Nike has unveiled .Swoosh, a blockchain-based platform for members to collect and eventually create virtual jerseys, shoes and other goods they can wear in games and online spaces. You may get access to real-world products and special events, too. Sign-ups start November 18th, and you'll need an access code to avoid the waiting list.

Nike doesn't start official "programming" until December, and the first community-shaped virtual collection is scheduled to launch in early 2023. If you thought Nike had already dabbled in digital goods, you might be recalling its purchase of RTFKT to accelerate its virtual goods plans, which was almost a year ago.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

The biggest stories you might have missed

• The best laptops and tablets to give as holiday gifts in 2022

• Apple's second-gen AirPods Pro fall to a new all-time low

• Hulu with Live TV adds 14 new channels ahead of next month's price increase

• Amazon reportedly plans sweeping layoffs that could affect thousands of employees

• The original 1997 'Berserk' anime is coming to Netflix on December 1st

• The first-ever Xbox transparency report reveals a surge in bot bans

• Soft robotic device stimulates muscles, sparks hope for ALS and MS patients

Introducing Engadget’s 2022 holiday gift guide

Find gifts for everyone on your list, and maybe even yourself.

Engadget

Our holiday gift guide is back for 2022. There are gift ideas for the audiophile in your life, video gamers, board gamers, frequent travelers, people who work from home and others. Naturally, we also have lists of our favorite laptops, tablets, smart home devices, home theater gear and gaming accessories, too. 

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Twitter fired employees who publicly called out Elon Musk

One of them said 'no one trusts anyone within the company anymore.'

At least three Twitter employees who survived the mass layoffs that cut the company's workforce in half have been fired after calling out their new boss on the platform. One of them is Eric Frohnhoefer, who responded to Elon Musk's tweet apologizing for Twitter being slow in many countries. After a lengthy exchange of tweets, Musk tweeted that Frohnhoefer had been fired.

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Disney brings the first two episodes of 'Andor' to Hulu

TV station ABC will also air the first episode on November 23rd at 9 PM ET.

Disney

Disney announced it would begin airing Andor on ABC, FX, Freeform and Hulu. Starting November 23rd, the expansion means those without access to Disney+ can watch the first two episodes of Tony Gilroy’s Star Wars show. It comes amid questions about just how many people are watching the critically acclaimed show. Disney’s decision to air the show on more platforms would seem to lend weight to suggestions the show has been less popular than The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

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'The Witcher 3' finally hits PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on December 14th

CD Projekt Red says it’ll feature ray tracing and faster load times.

The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will finally be available on December 14th. The studio hasn't shown off what gameplay looks like on those consoles or many details about what's in store, but it plans to reveal more during a livestream event sometime next week. The upgrade will be free for those who bought any version of the game, which debuted in 2015.

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'God of War Ragnarok' and 'Elden Ring' lead the 2022 Game Awards nominees

'Horizon Forbidden West' and 'Stray' each scored a hatful of nominations.

The Game Awards’ host and producer, Geoff Keighley, has revealed the nominees for the ninth edition of the ceremony. God of War Ragarnok (which hit PS4 and PS5 just last week) leads the pack with 10 nominations, followed by Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, with seven each. The terrific Stray also fared well with six nods. All four of those titles have been nominated for Game of the Year, along with A Plague Tale: Requiem and Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

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2022 is winding down, which means it's almost time to reward the folks behind some of the year's best games. While many folks tune into The Game Awards primarily for world premieres, trailers and an inevitable Hideo Kojima sighting, there are, in fact, some trophies to dole out as well. The show's host and producer, Geoff Keighley, has revealed the nominees for the ninth edition of the ceremony.

God of War Ragarnok (which hit PS4 and PS5 just last week) leads the pack with 10 nominations, followed by Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West with seven each. The terrific Stray also fared well with six nods. All four of those are among the Game of the Year nominees. They're joined by A Plague Tale: Requiem and Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

Unsurprisingly, given the strong showings by God of War Ragarnok and Horizon Forbidden West, Sony Interactive Entertainment had the most nominations of any publisher with 20, followed by Annapurna Interactive and Nintendo with 11 each, Bandai Namco with eight and Riot Games with six. A jury made up of representatives from more than 100 publications and influencer outlets determines the nominees (so don't blame Keighley if your favorite didn't make the cut). Voting is open now on The Game Awards' website and Discord server. Fans in China can vote through Bilibili.

There's a new category this year called Best Adaptation, which is for shows and movies based on games. The nominees are Arcane: League of Legends, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, The Cuphead Show!, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Uncharted. Sorry, Halo. It's not hard to imagine HBO's The Last of Us making the cut next year, though.

A ton of other games, big and small, earned nominations across 31 categories (which also include esports and creator awards). Marvel Snap, Immortality, Scorn, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Splatoon 3, Tunic, Cult of the Lamb, Sifu, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, MultiVersus, Vampire Survivor, Diablo Immortal and Overwatch 2 were among the titles that received nods. Of note, there was no love for Apple Arcade or Netflix in the Best Mobile category.

The ceremony takes place on December 8th. If you're not attending in person or watching at an IMAX theater, you'll be able to catch The Game Awards on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Steam, Instagram Live and dozens of other platforms. 

Disney is making one of its best shows of the year more accessible. On Monday, the company announced it would begin airing Andor on ABC, FX, Freeform and Hulu. Starting November 23rd, the expansion will allow those without access to Disney+ to watch the first two episodes of the Tony Gilroy project. That’s just enough to get a sense of Andor’s smart writing, immaculate production and obsession with institutions, but without seeing the conclusion of its initial arc.

The announcement comes after the show arguably had its best episode yet. Anchored by a stellar performance by Stellan Skarsgard, “One Way Out” featured a thrilling prison break and was a neat encapsulation of Andor’s many strengths. It also comes amid questions about just how many people are watching the show.

In October, Parrot Analytics data analyst Brandon Katz shared a graphic that suggested it was lagging behind other live-action Star Wars shows. Katz later retracted his findings, noting he had incorrectly inputted the relevant data. “It’s performing much better than the initial tweet showed,” he said. “It has hit exceptional demand in several instances.”

Even with the retraction, the discourse around Andor has centered around the show’s viewership numbers. Disney’s decision to air the show on more platforms would seem to lend weight to suggestions the show has been less popular than The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts chastised Elon Musk on Sunday after the billionaire’s glib response to a request for information about Twitter’s new verification policies. “Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?” Musk tweeted Sunday morning after Markey criticized the company’s new $8 per month Twitter Blue subscription.

Senator Markey countered: “One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online”. He said, “Fix your companies. Or Congress will.”

Twitter suspended its new paid account verification less than two days after launch. It’s been a disaster. Trolls were able to impersonate celebrities, politicians and brands, leading to chaos. One managed to tank the stock of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, claiming the company would offer insulin for free. Another said Lockheed Martin was reassessing its military contracts with countries and territories with poor human rights records.

It’s only Monday, but it’s already shaping up to be another week filled with Twitter drama. Have you signed up to Mastodon yet? Let me know. I’m still on Twitter. For now.

– Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

• DeviantArt is launching its own AI art generator

• Adaptive 'high-definition' headlights are just around the corner for American drivers

• The best air fryers for 2022

• The best gifts for home cooks in 2022

• Twitter reportedly cuts 4,400 contract workers following mass layoffs

• Samsung SSDs are up to 67 percent off at Amazon

Magic Leap 2 is the best AR headset yet

But will an enterprise focus save the company?

Magic Leap

Magic Leap's glasses were supposed to lead us into the augmented reality era. But despite raising nearly $2 billion by 2020, it didn’t quite happen. Like Google Glass before it, Magic Leap felt like a false start. But the company isn't dead yet. With a new CEO onboard – former Microsoft executive Peggy Johnson – it's aiming for something far more practical: AR for the enterprise. It’s a retread of the HoloLens playbook, sure, but according to Devindra Hardawar, after the endless drumbeat of metaverse hype (mostly from Meta), it’s nice to be genuinely surprised by a new headset. Read on for his impressions.

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Meta layoffs lead to Portal and smartwatch project cancellations

This was after the mass layoffs.

Meta is stopping development on its smart displays and fledgling smartwatch project, according to Reuters. The company's executives reportedly told employees – those left after mass layoffs that saw 11,000 people lose their jobs – that it would end work on Portal devices. The Information reported in June that the Portal made up less than one percent of the global market of smart displays. Meta has yet to release a smartwatch, though there have been multiple reports and leaks over the years. Now, we'll never see it.

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'Star Wars' and Studio Ghibli team up for a Disney+ Grogu short film

It’s streaming now.

Disney

Studio Ghibli recently tweeted a teaser video showing both its logo and Lucasfilm's, as well as a photo of a Grogu figurine. Now we know what those posts are hinting at. Together, the two companies created a short film, hand-drawn by Studio Ghibli. Better yet – you can stream it right now.

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What we bought: Samsung's The Frame TV

Our favorite piece of living room art.

Engadget

Samsung’s The Frame TV series came out in 2017. Engadget’s Amy Skorheim bought a 43-inch model back in 2019 and is a big fan. The picture is bright, the sound is clear and its Tizen OS is easy to figure out – but she forked out over $800 for it. But The Frame does a great job of looking like art hanging on her wall. The thin panel has picture-frame edges and mounts flat against the wall, like a giant photo. The panel connects via a thin wire to an external receiver/port hub/tuner box combo, helping to maintain the illusion of artwork, not a TV panel.

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Berserk, the long-running manga that married fantasy and, well, violence, is coming back to the small screen. The original 25-episode 1997 anime series based on the manga and directed by Naohito Takahashi is coming to Netflix on December 1st, according to ComicBook.com.

As is clear from the trailer below, Berserk is a pitch black and fairly brutal anime that came some eight years after the manga first appeared in Young Animal magazine. The series covers the so-called Golden Age Arc, covering the period when Guts joined the Band Of the Hawk and met the other primary characters, Griffith and Casca. It's considered by some fans to be the best take on the manga, and is said to have inspired or influenced major anime hits like Fullmetal Alchemist and Attack on Titan.

The release of Berserk material from Netflix seemed a fait accompli when it was announced that the streaming service had secured the rights to that franchise, along with Parasyte, Monster and other classic anime. In addition, new material could be coming soon as well, according to a countdown clock that appeared recently on Berserk's official website, pointing to a date in mid-December. Nothing is official yet, but it looks like promising times for fans of the franchise. 

Less than two days after Twitter’s first attempt to charge for account verification ended in disaster, Elon Musk announced the company is working on a new way to authenticate users. On Sunday afternoon, he tweeted the social media website would soon begin rolling out a feature that will allow organizations to identify accounts that are “actually” associated with them.

Musk didn’t say as much, but the feature is almost certainly a partial response to the problems the platform encountered this past week. After the company began rolling out its new $8 per month Twitter Blue subscription on Wednesday, the website was quickly overrun by trolls who used the service to impersonate celebrities and brands. In particular, the situation was a nightmare for businesses and advertisers. As one example, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly’s stock fell by 4.37 percent on Friday after a fake "verified" account said the company was making insulin free. The prank erased about 15 billion from Eli Lilly’s market cap and forced an apology from it.

The announcement would seem to indicate Musk is coming to terms with the fact that a social media platform can’t exist without content moderation. When a user asked him if anyone would be able to use the upcoming feature, Musk responded: “Ultimately, I think there is no choice but for Twitter to be the final arbiter, but I’m open to suggestions.”

That’s something he probably wouldn’t have said before taking over Twitter. Prior to closing the deal, Musk cast himself as a free speech “absolutist.” During his recent TED Talk appearance, he said he was in favor of very little content moderation. “If in doubt, let the speech… let it exist. If it’s a gray area, I would say let the tweet exist,” he said at the time. The problem with that approach is that it has led to an advertiser exodus and a significant drop in revenue for the company. That’s not something Twitter can sustain with its current debt load.

A couple of days ago, Studio Ghibli tweeted a teaser video showing both its logo and Lucasfilm's, as well as a photo of a Grogu figurine. Now we know what those posts are hinting at. Apparently, the two companies worked together to create a short film hand-drawn by Studio Ghibli. It's entitled Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies, starring the beloved alien toddler from The Mandalorian with a strong affinity for the Force and the "susuwatari" from Hayao Miyazaki's animated films My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away.

According to IGN, the short film was directed by Katsuya Kondo, who's known for his character design work and a style that's deeply tied with Studio Ghibli's films. It also features music by Ludwig Göransson, who composed the scores for the previous two seasons of The Mandalorian. Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies, will be available for streaming today November 12th on Disney+, exactly three years after The Mandalorian debuted.

Grogu will be back and will be reunited with "Mando" in the third season of The Mandalorian after leaving to train at Luke's Jedi Temple by the end of the second season. Disney gave fans a glimpse of what they can expect when the show comes back sometime next year in a trailer released during the company's D23 expo in September. 

Remedy has yet to show its co-op Control spinoff, but that isn't stopping the developer from unveiling a true follow-up. The company and its publisher 505 Games have announced joint development of Control 2 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. This isn't exactly a shock when the two teased a "bigger-budget" title (now known to be the sequel) last year, but it's good news for anyone who misses exploring the Oldest House.

The creators haven't shared any details of the plot, game mechanics or release date. Even the teaser image shares little besides what's likely a Control Point. Control 2 will still use Remedy's Northlight engine, however, and that budget is a sizeable $51.5 million. Work is still in the "concept stage," Remedy says.

The commitment to a sequel makes sense given the performance of the original, and despite the lack of news about the spinoff. Control has sold 3 million copies since its 2019 debut, and 1 million of those reached gamers' hands since June of last year. The third-person action game has also received critical praise that includes 20 "game of the year" awards. Simply speaking, the franchise already has enduring success — Remedy and 505 are just capitalizing on that sizeable fan base.

Twitter's "official" gray checkmarks seem to making their way back to accounts owned by brands, publishers and other public figures. The website initially rolled out its official badges — the ones you can't buy with its new $8 Blue subscription service — on November 9th. But it paused deployment and pulled them back down from accounts that already had them, including Engadget's, just a few hours later. Twitter VP Esther Crawford explained that the checkmarks will be back, it's just that the social network is going to hand them out to "government and commercial entities" at first.

As The Verge reports, the badge has now started reappearing on brand and company accounts like Coca-Cola's and Nintendo of America's. Twitter's own accounts are also displaying the gray checkmark. And some publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Wired have them now, as well. It's unclear if rollout has truly started this time, and if it has anything to do with the influx of impersonator and parody accounts that have flooded the website since its $8 verification has debuted. 

Twitter

Shortly after the company's paid verification scheme went live, fake accounts shelled out for a subscription and got themselves verified. That led to legitimate-looking accounts tweeting out questionable things, such as a fake Nintendo of America posting a picture of Mario giving Twitter the middle finger and a fake LeBron James announcing that he was requesting a trade. On its support account, Twitter said yesterday that it was not "putting an 'Official' label on accounts" yet, but it's "aggressively going after impersonation and deception." The gray checkmark, however, could help people figure out if they're dealing with actual companies and public figures. 

As a response to the situation, the company implemented a new rule that blocks accounts created on or after November 9th from its $8 Blue subscription to prevent them from getting instant verification. Twitter owner Elon Musk also announced that going forward, accounts doing parody impersonation must include the word "parody" in their name, not just in their bio. That's been a part of Twitter's policy for years, but we're guessing the website will now be enforcing the rule more strictly in light of recent events. 

Netflix is finally ready to dip into livestreaming months after word emerged of its plans. The service has confirmed that Chris Rock will debut a comedy special live on the service sometime in early 2023. He's the "first artist" to receive the distinction, the company says, and the stream will be available worldwide.

The firm revealed its live show strategy following a Deadlinescoop this May. At the time, Netflix said it would focus on unscripted material like stand-up specials, competition shows and an upcoming Netflix is a Joke festival. In theory, you could vote on a reality TV series or watch a raw comedy gig with mistakes intact.

The expansion isn't a shock when some of Netflix's main rivals have at least some form of livestreaming in place. Disney+ livestreamed Oscar nominations in February, and will air live episodes of Dancing With the Stars this fall. Others focus heavily on sports. Amazon Prime Video broadcasts weekly NFL matches, for example, while Apple TV+ has Friday Night Baseball. These offerings give you a reason to either join a service or stay subscribed when you've exhausted the usual on-demand fare.

Netflix also hasn't been shy about experimenting with different formats beyond its linear movies and TV shows. It has offered trivia shows and other interactive programming, and is diving further into mobile games. Livestreams could help Netflix further diversify its content and help it avoid a repeat of this year's subscriber losses.