Month: March 2021

The Thrustmaster Eswap X Pro is very flashy for a wired controller. An Xbox Series X/S refresh of Thrustmaster’s modular controller design, it has swappable, removable parts. That is, you can literally pop out the analog sticks and D-pad and switch them around as you please. It also has rear buttons, trigger locks, and a very powerful configuration app. There’s a lot to dig into. Once you’re in deep, however, it’s clear that the wildest features aren’t its greatest assets. Instead, it’s the clicky face buttons and large but comfortable design that really shine. Overall, it’s a very good controller that’s fun to tinker with – just don’t expect switching out the triggers and grips to transform your game.

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Thrustmaster Eswap X Pro – Design & Features

Looking at the Eswap X Pro, you can immediately tell that it’s a “kitchen sink” kind of controller, full of extra bells and whistles that make the controller feel extra. There are some obvious tells, like the row of profile and audio buttons that flank the 3.5mm audio jack at the base of the controller. The four rear buttons and trigger locks on the back are also dead giveaways. Others are a little more subtle, like the reflective panel at the top of the central face, or the controller’s thick, striped detachable cable.

And then there’s the fact that you can pop the D-pad and analog sticks out and swap ‘em around.

It paints an interesting picture. You can see that the Eswap Pro X is complex and polished. You can also see that it doesn’t exactly hew to the aesthetics of most Xbox gear. It looks somewhat generic in spots – the perfectly round face buttons, the plasticky bumpers – but all the extra buttons and switches make it feel technical, even if they don’t do anything too crazy.

Measuring 6.09 x 4.72 x 2.63 inches (WLH), the overall build is a little larger than the Xbox Series X controller, but it specifically has much longer handles, not unli-ke a PlayStation controller. That makes sense, as the original Eswap Pro was made for the PS4, and its design seems to be heavily based on the Astro C40 TR, another modular controller also designed for the PS4. The big chassis is a boon, handles and all. It fits well and fills your hands when you grab it, so there’s no need to grip tightly. Your fingertips have plenty of room to post up at the base of the handles, giving you easy access to the rear buttons. And though that bigger frame and the modular parts add some mass – the Eswap X Pro weighs 329 grams, versus the Series X controller’s 287 grams – the well-balanced Eswap X Pro makes that heft feel like a comfort rather than a burden.

The Eswap X Pro’s standout feature is its customization system, which allows you to swap out up to nine modular parts to adjust the look and, occasionally, the feel of the controller. The analog sticks and D-pad, set in semi-circular blocks, can be removed and swapped. The caps of the analog sticks twist off, allowing you to put on alternate shapes. Two side panels on the handles let you swap in new grips. Lastly, the triggers can be replaced.

The parts vary in size as well as how easily they can be replaced. The analog sticks are simple to pop out, but the D-pad requires you to use an included tool to remove it, and the triggers need to be unscrewed. None of this is difficult, and the controller comes with all the necessary tools and parts, but the system introduces a lot of small extra pieces that you could conceivably lose during or between modifications.

Though switching out parts is easy and fun in a tinkery way, it is far less utilitarian than you might think. Ultimately, there are only two functional choices to make here; whether you want offset (Xbox-style) or symmetrical (PlayStation-style) analog sticks, and whether you want those sticks to have domed convex tops, or inset concave ones. I prefer offset sticks – pressing to the right on the left-stick/D-pad in the low position is a reach for my thumb – so the option to swap is really only useful when I want to put the D-pad in prime position.

The rest of the changes are purely cosmetic, and you’ll need to buy color-coded part packs ($49.99) if you want to change things up. (At launch there are two alternate colors, metallic blue and metallic green). In time, Thrustmaster could add more colors and more functional packs, but the modular functionality of the Eswap system offers more potential than anything else.

It also has a whopping ten extra buttons and two switches, in addition to all the usual Xbox Series X sticks and buttons, including the new share button. The extras break up into three groups: Four “ergonomic” buttons at the base of the controller’s back face, two trigger lock switches adjacent to LT and RT, and six “settings” buttons that flank the 3.5mm audio jack at the bottom of the controller. Together, it’s a lot of extra options, but they individually vary from fine to a little underwhelming.

While I love the idea of rear buttons, similar to the paddles on the Xbox Elite: Series 2 and Scuf’s many gamepads, the Eswap X Pro’s aren’t my favorite implementation. The four smallish round buttons are easy to reach, but are also clustered very close together. At times, it felt like my fingers were tripping over each other when trying to use them in place of the face buttons. They also don’t feel quite as snappy as the tactile face buttons, which look generic but have a good-feeling press and nice audible click. Having rear buttons is always a nice option to have, but the Eswap X Pro is not the controller to get if you prefer them over standard gamepad buttons.

Trigger locks are standard fare for premium controllers. The Eswap X Pro’s cut LT and RT’s travel in half, which is nice for competitive play. Across the board, I don’t use trigger locks much outside of online multiplayer, as the blocked trigger mechanism doesn’t feel as comfortable. That said, you can customize the controller’s trigger actuation more precisely in Thrustmaster’s configuration app, giving you additional options to optimize speed and comfort if the lock feels like too much.

Likewise, the settings buttons on the bottom of the controller work fine. The three on the left are audio controls, volume up, volume down, and mic mute, for when your headset is plugged into the controller. On the right, you have two buttons to choose between two profiles, which you set up in the app. There’s also a “map” button, which lets you reconfigure some buttons on the fly. Having easy on-board controls is helpful, especially on Xbox where you’d need to hop in and out of your game to make changes in the app.

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Thrustmaster Eswap X Pro – Software

The Thrustmaster Eswap X Pro has a bespoke configuration on Xbox called ThrustmapperX. (On PC, you use the Thrustmapper app created for the PS4 gamepad). The app allows you to set up two controller profiles with distinct button maps and settings for analog stick response, trigger actuation, and haptic strength. You can create more profiles to swap in and out, which are stored locally on your console. For an Xbox configuration app, it’s an incredibly robust toolkit that lets you fine-tune settings so that the controller responds to your style of play.

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You have access to an incredible amount of control through the app. For example, in the “vibrations” sections, you can independently adjust the haptics in the trigger and handles on each side. The trigger menu allows you to control the initial and final actuation point on each trigger. These distinctions can get very subtle, verging on overkill, when you get into making granular changes, but it’s much more control than you’ll get with most controllers, which is a good thing nonetheless.

Like most third-party Xbox controllers, the controller mapping options are somewhat limited. You can only remap the core D-pad functions, the face buttons, bumper, triggers, and rear buttons. You cannot change any of the system buttons or Thrustmaster’s added settings inputs. Also, you can only swap among those inputs, unlike the Xbox Elite controllers, which add additional functions like launching apps or additional capture options. This increasingly seems to be the norm among third-party gear for consoles, but it severely limits the utility of both the configuration app and the rear buttons.

Thrustmaster Eswap X Pro – Performance and Gaming

The Thrustmster Eswap X Pro has strong fundamentals. It felt comfortable and excelled in all the games I tested it with, including Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Mortal Kombat 11, Hades (On PC), and Gears 5, among others. Its large, shapely design makes it comfortable to hold for long stretches, and its analog sticks have a firm, springy feel. Its perfectly round face buttons are slightly small, but actuate quickly with a pleasing clickiness.

Having the ability to switch the positions of the left analog stick and D-pad for games where I prefer using the directionals, like MK11, is nice to have. That said, since you need a tool to remove the D-pad, switching the configuration takes just long enough to be disruptive, especially if you don’t have it on hand. Safe to say, you won’t be reconfiguring the controller mid-session, at least not without pausing the action for more than a moment.

As mentioned, I’m less enthusiastic about the rear buttons. Setting aside the fact that it takes time to acclimate to using them, I found that the rear panel felt crowded when I tried to use them in place of the face buttons. Without alternate configuration options, that’s really all they’re good for.

Rian Johnson is back on the case. Peacock announced Tuesday that the filmmaker will serve as creator, writer, and director on the streaming service’s mystery series Poker Face. Natasha Lyonne is attached to star and executive produce. The streamer has ordered 10 episodes.

“I’m very excited to dig into the type of fun, character-driven, case-of-the-week mystery goodness I grew up watching. It’s my happy place,” Johnson said in a statement. “Having Natasha as a partner in crime is a dream, and we’ve found the perfect home at Peacock.”

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With Poker Face, Johnson is officially doing a double-dip into the mystery genre. The director is also currently developing a sequel to his 2019 whodunit Knives Out, with Daniel Craig likely to reprise his role as Detective Benoit Blanc. Additionally, Johnson reportedly confirmed last month that his original Star Wars trilogy is still in the works, which would bring The Last Jedi director back to that galaxy far, far away. No official dates have been announced yet for the project.

Johnson is also no stranger to the television landscape. Though Poker Face will be his first foray into writing a television series, he has previously directed episodes of Breaking Bad and Terriers.

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Lyonne is best known for her recent work as the star and co-creator of Netflix’s time loop comedy series Russian Doll, which recently entered production on Season 2.

NBCUniversal launched Peacock last July. In our review, IGN gave Peacock a 6, calling it a “solid streaming service [with] glaring features missing that most platforms have had for years.”

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J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.

(Photo by Christopher Jue/Getty Images)

Fortnite Season 6 is teasing players with new Anomaly puzzles, like the Shark Island Anomaly players encounter once they progress far enough in the Season 6 Battle Pass. This particular challenge and associated puzzle becomes available once you hit Battle Pass level 28. Here’s where to find and how to investigate the Shark Island Anomaly in Fortnite Season 6.

How to Investigate an Anomaly on Shark Island

Naturally, you’ll first want to land on Shark Island. This unnamed location is still quite obvious once you see it in person, as it features a rock formation that looks like a shark opening its jaws. It’s found in the northwest corner of the island, north of Coral Castle.

Once you hit land, you’ll want to head to the north side of the island, where you’ll find a glowing butterfly which flutters to and from three strange silver canisters sticking out of the ground.

They seem nondescript, but approach them and you’ll see they emit holograms when you’re close by. Each one shows a classic Jonesy avatar performing some sort of physical move. From left to right on the map, they show him…

Crouching…

Emoting…

And jumping.

Head to each canister and perform the move you see in the hologram. An audiovisual clue will confirm you’ve done it right, and after all three are complete, the Anomaly will reappear in the center.

You’ll need to build over to it with a plank or two. Once you’ve reached the Anomaly, press the interact button and that’s it! You’ve completed the second Anomaly puzzle for Fortnite Season 6, this time earning yourself the Agent Jones (Jump 23) cosmetic, pictured below.

This isn’t the only Season 6 challenge you can complete right now. Be sure to also check out our guides on how to investigate the Anomaly in Lazy Lake, how to craft the Hunter’s Cloak, and where to find three Golden Artifacts.

City of Lies debuts in theaters on March 19 and on Digital and On Demand on April 9.

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Occurring within months of each other in late 1996 and early 1997, the shooting deaths of rap icons Tupac Shakur and Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace are indelible stamps on a particular moment in time. As a high school student at the time, shock at their passings was coupled with speculation on who did it and why. It speaks to how much of an impact both musicians made in such a short time that the curiosity surrounding their respective deaths remains a heated part of the cultural conversation nearly a quarter-century later.

Director Brad Furman’s City of Lies attempts to both answer and add to this speculation, but a scattershot stylistic approach and some questionable narrative choices make the film a mixed bag at best. Arriving on VOD this week after several years languishing on studio shelves (it was filmed in 2016 and originally scheduled for release in 2018), the film’s leading turn from tarnished star Johnny Depp makes its very existence as much a time capsule as the subject matter it covers.

Based on the book LAbyrinth by author Randall Sullivan, the film hones in on the events surrounding Wallace’s shooting, with Furman using his Lincoln Lawyer-honed procedural skills to jump-off into a wider examination of corruption within the LAPD. Depp occupies the lead role of Russell Poole, the Los Angeles detective initially tasked with investigating Wallace’s death before a separate-but-related shooting nine days later involving two L.A. police officers, one of whom was affiliated with Death Row Records — rivals of Notorious B.I.G.’s Bad Boy Records.

Poole is soon pulled into a depressing morass of corruption throughout the LAPD, and begins an obsession spanning nearly two decades. Much of the preceding is conveyed via flashbacks set in 2015, via conversations between Poole and journalist “Jack” Jackson (Forest Whitaker), who is himself attempting to cover the Biggie story in hopes of repairing his own damaged reputation.

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This bifurcated lens — that of police and that of journalism — allows for a welcome exploration of the shootings from both a legal and cultural perspective, but too often it has the effect of refracting our focus, making it feel like we’re peering through one window to look through another. Indeed, the film is at its most compelling when methodically laying out the expanding web of criminality surrounding the shootings as well as the many parties involved, bolstered by a strong roster of supporting players like Shea Whigham and Xander Berkeley.

But problems arise when screenwriter Christian Contreras’ script attempts to tackle a lot of big ideas relating to pop culture and race and political corruption without really laying the track to underline why the East Coast-West Coast feud was such a big deal, and why it would have been such an appealing prospect for law officers to align themselves with the feuding labels. This ends up making things muddier as more elements are added to the mix instead of bringing them into sharper relief. By the end, we are practically drowning in muck as we take stock of a system seemingly bent on remaining bent.

A separate problem is Depp’s mannered, mumbly performance. Even noticeably grayer, sporting a paunch and fuzzy upper-lip, Depp’s Poole still feels like a collection of the actor’s most recognizable tics. Granted, achieving anonymity is difficult for a star who at one time commanded as much wattage as Depp, but for someone who, also at one time, was known for his ability to effortlessly disappear into roles, it’s notable just how much the persona overwhelms the performance here.

Far from a proud reclamation of superstar status for Depp, this serves instead as a hollow reminder of the days when his mere presence on the marquee was enough to guarantee acclaim. The real Poole passed away of a heart attack in 2015, leaving unsolved the crime that consumed the last 18 years of his life, and while his cinematic incarnation is portrayed as honorable and upstanding (if flawed), he also remains largely a cipher, unfortunately.

Yes, he’s driven by the desire to seek justice for Wallace and expose the corruption within the department, but we never get enough of a sense of what motivates him. Something to elevate the whole thing and make it seem like anything but a modern Serpico riff, with Poole as the proverbial Last Good Cop. Meanwhile, the relationship with Jackson, while allowing for the simple joy of seeing two talented actors like Depp and Whitaker play off each other, follows a too-familiar arc ending at a place that doesn’t feel entirely earned.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ next update arrives on March 18, and it’s introducing a handful of new seasonal items to the game in addition to the previously detailed Sanrio content and other features. The first will be different colored whoopee cushions to celebrate April Fool’s Day, which players will be able to order from Nook Shopping starting March 26.

The whoopee cushions will be available until April 1. After that, Nook Shopping will stock different prom-themed items until April 30 to celebrate prom season, including a prom wall, prom night flooring, and a prom sash. Various prom clothing will also be for sale in the Able Sisters’ shop during the same time frame.

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Like previous content updates, the March 18 update will also include a free gift for all players. After downloading and installing the update, everyone will receive a special cake celebrating New Horizons’ first anniversary in their mailbox. You can take a look at the cake and other new seasonal items above.

In addition to the new items, the New Horizons update is increasing the number of Custom Design and Pro Design slots by 50 each, greatly increasing the number of patterns you can keep. Nintendo is also adding a Custom Designs Portal and Custom Design Pro Editor+ to the Nook Shopping catalog; after purchasing these, you can download patterns and create your own right from your Nook Phone.

Later this month, Nintendo is also updating the Nook Link service in the Nintendo Switch Online app. Following that update, you’ll be able to earn Nook Points by accessing the app each day. These can be redeemed for special items in your game. Nintendo is also releasing a “limited-time web service” called the Island Tour Creator that will let you create and share virtual posters and tour video showcasing your island. You can read more about the update and all the new features it’s introducing on the official Animal Crossing website.

The new 11th generation Intel Rocket Lake desktop processors are up for preorder at Newegg. They are not available anywhere else so if you are intent on getting one of these for your upcoming Intel-based rig, then don’t hesitate. We’ve also found some great deals on external hard drives, TVs, robot vacuum cleaners, games, and more so check them all out below.

Daily Deals for March 16

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More Gaming Deals

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Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends roughly 1/4 of his income on stuff he posts. Check out his latest Daily Deals Article and subscribe to his IGN Deals Newsletter.

Anomalies are back for Fortnite Season 6 and this time solving their puzzles will grant players new costumes for Agent Jones, the level 1 Battle Pass reward. These Anomalies will continue throughout the season as players unlock new Battle Pass levels at their own pace, but we’ve got the details for the first one for you right here.

You’ll unlock the Lazy Lake Anomaly puzzle when you get to Battle Pass level 14, which also happens to be when you unlock Lara Croft. With her comes this Anomaly puzzle, so head into Battle Royale or Team Rumble and drop into Lazy Lake.

The specific house you’re aiming for is shown below. It’s a blue house on the north side of the named location, sitting next to an odd-shaped yellow house to the right of the lake itself.

Here’s what it will look like on street level.

Head inside the front door and right away you should notice a glimmering butterfly is hovering above the dining table. It will quickly move downstairs into the basement level and disappear into a teddy bear sitting in a chair.

Smash the wall in front of the bear to reveal a secret room housing a peculiar glass display table adorned with empty jewel slots. This is your Anomaly puzzle.

To solve it, you’ll need to activate each jewel in the correct order. Approach each slot and use the interact button–don’t worry, it’s quite forgiving if you mess up. You’ll know when you’ve inserted a jewel correctly because it will stay in place. If it disappears, you’ll want to start over until you insert the four jewels in the correct order.

We’ve tested the puzzle a few times and the solution doesn’t seem to change. Here’s the right order to insert the jewels by color:

• Red
• Purple
• Blue
• Green

Once you’ve done it correctly, the Anomaly will reappear in the center of the display. Interact with it once more to complete the challenge and earn Agent Jones a stylish, albeit tattered, suit to wear in later rounds.

We’ll have plenty more Anomaly puzzle solutions to share as we encounter them over the coming days.

Blizzard has announced that Hearthstone‘s next expansion, Forged in the Barrens, will launch on March 30. The company will be revealing new cards over the next week, culminating in the final reveal stream to take place on March 22 at 10 AM PT. It will be hosted by streamer RegisKillbin, community manager Chris Sierra, and game designer Liv Breeden.

Forged in the Barrens brings 135 new cards to Hearthstone, and introduces the ten mercenary characters who players will follow through the entire year. Part of that will be the new Mercenaries game mode, a rogue-like RPG coming in a future expansion.

Following the final card reveal, streamers will be showing off “Theorycrafting” streams starting March 23. These will allow high-profile Hearthstone players to experiment with cards ahead of the expansion, using decks with at least 10 Barrens cards in each deck.

You can also register for a Fireside Gathering to open your card packs starting on March 26. The new set won’t be playable in Standard until the launch date, but a pair of special Barrens Fireside Brawls will let you tinker with the new cards within that special mode, during your Fireside event.

As the first expansion of the year, Forged in the Barrens will also mark the start of the new Year of the Gryphon. That means a new set of cards cycling out of Standard, but Blizzard is doing things differently this time. Rather than simply rotate some cards out, it’s introducing an entirely new “Core set” of cards in place of the Basic and Classic sets. The Core set will be free for all players, and unlocked by reaching progression goals with each character. If you’ve already met the unlock requirements, you’ll simply have the full set when you login for the new season of content.

Year of the Gryphon is also launching with a new Classic mode, which will let you play all of the original Hearthstone cards in their original 2014 state. For more details, check out everything we know about Hearthstone’s 2021 plans.