News

Elon Musk has announced that Twitter is currently working on a software update that will give you access to a tool that can clearly show whether you’ve been shadowbanned. The term means different things for different platforms, but being shadowbanned typically makes your posts invisible to other users or makes your profile hard to find without your knowledge. Musk says the upcoming tool will also explain the reason why you’ve been shadowbanned and will give you instructions on how to submit an appeal. 

Instagram has just launched a similar feature with its latest update, letting you know whether you’re currently blocked from recommendations. At the moment, it can only show if you’ve been blocked from recommendations in Explore, Feed and Reels, but Instagram is working on expanding the tool so that you can see if you’re also blocked from showing up in “suggested accounts.” 

Musk didn’t talk about how Twitter will be implementing the feature, but he made the announcement shortly after Bari Weiss released part two of The Twitter Files. In the thread, Weiss said that Twitter used “Visibility Filtering,” which is apparently just another term for shadowbanning, on some conservative personalities. Musk once called himself a “free speech absolutist.” After taking control of Twitter, he started lifting the bans on several controversial users, including former President Donald Trump, The Daily Stormer’sinfamous neo-Nazi creator Andrew Anglin and other white nationalists. 

Advertisers have been fleeing the platform since Musk took over due to concerns about policy changes and the reinstatement of banned accounts. In a blog post late last month, Twitter assured advertisers that “none of [its] policies have changed.” And according to a new report by Reuters, Twitter is gearing up to release a set of ad controls in an effort to lure advertisers back to the website. The controls, which could launch as soon as next week, will reportedly allow advertisers to prevent their ads from appearing above or below tweets with the specific keywords they choose.

Although The Game Awards didn’t bring news of a major Elden Ring expansion, there was another juicy announcement for FromSoftware fans. The revered studio is bringing back the Armored Core series after a decade of dormancy. Best of all, you won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. It’s coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Steam in 2023.

From and publisher Bandai Namco announced the game with a trailer that shows mechs emerging from the embers of an apocalyptic event. The clip doesn’t offer a ton of story details, but it doesn’t have to. The footage is gorgeously detailed and richly rendered enough that the plot can easily take a back seat for now.

What we do know is that you’ll be able to assemble your own mech and freely explore the environment, seemingly with slow, steady movements. According to the Japanese version of the trailer’s YouTube description, you’ll be able to utilize more dynamic movements, fire weapons and engage in close combat when you battle enemies. 

This will be the first mainline Armored Core game since 2012’s Armored Core V (a standalone expansion followed in 2013). After the mammoth success of Elden Ring, From has set its standards extremely high. But if any studio can clear that bar, it’s probably this one.

The first major bit of DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 — unless you count a buttload of patches — is due out in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. Phantom Liberty is a spy thriller, and it introduces a new character, FIA agent Solomon Reed, who’s played by Idris Elba. The DLC also includes new missions and a new district in Night City, all of it culminating in “an impossible mission of espionage and survival,” according to developer CD Projekt Red.

Phantom Liberty will be the first batch of paid DLC for Cyberpunk 2077, though there’s no word on exactly how much it will cost.

Cyberpunk 2077 came out in December 2020 and was immediately lambasted as a glitchy, unpolished mess by many players and reviewers. CD Projekt Red released a series of fixes for the game and, over time, it’s stabilized and players have found the fun that was hiding there all along.

Elba joins fellow mainstream actor Keanu Reeves in the Cyberpunk universe, and this won’t be the last we’ll hear of the franchise. There’s a fabulous Netflix anime based on the game and CD Projekt Red is already building a full-on sequel, codenamed “Orion.”