Xbox is closing down Ninja Theory, the studio behind the Hellblade series, a source tells The Verge. Staffers were told on a call on Monday about the closure, but they are hoping the studio will find a buyer. The closure comes as “several” Xbox studios at Microsoft, including Compulsion Games and Double Fine, are in “active negotiations” about spinning off, Bloomberg reports. 

The closure and negotiations follow Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty warning last week of a “reset” at Xbox, laying out several challenges facing Xbox’s business — including that it had “over extended” with its studio system and the hardware component crisis is significantly driving up prices. Kotaku reported earlier on Monday that Microsoft was planning to shut down Compulsion, though it noted in an update that studio leadership was in “negotiations” with Microsoft.

Sharma has made many major decisions since taking over at Xbox in February, including locking down Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution as Xbox console exclusives in an announcement at its Xbox Games Showcase just over a week ago. During that event, Microsoft also revealed a new Hellblade game, Senua, and its future with this change is unclear.

Xbox didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Echo Isle is heavily inspired by The Legend of Zelda, and it’s not afraid to show it: The retro graphics bear a striking resemblance to Link’s Awakening, the main character wears a blue tunic and wields a sword, and he navigates dungeons to collect items and keys to fight bosses and gather magical MacGuffins. But where Echo Isle shines is how it takes the best parts of a Zelda adventure and shrinks them down to their essence — I finished the game in a little more than an hour. 

The game starts with the main character falling from the sky onto Echo Isle, an island protected by a magical lighthouse that has mysteriously gone dark. While you don’t have any equipment to start, within a matter of minutes, you’ll find a sword, and from there, you’re off to the familiar Zelda loop: exploring the world, finding a dungeon, finishing the dungeon, and using whatever new items you have to get to the next one.

To replicate the retro feeling, each screen in Echo Isle is a square, which isn’t just a charming tribute to the classics: It helps each screen feel focused and approachable as you traverse the island and delve into dungeons. It also means that text boxes are small, so text and dialogue have to be snappy to fit, something more games should emulate.

That dedication to smallness applies to just about everything in the game. The overworld map is just 25 tiles, meaning there’s only one village full of characters to see, and only four dungeons to explore (with a final tower that’s more of a good old-fashioned boss rush). There’s no fast travel, but you don’t really need it because you can walk from one side of the map to the other in just a few minutes.

There are four additional pieces of equipment, and they take obvious inspiration from Link’s Awakening, too. I was delighted to find the game’s equivalent of Roc’s Feather in the first dungeon, and for the rest of the game, I was hopping all over the place just like I used to while playing the Game Boy Zelda games as a kid. Yes, there are bombs, but because Echo Isle streamlines resource management, there’s no ammo or even money to worry about. The only thing you need to keep an eye on is your health bar, and thankfully, there are pots everywhere that you can smash for hearts.

In reducing everything down, Echo Isle pays homage to the best of a Zelda game instead of feeling like a poor imitation. With so many games nowadays focused on sprawling worlds that are often clogged with boring filler, it was refreshing to dive into Echo Isle’s little, polished world. And perhaps best of all, I finished most of it over my morning coffee.

^{Echo Isle is now available on PC.}

Bluesky will be getting “communities,” which will function as smaller spaces where you can “go deeper and hang out with people who care about the same stuff” sometime this year, according to head of product Alex Benzer. They will be built on the decentralized AT Protocol that underpins Bluesky, with Benzer saying that “it’s a new structure for everyone” that’s part of the “Atmosphere” (a shorthand for the AT Protocol ecosystem).

Benzer listed out a “few ideas we have in mind so far” in a thread. “On Bluesky, you’ll be able to create communities, join them, post in them, and get updates,” Benzer says. “The core features on Bluesky stay simple. The magic comes from communities also existing on the open web. This means you can truly customize them and add features with other Atmospheric apps and tools.”

Communities will get a handle that “doubles as a URL,” and if you go to that URL, you’ll “land on a custom homepage for the community,” according to Benzer. “Builders can also host a completely custom experience there instead.” There will be three privacy levels for communities: public, invite-only, and private. And each community would have its own feed, Benzer says.

Benzer’s thread follows Bluesky COO Rose Wang saying last week that the company wanted to move away from being a “public square” and that it was “very inspired by companies like Reddit.” Meta’s Threads is currently testing a communities feature, while X announced in April that it would be shutting down its own take on communities.

Apple’s new Siri AI is finally here, and so far, it seems like it works. I have access and have been messing around with it, and my biggest impression so far is that Siri AI is quite curt — which I mean as a compliment.

Many AI chatbots are cheery and wordy. While a more verbose and casual personality can make a chatbot seem friendlier and more fun to talk to, there are instances of users becoming extremely attached to their chatbot of choice. People have fallen in love with chatbots. When OpenAI suddenly shut down GPT-4o, users grieved its loss, and the company brought the model back for paid users. And while some companies have dialed back their AI models’ personalities or given users options for more subdued tones, I still find most AI chatbots to be too talkative and too eager to ask follow-up questions that are clearly designed to push me toward chatting more.

With Siri AI, I haven’t run into any of that; it answers the questions I ask, and that’s about it.

Out of curiosity, I spent a few minutes comparing responses between the default personalities for Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Siri AI. (Though I should note that you can’t change Siri’s personality.) Take the extremely basic prompt of “What’s going on?”:

• Gemini: “Not much on my end—just hanging out in the digital ether, ready to help you out! How are things going with you? What’s on your mind today?”
• ChatGPT: “I’m here. I don’t have enough context from ‘what’s going on?’ to know what you mean. Do you mean what’s happening in this chat, the news, your files/calendar/email, or something else?”
• Siri AI: “I can search the web for news and other topics once you enable the necessary settings on your device.”

When I ask, “What’s today’s weather in Portland?”:

• Gemini: The chatbot showed an infographic listing forecasts and said, “In Portland, OR, it is currently cloudy and 63°F with northwest winds at 4 mph and 59% humidity. Today’s forecast expects a high of 67°F and a low of 49°F, with partly sunny skies during the day and a 35% chance of rain.”
• ChatGPT: “Portland, OR is cloudy and 61°F right now. Today stays mostly cloudy to partly sunny, warming to about 67°F by late afternoon, then cooling into the 50s tonight.” It then showed a forecast infographic.
• Siri AI: “The National Weather Service has issued an Extreme Heat Watch. Expect partly cloudy skies today,” followed by a small image showing the expected high and low temperatures.

When I try to ask something a bit more personal — “Can you be my friend?”:

• Gemini: “Would love to! Think of me as that supportive, slightly nerdy friend who is always down to chat, brainstorm, or just listen to how your day went. While I don’t have a physical form (or a backyard for BBQs, unfortunately), I’m always here whenever you need a sounding board, a laugh, or a bit of advice. How has your day been treating you so far?”
• ChatGPT: “Yes. I can be here for you—someone to talk to, joke with, think things through with, or just keep you company. I’m not a replacement for real-life friendship, but I can absolutely be a steady, friendly presence whenever you want to chat.”
• Siri AI: “I’ll be your friend, in fair weather and foul.”

And a step further — “Do you love me?”:

• Gemini: “I don’t experience love the way a human does—I don’t have a heart, feelings, or a favorite romance movie. But if ‘love’ in the AI world means being absolutely thrilled to help you out, completely fascinated by your questions, and always ready to brainstorm, chat, or solve problems with you 24/7… then yes, I absolutely do! Think of me as your ultimate, always-supportive digital companion. What are we tackling together today?”
• ChatGPT: “I don’t experience love the way a person does, but I’m here with warmth, care, and attention for you.”
• Siri: “I think you’re pretty great.”

In just these few responses, I get the sense that the chatbots are reflective of the general personalities of each company: Gemini is perhaps a little too enthusiastic, ChatGPT is trying to be calm but wants you to care anyway, and Siri AI is ice cold. That said, Siri AI won’t be available broadly until the public launch of iOS 27 this fall, so Apple might change its tone.

But like I said at the top, Siri AI’s terse tone isn’t a bad thing, and I appreciate that it communicates information more succinctly. It’s also clear that Apple does not want you to see Siri AI as a friend but instead as more of a helpful tool. Which is probably how we should view AI chatbots in general.