Riot to cross-promote Arcane S2 in League of Legends thru 2024

A bunch of companies in the technology sector have been laying off some of their employees recently after quickly ramping up hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic while people spent more time and money online. Now, many of them are making job cuts to help lower costs and bolster their bottom lines. Here's some of the companies that have laid of employees of late:

With the news that Blizzard and ESL FACEIT are preparing to launch a new esports circuit for Overwatch 2, mere months after the death of the Overwatch League, it's a good time to take stock of the entire esports scene. Things are looking slightly frantic, at least in North America. League of Legends and Rocket League are particularly messy, entering their 2024 seasons with lean budgets and major shakeups. Meanwhile, an expansion of the open-qualifiers model should provide more opportunities for everyday players to compete in Valorant, Overwatch 2, Rocket League and all manner of fighting games. Get those fingers ready, folks.

Post-apocalyptic science-fiction action RPG and PlayStation China Hero Project title AI LIMIT will launch for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam in 2024, publisher CE-Asia and developer SenseGames announced. The previously announced PlayStation 4 version is no longer planned.

The Xbox Developer Direct countdown is on as we're now less than 24 hours away from the first games showcase of 2024. As such, you might wonder how to watch the Xbox games showcase and when it starts in your region. 

Twitch has released details of its next TwitchCon events in both Europe and the US.

Even though Apple didn't have an official presence at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, the trade show still had a whole area dominated by mixed reality tech. One of the most popular booths there was none other than Xreal (formerly Nreal), which decided to ride on the Apple Vision Pro hype train and unveil its latest AR glasses, the Xreal Air 2 Ultra, in Las Vegas. The Chinese firm claims that its latest headset makes «an affordable alternative to» the likes of the $3,499 Vision Pro, though it's currently priced at $699 — a tad more than the $499 Meta Quest 3 — as Xreal attempts to lure developers into its ecosystem.

2023 was a landmark year for horror (check out Wccftech's Best Of here), delivering the super-ambitious Alan Wake 2, a pair of rock-solid remakes in Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space, excellent indies like Amnesia: The Bunker, and more. 2024 may not be quite as strong, but it largely keeps the ball rolling down a similar horrifying path, with a couple of new remakes (The Last of Us Part II Remastered and Silent Hill 2), new entries in fan-favorite series (Alone in the Dark), and some promising indies (Still Wakes the Deep). Those dark days when it looked like survival horror might be finished are definitely behind us, so steel your nerves. Here are Wccftech's picks for the games that will be keeping you awake in 2024.

When you think of pirates, history mainstays like Blackbeard might come to mind alongside the fictional Jack Sparrow. An important but often forgotten name, however, is Cheng Shih. Not only is Cheng Shih one of history's most successful pirates, but she's also the woman who took over her late husband Cheng Yat's pirate armada after his death, putting her in indirect control of 40,000-plus pirates for a nearly decade-long stint in Chinese waters in the early 19th Century. While Cheng Shih's story can be found on pages of books and elsewhere, Singer Studios aims to bring her story to life in VR. 

Idea Factory International will release romance visual novel DATE A LIVE: Ren Dystopia for PC via Steam in 2024 worldwide, the publisher announced. It will support Japanese audio, and English, Japanese, and Traditional Chinese subtitles.

Roberta Wilson-Garrett looked at the glove keeping her right hand steady and smiled. At bay for the moment were tremors caused by Parkinson's disease affecting her muscle control. She could do things others take for granted, like write crisply with a pen or hold a cup of coffee without spilling. The reprieve shared by the Canadian woman at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2024) in Las Vegas came thanks to a GyroGlove.

CES 2024: They don't own smartphones and can't go online, but that doesn't prevent them from being connected: Pets are benefitting from a slew of animal-oriented technology at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. How's Fido feeling? Tracking your dog's steps, detecting its heart problems, knowing exactly when kitty's litterbox has become too full -- it's all possible.

After years spent dominating living rooms, big flat-screen televisions could start getting out of the way of the decor. That is if new see-through TV models showed off by South Korean consumer electronics giants LG and Samsung catch on. "How about a screen that gives you back your space?" an LG executive asked on stage Monday while introducing a transparent Signature OLED T planned for release later this year.