Jay Peters | The Verge

Aaron Sorkin’s Social Network sequel might recast Mark Zuckerberg

2025-07-31T14:53:52-04:00

Aaron Sorkin is writing and directing a follow-up to The Social Network, and Jeremy Strong is reportedly the lead candidate to play Mark Zuckerberg. According to Deadline, “Sources say no formal offer has been presented but that he is the top choice to play the Facebook founder.” Jesse Eisenberg played Zuckerberg in the first film.

Deadline reported on the new film, The Social Network Part II, late last month. It will apparently delve into the story of the Facebook Files, a series of articles from The Wall Street Journal that reported on harms caused by Meta’s platforms (at the time, the company was called Facebook) based on leaked documents.

Last night, Deadline also reported that Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White are also leading picks for roles in the new film. However, like with Strong, “no formal offers have been given to either actor,” according to Deadline’s “insiders.” Deadline said that White will “ideally” play Jeff Horwitz, a former WSJ journalist who wrote many of the articles in the Facebook Files series, while Madison will likely play Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee who was the whistleblower behind the documents.

The first Social Network movie was released in 2010.

All of your international packages are about to get more expensive

2025-07-30T19:50:54-04:00

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that will suspend the de minimis exemption — which allows packages with goods valued less than $800 to enter the US duty-free — for all countries. Earlier this year, Trump ended the de minimis exemption for goods from China and Hong Kong.

The White House says the change goes into effect on August 29th. Per the executive order, for the next six months, goods shipped through the international postal system will either be charged the flat tariff rate based on country of origin (an ad valorem duty) or a specific duty ranging from $80 to $200 per item. After six months, all duties will be calculated as ad valorem duties.

The White House’s argument for ending the exemption is that packages using it are “subject to less scrutiny than traditional imports” and could “pose health, safety, national and economic security risks.” The White House claims that 98 percent of narcotics seizures (by “number of cases”) are from de minimis shipments. It also says that low-value packages from China and Hong Kong accounted for “the majority of de minimis shipments to the United States.”

Dropbox is shutting down its password manager

2025-07-30T15:42:13-04:00

Dropbox is discontinuing its password manager. The tool, Dropbox Passwords, will be discontinued on October 28th, and the company is recommending that you transfer your passwords to another app like 1Password ahead of that date.

The company will shut down Dropbox Passwords in phases. Starting August 28th, Dropbox Passwords will be view-only from both the mobile app and the browser extension, meaning you can’t add new information. At that time, Dropbox will also be deactivating autofill functionality. On September 11th, the mobile app will “stop working.” On October 28th, Dropbox Passwords will be fully shut down, meaning you can’t add or access information and everything that you had stored will be “permanently and securely deleted from our servers.”

Dropbox says it’s discontinuing Dropbox Passwords “as part of our efforts to focus on enhancing other features in our core product.” Dropbox launched Dropbox Passwords in 2020 after acquiring the password manager Valt in 2019.

PUBG’s plan to beat Fortnite, Roblox, and every other game

2025-07-30T14:57:00-04:00

Roblox and Fortnite are two of the biggest games around, and a huge part of why is because they aren’t just one game: instead, they’re vast platforms where you can party up with your friends, dress up in ridiculous digital outfits, and quickly jump from one experience to another. Back in the day, Fortnite copied PUBG by making a battle royale, and now, PUBG is mimicking Fortnite by trying to become more of a platform than a game.

As part of a roadmap released earlier this year, PUBG developer Krafton said that it would let players create their own modes as part of an alpha, and it revealed more details about the alpha this month. This week, Krafton CFO Dongkeun Bae also discussed the company’s vision for “PUBG 2.0” in an earnings call. “It will not just simply be a battle royale game per se,” he said through a translator.

The game will also be “a gameplay platform” and Krafton is developing “wide-ranging modes under that objective.” It seems like this approach will be a lot like Fortnite’s, which offers a mix of Epic Games-made modes and user-created experiences. Krafton also isn’t just doing user-generated content (UGC) because it’s “currently the mainstream,” Bae said. With UGC, if it’s opened up to the broader player base, players will be able to “create many different things” with PUBG.

The shift makes sense. By opening PUBG — which is still one of the most-played titles on Steam — to different kinds of experiences, it could grow beyond just hardcore shooter fans. Fortnite’s battle royale modes are still quite popular, but you can also play lower-stakes modes themed around Lego, navigating obstacle courses, racing, and playing music together. Epic has put a lot of effort behind expanding from just being a battle royale experience, even if some of them, like a combat-free party island, haven’t been big hits. And Roblox’s user-made Grow a Garden, which is a farming simulator, has been breaking concurrent player records.

In some ways, adding user-generated content is a continuation of PUBG and Fortnite following similar tracks. Like Fortnite, PUBG has big crossover events, for example. But PUBG’s creator tools have a long way to go to catch up with what’s possible with Fortnite and Roblox, though. Roblox was first released in 2006, and the company offers the Roblox Studio for making games and extensive resources for Roblox developers. And Epic is investing heavily in its Unreal Engine-level tools for making Fortnite experiences. But like with Roblox and Fortnite, PUBG players may have already invested time and money that makes switching over to a new game that much more difficult. By letting players make their own experiences, Krafton can keep those players interested in the PUBG universe and potentially pull in new ones.

One thing Krafton may also learn from Fortnite: this kind of player-driven expansion can take a long time. Epic has been working and iterating for years to build up Fortnite’s ecosystem of user-made experiences, and even then, Epic’s own modes are usually the ones with the most players. It will probably take a while to know if Krafton’s PUBG 2.0 plan is a winner winner chicken dinner.

YouTube tells creators they can drop more F-bombs

2025-07-29T20:17:23-04:00

YouTube videos with strong profanity in the first seven seconds (words like “fuck”) are now eligible for full monetization, according to a video from Conor Kavanagh, YouTube’s head of monetization policy experience. Previously, these kinds of videos were only eligible for “limited ad revenue.”

Changes to YouTube’s inappropriate language policies have long been a sore spot for creators. In November 2022, the company began to potentially limit ad revenue if profanity was used in the first 8–15 seconds of a video. ProZD, whose real name is SungWon Cho, published a video where, after waiting 15 seconds, he called the policy change “the dumbest fucking shit I’ve ever heard.” (He later said that the video was demonetized.) YouTube adjusted its policies in March 2023, including allowing videos with profanity in the first 8–15 seconds to be eligible for ad revenue.

I asked ProZD his thoughts about Tuesday’s change. “It’s about fucking time.”

The company originally restricted monetization for videos with swearing at the start of videos to “align with broadcast standards,” Kavanagh says. “Advertisers expected ads on YouTube to have distance between profanity and the ad that just served.” However, “those expectations have changed,” he says, “and advertisers already have the ability to target content to their desired level of profanity.”

While the only specific example of “strong” profanity Kavanagh provides is “fuck” — he says that YouTube defines “moderate profanity” as words like “asshole” or “bitch” — “you get the idea,” he says.

YouTube will continue to limit monetization if you use moderate or strong profanity in titles or thumbnails. Videos with a “high frequency” of strong profanity are also still a “violation” of YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines, Kavanagh says. “You have to pick and choose your fucks carefully.”

ChatGPT’s new AI study mode won’t just give you the answer

2025-07-29T15:21:25-04:00

OpenAI is adding a new study mode for ChatGPT that “helps you work through problems step by step instead of just getting an answer,” according to an OpenAI blog post. It will be available today for ChatGPT Free, Plus, Pro, and Team users and for ChatGPT Edu users “in the next few weeks.”

When you ask a question with study mode turned on, ChatGPT can give you interactive prompts that combine “Socratic questioning, hints, and self-reflection prompts” to help you learn about your question. OpenAI also says that study mode responses will be organized “into easy-to-follow sections that highlight the key connections between topics” and that lessons will be tailored to users based on “questions that assess skill level and memory from previous chats.” Study mode can give quizzes, too.

As ChatGPT becomes a go-to tool for students, we’re committed to ensuring it fosters deeper understanding and learning.

Introducing study mode in ChatGPT — a learning experience that helps you work through problems step-by-step instead of just getting an answer. pic.twitter.com/B8VbRYJH6r
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) July 29, 2025

AI companies are increasingly competing for the attention of college students, with OpenAI rival Anthropic introducing its own “Learning mode” feature for Claude in April. Tools like study mode could encourage students to use ChatGPT for learning instead of easy answers. But since users are able to turn off study mode at their own discretion, they’ll have to motivate themselves to actually use the feature instead of relying on ChatGPT to spit out a response or using the AI chatbot to cheat. (At the moment, OpenAI doesn’t have tools for parents or administrators to force students to stay in study mode, VP of education Leah Belsky told TechCrunch.)

OpenAI says that study mode is powered by “custom system instructions” the company wrote with teachers, scientists, and pedagogy experts. OpenAI picked custom instructions because it lets the company “quickly learn from real student feedback and improve the experience — even if it results in some inconsistent behavior and mistakes across conversations.” Down the line, OpenAI says it plans to add clearer visualizations, goal setting across conversations, and “deeper personalization.”

Google also announced new features for some of its AI tools today that could be useful for students. AI Mode in Search is getting a new canvas mode that can help you make things like study guides, while NotebookLM’s new Video Overviews feature uses AI to create slideshows with narration.

Google’s NotebookLM can now make narrated slideshows with AI

2025-07-29T12:41:54-04:00

Google’s NotebookLM is getting a new Video Overviews feature that uses AI to create slideshows with narration. The feature is rolling out now in English, and Google says that support for “more languages” is coming soon.

“You can think of these as a visual alternative to Audio Overviews: the AI host creates new visuals to help illustrate points while also pulling in images, diagrams, quotes and numbers from your documents,” according to a blog post. “This makes it uniquely effective for explaining data, demonstrating processes and making abstract concepts more tangible.” Google plans to introduce “additional formats” in the future. Based on a demo video, Video Overviews have handy playback controls like the ability to skip back and forth by 10 seconds and set playback speed.

Google is also announcing updates to NotebookLM’s Studio tab, which is where you can have the app generate things like Audio and Video Overviews, study guides, and briefing documents. The biggest change is that you’ll be able to “create and store multiple studio outputs of the same type in a single notebook,” meaning you can make multiple Audio Overviews all referencing information from the notebook you’re working from.

The Studio tab is getting a visual refresh, too — it will have four tiles at the top for making Audio Overviews, Video Overviews, Mind Maps, and Reports, Google says. The Studio changes will roll out “over the next few weeks” to all users.

Yelp is creating its own AI videos about restaurants

2025-07-30T15:10:57-04:00

Yelp is going to use AI to stitch together user-posted content about restaurants, food, and nightlife businesses to make short videos about those businesses. The company initially started testing the AI-stitched videos last year, but they’re now available nationwide on the iOS app’s TikTok-like vertically scrolling home feed.

Business operators can’t currently preview the generated videos or get an update when one is created, and Yelp users also can’t currently opt out of having their photos or videos show up in Yelp’s AI-stitched videos. Yelp relies on multiple generative AI tools to create the finished product, as OpenAI LLMs write the text descriptions and narrator’s script, put together story topics, and proofread, while ElevenLabs is used to generate the narrator’s voice and Amazon Transcribe creates the synchronized on-screen captions.

You can get an idea of what they’re like in the below video shared by Yelp. The vertical video blends together videos and images with an AI-generated voiceover and AI-generated captions to talk about things like the restaurant’s food, cocktails, and ambiance.

Yelp wants to make “as many videos as possible,” Yelp CPO Craig Saldanha tells The Verge, but will only make them if a restaurant has enough reviews, photos, and videos to tell a compelling story. Yelp relies on personalized signals to determine when to actually show the videos to you. The videos themselves are not personalized, even though they are eventually refreshed — there is only one active AI-stitched video about a single business live at a time, according to Saldanha. If a user or a business feels that an AI-stitched video is inaccurate or offensive, Saldanha says they can report it by tapping the three dots in the top right corner of the video. Yelp does periodic audits “at scale” as well.

The AI-stitched videos follow other AI-focused features from Yelp, like review summaries and review filters.

Update, July 30th: Clarified that business operators can’t currently preview the videos and aren’t notified about them.

Sony calls Tencent game ‘slavish clone’ of Horizon in new lawsuit

2025-07-28T17:26:31-04:00

A screenshot from Light of Motiram.

Sony is suing Tencent to attempt to stop the release of Light of Motiram, which Sony describes as a “slavish clone” of its Horizon series of games, as reported by Reuters. Light of Motiram was announced last year with a trailer featuring an aesthetic that’s quite similar to the Horizon franchise — including huge robot animals and even a title font that resembles the Horizon games.

In its complaint, Sony alleges that “unlawful copying of the protected audiovisual elements of the Horizon games, as well as its deliberate adoption of a confusingly similar character mark, constitutes both copyright and trademark infringement that should be enjoined immediately.”

According to the lawsuit, Tencent started developing Light of Motiram in 2023. At the Game Developers Conference in March 2024, Tencent allegedly pitched Sony on a proposal that would have its Aurora Studios subsidiary “develop a Horizon sequel game under the requested license,” which Sony rejected. “Apparently, Tencent was undeterred by SIE’s refusal to license its Horizon intellectual property,” Sony says.

According to the game’s Steam page, Light of Motiram’s developer and publisher is Polaris Quest. In the lawsuit, Sony alleges that “Upon information and belief, Tencent Shanghai does business under the names ‘Aurora Studios’ and/or ‘Polaris Quest.’”

Sony says that it “had discussions with Tencent” to informally try to “resolve its concern that Light of Motiram violated its intellectual property rights.” However, Sony alleges that Tencent “again sought to license the Horizon intellectual property,” to which it “communicated clearly and unequivocally that it would not license the Horizon assets to Tencent, objected to Light of Motiram, and insisted that it be withdrawn.”

Tencent didn’t reply to a request for comment.

This isn’t the only high-profile lawsuit over allegedly similar video games. Last year, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld-developer Pocketpair. Pocketpair said in May that it had to remove features from the game due to the lawsuit.

Apple beta season is here

2025-07-25T17:44:42-04:00

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 91, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, how is summer more than a month over already, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I’m pondering the leaked Pixel 10 lineup, marveling at BYD’s leaping Yangwang U9 supercar, reading about why everyone’s reading Reddit, already looking forward to Ted Lasso’s fourth season, rewatching MKBHD’s videos about the Escobar folding phone, melting with joy at the new Pokémon Concierge season 2 trailer, dreaming of buying the Lego Game Boy but not actually doing so because my toddler would destroy it, and listening to Lucius’ recently released self-titled album.

I also have for you some new betas from Apple, a retro-styled PC, some thoughts about cases, and how to play Dance Dance Revolution at home today.

(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What awesome tricks do you know that everyone else should? What app should everyone be using? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

Apple’s public betas: Public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26 are available now, giving you a chance to see Apple’s Liquid Glass design language in action before the updates are released widely this fall. I’ve been running the developer betas, and after some necessary tweaks from Apple, I’m warming up to Liquid Glass more than I expected.
Maingear’s Retro95 PC: This limited release puts a retro shell over modern PC components. Anyone have $1,599 (or more) they can lend me?
AppleCare One: This new $19.99-per-month subscription from Apple lets you cover up to three devices at once with the same benefits you’d get with individual AppleCare Plus subscriptions. You can add more devices for $5.99 per month each. I don’t usually pay for warranty coverage, but AppleCare One could be a good deal for a lot of people.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps: It’s Marvel’s turn to release a superhero movie with some pretty high stakes for the company that makes it — and like DC and Superman, Marvel appears to have mostly pulled it off. As a huge Michael Giacchino fan, about half the reason I want to see this movie is for the score.
Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft (16GB): This new version of Amazon’s color Kindle comes with half the storage and is missing a few perks from the Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, but at $249.99, it’s $30 cheaper than last year’s model. I’m going to hold on to my 10th-generation Kindle Paperwhite as long as I can, but whenever it’s time to upgrade that, I’m sorely tempted by a color ereader.
Roomba Max 705 Combo: This new combo robot vacuum from iRobot has a “first-of-its-kind roller mop cover that keeps carpets dry.” If that cover actually works, it seems like this could be a great dual-purpose robovacuum.
Wheel World: It’s a cycling-themed open-world adventure game from Annapurna Interactive and the developers of Nidhogg. That sounds like a winning combo to me, and it might just be the feel-good game of the summer.
Acapulco season 4: I watched the first two seasons of this Apple TV Plus series set at a resort in Mexico and loved them — the show is funny and heartwarming. Like Ted Lasso, it can be a little saccharine, but I think we should all watch some lighter TV every once in a while. Might be time for me to catch up.

The Case Conundrum

Thanks to everyone who replied to my quandary about whether or not I should keep using a phone case. There were a bunch of great perspectives and feelings, so I’m sharing a few of them here in the newsletter — a lot more people go caseless than I expected!

As for my own decision? Well, I haven’t reached one yet, and honestly, I may never pick one lane. Typically, my iPhone 16 Pro lives in this slim Torras case, but as I write this, it’s sitting on top of the case, not in it. Will I put the case on before I walk out the door? We’ll see!

“I, too, felt the urge to go caseless. I’m pretty careful with my electronics, so I still didn’t love the idea of setting my phone down on tables and things alike. I got the magnetic back from Nomad, and it has felt like the perfect meet-in-the-middle accessory for me! Phone feels almost caseless, and I still get the back protection.” – Omesh

“I am totally the same with cases. I know I’ll drop it once a year and totally ruin the thing and I hate that. What I do is take the case off when I’m just chilling at my desk or couch or chair. That way I get the joy of the smooth phone, but when I am in danger of dropping it on concrete or getting out of my truck, I have the protection it needs.” – Travis

“I ran my first gen Pixel Fold without a case (while living in a beachy resort town) for two years! If the Fold can survive it, so can a 16 Pro. The Fold is still alive and well as a secondary device/backup phone. Of course, it’s definitely not pristine, so if you don’t want your phone to bear its scars, you should probably keep a case on it.” – John

“I have the Peak Design GNAR case. Saw some complaints online about the protection being too minimal for the front of the phone, but it’s been solid for me. Does well being outdoors (I run outside all the time). I’m rocking no screen protector.” – airwr3ck6669

“I never used cases until I got my current phone (Pixel 6A) because the Razer Kishi controller I used no longer fit snuggly around it, so I found a case that allowed it to fit again. I would say the case would eventually come off, but I only realized as I was reading this article that even though I no longer use that controller, I hadn’t thought to take the case off.” – xPutNameHerex

Screen Share

Today, I’m featuring Keith Broni, the editor-in-chief of Emojipedia. I thought of reaching out to him for this section after World Emoji Day on July 17th (the date shown on the calendar emoji), and he graciously replied. He initially got involved with the site in 2018 and took on increasing responsibilities “over the years” before taking the editor-in-chief job in 2022.

In addition to everything about his homescreen, I wanted to know what he’s looking forward to in the world of emoji. “I’m excited to see what the next unexpected emoji repurposing meme is going to be, especially as Gen Alpha becomes more and more online,” he tells me, like how Millennials repurposed the Eggplant and Peach and how Gen Z repurposed the Skull.

Emoji fascinate me — full disclosure, I submitted proposals that helped bring the Saluting Face, Bubbles, Waffle, and Yawning Face emoji into the world — so I’m to share more of the emoji universe with Installer readers.

Here’s Keith’s homescreen and his explanation of what’s on it.

The phone: Google Pixel 6. Like Molly last week, I’m an “until the wheels fall off” type of person when it comes to my personal phone, though I use an iPhone 15 Pro for work.

The wallpaper: A 2019 picture of me (I’m in all black, bar the white soles of my sneakers) wandering the grounds of the Zōjō-ji Temple in Tokyo, with the Tokyo Tower looming in the background.

The apps:

The top row is my fitness-focused stuff, as I’m preparing for a Hyrox-like competition in October, so it’s all step counts (Garmin Connect), protein goals (MyFitnessPal), habit tracking (HabitShare — a free and simple tracker with some nice friend-sharing elements for accountability), and gym class bookings (Glofox).
Since I’m European, WhatsApp is my primary mode of texting / calling folks. And since I’m Irish, you’ve got my Irish banking app, AIB Mobile, ha.
I’m a millennial, so Instagram is my primary mode of social media these days, though I’m also on X / Bluesky / TikTok a lot for work purposes (that end up drifting into non-work purposes if I’m not careful).
I’m a Letterboxd user, and do enjoy attending the cinema as much as I can (shoutout to the Lighthouse in Dublin — I was there last night watching Friendship, which I thoroughly enjoyed). But really, YouTube is where I spend far too much of my time (and to a lesser extent, Nebula, which is on the next page of my home screen).

I also asked Keith to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he said:

Music-wise, I’ve been listening to a lot of Oasis on Spotify lately. I was one of the lucky 2 percent who managed to snag tickets for their current run of shows, and I’ve been riding the high ever since their homecoming gig in Manchester on Sunday (the 20th). I’ve also been enjoying several tracks from the new Wet Leg album — a band that famously workshopped their name using various emoji combos — as well as two new songs from The Last Dinner Party and Nine Inch Nails.
To tie in with the fitness app bit above, I’ve been playing the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters while walking on a home treadmill. I’ve been a big old-school JRPG fan since I was a kid, though I’d only played IV from this collection before.
This Instagram account @theblack.lodge, who’s been doing limited drops of T-shirts inspired by David Lynch films (I’m a big fan, especially of Twin Peaks, RIP). I’ve bought at least one item from every drop so far.
Book-wise, I’ve been listening to Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic on Audible (sitting on the second page of my home screen). Before this, I finished reading the physical copy of Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji by Keith Houston, in which our work at Emojipedia is heavily referenced (and I’m honored to have been directly name-dropped in).
Another bit of a self-serving one (especially since you mentioned it yourself last week), but I’ve been enjoying dipping into the revived Emojitracker.com site during spare moments to watch live emoji usage unfold.

Crowdsourced

Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on The Verge, this post on Threads, and this post on Bluesky.

“I use Outplay on my Apple Watch to track the soccer matches I play. It shows a heat map of my movement during a match and has metrics specific to playing soccer like sprints. It works better for me than using the built-in Apple Workout app or Strava.” – Harry Tequila

“Been playing the macOS version of Cyberpunk 2077 on a base M4 Mac Mini. I am impressed with the game and graphic quality of this version. Just hoping this is the start for more Mac-native versions of A & S tier games.” – penguinchiller

“I just completed the (not so) Endless Tower in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and beat Clea… on an MSI Claw 8 with an Intel chip! Didn’t expect that after panning the first Claw. It’s the only handheld I’ve really enjoyed this game on so far!” – Sean

“I’ve become obsessed with the Twos app and using it constantly. Highly recommend!” – Rich

“After steadfastly avoiding it because of its difficulty, I recently purchased and have been dying over and over again in Returnal. The environment really does feel like a hostile alien planet, and with headphones it feels like I can hear every drop of rain. And yeah, it’s really difficult.” – Aram

“Been playing Lushfoil Photography Sim and it is so relaxing and lovely.” – Allison

“I’ve been binging CityNerd on YouTube. The channel discusses cities, transportation, urban design, walkability, etc. Good stuff.” – low_light_mixes

Signing off

Last week, I included a tidbit from a reader who has been playing Dance Dance Revolution recently. As someone who played a lot of DDR when I was a kid (“Butterfly,” anyone?), I was curious to learn more about how he does it. Here’s some of what the reader, Tom, told me — he also pointed me to a starter guide on Reddit:

“I’ll start with acknowledging I am fully not an expert in the scene, but spent a lot of time in the local arcade and at home playing on a PS2 when I was growing up.

“I grabbed the Deluxe 1-inch thick foam pad from www.ddrpad.com, along with the extension cord and the preloaded Stepmania Flash drive. Stepmania is the open-source clone of DDR. People make their own stepcharts (the arrows that scroll up during a song) and make custom songs that you can download and load in, as well as songs from the actual DDR games.

“Someone who is really into playing may want to eventually invest in a metal pad, like what’s in the arcades. They’re super sturdy and will last for years of use, whereas soft mats could potentially tear over time. There are many manufacturers out there, and the price range is usually from $400 and up for the metal pads. People even buy old arcade cabinets for thousands of dollars and have them in their home.”

Thanks, Tom! See you next week, everyone!