Square Enix and Team Ninja have announced that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin will release on March 18, 2022 for the PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, and PC. A second trial version is out now on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
The new trial version includes content from the first trial, multiplayer components, as well as a new area. You can check out the loot, job classes, powerful spells, and some fearsome enemies and bosses.
In addition to the above, Stranger of Paradise‘s digital preorders are now live. The standard edition costs $60 and the Digital Deluxe edition is $90. The latter includes the Season Pass and additional missions, a digital art book, and digital soundtrack.
Preordering either of the aforementioned editions will also grant you early access to Stranger of Paradise when it releases next March. You’ll be able to play on March 15th as well as grab the Bravehart weapon and the Lustrous Shield as bonuses. PS4 preorders will come with an exclusive theme.
Last but not least, Stranger of Paradise is cross-buy, so if you purchase the PS4 version, you’ll get a copy on the PS5 as well.
An official overview of the title is as follows:
In this hard-core action RPG, Jack must hazard numerous challenges to bring the light of the crystals back to Cornelia, a kingdom conquered by darkness.
Will restoring the crystals’ light usher in peace or a new form of darkness?… Or perhaps something else entirely?
Check out a new trailer on YouTube (login required).
If you’ve been holding out on a possible iPad purchase (or upgrade), this might be the time to strike. Apple’s newest base model iPad is now on sale, and we’ve got a detailed review on what is an incremental upgrade on what is, at heart, the same design we’ve had for many years now.
If you’re looking for an iPad with a design twist — or at least a smaller footprint — there’s the iPad mini, pulling some of the redesigned iPad Pro DNA into a smaller package. That includes something close to an “all-screen” design, with an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and power button with TouchID on the edge that supplants the need for a home button.
Meanwhile, the OG iPad design, so very lightly refreshed for 2021, doesn’t put a foot wrong — and it’s the cheapest new iPad you can get. For that $330, as Nate Ingraham’s review lays out, the hardware is powerful and the battery life is outstanding.
It has Apple’s A13 Bionic chip, which first appeared inside the iPhone 11, circa 2019, but still an upgrade from the last vanilla iPad iteration. But yes, it’s not as powerful as the newer chips in the iPad Air and just-updated iPad mini.
If we sidestep the Pro models, tablet shopping will boil down to the iPad mini, Air or this new standard model. You could say this is some degree of choice — I just wish there was more tablet competition that didn’t run an Apple OS. Android tablets are still, typically, cheaper options that always leave me wanting.
The former employees were outspoken critics of many Amazon policies.
Amazon was supposed to defend its decision in court to let Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa go last year. The former Amazon employees were outspoken critics of the company, and both were, according to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), illegally fired. The e-commerce giant didn't have to defend itself, however, because it has settled with the affected parties shortly before the hearing could take place.
The settlement still needs to be approved by the NLRB regional director in Seattle, but Cunningham and Costa are already considering the settlement a victory. In a joint statement, they said the development is a "win for protecting workers’ rights."
Subaru has shown the first video of its first EV, the 4x4 Solterra crossover, essentially confirming it's a slightly reworked version of Toyota's upcoming bZ4X EV. We’re still waiting on key details, like price and battery capacity. It's set to arrive in the US and other markets next summer. For now, take a closer look at the teaser.
Sonos has added Dolby Atmos support to the original Beam, which turned out to be a popular soundbar for those looking to upgrade their TV sound system in a simple way — and introduce them to the Sonos cinematic universe of speaker add-ons and upgrades.
The new Beam, while more expensive than a lot of the competition, is another compact soundbar that sounds far more immersive than you’d expect. According to Devindra Hardawar, it also does a decent job with music and still works well with other Sonos speakers. Read on for his full review.
Chinese company Nreal has launched a new model of augmented reality glasses called Air, designed with streaming shows and playing mobile games in mind. The glasses still need to be tethered to a phone, like their predecessor, the Light, but they're a lot lighter (77 grams to Light's 106 grams) and look more like an ordinary pair of sunglasses.
Nreal also improved the display, which has the capability to project a massive virtual screen up to 201 inches in size, and refreshes at up 90Hz. The new model has no motion tracking at all, and a company spokesperson told us that, based on Light's usage, Nreal expects most owners to use the Air simply to watch shows on YouTube.
The Kiyo X webcam costs $80, while the Ripsaw X capture card is $140.
Razer’s latest streaming gear aims directly at newbies, starting with its new Kiyo X USB webcam. As with a lot of current games, you can choose between optimizing your webcam feed for fidelity or framerate with 1080p 30 fps and 720p 60 fps options.
There’s also the Ripsaw X capture card, for footage up to 30 frames per second in 4K. Razer says the device delivers "near-zero latency" through its HDMI 2.0 and USB 3.0 connectivity. You can hook it up to a camera with HDMI output to use it as a high-end webcam or capture gameplay from a console. The Kiyo X cam costs $80, while the Ripsaw X will run you $140. Both are available now.
In 2005, Bandai and Namco merged, and the following year, Bandai Namco was born. To mark the new conglomerate, the company got a yellow, red, and orange logo with the company’s name in white font. It’s not a bad look, and stands out among Japanese game companies. But next year, Bandai Namco is getting a redesigned…
SIM swapping scams have been on the rise these past couple of years, and since most online services these days are tied to people's phone numbers, the technique has the potential to ruin victims' lives. Now, the Federal Communications Commission is seeking to create new rules that would help prevent SIM swapping scams and port-out fraud, both of which are techniques designed to hijack people's phone numbers and identities.
The commission said it has received numerous complaints from consumers "who have suffered significant distress, inconvenience and financial harm" as a result of both hijacking methods. SIM swapping is a technique wherein a bad actor convinces a wireless carrier to transfer a victim's service to a phone they control. When a bad actor successfully transfers the victim's service and number to another carrier, that's called port-out fraud.
To make it harder for scammers to gain control of potential victims' phone numbers, the FCC wants to amend the Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) and Local Number Portability rules. In particular, it wants to require providers to adopt more secure methods in authenticating a person's identity before agreeing to transfer their service to a new phone or to another carrier. The commission also proposes a rule that would require providers to notify customers whenever a SIM switch or a port-out request is made on their accounts.
As part of the FCC's rulemaking process, the public can now comment on these proposals. The commission still has to read those proposals and offer the public another chance to make their voice heard before it can decide whether to amend the aforementioned rules.
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Kratos voice actor, Christopher Judge, has revealed that Santa Monica Studio and Sony Interactive Entertainment had to delay God of War Ragnarok because of his medical issues.
Judge told fans on Twitter that in August of 2019, he couldn’t walk and ended up needing to have both hips replaced along with back surgery and knee surgery. Santa Monica Studio waited for him to finish rehabilitation before continuing development. In June this year, Cory Barlog took responsibility for the delay after writer Alanah Pearce started receiving vile messages from internet trolls.
Judge wrote:
In my feels right now. I need to be forthcoming. This has been approved by no one. To the beloved fandom, Ragnarok was delayed because of me. August 2019, I couldn’t walk. Had to have back surgery, both hips replaced, and, knee surgery. They waited for me too rehab…
No threats, no ‘who do you think you are?’ Nothing but love and support. AndSony Santa Monicahas never said a word about the delay, and what caused it. Studios are assholes, but this company from top to bottom, should give us hope. What they did for the crew is way more…
Judge went on to thank Santa Monica Studio as well as the fans. He praised the development team for showing him love and support through the process.
In one tweet, Judge revealed that he quit the role when he found out that Barlog wasn’t directing the sequel. However, Barlog convinced him to stay by asking Judge to trust Ragnarok director Eric Williams. Judge now has nothing but praises to sing.
“He said Eric is a beast,” Judge recalled. “I said, ‘he better be.’ Update: Eric Williams is a mother f****** beast!”
God of War Ragnarok will release sometime in 2022.
