Caviar unveils retail price of unique PS5 Golden Rock console and introduces two additional luxury Limited Edition versions of a black Sony PlayStation 5.
At the end of December last year, Caviar announced a special PS5 Limited Edition game console, called the Golden Rock – with a whopping 20 kilos of 18-karat gold. A sales price was not yet announced at the time, but the Russian manufacturer has now set the price. For $ 499,000 USD you can get this luxury console.
In addition, Caviar also introduced two black PlayStation 5 models with a significantly friendlier price tag. A modern and sturdy carbon edition and a more classic leather version.
Sony PS5 Golden Rock by Caviar
Gold connoisseurs will know that the cost of 20 kilos of gold is already three times the retail price of the PS5 Golden Rock console. Caviar has therefore decided to reduce the amount of gold to 4.5 kilograms – this makes the console more affordable, without compromising on the design.
Since its announcement a month and a half ago, Caviar has received more than 1,300 requests for this luxury PS5. Among those who showed interest was famed US basketball player LeBron James. The company also received an order from a well-known Russian businessman and an equally famous American IT businessman, whose names have not been disclosed.
Although the price of almost half a million dollars is of course not feasible for all 1000+ candidates, the high demand has made Caviar to decide it will manufacture not one, but 9 Limited Edition consoles. The first test sample is currently being made in a Russian gold atelier. It will take about 4 months to produce this unique PlayStation 5.
PlayStation 5 Black Carbon
Many PlayStation fans are looking forward to the moment when Sony will release a PS5 Black edition, as the renewed two-tone design is not appreciated by everyone. Caviar cleverly responds to this demand by releasing two luxurious black PlayStation 5 consoles.
The Carbon model is an exclusive and sturdy console of which 99 copies will be produced. With a retail price of $ 5,830 USD, this is the cheapest option that Caviar offers. Sustainable carbon from the automotive industry has been used to manufacture this game console. Caviar’s logo is made of 24-karat gold.
Caviar supplies two matching DualSense controllers as standard, which have also been given a cool Carbon make-over.
PS5 Black Alligator Limited Edition
Do you think the Carbon model is too modern? Caviar has also released a more classic model with black alligator leather. The name inscription on this console is also encased in 24 carat gold. The gamepad has been given a matching look and, thanks to the soft leather, will offer an extra nice grip.
Caviar will produce 99 copies of this PS5 Limited Edition. The retail price of this console is set at $ 8,140 USD.
Skin company Dbrand is now selling its blacked-out PlayStation 5 “Darkplates” for the digital edition of the console. The company released the panels for the disk version of the console last week, but now they’re available for people who have said goodbye to physical media as well. At time of writing, Dbrand is estimating that the digital edition plates will ship in May, and they cost $60.95.
The “Darkplates” are designed to replace the PS5’s standard (and striking, but not necessarily in a good way) white side panels with matte black ones instead. The company is also sticking with its typically aggressive marketing style by replicating Sony’s texture patterning, but with images of Dbrand’s logo instead. If you’re lucky enough to have the console, are looking to make it blend in a bit more, and don’t mind scrolling through some cringe (or cool, depending on your tastes) marketing, you can check out the Darkplates store page.
Microsoft today announced the Xbox Wireless Headset, which it described as “the future of gaming audio,” and started to accept pre-orders for the accessory. The headset was purportedly designed in tandem with the next-gen Xbox Series X and S consoles but will remain compatible with the Xbox One line and Windows 10 PCs.
The Xbox Wireless Headset seems like a response to the Pulse 3D headset Sony announced alongside the PlayStation 5. Both of the offerings support 3D audio, noise cancellation, and wireless connectivity; both are compatible with next-gen consoles as well as their predecessors; both charge via USB-C; and both cost $100.
But the Xbox Wireless Headset appears to take the lead in some categories. Microsoft’s headset offers 3D audio via Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos, and DTS Headphone: X; Sony’s is limited to the PS5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech. The Xbox Wireless Headset is also said to offer up to three additional hours of battery life.
Sony and Microsoft also seem to have emphasized different aspects of the gaming experience with their headsets. The Pulse 3D headset features dual hidden microphones and a stark design evocative of the PS5 itself. The Xbox Wireless Headset, meanwhile, has a protruding mic that looks like every other headset’s.
Combine those decisions with some other features, such as the Xbox Wireless Headset’s ability to wirelessly pair with a smartphone and an Xbox console simultaneously, and it’s clear that Microsoft prioritized function over fashion. (As if the massive “Xbox” on the cans didn’t make that clear enough on its own.)
We’d have to use the Xbox Wireless Headset ourselves to determine whether or not it’s one of the best gaming headsets on the market. Microsoft is accepting pre-orders for the headset via the Microsoft Store for $99 now; the headset is expected to debut on March 16. Hopefully it stays in better stock than other next-gen offerings.
(Pocket-lint) – When the original Evil Genius was released for PC, it brought a breath of fresh air to the real-time strategy/base building genre. Putting you in the shoes of a Bond-style villain was, well, genius.
There are few things better than planning and building your own evil lair, and we’ve often returned to the sim ever since.
Now, more than 16 years later, Rebellion has followed it up with a sequel that retains everything that was great and good about the first outing, but brings it kicking and screaming into the 20s.
We’ve had a chance to play through the tutorial that starts Evil Genius 2: World Domination to give you our initial thoughts.
Taking over
Like the original, Evil Genius 2 puts you in the shoes of a megalomaniac with a penchant for world domination and his own evil lair. This time though, the base is on a tropical island and hidden behind a casino, at least in the tutorial campaign we’ve played so far.
There are four evil geniuses in the game in total, each with their own full campaign and story – Max, Ivan, Emma and Zalika. There are also three islands to play on and a host of different types of henchmen and minions to help you in your quest.
Rebellion
Each villain also gets his or her own unique doomsday device to develop throughout the story, and super agents that will visit to halt your evil plans.
We played as Max in the tutorial and opening of the campaign, who is perhaps the most known of the geniuses being as he was also on the cover of the first game. However, the main star we’ve encountered so far is the lair itself.
Building blocks
Like all great base builders, the most important thing to get right initially is constructing your lair. It’s incredibly simple to get to grips with in Evil Genius 2 and feels familiar, even if you haven’t played the original.
You draw a grid on an available zone, make sure you include a door frame and your minions will do the rest. Depending on the room, you will be offered different furniture or gadgets to install.
Rebellion
You also have to take into account where spies might enter, as they will attempt to undo all your good work, but we didn’t get that far in our relatively brief play – we’ll have to update you more when we get to review the game in full closer to its end of March release date.
Some of the more specialist rooms enable you to create more specialist minions, while others help you take on the numerous important objectives and side missions you’ll encounter in the campaign.
One hugely impressive aspect this time around is that your lair can be massive and complex, not only stretching over a large area but also multiple levels. Even after the first half-an-hour or so, you’ll have numerous rooms built and the plan will start to look busy and intricate. It also looks great both close-up and from a distance/above, not least thanks to sticking to the 1960’s graphical style of Evil Genius 1.
Best PS5 games 2021: Amazing PlayStation 5 titles to pick up
By Max Freeman-Mills
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Smooth operators
We have to admit, we need a lot more play time with EG2 to get more of a feel for global operations (objectives outside of your base) and the nuances of different henchmen, but we can safely say that Rebellion has got it spot on when it comes to the aesthetics.
Rebellion
Evil Genius 2 is stunning looking. We played the preview build on an Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX531, running an Nvidia RTX 2080 and it ran like butter – as smooth and silky as you like. Of course, this genre of game isn’t known to be graphically demanding, but the animation of each individual minion, when you zoom in close, is great. Plus, when you have plenty of rooms built and hundreds of employees whizzing around, you will be pleased at the level of detail on offer.
The game has a keen sense of character, with great comedy elements and subtle moments. Certainly, we spent a large amount of time just observing what was going on in the background and look forward to doing so more when the final release version is available.
First Impressions
To be honest, we’ve spent too fleeting a time with the game so far, but can already see it’s shaping up nicely. It’s exhibiting signs that it will be a more than worthy successor to one of our favourite sims of yesteryear.
It looks right, beautifully styled and seemingly will have enough extra depth to provide a decent challenge, no matter your skill level.
Add to that the announcement that, for the first time, it will include a free sandbox mode where you can build a base without the constraints of a story, and it could be everything a fan of the original could have hoped for.
We can’t wait to get the full game in for testing, that’s for sure.
Evil Genius 2: World Domination will be available for PC from 30 March 2021. It’ll be available exclusively on Steam and those who pre-purchase it will get 10 per cent off. That rises to 15 per cent if you own the original Evil Genius.
While Deep Silver’s and 4A Games Metro Exodus has been available for several years, that hasn’t stopped the developer from improving upon it. Today, it was announced that the game would see a new edition called Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition, which will bring DLSS 2.0 to the game and more ray tracing features than you can shake a stick at, but only if you have the latest graphics cards.
This upgraded version will take advantage of 4A’s new fully Ray Tracing Lighting Pipeline and adds support for Nvidia and AMD hardware. Those who picked up AMD’s latest graphics cards will have another game that will provide ray tracing support. Nvidia cards will benefit from DLSS 2.0, while there’s no word on if support for AMD’s DLSS competitor, DirectML Super Resolution, will be added.
“We have built an all-new Fully Ray Traced Lighting Pipeline that brings a number of optimizations, upgrades, and new features to the Ray Traced Global Illumination and Emissive Lighting that we pioneered with the original release of Metro Exodus, as well as an upgraded implementation of our powerful Temporal Reconstruction technology to further boost resolution, visual detail, and performance.” — Deep Silver / 4A Games Press Release
This upgraded version will take advantage of 4A’s new Fully Ray Tracing Lighting Pipeline and adds support for Nvidia and AMD hardware. Those who picked up AMD’s latest graphics cards will have another game that will provide ray tracing support. Nvidia cards will benefit from DLSS 2.0, while there’s no word on if AMD’s DLSS competitor, DirectML Super Resolution, will be added.
However, this is more than just a mere upgrade. As there are many added features under the hood, this wouldn’t be released as a patch. Instead, it will be released as a separate version of the game that will be free for all existing Metro Exodus owners on the Epic Games Store Steam and GOG. The Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition will be available in Spring 2021.
This upgraded version is strictly for ray traced enabled hardware, as the bare minimum for even playing the game will require either Nvidia’s or AMD’s capable hardware. If you try to run the game and don’t have a GPU that can provide ray tracing, the game won’t run. This also means you probably don’t want to try running Nvidia’s software-enabled ray tracing on the GTX series cards.
(Image credit: 4A)
In addition to The Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition version, 4A games have also announced that Metro Exodus is also making its way to both Mac and Linux. These versions were promised some time ago and are still in the works. The Mac version will be available in March 2021, while the Linux version looking like a much later 2021 release.
Ray tracing support is also heading to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S consoles. The beefer consoles, PS5 and Xbox Series X, will run at 4K / 60FPS with full ray traced lighting. The Xbox Series S will also see upgraded ray tracing features, but not 4K as the console wasn’t designed around 4K gaming. The PS5 version will benefit from added haptic feedback for the DualSense controller. While the Xbox Series X|S will see spatial audio and controller latency improvements.
Metro Exodus is the conclusion to the Metro gaming series, which has spanned three games and is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, while being backward compatible for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Overcooked All You Can Eat, which bundles all of the content from Overcooked and Overcooked 2 into one big package, will be released on Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam on March 23rd, developer Ghost Town Games announced on Monday. Right now, the game is only available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, so a lot more players will be able to jump into this combined bundle with the wider release.
Overcooked All You Can Eat also serves as a remaster for the games, running at 60fps and a 4K resolution. The game also has faster loading times, which I personally am happy to hear about. Levels in the Switch version of Overcooked 2 sometimes loaded frustratingly slowly.
HOT NEWS JUST IN
Overcooked! All You Can Eat comes to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One & Steam March 23rd!
Both original games & new content New kitchens & chefs New accessibility options & assist mode Online multiplayer for ALL kitchens Cross-play coming soon
THE SCANDAL! pic.twitter.com/ndh8cGwWVz
— Overcooked (@Overcookedgame) February 15, 2021
Ghost Town Games also announced that Overcooked All You Can Eat will be getting support for crossplay multiplayer on all platforms in an update coming “soon.” The game already supported crossplay on PS5 and Xbox Series X, so it’s great to see that it will be expanded to all platforms. Overcooked is a fantastic multiplayer game, and being able to play with friends no matter what platform they’re on will make it that much easier to experience some cooking mayhem.
Overcooked All You Can Eat also has some assist mode options and new accessibility features.
Playstation 5 scalpers are mad that people don’t like them, according to recent interviews they had with Forbes writer Janhoi McGregor, and it’s hilarious. The writer recently spoke to several British scalpers who were trying to recover their public image, probably in light of recent efforts from UK legislators to ban scalping, which gives us not only only a rare look inside the scalper mindset, but also a look into how they operate.
Scalping has been a thorn in the side of anyone looking to buy consumer tech throughout 2020 and into 2021, from the RTX 3000 series to Ryzen 5000 chips to the Playstation 5. The problem’s only gotten worse as the pandemic has closed down brick and mortar stores and forced shoppers to a purely online ecosystem, where they have to contend with bots that can buy faster than any person. We’ve spoken with cybersecurity experts before about the problems scalping poses for consumers and the threat it poses to dollar value in the larger economy, but scalpers themselves have a simple retort: “What makes us so different from Walmart?”
These sentiments come from a recent Forbes story where writer Janhoi McGregor sought to get the scalpers’ side of the story. And while McGregor’s sources gave him some pretty amusing rationalizations, they also pulled back the curtain a bit on how they actually operate.
“There seems to be A LOT of bad press on this incredibly valuable industry and I do not feel that it is justified,” a scalper named Jordan told McGregor. Jordan is the co-founder of a private scalping group (also called a “cook group”) known as The Lab. “All we are acting as is a middleman for limited quantity items.”
We do have to question the effectiveness of saying “I’m just a middleman” as a defense. Middlemen aren’t exactly known for their likability.
Jokes aside, Jordan attempted to justify scalping to McGregor by comparing scalpers to grocery stores. “Essentially every business resells their products,” he said. “Tesco, for example, buys milk from farmers for 26p or so per liter. No one ever seems to complain to the extent as they are currently doing towards ourselves.”
To be fair, Tesco also buys in bulk that’s not economical for individuals and handles shipping and stocking of more reasonably sized products for the consumer, whereas scalpers buy products that are already marked up for individual purchase and add no extra convenience or value for their customers. While there’s certainly valid criticisms to be levied against current market setups, it would feel wrong if we didn’t point out that adding an unnecessary extra layer of middlemen is hardly analogous to what supermarkets do.
Or, as one gamer told McGregor about Jordan’s analogy, “He is deluded. He doesn’t get he’s another layer of profiteering in his own Tesco analogy. He’s not Robin Hood.”
But we’re not here to debunk scalper justifications, as easy and entertaining as it is. You can probably do that yourself. What’s perhaps most interesting in McGregor’s article is what scalpers had to say about the methods they use to run their “businesses.”
For instance, one of Jordan’s partners, named Regan, told McGregor about a bot he uses to mass purchase Supreme’s highly-demanded clothing. Called Volex, the bot can check out items in 2.3 seconds and bypass 3D Secure, which is a legally mandated security check for online purchases in the UK that verifies whether a shopper is the legitimate owner of their card.
Normally, 3D Secure redirects buyers to another site owned by their bank. But Velox avoids this through methods that Regan wasn’t willing to share.
McGregor talked to web security consultant Edward Spencer, who said that the scalpers are probably using pre-paid cards from outside the EU, and suggested that shops could probably thwart it by rejecting all non-3D Secure transactions.
Of course, this only applies to European purchases, which is why McGregor also spoke to a scalper going by Alex who attempted to build his own PS5 purchasing bot. Alex’s bot was a website scraper that automated checkout. Alex said that while his bot was faster than a human, it still wasn’t fast enough to compete with the bots like Volex that cook groups sell for thousands of dollars. That’s because while his bot interacted with the website, other scalping bots interact directly with severs.
“For Walmart, there was an open API for their stock,” Alex told McGregor. “Some of these bots could add a PS5 to their shopping cart, and then they could purchase it from there.”
These kinds of bots can even let scalpers
buy stock before it officially becomes available
, as happened with Argos the day before it started officially selling PS5s. While the store eventually shut down the loophole, the end message here is that, without oversight, scalpers will always find a way.
That kind of innovation usually requires plenty of resources, which is why many of McGregor’s sources “operate as a business, in some cases with full time staff.”
So, perhaps at least one aspect of Jordan’s Tesco analogy holds water. Going back to justifications, Jordan also told McGregor how his group donates to charity and is just trying to “help people make some extra money for themselves,” though Regan was more blunt…and honest.
“Your average person who just wants one of the consoles to use struggles to get close. A lot of these sites have very minimal or easy to bypass bot protection. They often release stocks at stupid times or without any form of schedule…The only people who will have known about those restocks will have been people with monitors inside of cook groups.”
These concerns match some of what we heard when we spoke to cybersecurity experts like Larry Bates, which is interesting to hear coming from the other side. It’s also enlightening, as it provides some concrete steps governments and stores can take to prevent scalping, which up to this point has proven legally difficult as it runs the risk of interfering with the right to sell one’s own property.
In the meantime, we assume that if the UK’s anti-scalping bill does pass, we’ll get even more choice quotes from scalpers about how, actually, they’re the real heroes here.
Finding the best graphics card at anything approaching reasonable pricing has become increasingly difficult. Just about everything we’ve tested in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy is sold out unless you go to eBay, but current eBay prices will take your breath away. If you thought things were bad before, they’re apparently getting even worse. No doubt, a lot of this is due to the recent uptick in Ethereum mining’s profitability on GPUs, compounded by component shortages, and it’s not slowing down.
A couple of weeks back, we wrote about Michael Driscoll tracking scalper sales of Zen 3 CPUs. Driscoll also covered other hot ticket items like RTX 30-series GPUs, RDNA2 / Big Navi GPUs, Xbox Series S / X, and PlayStation 5 consoles. Thankfully, he provided the code to his little project, and we’ve taken the opportunity to run the data (with some additional filtering out of junk ‘box/picture only’ sales) to see how things are going in the first six weeks of 2021. Here’s how things stand for the latest AMD and Nvidia graphics cards:
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That’s … disheartening. Just in the past month, prices have increased anywhere from 10% to 35% on average. The increase is partly due to the recent graphics card tariffs, and as you’d expect, the jump in prices is more pronounced on the lower-priced GPUs.
For example, the RTX 3060 Ti went from average prices of $690 in the first week of January to $920 in the past week. It also represents nearly 3,000 individual sales on eBay, after filtering out junk listings — and these are actual sales, not just items listed on eBay. RTX 3080 saw the next-biggest jump in pricing, going from $1,290 to $1,593 for the same time periods, with 3,400 listings sold.
Nvidia’s RTX 3070 represents the largest number of any specific GPU sold, with nearly 5,400 units, but prices have only increased 17% — from $804 in January to $940 in February. The February price is interesting because it’s only slightly higher than the RTX 3060 Ti price, which suggests strongly that it’s Ethereum miners snapping up most of these cards. (The 3060 Ti hits roughly the same 60MH/s as the 3070 after tuning since they both have the same 8GB of GDDR6 memory.)
Wrapping up Nvidia, the RTX 3090 accounts for 2,291 units sold on eBay, with pricing increasing 14% since January. For the most expensive GPU that already had an extreme price, it’s pretty shocking to see it move up from $2,087 to a new average of $2,379. I suppose it really is the heir to the Titan RTX throne now.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
We see a similar pattern on the AMD side, but at far lower volumes in terms of units sold. The RX 6900 XT had 334 listings sold, with average pricing moving up just 8% from $1,458 to $1,570 during the past six weeks. Considering it delivers roughly the same mining performance as the less expensive Big Navi GPUs, that makes sense from the Ethereum mining perspective.
Radeon RX 6800 XT prices increased 11% from $1,179 in January to $1,312 in February. It’s also the largest number of GPUs sold (on eBay) for Team Red, at 448 graphics cards. Not far behind is the RX 6800 vanilla, with 434 units. It saw the biggest jump in pricing over the same period, from $865 to $1,018 (18%). That strongly correlates with expected profits from GPU mining.
That’s both good and bad news. The good news is that gamers are most likely being sensible and refusing to pay these exorbitant markups. The bad news is that as long as mining remains this profitable, stock and pricing of graphics cards isn’t likely to recover. It’s 2017 all over again, plus the continuing effects of the pandemic.
The Nintendo Switch continues to perform very well, selling the most units out of any other gaming hardware in the US in January, according to gaming analyst firm The NPD Group. But Sony’s PlayStation 5 still made more money last month, despite a more limited supply.
According to NPD’s January report, the Switch was the bestselling hardware platform in terms of units sold in January — the highest of any platform in that specific month since the Nintendo Wii in 2010. Despite this, Sony’s next-gen console earned the highest dollar sales total for the month of January, breaking the previous record set by the Nintendo Wii in 2009.
There are a few reasons why the Switch might have sold more units but made less money than the PS5. Most notably, the PS5’s starting price begins at $100 more than the Switch, with the digital-only PS5 retailing for $400 and the disc drive model retailing for $500.
The PS5 has been out for nearly three months yet, just like the Xbox Series X / S, the PS5 has been very difficult to buy, with retailers mostly hosting online sales due to severe supply shortages. With no signs of retailers selling the PS5 in stores anytime soon due to the ongoing pandemic, the only way you can buy a PS5 from a retail store is to wait for another wave of PS5 restocks to appear online. But when they do, they typically sell out in minutes, and Sony’s strong numbers for the month suggest it’s going through its stock as fast as possible. NPD’s report makes no mention of Microsoft’s new Xbox consoles.
Nintendo’s console has been impacted by the pandemic, too, as the Switch was a bit difficult to find last spring, but supplies have remained relatively healthy since. The Switch has also seen restocks of the base console and various bundles, including limited-edition ones like the newly released Mario-themed bundle.
It’s fair to say the PlayStation 5’s huge, two-tone industrial design is not for everyone, and now Dbrand says it has a solution. The company best known for its custom phone skins and cases has put “Darkplates” on sale, with the promise that the precisely carved slabs of plastic will turn your PS5 into a murdered-out matte-black hunk of hardware.
This isn’t just an unofficial accessory — Dbrand is actively encouraging Sony to sue it for putting the product out. The background there is that a small company, first called PlateStation5 then CustomizeMyPlates, was forced to cancel and refund orders for a similar product last year following legal action from Sony. Now Dbrand’s order page reads “Go ahead, sue us” at the top.
The goading doesn’t stop there. Dbrand’s Darkplate features a spin on the PlayStation button icons microtexture found on the PS5 and its controller. The company describes it as “a familiar-but-legally-distinct apocalyptic spin on the classic PlayStation button shapes.”
The Darkplate also has an optional skin for the glossy black middle section of the PS5, in case you want to customize its color or just make it less of a breeding ground for fingerprints. Beyond the matte black option, there are plain yellow and white skins as well as patterns like “robot camo” and “redcode.”
Converting your PS5 to matte black won’t be particularly cheap and might not be all that quick. One set of plates sells for $49 plus shipping, while adding a middle skin takes the base price up to $60.95. All three waves of product set to ship in February, March, and April respectively have sold out in the past couple of hours, while a fourth wave for May is now available for backorder. The PS5 Digital Edition version of the plates, meanwhile, hasn’t yet been put on sale at all.
Matthew Wilson 1 day ago Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming
Last week, Square Enix officially announced ‘Endwalker’, the next expansion for Final Fantasy 14. Now, the development team’s pre-expansion patch plans are beginning to come to light, with the first arriving in April.
Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.5 is coming on the 13th of April, coinciding with the game’s open beta on PlayStation 5. This update will be split into two parts, setting the world up for the events of Endwalker later this year.
The update is called ‘Death Unto Dawn’, with part one featuring the third chapter of YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse, a Nier-inspired alliance raid. Other features of this patch include:
New Main Scenario Quests – A two-part story paving the way for Endwalker.
NewAlliance Raid – The third chapter of the NieR-inspired YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse alliance raid series.
“Sorrow of Werlyt” Questline Update – The conclusion of the Warrior of Light and Gaius’ quest to thwart the Empire’s warmachina development project.
New Trial: The Cloud Deck – Players can face off against the fearsome Diamond Weapon in this latest trial, which will be available in both Normal and Extreme difficulties.
New Dungeon: Paglth’an.
“Save the Queen”Questline Update – Alongside the addition of a new field area, “Zadnor,” players can further upgrade their Resistance Weapons to their final and most powerful stage.
New Unreal Trial – The next powered-up version of an existing primal will be unleashed upon level 80 heroes, providing players with a new challenge and a chance to collect unique prizes.
Crafter Updates.
Ishgard Restoration Update.
“Explorer Mode” Update – The Explorer Mode feature will be expanded to all Level 70 dungeons. Explorer Mode allows players to explore dungeons free from danger to capture striking and fun screenshots while enabling the use of mounts and minions. Players will also now be able to use performance actions while in dungeons, such as playing musical instruments.
Performance Action Updates – Players will now be able to change instruments at any time while performing, and a new instrument will be added.
Job Adjustments for PvE and PvP Actions, New Custom Deliveries, Ocean Fishing Update, New Mounts and more.
Currently, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is scheduled to release in Autumn 2021, featuring the finale of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story that began in A Realm Reborn.
KitGuru Says: Are many of you still playing Final Fantasy XIV? Are you looking forward to the new expansion later this year?
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ESA planning Digital E3 in June, needs publisher backing for keynotes
We’ve known for a while now that the ESA is planning a digital version of …
HyperX delivers a headset that’s meant to roll out of the box and into service. The Cloud Revolver offers 7.1 surround sound for gaming and wide soundscape, and listening to music is a great experience. But the price tag is a stumbling block for what you get in the box.
For
Great audio clarity
Steel lends it fantastic build quality
Solid sound out-of-the-box
Against
Very few audio tweaking options
Can make ears a little warm
Expensive for the offering
The HyperX Cloud Revolver + 7.1 gets some things right in its quest to compete among the best gaming headsets. Compared to some of its other offerings, like the HyperX Cloud II Wireless, the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 offers more and higher quality memory foam, as well as firm steel. And despite the smaller drivers, HyperX promises a stronger, more robust sound scape on the Cloud Revolver 7.1 than some of its other offerings.
But at $150, this is an odd product. Although it’s wired, it’s the same price as the Cloud II Wireless, which offers similar features, like virtual 7.1 surround sound and a detachable noise-cancelling microphone.
The Cloud Revolver + 7.1 comes with an audio-boosting digital signal processor (DSP) via a handy USB sound card that also provides audio controls and virtual 7.1 surround sound. But it’s surround sound and audio in general isn’t tweak-friendly, keeping the package simple but hard to perfect.
HyperX Cloud Revolver + 7.1 Specs
Driver Type
50mm neodymium
Impedance
32 Ohms
Frequency Response
10 Hz-23.2 KHz
Microphone Type
Detachable condenser noise-cancelling
Connectivity
USB Type-A or 3.5mm
Weight
Headset-only: 0.83 pounds (375g)
Headset, mic, cable: 1 pound (452g)
Cords
6.67 feet (2.03m) USB-A cable and 7.1 dongle
3.33 feet (1m) 3.5mm
Lighting
None
Software
HyperX Ngenuity (Beta)
Design and Comfort
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The HyperX Cloud Revolver + 7.1 is an update of an older design: the original HyperX Cloud Revolver released in 2016. The general build remains the same, though HyperX has removed all the color from the overall design. While the original was black matte plastic and steel with red HyperX red highlights, the 2021 edition saps all the color. Instead, the highlights are in a simple, understated white. There’s no RGB on this headset, just crisp, clean black and white.
A single piece of steel runs across the entire headband from ear cup to ear cup. Not only is that the most striking part of the design, it also provides stability. Underneath that steel band is an adjustable smaller band that sits on top of your head. That band is made of leatherette and memory foam, providing a smooth cushion for the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 to rest upon.
The ear cups themselves are pretty hefty, with a design that looks like speakers on the outside flanked by the steel fins of the headband. On the inside of the ear cups, you’ll find more leatherette and memory foam. There’s more foam here than in some of HyperX’s cheaper headset models. There are no controls on the ear cups—no volume roller or mute button here—but there is a 3.5mm jack for the detachable microphone. The mic itself is flexible but can’t be slid into a position where it’s out of your face and lacks any indicator for when it’s muted.
All told, while it’s not the lightest headset I’ve tested, the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 feels pretty good. The headset itself is 0.83 pounds (375g), but the distribution of weight is fantastic. It sits light on the top of your head, and any clamping pressure around the ears is lessened by the memory foam pads. I have a pretty big head though, and I get the feeling it might be too roomy for those with tiny heads—the metal band is around 9 inches across, and the gap between the earcup pads is around 6-6.5 inches. There’s also not a ton of twist in ear cups, and for long sessions I could feel the insides getting a little warm.
The Cloud Revolver is a fully-wired headset. There’s a braided cable that runs from the left ear cup that cannot be detached. It’s around 3.33 feet (1m) in length, ending in a 3.5mm jack. HyperX only specs the headset to work with PC and PS4, but with the 3.5mm connection it should work with an Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4 (PS4) and PlayStation 5 (PS5).
Then there’s the USB sound card. It has a 3.5mm jack for plugging in the headset and ends in a USB Type-A connector for use with your PC. With the box, you get boosted audio via a digital signal processing sound card, as well as the ability to use virtual 7.1 surround sound. This plugs into your PC, PS4, or PS5. On the sound card dongle, you’ll find volume controls for the headset and microphone, a mute button on the side and a big button for activating the 7.1 surround sound capabilities. The mute button and 7.1 button both light up, letting you know which mode you’re in for each feature. The dongle also has a clip on the back for attaching to your shirt or pants to keep it in handy.
Cloud Revolver + 7.1 Audio Performance
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
HyperX markets the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 as a “studio-grade” headset. It has 50mm drivers, in line with most of its competition, but sports a larger frequency range than most. The can stretches from 10 Hz to 23.2 kHz, giving it an edge on both ends against some in this price range. That means a relatively wide soundscape.
There is one problem though. This headset utilizes HyperX’s own version of virtual 7.1 surround sound. There’s no tweaking and no equalizer available in HyperX’s software suite. And there’s no support for something like DTS Headphone:X or Dolby surround. HyperX’s 7.1 utilizes Windows Sonic on PC for any tweaks; the problem I have is that while Windows Sonic is great for positioning, I find the overall audio quality and available settings are far better on DTS Headphone:X or Dolby. The company did have a version of this headset that had Dolby support, the Cloud Revolver S, but that product doesn’t look like it’s being produced anymore. The headset we’re reviewing is essentially a non-Dolby rebrand of the S.
I loaded up Hitman 3; One of the new levels in this entry in the series, Berlin, is an excellent test with 7.1 on. The level takes place in an underground club hidden in a derelict power plant. Voices came through on the headset clearly, from the correct virtual channels with no distortion. The real test was below though. As you round the stairs into the club proper, there’s loud, booming techno music playing, with a good meaty bass beat to it. Even among the cacophony, Hitman 3 is still great about allowing you to hear audio dialog that may point to future assassinations. It’s a pretty chaotic scene in terms of sound, especially with the ebb and flow of the techno as you move around the environment, and the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 handled it well.
The Cloud Revolver + 7.1 is only guaranteed to work with PC and PS4, as per HyperX. But my PS5 recognized it immediately in sound devices when I plugged it in via USB. I didn’t have any sound initially, leading me to assume it didn’t work, but the trick with the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 is the audio controls on the dongle work independently of the system volume. You can have the system volume up, but the dongle volume down, and hear nothing.
Playing Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, I found the system’s 3D audio worked well with the Cloud Revolver + 7.1. Walking around the city to get a feel of the directional sound, I could walk around a running car and clearly hear the engine humming along from the correct direction.
In terms of clarity, I could hear every thwip of the web-shooters alongside the whipping winds, the low bass beat of the soundtrack and even J. Jonah Jameson’s annoying radio broadcast. However, I did notice a little loss of clarity in the highs, with strings in the ambient soundtrack blending a bit with some of the city’s sounds.
The first music track I tried on the headset was Jason Derulo’s “Lifestyle.” It works well as a test case because of the transition from the early parts of the song. You have the thrumming of the bass guitar contrasted with Derulo’s vocals, which are then joined by accompaniment and staccato claps. Once the chunky bass in the chorus comes in, the song is playing on nearly every level. It’s got a little bit of everything.
Listening to the track on the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 allowed me to test the difference in the standard stereo versus the 7.1 surround. In stereo, there was wonderful differentiation and clarity between the different parts of the song. The wider soundscape really showed up to play. Switching to surround sound, it was clear that HyperX’s solution pushes the mids back, really playing up the highs and lows.
Across few other tracks, I actually found aspects of the music that was missing in my day-to-day headset. Gfriend’s “Labyrinth” had a sort of alternating high xylophone-style sound in the background of the chorus I never noticed before. And the understated low piano in the bridge of Clean Bandit’s “Higher” was suddenly apparent. There’s just an excellent amount of separation and clarity to the overall sound on this headset. It’s probably one of the better music listening experiences at this price point.
Microphone
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The microphone on the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 is a unidirectional condenser mic that you can detach from the headset. My recordings sounded pretty good, though they came across a little warm overall. Vocal clarity was pretty good, but there was still audible popping.
Noise cancellation, meanwhile, was decent. The headset took care of a good amount of environmental sound. There was someone mowing the lawn outside of my apartment, for example, and that wasn’t in the recording much. My local television noise also didn’t come through on recordings.
The boom mic is flexible, allowing for decent placement in front of your mouth. I also actually prefer having the mic mute on the dongle because it means you’re not getting a noise in your recording trying to mute your mic.
HyperX specs the Cloud Revolver + 7.1’s mic for a frequency response of 50 Hz – 7.7 kHz.
Software
HyperX has beta software, NGenuity, that works with many of its gaming peripherals, including some headsets. The Cloud Revolver + 7.1, however, is not meant to work with any software. Instead, HyperX targets this at users who want a simple plug-and-play package. But those who like to tweak their audio or want to address any perceived weaknesses in the Cloud Revolver + 7.1’s performance is out of luck.
If you want to do any virtual speaker positioning regarding the 7.1 surround sound, you can use the standard Windows menus via Windows Sonic.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
With the Cloud Revolver + 7.1, HyperX has crafted cans with great build quality, effective virtual 7.1 surround sound support, a nice wide soundscape and versatility through its two connection options (3.5mm or USB Type-A).It also delivers one of the better music-listening experiences I’ve had in the $150 price range.
However, the virtual 7.1 surround sound here is a step down from the immersive feel and customization options premium competitors, like Dolby, offer. And HyperX’s lack of audio tweaking options means you’re essentially stuck with what you get out of the box. The company could gain some ground simply by fixing that.
There are more customizable options with advanced surround sound for less. As of writing, Logitech Pro X is about $20 cheaper than our review focus, and you get DTS Headphone X 2.0 support, an extensive audio equalizer and Blue microphone audio tweaks via Logitech software. The Razer BlackShark V2 offers THX Spatial Audio for a whopping $50 less. And that’s all before you even get into wireless headset options, which are pretty price-competitive these days.
Sure, I might love listening to music on the Cloud Revolver + 7.1, but a gaming headset is more than that. And frankly, HyperX is still behind the competition in terms of bells-and-whistles.
But if you’re not into tweaking and just want something that offers decent virtual surround sound and covers a wide range of frequencies out of the box while sitting comfortably on your noggin, the Cloud Revolver + 7.1 is worth a look.
Every DualSense controller has 40,000 tiny PlayStation symbols
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
When my colleague Andrew Webster reviewed the PlayStation 5, he explained how Sony’s next-generation of video games is something you can’t see — you have to touch. Part of that is how the amazing DualSense controller’s clever motorized triggers and intensely precise vibrations can recreate the crunching sensation of strutting across a sandy beach or the pitter-patter of rain.
Another part: the 40,000 tiny PlayStation symbols you’ll feel when you pick up the PS5’s new gamepad. As an Easter egg for its fans, the company decided to apply a microtexture to the DualSense controller’s entire lower shell that makes it Sony’s most grippable gamepad yet, because of the thousands upon thousands of tiny squares, triangles, circles and crosses literally at your fingertips.
The same photo, zoomed in. Slide the divider to the left to see more of the PlayStation symbols close up.“,”image_left”:{“ratio”:”*”,”original_url”:”https://rondea.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/echo/vpavic_4278_20201030_0187.jpg”,”network”:”verge”,”bgcolor”:”white”,”pinterest_enabled”:false,”caption”:null,”credit”:null,”focal_area”:{“top_left_x”:0,”top_left_y”:0,”bottom_right_x”:2040,”bottom_right_y”:1360},”bounds”:[0,0,2040,1360],”uploaded_size”:{“width”:2040,”height”:1360},”focal_point”:null,”asset_id”:22015301,”asset_credit”:”Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge”,”alt_text”:””},”image_right”:{“ratio”:”*”,”original_url”:”https://rondea.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/echo/20201030_Sean_Hollister_Verge_1.jpg”,”network”:”verge”,”bgcolor”:”white”,”pinterest_enabled”:false,”caption”:null,”credit”:null,”focal_area”:{“top_left_x”:0,”top_left_y”:0,”bottom_right_x”:2200,”bottom_right_y”:1467},”bounds”:[0,0,2200,1467],”uploaded_size”:{“width”:2200,”height”:1467},”focal_point”:null,”asset_id”:22286866,”asset_credit”:null,”alt_text”:””},”credit”:”Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge”}” data-cid=”apps/imageslider-1612710009_2330_567754″>
The same photo, zoomed in. Slide the divider to the left to see more of the PlayStation symbols close up.Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Sony hasn’t previously spoken about how it did this, how many there are, or how large the symbols actually get, but we have those answers today — including behind-the-scenes photos and details from Sony’s Yujin Morisawa and Takeshi Igarashi, the chief designers behind the PS5 and the DualSense respectively. (We even borrowed a fancy industrial microscope so you can see how the symbols look up close.)
Perhaps the most striking part, as you’ll see in images above and below: these tiny symbols are stacked on top of each other, jutting out in three dimensions. They’re not a single, evenly-spaced layer at all, like the tiny dots you might remember on Sony’s DualShock 4 from 2013. They look random, almost organic — which might be because the entire design was sketched out by hand.
A study of various microtexture sketches.Image by Sony Interactive Entertainment
And not just one sketch. Morisawa, the Senior Art Director of Sony’s Design Center Product Design Group, explains that a variety of designs were hand-crafted, digitized, mocked up, applied to actual prototype gamepads, and tested over and over again until the teams found the balance they wanted: good-looking, textured enough to be comfortable and non-slip, but not so sandpaper-rough that it’d hurt your hands over a lengthy gaming session.
While designers could easily place the digital version of the texture wherever they wanted in Sony’s CAD programs, Morisawa says that physically comparing and testing different prototypes was key: “While it takes a considerable amount of time to create a prototype, the ‘go/no-go’ judgment of a product is determined the moment you see it and touch it,” he told us by email.
A comparison of different microtexture variations for molding — including the PS4’s stipple texture at lower right.Image by Sony Interactive Entertainment
The layers coming together, digitally, as they’ll appear on the inner lip of the PS5 console.Image by Sony Interactive Entertainment
Figuring out the proper heights of the symbols was a lot of work all by itself, as you can see in some of Sony’s behind-the-scenes photos. In the end, they settled on two layers — one roughly 15 microns tall, and another 30 microns tall, according to measurements we made with a Nikon LV100 microscope.
Actually applying the symbols to the DualSense gamepad was the easy part — because they’re not applied at all. Each and every one of those 40,000 symbols is part of the controller’s shell, created when beads of molten ABS plastic are squeezed into tiny laser-cut crevices during the standard injection-molding process.
The trick is having the right equipment to make that mold. To create such precise shapes across an entire three-dimensional curved surface, meant to fit into your palms, lasers came in handy. Specifically, a high-end, multi-axis laser engraving machine that Igarashi says is “hard to come by.” The upshot? Because it’s part of the mold, the texture you’ll feel on the PS5’s controller is the same exact one every other owner will.
Sony’s PlayStation controller has arguably defined decades of gamepads, so it was no surprise when, for instance, Google’s Stadia Controller came with the same kind of stippled texture that Sony introduced with the DualShock 4 in 2013. But this time around, Sony’s microtexture isn’t just for your hands; the barely-there PlayStation symbols are part of the PS5 experience wherever you’d think to look. You’ll find them on both of the PS5 console’s side panels, on the inner lip. They adorn the grips of the PS5’s optional media remote, the DualSense charging station, the PS5 camera, and Sony’s Pulse 3D wireless headset, too.
They even appear inside at least one game: Astro’s Playroom, the must-play PS5 pack-in, prominently uses the texture on a number of floors and walls. It makes sense. Not only is Astro a celebration of the company’s history in gaming, it’s chock-full of PlayStation easter eggs including a few that poke good-natured fun at Sony itself.
In the PS3 era, Sony often felt arrogant, a little too sure fans would lap up whatever it had to offer — $599 consoles featuring giant enemy crabs, proprietary discs and memory sticks for its ambitious portables, a Smash Bros. competitor without enough beloved video game franchises to back it up — but PlayStation has not only earned loads of goodwill since then, it’s become more self-aware. If the company can stay that way throughout the PS5’s lifecycle (and, you know, let people actually buy one), I have little doubt it’ll be a winner.
Final Fantasy XIV is coming to PlayStation 5, developer Square-Enix announced Friday. An open beta will start April 13th.
A teaser trailer shows the game running in 4K resolution, and the company says it will have significantly improved frame rates and faster load times. If you’re registered in the PS4 version of the game, the new optimized version will be playable at no extra cost during the beta.
Final Fantasy XIV also will get a new expansion pack called Endwalker:
Endwalker features the climax of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story, in which Warriors of Light will encounter an even greater calamity than ever before as they travel to the far reaches of Hydaelyn and even to the moon. In addition to bringing the long-running story arc that began with A Realm Reborn to its conclusion, Endwalker will mark a new beginning for the beloved MMO, setting the stage for new adventures that longtime fans and new players can enjoy together.
When Final Fantasy XIV was originally released in 2010, the game got so much backlash from players and critics that the its original director and producer left the project, and the developer shut down its servers in 2012. It relaunched in 2013 as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
Sony released the car-smashing game Destruction AllStars exclusively for the PlayStation 5 on Tuesday, but it shipped with one very annoying feature: voice chat in multiplayer matches was turned on by default, meaning you could be subject to the unfiltered comments and background noise from your opponents. And worse, it wasn’t immediately obvious how to turn voice chat off.
On Friday, however, developer Lucid Games addressed the issue by releasing a hotfix for the game that disables voice chat in multiplayer lobbies by default (via Kotaku).
I jumped into a couple of matches with the hotfix installed to test things out, and I was greeted with glorious silence from my fellow players. However, it seems there’s no option for public voice chat at all right now. I couldn’t find a way to turn on voice chat in the game’s menus. Before this patch, you could mute voice chat on a per-match basis with the PlayStation 5’s Activity Cards, and I didn’t see a way to turn on voice chat from those either.
Perhaps public voice chat will return at some point down the line, though, as Lucid Games said it is “actively working on longer-term enhancements to the voice communications system.” And if you want to play Destruction AllStars with friends and voice chat with them, that should still work, too. I was able to chat with a Verge colleague as part of a party we made with no issue.
Here are the full patch notes:
Fixed several client crashes relating to Multiplayer Lobbies and UI.
— Lucid Games (@LucidGamesLtd) February 5, 2021
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