The game Assassin’s Creed fans have been asking for years is finally on its way. During its Ubisoft Forward event on Saturday, the publisher revealed Codename Red, a new entry in the series that will be set in feudal Japan. Franchise head Marc-Alexis Côté called Red the “next premium title” in Ubisoft’s open world series and said Ubisoft Quebec was leading work on the project, suggesting it will hew closer to Odyssey than next year’s Mirage.

Côté also shared a teaser for Codename Hexe and called it “a very different type of Assassin’s Creed game.” Ubisoft Montreal, the studio that first created the series is leading development on the project, with Clint Hocking involved as creative director. Hocking may not be a household name, but he’s probably among the most influential designers at Ubisoft, with credits that include Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2. According to a recent report from Bloomberg’s Jason Scheier, the game is set during the latter stages of the Holy Roman Empire.

Neither game has a release date yet, but Ubisoft said they would both integrate with Infinity, a service Côté called “not a game per se, but a single entry point into the series.” Ubisoft was cryptic about what Infinity would involve but Côté said the company was exploring the possibility of creating standalone multiplayer experiences within the hub.

Cyberpunk 2077 now has an official modding tool. CD Projekt RED has launched REDmod, which provides players integrated support to easily install and load mods onto the PC version of the action RPG. As the developer's official announcement notes, it will also allow players to modify and personalize their game by using the custom sounds, animations and scripts that come with the tool. CD Projekt Red promises to update the tool alongside future patches to ensure that it remains compatible with the game. It is a free DLC, though, and players don't have to install it at all if they don't want to.

As popular mod website Nexus Mods clarifies, while new mods are required to use a specific format to be compatible with REDmod, old mods will continue to work just fine. Older mods that aren't compatible with the tool simply won't show up in the new REDmod menu. That's also were players can toggle mods that are compatible with the tool on or off. 

The free DLC is now available for download from the official Cyberpunk 2077 website, but players can get also get it from GOG, Steam or Epic.

A judge recently ruled that Elon Musk can use the allegations made by Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko as part of the arguments in his countersuit against the company. As it turns out, Musk intends to use not just Zatko's claims to win his case, but also the fact that the former Twitter executive received a settlement to get out of the $44 billion acquisition deal he made with the social network. As The Washington Post reports, Musk's lawyers sent a letter to Twitter, telling the company that the severance payment worth $7.75 million that it made to Zatko in June violated a provision in their sales agreement. 

In the letter uploaded to the SEC website, Musk's lawyers cited Section 6.1(e) of the merger agreement, which says Twitter promised not to "grant or provide any severance or termination payments or benefits to any Company Service Provider other than the payment of severance amounts or benefits in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and subject to the execution and non-revocation of a release of claims in favor of the Company and its Subsidiaries." Former employees are considered Company Service Providers.

Musk and Twitter entered the purchase agreement in April, and it wasn't until June when Zatko received his severance pay. The company didn't seek Musk's consent before making the payment or notify him of the transaction, the lawyers said in the letter. Musk apparently only found out about the settlement when Twitter included the information in its court filing on September 3rd. As such, Musk's camp argues that the settlement serves as an additional basis to terminate the parties' purchase agreement. As The Post notes, it's now up to Twitter to prove that such a big payout to a former employee wasn't out of the ordinary. We've reached out to Twitter for a statement, and we'll update this post when we hear back.

Also known as "Mudge," Zatko accused the the social network of having "extreme, egregious deficiencies" in security. He said in a complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Twitter violated the terms it had agreed to when it settled a privacy dispute with the FTC back in 2011. The whistleblower also claimed that he couldn't get a direct response from Twitter regarding the actual number of bots on the website. If you'll recall Musk previously accused Twitter of fraud for hiding the real number of bots on its platform and told the court in a legal filing that 10 percent — not just 5 percent as the social network maintains — of its daily active users who see ads are inauthentic accounts.

Twitter and Musk are set to face off in court in a five-day trial scheduled to start on October 17th.

Marvel has teamed up with Pokémon Go developer Niantic to create an augmented reality mobile game that will be available worldwide next year. In Marvel World of Heroes, you can create your own superhero in a Marvel game for the first time, according to a Niantic blog post. 

Players will be able to forge their hero's identity and origin story. They'll be tasked with patrolling their neighborhood to thwart crimes, take on missions and fend off interdimensional threats and super villains. As you level up, you'll unlock more gear and abilities. You'll be able to team up with your friends, as well as the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America and Wolverine. It seems players can also visit multiple alternate realities — in a virtual sense, anyway.

If you're interested in checking out the game, you can pre-register on the Marvel World of Heroes website. As it often does, Niantic will soft launch the game in select markets before rolling it out more broadly. 

Marvel's Midnight Suns has a new release date, and it's sooner than you may have expected. It was revealed during the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase that the tactical RPG from Firaxis will hit PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on December 2nd. The Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will arrive at a later date.

The game was initially slated for October, but publisher 2K announced last month that it was pushing back the release date until sometime later in its fiscal year, which ends in March. Thankfully, you won't have to wait that long to play it. In the meantime, the first Marvel's Midnight Suns prequel short will hit Marvel's YouTube channel on October 31st. 

Disney and Marvel are holding what's shaping up to be a newsworthy gaming event today at the D23 Expo. The first Disney and Marvel Games Showcase (to give its official name) starts at 4PM ET and you'll be able to watch it below.

Expect updates on Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 20th Century projects. There's something new in store for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (a timely expansion focused on Rogue One, perhaps?), along with info on Disney Dreamlight Valley, which arrived this week, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Perhaps most enticingly, we'll get a peek at the Marvel action-adventure game that Amy Hennig’s studio, Skydance New Media, is working on. 

On top of those, rumors suggest the showcase will include a peek at an Iron Man game from EA. Maybe we'll finally learn a bit more about the Indiana Jones game Bethesda announced early last year or even get a look at Spider-Man 2 gameplay. In any case, we won't have to wait long to find out.

Instagram will soon be testing reposts, something that's never been available in the main feed part of the app but is a key feature on Facebook and Twitter. It was first spotted on the profile of Twitter CEO Adam Mosseri by social media consultant Matt Navarra, and Instagram later confirmed it with TechCrunch."

"We’re exploring the ability to reshare posts in Feed — similar to how you can reshare in Stories — so people can share what resonates with them, and so original creators are credited for their work," a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch. "We plan to test this soon with a small number of people."

A new screen describes the features as a way to recommend a post to friends, and spark conversations wiht follows, who can reply to your repost with a message. Feed reposts are "shown in a separate tab in your profile" along with posts, reels and tagged photos, and will be visible to followers.

Reposts have been available in Stories since 2018, but the only way to do it in feeds has been via third-party apps (clues about the feature were first spotted back in May by researcher Alessandro Paluzzi). Instagram's arch-rival TikTok recently introduced a repost feature for videos following tests early in 2022. However, reposted TikTok videos only appear in your friends' 'For You' feeds and not in your own profile.

Instagram has introduced a slew of updates recently to help it better compete with TikTok. It recently launched a full-screen TikTok-like feed and boosted the amount of recommended content you see. However, following complaints (including from celebrities), it backed off and said it would phase out the full-screen mode and scale back recommended posts.

Some social media experts worry that reposts may create similar issues by pushing content from strangers. "Reposting is another explicit step towards dismantling the IG that you know, in favor of one that Instagram thinks will be a better experience for you," wroteSocial Media Today's Andrew Hutchinson. "BeReal’s growth shows that there is a real desire for more authentic connection and community engagement, outside of the constant highlight reels of viral clips."

Paramount has announced a new scripted Star Trek podcast detailing the exploits of arch-villain Khan Noonien Singh. Star Trek: Khan - Ceti Alpha V will cover the period of time after Khan and his cohort of genetically-engineered villains were exiled during the classic episode Space Seed and before Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. More importantly, the long-mooted miniseries will be written and directed by Trek auteur Nicholas Meyer.

To Trek fans, there are few creative figures who deserve more swooning adoration than Meyer. The writer-director made The Wrath of Khan, the movie that ostensibly saved the series from obscurity. He would go on to co-write The Voyage Home and helm The Undiscovered Country — three of the best Star Trek movies ever made. In fact, one esteemed Trek scholar even said that to make great Star Trek you need to do two things: Hire Nicholas Meyer, then cut his budget in half.

Alex Kurtzman gave praise to Meyer, saying that “Nick made the definitive Trek movie when he made Wrath, and we’ve all been standing in its shadow since.” He added that Meyer has “come up with something as surprising, gripping and emotional as the original, and it’s a real honor to be able to let him tell the next chapter in this story exactly the way he wants to.”

When Star Trek’s revival began, Discovery’s original creator Bryan Fuller recruited Meyer as a producer. Back in 2017, Meyer added that discussions had taken place for him to write a Khan mid-quel series covering his exile and bridging the gap between the classic series and the film. The series may or may not have been put on ice as a consequence of Paramount and CBS’ complex re-merger, and the fact it was only expected to be three episodes long.

Unfortunately there’s no solid details on who will star in the series (Ricardo Montalban passed away in 2009), and no word on a release date or runtime. But given that Paramount has a) Hired Nicholas Meyer and b) cut his budget by more than half, we should expect this podcast to be the greatest piece of Trek ever committed to audio.

Why screencap when you can simply share? Twitter Support announced on Thursday that its Android app will soon receive the same functionality that its iOS alternative already enjoys: the ability to share tweets directly on Instagram or Snapchat.

What's more, Twitter is adding LinkedIn direct sharing to both Android and iOS so your echo chamber will be able to bounce around through three separate social media silos. Twitter is also working to increase its cross-platform reach in India, where TechCrunch reports that the social media company is already testing out a "Share to Whatsapp" button for users in that market. 

YouTube is already a key destination for folks who want to learn a skill or find out more about a topic. The platform will add more educational features, including a way for creators to offer structured video courses. As such, creators wouldn't need to direct their fans to other sites or apps (like Masterclass) where they sell those kinds of materials. YouTube would be able to take a cut of course sales too.

These courses are intended as "in-depth, structured learning experiences," according to YouTube. Creators will be able to charge for courses or offer them for free. Videos that are part of a paid course won't have any ads and can be played in the background (in other words, you can treat them like a premium podcast). Courses will initially be available in beta next year in the US and South Korea. YouTube plans to expand the feature to more countries at a later time.

To bolster educational content on the platform and perhaps help people taking a course test their knowledge, YouTube will also roll out a feature called Quizzes. Creators will be able to add a quiz to their community tab, where they can ask viewers about something they discussed in a video. A beta version of the feature will be available in the coming months, and all creators who have the community tab will be able to use Quizzes next year.

On top of those features, YouTube announced a new embedded player for education apps. The company says Player for Education omits potential distractions, including ads, recommendations and external links. It added that the player improves on the one used in Google Classroom to deliver "an even better YouTube experience." At the outset, US edtech companies such as EDpuzzle, Purdue University and Purdue Global will use the player.