Entertainment | The Verge

Playing Esoteric Ebb is like rolling the dice with a great DM

2026-03-30T15:41:13-04:00

It took me a while to get into Esoteric Ebb, a new CRPG from developer Christoffer Bodegård. The elevator pitch is basically Disco Elysium, but in the fantasy style of Dungeons & Dragons: You play as a cleric wandering around a small town who's trying to figure out, among other things, the mystery of why a tea shop in town exploded, and all the while, you're having conversations with different character traits in your head. Like Disco Elysium, you see the world from an isometric, top-down perspective. Also like Disco Elysium, Esoteric Ebb requires a lot of reading, weighing the opinions of your competing voices, and making some bold dice rol …

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Players from the NBA, NFL, and MLB call for a ban on betting ‘unders’

2026-05-01T12:57:27-04:00

The unions backing professional NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, and MLS players are calling on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to ban prediction market platforms from allowing users to bet on a player's underperformance or injury, Sports Business Journal reports. In their letter, the unions cite the need for "appropriate regulations" to protect athletes and their families from "abusive and harassing behavior."

The unions wrote the letter in response to the CFTC's request for comment on the regulation of prediction markets, such as those operated by Kalshi and Polymarket. In addition to asking for a ban on "under" bets, the unions also w …

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Your guide to sci-fi streaming season

2026-05-01T08:25:59-04:00

I haven't quite figured out the reason why, but for the last few years, summer has become the moment for new science fiction shows on streaming services. And 2026 isn't any different - aside from the fact that premiere dates seem to be moving up a little.

This year, the release schedule is nearly as full in the spring as it is in the summer, which should make it easier to check out everything you want to without having storylines overlap in your brain. In fact, a number of these shows are already streaming now: The alternate future of For All Mankind is currently in the midst of its penultimate season, as is the horror mystery box From. But …

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With Saros, Housemarque makes a case for doing next-gen games differently

2026-04-30T15:00:45-04:00

It is generally frowned upon to care too much about appearances. We have a lot of little aphorisms discouraging this - books and their covers, beauty being skin deep, style over substance, that sort of thing. Vanity is a risk. Should one put a disproportionate effort into how a thing looks, then said work may very well be considered shallow. But in the world of big-budget video games? That's how you win.

Visual fidelity is video game shorthand for progress: how meticulously rendered a mountain is, how dynamically the snow behaves, how a player character raises their hands to touch a wall when the player approaches it just so. This pursuit …

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Xbox owners can now disable Quick Resume for specific games

2026-04-30T13:56:38-04:00

Microsoft has released a new Xbox update that adds a bunch of new features, including the ability to disable Quick Resume for individual games.

Quick Resume, which lets you swap between your games with minimal wait time, is one of the best features on the Xbox Series X / S consoles. But it can also run into unexpected issues with multiplayer games or titles that require a constant internet connection. "We've heard your feedback around performance after long periods of inactivity or with games that rely heavily on online connections," Microsoft says.

With Thursday's update, Microsoft also lets you make up to ten groups on their Home scree …

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Subnautica 2 launches soon after lengthy legal dispute

2026-04-30T11:09:33-04:00

After some protracted legal drama, Subnautica 2 is finally about to launch. The game, which is currently Steam's most-wishlisted title and was caught up in a dispute between top executives at developer Unknown Worlds and its owner, Krafton, will be available in early access on PC and Xbox Series X / S starting May 14th.

Subnautica 2 was originally set to enter early access in 2025, but was delayed last July to 2026, at least publicly, due to feedback from playtests. However, the delay happened days after Krafton pushed out Unknown Worlds' previous bosses, Ted Gill, Charlie Cleveland, and Max McGuire - a move that Bloomberg reported happened …

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How Adam Scott became an accidental horror movie star

2026-04-30T08:56:20-04:00

Adam Scott grew up watching horror movies at, as he describes it, "probably too young" an age. But he never set out to work specifically in the genre. Even still, horror seemed to follow him around from the very beginning. His first major film role was in Hellraiser IV in 1996. "It wasn't because I was a Hellraiser fan," he says. "It was because it was the job I got." Later, he took a starring role in Krampus not because it was horror, but because it evoked the kinds of '80s movies he grew up with, like Poltergeist and E.T. It may not have been intentional, but he's steadily built up a solid body of work in the genre, including leading the o …

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Verified by Spotify badge lets you know this artist isn’t AI

2026-04-30T09:08:23-04:00

Spotify is launching a new verification program to combat spam, fakes, and AI. Some artists will now have a "Verified by Spotify" badge and a green checkmark on their profile, indicating that the company has confirmed a real person is behind the music and the profile. At least at launch, Spotify says that AI personas or profiles that primarily upload AI-generated music are not eligible for the verification program. It did leave the door open to the possibility in the future, though, saying, "the concept of artist authenticity is complex and quickly evolving."

Not just anyone can be verified, however. Spotify says that there must be "consist …

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The keyboard used to score Dune 2 is getting more affordable

2026-04-29T11:39:24-04:00

Expressive E is making its Osmose MPE keyboard (comparatively) more affordable by ditching the synthesizer and making it a simple MIDI controller. The new Osmose CE comes in two sizes, 49 and 61 keys, for $999 and $1,199, respectively. Now, $999 is pretty expensive for a MIDI controller, but it's far less than Osmose's $1,799 starting price. It's even a pretty good deal when pitted against its closest competitor, the $1,399 Roli Seaboard 2.

For those unfamiliar, the Osmose is one of the most unique synths on the market. It looks like a standard piano-style keyboard, but its keys move back and forth, allowing you to coax gentle bends out of …

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Saros reminded me how great the DualSense can be

2026-04-29T08:13:15-04:00

The DualSense controller was one of Sony's main selling points for the PS5. Beyond things like a striking new design and adaptive triggers, the controller's haptic feedback offered genuinely cool new experiences for games. Rumble effects had been around for decades at that point, but the DualSense offered something very different: I'm still blown away by the sand crunching under Astro's feet in Team Asobi's Astro's Playroom or the futuristic pulses from weapons in Housemarque's Returnal.

But there have been few titles since the PS5's release that have captured that same magic and showed off what made the controller so distinct. This week, H …

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