This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about the new game, Hogwarts Legacy, and the challenge it may pose for some gamers. We also talked about the new mobile game, Tomb Raider Reloaded.

The new game based on the world of Harry Potter has its detractors, and how you can get Lara Croft onto your smartphone.

Hogwarts Legacy game something of a quandary

There have been a few video game set in the world of Harry Potter, but none have attracted the attention of Hogwarts Legacy.

This isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Hogwarts Legacy is set in the 1800s, a century before the time of Harry Potter, but there’s much here that is familiar. There’s a teacher with the surname Weasley, a headmaster with the surname Black, and all manner of creatures and goings-on at the castle in the Scottish Highlands.

This is an open world role-playing game where you’ll explore and collect and level up your character, a fifth-year student who is attending Hogwarts for the first time.

You can customize your character in a number of ways, choosing different noses and hair styles and skin colours.

And you can choose your name and gender identity, mixing things up however you like. Which is significant, given the overt and public anti-transgender beliefs of the person who created the Harry Potter world.

There’s a reasonable protest to Hogwarts Legacy as a result.

As a game, this is a serviceable open world that has its own take on combat which stretches into the casting of spells. The controls for moving around the world are a bit soft, but aren’t tragic.

Developed by Avalanche, a Warner Bros. Games studio, the visuals and environments are immersive and compelling.

The story, which is based in the Wizarding World lore, is interesting, and the characters fully developed and believable. People who are enamoured with this universe will want to spend time in Hogwarts Legacy because it is such a convincing representation.

But anyone playing the game is advised to do so after first understanding the criticism to it, to better inform that decision.

Hogwarts Legacy is available now for PS5, Windows, and Xbox X/S. It’s planned for release on PS4 and Xbox One this spring, and on the Nintendo Switch this summer. Rated teen.

Tomb Raider Reloaded puts Lara Croft on your smartphone

Developed by Burnaby’s Emerald City Games, Tomb Raider Reloaded is a roguelike that has you guiding Lara Croft through a series of levels in which you need to navigate around dangerous obstacles and defeat treacherous enemies.

The farther you go, the better the loot, the better the power ups, and the more intense the action.

Tomb Raider Reloaded is published by CDE Entertainment, which includes the Eidos-Montreal studio. It’s playable on Android and iOS and is free to play for Netflix subscribers.

ChatGPT is the latest information technology from OpenAI, which also brought us the Dall-E 2 image generating system.

GPT is an acronym for “generative pre-trained transformer”, which means it was trained to write like a human by studying text written by humans.

And the text that ChatGPT can deliver is at times convincing, and at other times laughable.

If you’re in higher education, the thoughts of professor Emily Pitts Donahoe and her writing students are revealing.

My students and I talked about ChatGPT in my first-year writing course this week. Some dispatches from the front lines of teaching in the age of AI: 1/

— Dr. Emily Pitts Donahoe (@EmPittsDonahoe) February 10, 2023

What Microsoft has done is to use the technology to improve its Bing search engine experience.

But this all could come at a cost. Jacob Ward lays it out.

@byjacobward If we won’t be “Googling,” what will we be doing? #ai #artificialintelligence #tech #technology #techtok #microsoft #msft #google #alphabet #baidu original sound – Jacob Ward

This week on The Shift, guest host Martin Strong and I talked about the latest Nintendo Direct event, including the shadow drop of Metroid Prime Remastered and the new Tears of the Kingdom trailer. We also discussed the new customizable DualSense Edge controller for the PS5, the Matter smart home specification, gesture functionality for Echo Show smart speakers, and the beauty of the Roku television operating system.

Nintendo had some surprises for gamers today, and the PS5 DualSense Edge controller provides the customization options that serious gamers want.

Nintendo announces new games, suite of classic games coming to the Switch

In an online presentation today, Nintendo had lots to show off.

New games coming to the Switch include the puzzle adventure Pikmin 4, the logig puzzle adventure Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, and a new Tron game – Tron: Identity – from Bithell Games.

Some classic games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online subscription service, too, including The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Kirby’s Dream Land, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit.

Metroid Prime Remastered released for the Switch

Metroid Prime is the space adventure that brought Samus Aran into 3D. Originally released for the GameCube back in 2002, a remastered version was announced – and released – by Nintendo today.

The new edition boasts better graphics and a revamped control scheme and is available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop, and a boxed version will arrive on February 22.

Latest look at Tears of the Kingdom

A new trailer to the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was also part of the Nintendo Direct today. It shows off an expansive world that has Link soaring into the sky as well as roaming along the ground.

And while you can opt for the digital version of this lovely game, the collector’s edition is very appealing for Zelda fans as it includes a collection of artwork from the game, a poster, and a set of four pins.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out on the Nintendo Switch on May 12.

New DualSense Edge customizable PS5 controller is slick

The fully customizable DualSense Edge controller ($270) for Sony’s PS5 console isn’t for everyone. But if you are the kind of gamer who constantly remaps control schemes and prefers different controls for different games, the DualSense Edge has the right weight, the perfect balance, and the crisp response that you want.