Matt Locklear

Homeworld 3 is being delayed to May in order to make the "final tweaks" to the overall experience, Gearbox and Blackbird Interactive announced in a joint statement today. It will be pushed from its original March release date to May 13, with early access set to begin on May 10.

The full statement posted to X/Twitter can be found below.

We hope you all have been enjoying your first-time going hands-on with Homeworld 3 during our public demo of War Games. Watching you share your experiences, exchange and debate strategies, and give us constant feedback has been incredible. This was our first time seeing the game played at scale, which is always an equally thrilling and nerve-wracking moment. We also recently gathered a dedicated group of players from outside our organizations to play through the full game. This resulted in additional insights and perspective that will be incorporated to make Homeworld 3 the best experience possible.

After careful analysis of feedback, we made the decision to delay the global launch of Homeworld 3 until May 13, with advanced access set for May 10, to ensure that we’re making the final tweaks needed to deliver at the level of quality that we strive for and you deserve. To say that you as a community of players have been waiting patiently for this next installment would be an understatement, and we are deeply appreciative of that. We will continue to keep you updated on our progress. 

As always, you’re welcome to send your feedback via social channels, the Homeworld Universe Discord, and through our support page.  

Homeworld 3 is the long-awaited sequel to the beloved real-time strategy game first released in 1999. It will retain the fleet-based combat of the original while adding new features like a roguelite-style co-op mode. It is being developed by Blackbird Interactive, which like other studios across the industry recently experienced layoffs and project cancellations, and has been repeatedly delayed.

Stay tuned for more coverage on IGN when Homeworld 3 launches in May.

Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

We’ve given you tips for extremely specific emergencies, but what you may not realize is that emergency situations can be waiting right around the corner—or in your own house. Here are some tips to help you avoid the under-appreciated but ever-present dangers of everyday life.

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Pirate ships were the start-ups of their day. During the “golden age of piracy” (approximately 1650-1720), countless thousands of sailors and underground entrepreneurs tried their luck at high-seas robbery, launching criminal operations with very little capital and a massive potential for profit, just like that app…

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Sometimes it feels like Google Drive has been stuck in time. Certainly the program looks and functions more or less the same as it did seven years ago—and how much innovation can you expect from a word processor, anyway?

More than you might think. While the fundamentals are the same (why fix what ain’t broken?),…

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If you recently updated Google Chrome to version 104, you might be surprised to learn there’s already another update available for your browser. After all, the last update patched 27 security vulnerabilities: What’s left to update? Apparently, quite a bit, including a new security flaw that hackers already know how to…

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Heated seats are the latest microtransaction available in some high-end BMW cars, joining other features such as advanced cruise control and automatic beam switching as monthly subscriptions.

As reported by The Verge, BMW currently offers the feature in the UK, Germany, New Zealand, and South Africa for the equivalent of around $18 a month or $415 for lifetime access, available to purchase on its store.

If a customer's car has the option to buy heated seats or other add-ons then the components and functionality already exist within the vehicle, but BMW has a software block that prevent them from being used without paying.

Night drive in a 530e. Pressed the high beam assist button, but a message from the car essentially said "no, you need to buy the feature first on the ConnectedDrive store." BMW and Merc both keen to do this more in future, so this won't be the first time we'll see it... 💡💰 pic.twitter.com/hQzkwhP1Oe

— Jake Groves (@_jakegroves) March 24, 2021

Jake Groves shared his experience with the microtransactions on Twitter (above), saying that, as he was driving the BMW 530e, he pressed the high beam assist button only to be told that he first had to purchase this on the store, where it's priced at the equivalent of around $12 a month or $237 for unlimited access.

There are several other features available to purchase – some of which can only be bought outright for up to £750 (or $888) – like the alert that notifies the driver when they're nearing a speed camera, something which is often free if you use your phone as a satnav.

The full list includes: active cruise control with stop and go function, adaptive M suspension, Apple CarPlay preparation, the BMW drive recorder, the BMW safety camera information, Driving Assistant Plus, front seat heating, high beam assistant, IconicSounds Sport, the map update package, the online entertainment voucher, and steering wheel heating.

BMW's rival Tesla has introduced some wacky new features recently too, such as a karaoke mic for its cars and the ability to play games including The Witcher 3.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Rudeism on Twitter has modded the Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Game & Learn Controller to actually work on PC, and they even played Elden Ring with it.

Rudeism shared footage of Elden Ring being played with the Fisher-Price toy, which he effectively turned into an Xbox controller. He also explained a bit about how he modded the controller while leaving many of the toy's original sounds intact.

here's the Fisher Price Xbox controller in action!

let me know what games you'd like to see me play with it

and thanks to @Wario64 for the off-hand joke that inspired me to make this happen 😂 pic.twitter.com/3OETvcsEsI

— Rudeism (@rudeism) May 1, 2022

One of the biggest challenges was the fact that the controller has no right analog stick. To get around this, Rudeism utilized the mode switch on the controller that changes the mode from music to numbers.

When you switch the mode over, it turns the left joystick into a right joystick. It also changes some of the face buttons to do different actions as well. The joystick even pushes in as it would on a normal Xbox controller. There are two bumpers on top - one with a wheel and one that acts as a light switch of sorts - and they account for LB/LT and RB/RT.

This project was inspired by an "off-hand joke" that Wario64 tweeted out on April 15. He shared a link to a discounted Fisher-Price controller and said it was, "perfect for Elden Ring."

Speaking to IGN, Rudeism said that it was a "suuuuper tight fit - I had to get a Stanley knife to trim down the USB port just so I could squeeze it in there." This made for one of Rudeism's cleanest builds, however.

It was also one of his easier builds as he just "piggybacked off of the existing circuit board." Fitting everything in the controller was the toughest part, and they had to "fit a whole new thumbstick & 3D print a mount for it, as well as add new electronics for the shoulder buttons."

Rudeism is no stranger to unique controller creations, as he recently beat Dark Souls 3 with Morse code, and once played Overwatch using a bunch of bananas.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

"According to The Verge, health providers writing Google reviews about patients with identifiable information is a HIPAA violation," writes Slashdot reader August Oleman. From the report: In the past few years, the phrase 'HIPAA violation' has been thrown around a lot, often incorrectly. People have cited the law, which protects patient health information, as a reason they can't be asked if they're vaccinated or get a doctor's note for an employer. But asking someone if they're vaccinated isn't actually a HIPAA violation. That's a fine and not-illegal thing for one non-doctor to ask another non-doctor. What is a HIPAA violation is what U. Phillip Igbinadolor, a dentist in North Carolina, did in September 2015, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. After a patient left an anonymous, negative Google review, he logged on and responded with his own post on the Google page, saying that the patient missed scheduled appointments. [...] In the post, he used the patient's full name and described, in detail, the specific dental problem he was in for: "excruciating pain" from the lower left quadrant, which resulted in a referral for a root canal. That's what a HIPAA violation actually looks like. The law says that healthcare providers and insurance companies can't share identifiable, personal information without a patient's consent. In this case, the dentist (a healthcare provider) publicly shared a patient's name, medical condition, and medical history (personal information). As a result, the office was fined $50,000 (PDF).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

As you may or may not know, Gene Roddenberry’s birthday was on August 19, so to pay homage to the man, Robert Picardo (The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager) decided to sing the original Star Trek theme. Yes, the theme actually had lyrics, but fortunately (as you’ll hear,) they were never included in the show.

The best part of this video? Robert Picardo spinning around with his camera while singing, obviously!

[Robert Picardo]

Click This Link for the Full Post > The Original Star Trek Theme (With Lyrics) As Sung by The Doctor (Robert Picardo)

I’ve been eagerly following the development of Disney’s Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser hotel since it was announced 2 years ago. The experience not only combines a hotel and its accommodations, but also a whole larping experience, simulating life aboard a spaceship in a galaxy far, far away! Interested? Of course you are! Here’s the official trailer, which was unveiled a little earlier today:

Disney describes the experience as “a revolutionary new 2-night experience where you are the hero. You and your group will embark on a first-of-its-kind Star Wars adventure that’s your own. It’s the most immersive Star Wars story ever created—one where you live a bespoke experience and journey further into a Star Wars adventure than you ever dreamed possible.”

“Arrive at the Walt Disney World Resort terminal, board a launch pod and rendezvous with the magnificent Halcyon starcruiser. Stay in a cabin or suite with an exquisite view of space. Throughout the ship, you’ll interact with an eclectic collection of characters, sit down to exotic galactic cuisine and perhaps even plot a secret mission together. As the itinerary continues, you’ll take the story further and deeper. Choose your path. Seek out the inner workings of the legendary starship, learn the traditional art of wielding a lightsaber and even jump on a transport to the planet Batuu—where your mission continues at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!”

All that for… are you ready? $6000! That’s the “starting at” price for a two-night stay for a family of four. I don’t know about you guys, but there’s no way my girlfriend and I, with our six kids, could ever afford something like this, and that makes both of us really sad, because we’d absolutely love to go!

Click This Link for the Full Post > Disney’s Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Experience: $6000 for 2 Nights

The latest update from Internet Archive brings thousands of MS-DOS games from the '90s like 3D Bomber, Zool and Alien Rampage. CNET reports: On Sunday, Internet Archive released 2,500 MS-DOS games that includes action, strategy and adventure titles. Some of the games are Vor Terra, Spooky Kooky Monster Maker, Princess Maker 2 and I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. "This will be our biggest update yet, ranging from tiny recent independent productions to long-forgotten big-name releases from decades ago," Internet Archive software curator Jason Scott wrote on the site's blog. One game that might trigger a few memories is the 1992 action-adventure horror game Alone in the Dark, published by Infogrames. In the game, you can play private investigator Edward Carnby or family member Emily Hartwood, who's investigating the suspicious death of Jeremy Hartwood in his Louisiana mansion called Derceto, which is now supposedly haunted. Fighting against rats, zombies and giant worms, you have to solve a number of puzzles to escape. Another retro game included by Internet Archive is a 1994 title played on PCs and Amiga computers called Mr. Blobby (a remake of the SNES game Super Troll Islands). Players can choose from three different characters -- Mr. Blobby, Mrs. Blobby and Baby Blobby. The goal of the game is to color in the computer screen by walking over it. Levels include climbing ladders, avoiding spikes and bouncing on springs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Homosexuality is illegal in a third of the counties on this planet; in eight countries it is punishable by death. In the febrile atmosphere of today’s politics, hate-crime incidents in the U.S. increased by 17 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to the FBI.

More than 20 of those incidents were crimes against an individual’s sexual orientation — the largest increase since 9/11. Similar hate-crime statistics have increased in the U.K. and several other western countries.

It’s strange and saddening to think that men, women and gender non-conforming people who “travel while gay” are now in a more dangerous — and potentially life-threatening — situation around the world, despite us being well into the 21st century.

The key to the situation is knowing whether the place you’re staying will be welcoming or not. There are many incidents where, at hotels, gay travelers have been rejected or forced to book separate rooms, and had to fall back on third-party, unverified, user-generated reviews.

Now, misterb&b, the short-term rental marketplace aimed at the gay community, has a simple solution. Customers can book an entire home or rent a private room at the home of a gay or gay-friendly host, with many located in gay-friendly neighborhoods. The startup competes with more home-spun sites like “Gay Home Stays,” however, misterb&b has already raised substantial amounts in VC.

The startup graduated from the 500 Startups accelerator and has raised US$13.5 million from institutional investors like Project A and Ventech, and from angels like Joel Simkhai (founder of Grindr, which sold for US$300 million). The marketplace now has 310,000 hosts in more than 135 countries, and claims to have 30 percent revenue growth YoY; with 60 percent of the business done organically by repeat customers.

Indeed, misterb&b has now raised more than half a million dollars inside a week via Wefunder to fund its expansion. This will allow guests, hosts and the public to invest in the company’s push to launch its services into the hotel sector.

Investors are buying into a lucrative market. The niche of global gay tourism is estimated to be a $100 billion market, while gay people travel twice as much as other travelers. Its fundraising may also benefit from the influx of new tech millionaires being created by the upcoming IPOs of Uber, Lyft, Postmates and Airbnb.

CEO and founder Matthieu Jost says he wants to “build equality into the sharing economy and give back to a community that’s been historically economically marginalized,” providing its community “with the power of part ownership of the company.”

The idea for starting misterb&b was first conceived in 2013 after he had a negative experience while traveling with his partner and didn’t feel welcome by his host. “Six years ago, my partner and I traveled to and booked a room in Barcelona through a third-party rental website,” he told me via email.

“Unfortunately, when we arrived there, we were faced with a host who was very much homophobic and asked me if we were seriously going to share a bedroom. This was a very sad thing to have to face. Straight, hetero folks never have to worry about something so humiliating as this while on a lovely vacation; they will never have to think about it or prepare for it.”

“When I returned home I felt dejected, but I felt I had do something to solve this horrific problem — yet common fear — that our community faces. I don’t want my community to be afraid of traveling anymore,” he said.

“We are reaching out to the most passionate people in the community: our hosts and our guests, as well as LGBTQ allies,” said Jost. “We want to provide the opportunity to financially benefit from our successes,” he added.

The crowdfunding is for a new selection of gay-friendly and gay-welcoming hotels that have been selected by the company’s editorial team for their quality, exclusive and verified reviews from LGBTQ travelers. The idea is that travelers will also be able to connect with each other to explore the city together — especially because there’s safety in numbers.

The Ford Ranger seems to strike a personal chord with pretty much everybody in America; I remember being crammed into the jump seats of my dad’s as a kid. When the “return” of the truck in the form of the 2019 Ford Ranger was announced, people reacted like it was going to be personally delivered by God himself. Now…

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Facebook, the social network used by, oh, a few billion people, is making a change to its iconic news feed. Instead of being dominated by a mix of links from friends and news stories from pages you like, you’ll be seeing a lot more posts from your family and friends in an effort to strengthen personal connections with…

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LawBreakers, the newest game from long-time designer Cliff Bleszinski (known as “CliffyB” to his fans), is off to a rocky start. The biggest problem is that people simply aren’t playing it, particularly on PC. The game’s developer hopes to remedy that issue and is offering a free weekend that runs from now through 10AM (PDT) on October 2, 2017.

In a tweet posted earlier today, the game’s official account promoted the event and also referenced a 25% discount available during that period. The game is regularly available for $29.99 USD, so the promotion drops that figure to $22.49. Deadzo Deluxe DLC is also available as part of a bundle, or individually, and is offered at a similar discount.

Gates are now open. Play LawBreakers FREE on Steam now through Oct. 2!

DOWNLOAD HERE: https://t.co/OuPBxawhu8 pic.twitter.com/qfUqkAlhON

— LawBreakers (@lawbreakers) September 28, 2017

LawBreakers officially released on August 7, 2017. The game is a first-person shooter with tactical elements. Like numerous other outlets, Shacknews penned a favorable review for the title, but players have largely stayed away from it in favor of the juggernaut that is Overwatch. Bleszinski spoke about that humbling experience earlier this month and indicated his team will continue to support the game despite the lack of concurrent users (CCU).

“We need the bodies,” Bleszinski told Gamespot. “We need to keep fluffing up the CCU. We need to do what we can to let people know this is a really sweaty palm type of experience that can hopefully lend itself to eSports. But you know, I have to keep this game alive, first and foremost. I can be very cocky and very brash on social media. And realizing that, you know, we have a fledgling player base.”

Only time will tell whether the free weekend has the intended effect and drives more players to the game. Have you spent time with LawBreakers yet, and do you plan to play it over the weekend?

When you use an app from a big software company, it can be easy to forget that there are individual people behind those logos. One of those people is Rick Treitman, with the unique title of ‘entrepreneur-in-residence’ at Adobe.

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 In this, the 3000th Year Since The Coming Of The Wanderer (All Praise His Mercy), we are greeted by the fifth Potentate, a Teddy Ruxpin with LCD eyes and iPad connectivity. Teddy Ruxpin, or, as his followers in the Cities of Refuge called him, Ted, is a robotic toy that reads to children and then flays your mind from stem to stern, stealing all hope and blasting your personality to ribbons… Read More

 The fight to drag the healthcare system kicking and screaming into the 21st century often overlooks the little picture in favor of larger systematic fixes. But for many users on multiple meds, the only thing standing between them and an incorrect or missed dosage is a big, plastic box from the drugstore sporting embossed letters of the days of the week. Read More

The 12V jack in a car (once the cigarette lighter) is a pretty common place for many of us to put a USB charger these days. In a lot of car models, that 12V jack doesn’t stop getting power, which means it’s technically draining your battery even when the car’s off. How much? Big Mess O’ Wire decided to figure that out.

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  Over the years, Google has taken Street View to a number of exotic places. Today, it’s stepping things down by launching a set of Street View images for the world’s largest model railway, the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany. Miniatur Wunderland isn’t your average model railway exhibit. We’re talking 13,000 kilometers of track, almost a thousand trains,… Read More

itwbennett writes: A small device built by legendary hacker Samy Kamkar can predict what new American Express card numbers will be and trick point-of-sale devices into accepting cards without a security microchip. Because American Express appears to have used a weak algorithm to generate new card numbers, the device, called MagSpoof, can predict what a new American Express card number will be based on a canceled card's number. The new expiration date can also be predicted based on when the replacement card was requested.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

 Twitch, the Amazon-owned video game streaming site, stumbled into an incredible source of new traffic when it kicked off the launch of its “Twitch Creative,” section at the end of last month with the debut of an all-episodes marathon of Bob Ross‘ “The Joy of Painting.” Yes, the “happy little trees” guy. The channel was an immediate success, and… Read More

On October 18, 1985 Nintendo of America took a huge gamble, releasing a console into a North American market that seemed to have washed its hands of video games completely. Thirty years later those hands are filthier than ever.

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Nearly everyone hates their internet provider. If you have a problem with your ISP and calling customer service fails, you now have another option: filing a complaint with the FCC. Now, more than ever, this can be an effective way to get your problem resolved. Here’s how to do it.

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Buying a home is a huge endeavor. The paperwork, deadlines, and research can all be a little stressful. Couple it with selling a home at the same time, and it can turn into one big, overwhelming headache. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you're buying and selling a home simultaneously.

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He was only with us for such a short time, that snarky green alien who posed as a human being. But the love for Zim never stopped and in fact only grew stronger. Now fans everywhere will be getting their wish: more Invader Zim is coming this July from comics publisher Oni Press.

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Whether you have an Xbox One or a PlayStation 4, if you want to play online with friends, you'll need to cough up money for Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus. You may even pick it up just for free games every month. Still, there are some other perks to that membership you may not know about. Let's look at them.

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In today's Highlight Reel we have a fantastic GTA V skydiving stunt, less-than-stellar Battlefield 4 starts and some great strategy in Insurgency.

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My steady corporate job was great on paper—it paid well and let me travel the world, but it was also incredibly taxing and limiting. I didn't want to be a cog in that system. I wanted to run my own business, but I never anticipated the challenges that came with it.

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I love Ghostbusters. I also love donuts. So why am I intimidated by the prospect of Krispy Kreme's newly announced "exclusive offer of two new marshmallow Kreme™-filled Ghostbuster treats?" Well, can you imagine biting into that face?

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