Save big with new deals from Honor from the Honor 9 Lite to the Honor Play and more

If you’re looking for high-end tech at affordable prices, then HONOR has you covered with limited-time deals live this February.

Whether you’re a fashionista, photography expert or hardcore gamer, HONOR offers something for everyone without having to blow your budget!

For the Gamer….

HONOR Play

RRP: £279.99

Promotion:  £239.99 (valid until 31/03/19)

Game-Changing Fun

The HONOR Play delivers a fantastic entertainment experience straight to your smartphone. Whether it be for gaming enthusiasts or those watching Netflix on the commute, the HONOR Play immerses users in a premium entertainment experience. It packs a 6.3-inch FullView HD display, 3D surround sound and a large 3750 mAh battery which allows for 15 hours of video streaming and 95 hours of music playback in a compact, slim handset.

The HONOR Play is available to purchase at Amazon, Very, Argos, AO, Carphone Warehouse, John Lewis, and www.hihonor.com/uk

For the Fashionista…

HONOR 10

RRP:£349.99

Promotion: £299.99(valid until 19/02/19)

Style and Substance 

The HONOR 10 has sold over 1.5 million units in Europe since its launch last May and comes complete with a high-power mobile AI processor Kirin 970. With an AI-enhanced 24+16MP dual camera, this powerhouse acts as an intelligent selfie companion, allowing you to turn your favourite moments into instant professional shots. The stylish handset boasts a sleek design complete with a 3D aurora glass design, composed of 15 layers of shimmering colour, available in Phantom Green, Glacier Grey or Phantom Blue.

The HONOR 10 is available to purchase from Amazon, Very, Argos, AO, Carphone Warehouse, John Lewis andwww.hihonor.com/uk

For under £200…

HONOR 9 Lite

RRP: £179.99

Promotion: £129.99 (valid until 28/02/19)

Affordable quality

Packing a mighty punch in a hugely affordable package, the HONOR 9 Lite could be perfect for you. The device offers a 5.6-inch full-view screen with a bezel-free design and, as one of the first devices to carry a quad lens camera, features a dual lens on the front and the back, making for stunning selfies. All these features are offered at a great price, making this the perfect phone if you’re not looking to break the bank.

The HONOR 9 Lite is available to purchase from Amazon, Very, Argos, AO, Carphone Warehouse, John Lewis and www.hihonor.com/uk

For under £100…

HONOR 7S

RRP: £99.99

Promotion: £79.99 (valid until 26/02/19)

Big benefits at a small price

The HONOR 7S is the ideal phone for anyone on a budget. The device has a 5.4-inch screen, a 16mp+2mp camera as well as a built-in ‘selfie-LED’. The HONOR 7S offers wonderful value at an incredibly competitive price point.

 

The HONOR 7S is available from Amazon, JLP, Very, Argos, AO and www.hihonor.com/uk

ID@Xbox Releases for February 4th – 8th 2019

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Each week a number of new ID@Xbox titles are released. Here is the roundup of the releases for this week.

RIOT: Civil Unrest

As the world’s economic crisis deepens and inequality tears the very fabric of society the discontentment of the masses manifests itself in violent public disturbances and civil disorder.

Salt and Sanctuary

Salt and Sanctuary seamlessly combines fast, brutal, and complex 2D combat with richly developed RPG mechanics. Discover, craft, and upgrade over 600 weapons, armor pieces, spells, and items as you explore a cursed realm of forgotten cities, blood-soaked dungeons, desecrated monuments, and the fallen lords they once celebrated.

Ages of Mages: the last keeper

Ages of Mages: The last keeper is a TPS beat ’em up game, will makes you and your friends(family) have a good weekend on your sofa.

Take the princess back!

How our cute mages make the great job done and save the day?

39 Days to Mars

Embark on the 19th century’s most unreliable spaceship in this 2 player couch co-op adventure. 39 Days to Mars is a unique game designed to be played with a friend, where both players have important roles in the expedition. Solo players are aided by the computer-controlled ship’s cat.

Access Denied

Access Denied is a puzzle game where storage of personal data is secreted away, thanks to a special form of protected boxes. The player has the role of a professional cracker, who must test their skills and crack open these boxes across 36 different levels.

Pumped BMX Pro

Pumped BMX Pro is the next installment in the high adrenaline, fast-paced arcade BMXtrickathon. Master 60 levels and over 200 challenges while pulling off as many radical stunts as possible on one of 15 bikes. Want to make it your own? Design your own bike and hit the grind to reach the peaks of global leaderboards.

Dark Quest 2

Dark Quest 2 is a turn based RPG where you control a party of heroes on your epic quest to defeat the evil sorcerer and his minions. The game features a party based system where you control a group of heroes, an isometric hand-drawn art style, dice based mechanics and much more.

Each map is designed to take you through an adventure that will test your party’s strength, courage and sanity as you go deeper and deeper into the castle in search for the chambers of the evil sorcerer.

Away: Journey to the Unexpected

Welcome to a feel-good FPS! A colorful adventure combining action, negotiation and rogue-lite elements. You play as a kid that is neither a hero nor a warrior. Yet with the power of friendship, you will overcome every obstacle in your way!

Choose your path through the levels, uncover the light-hearted story, and above all, recruit allies. All the wacky and powerful characters you meet can be played in first person, and it’s up to you to find the right answers to get them to join your team!

Pipe Push Paradise

Pipe Push Paradise is a challenging, plumbing-based puzle game. You’ve arrived on a lonely island faced with a hero’s calling. Rise to the occasion (push pipes around) and restore this paradise to its former glory.

Please, Don’t Touch Anything

Pease, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game.

Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything!

Glass Masquerade

Welcome to Glass Masquerade – an artistic puzzle game inspired by Art Deco and stained-glass artisans of the 20th century. Combine hidden glass pieces to unveil clocks and themes exhibited by various cultures of the world at the ‘International Times Exhibition’ – an interactive electronic show.

Evoland Legendary Edition

Evoland Legendary Edition brings you two great and unique RPGs, with their graphic style and gameplay changing as you progress through the game!

Inspired by many cult series that have left their mark in the RPG video gaming culture,Evoland takes you from monochrome to full 3D graphics and from active time battles to real time boss fights, all with plenty of humor and references to many classic games.

See you next week for another round-up of the new ID@Xbox releases.

Two Minute Review: R.A.T. 4+ Optical Gaming Mouse

It’s time for a two minute review of the Mad Catz R.A.T. 4+ Optical Gaming Mouse.

The R.A.T range is built for endurance,using materials and components specified to meet the demands. The R.A.T. 4+ is constructed around a super lightweight chassisensuring the sensor position is perfectly balanced for tracking on your gaming surface. It also provides the rigid foundation for the rest of the control modules.
R.A.T. 4+ also comes fitted with industry leading OMRON switches (a life of 20 million clicks),ensuring that those with the fastest clicking fingers won’t miss an action!

All gamers are different. The RATs are precision engineered,making key parts of the product adjustable,to enhance and improve your playing style. R.A.T. 4+ has an adjustable palm rest. So whether your grip is palm, claw or finger-tip, the R.A.T. 4+ can quickly adapt by adjusting in length to suit you.

What’s in the box?

The box contains the mouse, a guide and some Mad Catz stickers.

A Closer Look

Final Thoughts

Back in November Mad Catz announced they were shipping new products, and one of them was the R.A.T. 4+ Optical Gaming Mouse. Having reviewed other Mad Catz mice in the past, and being impressed, I was looking forward to getting my hands, or should that be hand, on it!

One of the key features of the R.A.T. 4+ is its customisation options. You can tweak just about anything want and create profiles which makes is easy to swap between games, or those pesky spreadsheets!

You can program the buttons to in order to suit your play style too.

The R.A.T. 4+ is comfortable to hold and use and you can even adjust the palm rest if you need to.

The R.A.T. 4+ comes in both white and black, so pick whichever you prefer and get gaming!

All in all this is a really great gaming mouse and if you are serious about your PC gaming you should definitely take a look at the R.A.T. 4+, you won’t be disappointed.

The Mad Catz R.A.T. 4+ Optical Gaming Mouse is available now priced around £60.

You can learn more from the Mad Catz website.

Ghost Giant to be published by Perp Games this Spring

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Zoink Games and Perp Games has today announced that Ghost Giant will have a simultaneous physical and digital launch, this Spring.

Originally revealed during E3, this is one of the most highly sought after PSVR exclusive titles of the year. Ghost Giant comes from the developers behind Stick it to the Man, Fe, and Flipping Death.

This exciting puzzle adventure filled with warmth and charm sees a lonely boy named Louis befriend a giant ghost visible only to him. As the Ghost Giant, you’ll have to carefully build trust with Louis and help him through small, big and sometimes overwhelmingly huge obstacles, discovering the true meaning of friendship along the way.

Ghost Giant has already received critical acclaim from various outlets, with Tech Radar calling it a ‘Beautifully designed game’ Comic Book saying it’s ‘the most promising looking PSVR game’ and VR Focus saying Ghost Giant is ‘a wonderful Toyland Adventure’ and ‘one of the standout VR titles of E3’

As the Ghost Giant, you will get to explore the world of Sancourt, helping its citizens with all manner of day to day problems by using your size and strength. Ghost Giant offers a unique, crafty-looking dollhouse world which can be manipulated in multiple ways and is full of hidden secrets.

Zoink’s aim with Ghost Giant is to recreate the feel of exploring a doll’s house in VR by lifting furniture off the roof and playing around with trinkets and furniture inside, while also giving players a purpose and sense of scale to deliver something truly special and memorable. You’re not just a manipulator from outside the screen, you’re really in there, participating in Louis’ world and being recognized by him as his friend.

Of this very special announcement, Olov Redmalm, Art and Creative Director at Zoink Games says “Warmly welcome to Sancourt! I’m absolutely thrilled that we’re getting a physical release of Ghost Giant by Perp Games. With their line of great VR game releases, we feel right at home. The team at Zoink Games hopes that through Ghost Giant you will experience something quite unique in both VR and storytelling! We’re very proud of the game and it handles a topic we’re all really passionate about. So buckle up, ready your handkerchiefs (just in case things get emotional) and prepare to become the Ghost Giant.”

Ghost Giant has been written in collaboration with Swedish writer, Sara Bergmark Elfgren, whose work has been translated into 25 different languages and is perhaps best known for her Engelsfors Trilogy. This gives players a whole new perspective on VR by pushing the boundaries of physical interaction with emotionally compelling storytelling.

Releasing a physical release at the same time as digital offers everyone the opportunity to explore the world of Sancourt, however, they choose to play their games, from day one. Perp are honoured to work on such an exciting project and cannot wait to bring it to market.

Rob Edwards, MD of Perp Games, is delighted to work on Ghost Giant and talks about the incredible slate of games Perp have coming up. “Ghost Giant is what VR is all about. A warm, heartwrenching story that fully immerses you into the world. We are so excited to be working with Zoink Games on one of the most anticipated VR games of 2019.”

 

Ghost Giant will arrive exclusively on PSVR in Spring 2019 and will receive a boxed release in EU territories. A North American date will follow.

Skybound and Beamdog to bring Classic RPGs on Console

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Skybound Games and Beamdog today announced a publishing partnership that will bring classic roleplaying videogames Baldur’s Gate, Baldur’s Gate ll, Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights to console platforms in 2019.

Beamdog is known for bringing enhanced versions of Dungeons & Dragons videogames to fans both new and old on the PC platform, including the critically acclaimed Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Planescape: Torment. Six of Beamdog’s fan-favorite games will be released on console platforms for the first time ever via Skybound all as Enhanced Editions sold at retail stores and online (www.Skybound.com). These upcoming releases will allow RPG fans the opportunity to experience epic Dungeons & Dragons adventures in a whole new way.

A selection of Beamdog’s games will be on display in the Skybound Games booth at PAX East in Boston from March 28th to March 31st, all coinciding with the first anniversary of Skybound Games as the video game publishing arm of Skybound Entertainment.

“These games are iconic, including Baldur’s Gate, which has really set the standard for Dungeons & Dragons computer roleplaying games,” said Skybound Games CEO Ian Howe. “We’re excited to bring Beamdog’s incredible slate to new platforms for both the dedicated fan and those who will soon discover these adventures for the first time. As longtime fans of Baldur’s Gate and Dungeons & Dragons it’s fantastic to partner with Beamdog as the newest member of the Skybound family.”

“We are ecstatic to partner with Skybound Games to bring these great classics to new platforms,” said Trent Oster, Beamdog CEO. “Skybound’s accomplishments are amazing and they have a demonstrated love and respect for creators. We’re thrilled to find ourselves working with such a talented group.”

VODAFONE UK Teams up with Qualcomm and Ericsson to lab test 5G processor and smartphone

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Vodafone UK, Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and Ericsson are conducting ‘over the air’ tests with 5G technology and a device that is similar in size to the 5G mobile phones that are being developed.

5G smartphones will enable extremely high-resolution video streaming and gaming on the go and web-browsing at speeds of up to 10 times faster than 4G. The technology is also key to eventually enabling 3D holographic calling on people’s phones – a technology Vodafone was first to demonstrate in the UK last September.

Starting this week, Vodafone has begun lab tests of a 5G smartphone ‘form factor’ test device with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem using Ericsson radio equipment at the Vodafone Technology Centre in Newbury, Berkshire. This is a major step in ensuring customers get the best 5G experience possible from their phone and the Vodafone network.

The latest test forms part of Vodafone’s UK-wide trial of 5G in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Manchester. Earlier this week, Vodafone engineers in Salford, Greater Manchester, downloaded an hour and 45 minute-length movie over 5G in just 24 seconds. The same movie over fast 4G (using carrier aggregation) took one minute and 35 seconds to download.

Vodafone UK Chief Executive Nick Jeffery said: “We made the UK’s first live 5G 3D holographic call between Manchester and Newbury five months ago. Soon after, we carried the UK’s first 5G call over a live mobile network. Today, we are testing technology that will power 5G smartphones. Another first in the UK.”

Thomas Noren, Head of 5G Commercialization, Ericsson said: “We’re making headway on mobile devices as an integral part of the 5G ecosystem. Ericsson continues to drive the commercial readiness of 5G by future-proofing this ecosystem. Together with Qualcomm, we continue to advance the testing of 5G NR networks with mobile devices and support Vodafone in deploying 5G across the UK.”

Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and president, Qualcomm EMEA, said: “We are excited to be working with Vodafone and Ericsson as we head towards 5G commercialisation. These tests will be instrumental in defining and refining the 5G services consumers will be able to access.”

’39 Days to Mars’ Now Available on Xbox One

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Developer It’s Anecdotal has announced its puzzle-adventure game 39 Days to Mars is now available for $14.99 on Xbox One!

 

Join Sir Albert Wickes and The Right Honourable Clarence Baxter for an exciting 19th century adventure! 39 Days to Mars is a 1-2 player co-operative adventure game set in an alternate reality some 150 years in the past. You’re tasked with piloting the HMS Fearful — a masterpiece of unreliable engineering — on its maiden voyage to Mars.

When the steam engine runs out of coal, the ship’s cat shreds the navigation chart, and the tea gets cold, it becomes clear that interstellar transportation isn’t a walk in the park. It will take the talents of two working together on a mix of puzzles and action sequences to get to Mars in one piece (let alone in 39 days).

 

39 Days to Mars is also out now on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms; with a Nintendo Switch version in the works for launch in Early 2019. The Additional Victorian Adventures content update released on PC last year is included as part of the console edition as well.

Assassin’s Creed III Remastered lands for Xbox One/PS4 and PC on the 29th March

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Ubisoft announced that Assassin’s Creed III Remastered, developed by Ubisoft Barcelona, will launch 29th March on the PlayStation 4, and the Xbox One / Xbox One X and Windows PC. Assassin’s Creed III Remastered can be pre-ordered for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as a stand-alone game starting today and is also part of the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Season Pass.

 

The Remastered edition will feature 4K and HDR on PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One X and Windows PC, as well as higher resolution textures, a new graphics engine and several other graphical enhancements. Gameplay mechanics and ergonomics have also been improved.

 

Assassin’s Creed III Remastered will include the full game, the single-player missions Benedict Arnold and Hidden Secrets, The Tyranny of King Washington and Assassin’s Creed III Liberation Remastered, detailed below:

 

  • Assassin’s Creed III Remastered: Players will embody Connor, a master Assassin born of the beauty and brutality of 18th century America. As a bloody revolution draws near, your tribe is threatened by a powerful group seeking to crush the American Revolution and control the thirteen colonies. Shocked into action by the devastation of your village, you pledge your life to the cause of freedom and embark on a decades-long quest to achieve it.

 

  • Tyranny of King Washington: Explore an alternate history where one of America’s greatest heroes, George Washington, succumbs to the temptation of infinite power. The new King is born and his reign leaves no one untouched. Players must return freedom to the land by dethroning the tyrant our hero once called a friend.
  • Assassin’s Creed III Liberation Remastered: Follow Aveline’s story as she battles Spanish forces in the American south to win freedom for her land and people. A woman of conviction, Aveline fights for freedom in 18th century New Orleans, a city on the brink of a rebellion as the Spanish Empire imposes its new rule. Embark on an epic journey that will take her from the crowded streets of New Orleans to voodoo-haunted swamps and ancient Mayan ruins.

Astroneer 1.0 Touches Down on Steam, Xbox One

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Astroneerthe interplanetary survival sandbox from System Era Softworks enjoyed by more than 2 million spacefarers, lifts off from Steam Early Access as well as Xbox One Game Preview, and safely lands with the launch of 1.0.

 

Developer System Era Softworks is composed of AAA veterans reaching for the stars with their hopeful vision for the future of human space exploration. The team, which includes senior staff from Bungie, Ubisoft, Disney, Valve and many more, usher in a new era of intrepid interplanetary escapades with 1.0’s bountiful expansion of new content.

 

Adventurous travelers harness their ingenuity to thrive on seven uncharted planets, unraveling the mysteries of abandoned structures strewn across their surfaces. Excavate, elevate and terraform through vibrant terrain in whimsical worlds teeming with unfamiliar oddities. Exploration takes exciting turns as astronauts encounter mysterious structures and dangerous obstacles, then engineer new technology to light the way.

 

Additions to character customization empowers astronauts to show their own personal tastes as they distinguish themselves from friends in four-player co-op. The first major post-launch update will bring dedicated servers and cross-play, enabling adventurers to build their bases and embark on journeys together regardless of platform and doubling the maximum number of players to eight.

Brave a vast and charmingly stylized frontier with exciting new recipes to craft and tools to tinker with. Mold Astroneer’s colorful terrain and get creative with the minimalist landscape to shift mountains and unearth rare resources. Piece together new modules in fully customizable bases before packing up and shuttling off into an unknown sunset. Not even the sky is the limit as bold, fearless explorers embark on a futuristic journey to change the galaxy.

 

“We’ve been on this adventure with our community for over two years now and it’s thanks to them that we’ve been able to polish Astroneer’s terraforming, crafting, and multiplayer,” says System Era Softworks communications director Joe Tirado. “With 1.0, we’re bringing more content so our veteran explorers have as much to look forward to as those just blasting off with us at launch.”

Astroneer is currently available on Steam and Xbox One for $29.99. Astroneer supports the English, French, Italian, Spanish (Spain), Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and Turkish languages.

Salt and Sanctuary Launches Today on Xbox

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Salt and Sanctuary, Ska Studios’ brutal hand-drawn 2D Souls like platformer with more than 900,000 downloads, washes up on the shores of Xbox One courtesy of porting specialist BlitWorks.

An unspeakable creature from the deep decimates a ship and its crew. The sole survivor of this condemned voyage washes ashore and awakens to an elderly figure. Still rubbing salt from their eyes, the old man deems them the newcomer “Saltborn.” The forsaken island looms ahead, filled with unimaginable terrors.

From cunning, unrelenting enemies to pulse-pounding boss encounters, Salt and Sanctuary poses an unyielding challenge. More than twenty unforgettable bosses claim dominion of this land, and hordes of grotesque monstrosities roam the long-abandoned villages and castles.

Triumph over these ghastly foes with a bevvy of weapons, armour, and elemental magic. Conquer tough-but-fair combat by customizing the protagonist with a massive skill tree and equipment hidden throughout the world. No single weapon, spell or armour is a catch-all solution. Only careful preparation, sharp reflexes and a willingness to adapt can offer an edge against these atrocities.

Defy the island’s punishing atmosphere with a friend in local co-op. Return to the island in New Game+ and battle through an ever-changing gameplay experience with different character builds. Challenge Modes like no-blocking and permadeath await for the truly bold or naive, extending these thrilling Souls like experience even further.

“When we first released our indie Souls like, we were thrilled by the reception, but heard a loud and clear demand from our longstanding community on Xbox,” said Michelle and James Silva, co-creators at Ska Studios. “Returning to Xbox is a homecoming for Ska Studios as a company, and it comes after an incredible journey full of support for our nightmarish creation!”

Salt and Sanctuary is available digitally for Xbox One for $17.99 and supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Two Minute Review: Kingston Nucleum Hub

It’s time for a two minute review of the Kingston Nucleum Hub.

Live the moment. Use the mouse, monitor and accessories that you’ve grown to love with your new notebook. With a single USB-C hub, you can connect up to 7 devices at once and keep your creativity flowing. The Nucleum has you covered whether you want to connect to a larger monitor or need to offload footage from the latest photo shoot. With the Nucleum, you can power up your Apple MacBook while also connecting to a USB Flash drive and charging an iPhone. The compact size and built-in cable also make the Nucleum a perfect travel companion to take with you on location.

Features

  • 7 ports of potential from one USB-C connection
  • Add more pixels using the 4K HDMI output
  • Power pass-through to charge your connected devices
  • Small and light, makes it easy to take with you
  • Designed for content creators with the included SD and microSD slots

What’s in the Box?

The box contains the Nucleum.

A Closer Look

Final Thoughts

The first thing you notice about the Nucleum is that it is quite small and lightweight – which is something you want if you want to use it with your MacBook!

The hub itself has 7 ports on it – which gives 6 more than the MacBook currently does. So plug this little baby in and you immediately get everything you could need for your MacBook, including USB-A and C ports, microSD and SDHC, along with a 4K HDMI port thrown in for good measure, all wrapped up in a tiny little box.

Using it is simple – just plug it, that’s it – you don’t have to do anything else.

The Kingston Nucleum is available now priced around £49.95 and if you have a MacBook this piece of kit is a must have – go get one now!

You can learn more from the Kingston website.

Watch Metro Exodus short called “Artyom’s Nightmare”

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Deep Silver and 4A Games are proud to unveil the spectacular CGI Animated Short, Artyom’s Nightmare. In this dream-like prologue to the events of Metro Exodus, we explore Artyom’s hopes and fears of a life beyond the ruins of the Moscow Metro.

A quarter-century after nuclear war devastated the Earth, a few thousand survivors took refuge in the Moscow Metro. They believed they were the last remnants of humanity – but they were wrong. Only Artyom dared to dream of a life on the surface. But dreams can quickly turn to nightmares…

It’s time to leave the ruins of Moscow, and journey beyond.

Created by the master animators of Platige Image in collaboration with 4A Games, Artyom’s Nightmare brings the haunting world of Metro to life as never seen before. “Watching 4A Games take my characters off the page and onto the screen has been a privilege,” said Dmitry Glukhovsky, author of the original Metro novels. “I hope fans will enjoy this new glimpse into Artyom’s world.”

Metro Exodus releases on February 15 for Xbox One, the PlayStation 4 and PC

Huawei completes Schubert’s famous Symphony No. 8 using the power of AI

Huawei for the first time ever – combined the power of AI and human expertise to compose the final two movements of Schubert’s famous Symphony No. 8. commonly known as the ‘Unfinished Symphony.’ Symphony No. 8 has remained incomplete for 197 years and despite numerous attempts, it remains one of the most intriguing pieces of unfinished symphonic music of all time.

Myleene Klass, Arne Herkelmann, Lucas Cantor and Andrew Garrihy attend the reveal of Huawei’s, Unfinished Symphony at Cadogan Hall on February 4, 2019 in London, England.
Pic credit: Dave Benett

The London event was hosted by musician, Myleene Klass at the iconic, Cadogan Hall and saw the 66-piece English Session Orchestra perform to an audience of over 250 guests featuring models, Erin O’Connor, Laura Whitmore and Daisy Lowe, actor, Luke Pasqualino and singer, Nicola Roberts showcasing for the first time this unique ending to Schubert’s Symphony No. 8.

Huawei’s completed version of Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 was created by running an Artificial Intelligence model benefitting directly from the processing power of the dual NPU (Neural Processing Unit) in the Huawei Mate 20 Pro smartphone – designed specifically with AI-based tasks in mind. Analysing the timbre, pitch and meter of the existing first and second movements of the symphony, the AI model then generated the melody for the final, missing third and fourth movements. Huawei then worked with Emmy award-winning composer Lucas Cantor, to arrange an orchestral score from the melody that stayed true to the style of Schubert’s Symphony No. 8.

The English Session Orchestra perform the reveal of Huawei, Unfinished Symphony at Cadogan Hall on February 4, 2019 in London, England.
Pic credit: Dave Benett

“At Huawei, we are always searching for ways in which technology can make the world a better place. So, we taught our Mate 20 Pro smartphone to analyse an unfinished, nearly 200-year-old piece of music and to finish it in the style of the original composer” commented Walter Ji, President CBG, Huawei Western Europe. “We used the power of AI, to extend the boundaries of what is humanly possible and see the positive role technology might have on modern culture. If our smartphone is intelligent enough to do this, what else could be possible?”

Lucas Cantor, Composer said “My role was to draw out the AI’s good ideas and fill in the gaps to ensure the final output was ready to be played by a symphony orchestra. The result of this collaboration with AI proves that technology offers incredible possibilities and the significant and positive impact it can have on modern culture.”

Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor is considered to be the archetypal ‘Unfinished Symphony’. Musicologists are still in disagreement as to why Schubert failed to complete the piece, some cite his ill-health, others claim that he was distracted by his follow-up piece of work, but what is agreed upon is that he was charting new musical terrain with the piece.

Xbox announces “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” Bundles

Xbox has revealed two “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” Bundles, the Xbox One X “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” Bundle is available for £449.99 GBP and features a standard Xbox One X console with a 1TB hard drive, an Xbox Wireless Controller, a full-game download of “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” enhanced for Xbox One X, a 1-month Xbox Game Pass trial and a 1-month Xbox Live Gold trial. The Xbox One S “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” Bundle is available for £249.99 GBP and features a standard Xbox One S console with a 1TB hard drive, an Xbox Wireless Controller, a full-game download of “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2,” a 1-month Xbox Game Pass trial and a 1-month Xbox Live Gold trial.

Both the Xbox One S and One X “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” Bundles will be available online and at selected retailer in the United Kingdom starting March 15, 2019.