YouTube is launching an in-app platform for bite-sized games, adding to the ways you can interact with content on the popular video service. Sadly, this is no full-fledged cloud-gaming experience — think of it more like Miniclip living inside the social video site.

This is an experimental offering and, as such, only available to select participants or beta testers. How to know if you’ve been chosen? Open up YouTube and look for a “Playables” tab alongside content on the home feed. For the lucky few, games work on both the desktop website and mobile devices.

There’s no list of published titles at this time, but 9to5Google reports that there’s a game called Stack Bounce available that involves a ball smashing through rings via well-timed clicks. If the title sounds familiar, that’s because Stack Bounce was already offered on Google’s GameSnacks service.

Also, moving a 3D ball around is a far cry from the kinds of games Google Stadia was offering when it shuttered, though the company notes that the system will save game progress, which is accessible via the “History” tab. In other words, more complicated experiences could be forthcoming, as there isn’t much progress to save when moving a bouncing ball through rings. For now, though, it's a repository for minigames. 

YouTube isn’t the only video-streaming service dipping its toes into cloud gaming. Netflix has made a pretty significant push into the space in the last couple of years, most recently expanding services to select smart TVs and personal computers. Even TikTok is experimenting with simple in-app games, in addition to live trivia contests with cash prizes. Google’s Stadia cloud streaming service went belly up back in January.

By some estimates, it takes around 235 hours to see and do absolutely everything in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Some folks have already managed that and are eager for more, but unlike with Breath of the Wild, you shouldn’t expect Nintendo to release a major expansion this time around.

“There are no plans for additional content,” Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma told Famitsu. The reason for that, as Automaton notes, is because the developers reckon they already shoved all of their major gameplay ideas into the base game. Given the massive breadth and scope of Tears of the Kingdom and the wealth of possibilities it offers players to solve puzzles, take down enemies and torture Koroks, the team might be forgiven for taking that view.

And so, it’s onto the next game, whatever that may be. Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi said his team is pondering what its “next fun experience” may be, but he’s uncertain at this point what that will look like.

In any case, don’t bank on a return to 2D Zelda games or the format of any pre-Breath of the Wild title. "The series continued to evolve after Ocarina of Time, but I think it's also fair to say now that we've arrived at Breath of the Wild and the new type of more open play and freedom that it affords," Aonuma told Game Informer in May. "Yeah, I think it's correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from."

It'll be a disappointment to some that there won't be any Tears of the Kingdom DLC. Still, you might want to start thinking about blocking out a couple hundred hours on your 2028 or 2029 calendar so you can fully experience the next big Zelda game ASAP.

Samsung is pushing forward the idea that bigger is better with the announcement of its new 98-inch Class QN990C Neo QLED 8K TV. It joins 2023's 65-inch, 75-inch and 85-inch 8K QN900C Neo QLED TVs, with the latest addition debuting at the CEDIA Expo 2023 alongside its 4K counterpart (available in sizes ranging from 43-inch to 85-inch). 

The 98-inch Class QN990C Neo QLED 8K TV is made up of Quantum Mini LEDs to produce over a billion colors and uses AI to enhance any content you watch up to 8K quality. It's also equipped with an Anti-Glare screen and Ultra Viewing Angle technology, which Samsung says should allow you to see what's going on from any angle without the need to block out light. The TV's structure is made with a 360-degree All-Metal Design and has a Slim Fit Wall Mount to give the TV more of an appearance of being flesh to the wall. As for audio quality, the new 98-inch Class 8K TV has Dolby Atmos and Cinema Object Tracking Sound built in.

While the 98-inch 8K TV's price has yet to be revealed, it's likely to be nearing the $10,000 mark. Samsung priced the 65-inch Neo QLED 8K TV at $5,000, the 75-inch at $6,300 and the 85-inch at $8,000. In contrast, the Neo QLED 4K TVs start at $1,200 and still offer features like Quantum Mini LEDs and Dolby Atmos. 

It’s been a little while since Ultimate Ears (UE) released an entirely new speaker model and this one slots right into the existing lineup between the Megaboom and the Hyperboom. Continuing with the whimsical hyperbole, this latest model is called the Epicboom and it’s available starting today at the company’s website for $350. Now that it’s here, it seems obvious a speaker was missing from the UE lineup. It pumps out a bit more volume than the Megaboom, but is still more portable than the larger Hyperboom party speaker.

The UE Epicboom is like a double-wide Megaboom in size and shape, and it still provides 360-degree sound. It does seem that the two 1.5-inch mid-high transducers are on the rounded sides with passive radiators along the front and back. This enhances the surround sound vibes if you’re listening to it head-on. Inside, the Epicboom packs a 4.6-inch woofer for a more rounded bass experience down to 50Hz, at least. And just like the Hyperboom, it has an adaptive EQ that supposedly helps provide the best audio output possible for your space.

There’s an outdoor mode available, which seems to drop the low end down a bit in favor of the mid to high end output so it can be heard more clearly at greater distances. The speaker has Bluetooth 5.2 and in keeping with tradition, the speaker claims up to 180 feet in range (in the best line-of-sight conditions possible I assume). The Epicboom definitely has a robust range and worked throughout my apartment without the sound dipping out, which is commendable.

As usual, the speaker is fully waterproof with an IP67 rating. Go ahead and plop it in the pool if you like. It’s a rugged box of beats that will fit into a backpack although it will take up a good deal of space at 6.3 x 4.6 x 9.4-inches and 4.36 pounds. You shouldn’t have to worry about battery life much either, since it's rated for up to 17 hours and there's an LED battery indicator just above the +/- buttons. Unlike the Boom and Megaboom, there’s no charging dock accessory for the Epicboom. It has a single USB-C charging port along the back and no aux inputs.

Photo by Jon Turi / Engadget

The speaker is slightly chunky and unless you’ve got big mitts, the rounded edges makes it a little bit difficult to grab and hold by hand. There is a carrying strap of course, and if you hate having a loose loop dangling about your device, you’re in luck. This flattened strap uses a small magnet to help keep it in place along the back. It's heavy nylon (like seat belts) and although it has a loop, it takes some fiddling to pull it apart. I found myself just grabbing the strap as it is to haul it around.

NFC, a long lost Ultimate Ears feature, has returned with the Epicboom. It works for users with Android 8.0 or later, but sadly there's no support for iOS. The speaker has multipoint connectivity allowing you to pair up to eight devices and this can help speed up the process immensely. It also helps to future proof the speaker, as aging devices can sometimes be difficult to pair with and NFC is a great backup plan.

Photo by Jon Turi / Engadget

You can use the PartyUp feature in the Boom app (which gets an update today) to play music on the Epicboom plus any other Hyperboom, Megaboom and Boom models nearby. There are also a variety of pre-set EQs including Signature, Bass Boost, Game/Cinema, Podcast/Vocal, and a new Deep Relaxation mode. I didn't get a chance to test the new app experience yet, so I can't provide any more details in that regard.

If you’re an Ultimate Ears fan and want to upgrade your output, but still have a speaker that’s relatively easy to bring along when you’re out and about, the Epicboom could be right for you. It seems to have a more spacious sound than the Megaboom models and its audio output definitely covers some ground for a device this size. It’s not quite the powerhouse party output of the Hyperboom, but it's a decent upgrade from the Megaboom 3. People in the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions can order the $350 UE Epicboom starting today on the company's website and other retailers will begin selling the product on September 22nd. 

Product Specifications

• Size: 6.3 inch (L) x 4.6 inch (W) x 9.4 inch (H)

• Weight: 4.36 lbs / 1.98 kg

• Bluetooth version: 5.2 

• Bluetooth range: 180 ft / 55 meters

• Battery life: Up to 17 hours

• Charge time: < 3 hours (with 5V/0.5A or more than 0.5A adapter)

• Drivers: Two 1.5-inch active mid-high frequency transducers and one 4.6-inch woofer

• Maximum Sound Pressure Level (SPL): 94 dBC(normal) and 95 dBC (outdoor)

• Frequency range: 50Hz to 20kHz

• Rating: IP67 

• Sustainability factors: 100% post-consumer polyester fabric mesh, 59% post-consumer recycled plastic

The critically-acclaimed cat-based adventure gameStray is getting an actual animated movie. Even cooler? The title's original publisher Annapurna is making the flick, after it scored a surprise hit on Netflix with its first animated feature Nimona. The creative team is still under wraps, but Annapurna Animation head Robert Baird told Entertainment Weekly that the film is in active development and that it’ll be the “greatest hopepunk movie that's ever been made.”

Baird defines “hopepunk” as a narrative concept that deems optimism as a form of resistance against tyranny. That just about describes the emotional tenor of the game, so Annapurna’s on the right track. Additionally, it’s been confirmed that the game’s companion drone B-12 will be a large part of the film, with Baird stating it’s a “buddy comedy about a cat and a robot” going on to cite the pair’s “hilarious dynamic.”

The original game was released last year and put players in control of a curious cat in a cyberpunk landscape. There’s plenty of platforming, stealth-based traversal and, uh, meows. The title was praised for giving players a cat-level perspective on the world and has been a huge hit on just about every platform.

As for Annapurna, the Stray movie is only a single step in its plans for Hollywood domination. The animation arm of the company announced a few more films and teased plenty more. Chris Wedge, the creator of Ice Age, is directing a movie called FOO, short for fish out of water, and Nimona’s co-director Nick Bruno has signed on to helm an unnamed project that’s only been described as “high concept” and “Spielbergian.”

The company also teased that other games under its umbrella could receive the movie treatment, stating that Stray was chosen as the first adaptation due to it being “wildly popular.” Other titles in the publisher’s roster include the time-loop thriller Twelve Minutes, starring Daisy Ridley and James McAvoy, the Starfield-before-Starfield sci-fi romp Outer Wilds, the narrative mystery Kentucky Route Zero and many more. Each of these would make for a decent movie.

Nintendo has teamed up with Niantic for a new Pikmin mobile game that's mostly good for passing time than serious gaming. It's called Pikmin Finder, and as Nintendo Life notes, the companies have released it in time for the Nintendo Live event in Seattle. You can access the augmented reality game from any browser on your mobile, whether it's an iPhone or an Android device. We've tried it on several browsers, including Chrome and Opera, and we can verify that it works, as long as you allow it to access your camera. 

Similar to Pikmin Bloom, the game superimposes Pikmin on your environment as seen through your phone's camera. You can then pluck the creatures by swiping up — take note that there are typically more of the same color lurking around when you do spot one. Afterward, you can use the Pikmin you've plucked to search for treasures, including cakes and rubber duckies. You'll even see them bring you those treasures on your screen. 

Pikmin Finder

To play the game, you can go to its website on a mobile browser and start catching Pikmin on your phone. You can also scan the QR code that shows up on the website when you open it on a desktop browser.

Since its release in 1993, id Software's DOOM franchise has become one of modern gaming's most easily recognizable IPs. The series has sold more than 10 million copies to date and spawned myriad RPG spinoffs, film adaptations and even a couple tabletop board games. But the first game's debut turned out to be a close thing, id Software cofounder John Romero describes in an excerpt from his new book DOOM GUY: Life in First Person. With a mere month before DOOM was scheduled for release in December 1993, the iD team found itself still polishing and tweaking lead programmer John Carmack's novel peer-to-peer multiplayer architecture, ironing out level designs — at a time when the studio's programmers were also its QA team — and introducing everybody's favorite killer synonym to the gamer lexicon. 

Abrams Press

Excerpted from DOOM GUY: Life in First Person by John Romero. Copyright © 2023 by John Romero. Published and reprinted by permission of Abrams Press, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved.

In early October, we were getting close to wrapping up the game, so progress quickened. On October 4, 1993, we issued the DOOM beta press release version, a build of the game we distributed externally to journalists and video game reviewers to allow them to try the game before its release. Concerned about security and leaks, we coded the beta to stop running on DOS systems after October 31, 1993. We still had useless pickups in the game, like the demonic daggers, demon chests, and other unholy items. I decided to get rid of those things because they made no sense to the core of the game and they rewarded the player with a score, which was a holdover from Wolfenstein 3-D. I removed the concept of having lives for the same reason. It was enough to have to start the level over after dying.

There was still one missing piece from the game, and it was a substantial one. We hadn’t done anything about the multiplayer aspect. In modern game development, multiplayer would be a feature factored in from day one, and architected accordingly, in an integrated fashion. Not with DOOM. It was November, and we were releasing in a month.

I brought it up to Carmack. “So when are we going to make multiplayer mode?”

The short answer was that Carmack was ready to take it on. Looking from the outside in, I suspect some might wonder if I wasn’t just more than a bit concerned since we were hoping to ship in 1993. After all, John had never programmed a multiplayer game before. The truth is that I never had a doubt, not for a second. Back in March, Carmack had already done some innovative network programming in DoomEd. He wanted to play around with the distributed objects system in NeXT-STEP, so he added the ability to allow multiple people who were running DoomEd to edit the same level. I could see him drawing lines and placing objects on my screen from his computer. Then, I’d add to his room by making a hallway, and so on.

For multiplayer, Carmack’s plan was to explore peer-to-peer networking. It was the “quick and dirty” solution instead of a client-server model. Instead of one central computer controlling and monitoring all the action between two to four players, each computer would run the game and sync up with the others. Basically, the computers send each other updates at high speed over the local network. The speed of Carmack’s network programming progress was remarkable. He had some excellent books on networking, and fortunately, those books were clearly written and explained the process of using IPX* well. In a few hours, he was communicating between two computers, getting the IPX protocol running so he could send information packets to each computer. I’d worked with him for three years and was used to seeing incredible things on his screen, but this was awe inspiring, even for him. In a matter of hours, he got two PCs talking to each other through a command-line-based tool, which proved he could send information across the network. It was the foundation needed to make the game network-capable. It was great for two players, and good for four, so we capped it at that. We were still on track to deliver on our promise of the most revolutionary game in history before the end of the year.

Carmack called me into his office to tell me he had it working. Both PCs in his office had the game open, and they were syncing up with two characters facing one another. On one PC, Carmack veered his character to the right. On the other monitor, that same character, appearing in third person, moved to the left. It was working!

“Oh my God!” I yelled, throwing in some other choice words to convey my amazement. “That is fucking incredible.”

When I’d first truly visualized the multiplayer experience, I was building E1M7. I was playing the game and imagined seeing two other players firing rockets at each other. At the time, I thought, “This is going to be astonishing. There is nothing like this. This is going to be the most amazing game planet Earth has ever seen.” Now, the moment had finally arrived.

I rushed to my computer and opened the game, connecting to Carmack’s computer.

When his character appeared on screen, I blasted him out of existence, screaming with delight as I knocked “John” out of the game with a loud, booming, bloody rocket blast. It was beyond anything I had ever experienced before and even better than I imagined it could be.

It was the future, and it was on my screen.

“This is fucking awesome!” I yelled. “This is the greatest thing ever!”

I wasn’t kidding. This was the realization of everything we put into the design months earlier. I knew DOOM would be the most revolutionary game in history, but now, it was also the most fun, all-consuming game in history. Now that all the key elements of our original design were in place, it was obvious. DOOM blew away every other game I’d ever played. From that moment on, if I wasn’t playing DOOM or working on DOOM, I was thinking about DOOM.

Kevin, Adrian, and Jay began running the game in multiplayer mode, too, competing to blow away monsters and each other. They were yelling just as much as I did, cheering every execution, groaning when they were killed and had to respawn. I watched them play. I saw the tension in their bodies as they navigated the dark, detailed world we’d created. They were hunters and targets, engaged in a kill-or-be-killed battle, not just with monsters, but with other, real people. Players were competing in real time with other people in a battle to survive. I thought of boxing or an extreme wrestling match, where you go in a cage to fight. This was much more violent, more deadly. It was all simulated, of course, but in the moment, it felt immediate. It was a new gaming experience, and I searched for a way to describe it.

“This is deathmatch,” I said. The team latched onto the name. It instantly articulated the sinister, survival vibe at the heart of DOOM.

In mid-November, we buckled down, getting in the “closing zone,” where you begin finalizing all areas of the game one by one. Now that Carmack had multiplayer networking figured out, we needed to fine-tune the gameplay and functionality, delivering two multiplayer modes—one in which players work together to kill monsters and demons, and the other where players try to kill each other (usually without monsters around). The first mode was called co-op, short for cooperative. The second, of course, was deathmatch.

Another important word needed to be coined. Deathmatch was all about getting the highest kill count in a game to be judged the winner. What would we call each kill? Well, we could call it a kill, but that felt like a less creative solution to me. Why don’t we have our own word? I went to the art room to discuss this with Kevin and Adrian.

“Hey guys, for each kill in a deathmatch we need a word for it that is not ‘kill,’” I said.

Kevin said, “Well, maybe we could use the word ‘frag.’"

“That sounds like a cool word, but what does it mean?” I asked.

“In the Vietnam War,” Kevin explained, “if a sergeant told his fire team to do something horrifically dangerous, instead of agreeing to it, they would throw a fragmentation grenade at the sergeant and call it friendly fire. The explanation was ‘Someone fragged the sarge!’”

“So, in a deathmatch we’re all fragging each other!” I said.

“Exactly."

And that is how “frag” entered the DOOM lexicon. 

The introduction of deathmatch and co-op play profoundly affected the possibility space of gameplay in the levels. Crafting an enjoyable level for single-player mode with lots of tricks and traps was complex enough, but with the addition of multiplayer we had to be aware of other players in the level at the same time, and we had to make sure the single-player-designed level was fun to play in these new modes. Our levels were doing triple duty, and we had little time to test every possible situation, so we needed some simple rules to ensure quality. Since multiplayer gameplay was coming in quickly near the end of development, I had to define all the gameplay rules for co-op and deathmatch. We then had to modify every game map so that all modes worked in all difficulty levels. These are the rules I came up with quickly to help guide level quality:

• Multiplayer Rule 1: A player should not be able to get stuck in an area without the possibility of respawning.

• Multiplayer Rule 2: Multiple players (deathmatch or co-op mode) require more items; place extra health, ammo, and powerups.

• Multiplayer Rule 3: Try to evenly balance weapon locations in deathmatch.

• Multiplayer Rule 4: In deathmatch mode, try to place all the weapons in the level regardless of which level you’re in.

Additionally, we had to make all the final elements for the game: the intermissions and various menus had to be designed, drawn, and coded; the installation files needed to be created, along with the text instruction files, too. We also had to write code to allow gamers to play these multiplayer modes over their modems, since that was the hardware many people had in 1993. Compared to our previous games, the development pace on DOOM had been relatively relaxed, but in November our to-do list was crowded. Fortunately, everything fell into place. The last job for everyone was to stress-test DOOM.

Preparing for release, we knew we needed someone to handle our customer support, so earlier in the year, we’d hired Shawn Green, who quit his job at Apogee to join us. Throughout development, at every new twist and turn, we kept Shawn up to date. He had to know the game inside out to assist gamers should any issues arise. Shawn also helped us by testing the game as it went through production.

I noted earlier that id Software never had a Quality Assurance team to test our releases. For three years, John, Tom, and I doubled as the id QA team. We played our games on our PCs, pounding multiple keys, literally banging on keyboards to see if our assaults could affect the game. On the verge of release, and with more people than ever before in the office, we spent thirty hours playing DOOM in every way we could think of—switching modes, hitting commands—running the game on every level in every game mode we had, using every option we added to the game to see if there were any glitches.

Things were looking good. We decided to run one last “burn-in” test, a classic test for games where the developers turn the game on and let it run overnight. We ran DOOM on every machine in the office. The plan was to let it run for hours to see if anything bad happened. After about two hours of being idle, the game froze on a couple screens. The computers seemed to be okay—if you hit “escape” the menu came up—but the game stopped running.

We hadn’t seen a bug like this during development, but Carmack was on the case. He was thinking and not saying a word, evidently poring over the invisible engine map in his head. Ten minutes passed before he figured it out. He concluded that we were using the timing chip in the PC to track the refresh of the screen and process sound, but we weren’t clearing the timing chip counter when the game started, which was causing the glitch. Ironically, this logic had been part of the engine from day one, so it was surprising we hadn’t noticed it before.

He sat down at his computer, fixed the bug, and made a new build of the game. We put the update on all the machines and held our breath for the next two hours.

Problem solved.

That was the last hurdle. We were ready to launch. That day, December 10, would be DOOM Day.

***

* IPX is an acronym for Internetwork Packet Exchange. In sum, it is a way in which computers can talk to one another.

This is Bethesda's highest-profile game since being bought by Microsoft. It’s also a high-profile game for the console maker, as the acquisition turned it into an Xbox exclusive. Starfield is here with vast gameplay options, stories and quests. According to Engadget’s Jessica Conditt, every player will find a gameplay aspect that resonates with them. Bethesda claims it will take hundreds of hours to interact with everything in Starfield, and according to Jessica, “40 hours and one New Game Plus later, this doesn’t feel like a lie.”

Bethesda

Combat is one of Starfield’s weak points. While gun battles are central to the game’s core loop, they often feel unnecessary and occasionally monotonous. The scale is grand, but it feels like a mix of other sci-fi games and references. However, if you liked Cyberpunk and you liked No Man’s Sky, there’s certainly a bit of both in Starfield.

– Mat Smith

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JLab's insanely small wireless earbuds cover the basics for $40

And attach to a keyring.

JLab

JLab's extremely affordable earbuds already strike a solid balance of value and performance, but the company set out to "drastically" reduce size and weight with its latest model. Announced back in December, the JBuds Mini is a set of insanely tiny wireless earbuds with a charging case smaller than a car key fob. While the $40 earbuds lack more advanced features, like active noise cancellation (ANC), there are touch controls, transparency mode and more.

Continue reading.

Philips Hue gets into home surveillance with its new Secure cameras

The brand's new product category puts it in competition with Ring.

Signify, the Philips spinoff known for its Hue lighting products, has announced a new range of security cameras, putting it in direct competition with companies like Ring and Nest. The new Hue Secure cameras are for indoors or outdoors, and you can prop up the wired version with its companion desktop stand. Both will be available this fall, with the wired camera a bit cheaper at $218 (€200) than the $273 (€250) battery variant. The Philips Hue lineup also has contact sensors, so you can stick them on doors, windows and other places, to get notified if somebody opens them.

Continue reading.

Lenovo Legion Go hands-on

A more Switch-like handheld gaming PC.

Engadget

For fans of handheld gaming PCs, 2023 keeps getting better. Following the release of ASUS’ ROG Ally earlier this year, Lenovo is entering the category with the Legion Go. Some of the Legion Go’s highlight features are to do with its screen. It’s an 8.8-inch 2,560 x 1,600 IPS panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and listed at 500 nits of brightness. That makes it the biggest screen on pretty much any device in this category. Other specs include an AMD Z1 Extreme chip, 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage.

Continue reading.

Sony has unveiled the Xperia 5 V smartphone with some nice high-end features and one fewer camera, along with a slightly lower price tag. The company also promises an "extraordinary music and video experience" thanks to the HDR display, updated speakers and more — all at a slightly lower price than the previous Xperia 5 IV model. 

Sony smartphones are all about the cameras, and there's good news in that regard, despite what looks like a worse camera array. The Xperia 5 V (yes that's "five five") has the same 52-megapixel Exmor T backside illuminated (BSI) Type 1/1.35-inch stacked sensor as the Xperia 1 V, meaning it's very fast and very good in low-light. In addition, Sony has improved the AI-powered "bokeh mode" to get pictures "closer to the standards of interchangeable lens cameras," the company said. 

Sam Benard for Sony

As the photo above shows, though, there's now only two rear cameras — the 48-megapixel Exmor T and a 12-megapixel 16mm ultrawide — rather than three as on the Xperia 5 IV. However, the primary sensor has much higher resolution than the previous 12-megapixel telephoto camera, and can dynamically switch between 24mm and 48mm (around 48mm and 96 mm 35mm equivalent) focal lengths, so you still get an equivalent 2X optical (lossless) zoom that should take much sharper images.

As before, you can shoot 4K video at up to 120fps in HDR, and it comes with optical image stabilization, along with 5-axis gyro-powered electronic stabilization for maximum smoothness. Other features include HDR recording, eye-tracking, "Creative Look" color presets and a new Video Creator app that automatically creates a final video based on your choice of shots and music. And for audio creators, it has a dedicated voice recording mic "that picks up your voice even with other voices and environmental sounds in the surroundings," Sony says. 

Sony

It's also designed as an entertainment machine, starting with the 6.1-inch OLED HD+ (1,080 x 2,520) display (the same specs as the last model). For watching movies, it comes with Sony's TV Bravia X1 image quality engine for mobile, along with a newly developed front stage speaker system that offers "powerful deep bass" and negates the need for external speakers, Sony claims. And thanks to the power-saving tech, the 5,000mAh battery can go over 24 hours on a charge and maintain 80 percent or higher capacity after three years, according to the company. (That's a subtle dig at Apple's iPhone 14, in case you didn't notice.)

The Xperia 5 V should also be solid for gaming, thanks to the flagship-level Snapdragon 8 Gen2 processor, 120Hz display refresh rate and a larger heat diffusion sheet (it's available with 8GB or 12GB of RAM, plus 128GB of expandable storage). Meanwhile, the game enhancer adds features like an audio equalizer, voice chat mic and a screen recording function.

Despite a small drop in price in Europe, the Xperia 5 V isn't cheap. It's priced at £849 / €999 in the UK / Europe, with availability in "late September." There's no word on US pricing or availability, but we should hear something soon — and as a reminder, the Xperia 5 IV cost $1,000 at launch. 

There's a new Rugrats game coming out next year, and you can play it with graphics that make it look like it was developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The Mix Games and Wallride have unveiled Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland, which you can play either in HD cartoon mode or in 8bit mode, if you're feeling nostalgic. It's a puzzle platformer where you have to control the Rugrat of your choice — Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil — as they pretend that they're inside a game. 

Its official page says: "Through the power of imagination, the babies transform Tommy's house into a video game world full of action, excitement, and adventure!" The game features multiple levels with different themes and bosses, and each Rugrat has unique abilities of their own that you can use to navigate the environment and to defeat enemies. You can also play solo or in a two-player coop if you want to enjoy the game with friends. 

According to the developers' announcement, the game is making its way to PC and consoles sometime next year. They didn't say which consoles exactly, but Mix confirmed on Twitter that it will be playable on NES hardware. The game will most likely be available as a software download, but the developers are also planning to release physical versions of the title via Limited Run Games. 

You can watch a trailer of Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland below: