Tech
The Atari VCS saga will come to an end next year when its software store closes
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Published 10/22/2026 8:17:59 AM
The Atari VCS saga will come to an end next year when its software store closes
Ten years after the console was announced, the Atari VCS platform will be shutting down in early 2027.
Ten years after the console was announced, the Atari VCS platform will be shutting down in early 2027.
is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid.
Following a decade-long saga of delays, name changes, and Atari having to assure backers of a crowdfunding campaign that its retro console wasn’t doomed, the Atari VCS platform is being retired early next year. On February 1st, 2027, the Atari VCS software store is shutting down, according to an announcement posted to the Atari Club Discord and shared by Tom’s Hardware.
With a design loosely inspired by the original Atari 2600 — minus a cartridge slot — the VCS was a Linux-based, AMD-powered mini PC that could emulate a large collection of pre-loaded classic Atari games, but its functionality could be expanded through an online software store that included access to streaming platforms and, in recent years, game streaming platforms like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now.
Atari VCS owners will still be able to download and add software to their libraries through Atari’s official online store up until January 31st, 2027. After that, the store will officially shut down, but previously downloaded apps and games will still be usable. Atari says that following the store’s closure it plans to “make an OS update available that allows you to migrate all functionality to your local machine, removing any dependencies on Atari infrastructure for authentication and software.” The company also plans to release an Atari Home Brew app allowing owners to continue to add new games to their console’s library shared to the community by third-party developers who still want to develop and support the VCS.
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The Genie 4 world model offers more realism and can create audio to accompany its interactive worlds.
The Genie 4 world model offers more realism and can create audio to accompany its interactive worlds.
is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
Google announced today its Genie 4 world model for generating interactive experiences using AI. The company says the model has four main updates: It allows for more realistic worlds, lets users update an experience in real time with a natural language prompt, can generate audio, and uses Gemini 3.8 Flash under the hood to help with its simulations. It also can create experiences that are about two minutes long, up from one minute for the previous Genie 3 model.
Google is pitching Genie 4 as a tool that could be helpful for things like pre-visualization for filmmakers, prototyping game ideas, and making training scenarios for robots. But the company warns that, as simulations run longer, details and object permanence can shift over time.
I haven’t been able to try Genie 4 for myself — it’s launching first as a “research preview” to “trusted testers” — so I can’t tell you how it compares to the Genie 3-powered Project Genie, which I used to generate bad Nintendo knockoffs. But here are some examples from Google demonstrating what’s possible with the new model.
Genie 4 will be “coming soon” to Google AI Ultra subscribers, Google says, and the company has opened a waitlist where you can apply to be able to try it in Project Genie.
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The new AI assistant can draft and restructure content in Pages, while organizing data in Numbers.
The new AI assistant can draft and restructure content in Pages, while organizing data in Numbers.
is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
Apple is bringing an AI assistant to its suite of productivity apps, including Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. The assistant, which is built on AI models from Apple and OpenAI, can understand a document’s context to perform tasks like designing, animating, and refining slides in Keynote.
In Pages, Apple says the AI assistant can draft, restructure, and tweak written content. It can also calculate, visualize, and organize data in Numbers, while suggesting chart types and building custom tables.
Keynote, Pages, and Numbers now support the Model Context Protocol on macOS 27 or later, allowing third-party AI agents to plug into the apps. The AI assistant is rolling out in beta to devices compatible with Apple Intelligence. It works on devices running iOS 27, iPadOS 27, or macOS 27 or later.
Several other updates are coming to Apple’s creative apps as well, with Pixelmator Pro introducing a Generate Fill feature that allows you to edit part of an image by describing the changes you want to see. Apple says the tool “automatically matches the lighting, perspective, and texture of the surrounding environment so edits blend in.”
Meanwhile, Logic Pro for Mac and iPad is getting a Liquid Glass redesign, along with an AI assistant that Apple says can “set up a vocal track from a single prompt” and edit existing projects. There’s also a redesigned Browser on Mac that uses on-device AI to automatically analyze, classify, and tag added sounds.
Apple is launching an update to Final Cut Pro, too, which brings templates, graphics, titles, and transitions directly into the app through MotionVFX. Apple is also building the Content Hub directly into Final Cut Pro, featuring a library of stock videos, photos, and backgrounds. The updates to Apple’s Creator’s Studio will be available to existing subscribers for free in November.
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