The Morning After: PlayStation reveals ‘God of War’ and ‘Spider-man’ sequels headed for PS5

Good morning, there. I’m a little tired this morning, having stayed awake for PlayStation’s big gaming showcase last night. A lot of us thought Sony might give us a pretty innocuous tour of the PlayStation 5’s incoming UI update — perhaps a closer look at games on the horizon, like Deathloop.

We were wrong. So wrong. We got early first-looks at a new God of War game, a Spider-Man sequel and, whoa, a Wolverine game made by the same studio responsible for the web-slinger’s latest adventures, Insomniac. We got a handful of remasters — with Uncharted 4 particularly looking lovely — and, unbelievably, an actual release date for Gran Turismo 7.

It was an impressive showing for PlayStation — especially after a year of mostly limp gaming events (do you even remember the , Microsoft’s last Xbox showcase?)

Sony, so far, is holding its position of power for this generation of consoles. For now. Will Microsoft’s big cloud gaming push rain on its parade?

— Mat Smith

All the biggest PlayStation Showcase stories

And please, please find a new wake word.

We’ve got two stories on Facebook’s collaboration on smart glasses with Ray-Ban, and our two writers draw similar conclusions. The glasses look stylish and the camera seems to take relatively decent video footage, but that Facebook connection….

You’ll need your phone nearby to do anything with the video and photos you capture, and there’s a small white LED that lights up when the glasses are recording. Yes, they are a bit heavier, and the cameras are noticeable up close, but from a distance, they could easily pass as any other pair of WayFarers. That’s the crux of these — they’re certainly a Facebook product, but it’s trying to hide that. There’s no Facebook logo on the frames, though there is some on the packaging, and this is because, well, a lot of us don’t have much love for the social network.

There’s a lot (a lot!) of similarities with Snapchat’s Spectacles, but Ray-Ban’s Stories do offer audio capabilities built into each arm. However, it’s still hard to disconnect love for the gadget with the company responsible for it. 

Read on for Karissa Bell’s impressions so far.

Neo doesn’t know who he is.

And thankfully, everything doesn’t look green and grey.

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A deep dive into how cameras are still evolving.

Cameras keep getting better, but arguably, the pace of improvement has slowed. You can look at photos on decades-old DSLRs, and they look pretty good! While in some tests, sensors seem to have barely changed, there have been big advancements in noise reduction, dynamic range and how fast sensors can be read. Chris Schodt explains it all.

Watch here.

SpaceX previously accused Amazon of delaying its Starlink proposals.

Amazon’s response to SpaceX’s FCC filing, which accused the e-commerce giant of trying to delay proposals for its Starlink internet service on purpose, is just as scathing. In an FCC filing of its own, Amazon told the regulator that SpaceX chief Elon Musk tends to ignore rules and government-imposed regulations. The company also said SpaceX often accuses any company “that dares point out its flouting of laws and regulations” as “anticompetitive.”

This is the latest development in a lengthy battle with the FCC in the middle. The Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin also filed a complaint against NASA with the US Court of Federal Claims over the lunar lander contract it awarded to SpaceX.

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And if it fails, you’ll get a new one.

A new robot vacuum, not a new pet.

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The block box unfolds to reveal Peach’s Castle and other levels.

Proving the collaboration so far must be a success, Lego and Nintendo have unveiled a new Lego Super Mario 64 block set with microscale levels including Peach’s Castle along with several micro figures. The companies describe it as a “unique way for fans to rediscover the magic of Super Mario 64.” The price of said magic? $170.

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