Ford will introduce seven new EVs in Europe by 2024

Ford is quickly making good on its promise to go all-electric in Europe. The company now plans to introduce seven new EVs in Europe by 2024. The lineup will focus on crossovers, including an electric version of the compact Puma as well as a five-seat “medium-size” and “sport” models. You can also expect new editions of the Transit and Tourneo vans, including smaller Courier trims as well as Custom models.

The medium crossover will be the first mass-produced passenger EV from Ford’s new Cologne facility and will include five seats and a claimed 310-mile range. Ford will formally reveal the vehicle later this year and start production in 2023.

The Transit Custom and Tourneo Custom are also slated to arrive in 2023, while the Puma, the sport crossover, the Transit Courier and the Tourneo Courier are due in 2024. The Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit are already part of Ford’s European lineup. Ford hopes to move to an all-EV passenger range in Europe by 2030, and to completely eliminate gas and diesel from its stable by 2035.

This still leaves much of Ford’s lineup dependent on combustion engines, and we wouldn’t expect most (if any) of the roster to reach the US — the Puma hasn’t ever been sold in the country, for instance. However, the strategy isn’t surprising. Ford says the Puma is its best-selling passenger vehicle in Europe, and vans like the Transit are very common among European businesses. This roadmap fully electrifies some of Ford’s best-known models in the continent, and even the completely new crossovers will tackle popular segments. Ford clearly wants its EVs to be seen as mainstream models, not to mention compete against the VW ID.Buzz (which will come in a Europe-focused cargo variant) and other rivals.

PlayStation will stream a ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ State of Play on March 17th

You’ll soon get more than just a cursory look at Hogwarts Legacy. Sony and WB Games Avalanche have announced a State of Play stream on March 17th devoted solely to the open-world Harry Potter RPG. The 20-minute presentation will finally share more details for the title, including 14 minutes of PlayStation 5 gameplay. The stream starts at 5PM Eastern on PlayStation’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Hogwarts Legacy was originally slated to arrive in 2021 before the developers pushed the release to sometime this year. The game has you create a wizard who perfects spells, tames beasts (of the fantastic variety, of course) and otherwise explores Hogwarts in the 1800s, long before Harry and many other well-known characters rose to prominence. The game will also be available for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC.

The single-game focus isn’t a shock. Avalanche is keen to note people have viewed the Hogwarts Legacy debut trailer over 28 million times — there’s clearly a lot of demand between Harry Potter fans and the gaming community at large. The State of Play could help Sony tap into that demand and spur more PlayStation sales.

Riot Games bought a stake in the animation studio behind ‘Arcane’

Riot Games has worked closely with Arcane animation studio Fortiche for years, and now the two are cementing their creative union. Riot has made an equity investment giving it a “significant” but non-controlling stake in Fortiche. It has also added two leaders, Chief Content Officer Brian Wright and Director of Corporate Development Brendan Mulligan, to Fortiche’s board of directors.

The game developer didn’t reveal the exact value or timing of the investment. The deal closed sometime “earlier this year,” according to Riot.

You may have seen this coming. Riot and Fortiche first worked together on the 2013 video introducing Jinx to League of Legends, and they’ve collaborated on projects including K/DA’s “Popstars,” two Imagine Dragons team-ups and the music video for the 2018 LoL World Championship anthem “Rise.” Throw in the success that prompted work on a second season of Arcane (the first season topped global Netflix charts for three weeks) and it’s clear the two companies thrive on each other’s successes.

Neither firm detailed just how the investment would help. However, Fortiche is partnering with Riot on “other to-be-announced projects” on top of more Arcane. The extra money could help Fortiche bring those efforts to fruition and give Riot more opportunities to promote its games — whatever Riot spends now could pay dividends with more players and esports viewers.

Facebook users in Ukraine are, in fact, banned from calling for Putin’s death

Meta may be walking back a temporary exemption that let Facebook users in Ukraine call for Russian President Putin’s death. Reutersclaims to have seen an internal post from Meta global affairs President Nick Clegg indicating the company was “narrowing” its moderation to make clear that it wouldn’t allow calls for the death of any head of state. While Meta didn’t appear to have changed its mind on Russian soldiers, the firm also wanted to make it “explicitly clear” that hate speech and threats against the general Russian population were also forbidden.

When asked for comment, Meta confirmed the new policy to Engadget but didn’t add details. Clegg said Meta would share the change in policy with the Oversight Board that helps shape the social media giant’s moderation practices.

The rethink comes just as Russia has banned Instagram in response to Meta’s earlier stance on calls for violence. The country had already blocked Facebook, but Interfax and Reutersreported that state prosecutors had called on a court to label Meta as an “extremist organization” with that previous company policy in mind.

We wouldn’t count on Russia lifting any bans following Meta’s revised approach. The state has blocked or limited multiple foreign internet services to stifle political dissent, including Twitter and Zello, and CNBC said prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation of the company in answer to the previous Ukraine policy. Meta doesn’t have much support in the Kremlin, and that opinion is unlikely to change any time soon.

Russia follows through on retaliation promise, bans Instagram

Russia has followed through on its plan to ban Instagram. The Washington Postreports the country shut down access on March 14th as promised, leaving nearly 60 million users (according to Statista) without easy access. Regulator Roskomnadzor issued the ban in response to Meta ‘temporarily’ letting Ukranian users call for the deaths of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his soldiers invading Ukraine.

Meta has reportedly changed its guidance since. According to Reuters, a leaked internal post from global affairs President Nick Clegg revealed the company was “narrowing the focus” of its policy to once again ban calls for Putin’s death, and to warn that the soldier exemption didn’t let people wish harm against all Russians.

It’s not certain if any Russians can access Instagram through VPNs. At least some users couldn’t use those connection tunnels to circumvent the ban. Major Instagram creators have been telling followers to join them in the secure chat app Telegram, which still operates in the country and has become vital during the Ukraine war as a relatively private and surveillance-resistant communications tool.

There’s no guarantee Russia will reverse its stance on Instagram even if it considers Meta’s revised guidance acceptable. The nation has already blocked Facebook and Twitter, and made it illegal for media to publish content that challenges the government’s official line on Ukraine. Putin’s administration has been determined to silence political dissent, and unknown agents have supposedly aided that goal by paying Russian TikTok stars to spread pro-Kremlin messages despite a ban on new uploads. Russia still considers Western social media a threat, and that’s unlikely to change in the near future.

Russian TikTok creators have reportedly been paid to share propaganda

The White House isn’t the only one trying to steer discussion of Ukraine on TikTok. Vice News has discovered that Russian TikTok influencers are reportedly being paid to share videos promoting the Putin government’s narrative surrounding the invasion. An anonymous operator in a Telegram channel has been telling creators what and when to post, what goals they must meet and otherwise dictating their content. At least some of the followers have over a million followers.

It’s unclear who is behind the campaign, but the operator claims to be a journalist and has looked for posters for additional pro-government content (such as supporting Russian athletes in the Olympics) and private companies. However, TikTok’s ban on new videos from Russia apparently isn’t an obstacle. The channel administrator tells influencers how to dodge the ban, and at least some producers have posted videos after the ban took effect.

The channel suddenly shut down on March 9th as Vice conducted its investigation. Most of the videos have since been removed, but the campaign team reportedly asked them to do this. Others remain, and it’s not certain how many similar initiatives might be underway. It’s also unclear if the propaganda was effective.

TikTok hasn’t commented on the pro-Kremlin campaign and told Vice about its general efforts to spot “emerging threats” and “harmful misinformation” surrounding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Whether or not the Russian government was involved with this TikTok effort, there’s little doubt the country has tried to control the online narrative on Ukraine. It has blocked social networks like Instagram, posted misinformation through its embassies’ accounts, circumvented bans on its state news outlets and criminalized media reports that contradict the official stance on the war. TikTok’s large user base may be a tempting target if Russia hopes to sway more of the internet to its side.

‘Dead Space’ remake arrives early 2023

Motive and EA finally have a release window for their Dead Space remake. The two have revealed their re-do of the sci-fi horror game will be available in early 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. While there hasn’t been much discussion just how much the game will improve on the original, Motive has provided a “deep dive” on audio improvements and teased a similar exploration of art in May.

The audio system is much smarter than what you saw in 2008. Most notably, adrenaline, fatigue and other vital stats will influence the protagonist Isaac’s breathing, heart rate and even dialogue. Run for a long time and Isaac may be panting when speaks, while serious injuries may lead him to wince as he navigates hallways.

There’s a lot riding on the Dead Space revival. The game succeeded through a combination of clever gameplay touches (such as severing limbs and doing away with common interface elements) and a foreboding, oppressively lonely atmosphere. Motive may have to strike a careful balance as it caters to longstanding fans while appealing to newcomers who know little about the 14-year-old classic.

White House briefed TikTok influencers on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

It’s not just journalists receiving White House briefings on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Washington Post has learned Press Secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Council adviser Matt Miller helped virtually brief 30 TikTok influencers, including Khalil Greene and Jules Terpak, on the US approach to the war. They outlined the US’ strategic objectives in the area and answered creators’ questions on subjects ranging from relief efforts to a theoretical response if Russia used nuclear weapons.

White House digital strategy director Rob Flaherty characterized the briefing as both an effort to provide reliable information from an “authoritative source” and an acknowledgment TikTok is a “critically important” source for updates on Ukraine. It’s hoping to fight misinformation by reaching millions of TikTok followers, in other words.

There were concerns the briefing didn’t tackle hard questions. Jules Suzdaltsev, the operator of TikTok account Good Morning Bad News, said it felt like a press event “for kindergarteners.” Another TikTok news provider, Marcus DiPaola, also saw this as selective messaging — the White House didn’t address its involvement in other invasions, he said.

However helpful the presentation might have been, it’s not surprising the Biden administration would reach out to TikTok creators. Many younger internet users get at least some of their news from social networks like TikTok, and those outlets have been struggling to curb misinformation. TikTok halted video uploads and streams in Russia on March 6th, and only recently started labelling state-backed media outlets. Briefings like this will theoretically counter misinformation and get the official US strategy to people who would otherwise remain unaware. 

Hulu’s live TV plan will include unlimited cloud DVR at no extra charge

Hulu may have hiked the prices of its live TV plans last fall, but you’ll at least get more for your money this spring. The streaming service now plans to give all Hulu + Live TV subscribers unlimited cloud DVR storage starting April 13th. If you’ve been paying for an Enhanced Cloud DVR add-on ($10 or $15 per month), you’ll see your bill shrink accordingly. Recordings with the new Unlimited DVR feature last for up to nine months.

Regular Hulu + Live TV subscriptions used to include 50 hours of ‘free’ DVR space with unskippable ads, while buying the Enhanced Cloud DVR feature expanded that to 200 hours without the ads. While that was enough to help you replay a must-see event, it wasn’t much help if you frequently recorded live programming. Now, it’s just a matter of finding the time to watch whatever you save.

The company isn’t offering unlimited DVR use out of pure generosity, as you might imagine. Notably, this puts Hulu + Live TV’s DVR functionality on par with YouTube TV and makes the pricing far more competitive, at $70 per month versus the $80 you needed to roughly match the feature set. There are still reasons you might pick YouTube’s offering over Hulu’s (a slightly lower $65 price and some sports networks), but the gap is now considerably narrower.

Classic Dungeons & Dragons ‘Gold Box’ games are coming to Steam

If you played PC role-playing games in the previous century, there’s a good chance you have fond memories of SSI’s Dungeons & Dragons “Gold Box” titles — and now you’ll have an easy way to play many of them beyond sites like GOG. SNEG is bringing multiple Gold Box Classics collections to Steam on March 29th. Most are themed around their D&D franchises, and they all include a special game launcher, “enhanced” DOSBox emulator support and utilities to help you transfer parties, map dungeons and otherwise manage your RPGs.

There are three Forgotten Realms collections, including one for the Eye of the Beholder series, another for the Pool of Radiance and Savage Frontier titles and a third for Dungeon Hack and Menzoberranzan. DragonLance fans will find a bundle for the Krynn trilogy, while Dark Sun and Ravenloft enthusiasts have their own packs. Al-Qadim: The Genie’s Curse and D&D Stronghold: Kingdom Simulator are available individually.

This might not satisfy you if you’re a completist. The catalog doesn’t include DragonStrike, Spelljammer and other games that don’t fit neatly into the stereotypical Gold Box format. These aren’t remasters, either, so they’ll be just as low-resolution as you remember. Still, this might be appealing if you want a nostalgic computer RPG experience without the hassles of swapping floppy disks.