley (Maria Stan), who's getting her own spin-off. You can stream Reacher here. The Bondsman (2025, one season) It's tempting not to include The Bondsman among Prime's best, given that it's representative of an increasingly obnoxious trend: shows that get cancelled before they ever really got a chance. This Kevin Bacon-led action horror thriller did well with critics and on the streaming charts, and it's had a consistent spot among Prime's top ten streaming shows, but it got the pink slip anyway. Nevertheless, what we did get is a lot of fun: Bacon plays Hub Halloran, a bounty hunter who dies on the job only to discover that he's been resurrected by the literal devil, for whom he now works. It comes to a moderately satisfying conclusion, despite the cancellation. You can stream The Bondsman here. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022 – , third season coming) All the talk around The Rings of Power in the lead-up to the series had to do with the cost of the planned five seasons expected to be somewhere in the billion dollar range. At that price point, it’s tempting to expect a debacle—but the resulting series is actually quite good, blending epic conflict with more grounded characters in a manner that evokes both Tolkien, and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. Set thousands of years before those tales, the series follows an ensemble cast lead by Morfydd Clark as Elven outcast Galadriel and, at the other end of the spectrum, Markella Kavenagh as Nori, a Harfoot (the people we’ll much later know as Hobbits) with a yearning for adventure who finds herself caught up in the larger struggles of a world about to see the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the fall of the idyllic island kingdom of Númenor, and the the last alliance of Elves and humans. You can stream The Rings of Power here.The Expanse (2015 – 2022, six seasons) A pick-up from the SyFy channel after that network all but got out of the original series business, The Expanse started good and only got better with each succeeding season. Starring Steven Strait, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Dominique Tipper among a sizable ensemble, the show takes place in a near-ish future in which we’ve spread out into the solar system, while largely taking all of the usual political bullshit and conflicts with us. A salvage crew comes upon an alien microorganism with the potential to upend pretty much everything, if humanity can stop fighting over scraps long enough to make it matter. The show brings a sense of gritty realism to TV sci-fi, without entirely sacrificing optimism—or, at least, the idea that well-intentioned individuals can make a difference. You can stream The Expanse here. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024 – , renewed for a second season) One-upping the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie on which it's based, Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as a couple of spies tasked to pose as a married couple while coordinating (and sometimes competing against one another) on missions. Smartly, each episode takes on a standalone mission in a different location, while complicating the relationship between the two and gradually upping the stakes until the season finale, which sees them pitted against each other. The show is returning for season two, though it's unclear if Glover and Erskine will be returning, or if we'll be getting a new Mr. & Mrs. You can stream Mr. & Mrs. Smith here. Good Omens (2019– , conclusion coming) Michael Sheen and David Tennant are delightful as, respectively, the hopelessly naive angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, wandering the Earth for millennia and determined not to let the perpetual conflict between their two sides get in the way of their mismatched friendship. In the show’s world, from the 1990 novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, heaven and hell are are less representative of good and evil than hidebound bureaucracies, more interested in scoring points on each other than in doing anything useful for anyone down here. It’s got a sly, quirky, sometimes goofy sense of humor, even while it asks some big questions about who should get to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. Following some depressingly gross revelations about writer and showrunner Gaiman, it was announced that he'd be off the production and the third season would be reduced to a movie-length conclusion, date tbd. You can stream Good Omens here. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017 – 2023, five seasons) Mrs. Maisel was one of Prime’s first and buzziest original series, a comedy-drama from Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) about the title’s Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), a New York housewife of the late 1950s who discovers a talent for stand-up comedy. Inspired by the real-life careers of comedians like Totie Fields and Joan Rivers, the show is both warm and funny, with great performances and dialogue; it also achieves something rare in being a show about comedy that’s actually funny. You can stream Mrs. Maisel here. The Boys (2019 – , fifth and final season coming) There’s a lot of superhero stuff out there, no question, but, as there was no series quite like the Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson comic book on which this show is based, there’s nothing else quite like The Boys. The very dark satire imagines a world in which superheroes are big with the public, but whose powers don’t make them any better than the average jerk. When his girlfriend is gruesomely killed by a superhero who couldn’t really care less (collateral damage, ya know), Wee Hughie (Jack Quaid) is recruited by the title agency. Led by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), the Boys watch over the world’s superpowered individuals, putting them down when necessary and possible. A concluding fifth season is on the way, as is a second season of the live-action spin-off (Gen V). An animated miniseries (Diabolical) came out in 2022. The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019, four seasons) From a novel by Philip K. Dick (whose work has been the basis for Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, among many others), The Man in the High Castle takes place in an alternate history in which the Axis powers won World War II, and in which the United States is split down the middle; Japan governing the west and Germany the east. The title’s man in the high castle offers an alternate view, though, one in which the Allies actually won, with the potential to rally opposition to the Axis rulers. As the show progresses through its four seasons, the parallels to our increasingly authoritarian-friendly world, making it one of the more relevant shows of recent years. You can stream The Man in the High Castle here. The Wheel of Time (2021 – 2025, three seasons) An effective bit of fantasy storytelling, The Wheel of Time sees five people taken from a secluded village by Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike), a powerful magic user who believes that one of them is the reborn Dragon: a being who will either heal the world, or destroy it entirely. The show has an epic sweep while smartly focusing on the very unworldly villagers, experiencing much of this at the same time as the audience. This is another mixed recommendation in that, while the show itself is quite good, it has just been cancelled following a third season that saw it really getting into its groove. The show goes through the fourth and fifth books of Robert Jordan's fantasy series, so, I suppose, you can always jump into the novels to finish the story. You can stream Wheel of Time here. The Devil’s Hour (2022 – , renewed for a third season) Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) joins Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It, Doctor Who) for a slightly convoluted but haunting series that throws in just about every horror trope that you can think of while still managing to ground things in the two lead performances. Raine plays a social worker whose life is coming apart on almost every level: She’s caring for her aging mother, her marriage is ending, her son is withdrawn, and she wakes up at 3:33 am every morning exactly. She’s as convincing in the role as Capaldi is absolutely terrifying as a criminal linked to at least one killing who knows a lot more than he makes clear. You can stream The Devil's Hour here. Batman: Caped Crusader (2024 – , second season coming) I know, there's a lot of Batman out there. But this one's got real style, harkening back to Batman: The Animated Series from the 1990s (no surprise, given that Bruce Timm developed this one too). With a 1940s-esque setting, the show dodges some of the more outlandish superhero tropes to instead focus on a Gotham City rife with crime, corrupt cops, and gang warfare. There's just enough serialization across the first season to keep things addictive. You can stream Caped Crusader here. Secret Level (2024 – , renewed for a second season) This is pretty fun: an anthology of animated shorts from various creative teams that tell stories set within the worlds of various (15 so far) video games, including Unreal, Warhammer, Sifu, Mega Man, and Honor of Kings. It's hard to find consistent threads given the variety of source material, but that's kinda the point: There's a little something for everyone, and most shorts don't demand any extensive knowledge of game lore—though, naturally, they're a bit more fun for the initiated. The voice cast includes the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, his son Patrick Schwarzenegger, Keanu Reeves, Gabriel Luna, Ariana Greenblatt, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. You can stream Secret Level here. Cross (2024 – , renewed for a second season) James Patterson's Alex Cross novels have been adapted three times before, all with mixed results: Morgan Freeman played the character twice, and Tyler Perry took on the role in 2012. Here, the forensic psychologist/police detective of a few dozen novels is played by Aldis Hodge (Leverage, One Night in Miami...), and it feels like he's finally nailed it. There are plenty of cop-drama tropes at work here, but the series is fast-paced and intense, and Hodge is instantly compelling in the iconic lead role. You can stream Cross here. Fleabag (2016–2019, two seasons) Fleabag isn’t a Prime original per se, nor even a co-production, but Amazon is the show’s American distributor and still brands it as such, so we’re going to count it. There’s no quick synopsis here, but stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge as the title character (only ever known as Fleabag) in the comedy drama about a free-spirited, but also deeply angry single woman in living in London. Waller-Bridge won separate Emmys as the star, creator, and writer of the series (all in the same year), and co-stars Sian Clifford, Olivia Coleman, Fiona Shaw, and Kristin Scott Thomas all received well-deserved nominations. You can stream Fleabag here.

Update, 5/29/25: The Nintendo Switch 2 will launch soon on June 5. Pre-order advice currently remains the same, which is to say that you probably won't be able to pre-order the console before launch day anymore, since all retailers still list it as either "unavailable" or "coming soon." Now, it's all about launch-day logistics. A number of retailers, including Best Buy, plan to open some stores early on June 5 and have stock available for customers to purchase on site. If you didn't manage to get a pre-order in already, your best bet may be to go to a local Best Buy, Walmart, Target or GameStop on June 5 to see if you can walk out with a new console that day.  Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders are officially live at Nintendo's online store — but only if you've received an invite. As advertised, the My Nintendo Store began sending out Switch 2 pre-order invites on Thursday to those who previously registered their interest and meet the company's "priority criteria." If you've been chosen, congratulations! You have 72 hours from the time your email was sent to complete your purchase. If you previously signed up but haven't received a notice, well, we'll have to see when exactly it'll arrive. Nintendo has been accepting registrations since April 2, and it's sending invites to past Switch players and Switch Online subscribers before anyone else.  If you meet the priority requirements and signed up on the earlier side, you should (hopefully) get your invite before most others. If you signed up later, don't be surprised if it takes awhile for Nintendo to grace your inbox. The company warned last month that it may not be able to send all invites — or even deliver all orders that do get placed — before the Switch 2's June 5 release date. Beyond Nintendo, the song sadly remains the same. As of our latest check, the device remains fully sold out at Walmart, GameStop, Best Buy, Target and other retailers. This has mostly been the case in the US since the Switch 2 first went up for sale on April 24, and it remains unclear when it'll change. That said, we're keeping an eye out for any surprise restocks that pop up. If you're still hoping to get your hands on the device early, we've rounded up all the Switch 2 pre-order listings we could find for easy access and broken down what to know about buying the console.   How to pre-order the Nintendo Switch 2 at the My Nintendo Store As noted above, Nintendo is only selling the Switch 2 through an invite system, which began on April 2. While it seems unlikely you'll receive your console before launch day if you sign up with Nintendo now, we still recommend doing so in case stock remains low at other stores. Registration is free, and you'll receive your invite eventually, even if it takes some time. On that point, Nintendo says it is prioritizing invites "on a first-come, first-served basis" to registrants who meet the following criteria: You must have purchased a Switch Online membership as of April 2, 2025. If you've only ever been part of a family plan and weren't the paying account, that's a no-go. You must have been a paid Switch Online subscriber for at least 12 months as of April 2, 2025. You must have logged at least 50 hours of total Switch gameplay time as of April 2, 2025. You must have opted into sharing gameplay data with Nintendo as of April 2, 2025. You can confirm this in your account's privacy settings. You must be a Nintendo account holder who is at least 18 years old. If you fulfill those requirements, you'll be ahead in Nintendo's invite queue. If not, you'll have to wait until after the priority registrants receive their emails. Once they do, the remaining invites will go out on a first-come, first-served basis. Whenever you get your email, you'll have a 72-hour window to buy.  As with other stores, you have two models to pick from: the base Switch 2 console for $450, and a bundle with Mario Kart World for $500. Note that you can only purchase one console per invite. You'll also be able to pick up certain accessories when it's your time to shop.  Pre-order Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Pre-order Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle Nintendo We received our invite late Thursday evening after signing up about an hour after the registration window first opened. We've posted screenshots of what the official invite email and buying process looks like below. (A previous version of this guide linked to screenshots from Reddit and the gaming forum ResetEra, but one ResetEra user appears to have shared a fake invite, so we've removed that.) Broadly speaking, the experience is far less chaotic than it's been at other stores. Our confirmation email says that our console will ship by June 4. How to pre-order the Nintendo Switch 2 at other retailers Unfortunately, the Switch 2 remains sold out everywhere else as of this writing. To recap the situation: After a two-week delay, Nintendo finally kicked off Switch 2 pre-orders at third-party retailers in the US and Canada at midnight ET on April 24. A couple of (headache-inducing) hours later, stock at Walmart, Target and Best Buy had sold out. GameStop began taking pre-orders later that morning but quickly met the same fate. Some eagle-eyed buyers were reportedly able to pre-order through Walmart as late as April 26, but things have dried up since. Other membership-based retailers like Costco and Sam's Club have Switch 2 listings as well, but we haven't seen anything to suggest they will accept pre-orders. Newegg also has a Switch 2 page but hasn't provided an option to buy just yet. As for Amazon, we assume the Switch 2 will eventually be available there, but it's not today, and there's been no indication as to when that might change. (Even before the Switch 2 was unveiled, stock of the original Switch and first-party Switch games had been limited at Amazon US for several months.) If you're desperate to catch a restock, it's a good idea to create a free account with the retailers above and ensure all of your shipping and billing info is up to date with each. Downloading each store's mobile app and signing up for notifications may help too, though that could get annoying fairly quickly.  Pre-order Nintendo Switch 2 Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Pre-order Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* *As of 1:15pm ET on Friday, May 9, Amazon has not listed either Switch 2 console package for sale. We will update this article with direct links if they arrive; until then, we're linking to the site's Nintendo-focused hub. How to pre-order Switch 2 accessories and games Naturally, there are numerous accessories and games up for pre-order alongside the Switch 2 itself. While Nintendo hasn't changed the console's price since delaying its initial pre-order date, it has hiked the cost of several accessories due to "changes in market conditions" (read: tariffs). The new Switch 2 camera, for instance, now costs $55 instead of its original $50, while the Switch 2 Pro Controller leapt from $80 to $85. An extra set of Joy-Con 2 controllers is up to $95 from $90, and the official Joy-Con Charging Grip costs $40 instead of $35. Most (but not all) of Nintendo's official Switch 2 accessories are still up for grabs at one or two retailers at a minimum, but stock has become spottier since they first went up for sale. Upcoming Switch 2 games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, meanwhile, remain widely available. Mario Kart World for $80 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Donkey Kong Bananza for $70 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Additional Switch 2 games Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon Samsung microSD Express Card (256GB) for Nintendo Switch 2 for $60 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon Joy-Con 2 bundle for $95 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Switch 2 Pro Controller for $85 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Switch 2 Camera for $55 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Hori Nintendo Switch 2 Piranha Plant Camera for $60 Best Buy Target Amazon Joy-Con 2 Charging Grip for $40 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Joy-Con 2 Wheels (set of 2) for $25 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Switch 2 All-in-One Carrying Case for $85 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* Switch 2 Carrying Case and Screen Protector for $40 Nintendo Walmart GameStop Best Buy Target Amazon* *As of 1:15pm ET on Friday, May 9, Amazon has not listed any first-party Switch 2 accessories or games for sale. (Some third-party devices and games are listed, however.) We'll update this article with direct links if they arrive; until then, we're linking to the site's Nintendo-focused hub. More Switch 2 details The Nintendo Switch 2. Sam Rutherford for Engadget We knew from its initial teaser trailer that the Switch 2 would be bigger than its predecessor and take a new approach to its detachable Joy-Cons. The Joy-Con 2s, as they're called, now attach magnetically and include a C button, mouse controls and a built-in gyroscope for tilt control. The console itself is indeed larger, with a 7.9-inch LCD screen that supports a 1080p resolution, a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz and HDR10. The hardware also has a built-in mic to support a new feature called GameChat that'll let you communicate with friends in-game. (This is what that C button is for.) Nintendo says this service will be free to all Switch 2 users until March 31, 2026, at which point it'll require a Switch Online membership. When docked, you'll be able to play up to 4K on your TV. Nintendo says it's improved the consoles internal speakers as well. The updated dock has a built-in fan to keep the console cool and help maintain performance during long play sessions. Though we won't know exactly how much of a power upgrade the Switch 2 is over to the first Switch until it's released, it looks to be fairly significant leap, given that it'll have ports of relatively demanding games like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077. Elsewhere, the Switch 2 has dual USB-C ports for charging, while the internal storage amount has jumped from 32GB to 256GB. That storage is still expandable, but the device will only work with newer (and more expensive) microSD Express cards. As seen in the recent 20.0.0 update for the original Switch, the upcoming console will also utilize Nintendo's new Virtual Game Card system for lending digital games across systems, as well as a GameShare feature that lets you share select titles locally with just one copy of a game. Tariffs and the Nintendo Switch 2 The Nintendo Switch 2's Joy-Con 2 controllers. Sam Rutherford for Engadget During its most recent Direct presentation at the start of April, Nintendo showed off more of the Switch 2 than it ever had before. That included the reveal of its original April 9 pre-order date, in addition to its $450 starting price. Shortly after, President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on China and other countries, prompting Nintendo to delay pre-orders in the US and Canada. In a reversal, President Trump later announced a 90-day pause on steep tariffs affecting 75 countries, but also announced that the tariff imposed on China will go up even further (right now, it sits at 145 percent). We now know that the original $450 price for the Switch 2 will remain the same in the US and Canada, but based on its official statement, it appears Nintendo is leaving the door open for potential future price increases. We also know that Nintendo started moving some of its Switch console manufacturing to Vietnam in 2019. The increased tariff for Vietnam was set to be 46 percent, but that's temporarily on hold in favor of a 10 percent tariff that’s in effect for the 90-day pause period. It has been speculated that Nintendo will boost production of Switch 2 consoles in Vietnam so it can stay on schedule, even if it sells the console at a loss in the short term. It appears the company will have to seriously ramp up production to keep up with Switch 2 demand: According to Nintendo, 2.2 million people entered the pre-order lottery in Japan alone, which is far more devices than it is expected to deliver in that region on launch day. In total, the company projects it will sell 15 million Switch 2 units through March 2026. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-pre-order-updates-ahead-of-the-june-5-launch-date-140931884.html?src=rss