Jan 08, 2025Ravie LakshmananIoT Security / ComplianceThe U.S. government on Tuesday announced the launch of the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, a new cybersecurity safety label for Internet-of-Things (IoT) consumer devices."IoT products can be susceptible to a range of security vulnerabilities," the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said. "Under this program, qualifying consumer smart products that meet robust cybersecurity standards will bear a labelincluding a new 'U.S Cyber Trust Mark.'"As part of the effort, the logo will be accompanied by a QR code that users can scan, taking them to a registry of information with easy-to-understand details about the security of the product, such as the support period and whether software patches and security updates are automatic.The information will also comprise details related to changing the default password and the various steps users can take to configure the device securely.The initiative, announced back in July 2023, is expected to involve third-party cybersecurity label administrators who will be in charge of evaluating product applications and authorizing use of the label. Compliance testing will be handled by accredited labs, the FCC added.Eligible products that come under the purview of the Cyber Trust Mark program include internet-connected home security cameras, voice-activated shopping devices, smart appliances, fitness trackers, garage door openers, and baby monitors.It does not cover medical devices regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); motor vehicles and equipment regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); wired devices; and products used for manufacturing, industrial control, or enterprise applications.The program also does not extend to equipment added to the FCC's Covered List; and products manufactured by companies added to other lists for national security reasons (Department of Commerce's Entity List or Department of Defense's List of Chinese Military Companies), or banned from Federal procurement.To apply to use the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, manufacturers who meet the eligibility criteria must have their products tested by an accredited and FCC- recognized CyberLAB to ensure they meet the program's cybersecurity requirements, and then submit an application to a Cybersecurity Label Administrator with the necessary supporting documents."The U.S. Cyber Trust Mark program allows them to test products against established cybersecurity criteria from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology via compliance testing by accredited labs, and earn the Cyber Trust Mark label, providing an easy way for American consumers to see the cybersecurity of products they choose to bring into their homes," the White House said.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

MIT Technology Reviews Whats Next series looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of themhere. For the last couple of years weve had a go at predicting whats coming next in AI. A fools game given how fast this industry moves. But were on a roll, and were doing it again. How did we score last time round? Our four hot trends to watch out for in 2024 included what we called customized chatbotsinteractive helper apps powered by multimodal large language models (check: we didnt know it yet, but we were talking about what everyone now calls agents, the hottest thing in AI right now); generative video (check: few technologies have improved so fast in the last 12 months, with OpenAI and Google DeepMind releasing their flagship video generation models, Sora and Veo, within a week of each other this December); and more general-purpose robots that can do a wider range of tasks (check: the payoffs from large language models continue to trickle down to other parts of the tech industry, and robotics is top of the list). We also said that AI-generated election disinformation would be everywhere, but herehappilywe got it wrong. There were many things to wring our hands over this year, but political deepfakes were thin on the ground. So whats coming in 2025? Were going to ignore the obvious here: You can bet that agents and smaller, more efficient, language models will continue to shape the industry. Instead, here are five alternative picks from our AI team. 1. Generative virtual playgrounds If 2023 was the year of generative images and 2024 was the year of generative videowhat comes next? If you guessed generative virtual worlds (a.k.a. video games), high fives all round. We got a tiny glimpse of this technology in February, when Google DeepMind revealed a generative model called Genie that could take a still image and turn it into a side-scrolling 2D platform game that players could interact with. In December, the firm revealed Genie 2, a model that can spin a starter image into an entire virtual world. Other companies are building similar tech. In October, the AI startups Decart and Etched revealed an unofficial Minecraft hack in which every frame of the game gets generated on the fly as you play. And World Labs, a startup cofounded by Fei-Fei Licreator of ImageNet, the vast data set of photos that kick-started the deep-learning boomis building what it calls large world models, or LWMs. One obvious application is video games. Theres a playful tone to these early experiments, and generative 3D simulations could be used to explore design concepts for new games, turning a sketch into a playable environment on the fly. This could lead to entirely new types of games. But they could also be used to train robots. World Labs wants to develop so-called spatial intelligencethe ability for machines to interpret and interact with the everyday world. But robotics researchers lack good data about real-world scenarios with which to train such technology. Spinning up countless virtual worlds and dropping virtual robots into them to learn by trial and error could help make up for that. Will Douglas Heaven 2. Large language models that reason The buzz was justified. When OpenAI revealed o1 in September, it introduced a new paradigm in how large language models work. Two months later, the firm pushed that paradigm forward in almost every way with o3a model that just might reshape this technology for good. Most models, including OpenAIs flagship GPT-4, spit out the first response they come up with. Sometimes its correct; sometimes its not. But the firms new models are trained to work through their answers step by step, breaking down tricky problems into a series of simpler ones. When one approach isnt working, they try another. This technique, known as reasoning (yeswe know exactly how loaded that term is), can make this technology more accurate, especially for math, physics, and logic problems. Its also crucial for agents. In December, Google DeepMind revealed an experimental new web-browsing agent called Mariner. In the middle of a preview demo that the company gave to MIT Technology Review, Mariner seemed to get stuck. Megha Goel, a product manager at the company, had asked the agent to find her a recipe for Christmas cookies that looked like the ones in a photo shed given it. Mariner found a recipe on the web and started adding the ingredients to Goels online grocery basket. Then it stalled; it couldnt figure out what type of flour to pick. Goel watched as Mariner explained its steps in a chat window: It says, I will use the browsers Back button to return to the recipe. It was a remarkable moment. Instead of hitting a wall, the agent had broken the task down into separate actions and picked one that might resolve the problem. Figuring out you need to click the Back button may sound basic, but for a mindless bot its akin to rocket science. And it worked: Mariner went back to the recipe, confirmed the type of flour, and carried on filling Goels basket. Google DeepMind is also building an experimental version of Gemini 2.0, its latest large language model, that uses this step-by-step approach to problem solving, called Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking. But OpenAI and Google are just the tip of the iceberg. Many companies are building large language models that use similar techniques, making them better at a whole range of tasks, from cooking to coding. Expect a lot more buzz about reasoning (we know, we know) this year. Will Douglas Heaven 3. Its boom time for AI in science One of the most exciting uses for AI is speeding up discovery in the natural sciences. Perhaps the greatest vindication of AIs potential on this front came last October, when the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry to Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper from Google DeepMind for building the AlphaFold tool, which can solve protein folding, and to David Baker for building tools to help design new proteins. Expect this trend to continue next year, and to see more data sets and models that are aimed specifically at scientific discovery. Proteins were the perfect target for AI, because the field had excellent existing data sets that AI models could be trained on. The hunt is on to find the next big thing. One potential area is materials science. Meta has released massive data sets and models that could help scientists use AI to discover new materials much faster, and in December, Hugging Face, together with the startup Entalpic, launched LeMaterial, an open-source project that aims to simplify and accelerate materials research. Their first project is a data set that unifies, cleans, and standardizes the most prominent material data sets. AI model makers are also keen to pitch their generative products as research tools for scientists. OpenAI let scientists test its latest o1 model and see how it might support them in research. The results were encouraging. Having an AI tool that can operate in a similar way to a scientist is one of the fantasies of the tech sector. In a manifesto published in October last year, Anthropic founder Dario Amodei highlighted science, especially biology, as one of the key areas where powerful AI could help. Amodei speculates that in the future, AI could be not only a method of data analysis but a virtual biologist who performs all the tasks biologists do. Were still a long way away from this scenario. But next year, we might see important steps toward it. Melissa Heikkil 4. AI companies get cozier with national security There is a lot of money to be made by AI companies willing to lend their tools to border surveillance, intelligence gathering, and other national security tasks. The US military has launched a number of initiatives that show its eager to adopt AI, from the Replicator programwhich, inspired by the war in Ukraine, promises to spend $1 billion on small dronesto the Artificial Intelligence Rapid Capabilities Cell, a unit bringing AI into everything from battlefield decision-making to logistics. European militaries are under pressure to up their tech investment, triggered by concerns that Donald Trumps administration will cut spending to Ukraine. Rising tensions between Taiwan and China weigh heavily on the minds of military planners, too. In 2025, these trends will continue to be a boon for defense-tech companies like Palantir, Anduril, and others, which are now capitalizing on classified military data to train AI models. The defense industrys deep pockets will tempt mainstream AI companies into the fold too. OpenAI in December announced it is partnering with Anduril on a program to take down drones, completing a year-long pivot away from its policy of not working with the military. It joins the ranks of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, which have worked with the Pentagon for years. Other AI competitors, which are spending billions to train and develop new models, will face more pressure in 2025 to think seriously about revenue. Its possible that theyll find enough non-defense customers who will pay handsomely for AI agents that can handle complex tasks, or creative industries willing to spend on image and video generators. But theyll also be increasingly tempted to throw their hats in the ring for lucrative Pentagon contracts. Expect to see companies wrestle with whether working on defense projects will be seen as a contradiction to their values. OpenAIs rationale for changing its stance was that democracies should continue to take the lead in AI development, the company wrote, reasoning that lending its models to the military would advance that goal. In 2025, well be watching others follow its lead. James ODonnell 5. Nvidia sees legitimate competition For much of the current AI boom, if you were a tech startup looking to try your hand at making an AI model, Jensen Huang was your man. As CEO of Nvidia, the worlds most valuable corporation, Huang helped the company become the undisputed leader of chips used both to train AI models and to ping a model when anyone uses it, called inferencing. A number of forces could change that in 2025. For one, behemoth competitors like Amazon, Broadcom, AMD, and others have been investing heavily in new chips, and there are early indications that these could compete closely with Nvidiasparticularly for inference, where Nvidias lead is less solid. A growing number of startups are also attacking Nvidia from a different angle. Rather than trying to marginally improve on Nvidias designs, startups like Groq are making riskier bets on entirely new chip architectures that, with enough time, promise to provide more efficient or effective training. In 2025 these experiments will still be in their early stages, but its possible that a standout competitor will change the assumption that top AI models rely exclusively on Nvidia chips. Underpinning this competition, the geopolitical chip war will continue. That war thus far has relied on two strategies. On one hand, the West seeks to limit exports to China of top chips and the technologies to make them. On the other, efforts like the US CHIPS Act aim to boost domestic production of semiconductors. Donald Trump may escalate those export controls and has promised massive tariffs on any goods imported from China. In 2025, such tariffs would put Taiwanon which the US relies heavily because of the chip manufacturer TSMCat the center of the trade wars. Thats because Taiwan has said it will help Chinese firms relocate to the island to help them avoid the proposed tariffs. That could draw further criticism from Trump, who has expressed frustration with US spending to defend Taiwan from China. Its unclear how these forces will play out, but it will only further incentivize chipmakers to reduce reliance on Taiwan, which is the entire purpose of the CHIPS Act. As spending from the bill begins to circulate, next year could bring the first evidence of whether its materially boosting domestic chip production. James ODonnell

Although it is understood Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) delivered an earlier concept, it is unclear whether the Danish heavyweight continues to be involved.The NEOM stadium is one of 11 proposed new-build venues for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, which footballs world governing body controversially awarded to Saudi Arabia last month. The country was the sole candidate in the running to host the tournament.Located in the Hidden Marina the initial 2.3km-long section of the Line the NEOM stadium would sit 350m above ground and be used for group stage matches and the quarter-finals, according to the Saudi World Cup bid.AdvertisementMore on this topicWe need to talk about Saudi ArabiaPopulous is behindat least four more of the tournaments stadiums: the planned 92,000-seat King Salman Stadium, which will host the final of the 2034 tournament, next to a new Foster + Partners' airport in Riyadh; the King Fahad Stadium, also in Riyadh; the under-construction Dammam Aramaco Stadium, which is due to feature games for the 2027 Asian Cup; and the Qiddiya stadium, which was unveiled in February last year as the first proposed 2034 World Cup venue.The concept for Dammam was drawn up by Foster + Partners, which also worked with Populous on the Lusail stadium in Qatar, the venue for the final match of the 2022 World Cup.Other British names involved in the Saudi World Cup include Manchester-based AFL Architects. The practice said last month that it had been commissioned to design the 47,500-capacity King Abdullah Economic City Stadium in Jeddah on the Red Sea.Arup is understood to be working on the planned New Murabba Stadium,the AJ reported last August. The 46,000-seat arena, located north-west of central Riyadh, would host group and second-round games.Arup is also refurbishing the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, in Jeddah. The 58,400-seat venue would host quarter-final games in 2034. The 15-stadium tournament includes just four refurbished stadiums a decrease from earlier FIFA tournaments.AdvertisementLast summer, the AJ also reported on BIGs involvement with the Saudi World Cup but the practice has not responded to a request for comment on the NEOM stadium.Seven new stadiums were built for the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which was criticisedfor underplaying the tournaments environmental impact.Qatar also came under intense scrutiny over deaths and poor treatment of workers in the construction of stadiums for the tournament. A report by theGuardian in 2021 put the total number deaths of migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at 6,5000 far exceeding the three deaths admitted to by Qatar officials.Practices accepting work in Saudi Arabia continue to provoke debate. The country has come under scrutiny for its human- rights record, including its treatment of women, restriction of free speech, and treatment of the LGBTQ community and other minorities.In November, architect Duncan Baker-Brown wrote in the AJ that working on Saudi giga-projects such as NEOM was incompatible with being an ethical professional and being a member of the RIBA.The Saudi 2034 bid said holding the tournament would be an opportunity to showcase the countrys commitment to environmental sustainability.Populous declined to comment.

Switch 2 leaks turn into deluge as dummy units shown at CESAccessories manufacturer says it's banking on April launch.Image credit: Nintendo News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on Jan. 8, 2025 Accurate models of Nintendo's under-wraps Switch 2 have been shown off at the CES 2025 trade show in Las Vegas by accessories manufacturer Genki.French website Numerama went hands-on with one of these models and was told by Genki representatives that it was based on access to the actual Switch 2, which it expected to launch in April this year.Incredibly, the report states that access to an actual Switch 2 unit via the black market is also now possible, "if you put up the money". Nintendo is still to announce Switch 2, but at this point it feels like there's little still to learn about how the next-generation handheld will look.Still, these latest images - and video, below - of the Switch 2 dummy unit that Genki is showing off give us our best view yet of the hardware. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.As we've seen in images of multiple previous Switch 2 accessories, and as reported separately prior to that, Switch 2 will be a slightly larger version of Nintendo's current hardware, with an additional "C" button on the right Joy-Con, magnetic attachments for the controllers, and an additional USB-C port on the device's top. Videos shown on Genki's stand, and also now on the company's website, show a highly-detailed look at the new Switch 2 Joy-Con - including its previously-rumoured optical sensor.Eurogamer has contacted Nintendo for more.Separately, yet another accessories manufacturer has begun advertising its own add-ons via Amazon in Japan. Images of a Switch 2 console cover from third-party company Laziro offer yet another look at what the handheld is expected to look like: To see this content please enable targeting cookies."Nintendo will not have much time in January, so a potential announcement early in the month could make sense," industry analyst Serkan Toto told Eurogamer last month. "You can bet that Nintendo is aware of all the leaks and not happy about them."

Monster Hunter Wilds gets second open beta ahead of February releaseRompopolo of the Bailey.Image credit: Capcom News by Victoria Kennedy News Reporter Published on Jan. 8, 2025 Monster Hunter Wilds has kicked off the new year by announcing a second open beta test.This beta will include the content from the first beta - so Character Creation, Story Trial and the Slay Doshaguma Quest - as well as the chance to hunt down Gypceros, a returning monster for the series. If you took part in the first beta, you can transfer your character to the second beta. This data, Capcom said, can also be transferred to the full game on release, however it stressed the same isn't the case for any game progress made.Those interested in giving the second open beta a go will be able to do so between 6th February, with things getting going from 7pm Pacific time - that's actually 3am on 7th February, for those of us in the UK. This wave of the beta will run until 9th February, culminating at 6.59pm Pacific (so, 2.59am on 10th February in the UK). Another beta weekend will take place the following weekend running between 13th February and 16th February. Timings remain the same.The beta is available for those Monster Hunter Wilds' players on PC via Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Those who take part will get some added bonuses in the full game, such as a decorative weapon charm."Please note that adjustments including performance, weapon changes, Hitstop, quality of life improvements and more will not be present or reflected in the second Open Beta Test build," Capcom added in a video announcing the beta, which you can see below.New Year's Greetings 2025 | Monster Hunter Wilds Open Beta Test 2 Announcement. Watch on YouTubeThe first Monster Hunter Wilds beta test took place towards the end of last year, and you may recall that while it pulled in an impressive number of players, it was a little rough around the edges. Many of those partaking shared screenshots of angular, almost Nintendo 64-looking graphics during the beta's run, with creatures looking more akin to animated origami rather than the fully fledged monsters they were meant to be.However, Capcom has said it has listened to all of the feedback and requests that have come its way since that first beta, and are "working hard to improve the quality of the game for launch" (which is set for 28th February).Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the Eurogamer team's most anticipated games of the year. Want to know our full list? Check out Eurogamer's 80 most anticipated games of 2025 here.

Physical game sales in the UK dropped by a massive 34.5 percent over the past year. Read more

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereFortnites Battle Royale combines shooting mechanics and a dynamic building system where the game becomes more than just outshooting opponents; it also involves outbuilding them. Building structures quickly during combat can give players shelter, high ground, and strategic benefits, making it an essential component of claiming a dub.Over time, the Fortnite community has developed a variety of advanced building techniques. Tricks such as 90s allow players to acquire height quickly by building in a 90-degree pattern, Tunneling enables safe traversal across the map by forming a network of interconnected boxes, whereas box edits involve rapidly altering walls to create openings for attacks or escapes, demonstrating the level of skill necessary.These tricks, however, present a steep learning curve for inexperienced players, who are frequently overwhelmed by the sweaty lobbies in build modes. Recognizing this gap, Epic Games is launching a new feature that will allow players to accomplish intricate builds like the 90s with only one click.Fortnite leak reveals Smart Building feature to simplify building mechanicsFortnite leaker Loolo shared a clip on X that showcases the upcoming Smart Building feature on the Chapter 6 Season 1 island. According to the post, the feature will let you build prefabs slowly, without having to change the shape type while building.The Smart Building feature will enable players to build faster in Fortnite. Image by Loolo.The clip showcases a player building a ramp rush structure using a Wall, Ramp, and Floor as pros would gain a quick height advantage. Some players also believe that this feature will help them crank 90s faster as they would simply stack the prefab build on top of one another with a simple click.The leaker also informed players that the feature is currently unfinished and could change once released. Regardless, the community was left divided upon this leak, which consists of both pros and casual players.One casual wrote, Honestly great addition gives people who dont really like builds have the same advantage. Another chimed in, Damn they really giving everybody the ability to build like pros.However, some were quite skeptical about the feature, as one user commented, I feel like this is just gonna be an overall negative for the game if implemented poorly since it might just encourage new players to not learn how to build. Another user said, Whats next? Smart Aim? I legit have no idea why stuff like this is added when zero builds exists. This completely defeats the purpose of even learning how to build.Since there is a certain divide in the community, many even believe that the first-person mode is going to tank the Battle Royale even further. Still, players are waiting for the next Fortnite update which will add new content to the game. FortnitePlatform(s):Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/XGenre(s):Action, Massively Multiplayer, Shooter9VideoGamerRelated TopicsFortnite Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

All Of The LightsHelldivers 2 dataminer claims to have accidentally discovered some kind of deadly Illuminate Aurora Borealis, after casually dropping an alien obelisk from the sky'Good Lord, what is happening in there?' - Superintendent BraschImage credit: Arrowhead News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Jan. 8, 2025 A Helldivers 2 dataminer appears to have accidentally managed to activate some kind of deadly lightshow by dropping an Illuminate obelisk, and now they're struggling to activate it again.Yep, the baddies from the Omens of Tyranny update that you've been busy fighting might have what looks like iot could be a pretty orbital laser bomardment of sorts tucked away for a rainy day. Though, whether such a thing ever actually shows up in the game is yet to be seen.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Dataminer Iron_S1ghts, a long-time Helldivers 2 leaker who's previously shared the likes of sneak peeks at the game's Killzone crossover gear before it was officially announced, has classified this latest finding as "not a full leak", but just a thing that "has something to do with the Illuminate Obelisk".As you can see below, they've shared a clip of them taking in some kind of eleborate and very pretty lightshow as they run across the surface of a planet. It's apparently not just something to gaze at as you toast some mid-mission marshmallows, though, with Iron_S1ghts claiming that its beams do "1300 damage on hit". To see this content please enable targeting cookies.The music isn't part of it by the way, Iron_S1ghts revealed in the replies that they accidentally included audio from the playlist they were listening to in the clip. Damn, and here I was hoping the Illuminate Aurora came with its own sick beats."This was entirely accidental," they wrote, "I was testing the Obelisk projectile by dropping it from the sky, and like mid-process it did this. There's no telling what this will do this once in-game, but this looked awesome. For those wondering, it was not that performance heavy, which was very surprising."Surely they'll be doing more investingating of this thing right? Well, it seems there's a catch, as the dataminer's seemigly been having trouble replicating the circumstances which activated it the fist time, writing: "I would've gotten better footage, but I have not been able to recreate this exact effect."As of right now, it appears neither the dataminer or anyone else knows exactly what this discovery is, so we'll just have to wait and see if more info is forthcoming. Until then, as with all leaks and datamines, take it with a grain of salt, since Arrowhead's said in the past that not every one of these is worth getting excited about or necessarily an upcoming addition to Helldivers 2.If nothing else, it's something else to speculate about if you're already sick of coming up with fantasy casts for the Helldivers movie.

Keeping It LightYou can rest easy, Star Wars loreheads, because Logan director James Mangold set his entry into the series so far in the past to avoid being "handcuffed" by "immovable" lore"You can't please anybody."Image credit: Disney/ Lucasfilm News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 8, 2025 The upcoming James Mangold directed Star Wars flick Dawn of the Jedi is set incredibly far in the past, and it's all to avoid being bogged down by lore.When you're working on something like Star Wars, these days you're just going to be inherently held back because everything has to fit into everything else. Why would The Mandalorian become so grand rather than the fun adventure of the week romp it started off as otherwise? There always has to be some connection to something. All of the entries into the world of Star Wars have been TV shows since The Rise of Skywalker, though, but some films are in the works, namely Logan director James Mangold's Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, a prequel film set 25,000 years in the past about, well, you know, the dawn of the Jedi. And the reason for it being so far in the past? The director doesn't want to be "handcuffed" by all of the series' lore.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Speaking to MovieWeb, Mangold explained that his "Star Wars movie would be taking place 25,000 years before any known Star Wars movies takes place. It's an area and a playground that I've always [wanted to explore] and that I was inspired by as a teenager. I'm not that interested in being handcuffed by so much lore at this point that it's almost immovable, and you can't please anybody."Honestly, I really can't blame him. The director has previously expressed that he's not a fan of cinematic universes, despite entering two of them in the world of Star Wars and the DCU with Swamp Thing, but with an angle like this he can essentially ignore a lot of the baggage that typically comes from working in such a universe. Even still, I'm sure Disney will figure out how to fit in some kind of nonsense somewhere to sell some toys.

OBT 2The Monster Hunter Wilds beta is coming back with two sessions next month, and there'll be new content - but no performance upgradesCapcom recently teased that those of us who missed out on the first Monster Hunter Wilds beta may get another shot in the new year, and that's exactly what's going to happen.Image credit: Capcom News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on Jan. 8, 2025 Capcom has today announced what a lot of us Monster Hunter Wilds fans expected: the game is going to return to our PCs and consoles one last time ahead of the big launch in late February. Well, the open beta will, anyway.Just before the end of last year, the publisher hinted at this being a possibility, and today, we got a proper announcement of what to expect, and when its going to take place.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Unlike the first Monster Hunter Wilds open beta, this next one wont have any platform exclusivity. The second open beta will take place over two weekends, both of which will be available across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles. Youre not going to need PlayStation Plus or Game Pass Core memberships to play, either.The second open beta includes all content in the November test, but Capcom is also adding in Gypceros, a monster longtime fans should know well. Therell also be new content that the publisher isnt revealing right now, so that could be another monster to take on.Heres the schedule of the Monster Hunter Wilds open beta 2:Thursday, February 6 at 7pm PT, 10pm ET, 3am UK (Friday). It will be available until those same times on Sunday, February 9.The beta returns the weekend after that for its final session, taking place Thursday, February 13 at 7pm PT, 10pm ET, 3am UK (Friday). It will wrap up on Sunday, February 16 at the same times.If you never took part in the November open beta, you should also look forward to accessing the highly-detailed character creator, and the early part of the story that introduces your first monster hunt - Doshaguma. If you did play the first beta, the character you spent longer than you thought you would creating will be available in the upcoming open beta. This also goes for the full version, so you may as well perfect your Hunter now. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Capcom is also offering a new set of rewards for players who take part in this beta. Youll receive a cosmetic pendant, as well as an item pack that includes a few useful consumables like Raw Meat, Traps, Barrel Bombs, Flash/Dung Pods, and some Armor Spheres.If theres any bad news in this its that were sadly not going to get any of the performance improvements, gameplay tweaks, or the hitstop/animation fixes the Monster Hunter team discussed late last year following beta feedback.Monster Hunter Wilds is one of several major RPGs coming out in February. Its technically going to arrive much later into the month than Assassins Creed Shadows, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, or Avowed, but it is arguably the one with the biggest potential to rule the month.Monster Hunter Wilds arrives February 28 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.