Rockstar is surely getting a lot of value from GTA 5. I’m sure we’d all love this article to be about Grand Theft Auto 6, but alas it’s not. To be fair, I’ve just got the PS4 version of GTA 5 again and it’s aged incredibly well. Today, Rockstar has confirmed that the special edition GTA 5 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S is launching on November 11 later this year.
Image courtesy of gtaboom.com
On the same day, a standalone version of GTA Online will launch which will be free on PS5 for the first three months.
The new versions of GTA 5 and GTA Online for next-gen consoles is bringing graphic upgrades along with new features. While Rockstar has yet enlighten us as to what exactly is coming, the hope is that we’re going to get a significant upgrade.
The game’s creator said, “the new generation versions of GTA 5 will feature a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades and performance enhancements to take full advantage of the latest hardware, making the game more beautiful and more responsive than ever”.
Launched way back in 2013, GTA 5 has proven to be one of the most popular games of all time, selling 140 million copies.
Love a bit of F1 I do. F1 2021 is in the works and today we’ve just got two cool bits of news confirmed. The Codemasters made game will be the first under the ownership of EA Sports.
Iconic Drivers
F1 2021 will features seven iconic drivers who feature as part of the Digital Deluxe content for My Team.
Michael Schumacher
Ayrton Senna
Alain Prost
Jenson Button
Nico Rosberg
David Coulthard
Felipe Massa
Cover Drivers
We’ve also had the cover drivers for F1 2021 confirmed. Featuring the high-flying Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles LeClerc.
The Sony Xperia 5 II is the latest tier 2 phone from Sony, taking some of the best parts of their Xperia 1II while shaving back in a few key areas to bring the best performance possible without the killer price tag. I’ve always been a big fan of Sony, but they have always been a nearly brand, nearly in the sense that every year their flagship and tier 2 phones offer some of the best specs on the market but they always seem to lack that spark to make them standout from the crowd. The Xperia 5II is no different. This year we get a great phone, with a slick looks for the price that is very much focused at camera users with wicked specs for camera and video recording but makes savings by creating a smaller unit that removes the fluffy bells and whistles such as the 4k Display, not unlike the Google Pixel 5.
The Xperia 5II is at it’s core an Xperia 1II lite model, with a 6.1″ display, 120hz refresh rate, sexier rounded corners for better ergonomics, strong battery, the same camera as the flagship and the return of the 3.5mm headphone port. In essence if you want solid specs and a smaller phone, the Xperia 5II could be right up your alley.
Xperia 5II Design
As I mentioned earlier, the Xperia 5II is just really an Xperia 1II mini, we get the same and now standard Sony 21:9 display, a 6.1″ display a whole 0.4″ smaller than its bigger sibling. And while 0.4″ may seem like it’s not that much smaller, it is something you will notice within a couple of seconds of getting to grips with the device. In my opinion the 21:9 ratio of the Sony phones, is half designed with watching videos in mind and half an ergonomic decision. It’s why holding a Sony phone in one hand easier than it’s rivals and it’s easy to hit all corners of the display with your thumb due to the long and narrow design of the chassis.
While some things stay the same, sometimes things need change. In the past the Sony product range has been known for a particular style, hard sharp edges and a boxy look, just think PS4 but in a phone, whereas this year we get rounded edges, a big change for Sony. To be fair this edgy style has been the Sony calling card for almost a decade and this change only makes the phone easier to hold, while the rounding is not so extreme to detract from the iconic Sony design.
As per the norm on the chassis, we also get our volume keys, a reprogrammable Google Assistant button as well as our Camera trigger and fingerprint scanner instead of the in screen sensor. The only downside of this is if your like me, you may end up accidentally hit the button while holding the phone. Other phones in this price range such as the OnePlus 8 use the inscreen scanner, and it’s a let down not getting one here, but by no means is this a deal breaker.
On the base we have our USB-C charger and at the top we see the 3.5mm port, something with was dropped in last years model, making a very welcome return. How much longer we will see the port be included in phone designs is beyond me, but long may it continue.
Overall the glass shelled Xperia 5II looks exactly like you expect a Sony phone to look. It’s slick, the reflective glass body adds some pop, it’s very functional but is it as sexy as some of the competition, that is up for debate.
Display & Camera
The display on the Xperia 5II is good without being great and by that I mean, rather than the 6.5-inch 4K display of the Xperia 1 II we are rocking a 6.1″ Full HD screen but we do get a 120Hz refresh rate which is twice as fast at refreshing images in comparison to previous models. This makes for a smoother experience when scrolling your social media feed….unless you’re Martin and his current rage against the social machine of course. I must say this though, this 120Hz refresh I have seen before and always thought meh, but here’s the things, everything just feels a bit smoother and it’s probably one of the few improvements in smartphone technology that while subtle, you will miss it if you didn’t have it.
I’ve mentioned the 21:9 screen ratio, it’s longer and narrower than most phones and this ratio is designed to be optimised for watching video content in landscape as this is exactly the ratio in which most movies are made. It’s all about small subtle changes, but they do just the trick.
The Camera in the Xperia 5II is exactly what we came here to see. The 5II takes the rear camera’s and the selfie cam straight from the Xperia 1II. It means that at a cheaper price you get the exact same top of the line powerful camera set up that is a whole lot more than your usual point and shoot style camera. We get 3 rear 12mp cameras, a main shooter, ultrawide and a telephoto lens and to be fair to Sony the point and shoot images while good aren’t 10/10, more 7-8/10, but that’s solely because Sony focus on the pro-photographer. With the ability to tinker your camera settings that you can’t access in most phones you have the chance to play with everything from ISO to colour balances and everything in between to help you get the shot you want. The telephoto sensor only works up to 3x optical zoom, but the quality of zoom images is particularly good – without studying them closely you wouldn’t know that they were zoomed-in.
There’s a single 8MP front-facing camera, which produces nice-looking selfie shots. There are many phones with higher-specced selfie cameras, but if you’re just looking to take the odd shot for your social media channels you’ll be perfectly happy with what Sony’s selfie shooter can do. In fairness, the less I see of my mug the better.
Xperia 5II Performance
The Xperia 5II isn’t trying to be the top of the top, packing into it a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset with 8GB of RAM. Not the top shelf but close enough that the power is more than sufficient for what you need and maybe even saying this is proof of my own spec sheet snobbery. There’s nowt wrong with the processor and it did the job admirably. Everything loaded without issue and in the past I’ve become used to what I called the “Sony Glitches” but they seem to be a thing of the past with no lags or crashes to note during my time playing with the 5II.
Oh before I forget, Sony also added a fancy new feature called Heat Suppression Power Control, this makes sure the phone doens’t overheat when you go on a heavy video or gaming session. Again it’s not something most would buy a phone for but trust me it’s handy to have and something I will miss as down the years some phones – yes I’m looking at you HTC, managed to get so hot to the touch we’d end up dropping them.
The Xperia 5II will only hit these shores with the 128GB storage, still plenty and you will be able to upgrade using a microSD card. We also get 5G and Android 10 as standard with it’s own Sony UI overlay which gives the operating system its own Sony styling.
Battery life
The phone has the same 4,000mAh battery as the Xperia 1II with the fast charging capability, the only downside you don’t get the 21w fast charger as standard. In fairness, the Xperia 5II is a slightly smaller phone, meaning this is a beast of a battery for a phone of this size and with my standard usage we managed to get to the end of the day with 9% left in the tank….and I would be a tad over the average user.
Sony Xperia 5II Pricing & Specs
The Sony Xperia 5 II is available through Eir and Vodafone with prices at €800, and it comes in only one model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
Type
SIM-free smartphone
SIM type
Dual Nano SIM
Operating system
Android 10
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 (2.84 GHz, octa-core)
Colour
Black
Screen size
6.1″
Screen resolution
Full HD+ 1080 x 2520p
Screen type
OLED
Touchscreen
Yes
PPI
450 ppi
Screen features
– 21:9 CinemaWide – 120 Hz display – HDR – Corning Gorilla Glass 6 – Side sense
Camera
– Main: Triple 12 MP – Front: 8 MP
Video resolution
– Main: 4K Ultra HD HDR (125 fps) – Front: Full HD (30 fps)
Flash
Yes
Camera features
– Cinema Pro powered by CineAlta – Intelligent wind filter – Up to 60 times per second continuous AF/AE calculation – Real-time Eye AF (Autofocus) for humans and animals – Up to 20 fps AF/AE tracking burst – Bokeh – Photo pro – Google Lens – Portrait selfie – Panorama – Creative effect – Object tracking – Soft skin effect – Geo tagging – QR code reader – Hand shutter – Touch capture
– aGNSS – Google Cast – Screen Mirroring – USB 3.1 – HDCP – Media Transfer Protocol
Battery
Lithium-polymer
Battery capacity
4000 mAh
Standby time
Up to 570 hours
Talk time
Up to 21 hours 10 minutes
The Goosed Verdict
The question is, should I buy a Sony Xperia 5II? Well that really depends!
100% go for it if you are a fan of Sony phones, maybe you’re in the market for an upgrade or want something a little smaller that still keeps to the core values of a Sony phone. This model is all about them premium features in a smaller size and if the Xperia 1II was something you had in mind then the smaller Xperia 5II is an ideal alternative. You would also like this phone if photography is your things. The Sony Xperia 5II is about more than point and shoot out of the box photos, here you get to control the camera settings to get exactly the shots you want, day or night.
The other side of that is, the Xperia 5II is not going to be for you if screen quality is a big things for you, I would be looking at the Xperia 1II or the Galaxy S20 wit their QHD displays as better choices. The Sony Xperia 5II also doesn’t include wireless charging nor does it come cheaply with pricing similar to a OnePlus 8. If price is the major issue have a look at the Google Pixel 5 or the Xperia 10II for worthy alternatives. It’s a cracking phone, I truly did love it but was it enough to move from my Pixel 5G as the daily rider? Not this time.
I’m massively excited about Army of the Dead which is coming to Netflix on 21 May. Earlier, Netflix premiered the first 15 minutes of Zack Snyder’s eagerly-anticipated zombie flick. What did we learn?
The Zombies
I always look out for what kind of zombies we’re getting in a movie like this. Army of the Dead will feature some smart as hell strong and bloody fast zombies who infect others. Those infected will reanimate in a matter of moments and communicate with each other with a series of clicking like noises.
They are going to be really clever zombies capable of comprehension and maybe even emotion on some levels. It might be the case that not all zombies are equal. Some look more mobile and intelligent than others.
The Movie Is Adult
Just 15 minutes and we’ve seen glorious amounts of gore and nudity. This isn’t going to be a family movie in the slightest. It looks like Zach Snyder was very aware of this decision.
The tunes playing in the background along with the general style of the opening show that Army of the Dead is going to be one hello an action movie. There’s plenty of room for humour too which, in my opinion, every good zombie movie needs too.
Over the past few days, a country wide last man standing competition as been all the talk of on Reddit’s r/Ireland. Redditor u/Darth_Memer_1916 woke up very bored one morning and decided to post “Deleting one county a day until there is one left [Day 1]. Most upvoted county in the comments gets deleted.” And for the past few days, Irish Redditor’s have been vigourously hitting F5 to see what county is knocked out of each round. The current list of eliminated counties is Dublin (R1), Roscommon (R2), Longford (R3), Carlow (R4), Antrim (R5), Offaly (R6), Meath (R7), Cavan (R8) and Tyrone (R9)
After round 1, Dublin were the first to go with 1.3k votes. That post also got over 400 upvotes and 170 comments. Now 10 rounds later, the latest post has 3.1k upvotes and it looks like Cork is next to go with 1.9k votes. This just shows how much traction this thing is getting and it is providing some top quality memes.
But one Redditor who has stood out is r/eoincasey78. Since round 3, r/eoincasey78 was pushing for Tyrone to be eliminated next. In rounds 6 and 7 he began spamming the comments section simply stating “Tyrone” and was getting lots of support with 1000’s of upvotes. Come round 8, poor Tyrone’s demise was cemented after r/eoincasey78 again nominated them to be eliminated and gained 1.9k upvotes and 40 awards (an astonishing amount of awards for a comment on Reddit). Tyrone fell and r/eoincasey78’s work was done. And then in came a flood of meme’s, and also confusion from those who our out of the loop of this whole facade.
As a Limerick man, I am very keen to see how we get on. We have been keeping a low profile for now, and there have been some whispers by people about voting Laois out next. But you can never really know. It will be interesting to see who wins. It doesn’t seem like there’s any particular reason why a county is eliminated. It just seems to be a free for all. You don’t need a Reddit account to follow this either. Just keep an eye on r/Ireland and you can read the comments and see how the votes are going.
If you don’t think data protection is important or even a little bit sexy, then these are the kind of topics you need to start focusing on. A couple of years back I was landed with the job of DPO in a digital marketing agency. I started to learn about GDPR and data protection and fell a little bit in love. Often, people didn’t like my interpretation of GDPR either. Why? Because GDPR often tells businesses what they don’t want to hear, yet here we are and things like tracking cookies are on the way out. This is definitely the case with my complaint against the Catholic Church and is most certainly the case with Facebook and the new WhatsApp terms and conditions. The problem is that you won’t be able to use WhatsApp if you don’t accept the new terms and conditions. Here’s everything you need to know.
What Is The WhatsApp Terms And Conditions Change?
You might remember that WhatsApp tried to change its terms and conditions back in January of this year. It caused quite an uproar. Basically, people understandably don’t like WhatApp and Facebook cross-sharing data. While we all know they are the same company, they perform two different tasks and we expect walls between them.
The WhatsApp January terms and conditions change sought to tear down these walls and some users believed it would pave the way for Facebook getting more of your personal data from WhatsApp.
WhatsApp and Facebook caved, saying more time would be given for people to weigh up what’s going on. It went quiet, but here we are and the terms and conditions are going to be updated on 15 May.
What Happens On 15 May?
On 15 May, a new terms and conditions banner will appear in WhatsApp. You’ll be asked to agree to the terms. You’ll be able to dismiss this, but it will come back again after a few weeks.
In a statement, WhatsApp confirmed that after a period of time, “you won’t be able to access your chat list, but you can still answer incoming phone and video calls. If you have notifications enabled, you can tap on them to read or respond to a message or call back a missed phone or video call”. It also stated that “after a few weeks of limited functionality, you won’t be able to receive incoming calls or notifications, and WhatsApp will stop sending messages and calls to your phone”.
Should I Accept The New WhatsApp Terms And Conditions?
It’s entirely up to you. Personally, I am contemplating deleting WhatsApp and moving to Threema or Signal. But I’m also realistic in understanding that 80% of the Irish public use WhatsApp and to stop using the messenger platform where I communicate with family, friends and even colleagues in groups would be extremely difficult, particularly during a pandemic.
You need to understand exactly what’s happening and make an informed decision. WhatsApp says the changes enable businesses to communicate with you and provide further clarity on how your data is processed. They also state that messages will remain encrypted end-to-end and stay private. They’ve provided a set of FAQs but don’t just take WhatsApp’s word for it.
You should read up on other news sources covering the topic too. The first thing you need to do is appreciate that when you accept these terms and conditions, like all terms and conditions, your personal data is at risk and more specifically how it’s handled by large organisations changes.
While WhatsApp says “the update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data”, they also stated that the new features are “entirely optional”, but opting out of the terms is not. Well, it is, but the app becomes useless. For me, this is effectively a breach of GDPR as acceptance of terms must be done freely. WhatsApp is saying nothing else changes right now, but the changes could open a Pandora’s Box of changes down the line.
In the WhatsApp FAQs, you’ll find that the company states “should we choose to share such data with the Facebook Companies for this purpose in the future, we will only do so when we reach an understanding with the Irish Data Protection Commission on a future mechanism to enable such use.
What Does The DPC Think?
You would think that the Data Protection Commission provides a blanket of security in this scenario, but unfortunately, the DPC has a history of taking it quite easy on organisations that have been flippant with GDPR laws. They seem happy enough that Facebook has said they’ll behave.
Speaking to Independent.ie, a DPC spokesperson confirmed “WhatsApp has on numerous occasions provided written assurances to the DPC and other EU Supervisory Authorities that Facebook is not permitted to and does not use WhatsApp user data for Facebook’s own purposes, particularly for the purposes of platform safety and integrity, product development and ad serving”.
The timing of all of this does seem somewhat convenient. As Apple introduced tracker blocking which massively impacts Facebook’s advertising model and puts billions of dollars of income at risk, just 4% of iOS users are allowing Facebook to track them.
We now have data showing as people install the 14.5 update to iOS, as much as 96% of them are opting out of tracking which means Facebook will lose access to a MAJORITY of its data for these users. This should be the biggest business news story of the week. Massive implications. https://t.co/lfyVeYkcCU
Adding to the believe that the DPC has once again taken a soft stance against a large organisation, Johannes Caspar, the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection, said he believes the messaging app’s new terms of use is illegal. As a result, an emergency order has been issue prohibiting Facebook from processing WhatsApp data for its own purposes.
What Happens Now?
What happens next is anybody’s guess. A large number of people will likely just accept the terms and conditions without giving it a second thought, and that’s assuming they’ve not already accepted. Personally, as I mentioned, I’m very close to pulling the plug on WhatsApp and even Facebook. It doesn’t sit right with me that “optional changes” require mandatory terms and conditions updates which effectively breaches Article 4.14 insisting consent is freely given.
Until large organisations realise that people do care about their personal data handling, nothing will change. The easiest way to ensure Facebook doesn’t mistreat your data is to not let them have it.
This will either solidify WhatsApp as the messenger of choice for people, or mark the beginning of the end with people chasing alternatives like Signal, Threema and Telegram.
What do you think? Will you accept the terms and conditions or start to think about change? Let us know in our Twitter Poll.
The incredible Lupin was split in half so we’ve only been drip fed the first half of the show so far. The second half was recently teased but has now been confirmed for release on 11 June. So there’s something worth pencilling into your diary as Assane’s quest for revenge against Hubert Pelligrini continues.
I’ve had a select number of encounters with the Resident Evil franchise. I despised Resident Evil 2 and the insistence on saving ammo and legging it past the enemy. I loved Slipknot’s My Plague theme song to the blockbuster movie from the, ultimately awful, first movie of the franchise. I started playing Resident Evil 7 but for some reason put the controller down and left it. I was torn when Resident Evil Village landed in to review. I knew I’d be spending a couple of hours in fear reviewing the game. But I have to say, I absolutely love it. Here’s why.
Resident Evil Village: What’s It About?
Resident Evil is one of those games that has a mega deep canon to follow. I’ve jumped into playing Resident Evil Village without any prior knowledge beyond what I mentioned in the opening paragraph and I still loved the game. Though I have to admit, there are some blank spots. You can watch this video safe in the knowledge that it will only improve playing Village. It’ll take thirty minutes but I recommend it.
Now that you’re up to speed, it’s time for Village. From here on in, there are some mild spoilers but hopefully nothing worse than what would be spoiled from watching the average game trailer.
Three years after the events of Resident Evil 7, you return as Ethan Winters. In the opening scene, Ethan and his wife Mia, are making dinner after their daughter Rose is put to bed. All hell breaks lose as long time Resident Evil character Chris Redfield bursts in all guns blazing. Mia Winters is left dead, Rose is taken and Ethan is chucked in the pack of an evacuation van with them all.
You take over control when that van crashes and Ethan hikes into the Romanian titular Village in search of his daughter.
The Village: Explained
In the village itself, there’s old shacks, grave galore and plenty of exploring to do. You learn that the village is run by four lords. If the story being based in Romania wasn’t enough, the characters of the lords lean heavily on the classics of the horror genre. Lady Alcina Dimitrescu is the mandatory vampire-type character required for any horror based in Romania. You’ve most likely already heard of her from her massive meme-worth when the game was announced. Who knew that a near ten-foot tall vampire would trigger online fandom.
It’s impossible to deny the classic horror-movie nods made in Village
Karl Heisenberg, another of the lords, plays a Dr. Frankenstein type character with telekinetic powers. Donna Beneviento is somewhat Chucky-like and I’ll be honest when I say, I’m not entirely sure how Salvatore Moreau fits into my logic of the hour classics, but I’ll be damned if I’m letting it ruin my point.
Resident Evil Village: Completed Opinion
Plenty of reviews online will talk about the game as part of the overall Resident Evil canon but I’m afraid I’m useless here. I’m picking this game up as almost a newbie, so all of the game play is new to me.
Story
Coming in somewhat cold to Village, I still thoroughly enjoyed the story-telling of the game. I didn’t feel overwhelmed or lost at all. Just a few minutes after completing the game, I popped onto YouTube to find that video I’ve shared above. I’m a bit peeved at myself for not watching this first as I feel being up to speed would have vastly improved an already brilliant game.
Resi Village: Launch Trailer
If you want more trailers and open yourself to more spoilers, go looking for them. You’ll not find them here.
That said, I really have to admit the story is compelling to the point where I played and completed the game in three sittings between Friday and Sunday. So gripping was the story that I found myself at 2AM, slightly shaken, but deciding to stop at a save point instead of ploughing on. I was never stuck or left feeling like I couldn’t somewhat easily work out a problem or find a boss’s weakness.
How Long Does Resident Evil Take To Beat?
I’m a totally average gamer and Resident Evil Village took me just over ten hours to beat. Most above average gamers will probably do it in just under ten hours.
The world of the game is fairly explorable and I would even say somewhat replayable to find all the nooks and crannies where something could be hidden.
Gameplay
The vast majority of the game is played out in the first-person view of Ethan Winters.
Unlike Resi games of old, I didn’t find myself struggling with ammunition management. I will admit to playing through most of my review on “Standard” difficulty before having to drop to “Casual” towards the end. This may have influenced the ammo load-outs. One thing to note though. If like me, you do turn your game difficulty down a notch to pass a boss or something, there’s no going back up.
Regardless, my only prior experience of the franchise was having to survive without ammo and that just doesn’t suit my style. The first few kills are tense as you load round upon round into the attacking Lycans, but after a few upgrades, you take them in your stride. After a while, killing becomes second nature. While there are a few jumps I thoroughly enjoyed where the game landed between shoot ’em up and adventure game.
If that still sounds like your cup of tea, Village is still on the purchase list. Let’s keep digging.
Mechanics
As I’ve alluded to, throughout the game, you do get to upgrade your weapons and even acquire new ones. A special, and rather rotund, character in the game known as the Duke, will sell you items. He’ll sell you anything from weapons to health kits as long as you have the cash. You get gather items in the game and sell them to Duke in order to raise funds.
Pro-tip: The game will stores “key items” separately so you can’t sell something important to continue with the game. If the Duke will buy it and you don’t want it, sell it.
One other fear I had from my original, and very short, Resi days, was saving. I feared I’d be limited to saving only when I had an ink ribbon but thankfully that’s gone. Any time you find a typewriter in the game, save to your heart’s content.
Overall, the gameplay lends itself to Resident Evil Village striking an amazing balance between storytelling and being fun to play while remaining challenging. There is also a special Mercenaries Mode which I’ve yet to test out.
Puzzles
Another of the features I do recall from Resident Evil games of old is the odd puzzle. Village is littered with some of these and I have to say they did leave me feeling a little more intelligent than I am. Between solving music boxes to beating bosses, some of the puzzles are arguably a little too simplistic. I wasn’t stumped for too long, but I guess if that sounds off putting to you, ramp up the difficulty levels and you’ll get your fill of gameplay challenges.
Verdict: Is Resident Evil Village Worth Buying?
My excited for Village was muted purely based on the knowledge that the game was about to scare the life out of me for a few days. Still, as scary as the game is in parts it’s extremely playable and enjoyable even if you have mediocre gaming abilities like I do. There are very few titles available on the PlayStation 5 at the minute that cam truly claim the title of “PS5 Game”. While I enjoyed Returnal and couldn’t help but noticed the draw to come back into the game for more, Village just left me craving more hours in the day.
With ten hours of gameplay clocked up, I’ve completed and thoroughly enjoyed Resident Evil Village to the point where I might go back and try a new difficulty. I’ll definitely go and give Mercenaries Mode a lash.
For €69.99, Village is money well spent. The story is great and the gameplay enjoyable and challenging yet not off-putting. It’s an all-round winner.
Resident Evil Village is available now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S and Steam.
We’ve scoured the internet for the most asked questions about the game to help you weigh up your purchase.
Is Resident Evil Village coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Yes. Resident Evil Village is not a next-gen exclusive and is available for last-gen consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One.
Is Resident Evil Village multiplayer?
Not really. The game itself is a single player campaign. Capcom is, however, releasing Re:Verse for online multiplayer. This was originally planned to launch with Village but has been delayed.
Is Village an open-world game?
Kind of, yes. You are free to explore the Romanian Village but certain parts are only unlocked as you progress through the game. There’s limited value in wandering outside of the game’s story.
Will Village be on Game Pass?
Nope. Afraid not. Don’t expect to see Village on Game Pass until 2022 at the earliest.
I’ve been following the whole U-Mask saga for the past couple of months. A popular Italian face mask, designed to protect the wearer and others, being banned because of doubts over claims the product made, particularly about being a medical-grade device. The U-Mask website confirms that a new U-Mask Model 2.2 is about to go back on sale. It looks the very same as the controversial U-Mask 2.1, costs the same as the Model 2.1 but is no longer considered a medical device.
The U-Mask Model 2.2
The new U-Mask Model 2.2 looks just like the U-Mask Model 2.1 that I reviewed a while back. It still uses non-sensical jargon to wow potential buyers. Maybe this non-sense won me over a bit when I originally bought my first mask. Language like this product being an “innovative, biotech, reusable face mask that bidirectionally counteracts the passage of external microorganisms and neutralises them for up to 200 hours of respiratory use, thanks to its Biolayer” is enough to make me thing these people know what they’re doing.
After all, the mask is still incredibly comfortable and meets the requirement of being a face covering.
But, what about the medical grading?
U-Mask: No Longer Medical Grade
In answering questions posed by Goosed.ie, U-Mask stated, “on March 26, 2021, the Italian Ministry of Health prohibited the placing on the market of U-Mask 2.1 and ordered the withdrawal of the product within Italy. We consider this provision illegal and, therefore, we have acted immediately to protect our rights and interests in the relevant offices. The U-Mask fully complies with International laws and regulations. Following independent, international laboratory testing, we can confirm that all our masks are safe and effective”.
Previously, U-Mask had claimed their Model 2.1 to be medical grade equipment. Now, their certifications section has been updated to say the U-Mask Model 2.2 “is not classified as PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)”, nor is it “certified as a MD (Medical Device)”.
It’s a big of a cop out from the mask maker. Yes, this was always the easiest answer given that anyone can make a mask and sell it. Making medical grade equipment is a different story. The claims the company had made in the past were the reason I bought these masks. In releasing the U-Mask Model 2.2 without medical grade or PPE certifications, U-Mask has fallen dramatically short of their more recent statements of belief in their product.
And here’s the best bit.
A Lesser Mask For The Same Price
You can now pre-order the new U-Mask Model 2.2 which even come in colours named “Pretender” and “Amnesia” which seem to be ill-timed jokes by the company. I say that because you’d want to have a short memory to not realise you’re paying the same price for masks promising a lot less.
The original masks I purchased which claimed to be medical grade PPE cost €39. The same price as this new face coverings which are not classed as medical grade devices.
Will I still buy one? Possibly. I need new filters for my U-Mask and they do remain comfortable face coverings to wear. However, I’m shocked that the company has not reduced the price of their product to align with the fact they are no longer medical-grade devices.
The term “Smart Speaker” is one that went out of use almost as quickly as it came in. From day one people ignored the real title and started calling them Google Homes or Alexas (which isn’t even the name of the device!) regardless of whether they were even made by Google or Amazon in the first place. However, in our ever-more connected world, these devices are more and more being referred to as Speakers. The Smart label isn’t necessary anymore as increasing numbers of audio devices have some kind of Smart function built-in. My girlfriend and I recently had a conversation as to whether we’d be an Echo household or a Google Home household and, in the end, we settled on Google. That discussion was helped along by the lovely JBL Link Music that I received from our friends at The Sound Dome. It’s the best smart speaker experience I’ve ever had and I’m here to tell you why.
Out of the Box
Setting this speaker up isn’t unique to the device itself. It runs on Google’s Home platform and they are the ones to thank for the seamless, near-automatic process. I literally plugged the speaker in, saw a notification pop up on my phone (I’m using Android, Apple users may get different mileage) and I was away. The only thing I had to do was change the name and assign the speaker to a particular room in my house. In contrast, trying to set up an Amazon Echo device is an involved process that takes quite a bit of time to get to grips with. Even a side-by-side comparison of the home screen for the two ecosystems shows a clear winner in terms of useability. With Google, everything you need is right there, whereas Alexa hides all your devices and commands in sub-menus.
Google on the left; Amazon on the right
They say the room that adds the most value to a house is the kitchen and a similar principle can be applied to Smart Speakers. That’s where you’ll get the most value from them. They were made for the kitchen counter. Whether you want to set timers for cooking, play music or podcasts while doing the dishes, or use the kitchen as the central nervous system of your lights and appliances, you’d be hard-pressed to finds a room where they are more appreciated. That’s where I set up the JBL Link Music and it works a treat.
Everything Just Works
Something the JBL Link Music offers over our old Echo is its sensitivity to voice commands. Even while playing music, all you need to say is “Hey Google” and it responds without any issues. The timers are simple to name and set up, and the alarms are always clear and easy to recognise. In comparison, if an Echo is playing music at any volume above a whisper you have to practically shout at it to get it to respond. It’s funny the first time you jokingly get angry at Alexa for ignoring you, not so funny the 20th time. There have even been times when our Echo will acknowledge our request but refuse to carry out a command. “Alexa, turn off the lamp” “Ok”, the lamp remains on. I’ve never had that problem with any Google device.
While not a deal-breaker for many, it’s always nice when your devices look well and fit with the rest of your home’s aesthetic. Gone are the days when a guest would see your sound system and assume your speakers are good because they’re big. The JBL Link Music has a beautiful, modern design that screams “Premium”. Even the experience of taking it out of the box is a joy. Soft padding and individual compartments let you know straight away that this is a top-of-the-line gadget. If you feel it’s a little too grown up for you, check out our latest review of the JBL Pulse 4.
How does it Sound?
Of course, the most important aspect of any speaker is the sound. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how Smart or good-looking a device is if it can’t produce high-quality audio. I’m happy to report that the JBL Link Music is one of the best speakers I’ve had the pleasure to use. Its size really lends itself to deep earthy basses without crackling and the highs are crystal clear. The Google Home app also lets you set your own EQ balance as well so you can fully optimise the speaker to its environment.
This thing is loud too. Living in an apartment complex we’re always conscious of our noise levels so the JBL Link Music has rarely been over 50% volume. Even then it’s more than enough to hear throughout our home and even when we’re outside on the balcony. Again, even at high volumes, the sound performs wonderfully with no breaking of the signal and no overload on the internals at all. In comparison, if an Echo Dot is above 50% volume, it will noticeably struggle to get the sound out of its speakers. It will crackle and vibrate until there’s a not-insignificant amount of loss in quality.
The Goosed Verdict
This speaker will blow you away. If not with sound, then with just how much better it is over its non-Smart counterparts. The audio range is phenomenal for a speaker of its size and it never struggles whether you’re listening to podcasts, lo-fi hip hop, or the latest Royal Blood album. The Google Home integration makes it the ultimate “plug and play” smart speaker. You can find it online from our friends at The Sound Dome right now.
