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Last week, Netflix surprised us all when it announced plans for an $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros., a move that would fundamentally reshape the world of streaming video and Hollywood. But Paramount isn't giving up on WB this week it launched a $108 billion hostile takeover effort. In this episode, we discuss why everyone is fighting for WB, and why Netflix may be the best worst option for the storied movie studio. Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Google Podcasts Topics

If you want to learn a new skill in the new year or brush up on some skills you already have, MasterClass could be a good option for you. It's even more accessible now that the company is running a holiday promotion that knocks 40 percent off subscriptions. For the top-tier Premium plan, which includes offline mode and use on up to six devices, you'll pay $144 for the year instead of the usual $240. The entry-level plan, which supports just one device and doesn't offer offline viewing, is marked

Honestly, compiling the biggest losers for Engadget is more fun than talking up the winners . While we reviewed nothing as atrocious as those ill-fated AI assistant gadgets from 2024, AI companies and services straddled both the winner and loser podiums. The losers might be you, the American consumer. (Sorry.) In the US, anyone wanting a drone will have to find something that isnt made by DJI. The company has been targeted by regulators since 2017 over concerns its products could spy on sensitiv

E Ink tablets have always been intriguing to me because Im a longtime lover of pen and paper. Ive had probably hundreds of notebooks over the years, serving as repositories for my story ideas, to-do lists, meeting notes and everything in between. However, I turned away from physical notebooks at a certain point because it was just easier to store everything digitally so I always had my most important information at my fingertips. E Ink tablets seem to provide the best of both worlds: the tactile

This year at The Game Awards, if your game wasnt melodramatic, mechanically innovative, beautifully presented and aggressively French, it didnt stand a chance. The Game Awards 2025 wrapped up on the evening of Thursday, December 11 with a record-breaking showing by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive. The game received the most nominations and wins in the shows 12-year history. But, we know thats not really why youre here. Between the award presentations and musical numbers, th

PlayStation had said on X that it would have news about Saros at The Game Awards, and unfortunately, fans excited for the new Housemarque project will need to wait a little longer to get their hands on it. The game has been delayed from its planned March release. But there's only a short time until the new date of April 30, and pre-orders are open now. Star Rahul Kohli appeared at The Game Awards to introduce the newest trailer for the game. I'm glad we won't be waiting too much longer, because

The next game from Left 4 Dead designer Mike Booth is putting a sci-fi spin on his last game's co-op action, based on a trailer Booth and producer JJ Abrams shared at The Game Awards 2025. The new game is called 4:LOOP , and it's the first project entirely developed by Bad Robot Games , film production company Bad Robot's game studio. 4:LOOP combines the four-player co-op action of Left 4 Dead , with roguelike elements enabled by what seems like a time loop mechanic. Based on the trailer, player

Why have one Star Wars game announcement at an edition of The Game Awards when you can have two? Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a podracing (and speeder racing) game from Fuse Games , a studio established in 2023 by former Burnout and Need for Speed developers. It's scheduled to hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2026. The action here is set after the fall of the Empire. With the galaxy in rebuild mode after dealing with that whole mess, an unsanctioned, underground racing circuit called the Galac

So there's good news and bad news about the highly anticipated Exodus coming out of The Game Awards this year. The good news is that there's a fresh trailer showcasing more of the game. The bad news is that the game won't be out until early 2027. The game was originally announced two years ago (also at The Game Awards) and had been pegged for release in 2026. We may be waiting longer to get our hands on Exodus , but the substantial new trailer shows more of what the final product will entail, of

The last mainline Tomb Raider game was 2018s Shadow of the Tomb Raider , and after spending a few years in video game purgatory, Lara Croft is coming back in two new games. At The Game Awards 2025, Amazon Game Studios announced that Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will reimagine of one of the heros early adventures in 2026, and Tomb Raider: Catalyst will continue the series in 2027. Catalyst is developed by Crystal Dynamics and follows Lara through Northern India in the wake of a mythical catacl

It didn't take too long for a game that a whole bunch of people are excited about to swoop into Grand Theft Auto VI 's old release week. Or maybe Rockstar had an idea of was what was coming and delayed its blockbuster by six months to get out of the way of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight . Either way, TT Games and Warner Bros. Games brought a new trailer to The Game Awards and revealed that the Caped Crusader's next adventure will hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam and the Epic Games Store o

South of Midnight is heading to PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 in Spring 2026, developer Compulsion Games announced on X . The third-person action-adventure game launched as an Xbox and PC exclusive, but like plenty of Microsoft's other first-party games, it's heading to competitors' consoles. Mixing platforming with magic-infused combat in a unique setting inspired by the folklore of the South, Compulsion Games' South of Midnight was generally well-receive d when it was released in April 2025. The

On Thursday evening, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for a single, nationwide regulatory framework governing artificial intelligence at the expense of the ability of different states to regulate the nascent technology. To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation, the order states. But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative. As was expected after a draft of the order leaked earlier this week, the centerpiece of the

Frictional Games is back with a new game that looks primed to carry on the studio's tradition of excellence in horror. It's called Ontos , and it's slated to launch on PC, PlayStation and Xbox next year. The trailer debuted during The Game Awards 2025. The company's past projects include Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA , and this new title is also looking pretty dang creepy. It looks like things will take a philosophical turn, with a story of trying to piece together your father's past that l

Remedy Entertainment's Control is a bizarre yet totally captivating action game that feels like Die Hard by way of David Lynch. In Control: Resonant , players step into the role of the original game's most enigmatic and unsettling characters for their own jaunt through a 'new-weird' world outside The Oldest House. Just ahead of the reveal at The Game Awards, we got an early look at Control: Resonant , the next game in the Remedy Connected Universe. Along with learning why the developers wanted a

Larian Studios didnt rest on its laurels for long. Two years after taking home the Game of the Year prize for Baldurs Gate III at The Game Awards, the developer popped up again at the 2025 edition of the ceremony to announce its upcoming project, which is the next entry in the Divinity series. Simply called Divinity , this will be the studios biggest game to date with more breadth and depth than ever before, according to TGA host Geoff Keighley. After 2017s Divinity: Original Sin II , Larian too

Many of the big announcements at The Game Awards are for completely new projects, some of which are total surprises (if you had an Okami sequel on your bingo card last year, you're either in the know or probably used up all your luck for the next few years). We'll often get updates on games that were previously announced too. The trailer for Order of the Sinking Star is something a little different, as it's a game that Braid designer Jonathan Blow has been working on fairly openly since releasin

Coven of the Chicken Foot has a lot of things going for it already, in my book. It stars a hero rarely seen in video games, an elderly woman, and it has gorgeous storybook-style art in a lush fantasy setting. Its a single-player puzzle platformer, it relies on wordless storytelling and the woman, a witch named Gertie, travels with a creepy-cute companion. Plus, Gertie has chicken feet. I love her little chicken feet. Coven of the Chicken Foot is the first game from Wildflower Interactive, the in

Capcoms long, long-delayed sci-fi shooter Pragmata finally has a release date. Its headed your way on April 24, 2026 on Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and as Capcom confirmed in a trailer at The Game Awards Nintendo Switch 2. You dont have to wait another four months to try it out, though. A gameplay demo is out now on Steam . It will be available for consoles at a later date. Pragmata first emerged all the way back in 2020 and Capcom initially planned to release it in 2022. After multiple delays

A lot of trailers drop during The Game Awards, but the comedy of Bradley the Badger stood out from the pack. The conceit is similar to Wreck-It Ralph . Bradley, the protagonist of a fictional platforming series, is suddenly transported into the worlds of other unfinished video games; the trailer shows a badger-ified Bloodborne , Cyberpunk 2077 and The Last of Us . He also has access to a kit of dev tools that let him modify these incomplete projects, getting a taste of making a game. As the trai

Apple has clawed back a bit of ground in its legal fight with Epic Games that could have wide-reaching consequences for all app developers. Today, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals mostly upheld a previous contempt ruling regarding fees Apple levied on third-party payment systems. However, the judges did decide to reverse the order that Apple cannot charge any commissions on those external payments, which was one of the company's main arguments in this ongoing debate. To catch you up, US Jud

Amazon's plan to offer AI-generated recaps of Prime Video shows isn't off to a great start. The company's recap of the first season of Fallout features multiple errors, GamesRadar+ writes , including basic facts about the plot of the show. You can watch the recap yourself in the Extras section of Amazon's Fallout season two listing in Prime Video. Besides being somewhat dry, the AI-generated recap incorrectly identifies the time period of the show's Los Angeles-set flashbacks as being the 1950s,

This morning Disney and OpenAI announced a three-year licensing agreement: Starting in 2026, ChatGPT and Sora can generate images and videos incorporating Disney IP, including more than 200 characters from the company's stable of Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel brands. To say these companies make for strange bedfellows is an understatement. The agreement brings together two parties with very different public stances on copyright. Before OpenAI released Sora, the company reportedly notified studios a

A director who was charged with defrauding Netflix out of millions of dollars has been found guilty, Business Insider reports . Carl Rinsch, director of the 2013 Keanu Reeves movie 47 Ronin , now faces up to 90 years in prison. Rinsch began filming the project, White Horse (later renamed Conquest ), around 2017. (Its premise: A scientist creates an organic humanoid species that turns on its creators.) The director completed six short-form episodes with his own money and investor funds. He then u

New York is taking steps to regulate the use of AI in the state's entertainment industry. NY State Governor Kathy Hochul passed two pieces of legislation on Thursday that forces certain productions to disclose the use of AI-generated performers, and defines rules around how someone's likeness can be used after their death. Assembly Bill A8887B, now known as S.8420-A, specifically covers the use of AI performers in advertisements. Per Hochul's announcement, the law requires persons who produce or

Epic Games has spent a lot of time in court over the past several years, but it seems the company's litigious era may be winding down. The company announced today that its game Fortnite is back on the Google Play mobile store in the US. Fortnite 's return to Android devices means Epic's popular hit is now available on just about every gaming platform following five years of arguing antitrust lawsuits. Epic took both Google and Apple to court over their policies for mobile payment systems back in

OpenAI's code red response to Google's Gemini 3 Pro has arrived . On the same day the company announced a Sora licensing pact with Disney , it took the wraps off GPT-5.2 .OpenAI is touting the new model as its best yet for real-world, professional use. Its better at creating spreadsheets, building presentations, writing code, perceiving images, understanding long contexts, using tools, and handling complex, multi-step projects, said OpenAI. In a series of 10 benchmarks highlighted by OpenAI, GPT

OpenAI has been hit with a wrongful death lawsuit after a man killed his mother and took his own life back in August, according to a report by The Verge . The suit names CEO Sam Altman and accuses ChatGPT of putting a target on the back of victim Suzanne Adams, an 83-year-old woman who was killed in her home. The victim's estate claims the killer , 56-year-old Stein-Erik Soelberg, engaged in delusion-soaked conversations with ChatGPT in which the bot validated and magnified certain paranoid beli

The latest experiment emerging out of Google Labs is Disco, which is the company's AI-driven approach to web browsing. The first feature for Disco is called GenTabs, built on Google's Gemini 3 model. GenTabs are interactive widgets created from a mix of user prompts, open tabs and chat history. The preview examples demonstrate how GenTabs can create a model to demonstrate entropy as a study aid, or collect trip ideas into one screen for building an itinerary. The GenTab can be further refined wi

EV automaker Rivian just held its inaugural Autonomy and AI day which, unsurprisingly, focused extensively on hands-free driving. An upcoming software update promises the introduction of universal hands-free driving. The company says its vehicles will be able to autonomously navigate more than 3.5 million miles of roads in North America, covering the vast majority of marked roads in the US. This is coming to the R2 line of EVs , but also Gen 2 R1 vehicles like the recently-released Rivian R1S .

Disney has accused Google of copyright infringement on a massive scale, alleging that the tech giant is training its AI tools on protected materials as well as allowing those tools to generate infringing images and videos. Variety reports that Disney attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google on Wednesday. Google is infringing Disneys copyrights on a massive scale, by copying a large corpus of Disneys copyrighted works without authorization to train and develop generative artificial inte

CES doesn't start until January, but whispers of the products and announcements that could be in store for tech's biggest annual conference have already started to take shape. The CES 2026 show floor is officially open from January 6 through 9, although the show kicks off with events on Sunday January 4 and a host of press conferences on Monday. As always, product demos, announcements and networking will be happening at the Las Vegas Convention Center and surrounding hotels all over the city. As

Finding the right gifts for everyone on your list this time of year can be a major source of stress. It can be even more daunting if youre trying to stick to a budget all while getting the folks you love things that they will really appreciate. But theres also a good chance youre getting fed bad gift ideas (and just as bad deals) if youre browsing the web frantically searching as we get closer and closer to the holidays. Allow us at Engadget to help you through it. Here, youll find all of our ho

With a new year just around the corner, now is the perfect time to take stock of your finances. A budgeting app can help with that, and right now you can get 50 percent off your first year of a Monarch Money plan. All you need to do is enter the code MONARCHVIP at checkout and youll pay $50 for the initial 12 months instead of the regular price of $100. Note that the offer only applies to new users. Monarch Money was the runner-up in our guide to the best budgeting apps in 2025, and it was defin

No need to fret if you missed out on some of the best Black Friday deals this year some of them have returned already. Case in point: Apple's AirPods Pro 3 , which came out in September this year, are on sale for a new record low of $199. That's 20 percent off and better than the discount we saw during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With the new AirPods Pro, Apple made some big improvements, including better battery life and sound quality, and introduced useful new features, such as Live Transl

It looks like Disney wasted no time delivering on CEO Bob Igers promise to bring AI-generated content to Disney+. On Thursday, the company announced the start of a three-year licensing agreement with OpenAI to bring more than 200 of its beloved characters, including those from Star Wars and Pixar, to the Sora app and ChatGPT. With the deal in place, OpenAI users will be able to prompt ChatGPT to generate images that tap into Disneys intellectual property, with costumes, props, vehicles and envir

Nintendo has been slowly drip-feeding us GameCube games since the console joined its Nintendo Classics offering when the Switch 2 launched in June, and we just got another one. Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers can now play Warios one and only 3D platformer on the service. Wario World launched in 2003 and was developed by Treasure ( Gunstar Heroes , Ikaruga ). You play as Wario, the flatulent antithesis of Nintendos primary mascot, in what is a combat-heavy platformer. Warios castle has

After rolling it out on desktop and Android earlier in 2025 , Google is finally bringing its built-in Gemini AI experience to iPhone and iPad. It offers new features like summarizing pages and helping you test your knowledge about a subject you're learning. As with any AI tool, though, it shouldn't be trusted for anything important given the possibility of hallucinations and other errors. When it arrives on your iOS device, tapping the spark icon at the left of the address bar (in place of the G

Tourists from Europe and other regions could be asked to provide a five-year social media history before given entry to the United States, according to a new proposal from the US Customs and Border Protection service (CBP). The new rule would affect visitors from countries who normally enjoy relatively easy entry to the US via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). The new proposal cites an executive order issued by President Trump from January titled Protecting the United States

Noise is hard to escape, whether its the hum of traffic, the buzz of a busy office or the neighbors lawn mower starting up right when you need to focus. Thats where noise-canceling headphones earn their keep. A good pair doesnt just quiet the world around you, it creates a pocket of calm so you can actually enjoy your music, podcasts or peace and quiet. Modern noise-canceling headphones have come a long way, combining powerful ANC with clearer sound, longer battery life and smarter features like

Streaming services keep raising prices . At this point, if you subscribe to all the major services out there, you're basically paying the same price as cable those antiquated local monopolies that streaming was supposed to save us from. But streaming still has one big advantage over the old ways: no contracts. That means you can grab a good streaming deal and then cancel without penalty. Our advice is to sign up for a service when you see a good streaming deal (or the latest season of, say, Doc

Indie game developer Edmund McMillen hosted a Reddit AMA today offering some more details about his upcoming game Mewgenics . For starters, the Steam release date for this turn-based cat-breeding RPG has been slightly delayed to February 10. The game was first announced all the way back in 2012 and had most recently been slated for a launch some time this year. Part of the long development cycle was so that McMillen could pause to launch Super Meat Boy Forever , the sequel to his Super Meat Boy

The year is 1987. Beverly Hills Cop II is the highest-grossing movie. Walk Like an Egyptian is the hottest song. The Iran-Contra scandal dominates American political headlines, while Konamis Contra sucks up coins in arcades. But towering above them all is the watershed moment of Jaws arriving on the NES. (This time there's no escape!, warned the box art.) Now, 38 years later, the 8-bit game is returning as a Limited Run Games physical re-release. The retro release coincides with the Spielberg mo

Apple Music and Apple TV were briefly down during outage, according to Apples System Status page . The outage was logged on Apples own system at around 2:53PM ET and affected both of the companys streaming services, along with Apple TVs Channels feature, until the company resolved the issue around 4:31PM ET. On DownDetector, reports of issues with Apple TV and Apple Music first appeared right around 2:33PM ET, a little before Apple officially confirmed the outage on its own site. Only some users

Mark Zuckerberg has for months publicly hinted that he is backing away from open-source AI models. Now, Meta's latest AI pivot is starting to come into focus. The company is reportedly working on a new model, known inside of Meta as Avocado, which could mark a major shift away from its previous open-source approach to AI development. Both CNBC and Bloomberg have reported on Meta's plans surrounding Avocado, with both outlets saying the model could be proprietary rather than open-source. Avocado,

Spotify is attempting to give users more control over the music the streaming service recommends with a new playlist feature called Prompted Playlist. The beta feature is rolling out in New Zealand starting on December 11, and will let users write a custom prompt that Spotify can use alongside their listening history to create a playlist of new music. By tapping on Prompted Playlist, Spotify subscribers participating in the beta will be presented with a prompt field where they can type exactly

Intel will have to pay up in an antitrust case dating back to 2009 , Reuters reported on Wednesday. The company has lost its challenge against a 376 million ($438.7 million) regulatory fine levied by the European Commission. However, Intel managed to get the amount reduced to 237 million euros ($276.6 million). The case began in 2009, when mobile computing was in its infancy and netbooks ( remember those? ) were all the rage in the PC space. At the time, the EU ruled that Intel violated antitrus

There are a lot of competing ideas as to what a white elephant gift exchange really is. The origins of the term white elephant point to one definition: According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them. It was a far more devious punishment than simply having them executed. The recipient had no choice but to simply thank the king for such an opulent gift, knowing that they likely could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. It would inevitably le

You gotta love that post-Day of the Devs showcase feeling. The organization, founded by Double Fine Productions and iam8bit, consistently highlights top-tier games from independent developers across the globe, providing space for creators to share their stories in both online and in-person events. This years Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Digital Showcase was an hour-long celebration of 22 upcoming indie games, including six world premieres and three release date announcements. Settle in and b

Sony just announced December's Game Catalog additions for PS Plus subscribers and it's a pretty decent lineup. All of these titles will be ready to play on December 16, except Skate Story which is already available . Speaking of Skate Story , it's a really weird skateboarding sim that's set in a glass-covered world. The reviews have been positive , with many people praising the outlandish story, surreal locations and the satisfying trick mechanics. It's made by Sam Eng, who was behind the indie