Tee up with golf in Nintendo Switch Sports - The Verge

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The much-missed sport will be added to the game in a free update on November 28th.

Image: Nintendo

Listen up, birdies and bogeys. Today, Nintendo announced that golf is finally coming to Nintendo Switch Sports. The free update launches on November 28th and will include 21 holes from the Wii Sports games. The update also includes a survival golf game mode, which sounds so much more fun than actual golf.

The Nintendo Switch Sports golf update is right on time as quirky golf games seem to be all the rage, with Cursed to Golf, Golf Story, and What the Golf exploding in popularity.

Golf was not included in the base Nintendo Switch Sports game and was sorely missed by Wii Sports golf fans (including a couple of my colleagues at The Verge). Since its spring launch, Nintendo Switch Sports got a free update that improved soccer’s motion controls, allowing you to kick the ball using a Joy-Con strapped to your leg. The addition of golf is the game’s second major update bringing the total number of games to seven. The seven games are still nowhere close to Wii Sports Resort’s cosmopolitan collection of sports, but here’s hoping that the wakeboarding and boxing updates come soon.

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Ubisoft PC Games Returning to Steam Starting With Assassin's Creed Valhalla - IGN

Ubisoft’s PC games are starting to come back to Steam next month. On December 6, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Anno 1800, and Roller Champions will be available on the PC storefront.

A Ubisoft representative wrote in a statement to Eurogamer:

We’re constantly evaluating how to bring our games to different audiences wherever they are while providing a consistent player ecosystem through Ubisoft Connect. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Anno 1800, and Roller Champions are among the Ubisoft titles that will be releasing on Steam.

Ubisoft stopped putting its PC games on Steam back in 2019 in favor of placing them on its own PC launcher as well as the Epic Games Store. Some of Ubisoft’s last releases on Steam were Trials Rising, Far Cry New Dawn, and Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

Mainline Assassin's Creed Games in Chronological Order

It’s possible that more Ubisoft titles could make their way toward Steam in the future. But for right now, the aforementioned three are the only ones confirmed so far. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will also receive its final DLC update in December, the same day it becomes available on Steam.

It’s unknown whether upcoming Ubisoft games will come to PC via Steam on release day. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is listed to have a PC release, but Steam doesn’t have a page up for it while the Epic Games Store does.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He's been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety. When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

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Tile discounts a bunch of Bluetooth trackers in time for Black Friday - Engadget

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.

Tile has discounted a handful of its popular Bluetooth item trackers ahead of Black Friday. The deals include the latest Tile Mate tracker down to $18, which is about $7 off its usual going rate and tied for the lowest price we've seen. The diminutive Tile Sticker is on sale for $20, which is $1 more than its all-time low but still $10 off its typical street price. The credit-card-shaped Tile Slim, meanwhile, is discounted to $25, which is $2 above the all-time low but also roughly $10 below its average street price.

Shop Tile tracker sale at Amazon

The offers are available at third-party retailers like Amazon and Tile's own online store; the latter includes a few extra discounted bundles, and some of the deals there include a year of the company's Premium subscription, which includes perks like free battery replacements. Tile is advertising the discounts as its "Holiday Sale," so we expect them to carry over into Black Friday proper.

Tile trackers remain a worthy alternative to Apple's AirTags — which are also on sale this week — for Android users. They aren't as precise at locating an attached item as AirTags, and they can't leverage a device network as mammoth as Apple's, but their crowd-finding network is the next largest available, and the three trackers on sale here can use Bluetooth to directly locate lost items about 200-250 feet away. They're also available in a more versatile range of designs: The Mate, for instance, has a built-in keyring hole, while the Sticker can attach directly to smaller items through an adhesive back.

Tile was acquired last year by family tracking company Life360, which recently said it would integrate Tile with its own locator service. The parent company promised to scale down its selling of user data earlier this year after past reports, but tracking devices like these still aren't likely to appeal to privacy hawks. None of the devices on sale here include a replaceable battery, either — that's now limited to the $35 Tile Pro, which isn't discounted. (Tile estimates the sealed batteries in the Mate, Sticker and Slim will last up to three years.) Still, if you tend to misplace your keys or wallet and want some extra peace of mind, these can provide that, and now they're a little more affordable.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

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LG reveals vibrating speakers as ultra-thin alternative to traditional car audio - Ars Technica

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LG Display

LG Display will commercialize thin, vibrating speakers for cars in the first half of 2023, the company announced today. The Thin Actuator Sound Solution has similar dimensions to a passport and forgoes many of the bulkier parts of typical car speakers.

LG Display is known for developing display panel technologies and providing them to various companies, including the consumer LG brand. Its new speaker doesn't use a cone, magnet, or voice coil and doesn't require a speaker grille. Instead, the speaker relies on what the company described as a "film-type exciter technology," which vibrates off display panels "and various materials inside the car body" to create "3D" sound that LG Display claims is as good as what traditional car speakers produce.

LG even worked with a "global audio company" to develop the speakers, but we can't tell you if that's impressive or not because LG Display didn't specify the partner's name.

The exciters are compact, granting the Thin Actuator Sound Solution versatility when it comes to placement and freeing up more space inside cars. LG Display sees the offering being used in vehicle dashboards, headrests, headliners, and pillars, for example. The speaker measures 5.9×3.5×0.1 inches (150×90×2.5 mm) and weighs 1.4 ounces (40 g). In its announcement, LG Display said that's 10 percent as thick as a typical car speaker and 30 percent the weight.

Enlarge / LG Display's car speaker is about as big as a passport.

LG Display

LG Display said it would show off its speakers at the CES trade show in Las Vegas in January.

Vibrating panel-based speakers are far from mainstream, but we've seen them used before, primarily in TVs. Sony debuted Acoustic Surface OLED TVs in 2017, and the company has garnered positive reviews with recent iterations, like the A9G, particularly when it comes to dialogue. In August, LG Display showed off a 97-inch OLED EX TV panel that claims to use a vibrating display panel to deliver 5.1 channel sound.

While LG Display's automobile speakers should offer more choices to carmakers when it comes to speaker placement, sound quality is the big question for all potential partners and drivers.

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AMD Ryzen 7000 gets a major price cut on Newegg, Ryzen 9 7950X now at $574 - VideoCardz.com

AMD Ryzen 7000 deals reach US

Newegg leads the Black Friday Week in US sales by introducing new prices for Ryzen 7000 desktop CPUs. 

Thus far other large US retailers (such as BestBuy or Amazon) have not followed Newegg by lowering the price for Ryzen AM5 CPUs. However, MicroCenter still offers a free 32GB DDR5 memory kit for all Ryzen 7000 purchases, this may still be a good deal, except this offer is for in-store pickup only.

Newegg prices are a major discount from original MSRP. The 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X is now 17% cheaper at $573.99 while 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X costs $473.99 from $549. Gamers should also be interested in Ryzen 7 7700X with 8 cores and new price at $348.99, so a $51 discount or 12% lower price. The new entry price for AM5 platform is $248.99 with 6-core Ryzen 7 7600, which is a 16% discount.

AMD Ryzen 7000 Price on November 20th, Source: Newegg

All four processors were released less than two months ago, but this does not appear to be an official and permanent price cut by AMD. However, similar price drops can now be seen at European retailers, with the flagship model now costing up to €200 less.

AMD Ryzen 7000 Specifications
VideoCardz.com	Cores / Threads	Base/Boost Clock	TDP	Cache (L2+L3)	Launch Price (USD)	Current Price (USD)
AMD Ryzen 7000 Zen4 “Raphael”
Ryzen 9 7950X		4.5/5.7 GHz		80MB (16+64)
Ryzen 9 7900X		4.7/5.6 GHz		76MB (12+64)
Ryzen 7 7700X		4.5/5.4 GHz		40MB (8+32)
Ryzen 5 7600X		4.7/5.3 GHz		38MB (6+32)

Source: Newegg

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Apple's latest AirPods Pro are more than $50 off at Woot (update: sold out) - The Verge

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The retailer’s excellent Black Friday discount brings Apple’s second-gen earbuds down to their lowest price yet.

You can score a $51 discount on Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro, but only for a limited time.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

It looks like the real Black Friday deals have officially landed because Woot’s current deal on the new AirPods Pro is the best we’ve seen on the excellent true wireless earbuds to date. Right now, the retailer is selling Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro for just $197.99 instead of $249, which is the steepest discount the buds have received since launching in September. You’ll have to act fast, though. Woot’s current offer is set to expire at 1AM ET on Sunday, November 20th, but we expect these buds to sell out long before then.

Apple’s latest AirPods Pro take after the last-gen model but include swipe controls and a new H2 chip that allows for improved noise cancellation. They also come with a water-resistant charging case that offers support for Apple’s robust Find My network.

For the unfamiliar, the latest pair of AirPods Pro boast noticeably better noise cancellation and improved sound quality over their last-gen predecessor. They also allow you to adjust their volume by simply swiping the stem — despite donning the same old design — and Apple has included an extra ear tip for smaller ears.

Elsewhere, Apple has updated the included MagSafe charging case with a built-in speaker and a lanyard loop. It even comes with improved location tracking via Apple’s Find My network, meaning you can find it more easily should you ever lose it. They’re not a dramatic departure from the first-gen model, sure, but if you’re already invested in Apple’s ecosystem and keen on taking advantage of Apple-only features like spatial audio and automatic device switching, you can’t do any better than Apple’s latest set of AirPods.

To learn more about the new pair of earbuds, be sure to check out our review. And if you want to find out about other early Black Friday sales going on right now, bookmark our roundup of the best early Black Friday deals you can get so far.

Updated November 19th 7:45AM ET: Woot’s deal sold out at some point early Saturday morning.

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Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra is $300 off ahead of Black Friday | Engadget - Engadget

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.

We've been keeping an eye on Samsung to see when their Black Friday deals would hit, and it looks like today's the day. As of right now, all of the latest Galaxy phones are on sale, with the biggest discount going to the Galaxy S22 Ultra. At $300 off the list price, Samsung's most premium (non-folding) Galaxy phone is down to $900. We saw the S22 Ultra drop to this price for a few days earlier this month as a sort of Black Friday preview, but then it jumped back to its usual price. For anyone who missed that window, you can once again grab our current favorite Android phone while it's this low. 

SAMSUNG

We gave the S22 Ultra an 89 in our review, calling it "the best premium Android flagship you can buy." It's got a lot in common with Samsung's discontinued-for-now Note series, especially with its inclusion of the on-board S Pen and the return to a more rectangular shape, but the S22 Ultra is not just a Galaxy Note rehash. It's got a "sumptuous" screen that keeps things looking smooth with a 120Hz refresh rate and bright 6.8-inch Super AMOLED panel. The cameras are also updated, with a 108-megapixel main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a pair of 10MP telephoto lenses in back. There's a 40MP camera in front, along with new customized video calling software for using Google's Duo (now called Google Meet). 

The S22 Ultra uses Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processors, which handled fairly intensive multitasking in our tests without getting bogged down or even heating up significantly. While the battery didn't last as long as we were hoping, it gave 17 hours and 16 minutes in our video rundown test. 

If you don't need the S Pen, or quite so many cameras, you might try the Galaxy S22+. It's also on sale for Black Friday, with $250 off the MSRP bringing it down to $800. We gave it an 87 in our review, particularly impressed by the extra bright display and ability to take rich low-light photos. 

The base model Galaxy S22 also earned an 87 from us. Even at the list price of $800, we said the S22 gives you more "phone for the money than anything you can buy from Apple or Google." Now that it's down to $700, that statement is truer than ever.

Buy Samsung Galaxy S22+ at Amazon $800 Buy Samsung Galaxy S22 at Amazon - $700

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