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5 Ways to Make Your Passwords Instantly More Secure
5 Ways to Make Your Passwords Instantly More Secure
What's happening
Today is World Password Day. The event was created by Intel in 2013 to encourage people to better secure their online accounts.
Why it matters
Weak passwords put personal information at risk. Even worse, people use the same bad passwords for multiple accounts, which means if one get compromised others could also fall.
What's next
Check out CNET's tips for how to create better passwords and lock down your logins.
If you think your passwords are uncrackable, think again.
Despite years of warnings, experts say most people are still using weak passwords to protect even their most sensitive information. Many people are reusing those insecure passwords to protect multiple accounts, putting more of their data at risk should any of the accounts be compromised.
"It's the total account takeover scenario," said John Buzzard, lead fraud and security analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, referring to a cybercriminal cracking one password and then using it to access other accounts. "Consumers lose control over their entire digital lives."
World Password Day, which takes place on Thursday, is a good time to review your digital security. Sure, it's a totally made-up celebration that Intel created in 2013. But it's still a good reminder to take a close look at your logins and make sure they check the required security boxes.
Passwords have been widely used for as long as computers have been on desktops, and they've been a source of aggravation for just as long. Efforts to replace them with other kinds of authentication technology have been in the works for years. While they've come a long way, they've so far been unable to completely eliminate the need for passwords.
But companies keep trying. On Thursday, Apple, Google and Microsoft announced plans to boost their support for the passwordless sign-in standard created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. That standard allows users to sign in with a biometric indicator, like a facial scan or fingerprint, or a device PIN.
Those methods of authentication promise to be significantly more secure than passwords, which are often laughably easy to guess.
The top 10 passwords used in attacks against small and medium businesses last year included some as simple as "123," "password123" and "a123456," according to Specops Software's 2022 Weak Password Report. Pop culture references also showed up frequently. For example, the Cincinnati Reds were the most-mentioned baseball team within the pool of hundreds of thousands of compromised passwords the researchers analyzed.
Setting long, complicated and unique passwords for all of your accounts may seem daunting, acknowledges Lotem Finkelsteen, head of threat intelligence and research at Check Point Software Technologies. But he says it's a must.
"The best password is the one you forget," Finkelsteen says, noting there's always a recovery process you can go through to reset your logins.
Password managers can help by remembering long strings of characters for you, while keeping them safe. Here are some tips from Check Point and others for creating good ones.
Longer is better. At least 16 characters is best. At that point, you don't have to worry so much about password-cracking software. Random sequences of characters are best, but passphrases, such as a combination of three unrelated words, will be OK in most circumstances. Throwing in a special character, such as symbols or punctuation marks, in the middle won't hurt.
Remember: If you use a passphrase, make sure the words only have meaning to you and don't signify anything important. "Red Sox Rule" might be a great way to show your loyalty to the team, but it isn't a terribly secure passphrase. Don't use your birthday or another significant personal date because cybercriminals can find them easily. Song titles and famous quotations are also bad ideas. Avoid cliche substitutions, such as using @ for "at" or "a," and $ for the "s."
Resist the temptation to recycle. Even the best passwords can be stolen and compromised. So limit the fallout by making sure you set unique passwords for all of your accounts. Sure, that could be a lot to handle since we're recommending 16-character or longer pass phrases.
If you need help, sign up for a password manager. Both free and paid options are available. Many internet browsers can also help you out with this task, though they don't always work across your various devices.
Change can be good. Experts are split on whether you need to change your passwords on a regular basis. They all agree, however, that you should change them right away at any hint of compromise.
Keep your details off social media. The more personal details you post, the more cybercriminals know about you. Those little, seemingly unimportant, bits of data could be used to crack your passwords.
While you're at it, stay away from quizzes you see posted on Facebook that ask a series of seemingly harmless questions in order to tell you what city you should live in or what your ideal vacation spot would be. Sure, they're fun, but they might be collecting personal information that could be used to crack your passwords down the road.
Always, always use 2FA. If your password does get compromised, a second layer of protection will go a long way toward protecting you. Two-factor authentication, also called multifactor authentication, is being used by a growing number of sites and requires someone trying to access your account to also enter a second form of ID.
It could be a code generated by an app, a biometric like a fingerprint or facial scan, or a physical security key that you insert into your device. Yes, that will slow you down as you access the account. But it's worth it to keep your account safe. If 2FA is available, use it.
One word of warning: If you can, avoid 2FA systems that text a code to your smartphone. SIM swapping, a scam in which a cybercriminal takes over your phone number, is on the rise. If a criminal takes over your phone number, they'll get your 2FA text message, too.
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23 great iPhone games you can download right now
23 great iPhone games you can download right now
PlayStation and Xbox consoles are harder to buy than ever right now, but who needs 'em? After all, you carry a gaming machine in your pocket with you everywhere you go. The iOS ecosystem is home to a dizzying array of fantastic games you can play, many of which are optimized for your iPhone. In fact, there are so many games out there that cutting through them all can be overwhelming. What should you skip and what should you play?
This is a list of 23 titles that are worth your time. There's a hugely diverse range of games to play on your iPhone or iPad (check out a list of games that work particularly well on iPad here), which means there's something for everyone. There are games that give you deep roleplaying experiences and there are games to pick up and play for two minutes at a time -- plus everything in between.
Florence
Price: $3
Annapurna Interactive
Florence is a game so nice that it's been ported to other platforms -- namely Windows, MacOS and the Switch. That's something you can say about few other games that were designed for iOS. It's a game that follows 25-year-old Florence Yeoh as she falls in love with a cellist named Krish. The gameplay takes the form as minigames that progress the story and all up it'll take about 40 minutes to finish. But it's a 40 minutes you won't soon forget.
Call of Duty Mobile
Price: Free
Activision Blizzard
The latest Call of Duty to hit consoles is the World War 2-era Vanguard, but you don't need to shell out $60 to play Call of Duty. The free-to-play mobile title is obviously not as technically breathtaking as its console brethren, but it gets a lot out of your mobile's hardware. More importantly, it plays surprisingly well. It features popular maps from previous Call of Duty games, and has a control scheme that makes playing on your phone much less awkward than you'd expect.
Tetris Beat
Price: Apple Arcade subscription ($5 a month)
Apple
You already know if you'll like Tetris Beat or not because it is, among other things, Tetris. As you can tell by the name, this take on the classic puzzle game integrates music, with three modes all designed around playing Tetris in tune with a beat. Tetris Beat is a fantastic addition to any home screen because it's easy to pick up and play -- and doesn't require you to return each and every day if you don't feel like it.
Slayaway Camp
Price: $3
Blue Wizard Digital LP
In Slayaway Camp, you play the villain in a series of slasher movies and you need to hit all the teen counselors at a summer camp. The graphics are voxel-based, which keeps the gore-fest entertainingly cartoony and every detail has been lovingly thought about -- from the "rewind" option when you fall to the scattered bones you leave in your wake. Some levels have limits or special features (such as fires) to help you dispatch your victims (and provide hazards that you need to avoid yourself) and you can even earn coins to unlock special kills. For such a bloodthirsty premise, it's an utter joy.
PUBG
Price: Free
PUBG Mobile
You can't go very far in gaming without finding a battle royale right now and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, better known as PUBG, was the game that kicked off the trend. It's since been eclipsed in popularity by Fortnite -- which is notoriously unavailable on iOS and Android -- but remains a reliably good time. One hundred people are dropped into an area, the last one standing is the winner. Enjoy your chicken dinner!
Fantasian
Price: Apple Arcade subscription ($5 a month)
After three long years, Fantasian is finally on the way.
Apple
Fantasian hit Apple Arcade with a huge amount of hype, thanks in large part to it being written by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. Released over two parts -- the first in April, the second in August -- this is a fully featured JRPG. It'll take you over 40 hours to finish, during which time you'll slay many a beast and see several beautifully crafted environments. Really, the art style is something special: The team created over 100 dioramas and scanned them to create pre-rendered backgrounds. It's worth downloading just to look at, if nothing else.
Clusterduck
Price: Free
PikPok
Between this, Untitled Goose Game and The Falconeer, our avian friends are really enjoying some time in the sun. Clusterduck is a weird game: It's all about hatching duck eggs. The more eggs are hatched, the more mutations occur, the more chaos ensues. It's quirky, silly fun.
Hyper Light Drifter
Price: $5
Heart Machine
There's one thing you'll ask yourself as you play through Hyper Light Drifter: What the hell is going on? It's a game that seems to take pleasure in giving you almost nothing to work with, in forcing you to figure everything out on your own. That means story and gameplay too. But those who manage to hang in there will be rewarded with a beautifully atmospheric adventure, one animated by pixelated '80s anime art style.
Rolling Sky 2
Price: Free
Cheetah Technology
Published in 2019, Rolling Sky 2 is a throwback to mobile games developed a decade ago. It's a runner game, meaning the character on screen is forever running forward and it's your job to guide them past dangerous obstacles and traps. The mechanics are simply -- simply move your finger from side to side -- but the onscreen flourishes are not. Rolling Sky 2 integrates music and a beautiful art style to make this simple experience a satisfying one too.
Out There
Price: $1
Mi-Cos Studio
Out There is a game about survival and strategy, carefully managing your resources as you travel the stars. It's also a tale of ultimate, lonely isolation. It tells the tale of an astronaut who wakes from cryosleep to find that he's no longer in orbit around Jovian moon Ganymede -- in fact, he's not even in the solar system. He has no idea where he is and has only unreliable alien technology as a guide home. You have to carefully manoeuvre through dangerous situations and manage resources as you navigate the stars -- because when your astronaut dies, it's game over. And all the while, you have no way of knowing if what you seek is truly the way home.
Mini Motorways
Price: Apple Arcade subscription ($5 a month)
Dinosaur Polo Club Twitter
Finally, a game for all the kids who dreamed of growing up to be a traffic engineer. Mini Motorways is a strategy puzzle game that's all about building the best road layout for growing cities. If building houses that connect houses to buildings doesn't sound like your idea of fun, Mini Motorways' charming visuals and score will absolutely win you over.
Her Story
Price: $4
Sam Barlow
Her Story is a game about a video search engine. Well, that and a murder. A woman's husband was killed and she's a suspect. Your job is to sift through video footage of police interviewing said woman. You do this by typing words into a search engine and watching the videos that pop up -- which will give you more clues and in turn lead to more searches. Basic gameplay, but incredibly creative storytelling: Her Story was won many accolades, including being named GameSpot's Game of the Month in June of 2015.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Price: Free
Nintendo
Animal Crossing was always big, but last year's New Horizons boosted the franchise into a new stratosphere of popularity. If you've wanted to play Animal Crossing but don't have a Switch, note that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is still very much viable, despite being released in 2017. It's a smaller scale experience than New Horizons, as you'll be building a campsite rather than an entire island, but it's full of the same charm that's made Animal Crossing a titan.
Alto's Odyssey
Price: $5
Snowman
Alto's Odyssey is a followup game to Alto's Adventure. Both are very similar: They're endless runners, except instead of running it's downhill boarding. Odyssey takes place in the desert, so you're sandboarding, while Adventure has Alto snowboarding. Most importantly, both have a striking, mesmorizing visual style. This is a great game to download for easy pick-up-and-play sessions.
Helix Jump
Price: Free
Voodoo
Helix Jump by Voodoo is a tactile puzzle game that's incredibly deceptive in its simplicity. The goal is to bounce a ball down a labyrinth by falling strategically through the cracks on each level without falling on a red zone. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast. With the fun frustration that came with tap and drag games like Flappy Bird and many others since, Helix Jump will have you screaming at the screen, then coming back for "just one more." The haptic response when the ball bounces is also a nice touch.
Oxenfree
Price: Free
Night School Studio
A group of friends hanging out on a beach take a turn for the worse when the teens accidentally open a ghostly rift. Soon the group is fighting for survival, struggling through time loops and doubting if everyone is truly who they say they are. Oxenfree calls itself a "supernatural teen thriller," but deftly avoids tropes and cliches, providing characters with depth and a fascinating, eerie plot. It's a quick game you could play in one sitting, but there's multiple endings so you can always go back.
A Normally Lost Phone
Plug In Digital
Price: $2
Like many games on this list, A Normally Lost Phone is all about narrative. Moreso than other entries here though, this really is a case of "the less you know the better". There are two things you need to know: first, that it's a game about discovering a phone and piecing together information about its owner. Second, it's absolutely worth a download.
What Remains of Edith Finch
Price: $5
Gamespot
What Remains of Edith Finch rules. Through a series of minigames, it recounts the history of the Finch family and the alleged curse that led to its downfall. It'll take you about two hours to beat What Remains of Edith Finch and the game takes you on a remarkable emotional journey during that time. Sadness, laughter, horror and hope; you'll feel it all.
Framed
Loveshack
Price: $4
Words can't do Framed justice: It really is one of the more unusual concepts we have seen in some time. The entire game takes place without words, as it's laid out as a completely wordless noir comic, with our protagonists avoiding being spotted by law while double-crossing each other. Gameplay is not action-based, but context-based. You have to examine each page, shifting the panels around to make sure that events occur in the order that sees our hero escape clean, getting the jump on police or sneaking past. Although it may sound good, that's nothing compared to how satisfying it is to experience.
And if you dig it, a sequel, Framed 2, was released in 2017.
League of Legends: Wild Rift
Riot Games
Price: Free
There's not much to say about League of Legends: Wild Rift outside of the fact that it's a modified version of the insanely popular League of Legends PC game. Do you like League of Legends? Have you ever wanted to try it? If the answer to either question is a yes, Wild Rift is for you.
Hearthstone
Price: Free
Activision Blizzard
Hearthstone is a spinoff of the Warcraft franchise, a card game building on the lore of Blizzard's wildly popular MMO series. It's unusual for a mobile game in that it's become an esports staple, with the player count reaching 100 million in 2018. Yes, it's a bit overwhelming to start Hearthstone in 2021, but Blizzard has updates planned up through 2023, so it's worth the time investment.
Monument Valley 2
Price: $5
ustwo games
Monument Valley was a smash hit when it came out in 2014, combining clever puzzles with simple-but-striking visuals. Its sequel, 2017's Monument Valley 2, adds to it with even more visual flair and, perhaps more significantly, a more pronounced story. Monument Valley is about solving puzzles and it's also a game about mothers and daughters, and the ties between on generation and the next.
Pokemon Go
Price: Free
Niantic
OK, I know what you're thinking. You already know about Pokemon Go -- like approximately everyone on planet Earth, you probably gave it a go in 2016. But Pokemon Go was far more than a temporary phenom, and in fact had its most profitable year in 2020. Developer Niantic has drastically improved the game over the years, adding new Pokemon, integrated Pokemon battles with human and AI trainers, community events, raids and more. Give Go another chance.
iOS 15.4: What You Should Know About Apple's iPhone Update
iOS 15.4: What You Should Know About Apple's iPhone Update
Apple's iOS 15.4 has a slew of new features for your iPhone. This includes new emoji, the long-awaited Universal Control, bolstered privacy measures and Face ID that works while you're wearing a mask. (All these features are also available for iPad via iPadOS 15.4.) Apple has also since released iOS 15.4.1, a minor iPhone update to fix a battery-draining bug and security issues.
As the name denotes, iOS 15.4 is the fourth major update to iOS 15, which launched with the iPhone 13 in September. These updates, which started with December's iOS 15.1 release, have added more features to Apple's iPhone operating system and improved existing ones. iOS 15.4 follows iOS 15.3.1, which was released last month to patch a security vulnerability in iPhones and iPads.
Release date: Is iOS 15.4 out now?
Yes, both iOS 15.4 and iPadOS 15.4 were released on March 14. The new green iPhone 13, the alpine green iPhone 13 Pro and the new iPhone SE come with iOS 15.4 preloaded, according to Apple.
How do I download iOS 15.4?
You can download iOS 15.4 by going to Settings > General > Software Update > Download and Install. The 15.4 update is more than a gigabyte, so make sure you're connected to Wi-Fi to avoid chewing through your monthly data allotment.
What is Universal Control?
Universal Control lets you use other Apple devices as second screens, moving content seamlessly between them using only one device. This eagerly anticipated feature was initially announced as part of MacOS Monterey, but was delayed over the fall, with a new timeline pointing to "this spring." Universal Control was part of the iOS 15.4 beta, and launched as a public beta with the Monterey OS 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4 updates.
Because Universal Control is still in beta, expect to run into some issues now and then. And note that the feature doesn't work on every device. Apple says Universal control is available on:
MacBook Pro (2016 and later)
MacBook (2016 and later)
MacBook Air (2018 and later)
iMac (2017 and later)
iMac (5K Retina 27-inch, late 2015)
iMac Pro
Mac Mini (2018 and later)
Mac Pro (2019)
iPad Pro
iPad Air (third generation and later)
iPad (sixth generation and later)
iPad Mini (fifth generation and later)
Apple notes that to use Universal Control, "Both devices must be signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID using two-factor authentication. To use wirelessly, both devices must have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Handoff turned on and must be within 10 meters (30 feet) of each other. [The] iPad and Mac must not be sharing a cellular and internet connection. To use over USB, you must trust your Mac on the iPad."
Can I use Face ID with masks?
Apple has updated its Face ID feature to be usable on the iPhone 12 and newer models even while wearing a mask. Because the feature uses a smaller portion of your face to verify your identity, you'll need to be more precise about the angle you're holding your phone at when using Face ID. Your phone will even prompt you if it needs you to look more directly at the screen. The updated feature should work for people who wear glasses, but it won't work with sunglasses.
Read more: iOS 15.4 Finally Lets You Unlock Your iPhone With a Mask On. Here's How
What new emoji are included?
If you're the kind of person who prides yourself on creative and fun emoji use, you're going to love iOS 15.4. There are 37 new emoji in the update, including new options for pregnant people, hands forming a heart shape, a salute and -- my personal favorite -- a lip-biting emoji. These were revealed last fall, and also include a melting face, a face holding back tears, a bird's nest, coral, a lotus, a low battery and kidney beans.
Other iOS 15.4 features
The operating system update also brings new safety-focused updates to AirTags, which have been under the spotlight after reports of the devices being used to stalk people.
The 15.4 update also changes the emergency call shortcut "call with five presses" from a default setting to an option, meaning the feature won't be enabled unless you choose to allow it. The hold-and-press option for the side and volume buttons remains enabled by default.
SharePlay received some updates as well, allowing some apps to start SharePlay calls from the app, rather than your needing to start a SharePlay call and then open the app. Developers will have to update their apps accordingly, so expect this option to roll out over time.
Another feature included in the update is the ability to copy text from objects using the camera while in the Notes or Reminders apps. And, as spotted by ZDNet, iOS 15.4 also fixes a bug related to recordings of Siri interactions.
For more Apple news, read about your iPhone as a payment terminal and Apple's possible wide array of new products for this fall. Also, here's how the 2022 iPhone SE compares with the 2020 version, and whether you should buy an older iPhone SE now.
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Beyond Axie Infinity: 'Web3 Games' Hope to Convert Crypto Skeptics
Beyond Axie Infinity: 'Web3 Games' Hope to Convert Crypto Skeptics
The moment Chris saw Axie Infinity, he was hooked. He was once an avid gamer, playing hours of League of Legends every day, but stopped after deciding he was sinking too much time into an unproductive hobby. Axie Infinity promised something different. Inspired by Pokemon, it's a video game about training and battling monsters. That sounds like hundreds of other games, but one element distinguishes Axie Infinity. It's built on the blockchain.
Axies are the Pokemon of Axie Infinity, but they're owned as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. A cryptocurrency called Smooth Love Potion is earned by battling these Axies. Players can also breed Axies, then either sell or battle with them. Chris, who declined to give his real name and goes only by the pseudonym Cryptobarbarian, felt he could justify playing video games again -- as long as it paid.
"It was fun for the first few weeks, but it gets boring really fast," the 28-year-old said. From there, he said, Axie Infinity became purely about making money.
Axie Infinity is a browser game. Accessing it is free, but you need to buy a team of three Axies to play. At its peak of popularity, bottom-tier Axies cost around $350 each, meaning playing the game once required a four-figure investment. The game allows Axie owners to lease out their monsters to other players, however. A longtime crypto investor, Cryptobarbarian told me he bought $30,000 worth of Axies and loaned them out in return for 40% to 70% of the profits. (CNET wasn't able to verify his purchases.)
The strategy paid off at first. Axie Infinity was a hot ticket in CryptoTown, generating over $15 million a day last August. But thanks to a combination of poor in-game economics, inflation threatening the real world's economy and a $600 million hack reportedly caused by a fake job posting, the price of Axies and the game's Smooth Love Potion cryptocurrency collapsed. The same monsters that cost hundreds of dollars last year now fetch under $10.
"I got around 100 players playing for me with high-end Axies," Cryptobarbarian said to me over Twitter, "which overall cost around $100,000 at the height and are now worth nothing."
To gamers, stories like this provide ample reason to reject "Web3 gaming," a term referring to the integration of NFTs and cryptocurrency into games. The significant carbon footprint of ethereum and bitcoin adds to the resentment. Be it Ubisoft bringing NFTs into Ghost Recon or Square Enix launching Final Fantasy 7 NFTs, gamers have fiercely resisted the blockchain coming anywhere near their industry.
Three Axies in Axie Infinity.
Sky Mavis
The fear is that crypto and NFTs will deform gaming into a side hustle, transforming its purpose from entertainment to moneymaking. Play-to-earn titles such as Axie Infinity prove the point; they're not games as much as they are financial speculation with the veneer of a game.
"I've never met anyone that played it just for fun," Cryptobarbarian said of Axie Infinity, "only to make money."
But Axie Infinity doesn't represent the future that many Web3 developers envision for gaming. Video game firms, both small and large, are developing titles they hope will clean the slate of Web3 gaming. All are on carbon-neutral blockchains such as polygon or solana, which are far more efficient than ethereum. (Whether they're as secure is an open question.) The goal isn't to make titles that entertain crypto speculators, but rather to make games fun enough that people can justify playing them regardless of whether they earn crypto.
"I've long been a believer that gaming is one of the consumer internet categories that is most likely to bring on mainstream adoption of crypto," said Amy Wu, head of gaming at FTX Ventures, the investment arm of the FTX crypto exchange. "But I also believe when you have a hit game with Web3 elements, it's very likely that the majority of players will never actually trade those tokens. They're just playing the game."
Free to play, play to own
The upcoming wave of Web3 games will range from free-to-play mobile titles to big-budget AAA games for PC and console. On the simpler end of the scale is Shatterpoint. With an art style inspired by Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it's an action RPG for Android and iOS that, on paper, looks like many top App Store games. There's a single-player campaign plus a PvP multiplayer mode. You earn new weapons and gear as you progress and, much like Fortnite and Call of Duty, the multiplayer is broken up into different "seasons."
But these seasons, segmented by "the shattering" in the game, is where the blockchain comes in. Players will be given a certain list of goals each season. If they complete one -- say, being one of the first 100 players to reach level 50, or staying atop of the PvP leaderboard for a certain amount of time -- their character will be converted into an NFT. Only a limited amount of NFTs will be minted per season.
There are two reasons why players might want to bother scoring an NFT. The shattering acts as an in-game reset, so any gear you've collected will vanish. NFT characters, of which there will be a limited amount each season, are permanent. However your character looks when it's minted into an NFT, with whatever combination of gear equipped, that's how it'll look in perpetuity. The second benefit is that these NFTs can be sold on a marketplace -- if there's a market for them.
A screenshot from Shatterpoint.
Estoty Games
There are three crucial elements that make this model sustainable, says Shatterpoint developer Benas Baltramiejunas. First, the game is free to play -- unlike P2E games like Axie Infinity, which requires the upfront cost of three Axie NFTs. Second, none of the items retained as an NFT can resemble "pay to win" mechanics. There can only be cosmetic benefits to owning it, not a competitive edge. Last, and most important, the game is designed with the assumption that most people playing won't be interested in minting their character as an NFT. It has to be fun for them too.
"We're using the NFT approach to create a bit of competitiveness, to incentivize players to play," he said. Shatterpoint is monetized by traditional microtransactions and from taking a small cut of NFT sales -- 2.5% is the traditional cut creators take. Baltramiejunas hopes that focusing on NFTs will result in both better game design and fairer prices. If developers can create a compelling game, revenue can theoretically be sorted out organically through whatever the player base sets as the value of the NFTs.
"In free-to-play games you have whales which account for 10% of the player base but 90% of the revenue," Baltramiejunas said. "If you only have those microtransactions for monetization, you are only focusing on those whales during the content creation, and you're leaving everybody behind. However, with NFT integration, you don't need to monetize that aggressively. The market decides."
NFT brands expand into gaming
While Shatterpoint is a mobile game that produces NFTs, the coming years will see many examples of the reverse: NFT collections turning into games. NFT drops, such as the famed Bored Ape Yacht Club, are doubling as crowdfunding platforms that produce games. Creators earn millions in royalties from sales, and use that money to expand the brand, theoretically boosting NFT prices in the process. Some brands are expanding into TV and film. Many are dabbling in gaming.
One such example is My Pet Hooligan. It's a product of AMGI Studios, an animation studio where former Pixar animator Colin Brady serves as chief creative and technology officer. The studio sees Unreal Engine 5 and blockchain technology as the next technologies that will drive entertainment, Brady told me at the recent NFT.NYC conference.
AMGI Studios' goal of 2021 was to use Unreal Engine 5 to create an animated film for Netflix at half of the traditional cost. While the film was being greenlit, Brady explained, AMGI technical lead Kevin Mack approached him about starting an NFT collection.
The result was My Pet Hooligan, a set of 8,888 3D rabbits. "We sold out in less than a minute, and all of a sudden people started saying, 'hey, when movie? When TV show? When video game?'" Brady said. The studio, filled with Unreal Engine programmers, already had a game in the works.
The result is Rabbit Hole, a sandbox game that looks like a mix of Grand Theft Auto and Ratchet and Clank. Rabbit Hole is currently in closed alpha, available only for My Pet Hooligan NFT holders with only one map functional. The build of the game I saw at NFT.NYC was intriguing. It was certainly incomplete, with noticeable frame-rate issues, but had the clear foundation of a fun sandbox game.
My Pet Hooligan NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace.
AMGI Studios/OpenSea
Rabbit Hole will eventually be available for PC and console. Brady says the goal is to reach 1 million players by the end of the year. To encourage the type of in-game socialization seen among players of Fortnite and Roblox, the studio developed a companion facial-recognition app for phones. If you perch your phone where a webcam typically is on a computer, it'll track your face and replicate all facial movements on your on-screen Hooligan.
Unlike Shatterpoint, which will integrate just NFTs, Rabbit Hole will use both NFTs and crypto. It will have a play-to-earn mechanic -- or play and earn, as technical lead Kevin Mack prefers to say -- in the form of in-game currency Karrots. These will be used to buy clothing, dances and more for the Hooligan avatars, but it doubles as a cryptocurrency that can be exchanged for ether or bitcoin. You can earn money playing Rabbit Hole, but Brady said it's not going to be life-changing cash.
Then there's the NFT element. This is primed towards holders of the 8,888 My Pet Hooligan NFTs. While players who download the game will start with a generic Hooligan, My Pet Hooligan owners will be able to use their NFT as an avatar in the game.
If the game gets popular enough, Mack said, there will be a certain prestige to owning one of these avatars. But he recognizes that to make that happen, the team has to make a game that people actually want to play.
"Superman No. 1 is valuable because Superman was a great comic," he said. "I think the NFT space for a while started to get that a little backward, where they thought the things were valuable just because they were collectable."
To infinity...
Of all the NFT brands expanding into games, Bored Ape Yacht Club is the biggest. BAYC creators Yuga Labs are developing Otherside, a "metaverse" MMORPG. The term "metaverse" is nebulous, but in this case it refers to an open world where items are owned as NFTs and in-game currency is crypto that can be exchanged for dollars. Details on Otherside are scant, but Yuga has a huge warchest for it. The game's map will be made up of 200,000 plots of land, which players can buy and own. Over $350 million was raised from selling land back in May.
Otherside may be the Web3 game with the highest budget, but perhaps the most ambitious is Star Atlas.
In development since 2020, the Eve Online-inspired Star Atlas is crafted like a traditional AAA game. Michael Wagner, CEO of Star Atlas development studio ATMTA, told me there are around 200 developers working on the game. It's scheduled for release in 2026.
Like Eve Online, Star Atlas is half game, half space simulator. Players ride spacecraft through the galaxy, socializing and battling with each other, exploring exoplanets, mining lands and meteors for resources and so on.
Games like Eve Online are giant, big enough for players to lose themselves in for years. Star Atlas hopes to mimic that feat. On the way to doing so, it uses almost every new tool Web3 offers.
It starts with funding. Wagner said $185 million in revenue was raised in 2021, through the sale of an Atlas token and NFT ships, with a "substantial margin" of that funding development. In the game, ships, items and land will be owned as NFTs. There will be a comprehensive crypto economy built atop the game, which Wagner says will allow for not just a market, but a labor economy too. The economy isn't just in the game; part of Star Atlas will be built on the blockchain, meaning elements will be open source. People will be able to develop apps on top of this data, for things like spacecraft maintenance or resource management.
Part of Star Atlas' economy will involve taxation. Just like in real life, a certain percentage of all sales will go to a treasury. There will be a DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization, in which token holders can vote on how these funds are used, be it to fund a new marketing campaign or a user engagement campaign. Then there will be another DAO specifically for the game itself, where token holders can vote on changes to the game, like additional features or ways to balance combat.
"We've structured the economics of the DAO such that we don't lose control in the near term," Wagner said. "But in the future, it would even be possible for them to vote us out as the principal developer of the game and bring in somebody new if they think they could deliver the product in a superior fashion to us."
Risks and rewards
The potential of Web3 gaming is tremendous, but its challenges are enormous. An examination of Star Atlas alone highlights many issues Web3 developers are likely to face.
First and foremost, making video games is hard. Making high-quality AAA games is harder still, even for veteran game studios, and the Star Atlas game alone is audacious in its ambition. The Web3 components offer additional opportunity for failure: An imbalanced economy, for instance, has the potential to completely break the game. Then there's security and regulation. Crypto has been a digital Wild West for years, with scams endemic. Regulators are slowly changing that. It's an open question whether Web3 gaming can survive in a regulated environment.
"In many countries, consumer protection is the No. 1 driver of regulations. Given gaming is so mainstream, it will be a topic," said FTX Ventures' Wu. "100%, these assets are going to be regulated."
The final issue is the very commodity that fuels crypto tokens and NFT projects: hype. Games are often promised on NFT project road maps before a single second of development has been undertaken. As Brady noted, it took less than a day for My Pet Hooligan holders to demand the announcement of a game, movie or TV show to sustain hype and lift the NFT value. Vaporware is sure to be common.
Games will need to be developed in a way that insulates players from the crypto-rich speculators. Speculators outbidding each other can artificially raise the value of in-game items, which blocks players who actually want to play the game from accessing them. Recall the speculative bubble that caused the cost of entry to Axie Infinity to inflate to over $1,000.
"I'm personally not interested in someone who's paying $100,000 for an NFT," said Brady. "That's a certain echelon. That's not normal society. I'm only interested if this helps every person."
Of all the developers I spoke to, a recurring theme was mistrust of any games company that promises a regular income, or dangles the possibility of earning enough money to quit the rat race. "Play-to-earn is not sustainable and is going to die off," said Baltramiejunas. Instead, the goal is for Web3 games to be more engaging than the games you play today, with the benefit of some pocket money on the side.
"If the game was good I would be satisfied with a little money as long as it's not totally a time waste," said Cryptobarbarian, reflecting on how much money he'd need to earn to justify playing games again.
"If I could earn some lunch money with it, that would be nice. But I think that will take at least a few more years before it happens."
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Lovevery Play Kits Reviewed: Are These Subscription Boxes Worth the Money?
Lovevery Play Kits Reviewed: Are These Subscription Boxes Worth the Money?
I started seeing the Lovevery Play Kit ads almost immediately after I became a mom. The ads showed colorful, aesthetically pleasing baby toys that seemed to be curated around developmental milestones.
Because my newborn was more of an inanimate blob than I'd expected (they all are, it turns out), I'd been having trouble figuring out what to do with him between nap times. Not only was it kind of boring to try to interact with an inanimate blob, but I also felt the modern parenthood anxiety of milestone-meeting, experience-fostering and lesson-learning bubbling almost from day one.
My hunch was that I could quell this anxiety by creating and executing daily activities with my baby, almost like a curriculum. That would make maternity leave a lot less boring, too. The problem -- I'm not a trained Montessori teacher or a child development expert. I was also busy nursing, changing, bathing, burping (the baby, not myself) and rocking to spend any time lesson planning for a newborn. Could the Lovevery Play Kits do the heavy lifting for me? (And the better question: Would they be worth the price?)
My colleague Alison DeNisco Rayome and I tested four Lovevery Play Kits with our real kids (The Looker for kids who are 0 to 12 weeks old, The Senser for 5- to 6-month-old kids, The Realist for kids aged 19 to 21 months and The Helper for kids who are 25 to 27 months old) to answer that question. Read on for what we thought. Plus, check out the list of hot kids' toys to buy as gifts, toys for the kid at heart, STEM toys we love and the best gifts for 2-year-olds.
Read more: Here's a toy that makes the perfect gift for any age .
What are Lovevery Play Kits?
Lovevery is a US-based toy company that sells Montessori-inspired subscription boxes focused on "stage-based play." The idea is that kids have different needs at different stages in their development, and the right toys can support those needs.
The Play Kits (Lovevery's name for its curated subscription boxes) are separated into four buckets by age: 0 to 12 months, 1 year, 2 years and 3 years. Each age bucket is further broken down by smaller ranges, with boxes named after their respective developmental stage (e.g. The Charmer Play Kit is for months 3 to 4, while The Observer Play Kit is for months 37, 38 and 39).
Every kit includes a few toys, a book and a parents' guide that provides ideas for using the toys inside to help your child meet their milestones. The toys are made from sustainable and baby-safe, natural materials -- and they look pretty sleek on your shelves, too.
Is Lovevery Montessori?
Yes, Lovevery is inspired by the Montessori method, which emphasizes independence, STEM skills and toys that develop skills used in real life. That also means you won't find any flashing lights or noisy toys inside your Play Kit. Instead, the toys tend to favor "open-ended play," so kids can continually invent new ways to play with them. (Read more on Lovevery's approach to the Montessori method.)
Read more: Baby Registry Checklist: 10 Baby Products I Wish I'd Asked For
A toy from The Senser, Lovevery's play kit for kids aged 5 to 6 months.
Lovevery
How much does a Lovevery Subscription cost?
When you first sign up for a Lovevery subscription, you'll enter your child's birthday (or due date or adjusted age), and Lovevery will suggest a Play Kit to get started with. You can also add a few of the earlier boxes to your initial order, because the toys inside will likely still appeal to older kids.
Boxes for kids aged 0 to 12 months cost $80 a box and ship every two months. Other ages will get a box every three months for $120 a box. You can also prepay for several boxes at a time, which lowers the cost per box down to as little as $72 for infants or $108 for older kids.
Because you can skip boxes or cancel your subscription at any time, it's easy to buy a one-off box to try it out or to give as a gift. Since the Lovevery website shows what's inside each box before you order, you don't have to buy the ones that don't look as compelling.
Read more: 9 Book Subscription Services for Kids and Young Adults
Is Lovevery an American company?
Yes, the subscription box company is based in the US. Boise, Idaho, specifically, is the city that the company calls home and it's where the toys are designed. They're manufactured, however, by a network of suppliers throughout Asia.
Testing the Play Kits (with a real baby and toddler!)
Boxes for 0 to 12 months
Cost: $80
Boxes we tested: The Looker (weeks 0 to 12) and The Senser (months 5 to 6)
The Looker box includes:
A double-sided mobile
Sensory links (soft, high-contrast toys that can hook together or on a stroller or play mat)
Two black and white card sets (one with simple patterns and one with complex patterns)
A standing cardholder (to put the cards in during tummy time)
Black and white mittens (to promote hand discovery and body control)
A wooden book with black and white animal pictures
A silicon rattle with a removable ball
The parents' play guide
What we liked:
The double-sided spiral mobile, with high-contrast black and white on one side and colorful circles on the other side, was a big hit with my newborn daughter -- she loved looking at it when we held it up or tied it to her play gym. (Lovevery suggests hanging it over the changing table as a distraction, too.) The black and white cards were a mainstay in her play gym, and the little book seemed to hold her attention more than some of her other high-contrast books did (perhaps because it's "baby's first book made with sustainably harvested wood" and she's a budding environmentalist? Who's to say).
Not listed on the website, but my kit came with a mug for a parent that reads "The Days Are Long But the Years Are Short." It's not my favorite child-rearing sentiment, though it's proven true for me, but it was nice to have a little gift included.
The real winner, though, was the parents' play guide. It's difficult to know how to engage with a newborn, but Lovevery gave some practical ideas to align with her weekly development. I found that helpful as a first-time parent who was overly stressed about being able to give her enriching playtime.
What we didn't like:
The sensory links were never a favorite, perhaps because she had several other similar clip-on toys that came with her play mat and and stroller. And while the black and white mittens were a good idea, in theory, the effort it took to get them on and off a squirmy newborn wasn't worth it for me most days.
--Alison DeNisco Rayome
The Senser is Lovevery's Play Kit for babies aged 5 to 6 months old.
Lovevery
The Senser box includes:
A spinning rainbow wheel
A magic tissue box (to pull cloth tissues out of and put back in)
Magic tissues (cloth tissues that can link together)
An organic cotton rainbow ball
Parts of Me book
A pair of play socks with bells on the toes
A tummy time wobbler
The parents' play guide
What we liked:
Once my daughter hit the 6-month mark, the way she played changed dramatically, particularly since she could stay sitting up with little assistance. The spinning rainbow wheel is one of her favorite things to play with, and it keeps her occupied longer than most other toys. Once she got the hang of the magic tissue box, she enjoyed pulling the tissues out of that as well (and using them to chew on and play peek-a-boo with). The tummy time wobbler has been another solid choice both while on her tummy and while sitting up. She still tries to eat that, too, like everything else.
I'll admit, I was a Lovevery skeptic, just given the price tag. But this box convinced me these are great toys that can give your baby plenty of entertainment, and I'm already planning to buy the next one.
What we didn't like:
The play socks seem like they might have been a bigger hit when she was younger, as she discovered her feet long ago. The rainbow ball is also pretty but only holds so much interest.
--Alison DeNisco Rayome
The Looker box from Lovevery comes with a magic tissue box.
Lovevery
Box for 1-year-olds
Cost: $120
Box we tested: The Realist (months 19, 20, 21)
The Realist box includes:
A wooden lock box with four locking mechanisms
A puzzle with shapes that nest and stack
Fabric "critters" that can be tucked into matching pockets on a quilted wall hanging
A cup and pitcher for pouring your own drinks
Bea Gets a Checkup board book
A wooden "ring chute" with rings
A flashlight that lights up
The parents' play guide
What we liked:
The lock box is my 2-year-old son's favorite toy, and the fabric critters have taken up residence inside it. Locking and unlocking each of the doors -- and putting things inside, then taking them out -- has occupied more of his time than pretty much any other toy. Unfortunately, he's now learned how to lock his own bedroom door. Thanks, Lovevery.
The flashlight is easy for a toddler to turn on and off and my son likes to use it to find toys in his bedroom when the lights are off, since he can't reach the light switch. We've also read the included board book, Bea Gets a Checkup, dozens of times and the requests keep coming.
What we didn't like:
The ring chute toy is aesthetically pleasing but it seems to only have one real use, a use my son is not very interested in. Considering how large the toy is, I'd have preferred something with a little more versatility.
--Karisa Langlo
The Helper Play Kit comes with a play sink that pumps water.
Karisa Langlo/CNET
Box for 2-year-olds
Cost: $120
Box we tested: The Helper (months 25, 26, 27)
The Helper box includes:
A play sink with a real pump, plus cups and dishes for washing up
Felt flowers in a stand that can be removed, counted and bundled
Washable tempera paint "sticks" with paper in a travel-friendly zippered pouch
Making Muffins board book
A "dot catcher," which looks like a rainbow Connect Four game
A two-sided puzzle that uses the same pieces for two separate designs
Routine cards with photos of everyday tasks for mapping out routines
The parents' play guide
What we liked:
My son couldn't get enough of the play sink. Its ingenious design lets you keep the water running without the sink ever overflowing or running out of water. Because it's not hooked up to a waterline (it just recycles the same reservoir through its pump repeatedly), you can't get any dishes clean in it, but my son loved pretending to wash dishes next to me at the real sink while I washed real dishes.
The box arrived just as we were starting to work on learning colors, and the rainbow dot catcher couldn't have been a more perfect toy. My son now knows his colors like the back of his hand, but he still likes to drop the colored wooden discs into their corresponding slots, and he gets a kick out of the quick-release lever.
What we didn't like:
The puzzle and routine cards both seemed a little too advanced for a young 2-year-old. They both also seem like toys you could make yourself, if you had the inclination for DIY.
-- Karisa Langlo
Box for 3-year-olds
Cost: $120
Box we tested: Didn't test one (yet!)
Lovevery offers four Play Kits geared toward three-year-olds, up to age four:
The Observer Play Kit: Months 37, 38, 39
The Storyteller Play Kit: Months 40, 41, 42
The Problem Solver Play Kit: Months 43, 44, 45
The Analyst Play Kit: Months 46, 47, 48
While we haven't tested one of them yet, the Lovevery Play Kits designed for 3-year-olds all include a similar mix of items as the younger boxes, with more sophisticated, preschool-age appropriate toys and books.
The Looker Play Kit from Lovevery.
Lovevery
Beyond the Play Kits: The Lovevery app and other products
The Lovevery app requires a subscription to the toy boxes to access (though you can also get the app if you received a box as a gift). Like the parent play guides, I found it to be a great resource for ideas for what to actually do with your baby all day long.
On the Activities tab, you'll see a list of toys from the age-appropriate toy box that you can tap on to get ideas for how to use by the month of your baby's age. There are also suggestions for using toys from prior boxes that are still age-appropriate in new ways. Beyond that, you'll find several other DIY activities to try (at 7 months, things like playing with paper and teaching your baby to clap), which you can check off to keep track of what you've tried.
The My Baby tab shows what motor, cognitive, communication and social/emotional skills your baby will be learning that month with a pediatrician's video. This section reminded me of a more in-depth What To Expect app. But I appreciated that it makes sure to note that all babies are different to ease the minds of worried parents. An Ask and Learn section lets parents write or search for different questions and topics that Lovevery's developmental psychologists and pediatricians answer.
If you have the toy boxes, it's worth downloading the app (if you have an iPhone -- there's no Android version) to get the most out of them.
The other Lovevery product you'll often find on baby registries is The Play Gym. As with all of its products, it's more aesthetically pleasing than many others on the market -- and more expensive, at $140. It's also a bit larger, since it's meant to be used for the baby's entire first year, with relatively tall wooden posts -- so it may not be the best choice for people in apartments or smaller spaces.
The Play Gym comes with a few toys that my baby loved, including a bell to ring and a crinkly teether. But to be honest, she seemed to get bored more easily on this mat than on the less expensive Skip Hop one I originally registered for, which is decidedly not a Montessori product. I think if I'd been invested in the ecosystem of toy boxes, it might have given us more to do there.
As with everything else with parenting, it depends on what you want: If you have the resources to invest in the Lovevery system, it's a great choice. But your child will be just fine without it, too.
--Alison DeNisco Rayome
Is the Lovevery subscription worth it?
If you're looking for a one-off, curated toy box to give as a gift, the Lovevery Play Kits are definitely worth the money. The quality of the toys individually makes the price reasonable, and you get the added bonus of knowing they've been hand-selected by experts. If you can afford it, you likely won't be disappointed. Lovevery knows what it's doing!
As a subscription box, though, the price becomes a bigger concern. Do you need to spend the equivalent of $40 a month on toys (or $36 a month, if you factor in the prepay savings)? One thing to think about: As your child ages, the mystery of how to interact with them naturally dissipates, and they'll likely begin playing with whatever you have lying around the house anyway (including the Play Kit boxes themselves). At this point, an expertly curated toy box becomes even more of a nice-to-have.
And another thing: Between birthdays, holidays and overindulgent grandparents, a lot of children are positively drowning in toys. A monthly box will only worsen the problem of clutter, which goes against the Montessori ethos. According to the Lovevery website, "parents say these are the 'only toys you'll need.'" I'm inclined to agree! But I have no idea how to keep all the other stuff out of my house.
"We did all the research so you don't have to," the company's website also declares. And for those parents who otherwise would spend hours researching developmentally appropriate kids' toys, the statement isn't wrong. But not every parent does -- or should -- fret over toy research. And even for parents experiencing anxiety around optimizing a child's playtime, there are far cheaper ways to fill a toy chest.
Correction, June 7: This story initially estimated the monthly cost of a subscription incorrectly. The box costs the equivalent of $40 a month or $36 if you pay in advance.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
