After Elon Musk finalized his purchase of Twitter last October, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta reportedly began working on a social media platform of its own, codenamed Project 92. During a company-wide meeting on Thursday, Meta chief product officer Chris Cox showed off a set UI mock-ups to the assembled employees, which were promptly leaked online.

The project's existence was first officially confirmed in March when the company told reporters, "We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there's an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests." A set of design images shared internally in May were leaked online as well.

The new platform, which Cox referred to as “our response to Twitter,” will be a standalone program, based on Instagram and integrating ActivityPub, the same networking protocol that powers Mastodon. The leaked images include a shot of the secure sign in screen; the main feed, which looks suspiciously like Twitter's existing mobile app; and the reply screen. There's no word yet on when the app will be available for public release.

“We’ve been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run, that they believe that they can trust and rely upon for distribution,” Cox said, per a Verge report. Celebrities including Oprah and the Dalai Lama have both reportedly been attached to the project.

Epic Games is about to decimate the Fortnite island once again. The battle royale's latest season, dubbed Fortnite Wilds, commences on June 9th, and a cinematic trailer debuted for it during Summer Game Fest Live.

This time around, Epic is revamping the island by collapsing the center of it to reveal a jungle. You'll be able to ride colorful velociraptors and explore ancient ruins. Mud and vines will play roles in the season as well. Somehow, all of that ties into a Transformers collaboration as Optimus Prime make an appearance. As it happens, a new Transformers movie is in theaters this week.

There's not much cohesion between the jungle theme and the latest crossover, but it doesn't really matter. Millions of people will rush to play the new season anyway. Besides, let's face it: tearing around the island on the back of a raptor while wearing an Optimus Prime skin could be fun.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

From Halloween to The Thing, Christine to They Live, John Carpenter is a modern master of cinematic horror. During Summer Games Fest on Thursday, Focus Home Entertainment and Saber Interactive announced that his unique zompocalyptic vision will be coming to Xbox X|S, the Epic Games Store and Playstation 5 in 2024 with the release of John Carpenter's Toxic Commando.

The game's premise, based on the trailer that debuted on Thursday, is straightforward: you see a zombie, you shoot it until it stops twitching. The plot is equally nuanced, wherein an experiment seeking to draw energy from the Earth's core has instead unleashed an ambulatory zombie plague known as the Sludge God. Players will have to kill it and its unending army of undead monstrosities with an array of melee, edged and ranged weapons, and special abilities. Get ready to rock out with your Glock out because the enemies will be coming at you in hordes. 

A firm release date has not yet been set, however the studio did announce that there will be a closed beta offered ahead of its release. If you want to get in on the undead butchery ahead of time, sign up for PC on the on the beta website. 

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

Alan Wake II is finally happening, as the long-awaited sequel is set to arrive in October. Remedy creative director Sam Lake made an appearance at Summer Game Fest Live to reveal more details and show off some new gameplay.

Remedy's first survival horror game has two lead characters. Newcomer Saga Anderson, an FBI agent, is joining Alan Wake this time. Lake revealed that there will be a 50-50 split between each character's story. You'll start the game as Saga and have the choice to switch between her and Alan at certain points throughout the game.

Saga and her partner travel to a small town in the Pacific Northwest to "investigate a series of ritualistic murders," Lake said. However, their mission becomes a living horror story that may or may not have been crafted by a certain writer.

The gameplay Lake showed off is from an early sequence. It centers around supernatural forces resurrecting a murder victim as a monster that Saga has to battle. The clip opens with her walking through some woods and an abandoned building with the help of her trusty flashlight before she encounters said beast. The footage (which was followed by a short trailer) looks appropriately spooky. Remedy tossed in a couple jump scares for good measure.

You'll be able to find out for yourself just how scary Alan Wake II truly is soon enough. It's coming to Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC via the Epic Games Store on October 17th.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

In the middle of this year’s Summer Games Fest, Geoff Keighley teased a new game with characters from a storied manga artist – and he wasn’t kidding. Sand Land is a new adventure game from Bandai Namco, featuring character design from Akira Toriyama, the man who gave us Dragon Ball’s Goku, the art of the Dragon Quest series, the characters of Chrono Trigger, not to mention countless more manga titles. Sand Land was initially a short manga series written back in 2000 by Toriyama. Now it’s a game. (In fact, in the trailer you can see the protagonist play around with what appears to be a Gameboy Advance, which is cute.)

We got a quick tour of what kind of game Sandland will be, as you’ll take control of a demonic prince, Beelzebub, alongside a cohort of monstrous characters, exploring, well, sandy environments. While you’ll be able to go toe-to-toe with some enemies, you’ll also pilot tanks to gun down enemies from afar, or go up against other military hardware. There appears to be a whole array of vehicles to explore the desert with. There's no release date yet, but hopefully, we’ll hear more in the following days.

Catch up on all of the news from Summer Game Fest right here!

It's still not clear if Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake will ever see the light of day — but if you're looking for a new side story in the franchise, the company has you covered. Ubisoft announced Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown at Summer Games Fest 2023, a new action-adventure platformer "inspired by the Metroidvania structure."

Pivoting the franchise's platforming roots to the more exploratory and action focused gameplay featured in Metroid and Castlevania games sounds like a natural twist — but it isn't the only change to the series format that Lost Crown offers. Rather of taking on the role of the titular prince, Lost Crown instead asks players to rescue him as Sargon, a new hero, and part of a group called "The Immortals." Ubisoft promises that the game features intense platforming, giant boss fights, puzzles, and new character abilities and power throughout the journey.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown will release on January 18 2024 for all platforms, including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, as well as on PC through the Epic Games Store and on Amazon Luna.

Amazon is reportedly planning to introduce an ad-supported tier to its Prime Video platform. The Wall Street Journal reports that discussions are in the early stages and have been going on for the past several weeks.

The report goes on to say that advertisers are eager for Amazon to jump on board, as other players such as Netflix, have recently added an ad-supported option to their lineup. Services such as Hulu, Max and Peacock have had ad-supported options since the beginning. WSJ says that ad buyers "want more access to premium movies and programs that have remained largely ad free, content that often garners more buzz."

Amazon has already made moves in the past to bring more ad-supported programming to the platform. Some of its shows have product-placement based ads and its sports programming comes with advertising. Amazon is also reportedly in talks with Warner Bros, Discovery and Paramount to include ad-supported subscriptions through Prime Video Channels. Users can currently use Amazon’s Channel feature to subscribe to a whole host of streaming services, which include ad-free versions of Paramount+ and Max.

Amazon Prime Video is currently $8.99 per month on its own or as part of an Amazon Prime membership. In comparison, Netflix’s Standard plan runs you $9.99 per month, which unlocks HD video, two screens at a time and offline downloading. The company’s ad-supported tier is $6.99 per month and strips away offline downloading. It’s unclear when Amazon plans on introducing this ad-supported plan or what pricing may look like, but it should help lower the cost for those looking to subscribe to Amazon Prime Video and don’t mind ads.

Paradox Interactive announced today that it will refund all physical pre-orders for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. The long-delayed sequel to the 2004 cult classic was last available for pre-sales in early 2021. That was when Paradox announced it was parting ways with developer Hardsuit Labs and pushing back the title’s release date indefinitely. However, there may be a glimmer of hope for holdouts as the publisher teased more news coming in September about the vampire game.

Paradox says it’s refunding the pre-orders because the previous physical edition included bonus-content items “no longer representative of the game.” Physical variants include the Collector’s Edition created and sold by DPA Merchandising GmbH and boxed versions of the First Blood, Unsanctioned and Blood Moon editions. Additionally, Paradox will grant digital pre-order refunds for anyone who requests one. Refund instructions vary depending on where you ordered it, but you can check Paradox’s FAQ for storefront-specific guidance.

Paradox Interactive

“As development continues, we will be updating the game’s editions and bonus content, and we want to provide the best value to those of you who supported us via digital pre-order after all this time,” Paradox wrote today. “We’re excited to show you more and hope to have all of you with us in September when we reveal more.”

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was initially slated for 2020 before being pushed back to 2021 and then shelved indefinitely after Paradox fired the game’s creative director and lead writer. The publisher hasn’t yet announced the title’s new developer, although it says it will tell us that in September as well. As for an updated release date, Paradox stops short of explicitly promising one in its September announcements, but it assures gamers it will “share more information about the launch” at that time.

Developer Tribute Games and publisher Dotemu just announced some robust DLC coming later this year for the well-reviewed beat 'em upTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The Dimension Shellshock DLC features a new game mode, new color swaps for playable characters and brand new playable characters like iconic comic book samurai Miyamoto Usagi from Usagi Yojimbo.

For the newbies, Miyamoto Usagi is a samurai rabbit, though he’s often been affiliated with the ninja turtles throughout various comic runs and in several animated series. Technically, Usagi Yojimbo is set during the Edo period in Japan, but that hasn’t stopped him from showing up in modern day NYC to do battle with Shredder’s minions. To that end, the DLC will include a number of time portals that bring the ronin bunny to the present day and bring the turtles back to 17th century Japan.

The trailer clearly advertises the presence of new characters, plural, but only Usagi is mentioned by name. Other than that, the DLC features a brand-new game mode that locks players in survival rooms to do battle with waves of enemies. There’s also new color palettes for the turtles, adding a bit of old-school flair to your favorite adolescent tortoises.

The Dimension Shellshock DLC releases later this year for most major platforms, including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC via Steam and Xbox One. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet. In related news, Shredder’s Revengerecently launched for iOS and Netflix.

A documentary about Hideo Kojima, one of the most lauded video game designers on the planet, is on the way. A trailer offers a first peek at what's in store for those who plan to check out Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds.

Kojima wrote on Twitter that the film will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Death Stranding, as well as "shots from the early days of our independent studio, memories from my childhood and my creative journey." The trailer encapsulates all of that while suggesting the film is a celebration of Kojima and his work. Friends, collaborators and fans including Geoff Keighley, Guillermo del Toro, Norman Reedus and George Miller are shown talking up Kojima and his credentials.

Whether Kojima truly is "the first auteur of video games" is up for debate, especially if you're of the mind that the auteur theory can't apply to the highly collaborative process of game development. Still, there's no denying that Kojima is a vanguard in his industry. He's a fascinating guy who is behind some of the most memorable and inventive games of the last few decades, which makes him good fodder for a documentary.

PlayStation Studios and Kojima Productions helped to produce Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds, for which there's no release date as yet. The film will premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 17th and Kojima will be in attendance for a Q&A. In the meantime, we may learn more about Death Stranding 2 during Summer Game Fest.