In news that is certainly set to raise some eyebrows, Amazon announced an experimental feature for its voice assistant, Alexa, that will let it imitate the voices of dead relatives.

At Amazon’s annual MARS conference, the company showed off a demo in which Alexa reads a bedtime story to a child using the voice of his dead grandmother.

Amazon’s head Alexa AI scientist Rohit Prasad said the feature is meant to highlight Alexa’s “human attributes” which have become more important “in these times of the ongoing pandemic when so many of us have lost someone we love.”

Prasad added that while AI can’t eliminate “that pain of loss” it can carry on the memories of the deceased.

Amazon claims that its AI will be able to imitate someone’s voice after listening to just a minute of their recorded voice.

Details of how this new AI works aside, the internet is already discussing the ethics of such a tool. After all, anything that was the subject of an episode of Black Mirror can’t possibly be something people are clamoring for.

It should be noted that Amazon isn’t the only company experimenting with using AI to memorialize deceased loved ones. In 2021 Microsoft patented a tool that could potentially turn deceased relatives into chatbots users could communicate.

And it’s clear that raising the dead with technology is becoming the norm, as seen with instances in which CGI was used to bring back Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One, or Anthony Bourdain’s voice in a recent documentary about the travel author.

Would an AI imitating deceased relatives interest you? Personally, I’d rather not though it doesn’t seem to be stopping tech companies from exploring the field.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is set to finally receive mouse and keyboard support as the service is set to receive improvements to latency soon.

As part of Xfest, Xbox announced that mouse and keyboard support will soon be available for games playable through xCloud, Microsoft’s cloud gaming service that comes as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Developers can start adding support for the mouse and keyboard input now, and functionality will be added at launch.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is available on mobile devices, PCs, and Samsung TVs. Currently, the service only supports gamepads on PC, but players will soon be able to play games using a mouse and keyboard.

As part of the new input method, Microsoft announced plans to improve latency by moving to a new process that will use direct capture to stream games. Microsoft says this new method could cut latency by up to 72ms, however it could come at the expense of visual fidelity.

However, Microsoft says it is working on bumping up the visual quality of the new streaming method which maxes out at 1440p resolution.

Microsoft has been working to expand the functionality of Xbox Cloud Gaming, including letting subscribers stream games they own, even if they’re not available as part of the Xbox Game Pass library. Along with expanding to TVs, Xbox Cloud Gaming appears poised to continue growing as a feature of Xbox’s popular subscription service.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is set to finally receive mouse and keyboard support as the service is set to receive improvements to latency soon.

As part of Xfest, Xbox announced that mouse and keyboard support will soon be available for games playable through xCloud, Microsoft’s cloud gaming service that comes as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Developers can start adding support for the mouse and keyboard input now, and functionality will be added at launch.

Xbox Cloud Gaming is available on mobile devices, PCs, and Samsung TVs. Currently, the service only supports gamepads on PC, but players will soon be able to play games using a mouse and keyboard.

As part of the new input method, Microsoft announced plans to improve latency by moving to a new process that will use direct capture to stream games. Microsoft says this new method could cut latency by up to 72ms, however it could come at the expense of visual fidelity.

However, Microsoft says it is working on bumping up the visual quality of the new streaming method which maxes out at 1440p resolution.

Microsoft has been working to expand the functionality of Xbox Cloud Gaming, including letting subscribers stream games they own, even if they’re not available as part of the Xbox Game Pass library. Along with expanding to TVs, Xbox Cloud Gaming appears poised to continue growing as a feature of Xbox’s popular subscription service.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Will we see Brienne of Tarth in the upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off?

Actress Gwendoline Christie doesn’t rule it out… but in an interview with Collider, the 43-year-old Game of Thrones star said she’s surprised there’s still this wave of interest for her character.

“I love the sound of the Jon Snow spinoff. I really do,” she said. “I loved watching the show too. It’s very surprising to feel this wave of interest that people are still so invested and that the love is still so real. I think many people feel that they would love to see that story continue.”

A few days ago, it was revealed that a Game of Thrones sequel following Jon Snow is now in the works… and it could well be the perfect place to continue the story of Brienne of Tarth.

We last saw her in 2019, as her story arc came to a satisfying close.

After earning the title of “Ser” – long associated with Westeros’ most formidable knights – she went on to become Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

“I really love that character too,” said Christie. “I will never stop being grateful for the opportunity to play her. I really won’t. That was really the opportunity of a lifetime. It was incredible. I adored the character, and it came about at a time in my life as my development of what I wanted to do artistically was to express something about the experience that I’d had in life that felt quite niche, but simultaneously was about the very human and relatable experience of being an outsider.”

“I also felt like we hadn’t seen a woman like that on television, or very much in entertainment, before,” she added. “What I loved about Brienne was that she was able to overcome her circumstances and often triumph. The idea of that marginalized person triumphing was glorious.”

Will we see Brienne of Tarth return? For now, that remains a mystery.

But Christie admits that she loved playing a powerful woman on screen, and that kind of character seems only more in demand in recent years… even if Christie herself is looking for different roles.

“I am hugely invested in playing very different parts now and being pushed and becoming a better actor, developing as an actor, and working with auteurs. There are so many directors I would love to work with, and I want to create different kinds of work. That is my focus. However, I will never stop loving Brienne of Tarth, and I will never stop being interested by her.”

What else is in store for Game of Thrones? Find out about the upcoming Jon Snow spinoff, and everything we know about House of the Dragon.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Will we see Brienne of Tarth in the upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off?

Actress Gwendoline Christie doesn’t rule it out… but in an interview with Collider, the 43-year-old Game of Thrones star said she’s surprised there’s still this wave of interest for her character.

“I love the sound of the Jon Snow spinoff. I really do,” she said. “I loved watching the show too. It’s very surprising to feel this wave of interest that people are still so invested and that the love is still so real. I think many people feel that they would love to see that story continue.”

A few days ago, it was revealed that a Game of Thrones sequel following Jon Snow is now in the works… and it could well be the perfect place to continue the story of Brienne of Tarth.

We last saw her in 2019, as her story arc came to a satisfying close.

After earning the title of “Ser” – long associated with Westeros’ most formidable knights – she went on to become Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

“I really love that character too,” said Christie. “I will never stop being grateful for the opportunity to play her. I really won’t. That was really the opportunity of a lifetime. It was incredible. I adored the character, and it came about at a time in my life as my development of what I wanted to do artistically was to express something about the experience that I’d had in life that felt quite niche, but simultaneously was about the very human and relatable experience of being an outsider.”

“I also felt like we hadn’t seen a woman like that on television, or very much in entertainment, before,” she added. “What I loved about Brienne was that she was able to overcome her circumstances and often triumph. The idea of that marginalized person triumphing was glorious.”

Will we see Brienne of Tarth return? For now, that remains a mystery.

But Christie admits that she loved playing a powerful woman on screen, and that kind of character seems only more in demand in recent years… even if Christie herself is looking for different roles.

“I am hugely invested in playing very different parts now and being pushed and becoming a better actor, developing as an actor, and working with auteurs. There are so many directors I would love to work with, and I want to create different kinds of work. That is my focus. However, I will never stop loving Brienne of Tarth, and I will never stop being interested by her.”

What else is in store for Game of Thrones? Find out about the upcoming Jon Snow spinoff, and everything we know about House of the Dragon.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Great Scott! Back to the Future is being turned into a Broadway musical.

A new teaser was unveiled on Wednesday for the upcoming show, giving us a tantalizing hint of what to expect from the Broadway adaptation.

“Synchronize Your Watches,” said the official Twitter account. “The Future's coming to Broadway in 2023!!!”

Synchronize Your Watches — The Future's coming to Broadway in 2023!!!

Sign up to be the first to buy tickets! https://t.co/ZvFEjJ72wR pic.twitter.com/ZGr90KC6sN

— Back to the Future™ (@BacktotheFuture) June 22, 2022

The musical finally makes its way to Broadway after an incredibly successful run in the UK’s West End. And with the teaser depicting the iconic DeLorean, it looks as though Doc Brown and Marty McFly will take to the stage in New York City in 2023.

Unsurprisingly, the plot of the musical is very close to the film:

“When Marty McFly finds himself transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, he accidentally changes the course of history. Now he's in a race against time to fix the present, escape the past and send himself... back to the future.”

Back to the Future creator, Bob Gale told Digital Spy that this is the closest fans will get to a sequel.

“People, of course, had been clamoring for more Back to the Future forever and we had steadfastly said no, we're not going to do a Part IV, and we don't want to reboot it,” he said. “We set a really high bar for ourselves with those three movies, and we don't want people coming out of a remake saying, ‘Man, they messed it up.’”

Gale adds that the musical is “a way to revisit it without tampering with the lore of the movie. Nobody who sees the musical is ever going to get it confused with the movie and that has worked really well to our advantage."

The musical, it seems, aims to capture the nostalgia fans feel for the original. And it’s working.

“When people say, ‘I want to see Back to the Future Part IV,’ what they're really saying is, ‘I want to see a Back to the Future movie that makes me feel the same way I felt when I saw that first movie.’ That's a tall order, but I think that the musical fulfils that.”

Back to the Future – The Musical heads to Broadway in 2023. Sign up at the official website for first access and priority ticket information.

Read more about Back to the Future with our full look at the recent LEGO DeLorean, and find out where the film ranked in our top 25 sci-fi films of all time.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Great Scott! Back to the Future is being turned into a Broadway musical.

A new teaser was unveiled on Wednesday for the upcoming show, giving us a tantalizing hint of what to expect from the Broadway adaptation.

“Synchronize Your Watches,” said the official Twitter account. “The Future's coming to Broadway in 2023!!!”

Synchronize Your Watches — The Future's coming to Broadway in 2023!!!

Sign up to be the first to buy tickets! https://t.co/ZvFEjJ72wR pic.twitter.com/ZGr90KC6sN

— Back to the Future™ (@BacktotheFuture) June 22, 2022

The musical finally makes its way to Broadway after an incredibly successful run in the UK’s West End. And with the teaser depicting the iconic DeLorean, it looks as though Doc Brown and Marty McFly will take to the stage in New York City in 2023.

Unsurprisingly, the plot of the musical is very close to the film:

“When Marty McFly finds himself transported back to 1955 in a time machine built by the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, he accidentally changes the course of history. Now he's in a race against time to fix the present, escape the past and send himself... back to the future.”

Back to the Future creator, Bob Gale told Digital Spy that this is the closest fans will get to a sequel.

“People, of course, had been clamoring for more Back to the Future forever and we had steadfastly said no, we're not going to do a Part IV, and we don't want to reboot it,” he said. “We set a really high bar for ourselves with those three movies, and we don't want people coming out of a remake saying, ‘Man, they messed it up.’”

Gale adds that the musical is “a way to revisit it without tampering with the lore of the movie. Nobody who sees the musical is ever going to get it confused with the movie and that has worked really well to our advantage."

The musical, it seems, aims to capture the nostalgia fans feel for the original. And it’s working.

“When people say, ‘I want to see Back to the Future Part IV,’ what they're really saying is, ‘I want to see a Back to the Future movie that makes me feel the same way I felt when I saw that first movie.’ That's a tall order, but I think that the musical fulfils that.”

Back to the Future – The Musical heads to Broadway in 2023. Sign up at the official website for first access and priority ticket information.

Read more about Back to the Future with our full look at the recent LEGO DeLorean, and find out where the film ranked in our top 25 sci-fi films of all time.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

PC builders, rejoice: After years of a shortage causing painfully high costs, graphics cards are finally returning to slightly more affordable prices.

According to a report by Digital Trends, the prices of both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards are on their way down. Newer cards are becoming notably cheaper, with Nvidia's RTX 3090 Ti now at 16% under MSRP and AMD's RX 6950 XT at 4% below MSRP.

Nvidia's lower-end graphics cards, however, are still suffering from inflation, with cards like the RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti sitting at above 10% of their MSRPs.

While some graphics cards are still dealing with the impact of the shortage, these new prices are still a notable improvement — around a year ago, Nvidia's graphics cards, which were in high demand for cryptocurrency miners, reached around 300% of their original MSRP, while AMD cards peaked at above 200%.

As Digital Trends pointed out, new price improvements are likely due to the current cryptocurrency crash as well as supply chain improvements, making graphic cards more readily available and less desirable for crypto farmers.

In February 2021, Biden signed an executive order pledging to review the supply chain issues causing shortages. Previously, Intel's CEO announced that the ongoing chip shortage might lead into 2023, though with the new improvements in GPU pricing, it looks like that might not be the case for much longer.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

PC builders, rejoice: After years of a shortage causing painfully high costs, graphics cards are finally returning to slightly more affordable prices.

According to a report by Digital Trends, the prices of both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards are on their way down. Newer cards are becoming notably cheaper, with Nvidia's RTX 3090 Ti now at 16% under MSRP and AMD's RX 6950 XT at 4% below MSRP.

Nvidia's lower-end graphics cards, however, are still suffering from inflation, with cards like the RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti sitting at above 10% of their MSRPs.

While some graphics cards are still dealing with the impact of the shortage, these new prices are still a notable improvement — around a year ago, Nvidia's graphics cards, which were in high demand for cryptocurrency miners, reached around 300% of their original MSRP, while AMD cards peaked at above 200%.

As Digital Trends pointed out, new price improvements are likely due to the current cryptocurrency crash as well as supply chain improvements, making graphic cards more readily available and less desirable for crypto farmers.

In February 2021, Biden signed an executive order pledging to review the supply chain issues causing shortages. Previously, Intel's CEO announced that the ongoing chip shortage might lead into 2023, though with the new improvements in GPU pricing, it looks like that might not be the case for much longer.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.

Jackass cast member Steve-O says the show was “legitimately a bad influence” on kids.

Appearing on the podcast Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson, the 48-year-old Jackass star explained why the show deserved its edgy reputation.

“I think in the beginning of Jackass we were genuinely worth vilifying because back then they didn't have YouTube or video on the internet and we were legitimately a bad influence,” he explained.

“When Jackass came out, little kids were showing up in hospitals all over the country and maybe the world because they saw us doing this crazy shit and they wanted to do it themselves,” he added. “So, little kids everywhere got video cameras and started fucking themselves up and showing up in hospitals and getting really hurt.”

The stunt-fuelled show originally aired on MTV in 2000 and followed a cast of performers such as Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O embarking on dangerous, crude, and downright hilarious stunts and pranks.

But the show was often criticized due to copycats getting hurt…

Following the show’s original run, Jackass grew into a media franchise of its own, spawning numerous spin-offs as well as four feature films, including the recent Jackass Forever. Now, the show is set to return with an all-new series on Paramount+.

What makes Jackass more acceptable these days? The rise of YouTube.

“At that time you could really point to us as being a bad influence,” said Steve-O. “But I think over the years, because now that there's so much YouTube, Ridiculousness, so much, it's not our f**king fault anymore.”

Steve-O will presumably return in the new series of Jackass and recently appeared in Jackass Forever.

Jackass Forever stars Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Wee Man, Danger Ehren, Preston Lacy, Zach Holmes, and Jasper Dolphin alongside guests, Erik André Machine Gun Kelly, and others.

Jeff Tremaine directed the film, based on a script by Spike Jonze and Knoxville.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.