This is a happening time of year for video games. It’s the holiday shopping season, which means lots of gift-giving involving consoles, games and accessories — including, if you can snag one, the big next-gen systems: the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S.
As for games, a hot new arrival is Cyberpunk 2077, an epic adventure seven years in the making. Our Dan Van Boom says it “delivers a playground so expansive you could play until actual 2077 and still probably not see everything” — and he offers a list of 9 things he wished he knew before he started in. Meanwhile, Scott Stein considers the new VR version of the classic game Myst; playing on the Oculus Quest 2, he says, “makes Myst feel more like a living world.”
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And Jackson Ryan has done a deep, deep dive into how much energy you’ll burn for every hour you play, and what that means for climate change. Hint: “Sony and Microsoft have built the most energy-intensive game consoles to date.”
Those are among the in-depth features and thought-provoking commentaries that appeared on Bioreports this week. So here you go, these are the stories you don’t want to miss:
Xbox Series X, PS5 and the climate crisis: The carbon cost of next-gen
Sony’s and Microsoft’s monolithic new consoles are designed to power a decade of play — but are they sustainable?
Bioreports
Cyberpunk 2077: An enormous game that lives up to enormous hype
Commentary: After more than seven years of anticipation, Cyberpunk 2077 launches Thursday. It’s everything fans hoped it would be.
CD Projekt Red; screenshot by Dan Van Boom/Bioreports
Japan’s asteroid sample returns home, poised to reveal solar system’s secrets
Hayabusa2 delivers ancient samples to Earth, ending a historic, six-year mission to asteroid Ryugu.
The sample return capsule blazing across the sky above Coober Pedy, South Australia.
Morgan Sette/Getty Images
Facebook chased lie after lie after lie in 2020
The pandemic, US elections and outrage over racial injustice created a perfect storm for social media misinformation.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies remotely as US Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in November titled, “Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election.”
Getty Images
Google’s 2020: Search giant clashes with DC over antitrust, misinformation
After feuding with its employees, Google is now crossing swords with lawmakers and regulators.
Getty Images
Myst has arrived in VR, and it’s a perfect fit
The classic game comes to Oculus Quest, and it’s great. But I really want a new sequel.
Cyan Worlds
AirPods Max hands-on: Apple’s $549 headphones raise the noise-canceling bar
They cost a small fortune, but so far, we’re impressed.
David Carnoy/Bioreports
How World of Warcraft keeps its story straight
A “signature story” across games, books and comics. A team of in-house historians. A corkboard and lots of string. Herein lies a tale of lore and order.
World of Warcraft/Blizzard Entertainment
Facial recognition’s fate could be decided in 2021
A number of lawsuits and legislative measures mean the debate over the use of facial recognition is poised to ramp up.
Malte Mueller/Getty Images
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