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The Verge’s entertainment section collects the latest news from the worlds of pop culture, music, movies, television, and video games. Whether you want to know what to watch on Netflix or how to make the most of your streaming service budget, the entertainment section acts a reliable source. There’s simply too much to read, watch, hear, and play. Let us be your tour guide.

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Sega is laying off 240 staff in Europe.

The company’s latest cost-cutting efforts — which include selling off Vancouver-based Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment — impact the Sega Europe office, and UK-based Sega Hardlight and Creative Assembly studios.

In an email to staff seen by Eurogamer, Sega Europe CEO Jurgen Post said that “change is necessary to secure the future of our games business.” The news was announced less than a day after Sega’s US union ratified its first contract.


The Vision Pro is getting some new Apple Arcade games.

Alto’s Odyssey: The Lost City, Gibbon: Beyond the Trees, and Spire Blast will each get Vision Pro “spatial” apps tomorrow, Apple shared in a release emailed to The Verge.

Also, rhythm game Synth Ridersaka the only game I’ve been coming back to besides bullet hell shooter Void-X — has been updated with Game Center leaderboards and a pass-the-headset Party Mode.


A GIF of Alto’s Odyssey: The Lost City running in a floating window on the Vision Pro.
Alto’s Odyssey running on the Vision Pro.
Image: Apple
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Sega union ratifies its first contract.

In spite of unfair labor practice complaints and a round of layoffs, the 150 members of the AEGIS (CWA) union at Sega of America have a new contract. It guarantees members annual wage increases, warnings before layoffs, hybrid work schedule commitments, and severance packages.

There has been a growing unionization movement in the video game industry over the last few years, and AEGIS’s new contract marks the first ratified contract at a major developer.


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Disney and Florida’s land battle is over.

Both sides came to an agreement on Wednesday that would end a nearly two-year-long legal battle over the self-governed special district that DeSantis took over from Disney.

Disney agreed to recognize its last-minute rule change in the district in 2023 as “null and void.” The company also agreed to drop its public records lawsuit against the district.


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The toaster was OP, but I did my best.

Where can you battle a toaster with a waffle iron? Wield a barcode scanner for fun? Navigate a digital character through a real-life paper pop-up book?

The Game Developers Conference Alt.Ctrl showcase, that’s where. It’s my happy place at GDC, and this year I wanted to share some of the zany magic with ya’ll.


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Fresh off some big wins at the Oscars,

Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos is already back with his next film, Kinds of Kindness. The first teaser trailer doesn’t reveal much — aside from a stacked cast — but the movie is described as a “triptych fable” that hits theaters on June 21st.


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The Yoto app is coming to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to help with your long car trips.

Before I became a dad, I thought the idea of kids repeatedly pestering there parents with “are we there yet?” on long car trips was just a cliché. Good lord was I wrong. Thankfully, Yoto’s popular card-based storytelling app is coming to CarPlay and Android Auto to help relieve the boredom. From the looks of it, the app will work very similarly to other podcast apps. Now I just have to steel myself to listen to The Very Hungry Caterpillar 3,000 times in a row.


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Why the giant face?

This clip from the next X-Men ‘97 episode looks truly deranged. From the big Miyazaki-style face in the elevator to flying demons, this is shaping up to be one of the weirdest episodes of X-Men yet.

The full episode should be up on Disney Plus tomorrow.


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Cities: Skylines II adds support for mods.

Following last year’s rocky launch, Cities: Skylines: II has released a new patch that introduces a whole bunch of performance fixes, along with support for code modding and a map editor that publisher Paradox Interactive previewed last year. The modding feature is still in beta, and it uses Paradox’s own platform rather than the Steam Workshop.

There’s also a new paid Beach Properties assets pack that adds new building types, variants, and palm trees.


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Treat yourself to the Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door remake’s intro.

Seeing its remade opening video warms my heart. This game is part of an absolute slew of recent classic Nintendo remakes sending the Switch off in glorious fashion.

If you’ve never played this game, you’re in for a treat when it releases on May 23rd. The Thousand-Year Door is a beautiful, hilarious, and very fun RPG.


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To me, my [insert various Marvel characters here].

Tomorrow at 11AM ET, Marvel Games will unveil its latest title. According to rumors, the game is being developed by NetEase and will be a 6 v 6 hero shooter in the vein of Overwatch or Valorant.
From the key art Marvel shared, I can make out Iron Man and Dr. Strange. The announcement also made references to the timestream so expect the game to involve time travel shenanigans. Whatever shape the game takes, hopefully it’ll look good enough to stand next to the recently revealed 1943: Rise of Hydra.


The case of the missing $400,000 worth of cute hand-cranked game consoles.

Did they “fall off a truck”? Kinda! Playdate’s Cabel Sasser says the company lost two entire pallets of the tiny yellow Game Boy alternative in Las Vegas, when they were delivered to a nextdoor gas station instead of Playdate’s warehouse.

It seems whoever signed for the handhelds may have gotten, ahem, creative: “Seven of them have been registered to people who live in north Las Vegas.” More at Game File and Game Developer.


A photo of the Playdate.
Image: Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
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Angry Birds VR gets a mixed reality mode on the Quest.

I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs now uses video passthrough on Meta Quest headsets (and the Pico) to project your target for destruction onto a real-life table or whatever.

If you don’t have a VR headset with passthrough though, there’s been standalone version of the game on smartphones for years.


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Microsoft’s gaming chief hints that Xbox could get PC stores one day.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has dropped some hints that PC stores like Epic Games Store and Itch.io could one day arrive on Xbox consoles. In an interview with Polygon, Spencer says the console market isn’t growing and that there are barriers that exist today. “How can we be part of opening up that model?” asks Spencer, hinting at a potentially radical rethinking of Microsoft’s Xbox console ecosystem.


Tidal has found the right way to share music with friends.

Instead of sharing a Tidal-specific song link with friends, now you can let them choose the service they want to open it with — whether it’s Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music. Tidal is rolling out universal links today, and you can see how it looks in the screenshot below.


If only other music streaming services would adopt this.
If only other music streaming services would adopt this.
Screenshot by Emma Roth / The Verge
Sports and gambling.

In the MLB, it’s investigating Shohei Ohtani’s apparently gambling-addicted translator, who may have stolen millions to pay off an illegal bookmaker. While the details remain unclear, the star himself says, “I’ve never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked someone to do it on my behalf.”

Meanwhile, ESPN reports the NBA is looking into “unusual betting interest” on props for Raptors forward Jontay Porter tied to games he left early due to injury or illness.

The future is now.


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BBC will stop using AI in Doctor Who promos.

The marketing team for the longtime sci-fi series halted its use of generative AI for Doctor Who marketing emails following complaints, reports Deadline.

The response from the BBC:

As part of a small trial, marketing teams used generative AI technology to help draft some text for two promotional emails and mobile notifications to highlight Doctor Who programming available on the BBC. 

We followed all BBC editorial compliance processes and the final text was verified and signed-off by a member of the marketing team before it was sent. We have no plans to do this again to promote Doctor Who.


The creators of 3 Body Problem want to have ‘a back and forth’ with the book

Though Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is very different from Cixin Liu’s novel, the show’s creators say they wanted the two stories to share the same essential narrative DNA.