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After a long delay, Sports Story is now available on Nintendo Switch. Fans of Golf Story have been awaiting the follow-up for quite some time. Sports Story was initially supposed to arrive on the console in 2020, but as has been the case with so many games over the last few years, it was delayed.
Sports Story features many of the same characters as Golf Story. It follows the events of the previous game and it has a similar blend of sports, role-playing and adventuring. You’ll still get to play some golf in this one, and you can partake in tennis, soccer, BMX and (unsurprisingly, given that this is an RPG) fishing. You can also explore dungeons and abandoned ruins or simply hang out at the mall.
Prove your athletic prowess in sports of all sorts – Sports Story is out now on #NintendoSwitch!
Let the training commence: https://t.co/UybEUp7QGWpic.twitter.com/tQELzAJvKv
— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) December 23, 2022
Nintendo said last month that Sports Story would arrive sometime in December, and that held true. The company announced the sudden debut of Sidebar Games’ latest title to close out a week of bite-sized indie game updates. Mortal Shell and dreamy puzzle game Melatonin were among the other surprise releases on Switch this week. Nintendo also revealed that a Risk of Rain remake, the charming-looking The Gecko Gods and the absolutely delightful dog photography game Pupperazzi are all coming to the console next year.
The subject of the true-crime podcast “Serial” was released from a Maryland prison this year after a judge overturned his conviction.
Warhammer 40,000 might be one of the biggest and best known wargames around, having made the leap from the tabletop to video games, books, comics, and now, with the help of megafan Henry Cavill, an Amazon streaming franchise of TV shows and movies. But it and its grand, densely written world are still difficult to…
While it’s a bit late for most tech gifts to ship in time for Christmas, there are still many deals going on for those looking to buy something nice for themselves. Apple’s AirPods Pro, for one, are down to an all-time low of $200, while Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earbuds are still at a low of $178. Several recommended gamepads from 8BitDo are on sale, as are various well-regarded OLED TVs from LG. And if you’re a PC gamer, both Steam and the Epic Games Store have kicked off sweeping holiday sales on their respective storefronts. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Apple’s AirPods Pro have dropped back to $200 at multiple retailers, which matches the lowest price we’ve tracked and comes in about $30 below the pair’s usual going rate over the last few months. We gave the AirPods Pro a review score of 88 earlier this year and currently recommend them as the “best for iOS” pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. The sound quality and active noise cancellation (ANC) here are among the better options on the market, as is the included transparency mode. Plus, like all AirPods, they offer a host of features that make them particularly convenient to use with other Apple devices. Their call quality and six-ish hours of battery life are just average, however.
Buy AirPods Pro (2nd gen) at Amazon – $200
If you don’t own an iPhone, the top overall pick in our best wireless earbuds guide is Sony’s WF-1000XM4, which is also on sale for $178, matching the lowest price we’ve seen. We gave this pair a review score of 86 last year, praising its upper-tier ANC, solid yet customizable sound quality, 8- to 10-hour battery life and array of useful bonus features. The earpieces here are on the bulkier side, so they might not fit all ear shapes comfortably, but they do isolate an impressive amount of noise even without the ANC turned on. If you’re on a tighter budget, meanwhile, Anker’s Soundcore Space A40 is another noise-canceling set we like that’s on sale for a new low of $60 at Target.
Buy Sony WF-1000XM4 at Amazon – $178
8BitDo’s Pro 2 gamepad is down to $40, which is a $10 discount and tied for the best price we’ve tracked. This is a comfortable and extensively customizable wireless controller we’ve recommended in past gift guides. It doesn’t work with PlayStation and Xbox consoles, but if you need a spare gamepad for Switch, PC or mobile devices, it’s arguably a better value than Nintendo’s Switch Pro Controller. Just note that it can’t wake the Switch up from sleep mode, if you plan on using it with that console.
If you’re willing to pay more for a controller with Hall effect joysticks, which are traditionally more resistant to drift over time, or if you prefer an Xbox-style layout, 8BitDo’s Ultimate Controller is also on sale for $63. While that’s only $7 off its typical price, this is the first discount we’ve seen for the recently-launched device. For those who play lots of retro-style games, meanwhile, the company’s Sn30 Pro is like a more modern version of an old Super Nintendo pad, and it’s currently $10 off at $35.
Buy 8BitDo Pro 2 at Amazon – $40Buy 8BitDo Ultimate Controller at Amazon – $63Buy 8BitDo Sn30 Pro at Amazon – $35
If you need a spare gamepad for your PlayStation 5, Sony’s DualSense controller is still available for an all-time low of $49 at various retailers, including Amazon, GameStop, Walmart, Adorama, Target and Best Buy. The sale applies to several color finishes and comes out to a $20 or $25 discount depending on which model you choose. The DualSense itself isn’t as convenient on PCs as the 8BitDo pads above or Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S controller (which is down to $40), but it still provides a comfortable shape and impressive haptic feedback for newer PlayStation games.
Buy PS5 DualSense Controller at Amazon – $49Buy PS5 DualSense Controller at GameStop – $49
Apple’s latest MacBook Air is still on sale for $999 at B&H, matching the lowest price we’ve seen. Normally, Apple sells this version, which includes 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, for $1,199, though we’ve seen it fall to $1,049 a number of times in recent months. Either way, the M2-powered Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and we gave it a glowing review score of 96 earlier this year. As an everyday notebook, it gives little to complain about, but note that this entry-level configuration has slower storage performance than Apple’s higher-priced SKUs. Still, if you aren’t planning to do more involved work like editing high-resolution videos, this shouldn’t be a major hindrance on a day-to-day basis. Just be aware that B&H says this deal is set to end later Friday afternoon.
Buy MacBook Air M2 at B&H – $999
A configuration of Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2 with a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD is on sale for a new low of $600. That’s about $100 off this model’s typical street price as of late. We gave the 12.4-inch notebook a review score of 86 back in June and currently recommend it in our guide to the best affordable Windows laptops. The main appeal here is in the design, as the Surface Laptop Go 2’s slim and lightweight chassis, comfortable keyboard and bright display lend it a classier feel than most options in this price range. Its performance is quick enough for casual work, too, but don’t expect a powerhouse, and the keyboard is unfortunately devoid of backlighting.
Buy Surface Laptop Go 2 at Amazon – $600
It’s a good time to be a PC gamer (or Steam Deck owner), as Steam and the Epic Games Store have kicked off their annual holiday sales. Both promotions are scheduled to run until January 5. There are simply too many deals for us to run down everything, but some highlights on Steam include the acclaimed action-RPG Elden Ring down to $42, the cutesy cat adventure Stray for $24, the sharply written Disco Elysium for $10, the VR shooter Half-Life: Alyx for $24 and a bundle that includes a bunch of Valve-made games for $7. Several other picks from our best PC games guide are also on sale.
Epic’s sale doesn’t cover as many games, but it does include a recurring coupon that takes 25 percent off any purchase you make over $15. This can save you a few bucks if you aren’t beholden to Steam: The PC port of 2018’s God of War, for instance, is down to $23 at Epic with the coupon, but only down to $30 at Steam. For console owners, note that PlayStation and Xbox are running holiday sales as well, though the deals there are generally ones we’ve seen several times throughout the year.
Shop Winter Sale at SteamShop Holiday Sale at Epic Games Store
If you’re looking to upgrade your TV, a handful of LG’s well-regarded OLED sets are down to all-time lows. The 42-inch model of LG’s C2 TV, for instance, is down to $797 at Amazon, which is about $200 off its usual going rate. (If you’d rather not shop through Amazon, BuyDig is throwing in a $40 gift card on top of the discount.) This model can’t get as bright as the QD-OLED panel on Samsung’s S95B OLED TV, so it’s best suited in dark or moderately-lit rooms, but it still provides the deep black levels, high contrast and wide viewing angles you’d expect from a high-end OLED display.
If you need something larger, the 65-inch LG B2 is down to $1,099 at Walmart (via authorized dealer Beach Camera), which is again roughly $200 off the price we’ve seen for most of the last couple of months. The B2 is a step down from the C2 with lesser HDR performance and a slower processor, but at this price it still offers excellent picture quality. Beyond that, the 48-inch LG A2 is back down to a low of $570 at Best Buy. This is the cheapest route into an LG OLED panel, but note that it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1 ports, reducing its appeal for gaming.
Buy LG C2 42-inch at Amazon – $797Buy LG B2 65-inch at Walmart – $1,099Buy LG A2 48-inch at Best Buy – $570
Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air and 11-inch iPad Pro is still on sale for $210, which isn’t an all-time low but still $65 off the peripheral’s average street price in recent months. We gave the Magic Keyboard a review score of 84 back in 2020, and it still offers a comfortable typing experience, smooth trackpad and extra USB-C port to those who’d like to use their iPad more like a laptop. The main hangup is that it’s wildly expensive, but this deal lessens the burden at least somewhat.
Buy Apple Magic Keyboard 11-inch at Amazon – $210
Amazon is running a promotion that lets new subscribers get four months of Amazon’s Audible Premium Plus audiobook service for $5.95 per month. Normally, you’d have to pay $14.95 a month after a 30-day free trial. This offer has been available for the past several weeks, but we’re noting it here because it’s set to end on December 31.
As a reminder, Premium Plus is Audible’s upper tier: In addition to granting you access to the full Audible library, it lets you keep one title from a curated selection of audiobooks each month. It’s not an essential upgrade for most, but if you’ve been thinking of giving Audible a try, this is a decent way to see if the plan works for you. Just note that your membership will be set to auto-renew by default.
Buy Audible Premium Plus 4-month at Amazon – $5.95/month
Samsung’s Smart Monitor M8 is still available for $400, which is an all-time low and roughly $180 below the 32-inch monitor’s average street price in recent months. This is a decent VA panel with a 4K resolution, but its big selling point is that it can double as a sort of tuner-less smart TV. Since it runs Samsung’s Tizen interface, it’s able to stream apps like Netflix, HBO Max and the like even when it’s not hooked up to a PC. It comes with a remote, webcam, mic and built-in speakers, and it can serve as a SmartThings hub. If you know you’ll actually use that smart TV functionality, the M8 is among the most versatile monitors you can buy, even if it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks local dimming.
Buy Samsung Smart Monitor M8 at Amazon – $400Buy Samsung Smart Monitor M8 at Samsung – $400
Earlier this year, we gave Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro review scores of 90 and 92, respectively, calling them the “best bargain in flagship phones” in the process. Both handsets are back on sale this week, with the 128GB Pixel 7 available from $499 and the Pixel 7 Pro down to $749 for the same amount of storage. We’ve seen these deals before, and neither marks an all-time low, but they’re still about $65 and $95 off the devices’ respective street prices over the last few months.
Between the two, the 6.3-inch Pixel 7 gets a bit more battery life, while the 6.7-inch Pixel 7 Pro has a faster 120Hz refresh rate. Both phones, though, get you top-notch cameras, vibrant OLED displays, and a clean take on Android that’ll receive version updates through late 2025. They aren’t quite as powerful as something like Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra, but at these prices they carry strong value.
Buy Pixel 7 at Amazon – $499Buy Pixel 7 Pro at Amazon – $749
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“sorry i didnt reply my cat was laying on my chest and reminding me that life is worth living”
The Muppet Christmas Carol is among the most beloved holiday movies ever; It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas is among the weirdest. But many Jim Henson fans also hold 1977’s Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, based on the 1971 book by Russell and Lillian Hoban, near and dear. Its heartwarming riff on O. Henry’s “The…
A major hack affecting password manager giant LastPass appears much worse than first thought. In an update announcement two days before Christmas, LastPass CEO Karim Toubba admitted the attackers were able to successfully copy a backup of customer vault data. With that data in hand, the attackers can potentially…
Microsoft has filed a formal response to a Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit that seeks to block it from buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. It pushed back against the agency’s claims that the takeover would harm competition in the gaming industry. The company argued that consumers would benefit. “The commission cannot meet its burden of showing that the transaction would leave consumers worse off, because the transaction will allow consumers to play Activision’s games on new platforms and access them in new and more affordable ways,” Microsoft wrote.
The FTC asserted earlier this month that, should the deal close, it “would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.” The agency pointed to Microsoft making some titles from Bethesda (whose parent company ZeniMax it bought last year) exclusive to its own platforms.
In the filing, Microsoft acknowledged that it planned to make three future Bethesda titles exclusive to Xbox and PC. The names of those games were redacted, but Starfield and Redfall will only be available on Xbox, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming, while the FTC claimed in its complaint that Microsoft plans to make Elder Scrolls VI an exclusive as well.
One of the major sticking points about the deal is the future of Call of Duty. In an attempt to appease regulators, Microsoft has pledged to keep Call of Duty on competitors’ platforms for at least 10 years if the acquisition closes, and to bring the blockbuster franchise to Nintendo consoles. Sony hasn’t taken Microsoft up on that deal, however.
“The acquisition of a single game by the third-place console manufacturer cannot upend a highly competitive industry. That is particularly so when the manufacturer has made clear it will not withhold the game,” Microsoft wrote. “The fact that Xbox’s dominant competitor has thus far refused to accept Xbox’s proposal does not justify blocking a transaction that will benefit consumers.”
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard both claim that keeping Call of Duty away from other platforms wouldn’t make sense. Activision said in its own filing that making the franchise exclusive “would be disastrous for Xbox,” as it would lose billions in game sales and give up “a massive portion of the gamers that Activision has worked so hard to attract and retain.” It added that “in a world with nearly unlimited gaming alternatives, making Call of Duty exclusive is not a plausible outcome.”
Both companies took issue with the FTC, with Microsoft claiming that its procedures are unconstitutional. “The structure of these administrative proceedings, in which the commission both initiates and finally adjudicates the complaint against Microsoft, violates Microsoft’s Fifth Amendment Due Process right to adjudication before a neutral arbiter,” Microsoft said in reference to the agency’s decision to file the complaint in its own administrative court, rather than in a federal one. The company also argued that hearing the case in the FTC’s administrative court “violates Article III of the US Constitution and the separation of powers.”
Activision asserted that by disregarding the supposed benefits to consumers and focusing “on supposed harms to Xbox’s deep-pocketed competitors,” the FTC was straying from the “underlying purpose” of antitrust laws to protect competition instead of competitors. It said the agency was “blinded by ideological skepticism of high-value technology deals and by complaints from competitors” and that it “lost sight of the realities of the intensely competitive gaming industry.”
Nevertheless, Microsoft wants to agree on conditions with the FTC and other regulators that will lead to them rubberstamping the deal. “Even with confidence in our case, we remain committed to creative solutions with regulators that will protect competition, consumers and workers in the tech sector. As we’ve learned from our lawsuits in the past, the door never closes on the opportunity to find an agreement that can benefit everyone,” Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith said.
“There is no sensible, legitimate reason for our transaction to be prevented from closing. Our industry has enormous competition and few barriers to entry. We have seen more devices than ever before enabling players a wide range of choices to play games,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement to Engadget. “Engines and tools are freely available to developers large and small. The breadth of distribution options for games has never been more widespread. We believe we will prevail on the merits of the case.”
The deadline for the acquisition to close is in July. If it hasn’t done so by then, Microsoft and Activision will need to renegotiate the deal or abandon it — Microsoft would then face a breakup fee of as much as $3 billion. As Axios notes, though, the FTC’s antitrust case is set to go before its administrative court on August 2nd. In the meantime, the agency could still seek a preliminary injunction in federal court to stop the deal from closing.
The proposed acquisition is also facing scrutiny from regulators in the UK and the European Union. The jurisdictions’ respective competition agencies are expected to issue rulings on the deal in the first half of 2023.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
