Take the Speakers, Headphones, and Earphones SurveyTake other PCMag surveys. Each completed survey is a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift card. OFFICIAL SWEEPSTAKES RULESNO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. Readers' Choice Sweepstakes (the "Sweepstakes") is governed by these official rules (the "Sweepstakes Rules"). The Sweepstakes begins on May 9, 2025, at 12:00 AM ET and ends on July 27, 2025, at 11:59 PM ET (the "Sweepstakes Period").SPONSOR: Ziff Davis, LLC, with an address of 360 Park Ave South, Floor 17, New York, NY 10010 (the "Sponsor").ELIGIBILITY: This Sweepstakes is open to individuals who are eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time of entry who are legal residents of the fifty (50) United States of America or the District of Columbia. By entering the Sweepstakes as described in these Sweepstakes Rules, entrants represent and warrant that they are complying with these Sweepstakes Rules (including, without limitation, all eligibility requirements), and that they agree to abide by and be bound by all the rules and terms and conditions stated herein and all decisions of Sponsor, which shall be final and binding.All previous winners of any sweepstakes sponsored by Sponsor during the nine (9) month period prior to the Selection Date are not eligible to enter. Any individuals (including, but not limited to, employees, consultants, independent contractors and interns) who have, within the past six (6) months, held employment with or performed services for Sponsor or any organizations affiliated with the sponsorship, fulfillment, administration, prize support, advertisement or promotion of the Sweepstakes ("Employees") are not eligible to enter or win. Immediate Family Members and Household Members are also not eligible to enter or win. "Immediate Family Members" means parents, step-parents, legal guardians, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, or spouses of an Employee. "Household Members" means those individuals who share the same residence with an Employee at least three (3) months a year.HOW TO ENTER: There are two methods to enter the Sweepstakes: (1) fill out the online survey, or (2) enter by mail.1. Survey Entry: To enter the Sweepstakes through the online survey, go to the survey page and complete the current survey during the Sweepstakes Period.2. Mail Entry: To enter the Sweepstakes by mail, on a 3" x 5" card, print your first and last name, street address, city, state, zip code, phone number, and email address. Mail your completed entry to:Readers' Choice Sweepstakes - Audio 2025c/o E. Griffith 624 Elm St. Ext.Ithaca, NY 14850-8786Mail Entries must be postmarked by July 28, 2025, and received by Aug. 4, 2025.Only one (1) entry per person is permitted, regardless of the entry method used. Subsequent attempts made by the same individual to submit multiple entries may result in the disqualification of the entrant.Only contributions submitted during the Sweepstakes Period will be eligible for entry into the Sweepstakes. No other methods of entry will be accepted. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. Entries are limited to individuals only; commercial enterprises and business entities are not eligible. Use of a false account will disqualify an entry. Sponsor is not responsible for entries not received due to difficulty accessing the internet, service outage or delays, computer difficulties, and other technological problems.Entries are subject to any applicable restrictions or eligibility requirements listed herein. Entries will be deemed to have been made by the authorized account holder of the email or telephone phone number submitted at the time of entry and qualification. Multiple participants are not permitted to share the same email address. Should multiple users of the same e-mail account or mobile phone number, as applicable, enter the Sweepstakes and a dispute thereafter arises regarding the identity of the entrant, the Authorized Account Holder of said e-mail account or mobile phone account at the time of entry will be considered the entrant. "Authorized Account Holder" is defined as the natural person who is assigned an e-mail address or mobile phone number by an Internet access provider, online service provider, telephone service provider or other organization that is responsible for assigned e-mail addresses, phone numbers or the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Proof of submission of an entry shall not be deemed proof of receipt by the website administrator for online entries. When applicable, the website administrator's computer will be deemed the official time-keeping device for the Sweepstakes promotion. Entries will be disqualified if found to be incomplete and/or if Sponsor determines, in its sole discretion, that multiple entries were submitted by the same entrant in violation of the Sweepstakes Rules.Entries that are late, lost, stolen, mutilated, tampered with, illegible, incomplete, mechanically reproduced, inaccurate, postage-due, forged, irregular in any way or otherwise not in compliance with these Official Rules will be disqualified. All entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned.WINNER SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION: Sponsor shall select the prize winner(s) (collectively, the "Winner") on or about Aug. 11, 2025, ("Selection Date") by random drawing or from among all eligible entries. The Winner will be notified via email to the contact information provided in the entry. Notification of the Winner shall be deemed to have occurred immediately upon sending of the notification by Sponsor. Selected winner(s) will be required to respond (as directed) to the notification within seven (7) days of attempted notification. The only entries that will be considered eligible entries are entries received by Sponsor within the Sweepstakes Period. The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. The Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to choose an alternative winner in the event that a possible winner has been disqualified or is deemed ineligible for any reason.Recommended by Our EditorsPRIZE: One (1) winner will receive the following prize (collectively, the "Prize"):One (1) $250 Amazon.com gift code via email, valued at approximately two hundred fifty dollars ($250).No more than the stated number of prize(s) will be awarded, and all prize(s) listed above will be awarded. Actual retail value of the Prize may vary due to market conditions. The difference in value of the Prize as stated above and value at time of notification of the Winner, if any, will not be awarded. No cash or prize substitution is permitted, except at the discretion of Sponsor. The Prize is non-transferable. 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In the event that more than the stated number of prize(s) becomes available for any reason, Sponsor reserves the right to award only the stated number of prize(s) by a random drawing among all legitimate, un-awarded, eligible prize claims.ACCEPTANCE AND DELIVERY OF THE PRIZE: The Winner will be required to verify his or her address and may be required to execute the following document(s) before a notary public and return them within seven (7) days (or a shorter time if required by exigencies) of receipt of such documents: an affidavit of eligibility, a liability release, and (where imposing such condition is legal) a publicity release covering eligibility, liability, advertising, publicity and media appearance issues (collectively, the "Prize Claim Documents"). If an entrant is unable to verify the information submitted with their entry, the entrant will automatically be disqualified and their prize, if any, will be forfeited. The Prize will not be awarded until all such properly executed and notarized Prize Claim Documents are returned to Sponsor. Prize(s) won by an eligible entrant who is a minor in his or her state of residence will be awarded to minor's parent or legal guardian, who must sign and return all required Prize Claim Documents. In the event the Prize Claim Documents are not returned within the specified period, an alternate Winner may be selected by Sponsor for such Prize. The Prize will be shipped to the Winner within 7 days of Sponsor's receipt of a signed Affidavit and Release from the Winner. The Winner is responsible for all taxes and fees related to the Prize received, if any.OTHER RULES: This sweepstakes is subject to all applicable laws and is void where prohibited. All submissions by entrants in connection with the sweepstakes become the sole property of the sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned. Winner assumes all liability for any injuries or damage caused or claimed to be caused by participation in this sweepstakes or by the use or misuse of any prize.By entering the sweepstakes, each winner grants the SPONSOR permission to use his or her name, city, state/province, e-mail address and, to the extent submitted as part of the sweepstakes entry, his or her photograph, voice, and/or likeness for advertising, publicity or other purposes OR ON A WINNER'S LIST, IF APPLICABLE, IN ANY and all MEDIA WHETHER NOW KNOWN OR HEREINAFTER DEVELOPED, worldwide, without additional consent OR compensation, except where prohibited by law. 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Should such an attempt be made, the Sponsor reserves the right to seek remedies and damages (including attorney's fees) to the fullest extent of the law, including pursuing criminal prosecution.DISCLAIMER: EXCLUDING ONLY APPLICABLE MANUFACTURERS' WARRANTIES, THE PRIZE IS PROVIDED TO THE WINNER ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT FURTHER WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. 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The Sponsor is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers, providers, computer equipment, software, or failure of any e-mail or entry to be received by Sponsor on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, or any combination thereof, including, without limitation, any injury or damage to any entrant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participating or downloading any materials in this Sweepstakes. Because of the unique nature and scope of the Sweepstakes, Sponsor reserves the right, in addition to those other rights reserved herein, to modify any date(s) or deadline(s) set forth in these Sweepstakes Rules or otherwise governing the Sweepstakes, and any such changes will be posted here in the Sweepstakes Rules. 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All disputes will be governed and controlled by the laws of the State of New York (without regard for its conflicts-of-laws principles). Further, in any such dispute, under no circumstances will entrant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby irrevocably waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, or any other damages, including attorneys' fees, other than entrant's actual out-of-pocket expenses (i.e., costs incurred directly in connection with entrant's participation in the Sweepstakes), and entrant further irrevocably waives all rights to have damages multiplied or increased, if any. EACH PARTY EXPRESSLY WAIVES ANY RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY. All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply.PRIVACY: Information collected from entrants in connection with the Sweepstakes is subject to Sponsor's privacy policy, which may be found here.SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION: Although the Sweepstakes may be featured on Twitter, Facebook, and/or other social media platforms, the Sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or in association with Twitter, Facebook, and/or such other social media platforms and you agree that Twitter, Facebook, and all other social media platforms are not liable in any way for any claims, damages or losses associated with the Sweepstakes.WINNER(S) LIST: For a list of name(s) of prizewinner(s), after the Selection Date, please send a stamped, self-addressed No. 10/standard business envelope to Ziff Davis, LLC, Attn: Legal Department, 360 Park Ave South, Floor 17, New York, NY 10010 (VT residents may omit return postage).BY ENTERING, YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND AGREE TO ALL OF THESE SWEEPSTAKES RULES.

Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series is expected to make its debut later this year alongside the next-generation foldables. As we wait for the official unveil, renders of the purported smartwatches have surfaced which corroborate previous leaks and suggest that Samsung could bring the unique “Squircle” design of the Galaxy Watch Ultra to other models this year. According to a report, a total of three smartwatches may be launched as part of the Galaxy Watch 8 lineup.Squircle Design of Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 SeriesAndroid Headlines shared exclusive renders of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series in a report. The publication claims that three smartwatches will be introduced this year — Galaxy Watch 8, Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and a Galaxy Watch Ultra successor, and all three models will sport a squircle design which debuted last year with the Galaxy Watch Ultra.Photo Credit: Android HeadlinesIt is expected to comprise a circular display housed inside a square dial. Renders also suggest that the standard Galaxy Watch 8 will have a two-button design, while the Watch 8 Classic and 2025 Watch Ultra models could be equipped with three buttons, including a Quick button which may be accented in a different colour.Notably, it is a customisable button which is designed to toggle a workout mode or for playing a siren on the Galaxy Watch Ultra.The purported Galaxy Watch 8 Classic is also shown sporting a rotating physical dial, similar to other Classic models of the past. This usually gives it a more traditional watch aesthetic while retaining smartwatch functionality.This report corroborates a previous discovery in the animation files of the leaked One UI 8 Watch which hinted towards the implementation of the squircle design across Samsung's next generation Galaxy Watch lineup. The unreleased firmware contained references of two smartwatches — the Galaxy Watch 8 and Galaxy Watch 8 Classic. Further, the report also suggested that the smartwatches could also benefit from stronger vibrations, aided by extended vibration pattern support akin to the flagship Galaxy Watch Ultra.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" A still from a demo shot created using MotionMaker, the new generative AI toolset introduced in Maya 2026.1 for roughing out movement animations. Autodesk has released Maya 2026.1, the latest version of its 3D modeling and animation software for visual effects, games and motion graphics work.The release adds MotionMaker, a new AI-based system for generating movement animations for biped and quadruped characters, especially for previs and layout work. Other changes include a new modular character rigging framework inside Bifrost for Maya, plus updates to liquid simulation, OpenPBR support and USD workflows. Autodesk has also released Maya Creative 2026.1, the corresponding update to the cut-down edition of Maya for smaller studios. MotionMaker: new generative AI tool roughs out movement animations The headline feature in Maya 2026.1 is MotionMaker: a new generative animation system.It lets users “create natural character movements in minutes instead of hours”, using a workflow more “like giving stage directions to a digital actor” than traditional animation. Users set keys for a character’s start and end positions, or create a guide path in the viewport, and MotionMaker automatically generates the motion in between. At the minute, that mainly means locomotion cycles, for both bipeds and quadrupeds, plus a few other movements, like jumping or sitting. Although MotionMaker is designed for “anyone in the animation pipeline”, the main initial use cases seem to be layout and previs rather than hero animation. Its output is also intended to be refined manually – Autodesk’s promotional material describes it as getting users “80% of the way there” for “certain types of shots”. Accordingly, MotionMaker comes with its own Editor window, which provides access to standard Maya animation editing tools. Users can layer in animation from other sources, including motion capture or keyframe animation retargeted from other characters: to add upper body movements, for example. There are a few more MotionMaker-specific controls: the video above shows speed ramping, to control the time it takes the character to travel between two points. There is also a Character Scale setting, which determines how a character’s size and weight is expressed through the animation generated. You can read more about the design and aims of MotionMaker in a Q&A with Autodesk Senior Principal Research Scientist Evan Atherton on Autodesk’s blog. According to Atherton, the AI models were trained using motion capture data “specifically collected for this tool”. That includes source data from male and female human performers, plus wolf-style dogs, although the system is “designed to support additional [motion] styles” in future. Bifrost: new modular character rigging framework Character artists and animators also get a new modular rigging framework in Bifrost.Autodesk has been teasing new character rigging capabilities in the node-based framework for building effects since Maya 2025.1, but this seems to be its official launch. The release is compatibility-breaking, and does not work with earlier versions of the toolset. The new Rigging Module Framework is described as a “modular, compound-based system for building … production-ready rigs”, and is “fully integrated with Maya”. Animators can “interact with module inputs and outputs directly from the Maya scene”, and rigs created with Bifrost can be converted into native Maya controls, joints and attributes. Bifrost: improvements to liquid simulation and workflow Bifrost 2.14 for Maya also features improvements to Bifrost’s existing functionality, particularly liquid simulation. The properties of collider objects, like bounciness, stickiness and roughness, can now influence liquid behavior in the same way they do particle behavior and other collisions. In addition, a new parameter controls air drag on foam and spray thrown out by a liquid. Workflow improvements include the option to convert Bifrost curves to Maya scene curves, and batch execution, to write out cache files “without the risk of accidentally overwriting them”. LookdevX: support for OpenPBR in FBX files LookdevX, Maya’s plugin for creating USD shading graphs, has also been updated. Autodesk introduced support for OpenPBR, the open material standard intended as a unified successor to the Autodesk Standard Surface and Adobe Standard Material, in 2024. To that, the latest update adds support for OpenPBR materials in FBX files, making it possible to import or export them from other applications that support OpenPBR: at the minute, 3ds Max plus some third-party renderers. LookdevX 1.8 also features a number of workflow improvements, particularly on macOS. USD for Maya: workflow improvements USD for Maya, the software’s USD plugin, also gets workflow improvements, with USD for Maya 0.32 adding support for animation curves for camera attributes in exports.Other changes include support for MaterialX documents and better representation of USD lights in the viewport. Arnold for Maya: performance improvements Maya’s integration plugin for Autodesk’s Arnold renderer has also been updated, with MtoA 5.5.2 supporting the changes in Arnold 7.4.2.They’re primarily performance improvements, especially to scene initialization times when rendering on machines with high numbers of CPU cores. Maya Creative 2026.1 also released Autodesk has also released Maya Creative 2026.1, the corresponding update to the cut-down edition of Maya aimed at smaller studios, and available on a pay-as-you-go basis.It includes most of the new features from Maya 2026.1, including MotionMaker, but does not include Bifrost for Maya. Price and system requirements Maya 2026.1 is available for Windows 10+, RHEL and Rocky Linux 8.10/9.3/9.5, and macOS 13.0+.The software is rental-only. Subscriptions cost $255/month or $2,010/year, up a further $10/month or $65/year since the release of Maya 2026. In many countries, artists earning under $100,000/year and working on projects valued at under $100,000/year, qualify for Maya Indie subscriptions, now priced at $330/year. Maya Creative is available pay-as-you-go, with prices starting at $3/day, and a minimum spend of $300/year. Read a full list of new features in Maya 2026.1 in the online documentation Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.

Nintendo Switch 2 games list – everything you can play right now Michael Beckwith Published June 5, 2025 9:35am Updated June 5, 2025 9:43am Mario Kart World – the Switch 2’s first must-have (Nintendo) The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally out now and there are over a dozen games available, but which are the most exciting and which can be safely ignored? While the Nintendo Switch 2 is backwards compatible, allowing you to continue playing through your backlog of Switch 1 games, chances are you’re more interested in checking out what’s new for the console. As it stands, the Switch 2’s launch line-up is solid. There may only be a small handful of first party Nintendo games, but Mario Kart World alone justifies a day one purchase and, if you don’t have a PlayStation or Xbox, there are lots of third party ports of excellent games you’ve missed out on. So, ahead of the Switch 2’s launch on Thursday, June 5, here is a quick rundown of every launch game available for the console, all of which can be pre-ordered now or purchased on launch day. Every launch game for Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour Will you be paying for this? (Nintendo) Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Essentially a glorified instruction manual, this interactive museum teaches you all the features of the Switch 2 through a series of mini-games. Shockingly, this isn’t a free add-on and costs £7.99. Mario Kart World The Switch 2’s big first party exclusive and the first truly new Mario Kart game since 2014 (not counting the mobile game). It’ll be hard to top Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but Mario Kart World aims to do just that by introducing a massive open world to drive around. Here’s our review in progress so far. The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition This upgraded version of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild is a great demonstration of the Switch 2’s more powerful hardware by offering an improved frame rate and HDR support. If you own the original on Switch you can pay a fee of £7.99 for the upgrade or get it free if you’re a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscriber. The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Both Zelda games will also be compatible with a new Zelda Notes mobile app (Nintendo) Like Breath Of The Wild, the Switch 2 version of The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom only offers visual and performance improvements, although there is the new Zelda Notes mobile app to keep track of and get hints on side quests. As with Breath Of The Wild you can either pay for the upgrade or get it free with Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most technically impressive Switch 2 games, with a performance comparable to the PlayStation 4 Pro. It also comes with the Phantom Liberty DLC and mouse support. Split Fiction Arguably the best co-op game of the current generation, Split Fiction is a more than worthy follow-up to It Takes Two. Thanks to the Switch 2’s GameShare feature, you and a friend can play together with only one copy. Hogwarts Legacy Although Hogwarts Legacy is already available for Switch 1, the new console will be getting an upgraded version that works similarly to the Zelda games. Not only are the graphics improved but you can even use the mouse controls for casting spells. Street Fighter 6 Street Fighter 6 is still going strong among fighting game fans and now Nintendo owners can join in the fun thanks to online cross-play. A standard version is available for £34.99, but you can spend an extra £15 for a version that bundles together all of the DLC characters. Hitman World Of Assassination – Signature Edition There is already a cloud version of Hitman 3 for Switch 1, but this will be the optimal Hitman experience for Nintendo owners going forward. This compiles all the content from IO Interactive’s modern Hitman trilogy alongside a seperate roguelike mode. Sonic X Shadow Generations One of Sonic’s better 3D outings gets an equally good remaster, coupled with an even better adventure centred around Shadow the Hedgehog, in Sonic X Shadow Generations. Unfortunately, Sega isn’t offering any sort of upgrade path for people who bought the Switch 1 version. Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut The Yakuza games have started to find a new home with Nintendo thanks to the Switch 1 port of Yakuza Kiwami and now there’s this updated remaster of Yakuza 0, which adds new cut scenes and an online multiplayer mode. It’s a timed exclusive so it’ll come to other platforms eventually. Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess It’s not for everyone, but Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess’ blend of action and real-time strategy gameplay is wonderfully weird and fascinating. It being on Switch 2 means it can make use of the console’s mouse controls and it comes with new content that’ll also be added to the PlayStation, Xbox, and PC versions. Deltarune The episodic successor to Undertale, it’s been four years since Deltarune’s second chapter launched. For the Switch 2’s launch, not only are the game’s first two chapters being ported to the console (as well as PlayStation 5), but chapters three and four are dropping at the same time as well, for all formats. Survival Kids We’re still surprised Konami opted to reboot this long-forgotten franchise, but as fans of the original Game Boy Color game we’re glad it did. Simply dubbed Survival Kids, it’s less a survival game and more a co-op puzzle adventure where up to four players must explore a series of islands. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S Sega’s second crossover puzzle game featuring Puyo Puyo and Tetris will find new life on Switch 2. So far only confirmed for Nintendo’s new console, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S offers a unique doubles mode for two teams of two to play against one another. Fast Fusion German studio Shin’en Multimedia continues to fill the F-Zero shaped gap in peoples’ hearts with the newest entry in its Fast series of racing games. Aside from online multiplayer and GameShare compatibility, Shin’en promises you can create hundreds of new racing machines by fusing vehicles together. Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster The original Bravely Default gets a much deserved second lease of life with a full Switch 2 remaster. Aside from HD graphics and quality of life updates, the remaster adds two new mini-games and reworks the original’s online features. Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition With the Switch 2’s mouse controls, strategy games like Civilization 7 will hopefully become more commonplace on Nintendo’s platform. If you already own the game on Switch 1, you can upgrade to the Switch 2 version for £8.99. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening Complete Edition Another upgraded port of a strategy game, this complete edition also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Nobunaga’s Ambition series. Aside from mouse control support and all of the original game’s DLC, this includes six new story scenarios. Rune Factory: Guardians Of Azuma Nintendo Switch 2 Edition A new spin-off for the Rune Factory series of role-playing/social sim games, Guardians Of Azuma has you battling monsters one minute and cultivating your own farm the next. It will launch for Switch 1 as well, which you can later upgrade to Switch 2 for a £10 fee. Suikoden 1&2 HD Remaster: Gate Rune And Dunan Unification Wars This compilation of two Suikoden remasters from Konami brings the role playing series to Switch 2 just a few months after its original multiplatform launch. Sadly, there’s no option for Switch 1 owners to upgrade to the new version. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Level-5’s own role playing life sim hybrid only just arrived on Switch 1 and other consoles, but it too is seeing a Switch 2 version at launch. There’s no exact UK price for upgrading from the Switch 1 version, but it’s only $2.59 (about £1.91) in the US, so expect something equally cheap over here. Arcade Archives 2: Ridge Racer For the first time ever, the original arcade version of Ridge Racer from 1993 will be playable on consoles. Although it was initially announced for Switch 2, it is launching for PlayStation and Xbox as well. Fortnite What else is there to say about Fortnite? You know what it’s about. It’ll be free to play as usual and make the most of the Switch 2’s hardware to look and run better than its Switch 1 counterpart. Fortnite fans on Switch will want to think about upgrading (Epic Games) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

PlayStation State of Play June 2025: Everything announced Marvel at a night of sick reveals from Sony. Image credit: Eurogamer News by Connor Makar Contributor Published on June 4, 2025 Another PlayStation State of Play took place tonight, giving as a peak at what's to come on the PS5 and PS5 Pro. The event was stacked with new trailers, including some reveals of entirely new games we've not seen before. Sony even remembered the PS VR2 exists! Whether you're here to double check what you've just seen, or want a catch-up on all the reveals you missed, this article will take you through everything shown off at the June State of Play event. Enjoy! Lumines Arise The show kicked off with a reveal trailer for Lumines Arive, a colourful and very musical way to start the event. It comes from the developers behind Tetris Effect, which was a banger. It's coming this Fall, and you can wishlist in now. Watch the new Lumines Arise trailer here!Watch on YouTube Pragmata Next up is Pragmata, the mysterious Capcom game that we've seen precious little of since its first reveal years ago. This time we got gameplay, loads of third person action goodness and a lovely sci-fi setting. Also, Diana is adorable. The game is set to come out at some point in 2026 to the PS5. Watch the Pragmata trailer here!Watch on YouTube Romeo is a Dead Man Next up is a grisly and cartoonish action game called Romeo is a Dead Man. It's coming from illustrious and brilliantly weird developer Grasshopper Manufacture, with both Suda 51 and Ren Yamazaki working on it. It'll be coming out in 2026... Maybe. Watch the Romeo is a Dead Man trailer here!Watch on YouTube Silent Hill f Now for something totally different with Silent Hill f, a third-person horror title that's certainly ramped the creepy factor up quite significantly. In it we see plenty of horrific mannequins with bloody knives in hand. It's set to come out on the 25th September, 2025 on the PS5. Watch the Silent Hill f trailer here!Watch on YouTube Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement We now go to a lush looking 2D side scroller called Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement, which has just been revealed. A sequel to a beloved indie and spiritual successor to classic Castlevania games, it'll be coming out in 2026 on the PS5. Check out the Bloodstained trailer here!Watch on YouTube Digimon Story Time Stranger Up next a gameplay trailer for Digimon Story Time Stranger, which looks absolutely killer. In it we see a variety of fan-favourite Digimon and a variety of characters seemingly in the thick of some nefarious medling between the physical and digital worlds. It'll be coming on the 3rd November 2025. Love me some Digimon. Watch the trailer here!Watch on YouTube Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles Now for a blast from the past with Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. It'll include two versions of the original game, a classic version which is a faithful recreation, and an enhanced version with improved graphics and more. It'll be coming to the PS5 and PS4 on the 30th September. FF Tactics is back!Watch on YouTube Baby Steps Next up is Baby Steps, which is a fun exploration game where you've gotta control your leg movements as you climb a mountain. Now we finally have a release date! It comes to PS5 on the 8th September. This is a must-watch for those who like a chuckle.Watch on YouTube Hirogami Now for something whimsical. Hirogami allows you to transform into a variety of creatures through the power of folding. It's coming to PS5 on the 3rd September. A neat reveal! Check out the new trailerWatch on YouTube Everybody's Golf Hot Shots To the green we go with Everybody's Golf Hot Shots, with courses in 10 different regions around the world, each with weather effects and night time variants. Those who pre-order get Pacman - rad! It comes to the PS5 on the 5th September. Check out some golf right here!Watch on YouTube Ninja Gaiden Ragebound Here's a retro throwback. Ninja Gaiden Ragebound got a new gameplay trailer, and is coming on the 21st July on PS5 and PS4. A big win for lovers of the classics. Watch the trailer here!Watch on YouTube Cairn The Game Bakers are back at it again with Cairn. A new gameplay trailer just dropped, showing a perilous and scenic climb up a massive mountain. Like all Game Bakers titles, the trailer has a rad music track. It's coming to PS5 on the 5th November 2025, but you can download a demo today! A moving trailer for you to watch right here!Watch on YouTube Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection Get over here! A reveal trailer for the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection just dropped, and with it a blend of retro titles you'll be able to play with this new collection as well as some lovely retro arcade footage. It contains Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat 4, and more. It's coming to the PS5 and PS4 in 2025. Moooooortal Kooooooombat Traaaaaaailer.Watch on YouTube Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater Here's a big one! We got a new gameplay trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater. Loads of memorable locations, gadgets, and moments on display in the stunning new engine. This isn't a dream - it's Snake Eater!Watch on YouTube Nioh 3 A rad new reveal comes via Nioh 3, which got a fantastic new gameplay trailer at the State of Play. It releases in early 2026 on the PS5. A demo is available right now too, so give it a try! If you love some challenging and bloody action, you should watch this Nioh 3 trailer!Watch on YouTube Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow Finally some PSVR love! A new reveal trailer for Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow was shown off, giving us a glimpse of loads of stealth, robbery, and action. It's coming to VR in 2025. Some VR rep at the State of Play!Watch on YouTube Tides of Tomorrow Another new game got a trailer, this time Tides of Tomorrow. A very bright first-person action game set in a flooded dystopian world. It's coming 24th February, 2026 on the PS5. Loving the look of this trailer, give it a watch!Watch on YouTube Astro Bot new update An update to Astro Bot is up next, containing five new challenge levels, new guest bots, and an announcement that the Astro Bot DualSense controller is coming back this year... With a twist! Here's a look at what's coming to Astro Bot!Watch on YouTube Sea of Remnants Pirate time! A reveal trailer for Sea of Remnants was just shown off, giving us a peak of sailing, navigating various islands, and facing the mythical creatures of the deep. It'll be coming in 2026, you can wishlist it now. Grab your hat annd cutlass sailor.Watch on YouTube Sword of the Sea Here comes something beautiful. Sword of the Sea got a new trailer, with plenty of fantastic locations presented in vibrant tones throughout. It's coming on 19th August to the PS5, available on PlayStation Plus. Now this is my kind of vibe, watch it and find out why!Watch on YouTube FBC Firebreak Love co-op? FBC Firebreak is a spin-off to Remedy's Control series, and offers plenty of PvE action for those with a taste for the paranormal. It's coming to PS5 and the PlayStation Game Catalogue on 17th June, 2025. Here's the portion of the State of Play featuring FBC: Firebreak!Watch on YouTube New PS Plus games coming this summer A bunch of new games are coming to PlayStation Plus this Summer in a variety of forms. This includes: The original Deux Ex coming to PlayStation Plus Classics Catalogue on 17th June, 2025. Twisted Metal 3 & 4 coming to PlayStation Plus Classics Catalogue on 15th July, 2025. Resident Evil 2 & 3 coming to PlayStation Plus Classics Catalogue this Summer. Myst and Riven coming later this month as part of Days of Play First Light 007 A massive reveal for the show! James Bond took the stage with First Light 007, our first look at the game. It kicks off with some introductory cinematics, but there are snippets of gameplay showing loads of spy action. It's coming in 2026 to the PS5. It's Bond, James Bond... TrailerWatch on YouTube Ghost of Yotei A short one here. Ghost of Yotei is getting a gameplay deep dive in July. Stay tuned for more info!Watch on YouTube Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls Trying not to freak out over here. Arc System Works just revealed Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls. A 3v3 fighting game featuring plenty of beloved Marvel characters. It's coming to PS5 and PC in 2026. It's 11PM at night and I'm trying not to scream. Mahvel Baby!Watch on YouTube

In 2025, it’s very difficult not to see gambling advertised everywhere. It’s on billboards and sports broadcasts. It’s on podcasts and printed on the turnbuckle of AEW’s pay-per-view shows. And it’s on app stores, where you can find the FanDuel and DraftKings sportsbooks, alongside glitzy digital slot machines. These apps all have the highest age ratings possible on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. But earlier this year, a different kind of app nearly disappeared from the Play Store entirely.Luck Be A Landlord is a roguelite deckbuilder from solo developer Dan DiIorio. DiIorio got word from Google in January 2025 that Luck Be A Landlord was about to be pulled, globally, because DiIorio had not disclosed the game’s “gambling themes” in its rating.In Luck Be a Landlord, the player takes spins on a pixel art slot machine to earn coins to pay their ever-increasing rent — a nightmare gamification of our day-to-day grind to remain housed. On app stores, it’s a one-time purchase of $4.99, and it’s $9.99 on Steam. On the Play Store page, developer Dan DiIorio notes, “This game does not contain any real-world currency gambling or microtransactions.”And it doesn’t. But for Google, that didn’t matter. First, the game was removed from the storefront in a slew of countries that have strict gambling laws. Then, at the beginning of 2025, Google told Dilorio that Luck Be A Landlord would be pulled globally because of its rating discrepancy, as it “does not take into account references to gambling (including real or simulated gambling)”.DiIorio had gone through this song and dance before — previously, when the game was blocked, he would send back a message saying “hey, the game doesn’t have gambling,” and then Google would send back a screenshot of the game and assert that, in fact, it had.DiIorio didn’t agree, but this time they decided that the risk of Landlord getting taken down permanently was too great. They’re a solo developer, and Luck Be a Landlord had just had its highest 30-day revenue since release. So, they filled out the form confirming that Luck Be A Landlord has “gambling themes,” and are currently hoping that this will be the end of it.This is a situation that sucks for an indie dev to be in, and over email DiIorio told Polygon it was “very frustrating.”“I think it can negatively affect indie developers if they fall outside the norm, which indies often do,” they wrote. “It also makes me afraid to explore mechanics like this further. It stifles creativity, and that’s really upsetting.”In late 2024, the hit game Balatro was in a similar position. It had won numerous awards, and made $1,000,000 in its first week on mobile platforms. And then overnight, the PEGI ratings board declared that the game deserved an adult rating.The ESRB had already rated it E10+ in the US, noting it has gambling themes. And the game was already out in Europe, making its overnight ratings change a surprise. Publisher PlayStack said the rating was given because Balatro has “prominent gambling imagery and material that instructs about gambling.”Balatro is basically Luck Be A Landlord’s little cousin. Developer LocalThunk was inspired by watching streams of Luck Be A Landlord, and seeing the way DiIorio had implemented deck-building into his slot machine. And like Luck Be A Landlord, Balatro is a one-time purchase, with no microtransactions.But the PEGI board noted that because the game uses poker hands, the skills the player learns in Balatro could translate to real-world poker.In its write-up, GameSpot noted that the same thing happened to a game called Sunshine Shuffle. It was temporarily banned from the Nintendo eShop, and also from the entire country of South Korea. Unlike Balatro, Sunshine Shuffle actually is a poker game, except you’re playing Texas Hold ‘Em — again for no real money — with cute animals (who are bank robbers).It’s common sense that children shouldn’t be able to access apps that allow them to gamble. But none of these games contain actual gambling — or do they?Where do we draw the line? Is it gambling to play any game that is also played in casinos, like poker or blackjack? Is it gambling to play a game that evokes the aesthetics of a casino, like cards, chips, dice, or slot machines? Is it gambling to wager or earn fictional money?Gaming has always been a lightning rod for controversy. Sex, violence, misogyny, addiction — you name it, video games have been accused of perpetrating or encouraging it. But gambling is gaming’s original sin. And it’s the one we still can’t get a grip on.The original link between gambling and gamingGetty ImagesThe association between video games and gambling all goes back to pinball. Back in the ’30s and ’40s, politicians targeted pinball machines for promoting gambling. Early pinball machines were less skill-based (they didn’t have flippers), and some gave cash payouts, so the comparison wasn’t unfair. Famously, mob-hating New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned pinball in the city, and appeared in a newsreel dumping pinball and slot machines into the Long Island Sound. Pinball machines spent some time relegated to the back rooms of sex shops and dive bars. But after some lobbying, the laws relaxed.By the 1970s, pinball manufacturers were also making video games, and the machines were side-by-side in arcades. Arcade machines, like pinball, took small coin payments, repeatedly, for short rounds of play. The disreputable funk of pinball basically rubbed off onto video games.Ever since video games rocked onto the scene, concerned and sometimes uneducated parties have been asking if they’re dangerous. And in general, studies have shown that they’re not. The same can’t be said about gambling — the practice of putting real money down to bet on an outcome.It’s a golden age for gambling2025 in the USA is a great time for gambling, which has been really profitable for gambling companies — to the tune of $66.5 billion dollars of revenue in 2023.To put this number in perspective, the American Gaming Association, which is the casino industry’s trade group and has nothing to do with video games, reports that 2022’s gambling revenue was $60.5 billion. It went up $6 billion in a year.And this increase isn’t just because of sportsbooks, although sports betting is a huge part of it. Online casinos and brick-and-mortar casinos are both earning more, and as a lot of people have pointed out, gambling is being normalized to a pretty disturbing degree.Much like with alcohol, for a small percentage of people, gambling can tip from occasional leisure activity into addiction. The people who are most at risk are, by and large, already vulnerable: researchers at the Yale School of Medicine found that 96% of problem gamblers are also wrestling with other disorders, such as “substance use, impulse-control disorders, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders.”Even if you’re not in that group, there are still good reasons to be wary of gambling. People tend to underestimate their own vulnerability to things they know are dangerous for others. Someone else might bet beyond their means. But I would simply know when to stop.Maybe you do! But being blithely confident about it can make it hard to notice if you do develop a problem. Or if you already have one.Addiction changes the way your brain works. When you’re addicted to something, your participation in it becomes compulsive, at the expense of other interests and responsibilities. Someone might turn to their addiction to self-soothe when depressed or anxious. And speaking of those feelings, people who are depressed and anxious are already more vulnerable to addiction. Given the entire state of the world right now, this predisposition shines an ugly light on the numbers touted by the AGA. Is it good that the industry is reporting $6 billion in additional earnings, when the economy feels so frail, when the stock market is ping ponging through highs and lows daily, when daily expenses are rising? It doesn’t feel good. In 2024, the YouTuber Drew Gooden turned his critical eye to online gambling. One of the main points he makes in his excellent video is that gambling is more accessible than ever. It’s on all our phones, and betting companies are using decades of well-honed app design and behavioral studies to manipulate users to spend and spend.Meanwhile, advertising on podcasts, billboards, TV, radio, and websites – it’s literally everywhere — tells you that this is fun, and you don’t even need to know what you’re doing, and you’re probably one bet away from winning back those losses.Where does Luck Be a Landlord come into this?So, are there gambling themes in Luck Be A Landlord? The game’s slot machine is represented in simple pixel art. You pay one coin to use it, and among the more traditional slot machine symbols are silly ones like a snail that only pays out after 4 spins.When I started playing it, my primary emotion wasn’t necessarily elation at winning coins — it was stress and disbelief when, in the third round of the game, the landlord increased my rent by 100%. What the hell.I don’t doubt that getting better at it would produce dopamine thrills akin to gambling — or playing any video game. But it’s supposed to be difficult, because that’s the joke. If you beat the game you unlock more difficulty modes where, as you keep paying rent, your landlord gets furious, and starts throwing made-up rules at you: previously rare symbols will give you less of a payout, and the very mechanics of the slot machine change.It’s a manifestation of the golden rule of casinos, and all of capitalism writ large: the odds are stacked against you. The house always wins. There is luck involved, to be sure, but because Luck Be A Landlord is a deck-builder, knowing the different ways you can design your slot machine to maximize payouts is a skill! You have some influence over it, unlike a real slot machine. The synergies that I’ve seen high-level players create are completely nuts, and obviously based on a deep understanding of the strategies the game allows.IMAGE: TrampolineTales via PolygonBalatro and Luck Be a Landlord both distance themselves from casino gambling again in the way they treat money. In Landlord, the money you earn is gold coins, not any currency we recognize. And the payouts aren’t actually that big. By the end of the core game, the rent money you’re struggling and scraping to earn… is 777 coins. In the post-game endless mode, payouts can get massive. But the thing is, to get this far, you can’t rely on chance. You have to be very good at Luck Be a Landlord.And in Balatro, the numbers that get big are your points. The actual dollar payments in a round of Balatro are small. These aren’t games about earning wads and wads of cash. So, do these count as “gambling themes”?We’ll come back to that question later. First, I want to talk about a closer analog to what we colloquially consider gambling: loot boxes and gacha games.Random rewards: from Overwatch to the rise of gachaRecently, I did something that I haven’t done in a really long time: I thought about Overwatch. I used to play Overwatch with my friends, and I absolutely made a habit of dropping 20 bucks here or there for a bunch of seasonal loot boxes. This was never a problem behavior for me, but in hindsight, it does sting that over a couple of years, I dropped maybe $150 on cosmetics for a game that now I primarily associate with squandered potential.Loot boxes grew out of free-to-play mobile games, where they’re the primary method of monetization. In something like Overwatch, they functioned as a way to earn additional revenue in an ongoing game, once the player had already dropped 40 bucks to buy it.More often than not, loot boxes are a random selection of skins and other cosmetics, but games like Star Wars: Battlefront 2 were famously criticized for launching with loot crates that essentially made it pay-to-win – if you bought enough of them and got lucky.It’s not unprecedented to associate loot boxes with gambling. A 2021 study published in Addictive Behaviors showed that players who self-reported as problem gamblers also tended to spend more on loot boxes, and another study done in the UK found a similar correlation with young adults.While Overwatch certainly wasn’t the first game to feature cosmetic loot boxes or microtransactions, it’s a reference point for me, and it also got attention worldwide. In 2018, Overwatch was investigated by the Belgian Gaming Commission, which found it “in violation of gambling legislation” alongside FIFA 18 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Belgium’s response was to ban the sale of loot boxes without a gambling license. Having a paid random rewards mechanic in a game is a criminal offense there. But not really. A 2023 study showed that 82% of iPhone games sold on the App Store in Belgium still use random paid monetization, as do around 80% of games that are rated 12+. The ban wasn’t effectively enforced, if at all, and the study recommends that a blanket ban wouldn’t actually be a practical solution anyway.Overwatch was rated T for Teen by the ESRB, and 12 by PEGI. When it first came out, its loot boxes were divisive. Since the mechanic came from F2P mobile games, which are often seen as predatory, people balked at seeing it in a big action game from a multi-million dollar publisher.At the time, the rebuttal was, “Well, at least it’s just cosmetics.” Nobody needs to buy loot boxes to be good at Overwatch.A lot has changed since 2016. Now we have a deeper understanding of how these mechanics are designed to manipulate players, even if they don’t affect gameplay. But also, they’ve been normalized. While there will always be people expressing disappointment when a AAA game has a paid random loot mechanic, it is no longer shocking.And if anything, these mechanics have only become more prevalent, thanks to the growth of gacha games. Gacha is short for “gachapon,” the Japanese capsule machines where you pay to receive one of a selection of random toys. Getty ImagesIn gacha games, players pay — not necessarily real money, but we’ll get to that — for a chance to get something. Maybe it’s a character, or a special weapon, or some gear — it depends on the game. Whatever it is, within that context, it’s desirable — and unlike the cosmetics of Overwatch, gacha pulls often do impact the gameplay.For example, in Infinity Nikki, you can pull for clothing items in these limited-time events. You have a chance to get pieces of a five-star outfit. But you also might pull one of a set of four-star items, or a permanent three-star piece. Of course, if you want all ten pieces of the five-star outfit, you have to do multiple pulls, each costing a handful of limited resources that you can earn in-game or purchase with money.Gacha was a fixture of mobile gaming for a long time, but in recent years, we’ve seen it go AAA, and global. MiHoYo’s Genshin Impact did a lot of that work when it came out worldwide on consoles and PC alongside its mobile release. Genshin and its successors are massive AAA games of a scale that, for your Nintendos and Ubisofts, would necessitate selling a bajillion copies to be a success. And they’re free.Genshin is an action game, whose playstyle changes depending on what character you’re playing — characters you get from gacha pulls, of course. In Zenless Zone Zero, the characters you can pull have different combo patterns, do different kinds of damage, and just feel different to play. And whereas in an early mobile gacha game like Love Nikki Dress UP! Queen the world was rudimentary, its modern descendant Infinity Nikki is, like Genshin, Breath of the Wild-esque. It is a massive open world, with collectibles and physics puzzles, platforming challenges, and a surprisingly involved storyline. Genshin Impact was the subject of an interesting study where researchers asked young adults in Hong Kong to self-report on their gacha spending habits. They found that, like with gambling, players who are not feeling good tend to spend more. “Young adult gacha gamers experiencing greater stress and anxiety tend to spend more on gacha purchases, have more motives for gacha purchases, and participate in more gambling activities,” they wrote. “This group is at a particularly higher risk of becoming problem gamblers.”One thing that is important to note is that Genshin Impact came out in 2020. The study was self-reported, and it was done during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a time when people were experiencing a lot of stress, and also fewer options to relieve that stress. We were all stuck inside gaming.But the fact that stress can make people more likely to spend money on gacha shows that while the gacha model isn’t necessarily harmful to everyone, it is exploitative to everyone. Since I started writing this story, another self-reported study came out in Japan, where 18.8% of people in their 20s say they’ve spent money on gacha rather than on things like food or rent.Following Genshin Impact’s release, MiHoYo put out Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero. All are shiny, big-budget games that are free to play, but dangle the lure of making just one purchase in front of the player. Maybe you could drop five bucks on a handful of in-game currency to get one more pull. Or maybe just this month you’ll get the second tier of rewards on the game’s equivalent of a Battle Pass. The game is free, after all — but haven’t you enjoyed at least ten dollars’ worth of gameplay? Image: HoyoverseI spent most of my December throwing myself into Infinity Nikki. I had been so stressed, and the game was so soothing. I logged in daily to fulfill my daily wishes and earn my XP, diamonds, Threads of Purity, and bling. I accumulated massive amounts of resources. I haven’t spent money on the game. I’m trying not to, and so far, it’s been pretty easy. I’ve been super happy with how much stuff I can get for free, and how much I can do! I actually feel really good about that — which is what I said to my boyfriend, and he replied, “Yeah, that’s the point. That’s how they get you.”And he’s right. Currently, Infinity Nikki players are embroiled in a war with developer Infold, after Infold introduced yet another currency type with deep ties to Nikki’s gacha system. Every one of these gacha games has its own tangled system of overlapping currencies. Some can only be used on gacha pulls. Some can only be used to upgrade items. Many of them can be purchased with human money.Image: InFold Games/Papergames via PolygonAll of this adds up. According to Sensor Towers’ data, Genshin Impact earned over 36 million dollars on mobile alone in a single month of 2024. I don’t know what Dan DiIorio’s peak monthly revenue for Luck Be A Landlord was, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t that.A lot of the spending guardrails we see in games like these are actually the result of regulations in other territories, especially China, where gacha has been a big deal for a lot longer. For example, gacha games have a daily limit on loot boxes, with the number clearly displayed, and a system collectively called “pity,” where getting the banner item is guaranteed after a certain number of pulls. Lastly, developers have to be clear about what the odds are. When I log in to spend the Revelation Crystals I’ve spent weeks hoarding in my F2P Infinity Nikki experience, I know that I have a 1.5% chance of pulling a 5-star piece, and that the odds can go up to 6.06%, and that I am guaranteed to get one within 20 pulls, because of the pity system.So, these odds are awful. But it is not as merciless as sitting down at a Vegas slot machine, an experience best described as “oh… that’s it?”There’s not a huge philosophical difference between buying a pack of loot boxes in Overwatch, a pull in Genshin Impact, or even a booster of Pokémon cards. You put in money, you get back randomized stuff that may or may not be what you want. In the dictionary definition, it’s a gamble. But unlike the slot machine, it’s not like you’re trying to win money by doing it, unless you’re selling those Pokémon cards, which is a topic for another time.But since even a game where you don’t get anything, like Balatro or Luck Be A Landlord, can come under fire for promoting gambling to kids, it would seem appropriate for app stores and ratings boards to take a similarly hardline stance with gacha.Instead, all these games are rated T for Teen by the ESRB, and PEGI 12 in the EU.The ESRB ratings for these games note that they contain in-game purchases, including random items. Honkai: Star Rail’s rating specifically calls out a slot machine mechanic, where players spend tokens to win a prize. But other than calling out Honkai’s slot machine, app stores are not slapping Genshin or Nikki with an 18+ rating. Meanwhile, Balatro had a PEGI rating of 18 until a successful appeal in February 2025, and Luck Be a Landlord is still 17+ on Apple’s App Store.Nobody knows what they’re doingWhen I started researching this piece, I felt very strongly that it was absurd that Luck Be A Landlord and Balatro had age ratings this high.I still believe that the way both devs have been treated by ratings boards is bad. Threatening an indie dev with a significant loss of income by pulling their game is bad, not giving them a way to defend themself or help them understand why it’s happening is even worse. It’s an extension of the general way that too-big-to-fail companies like Google treat all their customers.DiIorio told me that while it felt like a human being had at least looked at Luck Be A Landlord to make the determination that it contained gambling themes, the emails he was getting were automatic, and he doesn’t have a contact at Google to ask why this happened or how he can avoid it in the future — an experience that will be familiar to anyone who has ever needed Google support. But what’s changed for me is that I’m not actually sure anymore that games that don’t have gambling should be completely let off the hook for evoking gambling.Exposing teens to simulated gambling without financial stakes could spark an interest in the real thing later on, according to a study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. It’s the same reason you can’t mosey down to the drug store to buy candy cigarettes. Multiple studies were done that showed kids who ate candy cigarettes were more likely to take up smoking (of course, the candy is still available — just without the “cigarette” branding.)So while I still think rating something like Balatro 18+ is nuts, I also think that describing it appropriately might be reasonable. As a game, it’s completely divorced from literally any kind of play you would find in a casino — but I can see the concern that the thrill of flashy numbers and the shiny cards might encourage young players to try their hand at poker in a real casino, where a real house can take their money.Maybe what’s more important than doling out high age ratings is helping people think about how media can affect us. In the same way that, when I was 12 and obsessed with The Matrix, my parents gently made sure that I knew that none of the violence was real and you can’t actually cartwheel through a hail of bullets in real life. Thanks, mom and dad!But that’s an answer that’s a lot more abstract and difficult to implement than a big red 18+ banner. When it comes to gacha, I think we’re even less equipped to talk about these game mechanics, and I’m certain they’re not being age-rated appropriately. On the one hand, like I said earlier, gacha exploits the player’s desire for stuff that they are heavily manipulated to buy with real money. On the other hand, I think it’s worth acknowledging that there is a difference between gacha and casino gambling.Problem gamblers aren’t satisfied by winning — the thing they’re addicted to is playing, and the risk that comes with it. In gacha games, players do report satisfaction when they achieve the prize they set out to get. And yes, in the game’s next season, the developer will be dangling a shiny new prize in front of them with the goal of starting the cycle over. But I think it’s fair to make the distinction, while still being highly critical of the model.And right now, there is close to no incentive for app stores to crack down on gacha in any way. They get a cut of in-app purchases. Back in 2023, miHoYo tried a couple of times to set up payment systems that circumvented Apple’s 30% cut of in-app spending. Both times, it was thwarted by Apple, whose App Store generated $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2022.According to Apple itself, 90% of that money did not include any commission to Apple. Fortunately for Apple, ten percent of a trillion dollars is still one hundred billion dollars, which I would also like to have in my bank account. Apple has zero reason to curb spending on games that have been earning millions of dollars every month for years.And despite the popularity of Luck Be A Landlord and Balatro’s massive App Store success, these games will never be as lucrative. They’re one-time purchases, and they don’t have microtransactions. To add insult to injury, like most popular games, Luck Be A Landlord has a lot of clones. And from what I can tell, it doesn’t look like any of them have been made to indicate that their games contain the dreaded “gambling themes” that Google was so worried about in Landlord.In particular, a game called SpinCraft: Roguelike from Sneaky Panda Games raised $6 million in seed funding for “inventing the Luck-Puzzler genre,” which it introduced in 2022, while Luck Be A Landlord went into early access in 2021.It’s free-to-play, has ads and in-app purchases, looks like Fisher Price made a slot machine, and it’s rated E for everyone, with no mention of gambling imagery in its rating. I reached out to the developers to ask if they had also been contacted by the Play Store to disclose that their game has gambling themes, but I haven’t heard back.Borrowing mechanics in games is as old as time, and it’s something I in no way want to imply shouldn’t happen because copyright is the killer of invention — but I think we can all agree that the system is broken.There is no consistency in how games with random chance are treated. We still do not know how to talk about gambling, or gambling themes, and at the end of the day, the results of this are the same: the house always wins.See More:

Things have been quiet on the Apple Watch front lately. Too quiet. In fact, sales are down for the second year in a row, and just last quarter, Xiaomi overtook Apple to become the top wearable brand worldwide. The good news is that the Apple Watch line is due for a refresh. Here’s what’s coming. Apple Watch SE 3 (or what if: Apple Watch Series 11e?) It’s been almost three years since Apple announced the Apple Watch SE 2. It kept the same overall design from the original SE, got a 30% larger display, and gained the S8 SiP processor, giving it a 20% performance bump. This September, Apple is expected to announce its successor. Hardware and software While rumors have been circulating for the better part of the last several months about Apple replacing the current aluminum case with a “rigid plastic” case, these plans seem to have been shelved. While there haven’t been leaks regarding an increase in case or screen size, it would make sense to expect the options to go from 40/44mm to the current 42/46mm, or a bezel reduction, which would give it more screen real estate while maintaining the footprint. Expect also a SiP upgrade, bringing it on par with the upcoming Series 11 lineup, a much welcome upgrade against the current Series 8-era S8 SiP for the SE 2. Price Alongside the material change rumors, there had been rumblings about Apple lowering the price of its entry-level watch. However, that seems unlikely, given the recent tariff turmoil and the apparent reversal of Apple’s plans to change the material. It would be safe to expect the Apple Watch SE 3 to start at the same $249 as the current version, if not a tad above that, in case Apple decides to send the Apple Watch SE the way of the iPhone SE, and introduce a more expensive entry-level Apple Watch Series 11e. Apple Watch Series 11 2024 saw the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch announcement. However, 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of its release. This gave Apple two opportunities to release a 10-year anniversary edition of the Apple Watch, and the company has already skipped the first. This September, it might skip the second. To be fair, it looks like Apple did have a plan to release a 10th-anniversary Apple Watch band, but the company seems to have given up on that as well. Hardware and software Currently, it looks like any significant changes to the next generation of the main Apple Watch line should come from within. Alongside a predictable S11 SiP chipset update, the Apple Watch Series 11’s biggest draws should be software rather than hardware-focused. Apple is slated to debut an AI-based health coach that will use data collected by the Apple Watch and from other sources to offer a comprehensive, tailor-made health guide. At the same time, watchOS 12 is expected to adopt the same visual cues that iOS 19, macOS 19, and iPadOS 19 seem to be destined to adopt from visionOS. As for dimensions, a size increase doesn’t sound likely, as the current 42/46mm options already feel too large for some customers, but don’t rule out a small bezel shaving for a few extra pixels in screen dimensions. Price Just like with the Apple Watch SE, it would be wise to bet on similar-if-not-slightly-higher price points to make up for the uncertainty surrounding tariffs. The current Apple Watch line starts at $399, so don’t expect anything below that. Apple Watch Ultra 3 Last year, while many expected Apple to announce an Apple Watch Ultra 3, it announced a satin black option for the Apple Watch Ultra 2. This September, though, it might be different. Hardware and software There have been no reports about Apple planning to move away from titanium with the new Apple Watch Ultra. So, like the Apple Watch Series 11, this year’s update will probably rely on new features as a differentiator from its predecessor. According to leaks by Mark Gurman, the next-generation Apple Watch Ultra is slated to get 5G connectivity, as well as high blood pressure detection. The latter, it seems, will work in the same way as Apple currently measures body temperature and sleep apnea: instead of offering real-time data, it offers a rough trend overlook and warns the user when something seems off. Also, Apple is working to add independent satellite messaging to the Apple Watch Ultra 3, which will definitely be a welcome addition to those who live up to the Ultra’s sales proposition. Price The Apple Watch Ultra 2 currently starts at $799, which is quite pricey. There’s no sign Apple plans to lower the price, and given the risk of surprise tariffs, it’s unlikely they’ll raise it either. This model is probably the most stable in the lineup when it comes to pricing, but if there is one thing we have learned these last few months, it is that nothing is set in stone. Are you in the market for a new Apple Watch? Have you been holding off on buying one until new versions are announced? Let us know in the comments! Best Apple Watch deals currently on Amazon Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Earlier this year, Apple launched the iPhone 16e. While in many ways it was an iPhone SE successor, the naming scheme changes things up a bit compared to the iPhone SE. Now that it’s part of the mainline iPhone lineup, many have wondered – will this be an annual refresh? Today, we’ll be recapping the rumors. iPhone 17e: Annual refresh? According to leaker Instant Digital on Weibo, Apple is already preparing trial production of an iPhone 17e, suggesting that it’s almost definitely on the way: The setup of the 17e production line is being planned. This answers the question: There will be a 17e next year, and now it is almost in the trial production stage. It’s unclear what would change in an iPhone 17e. Dynamic Island would certainly be a welcome upgrade. It’ll also likely adopt the A19 chipset found in the upcoming iPhone 17 models. It might also debut the C2 modem, though that’s just a personal guess. One way or another, it seems quite plausible that the new ‘e’ iPhone will be an annual refresh, unlike the iPhone SE that came before it. Reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also anticipates an iPhone 17e launching in the first half of 2026. Beyond iPhone 17e Earlier this month, The Information reported that Apple will be transitioning to a split iPhone launch strategy, with iPhone 18 Air, Pro, Pro Max, and the foldable launching in fall 2026, and iPhone 18 and 18e launching in spring 2027. While this detail in itself doesn’t confirm an annual refresh for the ‘e’ iPhone, it does at least indicate that new entry-level iPhones will launch more regularly than iPhone SE models, which launched in 2016, 2020, and 2022, leaving an average refresh cycle of 3 years. Wrap up Overall, it’s too early to say for sure. However, I’d lean towards the answer being yes: Apple will probably launch an iPhone 17e in early 2026. I do personally hope that Apple diversifies their offerings a little bit. With the entry-level iPhone being $599 now, I think it could potentially be really cool if we saw an iPhone mini renaissance. It could potentially start at $499, making it a much more appealing purchase than the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 mini at $699. That’s more of a pipe dream, though. What do you think about iPhone 16e and the possibility of there being more regular ‘e’ iPhone launches? Let us know in the comments. My favorite Apple accessory recommendations: Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel