Sony just announced an interesting feature coming to the PS5 that should streamline the whole process of wrangling people into a multiplayer game. The new tool will let you invite people into a game even when they aren’t at a console or using the PlayStation app. The system generates a link, via the app, that can be shared anywhere online. When the recipient clicks the link, they will be able to hop into a multiplayer session. You don’t even have to be friends. Easy peasy. That sure beats having to send out a lengthy numerical code (side-eyes Nintendo.)

The obvious use case scenario here? You meet some people online via social media and want to jump into a game quickly, without having to pass usernames back and forth. Sony says you’ll be able to “start playing together right away.” The tool will also generate a QR code along with the link, which is something PS5 owners are already familiar with when it comes to multiplayer games. 

There are some caveats. This feature isn’t coming until later in the year and it’s only for PS5 games. Sony also warns that some titles may require an update before everything works seamlessly. Of course, most PS5 games require a PlayStation Plus subscription to use multiplayer, and those subscriptions went up in price last year.

Sony has even developed a custom live widget for multiplayer invites in Discord. When you share a link via Discord, the widget automatically refreshes to show whether or not a multiplayer session is active or not, so you won’t jump into an empty lobby to watch tumbleweeds roll by. Just like the forthcoming invite tool, the Discord widget is only available for PS5 games.

Sony

Finally, the company’s working on a related tool that will let people share their PlayStation Network profile on any messaging or social app by generating a link on the PlayStation app, similar to how the aforementioned feature will work. This is also coming later this year.

One of the main reasons it has been difficult to recommend the $500 Quest 3 VR headset over the $200 Quest 2 is a lack of exclusive titles, as most games have to support both models. This means we haven’t really seen the power of the Quest 3 yet, but the tides are turning. Meta just announced Batman: Arkham Shadow, which is fully exclusive to the company’s newest headset.

It looks like this title is actually set in the pre-existing Arkham universe, but it's not being developed by franchise steward Rocksteady Studios. It’s being created by Oculus Studios and a developer called Camouflaj, which made the surprisingly great Iron Man VR experience. The track record is pretty spotty when it comes to other developers playing in Rocksteady’s sandbox, but the inclusion of Camouflaj makes me cautiously optimistic.

There’s a trailer, seen above, but it's devoid of any actual gameplay. For that, we’ll have to wait until Summer Game Fest in June, according to Geoff Keighley. The trailer does indicate the presence of a little-known member of Batman’s rogues gallery called Ratcatcher. He controls rats to commit crimes. It’s a whole thing.

This isn’t the first time that Batman donned a VR headset. Back in 2016, Rocksteady released Batman: Arkham VR. The game was praised for being immersive, but dinged for being just an hour long. Hopefully, this one is a bit longer, though I’m actually into short VR experiences that are done really well. There’s only so much time to wander around the house like a doofus with a headset attached to my face.

While this is certainly the highest profile Quest 3 exclusive, it's not the first to be announced. Starship Home is a mixed-reality adventure that looks like it should have been a launch exclusive for the Vision Pro. The horror-tinged Alien: Rogue Incursion isn’t quite a Quest 3 exclusive, as it's also releasing on Steam and PSVR2, but it is a “next-gen” VR game that doesn’t have to run on the antiquated Quest 2. All three titles will be released by the end of the year.

Another day, another company tests Apple's resolve. This time, it's TikTok allegedly violating the company's rules for apps, with the video platform seemingly allowing some users to purchase its coins directly from its website. TikTok has apparently given some iOS users the option to "Try recharging on tiktok.com to avoid in-app service fees" — namely Apple's 30 percent commission on purchases.

According to photos shared on X (formerly Twitter) by David Tesler, co-founder of the app Sendit, TikTok is prompting users to save around 25 percent when purchasing coins (used to tip creators) thanks to lower third-party service fees. They can then use Apple Pay, PayPal or a credit or debit card to complete their transaction. It's unclear why only some users have access to this circumnavigation; one hypothesis is the feature was turned on for individuals who previously purchased a large number of coins.

Apple notably kicked Fortnite off its app store in 2020 after Epic Games introduced discounts on the game's currency for anyone who directly purchased it. The incident set off a multi-year legal battle, with Apple reinstating Epic Games' developer account in March after the European Union began looking into the situation. More recently, Apple has faced pushback from Spotify and rejected updates that would have displayed the music streamer's pricing and allowed in-app plan purchases. 

LinkedIn, the professional network known for job listings and unsolicited career advice, is jumping into gaming. The platform is officially introducing a set of Wordle-style puzzle games, weeks after they were first spotted in the app.

The company is starting with three games: Pinpoint, a word game where players must guess the theme that ties a series of words together; Queens, a puzzle game that’s a bit like a cross between Sudoku and Minesweeper; and Crossclimb, a trivia game that involves guessing a series of four-letter words and placing them in the correct order.

LinkedIn describes them as “thinking-oriented games,” though the format will likely look familiar to fans of The New York Times Games app. Each game can only be played once a day, and players can share their score with friends in cute emoji-filled messages reminiscent of the “Wordle grid.” The service will also keep track of “streaks,” to encourage players to come back every day. Given the similarities, it shouldn’t be surprising that games were developed by LinkedIn’s news team, which recently hired a dedicated games editor.

Games have been a boon for The New York Times since it acquired Wordle in 2022, and other publications have tried to emulate that success with their own lineup of word and puzzle games. I asked LinkedIn’s editor-in-chief and VP of Product Dan Roth if the company was inspired by the success of Wordle and the NYT’s Games app. He said that the inspiration was actually much older: “the very first crossword puzzle” in the New York World newspaper more than 100 years ago. He added that there aren’t currently plans for a standalone gaming app.

“These games aren't designed to be just played,” Roth told Engadget. “We're not getting into the gaming world to get into the gaming world. The idea is games that can help you think differently and connect with your network.”

You can try out the new games on LinkedIn.

Instagram is overhauling its recommendation algorithm for Reels to boost “original content” in a move that will have significant implications for aggregator accounts and others that primarily repost other users’ work. The company is also changing the way it ranks Reels in an attempt to give smaller accounts more distribution in the app.

In a blog post announcing the changes, the company said it’s trying to “correct” its ranking system so that accounts with smaller followings will have an easier time expanding their reach. “Historically because of how we’ve ranked content, creators with large followings and aggregators of reposted content have gotten more reach in recommendations than smaller, original content creators,” the company explains. “We think it’s important to correct this to give all creators a more equal chance of breaking through to new audiences.”

It’s unclear exactly how Instagram is tweaking its recommendations to make them "more equal,” but the company suggests that the algorithm will no longer prioritize accounts with more followers. “Eligible content … is shown to a small audience that we think will enjoy it, regardless of whether they follow the account that posted it or not,” the company says. “As this audience engages with the content, the top performing set of reels are shown to a slightly wider audience, then the best of these are shown to an even wider group, and so on.” The change will roll out “over the coming months” so it could still be some time before creators see the effects of this update.

The app’s changes around “original content,” however, could be much more immediate. Instagram says it will actively replace reposted Reels with the “original” clip in its suggestions when it detects two pieces of identical content. Accounts that share reposted Reels will also be slapped with a label prominently tagging the original creator. The company says these changes won’t apply to creators that make “significant” changes like recording voice-overs or reaction clips, or if posts are “materially edited to become a meme.”

Aggregator accounts that “repeatedly'' publish posts from others will be penalized even more harshly. Instagram says it will stop recommending Reels from these accounts altogether if they have posted unoriginal content 10 or more times over the previous 30 days. That change could crater the reach of popular aggregator accounts that share other users’ clips, often in order to promote affiliate shopping links and other schemes.

Of note, all of these changes for now only apply to Reels and not other types of posts on Instagram (a spokesperson said the company will “explore expanding to other formats in the future”.) The changes also broadly reflect the fact that Instagram has tried to decrease the importance of follower counts. That has frustrated some creators who complain that most of their followers don’t see their posts in their feeds.

In recent weeks, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has taken to Threads to field complaints from several creators sharing their account statistics and demanding to know why more of their followers don’t see their posts. In one recent exchange, nature photographer Nate Luebbe who has 142,000 followers on Instagram, pressed Mosseri on why a popular post only reached about 20 percent of his followers. In his reply, Mosseri suggested that was how Instagram’s algorithm is intended to function.

So while these latest changes are directed at Reels specifically, the updates suggest Meta will continue to focus on other metrics besides follower counts. That may be disappointing to those who have built up a large audience over several years, but Meta seems to view it as a better way of leveling the playing field for small accounts.

Instagram previously updated its algorithm in 2022 in order to prioritize original content. Mosseri said at the time that he didn't want the app to “overvalue aggregators” though he acknowledged it was difficult to know “for sure” when a piece of content was original. Whatever changes were made at the time, though, may not have gone far enough if the company is still trying to “correct” imbalances a full two years later.

Meta is offering some creators thousands of dollars if they go viral on Threads. The payouts are part of a new invitation-only bonus program that rewards creators who use Meta’s newest app.

An Instagram support page offers some details about the bonus program, which Meta hasn’t formally announced. It states that creators can earn money “based on the performance of your Threads posts” or “the number of posts you create.” It appears that specific terms of the bonuses are individualized to each creator. “Details of the bonus program may vary by participant,” the company notes.

The program seems to be a small-scale effort for now — the company refers to it as being in “testing” — but it offers a preview of how Meta may look to ramp up its efforts to use creators to boost engagement on the service. Meta has previously offered bonuses for posting Reels on Facebook and Instagram, but it’s the first time the company has paid for posts on Threads. The Threads bonus program was first reported by Business Insider earlier this month.

Some creators are already being offered thousands of dollars for high-performing posts. According to one screenshot making the rounds on Threads, at least one creator was offered “up to $5,000” for Threads posts or replies with 10,000 views or more. That’s not nearly as high as the $10,000 bonuses Reels creators could once earn on Instagram, but is still quite generous considering posting on Threads requires far less effort than shooting and editing a compelling video.

Meta isn’t the only platform trying to lure creators with promises of potential payouts. X also offers creators direct payments based on their engagement, but that program is a revenue sharing arrangement for users who pay for premium subscriptions.

Threads has been growing steadily since its launch last year, and has more than 150 million monthly users, Mark Zuckerberg revealed last week. The Facebook founder has speculated that the app could one day be the company’s next billion-user platform, though it would likely take several years to reach that milestone. Either way, onboarding popular creators from Instagram would be an important step to boost engagement on Threads. The company also recently partnered with Taylor Swift’s team to get the pop star on the app to promote her latest album. Meta hasn’t shared what, if any, terms were associated with that arrangement, but the effort involved custom animations and other “Easter eggs” for Swift fans.

Aaron Sorkin has announced that he’s currently writing a followup script to The Social Network, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He broke the news during an episode of The Town podcast that centered on how Facebook and social media have influenced democracy in the years since his Oscar-winning hit. The first film chronicled the early days of Mark Zuckerberg’s social network and starred Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, among others.

Sorkin is cagey on the actual details of the new script, but it looks to follow Facebook throughout the Trump era. He went on to tell the podcast hosts that he actually blames the social media site for the January 6 riots that claimed the lives of five people and led to the injuries of more than 140 police officers. “Look, yeah, I’ll be writing about this,” Sorkin told podcast hosts Matthew Belloni and Peter Hamby. “I blame Facebook for January 6.”

He didn’t give any reason as to why he blames Facebook for the attack on the capitol, telling the podcast hosts that they will have to “buy a movie ticket.” Facebook, Google, Twitter and Reddit were all subpoenaed as part of the investigation into January 6. Lawmakers have suggested that Facebook didn’t take the proper steps to handle the “Stop the Steal” movement, which was organized on the platform, and that it didn’t recognize the danger posed by these groups until after the violence in DC.

Whistleblower Frances Haugen told Congress that Facebook disbanded its civic integrity team after the 2020 election. She also has said that Facebook knew its algorithms and platforms promoted harmful content and that “it failed to deploy internally recommended or lasting countermeasures.” According to Haugen, the company chose profits over safety.

Sorkin has obviously been paying attention to all of this, saying in the same interview that “Facebook has been, among other things, tuning its algorithm to promote the most divisive material possible. Because that is what will increase engagement.” He further dinged the company by suggesting that “there’s supposed to be a constant tension at Facebook between growth and integrity. There isn’t. There’s just growth.”

Now, don’t go heading to your local multiplex to buy a ticket for The Social Network 2: Electric Boogaloo just yet. The script is still in the early stages and Sorkin hasn’t announced a partnership with any studio to get the film made. This also isn’t his first attempt to get something like this off the ground. He was previously working on a script entirely about January 6, but it didn’t move forward. It remains to be seen if some aspects of that script will end up in followup to The Social Network, should it actually get made. He told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he would only push to make a sequel to The Social Network if David Fincher returned to direct it. 

If a studio does sign on to make this project, which is fairly likely given the success of the 2010 film, it leaves me with two glaring questions. Can Jesse Eisenberg grow a sweet beard and what are his thoughts on ultra-premium livestock?

Meta is bringing some of its existing safety features to Threads, including the Hidden Words tool. The platform — which recently hit more than 150 million users — will now allow you to filter out words, phrases and even emojis, just like you can on Instagram.

Threads will have the setting on by default and filter out anything that it deems offensive, along with content that could be irrelevant or uninteresting. You can then add other things that you want to be filtered out, such as "weight loss," "assault" or a derogatory term. To add your own options, go to "manage custom words and phrases" and type in anything you're sick of seeing on Threads.

The platform is also testing two additional features: muting and quote controls. The first would allow you to mute notifications specifically for any interactions with your posts. This way, you could still get alerts about new followers or tags without seeing every response. Quote controls would let you choose who can quote your post and even let you unquote yourself. Meta has yet to announce when these two features might be available to all Threads users.

Facepunch Studios has announced on Steam that it's removing 20 years' worth of Nintendo-related workshop items for its sandbox game Garry's Mod to comply with the Japanese company's demands. Earlier this year, an X user with the name Brewster T. Koopa posted that a group of trolls was filing false DMCA claims against the game to get Nintendo add-ons removed and to get add-on makers to shut down. The perpetrators allegedly used a fake email to impersonate Nintendo's lawyers to send DMCA takedown notices. Facepunch Studios said in its new announcement, that it believes the demands legitimately came from Nintendo and that it has to respect the company's decision and start taking down items related to its IPs. 

"This is an ongoing process, as we have 20 years of uploads to go through," the developer wrote. "If you want to help us by deleting your Nintendo related uploads and never uploading them again, that would help us a lot."

Koopa said in a follow-up tweet that they sent an email to the company to let it know that the demands aren't actually from Nintendo. They previously argued that the takedown notices couldn't be from the Japanese gaming giant, because Nintendo add-ons have been around since 2005 and because the company would've contacted Valve, the publisher of Garry's Mod, itself.

While the announcement is still up, Facepunch founder Garry Newman announced that his team has received people's emails and DMs and that the developer is conducting an investigation. "We need to take these things seriously (particularly from Nintendo), but we also can't let people misuse DMCA takedowns," Newman wrote. We've reached out to Nintendo to ask whether the takedowns Facepunch received truly came from the company, and we'll update this post once they respond.

Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's District Attorney, wants to meet with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan to discuss why the website allows the posting of videos on how to manufacture "ghost guns" and why its algorithm is pushing them to underage viewers who watch video game content. Ghost guns are firearms assembled using 3D-printed parts or components purchased as kits. That means they have no serial numbers, making them near impossible to trace, and don't need any kind of background check to acquire. 

In a letter sent to Mohan (PDF) requesting a meeting, Bragg referenced a study conducted by the Tech Transparency Project in 2023, wherein it created four test YouTube accounts and gave them the profiles of 14-year-old and 9-year-old boys. Apparently, after playing at least 100 gaming videos, YouTube's algorithm started recommending them instructional videos on how to make ghost guns. It doesn't matter if they'd only watched, say, Call of Duty gameplay videos and had never interacted with any content featuring real guns. YouTube still pushed real gun content to their accounts, as well as other violence-related videos, such as those of school shootings and serial killers, even if they were supposed to be minors. Bragg also called YouTube's attention to the fact that there's no way for guardians to switch off the website's recommendations in parental controls. 

A lot of young individuals being investigated for gun possession in New York City said they learned how to make ghost guns from YouTube, Bragg wrote. While the website does remove those videos when they're flagged by gun safety groups, the DA said YouTube should be more proactive in removing them, should make sure they get blocked from being uploaded in the future and should provide viewers a way to switch off recommendations. Especially since the website does have a policy that prohibits the uploading of videos intending to sell firearms or to instruct viewers on how to make them. YouTube told New York Daily News in a statement that it'll "carefully review" videos the Manhattan DA shares with the company and that it remains committed to "removing any content that violates [its] policies."