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‘There is a chance that they will stay in Roblox’: Gen Alpha is into PC gaming, but one industry analyst isn’t so sure they’re going to age out of their favorite haunt

by admin September 20, 2025

The kids are playing computer games.

According to the latest Global Games Market Report from the analysts at industry intelligence firm Newzoo, Gen Alpha—defined in this case as anyone born in or after 2010—makes up “an increasing share of the player base, especially on PC.”

As a lifelong fan of computer games, this is good news to me. The kids are with us! But the kids aren’t necessarily playing the kinds of games I grew up on: You may have heard of that excruciatingly popular platform called Roblox where kids are pressured to spend their parents’ money in games like “Steal a Brainrot.” (Which, to be fair, does sound like something you’d find on Newgrounds circa 2000, so maybe we’re not all that different.)

Earlier this week, I spoke to Newzoo director of market intelligence Emmanuel Rosier about what young gamers are up to, and two aspects of his perspective stuck out to me the most:

Gen Alpha doesn’t care if it can run Crysis. They’re growing up playing browser games, tablet games, phone games, and games on low-powered family PCs. You can’t win the Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox generation over with ray tracing.
They aren’t necessarily going to leave Roblox behind. It’s a common assumption, but in Rosier’s personal opinion, it’s not a sure thing that kids will age out of the Roblox ecosystem en masse.

Regarding videogame graphics, Rosier observed in a recent article that Battlefield 6 doesn’t support ray tracing, “not because the tech isn’t there, but because enabling it would exclude too many players.”

“I don’t think 8K is really the next step in the market,” he told me. “I don’t think it’s going to be about that. I don’t think the young people that were born playing on mobile or on tablet care that much about the visuals.”

Pushing graphics settings as high as they’ll go and fighting with Randy Pitchford over frame rates are still aspects of PC gaming today, but I think Rosier is clearly right that we’re no longer in a place where increased graphical fidelity is a primary selling-point for games. PC gaming is just as much something done on a low-spec family computer, or a Steam Deck.

I don’t think the young people that were born playing on mobile or on tablet care that much about the visuals.

Emmanuel Rosier

“The entry barrier on PC is lower than console, because in most families, there is already a computer, there is a laptop,” Rosier said. “But the other thing is that the younger players, they play the free-to-play cheap games that can run on any device. You don’t need a GeForce RTX 5000 to play Roblox. You just need a browser.”

But what about when the kids graduate from Roblox to the games I understand? Rosier, a parent to Roblox-playing teenagers himself, isn’t so sure that’s going to happen.

“I think there was this initial assumption from older people that Roblox is a platform for kids,” Rosier told me. “When they grow up, they will play GTA or Call of Duty and things like that. I’m questioning that perspective.

“I’d say there is a chance that they will stay in Roblox, because all their friends are still in Roblox, and there is this network effect, that it is difficult to go and play Call of Duty alone, or, you know, you have to convince so many friends to come and play with you and spend $80 or $70 to play a different experience. And I am not sure at this point that once these teenagers, or kids, grow up, that they will start playing different games and feel like it’s a promotion.”

That uncertainty about the Roblox generation’s future as PC gamers is just Rosier’s personal opinion for now, but Roblox games are getting surprisingly sophisticated (they have their own Call of Dutys in there), and the demographic data that Roblox shares does suggest that players stick around.

“We don’t have proof,” he said. “The only thing that we see that is being shared by Roblox is that the average age of the players of Roblox is going up, but I don’t think it’s older players jumping in, it’s just the existing players that are aging and not leaving.”

Ah well, c’est la vie. If you’re looking for me this weekend, I’ll be adapting to the future by playing Break Your Bones, a Roblox game where you “Try to BREAK all of your BONES.”

In related news, another bit of Newzoo’s recent report that interested me was an analysis of videogame release windows, which led the firm to suggest that publishers consider releasing some dang games in May instead of stuffing them all into the end of the year.

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Crypto Will Surge On Fed Moves And Market Isn’t Ready: Economist

by admin September 20, 2025

Crypto market participants may be underestimating how aggressive the US Federal Reserve will be in shifting its policy direction, according to an economist.

“Markets are underpricing the likelihood of rapid rate cuts in the coming months on the part of the Federal Reserve,” economist Timothy Peterson told Cointelegraph on Friday.

“There has never been a gradual reduction in rates like that currently envisioned by the Fed,” Peterson said, explaining that he expects “the surprise effect” to kick in and potentially catch the market offside.

“It will jolt Bitcoin and alts up substantially, and I think that will happen in the next 3-9 months.”

Peterson’s comments come just days after the Fed implemented its first rate cut of 2025 on Sept. 17 by 25 basis points. The rate cut was widely anticipated, with the CME FedWatch Tool showing a 96% probability of a quarter-point cut and just a 4% chance of a 50-point reduction in the hours leading up to the announcement.

Market is anticipating another rate cut in October

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly surged to $117,000 hours before the Fed’s rate cut announcement but has since retreated to levels seen in the days prior, trading at $115,570 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin is up 1.03% over the past 30 days. Source: CoinMarketCap

CME data shows that market participants are pricing in a 91.9% chance of another 25 basis point rate cut at the Oct. 29 meeting, with only an 8.1% probability that rates remain unchanged.

Related: Bitcoin price forecasts eye $110K target as $4.9T options expiry arrives

Fed officials said they expect two more quarter-point rate cuts this year. However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said, “We’re not on a pre-set path.”

Financial institutions were split on Fed’s September move

Some financial institutions expected a more aggressive rate cut at the September meeting, with Standard Chartered forecasting a 50 basis point reduction.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, however, was more confident that the Fed would stick to a 25 basis point cut.

Lowering interest rates tends to be bullish for risk-on assets, including cryptocurrencies, as traditional investments like bonds and term deposits become less lucrative to investors.

Magazine: Meet the Ethereum and Polkadot co-founder who wasn’t in Time Magazine

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September 20, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Donald Trump Is Saying There’s a TikTok Deal. China Isn’t

by admin September 19, 2025

US efforts to ban TikTok started during Trump’s first term in 2020. Months before he left office, Trump threatened to ban TikTok and another Chinese app WeChat. The Biden administration rescinded Trump’s executive orders on the topic but continued to scrutinize TikTok. The US congress eventually passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications (PAFACA) Act in April 2024. This gave TikTok two options: divest from its Chinese ownership before January 19, 2025, or risk a federal ban.

The app briefly went dark in the US ahead of the deadline, then reappeared on app stores less than 24 hours later and resumed services for US users.

Since Trump returned to power, Washington’s stance on TikTok appears to have shifted. Trump has become a steadfast advocate for saving the app, which he credited with helping him win the support of young voters. He has repeatedly extended the deadline set by the PAFACA Act, most recently to December 16, 2025, which some experts have criticized as illegal.

The deal that is reportedly being proposed by the Trump administration could meet the requirements set by the PAFACA Act, says Alan Rozenshtein, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School. But the fact remains that the deadline has been extended multiple times and American companies like Oracle and Apple have not paid fines for continuing to service the app.

“The way the law was written, the companies were liable for doing business with TikTok, up to $5,000 per US user. So if there are 170 million TikTok users [in the US], and they all used the platform in the last nine months, and each of these platforms and each of these companies has accrued potentially up to nearly $1 trillion in liability,” Rozenshtein claims. He notes that it’s unlikely the Trump administration will collect that fine.

Some experts in Washington believe the deal does not solve the perceived national security issues that sparked talk of a ban in the first place. “In plain terms, ownership change without technical separation is a violation of the law,” says Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a DC-based think tank. He compares the deal to a “joint custody” rather than the “divorce” that the PAFACA Act required.

The Chinese government has stressed in recent statements that the deal will include concessions from the US on non-TikTok issues, such as barriers to cross-border investment. “The US side needs to provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese investors,” the Chinese readout of the call between Trump and Xi says.

If Beijing exchanges the TikTok deal for better trade terms, ByteDance and its original investors may lose out. “It’s not great. But it’s still better than being completely shut down and losing entirely to Meta. It’s probably like a C-minus outcome,” says Rui Ma, founder of Tech Buzz China, a research firm focused on Chinese tech.

Update 9/19/25 6:00pm ET: This story has been updated to include a statement posted by ByteDance.

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Don’t worry Final Fantasy 14 fans, Yoshi-P isn’t going anywhere

by admin September 19, 2025

Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) intends to work on the game “for at least a good while”, even as he works on other projects within Square Enix.

In an interview with Noisy Pixel at Pax West, Yoshida discussed what keeps him working on the MMORPG after 12 years, to which he described himself as “more of a businessman” than a creative person.

“People tend to say we’re creators or creative, but I am an employee at Square Enix and I receive money to make games,” he said, “and I think my primary purpose is to make games so that we are delivering it to gamers out there, fans, players that want to consume our product. I think that is fundamental or a minimum requirement that I have because I belong to this company.”

FINAL FANTASY XIV Patch 7.3 – The Promise of TomorrowWatch on YouTube

He continued that designers working in a company and feeling bored should remove themselves from a corporate environment, but he doesn’t “have that strong personal desire to go into my own creative things”.

“So when asked, do I ever get bored with Final Fantasy 14?” Yoshida concluded. “I don’t think so, because there are a lot of things that I have yet to actualise in 14, things that I want to do, things that I must do, things that require to be taken care of. And so I think for at least a good while, I should be ok.”

Yoshida added he wishes to do less “management or operational things”, joking he may be scolded for his response. “I already do a lot of game developing and I’ve sacrificed some sleep sometimes,” he said, “but perhaps if I were to have a choice, I would like to focus in on the game development design.”

Yoshida is best known for his work on Final Fantasy 14, but in recent years has been pulled into other projects. Yoshida heads up Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit 3, responsible for the MMORPG as well as Final Fantasy 16 and the forthcoming Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. He was also co-producer on Fantasian: Neo Dimension.

In another interview at Pax West, Yoshida requested players stop sending developers demoralising abuse.

“I want to emphasise here, there is a person behind the games,” he said. “While I understand some harsh criticism might be necessary sometimes, there’s a person behind the games that you enjoy and if you have that harsh criticism, I think we would want to have it be constructive.

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September 19, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Brendan Carr Isn’t Going to Stop Until Someone Makes Him

by admin September 18, 2025

To Genevieve Lakier, a professor of law at the University of Chicago whose research focuses on free speech, Carr’s threats against ABC appear to be “a pretty clear cut case of jawboning.” Jawboning refers to a type of informal coercion where government officials try to pressure private entities into suppressing or changing speech without using any actual formal legal action. Since jawboning is typically done in letters and private meetings, it rarely leaves a paper trail, making it notoriously difficult to challenge in court.

This Kimmel suspension is a little different, Lakier says. During the podcast appearance, Carr explicitly named his target, threatened regulatory action, and within a matter of hours the companies complied.

“The Supreme Court has made clear that that’s unconstitutional in all circumstances,” says Lakier. “You’re just not allowed to do that. There’s no balancing. There’s no justification. Absolutely no, no way may the government do that.”

Even if Carr’s threats amount to unconstitutional jawboning, though, stopping him could still prove difficult. If ABC sued, it would need to prove coercion—and however a suit went, filing one could risk additional regulatory retaliation down the line. If Kimmel were to sue, there’s no promise that he would get anything out of the suit even if he won, says Lakier, making it less likely for him to pursue legal action in the first place.

“There’s not much there for him except to establish that his rights were violated. But there is a lot of benefit for everyone else,” says Lakier. “This has received so much attention that it would be good if there could be, from now on, some mechanism for more oversight from the courts over what Carr is doing.”

Organizations like the FPF have sought novel means of limiting Carr’s power. In July, the FPF submitted a formal disciplinary complaint to the DC Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel arguing that Carr violated its ethical rules, misrepresenting the law by suggesting the FCC has the ability to regulate editorial viewpoints. Without formal rulings, companies affected by Carr’s threats would be some of the only organizations with grounding to sue. At the same time, they have proven to be some of the least likely groups to pursue legal action over the last eight months.

In a statement on Thursday, House Democratic leadership wrote that Carr had “disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC” and called on him to resign. They said they plan to “make sure the American people learn the truth, even if that requires the relentless unleashing of congressional subpoena power,” but did not outline any tangible ways to rein in Carr’s power.

“People need to get creative,” says Stern. “The old playbook is not built for this moment and the law only exists on paper when you’ve got someone like Brendan Carr in charge of enforcing it.”

This vacuum has left Carr free to push as far as he likes and it has spooked experts over how far this precedent will travel. Established in the 1930s, the FCC was designed to operate as a neutral referee, but years of media consolidation have dramatically limited the number of companies controlling programming over broadcast, cable, and now, streaming networks. Spectrum is a limited resource the FCC controls, giving the agency more direct control over the broadcast companies that rely on it than it has over cable or streaming services. This concentration makes them infinitely easier to pressure, benefitting the Trump administration, Carr, but also whoever might come next.

“If political tides turn, I don’t have confidence that the Democrats won’t also use them in an unconstitutional and improper matter,” says Stern. “[The Trump administration is] really setting up this world where every election cycle, assuming we still have elections in this country, the content of broadcast news might drastically shift depending on which political party controls the censorship office.”

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Arca CIO Says Crypto Isn’t in a Bull Market and Explains Why Some Tokens Outperformed

by admin September 18, 2025

The chief investment officer of digital asset manager Arca is challenging the idea that 2025 represents a broad-based crypto bull market, arguing that only a handful of large-cap tokens are carrying the industry.

In an X thread posted Tuesday, Jeff Dorman wrote that “more than 75% of tokens in our coverage universe are negative year-to-date, and more than 50% of tokens are down 40% or more YTD.”

He added that some of the year’s few gainers have been “complete nonsense coins and memecoins that no serious investor would even look at,” citing litecoin LTC$115.80 and bitcoin cash BCH$646.06.

By contrast, the best-known names have done relatively well. Bitcoin BTC$117,157.54, ether (ETH), solana SOL$246.05, binance coin BNB$996.68 and XRP are all up between 20% and 40% this year, Dorman said.

He compared the dynamic to traditional finance, where large caps can rally while smaller stocks slump: “This is the TradFi equivalent of the DJIA and GameStop having a good year, while small caps are -40%.”

Dorman argued that this dispersion is ultimately healthy. Broad rallies, he said, breed complacency, while uneven performance forces investors to be more selective. “Nothing good comes from an everything rally, because no one learns anything,” he wrote. When weaker projects falter, he added, investors “start to ask questions like ‘how are you doing this?’”

Unlike in past cycles, he said, investors in 2025 cannot simply rely on momentum across altcoins. Instead, they must prioritize projects with tangible business models. “Own stocks and tokens that actually make money & buy back their own tokens with the profits,” Dorman said. “The days of throwing darts to make a fortune are over (i.e. Alt Season isn’t a thing).”

‘FAANG’ of crypto

According to Dorman, the tokens and companies that have held up in 2025 generally fall into a few categories.

Assets connected to exchange-traded funds or digital asset trusts, such as BTC, ETH and SOL, are leading the way.

Crypto-related equities have also performed well, including Circle, Galaxy Digital, Coinbase and miners like Iris Energy and TeraWulf.

He also pointed to what he called “U.S. government coins,” namely XRP and Chainlink’s LINK token.

Finally, Dormann noted that revenue-generating tokens that distribute value back to holders — among them Hyperliquid’s HYPE, Pump.fun’s PUMP, Maple Finance’s MPL/SKY — have stood out as relative winners.

Earlier this year, Dorman had floated the idea of a crypto equivalent to the “FAANG” stocks. He suggested an acronym called the “BACHELORS”, naming tokens such as BNB, AERO, CAKE, HYPE, ENA, LEO, OKB, RAY and SKY (MKR). In his Sept. 16 thread, he updated that list to the “BARHEAPs,” incorporating newer projects like PUMP.

For Dorman, the lesson of 2025 is that crypto’s growth story is more complicated than headline gains might suggest. He argued that calling the year a “bull market” is misleading, since at best it represents a narrow cycle led by a few majors and select revenue-focused projects.

“The reason this has been a hard bull market is because it’s barely even a good year for crypto, let alone a bull market,” he wrote.

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

You Can Play Little Nightmares 3 Now, Even Though It Isn’t Out Yet

by admin September 17, 2025

If you’re anything like me, then you’ve been waiting for Little Nightmares 3 since before it was even officially announced. The game releases on October 10, but developer Supermassive Games has put a demo up on storefronts for free, and you can play it right now.

The demo will see you take control of Low and Alone in the game’s first area, The Necropolis–an abandoned city in the middle of a desert. Watch out for Monster Baby as you step into Little Nightmares 3 for the first time. You can play the demo solo or with friends in online co-op, but you must be playing on the same platform as Little Nightmares 3 crossplay is not available. However, it does support cross-generation play, so if you’re on a PlayStation 5, you can play with PlayStation 4 users.

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None of your progress will be transferred to the full release of the game, although there doesn’t appear to be an end date for the demo, so you can replay the first area as many times as you’d like to tide you through to the launch date.

Little Nightmares 3 is the first multiplayer offering in the series, and follows the story of Low and Alone–two best friends looking to escape the haunting Nowhere. While it can be played co-op, you can still play solo with AI controlling the other character. The game releases October 10 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.

$110 | Releases October 10

The Amazon-exclusive Mirror Edition costs $110 and includes all of the digital content found in the $60 Deluxe Edition as well as a handful of collectibles. The Mirror Edition comes with a cool Little Nightmares 3-themed collector’s box. Inside, you’ll find a vibrant steelbook case, miniature statue with Low and Alone figurines, a paperback art book, and more. You can preorder the Mirror Edition for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch.

Low and Alone Figurine (12cm)
Steelbook Case
Art Book
Original Soundtrack on CD
Sticker Set
Themed Box
Base game in standard plastic case
Deluxe Edition in-game content
- 2 additional chapters as DLC
- Residents Costumes Pack – 4 Characters, 4 Costumes each
- Ferryman Costumes Set
- Dark Six Costumes Set (Preorder Bonus)

You’re essentially paying $50 for the collection of merch, which seems like a pretty good deal, especially when compared to some other collector’s editions in the $100 price range.

The figurine might be considered the marquee item in the Mirror Edition for many fans, but we also want to shout out the steelbook’s heartwarming design. Low is on the front cover, and Alone is on the back. Each character is reaching out for the other, so opening the case allows them to find their partner.

$60 | Releases October 10

If you don’t need the collectible goodies but want to play the post-launch DLC chapters, check out the $60 Deluxe Edition for Nintendo Switch 2, Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X. Along with the pair of DLC campaign add-ons, the physical Deluxe Edition comes with a bunch of extra costumes beyond the Dark Six Costumes preorder bonus. Here’s the full breakdown of the Deluxe Edition:

Physical edition for Switch 2, Switch, PS5, or Xbox Series X
2 post-launch campaign chapters
Residents Costumes Pack – 4 Characters, 4 Costumes each
Ferryman Costumes Set – 2 Costumes
Dark Six Costumes Set (Preorder Bonus)

$40 | Releases October 10

The standard physical edition is available to preorder for $40 on PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch 2, and Switch.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

AI in a search bar above a rainbow-lit keyboard

Gaming Gear

Writing a Good AI Image Prompt Isn’t Hard, but You Need These Essential Elements

by admin September 16, 2025

One of the first things I learned while testing AI image generators is that there are a lot of things that can go wrong when you’re trying to get the image you see in your head to appear on your screen. If you’ve ever used an AI image or video generator, you know what I mean.

I’ve spent the past year testing and reviewing different AI image generators, and I’ve generated hundreds of images across services like Google’s nano bananas model, Midjourney and Dall-E. But the images I created haven’t all been winners. A bunch of them have been downright horrifying. But all my testing forced me to learn that the best way to avoid creating a wonky AI image is using a good prompt.

Prompt engineering, as experts call it, is knowing what words to use to get AI products to do what you want. For AI images, that means creating a holistic description of what you want, beyond just the characters and setting. No matter what service you use, there are essential elements you need in every prompt for the best results. This is especially important if the generator you’re using doesn’t have a lot of editing tools, like the ability to upload reference images or fix weird hallucinations.

10 Photos That Show What AI Image Generators Struggle With Most

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Writing a good AI image prompt isn’t hard, but it may take a little more work than you expect. These are my best expert tips for crafting the right prompt, including some helpful phrases to use and common mistakes to avoid.

Start with these three elements

When you first write your prompt, you might feel overwhelmed or like you’re not sure where to start. I’ve been there, and the best place to begin is with the essentials. These are the three necessary elements every prompt needs. Once you have something for each of these, you can build it out from there.

Characters and elements in the scene
Setting or where it takes place
Dimensions, like portrait, landscape or a specific ratio (3:2, 16:9, etc)

You might be tempted to add some exclusionary characteristics in your prompt, or things that you do not want in your image. I would caution against it. Even the most prompt-adherent generator is likely to ignore these, or worse, misread the prompt and include something you specifically asked it not to. If you want to eliminate an element from one image, it’s usually easier to do that in the editing stage rather than in the original prompt.

Specify the style and color palette you want

Beyond the “who, what and where” in your basic prompt, you’ll want to guide the generator toward a specific style. Here are some of the most popular styles of AI images.

Photorealistic: As close to real life as possible. AI image generators aren’t great at this, but it’s worth trying.
Stock photography: Like real photos, but shinier and brighter.
Product features: Emphasizes individual elements over the background or scene.
Cartoon: Fun, bright and usually less detailed.
Illustration: Similar to paintings, pencil sketches.
Gaming/Game UI: More advanced than cartoon, sometimes anime-like.

Include specific colors you want, too. If you’re not picky about the exact shades you want, you can still lead the generator down the right road by specifying if you want warm or cool tones.

This Canva image keeps the magic alive with a cartoonish warm-toned image.

Katelyn Chedraoui/Canva Magic Media AI

You’ll want different styles for different projects. Photorealistic AI images are likely to be better suited for professional environments than cartoon-style images, but they might not be right for a creative mock-up. Illustrations might be best for more detail-oriented, creative projects, like building out brainstorming ideas, and gaming is good for first iterations of new characters and worlds.

Describe the aesthetic, vibe and emotion

Take your prompt a step further and include a description of the overall aesthetic or vibe. This can help elevate your images and reach that extra layer of detail. These details are a jumping-off point to get you in the ballpark of what you want without overwhelming the generator with a novel-length prompt. Here are some common options to include in your prompt.

Abstract
Anime
Medieval
Retro
Psychedelic
Glow, neon
Geometric
Painting, brushstroke, oil painting
Comic
Noir
Vintage
Impressionist
Simple, minimalistic
Fantasy, sci-fi
High tech
Surrealist

If none of these aesthetics feel right, try picking the closest one and building from there. Include textures, the time period and landmarks. If you care less about the specific style but want to ensure a specific emotional response, try describing that. Often describing the emotional temperature of a scene can jump-start the generator toward a specific kind of visual look. For example, happy scenes tend to have bright colors and a warm feel, no matter if they’re photorealistic or illustrations. Stressful scenes might have more detail, cool tones and a foreboding feeling that the generator might show you fits better with a fantasy or nonrealistic aesthetic.

Leonardo might not understand “cottage core coastal grandma,” but it does understand the rustic feel with blues and warm light.

Katelyn Chedraoui/Leonardo AI

You can try using more specific or pop culture aesthetics, but there’s no guarantee the generator will understand and adhere to them. For example, you might want to consider translating “cottage core coastal grandmother” to “vintage style with a light, breezy, feel using pastel blues and neutral tones.” It gets at the same idea with more specific instructions.

My AI images still aren’t right. What now?

Even with a well-written prompt, AI image generators aren’t perfect and you’ll get some duds. The tech behind the text-to-image generators is advancing, but it’s still very much in progress.

Tweaking your prompt is the fastest way to troubleshoot big problems. But if issues persist, try narrowing down what exactly is wrong with the images and tracing the problem back to where it may be coming from. For example, if your images aren’t professional-looking enough to present, it could be because the style or aesthetic included in your prompt isn’t right. Even making smaller changes to your presets, like the image dimensions, can make a big difference in the end results.

Midjourney took the “stressful” emotion too far in this image and lost the photorealistic style I wanted.

Katelyn Chedraoui/Midjourney AI

Many AI image services offer post-generation editing tools that can help you fix smaller errors. Services more geared toward professional creators like Adobe Firefly have extensive tools. More beginner-friendly programs run the gambit, with Leonardo having the most, then Midjourney with an average amount, with Canva having barely any.

Still, it can be frustrating not to get what you want after lots of work. Even more frustrating is that sometimes the best thing to do is start over. Resetting your settings to default, rethinking your prompts and beginning anew can feel like going backward. But when nothing else works, it can be a good last resort.

At the end of the day, AI image generators are not replacements for creators. They’re like other image editing software: You need to spend time getting to know your program, understanding how it works and its editing capabilities. Once you have a handle on your program, you’ll have a good understanding of what kind of prompts deliver the best results. These tips will help get you close to what you want in the meantime.

For more, check out the best AI chatbots and what to know about AI video generators.

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September 16, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Balatro update delayed as developer preserves “hobbyist” approach to ensure this isn’t the last update the game gets

by admin September 15, 2025

Balatro was set to receive a 1.1 update this year, but its solo developer LocalThunk has pushed it back in order to preserve his “hobbyist” approach to game development.

In a statement titled “I’m slow”, the developer apologised for the delay, adding he “probably shouldn’t have announced any date”. “I feel bad for not keeping that promise, and I am sorry,” he said.

Since release, LocalThunk has been crunching alone on a balance patch and a mobile port, before taking some time out and then beginning 1.1 work slowly this year. “However, I chose to only work on the game like I did when the project began, as a hobbyist,” he said, “and it turns out that it’s a lot slower than working in crunch mode 12 hours per day like I was around launch.”

Balatro Mobile – Official Release Date TrailerWatch on YouTube

LocalThunk said the prospect of rushing the work “felt terrible”. “I am working slowly, but I like it that way,” he said.

“I have never, before Balatro, set a deadline for any of my creative projects and I now realise how important that is for my process,” he continued. “I am in a very lucky position in that I can choose to work this job however I wish, and I think the best version of ‘work’ for me is the version that makes me want to come back to my keyboard every day, healthy, and hopefully just as excited about game development 5 years from now as I am today. I don’t want 1.1 to be the last update this game gets.”

As such, the 1.1 update will be “done when it’s done”, and will be available for free across all platforms. It just won’t be this year.

He concluded: “The Balatro player in me will absolutely not allow me walk away from developing this game…Rest assured, it will happen.”

After a shaky start with ratings boards, Balatro has gone on to find phenomenal success. LocalThunk has 100 percent completed his own game, which has “equipped” him to better design the next update.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.

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September 15, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Figma’s Shares Slide Following Earnings as Company Says It Isn’t a Bitcoin Treasury

by admin September 5, 2025

In brief

Figma shares fell nearly 20% Thursday to $54.56, down from a high of $122 in early August.
Q2 revenue rose 41% to $249.6 million, slightly beating expectations, with 2025 adjusted operating income forecast at $88–$98 million.
The firm disclosed $91 million in Bitcoin holdings but its CEO stressed it is “a design company,” not a Bitcoin holding firm.

Software giant Figma’s shares plunged Thursday after it published its first quarterly report as a publicly traded company, with its CEO claiming he wasn’t trying to be Strategy boss Michael Saylor with regard to its Bitcoin holdings.

Nasdaq data shows that Figma (FIG) was down nearly 20% Thursday afternoon, one hour ahead of the closing bell, with shares priced at $54.56.

Shares reached a high of $122 at the beginning of August, just days after the company went public on the NYSE.

The drop came after earnings on Wednesday showed that the software company’s revenue grew 41% year-over-year to $249.6 million, slightly higher than expected.

Adjusted operating income for 2025 is expected to be $88 million to $98 million, compared with an average projection of $88 million, the firm said.

The company said in July that it had been holding onto a multi-million-dollar Bitcoin investment for more than a year via a Bitcoin ETF, at the time valued at close to $70 million.

But in an interview with CNBC, the software firm said that it wasn’t trying to be like Strategy—formerly MicroStrategy—which is now the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin.

“This is not a Bitcoin holding company,” CEO Dylan Field was quoted as saying. “It’s a design company.”

Figma has bought Bitcoin as a diversification hedge rather than following in the footsteps of Bitcoin treasuries—companies that buy and hold the crypto to pump their stock.

Still, the software giant said it would buy more Bitcoin back in July, and a Wednesday filing with the SEC showed that it had nearly $91 million in the crypto.

Founded in 2012, Figma began as a browser-based interface design tool and has grown into a widely used platform for cross-functional product teams.

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September 5, 2025 0 comments