My fingers are numb, the wind is whipping in my hair, and it’s raining, but I couldn’t give a damn: I’m currently fighting a werewolf in the middle of London. Tracing a glyph with my finger on the screen, I fire off a spell before swiping to the side to cast Protego, defending myself from a swipe of its claw (which you can see in action in the video above). Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is ridiculous in terms of its scope, and without a doubt is the most ambitious mobile AR game around right now. There are three different professions to choose from (which you can switch between freely), skill trees, potion brewing, spell casting, wizarding challenges, collectibles, a core narrative, mysteries to solve, in-game locations you can explore in AR, potion ingredients that appear based on the time, weather, biome, and the phase of the moon… Recounting all that I did during my brief time with Harry Potter: Wizards Unite stuns me. And it should stupify you too. The … [Read more...] about Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is a RPG-centric, more ambitious version of Pokemon Go and feels truly magical to play
Disadvantages to mobile phones
Fortnite mobile controllers are here – but they’ll make your life MUCH harder
FORTNITE'S latest update brought one big change players have been waiting for a long time -- but it's one that could make scoring a victory royale much harder if you take advantage of it. You can now use any Bluetooth or similar wireless controller that connects to your phone to play Fortnite, but it comes at a price. On the plus side you get a much clearer view of the action, have much more control and generally be much more comfortable playing. However, the downside is that you may find the quality of your opposition just got a serious boost. Because of Epic Games' input-based matchmaking, everyone playing with a controller is lumped into the same matchmaking pool, so rather than playing against other people also hobbled by touch-screen controls the second you plug a controller in you'll be matched up against console and PC players using controllers. They will, however, be playing on more powerful hardware, full-size screens and generally with better controllers -- so unless you … [Read more...] about Fortnite mobile controllers are here – but they’ll make your life MUCH harder
Fortnite’s mobile versions may finally get controller support: “We’re beginning testing”
Fortnite first arrived on mobile devices back in April and a common feature request from dedicated players has remained since then: controller support. Epic Games' latest mobile-centric development update could be cause for celebration for all screen-tapping types, especially the ones who wish they could be twiddling thumbsticks instead."Controller support. We haven’t touched on this in some time, but we’re beginning testing on various controller setups as we work to enable support," Epic wrote. "We’ll give you a status update on these when we get it to a better state."The mobile controller market is still very much in flux, so I'd imagine it's more complicated to get a satisfactory amount of them working well with Fortnite than just porting over the controlly bits from its console versions. Speaking of which, don't forget that you can probably pair a Bluetooth-compatible Xbox One controller with your phone if they're both reasonably up to date.There's also the old … [Read more...] about Fortnite’s mobile versions may finally get controller support: “We’re beginning testing”
HTC U12 Life is the perfect proof for why buying a £1,000 phone is stupid
YOU don't need to spend close to £1,000 on a smartphone these days – and HTC's new mobile is proof. The new HTC U12 Life is a mid-range blower that costs just £299, but you'd never know looking at it. It's powerful, attractive, and has some really neat features – including a dual-lens camera. That's impressive given the low price, and proves your next smartphone doesn't need to cost the earth. The HTC U12 Life is a direct successor to last year's U11 Life, announced this week at Berlin's IFA 2018 tech show – and now has a slick two-tone design. Its top third is shiny glass, while the bottom two thirds offer a cool striped effect. These ridged glass stripes look great, but they also serve a practical purpose. "As great as glass looks, it always has two big disadvantages," HTC's Fabian Nappenbach explained. "One of them is fingerprints, where you spend all day making it shiny again. "The other one is that glass is really slippery. We addresses both of those … [Read more...] about HTC U12 Life is the perfect proof for why buying a £1,000 phone is stupid
Fortnite mobile head-to-head: Android vs iOS vs Switch
The arrival of Fortnite on Android completes the set - Epic's remarkable cross-play juggernaut is now available on pretty much every games-capable device running a modern GPU. We've looked at the console and iOS versions in the past, but with the Android release, we wanted to take a closer look at how Fortnite looks and runs across a gamut of mobile devices from top-end smartphones down to Nintendo's Switch running in mobile mode. The inclusion of the Nintendo hybrid is fascinating, revealing how low-level graphics APIs and a dedicated gaming focus allow for older mobile hardware to directly compete with - and sometimes even surpass - the outputs of today's top-end phones.For the purposes of testing the Android version - and specifically, installing the game while bypassing Google Play - Epic sent us a Samsung Galaxy S9+, one of the most powerful handsets on the market. The firm's PR company warned us in advance that graphics comparisons won't be particularly interesting as iOS and … [Read more...] about Fortnite mobile head-to-head: Android vs iOS vs Switch