2020 News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

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

Nearly three years after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, the false election conspiracy theories that drove the violent attack remain prevalent on social media and cable news: suitcases filled with ballots, late-night ballot dumps, dead people voting.

One of 2023’s biggest cinema trends was the way accomplished filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan, and many more delivered some of the most creatively and commercially successful work of their careers. There was just something in the air this year, as one major artist after another took big swings that connected.

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

Happy holidays, or maybe it’s your birthday — or you simply decided to treat yourself to a brand-new Xbox Series X (or Series S). Now what? Sure, you could peruse Polygon’s list of the 22 best Xbox games, or the 25 best games on Xbox Game Pass. But you don’t have time for that! You’re probably reading this on your phone right now while your new Xbox whirs merrily away installing all of its fancy-new-console updates. The clock is ticking, and I’ve got you.

Congratulations: You got your hands on a PlayStation 5! Nearly three years after launch, the PS5’s global shortage is a thing of the past and the console is selling better than ever. Now that you’ve finally gotten Sony’s latest gaming console, there’s just one simple question: What do you play on it first? Don’t sweat it. We’ve got the answers.

Due to close calls with asteroids, NASA, ESA, and other space agencies have developed technology to track these space rocks in their orbits, and even deflect them in case a potential impact scenario develops. Using its amazing tech, NASA has now shed light on an asteroid that is expected to pass Earth today, December 25. As per the details issued by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the asteroid has been designated as Asteroid 2020 KT4. Know all about its close approach to Earth.

After cleaning up the Nintendo Switch 2023 Game of the Year contest (with one of the biggest sweeps of the year), Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is back for the Overall 2023 Game of the Year award here at Destructoid. Act surprised!

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will introduce entirely new cities that weren't in the original 1997 JRPG in order to, in Square Enix's words, "go deeper and create this whole worldview of Rebirth."

The Epic Games Store’s latest free title is now available.

The year 2020 was an interesting one for our planet, and an incredibly boring one for me personally. By day I was working remotely from my apartment, managing one of the pop-up shelters created by the U.K. government for its unhoused population. By night I was locked away in my bedroom-come-office staring at the same few glowing screens and in desperate need of anything that might take my eyes off the news cycle. That’s when I discovered solo board gaming.

There's just over a week left before Friday the 13th: The Game, the awkwardly titled yet surprisingly decent multiplayer slasher, sinks back into Camp Crystal Lake forever, as it's to be delisted from sale on December 31st.

After an announcement was made stating that the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 sales would be halted due to the import ban officially going into effect, both high-end wearables have been removed from the U.S. online store. Assuming you want to try your luck and get your hands on one or both of the latest models, you will be met with the sorely disappointing message that the devices are ‘Currently Unavailable.’

Sales of Sony's PlayStation 5 have crossed 50 million units, the Japanese electronics giant said, pointing to "strong momentum" this year for its flagship gaming console. The PS5 was launched in November 2020, with the world in the grip of the Covid pandemic, and its sales initially suffered because of widespread supply chain problems and a global chip shortage.

First launched in 2020, the PlayStation 5 is now one of the most popular consoles of all time and a fan favourite with experienced and newbie gamers alike.

Geometry Dash is a cheap and cheerful rhythm-based platformer that originally launched on Steam in December 2014. It recently celebrated its 10-year-anniversary (the game released on mobile devices the year before), which would normally see fans and developers reflecting fondly on a well-made game. But turns out developer RobTop Games had far more in store, as it just released a massive new update for the game, almost seven years after the last one.

Apple Inc.'s plan to halt online sales of its smartwatch four days before Christmas to comply with a regulator's order shows that it's in a legal jam.

Zack Fair will have an "immensely important" role in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

PS5's November 2023 was Sony's biggest November for PlayStation sales to date, Sony Interactive Entertainment's Head of Global Business has said.

For the first time in five years, has failed to be the best-selling game in the United States. The Activision-published series has become a yearly blockbuster event in the gaming industry, but even impressive – if expected – sales of weren't enough to top the 2023 sales chart. It was Avalanche Software's which managed to unseat the reigning franchise, usurped by another incredibly popular media property.

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.

Developer Eyeguys and publisher Santa Ragione released the “treacherous visual novel” Mediterranea Inferno on PC in August 2023, and now it has a date for consoles. The latest announcement has the game hitting PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on March 5, 2024.

Sony has announced that the PlayStation 5 has hit a sales milestone of over 50 million units. It achieved this milestone just over three years into its life cycle.

By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

PS5 sales have surpassed 50 million units globally, Sony has today announced.

Sony Interactive Entertainment announced today that the PlayStation 5 has hit another milestone. Over 50 million units have been sold through consumers just over three years since the console launched back in November 2020. According to Sony, the console experienced strong sales momentum this year due to the release of popular games.

PlayStation 5 has now sold over 50m consoles worldwide since its launch in November 2020.

We often discuss the impressive turnaround of games like No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk, but Fallout 76 should probably be included in that discussion. While the game launched as an empty wasteland back in 2018, Bethesda has since added a ton of new features to make it feel more like, well, a Fallout game. NPCs, new locations, more fulfilling quests, iconic Fallout factions like the Brotherhood of Steel, and downright weird stuff like alien invasions. It may have suffered a torrid development, but the general consensus is that it's now a Good Videogame.

Tencent has closed one of their own studios, and alongside it, a AAA game that didn’t make it to a public announcement.

Monster Hunter World has seen a giant player spike on Steam following Capcom's campaign to revive the game's online scene.

A violation of Masimo’s patents has resulted in various Apple Watch models getting banned in the U.S., though their sales will not be halted until December 21. Both companies have had a long history, as the health-focused technology corporation filed the lawsuit in 2020. However, according to the latest findings, Masimo appears to be on a vendetta against the Califoria-based giant, and his efforts in getting the Apple Watch banned in the U.S. have cost him around $60 million, but his reason for going against one of the largest entities in the world may not be misguided, as talked about in the latest rumor.

California’s Civil Rights Department reached a settlement with Activision Blizzard late last week two years after the state regulator brought a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination, pay inequities and a culture of sexual harassment at the video game company.

An Apple Watch sales ban was recently announced by the company as it is believed that certain models were violating patent infringements. Even though Apple is said to halt the sales of its smartwatches starting later this month, a new report states that a software update can help the company operate in the U.S. market once more. Unfortunately, Masimo, the firm that helped push the sales ban as it argues that its patents were infringed upon, brings another problem in Apple’s path.

Adobe Inc. walked away from its $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma Inc. after clashing with regulators in Europe and the UK. Adobe will pay Figma a $1 billion termination fee, the companies said in a statement on Monday. They saw “no clear path” to getting regulatory approvals from the European Commission and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority.  

Miklos Daniel Brody, a cloud engineer formerly employed at a bank, has been sentenced to two years in prison for «a network intrusion and for making false statements to a government agency» following a secret service investigation. Seemingly angered by his employer taking disciplinary action against him, Brody kept his work laptop under false pretences after being fired, and used his network access to damage his former employer's internal IT systems.

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We could have got a Fallout: New Vegas-style Elder Scrolls game to pad the wait for The Elder Scrolls 6, but it reportedly "didn't gain much traction" with Bethesda. 

Following allegations of workplace discrimination at Activision Blizzard, the gaming giant has agreed to pay just under $55 million. The settlement with the California Civil Rights Department is still subject to court approval.

US publishing giant Activision Blizzard has settled the lawsuit brought against it by a California government body.

Data scraped from the servers for Apple's TestFlight service circa 2012 to 2015 have been leaked, giving access to tens of thousands of iOS apps and games.

 It's Merry Cryptomas, everybody! Bitcoin is up 167% year-to-date. Ethereum is up 91%. If a massive crypto rally was one of your predictions for 2023 a year ago, I take my hat off to you. Compare those returns with other asset classes. The NASDAQ is up 36%. The S&P 500 is up 19%. Gold is up 10.7%. If you were long oil or a broad basket of commodities, you are down 10%-12%.

Activision Blizzard will pay nearly $55 million to resolve its legal fight with the state of California over allegations the gaming company permitted a widespread and systemic workplace harassment. The state's lawsuit had alleged the maker of video games including World of Warcraft and Diablo had a ‘frat boy culture” and subjected women to unequal pay, constant sexual harassment, and retaliation. The video games maker will pay approximately $54,875,000 to cover direct relief to workers and litigation costs, the state's Civil Rights Department said in a statement Friday. About $45,750,000 of that money will go to a settlement fund dedicated to compensating workers.

Shadowheart from Baldur's Gate 3 might be one of the most popular gaming characters of the year. Everyone's romancing her at least, so she clearly has a lot of fans. As we've got to know her, the cleric of the evil goddess Shar has won us over with her wit and charms, so it's not surprising that the developers over at Larian are being asked how they approached her writing.

Activision Blizzard will settle allegations that it discriminated against female employees with a payout of over $50 million. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, this will end its lawsuit with the California Civil Rights Department (formally called the Department of Fair Employment and Housing), which launched in 2021.

The wait for Suikoden spiritual successor, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, has felt like an eternity, although in reality, it was only revealed in 2020. Regardless, the release of the successful Kickstarter project (fronted by former Suikoden developers) is finally on the horizon, out on 23rd April on PS5 and PS4, and in a new trailer, we get our most extensive look at the game yet.

A number of employees at Embracer-owned developer Slipgate Ironworks and publisher 3D Realms have reported on social media that they’ve been impacted by layoffs. However, it’s not currently clear how many people have been affected, and there's been no official confirmation or messaging yet.

Swen Vincke, Baldur’s Gate 3 director and CEO of Larian Studios, recently offered his condolences to the massive group of Wizards of the Coast workers affected by Hasbro’s latest round of layoffs, drawing specific attention to the fact that nearly everyone at the company who was part of early discussions about the Dungeons & Dragons-based game is now gone.

As most of our readers probably remember all too well, Activision Blizzard experienced a veritable storm in July 2021 when it was sued by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) for widespread harassment and discrimination against female employees.

A 28-year-old Japanese TV show that was recently uploaded to YouTube has seemingly given us our first glimpse of Super Mario 64's cut multiplayer mode, complete with a playable Luigi, but the sudden upload and debate over what we're actually seeing has me feeling like I'm looking at a Bigfoot sighting.

26 years after its release, the first ever footage showing an early Super Mario 64 multiplayer mode with Luigi has been discovered.

Rocket Arena, the multiplayer rocket-powered shooter, developed by First Strike Games as an EA Originals title, was removed from sale last month without warning or a word on why, as reported by RockPaperShotgun. Now, roughly a month later, First Strike Games has announced Rocket Arena will be sunset and its servers shut down in March. 

Naughty Dog has confirmed that it has stopped development on its multiplayer The Last of Us title — known as The Last of Us Online — after concerns that it would impact the studio’s future single-player games. 

Naughty Dog has announced it has ceased production of The Last of Us Online, its long-in-development multiplayer title set within its popular post-apocalyptic universe. 

The Last of Us Online has been cancelled after more than three years in development. Naughty Dog made the announcement today, arguing that the ambitious project would require the studio to pivot entirely to post-launch support (read: a live service future) rather than their raison d'etre: big budget singleplayer narrative adventures.

The sequel to Xbox Series X/S launch title The Falconeer is coming to consoles.

The Really Awesome Gaming Expo (rAge) has returned for its 2023 edition. rAge has been a recurring annual event for the Fortress team, apart from the apparent gap due to the global lockdown. The event has evolved year-on-year from its early beginnings to the numerous location changes. Now a regular feature at The Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, rAge will again be a slightly different experience for me in 2023. Let’s take a quick look back at the weekend that was celebrating another successful year, attending one of South Africa’s beloved geek calendar events. 

VOID Interactive's hardcore tactical first-person shooter game Ready or Not is finally launching out of early access later today, around 10 AM Pacific Time.

The Epic Games Store will give away 17 free games over the Christmas period.

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Europe posted a solid month for video game sales during November, driven by Call of Duty, EA Sports FC 24 and PS5.

After some speculation, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has confirmed that it is officially cancelling E3 after nearly three decades of the iconic LA video game expo.

Almost three decades after first debuting at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, the Entertainment Software Association has announced it's finally laying gaming convention E3 to rest.

Following its fairly problematic release, Forza Motorsport has slowly but surely started turning things around at the rate of a first-generation Bugatti Veyron, as it were. While the new updates have been adding lots of content, it just so happens that much of it is temporary, at best.

Earlier this week, it was announced that the Electronic Entertainment Expo — better known as E3 — has been permanently shut down, following its cancellation in 2020, 2022, and 2023 (and shift online in 2021). Now, Stanley Pierre-Louis, the president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which organized E3, has spoken more about the reasoning behind the decision.

At long last, the doors to the Hazbin Hotel are open, and the first demonic guests are ready to be rehabilitated. The long-awaited animated series comes from Vivienne Medrano, the animator behind the popular YouTube channel VivziePop and the webcomic ZooPhobia.

CD Projekt Red fulfilled a five-year promise last week when it added a fully functional metro system to Cyberpunk 2077. While the feature does wonders to make Night City feel more alive, I was surprised to learn just how little California’s public transportation infrastructure has improved in the game’s alternate-reality future.

After over two decades, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3, is coming to an end. 

E3 2023 is cancelled, and the gaming industry is mourning. Like my colleague Ash Parrish, I’ve always wanted to go, but don’t think I’ll ever get the chance; the industry has changed enough that it’s probably not coming back.

By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), once held every summer as the games industry’s biggest convention, is officially dead, the Entertainment Software Association confirmed.

Microsoft’s high-profile legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the fate of its $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard unearthed a number of explosive revelations, among them the fact Microsoft renegotiated ZeniMax's deal with Disney to make Bethesda's upcoming Indiana Jones game exclusive to Xbox and PC, thus ditching the PlayStation 5 version.

E3’s decades-long history has been peppered with ups and downs. The annual Los Angeles-based gaming expo saw a decade of steady growth after it was founded in the mid-90s. The mid-00s, on the other hand, were an altogether different story, as the event struggled, downsized and moved out of the LA Convention Center.

Zhaoxin has announced the launch of its next-gen KX-7000 CPU aiming at the high-performance desktop PC market with up to 8 cores.

Fortnite developer Epic Games has claimed victory over Google in its antitrust case.

Google's legal defeat at the hands of Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. threatens to roil an app store duopoly with Apple Inc. that generates close to $200 billion a year and dictates how billions of consumers use mobile devices. 

Google has lost its antitrust trial to Epic Games, in a decision that could have major ramifications for app stores in the future.

On Monday, a jury sided with Epic Games over Google in an antitrust case that could reshape how app marketplaces like Google Play are allowed to operate.

Alphabet's Google on Monday will try to persuade a federal jury in San Francisco to reject antitrust claims by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games in a case that threatens Google's app store and transaction fees imposed on Android app developers.

Blue Eye Samurai is coming back for a second season at Netflix. The series debuted on Nov. 3, and got renewed a few weeks later. Netflix announced the second season on Monday with a short video.