Technologies

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance Is a Sleek, Brutal Return to 2D Ninja Action

Sega’s legendary ninja Joe Musashi returns in the Shinobi revival.

The game industry has seemingly made 2025 the «year of the ninja» with the release of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound earlier in the year, as well as the upcoming Ghost of Yotei and Ninja Gaiden 4. Amid all these high-profile ninja releases, Sega’s iconic Shinobi franchise returns with what could be its best game in the series.

Dormant for more than a decade, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance ($30) does everything right when it comes to reviving the beloved franchise. It has a stunning visual style, new abilities, bigger levels, tough bosses and callbacks to older games as a treat for longtime fans.

In Shinobi, players take the role of the series’ hero Joe Musashi. The ninja was living in a seemingly peaceful village until it was destroyed by the evil ENE Corporation led by the tyrant Lord Ruse. Joe will exact his revenge on the military organization — which, naturally, is out to conquer the globe — as he uncovers the vast amount of horrors and destruction it’s responsible for.

If that sounds like a plot typical of ’80s or ’90s action movies and games, well, it is. There are some interesting storyline beats that occur throughout the game, which play out mainly in dialogue exchanges and a few beautiful cutscenes. Still, the story of this Shinobi game comes down to revenge, and that’s never a bad motivation for a ninja game.

The art of sight and sound

What struck me about the visuals of this particular Shinobi game is the smoothness of the animation. Developer Lizardcube did a tremendous job of making a 2D game look like it could be an anime without replicating an anime style similar to Guilty Gear Strive or Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. The animation of the characters is so good-looking that it almost feels unreal.

The presentation for Shinobi, in general, is just spot on. This is one of those instances where you can tell the developer was trying to replicate the look, sound and feel of an older game — from graphics to animations to even the way enemies and bosses move — to feel just like it did when older gamers like me experienced those early Shinobi games for the first time.

Playing Shinobi III at home on a Genesis (or Mega Drive outside of the US) and all the details in Joe’s movements and the electronic rock soundtrack were blowing our minds when we were 10 years old. Decades later, Art of Vengeance is doing the same to me.

Who put a Metroidvania in my Shinobi game?

My time with the Shinobi games is long yet minimal. I played the original 1987 arcade game and others in the series here and there. What I appreciate about this new Shinobi game is how it builds on the framework of the franchise’s best games: the action-platforming of Shinobi III and the swordplay in the PS2 Shinobi reboot.

It’s just so much fun to play as Joe in this game. He learns many moves as you progress, making use of light and heavy sword attacks, kunai throws and dashing. As you string these together, combos become a ballet of strikes: You hit one enemy, pursue them with a dash or switch to another target. The combo tracker quickly climbs toward a hundred, yet Joe still has more moves to unleash.

Joe also has at his disposal a series of Ninpo abilities, which are special attacks that can be equipped and activated with a specific button combination. These abilities can be found or purchased, with each requiring a segment of the Ninja Cell gauge that will replenish whenever Joe attacks opponents. There are eight in total, with varying capabilities such as using the Fire Ninpo to deal heavy damage to end combos or using the Shuriken Ninpo to wear down an enemy’s armor.

My favorite combos are extensive, but flow smoothly: start off with a few light attacks, string that into two power slashes to knock the enemy into the air, do a dash into a flying knee attack into another enemy, begin the string of weak and strong attacks, knock this enemy into the air and time it to where the first enemy is close to landing, unleash a Fire Ninpo to kill it, then jump up to do an air combo for the airborne enemy and finish it off with a Wind Slash Ninpo that should be ready after I land all the hits. Then you get to do it again.

And like in all the other Shinobi games, Joe has his Ninjitsu, or ninja magic, that builds when attacking enemies, although at a much slower rate than Ninpos. These Ninjitsus can do a ton of damage, but toward the end, I kept to the one that refilled my life bar.

The level design and enemies are new but reference older games. Levels offer plenty to explore if you have the right abilities, adding a bit of Metroidvania flavor. Each area has remarkable detail, such as the ENE Corporation Laboratory, where cutting the power midway through the level unleashes an army of bio-horrors to fend off. Exploring every spot rewards collectibles and secures a 100% completion rating.

For most of the game, difficulty rises steadily with occasional spikes from enemy numbers or environmental traps. Bosses have multiple stages, providing a challenge without overwhelming players.

Then, in the last two stages, the game ramps up to another level of toughness by trimming the number of checkpoints and flooding you with hazards that both hurt and reset your progress. Mind you, at this point in the game, you have the general rhythms of how the game flows and the spacing, but this is the point where your frustration might spike high enough that you throw a controller — consider that a warning.

Even with the difficulty spike, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a remarkable 2D action game. For $30, it provides substance and fun, and Lizardcube escalates difficulty just enough to make finishing a level satisfying. If you’re rebooting a 2D action franchise to appeal to fans of its older games, Art of Vengeance is a perfect example of how to do it.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance will be released on Aug. 29 for $30 and will be available for digital purchase on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S consoles.

Technologies

Did You Download the White House App? Here Are Its Hidden Security Risks

Cybersecurity researchers have serious concerns about how the app was built.

The White House mobile app has been available for both Android and iOS users for over a week now, and the Trump administration is proudly touting that the app has received 2 million downloads on the White House Instagram page. However, the app’s threats to your personal data, online security and privacy concerns make it something you should think twice about downloading.

The White House announcement says the app’s goal is to deliver «unparalleled access to the Trump administration.» However, there are many security concerns, including location tracking and sketchy features. The White House has not responded to a request for comment.

The big question is, should you download it? I don’t recommend it. Here’s why.

What’s in The White House App?

When I downloaded it soon after its release, the app opened with music and a brief collage video of President Donald Trump. It has pages on affordability, including the prices of things like eggs and milk (but not gas). There’s an overtime calculator. And there are links to articles from Trump’s favored news outlets, like Fox News and Newsmax, along with White House press releases.

The app also features livestreams and videos of press briefings, links to the White House’s social feeds and photos of the president.

Why I deleted The White House app so fast

Behind all those tabs are hair-raising privacy and security issues that have the internet and experts alarmed.

One X user, @Thereallo1026, decompiled the White House app and blogged about it, reporting that the Android app tracks your location as often as every 4.5 minutes and shares a lot of other information, like your notifications and perhaps even your phone number, with a third-party server.

Another red flag is that the code for YouTube embeds comes from a personal GitHub account. Thereallo said that if that GitHub account gets compromised, it can affect every user of the White House’s app.

Another cybersecurity researcher, Atomic Computer Services, posted similar concerns about the iOS app. The researchers found that the app reported to the App Store that it did not collect location data, when in fact it included the capability to do GPS tracking. It’s unclear whether that tracking actually happens, but the code is there, Atomic Computer said.

Other concerns identified by Atomic Computer included the removal of privacy consent banners from third-party content viewed in the app and minimal security protections. «We’ve audited apps for startups with three employees that had better security than this,» Atomic Computer wrote.

Pieter Arntz, a researcher at the cybersecurity software provider Malwarebytes, said in an email to CNET that the White House app relies heavily on third-party sources for things like notifications and widgets.

«In practical terms, that means external providers can influence what data is collected and when features like location‑based messaging are enabled, because much of that logic is configured on their servers rather than baked into the app code itself,» Arntz said. «For a high‑profile government app, the more these decisions sit with outside companies, the harder it is to guarantee strict data‑minimization and full transparency to users about how their information is handled.»

Government-sponsored apps to inform people are commonplace, but this one poses significant risks, experts said. A spokesperson for the Center for Democracy and Technology, which advocates for transparency and privacy in government technology, told CNET that «mobile apps can be a helpful tool for making government more accessible. But this administration has given people a lot of reasons to worry about their privacy, and this app only raises more questions about what the federal government is doing with our personal data.»

For me, this app is a hard pass. I deleted it 10 minutes after downloading it.

Technologies

Amazon Is Pulling Support for Kindles From 2012 or Earlier. What to Do Now

If there’s a book you’ve been waiting to read on your old Kindle device, make sure you download it before May 20.

That Kindle device you’ve been holding onto for 15 years now has an expiration date, as Amazon will end support for Kindle models from 2012 or earlier on May 20. An Australian Kindle user first reported the change before Amazon confirmed the news to PCMag and said it will soon email users in the US.

The books that you already downloaded on your Kindle device won’t disappear after next month, but you won’t be able to connect to the network to buy, borrow or download new ones.

If you still have a book that you want to finish reading on one of these devices, make sure that you don’t deregister the device or do a factory reset. In the email shared by an Australian user on Reddit, Amazon says if you deregister or reset the device, you won’t be able to re-register the device or use it at all afterward.

A representative for Amazon has not yet responded to a request to comment from CNET.

The company also included a promo code in the email for 20% off select new Kindle devices and an ebook credit that’s added to your account after you purchase a new device. However, there’s no word on whether this discount is limited to Australia or if a version will be offered to US users.

Switching devices

Kindle devices released in 2012 or earlier will lose the ability to download books after May 20. The devices that will be affected are:

Kindle 1st and 2nd Generation
Kindle DX and DX Graphite
Kindle Keyboard
Kindle 4
Kindle Touch
Kindle 5
Kindle Paperwhite 1st Generation

The first-generation model for Kindle was released in 2007, and e-readers have improved a bit in the time since. Amazon told Engadget that fewer than 3% of its users still use these old devices.

In the email to customers, the company said users will still be able to access their Kindle library and the Kindle store using the Android, iOS or desktop app. You can still read and download books by using the Kindle app on your phone or PC.

If this service loss feels like a good time to move on from the Kindle world, there are other e-reader options. Calibre is a free, open-source ebook manager that offers a range of features, like reading and organizing ebooks from multiple sources, as well as downloading news articles and websites.

If you’re looking for a newer Kindle model or a different reading tablet, check out the CNET list for this year’s best e-readers.

Technologies

Overwatch’s Next Hero Is Sierra, but Does That Mean the Rumors Were Wrong?

The new damage hero joins the roster next week, but lore and gameplay details are still under wraps.

After adding five new heroes in February, Overwatch just gave players another look at the new hero coming in season 2 next week. While we didn’t get gameplay details, the new hero trailer revealed that hero 51 is Sierra, and season 2 will be titled Summit.

The game dropped its first look at Sierra last week, and a few details in the new artwork seemed to be in line with expectations that she’s an ally of damage hero Ashe. Ashe’s Deadlock Gang is mentioned in the new trailer, although Sierra is working with Overwatch in trying to stop them. We don’t know yet whether Sierra has ties to other Overwatch heroes and factions.

Alec Dawson, Overwatch’s associate game director, said in February that the next hero would be another damage hero with a «really satisfying skill shot,» which we maybe glimpsed in the trailer when Sierra fires some kind of homing dart onto Emre after he steals something from Watchpoint: Grand Mesa. We also see her use a fully automatic rifle as well as tether to her drone for some aerial maneuvering, which could be hints at the rest of her kit.

While I do love a good skillshot, I also feel like the game has been struggling with damage hero releases over the past year — particularly heroes who have the ability to quickly eliminate someone out of nowhere. The newest damage heroes Anran and Emre didn’t have this problem, but the previous two, Freja and Vendetta, were consistently banned after release because of their quick time to kill, combined with their ability to consistently surprise enemies. I’m hoping Sierra’s skillshot is less bursty.

Even before the art was revealed last week, fans had started to speculate that Overwatch’s season 2 hero would be Frankie, a member of Ashe’s Deadlock Gang. She appeared in the Deadlock Rebels novel by Lyndsay Ely, which follows Ashe and the hero now known as Cassidy early in their outlaw careers. In the book, Frankie makes contact with the two characters by sending them a tiny fly-like drone — perhaps a smaller version of the drone in Sierra’s character art.

Respectfully… y’all aren’t ready for this one 😮‍💨🔥
Join us Apr 8 at 9am PT for the premiere of our latest Hero Trailer as we kick off the next chapter in the Reign of Talon 💪 pic.twitter.com/1Etxn68tax

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) March 31, 2026

The trailer shows Sierra working to stop the Deadlock Gang (who are helping Emre and Freja steal weapons for Talon), but it’s unclear whether Sierra is another character entirely or whether she’s Frankie after taking a different path.

The game’s Reign of Talon season 1 is wrapping up in the next week. The current season kicked off the year-long storyline about Vendetta taking over Talon and also introduced five new heroes into the roster. Devs have promised another new hero each season during the storyline, and today’s hero trailer gives us a few more hints about Sierra.