Samsung is finally ready to show the first results of its Wear OS partnership with Google, and it will be very easy to get a front row seat. The company is livestreaming its Mobile World Congress event at 1:15PM Eastern, and you can watch through the Samsung YouTube channel (below) or the MWC website. You can, of course, expect plenty of in-depth coverage on Engadget.
The stream will focus on "reimagining smartwatches," so you can expect both a deeper look at the Samsung-influenced Wear OS and, possibly, new watch hardware. You'll also hear more about security improvements for a range of Galaxy devices. Just don't count on new phones — Samsung typically reserves its mid-year flagship launches for August.
Neon White stole the show during the February 2021 Nintendo Direct live stream. It looked like a mature, anime-styled game set in Heaven and starring a cast of demon assassins, with tinges of Cowboy Bebop, Bayonetta and Danganronpa. Its debut trailer showed off frenetic first-person gameplay and stylish cinematics, but once the screen faded to black, viewers were left with a handful of questions:
Is this a first-person shooter, or a card-based game?
Is it on rails?
What’s with those animal masks?
Is this a dating sim?
And finally: Wait, Neon White is made by Ben Esposito? The dude who created Donut County, that bastion of wholesome, pastel-slathered gameplay and design?
Yep.
“This game is just so different than stuff I've made in the past,” Esposito told Engadget. “And there's expectations that people have that you'll just make the same thing over and over again. So, people don't really know what to think or say. I mean, my parents don't know what to think or say. My parents played Donut County and they enjoyed it. They're not going to play this.”
Annapurna Interactive
Donut County was Esposito’s first original project after doing design work on two hit indie games, 2012’s The Unfinished Swan and 2017’s What Remains of Edith Finch. Donut County came out in 2018 after six years of development, and garnered praise for its adorable visual world and simple, physics-puzzler mechanics. You play as a literal hole in the ground, gobbling up the cartoon landscape and interacting with cute characters along the way.
Neon White is decidedly different. By Esposito’s own account, he’s pumping it full of weird cult energy and late-1990s, early-2000s adult anime vibes.
“I don't need to make wholesome stuff right now,” Esposito said. “I've explored it. It's not for me at the moment. I'm here to make edgy indulgent things.”
So, let’s indulge. Esposito talked through exactly how Neon White will play, answering those lingering questions from the game’s debut trailer a month ago. First up:
Mechanics
Neon White is a first-person shooter, full-stop. It’s coming to Nintendo Switch and Steam, and on PC, it uses the standard WASD and mouse input. It’s not on rails, and in fact, freedom of movement and rapidity are key gameplay elements. Players earn medals for beating levels quickly, adding a delectable layer of speedrunning to the game.
Actions and weapons are augmented by the floating cards scattered around Heaven’s platforms or left behind by slain enemies.
“The whole conceit of playing the game is the cards that are both weapons and movement,” Esposito said. “The way that works is, you start with just a sidearm, like a little katana card, and you swipe it. And then all the weapons that you get in the level come from either they're sitting around in the world, or if you kill an enemy, sometimes they'll drop a card. And when you pick up the card, now you can use that card as a gun. It has a number of shots, depending on what gun it is, or you can discard it, which would just delete it essentially. And in exchange, you'll get some sort of movement ability.”
Take the Godspeed card, for example. If you choose to use it as a gun, it’s essentially a rifle with four shots, and it’s accurate and powerful. But, if you discard it, it’s a dash that slaughters basically any enemy you move through. These card-discard decisions play out in rapid succession in the game, as players catapult themselves from one Heavenly platform to another.
Every action is extreme in Neon White.
“When you jump, you jump three humans tall,” Esposito said. “When you do movement, you go really, really, really far. So, it's like a first-person platformer in something that I really like about those old-school games is that they can be nice and broad and clear, and they can be kind of abstract in how the levels are constructed, which lets me do really interesting, weird layouts.”
It also lets Esposito get weird regarding the second critical aspect of Neon White:
Story
Annapurna Interactive
“The story component is very big,” Esposito said. “It's structured 100 percent around the story, which is weird for kind-of a speed-running shooter. It's not something that I think has really been done.”
Neon White’s narrative begins with a simple conceit. You wake up in Heaven with no clue how you got there, and you’re immediately thrown into a competition to be the top demon slayer and earn a permanent place beyond the Pearly Gates. The thing is, all the other demon slayers seem to know you, and you don’t remember anyone.
The bulk of the narrative plays out in dialogue scenes in-between missions. Missions are composed of 10 rapid-fire, card-casting, demon-slaying levels each, with story beats scattered throughout.
“And then you get an opportunity to hang out in Heaven,” Esposito said. “You talk to all the various other characters, and you can find gifts and stuff for them. It's kind of got dating sim elements and you can give them gifts to deepen your relationship, and they will give you back things for giving them gifts. So, you'll be able to do interesting side quests and stuff that will deepen the relationship even further.”
Using dating-sim-inspired mechanics, players decide who to trust and gather information about their own backstory. It's a little Hades, a little Paradise Killer, a little El Shaddai, and altogether unique. One of the most evocative images from Neon White’s announcement features two bone-white, animal-faced humans drawn in a lanky anime style; one of them is holding the other in his arms, even as she presses the barrel of a pistol to the underside of his chin. It’s mysterious, dangerous and sensual.
“It's really a little bit of a reaction to spending so long making Donut County,” Esposito said. “That's a game that was really devised to be enjoyed by both children and their parents at the same time. It was kind of conceived as something that was supposed to be really anyone could get into it…. Neon White is not that at all. It’s for particular people.”
If there are any “particular people” here, Neon White is due to hit Nintendo Switch and PC this winter, published by Annapurna Interactive. It’s available to wishlist on Steam right now.
This week brought a number of sales on tech accessories, plus solid discounts on Nintendo Switch games in celebration of 'Mar10 Day.' The 12.9-inch Magic Keyboard for iPad is down to its lowest price yet, and you can still grab the 11-inch version for less as well. Nintendo knocked 35 percent off many Mario games this week — the sales last through March 13, so there's still time to save money while adding to your games collection. Plus, the latest smartphones from OnePlus remain hundreds of dollars off. Here are the best tech deals we found this week that you can still get today.
Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad
Engadget
The 12.9-inch Magic Keyboard is down to $250 at Amazon thanks to a coupon that knocks $79 off the $329 sale price. This is the lowest price we've seen for the larger model, but you can grab the 11-inch version for $199 right now as well. We gave the Magic Keyboard a score of 84 for its great typing experience, excellent trackpad and its ability to charge your iPad while it's magnetically connected.
While those are the main highlights, Amazon has a bunch of other Switch games for less right now, including Super Mario Odyssey for $39, Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for $39 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for $49. Plus, there's a new Square Enix sale going on at Nintendo's eShop right now, too. It runs through March 24 and it discounts titles including Collection of Mana, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy IX.
The Apple Watch SE has fallen to $259 on Amazon, which is $20 off its normal price. While not the lowest it's ever been ($230), this is a good deal if you missed the steep sales during the holiday shopping season last year. We gave the SE a score of 88 for its solid performance, comprehensive features with watchOS and comfortable design.
Apple's 512GB Mac mini M1 is down to $829 at B&H Photo and Amazon, which is a good sale price if you want the desktop PC with extra storage. But you're also able to get the 256GB Mac mini M1 for $649 which, while not an all-time low, is an even better sale price considering its specs. If you choose the 256GB Mac mini, you could buy an external drive with more than 256GB of storage for less than the $180 you'd be paying for the first model.
Ahead of the Series 9 launch, OnePlus discounted its 8T and 8 Pro smartphones by 30 and 20 percent, respectively. That drops the price of the 8 Pro to $700 and the 8T to $600, which are some of the best prices we've seen. If you don't want to wait for the Series 9 handset from OnePlus (which should be debuting soon), these sales are good ones to consider when looking for your next smartphone.
Sony's stellar WH-1000XM3 wireless headphones are down to $200 at Focus Photo & Video when you use the code BDTHANKS at checkout. While the XM4 are the newest version of these, the XM3 remain fantastic headphones thanks to their comfortable design, solid noise cancellation and 30-hour battery life.
Sony's budget WH-CH710N wireless headphones are down to $98 — while not the lowest they've ever been, it's a great deal considering these cans are usually $200. These are some of the best bang-for-your-buck headphones Sony makes thanks to their good noise cancellation, comfortable design and 35-hour battery life.
Ecovac's Deebot T8 is on sale for $450 when you clip the on-age coupon and use the code ECOVACST8 at checkout. That's the best price we've seen on this high-end model that's both a robot vacuum and a mop in one. It also has three different levels of suction, multi-floor map saving, anti-drop and collision features and a 180-minute battery life when used in standard mode.
The unique Mate X electric bike is $250 off at Wellbots when you use the code 250ENGADGET at checkout. That brings it down to $2,049 which, while still expensive, is a decent discount on a bike that doesn't often go on sale. While you're better off going for a more affordable scooter if you simply want a more efficient way to get around your city, the Mate X is a solid choice for thrill-seekers and those who don't mind to splurge on an e-bike.
If you want Apple's latest M1 processor technology (and already have a display and keyboard), there's no cheaper way to get it than the Mac mini M1. Now, it's possible to pick up the 512GB model with 8GB of RAM at a price that matches the best we've seen yet, $829 — or $70 off.
This is a great deal for a compact desktop PC that punches well above its weight, so to speak. The M1 chip delivers similar performance to high-end desktop processors, even in demanding multimedia applications like Final Cut Pro X and Photoshop. At the same time, the Mac mini M1 will take up hardly any space on your desktop and while it does have a fan (unlike the MacBook Air M1), it's still a very quiet machine. If you're planning to run some games or large apps, the 512GB option is a good choice.
However, both B&H and Amazon are also offering the Mac mini M1 for $649 with 256GB and 8GB of RAM, the second-lowest price we've seen. That $180 difference is a lot, so you could actually get more storage for less money by buying an external drive. The Mac Mini has two high-speed Thunderbolt/USB-C ports at the rear which could provide a couple of terabytes of storage and leave you with money left over. For either device, keep in mind that the 8GB of RAM might limit the software you can run (and it's not upgradeable), but the M1 processor gets far more out of less RAM than x86 Macs or PCs.
Jeep's Wagoneer is back and big in every sense of the word, including the amount of technology found inside. The beloved large luxury SUV brand (which surely inspired the Simpson's "Canyonero") has multiple touchscreens, support for both Apple and Android entertainment systems and even video streaming via Amazon's Fire TV.
The big daddy Grand Wagoneer packs up to no less than four touch displays to fill out that enormous dash. That includes a 12.3-inch digital dash cluster, along with a 12-inch infotainment system. The latter uses the latest version of Chrysler/Jeep's Uconnect 5, and also supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Sitting directly below that is a 10.3-inch comfort display that lets you control climate and the seats. (On the regular Wagoneer, you get smaller 10.3- and 10.1-inch displays for the digital dash and infotainment display, respectively.)
Stellantis
Those are just for the driver — the front passenger gets their own (optional) 10.3-inch touchscreen that allows them to watch movies, monitor the vehicle and more. Rear passengers get a pair of matching 10.1-inch displays, also optional. All three of those screens let passengers control navigation and media, monitor the external cameras, and play your own content via the aforementioned Android Auto/Apple CarPlay or Uconnect.
As we detailed last week, you can also stream video using Amazon's Fire TV for Auto with Alexa, giving passengers access to Amazon's library of Prime Video shows. You'll also be able to play games, use apps and access Alexa on the road through Fire TV for Auto.
The rest of the interior is a lux as you'd expect in such an SUV, equipped with what Jeep calls an "American premium" design (the word "American" appears no less than 32 times in the Wagoneer press release). You're coddled with wood, aluminum and leather throughout and the Grand Wagoneer has 24-way adjustable power seats. Both offer lumbar support and memory settings. The Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer offer 94.2 and 116.7 cubic feet of storage space, respectively. Pricing starts at just under $60,000, but to get all the tech bells and whistles, you'll pay up to $105,995 for the Grand Wagoneer Series.
The ideal way to watch Tenet, according to director Christopher Nolan (and many others), is in a cinema. "This is a film whose image and sound really needs to be enjoyed in your theaters on the big screen," he said last year amid the throes of a pandemic. That inspired YouTuber Bob Wulff, who runs the WulffDen channel, to stuff the time-bending blockbuster onto Game Boy Advance Video cartridges.
Wulff freely admits this is "quite possibly the worst way to view Tenet." He split the movie across five cartridges because it's two and a half hours long. According to Wulff, "30 minutes is the maximum time you can have for a Game Boy Advance Video [cartridge] and still have it in somewhat of a watchable state." He even made custom labels.
There are tradeoffs, of course. Wullf had to crush the video down to six frames per second with a resolution of 192x128 and a whopping 8 KB/s bitrate. The software Wulff used also speeds up video by a third by default. The result is not exactly the pristine IMAX cinema experience Nolan would have hoped for. Many viewers already found it hard to hear much of the dialogue in Tenet due to the questionable sound mix, so can you imagine trying to watch the film with a GBA speaker?
Most Game Boy Advance Video cartridges had a few episodes of a show like Pokémon or SpongeBob SquarePants, but there were a few full-length movies such as Shrekand Shark Tale. With the 20th anniversary of the GBA fast approaching, it seems like the perfect time to order some GBA Video cartridges, a device to flash them with and ruin your favorite movie by watching it in a terrible format.
During a roundtable discussion about Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media joining Microsoft, Xbox chief Phil Spencer touched on what the $7.5 billion deal would mean for game exclusivity. "If you're an Xbox customer, the thing I want you to know is this about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists," he said. "The creative capability we will be able to bring to market for Xbox customers is gonna be the best it's ever been for Xbox."
Not all Bethesda games will be exclusive to PC, Xbox and/or xCloud. Some will be multiplatform. Others, such as Deathloopand GhostWire: Tokyo, will initially be PS5 console exclusives. "There [are] contractual obligations that we're gonna see through, as we always do in every one of these instances," Spencer said. "We have games that exist on other platforms and we're gonna go support those games on the platforms they're on."
He noted that Xbox will continue to invest in existing "communities of players" and added that there might be cases down the line where there are contractual obligations with other platforms. "Even in the future, there might be things that have either contractual things or legacy on different platforms that we'll go do," he said. Spencer previously said that Xbox will decide whether to release future Bethesda games on non-Xbox or PC platforms on a "case-by-case basis."
It also emerged during the stream that more than 20 Bethesda games will be available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers as of Friday. A dozen more titles from the publisher will join the service, including Fallout 4.
There’s a lot to learn when you have a child in the NICU, and one tip I picked up from the nursing staff was the importance of having a white noise machine at home. Babies often find white (or brown or pink) noise soothing as it recreates some of the ambient sounds they heard in the womb. NICU graduates in particular become accustomed to an assortment of noises from various hospital machines, which means white noise can actually help them feel at ease when they arrive home. Also, let’s be real, anything that will help your infant sleep is worth trying.
In fact, my household is no stranger to white noise machines — we’ve had one kicking around for years now because of my partner’s tinnitus, and we’ve both kept white noise apps on our phones for when we travel. Having a consistent, gentle hum of waves, rain or static helps mask outside noises from airplanes or hotels. But, as I’ve mentioned in previous stories, accidentally stumbling across the Hatch Rest was a stroke of luck as it doubles as a night light and white noise machine, all of it controllable from a phone. While there’s no shortage of white noise machines available (for adults or children), few have the kind of smart features that made the Rest truly indispensable. I tried out four different soothers to see what each has to offer.
Hatch Rest and Rest+
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
You can control all features from smartphone
There’s a good selection of sounds and lights
Cons
No storytelling feature
No projection light
Can’t double as a Bluetooth speaker
It’s easy to explain why the $60 Hatch Rest and $90 Rest+ are popular with parents on the Engadget staff: Both devices sport a clean, minimalist design and allow you to combine any of 12 sounds or colors to act as a night light, white noise machine or time-to-rise reminder. And all these actions can be controlled from your smartphone, so it’s easy to adjust the volume or change the light color from a different room. Using the Hatch app, you can set favorite combinations and program them to start and stop at specific times. There are also physical controls on the device itself so you’re not out of luck if you forget your phone in another room. After a year of using the Rest, the only thing I wish it had was the ability to fade out of a sound when you turn it off.
The Rest+ has some additional features, too, including a rechargeable battery (not just AC power); two-way audio so it can also act as an audio monitor; a digital clock display; and the ability to control it with Alexa. Hatch sells separately $12 printed coverlets that can cover the Rest to match a nursery design. The company also recently released a “Mini” version, which offers a storytelling feature and white noise but no lights. There’s also a Restore version of the machine intended for adults.
VTech Wyatt the Whale Storytelling Soother
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
You can record your own voice
There's a storytelling mode
Starry projection
Cons
The app is bare-bones and you can’t use it to control audio playback
AC power only
Wyatt the Whale is one of three storytelling soothers from VTech; the other two, a monkey and a turtle, offer slightly different features than Wyatt. The $50 whale comes preloaded with 10 lullabies, 10 ambient white noise sounds and 10 stories, which can be updated and switched out through the app. You can also use the app to record your voice reading a story (the app provides scripts to help), or a message for your child.
The selection of sounds is pretty standard for a white noise machine: nature sounds like birds and rain, along with household noises like traffic or a washing machine. The lullabies have a range of children's songs (“Mary Had a Little Lamb”) and classical tracks (Bach’s Ave Maria), while the stories are shortened versions of fairy tales (Alice in Wonderland in 3:48). Throughout, the sound quality is decent and the voices clear. Wyatt can also project a starry night scene, courtesy of the shaped cut-outs on the top of the device, but this feature can only be controlled through physical buttons on the device.
The lullabies, sounds and stories can get swapped out and reordered within the app. Unfortunately, though, that’s all the app was designed to do. As I discovered after several frustrating moments, it doesn't play, pause, skip tracks or adjust volume; all of that has to be done using the physical buttons. Attempting to play a sound through the app will just default to it playing on your phone. There’s also no battery; it only works when connected to AC power, which limits the places you’ll be able to use it.
Project Nursery Dreamweaver with Bluetooth
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
Adorable firefly design
Doubles as a Bluetooth speaker
Portable
Cons
Only three sounds or lullabies
No app to control preset sounds
No projection
Project Nursery’s Dreamweaver is designed to look like a jar carrying fireflies, which is honestly pretty charming. The $40 machine has the shape of a large mason jar with a brass colored top and handle and physical controls near the bottom. There are six buttons in total: volume up and down, power/Bluetooth, preloaded tracks/skip tracks, a timer and one for the lights, which flicker on and off in one of four patterns to resemble captured fireflies. Below the power/Bluetooth button is an input for a USB-C cable, which you’ll need periodically for recharging the battery.
The menu is admittedly pretty limited: three lullabies (Brahms’ Lullaby, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), two natural sounds (waves and a heartbeat) and plain white noise. However, because the Dreamweaver connects to your phone via Bluetooth you can stream anything you want through it. It was certainly loud enough during my testing to double as a portable speaker for picnics or beach days. And my twins were crazy about the fake firefly lights.
Fisher Price Smart Connect Deluxe Soother
Amber Bouman/Engadget
Pros
Robust app
Three levels of lights
Cute design
Cons
AC power only
No storytelling
Can't double as a Bluetooth speaker
The $50 Smart Connect Deluxe Soother is a tall cylindrical device with three levels of lights: a ring of various sized holes near the bottom, various animal shapes etched through the opaque sides in the middle and cut-outs of animals and stars for projection on top. At its base are seven touch-activated buttons to control the lights on each level, plus the colors and the sounds. The top portion of the Soother can shift what colors it projects, while the middle and bottom portions emit a soft warm glow. The Soother can also play lullabies or nature sounds. Touching the buttons on the base will cycle through the various options, and when a feature is activated the button stays lit so you can easily find it again in the dark.
The Soother connects via Bluetooth, so you can control all the lights and sounds from your phone. Indeed, the app is full-featured. You can shift the speed at which the star projection changes colors and select which colors it uses. You can also choose from six sounds or 10 music tracks; adjust the night light or the animal projection light; set a timer; or save a favorite combination as a preset. I also really like how the lights and the sounds fade gently when turned off. However, it does require AC power so it'll need a spot near an outlet.
If you've had your fill of single player slogs — or tedious multiplayer modes that require you to grind for virtual riches that otherwise cost real money — then The Magnificent Trufflepigs should feel like a breath of fresh air. The new offering from Andrew Crawshaw, the lead designer of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, is an indie title that you can play from start to finish in one sitting. Coming to the Nintendo Switch and PC this summer, the pastoral game has you traipsing through the British countryside looking for buried treasure using a metal detector, with just a walkie talkie for companionship.
You play the role of Adam (voiced by Arthur Darvill of Doctor Who fame), who upon returning to his childhood village joins up with a local woman named Beth (Luci Fish of Safe House and Another Eden) to track down the missing half of a set of earrings. Along the way, you'll do a fair bit of walking and digging as you unearth rubbish and snap pics of your finds to show Beth, who shares her innermost thoughts with you over the two-way radio.
The setup should sound immediately familiar to anyone who has played Rapture, which arrived to near unanimous praise back in 2016. Described as a visual novel or radio play, that game rewarded patience by slowly unfurling its apocalyptic sci-fi mystery of a small town depleted of its inhabitants. The comms element in Trufflepigs also recalls Firewatch, another acclaimed indie that made its way to the Switch in 2018.
The new game marks the first outing for Crawshaw's video game studio Thunk'd. It's also backed by AMC Games, the video game publishing division of Mad Men and Breaking Bad producer AMC Networks, along with its subsidiary Sundance TV.
While Fire TV of course includes Amazon's own video on-demand store, having Vudu available means people can stream 4K and HDR content from another source, as well as enjoy the various sales and even free ad-supported streaming it has. In a statement, Fandango exec Kevin Shepela said "With Vudu’s vast library of premium content from new release event movies to favorite films and TV shows, we are excited to deliver to Fire TV users so many new viewing options to watch in their living rooms, many in breathtaking 4K."
The announcement also noted "double-digit" growth in new accounts during 2020 — you'd hope so, with so many people watching movies at home — compared to the previous year. Along with this launch, and Vudu recently becoming available on Comcast's set-top boxes, that hopefully means good things about its future under new ownership. The pace of developing new features for Vudu has always been relatively slow, and while its UI is consistent, it hasn't changed significantly in many years, so anyone with a library of content stored on the service benefits from it continuing to grow.
