ZTE ZMAX Pro Review – is a $100 smartphone worth buying?
Owning a phone doesn’t mean having to endure a costly investment. The times have changed, obviously, since phone makers are making it more affordable than ever to own a smartphone. Take for instance ZTE, who for the longest time placed its attention on making entry-level devices that were easy on the pockets, but is making a significant charge yet again by upping the ante with its latest affordable option.
Related ZTE articles:
- Getting to know the ZTE Axon 7
- ZTE Axon 7 review
- ZTE ZMAX Pro hands on | What is a $100 smartphone like?
Most people agree that sub-$200 is pretty aggressive for brand new phones, however, ZTE thinks that more can be done. Cutting that cost in half, the ZTE ZMAX Pro is undeniably tempting with its hard-to-resist price of $99.00 – and that’s all you’re going to have to pay for it. This threshold might not be anything new for the pre-paid market, but what makes it impressive is the fact that it’s slapped with a handy fingerprint sensor, something you wouldn’t expect in something price like this.
Buy the ZTE ZMax Pro now
Design
The first order of business with the design is its size, something that’s arguably going be the biggest deal breaker for people. It’s a mighty big phone that pushes it well into the phablet category, so it’s quite honestly a handful to operate. Being so wide and all, two-handed operation is going to be the preferred method with the ZMAX Pro, since one hand operation is nearly impossible unless you have larger-than-average hands.
Size aside, ZTE has actually fashioned it with a pleasant design that doesn’t make it feel like a phone in its price range. The soft touch matte finish of the rear combined with the faux-metal bezel are nice touches, pushing it well beyond the context of being “cheaply” made. We really didn’t think that a phone could be this decent looking and constructed, just because phones under the $100 threshold tend to be sub-par in terms of this.
Despite its gargantuan size, they’re mindful about the placement of the power and volume keys – they’re positioned on the right edge, making them accessible to the thumb. Meanwhile, a USB Type-C port is found on the bottom, ensuring that it’s going to be compatible with whatever USB-Type C accessories that are beginning to come out now.
Display
Dominating its façade is a 6-inch 1080p TFT LCD display with Gorilla Glass 3, which is again something you wouldn’t think of getting with a sub-$100 smartphone. Better yet, the fact that they’ve opted to go with 1080p resolution shows that they want to make a statement – implicitly saying that phones of this caliber deserve more. And to that, it’s nice to know that it’s sufficiently detailed enough to make out.
In looking at the other aspects of the display, however, it indicates that it has an extremely colder color temperature than most at roughly 8000K. It’s far from that ideal reference value of 6500K, which makes whites appear bluish in tone. Moving onto color accuracy with this TFT LCD display, it’s a miss on nearly all fronts – including the color teal, which is probably the easiest color to reproduce accurately. All of the values in the sRGB color gamut chart miss their intended target reference marks, where magenta and teal in particular are heavily influenced by blue.
Even though it reaches a peak brightness output of 460 nits, the overall tone of the display seems washed out. Sure, we dig the specs for a phone of this caliber, but our testing reveals that its characteristic aren’t quite up to the levels you’d find in some pricier things. Then again, should we be surprised by this revelation?
Performance & Hardware
Given its price point, the Snapdragon 617 chip makes perfect sense in powering this affordable smartphone. Paired with 2GB of RAM, it suffices for the basic stuff, but it’s not suited to do more intensive operations – gaming in particular, where it exhibits too much choppiness for it to be a candidate. Okay, it’s not the gaming type, nor is it for power users who demand a lot more, but on a base level, its hardware combination is enough to get by.
For $99.00, we’re actually pretty stoked to know it’s packing 32GB of internal storage. Best of all, too, you can supplement its capacity because there’s a microSD slot on hand. It’s a feature that people probably wouldn’t expect to find in a phone with its price, but it’s a delightful that they opted to offer it.
Something that adds a lot more value to the phone is the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone, it’s an unexpected treat quite honestly. Given that it’s a feature that’s relatively uncommon in entry-level phones, you can say that we feel a teeny bit spoiled to find it. As for the sensor itself, it’s slightly recessed, but works well in adding that extra layer of security. In addition to simply just unlocking the phone, it can also be used to quick open an app, take a photo, or answer a phone call.
Increasingly becoming a standard for ZTE’s phones, the ZMAX Pro features capacitive buttons beneath the display. Unfortunately, the two dots flanking the home button can’t be programmed for anything else besides acting as the back and recent apps functions. In the rear and towards the left corner, we can make out the speaker grill, which emits a decent volume output, but doesn’t pack a whole lot of substance with its quality.
Conducting phones calls is a breeze with this one, thanks in part to the loud volume out of its earpiece and speakerphone – it’s potent enough to use in noisy conditions. Accompanying the strong volumes, we have clear and distinctive voices as well that solidifies its performance in this area. On the other end of the line, too, our callers didn’t have any problems discerning our voice.
Battery
The single most underrated portion about the ZMAX Pro in our opinion is its battery, a modest 3500 mAh cell to be exact. Considering the phone’s gigantic size, you might think it could’ve been larger, but don’t be fooled because when it’s paired with the screen’s 1080p resolution and Snapdragon 617 processor, it delivers longevity like no other. In fact, we’re able to get through a solid 2 days of battery life – and even into the start of a third day.
Using the included USB Type-C charger, it takes approximately 125 minutes to fully recharge its battery. That mark might not be close to some of the fastest recharging phones out there, but it’s not the slowest either at doing it.
Camera
In all fairness, the area where we see the biggest disparity in terms of quality against higher-priced alternatives is the performance in its cameras. For the ZTE ZMAX Pro, it relies on a combination consisting of a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing one. There’s nothing fanciful about them, nor the accompanying hardware – they’re just as ordinary as any other low priced phone. Running the camera app, there’s a decent mixture of modes and options at our disposal, like its manual mode, which people will probably appreciate having in a phone like this.
Regrettably, the phone’s biggest weakness is exposed here with the cameras – there’s just nothing spectacular about their performances. It’s okay enough to use for outdoor shots when lighting is ample, but there’s a noticeable level of over-sharpening, which seems to try and compensate for the rear camera’s softer details capture. Under low light, however, things take a dip even more as details become more speckled in tone. And finally, the HDR mode seems to just boost the contrast with shadows, making images appear a bit overblown.
ZTE ZMax Pro Camera Samples:
Moving onto video capture, which tops out at 1080p resolution, the results don’t improve much at all, as the general performance is similar to its still shot capture. Over-sharpening again is evident here, but this time, videos tend to have an under-exposed tone to them. And don’t bother using it under low light, just because noise and its muddy results don’t make it flattering to watch.
Software
Purists will love that the ZTE ZMAX Pro is mostly running a stock experience. In particular, it’s running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, which has the general look and feel of stock Android. Anyone getting into Android will have an easy time getting acquainted, since it’s pretty streamlined and straightforward. Yes, there’s some bloatware from MetroPCS, but given that it’s at the mercy of the company, it’s something you’d expect.
Power users, though, will probably feel that the experience isn’t up to snuff with their demands. Multi-tasking is generally reserved to just apps switching with the recent apps menu, but you won’t find any other enhanced features that would aid in its productivity. The biggest question with the phone, much like most budget stuff, is whether or not it’ll get upgraded to the next version of Android in a timely manner.
Gallery
Final Thoughts
Owning a cheap phone no longer means you’re getting a cheap phone, that’s just not the case anymore after checking out the ZTE ZMAX Pro. The $99.00 price tag it’s stickered with is without a doubt an aggressive move on its part, especially more given its phablet-esque stature and the inclusion of a fingerprint sensor. These are two things in particular that you wouldn’t expect to find in a phone in its price range, but that’s the beauty about it – you do get them!
Pricing is quite favorable here, but there are some other factors that’ll dictate your decision to buy it. First of all, this is strictly a MetroPCS exclusive, so you’ll have to settle with that reality if you intend to reap the benefits of its incredible pricing. This is arguably a factor that’ll limit its overall reach, as being confined to one carrier means it won’t get as much face time face time from consumers. And secondly, there are still some sub-par qualities with it – such as the inaccuracies with the display and over-sharpening effect with its cameras.
Related ZTE articles:
- Getting to know the ZTE Axon 7
- ZTE Axon 7 review
- ZTE ZMAX Pro hands on | What is a $100 smartphone like?
Then again, these compromises can be overlooked due to its price point, which again is the focal point here with the ZTE ZMAX Pro. At the end of the day, it’s a worthy recommendation if you’re on a tight budget.
Buy the ZTE ZMax Pro now
Hearthstone expansion leads to intense community backlash
The new Hearthstone expansion recieved an epic launch party — and backlash from the community.
On August 5, Blizzard threw an epic Hearthstone-themed party in L.A., one week ahead of the release of the latest Hearthstone expansion, One Night in Karazhan. Hosted by Hearthstone Senior Producer Yong Woo and Hearthstone caster extraordinaire Dan ‘Frodan’ Chou, the livestreamed event was also a celebration of the game reaching 50 million registered players across all platforms.
New cards
The climax of the event was expected to be the big reveal of the 45 new expansion cards being added to the Hearthstone library, which were immediately posted to the Hearthstone Facebook page following the conclusion of the live stream.
One rant suggested that this issue is a symptom of the larger issue of Blizzard’s fraught relationship with the Hearthstone community
It should come as no surprise that some people had a poor reaction towards the cards, especially given the enormous size of the Hearthstone fan base. Regardless, as you read through the comments on each card, reactions seemed overwhelmingly negative, with most complaints centered around the perceived snubbing of the Priest and Paladin, with most of the angst aimed at one Priest card in particular: Purify.
This Priest spell card costs two Mana and lets you silence a friendly minion (which, for the uninitiated, means removing any special ability text) and draw another card. The issue? The Priest class already has a silence card which allows you to target any active minion at no Mana cost.
Rants and subreddits
Curious, we poked our head into the Hearthstone subreddit to see how the community at large was reacting, and the frustration on display was palpable. Hearthstone’s Balance Philosophy is flawed and it’s not because Priest sucks read one post, which has since garnered over 1000 comments.
Another rant suggested that this issue is a symptom of the larger issue of Blizzard’s fraught relationship with the Hearthstone community when compared to the development and continual tweaking of their other AAA titles. The rest of the subreddit has been dominated by reaction videos, Straw polls and many more disheartening rants from disillusioned players.
In Blizzard’s defence, one of Hearthstone’s game designers, Dean Ayala, was quite active on Twitter engaging with fans who vented their frustrations about the new cards and the overall balance of the game.
What started with a celebration of the Hearthstone community and the new expansion exposed some deep-seated frustration amongst a fairly sizeable portion of the hardcore base. Consider just how much time and money some people have dropped to build out their Hearthstone decks. When you’re struggling with the sunken cost fallacy, it feels impossible to just walk away from something you’re emotionally invested in, even if it seems like the creators are showing you disrespect.
What started with a celebration of the Hearthstone community exposed some deep-seated frustration in the hardcore user base.
But, again, this all could just be a knee-jerk reaction from a passionate community. No one will have an opportunity to battle test these new cards until the expansion goes live on August 11, when players gain instant access to the One Night in Karazhan intro mission.
The remainder of the new adventure plays out over four weeks, as new wings of Medivh’s palace are explored. Players will choose whether to buy the full expansion outright with an in-app purchase of $19.99, or buy each new mission individually for either 700 gold, or $6.99.
What are your thoughts?
Are you a fan of Hearthstone? Did you watch the live event? What do you think of the One Night in Karazhan expansion cards? Let’s discuss in the comments!
Triby: the powerful, portable Amazon Echo for the family
A family-friendly Amazon Echo with Alexa support that sticks to your fridge. What a world!
Growing up, mom was all about written communication in the house. We had a massive calendar with everyone’s schedules on it, chore lists when we got home from school, and a little notepad where everyone could leave quick messages for whoever was next in the house. It worked as long as everyone remembered to check the paper and tear that note off when it was finished.
Fast forward 15 years to a house with no paper calendars, landline phones or notepads — because my spouse and I have smartphones. That system worked really well for us until recently, when our not-so-little kids started doing things like performing chores and being home alone with no adult supervision.
The folks at Invoxia have a solution for techy families in need of central communication tools, and for this household it is the solution. It’s called Triby, and it’s basically an Amazon Echo for parents — with Alexa support.
Triby is a smallish, battery-powered speaker with a pair of powerful magnets on the back. It’s built to be stuck to a fridge, or to be carried around the house by its friendly little handle. The most notable feature you’ll see associated with Triby is the inclusion of Amazon’s Alexa voice service. Triby is the first third-party gadget to function like an Amazon Echo, and even as just a Echo clone it’s quite good. But that doesn’t come close to describing Triby.
The speakers are nice and loud with a reasonable amount of depth, but the microphones aren’t as accurate as those on the Echo. The “Hey Alexa” command is triggered on Triby occasionally when conversations are happening in another room, with no mention at all of the activation command. It’s not a problem when actively using the system, but it’s clear the trigger is a little sensitive. As a kitchen-friendly Amazon Echo, or even just a battery-powered Amazon Echo, Triby is pretty great. You say Alexa, the play/pause button lights up blue, and from that point it is exactly the same as an Echo.
But there’s a lot more to Triby than Alexa, and that’s where this system really stands out. The front of this box has six buttons for quick launching a number of features, and a little slit on the side for a small rubber flag. The left-side buttons on Triby are for VOIP calling. Triby’s smartphone app allows you to add multiple family members to a “group” and those buttons can be programmed to call people in that group. Tapping the first button on the left in our house calls my phone; the second calls Mom. The connection is a data-only call, but so far has worked consistently well — as long as my phone has a data connection.. The call function works both ways, so I can call the house to check in on everyone as though the Triby were a landline.
Triby is the first third-party gadget to function like an Amazon Echo, and in fact as just a Echo clone it’s quite good.
The second set of buttons are for radio presets. You can set Spotify channels or radio stations available on TuneIn as presets, and tapping those buttons will take you to the presets. This isn’t really any easier than saying “Alexa, play 98Rock” but having the option there is nice if you have someone who’d like to take the speaker into another room for music.
The most important feature Triby has, as silly as it may seem, is this little rubber flag. This flag is hidden inside the speaker until someone with the Triby app sends a message. This message can be a simple command like “Take out the trash” or something more casual like “We’re down at the park,” but usually a single sentence is ideal. Tap ‘Send’ in the Triby app and that message will appear on the E-Ink display on the front of the unit. As the message arrives, a motor pushes the flag out from the left side, and you now have this bright yellow flag sticking out. When someone wants to acknowledge receipt of a message on Triby, all they need to do is push the flag back in. When this happens, Triby chimes and the app sends an icon letting you know someone got the note. It’s a simple, effective way to communicate that works amazingly well with kids and young teenagers.
The most important feature Triby has is a silly little rubber flag that makes in-person communication tactile and fun.
There’s a lot to like about Triby, if only because there’s already a lot to like about Amazon’s Echo. For $20 more than an Echo you get a battery that easily lasts a full day, a design that can go way more places, and some amazing family-friendly features that are perfect for smartphone-based households. Looking beyond this being a slightly better Amazon Echo for families, Invoxia has started on a great path for a connected family gadget that doesn’t involve giving a kid a smartphone or making them responsible for an app.
And in this household, that’s a much bigger deal.
See at Amazon
Go Time! Episode 4: Giant Pikachu hugs
Episode 4 of our Pokemon Go podcast is here!
This week Jen and Erin are joined by Lory from team Instinct. They about the changes to the game since the big update, spawn and capture rate changes, and how Pokémon Go is bringing people together.
And if you’re not quite to level 20, we also take a few minutes to talk about the best strategies to get you there!
We’re excited to keep talking about Pokemon Go every week, and we hope you’ll join us!
- Google Play
- Soundcloud
- iTunes
- Or add us to your podcatcher of choice!
You can also join our Facebook page to keep up on all things Pokémon Go. See you in the world!
Pokémon Go
- Join our Pokémon Go forums!
- How to deal with GPS errors in-game
- Which team should you choose?
- How to play without killing your battery
- The Ultimate Pokémon Go Game Guide!
- Listen to the Pokémon Go podcast!
‘Harold Halibut’ brings back stop-motion video games
Remember the days when games were willing to experiment with stop motion characters and real-world backdrops, like Mortal Kombat or The Neverhood? They’re back. Slow Bros. is working on Harold Halibut, an adventure game where both the characters and the environments are honest-to-goodness physical objects. As Harold tries to keep things lively for the rest of his fellow clay-animated crew members, he’ll navigate a crash-landed spaceship made out of metal, wood and “carefully sewn textiles.” As the teaser below shows, the result brings a uniquely imperfect style and depth that you can’t quite get through all-digital animation.
The studio hasn’t said much more about the title, although it’s planning to support Macs, Windows PCs, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. The team tells us that it’s aiming for a release sometime in 2018, too, so don’t expect to get first-hand experience any time soon. However, the game already shows that you don’t need advanced 3D models and outsized production budgets to produce a game that stands out — low-tech craftmaking can be just as effective.
Via: Rock Paper Shotgun
Source: Harold Halibut
Wilson’s smart football hits stores next month for $200
Back in February, only a few months after Wilson introduced its smart basketball, the company followed that with a similar product for football players. Up until now, however, Wilson hadn’t shared any pricing or availability details about the X Connected Football. But today it announced that the smart football will arrive on September 8th for $200, the same price as the basketball version. With the Wilson X Connected Football, you can use an iOS app to get a breakdown of your throw, such as the distance, speed, spin rate and spiral efficiency.
Additionally, the NFL-approved ball comes with five game modes designed to help you improve your skills, as well as compare your stats with friends through the app. If you’re interested, Wilson is taking pre-orders already, which include a free copy of Madden 17 for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.
Via: CNET
Source: Wilson
Starting today, it will be a lot harder to vape if you’re under 18
In May, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced plans to regulate e-cigarettes like it does regular tobacco products. Today, those changes go into effect. First, the new regulations make it illegal to sell e-cigarettes and other vaping supplies to anyone under the age of 18. As we reported when the FDA first revealed its plans, the age limit was already being enforced in some places, but now it’s the rule nationwide. Retailers will be required to ask for identification from any customer who appears to be under the age of 27 and are prohibited from providing free samples to minors.
E-cigarette products will also have to go through an approval process before they can be sold. Before now, this wasn’t a requirement. What’s more, existing items that are already on shelves will also have to be approved if they went on sale after February 2007. Companies are allowed to continue selling products for two years while they prepare an application and an additional 12 months while the FDA reviews the paperwork. This also means that there won’t be any new products available for the foreseeable future. Hand-rolled cigars as well as hookah and pipe tobacco are also included in the new regulations.
“The bad news is that August 8th of this year marks the beginning of a two-year countdown to FDA prohibition of 99.9 percent plus of vapor products on the market,” American Vaping Association president Gregory Conley posted on the organization’s website late last week. “If we do not succeed in changing the FDA’s arbitrary predicate date of February 15, 2007, the vapor industry will shrink to almost nothing beginning August 8, 2018.”
The FDA cites consumer protection at the reason for the new regulations as the debate over health concerns surrounding cigarettes rages on. It’s also a way for the government to keep tabs on vaping products that are popular among teens. “This final rule is a foundational step that enables the FDA to regulate products young people were using at alarming rates, like e-cigarettes, cigars and hookah tobacco, that had gone largely unregulated,” Mitch Zeller from the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, explained back in May.
Source: USA Today
Explore ‘Quadrilateral Cowboy’ even further with its source code
The team behind Quadrilateral Cowboy is giving a little something back to the community. Blendo Games has released the game’s entire source code for players and other studios to explore and examine.
Offering up the source code fits right in with the bizarre existence of Quadrilateral Cowboy itself, in fact, as it’s a cyberpunk puzzler that’s all about overseeing a hacking operation while utilizing a 56.6k modem and 256k of RAM. Impressive specs, right?
The code is written in C++, with solution files for Microsoft Visual C++ 2010, and is available in a package that’s just 12MB large. The game was created on a modified version of the same engine behind Doom 3 and Quake 4, and if you’re interested in putting those tinkering skills to good use, you can grab the source here.
That should satisfy any urges to mess about in the world of tech that arise after a game of Quadrilateral Cowboy.
Via: Develop-Online
Massive ‘No Man’s Sky’ day one patch is live a day early
No Man’s Sky’s substantial first-day patch is available now for the PlayStation 4, a day earlier than the game’s August 9th release date. The patch’s file size is 824MB, which isn’t too large considering the number of fundamental changes it makes to how the game plays, but it is roughly a quarter of the game’s size, which is 3.69GB.
No Man’s Sky’s patch brings three story paths to follow in the game — one of which has been completely rewritten — allowing you to make choices early on that will determine what you see later. The update brings a deeper trading system, new combat mechanics — like the slightly revamped hit systems in space fights — and expansions to your personal and space vessel inventories.
This patch, which includes a few more changes, is the “first of many” free updates to the space exploration title. Future upgrades will let you build bases and own “giant space freighters.” No Man’s Sky is seen (by developer Hello Games) as a constantly evolving project. You’ll most likely play a different game when you hop back in a few months later.
Via: Polygon
Day-one patches are the new normal
No Man’s Sky will receive a massive day-one patch that adds a ton of new content and gameplay elements to an already humongous game. This would be just fine, except a few retailers across the nation started selling the game early — it comes out on Tuesday, but some people (including reviewers) were playing it late last week. The patch, which includes the actual finished game with all of its bells and whistles, requires these early players to delete their saves and start over when No Man’s Sky actually comes out. Developers at Hello Games wiped No Man’s Sky’s servers on Sunday and they’re doing the same thing today.
And there’s nothing wrong with any of this.
Some players feel cheated (“I bought the game, so why can’t I keep my progress?”), and others think that a day-one patch is a sign developers are trying to ship an unfinished game (“Isn’t that just a cop-out so they can start making money without doing their jobs?”). These perspectives are not only entitled, but they misunderstand the modern game development process.
Day-one patches are the new normal — and, hell, they’re not even that new.
When Microsoft attempted to sell the Xbox One as an “always-on” console in 2013, the idea received so much backlash that the company changed its entire next-gen ecosystem. Microsoft abandoned the idea of a console that had to be constantly connected to the internet, while Sony crowed that the PS4 was never designed to be always-on.
However, in practice, both of these consoles rely heavily on online connections. Many major, AAA games — even single-player experiences — won’t function without first connecting to the internet, and all games receive multiple patches throughout their life cycles. Some of these patches are small, but some are large updates to the core of a game’s mechanics or playability. Modern consoles are not always-on, but they are mostly-on.
Within this mostly-on ecosystem, not only are developers able to release day-one patches; they’re encouraged to do so. Getting a game certified on consoles is an arduous, bureaucratic process filled with complex forms, weird benchmarks and a thousand ways to get rejected. Nuclear Throne co-creator Rami Ismail laid out the certification process in a blog post last night, and he noted that especially in the case of disc-based games, like No Man’s Sky, developers often submit their builds months in advance.
“If you’ve got months to improve upon a game that went through cert, do you think you would leave those months?” Ismail asked. “Do you think audiences would appreciate a developer just kind of doing nothing for three months? Can you imagine the Kickstarter outrage if a developer, three months from launch, posted, ‘We’re done, it’s good, we’re not touching it again until you get to play in three months?’ Anybody arguing that a game should be done when it goes ‘gold’ is living in the ’90s.”
Besides, not only are games today more connected than they were in the ’90s, they’re vastly more complicated on a technical level. Patches are more prevalent in general because there’s more that can go wrong or need tweaking for a game to operate as its creators envisioned. This doesn’t just apply to console games, either; PC games are just as huge and many also require an internet connection at some point.
The ability to roll out a day-one patch is a crucial facet of a mostly-on ecosystem, in which developers and console manufacturers assume all players have access to the internet, at least for a little while. Long enough to download an update, if not an entire game.
A day-one patch is not a sign that the developers are trying to pull a fast one on players or that they snuck an unfinished game through certification. Sure, it seems like some games simply aren’t done when they hit consoles — we’re looking at you, Assassin’s Creed Unity — and those are worthy of our ire, especially if we’ve just dropped $60 on a supposedly AAA experience. However, day-one patches on their own are not sinister. They’re simply part of the modern game development process.
Sean Murray and the rest of Hello Games were thrust into the limelight the day they revealed the first trailer for No Man’s Sky in late 2013, and they’ve been working under its harsh glare ever since.
“We’re under a pretty intense spotlight right now, and hopefully it’s easy to imagine how hard it would be to switch off from that, or how deeply we care about people’s first impression of the game,” Murray wrote in a post about the day-one update yesterday. “In fact most of us were back here the day after we went gold, working on this update. We’re already proud of what we put on a disk, but if we had time, why not continue to update it?”
No Man’s Sky in particular is a passion project. You can hear it in the way Murray talks about devouring sci-fi novels as a kid and how he dreamed of one day playing a game that allowed him to explore entire universes from the comfort of his couch. The game gained attention because it’s gorgeous, and it kept us hooked because of its premise: the idea of unencumbered cosmic exploration unlike anything we’ve ever been offered in a video game. It’s a huge project and a new experience in the gaming world. And now, with the day-one patch, it’s even better than we could have imagined.
In this case, a day-one patch is not only normal — it’s ideal.
AIVAnet 