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Netflix’s Splinter Cell animated series arrives next month, but there’s no sign of a new game

by admin September 18, 2025

Netflix has released a full trailer for its forthcoming Splinter Cell animated series, ahead of its release next month.

From Derek Kolstad, writer of the John Wick franchise, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch will of course follow series protagonist Sam Fisher – here looking a little older and more grizzled, though still with his iconic night-vision goggles.

Liev Schreiber (who’s been in a tonne of films, from Scream to X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Isle of Dogs) provides the voice of Fisher, and the whole thing has been produced by Ubisoft Film & Television.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch official trailer.Watch on YouTube

The series will be available from 14th October and also stars Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Killing Eve, The Sandman) as new Splinter Cell agent Zinnia McKenna.

News of a Splinter Cell animated series came back in 2020, so this series has been a long time coming. A separate Splinter Cell film was cancelled last year as the production team “just couldn’t get it right”.

October is a busy month for Netflix video game adaptations, as the fourth season of The Witcher also arrives on 30th October. It now stars Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia, instead of Henry Cavill. Check out a trailer below to see him in action.

The Witcher: Season 4 official teaser.Watch on YouTube

As for new Splinter Cell games, Ubisoft announced a remake of the first game in the series back in 2021, but we’ve heard nothing since.

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Another Dragon Quest RPG has been announced, as Square Enix capitalises on renewed series success

by admin September 18, 2025

A brand-new Dragon Quest game has been revealed – and no, I don’t mean Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined.

Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is a roguelite RPG coming to mobile devices globally next year. As the title suggests, players attack to build their special moves in order to smash foes, and then use crystals dropped by defeated enemies to grow their character. As you’d expect from a roguelite, the game features random Blessings and ever-changing tactical situations.

Launching a new mobile game, however, does seem a bit of an odd choice for Square Enix. In the past couple of years, the company has shut down a whole string of underperforming mobile titles, including Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius and Final Fantasy 7 battle royale The First Soldier. What’s more, the company’s financial report in May revealed sales and profits from mobile games had dropped “sharply”, likely due to the closure of these games.

Dragon Quest Smash/Grow teaser trailer.Watch on YouTube

Equally, the Dragon Quest series is having a bit of a moment, so it makes sense to capitalise on that with a new free-to-play mobile game. Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake has been a massive success for Square Enix, particularly in Japan, and that will be followed by Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake coming later this year.

That’s in addition to Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, as revealed at last week’s Nintendo Direct. It’s a new version of the PS1 classic, with a streamlined story and new visual style that will be out next year.

Dragon Quest Smash/Grow is also out in 2026, but there will be a closed beta test next month, from 14th October until 21st October. You’ve got until 2nd October to apply for access on the game’s website.

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

MSI enters the US Electric Vehicle charger market with EV Life Series

by admin September 18, 2025

When I think of MSI, I think of motherboards, video cards, gaming monitors, and, more recently, PC gaming handhelds. So, the thought of MSI entering the electric vehicle (EV) was a foreign concept to me. Unbeknownst to me, even as an enthusiast with two EVs, MSI has marketed EV chargers in other parts of the world for quite some time. However, the company is now ready to expand to North America with MSI’s EV Life and EV Life Plus EV chargers.

The EV Life Series is available in four different models: you can opt for a SAE J1772 or NACS (Tesla) connector in NEMA 14-50 (think U.S. dryer outlet) or hardwired configurations. No matter which SKU you choose, you’ll receive an incredibly long 24.6-foot, IP55-rated charging cable and 14.4kW/60A that will add between 43 and 59 miles of range per hour to the average EV (think Tesla Model 3 or Hyundai Ioniq 7). If you’re driving something like a Chevrolet Silverado EV with a massive 200 kWh battery, you’ll probably see those numbers halved.

(Image credit: MSI)

When it comes to EVs, many owners like to geek out on charging stats and electricity running costs. With that in mind, the EV Life Series has built-in Bluetooth, which, when paired with the MSI aConnect app, provides a powerful tool for monitoring your EV and setting up scheduling routines. With aConnect, you can monitor current and historical charging times, how much you’re saving by using electricity over a comparable gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle, the total cost of the electricity you’ve pumped into your EV, and how much carbon emissions you’ve saved.

Mass Effect TV series casting calls leak, sparking speculation Male Shepard is canon

by admin September 17, 2025

Casting details for Amazon’s forthcoming Mass Effect TV series have leaked, with fans speculating on which characters from the games will be included.

As shared by entertainment insider Daniel Richtman, five casting calls have leaked. These are: a young Colin Farrell-type male (30-39) with open ethnicity; a female co-lead alien character requiring prosthetics (34-39); a female human providing a parallel narrative from Earth; a Doug Jones-type male villain (40-60); and a male wrestler-type soldier (30-49).

Amazon has provided no details on the show’s story, so it’s unclear if it will be based on BioWare’s original Mass Effect trilogy or if it will focus on entirely new characters in the same universe.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition – Official Launch Trailer (4K)Watch on YouTube

Still, these vague character descriptions have provided enough for fans to speculate on. In particular, the female co-lead alien seems primed to be fan-favourite blue alien Liara T’Soni.

However, the Colin Farrell-type male could prove the most controversial. Fans have guessed this could be a male Commander Shepard, protagonist of the original trilogy – but this would assume MaleShep is canon over the female option.

Many fans prefer FemShep due to the performance of voice actor Jennifer Hale, so Amazon needs to tread carefully with the TV show if it’s following the games and intends to cement certain story decisions – Shepard’s gender especially.

The female human on Earth is an interesting prospect, considering the only similar character in the games would be Captain Anderson in Mass Effect 3. Some fans have suggested journalist Emily Wong could be an alternative, while one proposed FemShep could still exist in the same universe like the twins in Andromeda.

Saren from Mass Effect 1 would fit the bill for a Doug Jones-type villain (the actor is known for his non-human roles in The Shape of Water and Hellboy), while the male wrestler-type soldier certainly describes James Vega. But most importantly of all: in this scenario, who’s playing Garrus?!

Casting Calls for Amazon’s Mass Effect Series Have Reportedly Leaked
byu/CahirWiedzmin inmasseffect

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Of course, this could all be entirely incorrect if Amazon chooses a story separate to the games, though you’d surely anticipate the team leaning on familiarity with the games at least for marketing purposes.

Back in July, it was revealed the Mass Effect series would be helmed by many of the team behind Amazon’s Fallout show. That’s proven particularly successful – and notably takes inspiration from the games without following them directly.

Amazon’s Mass Effect TV adaptation was officially announced in November last year. At the start of this year, Eurogamer spoke with Jennifer Hale who stated the game’s original cast should return for the TV series, even if just for cameos.

“I think they’d be really smart to pull as much of the original cast into the show in cameos and Easter eggs and recurring and regular [roles] as possible,” she said. “I think that would be an absolutely genius move.”

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Apple Watch Series 11 review: stuck in the middle

by admin September 17, 2025

No one is going to wax lyrical about the Apple Watch Series 11. Not because it’s a bad smartwatch — it’s a great smartwatch, actually. There’s just nothing that makes it feel special this year. Alas, the $399 Series 11 is the middle child of Apple Watches.

It’s not the Series 11’s fault that the entry-level Apple Watch SE 3 got a major glow-up. It can’t help that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 gets everything the Series 11 has plus satellite connectivity. But there’s little to mask the fact that this watch doesn’t offer much more than the entry-level SE 3. You’re mostly paying extra for a bit of polish.

Hardware-wise, the Series 11 is nearly identical to its predecessor, but it has a redesigned dual antennae for 5G connectivity, a bigger battery, and a more scratch-resistant display. That’s about it. The smartest updates come in watchOS 26 — and none of those are exclusive to this watch.

Even so, there’s value in being a dependable workhorse. For certain folks, the Series 11 is still the best option over the new SE 3 or the Ultra. And that’s going to boil down to three factors: battery life, health, and comfort.

$399

The Good

Slightly better battery life
5G connectivity
FDA-cleared hypertension notifications

The Bad

It’s not “bad,” but the most exciting updates are in watchOS 26 and coming to older watches, too

The significance of 24 hours

Since the first Apple Watch launched in 2015, Apple has never strayed from its “all-day” 18-hour battery life estimate. This year, for the first time ever, a watch has an estimated 24 hours on a single charge. It’s the single-most practical and important update for the Series 11.

Garmin lovers will scoff. After all, they measure battery life not in hours, but in weeks and months. But Apple has historically been ultraconservative with its battery estimates. For years, I’ve routinely gotten at least 24 hours on a single charge with Series watches. This year, the Series 11 has a bigger battery than previous models. The 42mm Series 11 gets a roughly 9 percent bump in capacity, while the 46mm gets an 11 percent increase. This, combined with a more power-efficient 5G modem, factors into why Apple felt confident to increase the estimate. But if you were hoping that this meant 36 to 40 hours on a single charge, the disappointing news is I’ve only seen a modest bump in my testing year-over-year.

Battery life is modestly better, but the overall design is the same as last year.

Here’s what my first 48 hours with the Series 11 looked like. I took it off the charger at 10:30AM with 100 percent battery. I proceeded to have a busy day with several notifications, the always-on display enabled, and a lot of futzing around to play with new features in watchOS 26. I didn’t stick it onto a charger until a full 28 hours later, with roughly 8 percent battery left. A 25-minute charging session brought that back up to 62 percent, and then I went for a 31-minute run, which brought it back down to 46 percent. I went about the rest of my day, slept an entire night, and when I woke up around the 45-hour mark, I had 12 percent left.

These are similar numbers to what I got on the Series 10. The main difference is that I feel a bit more confident that I’ll still have charge when I wake up the next day. That wasn’t always true with the Series 10. Quite a few times during long-term testing, I’d wake up with a dead watch and incomplete sleep data.

Although I wouldn’t call this mind-blowing, battery remains an area where the Series 11 has a slight edge over the SE 3. You can read about my experience with the SE 3’s battery here, but the gist is that you can feel the difference between fast charging and 24-hour battery versus fast charging with 18-hour battery. I had to baby the SE 3’s battery a bit more than the Series 11.

This matters because if you map out which Apple Watch has which features, the Series 11 is clearly positioned as the “health watch.” And while Apple leads on advanced health detection features, it needs to catch up on sleep tracking. You can’t have robust sleep tracking without a battery that reliably lasts at least 24 hours. So is it any coincidence that Apple is finally adding a Sleep Score (more on that below) in the year it improves battery life? I think not.

Apple Watch Series 11 specs

Material: aluminum with Ion-X glass; titanium with sapphire glass
Processor: S10 SiP
OS: watchOS 26
Display: always-on wide-angle OLED, 2,000 nits
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5G, and LTE
Dimensions: 42mm: 42mm x 36mm x 9.7mm; 46mm: 46mm x 39mm x 9.7mm
Weight: 42mm: 29.7 aluminum and 34.6g titanium; 46mm: 37.8g aluminum and 43.1g titanium
Battery life: 24 hours with fast charging, 38 hours in low-power mode, zero to 80 percent in 30 minutes
Sensors: third-gen optical heart rate monitor, EKG sensor, Sp02, accelerometer, gyroscope, light sensor, barometer, altimeter, temperature sensor, depth gauge, water temperature sensor, compass
GPS: built-in GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, and Beidou
Water resistance: water resistant up to 50m, IP6X
NFC: yes
Compatibility: iPhone only

Better battery life means more possibilities outside of sleep tracking, too. For instance, Apple can offer better 5G connectivity for faster downloads and greater cellular coverage now that upgrading from LTE won’t automatically mean burning through the watch’s battery. I’ll dive deeper into 5G performance in my forthcoming Ultra 3 review, but unless you’re a heavy cellular user, the improvements here don’t dramatically change what the watch was already capable of.

The main reason you’d get the Series 11 over the SE 3 or Ultra 3 is because health tracking — not fitness tracking — is your primary concern in a smartwatch. If fitness is your top priority, the Ultra’s brighter and bigger screen, dual-frequency GPS, and rugged durability make more sense. The second reason to opt for the Series 11 is if you want something lightweight with the biggest possible screen without feeling like there’s a hulking brick on your wrist. That’s the Series 11 to a T.

Comfort-wise, this year’s model has the same dimensions as the Series 10, measuring 9.7mm thick with either a 42mm or 46mm case. The bezels are much thinner than the SE 3, with the display about 25 to 30 percent bigger, and it’s still 30 percent thinner than the Ultra 3. For older users or people with more petite wrists, this is a much more wearable design that doesn’t strain the eyes. (And if you want a keyboard to send messages more easily, that’s something the SE 3’s smaller screen can’t accommodate.)

Most of what sets the Series 11 watch apart from the SE 3 lies in this array of health sensors.

On the health front, you get every available feature, but again, neither the FDA-cleared hypertension notifications nor the shiny new Sleep Score is exclusive to the Series 11. Older watches like the Series 9, 10, and Ultra 2 will also get hypertension notifications. Any watch that supports watchOS 26 will get Sleep Score, including the SE 3.

I can’t comment on hypertension notifications yet. It got FDA clearance last Friday, requires 14 days’ worth of data in a 30-day period, and it only just rolled out yesterday. What I can tell you now is that the feature utilizes the existing optical heart rate sensor without first needing to calibrate with a blood pressure cuff. The feature is based on data from 100,000 study participants, and there’s a validation paper you can read that goes into more depth. The gist is that instead of giving you exact blood pressure readings, it searches your heart data to see if there are patterns correlated with hypertension. If yes, then you’ll get an alert notifying you to check in with your doctor. We’ll have to report back once we’ve had more time to test, but this has massive potential as a health screening tool. Apple said in its keynote that it expects to detect 1 million cases over the next year.

I made up for this abysmal sleep score with a big ole nap on my flight to the Apple Event.

What is available right now is the new Sleep Score, which is comprised of 100 points across three categories. You can earn up to 50 points for duration, where seven to eight hours is the ideal target. A consistent bedtime counts for up to an additional 30 points, while the last 20 points take into account how often and how long your sleep is interrupted. The way the data is presented is intuitive, and it smartly takes into consideration travel between time zones.

It’s not a unique metric. Fitbit, Garmin, Eight Sleep, and Oura have had sleep scores for years. However, I appreciate that Apple’s version gives more weight to factors within your control (duration and consistency) rather than sleep stage quality or biometrics. That creates more actionable insights than scores that include factors you have no control over. Conversely, it also means that most scores won’t be a surprise. On a night where I slept only two hours, I received an abysmal score of 23. I got a 93 on a night where I slept 7 hours, went to bed early, and only had six minutes of interrupted sleep. Still, I can see this being helpful if you’d rather focus on what you can control in improving your sleep habits.

Just as the health features are not exclusive to the Series 11, neither are the software updates in watchOS 26. I’ve been using the watchOS 26 beta since June, and I stand by what I said in my preview: the best updates are the revamped Smart Stack and the wrist-flick gesture.

Specifically, the Smart Stack menu subtly nudges you toward useful widgets when you need them. It’s always done this, but it’s a bit more noticeable now that there’s a tiny icon that pops up on your watchface to flag your attention. For example, if your phone camera is open, you’ll see a tiny camera icon on your watch. You can then use the double tap gesture to bring up the Smart Stack and open the remote. Meanwhile, the wrist-flick gesture is an extension of double tap. All you have to do is flick your wrist away from you to dismiss a notification, alarm, timer — you name it. Altogether, it’s easier than ever to use the Apple Watch one-handed, and that feels like a massive step forward.

Since the Camera app is open on my phone, watchOS 26 now shows me a small Camera icon. If I double tap, it’ll show me the Smart Stack with a widget for opening up the Camera Remote. I love this. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge and Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Here are some other stray observations about watchOS 26:

You can use the Notes app on the wrist now! It’s been convenient to dictate my thoughts into my wrist when I’m on the go and then access them on my computer or phone later. My only complaint is that you have to give it a second before you press done, or it may not sync properly.
If you have a phone with Apple Intelligence, the new call features like Call Screening and Hold Assist pop up on your watchface. It’s helpful when you’re arguing with your health insurance company.
This is more iOS 26, but if you like creating custom workouts — REJOICE! Instead of having to tap and edit your interval runs on a teeny screen, you can now create and edit them on your phone via the new Workouts tab in the Fitness app. Hallelujah!
If you’re not into bombarding yourself with data and complications, the new Flow watchface is delightfully minimalist.
I still hate Liquid Glass, but it’s not so bad on watchOS 26.
Workout Buddy is fine but not spectacular. Some people may find its audio cues motivating, but it won’t wow people looking for more in-depth analysis.

This is HIGH-KEY my favorite update to the Fitness app. This is going to change my life.

A weird, in-between watch

The Series 11 is in a weird place. Most of what makes it great can be found on other Apple Watches, so there’s nothing that makes it truly stand out. Perhaps I’d be singing a different tune if the battery improvements were massive, but I suspect most Series 9 and 10 users would only get a few more hours with regular usage. Unless your current watch is broken, there’s little reason for people who prefer Series watches to upgrade.

For Apple Watch newbies or folks who aren’t convinced by smartwatches, the SE 3 is the more obvious, cost-effective choice. For people who want the best of the best, I could craft a 15-page PowerPoint extolling the Series 11’s best qualities, and they’d still buy an Ultra. For people who just want a slightly nicer Apple Watch? I guess that’s the Series 11.

The Series 11 is quite literally stuck in the middle this year.

That doesn’t make the Series 11 a bad product. It has just reached the point where it feels like the default, and default choices aren’t exciting. If you’ve held onto a Series 5 or a Series 6, you’re more likely to appreciate how the incremental improvements have added up to a better experience over time. But if you’re content with your perfectly functioning Series 7 or later? This is a year where I’d prioritize upgrading my phone or AirPods instead.

Correction, September 16th: A previous version of this article mentioned Apple Watches don’t track naps. This author was in dire need of one, but they have since watchOS 11.

Agree to Continue: Apple Watch Series 11

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

You can only use the Apple Watch Series 11 with an iPhone. That means you’ll have already agreed to the iPhone’s terms of service and privacy agreements. Using optional services, like Apple Pay, Apple Music, or Fitness Plus, with your Series 10 will also come with their own agreements. Using the Health app also comes with its own terms and conditions.

If you choose to enable cellular service, you’ll also have to agree to your carrier’s terms. I activated cellular on T-Mobile and was asked to agree to one mandatory agreement.

If you add any third-party apps or integrations, you must also agree to those individual terms and privacy policies.

Specific to the Apple Watch, you must agree to the following:

Some features, like hypertension notifications, EKG, sleep apnea, or blood oxygen monitoring, may also require you to disclose your location data, as it depends on local regulatory clearances.

Final tally: One mandatory agreement plus any mandatory agreements for your iPhone. Several, several optional agreements.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Apple Watch Series 11 Review: Finally, the Watch Lives Longer

by admin September 16, 2025

For years, Apple has tried to extend the battery life of the Apple Watch. For as many years, the company has only succeeded by half measures. Features like Low Power mode or faster charging help you keep the watch on your wrist for longer, but Apple has not significantly improved the watch’s 18-hour battery life—even at last year’s much-hyped decade-versary of the Apple Watch.

I say this to give the context of why such a little thing was so shocking. After wearing the new Apple Watch Series 11 for a full afternoon and wearing it to sleep, I woke up in the morning and discovered that I still had 58 percent battery left. 58 percent! I can wear the watch to sleep, get up, get my kids to school, and charge the watch when I’m at my desk! Constantly fussing over battery life was a major pain of the Apple Watch, and it’s been fixed.

Longer battery life also makes it significantly easier to use Apple’s newest health features as well. If you have a Series 3 or 4 and have been waiting to upgrade, this is the year to do it. Too bad Apple couldn’t pull this off last year.

In a Heartbeat

Photograph: Adrienne So

First things first: The new Series 11 comes in 42- and 46-millimeter case sizes with aluminum and titanium finishes in a variety of colors—Gold, Natural, and Slate for titanium, Rose Gold, Silver, Space Gray, and Jet Black for aluminum). It has the same slim case as last year’s Series 10, along with features like fast charging and a new, more scratch-resistant glass.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has long contended that the Apple Watch is meant to save your life. In accordance with this, the newest features on the watch (or more accurately, the watchOS 26 update that applies to all Apple Watches, Series 6 or later) are health-related. First, the watch now offers hypertension, or high blood pressure, notifications.

Undiagnosed high blood pressure now affects as many as one in three people worldwide and can lead to heart attacks, stroke, or other long-term health conditions. The optical heart rate monitor on the watch purports to check how your blood vessels respond to your heartbeats; Apple says that the feature was developed with data from a series of studies that totaled over 100,000 participants.

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September 16, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

There’s an old MST3K-style video series about a bonkers collection of Flash games I keep going back to, so I invite you to join me down the rabbit hole

by admin September 14, 2025

Screenshot by Destructoid via Retsupurae/ZapDramatic. Remix by Destructoid

“The psychological assessment test, you moron.”

Published: Sep 14, 2025 02:59 pm

Do you remember Adobe Flash? Or does it make me old, even asking the question? Well, in the pre-Unity, pre-Steam, pre-indie era of online entertainment, this humble software platform was the primary source of browser-based gaming fun, serving as the precursor to the vibrant solo dev efforts of today. Creators of crappy (and occasionally awesome) Flash games in the early aughties crawled so we could run.

The vomit-green Skittles of gaming

I am aware this already opened a can of Pandora’s worms – excuse the mixed metaphor, my writing is fueled by an excessive dosage of caffeine today – when it comes to millennial nostalgia, and you can bet your bottom dollar that we will eventually revisit this graveyard of gaming history from the perspective of our favorite pastimes, too.

On this occasion, I’d like to direct your attention to a secondary form of experiencing Flash game non-classics: by watching someone else play them, of course. Or, rather, watching the OG legends of the early Let’s Play era—slowbeef and Diabetus of Retsupurae fame, an MST3K-style comedy riff show that tackled terrible games and terrible playthroughs of games in equal measure alongside a whole bunch of other things, which was a decade-long YouTube experiment spanning from February 2008 to March 2018. It’s a time capsule in many ways, and one well worth checking out in detail if you enjoy old-school snarky web content.

For today, they will serve as the best possible tour guides into the strangest Canadian I have ever heard of: Michael Gibson, aka ZapDramatic, who created a series of interactive story games from Newgrounds that aim to help you navigate the labyrinth of disturbed people’s psyches.

They look like this:

Cosmic horror. Screenshot by Destructoid via Retsupurae/ZapDramatic

And they behave like this:

A terrifying amalgamation of scary and silly. Screenshot by Destructoid via Retsupurae/ZapDramatic

Truly, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The product of an incomprehensible mind

Every few years, I find myself drawn back to the Retsupurae crew’s playthrough of Michael Gibson’s intellectual output, like a hapless character in a Lovecraft story stumbling back to a long-buried copy of a skin-bound Necronomicon. It all starts out with a healthy dose of WTF and gets more nonsensical from there, played entirely straight and taken wholly seriously by Mr. ZapDramatic all along.

We progress from standalone scenarios to a longform multi-game series called Ambition that begins with a husband strapping a few dozen sticks of dynamite to his torso in a bid to reclaim his kids—this is episode one—followed by encounters with a hitchhiker, infidelity issues, psychiatric evaluations, a murder, a police investigation, conspiracies, marriage counseling (no, I didn’t get the order wrong), a trial, a ghost, a terrorist, I can’t take it anymore—it’s calling again—help—

There’s so much more, made even more amusing by the whiplash-inducing tonal shifts from scene to scene and series to series. While playing through the games would no doubt be like pulling teeth, having appropriately snarky tour guides for this car crash, and an excellent longplayer in the form of PinstripeHourglass, makes for a legendary bit of classic gaming YouTube content. If you’ve got a few hours that you’d like to spend getting repeatedly baffled, I can’t think of a better way for you to do so.

There’s an inevitable point in composing fiction where the content begins to bend. Either under the weight of its conflicts with reality, or the pressure points created by all the elements you previously established, characters and events in a longer story inevitably collapse if they are haphazardly piled on top of each other without rhyme or reason.

But sometimes, an incredibly bad writer can find a way past the singularity and the event horizon, and keep going further to an impossible other side, where it’s fine that nothing makes sense anymore because you are completely disarmed by their oblivious confidence, and you can’t wait to see what is the next bit of nonsense they have managed to come up with. Truly, the only thing I can compare it to is Tiger King. Except this is about a series of video games, so it is a much better fit for us.

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September 14, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Hypershell Pro X Series Review: An Exoskeleton You Can Actually Buy

by admin September 14, 2025

WIRED Editor Amit Katwala has traveled far and wide for a hands-on look at the future of robotic artificial limbs, and the technological progress he witnessed is beyond impressive. But in truth, his quest to become Superhuman is still stuck in the prototype phase. I, on the other hand, have been galavanting around the English countryside wearing the Hypershell Pro X, the first readily available leg-boosting, mile-eating, powered exoskeleton.

As a broader product category, exoskeletons have the potential to enhance mobility for those with disabilities, helping them regain independence and improve their quality of life. They can also reduce physical strain in the workplace, minimizing the chances of injury and boosting productivity. But the likes of Hypershell produces nonmedical, wearable exoskeletons that promise muscle-boosting power for us average Joes.

The majority of these designs, however, seem to be permanently on preorder, or ambitiously chasing the big bucks on Kickstarter, so it’s refreshing to be able to test something that’s available on Amazon.

Last year I reviewed a prelaunch version of the similar DNSYS X1 (WIRED 5/10) and found it to be glitchy, heavy, and generally disappointing, but it did show promise. It remains stuck in preorder however, as does the much-publicized pair of $5,000 Arc’teryx MO/GO powered pants.

So can Hypershell do it better? There are currently three versions of the Hypershell exoskeleton: the basic 400-watt, $900 Hypershell Go X, the $1,199 Pro X which has a 800-watt output, 10.8-mile range, and enhanced capabilities for running and even cycling assistance. And then there’s the Hypershell Carbon X, which uses a titanium alloy instead of carbon fiber and costs $1,500.

The Go X offers 7.5 miles per hour maximum speed assistance while the Pro X’s 800-watt motor can help up to speeds of 12.4 miles per hour. Each model collapses down to 16.9 × 10.2 × 4.9 inches, and the Go and Pro X weigh 4.41 pounds, while the Carbon version is 7 ounces lighter.

My Hypershell Pro X sample has a 5000-mAh 72-Wh battery, with quoted assisted range of 10.8 miles (17.5 kilometers) and 10 modes, including up and down stairs, down and uphill, cycling, running, race walking, and regular walking. I’ve been wearing the exoskeleton for the past few months while testing various outdoor gear, including hiking boots and rain jackets, and within seconds of turning it on I knew it was significantly more useful than the DNSYS X1, giving my legs a nice power-up on trails. Did I feel like a fool wearing it in public? Absolutely. Did my wife ask me “Why are you walking like Woody from Toy Story?” Yes. But for many people in need, the benefit of the assistance should outweigh the mild embarrassment.

Fit and Features

Photograph: Chris Haslam

Strapping myself in for the first time, I’m impressed by the build quality, the ergonomic fit, and adjustability. The lower back and hip cushioning is particularly good. I’m 5′ 11′′ tall, and most adults—Hypershell estimates 80 percent—will have no fitting issues. The excellent app takes you through the whole process, with step-by-step video instructions on adjusting to fit, and then once you’re corseted in, it demos the various power modes and controls. When you first power on, the inert machine springs to life and tightens up, and once you’ve chosen a power mode, it instantly starts to work as you walk.

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September 14, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Battlefield 6 Devs Struggled To Get It Running On Xbox Series S

by admin September 13, 2025

Last month, Battlefield 6’s open beta on PC and consoles quickly became one of the most-played games of 2025. But like any modern game hitting Xbox in 2025, BF6 is launching on both the Series X and the weaker Series S. And according to the devs behind the game, getting BF6 to run on the less powerful console was a “challenge.”

Earlier this week, Kotaku sat down with two Battlefield 6 devs to discuss the game’s console ports, and I asked if the team struggled while trying to get such a big and complicated game to run well on Xbox Series S. We’ve heard stories that the Series S can cause devs headaches. And despite Frostbite, BF6‘s engine, being very “scalable,” the Series S was still proven a tricky beast to conquer.

“I will say that the biggest thing we did that was a challenge for us was [dealing with the console’s limited] memory,” explained Christian Buhl, technical director on Battlefield 6. “Xbox Series S does have less memory than even our mid-spec PC. And so there was a point…Oh, I want to say, like, 6 to 12 months ago where we kind of realized that a lot of our levels were crashing on Xbox Series S.”

As a result, the team focused on “optimizing” memory usage in Battlefield 6. And these improvements weren’t just felt on Series S. According to Buhl, this process made the “whole game better and more stable.” However, the devs also worked on “specific optimizations” for Xbox Series S, too.

“We were doing so much testing…we were collecting all this data,” explained Buhl. “Once we kind of started running all our levels through it, and were able to see where the problems were, after a month or two, we had kind of resolved all of our memory issues on Series S.”

Buhl says Battlefield 6 is now “super solid” and “performant” on Xbox Series S and will run at a “smooth 60 frames per second.” And footage of the game’s open beta running on Series S seems to back that up.

EA Won’t Talk About Battlefield 6 On Switch 2

Of course, with Frostbite being so scalable and the studio working hard to make BF6 super optimized, I wanted to ask if, theoretically, the game could run on a Switch 2. The studio is even implementing gyro controls on PS5 and PS5 Pro to let players flick around quickly or reload with the simple waggle of the gamepad.

However, when I asked if it would be possible for Battlefield 6 and Frostbite to run on a Switch 2 based on the specs, an EA rep stepped in and cut off Buhl right as he began to say something.

“Sorry, I have to step in here,” said the EA rep. “We can’t talk anything beyond, sort of, like, the consoles that Battlefield’s coming to, which is Xbox Series X/S and PS5, and PS5 Pro.”

Later on, when the team was talking about gyro controls, I brought up how the Switch 2 has excellent gyro sensors in its Joy-Con.

“Exactly, yeah,” was the response. So, at least I can confirm the devs working on Battlefield 6 think the Switch 2 has great gyro controls. Beyond that, nothing.

I’m very excited to play Battlefield 6 once it launches on October 10 on my PS5 Pro and high-end gaming PC. But not everyone has access to those devices, and some players are gaming on the aging and weaker Xbox Series S. So I’m happy to hear that the devs behind the game worked so hard on optimizing it and making sure all platforms get a great version of Battlefield 6. And hey, maybe Switch 2 owners will get their own solid version of BF6 in the future?

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September 13, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Borderlands 4 is the series’ biggest launch ever on Steam, but it has earned the unfortunate nickname of Stutterlands 4

by admin September 12, 2025

Borderlands 4 is officially out – almost a day early for some people, and players on Steam have shown up in droves to jump into the latest loot shooter from Gearbox. The game has not only done very well for itself in terms of player activity, it also easily beat all other Borderlands games.

Steam user reviews, however, aren’t as glowing as you might expect.

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It seems Gearbox’s decision to make a more grounded game with Borderlands 4, and step away from referential humour and internet slang has worked in its favour. Over on Steam, the game peaked at 207,479 concurrent players (via SteamDB) just hours after it went live.

Considering some of the launch times, and the fact it wasn’t out on consoles at that time, there’s every chance the weekend will give these numbers a boost. Indeed, even if that’s the highest the peak concurrent is going to get, it’s still better than every other Borderlands game that came before, with its closest contender being Borderlands 2, having peaked at 124,678 concurrent players.

Borderlands 4’s numbers were certainly good enough to get into Steam’s top five most played games, and it’s currently Steam’s number one best-seller worldwide, having jumped up seven spots this week.

Image credit: Gearbox Software, 2K Games.

It doesn’t seem like everyone is happy with the game, however. Judging by its current Steam user review rating of Mixed (based on 5,435 reviews), only 62% had positive things to say about the co-op loot shooter.

While some of the negative reviews touch on narrative and gameplay content, the vast majority lament the game’s technical state. Borderlands 4’s long (and frequent) shader compilation pauses come up several times, as do your typical Unreal Engine navigational stutter. In fact, stutter issues are so common that some have taken to calling it Stutterlands 4.

This is another case of an Unreal Engine 5 game getting lambasted for its technical issues, and it’s actually become something of a nonestarter for players, many of whom get into the game expecting to run into problems just because of its use of Epic’s game engine.

It’s worth keeping in mind that Borderlands 3 had its fair share of technical issues, too, which took Gearbox a while to completely iron out. It’s quite possible this will eventually be the case for Borderlands 4, especially once Denuvo gets removed. Only time will tell.

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

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