News Editor
Jay Peters is a News Editor at The Verge. He covers breaking news in consumer technology, social media, video games, virtual worlds, streaming, and more. He’s appeared on CNBC, NPR, BBC News, WNYC, and other broadcast outlets to discuss technology news.
Before joining The Verge as a News Writer in 2019, Jay worked for Techmeme, where he helped curate the most important technology news of the moment. He actually started his career in technology public relations, working in the field for more than five years. He graduated from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.
When he’s not writing, Jay really likes running. But he prefers to run far, not fast.
Sony just published an interview on the PlayStation Blog with two of the game’s developers, and it’s packed with details about what you can expect and some ways the development team adapted the game to VR. This was one of my favorite tidbits:
This is also a small detail, but the camera for the first-person perspective is set a little lower than Leon’s actual eye level. If the camera is at the same eye level as Leon – who is quite tall himself – the Ganados (enemy villagers) will appear smaller. The Ganados approach and attack Leon from a low, forward posture, so if you get too close to them, you end up looking down at them which strips away the intensity.
Resident Evil 4’s VR mode launches for PSVR 2 on December 8th.
Bloomberg reports that Steve Hotelling is retiring from Apple. I had never heard of him, but this paragraph from Bloomberg underscores just how much he’s contributed to Apple’s products:
The executive is named on hundreds of patents, including ones related to the iPhone and iPad’s multitouch screen, and known for being one of the inventors of Touch ID — a key feature for authenticating users on Apple devices. “No one was more brilliant than Steve,” said a longtime peer at the company.
Some of chip chief Johny Srouji’s direct reports will be taking over Hotelling’s work.
I expected nothing less, even though the actual trailer is only 90 seconds long. The trailer looks great, and good news: Digital Foundry is “inclined to believe” that the footage “is representative of the actual game,” Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter writes in a written analysis.
IGN published a big piece today about the “soul-crushing” mood at Bungie following recent layoffs and the delay of the game’s next big expansion.
While the studio, which is owned by Sony, remains independent, IGN reports that if Bungie misses some financial goals “by too great an amount,” Sony can dissolve Bungie’s board and take over.
In the tvOS 17.2 release candidate, the two apps push users toward the TV app, according to 9to5Mac. The change, assuming it sticks around when tvOS 17.2 is released publicly, isn’t much of a surprise; Bloomberg reported in October that Apple was planning to discontinue the iTunes Movies and TV shows apps in favor of the TV app.
That 10 percent number translates to about 40 jobs, including part of the company’s playlist curation team, sources told Bloomberg.
Spotify announced layoffs affecting 17 percent of its staff earlier this week.
You can see your personal recap by tapping or clicking the banana icon at the top of the app while logged in (though it doesn’t seem to show up on the Old Reddit desktop interface for me).
This year, Reddit has added “Community Recaps,” which “highlight the top posts, comments, and visitors unique to the subreddit,” according to a post from Reddit.
In Reddit’s all-up 2023 recap, there was no direct mention of this year’s user outcry. However, the company did reference John Oliver, who some subreddits featured in protest, as “surely the only man who can make an API update sexy.”
“You’ll get 9 characters, 15 weapons, 1 Stage, 20 in-game unlocks, the ability to see the future, and an Adventure,” developer Poncle wrote in an FAQ about the new Emergency Meeting DLC. “One of those answers is an Impostor.”
The DLC will cost $2.49, according to a press email, which is just a tad more expensive than the $1.99 price for the previous two expansions.
Emergency Meeting launches on PC and Xbox on December 18th and on mobile and Nintendo Switch “soon.” While you wait, you can check out the new story mode “Adventures” launching today.