Technology | The Guardian

New 3DS, Nintendo, cert: 12There are two ways of looking at Xenoblade Chronicles. In terms of mechanics, it’s nigh-on flawless – a brilliant example of Japanese RPG game design. It boasts a combat system combining real-time action with deep customisation, an engrossing story, and characters you genuinely grow to care for. In this sense, having been overlooked on the Wii, it’s great to have this modern classic more widely available.Visually, however, it’s much trickier. Despite the ambitious title needing the more powerful New 3DS hardware, the device still has ridiculously low-res screens. It’s a real shame, as there’s clearly a beautiful world underneath the murky, indistinct graphics. Keep playing and despite the muddy screens it’s clear Xenoblade is a remarkable game, but sadly still not getting the treatment it really deserves. Continue reading...

PS4, Xbox One, Square Enix, cert: 16The first clue that this is unlike any previous Final Fantasy game arrives early, when a military cadet and his chocobo steed – the series’ cheery mascot – bleed out while an entire city is ravaged around them. Type-0 is far bleaker than its peers, with a story exploring the harsh realities of war. Controlling Class Zero, a group of 12 students at a magic school targeted by the attacking forces from the Militesi Empire, speedy combat sees attacks unleashed with the tap of a button, although using a party system, only one character is directly controlled, with two others supporting. Progression is largely mission-based, many of which are action-oriented, although a few adopt clunky real-time strategy mechanics.The HD remastering is impressive but still shows signs of Type-0’s PSP roots, with some low-res textures and restrictive level design. Engaging combat and an emotionally challenging story will win players over, however. Matt Kamen Continue reading...

PlayStation 4, Sony, cert: 16The most eagerly awaited game of the year is finally here. And it is a pleasure to report that it’s brilliant. A fast and aggressive action-RPG, Bloodborne is the spiritual successor to the Dark Souls series, in which you are the sufferer of a strange sickness who has come to the city of Yharnam for treatment. Here, the citizens hide behind locked doors as monsters stalk the streets. You must become a hunter and cut a path through the city to uncover the truth behind the affliction.The new combat system puts first-timers and veteran Souls players on a more even footing, discouraging defensive play while rewarding agility. Interesting online features – user-generated and shareable dungeons; the ability to join someone else’s game – are offset by weaker RPG elements such as a smaller arsenal and simplified levelling system. Continue reading...

Optic Gaming joins several other leading Call of Duty sides on the sidelines as Faze Red, Denial and Team Revenge emerged as championship contenders Continue reading...

Airline says no personal information viewed or stolen and it has frozen affected accounts while it resolves issue Continue reading...

Group of 16 schools in Cheshire say allowing children to play games containing unsuitable levels of violence and sexual content is neglectful Continue reading...

The SL400 is the latest in a line of luxurious cruisers – and what better test for it than a long midweek burn? Continue reading...

Couple says officials require a llama license to publicly display the famously fleeing animals: ‘They just totally destroyed my retirement’ Continue reading...

Regardless of result, Pao’s effort will have ‘huge impact’ on tech industry, supporters say, as more legal battles are on the horizon Continue reading...

US teams perform well while Europeans falter at the group stage of this year’s $1m Call of Duty eSports finals Continue reading...

‘Lit Long’, a searchable interactive map of the city, will take users to locations made famous by Scottish writers from Walter Scott to Irvine Welsh – and tell you what they wrote Continue reading...

The UK’s first cultural centre for video games has opened in the east Midlands city and aims to put fun, entertainment and game design on the menu Continue reading...

‘It has more up its green sleeves than a bit of engine-cutting in traffic’ Continue reading...

Announcement comes after the Verge reported that the retailer required its US employees, including seasonal workers, to sign non-compete contracts Continue reading...

Jury finds venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers did not discriminate against Pao, who now works for Reddit Continue reading...

Chief executive John Chen said company made a pre-tax loss of $385m – an improvement on $7.2bn of losses the previous year Continue reading...

Beatport, Nuzzel, UltraTuner, Silly Sausage in Meat Land, Fast & Furious: Legacy, Final Fantasy Record Keeper, LinkedIn Job Search and more Continue reading...

Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager to examine price differences between country-specific websites, which she say may be breaking the law Continue reading...

Twitter’s new video app is brilliant technology in a lush package – what a shame our lives are all so boringIn November 2009, Twitter made a small, seemingly cosmetic, change to its web interface. For two years, ever since the site was still called “twttr”, the box for composing a new tweet had posed the question “what are you doing?”But seeing how the site was actually being used, Twitter changed its mind. The new question was “What’s happening?” That paved the way for the modern era of social networks – but it’s something that Twitter’s new app, Periscope, might find hard to emulate. Continue reading...

Sharing birthday celebrations or a child’s first bike ride in virtual reality could become a thing if Facebook gets its way with new Oculus Rift headset Continue reading...

While some water technology companies take on solving California’s drought, tech kingpins prefer to follow the money to mobile apps and internet startups Continue reading...

Plus Hotline Miami 2 and Sid Meier’s Starships reviews

Social network prepares to use solar-powered drones with wingspan of a commercial airliner to beam internet access to rural areasFacebook has been testing large, solar-powered drones in the skies over the UK, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has announced.The drones use lasers to beam internet access down to the ground, designed to provide connections to rural and internet-free zones. Continue reading...

Judges dismiss internet firm’s appeal in landmark ruling that could lead to British consumers suing it for damages over privacy breachesGoogle has failed in its attempt in the court of appeal to prevent British consumers having the right to sue the internet firm in the UK.A group known as Safari Users Against Google’s Secret Tracking wants to take legal action in the English courts over what it says is Google’s tracking of Apple’s Safari internet browser. Continue reading...

Comfortable, well styled, functional and with a hidden heart rate function this Android Wear watch comes as a surpriseThe ZenWatch is one of the most attractive square Android Wear watches on the market. The OLED screen is gently curved with a polished stainless steel body inlaid with a rose gold-coloured inset. A traditional brown leather strap with a locking clasp completes the look.The classic styling may not suit everyone, but at 75g in weight and 9.4mm thick, the watch is comfortable to wear, does not feel chunky and the 1.63-inch Gorilla Glass 3-covered screen is bright and relatively crisp. It is also water resistant to IP55 standards, which means no swimming, but rain is not a problem.Pros: comfortable, attractive, normal/replaceable watch strap, heart rate monitor, curved glassCons: less than two-day battery life, bundled apps cannot be removed, another charging cradle to lose Continue reading...

The place to talk about games and other things that matter Continue reading...

The software giant said that paid leave is an important benefit for workersSuppliers that do business with Microsoft in the US will have to provide employees handling the company’s work with at least 15 days of paid leave each year, Microsoft announced on Thursday.“We believe paid time off is an important benefit for workers in our economy,” Brad Smith, general counsel and executive president of legal and corporate affairs at Microsoft, wrote in a blogpost announcing the new initiative.Related: Only three US states have paid family leave policies – will New York be next?Related: Americans petition White House for paid vacation as Congress takes a break Continue reading...

European Commission admits Safe Harbour framework cannot ensure privacy of EU citizens’ data when sent to the US by American internet firmsThe European Commission has warned EU citizens that they should close their Facebook accounts if they want to keep information private from US security services, finding that current Safe Harbour legislation does not protect citizen’s data.The comments were made by EC attorney Bernhard Schima in a case brought by privacy campaigner Maximilian Schrems, looking at whether the data of EU citizens should be considered safe if sent to the US in a post-Snowden revelation landscape. Continue reading...

The Federal Trade Commission denies accusations that it took no legal action against the tech company because of intense lobbying efforts Continue reading...

Sam wants a new family desktop computer for word processing, photos and listening to music and he wants to spend less than £500. Here are some options. Continue reading...

Company reacts to recent rape allegations against driver in India by setting up incident response teams and implementing new code of conduct

Music industry sources say Apple has yet to convince labels that it should undercut streaming rivals on priceHere’s one hard fact about Apple’s plans to relaunch its Beats Music streaming service later this year: there will be an endless stream of rumours about those plans until it happens.Why? Because if there’s one thing leakier than the hype cycle leading up to new Apple products, it’s the music industry when digital licences are being hammered out.Related: Streaming music: what next for Apple, YouTube, Spotify… and musicians? Continue reading...

This video app might be late to the party, but its extra features makes it worth the waitIt’s fair to say that Periscope, Twitter’s live-streaming video app, is late to the game. Not just the three-weeks-and-counting between its launch and that of tech press darling Meerkat, but the two and a half years between it and YouNow, which has grown to 100m user sessions every month by offering performers a share of the revenue.

With the return of epic space shooters and the rise of virtual reality, elaborate game controllers are on the way backI can remember my first proper joystick. It was the mid-80s and my dad had brought us a Commodore 64, “to do homework on and stuff”. He wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all himself; this sexy chunk of brown plastic was for gaming and we all knew it. Soon though, we got fed up of playing Chuckie Egg with keyboard controls, so using my birthday money, I bought a Quickshot II – the 1980s computer peripheral equivalent of a Ford Escort GTI: slightly naff, but showy and desirable.The Quickshot II looked sort of like a real flight stick, with its gigantic red trigger buttons on the shaft, and its chunky base, complete with four sucker pads so you could stick it to the ugly MDF computer desk that you bought from Do It All. I spent countless hours playing Elite with that thing, pretending I was Han Solo, outsmarting pirate vessels throughout the galaxy. It was, to be honest, a crap joystick, really. It was brittle and insensitive, a bit like me at that age – and if you got carried away, it was easy to wrench the shaft off. And, anyway, real gamers preferred an arcade-style stick, like the Competition Pro, with its squat, sturdy build and micro-switches for precise control.

Social network makes its move into live-streaming video with free app that allows public and private broadcasts from celebrities and regular users alike Continue reading...

Oscar-winning director will take on cult sci-fi book after making Roald Dahl’s The BFG Continue reading...

Pop singer directs fans to social video messaging app where users can stream snippets of single Bitch Better Have My Money Continue reading...

Tech executive’s lawyer tells jury to look to their ‘conscience’ in decision on $16m lawsuit that is the most high-profile of its kind ever to reach court Continue reading...

Tymon was attacked by Clarkson in the incident that led to the Top Gear presenter’s sacking by the BBC Continue reading...

This week on the podcast we're talking apps and the generation of creatives using them for work and play Continue reading...

Justice department says it is ‘troubled’ that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent money on drones that were rendered unsuitable Continue reading...

Author has penned a furious blog accusing the Clean Reader app of promoting a biased agenda and fundamentally misunderstanding the nature of fiction Continue reading...

As ardent fans continue to rail against Ultimate Team price ranges, the publisher says its motivation for change was players rather than pound signsFifa 15 publisher Electronic Arts has launched a stern defence of its decision to reconfigure the transfer market within the game’s popular Ultimate Team mode. In a blog post seen by the Guardian before publication, the company insists that fans who have taken to social media and games forums to declare the game fundamentally broken are wide of the mark.

As ardent fans continue to rail against Ultimate Team price ranges, the publisher says its motivation for change was players rather than pound signsFifa 15 publisher Electronic Arts has launched a stern defence of its decision to reconfigure the transfer market within the game’s popular Ultimate Team mode. In a blog post seen by the Guardian before publication, the company insists that fans who have taken to social media and games forums to declare the game fundamentally broken are wide of the mark.

Crowdfunding website’s new feature gives creators who have passed their funding goal full control over permanent pages for their projectsKickstarter is introducing a new feature to help its successful creators showcase what happens after they raise money on the crowdfunding website.Spotlight takes the form of a webpage for each successfully funded project, replacing the pitch page that until now has remained online permanently once a project’s campaign ends.Related: Why brands like Pebble keep coming back to Kickstarter Continue reading...