When Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) struck a deal with Firewalk Studios to publish a PlayStation 5 exclusive multiplayer game, it must have liked what it saw — because now, Sony is buying the developer outright. The company has announced that it's reached an agreement with ProbablyMonsters Inc to acquire Firewalk Studios.

"Firewalk is home to a remarkably talented team of creatives who have launched some of gaming’s most celebrated experiences, and they’re already hard at work on their first original AAA multiplayer game for PlayStation," PlayStation Studios' Hermen Hulst wrote on the PlayStation blog. "We’re excited for Firewalk to bring their technical and creative expertise to PlayStation Studios to help grow our live service operations and deliver something truly special for gamers."

The deal will roll Firewalk Studios and its team into the PlayStation brand, though operations will continue to be run by the studio's existing management team. The announcement didn't offer any clues about the PS5-exclusive multiplayer title the team has been working on, but did stress Firewalk staffers' wealth of experience building such games — highlighting the team's experience working on Destiny at Bungie and Activision.

Despite the lack of details, PlayStation seems very optimistic about the deal. "Firewalk’s innovative approach to connected storytelling and its commitment to high-quality gameplay continues to exceed our expectations," Hulst said. "I think fans will be very pleased when they see what Firewalk has in store for them.”

As much as we all love our gadgets, they all contribute to a growing e-waste problem. Knowing where to recycle your used electronics can help mitigate that — but if you want to take it a step further, you could seek out more sustainable products like Acer's Vero line of "eco-friendly" laptops. Not only is the latest model of Acer's Aspire Vero 15 more powerful, but the company says it's built with more sustainable materials than ever, too.

Boiled down to the specs, the new Acer Aspire Vero 15 is a pretty standard spec upgrade — outfitting the notebook with an 13th generation Intel Core processor available in i3, i5 and i7 configurations, up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and as much as 1TB of storage. The latest revision also has an upgraded 1440p QHD webcam with AI noise reduction and voice enhancement features, two thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports, as well as two typical USB connectors, HDMI out and an audio jack.

The product line's eco-friendly credentials stem from a chassis built partially from post-consumer recycled plastics all cardboard packaging — and Acer says it's upgraded that aspect of the machine too. The new Aspire 15 Vero is now built from 40 percent PCR plastics (up from 30). The company also says the production process used 30% less CO2 than previous models. The laptop's circuit board is smaller too.

If that sounds like the machine for you, it won't be long before you can get your hands on it. The Acer Aspire Vero 15 launches in June, starting at $699.99.

The FBI has made an arrest in connection to a recent leak of classified documents that revealed sensitive details about the war in Ukraine and other US intelligence matters, apprehending a young Massachusetts Air National Guard member on Thursday, April 13th. 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who holds the rank of airman first class, allegedly shared the files to a Discord server primarily dedicated to Minecraft. According to The Washington Post, he first transcribed the documents manually when he started sharing them late last year before posting photos of the classified materials themselves.  

The Justice Department has arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into “alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information,“ Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement issued by the Justice Department. As NBC News notes, public military records show that Texeira was assigned as a cyber transport systems journeyman at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod. 

Based on the The Post’s investigation, Teixeira, who used the pseudonym “OG” on the Discord server, claimed he partly worked at a secure facility where phones and cameras are prohibited. That’s reportedly the reason why he originally copied the documents by hand before the lack of interaction on the server prompted him to post photographs of the original documents. Some of the photos contained random items and furniture that may have given investigators a clue on his identity. 

Despite the sensitive information contained in the documents, the suspect apparently did not intend to be a whistleblower — according to The New York Times, members of "Thug Shaker Central," the original Discord server, say the documents were never intended to be shared outside of their small group. Eventually, though, they were shared to other Discord servers before finding their way to Telegram channels, 4chan and other social media platforms.   

The documents Teixeira had leaked included large amounts of information regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including detailed battlefield conditions and missile strike maps for the latter. They also reportedly showed how Egypt had planned to sell Russia tens of thousands of rockets and how Russia approached Turkey, a NATO ally, to buy weapons. In addition, the documents apparently contained information showing how the US spies on its foreign allies.  

Discord previously said that it was cooperating with authorities regarding their investigation on the leak. As for Teixeira, he will make his initial appearance in the US District Court for Massachusetts. 

The New York Attorney General has announced that its youth vaping lawsuit against Juul is over, ending with an agreement that distribute a $462 million settlement between six states and Washington DC. “JUUL lit a nationwide public health crisis by putting addictive products in the hands of minors and convincing them that it’s harmless," Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. "Today they are paying the price for the harm they caused.” The settlement will be split among the states of New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and the District of Columbia.

The 2019 lawsuit alleged that Juul engaging in deceptive marketing and illegally sold products to minors by glamorizing vaping with ads that featured "young models using fruity, sweet and minty flavors that appealed to youth." In addition to the monetary penalty, the settlement includes strict restrictions to keep Juul from marketing its products that way in the future, including a ban on showing persons under 35 years of age using its products and rules that would keep Juul product placement from appearing in movies, tv shows, video games and even virtual reality.

This is the largest multi-state settlement Juul has made yet, but it's only a small part of the total the company has paid so far. In 2022, the company agreed to pay $1.2 billion, collectively settling thousands of personal and government lawsuits.

Juul will have 8 years to pay out the $462 million settlement, and it might need it. According to a 2022 valuation based on Cigarette maker Altria's investment in the company, Juul's worth has dropped dramatically since 2018. Despite the settlement, Juul is attempting to remain optimistic. "With this settlement, we are nearing total resolution of the company's historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future," the company told ABC News. "Since our company-wide reset in the fall of 2019, underage use of JUUL products has declined by 95% based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey."

If you've ever been on a voice call and felt the need to punctuate the conversation with a sad trombone noise, then you just might have found a reason to subscribe to Discord Nitro. Today, the messaging app announced four new features for its paid tier, including a soundboard feature that allows subscribers to send audio-reactions to voice channels. Soundboards will be loaded up with audio files curated by Discord itself or uploaded by the managers of individual communities.

Most of the other new Nitro perks are fairly subtle: Discord is introducing "super reactions" for Nitro subscribers, which will allow certain emoji reactions to chat messages to animate with a little more flourish than the normal icon. Super reactions are limited, too: Nitro subscribers can use five each week, while Nitro Basic and Classic subscribers can only use two. The company is also giving subscribers 5 new themes (Retro Storm, Strawberry Lemonade, Aurora, Sepia and Neon Nights), and the ability to dress up their avatar with limited-time decorations that overlay flowers, hats or mushrooms on top of their user portrait.

Don't have Nitro? Discord says that everyone will be given 2 Super Reactions to try out the new feature, even if they aren't subscribed. Check out the company's blog for a full rundown of the new features.

If the dark, serious tone of Overwatch 2 Season 2's Ramattra wasn't your style, the game's latest hero might be a breath of fresh air. Meet Lifeweaver, a Thai scientist with long, flowing hair, an elegant sense of style and an overwhelming sense of confidence and bravado. His backstory outlines him as a naturalist who wields bio-light technology to "cure diseases and heal the world." In game, that translates to a support class.

Specifically, Lifeweaver's gameplay trailer shows the new hero using plant-themed hard light powers to restore health and using movement powers to turn the tide of battle. We see Lifeweaver pull a knocked back player back onto the map before they can fall off a cliff. Then, the hero creates a platform that lifts the opposing team's Orisa high above the battlefield just as she sets off her ultimate ability, rendering the attack harmless. That ability, Petal Platform, can be used by players on both teams — making it useful both for disrupting enemy movement and offering high ground to allies.

Lifeweaver's own ultimate move manifests as a large, glowing tree that constantly heals teammates in the surrounding area. It's also impervious to attacks, meaning it can be used to create cover in open spaces.

The moveset is certainly compelling — it's easy to imagine using these abilities to help teammates traverse the map in new ways, or help keep the enemy at bay in the final moments of battle. We won't have to wait long to find out exactly how Lifeweaver will change the game, however. The new hero launches with Season 4 on April 11th, and will be free to use for a limited time.

Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft and other major players in the game industry have all confirmed that they would have no presence on the E3 2023 show floor. Now the event itself won't happen at all.

According to IGN, the Entertainment Software Association has begun notifying members that while the show "remains a beloved event and brand," the plans for E3 2023 "simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength and impact our industry." 

The ESA has also published a statement from ReedPop's Global VP of Gaming, Kyle Marsden-Kish:

This was a difficult decision because of all the effort we and our partners put toward making this event happen, but we had to do what’s right for the industry and what’s right for E3. We appreciate and understand that interested companies wouldn’t have playable demos ready and that resourcing challenges made being at E3 this summer an obstacle they couldn’t overcome. For those who did commit to E3 2023, we’re sorry we can’t put on the showcase you deserve and that you’ve come to expect from ReedPop’s event experiences.

The event was supposed to run from June 13th to 16th in Los Angeles, and would have been the first in-person E3 event since 2019.

While the event may be cancelled, there will likely still be plenty of video game news to look forward to in June: Ubisoft previously announced that it would be hosting its own event around the same time, and Nintendo and PlayStation typically run digital events of their own in June. Microsoft previously pledged to be part of E3's digital show, and may still have announcements in spite of the lack of an E3 event itself. 

Engadget has reached out to the ESA for comment.

When portions of Twitter's source code appeared on Github earlier this year, the social media company asked the court to compel the collaborative programming network to reveal the identity of the user who posted it. Now, Twitter is getting it: the US District Court for the Northern District of California has issued a subpoena to Github compelling it to identity GitHub user "FreeSpeech Enthusiast," including "name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), , email address(es), social media profile data, and IP address(es), for the user(s) associated with."

According to the New York Times, sources within the company say that Twitter executives suspect a disgruntled former employee is responsible for the leak. Depending on what information Github provides, Twitter will be able to determine if the source code was posted by one of the thousands of workers that were laid off following Elon Musk's purchase of company last year.

In addition to information about the leaker themselves, the order asks Github to identify users who "posted, uploaded, downloaded or modified the data." Github has until April 3 to produce the data.

Nintendo might be making it harder to play its older games on official hardware, but there are other options if you know where to look. One of them is about to be a lot easier to find: Dolphin, a popular emulator that runs most GameCube and Wii titles, will be launching on Steam later this year. Dolphin is already available for free, but launching on Steam could make using the emulator more straightforward on devices like the Steam Deck, where dropping to desktop mode and manually installing programs can be a little cumbersome. 

That doesn't mean downloading Dolphin from the Steam store will give you instant access to classic Nintendo games, however. Dolphin's store page is quick to point out that the "app does not come with games. You must own an original copy of any game you want to use with Dolphin." If you've dabbled in retro game emulation at all, that should sound pretty familiar — emulating console games is a bit of a legal gray area. 

That's probably why the Dolphin Steam page is reluctant to even identify what, exactly, it does — instead choosing to say it plays "classics from the Big N's cube-shaped and motion-controlled consoles." The emulator's website is a bit more explicit, specifically stating that "downloading commercial games is illegal" and encouraging users use homebrew tools to make backups of game discs they legally own. 

Dolphin is expected to launch on Steam Early Access by the end of Q2 2023, with a full launch planned by the end of the year. 

We don't always think about it, but sound can be as important to identifying a brand as any graphical logo. Netflix's 'ta-dum' instantly brings the streaming service's logo to mind. Apple's startup chime feels like a warm greeting from your computer. Now, Wikipedia has an iconic audio mark of its own: a fluttering of book pages, keyboard clicks and synthesize tones it calls "The Sound of All Human Knowledge."

In true Wikipedia fashion, the four second audio clip was sourced from the community. The Wikimedia Foundation hosted a contest to find an audio logo for "projects when visual logos are not an option." Over 3,000 submissions later, they landed on a series of warm, happy notes preceded by book and keyboard noises, created by Thaddeus Osborne.

Osborne, a Nuclear Scientist by day, will be awarded $2,500 for creating the winning sound. Wikimedia will also be flying him to a professional recording studio to help produce a finalized version of the audio logo. The foundation says it hopes to have the final sound ready to use by June of this year.