Technologies
Best Games on Xbox Game Pass: Hi-Fi Rush, Valheim, and More
Give these games a try.
An Xbox Game Pass subscriptionis almost essential for Xbox owners. The service, which runs $10 to $15 a month, not only includes a large, ever-changing catalog of games to download and play, but also bundles access to online multiplayer services. Each month, Microsoft adds new games to the service.
Read more: Best Game Subscription Services
If you’re on the fence about Game Pass, or just looking for some suggestions about what to play, below are some recent and classic favorites on the service.
Valheim is a multiplayer survival game based on Norse mythology that has been a hit with PC gamers since its release in 2021. On March 14, the game makes its way to Xbox Game Pass letting players explore the world of Valheim and build their own bases to fend off the monsters of the world. Up to 10 players can join up with crossplay enabled between Xbox and Steam players.
New and noteworthy
Recent hits
- Forza Horizon 5
- Pentiment
- As Dusk Falls
- Citizen Sleeper
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Death’s Door
- Farming Simulator 22 (no, really)
- Sea of Thieves
- Deathloop
- Halo Infinite
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Outer Wilds
- Psychonauts 2
- Vampire Survivors
- Tetris Effect: Connected
Read more: Best Cloud Gaming Services
Must-play classics
- Assassin’s Creed Origins (and AC: Odyssey)
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Dishonored 2
- Dead by Daylight
- Fallout 76
- Doughnut County
- Skyrim
- Grim Fandango
PC gaming picks
- Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
- Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
- Solasta: Crown of the Magister
- Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Expeditions: Rome
- Wasteland 3
We’ll keep this list updated with new additions and new staff suggestions. You can also check out our picks for the best games on PlayStation Plus.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Game Pass has evolved far beyond its Xbox-bound origins to become a subscription that delivers something for everyone who plays games, and now encompasses console and PC game downloads, access to online multiplayer services, a deal with gaming giant EA and a cloud-based service that streams games to nearly any device.
Microsoft offers several versions, but because of how the features are sliced up between them, only the $15-per-month Ultimate plan, with all the benefits detailed above, really makes sense. Read our Xbox Game Pass review.
Game console reviews
Technologies
Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, April 18
Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 18
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s the super-long one as always on Saturdays, and a few of the clues are tricky. But if you play all the other New York Times games, 13-Across will be easy. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword
Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.
Mini across clues and answers
1A clue: What people pay Extra for?
Answer: GUM
4A clue: Pre-meal prayer
Answer: GRACE
6A clue: Physicist Bohr
Answer: NIELS
7A clue: Line up a shot
Answer: AIM
8A clue: Photo ___ (P.R. events)
Answer: OPS
10A clue: «Zootopia,» but not «Zoolander»
Answer: PGMOVIE
12A clue: TV show with the initials «TV»
Answer: THEVIEW
13A clue: New York Times game with weaving, interconnected answers
Answer: STRANDS
Mini down clues and answers
1D clue: More bleak
Answer: GRIMMER
2D clue: Dubai’s country, for short
Answer: UAE
3D clue: Nickname of Seth and Evan’s friend in «Superbad»
Answer: MCLOVIN
4D clue: «See you in the mornin’!»
Answer: GNIGHT
5D clue: Fancy term for «noticed»
Answer: ESPIED
7D clue: Many N.Y.C. addresses: Abbr.
Answer: APTS
9D clue: Uses a needle and thread
Answer: SEWS
11D clue: Egg cells
Answer: OVA
Technologies
AI Trusted Less Than Social Media and Airlines, With Grok Placing Last, Survey Says
More Americans are concerned about the loss of personal interaction from AI than they are about potential job loss.
Google Gemini is the most trusted AI platform among its competition, but many people still have concerns about the technology, according to an American Customer Satisfaction Index poll released Thursday.
In ACSI’s results, AI scored an overall customer satisfaction score of 73 on a scale of 0 to 100, which the authors noted was slightly below social media (74), airlines and mortgage lenders, but in line with energy utilities.
Of the five platforms mentioned in the survey, Google Gemini led with 76, followed by Microsoft Copilot (74), Claude and ChatGPT (both 73), and Grok and Perplexity (both 71). Meanwhile, TikTok (77) and YouTube (78) both scored better than the AI platforms.
Gemini is one of the most prolific AI services, with access via smart speakers, TVs, phones and computers, while most ChatGPT users access the AI tool via the ChatGPT website or mobile app, and Grok via social media platform X.
The ACSI poll found that 43% of respondents said reduced human-to-human interaction is their main concern, followed by job loss for future generations (37%) and their own job risk (31%), based on interviews with 2,711 US adults.
Baby Boomers were the most skeptical generation in the poll, with 35% saying they are very concerned about AI’s effects, compared to just 6% who view it extremely favorably.
Disconnect between AI adoption and perception
While platforms such as ChatGPT have up to 1 billion weekly users, there is still a disconnect between AI’s adoption and public perception of it, which is driven by concerns over privacy, the spread of misinformation and the loss of jobs.
«Consumers spent the last decade learning to distrust how social media platforms handle their data, and AI’s privacy scores suggest they’re carrying that skepticism forward,» said Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI.
21% reported an «extremely favorable» outlook toward AI, while an equal 21% said they are «very concerned about the consequences.»
These results were in line with another poll published by YouGov this week, which found that only 29% think the positive effects of AI outweigh the negative ones, while 36% think its net effects are negative.
It’s worth noting that more than half of the people interviewed (56%) had no recent experience with AI, but of the 44% who did, half of them use AI at least once a day, and the usage went up with people who earned over $100,000 a year.
Last month, an NBC poll suggested that AI was one of the least-liked things in America, but it was still more popular than the Democratic Party.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for April 18, #1042
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for April 18, No. 1,042.
Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features a fun purple category that’ll require you to spot certain beverage names. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Wow!
Green group hint: Plug it in.
Blue group hint: Cinderella team.
Purple group hint: Drink up.
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Look at with awe.
Green group: Basic electricity terms.
Blue group: Unexpected winner.
Purple group: Starting with soda brands.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is look at with awe. The four answers are goggle, marvel, stare and wonder.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is basic electricity terms. The four answers are AC, DC, power and voltage.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is unexpected winner. The four answers are dark horse, long shot, sleeper and underdog.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is starting with soda brands. The four answers are crushworthy, Fantagraphics, frescade and pepsinogen.
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