Square Enix’s PS5 exclusive ‘Forspoken’ is delayed to October 11th

Square Enix has delayed Forspoken. The upcoming action role-playing game from Final Fantasy XV studio Luminous Productions was previously scheduled to release on May 24th. It will instead come out on October 11th, the studio announced on Monday. 

“Our vision for this exciting new IP is to deliver a game world and hero that gamers across the globe will want to experience for years to come, so getting it right is extremely important to us,” Luminous Productions said. “To that end, during the next few months we will focus all of our efforts on polishing the game and can’t wait for you to experience Frey’s journey this fall.”

We last saw Forspoken at a hands-off briefing Square Enix held at the end of last year. Forspoken stars Frey, a New York City native who’s transported to the fantastical land of Athia. Voiced by actor Ella Balinsk, Frey must save the world from corruption while trying to find a way home. Square will release Forspoken on PlayStation 5 and PC.

SpaceX sends additional Starlink terminals to Ukraine

SpaceX is sending more Starlink terminals to Ukraine, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Talked to Elon Musk. I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds,” Zelensky tweeted on Saturday afternoon. “Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities.”

SpaceX sent an initial shipment of its satellite dishes on February 26th following a Twitter plea from Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. The delivery arrived on February 28th. Days later, Elon Musk warned Ukrainians to be careful when using the service on account of the fact that it’s the only non-Russian internet provider left in some of the more war-torn areas of the country. The warning came after John Scott-Railton, a researcher with the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, pointed out Russia has decades of experience triangulating and targeting satellite uplink transmissions with airstrikes.

Russia’s invasion has tested Ukraine’s internet infrastructure. Intense combat in cities like Kyiv and Mariupol has caused disruptions to GigaTrans, the country’s backbone internet provider. Over the past few days, internet monitoring organization NetBlocks observed multiple drops in connectivity. Among the most recent and potentially worrisome is the one affecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which left the International Atomic Energy Agency saying it could no longer get “reliable information” from the facility.

Netflix stops streaming in Russia

Netflix is taking additional action in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Sunday, the company said it was suspending its service in Russia. “Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,” a spokesperson for Netflix told CNBC. 

The move comes after the company said last week it would not comply with Russia’s Vitirina TV law, which requires that audiovisual companies with more than 100,000 subscribers carry 20 free state channels, including NTV and Spa. According to CNBC, Netflix has approximately 1 million subscribers in Russia, making it one of the company’s smaller markets. That same week, Netflix said it had also “paused” all future projects it had planned to undertake within the country. The company had four original productions, including an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, underway in Russia. The fate of those projects is uncertain.  

TikTok suspends new video uploads and livestreaming in Russia

TikTok will temporarily restrict users in Russia from livestreaming and uploading new videos to its platform, the company announced on Sunday. It said it was doing so in response to the country’s recently enacted “fake news” law, which threatens up to 15 years in jail for individuals accused of spreading “misinformation” about it military and or government. 

“We have no choice but to suspend livestreaming and new content to our video service in Russia while we review the safety implications of this law,” TikTok said, noting at the same time that the safety of its users is its “highest priority” as a company. 

For the time being, TikTok users in Russia can continue to message one another and their friends in other countries. “We will continue to evaluate the evolving circumstances in Russia to determine when we might fully resume our services with safety as our top priority,” the company stated. 

The move comes shortly after TikTok said it would start adding labels to videos from some state-controlled media outlets. On Friday, the company noted it had begun working on the policy last year but had decided to expedite its rollout in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. TikTok users can expect to see the labels start showing up sometime within the next few days. In a statement to The Verge, TikTok said it would apply the labels to at least some Russian outlets. The same day TikTok announced the policy, Russia’s Roskomnadzor accused the platform of removing content from Russian media. 

Apple could announce a new external display at its ‘Peek Performance’ event

If you’re not excited about Apple’s upcoming Peek Performance keynote, you’re not the only one. According to most reports, the company will announce new iPhone SE and iPad Air models at the event. It’s not the most exciting stuff. But according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple could have a surprise up its sleeve that would make Tuesday considerably more interesting. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman writes he “wouldn’t rule out” Apple previewing a next-generation display at the event.

He reports the company completed development on a new monitor “months ago,” and had originally planned to release it “soon after” the launch of last year’s MacBook Pro. Given there have been reports suggesting Apple will announce a new high-end Mac mini at the event, a matching display doesn’t sound out of the realm of possibility. To that point, Apple has reportedly been working on two new monitors for the past few years. A report from 9to5Mac published earlier in the week shed light on a possible 7K successor to the Pro Display XDR that will feature an A13 processor to offload some processing tasks. The monitor Gurman references would appear to be a more affordable model that would succeed the company’s long discontinued Thunderbolt Display.

Amazon offers up to 30 percent off Anker MagGo chargers for today only

iPhone 12 and 13 owners take note, Amazon has launched a one-day Anker sale that includes a handful of products from the company’s MagGo line of MagSafe-compatible accessories. To start, you can pick up Anker’s 622 magnetic battery in Interstellar Gray…

Internet backbone provider Cogent cuts off service to Russia

Cogent Communications, an internet backbone provider that carries approximately 25 percent of all global web traffic, has begun cutting ties with Russian businesses in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The company told The Washington Post it was doing so to prevent the Kremlin from using its network to carry out cyberattacks and spread misinformation about the ongoing conflict.

“Our goal is not to hurt anyone. It’s just to not empower the Russian government to have another tool in their war chest,” Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer told the outlet, adding “it was a tough decision.” In a statement to ZDNet, the company said it was also complying with European Union sanctions against Russia Today and Sputnik. “Cogent is not otherwise restricting or blocking traffic originating from or destined for Russia. Cogent continues to provide services to Ukraine,” the company added.

The move is expected to disrupt and slow down internet connectivity. Some of Cogent’s Russian clients include state-owned telecom operator Rostelecom, one of the country’s largest internet providers, and wireless carriers Megafon and Veon. Cogent said it was working with some of those companies to provide them extensions.

Some experts worry the move will also prevent Russians from accessing information that doesn’t come from the Kremlin. “I would like to convey to people all over the world that if you turn off the Internet in Russia, then this means cutting off 140 million people from at least some truthful information,” Mikhail Klimarev, the executive director of Russia’s Internet Protection Society, told The Washington Post. “As long as the Internet exists, people can find out the truth. There will be no Internet — all people in Russia will only listen to propaganda.”

To that point, Russians already can’t access Facebook and Twitter after the country’s government moved to restrict those platforms. They may soon lose access to Wikipedia as well.

Keyboard and mouse support is coming to Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service

Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service recently added Flight Simulator, allowing you to play the game on Xbox One, phones, tablets and web browsers via the cloud. But unlike the PC version of the title, you can’t use a keyboard and mouse to control your plane. However, that’s about to change, according to Flight Simulator head Jorg Neumann.

In a developer Q&A spotted by Windows Central, Neumann said Microsoft is working on adding platform-level support for the feature, suggesting most games on Xbox Cloud Gaming could eventually include the input method. “So the platform team is working on this. I know I can’t give a date because it’s the platform team. I don’t know their dates, but it’s coming,” he said. “I’m hoping it will be done by June or so, but I can’t ever tell.”

Responding to The Verge, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the company was working on the feature but declined to provide a release date. “At launch, Microsoft Flight Simulator supports standard controller inputs for cloud gaming,” they said. “The team is experimenting with touch/gyro and is excited to embrace M&K once it’s available on the platform but we have no specific announcements or timing to share at this time.”

Keyboard and mouse support would be a useful addition to Xbox Cloud Gaming for a couple of reasons. For one, it would allow PC and Mac owners to play games like Halo Infinite without buying a gamepad. Instead, they could use the peripherals they already have on hand. Secondly, it would make it easier for Microsoft to bring PC exclusives like Age of Empires IV to the service.