Apple adds two new game categories and 30 new titles to Apple Arcade

Apple has announced that it will be adding an additional 30 titles to Apple Arcade and two new game categories. To recall, Apple Arcade gives users the option to pay a subscription fee and enjoy benefits like no advertisements and no in-app purchases. Titles already offered on Apple Arcade include “LEGO Brawls,” “Sonic Racing,” “Crossy Road Castle,” and “WHAT THE GOLF?”

New titles added to Apple Arcade

The two new categories added to Apple Arcade include Arcade Originals and Timeless Classics.

As the name would suggest, Arcade Originals includes some original titles developed for the platform. This includes NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition, Simon’s Cat: Story Time, Star Trek: Legends, The Oregon Trail and more.

Timeless Classics include classic games across genres that players will be familiar with. This includes Backgammon, Simple Sudoku, Tiny Crossword, Monument Valley, Fruit Ninja Classic and more.

You can check out the entire list of new titles here.

“In its inaugural year, Apple Arcade won over media critics and fans for its creativity, diverse portfolio, and commitment to players’ privacy, providing a safe gaming service to enjoy with family and friends,” said Matt Fischer, Apple’s vice president of the App Store. “Today we’re launching our biggest expansion since the service debuted, now offering more than 180 great games that include new Arcade Originals, Timeless Classics, and App Store Greats. Whether it’s brand new games made exclusively for Arcade like ‘NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition,’ ‘Star Trek: Legends,’ and ‘The Oregon Trail,’ all-time App Store favourites like ‘Monument Valley’ and ‘Threes!,’ or traditional games like ‘Chess’ and ’Solitaire,’ we have an incredible variety of gameplay experiences for everyone.”

Apple Arcade: Pricing and availability

Apple Arcade is available in India for Rs 99 per month with a one-month free trial. Apple Arcade is also a part of Apple One’s Individual and Family monthly plans. These plans are priced at Rs 195 and Rs 365, respectively. Those who purchase a new iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac or Apple TV will get three months of Apple Arcade for free.

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Super Mario Bros original cartridge sold for an insane Rs 4,84,48,000 at international auction

If you thought games are expensive these days, think again! Even though modern gamers have been used to shelling out Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 for newer games, the original Super Mario Bros. Nintendo cartridge has reportedly auctioned off for a whopping $660,000 (Rs 4,84,48,620 approx converted). The original game cartridge of the game has broken all records as the most expensive game to be sold. Just a comparison, the OG PlayStation prototype sold for $300,000 (Rs 2,19,43,950 approx converted). Almost half the price of the Super Mario Bros. cartridge. 

Sealed Super Mario Bros. continue to shatter records at Heritage Auctions. $660,000 for this copy! For context, this is $300,000 more than the Nintendo Playstation prototype sold for. pic.twitter.com/nWYKbY6NsB

— kelsey lewin (@kelslewin) April 2, 2021

Here’s what the official auction page had to say about the cartridge; “Not only is this the finest plastic-sealed copy with a perforated cardboard hangtab we've ever offered of any black box title, it is also the oldest sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. we've ever had the opportunity to offer. This is only the fourth version of Super Mario Bros. ever produced, and its window of production was remarkably short. Just to paint a better picture of how short this really was -- the nationwide release for the console came in mid to late 1986, and black box games distributed for that release did not have the "Game Pak NES-GP" code. It's worth mentioning that Nintendo managed to add the trademark symbol to the Nintendo Entertainment System on their game boxes by the beginning of 1987. That certainly doesn't leave much time at all for this variant to be produced in-between the two!”. 

Just last year in November, a sealed cartridge of Super Mario Bros 3 was sold for $156,000 (Rs 1,14,10,854) by the same auction house, Heritage Auctions. Look, games have been around for the past 40 years so it is right to assume that rare cartridges will definitely fetch a pretty penny. So, for all you collectors out there with old school cartridges, time to dust them off and see what they're actually worth.  

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Amazfit Bip U Pro with Built-in Alexa and GPS announced, coming soon to India

Amazfit's Bip U smartwatch is quite popular mainly due to its affordable pricing. It gets a lot of things right without burning a huge hole in the pocket. However, it lacks a lot of smart features that people may want to see on their smartwatch. That's why Amazfit is launching the Bip U Pro, a smarter version of the Bip U.

It's the latest addition to the Amazfit budget smartwatches and to the Bip Series. The Bip U Pro packs a lot of smart features that make it a better option over the Bip U for those who can splurge a little bit more money for added features.

The Amazfit Bip U Pro features a 1.43" HD TFT-LCD colour display with 320x302 pixel resolution and 2.5D Corning Gorilla 3 reinforced glass for protection. The watch can display text messages, emails, and notifications from a lot of different apps. The Bip U Pro is also water-resistant up to 50 meters.

The Amazfit Bip U Pro also comes with a long list of fitness and health relates features. It comes with 60+ sports modes for tracking everything from running, cycling, yoga, dancing, skating, kickboxing, and more. The watch also has 2 PPG bio-tracking optical sensors, that monitor your heart rate 24 hours a day. There's also support for OxygenBeats™ SpO2 measurement that measures blood oxygen saturation. 

The Bip U Pro also integrates professional Personal Activity Intelligence – PAI Assessment System based on Pai Health research from Norway. Using a special algorithm, this system converts complex data like heart rate, active time, and other indicators into values that help you assess your overall health.

In terms of the battery life, Amazfit says the watch can last for 9 days on a single charge, although we think this will vary based on the usage. It's a 230mAh battery that will take about 2 hours to charge. The Amazfit Bip U Pro will be available in three colours i.e. black, green, and pink and it will work on both Android and iOS.

Amazfit hasn't talked about the pricing or availability yet, but we'll learn more about it soon. 

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iPhone 13 Pro dummy unit shows redesigned notch, repositioned selfie camera

We may see a redesigned notch on the upcoming iPhone 13 Pro smartphone. According to Japanese supply chain blog Macotakara (via 9to5 Mac), a dummy mockup of the iPhone 13 Pro shows a redesigned smaller notch on the iPhone. The dummy mockup is made using leaked schematics. The redesigned notch, along with a high refresh rate display was rumoured prior to the launch of the iPhone 12 (review) but sadly, neither of the two came to pass. So, we suggest you take this information with a grain of salt. 

iPhone 13 Pro rumoured features

As per the report, the iPhone 13 Pro notch measures 5.35mm in height. This makes it 0.05mm taller than the iPhone 12 Pro’s notch. For the width, the iPhone 13 Pro dummy unit notch measures 26.8mm versus 34.83mm on the iPhone 12 Pro. This makes the notch on the iPhone 13 Pro slightly taller and slimmer. 

Another thing to note is that the placement of the selfie camera has moved from the right side of the notch to the left. Whether this is a design change due to the internal components is something we will know when the information is made official.

In other iPhone 13 rumours, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s main camera will have a wider aperture when compared to the rest of the lineup. He also said that the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max will have better ultra-wide-angle cameras. You can learn more about the rumoured camera specifications of the iPhone 13 here. 

The iPhone 13 is also expected to get an in-display Touch ID fingerprint sensor. You can learn more about the touch ID rumour here. 

Apple has officially announced the dates for its developer conference, WWDC 21. WWDC 21 kicks off on June 7th and you can learn the details of the conference here. 

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Call of Duty: Mobile teases new map that will come with Season 3 update

Call of Duty: Mobile has teased the introduction of a new map in the next major update for the game. Judging by the teaser, it looks like it’s the Wine Town map that was added to the Chinese version of the game. Besides the new map, there is also a sinister voice-over that warns players that they have “absolutely no idea” what they are up against. Online sleuths are already at it trying to future out who it is in the voice-over. Some suggest it’s Hidora Kai, a character who is one of the central antagonists in the ongoing Call of Duty: Mobile comic. Others suggest that it might be Krueger or even Templar. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what the developers have in store.

 

You have absolutely no idea... or do you? Coming in the next season of #CODMobile pic.twitter.com/L9uXi2trgB

— Call of Duty: Mobile (@PlayCODMobile) April 3, 2021

 

Call of Duty: Mobile Wine Town Map

The new map seems to be set in a winery somewhere in the Mediterranean. The map is quite colourful and is very similar to the Tunisia map when it comes to vibrancy. It also has multiple levels, which should make it fun to strategize a path through to the enemy in an effort to flank them. The new map seems to be exclusive to the mobile version of Call of Duty, similar to Cage and Reclaim.

This is probably the first teaser for the upcoming Season 3 update for the game. The new update should drop sometime this month. As the rollout of the update gets closer, we should start seeing more teasers about upcoming additions.

One new addition that will most likely not be a part of the update is a new Zombies mode. In a recent Reddit post, the developers of the game have clarified that they will be adding the mode later this year. The developers note that this would be a completely new experience for players. The developers of the game noted that the Chinese version will get the Shi Nu Noma map that was originally released for Call of Duty: Mobile back in 2019.

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Googles next Pixel phone will reportedly use a custom in-house GS101 processor

Google's Pixel lineup of smartphones, especially, the last couple of phones hasn't been super popular in the market. But it looks like Google is ready to change that with its next Pixel phone. According to reports, it looks like Pixel might try to copy the iPhone’s best trick to try beating other phones in the market.

Google's next Pixel phone, presumably called the Pixel 6, will reportedly feature a Google-designed GS101 "Whitechapel" SoC. This would be the first time a Pixel phone will have an in-house SoC instead of the ones made by Qualcomm.

According to 9To5Google, the company is working on two phones that will feature the Arm-based GS101. We expect one of them to be a flagship offering to succeed last year's Pixel 5 and the other one to be a Pixel 4a 5G follow-up.

The folks over at XDA Developers claim the GS101 will feature a “three cluster setup with a TPU (Tensor Processing Unit)” for machine learning. The new chip may also feature a security chip, similar to the Titan M. None of this would be a first for Google because they have already made TPUs for servers and Titan M chips for its current phones.

The custom SoC, however, is something new and it may allow the company to integrate those features very well. Google was rumored to be working on this chip for a while now, so it will be interesting to see exactly how it turned out. The company is also expected to use this chip, or a version of it, in its Chromebooks.

This could breathe a new life into Google's Pixel lineup as the idea of having a custom in-house chip is very a compelling one. Apple, as you probably already know, has a reputation for having a tightly integrated software and hardware stack. We hope Google a solid device in its hands and we can't wait to learn more about it.

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Microsoft is going to sell Xbox Series X mini-fridges after it won a Twitter brand competition

When Microsoft first revealed the Xbox Series X back in 2019, the internet went wild with memes comparing it to a fridge. Microsoft gracefully embraced the memes and ended up making a 1:1 scale replica which it gave to some prominent figures in the industry.

While the original Xbox Series X fridge was limited to a few units, Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg promised that if Xbox won against Skittles in the final round of Twitter’s inaugural #BestOfTweets Brand Bracket, they would make actual Xbox Series X mini-fridges. Well, you know what? It won and Xbox is keeping good on its promise.

Greenberg said that “we will move forward on our promise to make those Xbox Series X Mini Fridges”. He tweeted this just minutes after the poll results came through. He even mentioned that the folks over at Skittles will get the first unit filled with games.

Thanks to everyone who voted, this was down to the wire and thrilling to follow. Now that @Xbox won, we will move forward on our promise to make those Xbox Series X Mini Fridges. First one off the line will be filled with games & headed to our friends @Skittles of course!  https://t.co/xeeN8yLGV8

— Aaron Greenberg U (@aarongreenberg) April 2, 2021

In case you are wondering, this isn't an April Fool's day prank. He had clearly mentioned that it's not “Not an April Fools joke” and “Not clickbait”. That being said, we don't know when we'll be able to buy one for ourselves. It will most probably end up getting listed on the Xbox Store alongside the other cool Xbox merch and accessories that you can buy.

It also remains to be seen exactly how units of this mini-fridge will Xbox end up making. So if you are indeed planning to get one, then you might have to keep your eyes peeled for more info. After all, it's your best chance to own an Xbox Series X fridge albeit a mini one. 

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