It’s no secret that the Backbone One is one of the best mobile gaming controllers you can buy. So it should come as no surprise then that the company is partnering with Sony to release a PlayStation version of its accessory for iPhones. The new Backbon…
Discord voice chats are finally coming to Xbox consoles, but it’s complicated
Discord voice chats are coming to Xbox. Starting today, those enrolled in Microsoft’s Xbox Insider beta program can test the functionality before a wider rollout later this year. The feature allows Discord users on Xbox, PC and mobile to join the same …
With a Samsung TV and Game Pass Ultimate, I don’t need to buy an Xbox
It took a bit of time, but you can now stream Xbox games from your TV without a Microsoft console in sight. As long as you have a Samsung TV. The Xbox app is now available on Samsung’s latest smart TVs and monitors, alongside apps for rival gaming serv…
Sony completes $3.6 billion deal to buy Bungie
The developer behind Destiny is now a part of the Sony universe. Sony Interactive Entertainment officially closed on a $3.6 billion deal today to buy the independent game studio and publisher Bungie, according to tweets from both Bungie and PlayStation…
Sony’s first PlayStation loyalty program rewards you for earning trophies
Sony has announced its first PlayStation loyalty program. PlayStation Stars will be free to join and you can earn points by playing games and making purchases on the PlayStation Store. You’ll be able to redeem those points for things like PSN wallet funds and certain products from the store.
There will be a “Monthly Check-in” program that will enable you to earn a reward by playing any game. Sony plans to offer rewards to those who win tournaments and earn certain trophies. The first player to earn a platinum trophy for a certain game in their time zone will earn a reward too.
One aspect of the program ruffled some feathers on social media after the announcement. Sony says it will offer digital collectibles as rewards. These are “digital representations of things that PlayStation fans enjoy, including figurines of beloved and iconic characters from games and other forms of entertainment, as well as cherished devices that tap into Sony’s history of innovation.” It said fans will always have collectibles to earn and there will be “ultra rare” ones.
Calling them “digital collectibles” certainly makes them sound like NFTs, but that’s not the case. “It’s definitely not NFTs. Definitely not,” Grace Chen, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s vice president of network advertising, loyalty and licensed merchandise, told The Washington Post. “You can’t trade them or sell them. It is not leveraging any blockchain technologies and definitely not NFTs.” If only Sony had clarified that in its own blog post to avoid confusion.
PlayStation Stars follows similar reward offerings from Microsoft and Nintendo. Microsoft’s program, which is now called Microsoft Points, has been around for many years. Along with earning points by playing Xbox, users can accrue them by searching on Bing and buying products.
Similarly, folks can snag My Nintendo Gold Points by making purchases from the eShop and performing well in tournaments. They can be used for discounts on Switch games. For completing various tasks, you can also earn platinum points which are redeemable for rewards.
Sony says it will build out PlayStation Stars over time. It’s currently testing the program and it’s planning a phased rollout later this year. More details will be revealed in the coming months.
Xbox Games with Gold will no longer include Xbox 360 titles
As of October 2022, Microsoft will stop offering free Xbox 360 titles through Games with Gold. The company announced the change in an email sent out to Xbox Live Gold subscribers in the US, Canada and other parts of the world. “We have reached the limi…
Sony’s new hardware brand will launch with gaming headsets and PS5-optimized monitors
Sony has announced the launch of Inzone, a new brand of PC gaming displays and headsets. They’ll be coming out of the company’s Electronics division (not to be confused with its Interactive Entertainment unit) and its flagship product will be the Inzone M9, a 27-inch 4K monitor. The M9 boasts an IPS panel with full-array local dimming, a 144Hz refresh rate and a claimed 1-millisecond gray to gray response time.
Sony says the panel is also DisplayHDR 600-certified and covers 95 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Additionally, the monitor is G-Sync compatible and features support for variable refresh rate (VRR) gaming thanks to the inclusion of an HDMI 2.1 port. If you connect the M9 to a PS5 through that port, you’ll get access to a feature that will automatically switch the monitor between its included low-latency and picture processing modes when it detects you’re about to play a game or watch a movie. Sony has also optimized the PS5’s HDR output for the M9, and you’ll see the benefits of that tuning automatically as well. Sony’s M9 will hit shelves this summer and retail for $899.
Alongside a 4K display, Sony will also offer a 240Hz Full HD monitor. Like the company’s new flagship, the M3 will boast a 1-millisecond gray to gray response time, PlayStation 5-specific features and compatibility for both G-Sync and VRR. As you might expect, high dynamic range performance won’t be as good as the 4K variant, with the monitor only earning VESA’s DisplayHDR 400 certification. Sony plans to begin selling the M3 sometime this winter for $529.
If you’re looking for a new gaming headset, Sony has you covered there too. For those who want it all, there’s the $299 H9. It features active noise cancellation, Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless connectivity, support for spatial audio and the same synthetic leather found on Sony’s recently announced WH-1000XM5 headphones. For a more affordable option, there’s the H7. It omits the H9’s ANC and “soft fit” leather features for a $229 price tag. The H7 will also come with better battery life. Sony claims you can get 40 hours of use from its new mid-tier headphones compared to 32 hours from the H9. Lastly, there’s the $99 H3, which you can connect to your PC or PS5 through a 3.5mm headphone jack or wired USB adapter. Sony will release all three models this summer.
Sony’s new gaming brand merges the best of its PlayStation and consumer gear
I’ve always wondered why aside from a handful of peripherals like the Pulse 3D headset and that weird 3D display, Sony never really tried to expand the PlayStation brand outside of consoles. And while you won’t find any PS logos on its new line of head…
Microsoft Edge update brings Xbox streaming ‘Clarity Boost’ to everyone
Microsoft is hoping to make Edge the browser of choice for gamers. The company is rolling out a host of gaming-related updates to most users, including perks for game streaming. A new (if long in development) Clarity Boost feature improves the visual quality of console titles when you’re using Xbox Cloud Gaming on a Windows 10 or 11 PC. The spatial upscaling technology won’t make you forget that it’s a stream, but the sample Microsoft offered suggests it will reduce the muddy look that sometimes plagues remote games.
You won’t need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for the other improvements. Windows 10 and 11 users will also see a toggle in Efficiency mode that automatically reduces Edge’s resource use when you start a PC game. You might not have to close your browser to wring every last drop of performance out of your system.
Regardless of platform, there’s an optional gaming-oriented homepage that points you to news, livestreams, new releases and quick access to the Xbox Cloud Gaming catalog. You can also visit a dedicated games menu that offers free-to-play arcade and casual titles to keep you entertained during uneventful meetings.
This isn’t the first browser built for gamers. Opera GX launched three years ago with similar features, such as lower resource usage and quick access to livestreams. Microsoft features like Clarity Boost might be more appealing in some cases, though, and Edge’s ubiquity on Windows systems gives it better odds of widespread adoption.
A YouTuber built his own PS5 Slim that’s less than an inch thick
Sony typically follows up its PlayStation consoles with a slim version a few years later, but that time hasn’t come for the PS5 yet. While we all wait for a slimmer PS5 that would fit in small spaces better, a YouTuber called DIY Perks already built one for himself. He took apart a standard PlayStation 5 and replaced everything that needed to be replaced to get rid of the console’s bulk. He substituted components with similar parts and his own home-made creations, including the console’s rather voluminous casing, to come up with a device that’s just 1.9 centimeters thick.
Putting the current device’s power supply and cooling system with the rest of the console’s components wouldn’t yield a “slim” version of the PS5, though. So, what Perks did was build his own water-cooling system and put the power supply in a long, slim external case that can be placed behind the TV, where it won’t be noticeable. While he did run into some issues that took time to solve, he was able to make the console work in the end. His cooling system was even more efficient than the the standard PS5’s, based on the temperatures he took when he tested it out using Horizon Forbidden West.
Unfortunately, Perks’ PS5 Slim is one of a kind and not easy to replicate. You can check out his process in the video below if you need ideas or just want to be awed.