This digest compiles the latest from The Verge.
Today’s The Verge Roundup
Cassette Boy forces you to see its world in a whole new way
31 Jan 2026, 2:00 pm by Jay Peters
It’s no secret that Cassette Boy is inspired by the classics. It’s a top-down adventure game in the vein of a retro Legend of Zelda, while your home base is a small town like in an older Pokémon game, complete with a mom who is constantly wishing you well. The game’s blocky 3D graphics evoke Minecraft, and you save at campfires that reset the world, like a FromSoft game. Everything in Cassette Boy even has a green tint that reminds me of playing games on my original Game Boy. But despite all of the clear influences, it still feels unique: underneath that charming exterior, Cassette Boy is a game filled with clever puzzles that forced me to u …
A nice upgrade for Apple’s simplest gadget
31 Jan 2026, 1:00 pm by David Pierce
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 114, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, send Arc Raiders tips, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about wind turbines and phishing scams and oboes, keeping organized with the ultra-minimal Attn app, testing the lovely Aeronaut Bluesky client, spending too much time researching electric snow shovels, finally upgrading my trusty podcast headphones to a new Beyerdynamic pair, starting my umpteenth rewatch of Superstore, and debating whether to swap my iPhone 16 for an iPhone 17 or a Pixel …
ChatGPT isn’t the only chatbot pulling answers from Elon Musk’s Grokipedia
31 Jan 2026, 1:00 pm by Robert Hart
ChatGPT is using Grokipedia as a source, and it’s not the only AI tool to do so. Citations to Elon Musk’s AI-generated encyclopedia are starting to appear in answers from Google’s AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini, too. Data suggests that’s on the rise, heightening concerns about accuracy and misinformation as Musk seeks to reshape reality in his image.
Since the warped Wikipedia-clone launched late last October, Grokipedia technically remains a minor source of information overall. Glen Allsopp, head of marketing strategy and research at SEO company Ahrefs, told The Verge the firm’s testing found Grokipedia referenced in more than 263,000 C …
The latest Instax printer is a pricey but worthy upgrade
31 Jan 2026, 8:00 am by Thomas Ricker
FujiFilm’s Instax Mini Link 3 printer is a much-loved $100 accessory in my travel journal kit. I often tape a printed image next to my handwritten thoughts to preserve a moment in time. The prints produced by the instant film can, however, be soft and muddy – something the new $169.95 Instax Mini Link+ promises to improve.
The big upgrade is a new Design Print mode. It’s supposed to make text and intricate illustrations crisp and legible, but I didn’t see much of an improvement, despite that being a big selling point. I did, however, find that the improved processing inside the Mini Link+ enhanced contrast, colors, and sharpness, to reveal …
Senate passes budget with two more weeks of Homeland Security funding
31 Jan 2026, 2:38 am by Tina Nguyen
The Senate voted on Friday evening to pass the federal budget, funding everything except for one entity: the Department of Homeland Security, which was given a two-week funding extension in order to negotiate new guardrails around Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). If no agreement is reached, DHS funding will lapse and the department will face a shutdown.
The agreement – the result of frenzied negotiations between a united Senate Democrat caucus, their Republican counterparts, and the White House – passed 71-29. DHS will remain unfunded over the weekend, however, until the House of Representatives reconvenes on Monday to approve th …
Jeffrey Epstein was permanently banned from Xbox Live
31 Jan 2026, 12:34 am by Sean Hollister
Would it surprise you to learn Microsoft booted Jeffrey Epstein from its online gaming platform? As spotted by XboxEra, the latest batch of Epstein’s emails shows that in December 2013, he was “permanently suspended due to harassment, threats, and/or abuse of other players.”
But it appears the real reason may be simpler: A second email from Microsoft to Epstein the very same day shows he was banned because he was a registered sex offender, and because Microsoft was among the companies that agreed to purge registered sex offenders from their systems.
While Epstein became a registered sex offender years earlier, another email shows he ma …
End of today’s The Verge roundup.
