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Twitter has shared more details about the upcoming changes to its API that will require most developers to pay in order to keep using its developer tools. In an update, the company said that there will be “a new form of free access” that will allow “Tweet creation of up to 1,500 Tweets per month.”

That clarification means that many of Twitter’s so-called “good” bots — the automated accounts that tweet everything from historical photos to helpful reminders — will be able to continue on the platform. Previously, the future of these accounts was uncertain as many bot makers said they would not pay for API access.

However, the 1,500 monthly limit on tweet creation could still impact bots that tweet most frequently. Fifteen hundred tweets a month works out to roughly 50 tweets a day, which could be problematic for Twitter’s most active bots. The company also granted a short reprieve for developers about to lose API access, saying that it had extended the current version of the API until February 13th.

After that, developers wishing to access the “paid basic” tier of Twitter’s API will need to pay $100 a month, according to Twitter. The company also confirmed that it would be ending the Premium API, and that subscribers would have the option to apply for the Enterprise version of the service. The company still hasn’t weighed in on what, if any, options will be available to researchers currently using Twitter’s developer tools for their projects.

With the start of season two around the corner, Activision has shared what Call of Duty fans can expect from Warzone 2.0 come February 15th. As previously teased, the update will introduce Ashika Island, a new map for players to fight over. Pulling on Japan for inspiration, the battleground marks the return of Warzone’s Resurgence mode. The mode allows your operator to respawn more than once per match, provided at least one of your teammates is still alive. You can shorten the countdown before your squad member returns by doing things like taking out enemy players.

Activision

Ashika Island landmarks include a feudal castle complete with springtime cherry blossoms and the wreckage of two cargo tankers. Continuing with the Japanese theme, Activision is adding Restore Honor, a map-exclusive feature that allows you to earn a bit of in-game cash and intelligence by picking up the dog tag a player leaves behind the first time they die during a match. A new “Path of the Ronin” seasonal event allows you to earn items, including a weapon charm, by completing challenges modeled after the samurai’s Bushido code.

You can read the full list of changes coming to Warzone 2.0, as well as everything that Activision is bringing to Modern Warfare II, on the Call of Duty blog.

Nintendo closed out today's Direct showcase with a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, showing off the game's traversal mechanics and dramatic cinematics. Link takes to the skies above Hyrule on a huge, four-engine drone and in the bucket of a small hot-air balloon, and he drives across the grass on a massive motorized chariot. In one shot, he slides down one rail of a cliffside metal track, Jet Set Radio style.

Tears of the Kingdom is scheduled to hit Switch on May 12th, 2023, and pre-orders are open right now. 

Tears of the Kingdom is the follow-up to Breath of the Wild, which was a wildly successful launch title for the Switch. Nintendo promises the new game will be as vertically expansive as its predecessor, taking Link to the mysterious islands floating above Hyrule.

Here's a pleasant treat from today's Nintendo Direct: the surprise launch of a revamp of the original Metroid Prime for the Switch. The appropriately titled Metroid Prime Remastered boasts much-improved graphics, of course, but it also includes dual-stick controls that are considerably more intuitive. You can use a GameCube-like scheme and other control options, but players used to two decades of console first-person shooters should feel more at home.

The remaster is available now in digital form through the Nintendo eShop for $40. If you prefer a hard copy, you'll have to wait until February 22nd.

This isn't the long-delayed Metroid Prime 4, and there's no word on remasters for the other Prime games. For now, at least, Metroid Dread is the only real way to continue Samus Aran's adventures on the Switch. Look at it this way, though — this is the first time a Metroid FPS has been playable on a handheld console short of some very unofficial GameCube mods. It may do the trick if you want more than a 2D platformer during your daily commute.

Multiple delays and more than a year after it was first supposed to arrive, Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp has a new release date. Nintendo announced today that the remaster will arrive on April 21st. First announced in the summer of 2021, Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp was originally scheduled to hit the Nintendo eShop later that same year. However, Nintendo first delayed the title in the fall of 2021 to give Re-Boot Camp's development team more time to work on the game. The company then subsequently pushed the remake back again after the war in Ukraine began.  

Re-Boot Camp bundles together "reimagined" versions of Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising. The two games, long considered classics of the turn-based strategy genre, were first released by Nintendo on the Game Boy Advance in 2001 and 2003, respectively. Intelligent Systems, best known for its work on the Fire Emblem franchise, was the lead developer on both titles. The remakes will include a level creator that will allow you to share your own scenarios with friends. The games will also support local and online play.     

After years of rumors, Nintendo is finally bringing Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles to its Switch Online service. The company revealed during its latest Nintendo Direct that games from its early handhelds will be available on Switch today.

The Game Boy titles you can spend the entire rest of your week on include Tetris, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, Gargoyle's Quest, Game & Watch Gallery 3, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Wario Land 3 and Kirby's Dream Land. You'll be able to play the games with Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color screen filters and there's support for two-player local and online play.

As for GBA titles, you can play Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames, Kuru Kuru Kururin, Mario Kart Super Circuit, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap today. There's support for four-player multiplayer both locally and online.

The Game Boy titles will be available on the base version of Switch Online. You'll need to plump for the Switch Online + Expansion Pack to access the GBA ones. More titles for both platforms will be added later, including several Zelda titles, Pokémon Trading Card Game, Metroid Fusion and Fire Emblem.

Something is very wrong with Twitter right now, but it’s not clear exactly what. As of Wednesday afternoon, core features, including direct messages and tweets, are not working for large swaths of users.

While some users are able to tweet, many users are receiving messages that they can’t tweet or as they are “over the daily limit for sending Tweets.” A similar message appears when attempting retweets: “Sorry! You’ve have exceeded your Tweet limit. Try retweet again tomorrow.” While rate limiting can in some cases be an anti-spam tactic, the messages are appearing even for accounts that have shared relatively few tweets.

Screenshot via Twitter

In my case, I’ve tweeted less than two dozen times today, and I’m receiving the errors. According to Twitter, the “technical limit” for accounts is 2,400 tweets and 500 direct messages a day. For now, using Twitter's scheduling function appears to bypass the issue. 

Additionally, direct messages are down for many users. Instead of the normal inbox view, it simply says “Something went wrong. Try reloading.” Previously sent messages are currently inaccessible.

It’s not clear what the source of these issues are. Twitter, which no longer has a communications team, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Developing…

After nearly a decade in development, Pikmin 4 is due to land on the Switch on July 21st, 2023. Nintendo shared a fresh gameplay trailer during today's Direct showcase, featuring a new Pikmin with ice abilities and a friendly dog who helps the little plant buddies on their cosmic adventures.

Apparently, Pikmin games just take a long time to develop, OK? Nintendo head Shigeru Miyamoto said in 2015 that Pikmin 4 was "very close to completion," but that clearly wasn't the case. It's now been 10 years since the release of Pikmin 3, which itself spent eight years in development. Of course, it ended up being an absolutely lovely experience on the Wii U. 

The Wii U. Wow, it really has been a long time since the last Pikmin game came out. That could explain the length of Pikmin 4's production timeline, too, as it entered development at the end of the Wii U's short lifecycle, yet long before the Switch entered the market.

The tug of war over Meta's acquisition of Within is over. Meta has completed its purchase of the virtual reality workout app maker, bringing Supernatural and other projects into the metaverse giant's fold. The two didn't elaborate further on their plans, but Within said in October 2021 that it would continue to develop Supernatural exercise content under Meta's Reality Labs wing.

The deal was in doubt for a while. The Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust suit to block the deal in July 2022, contending that Meta was trying to buy its way into VR dominance by acquiring key developers like Within and Beat Saber creator Beat Games. Meta agreed to delay the acquisition to provide more time. Last week, however, a federal court denied a preliminary injunction to block the merger while the FTC investigated. The commission decided against appealing the loss, but was yet to decide whether or not it would rely on an administrative law judge to stop the union.

The move gives Meta control over one of the most popular VR fitness apps at a crucial moment. Meta is struggling to pivot to the metaverse between steep losses and a lack of clear incentives to spend extensive time in VR. Within gives Meta both a fitness system and a subscription service, albeit one aimed at a relatively niche audience. It also helps Meta compete against a growing wave of headsets that includes PlayStation VR2.

The completion isn't good news for the FTC, however. The Within buyout was an early test of commission chair Lina Khan's crackdown on Big Tech. While there are still other battles to fight, such as the antitrust suit over Microsoft's Activision Blizzard takeover, this suggests the regulator won't have an easy time keeping major companies in check.

Spotify is launching a new feature today called Exclude from your Taste Profile. As its name suggests, it lets you choose playlists — perhaps those played by a child or other family member — that you don’t want affecting your personalized recommendations.

The company says the feature “reduces the impact” the playlists have on your recommended content. So if your child loves jamming out to “Elmo’s Favorite Elmo Songs!” ad nauseam, the new feature should help you avoid hearing similar children’s tunes in your Daily Mix playlists and other algorithmically generated content. (Although we wouldn’t fault you for putting on “Brushy Brush!” while cleaning those pearly whites.)

Exclude from your Taste Profile only works with playlists — not albums or individual songs. Spotify says liked songs within those playlists will still affect your recommendations, so it may be wise to ask family members to ease up on the heart button. The changes will apply retroactively, excluding past and future listens of the unwanted playlists from your recommendations.

Spotify is rolling out the feature “starting today,” suggesting you may not see it immediately. The feature will work on iOS, Android, desktop and the web. Once available, you can exclude music by selecting a playlist, tapping the three-dot menu near the top and selecting “Exclude from your Taste Profile.” In addition, the company says you can turn the feature off at any time using the same process.