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Microsoft’s acquisition deal with ZeniMax Media has spent a lot of time in the limelight since its announcement last year. This has been in large part due to the various legal wrinkles associated with the move: Microsoft has had to prove to various international entities that the purchase of ZeniMax and its subsidiaries doesn’t fall foul of any legislation concerning anti-trust practices and market manipulation. The deal may soon come to fruition, though, following a statement from the European Commission today....

Surface Book vs MacBook Pro: Design Surface Book has a detachable display MacBook Pro offers OLED Touch Bar Microsoft Surface Book i7 (2016): Not an overhaul, but certainly more oomph Surface Book vs MacBook Pro: Display Surface Book: 13.5-inch, 3000 x 2000 pixels, 267ppi, touchscreen MacBook Pro: 13.3-inch, 2560 x 1600 pixels, 227ppi Surface Book vs MacBook Pro: Hardware Both offer Intel Core i5 and i7 options Surface Book offers discrete Nvidia GPUs...

Our quick take Microsoft Surface Headphones 2 - 4.5 / 5 Design & Comfort Integrated rotational dials controls on earcups Finishes: Light Grey, Matte Black Glossed Windows logo per side Auto music stop/start feature 3.5mm & USB cables Zippable carry case Noise-Cancelling (ANC) & Sound Quality 40mm ‘Free Edge’ drivers, 20Hz – 20kHz frequency response Active noise-cancelling with 13 levels of control Bluetooth wireless and passive wired listening Up to 20 hours battery life per charge USB-C with fast-charge in 2 hours To recap For its second-gen headphones Microsoft has kept all that was great about the originals - the rotational earcup controls, tap-to-control surfaces, supreme comfort, decent sound and active noise-cancelling (ANC) - but enhanced battery life and lowered the price....

As an industry that is in a constant state of growth, the targeting of demographics can be a difficult task. A great amount of disparity exists between casual gamers and the hardcore. This is no more evident than when examining the success of peripherals. Kinect in particular has faced a great deal of criticism regarding its lack of “core” support. With Microsoft’s HoloLens on the way, it’s not surprising that this is a question that’s fresh in gamers’ minds....

Although many Xbox 360 owners will soon be shoving the console aside to make room for the Xbox One on November 22, there are still going to be plenty of gamers out there holding onto the soon-to-be previous-gen Microsoft gaming console. Most of today’s Microsoft news centered around the announcement of the official Xbox One release date, but they did take a moment to remind Xbox 360 owners that the company will still support the console for a few more years....

Perhaps my coverage history is a dead giveaway, but I’m still quite smitten with Genshin Impact. Mihoyo’s gacha hit dominates most of my time at work and away from it, continuing my pattern of long stints with games like Fire Emblem Heroes, Epic Seven, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, etc. I reckon by this point, I’m grossly in tune with the warning signs of what gacha features keep me hooked or send me packing, and when I think of Genshin Impact’s Resin system, I kind of just want to quit....

The Strider is a new mob in Minecraft since the Nether Update drastically expanded that dimension. These weird looking guys are super useful, actually, as the player can use them to walk across oceans of lava without taking any damage whatsoever. There’s a trick to doing so, however. Most Minecraft players are likely familiar with the ability to ride pigs. For the most part, this is extremely useless, especially since the addition of horses, but it can be done nonetheless....

Minecraft studios boss Matt Booty has been promoted to Corporate Vice President overseeing Microsoft Studios, where he’ll report directly to Phil Spencer regarding the ongoing development and production of the company’s Xbox and PC titles. Microsoft Studios is the company’s in-house development wing, responsible for titles like Crackdown and Gears of War. Booty’s new position at Microsoft has been vacant since March 2014, when Phil Spencer was promoted out of the role to lead the entire Xbox division....

We’re just over a month away from the release of “The Snyder Cut,” now officially known as Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The new, epic-length version of the Justice League movie will hit HBO Max on March 18, and each day, the director has teased something new about the film. Whether it was the mysterious “fallen” and “risen” teases (the latter of which payed tribute to the iconic cover of Superman #75, in which the Man of Steel fell at the hands of Doomsday) to dialogue attributed to the Martian Manhunter (who did not appear in Joss Whedon’s theatrical cut of the film), Snyder isn’t shy about showing off just how much will be different from the version audiences saw in 2017....

Star Wars video games have been a contentious topic in recent years. While older games like the Knights of the Old Republic series and the original Battlefront games are beloved by fans, ever since Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars and licensed the games out to EA, there has been a noticeable decline in quality. The greatest example of this is the universally reviled loot crate scams built into EA’s new version of Battlefront II, but the company may have finally gotten things right with Jedi: Fallen Order....

Katamari Damacy Reroll is officially coming to PlayStation 4, and fans will be able to start playing it as soon as November 20th. This comes as a somewhat unexpected announcement, as many fans of the original game didn’t even know that Katamari wasn’t on PS4 yet. Nevertheless, this PS2 classic will roll its way onto the current gen console soon, but there’s no word about a PS5 release or backwards compatibility....

The Kingdom Hearts series is known for its itty bitty details, and two years after the release of KH3, fans are still finding subtle pieces of information throughout each world. One such fan discovered recently that in Monsters, Inc that minimum wage is a measly 4.75. Kingdom Hearts YouTuber PlayStacin spotted this curiosity while exploring Monstropolis. If you look at one of the Laugh Floor offices, there’s a notice mentioning the Monster Occupational Safety and Hazards of the job....

At D23 in July, Square Enix confirmed that Kingdom Hearts 3 would be released on consoles in 2018. But the company didn’t reveal exactly when in 2018 the game might be released, something which did not inspire fans with much confidence. Many fans will be glad to know, then, that Target has updated the placeholder Kingdom Hearts 3 release date. The game had initially been given a ‘December 31, 2018’ release date by retailers, as is custom when a game has a release year but not a release window....

The latest story update for the Kingdom Hearts Union Cross mobile game reveals a major twist that resolves a years-old mystery. The story update also provides a number of interesting new tidbits regarding characters such as The Master of Masters, Luxu/Xigbar, and Maleficent. Kingdom Hearts Union Cross revealed early in its story that five Union Leaders were chosen to preside over the group of survivors (known as the Dandelions) present after the apocalyptic Keyblade War....

The original Kingdom Hearts is an adventure that’s epic in scale, with players traveling across a variety of Disney-themed lands and meeting a diverse cast of characters. However, one Kingdom Hearts player playing Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX decided to ignore the entire adventure, grinding all the way to level 100 at the Destiny Islands starting area. As anyone that has played Kingdom Hearts can attest, this was no small feat....

While Nintendo has dealt with patent claims in the past with its Joy-Con controllers, it appears a law firm is preparing to bring a class-action lawsuit against them in relation to the joystick drifting issues many are experiencing. When the Nintendo Switch was unveiled to the world in 2016, many wondered if it would be able to compete with the likes of Microsoft and Sony. Just over two years later, we can safely say that the Switch has cemented itself as yet another Nintendo success story, having surpassed the PS 4 in all-time sales within Japan....

As League of Legends continues to grow each season, changes and newer releases tend to leave older champions struggling to find their place in Summoner’s Rift. Since 2019, however, Riot Games has let players decide which champions will get a visual update and rework to bring them up to modern standards. While the latest League of Legends vote included many of League’s oldest champions, the winner that will receive the first VGU in 2022 is Udyr, the Spirit Walker....

Riot Games is going through some growing pains as it expands. New IPs have come with their own hurdles, as demonstrated by Valorant’s patch 1.11 rollback. In addition to its new titles, Riot is still working to keep League of Legends, its original and primary cash cow, interesting and fun. League’s most recent champion Seraphine has caused a huge stir, but unfortunately it was not in the good way. Many fans have not reacted positively to the character on a technical or story level, and an additional promotion for her that took the form of the character’s social media account didn’t help things....

Playing a Targaryen is a tall order. Actors need both regal composure and would-burn-you-alive-if-you-put-a-foot-wrong unpredictability. They have to be fierce, boil with power, and somehow look convincing soaring into a scene on the back of a dragon while wearing a questionable wig. Playing a Targaryen princess is an even taller order because actors have to do all of the above while also being about 12 years old. (Okay, 15 to 18 in the TV shows)....

About twenty-five years ago, the movie Hackers introduced the internet to the wider American audience. “It’s wild to think that the internet has only been a part of the public consciousness for a few decades. When the movie Hackers hit theaters in September 1995, only 14 percent of Americans had access to the web, according to Pew Research, and the vast majority were on achingly slow dial-up. But the online revolution was just around the corner....