Apple has launched a major update to its audio production app Logic Pro for both iPad and Mac, including improvements and a new Flashback Capture feature for recovering and organizing jams.Logic Pro on a Mac — image credit: AppleOn the two-year anniversary of bringing Logic Pro to the iPad for the first time, and the one-year anniversary of adding stem splitting, Apple has released its new version of the pro recording app. The new version includes an improvement to that stem splitting feature, letting musicians and producers make finer adjustments as they separate out instruments and vocals from previous recordings.As well as the existing Vocals, Drums, and Other stems that Logic Pro could separate, the updated version adds two more. The Enhanced Stem Splitter can now separate out guitar and piano parts from a track. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Nichols Canyon cuts through the south side of the Hollywood Hills, stretching from Hollywood Boulevard in the south up to Mulholland Drive in the north. Made famous by David Hockney, whose 1980 painting of the canyon sold for just over $41M in 2020, the area remains a thriving artist's community. What better place for Elle Decor A-List designer Oliver Furth to build a "creative cottage" for his partner, The Culture Creative founder Sean Yashar?Furth and Yashar, who've been together 14 years, met in the industry and purchased their home 7 years ago. When the lot next door—a pines-filled acre with a tiny house on it—came up for sale, the couple jumped at the chance to buy. "Anyone else would've torn it down and built something bigger," says Furth. "We replaced the windows and redid the kitchen and bathrooms, but we leaned into its size." Now drenched in Yashar's signature "eau de nil" pastel tones, the cottage embraces the character of its original 1940s structure while serving as a cutting-edge space for creativity.Kort HavensIn the sitting room, a Philippe Starck chrome side table from the original Royalton Hotel, from 1988, holds a place of pride with a group of Peter Shire and Ron Arad vintage chairs and a Rachel Shillander pyramidal lamp. Art includes greats of LA’s past and present: a Laddie John Dill mixed media, a Sam Falls tapestry, a Tom Holland metal relief, and a Strauss Bourque-LaFrance painting."All of my work is really portraiture." —Oliver Furth"My clients are all muses to me," says Yashar, who provides consulting services for designers. "I have to be a good listener and understand who the client is and how they connect to decorative arts history, so I spend a lot of time researching. How else can I be an authority?"To that end, the space is designed to provide a moment to reflect and the fodder to rev into high gear in equal measures; to facilitate rest as much as the chance to recharge. Following in the footsteps of Albert Hadley and Tony Duquette (who once declared malachite a neutral), Furth color-drenched the space in a mint green. "That color is the envelope—that's what I call it," says Furth. "We kept it very tight by lacquering the floors, the walls, and the ceiling in that color. Even the cabinetry and the appliances are in that mint. It allows us to have this object-driven interior space by unifying everything with color."Kort HavensA vintage Joe D’Urso for Knoll desk, Sam Maloof desk chair, Christopher Prinz stool and felt-clad speaker by Studio AHEAD create a sleek composition under an Ingo Mauer chandelier in the office. Art includes a triptych of photographs by David Benjamin Sherry, and framed magazine ads from Yashar’s parents’ furniture store, Moda Italia, from 1990.The seafoam hue unites not only the interior, but also decades of decorative history: Yashar found that the architect Paul Williams, who worked in LA in the 1940's and 50's, used a similar shade in many projects. "There's a lot of history and narrative within this color that maybe not everyone will be able to know, but hopefully everyone can feel," says Yashar. Clocking in at roughly 1,000-square-feet, the interior is now a mixture of millennial aesthetics, showcasing Yashar's love for design culture icons like Mario Buatta and Saul Bass. The entry sets the tone with its metal-and-glass Dutch door. A mixed-use meeting room offers a blend of contrasts, from Buatta-inspired shades in a Dickies-esque khaki twill to antique Chippendale chairs juxtaposed with 1990s Marc Newson tables. "All of my work is really portraiture," says Furth, "so this was an opportunity to help create this sort of portrait of Sean and his business." "Sometimes things just resonate...you just know when it's right." —Sean YasharThe sitting room features iconic design pieces, including a worn black leather sofa from the 1980s and a Philippe Starck table from the Royalton Hotel. Peter Shire and Ron Arad chairs are paired with conceptual furniture inspired by Dan Friedman. The kitchen celebrates postwar and ’80s influences with Smeg appliances and works by Soft Baroque and Patrick Nagel, grounded by a custom table from Studio MUKA. "A lot of people know me for my interest in eighties and nineties design culture," says Yashar. "But when I think eighties or nineties, I don't think of one thing. I don't want to choose. So I want to have Joe D'Urso high-tech track lighting, and I want it against these Mario Buatta-style balloon shades. I like that duality."Outside, a Persian-inspired courtyard nods to Yashar's heritage while offering dining and lounging areas that showcase rare 1980s furniture, including a Peter Lane ceramic table and one-off mint-colored Richard Schultz seating. The courtyard’s natural and faux vine murals create a satirical trompe-l’oeil effect, celebrating real-versus-virtual artistry. "I think we're both big believers in feeling," says Yashar. "Sometimes things just resonate. You can't really put your finger on it, but you just know that it's right."Sean SantiagoDeputy EditorSean Santiago is ELLE Decor's Deputy Editor, covering news, trends and talents in interior design, hospitality and travel, culture, and luxury shopping. Since starting his career at an interior design firm in 2011, he has gone on to cover the industry for Vogue, Architectural Digest, Sight Unseen, PIN-UP and Domino. He is the author of The Lonny Home (Weldon Owens, 2018), has produced scripted social content for brands including West Elm and Streeteasy, and is sometimes recognized on the street for his Instagram Reels series, #DanceToDecor

The shoehorning of AI into everything has programmers at Amazon feeling less like the tedious parts of their jobs are being smoothly automated, and more like their work is beginning to resemble the drudgery of toiling away in one of the e-commerce giant's vast warehouses.That's the bleak picture painted in new reporting from the New York Times, in which Amazon leadership — as is the case at so many other companies — is convinced that AI will marvelously jack up productivity. Tasked with conjuring the tech's mystic properties, of course, are our beleaguered keyboard-clackers.Today, there's no shortage of coding AI assistants to choose from. Google and Meta are making heavy use of them, as is Microsoft. Satya Nadella, CEO of the Redmond giant, estimates that as much as 30 percent of the company's code is now written with AI. If Amazon's to keep up with the competition, it needs to follow suit. CEO Andy Jassy echoed this in a recent letter to shareholders, cited by the NYT, emphasizing the need to give customers what they want as "quickly as possible," before upholding programming as a field in which AI would "change the norms."And that it has — though this is less due to the merits of AI and more the result of the over-eager opportunism of the company's management. Three Amazon engineers told the NYT that their bosses have increasingly pushed them to use AI in their work over the past year. And with that came increased output goals and even tighter deadlines. One engineer said that his team was reduced to roughly half the size it was last year — but it was still expected to produce the same amount of code by using AI.In short, new automating technology is being used to justify placing increased demands at their jobs."Things look like a speed-up for knowledge workers," Lawrence Katz, a labor economist at Harvard University, told the NYT, citing ongoing research. "There is a sense that the employer can pile on more stuff."Adopting AI was ostensibly optional for the Amazon programmers, but the choice was all but made for them. One engineer told the newspaper that they're now expected to finish building new website features in just a few days, whereas before they had several weeks. This ludicrous ramp up is only made possible by using AI to automate some of the coding, and comes at the expense of quality: there's less time for consulting with colleagues to get feedback and bounce ideas around.Above all, AI is sapping all the joy out of their profession. AI-amalgamated code requires extensive double checking — a prominent critique that can't be ignored here and is one of the main reasons skeptics question whether these programming assistants actually produce gains in efficiency. And when you're reduced to proofreading a machine, there's little room for creativity, and an even more diminished sense of control."It's more fun to write code than to read code," Simon Willison, a programmer and blogger who's both an enthusiast of AI and a frequent critic of the tech, told the NYT, playing devil's advocate. "If you're told you have to do a code review, it's never a fun part of the job. When you're working with these tools, it's most of the job."Amazon, for its part, maintains that it conducts regular reviews to ensure that its teams are adequately staffed. "We'll continue to adapt how we incorporate Gen AI into our processes," an Amazon spokesman told the NYT.More on AI: AI Is Replacing Women's Jobs SpecificallyShare This Article

Are we on the cusp of truly affordable Teslas? A YouTuber flew a drone over Tesla's Fremont test track and saw what may be its new cheap model racing around it.As spotted by Teslarati, new flyover footage from an account that calls itself "Met God in Wildnerness" — which along with frequent Fremont flyovers also publishes what appear to be Christian missives in Chinese — there's a good chance that the disguised vehicle could be a prototype for Tesla's purported affordable model."A disguised Tesla car testing on test track," the video's caption reads. "We could be seeing the new low cost model."Though the blog describes the vehicle as resembling a "compact Model Y," the black-and-white machine looks to our eyes like an elongated Volkswagen Beetle. In the video, it's seen stopping and going on the track, which is located off to the side of Tesla's manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, followed by a disguised Cybertruck.In its writeup, Teslarati notes that although there's a possibility the car is the new performance version of the Model Y, its compact size suggests it could be a prototype for the long-teased affordable model.As InsideEVs pinpointed back in April, Tesla admitted in its abysmal first-quarter earnings report for 2025 that switching over production lines to make room for the new Performance Model Y, which resulted in "several weeks of lost production" on the upgrade, was also paramount as it seeks to produce cheaper versions of its cars."During the switchover, we also prepared our factories for the launch of new models later this year," the report's fine print read. "Given economic uncertainty resulting from changing trade policy, more affordable options are as critical as ever."When discussing that earnings report in an investor call, CFO Vaibhav Taneja said that production of the cheaper model — which may utilize design aspects of Model 3 and Model Y — is "planned for June."As with most of the company's timelines, we're taking that one with several grains of salt — especially because CEO Elon Musk was mocking the idea of a $25,000 Tesla, which he'd been promised for years, less than a year ago.Right now, we don't know any specifics about what will constitute an "affordable" Tesla or when it will hit production lines or dealerships — but that flyover video could be our first glimpse of what's to come.More on Tesla: Tesla Can't Find Legal Places to Store All Its Unsold CybertrucksShare This Article

ZDNET's key takeaways The OnePlus 13 is a snappy, nearly no-compromise phone that starts at $899. A Snapdragon 8 Elite, paired with a 6,000mAh battery and 80W fast charging, is a recipe for endurance success. IP69 is almost excessive, but you'll appreciate it when least expected. $999.99 at Best Buy apr / 2025Over at OnePlus' website, both OnePlus 13 models are on sale for $50 off, and each purchase comes with a free gift. Options include a OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro and a Sandstone Magnetic Case.It's not often that I review a smartphone in the first few calendar weeks and feel confident in calling it a "Phone of the Year" contender. But when I tested the OnePlus 13 back in January, that's precisely what happened.Whether Google finally launches a Pixel Pro Fold with a flagship camera system this summer, or Apple releases a thinner iPhone in the fall, the OnePlus 13 will likely still be on my mind when the year-end nominations are due.Also: I changed 10 OnePlus phone settings to significantly improve the user experienceThere's a lot going for the latest flagship phone, from the more secure (and reliable) ultrasonic fingerprint sensor to the IP69 rating to the 6,000mAh Silicon NanoStack battery. It's also one of the first phones in North America to feature Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, which promises improvements to performance, efficiency, and AI workloads.I tested the OnePlus 13 alongside my iPhone 16 Pro Max and Google Pixel 9 Pro XL to see exactly how the Android phone stacked up against one of the best phones from 2024. In a few ways, the OnePlus 13 falls short, but in many ways, it puts the iPhone and Pixel to shame.When I first unboxed the OnePlus 13 and held it in my hand, my reaction was audible. Allow me to geek out here: The slightly curved glass, the slimness of the phone, and the overall appearance made my then-four-month-old iPhone look and feel outdated. It's as if OnePlus made the iPhone 17 Air before Apple did.However, what sells the OnePlus 13 design for me is the new Midnight Ocean color, which flaunts a vegan-leather backing that makes the phone visually distinctive and more comfortable to hold than its glass-only predecessors. The texture isn't as rough and grippy as actual leather, though, so I'd be interested in seeing how it ages over the year. (April update: The textured backing is holding up well, save for a few dark spots on the corners, likely caused by the phone rubbing against my palms.) Kerry Wan/ZDNETIf you were hoping the first major Android phone of 2025 would feature Qi2 wireless charging, I have good news and bad news. While the OnePlus 13 doesn't have an in-body Qi2 charging coil, meaning MagSafe (and similar) accessories won't attach directly to the back of the device, OnePlus has embedded magnetic guides within its protective covers, enabling users to take advantage of the accessories so long as the OnePlus 13 is encased. It's a burdenless workaround, but one that hopefully won't be necessary with the next model.For what it's worth, since publishing this review, several other Android phones have been released, including the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Nothing Phone 3a Pro, and Motorola Razr Ultra -- none of which feature Qi2 wireless charging.For years, one aspect that's held OnePlus phones back is the water and dust resistance rating, or lack thereof. With the OnePlus 13, the company is finally taking a stronger stance on the endurance standard, certifying the phone with an IP69 rating. It's a step above the IP68 ratings we commonly see on competing devices, and allows the OnePlus 13 to withstand high-pressure, high-temperature water jets and humidity changes.Also: 5 habit trackers on Android that can reveal your patterns - and motivate you to changeIn practice, this means the OnePlus 13 can function properly even if you leave it in your washer and dryer, dishwasher, or a pot of boiling soup. The IP69 rating feels very much like a flex, but it's a benefit that users will appreciate when they least expect it. Kerry Wan/ZDNETPowering the device is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip that, from my months of usage, has some noticeable strengths and weaknesses. For day-to-day usage, such as bouncing between productivity apps, definitely not scrolling through TikTok, and taking photos and videos, the processor handles tasks gracefully. It helps that OxygenOS 15, based on the latest version of Android, has some of the smoothest animations I've seen on a phone.Also: I found a Bluetooth tracker for Android users that functions better than AirTags (and it's cheaper)But once you fire up graphics-intensive applications like Adobe Premiere Rush and Honkai Star Rail, you'll notice some stuttering as the higher heat development leads to throttling performance. This isn't a dealbreaker, per se, as the nerfs are only apparent when you're using the device for a prolonged time.I've actually been using the OnePlus 13 quite liberally, as the 6,000mAh Silicon NanoStack battery has kept my review unit running for at least a day and a half per charge. That's unseen with any other mainstream phone in the US market, and I fully expect more manufacturers to adopt silicon batteries for their greater energy density. If not that, copy the 80W fast charging or 50W wireless charging; they're quite the revelation. Kerry Wan/ZDNETOn the camera front, the OnePlus 13, with its triple camera setup (50MP wide, ultrawide, and telephoto), has been a reliable shooter throughout most of my days. While the Sony LYT-808 sensor isn't on par with the one-inch sensors I've tested on international phones like the Xiaomi 15 Ultra, it does an excellent job of capturing details and finishing the output vividly. If you're a fan of sharp, bright, and slightly oversaturated imagery (read: more colorful than how the actual subject appears), then the OnePlus 13 will serve you well.Also: The best Android phones to buy in 2025Where the camera sensors fall short is in post-processing and AI-tuning features. For example, the phone leans heavily on computational photography to contextualize details when taking far-distance shots. This sometimes leads to images with an artificial, over-smoothing filter. But when the backend software works, it can reproduce details that you probably didn't think you'd capture in the first place.ZDNET's buying adviceFor a starting price of $899, the OnePlus 13 delivers some seriously good value -- possibly the best of all the major flagship phones I've tested so far this year. The company has improved the device in almost every way, from the design to the performance to its accessory ecosystem. I just wish OnePlus offered more extensive software support, as the OnePlus 13 will only receive four years of Android OS updates and six years of security updates. Samsung, Google, and Apple offer at least seven years of OS support. If you can shoulder the shorter promise of longevity, this is one of the easiest phones for me to recommend right now. Why the OnePlus 13 gets an Editors' Choice award We awarded the OnePlus 13 an Editors' Choice because it nails all the fundamentals of a great smartphone experience while leading the market in some regards, such as battery and charging, durability, and design. The specs this year are noticeably improved compared to its predecessor, the OnePlus 12, with a faster processor, lighter build, larger battery capacity, and a more capable camera system. Most importantly, the OnePlus 13 starts at $899, undercutting its closest competitors like the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Show more When will this deal expire? As per OnePlus, this offer will end on June 8, 2025.However, deals are subject to sell out or expire at any time, though ZDNET remains committed to finding, sharing, and updating the best product deals for you to score the best savings. Our team of experts regularly checks in on the deals we share to ensure they are still live and obtainable. We're sorry if you've missed out on a deal, but don't fret -- we constantly find new chances to save and share them with you on ZDNET.com.  Show more What are the tariffs in the US? The recent US tariffs on imports from countries like China, Vietnam, and India aim to boost domestic manufacturing but are likely to drive up prices on consumer electronics. Products like smartphones, laptops, and TVs may become more expensive as companies rethink global supply chains and weigh the cost of shifting production.Smartphones are among the most affected by the new US tariffs, with devices imported from China and Vietnam facing steep duties that could raise retail prices by 20% or more. Brands like Apple and Google, which rely heavily on Asian manufacturing, may either pass these costs on to consumers or absorb them at the expense of profit margins. The tariffs could also lead to delays in product launches or shifts in where and how phones are made, forcing companies to diversify production to countries with more favorable trade conditions. Show more This story was originally published on January 7, 2025, and was updated on June 1, 2025, adding information for a new June discount.Featured reviews

Version 1.0.0 By Robert Jan van Pelt (Park Books, 2025) The largest artifact in the touring exhibition Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away., currently on display at the ROM in Toronto, is a wooden barracks building. It’s from the Auschwitz-Monowitz camp, a satellite to Auschwitz created to provide slave labour to the IG Farben corporation for the construction of a synthetic rubber factory.  The discovery of a sister building, back in 2012, led exhibition chief curator and architectural historian Robert Jan van Pelt, University Professor at the Waterloo School of Architecture, on a research journey to write a comprehensive history of the barracks—temporary buildings that have not only housed prisoners, but also provided shelter for military servicemen and women, refugees, and natural disaster survivors. “Many people have experienced, for shorter or longer time periods, life in a barrack, and for all of them it represented life on the edge, for better or worse,” writes Van Pelt. Worm’s eye axonometric of Renkioi Hospital Barrack, a prefabricated hospital designed by Ismabard Kingdom Brunel for a site in Turkey, 1857. Van Pelt’s book criss-crosses with ease through architectural history, military history, and the history of medicine—all of which played crucial roles in the evolving development of this seemingly simple building type. The book is arranged in a dozen episodes, with the barrack at the centre of each, serving as an anchor point for unfolding the rich intellectual and historical context shaping the way these structures were developed and deployed. The book is richly illustrated with archival materials—a feat in itself, given that the documentation for temporary buildings, particularly before 1900, is scarce. These drawings, photos, and paintings are supplemented with 20 worm’s eye views of key buildings, carefully composed by a team of Waterloo architecture school students and alumni.  Thomas Thomaszoon, View of the headquarters of the Spanish in the Huis tea Kleef during the siege of Haarlem, 1572-73. Collection of Noord-Hollands Archief, Haarlem; courtesy Robert Jan van Pelt Like many vernacular buildings, temporary structures larger than a tent, designed to house soldiers in the field, have existed at least since Ancient Rome. One of the first visual accounts of barracks came centuries later, in the winter of 1572, when the Spanish laid siege to the Dutch city of Haarlem, and cartographer Thomas Thomaszoon sketched the position of dozens of Spain’s wood-and-straw structures outside the city. The siege was successful, but only a few years later, the Dutch Republic gained the upper hand. As part of the creation of a standing army, they began to develop more precise instructions for the layout of camps, including the construction of temporary barracks. Antoine-François Omet des Foucaux, Barrack constructed in Hendaye, France, 1793. From Jean-Charles Krafft, Plans, coupes et élévations de diverses productions de l’art de la charpente, 1805. Collection of Bilbliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Courtesy Robert Jan van Pelt The Napoleonic army made use of barracks in both military camps and training camps; by the mid-1800s, the construction of various barrack types was detailed in field construction manuals issued to officers in many European armies. During the Crimean War (1853-56), over 3,500 prefabricated barracks were manufactured in a Gloucester factory, as a solution to the appalling conditions at the front. But when the structures arrived at port, British forces were not able to unload and erect them—the materials for a single building weighed more than two tons, and each would require 60 horses (or 150 men) to transport to camp on the muddy roads.  The US (Union) Army’s Lincoln Hospital, Washington, DC, 1865. Collection of Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Courtesy Robert Jan van Pelt Prefabrication was also used, with somewhat more success, towards the end of the conflict to erect field hospitals designed by British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel with a priority on cross-ventilation to limit the spread of disease. Low mortality rates from similar structures led to a continued preference for “barrack hospitals” based on groupings of low-slung, well-ventilated pavilions, rather than conceived as single grand structures. The model was further refined with the addition of primitive underfloor heating and ridge ventilation by former surgeon William A. Hammond for the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-65).  Barrack hospitals were constructed for civilian use, as well. Following the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71), such designs were built to house patients with infectious diseases in Berlin and proposed as a means to bring professional medical care to Germany’s rural areas. A barracks-inspired hospital was built in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1889, and continues to be operational.  If the barrack as an accommodation for the sick is a progressive tale, the 19th-century history of the barrack is equally checkered by the building type’s use for prisoner accommodation, including in the penal colonies of Australia and French Guiana. In North America, barracks were used in an internment camp for Native American Dakotas, and Civil War-era Union barracks at Camp Douglas were used to house Confederate prisoners. The oldest preserved barrack in the world may be in Canada, at Grosse Isle national park. Here, barrack-style quarantine sheds were used to detain thousands of Irish immigrant families during the typhoid fever epidemic of 1846-47, and their damp, fetid conditions contributed to many deaths—an episode Van Pelt describes as a “blot on the national consciousness of Canada.” A single Doecker Hut contains an operation room, pharmacy and hospital management office. The prefabricated, portable hospitals were developed in 1885, and used around the world, including in the First World War. In America, they were marketed for managing epidemics in the wake of the 1892 typhus fever outbreak in New York. Courtesy Berlin State Library and Robert Jan van Pelt   At the turn of the 19th century, the prefabricated portable barrack came to the fore with the manufacturing of the Doecker barracks, by Christoph & Unmack, a firm based in Copenhagen and Germany. Developed by a former military officer-turned-tentmaker, the technically sophisticated model used large rectangular frames that could be clipped together, and covered with “felt-cardboard”—dense felt pressed onto canvas and impregnated with linseed oil. The self-supporting structures proved easy to set up, dismount, and transport, making them suitable for both military applications—and, with little modification, for humanitarian aid. The Red Cross deployed Doecker barracks for use as field hospitals in Manchuria and Yokohama during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05).  The Barrack, 1572-1914 wraps up in in the early 20th century, but with the note that in the ensuing decades until 1945, millions of barracks were produced by many of the world’s major nations—and that most of these were erected in barbed-wire-ringed compounds. “This is the period in which tens if not hundreds of millions of people, many of whom were civilians, were forced to live in barracks, as refugees, as expellees, as civilian internees, as forced laborers, as prisoners or war, as concentration camp prisoners, and as people made homeless by the destruction wrought by war,” writes Van Pelt. Up until 1914, he notes, this building type largely carried a sense of achievement—an image that would change sharply with the Age of the Camps. But although a WWII barrack was responsible for instigating Van Pelt’s initial investigation, that time period will need to await a second volume on this simple building type with a rich, complex, and complicated history.   As appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Architect magazine  The post Book Review: The Barrack, 1572-1914—Chapters in the History of Emergency Architecture appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Thrustmaster T598 + Hypercar Wheel review: a great value PC/PS5 sim racing wheel and pedals built on novel tech Direct axial drive impresses, despite limited software and a firmly mid stock wheel. Image credit: Digital Foundry Review by Will Judd Deputy Editor, Digital Foundry Published on June 1, 2025 We've seen an explosion in the number of affordable direct drive (DD) racing wheels over the past couple of years, with Fanatec and Moza offering increasingly inexpensive options that still deliver the precise, quick and long-lasting force feedback that cheaper gear- or belt-driven wheels can't match. Now, Thrustmaster is intruding on that territory with the T598, a PlayStation/PC direct drive wheel, wheel base and pedals that costs just £449/$499. That's on a similar level to the PC-only £459/$599 Moza R5 bundle and the €399/$569 Fanatec CSL DD bundle, so how does the newcomer compare? And what's changed from the more expensive T818 we reviewed before? We've been testing the T598 - and the fancy upgraded HyperCar wheel that's available as an upgrade option - for weeks to find out. Our full review follows, so read on - or check out the quick links below to jump to what you're most interested in. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Thrustmaster T598 wheel base review: direct axial drive vs traditional direct drive Interestingly, the T598 arguably comes with a more advanced DD motor than the more expensive T818 does. It uses a "direct axial drive" versus the standard "direct radial drive", where the magnets are aligned parallel to the wheel shaft rather than perpendicular (see the diagram below). This ought to allow for more efficient torque generation, producing less waste heat, minimising precision-sapping magnetic interference and requiring less copper to produce. It also means the T598 can "overshoot" to deliver more than its rated 5nm of constant torque for short periods. However, this design also requires a physically taller yet slimmer enclosure (measuring 210x210x120mm), potentially blocking the view forward and requiring a different bolt pattern to attach the base to your desk or sim racing cockpit - both of which are slight annoyances with the T598. (You do get an angle bracket to allow for wider and potentially more compatible holes for your cockpit... but this makes the tall wheel base even taller. Table clamps are also included.) Interestingly, you can also feel a slight vibration and hear a quiet crackling noise emanating from the T598 base while idle - something I haven't heard or felt with other direct drive motors and is reportedly inherent to this design. There's a lot going on inside this wheel base - including some genuine innovation. | Image credit: Thrustmaster/Digital Foundry Thrustmaster has written a pair of white papers to explain why their take on direct drive ("axial flux") is better than what came before ("radial flux"). Image credit: Thrustmaster In terms of the force feedback itself, Thrustmaster have achieved something quite special here. In some titles with a good force feedback implementation - Assetto Corsa, Assetto Corsa Evo and F1 23 stood out to me here - the wheel feels great, with strong force feedback and plenty of detail. If you run up on a kerb or start to lose traction, you know about it right away and can take corrective action. I also appreciated the way that turning the wheel feels perfectly smooth when turning, without any cogging - the slightly jerky sensation common to low-end and mid-range direct drive motors that corresponds to slight attraction as you pass each magnet. However, balancing this, the wheel's force feedback feels a little less consistent than others I've tested from the likes of Fanatec or Moza at a similar price point, with some games like Project Cars 3 and Forza Motorsport feeling almost bereft of force feedback by comparison. You also have that slight vibration when the wheel is stationary, which is potentially more noticeable than the cogging sensation in traditional DD designs. The overshoot is also a mixed bag - as the sudden jump in torque can feel a little artificial in some scenarios, eg when you're warming your tyres by weaving in F1 before a safety car restart. I'd say that these positives and negatives largely cancel each other out, and you're left with force feedback that is good, way better than non-DD wheels, but not noticeably better than more common radial direct drive designs. Depending on the games you play, either DD style could be preferable. It'll be interesting to see if Thrustmaster are able to tune out some of these negative characteristics through firmware updates - or simply in later products using the same technology. 1 of 7 Caption Attribution Here's how the T598 looks IRL - from the wheel base itself to the default rim, the upgraded Hypercar wheel and the included dual pedals. Click to enlarge. Apart from the novel motor, the rest of the wheel base is fairly standard - there's a small (colour!) display on the top for adjusting your settings and seeing in-game info like a rev counter, four large circular buttons buttons (L3, R3, Mode and Settings), the usual Thrustmaster quick release lock for securing your wheel rim and a small button on the back to turn the wheel base on and off. There are connection options for power, USB and connecting other components like pedals or shifters on the back too. Weirdly, there's no ability to change settings in the PC Thrustmaster Panel app - it just says this functionality is "coming soon!" - so right now you can only use it for updating firmware, testing buttons and changing between profiles. "Coming soon!" starts to become a little less believable six months after the first reviews hit. | Image credit: Digital Foundry Instead, you'll be using the built-in screen for making changes, which works well enough but doesn't provide any allowance for extra information - so you'll be sticking to the four basic pre-made profiles, referring to the manual or checking suggested setups online rather than reading built-in tool tips. You still get access to the full whack of settings here, and of course this works well for PS5/PS4 users who wouldn't expect a software experience anyway, but PC users may be disappointed to learn that there's no intuitive software interface here. I found the Boosted Media YT review of the wheelbase to offer some good insight into what settings you're likely to want to change from their default values. Thrustmaster T598 Sportcar wheel review: a workable default option The Sportcar wheel rim looks good - but a plastic construction and relatively spartan controls make it "OK" at best. The "Sportcar" wheel provided in the bundle is a little less impressive-looking than the base itself, with a plasticky feel throughout and fairly mushy buttons - though the paddles are snappy enough and feel good to use. The usual PS-style face buttons are split into two clumps up top with L2 and R2, which is a bit odd, with four individual directional buttons in the lower left, start/select/PS in the lower middle and four configuration buttons in the lower right. Those configuration buttons require extra explanation, so here we go: the P button at the top swaps between four different pages, indicated with a different colour LED, allowing the remaining three physical buttons to activate up to 12 different functions. (The Fanatec GT DD Pro, by contrast, has dedicated five-way controls for each of its four functions. This costs more to produce, but allows you to use the controls without looking down to see what coloured light is active.) There are no rotary encoders or other additional controls here, so PC players that prefer more complicated racing sims may feel a bit underserved by this clunky, cost-saving solution. The 815g wheel is at least sized reasonably, with 300mm circular shape that particularly suits drifting, rally and trucking - though all forms of driving and racing are of course possible. The rubber grips under your hands are reasonably comfortable, but you can still feel seams in various places. Overall, the wheel is possibly the weakest part of the package, but perfectly usable and acceptable for the price point. Thrustmaster Hypercar Wheel Add-On review: true luxury An incredible wheel with premium materials, excellent controls and a more specialised shape. Thrustmaster also sent over the £339/$350 Hypercar wheel rim for testing, which is an upgrade option that uses significantly better materials - leather, alcantara, aluminium and carbon - and offers a huge number of extra controls (25 buttons, including four rotary encoders and two pairs of analogue paddles). Its oval shape feels a bit more responsive for faster vehicles (like F1 cars) that require a quick change of direction, but drifting and rally doesn't feel natural. It supports the same PS4, PS5 and PC platforms as the stock option, but there are no legends printed on the buttons to help you. The difference in quality here is immediately apparent, with much better tactile feedback from the buttons and a huge number of additional controls for adjusting stuff like ERS deployment or brake bias. Each control feels well-placed, even if the T-shaped layout for the face buttons is slightly unnatural at first, and the paddles for shifting and the clutch are particularly well engineered. I also found holding the wheel a bit more comfortable thanks to that flattened out shape, the more premium materials and the absence of bumps or seams anywhere you're likely to hold. It's a huge upgrade in terms of feel and features then, as you'd hope for a wheel rim that costs nearly as much as the entire T598 kit and caboodle. As an upgrade option, I do rate it, though it perhaps makes slightly more sense for T818 owners that have already invested a bit more in the Thrusmaster ecosystem. Regardless, it was this rim that I used for the majority of my time with the T598, and the wheel base feels significantly better with the upgrade. Thrustmaster T598 Raceline pedals review: great feedback, but no clutch and no load cell upgrade offered at present Surprisingly good for two add-in pedals, in terms of feedback and flexibility. The pedals that come with the T598 are surprisingly good, with an accelerator, a brake pedal (with a choice of two different spring options) and no clutch pedal. Each pedal's spring assembly can be pushed into one of three positions to change the amount of pre-load - ie make it a bit softer or harder to press and the pedal plates can be shifted up and down. The narrow dimensions of the metal wheel plate meant that it was impossible to mount directly in the centre of the Playseat Trophy I used for testing, but the slightly off-centre installation I ended up with still worked just fine. They connect using a non-USB connection, so you can't use the pedals with other wheel bases. Using the middle distance setting and the firmer of the two springs for the brake, I found the T598 produced good results, on par or perhaps even a tad better than other metal-construction Hall Effect position sensor (ie non-load cell) pedals I've tested such as the Moza SR-P Lite and Fanatec CSL. Braking is the critical point here, as you want to be able to feel when the brake has mechanically reached its threshold and then modulate your inputs from there, and the T598 pedals do allow for this quite easily. They're also not so hard to actuate that you end up having to hard-mount them to a sim rig for good results, and the included carpet spikes are reasonably effective in keeping the pedals in place. Presumably, it ought to be possible to add on a load cell brake pedal down the line to upgrade to a proper (if slightly cramped) three pedal setup. For the F1 style driving that I prefer, the clutch pedal isn't used anyway, so it wasn't a massive issue for me - and we frequently see companies like Moza and Fanatec drop the clutch pedal on these aggessively priced bundles so Thrustmaster aren't losing ground by following suit. Thrustmaster T598 final verdict: a competitive £450 package with potential For PlayStation owners, this is an incredible value pickup that ranks among the cheapest DD options - and PC owners ought to consider it too. For £449/$499, the Thrustmaster T598 is an excellent value direct drive wheel and pedal bundle for PlayStation and PC with some relatively minor quirks. The wheel base is powerful, detailed and responsive in most games, with some advantages over traditional DD designs but also some disadvantages - notably the taller shape and a slight hum/vibration while stationary. Traditional DD designs from the likes of Fanatec and Moza can offer more reliable force feedback that works over a wider range of games, cars and tracks, while also benefitting from better PC software, but there's certainly potential for Thrustmaster to improve here. The included wheel feels a bit cheap, with a predominantly plastic design, spongey buttons and a slightly odd layout, but the full circle shape and full PS5/PS4 compatibility is most welcome. Upgrading to the HyperCar wheel provides a huge uptick in materials, tactile feedback and number of controls, though this does come at a fairly steep price of £339/$350. If you plan to use the T598 for years and have the budget for it, this is a super upgrade to aim for. The included Raceline LTE pedals are the most surprising element for me. These consist of only an accelerator and a brake with only moderate adjustability and a narrow base plate, but they feel great to use, are made from durable metal with HE sensors, and only really lose out to significantly more expensive load cell options. For an add-in for a relatively cheap DD bundle, they're a solid inclusion, and I hope Thrustmaster release a load cell brake pedal for users to upgrade to a better three-pedal setup later. Overall, it's an competitive first outing for Thrustmaster with the T598 and direct axial drive, and I'm curious to see where the company - and the tech - goes from here. With Fanatec still on the rebuild after being acquired by Corsair and Moza's offerings being hard to order online in some regions, Thrustmaster has a golden opportunity to seize a share of the mid-range and entry-level sim racing market, and the T598 is a positive start.

Even if you don't want to dive in and create AI videos using the latest Veo 3 model released by Google, you can sit back and marvel at (or be petrified by) the work of others: Flow TV is a new lean-back experience that lets you click through a seemingly endless carousel of AI-generated clips.Unlike the Flow video creator that is needed to create these videos, you don't need to pay Google a subscription fee to use Flow TV, and you don't even need to be signed into a Google account. It's a showcase for the best AI clips produced by Veo, though for now, it's limited to the older Veo 2 model rather than Veo 3.Google hasn't said much about the creators behind the videos in Flow TV, but it is described as an "ever-growing showcase" of videos, so presumably there are new clips being added regularly behind the scenes—and eventually we might see Veo 3 clips mixed in, the kind of clips that have already been fooling people online.Ready to take a break from content made by flesh and blood humans and see what AI is currently cooking up? Point your browser towards the Flow TV channel list.Channel hopping Flow TV gives you multiple channels to choose from. Credit: Lifehacker The channel list gives you some idea of what's available on Flow TV: We've got channels like Window Seat (views from train carriages), Unnatural (nature with an AI twist), and Zoo Break (animal adventures). Some of these play to the strengths of AI video, including It's All Yarn (self-explanatory) and Dream Factory (general weirdness).And do expect to be freaked out pretty regularly, by the way: Flow TV is not ideal if you're easily unsettled or unnerved, because these clips move quickly, and feature content that goes way beyond the norm. I didn't come across anything really shocking or disturbing, but this is AI—and Flow TV doesn't particularly focus on realism.There's also a Shuffle All option in addition to the individual channels, and whichever route you pick through the clips, there's a lot to watch—I wasn't able to get to the end of it all. You can also switch to the Short Films tab at the top of the channel list to see three longer pieces of work made by acknowledged creators.Whichever route you take through this content, you get playback controls underneath the current clip: Controls for pausing playback, jumping forwards and backwards between clips, looping videos, and switching to full screen mode. What you can't do, however, is skip forwards or backwards through a clip, YouTube-style.To the right of the control panel you can switch between seeing one video at a time, and seeing a whole grid of options, and further to the right you've got a channel switcher. Click the TV icon to the left of the control panel to see all the available channels again, and the Flow TV button in the top-left corner to jump to something random. There's also a search box up at the top to help you look for something specific.Prompt engineering Expect the unexpected from AI video. Credit: Lifehacker While you're watching the videos, you'll see a Show Prompt toggle switch underneath each clip. Turn this switch on to see the prompt used to make the video you're watching, together with the AI model deployed (which is always Veo 2, at least for now). It's an interesting look behind the scenes at how each clip was made.Here's an example one: "First person view. Follow me into through this secret door into my magic world. Documentary. Soft natural light. 90s." As you can see, Veo just lets you throw in whatever ideas or camera directions or style guidelines come to mind, without worrying too much about formal structure (or grammar).Revealing the prompts lets you see what the AI got right and what it didn't, and how the models interpret different instructions. Of course, it always makes the most generic picks from prompts, based on whatever dominates its training data: Generic swans, generic buses, generic cars, generic people, generic camera angles and movements. If you need something out of the ordinary from AI video, you need to ask for it specifically.Look closer, and the usual telltale signs of AI generation are here, from the way most clips use a similar pacing, scene length, and shot construction, to the weird physics that are constantly confusing (and are sometimes deliberately used for effect). AI video is getting better fast, but it's a much more difficult challenge than text or images represent.For now, Flow TV is a diverting demo gallery of where AI video is at: what it does well and where it still falls short. On this occasion, I'll leave aside the issues of how much energy was used to generate all of these clips, or what kinds of videos the Veo models might have been trained on, but it might be worth bookmarking the Flow TV channel directory if you want to stay up to speed with the state of AI filmmaking.

Unlike the other big streamers, Tubi only has a handful of original shows, most of them imports (their original movie selection is much larger). That's not to say it's a wasteland for TV addicts: The streamer might actually have too many shows, a vast and sometimes wild catalog that spans decades. As the likes of Netflix and HBO Max have slimmed down their catalogues, Tubi is growing, offering a mix of established hits, underrated gems, and more obscure offerings. For the sheer breadth of material on offer, it has become the first place I look for anything outside the current zeitgeist—like the following 18 shows, an entirely non-comprehensive sampling of what Tubi has to offer, crossing genres and decades.Gossip Girl (2007 – 2012) Occasionally referred to as the greatest teen drama of all time (certainly this side of 90210), Gossip Girl was a buzzy ratings champ for the CW back in the day, with its juicy, often scandalous storylines that veered so often into intentional satire that it was hard to ever get mad at the ridiculousness of any of it. Set among a group of well-heeled students on Manhattan's Upper East Side, its characters find their private lives being chronicled by the title’s mysterious master of gossip—so think of it as a proto-Bridgerton. You can stream Gossip Girl here.Babylon 5 (1993 – 1998, five seasons) J. Michael Straczynski’s wildly ambitious sci-fi epic was way ahead of its time, with a planned (more or less) five season story arc set on the titular space station. Babylon 5 is a remote outpost that becomes the last best hope for peace in the face of conflicting human and alien agendas—even more so after an ancient threat is awakened. With increasingly complex storylines that expanded over its run, this was a stab at prestige TV before that was a thing, and it still holds up (dated CGI effects notwithstanding. You can stream Babylon 5 here.Empire (2015 – 2020) Hip hop mogul and Empire Entertainment CEO Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is dying, having been diagnosed with ALS at a young age. He wasn't planning to have to hand off his company so early, but nevertheless finds himself preparing his three very different sons (Trai Byers, Jussie Smollett, and Bryshere Y. Gray) to take the keys to the kingdom—by pitting them against one other. Into this already Shakespearean setup steps Lucious' ex-wife Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), just released from prison and harboring her own plans for Lucious's empire. You can stream Empire here. Mr. Robot (2015 – 2019) Social anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and dissociative identity disorder make up the potent blend of neurodivergences challenging Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), a genius senior cybersecurity engineer at Allsafe Cybersecurity. In season one, he's recruited by an anarchist who goes by the moniker Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) to encrypt all the financial data of a global mega-conglomerate, thereby erasing massive amounts of debt (hey, real-life hackers, maybe take some notes?). The show starts strong and gets better across its increasingly labyrinthian four seasons—utterly preposterous while also feeling realistic in its technical detail. You can stream Mr. Robot here. Boarders (2024 - , two seasons) This British import feels a bit like a latter-day Skins, with a talented cast of young stars-in-waiting (including leads Josh Tedeku and Jodie Campbell) and a scholastic setting. At the (fictional) prestigious boarding school St. Gilbert’s, five Black teens are newly attending, having earned scholarships, but their integration into the existing cliques is less than smooth. The blend of coming-of-age drama with a willingness to take the piss when it comes to the whole rich private school thing makes this Tubi original a good time. You can stream Boarders here.Big Mood (2024 – , renewed for a second season) Another UK import and Tubi original (at least stateside), Big Mood stars Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton) and Lydia West (It's a Sin) as a couple of besties in East London, living their best millennial thirtysomething lives. Well, kind of: Maggie's dealing with bipolar disorder, and unclear on whether she wants to continue with her medication as she sets out to write a play, while Lydia is doing her very best running a tanking dive bar inherited from her father. It's both a cute dramedy and an impressively frank exploration of the challenges of living with mental illness. You can stream Big Mood here. Vicious (2013 – 2016, two seasons) The old-school sitcom formula has never been executed quite this bitchily, with the inspired pairing of Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi as Freddie Thornhill and Stuart Bixby, a couple of nearly 50 years who’ve developed a love-hate relationship. This cast, which includes Frances de la Tour and Game of Thrones’ Ian Rheon, is unbeatable, and the one-liners are hilariously nasty. You can stream Vicious here.The Haves and the Have Nots (2013 – 2021, eight seasons) Tyler Perry's old-school primetime soap was the show that practically built OWN; it was the then-new network's first scripted show, and an immediate breakout. It follows three families: The wealthy Harringtons and the Cryers are wealthy movers in Atlanta, Georgia, while the Young family is overseen by single mom Hanna, who's both a maid for the Cryers and confidante to the family matriarch. There's juicy tension galore between the three families, in no small part because of class differences, but also because they're all equally screwed. You can stream The Haves and the Have Nots here. Spartacus (2010 – 2013) Doing Ridley Scott’s Gladiator one better in terms of both narrative complexity and in hot shirtless gay arena action, Spartacus starts off as pure spectacle and grows into a juicy, high-gloss soap opera by series' end. Buoyed by performances from leads Andy Whitfield (who tragically passed away during the series' original run), Manu Bennett, John Hannah, and Lucy Lawless, it’s sword-and-sandals done right. A follow-up series is in development over at Starz, so it's a good time to catch up. You can stream Spartacus here. Broadchurch (2013 – 2017) Creator Chris Chibnall's dark crime drama didn't invent its particular sub-genre (whatever you call the one where two troubled homicide detectives butt heads in a gloomy town), but it did popularize it to the point that we've been inundated with countless imitators of wide-ranging quality. With the great pairing of Olivia Colman and David Tennant (joined by yet another Doctor Who Doctor, Jodie Whittaker), Broadchurch still stands alongside the best of its kind. You can stream Broadchurch here.Doctor Who (1963 – 1989, 26 seasons) Speaking of Doctor Who, even if you're current with the modern incarnation (if I can use "modern" for a show that started airing in 2005), you've got a lot of timey-wimey adventures to enjoy. Tubi has the entirity of the surviving 26-season original run, going all the way back to 1963 and the story of a mysterious old man living in a junkyard with his granddaughter. Seven doctors is enough to keep anyone busy for a while. Tubi has the show broken out by Doctor, but, if you want to start from the beginning you can stream The First Doctor here. Haven (2010 – 2015) Tubi is a haven for small gems like this, a five-season Stephen King adaptation originally produced by SyFy. Emily Rose stars as Audrey Parker, and FBI Special Agent sent to the small town of Haven, Maine on a routine case who gets drawn into “The Troubles," a series of harmful supernatural events that have recurred throughout the town’s history. A supernatural-case-of-the-week format gives way to a bigger mystery when Audrey comes to learn that this isn’t her first time in Haven, nor the first time she’s encountered the Troubles. You can stream Haven here.Scandal (2012 – 2018, seven seasons) Shonda Rhimes was already a powerhouse producer and screenwriter with several successful seasons of Grey's Anatomy under her belt when Scandal debuted, but its blend of political thrills and sexy, soapy drama is what solidified her brand, and her spot atop of the modern TV landscape. Kerry Washington stars as Olivia Pope, head of the DC-based crisis management firm Olivia Pope & Associates (OPA), who is the person to call when you've got a PR disaster to fix. If you want to get a sense of the stakes involved, consider that Tony Goldwyn costars as Fitzgerald Grant III, president of the United States, and also Olivia's lover. You can stream Scandal here. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 – 2003) With word that Sarah Michelle Gellar (and company?) are returning to the wreckage of Sunnydale for a Hulu reboot, it’s probably not a bad time to visit (or revisit, or re-revisit) this seven-season teen vampire hunter saga. While the pacing might feel a little slow, and the effects a little janky, its blend of high school (and then college) angst, kick-ass monster fights, and genuinely laugh-out-loud comedy holds up. You can stream Buffy here.Heartland (2007 – , 18 seasons) If there’s a stereotype that middle-American viewers won’t watch foreign fare, this show puts the lie to it—at least when it comes to imports from Alberta (tariff-free!). Based on a popular book series from Linda Chapman and Beth Chambers (writing under the name Lauren Brooke), the show follows the lives of a family of horse ranchers in western Canada, led by sisters Amy and Lou (Amber Marshall and Michelle Morgan). Tubi currently has only the first 15 seasons of the drama, which has recently been renewed for a 19th. That’s Law & Order-level longevity, people. You can stream Heartland here.Highlander (1992 – 1998, six seasons) An classic of '90s-era syndicated action/adventure, Highlander stars Adrian Paul as the title hero, taking over from Christopher Lambert in the film series. Duncan MacLeod is an immortal warrior living in the modern(-ish) day, hunted by others of his own kind, whose goal is singular: to chop off Duncan's head in order to steal his power. Episodes typically involve some sort of flashback to an earlier era in Duncan's life where we first encounter the threat he'll face in the modern day. There's at least one good sword fight in every episode, and I can't imagine what more you'd want out of a series. Bonus: It carries over the films' kick-ass Queen theme song. You can stream Highlander here. Z Nation (2014 - 2019) The Walking Dead made prestige television out of the zombie apocalypse, but this SyFy channel original is all about zombies as a campy, gory good time.  Things kick off with a soldier who’s been tasked with transporting a package across country. The package in question is actually a human being, the survivor of a zombie bite who might be able to help create a vaccine (take note, The Last of Us fans). This one comes from the schlock-masters at The Asylum, purveyors of infamous B-movies like Sharknado, which should tell you all you need to know about the tone. You can stream Z Nation here.Columbo (1968 – 2003, 16 seasons) Peter Falk's sublimely rumpled detective practically invented the style that Peacock's Poker Face has recently revived: a crime (usually a murder) is committed, the viewers know whodunnit, and Columbo has to solve it. Early on in any given episode, we get to watch the crime being committed, though we don't always know the motive. The challenge isn't to figure out the culprit, but to discover exactly how TV's greatest detective is going to solve the case. You can stream Columbo here.

Dotemu is on a pretty good run. The video game studio and publisher has been around since 2007, and much of its history is largely working on remakes and remasters of older games. But it’s also been involved with major hits in the form of sequels and new games that are in the spirit of older classics, including Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.All of that work is culminating in what looks to be a promising 2025, with three new but classics-inspired games: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a new side-scroller for the series; Marvel Cosmic Invasion, an arcade-y beat-’em-up; and Absolum, an original beat-’em-up with roguelike elements. Absolum. Image: Dotemu“We’re open to everything,” CEO Cyrille Imbert tells The Verge. Despite his title, Imbert says his job involves acting like an executive producer to bring together concepts that answer specific needs for franchises.Before Shredder’s Revenge’s 2022 release, for example, there hadn’t been a good side-scrolling TMNT game for “a while,” he says. (Turtles in Time, which helped inspire the game, came out in 1991.) “We were convinced that there was a need for that.” There was: the game sold 1 million copies in its first week, developer Tribute Games said at the time.Dotemu takes on “most of the risk” of a project based on an existing franchise, Imbert says, meaning that while the company needs to convince a franchise owner to get on board, Dotemu typically finances everything and is responsible for finding a studio to execute a concept.“From A to Z, we are in control of the project, but we take the risk from A to Z as well,” explains Imbert. “Sometimes the studio will also participate financially, but it’s fairly rare, or it’s usually a minority of the total spending.” Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. Image: DotemuWith the new Ninja Gaiden game, for example, Imbert says he was familiar with the 3D iterations of the franchise on Xbox, and he also saw the success of recent action-platformers like The Messenger. So, he started conversations with Koei Tecmo, and then worked with The Game Kitchen, the developer of Blasphemous, on a pitch. “That’s the story, basically,” Imbert says.For Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Imbert says that following Streets of Rage 4, “lots of people” had been asking for a new X-Men game that was like what you used to find in arcades. “We knew there was a need and that people would really like it,” he says, especially if it got a similar treatment as Streets of Rage 4 or Shredder’s Revenge. The idea was “very obvious” to the Tribute Games team as well, so Dotemu and Tribute made a pitch to Marvel Games.Absolum, as a fully original game, is different from its other titles. From a pure business perspective, it’s a way for Dotemu to diversify its lineup so that the company doesn’t rely entirely on licensed games. Internally, the Dotemu team felt like they could do their own thing, and by making it inspired by classics, it would still fit in Dotemu’s lineup, Imbert says. They also wanted to work with Guard Crush, which worked on Streets of Rage 4, on another beat-’em-up.It all adds up to what’s going to be a busy year for the company. It has three games that show the different approaches it has to making these kinds of experiences, and all of them were chosen for a specific reason. “That’s how we’re going to be proud of what we do.”See More: