Liveuamap, a tool journalists and relief organizations have used to follow the conflict in Ukraine, was the target of a DDoS attack earlier today that lasted approximately 18 hours, according to The New York Times. The website was founded in 2014 by Ukrainian journalists and software developers and mainly operates out of the Eastern European country. At 12:48PM ET, Liveuamap said its website was slowly coming back online with help from Cloudflare. The company’s mobile app was still experiencing some issues at the time.

It’s unclear who was behind the attack. In the lead-up to Thursday's invasion, Ukraine blamed Russia for a series of cyberattacks that hobbled dozens of government websites. Since then, the country has called on an “IT Army” of international volunteers to disrupt Russian government websites. That same weekend, Anonymous claimed responsibility for a DDoS attack on the website of Russia’s Ministry of Defence.

Facebook is taking new steps to curb the influence of Russian state media outlets on its platform. The company, which has already blocked access to RT and Sputnik within the European Union and Ukraine, now says it will demote all Russian state media across Facebook and Instagram around the world.

Calling the move “unprecedented,” Meta’s president of Global Affairs Nick Clegg, said the company was making Russian state media “harder to find” on Facebook and Instagram. “We are demoting content from Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts for Russian state controlled media outlets,” Clegg said during a call with reporters. “We have also begun to demote posts that contain links to Russian state controlled media websites on Facebook over the past few days.”

He added that Facebook will also add labels to all links to Russian state media websites that are shared on its platforms in order to “provide more information to people before they share them or to let them know that they lead to state controlled media websites.”

While Facebook has in the past down-ranked certain types of content, like vaccine misinformation, it’s unusual for the company to demote a wide swath of content entirely. RT in particular is prolific on social media, and has millions of followers on Facebook alone. On the call, Clegg called the move “unprecedented,” and noted that Meta has received requests from a number of governments to suppress Russian state media. So far, the company has only blocked the pages entirely in the European Union — following a ban from lawmakers — and inside of Ukraine.

Developing…

It took a year and a half, but Amazon's Luna cloud gaming service finally exists as more than an early access project. Amazon has formally launched Luna in the mainland US for Android, iOS, Chrome OS, macOS and Windows. The core Luna+ service with over 100 games will normally cost $10 per month, with the kid-friendly Family Channel and Ubisoft+ Channels available for a respective $6 and $18 per month. Amazon hopes to reel in newcomers by dropping the monthly fees of Luna+ and the Family channel to $6 and $3 for anyone who signs up during March. Existing users just have to maintain their subscriptions to lock in that pricing.

The official debut comes alongside some new channels. A Prime Gaming channel, as the name implies, gives Amazon Prime members a free, rotating mix of games. The March selection will include titles like Devil May Cry 5 and Flashback. Pay $5 per month for the Retro Channel and you'll get Capcom and SNK classics like Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting and Metal Slug 3, while a similar outlay for the Jackbox Games Channel provides access to all eight Jackbox Party Pack titles.

Luna's latest update also makes it simpler to stream gameplay from a Fire TV device, Mac or Windows PC on Twitch. You'll need a webcam and mic if you want to interact with viewers, but this might be an option if you're determined to broadcast and don't have a brawny-enough computer to play demanding locally-stored games.

Amazon's challenge, as with comparable services like Microsoft's Game Pass Ultimate, is to convince players that subscription-based game streaming is a good supplement or even replacement for conventional PC and console gaming experiences. You'll have the convenience of playing on seemingly every device you own, but you'll also be limited by what you can play and the quality of your internet connection. Amazon's main advantage is its ubiquity — it can make sure people are aware Luna exists, whether they're watching on Twitch or buying a Fire TV gadget for the living room.

You didn't think Disney+ would only offer Marvel's Netflix shows in Canada, did you? Sure enough, Disney+ has confirmed it will carry Daredevil, Jessica Jones and other former Netflix exclusives in the US starting March 16th. Agents of SHIELD will be available, too. As you might imagine, though, Disney isn't about to release that decidedly darker content without a heads-up to parents used to more family-friendly material — it's going to make everyone reconsider their content settings.

The first time you use Disney+ from March 16th onward, you'll be asked to update your parental controls. You'll have the option of setting per-profile content rating levels, PIN codes for more mature accounts and "Kid-Proof Exit" questions for child profiles. You'll remain at the usual TV-14 rating if you stick with the existing settings. The service has used strategies like this in places like Africa, Europe and the Middle East, but is now expanding that approach to the US.

Disney wasn't shy about the reasons for bringing the Netflix shows to Disney+ instead of Hulu, where mature shows are more expected. It "made the most logical sense" to serve Marvel fans by streaming more content in one place and reach a "broader audience," the company said. The parental controls will help Disney+ preserve both its trust and its reputation.

The Marvel productions were slated to leave Netflix as of today (March 1st). Disney telegraphed its attention for years, warning as early as 2017 that it would drop Netflix in favor of its own services. Netflix cancelled all of its Marvel shows by 2019, and Disney has given former Netflix characters limited roles in Hawkeye and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The US additions reflect the careful balance Disney+ has tried to strike since launch. While it's eager to maintain the stereotypically clean Disney image, it's also determined to attract subscribers drawn to content that doesn't quite fit that mold, whether it's Star's wider selection in some countries or exceptions like Hamilton. This latest expansion appears to continue the strategy — Disney+ isn't about to sacrifice viewers to avoid an inconsistency between the Netflix productions and its 'safer' Marvel fare.

I grew up in the era of VHS board games and later, DVD special features that occasionally included little trivia games or interactive fiction (the Home Movies box sets have some particularly good ones). I find them sort of interesting in a “car crash” sort of a way, because they never really worked. Today’s streaming platforms would seem ripe for a revival of the “game video” concept, but even with better technology and storytelling available to creators the examples are still few and far between.

The one that’s made the biggest splash thus far is probably “Bandersnatch,” the interactive episode of Black Mirror. I “played” it and like many I found it somewhat underwhelming: Your choices were somewhat limited and the story fell rather flat (and I never found the scene where you the main character fights his therapist to my infinite and everlasting sadness). Still, it was an intriguing effort. Last week Charlie Brooker tries his hand at the format once again on Netflix, but in a decidedly different genre: old school cartoons.

Cat Burglar is a 12-minute showdown between a cat trying to steal a painting from an art museum and the dog that works as the night guard. As a cartoon it’s a fairly pitch-perfect copy of a Looney Tunes short down to the exaggerated expressions, physical humor and occasional fourth-wall breaking. It could in fact, stand alone without the interactive elements, but if you really wanted an old-school cartoon both Warner Bros. and Disney make dozens of their best animated shorts available on HBO Max and Disney+ respectively. There’s also the Cuphead show on Netflix — which doesn’t interest me as I have never played the game (and never will because I’m just not that good at platformers).

Netflix

So the real draw of Cat Burglar is its interaction, and it even bills itself as a “trivia game” instead of just an “experience.” How does it fare as a game? The gameplay consists of various quicktime events in which you must answer three quiz questions in a short period of time. When you answer correctly the cat succeeds and the scene continues, if you answer incorrectly the cat dies and you are sent back to make the choice again.

If you’re looking for tricky trivia this isn’t it, as most of the questions are easily guessed by anyone over the age of eight. There’s clearly a “right” answer and a “wrong” answer, and the game gives you three lives to lose before you get sent to heaven. As such, it feels even more restrictive than “Bandersnatch,” since you don’t really get to make choices.

However, while I said “most” of the questions are meant to be easily answered, the game will occasionally try to trick you up. I’ve died a few times in the game because my thumb twitched or I misread the answers (there’s one sequence full of double negatives) or, in one particular case, I just hated the question. (I still maintain that an Emperor Penguin is more powerful than the Emperor of Japan; I knew what answer the game wanted but it just made me mad for being so dumb.) The game will throw three questions at you each time but even getting one wrong will lose you the scene and thus, a life. But dying just means going back to the beginning and doing it all again, and even then it’s not everything — the game will skip over short bits of animation you’ve seen before that aren’t relevant to the overall plot.

Netflix

When you beat the game by successfully stealing a painting, your new acquisition goes on display in a gallery that carries over to subsequent playthroughs. There’s six of them but so far I’ve only played enough to get half. When you win — or even when you lose — the game lets you start over, with the characters promising a “completely new” experience. That, in my evening of playing, is decidedly not true as I’ve already seen certain interchangeable scenes more than once. Either there aren’t that many options or I just have weird luck. But you’d hope the game would be programmed to avoid repeats at first.

Ultimately I think Cat Burglar works better as an experience than “Bandersnatch” did because it’s just much shorter; if I wanted to replay “Bandersnatch” I have to ask myself if I have an hour or more to kill just to see one or two story paths. Knowing that Cat Burglar is going to be quick certainly makes it less daunting, and it’s not even a bad option for kids as long as you don’t mind gratuitous cartoon violence.

TikTok has joined Facebook in blocking access to two Russian state media outlets in the European Union. Sputnik and RT are no longer able to post to audiences within the EU, and their pages and content will no longer be accessible to users in the bloc, a TikTok spokesperson confirmed.

TikTok’s move comes as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft have also cracked down on the outlets, which have large followings on social media platforms. Facebook also said Monday that it was blocking access to the publications, and Twitter said it would label all tweets from Russian state media accounts.Those actions come after a broader order from EU officials to ban RT and Sputnik.

Facebook is “restricting access” to two Russian state media outlets across the entire European Union, a move that will prevent the publishers from sharing content to millions of people in the countries. Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, announced the block of RT and Sputnik, saying that it was in response to “a number” of government requests from within the EU.

“Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time,” Clegg said. The change comes after the European Commission enacted its own ban on the outlets, and after Facebook had already blocked access to ads and other monetization features. The social network had also blocked the publications’ ability to post content inside of Ukraine. 

Clegg didn't elaborate on whether "restricting access" referred simply to these accounts' ability to post and share inside of these countries, or if the accounts would be completely inaccessible in the EU. We've asked Facebook for more details.

The move comes as Russian State media outlets, some of which have vast social media followings, find their reach increasingly limited. Facebook and other platforms have taken more aggressive measures to tamp down the influence of Russia-backed publications in recent days as there has been a sharp rise in disinformation. Twitter announced Monday that it would label tweets from Russian state media accounts, and would try to curb their influence on the platform. YouTube has also blocked the outlets’ ability to monetize their channels. 

Forza Horizon 5 is about to become more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. On March 1st, Microsoft will update the title to add support for both American and British Sign Language. Enabling the feature adds a picture-in-picture display of an ASL or BSL interpreter during cutscenes. By visiting the game’s accessibility menu, you can adjust the position of the display and decide whether to add a colored background.

Forza Horizon 5, like many other games, includes support for subtitles, but as Microsoft’s Athima Chansanchai points out, the two features serve different purposes. While subtitles are helpful to many, it turns out they’re not that useful to people who primarily depend on signing to understand a conversation. For those individuals, reading subtitles can be fatiguing since ASL and BSL feature a different structure to English. They also can’t convey tone and emotion in the same way a skilled interpreter can.

Outside of that accessibility addition, Forza Horizon 5’s Series 5 update includes bug fixes for issues related to the game’s photo mode, livery editor and more. Developer Playground Games has also added five new cars and a new festival playlist for players to check out.

Sony’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Twisted Metal has found a home. NBCUniversal announced on Monday it will stream the series on Peacock. News that Sony’s PlayStation Productions unit was developing an adaptation of the Twisted Metal franchise came at the start of last year.

In September, we learned Altered Carbon and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Anthony Mackie would play the role of series protagonist John Doe, a smart-talking milkman with no memory of his past but a penchant for driving as fast as he talks. PlayStation Productions is billing the show as an action-comedy, with Cobra Kai scribe Michael Jonathan Smith serving as showrunner, writer and executive producer on the show.

NBCUniversal didn’t say when Twisted Metal would premiere on Peacock. However, the show is just one of several properties Sony is in the process of adapting for television and film. It’s also working on a Ghost of Tsushima movie that John Wick’s Chad Stahelski will direct, and then there’s The Last of Us. HBO Programming President Casey Bloys recently told The Hollywood Reporter the series wouldn’t premiere in 2022.

Twitter is adding prominent labels to tweets from Russian state media outlets as it tries to limit the publications' reach on its platform.

“Today, we’re adding labels to Tweets that share links to Russian state-affiliated media websites and are taking steps to significantly reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter,” Yoel Roth, the company’s head fo site integrity tweeted. “Our product should make it easy to understand who’s behind the content you see, and what their motivations and intentions are.”

Roth added that since the invasion, links to Russian state media outlets have been shared more than 45,000 times a day. He said Twitter was also working to “significantly reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter.” The company announced last week that it was pausing ads and recommendation features in Ukraine and Russia.

The company has labeled state media outlets at the account level since August 2020, but those labels only appeared on the account profiles. The new labels will be displayed much more prominently, appearing alongside tweets from these accounts, much like how the company has labeled election and COVID-19 misinformation. The labels will appear on tweets from state run media in other countries in the “coming weeks.”

Twitter isn’t the only platform trying to tamp down the reach of Russian state media outlets following the invasion of Ukraine. Facebook barred Russian state media from accessing ads and other monetization features, and has blocked some outlets’ ability to post within Ukraine.