All about Canada's thriving gaming scene

"Dragon Age Inquisition (48)" (CC BY 2.0) by MrRiddell

Recent figures from the Entertainment Software Association of Canada paint an encouraging picture of the video game industry in the country, with the last two years proving lucrative for the sector. As we already know, the profile of gamers has evolved quite a lot in the past few years – check out this article canadianreviewer.com wrote on the topic. As a response, the gaming industry had to adapt to the new trends. There are now a reported 20,000 people working at almost 500 companies, helping video games add $3bn to the Canadian economy in 2015, as indicated by the following article on theesa.ca.

Here’s a quick look at some of the homegrown companies, studios, and websites contributing to those numbers.

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Samsung Galaxy S8 might bring autofocus to front-facing camera

The rumour mill for Samsung’s latest flagship is steadily rolling out supposed specs for the device. One of the newest news items is related to selfies. According to Korean news site etnews, the Samsung Galaxy S8 might be coming with autofocus feature for its front-facing camera. It might sound a bit excessive but the added feature might be appreciated by the selfie-loving crowd. Of course, at the moment this is still a rumour. Is this a feature you’d want on your next phone?

Source: Android Authority

Waze adds the voices of ‘The Grand Tour’ boys to its roster

In the past life, you knew Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May as hosts of Top Gear. Now, they host a new Amazon original show called The Grand Tour (which you now have access to). And one way to promote the show and add a bit of entertainment to your drives is by lending their voices to Waze. Yes, there is now an option to hear these snarky and hilarious gearheads while you go through traffic. But the promotion will only last until February 5. Sign us up. We hope the update comes our way faster than access to Amazon Video (kind of) headed our way.

Source: Venture Beat

Next iPad might ditch the home button

Apple has taken out the capacitive home button for the iPhone 7 but it might forego said button entirely with the upcoming iPad—at least if we’re to believe the latest report from Makotakara. The Japanese site claims Apple will be coming out with a 10.9-inch iPad that can fit into the 9.7-inch iPad Pro because of this said design decision. The home button’s functions will reportedly be placed underneath the display glass, similar to what other smartphone makers do with their devices.

Bezels will also supposedly be thinner but the devices itself might be thicker—Makotakara says these might be 7.5mm thick (which is almost the same thickness as the original iPad Air). The thicker iPad might mean better battery and display technology to support the Apple Pencil. At the moment this is all just speculation so it’s best to take it with a grain of salt. But if a home button-less iPad is in our future, is that something you’d consider getting?

Source: The Verge