Details about an epic-looking upcoming sci-fi adventure game just dropped. The images and teaser trailer depict a post-apocalyptic world in which humans in primitive-style garb battle giant dinosaur-like robots while sweeping orchestral music plays. It all seems a little familiar. But wait, this isn’t the next Horizon game from Guerrilla. Oh, no, no. This is an initial look at a game from a Tencent subsidiary called Polaris Quest.
Guerrilla and Sony don't exactly hold a monopoly on tamable robot dinosaurs or open-world crafting games. But at first glance, Light of Motiramis a pretty blatant Horizon ripoff. It mimics Guerilla's art style and animations, right down to the abundant lens flares. One image shows a trio of human characters using bows and spears to tackle a mammoth-style machine. Even the game's logo font and description ape that of Horizon's — Light of Motiram is about humanity's attempt to "rebuild from the dawn of a new primitive era."
There are some differences, in fairness. Here, you can construct your own shelters, while trained "Mechanimals" can help you in combat. There's co-op support for up to 10 players as well. While Guerrilla is working on a multiplayer game, the recent Lego Horizon Adventures spinoff is the only Horizon game to date that features co-op.
In one sense, fans of the Horizon series will understand why it's apt that the games seem to have effectively been cloned. We'll have to wait to see just how egregiously Polaris Quest has copied Aloy's adventures. Light of Motiram doesn't have a release window as yet, but the seemingly free-to-play title is coming to Steam and the Epic Games Store. Unless Sony slaps Tencent with a cease-and-desist first, that is.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/a-new-game-from-tencent-looks-like-a-pretty-blatant-horizon-ripoff-174935880.html?src=rss
Whether you picked up a new PS5 console on sale or not, you can also save on console accessories for Black Friday. One of the best deals for Sony fans is on the PS5 DualSense wireless controller, which you can give for $55 a pop at various retailers including Amazon, Target and Best Buy. The discount applies to a bunch of colorways, too, so you’re not limited to just the standard black or white versions. Just be aware that some color options are a tad more expensive at $60 each.
A brand-new PS5 ships with one of these controllers, but you need two to enjoy some sweet couch co-op. We called out the gamepad in our official review of the PS5, saying it had “some of the most advanced haptic controls” we’ve ever experienced.
The analog triggers can be manipulated to emulate various sensations, like pulling an arrow back or running out of ammo with a gun. It’s a gimmick, sure, but a fun one. The built-in haptics also allow for more realistic rumble, which is heads and shoulders above what the DualShock 4 offered.
There’s a built-in microphone, a headphone jack, a tried-and-true button layout and a pair of joysticks. It’s a really well-designed controller. It’s a DualSense. It is not, however, a DualSense Edge. That’s Sony’s ultra-premium controller that costs nearly $200. That one offers extra features like easy button remapping, multiple joystick nubs, customizable rear paddles and more.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/black-friday-ps5-deals-discount-the-dualsense-wireless-controller-to-55-081313630.html?src=rss
Two Grand Theft Auto titles that helped Netflix's games division pick up steam are leaving the service next month. Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City won't be available through Netflix's library of mobile games after December 13.
The Netflix app lists that as the "last day to play" both games. There's no such deadline on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas listing, indicating that subscribers can still enjoy CJ's story at no extra cost.
"Just like with series and film, games will be removed from Netflix as licenses expire," a Netflix spokesperson said, according to GameSpot. "Players will notice a 'Leaving Soon' badge and be notified by the app itself well in advance of removal." Netflix is removing those two games exactly a year after adding them and San Andreas to its library, indicating that it had an initial 12-month agreement with publisher Rockstar.
Earlier this year, Netflix said that the GTA trio had boosted game engagement at the end of 2023. Some people even signed up just to play them, the company claimed. However, Netflix recently scaled back its gaming ambitions to a degree by closing a studio that had some notable developers who were working on a AAA title.
You can still play the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition(what a mouthful!) versions of GTA III and Vice City on iOS and Android after December 13, but you'll need to buy them from the respective app stores. If you're looking for other games to play with your Netflix subscription, don't worry, we've got you covered with our picks. Or just Poinpy and thank me later.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/gta-iii-and-vice-city-are-leaving-netflixs-mobile-games-catalog-next-month-193106378.html?src=rss
"At least give us true cloud gaming." That's what I asked for at the end of my PlayStation Portal review, a $200 device I ultimately found frustrating because it could only do one thing: Stream games from your PlayStation 5. A year later, Sony has finally answered my prayers. The company has started testing cloud streaming on the Portal for PlayStation Plus Premium members, giving them instant access to more than 120 PS5 titles. And for once, I've started to hate this thing a bit less.
After cloud streaming a bit of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Control and Demon's Souls, I have just one question for Sony: Why wasn't this on the PlayStation Portal when it launched a year ago? I was surprised to find that cloud streaming was far more reliable than the Portal's original PS5 remote play, which was (and remains) hit-or-miss. Sometimes it would work just great, giving me some precious Spider-Man 2 time on the couch, and sometimes it would just refuse to connect to the PS5 for no apparent reason. (And yes, I have a pretty solid gigabit internet setup and Wi-Fi 6 router.)
When I originally tested the PlayStation Portal, it failed my key criteria for testing consumer electronics: I simply couldn't trust it. But Sony's cloud streaming changes that. Now, I can just hit the Cloud Play button on the Portal, wait 15 to 20 seconds to launch the service, and wait another 20 seconds or so to boot up my game of choice. It's not exactly quick, but it's not too far off from the process of booting up your console and waiting for a game to load up.
While playing Control over the cloud, I was shocked by how clear and smooth it looked, with none of the latency I typically feel while streaming games. I also didn't see any of the video artifacts or lazy screen refreshing I sometimes encounter when playing cloud titles over Xbox Game Pass. Sony’s Gaikai acquisition (along with OnLive) from over a decade ago may finally be paying off!
Control ran at a smooth 60 fps in 1080p in its performance mode, and I had no trouble switching over to the ray-tracing filled 30 fps fidelity mode. I was also able to swap between quality settings in Miles Morales easily. I always opt for 60 fps when I can (that's one major reason I liked the PS5 Pro so much), so it was nice to see the Portal easily keeping up with that framerate. I spent 15 minutes swinging around Manhattan and tackling a few side missions, and it didn't feel that different from playing Spider-Man 2 in its full glory on the PS5 Pro.
As with most cloud services, though, your experience will be determined by your own internet connection and the load on Sony's servers. Xbox cloud streaming got noticeably worse as more users jumped on the future, and it's unclear if Sony can handle a similar demand. The Portal's cloud streaming is also limited to the 120+ PS5 games in the PS Plus Premium service. There are some notable titles like The Last of Us: Part 1 and Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, but most of the entries are older and not nearly as compelling (unless you're really excited to play Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures). And while you can normally stream digital games you own over PS Plus, Sony says that feature isn’t available yet for the Portal. Still, it’s something that will likely pop up eventually.
While it's nice to see Sony bring over cloud streaming to the PlayStation Portal, it's a feature that will mostly appeal to people who already have the device and are PS Plus Premium members. You know, the true PlayStation loyalists. And naturally, streaming requires a decent internet connection to work properly, so I still wouldn't recommend the Portal as your best portable gaming option while traveling.
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
Cloud play also doesn't fix my existing issues with the Portal. When I tried to compare it to Remote Play from the PS5 Pro on the Portal (above), it took me eight minutes to connect to the console. I eventually had to run downstairs, turn on the PS5 Pro manually and login for the Portal to work. So much for the convenience of remote play! Spider-Man 2 also looked worse in that mode, versus everything i saw over cloud streaming.
Funny enough, this week Microsoft also announced a major streaming upgrade for the Xbox: The ability to play games you actually own, instead of being limited to what's in the Game Pass library. That feature doesn't work for every title, but it includes things like Baldur's Gate III and Cyberpunk 2077. I didn't have many purchased Xbox titles to stream (I'm mostly a PC player these days), but I was able to easily stream the Final Fantasy II HD Pixel Remake via XBPlay on the Steam Deck.
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
Forza Horizon 5 also looked decent over Xbox cloud streaming (above), but it was far from perfect. Text was fuzzy, textures weren't clear and artifacts constantly popped up as I raced around Mexico. It certainly didn't look as good as the games I saw on PlayStation Plus, or the higher-resolution streaming on services like NVIDIA's GeForce Now.
If anything, the combined news from Sony and Microsoft this week is a sign these companies should devote a bit more energy to cloud streaming. We've been hearing about this technology for more than a decade, but the console makers have been dragging their heels when it comes to deploying and promoting it. (Microsoft's recent "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign is a bit cringe, but it's also the sort of thing the company should have been shouting from the rooftops for years.)
With the rise of gaming handhelds, and the growing ambivalence towards expensive console hardware, cloud streaming has the potential to become far more useful. But to get there, Sony and Microsoft need to make more streaming leaps, instead of inconsistent steps forward.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sonys-cloud-streaming-makes-the-playstation-portal-far-more-useful-171038751.html?src=rss
Black Friday is a great time to snag stocking stuffers and tech accessories at a discount. Engadget has reviewed and tested hundreds of small-but-useful electronics including speakers, cables, smart plugs, cameras, battery packs and earbuds, and we put the best ones in our related buying guides.
Right now, many of those picks are seeing discounts that put them comfortably (and sometimes just barely) below the $50 mark. After you grab a few as gifts, don’t forget to get an accessory or two for yourself. Here are the best Black Friday tech deals under $50 we could find from retailers across the web.
Amazon Echo Pop (2023) for $18 ($22 off): Amazon’s smallest Echo will fit in any room in your home, so Alexa can add things to your shopping list, set a timer, or answer questions (like “What’s a bomb cyclone?” or “Who is Penelope Cruz married to?”) from anywhere.
Anker Nano Charger 30W USB-C for $13 ($7 off): This compact 30-watt wall charger is smaller than others of its wattage and can speedily juice up an iPhone or Android handset. Anker is one of Engadget’s most recommended accessory brands and this is the model we picked for our fast charger guide. Get the same deal at Anker with an auto-applied code.
Audible Premium Plus (3-month) for $1 ($29 off): If you don’t currently subscribe to Audible you can get three months of the audiobook service's Premium Plus plan for $1. The service is usually $15 per month after a 30-day free trial. Premium Plus gives you access to the Audible Plus library, and lets you keep one title from a curated selection of audiobooks each month.
Amazon Kindle Unlimited for $0 for one month ($12 off): Amazon's ebook subscription service gives you access to a selected catalog of thousands titles for unlimited reading as well as some Audible audiobooks and magazines. Prime members can get two months for only $5.
Amazon Smart Plug for $13 ($12 off): If you rely on Alexa as your smart home assistant, this is an affordable and reliable way to control your lamps, fans and Christmas lights. It was one of the more reliable and fuss-free plugs I tested.
Anker Nano II 713 Charger (45W) for $20 ($20 off): This 45-watt charger has a single USB-C port and will let you take advantage of the faster charging speeds newer devices offer (just make sure you have an equally robust cable). It’s one of the picks in our iPad accessories guide. Also at Anker with an auto-applied code.
Chipolo ONE for $20 ($5 off with Prime): Our favorite Bluetooth tracker overall is loud, compact and readily tells you when you’ve left your keys (or whatever else you attach them to) behind. If you’re looking for a finding network to locate things you’ve lost out in the wild, this isn’t the one to get, but for everyday locating misplaced keys in the house, this is great. Also at Chewy without Prime.
Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 for $20 ($10 off): If you have a Samsung smartphone, this is the tracker we recommend. The finding network isn’t as vast as Apple’s, but in our tests, the accuracy was good and the physical design is one of the best of its kind.
WAVLINK USB-C hub for $13 ($13 off): The budget pick in our guide to USB-C hubs has an HDMI port, three USB connections (two type-A and one type-C) plus a generous 10-inch cable to give you more options when plugging into your laptop or tablet.
Anker USB-C 240W Bio-Braided cable for $12 ($5 off): A fast charger won’t do much if the cable isn’t rated to handle the wattage. This 240W Anker cable is pulled from our list of the best iPhone accessories and will charge those devices (or any other rechargeable item with a USB-C port) as quickly as the brick and device will allow.
Black Friday tech deals under $30
Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget
Roku Streaming Stick 4K for $29 ($21 off): On our list of the best streaming devices we named the Roku Streaming Stick 4K the best pick for those wanting an ocean of free and live content. By combining Roku’s own free channels with content from other FAST apps this simple stick turns any screen into a portal to a near-infinite amount of movies and shows that you won’t pay a dime for. Also at Target and direct from Roku for $1 more.
Anker Soundcore 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker for $28 ($12 off): Anker’s Soundcore brand proves the accessory brand can make some excellent electronics and we named a number of Soundcore audio devices to our buying guides. This is one of the smaller and more affordable models from Anker and it’s currently back to one of its lowest prices yet.
EarFun Free 2S wireless earbuds for $25 ($15 off): These don’t sound as sharp as other budget earbuds we recommend and there’s no noise cancellation or transparency mode, but if you need a pair of earbuds under $50 (or under $30 now) these are decently comfortable with a sound that’s a bit richer than others in its price range.
Amazon Echo Buds for $25 ($25 off): Our favorite budget earbuds with an open ear design are made by Amazon. They don’t go all the way in your ear so you’ll hear more of what’s going on around you. The sound is decently separated, though we recommend tweaking the EQ in the Alexa app to bring down the treble a touch.
Anker USB-C Hub 341 for $25 ($10 off): Anker’s seven-port hub lets you use a range of extras with your tablet, which is why we named it one of the best accessories for an iPad. In addition to extra USB connections, you also get a microSD and standard SD card slots.
Blink Mini 2 (two-pack) for $35 ($35 off): The newest Blink Mini wired security camera came out earlier this year and it supports 1080p video recordings, a wider field of view than the previous model and improved low-light performance. It may be wired, but you can use it outside with the $10 weather-resistant adapter.
JBL Go 4 for $40 ($10 off): JBL’s smallest portable speaker has up to seven hours of battery life on a charge, has an IP67 waterproof rating and has a tiny built-in carry strap so you can bring it wherever you go. Also at JBL and Best Buy.
Headspace annual plan for $35 ($35 off): Our top pick for the best meditation app has tons of courses that address specific anxieties and worries, a good in-app search engine that makes it easy to find the right meditation you need, and additional yoga routines, podcasts and music sessions to try out.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $33 ($27 off): Amazon's most powerful dongle supports 4K streaming with Dolby Vision, Wi-Fi 6E and live picture-in-picture mode so you can see security camera feeds directly on your TV as you're watching a show or movie. In addition to being a solid streamer, it also makes a good retro gaming device.
Anker 633 Magnetic Battery for $40 ($15 off): Choose from a MagSafe option or the 20W Power Delivery port via a USB-C cable (which charges things faster). The handy kickstand means you can look at your phone while it charges and that port lets you charge non-MagSafe devices too.
Blink Outdoor 4 (2023) $38 ($52 off): Amazon’s latest outdoor Blink camera works well (and only) with Alexa, letting you check on your surroundings using the app or a compatible display (like an Echo Show or a Fire TV.
Govee Smart LED Light Bars for $35 ($15 off): We like Govee’s playful smart lights and recommend the brand in our guide to smart bulbs. These light bars made the list in our stocking stuffer gift guide thanks to their versatility (they can stand up, lay flat or be mounted) and there’s no end to the multiple colors and sequences you can program.
JBL Clip 5 for $49.95 ($30 off): JBL makes a good number of the winners in our guide to the best Bluetooth speakers. We didn’t review this one formally for our guide, but it’s one of the more affordable models the brand makes and the clip plus dunkable water resistance makes it easy to bring JBL’s signature dynamic range just about anywhere. Also at Walmart and direct from JBL.
Amazon Echo Show 5 (2023) for $45 ($45 off): The newest Echo Show 5 made our list of the best smart displays because it doubles as a “stellar alarm clock” with the auto-dimming screen, tap-to-snooze feature and a sunrise alarm. Plus the tiny, five-inch screen is perfect for a nightstand. Also, oddly, at Best Buy.
Amazon Echo Spot (2024) $45 ($35 off): The mini display just shows simple data like the time, weather or song that’s playing while the other half of the circle plays music. It’s an updated version of a model Amazon discontinued a couple of years ago and now it’s back.
Elecom Nestout power bank 15,000mAh for $48 ($12 off): For outdoor charging, this is one of the few portable batteries that can handle a dunk in water (as long as you’ve remembered to screw on the port covers). We recommend it in our guide and particularly like the handy accessories like a tripod stand and light that you can buy to go on it. Also at Nestout for $1 more.
Tribit StormBox Micro 2 for $42 ($38 off with coupon): This is the smallest speaker in our guide and it can go with you anywhere with the built-in strap. It pumps out impressive volume for its size and can go for 12 hours on a charge. The audio isn’t the highest fidelity, but this is more about bringing the vibes than emitting flawless musical clarity. Also directly from Tribit (see price in cart).
Hyundai is recalling around 145,235 electric vehicles in the US, according to a report by Reuters. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the recall was due to a loss of drive power. The safety regulator noted that integrated charging control units on these models are easily damaged, leading to an internal battery that won’t charge.
The recall includes a whole bunch of models, including certain Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 EVs, in addition to some Genesis GV70 and Genesis G80 luxury EVs from the model years 2022 to 2025. Click here for a full list of the impacted vehicles.
Hyundai says its dealers will inspect any vehicle that could have been impacted by the issue for free. These dealers will also replace the aforementioned parts and update the software at no charge.
The company’s sub-brand Kia was also impacted, adding another 62,000 EVs into the recall mix. Certain Kia EV6 models from the model years 2022 to 2024 are being recalled, and for the same reason of a potentially faulty integrated charging control unit. Just like Hyundai, Kia dealers will inspect and repair the issue for free.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/hyundai-recalls-over-145000-evs-in-the-us-161651760.html?src=rss
There are a lot of superfluous products on sale for Black Friday, but good kitchen gear doesn’t fall into that category — if a device helps us cook better food at home, that’s a worthwhile purchase. We’ve tested lots of kitchen gadgets and cooking accessories for our reviews and buying guides. We’ve even shared our thoughts on a few items we bought for ourselves.
Right now, thanks to the biggest shopping event of the year, many of Engadget’s tried-and-true cooking gadgets are on sale. We've still got some time to go before the official day of Black Friday, so we'll up date this post as new favorites go on sale. For now, here are the best Black Friday kitchen deals on appliances, gadgets and more from retailers across the web.
The best Black Friday kitchen deals for 2024
Whether for buying guides, reviews or our own use, we’ve tried plenty of gadgets that make home cooking simpler and more enjoyable. We also recently put together a cooking gift guide full of our favorite stuff. Our picks include low and high tech devices for kitchens both indoor and outdoor and right now, lots of those harder-to-categorize recommendations are currently on sale for Black Friday and listed here.
Meater Pro for $100 ($30 off): In our official review, Engadget’s Billy Steele praises the longer battery life and extended range of this updated smart thermometer from the Trager-owned company. It also packs increased heat resistance and is more durable overall. Also direct from Meater.
Ooni Karu 16 outdoor pizza oven for $520 ($130 off): The Karu 16 is our favorite multi-fuel outdoor pizza oven but it’s not cheap, so it’s best to get it when it’s on sale. It has a large capacity that can handle full size pizzas — and even cast iron cookware — using wood, charcoal or propane fuel. Plus the bottom-mounted digital thermometer helps you keep tabs on your cooking.
Thermapen One for $76 ($32 off): We recommend this blazingly fast thermometer in our grilling guide because it’ll give you a readout in one second on its auto-rotating screen.
Anyday Microwave Cookware Starter Set for $70 ($30 off): Our resident microwave aficionado Cherlynn Low speaks highly of these plastic-free dishes, which she’s been using for two years now. The design allows you to steam and even bake foods in the zapper box while also acting as excellent food storage containers.
The best Black Friday deals on coffee and tea gear
Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Like most workplaces, Engadget runs on coffee — or at least the people responsible for it do. Many of us put our collective caffeinated experiences together to come up with a gift guide for coffee lovers. Of course, some of us are partial to tea, so we put a guide to tea gifts together as well. Right now for Black Friday, many of the picks from both lists are on sale.
Cosori Electric Gooseneck Kettle for $60 ($10 off): This is a return to a discount we've seen multiple times this year, and it's about $14 more than the all-time low. But this kettle has earned its spot on one of our editors’ tiny countertops. It has different built-in temperature settings for different types of drinks and an elegant gooseneck pour.
Firebelly Tea Travel Mug for $32 ($8 off): This travel mug not only keeps your iced tea cold and your hot tea steamy, its insert also stops infusion when you press it down so you can steep on the go.
The best Black Friday deals on sous vide machines
Photo by Avery Ellis / Engadget
If you know someone without a sous vide machine, now might be a good time to ameliorate that situation as many of our favorite models are on sale. And if you happen to be without one, here’s your chance to get in on the low-effort, high-result water-bath cooking method. This is the best what’s on sale for Black Friday, as pulled from our picks.
Anova Culinary Sous Vide 3.0 for $112 ($87 off): This is the best overall sous vide machine, according to testing for our buyer’s guide and this price beats the one from July. We like the easy digital controls and the high flow rate that maintains water temperature better. Also the companion app is stuffed with recipes. It's $120 at Best Buy and directly from Anova.
Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker Nano for $97 ($52 off): We've seen this price for much of the past month, so it's not exactly a new deal, but still a good discount on the machine that led Engadget's Avery Ellis to dub the sous vide stick the “Millennial crockpot.” She uses this one a few times a week to make unfussy meals that keep her alive. The Nano model is a slightly smaller and less expensive version of the top pick in our buyer’s guide. Also direct from Anova for $99.
The best Black Friday deals on air fryers and Instant Pots
Instant Brands
Air fryers make microwaves jealous. Food that would otherwise come out hot yet soggy comes out hot and crisp and doesn’t take that much more time. Another kitchen MVP is the ever popular Instant Pot, which can cook everything from soups to rice, beans and more. Here are the best Black Friday deals on the air fryers and Instant Pots we recommend.
Instant Vortex Plus 6QT Air Fryer for $99 ($70 off): This is the top recommendation in our guide to air fryers and happens to be the model I bought for myself after reading our guide. It preheats quickly and keeps cooking odors to a minimum with replaceable filters (it even tells you when it’s time to replace). Plus clean-up is easy and the window is handy for making sure the nachos don't burn. Also at Walmart.
Cosori 9-in-1 air frier for $88 ($32 off): This is the newest addition in our list, earning a runner up nod for best overall. It has nine preset cooking modes and a six-quart capacity that makes it just the right size to cook a good amount of food without taking up too much space on most countertops.
Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro for $300 ($100 off): If you want a more traditional toaster oven design with a huge capacity, go for our premium air fryer pick. The fryer-and-oven combo can accommodate a five-quart dutch oven, so it’s almost an auxiliary oven, which could come in handy for holiday cooking. Also at Target and Best Buy.
Breville the Smart Oven Air Fryer for $280 ($70 off): This is the non-Pro version of the Breville air fryer we recommend. It has a slightly smaller capacity (0.8 cubic feet instead of one cubic foot). But still has most of the same features including 11 of the 13 cooking functions.
Instant Pot Pro 10-in-1 pressure cooker (6QT) for $100 ($70 off): These ubiquitous and highly versatile cookers can make just about anything you can dream up — Instant Pot recipes make up a considerable portion of online recipes. This is the pro version of the model we recommend in our buyer's guide to kitchen tech and it has five favorite buttons and extra wattage for a faster preheat. Best Buy has the eight-quart model on sale for $120.
Ninja AF150AMZ Air Fryer for $90 ($70 / 44 percent off): This gets an honorable mention in our air fryer guide. Though the round cooking basket doesn’t feel as roomy as square ones, the taller and thinner design might make the most of limited countertop space. Plus it has a dehydrate option for making your own dried fruit.
The best Black Friday deals on blenders and mixers
KitchenAid
Black Friday is a good time to upgrade an aging hand blender or finally get that Vitamix you’ve been thinking about. Whether for yourself or as a gift for the home cook on our list, these blender and juicer deals come straight out of our kitchen tech guides and will bring plenty of extra muscle for a low price.
KitchenAid Go Cordless Hand Blender for $90 ($40 off): The big selling point here is the removable battery that you can use for other KitchenAid Go appliances. In our testing, it had enough power to turn a roasted butternut squash into a smooth, creamy soup.
KitchenAid Variable Speed Corded Hand Blender for $45 ($15 off): If you’d rather a corded model of the KitchenAid recommendation, that’s on sale too — and is cheaper to begin with. This one comes with extra accessories to make it a true multitasker and has a powerful 180 watt motor, just like the cordless version. Also at Target.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-best-black-friday-kitchen-deals-on-gadgets-appliances-cookware-and-more-get-up-to-44-percent-off-153533203.html?src=rss
It looks like 2025 is going to be an excellent year for action role-playing games. We’ve already started things off with a big Dragon Age: Veilguard bang, but next year will also bring Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Fable and the subject of today’s dissection, Avowed. Each title offers something distinct for single-player RPG fans, and Avowed is poised to provide top-tier dialogue trees and rich worldbuilding, courtesy of Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds and Pentiment studio Obsidian Entertainment. This is the studio's first tentpole title under the Xbox Game Studios banner and its first AAA fantasy game ever.
While I couldn’t determine its full scope in the preview I played this week, I’m pleased to report that so far, Avowed’s world is as gorgeous as its writing.
The preview included the game’s first two hours or so, from character creation through the initial main missions. Avowed is a spin-off of the Pillars of Eternity series and it’s set in the Living Lands, an area unexplored in the existing games, giving Obsidian a blank canvas for an epic original story. A blight called Dreamscourge is spreading across the region, infecting plants, animals and people with a prismatic fungus that induces madness, rage and death. You play as the envoy of the emperor of the Aedyr Empire, which has a deep history of invading and colonizing the surrounding lands.
Of course your protagonist is special, even by the standards of this magical world. Players are a godlike, meaning they’ve been touched by the divine and marked by facial growths of rainbow fungus. Generally, your godlike status and relationship with Aedyr automatically instills respect and suspicion in the people you meet. As you learn more about the Dreamscourge, it becomes impossible to ignore its similarities to the godlike marks you carry, and this existential terror builds beautifully in the game’s first few hours.
Are nature’s mutations madness or divinity? It’s a thin distinction with a long and dark history, and Avowed wallows in this gray area. Its first few hours introduce multiple narrative themes that can be mined throughout the game — the violence of colonization, palace intrigue, spiritual visions, insanity and religious fervor form the most prominent talking points. These arcs play out in conversations with supporting characters and in interactive pieces of lore scattered around the environments, each concept unspooling in a natural and intriguing fashion. There are plenty of opportunities in the dialogue trees to investigate these ideas and learn more about the world or your companions, with specialized responses that unlock if you have the right stats. In general, dialogue in the Avowed preview is nice and quippy, and each new character comes with a distinct, believable personality. Already, I’m curious to know more about the people of the Living Lands.
There are no strict classes in Avowed. Instead, players freely level up their abilities across fighter, ranger, and wizard using acquired skill points. There’s also a godlike tree, a page to upgrade your companions’ skillsets, and a character sheet with classic RPG attributes that you can place points into. I focused on building up my magic, health and damage, and it took a minute to find my preferred combat style. There are two weapons loadouts you can swap between on the fly, a pop-up radial with extra abilities, and four programmable spots on the D-pad. It’s a lot to manage in the frenzy of battle, but new weapons and tools are added to your inventory at a steady pace and it’s easy to experiment with different builds. In terms of weapons, I stumbled across a knife, spear, bow, shield, grimoire, wand, pistol and giant hammer, but I suspect there were even more tools hidden in the world. The bow and pistol have unlimited ammo, but reloading the pistol is a lengthy process, and the hammer is incredibly powerful, but its swing takes a moment to connect, leaving you vulnerable between hits. Combat is chaotic — especially when fighting hordes of giant spiders — but the game responds well to rapid-fire inputs and generally, each encounter feels like a real skills test.
Obsidian Entertainment
For me, everything felt right once I found the wand. I closed out the preview with the bow in one loadout, and the grimoire and wand in the other, and I was starting to feel like a real badass. The wand is a quick midrange weapon, and combined with the rechargeable spells in the grimoire and the long range of the bow, it worked really well for my preferred fighting style. One annoyance I noted was the fact that I couldn’t draw my bow while taking sustained toxic damage, as each small hit made my character lose focus — this was a tough lesson to learn while trying to fight off a gang of rat-toothed reptilian creatures, but I definitely absorbed it.
In any RPG, I have a hard time leaving an area without smashing every vase, breaking every box and exploring every path. Avowed rewards this behavior with bits of worldbuilding, potions, strange animals, coins and tools hidden in the corners and crannies of the Living Lands. Or, sometimes, there’s just a breathtaking view. Either way, it makes me excited to see what secrets the full game is hiding.
I also played Avowed for about 45 minutes at Xbox’s Gamescom event in August, starting with a pre-built mage character in the middle of a search-and-rescue mission a few hours into the game. I had a good time flinging spells from my grimoire and chatting with characters in the caves I was exploring, but I sensed a slight disconnect that I attributed to the rushed and public nature of the demo. Now, I know what was missing: Character creation.
Obsidian Entertainment
Rich character customization is a massive reason RPGs can feel so immersive and emotionally powerful, and it was a treat to play around with this system in Avowed’s latest preview. As a godlike, your character’s face is dotted with technicolor fungal growths, and tweaking the placement and appearance of these details was delightful, allowing my brain to build the foundations of my character’s story immediately. I chose a face with fuschia butterfly-wing paddles covering my eyes and forehead, and a crown of neon ridges draped over my skull. I then started molding my character’s backstory as a witchy scholar with a logical mind and a heart of gold, and swapped a dexterity attribute point for constitution. All of the expected customization mechanics were there, allowing me to tweak the size and shape of each facial feature, and change my hairstyle and color, skin tone, body type, voice, background, basic skills, pronouns and name. Put simply, the Monster Factory boys could have a lot of fun with this one.
That said, it’s hard to find anything ugly in Avowed. It’s shaping up to be a beautiful game, and the preview showcases expansive medieval vistas, shimmering psychedelic spores, rainbow-flecked animals and highly detailed NPCs. I was particularly impressed with the skin textures in the preview: Our main companion, Kai, has snakelike teal skin, and I very much enjoyed watching the light shine on his scales as we chatted by the fire of our party camp. Maybe I’m developing a reptile fetish, or maybe Avowed is just a really pretty game — at least when running on a PC with an RTX 4070 Super. I haven’t had the chance to try it out on an Xbox yet, and I’m curious to see how it will perform on both the Series X and Series S.
Obsidian Entertainment
I have it on good information that Pillars of Eternity players will recognize the rainbow fungus and its infesting ways, but I don’t because I’ve never played those games. Avowed is my introduction to Obsidian’s dark fantasy universe, and I’m not alone in this position. Developers at Obsidian are keenly aware that Avowed will be the first Pillars game for many players, as art director Matt Hansen and production director Ryan Warden explained to me in August.
“We don't want players to feel like there's required reading,” Hansen said. “So everything that we do should be accessible and fun and enjoyable on its own. If you're just playing Avowed and that's the only game you play, you'll have a good time. And then on top of that, we're finding ways to weave in little winks and nods.” He specified that these take the form of documents, books and even a few familiar faces. He continued, “We just wanted to make sure that this is a game that's fun for everyone, and thankfully the world is rich enough that it's easy to inject someone in at any point. It's also part of the reason we picked the Living Lands. Its unexploded territory gives us a lot of freedom.”
Warden added, “Even on the quest front, we try to keep it enriched by lore, but you’re not completely lost when you're a new player.” He said that characters in Avowed offer more information on the history of any given situation if you’re interested in asking them for it, and there’s a lore tooltip feature that allows you to look up terms mid-conversation (which is also a thing in Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, so it’s kind of like a meta wink).
Obsidian Entertainment
Hansen and Warden also shared some thoughts about the scope and layout of the full game, something that can’t be conveyed in a two-hour preview.
“The game is structured similar to Outer Worlds, where there's open zones that are open-world in structure, but not one contiguous open world,” Warden said. “So it allows the critical path, the main story to be more focused and have key moments that happen at a cadence that doesn't feel weirdly paced, but it also allows a ton of freedom for player choice. You can go off and do side quests and the regions are just small enough to be manageable. You can do a lot, you can explore, but it’s not just checking off a bunch of icons. Everything is bespoke. It's hand-done. There's not much reuse of things.”
Hansen nodded and said, “Lots to explore, but you're not punished for not exploring it. I mean, frankly, I'm becoming an old man. I don't want to spend 120 hours on a game anymore. I like being able to play through our game relatively swiftly. Or, I've had playthroughs that were like six times as long as other playthroughs because I started to get into the nitty gritty. And that's a nice accommodation.”
“It can be as long as you want it to be,” Warden finished.
Avowed is due to hit Steam and Xbox Series X/S on February 18, 2025.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/avowed-preview-classic-obsidian-fantasy-on-a-aaa-budget-140056761.html?src=rss
It’s Black Friday, and if you’re in the market for a smartwatch, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is $70 off. That makes it $230, a record low for the device.
Our team tried out the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 at the Paris Galaxy Unpacked event earlier this year (Samsung’s second Unpacked of the year, to be precise). It’s one of the first smartwatches to receive Wear OS 5, the latest Google wearables operating system. Fun fact, even Google’s products didn’t get it until later.
The Galaxy Watch 7’s features include an improved heart rate tracker, an energy score calculator to determine your physical readiness for the day and suggested responses in messaging, which are powered by Galaxy AI. Galaxy AI will formulate responses based on your past conversations, but the feature only works if you allow it to read them.
Additionally, Samsung’s AI model can gather your sleep habits and provide useful insights. The smartwatch is even powerful enough to detect signs of sleep apnea and severe instances of breathing disruptions.
While we haven’t reviewed the Galaxy Watch 7, we did put the Galaxy Watch 6 through a detailed evaluation. We found it to be comfortable to wear and great for fitness enthusiasts, and it has dedicated health-tracking functions for those who need it. If anything, we take it as a good sign that Samsung has a high standard for its smartwatches.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/samsungs-galaxy-watch-7-drops-to-230-for-black-friday-120049385.html?src=rss
Sony offered a sneak peek at its PlayStation Black Friday deals, which start on Friday. In addition to some (currently nebulous) deals on hardware and games, the sale will include up to 30 percent off PlayStation Plus memberships. The deals will run from November 22 through December 2.
PlayStation Plus subscriptions will be “up to” 30 percent off for a 12-month membership. If you’re already a PS Plus Essential Member, you can save 25 percent on the remainder of your plan when upgrading to PlayStation Plus Extra. Or, you can shave off 30 percent if you’re upping your membership from PS Plus Extra to PS Plus Premium / Deluxe.
Sony
Less specific (as of now) are the PlayStation Black Friday deals on hardware and games. Direct from PlayStation and through Sony’s retail partners, there will be sales on PS5 gear, including the Fortnite Cobalt Star Bundle. PS VR2 headsets, DualSense wireless controllers, Pulse headphones or earbuds and PS5 console covers will also be discounted. What we don’t know yet is how much savings Sony will offer on any of it.
Sony didn’t mention the PlayStation Portal, which is about to get a lot more interesting. This week, the company said the handheld will soon run a beta test for cloud streaming. The portable device’s inability to do anything but stream your local PS5 games at launch was a bit baffling, to say the least.
“Select” games for PS5, PS4 and PC will also see price cuts. Sony mentions digital titles like Star Wars Outlaws, Madden ‘25 and Hogwarts Legacy, so we at least know a few on-sale games to look out for. But similar to the hardware deals, we don’t know how juicy the deals will be (or which other titles will be available). You can check back on Friday morning to learn more.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/the-playstation-black-friday-deals-will-cut-25-to-30-percent-off-ps-plus-subscriptions-193815734.html?src=rss