Month: October 2026

The Rogue Prince of Persia gets its final Anniversary Update today

The Rogue Prince of Persia has received its last free update today. Evil Empire’s early-access roguelite take on Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia series is wrapping up support with the Anniversary Update, which adds new combat zones, a new weapon, a new tool, parkour improvements, difficulty rebalancing, and a reworked final boss.

Evil Empire said the plan had originally been to ship two separate updates. In the end, the studio folded both into a single final patch, so the game’s sendoff arrives with those same additions: new combat zones, a new weapon, a new tool, parkour improvements, difficulty rebalancing, and a reworked final boss.

Steam Download

If you’re still playing The Rogue Prince of Persia, this is the update to pick up before the game bows out.

The game launched in May 2024 as a 2D roguelite spin on Ubisoft’s long-running series. It drew praise for its speed, fluid combat, stylish parkour, soundtrack, and art direction, even if its visual style split opinion and, for some players, didn’t do quite enough to separate it from the rest of a very crowded genre.

Evil Empire also said more than 1 million people have played The Rogue Prince of Persia. Steam-based estimates, though, put direct sales somewhere between roughly 64,700 and 107,000, so that wider reach probably reflects subscriptions and promotions as well.

The reaction from fans has been about what you’d expect: some disappointment, a lot of appreciation. Evil Empire is now turning its attention to Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse with Motion Twin, which the studio says is set to get a Switch release and a demo next month.

Ubisoft Connect Download

You can download the Anniversary Update now for The Rogue Prince of Persia.

The Three-Body Problem movie is officially in the works: Zhang Yimou to direct

After several years of script work, Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem is finally moving toward the big screen. A film adaptation of the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy is officially in development, Zhang Yimou is attached to direct, and the project has entered pre-production.

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The project was first announced at the Shanghai International Film Festival, then brought up again by Zhang Yimou in Busan. It’s now in pre-production after that long stretch of script work. The hard part, unsurprisingly, is figuring out how to turn the books’ dense science, huge cosmic scale, and philosophical weight into something that works on screen.

Zhang Yimou’s involvement suggests a film with real visual ambition, which tracks if you’ve seen Hero or House of Flying Daggers, even if there’s still reason to wonder how that sensibility will translate to hard sci-fi. Still, if you keep an eye on major science fiction adaptations, this is one to watch.

This version of The Three-Body Problem will exist alongside Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, not in place of it. Netflix has already renewed the series for two more seasons after its strong 2024 debut, and reports say Season 2 has wrapped, is expected in 2026, and may add Alfie Allen. The film is being developed by Three-Body Universe Cultural Development Co. and Enlight Media as a top-tier project, with room to grow beyond a single feature. In the meantime, you can stream Netflix’s 3 Body Problem on Netflix.

IMDb Download

ArtCraft is now a seven-app open-source Creative Cloud alternative

Brandon Thomas has turned his open-source project, ArtCraft, into a seven-app creative suite. The target is obvious: Adobe-style alternatives to Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, After Effects, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro.

Creative Cloud Download

Thomas says the desktop apps are being built in Rust as “clean-room replacements,” with tools and workflows that should feel familiar to Adobe users. The code is under MIT and Apache licenses, and browser-based WebAssembly versions are also in the works. The pitch goes wider than tools like GIMP, Inkscape, or even DaVinci Resolve, because ArtCraft isn’t just chasing one category. It’s trying to recreate the broader Adobe Creative Cloud setup across image editing, illustration, video, layout, motion graphics, and PDFs, while also appealing to people who are tired of Adobe subscriptions and cancellation fees.

That said, the software is still deep in early alpha. Early testers say it’s nowhere near a practical replacement yet, and Thomas has already backed away from an initial claim that feature parity could happen within a month, changing that to “months, not years.” Adobe reported $21.5 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue and still dominates creative software, so matching its depth, polish, and compatibility is going to be hard. Funding questions are still hanging out there. Legal ones too.

If you want an open-source way out of Adobe Creative Cloud, ArtCraft is worth watching. It’s not worth picking up as your main replacement yet. The code is free now, and Thomas plans to make money through his token-based visual model and IDE, not through the apps themselves.

GIMP Download

Google’s SynthID Detector is now available worldwide: but it only finds its own watermark

Google opened up Google SynthID Detector to the public today. Until now, it was mostly available to journalists and media professionals; now anyone can use it in English at synthid.com. Once you sign in, you can upload an image, video, or audio file, and the tool checks for Google’s SynthID watermark to flag media made with supported tools. Google says SynthID Detector can identify content from Google Gemini, Google Imagen, Google Lyria, and Google Veo, along with partner media from OpenAI, Nvidia, and Kakao. Apple support is expected later this year.

Google Gemini Download

There’s a limitation, though. Google SynthID Detector only detects Google’s SynthID watermark, so a negative result doesn’t prove a file is authentic, untouched, or free of AI involvement. Other companies use different watermarking systems, or none at all, and researchers say light edits may leave markers in place while heavy compression, aggressive filters, or regeneration can weaken them or remove them altogether.

If you need a way to check AI media, Google SynthID Detector is still useful, just don’t treat it like a final answer. It’s one more clue at a time when platforms and policymakers are both pushing for clearer labeling.

You can use Google SynthID Detector at synthid.com, and Google says SynthID checks are also built into Google Search, Google Gemini, and Google Chrome. The company also says it has watermarked 180 billion images and videos, along with about 240,000 years of audio.

Google Lens Download

Bethesda releases Fallout pinball line: Limited Edition costs $13,999

Bethesda and Stern Pinball have officially unveiled the Fallout pinball line. So, no, this isn’t a new Fallout game. It’s a high-end collectible pinball release instead, a full arcade-style take on the post-apocalyptic series for fans who’d rather bring the wasteland into their game room. Stern says there are three versions available: the $7,299 Pro, the $10,699 Premium, and the $13,999 Limited Edition. Every model comes with an interactive Pip-Boy, an LCD gameplay display, and bottle-cap objectives. The Premium and Limited Edition also throw in a Fat Man-inspired launcher that triggers a shooting-gallery mode built around Radscorpions, Ghouls, and Raiders.

Fallout Shelter Download

If you collect pinball machines, or just want a showpiece for a home arcade, this has plenty going for it. Stern is still one of the biggest names in pinball, and the table was designed by Keith Elwin, according to the company. Stern also says the machine takes most of its cues from Amazon’s Fallout TV series, with Lucy MacLean, The Ghoul, and Maximus all worked into the table.

Stern says the $13,999 Limited Edition adds Vault-Tec yellow styling, upgraded speakers and lighting, extra RGB LEDs, a sculpted Deathclaw kickback, and a Magna-Flip Vault playfield. Even so, general Fallout fans seem a bit split on it, mostly because of the price and because there’s still no Fallout 5 news while Fallout 76 updates and remaster rumors keep humming along in the background.

You can order the new Fallout machines through Stern Pinball for home arcades and private collections.

Fallout 4 Download

Ocean buoys in deep water: how anchors and floats keep them put

Ocean buoys stay in place through a pretty practical combination: anchors on the seabed, mooring lines made from different materials, and floats set below the surface to keep the whole system stable in deep water.

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In water up to about 400 feet deep, you can literally fasten a buoy to the bottom. Saturation divers drill or jackhammer steel pins and U-bolts into rock, or they set shovel-shaped anchors into sediment.

Once you get into deeper water, the setup usually changes. Ocean buoy systems tend to rely on huge anchors sitting on the seafloor, made of concrete, steel, or even old train wheels, with long lines running up to the surface, because currents, waves, wind, salt water, and biofouling keep beating on the mooring day after day.

The line itself is a balancing act. Pull it too tight and it can fail; make it too long and its own weight starts adding stress, so engineers combine steel, nylon, or Kevlar with glass spheres, syntactic foam, and S-shaped or reverse-catenary layouts that let the system flex while still holding instruments at the right depth.

Moored buoys also show up in navigation, in protected marine zones, and in reef protection. A good example is the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary mooring buoys, which keep boats from dropping anchors directly onto coral reefs.

If you depend on weather forecasts, storm warnings, spill tracking, or climate monitoring, these systems matter more than most people realize. More than 150,000 buoys support over 2,600 oceanographic projects, produce more than 4 terabytes of data each year, and usually remain in service for 5 to 10 years.

Windy Download

That data is available through global networks and through the US National Data Buoy Center, which operates more than 100 moored buoys and about 50 coastal stations for forecasts, early storm alerts, oil-spill response, algal-bloom monitoring, and long-term climate observation.

The Witcher: Legacy is official for 2027, but it’s not the new Witcher game

The Witcher: Legacy is an official Witcher board game from Go On Board, developed with CD Projekt Red, and it’s slated for summer 2027, according to the official announcement. This isn’t a new video game or another TV spin-off. It’s a story-driven campaign for 1 to 4 players, built for solo or co-op play, with linked scenarios and branching decisions that carry from one session into the next.

The Witcher Adventure Game Download

The game is set long before Geralt. In The Witcher: Legacy, you play surviving witchers in the aftermath of the attack on Kaer Morhen, according to the official description, trying to uncover who planned the assault while digging into a pivotal, rarely explored chapter in the fall of the School of the Wolf. If story-first strategy games are your thing, this one looks easy to keep an eye on: you’ll be exploring Kaedwen, hunting monsters, managing tight resources, building up your character deck by deck, and using a free narrated companion app. The Gamefound campaign has already pulled in more than €10 million, according to Gamefound.

You won’t be downloading The Witcher: Legacy from a console store, though. It’s a tabletop release set for 2027, arriving in the middle of a packed Witcher run that also includes The Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past, Netflix’s final season, a new Andrzej Sapkowski novel, and The Witcher 4, which is expected in 2028.

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game Download

Lanterns Season 2: Hal Jordan should stay dead after that finale

DC Studios’ Lanterns just closed out Season 1 with “Dirt and Stars.” The finale makes it clear that Hal Jordan is dead, while still dangling one obvious possibility: his ring could be what brings him back.

HBO Max Download

This is where the season’s biggest payoff hits. John Stewart solves Hal Jordan’s murder, accepts that he’s Earth’s new Green Lantern, and the show keeps Hal in play through the younger backup “Hal-o-gram” instead of jumping straight to a full resurrection.

That choice carries real weight. Damon Lindelof has reportedly called undoing Hal Jordan’s death the “worst possible schmuck-baity thing” the show could do, Chris Mundy has said the Hal Jordan-John Stewart dynamic only really works if one of them dies, and Tom King has framed Lanterns around pushing John Stewart to the front, even with Sinestro promising to bring Hal Jordan “back to life, for real,” and with the comics already giving you an easy way out through Hal’s returns after Parallax and the Spectre.

If Lanterns wants this ending to keep its punch, Hal staying dead is the call worth sticking with; I’ve been following the finale fallout, and bringing Hal Jordan back too fast would only yank the spotlight away from John Stewart, whose wider DCU future reportedly includes Man of Tomorrow.

Season 2 still isn’t confirmed and is only reportedly being explored on spec, but after a reported 9.3 million viewers in its first three days, Lanterns Season 1 is streaming on HBO Max now.

IMDb Download

Samuel L. Jackson confirms Nick Fury skips Avengers: Doomsday for Secret Wars

While speaking to The Direct while promoting The Beast, Samuel L. Jackson said Marvel Studios told him Nick Fury will sit out Avengers: Doomsday and turn up in Avengers: Secret Wars instead.

MARVEL Future Fight Download

Jackson said the message from Marvel Studios was blunt: “You’re not gonna be in this movie. You’ll be in the next.” He also said the studio still hasn’t told him what Nick Fury will actually be doing, which puts Samuel L. Jackson among the first major names even loosely connected to Avengers: Secret Wars as Marvel Studios keeps both the cast and the story under wraps.

Marvel Studios currently has Avengers: Doomsday set for December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars following on December 17, 2027, according to the studio’s release calendar. Put in that order, it starts to look like Marvel may be splitting the roster rather than bringing every major player into the first film.

If you follow Marvel Studios’ release calendar closely, Jackson’s comment carries a little more weight, especially with reports circling Battleworld, Doctor Doom, filming possibly slipping to January 2027, Anthony Mackie being unavailable until after Macbeth in July 2027, Noah Jupe reportedly onboard, and Nick Fury now apparently part of the picture too.

You’ll be able to see Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars in theaters on those currently scheduled dates.

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ChatGPT rolls out interactive answers worldwide: free users join October 8

OpenAI changed ChatGPT’s main Chat tab on October 7. The big shift is that replies can now be interactive replies and powered by GPT-6, with charts, diagrams, buttons, forms, and small tools built right into the chat instead of plain text alone.

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The rollout started October 7 for Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise accounts, and it reaches Free and Go on October 8. Free and Go users get the lighter GPT-6 Luna. Paid users get GPT-6 Sol. Enterprise access may still depend on whatever settings an admin has in place. This is for the main ChatGPT experience only, not ChatGPT Work or Codex. OpenAI says ChatGPT now has more than 1.2 billion weekly users.

OpenAI says some answers can now be adjusted directly in the chat through simple tools. Its examples include a Sunday roast planner, a visual breakdown of bike parts, and a bill splitter. If you’d rather keep things simple, plain-text responses are still there, and the visual layer can be dialed back.

There’s a speed claim here too. OpenAI says GPT-6 Instant starts responding 44% sooner on average than GPT-5.6 Instant on web-search questions, because it begins answering while it’s still reasoning. If you use ChatGPT often, this is the kind of update you’ll probably want to try for yourself.

You’ll see these changes in the main ChatGPT interface worldwide, OpenAI says, as it pushes toward richer chat experiences alongside Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude. The broader questions haven’t gone away, though: free-tier limits, accessibility, privacy, security, accuracy, bias, and oversight are all still on the table.

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