Image: Atlus Atlus’ Persona franchise is largely a console series, but it has a strong handheld heritage. There were excellent portable versions of Persona 3 and Persona 4, and Persona 5 Royal on Nintendo Switch was great, too. Metaphor: ReFantazio is a new fantasy JRPG from the team behind those beloved Personas. And while the game takes place in a different universe, many of the core elements are present in Metaphor — which means that it’s just as great of a handheld experience.I might be understating it to say Metaphor is Persona-like. The game’s UI is exceptionally flashy. You’ll spend a lot of time talking with your allies and improving your bonds with them. Days tick by as you navigate sprawling dungeons and spend time with your companions... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Australians will finally be able to officially buy Valve’s Steam Deck in their home country — two and a half years after the handheld gaming PC first went on sale, and a year after it arrived in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Australians have been asking for this for years — and Valve promised to make it happen way back in November 2021.It’ll arrive this November in the same primary configurations Valve sells elsewhere: a 256GB configuration of the original LCD model, or 512GB and 1TB versions of the newer OLED model that also come with longer battery life, a better screen, and more. They’ll cost AUD $649, $899, and $1,049 respectively. (While the OLED model does cost $250 AUD more than the original, it has so many important... Continue reading…

When you start to explore the world of macOS virtualization, you'll likely come across three options: Parallels, VMware, and VirtualBox. They all have advantages, and at the end of the day, they'll all let you run Windows on a Mac. In particular, VMware and VirtualBox are attractive options because both are available for personal use completely free. With that being said, sometimes it's worth using paid software over free alternatives if you get enough features in return. Here are five ways Parallels Desktop 20 beats VMware and VirtualBox.

Image: Tesla Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a new electric vehicle dedicated to self-driving, a possible milestone after years of false promises and blown deadlines. The robotaxi is a purpose-built autonomous vehicle, lacking a steering wheel or pedals, meaning it will need approval from regulators before going into production. The design was futuristic, with doors that open upward like butterfly wings and a small cabin with only enough space for two passengers. There was no steering wheel or pedals, nor was there a plug — Musk said the vehicle charges inductively to regain power wirelessly. Musk said that autonomous cars are expected to be 10-20 times safer than human-driven vehiclesMusk said that autonomous cars are expected to be 10-20 times... Continue reading…

When PCIe 5.0 SSDs were first announced, they looked like the future, promising super-speedy SSD storage as the best SSDs around. It's now nearly two years since the first Gen 5 SSDs were announced (and one since they hit the market), and while we're getting close to the maximum speeds promised by PCIe 5.0, the newest SSDs on the block aren't living up to their promises. While they do have astonishing straight-line speed, most computing tasks rely on random access, which puts Gen 5 on an even footing with Gen 4. The newest SSDs also consume a lot of power, close to the maximum the M.2 specification can supply, and far too much to be used in laptops yet. Unless you're one of the edge cases that rely on sequential data transfers, PCIe 5.0 SSDs are in a strange position of being more expensive, more power-hungry, and not being that much faster for normal tasks, and which makes them easily avoided by most computer users.

The Cybercab has butterfly doors. | Image: Tesla Tesla revealed the ‘Cybercab’ robotaxi and a new ‘Robovan.’ Continue reading…

Have you noticed that your Windows 11 machine has less free space on it after installing the 24H2 update? Don't worry, you're not going crazy. Reports are coming in that the update process leaves around 9GB of files sitting on your drive, and the worst bit is that you can't just delete them.

Outlook has been the go-to mail app on Windows for several years now. After first debuting in 1997 with Office 97, Outlook is now part of Microsoft 365, the companys productivity suite. You can send and receive emails with multiple accounts, as well as take advantage of features like Focused Inbox or Copilot, Microsofts AI assistant, to help draft an email with your preferred tone and content.

Image: The Verge Microsoft is planning to update its Xbox mobile app on Android to allow US users to purchase and then play Xbox games on their mobile devices next month. Following a US court ruling earlier this week that forces Google to stop requiring Google Play Billing for apps in the Play Store on November 1st, Microsoft is ready to take advantage of the changes.“The court’s ruling to open up Google’s mobile store in the US will allow more choice and flexibility,” says Xbox president Sarah Bond in a post on X. “Our mission is to allow more players to play on more devices so we are thrilled to share that starting in November, players will be able to play and purchase Xbox games directly from the Xbox App on Android.”The court's ruling to open up... Continue reading…

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge Today, Google filed its official notice of appeal against the district court ruling and jury verdict in Epic v. Google. Judge James Donato’s ruling earlier this week would force the company to distribute third-party app stores on Google Play and drop requirements that Google Play apps use its billing system, among other competition-friendly changes.Google had said it would be appealing the verdict. “As we have already stated, these changes would put consumers’ privacy and security at risk, make it harder for developers to promote their apps, and reduce competition on devices,” Google VP of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said in a blog post on Monday. “Ultimately, while these changes presumably satisfy Epic, they will cause a... Continue reading…

Image: Ticketmaster Ticketmaster announced today that it will be the first ticketing company to use Apple’s upgraded Apple Wallet tickets for iOS 18. With the improved tickets, you’ll be able to see event information “such as a map of the venue and parking details, recommended playlists from Apple Music, local forecasts from Weather, and easy access to location sharing to help fans find their friends when they arrive,” Ticketmaster says. Venues and teams will also be able to add links to their app or website.The first Ticketmaster event to use the upgraded tickets will be the October 19th Los Angeles Football Club game at BMO Stadium. Ticketmaster says the Miami Heat will be “next to debut” the new ticket experience, though the company didn’t say exactly... Continue reading…

Adobes Photoshop tool is one of the most famed image-editing tools on the market. Until Affinity Photo came along in 2015, there was barely any competition. Theres a strong comparison between Photoshop and Affinity Photo for the desktop apps, but both tools are also available on the iPad. Editing on-the-go is possible with the iPad and Apple Pencil integrations, but which is the better image-editing iPad app?