Technologies

Marvel Rivals Cross-Play: How PlayStation, Xbox and PC Players Can Queue Together

Your friends can join you in a heroic battle, no matter which platform you’re playing on.

Marvel Rivals pulls some of the most popular comic book heroes through time and space, creating situations where unlikely allies band together in epic battles. Just like these characters, gamers are able to nurture bonds across platforms as they jump into the fight.

The hit hero shooter is available on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and on PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store, letting most of today’s gamers enjoy the Marvel power fantasy. Some content is exclusive to specific platforms — the Spider-Man PlayStation costumes come to mind — but the game doesn’t have any major differences from platform to platform otherwise.

Cross-play is enabled by default in Marvel Rivals, which means you can queue with your friends even if they’re on a different platform. The catch is that limits are imposed on the matches you can queue for in a cross-play enabled lobby.

Here’s everything you need to know about Marvel Rivals cross-play, including when you can and can’t play with your friends on other platforms and whether you can carry over your Marvel Rivals account progress from one platform to another.

When is cross-play enabled in Marvel Rivals?

Though cross-play is enabled by default for noncompetitive modes, the feature is turned off for certain platforms in competitive modes to provide the fairest experience for all players. Xbox and PlayStation players can be matched together in competitive lobbies, but PC players have their own competitive queues.

These are all of the Marvel Rivals modes you can play with friends on different platforms:

Quick Match
Doom Match
Practice vs. AI
Practice Range
Limited-time events (like Clone Rumble)

Though Marvel Rivals won’t allow cross-playing gamers to access competitive modes, quick play matches still have a behind-the-scenes skill calculation to try and make the fairest possible matches for all players, at least according to NetEase.

Is there cross-progression in Marvel Rivals?

Whether you’re interested in climbing the ranked ladder across different platforms or you just want to make sure your costume closet remains intact, cross-progression is a big deal for Marvel Rivals players.

Despite creating an in-game username unique to your Marvel Rivals account, it’s not currently possible to enable cross-progression from one platform to another. This means you’ll have to advance any PC and console accounts separately — neither your rank nor your cosmetics will carry over. Be careful which account you spend your real money on, especially as the game adds more costume-altering options.

While console and PC ranked lobbies look completely different, it’s not completely out of the question that some form of cross-progression is added to Marvel Rivals in the future, allowing players to consolidate their skin collection, character and battle pass progression under one account.

NetEase Games is aware that cross-progression is an oft-requested feature from Marvel Rivals fans. Thaddeus Sasser, then a game director for Marvel Rivals, shared that the feature could be on the docket for development post-launch in an interview with WCCF Tech last year.

«As you can imagine, [cross-progression is] extremely complicated to pull off, so we’re still looking into it,» Sasser said. «We’ve heard that the audience has already suggested this several times, so we’re looking into it.»

It’s unclear if this feature is still being considered for Marvel Rivals in 2025.

Technologies

Facebook Brings Back Local Job Listings: How to Apply

One of Facebook’s most practical features from 2022 is being revived by Meta.

On the hunt for work? A Local Jobs search is being rolled out by Meta to make it easier for people in the US to discover and apply for nearby work directly on Facebook. The feature is inside Facebook Marketplace, Groups and Pages, Meta said last week, letting employers post openings and job seekers filter roles by distance, category or employment type.

You can apply or message employers directly through Facebook Messenger, while employers can publish job listings with just a few taps — similar to how you would post items for sale on Marketplace.

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Facebook offered a Jobs feature before discontinuing it in 2022, pushing business hiring toward its other platforms. Its return suggests Meta is attempting to expand Facebook’s usefulness beyond social networking and to position it once again as a hub for community-driven opportunities.

«We’ve always been about connecting with people, whether through shared interests or key life events,» the press release states. «Now, if you’re looking for entry-level, trade and service industry employment in your community, Facebook can help you connect with local people and small businesses who are hiring.»

How to get started with Local Jobs on Facebook

According to Meta, Local Jobs will appear as a dedicated section in Facebook Marketplace starting this week. If you’re 18 or older, you can:

Tap the Marketplace tab on the Facebook app or website.
Select Jobs to browse available positions nearby.
Use filters for job type, category and distance.
Tap Apply or message the employer directly via Messenger.

Businesses and page admins can post jobs by creating a new listing in Marketplace or from their Facebook Page. Listings can include job details, pay range, and scheduling information and will appear in local searches automatically.

The Local Jobs feature is rolling out across the US now, with Meta saying it plans to expand it in the months ahead.

Technologies

Tesla Has a New Range of Affordable Electric Cars: How Much They Cost

The new, stripped-back versions of the Model Y and Model 3 have a more affordable starting price.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 22 #598

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 22, No. 598.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a fun one — I definitely have at least two of these in my house. Some of the answers are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Catch all.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: A mess of items.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

BATE, LICE, SLUM, CAPE, HOLE, CARE, BARE, THEN, SLAM, SAMBA, BACK

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

TAPE, COIN, PENCIL, BATTERY, SHOELACE, THUMBTACK

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is JUNKDRAWER. To find it, look for the J that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind down, over and then up.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an «S» or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.