Watch nearly 8 minutes of ‘Bayonetta 3’ gameplay in a new trailer

Bayonetta 3 is primed to be a stylish, neon-splattered action title, and Nintendo has the gameplay trailer to prove it. Today the studio dropped nearly eight minutes of Bayonetta 3 gameplay footage on YouTube, showcasing Bayonetta’s Witch Time, Demon Masquerade and summoning abilities, and how other characters will play. 

The game pits Bayonetta and her cohorts — a witch-in-training called Viola, the Umbra Witch Jeanne and a journalist named Luka — against an army of man-made bioweapons called Homonculi. Each character brings their own flair to the fight; Viola, for instance, can call upon a giant, maniacal Cheshire cat to help her take down massive monsters.

The Demon Masquerade feature allows Bayonetta to channel the abilities of various animals, including a moth, spider and scorpion. There’s also a new accessory called Immortal Marionette that adds a one-button input mechanic for combos and defense moves to any difficulty setting in the game. 

Bayonetta 3 is set to hit Switch on October 28th.

Peloton’s connected Bike rentals are now available across 48 states

Peloton is expanding a rental program for its Bike and Bike+ fitness equipment. Now, anyone in the contiguous US (sorry, Alaska and Hawaii) can try one of the connected exercise bikes at home without having to shell out at least $1,445. The company started testing the program in select markets earlier this year. It’s worth noting that the rentals may still not be available in some remote locations.

A Bike rental costs $89 per month, while Bike+ costs $119 per month. You’ll need to pay a $150 setup fee as well. Both options include an All Access Membership, which features Peloton’s swathe of live and on-demand fitness classes. You can return the equipment for free at any time. After 12 months, you’ll be able to buy the Bike or Bike+ at a reduced rate ($895 and $1,595, respectively).

News of broader availability of the rental program comes after it emerged that two of Peloton’s co-founders are departing the company. As CNBC notes, John Foley is stepping down as executive chairman. Karen Boone will take over as the chair of the board. Chief legal officer Hisao Kushi, another co-founder, is leaving and will be replaced by Tammy Albarrán, Uber’s chief deputy general counsel.

Additionally, chief commercial officer Kevin Cornils, who joined Peloton in 2018, will move on later this month amid a broader organizational shakeup. Chief strategy officer Dion Sanders will take on many of Cornils’ duties in a new role as chief emerging business officer.

These executive changes are the latest developments in a turbulent year for Peloton as CEO Barry McCarthy tries to resolve the company’s woes. Just as McCarthy took over the position from Foley earlier this year, Peloton laid off around 2,800 workers. In July, Peloton let go around 570 employees in Taiwan amid a shift away from in-house manufacturing, and last month, the company cut another 784 jobs in the distribution and customer service departments. It will rely on third-party companies for deliveries.

Whether McCarthy’s ambitious plan to steady the Peloton ship pays off remains to be seen. It’s been a rough year financially for the company to say the least. McCarthy told shareholders last month that, despite incurring an operating loss of $1.2 billion last quarter, he sees “significant progress driving our comeback and Peloton’s long-term resilience.”

McCarthy said this week that Peloton would start selling its products in some brick-and-mortar stores after announcing the closure of many of the company’s own retail locations. It recently listed its equipment on Amazon for the first time. McCarthy also mused on making it easier for people to access third-party content on Peloton’s displays, something that’s already possible to do by jailbreaking the device.

Twitter whistleblower says company had Chinese agent on payroll

During a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Twitter’s former security chief turned whistleblower, Peiter Zatko, shed new light on his claims that the company’s lax security practices harmed U.S. national security. Among the new allegations was that the company had a Chinese agent working for the country’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) on its payroll.

During his opening statement, Sen. Chuck Grassley stated that “the FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company.” In the public version of his whistleblower complaint, Zatko stated he had been warned that the company was employing “one or more” people who were “working on behalf of another particular foreign intelligence agency.” But the version of the complaint made public, parts of which were redacted, didn’t specify what country the FBI was referring to.

In his testimony, Zatko confirmed the company had been warned about the presence of Chinese agents. “This was made aware to me maybe a week before I was summarily dismissed,” Zatko said. “I had been told because the corporate security/physical security team had been contacted and told that there was at least one agent of the MSS, which is one of China’s intelligence services on the payroll inside Twitter.”

Zatko also raised concerns about the presence of foreign agents from other countries, including India, which he said “forced” Twitter to hire government agents. 

Notably, Zatko’s disclosures are not the first time Twitter has had to contend with the presence of unregistered foreign agents on its payroll. A former Twitter worker was recently convicted of acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors alleged the man was paid to turn over sensitive information about dissidents.

Zatko alleged that the danger posed by foreign agents was even greater due to a litany of factors: the vast amount of data the platform collects and its lack of insight into that data, as well as the broad and largely unfettered access Twitter’s engineers have to it. “It’s not far-fetched to say that an employee inside the company could take over the accounts of all of the senators in this room,” Zatko said. 

The hearing is likely to amp up the pressure on Twitter, which has so far declined to address Zatko’s claims in detail. Senator Grassley said that the committee had also invited CEO Parag Agrawal to testify at the hearing but that he had “refused to appear.”

“He rejected this committee’s invitation to appear by claiming that it would jeopardize Twitter’s ongoing litigation Mr. Musk,” Grassley said, referring to the company’s legal battle with Elon Musk over his $44 billion acquisition of the company. “Protecting Americans from foreign influence is more important than Twitter’s civil litigation in Delaware. If these allegations are true, I don’t see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter going forward.”

‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ lands on Switch May 12th, 2023

The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is called Tears of the Kingdom and it’s due to hit Switch on May 12th, 2023. Nintendo revealed the release date, name and a short teaser for the game during today’s Direct showcase. The studio says Tears of the Kingdom will travel into the skies beyond Hyrule, to an expanded world among the clouds.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild debuted in 2017, the same day the Switch came to market. It was a huge critical and commercial success, and the sequel has been hotly anticipated since. The new game was originally announced with a release window in 2022, but in March, Nintendo delayed it into spring 2023.

It wasn’t the only major game to be pushed out of 2022. A handful of titles from big publishers, including Starfield, Redfall, Hogwarts Legacy and Forspoken, were delayed into 2023 this year.

‘GoldenEye 007’ is coming to Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack with online play

You’ll soon have a way to play one of the most beloved Nintendo 64 games on your Switch without having to jailbreak the console. During today’s Nintendo Direct, it emerged that GoldenEye 007 is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. What’s more, you’ll be able to hop into the iconic multiplayer mode with your friends through online play. Nintendo didn’t say when the first-person shooter will arrive on Switch, other than to say it’s “coming soon.” In the meantime, you can check out a new documentary about the game.

On top of that, GoldenEye 007 is coming to Xbox Game Pass. Rare says the game has been “faithfully recreated for Xbox consoles.” It will feature split-screen local multiplayer (but no online play), achievements, 4K resolution and a seemingly smoother framerate. In fairness, it would be tough to have a lower framerate than the N64 version.

Nintendo also revealed a bunch of other N64 titles that it will gradually add to the Expansion Pack service. Pilotwings 64, Mario Party and Mario Party 2 will all be available later this year. In 2023, Mario Party 3, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Stadium 2, 1080 Snowboarding and Excitebike 64 will join the lineup.