As of today, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S (with free upgrades from PS4 and Xbox One), as well as Nintendo Switch. Although Activision Blizzard said the game would arrive on PC later this year, you actually won't have to wait long at all for that.
According to a launch trailer for the new console versions, Crash 4 will land on Blizzard's Battle.net launcher on March 26th. The game costs $40 on PC, the same price as on Switch. It's more expensive on PS5 and Series X/S ($60), but you can expect native 4K and 60 FPS gameplay on PS5 and Xbox Series X, and upscaled 4K/60 FPS on Series S. The PS5 version also offers haptic feedback through the DualSense controller.
The infectious and delightful soundtrack to PlayStation 5 exclusive Astro’s Playroom is now available to listen to outside of the game. As Polygon notes, you can stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and Tidal (if you’re fancy like that). For those who prefer to own their media, it’s $11 on Apple Music and Amazon Music.
Not only is Astro’s Playroom one of the PS5’s best games at the moment and a compelling tech demo, it’s also available to download for free. Penned by composer Kenneth C.M. Young, the 20-song soundtrack includes standouts like “I’m Your GPU” and “CPU Plaza.” And if you’re curious how Young ended up creating a love letter to the PS5’s hardware, the composer wrote a post on the PlayStation blog on exactly that topic.
South by Southwest is taking place online this year, and one of the things attendees can check out is an interactive HBO Max experience. HBO Max Orbit aims to show off the depth of the streaming service's catalog in a novel way.
Through facial movement recognition and voice commands, HBO Max Orbit will allow you to interact with moments, stories and characters from the library, according to WarnerMedia. HBO Max has packed more than 150,000 clips into Orbit, including ones from Game of Thrones, Lovecraft Country, The Big Bang Theory, Tom and Jerry and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The scenes are drawn from titles from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, Cartoon Network and other WarnerMedia brands.
The experience will dig up clips of characters that match your movements in real time. Certain clips will activate a challenge, through which you'll need to move your face to look for clips that match a title. You might also be asked to say a phrase from a specific show within a time limit. Completing a challenge will unlock parts of an exclusive clip from Godzilla vs. Kong, which arrives on HBO Max and in theaters at the end of the month.
You'll be able to check out HBO Max Orbit starting on March 19th. Starting in April, an in-person version will be available at some flagship AT&T stores. WarnerMedia says that will take place in an immersive 360-degree chamber designed to "optimize the feeling of a vast audio-visual space." It will match clips to your body movements and voice.
Facebook is offering creators more options to make money from their audiences. One method it’s testing is a way to make bank from Stories. Some creators will be able to plug ads that look similar to stickers into their Stories and they'll get a cut of ad revenue. For instance, creators might plug local businesses with a sticker while they're on trips.
Only a small number of creators have access to this option during the initial test, but Facebook hopes to roll out the feature in the near future. It also plans to enable the feature for all short-form videos.
Elsewhere, Facebook is bringing mid-roll ads to shorter videos. Until now, ads were only present in videos that were at least three minutes long. You may start to see ads in videos that run for only a minute. Videos lasting between one and three minutes can have ads 30 seconds in. Ads can appear in longer videos after 45 seconds, down from one minute.
Pages will only be able to run ads on shorter videos if they meet certain requirements, like having 600,000 minutes of total watch time in the previous 60 days and at least five active video uploads. Live video creators additionally need to have at least 60,000 minutes of live watch time over the same period to qualify for ads in their streams.
Facebook
Facebook is also expanding paid live events to another 24 countries and switching on fan subscriptions in 10 more regions. In addition, it's spending $7 million to promote the Stars virtual tipping currency. As with Twitch Bits, users can send these to creators. Facebook will be giving away Stars during certain live streams. Comments that users send with Stars will be more prominently displayed on streams. You'll be able to send virtual gifts to creators too.
Stars will be available in more markets, and you can check on a creator support site whether your Page is eligible. Soon, Facebook will expand Stars beyond live streams by testing them in on-demand videos. Meanwhile, Facebook has updated the minimum eligibility criteria for gaming creators to become partners and unlock more features and monetization options.
If you have any interest at all in electronic music, you owe it to yourself to check out Google’s latest Arts & Culture exhibit. Music, Makers and Machines celebrates the history of the genre, highlighting the people, sounds and technologies that helped make electronic music what it is today. Google got help on the project from more than 50 international institutions, record labels and industry experts, including the Moogseum.
One highlight is an entire section devoted to the early days of Dubstep. You’ll find short, written segments on artists like Burial and the subgenre's development complemented by photos and YouTube videos. You can even use Google Street View to explore the locations of long-closed but seminal clubs like Plastic People. Another compelling exhibit explores the role Black artists and musicians have played in pushing the boundaries of electronic music. That said, the highlight of the exhibit is an AR synth module that allows you to play around with five classic instruments, including the Roland CR-78 and Akai S900. Speaking of synths, Google has uploaded 3D models of some of the most iconic ones.
You can check out Music, Makers and Machines online, as well as through the Google Arts & Culture app on Android and iOS.
Fortnite players are accustomed to being thrust into massive season-ending events that bring together hordes of players to witness an epic set piece. But, this time round, developer Epic Games is switching things up. Instead of a multiplayer spectacle, it's launching into its new season with a solo mission that puts you in control of Agent Jones.
In a blog post, Epic describes the story mode as a reality-altering "explosive" event that concludes Jonesy's mission in the Zero Crisis Finale. You'll be able to play through it when Chapter 2 Season 6 starts on March 16th or watch it online in cinematic form during a global premiere at a later date.
Fortnite's previous season kicked off in December after a record-breaking finale event that saw Jonesy and a slew of Marvel superheroes teaming up against planet-ravaging villain, Galactus. Season 5 somehow managed to ramp up the movie and gaming tie-ins, with an exhaustive list of playable characters including The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda, the Terminator, Street Fighter's Ryu and Chun-Li and Ripley and the Xenomorph Queen from the Alien filmseries. To top that, Epic is promising its most "ambitious story cinematic" yet.
