Ori and the Blind Forest Game Review

Coming to Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC

Ori and the Blind Forest release date: Late 2014 (Xbox One/PC) 2015 (Xbox 360)

It’s not as if Sony has needed reasons to buy a PS4, but its stellar line-up of indie titles definitely hasn’t hurt the cause. From Don’t Starve to Transistor to Rogue Legacy, Hohokum and The Road Not Taken, it’s had a stream of cool, quirky, indie stars, with many more on the way. Finally, however, Microsoft is beginning to catch up. Capy Games' Below is on its way next year, along with Limbo creator’s Playdead’s new game INSIDE, Ghost of a Tale and the fascinating FPS, Superhot.

Leading the charge, however, is Moon Studios’ Ori and the Blind Forest; a stunning-looking 2D platform adventure which marries the hand-painted look of some of Ubisoft’s UbiArt titles with gameplay that mixes Mario-style acrobatic with the structure of a classic Metroid/Castlevania game.

In it you play Ori, a childlike guardian spirit found in a wild, sprawling forest and raised by what appears to be some kind of masked bear thing. All is good until a nasty entity, Kuro, turns up and kidnaps Ori’s unusual adopted parent, forcing Ori to go on the rescue. Like Link, Samus and so many great game characters before Ori starts off weak and fairly helpless, but with the aid of Sein, a miniscule but mighty sprite, Ori starts collecting additional powers, each one helping the little spirit on its quest.

After Rayman Legends and Child of Light, it’s getting harder to impress with a hand-drawn visual style, yet Ori manages to be breathtaking. Its world is brimming with beautiful combinations of shape, light and colour, and when Moon Studios turns on the spectacle, with a giant owl or a speeding upwards torrent, there seem to be endless layers of movement and detail going on. This, combined with some lovely character design and stirring music, make Ori a more magical experience than your average 2D platformer. Apparently, no assets are re-used at any point; each and every screen is unique. With this kind of attention to detail, Ori might be the point where Nintendo and Studio Ghibli meet.

Yet at our Gamescom 2014 demonstration, designers Thomas Mahler and Gennadiy Korol want to talk more about the gameplay. As we said, Ori apes the style of the classic Metroid/Castlevania game, where you’re free to explore the game’s map, but areas will be closed off until you find the ability you need to access them. What’s more, Ori takes on another key idea: introducing a new ability with each area, training the player in how to use it, then asking you to get more skilled in using it to survive the challenges of the level. Mahler and Korol are keen to stress that this doesn’t mean boss battles in the usual sense, but climactic challenges that push your powers to their limits.

In the level we saw demonstrated – a tough, mostly vertical level that takes place inside a giant ‘Ginso Tree’ – the ability in question is Bash. You hold a button to freeze the action and an arrow appears. Point this in the right direction and release the button, and Ori jets forwards, smashing whatever enemies, objects or even projectiles that stand in the little spirit’s way. It’s not just a combat move, but a way of navigating quickly, or of redirecting missiles so that they’ll take out obstacles or clear a path.

The team at Moon has put years of effort into crafting these abilities, and into making the part of a move-set that’s smooth, intuitive and precise. We weren’t able to go hands-on with the game ourselves, but the one fellow journo who did seemed to pick things up quickly, and the controls are designed to be fluid, with a satisfying weight. Ori and the Blind Forest will, we’re told, be challenging, but there’s compensation in a generous checkpoint system, where you can effectively set down your own checkpoints and – within limits – save as and when you please.

Moon Studios is deliberately restricting the flow of info. It wants the game to be mysterious and enchanting, and for players to experience that as they play. We’re not even told what the title actually means. Yet when so many indie titles seem to be quirky for quirky’s sake or content to clothe retro arcade styles in cool, ironic looks, Ori and the Blind Forest seems more intent on captivating the player and crafting some kind of emotional appeal. It’s beauty might be more than just skin-deep.

First Impressions

Sony has a killer line-up of indie titles, but with Ori and the Blind Forest Microsoft looks like it might have a game that can hold up to Sony’s best. It looks amazing and the controls and gameplay appear as refined as the stunning hand-painted visuals. Like Ico, Journey, Rayman, Zelda and Metroid, there’s a very good chance that you might end up liking this.



Read more: Best Xbox One games

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PS4 Share Play to be limited to 60 minute sessions

Sony’s PS4 Share Play, which allows gamers to share titles with friends over the internet, will be restricted to 60 minute sessions the company has confirmed.

Although the service will allow gamers to play titles they don’t own, for free, these time limitations could prove rather restrictive for those enjoying a bit of co-op action.

For those out of the loop, Sony has described Share Play as a ‘virtual couch’ which will enable “an online local co-op experience.”

Basically, the service will let PlayStation Plus members share games over the internet with a friend who doesn’t own the same title.

Discussing the service, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida stated: How it works is, for example, say a friend has a game that I don’t, I ask them to let me play it. If they send me an invitation, I can access their PS4 and play while watching the video that is streamed.”

Despite the time restrictions on single sessions, Sony has suggested that there will be no limits on the number of times games can be played through Share Play.

Share Play will be introduced later this year as part of the upcoming PS4 2.0 update.



Read More: PS4 vs Xbox One

Via: GameSpot

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Huawei Ascend P7 Arsenal Edition released as new football season starts

Huawei is ready for the new football season, building on its partnership with one of the Premier League’s finest to launch the Huawei Ascend P7 Arsenal Edition smartphone.

Giving its flagship phone an Arsenal-themed makeover, the reworked P7 features the Arsenal crest beneath a Gorilla Glass 3 protective coating on its rear, and comes pre-installed with all manner of football themed add-ons, designed to get fans through the football season.

As well as being adorned by the Gooners' badge, the Huawei Ascend P7 Arsenal Edition boasts dozens of Arsenal themes, wallpapers, images and even bespoke menus. The phone's clock is even based on the Arsenal stadium's famous clock end.

Having been unveiled last month, the Arsenal branded handset has been made available for purchase today, August 16, to coincide with the start of the new Premier League season.

If this is feeling like a bit of Arsenal overload, even for the most hardened of fans, there are some more generic football add-ons to see you through.

Ensuring fans can keep up with the action, the Huawei Ascend P7 Arsenal Edition features the likes of the BBC iPlayer and BBC iPlayer Radio direct from the box, with the Yakatak app and FIFA 14 game also thrown in for good measure.

"We are excited to announce the exclusive Arsenal smartphone in time for the new Barclay’s Premier League season," Richard Ren, President of the Huawei Consumer Business Group, Western European Region, said in unveiling the handset recently.

Teasing things to come he added: "We have a few surprises in the pipeline to make every Arsenal fan’s season the best ever, so watch this space.”

Aside from its Arsenal branding and software additions, the Huawei Ascend P7 Arsenal Edition is no different to its standard sibling.

Featuring a black metallic finish, the handset runs a 5-inch, 1080p Full HD display alongside a 1.8GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

With a 13-megapixel around back and a selfie-loving 8-megapixel snapper up front, the P7 lines up at a mere 6.5mm thick and 124g in weight. The phone runs Google's latest Android 4.4 KitKat OS.

These sport-themed add-ons do come at a cost, however. Unlike the standard P7 which can now be snapped up for around £250, the Huawei Ascend P7 Arsenal Edition price has been set at £349.99 on a SIM-free basis.

This £100 difference will be a hard pill to swallow, even for the most dedicated of Arsenal supporters.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S5 review

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Assassin's Creed: Rogue Game Review

Available on Xbox 360, PS3


Released: November 11th

First Impressions: Assassin’s Creed


While Ubisoft has clearly focused the lion’s share of its development budget and attention on the next-gen Assassin’s Creed: Unity, it’s good to see that it hasn’t abandoned those with last-gen consoles. Assassin’s Creed: Rogue gives them a new chapter to enjoy; one which ties together the eras of Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed 3, and then goes off-chart by focusing on a renegade assassin, who ditches the brotherhood to play for the Templar team.

Why? Well, we’re not quite sure. The new star is Shay Cormac, a relatively new recruit to the Assassins who feels first disillusioned and then betrayed. Swearing vengeance, our dark ‘oirish’ hero goes over to the Templars and becomes an Assassin Hunter, using the resources of the order to exact justice from his foes.

The action is set in the period between Black Flag and Assassin’s Creed 3, and we can expect to see returning characters, including a certain Haytham Kenway. It will play across locations spread around North America, including the frozen seas of the North Atlantic, New York, Quebec and chunks of the North Eastern coast. It’ll also take in the events of the Seven Year’s War as fought by the Colonial forces of France and Britain in the region. The good news? Where previous Creeds have had the Brits as the villains, in Rogue they’re actually fighting on Shay’s Templar-loving side.

From what we’ve seen and played of Rogue, both the best and the worst thing you can say about it is that it’s a bit like Black Flag, season two. There’s a lot of naval action, a lot of enemy HQs to be captured and converted, and the general look and feel is near identical. In a way, it shares the same relationship to Black Flag that AC: Revelations had to AC: Brotherhood, even though it has a different hero on a slightly different time.

In fact, it’s with Shay that Rogue really rings the changes. The team at Ubisoft Sofia claims to have tightened up the movement and introduced some new moves, including a rather nice wall-jumping manoeuvre that you can try in enclosed vertical spaces.

Our new hero also comes with new gadgets, most particularly a primitive grenade launcher that fires smoke, bezerk and shrapnel grenades. On the other hand, he still has Edward Kenway’s darts, effectively giving you a choice between going quiet and going loud. It’s still a game of stealth and sneaking more than all-out blasting, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use some distraction or destruction here and there. What’s more, as a (boo, hiss) Templar, Shay doesn’t need to be all wishy-washy about dishing it out. It’s not just possible to play a more offensive game; it’s actively encouraged.

If Shay is a tougher hero, then his vessel – the Morrigan – is the ship to match. It’s smaller, faster and more agile than Edward Kenway’s ship, the Jackdaw, and it comes armed with a flammable oil-slick defence, rapid-fire deck cannons and a rather nasty high-speed ramming move, yours at a double-tap of the A button. We had the pleasure of trying it out against a small group of enemy ships, and the naval combat feels even smoother and faster-paced than it did last-time around, as you use your new techniques to wreak havoc on your floating foes.

Having cleared the seas, we proceeded to a small French settlement, ripe for the taking. To grab it for the Templar cause we had to eliminate three snipers and tackle the captain; a task we accomplished with a mix of stealth, guile and accident-prone, blundering assault.

There’s a lot of this kind of thing in Rogue, with both French settlements and assassin gang hideouts to take over, and we’re told that each will have different victory conditions, not to mention different shops and facilities to repair and then use. Getting cash and resources then upgrading your settlements will keep you busy when you’re not occupied by the main campaign, and provide benefits that will help you as you make your way through it. You can also expect more hunting, item gathering and a lot more coastline to explore.

After the glories of Unity, you might expect that Rogue would look a little disappointing. Well, it’s pretty close to Black Flag in terms of graphics quality, but given a rather more wintry spin with all that ice, snow and black water. Even from a quick hands-on it’s obvious that the old AnvilNext engine still holds up pretty well, and there’s still some impressive detail and sumptuous lighting to enjoy. It might have the same feel as Black Flag, but the different setting helps give it a different style. It’s no Black Flag expansion pack.

If there’s anything worrying about Rogue, it’s that it might turn out to be too much like Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, taking the core of a brilliant predecessor – there Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – but focusing too much on side activities, and on layering on new gadgets and mechanics. Much will depend on the standard of the characterisation and the story, not to mention how much difference the Templar spin makes. At the moment the on-land activities we’ve tried feel a lot like they did last time and the time before that, even with the change of side.

First Impressions


Most gamers will be more excited about the more radical and dynamic Assassin’s Creed: Unity, but that doesn’t mean you should see Rogue as a booby prize for last-gen stalwarts. More Black Flag isn’t an entirely bad idea, and there are enough changes and connections to make Rogue very appealing to long-time fans. Is it dark and different enough to make its own mark? We’ll have to wait until November to find out.

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Samsung Galaxy S6 to echo Alpha with new metal design?

Metal Alpha to pave the way for premium S6 and Note 4 designs

The Samsung Galaxy S6 will echo the newly unveiled Galaxy Alpha and touch down next year with a new metal frame, latest reports have suggested.

With the metal edged Samsung Galaxy Alpha having been officially unveiled earlier this week, it has now been claimed that the Korean manufacturer will push its new design direction into its future flagship phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Given the amount of stick Samsung received for crafting this year’s Galaxy S5 out of cheap plastic, we think it’s about time the smartphone maker tackled more premium materials.

Chinese media have cited ‘sources from within Samsung’s supply chain’ in making the claims, with the reports echoing comments made by the manufacturer itself earlier this year.

Speaking back in April, Yoon Han-kil, Samsung’s Senior Vice President of Product Strategy confirmed the company’s future flagship phones will benefit from an “all new form factor”.

He added: "Our ultimate goal is to make products that consumers really aspire to have. This is how we are trying to find a breakthrough in the stagnant premium market.”

Although little is currently known about the Galaxy S6, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has been the subject of multiple leaks in recent weeks ahead of its impending release.

It has been widely suggested that the Note 4 will pair a 5.7-inch QHD display with a Snapdragon 805 processor and 4GB of RAM. What’s more, now it appears this bevy of high-end components will be wrapped up in a metal framed body.

While we will have to wait until early 2015 to get our hands on a metal S6, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is widely expected to be unveiled in a couple of weeks during Samsung’s IFA 2014 Unpacked event.



Read More: iPhone 6 release date

Via: GforGames

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Nike makes an LED basketball court for interactive training

Want to play b-ball like Kobe Bryant? Nike has created a basketball court that features motion tracking and LED visualisation in the floor so the big man can teach his moves to young players.

The court tracks players' movement using its built-in motion sensors. It even features the kind of tags you see in a basketball video game to let you know which player you're controlling (below).

Using the motion tracking and LED technology, the court can lay out sets of moves for players, make drills, respond to mistakes, and show performance stats. All of which should be a boon to players in training, and coaches alike.

Of course, it can show the standard court markings if you just fancy a game of hoops. Or it can show bespoke branding, or any graphics or moving images you like.

Here it is in action.

The court is housed in a facility called the House of Mamba in Shanghai. It was created as part of the Nike RISE campaign, the centrepoint of which is a competition for young Chinese players to win a chance to participate in the Nike World Basketball Festival in Barcelona this September.

Fellow NBA star LeBron James has also helped out with training in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Kaohsiung.

With wearable tech poised to deliver live stats on the Premier League, sport could change drastically for us viewers in the next few years.

Read more: Adidas Smart Ball review

Via: Deezen

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BenQ W1070+ Projector Review

What is the BenQ W1070+?

As its name cunningly suggests, the BenQ W1070+ DLP projector is a revamped version of the original W1070 which made such a great first impression on us when it appeared at the end of 2012. But are the revisions BenQ has made enough to make the W1070+ competitive in 2014? And are they also enough to justify the £90 extra the new Plus model costs over and above the original W1070’s £549?

BenQ W1070+ - Design and features

The W1070+ is an attractive projector, as usual for BenQ. Its top and bottom sides sport a fetching gloss white finish, while its front, sides and arced area above the lens barrel are clad in a shiny grey finish that contrasts cutely with the white. The lens sits deep within a large circular recess set slightly to the right side of the projector’s front edge, and there’s access to simple zoom and focus wheels through a hole in the top panel.

The W1070+ is handily small too, making it easy to move in and out of a cupboard if you’re not looking for a permanently installed projector solution. There’s a slight concern that the hefty amounts of grilling around the W1070+’s sides may lead to some light pollution and excessive cooling noise, but overall BenQ’s new projector update makes a good first impression.

SEE ALSO: Best Projectors

It’s with its connections, though, where the W1070+ makes its first move to improve on the original W1070. For starters, it can now handle the MHL mobile phone connection format via an optional dongle. Much more significant, though, is the W1070+’s compatibility with a new optional extra Wireless Full HD Kit.

As you would expect these days, this kit comprises transmitter and receiver boxes that can stream uncompressed 1080p 2D or 3D content from your sources to the projector without the need for any cabling. It’s rated as being good for wireless coverage up to 30 metres, and uses four built-in antennas to support streaming through furniture doors and even through walls between rooms.

You can get this wireless system separately for £249, or else you can buy it as a package with the W1070+ for a great all-in price of £799.

Turning to the W1070+’s insides, its single-chip DLP system uses a Darkchip 3 chipset from Texas Instruments, with colour coming courtesy of a 6x speed, six-segment RGBRGB colour wheel. This colour wheel should be capable of keeping a rein on the ‘rainbow’ striping problem associated with single-chip DLP technology.

The W1070+’s claimed contrast ratio is the same as that quoted for the original W1070 and is fairly typical of affordable DLP technology at 10,000:1. However, the new Plus model’s brightness is slightly higher than its predecessor at 2,200 ANSI Lumens. Hopefully BenQ has been able to control this extra brightness well though, for too much brightness on a budget projector can lead to some pretty demoralising black level deficiencies and, in DLP’s case, elevate awareness of the rainbow effect.



Other key features in the W1070+’s armoury are active shutter 3D playback (though no glasses are included as standard) and its short-throw lens, which can give you a 100-inch picture from a throw distance of just 2.5m.

The W1070+ also joins most other ‘casual’ projectors in boasting a built-in audio system. However, the W1070 takes its audio duties much more seriously than most by introducing a new 10W ‘resonant chamber’ speaker design. We’ll find out how effective this really is later.

BenQ W1070+ - Set up

The W1070+ is both flexible and straightforward to set up. The focus and zoom settings are easily adjusted via the reasonably responsive wheels accessed through the projector’s top edge, and the set ships using an impressively straightforward ‘basic’ suite of menus.

The star of the initial set up show, though, is the projector’s optical vertical image shift. Slide back a panel behind the zoom and focus window in the top panel and you gain access to a little screw via which you can physically adjust the height of the W1070+’s images without mucking up the image’s geometry.

The amount of vertical image shifting available is limited – 110%-130% - but any sort of image shifting on a projector at the W1070+’s price is extremely rare and enormously welcome. Though it was also available on the original W1070 too.

SEE ALSO: More Budget Projector Reviews



The W1070+ also shows impressive ambition with its calibration tools (available once you’ve switched the projector out of its default ‘basic’ menu type). Tricks available include gamma control, colour temperature fine tuning, a very flexible (though generally best avoided) noise reduction system, and a reasonably effective colour management system.

The W1070+ is so replete with picture adjustments that it’s earned the backing of the independent Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) as a projector capable of receiving a pro-level calibration by one of its engineers – so long as you’re willing to pay them for the privilege, of course.

Throw in some horizontal keystone correction (for levelling up the image’s sides) to support situations where you may have to set your projector to the side of your projector screen, plus simple screw down legs on both rear corners and a drop down leg under the centre of the front edge, and it’s hard to see how the W1070 could feasibly have provided more setup flexibility for its money.

For best quick results from the W1070+, we’d suggest using the User 1 picture setting, with key adjustments being to reduce the sharpness to around its 10 level, turning Noise Reduction off for HD sources, setting Gamma to 2.2, and setting the lamp power to either Economic or Smart Eco. We’ll discuss these lamp settings later, in the picture quality section.

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iPhone 6 leaks running iOS 8, looks like the real deal

The iPhone 6 has made yet another premature appearance, with latest leaks showing an official looking handset running an early build of iOS 8.

The subject of endless rumours and countless leaks in recent weeks and months, the latest iPhone 6 tease looks to be the real deal. The handset is shown from both the front and the back, as well as with Apple’s new operating system on board.

Fitting with recent leaks, the latest look at the claimed iPhone 6 shows a slimline handset with a smoother, more rounded edged design.

Large antennas break up the sleek brushed metal design, seemingly to ensure the phone does not suffer the same signal loss issues as the iPhone 4 – ‘just don’t hold it that way’.

Surfacing courtesy of TMZ, the gossip website has claimed the handset in question was “smuggled out of a Foxconn factory in China,” where the iPhone 6 is currently being manufactured.

They added that the phone had been supplied by a friend of a Foxconn employee who worked in the company’s hardware department, helping manufacturer the iPhone 6 bodies.

Although showing little new, the latest iPhone 6 leaks backs up past teases, adding backing to the widely expected design revisions from Apple.

Expected to boast a 4.7-inch display, up on the iPhone 5S’ existing 4-inch form, the iPhone 6 has been tipped for a September 9 unveiling, with a release to follow on September 19.

Read More: Galaxy Note 4 release date

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Wearable tech could deliver live stats on future Premier League footballers

Wearable technologies could soon play a key role in the beautiful game, delivering live player stats for Premier League clubs, an industry expert has suggested.


Colm McMullan, creator of the popular football stats app FourFourTwo Stats Zone believes it’s absolutely possible players in the Premier League could one day use wearable tech to deliver real-time data.

The radical change would most likely be for the benefit of the clubs as opposed to the supporters, as McMullan says future use of the wearable tech would be primarily to help prevent injury.

“One of the biggest things in football is the amount of time players spend injured,” he said speaking with TrustedReviews. “A more initial role that it could play is improving players general conditioning and physical monitoring so they can prevent injuries than having to deal with them.”

McMullan added, “You spend millions of pounds on them [players] and at times they spend weeks or months sitting on the sidelines not involved.

“I know that’s a big area for clubs and that’s what they are targeting with their use of analytics initially.”

Football often criticised for being slow to adopt emerging technologies, and wearables is no exception.

The NFL recently announced that it was going to introduce wearable technology in-game to deliver real-time performance data to supporters in the stands.

McMullan believes there’s one stumbling block for the same to happen for our version of football, and that’s FIFA. Currently the world football governing body does not permit the use of wearables during games.

Clubs are clearly thinking about wearables outside of a game scenario and US soccer side Seattle Sounders announced this week that it is partnering with analytics company Tableau to track players health and movements on and off the training pitch.

Other sports such as rugby already make use of player tracking wearables to monitor individual player excursion during a game.

Read More: Adidas Smart Ball review

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BlackBerry Passport video gives early look at bulky handset

One of the weirder creatures on the smartphone scene, the BlackBerry Passport has made another early appearance, thanks to a hands-on video.

Landing courtesy of retailer Carphone Warehouse, {pllquote}the detailed BlackBerry Passport video offers a little more insight into the squat, bulky handset{/pullquote} which has us at TrustedReviews scratching our heads.

Boxy, 4.5-inch display, check. Oversized form factor, check. Rows of outdated but seemingly still demand physical keys, check. The BlackBerry Passport has the lot and is the ailing Canadian manufacturer’s ambitious hope to revive its troubled fortunes.

The video highlights how, apart from offering a more ergonomic typing experience, the Passport’s physical keys can be used to navigate pages, or swiped across to delete data from input fields.

With a stainless steel frame giving the Passport some much needed high-end appeal, the handset has also been shown to offer BlackBerry’s improved voice command system.

Having already been officially unveiled ahead of a September launch, the Passport has been confirmed to pairs its 1440 x 1440 pixel 4.5-inch square display with a 2.3GHz quad-core processor and a 10-megapixel rear-mounted camera.

An exact release date and pricing details are still unclear.

Read More: Galaxy S6 release date

Via: Neowin

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Premier League tells fans not to post Vines or GIFs of goals

Vine users have been told to quit posting goals

The Premier League season kicks off in earnest this weekend, and you can be sure thousands of fans will be trawling Twitter in order to get a free glimpse of the first goals of what promises to be an exciting season.

However, officials at the Premier League are set to clamp down on the practice of Vines and GIFs of the latest goals being posted on Twitter and other social media.

Speaking with the BBC’s Newsbeat, the Premier League’s Director of Communications, Dan Johnson said, “You can understand that fans see something, they can capture it, they can share it, but ultimately it is against the law."

He added: “It's a breach of copyright and we would discourage fans from doing it, we're developing technologies like gif crawlers, Vine crawlers, working with Twitter to look to curtail this kind of activity. I know it sounds as if we're killjoys but we have to protect our intellectual property."

Football fans need to either stump up for a Sky Sports or BT Sport package, or subscribe to The Sun or The Times’ digital packages to watch goals officially.

The latter pair show goals on their apps within two minutes of them being scored, at a cost of £7 a month. The alternative is to pay nothing and wait until Match of the Day airs on BBC One later on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

The move is likely to lead to more criticism of the Premier League, which has this week been accused by fan groups of profiteering and failing to put supporters first. The current TV deal is worth £3 billion domestically, with millions more made from the sale of rights overseas.

Read more: Adidas Smart Ball review

Via: BBC

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Nokia Lumia 830 stars in leak ahead of official release

Microsoft is priming itself for the release of its first high-end Lumia phones since completing its takeover of Nokia earlier this year.

Sadly for the Redmond-based manufacturer, it’s not doing a great job of keeping things under wraps, after its spanking new Lumia 830 starred in a series of spy shots.

The new device, due to get the official nod at an event being held in Berlin on 4 September to coincide with IFA, looks promising. The big draw is set to be its camera, if these new snaps are anything to go by.

The phone will pack the latest version of Nokia’s PureView system, which was the star of the show in last year’s Lumia 1020. The Lumia 830 is unlikely to have the same 41-megapixel sensor as that phone, but could ape the 20-megapixel camera found on the flagship Lumia 930.

The lens protrudes from the rear of the phone, just like the Lumia 1020, suggesting it will be an impressive setup compared to rival handsets.

On top of the camera, the Lumia 830 is believed to have a 4.5–inch screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and is due to come in a slew of bright colours.

Microsoft will be hoping that the Lumia 830, alongside its rumoured Lumia 730 ‘selfie phone’, will be able to arrest a worrying decline in Windows Phone sales. Latest IDC figures show the OS with a puny 2.5 per cent share of the global smartphone market as Android and iOS continue to surge ahead.

Read more: Windows Phone market share down by 2.5 per cent

Via: PhoneArena

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Voice Messaging finally hits Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone

Windows Phone owners rejoice. Facebook Messenger on the Microsoft smartphone platform is finally getting up to speed with its iOS and Android cousins, with a new update letting users send voice messages.

The app has been accused of being limited in scope compared to other versions on different smartphone operating systems. This update, however, will at least bring it closer to parity, although voice calling is still missing in action from the Windows Phone edition.

There is no word on when, or indeed if, Windows users will be able to make calls via the app.

On top of voice messages, Facebook has also managed to cut down on the amount of data the app uses, so firing off missives to your pals won’t eat into as much of your precious data allowance as before.

Messenger has become a key plank in Facebook’s mobile strategy. The social network is looking to kill off the ability to message pals in its regular app, instead forcing users to download Messenger in order to chat directly.

Windows Phone continues to struggle against iOS and Android, however. New figures released today by analysts IDC showed its global market share has dropped to 2.5 percent, with sales down by 9.4 percent.

Microsoft is expected to reveal a new Lumia phone next month during IFA 2014, but faces a tough task with both the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.

Read more: Facebook Messenger arrives on iPad

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Touch ID could be coming to Mac

Apple is preparing to bring its Touch ID system to its Mac computers, according to a newly revealed patent filing.

Introduced (and currently only available) in the iPhone 5S, it's widely expected that Apple's innovative Touch ID fingerprint recognition system will appear in all of Apple's forthcoming iOS hardware revisions.

That should include two models of the iPhone 6 and the iPad Air 2, as well as a new iPad mini.

But according to a patent filing dredged up by PatentlyApple, the company could also be looking to bring it to Mac - albeit in a somewhat unusual form.

At first glance, the patent filing simply seems to point to a Touch ID system for a forthcoming iPad. As discussed, we already know about that.

But look (or read) a little closer and you'll see that the filing mentions a standalone fingerprint sensor that could plug into the iPad's 3.5mm headphone jack. It's also noted that this could plug in via a USB port.

Of course, neither the iPhone nor the iPad sport a USB port, and they won't be gaining one any time soon. It suggests that Apple is mulling over the idea of bringing Touch ID to its Mac range.

Naturally you'd expect Apple to work such a solution into the hardware of future MacBooks, but it's heartening to see that the company also seems to be considering a solution that would incorporate owners of existing Mac hardware.

Read More: Best laptops 2014

Via: TechRadar

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Windows Phone market share down to 2.5 percent

Microsoft's share of the smartphone market with Windows Phone has dropped to 2.5 percent, according to a new report.

Research company IDC recently released its quarterly report on the smartphone market, and found that Microsoft's platform had slipped even further behind Android and iOS.

Apparently, Q2 Windows Phone handset sales dropped 9.4 percent compared to the same period last year. The result is that Windows Phone, despite remaining the third biggest smartphone platform, accounts for just 2.5 percent of the market.

Part of the problem is that Windows Phone is now effectively a one-manufacturer smartphone platform - especially since Microsoft made that one manufacturer (Nokia) its in-house team. Rumours of a new HTC-produced Windows Phone handset may spark hope, but Microsoft would have hoped for far more support from smartphone manufacturers.

Contrasting sharply with that, Android is way out in the lead with a whopping 84.7 percent share of the smartphone market. Meanwhile Apple is comfortably in second with 11.7 percent market share, although this marks a drop from 13 percent last year.

In case you were wondering, BlackBerry is the fourth biggest single smartphone platform with 0.5 percent market share, while those anonymous "others" make up the remaining 0.6 percent.

Overall, it appears to have been a healthy quarter for smartphone sales, with 301.3 million units shifted. That marks the first time more than 300 million smartphones have been sold in a quarter.

Having said that, it should be noted that only the top two players, Android and iOS, recorded year-on-year growth. It seems the rest - including Microsoft's Windows Phone platform - are struggling to make a living.



Read More: Nokia Lumia 930 review

Via: WPCentral

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iPhone 6 may get sapphire screen in premium models

Apple could well provide the option of a sapphire display for both models of the iPhone 6, but users might have to pay more for the privilege.

Some recent reports have suggested that the smaller of the two new iPhone 6 handsets, which are apparently set to be revealed on September 9, could miss out on a sapphire display altogether.

According to a new Wall Street Journal report, however, Apple may well provide sapphire options for both the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 models - but users may have to pay extra for this premium component.

This is all dependent, apparently, on whether Apple can get enough of the sapphire material to offer such an option.

With iPhone 6 production well under way and launch less than a month away, we find it hard to believe that Apple is yet to decide on such a major shift in its pricing model. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

The report also states that the Apple iWatch will feature a sapphire display, with the first screens rolling off production lines this month.

Apple has been investing heavily in sapphire display production in recent years, with a view to overcoming the deficiencies of current glass-based solutions.

Sapphire is much tougher and less easy to scratch than glass, although it is also denser and a lot more difficult to produce. This has led many to speculate that Apple will be constrained as to how it uses the material in its forthcoming flurry of new devices.



Read more: iPhone 5S vs iPhone 6 – What to expect

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Motorola Moto G2 set for September 4 unveiling alongside Moto 360 and X+1

Motorola is looking to keep track with the big boys of the smartphone scene, revealing it will unveil the Moto G2 and the Moto X+1 on September 4.

With Samsung, Sony and Huawei all expected to unveil new flagship phones the same week, and with the iPhone 6 to follow later the same month, Motorola has issued invites to its own September 4 launch event.

Depicting a paper fortune teller, the Motorola invite has teased four new devices, one on each of the origami toy’s four corners.

As well as a phone emblazoned with the letter G (presumably to represent a Moto G follow-on) and a second handset adorned with an X (the heavily rumoured Moto X+1), the American manufacturer has teased a round faced smartwatch (the confirmed but still mysterious Moto 360).

The fourth section suggests that the manufacturer will introduce a new Bluetooth headset. The invite is adorned with the teasing slogan “Choose to discover. Choose to have fun. Choose a new experience.”

Although taking place during the same time as the Berlin-based IFA conference, Motorola is looking to steal some of the attention, going out on its down with an unveiling event in Chicago.

The Moto G2 unveiling will take place the day after both the Sony Xperia Z3 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 are given their formal introductions.

The Moto 360 is one of the most eagerly awaited gadgets of the moment. As well as its revolutionary round display, the Android Wear powered smartwatch is set to feature wireless charging capabilities, an integrated pedometer and a stunning, high-end, metal design.

Stay tuned for all the latest on what Motorola is bringing to market on September 4.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S6 release date

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Xbox boss brands frame rate ‘significantly more important than resolution’

With the Xbox One still suffering from resolution shortcomings, Xbox head Phil Spencer has claimed that frame rate is actually more important to games.

Although confirming that Microsoft is working hard to bring the Xbox One in line with the resolution capabilities of the rival PS4, Spencer has suggested too much focus is being paid to the idea of 1080p games being a ‘mythical, perfect resolution’.

At present, a number of Xbox One games are running a 720p resolution while the PS4 is offering the same titles at 1080p.

"We have done a lot of work with our partners and we constantly evolve our development tools," Spencer said speaking with CVG. "We announced that Destiny will have the same resolution and frame rate on Xbox One as PS4. There is a long list of games. Reaching parity with our partners has been important."

He added: “In the end I don't want it to be about a number, because 1080p isn't some mythical, perfect resolution.

“Frame rate to me is significantly more important to gameplay than resolution and the mix of those two which brings the right art style and freedom, whether it's on PlayStation or our platform."

With the performance gaps between the PS4 and Xbox One often discussed when looking at new cross-platform games, Spencer has suggested that certain genres will benefit from a higher resolution more than others.

"Clearly some genres like with racing sims like Forza, hitting 1080p/60fps is important.

“There are certain genres where there's an expectation, but there are also other genres where I'd rather use the cycles to put more effects on screen or better lighting. I've got to put the tools in the hands of developers.

"I want to put the tools in the hands of the artists and not try to math it that there's some sort of [mathematical] answer for what the right resolution and frame rate is for a game - because there isn't.”

Despite Spencer’s arguments to the contrary, resolution remains an important comparison point for a lot of games – even if it is a physiological reaction to numbers on paper rather than physical, visible differences.

Read More: Xbox One vs PS4

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Google Now update serves up alternatives when flights get delayed

Google Now already has a strong reputation for serving up timely info, whether it’s a nudge about your next meeting or the latest football transfer rumours.

Now, the service's latest addition could mean an end interminable waits at the airport.

If your plane is stranded on the ground, Google Now for Android will now deliver alternatives when you slide it open. That means you can try and convince airlines to get you on a different flight or fork out to get to your destination quicker.

The latest update also brings up departure information for train and bus bookings, pulling in all the relevant information from your Gmail account.

iPhone users are going to have to wait for this latest update, with Google only rolling it out to Android phones with its excellent Google Search app.

However, with Now becoming a major focus for the Big G, it shouldn’t be too long before iOS fanatics are cutting down on time spent in overpriced airport coffee shops.

Google recently brought its Now Launcher to all Android phones, regardless of whether they use tweaked versions of the operating system.

Users with Android 4.1 or higher can now swipe across to open cards relating to their day, from news to personal calendar updates.

Read More: Google Nexus 6 release date

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LG G Pad 8.0 set for release with upgraded LTE connectivity

LG’s latest tablet offering is finally heading to retailers, with the LG G Pad 8.0 on the receiving end of a pre-launch 4G LTE upgrade.

Having been officially unveiled back in June, the new 8-inch G Pad will start rolling out across European markets this week. LTE has been thrown into the mix as part of a company-wide push into improved connectivity options.

“With the G Pad 8.0 LTE, LG is setting a higher standard for connectivity in emerging 4G markets,” Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of the LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company said in launching the product.

“Today’s on-the-go consumers demand speed and convenience wherever they are, at any time. If a 4G LTE infrastructure is in place, we want LG products to be first to take advantage of the fast network.”

As well as the new 4G party piece, the LG G Pad 8.0 features a mass of impressive specs with the 1280 x 800 pixel IPS display lining up alongside a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM.

With 16GB of internal storage able to be enhanced with microSD expansion, the tablet adds a pair of cameras – 5-megapixel on the rear, 1.3-megapixel up front – and a mass of familiar LG software features, including Knock Code (for improved security), Gesture Shot (take a selfie by opening your hand) and Smart Keyboard (for easier typing).

Lining up at just 9.9mm thick and 344g in weight, the new G Pad rocks a 4200mAh battery.

Looking to appease all manner of consumer tastes, the Korean manufacturer has confirmed the tablet will come in four hues, with the standard black and white options being joined by luminous orange and luminous blue devices.

Despite heading to certain European markets this week, don’t expect to see the G Pad 8.0 in the UK just yet. LG has stated the tablet’s UK arrival has been ‘confirmed for 2014’ but failed to be any more precise than that.

Pricing is still unclear although expect the device to be relatively kind to your wallet.



Read More: LG G3 review

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iPad supplier lands half of iPhone 6 production from Apple

Pegatron, the Chinese supplier which puts together the iPad mini and iPhone 5c on behalf of Apple, has been handed a huge order for the forthcoming iPhone 6.

According to claiomed 'supply chain sources' speaking with Digitimes, the company will assemble 25 million iPhones before the end of 2014, half of Apple’s entire order for the rest of the year.

It’s believed that Apple’s usual iPhone supplier, Foxconn, will manufacture the other half. But the even split suggests Cupertino is looking to give Pegatron more work after a year of working more closely on current iPhone and iPad models.

The numbers relate to the 4.7–inch model of the iPhone 6, which is believed to be launching ahead of the the larger 5.5–inch model.

Foxconn is thought to be the sole manufacturer of the latter. However, that may change seeing as previous rumours had pegged it to make 70 per cent of the 4.7–inch model.

iPhone 6 rumours continue to swirl, with a growing number of parts leaks occurring before its planned launch date, believed to be 9 September.

The smaller device will apparently hit shelves ten days later, on 19 September. Supplies of the 5.5–inch model are expected to be constrained.

Set to run the WWDC unveiled iOS 8 software, the iPhone 6 has been tipped to pair a new A8 processor with an all new, slimline form factor.

Read More: iPhone 5S review

Via: Digitimes

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Apple bans risky chemicals from its production lines

Apple has banned the use of chemicals benzene and n–hexane from its Asian production lines, despite a report which it commissioned saying neither posed a risk to workers at manufacturing plants.

The Cupertino-based company has spent four months looking into claims that the chemicals could cause health problems including leukaemia and nerve damage. It discovered no danger was posed to staff working in 22 factories across Asia.

The investigation was prompted by a joint petition started by Green America and China Labor Watch, which had raised concerns about the safety of benzene and n–hexane in the iPhone production process.

Apple’s decision is likely to improve its already impressive standing as one of the greenest tech companies in the world.

In April, Greenpeace rated Apple as a ‘green energy innovator’, alongside Facebook and Google. This came despite previous complaints that Apple’s slick green image was in stark contrast to realities on the ground.

Discussing the move by Apple, Green America Campaign Director Elizabeth O'Connell stated: "This is a good first step."

She added: "{pullquote}I hope they will continue to remove the most dangerous chemicals to human health or find ways to reduce the exposure{pullquote}."

With iPhone 6 production ramping up, the move to ban benzene and n–hexane will also be seen as a move by Apple to stave off any negative headlines about its production processes.

Previously, there have been widespread complaints about working conditions and long hours endured at partner firms such as Pegatron and Foxconn.

The iPhone 6 is widely expected to be handed a mid-September launch, with the handset already facing competition from the metal bodied Samsung Galaxy Alpha unveiled yesterday, August 13.

Read More: iPhone 5S review

Via: Electronista

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Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A manual points to upcoming European release

Samsung looks set to bring its supercharged Galaxy S5 to European markets, as an English language manual for the handset leaks online.

With the high-speed, high-power Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A currently available exclusively in the manufacturer’s native Korea, Dutch site TechTastic has leaked an English user manual for the Cat 6 4G LTE capable handset.

Although many European networks cannot currently support the Cat 6 phone’s possible 300Mbps speeds, the S5 spin-off has further high-end improvements up its sleeve which are sure to appease potential owners.

Despite the standard Samsung Galaxy S5 already leading the way with its Snapdragon 801 CPU, the LTE-A model introduces the all new, and more powerful, 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset.

Sadly, it does not appear that the European S5 LTE-A will benefit from all the same market-leading specs as its Korean counterpart.

With the LG G3 QHD display reportedly knocked on the head for the phone’s European arrival, the handsets 3GB of RAM also looks set to be stripped back to 2GB.

A planned European release for the handset is still unclear, although it has been suggested that the phone could be one of multiple devices to share the stage at Samsung’s September 3 IFA Unpacked event.

With the iPhone 6 pre-empting Samsung Galaxy Alpha having been unveiled yesterday and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 widely expected to make an appearance on September 3, it appears the Korean phone maker could have a strong handset line-up heading in to the final months of 2014.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S6 release date

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Amazon launches its own credit-card reader

Never let it be said Amazon is short of ways of making people pay for things. The online retail giant has just launched an accessory for smartphones and tablets that can be used to swipe credit cards. And in doing so, it's undercutting its rivals.

Aimed at small businesses, the Amazon Local Register is intended to be an alternative to a cash register.

Amazon will only take 1.75 per cent of swiped transactions until 2015, when the rate will go up to 2.5 per cent.

Even the higher rate is lower than Square and PayPal, which sell rival devices.

Square Register charges 2.75 per cent, while PayPal Here charges 2.7 per cent.

Why so high? The companies have to deduct those pesky fees from the credit-card companies and banks.

At present, Amazon Local Register is only available in the US. There's no word when, or indeed if, it'll come to the UK.

The $10 (£6) device is a doddle to use – just plug it into your mobile or tablet's headphone socket, then swipe the card. It's compatible with recent iOS devices, as well as Android ones and Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets. But not, curiously, the Amazon Fire phone.

Amazon is increasingly moving into hardware of late. As well as its Kindle Fire tablets and Fire phone, it recently launched a set-top box-cum-games console called Fire TV.

It's also ruffled a few feathers in its row with publisher Hachette.

The retail giant has reduced its stock of books by Hachette authors and blocked pre-orders. It claims it's doing this because Hachette is colluding on prices with rival publishers, and stopping readers having access to more affordable books.

Read more: Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video

Via: BBC

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Unreal Tournament pre-alpha available to download now

You can now download a pre-alpha version of Epic's free Unreal Tournament refresh, though it's not quite official.

Earlier in the year, Epic Games announced that it was working on a new version of the classic online multiplayer shooter that kicked it all off for the developer, Unreal Tournament.

A small team of Unreal Tournament veterans, made up of UT developers, fans, and Unreal Engine 4 developers, has been working on the open source project. The result will be a completely free to play version of the seminal shooter for PC, Mac, and Linux.

Because of the aforementioned open source nature of this project, it's now possible to play an early pre-alpha version of the game. You see, anyone with an Unreal Engine subscription can access the current build, and such ones can compile a working, downloadable version of the game.

That's exactly what's happened. Head on over to the ut.rushbase website and you can download a working version of Unreal Tournament.

It should be restated that this is an extremely early version of the game - "So early it's technically not even pre alpha, it's debug code," according to the associated Readme file.

Still, if you can't wait to whip out your Flak Cannon and party like it's 1999, give it a whirl at your own risk.

Along with Quake 3, Unreal Tournament was responsible for setting the template for and popularising online competitive first person shooters. Its legacy can be seen in the likes of the Call of Duty series and Titanfall today.

Read More: Best Games 2014

Via: PC Gamer

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Lenovo is now primarily a smartphone maker

The recently announced Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro

After sales of smartphones overtook computers for the first time, Lenovo can now be considered a major smartphone player - and it's casting its eyes west.

The Chinese company is well known as the biggest computer maker in the world. But Lenovo's recently announced quarterly results show that it's now selling more smartphones than computers.

Lenovo sold 15.8 million smartphone handsets in the quarter ending in June. That's represents a massive jump of 39 percent over last year.

More pertinently, the company sold 14.5 million computers during the same period.

If that comes as something of a surprise to you, that's because the vast majority of Lenovo's smartphone business comes from its home territory. Of those 15.8 million handsets sold, 13 million were in China.

This has seen the company displace Samsung as the biggest smartphone seller in the country.

Of course, similar claims are being made by Xiaomi, another Chinese smartphone success story.

What should frighten Samsung, LG, Apple and the rest is that Lenovo is not looking to such domestic competition as its future. "China is still one of the most important markets for Lenovo, but actually we have more potential opportunity outside of China," Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing told Reuters.

The company has already seen recent growth of 300 percent in South East Asia and 500 percent in Eastern Europe, so the spread has certainly begun.

There's also the small matter of Lenovo's Motorola acquisition earlier in the year, which was clearly made in a bid to target western markets.



Read More: Xiaomi and OnePlus show that Samsung's biggest threat may not be iPhone 6

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Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 pictures and specs leak

Samsung may well be readying a follow-up to last year's mid-range phablet, the Samsung Galaxy Mega.

The company might appear to be stepping back from the smartphone screen size arms race with the surprisingly demure Samsung Galaxy Alpha, but don't think that means it doesn't have a bunch of whopping great phablets in the pipeline.

We know that the company will announced the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 at a September 3 pre-IFA event. But what of the affordable phablet line kicked off last April in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Mega?

According to reports from China, Samsung hasn't forgotten about the Mega. In fact, images of the Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 has emerged.

In addition, we have some specs. The Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 will apparently step back from the oversized brink of the first device with a 5.9-inch 720p display. The original came with a 6.3-inch option.

The Galaxy Mega 2 will reportedly run on a Snapdragon 410 CPU clocked at 1.2GHz, which sounds like an affordable component, but is also Qualcomm's first 64-bit processor. That's backed by 2GB of RAM.

Another budget-conscious component is the Galaxy Mega 2's internal storage, which is apparently set at just 8GB. There will be a microSD slot though.

A 13-megapixel camera and Android 4.4.2 KitKat round out the alleged package.

There's no news on release dates or prices, but expect to see the Samsung Galaxy Mega 2 slip out quietly soon.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 tips and tricks

Via: Phandroid

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The Evil Within Game Review

Available for: PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC (played)

UK Release date: October 24th 2014



GamesCom 2014 Preview by Sam Loveridge

When we saw The Evil Within back in May, we were worried that it would do little to develop upon the survival horror genre and its linear gameplay would let it down.

It seemed far from ready and we had concerned it couldn’t live up to truly creepy games like Outlast or offer the graphical fidelity found like games like The Last of Us Remastered.

Since then, the game’s been delayed until late October, to allow more development time. But has that had any impact on the gameplay on show at GamesCom?

Well, it’s debatable at this stage. We played Chapter 9 “The Cruelest Intentions”, a section from a later part of the game than we’d previously played. The on-screen prompts have nearly disappeared and you’re expected to know a lot about undead killing tactics by this point.

The graphics have clearly been fined tuned and are looking a lot more like what you would expect from a new-gen PS4/Xbox One game. However, they are nowhere near the likes of inFamous: Second Son thanks to the deliberately dingy lighting.

There are some nice visual effects, like the shadows of trees billowing through the windows from the moonlight or the flickering of the old oil lamps and lit matches.

Sadly, despite the release date delay, there are still a few issues with the gameplay. Namely, picking up items can have you staring at a rare box of ammo from several angles before the pick-up button prompt pops up. By that time, a roaming zombie may have slide up behind you and knifed you in the back.

We also found the door animations to be increasingly irritating the more you play. As The Evil Within is a game that rewards the stealthy player, you will want to open doors with as much trepidation as you can muster. Pressing X (PS4) will see protagonist Sebastian open each door with a mini cutscene that becomes very laborious. You can double tap X to kick open a door, but that often causes a lot more trouble than it's worth.

Of course, the slow, laboured door opening is an attempt to increase the game's tension and atmospherics, but it seems a little too slow for it to be endearing at this stage.

As for the linear gameplay, something we were particularly worried about back in May, Chapter 9 is a slightly different state of affairs. You enter a spooky old house (horror survival cliche mayhem) to find the doctor has trundled off down a dimly lit corridor, slamming a heavily locked door behind him.

You're tasked with finding the three puzzles that will unlock said door, which are all scattered around the house. You can approach them in any order and depending which routes you take, you're experience of the house will be a little different. Mostly that's down to the appearance of enemies, but in a game that's all about tension and "boo" scares, the unexpected zombies can scare the willies out of you.



GamesCom Impressions

We're not sure this is going to change the script for your survival horror titles, but it will be a game of interest to fans of the genre. It's full of clichés and bad horror movie mistakes, but in parts it has the potential to be an interesting addition to the new-gen game library.

Hopefully those last bugs will be ironed out before October though.

May 2014 Preview by Michael Sawh

If you played Resident Evil from one through to four you will be very familiar with the work of Shinji Mikami. The director on arguably some of the most iconic survival horror games ever made has long since left Capcom and the series has arguably suffered swapping turn-your-sound down scary for more all out action, but Mikami now has his own studio and is returning to his gaming roots for The Evil Within.

Before even picking up a controller to play it, a quick read of the clichéd narrative gives you a clear indication of what you are going to get here. Detective Sebastian Castellanos, our lead protagonist, is leading an investigation into a mass murder case and in the process stumbles into a distorted reality inhabited by zombies and mutated monsters. This is not exactly new territory here.

Playing through two chapters based on early code, it doesn't take long to feel like you've walked into an early Resident Evil or Silent Hill game. It feels very linear. Mikami and the development team at Tango are using the new iD 5 Tech game engine to create more dynamic gameplay and lighting, but it definitely lacked some new-gen console visual gloss.

The first thing we were prompted to do before entering into combat was to assign weapons to the D-Pad. This is done by clicking in the left analogue stick where you can choose from an armoury, which includes a shotgun, pistol, a bow and a knife.

Combat feels very familiar where shoulder buttons take care of aiming and firing while action buttons are assigned to tasks like re-loading and opening doors. You’ll need to be thorough killing off enemies, though. A series of shotgun blasts to the chest or the head will not be enough and you will have to burn each one with a match to stop them from coming back to life.

In certain instances when you are out of ammo, which will happen, your only choice is to run. If you think you can leg it down a corridor with ease then you are sadly mistaken. There’s a stamina bar, which we didn't immediately spot, that dictates how quick you can escape. It doesn’t take long for Sebastian to pull up out of breath if you don’t preserve his stamina levels you will get killed.

This feeds into the survival element of the game, which clearly takes some inspiration from games like the Last of Us, where you need to scavenge for everything- -- you can even pick up and throw bottles as a form of distraction. There will be an upgrade system in the full game but that was currently off limits in our game time.

You’ll be rewarded for taking a stealthier approach to searching buildings or taking out enemies. You can hide in closets and underneath beds and even the lamp you carry around with you can be turned off to avoid drawing attention to your location. Stomping around is not the best plan of action in this game that’s for sure. In a world of fast-paced shooters, this style of play might not sit well with everyone, but drawing out the experience definitely helps to build up the tension.

Most of what you see in The Evil Within feels very familiar like the far from complex puzzle-solving or the way you have to kill off some of the trickier enemies, but there are attempts to freshen things up. Like the location-warping, for instance, where one moment you can be walking down a corridor and the next you are staring down a hallway drenched in blood. Sebastian can also glimpse into the lives of characters a bit like Delsin could in Infamous: Second Son.

Paying close attention to the environments is key, especially with the alarms dotted around that are not always easy to see. To disarm them requires a sequence where you need to quickly press a button at the right time, which most of the time is frustratingly quick. Fortunately, there is the option to take them out with gunfire but you’ll want to save that ammo for enemies.

In terms of scare factor, it’s difficult to really gauge. Throughout, an eerie clinking soundtrack and screeches of manic laughter serve as the audio backdrop. There's genuine moments where there's a real sense of isolation and a wariness to open a door in the fear that something is going to jump out you.

It definitely had its moments, such as walking into the bloodied medical theatre and being confronted by the girl from the Ring with mutating limbs disappearing and re-appearing right in front of you as you run away. This would have been more tense had it been in first person, though. Then there’s the hooded character Ruvik appearing out of nowhere following you like bad rash to take energy off you. At one point a screaming ghost running out of an abandoned house did give us a little jump, but these moments were few and far between.

First impressions

The Evil Within's ambitions are clear; to bring back pure surival horror and in doing that it's bringing some of the shonky game mechanics with it as well. If you loved the original Resident Evil games, then this is going to appeal, although those hoping for Outlast-style fear might be left disappointed.

Visually, it didn't blow us away either and attempts to freshen up and evolve the genre feel half-baked. With only a couple of months away from launch, it's clearly a game that still needs some polishing.

Read more: Xbox One vs PS4

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