Many of the most exciting games announced at this year’s E3 have something in common: You can play them with other people.
Why it matters: A lot of the chatter about where video gaming is going involves either the scarcity of single-player games or the success of competitive multiplayer phenomena such as “Fortnite” and “Call of Duty: Warzone.”
Deck Nine’s upcoming episodic game, “Life is Strange: True Colors,” has given its heroine an empathetic superpower that allows her to tap into people’s innermost thoughts.
Details: Alex sees people’s emotions as colorful auras. Once activated, the world will alter according to whatever emotionally charged state she’s entered.
Sotheby's last week auctioned off the first fine art NFT ever created, a landmark moment in the transformation of art from the physical to the digital. The winning bid was $1.4 million.
Axios Re:Cap goes deeper, to understand how the fine art and cryptocurrency worlds are colliding, including a conversation with Kevin McCoy, the artist whose work was just auctioned off.
YouTube will stop accepting ads for its masthead ad unit from certain verticals, including alcohol sales, gambling, prescription drugs, and election and political ads, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: YouTube's masthead, a highly visible rectangle across the top of the homepage, is often the platform's most expensive and sought-after ad unit.
Thrasio, a Walpole, Mass.-based acquirer of Amazon third-party private-label businesses, is in talks to go public via Churchill Capital V (NYSE: CCV), a SPAC led by Michael Klein, per Bloomberg. The implied valuation could top $10 billion.
Why it matters: This comes just days after Congress introduced a bipartisan bill that would break apart Amazon's control of its marketplace, thus benefiting the sorts of sellers that Thrasio rolls up.
Naftali Bennett yesterday became prime minister of Israel, succeeding Benjamin Netanyahu, after his power-sharing government survived a vote of confidence.
Why it matters: Bennett becomes Israel's first new prime minister since 2009, and he takes office as Netanyahu stands trial for corruption.
Google said Monday that it is bringing Workspace, its rebranded G Suite, to all users, including consumers and education customers. With Workspace, Google is trying to better integrate its email, chat and productivity apps.
Why it matters: Google has 3 billion users for its collaboration tools, up from 2 billion a year ago. Workspace is designed to compete with both Microsoft Office and a variety of newer upstart productivity tools.
Nextdoor, the neighborhood social network, has seen explosive growth over the past two years as homebound users became more fixated on what was happening on a hyper-local level.
Why it matters: Such rapid growth comes with challenges. What was once a niche social network is now so popular that it's grappling with some of the same thorny problems plaguing Facebook and Twitter, such as content moderation.
The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of IpsiHand, a device that assists people recovering from a stroke by using signals from the uninjured parts of their brain to help restore the use of a non-functioning hand, NPR reports.
The big picture: IpsiHand's FDA authorization allows NeuroLutions, the company that founded the technology, to manufacture the device to assist patients who are no longer benefiting from traditional rehabilitation.
“Starfield,” the next big game from the makers of “Fallout” and “The Elder Scrolls” will be released on Nov. 11, 2022 for Xbox consoles and PC — and not for PlayStation, according to a new trailer.
Why it matters: “Starfield” is about as big as it gets in terms of upcoming blockbuster games and will likely be ace for Microsoft commercially.
