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Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Review: Light With Lots Of Battery

Marty
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0
Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro Review: Light With Lots Of Battery

Not that long ago, ear buds were expensive with an absolute maximum of three hours battery. Noise cancelling was fancy technology only found in top of the range headphones. These key specs are thankfully much more accessible these days. A fantastic example of that is the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro ear buds. I’ve been using these for a few weeks. I’m happy to confirm that if you’re in the market for a pair of earbuds, at €130, these are absolutely worth considering. Here’s why.

Sound

I often find some reason to talk about some other feature of audio equipment other than sound, but it’s got to be the start point for these buds. While small, and particularly light, the buds remain capable of packing punchy bass and crisp high tones too.

While you may not know Soundcore as a brand, they’ve been making headphones and earbuds for sometime. The first pair I tested were the Liberty Air buds. They lacked a little punch in the volume area but sound quality was great. The biggest challenge facing Soundcore isn’t audio quality. It’s simple that they aren’t a household name. So they’ve cleverly gotten ten Grammy winners to endorse them, including NE-YO and Foxes. Personally, I don’t go for that kind of craic, but if it helps you see past the fact these aren’t made by Bose then I’m happy.

Soundcore liberty air 2 pro

Sound quality is obviously going to be the bread and butter of a pair of ear buds. The fact the Liberty Air 2 Pro don’t stumble here, and in fact that they impress, means the other features they bring to the table could set them apart.

So what are the other features I hear you ask?

Battery

I’ve tested some cracking buds over the years. Some favourites, like the Huawei FreeBuds 3, remain in my daily selection for calls or listening on a quick walk. But many share the same spec failing of having quite a poor battery. They advertise three hours and some might be close to really offer 75% of that.

The battery life of the Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro buds is genuinely mind blowing. I’m not trying to be overly dramatic here. These buds are light. That usually means short battery life but somehow Soundcore has sidestepped that stereotype. Pun intended.

The buds themselves will last for nearly seven hours of use. Seven hours! Back in the olden days of being able to travel, a single charge of your buds would have gotten you from Cork to New York. The charge case let’s you recharge the buds three times. That’s over 26 hours before you need to worry about being bud-less.

Speaking of the charge case, it also supports wireless charging. This is a great feature for jet setters who also have a phone offering reverse wireless charging. Charge your phone, buds and your bud’s case, all at the same time. This does give the buds an edge over the similarly priced Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch, which while awesome don’t have a wireless charge case.

Design

The inclusion of a wireless charge case is a nice example of the though gone into how the Liberty Air 2 Pros have been designed. I’ve already mentioned how incredibly light the buds are too. Combined with the long battery life this actually fights ear fatigue. Yes, that’s a very real thing.

Everything from the loudness of your audio to the design of your earbuds or headphones can cause ear fatigue. This means ear aches, pressure building up in your ears and possibly headaches. Going further, your music and even conference calls may start to irritate you more than ever.

A well designed pair of ear buds can go a long way towards helping with this and I would consider the Liberty Air 2 Pros to be a top option to combat ear fatigue. While they offer the long battery life that you might require for a day of work, they are light and not too tight in the ear. This means pressure is less likely to build up and you might even forget about them.

The side effect here is that you may feel like the buds aren’t all that secure in your ears. Fine for working at home, but if you’re going for anything more than a walk, you will fear losing a bud. There is quite the selection of silicon tips in the box and dipping into these will make a massive difference when it comes to getting a secure fit. Just remember, the tighter the fit, the more susceptible you become to ear fatigue again.

Call Quality

Call quality vanished as a feature of headsets people cared about until recently. Between work and staying connected with family for afar, call quality is back as a prime feature. The spec page for these Soundcore buds makes that abundantly clear by calling out calls as a key feature. Six noise cancelling mics pick up sounds around you as the buds work to drown them out.

In reality, the buds do indeed offer very good call quality. You can hear some of the background noise on the caller’s end but the voice carries well. I don’t think these would be top of the list for buds purely based on call quality, but considering the rounded overall quality on offer here it’s another string to the bow of the Liberty Air 2 Pro.

Noise Cancelling

At the outset, I pointed out that noise cancelling, in very recent memory, was a premium feature. Often, when introduced on cheaper audio equipment, it also wasn’t very good. This was the one feature of my much beloved Huawei FreeBuds 3 which left the buds wanting.

I’ve mentioned my use of the kitchen extractor fan a few times in reviews. My choice of old was to stuff my bag with headphones when ever I travelled, but those days are gone for now. I’m going to make the kitchen extractor fan the standard test from now on. Who said tech reviews couldn’t be sexy.

Noise cancelling was one of those jaw dropping moments for me in tech. I was super late to the party given I think the Sony WH-1000XM2 were probably the first air of active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones I tested. As luck would have it, the Sony WH-1000XM4 landed on my desk this week which means I get to compare the Soundcore buds against a market leader.

I had high hopes, but in-ear buds simply cannot compete when it comes to ANC. They’ve come a long way, but if you’re shopping with the focus purely being on ANC, you should be looking at over-ear headphones. Now, that may sound damning but it’s far from it. The opinion is formed on a pure comparison of ANC. That means without any music playing. As soon as I hit play, I wasn’t even sure if the old extractor was on or not!

What am I actually saying here. Well, ANC is naturally always going to be better with over-ear headphones. By their very design, they isolate more external audio. In-ear ANC technology has come on leaps and bounds. Recently the Huawei FreeBuds Pro knocked this out of the park and left me wowed.

It just adds yet are reasonably good spec to a well rounded pair of buds

The Liberty Air 2 Pro are on par for ANC here, and I didn’t expect that. If ANC is just something you’d like to have, for these Soundcore buds, it just adds yet are reasonably good spec to a well rounded pair of buds.

These is but one definite draw back I could find with the buds and that’s a lack of multi-device support. In a world of working from home, I often listen to music on my phone while quickly swapping to my laptop for a call. Odd how the use for devices has flipped like that. A feature I’ve become very used to is my headphones being smart enough to swap devices as I used them. Not a deal-breaker, but still. I miss it.

Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro: The Verdict

What I keep coming back to here is the price. At €130 from Amazon Germany, or oddly also £130 for UK readers, this is a lot of audio quality to slap into your earholes. My initial reaction to the lightweight design was hesitancy, but there’s no lack of quality audio here. That good news is doubled down on by the lightweight design meaning comfort for longer, supported by whopper battery life.

If you’re an iPhone owner, you’ll probably still find your way to AirPods. But if you’re in the minority seeking an alternative or are either and Android user or working from home person, these could be the answer to quite a lot of your audio questions. If you’re still not sure, drop onto our Twitter and pop us a question.

Destruction Allstars: An Absolute Wreck

Alex
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Destruction Allstars: An Absolute Wreck

“A delayed game is eventually good; a rushed game is bad for ever”. The immortal words of the creator of Mario and father of modern gaming Shigeru Miyamoto. While generally these words have a good bit of truth to them (Doom Eternal springs to mind as a recent example), the last few months have done their damndest to prove Miyamoto wrong. We’ve all heard the horror stories of Cyberpunk 2077, the new poster child for delayed games that never came good. But now there’s a new kid on the block. A game that is at the same time polished, but unfinished. Rushed, but had a 3-month delay. Exciting and fun to play, but bitterly disappointing and shockingly overpriced. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Destruction Allstars.

We got our first glimpse at Destruction Allstars during Sony’s PS5 reveal stream back in June where it promised high-octane car-based chaos with a diverse host of characters. Originally planned as a launch title for the PS5, a month before release, it was pushed back from November to February. By way of apology, all those who had pre-ordered were given full refunds and it was announced that the game would be free on PS+ for two months starting in February, the game’s new release date. Now that’s PR done the right way!

It’s a great thing that the game is free too, because to be honest, that’s the only price-tag that is justified right now.

Rev up the fun

I have to say that apart from the original trailers I had little knowledge of this game when I first jumped into it. After an extremely helpful tutorial I jumped into a free for all match and had an absolute blast. The core gameplay loop is as simple as “smash other cars with yours, and avoid having your car smashed”, and it really doesn’t get much more complicated than that. There are a couple of other game modes that I’ll talk about later but they’re all just variations of a remarkably simple (but effective) theme. The controls are as simple as they come as well, with acceleration, steering and drifting mapped to the buttons you’d expect. However, every car has two boosting abilities too, one for a forward burst of speed, and another to give you a quick left or right shimmy. These are invaluable for causing damage to other vehicles or characters and are on a cooldown timer to prevent anyone just spamming boost to wreak maximum havoc.

Each character’s vehicle has its own Ultimate power

Each individual racer also has their own unique abilities. One of these is their “on foot” ability that ranges from setting fire to the ground you run over to being invulnerable to being knocked down by enemy vehicles. The other is tied to their car, a unique “Ultimate Ability” similar to what you’d see in Overwatch, Gears 5, or a multitude of other multiplayer games these days. These abilities, like their users, come in all shapes and sizes from covering your vehicle with massive spikes to activating a massive shredder mounted to your front bumper. Some of these are less than helpful, however. One is just a covering of smoke on vehicles you hit. Not gonna be of great utility in many games I don’t think.

The roster features an impressively diverse cast of characters, with people of every size, shape, colour, and from every point on the gender spectrum being represented. It can be fun to play as each of them to find out what their ultimate is and see how it works, unfortunately, this is pretty much the only way of learning the basics of each character. If you’re new to the game, there’s no way of knowing what your character’s abilities, strengths, and weaknesses are going to be before jumping into either a live online match or the Arcade mode. This can lead to some very un-fun matches if you get stuck with a character you don’t gel with and may put some players off quite early on.

This game is to be seen, not heard

As with most games on the now-current gen consoles, Destruction Allstars looks fantastic, with bright, vibrant colours on the vehicles and arenas, and more particle effects than you could imagine. Each driver has a host of skins and costumes that you can deck them out in as well as different paint jobs for their car. These can be earned either through gameplay or via (you guessed it) microtransactions and in-game currency. While this is a trend in gaming that I have never liked I feel I should trot out the usual response of “at least it’s only cosmetics that are purchasable, and there are no pay-to-win mechanics”. That’s about as charitable as I get with this kind of thing.

You can imagine there are a lot of car parts flying everywhere in this game

Unfortunately, while the visuals are something to behold, the audio isn’t quite up to snuff. The sound design of the crashing cars is great, and the voice acting for each of the characters really captures their personalities quite well, but how’s the music? Well, there isn’t any. No, I’m not joking. When you’re playing a match there’s literally no music. It’s just the characters, the cars, and the announcer. For a game that’s set in a massive stadium with massive speakers visible on screen this seems like an egregious oversight to me. It’s not like this is a bug or a glitch or anything. According to a Reddit post made by the community manager this was intentional! This misstep is only compounded by the fact that, on the character customisation menu, the music (yes there’s music in the menus, but not in the game itself) will change slightly to match the personality of the character that’s highlighted. For example, Ultimo Barricado, a luchador themed driver will add a Latin beat to the theme, whereas Fuego will add some heavy metal undertones. This is an excellent piece of polish that really adds to the disappointment in the overall product.

Come for the fun, stay for… what exactly?

The game modes leave a lot to be desired too. While the core gameplay is fun there just doesn’t seem to be enough of an incentive to keep me playing. As I said, the 4 game modes all centre around crashing cars as much as possible. The Free for All mode is pretty self-explanatory I think, while Downfall is exactly the same game, just on an ever-shrinking platform. Not exactly a massive formula shake-up. There are two team modes too. Carnado encourages you to smash up as many cars as possible before “depositing” your own car in a central column of purple smoke. Stockpile is basically the same but with a King of the Hill vibe, requiring each team to hold certain points in the arena by continually depositing gears from cars they’ve wrecked.

There aren’t any rewards for progression or doing well in these matches either. Outside earnable coins that can be used to buy emotes and skins there doesn’t seem to be any incentive to complete the daily or weekly challenges. There’s even a prestige system that seems like it offers nothing for hitting the maximum level and re-upping.

Why couldn’t we have gotten something a bit more creative than “whoever smashes more cars wins”? Why not something like a guardian mode, where each team needs to protect one driver from being hit while at the same time trying to hit the opposing team? Or a Last Man Standing mode where there are no respawns? How about a Destruction Derby type mode where you have to race through checkpoints while taking out the other team at the same time?

No pay, no play

100 Destruction Tokens is €1 and there’s one of these for every character

To be fair, that last example does exist in the game. It’s in the paltry “challenge mode” where, in theory, each character has their own story to play through and complete various challenges in to earn those (apparently) coveted skins and emotes. I say in theory because you are only allowed to access Ultimo Barricado’s story from the get-go. You don’t unlock any others through gameplay either. No, you unlock them with a credit card. You read that right. This game was due to retail for the price of €70 and they have the audacity to ask you to pay for the campaign. I was annoyed enough about the skins and emotes being paywalled, but to excise the campaign from the main package for the sake of wringing up to a fiver a pop from the players is just unforgivable in my opinion. These aren’t just collections of missions that are linked to each character either. No, there’s a story for each and there are fully animated cutscenes. In order to get the full experience of this game after March, players will be asked to fork over nearly €150 as well as their PS+ subscription and then they may pay for skins and emotes on top of that. If this is what passes for a first-party showcase title nowadays, I’ll just get off the bus right now. I want no part in it.

Hit the brakes and back away

All this leads to the conclusion that this will probably be the most disappointing game I’ll play in 2021. As I said, I had a great time playing a few matches and causing untold destruction with my fellow players, but there’s just not enough to keep me coming back. Deep down there is the potential for this game to be one of the greats, a real mainstay of my casual online roster. But that potential is buried under so many layers of terrible choices, exploitive monetization, and low effort corner-cutting that it may be irredeemable at this stage. I’ll be back to update this review if there are any significant changes but for now, get it for free while you can, or don’t get it at all.

International Websites Destination Of Choice For Irish Shoppers

Marty
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International Websites Destination Of Choice For Irish Shoppers

Ireland has been very slow to adopt online shopping. That’s a broad statement that needs a little bit of digging. Irish businesses, more specifically, have been slow to accept Irish shoppers want to spend online. Irish shoppers on the other hand have been more than happy to buy what they need from web stores. Today, PayPal has released figures confirming that nearly a year into the pandemic little has changed with 88% of Ireland’s online shoppers buying from international websites over the last year.

The Pandemic Problem

First of all, I’m not trying to belittle how awful this pandemic is by talking about online shopping. COVID-19 has been horrible for everyone but let’s be honest. During some of the grim dark days stuck indoors, waiting for the DHL guy to arrive has been a rare highlight.

This is because people are shopping online more than ever. For shoppers, the money goes where the value is. Unfortunately, Irish businesses were caught napping in the early stages. Largely, years of neglect and focus on bricks and mortar had left them unready for online trading. Efforts were made to drive home messages with shoppers like “shop local” to keep people spending with Irish businesses. Indeed, this is actually the second biggest reasons people still like to shop with Irish websites according to this research.

Unfortunately for businesses, online shopping opens up a raft of opportunities for Irish shoppers seeking value which means simply getting your products online isn’t enough. The prices need to be competitive and retailers are not just competing with the store around the corner any more.

Today, PayPal has revealed figures confirming the worst fears of Irish retailers. 88% of shoppers in Ireland have bought from international websites over the past year. The data should be eye-opening for Irish retailers as it uncovers some untold truths about Irish shopping trends.

Why Do People In Ireland Shop Online Abroad?

The answer to this question is simple, but it’s great to see some data to support it. The main reason people in Ireland shop online with international websites is simply seeking the best prices. Another reason, and one I definitely relate to is access to a wider range of products. As a small country, we don’t always get the latest tech or products in general.

So where’s the money going?

I’m sure many retailers had hoped Brexit would help slow the momentum of Amazon.co.uk. In the past year, four in five of those shopping on international websites shopping with UK retailers and I would wager Amazon.co.uk makes up a large portion of that.

While it would make sense that interest in shopping with Amazon.co.uk would cool off, the data says otherwise. Using Google Trends we can see that searches for Amazon in Ireland over the Christmas period were higher than ever and post-Brexit searches are higher than the same period last year.

I’ve shopped on Amazon for a few bits in January and it’s actually fine. Even with the customs deposit, it’s often cheaper and faster to get products from the e-commerce giant, even if you don’t like them for very understandable reasons.

The European Union is working hard to normalise cross border shopping. This is being achieved through the creation of a Digital Single Market. This whole policy framework is the reason you can use your mobile data while roaming now. While it’s been a while since most of us have travelled, I think we can all agree EU data roaming is amazing.

Irish shopping trends

Another pillar of this policy is access to online products and services being made more easily accessible between EU states. The success of EU shopping depends on shipping being simplified to mean uniform cost of delivery and returns regardless of the country an order is shipped from or to. One of the reasons people choose to shop with Irish retailers is faster delivery but this is a weak argument. An Post has been struggling to cope with home deliveries leaving many disappointed with the online shopping experience.

This might be daunting for Irish retailers but it truly is an opportunity. We have some of the most exportable goods in the world so making EU shopping the norm means Irish retailers will no longer be targeting just under five million people but instead have access to the entire 446 million inhabitants of the EU.

Irish shoppers are already turning to EU retailers with 43% of people surveyed by PayPal saying they bought from an online shop outside of Ireland but within the EU. There is opportunity here for Irish businesses willing to take the leap.

International Spend Higher

Another interesting finding of the study was that Irish shoppers are spending more internationally than back home. There can be many reasons for this, including just spending more for the “big international delivery”. However, it’s also possibly down to better value on higher priced items.

On average, those who shop online spent €385 with retailers outside of Ireland in the last year while those shopping with Irish online shops spent an average of €357.

So What Now?

This isn’t a doom and gloom article. The future for online businesses is massive but only if they act now. Surviving 2020 was enough and leaning on the loyalty behind “shop local” helped many businesses keep the lights on. But that loyalty will wear thin.

Remote working means more people than ever will have access to staying home to work and the Irish government has confirmed that’s going nowhere. This means reduced footfall in stores and more predictable patterns for home deliveries. All of this means online shopping is only going to get more popular.

Irish shoppers are motivated by value and range. It’s time for Irish retailers to meet that demand head on while also starting to appreciate the wider EU market opportunity.

Joachim Goyvaerts of PayPal sums it up nicely by saying, it’s “absolutely necessary that Irish businesses provide a digital offering. Of course, they shouldn’t look at this as a short-term investment because the growing dominance of online shopping won′t ease – even when restrictions do”.

Update: About The Data

This data is not directly taken from PayPal transactions. The study was conducted by Censuswide and involved more than 1,000 consumers in Ireland.

Ireland’s Unlimited Mobile Data Networks

Marty
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Ireland’s Unlimited Mobile Data Networks

Do you remember when we used to care about data caps? It seems like a long long time ago, right? As someone who used to live with a 1GB Meteor limit, that’s mind blowing that I live without worry of exceeding mobile data limits these days. I stream or download as much as I like. Cool, eh?

Today, Virgin Media has joined the party and confirmed that all of their customers will now have access to unlimited data. So, if you’re in the market for a new network today, who offers proper no limits data access?

The Mystery Of The Fair Usage Policy

Today, if you join one of the holy-trinity networks in Ireland (Eir, Three or Vodafone), you’ll be able to get connected to mobile internet claiming to be unlimited in some shape or form. They managed to all use different terms for it which naturally leads to confusion and suspicion! So if you’re shopping around, just who offers internet you can buy and forget about?

Virgin Media: Unlimited Data Until July

Today, Virgin Mobile announced that all of their mobile customers will no longer have to worry about data caps at all, prompting me to start this little data dig.

All customers who have a data limit on their plan will now become unlimited and all those on unlimited plans will have the 80GB fair usage policy removed. That means you can go wild and download as much as you like. Sure you already have gone wild! Virgin Mobile confirmed that 2020 brought a 47% increase in data usage on their network.

It’s not a complete commitment to a future of unlimited internet access on-the-go. Unlimited mobile internet will remain in place until July 18th 2021.

Unlimited With The Big Three Mobile Networks

Virgin Mobile is an MVNO using Three’s network but I’ll compare them to the value competitors later. First, let’s look at how they weigh up against the big three.

Vodafone: Unlimited Data With Some Speed Limits

If you’re buying an phone with Vodafone, and taking a plan costing at least €60 per month or their €35 SIM only plan, well then it’s all unlimited. Completely and tee-totally. If you take the €40 phone plan or the €25 SIM only option, you don’t have to worry about data caps. Your internet usage is unlimited, in terms of the amount of data you can use. Vodafone does, however, limit speeds on these plans to a maximum of 10Mbps. That’s like the internet in my Mam’s house. It’s grand, but you won’t be enjoying 4K HD video streams on it.

Three: All You Can Eat Data With No Hidden Limits

Three doesn’t use the term “unlimited”. They never have, instead opting for the term “All You Can Eat Data” and avoiding the criticism of having “unlimited plans” alongside a fair usage policy. In response to the pandemic, Three had temporarily removed all fair usage limits from their “All You Can Eat” data plans. In May 2020, they confirmed this step would be permanent. If you’re on the Three network, download all you like once you are on an All You Can Eat Data plan (that’s all bill pay and all but one prepay plans).

Eir: What Is “No Limits” Data?

While Three avoided criticism by using “All You Can Eat”, Eir’s use of “No Limits” Data just made me worried enough to look in the terms and conditions. My fears were well founded. While Eir claim to have “No Limits” mobile internet, their highest mobile plan retains a 120GB fair usage policy. This means that should you go over that data cap, Eir retains the right to limit your access to the internet on your mobile data connection.

I’ve never really had an issue with fair usage policies, but 120GB is a very low fair usage policy to not mention up front. It feels like a dated entry in the terms and conditions that someone simply forgot about!

The Value Networks

The value networks of Ireland are typically, 48, Clear Mobile, Gomo, Tesco Mobile and Virgin Media.

48

48 is up front with their offering. €10.99 per month for 100GB of 4G mobile internet access. They don’t try to sell “unlimited” so let’s move on.

Clear Mobile

On the surface, Vodafone’s new value brand might get you excited with their “Unlimited Data” for just €12.99, but there is a limit. The speed is capped at a fairly upsetting 5Mbps.

Gomo

Gomo promises all calls, texts and data for €12.99 per month. But because it’s run on the Eir network, I was immediately suspicious again. Sorry, but I was right to be too! Like the parent network, there is a 120GB fair usage limit. Again, it’s not that it’s an insignificant amount of data to get through, it just feels a bit sneaky.

Tesco Mobile

Tesco Mobile doesn’t mess around either. All of their plans are clear in their data offering, ranging from 5GB to 30GB bill pay data plans. Nothing hidden here, well played Tesco.

Virgin Mobile

And we’re back to where we started.

It’s welcome news that today Virgin Mobile confirmed they would remove fair usage policies and go properly unlimited until July. I’m labouring that date a bit because it’s important you remember to check if they re-introduce data limits again. Their old fair usage was as low as 40GB on some plans, one that would be easy to go sailing past.

Demon’s Souls; If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.

Alex
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Demon’s Souls; If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.

Until this year, I had never played Demon’s Souls. I know that many in the gaming community view this as some kind of cardinal sin but there it is. I’m not ashamed to admit it anymore. I guess I missed out on playing it because I was more invested in the Xbox environment at the time, not paying much attention to the PS3 and its exclusives (like the original Demon’s Souls), though the PS3 controller’s terrible design didn’t help. Seriously, that thing is the worst piece of design in modern gaming and I will not be convinced otherwise.

Anyway, once Bluepoint announced that they were remaking Demon’s Souls for the PS5 I was all in; ready to go back to the origin of the Souls series and see where it all began. I was already familiar with Bluepoint from the work they did on the gorgeous Shadow of the Colossus remake on PS4, as well as their ports of the first two God of War games for the PS3 so I knew this remake was in good hands. I even went back to play the original Dark Souls to get myself in the right frame of mind. I decided to go into Demon’s Souls completely fresh, not spoiling myself on the bosses or even some of the game mechanics. So here are my very first impressions of the remake as well as Demon’s Souls itself after all this time.

The World might be mended

The first thing you notice when first playing this game is how it looks. Good lord is it stunning. The character models are rendered beautifully and it’s clear that special attention has been paid to make them as lifelike as possible, the weapons and armour shine as they catch the light, and the environments are a sight to behold. From the dank disgusting depths of the Valley of Defilement to the bright sunshiny exterior of Stonefang Tunnel, the world and everything in it is captured in full 4K for the first time. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this version makes the original look like Lego in comparison.

Adventure awaits!

As I said in my Spider-Man Miles Morales review I’m not normally one to use photo mode in games, but here I just couldn’t resist. Especially when photo mode is so well fleshed out, letting you change your character’s pose, the lighting and composition of the shot and even apply a permanent filter to make your game look like the original while you play. While adventuring through the ruins of Boletaria and taking down some fantastically designed bosses you really get the impression that this is what the developers had in mind when making the original game, now fully realised in as close to photorealism as the medium currently allows.

Greetings from sunny Boletaria

You shall obtain the demon soul, and power beyond human imagination

The way the game feels is something else as well. The PS5’s Haptic Rumble feature massively enhances the gameplay experience. You feel every step the Slayer of Demons (your character) takes, as well as each hit that reverberates off your shield or armour. When facing the largest boss in the game you can even feel his breath when you get close. Similarly, with the speaker in the controller, you hear every time you hit an enemy or wall, and indeed when the enemies hit back. The key to this, much like the Switch’s HD Rumble is that it barely registers on a conscious level. It just makes sense that you’d feel when you hit something or that you’d hear your sword grinding against concrete. It’s so well integrated with the game that it’s a key part of the experience without even trying.

The core gameplay loop is broadly similar to that of any SoulsBorne game. You kill enemies to gather souls that can be traded in to level up your stats. This will help you progress to killing bigger enemies and bosses so you can rid the world of the Scourge du Jour. That’s where the similarities end, however and the differences make this, in my opinion, the easiest game in the franchise. Now bear in mind that this is still a Souls game so it’s absolutely not “easy”, it’s just a bit more beginner friendly than any of its counterparts. Let me explain.

Anyone who has played Dark Souls, Bloodborne or Sekiro will know that you make your way from area to area on a relatively linear path with bonfires or lanterns to serve as checkpoints on your journey. Sometimes you have a hub that you can travel to in order to upgrade your equipment or character. Firelink Shrine or The Hunter’s Dream for example. Demon’s Souls is much stingier with its checkpoints, only offering you one when you beat the boss of a level (yes, I said level, I’ll get back to that in a minute). This means that on their first few tries beginner players will have to adopt a much more cautious play style so as not to lose what can sometimes be hours of progress. One advantage of this, however, is that it divides the game up into chunks of easily recognised difficulty.

Always remember to wear a mask!

What’s all this “level” talk? Well, the 5 main areas of Demon’s Souls are totally unconnected and can be tackled in any order. That’s right, gone are the spaghetti-like pathways of newer games in the franchise in favour of 5 distinct worlds all connected to a central hub, The Nexus. You can now dip in and out of levels as you see fit. For example, if you’re having a difficult time navigating your way along the spires of Upper Latria, you can peace out and head to the Shrine of Storms to see what the skeletons are up to. This empowers the player to cut their teeth on lower-level enemies before taking on the bigger baddies and Arch Demons that await later in the game.

You have a heart of gold. Don’t let them take it from you

Each world also has its own independent “World Tendency” value, a sort of morality system that shifts and changes depending on the player’s actions. Slay a Boss? Your world just got slightly better. If you die or kill a helpful NPC? You’re in for a rougher time of it now, buddy. Some events in the world are locked behind “Pure White” or “Pure Black” world tendency so there are advantages to experimenting throughout your playthrough to see if you can find any secrets!

NPCs are your friends

The typical SoulsBorne multiplayer setup is back as well with a combination of friendly collaborators as well as treacherous invaders poised to help or hinder you along the way. This feature is only accessible when you’re in your Human form though (eg. Haven’t died yet after beating a boss) so you don’t need to worry about the possibility of a high-level player wiping you out just as you’re about to take on a boss or difficult area for the ninth time.

Demon Vanquished

The main set pieces of any SoulsBorne game are the bosses. Everyone remembers their first newbie fight against the Asylum Demon or Father Gascoigne, or their last encounter with Isshin the Sword Saint or Slave Knight Gael. Demon’s Souls offers up some memorable boss fights of its own and, as with everything in this game they’re a little different from what you might expect. Whereas bosses in other games in the franchise can be beaten by grit, determination, and a little bit of luck, most bosses in Demon’s Souls are basically puzzles that can hit you, with nearly all of them having some kind of gimmick or secret that gives you a very satisfying “Eureka” moment before you take them down once and for all. There are a couple of stinkers in there too, unfortunately. Leechmonger and the Dirty Colossus spring to mind. But these are in the minority and, to be fair, fit in beautifully with the theme of their respective levels and neither is as disappointing as the Witches of Hemwick or Pinwheel.

This really is a fantastic game and a wonderful update to an old classic. If you’re a fan of the series you probably don’t need that much convincing, but if you’ve never tried a Souls game and are interested in dipping your toe in the waters this is the perfect game to do that with. I cannot recommend this game enough. From its looks to the minute details of its gameplay it’s a real modern masterpiece. Umbasa.

Eamon Ryan To Propose Legalisation Of Electric Scooters Today

Marty
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0
Eamon Ryan To Propose Legalisation Of Electric Scooters Today

Well, it’s been a journey hasn’t it. Before Christmas, I looked on in disbelief as Gardaí stepped up their efforts to crack down on the use of electric scooters. These mechanically propelled vehicles were purchased in a grey area and then continued to be used when that was clarified. While Transport Minister, Eamon Ryan, stated this would be sorted before Christmas it wasn’t. The worst case scenario continued as I heard of at least one case where someone lost their driving license for using an electric scooter. However, today, the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan has announced the Government’s approval to draft legislation which will allow for the regulation of e-scooters and e-bikes in the pending Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. 

Green’s Electric Scooter Proposal

In a tweet, the party said they had “long called for the regulation of e-scooters to support and encourage people to [make the switch] to low-carbon transport. Today Minister [Eamon Ryan] is proposing key changes to the Road Traffic Bill, including legislating for the use of e-scooters & e-bikes.

The party also confirmed that Ryan proposes the introduction of a new vehicle category; Powered Personal Transporters. Ryan believes that during the pandemic people have shown their willingness to embrace new ways of getting around. Indeed that’s a sentiment I agree with with people seeking public transport alternatives too. The announcement on Twitter also confirmed that “under the new provisions, e-bikes, which are not currently classed as ‘mechanically propelled vehicles’ (MPVs), will be legislated for using EU standards – another important step to accelerate the transition to low-carbon transport options that are better for the planet”.

It’s important to note that until the laws are passed, electric scooters remain illegal to use in public places.

Scooter Share Companies Ready And Waiting

The length of time this has taken to progress means that there’s a huge pent up interest from consumers and businesses is filling the electric scooter market. Charlie Gleeson, CEO and Founder of Zipp Mobility, the Irish micromobility operator headquartered at NovaUCD said, “we welcome the comments by Minister Ryan TD announcing the Government’s approval to draft legislation which will allow for the regulation of e-scooters and e-bikes in Ireland. We look forward to seeing more specific details about how e-scooters and e-bikes will be regulated”.

It’s a good point too. Our attention now turns to what speed limits and laws will be introduced. I understand that it will be a 25kmph speed limit (which from personal experience is fair) and that by and large electric scooters and e-bikes will largely be treated like regular bikes. Time will tell.

Testing Autonomous Vehicles

The proposed changes also include reference to testing self-driving vehicles. A study has recently been completed on behalf of the Department, surveying the Road Traffic Acts and identifying areas where amendments might be needed to allow for such testing. Minister Ryan will consider the implications and seek legal advice as necessary, with a view to proposing amendments for Committee stage.

11 New Movies And TV Shows To Add To Your Netflix Queue In February

Keeley
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0

Now that a new month is just around the corner, Netflix have revealed their slate of new movies and TV shows for the weeks ahead. 

And, thankfully, there’s plenty to pick from in February. 

Whether you’re looking for something emotional or action-packed; a nail-biting thriller or a swoon-worthy love story, there’s something that will suit everyone’s tastes. 

Here are some of the highlights that will be coming to Netflix in the coming weeks. 

Netflix Original TV

Firefly Lane  

February 3, 2021. 

Tully and Kate meet as young girls on Firefly Lane and become inseparable best friends through 30 years of ups and downs.

Invisible City   

February 5, 2021. 

While investigating a mysterious death, a man is drawn into a battle between the human world and a realm inhabited by mythical creatures.

Capitani  

February 11, 2021. 

Detective Luc Capitani investigates the mysterious death of a teenager after her body is found in the forest near a village in northern Luxembourg.

Behind Her Eyes  

February 17, 2021. 

Louise (Simona Brown) supports herself and her son with her part-time job in a psychiatrist’s office. But her whole world’s thrown off-balance when she starts an affair with her new boss David (Tom Bateman) — and is later drawn into an unlikely friendship with his wife Adele (Eve Hewson). What starts as an unconventional love triangle soon becomes a situation that none of them ever expected.

Netflix Original Films

Black Beach


February 3, 2021. 

A lawyer with a promising future is forced to deep dive into his past when he agrees to negotiate with an old friend turned kidnapper

All My Friends Are Dead 

February 3, 2021. 

A group of friends at a New Year’s Eve party go through a whirlwind of events that exposes secrets, breaks hearts — and leads to a shocking outcome.

Malcolm & Marie  

February 5, 2021. 

When filmmaker Malcolm and his girlfriend Marie, return home from a movie premiere and await his film’s critical response, the evening takes a turn as revelations about their relationship surface, testing the couple’s love.

News of the World   

February 10, 2021. 

Five years after the end of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a veteran of three wars, now moves from town to town as a non-fiction storyteller, sharing the news of presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes, and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe.  In the plains of Texas, he crosses paths with Johanna, a 10-year-old taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own. 

Johanna, hostile to a world she’s never experienced, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will.   Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles into the unforgiving wilderness, the two will face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.

Red Dot 

 February 11, 2021.

On a hiking trip to rekindle their marriage, a couple find themselves fleeing for their lives in the unforgiving wilderness from an unknown shooter.

To All The Boys: Always And Forever   

February 12, 2021. 

It started with an old love letter — and turned into a new romance. What does the future hold for Lara Jean and Peter?

The Girl on the Train 


February 26, 2021. 

A bright city, a dull morning and a curious girl on the train. When a voyeuristic divorcee fixates on the lives of a perfect couple from afar, she soon gets embroiled in a murder mystery that unfolds revealing truths about her own life.

Netflix Original Documentaries

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel   

February 10, 2021. 

From director Joe Berlinger (Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Paradise Lost), Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is the first season in a new documentary series that deconstructs the mythology and mystery surrounding infamous locations in contemporary crime. 

For nearly a century the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles has been linked to some of the city’s most notorious activity, from untimely deaths to housing serial killers. In 2013 college student Elisa Lam was staying at the Cecil when she vanished, igniting a media frenzy and mobilising a global community of internet sleuths eager to solve the case. 

Lam’s disappearance, the latest chapter in the hotel’s complex history, offers a chilling and captivating lens into one of LA’s most nefarious settings.

Pelé   

February 23, 2021. 

This documentary tells the story of world-renowned footballer Pelé, his quest for perfection and the mythical status he has since attained.

Spider-Man Miles Morales: Back in the Swing of Things

Alex
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0
Spider-Man Miles Morales: Back in the Swing of Things

So, the PS5 is having a bit of a rocky start. 2 months after its release, people around the globe are still struggling to get their hands on the highly anticipated console. This is in spite of the fact that there were more units produced for this launch than there have been for any launch in Sony’s history. The issue seems to be caused by a combination of scalpers buying up the consoles and reselling them at a premium, and an insane demand for the console from regular consumers. But what makes the PS5 so much more desirable than the Xbox Series? Games. The PS5 launched with “Triple-A” first- and third-party exclusives that seem non-existent for Microsoft’s newest outing. Among these new titles there is one that stands head and shoulders above the rest for me. Spider-Man Miles Morales.

Anyone who has read my previous article on Spider-Man Remastered will know that I am a huge fan of the wall-crawler and always have been, so you can imagine my joy come launch day when I got a chance to swing across the Manhattan skyline once again. Let me tell you right here and now, this game is every bit as good as its predecessor and, more importantly, feels like a very natural path for the series to take.

Let’s start at the beginning

Depending on how old you are or how big a comic fan you are you may have been introduced to Miles Morales in one of several ways. The character first hit the page in 2011, inspired by a meme of all things. When news broke that the Spider-Man film franchise was being rebooted (for the first time) there was an enormous fan campaign to have Donald Glover (who at the time was a stand-up comic and writer on 30 Rock) secure the role of Peter Parker. A campaign Glover acknowledged in Community by wearing Spider-Man pyjamas. This, in turn, led writer Brian Michael Bendis to write a Spider-Man comic with an African American teenager taking up the mantle after the original Spider-Man died.

What a world we could have lived in…

Some of you may have first seen Miles in the 2018 masterpiece Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a faithful retelling of Miles’ origin. The movie also contains a reference to Miles’ real-life origins, with the Season 2 premier of Community (where Donald Glover wore his pyjamas) playing on Aaron Davis’ TV. Or some of you may have been introduced to him in Spider-Man 2018 where we see him first being bitten by a radioactive spider and learning to handle his new powers and responsibilities. This is obviously the version of Miles that we follow in this game and he is every bit as geeky, quippy and super as Peter Parker is.

Story Time

The game begins roughly one year after the original left off. Miles is training under Peter’s watchful eye as Rhino is transported back to the Raft after wreaking havoc on Manhattan. Predictably things don’t go well. Rhino escapes and leads the dynamic duo on a chase through downtown that ends at a site owned by Roxxon, an energy corporation that’s headed by charismatic Elon Musk wannabe Simon Krieger. This is where Miles discovers his bio-electricity power (called Venom, though not to be confused with Spidey’s anti-hero counterpart) and proves he’s just as capable in a fight as the OG. After the dust settles, Peter and Miles share a sweet scene where the former hands over the Spider-Mantle for a while as he and MJ are going on a working vacation to Symkaria. Peter presents his ward with an early Christmas present that Miles is only too keen to share with his “guy in the chair” Ganke, the only other person who knows his secret identity. This is where Miles really becomes a fully fleshed out character in his own right. Together, he and Ganke set about resolving small scale problems like missing cats, stolen cars, and faulty Subway wiring. They do this using the new Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man app they develop (more on this later) which allows them to connect with normal people and be just that, Harlem’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. However, it’s not long before the Tinkerer and their crew, The Underground, arrive on the scene and start causing trouble for the people of New York thus setting up the main conflict in this game. Roxxon versus the Underground, with Miles caught in the middle. Similar to the three-way conflicts in Spider-Man 2018.

From Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man to saviour of Manhattan in just 10 hours

Through his use of the app and over the course of his fight to keep Harlem in one piece, Spider-Man builds up relationships with a surprising number of characters in a short amount of time, with few if any of them feeling underdeveloped or “tacked on”. One of the many benefits of a smaller story scope. For all it’s much shorter than the original, the story here is fully fleshed out and contains many incredibly satisfying character arcs for Spider-Man as well as a number of villains. A shining example of “Less is more” here.

In typical Marvel fashion, there’s also a post-credits scene where we get a glimpse of the potential villains in the next game with a third big name joining the two Spider-Man mainstays teased at the end of 2018 (again, trying not to spoil anything here!)

Same, same but different

As you’d probably expect, the gameplay here is broadly similar to what we saw in 2018, with Arkham-style combat, challenge missions throughout the city and arguably the best traversal system ever implemented in gaming. That’s where the similarities kind of end, to be honest. I’m delighted to say that a lot of the faults that people found with the original game have been either tweaked or completely resolved. The most welcome change comes in the form of the FNSM app that allows you to not only select side-missions on the fly, but it also allows you to choose when to play or replay those pesky crime missions. Yeah, remember the overwhelming number of those there were in the first game? They’ve been completely reworked and streamlined to make a much more enjoyable experience. No more swinging about aimlessly waiting for a new one to spawn so you can get the Platinum trophy.

The levelling system and passive abilities have also been given a tweak. Now, instead of solely relying on your skill tree for upgrades, there are “Holo-training” challenges that award certain abilities as well as the familiar Activity Tokens. Don’t be put off by the idea of the challenges either, they’re much more manageable than the last game and can be repeated after gaining the reward ability if you want to go for the Ultimate rating. The token system used for unlocking suits and passive buffs has been streamlined as well. Whereas Spider-Man 2018 offered 6 different token types, there are only 2 here, making for a more manageable progression and unlock system!

Two webs are always better than one

The most striking change from the original formula is the combat. As you can imagine, Miles’ Venom powers shake up the formula quite a bit. Whereas Peter Parker relies on his arsenal of precision-engineered gadgets to help him whenever he’s in a jam, Miles uses a more shocking approach. As you progress through the game you get access to a wide variety of Venom abilities that go a long way to helping in a fight. Whether it’s adding a little bit of power to your punches or electrifying your webs, there’s really an ability for every situation. That’s not to say that gadgets are missing, though you do only get access to four through the course of the game. Venom also comes in handy during traversal as you can use a Venom Jump ability to gain a little extra height and speed mid-swing. This is a nice little touch that really shows that the Venom ability was woven throughout the game as a whole and not just a new mechanic for the combat system.

In the PS5 version it should also be mentioned that the adaptive trigger system that was added to Spider-Man 2018 Remastered is back and used to great effect again. When swinging around Manhattan you can feel the strain on Miles’ arms as the trigger gets harder to pull with faster and longer swings. Aiming is similar as the trigger gets harder to pull down when moving quickly to mimic difficulty in focussing on one or two small objects. Again, a small touch that really makes a huge difference in the gameplay experience.

How does it look?

While it may have seemed like a no-brainer to release a follow up to one of the most critically acclaimed superhero games of a generation as a launch title for their new console, Sony honestly couldn’t have picked a better mascot to fly the flag of the PS5. Why it that? Well, name a better environment for showing off your new system’s ray-tracing and performance capabilities than New York City. That’s right, the labyrinth of glass and steel presents the perfect opportunity to showcase the PS5’s cutting edge graphical technology. Nearly every surface you swing past is reflective, from the windows on the skyscrapers to the sheen on some of the statues you can find and yes, even the puddles. Even one of Miles’ super suits has a glass helmet that is constantly reflecting the world around you. I’m not normally one for photo mode in games, but this time around I couldn’t resist taking a quick break to admire the detail and realism of this game.

Let this be an end to #PuddleGate

Something that hasn’t gotten a mention in a lot of promo material is particle effects. Oh boy does this game do them well. Every arc of electricity that Miles shoots from his body is crisp and so clearly defined. The Underground’s weapons shatter into hundreds of gloriously colourful pieces, one after another. The procedurally generated snow that flurries through the streets of Christmas-time Manhattan lands on every character and surface before quickly melting away again. This game is gorgeous from beginning to end.

The game offers three graphics modes as well so you can really tailor your experience to your own tastes. At launch the choice was between a simple performance mode and a fidelity mode. Performance mode dials down some of the fidelity and turned off ray-tracing to offer a locked 60 frames per second. Fidelity mode lets you experience the full brunt of the PS5’s rendering capabilities, with beautiful textures, gorgeous particle effects and the aforementioned ray-tracing as you watch yourself bounce off buildings. All things considered initially my preference was for performance mode, but that’s just me. I’ve long been of the believe that graphics are generally not as important as performance. However, a post-launch update delivered what I consider to be the definitive Miles Morales experience. Performance RT mode makes some small sacrifices to give you the best of both worlds. It scales down the resolution slightly and reduces the population density of Manhattan’s streets, but offers a smooth 60 fps experience with some lovely ray-tracing enabled. If you ask me, they may as well have done away with the other two modes because Performance RT mode is the only way to go!

The not-so-good news

Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and roses this time around. This game is short. Like, really short. All told from the minute I first booted it up to the ping of getting the platinum trophy I only spent 16 hours with the game. This is a full completionism run too. All suits unlocked, all tokens found, and side missions finished. No stone was left unturned. To give a little more context, you need to play through the story twice to unlock all the trophies. This is something that I feel like the game was banking on a little too hard in terms of delivering value. Don’t get me wrong, the story is wonderful, and I thoroughly enjoyed my playthrough both times, but the value just isn’t there. This is maybe a €40 experience if I’m being honest, not the €70 it currently retails for. This becomes easier to recommend if you spend the extra tenner to get Spider-Man Remastered but that’s really the only way I can justify recommending this game to most people unfortunately. At least until it drops in price a little or goes on sale in the future.

With great power comes great responsibility

A lot has changed in the real world since Spider-Man 2018 launched two and a half years ago. Most notably for a game centred around a character who initially received a lot of racially motivated backlash, the #BlackLivesMatter protests that began earlier this year rocked the world and continue to do so to this day. The world of Marvel also lost two of its biggest names; Stan Lee, who passed shortly after the original Spider-Man game released and Chadwick Boseman, who became best known as the MCU’s Black Panther, passed away from cancer in August of last year. As you would expect Lee and Boseman are honoured in their own way in the game. Since Stan Lee made an appearance (as always) in the 2018 game, his character was immortalised in-game here, while a heartfelt message is displayed after the main credits for Boseman. Insomniac did not shy away from the larger issue at hand, however. Upon completing all the character side missions in the game Miles gains a new suit and is automatically posed in front of a huge #BlackLivesMatter mural. It’s impossible to miss if you’re playing the game and, in my opinion, is a great way of making sure the message is heard. A message from a company, or a line of text can be easily overlooked, but when a message for social good is communicated using the game itself, it can’t be overlooked.

While it may not be the best value for your money (especially after forking out half a grand for a PS5) it cannot be understated how good this game is or how much it manages to pack into a relatively small package. The combat feels fresh and new, but still reminiscent of our last outing with the web-head, it’s the most breathtakingly beautiful game I’ve ever played by a wide margin, and the short story is overflowing with character development and emotion. If you’re happy to pay a little over the odds, or if you still haven’t played the original this is an absolute must-play for all PS5 owners.

Bebo Is Coming Back This February

Marty
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0
Bebo Is Coming Back This February

Last November, something weird happened. Bebo started trending on Twitter. There was no real reason for it. I assumed it was just a bit of luv for some nostalgia while being locked up at home. Given that the company had shifted focus towards other endevours, the social focus was gone for good surely? Apparently not. The people behind the name Bebo have realised there’s a gap in the market for the social media platform to be reborn again. Apparently, that time is now.

A Short History Of Bebo

Bebo made an odd comeback in 2014 as some sort of Bitmoji like platform. They also let you download your old pictures. I did and then locked them away somewhere safely. That comeback was short lived and many believed that was it.

However, if you Google Bebo right now, there’s a website saying it’s coming soon.

Click the result and you’ll find the wonderful news. The website states that “Bebo is coming back in February 2021 as a brand new social network”. This makes sense. People are sick of Facebook and many don’t really trust Tiktok. Bebo is a brand that oozes nostalgia, something that is a very big trend right now as we try to escape the gloom of COVID-19 with memories of happier days.

The Bebo website confirms the new platform is already in a private beta, which means a limited number of people are testing the platform before relaunch. I’ve not been invited but my attention has now officially swapped from hunting for a PlayStation 5 to grabbing a Bebo Beta Code.

How To Get A Bebo Beta Code

Unfortunately, getting a Bebo Beta code isn’t as easy as looking online. Beta means the beloved social media platform isn’t built yet. Well, it’s built but it’s buggy. They don’t quite want to open the curtains to the world yet but they do want some people to test drive the new Bebo experience. The people behind Bebo will have invited a select number of people who may be given the chance to invite others.

If you want a Bebo Beta code, I suggest asking around to see if any friends were invited. Otherwise, it’s just about waiting patiently to see if the new platform launches as planned in February.

Already have your Bebo Beta code? Head on over to the Bebo website and get set up.

Bebo Returns: Twitter Reacts

Naturally, Twitter is excited by the return of the much beloved social media platform, Bebo.

What’s Happening With GameStop Stock On Wall Street?

Marty
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0
What’s Happening With GameStop Stock On Wall Street?

One of my favourite movies of all time is The Big Short. It’s all about how the financial sectors greed crashed markets in 2007 leading to a global recession. Good times. It’s the kind of film you hoped would never get a sequel simply because another movie would be more bad news right? Well, right now, it feels like the plot of the second Big Short movie is playing out between a load of people on Reddit and a lot of very angry people on Wall Street, all over GameStop stock.

GameStop Is Still Going?

One of the most surprising things about this story for many might very well be that GameStop is still going. The COVID-19 pandemic spelled the end for a lot of retailers. With new consoles like the a model of the PlayStation 5 launching without disk drives, a future where people don’t shop in-store for games is very near. The result has been GameStop running right along to line of closure. This is where we need to start talking about stock prices.

An Irish GameStop store

Last April, GameStop announced they would be closes loads of their stores. Their share prices plummeted to the point where you could buy shares for just $3.25 a piece. The company was on the way out.

Everyone Can Buy Stocks

“But buying stocks is for people in suits” I hear you say. Not any more. I have stocks. I know lots of people who’ve bought stocks. All because buying stocks has gotten a lot easier these days. You can flip over to some Wolf of Wall Street imagery in your head now, another favourite of mine.

I’m one of the 1.2 million Revolut customers in Ireland and the Revolut app lets you buy stocks. It’s no longer advertised in Ireland because of Brexit, but you can still use it. Apps like MyWallSt help you learn about the stock market and get trading too. There are plenty of apps out there like these and the one making the headlines recently because of GameStop is Robin Hood.

That name is about to get very apt.

What Does Shorting A Stock Mean?

The whole story behind what’s going on with GameStop stock lies behind the idea of shorting stocks. If you’ve seen The Big Short, you might already have an idea what that is. Simply put, “shorting” is when investors bet against stock prices.

This means they invest in the stock’s decline in the future. It works by investors buying stocks in a company. They then sell them with the plan to buy them back at a lower price. With GameStop hanging on by a thread, the vultures gathered and massively shorted GameStop. Actually, they shorted them so much that they bought more stock than existed. Which trigged some alarm bells with WallStreetBets Redditors.

What’s Happening With GameStop Stocks?

We shouldn’t underestimate just how big GameStop is. They’ve been really slow to adapt to the new world, but their brand and reach is massive. That’s why last year there was hope when a new investor bought 13% of the company and started to push for them to make a real challenge to Amazon.

GameStop’s share price started to recover and small private investors, like those using apps such as Revolut and Robin Hood bought shares. While this happened, the suits on Wall Street saw their perfect chance to short. No-one takes on Amazon and wins, right?

Because of the online gathering of people and the viral nature of this whole thing, GameStop’s share price has continued to go through the roof. I’m not even going to write down what it is because it’s changing so quickly. My Revolut account says it’s up by something like 7000%+. Last year I did think about investing low on GameStop but I didn’t. Oh well.

Why Does This All Matter?

This all matters because shorting stocks is what led to a worldwide recession. Greed caused global crisis and cost lives in one way or another. The “suits” have a lot of power and this whole thing with GameStop is now a battle between the regular people and those who bankrupted the world.

Will this last? Will GameStop survive? Will we have new fortunes made by people on Reddit? These are all questions I don’t have the answer to. The stock market is volatile. I recommend you don’t take advice from anyone online, myself included, about buying stocks in these frenzies. It’s far too unpredictable. If you’re going to invest something, invest an amount that if you lose it you won’t bat an eyelid. That’s how I invest. All it takes is one moment for it all to go right or all to go wrong.

One thing is for sure though. Wall Street is very worried right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if some kind of laws or dirty tactics try to stop the public from doing this again. The irony of taking action against the people and not the “suits” after 2007 weighs heavily.

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