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SteelSeries’ award-winning Arctis 7 wireless gaming headset arrives just in time for the next generation of consoles in two distinct flavors – the Arctis 7X and Arctis 7P (for Xbox and PlayStation, respectively). Featuring improved battery life, USB-C connectivity, and a fresh coat of paint to match your new Xbox Series X or PS5, this is an all-around fantastic headset.

Just as many games get a “definitive edition” upgrade for the next-gen consoles, this is very clearly the definitive version of the Arctis 7 headset.

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SteelSeries Arctis 7 – Design and Features

The SteelSeries Arctis 7X and Arctis 7P feature the same S1 40mm audio drivers as the original Arctis 7 headset, as well as DTS Headphone:X v2.0 for spatial surround sound audio (although surround sound is not supported on PlayStation consoles as this feature is still locked to Sony’s first-party USB headsets). Both gaming headsets include a USB-C dongle adapter that allows for lossless and low-latency 2.4GHz wireless audio up to 40 feet (12m) away.

The battery life has been improved a bit from the original Arctis 7 headset now featuring up to 24 hours of wireless playtime (up from 20 hours previously), giving you that extra bump for extended play sessions.

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A major difference between the two headsets is compatibility. The Arctis 7X is designed for Xbox Series X and S, but also works with Xbox One X and S, PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch (both docked and in handheld mode), and Android devices (with a USB-C connector). The Arctis 7P is designed for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 but also works with Nintendo Switch (in docked and handheld mode), gaming PC, and Android devices (with a USB-C connector).

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Of course, you can plug either headset into a compatible device with a 3.5mm auxiliary output for audio listening, as well. So, between the two headsets, the Arctis 7X covers all your bases, while the Arctis 7P is a bit more limited with its compatibility.

The dongle included with the Arctis 7X is a bit larger to allow for Xbox wireless audio compatibility and features a toggle for “Xbox” or “USB” while the Arctis 7P does not feature a toggle. Both headsets include a USB-C to USB-A adapter cable, allowing you to plug the dongle into just about any USB device.

Much of the design from the original Arctis 7 remains unchanged, and the Arctis 7X and Arctis 7P are virtually identical to one another, aside from a few minor differences. Both headsets feature the signature Ski Goggle Headband that offers extreme comfort without putting much pressure on the top of your head. In fact, the headset almost floats above your head with its suspended design. The headband can be adjusted to accommodate various head sizes, and when dialed in properly offers a very snug fit without causing any discomfort.

The frame of the headband itself is made of a sturdy, lightweight aluminum, giving it a premium feel without feeling like it could snap if stretched too wide. The rest of the headset is built from a matte plastic that blends well with the overall design and doesn’t feel cheap.

The ear cups feature an around-the-ear design and what SteelSeries call Airweave ear cushions. The foam inserts are covered with a soft, breathable mesh design that allows for better airflow to and from your ears.

On the outside of the headset’s ear cups are the controls and inputs. There’s a standard volume dial that’s large and has a textured grip on it so it’s easy to find. A mute button sits above the volume dial and sits flush with the headset when the microphone is open. If the microphone is muted, the button actually pops out so it’s easy to tell which state it’s in. The mic boom also features a small LED strip light on it that illuminates red when muted, so it’s easy to tell whether the microphone is muted or not without having to find the button itself.

There’s a micro-USB port for charging the headset as well as a proprietary input for the included 3.5mm auxiliary cable for connecting to iOS and Android phones. There’s also a 3.5mm auxiliary output just below this port that allows for audio sharing directly from the headset, so you and a friend can listen to music or watch a movie together with two separate headsets.

The boom mic is on the left side of the headset and includes a retractable design. The ClearCast microphone is the same as the original Arctis 7 headset, featuring bidirectional audio that helps cancel out any unwanted noise.

On the opposite ear cup is the power button which also doubles as the battery indicator, illuminating green, yellow, or red to let you know roughly how much battery life is remaining.

The dial above the power button is different for each headset. On the Arctis 7X it is a ChatMix dial, allowing you to easily adjust the game audio and voice chat audio mix in real-time without having to go into any menus. On the Arctis 7P this dial is instead a sidetone adjustment that allows you to fine-tune the microphone monitoring of your own voice played back in the headset.

The other difference between the two headsets is the color itself. The Arctis 7X features an all-black design with green lines stitched into the Ski Goggle Headband that pairs well with the Xbox Series X design. The Arctis 7P is predominantly white, and includes black and blue accents to match the PS5’s new design. The Arctis 7P is also available in black if you prefer a more uniform colorway, though.

SteelSeries Arctis – Software

Both headsets are paired with the USB-C dongle out of the box which allows for a truly plug-and-play experience without any setup. If you’re playing on PC, you can download the SteelSeries Engine 3 software that gives you the ability to fine-tune either headset further including EQ controls, dynamic range compression adjustments, microphone sidetone levels (on the Arctis 7X only), and update the device’s firmware. You can also customize and save different preset configurations tuned for gaming, movies, and music.

SteelSeries Arctis 7 – Gaming

Both headsets were tested with their respective consoles (Arctis 7X on Xbox One and Arctis 7P on PS4) as well as with PC. As these headsets use the same audio drivers as the previous Arctis 7 headset, not much has changed. It still offers great spatial surround sound (on Windows and Xbox) and a noise-cancelling microphone.

To really get an idea of the surround sound capabilities I played Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, an extremely tactical first-person shooter where every little sound matters, from enemy footsteps to boarded up doors and windows being broken in. The Arctis 7X performed extremely well. Not only was the audio crisp and clear, I was able to discern exactly where enemies were around my character, whether that be somewhere behind me or a floor above. Even small details, like the sound of an enemy phone buzzing in the other room was able to be discerned with pinpoint accuracy.

I tested the microphone by recording voice samples and while it’s definitely not a replacement for a good standalone microphone, it worked surprisingly well. I even spoke into the headset with a fan pointed directly at me and it was able to filter out the sound to a low hum while keeping my voice clear and audible. I only wish the boom on the mic was a bit longer, as it only reaches around to the front side of my mouth. That being said, teammates had no issues hearing me speak during gameplay.

The customizable audio EQ’s are a nice addition on PC, as well, as you can choose from a number of presets including Performance, Immersion, Entertainment, and Music. Each one automatically adjusts the equalizer channels accordingly and there was a noticeable difference between each one. You can create and save custom EQ presets, too, giving you complete control over your audio experience.

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The biggest surprise to me, however, was how comfortable these headsets remain after extended gaming sessions. The around-the-ear nature of the cups ensures no pressure is put on my ears, and even with glasses on I never got any fatigue from wearing them for hours at a time. It’s a fairly light headset, all things considered, and I noticed I wasn’t fidgeting with them to adjust all that often, unlike many other headsets.

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SteelSeries Arctis 7 – Purchasing Guide

Both SteelSeries Arctis 7X and SteelSeries Arctis 7P headsets will be available beginning October 6, 2020 on the SteelSeries’ website or at major retailers for $149.

Netflix has revealed the first official look at Freya Allan as Ciri in The Witcher Season 2.

The two new photos were shared to The Witcher’s official Twitter account on Tuesday in a post that teases Ciri’s training at Kaer Morhen, as the accompanying tweet reads: “She gave tearful goodbyes on a most violent night. Now this child of surprise is preparing to fight.”

The photos were also posted on the show’s official Instagram page, with a caption that suggests that Ciri has been “spending time with a witcher.” In the first snap, Ciri has swapped out her usual hooded robes for a combat-ready outfit, as she clutches for a weapon by her side. The second image reveals that her weapon is a wooden practice sword, which further teases Ciri and Geralt’s training sessions.

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The official synopsis for The Witcher Season 2 confirms that Ciri will be visiting the Witcher castle Kaer Morhen, which is presumably the snow-covered grounds that she is pictured in above.

It reads: “Convinced Yennefer’s life was lost at the Battle of Sodden, Geralt of Rivia brings Princess Cirilla to the safest place he knows, his childhood home of Kaer Morhen. While the Continent’s kings, elves, humans, and demons strive for supremacy outside its walls, he must protect the girl from something far more dangerous: the mysterious power she possesses inside.”

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These two new images follow the release of the first-look photos of Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia yesterday, which show The White Wolf suited up in his new armour. In the photos, the actor is wearing an all-black studded leather outfit with large shoulder plates and extended wrist cuffs, together with some belt and buckle detailing to ensure that he’s harnessed in for any dual-wielding this season.

We’ll find out more about Geralt and Ciri’s adventures when The Witcher Season 2 premieres in 2021. Filming resumed on The Witcher’s highly anticipated second season in August following a five-month production shutdown as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Netflix is also currently hard at work on The Witcher: Blood Origin and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Fallout 76 group the Free States Militia found its group wiped from Facebook with no warning last week, after either Facebook moderation AI or a human moderator mistook it for a real militia, Kotaku reports. The group has now been reinstated, but the accidental ban speaks to Facebook’s uneven moderation efforts.

The Free States Militia’s social media may be confusing for onlookers with no knowledge of Fallout lore, but the group is for players who want to roleplay as members of Fallout’s Appalachian Free States. The group posted about their ban on Twitter, saying that the group had been removed and five of its admins had been banned from Facebook outright.

“It makes no sense, especially when there are real life militia groups still up and running on Facebook,” a Free States admin told Kotaku over private message.

The group was reinstated after just a day after outcry from other members of the Fallout 76 community. “We apologize for removing the Fallout 76 Groups in error and have since restored the Group and admin accounts,” Facebook said in a statement sent to Kotaku. “We are committed to taking action against Groups tied to violence. We have both AI that detects these groups as well as 15,000 human content reviewers, but occasionally Groups are removed in error. If we detect a Group is connected to a dangerous organization, we may remove the Group and associated admin Profiles are disabled.”

Facebook hasn’t said what about the Free States Militia group that triggered it for deletion, even as the platform faces criticism for failing to get rid of actual militias peddling dangerous rhetoric on the social media platform.

The Free States Militia has now removed the word “Militia” from its account names, and is being overly cautious with its social media presences. The group’s Twitter handle now reads “FSM Playstation Video Game Club,” while the Facebook group has been rebranded as “The Original Free States (Fallout 76 Group) PS4.”

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has a new official podcast, one that will get you acquainted with the history of the vikings ahead of the game’s release. The series, Echoes of Valhalla, consists of five episodes, all of them available now.

The series is a documentary, featuring history experts and comedians taking part in reconstructed scenes from Scandinavian history. Each episode focuses on a different part of Viking life, including details of their lives and military strategies.

The show is exclusive to Spotify, so you can’t listen to it on Apple podcasts, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else. You can listen to the whole show on the embedded player below.

Here’s the episode list:

• Episode 1 : The Sons of the Great North (16 mins)
• Episode 2 : Dragon of the Seas (15 mins)
• Episode 3 : Thor’s Hammer (16 mins)
• Episode 4 : Birth of an Empire (16 mins)
• Episode 5 : the Dawn of a New Era (16 mins)

It does not seem that further future episodes are planned, which is good news for those of us with huge podcast backlogs. While you’re on Spotify, it’s worth checking out the Valhalla EP, featuring seven songs from the game.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla releases November 10 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC. Ubisoft is offering free upgrades on both platforms, with the Xbox versions using Microsoft’s Smart Delivery system.

Super Mario Bros. 35 is available now on Switch, pitting 35 different Marios against each other in a hectic take on the battle royale genre. The only problem is now, like other battle royale games before it, Mario 35 is seeing cheaters emerge, posting impossibly high scores.

As picked up by Polygon, the game’s global leaderboard shows a number of players who supposedly collected 99,999 coins in a single match, where most players would be lucky to even pass 1000.

Another Twitter user found the point in the leaderboard where the scores jumped by a huge margin–rank number 58 has just 4450 coins, while 57 has a huge 24,386.

Other users have pointed to a YouTube video that explains how the exploits for unlimited coins are pulled off. Nintendo has now had the video taken down with a copyright claim–while they’re pro-active at getting videos containing hacks and cheats taken off YouTube, it’s unclear what action they’re taking against cheaters in the game.

Super Mario Bros. 35 sees players running levels from the classic Super Mario Bros. game in tandem with 34 other players. To add a more competitive element, enemies vanquished by one player are then transported to other players’ games.

The game is available exclusively to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers as a celebration of the original Super Mario Bros.’ 35th anniversary. It’s only available for a limited time, until March 31, 2021.

In what’s become a disappointing theme for sports games in general this year, FIFA 21 takes small steps in improving its core on-the-pitch play, but largely underwhelms off of it, providing very few big changes this time around. Sure, the moment-to-moment action feels as smooth as it has done in recent years, but a lack of real investment in Career mode and only slight changes to its other main modes feel like a series of missed opportunities. Incidentally, that’s something FIFA 21’s goalkeepers know a lot about when attempting to make a save in this game.

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On the surface, those changes are hard to spot. There’s none of the usual big headline features to speak of, such as new set piece systems or the introduction of timed finishing that have come in recent years. But the more time you spend with it, the more you realise how many smaller tweaks have been made, most of them being beneficial. Those add up to something substantial.

For one thing, EA appear to have hit a sweet spot with the pace of gameplay this year, with matches flowing smoothly and, crucially, the speed of the players feeling appropriate when compared to their real-life counterparts. Not every attacker can leave a bedraggled defender in their wake this year, but certain stars such as Kylian Mbappe can – which is just as it should be. Inconsistent pacing has been one of my major criticisms of FIFA over the past couple of years, so it’s a very welcome sight to see this evened out this year.

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When simply gliding past opponents isn’t the answer, though, becoming a pass master will be key. Fortunately, that won’t take too long to achieve, as passing your way up the pitch seems as simple as ever. Almost too simple, as you create triangles of play towards the opposition box until a sight at goal appears. It seems too easy at times to create openings with killer balls being played with ease all too often and needing little skill or vision to pull off. This, combined with significantly improved positional intelligence from AI attackers and ability to now tell them where you’d like them to make a run with the flick of the right stick, leads to many, many opportunities to score over the course of 90 minutes.

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More often than not, these opportunities will turn into goals, largely due to the woeful goalkeeping on display. Goalkeepers rarely hold onto a ball from crosses and corners and tend to punch and flap at the ball 99 times out of 100, with even some of the world’s best shot stoppers seemingly suffering from fever dreams where their hands melt in front of their eyes when a ball enters their vicinity. Then there’s the rebounds from shots that you’d like to think a world-class keeper like Alisson could catch with ease, which usually just deflect into a waiting attacker’s path to be slotted home. Maybe I’m just cursed with bad luck, but this tends to happen far too often to purely be the work of the football gods.

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One contributing factor towards this may be that while the attacking AI may have improved positionally, the same can’t be said as much for defenders. While they seem to come to life around the edge of the box when a shot comes in (I’ve seen a noticeable increase in the amount of players realistically flinging their bodies towards to shots in order to block) they seem over reliant on the player moving each into position, which can be unforgiving at times. I enjoy defending, but I’m not sure FIFA 21 is a game made for players like me, with clean sheets coming at a premium.

That’s not to say I haven’t been enjoying it; the new collision system makes for more robust challenges and slide tackles actually result in you gaining possession regularly, rather than the ball ricocheting off to far reaches of the pitch. Making a bold defensive move offers a high risk factor, perhaps as it should, but I just wish I had a little more assistance from the players I can’t control at times. For example, if I want to bring a defender out to close down an attacker I’d like my centre-back partner to come round and cover if he manages to beat me one on one. This rarely happens though and forwards get clean in on goal all too easily.

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One area that has seen nothing but improvement, though, is crossing – and heading in particular. Gone are the headed shots of FIFA 20 that darted into the stands off of players’ seemingly cubic foreheads. Whipping in a ball from out wide onto a forward now feels like a genuine goal-scoring tactic rather than the low-odds lottery it has done in previous seasons. It’s enjoyable to create a variety of goal-scoring opportunities over the course of a match and not just slipping through-balls to pacey attackers constantly, even if the goalkeeper will ultimately have no answers to any of these questions posed at him.

Volta, Career and FUT

Tweaks have also been made off the pitch with changes to FIFA’s many modes. There’s no huge additions this year like the introduction of Volta in FIFA 20, but there have been adjustments to each that add a little extra punch. Volta, for example, comes with The Debut, a short two to three-hour single-player mode that serves as a re-introduction to the street side of football. To call it a story mode would be glorifying it a bit as it offers very little in terms of engaging story, but serves as a way to display the five new arena locations.

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You’ll play matches against icons everywhere from Sao Paulo to Sydney as well as take on legends in skill challenges. On one particular occasion you’ll take on, and defeat, Kaka (one of the most explosive carriers of a football I’ve ever seen) in a dribbling competition. It’s very cheesy but does serve its purpose of giving you a reason to get back into Volta. Another addition to Volta is the option to now play online cooperatively with friends, something that was bafflingly missing from FIFA 20. All in all, though, Volta is very much like it was last year, and considering it’s a mode I didn’t feel the need to play heavily last year outside of my first week, I can’t see it taking time away from FIFA’s other modes for me this year either.

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However, some of those modes aren’t doing a great job in competing for attention either. Things looked promising when EA teased big changes would be coming to the Career mode in FIFA 21, but sadly, it’s not quite the full facelift that I had been hoping for. Some fun new additions have been made but not enough to bring what used to be the games flagship mode back to its full glory.

The interactive match sim option is probably the most impressive of all the features, even if a similar concept has existed in Madden for a good few years now. The ability to watch the game develop from a birdseye 2D viewpoint fills me, a Football Manager veteran, with nostalgia and serves as a great way to progress quickly through seasons and those cold, rainy nights in Stoke. It’s noteable how quickly you can transition from this viewpoint to taking control of your players if the match isn’t going quite how you planned – that process is near-seamless and genuinely impressive.

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Further borrowing from the Football Manager series are new training and player development systems. Being able to perform training sessions with your players to improve their match sharpness is a fun idea at first, but one I quickly grew tired of. Playing these glorified tutorial sections in order to gain a negligible amount of stat increases didn’t do a lot for me and I quickly found myself simulating them at every opportunity instead.

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Meanwhile, the new player development options allow for more variety and are the closest Career mode comes to actually putting you in a head coach’s shoes. I played around with these systems and was pleasantly surprised with the positive outcomes that can be achieved. For example, when playing as Tottenham I changed Eric Dier’s position from CDM to CB, a move that took him only two weeks to process and changed his overall rating from 78 to 82. I’m a big fan of this system and can’t wait to put it into practice more, whether that be making interesting changes like molding Trent Alexander-Arnold into the midfield playmaker he could be or going all-out bonkers with it and turning Neymar into a tough ball-winning centre-back. Ok, maybe that’s going a bit too far. But you can do terrible things like that if you want, and that’s cool.

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Despite these fun few changes to Career mode, though, most elements are still fairly largely stagnant. The same UI and presentation still exist, along with the drawn-out transfer negotiation scenes being played out by lifeless, Madame Tussaud versions of players and managers. It’s a step in the right direction, but not a big enough one to satisfy my wishes for what Career mode could be.

It’s clear that Career mode isn’t EA’s focus though, and why would it be when Ultimate Team brings in the player base and revenue that it does? FUT is a beast in its own right and has also received a few tweaks this year without rewriting the playbook. These include quality-of-life upgrades, such as the long-awaited removal of fitness cards to the ability to now fully customise your stadium with sights and sounds of your own choosing. I’m a big fan of the latter, which should hopefully further help each club feel different from one another.

There’s also the introduction of FUT co-op, which allows you to experience both Division Rivals and Squad Battles together and share in the joy of eagerly opening a pack to see a 77-rated Ashley Barnes card staring back at you. Admittedly I’ve fallen off of Ultimate Team in recent years, but my favourite way to play FIFA is teaming up with friends in co-op seasons or Pro Clubs so this new addition to FUT could be what gets me back involved. Speaking of Pro Clubs, there’s now the ability to fully customise your squad of players. That’s a small, but much-appreciated feature that I can’t wait to get stuck into.

 

When Pokemon Go first released, it gave a big boost to businesses who happened to sit near a PokeStop or a Gym. Niantic later introduced sponsored PokeStops for businesses who wanted to attract the Pokemon crowd–and is now giving that privilege away for free to 1000 small businesses in need of a pandemic pick-me-up.

Earlier in the year, Niantic asked its players to nominate local small businesses for the program, asking them to describe why the business is important to them and to the community as a whole. Now, out of more than 38,000 submitted, 1000 businesses across the United States, Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Japan have been chosen to be a part of the Local Business Recovery initiative.

These businesses will receive the same perks as sponsored locations, but without having to pay a cent for the privilege. This means the business will become either a PokeStop or a Gym in Pokemon Go, with the potential to be added to Niantic’s other games at some point.

Niantic is also going to add new tools for sponsored businesses “in the near future,” which will involve being able to create promotional campaigns or even be part of in-game events and features. It all comes as part of Niantic’s Sponsored Location program, which is still in a beta phase.

The businesses chosen to be a part of the Initiative will have free access to the sponsored program for a year. Niantic is clearly hoping more Pokemon Go players will be getting out and about again soon, with a number of its pandemic bonuses having been phased out at the start of October.