Sapphire Radeon RX 6700 XT Nitro+ is the company’s most premium take on AMD’s new RX 6700 XT graphics card that’s debuting today. Positioned bang in the middle of the performance segment, with a starting price under $500, the RX 6700 XT launches AMD’s second, smaller silicon based on the RDNA2 architecture, and brings the full DirectX 12 Ultimate experience from the AMD stable to this segment, including real-time raytracing. Although targeting the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti in performance, AMD claims that the card can trade blows with even the pricier RTX 3070.
The new RDNA2 graphics architecture powers not just AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 series discrete graphics, but also the latest consoles, including the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, making it easier for game developers to optimize for the cards. The company has mostly leveled up to NVIDIA on the features front, thanks to DirectX 12 Ultimate. Its approach to real-time raytracing involves using special hardware called Ray Accelerators to calculate ray intersections; and a hefty compute muscle for everything else, including de-noising.
The Radeon RX 6700 XT maxes out the new 7 nm Navi 22 silicon, which packs 40 RDNA2 compute units, working out to 2,560 stream processors, 40 Ray Accelerators, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The company went with 12 GB as the standard memory amount, and uses fast 16 Gbps GDDR6 memory chips, however the memory bus width is narrowed to 192-bit. The card now only needs six 16 Gbit memory chips. This bandwidth deficit over the previous-gen RX 5700 XT is claimed to be overcome by the Infinity Cache technology—a fast 96 MB scratchpad directly on the die, operating at over five times the speed and much lower latencies, than even the GDDR6 memory.
The Sapphire RX 6700 XT Nitro+ comes with the slimmest iteration of the company’s Nitro+ cooling solution that has many innovations, such as dedicated memory/VRM heatsinks with aluminium fins, wave-shaped aluminium fins that add turbulence to improve heat-dissipation, double ball-bearing fans, and a generous amount of addressable RGB bling. Sapphire has given this card its highest factory-overclock, with the maximum boost frequency set at 2.65 GHz (compared to 2.58 GHz reference). Sapphire is pricing the card at USD $579, a $100 premium over the $479 baseline price.
Our Radeon RX 6700 XT launch-day coverage includes six articles including this one. Do check them out! AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (reference) | MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X | ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 6700 XT OC | PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Red Devil | XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT Speedster Merc 319
Microsoft has once again reiterated that VR support for Xbox was not a focus for the company, following reports earlier today that hinted it was working on a VR headset compatible with the Xbox Series X / S.
The rumor first surfaced after IGN Italy reported that some Italian Xbox users received messages, which translated to “[a]n update for the VR headset is available” and “[u]pdate VR headset,” when connecting the recently released Xbox Wireless Headset to their Xbox Series X or Series S consoles. My colleague, Cameron Faulkner, reviewed the Xbox Wireless headset and did not encounter this pop-up message while using the headset on an Xbox Series X console in the US.
A Microsoft representative told The Verge that “the copy in this error message is inaccurate due to a localization bug,” while again reiterating that “VR for console is not a focus for us at this time.”
Microsoft has yet to explore the VR space for its Xbox consoles. In 2018, the company pulled back on plans to support virtual reality headsets for Xbox in 2018, explaining that it wanted to focus “primarily on experiences you would play on your TV.” In late 2019, Xbox boss Phil Spencer tweeted out that although he played “some great VR games” such as Half-Life: Alyx, console VR was not Xbox’s focus ahead of the Xbox Series X / S release.
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Microsoft’s new $99 Xbox Wireless headset isn’t perfect, but it’s the best attempt at being an Xbox gaming headset and an everyday set of wireless headphones I’ve tried yet. It’s compatible with the Xbox Wireless protocol, making it easy to pair with any Xbox One or Xbox Series X / S console. It’s also compatible with Bluetooth (version 4.2, SBC codec), and better yet, it can connect through both protocols simultaneously. So you can take a call or have audio from any app come through from a phone, tablet, or a PC mixed in with the sound coming from your Xbox console.
This is far from the first gaming headset to do this, or even do it well. Microsoft’s latest headset just stands out as being particularly impressive for the number of things it gets right for $99. Its design is stellar, a logical fit in the company’s headphone lineup. Next to the Series X, it looks the part with a touch of glossy green detailing around the ear cup dials, covered in matte black plastic. The little holes in the recessed areas between the faux leather ear pads and the dials seem to be there just for cosmetic reasons, but it looks fantastic nevertheless.
Crucially, these are comfortable, even though my head size nearly pushes them to their size limits. The sidearms require two hands to make adjustments, which I like. There’s no worry that they’ll resize just from being moved around. And while I wish this model had a bungee-style headband and swiveling ear cups like most SteelSeries headsets, not having these features didn’t equate to comfort issues here.
In addition to how the headset looks, its functionality is similar to the Surface Headphones, with twistable dials on the outside of each ear cup for adjusting elements of the audio. Unlike the company’s more premium headphones, there’s no active noise cancellation here (I’d complain, but they’re $99), though the passive noise isolation is better than average for this price. The left dial acts as a chat and game audio mixer, so you can tune your playmates down a bit during a dialogue-heavy cutscene or vice versa. I appreciate that Microsoft put it front and center. On the other dial is the volume control. Twist to increase or decrease, nice and simple — no buttons necessary.
Over on the right ear cup, there’s a USB-C port for charging. Microsoft includes a USB-C to USB Type-A cable to charge it, but you’ll get all of the same headset features if you plug into a Windows 10 machine with your own USB-C to USB-C cable. That’s not the case when plugged into a MacBook Pro, which won’t work over a wired connection with the headset. You can still connect to a macOS device and use the headset over Bluetooth, though.
There are only two buttons on the headset: one to manually mute the bendable microphone (an LED on the inner section of the boom microphone angled toward your face is illuminated when the mic is hot), and another that serves as the all-in-one pairing and power button, both of which reside on the left ear cup. Most gaming headsets require days of continued use to fully learn their respective button layouts, but this one’s dead simple. I would have taken one more button if it served as a multifunction button to control my device over Bluetooth, but Microsoft has limited the headset to just two buttons. There’s no way to independently control, say, a phone outside of just adjusting the volume.
The sound performance from this headset is better than I expected. During my tests, I listened to Spotify, and the music sounded good enough to stick with this headset instead of automatically reaching for my Sony 1000XM3s. People with a knack for stellar audio quality will find quibbles, like that the sound can come off as muddled at times, and the soundstage isn’t as expansive as you’d find in a more expensive set of headphones. But again, these are $99 and meant for gaming first. And for that price, I’m pleased.
Hopping over to gaming, I instantly booted up Doom (2016) on the Series X. The soundtrack and all of the various hellish sound effects have an adequate amount of crunch and punch, and I was head-banging to the music while I played. It sounded as it was intended to sound, though, again, the same nitpicks apply here as they do for music. When there’s a lot happening in the mid and high frequencies, the sound can lack clarity if you’re listening closely. I didn’t notice that as much in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, for instance. This headset works with the Dolby Atmos (Microsoft is giving buyers a trial of Dolby Atmos with purchase that will last until the end of September) and DTS: X paid apps available for Xbox and PC, which might enhance the sound. But for the purposes of this review, I tested just the out-of-the-box experience.
The battery life and range are competitive with other gaming headsets I’ve tested in this price range. Microsoft claims 15 hours per charge, and both times I ran the non-replaceable battery down during testing, it lasted for about that long. I was able to roam about my studio apartment, straying about 25 feet or so from the Xbox without experiencing any drop-outs. It started cutting out when the signal had to go through multiple walls, but that’s to be expected. As for charge speeds, Microsoft says it can gain four hours of use out of a 30-minute charge, or a full charge in three hours. In case you were wondering, you can use the Xbox Wireless headset while it’s being charged, but obviously, it’ll then take longer to recharge.
To give you a sense of how this headset handles connections, I first paired the Xbox Wireless headset to my PC with Microsoft’s USB Wireless Adapter (not included with this headset, but it operates on the same Xbox Wireless protocol as the consoles) for music and to take some video calls. Pairing the headset required pressing and holding the pair button for four seconds and doing the same to the Wireless Adapter. To use them on the Xbox Series X, I had to run through the same process. Frustratingly, the headset can’t handle juggling between two previously paired devices that use the Xbox Wireless protocol, so I had to manually re-pair it when I wanted to hop between my PC and the Xbox. I don’t want to overblow this issue, though. Microsoft’s pairing process for Xbox accessories is very simple. This won’t be a problem at all if you connect to your PC via Bluetooth (as I imagine most people will) since the headset can connect to both concurrently.
If you’re someone who’s likely to lean heavily on the concurrent wireless connection feature, I like that this headset automatically lowers the audio streaming from the Xbox Wireless protocol device when a call is incoming so you can hear it. You can adjust the volume of just your Bluetooth device with its own controls, but not from the headset itself. Cranking the volume with the dial makes it louder for both devices you’re connected to.
The level of customization this headset allows is also impressive for the price. Through the Xbox Accessories app for Windows 10 or Xbox, you can adjust the equalizer (movie, music, game, heavy bass, and speech are the presets, or make your own) and boost the bass. Additionally, there’s an auto-mute feature that can mute noises happening in your surroundings. There are three levels (low, medium, and high), and Microsoft says each step up will increase how aggressively the mic mutes things that aren’t your voice. During a video call, it seemed to work as intended, if not better than I expected. The person on the other end said that my speech wasn’t getting cut off, which is something that can happen with these kinds of features, and that happenings in the background weren’t noticeable. Of course, the effectiveness of this auto-mute feature can vary depending on your household situation. If you’re skeptical, it’s easy enough to just tap the mute button to avoid potential embarrassment.
Two other small but cool features in the Xbox Accessories app let you tweak how bright the mute light is, making it easier to see in your peripheral vision. You can also customize the level of mic monitoring or how much outside sound is fed through the mics and then funneled into your ears.
Up until now, the $150 Razer Kaira Pro was the Xbox-specific headset I told people to get because it’s comfortable, and it supports Bluetooth in addition to the Xbox Wireless protocol. Microsoft’s new Xbox Wireless headset is well ahead of that model in terms of design, ease of use, and functionality — all in a more affordable package.
If Microsoft is to be judged compared to Sony on how well it designed a headset to accompany its latest consoles — as it inevitably will be — this one handily edges out the Pulse 3D even though they’re the same price. Sony’s model is comfortable and looks equally dashing next to the console it was made for, and it has a 3.5mm headphone jack and 3D Audio support in its court. But it’s tough to compete with the Bluetooth support and button-lite design built into Microsoft’s model. I would have loved it if a USB dongle was included for more support with devices, like the Nintendo Switch. But by design, it can’t connect to other gaming consoles. Microsoft is keeping this one in the family. If you’re in the family, though, you’re in for a treat.
Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge
Correction: The Xbox Wireless headset can get four hours of use from a 30-minute charge. This review incorrectly stated that a 15-minute charge could get you three hours of use. We regret this error.
(Pocket-lint) – Xbox Game Pass has been a huge change to the way we pay for games over the last couple of years – it’s the ace in Microsoft’s sleeve, and can be absolutely astounding value if you want to play through loads of great games.
What is Xbox Game Pass, what games do you get and how much does it cost?
However, it’s expanding all the time and the huge roster of titles can actually be a bit overwhelming, especially now that it includes EA Play, and a load of Bethesda’s games have been added. So, what are some particular highlights of Xbox Game Pass that you should check out for your Xbox Series X/S or Xbox One? Read on to find out.
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Outer Wilds
A space exploration game with a mystery at its heart, the less you know about Outer Wilds before playing, the better. It’s one of the most memorable experiences of recent years to slowly explore its star system, figuring out what’s causing a baffling time loop, and working out how you can get further each time you reset.
If you want something out of the ordinary, and a mystery game that truly rewards players’ creativity and ingenuity, this is it. If only we could play it again for the first time!
Gears 5
Looking more to the mainstream, you can play every Gears game on Game Pass but we think the latest entry will suit most people best. It’s a great continuation of the series, bringing in ever more mobility and options, and tells its story well.
Multiplayer is a brutal affair but one that’s great fun to jump into, and it all looks brilliant regardless of your hardware, making it an easy recommendation.
Forza Horizon 4
If you want a racing game, this is the default choice on Game Pass – Forza Horizon 4 is just so insanely fun, and has oodles of content for you to plough through, alongside breathtaking visuals.
It’s great for multiplayer and singleplayer alike, and gives you loads of control over how realistic you want its racing to be, making for a brilliant overall offering.
Hollow Knight: Voidheart edition
This stunning indie platformer completely captured our hearts and is a must-play if you’ve ever enjoyed a Metroidvania title. Its brilliant hand-drawn art is a charming throughout, and a melancholy tone strikes tender chords as you explore an underground city piece by piece.
Celeste
If you want even more challenge in a platformer, Celeste is a great choice – it’s a lovely tale of perseverence with almost insanely tight mechanics. You’ll become an expert jumper, booster and climber over time, but can scale the challenge to your level really simply, making for a surprisingly welcoming game.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Play multiple absolutely classic Halo titles in one place with this quintessentially “Xbox” bundle, and enjoy some of the most memorable campaigns and multiplayer suites ever created. The Master Chief’s tale will carry on, but the story so far lives in amber thanks to the Master Chief Collection.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
A sprawling roleplaying game that might just be the best one ever created, The Witcher 3 is perfect for sinking a few weeks into, with gritty stories to explore and a vivid world to slowly learn your place in. It’s a brilliant game that RPG fans simply have to play.
Dishonored 2
Arkane’s Dishonored series offers some of the most free-ranging levels in gaming, letting you tackle your sneaky objectives in countless ways, and both full titles are on Game Pass. We think the second is about as good as stealth gaming can get!
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Game Pass has some great titles from older generations, and while everyone and their nan has played Skyrim, we have a particular fondness for its predecessor Oblivion, with its beautiful, forested open world and some really memorable quest lines. If you like Skyrim, try it out for a history lesson, then go even further back and play Morrowind, too.
Carrion
If you’re looking for a game that will only take a few hours to beat, and that’ll be super-satisfying along the way, biomutant breakout sim Carrion is a great choice. You play the horrifying monster in a typical monster movie, slowly breaking out of a huge facility with countless casualties along the way.
Battlefield V
For multiplayer FPS action it doesn’t get much better than Battlefield V, and we heartily recommend the experience of getting a squad together to play some Conquest on its huge maps. Between vehicles and infantry action there’s loads to get to grips with, and it all looks absolutely beautiful on both recent generations of Xbox console.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
For some lightsaber goodness, try out Jedi: Fallen Order, which nicely expands upon the Star Wars universe and gives you a great combat system to get to grips with. The story is nicely told, and it’s great to get some Force powers to play with again.
What Remains of Edith Finch
Another short titled, and another game that’s better the less you know about it before playing. What Remains of Edith Finch is perhaps one of the most consistently inventive story-driven games ever created, a gorgeous tale of family ties that’ll have you blown away by the end – it’s an absolute stunner that everyone should play.
Control
An eery third-person thriller, Control brings paranormal freakiness to frightening life as you explore a fictional government agency’s headquarters to root out the source of an alien corruption. It’s a game that builds momentum brilliantly and gives you some superb tools of destruction, and looks simply beautiful, too.
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass platform just got a huge boost with the addition of 20 new Bethesda Softworks titles starting today, and now a quarter of those games will be getting performance boosts on the next-gen Xbox consoles in an upcoming update. The performance gains are in frame rate thanks to an appropriately named new feature Microsoft revealed last month called FPS Boost, which can roughly double frame rates of older games using new Xbox hardware without requiring developers do any manual work.
The games that will see performance boosts with frame rate jumps up to 60 frames per second include Arkane Studios’ Dishonored: Definitive Edition and Prey and Bethesda Game Studios’ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76.
The announcement was made during a YouTube live stream on Friday between Xbox Live programming director Larry Hryb (aka “Major Nelson”) and comms chief Jeff Rubenstein, in which Rubenstein discussed the benefits the new Xbox Series X/S can bring to older Bethesda titles. The games, while available now, don’t yet have the FPS Boost mode enabled currently, but Microsoft intends to add it as an optional toggle some time soon.
Microsoft said in its announcement yesterday that “a handful of these games will also benefit from FPS Boost on Xbox Series X / S,” though it did not specify which at the time. it also said 16 of the 20 Bethesda games coming to Xbox Game Pass would be available across PC and xCloud in addition to Xbox consoles. You can find a list of which platforms which games are available on here.
Microsoft released a new Xbox update earlier this week that brings toggles for Auto HDR and FPS Boost and improvements to better support the new Xbox Wireless Headset. But there was another big feature that wasn’t mentioned in the official release notes: the update also fixes “many” of the Xbox Series X controller disconnect issues that have cropped up, according to the Xbox team’s Jason Ronald.
Lots of Xbox news this week, but in case you missed it we released our March Xbox System Update yesterday.
In addition to the new features, this release also fixes many of the controller disconnects players have reported.
Keep the feedback coming.https://t.co/bltTsL6Lty
— Jason Ronald (@jronald) March 10, 2021
Players began reporting disconnect issues with the controllers just days after the console’s launch, and you can see some of those reports in this 89-page thread on Microsoft’s support forums. In January, however, Microsoft acknowledged that it was aware of the issues and said that fixes were coming “in a future update” in a statement to The Verge.
We haven’t tested the new update ourselves to see if it fixes issues that people have seen. But if you have been experiencing controller disconnects, it sounds like the new update could address them for you.
Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S consoles are some of the most sought-after consoles to buy right now. Those looking for another shot to get either console can buy one right now at Target. You will have the option to pay for either console in full or through Xbox All Acces, allowing you to get either console upfront at no cost.
Similar to the PS5 restocks that went up earlier this morning, Target is limiting the purchase of these next-gen consoles to in-store pickup only. Not every store has the next-gen Xbox hardware in stock and the ones that do have a very limited supply.
Xbox Series X / S
$300
Prices taken at time of publishing.
The Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s flagship console, serving as its most powerful (and biggest) option that costs $499.99. While the $299.99 Series S is aimed at smooth 1440p performance, the Series X is focused on fast 4K gameplay.
$300
at Target (Series S)
$500
at Target (Series X)
Once you secured your next-gen Xbox, I would suggest stocking up on games and accessories I think will allow you to get the most out of your new console.
Several of the most popular games to play on these consoles include third-party titles like Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Additionally, some popular Xbox One titles like Halo: The Master Chief CollectionandGears 5have all received graphical updates that take advantage of the next-gen hardware.
Of course, if you are unsure what games to buy, you could always subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which gives you access to a slew of first and third-party titles from various developers and publishers.
A must-have accessory I think is worth buying includes an additional Xbox controller, moreso if you are planning to play local cooperative games with loved ones as the console only comes with one controller.
Microsoft is removing its TV listings feature on the Xbox One in May. Originally introduced as part of its broad ambitions to take over the living room, the OneGuide TV listings on Xbox One was designed to overlay on top of your cable box and provide a better way to access content. You could also combine the feature with an Xbox USB TV tuner to access free-to-air TV channels.
“Based on customer usage and feedback, we’re constantly evolving the Xbox experience,” says Jonathan Hildebrandt, a program manager for Microsoft’s Xbox Experiences group. “To that end, beginning this May we’ll be sunsetting live TV listings for OneGuide on Xbox One.” OneGuide users will still be able to access the HDMI passthrough feature on the Xbox One to watch connected devices, or still access a TV tuner, but TV listings will be removed.
It’s the final nail in the coffin for Microsoft’s original dream of turning the Xbox One into a digital entertainment hub, or modern cable TV box. Kinect and an HDMI pass-through were central to this plan, but the $100 price gap between the Xbox One and PS4, bulkier VCR-like hardware with less performance, and the focus on entertainment muddied the waters on what was primarily a game console.
Microsoft has gradually been walking back its Xbox TV efforts in recent years with the removal of Kinect, the Xbox One snap mode going away, media features disappearing, and an axed Xbox TV DVR feature. The Xbox One looked like a cord-cutters dream, but that quickly dissipated only a few years into the console’s existence. Microsoft’s latest Xbox Series X / S consoles no longer include a HDMI pass-through, or the company’s OneGuide app.
This afternoon, I was updating the streaming apps on my 2020 LG CX OLED TV, something I do from time to time, but today was different. Out of nowhere, I saw (and heard) an ad for Ace Hardware start playing in the lower-left corner. It autoplayed with sound without any action on my part.
Now I’m fully aware that it’s not unusual to see ads placed around a TV’s home screen or main menu. LG, Samsung, Roku, Vizio, and others are all in on this game. We live in an era when smart TVs can automatically recognize what you’re watching, and TV makers are building nice ad businesses for themselves with all of the data that gets funneled in.
But this felt pretty egregious even by today’s standards. A random, full-on commercial just popping up in LG’s app store? Is there no escape from this stuff? We’re just going to cram ads into every corner of a TV’s software, huh? Imagine if an autoplay ad started up while you were updating the apps on your smartphone.
The Ace spot wasn’t particularly annoying — it was over in 15 seconds — nor did it feel targeted at me or creepy. It’s really the placement that feels like a step too far.
This stuff can come off as invasive, but it’s also partially what’s steadily brought the prices down on even high-end TVs. I got this 55-inch CX on sale for like $1,400, and it’s pretty much the best TV on the market for next-gen gaming. But even if this beautiful panel came cheaper than it might have without ads plastered in random places, the level of ad infiltration on display here is still disheartening to see. LG recently announced it will be licensing webOS to other TV brands, so maybe the company is trying to see how far it can push things.
I guess I can always cut the TV’s internet connection and stick to a streaming stick or my Xbox Series X if the autoplay commercials keep popping up everywhere. Or maybe I can opt out of a setting somewhere to end the barrage. Some people aren’t bothered by this stuff, but if you are, check out this excellent Reddit thread, which can help you fight back and block some of the domains that these TVs phone home to for their ads. A lot of people on Twitter also pointed me to Pi-hole as a fix.
This afternoon, I was updating the streaming apps on my 2020 LG CX OLED TV, something I do from time to time, but today was different. Out of nowhere, I saw (and heard) an ad for Ace Hardware start playing in the lower-left corner. It autoplayed with sound without any action on my part.
Now I’m fully aware that it’s not unusual to see ads placed around a TV’s home screen or main menu. LG, Samsung, Roku, Vizio, and others are all in on this game. We live in an era when smart TVs can automatically recognize what you’re watching, and TV makers are building nice ad businesses for themselves with all of the data that gets funneled in.
But this felt pretty egregious even by today’s standards. A random, full-on commercial just popping up in LG’s app store? Is there no escape from this stuff? We’re just going to cram ads into every corner of a TV’s software, huh? Imagine if an autoplay ad started up while you were updating the apps on your smartphone.
The Ace spot wasn’t particularly annoying — it was over in 15 seconds — nor did it feel targeted at me or creepy. It’s really the placement that feels like a step too far.
This stuff can come off as invasive, but it’s also partially what’s steadily brought the prices down on even high-end TVs. I got this 55-inch CX on sale for like $1,400, and it’s pretty much the best TV on the market for next-gen gaming. But even if this beautiful panel came cheaper than it might have without ads plastered in random places, the level of ad infiltration on display here is still disheartening to see. LG recently announced it will be licensing webOS to other TV brands, so maybe the company is trying to see how far it can push things.
I guess I can always cut the TV’s internet connection and stick to a streaming stick or my Xbox Series X if the autoplay commercials keep popping up everywhere. Or maybe I can opt out of a setting somewhere to end the barrage. Some people aren’t bothered by this stuff, but if you are, check out this excellent Reddit thread, which can help you fight back and block some of the domains that these TVs phone home to for their ads. A lot of people on Twitter also pointed me to Pi-hole as a fix.
The Xbox Series X and Series S are some of the hottest and most challenging gadgets to buy right now. Fortunately, the Microsoft Store has restocked both the Series X and Series S gaming consoles. Get ‘em while supplies last.
Whether you purchase the most affordable next-gen console (the Xbox Series S) or Microsoft’s most powerful gaming console to date (Series X), both share many accessories that are great for early adopters.
Several of the most popular games to play on these consoles include third-party titles like Assassin’s Creed ValhallaandYakuza: Like a Dragon. Additionally, some popular Xbox One titles like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Gears 5, and Ori: The Collection have all received graphical updates that take advantage of the next-gen hardware.
Games aside, there are also a few accessories to consider — most notably, an extra game controller for your new console. You can expand your store, there’s an external SSD you can purchase, but it is not cheap. Additionally, if you are not interested in buying some games now but need something to play, I suggest getting a subscription to Xbox Game Pass for console or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a bold shift for Sega’s long-running series, doing away with beloved protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and shifting to turn-based RPG-style combat. In Kiryu’s place is the wild-haired Ichiban Kasuga, who finds himself homeless in Yokohama after doing 18 years’ hard time for a murder he didn’t commit.
The PlayStation 5 version of Like a Dragon was just released last week, a few months after the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and next-gen Xbox versions. Since then, I’ve played several dozens of hours of Like a Dragon on the Xbox Series X, and it’s become one of my favorite games in the series.
I took the opportunity to ask Masayoshi Yokoyama, Sega’s chief producer and writer on the game, some questions about how the team approached Kasuga as a character and his story from beginning to end.
Warning — there are some pretty heavy spoilers toward the end of this interview.
First, I’d like to ask about Kasuga himself. How involved were you with the character creation process? What were the principles for the character you kept in mind when writing for him?
Basically, I have been in charge of the character settings (such as personalities, speech mannerisms, and the backbone of their action principles) for the main characters that appear in the main story since the first game.
The character, Ichiban Kasuga, was originally born during the development of Ryu Ga Gotoku Online, which is a mobile app title being serviced in Japan.
At the time, we just finished the development of Yakuza 6 and were ideating on a new protagonist to take Kiryu’s place. That’s when we decided on taking apart the indestructible hero image and creating a more “real-world hero.”
Kazuma Kiryu’s personality is representative of characters that appear in “Ninkyo” films, which is a genre of Japanese mafia films that have been around from back in the day. He is generally reserved, stoic, and self-sacrificing, but stronger than anybody and prefers to act alone. In a way, his character embodies qualities that Japanese boys and men would look up to.
Kasuga, on the other hand, was created with the intention of being more “relatable” rather than “admired.” I wanted to create a character whose words and actions would emotionally move us, and someone that you’d want to cheer for and fight alongside.
Since the aforementioned Ryu Ga Gotoku Online was a card battle game in which players form decks with their friends to fight against enemies, I wanted to depict the strength of a “leader” rather than the strength of an “individual,” which became the origin of my idea.
After that, I compiled all of Ichiban Kasuga’s origin and life story into a document and presented to executive director [Toshihiro] Nagoshi and my team members. This led to talks of potentially using this character for the next console game and then eventually became official for Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Was there a conscious effort to make him different to Kiryu? What do you think the two characters have in common?
For those that have played both Yakuza and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, you may have noticed that Kazuma Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga lead a similar path.
Both had a difficult childhood without the love of their immediate family, then felt extreme gratitude and admiration for the ones that took care of them. Unable to suppress these emotions, both set out on the path of yakuza. Right when they’re about to become full-fledged yakuza, they both go to prison for a crime neither committed. What awaited them after their long sentence was an unimaginably cruel reality… This general flow is exactly the same for both of them.
However, just because the two characters’ personalities differ so much, the same general plotline gives off a totally different feel for both. Upon release from prison, Kiryu goes straight to find his mentor Kazama. While Kasuga also tries to find his mentor, Arakawa, before he sets out to do so, he decides to clean himself a bit first and stops by the hair salon to get a botched perm. Both characters follow the same path, but vastly differ in their portrayal.
I actually haven’t had too much difficulty depicting each of the characters. For Yakuza: Like a Dragon, I set out to write the story after fleshing out Ichiban Kasuga as a human being, so while writing, I even surprised myself at times how different these characters acted within very similar circumstances.
Which came first: the idea to make Kasuga an RPG obsessive, or the decision to shift Like a Dragon to RPG-style turn-based combat?
The decision to shift to RPG came first. The character setting that Kasuga loves RPGs came after.
As previously mentioned above, the concept was “to create a new relatable hero,” so we chose the most optimal game system (a party system) that would make Ichiban Kasuga’s story interesting. We wouldn’t have made the same decision for Kiryu, who fights with only his own power.
One of my beliefs in creating games is to “value the core of play.” This involves deciding what the game is supposed to entertain, and then assigning the various components to the right places accordingly.
The story is the core element of the Yakuza series. This game was made to enjoy the story, and the other elements such as the city used as the setting, music, mini-games, and battle action are all there to elevate the story experience.
For Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the most optimal way for players to experience the story and show the battles of Ichiban Kasuga and his friends that gathered around him was the RPG style. So, upon deciding the RPG genre, there were then a few questions that we had to address, such as: How will we make Kasuga relate to the “hero” job class? What is the logic behind the exchanges during these battles within Kasuga’s mind? One way we addressed these was to make Kasuga an RPG enthusiast.
The character’s personalities are often expressed in their combat moves — was there discussion between the writing and gameplay teams on specific abilities that would be funny or appropriate?
Here at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, there isn’t much of a clear distinction between the writing and game design teams. I started out in what we call in Japan as a “planning position” (game designer), and I’m now kind of like the boss of the whole planning team [laughs]. All the other writers on the team are selected from among the current planning staff based on their writing skills and put on different projects.
Basically, the game designing and narrative writing are not compartmentalized, so our planning crew meetings always have the mini-game designers, battle action staff, and writers in attendance. Even the voice recording is supervised by the person in charge of each part of the game.
That’s the overall gist of things, so even for anything minor, we discuss and make decisions as a whole team. Ideas are always flowing, but since we value the energy and momentum over the precision of an idea, so we do end up axing a lot of them [laughs].
I don’t know if this is the same for everyone, but Like a Dragon took me a lot longer to finish than other games in the series. This is probably because of the slower-paced combat, but did the longer running time affect your approach to story writing and pacing?
The volume and length of the story is actually not that different from the past games in the series. So, it didn’t affect the story writing and pacing all that much. We look to the general volume of a 10-episode Japanese drama series when creating the Yakuza series.
For this game, I think the reason for the longer playtime was because of the shift to RPG, requiring more time to level up.
The accelerating the battle tempo was something we worked on until the very end of development. We also continued to make adjustments to the time it takes to level up, but the game is designed so it will become difficult to beat the stronger bosses unless you change jobs and collect materials for better weapons.
For those players that are playing this game in the same way you played through the past ones, it might feel a bit longer, but we went with this kind of balancing because we wanted players to discover the fun sights of the city while leveling up their party, instead of simply grinding to level up.
The Yakuza series has a really unique blend of serious and light-hearted subject matter. How do you balance those aspects when writing and make sure everything feels appropriate for the series?
As touched upon earlier, I think the greatest strength of our team is that the narrative, game design, character design, animation, and sound creation staff all have a deep understanding of what the “core” is.
The reason for this isn’t simply how long we’ve known each other or how well we get along. I think that each and every staff member loves Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) and I think that’s the biggest reason. I personally am in charge of story writing and also am the chief producer and have a hand in ideating and executing on some marketing and PR initiatives, but every decision I make is based on how to reflect the content of the game in any kind of promotion or campaign, and how to make the game itself more interesting.
All staff members that are involved with the game, including those working within the game and outside of the game, such as the sales team, advertising team, and marketing team, are working hard to increase the produce value of the game, so everyone’s accumulated effort is maybe what creates this great balance.
In a past game, someone on the advertising team even wrote and implemented an original story scenario for a real company that appeared in Kamurocho that he was the point person for [laughs], so as you can kind of see what kind of team Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is.
This is the first Yakuza game where you’re accompanied by a party of characters for almost the entire running time, and they all have their own motivations. Was that a challenge compared to previous Yakuza games, where the focus tends to be on the current protagonist?
In the past, when creating games like Yakuza 0, which depicted the past of Yakuza, and other remake titles, I would dig deeper into the characters other than the protagonist, so this wasn’t so much of a challenge for me.
I think Arakawa is probably the most pivotal character in the game. The intro does a good job of making him a sympathetic character before setting him up as the villain, and then he’s revealed to have been on the Tojo Clan’s side all along, before meeting a tragic end. How early on in the writing process was his role decided, and was he always intended to have an arc that spanned most of the game’s story?
This was something that was decided at the start of writing the first chapter. When creating the intro scene of the game, my determination was that “I’m going to depict the life of this man, Masumi Arakawa,” so the game started out on that scene.
The Han Joon-gi twist was particularly unexpected for me given how he died in Yakuza 6. What was the thought behind (sort of) bringing him back as Kim Yeonsu?
This was actually something that was decided around the time I started thinking of Ichiban Kasuga’s story. There wasn’t too much deliberation behind this decision, but my personal thought was that if the Jingweon Mafia were to make an appearance, then Han Joon-gi has to be there, too. In addition, I feel like the Jingweon Mafia would do something like that. Sorry for surprising you [laughs].
Of course, the biggest reveal of the game is the return of Kiryu, although his role is quite minor. Were you planning from the beginning to include him in Like a Dragon, considering how Yakuza 6 seemingly drew a line under his storyline?
This wasn’t decided in the early stages of planning the story. When the main themes of the game were decided to be about the dualities of the front and back — the hypocrisy and justice, the superficiality and the truth of Japanese society — I thought it was impossible not to have him appear in the episode of the underworld, so we decided that he would make an appearance.
I have the same question for Goro Majima, who seems to appear in every Yakuza game to varying degrees now. In Like a Dragon, he’s a difficult boss fight but doesn’t otherwise have a big role in the story — how did you approach his inclusion?
The reason why we decided that he’d make an appearance is the same as for Kazuma Kiryu. However, the big difference is that we cut all ties to the past. This game is unwaveringly seen from Ichiban Kasuga’s perspective, so we got rid of any information or connections that Kasuga has no need of knowing.
This is the beginning of the tale of Ichiban Kasuga, and not a continuation of the Kazuma Kiryu story.
We wanted those players that started the series with Like a Dragon to have the same amount of knowledge and emotions as Kasuga when interacting with Majima and other characters from the past series, so we didn’t include any unnecessarily deep interactions.
I’m sure you can’t say anything specific about potential future games, but I thought it was interesting how Like A Dragon finished on an open-ended note, with Kasuga deciding his friends are what’s most important to him. Is there a direction you’d like to take the character in the future?
I think that Yakuza: Like a Dragon is only the first chapter of Ichiba Kasuga’s life. Since he was in prison for 18 years, he has only just begun his life as an adult man. I’m sure there’s probably many trials and tribulations that await him.
Even Kazuma Kiryu, who was said to be the strongest, had his life turned upside down with his encounter with a little girl. As Kasuga starts out his new life, he will surely encounter challenges that he cannot solve through violence or brute force.
I develop each game with the intention of creating a life of a single person. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to write Ichiban Kasuga’s life or not, but I can totally imagine him in deep trouble somewhere on the face of this Earth [laughs].
Vudu, the digital video service that was owned by Walmart before Fandango bought it last year, is finally making its way to the Amazon Fire TV platform. The app is a big source of high-quality, 4K HDR movie rentals. You can also access your existing Vudu library — including Movies Anywhere titles — with the Fire TV app, which should be rolling out in the coming days.
“We want Vudu fans to be able to watch movies and TV shows on all of their favorite devices, and Fire TV has been one of our customers’ most-requested devices for streaming content,” Kevin Shepela, Fandango’s chief commercial officer, said in a press release.
With Vudu joining the roster of apps, Fire TV owners will get another go-to destination for Dolby Vision content. Vudu notes that it offers “more than 150,000 new release and catalog movies and TV shows, along with an extensive library of content in 4K UHD, including many titles unavailable on subscription services.”
Before this latest expansion to Fire TV, Vudu released apps for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S last year — along with a Tivo app. It also came to Comcast’s Xfinity Flex and X1 platforms earlier this month.
Nearly a month after distancing itself from political statements, the publisher of the controversial military shooter Six Days in Fallujah has backtracked and now says the events in the game are “inseparable from politics.” The game, which takes place during the Iraq War’s Second Battle of Fallujah, has come under scrutiny for seemingly portraying a US-centric focus on a campaign in which an estimated 800 Iraqi civilians were killed, according to the Red Cross.
“We understand the events recreated in Six Days in Fallujah are inseparable from politics,” publisher Victura said in a statement on Twitter. “We believe the stories of this generation’s sacrifices deserve to be told by the Marines, Soldiers, and civilians who were there,” Victura’s statement continued. “We trust you will find the game — like the events it recreates — to be complex.”
The statement follows comments from Victura’s founder and CEO Peter Tamte about how one of the goals of Six Days in Fallujah is to help players empathize with the decisions American troops made during the war and not “make a political commentary.” Tamte, in an interview with Polygon, said:
“For us as a team, it is really about helping players understand the complexity of urban combat. It’s about the experiences of that individual that is now there because of political decisions. And we do want to show how choices that are made by policymakers affect the choices that [a Marine] needs to make on the battlefield. Just as that [Marine] cannot second-guess the choices by the policymakers, we’re not trying to make a political commentary about whether or not the war itself was a good or a bad idea.”
The game uses a mix of military shooter gameplay and documentary segments to tell its story, based on information from “26 Iraqi civilians and dozens of service members [who] have shared the most difficult moments of their lives,” according to Victura. Much of the game will focus on playing as soldiers, but there are also “high-intensity stealth missions” where you play as an unarmed Iraqi civilian.
And while those missions are “informed by” the interviews with Iraqi civilians, “very few people are curious what it’s like to be an Iraqi civilian,” Tamte said in a February interview with GamesIndustry.biz. “Nobody’s going to play that game,” he added.
“Ultimately, the reason why people are going to play this game is because they want a more realistic combat experience,” he continued. “That above all else is the experience that we must deliver.”
The game was first announced in April 2009, but its concept was widely criticized. Konami, the game’s original publisher, dropped it later that month. The game was re-announced in February, now being developed by Highwire Games, whose co-founders include Halo veterans Jaime Griesemer and Marty O’Donnell, formerly of Bungie. Victura’s Tamte also worked at Bungie, leading the marketing of the first Halo, according to his LinkedIn.
Six Days in Fallujah is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and Windows, targeting a release “late in 2021,” according to an FAQ.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X aren’t the only new consoles on the gaming scene. They could soon be joined by a new Nintendo Switch – an updated version of Nintendo’s bestselling console.
Sources have told Bloomberg all about the new console. That includes details on its screen, which is said to be bigger than that of the existing switch and OLED to boot, plus a possible release date and some of its capabilities.
So should Sony and Microsoft be worried? What can we expect from a new Switch? And when might you be able to buy one? We’ve rounded up all the rumours below.
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OLED Nintendo Switch: screen
First things first: the screen. This is said to be the headline feature of the new console, and a real step up on what’s currently on offer.
For starters, it’s bigger than the current model. According to Bloomberg, the new Switch will have a 7-inch display, which would be bigger than the current Switch’s 6.2-inch screen, and the Switch Lite’s 5.5-inch display.
But not only will it be bigger, it should be a lot better, too. That’s because it will use OLED technology, instead of the LCD used in the current Switch. OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode, and is used in some of the best TVs around – see our round-up of the best OLED TVs to see how stunning the tech can be. It makes for true black levels, because each individual pixel can turned off instead of emitting an approximation of black as with LCD screens (which usually look closer to grey). Add stunningly bright whites and that makes for superb contrast levels.
OLED screens are also more energy efficient, which could result in longer battery life. That will be a really big draw for a console that doubles as a portable.
Sources say that Samsung will manufacture the OLED screen. Samsung already supplies OLED displays to high-end smartphones such as the Apple iPhone 12 and Samsung Galaxy S21, but the new Switch’s will be a bit different. Instead of being slightly flexible like those smartphone screens, the one used in the new Switch will be rigid. Samsung is thought to be starting mass production of the 7-inch panels in June, with initial supply put at a million a month. They will start shipping to assemblers around July.
OLED Nintendo Switch: 4K and HDR
According to the report, the next Switch will also be capable of 4K resolution. That doesn’t mean the screen itself will be 4K (reportedly it will be 720p HD), but that you can hook it up to a 4K TV and play games in Ultra HD resolution.
That would be a big boon for developers and games alike. The former – and probably some of the latter – have expressed frustration at the huge difference between the picture quality on the portable screen and that blown up to the size of a big-screen TV.
Will games be true native 4K though? That seems unlikely. It’s more likely that Nintendo will take the more efficient path and render games in HD – these could then be upscaled when outputted to a 4K TV.
Perhaps the great potential lies in HDR. This stands for high dynamic range – it’s a technology borrowed from photography, which increases the difference between the light and dark parts of the picture, with more gradual steps in between. It results in a punchier and more lifelike image with more depth and better colours.
The vast majority of OLED displays have HDR, and the new Switch’s could well count itself among them. That would make games look more engaging and exciting.
And it might not just be new games that benefit from this. Older titles could get some kind of upconversion similar to the Xbox Series X’s Auto HDR. This uses machine learning to add HDR to games that were designed with only standard dynamic range in mind. So the new Switch could breathe some new life into your current games library. Fingers crossed.
OLED Nintendo Switch: other possible features
So what other features could Nintendo add to a new Switch?
The PS5 and Xbox Series X have HDMI 2.1, which brings more advanced features such as 4K@120Hz, Auto Low-latency Mode (ALLM) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), but we don’t expect the Nintendo Switch 2 to follow suit. 4K@120Hz and VRR are technically tricky features that feel unnecessary for the kind of games produced for Nintendo consoles, and the simpler ALLM could be added without the need for an expensive HDMI 2.1 socket.
As previously mentioned, HDR is very likely to make an appearance, seeing how common it is on OLED screen and what a striking difference it would make for games in terms of looks.
Other next-gen consoles have extra audio-visual features such as Dolby Atmos and/or DTS:X, but it’s unlikely Nintendo will add these to the new Switch. From reports so far, it sounds like more of a refresh than a full-blown overhaul of the console, so we expect that 5.1 sound is going to be the best available. Fingers crossed Nintendo at least adds Dolby Digital 5.1 support on top of the standard PCM format of the original Switch, as this increases compatibility with soundbars and the like.
OLED Nintendo Switch: release date
The OLED-toting Nintendo Switch is rumoured to launch “in time for the holidays”. That usually means autumn/fall time, to give plenty of time to build awareness before the manic Christmas shopping season gets into full swing.
OLED Nintendo Switch: name
What will the next Switch be called? At four years old, the original Nintendo Switch is around the middle of its life cycle, so calling the new version the Nintendo Switch 2 would seem a bit hasty. Rather, odds are that Nintendo will opt for something that sells the upgraded abilities without positioning it as a completely new proposition. Nintendo Switch Pro, maybe.
Pro is a popular moniker in the worlds of smartphones, tablets and laptops, used by the likes of Apple and Samsung to indicate more power than the standard version. So it’s very possible that Nintendo will adopt the same tack.
OLED Nintendo Switch: the experts speak
As you can imagine, rumours of a new Nintendo console have been big news in the gaming and business worlds. The Switch is now four years old, and its successor, the Switch Lite, is getting on for two years old now. Industry watchers weren’t expecting a new Nintendo console this year, but given the demand for Sony and Microsoft’s new games machines, a new Switch makes perfect sense.
Bloomberg quoted one expert who spelled out the benefits of OLED tech for Nintendo.
“The OLED panel will consume less battery, offer higher contrast and possibly faster response time when compared to the Switch’s current liquid-crystal display,” said Yoshio Tamura, co-founder of display consultancy DSCC.
Bloomberg‘s own analysts said the new console could prolong the lifespan of the current Switch considerably.
“The release of a more premium version of Nintendo’s Switch console with an OLED display and support for 4K graphics for the holiday 2021 selling season could drive the company’s sales above consensus for the fiscal year ending March 2022 and extend the life cycle of the Switch platform for many more years,” said analysts Matthew Kanterman and Nathan Naidu.
Other experts agreed with the rumoured launch date. “If they’re making the products from June – we’re hearing they’re going to start shipping in July, that even a September launch should be possible,” Ross Young, co-founder and CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, told Tom’s Guide. “Given the time lag from panel shipment to device production, and then device production to retail, it could be September, October.”
OLED Nintendo Switch vs PS5 and Xbox Series X
With the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X at the end of last year, Nintendo has a fight on its hands. Both consoles are much more powerful than the Switch. So does Nintendo stand a chance?
Yes indeed. Its consoles have never been about pure power, more about fun and innovative ways to play. And the sales reflect this. To date, the Switch and Switch Lite have sold over 79 million units. That makes Switch the second-best-selling console in Nintendo history, beaten only by the original Wii. It also compares well with sales of the PS4 and Xbox One, which stand at 114 million and 48 million respectively. The Switch only launched in 2017, remember, whereas Sony and Microsoft’s previous consoles landed four years earlier, in 2013.
A new Switch won’t beat the new PlayStation or Xbox in terms of graphics or processing power, and chances are it won’t be a better one-stop shop for all your streaming and media needs. But the crucial thing is, it won’t try to. As ever, Nintendo is playing its own game. And it seems to be doing pretty well so far.
MORE:
Read the full report: New Nintendo Switch incoming with OLED, 4K
Next-gen face-off! PS5 vs Xbox Series X: which is better?
Sony consoles duke it out: PS5 vs PS5 Digital Edition: which should you buy?
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