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Even if you’re going back to the office, odds are that you’ll end up spending some time in a home office. And while many people scrambled to collect the various technical accessories that would help them get a high Room Rater score, there’s no such excuse now.

Kensington Computer Products has just rolled out a suite of must-have solutions that will help you show nicely whether you’re sitting in a Zoom meeting, chatting with your colleagues in Microsoft Teams, putting together a podcast for your community group, or recording a video presentation for that online conference.

It starts with a webcam, and the new W1050 camera (US$50) delivers 1080p high defintion video and is flexible enough for just you or a group. You can adjust the angle of the camera and it’s a fixed-focus device, so it’ll keep you looking crisp.

You’ll only look as good as the light on your face, though, which is where the L1000 Bicolor ring light (US$40) comes in. This has a mount in the middle of the ring designed for a webcam so you’ll have soft, consistent light to illuminate you. Because it’s an LED device, you can control the colour of the light, too, from cool blue to warm yellow.

The A1020 Boom Arm (US$90) connects the two together and anchors them to your desk or table, giving you the ability to move things around to accommodate your setup. It’s designed with a groove down the arm to help manage the cables coming down from the ring light and webcam.

And once you’ve got the video under control you can turn your attention to the audio with a reasonably priced headset, the H1000 (US$50), and a headset switch (US$150), which enables you to easily move your audio between sources, including computers, smartphones, and tablets. These can be hardwired with USB-C, USB-A, or 3.5 mm cables, or using Bluetooth. By tapping a button you can move from your conference call to watching the latest movie trailers on your phone without having to take off your headphones.

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Deathloop releases for Xbox, Hardspace releases for PS5 and Xbox, Return to Monkey Island releases for Nintendo Switch, EA announces an Iron Man game, and a look at the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer beta.

Two great games arrive on new gaming systems

A couple of really great games are going to get some new players because they’re appearing on new systems.

First is Deathloop, the repeating day shooter from Arkane, a Bethesda studio, which is now available on Xbox Series X/S (and also on Xbox Game Pass) because of Microsoft’s acquisition of the Bethesda group last year.

The game’s creative director, Dinga Bakaba, shared some tips on Twitter for new players. Chief among them: “it’s normal to be confused in the beginning”.

Also arriving on Xbox Series X/S (and on Xbox Game Pass) and also PS5 is Hardspace: Shipbreaker, the space simulation game developed in Vancouver at Blackbird Interactive.

Guybrush is back, and Iron Man gets a new life

“Return to Monkey Island”: was released this week for Nintendo Switch. It’s a return to the adventure game franchise for the original creators, Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, who created it all some thirty years ago. The new game picks up where Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge left off back in 1991, with pirate wannabe Guybrush Threepwood getting into all sorts of shenanigans.

On Tuesday, we learned that one of the secret projects in development at Electronic Arts’ Motive Studios is an Iron Man game.

The game, which is getting an original story, is in pre-production at Motive, which has studios in Montreal and Toronto. The early announcement is being used to recruit staff to work on the game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beta convinces one fireteam the new game is worth buying

I like Activision’s Call of Duty games, but I’ve always focused on the single-player story campaigns, largely because I don’t have a group of gamer friends who I can play with regularly to explore the multiplayer options.

So when I was offered the chance to get in on the multiplayer beta for Modern Warfare 2, I enlisted a fireteam – they call themselves Geriatrix – that’s been playing together for years. The early beta was only available on Playstation. Convenient, as that’s the system these guys play on. Some of them are still on PS4s but most have upgraded to PS5.

Their report back was that Modern Warfare 2 is definitely something they’ll be picking up.

They were most impressed with the maps, the environments in which the multiplayer episodes take place. Typical multiplayer maps provide players with three lanes to move towards the opponent, but the level design in MW2 is more varied and is a departure from previous Call of Duty games.

Character movement through the environments was also something the players appreciated. The game introduces sliding and diving actions, as well as ledge hanging. And you can take your avatar into the water, too, for stealth or as an escape.

As for the weapons, the general feeling by the players was that the guns were satisfying and responsive, but there were concerns about how weapon improvements were unlocked. This is due to a change by developer Infinity Ward in how Gunsmith works. I suspect that with a bit of practice and exposure, the players will appreciate that they can have attachments for weapon families unlocked for all subsequent pickups.

The biggest complaint was the interface. The players had difficulty navigating through the menus and options, and this is not a unique complaint.

The MW2 multiplayer experience adds two new modes this year in Prisoner Rescue, which puts two six-player teams against each other to either rescue or defend captives, and Knockout, which is kind of like keepaway.

The multiplayer beta opens up to Xbox and computer gamers this weekend.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 releases on October 28. Digital pre-orders will grant players access to the single-player campaign for up to a week.

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This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about the utility of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop Go 2 for high school and university students, Amazon’s newest Kindle, Splatoon 3 for the Nintendo Switch, a new Pokemon-themed Nintendo Switch OLED, the release date of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and the remastered version of GoldenEye 007.

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All Nintendo this week, with a look at Splatoon 3, the vibrant Scarlet & Violet edition Nintendo Switch OLED console, and news from the latest Nintendo Direct, including details of upcoming games and the release date of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Stylish Splatoon 3 invests in story

Splatoon 3, for the Nintendo Switch, is as much fun ss ever, but gives players a bit more reason to play on their own.

The franchise was an overt attempt to come up with an online shooter game that felt like it belonged on a Nintendo console. A third-person experience, it had all the mechanics of a Call of Duty or Halo but instead of the gritty setting of warfare, the arena was a skatepark, and the goal was to paint the environment with actual paint, instead of blood.

The characters were Inklings, bratty teenager types who transform from humanoid into an aquatic squid form and can dive into and swim through the ink. It was stylish and original.

The sequel opened up the world and refined the hipster teen attitude, and its Octo Expansion introduced a single-player story as well as the Octoling characters, which are octopods.

The great appeal in Spatoon 3 are the multiplayer modes.

Turf War Battle mode, which pits two teams of four players against each other in an attempt to cover the area with your colour of ink. And Salmon Run, which is now always available, in which your team has to fend off waves of Salmonids.

And there are obstacle course competitions, too, that you can compete in with friends.

Through it all you can customize your Inkling or Octoling with outfits and colour patterns and props, and there are a variety of weapons that you can unlock and wield and special moves to select from to make your character individual to you.

What’s new here, aside from the larger, even more vibrant world, is the larger, more fleshed out narrative that provides a bit more structure to the world the Inklings and Octolings inhabit.

Add to all that some improvements to how players can get into the game, and Splatoon 3 is a fantastic and fun addition to the Nintendo Switch library.

Pokemon themed Nintendo Switch OLED model coming soon

The next Pokemon games, Scarlet and Violet, arrive on November 18, but you can get a lovely Nintendo Switch OLED decorated with the legendary Koraidon and Miraidon Pokemon on November 4.

The console will cost $470, the regular price of the OLED model of Switch, and does not include either version of the game.

The Scarlet & Violet console will be available at select stores, some of which may be taking deposits on preorders. These won’t stay in stock, so make your plans now.

Nintendo’s new Zelda game comes in May

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be available for the Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023. This is a sequel to Breath of the Wild, which came out in 2017 as a launch title for what was then Nintendo’s new console, the Switch (it was also available for Wii U).

The release date was announced as part of NIntendo’s latest online event, at which they also announced a partnership with Microsoft and game development studio, Rare.

GoldenEye 007 was developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 console in 1997 and is considered a groundbreaking first-person shooter.

Rare is now an Xbox Games Studio but has been working on a remastered version of GoldenEye 007 which will be released on Xbox Game Pass. At the same time, the original game is being released for subscribers to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.

The full Nintendo Direct, with announcements of a new Kirby game (Return to Dream Land Deluxe, a remake of the 2011 Wii game), EA’s It Takes Two, four Resident Evil games, and kung fu brawler Sifu.

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Microsoft’s Surface devices are legit useful for students and Amazon’s announced a new Kindle electronic reader.

Microsoft’s tablet and notebook options are great for students

There are a couple of things that make Microsoft’s Surface devices appealing for students in high school and university.

One is that they are full-on computers that run the Windows 11 operating system. With so many schools adopting Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365, it just makes sense to seriously consider being in that ecosystem while you’re in school.

The second reason is the touchscreens. Even the Surface laptops have touchscreens, which is amazingly useful at times, like mucking around with spreadsheets and creating presentation decks.

Me and the kids have been playing with a couple of the most recent models of Surfaces, and we like them.

My primary complaint stems from the Microsoft software needing to constantly authenticate, which can mean that startup time lags while the computer connects to the cloud.

The Surface Pro 8 (starting at $1,400) is a tablet first and becomes a slick drawing and note-taking device if you get Microsoft’s Slim Pen 2 ($170) stylus.

It’s got a 13-inch screen and I like the built-in stand that folds out of the back of the Pro 8, as opposed to having a stand come as part of a case. That’s why it works better than other tablets as a laptop when you pair it with a Surface Pro Signature Keyboard ($230; comes in a model with a fingerprint reader for $250).

The Surface Laptop Go 2 (starting at $740) is a full-featured laptop with a crisp 12.4-inch display. It’s small and light and robust, so it can be tossed – gently – into a backpack with a binder and some textbooks.

Microsoft also has a Surface Laptop 4 (starting at $1,099), which is a higher powered laptop intended for business – as opposed to school – purposes. We didn’t try that one out.

Nor did we try the Surface Laptop Studio (starting at $2,049), which has the delightful articulating screen.

As much as I like the Surface devices, I’m still annoyed that Microsoft has such a confusing naming system for them. It shouldn’t be so difficult to figure out which Surface model is best for you, but being able to differentiate between the Pro and the Laptop and the Laptop Go.

But odds are that if you can figure that out, there’s a Microsoft Surface that will work for you.

Amazon’s new Kindle is light and with a better display

On Tuesday, Amazon revealed an update to its popular Kindle electronic reader.

The new Kindle is priced at $130, and a higher resolution display than before. The six-inch screen is non-reflective, so you don’t have to worry about glare in bright light.

And this updated model has 16 GB of storage, double what was in the last model, with enough space for thousands of books, and a battery that will last up to six weeks with regular reading use.

It’s also light enough that you can easily hold it with one hand.

What it lacks, that you can get in the Kindle Paperwhite (for an extra $20), is waterproofing.

The new Kindle is available for pre-order now and will be released on October 12.

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