Apple : Bills vs Texans live stream: how to watch NFL Wild Card playoffs football from anywhere |
- Bills vs Texans live stream: how to watch NFL Wild Card playoffs football from anywhere
- Wolves vs Man United live stream: how to watch FA Cup football from anywhere now
- Apex Legends Season 3: latest update news, tips, patch notes and more
- Google rumored to be skipping the XL version of the Pixel 4a
- Dragon Age 4 news, rumors and trailers
- GTA 6 news and rumors: when will Grand Theft Auto 6 be announced?
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| Bills vs Texans live stream: how to watch NFL Wild Card playoffs football from anywhere Posted: 04 Jan 2020 12:53 PM PST The NFL has arrived in Houston for the first game of the Wild Card Weekend and 2020 playoffs! And today you’ll get to see the Buffalo Bills face off against the Houston Texans at the NRG Stadium. We’re here to make sure you catch every minute of today’s game - see how to get a Bills vs Texans live stream regardless of where in the world you are and it’s even free to watch in the US thanks to a simple stream. This is a game you won’t want to miss as today’s winner remains in the playoffs and advances to the Divisional Round while the losing team will be eliminated. Yep, this is yet another step on the way to Super Bowl 2020. Buffalo is currently the No.5 seed in the AFC playoffs and the team is going into today’s game 10-6 after losing their last two games of the regular season to the Patriots in week 16 and to the Jets last Sunday. The last time the Bills took on the Texans was in October of 2018 and during that meeting, the Texans won 20-13. A win today would be huge for Buffalo as the team hasn’t advanced to the Divisional Round since 1995 and they haven’t been to the Super Bowl since 1993. Can quarterback Josh Allen lead the Bills to victory in his first trip to the playoffs? Houston holds the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoffs and just like the Bills, the team ended the regular season 10-6. The Texans suffered a 35-14 defeat last Sunday to the Titans with only Duke Johnson and AJ McCarron scoring touchdowns in the first and third quarter. Last season Houston also made it to the Wild Card round but the team lost 7-21 to the Colts. Texans fans will be excited to know that defensive end JJ Watt is returning to play in today’s game after he tore his left pectoral earlier this season during week 8’s game against the Raiders. Will the Texans be able to defeat the Bills and advance to the Divisional Round? Whether you’re a Bills fan in Buffalo, a Texans fan in Houston or just want to tune in to see all the action at Wild Card Weekend - we’ll show you how to get a Bills vs Texans live stream regardless of where in the world you are so you don’t miss a single touchdown.
Watch the Bills vs Texans game online from outside your country (or in a blackout)Watching this game from the US, UK, Canada or Australia? We'll tell you how to catch the NFL game further down in the article. But if you're somewhere else in the world - or if a coverage blackout is stopping you from watching in the US - then there's still a way you can live stream the Bills vs Texans online (and you don't even have to slum it with a grainy, illegal feed you've found on Reddit). Instead you could use a VPN - or Virtual Private Network - to change the IP address to one in a different state or country which does have a stream. And it's not even hard to do. How to live stream Bills vs Texans in the US for freeCan I watch with the NFL Game Pass?Well it's a no and a yes. The NFL Game Pass in the US will only let you watch a replay of the game, but not the live action. Interestingly, it's a different story with an International NFL Game Pass where all post season games are being shown absolutely live...shame you can't officially get access to that if you and your laptop's IP address is in the US. Other ways cord cutters can stream NFL live online Sling TV $40 per month - Sling TV splits its live NFL options across its $25 a month Blue plan and $25 a month Orange plan. By combining the two, you get a $10 dollar discount and access to Fox, NBC, ESPN and the NFL Network. Hulu with Live TV $40 per month - Hulu with Live TV includes CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN but does not come with NFL Network. FuboTV $35 for the first month - FuboTV gives you the first month at a discounted rate but after that the price increases to $45 a month. The service includes CBS, Fox, NBC and the NFL Network but does not come with ESPN. DirecTV Now $50 per month - DirecTV Now includes CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and for $5 extra you can add the NFL Network. However, with this service you can only watch football on local TV stations live. YouTubeTV $40 per month - YouTubeTV gives you access to CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN but just like with Hulu with Live TV, there is no NFL Network. How to stream Texans vs Bills live in the UKGet a NFL Wild Card live stream in Canada for freeLive stream Bills vs Texans in Australia for freeThis posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Wolves vs Man United live stream: how to watch FA Cup football from anywhere now Posted: 04 Jan 2020 09:55 AM PST The third round of the FA Cup sees the entrance of the top tier teams and with it a couple of all Premier League clashes. Saturday sees one of those big team face offs, with Man United travelling to Wolves in a repeat of the two sides meeting in the tournament in last season's quarter-finals. Read on to watch all the FA Cup action as it happens, no matter where you are in the world, with our Wolves vs Man United live stream guide. Wolves ran out as 2-1 winners last time out, but which side will make it through to the next round this time? With just one point separating both teams in the league, Saturday's match on paper looks set to be a closely fought affair. United come into the match fresh off of a damaging defeat away at Arsenal, while Wolves have suffered two league defeats on the bounce - the most recent being a 2-1 loss to struggling Watford. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men come into the match with one eye on their EFL Cup semi-final derby with Manchester City on Tuesday which may hand an advantage to Nuno Espirito Santo's side. This is an FA Cup encounter not to be missed. Below we're going to talk you through the best ways to watch the action in the UK and the rest of the world so you can ensure you can easily live stream Wolves vs Man United. Live stream Wolves vs Man United from outside your countryIn the US? Then keep scrolling, as we have your viewing options below...spoiler alert, you'll need an ESPN+ subscription. And footy fans in the UK and Down Under can also see who's broadcasting there. But if you're abroad for the game and find that you can't watch your home coverage online because it is geo-blocked, we have a handy alternative to allow you to watch as if you were back on your sofa. How to live stream Wolves vs Man United in the UKHow to watch the FA Cup: live stream in the US for FREE
How live stream Wolves vs Man United in AustraliaHow live stream Wolves vs Man United in CanadaHow live stream Wolves vs Man United in AustraliaThis posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Apex Legends Season 3: latest update news, tips, patch notes and more Posted: 04 Jan 2020 09:33 AM PST EA surprised many with the sudden announcement of Apex Legends back in February 2019, a free-to-play battle royale shooter that sees the publisher going toe-to-toe with genre mammoths PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite Battle Royale. Developed by Respawn Entertainment and set in the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends is a squad-based battle royale shooter where teams of three go up against 57 other players to try to gather loot and be the last person (or squad) standing. However, unlike Fortnite and PUBG, Apex Legends sees players take on one of eight classes, each represented by a unique character (imagine Fortnite mixed with Overwatch and you’ll be on the right track.) Apex Legends is now well into its third season, called Meltdown, which has introduced plenty of changes, big and small. From new weapons, to a new character to a brand spanking new map there's plenty to enjoy in Season 3 of Apex Legends for old and new players alike. Now that we're into 2020, we're starting to look forward to the launch of Season 4 of the game in February and all the changes it's likely to bring. If you're new to Apex Legends and looking to see what you're missing or you've dropped off the map for a while and you'd like to catch up on the latest, we're here to keep you up to date on what's fresh in Apex Legends.
As we said in our full Apex Legends review: "Truth be told, the Battle Royale movement has never quite grabbed me. I dabbled in PUBG and spent a dozen hours or so with Fortnite, yet nothing ever quite stuck the landing. Apex though, has got me hook, line and sinker. Featuring intuitive controls, an outstanding comms system and remarkable rogue’s gallery, Respawn has created what feels like the AAA outing for the genre." Apex Legends update news
Changes to Player Level progression As of December 3, some changes have been made to Player Level progression in Apex Legends. The biggest change is that the player level cap has increased from 100 to 500. To keep things on an even keel, the amount of XP required to reach level 100 has been reduced by 5%. More levels also means more Apex Packs; players will now earn 199 Apex Packs by level 500. Players between Levels 2 and 20 will earn one pack for every level they rise; those between Levels 22 and 300 will receive one pack for every two levels and, finally, those between Levels 305 and 500 will earn one pack every five levels. Packs will be retroactively awarded so players who should have earned packs under the new system will still be awarded their additional packs. For every hundred levels a player rises, they will earn a Gun Charm and for every ten levels between 110 and 500 they'll earn a badge. Speaking of Gun Charms, 36 new ones are going into Epic and Legendary tier Apex Packs and they'll appear in the Rotating Shop so that players can purchase them if they prefer. Holo-Day Bash It's not the holiday season without themed events in live games. Apex Legends' is known as Mirage's Holo-Day Bash and it runs from December 12 until January 7. In this period, players will be able to take part in the Winter Express Limited Time Mode. This is a non-Battle Royale event which is based around point-capture in which three squads compete to capture the World's Edge train while it's moving through stations. There will also be special exclusive challenges during the event giving players the chance to ear free skins, badges and music packs. In terms of direct purchasing, there will be a set of 24 themed and limited-time cosmetic items in the game store. They'll also be available in Event Apex Packs, with each Pack containing one event item and two non-event items. Players also shouldn't miss the chance to hop aboard Mirage's boat which has docked at The World's Edge for the holidays. Apex Legends MeltdownSeason 2 of Apex Legends has now wrapped up and as of October 1 Season 3: Meltdown is underway. So what's new? Well, the most important thing is that brand new map you've probably heard about. World's Edge In Meltdown players are waving goodbye to the classic King's Canyon and saying hello to World's Edge. This new map is only the second ever introduced in the game but it's a dramatic departure from its predecessor, offering a massive, bright world that combines fire and ice. There's plenty to explore in World's Edge and we're sure it's keeping secrets that will be revealed later in the Season. Not only that, its diverse terrain that will see you dodging geysers, contending with lava fields and riding atop a moving train among other things offers a great opportunity to experiment with different combat styles. Battle Pass Apex Legends isn't exactly known for having mind-blowing Battle Passes but Season 3 does offer an improvement on its predecessors in some ways. Like the others, this Battle Pass is brand new for the Season and it brings with it 110 levels to climb by completing daily and weekly challenges, with more than 100 exclusive items including Legendary Skins, Apex Packs, Loading Screens and Gun Charms to earn. New weapons and character The new weapon for Season 3 is the Charge Rifle and it's making its debut alongside the new hacker and surveillance expert, Crypto. This new Legend can be purchased for 750 Apex coins and is great for those seeking some long-distance combat options as he uses his surveillance drone "to stay in the fight and out of the spotlight". He'll be a great addition to any team looking for some recon and of interest to any player looking for a more refreshing style of play. Ranked League Series 2Alongside Season 3, Ranked League Series 2 also launched on October 1. Like Series 1, Series 2 uses a score-based system with the developers feeling pleased with how it went the first time around. Tiers and Divisions also remain the same along with the level 10 entry requirement for ranked play and the fact that playing with friends will see matchmaking up to the highest ranked player. So what will players see that's a little different? Well, in Series 2 all ranked players will see their ranks be soft reset. That means all players will drop 1.5 Tiers. This is being done instead of a hard reset to 0, which would really stop any feeling of progress for those who were invested in the previous Ranked League. After deactivating leaver penalties in Series 1, Series 2 has them enabled so players who abandon their teammates during a match are hit with a matchmaking penalty in regular and Ranked matches. Penalties mean players are stopped from entering new matches for escalating amounts of time based on how often they drop out of matches before they're finished. Penalties range from 5 minutes to an entire week. While the Series 1 score-based system remains it has been improved in some ways. For more "granularity in the points spread" all the points in the system have been multiplied by 10. Match entry RP costs have also been updated. Bronze matches remain free but Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Apex Predator matches now cost 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 RP respectively. Assists have also been added to Ranked play's kill count score. An assist in Apex Legends is defined as doing damage to a player within 5 seconds of them being knocked down by a teammate. If the player is revived the assist doesn't count. Completely new to Ranked League Series 2 is the Apex Predator Ladder Position which now allows Apex Predator ranked players to see their worldwide standing as well as their RP. The ladders positions are split by platform so three players on PlayStation, Xbox and PC are all able to claim a number 1 ranking. Cosmetic rewards for rankings have also been introduced. All players receive badges indicating the highest level they've reached while players that reach Gold tier and higher receive a gun charm. Reach Diamond or higher and players receive a custom dive trail. Recently there have been rumors that players could soon see cross-play and cross-progression introduced to Apex Legends. We're taking these rumors with a pinch of salt since Respawn hasn't made any comment on them. But if there is anything to be announced it's likely we won't hear until Season 3 is underway or perhaps even past. Apex Legends tips and tricksApex Legends can be difficult to get to grips with. There are a lot of different characters each with their own abilities and skills, plus this battle royale arguably leans more heavily on strategy and teamwork than some of its competitors. Get ahead of the pack with our selection of Apex Legends guides, designed to help you become a champion.
How to download Apex LegendsApex Legends can be downloaded for free from the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Origin Store or Apex Legends website. Simply search for the title, download the game and enjoy! But do keep in mind that a good internet connect and subscription to either PS Plus, Xbox Live or Origin Access is required to play. The good news is that Apex Legends is also coming to mobile in the future, following in the footsteps of Fortnite and PUBG. Apex Legends roadmap - what's next?Respawn Entertainment has shared the season roadmap for Apex Legends. Apex Legends Battle Pass seasons run for approximately three months. Currently four seasons have officially been announced:
Although Season 4 was supposed to launch in December 2019, the date has been pushed back to February 4 2020. So far, what's included in this new season is an extremely well-kept secret but, as with previous seasons, it's likely to include new weapons and items and a new character. Is Apex Legends coming to mobile?Yes. In EA’s quarterly earnings report, the publisher announced that it’s looking at bringing the Respawn Entertainment-developed game to mobile platforms and to both South Korea and China. “We’re in advanced negotiations to China and mobile”, EA’s CFO Blake Jorgenson stated, before later mentioning South Korea as another expansion point. We shouldn't expect to see Apex Legends on mobile for at least a year, though. According to EA Chief Executive, Andrew Wilson, the game won't launch until the fiscal year 2021.
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| Google rumored to be skipping the XL version of the Pixel 4a Posted: 04 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST Here's a blow for fans of large, reasonably priced phones: Google is rumored to be skipping the bigger version of its mid-range handset in 2020, and will be launching the Pixel 4a without an XL model. This unconfirmed news comes from YouTuber Dave Lee, who doesn't have much of a track record when it comes to phone leaks, but is a well-respected tech vlogger with millions of subscribers to his name. The thinking is that the Pixel 3a XL might have taken too many sales away from the Pixel 3 XL in Google's eyes, and it doesn't want the same to happen to the Pixel 4 XL that was launched in October alongside the Pixel 4.
Whatever the reasoning, it'll mean those who want the extra screen space are going to have to dig deeper into their pockets and buy the premium Pixel in 2020, rather than the mid-range offering. Pixel perfectMost of the Pixel 4a leaks we've seen so far – including unofficial renders – have focused on a smaller handset, which does lend some extra credence to the rumor that we won't be seeing a bigger version. The Pixel 4a is expected to have a 5.7-inch or 5.8-inch screen and a less-than-top-end processor, but apart from that we don't know too much about what to expect. It was May 2019 – at Google IO 2019 in fact – that the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL appeared, so the same sort of timing in 2020 would make sense. We might hear more about Android 11 at the same time. Further down the line, if Google sticks to the schedule of the last few years, we should get news of a Pixel 5 sometime in October. Via Android Police This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Dragon Age 4 news, rumors and trailers Posted: 04 Jan 2020 08:57 AM PST They say good things come to those who wait and we’re hopeful that will be the case for Dragon Age fans who are patiently hanging on for news of the fourth instalment in the franchise. After being an open secret for so long, Dragon Age 4 has now been confirmed by executive producer Mark Darrah and we’ve even been teased by a minute-long trailer. At the moment we’re cautiously calling the game Dragon Age 4 but this title isn’t confirmed and the series’ naming pattern makes it hard to predict for certain whether we’ll be looking at a named or a numbered game. What we do know, though, is that Dragon Age is definitely coming so we think it’s only appropriate to keep an eye on the latest news and begin piecing together a picture of what the game might look like when it finally takes flight. As such, we’ve put together this this hub of news and rumors to keep you on top of the latest happenings from the land of Thedas. [Update: Despite plenty of teasing, there was no significant Dragon Age 4 anniversary update to be seen.] Cut to the chase
Dragon Age 4 trailersThe Game Awards 2018 had plenty of reveals but one of the biggest was a teaser trailer for Dragon Age 4. At only a minute long, the trailer doesn’t give much away but the hashtag TheDreadWolfRises as well as the appearance of Inquisition’s Solas is enough to pique any fan’s interest. You can watch the teaser trailer below: Dragon Age 4 release dateDespite the fact that the game’s development has long been a very open secret, Dragon Age 4 was only officially announced by BioWare last year. But, even now, BioWare isn't ready to say much about the game. "Hey everyone, we have been working on a new Dragon Age game for quite a while now and I am pleased to finally tease the existence of this project," said Mark Darrah, executive producer on a BioWare blog post. "While we won’t be sharing any details for now, I can tell you we have been building a new team around a core of Dragon Age veterans, people I’ve worked with on Dragon Age, Jade Empire, and some of whom I’ve worked with since the Baldur’s Gate days. "I’m so excited to show you more!" A report by Venture Beat in 2018 suggested Dragon Age 4's release date is at least three years away (from the time of publication) and a title for the fourth installation hadn't even been chosen yet "according to sources familiar with the studio". In addition, EA's recent earnings call (via Eurogamer) had a note about Dragon Age 4 that suggests we won't see it released for a couple of years yet. During the call, the company's CFO Blake Jorgensen said that the game "probably comes after fiscal '22". Basically, it looks like Dragon Age 4, if that is its real name, is still early in its development and it could be a while before BioWare open the curtains on any kind of release window. At the moment we’d expect the game will release on PS4, Xbox One and PC but it’s hard not to note that preparations for the next generation ramping up and it’s uncertain whether consoles such as PS5 and Xbox Two will be here by the time Dragon Age 4 is released. Dragon Age 4 news and rumorsQuiet on the anniversary After teasing by Mark Darrah, fans were hoping for some Dragon Age 4 related news on Dragon Age's 10th anniversary on December 4 but nothing substantial was forthcoming. Darrah's teasing tweets on Dragon Age Day featured "redacted" screenshots from Dragon Age 4, though they were so redacted that nothing was visible. Funny? Yes. Disappointing? Also sort of yes. This was followed by the dashing of yet more hopes during the 2019 Game Awards. After the game's announcement trailer launched at the awards in 2018, some expected more news to come at the same place in 2019 but this wasn't the case. As we move into 2020, it's expected that at least at some point this year, we'll hear (and see) more about Dragon Age 4. More teasing In a sign that the Dragon Age community is a tinderbox of anticipation, a few tweets from Mark Darrah have set the entire thing alight. Building on the aforementioned teasing from BioWare that some kind of anniversary reveal is incoming, the executive producer has posted a series of tweets with images and nothing but the caption "Dragon Age" with varying punctuation. The images range from a forest path, to a polygonal spider to what looks like storybook/manuscript art. Darrah hasn't actually said anything himself (other than Dragon Age) so we don't know if we're being trolled or if this is a lead-up to some kind of anniversary trailer. If any of the images are from Dragon Age 4, the game is still in its early stages anyway. We'll be keeping a close eye on the activity of BioWare and Darrah in the run up to the Dragon Age 10th anniversary on December 4. Anniversary celebration reveal? EA October Earnings Call September Update The post went into more detail on games like Anthem and Star Wars: The Old Republic, while Dragon Age 4 came under the "super-secret" category so not much can be said. Hudson did, however, say that "one of our projects has a large and growing team in Edmonton working through pre-production, and based on the progress I’m seeing, I can confirm that indeed the Dread Wolf rises." It's not much but it is confirmation that progress on Dragon Age 4 is still being made. Fernando Melo departure In a thread of tweets, Melo explained that he is taking "time to disconnect" after 12 years at BioWare and in an email to his colleagues he said that "Morrison is well underway to becoming the definitive Dragon Age experience" which bodes well for fans. Setting to be teased by new short story collection Beyond the authors working on the book, there's little to go on so far as to what the collection will contain. However, its title "Tevinter Nights" seems a certain tease as to where the Dragon Age franchise is headed next. Each Dragon Age game so far has, more or less, focussed on one region or area of the continent of Thedas, in which the games are set. So, Dragon Age Origins introduced Ferelden, Dragon Age 2 focused on the single city of Kirkwall, and Dragon Age: Inquisition spanned the Orlesian Empire. Regularly referenced is the Tevinter Imperium, an area where magic is less strictly policed than in other realms of Thedas, with its mage population often seen as antagonists in the Dragon Age universe. The title of the new short story collection adds weight to the rumour that Dragon Age 4 will be set in the Tevinter Imperium. Not only has BioWare previously used books to set up forthcoming locations and characters in its games (Weekes, for instance, wrote a book called "The Masked Empire", which was published prior to the release of Inquisition and introduced ancillary characters and quest lines), but also Dragon Age Inquisition's final DLC scene saw the player character Inquisitor stab a knife into the heart of the Tevinter Imperium on a map. Live Service elements may be included but they aren't likely to be like Anthem However, in Kotaku’s most recent April 2019 report it’s been suggested that while Dragon Age 4 game could potentially include Anthem-like live elements, it won’t simply be “Anthem with dragons”. One developer told Kotaku: “The idea was that Anthem would be the online game and that Dragon Age and Mass Effect, while they may experiment with online portions, that’s not what defines them as franchises. I don’t think you’ll see us completely change those franchises.” This suggests that any live plans for Dragon Age aren’t likely to take the form of a shared online world exactly like Anthem’s and will still be suited to the single-player adventuring Dragon Age is known for. In a tweet in January 2018, Casey Hudson also stated that the “live” elements being considered are actually ways of continuing the game’s story after the main story has been completed. A big take away from Kotaku’s report is that at this early stage in the game’s development, as with any game, very few things are absolutely set in stone, with another developer stating: “They have a lot of unanswered questions. Plus I know it’s going to change like five times in the next two years.” So, regardless of what Dragon Age 4’s live elements look like now they could change drastically over the next few weeks, months or even years. Official announcement The Game Awards 2018 What that announcement turned out to be, interestingly, was the game's first 1-minute-long teaser trailer that re-introduced Fen'Harel, the elven god of betrayal, and Solas from Dragon Age Inquisition. We didn't get any gameplay or story details but, for now, the confirmation from BioWare is enough to keep the hype train chugging. Roundabout confirmations - confirmed One non-official confirmation came from executive producer Mark Darrah, who tweeted in January 2018 that he’s working on both Dragon Age as well as BioWare’s next big IP, Anthem. Though he’s now left the company, BioWare veteran Mike Laidlaw was tweeting that there was still another couple of games in Dragon Age series yet back in mid-2017. Even before that, Alexis Kennedy became the writer that launched a thousand headlines after comments he made in an interview with Eurogamer were taken as a semi-official confirmation of the game’s existence and his place in it. In the interview Kennedy teased that he's been "given considerable autonomy to work on a storyline bit of lore which is well-segregated from other parts of the game.“ ”I don't want to exaggerate the degree of the chunk [I'm writing],“ Kennedy he was at pains to add. ”It's nothing that grandiose, but it is distinct. It's a bit of lore which has not been addressed much to date in Dragon Age.“ Story and character After Mark Darrah tweeted that he was working on the game, BioWare general manager Casey Hudson chipped in with his own elaborative tweet. In this tweet he said it was “too early to talk details” but the game would be “story & character focused.” It’s not clear whether this will be a brand new standalone game or whether it’ll continue on directly from Inquisition. Certainly, the end of Inquisition's Trespasser DLC suggests there is a story thread to follow with Solas, which would see the Inquisitor chase the elf down to stop his plans. The teaser trailer from The Game Awards 2018 also hints heavily that this will be the case. We already know there are writers working on lore and side quests, following Alexis Kennedy’s interview with Eurogamer in 2017 in which he confirmed he was working on a part of the game that’s “well-segregated” from the rest and focuses on some lore that’s not been widely addressed. Kennedy, who has worked on titles such as Sunless Sea and Fallen London, said the subject matter would not be surprising to those familiar with his work. To us this implies that his quest (or quests) will include thoughtful choices, themes of tragic love and desire and an underlying sense of unease. New live elements Naturally, there was some fan panic in response to this given EA’s increasing penchant for service-based games. Fans expressed concern that BioWare was going to take the Dragon Age series down a Destiny 2, always-online multiplayer route. That doesn’t appear to be the case, however. In his tweet, Casey Hudson also stated that the “live” elements being considered are actually ways of continuing the game’s story after the main story has been completed. This is something we’ve already seen in games such as Assassin’s Creed Origins. Things we'd like to seeA world like Dragon Age: Inquisition Explore more of Thedas The fact that the area is references throughout other Dragon Age games is enough to make us think it’s a viable setting for Dragon Age 4. However, the ending of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC makes us think it even more likely, as it sees the Inquisitor stab a dagger into a map of the Imperium with a vow to track down Solas. Solve that cliffhanger (Image credits: BioWare)
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| GTA 6 news and rumors: when will Grand Theft Auto 6 be announced? Posted: 04 Jan 2020 08:22 AM PST When will GTA 6 be announced? Now that most of us have traipsed through the gorgeous world of Red Dead Redemption 2 on console or PC and gamers are looking ahead to the next open-world Rockstar game set in the Grand Theft Auto universe: GTA 6. It's been a whole six years since GTA 5 launched on consoles and PC, meaning an announcement could be imminent, and the latest news and rumors suggest that GTA 6 could be on its way soon. The short answer is: no one knows. Despite all kinds of rumours (which you can read about below), there have been no official details about GTA 6 from the team at Rockstar Games – but that doesn't mean it might not drop at any minute. Although 2020 is still in its early days, a release this year doesn't seem likely without any kind of development announcement. But with the new generation of consoles coming at the tail end of the year hopes are increasing that we might hear something from Rockstar at some point. Details may be thin on the ground, but that doesn't stop us gathering together the best pieces of gossip, rumor and fact for your personal pleasure. So without further ado, here's everything we know so far about GTA 6. [Update: Chris Bellard, the voice actor for San Andreas' CJ, has dismissed rumors that he'll be reprising his role in GTA 6.] Check out our video below on GTA VI: predictions on characters, locations, story and GTA Online. Cut to the chase
GTA 6 release date : when can I play it?Red Dead Redemption 2 has now been released into the wild more than a year, which means we're hoping a GTA 6 announcement isn't far away – even though we're likely to be waiting a while to play it. According to some reports, we could see the next Grand Theft Auto announced in 2020, which would make sense. Rockstar has supported GTA Online, the multiplayer component of GTA 5, since the game launched back in September 2013 with regular content updates. Rockstar has been busy over the past year focusing on getting Red Dead Online running smoothly. According to reputable industry analyst Michael Pachter, the game's actual release could be as far away as 2022. In an interview with Gaming Bolt, Pachter said that he thinks a 2020 announcement with a 2021 release would be the best case scenario, while a 2021 announcement with a 2022 release or later would be more likely. Given 2020 has only just begun, expecting any news of GTA 6 in the immediate future is unlikely. But the Xbox Series X and PS5 are due to launch at the end of the year and if GTA 6 followed the release pattern of its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto 5, it'd be released at the very tail end of the current generation, comfortably released on the new generation and straddle both for the widest install base possible. With no announcement thus far that seems optimistic but, hey, anything could happen. GTA 6 trailer: when can I watch one?Grand Theft Auto (Image credit: Rockstar Games) The thing about Rockstar Games is that it’s an incredibly secretive games publisher. No trailer is getting out of that studio unless someone seriously screws up. Just look at what Rockstar did with both GTA 5 and Red Read Redemption 2. It teased an announcement a few days before dropping the first trailer for either game. If there’s a GTA 6 trailer, you’ll know about it because the internet will explode – and we'll let you know too, of course. But we're not expecting one anytime soon. GTA 6 news and rumors: what do we know so far?Below we've collected together all of the latest leaks and rumors that hint at when GTA 6 might be launched – and what we can expect from the new game. As always, take these details with a pinch of salt – some are old, some are from now deleted sources and others might just be keen fans getting carried away. CJ voice actor shoots down rumors Chris Bellard, the voice actor for GTA San Andreas' character CJ, has debunked recent rumors that he will be reprising his role in GTA 6. Using Instagram, Bellard posted that he's "not involved in GTA VI at all". This doesn't rule out the return of CJ as a character entirely (Rockstar could always cast someone else in the role) but it does confirm that Bellard isn't involved and doesn't intend to be if asked. Rockstar hasn't commented on rumors and we won't know anything certain about any cast for GTA 6 until it speaks out. Steven Ogg at Brazil Game Show Steven Ogg, the actor known for playing Trevor in GTA 5, was in attendance at the Brazil Game Show in October 2019. According to someone who was at the event, Ogg said that GTA 6 will be coming "soon". Ogg's reasoning, rather than any kind of inside knowledge as far as we can tell, is that Rockstar games "take 7-8 years to make, do the math." Doing the math from GTA 5's 2013 release date would mean that GTA 6 could release in 2020 or 2021, right in time for the next generation of consoles. That seems very soon for a game we've seen very little about but, hey, it's not impossible. We'll be watching this space. Scouting areas in Florida Speculation around a Florida setting – even a game that encompassed the whole state – has been brimming after a leaked letter was given legitimacy by a well-regarded Rockstar leaker, @Yan2295. The letter was to a Florida store asking permission for Rockstar Games to inspect the premises, presumably for use or inspiration in the forthcoming game – mentioning a location scout Leah Sokolowsky who hinted at a large digital media client in a podcast back in May 2019 (via Daily Star). Edinburgh Rockstar HQ The latest rumor that could hint at GTA 6's imminent arrival comes from website Edinburgh Live. According to the team there, Rockstar's HQ in Edinburgh has been tearing down the Red Dead Redemption 2 banner this week. We know, that's hardly proof of anything. But what will replace it? It could well be another game, a redesign or maybe the team just want to let a bit more natural light in. Project Americas Another day and another Grand Theft Auto 6 leak (via GamesRadar) is making the rounds, though we'd recommend not getting too excited given it's from a now-deleted Reddit post. Admittedly, some of the things that appear in this supposed leak do corroborate previous rumors but this consistency is no confirmation of what the game will be and we won't know for sure what's in store for Grand Theft Auto 6 until Rockstar itself makes an announcement. Regardless, it's still fun to get our imaginations going for what the future of the Grand Theft Auto franchise may hold. According to the Reddit poster behind the leak, the game, known as Project Americas, has been in production since 2015 though it was placed on ice while Red Dead Redemption 2 was the focus. GTA 6 could be expansive, set across multiple decades (1970s to 1980s) and locations (one of which is Vice City, another Liberty City and another is a fictional city based on Rio de Janeiro). The game will apparently deal with one playable protagonist named Ricardo and play through their story as a rising drug lord with heavy inspiration from Netflix's Narcos series. Starting The story will be told through chapters, with a heavy emphasis on the visuals of changes in time as the story progresses. While there's no estimated release date given, the post says that the plan is to release the game for the next generation only. While it's unlikely that the whole report is true (even the poster says that the game's pre-alpha status means things are likely to change) that's not to say some elements are impossible. Certainly a next-gen only release seems entirely plausible. Before you get too excited,though, the post has already been debunked by Kotaku's Jason Schreier. Another rumor leak? According to the post, GTA 6 will allow players to travel between several big cities, including Liberty City and Vice City. The poster also claims you start off as a small-time drug runner before joining an infamous gang and kicking it with the big dogs. In addition, the post claims Rockstar is waiting to see how the new-generation consoles sell (PS5 and Xbox Two) as GTA 6 wouldn't be able to be released on the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One due to memory restrictions. The anonymous poster also claimed GTA 6 will feature both major cities along with a vast stretch of highways and Blaine County-like countryside in the middle of it all. Finally, the post claims that, despite the game being set in a timed era, there will be flashbacks between missions and Red Dead Redemption 2-type stranger dialogues that implement the greet/antagonise format. While location rumors seem to be leaking in abundance, the anonymous Pastebin post has been backed up by review on Glassdoor by a Rockstar Games QA tester, which has since been removed (via Dexerto). Alongside reading out Rockstar for its institutionalized crunch, the post leaves a cryptic message that sees the first letter of each sentence spelling out 'GTA6LSVCLC'. This may be pointing to the potential locations of Grand Theft Auto 6: Los Santos, Vice City, and Liberty City. Wonder what these locations would look like together as an actual map? Graphic designer RealityDesign posted a concept image on GTA Forums, showing what this map could potentially look like. Check it out below: Image credit: RealityDesign Job listings The Know report on Vice City The reason for this code name is apparently because players will be able to fly between the US and South America in the game, though the majority of the action will take place in the former. This in combination with the source's assertion that the game will largely be set in Vice City (the Rockstar version of Miami) suggests there could be a focus on drug running which would draw on the popularity of shows and movies like Narcos and Tom Cruise's Made in America. Particularly if Rockstar holds on to that 80s setting. With no comment from Rockstar, these rumors remain nothing more than, well, rumors. But they do pose an interesting proposition that would seize upon the particular fondness many fans of the series have for Vice City. GTA 6 is definitely coming and there are ideas “We don’t know what GTA 6 will be, but we’ve got some ideas,” said Benzies in the interview. Okay, so it’s not much, but it’s certainly a snippet of solid information direct from the source. Grand Theft Auto (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Benzies went on to talk about what kind of ideas get the creative juices flowing over at Rockstar. “We’ve got about 45 years’ worth of ideas we want to do,” he added. “We’ll pick the right ones.” “It comes from the idea first. Where it is going to be set is the first question. That then defines the missions; you’re doing different things in LA than in New York or Miami. “The map and story get worked up together, and the story is a basic flow of how it works out so you can layer the mission in.” We’re just pleased that Rockstar has so many ideas for what it wants to do with GTA 6. We just hope it sorts them into some kind of organised system and gets that game to us sharpish. GTA 6 map: where will GTA 6 be set?Although there haven’t been any concrete reports as yet, every online titbit and juicy gossip morsel is pointing towards GTA 6’s map being absolutely massive. We’re even not talking city-size massive, we’re talking potentially the entire of the United States massive. Some rumors are suggesting that GTA 6 may end up spanning the entirety of the US, with some kind of teleportation system that cuts down the journey time between cities. There are even some incredibly exciting rumours that Rockstar Games might have a ‘70s theme up its sleeve, so crack out those old bell-bottoms and disco balls. Grand Theft Auto (Image credit: Rockstar Games) But there’s also another rumor that’s gathering strength, which would put GTA 6 a little closer to Rockstar Games’ British home – a London setting. The reports actually started with a comment from Rockstar Games’ co-founder Dan Houser: “At the moment, it feels like GTA’s DNA is contemporary-ish, American-ish, English-speaking-ish, because that’s what it has been… But that doesn’t necessarily limit it to those, that’s just what we’ve done so far.” Rockstar Games sources suggest that London is the only non-US location to be whispered as a potential GTA setting. For our money, we think a return to Vice City is on the cards, which would tie in to the rumors mentioned above. A recent report from The Know suggests that a return to Vice City in the 80s is actually in the works and that players will explore the rise in drugs at the time through the missions. In this rumored game, players will move between Vice City and South America, which would create a very interesting and entirely new kind of map. The GTA 3 trilogy was set across three locations, Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas. This mirrored the original Grand Theft Auto Game, which was also set across the same three locations. The most recent Grand Theft Auto games, GTA 4 and GTA 5, have so far been set in Liberty City and San Andreas respectively, meaning that Vice City is the only location yet to be explored by the recent games. The only question now is whether Rockstar will be tempted to complete the set. Grand Theft Auto (Image credit: Rockstar Games) GTA 6 rumorsA female protagonist “We didn’t really think about it this time,” Houser said. “That’s not to say that we couldn’t or we wouldn’t. This character set is just what came to us: it wasn’t, ‘we’ve got X and Y so we need Z’. We weren’t trying to do it off a checklist – I don’t think that will ever give you something that’s believable or engaging.” “In the future, could we do a game with a female lead? Of course. We just haven’t found the right game for it yet, but it’s one of the things that we always think about.” “It didn’t feel natural for this game but definitely for the right game in the future – with the right themes, it could be fantastic. But for GTA 5, this was the organic thing that came up, these were the characters that would display the themes we wanted to think about.” Likelihood: Strong. Fans have long clamored for a female hero in a Grand Theft Auto game, and it would be a wonderful change from all the murdered prostitutes. Grand Theft Auto (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Eva Mendez and Ryan Gosling Apparently, Eva Mendez is top of Rockstar’s list for playing said hero. But again, there’s more. There’s a male lead on the list too and it’s none other than global heart-throb Ryan Gosling, who also just happens to be her real-life husband. Likelihood: Questionable. GTA is a major gaming franchise that’s incredibly famous, especially outside of the gaming industry, so it’s possible some big names could be involved, but we’re not convinced. Full support for virtual reality Specific headsets haven’t been mentioned, but since this is probably just a rumor we’re not that bothered. Likelihood: Questionable. GTA 6 might have a VR experience attached to it but playing the whole game in virtual reality would be insane. Unless we’ve seen huge leaps in virtual reality in the years between now and the GTA 6 release date playing a whole GTA game in VR would prove testing for most stomachs. Fast-paced, action-packed and played in long sessions, a VR GTA (in its current form at least) wouldn’t work. Grand Theft Auto (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Time travel or another futuristic twist Yes… seriously. This isn’t Saints Row we’re talking about, but apparently there may be a futuristic twist to GTA 6. According to a report from ChristianToday – really – the game will give players “the taste of time travel” where “teleportation [is] possible within a split-second”. Likelihood: Utterly ridiculous. There are hilarious side-missions in GTA games, but having time travelling as a main gameplay mechanic is just not in Rockstar’s DNA. Plus, ChristianToday has no screenshots, sources or any kind of proof, so we’re certainly sceptical. Playing as either a cop or a criminal Likelihood: Strong. We could totally see this working, especially with the potential mayhem that could ensue if you’re playing a Trevor-style character half the time and a cop the other. (Image credits: Rockstar Games)
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| Wi-Fi 6E looks to use 6GHz spectrum for even faster wireless connections Posted: 04 Jan 2020 05:46 AM PST Wi-Fi 6 is going to be expanded into 6GHz spectrum, alongside existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz coverage, with this fresh spectrum set to be classified as Wi-Fi 6E, and initially supported by devices such as smartphones and consumer routers. At least this is the theoretical next step in the world of Wi-Fi, according to a press release from the Wi-Fi Alliance, although the organization notes that the 6GHz plan will be subject to regulatory approval.
The hope is that this “important portion of unlicensed spectrum … may soon be made available by regulators around the world”, and following that official approval, Wi-Fi 6E devices will become swiftly available. As mentioned, it’s expected that initial Wi-Fi 6E devices would include phones and consumer Wi-Fi access points, and those would be followed by enterprise-grade access points. The Wi-Fi Alliance also observed that it anticipates considerable adoption of Wi-Fi 6E in industrial settings, as well, facilitating the likes of remote maintenance or machine analytics. Furthermore, Wi-Fi 6E is expected to be used in both augmented and virtual reality, in terms of both businesses and consumer hardware. All of this assumes the regulatory path is clear for the use of 6GHz wireless spectrum, of course. Spectrum shortageIn the bigger picture, the idea is to address the potential shortfall in Wi-Fi spectrum, as more and more wireless devices come online, providing fresh bandwidth which will have less interference from existing Wi-Fi 4 or 5 devices. The Wi-Fi Alliance notes: “6GHz addresses Wi-Fi spectrum shortage by providing contiguous spectrum blocks to accommodate 14 additional 80 MHz channels and 7 additional 160 MHz channels which are needed for high-bandwidth applications that require faster data throughput such as high-definition video streaming and virtual reality.” As was always the case with Wi-Fi 6, the idea isn’t just faster speeds, but better performance in dense environments where there are lots of wireless devices (like apartment blocks, or public venues). When Wi-Fi 6 was first ushered in, the intention to use more frequency bands in the future – as well as the traditional 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi – was made clear, so it’s no surprise that this is happening. One slight oddity is that the whole point of introducing Wi-Fi 6 as the new name for the wireless standard formerly known as 802.11ax was to simplify the naming scheme, and make it more consumer-friendly (and the preceding Wi-Fi standards, too, which became Wi-Fi 5 and 4). So announcing Wi-Fi 6E as a different variant is rather going against that goal in terms of introducing a potential point of confusion for the less tech-savvy folks out there.
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| The Samsung Galaxy S11 is set to launch on February 11 Posted: 04 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST It looks as though we can mark our calendars for Tuesday, February 11 for the launch date of the Samsung Galaxy S11 (or Galaxy S20) range of phones, after a promo for the big event leaked online. The promo, obtained by @MaxWinebach on Twitter, clearly shows the date of the event, as well as confirming that it will be branded Unpacked, as with previous such launches. We will of course be bringing you details of the new Galaxy phones as they're announced, but the promo confirms that Samsung is once again livestreaming the whole show, so you'll be able to tune in live on the web if you want to.
The short video clip doesn't reveal anything about what we can expect from the actual devices – and it doesn't settle the debate over whether the phones are going to be branded as S11 or S20. Plenty of Galaxy S11 leaks have hit the web so far: we've seen some images hinting at what the phone is going to look like, including the three cameras on the back. The S11 phones are also tipped to be coming with improved Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) on the rear camera – that should mean photos taken with the new Samsung flagships are better than ever, even in challenging conditions. We're also expecting a Pro video mode to be included on the Galaxy S11, while the same software code leak points towards a new battery health feature that'll tell you just how well your phone battery is doing. Oh, and look out for more glue too. All will be revealed on February 11, when we'll see just how busy Samsung engineers have been since the Galaxy S10 launch. Via SamMobile This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 6 ways that Chinese tech is ahead of the rest of the world Posted: 04 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST Your smartphone comes from China, a country where ‘phone commerce’ via a messaging app is commonplace. It’s the home of Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent and Xaomi, and it’s home to massive investments in AI, 5G, self-driving cars, robotics, electric vehicles and even missions to Mars. Here are just a few ways that an increasingly high-tech China is creeping ahead of the rest of the world. Super-app WeChat is ubiquitous in daily life in China 1. A 'super-app'China has a population of 1.4 billion people. About 1.1 billion of those use WeChat. Take that in for a moment. Globally, Facebook has 2.4 billion users. WhatsApp has 300 million. In China, WeChat (called Wēixìn in Mandarin, which translates as 'micro-message’) – essentially a messaging service owned by tech giant (and the world’s fifth-largest company) Tencent – is how people interact with … everything and everyone. As well as social media, WeChat works as a mobile payment app, with all retailers – including buses and metros in China – scanning a QR code on the app to make the transactions. It can be used to book flights and hotels just as easily as buying food from a supermarket or even a street vendor. WeChat balance is now the primary way to pay and receive money in China. Who needs banks? It does have a rival – Alibaba’s Alipay – but with a 79% market penetration in China, WeChat has been called China’s ‘digital life force’, but it’s push to become popular globally has nevertheless failed. It seems destined to be only the fifth-most used app in the world, after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger … but it’s way ahead of all of them in what is can do. China's new super high-speed Fuxing bullet train between Shanghai and Beijing China moves fast. We’ve all heard the tales of how fast its construction companies work, notably the building in 2015 of a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 working days. But it’s China’s other mega-tech projects that stand out. Take its bullet trains. Japan is still thought of by many as the home of the bullet train with its famous Shinkansen, but over the last 15 years China Railway High-speed (CRH) has constructed a much more extensive network, and makes its own Fuxing-class bullet trains. Now the world’s longest high speed railway network, China’s bullet trains travel between 155–217 mph. Land at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport and you can even sample the future of ultra-high-speed trail on the Shanghai Maglev, a magnetic levitation train that reaches a top speed of 267 mph. China has plenty of other mega-tech projects. There’s the Three Gorges Dam, a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River and it fuels the world's largest power station. Also the Aizhai Suspension Bridge, the world's highest and longest suspension bridge, and the 16-mile Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge that hits makes land at two artificial islands on its way. And don’t forget the Shanghai Tower, the world's second-tallest building at 2,073 ft., and the Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), the largest single-dish radio telescope for astronomy in the world. What’s more, China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative is seeing it invest US$6 trillion in big construction projects – such as highways, ports and airports – in its neighboring countries. 3. 5G networks and AIHow is 5G working out for you so far? After a flurry of advertising in 2019 around various network launches, the fuss has died down. Why? 5G doesn’t really exist in the UK and the US outside of city centres, that’s why. Cue China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, which have brought forward their plans to offer high-speed connectivity. Not surprisingly, China is getting one of the world's largest 5G deployments. 5G is already available to in 50 cities in China, and 130,000 5G base stations are about to go live. What’s more, China is also home to two thirds of global investment into artificial intelligence (AI), recently replacing the US. When it comes to cutting-edge technology, it’s all about China. Mobikes use Bluetooth and geofencing 4. Dockless bike-sharingThousands of cities around the world now have bike-sharing schemes. You get the app, sign-up, pick-up a bike from a rack, use it, and return it. Easy. So why is China going down a more high-tech route? The latest craze is for dockless bike hire, which removes the need for physical central hub and instead uses virtual mapping, Bluetooth and GPS-driven geofencing to keep track of where they are. Mobike in Shanghai – which has about 1.5 million dockless bikes – has an app that tells riders where they can and cannot park their bikes when they’re done with them. If they leave them in random places, an alarm goes off on the bike, and they receive a text message warning. The spread of 5G is only going to help schemes like this. The BYD Tang was the top selling plug-in electric passenger car in China in 2016 5. Electric vehiclesNo one is saying China is an eco-friendly country. It’s got a bad reputation for pollution and it uses half of the world’s concrete. However, it’s already the largest market for battery-powered cars in the world, being both the largest manufacturer and buyer of electric vehicles. It makes almost all of the world's electric buses. In short, the electric vehicle revolution is already underway, and China is owning it. Your first electric car? It will probably be from China. China has sent to missions to land on the moon, and has more planned 6. Ambitious space programChina now launches more rockets each year than any other nation, and although western media is routinely dismissive of it, the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) – China’s NASA – is definitely going places. It doesn’t have the budget of NASA, but in 2019 it landed a spacecraft and lunar rover on the far side of the moon, with stunning scientific return. Not even NASA can do that. If all goes to plan in 2020, the CNSA will launch its Chang’e-5 mission to scoop-up some moon rock and launch it back to Earth. Then it will launch an all-new space station. Finally, it will send its Huoxing mission to Mars. What’s more, that’s all being done with massive space rockets designed and built solely in China. Further proof, if any was needed, that when it comes to technology, China is creeping ahead of much of the world. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| BioShock revisited: unpicking the complex, messy legacy of 2K's knockout franchise Posted: 04 Jan 2020 03:00 AM PST The “would you kindly?” twist in 2007's BioShock remains one of gaming's best: you can't see it coming and yet, when it happens, it makes perfect sense, and you look back on the story so far with a deeper understanding of Rapture's underwater world. It’s the series’ most iconic sequence: one of those rare moments you still remember 12 years after you play it, and will probably remember in another 12 too. As Jonathan Chey, founder of developer Irrational, tells us, this moment isn’t quite "the soul of Bioshock", but it summed up what fans loved about their first trip to Rapture. Plot twists can be cheap, and the stunning underwater environment that Irrational crafted would have been wasted on a lesser game; what made BioShock memorable was that it managed to surprise players while remaining completely coherent and believable. Everything about it, from the propagandist posters peeling off ornate walls to the audio logs hidden on shelves, felt connected. “The world of BioShock isn’t just ‘hey, we came up with something crazy just to shock you’ – there’s a larger theme,” Chey says. “You can paint a very beautiful picture, but if it’s not interactive – if it doesn’t allow you to explore and manipulate and be affected by the environment – then it’s kind of like a funfair ride at that stage. What helped people connect [to BioShock] is that the world has meaning to the player, as well as being a pretty backdrop.” A lot has changed since 2007. BioShock got a sequel and then a troubled third entry, Infinite, which had a long development plagued with conflict. This month, publisher 2K announced that a new studio, Cloud Chamber, is working on the next BioShock game. We thought it was the perfect excuse to revisit the series so far and ask: in our age where games, even exceptional ones, are so quickly forgotten, what exactly is the legacy of BioShock? New development studio Cloud Chamber is working on the next BioShock game. Shock to the systemBioShock felt unique when it came out in 2007, but the driving idea behind it was, in some ways, entirely derivative. The starting goal wasn’t to present players with moral dilemmas, but to simply build “another Shock game,” says Chey, referring to the System Shock series. Chey, along with Ken Levine and Robert Fermier, founded Irrational Games in 1997 after the trio left Thief developer Looking Glass Studios, and System Shock 2 was their debut. It's a PC classic, and one of the games credited with popularising the immersive sim genre. But parts of it were clunky, and despite critical acclaim it was never a huge commercial success. For BioShock, Irrational – called 2K Boston by the time the game shipped – wanted to bring what it loved about System Shock 2 to a bigger audience. “Not just because we wanted to make some money out of it, but because we felt like most people in the gaming community aren’t aware of how cool this type of game is. So what can we do to mass market it?” Chey says. “Obviously, we weren’t talking about dumbing it down internally, but we were talking about making it more accessible.” Clearly, BioShock turned out to be more than just an extension of System Shock 2. The two games share some strengths – a blend of shooting and RPG elements, a complex relationship between player and antagonist, and environmental storytelling – but the things BioShock is most revered for only emerged later. Its story gradually took shape as Levine drew inspiration from various sources: the life of John D. Rockefeller, the writing of George Orwell, and, perhaps most importantly, the objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand, which came to define both the game’s apparent villain Andrew Ryan and the world of Rapture itself. Andrew Ryan, founder of Rapture. The team also landed on a role for the “Little Sisters”: young, genetically-altered girls who the player – upon coming across them – could either spare or harvest for ADAM, a resource that increased player power. It was a simplistic ethical dilemma, admits Jordan Thomas, a level designer on BioShock and the creative director of BioShock 2. But it still made players think. “Most people didn’t say the moral choice system was revolutionary, but they said they felt something for the little sisters... they felt manipulated to think twice about the points [of ADAM] vs the narrative payoff,” he says. “Honestly, it’s kind of 101 in terms of any kind of ethical dilemma, and other games at the time had much more textured choices between the results you wanted to see, but few of those were built into the games systems-wide.” It's this entangling of moral choices with theme, story, and mechanics that marked BioShock as special. It felt like the developers had thought carefully about every decision: the “manipulation” Thomas describes was a result of planning what the player would feel throughout their journey, leading up to the “would you kindly?” reveal. The philosophical themes of BioShock games also gripped fans, and Chey points to the series’ close examination of complex themes as the biggest impact BioShock had on the industry at large. “In System Shock 2, I didn’t walk away with any kind of feeling that it had delivered me a message about the world. I wasn’t ruminating about the philosophical implications of AI. BioShock’s greatest innovation was the depth of its narrative, and the fact that it left you with things to ponder about the world.” The underwater city itself. Philosophy's 'double-barreled shotgun'What things? In the original BioShock it was, primarily, Ayn Rand’s objectivism, which rested on the assumption that a human’s “own happiness [is] the moral purpose of his life”. In BioShock 2, it was collectivism: prioritising groups over the individual. And in BioShock Infinite, a sprawling game, it was about cultism, quantum mechanics, destiny, and more. Thomas believes that what made BioShock stand out was how effectively it explored these ideas through its world design – turning philosophical arguments into “architecture” players could explore – without spoon-feeding ideas. “What BioShock does brilliantly is allow you to physically explore the space described by a philosophy, and learn about it by osmosis, rather than being lectured,” he says. “Through sheer repetition and the fact that everywhere you turn, there was a lesson, whether it was visual or auditory, that achieves a sort of synthesis. I think people who knew nothing about objectivism got steeped in it to the extent that they could at least argue on the internet about it.” Its profundity – a feeling, even if you didn’t engage with its philosophies, that it was about something – spilled over to other developers, argues Thomas: “The validation of the industry got thrust upon it,” he says, become an oft-cited example of “games as art”, with the “heavy mantle” that entails. Those complex themes also spawned a tension, present throughout the series, between its nuanced ideas and the moment-to-moment action. It was a philosophy by way of a double-barreled shotgun. Dual-wielding powers and guns in BioShock Infinite. “[It’s a] Jekyll and Hyde schism between the lofty themes that so many of the people working on the games want to discuss, and also the brutish, action vehicle that they must ride in," Thomas says. And looking back, that’s something that strikes me all the time about that era of video games, in trying to reach for something that speaks to the human condition, while also having to meet commercial demand.” Most would agree that neither BioShock 2 nor Infinite lived up to the original, which is the one that garnered the best reviews among critics and frequently appears in lists of the greatest-ever games. In part, that’s just by virtue of being first: it was shiny and new, and fans hadn’t played anything quite like it before. To some extent, a sequel was almost always doomed to fail. But it also points to structural issues with the development of both later games. For BioShock 2, as Thomas has previously described, that was both time and creative constraints. Now part of a different studio, 2K Marin, Thomas was given just two years to build the game, and told he had to compete with Gears of War and Call of Duty: a far cry from the Silent Hill-like game he wanted to create. Development was a “heartbreaking series of returns to reality”, Thomas says. Initially, he poured his efforts into creating dreamscape versions of Rapture’s past, through which a Little Sister would discover her own history. But he eventually had to “step out of the way” for the version of the game higher-ups wanted, “with little dashes of the surrealism I so adore”. The haunting Little Sisters: do you save them, or use them to gain more powers? Big ideas, little peopleIf he’d had the time, he would’ve wanted a deeper exploration of antagonist Sofia Lamb’s altruistic philosophy, he says. What he’s pleased with is that he got to tell the stories of the “little people”, echoing the fact that the game was made by a newer, smaller team. “We tried, we wanted to compete with big brother, but when we could not, we had this happy accident, which was that we moved the narrative to focus on the forgotten: the people of colour, the women of the era that were overlooked and disempowered, and then in the new power structure were prominent”. He admits that he could’ve done more on this front – the game was called out by the Tropes vs Women in Video Games series for having female characters as “background decoration”, for example – but he sees it, at the very least, as a step in the right direction. Infinite, in contrast, was hampered not by scope, but by its own ambition. As well as trying to act as an exclamation point on the series, it tried to tackle arguably the heaviest topics so far: racism, American exceptionalism, cults, and infinite worlds. The writers, Thomas included, became “really wrapped up” in the quantum mechanics of the world, perhaps to the detriment to the socio-political themes. Infinite didn’t have all that much to say about racism, for example, apart from the fact it existed. “People tended to respond to it as either ‘this game is racist’, or ‘oh, these people are racist and this isn’t being portrayed with enough nuance. This is satire, but it doesn’t have the time to be deep satire.’ I understand those perspectives. Certainly, the team’s brain wasn’t turned off, it was just a function of time and energy and where it could fit amid the AAA gun show,” he says. In trying to touch some many topics, the team gave less attention to each one individually. It was “a lot of ideas, all in competition”. The flying city of Columbia. When we ask Thomas how he hopes players remember the BioShock series as a whole, he says he wants them to think of it like a “visit to a foreign country, where they were immersed in a place that challenged them, and that asked them, if not to learn a whole lot, at least to question the world around them, and what the real world around them is saying. “That would be a wonderful start,” he says. “And then to allow their own ideas, whatever those may be, to mature in contrast to that immersive experience in a faraway place. I think the BioShock games, at best, are places where meaning can be explored, even if your mind doesn’t change, at least you had a chance to be exposed to another perspective, externalized and made dimensional, as opposed to just pushed at you.” Walking on cloudsBioShock's legacy among fans, and the extent to which each player engaged with its ideas, is of course nebulous. What is perhaps more measurable is its impact on the development community. Some developers, such as Thomas, stuck with the series throughout; others’ involvement was more fleeting. Either way, though, each of them will have taken a part of BioShock with them. Thomas, along with fellow BioShock developer Stephen Alexander, went on to found Question Games, which this year released horror-thriller The Blackout Club. Chey founded Blue Manchu, developer of Card Hunter and Void Bastards. Dishonored developer Arkane was called in as a support studio during BioShock 2: the studio’s co-creative director Sébastien Mitton helped build parts of Rapture before he built Dunwall. Thomas also cites the big impact BioShock had on the indie space, saying that developers who had experienced the tension between BioShock’s story and mechanics responded by narrowing their focus on their own terms, easing that tension. It’s apparent in the work of Gone Home developer Fullbright, formed by a team who worked on the BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den DLC, for example. “[BioShock] is still a bombastic action shooter, but it can be seminal in the sense that it inspired people to try harder, and to exceed what we managed to do,” Thomas says. “And I think there’s a role for games like that. You can be deeply critical of all three games, but I do think it asked people: ‘Hey, could we do a little more?’ I’m glad to see the industry get a little bit more interested in what their games are saying.” In that way, perhaps we shouldn’t think of BioShock as a huge monument, towering from the sea, but – as Thomas puts it – as a series of “stepping stones” for others to use. With any luck, Cloud Chamber will tread on those stones – and follow a path to a new, exciting land.
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| Oscar predictions 2020: from Joker to Tarantino Posted: 04 Jan 2020 02:50 AM PST It’s the hottest ticket in the Hollywood calendar, the night when the biggest movie stars on the planet get together to celebrate the best the industry had to offer over the previous year. But who’ll be taking home those famous golden statuettes at the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony on February 9, 2020? The nominations won’t be revealed until January 13, but that doesn’t mean we can’t predict who’ll be in the running. We’ve looked at the shortlists for other big Hollywood awards (the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards) and tapped into pre-Academy Award buzz to work out who we think will be slugging it out on Oscar night. Will The Irishman make a killing for Netflix? Will Once Upon a Time in Hollywood give Quentin Tarantino his first Best Picture win? Or will Avengers: Endgame or Joker become the first comic book movies to take the big prize? We take a look at the contenders to work out the likely nominations for this year’s Oscars – and predict who might be delivering a victory speech on the night… When are the Oscar nominations for 2020 announced?As mentioned above, the Oscar nominations will be announced on January 13. The awards themselves take place on Sunday, February 9. Shortlists for some of the less headline-grabbing categories, like visual effects, have been posted on the Academy's site. Best Picture 2020 Oscar predictions
After Martin Scorsese famously said he believed that Marvel movies aren’t cinema, expect one of the biggest pop culture debates of 2019 to continue into the shortlist for the biggest Academy Award of the night. Scorsese’s mob epic The Irishman is as close as you get to a shoo-in for a Best Picture nomination, but don’t be surprised to see it up against Avengers: Endgame come Oscar night. Sci-fi and fantasy movies haven’t traditionally been popular with the Academy, but history may be on the side of Iron Man, Captain America and the rest. After all, Black Panther opened the door for the MCU with numerous nominations last year; Endgame’s predecessors as all-time box office champions, Titanic and Avatar, were both shortlisted for Best Picture; and The Lord of the Rings waited until its final instalment before The Return of The King hit Oscar paydirt. Elsewhere in this bumper category (the nomination limit was increased to 10 in 2009): the critically adored Marriage Story seems best set to challenge its Netflix stablemate The Irishman, while Joker could join the Avengers to show that comic book movies are a really broad church. Other likely contenders include Fox News biopic Bombshell, World War 1 epic 1917, unlikely Hitler comedy/drama Jojo Rabbit, a brilliant Little Women adaptation, Quentin Tarantino’s ode to 1960s Hollywood, and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Parasite. Who do we think will win? Given the talent involved and the technical achievement of successfully de-ageing Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, it’s hard to look past The Irishman. Who do we want to win? As the pinnacle of blockbuster filmmaking – and the culmination of a 22-movie story arc – it would be exciting to see Avengers: Endgame win the big prize. Don’t bet your house on it, though. Best Director Oscar predictions
Expect the Academy to put right Greta Gerwig’s Golden Globes snub by giving her a nomination, her second after 2017’s Lady Bird. The competition will be stiff, however: Martin Scorsese and Sam Mendes (whose all-in-one-shot war movie 1917 brings plenty of wow factor) are both vying for their second Best Director prize, while Quentin Tarantino will be hungry for his first after his best-received movie in years. And don’t bet against Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s work on Parasite. Who do we think will win? A much-loved movie directed by an icon of cinema means Scorsese is the person to beat – assuming there’s no anti-Netflix backlash, as there has been in previous years. Who do we want to win? Few directors make as impressive a start to their careers as Greta Gerwig – surely it’s time for the Academy to recognise an exciting newcomer. Best Actor Oscar predictions
Where else would you find the Pope in competition with Elton John? Jonathan Pryce has attracted plenty of buzz for his convincing outing as Pope Francis (a role he was arguably destined to play), while Pedro Almodóvar traditionally coaxes a great performance out of Antonio Banderas. After Joker pushed the boundaries of what a comic-book movie can do, however, it would be a brave person who bets against Joaquin Phoenix following up his 2005 victory for Walk the Line. Who do we think will win? It’s a toss-up between Adam Driver – equally charismatic, whether he’s ruling the galaxy or dealing with divorce in Marriage Story – or Joaquin Phoenix’s chillingly unhinged performance in Joker. Who do we want to win? Could playing Elton John do for Taron Egerton what Freddie Mercury did for Rami Malek last year? The Kingsman star delivers a tour de force performance in Rocketman – and he does his own singing. Best Actress Oscar predictions
One of the hardest categories to call because of the strength of the competition – as with Best Picture, this shortlist could easily feature twice as many nominees, and they’d all deserve their place. Most excitingly it’s a mix of up-and-comers (Awkwafina, Cynthia Erivo), genuine A-listers (Scarlett Johansson) and regular Oscar contenders (Saoirse Ronan, Renée Zellweger) – and that’s ignoring previous winners Emma Thompson (Late Night) and Charlize Theron (Bombshell). Let battle commence! Who do we think will win? Zellweger’s performance as Judy Garland feels like the Hollywood choice, but after Johansson’s emotionally powerful performance in Marriage Story, it feels like this could be her year. Who do we want to win? This would be a fourth Oscar nomination for Saoirse Ronan by the age of 25 – she probably won’t win this year, but surely her time must come soon, as it did for Kate Winslet. Best Supporting Actor Oscar predictions
This category is traditionally a Lifetime Achievement Award by stealth, and never has that been more true than this year, when the frontrunners are all bona fide Hollywood legends. In fact, the only one of our quintet yet to get their hands on a golden statue is Brad Pitt – and that may just work in his favour… Who do we think will win? With The Irishman vote likely to be split between Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and The Two Popes both likely to be Oscar night outsiders, the stars are aligning for Brad Pitt. Who do we want to win? Pitt’s laconic stuntman was one of the best things about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and few could begrudge him an Academy Award as reward for an impressive career. Best Supporting Actress Oscar predictions
Unlike its male counterpart, our shortlist only features one previous Oscar winner (Kathy Bates). With a Best Actress nomination probable, Scarlett Johansson’s unlikely to win here against her Marriage Story co-star Laura Dern – though all of the contenders should be keeping an eye on Jennifer Lopez, whose performance in crime drama Hustlers has launched her back into the Hollywood consciousness. Who do we think will win? We probably wouldn’t have believed she’d be in the running a year ago, but Jennifer Lopez resurrected her career in spectacular style with Hustlers – her best performance since Out of Sight 22 years ago. Who do we want to win? It’s hard to believe that it’s only seven years since Margot Robbie burst onto the scene in Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. After a string of memorable performances since, her turn as a Fox News producer in Bombshell could launch her into the elite. Best Original Screenplay Oscar predictions
This category may be the best chance of a win for Best Picture contenders Marriage Story and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but they won’t get it all their own way. High school comedy/drama Booksmart made many critics‘ “best of 2019” lists, Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is a wonderfully sharp whodunnit, and after the Oscar-winning success of Get Out, Jordan Peele is very much on the Academy’s radar. Who do we think will win? Seeing as Hollywood traditionally loves movies about itself, expect Quentin Tarantino to pick up his third writing Oscar – that should soothe the blow of (probably) missing out on Best Picture and Best Director. Who do we want to win? Hilarious, touching and brilliantly observed, Booksmart instantly forced its way into the pantheon of classic high school movies. An honourable mention to Knives Out as well. Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar predictions
Another category that could have a strong Netflix contingent, with The Two Popes (adapted by Anthony McCarten from his own play) likely to be up against The Irishman, Steven Zaillian’s take on I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. Expect strong competition to come from Little Women, Toy Story 4 (surely one of the first ‘part fours’ ever to be in Oscar contention), and racetrack biopic Ford v Ferrari. Who do we think will win? We’ve got a feeling it’ll be The Irishman’s night, so would be surprised if this isn’t part of a big haul for the movie. Who do we want to win? Assuming Greta Gerwig doesn’t win Best Director, this would be a well deserved consolation. That said, we’d have no complaints if Toy Story 4 bagged the prize nearly a quarter of a decade after the original movie won a screenwriting Oscar of its own. Best Animated Feature
It’s an unusual year when a Disney movie doesn’t take this prize home and with box office smashes Toy Story 4 and Frozen II in the field, that’s unlikely to change in 2020. Cementing its arrival as a major player in movies, Netflix looks set to enter the frame with Christmas-themed Klaus and the leftfield I Lost My Body, while Laika (the company behind Paranorman and the sublime Kubo and the Two Strings) is likely to fly the stop-motion with Missing Link. Who do we think will win? In a clash of the Disney titans, Toy Story 4 seems to have the edge over Frozen II, and maintain Pixar’s record of winning the prize, on average, every other year. Who do we want to win? While it would be nice to show some love to an unconventional newbie like I Lost My Body, Toy Story 4 was such a perfect end to a wonderful saga that the heart belongs to Woody and Buzz. Best Score Oscar predictions
Traditionally one of the hardest categories to call – yes, every category in the Oscars is subjective, but the success of a score is so down to personal taste that it’s incredibly difficult to second guess what Oscar voters will go for. Still, the Academy’s already-published 15-movie shortlist offers a few clues – and some composing royalty is likely to be in the mix, sharing a mind-boggling number of previous nominations between them. Who do we think will win? He’s just completed the score for the ninth movie in a saga he began in 1977 with the original Star Wars – don’t be surprised if this turns into a lifetime achievement award (and fifth Oscar win) for the 87-year-old John Williams. Who do we want to win? Hildur Guðnadóttir is the only newcomer on the list, but her foreboding, string-heavy Joker score added to the uneasy, grimy atmosphere of an unsettling movie. Best International Feature Film Oscar predictions
The fact that there’s no requirement for Academy voters to have watched every foreign language movie in contention arguably has a larger effect on this category than any other – most of the releases won’t have received a wide release in the United States, so won’t be in the general consciousness. That means that – even with a pre-released 10-movie shortlist to work from – the more famous, most-talked about movies are at a big advantage. That’s surely going to work in favour of Parasite, which should also be in contention for Best Picture. Who do we think will win? It’s already won the Palme D’Or at Cannes, has received brilliant reviews and could be on the shortlist for Best Picture – it’s impossible to look past Parasite. Who do we want to win? Parasite would be a worthy winner, but seeing as the consistently brilliant Pedro Almodóvar won his only Oscar 20 years ago (for All About My Mother), it feels like a second – for Pain & Glory – is long overdue. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Forget the Google Pixel 4 - prices on Pixel 3a deals are too good to pass up right now Posted: 04 Jan 2020 02:39 AM PST We can all be honest with each other, January isn't exactly a time where you're flushed with cash. Christmas parties, festive gifts and New Year have left us all bankrupt. So what do you do if you're phone contract is coming to an end? The likes of the iPhone 11, Huawei P30 Pro and Google Pixel 4 are probably off the table with their massive price tags. However, there is one thing offering top specs at a low price tag - Google Pixel 3a deals. Taking everything we loved about the impressive Google Pixel 3 and dropping the price tag, the Google Pixel 3a can be yours at a pretty budget price. Considering prices float around the £20 a month mark, it is a phone with specs way above its price. We've put in the hard work and picked out the best couple of Google Pixel 3a deals and listed them below. With everything from big data plans to the cheapest around.
It really is a decent option, especially for the money you'll pay for it. We gave it a 4 out of 5 rating, which is frankly staggering for a mobile you can get comfortably for £20 per month. OK, so this isn't the handset for you if you're head is turned by premium features like wireless charging and glass casing. But the 5.6-inch Full HD+ OLED display looks splendid, the battery life is impressive, the 12.2MP main camera is extremely good and it even has a headphone jack! Read our full Google Pixel 3a review
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| My New Year's resolution is to finally ditch Chrome, Windows and other computing crap in 2020 Posted: 04 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST It’s time I kicked my Chrome and Windows habit. Now, I know that in the past I’ve moaned about Windows, and I’ve vowed before to stop using Chrome due to its RAM gobbling tendencies, but the problem is I’m just too lazy. All my PCs run Windows 10, most new laptops I’ll get will come with it preinstalled, and I know that my games will (mostly) run fine. It’s easy to stick with Windows, but it means I’m continuing to have to put up with its crap. Microsoft is still pushing out buggy updates, and my PC at home refuses to install an update because I seem to have some sort of Virtual Machine software installed. The update keeps telling me it can’t install without removing the software first, but I can’t for the life of me find the software in question. So, every few hours or so, Windows 10 tries (and fails) to update, then bugs me about uninstalling some random software I’m not entirely convinced is still installed. Frankly, I’ve had enough. Down with ChromeIt’s the same sorry story with Chrome. The amount of RAM it consumes on my devices, along with the wonky stability, has become a complete pain in the unmentionables. Yet, despite my moaning, both in real life and on this website (and occasionally at the same time, much to my co-workers’ annoyances), I still use it. Because I’m lazy. Chrome has all my bookmarks. My passwords. My extensions. It’s installed on all my devices, including tablets and smartphones. It’s too easy to just keep on using it. But I shouldn’t. Not when there are so many better alternatives out there. So here’s my New Year’s resolution: I’m going to stop using the software that keeps letting me down. When it comes to dropping Windows, I’ve got plenty of choice when it comes to Linux. There are some brilliant distros out there that offer polished and well supported operating systems. During my time at Linux Format (a fine magazine that you should all be reading), I grew particularly fond of elementary OS, a stylish disto that is easy to use, and being based on Debian, has got excellent app support – including Steam. Time to embrace the penguin As for games – while native support in Linux still isn’t great, things like Proton, which is a tool created by Valve, let you run Windows games in Linux via emulation. Now, that might have an impact on performance, but seeing as I’m currently running a super-powerful PC that can run the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 at 8K resolution, I could simply brute-force those games to run. And when I need to upgrade my laptop, the 16-inch MacBook Pro has really stolen my heart. If I go for that, hey presto: my Windows dependency is severed. As for ditching Chrome, there are enough alternatives out there all vying to win over disillusioned Chrome users. The easiest thing to do (remember, I am lazy) would be to switch to Microsoft’s new Edge browser. It’s based on the same Chromium engine as Edge, which means my settings can be easily ported over, and most of the extensions I’ve come to rely on will work as well. Crucially, it seems to be less of a memory hog than Chrome. Going with Microsoft’s browser doesn’t mean I can’t ditch Windows, either, as the new version of Edge is coming to a range of platforms – including Linux. But sticking with a Microsoft app built on Google tech in a way feels like a half measure. To really be rid of them both, maybe I should turn to Firefox. It used to be my daily browser before i found it getting too bloated, and switched to Chrome (oh, the irony). These days, it’s looking much better, with some excellent new features being added regularly. No matter what browser and operating system I do choose, however, I’ll be making sure that I’m no longer putting up with tech that frustrates me – and it’s a New Year’s resolution many of us should be considering.
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| Best laptop cooling pad 2020: top picks for keeping your notebook cool Posted: 04 Jan 2020 12:50 AM PST Ready to invest in the best laptop cooling pad 2020 has to offer? Laptop makers and engineers are constantly pushing the boundaries in terms of making machines thinner, and yet more powerful – the latter being a prime consideration with gaming portables, naturally. And of late, huge strides have been made in terms of powering up gaming laptops, with the ability to pack near-desktop-level equivalent GPUs into a notebook. However, this brings obvious issues in the form of not just space constraints, but heat-related problems (of course the two are closely interrelated). It’s becoming increasingly challenging to innovate with cooling systems and clever fan setups or super-efficient heat-pipes to cool a chunky CPU and GPU. Because otherwise, these parts can end up throttled back with their performance, and not so desktop-level after all… But, cooling can be an external process as well – using a laptop cooling pad, for example. As the name suggests, this is a pad your laptop sits on which provides cooling with upward-facing fans (and sometimes additional heat dissipation via the metal chassis of the pad). Which is where we come in with our top picks of the best laptop cooling pads in various different categories. From cooling pads designed for large laptops through to highly portable solutions, wallet-friendly pads, and even models with nifty integrated accessories like built-in speakers, these are the best laptop cooling pads 2020 has to offer. How laptop cooling pads help with coolingAny additional cooling the best laptop cooling pad can deliver will help in the battle against throttling. It could also potentially prolong the longevity of your laptop. That CPU and GPU will last longer if they aren’t being constantly run at overly hot temperatures. So spending a little money on some extra cooling might save you a lot of heartache by avoiding the danger of your notebook giving up the ghost early. The best laptop cooling pad can also provide a convenient place to situate your laptop on those occasions when you’re actually using it in your lap, preventing a warmer notebook from being unpleasantly hot against your legs. Note that the mileage you get from any cooling pad may vary in terms of the cooling vents present on the bottom of your notebook, and their respective position compared to the location of the fans in the pad. As common sense would dictate, a decent amount of vents on the underside of your laptop is a good thing here – and in general – and preferably these will be (roughly) lined up with the pad’s fans. Although some laptop cooling pads run with one big fan – or multiple smaller ones – that’ll hit pretty much everything, and there are even modular pads where the fans can be repositioned. Even unfortunate notebooks with no vents on the bottom can benefit somewhat from having the underside of the chassis cooled as a little bit of help in terms of temperature management. At any rate, while your mileage may vary somewhat given your exact model of laptop, you’ll likely find some benefit from a cooling pad – and perhaps a considerable one, providing, of course, that you choose the one of the best models around.
The best laptop cooling pads at a glance
The best laptop cooling pads of 2020Kootek Cooler Pad Chill Mat 5 uses five fans to deliver an impressive amount of cooling. Kootek makes a highly impressive laptop cooling pad which uses five fans (the one in the middle is a bigger 120mm model, surrounded by 70mm fans) to deliver an impressive amount of cooling – while still remaining quiet to boot. The Chill Mat scores strongly in the versatility stakes as you can switch some of the fans off (it’s possible to have one working, four, or all five), plus it can be raised (using a ratchet mechanism, like a deckchair) through six different height settings depending on your preference (you might want to crank it right up when watching a movie, for example). This cooling pad can take 12-inch to 17-inch laptops, so all common sizes, with a pair of stoppers at the front to prevent the notebook from sliding off. It also boasts a USB hub with two USB 2.0 ports. In short, this is a high quality cooling pad with flexibility in spades, and it benefits from a reasonable mid-range price tag, making it our top pick for an all-rounder that covers everything without doing too much damage to your wallet. Cooler Master Notepal XL delivers a very effective level of cooling. Cooler Master knows cool, you would hope, and the firm’s Notepal is a winner in our books. Using a single large 230mm fan – which is impressively quiet, we might add – it has a fan speed controller, and is designed to pipe ‘optimal airflow’ through your laptop. Indeed, it shifts an impressive amount of air, being rated at 89.8 cubic feet per minute; a very effective level of cooling. This device also benefits from a slightly tilted ergonomic design, aiming to give you the best angle to use your notebook’s keyboard, along with nonslip feet for stability when placed on a surface. As an added bonus, there are three USB ports around the back. The Notepal XL is capable of holding laptops up to 17-inches in size, and to cap things off, it’s reasonably priced for the cooling performance you’re getting here. This product is a very close second to the Kootek, but just loses out on the versatility front. If you can’t find the Kootek outside of the US – in some regions stock seems very thin on the ground – then this is a great alternative for powerful cooling. Thermaltake Massive 20 RGB can cope with a massive laptop as the name suggests. If you need a cooling pad suitable for a hefty notebook, then this Thermaltake product can cope with a massive laptop as the name suggests – it won’t break a sweat with a 17-inch portable, and is even capable of playing host to larger 19-inch gaming laptops. It has one 200mm fan for cooling (the fan speed is adjustable), and there are three different height settings (up to an angle of 13-degrees). The large fan provides efficient cooling for bigger laptops, plus you also get RGB lighting around the edges of the pad with various different modes (pulsing, blinking, or just static lighting of different colors). It’s fashioned from plastic and the build quality perhaps isn’t the best you’ll encounter in the cooling pad world, but it’s plenty sturdy enough to do the job of supporting a hefty gaming laptop. Note that the price tag is reasonably hefty here, too. Enermax TwisterOdio 16 provides solid cooling as well as sound quality. When thinking about laptop cooling pads which do something a little different from the norm, one possibility is an accessory that doesn’t just keep your notebook from getting too hot, but also comes with built-in speakers. Because aside from dealing with heat, another area that laptops often struggle with is providing a decent level of audio quality and volume. The Enermax TwisterOdio is only capable of dealing with laptops up to 16-inches in size, but its built-in pair of ‘DreamBass’ 2W speakers are pretty decent (and provide some bass, as the name might suggest). This pad is fairly thick, naturally enough due to those integrated speakers (which are housed in the cylinder at the rear of the pad), but surprisingly light, and provides solid cooling as well as sound quality. Incidentally, you can turn the speaker on or off, and manually adjust the fan speed. This is definitely worth considering for those who have poor laptop speakers and want a reasonably priced solution to address that issue and any cooling worries in one fell swoop. Targus Chill Mat delivers cooling via a pair of fans. For those who want their cooling pad to also provide expansion capabilities to hook up a number of other peripherals, check out the Targus Chill Mat, which is a little bit like a laptop dock crossed with a cooling solution. The Chill Mat sports a 4-port USB hub (with USB 2.0 ports), and delivers cooling via a pair of fans (although Targus doesn’t specify what size they are – although the maker does state that they can run at up to 2,500 rpm). This is a well-constructed device which is impressively slim, and can be adjusted between four different height levels. For those with laptops that have few USB ports, this could be a useful solution on twin fronts. Cooler Master MasterNotepal Maker benefits from an excellent build quality and a 'sandblasted aluminum' surface. Remember at the outset of this piece we discussed that the relative positioning of the vents in the bottom of your laptop and the fans in the cooling pad can be an important consideration? Well, one way you can ensure optimal positioning is by placing the fans yourself – and that’s possible in this modular cooling pad from Cooler Master. Modular simply means that the fans can be moved to anywhere on the cooling pad, to target exactly where you need air delivering to your laptop. The MasterNotepal Maker also benefits from an excellent build quality and a ‘sandblasted aluminum’ surface – that can also help with heat dissipation – plus this pad can be set at five different angles. There are other benefits such as excellent cable management, an attachable USB hub, and removable stoppers (to prevent the laptop from being in any danger of sliding off the stand). However, the downside to this top-of-the-range Cooler Master product is that it isn’t cheap, but for those who really want to fully tailor their pad to suit their notebook, it may well be worth the outlay. The other thing to bear in mind here is that stock seems rather thin on the ground, now, as this product has been out for some time: so if you want one, you may have to move relatively quickly. Tree New Bee Cooling Pad is a great choice that strikes a commendable balance between price and performance. If you want a very affordable solution for laptop cooling duties, well, here it is. Tree New Bee’s product runs with four 110 mm fans with adjustable speeds (the blue LED lights get dimmer as you turn the speed down – you can also turn two of the fans off, if you wish). This device is nicely priced, pretty quiet, and provides a good amount of (suitably variable) cooling, and it can be raised on a pair of legs at the back for what the makers argue is a more ergonomic typing angle (and improved cooling, with more airflow underneath, of course). The downside is there’s only one height setting, and it might be a touch steep for some. As you’ve probably seen elsewhere on this page, most products offer a range of different heights. Still, this doesn’t stop the Tree New Bee Cooling Pad from being a great choice that strikes a commendable balance between price and performance. TeckNet N8 Laptop Cooling Pad comes with a trio of 118mm cooling fans, which provide a decent level of cooling. If you want to spend as little as possible on a cooling pad, then TeckNet has a great solution which is priced as cheaply as you’ll see anywhere – and you’re still getting a decent product. The N8 comes with a trio of 118mm cooling fans which provide a decent level of cooling, plus the device benefits from a highly slim and portable design, too. It has a pair of feet that can be extended to raise it up, and a USB port to plug in an additional device (the N8 connects and is powered via USB, incidentally). The build quality perhaps isn’t the best, but the N8 is impressively quiet, and quite simply it does the job – and does it very cheaply indeed. Cooler Master Notepal X-Slim gets the nod due to its quality build. If you want a cooling pad which is nicely portable to carry around with you, then the X-Slim fits the bill. It measures only 27.5mm at its thinnest point, and it’s very light with a weight of 700g. There are other products that come close to this level of portability – Havit’s 12-inch to 17-inch Laptop Cooler, for example – but Cooler Master’s effort gets the nod due to its quality build. It’s also capable of coping with laptops up to 17-inches in size, and the single 160mm fan offers excellent airflow while keeping things whisper-quiet. The X-Slim benefits from nifty cable management facilities, too, to keep things tidy as well as portable. While the Notepal X-Slim is tidily compact, if you want a truly portable accessory to cool your laptop, check out our final entry below. Klim Cool is a very effective cooler which comes with a number of different attachments. Okay, so we thought we’d throw this one in at the end as a bit of a wildcard, because while it isn’t a laptop cooling pad as such, it’s a fan-based accessory which does a similar thing (albeit via sucking rather than blowing air). And for those who want a really portable solution, this is a truly compact affair – whereas obviously any laptop cooling pad won’t be all that small, given that they all (inevitably) have a notebook-sized footprint. Note that there is a sizeable caveat here: your laptop will need a vent at the side or rear for one of these devices to be attached. If you only have air vents on the base of your laptop, then we’re afraid you’re out of luck as far as these particular products go. As mentioned, rather than blowing air into the laptop to cool it, the idea with a so-called ‘vacuum cooler’ is that they suck air out, but that has an equally cooling effect. Some even argue it’s more effective than a traditional cooling pad, but either way, you’re getting the job done as long as you pick a good product from the available solutions out there. And in this case, our recommendation is Klim Cool, a very effective cooler which comes with a number of different attachments so you’re covered whatever the size of the air vent you’re attaching the device to. It also measures the temperature inside your laptop and automatically adjusts the fan speed for the appropriate level of cooling – pretty nifty indeed. The manufacturer backs the product with a five-year warranty and a 30-day free return policy, so you can give it a whirl to see how it works with your notebook. A further bonus is that this isn’t an expensive accessory, either, falling in line with the pricing of the more affordable cooling pads.
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| Upgrade to Vodafone's fastest fibre broadband deal at no added price Posted: 04 Jan 2020 12:39 AM PST A very late Christmas present or a gift to kick-off the new decade. However you want to see it, Vodafone currently has a promotion on its best fibre broadband deal that you can't really ignore. The offer is simple, invest in its Superfast fibre 2 package and you'll pay the exact same price as with its lower speed fibre plan. That means you're essentially getting a free speed boost, paying just £23 a month for speeds averaging 63Mb. And, it's even better news for existing Vodafone mobile customers as the cost drops down to just £21 a month, which is edging nearer to ADSL in price over fibre. Ready to get your hands on a free speed upgrade? You can find out more about it below.
Vodafone's cheap fibre broadband deal in full:What other broadband deals are there right now?While Vodafone has the world of fibre locked down, there are some even cheaper prices if you're willing to drop your speeds. Thanks to the addition of £50 in cashback, Plusnet currently stands tall as the cheapest broadband deal around. It costs £17 a month but when you take into account the cashback, you're effectively paying just £12.83 instead. Of course, if you do really want fibre but want it from another name, BT could be a good option right now. With speeds averaging 36Mb at a price of just £24.99, this is one of the best prices you can pay for BT right now. Read more:
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| iPhone 11 deals: the top 5 contracts available this weekend Posted: 03 Jan 2020 11:52 PM PST Drop whatever weekend plans you might have had lined up because we have the perfect, fun way for you to spend your days off - buying your new phone contract. Yep, we lied, it's not fun at all...but if you're looking to invest in Apple's best then we can at least help relieve the stress of it all. That's because we have spent the entire time the brand new iPhone 11 series has been out analysing what is available and finding the absolute best of the best. And although prices aren't quite Black Friday-standard anymore, there are still some promising options lurking around. With some big data plans, doubled storage options, the best EE can offer and more, we've compiled the best five iPhone 11 deals you can get your hands on this weekend below.
The top five iPhone 11 deals this weekend:What makes the iPhone 11 so good?The iPhone 11 is the cheapest of Apple's latest trio and yet, really isn't much of a downgrade. You still get Apple's new incredibly fast CPU, a 6.1-inch screen, IP68 rating and even a 3046mAh battery, enough to keep you going all the way through the day on one charge. Read our full iPhone 11 review This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Hurry! EE's big data iPhone, Google and Samsung deals end this weekend Posted: 03 Jan 2020 11:51 PM PST Only a few days in to the New Year and retailers are already jumping on the January sales bandwagon. And for anyone looking to get their hands on a brand new mobile phone deal this month, EE will be the retailer many are looking for. Luckily, the UK's fastest 4G network jumped straight into sales as soon as January kicked off, cutting prices and boosting data across a range of phones including the iPhone XR, Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus and the Google Pixel 4. However, if you are looking to get your phone directly from EE, you will have to rush. Many of the best contracts are coming to an end on Monday, giving you the weekend to get your hands on something. As is expected with EE though, the prices here are higher for some devices than you'll find elsewhere. If you're really not fussed what network you're attached to, consult our guide to the best mobile phone deals to see what else is currently available. EE's January mobile phone deals ending Monday:
Why go for an EE contract?Beyond those speedy 4G connections, there are a lot of benefits that make EE the network to go for. EE offers a data gifting scheme, that means you can send any leftover data you have to someone else that needs it. A feature that will make you very popular with friends and family. You also get access to Wi-Fi calling. That means if you're in a bit of a signal dead-zone but you've got Wi-Fi, you're all good to send as many texts and calls as you want. Another major benefit of EE is its entertainment scheme. With this you can take out six month subscriptions with Amazon Prime Video, MTV Stars and Apple Music. On top of that you can get free access to BT Sport for three months - that's a total of 21 free months of subscriptions with EE.
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| The cheapest phone in the world is a $9 watch Posted: 03 Jan 2020 09:47 PM PST Think about a phone or a mobile handset and the first thing that often comes to mind is a slab of glass, not a watch. Well, turns out that a smartwatch may now be the cheapest way to make a phone call - and we’re not talking about bluetoothing your way to a proper handset. No, there’s a whole raft of smartwatches that take a SIM card and allow you to make calls. Take the LEEHUR V8 (loosely based on L’heure, meaning the time in French) which retails for $8.99 at Gearbest and comes in black, white, red and blue.
TimelyIt packs a proper chipset, the Mediatek MTK6261D, with 64MB RAM and 128MB storage. You can add a microSD card of up to 32GB capacity. The screen itself is a 1.22-inch touchscreen model with a 240 x 240 pixel resolution. The LEEHUR V8 comes with Bluetooth 3.0, a front facing camera camera with a claimed resolution of 1.3-megapixel, a 380mAh battery and a stainless steel chassis. It has a slew of features but bear in mind that this is a watch that costs $8.99 so there’s plenty of things that can go awry. The biggest one is that the phone operates on GPRS/2G spectrum so no blazing 3G speeds here. Battery life is likely to be poor and it is not waterproof. Some of the features won’t work on an iPhone as there’s no app for it in the App Store. We’ve called one in for a quick look.
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| Dell is launching two huge new 4K monitors for the office or workplace Posted: 03 Jan 2020 08:00 PM PST Dell has updated its entire line of PC monitors ahead of CES 2020 with the aim of unleashing worker creativity and maximizing productivity. The new Dell UltraSharp 43 4K U4320Q allows workers to maximize productivity with the ability to connect up to four PCs and view content from each computer simultaneously. This new monitor is ideal for professionals in finance and engineering that require multi-monitors with high resolution for details. The U4320Q is also the world's first height adjustable 42.5-inch 4K monitor and the device's USB-C connection can even deliver up to 90W of power.
For those interested in picking up Dell's UltraSharp 43 4K U4320Q monitor, it will go on sale at the end of January with a starting price of $1,049. Dell 86 4K Interactive Touch Monitor C8621QTIn an effort to help facilitate workplace collaboration, the company has announced the new Dell 86 4K Interactive Touch Monitor C8621QT. This new 85.6-inch interactive touchscreen display features a 4K UHD resolution, 20-point multi-touch and USB-C connectivity. In order to improve accessibility and reachability for users of various heights, Dell has also included its exclusive Screen Drop Feature. The Dell 86 4K Interactive Touch Monitor C8621QT will be released later this year in April and the device will likely appeal to both the enterprise and education market.
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