Author: Trent Meikle

Fighting games are weird. Not only is the market inundated by the same three companies every four years or so, but it’s a genre that’s expected to redefine what it means to be a fighting game just as often. All while maintaining the same core gameplay loop and basic mechanics that stretch as far back as the series’ first game, which hit arcades more than thirty years ago. It’s no easy feat. It begs the question; how does NetherRealm keep the Mortal Kombat series fresh while featuring the same faces, and that “Get over here!” line we’ve been hearing since…

If you thought September’s official petrol and diesel prices were pushing your wallet to its limit, we invite you to avert your eyes from October’s official fuel price changes. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy just published the month’s official fuel price changes and… they’re not pretty. Diesel drivers might be walking instead Diesel drivers are, once again, taking the brunt of the increase, with a nearly R2 increment set to hit the country’s pumps. The Department cites the country’s continually depreciating Rand against the US Dollar for the major increase, though it also made note of a 30c…

Move over iOS 17, Android 14 is coming After teasing us all year through a number of Android 14 betas that permeated the internet, it appears that a stable version of Google’s next big update might be dropping alongside the search giant’s Pixel 8 release tomorrow, 4 October. That’s according to Telus – a Canadian carrier (via SamMobile), which announced on its website that Android U (14) would hit all Pixel phones from tomorrow, 4 October, before delisting the information entirely a few days later. It’s worth absorbing this information with a pinch of salt, though the announcement’s removal does seem…

Be cool, iPhone 15 Is your iPhone 15 running a bit too hot? That appears to be the case for plenty of users, with reports indicating that Apple’s latest piece of tech is overheating a little too often for something that’ll set you back at least R22,000. Fret not, for Apple has acknowledged the issue in a statement shared with MacRumors, noting that a fix was on the way. Fortunately, the issue doesn’t lie in the phone’s titanium chassis. It’s a software issue and one that Apple is currently in the process of fixing. Apple reckons that recent updates to…

Perhaps the only big tech player not pursuing some sort of commercial AI chatbot was Meta, after Amazon’s recent spending to grab a contending spot. On Wednesday Meta, in a fashionably late entrance to the party, announced that it was releasing its own AI assistant, along with a multitude of AI personalities across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Oh, and AI stickers. Meta AI – boring name, by the way Sure, Meta’s got Llama 2, but this is different. Kind of. Meta’s AI, tediously named Meta AI is supposedly just like every other chatbot out there, described as an “assistant you…

The Elder Scrolls VI: Castles Bethesda just stealth-dropped a new Elder Scrolls game and no, it isn’t The Elder Scrolls VI. It isn’t a re-release of Skyrim, either, if you can believe that. Bethesda’s cooked up something new, something fresh: The Elder Scrolls: Castles, a mobile game that asks a big question: what if Fallout Shelter and Skyrim had a baby? That’s the idea anyway. The game hit the Google Play Store in the late hours of last night, listed as early access. That won’t stop anyone with an Android and a set of fingers from downloading the game, however.…

We’ve been big fans of Honor ever since it freed itself from Huawei and began building its own brand, far away from the sanctions that plague its former parent company to this day. That means Honor has the honour of using 5G chipsets and Google’s Mobile Services in its devices. This is almost a requisite for any Android smartphone hoping to compete. The Honor 90 continues the trend of delivering high-quality tech for a fraction of what you’d pay at, say, Apple’s storefront. Sure, it’s missing some things, but for the R14,500 price point, you won’t hear us complaining. Okay,…

ChatGPT can access the web (again) ChatGPT is making like a North Korean defector and can finally browse the web (again), OpenAI announced over on X last night. The aim here is for the massively popular large language model (LLM) to provide users with “current and authoritative information, complete with direct links to sources.” Better yet, it’ll no longer be restricted to data posted before September 2021. This isn’t the first time the LLM has had access to the web. Until recently, ChatGPT featured a ‘Browse with Bing’ feature that was removed a few months back, due to the model’s…

Roughly three years after its launch, MultiChoice is officially shutting down Showmax Pro, the broadcaster’s sports-focused streaming service, in favour of a new Showmax – powered by Comcast. According to a FAQ post on Showmax’s website, the phase-out period will be complete by 30 November 2023. If you weren’t paying attention, MultiChoice first announced its massive partnership with Comcast back in March of this year, with the idea being to squash Showmax and relaunch – as Showmax – with Peacock’s (a US-based streamer) tech at the helm, and a host of new content. The New Showmax The service has yet…

Buying anything gaming-related with the Acer logo slapped on the front is always going to be an expensive procedure. That’s… just how it is. You’re paying for some substantial tech, a (usually) massive display and a power brick big enough to replace your gym membership. Its latest gaming notebook – the Nitro V 15 – sees the company return to the ‘budget’ gaming realm, arriving in SA in December with a starting price of R20,000. Whip out the Nitro(us) Don’t get us wrong, R20,000 is by no means cheap. Even so, it’s a far cry from, say, Razer’s latest Lamborghini-fied…