2020 News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

The Last of Us Part II Remastered hits PlayStation 5 exclusively on Friday, January 19. I recently played through its story, my first of the remastered version but my third time overall. Or rather, I watched my wife, a first-time player unspoiled of its events, play through it – I interviewed her about it, and you can read those impressions here. But I experienced The Last of Us Part II’s story once more nonetheless. Big surprise: I really loved it, just like I did in 2020. I might like it even more now today, to be honest.

Developer Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II hit PlayStation 4 in 2020, and now, four years later, The Last of Us Part II Remastered is just a few days away from its fancy new PlayStation 5 release. More specifically, it hits PS5 this Friday, January 19. We've played the game, and you can read some impressions from a first-time player of the game's story here, and you can read about how I think HBO's adaptation can fix the worst part of The Last of Us Part II. 

According to WindowsCentral's Jez Corden, he has some evidence that Final Fantasy 7 Remake is coming to Xbox.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

I'm pretty picky when it comes to city-builders - a requirement in a genre so full of excellent, unique attempts to put a spin on the ideas that SimCity laid down so long ago - but there's one that I've had my eye on for a while, and it's finally coming out in just a couple of months.

Mobile studio Double Loop Games is calling it quits after four years.

A CD Projekt Red dev says that Cyberpunk 2077 was "just a warm up", as development on the sequel begins. Now in a new office, narrative director Igor Sarzyński says that the team is going to "kickstart" work on the next game, which is currently known as Project Orion.

Back in 1997, Final Fantasy VII established Sephiroth as one of the most iconic antagonists in gaming history. In 2020, Final Fantasy VII Remake greatly expanded his role in the first act of the beloved RPG, and in 2024, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth hopes to give us even more context for the One-Winged Angel. We played a portion of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and spoke with several members of the development team to learn how Sephiroth is depicted in the upcoming second act of the Remake trilogy.

Discord is the latest gaming-centric tech company to lay off a large number off its employees, with 170 people from across various departments being cut.

Adding to a painful week in gaming and tech layoffs, Discord is the latest company to announce downsizing, with a 17% cut to its staff.

New The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered trophies can be earned as part of the all-new "No Return" roguelike mode, Naughty Dog has confirmed.

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Yes, Your Grace, the popular kingdom management sim game, is making its way to mobile. It’s set to drop on Android on February 1, 2024, and the title is now up for pre-registration. It originally hit consoles and PCs in 2020 and will be published by Noodlecake Games on Android and iOS.

Discord is about to lay off 170 people from the company.

Discord is the latest gaming-centric tech company to lay off a large number off its employees, with 170 people from across various departments being cut.

Messaging and chat platform Discord is making significant cuts to its workforce, affecting 170 members of staff (17% of the company), according to a report from The Verge. 

Gamer-focused chat platform Discord is the latest company to make job cuts.

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Discord is laying off 170 employees, or around 17 percent of its workforce, its CEO announced on Thursday.

Just one day after streaming service Twitch announced that it is laying off 500 employees, Discord has joined the parade: A report from The Verge says the company is cutting 170 employees, representing 17% of its workforce. A Discord representative confirmed with PC Gamer that The Verge's report is accurate.

Sony’s DualSense controller is a great gamepad for PS5 (and PC, too) that suffers from pretty lousy battery life, ranging anywhere from 5-7 hours per charge, depending on the games you play. However, an improved model may be arriving soon, but with improved battery life, plus a charging dock included in the box (via The Verge).

A listing for an upgraded DualSense wireless controller for the PlayStation 5 has been spotted over at Best Buy Canada.

Retailer Best Buy has listed a new PS5 DualSense controller version, which is said to include a charging station.

Development of Mojang Legends is ending, Mojang has announced.

Shuji Utsumi has been appointed President and COO at Sega, as well as Representative Director CEO of Sega of America, and CEO of Sega Europe.

Sega has announced some significant restructuring at the top of its western business’ hierarchy. Shuji Utsumi, who had been serving as Sega of Japan’s co-COO and the head of its game contents and services umbrella, has been appointed as the new President, CEO, and COO of Sega America and Sega Europe. He will take on his new role on April 1.

In 2020, against my will, I discovered that many of my loved ones considered me “indoorsy.” During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, I got texts from pals asking for advice on what to do while stuck inside. I assumed this was because I’ve chosen a career in writing that has me frequently playing games and watching TV. It was, apparently, an identity marker too. “You’re really an inside person,” a friend texted me. “This is your time to shine.”

Fans of Dorohedoro have been eagerly awaiting news of a second season of the dark fantasy action anime since the series premiered on Netflix in 2020. After four long years, the wait is finally over, as the official Dorohedoro website announced on Tuesday that a second season of the anime is finally in production. A new piece of key art for the series was released in addition to the announcement, featuring protagonists Caiman and Nikaido walking through the front door of the Hungry Bug restaurant.

We know Nintendo is up to something, we just don't know what that something is yet. A new console is almost certainly coming as we approach the seventh anniversary of the Switch's launch, but Nintendo hasn't told us what that console is yet. It hasn't even revealed it's working on something. The evidence an announcement is imminent continues to stack up though, the latest indicator being the absence of popular Switch games on the majority of store shelves.

Razer has both announced and released its new gaming chair at CES, the Razer Iskur V2. The original Razer Iskur was the brand's first gaming chair back in 2020, and now the CES showfloor is home to the next generation. Unveiled today, the V2 promises even more ergonomic support, building on the original's impressive independent lumbar system. The new chair, launching at $649.99, will feature a floating lumbar support system that moves with the body along six axes. 

Sea of Thieves could be released for PlayStation consoles and Nintendo Switch, it’s been claimed.

For only the second time in seven years, a lucky player has claimed one of the rarest MMO drops ever: a 1-in-100 million gem in Old School RuneScape. 

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is going to revolve around the two protagonists we all know and love from the Yakuza series in the form of Ichiban and Kiryu. The latter has been a staple for the series for nearly two decades, and entering the eighth mainline title, fans wonder how old the iconic Yakuza fighter is?

The rumour mill is churning once again. This time it's surrounding the return of Travis Scott in Fortnite, following his long absence away from the game for legal reasons.

Prepare your heart, because EastAsiaSoft is bringing two of the Hakuoki games to Switch as part of Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom. It will bundle together 2017’s Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds with 2018’s Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms.

By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020.

After reaching a $500 million settlement in 2020 to resolve a U.S. class action lawsuit related to the iPhone "batterygate" controversy, Apple is now making payments to those affected. The settlement, which brought an end to legal proceedings surrounding Apple's efforts to manage the performance of older iPhone models, is finally reaching its resolution with cheques being issued to members over three years later.

Showing just how much the development team cares for and supports their players in times of crisis, Final Fantasy XIV has temporarily suspended the auto-demolition of player housing on Japanese Servers after a massive magnitude 7.6 Earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula on January 1.

The Pokémon Company has announced it will donate 50 million JPY (around $345,750) to support those affected by the recent devastating earthquake in Japan.

The Kirin 9006C was recently announced by Huawei for its Qingyun L540 and Qingyun L420 family of notebooks. Unfortunately, just like the Kirin 9000S and Kirin 9000SL, the single-core and multi-core performance is yet to match what the competition offers, but that is how difficult things become when you have global trade sanctions limiting your options.

Fans of the Warcraft series unite as a team of modders has released a proper Warcraft 2 remake within the Warcraft III: Reforged engine.

Huawei Technologies Co.'s newest laptop runs on a chip made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a teardown of the device showed, quashing talk of another Chinese technological breakthrough. The Qingyun L540 notebook contains a 5-nanometer chip made by the Taiwanese company in 2020, around the time US sanctions cut off Huawei's access to the chipmaker, research firm TechInsights found after dismantling the device for Bloomberg News. That counters speculation that Huawei's domestic chipmaking partner, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., may have achieved a major leap in fabrication technique.

VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1 is dropping January 10th and brings, for the first time since launch, a new gun. The Outlaw is the new weapon in the latest season that brings a new sniper rifle into play. Here’s everything you need to know about the Outlaw and the newest season of VALORANT.

Blizzard has announced the discontinuation of Hearthstone’s Duels game mode in a new blog post published to the Hearthstone website. The game mode will be discontinued effective April 2024.

It’s been a funny old time for Cyberpunk 2077. Upon launching at the tail end of 2020, it went down as one of the most negatively received games due to its unfinished state. Now, with Phantom Liberty‘s launch and being one of the top-selling Steam releases of 2023, CD Projekt Red’s dystopian RPG has finally arrived.

Vanguard, the initially controversial anti-cheat software attached to Valorant, is coming to League of Legends.

A Baldur’s Gate 3 writer has reflected on Larian Studios’ decision to include a tribute in the game to a fan’s father who has Alzheimers, and said they’re “really happy we got to honour the mighty mindflayer hunter.”

Tired of using Microsoft PowerPoint to prepare presentations and pitch decks? Worry not, because we have found just the right PowerPoint alternative tool for you called Pitch. The Pitch app was launched in 2020 with an aim to improve user experience in developing presentations, and so far, the app has gained huge popularity. Recently, it has also announced its artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, and these have made it even more advanced in rolling out solutions for users. Now, you must be thinking about what sets Pitch apart from PowePoint? Well, we will check it out in detail here.

Apple Inc. was already the least-loved big tech stock on Wall Street. Growing concerns over iPhone sales have now triggered a second downgrade this week, cementing analysts' cautious approach.

Ukrainian developer Frogwares has emerged victorious following a lengthy legal battle with then-publisher Nacon over the Lovecraftian detective game The Sinking City. Frogwares is now the sole publisher of the IP across all platforms, and this development hopefully signals the end of the tumultuous tale.

With countless different endings and around 100 hours per playthrough, Baldur's Gate 3 is jam-packed with rooms, lines of dialogue, and characters that players might miss. However, one player has shared their especially meaningful experience with one of the game's lesser-known NPCs, and their story is now resurfacing thanks to a recent post from a developer.

In 2020, the Yakuza series took a bit of a leap with its seventh entry, Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The lens shifted away from longtime series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu to newcomer Kasuga Ichiban, swapping out its real-time action for turn-based RPG combat in the process. It was, by most accounts, a rousing success. But there was still room to grow.

A 15-year-old DS puzzle game called Coropata got its first English-language release on Steam two years ago, and with all my affection for the 1993 PC puzzler that inspired it, I can't believe it's taken me this long to learn about it.

Ever heard of Honor of Kings, the MOBA title? The game has been a big deal in China since 2015 and even hit the milestone of being the first mobile game to cross the $10 billion revenue mark. Well, the title’s going global soon! Keep reading to know more.

Ukrainian developer Frogwares is now the sole publisher of horror title The Sinking City.

Microsoft has revealed the next batch of games coming to (Xbox) Game Pass later this month.

Capcom announced Monster Hunter Wilds during last month's The Game Awards with a release date of 2025. We're still over a year out, but plenty of fans are eager to slay the biggest critters they can find, flocking back to World and boosting its player count to record highs.

What is dropshipping? You buy a new phone case from an online retailer. The phone case arrives safely at your house, the online retailer makes a small profit and everyone is happy. But the phone case didn't come from the retailer's premises. It was sent directly from the manufacturer. The only thing the online retailer did was take your order and organise for the factory to deliver the case to your home. This is “dropshipping”: where an online seller organises to have purchased products sent to buyers directly from the wholesaler or manufacturer, rather than sending it themselves. Many see dropshipping as, if not their main business, then as a valuable side hustle to help bolster income when the cost-of-living crunch is making it hard to make ends meet.

A 13-year-old streamer, Blue Scuti, became the first ever human to beat the classic game of Tetris on NES. Blue Scuti broke 3 world records in total — including that monumental accomplishment — during a semifinal match for the 2023 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC). On Tuesday, he posted the full video onto his YouTube channel.

Game Pass ended 2023 with a strong lineup that included heavy hitters like Remnant: From the Ashes, Against the Storm, Far Cry 6, and Rise of the Tomb Raider. 2024 will kick off with a handful of big games leaving Microsoft’s subscription service, including Grand Theft Auto 5, Persona 3 Portable, and Persona 4 Golden.

Following a drawn-out legal dispute with original publisher Nacon, Ukrainian studio Frogwares has announced that it is now the one true publisher of the Lovecraft-inspired detective adventure The Sinking City, and that a new version of the game «with all the latest bug fixes and optimizations» is coming soon.

Frogwares has announced that it is the sole publisher of The Sinking City on all platforms. This comes after Frogwares’ lengthy legal battle with the game’s original PC publisher, Nacon.

The description for Steam's «Labor of Love» award reads as follows:

Well, it turns out I wasn't the only person who had a hankering for returning to Monster Hunter: World for the first time in forever this holiday season. The game has seen a resurgence over the last couple of weeks, culminating in a peak concurrent count of 131,964 players on January 1 according to SteamDB. That's the largest number of hunters exploring the New World since October 2020. 

We're just two days into 2024 and already gaming history is being made. A 13-year-old has beaten the original NES Tetris, previously thought to be an impossible task, after 34 years.

In a persistent legal battle, medical device company Masimo remains unwavering in its fight against Apple over the alleged Apple Watch patent infringement. The lawsuit was won by Masimo, leading to temporary ban being slapped on Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. Tha ban has been lifted for till further notice.Masimo's CEO, Joe Kiani, recently shared the reason behind his dogged determination to pursue the Apple Watch patent lawsuit in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, shedding light on his commitment to challenging the tech giant.

In 2023, with the iPhone 15 Pro models, Apple replaced the aluminum body with titanium, making the smartphones lighter and stronger than the predecessors. A new leak now suggests that Apple might take advantage of it and bring larger and better-quality displays in 2024 with the iPhone 16 Pro models. After keeping the display size of the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max consistent since 2020, the smartphone maker can switch things around and feature significant improvements to the displays.

Chinese tech giant Huawei said Friday it "weathered the storm" of US sanctions as it announced a rise of almost nine percent in revenues in 2023, a year that saw it shock Washington with the release of a high-end smartphone.

SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket lofted a secretive space plane for the US Space Force on Thursday evening from Florida, the first time the rocket was used to send the Boeing Co.-built experimental spacecraft to orbit.

It was a comeback year for the world's wealthiest. The combined net worth of the 500 richest people surged by $1.5 trillion in 2023, fully rebounding from the $1.4 trillion lost the year prior, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Once again, their fortunes were closely correlated to the performance of tech stocks, which rose to fresh records this year despite recession fears, lingering inflation, lofty interest rates, and geopolitical turmoil. Tech billionaires saw their wealth grow by 48% or $658 billion, propelled by intense hype around artificial intelligence. No one did better than Elon Musk, who recaptured the title of world's richest person from French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer netted an additional $95.4 billion through Thursday's close, bolstered by the success of Tesla and SpaceX, after losing $138 billion in 2022. His net worth is now more than $50 billion above Arnault's after a global slowdown in demand for luxury goods dented shares of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

 So what did we learn this year? Specifically, I am asking how the real-world events of the past 12 months should have caused us to update our social scientific views. In a year rich with news, which insights turned out to be more useful, or less? The first big lesson from 2023 is hopeful: Huge gains in technology can be made very quickly.

Google has agreed to settle a consumer privacy lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations it tracked the data of users who thought they were browsing the internet privately. The object of the lawsuit was the "incognito" mode on Google's Chrome browser that the plaintiffs said gave users a false sense that what they were surfing online was not being tracked by the Silicon Valley tech firm. But internal Google emails brought forward in the lawsuit demonstrated that users using incognito mode were being followed by the search and advertising behemoth for measuring web traffic and selling ads.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

A new Venom Unreal Engine 5 fan concept video has been released, showing what fans could expect from this rumored title.

Social media giant Facebook has unveiled its latest virtual reality headset, the Oculus Quest 2.

Jujutsu Kaisen just concluded its devastating second season, but fans of the series won’t have to wait too long for a follow-up, as MAPPA announced on Thursday that a third season of the popular supernatural action anime is already in production at the studio.

Since 2019, the Sinden Light Gun has been the first and only contemporary light gun that will work on modern TVs and displays. Yet despite the technical achievements made, its creator, Andy Sinden, is aiming higher to make this a product not just an easy way to play your favorite light gun games on an high-definition TV, but to fully revive a niche and otherwise forgotten sub-genre of games.

NVIDIA's H100 AI GPUs will reportedly reach a deployed capacity of a whopping 3.5 Million units by next year, consuming enough electricity to power entire countries.