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Sony has more exclusive games than Xbox does, according to Microsoft, which claims that many of its rival's first-party titles "are better quality." Lest you believe Microsoft is dunking on its own game studios for no reason, the company made the assertion in a filing with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is conducting an in-depth review of the planned Activision Blizzard acquisition. Although the filing is dated October 31st, Eurogamer notes that the document has just been made publicly available.

"In addition to being the dominant console provider, Sony is also a powerful game publisher," Microsoft wrote in its response to the CMA. "Sony is roughly equivalent in size to Activision and nearly double the size of Microsoft's game publishing business." The company added that "there were over 280 exclusive first- and third-party titles on PlayStation in 2021, nearly five times as many as on Xbox."

Along with Sony's own franchises — such as The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War and Spider-Man — the company signs deals with third-party publishers for exclusive rights to games. Microsoft cites Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Bloodborne, as well as the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI and Silent Hill 2 remake as major titles that aren't or won't be available on Xbox.

Console exclusives account for a higher percentage of global game sales for Sony than Microsoft, the latter claimed (Sony just revealed that it sold 5.1 million copies of God of War Ragnarok in the game's launch week). However, many Xbox players opt to access Microsoft's exclusives through Game Pass instead of buying them outright — a point that Microsoft doesn't touch on while discussing the companies' sales proportions for their exclusive games.

In addition, Microsoft pointed to review scores for PlayStation and Xbox games. "The average Metacritic score for Sony’s top 20 exclusive games in 2021 was 87/100, against 80/100 for Xbox," Microsoft claimed.

Microsoft is spotlighting these factors because game exclusivity and competition concerns are important considerations that regulators reviewing the proposed Activision buyout are exploring. From Sony's perspective, one of the key sticking points of the Activision merger is the possibility that Microsoft will make the Call of Duty franchise (said to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year to PlayStation) exclusive to Xbox. Microsoft said it offered Sony a 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation earlier this month. Nevertheless, Microsoft claimed in the filing "it is implausible that Sony, the leading console with a more than 2-to-1 lead, would be foreclosed as a result of not having access to a single franchise."

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer suggested on The Verge's Decoder podcast last week that the Activision deal was largely about scooping up mobile gaming giant King. Mobile "is a place where if we don’t gain relevancy as a gaming brand, over time the business will become untenable," Spencer said. (Xbox Cloud Gaming runs on phones and tablets as well.)

Microsoft doubled down on the mobile side of the deal in its CMA filing. "As it stands, Xbox has no material presence in mobile and its ability to reach gamers on mobile is impeded by Apple and Google’s effective duopoly in the provision of mobile app stores. The acquisition of Activision provides Xbox with capabilities and content on mobile, which it currently lacks, while creating new distribution options for game developers outside of the mobile app stores." Of note, the CMA said this week it's investigating Apple and Google's "stranglehold over operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices."

This isn't the first time Microsoft has tried to downplay the significance of the proposed $68.7 billion Activision deal. It claimed over the summer that Activision Blizzard has no "must-have" games, despite being behind the likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (which raked in $1 billion in sales in 10 days), Overwatch 2 (35 million players in its first month), World of Warcraft and Candy Crush Saga (3 billion downloads since launch). Activision Blizzard's games had 368 million monthly active users last quarter. However, Blizzard stands to lose millions of players in China when many of its games go offline there in January.

God of War: Ragnarok has sold more copies in its debut week than any other first-party PlayStation title, according to the official PlayStation Twitter account. Sony says the game tallied 5.1 million sales through its first week, placing it ahead of The Last of Us Part II, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Ragnarok’s predecessor, God of War (2018).

The AAA action-adventure epic, released on November 9th, has become a commercial and critical darling. In addition to moving tons of copies, it currently holds a 94 percent score on Metacritic, based on 135 critic reviews. That’s the same score as the previous game. Our review of the PS5 version of Ragnarok commended the satisfying combat with the Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos, majestic set pieces and surprising twists. And our own Nate Ingraham thought the more varied enemies were a huge improvement over the 2018 title. His one serious reservation was with the narrative which he found overly long, and at times seemed bogged down by a lack of editing.

Comparing sales with past Sony exclusives isn’t always apples-to-apples. The company has used various periods of time for different games, presumably to fit the moment’s PR needs. For example, it announced first-three-days sales for The Last of Us Part II (four million in 2020), Marvel’s Spider-Man (3.3 million in 2018) and God of War (3.1 million in 2018). However, Ragnarok’s first-week sales nearly doubled those of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which sold 2.7 million during its first week in 2016.

With the United States facing a historic housing shortage, researchers from the University of Maine believe they may have found a solution to the problem. Using one of the world’s largest 3D printers, the university’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC) recently created the first 3D-printed home made entirely of bio-based materials. Finding a way to manufacture 3D-printed homes at scale is a challenge many have tried to tackle in recent years. To date, most solutions have involved the use of concrete or clay and traditional building methods like wood framing. The ASCC’s “BioHome3D” is different.

The center’s 600-square-foot prototype features 3D-printed floors, walls and a roof made of sustainably-sourced wood fibers and biological resins. The house is also fully recyclable and doesn’t require weeks- and months-worth of on-site construction time to assemble. After 3D-printing four modules, the center assembled the BioHome3D in half a day. It then took one electrician about two hours to wire the house for electricity.

The ASCC suggests that BioHome3D could help address the US housing shortage by reducing the material and labor needed to build affordable homes. In Maine alone, there’s a growing shortage of about 20,000 housing units across the state.

It’s worth noting the US housing shortage predates the pandemic and the supply chain issues that came with it. Jenny Schuetz, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, argues current housing issues can be traced back to restrictive zoning laws and land use regulations that allow residents to block attempts to build more homes in their neighborhoods. Put another way, it’s better to look at the housing crisis as a policy issue, not a technological one.

That’s not to say technology doesn’t have a role to play in improving housing. Cement, the key ingredient in concrete, has a massive carbon footprint. As of 2018, global production of the material contributed to about 8 percent of annual greenhouse emissions, or more pollution than was produced by the entire airline industry. Reducing or entirely removing the need for concrete in homebuilding could be a game-changer for the environment.

The San Francisco Police Department is currently petitioning the city's Board of Supervisors for permission to deploy robots to kill suspects that law enforcement deems a sufficient threat that the "risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD." The draft policy, which was written by the SFPD itself, also seeks to exclude "hundreds of assault rifles from its inventory of military-style weapons and for not include personnel costs in the price of its weapons," according to a report from Mission Local.  

As Mission Local notes, this proposal has already seen significant opposition from both within and without the Board. Supervisor Aaron Peskin, initially pushed back against the use of force requirements, inserting “Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person," into the policy language. The SFPD removed that wording in a subsequent draft, which I as a lifelong San Francisco resident did not know was something that they could just do. The three-member Rules Committee, which Peskin chairs, then unanimously approved that draft and advanced it to the full Board of Supervisors for a vote on November 29th. Peskin excused his decision by claiming that “there could be scenarios where deployment of lethal force was the only option.”

The police force currently maintains a dozen fully-functional remote-controlled robots, which are typically used for area inspections and bomb disposal. However, as the Dallas PD showed in 2016, they make excellent bomb delivery platforms as well. Bomb disposal units are often equipped with blank shotgun shells used to forcibly disrupt an explosive device's internal workings, though there is nothing stopping police from using live rounds if they needed, as Oakland police recently acknowledged to that city's civilian oversight board. 

While San Francisco has never explicitly allowed for robots to take human lives, lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs), are increasingly common in modern warfare. Anti-personnel mines, one of the earliest iterations of automated weaponry, have been banned since 1997 (but tell that to the mines already in the ground) and fully automated defenses like shipboard Phalanx systems have been in use since the 1970s. Autonomous offensive systems, such as UAVs and combat drones, have been used for years but have always required a "human in the loop" to bear the responsibility of actually firing the weapons. Now, the SFPD — the same department that regularly costs the city six-figure settlements for its excessive use of force and obstructs investigations into its affinity for baton-based beatings — wants to wield that same life-and-death power over San Francisco's civilians.

Cryptocurrency mining companies hoping to set up shop in New York State may bump into some limits. Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation restricting crypto mining in the country, making it the first state to clamp down on the practice. The environment-focused law establishes a two-year freeze on new and renewed air permits for fossil fuel power plants used for mining that uses demanding "proof-of-work" authentication. The Department of Environmental Conservation will also have to study if and how crypto mining hurts the government's climate change mitigation efforts.

The bill passed the state legislature in June, but didn't reach Hochul's desk until this Tuesday. It wasn't guaranteed to become law. The Hillnotes that the governor didn't commit to signing the measure during an October election debate. Her main opponent, Lee Zeldin, said he wouldn't sign the bill if he were in a position to do so.

Politicians and environmental groups have worried that crypto mining, particularly that involving proof-of-work, consumes too much energy. The computationally intensive process adds to the load on the electrical grid, and has even prompted some mining outfits in New York to build natural gas-based power plants to sustain their operations. The cryptocurrency world has sometimes tried to minimize the impact. Ethereum, for instance, recently completed a merge to a less energy-hungry "proof-of-stake" system that revolves around validation from certain users.

It's not certain if other states will follow suit. Democratic Senators have pressured Texas to take action on crypto mining energy demands, but that state's government hasn't budged so far. Not surprisingly, crypto proponents have also balked at laws limiting their activity. The Chamber of Digital Commerce claimed New York's law sets a "dangerous precedent," and that proof-of-work mining played a role in economic growth. There's also the question of effectiveness — New York's law might drive some miners to states with looser policies.

Ticketmaster's chaotic handling of Taylor Swift's tour ticket sales has brought the company under increased scrutiny, including from lawmakers. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, have announced a hearing to gather evidence on competition in the ticketing industry. They have yet to confirm when the hearing will take place or the witnesses that the committee will call upon.

Swift's fans overwhelmed Ticketmaster's systems in the gold rush for tickets to her first tour in five years. Ticketmaster says presale codes went out to 1.5 million people, but 14 million (including "a staggering number" of bots) tried to buy tickets. The company said it was slammed with 3.5 billion total system requests, four times its previous peak. When fans were able to make it to the seat selection screen, many effectively had tickets snatched out of their hands as tried to put them in their carts.

There was supposed to be a general sale for the remaining tickets last Friday, but Ticketmaster canceled that, citing "extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand." Even though the level of interest in Swift's stadium shows was evidently through the roof, Ticketmaster's management of the process has raised a lot of questions. Swift said Ticketmaster assured her and her team that it could handle the demand. However, she said the mayhem “pissed me off.”

After the presale mess, Klobuchar (who wrote to Ticketmaster to ask if the company is taking appropriate measures to provide the best service it can) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal said they were concerned about "the state of competition in the ticketing industry." Others, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for Ticketmaster's parent, Live Nation, to be broken up.

Along with selling event tickets, the company owns and operates many venues and manages several major artists. Last week, it was reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been conducting an antitrust investigation into Live Nation for several months.

“Last week, the competition problem in ticketing markets was made painfully obvious when Ticketmaster’s website failed hundreds of thousands of fans hoping to purchase concert tickets. The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “That’s why we will hold a hearing on how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industry harms customers and artists alike. When there is no competition to incentivize better services and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences.”

Ticketmaster has said it's adhering to a 2010 consent decree it has with the DOJ that allowed its merger with Live Nation to go ahead. “Ticketmaster has a significant share of the primary ticketing services market because of the large gap that exists between the quality of the Ticketmaster system and the next best primary ticketing system,” it added in a statement to Deadline.

Moog's holiday promos this year include a particularly nice perk: a freebie. The synthesizer pioneer has released a free new MF-109S Saturator add-on (shown above) for all Moogerfooger Effects Plugins users. As the name implies, the plugin gives you more control over the input drive circuit to produce anything from analog saturation through to smooth compression. It also replicates the noise generator circuit of the Minimoog Model D, with control through a switchable filter type.

You'll need to own Moogerfooger Effects Plugins to get the MF-109S, but the pack is on sale for $149 (normally $249) as of this writing. It works with common plugin formats like AudioUnits, ProTools AAX and VST3 on Macs and Windows PCs.

And don't worry if you'd rather buy full-fledged creative software — Moog has deals there, too. The company is once again offering 50 percent off its iOS and Mac software, including the Animoog Z wavetable synthesis app ($15 to unlock), Minimoog Model D ($15) and Model 15 (also $15). This isn't the first time Moog has run a sale on its apps this year, but you might not mind if you're hoping to add classic synth sounds to your musical repertoire.

It may be worth investing in the Moogerfooger effects set even if the bonus isn't a draw. We were impressed with the plugins when we tried them in October. You can produce subtle results if you want, but they're at their best when you venture to the stranger side — even a basic track can stand out with the right tweaks. They're treats for musicians who revere analog synthesis but don't have thousands of dollars to spend on vintage hardware.

If you’re looking for something to help you get in shape or assist someone else on their health journey, a fitness tracker can be a worthwhile purchase. With Black Friday around the corner, Amazon has discounted a selection of Fitbit’s most popular devices. To start, the entry-level Inspire 3 is currently 30 percent off, putting it just under $70. That’s a new all-time low for the wearable. What’s more, the Inspire 3 is a great option if you’re looking for a no-thrills fitness tracker that nails the essentials. It includes Fitbit’s handy automatic workout detection feature and the usual activity tracking capabilities. Best of all, you can expect to get about 10 days of battery life from the Inspire 3.

For those looking for a more robust offering, the Charge 5 is also on sale. After a 33 percent discount, one of the best fitness trackers you can buy is $99.95, down from $149.95. Think of the Charge 5 as a more capable Inspire 3. It features a full-color AMOLED display and built-in GPS support for more accurate tracking when running and cycling. Fitbit also integrated EDA sensors into the Charge 5, giving the wearable the ability to measure your stress levels. Engadget awarded the Charge 5 a score of 82, praising the wearable for its comfortable design and multi-day battery life.

Lastly, the sale includes Fitbit’s smartwatches. The more affordable Versa 4 is $149.95 after an $80 price cut, while the top-tier Sense 2 is $199.95, down from $299.95. Both offer continuous heart rate monitoring paired with activity, stress and sleep tracking. They also include Google Maps integration for turn-by-turn navigation on your wrist and support for Google Wallet. By paying for the more expensive Sense 2, you get a device that can also take skin temperature readings and track your stress levels.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

Hulu has jumped into the Black Friday action with steep discounts on its Hulu with Ads plan. You can grab a year of the service for $2 per month ($23.88 for the year), savings yourself a hefty $6 per month or 75 percent off the regular $8 per month rate.

This basic plan includes access to the entire Hulu library of shows and movies that can be streamed on up to two devices at once, with six user profiles, max. Content includes popular films and series like The Handmaid's Tale, Dopesick, Atlanta and Prey. The main thing missing from this plan compared to Hulu’s $11.99 monthly no-ads plan is you can download things for offline viewing with the more expensive option (and no ads, as the name obviously implies). The deal is in effect until November 28th, so it's best to act soon if you're interested. 

Disney is also having a sale on its primary Disney+ premium plan that includes Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic content. Until December 7th, you can get 12 months of the plan for $80, saving $16 over the current $96 price. However, Disney+ is set to go up to $11 per month on December 8th, so jumping in now will save you 39 percent over subscribing later. The plan will automatically renew on an annual basis, so if you don't want to pay the higher price later, be sure to set a reminder to cancel in your calendar. 

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Anyone looking for a portable, high-performance gaming laptop might want to move on this Black Friday deal from Razer. Right now this configuration of the Blade 14, normally $2,800, is down to $2,000. This Blade runs on an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX 8 Core processor, and while that's AMD's previous generation chip, it's still plenty fast to handle the latest titles. 

Graphics-wise, it's got NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 GPU and a 14-inch QHD screen with a 165Hz refresh rate. You get 1TB of SSD storage and 16GB of soldered (non-upgradable) RAM, plus 8GB of video RAM. While that non-upgradable issue might hold some people back, this is still a solid deal on a gaming laptop with a good amount of ports, that also happens to be easy to bring along anywhere you go.  

The laptop deal is part of a larger Black Friday sale from Razer, which also includes discounts on peripherals like the Razer Huntsman Mini keyboard. This quiet and smooth gaming deck is our current favorite 60 percent keyboard and the deal takes 42 percent off the list price, bringing it down to $70. It's the lowest price we've seen so far, making this a good time to snag a responsive, RGB-lit deck that takes up minimal space. 

If space isn't an issue and you prefer the prowess of a full-sized deck complete with direction keys, a number pad and even a wrist rest, check out the company's BlackWidow V3. It's $50 off, bringing it to $90, which is the lowest it's ever gone outside of last year's Black Friday sale. The mechanical keys produce that satisfying clack, and the BlackWidow offers customization for a unique dial above the number pad, a media button and the individually backlit keys. 

When we set out to find the best productivity mouse, Razer's Viper Ultimate was our top pick for a gaming mouse that could handle everyday use. Normally a steep $150, it's now down to a more palatable $75. In addition to being ambidextrous and super light, we called it "a pleasure to use for extended periods."

The Razer Seiren Mini condenser microphone is down to $38 from its usual $50. The USB-based mic follows a supercardioid pickup pattern to focus on your voice instead of ambient background noise, and its compact size doesn't dominate your desktop. 

Check out the entire Razer sale at Amazon for Black Friday deals on more of the company's gear, including headsets, controllers, and more. 

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.