GSC Game World has reportedly resumed work on Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the studio to pause development. On March 2nd, the Kyiv-based developer announced it was putting the game on hold while it worked to help its employees and their families “survive” the conflict. According to reports from Czech media, the studio relocated its staff to Prague that same month.

Now it would appear the game is back on track. Responding to a question from a member of Stalker 2’sDiscord community asking if development had resumed, a GSC Game World employee said, “it continues,” in a message spotted by Polish gaming outlet GRYOnline. We’ve reached out to the studio for confirmation.

Following a delay at the start of the year, GSC Game World said it would release Stalker 2 on December 8th. The announcement came before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sidelined the studio. Since the war began, the company also subtly changed the game's name. Its subtitle now reads “Heart of Chornobyl” instead of “Chernobyl,” with the former reflecting the local Ukrainian spelling of the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, YouTube has taken down more than 70,000 videos to date related to the conflict, The Guardian reported on Sunday. The company told The Guardian it removed many of the videos for breaking its major violent events policy, which prohibits content creators from denying or trivializing events like the invasion.

YouTube did not breakdown the enforcement action but noted that it suspended approximately 9,000 channels in the sweep, including one tied to pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov. Some of the videos YouTube took down broke the company’s guidelines by referring to the invasion as a “liberation mission.”

“We have a major violent events policy and that applies to things like denial of major violent events: everything from the Holocaust to Sandy Hook. And of course, what’s happening in Ukraine is a major violent event,” Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer, told The Guardian. “And so we’ve used that policy to take unprecedented action.”

Partly resulting from its actions, YouTube has seen a significant increase in the number of people in Ukraine, Poland and Russia consuming “authoritative” content on the conflict. In Ukraine, for instance, news content on the invasion has generated more than 40 million views. “The first and probably most paramount responsibility is making sure that people who are looking for information about this event can get accurate, high-quality, credible information on YouTube,” Mohan told The Guardian.

The move underscores the critical role services like YouTube play in preventing misinformation from spreading online. In Russia alone, YouTube has more than 90 million users, making it the single largest video-sharing platform in the country. The company’s actions against state-sponsored networks like RT and Sputnik had a dramatic impact on the ability of those organizations to disseminate the Kremlin’s message.

After two-and-a-half years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station. It was an important milestone for a company that has, at least in the popular imagination, struggled to catch up with SpaceX. So it’s fitting how Boeing decided it would celebrate a successful mission.

When the crew of the ISS opened the hatch to Starliner, they found a surprise inside the spacecraft. Floating next to Orbital Flight Test-2’s seated test dummy was a plush toy representing Jebediah Kerman, one of four original “Kerbonauts” featured in Kerbal Space Program. Jeb, as he’s better known by the KSP community, served as the flight’s zero-g indicator. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin took a small doll with him on the first-ever human spaceflight, and ever since it has become a tradition for most space crews to carry plush toys with them to make it easy to see when they've entered a microgravity environment.

If you’ve ever played Kerbal Space Program, you have a sense of why it was so fitting Boeing decided to send Jeb to space. In KSP, designing spacecraft that will carry your Kerbonauts to orbit and beyond is no easy task. Often your initial designs will fall and crash as they struggle to fly free of Kerbin’s gravity. But you go back to the drawing board and tweak your designs until you find one that works. In a way, that’s exactly what Boeing’s engineers had to do after Starliner’s first test flight in 2019 failed due to a software issue, and its second one was delayed following an unexpected valve problem.

Boeing kept Jeb’s presence on OFT-2 secret until the spacecraft docked with the ISS. A spokesperson for the company told collectSPACE that Starliner’s engineering team chose the mascot in part because of the science, technology, engineering and math lessons KSP has to teach players. Jeb will spend the next few days with the crew of the ISS before they place him back in the spacecraft for its return trip to Earth.

We knew going into the launch of Valve’s Steam DeckDIY repairs would be easier than most modern electronics. And now it looks like finding replacement parts won’t be difficult either. On Friday evening, iFixit prematurely published a list of components it will offer for Valve’s handheld. The list revealed the company plans to sell spare parts for nearly every component found in Steam Deck, including replacement motherboards complete with the handheld’s custom Aerith chipset from AMD.

As The Verge points out, the company will even sell parts that could be considered upgrades. For instance, if you own the 64GB or 256GB model, you can buy the 512GB variant's display to get the anti-glare screen that comes on that version of the handheld. For any panel replacements, you can also spend an extra $5 to obtain a “Fix Kit” that comes with all the tools you need to complete a screen swap.

One part iFixit won’t sell immediately is replacement batteries. It will offer those at a later date. “We don’t have a solution for battery repairs on day one, but we are committed to working with Valve to maintain these devices as they age,” iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens told The Verge. “Battery replacements are going to be essential to making the Steam Deck stand the test of time.”

Other spare parts that won’t be available on day one include replacements for the Steam Deck’s touchpads and face buttons. Most of the components are reasonably priced. For example, you’ll need to spend $20 to repair a broken thumbstick. The most expensive part on the list is a new motherboard, which will set you back $350. With a complete handheld from Valve starting at $400, it won’t be economical to build your own Steam Deck with parts from iFixit, but for most repairs, the company will have you covered.  

Baymax!, the Disney+ sequel to 2014’s Big Hero 6, will debut on June 29th. Disney shared the release date on Friday, alongside a new trailer showing the loveable healthcare robot from the film attempting to help the citizens of San Fransokyo. 

“In each of our six episodes, Baymax just wants to help someone—and a lot of times they don’t want to be helped,” said creator Don Hall. “He sets out to fix a physical issue that he’s identified, and in the process, gets to a deeper, more emotional place and can be almost transformative in that role.”

Baymax! is the second Big Hero 6 sequel following Big Hero 6: The Series, a 2D animated show that ran for three seasons on the Disney Channel. The new series will feature the return of Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter and Maya Rudolph as the voices of Baymax, Hiro and Aunt Cass, respectively.

Match Group, the parent company of Tinder and Hinge, claims it has won “concessions” from Google in its antitrust battle against the search giant. On Friday, Match withdrew a restraining order after the two sides came to a temporary agreement on in-app payments.

Match filed the order against Google one day after it sued the company, alleging it had broken federal and state antitrust laws. At the center of the dispute is a policy change Google plans to implement next month. In the fall of 2020, the company “clarified” its stance on in-app payments, announcing it was moving toward requiring all Android developers to process payments involving “digital goods and services” through the Google Play Billing system. Following multiple extensions, developers have until June 1st to comply with the policy.

Match, however, claims Google had “previously assured” the company that it could use its own payments system. The company also claims Google threatened to remove its apps from the Play Store if Match did not comply with the policy change by the upcoming deadline.

Under their temporary agreement, Google will allow Match apps to remain on the Play Store and won’t remove them for including alternate payment systems. Additionally, the search giant has agreed to make a “good faith” effort to address Match's concerns with Google Play Billing. Match, in turn, will make an effort to offer Google’s billing system as an option to consumers.

Lastly, instead of paying Google a commission on in-app purchases that occur outside of the company’s payment system, Match is establishing a $40 million escrow fund. Starting July 1st, Match will keep track of fees it would have normally owed Google. The fund will stay in place until the two sides go to court next April.

Following Match’s announcement, Google accused the company of publishing a “misleading” press release that “mischaracterizes” the terms of their agreement. "Match Group’s claim that it can't integrate Play’s billing system because it lacks key features contradicts the fact that Match Group has been proactively and successfully using Play’s billing in more than 10 of its apps," Google said. The company added it would file a countersuit against Match for violating its Developer Distribution Agreement ahead of their 2023 trial.

Two Amazon employees have accused the company of retaliating against them for their efforts to organize workers at a warehouse in Liverpool, New York. Ashley Mercer and Jason Main filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on May 17th.

According to Vice News, Amazon tasked Mercer last week with picking up cigarette butts, broken glass and other discarded trash in the parking lot of its SYR1 warehouse in Liverpool. Mercer told the outlet her manager sent her out alone and without water or sunscreen on a day when the temperature went above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Making the optics of the situation worse, Mercer is about six months pregnant, putting her at the end of her second trimester. “Approved for 10 hours parking lot clean-up,” an accommodation report obtained by Vice states. 

On the same day, the company suspended Mercer's partner, Jason Main, who is also named in the NLRB complaint. Amazon later fired him for reportedly not using a step stool for moving merchandise. Mercer and Main have both been involved in agitating on behalf of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) at a variety of warehouses in New York. Additionally, the two have come to work at the Liverpool facility wearing ALU-branded shirts and masks, while Mercer has also done the same at two warehouses in nearby Syracuse, and passed out leaflets at JFK8, the Staten Island facility that became the first unionized Amazon warehouse in the US last month.

“It wasn't until I started mentioning that I am part of Amazon Labor Union that they pulled me out of my position and put me outside the building,” Mercer told Vice. “I think it’s retaliation because I’m a big part of [the ALU] and it feels like as soon as you bring up the union, they treat you differently.”

We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment.

Amazon has yet to recognize the ALU. In April, the company challenged the result of the JFK8 vote, accusing the organization of threatening employees unless they voted to unionize. It also recently fired two employees who were involved in organizing that facility, and ALU itself was born out of the company’s termination of founder Christian Smalls, a former worker at the JFK8 facility.

After it first unveiled the game at E3 2019, Ubisoft will finally release Roller Champions on May 25th, the publisher announced today. The free-to-play title will be available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One – as well as Xbox Series X/S and PS5 through backward compatibility – to start, with availability on Nintendo Switch, Stadia and Amazon Luna to follow later. Roller Champions supports both cross-platform play and progression, so you can not only group up with your friends no matter where they download the game, but your progress will also carry over between systems.

Roller Champions pits you and two other players against a competing team of three in a variation on classic roller derby. Going into each match, your goal is to be the first team to score five points. You earn a single point or more by skating around an oval track and maintaining control of a ball before taking a shot at the goal. Complicating things is the fact that the players on the opposing team can tackle you to take possession of the ball. Each match lasts about seven minutes, and there’s an external progression system where you can earn gear for your in-game avatar. Ubisoft will sell premium passes players can complete to earn cosmetics that aren’t available through the game’s item shop.

A group of Democratic lawmakers led by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate ID.me, the controversial identification company best known for its work with the Internal Revenue Service. In a letter addressed to FTC Chair Lina Khan, the group suggests the firm misled the American public about the capabilities of its facial recognition technology.

Specifically, lawmakers point to a statement ID.me made at the start of the year. After CEO Blake Hall said the company did not use one-to-many facial recognition, an approach that involves matching images against those in a database, ID.me backtracked on those claims. It clarified it uses a “specific” one-to-many check during user enrollment to prevent identity theft.

Following that statement, the IRS began to distance itself from ID.me, announcing it would reconsider its use of the platform in late January. It subsequently began allowing taxpayers to authenticate their identity without the use of facial recognition. But as the letter points out, many state and federal agencies continue to require Americans to submit photos and documents to ID.me before they can access vital services, including unemployment insurance.

“Americans have particular reason to be concerned about the difference between these two types of facial recognition,” the senators write of ID.me’s turnaround, noting a one-to-many approach inevitably means millions of people will have their photographs “endlessly” accessed. “Not only does this violate individuals’ privacy, but the inevitable false matches associated with one-to-many recognition can result in applicants being wrongly denied desperately-needed services for weeks or even months as they try to get their case reviewed.”

In making the statements it did, the group is asking the FTC to determine whether ID.me committed “deceptive and unfair business practices.” The company already faces an investigation from the House Oversight and Reform Committee. In a statement it shared with Bloomberg, ID.me declined to comment on the specific concerns mentioned in the letter from Senator Wyden. Instead, the company pointed to its track record of preventing unemployment fraud.

“ID.me played a critical role in stopping that attack in more than 20 states where the service was rapidly adopted for its equally important ability to increase equity and verify individuals left behind by traditional options,” the company said. “We look forward to cooperating with all relevant government bodies to clear up any misunderstandings.”

Last fall, Twitter began testing a dedicated Spaces tab within the iOS version of its mobile app. The tab, as you can probably guess even if you don’t have access to an iPhone, allows users to see a curated list of active live audio rooms, with the option to filter them based on your interests.

On Wednesday, Twitter announced it was expanding the test to include Android users. If you have access to the trial, you can open the Spaces tab by tapping the newly added microphone icon at the bottom of the interface. As before, the tab is only available in English for the time being.

Since Twitter began testing live audio in late 2020, the company has gone on to iterate on the format at a fast clip. What started as a relatively sparse offering has in recent months gained features like audio recording. This past, Twitter also added the option for users to share co-hosting duties. Those all came as the company worked to give all users the option to host a Space.