Samsung has announced a new set of Galaxy Buds Pro wireless earbuds for discerning audiophiles.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro is going head to head with the Apple AirPods Pro with features like active noise canceling, clear microphones, and of course, quality audio.
Each earbud features an 11-millimeter woofer for deeper bass and a 6.5- millimeter tweeter for richer treble. Thanks to its intelligent ANC capabilities you can reduce background noise by up to 99%. Alternatively for times when you need to hear the environment around you, switching on Ambient Sound mode amplifies nearby sounds by more than 20 decibels.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro also features three microphones and a Voice Pickup Unit (VPU) on each earbud to ensure you’re heard as clearly as possible. One of the outside microphones is dedicated to cutting out background noises with its high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) rating.
Even the earbuds shape is designed to fit flat in the users’ earlobe to reduce wind contact, plus there’s Wind Shield technology built into the earbuds.
There’s a new Auto Switch feature that allows the earbuds to easily switch between playing audio from a Samsung phone or tablet. For instance, you could be watching a video on your Samsung Android tablet, quickly answer a phone call from your smartphone, and then switch back to hearing the tablet audio.
You can expect 5 hours of playback from each earbud with ANC turned on and there’s an additional 13 hours in the wireless charging case. Without ANC, users can enjoy 8 hours of playback with 20 hours in reserve on the case.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro comes in three colors: Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, and Phantom Violet. They’re available starting now from Samsung for $199 and will be available from retailers starting on January 15th.
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Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam
It’s still too early to say how important a role Monica Rambeau will play in WandaVision, Marvel Studios’ first streaming show, which debuts January 15. According to Teyonah Parris, the actress portraying the grown-up version of Rambeau on the series, the reveal of who her character is will unfold slowly across the season’s nine episodes. But comics readers know Monica already, and the fact that she’s a key figure in the story that kicks off the MCU’s Phase 4 is a big deal because it signals the opportunity for redemption for one of the most badly mishandled characters in recent comics history.
Movie fans first met Monica as the precocious young daughter (played by Akira Akbar) of Carol Danvers’ friend Maria Rambeau in 2018’s Captain Marvel. But the character’s comic-book roots date back nearly 40 years.
Monica Rambeau’s first appearance was in 1982’s Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16. A co-creation of Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr., she was the second hero to take on the Captain Marvel name. The first, the Kree warrior Mar-Vell, had died in The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel the same year as Rambeau’s debut. Her power set was massive; she had control of and could transform into any form of electromagnetic energy. She could traverse the globe in less than two seconds. But we quickly learned something else about her: Monica Rambeau had attitude.
Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) in a poster for WandaVision.
After her first mission, she immediately signed up with the Avengers, moving from trainee to full-time member and eventually team leader. Rambeau made history as the team’s first-ever female black Avenger. She was part of the team during Stern’s five-year stint on the book, allowing for a consistent development of her character, and was equal parts empathetic, sarcastic and tough. In one memorable moment in Avengers #229, she tore into the demoralized team and inspired them to action during the “Trial of Hank Pym” storyline. She stood her ground against her more difficult teammates such as the Sub-Mariner and Hercules, and had enough self-control not to blast Doctor Druid into oblivion as he worked to undermine her position as team Chairwoman.
She more than justified Captain America’s faith in her potential, and became particularly close to him. In the aftermath of the classic “Masters of Evil” tale, when Zemo and a team of villains had occupied Avengers Mansion, it was Monica who was there to offer moral support to an emotionally spent Steve Rogers. It was no surprise that he would be the one to nominate her to be team leader.
Monica takes charge in Avengers #229.
Captain Marvel No More
Captain Marvel was an essential member of the Avengers through the back half of the 1980s, until issue #294 when a battle with the sea creature the Leviathan essentially left her powerless. Rambeau regained some of her powers in her first solo adventure, Giant-Size Captain Marvel, written by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie and drawn by Mark “Doc” Bright, but she was nowhere near as powerful as she was before. Inexplicably, she wouldn’t return to full-time status with any version of the Avengers for years. In 1994, McDuffie and co-writer Dwight D. Coye partnered with Bright again on another CM one-shot, which had her fighting the Sons of the Serpent in a story that tackled racism in unflinching fashion. But two years later, Monica Rambeau hit rock bottom.
She gave up the Captain Marvel moniker to Mar-Vell’s son Genis and adopted the name Photon, a name so incredibly generic that future writers would have Rambeau’s teammates make fun of it. As if that indignity wasn’t bad enough, nearly a decade later Genis would drop the family name and adopt a new one – Photon. That meant she had to adopt another name that was only slightly better – Pulsar. Once again, one of Marvel’s most important female characters of the modern age had been slighted.
By the time she reappeared in the short-lived but fondly remembered Warren Ellis/Stuart Immonen series Nextwave, which was practically an in-continuity sendup of Marvel’s own superhero universe, she was just going by Monica. She continued her sporadic appearances throughout the 2000s, including as part of the 2009 mini-series Marvel Divas along with Hellcat, the Black Cat and Firestar. Aside from that, Rambeau remained largely sidelined until 2013, when writer Al Ewing brought her back into the Avengers fold.
In the first issue of The Mighty Avengers (Vol. 2), Ewing wrote about discovering the Avengers as a kid during Captain Marvel’s time as leader. His affection for the character came across loud and clear in the book. Ewing not only reconnected her with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for the first time in two decades, but penciler Greg Land also updated her original costume for the 21st century. She also had a new code-name: Spectrum. (Carol Danvers had claimed the Captain Marvel moniker by then.)
Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, Captain Marvel 2, and Beyond
Monica Rambeau’s identity crisis has defined much of her fictional lifespan, and it seems like that will continue to some degree in WandaVision. In one of the trailers, Wanda asks Monica who she is, and the character replies, “I don’t know…”
Rambeau confronts Carol Danvers over claiming the Marvel name.
When we first met her back in that 1982 Amazing Spider-Man annual, she was a harbor patrol officer in New Orleans frustrated over her inability to break the glass ceiling. When she first gained her powers, she worried about living up to the legacy of a revered fallen hero. The various name changes over the years only compounded that sense that she didn’t know exactly who she was. Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick addressed this in one memorable scene in issue #7 of her landmark Captain Marvel series where Rambeau confronted Danvers over claiming the Marvel name and not even calling her to let her know. It’s a meta moment that seems to point out just how little respect this amazing character, once one of Marvel’s most prominent Black female heroes, has received over the years. Fortunately, Ewing’s fondness for Rambeau remains strong. He included Spectrum in another Avengers book, No Road Home, in 2019.
Beyond WandaVision, Parris will return as the character in Captain Marvel 2, reuniting the adult Monica with Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers. Bringing the marvelous ladies of the MCU together, the film will also feature Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel (who is getting her own Disney+ series).
Will Monica have superpowers by the time she shows up in Captain Marvel 2? Does she already have them in WandaVision? Will she take on the name Captain Marvel, or Spectrum, or perhaps Photon, which was her mom’s call sign as a pilot in the first CM movie? We have a lot of questions right now, and the sky is the limit for where the character can go next.
And now that she’s in play in adult form in the MCU, it would also seem to point to a brighter comics future for one of the most powerful and interesting heroes in the Marvel canon. After the way she was mishandled for so long, that would be the very least that Monica Rambeau deserves.
Returnal is set to release exclusively for PS5 on March 19 (see it on Amazon). You don’t have to wait until then to lock in a copy for yourself, assuming you’re lucky enough to have a PlayStation 5. It’s available in two editions, and you can preorder it right now at a variety of retailers.
The standard edition of Returnal comes with the game itself and any applicable preorder bonuses (see below).
Returnal is a third-person shooter that kicks off when an astronaut crash lands on a strange alien planet that’s home to spooky, ferocious creatures. When these monstrosities inevitably kill her, she wakes up again right before crashing on the same planet–only now the surroundings have changed. It’s effectively a big-budget roguelike game, with procedurally generated environments, a full story, and new weapons and items available each run.
As a PS5 exclusive, Returnal takes advantage of the console’s special features, like fast loading and 3D audio. The weapons will also take make use of the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, so each one should feel unique. The game is made by Housemarque, the developer behind PlayStation gems like Resogun and Alienation.
If you want a few in-game extras to go along with Returnal, you can pick up the digital deluxe edition from the PlayStation Store for $10 more. Here’s what it comes with:
Electropylon Driver weapon
Hollowseeker weapon
1 Reflex Stimulant consumable
1 Pulsating Mass artefact
1 Adrenaline Booster
Digital soundtrack
2 in-game suits for Selene
Returnal Preorder Bonus
Preorder the digital version of Returnal from the PlayStation Store, and you’ll receive two in-game suits for Selene:
Capcom has announced a virtual showcase where the studio will provide a new look at 2021’s Resident Evil Village. The event promises a “guided tour” of the game, including a first look at Village’s gameplay.
Viewers can also expect a new trailer and “lots more” news about the Resident Evil franchise, not just this new game. The event is scheduled for 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET / 10 PM GMT on January 21. It will be hosted by Brittney Brombacher of the What’s Good Games podcast series.
Don’t miss the #REShowcase on January 21st at 2:00 PM Pacific! Join Resident Evil producers and our host, Brittney Brombacher (@BlondeNerd), on a guided tour of Resident Evil Village, including a new trailer, first-ever gameplay, and more Resident Evil news! pic.twitter.com/aaZGPfE9cA
January 21 is the day that Bethesda originally planned to host its own reveal event for The Elder Scrolls Online, but the company delayed its show to get out of the way of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Resident Evil Village, which is a direct follow-up to Resident Evil 7, is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. According to a Tokyo Game Show stream, Capcom is also working on bringing Resident Evil Village to PS4 and Xbox One, but has made no concrete promises about either platform.
Intel is going through a senior executive shakeup, with former CTO, Pat Gelsinger, returning to the company to take up the position of CEO.
A skilled engineer at heart, Gelsinger spent many years at Intel before rising through the ranks to the position of CTO. He left the company in 2009 and since gone on to serve as CEO for VMWare. His return to Intel comes at a crucial time for the company, as it continues to struggle with the pressure that AMD is mounting on it.
“My experience at Intel has shaped my entire career, and I am forever grateful to this company,” Gelsinger says in a statement. “To come back ‘home’ to Intel in the role of CEO during what is such a critical time for innovation, as we see the digitization of everything accelerating, will be the greatest honor of my career.”
Gelsinger replaces Bob Swan, who has led Intel since June 2018. Swan was originally meant to act as an interim CEO, transitioning from his previous position as CFO, before being named the permanent replacement months afterwards. The return of an engineering-focused CEO to the company has already been welcomed by investors, with Intel’s stock price increasing by more than 12% since the announcement.
Intel recently revealed its line-up of 11th generation processors for desktop CPUs, with the flagship Core i9 featuring two fewer physical cores than last generation. Despite boasting a high 5.3GHz single-core boost speed, Intel’s processors have been stuck on a 14nm process for years now, something which Gelsinger might be quick to change.
With the launch of Hitman 3, Google’s Stadia platform is finally getting one of its most interesting features: State Share. As proposed in 2019’s pitch for the service, this allows Stadia players to share their game states with others, letting them to hop into the game and take on a Hitman mission with the same loadout, objectives, and difficulty setting.
Game states created with State Share are playable chunks of Stadia games that you can share just like you might a video or screenshot. It’s essentially like handing your save file over to someone else, but instantly. If the other player has access to that Stadia game, they can essentially click a link and jump into the game at the point the share came from, complete with all the same parameters. In Hitman, that means players can share their particular missions, with their difficulty setting, starting location, disguise, objectives, equipment loadout, and smuggled gear. State Share places players at the beginning of the mission you just ran with the same setup you used.
Sharing a game state from the end of a mission includes your rank on the Hitman leaderboard, so anyone playing with State Share can see how they rank against you. It also includes the new Celebration Tag in Hitman 3 that gives you a rank based on how well you fared. The tags include Amateur, Professional, Silent Assassin, and Professional ICA Shadow Assassin, providing another way to compare yourself to anyone you share your game state with.
As IO executive producer Forest Swartout Large explained in an interview with GameSpot, though, State Share with Hitman 3 isn’t just about giving you a chance to show off your assassination skills and challenge others to beat you. Hopping into a game state also lets you experience aspects of Hitman you might not have access to in your own game. If the player sharing their game state has unlocked different weapons, for instance, you can use those weapons when you play the game using State Share. But playing Hitman through State Share won’t affect your game when you go back to it–you won’t make progress on your own Hitman account, and using State Share won’t unlock new weapons and items. You’ll still have to earn those yourself by playing through the game and completing objectives.
Hitman 3 will be the first Stadia game to support State Share when it releases on January 20. Since Hitman 3 is also compatible with the missions released in Hitman and Hitman 2, those games will also include the State Share feature.
While the Hitman games let you drop into missions and share mission parameters, not every game will use State Share in the same way. Hitman places players at the start of a mission, but other games might drop you right at the point where the game state was saved. Stadia product manager Catherine Hsiao told GameSpot that how games utilize State Share is up to developers and will depend on their particular vision for their game.
“For example, a game state could do something like take you to the beginning of a level with a custom character,” Hsiao said. “It could have certain inventories, certain loot drops in a dungeon, certain objectives. It really depends on how the game implements it.
“This works really well with games that have any sort of user-generated content, or where you’re creating something within the world. Then you can actually easily create a state and share it with your friends to be able to play together. If there are certain parts of the game that you really like, you could replay them yourself, or actually share them with others.”
Maybe the most surprising thing about State Share is how easy it is to use. In supported games, you create game states to share the same way you snap a screenshot or save a video–the state is saved along with the captured footage or image. Accessing the State Share is as simple as clicking a link, since Stadia runs out of your browser. You have to have access to the game on Stadia, either through its subscription plan or by purchasing it through the service; if you don’t have the game, the State Share link will take you to the Stadia store page for it.
Hsiao said she expects State Share will make it easier for content creators to interact with their audiences, going beyond just showing off videos or live streams so that they can accept challenges from the fans watching them, or share their own game states so viewers can try out what they’re seeing. And the State Share process streamlines a lot of what members of the Hitman community were already doing among themselves, IO communications manager Travis Barbour said.
“We’ve really been quite happy to see that players have really attached to this idea of being creative and finding groups and styling their way through Hitman,” Barbour said. “They’ve been sharing all of these settings on Discord–you have to choose this location, you have to do this and you have to go there and do that. We see that quite a lot.”
Share State knocks down the barriers that might stop other players from getting involved in these sort of ad-hoc competitions and play sessions, Barbour continued. Where you previously had to find the right Discord servers or forums where players were creating challenges for one another, sharing game states is done with a single simple link.
State Share goes live with Hitman 3’s launch on Stadia on January 20. We’ll have to stay tuned to see what other games support the feature in the future, though.
Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in the 2017 DC movie Justice League, has levelled a variety of accusations over his experiences while shooting that film, and the fall-out continues. Following last week’s reports that Fisher had been written out of the upcoming Flash movie, Fisher has confirmed this is the case.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Fisher stated his role in the Flash would have been much more than the reported cameo appearance. “Despite the misconception, Cyborg’s involvement in The Flash was much larger than a cameo,” he said. “And while I do mourn the lost opportunity to bring Victor Stone back to the screen, bringing awareness to the actions of [DC Films boss] Walter Hamada will prove to be a much more important contribution to our world.”
Fisher went on to accuse Hamada of interfering with the investigation into the alleged abusive behavior of Joss Whedon, who directed the extensive Justice League reshoots, and producers Jon Berg and Geoff Johns. Fisher states that Hamada “disparaged Whedon and Berg in an attempt to cover for Johns,” claiming that Hamada was attempting to protect “his friend.”
This follows comments that Fisher made last week where he called Hamada “the most dangerous kind of enabler,” and claimed that he had been forced out of The Flash. In response, Warner stated that it was Fisher who declined to be involved in The Flash, and that “given his statement that he will not participate in any film associated with Mr. Hamada, our production is now moving on.”
Fisher will appear in the DC universe one more time, in Zack Snyder’s upcoming reworking of Justice League. Snyder left the movie during production but is preparing a version of the project closer in tone to what he originally intended. The new Justice League will be released as a four-part miniseries on HBO Max later this year.
A new update for Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 introduces a new slate of playable characters, including Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog. It also includes a new Boss Raid mode, which lets you team up with four other players in co-op. A limited-time demo is now available to play on Nintendo Switch.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 mashes up the two famous puzzle series, and the new update marks the first of a series of planned post-launch content drops coming to the game. The four new playable characters are Sonic, Lidelle, Ms. Accord, and The Ocean Prince., along with a series of new music tracks including the Sonic the Hedgehog theme.
The Boss Raid mode lets you team up online against a CPU-controlled boss. You can also use couch co-op with the Nintendo Switch local wireless multiplayer. Sega says you’ll need to choose a roster of heroes with complimentary skills, popping Puyos and clearing Tetriminos to deal damage to the boss. Higher difficulties will let you take on more bosses in a row, and the bosses pack unique skills that you’ll need to plan around. Defeating them will earn you Item Cards and experience points, with better rewards coming for higher difficulties.
In GameSpot’sPuyo Puyo Tetris 2 review, Heidi Kemps wrote that the game offers lots of value but not much more than the first game.
“There’s no denying that Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 offers a lot of value–and even if you’re just here for simple Tetris or Puyo play, there’s plenty to satisfy,” Kemps wrote. “But as a sequel, the new additions it brings to the table feel rather inadequate, particularly the flawed Skill Battle mode. If you’ve never had a taste of this flavorful mashup before, then Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 will certainly quench your thirst for wacky puzzle antics and then some. But if you’re a veteran looking for a truly substantial upgrade to the original game, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 might leave you feeling rather unfulfilled.”
Bethesda had planned a big event for The Elder Scrolls Online for January 21 where it would announce more details on the new Gates of Oblivion expansion. However, the developer has now delayed the event to the following week to get out of the way of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
In a follow-up tweet, the developer said it’s delaying the announcement event due to the recent US Capitol riots and out of an abundance of caution for what could happen on inauguration day. Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on January 20 during a ceremony in Washington D.C.
“Given recent events, we are opting to play it safe. We have players all over the world, but the majority of our employees live and work near the capital,” the developer said.
Developer ZeniMax Online Studios is based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, which is relatively close to Washington D.C. Bethesda’s main headquarters is in Rockville, Maryland, which is even closer to the US capital.
The Elder Scrolls Online reveal event will now take place on Tuesday, January 26, starting at 5 PM ET. During the show, ZeniMax Online boss Matt Firor and Bethesda marketing executive Pete Hines will discuss what’s next for the ongoing multiplayer game.
Elder Scrolls Online creative director Rich Lambert and “other special guests” from the development team will also be on hand to reveal what’s new in Gates of Oblivion.
Everyone who watches the reveal event on Twitch with a linked account will get the Viridescent Dragon Frog pet for free.
The Viridescent Dragon Frog pet
The Gates of Oblivion expansion is the next “year-long adventure” for the MMO. Little is known, but Bethesda has teased that it will feature an “epic new storyline that’ll take you and your companions to the very edge of oblivion.”
In times of stress, video games have proven to be a healthy distraction. One game that may be especially cathartic is developer Hyper Three Studio’s Tiny Lands, which has a simple setup. Presented with a series of 3D environments, players will need to find five differences in each digital diorama. The low-poly isometric puzzle game also features a soothing soundtrack from composer BigRicePiano, and there’s no time limit to worry about as you explore each of the diverse environments on offer.
Tiny Lands even features various elements such as fire, rain, thunder, snow, and wind in each diorama, and you’ll be able to rotate the levels and zoom in on them to find the small differences between each model. You can see the relaxing game in its official trailer below:
Tiny Lands will be out on Steam on January 22, with a 10% discount on its regular price of $7. A Nintendo Switch version will also be released at a later date.
Steam also just recorded one of its best years ever, as 2020 saw 120 million monthly active players, 62.6 million daily active players, and a peak of 24.8 million peak concurrent players on the digital distribution platform. You can check out highlights of Valve’s full Year in Review post right here.
