Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 144, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, new tech season is here, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
A great new video game movie
This week, I flew out to Los Angeles to try on and write about Snap’s Specs. Along the way, I’ve been marveling at how Apple put the iPhone 18 Pro’s Face ID sensor under the display, reading about new Xbox boss Asha Sharma, getting excited for bakes in the new Great British Baking Show trailer, watching Stephen Colbert shave his beard on Jimmy Kimmel, and hanging out at a lot of coffee shop tables to work.
I also have for you Valve’s Steam Frame, Nintendo’s expansive new Fire Emblem, a tiny Fujifilm camera, and more.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What do you want to know more about? What are your favorite things you’ve watched / seen / listened to / been wowed by recently? Drop a line to [email protected]. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)
- Resident Evil. Zach Cregger’s take on Capcom’s iconic survival-horror video game franchise sounds like a riot. My colleague Charles Pulliam-Moore called it a “comedy first and a thrilling nightmare second.” Say no more.
- Valve’s Steam Frame. Valve’s new VR headset, which was initially supposed to launch in early 2026, is finally here, and it starts at $1,059. Based on Sean Hollister’s review, it seems like a really fun way to play VR and flatscreen games — when you’re not dealing with bugs and general instability. The Steam Deck was a similar story, and Valve righted the ship, so fingers crossed it can do the same for the Frame.
- Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. I’ve been playing Nintendo’s latest entry in its strategy RPG series over the past several weeks, and it’s an excellent evolution of everything great about Three Houses. It’s easily my favorite game on the Switch 2. Seeing most of what it has to offer is a massive time commitment; I poured about 130 hours into the game. But if you’re into Fire Emblem or even just like RPGs, this one will keep you busy for a long while.
- Fujifilm’s Instax Pal 2. This $169.95 digital camera has an optical viewfinder and a 1.3-inch LCD screen, can take 10-megapixel photos, and is so dang small! Looks like a great pocketable camera to play with.
- Boox’s Picco. The new Boox Palma 3 isn’t available to order just yet, but you can preorder the tiny Picco, which has a 3.97-inch E Ink screen and costs $99.99. I haven’t used any of these diminutive e-readers, but I love the idea of them.
- Marvel’s Wolverine. Insomniac’s latest superhero game isn’t getting the same rave reviews as the studio’s Spider-Man games — my colleague Andrew Webster praised Wolverine for being a straightforward action game but says the story ends up being “largely forgettable.” But if you just want to slice and dice as Wolverine, it seems like the game delivers.
- Hisense’s RoamView. Hisense now has its own version of the “screen on wheels” idea that LG tried with its StanbyME. It has a 32-inch 4K touchscreen and a 10-hour battery, and you can take it off the wheeled stand to use on your desk. It’s $1,199, so it’s not cheap, but is it bad that I really want to try it anyway?
Screen Share
This week, I’m featuring the game developer Dan Dilorio, who develops games under the alias TrampolineTales. Earlier this year, he released a delightful game called What’s the Password? that tasks you with solving a series of tricky four-digit codes. It’s out now on PC, iOS, and Android, and you can finish it in a couple hours. I really recommend it.
I asked him to share his homescreen and the apps and things he cares about. Here it is, plus some info on the apps he uses and why:
Image: Dan Dilorio
The phone: It’s a Google Pixel 6A.
The wallpaper: My wallpaper is my partner and our rabbit: Lefty!
The apps: I keep my app grid in 3 columns instead of the default 4 so that I only keep apps I actually frequently use on my homescreen. File Manager Plus is pretty useful for file management, especially when I need to test APKs for my games that I’ve transferred from my PC. Podcast Addict is also fantastic for keeping up with my podcasts. I’ve been using it for years and it’s very customizable.
The game I play the most these days is MahjongSoul. I tend to average at least one game of riichi mahjong a day. Sometimes I’ll play a few games of Threes if I don’t have enough time for a full game of mahjong. I’ve got a lot of space on my phone still, so I haven’t felt the need to delete any games.
I also asked Dan to share a few things he’s into right now. Here’s what he sent back:
- I’ve been playing a lot of Omelet You Cook recently. It’s a fantastic score-based roguelike deckbuilder.
- I also recently finished The Incident at Galley House, Esoteric Ebb, and Rita. All of which are strong contenders for my game of the year.
Crowdsourced
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email [email protected] 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.
“Slow Horses is baaaaaaaaack. Cannot wait to burn into season 6.” — Jonathan
“I’ve been making the most of the new version of the Zen browser. Now with syncing tabs and workspaces, it has vanquished Arc once and for all.” — Chris
“I recently played The Drifter which was fantastic. Fully voiced-acted, beautiful art, fun puzzles. Surprisingly good story. Currently reading Cloudthief by Nathaniel Rich, about a heist in a datacenter and how difficult it is to get off the grid these days.” — rkatz94
“After getting excited by the Metroid Ravenous reveal I’m giving Dread another go — this time on Switch 2. A resolution upgrade would have been nice, but playing mostly handheld with the 1080p boost mode is enjoyable enough.” — bimonscificon
“Watching: Colin from Accounts S3, good silly Australian fun. The new season of Taskmaster, I’m surprised they can keep the exact same format fresh all these years. Reading: Children of Strife, the latest in the Children Of series. Nothing beats the first book Children of Time though, one of my all time favourite reads.” — Mrmagoo
“Been playing Inscryption! Fun rougelike card game with some mystery thrown in. Recommend going in blind as it’s fun to discover more details as the game progresses.” — HapticVibez
“I haven’t been much of a country music fan in the past, but I’ve been obsessed with Shaboozey’s new country album. It’s like listening to a western movie and I can’t get enough of it. (And it’s a gateway drug to other country music too.) Also I got the Xteink X4 Pro and it’s a lot of fun to use. Great to throw it in your pocket and always have with you. The touch screen and front lights are really nice too.” — Daniel
“I’ve been using Coquiet for my deep work sessions lately, and I’ve really enjoyed it. The music selection is great, there’s a built-in Pomodoro timer, and I love the feeling of working alongside others. It’s free!” — Diego
Signing off
I have another week of travel coming up, and I still want to hear your travel apps / tips / ideas / recommendations. Here’s mine: For work travel, I mostly eat at boring chain restaurants like Starbucks and Chipotle. I need to eat reliable meals that don’t upset my stomach while I’m doing all the work needed to cover an event. (I’m old!) After the stories are ready or an event’s over, though, I’ll often look for something local, like these delicious chicken strips I got from a ghost kitchen in LA this week.
See you next week!
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Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 144, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, new tech season is here, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I flew out to Los Angeles to…
