Facebook has become the latest company to offer a cloud gaming service on iOS, only once again you won't access it through the App Store. Starting today, you can visit the Facebook Gaming website to add a Progressive Web App (PWA) that acts as a shortcut to the service on your iPhone or iPad. To do so, visit the platform's website and tap the "Add to Home Screen" option from the Safari share sheet.

It's not an elegant solution, but it's the same one employed by Amazon and Microsoft. When Apple tweaked its guidelines last September to allow for cloud gaming clients on iOS, it said games offered in a streaming service had to be individually downloaded from the App Store. That's a requirement both Microsoft and Facebook said was not congruent with how every other platform treats cloud gaming services.

"We've come to the same conclusion as others: web apps are the only option for streaming cloud games on iOS at the moment," Vivek Sharma, Facebook's vice-president of gaming, told The Verge of today's launch. "As many have pointed out, Apple's policy to 'allow' cloud games on the App Store doesn't allow for much at all. Apple's requirement for each cloud game to have its own page, go through review and appear in search listings defeats the purpose of cloud gaming."

The process of adding the web app is complicated enough that Facebook includes a short how-to when you first visit its Gaming website on Safari. You also have to know to navigate to the company's website in the first place. The reason for that is the App Store guidelines prohibit developers from using their applications to direct individuals to websites that feature alternative payment systems to those offered by Apple, and you pay for the in-game purchases offered in Facebook Gaming titles through Facebook's Pay platform.

Electronic Arts held its EA Play Live 2021 event today. During the approximately 40-minute presentation, we got a first look at Grid Legends, a new entry in Codemasters' ongoing racing franchise that will feature a single-player story with live-action performances. Lost in Random, the upcoming Tim Burton-inspired action-adventure game from Fe developer Zoink Games, also got a release date. It's coming out on September 10th on current and last-generation consoles, as well as PC. For Battlefield fans, EA offered a look at 2042's new Portal mode that will allow fans to create their own custom match types that they can share with the game's community.       

But EA saved the best news for last. In a short teaser, the publisher confirmed Motive Studios is working on a remake of Dead Space for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S. In addition to more modern graphics courtesy of Dice's Frostbite engine, EA promised gameplay improvements, as well as new story and character elements. 

Have you ever seen a musician's GIF and heard the song in your head? You won't have to leave things to the imagination for much longer. Spotify and Giphy have partnered to effectively give GIFs a soundtrack. Find an artist's GIF on their official Giphy channel and you can tap a "listen on Spotify" button to visit that artist's Spotify page. The hope, of course, is that you'll be inspired to stream a hot new album after watching a looping animation.

A handful of artists are already using the Spotify-Giphy tie-in, including Doja Cat, The Weeknd and Nicki Minaj. You'll find it both on the web and in Giphy's mobile app.

This is ultimately about translating GIF views into money for artists. Stars may be more likely to share clips from their latest music videos if they know they'll get more plays for their latest tracks. Even so, it might be helpful if a GIF gives you an earworm that won't go away until you stream a song and get it out of your system.

Twitter scrapped Fleets, but it hasn't given up on audio. A new voice manipulation update is reportedly in the works for Spaces, the Clubhouse-style talk rooms introduced in December. The so-called "Voice Transformer" was first outed by social media researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who tweeted that it would let you change your pitch or add echo to your audio. Soon after, software miner Steve Moser — who recently leapt to fame by unearthing new details about Netflix's gaming feature — revealed several different effects. The list includes Bee, Cartoon, Helium, Incognito, Karaoke, Microphone, Phone, Spatial, Stadium and Stage.

If getting people to tweet was a slog, convincing them to talk is probably even harder. In that sense, the voice-warping feature may push reluctant users, or those self-conscious about their voice, to give Spaces a try. The goofy nature of some of the effects could even help to create a less serious, and hopefully, more inviting environment.

It's also a feature that many people will be familiar with having encountered voice filters on Snapchat. Word of the Twitter Spaces update arrives just as Clubhouse has gone wide and shortly after Spotify's own expansion into voice chat with its Greenroom app. Not to mention, Facebook's launch of a Clubhouse clone. All four platforms will have to keep things fresh if they want to win the audio chat battle.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted fresh scrutiny of social media's response to the anti-vaccine movement. But, even in the face of criticism from the White House, a new report claims Facebook is still failing to delete even the most incendiary misinformation. As recently as last week, posts containing the hashtag #VaccinesKill were still active on the social network, according to CNN. 

It was only until the news publication warned the company of the lapse that it blocked the posts behind a message that read Facebook is "keeping our community safe." To make matters worse, the same hashtag was banned by Facebook-owned Instagram almost two years prior. That action followed Facebook's pledge to crack down on vaccine falsehoods, including bogus claims that they cause autism and other diseases, in the midst of a measles outbreak in New York.

This time round, the threat is even greater. With the world still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, and cases of the Delta virus rising in the US, Facebook's latest slip-up will only draw more concern from policymakers. Just days ago, President Biden lambasted the company and other social networks by suggesting their failures were debilitating the vaccination drive. “They’re killing people,” Biden said.

In its defense, Facebook has previously noted that it's taking down more erroneous anti-vaccine information than ever before. In October, it banned ads encouraging people to avoid getting vaccinated, following that with a wider clamp down on anti-vaccine claims. 

The company told CNN that it did not take action against the #VaccinesKill hashtag in the past as it did not meet its threshold. Facebook explained that it determines whether a hashtag violates its policies by looking at numerous factors, including the type and spread of content it is appearing in. "Now, the #vaccineskill hashtag on Facebook violates our policies against misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines and we've blocked it from search," the spokesperson said.

At the same time, users are finding new ways to bypass the social network's misinformation rules. In May, some people began weaponizing Facebook's custom profile frames to display false vaccine claims, forcing it to take them down.

After sharing a short teaser earlier in the month, Netflix has released a full trailer for Nightmare of the Wolf, its upcoming animated Witcher movie, and shared details on the voice cast. Theo James, known best for his leading role in the Divergent series, voices protagonist Vesemir, years before the Witcher became the mentor of Geralt of Rivia. 

James also voiced the character in season one of The Witcher. “Vesemir grew up as a servant on a nobleman’s estate, working long days for too little coin,” Netflix writes of the charming monster hunter. “He yearns to break free of his social standing and to explore the Continent to find his destiny.”

On his adventure, he’ll meet a sorceress named Tetra, who we see throughout the trailer. If Tetra’s voice sounds familiar, it’s because she’s voiced by Dota: Dragon’s Blood actor Lara Pulver. Rounding out the main cast are Mary McDonnell as Lady Zerbst, a Kaedweni noblewoman, and Graham McTavish as Deglan, a Witcher from the Skellige Isles. Notably, McTavish will play Redanian spymaster Dijkstra in season two of The Witcher.

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf debuts on Netflix on August 28th. It will give fans of the fantasy franchise something to watch before season two of The Witcher starts streaming on December 17th.

There’s a moment in the 1986 Aliens film when Bill Paxton’s character, William Hudson, turns to his crewmates and says, "Man, it's a shooting gallery down there." After playing though the preview of Aliens: Fireteam Elite, I can say it feels like the developers really took this line to heart. Like, really.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is an online, co-op, third-person survival shooter from Cold Iron Studios, and it’s been in development for the past six years. Cold Iron was actually bought and sold four times starting in 2018, bringing its mysterious Alien-based game along for the ride. In the end, Cold Iron has cut a deal with 20th Century Studios to self-publish Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and it’s due to hit Steam, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles on August 24th, priced at $40.

20th Century Studios

I had the chance to play a preview build of Fireteam Elite that included access to two of the four campaigns, and four of the five character classes: gunner, technician, demolisher and doc (the final class is recon). Each campaign consists of three missions filled with AI-powered Xenomorph hordes, with three difficulty levels unlocked from the start. Every mission requires three players, and empty team slots are filled by bots named Alpha and Beta, which honestly end up functioning more like mobile turrets than actual teammates.

So, after playing hours of the preview with friends and bots alike, here’s my conclusion: Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a generic survival shooter with old-school arcade DNA. Fireteam Elite feels like an online, updated version of light-gun games like Area 51 or House of the Dead, complete with repetitive environments and sloppy hit boxes. The game is competent, but not dynamic. To put it simply — man, it’s just a shooting gallery down there.

To be fair, that’s what survival shooters are all about. Enter a new area, prepare your defenses, kill the swarm, rinse and repeat. The thing is, Fireteam Elite deploys this formula in such a rigid structure that missions quickly become predictable, no matter how many bugs show up. What’s more, the generic sci-fi environments blend together after a few playthroughs, and tricks like falling ceiling panels and sudden bursts of steam lose their effectiveness well before the first mission is over.

Fireteam Elite fails to build tension. With such a transparent gameplay structure, any feeling of pressure or horror has to come from the xenomorphs themselves, and frankly, they’re often not smart enough to make this happen. The swarms rarely feel unmanageable and the specialized xenomorphs, like spitters or jumpers, routinely behave in non-threatening ways. This unpredictability ends up being more adorable than scary. Plus, I have to note that my game crashed three times in about seven hours of play.

That’s not to say the AI is trash altogether. Cold Iron says it’s already resolved some of the movement issues the xenomorphs were experiencing in the preview build, and it really is impressive to see dozens of inky black aliens bounding down the hallway, each on its own path but out for blood, and the game is built around these moments. The xenos stumble around corners like dogs on a tile floor, and details like this add much-needed personality to the waves.

20th Century Studios

The game’s most exciting moments come at the end of each mission, during the final swarm. These are long standoffs with waves of xenomorphs, including spitters, prowlers, bursters and giants that hunt down a single crew member at a time. I’ve found the technician and doc to be particularly useful in these moments — the technician has a turret that recharges after it’s been destroyed and shock grenades to keep the xenomorphs at bay, while the doc has an incredibly handy healing circle.

This is where the most strategizing takes place, even if it is mostly just turret talk. There are chests containing consumable weapons, health and on-demand ammo refills at each final battle, meaning your whole team will start off well-equipped and they’re free to spray and pray. This is good, considering the reticles on most of the weapons are generous, and crowd control is the name of the game, not accuracy. 

20th Century Studios

There are a few bright spots in Aliens: Fireteam Elite. The soundtrack is a James Horner-inspired orchestral situation and it’s a constant reminder of the game’s cinematic 1980s roots; it does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to setting the mood. Plus, the game’s RPG elements — including character, loadout and weapon customization, and challenge cards — add a necessary layer of depth to otherwise straightforward missions.

I wasn’t expecting Fireteam Elite to be as narrative-driven as the films or as moody as Alien: Isolation, but I had hoped for something like Left 4 Dead meets Dead Space, and this ain’t that. Instead, Aliens: Fireteam Elite feels like a theme park ride in video game form. The monsters aren’t really threatening, but the crowds certainly are. And, of course, it’s more fun with friends.

People are weirdly fascinated with Blockbuster, even though (or perhaps because) there's only one remaining store in the entire world. You'll soon be able to re-experience that iconic yellow/blue design on PlayStation VR with an upcoming title called The Last Video Store.

It's being developed by RareBird Games, the company behind the extremely weird horror title Sinfeld Remastered. The debut trailer ought to bring out those nostalgic feels, with the rows of DVDs and VHS tapes in a Blockbuster-like store, chilled out employees and an overly bright interior. It might even help you forget that in reality, the best titles were rarely available when you wanted them, and that Blockbuster's real business model was collecting late fees. 

According to the trailer, you'll be able to explore the area around the store or take a night drive around the neighborhood. You'll also be able to engage a "survival mode" that includes "realistic local jobs and bills to pay while managing your video enthusiast hobbies on the side." You can also select cult videos like Evil Dead and Mac and Me and watch them in a theater type environment, though it's hard to see how that would work in the final game, given licensing, etc. 

Given how Sinfeld evolved since the first trailer, it's hard to say what form The Last Video Store may take when it's released — could it also become a horror title, for instance? Adding to the intrigue, the Last Video Store briefly appeared in the announcement trailer for Sinfeld, as GamesRadar notes. There's no other information, so we'll have to wait and see where the rabbit hole eventually leads. 

A report last week hinted at some of Netflix's gaming ambitions. In its Q2 2021 earnings report, the company confirmed some things. First, Netflix says it "will be primarily focused" on mobile at first, looking to expand on its interactivity projects like Black Mirror Bandersnatch and its Stranger Things games. The upcoming titles will be available at no additional cost as part of your subscription and the company was clear it will keep up the pace on movies and television.

"We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV," the company said in a letter to its shareholders. 

2020 was a big year for Netflix. With everyone stuck at home and movie theaters closed, the streaming service attracted 16 million new customers in three months. As expected, in 2021 that pace has dramatically slowed and the new customer numbers continue to be a struggle. In its earnings report, the company says it added 1.5 million subscribers in Q2, which was actually a bit better than its forecast mark of one million. However, that's lower than Q1 2021, which saw the company tack on 3.98 new customers globally. 

Netflix says it forecasts new customer additions to hit 3.5 million in Q3 2021, up from 2.2 million during the same three-month a year ago. If it does so, the company explains that would bring the total new subscriber tally to 54 million over the last two years. The pace may have slowed for Netflix, but overall it's doing just fine. Revenue was still up 19 percent year-over-year at $7.3 billion for the quarter. 

According to Netflix's own numbers, Shadow and Bone was a popular series this quarter, streaming to over 55 million "member households" in less than a month. The show has already been renewed for a second season based on those numbers. Sweet Tooth, a series based on a DC comic, was streamed by 60 million households the first month it was available. Unscripted series like Too Hot to Handle and The Circle were popular selections as well, as was true crime docuseries The Sons of Sam. In terms of movies, Zac Snyder's Army of the Dead hit 75 million households in the first month. Netflix also explained that The Mitchells vs. The Machines is now its biggest animated film to date, streaming to 53 million households. 

Netflix says COVID-related production delays led to a "lighter" first half of 2021 in terms of content, but the pace will pick up throughout the rest of the year. The company's Q3 lineup includes new seasons of La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), Sex Education, Virgin River and Never Have I Ever in addition to live action films like Sweet Girl (Jason Momoa), Kissing Booth 3 and Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Plus, there's the animated film Vivo, which will feature new music from Lin-Manuel Miranda.

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp never did get to make his Halo movie. However, Blomkamp still has a foothold in the video game world after directing an Anthem prequel short film. He's now helping a studio called Gunzilla Games with its first game, a multiplayer shooter.

Blomkamp — who also directed Elysium, Chappie and the upcoming Demonic — has joined Gunzilla as chief visionary officer, as IGN reports. He'll help guide the aesthetic of the game and provide input on aspects such as design, audio and the narrative from a film director's perspective. He admitted that he hasn't worked in game development before, so collaborating closely with other key creatives on the project will be crucial.

The studio was formed last year and employs developers who have experience at the likes of Crytek, Ubisoft and EA. The shooter, which is still largely under wraps, might not be a one-and-done deal for Oscar nominee Blomkamp.

"Games will [...] become what films were in the 20th century," he told IGN. "They'll just be the thing that is the dominant form of cultural entertainment and [I want] to be in that. Mixing my history in visual effects and interest in 3D graphics means I want to have a home base in the creation of games for a really long time. So if the game is a success and everything works out, hopefully I'm staying at Gunzilla for a long time."

Blomkamp is joining a long line of notable filmmakers and creatives from other mediums who've moved into games. Guillermo del Toro was set to direct the canceled Silent Hills alongside Hideo Kojima, while George R. R. Martin helped craft the world of Elden Ring. Steven Spielberg has credits on several games too. Along with his work on the Medal of Honor series, he was creative director on an EA puzzle game called Boom Blox.