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We've now seen Star Wars Outlaws in-engine footage for the first time.

Kay Vess with a small creature companion skulks around a seedy underbelly of an unlicensed chop shop before getting into a full-on blaster fight. The upcoming game appears to have light stealth elements akin to Ubisoft's Watchdogs franchise, taking a wildly different approach to Respawn's popular Star Wars Jedi series. 

Light parkour is in play and vehicles are a part of the experience as Vess mounts a land speeder being chased and fired upon by galactic scoundrels. It appears to have some similarities with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Truly, the game world of Star Wars Outlaws is more expansive than anything ever seen with the license before, as the lead character enters a densely populated town that bears a striking resemblance to the famous dunes of Tatooine. 

Vess shares a lot of DNA with rogues of the Star Wars universe such as Han Solo, which is evident in one moment where she pulls a blaster on someone in a cantina to settle an argument. It's looking like Star Wars Outlaws will be a much more morally grey title than the previous light and dark sides of the series beforehand. 

This is compounded by a wanted system, which looks to function in a similar way to how bounties do in the Red Dead Redemption games. Things escalate when taking to the air, confirming that spaceships can be boarded and used for free travel at any time. Also confirmed is real-time dog fighting which hasn't been a feature in a game since EA's Star Wars: Squadrons, a game that was solely about aerial vehicles.

For such a brief look at the game, this latest Star Wars Outlaws trailer reveals a lot about the characters, the setting, and the kinds of things that we'll be able to do across the galaxy, both good and bad. It's a refreshing take on the formula that we can commit crimes and can operate outside of the genre conventions of the Jedi and the Sith.

The momentum behind Star Wars Outlaws is undeniable as this title could become one of the best open-world games to date. We're bringing you everything you need to know about E3 2023 as the big reveals and events are raging right now. 

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Avowed has now been revealed with in-engine footage showing off the tone and the combat of the upcoming Obsidian RPG at the Xbox Games Showcase. 

The team behind The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas has been working on Avowed for some time, so seeing the dark fantasy title in action has been a long-anticipated event for many fans. It's likely to become one of the best RPGs available on the Xbox Series X and PC. 

A brief look at the combat reveals a mixture of elemental attacks and physical damage taking clear inspiration from the Elder Scrolls series. As with the developer's other titles, your choices will likely have consequences, with dialogue being briefly showcased here, too. 

What's most exciting is the focus on guns and other ranged weapons here with Avowed which makes this fantasy title distinct from others set in a similar setting. Yes, swords and shields are present, but also firearms which make for a game that feels truly different from the Wasteland wading across the Mohave and the capitalist satire of The Outer Worlds. 

The first-person magic casting appears to be reminiscent of Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire: Tokyo which makes a change from the more rigid style of staffs and stoic magic from The Elder Scrolls series. It's an interesting mix, and we're excited to see how it will all come together next year. Hopefully, this launch window stays consistent, as we're likely to really see this one release in the latter period of 2024. 

It's been two years since Avowed was announced at a previous Xbox Games Show so the chance to finally see the game in action has been incredibly satisfying. Obsidian is one of the best developers when it comes to delivering player freedom, so this upcoming game shows no signs of breaking the winning streak.

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Belmont Stakes 2023: How to Watch Live or Stream Today's Race From Anywhere - CNET

Dek needed

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Reveil is a first-person story-driven thriller that looks like it takes a page out of the infamous PT horror manual. 

The upcoming psychological horror game Reveil seems like a psychedelic trip down memory lane with mind-bending maps and never-ending corridors not all the dissimilar to PT. 

In what seems to be a mentally challenging story, players will have to solve various puzzles to unlock the clues to our protagonist, Walter Thompson's past in an effort to save his missing daughter and wife. 

The new trailer released at the Future Games Show Summer Showcase depicted uncanny rooms, mysterious forests, and a particularly unwelcoming circus. The warped reality that Walter navigates looks like it'll confuse and terrorize players until the very end. What more could you want from a PT-style horror game? 

Reveil will be comprised of five playable acts that'll take place in different locations that have been carefully designed to mess with the player's mind, with some slight nods to the themes of memory and mystery in What Remains of Edith Finch. The first-person narrative experience will also include puzzles and riddles, meaning that this game isn't a walk in the park. 

There's been no release date announced yet so while you wait, why not check out some terrifying titles found on our best horror games list or even the new psychological horror Amnesia: The Bunker?

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Solar Panel Maintenance Guide: You Need to Clean Your Panels - CNET

Solar panels don't have much in the way of moving parts, so they don't require a lot of upkeep. But there are a few things you should do regularly.

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US Solar Panel Installations Boom at Start of 2023 - CNET

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Spotify is currently working on a new playlist that will automatically download recently played songs to your device for when the internet connection is spotty.

This information comes from the platform’s own CEO, Daniel Ek, who posted a screenshot of the upcoming feature called Offline Mix to his Twitter account. Details are slim as Ek doesn’t mention any other specifics about the playlist, but there are a couple of clues. First, one of the intended use cases of Offline Mix seems to be on flights where phone signals are basically nonexistent. Secondly, you'll be able to download hours of music onto smartphones. The image Ek provided shows the service can store up to three and a half hours of offline content.

It is already possible to download songs from Spotify for offline listening. The main difference between the two is the current method requires you to manually get tracks one by one whereas this new method removes all the busy work. Basically, Offline Mix is Spotify’s version of smart downloads on YouTube Music. That tool allows the YouTube Music app to "automatically download up to 500 songs” that can then be listened to anywhere with or without a connection.  

Speculation

Much of Offline Mix’s capabilities remain a mystery. We don’t know how many songs people will be able to download and whether or not a Spotify Premium subscription is required. It is worth noting that a couple of Twitter users claim to have received the feature. One person even complains Spotify failed to download most of the songs on their playlist. Although it’s possible the platform is rolling out Offline Mix to a select few as part of its tests, we urge you to take these claims with several grains of salt. There hasn't been any official confirmation of any public tests.

We reached out to Spotify to see if the company was willing to make a statement or perhaps share some details about the feature like its launch date. Hopefully, it's soon as the playlist has been in the works for some time now. Notable industry insider Jane Manchun Wong on Twitter was among the first to mention Offline Mix to the public in 2020, back when it was called Offline User Mix. This story will be updated if we hear back from Spotify.

In the meantime, be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best music streaming services for 2023.  

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Apple Arcade Gets Word Puzzle Game Bold Moves Plus - CNET

It's like Candy Crush mixed with Wheel of Fortune.

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Google has been getting into the generative AI trend by incorporating it into its own search results as part of Search Labs with Search Generative Experience (SGE) recently going public. And now Google seems to be experimenting with a drag-and-drop feature for Google’s search app for Android.

According to a new video posted by Telegram user @theoj22 through the unofficial Google news group (reported by Android Police), this new feature is still under development and not visible to the public. But you can still see how it works, by long-pressing a link, piece of text, or image, prompting users to drop the result in the ‘Drop here to start’ search box. 

From there, search results immediately crop up. Or at least that’s the concept, because for most people right now if you attempt it Google Lens tries to open but nothing else happens. 

Google AI isn’t all good either 

Once this new drag-and-drop feature properly makes its debut it could really be a search game-changer. But not everything from SGE is all butterflies and rainbows, however. 

The first real danger is how Google plans to integrate generative AI directly into its search results, which would fill the top spots with those answers and ‘sources’ while pushing down links to verified and currently top-ranking websites closer to the bottom. This is a move that could absolutely kill digital journalism as we know it, because those sites need high Google search rankings for visibility and, most importantly, revenue to keep running.

The second is how Google Bard will be getting an Adobe-powered AI image generator, which you can already guess why that’s a bad thing. But if not, this means that the image generator will be plagiarizing art that’s already online to train its AI transformer, which is rapidly becoming a huge copyright issue.

It’s not all bad, as Mozilla Firefox’s recent initiative — the Responsible AI Challenge — has awarded its top three entrants for creating programs that will hold AI accountable in a variety of ways. If more tech companies would focus on tangible solutions and proper regulation like this instead of creating false panic around AI turning us all into paperclips to distract from its actual problems, we would have very little to worry about from Google or any other AI applications.

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NetherRealm has revealed how Mortal Kombat 1 will play at the Summer Games Fest with faster combat and a fully immersive story. The game looks to be incredibly fast-paced with an emphasis on colourful brutality. 

Some cues for Mortal Kombat 1 have clearly been taken from the developer's Injustice series, however, animations have taken received a serious glow-up. One thing that immediately stands out is the pop of color and the youthful energy that all the characters showcase, with iconic scenes such as Kano's heart rip and Sub-Zero's spine rip present and accounted for. It also happens to be bloody as hell. 

We also got our first look at how Kameo fighters will work in the upcoming game. Similar to tag-ins worked back in Mortal Kombat (2011), Mortal Kombat 1 uses additional characters in the roster to add a new dimension to fighting. The speed of the game is the biggest surprise, looking incredibly aggressive, as with Mortal Kombat X. 

Classic versions of the characters return, as can be seen with Sonya Blade and Kano as well as new versions of Scorpion and Sub-Zero looking far younger than ever before. The new Kameo system seems reminiscent of how things work in the likes of Marvel vs Capcom and Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid.  The old Mortal Kombat energy appears to be alive and well with this title. 

Mortal Kombat 1 launches on Xbox Series X, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch on It launches on September 19.

For more info on games released this week, check out all our E3 2023 coverage.

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Google News Showcase Is Finally Coming To The US This Summer - CNET

The tech giant says it's partnered with more than 150, mostly local, news publications.

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