It’s another big game studio deal. Sony has announced it is acquiring Bungie, the studio behind the hit sci-fi MMO shooter Destiny. in a $3.6 billion deal. Bungie is positioning the acquisition as the beginning of a new era for the company — an era focused on global multimedia entertainment, not just gaming. One noteworthy point: Bungie will be developing for multiple platforms, not just PlayStation, according to a blog post by CEO Pete Parsons. It’s another sign of the video game industry consolidation. In case you forgot, Microsoft announced last month that it did Buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
— Mat Smith
The Biggest Stories You May Have Missed
Better range than the ID.4 and a lower price than the Model Y.
Hyundai
The EV6 is the first Kia vehicle under the company’s new Plan S electrification strategy, which paves the way for nearly a dozen new EV models by 2026. Not only does it offer long range, a competitive price, and level 2 autonomous driving, but it also does some augmented reality tricks. Editor-in-Chief Andrew Tarantola takes a car ride.
The event will be streamed tomorrow.
Gran Turismo 7, finally coming to PS4 and PS5 on March 4 after significant delays, will be the focus of Sony’s first State of Play in 2022. The event is scheduled to stream this Wednesday (February 2nd) at 5:00pm ET and feature “Just over 30 minutes new [GT7] PS5 footage and gameplay details.”
China’s Personal Data Protection Law may be to blame.
Reuters
One of the biggest gay dating apps has disappeared from China’s Apple App Store. There was no immediate explanation for the departure, but it came just days after China’s Cyberspace Administration launched a campaign to clean up illegal online material, pornography and rumors ahead of the Winter Olympics.
Grindr’s developers may have removed the app due to possible problems arising from China’s Personal Data Protection Law, which regulates private data. It requires all cross-border data transfers to go through China’s Cyberspace Administration.
Bring all parts of the company closer together.
Meta rolls out updated 3D avatars on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram (via DMs and Stories). The new design lets you use the same avatar across all meta platforms, including VR – when using a Quest 2 headset. If you want some level of separation, you can still create different avatars for Facebook, Instagram, and VR so you have a more realistic persona VR meetings and a more awesome one for your social media presence.
The move helps thwart phishing attacks.
If you’ve noticed that Apple’s two-factor authentication texts contain a lot more text than you’re used to, that’s on purpose. Apple has implemented a system that uses domain-linked codes for logins. The additional tags, for example “@apple.com #123456 %apple.com”, are intended to improve the trustworthiness of auto-filled text codes. The technique theoretically advises against more sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to intercept and redirect two-factor verification messages.
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