Amazon is running a sale on two Samsung Galaxy tablets for a limited time: the Tab S8+ and the Tab S6 Lite. The 128GB Galaxy Tab S8+ with Wi-Fi has reached an all-time low with a 33 percent cut dropping the price from $900 to $600. The sale is for the Pink Gold model only and includes an improved Samsung S Pen, with a latency of only 2.8ms, compared to prior models' 9ms.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+ as a whole was well-reviewed by Engadget when it came out in 2022. The 12.4-inch OLED display, 2,800 x 1,752 screen and microSD trays made it stand out against its competitors. It's also smaller than its predecessors at 1.24 pounds with a 0.22-inch thickness and, Samsung claims, has a 33 percent harder frame than the S7 models. According to our tests, the 10,090 mAh battery will last for about six and a half hours of regular use.

There's no denying that, even at $600, the Galaxy Tab S8+ is still an expensive purchase. If you're looking for a simpler — and much cheaper – option, the 128GB Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is currently on sale for 37 percent off. While it's an older tablet, we can say it scored highly in our review back in 2020. For $270, you get a 10.4-inch display, 2000 x 1200 screen, a 7,090 mAh battery, and weighs in at about one pound. Plus, it also includes an S Pen with your purchase.

The Galaxy Tab S6 Lite sale is the same across the three available colors, Oxford Gray, Chiffon Rose and Angora Blue. Though the 64GB model is also discounted, the $160 price drop actually makes the 128GB cheaper than its smaller alternative.

Handheld gaming systems are having a moment. Yes, gaming on the go has been a thing since the Game Boy, but the runaway success of the Nintendo Switch and continued growth of mobile processors has brought an explosion of devices that let you play all sorts of games wherever you want. Figuring out the best gaming handheld for you, though, can be complicated. You already know that the Switch is worth buying, but depending on what you want to play, the right handheld could cost you less than $100 or close to $1,000. To help you narrow things down, we’ve extensively researched the handheld market and tested the major contenders, from beefy portable PCs to compact emulation machines.

What to know about the gaming handheld market

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

The market for gaming handhelds can be broken down into three broad tiers. At the top, you have x86-based portable gaming PCs like the Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally. These are the most powerful handhelds you can buy, as they seek to replicate the experience of a moderately specced gaming desktop. The Steam Deck runs on Linux, but most others use Windows. If you want to play modern, recently released games on the go (and need something stronger than a Switch), this is the type of device you’d get. They can also emulate the widest range of retro consoles. However, they’re typically the largest and most cumbersome devices to hold and their battery life can be short. Naturally, they’re also the most expensive, costing anywhere from $400 to more than $1,000.

Further down on the price spectrum are mobile handhelds like the Logitech G Cloud or Retroid Pocket. These often run Android or Linux and can range from under $50 to $400-ish. They aren’t equipped to play modern console or PC titles, but they’re usually more compact than a portable PC and can still be used for mobile games and cloud streaming. While most are marketed toward those ends, many people actually buy them to emulate classic games through software like RetroArch. Getting emulators to work can be complicated, and accessing the BIOS and ROM files required to play games this way is legally murky. (Engadget does not condone piracy. Backing up files of games you already own for personal use only is considered more defensible, however, so for that a mobile handheld can be a more user- and wallet-friendly way to play the classics on the go.) Today, the ARM chips in top mobile handhelds can emulate games into the sixth generation of consoles.

We’ll call the last tier “handhelds that do their own thing.” This is a catch-all for things like the Switch or Playdate: portable gaming devices that run heavily customized software and aim to provide a unique experience. They aren’t necessarily ideal for emulation or playing the latest multiplatform titles; instead, they often have distinct game libraries. They might not have the widest appeal as a result (Switch excluded), but they’re often easier for less tech-literate folks to just pick up and use.

Best handheld gaming PC for most: Valve Steam Deck

It’s been well-documented over the past year but Valve’s Steam Deck still offers the best balance of price and functionality in the gaming handheld market. Specifically, we’re talking about the entry-level model, which costs $399 and comes with 64GB of eMMC storage (which is easily expandable with a microSD card). The $529 and $649 variants with faster SSDs and, with the highest-end model, a premium glass display are fantastic as well, but a few new Windows handhelds might put dent in their value proposition, at least for some people. (We’ll dig into this more below.)

Nevertheless, the entry-level Steam Deck is still a remarkably capable device. While not every game in the Steam library is compatible with the device’s Linux-based OS, thousands are and the list of officially verified and still-playable titles is growing all the time. It can play some games natively and stably that just aren’t possible on the Nintendo Switch, from Elden Ring to Final Fantasy VII Remake to the Resident Evil 4 remake. The process isn’t quite as plug-and-play as Nintendo’s console, as some games require tweaks to run optimally, and some newer AAA titles are starting to push the device’s limits. But SteamOS makes its settings relatively accessible, and in practice, this is essentially a last-gen console that plays in 720p but can be carried anywhere.

This power makes the Steam Deck a superb device for emulation as well. While some systems need a few tweaks (Wii) and others are more game-dependent (the oft-tricky PS3 and Xbox), most run flawlessly, and just about everything is at least playable. It can even play higher-end Switch games. Using a tool like EmuDeck makes setting all of this up about as easy as it could be, too. Beyond emulation, the Deck’s flexibility makes it a fine device for cloud streaming Xbox games. You can also pair it with a dock and play many (but not all) games at higher resolutions on a TV or monitor.

The Steam Deck’s biggest flaw is its size: At 1.5 pounds, about two inches thick and just under a foot long, it stretches the limits of a “handheld” device. Even if you have large hands, it can be tiring to hold for a couple of hours. Depending on what you play, its battery life can range from eight hours to less than two. The 7-inch IPS LCD display, while decent, isn’t as vibrant as the Switch OLED, and the d-pad is somewhat mushy. All that said, the Deck is a sturdy piece of kit. Its joysticks are pleasingly smooth, the face buttons and triggers are responsive and it dissipates heat comfortably. It doesn’t feel far off from using a normal controller, plus there are four customizable back buttons and two trackpads to make navigating PC-style game UIs easier. And while the whole thing is heavy, its contoured grips slide naturally into the hands. You can read our full Steam Deck review for more details.

A note on more powerful Steam Deck alternatives

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Owning Steam lets Valve undercut most handheld PCs on price, so the entry-level Steam Deck should remain a killer value at $399. If you’re working with a higher budget and want the most powerful handheld possible, though, it might be worth waiting on a few upcoming devices first.

Both the Asus ROG Ally and Ayaneo 2S run on beefy new AMD chips that should be able to play more demanding games at higher frame rates. The ROG Ally could be particularly appealing: Its 7-inch display has a higher resolution (1080p) and faster refresh rate (120Hz) than the Deck, it’s slightly thinner and lighter, and it'll start at a relatively reasonable $600. Reviews fromothersites say that it is indeed more powerful. And since it comes from an established manufacturer, it’s available at major retailers like Best Buy. It comes in two variants: The higher-end model costs $700 and will start shipping in June, while the base SKU doesn’t have a firm release date just yet. We’ll have a full review of the ROG Ally in the coming weeks and will keep on top of the Ayaneo 2S when it arrives.

Both the ROG Ally and Ayaneo 2S run on Windows 11, which means they can play games from not just Steam, but other gaming clients like Epic, GOG, Itch.io or the Xbox app. Yes, it’s technically possible to play non-Steam games on SteamOS, but that’s not the point of the Deck. And while Valve is doing an admirable job of getting more Windows games working on a Linux-based OS, it’s still running a layer. Every now and then, an update will break something in a given game.

But Windows certainly isn’t immune to things going haywire, and so far, no Windows handheld has really nailed a portable UI as well as the Steam Deck. Battery life is often shorter, too. The early consensus on the ROG Ally seems to be that these are still issues there. Plus, the performance jump may not always be massive; its gains over the Deck appear to be most notable at higher power modes, but running at a higher wattage also means nuking the battery. Still, it's faster. And if everything is working right, a handheld running Windows should have fewer limitations.

Of the Windows handhelds we've tested, we’ve found the Ayaneo 2 and Ayaneo Air Plus to be competent alternatives to the Steam Deck with generally higher performance. The GPD Win 4 is relatively well-regarded, too. But the software experience on these devices isn’t nearly as polished as SteamOS, and devices with better hardware are on the way. We’ll update this guide once we’re able to review the ROG Ally or another handheld with a Ryzen 7000 series chip.

Best budget handheld gaming system: Retroid Pocket 3+

The Retroid Pocket 3+ is an Android device with far less power than the Steam Deck or portable Windows PC, so the only way it can play modern games is via cloud streaming. But if you primarily want a handheld to emulate older games when you’re away from your home console or gaming PC, this is a generally comfortable and, at $149, reasonably affordable way to do so.

We praised this handheld’s predecessor, the Pocket 3, in 2022. The Pocket 3+ is effectively the same device, but with a stronger chipset (the Unisoc T618) and more RAM (4GB). The design is like a smaller Nintendo Switch Lite, which is to say it’s slim, lightweight (235g) and not fatiguing to use for hours at a time. The 4.7-inch touch display isn’t huge, but it’s bright and saturated, with a sharp-enough 750 x 1,334 resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio that plays nice for cloud streaming and emulating systems like the PSP. (You’ll get borders with some older consoles, though.) The hardware still has some quirks: The face buttons are on the beady side, the start and select buttons are oddly placed on the left-hand side and the analog triggers aren’t pressure-sensitive. The joysticks are on the shallower side, too, though they’re smooth and accurate in action. For the money, the Pocket 3+ is built well and easy to transport.

The Pocket 3+ can emulate consoles up to the Dreamcast/PSP range fairly comfortably, so you’ll have few troubles if you’re mainly looking to play older games from the SNES, PS1 and earlier. With a recent firmware update, the device’s performance has also improved with more demanding machines like the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It’s still not flawless (particularly with the PS2), but numerous games are at least playable, which is impressive at this price. You can also play most native Android games or stream games from a PC, Xbox or PS5. Battery life will depend on what you’re playing but typically lasts between five and seven hours.

Retroid recently launched a handheld called the Pocket Flip that’s more or less the Pocket 3+ with a clamshell design. It costs $10 more and uses sliders instead of joysticks, but if you’d prefer a form factor that’s closer to a Nintendo DS than a Switch Lite, feel free to get that instead.

A more powerful Android option: AYN Odin

The AYN Odin is worth considering if you like the idea of the Retroid Pocket 3+ but are willing to pay a little more for better emulation performance with systems like the GameCube, PS2 and Wii. Its Snapdragon 845 processor and Adreno 635 GPU still can’t run 100 percent of games from those systems, but the Odin can do more than the Pocket 3+, and the handful that are playable on both devices will generally perform better here. The device is even capable of playing some 3DS games.

The Odin is also a better piece of hardware than the Pocket 3+. Its layout is pretty much the same, but it has gentle curves on the back that make it easier to grip, a couple of customizable back buttons and analog triggers that’ll play nicer with more modern games and cloud streaming. It has a larger 6-inch 1080p display, and it should still get around five to seven hours of battery life on average. It’s not as portable as Retroid’s handheld, but it has a more substantial feel on the whole.

All of this makes the Odin a better device than the Pocket 3+, but it’s hard to call it a better value. AYN sells three different Odin models: The base version, which often goes for $240, is probably the “Goldilocks” option for most people. A more powerful Odin Pro comes with twice the RAM (8GB) and storage (128GB) but costs $290; at that price, you’re getting pretty close to the Steam Deck, which is comprehensively superior. There’s also the $200 Odin Lite, which is technically more capable than the Pocket 3+ but less of a jump than its siblings. It’s worth noting that AYN has a new “Loki” series of handhelds on the way as well. Nevertheless, the Odin is a standout among mobile gaming handhelds. You can read our full Odin Pro review for more details.

Another good (but pricey) option: Logitech G Cloud

If the Logitech G Cloud cost $150 or so less, it might be the best Android handheld on the market. Its 7-inch, 1080p display is bright, vibrant and altogether more pleasing to look at than the Retroid Pocket 3+, AYN Odin and even the entry-level Steam Deck. Despite having the same screen size as the Deck, it weighs a half pound less and its contoured grips are easy to hold for hours. Its haptics work as they should, and it gets a good 10 to 12 hours of battery life. The big panel makes it a treat for game streaming, and in terms of emulation, it can play into the Dreamcast/PSP range comfortably. Since Logitech is an established firm, you don’t have to worry about extended shipping fees or wait times, either; just grab one from your retailer of choice and you’ll have it in a few days.

Alas, the G Cloud has typically sold for $300 in recent months. While that’s $50 less than its launch price, it’s still too much when the Pocket 3+ and Odin get you most of the way there for much less, and when the Steam Deck can do far more for $100 extra. The Odin is more powerful, too; the G Cloud can still play some GameCube, 3DS and PS2 games, but not as comfortably, particularly at higher resolutions. Plus, while the G Cloud doesn’t feel cheap, its triggers are somewhat shallow, and its face buttons are just OK. (The triggers are analog, though.) And because the device only supports the FAT32 file system, it can’t play any games larger than 4GB off a microSD card. All that said, the G Cloud is still a more luxurious experience than the Odin and Pocket 3+ in many ways. If money is no object, or if you ever see on sale around $200, it’s worth considering.

A premium device for vintage portable games: Analogue Pocket

The Analogue Pocket is the ultimate Game Boy. As we note in our review, its vertical design is built like a modernized version of Nintendo’s classic handheld. The general layout is the same, and it can even work with classic accessories like the Game Boy Camera. But in contrast, it has four face buttons instead of two, a couple of triggers on the back, microSD and USB-C ports and a rechargeable battery rated for six to 10 hours of playtime. Most notably, there’s a gorgeous 3.5-inch display that’s backlit and incredibly sharp (615 ppi) but can look like an old Game Boy screen through different filter modes. This is an elegant handheld with a premium feel, plus it can output to a TV with an optional dock.

Unlike the retro handhelds mentioned above, the Pocket is designed to play actual cartridges, not just emulate ROM files. It can play Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games through its cartridge slot, with games from the Sega Game Gear (and eventually, other systems like the TurboGrafx-16 and Atari Lynx) playable through optional adapters. Like past Analogue devices, the Pocket uses field programmable gate array (FPGA) motherboards to mimic its target systems on a hardware level. In practice, this means the Pocket’s “emulation” of older titles is near-perfect, with a level of responsiveness and visual faithfulness that software-based emulation can’t match. Pop a Game Boy or GBA cartridge in here and you can essentially play it as nature intended.

That said, thanks to a big update last year and an active community around the device, the Pocket can also run ROMs off a microSD card and thus play systems like the SNES and Sega Genesis. At $220, the Pocket isn’t cheap, and its shoulder buttons aren’t as crisp to press as the excellent face buttons or d-pad. Still, if you have a collection of Game Boy, Game Gear or GBA games, the Pocket is the most luxurious way to play them, and it’s only become more versatile since launch. Its biggest problem is that it’s extremely hard to get — expect to wait several months for any new order to ship.

A charming indie game machine: Playdate

The Playdate, from app developer and Untitled Goose Game publisher Panic, might be the most niche device in this guide. It’s a tiny yellow box with a 2.7-inch monochrome display, two face buttons, a d-pad and a physical crank built into its side. Our review called it a cross between a Game Boy and a business card, and it is indeed incredibly compact, measuring about three inches tall and just 0.18 pounds. Its game library largely consists of oddball indies, most of which focus on one or two core ideas instead of stuffing in as many mechanics as possible. A couple dozen of those games come with the Playdate for no extra cost, a few others are available through a built-in store and hundreds more can be sideloaded from shops like Itch.io.

None of this is designed for emulation or capital-m “Modern” gaming, and at $200, it’s wildly expensive given its limitations. Plus, while the display is smooth and sharp enough, it’s not backlit, so it’s difficult to view in dim lighting. But beyond that, the Playdate is as polished as it is adorable, and many of its games are simple fun. Battery life is decent at six to eight hours as well. In a sea of devices that try to be everything for everyone, the Playdate’s goals are admirably focused and low-key. For the most part, it achieves them. If you’re into smaller-scale games and have some cash to burn, it’ll be a charming little toy. Like the Analogue Pocket, however, actually getting a hold of one will take some time: As of this writing, Panic says new Playdate orders won’t ship until “late 2023.”

Honorable mentions

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Razer Edge

The Razer Edge sits in a similar no man’s land as the Logitech G Cloud. As we said in our review, the hardware isn’t bad at all. It’s about as powerful as a flagship phone from 2022, so it can play just about all Android games at max settings and emulate GameCube, PS2 and Wii games well. Its 144Hz OLED display is impressive, and both its speakers and battery life are solid.

But the design is odd: It’s essentially a standalone tablet attached to a Razer Kishi V2, so it doesn’t feel quite as stable as something like the AYN Odin or Logitech G Cloud. The display also has a superwide 20:9 aspect ratio that isn’t well-suited to most retro games, so the effective screen space for emulation isn’t much more than what you’d get from a smaller device. It may be one of the more powerful Android handhelds, but at $400, the whole thing is way too expensive.

Miyoo Mini+

The Miyoo Mini+ is more affordable than our top picks and comes in a well-built, Game Boy-style form factor that fits nicely with older games. Its 3.5-inch display really pops for something in the $70 to $80 range, its battery lasts as long as it needs to, and we found it to emulate retro consoles up to the PlayStation 1 without much issue. As a Linux handheld, its software is extensively customizable, though it can require a bit of tinkering to get the most out of it as a result.

Unfortunately, between stock shortages and its lack of availability at major retailers, the Mini+ has been difficult to actually buy. If you can’t find one, Anbernic’s RG35XX should be a decent alternative; it’s a bit easier to pick up and use once it’s set up, though it lacks built-in WiFi.

Mat Smith/ Engadget

Anbernic RG405M

We weren’t able to test it, but the Anbernic RG405M should be a good alternative to the Retroid Pocket 3+ for those who want something more compact. The two devices run on the same chipset, but the RG405M has a 4-inch display and a more substantial metal frame. Its 4:3 aspect ratio means you won’t have to deal with black bars as much for retro games, too, though it can feel crunched with newer systems and cloud streaming. At $175 or so, it’s also pricier than the Pocket 3+.

Backbone One

At their core, all of the mobile handhelds we’ve mentioned are just modified Android or Linux tablets. If you play more casually, you can get a similar experience by hooking up your existing smartphone to a mobile gamepad like the Backbone One. This connects directly to your phone’s USB-C or Lightning port and immediately works with any game with controller support. Its face buttons are somewhat noisy, and its d-pad is a bit spongy, but it’s comfortable for its size and has all the inputs needed to play modern games, including analog triggers and clickable joysticks. There's also a headphone jack and pass-through charging port, plus a useful app for starting party chats. The One costs $100, which isn’t cheap, but it feels much more natural than using a console controller with a clip.

Samsung has introduced a new entry into its flagship Q-series soundbar lineup. If the HW-Q990C soundbar it debuted at CES earlier this year is the series' top-of-the-line model, then the new HW-Q900C soundbar is the next one in terms of features and specs. The HW-Q900C features 7.1.2 channels of Wireless Dolby Atmos sound, whereas the HW-Q990C is an 11.1.4-channel soundbar. 

While the HW-Q990C has more front and surround channels for more immersive sounds, both models support Samsung's Q-Symphony 3.0. The technology allows you to play audio from your soundbar and your TV's speakers at the same time, so long as they're connected with either an HDMI or an optical cable. Samsung says Q-Symphony provides "an excellent surround sound experience" that makes it seems as if you're actually in the movie. That said, you can only activate Q-Symphony if you have a compatible 2020-to-2023 model Samsung TV.

In addition, the HW-Q900C comes with SpaceFit Sound Pro, which can analyze your environment and automatically optimize audio output for you. Its adaptive sound and adaptive voice amplifier features promise optimized audio for dialogue, as well, so you can hear voices better even at low volumes and in a noisy room. 

In game mode pro, the soundbar utilizes its up-firing speakers and strong woofers for 3D optimized sound while playing on select consoles, such as the PS5. The HW-Q900C also supports AirPlay 2 that makes it easy to pair with the iPhone and other Apple devices. Finally, it has the ability to follow voice commands, but you'd need to have Amazon Echo Device to be able to use this feature.

The HW-Q990C is now available for $1,400. While you can find the HW-Q990C soundbar for just a bit more right now, note that the older model launched with a $2,300 price tag.

It took just a few minutes for Lego 2K Drive to sink its hooks into me. The second I left the road, my sports coupe converted into an off-road buggy. Just before hitting some water, the vehicle's Lego bricks swiftly contorted themselves into a speedboat. Those satisfying transformations are something you'll see a ton of as you explore multiple open areas and compete in races that play out across ever-changing terrain.

This arcade racer is the first Lego game from Visual Concepts, a developer that has otherwise focused on NBA and WWE games over the last few years. The studio hasn't hit the same heights of humor and wit as TT's Lego games (to be fair, Visual Concepts doesn't have nine movies worth of iconic Star Wars movies to riff on), but 2K Drive is still packed with surprises and clever ideas.

It's a fun blend of Forza Horizon 5 and Mario Kart. Zooming through the open areas can be a blast and losing bricks from your vehicle when you take damage is a neat touch (smashing breakable objects will restore your health and increase your boost meter). So, it's a shame that the actual races can get pretty frustrating.

Visual Concepts has tuned races to make them feel as close and exciting as possible, for better and worse. No matter your vehicle loadout, every other competitor in the race storms ahead of you as soon as the light goes green. At first, finding a way to overtake your race-specific rival and other Lego drivers to win is thrilling, but the game quickly shows its hand. You can never build up too much of a lead. If you spin off the track at a tight corner, enemies will kindly slow down a little for you. The rubberbanding works both ways, but it makes races ultimately feel overly contrived. More than once, I was on the verge of victory only for an opponent to storm past me at the last second.

There are some Mario Kart-style powerups you can grab during races and in the open world. On the surface, the powerups seem to add another dimension to races, though any enemy car I destroyed was quickly back in the thick of the action. They can work against you too. In one race, I was about to take the checkered flag when an enemy launched a spider web to obscure my vision and slow me down.

Winning races is essential to progress through the story, and it's annoying that there's no quick restart option when you aren't victorious. You have to go back to the open world before you can try a race again.

Those quibbles aside, the game is plenty enjoyable. There's a ton to do after beating the campaign, even if you don't care about online races. There are dozens upon dozens of challenges, side missions and collectibles to discover. You might find yourself smashing alien robots to protect some towers or scooting around a small town to pick up residents and protect them from skeleton attackers. There are fetch quests galore too. The story missions and challenges can become too much of a grind — you have to reach a certain experience level to unlock some races — but there was just enough variety to keep a smile on my face.

Visual Concepts/2K

The most exciting aspect of Lego 2K Drive for many players will be the vehicle builder. You can use virtual Lego bricks to build pretty much anything you want, including replicas of pre-made cars you unlock or even toy vehicles you've built in real life. The one car I made is a monstrosity, but at least it works, unlike many of the janky vehicles I've seen in Tears of the Kingdom clips.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the game nudges you in the direction of microtransactions for the pre-made cars. You'll slowly earn currency, but it'll take you quite a while to unlock vehicles from the shop for free. After playing for seven hours, I still didn't have enough Brickbux for a car. As it happens, you can pay real cash to unlock cars and drivers faster, as well as more types of bricks for your custom builds.

Lego 2K Drive is almost a great game. Most of the right pieces are in place and younger players may get more of a kick out of it than more experienced gamers. Hopefully, Visual Concepts can tweak the race AI and other minor flaws to make it really sing. In the meantime, I'll still be hunting for rainbow bricks in Big Butte County.

Among a barrage of game announcements during PlayStation’s State of Play yesterday, Sony revealed it’s getting into the increasinglybusy world of game streaming devices. No, this isn’t a next-gen PS Vita (sadly), but an eight-inch screen, bookended by DualSense controls. Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan said the device would allow PlayStation gamers to stream any PS5 game, excluding PlayStation VR2 titles, over WiFi and the company's Remote Play protocol.

However, there aren’t many specs for the device just yet, but Sony says it’ll have an LCD screen that can stream games at up to 1080p and 60 fps over WiFi. The controller part will also have the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers of the PS5 controller. It’s set to launch later this year.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Twitter struggled with Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid announcement

One backer said servers were 'kind of melting.'

Henry Nicholls / reuters

Ron DeSantis was supposed to take to Twitter Spaces yesterday to announce his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination officially. Unfortunately, Twitter was not prepared for the influx of people waiting to listen to the announcement. The announcement eventually got underway after Twitter moved the Space to Republican megadonor David Sacks' account because Musk's "account was breaking the system." Sacks said the Space, with more than 500,000 people tuned in to listen at one point, was the largest group that had "ever met online," a claim quickly ridiculed.

So why did Twitter struggle with those kinds of numbers? It might be that since Musk’s acquisition, the majority of the workforce has been gutted, including much of the team responsible for its infrastructure.

Continue reading.

iOS 17 will reportedly turn your locked iPhone into a smart display

Your phone could be more useful when you aren't using it.

Bloomberg sources claim Apple's iOS 17 update may introduce a lock screen that effectively turns an iPhone into a smart display when the device is on its side. You'll reportedly see calendar items, notifications and other details in a high-contrast layout reminiscent of an Amazon Echo Show or Google Nest Hub. The new lock screen is said to be more advanced than the one Google brought to Android 10. Rumors say Apple is developing multiple smart home devices, which could include a mountable screen, so this could dovetail neatly into that push.

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'Fairgame$' looks like Payday and The Division with a Gen-Z twist

It's the first title out of Jade Raymond's Haven Studios.

Sony

The first project out of Haven Studios (a new studio founded by veteran producer Jade Raymond, who's best known for her work on the Assassin's Creed franchise) is Fairgame$, and it looks like it packs plenty of neon-tinged anarchist multiplayer action. The online competitive heist game has a lovely, timely focus on rebelling against billionaires, and it's heading to PlayStation 5 and PC.

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Assassin's Creed Mirage will arrive on October 12th

The parkour-heavy stealth game will be available this fall.

Talking of Assassin’s Creed, the next game in the series has a release date. On October 12th, Assassin’s Creed Mirage will put players in the robes of Basim Ibn in the city of Baghdad, 861 CE, and will have a stronger focus on stealth mechanics and parkour-based movement than its predecessor. That makes it look a lot like older games in the series from the trailers we've seen so far, but you still get a pet eagle.

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One of the best surprises of 2020 is about to get a sequel. On Wednesday, Sony revealed Ghostrunner 2 during its latest PlayStation showcase. The company showed a brief trailer highlighting the game's cyberpunk setting. According to the PlayStation Blog, Ghostrunner 2 is set one year after the events of the first game. Players will once again play as Jack, but by the sounds of it, they can expect a vastly more expansive experience this time around. Publisher 505 Games says the game will feature more challenging combat and platformer sections, with levels that allow for more player freedom. You will also get dialogue choices that will allow you to get a better sense of the game's world. Oh, and did I mention you'll get to drive a motorbike in Ghostrunner 2? The game will arrive on PlayStation 5 later this year.       

At the end of Sony's PlayStation Showcase today, the company gave us our first extended look at Spider-Man 2, including a fair bit of gameplay showing off both Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Perhaps most significant, though, Parker is wearing the iconic black Venom suit — for those less familiar with Spider-Man lore, the Venom suit gives Parker a ton of wild additional powers. But, it's also an alien symbiote that quite possibly could be affecting Peter's best judgement. How he ends up with the suit remains a mystery, but I wager it'll be a big part of the new game.

The preview also showed an extended action sequence where gameplay seamlessly flips between controlling Parker and Morales. A lot of the gameplay feels familiar, particularly in the hand-to-hand fighting area, but the new suit clearly offers a ton of new moves, while a wild chase through Queens gives a good sense of the kind of action we can expect outside taking down hordes of bad guys. We also got to see a new trick for Miles, as he now has a sort of "wingsuit" glider that lets him float over extended distance. This trick wasn't part of the Spider-Man: Miles Morales game from 2020 where we first got to control the younger Spidey. 

It also looks like the game's map will be bigger than ever before — the first game covered most of Manhattan, but from this preview we've also seen Queens, and a huge portion of the chase sequence took place on the water, as well. The original Spider-Man already put together a convincing and massive version of New York City, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this one expands on it. We'll get the chance this fall, though there's still no official release date. Insomniac Games did say they hoped to share a final date "soon." 

It's not a handheld console, but Sony is preparing to release a device that will allow PlayStation 5 users to stream their favorite games to a portable display. Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan shared the existence of "Project Q" on Wednesday during the company's PlayStation Showcase. He said the device would allow PlayStation gamers to stream any PS5 game, excluding PlayStation VR2 titles, over WiFi and the company's Remote Play protocol. The device features an 8-inch "HD display" and "all the buttons and features" found on a DualSense controller. Ryan did not say how much the device would cost but promised Sony would share more information about Project Q soon. 

It's almost time for Sony's PlayStation Showcase, in which the company will provide a look at a bunch of games that are coming to PlayStation 5 and PS VR2. It's likely to be a meatier affair than the State of Play streams Sony occasionally runs. The showcase will last for just over an hour and you'll be able to watch it below at 4PM ET.

This is just the second PlayStation Showcase to date. The previous edition, which took place in 2021, was a spicy stream packed with big reveals, including Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Insomniac's upcoming title will star both Peter Parker and Miles Morales as playable characters, and it's slated to hit PS5 this fall. It's a safe bet that we'll learn more about the game during today's showcase.

As for what else to expect, Square Enix has confirmed that a demo for Final Fantasy XVI is on the way before the timed PS5 exclusive arrives in June. We may find out the release date for the demo as well as more details about the game. In the meantime, be sure to check out our Final Fantasy XVI preview.

We could learn more about Naughty Dog's multiplayer game that's set in the universe of The Last of Us. With Sony placing a bigger onus on live service games (titles that are continually updated for years to keep players hooked), starting that push in earnest now with one of its highest-profile franchises makes sense. 

Elsewhere, rumors have been swirling that a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is in the works, and Sony may opt to announce that today. We might get a peek at Bloober Team's remake of Silent Hill 2 as well, since that's a PS5 exclusive.

Sony just announced that PS VR2 is selling at a faster pace than its first virtual reality headset, so expect the company to try and keep up that momentum with reveals of a major title or two (confirmation of Half-Life Alyx for PS VR2 would go over well). On top of that, Sony is promising news on the indie front, so perhaps the long-delayed Little Devil Inside will pop up.

The showcase will stream on both YouTube and Twitch. You can watch a version with English subtitles if you prefer.

AMD has just announced its latest entry-level graphics card, the RX 7600. It will live alongside the RX 7900 XT and RX7900 XTX, which share the same RDNA 3 architecture, but have more fans, higher clock speeds and more memory. The RX 7600 comes in at a lower $269 price point, compared to the outgoing RTX 6600. The company says that the new GPU will comfortably play most games at 1080p resolution and at least 60 fps, with most popular games exceeding that mark.

The RX 7600 includes 8GB of GDDR6 memory with 18Gbps of memory throughput. AMD says that 8GB is the sweet spot for 1080p gaming and that an unsurprising 65 percent of gamers choose to game at 1080p. Compared to the RTX 6600, AMD claims that you’ll get 29 percent better graphics performance on average. Hopefully, the new card will be less of a mess than the 6600, especially at the lower price. As we saw in our review, the RTX 6600 had lackluster ray tracing and limited upscaling abilities. Not to mention, the pricing was all over the place thanks to the parts shortage during the product’s release cycle.

The card doesn’t max out at 1080p resolution, either. AMD claims that you’ll be able to play 260 games at a higher 1440p resolution with the help of AMD Fidelity FX Super Resolution. Though, you will likely be dipping below 60fps for certain titles if you choose to play at higher resolutions.

The card has some benefits for streamers, as well. AMD says the RX 7600 will be able to encode the AV1 video codec at the hardware level. This enables higher-quality video at lower file sizes, while retaining the same streaming bitrate. That’s great news for anyone who prefers streaming their games on YouTube.

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is available starting today for $269.