Along with death and taxes, it seems another certainty in life is an annual major Call of Duty release, and 2021 is no exception. Activision has confirmed that of course, it is once again making a Call of Duty game for release this year, and as has been reported, Sledgehammer is back at the helm making it.
This was revealed during Activision-Blizzard’s Q1 earnings call, during which Activision said the game was both “looking great” and “on track” for release in the fall of this year. It will include a campaign, multiplayer, and co-op play, and will “integrate with and enhance existing Call of Duty ecosystem” — possibly a reference to compatibility with Warzone, as has happened with Black Ops Cold War. And critically, it’s being “built for next-generation experience.”
Beyond that, we don’t have too many more details about the next Call of Duty, though Activision promises more details “soon.” The same report that mentioned Sledgehammer suggests that the game will be called “Call of Duty WWII: Vanguard” and will incorporate (unsurprisingly) a World War II theme, though reports have differed as to whether this is a straightforward WWII take or an alternate timeline.
Sledgehammer has previously been in charge of both Call of Duty: WWII and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and has assisted Infinity Ward and Treyarch on other recent Call of Duty titles.
Call of Duty continues to do exceeding well as a franchise for Activision, with today’s earnings call and results noting that Call of Duty currently boasts 150 million monthly active users [MAU] across all games. Free-to-play Call of Duty and Call of Duty mobile have nearly tripled total MAUs across all Call of Duty games since their launches last year, helped in part by the recent launch of Call of Duty Mobile in China bringing in “tens of millions” of new players. Activision focused on Call of Duty’s success as a cornerstone of its earnings call today, making it clear that they intend to continue building out the Call of Duty franchise, as well as implement its business model into the company’s other franchises.
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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
One of the best things about May the 4th (or Star Wars Day, as all dutiful geeks refer to it), is the new collectibles reveals. Companies like Sideshow Collectibles, Hot Toys and Hasbro always have some big new reveals to drop, and 2021 is no exception.
From a gorgeous Star Wars Rebels-inspired Ahsoka Tano statue to the various new additions to Hasbro’s Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary lineup, we’re breaking down all the coolest and most jaw-dropping Star Wars toys revealed this year.
First, check out the slideshow gallery below for a look at the high-end statues and figures teased by Sideshow, Hot Toys, Gentle Giant and Regal Robot:
TV-inspired collectibles clearly dominated this year’s crop. Sideshow revealed the long-awaited Ahsoka Tano Premium Format Figure, a statue that offers a more realistic take on Ahsoka’s animated Rebels look rather than opting for her live-action look. Sideshow is also launching a new line of 1:6 scale Clone wars figures. Unlike the Hot Toys Clone Wars line, these figures will replicate the stylized, angular look of the animated series.
Hot Toys continues to focus plenty of attention on The Mandalorian. The company will finally be selling a standalone 1:6 scale version of Grogu and his hover pram, a figure that was originally included only with the Beskar Armor Din Djarin figure. Hot Toys is also teasing a 1:6 scale Blurrg figure, with an optional Durasteel Armor Mando figure for good measure.
And if you’ve ever dreamed of owning your own holochess table, Regal Robot’s latest Star Wars release has you covered, though it’ll cost you quite a few Republic credits.
Since Hasbro revealed dozens of new images of upcoming Star Wars figures, we’ve gathered all those announcements in a separate gallery below:
In addition to new figures in the Vintage Collection and Black Series lines, Hasbro also revealed a life-size, wearable Death Watch helmet and a new series of colorful prototype figures aimed at mimicking the look of unpainted factory samples.
Will you be adding any of these figures and statues to your collection? Let us know in the comments below.
Alex Navarro, Brad Shoemaker, and Vinny Caravella have announced that they are leaving Giant Bomb. The announcement was made during a live recording of Giant Bomb’s podcast, where the trio confirmed that May 7 will be their last day at the company.
Giant Bomb was established by former members of GameSpot and, alongside Jeff Gerstmann (who will remain at the site) and Ryan Davis, Brad and Vinny were founding members of the website. Alex, who worked alongside the others at GameSpot, joined sometime later, having initially founded Screened, a website dedicated to movies and TV.
in case you didn’t happen to tune into this week’s Bombcast, I should probably say publicly that I have given my notice, and this Friday will be my last day @giantbomb. It’s been an incredible 10 years, but I made the difficult decision that it was time to move on.
This Friday will be my last day with Giant Bomb as per the announcement on the Bombcast today. I’m so proud of everything we’ve accomplished over the years and so thankful for everyone that has been a positive part of it. It has shaped who I am.
Today was my last episode of the Giant Bombcast. Friday is my last day with the company. After spending a third of my life helping to build this thing, it’s tough to make my fingers even type that out. (Seriously, what?)
In a statement, Giant Bomb founder Gerstmann said: “I’ve spent a lot of the last year thinking about what’s next for Giant Bomb and most of those roads lead to a full-on rethink of what it means to be a Website About Video Games in 2021. While I certainly would have loved to solve these challenges with my longtime friends and coworkers by my side, it just wasn’t meant to be. I wish Vinny, Alex, and Brad the best. Meanwhile, we have a pretty exciting opportunity to broaden our horizons, rethink every facet of our operation, and get to a place where we’re truly able to build that bomb all over again… or die trying.”
Speaking to the future of the site, the Giant Bomb team as a whole said: “There is a collective vision for what the future of Giant Bomb is and it involves both familiar and new faces. We’re already in talks with creators so that we can begin the next chapter. We’re fully aware that this marks a big change and we’re using this as an opportunity to rethink what this site is. It’s a chance to introduce new personalities from different backgrounds and explore categories and topics that we never have before.”
The news, unsurprisingly, has sent a ripple around the games industry–Giant Bomb as a website and the team that makes it up is beloved by many. The site was a driving force behind personality-driven content and also, in many ways, led by example when it came to interesting and experimental video content. Of course, the Giant Bombcast is a towering landmark in the world of video game podcasts and continues to be. All three departing members have been mainstays on all Giant Bomb’s content, whether on editorial, video, or audio.
Like every member of the Giant Bomb team past and present, the trio lived much of their lives on camera and, as a result, many developed a close connection to them. News of their departure has resulted in an outpouring of support on Twitter from fans, developers, former staff members, and other members of media.
During the podcast where the departures were announced, Jeff said that those who are premium subscribers on Giant Bomb will have their membership extended through May, as the remaining members take the time to rethink some content and implement new ideas. Recently, longtime CNET staff member and Giant Beastcast co-host Jeff Bakalar joined the games team to work closely with Giant Bomb and GameSpot. In his new position, he is leading content strategy and development, as well as partnerships.
Disclosure: Giant Bomb is a sister site to GameSpot operating under the same parent company, Red Ventures.
As part of Activision Blizzard’s earnings report on Tuesday, the company shared some key details on the next Call of Duty game and the success of its existing games.
Black Ops Cold War and the free-to-play battle royale game Warzone helped overall Activision says rise 72%. Cold War had “strong premium sales,” while Warzone’s in-game revenue–i.e. microtransactions–also made a positive impact. Call of Duty Mobile, meanwhile, performed well for Activision, helping operating income double.
Activision said launching the free Call of Duty games, Warzone and Mobile, have “transformed the franchise,” Monthly active users over the last two years has more than tripled in numbers, Activision said, helping Activision overall hit 150 million monthly active users during Q1 2021. Call of Duty specifically showed a 40% year-over-year growth in monthly active users, while this figure also grew sequentially.
Warzone is helping sales of the paid game, too, as Activision said Black Ops Cold War premium sales reached higher levels than ever before for a Q1 following the integration with Warzone.
Microtransactions for Call of Duty are also on fire. These microtranasactions, which are called in-game net bookings, jumped by more than 60% on console and PC alone. Additionally, Seasons One and Two for Black Ops Cold war and Warzone represented the most successful seasons ever for Call of Duty in terms of microtransactions.
Season Three, which just launched, is “sustaining this strong run-rate, tracking in-line with the first two season,” Activision said.
For Call of Duty Mobile specifically, the game posted growth for “reach, engagement, and player investment” during Q1. The game’s launch in China and “ongoing enhancements” elsewhere helped improve results, Activision said. It also reached 500 million downloads.
🙏♥ Thank you to our community, players, and supporters! We couldn’t have done this without you! 👍🎁 Be sure to check your #CODMobile in-game inboxes for a gift! pic.twitter.com/RexG8WSPM3
— Call of Duty: Mobile (@PlayCODMobile) May 4, 2021
Call of Duty’s 2021 game is coming from Sledgehammer Games, Activision management confirmed on the call. The title has been “built for next-gen,” the publisher said, but the company didn’t say if this means it won’t come to PS4/Xbox One. The company also teased that the game will “integrate with and enhance the Call of Duty ecosystem,” going on to confirm it will integrate with Warzone.
Activision management also said 2021’s Call of Duty game, which is rumored to be a World War II-era sequel to Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty: WWII, will have campaign, multiplayer, and co-op elements. The company also confirmed it’s coming in Fall 2021, which is only notable because some rumors suggested it might slip to later.
Overall, Activision Blizzard made $2.275 billion in revenue for Q1, compared to $2.015 billion during the year prior. Activision made $619 million in net profit, up from $505 million during the same period a year ago.
The company made $1.34 billion from microtransactions, which compares to $960 million during the same period last year. Looking ahead, Activision management said it plans to hire more than 2,000 more developers in the future to help the company grow its franchises.
“Demand for our content has never been stronger, and we continue to ramp our investment to better serve our players and drive even greater financial performance,” Activision Blizzard said. “We intend to hire more than 2,000 developers over the next two years, including tripling the size of certain franchise teams by the end of next year as compared to 2019.”
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Activision Blizzard confirmed during its earnings call that the next Call of Duty entry will be led by Call of Duty: WWII developer Sledgehammer Games. A release date was not announced, but it’s on track to launch this fall.
Details are vague, but Activision Blizzard hinted at the usual features: a single-player campaign, multiplayer, and a co-op component. The studio also said this Call of Duty entry is “built for next-gen,” suggesting the title will take advantage of hardware features like Quick Resume on Xbox and the DualSense’s adaptive triggers.
Coinciding with the news, Sledgehammer Games tweeted a GIF of WWE superstar The Undertake rising from a coffin. Sledgehammer has assisted development on Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War; the last Call of Duty game the studio spearheaded was 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII. It also provides support on Warzone.
Though details are scarce, Activision Blizzard said Call of Duty 2021 will integrate with Warzone, echoing the battle royale’s important to the overall franchise. There are no details on how this integration will work just yet.
Rumors were circulating that Call of Duty 2021 would be delayed to 2022. However, Activision Blizzard reiterated that it will launch this fall. With the exception of Warzone, most Call of Duty games typically fall between October and November.
Activision Blizzard also announced plans to hire some 2,000 developers over the next two years. To get this hiring spree underway, Activision Blizzard opened a new studio in Toronto, Canada. There are further studio expansions planned for Australia, China, and Poland.
EVE Online is a massively multiplayer online game where players can mine planets, fight other players in all-out war, and fly through wormholes to reach new destinations. Now it’s helping scientists learn more about COVID-19.
Through a citizen science project called Project Discovery, players are able to help scientists in the real world solve problems that need human input, such as helping scientists discover new planets. Over the past year, they’ve been helping scientists learn more about COVID-19.
To date, 327,000 players have completed 1.37 million analysis tasks in-game, which has saved scientists 330.69 years worth of research into how the immune system responds to COVID-19. Speaking to IGN, EVE Online Creative Director, Bergur Finnbogason, explained how the project began.
“This is a project that was initially started by, or at least an idea from, [Massively Multiplayer Online Science CEO and co-founder Attila Szantner] a few years back where he was looking at citizen science projects around the world, all over the internet,” Finnbogason said. “He started seeing this pattern in these projects where basically… these fantastic projects would happen… with super worthy causes… but people would come in, try it once, and then never come back.”
Seeing that people were so quick to drop these projects, the parties involved devised a way to merge citizen science projects with something that would make people want to stick around. That’s where the idea of placing one of these projects in an MMO — a genre with communities of people who do the very opposite of trying something once and never touching it again — was born.
Finnbogason and Szantner said the idea came to them to merge citizen science projects while trying to get input from actual humans with EVE. If the game offered a science project to help real-world scientists, players would be dedicated to it. Thus, Project Discovery was born.
The first Project Discovery project in EVE was centered on identifying proteins in human cells and the second Project Discovery project was centered on the discovery of real exoplanets or distant planets outside of our solar system. Similar to the COVID-19 minigame, EVE players played an in-game minigame to pour through luminosity curve datasets, which represented the brightness of stars as planets passed by them. This helped scientists discover exoplanets in space.
“Our latest installment is this COVID-19 project,” Finnbogason said. “We’ve been running it for almost a year, or exactly a year now, and yeah, it’s super exciting and it’s really turned into a wonderful project.”
If you were to log on to EVE to take part in this COVID-19 project, you’d find that it’s extremely well-implemented into the game. What players are doing when they play the associated minigame is looking at a cluster of multicolor dots. Some are yellow, some are red, some are green, and so on.
“Each dot is a cell,” University of British Columbia medical genetics professor and distinguished scientist of BC Cancer, Ryan Brinkman, said. “It is placed on a 2D graph based on how much it expresses one of many different types of cell surface proteins that can be used to define the cell’s function.”
Pictured here are two clusters of cells that a player identified in the Project Discovery COVID-19 minigame within EVE Online, Photo Credit: CCP Games
Players that play the COVID-19 Project Discovery minigame in EVE will see this 2D graph with multicolor dot cells. All they need to do is use a point-and-click system to draw polygons around the main mass of the clusters. Players earn set rewards when they reach specific ranks associated with the minigame. For example, at Rank 5, players earn the Biosecurity Response Team Mask and at Rank 650, they can earn the Marshal Biosecurity Responders Skin.
“Drawing the polygon allows us to count how many [cell surface proteins] are in that polygon,” Brinkman said. “The number in a given population can change according to, for example, disease of a drug and we can look for similar changes in groups of people (sick vs. healthy) to do discovery… or use it for diagnosis.”
How EVE Online Is Helping Scientists in Our World
How exactly is this helping scientists in the real world? Well, the simplest answer is time. Players have completed the equivalent of over 330 years of work scientists would have otherwise had to do to match what players have done.
“The alternative for scientists is to look everywhere,” Brinkman said in regards to how players are analyzing 40 dimensions of data on a 2D plane that speeds up data research greatly. “Scientists can’t do that, though, because to analyze just one sample, it takes an hour… but we have an infinite amount of monkeys, all banging away on typewriters.”
What players are doing is helping scientists better understand how our immune systems are impacted by this novel coronavirus, according to Brinkman. They are doing this by measuring the chemical makeups of cells, a process otherwise known as Flow Cytometry in the world of science, to determine a body’s immune response to COVID-19.
Science projects happening by way of video games isn’t necessarily a new concept. Folding@home, a project that utilized the PlayStation 3 among other processors to help scientists develop new therapeutics by simulating the movement of proteins and protein folding, began as early as 2000 and is still live as of six months ago. Never before, though, has it been done on a scale as large as EVE’s massive playerbase.
Brinkman said the project is 60% COVID-19 help and 40% machine learning A.I. practice, which is another way this EVE minigame is helping the world of science.
“The other really exciting part is there have been approaches that have been developed to automate this analysis process and they all suck,” Brinkman said. “That’s my life’s work for 15 years and they all [automated analysis processes] suck for various reasons. The excitement right now in the science world is A.I. machine learning. Everybody’s excited about that.”
The reason the processes “suck” is simple: in order for a machine to learn, someone or something has to teach it to how to learn and for the most part, until Project Discovery, that wasn’t possible.
Over 300,000 EVE players have participated in this iteration of the Project Discovery minigame. They are quite literally providing the needed examples of how to analyze data – in this case, COVID-19 cellular data and how the virus affects human immune systems. Brinkman explained this kind of data will accelerate areas of science outside of COVID-19 — areas of science that will have an enormous impact on human health.
Why EVE Online Players Are Participating in Project Discovery
Brinkman said they’re in the thick of everything with this data, with plans to publish findings this time next year – but are players aware of what a simple minigame is doing for the real world, or are they just there for the EVE rewards?
“We’ve seen three categories of players that play this,” Finnbogason said. “One of them is definitely just hardcore into the lore of the game and… playing it for that reason. Then there’s another group playing it for the rewards. I think the largest group, though, is playing it for the science and the rewards are just a bonus and possibly a strong incentive to keep everyone playing.”
Finnbogason said the EVE team worked hard to make this COVID-19 Project Discovery effort feel like something that belonged in EVE. It was really important to the team to theme it to the universe, because “we owe it to our players,” Finnbogason said. He said the team doesn’t want the game breaking the fourth wall or the immersion felt everywhere else in the game.
The first Project Discovery project, the one that tasked players with identifying proteins in human cells, centered around an in-game faction called the Sisters of EVE, who were researching a new emergent race of enemies called the Drifters and their tissue samples. The COVID-19 project, however, is run by an in-game entity called Concord, which is the same entity that ran the exoplanets project.
There are four other rules the EVE team follows beyond immersion when making these projects: the project must be altruistic in nature, meaning none of the parties involved make any money from the project; they need to be consistent in length, so players always know what they’re signing up for when they play the minigame; they need to produce a sizeable dataset, although players have continued to clear right past the team’s dataset goals; and finally, they need complexity in order to keep people interested.
“There was so much player interest in this project right from the get-go,” Finnbogason said. “We kicked this off last March and everyone just doubled down and jumped on this and it just felt like, and still feels like, people want to help solve this pandemic in any way possible. We’re just super humbled and honored to have had a hand in that.”
The project has been implemented into the game for over a year now, but there’s not much of an end in sight at the moment, or at least, the team isn’t quite sure when a new Project Discovery minigame will happen. They like to stick to one at a time, so the COVID-19-related project is the one for the time being.
“Yeah, so one thing about machine learning is you can never have enough data,” Brinkman said. “That much is clear. The more data sets that we get, the better. Even though we have vaccines, the science of COVID-19 isn’t solved. Like, why is COVID-19 so bad, what is this disease doing to the immune system, why are people losing their sense of smell and taste… there’s all this bad stuff that’s really unique to COVID-19, and we haven’t even scratched that surface.”
The Success of Project Discovery
Project Discovery has been a resounding success, both in its first two ventures and its current COVID-19 venture. It even landed EVE Online a cover story on one of the science world’s premiere publications, Nature Biotechnology, which was the first time a fictional spaceship, or fictional anything, had appeared on the cover of that science journal.
“That, to me, was a sign of scientists embracing what we’re doing,” Szantner said. “They take this very seriously… and can see how large gaming communities [such as that of EVE] can substantially help research projects. That’s a very, very important message.”
Elsewhere in media, Project Discovery has landed the EVE Online team a nomination in the 2021 Webby Awards, and according to CCP Games, they’re currently in first place for the People’s Vote award.
Video games are huge, Szantner said, and as time passes by, it’s important to him that society find new ways for games to impact the world for the better.
“Games are bigger than they’ve ever been,” he said. “It’s a big question of what we can do with them and you know, I think it’s about extracting as much value as possible out of them and that’s basically what we’re doing with Project Discovery. It’s one way to do that, at least. You’re just solving virtual puzzles in a video game, but something as simple as cracking a virtual in-game problem… is doing so much for the real world now.”
Finnbogason said the more they learn about what players are accomplishing with Project Discovery, the more humbling it all is.
“It’s super humbling for us as developers,” he said. “MMOs are so much about building relationships and fostering human interaction, and so this, I think, is yet another project proving that the line between games and reality is merging. It’s a super interesting and exciting time for us and who knows what’s next.”
Szantner said he hopes what’s next is that other developers join in, and some already have. A science-based, citizen science project can be found in Borderlands 3, but Szantner sees limitless potential for what games and their players can do for science.
“I believe this is a very important project, almost like a mission, to show the world that this works,” he said. “Ultimately, the more game devs that jump on board, and the more gamer communities that join, the more we are progressing forward to build practically an unlimited human computation engine.
“It was a miracle to pull off Project Discovery. Now it’s proven and now we can show it works. Now we can show it brings value to gaming communities, game development companies, and science. I think it’s a much easier decision for game developers to come in and implement it into the games… and I hope to see more of it happen in the future.”
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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer, guide maker, and science guru particularly interested in the intersection of science and games. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.
The brand-new 2021 Apple iMac with M1 chip is set to release on June 1, but you can preorder it now. These machines come equipped with the speedy Apple-made M1 chip, and they’re available in an array of color options. They look pretty great, and multiple configurations are available to reserve from a variety of retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, and Apple.
You’ll find full details about these new machines, as well as preorder links, below. Let’s get to it.
So far, we’re seeing these machines available for preorder on Amazon, Best Buy, and the Apple Store. You can customize them, or find various configurations, at any of the retailers, though the Apple Store offers the deepest levels of customization.
M1 iMac Colors
These new machines come in seven color options. The colors are bold on the back, with lighter shades for the stand and the chin beneath the monitor.
The least-expensive configuration for the new iMac costs $1299 and is available in blue, green, pink, and silver. Another configuration starting at $1499 is available in those colors, as well as yellow, orange, and purple.
What is the M1?
The M1 is a system on a chip. Rather than outsourcing the processor to Intel as in previous Macs, Apple makes the entire M1 itself. The chip incorporates the processor, graphics, memory, and more components into a small, thin chip that allows for the iMacs to be so thin.
Last year, the M1 debuted in MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini. This year, Apple is continuing to put M1 chips in its devices, including these new iMacs, and also in the iPad Pro. All of the existing M1 devices have gotten glowing reviews, with critics saying they run much faster and cooler than the previous Intel-equipped Macs.
How Thick is the M1 iMac?
A better question might be how thin they are. At 11.5 mm, they’re ultra-thin.
The new iMac is so thin it can’t even support an ethernet port on its body, so Apple has moved it to the box on the power cable. The baseline iMac has two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports. Pick the $1499 one, and you also get two additional USB 3 ports. Like the MagSafe connectors of yore, the power cable connects magnetically. And even the cable comes in a color matching the computer.
M1 iMac Display
The front of this computer is mostly a screen, really. The screen is a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display that supports 500 nits of brightness. Like most of the other screens Apple makes, it has an anti-reflective coating and supports True Tone technology that makes colors look good no matter the lighting conditions of the room around you.
Above the monitor is a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, an improvement over previous models. The computer has six speakers to create full-sounding audio, with strong lows, mids, and highs.
M1 iMac Accessories
Along with the iMac itself, the box also contains a power cord and power adapter, USB-C to Lightning cable, a Magic Mouse, and a Magic Keyboard. The color of the power cord, mouse, and keyboard all match the iMac you choose.
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Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
Steven Spielberg’s next movie has its title. The Fabelmans will be a semi-autobiographical work, drawing from the director’s own childhood in Arizona during the 1950’s and 60’s, per Slash Film. The production is planning to hold open casting calls for the role of Sammy, which is based on Spielberg’s younger self.
Casting director Cindy Tolan, who worked on Spielberg’s upcoming remake of West Side Story, is organizing casting calls for the lead character. The production is searching for two actors for the role, looking to cast a white male between the ages of 14-18 and a white male between the ages of 6-8. That two actors of different ages are needed seems to imply that the film’s narrative will stretch over a longer distance of time.
The two actors will be joining a cast of established stars. In March, Seth Rogen was announced to play a version of Spielberg’s “favorite uncle.” Michelle Williams will play a character based on Spielberg’s mother, while The Batman’s Paul Dano will play a version of the director’s father. The project is aiming to start production during the summer, with a release planned for 2022.
Spielberg co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Kushner, who collaborated with the director on Munich, Lincoln and West Side Story. The film will mark Spielberg’s first screenwriting credit since 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
Spielberg has frequently turned to open casting calls for his productions, especially in recent years. Numerous auditions were submitted for key roles in Ready Player One and West Side Story.
Before The Fabelmans, Spielberg’s West Side Story will hit theaters on December 10. The film was originally set for a holiday 2020 release, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.
Returnal is getting its first big patch tomorrow, May 5. But ahead of that happening, developer Housemarque is warning players to turn off auto-update, one of the PS5’s convenience features, so they don’t lose progress. The patch is scheduled to go live at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET.
The studio issued the warning in a tweet, telling players to turn off the feature and linking to a Sony support page for the how-to. It makes sense. If your PS5 is in suspend mode when the update goes live, it will automatically quit the game to apply the patch. If you were mid-run when that happened, that progress will be lost.
To turn off auto-updates, you can go to Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings > Automatic Updates. There you can toggle auto-download and auto-install when the console is in Rest Mode.
Rest Mode is one way that Returnal players can take a break from a run, since the game doesn’t allow mid-run saves. That has led to some fans requesting the studio patch in a save feature, though some have argued that’s contrary to the point of the game. Either way, losing progress could seriously slow you down, and the game is pretty long anyway.
These new machines come in seven color options. The colors are bold on the back, with lighter shades for the stand and the chin beneath the monitor.
The M1 is a system on a chip. Rather than outsourcing the processor to Intel as in previous Macs, Apple makes the entire M1 itself. The chip incorporates the processor, graphics, memory, and more components into a small, thin chip that allows for the iMacs to be so thin.
A better question might be how thin they are. At 11.5 mm, they’re ultra-thin.
The front of this computer is mostly a screen, really. The screen is a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display that supports 500 nits of brightness. Like most of the other screens Apple makes, it has an anti-reflective coating and supports True Tone technology that makes colors look good no matter the lighting conditions of the room around you.
Along with the iMac itself, the box also contains a power cord and power adapter, USB-C to Lightning cable, a Magic Mouse, and a Magic Keyboard. The color of the power cord, mouse, and keyboard all match the iMac you choose.