‘Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’ arrives on PS5 next fall

Sony announced the release window today for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the sequel to 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man and 2020’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The PlayStation 5 exclusive will launch in the fall of 2023.

Insomniac Games’ sequel continues the stories of Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they take on Venom, briefly teased in the first two games. We still don’t know much about the web-slinging sequel, but at least we now have a narrower release window.

Last year’s reveal trailer sets up the action:

In the official PlayStation blog, Sony reiterated its 2023 roadmap beyond the superhero sequel. Square Enix’s role-playing game Forspoken is a frantic new IP arriving on January 24th. Hogwarts Legacy, the long-delayed Harry Potter adventure, finally hits the PS5 on February 10th and PS4 on April 4th. Meanwhile, Destiny 2: Lightfall, the game’s seventh expansion, launches for PS5/4 on February 28th, while the Resident Evil 4remake is heading to PS5/4 on March 24th. Final Fantasy XVI, introducing more in-depth combat for the series, launches for PS5 in the second or third quarter. PlayStation hardware is also coming next year, starting with Sony’s premium and customizable DualSense Edge Wireless Controller, launching on January 26th for $200. Finally, PS VR2, the follow-up to Sony’s six-year-old virtual reality headset, will cost $550 when it arrives on February 22nd.

FuboTV blames World Cup outage on cyberattack

Some soccer fans may have missed Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final between France and Morocco because of a FuboTV outage. The streaming service says that it was not knocked offline due to demand or reaching bandwidth limitations. Instead, it claims to have been the victim of a cyber attack.

At 9:20AM ET on Wednesday, Fubo reported that users may have been unable to log into their account or create a new one. The issue logged some users out of the FuboTV app as well. On its status page, Fubo apologized to those who were having issues while trying to watch the game, and directed them to a free, 60-minute livestream preview on Fox’s website.

“While this ongoing issue has been resolved for some users, we are aware that many users are still unable to access the FuboTV app and website at this time,” a message posted on Fubo’s status page at midnight reads. “Our teams remain engaged and will be working into the night to fully resolve this issue.” 

Even though Fubo claimed that service was fully restored on Wednesday evening, the status page still said that account creation, password reset requests and streaming functions remained disrupted as of 12:45PM on Thursday. In any case, fingers crossed everything goes more smoothly for Sunday’s World Cup final between Argentina and France.

Fubo said it took steps to contain the attack as soon as it discovered what was going on. It has reported the incident to law enforcement and it brought in third-party cybersecurity experts to look into what happened and how.

“Our investigation is at an early stage, but we are committed to transparency regarding this incident,” Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler wrote in a note to users. “We will provide an update at an appropriate time when we have more information to share.”

Amazon will publish the next Tomb Raider game

Lara Croft is making a return with the help of Amazon Games. The company will publish the next Tomb Raider title, which Crystal Dynamics is developing. Amazon said the studio is using Unreal Engine 5 to craft the biggest and most expansive Tomb Raider game to date.

It’ll likely be a few years before you can get your hands on the next Tomb Raider game, which is coming to multiple platforms. It’s still in early development, but Amazon says it’ll retain all of the franchise’s hallmarks. This will be a single-player game with “an environment that rewards exploration and creative pathfinding.” Naturally, you’ll solve puzzles and battle a variety of enemies. The game will continue Lara’s story rather than being another reboot (so it’s probably not going to be the Tomb Raider 2 remake some have been hoping for).

This will be the first mainline Tomb Raider game since 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider (mobile title Tomb Raider Reloaded arrived earlier this year). Embracer Group recently bought Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal and Square Enix Montreal from Square Enix in a cut-price $300 million deal. Embracer snagged the intellectual property rights to Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and dozens of other games from Square Enix as well. The gaming giant also plans to revive Deus Ex in Unreal Engine 5.

“Crystal Dynamics has an extraordinary opportunity following our acquisition by Embracer to redefine what a publishing relationship is for Tomb Raider,” Crystal Dynamics head of studio Scot Amos said in a statement. “Transformative is what we’re looking for, and with Amazon Games, we found a team that shares our creative vision, ambitions and values for a Lara Croft universe across the spectrum of possibilities. They’re uniquely positioned to rewrite what publishing and development collaborations are, and we’re eager to forge this new path together, starting with building the biggest and best Tomb Raider game yet!”

Amazon has been making more waves in game publishing recently. It had another hit on its hands when it brought Smilegate’s Lost Ark to North America, South America and Europe earlier this year. Last week, Amazon revealed that it will bring Bandai Namco’s upcoming free-to-play multiplayer RPG Blue Protocol to the west. Amazon Games will be moving into new territory with Tomb Raider, as that will be its first single-player narrative title.

Nothing Phone 1 is coming to America in Android 13 ‘testing program’

The Nothing Phone 1 is heading to the US, although not yet to the entire public. Founder Carl Pei tweeted this morning that the US will be part of a “testing program” for Nothing OS 1.5 Beta, the handset maker’s custom Android 13 software.

It’s Pei’s second public statement this month teasing a US phone release. Earlier this month, he said his company was “in discussions with some carriers in the US to potentially launch a future product there,” citing US wireless companies’ “unique customizations” for initially skipping it. Earlier this year, the company said the phone wouldn’t be coming to North America, and it isn’t clear if that changed or if he’s targeting an unannounced smartphone for the US market. With Nothing saying it’s sold 500,000 phones without stateside availability, it may be in a stronger position than it was a year ago to negotiate with Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T.

While US residents wait for more news about the program, those who already own the Phone 1 can sign up for the beta today, which includes Android 13 features like finer privacy controls and new Material You themes. Nothing says its beta software can load apps up to 50 percent faster.

The Nothing Phone 1 was launched earlier this year in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In Engadget’s review, Mat Smith praised its unique design, Glyph interface and solid specs for a mid-range price. The Phone 1 costs £399, which currently translates to $487.

Instagram’s latest feature helps hacked users regain account access

Instagram is introducing more safety and security tools. These include a hub where people can go to report and resolve account access issues they’re having. This could be hugely beneficial for hacked users who are struggling to regain access to their accounts.

If you can’t log in, you can visit the hub on the Instagram website. Instagram will ask whether the issue concerns a hacked account, forgotten password, impersonation, loss of two-factor authentication method or disabled account. Once you select the issue, you can follow a string of steps to help you access your account again.

One method you can use to verify an account is actually yours is to ask others to confirm your identity. If you get locked out of an account, you can get two Instagram friends to verify your identity. Instagram started testing this feature earlier this year and now it’s available to everyone. Your friends will have 24 hours to respond to the request. If they do, Instagram will let you reset your password. 

Screenshots of Instagram's
Instagram

Meanwhile, Instagram says it’s employing more measures to prevent account hacking in the first place. The service is removing accounts that its systems deem malicious, such as those that are impersonating others. A new test involves sending you a warning “if an account that we suspect may be impersonating someone requests to follow you.” In the coming months, Instagram will start sending warnings to those who get a DM from an account that may be impersonating a business.

On top of all that, you’ll start seeing the blue badge for verified accounts in more places. Along with profiles, you’ll now see the badge on Stories and DMs. The badge will show up in the feed soon as well. Instagram says this will help users know if an account they’re interacting with is the real deal.

The best smartwatches for 2023

Just a few years ago, the case for buying a smartwatch was unclear. The market wasn’t as saturated as it is today, and features were more limited. Today, the wearable world is filled with various high-quality options, and a few key players, like the Ap…

Google’s smart home devices now support the Matter standard

The Matter standard can only simplify the use of smart home devices from various brands if products actually support it. Today, Google has announced that it has enabled Matter support for its Nest and Android devices — you don’t even have to download or install any update. That means the Google Home speaker, Google Home Mini, Nest Mini, Nest Audio, Nest Hub (1st and 2nd gen), Nest Hub Max and the new Nest WiFi Pro, can now serve as a hub for Matter that you can use to control your smart home. 

Google has also rolled out Matter support for Fast Pair on Android, and the tech giant says it will give you the capability to pair Matter-enabled devices to your home network “as quickly as you can pair a set of headphones.” Once your devices are connected, this feature will also make it easy to link Matter devices with apps and smart home ecosystems. In addition, the tech giant has updated the Nest Wi Pro, the Nest Hub Max and the Nest Hub (2nd gen) to function as Thread border routers. That way, you can use them to connect products that support Thread, the networking protocol for low-power devices such as smart locks, to your home network. 

The Connectivity Standards Alliance, which Google is a part of, has been working on the Matter standard since 2019 to solve the smart home space’s fragmentation issue and make it easier to use products from different companies. It originally intended to launch the standard in 2021, but it had to delay Matter’s release a couple of times before it finally rolled out the standard’s version 1.0 specification and product certification program this October. Shortly after Matter officially came out, Samsung announced that it’s working with Google so that you can easily add devices already set up with SmartThings to Google Home, and vice versa. Amazon, one of the Alliance’s other founders, also listed the 17 Echo devices that will support the standard starting this month. 

While very few products are Matter-enabled at the moment, Google says you’ll see more come out these holidays and in early 2023. All devices that support the standard will be marked with the Matter badge and will work with the aforementioned Google products and all other Matter devices out of the box.