No More Heroes 3 is coming to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox in fall 2022

Games publisher Xseed announced via Twitter that No More Heroes 3, which was released for the Nintendo Switch in August 2021, is coming to the PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox consoles in the fall. Presumably, digital versions will be available, but the sole picture shared by Xseed shows limited-edition physical copies of the game that include an art book, a faux license plate, and a soundtrack CD adorned with the most obvious _Akira_reference. Xseed hasn’t yet shared a price for No More Heroes 3 on these new platforms.

Fans of the No More Heroes series will definitely want to play the latest installment, which my colleague Sam Byford says is a worthy follow-up to the original Nintendo Wii title. Its stylish, fluid combat is back (along with the...

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Vergecast: Meta’s future AR glasses and Elon Musk’s attempt to take over Twitter

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel discusses the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.

The big stories from this week: Mark Zuckerberg’s big plans for AR glasses and Elon Musk’s attempt to buy 100 percent of Twitter.

Nilay starts The Vergecast with deputy editor Liz Lopatto, managing editor Alex Cranz, and senior reporter Alex Heath to discuss the ever-evolving drama between Elon Musk and Twitter — and the repercussions of their limited partnership. (There are probably some additional updates to this story after we recorded this morning.)

In the second half of the show, senior reporter Adi Robertson joins to discuss Alex...

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The Pixel Watch puzzle pieces are falling into place

This isn’t the Pixel Watch, but we may not have to wait too much longer. | Photo by Dieter Bohn / The Verge

After years of rumors and false starts, it seems like we’re close to finally, finally seeing a Pixel Watch running Wear OS.

We’ve been hearing Pixel Watch rumors for the past few months, but what got me thinking about all this was a recent leak from Evan Blass. Earlier today, Blass posted a screenshot on Twitter of an interactive tutorial teasing a “Pixel Rohan” running Wear OS 3.1. Blass also captioned the tweet by saying, “Won’t be long now” — a nod to the very likely possibility that Google will tease the Pixel Watch at next month’s Google I/O.

Nothing about this is incredibly surprising if you’ve been paying attention. It was always likely the Pixel Watch would run Wear OS, though for a small while there was speculation Google...

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The Witcher 3’s next-gen update isn’t in ‘development hell,’ according to CD Projekt Red

CD Projekt Red brought development of the update in-house. | Image: CD Projekt Red

CD Projekt Red (CDPR) announced on Wednesday that the next-gen update for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt would be delayed, but the company insists it’s not in “some sort of development hell” (via Polygon).

As part of the delay announcement, CDPR said that the update would miss its planned Q2 release and that the studio would move development of the update in-house. CDPR did not announce a new release date or even an expected timeline, which led some publications — including The Verge — to write that the game has been delayed indefinitely. CDPR’s SVP of business development, Michał Nowakowski, took issue with that characterization in an investor call this week.

“When it comes to [the] next-gen launch of The Witcher 3, I think there one comment...

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AMC is now letting you buy movie tickets with Dogecoin

The chain said it was looking into expanding its crypto payments last year. | Image: The Verge

AMC Theaters’ app will now let you buy tickets and concessions using Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, the company’s CEO Adam Aron announced via Twitter on Friday. The company added support for the cryptocurrencies through a Bitpay integration, after saying in November that it was “exploring” how to accept the coins.

Paying for popcorn and tickets using Doge is relatively simple — you go through the normal process for selecting your seat and adding any concessions you want, then select Bitpay as your payment method. From there, you can connect your crypto wallet (it supports a ton of them, including Coinbase) or get an address where you can send your chosen cryptocurrency to complete the purchase. (As I was writing this, a matinee screening of S...

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The former CEO of Reddit would like you all to stop bickering online

You learn a lot about how people behave online on Reddit, honestly | Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

“If Elon takes over Twitter, he is in for a world of pain,” writes Yishan Wong, the former CEO of Reddit. “He has no idea.”

Wong goes on to suggest a version of Matt Levine’s Elon Markets Hypothesis. According to Wong, Musk doesn’t “understand what has happened to internet culture since 2004. Or as I call it, just culture.” Wong’s specific example was Bitcoin — Musk’s public interest in cryptocurrency is relatively recent — but it’s also true that at least one hedge fund made a bunch of money by noticing Musk was interested in GameStop and immediately selling.

Wong reveals Silicon Valley’s real bias, which is toward coding fun stuff

What’s very funny is that Wong reveals Silicon Valley’s real bias, which is toward coding fun stuff. (This...

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Waze has your nostalgic vibes covered with ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s themes

Image: Google / Waze

Waze has added broad nostalgic vibes of the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s to its navigation app. You can now choose new “moods” to look like a groovy lava lamp on the map for other drivers and match yourself with a peace-loving flower power van on your own screen — all while getting directions from a smooth operator ‘70s DJ voice.

You can also mix and match the eras, too. You know, just in case you’ve lived them all. For instance, you could switch to “dialed up,” which makes you a beige all-in-one PC from the ‘90s while riding in an ‘80s “Rad Racer” sports coupe (like in the 1987 NES game) and still get the ‘70s DJ navigator.

But, if you prefer to live in just the era you’ve experienced or are a stickler for proper end-to-end themes, you could...

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Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro review: big screen for the mainstream

This laptop is a big deal

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Archie Comics’ new NFT ‘writer’s room’ could be a fun role-playing experiment or a total ripoff

Archie Comics

One of the most persistent cryptocurrency ideas I’ve encountered from crypto proponents like Chris Dixon is that it will let people collaboratively tell stories with non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) and then profit from their creative work. The actual attempts to do this have been underwhelming so far, often seeming to not really require NFTs or collapsing because the operators haven’t thought the details through. So I was intrigued by a new Archie Comics plan to create an NFT-based “writer’s room on the blockchain.” But after reading the details, I hope that’s _not_what the publisher is actually doing.

_Archieverse: Eclipse_is a comics tie-in pitched as “a near infinite storyline, created with fans.” Based on a press release and the...

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Google’s Little Signals concepts show what ‘ambient’ notifications could look like

Image: Google

Google has shown off a “design study” in ambient computing, with a series of objects that can subtly deliver notifications through taps, gentle breezes, and shifting shadows (shout out to Verge alumn Dieter Bohn for tweeting this to our attention). The company calls the experiment Little Signals and says it’s exploring “calm computing,” or ways of keeping you in the loop without having your phone blare a notification chime and light up a screen.

Google has six objects in the Little Signals collection: the Air, Button, Movement, Rhythm, Shadow, and Tap. It shows off concepts of what the devices could look like in its video (which you can watch above) and explains what they all do on its website, though the descriptions can veer a bit too...

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Bandai Namco’s Gundam ‘metaverse’ dream mixes esports, Web3, and Gunpla

Perhaps the Gundam metaverse will look something like this. | Image: Bandai Namco

Bandai Namco is making some big investments into the vaguely-defined idea of the metaverse, and it’s starting first with what it’s calling the “Gundam Metaverse Project.”

Here is the summary of Bandai Namco’s broad metaverse vision, from a March press release. (I will warn you that there is a lot of jargon ahead.)

The new mid-term plan will introduce a new means of connecting fans to entertainment properties by building a metaverse for each IP under Bandai Namco Group’s portfolio, which is also utilized as a key part of the company’s IP based strategies. Development will begin with the creation of the “GUNDAM Metaverse” where it will become a platform of opportunities for GUNDAM fans worldwide to come together to converse and connect in...

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How to use Focus assist in Windows 11

It’s all too easy to allow distractions such as social media or videos to seduce us from the things we’re supposed to be doing — such as, say, writing articles about Windows 11. Features such as Focus assist are now being included with operating systems to try to help us keep our eyes on the road, so to speak.

Microsoft’s Focus assist was first introduced in a 2018 update of Windows 10, where it replaced a feature known as Quiet Hours, and while Windows 11 doesn’t offer any radical updates, it has made the feature easier to use. Focus assist stops notifications from popping up on your screen and can be activated automatically when you put on your display on presentation mode, are playing a game, or are using an app in full-screen mode.

...

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The $49 Genki Covert Dock Mini chops an already tiny Nintendo Switch dock in half

If you wanted a quality Nintendo Switch docking station you could actually slip into a pocket, the $70 Genki Covert Dock was your best bet — 30W of USB-C power, 1080p60 HDMI output, and a USB 3.1 port for peripherals all stuffed into a tiny folding prong charger thanks to the power of GaN.

But now, its makers are making the choice a bit more difficult — with a new $49 Genki Covert Dock Mini (via Gizmodo) that’s way smaller, adds 4K30 output, and unfortunately makes a couple of sacrifices along the way.

GIF: Human Things

Yes, it’s basically a cube now.

At 1.7 x 1.3 x 1.3 inches, the Covert Dock Mini is only slightly bigger than the tiny 5W chargers that Apple used to ship with iPhones (which admittedly didn’t...

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Best Buy is selling Xbox Series X consoles now for its Totaltech subscribers

Microsoft’s monolithic Xbox Series X is still challenging to get a hold of. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The Xbox Series X is sometimes a little easier to buy than Sony’s PlayStation 5, but that doesn’t mean it’s a simple endeavor. The good news is that Best Buy has a restock of the flagship Xbox Series X consoles for its usual price of $499.99. The bad news is that this round of inventory is restricted to subscribers of Best Buy’s Totaltech, which costs $199.99 per year.

That’s a steep added cost if you’re looking for a new Xbox, though Totaltech does offer extra tech support, included installation services, and extended product protection — in addition to paying your way toward the front of the line. Even as a Totaltech subscriber, you’re not guaranteed to get an Xbox today, but you have better odds.

For the best chances on this restock,...

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How to put the Windows 11 Start menu back where it belongs

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

When you upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, one of the first things you may do is wonder: where the heck is my Start menu? Traditionally, the Windows Start menu has been in the lower left corner of the screen, but when your new version of Windows appears, you’ll find the Start icon among a group of icons in the center of your taskbar at the bottom of the screen.

The Windows 11 Start menu is now a small icon in the center of the taskbar.

Click on the Start menu icon, and things will look very different as well. Instead of the large square Live Tiles that used to pop up, you have a much more modest set of app icons, mostly showing Microsoft-related apps, pinned to the main page. Click on “All apps” on the top...

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Twitter board announces poison pill measure to block Musk buyout

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Twitter’s board of directors has issued a new “shareholder rights plan” to block Elon Musk’s proposed buyout offer, a major setback to the billionaire’s efforts to take full financial control of the company.

The plan was adopted “following an unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter,” the company’s board of directors noted in a press release announcing the change.

This maneuver, known in the finance world as a poison pill, blocks hostile takeovers by giving certain shareholders the right to purchase more stock if an outsider attempts to seize control.

The plan was adopted “following an unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter”

The plan strongly suggests that Twitter’s board intends to fight Musk’s bid to take...

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How Our Flag Means Death’s creator made a period romance disguised as a pirate comedy

David Jenkins opens up about everyone’s favorite queer pirate show

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How to change your default browser in Windows 11

If you’ve updated your PC from Windows 10 to Windows 11, you may have noticed that when you click on a link for a website, a PDF document, or a variety of other file types, you will now be sent to Microsoft’s Edge browser. In its new version of Windows, Microsoft seems to have become especially aggressive in pushing its own apps over the apps that had been installed as defaults before the upgrade. In other words, Edge suddenly became your default browser.

Normally, the first time you go into another browser that is not Edge — say, Google Chrome — the not-Edge browser will ask if you’d like to make it the default instead. However, the process for changing your defaults in Windows 11 has become more complicated than it was in Windows...

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Core, an accessible game creation tool, is expanding from PC to iOS and Mac this summer

Core on an iPad. | Image: Manticore Games

Core, a free PC-based app built on Unreal Engine that lets you create and play games, is expanding to iOS and Mac this summer, developer Manticore Games announced Friday. The app is currently available only on Windows from the Epic Games Store, so the move to Apple’s platforms could mark a significant expansion for Core.

Friday marks Core’s one-year anniversary of availability on the Epic Games Store (where it is in Early Access), and there are already more than 50,000 playable “games, worlds, and events” to check out, according to a press release. Crossplay will be enabled between the iOS, macOS, and Windows versions of Core, and developers who want to get a jump on preparing their experiences for mobile can begin working with a “suite”...

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Fortnite’s Zero Build mode is bringing people back to the game

Fortnite’s latest season kicked off a big shakeup: developer Epic Games removed building, perhaps the game’s most iconic feature, from the core battle royale modes. It was a risky move that had the potential to lessen interest in the game. Instead, it appears to have had the opposite effect — especially for some big streamers.

Not everyone was on board with what Epic now calls Zero Build mode right away. “Initially, I hated it and I was absolutely furious,” Michael “The Fierce Diva” Reynolds, a Facebook Gaming streamer, told me in an interview. “Since I play the game so much, the way people would assess my skill is due to how I build and edit and things of that nature. But my movement and all that stuff, I’m not so good at it.”

“I...

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UE’s custom-fitting earbuds are on sale today for $100 off

The UE Fits are on sale right now for $149, a considerable $100 off their typical list price. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

If you’re in the market for a pair of true wireless buds that offer the best fit possible, look no further than the UE Fits. After all, there’s a reason the word “fit” is literally in their name: the unique buds permanently mold to the shape of your ear in 60 seconds during setup, which makes their ear tips some of the most comfortable we’ve ever tested. The Bluetooth earbuds also offer a host of other praiseworthy features, including good sound quality, a compact charging case, and lengthy, eight-hour battery life.

If you don’t mind that they lack active noise cancellation and feature mediocre sweat resistance, they’re a great option to consider, especially now that they’re on sale for their lowest price to date. Now through 11:59PM PT...

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Motorola’s latest Moto G Stylus gets the basics right

Not the latest and greatest, but that’s not a problem

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What Elon Musk’s Twitter ‘free speech’ promises miss

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images

Thursday morning, Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter to save free speech.

“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” wrote the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire — who recently acquired a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter — in a filing. “However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”

It’s not clear how this gambit will play out, but there’s also a more fundamental question: what does Elon Musk think free speech is, and who’s threatening it? Free expression is a...

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Apple’s M2 chips and the computers they’ll power detailed in new leak

This is Apple’s M1 Ultra, which could be getting an upgrade. | Image: Apple

Apple is reportedly working on nine new Macs featuring its upcoming M2 processors, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. These rumors come hot on the heels of Apple releasing the Mac Studio, and its announcement that the the M1 Ultra would be the last chip in its current-gen lineup.

Bloomberg isn’t predicting a replacement for the Studio yet, but it reports that most other Mac models will be getting an upgrade. Gurman says he’s seen evidence of an M2-powered MacBook Air with a 10-core GPU — contrary to previous predictions that a redesigned Air would still have an M1 — as well as an entry-level M2 MacBook Pro with the same specs. The 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros also make an appearance, along with a new Mac Mini and Mac Pro, all rocking...

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What would you do with this cool DIY haptic knob?

It twists, taps, and turns. | Image: Scott Bezek

Sometimes you come across a DIY project and immediately start figuring out ways you could use it in your life. That’s what happened to us here at The Verge when someone dropped the SmartKnob View, a proof-of-concept project by engineer Scott Bezek, into our Slack chat. While it doesn’t seem like it’s the type of project most people could go out and build themselves at the moment (more on that later), it’s easy to imagine a future where it’s available as a kit, or where somebody turns it into an actual product.

The smart knob kind of looks like a mini Nest Thermostat, but Bezek’s programmed it to have loads of modes. Of course, it can just act as a spinning dial, but you could also program its motor to provide haptic feedback and...

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Razer’s first Linux laptop is here, but it’s not for gamers

It’s been a decade since Razer shipped its first Blade laptop, and they’ve all come with Windows. That isn’t_quite_changing today — but a company called Lambda is now putting Ubuntu on a souped-up version of last year’s Razer Blade 15 Advanced with Razer’s full blessing, with the aim of selling it to machine learning and artificial intelligence researchers.

It’s called the Razer x Lambda Tensorbook, and the $3,500 machine is absolutely identical to a high-end version of last year’s laptop in most ways. It’s got an 11th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, Nvidia RTX 3080 Max-Q graphics and 64GB of RAM underneath a 15.6-inch 165Hz 1440p display, all powered by a 80Wh battery inside an identically sized and shaped 4.45-pound chassis. It’s also got the...

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Meta is working on a web version of its Horizon Worlds metaverse platform

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Meta is planning to bring its Horizon Worlds social metaverse platform to the web, Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth said in a tweet on Thursday. Being available on the web would mark a major expansion for the platform, which is currently only available on its Quest VR headsets.

A web version isn’t the only one in the works — this week, Meta VP of Horizon Vivek Sharma told The Vergethat it’s working on bringing Horizon to mobile phones later this year and is in “early discussions” about bringing it to game consoles. However, it’s still unclear exactly when Horizon might expand to the web, and Meta spokesperson Iska Saric said there were “no timing details to share at this time” when we asked.

Boz’s tweet was included in a thread defending...

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The best gaming headset deals you can get right now

Logitech’s budget-friendly G435 boasts color and comfort, as well as a host of solid features. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

A good gaming headset is practically a necessity these days. Clean and precise audio is essential for competitive gaming, allowing you not just to pinpoint your enemies but to communicate effectively with your teammates. Moreover, recent developments in spatial audio and virtual surround sound have allowed headsets to meet — and occasionally surpass — more expensive audio setups, allowing even the most budget-conscious gamer to obtain a competitive edge at a fraction of the price.

While you could always invest in a massive pair of speakers, they’re likely to earn you the dubious distinction of the worst roommate of the decade. Thankfully, the right headset will allow you to keep the running and gunning to yourself, which is why we’ve...

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US blames North Korean hacker group for $625 million Axie Infinity theft

The US Treasury Department blames North Korean hacking group Lazarus for stealing $625 million in cryptocurrency from the Ronin network, the blockchain backing the _Axie Infinity_play-to-earncrypto game, according to a report from Vice. On Thursday, the Department of Treasury updated sanctions to include the wallet address that received the funds and attributed it to the Lazarus group.

In an updated post about the incident, the Ronin network, which is owned by developer group Sky Mavis, explains the US Department of Treasury and FBI have pinned the attack on Lazarus. “We are still in the process of adding additional security measures before redeploying the Ronin Bridge to mitigate future risk,” the post reads. “We expect to deliver a...

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Twitter CEO says board still evaluating Elon Musk takeover

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in an all-hands meeting with employees Thursday that the company was still evaluating an offer by Elon Musk to buy the company and take it private, according to a person in attendance.

After clips of the songs “I Say A Little Prayer” and “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys played, Agrawal launched into a 25-minute Q&A session with employees, fielding at least one question about the possibility of future layoffs. In response to another question about what would happen to employee stock options if Twitter was taken private, Agrawal said it was too early to speculate.

He didn’t say when the board would have an answer to Musk’s offer, saying it would make a decision “in the best interest of our...

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