Since Google released its Veo 3 AI model last week, social media users have been having fun with its ability to quickly generate highly realistic eight-second clips complete with sound and lip-synced dialogue. TikTok’s algorithm has been serving me plenty of Veo-generated videos featuring impossible challenges, fake news reports, and even surreal short narrative films, to name just a few popular archetypes.

However, among all the AI-generated video experiments spreading around, I’ve also noticed a surprising counter-trend on my TikTok feed. Amid all the videos of Veo-generated avatars pretending to be real people, there are now also a bunch of videos of real people pretending to be Veo-generated avatars.

“This has to be real. There’s no way it’s AI.”

I stumbled on this trend when the TikTok algorithm fed me this video topped with the extra-large caption “Google VEO 3 THIS IS 100% AI.” As I watched and listened to the purported AI-generated band that appeared to be playing in the crowded corner of someone’s living room, I read the caption containing the supposed prompt that had generated the clip: “a band of brothers with beards playing rock music in 6/8 with an accordion.”

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One of the many beautiful things about the indie gaming scene is that there’s always something to check out. So if you don’t fancy playing Elden Ring: Nightreign this weekend, there are plenty of other new options. To help you keep up with what’s going on in the space, here’s our weekly indie game roundup.

As a heads up, we won’t be publishing an edition of this roundup next week. Not because there won’t be enough games to highlight. Quite the opposite: Summer Game Fest kicks off on Friday June 6. There will be literally hundreds of game announcements and updates. There’s also the small matter of the Nintendo Switch 2’s arrival in a matter of days.

You can check out what to expect from SGF and find out how to watch the various showcases in our preview. We’ll be bringing you news on titles of all shapes and sizes from Summer Game Fest Live, Xbox Games Showcase and other events. We’ll also be on the ground in Los Angeles to go hands on with many of the newly announced games. Keep up with our coverage here on Engadget throughout SGF. 

In the meantime, there are a host of new games to savor, as well as peeks at what’s coming your way in the coming weeks and months. Let’s get to it.

Thinky Direct

This showcase from Thinky Games was jam packed with captivating puzzle and mystery games. Two in particular caught my eye. The first is a very intriguing first-person archery puzzler. In He Who Watches, you’ll walk on walls, rotate rooms and use a bow and arrow to solve puzzles. It reminds me of the shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. A demo is out now on Steam and the full game should arrive this fall.

The other game that really stood out to me was Echo Weaver, a so-called “Metroidbraina.” Unlike in many Metroidvanias, where you need to find power ups or new abilities to progress, here you’ll move forward by acquiring knowledge, including figuring out your character’s special abilities. 

There aren’t any procedurally generated elements here. As with the likes of Outer Wilds, each run is time-based. You can find ways to extend the limit or sacrifice some time to pass through a barrier. Echo Weaver is coming to Steam and Xbox (including Game Pass).

There was lots of other interesting stuff in the first-ever Thinky Direct. I really enjoy the chill train puzzler Railbound and it was neat to find out that there’s a level editor available in beta. Kiko’s Apple Adventure is an adorable-looking block-pushing game in which the aim is to nudge apples onto rafts. It just arrived on Steam.

The Button Effect features a museum with a lot of buttons, each with a purpose for you to find out. It seems like a certain Taskmaster task taken to new extremes. The first public demo just hit Steam.

Nonolith is another compelling game that was featured in the showcase. In this puzzle platformer, you can copy and paste blocks to create openings, bridges and staircases. At first glance, it reminds me a little of Animal Well. Monolith is coming to Steam in 2026.

New releases

One thing definitely worth getting excited about this week if you own a particular yellow console with a crank owner is the start of Playdate Season Two. Every Thursday throughout the six-week season (which costs $39), two new games arrive on Panic’s diminutive device. 

The first batch includes the charming-looking Dig! Dig! Dino! and Fulcrum Defender. The latter of those is from FTL: Faster Than Light and Into the Breach studio Subset Games, whose co-founder Jay Ma went through hell to make Fulcrum Defender.

One of the titles included in the season, Blippo+, is a full-motion video game. It will have weekly episodic updates for 12 weeks, extending far beyond the rest of the Season Two window. The first episode is out now.

Trails is a lovely puzzle game that just landed on Steam. You’ll guide sandships to their destination by drawing a path for them. You can’t take a ship through the same square twice, and you’ll need to make sure they don’t crash into each other. There are obstacles, of course, and you’ll sometimes have to collect and deliver cargo.

I’ve enjoyed my time with Trails so far. Developer PurpleSloth gradually teaches you how to play through trial and error, and it adds new hazards and mechanics at a nice pace, though the puzzles do become quite tricky.

You may have spent many pleasant hours cleaning grime off of various objects and iconic landmarks in PowerWash Simulator (which is set to get a sequel later this year). It’s time to flip the script a bit in Spray Paint Simulator, from North Star Video Games and publisher Whitethorn Games.

The concept is pretty similar, in that you’ll complete jobs for clients by painting certain items or environments. There are no time limits here and a feature that lets you mask an area to ensure you get clean lines is a nice touch. If marking your territory on public or private property with sick, definitely-not-ugly tags is more your thing, there’s a free spray mode that you can play alone or with a friend in co-op.

Spray Paint Simulator is out now on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. It’s on Game Pass too. The game is also coming to Nintendo Switch on June 19.

Eternal Evil debuted on Steam back in 2022, and two and a half years later, the survival horror game has made the jump to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It has mostly positive reviews on Steam and seems very much in the vein of the Resident Evil series (it even has a dual narrative with two characters to play). You’ll take on vampires that get stronger as they feed in this game from solo developer Honor Games.

How could I not include a game with a name like Trash Goblin? This is a cozy shopkeeping title from Spilt Milk Studios that just came out of early access on Steam. You’ll unearth, restore and upcycle trinkets to sell to customers so you can upgrade your shop. It seems one you might chill out with.

Elsewhere, To a T, a game we mentioned last week, is out now on Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, PS5, Steam and the Epic Games Store. Cowboy-themed life sim Cowboy Country just landed on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch as well.

Upcoming

I’ve had my eye on Kingmakers for a while. It’s a completely bananas-looking blend of third-person shooting and strategy game from Redemption Road in which you travel back in time to a medieval war, bringing modern weapons and vehicles with you. Publisher tinyBuild revealed during a showcase this week that Kingmakers will debut in early access on Steam on October 8. Really looking forward to that one.

Beyond the Board is a moody-looking adventure that takes a rook… well, beyond a chess board. It takes inspiration from puzzle games like Limbo and Monument Valley, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the story is told through visual storytelling and soundscapes rather than dialogue. This game from Fragile Shapes Studio doesn’t yet have a release window, but you can check out a demo on Steam now.

An extended demo for a fast-paced, melee-focused dungeon runner called Bloodthief dropped this week. It looks like a lo-fi, medieval spin on Ghostrunner (a series I enjoy but am quite bad at) but with vampires. So yes, I will be digging into this when I have a chance. The original demo is said to have 20 or so hours of gameplay and there’s even more in the extended version, which will be featured in Steam Next Fest. Bloodthief, from developer Blargis, is slated to arrive later this year.

I’m going to close this edition out with a game you’ll probably never be able to play. Developer Kenney says that, a few years back, they helped a young Star Wars fan make a game based on The Mandalorian after a Make-a-Wish connected the pair. It’s a heartwarming story, and the game looks quite charming based on the clip that Kenney shared on BlueSky. However, for legal reasons, it’ll likely stay under lock and key, sadly.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playdate-season-two-spray-paint-simulator-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-110035699.html?src=rss

A five-year study by Wageningen University and the German Primate Research Center found that wild chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau repeatedly strike stones against trees, presumably as a form of communication. Phys.Org reports: Over the course of a five-year field study, the research team collected video footage at five distinct locations within a nature reserve in Guinea-Bissau. This was made possible through the use of camera traps and with essential support from local field guides. In specific areas, a striking behavioral pattern was observed: adult male chimpanzees repeatedly struck stones against tree trunks, resulting in characteristic piles of stones at the base of these trees. […]

The observations point to cultural transmission. Young chimpanzees adopt the behavior from older group members, indicating that it is learned socially rather than genetically inherited. Marc Naguib, Professor of Behavioral Ecology, underscores the broader significance of the discovery: “It illustrates that culture is not unique to humans and that such behaviors need to be considered also in nature conservation.” The study is published in the journal Biology Letters.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Twitch is getting more TikTok-ified with vertical game streaming. Also, “2K” (1440p) video will let you watch that League of Legends stream in a higher resolution. The ability to rewind streams is coming, too. CEO Dan Clancy made the announcements on Saturday at TwitchCon Europe.

Portrait-mode streaming makes it a little easier to watch gameplay on your phone. Until now, Twitch only supported the orientation for clips and IRL streams. Clips are short highlights that creators can share after a stream ends. And “In Real Life” content shows everyday activities rather than gameplay.

But some screens work much better in a landscape view. Fortunately, Twitch is also rolling out a dual-format mode. Creators can go live in vertical and horizontal orientations at once. You can watch the version that works best for your device. The company will begin testing “with a small number of channels” this summer. It will expand access later this year.

Twitch’s 1440p streams should be a welcome addition. (Who doesn’t like a sharper-looking video?) On the back end, it uses a newer HEVC codec that produces a better picture with a lower bitrate. And the platform’s Enhanced Broadcasting tech automatically tweaks the viewer’s resolution.

The 1440p streaming begins rolling out today to all partners and affiliates. But it’s in an open beta, so creators may need to wait for access.

Finally, Twitch is rolling out a rewind feature. If you miss part of a stream, you can scrub back to catch up on what you missed. That feature isn’t quite here yet, either. Twitch will test it with “a small number of viewers” this summer.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/twitch-is-adding-1440p-and-vertical-streaming-091533811.html?src=rss

Artificial intelligence could soon outpace Bitcoin mining in energy consumption, according to Alex de Vries-Gao, a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s Institute for Environmental Studies. His research estimates that by the end of 2025, AI could account for nearly half of all electricity used by data centers worldwide — raising significant concerns about its impact on global climate goals.

“While companies like Google and Microsoft disclose total emissions, few provide transparency on how much of that is driven specifically by AI,” notes DIGIT. To fill this gap, de Vries-Gao employed a triangulation method combining chip production data, corporate disclosures, and industry analyst estimates to map AI’s growing energy footprint.

His analysis suggests that specialized AI hardware could consume between 46 and 82 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025 — comparable to the annual energy usage of countries like Switzerland. Drawing on supply chain data, the study estimates that millions of AI accelerators from NVIDIA and AMD were produced between 2023 and 2024, with a potential combined power demand exceeding 12 gigawatts (GW). A detailed explanation of his methodology is available in his commentary published in Joule.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: A lack of action by big tech firms is enabling the “industrial scale theft” of premium video services, especially live sport, a new report says. The research by Enders Analysis accuses Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft of “ambivalence and inertia” over a problem it says costs broadcasters revenue and puts users at an increased risk of cyber-crime. Gareth Sutcliffe and Ollie Meir, who authored the research, described the Amazon Fire Stick — which they argue is the device many people use to access illegal streams — as “a piracy enabler.” […] The device plugs into TVs and gives the viewer thousands of options to watch programs from legitimate services including the BBC iPlayer and Netflix. They are also being used to access illegal streams, particularly of live sport.

In November last year, a Liverpool man who sold Fire Stick devices he reconfigured to allow people to illegally stream Premier League football matches was jailed. After uploading the unauthorized services on the Amazon product, he advertised them on Facebook. Another man from Liverpool was given a two-year suspended sentence last year after modifying fire sticks and selling them on Facebook and WhatsApp. According to data for the first quarter of this year, provided to Enders by Sky, 59% of people in UK who said they had watched pirated material in the last year while using a physical device said they had used a Amazon fire product. The Enders report says the fire stick enables “billions of dollars in piracy” overall. […]

The researchers also pointed to the role played by the “continued depreciation” of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems, particularly those from Google and Microsoft. This technology enables high quality streaming of premium content to devices. Two of the big players are Microsoft’s PlayReady and Google’s Widevine. The authors argue the architecture of the DRM is largely unchanged, and due to a lack of maintenance by the big tech companies, PlayReady and Widevine “are now compromised across various security levels.” Mr Sutcliffe and Mr Meir said this has had “a seismic impact across the industry, and ultimately given piracy the upper hand by enabling theft of the highest quality content.” They added: “Over twenty years since launch, the DRM solutions provided by Google and Microsoft are in steep decline. A complete overhaul of the technology architecture, licensing, and support model is needed. Lack of engagement with content owners indicates this a low priority.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Billions of stolen cookies are being sold on the dark web and Telegram, with over 1.2 billion containing session data that can grant cybercriminals access to accounts and systems without login credentials, bypassing MFA. The Register reports: More than 93.7 billion of them are currently available for criminals to buy online and of those, between 7-9 percent are active, on average, according to NordVPN’s breakdown of stolen cookies by country. Adrianus Warmenhoven, cybersecurity advisor at NordVPN, said: “Cookies may seem harmless, but in the wrong hands, they’re digital keys to our most private information. What was designed to enhance convenience is now a growing vulnerability exploited by cybercriminals worldwide. Most people don’t realize that a stolen cookie can be just as dangerous as a password, despite being so willing to accept cookies when visiting websites, just to get rid of the prompt at the bottom of the screen. However, once these are intercepted, a cookie can give hackers direct access to all sorts of accounts containing sensitive data, without any login required.”

The vast majority of stolen cookies (90.25 percent) contain ID data, used to uniquely identify users and deliver targeted ads. They can also contain data such as names, home and email addresses, locations, passwords, phone numbers, and genders, although these data points are only present in around 0.5 percent of all stolen cookies. The risk of ruinous personal data exposure as a result of cookie theft is therefore pretty slim. Aside from ID cookies, the other statistically significant type of data that these can contain are details of users’ sessions. Over 1.2 billion of these are still up for grabs (roughly 6 percent of the total), and these are generally seen as more of a concern.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.