Articles

Image: Blizzard We are, as the kids say, so friggin’ back. In November, the Overwatch League announced its end after six seasons. At the time, Overwatch League associate PR manager John Nomis said, “We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction,” confirming that while the League itself was dead, Overwatch esports would return. Today, we know what shape competitive Overwatch will take in 2024 with the announcement of the Overwatch...

For the launch of Modern Warfare III, Activision released a new anti-toxicity voice moderation program that could automatically detect toxic speech and take action. Activision now says this program has been very successful so far, leading to more than 2 million accounts having action taken against them for "disruptive" voice chat. The program rolled out originally in North America in English only, but it has since expanded everywhere in the world (except Asia) and has added support for...

Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1 is in full swing, but ever since it began back in December, there's one skin we haven't been able to try out yet: Solid Snake, the hero of Metal Gear Solid, was shown in the debut trailer and has teased us on the landing page ever since. Today, Fortnite finally gets a taste of tactical espionage action, but as it turns out, Snake isn't coming alone. Not only is a friend from MGS joining the fun, but two other collaborations are about to get major expansions...

Half Mermaid, the developer behind 2022's Immortality, is teasing two upcoming projects on the Steam store. Project D seems to be a survival-horror game set in 1983, while Project C is set to be a cinematic experience. Neither project has a release window as of the time of publication. The descriptions of both games are heavily redacted. Project D, which might stand for Doors as per Steam's database registry, is "a survival-horror" with the keywords 1983, nurse, be careful, and nightmare...

23 January 2024Peace and Security Many of the world’s top diplomats are due to meet in the UN Security Council chamber at 2 PM New York time, to debate the deepening crisis in the Gaza Strip and the whole Middle East, against the backdrop of Israel’s unrelenting military operation, mounting death toll and escalating global calls for an immediate ceasefire. We’ll have full live coverage here. Video feed of the Council meeting, expected to start at 2 PM. Secretary-General António...

Image: The Verge This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio industry. Sign up here for more. On Friday, Insiders got part one of a Q&A with NPR’s new podcasting chief, Collin Campbell, who led new show development at Gimlet before the studio was dismantled by Spotify. We discussed how his strategy for NPR differs from his predecessor and how the network is moving forward after last year’s layoffs and cancellations. Today, I have the second part of the...

Image: Schiaparelli When normal people think of couture garments — the extravagant custom designs using all but extinct techniques, materials, and craftsmanship — they probably dream of pieces made with luxurious silks, supple leathers, crystals, and tulle. Daniel Roseberry thinks of your old flip phone. Roseberry, the creative director of French fashion house Schiaparelli, showed the brand’s 2024 couture show in Paris on Monday. Under Roseberry, Schiaparelli shows have become a buzzy...

LG’s C3 OLED TVs offer bright, vivid displays along with several gamer-friendly features. | Image: LG Super Bowl season traditionally brings with it steep discounts on last year’s TVs, and while it’s still some time away, the deals are starting to trickle in. If you want to upgrade your TV ahead of the event, BuyDig is throwing in up to $200 in gift cards when you buy the last-gen LG C3 OLED TV in various configurations. You can, for instance, buy the 77-inch model at its all-time low price...

With the iPhone 15 Pro line, Apple is making a concerted effort to expand into gaming. If you happen to be an owner of that phone--or the bigger Pro Max version--and you're looking to justify your purchase with a AAA game to push the high-tech internal hardware, you can save 50% on a preorder for Death Stranding ahead of its release on January 31. The regular price on this weird post-apocalyptic postal game is $40, but its preorder price is $20. Get preorder deal If you never played it on...

If you watched only one run from 2024's Awesome Games Done Quick event, it was almost certainly Peanut Butter the dog playing Gyromite--putting ROB to shame with his flawless navigation in the pursuit of victory and cheese. Training a dog to do anything isn't easy, and training a Shiba Inu to do anything is even more of a challenge, but streamer and longtime speedrunner JSR_ knew that his furry friend was up to the challenge. He was so sure of it, in fact, that the two spent nine months...