Category: Games

The PlayStation 5 is coming. While it hasn’t been officially announced by Sony as of yet, system architect Mark Cerny recently began talking about it.

One of the first things we learned is that the next-generation console will feature an AMD chip. AMD CEO Lisa Su recently discussed the company’s partnership with Sony, saying the chip will help power the PlayStation 5’s “special sauce.”

“We are so honoured and proud to be part of Sony’s next-generation PlayStation,” Su told Jim Cramer. “This has been a really long-term partnership with them. We love gaming. We think gaming is a really good secular growth market. What we have done with Sony is really architect something for their application, for their special sauce. It’s a great honor for us. We’re really excited about what the next generation PlayStation will do. And happy to be a part of it.”

The AMD chip in the PS5 that has a CPU based on the third-generation Ryzen. It has eight cores of the seven-nanometer Zen 2 microchip. Additionally, the AMD chip in the PS5 enabled 3D audio, a key part of helping players become more immersed, according to Cerny.

AMD is also working with Google on their new streaming service, Stadia, while Su also previously spoke about working with Microsoft on a new console. This may be one of the new Xbox consoles Microsoft has in the works that could be announced at E3 this year.

The PlayStation 5 will have an “appealing” price point for its specs, according to Cerny, but there is no word on specifics as of yet. The console will also support backwards compatibility for PS4 games. Other features include a solid-state drive, and the potential to support 8K resolution. You can read up on all of the technical specs we know so far.

As for a release date, the PlayStation 5 is not launching during Sony’s current fiscal year, which means it will not arrive until after March 2020.

Microsoft recently updated its “Community Standards for Xbox,” and it is good to see a company as big as Microsoft take a hard line against nasty behaviour online. One section of the document pertains to “acceptable trash talk,” and Microsoft provides some funny-sounding examples.

But before we get to that, Microsoft wants to make clear that hate and harassment have no home on Xbox. “To make Xbox Live a place where everyone can hang out, and to prevent people from feeling uncomfortable or unwelcome, we all need to be stewards,” Microsoft says. “This means more than just not harassing other players–it means embracing them. It means saving those unsavory jokes for people you know will enjoy them. It means taking particular care for others while you play, keeping in mind how they might interpret your content.”

Microsoft said it understands that gaming competition is at the heart of many online experiences, and some multiplayer matches can “get heated.” Some “trash talk” is acceptable on Xbox Live, Microsoft says, but it becomes a problem when it transitions to harassment.

Microsoft officially describes trash talk as: “Any lighthearted banter or bragging that focuses on the game at hand and encourages healthy competition.”

Harassment, meanwhile, is defined by Microsoft as: “Any negative behavior that’s personalized, disruptive, or likely to make someone feel unwelcome or unsafe. To qualify as harassment, the behavior doesn’t have to be drawn-out or persistent. Even a single abusive message could harm someone’s experience. Know when to draw the line, when to back off. Know and respect the other player.”

To make its point clearer, Microsoft provided examples. Here they are, as written by Microsoft (via Kotaku AU):

Acceptable trash talk includes

• Get destroyed. Can’t believe you thought you were on my level.
• That was some serious potato aim. Get wrecked.
• Only reason you went positive was you spent all game camping. Try again, kid.
• Cheap win. Come at me when you can actually drive without running cars off the road.
• That sucked. Get good and then come back when your k/d’s over 1.

Going too far looks like

• Get . Can’t believe you thought you were on my level.
• Hey , that was some serious potato aim. Get wrecked, trash.
• Only reason you went positive was you spent all game camping. KYS, kid.
• Cheap win. Totally expected from a .
• You suck. Get out of my country–maybe they’ll let you back in when your k/d’s over 1.

In terms of enforcement and consequences, Microsoft says it will temporarily suspend people in many cases. “We know people make mistakes, and we believe lapses in judgment can be significant opportunities for growth,” the company said.

Players who are found to have violated the Xbox Community Stands may face temporary suspension of access to “features that are most closely associated with the problematic behavior.” For example, you may be temporarily restricted from playing games online, sending messages, communicating over voice, or broadcasting gameplay, among other things.

People who repeatedly behave badly may be permanently suspended, with access to all game licenses and other content revoked forever. It sounds like you’d have to be a huge jerk to get banned. “We may permanently suspend a profile or device if we can no longer trust it due to a severe violation, or if our attempts to correct repeated negative behaviors are unsuccessful,” Microsoft says.

You can read the full Community Standards For Xbox document here.

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Pokemon Go developer Niantic’s AR game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is out now in Australia and New Zealand, at least in beta form. Major mobile titles often release in the ANZ region before coming to the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world, so this

Wizards Unite is available for free on iiOS and Android. Because it is a beta, the game lacks some features, while the overall appearance and design is subject to change. Additionally, some languages that will be supported in the final release are unavailable now.

Players who get into the beta should also expect to run into some technical hiccups due to its unfinished state. Niantic said it hopes players communicate their feedback so the studio can make the game better for everyone when it’s available worldwide.

Wizards Unite’s beta already released in New Zealand in March. You may be able to change your country in the App Store and Google Play, but this doesn’t always work.

Like Pokemon Go and other free-to-play titles, Wizards Unite is supported by microtransactions. Players can purchase “Gold” from Gringott’s Bank in the game at multiple levels. The bundles range from 80 Gold ($1.50 AUD) to 10,000 Gold ($160 AUD). In addition, you can buy Anti-Calamity ($8 AUD) and Advanced Anti-Calamity Kits ($31 AUD). These kits come with allotments of Gold, potions, spell energy, and keys. Outside of the bundles, you can spend Gold on a huge variety of things, including Dark Detectors (reveals special items), Runestones (for Wizarding Challenges), Healing potions (restores stamina), and so much more.

Given that Wizards Unite remains in beta, pricing could change.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was originally scheduled to launch in 2018 before being delayed into this year. You can read more about the title in our hands-on impressions, and Android users can pre-register for it on Google Play. There is no word as of yet regarding when the final game will be available around the world.

While you may have to wait a while longer to play Wizards Unite, the other new Harry Potter mobile game, Hogwarts Mystery, is available around the world right now.

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