Canadian Reviewer Weekly Roundup - 12/9 – 12/15

OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition might have 50W Warp Charging

Netflix teases first season of ‘The Umbrella Academy’

Fun Family Gaming Gift Guide

Googlers hope to inspire young girls and children of colour to pursue STEM careers

Real stories show how the Apple Watch transcends fitness tracking and can save lives

'Stardew Valley's brings multiplayer mode to the Switch this week

Pixar announces its newest original movie, ‘Onward’

Google Maps on iOS gets For You recommendations tab

Chrome OS to enable drawing on PDF documents using Pixel Pen or mouse

Taylor Swift brings reputation Stadium Tour to Netflix

Amazon Fire TV gets SEGA Classics games

New Facebook bug exposed millions of users’ photos, including unposted ones

These are the rumoured specs & price of Samsung’s upcoming foldable phone

Nintendo’s NES and SNES Classic consoles are no longer in production

Epic pulls its ‘overpowered’ Infinity Blade from ‘Fortnite’

US gamers who test out ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’ on Google’s Project Stream get free copy of the game

Google is enticing more people in the US to try out its Project Stream service by offering a free copy of the game they’re currently testing. Project Stream is the company’s first foray into a streaming video game service. It launched its test period back in October with Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Now, Google and Ubisoft are using this freebie and some free Helix Credits—the series’ in-game currency—to get more people to participate. Those who spend at least an hour playing the game on Project Stream before January 15, 2019 can get a free copy of the game on the PC. You need to have a Uplay and Google account to avail this. The link is tied to the user’s Uplay account.

The players also get 1,000 Helix Credits but these will only be available during the test period. What can be carried over to the full game is the items bought as well as all the game saves. If you’re in the US, you can find out more about this deal over at this link.

Source: Polygon

Epic pulls its ‘overpowered’ Infinity Blade from ‘Fortnite’

There’s getting a competitive advantage and then there’s just killing the game for everyone else. And that’s what the Infinity Blade did for Fortnite. The mythic item gave the player who wielded it. It gave them a health and shield boost, HP regeneration, faster movement, incredible damage-dealing potential, and the ability to smash through buildings in no time at all. But the problem was it was too strong, which meant those in the receiving end of it didn’t like it. It drew enough flak that Epic Games was forced to pull the weapon in no time. In a tweet, Epic said, “We messed up and rolled out the Infinity Blade overpowered / without good counters, especially in the end game. The Infinity Blade has been Vaulted and we are re-evaluating our approach to Mythic items.”

The company initially had plans to rework it but decided to just pull it out completely. Epic said it’s also rethinking its approach to mythic items and promises to release more details in the coming week about their “competitive philosophy when it comes to new items, updates, and seasons."

Source: Engadget

Nintendo’s NES and SNES Classic consoles are no longer in production

Looks like after the current stock is out, it’ll be hard, or possibly nearly impossible, to get your hands the Nintendo NES Class or SNES Classic consoles. Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo America, told The Hollywood Reporter, that both consoles won’t be returning to store shelves once the current stock runs out. “We’ve said that the current systems are the extent of our classic program,” Fils-Aime said. “We’ve also been clear that, at least from an Americas perspective, these products are going to be available through the holiday season and once they sell out, they’re gone. And that’s it.”

The company wants to put its focus on bringing its retro games to Nintendo Switch Online. Right now, though, the focus seems to be on select NES titles but we’re still keeping our fingers crossed they change their minds about bringing games from the other classic consoles. Or perhaps even bring back these consoles in the future.

Source: Polygon