Author: Hadaza Marizen Crisostomo

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WhatsApp rolls out stronger account passwords: no more six-digit PIN

WhatsApp is rolling out a big security change: the app is moving away from its old six-digit PIN for two-step verification and replacing it with longer passwords that can include letters, numbers, and special characters.

WhatsApp Download

The update also lets you add more than one passkey to the same account across Android and iOS devices, using your fingerprint, Face ID, or screen lock. WhatsApp says more than 1 billion people have already turned on passkeys, and this setup should make account access safer while giving you something better than a single recovery option if your phone gets lost or stolen.

On Android, WhatsApp is adding more context to calls from unknown numbers, including the caller’s country and whether you have any groups in common. The company says that should make it easier to catch phishing attempts, impersonation, SIM-swap scams, and malicious QR-code tricks, which still hit users in markets like India and Brazil.

If you use WhatsApp a lot, this is an update worth installing. It tightens security at the user and device level, not only in the app’s end-to-end encryption.

You can download WhatsApp from Apple’s App Store and Google Play, though the expanded call details are only on Android right now.

Netflix explores other streaming services: Peacock and Fox One discussed

The New York Times reports that Netflix has been in talks about bringing third-party streaming services into the Netflix app. Peacock and Fox One both came up in those conversations.

Netflix Download

But nothing’s close to done. The talks are still exploratory, there’s no deal around the corner, and it’s still not clear what this would even look like in practice. Netflix could sell partner subscriptions, surface outside apps and their content, host programming directly, or end up with some mix of the four.

If it happens, Netflix would move a lot closer to Amazon and Roku, and to the “super-app” idea analysts have been circling as streaming gets crowded and viewers get tired of paying for one subscription after another.

Netflix has already tried a version of this in France, where it added TF1 live channels and streaming content, and co-CEO Greg Peters said the early response looked promising. Even so, with rebundling already happening through Comcast’s StreamSaver, the same questions are still hanging there: how revenue would be shared, what pricing would look like, and how much clutter this would add to the app, even as Netflix keeps building out its ad tier, international originals, live sports, and paid sharing.

If Netflix is the streaming app you use most, this one’s worth keeping an eye on.

Netflix is available now on iOS, Android, smart TVs, and streaming devices.

Peacock TV Download

Onimusha: Way of the Sword hits 2 million wishlists ahead of its September 4 launch

With September 4 coming up fast, Capcom says Onimusha: Way of the Sword has passed 2 million wishlists across all platforms. That puts the publisher’s 2026 revival on track to rank among its biggest launches.

Steam Download

That number carries extra weight when you remember what this game is. Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the first brand-new mainline Onimusha in 20 years, and Capcom has already pulled the release date forward from September 25 to September 4. You don’t move a game up like that unless you feel good about where it stands, especially for a series that has spent most of the past two decades quiet after its PS2 run of samurai combat, supernatural horror, and big cinematic action.

Capcom is framing Way of the Sword as a soft reboot, which should make it easy to jump in without homework, while still keeping the things people associate with Onimusha: the Oni Gauntlet, soul absorption, Edo-period Kyoto, Miyamoto Musashi, and a lead character modeled on Toshiro Mifune.

If you’ve been waiting for Onimusha to come back in a modern form, this one looks like it may be worth picking up at launch. Early hands-on previews have pointed to duels that are tough without feeling unreadable, plus a slower, more deliberate cinematic rhythm that some people have compared to Sekiro. Capcom, for its part, says isn’t a Soulslike and isn’t an open-world game either.

You’ll be able to play Onimusha: Way of the Sword on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC through Steam. Capcom has also been steadily building toward release with trailers, a public demo, Weekly Oni Memos, and PlayStation marketing support.

The Duskbloods: Nintendo is helping fix FromSoftware’s biggest problem

The Duskbloods is shaping up to be a different kind of FromSoftware game. It’s coming in 2026 as a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, and in an interview with IGN, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki said the studio is making this one easier to get into. Part of that comes from Nintendo, which has been helping the team make the early experience clearer for new players.

Nintendo Switch Online Download

Miyazaki said FromSoftware has often thrown players straight into the deep end and trusted them to work things out on their own. With The Duskbloods, that approach is changing a bit. Nintendo has been helping the studio explain its systems, mechanics, and early progression more clearly, without dialing back the challenge itself. Miyazaki said Nintendo was the right partner for that, pointing to the company’s approachable, forward-looking design sense.

The format is changing too. This isn’t another huge single-player adventure in the Elden Ring mold. The Duskbloods is an 8-player PvPvE action game where Bloodsworn fight for First Blood, and early previews describe it as fast, messy, ambitious, and a little like Bloodborne collided with Elden Ring.

If FromSoftware’s usual density tends to lose you, this might be one to keep an eye on. It’s also a real win for Nintendo, since it points to serious third-party backing for the Switch 2 while giving FromSoftware space to try something riskier after Elden Ring became such a massive hit.

The Duskbloods is set for 2026 on Nintendo Switch 2. It’ll also be FromSoftware’s first Nintendo exclusive in 23 years.

Discord Download

Duskbloods Network Test pre-load is now live on Switch 2

Duskbloods, FromSoftware’s upcoming multiplayer PvPvE game for Nintendo Switch 2, now has its closed network test client up for pre-load ahead of the August 21 to August 24, 2026 test window. It’s the first official sign that the game is moving toward its next public checkpoint.

Nintendo Switch Online Download

If you made it into the test, go ahead and download the 3.8 GB client now. Only invited players can access it, and the test itself will be split across several four-hour sessions running from August 21 through August 24, 2026, while FromSoftware puts server load, balance, and overall online performance through their paces.

Leaks are already starting to pile up. Unverified reports say the game could launch the test with a 14-class starting roster, including names like Blood-Eater, Guillotine, Foul-Rot, and Coffin-Bearer.

If that leak turns out to be real, Duskbloods may be leaning hard into blood-based powers, cursed bloodlines, ritual violence, and a much darker framework than the usual hero shooter. That would explain the strong reaction from fans, even with Nintendo Switch 2 exclusivity still drawing mixed responses.

Duskbloods is directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and is currently slated for a worldwide 2026 release on Nintendo Switch 2. Players will take control of one of up to eight Bloodsworn in a multiplayer PvPvE fight against both rival players and AI-controlled threats.

Discord Download

Phantom Blade Zero gets October 29 release date: new gameplay details

Phantom Blade Zero is coming to PlayStation 5 and Windows PC on October 29, 2026. Developer S-Game confirmed the date during Sony’s State of Play showcase.

Steam Download

The State of Play segment gave the best look so far at the game’s fast, fluid “Kungfu Punk” action: quick weapon swaps, blocking, parries, counters, flashy enemy set pieces, optional side quests, several difficulty settings, and an overall style that feels different from the slower Soulslike games Phantom Blade Zero keeps getting compared to.

S-Game says Phantom Blade Zero takes place in the Phantom World and mixes Chinese martial arts with Steampunk, cyberpunk, and dark fantasy. You play as Soul, an elite assassin who’s been framed for murder, revived by a mysterious healer, and given 66 days to uncover a larger conspiracy and find a cure. Your choices shape a non-linear story with eight possible endings.

The showcase also broke down the combat. There are more than 30 main weapons and 25 secondary Phantom Edge weapons, and upgrades unlock new abilities that open the door to different builds and combo-heavy fighting styles built around constant movement, not stamina-based duels. Hellwalker brings smarter enemy AI, while Sixty-Six Days turns every death into part of Soul’s countdown in a permadeath-style mode.

If you’re looking for a high-speed action RPG with a strong martial arts identity, this one deserves a spot on your radar.

You can pre-order Phantom Blade Zero now on the PlayStation Store, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. It’s developed and published by S-Game under Sony’s PlayStation China Hero Project. S-Game also says Donnie Yen is a creative consultant and provides the likeness and motion capture for Mó Yuan.

Control Resonant launches September 24, 2026: story and gameplay so far

Control Resonant finally has a release date. Remedy Entertainment says its follow-up to 2019’s Control will launch on September 24, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Steam Download

This time, you play as Dylan Faden. He wakes up from a coma and heads into a paranaturally warped Manhattan outside the Oldest House, searching for Jesse Faden alongside Federal Bureau of Control agent Zoe De Vera. Remedy is also taking the action in a different direction. The first game leaned on gunplay; Control Resonant shifts toward faster, melee-driven action RPG combat built around the shapeshifting Aberrant, movement, chaining abilities together, and a vertical city that sounds far more open-ended.

You’ll also be up against Resonants, corrupted enemies with a boss-like role that unlock new combat abilities. One detail still needs an asterisk, though: the widely reported magma-spitting “Deserter” still hasn’t been publicly confirmed. Remedy says the original Control had sold 6 million copies by May 2026 and reached more than 20 million players, and the studio adds that Control Resonant had passed 1.5 million wishlists by August 2026, with top-three PS5 pre-orders in the US, Germany, and Brazil.

If you’ve been hoping for a stranger, riskier, more melee-focused take on Control, this one looks easy to keep an eye on, even with Jesse Faden’s disappearance, the main antagonist, and Manhattan’s real scale still not fully clear. You’ll be able to pick up Control Resonant on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC at launch.

Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E now pose a new retail fraud risk: fake return photos

Since 2022, image generators like Midjourney, Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion, and OpenAI’s DALL-E have pushed photorealistic image creation into the mainstream. They’ve brought real productivity gains, but they’ve also made it far easier to manufacture fake evidence for retail returns, refunds, chargebacks, and friendly fraud.

Midjourney Download

Give one of these tools a text prompt and it can produce convincing photos of damaged products, altered packaging shots, fake receipts, shipping labels, and other kinds of “proof” used in returns, refunds, chargebacks, and friendly fraud. Merchants say the abuse is climbing: 57% report more refund or policy abuse, 69% are already seeing fraud aided by these tools, 87% expect more of it, and some estimates put 3 in 10 retail fraud attempts in this category.

Organized fraud rings can run this play across accounts and merchants. Regular consumers can do it too, tailoring images to a specific product, merchant, or claim in seconds instead of reusing sloppy edits.

If you handle retail returns, take that as a warning. Only 3% of retailers say they feel ready, so merchants are turning to machine-learning checks across transactions, accounts, and return histories because image-only verification isn’t holding up.

These image-generation tools are easy to access online through services like Midjourney, Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion, and OpenAI’s DALL-E. Research covering more than 4 million artworks found 25% higher creative productivity and 50% higher perceived value for lower-cost product visuals, faster mockups, and personalized ads. At the same time, the same tools are making deception cheaper, faster, and harder to spot.

Big Walk hits 1 million sales in six days: beats Untitled Goose Game

Panic and House House say Big Walk has sold 1 million copies in just six days, following its August 4, 2026 launch. That’s a breakout start for both companies, and the figure includes PlayStation Plus downloads tied to Big Walk’s place in the August 2026 PlayStation Plus Essential lineup.

Steam Download

It also got there much faster than House House’s Untitled Goose Game, which took about three months to hit 1 million. For Big Walk, that’s a huge early result. The game is a 2-to-12-player open-world co-op built around quiet exploration and environmental puzzles, with no combat at all. A big part of its identity is the proximity voice chat: as players wander away from each other, voices fade out or come through muffled. The world itself draws from Wilsons Promontory in Australia.

Big Walk launched on August 4, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC at $19.99, and some platforms are offering a 25% launch discount. If you’re looking for a relaxed co-op game that nudges players to stay close and actually communicate, Big Walk looks well worth picking up.

Reviews have been strong so far, with Big Walk landing among the highest-rated games of 2026 on Metacritic. That said, players have been asking for matchmaking, and plenty have pointed out that Big Walk is at its best with a regular group. House House has already patched issues with quieter microphones, but the studio says it won’t extend the voice-chat range, since that limitation is central to how the game is meant to work.

You can download Big Walk now on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Windows 11 updates USB formatting: FAT32 now supports up to 2TB

Starting with Windows 11 builds released in August 2024, USB formatting got one useful change: File Explorer can now format FAT32 drives up to 2TB, instead of stopping at the old 32GB limit. In File Explorer, the process is still simple. Right-click the USB drive and choose Format. That’s what a lot of people do with a new flash drive, or with one that’s started acting weird, because formatting resets the file system, wipes visible and hidden data, and gets the drive ready for a Windows PC, a Mac, a console, or a TV. For most people, FAT32 is still the compatibility-safe choice, though it keeps the 4GB-per-file limit. exFAT is usually the best all-around pick for large files that need to move between Windows and macOS. NTFS makes more sense for Windows-only use, especially when permissions and encryption matter.

Recuva Download

Windows also gives you two ways to format a drive: quick or full. A quick format mostly clears the file table. A full format writes zeros to the drive, which makes it the safer option if you’re selling, donating, or lending it out. It also changes what you should do if you make a mistake, because if you formatted the wrong drive and want any chance of recovery, you should stop using it immediately. If you still use USB sticks on a regular basis, it helps to know what these options actually do. And you can handle all of this right from File Explorer on a Windows PC now, with the larger FAT32 option available in current Windows 11 builds.