Asus TUF 15.6-inch laptop |$999.99$899.99 at Best Buy
(roughly £700) With a GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card and AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor, this Asus is easily the most powerful laptop for under $1000 right now. The 512GB SSD and the $100 discount are just the cherry on the top ahead of Black Friday. View Deal
If you've been searching for a solid workhorse laptop that can also be used after dark as a gaming powerhouse, then you might want to consider the 15.6-inch Asus TUF FA506IV-BR7N12 - available for just under $800 at Best Buy - that’s $200 off.
With an eight core AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor, a 512GB PCIe SSD and a GeForce RTX 2060 graphics chip (with 6GB GDDR6 memory), this beastly Asus device is probably the most powerful laptop you can buy for under $1000 right now.
You seldom see components this powerful even in machines priced at $999.99, so in terms of bang for your buck, it's definitely up there.
The specs on this machine are so powerful, in fact, that it could even have plenty of applications outside of gaming, such as 4K video editing or CPU intensive music production.
It's also a prime candidate for a cheap VR laptop, as the 60Hz refresh rate display won't matter at all when you're inside your headset and the RTX 2060 will keep frame rates super silky smooth.
This machine comes with 8GB memory (DDR4 3200MHz), which is probably the bare minimum you'd want for gaming. At $800, and with an RTX 2060 and Ryzen 7, this is pretty understandable in our books.
Luckily, RAM is the easiest and cheapest component to upgrade in a laptop, so picking up another stick and installing it won't set you back much, and should yield great results.
It's also worth noting you get a free six-month antivirus package (Webroot Internet Security) for three devices, which itself is worth $29.99.
It's a universal fact that Apple is by no means an affordable brand. Repeatedly clashing horns with Samsung to see who can raise phone prices higher, the iconic American brand has often come out on top.
However, 2020 seems to be showing Apple have a change of heart (or a change of marketing plans). This year alone, Apple has put in the work to release not one, but two affordable phones.
And when we say affordable, we use that term very loosely with one of those handsets. While the iPhone SE is a truly affordable phone, offering a device with a high-end processor for just $399/£419, Apple's other 'affordable' 2020 handset starts at $699/£699.
This device is none other than Apple's new iPhone 12 Mini. As one of the four featured iPhone 12 devices, the Mini really commits to its name at just 5.4-inches in size...but is this pocket-sized device actually good value for your money...? We would argue, yes.
Cut down the price with iPhone 12 Mini deals:
While the Mini is yet to be made available, with pre-orders launching on Friday, November 6, the incredibly obvious assumption is that it will be a fair bit cheaper than iPhone 12 deals.
And yet, despite the £100/$100 disparity in price, the iPhone 12 Mini and regular 12 have all of the most crucial specs in common. Both feature Apple's latest A14 Bionic chip, both make use of the new MagSafe feature, both use Dolby HDR camera features and both are 5G-enabled.
In fact, the iPhone 12 Mini in all of its tiny glory, is the smallest 5G device around right now. What this all adds up to is the fact that unless a 5.4-inch device is going to feel far too tiny in your hands, the iPhone 12 Mini is the best value of the two cheaper iPhone 12 handsets.
And in the red corner...iPhone 11 deals:
We said right at the start that Apple had two more affordable phones in 2020 and we haven't forgotten about that. The iPhone SE, while by no means revolutionary in its looks (iPhone 8, anyone?) is Apple's cheapest handset.
And yet, it lacks the excitement of the iPhone 12 Mini. It sticks with 4G, it's not exactly winning awards for battery, the screen uses old tech and the design is very much borrowing from older devices.
Obviously for those on a budget, the iPhone SE is perfect but for those who want something a bit newer and interesting, it lacks enough intrigue and future-proofing to keep you going for years.
So the iPhone 12 Mini wins, right? Well, time for a curveball! The iPhone 11 saw a very considerable price cut thanks to the iPhone 12 launch and when you consider all of the factors...iPhone 11 deals actually look like the best cheap iPhone in 2020.
Our Deputy Editor John Mccann said it best in his comparison of the iPhone 12 and 11 - "it's all too easy to be seduced by shiny new things". 5G isn't making waves yet and other than Apple's new Magsafe feature...the iPhone 12 range doesn't make huge changes over the iPhone 11.
Holding off until Black Friday to buy:
The iPhone 12 Mini isn't actually available until November 14 and just two weeks after that is Black Friday. With this in mind, we would suggest holding off for Black Friday iPhone deals to see if you can score a discount.
While there is no way to guarantee we will see iPhone 12 deals across Black Friday, especially considering the incredibly quick turn around, iPhone 11 deals and iPhone SE deals are almost certain.
If any of the three cheap iPhones appeal to you or for that fact, any mobile phone deals in general, holding out for Black Friday could see you receive a hefty discount.
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Best Buy is kicking things off early with a three-day Black Friday sale that ends today. The retailer is offering incredible early Black Friday deals on its best-selling items, including TVs, laptops, headphones, appliances, and smart home devices. To help you sort through all the bargains, we've rounded up the top offers from the Best Buy Black Friday sale.
Best Buy's early Black Friday sale also includes big discounts on popular appliances like a $60 price cut on the Keurig coffee maker and the iRobot Roomba robot vacuum on sale for only $299.99 (was $499.99).
Shop more of the best bargains from the Best Buy three-day sale and keep in mind these incredible Black Friday deals end today.
Best Buy Black Friday deals:
Amazon Echo Dot 3rd generation:$39.99$18.99 at Best Buy The 3rd generation Echo Dot is back down to its lowest ever price right now, with Best Buy's Black Friday deals bringing the smart speaker back down to $18.99. We first saw this price last week over Prime Day, but you've got another couple of days to pick up this excellent offer this week. View Deal
Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote:$49.99$29.99 at Best Buy Stream your favorite content in 4K resolution with HDR too with the 4K Fire TV Stick that's on sale for $29.99. The streaming player includes an Alexa voice remote so you can use your voice to control your TV. View Deal
Keurig K-Select Single-Serve coffee maker:$129.99$69 at Best Buy A great gift idea, the best-selling Keurig coffee maker, gets a massive $60 discount at the Best Buy early Black Friday sale. The single-serve coffee maker can brew a 12-oz. cup in less than one minute and features a strength control so you can make your coffee exactly how you like. View Deal
Insignia 32-inch Smart HD Fire TV:$169.99$99.99 at Best Buy Best Buy's early Black Friday sale has the Insignia 32-inch HD TV on sale for just $99.99. The smart TV has the Fire TV experience built in, which allows you to seamlessly stream your favorite movies and shows from the home screen of your set. View Deal
Ring Video Doorbell 3:$199.99$139.99 at Best Buy You're not getting a $10 Echo Show like the bundle below here, but you are saving $60 on the Ring Video Doorbell 3, and picking up the smart doorbell for its lowest price yet no less. View Deal
Powerbeats Pro true wireless earbuds: $249.99$159.99 at Best Buy For those looking for fitness-inspired wireless earbuds, you can snag the Powerbeats Pro on sale for just $159.99 at Best Buy. You're scrapping noise cancellation in favor of fantastic comfort and an ear grip design that ensures your buds will never slip out during even the most intense of workouts. View Deal
Toshiba 50-inch 4K UHD smart TV:$379.99$259.99 at Best Buy If you'd prefer to get your hands on an Amazon eco-system enabled TV, check out this $120 saving on a Toshiba 4K TV at Best Buy this week. Fire TV is built-in with this Toshiba, as is Amazon Alexa, and you're even getting some pretty advanced features here like Dolby Vision HDR. View Deal
Sony WH-1000XM4:$349.99$278 at Best Buy The Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones have dropped down to $278 in Best Buy's Black Friday deals this week. That's an excellent discount on the industry-leading headphones that only hit the shelves in August. Plus, it's the cheapest we've seen so far. Hurry, though, this offer will expire on Sunday. View Deal
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15-inch Laptop:$449.99$299.99 at Best Buy Save $150 on this core i3 laptop from Lenovo, perfect for personal use or light professional requirements. With up to 7.5 hours of battery life, you can relax and enjoy your time browsing without the stress of keeping a charger to hand. View Deal
iRobot Roomba 960 Robot Vacuum:$499.99 $299 at Best Buy Tired of vacuuming the floors? So were we until we got a robot vacuum. The Roomba features a compatible app so you can clean your floors from anywhere, and it's on sale for just $299 in this early Black Friday deal. View Deal
Samsung 70-inch 6 Series 4K UHD Smart Tizen TV:$749.99$529.99 at Best Buy A fantastic price for a 70-inch 4K TV, you can score a massive $229 discount on this premium Samsung 70-inch smart TV. This stunning set features a voice remote and the picture is engineered to reduce glare and enhance color, providing a vibrant picture no matter where you sit. View Deal
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 (128GB):$959$599 at Best Buy You're getting a Black Type cover worth $129 by itself bundled into this awesome tablet deal on a Microsoft Surface Pro 7 at Best Buy today. That means you're not only getting a great Windows tablet here, but also full laptop functionality if you choose. It's also a decent price on this spec - a 10th gen Intel Core i3, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD to be precise. View Deal
More Best Buy Black Friday deals
Amazon Echo: back down to best prices yet - from $18.99
Riot has announced that League of Legends will be headed to consoles for the first time ever (sort of), with the release of spin-off game Ruined King: A League of Legends Story.
Set in the world of Runeterra, Ruined King will be a singleplayer RPG with turn-based combat.
You'll venture through two regions of Runeterra – Bilgewater and the Shadow Isles – and form an unlikely party of beloved League of Legends champions like Miss Fortune, Illaoi, Braum, Yasuo, Ahri, and Pyke.
The game will launch early 2021 and it will be available on Switch, PS4, Xbox and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Ruined King will also be available on PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S systems, allowing players who bought it on the older consoles to upgrade their version for free.
Trailblazers: the women who are taking the esports world by storm
Head of Riot Forge at Riot Games, Leanne Loombe, explained in a press release that "Ruined King is a great way to expand the world of Runeterra for brand new players as well as our dedicated League of Legends (LoL) fans.”
Developed by Airship Syndicate (Battle Chasers: Nightwar and Darksiders Genesis), it will be the first game published by Riot Forge.
“We couldn’t resist the chance to work with Riot Forge to expand the epic world of Runeterra,” said Joe Madureira, CEO of Airship Syndicate, and comic book artist of note. “These are some of our own favorite champions, and we can’t wait for players to see how we brought the characters, creatures, and environments of Runeterra to life.”
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(Image credit: Riot Forge)
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(Image credit: Riot Forge)
Pyke's character art
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(Image credit: Riot Forge)
Illaoi's character art
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(Image credit: Riot Forge)
Miss Fortune's character art
Riot Forge will have more to say about Ruined King: A League of Legends Story in December. We'll keep you updated on it.
Crackling problems with the Apple AirPods Pro have been reported by users for a few months now, and the issue is apparently widespread enough for Apple to take action – it just launched a free replacement program for the premium earphones.
Apple offers these free repair or replace programs from time to time, when it identifies that there's a genuine manufacturing problem that impacts the performance or reliability of its hardware, but this is the first we've seen for the AirPods line.
According to the AirPods Pro Service Program for Sound Issues support page, "a small percentage" of AirPods Pro models are experiencing audio glitches. Any units manufactured before October 2020 might be affected.
Apple says "crackling or static sounds" might appear in your ears and increase in loud environments, while you're exercising, or while you're talking on the phone. In addition, the Active Noise Cancelation feature may malfunction by losing bass or increasing background noise.
Two-year window
As usual with these sort of programs, you can return your AirPods Pro to an Apple Store or a repair shop officially authorized to carry out Apple repairs. After examination, your earphones will be replaced if they're found to be faulty.
You might get one or both of the earphones replaced if they've developed a problem, but apparently the AirPods Pro case isn't affected, so you won't need a new one of those. Any replacement doesn't affect your warranty.
Your AirPods Pro are covered by the program for two years after you bought them, so bear that in mind if you're not hearing anything untoward at the moment but something develops later. For instructions on getting replacements, see the support document.
The mention of October 2020 suggests Apple has identified the problem and fixed it, though it isn't sharing any technical details with the wider world. Still, it's reassuring to know you can get your earphones swapped if a fault does emerge.
A UK-based tech start-up has unveiled a new solution that delivers a videoconferencing experience like no other. Holoxica has created an immersive 3D videoconferencing system that uses off-the-shelf components so that bespoke glasses are not required.
The solution is likely to prove popular for business meetings or even virtual socialising.
Holoxica’s system combines a depth camera with Looking Glass light field 3D display technology to create video versions of holographic images. And the best bit is, neither viewer has to put on a headset in order to enjoy the 3D communication.
You can now enjoy a high-five with your video call(Image credit: Holoxica)
“During the global pandemic the business world has turned to videoconferencing to conduct meetings and conversations, but many people are currently suffering from ‘Zoom fatigue,’” Wendy Lamin, director of Holoxica, said.
“This is not only caused by the sheer volume of meetings but also because it takes more effort to process someone’s non-verbal cues in 2D than 3D. Holoxica won an Innovate UK Grant to create a 3D teleconferencing solution that did not rely on headsets, but delivered a more natural, face-to-face experience.”
Virtual get-togethers
In order to develop the technology, Holoxica made use of a £50,000 grant from Innovate UK and is now exploring ways to commercialize the solution. Plans are in place to make the 3D teleconferencing system available starting at less than £1,000.
Video conferencing has taken off hugely since the coronavirus pandemic forced many businesses to close their offices and adopt remote working policies. However, organizations have found that digital technologies cannot completely take the place of face-to-face communication.
Holoxica’s new 3D teleconferencing solution may prove appealing to businesses that are finding communication and collaboration difficult with standard video calls. And at the very least, the novelty of a 3D call should alleviate ‘Zoom fatigue’ for a little while.
The last weekend of the 2020 Six Nations kicks off on Saturday with this clash between Wayne Pivac's Wales and Gregor Townsend's Scotland at the Parc y Scarlets. With the home side disappointingly nestled in fifth in the table, and the visitors one place above, its mainly pride at stake, however the Scots will be looking end a hoodoo that has seen them fail to register a victory on Welsh turf since 2002. Follow our Wales v Scotland live stream guide to tune in to the Six Nations clash no matter where in the world you are right now.
Wales v Scotland live stream
Today's Wales vs Scotland match kicks-off at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli at 2.15pm local time (GMT). That makes it a 3.15pm CEST start for rugby fans in Europe, a 1.15am AEDT for those tuning in Down Under, and a 10.15am ET whistle int he US. The great news is that you can watch the match for free on BBC1 and Welch language nation S4C - and you can still tune in from abroad with a VPN. We explain how below.
With the news on Thursday of death of Wales and Lions star JJ Williams, there's likely to be extra motivation for the hosts to get a win in honour of the legendary winger. The match should also see Alun Wyn Jones notch up his 149th International appearance and surpass former All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw’s Test record.
Scots coach Townsend has made four changes to the starting line-up from last weekend’s comfortable 48-7 win over Georgia, with the creative Finn Russell drafted in at stand-off, skipper Stuart Hogg named at full-back, Jonny Gray in the second-row and Scarlets star Blade Thomson in at No 8.
Wales coach Pivac has meanwhile handed Cardiff Blues back-row Shane Lewis-Hughes his first test appearance in a back-row alongside Lions stars Justin Tipuric and Taulupe Faletau, with Wasps star Will Rowlands also set to make his international debut.
The great news is that this match is free-to-air in the UK, so you can tune in to a free Wales vs Scotland live stream if you're there. For details of how to do that and all your other Six Nations live stream options, read on.
How to live stream Wales vs Scotland in the UK for FREE
Wales vs Scotland kicks off at 2.15pm BST and is being shown live on BBC1. Coverage begins at 1.45pm.
If you would prefer to use your laptop, phone, iPad or other device to watch the match, you can use the BBC iPlayer app to stream Wales vs Scotland instead - where the show will also be available in its entirety on-demand following the live broadcast. Best of all, it's FREE provided you hold a valid TV license.
Welsh language channel S4C will also be showing the match live on its linear TV channel and via its app and S4C Clic streaming and catch up service. Coverage begins at 1.45pm BST.
If you're from the UK but not at home right now, you can get your rugby fix by grabbing a VPN.
How to live stream Wales vs Scotland from outside your country
For broadcast and streaming details in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US, we have all the information you need on this page.
But if you try to watch your domestic coverage from somewhere outside your home country, you'll soon find a problem - geo-blocking. That's where the broadcaster prevents you from watching your usual feed from abroad. It's a common problem for sports fans all over the world. Fortunately, there's an easy solution in the form of a VPN.
Use a VPN to watch a Six Nations live stream from anywhere
ExpressVPN - get the world's best VPN We've put all the major VPNs through their paces and we rate ExpressVPN as our top pick, thanks to its speed, ease of use and strong security features.
It's also compatible with just about any streaming device out there, including Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation, as well as Android and Apple mobiles.
Sign up for an annual plan now and get an extra 3 months absolutely FREE. And if you change your mind within the first 30 days, let them know and they'll give you your money back without a quibble.
Once you've chosen and installed your VPN of choice, simply open the service's corresponding app, hit 'choose location', select the appropriate country and you'll be able to watch the broadcast as if you were back at home.
If you fancy watching Wales vs Scotland Down Under, you'll need to be a subscriber to beIN Sports.
If you're a Foxtel customer, you can add beIN to your package for an extra fee. No worries if you aren't though, as you can also subscribe to beIN as a standalone subscription that can be watched on your laptop, desktop computer or mobile device. That costs $19.99 per month after you've taken advantage of a FREE two week trial.
That said, sports streaming specialists Kayo Sports includes beIN in its package. The Basic plan costs just $25 a month and lets you stream on two screens, while Premium is a mere $35 a month for simultaneous viewing on up to three devices.
Of the two, Kayo Sports Premium represents the best value as it offers multi-screen support - which means you can effectively split the price of a monthly subscription between friends or family and pay less.
Kayo also lets you watch a load of other great sports, and most enticingly, there's even a free 14-day Kayo Sports trial on offer, so you can check it out for yourself without committing a penny Its app works across PCs, Macs, smartphones, tablets, select smart TVs and more.
Wales vs Scotland kicks off at 1.15am AEDT in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Live stream Wales vs Scotland in New Zealand
The official broadcaster for Wales vs Scotland in New Zealand is Sky Sport, which costs $31.99 per month and includes channels dedicated to football, rugby, cricket and golf.
For mobile streaming, you can tune in via the Sky Go app, and if you're away from New Zealand right now you can use a VPN to catch your home TV coverage.
The match kicks off at 3.15am NZDT on Sunday morning.
Live stream Wales vs Scotland Six Nations rugby in Canada for FREE
Streaming service DAZN holds the broadcast right for Six Nations rugby in Canada, and is showing every game live on its online platform, including Wales vs Scotland, which kicks off at 10.15am ET/7.15am PT.
If you're not already a DAZN subscriber, then you can take advantage of its 30-day FREE trial and enjoy the match without paying a cent.
How to watch an Wales vs Scotland Six Nations live stream in the US
NBC is the official US broadcaster for the 2020 Six Nations, and is showing every match between linear TV coverage and new streaming service, Peacock.
Ireland vs Italy is being shown on both NBCSN and Peacock, with kick-off set for 10.15am ET/7.15am PT.
You'll need to sign up for the Peacock Premium tier, but it costs just $4.99 a month, offers a FREE 7-day trial.
Best of all, signing up for Peacock Premium is easy - it only takes a few seconds and some basic details to get up and running, even accepting internationally recognized payment platform PayPal for added convenience.
Peacock Premium replaces the NBC Sports Gold Rugby Pass as NBC's Six Nations streaming option, while games that are aired on linear TV can also be watched affordably without cable - courtesy of great value over-the-top streaming service Sling, and better still there's a FREE trial option.
If you subscribe to this or any other streaming service and find yourself unable to access it because you're out of the country, remember that you can use a VPN to tune into your usual coverage just like you would at home. Of the many options, we rate ExpressVPN as the best of the best.
For the second time in 24 hours, Sony has crushed the hopes of PSVR fans hoping for new VR experiences on the upcoming PS5 console.
After suggesting that the PSVR 2 is at least a couple of years away, Sony has now confirmed that upcoming VR releases for Hitman 3 and No Man's Sky will only be available if you buy and play the PS4 version of the games.
Speaking with UploadVR, a Sony rep said that PSVR on the PS5 is only backwards compatible, and that “We have not announced PS5 titles for PS VR.”
Sony is currently giving away a free adaptor that, according to Sony's FAQ page, "allows the use of PlayStation VR when playing supported PS4 games on a PS5 console". It makes no mention of playing PS5 VR games on the console. Evidently, none of the upcoming PS5 exclusives will get a PSVR version anytime soon.
We know that Hitman 3's IO interactive plans to give gamers a free PS5 upgrade if you buy the PS4 version digitally, and Hello Games recently announced the same offer for No Man's Sky.
In this case, however, we wonder if the developers will also offer PS5 buyers a free downgrade to PS4, so they can try out the VR mode. PSVR owners may want to buy the last-gen version of these games, even if they only own the PS5, just to be certain they'll get access to both ports of the game.
(Image credit: Sony / LetsGoDigital)
The future of Playstation VR
Sony is allegedly hiring engineers for the PSVR 2, and we recently spotted a patent showing potential new PSVR Move motion controllers. So it's clear that the company is hard at work on a VR successor, even if it's years away from fruition.
Until the company finishes producing this new headset, it clearly doesn't want to muddy the waters and let current PSVR owners enjoy next-gen PS5 VR experiences – not until they've bought a new VR headset first.
This disappointing news brings up new questions. Another recent rumor suggested that Resident Evil 8: Village would, like its predecessor, have a PSVR version. However, we've heard no word that Capcom intends to make Resident Evil 8 compatible with the PS4. So does this mean that Capcom will make a PS4 port specific to PSVR, wait until the PSVR 2 launches to sell its port, or is this rumor false?
We'll have to wait to find out more information in the coming months.
https://ift.tt/2iVP4oo 12 reparability test by iFixit reveals that the camera module on the latest Apple offering is not swappable. If the iPhone 12 camera module is transferred to another iPhone 12, it becomes entirely unusable. iFixit says that Apple may be looking to come down hard on third-party repairs with this iPhone 12 camera issue.
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition was released on October 15 on Steam, Windows Store, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and Microsoft Xbox Games Studios have given us a more than just remastered classic.
From visual updates to changes to civilizations, there's a lot to get your teeth into for both old fans and newcomers. There are many new changes, including two new civs, and changes to the user interface and voice lines and animations. However, some of these changes have been controversial, namely those to the original's sometimes problematic depictions of its civilizations.
In case you're new to Age of Empires, it is a real-time strategy game franchise originally developed by Ensemble Games. It includes Age of Empires, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (AoE2), and Age of Empires III (AoE3). Age of Mythology is also part of the series, set during the same time period of Age of Empires, but in a mythical world.
In each of them you must destroy your opponent's city while building an economy, city, and army to lead you to victory. There is a single player campaign, player vs AI, or PVP skirmishes.
AoE3 was much like its predecessors but in other ways quite unlike them. It was the first in the series to be in 3D, and had vastly improved graphics from its predecessors.
It split the community, with some feeling its changes to units and the economy made it too far removed from the franchise's original style and gameplay, but it was still very successful despite this.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Joining Microsoft
In 2001 Ensemble Studios was acquired by Microsoft and later disbanded in 2009. Microsoft, through its Xbox Games Studios division, then partnered with Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media and Microsoft subsidiary World’s Edge Games Studios (formed specifically to focus on AoE) and began work on the franchise.
The Definitive Editions are remastered versions of the originals, improving on things like the graphics and UI, as well as adding new content, while maintaining the essence of the classic games that we know and love.
We spoke to Adam Isgreen, studio Creative Director for World’s Edge, about the evolution of the franchise.
"It's been an amazing journey going through all of the games that we've done so far, really diving into each of the different communities," he told us.
"[They] can be very different for each game. Everyone loves some of the games, specific games, and it was fun to try to understand what each of them really loved and wanted in a modern Age of Empires."
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Unwelcome changes
However, Age of Empires III had its fair share of controversies upon its original release. It introduced the Home City, which allowed for more strategy and customization to your civ. Farms and mines now infinitely produced products without any player input, a feature that would partially make its way to AoE2: Definitive Edition in how it allows you to toggle farms to automatically rebuild after they become fallow.
Military units were different, and the unique civ bonuses along with the specific civ’s content meant you had to learn entirely different approaches to each game based on which one you played. The infinite food and gold meant you could concentrate on military power without having to worry about running out of resources.
For some, it was a turn-off. They felt it made the game easier, while still being unnecessarily complicated. Ensemble simply wanted more innovative gameplay, while not losing the core of the game. Some feel it did not achieve that, but it didn't mean it wasn't a good game in its own right.
AoE3 is in fact a great game, but it just didn't feel an authentic enough Age game for some of the fans, and even now is beaten by AoE2 in popularity.
Many of the Definitive Edition's changes can be toggled off. In fact, there are "default", "definitive" and "classic" options to choose from when customizing hotkeys and UI. There are accessibility options that allow you to customize colors, especially handy for color blind players.
Bert Beeckman, co-founder of Forgotten Empires, says: "We wanted to add a lot of things to the game, a lot of new UI options and every time we were like, OK, we have the old version working; let's just keep that in and make it an option. Then people have the choice. For every option we added, there was a legacy option. If you've had the same hotkeys for fifteen years, you don't just relearn them."
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Past mistakes
Age of Empires 3 also caused controversy with its RTS-style-campaign plot, which ignored dark and shameful aspects of the time period it covered, like the transatlantic slave trade. This was something that the team behind the Definitive Edition felt they needed to address.
Let's look at the representation changes. In the Native American tribes, the Sioux have been renamed the Lakota, the Iroquois the Haudenosaunee. The Discovery Age is now called the Exploration Age, and the Colonial Age is now the Commerce Age – this last change being one of the most controversial.
The Firepit has now been renamed to the Community Plaza and the dances performed on them are now referred to as ceremonies and have had a visual and animation adjustment.
"Well, colonialism was a policy," Adam says. "The age had always been referred to as Age of Discovery or Age of Adventure. This is where we have to walk a line between what do we think makes sense and what do we think is the right thing to do for a broader spectrum of people? I mean, bad things happened during colonial times. South America and the Americas just got decimated by these other civilizations coming in.
"At one point we were like, we don't wanna sugarcoat it. But we wanna make sure it's open for people that are playing where those cultures were, and it doesn't feel like we're punishing them for playing the game. So, yeah, this is where we're gonna keep walking that line."
Flags, units, and buildings have been renamed or tweaked to be historically considerate and accurate. So, plantations are now being named estates, and the German flag is now actually the German flag, rather than Prussian, as it was in the original game. These are welcome changes, but it's still unclear why some flags and civilizations have been changed while others haven't.
But, some fans feel the changes are a political move or an example of 'political correctness gone wrong' tyranny. AoE3 takes place during the colonial age, and, ultimately, the aim of the game is colonization, so why rewrite history?
"How are we going to talk about things that are really hard to talk about?"
Adam Isgreen, Creative Director
“What we really wanted to do was set the studio off on the right foot,” says Adam, “because we knew we're dealing with history and there are some really bad things that have happened throughout all of the different eras that humans have been around. There's been wonderful good balanced with really bad things and we knew we were going to run into them. We were like, how are we going to talk about things that are really hard to talk about? I mean, how are we gonna make sure that we're accurate?”
Many of the depictions of civilizations, historical leaders, and other characters from the original game have dated badly, to say the least. It would be fair to say the depiction of the Native American tribes were particularly offensive and really couldn’t fly in the more culturally conscious society we live in today.
“As we started digging into it,” says Adam, “and really embracing the idea that we were going to respect the cultures, we were like, you know all of the Native Americans, there's something wrong here. We just can't do it, it doesn’t look right. There came a point where we were actually considering not shipping it. We were like – we're just not, we're not gonna ship this Definitive Edition, because we were so worried about the portrayal of the cultures.”
"There came a point where we were actually considering not shipping [the game]... because we were so worried about the portrayal of the cultures"
The time in which AoE3 was made was indeed a different one, and what was socially acceptable or could be ignored then would be considered wilful ignorance today. The depiction of native tribes in AoE3 was straight out of an old Hollywood Western – not the best point of reference for any type of historical accuracy; more an advert for what not to do.
“We talked about it a lot,” says Adam, “and [we decided] that the right thing to do is represent these cultures as accurately as we can. We're failing ourselves and we're failing our fans if we don't do this. There's so many people who’ve come up to me through the years at Gamescon and E3 … and they're like – oh my god – ‘I learned history from Age of Empires.’ And I'm like, oh boy. OK, we need to be a lot more serious about this.”
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Setting the record straight
When you first get into the game, you’re met with a message from the dev team, which we reproduce in full:
To learn from the power of our own stories is uniquely human. At World’s Edge, we value authenticity and respectful representations grounded in truth. The original release of Age of Empires III took liberties with the depiction of Indigenous civilisations, as well as the depiction of events and personages from American history. As we developed the Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, we collaborated with Native American and First Nations consultants to correct these errors.
We are immensely grateful for the time, patience, and faith shown to us by the members of the Lakota and Haudenosaunee Nations. We have replaced inaccurate or stereotypical depictions, created new voiceover using authentic speakers, and addressed problematic and harmful mechanics and storylines. We hope that you, the Age III DE player, will join us in celebrating the rich and vibrant cultures represented in the game. We have increased our resolve going forward to live out the values of “Gaming for Everyone” – a commitment to a journey, not a destination.
Despite this heartening message, some fans feel this is still unforgivable and is not sticking with history, arguing that Xbox Game Studios should not try to rewrite it, while simultaneously asking it to leave the cultural inaccuracies in because, well, it’s a game and it’s not meant to teach you history. That’s definitely a pretty sticky predicament to be in.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
But, in the original game, native tribes danced around a fire pit to strengthen their army and gain power, while the Western civilizations used logistics and technological advancements to gain theirs. That’s clearly an unacceptable representation of the native tribes that’s both inaccurate and offensive. It was clear that the team had to change this.
“When we were working on Killer Instinct, doing Native American characters there, there's like 3,000 people left in that first tribe that would understand what we could do with our characters that we put in that game. So sometimes there's a timing element to making sure that we are accurate in history. You'll see this more as we do other games, especially Age of Empires 4, where we take a lot of steps to not only embrace the cultures but to use historians and representatives from those cultures in order to actually get them as authentic as we can get them.”
We think Age of Empires III has indeed got a troubled past, and the Definitive Edition has tried to right some of those wrongs, an almost impossible task when trying to consider the often contradictory interests and desires of its community as a whole.
But the willingness to work on creating a more accurate representation of civilizations and its history – even going as far as to have direct input from individuals of these cultures – is certainly a step in the right direction. Developers can’t get everything right, and often they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
But what is truly important is that they’re earnestly striving to balance being culturally sensitive and delivering a great game that maintains the Age of Empires legacy. So far, we think Xbox game studios and its partners have managed to do just that.
Curious to know a little more about the upcoming Age of Empires 4?
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Wondering what's new on Netflix and other streaming services this weekend? What's arguably the biggest TV show of the year began this past Friday, as The Mandalorian returned to Disney Plus for its second season. The first episode is a healthy 54 minutes long – so make that the first thing you stream this weekend if you're a fan of the Star Wars movies.
Still, Baby Yoda aside, most of the major streaming services have cool stuff to check out this weekend. Truth Seekers, Amazon's first series from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, is now available to watch, while Netflix has quietly dropped one of the most acclaimed original horror movies of the year to stream. Scroll down to read more about it.
Featuring 100% positive Rotten Tomatoes reviews, His House is exactly what you're looking for if you need a new Netflix horror movie for this weekend. It's about a couple from South Sudan who move into a grim-looking British housing estate – but something supernatural and malevolent is at play within the property. His House clearly has something thematically deeper going on below the surface, in how it examines the refugee experience, a subject that's never not timely in the UK. Add it to your watch list – it's only 93 minutes long.
Now streaming on Netflix
Blood of Zeus (Netflix)
From the same animation house as Castlevania, Blood of Zeus is a welcome new take on the gods of Greek myth – even if it doesn't quite get to the video game adaptation's heights in terms of the depth of its characters. It follows Heron, a commoner with deeper links to the gods, and who must help defend humanity from an encroaching army of demons. It's nonetheless worth a look if you're waiting for Castlevania season 4 – read what we thought of Blood of Zeus here.
Now streaming on Netflix
Truth Seekers (Amazon Prime Video)
Counting Shaun of the Dead pair Simon Pegg and Nick Frost among its creators and stars, Truth Seekers is about a group of homebrew-style paranormal investigators who start to crack a larger conspiracy. An ideal choice this Halloween if you want a horror-themed series that's not so scary it genuinely ruins your life, but brings a few laughs, too. Check out our interview with Nick Frost and Truth Seekers' other stars to learn more about it.
Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video
The Mandalorian season 2 (Disney Plus)
The Mandalorian season 2 has finally begun, giving you a reason to check out Disney Plus that doesn't involve Hamilton, old animated movies or Simpsons reruns. Disney is just releasing one episode per week, as with last year – but the good news is The Mandalorian season 2 episode 1 makes a phenomenal first impression of what's to come in the next seven episodes. We won't spoil it, but if you're deep into Star Wars lore, you'll get a kick out of this first chapter, which looks about twice as expensive in terms of visual effects as anything they did in season 1.
This is the time of year that even casual horror fans are surely thinking about trying horror streaming service Shudder. As well as having an impressive array of movies released throughout 2020 – most notably Zoom horror picture Host – its range of original shows are worth a look, too.
Creepshow is an animated anthology series continuing on from the two movies of the same name, and it comes from horror gore maestro Greg Nicotero (he's responsible for the decaying zombies on The Walking Dead). Two new stories just dropped in this Halloween special: one based on Stephen King's short story 'Survivor Type', while another is based on his son Joe Hill's 'Twittering From The Circus of the Dead'. Expect to hear the voice of Kiefer Sutherland in the former.
Now streaming on Shudder
Holidate (Netflix)
Holidate looks like about 400 other original Netflix romcoms, all of which have names like The Holiday Plumber or Christmas Headteacher (the most acclaimed of these types of movies is Set It Up, which is worth a watch). Still, there's no doubt that this sub-genre is popular as we approach the holiday season – this one is about a couple of strangers who vow to be each other's 'holidate', to get their respective families off their backs. Who knows: maybe these crazy kids who seem to have little in common (except hating the holidays) will ultimately end up hitting it off.
Holidate hasn't garnered much positive attention from critics, but it does star Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey, and you can stream it now if you can tolerate the idea of thinking about the holidays this early.
AMD has shared some fresh benchmarks for its incoming Big Navi graphics cards, and they’ll likely have Nvidia worrying even more about the RX 6000 series.
The new benchmarks shared on AMD’s website are drawn from 10 games, and show performance at both 4K and 1440p, with the full PC spec provided. The testbed rig was powered by a Ryzen 9 5900X processor (in an X570 motherboard) with 16GB of DDR4-3200 system RAM.
It should be noted that AMD Smart Access Memory was enabled, a technology which allows RX 6000 GPUs to work in tandem with Ryzen 5000 CPUs for a performance boost. So that’s a slight extra edge over Nvidia which those folks who haven’t upgraded to Ryzen 5000 won’t have.
The benchmarks themselves are seriously impressive for AMD, particularly at 1440p resolution, and of course 4K resolution remains a very niche proposition anyway (in fact, the vast majority still game at 1080p going by the Steam hardware survey).
At 1440p, the flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT beats out Nvidia’s RTX 3090 in every game, except for two: Wolfenstein Youngblood, where the 3090 is champ, and Doom Eternal which is pretty much a dead heat.
Interestingly, the 6800 XT even outguns the RTX 3090 in Borderlands 3 – and by some way – and the vanilla RX 6800 is a match for the RTX 3080 in this game at 1440p.
The 6800 XT also owns the 3090 at Gears 5. And in Battlefield V, both the 6800 XT and vanilla 6800 beat out the RTX 3090, with the same being true (to an even greater extent) in Forza Horizon 4.
Further note that the RX 6800 easily bested Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti across all the benchmarks (which AMD was using for testing in lieu of an RTX 3070, apparently, because performance levels are about on par, as we observed in our review).
Remember that the 6800 XT is pitched at $649, which is less than the RTX 3080 which costs $699 – and of course the RTX 3090 is a staggering $1,499, with the RX 6900 XT way undercutting that at $999.
4K battleground
As for the 4K benchmarks, the RX 6900 XT beat the RTX 3090 in five of the benchmarks, meaning that Nvidia won the other five – it was effectively a draw.
AMD’s RX 6800 XT, however, beat the RTX 3080 in six benchmarks, with the Nvidia graphics card only winning in three instances – Shadow of the Tomb Raider was a draw. Indeed, the RX 6800 XT edged out the 3090 in Borderlands 3, Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 4 at 4K.
So, worrying stuff for Nvidia? It would seem so, although we must bear in mind that these are internal AMD benchmarks, so a bit of cherry-picking could be going on (and as we’ve already mentioned, Smart Access Memory tech is also being used to give the RX 6000 cards an upper hand).
The other point of concern for Nvidia right now must be its failure to get anything like a sufficient number of RTX 3000 graphics cards out there, a situation which apparently won’t change until 2021.
Nvidia can also take comfort in the fact that AMD isn’t talking about ray tracing, although purportedly work is underway at AMD on a similar tech to Nvidia’s DLSS to help with frame rates when it comes to turning on all the ray-traced bells and whistles.
