Platform News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Platform, the UK gaming bar chain with two locations in London, has reportedly ceased trading and entered liquidation.

Twitch has been testing a discovery feed for livestreams and Clips on mobile since last year, in hopes of giving users a new way to find new streamers to follow and, hence, spend more time on the platform. Now, the website has announced that it's rolling out the feature to all users later this month. The feed will first appear as a new tab in the mobile app and will allow viewers to switch between a scrollable feed for livestreams and another one for Clips. Like their names imply, the live feed will show users broadcasts from people they already follow and ongoing streams from people they don't based on their watch history. Meanwhile, the Clips feed will be filled with short snippets from live broadcasts.

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

In a bid to enhance user experience, WhatsApp is reportedly testing a new feature that allows users to privately mention contacts in their status updates. This upcoming feature aims to facilitate more personalised interactions within the platform.

In a recent announcement, social media giant Snapchat revealed its plans to incorporate watermarks onto AI-generated images within its platform. This move aims to enhance transparency and safeguard against misuse of AI-generated content.

iOS 18 will open new doors for the iPhone in terms of utility and possibly UI design changes, which will make it the biggest update Apple has released since the beginning of the platform itself. The company's AI-driven utilities will extend beyond standard features as it is expected to implement the technology on a system level, with various apps gaining improvements. The latest information suggests that the Notes app in iOS 18 will offer Voice Memos and math functionality within the app for convenience and easier access.

In a world where so many games send you on missions with tense action and high stakes, sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and relax a bit. That’s where the cozy genre comes in with calming exploration, crafting, and decorating that give you a sense of purpose without all of the stress that comes from more action-oriented games.

If you missed out on the DOS era of gaming, there has never been a better time to dip your toes into the best of what the platform can offer. Retro gaming is in vogue once more, so why not get in on the fun with a gaming platform that doesn't get enough love?

Today's Nintendo Indie World features 20 minutes of new indie game reveals and updates to anticipated titles. If you missed the event, we've gathered each announcement here for a cursory glance at what showed up. 

Today's Nintendo Indie World Showcase had a few surprises, and if you happen to be familiar with the Atari 2600 library, none of them were more surprising than the announcement of Yars Rising.

Ghost of Tsushima is the first PlayStation-made game to utilize PS features like Trophies and Friends lists on PC.

Every time Elden Ring challenge runs seem to have reached their peak, someone comes along to set the bar even higher. For streamer Silithur, who recently beat the RPG using nothing more than a Morse Code input, however, beating the Elden Beast was just one part of an immensely cathartic double whammy involving none other than Elon Musk.

After the massive success of Stray, the world has been crying out for another big game about cats. Well, our pleas have been answered. The cozy cat sim Little Kitty, Big City will be available for download on May 9 for multiple platforms, including the Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam. It costs $25 and preorders are available now, with Switch owners getting 10 percent off for the time being. It’s also a Game Pass day one release.

Nintendo is hosting its first Indie World Showcase of 2024. As the name implies, this digital event focused entirely on indie games that were headed to Nintendo's hybrid gaming system, the Nintendo Switch. IGN has you covered with everything announced during the first Indie World Showcase of 2024, which you can read below.

Possible specifications of Intel's next-gen Granite Rapids-AP "Xeon 6" CPUs with up to 128 P-Cores have been leaked.

There’s an interesting new claim that the PlayStation 5 Pro has to exist, because of a shortcoming of the original PlayStation 5.

Nintendo has announced a new Indie World Showcase for April 17. The Indie World Showcase has historically featured announcements and updates for indie games coming to Nintendo Switch. Nintendo usually gives around 20 minutes to go over the assortment of indie game news.

It’s not often that a sequel really impresses us, but Dune: Part Two is one of our favorite movies of 2024. While there’s still ample opportunity to see this sci-fi blockbuster on the big screen (in fact, IMAX will extend Dune: Part Two showings starting this week), anyone who would prefer to see the second installment of the Dune saga at home can now purchase the movie digitally.

Microsoft has confirmed the next additions to the Xbox Game Pass library, with Harold Halibut being the first of this cohort having been added to the service today. Orcs Must Die! 3 is going to be joining the service tomorrow, April 17th, followed by the likes of NHL 24, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Another Crab’s Treasure, Manor Lords, and Have A Nice Death.

The community team at 10 Chambers, behind the game GTFO, is using creators at the center of their marketing strategy. To reveal their upcoming title at The Game Awards, the team leaned on Lurkit to execute a marketing stunt that had never been seen before. This wasn't their first time working with Lurkit. After the success of GTFO, Lurkit was 10 Chambers' first marketing pick for this new title.

WhatsApp is gearing up to introduce a new feature that will display recent online contacts, allowing users to easily initiate chats with those they've recently interacted with. This new functionality, spotted in beta testing, aims to enhance user communication by highlighting contacts who are currently active or have been online recently.

AMD's Ryzen PRO 8040 APUs debut today, slamming Intel's Core Ultra vPRO in all segments with strong performance & AI capabilities.

Haier Appliances India introduced its latest Smart QLED Series, the S800QT range of Google TV-powered televisions. The S800QT series boasts a 4K QLED display, available in four sizes ranging from 43-inch to 75-inch. With quantum dot technology, the series offers a vibrant display quality. The Haier S800QT TV range integrates with Google TV platform, offering a plethora of apps, content, and streaming services. It also delivers curated recommendations based on your viewing habits, putting endless entertainment at your fingertips.

YouTube is doubling down on its efforts to curb the use of ad blockers, expanding its crackdown to include third-party applications on mobile devices. In a recent update, the platform warned users that accessing videos via these ad-blocking apps might result in performance issues or error messages, specifically stating, “The following content is not available on this app.”

Cliff Bleskzinski's Lawbreakers has made a surprising return.

Games platform Roblox has tweaked how the application process works for its Marketplace.

IIIT Hyderabad, renowned for its research-driven education initiatives, is set to debut its Online Master of Science in Information Technology (eMSIT) on Coursera, a prominent online learning platform. This initiative marks the first time an Indian university has offered a master's degree programme on Coursera. The eMSIT programme is designed to integrate industry micro-credentials, facilitating students' progression based on their prior learning experiences.

In the ever-evolving realm of relationships, a recent study by the Indian dating app QuackQuack reveals a fascinating trend among young adults in Tier 1 and 2 cities. According to the findings, a significant 35 percent of GenZ daters view dating apps not just as a means to find love but as a tool for exploring their own identities. This revelation sheds new light on the role of technology in modern romance.

NVIDIA's former researcher has made interesting claims about the company's reign within the AI space, stating that its CUDA software ecosystem helped it a lot in securing dominance over the competition.

Airchat, an emerging social media platform developed by Naval Ravikant, the founder of AngelList, and Brian Norgard, former Chief Product Officer at Tinder, is rapidly gaining traction on both iOS and Android app stores. Unlike conventional social apps, Airchat distinguishes itself by prioritising audio posts. Users engage with the platform primarily through short voice recordings, automatically transcribed into text upon playback. According to Ravikant, this emphasis on natural voice communication aims to foster genuine human connection, countering the notion perpetuated by text-based online interactions that people struggle to relate to one another.

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

Pepper Grinderdoesn’t need any words. There’s no need for dialogue or instructions because what this game entails is all in the name. Shipwrecked and with her treasure stolen, Pepper’s objective is clear: Grind — literally — her way through a pirate-plagued world to get back her prize.

Fallout 76 didn’t have a very good reputation for the longest of times, but like No Man's Sky, it has built itself up into something truly great – but is Fallout 76 cross-platform?

As expected following the launch of the highly-anticipated Fallout TV series on Amazon Prime, there has been an uptick of people playing the Fallout games. However, people aren’t just going for the newest game in the series. Fallout 76. Fallout 4, which released in 2015, and even the very first Fallout have seen relatively huge jumps in player count on Steam.

Content Warning publisher Landfall Games has announced the viral Steam hit has sold an impressive one million copies even after its eye-catching free launch period.

A lot of games can lean heavily on having either great style or substance, with a rare few having both qualities together. Even rarer are the are the games that boast style and abundance – a sensory overload of bright visuals, bopping music, and a million different on-screen stimuli all going off at once. When I think of games like that, my mind goes toward the wacky eccentricity of a game like Katamari Damacy. In many ways, Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom takes that same abundance of wacky style and non-stop jams and applies it to a throwback collectathon platformer that I can’t get enough of.

Fallout London isn't coming to the console, despite mods being fully supported on Xbox platforms. This is due to the file size being far too large, with the game currently sitting at around "30 to 40" gigabytes.

Nintendo won't be attending Gamescom this year, skipping one of the largest industry events of the summer.

In a recent disclosure, X, owned by Elon Musk, unveiled its monthly compliance report, shedding light on its stringent actions against policy violators in India. Between February 26 and March 25, the company took a decisive stance, banning over 213,000 accounts across the nation. These suspensions primarily stemmed from infringements related to the promotion of child sexual exploitation, dissemination of non-consensual nudity, and endorsements of terrorism on the platform.

The former boss of Blizzard Entertainment has suggested a post-purchase tip feature that would let players give $10 or $20 extra to the developers of special games.

iGPUs of Intel's next-generation Arrow Lake-H Laptop & Arrow Lake-S Desktop CPUs, based on the Arc Alchemist architecture, have been tested.

Intel's LGA 4710 socket-based reference platform, Beechnut City, has been picture & is ready to support Xeon 6 Granite Rapids & Sierra Forest CPUs.

Gio Corsi has revealed that he has joined Nintendo of America.

Final Fantasy 14 players are logging into the MMO to find that their characters have gotten a makeover, thanks to the Dawntrail benchmark. This optional update lets you see if your system is able to run the upcoming expansion but also lets you preview some of the graphical overhauls that are coming alongside Dawntrail.

Every joke possible has already been made about Netflix Games being — or not being — “the Netflix of games,” so we won’t waste your time trying to come up with another one. In the end, Netflix Games is doing its own thing rather than following the lead of other subscription services, and considering that nearly everyone has access to a Netflix account already, there’s no barrier to entry for its huge audience to check out its library of games. All you need is a smartphone and the Netflix app, and you’re all set.

codes for April 2024 are available now to redeem for free resources and Credits. Periodically, these codes will expire or retire, and each code can only be redeemed once per account. The codes released during the 2.1 livestream are now expired, but worry not, the codes listed below are still active as of April 13, 2024 and should remain active for a few more weeks.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the latest addition to the award-winning franchise that most of us have been playing for well over a decade. Beyond the enhanced graphics, refined mechanics, and new gameplay features, one of the biggest draws to the COD world has always been online multiplayer. Not only does multiplayer return for MW3, but there’s more to love about the competitive space than ever before.

When it launched in 2022, Elden Ring was an immediate hit. The challenging game took everything great from previous FromSoftware titles and merged it with a sweeping open world to explore — letting players venture in any direction just a few minutes after starting the game. That also made it incredibly daunting. Not only did you have to contend with nightmarish monsters and rage-inducing combat, but you had to figure out how to best reach your next destination without stumbling upon enemies that were twice your skill level.

Intel's next-gen Arrow Lake-S Desktop "Core Ultra 200" CPUs have been spotted in 24 and 20 core flavors, and also reveal no SMT support.

MSI has silently rolled out support for AMD's next-gen Ryzen 9000 Desktop CPUs for its AM5 motherboards with the AGESA 1.1.7.0 BIOS.

It is no secret that a huge source of news for everyone these days is social media platforms, and people around the world are influenced by what is posted there. Social media can be a great source of information, too, when what is posted is actually true and from a genuine source. The danger lies in how easy it is for social media to post something false, or to twist the truth to something that serves the poster's purpose.

Steam continues to be a treasure trove for gamers, offering not only incredible deals but also a platform for discovering hidden gaming gems. One such gem making waves on the platform is Lethal Company, which has quickly risen to the top of the Steam charts, capturing the attention of players worldwide.

Now that the Fallout TV show is here, and fans of the series are unsurprisingly ripping each other to bits over it, uranium fever is at an all-time high. It's been over 6 years since we last got a new Fallout game - the less said about Fallout 76's reception at the time the better - but the appetitie for a new title has never been more clear, as several Fallout games have experienced a massive spike in players ever since the show's release.

A new selection of retro games hit the Nintendo Switch Online library today, and while it's not the biggest group of names this time around, there is one notable addition in the form of a Mario game that had never previously been released outside of Japan.

Dead Cells co-developer Evil Empire has revealed The Rogue Prince of Persia, a new roguelike take on the resurgent platforming adventure series. The Rogue Prince of Persia will head into Steam Early Access on 14th May.

The PlayStation 5 cycle has now crossed the halfway point if history if anything to go by, so speculation has naturally shifted to the PlayStation 6.

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

Over the past few years, the Meta platform was bashed by many concerned parents about child safety. Now, to take action and protect its teenage user base, Meta is testing a nudity protection feature for Instagram's messages which detects and blurs the nude images which are being shared by other users. This feature will keep users safe from potential scams and harmful content which appears on Instagram. This move came after serious pressure from the US and European governments. Know more about how the nudity protection feature on Instagram will work. 

Dbrand deletes racist tweet on Indian customer after MKBHD intervenes [Update]Dbrand has finally realised that its tweet “went too far” and decided to “buried the hatchet with Bhuwan” by deleting the offensive tweet.  Dbrand replied to MKBHD on X, “Fair enough. We left the offending tweet up because we didn't want to seem like we were sweeping this situation under the rug. We recognize that our original tweet went too far and created a platform for hateful discourse. Given that we've already buried the hatchet with Bhuwan, we're good to delete the tweet and be more mindful going forward.”  

It’s amazing how a single sentence can serve up a rollercoaster of emotions, especially when I’m being baited by the idea of a Steam Deck rival. In this case, the culprit was an announcement for a brand new handheld that uses PlaytronOS, an open-source Linux operating system that’ll allegedly take the fight to SteamOS and Windows. Ambitious, right? Well, the reveal also included the words ‘Web3’, so I've already accepted that this one’s for the Crypto bros. 

Instagram offers a fun way to enhance your Stories by adding music, boosting both mood and engagement. However, saving Instagram Stories with music from the platform's catalogue isn't always straightforward due to copyright restrictions. Nevertheless, there are workarounds available.  

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has recently updated its ₹49 recharge pack, aiming to provide more benefits to its prepaid subscribers. The refreshed pack now offers a significant increase in data allocation, providing users with 20GB of data, compared to the previous 6GB. However, it's important to note that this recharge pack does not include any additional benefits such as unlimited calls or SMS.

PlayStation Plus subscribers have a lot to look forward to in the near future, and May 9 is one date that marks a particularly exciting addition to the service. PlayStation Plus offers both a rotating library of monthly games and, on its Extra and Premium tiers, a less transient catalog of titles both classic and new. Accessing any PlayStation Plus perks requires a subscription, but that also throws online access for multiplayer services and more into the mix.

Obsidian has been a studio that punches above its weight with amazing RPGs like Pillars of Eternity and South Park: The Stick of Truth, as well as classic games like Fallout: New Vegas and Star War:s Knight of the Old Republic 2. While we’re waiting on the sequel to the sci-fi adventure The Outer Worlds 2, the team is taking on its biggest challenge yet. Avowed is a first-person RPG that has a lot of visual similarities to Skyrim, but is set within the original world created for Pillars of Eternity. We’ve been tracking this game since it was revealed in 2020 and it’s now in the final stretch before release. This could be the next great RPG experience you’ve been looking for, so check out everything you need to know about Avowed.

During today's Triple-i Initiative showcase, Gearbox Publishing unveiled a brand new game it's supporting from indie studio Wabisabi. The game is called RKGK, and it's a color-soaked love letter to 90s anime, 3D platforming, and Mexican graffiti culture.

RKGK has been revealed by Wabisabi Games and Gearbox Publishing, and it is a single player 3D platformer that is anime inspired. The announce trailer does not show any gameplay, and is instead cinematic. It shows main character Valah spray painted a building and the security bots that come to catch her out.

Vampire Survivors will be released on PS5 and PS4 in the summer,  developer poncle has confirmed. In addition to the news about the PS5 and PS4 release, poncle has also announced the Operation Guns DLC, which based on the Contra franchise. It will be coming to all current platforms on May 9th, and will cost $2.49 / €2.49 / £1.99.

While the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X might dominate the gaming news spotlight, the PC continues to be one of the best gaming platforms out there. 2024 saw a variety of high-profile releases, and there’s still more to come.

AMD's next-generation Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" CPUs have been listed & confirmed within the latest chipset drivers.

WhatsApp has set a new record that should worry every user in India. The platform has recently set a new record in 'account banning' in India. In February, WhatsApp took action against over 7.6 million accounts in India, aiming to address platform abuse and comply with the IT Rules 2021. These accounts are mostly related to scams, spam messages and fake news distribution. 

Meta Platforms Inc. is under immense pressure to ensure that social media content created by artificial intelligence doesn't cause havoc with elections this year. The company's top leaders say they haven't seen that happen yet on their services.

2023 is a tough act to follow. IGN awarded 83 games a review score of 8 or higher last year, including five 10s — among which were two generational greats in Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. A year later, the release calendar looks comparatively light, with Switch all but certainly in its final year as Nintendo’s primary console and Sony not releasing "any new major existing franchise titles" until 2025.

Streaming can be an art form in its own right and made all the more enjoyable with the proper tools — though they don't always come cheap. That's why the 26 percent discount currently running on the Razer Stream Controller is so exciting. The sale brings the all-in-one keypad down from $270 to $200 — a return to its record-low price.

Co-op horror title Content Warning was the fifth biggest seller on Steam last week.

AI roundup: With preference for online exams growing, an online assessment solutions company announced its AI-powered remote proctored exam platform to eliminate the chances of cheating. In other news, South Korea is planning to invest over $7 billion in AI to retain its name as a leading semiconductor chip provider. Know about more such AI news from today, April 9,  in our roundup. 

Dragon's Dogma 2 players have stumbled upon a secret cutscene that can play during one of the game's later fights.

Intel has announced its brand new Core Ultra "Meteor Lake PS" & Core "Raptor Lake PS" CPUs for Edge, utilizing the LGA 1851 & LGA 1700 socketed platforms.

It's been a while since Dr. DisRespect was banned from Twitch, and the streaming landscape has shifted dramatically over those four years, with the platform losing high profile talent such as Pokimane and xQc, while its main rivals Kick and YouTube continue to prosper. Twitch would probably kill for another high-profile user like Dr. DisRespect, but there's little chance of him returning as he's described his fallout with the platform as "a tough time" in his life.

The recent AI craze may have nerfed some upcoming SOCs as chipmakers such as AMD & Intel prioritize NPU over other core IPs.

After nearly seven years of activity across PlayStation 4 and PS5, the PlayStation Tournaments platform is getting its first branded competition, and the name at the top of the screen is smothered in tomatillo-red chili salsa. The Chipotle Challenger Series featuring Tekken 8 will kick off on PS5 Tournaments with a qualifier round from April 15 to 26, open to anyone who wants to test their fighting-game skills — or just score some free snacks. All participants in the qualifier round will receive a code for free chips and guacamole from Chipotle. According to the company's official rules, the freebie must be redeemed alongside a full-priced entrée item, purchased online or in-app only. Also, the offer expires on May 31. But, hey, there's still a clear path to free chips and guac via Tekken 8 playtime here.