Trump strategist Steve Bannon has resurfaced in an unlikely place: the tech conference circuit. He is currently scheduled as the keynote speaker at the 15th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (or ACE2018), to be hosted at the University of Montana in December. The conference is co-located with the Fourth International Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, although Bannon does not have any apparent connection to that gathering.

The broader scientific community is already pushing back against the invitation. A number of associated academics have pulled out of the conference in the wake of the keynote, as reported by Motherboard. Springer, a leading scientific publisher, has declined to publish the technical proceedings, citing the low quantity of submissions.

Bannon has an often-overlooked background in the tech entertainment industry as the former head of a World of Warcraft gold farming company, but his keynote will focus on more familiar issues of immigration and nationalism. According to organizers, Bannon’s speech will address “how economic nationalism will help minorities (blacks, hispanics, etc.) to obtain more high tech jobs.” Bannon has particularly opposed H-1B visas for foreign workers, resulting in the suspension of expedited processing for the visas shortly after Trump came to office. Bannon has often cited minority unemployment as a justification for the policy in the past, most recently in a speech to a conference for black entrepreneurs in December.

In recent months, that message has become more focused on the tech industry. “We’re not going to solve the problems in this country economically until all classes and races get full access to high value-added technology jobs,” Bannon told GQ in February. “We shouldn’t allow the rest of the world to come and compete for them.”

Those views often extend beyond specific visa clauses and into a general hostility for foreign-born tech workers. “I have a big problem with foreign nationals coming into the country to be to be CEOs of companies,” Bannon said in the same interview. Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella were both born in India, although both men are US citizens. Bannon has also falsely claimed that “two-thirds or three-quarters” of Silicon Valley CEOs are from Asia.

Bannon was also a key figure responsible for the “Muslim ban” executive order in January 2017, which caused widespread protests at US airports as border agents sought to block any entrants from eight majority-Muslim countries. The ensuing chaos extended to tech companies, with Google abruptly ordering more than 180 employees to return to the US for fear of visa issues in the immediate aftermath. Hostility toward guest workers has also bubbled up into violence, as in the case of Garmin engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was killed in a hate crime in Kansas the month after the executive order.

Adrian Cheok, who organized the conference, says he expects Bannon’s stance on H-1B visas to be relevant to many of the attendees. “You’ve got a billion people in China and nearly a billion people in India. Obviously, the tech companies are going to be able to get highly experienced workers at lower cost, so there’s not as much incentive to train minority workers,” Cheok told The Verge. “I’m half-Malaysian-Chinese. I have nothing against Chinese people. But it’s simple mathematics.”

Still, that logic may not sit well with the conference’s sponsors, Samsung and Tencent, which are based in Korea and China, respectively. The Verge reached out to both companies for comment but did not hear back in time for publication. Bannon also did not respond to a request for comment.

Apple released iOS 12.1 yesterday, adding support for a second SIM card to the iPhone XS and XR through the use of a digital eSIM. Apple may have technically added support for eSIM cards, but none of the major US carriers are ready for it. According to a report from MacRumors, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are all delaying their adoption of eSIM until later this year. (Sprint wasn’t included in Apple’s original announcement, but it told PCMag that it will support eSIM at some point.)

So if you’re a US cellular customer, you can’t actually use a second SIM with your phone unless you’re using one of the international carriers that do support eSIM.

According to MacRumors’ report, AT&T is delaying the implementation of eSIM for its customers due to issues with Visual Voicemail. Verizon had already announced its delay yesterday; the company is focusing on resolving issues where Verizon lines used as a secondary number in an iPhone dual-SIM setup would be stuck on 2G CDMA speeds before offering eSIM support. T-Mobile commented to PCMag that it’s also still working on its eSIM support, which will be available once its software is ready.

Apple’s website notes that all three of those carriers will offer eSIM support “later this year,” so hopefully these various technical issues will be resolved shortly. Since the iPhone can only offer dual-SIM support if one of those SIM cards is an eSIM, you can’t take advantage of the feature with US carriers until at least one of them gets things working.

Fortnite is almost as popular as Mario and Zelda amongst Switch owners, according to Nintendo. During the company’s most recent financial briefing, Nintendo revealed that Epic’s battle royale game has been installed on “nearly half” of all Switch systems. The company also notes that the game is popular globally, “not just in the US and Europe but also in Japan.”

While Nintendo didn’t reveal a specific number of downloads, the Switch has currently sold just over 22 million units to date. That means that around 10 million of those tablets have Fortnite installed, a significant jump from the 2 million downloads Epic saw during the game’s first 24 hours of availability after it debuted on the Switch in June.

To put that number in perspective, the top selling Switch game is Super Mario Odyssey, at 12.17 million units, while launch title The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has sold a touch over 10 million. Of course, Fortnite is free to download, so the comparisons aren’t exactly equal. Still, it shows just how popular Epic’s game is on Nintendo’s device — and the upcoming holiday season, combined with a Fortnite Switch bundle, should only see that popularity grow.

Not long ago, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the legendary game designer behind musical classics Rez and Lumines, was on vacation with his family in Hawaii. When he looked out the window of his Airbnb, his view was dominated by a lush, green golf course. As he stared outside, he couldn’t help but see very specific shapes in the grass. “I found a tetromino in the golf course,” he says.

What Mizuguchi experienced is something known as “the Tetris effect,” a condition where people spend so much time doing a particular activity that it begins to invade their thoughts. It’s named after the classic puzzle game, where falling blocks have been to known to enter players’ dreams if they play too much. Tetris Effect also happens to be the name of Mizuguchi’s next game.

Tetris Effect launches on November 9th on the PS4, and it mashes the block-falling puzzle game with Mizuguchi’s trademark synthesis of zen-like gameplay and music. It’s also a game that the designer has been thinking about for some time. Mizuguchi says he grew up playing Tetris in Tokyo arcades, and when Sony first announced the PSP back in 2004, he thought it would be the perfect platform for a musical take on the game. Unfortunately, licensing issues meant he couldn’t make Tetris, so he went ahead and made his own block-falling game Lumines.

But he didn’t stop thinking of tetrominoes.

Photo by Sam Byford / The Verge

Over the years, Mizuguchi became close friends with Henk Rogers, founder of the Tetris Company. Eventually, Rogers became interested in letting the Lumines creator explore Tetris, sorting out a licensing deal that allowed development to begin. In a lot of ways, it’s a perfect fit. Tetris is known for creating a zen-like experience where players stop thinking and just react. Some call it being in “the zone.” It’s a feeling Mizuguchi has been chasing with his most iconic games; syncing up with the music in Lumines creates a similar state of mind, as does losing yourself to the abstract shooter Rez.

That feeling, or state, is already possible in Tetris, of course, so Mizuguchi’s goal was to enhance it. He likens it to architecture: the foundation was already in place, he just needed to add some flourishes. “Tetris has this really strong construction,” he explains. “If we can amplify that, and add something — the sound and the visual magic — in an interactive process, then you can feel more.”

Tetris Effect is a surprisingly technologically advanced game, considering it’s based on a title that’s more than three decades old and was especially popular on the original monochrome Game Boy. It supports 4K visuals with advanced particle effects that the developer says are pushing the limits of what the PS4 can handle. The result is a kaleidoscopic effect that can feel all-encompassing at times. You’re surrounded by trippy sounds and visuals while you try to match up blocks.

The game also supports PlayStation VR. Mizuguchi has already toyed with virtual reality with the “Area X” section of Rez Infinite, which created a beautiful, free-roaming space for players to explore. While VR hasn’t necessarily taken off like many expected it would, it’s a platform that works particularly well for the games the designer makes. “Putting on the VR helmet, usually, that’s a negative. But we wanted to turn that into a positive,” explains Tetris Effect producer Mark MacDonald. “You’re not staring at your phone. You’re not being bothered by all of the normal stuff. When you’re in VR, you’re blocking out the rest of the world. And as a game that’s designed around having you get out of your head, relax for a bit, and escape, that’s a huge plus.”

Tetris Effect is a game that can be hard to explain. Even after watching a trailer, you probably won’t fully grasp how clearing away columns of blocks can be an emotional journey. Instead, the developers are releasing a limited-time demo of the game to let players experience it as a teaser. The demo launches tomorrow, and you’ll be able to play it until November 5th before the game’s full release on the 9th.

Earlier this month, Mizuguchi and MacDonald were in Portland at the Classic Tetris World Championship, where a 16-year-old named Joseph Saelee put on a shocking performance, defeating seven-time champion Jonas Neubauer to take the title. A clip of his performance went viral. You can see from the determination on his face that Saelee is in that “zone,” acting instinctively as he racks up an impossibly high score. At one point, Neubauer can’t help but clap for the dominating show his competitor is putting on. The crowd went wild.

“It was what we hoped Tetris Effect would be,” says MacDonald of the event. “People were getting really emotional.”

“I almost cried,” adds Mizuguchi.

Amazon regularly hosts deals on its own devices, though we’re seeing the best price yet on the Amazon Fire TV Cube at HSN. Normally $119.99, it’s being offered for a limited time at $59.99.

The Fire TV Cube is usually much more expensive than Amazon’s other 4K streaming options, the new Fire TV Stick 4K, which runs for $49.99. If you have the chance to grab the Fire TV Cube at a discount, you should probably jump at the opportunity. It can intelligently bridge the gap between your disparate, usually uncooperative home entertainment center devices, and can turn them off or on with your voice.

Based on the info provided by HSN, this Fire TV Cube doesn’t come with Amazon’s new Alexa remote that features volume or power control. Of course, you can always purchase it separately and still net some decent savings, or you can wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday, when Amazon will likely discount the version of the Cube that includes the improved remote. Also, CNET points out that shipping isn’t free, so if you’re a Prime member, this deal might not move the needle too much.