Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Disney’s new life-simulation game comes to Xbox and PC this summer

Disney fans are in for a treat. Gameloft Montreal has announced that a new life-simulation game, titled Disney Dreamlight Valley, is on the way.

The game will be available in early access on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Windows 10/11 PC, Mac, PlayStation 4/5 and Nintendo Switch. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will get early access this summer, while the full free-to-play launch will follow in 2023.

“Disney Dreamlight Valley is all about giving players the chance to live a magical life alongside iconic Disney and Pixar characters,” reads Xbox’s blog post about the upcoming life simulation title. “Players step into the dream world of Dreamlight Valley, embarking on an enchanting quest to restore a once-idyllic village now desolate and full of night thorns.”

The game will task you with uncovering mysterious secrets and exploring diverse realms based on Disney and Pixar worlds, while you help the citizens of your town recover their lost memories. Additionally, you’ll meet familiar characters along the way — each of whom will have their own “Friendship Goals.” You’ll be able to reach this friendship goal by “exploration, gift-giving, and other fun activities.”

The game will constantly receive new content updates as new Disney and Pixar movies are released and give you several options to customize your character and the town you’ll live in.

To wishlist the title, click here.

Image credit: Disney

Via: Xbox

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Mobile Syrup

These PS Now titles might not make it to Sony’s upcoming PS Plus tiered service

Sony’s upcoming PS Plus expansion, which merges PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, and offers additional perks is slated to launch in Canada on June 13th.

Up until now, the PS Now service gave users access to a wide range of PS2, PS3 and PS4 titles, and the same will still be offered but under different tiers. You can read more about the new PS Plus tiers, what they offer, and how much they will cost in Canada here.

While the older generation games would still be available in the higher tiers of the new PS Plus expansion, according to Reddit user “Cobra_Bite,” (via VideoGaamesChronicle) several games that are currently available on PlayStation Now would not be available in the expansion.

Said games currently show an expiry date for May, and might not be available in the PS Plus expansion.

Check out some of the titles that might not make it to the new PS Plus service below:

  • Hotel Transylvania 3
  • NBA 2K18
  • Sonic Mania
  • Silent Hill HD Collection
  • Virtua Fighter V
  • WWE 2K19
  • Bomberman Ultra
  • Metal Gear Rising
  • The Revenge of Shinobi
  • Yakuza 4 and 5

Check out all the games that might not make it to the new service on “Cobra_Bite’s” Reddit post here.

From what we know so far, PS Plus will have three tiers, namely PlayStation Plus Essential, PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium, with monthly pricing coming in at $11.99 CAD, $17.99 CAD and $21.99, respectively.

Source: ‘Cobra_Bite’ on Reddit, Via: VideoGaamesChronicle

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Mobile Syrup

Valve’s latest Steam Deck update improves battery life, adds lock screen

The Steam Deck might not be perfect, but it’s hard not to be impressed by how rapidly Valve is pushing out updates to the handheld.

The latest update to the portable adds a feature that ensures battery life won’t deplete if the console is left idle or not used for an extended period. Steam Deck battery life can range anywhere from two to four hours depending on how resource intensive the game you’re running on the handheld is.

Other new features include a smartphone-like lock screen with pin code entry, localized keyboards, multiple window switching, new quick access to many tools, an updated achievements page and more. Compatibility with USB-C docks and SD card docks has also been improved, which is a good move on Valve’s part, given compatibility has been pretty spotty in my experience.

Finally, Valve also mentions that it’s improved the overall stability of the Steam Deck. For the update’s full notes, follow this link.

Despite its issues, I’ve really enjoyed my time with Valve’s Steam Deck so far. It’s a handheld in a league of its own in terms of power, but you also need to be willing to be a bit of a beta tester. That said, I have been able to get Xbox Cloud Gaming and emulators with Emu Deck up and running on the handheld.

Check out my in-depth look at the handheld for more on the Steam Deck.

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter’s sudden follower fluctuation post acquisition is organic

Following the news that Elon Musk is acquiring Twitter in a deal valued at approximately $44 billion USD (about $56 billion CAD), users with big followings have seemingly started experiencing significant fluctuations in their Twitter following in both directions.

Twitter says that these fluctuations in follower count are completely organic, owing the change to several new and departing users.

“While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which can affect follower counts, these fluctuations appear to largely be a result of an increase in new account creation and deactivation,” Twitter said in a statement given to NBC News.

Since the acquisition, former President Barack Obama, the most followed user on Twitter, has lost more than 300,000 followers, whereas American artist Katy Perry lost more than 200,000 followers.

On the other hand, Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, a popular right-wing figure gained about 90,000 followers, and so did Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who gained nearly 100,000 new followers.

The sudden volatility in follower count indicates that people who support liberal ideas and left-wing politicians, in general, are leaving the platform, fearing Musk’s adamancy to establish free speech on the platform, which will bring a major change in the content moderation policies of the platform, and bring back users like former president Donald Trump who has long been banned from the platform.

Trump did say that he won’t be returning to the social media platform in favour of his TRUTH Social.

Source: NBC News

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Mobile Syrup

Overwatch 2 players notice Kim’s Convenience reference on new Toronto map

While the player-versus-environment portion of Overwatch 2 isn’t ready yet, the game’s player-versus-player closed beta is up and running, and some players have noticed a very Canadian🇨🇦 reference on Toronto’s ‘New Queen St’ map.

On the map, you’ll notice a ‘Kay’s Convenience’ store that looks strikingly similar to the Kim’s Convenience storefront.

In case you were unaware, Kim’s Convenience is more than just a store featured in a CBC sitcom. It’s an actual storefront on Queen St. East in Toronto, so it’s great to see this easter egg in the Overwatch 2 map.

The Overwatch 2 Beta is now available for PC players. If you weren’t invited to the beta via email, you can still watch Overwatch players on Twitch to get guaranteed access to the beta.

At the time of writing, more than 1.4 million viewers are watching Overwatch on Twitch, which is the most viewership the game has attracted in years.

Several Canadian players have dusted off their keyboards to stream the new beta, such as retired Overwatch League players like ‘XQC’ (who previously leaked that he had the Alpha access) ‘Surefour,’ ‘Seagull’ (these three players were once part of the Canadian national Overwatch team) and players like ‘KarQ’ (Toronto Defiant), Pokimane, Warn and more.

Source: @RetrogradeMikey

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Mobile Syrup

Some Twitter users are reporting issues with ‘mute this conversation’ feature

Twitter is experiencing some issues with its “mute this conversation” feature, according to some users.

Earlier this week, I was live-tweeting during the latest episode of Better Call Saul and one of my tweets blew up a little bit. To stop getting so many notifications, I selected “mute this conversation,” but found myself still receiving pings for every like and reply. This issue has persisted with two other tweets I’ve made, as well as a tweet from a mutual follower that I was tagged in.

A quick search of “mute this conversation” on Twitter brings up tweets from several other people reporting the same issue. However, some people who’ve responded to them have said they haven’t experienced it, while others say they’ve got it working on web, just not mobile. (For what it’s worth, I’m now successfully able to mute conversations on the web for me, but it still hasn’t worked on Twitter for iOS.)

Earlier today, the official Twitter Support account responded to someone saying she’s had this issue since April 23rd, noting that “our team is aware, and looking into this.” It’s unclear, however, how widespread this issue may be. MobileSyrup has also reached out to Twitter for additional information and will update this story once a response has been received.

It’s been a big week for Twitter, as the social media giant confirmed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is set to acquire it for $44 billion USD (about $56 billion CAD). Nearly $1.5 billion CAD is being loaned to Musk from Canadian banks.

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Mobile Syrup

Netflix previews summer 2022 movie slate, including The Russo Brothers’ The Gray Man

Netflix has unveiled its summer lineup of original movies for this year.

Headlining the pack is The Gray Man, an action-thriller that’s also its most expensive original film to date. Notably, the film re-teams Chris Evans with the creative team behind Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directors Anthony and Joe Russo, while Canada’s own Ryan Gosling co-stars.

See below for the complete list. Since there are a lot of movies, we’ll spotlight some of the more notable ones.

May 6th

  • Along for the Ride
  • The Takedown (Loin Du Périph)
  • Thar

May 11th

  • Operation Mincemeat

May 13th

  • Senior Year

May 19th

  • A Perfect Pairing
  • The Photographer: Murder in Pinamar

June 3rd

  • Interceptor

June 8th

  • Hustle (Adam Sandler and Queen Latifah basketball comedy)

June 14th

  • Halftime

June 15th

  • The Wrath of God

June 17th

  • Spiderhead (sci-fi thriller starring Chris Hemsworth)

June 19th

  • Civil

June 22nd

  • Love & Gelato

July 6th

  • Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between

July 8th

  • Dangerous Liaisons
  • The Sea Beast

July 15th

Persuasion

July 22nd

  • The Gray Man

July 29th

  • Purple Hearts

August 5th

  • Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie

August 12th

  • Day Shift (vampire action flick starring Jamie Foxx)
  • 13: The Musical

August 26th

  • Me Time

September 1st

  • Love in the Villa

The following movies, meanwhile, have undated “summer” release windows:

  • Beauty
  • Buba: Once Upon A Crime
  • Carter
  • Don’t Blame Karma!
  • Fenced In
  • For Jojo
  • I Came By
  • The Man From Toronto (Kevin Hart-Woody Harrelson action-comedy set in Toronto and filmed in the Toronto area)
  • Pipa
  • Seoul Vibe
  • Togo
  • Wedding Season

Of course, this only includes summer flicks — Netflix has previously teased its lineup for the whole year, which includes the highly anticipated Knives Out 2.

Netflix has been in the news in the past couple of weeks following the streamer’s confirmation that it lost subscribers in the most recent quarter. As it anticipates further losses in the next quarter, the company has confirmed that it’s looking into cracking down on password sharing and rolling out an ad-supported cheaper tier. While films like The Gray Man and Knives Out 2 are undeniably significant, it remains to be seen what effect — if any — they’ll have on the company’s declining business.

Source: Netflix

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Mobile Syrup

Over 10 million people have used Xbox Cloud Gaming: Microsoft

Microsoft says more than 10 million people have used its Xbox Cloud Gaming streaming service.

The company revealed the figure during its Q3 2021 earnings call. It’s a notable statistic since public data into the game streaming landscape has largely been unavailable. Historically, Microsoft has only offered random stats like “20 percent of Cloud Gaming players use touch controls,” and even less is known about user habits for Google Stadia. (Nvidia GeForce Now, meanwhile, offers a free trial that includes in numbers)

That said, Microsoft didn’t provide any further details about Cloud Gaming’s audience, so it’s hard to gauge ongoing success. All we really know is that Game Pass — the $16.99 CAD/month ‘Ultimate’ tier of which is required for Cloud Gaming — hit 25 million subscribers in January. No data on monthly active users of Cloud Gaming has been provided, nor did Microsoft clarify what constitutes a single stream (i.e. ‘x’ number of minutes).

We don’t even know how many of these 10 million-plus people are existing Game Pass members. That’s because Game Pass has had a “$1 for your first month” introductory offer for a while now, meaning it’s unclear how many people may have signed up, tried out streaming and later cancelled.

Still, unlike, say, Google’s beleagured Stadia service, Microsoft has been positioning Cloud Gaming as merely an option, rather than its core gaming platform. On top of Cloud Gaming being available on iOS, Android, Xbox consoles and PC, consumers can still purchase Xbox/PC games physically or digitally as normal. Xbox is also still positioning Cloud Gaming as a beta as it plans to expand the service to other platforms, like TV apps and Roku-esque streaming sticks.

In related news, Microsoft confirmed that Xbox hardware revenue was up 14 percent in Q3, although it warned that future performance could be affected by Chinese production shutdowns.

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Here are the free games hitting PlayStation Plus in May 2022

Every month, Sony offers a few PlayStation games at no additional cost to those subscribed to its PlayStation Plus service.

Now, the company has unveiled the three games hitting PS Plus in May.

Notably, this month’s lineup is led by EA Vancouver’s latest soccer sim, FIFA 22. The PS4 version is also free with PS Plus. Also free on both PS4 and PS5 is Montreal-based Norsfell’s Tribes of Midgard, a survival action-RPG that can be played solo or online, and Passtech’s single-player PS4 roguelike Curse of the Dead Gods.

These games will be available through PS Plus from May 3rd to June 6th. April’s free PS Plus games, meanwhile, can be claimed until May 2nd.

A PlayStation Plus subscription costs $11.99/month, $29.99/three months or $69.99/year. Those are the current membership options, though; Sony’s expanded PlayStation Plus service launches in Canada on June 13th. Two additional, more expensive tiers will be added then to offer more games and other perks — read more on those here.

Image credit: EA

Source: PlayStation

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Mobile Syrup

Koodo increases cost of its U.S and international roaming plans

Koodo has increased the cost of its roaming plans.

As first reported by iPhone in Canada, the U.S. roaming plan increased from $11 a day to $12. The international plan has increased from $14 a day to $15.

Koodo caps the cost of Easy Roam U.S. at $240 per billing cycle and Easy Roam International at $300 per cycle. This means users can continue to use their phone plans without any additional fees.

The Telus flanker brand is following similar price increases as Bell, which will be increasing the cost of its international roaming plan to $15 a day, up from $14. The change will come into effect on May 12th. Bell isn’t increasing the daily cost of its U.S. roaming plan.

Companies are increasing the prices of roaming plans as travel restrictions brought on by COVID continue to ease. It won’t be surprising if other telecom companies follow suit.

Source: Koodo Via: iPhone in Canada