You can play Assassin’s Creed Mirage now and Forza Motorsport next Tuesday, and the Battlestorm Brawl live tournament bracket is set.

Forza Motorsport ditches the number, becomes a platform

While this is the eighth Forza Motorsport, Turn 10 has made the decision to get rid of the iteration numbers and just admit that the racing sim is a platform.

That means that while the game launches next week with 20 tracks and 500 cars, including electric cars like the Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, additional tracks and cars will be added and the game improved without needing to release a new game. Necessarily.

The Motorsport versions of Forza have always been about pure racing and tuning a car for the job and that has never been more true than with this 2023 edition. Any of the fluff has been burned away to reveal the hard, fast core of Forza. This is about racing, against others, and going for victory.

What distinguishes the modern Motorsport is the attention paid to accessibility enhancements to allow everyone to experience the thrill of automobile racing. There’s even something called “blind drive assist” that allows people with visual impairments to play.

Accessibility consultant Brandon Cole, aka Superblindman, helped develop the features and has created videos to help people learn how to use the audio cues to drive.

Forza Motorsport is available on October 10 for Windows and Xbox Series X/S, and is a part of Xbox Game Pass. Rated everyone.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage scales back, slows down

I’ve already shared my thoughts about Mirage, the new Assassin’s Creed game from Ubisoft.

What’s become more clear to me now that I’ve been playing the final version of the game without any breaks in the narrative is how effectively the game slows down what had become a frenzied pace of action in these adventure games.

Playing as Basim the game encourages thoughtful, intentional action. You are rewarded for paying attention to what’s going on, capturing (and appreciating) detail, and assembling the puzzle pieces.

It’s an appealing way to play, especially when the visuals are so lush, and the characters acted so well.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is now available for PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Rated mature.

Eight qualifying Battlerealm Brawl players have been identified for live Vancouver video game competition

Vancouver’s Kabam games has named the eight Battlerealm Brawl players who will be traveling to Vancouver for an in-person mobile gaming tournament.

The competition has players competing against each other in one-on-one fighting in Marvel Contest of Champions, the game built for Android and iOS devices.

The finalists are identified by their gamer tag and the team they belong to:

• Fintech [NewN] 
• andrewtheruff [4L0ki] 
• Ҏepe 
• MANA•NAGASE [iBrg] 
• Lagacy [4L0ki] 
• zurafa [NewN] 
• Mclz1nkz [GT40] 
• •₮Ɽ₳₱₱Ɏ• [sålty]

The tournament finals are being held at the Gaming Stadium in Richmond, and will also be broadcast live on Twitch.

If you’re in the Lower Mainland, you can attend for free.

Google’s now annual Made By Google event happened today, and during that we got to learn all about the new Pixel devices. We also know all about the latest Fitbit device which was announced a few days ago.

Pixel 8 handsets get brighter screens, face unlock

The design of the new Pixel handsets has changed slightly. They have rounded corners and softer edges with a flat display. They’re also more efficient thanks to the new Tensor G3 chip.

Both handsets get the face unlock feature so you can activate your phone by looking at it, and they maintain the fingerprint sensor, it’s under the screen, in case you prefer it.

Where the two phones differ is in the screen and the cameras.

The 6.2-inch Pixel 8 (starting at $949) is slightly smaller than the Pixel 7 but it has a brigther, Actua display (LTPS OLED) with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a camera with a 50 MP sensor and a 12 MP ultrawide.

The 6.7-inch Pixel 8 Pro (starting at $1349) has a Super Actua display (LTPO OLED) which is brighter and has a variable refresh rate. In addition to the 50 MP sensor on the main camera, the Pro has a 48 MP ultrawide and a 48 MP telephoto.

It’s also got sublime features like “best take” that uses the best pose in group photos and “audio magic eraser” that removes background noise from video recordings.

Purchase a new Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro and Google will include Pixel Buds Pro or a $260 discount on a Pixel Watch 2.

Second generation Pixel Watch catches up

Blending technology from the Fitbit side of the company with the kind of health and fitness features that people expect from a smartwatch, the Pixel Watch 2 ($480 for Wi-Fi only, $550 to include LTE cellular) and its 24-hour battery is on par with competitor wearables.

It’s got workout tracking, fall detection, heart rate sensors and more. And it’s designed to work seamlessly with your Google devices and your Google services like Gmail and Calendar.

Fitbit’s newest tracker is the Charge 6

A few days ago, Google’s Fitbit division pulled the wrapping off the Fitbit Charge 6 ($220), which is primarily a fitness tracker but has a bunch of Google ideas built in.

In addition to the usual heart rate, breathing rate, activity tracking features, the Charge 6 also streams music and has Google Wallet and Google Maps on board.

And the Charge 6 can also connect to certain gym equipment brands, so when you’re at the gym you can connect to Bluetooth-ready equipment and you can pull info from the equipment into your Fitbit to be part of the data you collect.

If you’re keen on Playstation’s new handheld gaming device, the Portal, it’s time to get your order in. I expect these will sell out.

(My thoughts on the Portal are here and here.)

The $270 device is not a truly portable console, but through Wi-Fi connects to and plays games off your PS5 console.

You can preorder now and play on the Portal on November 15, when they ship.

In Canada, preorders can be placed at:

• Amazon
• Best Buy
• Gamestop
• The Source
• Walmart

This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Razer’s Automobili Blade laptop, Huntsman V3 Pro keyboards, and Aether Lights, Meta Quest 3, and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Cyberpunk 2077’s redemption arc is complete with the release of Phantom Liberty and Razer’s got new Blade laptops and funky accessories available.

Phantom Liberty opens up a new narrative genre in Cyberpunk 2077

Okay, it’s time to play Cyberpunk 2077.

The long-awaited 2.0 patch has been released and the Phantom Liberty expansion builds on the scintillating world.

While the main storyline of the game is about seedy undergrounds and the struggle against corporate greed, Phantom Liberty puts you, as V, in the middle of a spy movie. And Idris Elba is your co-star.

The setup is very Escape From New York: the president of New USA is stuck in Dogtown and you get sent in to rescue her. Save the president, save your own life from the chip that’s going to kill you.

Dogtown is a stunning new environment that plays up on Cyberpunk’s neon and flash vision of the future,

And while the choice you made earlier in the game had an impact on the story you played, that’s even more true now, as your decisions are consequential.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is available now for PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series X.

Razer’s got a new Blade laptop, a partnership with Lambo, and gaming chairs

Last week, Razer, purveyor of fine gaming hardware and accessories, rolled out a bunch of new products and updates to existing things. It was all part of RazerCon, an annual celebration of gamers and the gear they love.

The Razer Blade lineup of performance laptops includes a range of sizes, including a new 14-inch model, up to screens that are 18 inches. The newest models have 16×10 aspect rations, providing a little more screen real estate.

The latest special edition is called Automobili, a collaboration with Lamborghini. This elite, 16-inch computer has an overclocked Intel chip with a dual-mode panel. And just like you can see into the inside of a Lamborghini car, so too can you see into the Automobili’s vapour chamber and get a glimpse of the Lambo-orange fan blades. Available for $5,000, only 150 of these units are available.

Razer also has chairs for gamers, designed with the idea that people will be sitting in them for long periods. The Fujin line is the latest addition and includes a mesh back for breathability.

What might be most appealing to the PC gaming community, though, is the line of mechanical keyboards, the Huntsman V3 Pro line.

There are three versions of this robust, keyboard designed for competition: full-size ($340), TKL (without the numeric pad) ($300), and mini (60% regular size) ($250). These keyboards have adjustable actuation, so you can set the sensitivity of the keys to your preference. And because the settings for the keyboard are saved on the device, not on a computer, you can plug the Huntsman into whatever rig you’re using.

Razer has also released a line of room lighting peripherals, Aether Lights, which extend the Chroma RGB lighting from the keyboards, mice, and gaming rigs and into the rooms we play in. From lamps to light strips to light bulbs, you can configure and operate this LED lighting from your mobile or your computer.

You can watch the RazerCon event, hosted by CEO Min-Liang Tan, below.