You won't have to wait too much longer to catch Marvel Studios' Eternals on Disney+. The movie will be available to stream on January 12th. That's just over two months after the most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe film, which received lukewarm reviews, arrived in theaters.

In September, Disney announced that its remaining slate of theatrical releases would get at least a 45-day run in theaters before they were available to stream — save for Encanto, which will hit Disney+ on December 24th, just 30 days after it landed in cinemas. Eternals was one of those movies, but Disney evidently decided to keep the movie exclusively in theaters beyond that minimum timeframe of 45 days.

Starting with Mulan last September, Disney experimented with allowing Disney+ subscribers to stream theatrical releases at home on the same day they debuted in cinemas for an extra fee. However, Scarlet Johansson sued the company, claiming that the streaming strategy cost her up to $50 million in lost earnings from Black Widow. Disney settled the suit.

PUBG: Battlegrounds, which kickstarted the battle royale craze that swept the gaming world over the last few years, is going free to play (F2P), much like many of its rivals/copycats. The switch will take place on January 12th, almost five years since it debuted as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

While casual players will be able to earn chicken dinners for free, newcomers will still have to pay up for the competitive Ranked Mode. Publisher Krafton is introducing an optional Battlegrounds Plus upgrade. For a one-off payment of $13, you'll get access to Ranked and custom modes, an XP boost, in-game items and other perks. Those who have already paid for the game will get Battlegrounds Plus and extra goodies.

“As PUBG: Battlegrounds pioneered the battle royale genre and has grown into a globally influential game IP, this is the perfect time to transition to F2P and welcome new players to the game,” Krafton CEO CH Kim said. “Transitioning to F2P is the next step in our journey to widen the scope of the PUBG IP through content that both new and veteran players will love.”

PUBG: Battlegrounds, which Krafton says has sold more than 75 million copies, is still immensely popular. At any given moment over the last month, an average of more than 146,000 people were playing the game on Steam alone. That figure often more than doubled at peak times. The free-to-play switch will likely boost the player count even higher.

TCL has temporarily stopped selling its Google TV-powered televisions over performance and software issues. It plans to bring the 5-series and 6-series TVs back to Best Buy in the coming weeks, per 9to5 Google. 

Users have complained about the sets on Best Buy product pages andelsewhere, with one noting the OS is "very slow and buggy." TCL says owners will see "marked improvements in the weeks to come" via software updates. A support site notes that the TVs should update automatically, though it provides customers guidance on how to make sure they have the most recent version of the system software.

"We are sorry to hear that some are facing challenges with the stability of the user interface featured on TCL sets with Google TV," a statement on TCL's support site reads. "Our high-performance TVs are constantly evolving and recent software updates have allowed us to make significant progress, but we will continue to refine our products featuring Google TV."

TCL announced its first Google TV models back at CES 2021. The company's Android TV-powered 3-Series and 4-Series sets are still available.

Microsoft has rebranded one of its game subscription services. Xbox Game Pass for PC is now just PC Game Pass. 

The move could help to avoid some confusion, since Xbox Game Pass is a separate plan with a different library of games. It should also be clearer that games on the PC plan aren't necessarily playable on consoles.

Xbox Game Pass includes more than 100 console games, with Xbox Game Studios titles joining on release day. PC Game Pass has its own selection of games, including first-party titles and access to EA Play.

Meanwhile, Game Pass Ultimate offers the best of both worlds. It includes PC and console games, Xbox Live Gold (which console gamers need for multiplayer titles that aren't free-to-play), EA Play access and cloud gaming. 

The PC Game Pass logo still includes an Xbox icon, though. That makes the connection to Xbox and Microsoft clear, but some folks might still call it "Xbox PC Game Pass." C'est la vie.

In addition, Microsoft revealed a few more games are coming to PC Game Pass on their release day: Sniper Elite 5, Pigeon Simulator, the gorgeous-looking samurai side-scroller Trek to Yomi and an unannounced Hugecalf Studios game.

Studio MDHR has finally announced a release date for the long-awaited Cuphead expansion. After a string of delays, The Delicious Last Course will arrive on June 30th, nearly five years after the run-and-gun platformer debuted.

A trailer that emerged at The Game Awards shows more of that gorgeous 1930s-style art that helped make Cuphead so compelling in the first place. The Delicious Last Course takes place on a new island, Inkwell Isle. Along with new weapons and charms, you'll have even more fiendish bossies to battle.

Ms. Chalice, who has unique abilities, will join Cuphead and Mugman on their new adventure. She'll be a playable character in the original game too.

The DLC was announced all the way back in 2018, with a planned release window of sometime the following year, so it's been a long time coming. Even though this is billed as Cuphead's "final challenging quest," this won't be the last we see of the character. An animated Netflix series called The Cuphead Show is in the works.

Telltale Games is best known for its narrative-driven spins on existing franchises, and next up for the revived studio is an adaptation of Amazon Prime sci-fi series The Expanse. Telltale says the game, which it's working on with Deck Nine Games, will delve into the story of Camina Drummer. 

In The Expanse: A Telltale Series, a mutiny has broken out on the Artemis. As is the case in other Telltale titles, you'll have to make decisions that impact the story and, more specifically, determine the fate of the spaceship. Telltale hasn't announced a release window or which platforms the game is coming to.

Much like Telltale, The Expanse got a second chance. Syfy canceled the show after three seasons, but Amazon picked it up. The sixth and final season premieres on December 10th.

Netflix has opened up a fan-focused hub for updates and information about its shows and movies. The minisite is called Tudum, the same name as a three-hour fan event that took place in September. It's also the onomatopoeic name for the signature sound that plays when you fire up Netflix or start watching an Original.

The company notes that it's early days for Tudum, though the site will feature things like interviews, behind-the-scenes videos and bonus features. Right now, Tudum is showcasing a piece called "The Year in Pop Culture Obsessions" and an explainer that delves into how long witchers live, ahead of the second season of The Witcher arriving next week.

You'll also get to check out the latest Netflix news and trailers, and learn about upcoming releases. There's a section for trending content, as well as recommendations based on things you've watched. However, for me, that section is full of content about Lost in Space, a show I haven't watched in three years.

Tudum is obviously another way for Netflix to promote its shows and movies. Still, it could come in handy for fans looking for more details about the likes of Money Heist, Emily in Paris and the company's other hits.

YouTube might have ditched the annual Rewind series, but it's still planning to send off the year in style. An interactive 24-hour livestream event called Escape2021 will take place on December 16th.

Using the live chat, users will participate in challenges based on trends from this year, get involved in "real-time experience" and answer trivia questions, as Adweek notes. When viewers complete all of the challenges, they'll be able to watch a musical performance from a mystery guest.

There will be three "chapters" within the stream to give viewers around the world a chance to take part. They start at midnight, noon and 7PM ET. As well as in English, Escape2021 will stream in German, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese.

YouTube has roped in some superstar artists such as BTS and Doja Cat. Expect many popular YouTubers to appear as well, including Mark Rober, AyChristeneGames, Muselk and Jelle’s Marble Runs. LoFi Girl (of "beats to relax/study to" fame) is the protagonist of Escape2021 and she'll be featured at the start of the stream and in between the three chapters.

Women's hockey teams are coming to EA Sports' NHL games for the first time. The publisher will bring 10 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) women's teams to the Play Now mode in NHL 22 in January. You'll be able to play as Team USA and Team Canada, among others. The update will also add the tournament structure and visuals of the Women's World Championships.

"The introduction of women's national teams to NHL 22 as part of the upcoming IIHF content will be an important moment for the franchise in its continued effort to reflect the diversity of the hockey community," EA Sports vice president Sean Ramjagsingh told ESPN.

The move is long overdue. Other major sports games franchises have added women's teams over the last several years. Women players were introduced to EA's FIFA series in 2015, while NBA 2K20 was the first game in the 2K Games franchise to feature the WNBA.

Meanwhile, starting today, NHL 22 includes IIHF men's and junior teams. You can play through the IIHF World Junior Championship now and the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship next month. The branding and jerseys for men's national teams will be updated in January too.

This has been another rough year for many of us, but there have perhaps been more high points than in 2020, with families and friends reuniting and vacations becoming a bit more viable. To give you another way to reflect upon 2021, Instagram is rolling out a feature called Playback.

Starting today, the app will create a Playback using up to ten of your Stories. You'll be able to remove some of the Stories and add your own through the Stories archive. A message will appear on the feed that asks if you'd like to create or modify your Playback. Instagram says that if you see a Story with a 2021 sticker, you can tap on it to see and share your own Playback. The feature will only be available for a few weeks, so folks can "celebrate and reflect on 2021 ahead of the New Year," according to Instagram.

Over the last few years, many Instagram users have been using third-party apps to create a collage of their top nine most-liked posts of the year, which they can share in the main feed or Stories. Given how popular the top nice grid is each year, it would have been nice to see Instagram offer that feature in its own app. It seems Playback will have to suffice for now.