FutureFive New Zealand

Insomniac Games already has a strong relationship with Marvel, having collaborated on three excellent Spider-Man games. Not only could you play as Peter Parker, but Miles Morales was playable, too. While gamers have to wait a bit longer for Marvel's Spider-Man 3, comic book fans are still in for a treat this 2026 because Marvel's Wolverine is released next month. Wolverine is arguably the most popular X-Men character of all time, so of course he gets his own game.

Counterpoint Research forecasts that global consumer wearables will generate more than USD $1 trillion in cumulative revenue between 2026 and 2032, with the market growing at a 12% compound annual growth rate over the period. The forecast points to a market led by established devices such as smartwatches and true wireless stereo earphones, while newer categories including smart eyewear, rings, pendants and connected clothing expand from smaller bases.

OpenAI has begun rolling out ChatGPT for Teens in New Zealand, creating a new default experience for ChatGPT users identified as under 18. The launch adds safety and learning features aimed at teenage users. The changes are intended to give younger users stronger protections, clearer limits, and more structured support for schoolwork.

HP has launched HP Print AI in New Zealand. The software is available on selected newly activated printers for home and office users. The rollout covers compatible models in the HP DeskJet, Envy, OfficeJet Pro, Smart Tank and LaserJet ranges. The product targets a familiar printing problem: web documents that look acceptable on screen but print with poor spacing, badly sized images or extra pages.

Many gamers may know Game Freak as the developer of many of the famous Pokémon games on Nintendo consoles. While Pokémon games remain popular, there have been criticisms of their outdated graphics in recent times. Even though Game Freak is usually tied to making Pokémon games, the developer still found time to release its own new IP this year, called Beast of Reincarnation. Unlike the Pokémon games, this game is only available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Somewhere in the last couple of years, pointing a phone camera at something stopped being a novelty and became a habit. You see a jacket on someone at a café, a lamp in a video, a pair of shoes in a photo a friend sent you, and instead of typing a description into Google, you just point and tap. Google Lens now handles close to 20 billion of these visual searches every month, and Google itself says around a fifth of them are shopping related.

Zero Company is a turn-based tactical strategy game along the same lines as the legendary X-Com. The developer, Bit Reactor, was founded by former members of Firaxis, who worked on the X-Com and Marvel's Midnight Suns games. Whilst I've enjoyed X-Com games in the past, I wasn't too sure if a Star Wars game would be a particularly good fit.

I'm old enough to remember playing the golden age of Marvel fighting games when they were made by Capcom back in the '90s. Even though many people consider Marvel vs. Capcom 2 to be the best, I have always had a soft spot for Marvel vs. Street Fighter instead. I used to play that game a lot as a kid and teenager at the arcades. Fast forward to 2026, and it seems as if Marvel ended its partnership with Capcom for the time being after the lackluster launch of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite in 2017.

Logitech ANZ is promoting its Lift Left Vertical Ergonomic Mouse to left-handed users in Australia, linking the push to desk comfort concerns among office workers. At the centre of the campaign is a left-handed version of Logitech's Lift Vertical Ergonomic Mouse. Designed for small to medium-sized hands, it places the hand in a 57-degree vertical position to support a more natural posture for the hand and forearm than a conventional mouse.

Spotify has introduced three new audiobook discovery features in its app: playlist creation, conversational search and series navigation for eligible Premium users in selected markets. One addition is Prompted Playlist for audiobooks, which lets listeners generate playlists by describing what they want in their own words.