Netflix will release a Tekken animated series later this year

Having helped bring properties like DotA 2 and Castlevania to TV, Netflix is once again turning to a historic gaming franchise to add to its content library. On Saturday, the streamer announced it would release Tekken: Bloodline, an animated adaption of Bandai Namco’s popular fighting game series, in 2022.

In the trailer Netflix shared alongside the announcement, we’re introduced to protagonist Jin Kazama, who joined the franchise as a playable character in 1996’s Tekken 3. In the show, Kazama embarks on a quest for revenge when his mother Jun falls to what she calls a demon. Kazama subsequently turns to his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima, for help. If old man Mishima gives off a sinister vibe, it’s because he’s the main villain of the Tekken franchise. Kazama’s quest eventually leads him to The King of Iron Fist Tournament where we see some familiar faces.

Outside of knowing it will come out later this year, we don’t have an exact release date for Tekken: Bloodline. Netflix’s track record with video game adaptations has mostly depended on the companies it has partnered with to work on those projects. Productions like Arcane and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf have been a success for the company thanks to the involvement of studios like Fortiche and Studio Mir.

Hackers are corrupting the save files of ‘Elden Ring’ players on PC

If you’re playing through Elden Ring on PC, you may want to disable the game’s online functionality for the time being. According to a Reddit report spotted by Eurogamer, some malicious individuals have found a hack that can send PC players into an endless death loop.

You can see the exploit in action in a video posted by Elden Ring Update on Twitter. A hacker will invade your game and use a specific ability that forces Elden Ring to crash. When you reload your save, your character will repeatedly fall to their death. Elden Ring is a big game, and some players have reported losing as much as 100 hours of gameplay in this way.

If all of this sounds familiar, it’s because FromSoftware was recently forced to disable Dark Souls 3’s multiplayer features after a hacker identified a vulnerability within the game that allowed them to execute code remotely. The studio has been working to address the issue since February.

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco have yet to comment on the exploit. We’ll update this article when they say something on the matter. In the meantime, your best bet is to play offline. Failing that, you’ll want to regularly backup your save in case someone uses the exploit on one of your characters. In the worst-case scenario, it’s possible to salvage a save, but the process isn’t easy. You need to press Alt F4 before your character dies, and then quickly fast travel to a Site of Grace when you reload the game.  

The ‘Overwatch 2’ PvP beta starts on April 26th

Blizzard Entertainment has finally announced a specific launch date for the Overwatch 2 PvP beta on PC: April 26th. The gaming company previously revealed that the beta for the sequel’s 5-on-5 PvP mode will go live in late April. Now, you can mark the 26th on your calendars and block out that weekend to play matches. In addition to 5-on-5 battles — the Overwatch PvP is 6-on-6 — the beta also comes with four fresh maps, the new Push mode and redesigned heroes. In fact, one of those heroes is getting more than just a stats/abilities upgrade or a model makeover.

A few days ago, Blizzard posted a screenshot of the game showing Doomfist as a tank. While the image has since been deleted, the company has eventually confirmed that the character is changing roles to tank from damage hero. 

Blizzard has been testing the role change for Doomfist since last year, hero lead designer Geoff Goodman revealed on Reddit in October. Back then, Goodman explained that the character’s kit is “full of crowd control effects and mobility” and that makes him difficult to tune and balance as a damage hero for Overwatch 2. He’ll be able to keep those properties as a tank, though he’ll obviously lose some damage and gain some defense points. In Overwatch 2, teams can only have one tank, so the player’s choice could be they key to their victory. 

Players can now sign up to get access to Overwatch 2’s PvP beta on the game’s official website.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can claim 30 days of free access to Paramount+

Nine years after it first emerged a live-action Halo TV series was in the works, the show is only a few days away from premiering on Paramount+. To celebrate its debut, Microsoft is giving Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers a free 30-day trial to the streaming service via Perks.

The offer will be available on March 23rd, the day before Halo arrives. There’s a catch, though. Given that only one installment of the nine-episode season is scheduled to drop each week, you might need to subscribe to Paramount+ to watch the entire season (unless you activate the offer a bit later). Paramount+ costs $5 per month with ads or $10 per month to go commercial free and gain access to a feed from your local live CBS station.

Earlier this week, Paramount+ released the final trailer for the show, which has a separate plot from the games and is already renewed for a second season. Along with some story beats, the two-minute clip shows an Elite with an Energy Sword and several shots of Master Chief in action.

Twitter is testing a way to create audio clips in Spaces

Some Twitter Spaces hosts are now able to create clips from recorded discussions as part of a test. A small number of hosts on iOS have access to the feature for now, though some Android and web users will be able to try it in the near future.

Hosts will be able to clip up to 30 seconds of audio. They can, of course, tweet out that snippet. All iOS users can check out the clips.

All hosts have been able to record their Spaces since January. Being able to tweet small snippets of their discussions could let them give other Twitter users some insight into what their Spaces are all about, and perhaps expand their audiences.

Clubhouse has offered its own clipping feature since September. Users of that platform have been able to clip shareable 30-second chunks of audio from public rooms.

Twitter might be missing a trick by only allowing hosts to clip audio from Spaces. All Twitch and YouTube users can clip highlights, meaning that viewers can help draw attention to a creator with snippets of their videos. However, given that Twitter’s only testing its clipping tool for now, it could open up the feature to listeners in the future.

‘Gran Turismo 7’ is back online following botched update

Don’t worry about making progress in Gran Turismo 7 this weekend — after more than a day, the lengthy maintenance downtime is over. The racing sim’s vital online component is back online after Polyphony Digital resolved issues with the flawed 1.07 update by releasing 1.08 to gamers. As studio chief Kazunori Yamauchi explained, the earlier patch had a “rare” and previously undetected problem that prevented the game from starting properly for some PS4 and PS5 owners. The company decided to halt the 1.07 release to protect players’ save data, Yamauchi said.

The 1.08 update also tackles complaints about Gran Turismo 7 microtransactions by adjusting event rewards. While Yamauchi wants in-game car prices to bear some correlation to their real-world counterparts, he also wants players to enjoy the title without microtransactions or grinding some events “over and over again.” There will also be more content, events and features to “constructively resolve” gripes about real-money purchases, the executive said, although details aren’t yet available.

The return will likely be appreciated by fans who’ve wanted to dive into Gran Turismo 7‘s main GT mode, which needs an internet connection whether or not you’re playing with others. However, it also comes too late to avoid some damage to the game’s reputation. Users have been review-bombing the game throughout the downtime, and it now sits at 3.3 on Metacritic. Like it or not, Polyphony and Sony may have to rebuild the trust of enthusiasts burned by the outage.

Twitter may soon let you add pronouns to your profile

When Twitter reopened its form for verification requests last year, it also teased upcoming changes to its website. Those changes include a space for pronouns in the profile section, along with your other information. It’s been almost a year since we first heard about the project, but now reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi has found proof that the company is indeed developing the feature and may have started testing it. Paluzzi has discovered a yet-to-be rolled out section when you edit your profile that lets you add whatever pronoun you want to use.

It’s high time for Twitter to give its users the ability to do so. The social network is late to the party, after all: Facebook users have been able to choose their pronouns for years, though their options are limited to three. Instagram started allowing people to display up to four pronouns next to their name in their profile last year. LinkedIn also introduced a dedicated space for pronouns in profiles in 2021. And, after work-from-home arrangements took off due to the pandemic, Zoom and Slack followed suit. The video conferencing apps gives users the option to show their pronouns next to their names in meetings, while the business messaging platform made the space for pronouns a default feature last year. Previously, companies have had to add the option as a customized field for their workers.

That said, Twitter has yet to announce a launch date for the pronoun field.

‘The Quarry’ is a teen horror game from the creators of ‘Until Dawn’

The producers of Until Dawn are returning to their roots after years of Dark Pictures Anthology games. Supermassive Games and 2K have unveiledThe Quarry, a teen horror title that has you once again deciding the fates of frightened youth. You control nine camp counselors as a night of celebrating the end of summer camp quickly goes sideways — the trailer below hints at a Most Dangerous Game tale where someone appears to be hunting the counselors for sport.

Supermassive is leaning on star power as much as it is familiar narrative-driven game mechanics. The Quarry stars David Arquette (appropriately from Scream), Ariel Winter (Modern Family) and Lance Henriksen (Aliens), not to mention actors from productions like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Dollface and Jurassic World. And yes, any character can die. As with Until Dawn and similar games, you’ll have to work hard if you want as many people as possible to survive.

Multiplayer is important, as well. You can have “couch co-op” where people control individual counselors, but you can also have as many as seven people voting on your decisions. While it won’t be quite as pressure-filled as having a Twitch audience decide, it will help you share the thrill ride with friends. And don’t worry if it’s too nerve-wracking. On top of adjustable difficulty levels, there’s a “Movie Mode” that removes the gameplay entirely and even lets you choose how the story plays out.

The Quarry arrives June 10th for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Windows PCs. The gameplay and premise will be more than a little familiar (how many horror movies have summer camps?), but that may be part of the appeal. It’s giving you a chance to “fix” well-worn genre tropes, if just by keeping everyone alive.