Splitgate, the sci-fi portal shooter that transported me back to carefree Quake 3 Arena days, is getting a slew of updates on January 27th with its Beta Season One update. There's a map builder for constructing and sharing stages with friends, a 100 level battle pass, as well as new One Flag CTF and Evolution modes. (The latter gives the losing team of every round increasingly powerful weapons.) Developer 1047 Games also says the Foregone Destruction map is getting a major fidelity bump, which should be a sign of similar upgrades coming to other maps.

“Our custom map creator will continue to evolve alongside the rest of the game,” Ian Proulx, CEO of 1047 Games, said in a statement. “We’re looking at the map creator as an evolutionary tool driven by the community — it’s a robust feature for fans to play with day one of our new season, and we’re really interested in hearing feedback from the community regarding the types of features and tools they want.”

All of this sounds like great news for Splitgate fans—at least, the few who've stuck around. According to SteamDB, the game is currently seeing 1,000 to 2,500 players per day, a far cry from its 67,000 player peak five months ago. I'd wager the launch of Halo Infinite's free multiplayer mode in December didn't help (that's where all my free time has been spent lately), but Splitgate's popularity has also steadily dropped since its open beta last August. 

Sure, it was impressive that Splitgate hit 10 million downloads in under 30 days, but with the plethora of free shooters out there, 1047 Games will need to do more to actually keep people interested for the game's full release. A hardcore fanbase isn't enough.

Twitter Communities, a topic-based groups feature that landed on iOS and the web last year, has arrived on Android. In the latest version of Twitter's Android app, you'll be able to find groups related to your interests and chat with like-minded people.

There are communities for interests as varied as plants, skincare, space, design, fashion, Xbox and R&B. There's even one where you can share your Wordle scores if you want to be part of that conversation without annoying your followers.

Although users can't set up their own community as easily as they might with say, a Facebook Group or subreddit, they can suggest a new one that they'd like to create and moderate. Twitter says it will keep them in mind as it adds more communities.

Twitter has laid out some of its other plans for Communities in 2022. For one thing, it's looking into a third type of membership beyond invite-only and open-to-all formats, in which users could request to join. Admins and mods would be able to let them in or deny the request. Also in the pipeline are a ranked timeline (though the chronological timeline will still be available), Q&As and ways for mods to highlight some of a community's best content.

Instagram creators are getting another way to create income from the platform: subscriptions. A very small number of influencers in the US have access to the feature for now as Instagram tests the feature.

At the outset, they'll be able to put some livestreams and stories behind a paywall. Those stories, which can be saved to subscribers-only highlights, have a purple ring to make them stand out, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said.

As with Twitch and YouTube, subscribers will receive a purple badge next to their usernames. Creators can see the badge in comments, messages and elsewhere. As such, they'll be able to devote more of their attention to subscribers, if they like.

More subscription features may be added in the future. Mosseri also said his team is working on ways for creators to export their subscriber lists and "bring them off of Instagram to other apps and websites built by other companies."

Creators will be able to set a monthly price of their choosing and followers can subscribe via a button on their profile. Instagram plans to expand the test to more creators in the coming months and parent company Meta previously said it won't take a cut of creators' earnings until at least 2023.

"This will help creators earn more by offering benefits to their most engaged followers like access to exclusive Lives and Stories," said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Instagram's parent company Meta. "I'm excited to keep building tools for creators to make a living doing creative work and to put these tools in more creators' hands soon."

Facebook added subscriptions in 2019. It seemed inevitable that, given the platform's popularity and large number of influencers, the option would come to Instagram as well. Mosseri previously said creators would be one of Instagram's major areas of focus this year, and subscriptions certainly play into that. It follows Instagram offering creators payouts for hitting certain livestreaming targets and other monetization features.

Last summer, Zuckerberg announced plans to invest $1 billion in creators by the end of 2022. With so many influencers finding big audiences on other platforms (many of which are investing heavily in creators), the company was left with little choice but to try and draw them to Facebook and Instagram with the promise of payouts.

After being pushed back from its original 2021 release date, Drinkbox Studios’ playful shape-shifting RPG is available at last on Xbox and PC.

From the makers of Guacamelee and Severed, Nobody Saves the World is crammed with Drinkbox’s signature self-aware humor and vivid art style while paying homage to classic RPGs from the 90s. Inspired by Final Fantasy Tactic’s Job system, the game’s titular hero Nobody can shapeshift into 18 different off-kilter forms including an egg, slug, and even a bodybuilder to complete quests and clear out dungeons.

The game’s overworld and top-down aesthetic will be immediately familiar to fans of other classics like Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Drinkbox also tacks new-school twists on the genre with clever level design and quirky combat that includes moves like the magician’s confetti bomb. But the fun really amps up once you get the ability to mix-and-match attacks between forms, which unlocks more than a hundred combos to help dispatch foes.

If the game’s gorgeous 2D sprites weren’t enough to catch your attention, Nobody Saves the World also features a soundtrack from composer Jim Guthrie, whose music has been featured in titles such as Superbother: Sword & Sworcery, Indie Game: The Movie, and others.

Nobody Saves the World is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and PC (Steam) for $25, or via subscription as part of Xbox Games Pass on Xbox consoles, Windows PCs, and Xbox Cloud streaming.

Apple is nearly ready to release its tale of WeWork's tragic fall. The company has announced that its Apple TV+ limited series WeCrashed will premiere March 18th. The eight-episode drama stars Jared Leto as former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, who wielded hype to earn a $47 billion valuation only to lose most of it (and his job) when the IPO process revealed ugly financials and leadership. Anne Hathaway plays Adam's wife Rebekah, who served as an executive (including the head of WeGrow) and whose relationship with Adam was "at the center of it all," according to Apple.

The trailer sets expectations quickly. The Neumanns portrayed by Leto and Hathaway are full of overly grand visions, portraying WeWork as nothing less than the future, a "movement" aiming to "elevate the world's consciousness." The clip also highlights the cult-like devotion to the company and its notoriously summer camp-like retreats. It's not certain how well the performances will hold up across a whole series, but Apple at least seems to understand how WeWork's reality was never going to match the buzz.

This isn't the first streaming take on WeWork's rise and sudden decline. Hulu's 2021 documentary was an imperfect but prominent take on the Neumann couple. Apple's effort clearly has star power, however, and the behind-the-camera talent has experience with well-received titles like Little America and This is Us. If nothing else, it's clear Apple hasn't given up its TV+ strategy of counting on big names to draw in viewers, even if the projects are slightly unusual.

Amazon's The Lord of the Rings series is scheduled to debut on Prime Video in September, which might just be far enough away to get used to the unwieldy title. The company revealed the full name of the show — The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — in a short video.

“This is a title that we imagine could live on the spine of a book next to J.R.R. Tolkien’s other classics,” showrunners J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay said in a statement. “The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.”

The video shows what looks like a few valleys with wispy fog before we see what's actually going on. Molten metal fills in the grooves before it's cooled with water. The camera then zooms out to reveal the show's name. The clip was shot using practical effects instead of CGI.

The teaser doesn't feature any characters or provide plot details. There's plenty of time for that in future trailers. However, the narration underscores the fact the show will once again focus on the 20 rings at the heart of the LOTR saga — just in case the title didn't do enough to hammer that home.

Apple's latest TV+ sci-fi series is decidedly stranger than usual — but also one of its most star-studded. The tech firm has released the first trailer for Severance, a Black Mirror-like thriller depicting the horrors of trying too hard to achieve an ideal work-life balance. The show stars Parks and Recreation's Adam Scott as Mark, an office worker who volunteers for surgery that completely splits his personal and workplace memories. As you might guess, the procedure isn't as innocuous as it sounds — Mark finds himself questioning both his work and his identity.

Ben Stiller is an executive producer alongside show creator Dan Erickson. Scott isn't the only major star, either. Patricia Arquette (also a producer), John Turturro and Christopher Walken are also part of the cast.

Severance debuts February 18th. There's no guarantee it will be a hit, but it comes right as Apple is racking up awards nominations for multiple shows and movies. Apple TV+ appears to be finding its footing in the streaming world, and it's now a question of whether the service can keep that momentum going with high-profile efforts like this.

Disney+ is finally close to releasing Moon Knight. The Marvel series is now set to debut March 30th, and the trailer shows just how the streaming service will handle the mercenary turned superhero. Oscar Isaac stars as Steven Grant, a gift shop worker who has trouble distinguishing not just between dreams and waking life, but between identities — he learns he shares a body with the mercenary Marc Spector. The two identities have to reconcile while grappling with a threat among Egyptian gods, eventually coalescing into the show's namesake knight.

The series also stars Ethan Hawke and Ramy's May Calamawy. Mohamed Diab and the duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead directed the season. The Umbrella Academy's Jeremy Slater is the lead writer, with Marvel Cinematic Universe guru Kevin Feige serving as one of several executive producers.

Moon Knight is one of several MCU "Phase Four" shows announced in 2019, including now-available projects like WandaVision and Hawkeye as well as yet-to-air productions like Ms. Marvel and She Hulk. In some ways, it represents the next wave of Disney+ content. Disney is confident enough to bank less on connections to popular Marvel movies and more on new stories, even if it's still leaning on stars like Isaac (himself no stranger to Disney) to attract viewers.

A show that stars three actors who all identify as being on the autism spectrum will debut on Amazon Prime Video this week. Rick Glassman, Albert Rutecki and Sue Ann Pien play three 20-something roommates who are also on the spectrum in As We See It.

Creator Jason Katims is best known for his work on Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, which featured a character with Asperger’s syndrome. He said all of As We See It's “neurodiverse roles were cast with neurodiverse actors” and “two neurotypical roles were cast with neurodiverse actors," according to Disability Scoop. Some writers, editors and other crew members are neurodiverse too.

Katims said his son has autism, and their experience inspired As We See It. "I think the show affords us a window into the hearts and souls of three-dimensional, loving, beautiful, complicated human beings who happen to be on the autistic spectrum, played by actors who identify as being autistic," Katims said. "It shouldn’t be revolutionary. But it sort of is."

Several other shows from recent years have featured characters with autism, including Netflix's Atypical, The Good Doctor, Prime Video series The A Word and even Sesame Street. However, it's rarer for a series to feature characters with autism played by performers who themselves are on the spectrum. As such, As We See It could bolster authentic on-screen representations of autism.

All eight episodes of As We See It's first season will hit Prime Video on Friday.

You won't have to wait as long for Netflix's Cuphead show as you did for the video game. Netflix has revealedThe Cuphead Show premieres February 18th, and has offered a trailer to show just what you can expect. At first glance, fans of the difficult-but-loveable side-scroller don't have much to worry about — Studio MDHR's signature 1930s art style and characters have successfully made the leap, even if this is still a modern cartoon in many respects.

The trailer shows Cuphead and his easily-persuaded brother Mugman getting into plenty of trouble by visiting the "Carnevil," among other hijinks. They'll have to contend with the Devil and King Dice as well as friends that include Ms. Chalice (from the game's upcoming Delicious Last Course DLC), Elder Kettle and the pig shopkeeper. You can also see several of the game's lesser bosses make cameo appearances in the clip.

The series stars voice acting veterans Tru Valentino and Frank Todaro as Cuphead and Mugman respectively, with Wayne Brady as King Dice. It's too early to say if The Cuphead Show will be as popular as some of Netflix's other video game endeavors, but the influence of Studio MDHR creators Chad and Jared Moldenhauer (who helped executive-produce the show) is clear. This appears to be a sincere nod to what made the game special, not just an attempt to milk its success and widen its audience.