Lego has announced its new Smart Play system featuring the Smart Brick, a tiny computer that adds interactive lighting and sounds to builds, with three Star Wars sets available for preorder starting March 1, 2026, ranging from $69.99 to $159.99.
A quiz by Al Jazeera tests your knowledge of the biggest news stories from 2025 by asking you to locate where they happened around the world, with a scoring system based on accuracy.
Daft Punk is joining Fortnite with the Daft Punk Experience, a new immersive music mode featuring 31 songs, interactive rooms, costumes, and more, launching on September 27, 2025, allowing players to remix music, create videos, and customize avatars with band-themed gear.
ESPN is launching a new interactive streaming feature called 'Sports Center for You,' which offers personalized sports news clips tailored to individual preferences, alongside its traditional broadcasts, as part of its new streaming service. This move reflects a broader industry trend of updating traditional sports formats to meet the demands of digitally-savvy, time-shifted audiences, with other networks experimenting with streaming-only shows and innovative coverage formats like 'RedZone'.
This week's MeatEater Turtle theme focuses on nature, challenging players to beat Jani's time of 2 minutes and 46 seconds in three attempts, with instructions to learn the game and save progress.
PVKK is an upcoming first-person adventure game that combines elements of Fallout and BioShock, where players manage a planetary defense system from a bunker, make ethical choices, and explore secrets, with a focus on interactive retro-tech cockpit gameplay. It is set to release on Steam but currently has no confirmed date.
YouTube is updating its TV app to prioritize interactivity and user experience, with a focus on making videos more interactive and giving greater prominence to chapters, comments, and video descriptions without interrupting the viewing experience. The new design shrinks the video slightly to make space for additional elements, such as comments and descriptions, around it. The redesign also includes a renewed effort to bring shopping to the TV screen, with a "products in this video" section and the ability to scan a QR code to complete a purchase on a phone. These updates will be rolled out to users over the next few weeks.
The ninth Portland Winter Light Festival has begun, featuring 170 art installations, fire-driven performances, and interactive light-driven art across downtown Portland. The free event includes food carts, live music, and anchor sites activated from 6-10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The festival's theme, "What Glows Under Pressure," explores resilience and creativity, with installations scattered across the city, including at the Portland International Airport and a goat farm.
Weather Up 3.0, a new weather app, is introducing fully interactive widgets on iOS 17, allowing users to tap on the forecast to see more details. Developed by David Barnard and Brock Batsell, the app offers a unique way to engage with weather and forecast on iPhone, with the ability to switch forecast sources and access specific weather data. The app is available through a subscription model, leveraging RevenueCat's subscription management API, and is now downloadable on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and as an iMessage app.
LEGO Super Mario fans can look forward to a range of new expansion sets coming next year, including Bowser's Muscle Car, Yoshis' Egg-cellent Forest, and Dorrie's Sunken Shipwreck Adventure. These interactive sets allow players to create their own levels and feature iconic characters and environments from the Super Mario franchise.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder rewards players with an adorable and interactive credits sequence upon completing the game, showcasing Nintendo's creativity and game design. The credits stage allows players to interact with the names, with a High Score counter in the corner, encouraging players to touch as many names as possible. This extra touch of joy embodies the Nintendo ethos of making every moment magical, even the credits.
DragGAN is a new AI app that allows users to easily adjust photos and art by dragging across the image. The app uses GANs to manipulate images while maintaining their integrity, allowing users to deform images using interactive points and the generative AI assists with the changes for a smooth and accurate end result. The app currently works on 2D images but the team plans on releasing a version that works with 3D models.
Hershey's Chocolate World has announced a new attraction called Hershey's Great Candy Expedition, which will be the first fully immersive, interactive experience of its kind in North America. The attraction will take guests through colorful candy worlds inspired by Hershey's brands, using 270-degree 4K projection mapping and best-in-class special effects. Guests will be able to control each of the train's destinations by voting using light-up buttons on their armrests. The 30-minute adventure will open on May 19, 2023, to mark Hershey's Chocolate World's 50th anniversary year.