Dubbed Jurassic World: Archipelago, the premium add-on is bringing the iconic islands Isla Sorna, Isla Matanceros, Isla Muerta, Isla Tacaño, and Isla Pena straight into the game from the popular franchise. The infamous park is fully operational in this version, as the add-on is set right before the events of the movie Jurassic World from 2015. While the park seems to be fully operational, the studio warns that not everything living on these islands is fully "under control."

"Isla Nublar hums with activity: monorails weave through the jungle, the Innovation Center stands tall, and the island is ready for guests," describes the studio in its announcement. "Meanwhile, Isla Sorna remains untouched – its abandoned structures slowly being reclaimed by nature."

This is to be Orbx Studios' first expansion into branded experiences, with the Australian studio previously being known for offering add-ons for simulation platforms.

Iconic theme park structures, custom airfields, fully animated dinosaurs (like Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaurus,) the Site B dinosaur creation facilities, and more goodies for Jurassic World fans will be included with the package too.

Outside of exploring the Muertes Archipelago off the coast of Costa Rica freely, the add-on is also promising aviation challenges like VIP transports and guided tours as custom missions and activities.

Jurassic World: Archipelago is releasing in late August or early September for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. It will be available via the OrbxDirect website and the in-game marketplace as a paid experience. Pricing details have not been announced just yet. The studio is also planning to launch the add-on on Flight Simulator 2020 at a later date.

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Posted Thursday 7 August 2025 at 2:10 pm AEST (my time).

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Google has often bristled at the implication that its obsession with AI search is harming web traffic, and now search head Liz Reid has penned a blog post on the topic. According to Reid, clicks aren't declining, AI is driving more searches, and everything is fine on the Internet. But despite the optimistic tone, the post stops short of providing any actual data to back up those claims.

This statement feels like a direct response to a recent Pew Research Center analysis that showed searches with AI Overviews resulted in lower click-through rates. Google objected to the conclusions and methodology of that study, and the new blog post expands on its rationale.

The banner claim in this post is that Google is not sending fewer clicks to websites. According to Reid, "total organic click volume" has remained "relatively stable year-over-year." Meanwhile, Google is seeing more searches on its end, which is the most important metric for the company. Google's blog also notes (fairly) that the web is unfathomably vast, and it's common for trends to shift.

Google apparently sees AI Overviews as an evolution of what it has done in the past with Knowledge Graph or sports scores. Reid says those features didn't reduce clicks, either. In fact, Google sees higher-quality clicks in search results, which it identifies as people clicking on links without immediately backing out. However, the company isn't providing any numbers, which undercuts the argument.

Uneven benefits

Google's meaning comes partially into focus when Reid discusses some broad trends the company has seen. She says search users are increasingly looking for "authentic voices and first-hand perspectives," which sounds like code for "Reddit." Google partnered with Reddit in early 2024, gaining access to its wealth of authentic voices (except when they're trolling) for AI training, and you'd have to be blind not to notice how Google has increasingly surfaced Reddit links in search results ever since.

Reddit's traffic has more than doubled since 2021, and growth has significantly accelerated in the 18 months since the companies announced their deal. According to Reddit, which is one of the biggest sites on the Internet, it has seen daily active users grow by a whopping 21 percent in just the past year. More than 110 million people use the site every day.

Google's search head, Liz Reid, says AI isn't hurting the web.

Credit: Ryan Whitwam

So it can be true that Google is sending a similar number of clicks to websites in aggregate, but more of those clicks could be going to sites favored in both organic results and AI answers. This isn't even an unfamiliar problem with Google search. Several years ago, niche review sites began to see their search clicks cannibalized by big brands generating SEO spam to take the top of the search results page. In short, growth is not always shared equally or fairly on Google.

Reid closes with the questionable claim that Google may care more than any other company in the world about "the health of the web ecosystem." New products like AI Overviews are designed to highlight the web, not replace the need to click, according to Reid. But at the same time, the post acknowledges that sometimes people get what they need from the AI answer and will "not click further." Can both be true?

If we're to take anything from Google's explanation, it's that the benefits of AI search are not being shared evenly. Google is still cruising along, seeing record profit and increasing searches, but many site operators have seen clicks stagnate as impressions go up. Until Google can provide metrics to back its claims, it's impossible to say exactly what is happening.

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Posted Thursday 7 August 2025 at 7:23 am AEST (my time).

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Like with the end of Windows 7 support some time ago, Valve is dropping macOS 11 because Chrome is embedded into the Steam client. Google Chrome no longer supports Chrome on macOS Big Sur, and future Steam updates will require security updates and certain features that are only available in macOS 12 and newer. Apple itself ended macOS 11 Big Sur support in 2023, and it no longer releases updates or provides technical support to users still using the old operating system from 2020.

Valve adds that the only option users have is to upgrade to a newer macOS release:

On October 15th, 2025, Steam will officially stop supporting macOS version 11 ("Big Sur"). After that date, the Steam Client will no longer run on this version of macOS. In order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam, users will need to update to a more recent version of macOS.

The end of Steam support on macOS 11 means that users of certain Macs will have to upgrade their hardware to keep running Steam. macOS 11 was the final update for quite a few Macs, mainly those released in 2013 and 2014 and all Macs with Nvidia graphics cards. Now, users have to either buy a new device or hack their way to macOS 12 Monterey using unofficial methods to remain supported.

According to the latest Steam data, macOS holds 1.88% of all users. The most popular releases are macOS 15 and macOS 12. As such, it is safe to assume that not a lot of users will mourn over the end of macOS 11 support. You can learn more about the upcoming change in a support article on the official Steam website.

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Posted Thursday 7 August 2025 at 1:40 am AEST (my time).

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The EA support account has posted on X (formerly Twitter) that players diving into the world of Battlefield 6 through the open beta will first need to enable Secure Boot on their PCs:

For those unaware, Secure Boot ensures that your Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC only runs trusted software during startup. EA leverages this mechanism to integrate its own Javelin anti-cheat system which removes players who are using unfair means to get a competitive edge in games. In competitive titles like Battlefield 6, removing bad actors is crucial, but enabling Secure Boot can be a headache for many.

To assist its customers in enabling Secure Boot, EA has published a guide which may also require making changes to the BIOS settings, which may be different for each OEM. This makes this process a major hurdle for players who don't use cheating mechanisms and just want to dive into Battlefield 6 for fun. To make its case, EA has also recently published a separate security bulletin which explains why Secure Boot is necessary, cautioning customers that those who don't enable it will be prompted to do so when they launch the game.

It is important to note that this is not a new practice from EA. With Patch 8.8.0 in Battlefield 2042 a couple of months ago, the firm enforced a similar requirement. This move was controversial back then too, and it will be interesting to see how the gaming community responds to it with Battlefield 6.

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Posted Thursday 7 August 2025 at 1:37 am AEST (my time).

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It's been over a year since the Surface Laptop 7 was announced, which means it's time to start thinking about what the next generation Surface Laptop will look like. The company just launched the Surface Laptop 13-inch, a new entry-level model that undercuts the flagship by a couple hundred bucks, so the flagship Surface Laptop 8 is still to come.

While we don't yet have any concrete information on the next-gen Surface Laptop, we can read the tea leaves and speculate as to what Microsoft will want to deliver with its next flagship laptop.

So, here's everything we think we know so far. Check back for more information as it becomes available!

Price and release date

According to MacRumors, the new Apple TV hardware is in line to launch later this year. Notably, the new Apple TV will replace the current Apple TV 4K, which will eventually be discontinued. The report says, "Apple is still on track to release a new Apple TV model later this year, according to a reliable source speaking to MacRumors."

While the source did not provide any further details about the hardware of the device, it does corroborate a previous release timeline shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman pointed out that Apple could launch the new Apple TV 4K at the end of 2025, and the fresh evidence backs this claim.

Additionally, Apple has a lot of Apple TV+ originals slated to launch in September, so that will be a good time to launch a new Apple TV device. The latest tvOS 26 even hints that the new Apple TV could come with a built-in camera.

Apple is likely to unveil the new Apple TV at the September 9 event, where it is also expected to launch the refreshed iPhone 17 series. MacRumors suggests that the new Apple TV hardware could come with a new chipset, support for Wi-Fi 7, Apple-made Bluetooth and a Wi-Fi chip for the first time, allowing Apple devices to synchronize better.

For now, these are rumors and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

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Posted Wednesday 6 August 2025 at 4:13 pm AEST (my time).

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Intel has a lot riding on "18A," its next-generation manufacturing process for silicon chips that the company claims will help it catch up to the lead that competitors like TSMC have built up over the last few years. With 18A, Intel would return to manufacturing its own processor designs in its own factories, including the upcoming Series 3 Core Ultra chips for laptops (codenamed Panther Lake), after manufacturing parts of all other Core Ultra chips with TSMC. Intel is also offering 18A manufacturing capacity to external chipmakers, a major milestone in former CEO Pat Gelsinger's plan to make Intel a competitive, cutting-edge (and primarily US-based) chip manufacturer for the rest of the industry.

But a Reuters report claims that Intel is struggling to make usable chips on 18A, according to "people who were briefed on the company's test data since late last year." As of this summer, these sources say that just 10 percent of the chips being manufactured on 18A are "up to [Intel's] specifications."

Intel disputed the numbers cited in the report. "Yields are better than that," Intel CFO David Zinsner told Reuters, though neither Zinsner nor Intel provided an alternate figure.

Whether Intel is struggling with 18A or not, the story is easy to believe because it fits a decade-long pattern going back to early delays for Intel's 14 nm process in 2013 and 2014. Intel had finally switched its lineup to the 14 nm process by late 2015, but it was then stuck on that manufacturing process for years (2019–2020 for laptop chips, 2021–2022 for desktop chips).

Through that span, Intel's PR strategy was familiar: insist that things were ramping up well internally and that bugs were being ironed out, express confidence in the roadmap, give itself a little wiggle room on launch dates of actual products, and continue onward.

In this case, Intel told Reuters that its Panther Lake chips are "fully on track" as of July 30. Intel reaffirmed that it would launch Panther Lake using the 18A manufacturing process in the second half of 2025, with more models coming in 2026. These will be the milestones to watch for—Intel could be struggling to ramp up yields on 18A chips, but the struggles could be normal-ish and planned-for ones that don't delay the company's plans any more than they already have.

A rough stretch for a foundering foundry

Intel has been having a rough time of it for a few years now, but headlines in 2025 have been particularly bleak. The company posted a loss of $2.9 billion in Q2 of 2025 after losing $1.6 billion in the same quarter last year. In total, Intel lost $18.8 billion in 2024.

A substantial part of that loss is related to new CEO Lip-Bu Tan's extensive restructuring of the company, which so far has consisted mainly of cutting, cutting, cutting. Intel cut 2,400 jobs in Oregon last month, part of a plan that could see it shed as many as 24,000 jobs across the company. A planned manufacturing facility in Ohio is still happening, but construction has been slowed, and planned manufacturing and testing facilities in Germany and Poland are being canceled.

The company has closed its automotive division and spun off its RealSense robotics and biometrics division into its own company. Intel hasn't made announcements about its Arc dedicated GPU lineup, but it also hasn't launched any new products since January, even as Nvidia and AMD have rolled out multiple next-generation products.

Tan also says that all major chip designs need his personal review and sign-off before manufacturing can begin—a policy that has already resulted in the reintroduction of Hyper-threading to next-generation server products. Tan says this policy "will improve our execution and reduce development costs."

One initiative from the Gelsinger era still seems alive, at least for now: Intel plans to offer both 18A and the upcoming 14A process to external customers. But Tan says that "[Intel's] investment in Intel 14A will be based on confirmed customer commitments." In other words, if the company can't get more customers—something it may have trouble doing, based on its recent unreliability—Intel could decide to cancel 14A and other future manufacturing processes entirely.

"There are no more blank checks," Tan wrote in a note to all Intel employees on July 24. "Every investment must make economic sense."

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Posted Wednesday 6 August 2025 at 4:11 pm AEST (my time).

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Gamers Nexus (2.47M subscribers)

August 4, 2025

Video length: 21m 09s

This hardware news recap for the week covers more RTX 50 Super series rumors and more NVIDIA N1X rumors, ASUS leaking AMD's new CPUs by accident, a PC case themed like a Founders Edition GPU, commentary on an NVIDIA "split," and 1080 Ti support going away.

00:00 - Recap for the Week 

01:11 - Rumor: RTX 50 Super GPUs 

05:11 - Cadence Pays Fine for Breaking Law 

08:07 - US on NVIDIA "Split" 

10:52 - Maingear Responds to GN 

14:11 - Lian Li Unveils O11D Mini V2 

15:17 - Asus Leaks AMD Ryzen 7 9700F 

16:11 - NVIDIA N1X Spotted in FurMark Database 

17:19 - Golden Field Reveals FE GPU Case 

18:23 - Windows 10 Turns 10, Dies 

19:12 - NVIDIA to End 1080 Ti Game-Ready Drivers

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Posted Monday 4 August 2025 at 12:16 pm AEST (my time).

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Paul's Hardware (1.53M subscribers)

August 3, 2025

Video length: 11m 29s

Nvidia Denies Backdoor, but I thought that’s what their logo was - Tech News Aug 3

0:00 Welcome to Paul’s Tech News - Aug 3, 2025 

1:23 Threadripper 9000 Launch - Un-enthusiast PC Hardware 

3:19 China claims Nvidia built backdoor into H20 chip designed for Chinese market 

5:28 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 SUPER rumored to appear before 2026 

TECH BRIEFS 

7:12 AMD CEO says US-made chips up to 20% more expensive, but worth the price hike 

8:11 Bad Call AMD - Ryzen 9000G / 8000G refresh 

9:12 Battlefield 6 PC Reqs Relatively Mild - Arc B580, RTX 3060 Ti, RX 6700 XT recommended 

10:04 Intel XeSS 2 adds support for AMD and Nvidia GPUs

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Posted Sunday 3 August 2025 at 6:41 pm AEST (my time).

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Quick links:

1. Windows 10 and 11
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Reviews are in
5. Gaming news

Windows 11 and Windows 10

Here, we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And, of course, you may find a word or two about older versions.

Windows 10 is now 10 years old. This week marked the anniversary of probably the best modern Windows ever, and for this occasion, Neowin published a series of articles looking back at the story of the operating system, namely the top 10 features it introduced (and Neowin's top 10 stories about it), 10 features that never took off, and 5 things that the operating system never fixed.

Interestingly, Windows 10 is not the only Windows version that is going down. Windows 11 SE, remember that? It was quietly discontinued, with Microsoft confirming in the official documentation that the operating system will not receive Windows 11 version 25H2, and its support will be over by October 2026. Windows 11 SE was part of Microsoft's attempts to compete with ChromeOS in the segment of low-end devices for education, a successor to the also failed Windows 10 S. Now, Microsoft is sweeping Windows 11 SE under the rug.

Microsoft also announced its plans to open-source Windows 11's UI framework, WinUI. This subject is very complex, so the company cannot just flick a switch. Instead, it shared details about plans for the next six months, which include "product work and foundational changes to support a more open and collaborative future."

If you plan to leave Windows 10 and move to Windows 11, even if your PC is not supported, check out Flyoobe, a newly updated tool that received new features for the out-of-the-box experience.

Next, we have some fresh stats from Statcounter. The latest data (keep in mind that it is not 100% accurate) shows that Windows 11's market share is increasing, while Microsoft Edge is not doing very well in the desktop browser market.

Microsoft published some useful information for companies that plan to leave Windows 10 behind and move to Windows 11, including upgrades via Intune or Windows Autopatch. The company claims that the latter option is the best one for businesses.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft released for Windows Insiders this week:

The latest Windows 11 preview builds from the Dev and Beta Channels introduced a change that multi-monitor users will welcome with open arms. At long last, Windows 11 finally lets you open the notification center from any display, not just the main one.

Also, Microsoft confirmed that the mouse crosshair is finally back in Windows 11 after nearly a year and a half of absence.

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Microsoft announced the results of another financial quarter, revealing a record-high profit of $27.2 billion and a revenue of $76.4 billion. Shortly after that, Microsoft hit a $4 trillion market cap, just a few weeks after Nvidia.

There is a new Surface edition out there. Following last week's Surface Laptop 5G launch, Microsoft announced a weird Surface Laptop Smurface Edition, a collaboration between the software giant and the rather failed Smurfs movie.

Adobe had some good news for Windows on ARM users. Some of its popular creative apps are now available natively on Qualcomm-powered Windows PCs. Unfortunately, in beta, and with plenty of missing features, but you gotta start somewhere, right? At least users can finally ditch emulation and enjoy better performance and energy efficiency.

This week's browser updates include a big new AI feature for Microsoft Edge. The browser received the so-called Copilot Mode that uses AI to contextualize your browsing and make it easier for you with built-in summaries, multi-tab context awareness, browsing recaps, and more. Google Chrome, on the other hand, is getting a similar thing with built-in page summarization.

Also, Edge received a small update with security fixes ahead of next week's Edge 139 release.

Not all Edge news was positive, though, at least for Microsoft. Opera failed a complaint against Microsoft for manipulating customers into using Edge. The complaint was filed in Brazil, Opera's main market, where the browser has a solid user base.

Office updates include two long-requested features for OneNote, immersive sounds for Microsoft Teams, and the final deadline for those using unsupported Exchange versions. Microsoft is working on improving the UI for Teams, Microsoft Copilot, Outlook, and other apps. Also, check out our recap of everything that Microsoft added to Excel, Teams, and Microsoft 365 Copilot in July 2025.

In other Office news, a rather odd thing happened to the developer of LibreOffice. Without any warning, Microsoft banned its developer account, citing "activity that violates the Service Agreement." So far, appeals have been unsuccessful.

Here are other updates and releases you may find interesting:

• Barely better than "chance": Microsoft revealed just how bad we are at detecting AI images

• Windows 11/10 package manager UniGetUI received self-healing for corruption issues

• Microsoft is making it easier to develop apps for iOS with GitHub Copilot updates for Xcode

• Microsoft Copilot tests 'Smart' mode, with GPT-5 likely under the hood

• Microsoft will now pay you up to $40,000 for reporting vulnerabilities in .NET

• Canonical is adding TPM-based encryption support to Ubuntu 25.10

• New Windows Terminal updates fixed crashes, pasting issues, and more

   

Here are the latest drivers and firmware updates released this week:

• Nvidia 580.88 WHQL with support for Mafia: The Old Country and Expedition 33

Nvidia also has an important note for those who plan to stick to Windows 10 for quite a while after the end of support on October 14, 2025. The company will stop releasing Windows 10-compatible drivers in October 2026. The same day will mark the end of support for the Volta, Pascal, and Maxwell architectures.

Reviews are in

Here is the hardware and software we reviewed this week

Steven Parker published four reviews this week: one for the LincPlus LinkStation S1, a great-looking and quiet NAS, one for the T-FORCE XTREEM 600/C30 DDR5 memory kit, one for the TerraMaster D1 SSD Plus (we are giving this away, so you are welcome to participate), and one for the GMKtec NucBox K10.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts, and more.

Microsoft released the July 2025 update for the Xbox app on PC, including the ability to stream your own games using Xbox Cloud Gaming and Rewards support in certain markets.

Microsoft also confirmed its presence at the upcoming Gamescom show in Germany. The company will have a packed booth for the four-day-long event, offering hands-on opportunities for fans featuring games like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Borderlands 4, and many others. Microsoft's upcoming Xbox handhelds will be present at the event too.

Remember how Microsoft ditched the $80 price tag and went back to $70? EA decided to play it nice and also say no to $80 games. For now, at least. Also, EA announced Plants vs Zombies: Replanted, a remaster of the original smash hit from 2009. Look out for upscaled HD graphics and new multiplayer modes for the game that is coming to PC and consoles.

Another EA-published game, Battlefield 6, is coming soon as a public beta. Developers announced the date and system requirements, so if you want to try it out, make sure your PC is up to the task. Also, check out the official multiplayer gameplay trailer, which you probably have already seen:

Nvidia announced new games for GeForce NOW, including Grounded 2, Achilles: Survivor, Frosthaven, Dead Take, Farming Simulator 25, Mafia: The Old Country, and more. As usual, you have to own these games to play them on GeForce NOW.

In addition to releasing the results of the Steam Hardware and Software survey for July 2025, Valve announced some upgrades for the Steam client. They include a revamped store trailer, previews, an adaptive user interface, and more. Store menu and menu are also undergoing a revamp, plus Steam Proton beta received support for new games on Linux.

This week's Weekend PC Game Deals article is here with a double giveaway from the Epic Games Store, Evo fighters, racing festivals, QUakeCon specials, and more.

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Posted Sunday 3 August 2025 at 6:39 pm AEST (my time).

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“We are working hard to set BioShock up for the best possible future,” says 2K in a statement to Bloomberg. "Right now, we have a good game, but we are committed to delivering a great one. We are working closely with leadership at the studio to define this path."

Bloomberg's Jason Schreier had some additional information to share from people close to the BioShock franchise at 2K and current developer Cloud Chamber, which took over the duties from Irrational Games after 2016's BioShock Infinite.

Per the report, the next installment had failed a review from the publisher, with 2K executives being unhappy with the current progress and sending the project further back in development. Especially the narrative had been found to be in poor form, per the anonymous sources at the company, and will require a revamp as development resumes. Considering how much the series is known for its deep storylines and shocking twists, this may turn out to be a good call.

2K had also removed Cloud Chamber studio head Kelley Gilmore and creative director Hogarth de la Plante from the project to shake up the leadership. The publisher had added that it is "fully committed to ensuring we deliver a BioShock game that exceeds the lofty expectations of our fans."

The same report also states that a full remake of the 2007-released BioShock had been in development. But earlier this year, that project had been canceled. It's unclear who was in charge of development of this remake. With BioShock Infinite now nearing its 10-year anniversary and the original BioShock almost turning 20, the company may have been looking to use this remake to bring the franchise back into the spotlight before the new installment arrives.

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Posted Saturday 2 August 2025 at 12:41 pm AEST (my time).

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By July 2024, we got an official date: 25th August, 2025 was set as the day every last one of these links would die, returning a 404 error. The company had already started flagging links that showed no activity in late 2024; following one of these would show an interstitial page with a header that read "This link will no longer work in the near future."

Now, as we draw close to the deadline, the company is back with an update. Google is walking back its original "kill everything" plan. The company will preserve actively used goo.gl links, a decision that comes after significant user feedback. Maybe the prospect of causing widespread link rot by breaking links in what the Mountain View giant calls "countless documents, videos, posts" finally registered.

According to the new policy, if your goo.gl link shows that interstitial warning page, it will not work after August 25. But if it currently does not show that message, Google says it will "function as normal" and continue to redirect. The quickest way to verify this is to visit the link yourself and see what happens.

This reversal makes sense when you consider the sheer scale of the service. The goo.gl URL shortener was quite popular in its day and was even used by Google for its products like Maps and Google Business Profile for sharing locations and business information.

According to backlink tool provider Majestic, a staggering 3.6 billion goo.gl links have been created over the years. Deleting all of them would have been an apocalypse for archivists and anyone relying on old content.

It certainly did not help that Google's recommended replacement, Firebase Dynamic Links, is also being discontinued on the same day.

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Posted Saturday 2 August 2025 at 12:38 pm AEST (my time).

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Grounded 2 only first launched into early access on July 29, but in its first few days, there's every reason to celebrate.

Despite its limited scope, being the first early access release, and limited time in the wild, Grounded 2 has already surpassed the original game when it comes to Steam stats.

As highlighted by Eurogamer, the peak concurrent player figures for both the last 24-hours as it stands right now, and the all-time peak since the early access launch, have both surpassed Grounded's highest highs.

As I write this, the 24-hour peak according to SteamDB for Grounded 2 sits at 44,540, with an all-time peak of 49,836. Compare that to Grounded's all-time peak of 32,012, and it's not just a slight bump, it's significant. And for a game that's only in its fourth day of existence.

Xbox's VP of Game's Marketing, Aaron Greenberg, has also hailed Grounded 2's chart topping success in a post on X.

While these figures are good for the company, a deeper look at the numbers reveal that international revenue growth has slowed significantly, lagging behind the United States. Despite this, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said that the company is “focused on growing globally.”

In terms of the numbers of users on Reddit, the company stated that it saw a 21% year-over-year increase in Daily Active Uniques (DAUq) to 110.4 million.

The results show that US revenue surged by 79% year-over-year to $409 million while international revenue grew at a significantly slower rate of 71% year-over-year to $91 million. The gap between Reddit’s domestic market and international market is a point of concern as the US market is maturing and the company is actively trying to grow internationally.

It was also noted in the report that the Average Revenue Per Unique (ARPU) is also vastly different with it reaching $7.87 in the US versus $1.73 internationally, this further highlights the disparity in monetization. What’s actually pretty interesting too is that the company’s DAUq growth was stronger internationally at 32% compared to 11% in the US, suggesting that the user base is there but not being monetized as well.

While the company’s positive net income is a milestone, it’s supported by a big increase in adjusted EBITDA, which is not a Generally Accepted Accounting Principle. The use of a non-GAAP measure can mean that companies have a lot of flexibility in what they choose to include or exclude.

Given this, it can be difficult to compare Reddit to similar companies or compare it to past performance.

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Posted Saturday 2 August 2025 at 4:10 am AEST (my time).

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The record revenue was primarily driven by double-digit growth in iPhone, Mac, and Services, along with strong performance across global markets. iPhone sales rose to $44.58 billion, up 13% from $39.2 billion, accounting for about 46% of the company’s total revenue for the quarter. Mac posted the strongest growth, with revenue increasing 15% to $8.04 billion. Services revenue reached a record $27.4 billion, up 13% year-over-year.

However, the downside was a decline in iPad sales, which fell 8% to $6.5 billion, while the Wearables, Home, and Accessories segment saw revenue drop 9% to $7.4 billion.

Kevan Parekh, Apple’s CFO, said:

“We are very pleased with our record business performance for the June quarter, which generated EPS growth of 12%. Our installed base of active devices also reached a new all-time high across all product categories and geographic segments, thanks to our very high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

During the earnings call, when questioned about Apple's AI strategy, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is “very open to M&A that accelerates the roadmap and isn't stuck on the size of the company.” There were rumors on the internet that Apple has internally discussed acquiring Perplexity and Mistral.

Apple’s board also announced a dividend of $0.26 per share, payable on August 14. Overall, Apple's robust quarterly performance highlights the continued strength of its core products and services, successfully offsetting weaknesses in other areas including AI.

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Posted Friday 1 August 2025 at 3:43 pm AEST (my time).

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Amazon’s AWS segment, which has been the main growth driver over the past few years, reported $30.9 billion in revenue, a 17.5% year-over-year increase. The segment’s operating income was $10.2 billion, up from $9.3 billion a year ago. For comparison, Microsoft Azure reported 39% revenue growth yesterday, while Google Cloud reported 32% growth. If AWS and Azure maintain their current growth rates, Azure could surpass AWS in revenue in about four years.

Andy Jassy, President and CEO of Amazon, said the following regarding the earnings results:

“Our conviction that AI will change every customer experience is starting to play out as we’ve expanded Alexa+ to millions of customers, continue to see our shopping agent used by many millions of customers, launched AI models like DeepFleet that optimize productivity paths for our more than one million robots, made it much easier for software developers to write code with Kiro (our new agentic IDE), launched Strands to make it easier to build AI agents, and released Bedrock AgentCore to enable agents to be operated securely and scalably.”

Notably, from Amazon's earnings results, two of its non-core businesses are growing at a rapid pace. Its advertising business posted revenue of $11.8 billion, up 24% year-over-year, while its subscription business posted revenue of $10.7 billion, up 11% year-over-year.

The advertising revenue includes sales of advertising services to sellers, vendors, publishers, authors, and others through programs such as sponsored ads, display, and video advertising. The subscription revenue includes annual and monthly fees associated with Amazon Prime memberships, as well as digital video, audiobook, digital music, e-book, and other non-AWS subscription services.

Amazon's strong results showcase its successful diversification beyond its core businesses, with advertising and subscriptions becoming significant revenue streams.

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Posted Friday 1 August 2025 at 3:42 pm AEST (my time).

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EA has a massive Battlefield reveal happening soon, but that's not the only announcement it had in store today. During the Nintendo Direct presentation today, EA made a surprise announcement for a remaster of the classic Plants vs. Zombies game. The original game from 2009 is returning with the name Plants vs. Zombies Replanted, and there are upgrades and new content attached to the tower defense experience too.

PopCap Studios is touting upscaled HD graphics and new multiplayer modes for this release that’s hitting both PC and consoles. "Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted takes players back to the yard where it all started, combining strategic action-packed battles and all-new game modes with never-before-seen elements of franchise history for frantic, unforgettable fun," explains the studio.

On top of the classic tower defense mode, the new release brings in the Cloudy Day Mode that offers new challenges like reduced sunlight and planting abilities. New minigames are being teased as well. Moreover, fresh behind-the-scenes content will be included from the studio archives for fans to dig into.

As for multiplayer, it will be local only. However, both cooperative play and head-to-head action have been confirmed. Exact details about these modes have not been announced just yet.

Here are the highlighted new features straight from EA:

• Team up with a friend for local co-op or play against each other in PvP mode for a chaotic, unforgettable adventure.
• Test your brainz in Cloudy Day Mode, a brand new game feature limiting sunlight and planting abilities for a unique challenge.
• Enjoy classic minigames along with the series’ signature lane-based defense mode.
• Discover a treasure trove of never-before-seen Plants vs. Zombies archive content to understand how Plants vs. Zombies took over the world!

Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is coming out on October 23, 2025, across PC (Steam, EA App, Epic Games Store), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Switch 2 systems. Pre-orders are live now with a $19.99 price tag.

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Posted Friday 1 August 2025 at 11:37 am AEST (my time).

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Spotted by fans, the official Battlefield X account had published a video before quickly pulling it down. A reupload of the video still exists here, though it may not be there for long. The video had shown off quick cuts of the main multiplayer trailer while also offering a shot of the release date, which was revealed to be October 10, 2025, in line with most predictions.

The snippets seen in the accidentally published video show off players being able to drag downed teammates, jets dogfighting, a tank taking out a flying helicopter (as usual for the series), shots of urban environments, the new destruction mechanics, Chinooks dropping off players, and plenty of explosions.

EA has some big hopes for the next Battlefield. The game is supposed to have a full single-player campaign, massive multiplayer, and even a rumored free-to-play battle royale mode. To accomplish this, the company has pulled in help from a number of its studios, combining the efforts of DICE, Motive, Criterion Games, and Ripple Effect.

"Lock & load for the ultimate all-out warfare experience," says EA in official material while describing the upcoming title. "Fight in high-intensity infantry combat. Rip through the skies in aerial dogfights. Demolish your environment for a strategic advantage. In a war of tanks, fighter jets, and massive combat arsenals, your squad is the deadliest weapon. This is Battlefield 6."

If the leaked trailer's information is accurate, Battlefield 6 will be releasing on October 10 across PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Pre-orders will also supposedly go live right after the multiplayer reveal later today, which is happening at 11:30am PT on the Battlefield YouTube channel.

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Posted Friday 1 August 2025 at 4:19 am AEST (my time).

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Microsoft’s stock price has risen so much today that it has passed a $4 trillion market valuation for the first time in its 50-year history. The software maker is the second company to be valued at $4 trillion, after Nvidia reached a market cap of over $4 trillion earlier this month.

Microsoft has reached this milestone thanks to better-than-expected earnings, and the company reporting its Azure revenue for the first time. Microsoft revealed last night that its Azure cloud computing business had generated more than $75 billion during its 2025 fiscal year, and the company’s stock price immediately started soaring in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq. Microsoft’s share price is up around 4 percent today, helping it maintain its $4 trillion market valuation.

Microsoft has spent more than a decade building up its Azure cloud business, which is ahead of Google’s in revenue but still second place to Amazon Web Services. Azure now touches every corner of Microsoft’s businesses, including powering its AI projects, its Office software, parts of Windows, Xbox, and more.

Microsoft’s investment in cloud computing has positioned it well to take advantage of the computing needs for the future of AI, too. Earlier this year there were plenty of questions over the $100 billion investment into The Stargate Project, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was quick to defend the company’s own $80 billion spend on cloud and AI data center projects. “All I know is, I’m good for my $80 billion,” said Nadella at the time.

Microsoft CFO Amy Hood revealed yesterday that Microsoft is now planning to spend $30 billion on its AI infrastructure investments in the next quarter. If Microsoft keeps up that level of spending then the company will total $120 billion or more on cloud and AI infrastructure over the next fiscal year.

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Posted Friday 1 August 2025 at 4:18 am AEST (my time).

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These figures are based on the consolidated financial statements that have been shared before the external review is completed, so some parts could change once it’s done. The worsening of performance doesn’t seem to be a Samsung issue, but rather a wider industry issue as Intel and LG Electronics have also seen poorer results in the second quarter.

The Device Solutions (DS) division, which includes Memory and System LSI/Foundry, saw a big fall in operating profits to KRW 0.4 trillion in 2Q25 from KRW 6.5 trillion in 2Q24 and KRW 1.1 trillion in 1Q25. Despite an 11% increase in sales quarter-over-quarter for the Device Solutions division, profits were severely affected by one-off costs such as inventory value adjustments.

The company said that its Foundry earnings were weak due to inventory value adjustments arising from US export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China and prolonged low utilization at mature nodes.

Samsung’s Mobile eXperience (MX/NW) division maintained double-digit profitability and grew both its revenue and operating profit year-over-year. The Samsung Display Corporation (SDC) saw revenue increase from new smartphone models and growth in IT/Auto segments, and Harman also improved profitability with increased audio sales and cost optimizations.

On the flipside, smartphone shipments fell compared to the first quarter when new models were released. However, good sales of the S25 series, A series, and tablets contributed to year-over-year growth. The Visual Display (VD) division saw earnings decline due to intensified competition despite improved premium sales mix.

Going forward, Samsung wants to focus on improving Exynos competitiveness for its 2026 flagship lineup and expand sales of advanced sensors. It also said that its Foundry business will ramp up mass production of a new mobile System-on-Chip (SoC) with the GAA 2nm processor and improve factory utilization.

The Mobile eXperience division is also looking to achieve solid profitability by reinforcing AI In tablets and wearables. It’s also planning to launch new form-factor products like XR and TriFold.

With US trade tariffs not expected to go anywhere in the near future, Samsung has acknowledged that its Harman and Visual Display/Digital Appliances divisions will be under added pressure but plans to mitigate the impact through its global manufacturing footprint.

Source: Samsung | Image via Depositphotos.com

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Posted Thursday 31 July 2025 at 6:27 pm AEST (my time).

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Overall, Microsoft reported a revenue of $76.4 billion in the latest quarter, which is a year-over-year increase of 18% compared to the $64.7 billion reported last time. Operating income grew by 23% to $34.3 billion and net income stood at $27.2 billion, which is also up by 24%. As such, the diluted earnings per share this time around was $3.65, which is also an increase of 24%.

As usual, the drivers behind this growth were primarily Microsoft 365 products and Azure, but other categories grew too. The Productivity and Business Processes revenue grew by 16% to $33.1 billion, fueled by boosts to Microsoft 365 commercial and consumer products, as well as LinkedIn and Dynamics 365. Intelligent Cloud revenue stood strong at $29.9 billion, with Azure recording an increase of 27%. Finally, the More Personal Computing category saw Windows OEM and devices revenue increase by 3%, Xbox services jump by 13%, and Search and news advertising grow by 21%, combining to result in $13.5 billion in revenue, which reflects a respectable growth of 9%

CEO Satya Nadella attributed the company's financial growth to cloud and AI services too, noting that:

Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector. We’re innovating across the tech stack to help customers adapt and grow in this new era, and this year, Azure surpassed $75 billion in revenue, up 34 percent, driven by growth across all workloads.

All of this translates to a very strong fiscal year 2025 (FY25), where Microsoft recorded a revenue of $281.7 billion (+9% compared to FY24) throughout the year. Operating income was $128.5 billion (+17%), net income was a massive $101.8 billion (+16%), and diluted earnings per share stood at $13.64 (+16%).

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Posted Thursday 31 July 2025 at 12:19 pm AEST (my time).

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Microsoft launched a 5G version of its Surface Laptop a few days ago, but prior to that, it also released a smaller, more affordable device in this series back in May. Surface devices are typically considered premium products because of their hefty price tags and build quality, so they don't really do crazy numbers in terms of sales. As such, it is surprising that Microsoft has quietly released a new Surface Laptop that will appeal to an even smaller audience.

News outlet Mashable has spotted the Surface Laptop - Smurface Edition (ugh) on Amazon U.S. As you may have guessed from the name, this product is a result of a collaboration effort with the new Smurfs movie that came out this month and sports an abysmal 4.3/10 rating on IMDb right now. Nice one, Microsoft.

In terms of what this special edition Surface Laptop entails, the internals are exactly the same as the affordable Surface Laptop that came out in May. But in addition to that, you get laser-printed Smurf characters on the lid of the laptop, along with a blue Surface logo. That's all there is to it.

The rest of the specifications are the same as the May variant with 512GB storage. It is a Copilot+ PC, so you do get a 45 TOPS NPU for AI-powered experiences in Windows 11. It is important to note that the processor isn't particularly powerful since it's a Snapdragon X Plus, but that also means that you do get better battery life. In addition, the display is 1920x1080 @60Hz, and it hosts 16GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS storage rather than SSD.

It's difficult to figure out who this device is marketed to, considering Microsoft seemingly didn't even announce it publicly, to our knowledge. You really have to love the Smurfs or their latest movie along with Microsoft's Surface hardware to even consider dropping $999 for this limited-edition piece. Speaking of which, there are only 100 units available and it's an Amazon exclusive, so if you fit the niche audience described above, head over to the store page below to purchase the latest Surface Laptop.

Surface Laptop - Smurface Edition (512GB UFS storage, 16GB RAM, Snapdragon X Plus, Copilot+ PC with Windows 11) | Amazon US | $999.99

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Posted Thursday 31 July 2025 at 3:01 am AEST (my time).

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The console war is over, with PlayStation seemingly victorious. Or ... perhaps it's just evolving.

It's no secret that Xbox hardware has seen non-stop declines for several months, although PlayStation itself has also warned investors that it expects lower hardware sales through the rest of the gen. Indeed, as the end of the generation is in sight, it's probably only the advent of Grand Theft Auto 6 that could uptick console sales for PlayStation and Xbox until we inject new hardware into the mix.

Microsoft and Sony both are working on new consoles, with Xbox hardware plans including OEM-built Xbox-branded PCs like the Xbox Ally from ASUS, as well as true successors to the existing Xbox Series X|S console ecosystem in partnership with AMD.

In the interim, Xbox has very notoriously changed up its strategy. Faced with growing costs and a decline in console user growth in general, Xbox bit the bullet and decided to begin putting its formerly Xbox exclusive games onto its arch-rival PlayStation storefront. So far, that strategy seems to have been a resounding success story for Xbox and Microsoft, and new data continues to back it up.

In a post on BlueSky, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella described the runaway success of Xbox's strategy on the PlayStation store, revealing new 2025 Q2 sales data which included recent PlayStation ports like DOOM: The Dark Ages, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Oblivion Remastered, and Forza Horizon.

"Pulling together our huge Q2 Games Market Dynamics report, which includes this chart (among, like, frankly too many others) and just kinda stared at this one for a bit." Piscatella continued, "Wild times in the console market these days. Imagine showing this list to someone in 2015."

In a positive sign for its investors, PayPal has decided to increase its full-year transaction margin dollars and EPS guidance. PayPal CEO Alex Chriss also highlighted the company’s profitable growth and innovations like “agentic commerce, ads, stablecoins, and PayPal World.”

In a win for its investors, PayPal repurchased $1.5 billion of common stock in the second quarter, totaling $6 billion over the last 12 months. This can help buoy the PayPal stock price.

Despite the positive figure above, and increased Total Payment Volume (TPV) of 6% to $443.5 billion, the total number of payment transactions decreased by 5% to 6.2 billion. Also, the payment transactions per active account (TPA) on a trailing 12-month basis decreased by 4% to 58.3. Finally, active accounts increased by only 2% year-over-year to 438 million, and just a 0.4% increase (or 1.7 million new accounts) was added in the second quarter.

PayPal blames the decrease in total payment transactions on Payment Service Provider (PSP) transactions, but after it excluded Payment Service Provider (PSP) transactions, its payment transactions increased by 6%. Likewise, transactions per active account, excluding PSP, increased by 4%.

Another problematic area for PayPal was the decline in cash flow from operations which declined 41% year-over-year to $0.9 billion. Free cash flow also saw a crash of 49% to $0.7 billion. Adjusted free cash flow also fell by 42% to $0.7 billion, largely due to the timing impacts from European Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) receivables. Despite these drops, the company has reaffirmed its full-year free cash flow guidance, which will help to ease investor fears.

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Posted Wednesday 30 July 2025 at 4:24 am AEST (my time).

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Before all that though, the game has to start somewhere. I was given access to Grounded 2 ahead of the early access launch to check out just how the sequel is shaping up. My time with the pre-release version of the game was spent solo. For a game that’s focused on cooperative survival, saying I was hooked would be an understatement, especially since I only played the original with a group of friends.

I was a big fan of Grounded, the Obsidian team delivered a unique, story-heavy survival game that revolved around four teenagers being shrunk to the size of ants and solving the mystery behind it, with a whole lot of base building, suspenseful moments, and boss battles in between. Three years after that launch, and plenty of post-launch updates later, Obsidian is going for a much bigger leap in technology with Grounded 2, and it’s not just a graphics upgrade.

After spending over a dozen hours inside this massive, tiny, in-development world, I can finally give my thoughts on the sequel. While there will be some comparisons to the original, I am writing this review focusing on Grounded 2 as a completely fresh experience. I will also be avoiding as many story spoilers as possible. Here are my thoughts on the early access release of Grounded 2.

From the Backyard to Brookhollow Park

The story begins two years after the events of the first game, and it’s time for the original teenagers to get miniaturized once again. Gone are the days of exploring the famous ‘Backyard’ of a mad scientist, it’s time for Brookhollow Park to shine, a brand-new region that’s touted as being as big as the map of the original Grounded. From what I could explore, even larger sections of the park are blocked off, with more chunks of it probably landing in upcoming updates.

Compared to the original’s barebones story debut with confusing directions in early access, Grounded 2 has a much more in-depth questline to follow and a better onboarding process already for this early access release. It has you digging into an old mystery that has bewildered players for years, alongside plenty of information on the company that’s causing all these miniaturizations and teenager-based experiments. The writing keeps its dark humor but never crosses over to being edgy, offering a disturbing but humorous take on the whole bug-infested situation.

Obsidian has nailed the feeling of being tiny, which is to be expected considering its years of experience with the series. Entering the garden for the first time was goosebump inducing, and not just because of the cockroaches that decided to introduce themselves. Even if the Grounded franchise were a standard-affair survival game, the unique setting alone would be a fantastic backdrop for a game. The studio, thankfully, leans into it quite heavily. Humongous grass blades become planks for basic building, grapes in faraway trees become the tough leather you need for more intricate armors, and even the drop of leftover liquid from a fallen juice box is a godsend when your thirst and hunger are at dangerous levels. Difficulty can be adjusted at any time from the menu, though it’s important to note that the further away you explore from the starting area, the more dangerous the park gets, making for a gradual and more natural curve at any chosen difficulty.

The park is full of small wonders to discover. The early access version is home to a large number of anthills filled with treasures, a gas-mask-requiring garbage can swarming with roaches, a random 90s cellphone with calls still trying to reach its owner, a mysterious locked briefcase, an overturned ice cream cart that serves as a snowy biome, the fiery brimstone of a fallen grill, the gloomy underside of a vending machine, hidden unique weapons just out of reach, and so much more to cautiously explore. It’s the harvestable materials and rare bugs in these areas that offer the materials to get the best upgrades and tools, so they are always valuable and very satisfying expeditions.

The land is full of tiny critters, which are now not so tiny, I suppose. Alongside returning faces from the previous game, such as ants, gnats, spiders, bees, beetles, mosquitoes, and a certain bird, all-new arrivals like scorpions, cockroaches, butterflies, caterpillars, mantises, snails, and more are joining the party. I can handle spiders just fine, so I’ve never needed the built-in Arachnophobia mode to reduce them to a floating blob. But cockroaches are just something else. An anthill I was exploring that had been taken over by roaches will probably stay in my mind forever. The sound of skittering legs as swarms zipped around me was horrifying, just as the developer intended, I assume. There is a nasty surprise about them that I won’t be diving deeper into. The only upside is that they are a neutral mob, only attacking you if you threaten them first.

A new type of threat is here in the garden too: bugs that are being controlled by an unknown entity. These can be much more ferocious than their regular counterparts, and there’s also a new mechanic that has them attacking in waves every few in-game days to keep you on your toes. Having to scramble to build a base that can withstand such attacks was a great incentive for me to not be lazy and camp out anywhere without walls, as I usually do.

Grounded 2 also improves upon the pseudo class system that lets you approach combat in your own way if you’re willing to put in the effort to craft the armor and weapons you need. Want to be a rogue that deals massive stealth damage and uses dual-wielded weapons? Done. Want to cosplay a mage and spew chemicals at incoming bugs from afar? Done. Want to be bug-hunting Legolas with an eye patch? Also done. Having friends that require different bug parts and special ingredients for their own armor extends the amount of fun you can extract from the game by a large margin, as each of these resources is spread out quite well across the map.

Bug mounts, Omnitools, and a new perspective

Even if you’re playing solo, like I did for this review, you won’t be without allies. One of the most highly requested features from the first game, mounts, are finally here, letting you gain and ride a bug of your own choosing. Dubbed Buggies, they provide much-needed methods to travel across the garden fast, extra firepower, and even better, more loot carrying capacity. For the early access launch, it seems only two critters are available as Buggies, as I could only find out about the Red Ant and an Orb Weaver Spider mounts for now. These require finding the proper recipes, building a hatching hub, hunting for specific types of eggs, and slowly hatching them to make them your own, all as part of the main questline, so it’s not a missable feature.

I instantly fell in love with the mount system, making me go everywhere with my new ant partner in crime. Their speed makes it much easier to get away from ambushing spiders. Even if I do want to fight, having a regenerating ant with me that can take hits while I go for heavy swings and dodges was a delight. The ant was also capable of carrying a large number of building materials separately, making building with them a breeze. I have become so accustomed to the mounts system so far that I’m not sure how I even played the original without them, cutting down the time spent walking around and gathering materials by a massive amount.

Grounded 2 also adds a new third-person perspective, and it slots in almost perfectly with the gameplay. Once I switched to third-person during the tutorial section of the game, I forgot first-person even existed until I had to get a thrown spear back from a weird angle under a leaf. The camera automatically switches to third-person whenever a mount is being used as well, making the transition into the new perspective a useful one and not a simple cosmetic addition.

It was also clear that Obsidian wants to remove or improve on the grind-heavy or busywork parts of the original. Another improvement in this area is the Omnitool. Gone are the days of needing separate items just for harvesting the land. The new Omnitool takes the form of an axe, a hammer, a shovel, and even a repair wrench that does not take any inventory slots and does not degrade. Each part must be upgraded individually (with bug parts and XP) to harvest tougher materials and can even be customized. Inventory management haters can rejoice, the change let me just have weapons, healing, and consumable items on the hot bar, a massive improvement over almost any survival game, cutting down the need to fiddle with the inventory slots entirely.

Visuals, performance, bugs

While the art style remains faithful to the original, Obsidian has dialed up the visuals of the sequel in almost every aspect. The lighting alone is beautiful. From the sun peering through grass blades at dawn and the dim glow of a lone park lamp in the middle of the night to the eerily glowing pinpricks seen deep inside ant caves, Grounded 2 is gorgeous. There are more than a few man-made environments present inside the park too, offering a nice contrast against all the greenery and dirt terrain.

The bug models, building materials, the massively scaled-up nature, distant man-made objects are all a visual feast, something I would always get distracted by when exploring. The sound design also helps with the immersion quite heavily. The disturbing sounds of insects are a major highlight, as I mentioned before, and random noises from the outside environment at the edges of the park, like the rumble of passing cars, add another layer of engagement.

I wasn’t too impressed with how everything is running on PC, however. My machine is running an AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB paired with an eight-core Ryzen 7 3700X and 16GB of RAM, with the game running at 1440p resolution. It is also installed on an NVMe SSD. Right now, there are only four presets for adjusting graphics settings: Low, Medium, High, Epic, with no options for deeper adjustments other than resolution.

Even with the High preset the game recommended to me, I found frame rates dropping to the 50s in many areas, and Epic preset made that go near the 30s at many times. Playing for long periods, like 5 hours straight, also had the game slow down heavily as time went on, with restarting the game being a quick fix. I hope granular graphics settings, driver updates, and more optimizations that arrive during early access will keep improving the situation going forward.

While I did not experience any crashes, unlike several other individuals also reviewing the title, there were a few instances where insects were stuck under the ground or simply disappeared in front of my eyes. These were rare and barely impacted my gameplay sessions, and it’s not something that unexpected from early access games.

Conclusion

The Obsidian team easily has another gem in its hands. Even though it’s got its hands full with three games this year, Grounded 2 is shaping up to be a massive leap over the original, even though we may have to wait a couple of years to see the complete vision materialize, just like the original.

The new park’s visuals are breathtaking, biomes are varied, and the insects are as brilliant as ever. Paired with the addictive mount system and the no-frills inventory upgrades, this might be the most satisfying and straight to the point survival game I’ve ever played. Exploration is heavily rewarded, and the focus on actually following a story instead of being an empty sandbox is delightful. Grinding and time-killing tasks have been purposefully reduced, and I’m guessing even more changes in that vein will be coming in future updates.

The performance issues, lack of deeper graphics customization, random bugs (not the alive kind) and glitches I encountered do take away from the experience a little, but being early access, I can look past many of those shortcomings. I unfortunately only managed to play this pre-release version solo, so I cannot comment on how the network performance and multiplayer syncing technologies are working when playing in co-op.

The early access content and gameplay upgrades over the original made Grounded 2 a blast to play through. I could see that the studio is just getting started with the mount system, and I can’t wait to see where it goes with the feature in the future (flying and swimming mounts anyone?). The original had a terrific early access run, with it continuing to receive support even after the 1.0 release. Obsidian has all the groundwork laid out for the sequel to go way beyond the original. I have no qualms about recommending the title at its early access launch for the asking $29.99 price tag. The only difficult part would be waiting for even more content and the 1.0 release, which is probably years away.

Grounded 2 launches into early access on July 29, 2025, on PC via Steam and Microsoft Store, as well as Xbox Series X|S, with a $29.99 price tag. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (with cloud play) and PC Game Pass on the same day. Xbox Play Anywhere support is confirmed as well.

This review was conducted on a pre-release PC version of the game provided by Microsoft.

Verdict 8.5 Great

 

 

Pros

 

Buggies mount system 

Dark humor storyline 

Third-person camera Rewarding exploration 

Miniaturized atmosphere

 

Cons

 

Performance dips 

No granular graphics settings

 

Price $29.99

 

Release July 29, 2025

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Posted Wednesday 30 July 2025 at 4:17 am AEST (my time).

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of June): 2,864

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