Almost every year, Apple Black History Month with exclusive content and curated launches celebrating Black culture and community. This year as well the company is doing the same and has a special-edition Apple Watch Black Unity Sport Loop, alongside a new matching watch face and iPhone wallpaper.
New Sport Loop band and watch face
Apple’s new Black Unity Sport Loop features the word “Unity” woven abstractly into the band using red, green, and black yarns that pay homage to the Pan-African flag. The new Unity Mosaic watch face incorporates geometric shapes in green, black, red, and yellow, and as the minutes change, each number uses pieces of other numbers to morph into new forms. Further, there’s also a new Unity wallpaper for iPhones. Apple Watch users can buy the Black Unity Sport Loop from Apple’s online store. The Black Unity Sport Loop is available in 41mm and 45mm sizes, and is compatible with Apple Watch SE, Apple Watch Series 4 or newer, and Apple Watch Ultra (45mm band only). The Black Unity Sport Loop is priced at Rs 4,500. Meanwhile, the Unity 2023 watch face will be available next week, and requires Apple Watch Series 4 or later running watchOS 9.3, and iPhone 8 or later and iPhone SE (2nd generation) or later running iOS 16.3. The new Unity iPhone wallpaper for the Lock Screen will also be available next week and requires iPhone 8 or later running iOS 16.3. On the App Store, Apple will spotlight apps and games forging creative solutions for Black communities in areas such as music, banking, and gaming. The App Store will also celebrate 50 years of hip-hop culture by spotlighting numerous apps that allow users to listen, watch, and learn the significance of this creative movement in both the past and present.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 is the sequel to 2019’s FF7 Remake, which aimed to reimagine the beloved JPRG for modern audiences. We now know that this sequel will officially be called Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and that it could stray even further from the original material than its predecessor.
When Final Fantasy 7 Remake launched back in 2019, many had expected it to be a straight up remake of the original game. Once we all played it, however, we realized that the game had started to diverge from the original story by the time the credits had rolled. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth therefore starts as more of a blank slate than you might expect, with many different directions that the story could go in.
While we have a little while to wait before we can play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Square Enix seem to be revealing new info on the game fairly regularly. This page contains all of the latest news and rumors, and will be updated when new updates are given by the developer. For now, here’s what we know about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth so far.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2: cut to the chase
What is it? The sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Remake
When can I play it? “Next winter” (so likely December 2023 – March 2024)
What can I play it on? PS5
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 release date and platforms
(Image credit: Square Enix)
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, officially called Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, will release “next Winter” for PS5. This release window was confirmed during a special Final Fantasy 7 25th Anniversary Celebration stream on June 16, 2022. During the stream, it was also confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake is being released as a trilogy of games, with Rebirth serving as the second distinct game in the series.
Unfortunately for PS4 owners, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth won’t be a cross-gen release like the first part. However, during an interview roundup with different Japanese outlets (compiled by Gematsu (opens in new tab)), Square Enix explained why its sticking to new-gen hardware.
“It’s exclusive to PlayStation 5 because of the graphical quality, of course, as well as SSD access speed. Since the adventure unfolds in a vast world after the escape from Midgar, loading stress is an extreme bottleneck,” it explains.
We expect, however, that, like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Rebirth will also arrive on PC at a later date once its PlayStation exclusivity runs out. Though, this hasn’t been confirmed. It’s unlikely to come to Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S, for at least a few years. After all, two years since the release of Remake Part 1, it’s still not arrived on Xbox consoles.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 trailer
First look trailer During a special Final Fantasy 7 25th Anniversary Celebration stream on June 16, 2022, Square Enix shared a first-look trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Giving us a brief look at gameplay, this footage offered a fresh look at Cloud Strife, Zack Fair, and Sephiroth.
You can hear a voiceover from Aerith too, which alludes to key events from the original PS1 game. It’s a very famous moment in Final Fantasy 7 and there’s no guarantee it’ll happen again in Rebirth, but this may prove spoilery for some as a result. Check it out, below:
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 gameplay
(Image credit: Square Enix)
First look at gameplay We had our first look at gameplay as part of a trailer that was revealed during a special Final Fantasy 7 25th Anniversary Celebration stream back on June 16, 2022. It’s pretty brief and features Cloud and Sephiroth walking side by side through a forest. At present, no combat has been shown off yet.
Using elements from Intermission Aspects of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s Intermission chapter could feature in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, according to the game’s co-director. Speaking with The Washington Post (via VGC) in July 2021, Naoki Hamaguchi said that some of the combat and gameplay enhancements introduced in Intergrade will likely be in Part 2, more specifically, Yuffie and Sonon’s team-up moves from Intermission.
“I am rather satisfied with this final form, in which the strategic element of the command-based battle from the original co-exists with the real-time, action-oriented battle,” he said. “Additionally, with ‘Intermission,’ there’s another element introduced: combo moves where Yuffie and Sonon team up … which makes for a different feel in battle strategy. I would like to leverage these, including other elements we tried out in ‘Intermission,’ in our next story.”
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 news and rumors
(Image credit: Square Enix)
Microsoft states that FF7 Rebirth will not come to Xbox consoles While we do know that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will only launch on PS5, it was hoped that the game could then head to Xbox. According to comments by Microsoft (via Eurogamer), Sony has “entered into arrangements with third-party publishers which require the ‘exclusion’ of Xbox.”
The report then goes on to offer examples of what games Microsoft is talking about:
“Some prominent examples of these agreements include Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix), Bloodborne (From Software), the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix) and the recently announced Silent Hill 2 remastered [sic] (Bloober team).”
These comments were made in response to the FTC lawsuit against Xbox. For now, there’s been no confirmation as to whether these ‘exclusion’ agreements are real. It’s worth noting that Final Fantasy 7 Remake still hasn’t come to Xbox platforms, despite having released in April, 2020. Even if Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is going to come to Xbox platforms, we may be in for quite a wait.
Rebirth could deviate even further form the original game’s story According to a blog post (opens in new tab) in which co-director Motomu Toriyama speaks about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the Whispers from the last game aren’t going to be able to keep the timeline in order this time around.
“As it says at the end of the game ‘The Unknown Journey Will Continue’, and Cloud and his friends will be on that journey for a while yet,” co-director Motomu Toriyama says in the final installment of Square Enix’s FF7 Remake blog series (opens in new tab). “From here on in the Whispers cannot act to maintain the destined timeline, so fans can look forward to seeing what kind of future awaits the team.”
Newbies can jump straight in with Rebirth In a press release, following the reveal of the first-look trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, Creative Director Tetsuya Nomura explained that those who never played part one of the trilogy will still be able to enjoy Rebirth.
“Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is being designed so that people can enjoy this game whether they know the original game or not,” Nomura wrote in the press release. “In fact, new players might even enjoy starting their Final Fantasy 7 journey with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Cloud and his friends embark on a new journey in this game, and I believe that the scenes that they witness after leaving Midgar will give players a fresh, new experience. I can’t wait to share the intention behind naming the first title, “REMAKE,” and the second title, “REBIRTH.” In time, I hope to reveal what the third title will be called, and where this journey will ultimately lead.”
(Image credit: Square Enix)
Work on Part 3 has started In the same press release, Nomura also revealed that development on Rebirth has been “progressing rapidly” since the studio adopted a new development structure, meaning that work on Final Fantasy Remake Part 3 has already begun.
“A title of this scale in which everything is interconnected even before production began is truly rare,” Nomura wrote. “In fact, some development has already begun on the third title. I myself have started on the development and am working towards the completion of the series.”
A more gripping experience than Part 1 The press release also included a statement from Final Fantasy 7 Director, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Producer, Producer Yoshinori Kitase, who explained that the developer plans to make this installment in the trilogy more gripping and memorable than its predecessor.
“We have officially announced that the second title Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will be released next winter, approximately three years after the original Final Fantasy 7 Remake released in April 2020,” Kitase wrote. “Three years may feel like a long time for all the fans who are eagerly awaiting the next game, but we want to offer the best experience possible and reassure everyone that development is proceeding at an astonishingly fast pace for such a large-scale HD title.
“Making the middle part of a trilogy has its own challenges, but there are plenty of classic second installments in the world of film that are defined by stunning story twists and deeper explorations of their characters. Often these second instalments become a favorite amongst the fans. In the same vein, we are aiming to make Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth an even more gripping and memorable experience than Final Fantasy 7 Remake, so please wait a little longer while we finish up.”
(Image credit: Square Enix)
Preparing with Intergrade In an August 2021 interview on the Unreal Engine blog (opens in new tab), the Final Fantasy 7 Intergrade development team delved into the ways they utilized current-gen hardware to make the game look better. The interview touched on the game’s faster loading times and its improved visuals as well as what the team learned. Of interest to fans hungry for news of Part 2, co-director Naoki Hamaguchi said that his biggest goal with the update to the latest consoles “was to get a first-hand feel of the performance of the next-gen hardware leading up to the next installment of Final Fantasy 7 Remake”.
According to Hamaguchi, he was “able to learn several things, like how much load is feasible using 3K and 4K rendering resolutions, or what the threshold is for loading high-quality assets while allowing players to play without stress, since the I/O bottleneck is now gone due to the implementation of the high-speed SSD”. The process has, he added, led to “very meaningful experiences for our developers working on our next title”, which is presumably Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2. It seems, then, that Intergrade has enabled the team to bridge the gap between parts technically as well as narratively.
Talking maps In an interview with The Gamer (opens in new tab) in July 2021, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 co-director Naoki Hamaguchi touched on what players might be able to expect from the game in terms of its world-building and map. “I understand that there are lots of fans out there who want to see a world map,” Hamaguchi explained, “and we want to challenge ourselves to leverage the breadth of the world in the next game of the overall project, so you can expect great things to come”.
Denying that Fort Condor mini-games are a sign of anything, Hamaguchi said: “There is no connection between Final Fantasy 7 Remake not having a world map and Fort Condor being included. We wanted to include some kind of mini-game in the Yuffie episode from the start of development, and felt that it would be better to have something that paid homage to the original and be nostalgic for those who had played it, rather than include something new.”
(Image credit: Square Enix)
Using elements from Intermission Aspects of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade’s Intermission chapter could feature in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2, according to the game’s co-director. Speaking with The Washington Post (via VGC (opens in new tab)) in July 2021, Naoki Hamaguchi said that some of the combat and gameplay enhancements introduced in Intergrade will likely be in Part 2, more specifically, Yuffie and Sonon’s team-up moves from Intermission.
“I am rather satisfied with this final form, in which the strategic element of the command-based battle from the original co-exists with the real-time, action-oriented battle,” he said. “Additionally, with ‘Intermission,’ there’s another element introduced: combo moves where Yuffie and Sonon team up … which makes for a different feel in battle strategy. I would like to leverage these, including other elements we tried out in ‘Intermission,’ in our next story.”
Leveraging the “vastness of the world” In an interview with IGN (opens in new tab) in July 2021, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 co-director Motomu Toriyama offered some tantalizing teasers for the game while talking about Intergrade’s recent Yuffie DLC. Toriyama couldn’t offer much in the way of details but did say, “as for improvement, or should I say ‘change,’ moving forward — because the next installment will involve Cloud and company to leave Midgar and explore the world map, our next challenge will be to create gameplay that leverages the vastness of the world, unlike what we did in this current title”.
Starting directly after Intergrade During a Square Enix livestream (opens in new tab) in 2021, in which a new trailer was released for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Tetsuya Nomura was able to give a tiny insight into the second part of the remake. Nomura confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 will pick up where Intergrade ends, adding that development on the game continues “smoothly” and that announcements will be made when “the time is right”.
A different director It has been confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 will have a different director as Tetsuya Nomura, director of the first part, has stepped down. In an interview with Famitsu (opens in new tab) (via GamesRadar (opens in new tab)), Nomura cited his work on an “unprecedented number of projects” as his reason for stepping down.
The directorial role is being taken over by Naoki Hamaguchi, who was Nomura’s co-director for part one of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Nomura has confirmed that he will still occupy the role of creative director.
Hints in Final Fantasy Remake about what’s coming next In an interview with Famitsu (translated by DualShockers (opens in new tab)) Final Fantasy 7 Remake producer, Yoshinori Kitase, teased that there are hints in the game that allude to what may happen in the second part.
“With this first game, we showed how there is great potential for the future, and we included many hints regarding what’s coming next,” Kitase said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the fans’ theories on social media regarding what could happen now.”
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2: what we want to see
(Image credit: Square Enix)
More playable characters While it was fun controlling Cloud, Barret, Tifa and Aerith in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, there’s a whole cast of characters in the original that we’d like to be able to control. We don’t know about you, but playing as the pistol-wielding vampire Vincent sounds like an excellent time.
Some wild story turns With how Final Fantasy 7 Remake ended, we’re expecting Tetsuya Nomura to reshape the classic game into something entirely new. While some fans may want a faithful recreation of the original game, we’re interested to see how exactly the story may shift in the upcoming installments. We don’t want to see anything coming.
Chocobo racing Because the next installment of the game is likely going to be open world, we want to see a super robust chocobo racing mini-game. In the original game, this side activity was needed to unlock some of the most powerful materia in the game. With how fun it was in Final Fantasy XV, we can’t wait to see what it looks like in the next iteration of the remake.
All kinds of minigames We already can’t wait to see what the Gold Saucer looks like in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, as it’s this big shiny amusement park full of mini-games. But, with technology coming so far in the 23 years since the original game came to market, we want to see even more activities in this area.
New-generation visuals and ray tracing Because Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is coming to PS5 (and hopefully PC), we would love to see the game look even better than the first installment. With ray tracing becoming more and more popular, we would love to see the fantastical scenery come to life in a huge way.
The Presidents’ Day TV sales event is near, which means incredible savings are coming your way on a range of 4K, OLED, and QLED displays from Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, and more. To help you find all the top offers, we’ve created this guide to bring you the best Presidents’ Day TV sales as well as today’s top bargains.
TVs are one of the most popular categories in Presidents’ Day sales, with record-low prices from brands like Samsung, Sony, LG, and more. You’ll find huge savings on last year’s best-selling premium displays, plus discounts from budget brands like Insignia, TCL, and Hisense. You’ll find everything from a mid-size 50-inch set to a massive 75-inch display, with features such as QLED and voice control, and at various prices to meet all your needs.
Presidents’ Day falls on February 20 this year, which means we should start to see official sales pop up after Valentine’s Day, and we’ll be covering all the latest sales on this page. If you’re looking to snag a bargain right now, we’ve listed today’s best TV deals below from Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, and more.
Today’s best early TV sales
When is Presidents’ Day 2023?
Presidents’ Day always falls on the third Monday in February, so this year the date is February 20, 2023. The holiday was initially held on George Washington’s birthday (February 22) but was moved in 1971 to accommodate the long holiday weekend.
When do Presidents’ Day TV sales start?
Presidents’ Day TV sales usually kick off after Valentine’s Day, which means we should see official deals pop up in mid-February from the likes of Best Buy and Samsung. Other retailers will wait to launch their official sales during the holiday weekend, which most offers launching on Friday, February 17.
If you’re looking for bargains right now, you can score Super Bowl TV deals with savings on big-screen displays from brands like LG, Samsung, Sony, and more.
Last year’s best Presidents’ Day TV sales
Looking back at last year’s Presidents’ Day TV sales can give us a good idea of what will be on sale at the 2023 event. Amazon offered record-low prices on budget brands like Insignia and TCL, while Best Buy offered impressive discounts on older model premium displays like the LG C1 OLED TV.
You can also see our best TV deals page, and if you’re looking for a premium display, we have the cheapest OLED TV deals happening right now.
It’s not often that a major streamer lifts the lid on its entire annual movie slate ahead of time, but that’s exactly what Netflix has done with its impressive selection of original features heading to the platform throughout 2023.
There isn’t just a handful of new Netflix movies on the way, either. In January, the company announced it would be dropping a new film almost every week between February and December – that was, at the time, 45 upcoming titles.
With movies like The Sea Beast, The Good Nurse and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio making their way onto our list of the best Netflix movies in 2022, we’re excited to see how this year’s crop of features fare, and below, we’ve collated details on the biggest of the lot, combining their official synopses (as provided by Netflix) with any confirmed release dates, trailers and promotional imagery.
The biggest new Netflix movies of 2023
You People
Release date: January 27
A new couple and their families find themselves examining modern love and family dynamics amidst clashing cultures, societal expectations and generational differences in this comedy from Kenya Barris. Jonah Hill (also a producer), Eddie Murphy and Julia Louis-Dreyfus all star.
Luther: The Fallen Sun
(Image credit: BBC)
Release date: March 10
Idris Elba’s hard-nosed detective, Luther, is getting the feature-length treatment on Netflix in the form of Luther: The Fallen Sun. Details are few and far between as to what ground the streamer’s movie adaptation of the acclaimed BBC series will cover, though we know its story will serve as a continuation of the Luther’s small screen saga, with the character having “to contend with a double threat.”
Murder Mystery 2
(Image credit: Netflix)
Release date: March 31
Not much is known about Murder Mystery 2, other than the fact that it’s a sequel to Netflix’s 2019 comedy about a couple whose vacation is turned upside down when their framed for a billionaire’s murder. Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler are both reprising their roles, so we’re expect more wise-cracking whodunit action from this one.
The Mother
Release date: May 12
Cue generic Netflix thriller plot: In The Mother, a deadly female assassin (Jennifer Lopez) comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men. A bit of a change of pace for Lopez after glitzy 2022 romcom Marry Me, then. This one was scheduled to release in 2022, but has since been delayed until May 2023.
Extraction 2
Release date: June 16
As its name suggests, Extraction 2 is a direct sequel to Sam Hargrave’s 2020 Netflix original movie, and will see Chris Hemsworth’s seemingly indestructible hero, Tyler Rake, returning for another high-stakes (and invariably globe-trotting) special ops mission. Not much is known about the film’s premise beyond Netflix’s similar-sounding official synopsis, but the streamer has shared a behind-the-scenes teaser (above).
They Cloned Tyrone
Release date: July 21
Not too much is known about They Cloned Tyrone, but its synopsis reads as follows: “A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (Jamie Foxx, John Boyega and Teyonah Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in this pulpy mystery caper.” By the sounds of things, then, this new Netflix film – from first time director Juel Taylor – has more than a few tricks up its sleeve. Its cast looks pretty great, too.
Damsel
(Image credit: Netflix)
Release date: October 13
Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown returns to Netflix this year in Damsel, a fantasy adventure about a young Princess, Elodie, who is tricked by a Prince into becoming dinner for a fearsome dragon. With a clear mission to subvert the age-old “damsel in distress” trope, this one looks like an action-packed movie for the whole family to enjoy.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
(Image credit: Netflix / Aardman Animation)
Release date: November 10 (rumored)
Having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream – a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland, the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. This long-awaited sequel is being helmed by Flushed Away director Sam Fell.
Rebel Moon
(Image credit: Netflix)
Release date: December 22
Army of the Dead director Zack Snyder is returning to Netflix this year with Rebel Moon, an epic space opera reportedly inspired by both Star Wars and Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. The film’s official synopsis reads as follows: “A peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy is threatened by the armies of a tyrannical regent named Balisarius. The desperate civilians dispatch Kora, a young woman who has a mysterious past to seek out warriors from nearby planets to help them challenge the regent.”
Sounds a little like Dune, to us. Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Ray Fisher, Djimon Hounsou, Jena Malone, Corey Stoll, Ed Skrein and Anthony Hopkins are all confirmed to star in Rebel Moon, which we expect will enjoy a limited theatrical release given its scale.
Maestro
(Image credit: Netflix)
Release date: TBA (2023 confirmed)
Produced by Todd Phillips, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and leading man Bradley Cooper (who also directs the film), Maestro centers on the life and legacy of West Side Story composer Leonard Bernstein. Judging by the prosthetics used to transform Cooper into the much older Bernstein, we expect Netflix to be a shoo-in for next year’s Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar (release date depending).
We Have a Ghost
(Image credit: Netflix)
Release date: TBA (2023 confirmed)
Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon helms this spooky family adventure starring Anthony Mackie and Stranger Things actor David Harbour. After finding a ghost named Ernest haunting their new home, Kevin and his family turn into overnight social media sensations. But when Kevin and Ernest go rogue to investigate the mystery of the latter’s past, the family instead becomes a target for the CIA.
The Mothership
(Image credit: Netflix)
Release date: TBA (2023 confirmed)
The Mothership is a sci-fi adventure that follows Sara Morse (Halle Berry) one year after her husband (Omari Hardwick) mysteriously vanishes from their rural farm. When she discovers a strange, extraterrestrial object underneath their home, Sara and her kids embark on a race to find their husband, father and most importantly – the truth. Sounds ominous.
Spaceman
Release date: TBA (confirmed for 2023)
As an astronaut sent to the edge of the galaxy to collect mysterious ancient dust finds his earthly life falling to pieces, he turns to the only voice who can help him try to put it back together. It just so happens to belong to a creature from the beginning of time lurking in the shadows of his ship. Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan and Paul Dano star in this one, which has us more intrigued than the movie’s plot otherwise does. No trailer or promotional imagery has been released for Spaceman just yet.
Apple has unveiled the HomePod 2 – the successor to the original HomePod, which was released in 2018. The new wireless speaker is very similar to the first HomePod in most ways, but appears to have been designed even more to be geared towards Dolby Atmos movies and Spatial Audio for Apple Music.
– $299 / £299 / AU$479 – Released February 3, 2022 – Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support – High-excusion woofer, five tweeters – Smart home hub with Thread & Matter
But with Apple’s spatial audio-enhanced music now firmly a part of its offering, and the recent release of Apple Music Sessions, available in Spatial Audio, a new HomePod boasting support for Spatial Audio always seemed inevitable… (and, to be fair, it was even spotted in the wild before Apple announced it.)
The Apple HomePod mini is a fantastic speaker in its own right, and its small stature and low price put it squarely up against some of the best smart speakers on the market, including the Amazon Echo Studio and the Sonos One. But the HomePod is Apple’s inaugural flagship wireless speaker – and the only one that supports Apple Music’s much-lauded Lossless and Spatial Audio content.
Rumors that it would have a screen, or be cheaper didn’t really come to pass, but we’re still excited for the re-engineered HomePod 2.
Apple HomePod 2: Price & release date
The HomePod 2 is available to order from Apple’s online stores from Wednesday 18 January, 2022, and will actually be released on Friday February 3, 2022.
It costs $299 / £299 / AU$479, which is pretty much what the previous model cost by the time it was discontinued. It’s the same price in the US, while it’s slightly more expensive in the UK, but that’s no surprise given recent currency exchange rates; it’s $AU10 more expensive in Australia.
The price is high compared to most of the best smart speakers – even the Amazon Echo Studio, the most expensive Alexa speaker, is nearly half the price. The Sonos One is also much cheaper.
So the HomePod is in the middle of the market overall – it’s just definitely beyond the high end of what most people will pay for something like this. But then, that’s what the HomePod mini is for, right?
(Image credit: Apple)
Apple HomePod 2: design & speakers
The new HomePod 2 looks almost the same as the original HomePod, with its round shape and fabric-covered exterior. We like this design a lot – it looks nice when you focus on it, but it’s also great at just blending into the background when you’re not, because it’s a simple black or white finish.
On top, there’s a swirling colored ‘screen’ (it doesn’t show info, it just shows when Siri or music is active). On the original HomePod, this was just a small dot in the center, but now it’s the whole top, just like on the HomePod mini.
The new model is the same diameter as the original at 5.6 inches / 142mm, and is nearly the same height – it’s a little shorter at 6.6 inches / 168mm rather than 6.8 inches / 173mm.
The inside is different, even though a lot of the principles are the same. For example, there’s still a big four-inch high-excursion woofer at the top to handle mid-range and bass. Being ‘high-excursion’ means the driver moves especially far forward and back, so it can displace more air and produce a bigger, deeper sound.
And there’s still a ring of higher-frequency tweeters underneath the woofer, but now there are five tweeters instead of the seven in the original HomePod, and they’re placed at the bottom of the unit and angle upwards. This likely helps with adding height and Spatial Audio effects when used with Dolby Atmos audio.
Apple HomePod 2: features
There were all kinds of rumors about what would be in the new HomePod, but the second verse has turned out very similar to the first; the features of the new HomePod are close to the original.
That means it’s geared towards music in the Apple ecosystem mostly. You can use Siri to request songs from Apple Music, though Siri now works with some other music services too. You can send music (or other audio) to it over AirPlay 2 from Apple devices, though there’s no Bluetooth or other way to get audio to it – that means Android devices are left in the cold with the HomePod.
It works as part of AirPlay multi-room systems, and you can use one HomePod on its own, or two in a pair.
The new HomePod is geared up for Dolby Atmos music support from Apple Music, including Spatial Audio – it will bounce sounds off your walls to try to create the feeling of the music surrounding you.
And these Dolby Atmos skills will come in useful if you own an Apple TV, because you can use two new HomePods as an alternative to one of the best soundbars – the Apple TV can send all of its sound to the HomePod, including Dolby Atmos 3D audio.
The HomePod 2 also supports lossless audio from Apple Music, for higher-quality audio overall.
It has an ultra-wideband chip in, which means it can detect when an iPhone 11 or later is close to it, making it easy to beam music from your phone to the HomePod (or vice versa) by just bringing it close.
For smart home lovers, the HomePod 2 is even better now. It supports Thread and Matter, which are the next-gen protocols that work with more accessories than ever – as well as Apple HomeKit – and it can trigger automations in your smart home when you’re not there. And it has built-in temperature and humidity sensors, which are useful for climate-control smart home gear.
Starfield is set to release later this year, and is currently penned for the “first half of 2023.” It’s been a while since we heard anything on the upcoming spacefaring RPG, but that looks set to change very soon indeed.
From what we’ve seen so far, Starfield looks set to blend classic Fallout-esque humor with a new style that’s somewhere between NASA and punk (in Bethesda’s own words). At the time of writing, we’ve only really seen one trailer for Starfield. That trailer did reveal an extended look at gameplay, but there are plenty of questions we have that are still unanswered.
Now that Starfield is mere months away, it’s likely that we will likely start to see more and more info trickle out. We do know that there will be a “deep-dive” at some point soon. As new details come to light, this page will be updated. For now, here’s everything we know about Starfield so far.
Starfield: cut to the chase
What is it? A Bethesda RPG set in outer space
What can I play it on? PC and Xbox Series X|S
When can I play it? First half of 2023 (exact date TBC)
As for when in the first half of 2023 the game might release, some small print spotted at the bottom of an Xbox Game Pass subscription plan page has suggested it could be “early 2023”.
Further to that, Kingscast (opens in new tab) host, KingFanMan, has theorized it could be March 2023. According to him, Bethesda has only delayed three games before and that while “all three games were supposed to come out in the fall” like Starfield, “all three games came out in March the next year.” We’ll have to wait for something official from Bethesda before we can be certain.
Originally, at E3 2021, Bethesda announced Starfield would release on November 11, 2022. In an interview with the Washington Post (opens in new tab), Todd Howard said the studio was “confident in the date”, but the delay, Bethesda has said, is to ensure that players “receive the best, most polished” version of it.
When Starfield does release, it’ll be an Xbox console exclusive, with the E3 2021 trailer explicitly confirming this, ruling out a PS5 release. It won’t be on Xbox One either, Bethesda’s moving on from Microsoft’s last-gen console. With Microsoft now owners of developer Bethesda, this could be indicative of the future of titles like The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 going forward.
Starfield: Gameplay
(Image credit: Bethesda)
Customization During 2022’s Xbox and Bethesda Showcase, we got our first in-depth look at Starfield’s gameplay. Starting with customization, we’re playing a fully customizable protagonist. Changeable skin tone, head shapes, hair, hair color, eyes, and body details, Bethesda’s giving us the usual options here, alongside ‘Background’ and ‘Traits’.
Backgrounds offer three starting skills each. For example, picking ‘Dueling’ awards 10% extra melee damage, while ‘Gastronomy’ lets you create unique food and drinks, alongside researching further recipes. Meanwhile, Traits can shape your personality, so if you choose the ‘Extrovert’ trait for example, you’ll have more endurance when travelling with companions, and less when alone. Unsurprisingly, this can’t be mixed with the ‘Introvert’ trait, which does the opposite.
Ship customization This presentation also gave us our first real look at ship customization too, which we know is modular. You can piece entire sections together, swapping out core components like cockpits, engines, and more, and it seems that there’s no need to individually craft those parts. It looks like we’ll buy these from individual vendors across different locations.
Unvoiced character Shortly after the presentation, Bethesda confirmed more on its Twitter (opens in new tab) account. Revealing that Starfield uses a first-person perspective for dialogue, our character also won’t be voiced, which may prove welcome news. For the unaware, a voiced protagonist was first attempted by Bethesda in Fallout 4, which faced widespread criticism. Unsurprisingly then, this change has been (mostly) well received.
In a previous Reddit AMA (opens in new tab), Todd Howard said he was “Really excited about what the team has done with character creation”, explaining that it includes “choosing background, skills, etc. You also can pick your pronoun (he, she, they) and we’ve recorded all the relevant dialogue to support that choice.”
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Exploration and gunplay During this showcase, we went to the rocky moon of Kreet as part of an early mission, and Kreet’s one of Starfield’s many different explorable locations. Notably, this demo also confirmed we can play Starfield in first-person and third-person during gameplay, showing off both during this demo.
During this reveal, we got a look at examining local wildwilfe, mining resources, and crucially, combat. Finding an abandoned research facility, we soon discover it’s been taken over by a pirate group known as the Crimson Fleet, and it’s down to us to clear them out.
Turns out Starfield will offer a choice of sub-machine guns, pistols and shotguns, as well as a jetpack that is used towards the end of the gameplay trailer to cross a huge chasm.
Building Finally, in a separate Bethesda blog post (opens in new tab), it also elaborated on building outposts, which can be found on discovered planets. The publisher’s not sharing too much just yet, though we know we can conduct our own research with previously gathered materials. These resources can then upgrade our character’s gear and notably. This includes modifying weapons.
(Image credit: Bethesda)
Length and mission structure Thanks to an IGN (opens in new tab) interview with Todd Howard, we learned plenty more about Starfield. Speaking about Starfield’s length, Howard explains it’ll be 20% bigger than Bethesda’s previous games, such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. Estimating you’ll need 30-40 hours for the main story alone, he advised: “This one’s ending up a little bit longer [than our previous games] and we may tune that some still. It’s more quests, so it might be 20% more than our previous ones”.
He’s also clear that despite the large-scale freedom to explore, Starfield still offers a clear ‘golden path’ to follow, for those only interested in the main story. Telling IGN there’s more handcrafted content than Bethesda has ever created in Starfield, Howard confirmed:
“I should also add that we have done more handcrafting in this game, content-wise, than any game we’ve done. We’re [at] over 200,000 lines of dialogue, so we still do a lot of handcrafting and if people just want to do what they’re used to in our games, and follow a main quest, and do the questlines, you’re gonna see what you’d kind of expect from us. But then you have this whole other part of, ‘Well I’m just going to wander this planet, and it’s going to provide some gameplay, and some random content, and those kinds of things.”
During the showcase, Howard confirmed there’s 1000 fully explorable planets across 100 star systems. In this interview, he then explains you can’t seamlessly go from space down to a planet. “People have asked, ‘Can you fly the ship straight down to the planet?’ No. We decided early in the project that the on-surface is one reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality.” As for the why, we’re then told the feature is “really just not that important to the player” to justify the work needed.
Influences Finally, that same interview also touched upon Starfield’s influences. Calling it a unique take on space combat, Howard revealed this approach was partly inspired by FTL and MechWarrior:
“Your ship has various power systems. [There’s a] little bit of FTL there in terms of putting how much power into three different weapon systems, then your engines, and shields, and the grav drive is what lets you jump, and sort of get out of some situations that you have to put power to.
“One of the games I love that we sort of look at for pace is MechWarrior, believe it or not. That’s probably a little bit slower, but in terms of systems and power and being able to line things up – it’s a little bit faster than that but you know what I mean as opposed to a twitchy dogfighter. But it’s not just dogfighting, you can dock with other ships, you can disable them, you can dock, you can board it. There’s actually some quests that involve that. You can steal the ship, there’s dialogue in space, there’s star stations you can visit, there’s smuggling. All the things that we would want.”
He ends on this point by promising we’ll learn more about this aspect of combat at a later date.
Starfield: Story and setting
(Image credit: Bethesda)
Starfield promises a grand spacefaring adventure across the vast universe, set 300 years into our future. After a few initial missions, our protagonist gets invited to join Constellation, the last group of space explorers. We’ll be meeting them in the United Colonies’ capital city, New Atlantis, tasked with searching for artifacts across The Settled Systems.
Speaking to IGN (opens in new tab) in a June 2022 interview, Todd Howard revealed New Atlantis will be Bethesda’s biggest city yet. “It has all the services you would expect, and you can work on your ship there, the factions touch that. But that’s also the headquarters for Constellation, which is the faction that you join that is the last group of space explorers – kind of this NASA-meets-Indiana Jones-meets-The League of Extraordinary Gentleman [group].”
Unsurprisingly, there’s rival groups with separate goals, like the Crimson Fleet, who it seems we’ll be frequently clashing with. Previous videos from Bethesda have also confirmed the existence of violent Spacers, ecliptic mercenaries, and fanatical religious zealots of House Va’Ruun.
This takes place across 1000 fully explorable planets between 100 star systems, and four major cities. Including New Atlantis, we currently know about three of them. Following a past war with the United Colonies, the Freestar Collective marks the other major faction within The Settled Systems, and both currently maintain an uneasy peace.
Controlling three star systems, Freestar uses the walled Akila City as its capital, which keeps out “alien predators that are a cross between a wolf and a velociraptor.” Then we have Neon, a pleasure city created by the Xenofresh Corporation. Having created a unique psychotropic drug, Aurora, it’s now a popular tourist spot.
Starfield: Trailers
Gameplay Reveal We finally got our first look at Starfield’s gameplay during 2022’s Xbox and Bethesda Showcase, which you can check this out in full below:
The Sound of Adventure Bethesda has released an April video diving into Starfield’s music and sound design. In the video, the game’s audio director, Mark Lampert, and composer, Inon Zur, discuss music and its importance for the overall gameplay experience.
Zur describes music as the “fourth dimension. It is the emotional dimension” while Lampert says, “the main theme sets the tone for everything else we do.” The video is interspersed with more new concept art to give insight into the visual inspirations for the music.
Meet Starfield’s first companion: Vasco Bethesda has introduced Starfield’s first companion in a brief new video. Called Vasco, this companion is Constellation’s expeditionary robot who has been refurbished by the space exploration organization “to meet the requirements” of its mission.
According to Lead Artist, Istvan Pely, Vasco is a “utilitarian, heavy industrial machine well-suited to the rigors of space travel.” Vasco’s primary role is, apparently, “peaceful” as, while he does have defensive capabilities, he’s especially well-suited to travelling across rough terrain while loaded up with items that are useful for “extended overland journeys.” See him for yourself below:
Made for Wanderers In the second episode of the “Into the Starfield” series, members of the Bethesda development team discuss the ways in which they’re hoping to immerse players in a realistic game world. They touch on a range of topics, from NPC and companion interaction, to the game’s factions and the choices players will have in relation to them.
The Endless Pursuit In this behind the scenes video Game Director Todd Howard, Studio Director Angela Browder and Art Director Matt Carofano discuss Bethesda’s vision of the future with Starfield.
Howard discusses “step-out moments” in the Fallout games, where a character emerges into a world that’s been irrevocably changed by nuclear war, and cryptically says that Starfield will have “two step-out moments”. Carofano, meanwhile, reveals that Starfield will have a “realistic science-based backing” and calls it a “more grounded game and grounded setting” than the likes of Skyrim.
The backstory In October 2021, Bethesda released a video giving an overview of Starfield’s overall setting, known as ‘The Settled Systems’.
Narrated by Bethesda Game Studios Design Director Emil Pagliarulo, the video explains that Starfield will transport players to the Settled Systems in the year 2330. The Settled Systems are located in “a relatively small pocket of the Milky Way, in an area that extends outward from our Solar System for approximately 50 light-years.”
It also gives some details on the game’s two largest factions, the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective. Both engaged in a “bloody colony war” before the game begins but have developed an unsteady peace.
Location teasers In August 2021, Bethesda revealed three brief videos which give an overview of cities that will feature in Starfield. The three locations are pretty distinct, comprising the metropolitan capital of the United Colonies, New Atlantis; the freedom-driven capital of the Freestar Collective, Akila; and the vice-drenched pleasure city, Neon.
Each video (all below) gives a description of the locations and a look at some of the concept art, offering a good sense of the overall atmosphere you can expect.
Teaser trailer The first proper Starfield trailer was revealed at E3 2021, showing off Bethesda’s more realistic approach to sci-fi than the likes of Outer Worlds or No Man’s Sky:
We’re shown a very NASA-like astronaut exploring the rocky surface of a Moon-like location, complete with a blue-sky atmosphere, preparing for take-off. We’re shown drones, a cool mech-like buddy robot, and the promise of uncovering the “key to unlocking everything.”
Into the Starfield E3 2021also brought a more behind-the-scenes style video for Starfield called Into the Starfield. In this clip that’s just under 2 minutes, Bethesda gives an overview of Starfield and what it’s aiming to achieve with the game.
Announcement teaser Other than that, we previously saw our first glimpse of the game during E3 2018 where we got little more than a title, a setting and a glimpse of an unnamed planet, a floating satellite or space station, and some sort of… glowing wormhole?
Check out the teaser trailer below:
Starfield: News and rumors
Starfield is getting its own showcase in the coming months Microsoft recently revealed an Xbox Developer Direct for January 25. While listing the games that would be shown, Starfield was left out, to the confusion of many. Speaking in a blog post about the event (opens in new tab) (opens in a new tab), Xbox reveals that Starfield will get its own showcase later on in the year:
“To dedicate the proper amount of time for a deep dive into Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield, a standalone show is in the works.”
All we know so far is that this deep-dive will air after the Developer Direct.
Starfield may be lonely, but that’s exactly what Bethesda wants Speaking in a recent interview with podcaster Lex Fridman (opens in new tab), Todd Howard, the game’s head director, explained how the team at Bethesda embraced the “beautiful desolation” of Starfield’s massive open world.
Ship customization Speaking during Xbox Games Showcase Extended, Bethesda’s Pete Hines touched a bit more on Starfield’s ship customization feature.
“Every ship is customizable to the Nth degree and not just cosmetically,” Hines explained. “It goes much deeper than that in terms of what shields you have, what kind of weapons you have, what kind of ship are you building, what do you want it to be good at, what trade-offs are you willing to make or not. And the other part of it is that you have to figure out ‘how am I going to do this?’, ‘where do I get the resources to build this stuff?’, ‘what kind of skills do I need to level up to improve my ship beyond what I could do without those skills?’ It’s a lot of choices. You get to decide that…all of those things are part of the fun of deciding how much you want to interact with this and how do you want to interact with this.”
Pete Hines addresses delays During the Xbox Games Extended showcase, Bethesda’s Pete Hines addressed the delays to both Starfield and Redfall, saying that these delays were to allow the teams to “fully realize” the games.
“With all the time that goes into a game, it would be foolish to rush it out the door before it’s ready, Hines said. “I think we have continued to examine how we think about games and making sure that they’re going to meet players’ expectations. Obviously, the last few years have really challenged us from a development standpoint, how we work now largely remotely while a lot of our folks are not back in the office, and that has an impact. I also think we’ve been thinking about things like release dates and when do we give those out and how do we make sure we give one out that we actually hit and don’t have to change later.
“So, it’s not something that we undertake lightly but, at the end of the day, what our fans expect is a high-quality game and we want to do everything we can to give our teams the time to fully realize the games.”.
Aiming for realism and immersion In a behind-the scenes featurette for Starfield, members of the game’s development team touched on ways that they want to make the game a realistic, immersive experience for players. This starts from the higher level of the game’s overall RPG mechanics, with Todd Howard touching on “the backgrounds, the traits, defining your character, all those stats.”
It also extends to the NPCs and companions with whom the player will interact throughout the game. Lead Artist, Istvan Pely, said that while Bethesda have “always allowed the player to create really interesting, unique characters”, this time they’ve “definitely, severely leveled up. The tech is based on scanning of real world models, similar to the photogrammetry we do in our landscapes. We’re kind of applying the same thing to our people as well.”
This realism is part of the immersion, with Pely adding, “it’s not just the appearance of your player and all that, but we want the personal interactions with all NPCs, other characters in the game, to be as impactful as possible. And for that you have to believe these are real people, you’re a real person, and you’re interacting with real people.”
NASA-Punk aesthetic Bethesda has a particular look in mind when it comes to Starfield and that look is “NASA-Punk”.
As described by the game’s lead artist, Istvan Pely, in a recent Xbox newswire post (opens in new tab), NASA-Punk is a term coined by Starfield’s development team “to describe a sci-fi universe that’s a little more grounded and relatable”. Pely explains the team “wanted a very realistic take,” adding, “You can draw a line from current-day space technology and extrapolate from there into the future so it’s believable and relatable.”
The game’s lead animator, Rick Vicens, explains that the term proved to be incredibly useful when creating an aesthetically consistent world. “What’s really interesting is how much we all latched onto that concept,“ Vicens says.
”When you said NASA-Punk, the Art team could instantly take those two words and make them work. It was just the perfect term for our art direction and keeping everyone in the same flow and working with a consistent style. For me, it just clicked. At the start of the project, I think that term was critical for us.”
Spencer to me: “I love the Forza 5 and Halo stats…I love how many people played Psychonauts 2 vs. Psychonauts 1. “So, when I look at the teams, when Todd and I talk about Starfield, it’s: ‘How do we make sure this is the most-played Todd Howard game ever?'”February 8, 2022
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Some environment concept art The Starfield Twitter account has been keeping up a steady drip of teases for the game. In December 2021, the account posted two new pieces of concept art which hint at the diversity of settings players will get to experience in the game.
The first piece of art shows a dense jungle setting, with the tweet promising that “During your travels you’ll discover many unique environments, some lush and abundant with life.”
During your travels you’ll discover many unique environments, some lush and abundant with life. pic.twitter.com/fMpT2vd0AxDecember 20, 2021
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The second tweet shows a scene far less “abundant with life”, instead depicting a deep, dark cave where, apparently, there will be things for players to discover.
What wonders will you uncover in distant caves? pic.twitter.com/hMFZfBLYzBDecember 27, 2021
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Full mod support Bethesda Game Studios boss Todd Howard confirmed in a recent Reddit AMA that despite Starfield moving to an all-new engine from the studio’s previous titles, it will offer the same deep mod support as previous titles from the developer.
“Our plan is to have full mod support like our previous games. Our modding community has been with us for 20 years. We love what they do and hope to see more make a career out of it,” said Howard.
‘Better’ without PS5 Bethesda’s executive producer Todd Howard has said that the company can create better games now that it’s developing exclusively for Xbox and PC.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Howard said: “You don’t ever want to leave people out, right? But at the end of the day, your ability to focus and say, this is the game I want to make, these are the platforms I want to make it on, and being able to really lean in on those is going to make for a better product. By focusing on those platforms, you really get to lean in a lot on making it the best it can be for those systems“.
Both third person and first person viewpoints are in Starfield Whether you like staring down the barrel of a gun, or at your player character’s cool new space threads, Starfield will offer up both first and third person points of view for players to enjoy. “First person for us is still our prime way of playing. So you can see the world and touch all those things,” Todd Howard revealed in an interview with the Telegraph (opens in new tab).
Starfield will have alien races and multiple planets to explore It may be a more serious approach to space exploration than the likes of No Man’s Sky or Mass Effect, but rest assured – there will be aliens to interact with. In quite what capacity, Bethesda isn’t yet revealing. But with the news that the game will also feature Skyrim style cities and settlements across multiple planets, we’re hoping that we’ll run into a fair few alien habitats, too.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
A game engine overhaul Bethesda (opens in new tab)‘s Todd Howard has revealed that partnering with Microsoft has “led to our largest engine overhaul since Oblivion, with all new technologies powering our first new IP in 25 years, Starfield, as well as The Elder Scrolls 6.“
Speaking at the Develop: Brighton conference (opens in new tab), Howard gave more information on the overhauled Creation Engine, saying it’s been “a significant overhaul,” adding that “It’s taken us longer than we would have liked, but it’s going to power everything we’re doing with Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6. When people see the results, they’ll hopefully be as happy as we are with what’s on the screen and also how we can go about making our games.”
Take with a grain of salt but some images of Starfield may have just leaked pic.twitter.com/CUcj7lWccrSeptember 26, 2020
Assassin’s Creed Mirage will come out later this year, and looks set to be a decidedly different outing when compared to the last few games. It’s being designed as a sort of homage to the series’ roots, meaning more stealth, and more focus in its open-world design.
Starring Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Basim Ibn Ishaq, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is set in Baghdad, 20 years before the events of Valhalla, and will take the decades-spanning series back to its roots. So far, this seems to mean that the game will be smaller in scope, and less of an action-packed RPG. Perhaps this means that stealth and parkour could return in a big way.
What we do know is that Assassin’s Creed Mirage will not be as large as Valhalla and that it will release on both last and current-gen consoles. While we wait for more info related to Mirage, you’ll find all of the latest news and rumors right here on this page. We’ll be sure to add new information as it comes out.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: cut to the chase
What is it? Assassin’s Creed game set in Baghdad
When can I play it? TBC 2023
What can I play it on? PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: release date and platforms
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is coming in 2023, though we don’t have a specific release date just yet. Ubisoft confirmed the game’s existence and release window in 2022, following a ton of leaks around the upcoming title.
In terms of platforms, Ubisoft has confirmed that Mirage will be a cross-generation release. As such, expect to see it on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, and cloud streaming service Amazon Luna. There’s, unfortunately, no free upgrade between generations, but it’s also cheaper than recent big releases, launching for $49.99 / £39.99 RRP.
Recently, a report by Insider Gaming claimed (opens in new tab) that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is eyeing an August 2023 release date. This is apparently due to the game having been delayed twice internally. There has been no official confirmation of this from Ubisoft, however, so for now it’s just classed as a rumor. What we do know, though, is that Ubisoft still intends to release Mirage in 2023, despite revealing (opens in new tab) in January 2023 that it had scrapped three unannounced projects and has further delayed its upcoming pirate adventure Skull and Bones.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: trailers
Announcement trailer We got our first official look at Assassin’s Creed Mirage during the Ubisoft Forward digital showcase in September 2022. While there’s no gameplay footage included, this provided a cinematic look at Mirage’s story, which you can check out in full below:
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: gameplay and setting
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is taking the series back to basics: set in Baghdad 20 years before Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Basim Ibn Ishaq, who was introduced in Valhalla, takes center stage. According to reports, Mirage began as a Valhalla spin-off before escalating into its own fully fledged entry.
Basim is part of the first Assassin Brotherhood, and Mirage takes us on one of his earlier adventures. Here, he’s being taught by Roshan, a Persian assassin portrayed by Shohreh Aghdashloo. Rather than the open-world RPG gameplay of more recent years, Assassin’s Creed Mirage focuses on stealth and parkour once again.
As such, expect a smaller experience overall, likely around 15 to 20 hours. When asked about the game’s length in an IGN (opens in new tab) interview, executive producer Marc-Alexis Côté said, “Not everything has to be a 150 hour RPG, right?”, confirming:
“It is a smaller Assassin’s Creed project. This was conceived [and] built to celebrate the 15th anniversary. So that’s why we’re using our modern Valhalla engine to build a smaller game that pays tribute to our original game by focusing more on stealth, on close-quarter combat, on parkour, and a denser city that goes back to our roots in the Middle East with Baghdad as the centerpiece.”
While we’ve yet to see gameplay, Ubisoft has confirmed that Baghdad is the only city in the game, split into four zones, though we’re also visiting Alamut. Each one contains a boss ready to be thwarted, but it’s unclear how that unfolds in-game. What we do know, according to narrative director Sarah Beaulieu, is that this story will include various historical figures.
As for how you’ll navigate Baghdad, lead producer on Assassin Creed Mirage Fabian Salomon said in an interview with Arab Hardware (opens in new tab) (via PCGamesN (opens in new tab)) that Mirage’s parkour will take some inspiration from the mechanics in Assassin’s Creed Unity:
“We are seriously trying to reach this level with Mirage, and since Baghdad is dense as I mentioned, we want the players to enjoy their time in the city through parkour, which was and still is one of the important pillars that we depended on in the style of playing with Assassin’s Creed Mirage”.
In fact, as part of going back to the series’ roots, Salomon said Mirage will take inspiration from other early titles. This includes the return of Assassination Contracts from Assassin’s Creed II and Brotherhood. He does also, however, mention “new and different opportunities to interact with the environment in Baghdad”, including “new mechanics” in hiding and in assassination among crowds.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage: news and rumors
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Fans helped shape Ubisoft’s decision to create the “more intimate” Mirage Speaking to Gamesradar as part of its Big in 2023: Assassin’s Creed Mirage story (opens in new tab)(opens in a new tab), creative director Stéphane Boudon commented on how fan feedback helped build the starting point for Mirage’s world design:
“Amongst our fans, we started hearing the desire for a character-driven story, focused on the core pillars of the first ACs in a more intimate scale. It resonates with us as well, as developers, and this was the starting point of the project.”
Valhalla’s final DLC features a Mirage crossover Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s final update features a new quest called ‘Shared History.’ In it, Eivor and Mirage protatgonist Basim’s mentor Roshan team up. This quest helps set up some of the charcaters and events that are coming in Mirage.
It’s not Adults Only Following the announcement of Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, some store pages showed the game with an Adults Only rating due to the inclusion of “real gambling” which would mean the “player can gamble, including betting or wagering real cash or currency”.
That was, however, Ubisoft has confirmed, a mistake. In fact, the game is still awaiting a rating. In a statement to Eurogamer, Ubisoft said:
“Following the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Mirage during Ubisoft Forward, some store pages mistakenly displayed the game for pre-orders with an Adults Only ESRB rating. While Assassin’s Creed Mirage is still pending rating, Ubisoft wants to reassure players that no real gambling or lootboxes are present in the game.”
Surprise! Roshan from Assassin’s Creed Mirage makes an appearance in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla with our latest update. Eivor and Roshan team up in “Shared History” – a new free quest available now! #AssassinsCreed pic.twitter.com/s7QOcjaavSNovember 29, 2022
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage formally unveiled We got our first look at Assassin’s Creed Mirage during the September 2022 Ubisoft Forward showcase.
Featuring a “very special Assassin’s Creed showcase”, Ubisoft confirmed many previously rumored details like the Baghdad setting, Basim returning as the protagonist, and how it takes us back to the series’ roots through stealth and parkour gameplay. But that wasn’t all for fans, we soon discovered Assassin’s Creed Mirage is just one of three newly revealed games in the series.
Alongside news on the final Assassin’s Creed Valhalla DLC, this also revealed two new projects within Assassin’s Creed Infinity. Currently codenamed Red and Hexe, Red takes us to feudal Japan in a new open-world RPG, casting us as a shinobi. Meanwhile, Hexe appears to be focused more on the 16th century witch hunts, according to recent leaks from Try Hard Games (opens in new tab).
Cybersecurity researchers from HP Wolf Security have warned of several active campaigns looking to deliver different types of malware (opens in new tab) to unsuspecting victims via typosquatted domains and malvertising.
The team explained in a blog post (opens in new tab) how they found threat actors creating multiple typosquatted websites impersonating popular software such as Audacity, Blender, or GIMP.
The scammers also paid different ad networks to run ads, promoting these fake websites. That way, when people search for these programs, search engines might end up serving malicious versions of the websites right next to legitimate ones. If a user isn’t careful and does not double-check the URL of the website they’re visiting, they might end up in the wrong place.
Fake installers
If victims do end up in the wrong place, they’ll hardly notice the difference. The websites are designed to look almost identical to the authentic ones, down to the tiniest detail. In Audacity’s example, the site hosts a malicious .exe file masquerading as the program’s installer. It is named “audacity-win-x64.exe” and is more than 300MB in size.
By being this big, the attackers try to avoid raising suspicion (malware is usually measured in KB), but also try to avoid antivirus programs. According to the researchers, some antivirus programs’ automatic scanning features don’t scan extremely large files.
The files are hosted on the 4sync.com cloud storage service, the researchers said, adding that all the fake installers in this campaign have been hosted there, hinting that a good defense mechanism might be to block access to this service entirely.
In the campaign, different types of malware are distributed. The largest campaigns the researchers have seen used this delivery approach to deploy the IcedID trojan, but the Vidar infostealer, BatLoader, and Rhadamanthys Stealer, have all been observed. According to HP Wolf Security, there’s been an uptick in these campaigns since November last year.
Artificial intelligence is being used to cast its all-seeing eye over the written word with DeepL’s latest free writing app Write.
Pitched as a rival to Grammarly, the AI writing tool is able to correct spelling and grammar mistakes, rephrase words and sentences, and generally make your writing clearer.
Developer DeepL, who first made waves with its AI-driven translation software, said the tool uses “neural network technology that captures the context and nuances of the original text to provide rephrasing suggestions and alternative word choices.”
Writing on the wall
Originating as an idea to help its multilingual user-base to check the accuracy of their translations, the idea behind Write is to grant users control over their writing.
Unlike ChatGPT’s essay-generating content, this AI is effectively a smart proof-reader, although the company claimed that by serving up recommended changes across phrasing, tone, style, and word choice, writers can “retain their authentic voice” and creativity.
(Image credit: DeepL)
We gave Write a quick test drive. The interface is clean, with just two text fields and an option to switch languages. British-English, American-English, and German are supported at launch.
Text is pasted in the left field and the results appear to the right. Suggestions are highlighted in that familiar word processor way. Clicking on these in-body links serves up a few more possibilities, too.
Speed was excellent – less than a second to check a single sentence; a few seconds to run its A-eye over a longer piece (although after 2000 characters, you’ll get a prompt to purchase DeepL Pro).
It’s not perfect, though. Like similar writing and writing enhancement apps, suggested changes can feel flat, unemotional, process-driven. As with any AI content, human refinement is usually necessarily and always desirable.
You can give Write a go by clicking here (opens in new tab).
An iPhone’s ability to back itself up via Wi-Fi to a computer running iTunes has a glaring security hole, meaning anyone with access to that computer could have easy access to a raft of personal data.
According to new insights (opens in new tab) from privacy tool provider Certo, Apple is failing to keep its devices secure by failing to keep users aware that the longstanding backup feature, iTunes WiFi sync, is even enabled.
That’s a problem when part of the hack involves accessing the victim’s iPhone and setting up the backup to any computer, after which the data can be read by desktop and mobile applications, and packaged up into intuitive reports for perusal.
iTunes WiFi Sync’s role in spying
As Certo points out, iTunes WiFi sync is just one example of how parental control apps can be leveraged by domestic abusers to assert control over several aspects of their lives.
The company notes that Tech-facilitated abuse is common across several “Internet of Things” product providers, such as Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices, Google maps, and electric cars.
iPhone users who have good reason to believe they might be snooped on in this way have, until now, been unable to easily detect whether the feature is enabled as, bizarrely, Apple has disabled the option to check if the feature is enabled in an iPhone’s Settings menu since the release of iOS 13.
Currently, the only indicator that an iPhone is “WiFi syncing” is a small spinning circle of arrows in the top-right of the interface when the backup is taking place.
That’s reminiscent of the presence of an AirTag device, designed to track belongings but also used by stalkers to track people, for a time only notifying users of the presence of an AirTag in the vicinity of their iPhone with a single notification reading “accessory detected”.
Apple is taking much longer to plug this particular security hole, and although Certo has recommended that Apple reinstate the WiFi Sync option in the Settings app, as well as actually allowing users to disable the feature directly from their device, it is yet to receive a response from the tech giant.
In the meantime, however, Certo has released a tool (opens in new tab) for desktop computers that allows users to check if the feature is active, as well as disable it.
