At this point, it's almost a surprise when a notable game slated for 2021 isn't delayed. The latest title to slip to 2022 is Resident Evil Re:Verse, the upcoming multiplayer take on the horror franchise. What stands out with this delay, however, is that Capcom is putting the release date on ice only a week or two before the game was supposed to drop.

"The previously announced July 2021 launch of Resident Evil Re:Verse is being moved to 2022 so that the team can continue working to deliver a smooth gameplay experience," the Resident Evil crew wrote in a tweet. "We will share updated launch details at a later time. Thank you for your patience and understanding." 

Re:Verse was announced as a freebie for those who own Resident Evil Village. Capcom suggested those who have a physical copy of Village keep their Re:Verse download code in a safe place or add it to their account so they're ready to roll when the game finally drops.

Re:Verse is effectively a separate deathmatch mode in which between four and six players pick a Resident Evil character and duke it out in short battles. When you die, you return as a zombie. The player with the most points after five minutes wins.

Game development is a complex process where all manner of things can go wrong. We've seen time and time again that delays are often necessary, especially amid the impact of COVID-19. Pushing back Re:Verse by at least six months at the last minute is a curious case, though. A lengthy delay indicates the game isn't close to being ready despite the July release window.

Although it's an add on for a main-series Resident Evil game, the delay will be disappointing to those who were looking forward to Re:Verse. Still, it's better to have a game that arrives late and works properly from the jump rather than one that needs months of post-launch hotfixes and larger patches to squish bugs.

Although WhatsApp users can use the messaging service across several platforms, they still need to be connected to a smartphone, largely because of the way WhatsApp handles end-to-end encryption (E2EE). That's about to change, and eventually you'll no longer need to have a phone nearby to use WhatsApp on the web, macOS, Windows or Portal.

Starting today, WhatsApp will invite users to try its multi-device beta. You'll be able to use the service on your phone and up to four other devices (as long as they also aren't phones). WhatsApp will try the multi-device approach with a small group of people from its beta program. They'll be able to opt out of the beta later. With the help of those users, WhatsApp will optimize the multi-device experience and add some more features before rolling it out more broadly.

Although many users have been requesting multi-device support, it's taken WhatsApp some time to make that happen. It has built a system that retains end-to-end encryption while letting people sync data like contact names, archives and starred messages across devices.

Until now, the WhatsApp smartphone app has been an essential conduit for the service. Other platforms like the web and desktop apps maintain a consistent, secure link to the phone app and mirror the content. But if your phone battery dies or there's an issue with the smartphone app, you can't use WhatsApp on other platforms.

Through the multi-device beta, each device will have its own identity key. Currently, users have a single identity key (i.e. the one on their phone) to handle encrypted messages. WhatsApp has developed systems it says will keep out eavesdroppers who try to add devices to a user's account and to minimize the number of times people need to confirm their identity across devices. You'll also have control over connected devices and see which ones are linked to your account.

Along with messages, WhatsApp will have E2EE support for voice and video calls as part of the multi-device beta. There won't be any impact on the way WhatsApp handles cloud backups. 

Solving the issue of supporting E2EE across a user's devices can be tricky given that only devices that messages are sent to and from are supposed to be able to decrypt them. Apple seems to have found an answer — iMessage supports E2EE across Apple devices. Although Telegram works on multiple devices, its E2EE approach (Secret Chats) does not currently do so. Like WhatsApp's current setup, Signal's desktop app also needs to connect to a smartphone to send and receive messages.

EA and DICE have shed some light on their plans for cross-play in Battlefield 2042. While the feature is still in development, there likely won't be a way for all players to join the same lobbies.

During an upcoming invite-only technical playtest, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC players will be able to hop into games together. DICE is planning to split the player pool between gamers on those platforms and those on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. PC and console players can opt out from playing against each other, which might soothe concerns about the disparity between controllers and mouse and keyboard.

Dividing players between console generations might come as a disappointment to some, especially for those with friends who don't have a decent gaming rig or haven’t been able to snag a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. However, it makes sense. The PS4 and Xbox One versions will have smaller lobbies than on PC and current consoles, with 64 players instead of 128, as well as slightly condensed maps. Gameplay will otherwise be the same on all platforms, including weather events like tornados.

Cross-progression is in the works too. Your progress and items (including ones you buy) will carry over from one platform to another, so if you hop between PC and PlayStation or Xbox, you’ll have access to all of your gear.

Elsewhere, DICE plans to use bots to fill out lobbies when needed to improve matchmaking and perhaps get you into matches faster. You can't opt out from using the bots, though players will always have priority over AI soldiers. If a player leaves mid-game, a bot will take over until someone else joins. 

The bots should act in a similar way to human players, though they won't be able to use wingsuits or class-based abilities. The AI soldiers can carry out other tasks, like reviving teammates, calling in vehicles and capturing objectives. You’ll be able to battle bots in solo and co-op modes too.

In a blog post covering these tidbits, DICE and EA spilled the beans about some other features, including vehicles, fully customizable loadouts and how different modes focus on certain areas of maps. Meanwhile, DICE said you won't be able to fight on every floor of a skyscraper, only the lobby and rooftop. More details about Battlefield 2042 will be revealed at the EA Play Live event on July 22nd.

Facebook plans to dish out over $1 billion to creators across its platforms through the end of 2022, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. "We want to build the best platforms for millions of creators to make a living," he wrote in a Facebook post. "Investing in creators isn't new for us, but I'm excited to expand this work over time." The aim is to "reward creators for great content they create on Facebook and Instagram."

The company will pay all kinds of creators, including those who are just starting to share their own content and build an audience. Facebook will offer creators more ways to earn payouts when they hit certain milestones and provide "seed funding" for some of them to make content.

Facebook will add Bonus sections to the Instagram app later this summer and the Facebook app in the fall where creators can learn about various programs, including details on eligibility and how to apply. Some of those programs are already available to invited creators, such as bonuses for running ads on Facebook live streams, and for video and gaming creators who reach certain earnings milestones with Stars (Facebook's Twitch Bits-style tipping currency) over the next few months.

Facebook

As for Instagram, invited creators can receive bonuses when they sign up to run IGTV ads (they'll also get a cut of ad revenue), sell a certain number of badges on live streams and make great Reels that perform well. Facebook will roll out more incentive programs in the coming months. The payouts build on Facebook's other monetization options, including fan subscriptions, paid online events and creator shops.

A billion dollars is a significant war chest for Facebook as it looks to lure creators away from rival platforms like YouTube, Substack (with Bulletin newsletters), Twitch and TikTok. In June, Zuckerberg said Facebook won't take a cut of creators' earnings through 2022, perhaps providing them with more of an incentive to switch to Facebook's products. The company has signed exclusive deals with Facebook Gaming creators over the last few years, too.

Facebook has been rolling out more ways for creators to make and share content. It's clearer than ever that attracting and rewarding influencers is an important part of Facebook's strategy. If there were any doubt that the creator economy is thriving, that billion-dollar figure might be enough to change some skeptics' minds.

AT&T and Facebook Reality Labs are joining forces to work on "collaborative video calling" as well as augmented reality experiences in Facebook’s apps. They're using Spark AR, a platform from Facebook that powers AR experiences across devices and the company's apps.

Their first AR collaboration is a promo for Space Jam: A New Legacy. Using your phone, you can bring Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tweety into your space via a website, AT&T's Instagram profile or Facebook. You can use the front or rear camera to take a picture with them or create a video with a custom intro from Bugs Bunny. AT&T says its 5G network can boost the "performance and reliability for each AR experience," with the help of more vivid graphics and shorter load times.

The Facebook partnership is one of a slew of 5G collaborations that AT&T will discuss at an event on Wednesday. The provider has partnered with Boingo to bring 5G+ (aka millimeter wave 5G) to airports across the US, including John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles Airport and Denver International Airport. They plan to roll out 5G+ in seven airports this year and 25 by the end of 2022 with the aim of reducing network congestion. AT&T, which suggests you might use the network to quickly download a bunch of TV show episodes right before a flight, has already switched on 5G at Tampa International Airport.

AT&T has also teamed up with an app called Bookful for 5G-powered AR reading experiences with characters from kids' books leaping out of the screen. In addition, it's working with Warner Bros., Ericsson, Qualcomm, Dreamscape and Wevr on a proof-of-concept Harry Potter virtual reality experience called Chaos at Hogwarts.

Google is looking to make Stadia more attractive to developers and publishers, and it's bringing in a more generous revenue sharing split. Those behind games released on Stadia after October 1st will receive 85 percent of sales revenue, with Google taking a 15 percent cut. The split applies to the first $3 million of sales and will only be in place until the end of 2023. Stadia will return to the current revenue split after that point.

Starting this month, new titles that join the Stadia Pro lineup (the library of games that's included with a membership) under updated terms will receive a cut of the $10/month subscriptions. Google will share 70 percent of that revenue with publishers and the pool will be divided based on player engagement. Google is using something called "session days" as the key metric. Each separate day that a user hops into a Stadia Pro game counts as a session day — if someone plays a title twice in 24 hours, it still counts as one session day.

Google made these announcements during a Stadia keynote at the Google for Games Summit. It will also introduce a Stadia Pro affiliate program. Developers and/or publishers will receive $10 for every user who accesses Stadia through their Click to Play link and goes on to become a paid Stadia Pro subscriber after their one-month trial. The idea is to give developers and publishers an incentive to promote their Stadia Pro games wherever users can click on a link. This program will get underway early next year.

Although all of these changes will benefit developers and publishers, it's perhaps the 85/15 revenue split that will be most enticing. As with the lower revenue cut Apple takes from the first $1 million per year of App Store sales, the move could mostly beneficial for indie studios and publishers, though those who've already published games on Stadia will miss out on the deal.

Still, this approach might work for Stadia. The Epic Games Store and the Xbox PC store take a 12 percent slice of sales, while Steam and consoles' digital storefronts typically siphon off 30 percent.

It's been a turbulent few months for Stadia. Google shut down its internal game studios in February, turning Stadia into a game streaming platform for third-party titles only. Meanwhile, Stadia product chief John Justice left the company in May. Perhaps strengthening relationships with publishers and developers through better financial terms can help Google steady the ship.

Apple TV+ and HBO Max have picked up their first nominations in the top two Primetime Emmy categories. HBO Max's Hacks and The Flight Attendant, and Apple's excellent Ted Lasso all received nods for Best Comedy Series. All but one of the nominees in that category are streaming shows, with the exception of ABC's Black-ish. Netflix picked up a trio of nods for Emily in Paris, Cobra Kai and The Kominsky Method, while Hulu earned one for Pen15.

Netflix led the way in the Best Drama Series category, with The Crown and Bridgerton among the nominees. Disney+ returned to the fold with a second successive nomination for The Mandalorian in that category. Amazon Prime Video's The Boys and Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale (which won the award in its first season) made the cut, along with HBO's Lovecraft Country, FX's Pose and NBC's This Is Us.

The Crown and The Mandalorian are the shows with the joint-most nominations this year with 24 each. Another Disney+ show, WandaVision, is right behind with 23 nods, including Best Limited Series and best actor (Paul Bettany) and actress (Elizabeth Olsen) in a limited series or movie. Other big streaming winners include The Handmaid’s Tale (21 nominations), Ted Lasso (20) and The Queen’s Gambit (18).

Other notable streaming nominees include The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (Disney+, five nominations), the Star Wars/Simpsons crossover Maggie Simpson In: The Force Awakens From Its Nap (Disney+, one), The Umbrella Academy (Netflix, four), Love, Death + Robots (Netflix, two) and the fantastic documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry (Apple TV+, four).

Friends: The Reunion (HBO Max) scored four nominations, the filmed Hamilton performance (Disney+) scooped up 12 and Bo Burnham's terrific Inside (Netflix) received six. All of those were nominated for Best Variety Special (Filmed) alongside Dave Chappelle's 8:46 (Netflix, but it streamed on YouTube), David Byrne's American Utopia (HBO) and HBO Max's West Wing reunion.

Between them, HBO and HBO Max have the most nominations overall with 130. Netflix is right behind them with 129. In only its second year of Emmy eligibility, Disney+ is in third place with 71 nominations.

Apple got 35 nominations in total, including one for Apple TV's Carpool Karaoke: The Series. Apple Watch Series 6 and Beats by Dre ads are among the nominees. Hulu received 25 nods this year and Prime Video scooped up 18.

Quibi (yes, you read that correctly) landed Emmy nominations for the second straight year with eight overall. The defunct streaming platform's shows are now branded as Roku Originals after Roku picked up the library of short-form series.

Paramount+ has six nominations, YouTube received five and Facebook landed three: two for Oculus and one for Facebook Watch. Peacock scooped up two nods, while AMC+, Pluto and Discovery+ each received a single nomination.

Ghostwire: Tokyo, the upcoming PlayStation 5 and PC game from Bethesda studio Tango Gameworks, has been delayed to early 2022. It was expected to arrive in the coming months.

The studio says it's "focused on protecting the health of everyone at Tango." It's based in Tokyo, where a fourth state of emergency just came into effect amid a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.

“We want to get the game in your hands as soon as possible so you can experience the unforgettable version of a haunted Tokyo that we’ve been hard at work building,” Tango, which also made The Evil Within, wrote in a tweet. “Our new release window will give us time to bring the world of Ghostwire to life as we’ve always envisioned it.”

Although a specific release date hadn't been set, Sony suggested in a CES 2021 presentation that the spooky Ghostwire: Tokyo would arrive in October. The company later took down the video and replaced it with a version that dropped release windows for several third-party games.

Bethesda announced Ghostwire: Tokyo in 2019 and Tango plans to show off more of the paranormal adventure in the coming months. Ghostwire will be a timed console exclusive on PS5. It’s highly likely Ghostwire will eventually come to Xbox, though — Microsoft owns Bethesda, after all.

While the Ghostwire delay may have been unavoidable, pushing back the release date to early next year may give Deathloop, another PS5 console exclusive from fellow Bethesda studio Arkane, more room to breathe. Following delays of its own, Deathloop is scheduled to arrive on September 14th.

France has fined Google €500 million ($590 million) in the latest antitrust ruling against the company. Authorities say Google did not reach a fair agreement with publishers to use snippets of their content on Google News, despite a 2020 order for the company to do so.

Google said last September it would not pay French publishers for search results and that it would only show basic news results ahead of the country bringing in new rules based on the European Union's copyright framework. Google and French newspaper group Alliance de la presse d'information générale agreed on a payment framework for news previews in January, and it has been in discussions with Agence France-Presse and magazine publishers. However, regulators said Google's payment offers were "negligible," as Bloomberg reports.

Isabelle de Silva, head of competition regulator Autorité de la concurrence, said Google offered to pay less for news than it does for weather data or dictionary definitions. She said the level of the fine "takes into account the exceptional seriousness of the breaches observed."

Regulators also gave Google two months to enter talks with publishers within two months of them making new requests for discussions. Otherwise, the company faces daily fines of up to €900,000 ($1.33 million). A ruling on the substance of the case, which the regulator is expected to issue later this year, may lead to further fines against Google.

The company can appeal the decision. Google believes it “acted in good faith throughout the entire process,” a spokesperson told Bloomberg.

This marks the second-largest antitrust fine that France has dished out to a single company, and it’s far from the first time the country has penalized Google. Just last month, Google said it would change its advertising rules in France and pay a €220 million ($267 million) fine amid claims the company abused its online ad power.

In 2019, Google agreed to pay nearly €1 billion ($1.10 billion) after failing to fully disclose its taxable activities in France. The same year, French regulators fined Google $167 million over allegedly unclear ad rules and $57 million following claims of General Data Protection Regulation violations.

Following last year's announcement of the Google News Showcase initiative, Google has reached deals with publishers in other countries to pay for their content, including in the UK, Canada and Australia, which required digital platforms to make such agreements. The company is facing antitrust issues in other jurisdictions, including severallawsuitsin the US.

Health-focused brand Amazfit has revealed its latest earbuds, the PowerBuds Pro. They're true wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC) up to 40dB and several health monitoring features, building on the original PowerBuds' heart rate monitoring.

According to the company, PowerBuds Pro can use an accelerometer to detect the sitting angle of your cervical spine. If your neck has been in the same position for too long, the earbuds can nudge you to make an adjustment and improve your posture. In addition, Amazfit says the buds can detect when you start running and automatically start tracking your run time, speed, distance, calories burned and more. You can sync heart rate data with fitness apps such as RunKeeper and MapMyRun.

There are a few ANC profiles that you can select depending on your surroundings. Indoor mode is centered around eliminating souls like typing, air conditioning and background chatter. In outdoor mode, you'll still hear announcements, Amazfit claims, but the ANC tech will stamp out trembling engines. There's also a workout mode, which blocks noises like wind but still lets you hear traffic for safety. The adaptive mode, meanwhile, will adjust the ANC based on your environment.

Amazfit

The earbuds each have three microphones and AI noise-reduction with the aim of helping you have clear phone call quality. PowerBuds Pro will run for up to nine hours on a single charge, according to Amazfit, and the charging case can extend the lifespan to 30 hours.

We found the company's $70 Bip S to be a decent, inexpensive running watch. If Amazfit can maintain a solid level of quality with its latest earbuds, they might be worth checking out.

Pre-orders for PowerBuds Pro open on July 15th. They start at $150 in the US and €130 in France, Spain, Italy and Germany.