The Apple TV+ film Tetris was copied from a book written years ago, according to a lawsuit filed against the tech giant and the Tetris Company. Dan Ackerman, the editor-in-chief of Gizmodo, has accused the plaintiffs of ripping off his book The Tetris Effect, which tells the history of the game in the form of a Cold War-era thriller. In his lawsuit (PDF, via Reuters), Ackerman said he sent the Tetris Company and its CEO Maya Rogers a pre-publication copy of his book back in 2016. Later that year, his agent received a "strongly worded Cease and Desist letter" to stop him from pursuing film and TV opportunities. 

Ackerman accused Rogers of working with screenwriter Noah Pink to develop a screenplay using content taken from his book without his knowledge or consent. Apparently, numerous producers showed interest in adapting his book, but the Tetris Company refused to license its IP for the project. "This was done at the direction and behest of Ms. Rogers so that she and the Tetris Company could pursue their own project and opportunities based on Mr. Ackerman's book without compensating him," the lawsuit reads. 

In his complaint, Ackerman explained that for writers, the option to license their work for film and TV is typically a major source of revenue. That's why he takes the Tetris Company's actions not as a means to prevent the unauthorized use of its IP, but as an "economic attack" on his business. To drive the point home, Ackerman included quite a lengthy list of "glaring similarities" between his book and the film in his lawsuit. Several items in the list explain how scenes in the movie mirrored his versions of events. That said, those events were based on scenarios that happened in real life, so it remains to be seen if the court will agree with him. Ackerman is asking for actual, compensatory and punitive damages equivalent to 6 percent of the film's $80 million production budget. 

Since last year, Netflix has run a Discord bot that helps people find shows and movies to watch together based on what's available in their location. The company is expanding the "Hey, Netflix" bot's capabilities today with a text-based game.

This is the first time Netflix is bringing a game along these lines to Discord. As you might imagine, it ties into something that you'll be able to stream on Netflix soon, an action movie called Heart of Stone that stars Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan. The film will land on Netflix this Friday.

In Heart of Stone: Maze of Odds, you'll take on the role of a double agent (similar to Gadot's character in the film). Netflix says you'll need to quickly make decisions in "action-driven situations." Based on some details that Netflix shared in advance, it seems that you'll need to choose between some preset options, much like the interactive TV shows and movies it has released in the past.

Intriguingly, Netflix says Heart of Stone: Maze of Odds will be different each time you play it. The Discord bot randomly chooses scenarios from a bank of situations. Additionally, you'll be able to play it solo or ask friends to join in for multiplayer action. The game includes collectibles for you to pick up along the way too. Lastly, while Discord users around the world can check out the game, it's worth noting that it's only available in English.

Netflix has been making a big push into games in general over the last couple of years. Last month, it released Oxenfree II, the first game from one of its in-house studios. The company also just debuted a game controller app for iPhone and iPad. As such, you'll soon be able to play its games (which are typically included with a Netflix subscription) on compatible TVs as well as phones and tablets.

The beta version of Spotify’s AI-enhanced DJ feature is coming to 50 new countries, after soft-launching in the US and Canada back in February. In recent months, it’s rolled out in the UK and Ireland, but now the robotic Wolfman Jack is headed to more countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, in addition to Australia and New Zealand.

There’s a caveat, but it depends on some initial understanding of what this tool actually does. The Spotify DJ is available to premium subscription members and provides algorithmic recommendations of what to listen to, just like any music streaming app. However, these recommendations are accompanied by AI-generated DJ commentary on what you’re listening to. So what’s the rub? The DJ, based on Spotify’s Xavier Jernigan, only speaks English, no matter where you live. This is not a big deal for Australia and New Zealand, but an annoying constraint for listeners in Ghana, Singapore and most other parts of the world. A Spotify spokesperson told Engadget that the company has “no more news to share on new languages at this time.”

Despite the language limitation, it’s still a nifty toolset. It combines OpenAI’s proprietary large language model (LLM) technology, which powers ChatGPT, with Sonantic’s AI voice generation platform. Spotify bought Sonantic last year, largely due to its focus on generating realistic speech. In addition to the AI-enhanced speech, the platform also gives for written information as to why a particular song was chosen.

This tool is available today for Spotify Premium users across the world, but this is a beta, so expect changes and improvements in the short-term and long-term future. Spotify says that it is “continuing to iterate and innovate the experience.”

Marvel's visual effects employees have voted in favor of joining a union in their fight for better pay, overtime compensation, more benefits and better treatment. According to Vulture, a supermajority of the company's 50 on-set VFX employees have filed a petition for an election with the National Labor Relations Board. They're hoping to join the Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which also represents hair and makeup artists, wardrobe, lighting and prop personnel, among other workers. Because apparently, despite Marvel's reliance on visual effects to make its universe(s), superheroes and supervillains look real on the big screen, its VFX artists aren't represented by a union. IATSE has also been campaigning broadly to expand its membership into VFX and animation workers in recent months.

Several current and former VFX employees for the company previously spoke out about grueling schedules and breaking down under pressure while working on shows and movies for the studio. Sources told IGN that people were being given tasks that were impossible to finish within the timeframe allowed to complete them. Some VFX artists told Vulture that the hectic production schedule for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, for instance, led to rushed work and an end product that many reviewers had described as "bland."

VFX coordinator Bella Huffman said: "Turnaround times don't apply to us, protected hours don’t apply to us, and pay equity doesn’t apply to us. Visual effects must become a sustainable and safe department for everyone who's suffered far too long and for all newcomers who need to know they won’t be exploited."

Vulture says a strike by Marvel's VFX artists is not out of the question. It is a common tactic employed by workers seeking to organize, after all — plus, both the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild are currently on strike to demand better pay, streaming residuals from successful shows and regulation of AI use in Hollywood.

Apple has quietly launched a new feature for its music streaming service that could help you expand your playlists and find new artists to listen to. It's a personalized radio station called "Discovery Station," which picks the songs it thinks you'd be into from Apple Music's catalog. As Apple Insider notes, the tech giant's music service hasn't gone all in on algorithmic recommendations like Spotify, which has several playlists that can generate mixes based on your listening habits. 

An Apple spokesperson told us that Discovery Station will only play music you haven't played on the service before from both familiar artists and potentially unfamiliar ones it thinks you might like. And since its main purpose is to help you discover new music, it will never play the same song twice and will play continuously until you stop it. Like other playlists that use algorithms to recommend tracks, Discovery Station also bases its suggestions on your activity and will keep changing as your taste evolves. 

The feature is now live around the world. If you're an existing subscriber, you can access it by going to your Listen Now page and checking out the Stations for You section. If you don't have a subscription, it will cost you at least $5 a month in the US for an audio-only plan or at least $11 a month if you want access to Apple Music's video programming and other features, such as lossless audio and Dolby Atmos. 

Call Devolver Digital whatever you want — except a liar. The indie publisher's inaugural Devolver Delayed showcase delivered on its promise, featuring five games whose release windows have been pushed out of 2023 and into 2024. Which, of course, kind of means Devolver was lying when it initially announced these games, but let's live in the now.

So, here's the list of Devolver games that are now due out next year, minus the maniacal corporate joy that underpinned the actual showcase: Skate Story, The Plucky Squire, Stick it to the Stickman, Anger Foot and Pepper Grinder.

Skate Story is the hardest delay to swallow, personally speaking. Developed by Sam Eng, Skate Story is a highly stylized skateboarding game set in a dark, neon-streaked hellscape and starring a demon made of glass. It looks trippy and fast-paced, and I was very much looking forward to playing it this year. Skate Story is now coming to PC in 2024 and it's available to wishlist on Steam.

Stick it to the Stickman and Anger Foot are both products of Free Lives, the studio behind Broforce, Gorn and Genital Jousting, and a longtime Devolver partner. Both Stickman and Anger Foot are coming to PC next year and are available to wishlist right now.

The Plucky Squire looks to be an extraordinarily cute platforming adventure that swaps between 2D and 3D visuals. This one comes from All Possible Futures and it's heading to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch (in 2024, of course). Last on the delay list, Pepper Grinder is a 2D platformer featuring a character with a big drill, and it's being developed by Oregon-based studio Ahr Ech for PC and Switch.

The Devolver Delayed showcase also provided some relief, in the end. A handful of the publisher's games have decidedly not been delayed and are still targeting 2023 release windows, including Gunbrella, Wizard with a Gun, KarmaZoo, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood and — most notably, in my book — The Talos Principle II. A sequel to the 2014 award-winning game from Croteam, The Talos Principle II promises more first-person laser-based puzzles, philosophical pontification and existential dread, and it's all still coming out in 2023 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is actually due out on August 16, just over one week from today. It's the latest game from Deconstructeam, the Spanish studio behind Gods Will Be Watching and The Red Strings Club, and the preview had me happily building tarot decks and flirting with immortal beings.

Viewers might see a new option in YouTube's dropdown resolution menu on the web if they're paying for the video hosting platform's Premium subscription service. According to The Verge, YouTube's 1080p playback option with "enhanced bitrate" is now available on desktop around the world. It's located above the ordinary 1080p option in the menu, and clicking on it will prompt users to pay for Premium if they're not currently a subscriber. 

YouTube started testing 1080p Premium earlier this year, describing it as a "version of 1080p which provides more information per pixel that results in a higher quality viewing experience." The higher bitrate, which is used as a measurement for the amount of video data transferred within a certain timeframe, it provides could give viewers a better quality without having to watch in higher resolution. Yes, 4K is available for some videos, but that means having to stream a larger file that not everyone's connection can handle and could eat up a significant portion of some people's data allowance. 

The service also rolled out enhanced 1080p on iOS a few months ago, but now more people will have access to it. That said, YouTube recently raised the prices for a Premium subscription from $12 a month to $14 and from $120 a year to $140. It does eliminate ads from the viewing experience, though, and it comes with features other than enhanced 1080p, including offline viewing and background playback. 

Devolver Digital has cultivated a name for itself over the years as a publisher with an offbeat approach to marketing games. To that end, it has announced a Devolver Delayed event, which it calls the "first-ever showcase celebrating games that are courageously moving into 2024." It seems Devolver will try to have things both ways by pushing back some release dates and, at the same time, poking fun at the never-ending spate of game delays. You'll be able to watch the stream below at 11AM ET on August 7th.

The publisher has a bunch of intriguing games currently slated for the rest of the year. I'm really looking forward to Skate Story, which has already blown many people away with its ultra-stylish visuals, so I hope that one isn't pushed back until 2024. The same goes for The Plucky Squire, an utterly adorable-looking adventure game that sees you switching between 2D and 3D environments.

Other titles on Devolver's books for 2023 include "gritty noir-punk action-adventure" Gunbrella. The publisher confirmed that game hasn't been delayed, but will feature in the showcase. The fate of the likes of Wizard with a Gun, The Talos Principle 2 and Pepper Grinder remains to be seen. However, Baby Steps (which looks like a 3D version of QWOP with a man-baby for a lead character) is already scheduled for a 2024 debut.

GameStop is pulling the plug on its crypto locker after only a year. An alert posted this week to the company’s website (viaGame Developer) says GameStop Wallet will be no more after November 1st. The retailer says its decision was “due to the regulatory uncertainty of the crypto space.”

The gaming retailer’s iOS and Chrome Extension lockers, billed as a “self-custodial Ethereum wallet,” will be removed on November 1st. The retailer recommends that customers have access to their Secret Passphrase to retrieve their NFTs by October 1st. “Any customer with access to their Secret Passphrase has the ability to recover their account in any compatible wallet,” the company wrote.

Like many companies in 2021 and 2022, GameStop invested heavily in NFTs in hopes of essentially printing money through digital collectible sales. Backed by a $100 million fund (in partnership with Immutable X) to provide developer incentives, the retailer aggressively pursued a Web3 future under then-CEO Matt Furlong.

But the effort sputtered as consumer backlash grew towards nonfungible tokens. The retailer forged an ill-fated partnership last September with the now-defunct FTX, only to be terminated two months later when the exchange collapsed. GameStop announced additional layoffs in December with Axiosreporting that its cryptocurrency division was hit hardest. The company simultaneously backpedaled from its NFT marketplace, with Furlong reassuring investors that it had “proactively minimized exposure to cryptocurrency.” However, he did leave some wiggle room by saying the retailer continued to see a long-term future for “digital assets in the gaming world.” Furlong was fired in June.

Instagram is making it difficult to flood your DM inbox. The social network is rolling out stricter DM request policies that, among other things, limits senders to a single message if you don't follow them. You'll have to accept the chat request before they can send anything more. DM requests are now limited to text, too. Creeps and spammers can't send photos, videos or voice messages, in other words.

The company started testing the new DM restrictions in late June. The company already has some tools to combat spam, including a "Hidden Words" tool that hides messages with objectionable keywords and emoji. There are now filters for scams and spam. You can also safeguard against surges in DM requests, although that won't stop the occasional spammer from getting through.

Instagram characterizes the move as a safety measure, particularly for women. The firm explains to TechCrunch that women frequently receive unsolicited nudes in their DMs. This effectively halts the practice, although it won't stop harassers from sending crude text.

The addition comes as parent company Meta is facing pressure from politicians and critics to improve its anti-abuse measures, particularly for teens. A Senate bill would require parental consent for teens wanting to use social media apps, for instance, while Arkansas recently enacted a law requiring age verification. That's on top of longstanding concerns that its anti-harassment policies haven't always done enough to protect some demographics. Efforts like this theoretically head off some of the complaints that Meta is letting abuse through.