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Consumer technology
This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about the games Viewfinder and Stardew Valley, the animated shorts promoting Starfield, and the aggregate cost of monthly subscriptions.
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Viewfinder is a unique puzzle game, Stardew Valley comes to Apple Arcade, and a series of animated shorts set the tone for this fall’s Starfield.
This puzzle game starts simple, but quickly builds in complexity to deliver a unique and challenging experience.
Viewfinder, developed by Sad Owl Studios and published by Thunderful Games, is a series of spaces that you must navigate through. To do so, you need to manipulate your surroundings with the clever application of images.
At first, the images are simply photos and artwork that you can pick up from the environment. You hold them up and “place” them and they become part of the three-dimensional space you inhabit. In this way you can create paths or remove obstacles.
Things get tricky when new variables, like a photocopy machine, are added. But the fun comes in figuring out where you need to go, and how you can change the perspective of the world so you can get there.
Viewfinder is available on PS5 and Windows.
Stardew Valley, the popular countrycore simulation game that has players building farms, raising animals, and growing crops, is now available to Apple Arcade subscribers.
The “plus” version in the Arcade includes all updates that have been made to the original game and can be played offline and without any ads with an Apple Arcade sub.
Grab Stardew Valley+ in the App Store.
In the lead up to the release of Starfield, the eagerly anticipated exploration, adventure, role-playing game from Bethesda Softworks, the studio is telling the stories of some of the worlds that you’ll be able to explore when the game releases on September 6.
The “Starfield Animated Anthology” is a collection of animated shorts from the studio, and three videos were released this week.
There’s no dialogue, but there are distinct stories being told here. The characters coming from different backgrounds – different worlds – but sharing a yearning to explore other worlds.
Supra Et Ultra is about a courier pilot in the city of New Atlantis, the capital of the United Colonies.
Where Hope is Built has Vanna looking for parts that she can use to repair her ship to get out of Akila City and off world.
The Hand That Feeds is set on Neon and features two thugs in a pleasure city who have to make a choice about whether to save someone.
Starfield will be playable on Windows and on Xbox Series X/S consoles and is available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
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Samsung’s latest devices, and the monthly cost of digital entertainment subscriptions.
Samsung’s annual summer showcase happened on Wednesday, and the tech company revealed a new watch, a new tablet, and new folding and flip phones.
The devices are all available for preorder now and will be released on August 11.
Starting at $1,300, the Z Flip5 gives you a larger screen on the front of the handset. The 3.4-inch Flex Window can be configured to show a variety of widgets.
Starting at $2,400, the Z Fold5 is thinner and lighter than earlier models. A key accessory is the S Pen Fold Edition, created to work with the Fold handsets. The case for the Z Fold5 and the S Pen has an elegant storage space for the styus.
Two models of the Galaxy Watch6 are available and they all have more sleep tracking functionality.
The standard Watch6 is available in 40mm (starting at $410) and 44mm (starting at $450) sizes, and the Watch6 Classic, which has a rotating bezel, has 43mm (starting at $550) and 47mm (starting at $590) sizes. They are all available with optional cellular connections.
The latest Samsung Galaxy tablets, which use Google’s Android operating system, all come with the Galaxy S Pen stylus.
There are three sizes:
The screens are AMOLED and feature high dynamic range (HDR) and dynamic refresh rates from 60 Hz to 120 Hz.
If you preorder a Galaxy Tab S9 before August 10, you get double the storage capacity for no extra charge.
I don’t have cable television at home, but our family does have some subscriptions to digital entertainment services:
The total monthly spend is: $95 a month.
Add to that our monthly cost for a fibre internet connection with unlimited data at a cost of $133, and the grand total is $228.
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Consumer technology
This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about Xbox Game Pass Core, Antstream Arcade on Xbox Series consoles, Ridiculous Fishing EX on Apple Arcade, and Google’s Nearby Share for Windows.
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Microsoft is retiring Xbox Live, Antstream brings 1,300 emulated games to Xbox, Ridiculous Fishing lands on Apple Arcade.
Xbox Live, the service that Microsoft initiated in 2002, is wrapping up in September as Xbox Live Gold is replaced with Xbox Game Pass Core.
The move puts all of the Xbox subscriptions into the Game Pass bucket as of September 14, 2023.
Existing Xbox Live Gold subscribers will automatically be transferred to Game Pass Core as the cost is the same: $12 a month or $70 a year.
Game Pass Core provides access to multiplayer gaming and a curated list of more than 25 games from the larger Game Pass library. Titles available on September 14 include Among Us, Dishonored 2, Gears 5, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and Psychonauts 2.
Game Pass Console gives subscribers access to the entire library, but no multiplayer access. To have it all, you’re looking for Game Pass Ultimate, which is $19 a month or $226 a year.
Core
25+ games, multiplayer access
$12 a month or $70 a year
Console
100s of games, no multiplayer access
$13 a month or $156 a year
PC
100s of games, multiplayer access
$12 a month or $144 a year
Ultimate
All of the above
$19 a month or $226 a year
A new game streaming service has launched on Xbox Series X/S consoles that brings with it more than 1,300 games.
The Antstream Arcade catalogue includes games from systems like Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari 8-Bit and Atari 2600, Sega Genesis, Nintendo NES and SNES, and also arcade titles like Asteroids, Joust, Metal Slug, and Pac-Man. Many of these are games that have never been playable on an Xbox console before now.
(See the full games list.)
You also get classic game leaderboards and the opportunity to compete in daily tournaments.
Through Xbox you can get a full year of access for $43 Cdn or you can lock down a lifetime pass for $124.
You can also get Antstream on macOS and Windows systems and you can play through a browser on any computer.
One of the funnest mobile games created, Ridiculous Fishing, is now available to play for free with an Apple Arcade subscription ($6 a month and also available with an Apple One bundle).
Ridiculous Fishing EX is actually an updated version of the game from Vlambeer that has you sinking a line as deep into the ocean as possible by avoiding the creatures, and then catching those same creatures as your line retracts. It culminates in a shooting gallery, with you earning cash for every creature you blast from the sky.
The new version of the game introduces a competitive mode and challenges and leaderboards.
The Mind Control Division is the intelligence arm of Blaine Kyllo's Solo Corps Creative Incorporated. This department conducts investigations and experiments into media and technology culture.