The Morning After: Our verdict on Playdate, the console with a crank

After all that waiting, Senior Editor Jessica Conditt finally got her hands on Playdate. From the makers of Firewatch and meme-friendly Untitled Goose Game, it’s a petite portable console that marries the familiarity of the GameBoy with the spirit of indie game innovation. That last bit might sound like hollow platitudes, but well, it’s true.

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Engadget

This isn’t a console for FPS, teraflops or anything MMO, it’s like a pixel-filled brainstorm of delights. Having said that, if you decide to order the handheld today, you’re in for a wait. “We’ve filled our production capacity for 2022, but we’re ramping up to make even more systems,” the company says on its website.

Maybe I’ll wait out for Playdate 2. I’ll always have my fishing controller, but it’s not the same.

— Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

VW ID.Buzz first look

An EV that makes vans cool again.

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Engadget

If you want an electric van, your options are limited, which is precisely what VW is hoping to address with the upcoming ID.Buzz. At the New York International Auto Show, we finally got to check it out.

It’s slated to go on sale sometime in 2024, featuring a 77 kWh battery and two rows of seats for the European model (which is the version VW had on display) or a full three rows of seats and slightly longer chassis for the US market. Other specs, like its range and price, are still TBD.

Take a closer look.

Samsung Galaxy A53 5G review

Hardly an upgrade.

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Engadget

Samsung’s Galaxy A53 5G offers one of the better displays on a midrange phone, with a 2,400 by 1,080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. But Samsung’s slow Exynos 1280 chipset struggles, even with basic tasks. If you’re set on a Samsung phone and have an extra $100 to spend, consider the Galaxy S21 FE, which has been heavily discounted since its launch last year.

Continue reading.

‘Battlefield 2042’ will finally get in-game voice chat on

Groundbreaking.

Battlefield 2042 will finally get in-game voice chat, but with caveats. The VoIP feature won’t work across an entire team. The only channel options are for parties and squads (with a maximum of four members). Given that teams can have up to 64 players, voice chat could get messy fast with that many people talking over each other. A proximity-based option might have been helpful for callouts, though. Sigh.

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The Engadget Podcast

Nintendo Switch Sports and Elon Musk’s ongoing Twitter affair.

This week, Cherlynn Low and guest co-host Sam Rutherford discuss the new Nintendo Switch Sports games, a coincidental week of beauty gadget coverage and the ongoing saga of Elon Musk trying to own Twitter.

Listen and subscribe here

For some reason, Nintendo’s Super Mario anime has been remastered in 4K

But we still don’t understand it.

Nintendo’s first anime movie, from 1986, is back. Femboy Films has released a 4K remaster of The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach on both YouTube and the Internet Archive. You’ll get clean, color-corrected visuals based on a rare 16mm print, and new English subtitles and a fresh two-channel Dolby Surround audio capture from the VHS release. Oh, and Mario and Luigi work at a grocery store now.

It gets weirder…

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Audi’s Urbansphere EV concept is built for tomorrow’s megacities

As automobiles gain increasing autonomy and their occupants spend less time actively paying attention to the task of driving, Audi is reimagining the role of the vehicle’s cabin space — from a rigid, safety-centered, face-forward setup to a more open, communal design. The automaker showcased this evolution in its new Urbansphere EV concept, which it unveiled on Tuesday.

The Urbansphere's rear LED panel
Audi

The Urbansphere is the third in a trifecta of futuristic Audi EV concepts. It joins the Skysphere — a 623-HP EV roadster announced last August reminiscent of the Disco-era Chevy Camaro or Jaguar XJ6 — and the Grandsphere touring coupe announced in September. All three are built with level 4 autonomous vehicle technology in mind, a project that Audi is collaborating on with CARIAD, Volkswagen Group’s software business. The hope is to get to market in the second half of this decade.

The Urbansphere is the largest of the trio and the biggest Audi concept vehicle to date. It sits on 24-inch rims and measures a whopping 18 feet in length — the same as GM’s Hummer EV; it’s over 6.5 feet wide (a Paul Pierce wingspan) and 5.8 feet tall (approximately one entire Tom Hardy!) And because the Urbansphere doesn’t have to account for a conventional arrangement of a combustion-powered car’s components “it prioritizes the occupants’ need to experience ample space as a distinctive comfort factor,” the company wrote in a Tuesday press release.

Static photo, Color: Electric Slate
Audi

As such, the Urbansphere’s interior offers two bucket seats in both rows, the rear pair boasting seatbacks that recline up to 60 degrees with extendable footrests. The front seats swivel to enable fed-up parents to more easily get at their misbehaving progeny without having to pull this goddamn car over and then NOBODY’S going to Disneyland, though a series of privacy dividers and seat back-mounted television screens should help keep the peace.

Think Star Trek Taxicab but make the rear seats recline. Everything is somehow both sterile and covered in wool?
Audi

Audi also has plans to include a “large-format and transparent OLED screen” that pivots vertically from the roof down between the two rows. It would span the entire width of the cabin interior, like a taxi divider, and allow the rear passengers to watch movies or take conference calls. (Because even in the most idealized future Audi can imagine, we are still inconvenienced by conference calls.) When not in use, the screen will remain transparent or will fold up against the vehicle’s equally clear glass roof.

Ok so you know those sneeze guards they had at buffets in the beforetimes? That but with Paw Patrol projected onto it and small monitors mounted in the seatbacks.
Audi

The vehicle could include an anxiety detection program that “uses facial scans and voice analysis to determine how passengers are feeling” and might offer “personalized suggestions” to relieve stress. Audi does appear to be taking the relaxation of the Urbansphere’s conceptual drivers quite seriously, incorporating calming wood accents throughout the cabin and obscuring display panels in the central infotainment screen until the car powers on.

Static photo, Color: Electric Slate
Audi

Part of the experience that Audi envisions is the Urbansphere serving as a pseudo-assistant, allowing the driver to, say, make restaurant reservations from inside or order groceries for curbside pickup. It might also leverage level 4 capabilities to ferry riders to their destination then independently find a parking or charging station.

Interior
Audi

With an 800V architecture supporting a 270 kw max DC charging speed, it shouldn’t take too long to top off the Urbansphere’s cells. Its 120 KwH battery pack requires just 25 minutes to charge from 5 to 80 percent of its 466-mile range capacity. Overall, Audi estimates it can wring 186 miles out of a quick 10-minute charge.

Sega’s Super Game project already has a Crazy Taxi reboot under way

A new, big budget reboot of Crazy Taxi has already been in development for more than a year, and is expected to launch within the next three years. That’s the revelation issued forth by Bloomberg today, suggesting that a rebooted Jet Set Radio is also currently gestating with a similar development timeline. Both titles are part of Sega’s Super Game project, which the company first teased back in early 2021 as a way of accelerating the developer’s recovery.

Details about Super Game have been thin on the ground but Shuji Utsumi, the former PlayStation executive leading the project, has let some things slip. Back in April, he said that the project would involve a series of AAA titles leveraging cloud gaming and, deep sigh, NFTS. Late last year, Sega announced that it was teaming up with Microsoft’s Azure cloud division to help produce large-scale “global games.”

When Super Game was announced, Sega bandied around references to its Silver Age blockbusters including Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Panzer Dragoon and Virtua Fighter. According to Bloomberg, these titles are going to be reborn in the Fortnite mould as a free-to-play, massively online title. Sega is reportedly staking its business on the riches on offer from such titles, which already have devoted cult followings. Of course, as with any title this early in its lifespan, Sega could pull the plug before it reaches players, but it’s about time we had something nice in this life, and no amount of NFTs can make us hate Crazy Taxi… right?

Mercedes’ EQS SUV arrives in US showrooms this year

Building upon the success of the EQS and the launch of the EQE, Mercedes has another electric vehicle on the way to the United States. This time it’s more in line with what the US wants: an SUV.

The oddly named EQS SUV is to the sedan EQS what the GLS is to the regular S-Class — an upright take on its ultra high-end model. It was unveiled recently in Germany and we got a chance to check out the taller electric vehicle from Mercedes. In addition to having room for seven, the electric SUV has an off-road mode and special running boards that help reduce drag. 

While Mercedes is mum on pricing and range details for the US, we do know that its European range will be “up to 600 kilometers” based on the WLTP standard, which should make the range top out at a shade over 300 miles in the US’ more stringent EPA ratings. As for pricing, well, the regular EQS starts at just over $100,000 so the SUV is going to be in a similar bracket to Tesla’s Model X. The car’ll be built in the US and available this fall, and you can watch the video above for the full story.

Samsung’s Pokémon-themed Galaxy Z Flip 3 is a delight

Samsung has unveiled the Pokémon Edition of its Galaxy Z Flip 3 foldable smartphone that’s bound to be irresistible to collectors. It comes in a special box with a number of Pokémon-themed accessories, including a Pikachu picture case (with a Pokémon Custom Pack), a Pikachu Clear Cover Set, a Pokémon Pouch with a lanyard strap, a Pikachu keychain and a Poké Ball stand. It’ll also have some Pokémon-edition ringtones, themes and wallpapers. 

The model is coming along at a good time, as a Pokémon Bread craze has apparently taken South Korea by storm, according to Maekyung.com. Collectors are mostly buying them for the Pokémon stickers contained inside, which are reportedly selling for 10 times the price of the $1.20 bread. 

Samsung has released custom versions of its foldable phones before, including the Thom Browne Edition of the Galaxy Flip 3 and and Fold 3. Judging by the reaction of some of my Engadget colleagues, though, Samsung has nailed the Pokémon Edition’s design and accessories. It has yet to release the price and other details, but it’s likely to be sold only in Korea — we’ll learn all when it drops on April 25th. 

羅技發表小一號的垂直滑鼠 Lift

羅技之前推出 MX Vertical 垂直滑鼠時,我們就有在評測中說過它的體型偏大,並不見得適合所有人使用。顯然羅技也是收到了諸多類似的反饋,因此在今日發表的 Lift 滑鼠上,將 Vertical 在基本造型不變之下,體積縮小了 22%,更適合大部份人的使用。…