Gadgets
Galaxy S7 bypassing Unpacked event and design overhaul, adding 4K display

In a report coming from Korea, it is revealed that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone won’t be launched at the traditional Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, as the company is aiming to cut costs. Although Unpacked events have become almost traditional, it looks like the South Korean company is changing their launch strategies, according to persons familiar with the matter speaking to the Korea Times. The report details how the Unpacked event will most likely be canceled in favor of a different launch – most likely during MWC 2016 in March.
The Galaxy S7 release date was pegged for January, with rumors of a Galaxy Unpacked event being scheduled for sometime in the second half of the month being the general consensus. However, the report states that because the company is forced to cut costs due to declining revenue and popularity, a venue change and launch strategy modification is imminent. Take it with a grain of salt, but reports from the Korea Times are usually accurate.
The report also claims that the Galaxy S7 design will stay within the lines of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge design, as Samsung employees revealed in confidence that the company would be focusing on improving performance and user interface. There’s an unusual focus on display technology which leads us to believe that the company will be upgrading from their QuadHD Super AMOLED panels to 4K display technology, as seen in the Xperia Z5 Premium.
Apparently, the design of the Galaxy S7 will be less interesting, but the hardware and performance of the device is expected to propel the company’s flagship towards even more popularity, in a bid to surpass Apple and its leading sales figures in the smartphone industry. With that in mind, we expect the Exynos 8890, 4 GB RAM, 5.5-inch 4K panel, improved DRAM and more internal storage space to all be part of the Galaxy S7. However, we don’t expect the exterior of the handset to differ that much from this year’s Samsung flagships.
Consoles
The most recent PS5 firmware update is now accessible for download

Recent system software updates from Sony for the PS5 include numerous enhancements, including support for audio calls using Discord. Since then, a smaller update has been made available (complete with everyone’s favorite patch notice), and the platform owner has recently released a new upgrade. What’s the deal with this one, then? The 834MB patch (number 23.01-07.01.01, if you’re interested) lacks patch notes on the system; however, we have learned what this update addresses via the PlayStation website. It turns out that the issue affecting the game library is a small bug fix: “In the game library, a problem was fixed where certain circumstances caused items to appear erroneously.” That’s all, then! anything but the typical “improves system software performance.” So, it’s a very minor update, but it’s still important to download and install to be secure. It is currently accessible. Have you had any issues with the PS5’s game library?
Consoles
Dataminer Predicts Delay, Causing Confusion Over Assassin’s Creed: Mirage’s PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 Release Date

It’s unclear what’s happening with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the series’ much-anticipated return to a more “traditional” style of gameplay, which has been either delayed to 2024 or could be released as soon as August.
Insider Gaming reported that dataminer ScriptLeaksR6 predicted that Ubisoft would postpone Mirage and The Crew: Project Orlando until 2024, with further details to be revealed at Ubisoft’s next Forward event in place of E3 this year.
Mirage + Orlando -> Likely Delayed
Mirage still runs on "old" Assassin’s Creed engine.
— Script (@ScriptLeaksR6) March 27, 2023
An update to the article was published by Insider Gaming hours later, and it reads in part: “Insider Gaming sources have suggested that Assassin’s Creed Mirage is still scheduled for August 2023.”
Now that we’ve circled the wagons and started over, when do you anticipate this fresh take on the Assassin’s Creed formula being released? Your guess is as good as ours as to when we finally get our hands on this one, but a big blowout showing at Ubisoft Forward seems like a likely next step.
Consoles
Members of the United States Congress claim that Sony is acting unfairly against Xbox in Japan
The bizarre plot twist continues as members of Congress from both parties are pressuring the Biden administration to act on a purported PlayStation monopoly in the Japanese video game market.
This is something you should read up on because it all stems from a conversation between Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Friday. Cantwell alleged that American companies are being hurt by an imbalance in the Japanese market for high-end video games.
Axios reports that 10 more lawmakers have added their voices to the debate by penning letters voicing their concerns.
Seven of the ten lawmakers hail from Microsoft’s home state of Washington. More than $500,000 has been donated by the company over the past few decades, making it Cantwell’s single largest political donor.
The Senator who raised this and 6 of the 10 Reps are from Microsoft's home state
And MS' government affairs people have discussed this issue with members of Congress
Not hard to guess why this is coming up
More in the story, including the full letters https://t.co/spi4Sqq58Y
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) March 27, 2023
While the two letters’ political perspectives couldn’t be more different, they both make use of the same misleading “98% of the high-end video game market” statistic, which glosses over the enormous influence of PC, mobile, and, you know, Nintendo. This final point is also significant because Switch is the dominant console in the region.
Microsoft’s proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard has been given a significant boost now that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has dropped its objections to the deal.
We doubt this is the last we’ll hear of this issue, with Democrats and Republicans alike calling for an investigation into Sony’s allegedly unfair business practices. Let me know what you think about this situation.
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