Archives January 2023

If you’re wondering why your DualSense Edge battery’s not lasting as long as you’d like, it turns out there’s a very straightforward reason for it.

A teardown of the DualSense Edge controller, done by verified Twitter user Budd’s Controllers, shows that the battery in Sony’s premium pad is considerably smaller than that of the standard DualSense.

Beloved Nintendo 64 shooter GoldenEye 007 is making an imminent return. The classic secret-agent-simulator will be available for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members starting January 27.

The influential title set the bar for multiplayer shooters and helped define a generation of FPS experiences. However, developer Rare has enriched the old warhorse with some quality-of-life improvements, including smoother frame rates and higher-resolution graphics. Though also available on Xbox, the Nintendo Switch version includes an exclusive online multiplayer mode – a welcome addition to the GoldenEye experience.  

Staying safe from cyberattacks is getting tougher all the time, with a new BlackBerry report highlighting the sheer volume of attacks that take place every day.

During the three-month period between September and November 2022, BlackBerry found its AI-driven preventative technology stopped over 1.76 million malware-based attacks, accounting for 62 every hour (or more than one per minute).

Sony has revealed that it can add a whole new lease of life to old games, by retroactively adding achievements to games on PlayStation Plus. The PSP classic Super Stardust Portable has had trophies added to it on the subscription service, and hopefully, this signals the start of a reward revolution. 

While intergalactic warfare game Super Stardust didn’t initially have trophies, Sony has said that doesn’t have to remain the case when a retro game is made available on PS5. In a PlayStation Plus dev blog (opens in new tab), Sony said, “some original PlayStation and PSP titles may offer trophies… this feature is optional for developers”. It also listed games such as Ape Escape, Hot Shots Golf, and IQ Intelligent Qube as potential retro games that could have this great feature added. 

High-end smartphones are both expensive and – typically – fragile, which isn’t a great combination. But the Samsung Galaxy S23 series looks set to take steps to solve that, as these phones will be the first to use Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

This is Corning’s latest super-strong cover glass, and while the tech itself was revealed late last year, the company has now confirmed that “Samsung’s next Galaxy flagship smartphones” will be the first to use it. While the Samsung Galaxy S23 series isn’t mentioned by name, the phones are set to land on February 1 – so Corning can’t really be talking about anything else.

Yahama has launched a budget-friendly pair of true wireless earbuds that boast aptX Adaptive Hi-Res sound, and seem set to offer budget-watching audiophiles a way to get impressive performance without breaking the bank.

The third entry in its TW-E3 series of true wireless earbuds line, Yamaha’s TW-E3C earbuds seem to have a feature set to rival some of the best wireless earbuds out there – in a package that’ll only cost you $79.95 / £89 (around AU$110).

The TW-E3C earbuds will combine aptX Adaptive Hi-Res sound – a codec that allows them to stream at much higher quality than regular Bluetooth, but to also maintain a rock-solid connection even if there’s interference – with what Yamaha is calling ‘True Sound’. These are acoustic features that are designed to allow the earbuds to produce a realistic soundstage that’s rich with clear midrange and high frequencies, as well as bass notes with a solid oomph.

The earbuds will also pack a few smart extras, such as a low-latency gaming mode that reduces audio lag, multipoint connectivity so they can be connected to two devices simultaneously (making it easier to swap between them), and a pair of mics that should be able to isolate your voice for calls even in fairly noisy environments.

An ambitious Mass Effect 3 mod that aims to revitalize and broaden the sci-fi RPG by fixing bugs, adding deleted scenes, and offering graphical improvements throughout the game’s environments has just dropped. 

We covered the successful start to the series in our Mass Effect oral history, but the third game ruffled feathers at launch due to its endings. A boycott was started to convince EA to “finish” the ending. EA declined. But now fans have taken it into their own hands to flesh out Mass Effect 3.

As I sat back and watched the walkthrough of Minecraft Legends, the strategy game twist on the blocky sandbox game, I couldn’t help but think that this was one of the best things to come out of Mojang for years. 

Similar to Halo Wars 2, Minecraft Legends is a real-time strategy that takes on one of Microsoft’s biggest series. As well as a single-player campaign that sees you raise an army to battle against an invasion from the dark Nether, Minecraft Legends features 2v2 multiplayer. Every battle will be different because each map is procedurally generated, much like the Minecraft campaign. In multiplayer, you need to team up with friends or powerful strangers and work together to defeat the onslaught of attacks coming your way, from both humans and AI, with the ultimate goal of destroying the enemy base. 

If you think your co-workers might have been talking about you in secret, a new Microsoft Teams feature might be able to solve the problem for good.

Some users of the popular video conferencing service will soon be able to see exactly when their name was mentioned in a Microsoft Teams meeting, as well as who mentioned their name, and in what context.

The attackers behind a recent assault on Riot Games have announced they are auctioning off the source code used for some of the company’s most famous games.

The company behind one of the world’s most popular MOBA games – League of Legends (LoL), had recently confirmed it had received a ransom note for the stolen source-code, but publicly announced it had zero intention of paying said ransom.