Technology

2024’s best games channeled the heart and soul of the ‘90s

Published

1 year ago

December 27, 2024

2024’s best games channeled the heart and soul of the ‘90s

In 2024, we gamed like it was 1997. Games like Metaphor: ReFantazio, Astro Bot, and the solo-developed Balatro remixed genres of console generations past (or, in Balatro’s case, remixed the very old game of poker itself) to critical and commercial success, while Capcom was one of the most successful companies of the year supported by a healthy mix of titles across different genres. With the industry’s biggest publishers increasingly chasing massive, broadly appealing games meant to be played forever, it was heartening to see old formats come back with some new tricks. And these successes could provide the blueprint needed to pull the video game industry out of its current tailspin.

Persona developer Atlus has once again innovated on the turn-based RPG with Metaphor: ReFantazio. What makes Metaphor’s combat interesting in a way that’s hard to replicate with traditional turn-based RPGs is that Atlus has built a unique ability system powered by anticipation and anxiety. Characters have access to powerful summons, each with their own abilities, along with strengths and weaknesses that enemies also share. Hitting an enemy’s weakness or having your own exploited results in monumental shifts in the momentum of battle. Every attack becomes consequential, as you don’t know what will work against your foes or what they have to work against you.

Atlus has built a unique ability system powered by anticipation and anxiety.

Despite dominating with games like Final Fantasy in the late ’80s and through the ’90s, turn-based RPGs have largely been left behind. (With the notable exception of the Dragon Quest series, which consistently sells beaucoup copies in Japan.) Modern tastes have evolved to prefer the active, frenetic, and combo-dependent combat of the action RPG over the passive, implied action of turn-based games. But through the Persona series, and now with Metaphor, Atlus has proven it is uniquely equipped to make turn-based RPGs feel just as kinetic and engaging as their action-based cousins.

The poker roguelike Balatro is perhaps the game that best represents the success that can be had by melding old genres with new features. Roguelikes can be a difficult sell, especially to players unfamiliar with the genre. To get them to stick, players not only have to be okay with the idea of failure as progression but also have to be invested enough in the game’s wider world to want to keep playing through it multiple times. For every Hades, there are hundreds of games on digital storefronts that blur together into smears of generic fantasy dungeon crawlers.

[Balatro is] catnip for the players who can’t resist “number go up.”

One of the reasons Balatro became an instant success was because it didn’t have that hurdle. Poker is known all over the world and hasn’t really changed much in the centuries since its invention. Balatro took advantage of that familiarity and combined it with great humor and an ingenious progression system that made it catnip for the players who can’t resist “number go up.” More than that, Balatro feels more permissive than its roguelike cousins. The best runs in Hades are typically the result of lucking into specific boons or items, whereas Balatro is lousy with jokers, card modifiers, perks, and more that make scores get stupid fast. Balatro took home a slew of Game Awards, and it probably would have won Game of the Year if not for that one meddling robot.

Speaking of… perhaps the biggest example of 2024’s Return trend is Astro Bot. Developed by Team Asobi, Astro Bot is a full-sized, standalone expansion of the PS5 pack-in game Astro’s Playroom that takes the little robot’s adventures beyond the confines of the PS5 console and into the wider universe. At its core, though, Astro Bot is a mascot platformer reminiscent of the games from PlayStation’s earliest days like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. Indeed, Astro Bot pays homage to those very characters, featuring them as robots to rescue along with other characters from PlayStation’s 30-year history.

Astro Bot is stuffed with so many items and secrets to collect. That kind of mechanic can get tedious in games suited to “modern” tastes like Assassin’s Creed, as finding things feels no better than ticking off a box in the slow march to 100 percent completion. But each of Astro’s powers — like the dog jetpack or the shrinking mouse — inject whimsy into the act of collecting. And when I do find a secret, I’m rewarded with a little celebration of cheering bots that somehow never gets old.

Mascot platformers fell out of favor, especially with PlayStation studios, despite initial success. Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch have transitioned away from the lightheartedness of Crash Bandicoot and Sly Cooper to make “serious” games for “mature” audiences, and PlayStation’s recent catalog reflects that overall trend. Astro Bot is an outlier in form and tone and parlayed that uniqueness into a shower of accolades. It would be such a missed opportunity if Sony didn’t respond to that success with similar projects.

When I do find a secret, I’m rewarded with a little celebration of cheering bots that somehow never gets old.

Over the last two years, prolific layoffs and studio closures have left tens of thousands of developers unemployed, in large part because companies spent too much money on getting bigger or developing huge, expensive games that may have made sense years ago but no longer do. Companies dumped hundreds of millions of dollars and considerable development resources into the next live-service shooter in hopes of replicating Fortnite and Call of Duty’s runaway success and profits. But as those games continue to top the monthly video game spending charts, refreshed by a steady cadence of new content, the idea that a newcomer like XDefiant could compete at that same level becomes increasingly remote. This leaves studios with an expensive product nobody wants to play, along with a pipeline of upcoming games too sparse to make up the difference.

But the way out of this precipitous (and avoidable) decline doesn’t necessarily mean giving up on the big multiplayer or open-world projects. Capcom, for example, has proven that “por qué no los dos” can be a winning strategy. The company has boasted record profits the last seven years with a diverse catalog composed of heavy hitters like Monster Hunter, Resident Evil remakes, and Street Fighter, along with smaller, weirder games like Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Kunitsu-gami: Path of The Goddess. Contrast that with Square Enix reporting less-than-expected profits after it failed to make Foamstars happen on top of releasing three different AAA Final Fantasy titles in a 12-month period. Capcom has the right idea and is doubling down on it, stating that it plans on “re-activating dormant IPs that haven’t had a new title launch recently” after revealing new entries in its Okami and Onimusha series.

But more than just appealing to gamer nostalgia, these success stories — which also extend to survival horror and Metroidvanias — offer a healthier alternative to the trends the big publishers and studios are pursuing. (Nintendo, of course, is always exempt from these generalizations.) While there will always be an appetite for big online shooters or bespoke open-world games with hours of Hollywood-acted voice and motion performance, these breakout releases of 2024 prove (or should at least remind decision-makers) that there is so much worth to also be found in smaller, quirkier, and most importantly, cheaper projects. If the big publishers want to staunch the bleeding of the last two miserable years, they could take the lessons Capcom, Balatro, Metaphor, and Astro Bot provide.

Technology

Slay the Spire II is even better with a friend

Published

3 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Slay the Spire II is even better with a friend

Slay the Spire II launched in early access last week, and it’s already an excellent sequel to one of the best roguelikes of all time. In many ways, it’s very similar to its predecessor. Like Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong, Slay the Spire II mostly iterates on an already superb foundation. But it does add online co-op with up to four players. While multiplayer changes the familiar rhythms of Slay the Spire just a bit, it’s still a great way to tackle the arduous climb up the spire.

A round of Slay the Spire II plays essentially the same as the original: In each run, you navigate three different acts across a winding map, slowly making a build by crafting your deck and picking up various perk-giving relics, and fighting enemies, elites, and bosses along the way. Slay the Spire II retains the deliberate, turn-based style of play, meaning that when it’s your turn, you have as much time as you want to decide what to do. Since you can see exactly what your enemies are planning for their next turn, there’s a lot of strategy in deciding how much damage to do and how much defense you might need to set up. Multiplayer adds a slight twist: When it’s your turn, everyone can play simultaneously. That opens up all sorts of new opportunities for planning, but it also requires communication to make sure everyone is using their cards effectively.

My multiplayer partner was my wife, the biggest Slay the Spire fan I know, and on our second run we got a thrilling victory. I played the new Necrobinder character, a necromancer, while she played as the returning Silent, which can make decks built around flurries of shivs. Over the course of the run, we accidentally settled into a strategy where I focused on applying the Vulnerable status to as many enemies as possible before my wife would rain down shivs upon our foes.

Slay the Spire II doesn’t encourage teamwork only in battles. At a campfire rest stop, you can choose to mend a friend’s health to help them out. (Some of the new enemies are tough, so I’m glad this is an option.) You each get a vote on which path to take next on the map. Everyone can draw on the map, too — as I learned many times after seeing the doodles my wife made when I would spend too long in the shop.

Since we had to communicate so much, our winning run took about an hour and a half, slower than how fast I could blast through runs in the first game. When we finally defeated the Act 3 boss, though, it was even more satisfying than most of my solo wins because we did it together. My one complaint is that co-op requires you to each play online on your own copy of the game, and that, because there’s no couch co-op, we each had to play on separate devices even though we were sitting on the couch right next to each other.

Those are annoying tradeoffs, but multiplayer is such a fun addition to Slay the Spire that I don’t mind. I can’t wait to try another multiplayer run and see what challenges — and doodles — are in store for me.

Technology

Android fixes 129 security flaws in major phone update

Published

4 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Android fixes 129 security flaws in major phone update

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Most people never think about Android security updates until a headline like this appears. Suddenly, your phone, the device you use for messages, banking, photos and work, becomes part of a global cybersecurity story.

That is exactly what happened this week. Google released its latest Android security updates, and they fix a massive 129 vulnerabilities. Even more concerning, one of them is already being exploited by attackers.

The flaw targets a component connected to Qualcomm graphics hardware, and researchers say it has already been used in limited targeted attacks. If you use an Android phone, this is the kind of update you want installed as soon as possible.

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GOOGLE DISMANTLES 9M-DEVICE ANDROID HIJACK NETWORK

Google’s March Android security update fixes 129 vulnerabilities, including a zero-day flaw already exploited in targeted attacks. (Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Android security flaw already targeted by attackers

One vulnerability in particular has security researchers paying close attention. The flaw is tracked as CVE-2026-21385. Google says there are signs it is already being used in targeted attacks. That makes it a zero-day vulnerability.

In simple terms, attackers discovered the flaw before many devices received a fix. According to Qualcomm, the problem is tied to the graphics processing component inside many of its chipsets. Specifically, the issue involves something called an integer overflow. That technical term means a calculation error can cause memory corruption inside the system. Once that happens, attackers may gain a foothold on the device.

Qualcomm says the flaw impacts 235 different chipsets, which means a large number of Android phones could be affected. Google’s Threat Analysis Group discovered the issue and reported it through coordinated disclosure practices. Qualcomm then worked with device makers to release patches.

Why the Android security vulnerability is dangerous

Several of the patched vulnerabilities allow attackers to execute code remotely or gain elevated privileges on a device. One issue inside the Android System component is especially concerning. Google says it could allow remote code execution without any user interaction.

That means an attacker may exploit the flaw without the victim tapping a link or installing an app. In cybersecurity terms, that type of vulnerability ranks among the most dangerous.

The March Android bulletin addresses ten critical flaws across the System, Framework and Kernel components. These parts sit at the core of Android, so any weakness there can ripple across millions of devices.

ANDROID MALWARE HIDDEN IN FAKE ANTIVIRUS APP

Android users are urged to install the latest security patch as manufacturers roll out updates across devices. (Barrington Coombs/PA Images via Getty Images)

Why some Android phones get security updates faster

Google released two patch levels for this update:

2026-03-01 security patch level
2026-03-05 security patch level

The second update includes everything in the first, plus fixes for additional hardware components and third-party software. Google Pixel devices typically receive updates immediately. However, many Android users must wait longer.

Phone manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola and OnePlus often test the patches before releasing them for specific models. Carriers may also delay updates while they verify compatibility. As a result, some users receive security patches quickly while others wait weeks.

How to protect your Android phone from security threats

Security vulnerabilities are a reality in modern software. The good news is that there are several simple steps that can greatly reduce your risk.

1) Install Android updates quickly

Check for updates regularly and install them as soon as they appear. On most devices, go to Settings, tap Security and privacy or Software update, then select Check for updates and install the latest version if one is available. Security updates often fix vulnerabilities that attackers may already be trying to exploit.

2) Avoid apps from unknown sources

Only download apps from trusted stores like Google Play. Third-party app stores pose a higher risk of malware.

3) Keep Google Play Protect enabled

Google Play Protect, which is built-in malware protection for Android devices, scans apps for malicious behavior and warns you if something suspicious appears. It also automatically removes known malware. However, it is important to note that Google Play Protect may not be enough. Historically, it isn’t 100% foolproof at removing all known malware from Android devices. Therefore, we recommend strong antivirus software because it adds another layer of protection by using deeper threat detection, real-time monitoring and broader malware databases that can catch suspicious apps or files that Google Play Protect may overlook. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com

4) Use strong device security

Set a strong passcode on your phone and turn on fingerprint or face unlock if your device supports it. This helps keep strangers out of your phone if it is lost or stolen.

5) Be cautious with suspicious links

Many attacks still start with phishing messages. Avoid tapping unknown links in texts, emails, or social media messages.

YOUR PHONE SHARES DATA AT NIGHT: HERE’S HOW TO STOP IT

A critical Android zero-day tied to Qualcomm chipsets could allow attackers to gain a foothold on affected devices. (Donato Fasano/Getty Images)

The bigger picture behind Android security updates

This Android update also highlights how modern mobile security works behind the scenes. Google’s Threat Analysis Group frequently discovers vulnerabilities that may already be used in real-world attacks. Those findings trigger coordinated responses involving chip manufacturers, phone makers and security researchers. In this case, Qualcomm received the report in December and provided fixes to device makers in early 2026.

By the time the public bulletin arrived, patches were already moving through the Android ecosystem. The process may look slow from the outside. In reality, it involves dozens of companies working together to prevent widespread exploitation.

Kurt’s key takeaways

Security updates rarely feel exciting. Yet they play a critical role in protecting billions of smartphones around the world. This latest Android update proves that point clearly. A zero-day flaw tied to Qualcomm graphics hardware was already being targeted before many users even knew it existed. Installing updates quickly remains one of the simplest ways to protect your device and your personal data. Most of the time, the update only takes a few minutes. Those few minutes can block attacks that might otherwise compromise your phone. So the next time your Android device prompts you to install a security patch, the better question may be this:

When your phone asks for a security update, do you install it immediately or tap remind me later? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

Apple smart home display rumors now point to a fall launch with iOS 27

Published

15 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Apple smart home display rumors now point to a fall launch with iOS 27

The rumored “HomePod with a screen” we’ve heard so much about was reportedly lined up for launch in 2025, and then this spring, and now, according to the latest updates, it’s on the shelf until this fall. Leaker Kosutami posted as much on X last week, and today, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman followed up with similar information, saying its robot arm-equipped cousin is now planned for launch in 2027.

That was supposed to be ready by now, but it is now predicted to arrive later this year, along with the iPhone 18 Pro plus 2027 updates for iOS, macOS, and all the rest. He describes a silver aluminum-cased device with a 7-inch screen and USB-C power port running a version of tvOS 27, while new versions of the HomePod speaker and Apple TV 4K box are also waiting in the wings for that Siri update, and a smart home sensor is in the works, too.