Month: January 2021

When I was first tasked with reviewing Apple’s latest MacBook Air, with the primary point of focus being its gaming capabilities, I was skeptical. Mac’s aren’t known for their prowess as gaming laptops, and when you add in the fact that the new MacBook Air uses Apple Silicon, the M1 ARM-based processor, I assumed I’d spend a few hours playing Apple Arcade games and that was about it.

But after spending a few weeks with the latest MacBook Air, I have to admit I was (partly) wrong. There are quite a few games and app stores that support Apple’s Mac lineup, and some of them even run on Apple’s own chip.

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While I wouldn’t rush out and buy a MacBook Air strictly for gaming, spending time gaming on one has opened my eyes. There’s more to it than that, of course. Before I dive in, though, here’s what I’ve been using.

Apple MacBook Air M1 – Specs

Here are the specifications of the Apple MacBook Air I’ve been testing:

• Model: Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020) (A2337)
• Display: 13.3-inch LED (2560 x 1600)
• Processor: Apple Silicon M1 8-core CPU
• Graphics: Apple Silicon M1 8-core GPU
• Memory: 16GB unified memory
• OS: MacOS 11 Big Sur
• Storage: 1TB SSD
• Webcam: 720p FaceTime HD camera
• Ports: 2 x Thunderbolt 4 USB-C 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack
• Connectivity: WiFi 6 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0
• Dimensions: 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.63-inches (WxDxH)
• Weight: 2.8-pounds
• Price: $1,649

The MacBook Air starts at $999 for an M1-equipped model, but instead of an 8-core GPU, you’ll get 7-cores. The entry-level model also comes with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage. At the top end, a fully-kitted model features 2TB of storage and 16GB of memory for $2,049.

Apple MacBook Air M1 – Design

There’s nothing notable or special about the Apple Silicon version of the MacBook Air when it comes to design. It’s the same iconic footprint the Air has had for several years now. The space gray, gold or silver exterior is clean and free of any extra fanfare, save for the standard Apple logo on the lid. Speaking of the Apple logo, it’d be nice if Apple returned to the light-up logo on its laptop lineup, and there are rumors a completely redesigned MacBook Air is in the works, but until then, we’re stuck with the same ol’ design.

On the right side of the laptop’s deck is a headphone jack, with two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports on the left side. Those two lonely ports are all you have to connect various peripherals and accessories to the Air, and frankly, they’re just not enough. I maxed out the ports simply connecting a gaming mouse and the charger.

A USB-C hub or dock is a must for the MacBook Air, especially if you plan on using it for any sort of gaming or, heck, even just connecting to an external monitor.

Opening the lid you’ll find a 13.3-inch Retina LCD display, with a 720p FaceTime HD camera just above it. As with the design, Apple opted to leave the webcam alone, and instead is using image optimization features that the M1 processor brings to the table. Overall, the webcam quality is improved, however a 1080p camera would be more beneficial.

The Air uses Apple’s newest Magic Keyboard, ditching the problematic butterfly mechanism that was prone to dust particles wreaking havoc on the old design. The new Magic Keyboard, thus far, has been reliable. The backlit keys have a bit of depth to them, allowing for touch typists or even mechanical converts to adapt on the fly with little struggle.

Above the keyboard is a row of keys that trigger various system functions like adjusting display brightness, media controls, Do Not Disturb and a Spotlight shortcut for quickly searching your Mac.

Face ID has yet to make its debut on the Mac line, and so you’ll need to rely on Apple’s tried-and-true Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the top-right corner of the keyboard to unlock the Mac, approve Apple Pay purchases or sign into apps like a password manager.

On either side of the keyboard is a speaker that is loud, but lacks the same depth and overall audio quality that my personal M1 MacBook Pro has.

Just below the keyboard is a trackpad. It’s plenty big enough, offering enough space to swipe, tap and scroll through MacOS using gestures.

Apple MacBook Air M1 – Performance and Gaming

Inside the new MacBook Air is Apple’s first processor that was designed in-house. It’s based on the ARM architecture, which is the same type of processor that powers the iPhone and iPad, or even Microsoft’s Surface Pro X. The M1 processor found in this MacBook Air has 8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores and 16 Neural Engine cores.

When ordering an M1 Mac, you can pick between 8GB or 16GB of memory, which can be limiting for some. You won’t be able to change it out yourself, so what you order is what you’re stuck with. Same goes for storage, with the model I tested having 1TB. But you can get anywhere from 256GB to 2TB in the Air.

The testing regimen for the Air, naturally, is different from any Windows 10 gaming laptop I’ve tested. Most of the benchmarking apps IGN uses to provide quantitative numbers comparing performance between systems won’t run on a Mac. So, instead, the bulk of testing was done with real world usage.

That said, I discovered that some of the games IGN used for benchmarking in the past do run on a Mac, so I ran them. Rise of the Tomb Raider, for example, runs on the M1 MacBook Air. The built-in benchmark tool returned an average of 30 frames per second at the full 2560×1600 resolution, while lowering it to 1920×1200 bumped up the average FPS to 60.

Total War: Three Kingdoms installs and runs, but there are graphics issues throughout the entire game. Namely, big black blocks that move across the screen. As far as I can tell, these blocks are in areas where unrendered fog and rain are moving through a scene. The benchmark tool does run, though, and it returned a fairly low 23 FPS.

There isn’t a fan inside the MacBook Air. It’s completely and totally silent at all times, and it’s a little weird at first. I was accustomed to my 2017 MacBook Pro’s fan kicking on the moment I opened the lid to make its presence known.

I was worried about heat management when playing games, be it Tomb Raider (which I played the most of during my review period with the MacBook Air), or games from Apple Arcade like Lego Brawls. I installed TG Pro to monitor the CPU temps and receive an alert whenever they reached 100-degrees Celsius.

For the most part, temps would hover around 93-degrees, but every once in a while, they would jump up to the 100-degree mark before quickly dropping back down. Even though those numbers are higher than what I’d expect to see in a PC, there didn’t seem to be any downside to running the system for a long period of time at those temps. Heck, the housing didn’t even get hot. Warm, sure. But never hot to the touch.

Not every game could run. After installing Steam, I went through my personal library and installed any game that I could. Hitman installed, but failed at launch. Among Us and DOTA 2 installed and ran without issue, as did World of Warcraft.

I also installed Epic Games to see which games I owned would run on a Mac, and to my surprise, there were a handful, including Fortnite. Yes, you can still play Fortnite on Apple hardware. Just not iPhones and iPads. I dropped in for a few matches, and with the resolution set to 1920×1200, with settings on High, hitting 60 FPS wasn’t an issue.

I also played a handful of Apple Arcade games, some of them were a ton of fun – like Lego Brawls and Oceanhorn 2. All of them ran without issue, but that’s expected. Apple Arcade games are optimized for Apple’s hardware, big and small.

As I said at the start, I wouldn’t tell someone to go out and buy an M1 MacBook Air over a true gaming laptop, but I’m no longer completely shut off from the option.

Tomb Raider was by far the biggest surprise, running buttery smooth the entire time I played.

Apple MacBook Air M1 – Battery life

One of the main highlights of the MacBook Air and its new M1 processor is battery life. My experience with the new Air was impressive, with a daily battery life that lasted through an entire workday and into the evening. Apple claims battery life of 15 hours of browsing the web, or 18 hours when watching videos in the Apple TV app.

As with the rest of the benchmarks, I couldn’t run the PC Mark 10 battery test on the MacBook Air, so instead I reverted back to playing a 4K video on loop in VLC, and monitoring the MacBook Air until it turned off. The display was set to 50% brightness, while the keyboard backlight was disabled, along with Bluetooth. Wi-Fi was left on.

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The first time I ran the test, VLC wasn’t optimized for Apple Silicon. The battery of the MacBook Air lasted a respectable 5 hours and 32 minutes. However, the next day an update was released, optimizing VLC for the M1 chip inside the MacBook Air. I ran a subsequent battery test and it lasted 8 hours and 10 minutes.

While still falling short of Apple’s estimation, it’s more in line with our expectations, and also goes to show how important it is for developers to optimize their apps for Apple Silicon.

Apple MacBook Air M1 – Software

As is the case with Apple’s Mac lineup, there isn’t any pre installed bloatware or unnecessary apps. You get MacOS that includes apps like Messages, Safari, Photos, and the rest of Apple’s software suite.

There aren’t any apps dedicated to gaming or fine-tuning your system as is commonplace on gaming laptops, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Potentially the biggest issue you’ll run into with an M1-powered Air is software compatibility. I didn’t run through each and every gaming accessory program, but I did take a few minutes to install Logitech’s G Hub and Corsair’s iCue software and was able to use it, with connected accessories, without any deal breaking issues. Both apps can be a little sluggish at times, and it’s obvious they’re not optimized for Apple Silicon, but they work.

This week’s Red Dead Redemption 2 updates focuses on the amateur cooks and chemists of Red Dead Online. Hunters and crafters can take advantage of these experimental improvisers with a number of bonuses and discounts available throughout the week.

Those who craft any item at a campfire will receive three collectables to trade with Madam Nazar. Crafting anything at Gus’ Store will also earn you a reward for a free hat below rank 15 and 50% off any pair of boots. Meanwhile, purchasing any pamphlet will reward you with a treasure map.

On top of this, all clothing items crafted in Gus’ Store can be acquired at a 40% discount, while hunters can nab 30% off the cost of Gus’ Trinkets and improved bow variants. Those who play Red Dead Online between now and February 1 will also be rewarded with 5x gun oil and 50 small game arrows to help with any hunting endeavours.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

A Twitter post from Roger Craig Smith, the long-term voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, suggests that he is leaving the role.

On the social media platform, Smith said “Welp, 10 years was an amazing run. Onwards to new zones! Much love to the fans who’ve been so kind. It’s been an honor.” This was followed by an image of a blue-coloured heart split down the middle.

Welp, 10 years was an amazing run.
Onward to new zones!

Much love to the fans who’ve been so kind.

It’s been an honor.
pic.twitter.com/7Rn9PVA92m

— Roger Craig Smith (@RogerCraigSmith) January 28, 2021

While not directly stating as much, this does seem like a farewell tweet from Smith, suggesting that he’s departed the role and will no longer be the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog. We have contacted Sega for comment or confirmation.

Roger Craig Smith first voiced Sonic in 2010’s Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Colors, and has voiced the character in all Sonic games since, as well as the Sonic Boom TV series. It is currently unknown who will replace him as the voice of Sonic.

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While Roger Craig Smith is arguably the best-known voice of Sonic, he did not take on the role for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie; instead actor Ben Schwartz took on the role of the speedy rodent.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Game of Thrones veteran Bryan Cogman has shared a story about how difficult it is to get a movie made in Hollywood. Cogman, who was a writer and executive producer on HBO’s Game of Thrones and is now consulting for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show, said in a Twitter thread that he pitched a movie about killer robots to 18 different places and each outfit said no.

Cogman said he got very positive feedback from nearly every place he pitched to, but in the end, no one wanted to buy his idea.

“Well, folks: pitched my globe-trotting killer robots movie (developed for over a year) to EIGHTEEN places, was told by almost all of them it was one of the best performed pitches they’d seen… But no one bought it. Grateful to pitch at all, believe me, but… damn. Onward!” he wrote.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Season One of Sea of Thieves has officially begun, and with it comes a new 120Hz Performance mode on Xbox Series X that supports 120 FPS at 1080p.

As detailed in the release notes for this big Season One update, it also notes that some TVs do not support 120Hz and HDR simultaneously, so HDR may need to be disabled from the console settings if players wish to sail the seas with 120 FPS.

Seasons mark a new initiative for Sea of Thieves that will see new content added to the game every three months. In addition, a battle pass system has been implemented that will reward players throughout each Season.

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Each season will have players progress through 100 levels of Pirate Renown, and rewards for both the player’s pirate character and ship can be unlocked. Additionally, those who have reached the title of Pirate Legend will get specialized rewards as part of this new progression system.

An optional, premium tier of the battle pass – titled ‘Plunder Pass’ – will be available and will offer even more unique rewards and exclusive items from the Pirate Emporium.

This 120Hz update is just another improvement to Sea of Thieves following the arrival of the Xbox Series X/S optimizations that arrived in November 2020 and added faster load times and 60 FPS for Xbox Series X/S, and 4K for Xbox Series X.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Crystal Dynamics has shared a bit of information on its next, currently unannounced Tomb Raider, saying it’s “working to unify” the timelines of Core Design’s original games and its own reboot trilogy that began in 2013.

While the reboot trilogy told the origin story of Lara Croft becoming the Tomb Raider, the original games “featured a seasoned and confident adventurer,” said game director Will Kerslake in a video posted to Twitter. The development team envisions “a future of Tomb Raider unfolding after these established adventures, telling stories that build upon the breadth of both Core Design and Crystal Dynamics’ games, working to unify these timelines.”

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Kerslake noted the difficulty of such a task given the franchise’s 25-year history and asked fans to be patient as the studio works through development. “We don’t have plans for a major game announcement in the near future,” he said.

Lara’s latest adventure, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, was released in 2018. IGN’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider review awarded it a 9/10 and called it a “powerful finale to Lara Croft’s origin trilogy.”

In other franchise news, a Tomb Raider anime series, set after the events of Crystal’s origin trilogy, is in development at Netflix. Tomb Raider’s big-screen sequel, meanwhile, recently landed a new writer-director in Misha Green, showrunner of HBO’s Lovecraft Country.

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Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN.

DC Comics’ Sandman series is moving forward at Netflix, as the cast has been announced for the first season of the series.

The upcoming comic book adaptation will feature a few big names, primarily Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer. Christie made a name for herself playing Brienne of Tarth of HBO’s Game of Thrones and Captain Phasma in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. She’ll also be joined by Game of Thrones alumni Charles Dance, as he plays Roderick Burgess. Check out the full cast list below.

The Sandman cast:

• Tom Sturridge as Dream
• Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer
• Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne
• Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian
• Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess
• Asim Chaundhry as Abel
• Sanjeev Bhaskar as Cain

The Sandman comic first debuted in 1988, written by Neil Gaiman and art by Sam Keith (issues 1-5) and Mike Dringenberg. The series follows Dream–who is also called The Sandman, Morpheus, Lord of Dreaming, The Shaper, etc–who has been a prisoner for 70 years and must rebuild his kingdom, which has collapsed in his absence.

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Epic Games has revealed a number of statistics that speak to the growth and success of the Epic Games Store in 2020. The company also reiterated that it will continue to release free games every week on the store in 2021.

By Epic’s latest count, the Epic Games Store has now reached 160 million users on PC, with daily active users rising by 192% to 31.3 million. The company also disclosed that the Epic Games Store reached a new peak concurrent user record of 13 million in 2020, which compares to 25 million for Steam. Monthly active users in December specifically hit 56 million, compared to 32 million in December 2019.

Part of what has helped fuel the growth of the Epic Games Store is how the company pursues exclusives that you can only get on its store. These will continue in the future, as Epic has announced partnerships with the developers of Control, The Last Guardian, and Limbo for their next games.

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The ongoing pirate adventure game Sea of Thieves is launching seasons, and the latest update kicks it off. Rare has now shared the full patch notes with an overview of everything it does.

As detailed in the release notes, the launch of season one brings a new progression system with the Plunder Pass, a battle pass-like system that unlocks cosmetic rewards as you gain experience called “Renown” through the season. You can obtain the Plunder Pass for $10, and it will last you through the 3-month season. This season lets you build up your rep with a Merchant Alliance by recovering lost cargo. You can also take part in new limited-time events every month.

One highlight of the update is a new 120fps Performance Mode, available on Xbox Series X for supported TVs and monitors. The notes mention that some TVs don’t support 120Hz alongside HDR, so to get the performance mode you may need to disable HDR in your console settings.

Continue Reading at GameSpot