It’ll be joined by a trio of permanent additions which, frankly, are unlikely to get the juices flowing. If you are a subscriber, though, hopefully you can find something you like. The full lineup is as follows:
Not a particularly exciting update, then, and it rounds out a particularly weak month for Sony’s subscription services. While a bad month is not the end of the world in isolation, it’s worth remembering that PlayStation’s offerings are under intense scrutiny when compared to what the competition is offering right now.
We should add that all of the games on this list will be available to download and stream on the PS4, but in the case of cross-gen titles GTA: Vice City Definitive Edition, you’ll only get access to the last-gen version – even if you’re playing on a PS5. Plenty of work for Sony to do moving forwards, then, and let’s hope March 2022 represents a serious uptick in excitement.
Sony has just announced the first State of Play broadcast for 2022. This time, it's another one-game event, featuring none other than Gran Turismo 7.
As it says on the PlayStation Blog, this State of Play is all about Polyphony Digital's latest sim racer, and we can look forward to "just over 30 minutes of new PS5 footage and gameplay details". That's all we know right now, but half an hour of the fast-approaching racer sounds good to us.
It's set to take place on Wednesday 2nd February — that's in just a couple of days — at 2pm PST / 5pm EST / 10pm GMT / 11pm CET.
Are you excited to see Gran Turismo 7 get its time in the showroom? Will you be tuning into this State of Play? Tell us in the comments section below.
A next-gen version has reportedly been spotted on PlayStation's backend database.
A PS5 version of Cyberpunk 2077 may be on the way.
Though right now it's just a rumour sparked by an early sighting of the game on PlayStation's store database, Twitter account PlayStation Game Size - which routinely, and accurately, provides us with early information about the file size and release dates of upcoming titles - believes the PS5 version of the game will release in "mid-February - early-March".
It tallies with the release window CD Projekt Red shared with us back in October. However, if true, Cyberpunk 2077 will be up against stiff competition from the likes of Elden Ring and Horizon Forbidden West, both of which drop around the same time.
As Wes surmised at the time, Cyberpunk 2077 suffered a disastrous launch and caused developer CD Projekt severe reputational damage it has yet to recover from. It went so badly, CD Projekt changed how it operates to develop multiple AAA games and expansions in parallel, and only begin promoting its creations much closer to release.
The times they are a-changin' and in this instance, seemingly for the better.
Unlike past launches of Nintendo first-party properties at the flagship Nintendo NY store located in New York City’s fabled Rockefeller Center — which often saw hundreds of people queued up overnight to be the first to buy the Switch, or high profile Mario and Zelda on Day 1 — the debut of Game Freak's highly anticipated Pokémon Legends: Arceus was downright civilized.
Clearly, this was by design, with Nintendo NY laying the ground rules a week in advance and ensuring that lines were for ticket holders only and that they could only line up an hour ahead of their entry slot (10 am, and a second wave at 11 am).
Surely local law enforcement had some choice suggestions on how to handle big launches, since past scenarios often found fans bringing actual furniture (everything from lawn chairs to tents) in order to better survive the often freezing temperatures that accompanied these special events.
But so too did the game’s widespread availability likely soften the blow of this launch. Your intrepid photographer had already put 5 or so hours into the game, having played it since midnight EST the day of the launch when Arceus unlocked, with yet another boxed copy arriving early the same morning.
The fact that there isn’t an accompanying Arceus-themed Switch console on offer, a special edition of the game, an Amiibo, or any developers or voice talent on hand meant that there was little to queue up for, other than to say “I was there.”
Nintendo NY was, as it is known to do, giving out posters and some minor freebies, and also had an Arceus-themed ‘campsite’ inside the store for fans to take photos in and around. Otherwise, this was a generally tame and organized affair – far preferable, in fact, to the chaos and usual FOMO that afflicted past events.
Surprisingly, there was a complete lack of any Arceus-branded merch – shirts, Switch cases and the usual suspects were notably absent – which is unusual considering this is one of the most anticipated first-party game launches in some time and was mostly shrouded in mystery. Regardless, everyone seemed to leave the store a happy camper which, to be fair, is completely appropriate in this case.
One of the cool things in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is that you can just sort of... run around while your Pokémon do things. You don't have to babysit them; in fact, you don't even have to stand behind them in battle. It's weird how cool this feels.
You can also throw their Poké Balls on the ground to have them stand beside you for a little bit, doing a cute animation or two, and you can "Speak" to them to see how they're feeling. It's not as exciting as a Partner Pokémon, but it's sweet enough.
However. If you throw down all your party Pokémon, something happens: They start having a little meeting. How do we know it's a meeting? THEY TAKE IT IN TURNS TO TALK.
Look:
Buizel's talking...Now Ponyta has something to say...Shinx strongly disagrees with Ponyta's thoughts......and finally, Rowlet pleads for unity.
We watched this happen for ten solid minutes. It's VERY CUTE.
From a pregnant man to a biting lip, the 37 new emojis coming to iPhones have finally been revealed.
Apple's own designs for the new emojis are already available in a beta test of iOS 15.4 software update released on Thursday, prior to its full release in the spring.
The pregnant man and pregnant person recognise that 'pregnancy is possible for some transgender men and non-binary people', says Emojipedia, which is part of the California-based Unicode Consortium, the central bank of all approved emoji.
But the two new pregnant emoji could also potentially be used as 'a tongue-in-cheek way to display a food baby', a very full stomach caused by eating a large meal.
iOS 15.4 also includes seven brand new smiley emojis, including Melting Face, Dotted Line Face, Face Holding Back Tears and Face with Diagonal Mouth.
Other additions include a motorcycle tyre, a slide, a disco ball, a troll with a club, coral, kidney beans and a low battery.
Companies including Apple, Google and Microsoft apply stylised versions of the consortium's designs to their own operating systems. This is Apple's own emoji versions for Person with Crown, Pregnant Person and Pregnant Man, to be available in the iOS 15.4 update, set for a full release this spring
New emojis have arrived on iOS as part of the first iOS 15.4 beta. These include a melting face, pregnant man, mirror disco ball, and multi-racial handshake emojis
EMOJI VERSION 14.0 HIGHLIGHTS
- Pregnant Man
- Pregnant Person
- Troll
- Coral
- Nest with Eggs
- Mirror Ball
- Low Battery
- X-Ray
- Bubbles
The Unicode Consortium officially signed off candidates for the next emoji release, version 14.0, last September.
But companies including Apple, Google and Microsoft apply stylised versions of the consortium's designs to their own operating systems.
Apple's were revealed by Emojipedia in a blog post published on Thursday, the same day iOS 15.4 arrived in beta.
Beta testing involves letting a small group of people use a product in a to uncover any bugs or issues before a general release.
'Since 2019, vendors have been making considerable efforts to offer all people emojis with three different gender variants – one "Man", one "Woman", and a non-gender-specifying "Person",' said Keith Broni at Emojipedia.
'This latest Apple beta update continues this trend by adding two new gender neutral people emojis in the form of Person with Crown and Pregnant person, as well as adding a new Pregnant Man emoji.'
Following some controversy in September when version 14.0 emoji candidates were officially signed off, Jane Solomon, Emojipedia's 'senior emoji lexicographer', authored a blog post entitled 'Why is there a pregnant man emoji?'
This is Emojipedia's own versions of the emoji that make up 'version 14.0', revealed in July 2021 and officially approved in September. Note the original versions of Pregnant Man (centre, wearing red) and Pregnant Man, which Apple has changed for its own operating system
'The new pregnancy options may be used for representation by trans men, non-binary people, or women with short hair – though, of course, use of these emojis is not limited to these groups,' she said.
'Men can be pregnant. This applies to the real world (e.g., trans men) and to fictional universes (e.g., Arnold Schwarzenegger in [1994 film] "Junior".
'People of any gender can be pregnant too. Now there are emojis to represent this.'
Guidelines to use the term 'pregnant person' instead of 'pregnant woman' – as issued by the British Medical Association in 2017, in an attempt to recognise trans and non-binary people – were at the time called 'an insult to women'.
Emojipedia argues that men get pregnant in both real life and in fiction, citing the film as as example
From left, Danny Devito, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Emma Thompson appear in the 1994 film 'Junior'
The new emoji update also includes seven brand new hand gestures emojis, each of which support skin tone modifiers.
These are refereed to as Rightwards Hand, Leftwards Hand, Palm Down Hand, Palm Up Hand, Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed, Index Pointing at the Viewer and Heart Hands.
Also in version 14.0 are seven brand new smiley emojis – the largest number since 2017's iOS 11.1 update.
These are Melting Face, Face with Open Eyes and Hand Over Mouth, Face with Peeking Eye, Saluting Face, Dotted Line Face, Face with Diagonal Mouth and Face Holding Back Tears.
Top row: Rightwards Hand, Leftwards Hand, Palm Down Hand, Palm Up Hand. Bottom row: Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed, Index Pointing at the Viewer, Heart Hands
From left, Saluting Face, Melting Face, Face with Open Eyes and Hand Over Mouth, Face with Peeking Eye, Dotted Line Face, Face with Diagonal Mouth and Face Holding Back Tears
Apple is yet to reveal a date for the full release of the iOS 15.4, but it's likely to be in March or April following at least a month of beta testing throughout February.
Other updates coming with iOS 15.4 are the option to unlock your iPhone while wearing a mask, vaccination records in the Health App and an Apple Card widget in the Today view.
As for people who have Android phones, these new emoji are available with Android 12L, scheduled for a release in March.
Android, which is developed by a consortium of developers called the Open Handset Alliance and commercially sponsored by Google, already has its own versions of the new emoji listed on Emojipedia's website.
VERSION 14.0: THE 37 NEW EMOJI
- Melting Face
- Face with Open Eyes and Hand Over Mouth
- Face with Peeking Eye
- Saluting Face
- Dotted Line Face
- Face with Diagonal Mouth
- Face Holding Back Tears
- Rightwards Hand
- Leftwards Hand
- Palm Down Hand
- Palm Up Hand
- Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed
- Index Pointing at the Viewer
- Heart Hands
- Biting Lip
- Person with Crown
- Identification Card
- Heavy Equals Sign
- Pregnant Man
- Pregnant Person
- Troll
- Coral
- Lotus
- Empty Nest
- Nest with Eggs
- Beans
- Pouring Liquid
- Jar
- Playground Slide
- Wheel
- Ring Buoy
- Hamsa
- Mirror Ball
- Low Battery
- Crutch
- X-Ray
- Bubbles
These 37 emoji make up 'Unicode Version 14.0' and can all be viewed on the dedicated page on Emojipedia's website.
Emoji Version 14.0, which features the 37 emoji and the numerous variations, are also listed.
'The distinction between Unicode 14.0 and Emoji 14.0 is that the latter includes sequences where two or more code points can be combined to display a single emoji,' said Keith Broni at Emojipedia.
Gordon Murray Automotive has unveiled its second supercar, a “more practical” £1.4 million stablemate to the three-seat, V12-powered T50 fan-car flagship that it revealed in August 2020.
The T33, which is built on an all-new carbon-aluminium monocoque chassis, is slightly longer than the T50 and its cabin is designed for two occupants. The car uses a specially adapted version of GMA’s Cosworth-designed 3.9-litre V12 engine with even more low-speed torque but a slightly lower rev limit of 11,100rpm, compared with 12,000rpm in the T50.
Further preserving the T50’s status as GMA’s flagship, the T33 uses newly developed passive underbody aerodynamic principles to deliver aero downforce as speeds rise, rather than the T50’s innovative fan system, which works at any speed.
The T33 weighs about 100kg more than the T50 at the kerb, and its price shaves £1m off that of its senior sibling.
“If you can have only one supercar,” said GMA founder and boss Gordon Murray, “the T33 is designed to be the one you should have.”
In other ways, the two GMA models are closely related. Both are about the same length as the Porsche 718 Boxster but more than 200kg lighter. Their body proportions are considerably different (the T50’s screen is around 10in further forward to accommodate its centrally seated driver), but they share carefully created family look. Murray and his design assistant Kevin Richards are responsible for the styling of both, created in-house with a small team of CAD modellers.
Murray has used the T33 to reflect his love of 1960s exotics (notably the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, Ferrari Dino 206 SP and Lamborghini Miura) and to create a more graceful, less cluttered shape than contemporary supercars.
Rather than copying his favourites, Murray has identified what he believes are timeless details and forms that will feed his long-term aim of preserving the beauty and relevance of GMA cars in the decades to come.
“I’ve had the T33 in my head for about 25 years,” he said, “but until now, we haven’t had the facilities to make it. “All of my designs carry ‘T’ numbers. For instance, the T25 and T27 were city cars, the T34 was our Ox flat-pack truck and the T37 was the TVR [Griffith] project.
“I’ve been planning a timeless supercar for a long time, and in the early planning I thought about a 3.3-litre engine for it, too, so I reserved the number 33. And now at last we’re doing it.”
True to its previously announced “never more than 100” principle, GMA will make just 100 examples of the T33 coupé, running initial prototypes this summer and delivering cars from 2024.
Two T33 spin-offs are planned. Murray said they are likely to be a roadster and “some sort of track-specific model” in the vein of the T50S Niki Lauda.
Although its proportions are different and it’s built for two occupants, not three, the T33 follows most of the principles used by the T50 (and before that, the seminal McLaren F1). It has a cleverly packaged and spacious cabin, with occupants protected by a carbonfibre safety cell. Many of the carbonfibre panels have a honeycomb core, and there is a light alloy frame to carry the major loads. There are three luggage compartments: one in the nose and a pannier-like one ahead of each rear wheel. Total luggage space is 280 litres, said Murray – “about the same as in a small hatchback”.
The all-independent coilover suspension components are changed from the T50’s, because the T33’s weight distribution is not the same and its newly patented passive aero architecture (“we learned some important lessons from the T50”) leaves entirely different packaging space under the body.
The double wishbones at the front are carried on an alloy subframe, while those at the rear are mounted directly on the gearbox, with the engine as a “semi-structural” chassis component capable of providing enough compliance to quell refinement issues yet providing the rigidity needed for a suspension mounting.
The steering retains hydraulic power assistance and the wheel and tyre sizes are identical to the T50’s: 19in at the front and 20in at the rear.
The T33’s V12 produces 607bhp at 10,500rpm and gives its maximum torque output of 337lb ft at 9000rpm. It will pull away from 1500rpm in top gear and delivers 75% of its peak torque at 2500rpm.
Reflecting GMA’s attention to detail, the T33’s engine gets different heads and camshafts and a reconfigured variable valve timing system in line with its slightly different positioning. The standard gearbox is a six-speed manual, but a paddle-shifter is optional. Murray said the T33 will be GMA’s final non-hybrid car and hinted at hybrid and EV projects already well advanced.
It will also be the first car to be built at GMA’s spacious new headquarters just off the M3 in Windlesham, Surrey. The entire run of T50 and T50S models are being built at GMA’s base on the edge of Dunsfold Aerodrome, about 20 miles south, near Guildford.
GMA cites seven guiding principles for its growing car family: light weight, exclusivity, hand-built quality, components engineered for visual quality as well as functionality, beautiful exterior styling, Murray’s close personal contact with customers and what he describes as “driving perfection”.
Murray expects the T33 to attract half of its buyers in the US (orders are already being taken), so it will be sold in both left- and right-hand drive. GMA plans to achieve full federal type-approval, rather than depending on the more tenuous ‘show or display’ rules that other manufacturers use in the US.
“For a company like ours, it’s a big decision to spend £28m on federal approval,” said Murray, “but we’re very confident about the car’s compliance, and when we achieve it, in effect we will have two cars in one: a European version and one for the rest of the world. That will make it all worthwhile.”
Q&A: GMA founder and CEO Gordon Murray
The T33 is close in size and shape to the T50, so what’s its special purpose?
“It’s designed to be a somewhat more practical car than the T50, which will always be our flagship. If you can have only one supercar, the T33 is designed to be the one you should have.
“Our research among potential owners already shows us that around 85% will use their cars for daily driving, which is why we’ve given it practical stuff like good luggage capacity and a long cruising range.”
You haven’t yet shown the T33’s interior. What’s it like?
The T33 adheres very much to Gordon Murray Design principles: exquisite but very simple, driver-focused design. It will be all analogue: no touchscreens, top-quality machined-aluminium rotary controls for all important functions and every switch floodlit, as backlighting is confusing. We’re not even having steering column stalks, because we prefer thumb buttons on the steering wheel spokes.”
You’ve said the T33 is influenced by your favourite 1960s cars. Is there a risk of copying them too closely?
“I don’t think so. The T33 and T50 together have a genuine GMA family look that’s quite different from others. But many of the greatest 1960s and 1970s cars were styled by engineers who weren’t as governed by rules as we are today. They could do the purest, most efficient designs. If we’re clever, we can do it too.”
Do you think modern supercar design has become overcomplicated?
“Yes. Many modern cars are brutal and cluttered, as if the designers are just trying too hard. What’s the point in covering your car with louvres, wings, fins and ducts if you don’t need them? We’re going the opposite way, and our buyers tell us they like it.”
You’ve made very little of the T33’s performance figures, even though they’re bound to be fantastic. Why is that?
“We aren’t bothering to chase trends or headline performance figures with our cars. I really don’t care whether the car’s 0-60mph time is 2.9 or 3.1sec or if it will do 210 or 215mph. Our buyers don’t care either. We’re not chasing sales and we never will. The beauty of simplicity is the key to our cars.”
Plans for new GMA headquarters
The T33 will be the first car to be manufactured at Gordon Murray Automotive’s new global headquarters in Windlesham, Surrey – a 54- acre site formerly occupied by the defunct Kamcorp engineering consultancy.
Murray has a £50 million plan to revitalise and extend its buildings to house car manufacturing facilities, a heritage garage, a complex of engineering and design offices and a tech campus to introduce recruits into the high-tech car business. New customers will also visit the site to configure, view and collect their cars.
There’s even space and planning permission for a small test track (around 700 metres) needed for shaking down newly built cars.
GMA expects to create around 100 new jobs at Windlesham once conversion of the 130,000sq ft complex, comprising three buildings, is finished, hopefully by 2024.
However, it plans to retain its existing buildings at Dunsfold, near Guildford, as the manufacturing base for its T50 and T50S flagships.
Amazon has announced its Prime Gaming offerings for February.
Its own free-to-play MMO action RPG Lost Ark is due out on 11th February, and Prime members can get exclusive in-game items.
Five games will also be available to download for free.
There's Paradox's space strategy game Stellaris; bleak survival game Ashwalkers; turn-based city builder As Far As The Eye; rhythm zombie shooter Double Kick Heroes; and football game Golazo! Soccer League.
These five games will be available from 1st February.
Also, throughout the month, exclusive content will be available for a whole host of games, including Rainbow Six Extraction, FIFA 22, Blankos Block Party, and Lords Mobile.
Further content will be available for New World, Apex Legends, Battlefield 2042, Fall Guys and more.
It's looking like Horizon Forbidden West will be a sequel that builds upon what the first game achieved and improves the experience with lots of small (and large) tweaks. Horizon Zero Dawn was a fantastic first attempt at an open world action RPG from Guerrilla Games, but the second game seems to be making some much needed changes for the better.
IGN talks about some of these enhancements in the above new video, following their hands-on preview. It's well worth a watch if you're interested in hearing about some Forbidden West gameplay details, but we'll go through some of our favourites here.
One that sticks out to us is that you no longer appear to have a cap on your inventory — kind of. Aloy will only be able to carry around a certain amount of materials and equipment, as per the original. However, any surplus items you pick up will be sent to a stash, which can be accessed in any settlements or towns you discover. In the case of healing items, you can replenish Aloy's supply by holding Up on the D-pad, meaning you shouldn't be left wanting for a top-up.
The Focus has also had some overhauls made. You can scan your surroundings with R3, and any climbable surfaces will be highlighted with holograms, which is far better than having every handhold painted bright yellow. Additionally, while analysing a Machine, you can cycle through all its removable parts using the D-pad, instead of having to carefully hover over the creature with the right stick. You'll also be able to keep parts you need highlighted — another very nice touch.
As well as all that, it looks like you'll be spending much more time in settlements. In addition to picking up side quests, you'll be able to play a board game called Machine Strike, shop at vendors for various items and gear, access your stash, upgrade weapons and armour at work benches, and improve your combat skills in melee pits. Towns in Horizon Zero Dawn looked cool, but were pretty hollow — it seems they'll be far more engaging here.
For more, check out the video, but what do you think of these new details? Are you excited to play Horizon Forbidden West when it lands in a few weeks? Crouch in the tall grass of the comments section below.
Ahead of the arrival of Pokémon Legends: Arceus on the Switch tomorrow, the game has already sold out in certain parts of the world on Amazon.
On both the US and UK Amazon webpages, physical copies of the game are temporarily out of stock. Even digital code sales are performing quite well. The game is currently the best-selling Nintendo Switch title on the website and also tops the charts in both regions as the best-selling video game (across all platforms) right now.
To be fair, anything related to Pokémon sells like hotcakes - and it's also been a relatively quiet start to the year in terms of blockbuster releases. A lot of other major game releases are scheduled for February or later. Amazon sales of the new Pokémon game stretch to other parts of the world, too - as highlighted by Twitter user @So_Ethereal:
Admittedly, it might be a bit of an uphill battle for Pokémon Legends: Arceus to match the sales of certain other Pokémon releases on Switch, as this is a single game, rather than two separate versions.
In just two days' time, Pokémon Legends: Arceus launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch. Taking the series in an entirely new direction, the game is arguably one of the most exciting Pokémon releases in years, but also one that leaves us with plenty of questions.
Reviews for the game have gone live today, including our own, so we've gone ahead and rounded up a selection of quotes and review scores from a number of different outlets. Below, you'll see just how well the new title has gone down with the media ahead of this week's launch.
Before we dive in, we'd naturally like to encourage you to check out our very own review:
Right, now you've read through our final verdict, let's see what other critics had to say.
We'll kick things off with VGC, who awarded the game a maximum 5/5:
"Pokémon Legends is the breath of fresh air the series has needed for so long. It may not have been apparent from the trailers, but this is one of the most entertaining, engaging and engrossing games in the entire history of the Pokémon series, and is highly recommended to both long-time fans and complete newcomers."
GameSpot went for an 8/10 score, describing it as one of the series' most "daring and inventive" moments:
"Some of the new ideas in Arceus have rough edges, and it's slow to start before you get access to many environments and mounts. This is an awkward first step, and it was a big adjustment for me, a longtime fan of the series, to make. Once Pokemon Legends: Arceus finds its stride, though, it's the most daring and inventive the series has been in years, breaking apart the staid core and creating something new and exciting from its pieces."
It received another perfect score from Comicbook, who called it a "must-buy Pokémon game":
"Pokemon Legends: Arceus is easily the strongest Pokemon game made in recent memory and should provide unforgettable memories that rival the first time a player first encountered a favorite Pokemon or conquered their first Pokemon Champion fight. It's a must-buy Pokemon game destined to land on many "top games of the year" lists and should bring countless new and lapsed fans to the franchise."
The folks at PC Mag weren't quite as impressed, giving the game 7/10:
"Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the most ambitious Pokemon game yet, offering the catch-and-fight Pokemon experience across wide open lands, with the most direct interactivity seen in any game in the series. Unlike what Breath of the Wild did for Zelda, though, Arceus doesn’t reach quite as far in its mix-up of the classic formula, and so doesn’t succeed nearly as much."
And finally, Game Informer offered the title an 8.75/10:
"Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a worthwhile spin-off adventure, even if some of the concepts aren’t fully developed. With an enticing gameplay loop, fun side activities, and a story I’m glad I saw through to the end, Pokémon Legends: Arceus sets a solid foundation for what I hope is the next evolution for the series."
Pokémon Legends: Arceus launches on 28th January, available to buy either digitally from the Switch eShop or physically at retail. Will you be playing it this Friday? Let us know in the comments.
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Reliable leaker Evan Blass has shared a seemingly official invitation poster for Galaxy Unpacked 2022 which, if accurate, gives away the game for the upcoming tech launch. Evan Blass' Twitter account is private, so we can't embed the tweet, but if you follow the account you can find them here.
If not, we'll describe the image to you. It's a gray-background picture with the Samsung logo at the top, and in the center is a see-through cube with a purple 'S' at the core.
Below that is the slogan 'The Epic Standard', the words 'Galaxy Unpacked' and the date of February 9. The poster also says the event will start at 3pm, an odd detail since previous years' Samsung Unpacked posters haven't included a time, likely because fans are based in various time zones around the world.
We don't know what time zone that 3pm refers to, but if it matches with previous events that may be when the event starts in the UK. That'd be 10am ET and 7am PT.
We've heard leaks suggesting both February 8 and February 9 as the date for Galaxy Unpacked 2022, but thanks to this recent information, the later date seems almost certain.
Analysis: what does it mean?
Unlike in 2021, when the Unpacked poster teased the 'Contour Cut' camera bump design of the upcoming Galaxy S21, there aren't any obvious details hidden in this teaser.
Still, we've sometimes seen Samsung accompany its Unpacked invitation posters with video or GIFs which provide more information, so perhaps when these are officially sent out we'll get more details.
The slogan 'The Epic Standard' is probably more important, but there are so many possible interpretations of the phrase that any would be total speculation.
The Galaxy S21 Unpacked phrase was 'Welcome to the Everyday Epic' - and over a year on since that launch event, we're still not clear how that pertained to the phone.
So it wouldn't feel right reading too far into the image or words, as they could mean anything - and probably do, knowing Samsung's laissez-faire approach to marketing terms and branded phrases. Let's just wait until Unpacked to see what shows up.
Streamers are already broadcasting Pokémon Arceus: Legends ahead of its release date this week.
The notoriously secretive Pokémon Company has been especially silent about the forthcoming game, with no access for hands-on previews and information controlled through limited trailers.
Yet the game has still leaked before release, with the internet already rife with spoilers - we won't be revealing any here.
It's unclear how streamers have got their hands on the game, be it through official boxed copies or other digital data leaks.
Still, at the time of writing, at least 15 streamers on Twitch from around the world are playing the game with collectively over 800 viewers watching. If you're looking to avoid spoilers, be aware of Pokémon content on Twitch.
Eurogamer has requested comment from Twitch, though it has not commented publicly on the game being streamed before launch.
There's also an argument that the leaks may be driving an increase in pre-orders. Twitter user DarkDetective suggests there's been a 21 percent increase in pre-orders at Japanese retail chain COMG! in one day since the leaks.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus pre-orders at the Japanese retail chain COMG! have increased 21% in a single Sunday from 486 to 589 units, following leaks.
COMG! isn't representative of the full market, but 103 new pre-orders in one day is the most extreme movement I've ever seen here. pic.twitter.com/5oMwGpLs3v
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The leaks seem to be piquing the interest of fans ahead of release in the absence of official information from Nintendo.
The Pokémon games are frequently a major target for leakers, with both last year's Diamond and Pearl remakes and, previously, Sword and Shield leaking ahead of release.
Acquisition escalation Just to add fuel to the fire, I’m happy with the buyout of Activision. When I heard about it several people said to me Call Of Duty would be Xbox exclusive, which I said ‘No, it will never happen’, as it’s a massive money maker. But it would be good that the studios Activision owns could then start making new games and not be sucked into the Call Of Duty yearly update.
Seems like that may happen under the expert eyes of Microsoft. You don’t really hear bad things about what Xbox does studio wise, apart from buying up companies then they let them do what they want, which is making games.
Already Microsoft are saying they want to resurrect old IPs and I’m all for it.
So what is Sony going to do? I reckon they are on the phone to Take-Two and Rockstar for all they own and GTA. Cassius2K
GC: That would be awful though, wouldn’t you say?
If you’ve got it, flaunt it The weekend feature really did rip Xbox to bits and every single word he put was right. When Sony was on the ropes with the PlayStation 3 they didn’t splash the cash like Microsoft, they took a steep back, cleaned themselves up and took another step back and said that won’t happen next time. They sorted out their developers and made a plan for the PlayStation 4 and when it launched it was like Usain Bolt.
Microsoft, on the other hand, had a cry, threw their dummy out their pram, pulled out the cheque book and left the prices bit blank. I know that after they sign the paper work for Activision Blizzard they will then say Call Of Duty is Xbox only. After this I wouldn’t buy an Xbox at all, it’s not worth my time anymore. David
GC: Sony doesn’t have as much cash to splash. They’d probably do exactly the same thing in Microsoft’s position.
Breaking the bank I just wanted to express my disbelief at not just the proposed acquisition of Activision, but the level of cash used to do so. This level of cash is more than the GDP of Luxembourg! And perhaps even more surprising is it’s potentially up to half of Microsoft’s cash war chest. That is a massive statement of intent for Microsoft in the gaming space.
I’m not opposed to it all, and I know this kind of feeds into the Hot Topic from last week, but I love physical media. I have a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (old version), I don’t have Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass (or any of the Sony equivalents) and am happy with my discs. I hope Xbox in the future doesn’t just become a giant digital rental service.
Thanks for the great gaming coverage as always. Rob
Super Halo Kart Don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet but with the recent Xbox acquisitions and the range of famous mascots they now own, surely they’ve got to be thinking now’s the time for their own versions of Mario Kart and Smash Bros.
The family audience is not something we would associate with the brand and with the amount of money they’re spending surely this kind of game is exactly what they need for Game Pass, to make it a real insurmountable success. Seems the perfect game type for the Overwatch team to work on. Chris
Developer Pass After the news that Microsoft spent a Nintendo on Activision Blizzard it makes you wonder that, if streaming really is the future of gaming, in the not too distant future, how many developers will we all be paying a subscription to, to play their games?
Imagine how much money could be spent if a user subscribes to several of their favourite developers every month at an average of £10.
It begins to make a single platform holders subscription services, Game Pass for example, seem like a lesser evil than what could potentially become.
It’s an impossible future to think about right now, will players soon be willing their preferred platform of choice to buy out as many developers as possible just to keep everything in one place at a reasonable price?
What seems like an unfair business model to many may end up being way too convenient for us all to complain about very soon. Bad Edit
GC: Do you mean publishers? Because most developers don’t release more than one new game every three years or so, so a subscription service doesn’t really make sense for them. EA Play is probably the closest to what you’re suggesting and it’s already part of Game Pass Ultimate.
Attractive churn I know there have been lots of reactionary takes to MicroVisionBlizzard and whilst I don’t agree it’s the end of gaming as we know it I’ve enjoyed reading the passionate takes, particularly Saturday’s Reader’s Feature which was l, I thought, well written.
My own personal hot take is far more boring, and that the effects of the merger will only become clear in the next decade or longer.
In the immediate term, I find it very encouraging that a company as large as Microsoft wants to spend a huge chunk of money on a gaming publisher. It points to gaming as an industry being in rude health, and far from the end as has been prophesied since the announcement.
As for the impact on games that’s where I am more unsure. If Microsoft were drawn to purchase Activision because they feel they were under-utilising their stable of IP, wasting their studio talent literally churning out Call Of Duty and the odd other game here and there, and will change the focus of the company onto creating more original, innovative or creative experiences then it’s great news. Certainly Phil Spencer’s comments so far point to them creating more than Activision currently do.
If Microsoft were drawn to them because they loved the revenue churn of Call Of Duty, or thought the way they drag money out of mobile players with pay-to-win Zynga games was the experience they needed… maybe to implement it into console gaming… or wanted a slice of all those games as a service Blizzard titles, then it’s not great news for the games which they will produce on Xbox (at least not for me, millions of people love these games though!)
As always, I’m sure the answer lies somewhere in the middle, or possibly they are drawn to both things, or neither! Who knows, but we’ll only find out in the next decade or more… so I’m not quite ready to read the last rites of gaming just yet. It’ll just keep on keeping on for now.
I said it was a more boring take! Henshin Agogo
GC: Even in its most unsuccessful iteration for over a decade Call Of Duty was still the best-selling game of 2021 in the US, with Cold War the second best-selling. Although it’d be nice to think that, in the future, Activision will go back to making a greater range of games there should be no question as to the primary reason Microsoft bought the company.
10 years later Hotline Miami turns 10 years old in 2022. Once you’ve gotten over the existential dread caused by that statement, I recommend you check out NoClip’s new documentary about this great game.
Danny O’ Dwyer interviews the two developers, and they discuss its creation and legacy, as well as Hotline Miami 2’s negative reception (i.e. death threats) causing them to almost give up on game-making. ANON
It’s happened before It’s funny. I remember in the 90s Nintendo was the dominant force in gaming and Sega was its competition. Nintendo would use its weight to dominate the market, punishing retail stores who dared sell competitors’ products. However, I loved Nintendo and was very excited saving for my N64 from my hard-earned paper round wage or pocket money. I felt like I knew the way the industry worked and knew exactly what to expect from my favourite developers.
Then came Sony, they changed from the cartridge we all knew to a CD-ROM. This drastically changed the types of games being made and I wasn’t a fan: huge loading times, FMV everywhere, and completely new genres of games that had never been thought of before. Sony bought with them a huge amount of cash, which the likes of Sega and Nintendo couldn’t compete with, so everywhere I looked I saw promotions for PlayStation. They may not have outright bought up companies but they convinced major developers and publishers to jump ship and develop for PlayStation, taking beloved (not by me) franchises such as Final Fantasy away from my beloved Nintendo.
I was about 13 at this point and I took it quite personally. Sony were the greedy corporation trying to ruin my hobby, and as far as I could tell everyone who had one had it chipped, so after the initial outlay for the console people weren’t buying anything. Around the time the PlayStation 2 came out GTA 3 had convinced me to get one and I had the realisation one afternoon I was watching a Sony Pictures DVD in my Sony PlayStation on my Sony TV. Talk about monopoly.
Which brings me to my point. I am a PC gamer and have an Xbox now, when did I last buy a game? Can’t remember but between sharing Steam games, EA Access, Game Pass and the free games on Epic Games Store or Ubisoft I’ve played pretty much everything I want for no extra cost, my 14-year-old self would have exploded with excitement that this was legal.
Microsoft may have been losing the console game every generation but they are, for me, now the market leaders, taking genuinely new ideas and incorporating them into a model that actually does look after its userbase. Sony and their fans may be upset at Microsoft moving the goal posts, so to speak, but that’s only because they have moved them from where Sony put them. Phil
Inbox also-rans I have written in several times before about my anticipation for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and at last it has a release date of April 5th. My birthday is April 8th so the timing is almost perfect. The new trailer looks great and April can’t come soon enough! Pigfish2 (PSN ID)
I don’t understand why people get so worried about games being released cross generationally. I can play brand new PC games on my 14-year-old PC, which was last upgraded in 2013. This doesn’t make them any less good on brand new beast PCs. EvilMoomin
GC: People want games to take advantage of the new console’s abilities. The SSD in particular cannot be used as a key element for a cross-gen PlayStation game, because the PlayStation 4 doesn’t have one.
This week’s Hot Topic The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Cranston, who asks would you still be interested in gaming if Sony and Nintendo were no longer involved?
The news that Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard has changed everything, with many fearing that equally large companies like Google, Facebook, and Netflix will swoop in to buy the remaining third party publishers. If that happened, how would it affect your interest in gaming?
Do you worry about the increasing consolidation of gaming, where only a few number of giant companies own everything, or do you think it won’t change anything fundamental? What do you see as the most optimistic, and pessimistic, outcomes for the future of the games industry?
The small print New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.
Potential European pricing information for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S22 series has been released by reliable leaker Roland Quandt, as reported by Android Police. Samsung appears to have carried over its prices from the previous S21 lineup, with the only inconsistency being an equally-priced S22 Ultra model that supposedly comes with less RAM than its S21 predecessor.
Whoever said S22 series was to be cheaper, didn't think of Covid, parts shortages and inflation.
Quandt claims the S22 will start at 849€ (~$963), the S22 Plus will set you back 1,049€ (~$1,190), and the base S22 Ultra will cost 1,249€ (~$1,417). It looks like all the base models in the series come with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage — the standard S22 and S22 Plus have a higher-priced option for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while the S22 Ultra offers two additional tiers that have 12GB of RAM with either 256GB or 512GB of storage.
These prices are identical to those of the S21 devices, but as pointed out by Android Police, Quandt’s leak indicates the base S22 Ultra may come with just 8GB of RAM instead of the 12GB that the base S21 Ultra has. Despite this, the S22 Ultra may still be the same price as the S21 Ultra — a 100€ premium will get you the extra 4GB you’re missing out on.
You can preorder a Galaxy S22 device before it’s even announced at Samsung’s February Unpacked event, which will give you a $50 credit towards your purchase. As Android Police points out, US pricing information for the devices leaked earlier this month, with the base S22 allegedly starting at $899, the S22 Plus costing $1,099, and the S22 Ultra priced at $1,299. If these prices are true, this would mean a $100 increase across the board.
There’s been plenty of leaked information about the S22 series floating around the internet, painting a near-complete picture of what the lineup could look like. Previous leaks show us an S22 Ultra that resembles the reportedly discontinued Note (complete with a stylus), while another gives us an early glimpse of what appears to be all three S22 dummy units in an unboxing video.
