Technology

Microsoft is expanding its accessibility efforts with a new program for evaluating Xbox and PC games. Today, its gaming accessibility team announced that developers can send their games to be evaluated for accessibility and tested by players with disabilities. The program was announced alongside updates to the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines that were released in early 2020. “Developers now have the option to send Microsoft their Xbox or PC title and have it analyzed and validated against the recommendations provided in the XAGs,” says an Xbox blog post published today. The Xbox Accessibility Guidelines include thorough explanations of inclusive design considerations for developers, and they are now updated to include clearer language, additional context, and implementation examples. Game te...

Microsoft is expanding its accessibility efforts with a new program for evaluating Xbox and PC games. Today, its gaming accessibility team announced that developers can send their games to be evaluated for accessibility and tested by players with disabilities. The program was announced alongside updates to the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines that were released in early 2020. “Developers now have the option to send Microsoft their Xbox or PC title and have it analyzed and validated against the recommendations provided in the XAGs,” says an Xbox blog post published today. The Xbox Accessibility Guidelines include thorough explanations of inclusive design considerations for developers, and they are now updated to include clearer language, additional context, and implementation examples. Game te...

Google made the surprise announcement on February 1st that it would be shuttering its in-house Stadia game development studios. But the news wasn’t just a surprise to Stadia customers; it was a bolt from the blue for the Stadia development team, which, just a week prior, had been told that the studios were making “great progress,” according to a report from Kotaku. “[Stadia Games and Entertainment] has made great progress building a diverse and talented team and establishing a strong lineup of Stadia exclusive games,” said Phil Harrison, a vice president at Google and general manager for Stadia, on January 27th in an email to staff obtained by Kotaku. The email promised more news on the Stadia studios’ strategy and goals for 2021. But instead of new development objectives, Harrison announc...

Google made the surprise announcement on February 1st that it would be shuttering its in-house Stadia game development studios. But the news wasn’t just a surprise to Stadia customers; it was a bolt from the blue for the Stadia development team, which, just a week prior, had been told that the studios were making “great progress,” according to a report from Kotaku. “[Stadia Games and Entertainment] has made great progress building a diverse and talented team and establishing a strong lineup of Stadia exclusive games,” said Phil Harrison, a vice president at Google and general manager for Stadia, on January 27th in an email to staff obtained by Kotaku. The email promised more news on the Stadia studios’ strategy and goals for 2021. But instead of new development objectives, Harrison announc...

Netflix is making an anime series based on Valve’s hugely-popular game Dota 2. The 8-episode series, titled Dota: Dragon’s Blood, launches on March 25th, and you can watch the first trailer at the top of this post. “The upcoming fantasy series tells the story of Davion, a renowned Dragon Knight devoted to wiping the scourge from the face of the world,” according to a Netflix press release. “Following encounters with a powerful, ancient eldwurm as well as the noble Princess Mirana on a secret mission of her own, Davion becomes embroiled in events much larger than he could have ever imagined.” We’re excited to announce a brand-new anime series exploring the Dota universe like never before. As fellow fans of Dota and its passionate global community, we look forward to sharing this new a...

Netflix is making an anime series based on Valve’s hugely-popular game Dota 2. The 8-episode series, titled Dota: Dragon’s Blood, launches on March 25th, and you can watch the first trailer at the top of this post. “The upcoming fantasy series tells the story of Davion, a renowned Dragon Knight devoted to wiping the scourge from the face of the world,” according to a Netflix press release. “Following encounters with a powerful, ancient eldwurm as well as the noble Princess Mirana on a secret mission of her own, Davion becomes embroiled in events much larger than he could have ever imagined.” We’re excited to announce a brand-new anime series exploring the Dota universe like never before. As fellow fans of Dota and its passionate global community, we look forward to sharing this new a...

SpaceX has reportedly raised $850 million in a round of funding, in transactions that would value shares of the company at $419.99 each. According to CNBC, this would mean the company is worth around $74 billion. It would also mean that the company has money to continue on with its future projects. As one could imagine, some of SpaceX’s projects are deeply unprofitable before they start making money — for instance, earlier this month Elon Musk said that there’s a “deep chasm of negative cash flow” between the company’s satellite-based internet service provider Starlink and profitability. The company’s plan to send enough satellites to create a global, high-speed internet network is expensive, and since the service is still in the beta and pre-order stage, it’s not going to be bringing in a...

SpaceX has reportedly raised $850 million in a round of funding, in transactions that would value shares of the company at $419.99 each. According to CNBC, this would mean the company is worth around $74 billion. It would also mean that the company has money to continue on with its future projects. As one could imagine, some of SpaceX’s projects are deeply unprofitable before they start making money — for instance, earlier this month Elon Musk said that there’s a “deep chasm of negative cash flow” between the company’s satellite-based internet service provider Starlink and profitability. The company’s plan to send enough satellites to create a global, high-speed internet network is expensive, and since the service is still in the beta and pre-order stage, it’s not going to be bringing in a...

Today’s big drop was the premiere trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League which, fortunately for weekend editors everywhere, came just after 10AM ET. It comes to HBO Max March 18th. Last weekend during the Super Bowl we got a new trailer for the upcoming Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which premieres March 19th. Here it is in case you missed it (what, it’s possible someone missed it): [embedded content] There are, however, a few non-superhero shows and movies on the horizon in case you need a breather from the DC/Marvel/Disney universes (I mean I guess that’s also possible). Here’s what we got. [embedded content] Nomadland Frances McDormand is Fern, a houseless— not homeless, she insists— woman who leaves her home in Nevada after her husband dies, living in her van ...

The Chevy Bolt is undergoing a growth spurt. General Motors unveiled two new versions of the Bolt on Sunday: an updated Bolt EV hatchback with longer range and new high-tech features, and the brand new Bolt EUV — essentially a compact SUV — with more legroom room and less range than the Bolt EV. Due out this summer, the refreshed Bolt EV will sell for $31,995 — or about $5,000 less than the current model year Bolt EV. The Bolt EUV (which stands for “electric utility vehicle”) will also be less expensive, costing $33,995. A limited-edition “Launch” version, with unique wheels, special badging, and an illuminated charge port, will be available for $43,495. The Bolt EV and EUV were expected to go into production at the end of 2020 but were delayed until this year due to the coronavirus pandem...

With Zack Snyder’s Justice League set to release nearly a month from now, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for the film. Set after the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice where Batman and Wonder Woman form a superhero team including Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg as the group tries to protect the world from Steppenwolf. The trailer opens with a voiceover from Lex Luthor: “The god is dead” and as expected, gives us a new look at Jared Leto’s Joker. [embedded content] Justice League first debuted in November 2017 in theaters. Snyder was the original director but stepped away from the project during post-production for personal reasons, leaving Joss Whedon to step in and complete the film. After its release, fans criticized the contributions Whedon made to the movie and created a ...

The developers of audio chat room app Clubhouse plan to add additional encryption to prevent it from transmitting pings to servers in China, after Stanford researchers said they found vulnerabilities in its infrastructure. In a new report, the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) said it confirmed that Shanghai-based company Agora Inc., which makes real-time engagement software, “supplies back-end infrastructure to the Clubhouse App.” The SIO further discovered that users’ unique Clubhouse ID numbers —not usernames— and chatroom IDs are transmitted in plaintext, which would likely give Agora access to raw Clubhouse audio. So anyone observing internet traffic could match the IDs on shared chatrooms to see who’s talking to each other, the SIO tweeted, noting “For mainland Chinese users, this ...