Here are all the games getting a free upgrade on the PS5 and Xbox Series SX

November is not only the festive month in India, but this year it is special as we will see the launch of the next generation gaming consoles, the PS5 and the Xbox Series S/X.  This time, however, one of the key changes is backward compatibility. Not only are the PS5 and Xbox Series S/X compatible with their respective previous generation, but game developers are also offering enhancements for those that purchase a game on the current-gen consoles and then move to the next-gen. But not all the games will get free next-generation upgrades. 

Both Sony and Microsoft have announced the official list of games that are getting a free next-gen upgrades to the new console at no extra cost. It can become confusing trying to understand which games you should purchase now and which you should wait for, but here's a list of games getting next-gen upgrades.

PlayStation 5: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Atelier Ryza 2 Borderlands 3 Bugsnax Control(Only for Ultimate Edition) Cyberpunk 2077 Dead by Daylight Destiny 2 DIRT 5 DOOM Eternal Far Cry 6 FIFA 21(Till the release of FIFA 22) For Honor Ghostrunner Guilty Gear Strive Hitman 3 Horizon Forbidden West Immortals Fenyx Rising Kena: Bridge of Spirits Little Nightmares II Madden NFL 21(Till the release of NFL 22) Maneater Marvel’s Avengers Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate NBA 2K21(Only for Mamba Forever Edition) No Man’s Sky Outriders The Pathless Planet Coaster: Console Edition Praey for the Gods Riders Republic Sackboy: A Big Adventure Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege The Elder Scrolls Online The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Watch Dogs Legion WRC 9 Yakuza: Like a Dragon How is the free upgrade actually going to work?

The PS4 to PS5 upgrades depend on the publisher’s support to which version of the game is eligible for an upgrade and which one is not. If you purchase a digital version of a game on PS4 then you are eligible for a free upgrade to the digital copy of the same game on PS5. If you own a physical copy of the game on PS4 then you would require the same disc to run the game on PS5. So if you have a PS4 and you get a PS5 digital-only version, then all the games that have physical media would not be playable on the PS5 digital version.

Xbox Seres X/S: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Call of the Sea Chorus Crossfire X Cyberpunk 2077 Halo Infinite Hellblade 2 Gears 5 Dirt 5 Destiny 2 Scarlet Nexus Second Extinction The Ascent Manifold Garden Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Yakuza: Like a Dragon Metal: Hellsinger Doom Eternal The Elder Scrolls Online Far Cry 6 Forza Horizon 4 Gears Tactics Grounded The Gunk Ori and the Will of the Wisps Psychonauts 2 Sea of Thieves Tetris Effect: Connected Watch Dogs: Legion

On the Xbox, the company has introduced a feature called Smart Delivery. This tech is basically used to bridge the gap between the previous-gen and the next-gen consoles.

Microsoft has announced that smart delivery will be available for all the first-party games from Xbox Game Studios such as Halo Infinite and Hellblade 2. But this smart delivery is optional for third-party developers.

If you buy Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on Xbox One and then get an Xbox Series X, the new console will automatically download the Series X version of the game and would also transfer the progress on the game from the cloud.  

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Activision Blizzard plans to bring all its franchises to mobile

After the success of games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Hearthstone, it would seem pretty apt that Activision Blizzard would look to bring their other franchises to mobile. In it’s Q3 2020 earnings report, the company’s investors expressed their interest in bringing all its franchises to the mobile gaming space. 

When asked about the company’s views on platforms beyond next generation consoles. Daniel I. Alegre, President and Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard said that the company was “really well-positioned to take advantage of this expansion in platforms and also the associated economics.” Alegre further added that Activision Blizzard was “making sure: that it’s enabling its franchises on the billions of mobile devices available. “That's by far our biggest opportunity, and we're investing meaningfully to capitalize on this and to take all our franchises to mobile over time. That's really, really important for us,” he noted 

The list of franchises owned by Activision Blizzard includes Call of Duty, Warcarft, Starcraft, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, The Tony Hawk video game series, and one of the newest IPs, Sekiro. This of course, does not include the franchises owned by King, which is already primarily focused on creating mobile games like Candy Crush Saga. 

While Call of Duty is obviously amongst the biggest franchises owned by Activision Blizzard, there are some very notable franchises from Blizzard's side of things. This includes series such as Warcraft and Diablo. Robert A. Kotick, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Activision Blizzard notes that Blizzard has “dedicated creative talent” that is focused on delivering multiple mobile experiences in the coming years. He also added that it’s franchises were “well-suited for global, mobile, console, and PC gaming audiences. And we're determined to deliver compelling mobile experiences for both existing fans of our franchises and the hundreds of millions of players around the world who haven't yet played our games.”

Diablo: Immortal was a game that was announced back in 2018. However, saying that its announcement was poorly received by the hardcore PC gaming audience would be a massive understatement. However, Alegre notes that the game is shaping up to be quite good with a positive response from testers. He said, “amongst multiple Blizzard mobile titles under development, Diablo Immortal saw a hugely enthusiastic response in internal testing in the third quarter and will soon enter external regional testing.”

Of course, Call of Duty: Mobile’s popularity remains strong on mobile. Kotick noted that Call of Duty: Mobile has been downloaded over 300 million times worldwide and has become the highest grossing new game in the US App Store since its launch in October last year. “By expanding to mobile, we have brought in tens of millions of new players in countries far beyond our traditional audiences.” Back in June, Sensor Tower reported that the game had crossed the 250 million downloads mar

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PS5 DualSense Controller teardown reveals tech behind the adaptive triggers, haptics and more

We got a very elegant teardown of the PS5 from Sony itself where the company revealed not only the slot for expandable storage but also the large fan and cooling technology meant to keep the PS5 whisper quiet. If you missed that teardown, you can check it out here. 

However, today we have an unofficial teardown of the PS5 DualSense controller. This one comes from TronicsFix who quite meticulously tears down the DualSense controller. 

Once he opens up the controller, he compares it to the DualShock 4 controller found on the PS4. You can see that the haptic motors are quite different when compared to the vibration motors found on the PS4 controller. The battery on the DualSense controller is a lot bigger than its predecessor but it remains to be seen how much of a difference there is in the battery life of the 2 controllers. 

There are also more chips on the DualSense controller when compared to the DualShock 4 to obviously cater to the new tech in the new controller. One thing to note is that the analog sticks on both the controller are exactly the same, as far as the hardware is concerned. 

When it comes to the haptic motor, it is a lit larger than the vibration motor found on the DualShock 4. Moving over to the adaptive triggers, it looks like there is a spiral motor. When the motor rotates, it increases/decreases the tension on the DualSense trigger. TronFix says that the adaptive triggers have a modular design which should help with repairability. 

One thing to note is that the controller has a lot of rubber dampers, on the motherboard, on the triggers and more to help control the amount and spread of vibration to a different part of the controller and more importantly, to the motherboard. 

YouTuber Austin Evans also got his hands on the DualSense controller and shows it working on an Android smartphone to play Xbox games via xCloud. He also breaks the controller while trying to take it apart. You can check out his video here.

Image courtesy: TronicsFix

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Micromax makes a patriotic comeback with In Note 1 and In 1B smartphones, price starts at Rs 6,999

The ongoing border tensions between India and China did put a dent in the market share of Chinese companies, but the military and political stand-off has also caused a beloved Indian smartphone brand to rise from the ashes. Micromax made a comeback to the Indian smartphone market with a new smartphone line-up called ‘In’. The company launched two new smartphones under the ‘In’ brand — The Micromax In Note 1 and Micromax In 1B.

Right at the start, the Micromax co-founder stressed that the company is fulling manufacturing the smartphones in India, at a plant in Rajasthan using SMT equipment from FUJI, which is used to assemble the phones. The chipset used in the smartphones comes from Taiwan, but the origin of the rest of the components are unknown at this point. For now, here’s what the smartphones have to offer —

Micromax In Note 1, In 1B price and availability

The Micromax In Note 1 comes in two variants. The 4+64GB variant is priced at Rs 10,999 while the 4+128GB variant is priced at Rs 12,999. The Micromax In 1B starts at Rs 6,999 for the 2+32GB variant while the 4+64GB variant starts at Rs 7,999.

Both smartphones will be available online on Flipkart.com and on Micromax’s own e-commerce portal. The Micromax In Note 1 will go on sale from November 24, 2020 while the Micromax In 1B will go on sale from November 26, 2020.

Micromax In Note1 specs and features, comparison

The Micromax In Note 1 sports a glossy rear panel with an X-shaped gradient that reflects light. On the front is an 18:9 display with minimal bezels and a punch-hole front camera in the center.

The Micromax In Note 1 is powered by the MediaTek Helio G85 SoC with the ARM G52 MC2 GPU. The chipset is also widely used by Realme and Xiaomi in their mid-range smarphones like the Narzo 20 and the Redmi Note 9. It’s an octa-core chipset built on a 12nm process, and comes with two ARM Cortex A75 cores clocked at 2.0GHz and six ARM Cortex A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. There’s 4GB RAM on both variants, with the storage going up to 128GB.

The In Note 1 also comes with a 6.67-inch FHD+ display with a punch-hole camera in the center. There’s a 5,000mAh battery inside that tops up using a 18W fast charger.

As for the cameras, the In Note 1 is right up there with the competition, at least in terms of the hardware. The In Note 1 rocks a 48MP quad camera stack with a 5MP ultrawide camera, a 2MP depth camera and another 2MP macro camera. On the front is another 16MP selfie shooter.

Preliminary comparisons based on the hardware specifications indicates the Micromax In Note 1 is aggressively competing with the likes of the Realme Narzo 20, the Redmi Note 9, and the like. Most smartphones in this price range are indeed powered by the MediaTek Helio G series SoCs, while the Snapdragon 720G is also just within reach in the POCO M2 Pro.

Camera wise, the In Note 1 competes toe to toe, but it’d ultimately come down to how well the cameras are tuned, and the camera app itself. The battery life and fast charging support, on the other hand are pretty much at par with the competition.

Micromax In 1B specs and features, comparison

The Micromax In 1B is the budget offering, priced aggressively starting Rs 6,999. It’s powered by the MediaTek Helio G35 SoC, that’s also present in the Realme C11, C15 and the POCO C3. It’s also an octa-core chipset built on 12nm process. Only this uses ARM Cortex A53 cores clocked at up to 2.3GHz. The phone is offered in 2GB and 4GB RAM variants with 32GB and 64GB storage respectively.

The Micromax In 1B features a 6.5-inch HD+ display with a waterdrop notch, and a 5,000mAh battery keeps the lights on. There’s a 10W charger in the box.

The In 1B sports a modest dual camera setup at the back with a 13MP primary camera and a 2MP depth sensor. On the front, it gets an 8MP selfie shooter.

With the In 1B, the challenge is going to be primarily with the Realme C11, POCO C3, both of which rely on the Helio G35 as well. The rest of the specs are also quite similar, and here the In 1B is quite aggressive.

Earlier, the company had posted a video announcing its comeback into the market, with an obnoxiously racist “Cheeni Kum” campaign. Mind you, this is the same company that would previously just rebrand wholesale Chinese smartphones to sell in India. Just how much of the new smartphones are indigenously manufactured and designed? Well, that remains to be seen.

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Moto G10 Play design and specifications leaked online

The Moto G9 launched in India back in August 2020 but internationally, the device was known as the Moto G9 Play. It looks like we now have some information about the successor which could be called the Moto G10 Play. The reason we say 'could be' is because the information comes from known leakster Steve Hemmerstoffer AKA OnLeaks. He says, that the Motorola phone bears the model number XT-2117. He goes on to say, “I unfortunately can't confirm this device moniker but by looking at it, I assume it will be unveiled as the Moto G9 Play successor and thus, maybe the Moto G10 Play.”

Moto G10 Play Leaked Specification

If the leaked specifications are to be believed, then the smartphone will have a 6.5-inch flat display and a rather noticeable chin. It will have a hole-punch design for the front camera. While there is a square cutout for the three cameras at the back, there is no information on the specifications of the sensors. The cameras are accompanied by a flash as well. The phone will also have a fingerprint sensor, but it has been moved to the side of the device on the power button. The smartphone also features the endangered 3.5mm headphones jack. 

The Moto G10 Play recently received FCC and TUV Rheinland certifications. From the certification, it was revealed that the smartphone houses a 4850mAh battery.

There is no information available about the price or launch date of the smartphone. 

In other Moto news, we saw the launch of the Moto Razr 5G in India for Rs 1,24,999. The foldable smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G processor. You can learn more about the device here.

Cover image courtesy: Steve Hemmerstoffer

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How Custom PC Gaming Builds Found a Fresh Audience in India During the Pandemic

A new generation of gamers is willing to spend lakhs on the right mix of specifications and swag – and a new generation of stores is willing to offer the custom gaming experience without having to put in hours and hours of painful effort.

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Dirt 5 Release Date, PC System Requirements, Gameplay, Review, and More

Dirt 5 is out this week as the eighth instalment in the franchise from Codemasters. Dirt 5 focuses completely on off-road racing with a plethora of gorgeous tracks and fun modes to choose from. From the title’s release date to its pricing, here’s everything you need to know about Dirt 5.

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