Ubisoft's The Settlers revival is finally here... almost. The company has revealed that its reboot of the classic build-up real-time strategy game will be available March 17th for Windows PCs through the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect. The developers are also whetting appetites with a five-day, registration-only closed beta starting January 20th that will include two of the game's three factions as well as two multiplayer Skirmish modes (one- and two-player teams).

The rebuilt game is "mostly" derived from The Settlers III and The Settlers IV, and looks decidedly nicer than many RTS titles thanks to the use of the same Snowdrop Engine you find in games like The Division series and the upcoming Avatar release. While it won't compete with the latest first-person shooter in looks, it might be more visually appealing than its competitors. There is a story-driven single-player campaign, but Ubisoft is clearly banking on the eight-way multiplayer to help with longevity.

However well the game plays, Ubisoft's main challenge is simply revitalizing the franchise. There hasn't been a brand-new game in the series since The Settlers Online in 2010, and the decade since has only led to a cancelled game (Kingdoms of Anteria) and four years of development for the imminent reboot. While there will certainly still be fans, it's not clear how many of them were willing to wait a decade for a follow-up.

Doctors, health experts and scientists battle COVID-19 misinformation on daily basis. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have adopted policies in an effort to curtail rampant false claims, but some don't have rules in place. A group of 270 doctors, nurses, scientists and educators have sent an open letter to Spotify following a recent episode of TheJoe Rogan Experience, calling for the streaming service to adopt a clear policy and to fulfill its "responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation." 

On the December 31st episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist who says he's one of the creators of mRNA technology. It's unclear whether that's true. During the chat, Malone made baseless claims about COVID-19, including the idea that "mass formation psychosis" led people to believe the vaccines were effective and the notion that President Biden had withheld data that supported ivermectin as a valid treatment. The episode quickly went viral among both critics and fans as Rogan averages over 10 million listeners per episode. YouTube removed a video of the interview and Malone was recently banned from Twitter for violations of the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy.

"By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals," the letter explains. "[The episode] is not the only transgression to occur on the Spotify platform, but a relevant example of the platform’s failure to mitigate the damage it is causing."

In April, The Verge reported that Spotify was okay with a Rogan episode on which he encouraged 21-year-olds to not get vaccinated. A company source indicated the message wasn't "outwardly anti-vaccine" and he didn't "make a call to action," The Verge's Ashley Carman wrote at the time. Spotify has taken down more explicit examples of vaccine misinformation, including a song from musician Ian Brown and a podcast from Pete Evans. The company has said in the past that it "prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health." And that when something violates those guidelines, it is removed.

However, as this open letter points out, Spotify doesn't have an official misinformation policy like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others. The group is asking for the platform to do just that, rather than to directly take action against Rogan or remove the episode in question. They want the company to create rules that would hold podcast creators accountable for the content of their shows.

Spotify paid a reported $100 million to lock down The Joe Rogan Experience as an exclusive podcast in 2020. The show was the most popular on the platform in 2021, both in the US and globally. When Rogan faced criticism over his choice of guests, including another example of pandemic misinformation in an episode with Alex Jones, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said the platform didn't have editorial responsibility over podcasts.

"We have a lot of really well-paid rappers on Spotify too, that make tens of millions of dollars, if not more, each year from Spotify." Ek told Axios. "And we don't dictate what they're putting in their songs, either." 

Spotify didn't respond to Engadget's request for comment on both the open letter and the company's misinformation policies.

It's another good year for streaming at the SAG Awards nominations, but who and what got picked is decidedly different this year. Netflix was still the frontrunner with one or more nominations in nearly every category, including multiple picks for The Power of the Dog (three) and Squid Game (four) as well as individual nods for productions like Don't Look Up, Passing and Halston. However, Apple also fared particularly well this year — Ted Lasso received five nominations, while The Morning Show racked up four. Coda and the not-quite-released The Tragedy of Macbeth also burnished Apple's image.

Other services also had their due. Amazon had success with titles like Being the Ricardos and The Tender Bar, while Disney's empire made its presence felt with nominations for The Handmaid's Tale and Disney+ series like Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Netflix also broke a cultural boundary — Squid Gameis the first non-English series to receive a SAG nomination, not to mention the first Korean series. This isn't completely surprising given Netflix's eagerness to produce worldwide blockbusters, but it's notable given how difficult it has been for foreign releases to crack these awards.

Theater- and TV-first material still has a significant presence in SAG's nominations. Nonetheless, it's evident the partial return to normalcy in entertainment only had a limited effect — streamed shows are still thriving in the current awards landscape.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans will need to wait several more months than expected to get their hands on the latest game in the series. Developer GSC Game World has pushed back the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl release date from April 28th to December 8th.

"These additional seven months of development are needed to fulfill our vision and achieve the desired state of the game," GSC Game World wrote in a statement. "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is the biggest project in the history of GSC and it requires thorough testing and polishing." Perhaps it needs a little more time to get characters' teeth just right.

The studio noted that, although the decision to delay the survival horror game wasn't an easy one, it believes "development should take as long as necessary, especially in the case of such a project." It plans to provide more details about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 in the coming months.

The first-person shooter, which will be the first entry in the series since 2009, will initially be available on Xbox Series X/S and PC — it'll debut on Xbox Game Pass. Reports suggest Microsoft has a three-month exclusivity window for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2.

GSC Game World recently came under fire over its plan to include NFTs (non-fungible tokens) in the game. Just one day later, the studio said it would "cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2" following a major backlash.

With Mamoru Hosoda’s latest movie opening in US theaters this Friday, Studio Chizu and the film’s distributor have shared a new trailer for Belle. The more than three-minute-long clip shows the movie’s opening scene in its entirety, introducing us to U, Belle’s metaverse-like virtual world. The trailer is mostly a showcase of Studio Chizu’s virtuoso animation work, but we also get to hear an equally great English cover of Millennium Parade’s “U” and learn more about the setting.

The metaverse has been a hot topic recently thanks in large part to the work Meta has done to promote the concept as the next big evolution of the internet, but Belle director Mamoru Hosoda has thinking about what virtual worlds might mean for our interpersonal relationships for a long time. Back in 2009, he directed Summer Wars. That film imagines a world where everything is connected through a separate digital realm. More than a decade ago, the idea seemed outlandish. Now it feels prescient.

The Attack on Titan anime series is winding down, and Activision is determined to capitalize on the renewed interest. A bundle launching January 20th will bring 10 Attack on Titan items to Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone Pacific. The highlight is a Survey Corps outfit inspired by Survey Corps Captain Levi Ackerman, but you'll also have access to three weapon blueprints (including the Titan Piercer blade) as well as a charm, sticker, emblem, finishing move and highlight material.

Other yet-to-come season updates include a new character (Isabella Rosario Dulnuan Reyes), her preferred submachine gun, and expansions to both gameplay and items in Vanguard's Zombies mode. The relevant patches for Attack on Titan content will appear roughly a week ahead of time at midnight Eastern time on January 12th for Vanguard and January 13th for Warzone.

The addition is an odd one, particularly if you're used to the anime — this is a far more realistic style. You also won't have any giant, naked Titans to fight. Even so, you might not mind if you'd like a video game memento beyond the (now old) Koei Tecmo release.

Horizon Forbidden West is one of the biggest PlayStation exclusives of the year. Just over a month before the action RPG arrives on February 18th, it appears an unfinished version of the game has leaked.

According to Video Games Chronicle, the build includes all the main Horizon Forbidden West content, though some art assets are missing. Screenshots and videos from what's said to be the PS4 version of the game emerged on social media on Monday. Many of those were later taken down from Twitter due to reports submitted by the copyright holder, which suggests the leak is legit.

Though it appears Sony Interactive Entertainment has clamped down on the leaks and the build doesn't seem to have popped up on filesharing sites, it's bound to be another frustrating incident for the company. Months before The Last of Us Part II was released, a large portion of the game, including cutscenes with major story spoilers, leaked online. 

So, if you're one of the many Horizon Zero Dawn fans who's looking forward to the sequel, it's best to tread very carefully on the internet for the next month or so. It might be worth muting certain keywords related to Horizon Forbidden West on social media or even installing browser extensions to help you steer clear of spoilers.

Your Instagram profile's grid might soon be more than just a snapshot of your most recent posts. Leaker Alessandro Paluzzi has discovered that Instagram has been developing an "edit grid" feature that would let you reorder the posts in your profile. This could help musicians or stores using multi-post collages to plug their latest work, but it might also be helpful if you want to highlight an important post or prioritize your favorites.

We've asked Instagram for comment. It's not clear if the social network plans to test or widely distribute the feature.

It wouldn't be surprising if the customizable profile grid became a mainstay, though. Instagram has spent more and more of its time courting businesses and shops, and the option to rearrange the grid might attract companies wanting to fine-tune their public image. This might also help if you're an artist or photo enthusiast hoping to showcase your best shots regardless of how old they might be.

Bel-Air, Peacock’s modern-day reinterpretation of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, will debut on February 13th, the streamer announced on Monday and shared a first-look trailer. Announced back in 2020, Bel-Air re-envisions the classic ‘90s sitcom as an hour-long drama series. All the main characters from the original return, including Uncle Phil and Carlton, though they may not be like you remember them. That's most apparent with Carlton who comes off as bashful in the trailer. Thankfully, Will's best friend Jazz looks true to his inspiration.  

The project was inspired by a fan film writer and director Morgan Cooper released in 2019. Both Cooper’s creation and the Peacock series lean into the original premise of The Fresh Prince, using Will’s journey from West Philidelphia to Bel-Air to tell a story about second chances, race and class. Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios produced the series, with Cooper serving as director, co-writer and executive producer. He told Smith in 2019 the idea for Bel-Air came to him while driving down Interstate 71. He was thinking about the original show when he drove an underpass and inspiration hit. "I knew I had a story to tell," he said at the time.

Peacock will release the first three episodes of Bel-Air on Super Bowl Sunday, with subsequent episodes to follow weekly. The series is currently slated to run for two seasons.

Scott Pilgrim appears ready for a comeback, and not just in video games. The Hollywood Reporter has learned Netflix and Universal's UCP (the unit behind The Umbrella Academy) are developing a Scott Pilgrim anime series. It's not clear how close this will hew to the original graphic novels, but creator Bryan Lee O'Malley and 2010 movie director Edgar Wright will be executive producers.

O'Malley will serve as a showrunner alongside Are You Afraid of the Dark? reviver BenDavid Grabinski. Science SARU is animating the project.

It won't be shocking if the series sticks to the core plot: Sex Bob-omb band leader Scott wants to win over Ramona Flowers, but can't date her until he defeats her seven evil exes. Both the graphic novels and the movie were nods to manga, indie rock, video games and turn-of-the-millennium Canadian culture.

This is a slightly unusual twist on a familiar formula. While Netflix hasn't been shy about its ambitious anime plans, it has typically focused on originals or adaptations of Japanese games and manga. Here, the streaming service is adapting a comic that was a Western tribute — and one that many might only know from the big screen. Netflix's strategy isn't clear, but it might see this as a way to expose its anime catalog to a larger audience.