Electronic Arts just raised the price of its EA Play subscription service. The standard EA Play tier increased from $5 per month to $6 per month, while the annual fee rose to $40 from $30. These updated prices also impact premium EA Play Pro subscriptions, which allows access to the publishers games as soon as they launch. This tier now costs $17 per month, an increase from $15, and $120 each year, an increase from $100.
EA confirmed the changes to Engadget via email and noted that the prices are increasing in every country the company does business in. According to a report by Gamesindustry.biz, the new cost structure was decided on to bring fees in line with market value. The price increase is live for new members but pre-existing subscribers won't get dinged until May 10.
For the uninitiated, EA Play is a subscription service that gives players access to a select number of games from the company, along with additional incentives like discounts and DLC. Its available on Xbox consoles, PlayStation consoles and PC. The service is in line with Microsoft Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Ubisoft+, among others. As previously mentioned, EA Play Pro takes things a step further by letting subscribers play newly-released games. It's worth noting that Game Pass Ultimate members still have access to the standard EA Play tier as part of their subscription.
Its always a bummer when these subscriptions go up in price, and EA is hardly alone here. Sony raised the price of PS Plus last year and Microsoft did the same for Game Pass subscriptions. Ubisoft+ Premium is likely the closest analog to Play Pro and it costs $18 per month, which is right in line with EAs updated pricing model.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-ea-play-subscription-service-is-getting-more-expensive-172942011.html?src=rss
Amazon has decided to cut off paid perks for Alexa developers. The company confirmed to Engadget on Wednesday that it will end the Alexa Developer Rewards Program at the end of June. A second program that rewards developers for using Amazon Web Services as the backend for their Alexa apps will wrap up at the same time.
With the emergence of generative AI, the pioneering voice assistants third-party apps (skills) no longer appear to be a central focus for the company. The news was first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Engadget with the company.
Amazon described the move as a case of phasing out an old project that had run its course. These are older programs launched back in 2017 as a way to help newer developers interested in building skills accelerate their progress, an Amazon spokesperson wrote to Engadget. Today, there are over 160,000 skills available for customers, a well-established Alexa developer community, and new LLM-powered tools that will help developers build new experiences for Alexa. These older programs have simply run their course, so we decided to sunset them.
The company told me the program launched when developers were still learning to make voice apps, and it was designed to help them get started. Amazon told Engadget that fewer than one percent of developers were using the program. It said Alexa developers will still get paid for in-app purchases from their Alexa skills, adding that the cost of making them has gone down while developer knowledge has gone up.
The Alexa Developer Rewards Program was created to incentivize developers who made high-quality skills for the assistant. Launched in 2017, when Alexa was all the rage, the program paid developers bonuses for skills that met engagement thresholds in specific categories. It was part of Amazons quest to turn Alexa Skills into a booming app store for a new generation of voice-first devices, a vision that never fully came to fruition.
Now, the renewed interest in AI assistants is about generative AI, which can handle many of the same tasks as Alexas skills (likely much better in some cases). At its fall 2023 devices event, Amazon previewed a next-generation version of Alexa with ChatGPT-like generative AI abilities. The company has also gradually integrated the next-gen tech into its seller tools and product pages.
Bloomberg reports that third-party apps werent making Amazon much money (unsurprising, given todays news). The company cut the available funds for Alexa developer payments in 2020. Amazon also laid off several hundred employees in its Alexa division late last year. Meanwhile, Google threw in the towel long ago: It eliminated third-party voice apps for Google Assistant altogether in 2022.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-will-stop-paying-bonuses-to-alexa-developers-171610161.html?src=rss
Marshall portable speakers are up to 25 percent off right now via Amazon. The sale includes the attractive and highly useful Middleton speaker, which is available for $237. This is a discount of 21 percent and marks a record low for the portable Bluetooth device.
The Middleton made our list of the best portable Bluetooth speakers, and for good reason. Its the companys flagship portable speaker, so its packed with both bells and whistles. It offers 50-watts of 360-degree sound and a rugged IP67 exterior. There are dual woofers and tweeters for the front and back, in addition to passive radiators along the side. In other words, people attending your backyard barbecue will have no problem hearing the tunes, and the same could be true of your neighbors.
The speaker also features the companys Stack Mode, allowing it to easily pair with other Marshall speakers. This includes other Middleton units, the Willen and the Emberton II. We also enjoyed the multi-use joystick that can turn the unit on, change the volume, select tracks and adjust bass and treble.
Marshalls Willen speaker is also part of this sale, with a current price of $90. Thats 25 percent off. This diminutive, yet powerful, speaker made our list of the best gadgets of 2023. We praised the sound quality, the reliable Bluetooth connection and the battery, which lasts over 15 hours per charge. Its just about the perfect little speaker, especially for the price.
The sale goes beyond portable speakers. Marshalls Minor III earbuds are on sale for $100, which is a discount of $30. These no-frills headphones feature custom-tuned 12mm drivers, touch controls and IPX4 water resistance. You can expect around five hours per charge, with the included charging case offering an additional 20 hours.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/marshall-portable-speakers-are-up-to-25-percent-off-right-now-164056685.html?src=rss
If you're just looking for a cheap way to keep your floors cleaner and don't need all the top-end features, you may want to check out this deal. Anker brand Eufy's BoostIQ RoboVac S11 is now down to $140 after a 44 percent discount. The sale comes as part of a larger sale on Eufy vacs, including ones with a few more bells and whistles. The S11 Max is our current pick for an ultra budget option in our buyer's guide to robo vacs because it's super affordable (especially after the discount), has good suction power and a long battery life. Probably the biggest caveat is that it's not Wi-Fi enabled.
Instead of controlling the unit through your home's wireless network, the 11S Max comes with a remote that handles scheduling and other smart features like cleaning mode selection. It also has a manual button up top to start a session. It has three power modes Standard, BoostIQ and Max and BoostIQ provides a good balance of adequate suction and noise level. In our tests, a BoostIQ session lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. The obstacle avoidance is impressive at sidestepping random objects, though it occasionally bumped into walls. The vac is also about an inch an a half thinner than many other robot vacs we tested, which lets it get beneath low-slung furniture for more complete cleaning.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/one-of-our-favorite-affordable-robot-vacuums-is-on-sale-for-140-163249182.html?src=rss
Sony has revealed the latest batch of games that are coming to the PS Plus Catalog for Extra and Premium subscribers. This time around, there are three titles that will hit the service on the same day they debut on PlayStation. It had already been announced that the terrific Dave the Diver (April 16) and Tales of Kenzera: Zau (April 23) will hit the subscription service when they make their bow on PlayStation consoles. Now it has emerged Animal Well will join them on May 9.
This sidescrolling platformer is the first game from YouTuber Dunkey's publishing label, Bigmode. Solo developer Billy Basso spent seven years making the eye-catching Animal Well, which is said to be packed with secrets for players to discover. Along with PS5, Animal Well is coming to Switch and PC.
There haven't been too many games that have arrived on PS Plus on their release day, but the strategy can prove successful. Humanity, Stray, Teardown and Tchia, all of which are excellent, debuted on the subscription service. Going further back, so too did Rocket League and Fall Guys and those games were enormous hits, though they had the advantage of being multiplayer titles. On the other side of the platform divide, Palworld (aka the Pokémon with guns game) became a viral smash this year, thanks in part to it hitting Game Pass on its release day.
The other titles that are coming to the PS Plus Catalog on April 16 are multiplayer party game Oddballers (PS4), Construction Simulator (PS4, PS5), The Crew 2 (PS4), Indian mythology-inspired action-adventure Raji: An Ancient Epic (PS4, PS5), Lego Ninjago Movie Videogame (PS4), Nour: Play With Your Food (PS4, PS5), Deliver Us Mars (PS4, PS5), Lego Marvels Avengers (PS4), Miasma Chronicles (PS5) and Stray Blade (PS5).
Those with a PS Plus Premium subscription will be able to check out a few extra games through the Classics collection. The original PlayStation versions of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire and MediEvil will hit the catalog next week.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-is-bringing-another-game-to-the-ps-plus-catalog-on-its-release-day-162541995.html?src=rss
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 has been one of our favorite gaming laptops for damn near half a decade. But the 2024 model is on another level. Thats because even without a fresh generation of GPUs from NVIDIA, ASUS went and redesigned the entire thing anyway. And the result is a notebook with a gorgeous aluminum unibody chassis with a more mature design that doesnt need to throw RGB lighting in your face to get some attention. This edition is also sleeker and lighter while still providing powerful performance. Though ASUS made a few trade-offs when compared to its predecessor, with a starting price of $1,600, the new ROG Zephyrus G14 is not only a better value than almost all of its 14-inch rivals, its also simply one of the best pound-for-pound gaming laptops around.
Design
Compared to previous models that were awash in RGB or had dot-matrix displays built into their lids, this years G14 is an exercise in restraint. Its almost like the line has grown out of its awkward teenage phase and become a stylish but still fun-loving adult. The lid is accented by a simple diagonal slash with white (not RGB) LEDs embedded down the middle. Meanwhile, on the inside, theres a sturdy deck with a large touchpad and surprisingly powerful speakers.
The one thing I miss is per-key RGB lighting instead of ASUS single-zone approach. After all, this is a gaming laptop and if youre going to offer multiple colors, itd be nice to have full customizability.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
That said, the G14s redesign isnt just about style, its functional too. The switch to a unibody aluminum frame has strengthened the whole machine. Theres barely a hint of flex even on typically weaker parts like the lattice between keys. But more importantly, ASUS also reduced the laptop's weight to just 3.3 pounds, which is noticeably lighter than rival notebooks with similar metal builds like the Razer Blade 14 (3.95 pounds). Plus, even with the smaller size, the G14 features a healthy selection of ports including a full-size HDMI 2.1 jack, two USB-C (one of which supports Thunderbolt 4), two USB-A and a microSD card reader.
Display
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Another glowing component of the G14 is its OLED screen. In addition to producing vibrant colors, it has a sharp 2,880 x 1,800 resolution along with a 120Hz refresh rate and a color gamut that covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 spectrum. Recently, Ive been watching Three Body Problem and Ive been absolutely loving the OLED panels excellent contrast and deep blacks. Furthermore, because ASUS includes a handful of color-calibrated settings for sRGB, D65 P3, DCI-P3 (but not Adobe RGB), the G14 is a very capable photo- and video-editing machine.
The one small issue is that because 2,880 x 1,800 is a somewhat uncommon resolution, you may not be able to play all of your games at their native resolution, which is an issue I encountered when playing Returnal.
Performance
A big change for the 2024 ROG G14 is that GPU options now top out with an NVIDIA RTX 4070 instead of a 4080 like on the previous model. That may be a bummer for some, but as I prefer laptops that are easier to carry around, Im OK with trading out a little top-end oomph for enhanced portability. And with all models featuring an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS chip along with at least 16GB of RAM (or 32GB like on my review unit) and 1TB of storage, you wont be lacking in speed.
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
On Geekbench 6, the G14 matched the performance we saw from a larger XPS 16 with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chip. In games, it hit 90 fps in Cyberpunk 2077 on ultra settings, which is just shy of a much more expensive Razer Blade 14 (101 fps). That said, there are some important details you should know. Unlike previous models, the latest G14s memory is soldered to the motherboard, so theres no way to add extra RAM later. Additionally, while both ASUS and Razers 14-inch systems appear to have the same RTX 4070 GPU, the G14s is capped at 90 watts versus 140 watts for the Blade, which explains the small gap in gaming performance.
Its also worth noting that heat can be an issue in certain situations. In normal use, its not a big deal as the fans rarely need to spin up when browsing the web or watching movies. But under load, because the G14s vents are on the bottom of the notebook, your lap can get toasty fast. Thankfully, this wont be a major problem if youre gaming, since youll probably want to be at a desk or table to put an external mouse on anyway.
Battery life
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
While the G14 doesnt last quite as long as a traditional ultrabook, it still carries enough juice to last nearly an entire workday. On PCMark 10s Modern Office rundown test, it lasted 7 hours and 29 minutes which is slightly better than the Razer Blade 14s time of 6:46. And, new for 2024, ASUS has added its proprietary Slim Power Jack, which sort of looks like a USB-C port if you squint (but it isnt). However, if you want to really travel light, the G14 supports charging via USB-C so you can leave the adapter at home. The one caveat is that USB-PD on this maxes out at 100 watts (versus 180 watts when using the included brick), so the battery may still discharge while gaming or performing other intensive tasks.
Wrap-up
Even though we already loved its predecessors, the 2024 ROG Zephyrus G14 has managed to take another big leap. Its got an exquisitely crafted chassis along with a vibrant new display and boomier speakers all while shedding nearly half a pound in weight. On the iside, you still get up to an RTX 4070 GPU. Sure, its a touch slower than a similarly equipped Blade 14, but considering our review unit costs $2,000 compared to $2,700 for the closest equivalently specced Razer, Im happy to trade a tiny bit of performance to get a much more affordable machine. And thats before you factor in a starting price of just $1,450 for one with an RTX 4060. My biggest gripe is that ASUS Amoury Crate app still feels clunky, thanks to settings that are hard to find or toggles that dont work like youd expect. But make no mistake, the G14 is a great laptop for both gamers and content creators who want good performance in a portable package. So while I appreciate what the Blade 14 and other high-end notebooks can do, ASUS latest creation is the one Id buy.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/asus-rog-zephyrus-g14-2024-review--this-is-the-14-inch-gaming-laptop-to-beat-161524669.html?src=rss
In a rare move, Google is extending everyone access to subscriber-exclusive Photos tools. Free Google Photos users are getting its enhanced editing features without paying a minimum of $20 annually. This means all users will get a few of Google's AI-powered tools, such as Photo UnBlur, Magic Eraser and Magic Editor.
Photo UnBlur works just as it sounds, giving greater clarity to a photo that's a bit fuzzy. The Magic Eraser tool lets you remove or camouflage people or things from pictures, like a rogue trash can or photo bomber. Magic Editor uses generative AI to move, stretch and resize objects. You can even bring yourself to the center of a photo or closer to another person. It also lets you make large-scale edits, like changing the sky from gray to blue. Magic Editor Android and iOS Google Photos users will get ten monthly saves, while anyone looking to increase that limit will need either a Pixel device or paid Google One plan with 2TB+.
The Google Photos features will roll out to non-subscribers over a few weeks, starting May 15. On desktop, they will only be available if you have a Chromebook Plus that has ChromeOS version 118+. To access on mobile, you'll need at least Android 8.0 or iOS 15 and 3GB of RAM. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-photos-enhanced-editing-tools-will-no-longer-require-a-subscription-160015336.html?src=rss
Peter Higgs, the physicist who predicted the Higgs boson particle, has passed away at the age of 94 due to a blood disorder. His work proposing the particle and showing how it helped give mass to some matter won him the Noble price in 2013. The Higgs boson is informally referred to as the God particle, after a book by Nobel laureate Leon Lederman.
Higgs came up with the idea in the early 1960s as an attempt to explain why atoms have mass in the first place. The research didnt get any traction in scientific journals, primarily because few understood the concept, but he was finally published in 1964. This was just a theory at the time, but led to a 50-year race to prove the Higgs boson particle actually exists.
Scientists hit pay dirt in 2012, thanks to physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. It took four years of experiments, but the Higgs boson particle was finally discovered, proving his ideas and adding a major puzzle piece to the corpus of particle physics knowledge known as the Standard Model.
As a matter of fact, modern theoretical physicists have posited the existence of up to five Higgs boson particles that fill up what is now called the Higgs field. Scientists hope to use the Higgs boson to one day find proof for ever-elusive dark matter.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel, wrote about the importance of his discovery ahead of the ceremony in 2013. Even when the universe seems empty this field is there. Without it, we would not exist, because it is from contact with the field that particles acquire mass. The Nobel was shared with François Englert, a Belgian theoretical physicist whose work in 1964 contributed to the discovery.
"At the beginning I had no idea whether a discovery would be made in my lifetime, Higgs once said. He leaves two sons, Chris and Jonny, his daughter-in-law Suzanne and two grandchildren. His former wife Jody, a linguistics professor, died in 2008.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/physicist-peter-higgs-who-predicted-the-god-particle-has-died-at-94-153635259.html?src=rss
Summer Game Fest is still a couple of months away, as are major events from the likes of Ubisoft and Xbox. But you won't have to wait that long for a smorgasbord of gaming announcements. A bunch of notable names in the indie gaming space have come together to host the first showcase from The Triple-i Initiative.
The stream will start at 1PM ET on April 10 and run for around 45 minutes. You'll be able to watch it above or on YouTube, Twitch, bilibili or Steam. The showcase will include world premieres, exclusive looks at gameplay, demo announcements and details of a sale.
The organizers are promising more than 30 announcements with "no hosting segments, no advertisements, no sponsorships, no extra fluff, just games, according to Benjamin Laulan, the COO of Dead Cells developer Evil Empire. That studio came up with the idea of The Triple-i Initiative (Triple-i is a riff on AAA, a signifier of high-budget, high-profile games) a couple of months ago.
A bunch of notable developers have joined the collective. They include Red Hook (Darkest Dungeon), Mega Crit Games (Slay the Spire), Poncle (Vampire Survivors), Thunder Lotus (Spiritfarer), Re-Logic (Terraria), Extremely OK Games (Celeste) and Heart Machine (Hyper Light Breaker). In other words, the studios behind many of the biggest indie games of the last several years are on board, so this will be a showcase worth paying attention to.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-watch-the-triple-i-initiative-indie-game-showcase-at-1pm-et-150048553.html?src=rss
Blizzards games will once again be available in China, over 15 months after titles such as World of Warcraft and Overwatch 2 went offline in the planet's largest gaming market. Blizzard has renewed its licensing agreement with long-time partner NetEase and many of its games will return to mainland China in the coming months.
NetEase oversaw Blizzard games in China for 15 years, but their agreement expired in January 2023, leading to the likes of Hearthstone and Starcraft shutting down in the country. The two sides had kept discussions going over the last year and they finally reached a new deal.
It'll take a little while for Blizzard and NetEase to resolve technical issues and get things in place for the relaunch, but the games are expected to come back online in China starting this summer. According to Bloomberg, players will be able to resume progress theyd previously made on their accounts.
Blizzard could be set for a notable boost to its bottom line with its games coming back to China. Overwatch is one of its more popular games there the country is said to have made up most of the Overwatch Leagues viewership in the circuits later seasons. One pro team based in China didnt play at all during OWLs final season in 2023.
In addition, Chinese players will for the first time officially be able to play Diablo IV, which Blizzard released last June and was an instant hit. (Diablo Immortal remained available in China during the spat with NetEase as that game was subject to a separate agreement.)
Meanwhile, Blizzards parent company Microsoft has struck a separate deal with NetEase. Theyll explore the possibility of bringing NetEase games to Xbox consoles and other platforms.
Blizzard and NetEase have done incredible work to renew our commitment to players Blizzards universes have been part of players lives in the region for many years, Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, said in a statement. Returning Blizzards legendary games to players in China while exploring ways to bring more new titles to Xbox demonstrates our commitment to bringing more games to more players around the world.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blizzard-games-are-returning-to-china-this-summer-145109338.html?src=rss
