It should have been obvious that Google I/O 2025 would be jammed-packed, considering the company felt the need to hold a separate event to cover all of its Android news. But color me shocked that Google pulled off a nearly two hour-long presentation, full of announcements and reveals, mostly about AI. Not all AI announcements are equal, of course. Some of the news was geared towards enterprise users, and some towards developers. But many of the features discussed are on their way to consumers' devices too, some as soon as today. These are the updates I'm going to focus on here—you can expect to try out these features today, in the coming weeks, or at some point in the near future.Gemini Live is coming to the iPhoneEarlier this year, Google rolled out Gemini Live for all Android users via the Gemini app. The feature lets you share your camera feed or screen with Gemini, so it can help answer questions about what you're seeing. As of today, Google is now bringing the feature out to iPhones with the Gemini app as well. As long as you have the app, you can share your camera and screen with the AI, no matter what platform you're on. AI Mode is the future of Google SearchGoogle has been testing AI Mode in Search since March. The feature essentially turns Google Search into more of a Gemini experience, allowing you to stack multiple questions into one complex request. According to Google, it's AI can handle breaking down your query and searching the web for the most relevant sources. The result, in theory, is a complete report answering all aspects of your search, including links to sources and images.AI Mode is rolling out for all users—not just testers—over the coming weeks. But it's not just the AI Mode experience that Google has been testing. The company also announced new AI Mode features at I/O. Cram multiple searches into oneFirst, there's Deep Search, which multiplies the number of searches AI Mode typically would make for your query and generates an "expert-level fully-cited report" for you. I would still fact check it thoroughly, seeing as AI has a habit of hallucinating. AI Mode is also getting Gemini Live access, so you can share your screen or camera in Search.Use "Agent Mode" as a real world personal assistantProject Mariner is also coming to AI Mode. Google says you'll have access to "agentic capabilities," which basically means you can rely on the AI to complete tasks for you. For example, you'll be able to ask AI Mode to find you "affordable tickets for this Saturday’s Reds game in the lower level," and not only will the bot do the searching for you, it'll fill out the necessary forms. Google says that functionality will apply to event tickets, restaurant reservations, and local appointments.You can see that in action with Agent Mode, which will theoretically be able to execute complex tasks on your behalf. We don't know a lot about how that will work yet, but we do have a clear example from the Google I/O stage. During the presentation, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai tasked Gemini's Agent Mode with finding an apartment with in-unit laundry, keeping to a certain budget. Gemini then got to work, opening the browser, pulling up Zillow, searching for apartments, and booking a tour. AI Mode will pull from your previous search history in order to deliver you more relevant results. That includes results that apply to your whereabouts—say, local recommendations for an upcoming trip—as well as preferences (if you tend to book outdoor dining spots, AI Mode may recommend outdoor dining when you ask to find dinner reservations). New Gemini features coming to WorkspaceGoogle announced a number of new Gemini features at I/O, some of which are coming to Workspace. One of the features Google focused on most was Personalized smart replies in Gmail. While Gmail has an AI-powered smart reply feature already, this one goes a step further, and bases its responses on all of your Google data. The goal is to generate a reply that sounds like you wrote it, and includes all the questions or comments you might reasonably have for the email in question. In practice, I'm not sure why I'd want to let AI do all of my communicating for me, but the feature will be available later this year, and for paid subscribers first.If you use Google Meet with a paid plan, expect to see live speech translation start to roll out today. The feature automatically dubs over speakers on a call in a target language, like an instant universal translator. Let's say you speak English and your meeting partner speaks Spanish: You hear them begin to speak in Spanish, before an AI voice takes over with the English translation. 'Try it on'Google doesn't want you returning the clothes you order online anymore. The company announced a new feature called "try it on" that uses AI to show you what you'd look like wearing whatever clothing item you're thinking about buying. This isn't a mere concept, either: Google is rolling out "try it on" today to Google Search lab users. If you want to learn more about the feature and how to use it, check out our full guide. Android XRAs the rumors suggested, Google talked a bit about Android XR, the company's software experience for glasses and headsets. Most of the news it shared was previously announced, but we did see some interesting features in action. For example when using one of the future glasses with Android XR built in, you'll be able to access a subtle HUD that can show you everything from photos to messages to Google Maps. (Personally, the main draw here for me would be AR Google Maps while walking around a new city.) On stage, we also saw a live demo of speech translation, which Android XR overlaying an English translation on screen as two presenters spoke in different languages.While there's no true timeline on when you can try Android XR, Google's big news is that it is working with both Warby Parker and Gentle Monster on making glasses with the service built in. Veo 3, Imagen 4, and FlowGoogle unveiled two new AI generation models at I/O this year: Imagen 4 (images) and Veo 3 (video).Imagen 4 now generates higher-quality images with more detail than Imagen 3, Google's previous image generation model. However, the company specifically noted Imagen 4's improvements with text generation. If you ask the model to generate a poster, for example, Google says that the text will be both accurate to the request, as well as stylistic. Google kicked off the show with videos generated by Veo 3, so it's safe to say the company is quite proud of its video generation model. While the results are crisp, colorful, and occasionally jam-packed with elements, it definitely still suffers from the usual quirks and issues with AI-generated video. But the bigger story here is "Flow," Google's new AI video editor. Flow uses Veo 3 to generate videos, which you can then assemble like any oother non-linear editor. You can use Imagen 4 to generate an element you want in a shot, then ask Flow to add it to the next clip. In addition to the ability to cut or expand a shot, you can control the camera movement of each shot independently. It's the most "impressive" this tech has seemed to me, but outside of a high-tech story board, I can't imagine the use for this. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I certainly don't want to watch AI-generated videos, even if they are created via tools similar to the ones human video creators use. Veo 3 is only available to Google AI Ultra subscribers, though Flow is available in limited capacity with Veo 2 to AI Pro subscribers. Two new Chrome featuresChrome users can look forward to two new features following Google I/O. First, Google is bringing Gemini directly to the browser—no need to open the Gemini site. Second, Chrome can now update your old passwords on your behalf. This feature is launching later this year, though you'll need to wait for the websites themselves to offer support.A new way to pay for AIFinally, Google is offering new subscriptions to access its AI features. Google AI Premium is now AI Pro, and remains largely the same, minus the new ability to access Flow and Gemini in Chrome. It still costs $20 per month.The new subscription is Google AI Ultra, which costs a whopping $250 a month. For that price, you get everything in Google AI Pro, but with the highest limits for all of the AI models, including Gemini, Flow, Whisk, and NotebookLM. You get access to Gemini 2.5 Pro Deep Think (the company's newest and most advanced reasoning model), Veo 3, Project Mariner, YouTube Premium, and 30TB of cloud storage. What a deal.

Do you want to make a podcast from notes you record on your iPhone? You can, as Google has introduced an iOS version (and an Android version) of its popular NotebookLM tool, which can do this, among other things. The news follows hot on the heels of speculation that Apple may try to overcome shortcomings in its own AI development by opening up its platform to third-party AI services in addition to ChatGPT and Apple Intelligence. It may be relevant to point out that Apple this week made it possible to use Google Translate instead of Apple’s own Translate app on iPhones. What is NotebookLM? Notebook LM has won a ton of praise since it appeared. It is a really useful document summarization system that is very handy for researchers — and can even turn topics you write about into engaging and thought-provoking podcasts. The service achieves this through use of Google’s Gemini genAI system, which seems to be improving rapidly when it comes to focused tasks. “We’ve received a lot of great feedback from the millions of people using NotebookLM, our tool for understanding and engaging with complex information. One of the most frequent requests has been for a mobile app — for listening to Audio Overviews on the go, asking questions about sources in the moment, and sharing content directly to NotebookLM while browsing,” said Google when it announced the new apps. Making a podcast on your iPhone NotebookLM has been available as a web app, and now also as an app for iOS and Android. Once installed, you can use the mobile app to create new notes and access those you may already have created via your Google account. You can also add new sources to notes and create podcasts of those notes. But one of the best new features is the ability to get involved in the podcast/conversation.  Tap the Join button and you can interact with the AI-generated hosts, asking them questions or steering the conversation. It’s remarkable, particularly if you are still trying to explain which song you want Siri to play in Apple Music.  It shows the extent to which Apple’s AI services are playing catch-up and may also be why Apple’s management is thinking about opening up the company’s platform to third-party AI services. Is this how Apple will make AI services optional? The move to make Google Translate an option for users shows how that may be done. Just as Apple is being forced to permit users to choose between browsers in Europe, the options tool for Translation lets you select which service to use for that.  Finding a way to offer these choices while preserving platform integrity is easier said than done. Apple has admitted to having thousands of engineers tasked with figuring out how to make that possible.  But as the company moves forward with developing solutions that deliver such choice, it is also creating the template we will probably see it follow as it moves to offer up support for different forms of AI services on its devices. With that in mind, it is likely that, as AI services introduce apps for Apple’s systems, the company will introduce a new setting in which users will be able to choose what service to use. It is possible that Apple will need to keep Apple Intelligence as the first point of contact, acting as a kind of concierge for queries, which it then directs to an appropriate AI. Users will then select which service will offer the default AI. What about people who don’t want to use these services? For enterprise users, this poses additional challenges. To avoid data leaks, not every business will be prepared to authorize employees to use every available genAI model. That challenge implies that Apple will also need to build APIs for Mobile Device Management to enable IT to switch off access to these third-party genAI models for managed devices. The problem with access must therefore logically extend to app-based control. IT will want to be able to prevent people from using apps such as NotebookLM on managed devices, presumably by setting restrictions on the use of certain apps. It also seems viable to expect Apple to offer up an additional choice — one in which users are given the opportunity to select to stay with a purely Apple experience. After all, that should also be an option for those who like it, right? You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

The BBC’s research and development (R&D) arm serves a public purpose, which, according to the department’s director Jatin Aythora, is to make some of the technologies and inventions it creates available either for free or at really low cost. This is something Aythora says BBC R&D has done for many years. Aythora sees his job as helping the team to achieve the technical breakthroughs that the news and media industry can benefit from. The team is tasked with developing technologies and capabilities that benefit the wider society within the UK in a way that minimises the cost to the BBC.  “We all focus on the public purpose of the BBC, which is very much about researching and developing for societal good,” he says. Aythora believes he is a technologist at heart, having started his career as an engineer, and has worked across different industries as he climbed the career ladder. “Every time I’ve changed jobs, I’ve changed industries,” he adds. The benefit of working in many different industries has given Aythora the opportunity to continue learning, which he regards as an important skill for technology leadership. “Curiosity and the ability to learn plays an important role,” he says, adding that these help with confidence and broadens the depth and breadth of knowledge. When asked about applying technology know-how in different sectors, in Aythora’s experience, irrespective of the business sector, technology challenges and opportunities are quite similar: “It’s how you apply technology and what you do with it in the organisational context that matters the most. Technology is linked to the return on investment, which, in any organisation, has to deliver value.” A recent project the BBC Research and Development team has been working on is around demonstrating the authenticity of content. “The verifiability of content has become quite an important aspect of our daily lives. We often come across news that we question, and then we ask [for] or we go to search for other sources to validate and verify,” Aythora says. The team has been working with Microsoft and its chief scientific officer, Eric Horvitz, for several years, developing an approach to verifying content called Content Credentials. “This is a really good example of transferable knowledge from one industry to another,” adds Aythora.  Aythora previously worked at De Beers and in diamond mining. One of the important challenges De Beers faced was to prove where a particular stone came from and whether it was a “clean” diamond, which resulted in the development of Forevermark to verify the authenticity of diamonds. “We invented a piece of technology [Forevermark] that would mark a diamond with a specific watermark that can be traced from where it originates to how many hands it would have exchanged over a period of time,” he says, adding that the same concept can be applied in the content world. “If a piece of BBC content is appearing on social media platforms, you want to be sure of where it has actually come from.” “It’s how you apply technology and what you do with it in the organisational context that matters the most” Jatin Aythora, BBC Research and Development For Aythora, verifying content is an important challenge not only for the news, the media industry and the BBC, but also the wider technology industry. “The content credentials capability and the standards that we’ve invented are now being adopted by most of the large technology organisations, including OpenAI, Google and Microsoft,” he says. The Content Credentials feature on the BBC news site provides a button which enables people reading stories to check the authenticity of the information. The tool uses metadata, such as the time or date an image was taken, compares locations, matches the weather conditions in the image to actual reported weather, notes whether shadows are casting in the correct way, and runs searches for other instances of the material online in case the image has been taken out of context. Content Credentials is now a technical standard from the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), which was co-founded in 2019 by BBC Research and Development – alongside other members including Adobe and Microsoft. BBC News Verify published its first article using the C2PA standard in March 2024. Another project coming out of BBC R&D looks at evolving radio using virtual worlds in a way that can draw in a younger audience, as Aythora explains: “We’ve been exploring how can we make that performance much more interactive and immersive for younger generations who are not going to listen to the radio.” Last year, the BBC partnered with Bristol-based tech company Condense to design immersive live music experiences for younger audiences, which enables fans to join these live events as avatars on their mobile or laptop. The New Music Portal, which began with Radio 1’s New Music Show, hosted by Jack Saunders, enables the audience to navigate the venue like a video game while chatting with other fans via an instant messaging platform.  “We made this experience easy for people to access – you [just] need a device that’s connected to the internet,” says Aythora. He hopes that as virtual reality headsets become more popular and affordable, the experience can evolve to provide a true immersive experience using these devices. Speech-to-text tech and AI BBC R&D tends to have a decade-long outlook on technology, which implies it has been working on certain technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) for a long time. Recalling the first implementation, Aythora says: “We take it for granted today, because we have access to technology that can do speech to text, but 10 years ago that wasn’t the case. BBC R&D had the best speech-to-text algorithm that was delivering 85% accuracy.” This was significantly higher than the accuracy available from some providers, which, according to Aythora, was only 30% accuracy. Speech-to-text tech powers also subtitles on BBC Sounds. “When we started with the journey of speech to text, we were the market leaders, but we’re not market leaders anymore. AI has matured quite significantly, so what we do is take the best of our capability and the best of what the industry has to provide,” he says, adding that BBC R&D combines the AI technologies developed in-house and products available from speech-to-text providers to deliver “amazing experiences for our audiences”. The BBC is also looking at using AI with video. “We believe defect detection using computer vision and AI models is going to be important for organisations like the BBC,” Aythora says. “There needs to be a method through which we are able to highlight if a particular piece of video or an image has been manipulated.” The BBC’s biggest challenge – and one that the research and development team needs to be cognizant of as it embarks on technology innovation – is how to deliver services at scale at an affordable cost point. “We are a public service organisation. We don’t have an endless amount of money available to us,” Aythora says, adding that this is a different challenge compared with a commercial organisation that uses technology either to gain a competitive edge or drive profit.  IT and technology leaders often encounter situations when they cannot achieve results as quickly as they would like due to organisational constraints. Aythora believes patience is key: “Patience plays an important role in your ability as a leader not only to manage certainty and opportunities, but the challenges as well.” Aythora also recommends IT leaders validate their ideas, adding: “Don’t assume that your idea is the right idea and the best idea. Validate it with various people to build confidence. The more you validate, the more confident you will become, either to pursue it or not to pursue it. Sometimes your ideas might just not be the right idea, and that’s OK, you just have to accept that. But at the same time, continue to validate it.” This is important as good ideas tend to be taken up eventually. “It’s only a matter of time and context before the idea becomes more relevant,” he says. Technologists and IT leaders can often face what may seem like insurmountable barriers and objections to the technology proposals they put forward, but perseverance is key. Among the themes to come out of the conversation with Aythora is one of self-belief – to use Aythora’s words: “Self-belief is not instant; it becomes a belief over a period of time. It’s a journey that we go through.” Read more executive interviews Executive interview – Adding common sense to generative AI creativity: We speak to the chief scientist at Neo4j about why graph databases should work alongside large language models to keep them in check. Executive interview – Will video kill the streaming star?: While we are used to live streaming, video messages seem cheesy – but Vimeo’s chief product officer believes they will revolutionise communications.

Fidji Simo is leaving Instacart for a newly created role at Sam Altman’s startup as it prepares for a potential public offering.

The worst nightmare of all those who fight for Managed Democracy has been made a grim reality. Play Video Despite the valiant efforts of our Helldivers to push back the fleet, the Illuminate have reached Super Earth. Now they are swarming our cities, terrorizing citizens, and destroying our infrastructure. It’s time to rise up and take arms and fight for the precious foundations and soil of Democracy manifest. Helldivers, return to our planet and defend what is rightfully ours. Super Earth… our home The urban sprawl of Super Earth is the site of the conflict. Fight among the towering skyscrapers and crowded streets of our home turf as the Illuminate rain down destruction all around you. Inside the city biomes, you will tackle operations and work to liberate cities together, having a significant impact on planetary campaigns. Repel the invasion The Helldivers are tasked with a new objective: to repel the Illuminate invasion by gaining ground over the squids as they fight to control areas where the fleet is landing. It won’t be a walk in the park, divers. Like a game of intergalactic tug-of-war, you will struggle against the incoming forces, gaining and losing control quickly. Arm the cannons Even in the face of such danger, we are not helpless, and all is not lost. The might of Super Earth’s arsenal lies hidden beneath our peaceful, democratic streets. With your help, we must activate our Planetary Defense Cannons and take down the Illuminate fleet in a grand show of power. Call for backup It’s all hands on deck as you encounter SEAF troops who will help join the fight to defend our Freedom. These small squads will fight enemies on their own, or they can be ordered to follow Helldivers and provide temporary backup as you navigate toward objectives. Salute and lead them on the path to victory, divers! Protect citizens However, you must also be aware of the many civilians still roaming the streets, fearing for their lives. They may be panicked, Helldivers, but it is your sworn duty to keep them safe and they look to you as the ultimate protectors of liberty. Remember: any civilian lives lost from friendly fire will be punished. Prepare for the fight Last week, we released a powerful primary weapon customization system and expanded surplus options to fight against the Illuminate as they emerged from the singularity. Now that you have learned the tactics of these new squid troops–like the Crescent Overseer and the hulking Fleshmob–you must master these tools to continue the fight on Super Earth. Use every available resource, divers, and decimate their forces! Our major update, Heart of Democracy, is now live. Helldivers, to your hellpods immediately! Citizens, enlistment centers will remain open for recruitment. The battle for Super Earth has begun. Internet Connection and Helldivers 2 game required for update.

President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law, enacting a bill that will criminalize the distribution of nonconsensual intimate images (NCII) — including AI deepfakes — and require social media platforms to promptly remove them when notified.The bill sailed through both chambers of Congress with several tech companies, parent and youth advocates, and first lady Melania Trump championing the issue. But critics — including a group that’s made it its mission to combat the distribution of such images — warn that its approach could backfire and harm the very survivors it seeks to protect. The law makes publishing NCII, whether real or AI-generated, criminally punishable by up to three years in prison, plus fines. It also requires social media platforms to have processes to remove NCII within 48 hours of being notified and “make reasonable efforts” to remove any copies. The Federal Trade Commission is tasked with enforcing the law, and companies have a year to comply.“I’m going to use that bill for myself, too”Under any other administration, the Take It Down Act would likely see much of the pushback it does today by groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), which warn the takedown provision could be used to remove or chill a wider array of content than intended, as well as threaten privacy-protecting technologies like encryption, since services that use it would have no way of seeing (or removing) the messages between users. But actions by the Trump administration in his first 100 days in office — including breaching Supreme Court precedent by firing the two Democratic minority commissioners at the FTC — have added another layer of fear for some of the law’s critics, who worry it could be used to threaten or stifle political opponents. Trump, after all, said during an address to Congress this year that once he signed the bill, “I’m going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody.”The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), which advocates for legislation combating image-based abuse, has long pushed for the criminalization of nonconsensual distribution of intimate images (NDII). But the CCRI said it could not support the Take It Down Act because it may ultimately provide survivors with “false hope.” On Bluesky, CCRI President Mary Anne Franks called the takedown provision a “poison pill … that will likely end up hurting victims more than it helps.”“Platforms that feel confident that they are unlikely to be targeted by the FTC (for example, platforms that are closely aligned with the current administration) may feel emboldened to simply ignore reports of NDII,” they wrote. “Platforms attempting to identify authentic complaints may encounter a sea of false reports that could overwhelm their efforts and jeopardize their ability to operate at all.”In an interview with The Verge, Franks expressed concern that it could be “hard for people to parse” the takedown provision. “This is going to be a year-long process,” she said. “I think that as soon as that process has happened, you’ll then be seeing the FTC being very selective in how they treat supposed non-compliance with the statute. It’s not going to be about putting the power in the hands of depicted individuals to actually get their content removed.”Trump, during his signing ceremony, dismissively referenced criticism of the bill. “People talked about all sorts of First Amendment, Second Amendment… they talked about any amendment they could make up, and we got it through,” he said.Legal challenges to the most problematic parts may not come immediately, however, according to Becca Branum, deputy director of CDT’s Free Expression Project. “It’s so ambiguously drafted that I think it’ll be hard for a court to parse when it will be enforced unconstitutionally” before platforms have to implement it, Branum said. Eventually, users could sue if they have lawful content removed from platforms, and companies could ask a court to overturn the law if the FTC investigates or penalizes them for breaking it — it just depends on how quickly enforcement ramps up.See More:

President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act into law, enacting a bill that will criminalize the distribution of nonconsensual intimate images (NCII) — including AI deepfakes — and require social media platforms to promptly remove them when notified.The bill sailed through both chambers of Congress with several tech companies, parent and youth advocates, and first lady Melania Trump championing the issue. But critics — including a group that’s made it its mission to combat the distribution of such images — warn that its approach could backfire and harm the very survivors it seeks to protect. The law makes publishing NCII, whether real or AI-generated, criminally punishable by up to three years in prison, plus fines. It also requires social media platforms to have processes to remove NCII within 48 hours of being notified and “make reasonable efforts” to remove any copies. The Federal Trade Commission is tasked with enforcing the law, and companies have a year to comply.“I’m going to use that bill for myself, too”Under any other administration, the Take It Down Act would likely see much of the pushback it does today by groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), which warn the takedown provision could be used to remove or chill a wider array of content than intended, as well as threaten privacy-protecting technologies like encryption, since services that use it would have no way of seeing (or removing) the messages between users. But actions by the Trump administration in his first 100 days in office — including breaching Supreme Court precedent by firing the two Democratic minority commissioners at the FTC — have added another layer of fear for some of the law’s critics, who worry it could be used to threaten or stifle political opponents. Trump, after all, said during an address to Congress this year that once he signed the bill, “I’m going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don’t mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody.”The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), which advocates for legislation combating image-based abuse, has long pushed for the criminalization of nonconsensual distribution of intimate images (NDII). But the CCRI said it could not support the Take It Down Act because it may ultimately provide survivors with “false hope.” On Bluesky, CCRI President Mary Anne Franks called the takedown provision a “poison pill … that will likely end up hurting victims more than it helps.”“Platforms that feel confident that they are unlikely to be targeted by the FTC (for example, platforms that are closely aligned with the current administration) may feel emboldened to simply ignore reports of NDII,” they wrote. “Platforms attempting to identify authentic complaints may encounter a sea of false reports that could overwhelm their efforts and jeopardize their ability to operate at all.”In an interview with The Verge, Franks expressed concern that it could be “hard for people to parse” the takedown provision. “This is going to be a year-long process,” she said. “I think that as soon as that process has happened, you’ll then be seeing the FTC being very selective in how they treat supposed non-compliance with the statute. It’s not going to be about putting the power in the hands of depicted individuals to actually get their content removed.”Trump, during his signing ceremony, dismissively referenced criticism of the bill. “People talked about all sorts of First Amendment, Second Amendment… they talked about any amendment they could make up, and we got it through,” he said.Legal challenges to the most problematic parts may not come immediately, however, according to Becca Branum, deputy director of CDT’s Free Expression Project. “It’s so ambiguously drafted that I think it’ll be hard for a court to parse when it will be enforced unconstitutionally” before platforms have to implement it, Branum said. Eventually, users could sue if they have lawful content removed from platforms, and companies could ask a court to overturn the law if the FTC investigates or penalizes them for breaking it — it just depends on how quickly enforcement ramps up.See More:

News Anno 117: Pax Romana Details City Building, Trade, Diplomacy, and More in New Gameplay Venture to Latium to construct a city on behalf of the Roman Empire, establish trade, battle pirates, and discover the Celts in Albion. Posted By Ravi Sinha | On 19th, May. 2025 As promised, Ubisoft Mainz unveiled extensive gameplay for Anno 117: Pax Romana, where players control a provincial Roman governor. They’re tasked with building a bustling metropolis in service to the Emperor in Latium, which is easier said than done. It all starts with laying out facilities to gather resources, including lumber, and creating homes for workers. You need to ensure buildings like the market are available to meet your citizens’ needs while keeping their hygiene in mind (read: Don’t set up a pig farm nearby). Players can also establish their own villa to watch over the city. Trade with neighboring cities opens up, and so too does diplomacy. Building a strong military is necessary when reinforcing ports and dealing with pirates. Eventually, you can venture to Albion, where the Celts reside, and either establish the Roman Empire’s rule or respect their customs. Anno 117: Pax Romana will launch later this year for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. A livestream is scheduled for May 21st, with the developer revealing more information, so stay tuned. Tagged With: Elden Ring: Nightreign Publisher:Bandai Namco Developer:FromSoftware Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PCView More Borderlands 4 Publisher:2K Developer:Gearbox Entertainment Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PCView More Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Publisher:Sony Developer:Kojima Productions Platforms:PS5View More Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out! Anno 117: Pax Romana Details City Building, Trade, Diplomacy, and More in New Gameplay Venture to Latium to construct a city on behalf of the Roman Empire, establish trade, battle pirates, and disc... Overwatch 2 x Street Fighter 6 Trailer Showcases Upcoming Cosmetics and Emotes The collaboration begins on May 20th and includes skins based on Ryu, Cammy, Chun-Li, Juri, M. Bison, and more... Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – Director Says Upcoming Sequel is Like Aliens was to Alien Hideo Kojima said that now that players are familiar with the world of Death Stranding, he can up the ante wit... Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Receives Short New Gameplay Trailer, DLSS 4 Support Confirmed PC players can also expect DLSS Frame Generation, Super Resolution and Reflex support when Leenzee's title lau... Nintendo Will Attend Gamescom 2025 After having skipped last year's Gamescom, Nintendo has now confirmed through social media that it will be att... FBC: Firebreak Trailer Showcases Path Tracing and DLSS 4 Performance on PC Remedy's co-op shooter will support both features when it launches on June 17th for PC (alongside Xbox Series ... View More

As promised, Ubisoft Mainz unveiled extensive gameplay for Anno 117: Pax Romana, where players control a provincial Roman governor. They’re tasked with building a bustling metropolis in service to the Emperor in Latium, which is easier said than done. It all starts with laying out facilities to gather resources, including lumber, and creating homes for workers. You need to ensure buildings like the market are available to meet your citizens’ needs while keeping their hygiene in mind (read: Don’t set up a pig farm nearby). Players can also establish their own villa to watch over the city. Trade with neighboring cities opens up, and so too does diplomacy. Building a strong military is necessary when reinforcing ports and dealing with pirates. Eventually, you can venture to Albion, where the Celts reside, and either establish the Roman Empire’s rule or respect their customs. Anno 117: Pax Romana will launch later this year for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. A livestream is scheduled for May 21st, with the developer revealing more information, so stay tuned.

‘Robo Catcher Zero’ Collects Cute Mechanical Critters Posted on May 19, 2025May 19, 2025 by Joel Couture Robo Catcher Zero takes players to a district filled with broken machines and hidden robot buddies for you to locate and awaken. Finder’s been tasked with wrangling up friendly robots that have tucked themselves into all sorts of places throughout the Amp220Ω district. The reason for why these machines are all so shy isn’t made clear in the current demo of the game, but that’s fine. I don’t need a lot of good reasons to find cute metal buddies besides the fact that they’re adorable. And this tiny slice of demo has quite a few cute robots to scrounge up. Finding the robots takes more than just finding their hiding spots. The robots don’t seem too keen on being discovered, so you have to play a short minigame when you find one. A small ball-like pod will roll around the screen and you will need to catch it with your mouse (looking like a catcher’s mitt) a few times in order to collect your new pal. It’s not especially challenging most of the time (other than the fact that some of the pods move around in a hurry), but it does add a tiny bit of action to gathering the robots. And once you have a few, you can have them follow you around as you explore the rest of the world. Robo Catcher Zero seems to be focused on creating a relaxed experience in exploring its decayed mechanical landscapes, simply having you putter around and find more robots. There is a story that appears to be taking shape as you find more machines, though, the world humming back to life as your party grows. I’m curious to see where the full version will take this story and why all of these robots started hiding. Robo Catcher Zero is currently in development, but in the meantime, you can grab a demo or add it to your wishlist on Steam. About The Author