eBay’s new Instant Selling program turns old smartphones into new money

Let’s face it, we all have that one desk drawer filled with old phones that we promise ourselves we’ll sell — when we can get around to it. With eBay’s new Instant Selling program for smartphones, the process might now be a little bit easier.

With Instant Selling you’ll receive an instant voucher after listing your device, to be used toward the purchase of a new phone through eBay. That’s also after you find out whether your phone is even eligible for the service. You can access the service via a mobile web browser or on desktop, at which point you’ll be asked to enter your device information — such as the model, color, capacity, and carrier. Once all the details are filled in, you’ll receive an instant quote if it’s eligible.

If you’re satisfied with the price, it will then prompt you to add images of the phone. When you’re done, simply click “List it,” (which also means you’re simultaneously agreeing to eBay’s terms and conditions), and you’ll then be able to claim your instant eBay voucher. It’ll be automatically added to your account to use whenever you’re ready.

You’ll notice there’s also a “No, thanks” option that you can choose when viewing how much your voucher is worth. This is for if you don’t want to go through the program to sell your device; you can instead opt to do it yourself on eBay through the standard selling process.

But since the program is extremely new, there are some restrictions when it comes to eligibility, depending on your carrier and device. For now, the only phones that can be listed through Instant Selling include the Samsung Galaxy S7 to S9+, the iPhone 6S 16GB model all the way up to the iPhone X 256GB, and any devices that are unlocked. The phones will also have to be under AT&T or Verizon, but any phones under Sprint and T-Mobile will be eligible starting in November, along with Google Pixel phones and certain LG products.

After listing your phone, the Instant Selling program provides you with a shipping label to print. You’ll then have to pack up your phone and ship it out within two business days.

“Millions of Americans have unused phones in their homes and simply don’t realize how much their devices are worth, probably because trade-in values are typically so low,” said Alyssa Steele, vice president of hard goods at eBay, said in a press release. “With Instant Selling, people can find out exactly how much their phone is worth, and sell their phone within a matter of minutes to immediately help fund the holidays, or maybe something off their personal wish list.”

According to eBay, those who use Instant Selling to get rid of old smartphones will make more money than if they were to sell through Gazelle and EcoATM. The same goes for trading in devices to carriers such as AT&T and Verizon, as well as the Apple Give Back program.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Here’s how to buy the new five-camera LG V40 ThinQ flagship phone
• How to sell Your iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus (without getting ripped off)
• How to sell your old Google Pixel or Pixel 2 for the most money
• iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR: How to buy Apple’s new phones
• Here’s how to buy the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9

There’s finally a way to trace ‘untraceable’ 3D printed guns

Ever since 3D printing went mainstream, there have been concerns about what the widespread availability of 3D-printed gun blueprints might mean. While guns are legal to own in the U.S., the fear of lawmakers is that 3D printing could allow criminals to have an easy supply of homemade firearms with no serial number with which to trace them. This problem has grown so severe that President Trump addressed the matter in July 2018 tweet, in which he noted that he is looking to resolve the issue.

However, until now there has been no straightforward way to do this. Fortunately, researchers at the University at Buffalo, Rutgers University, and Northeastern University have been working on a solution. They’ve created a system, called PrinTracker, which is able to trace 3D-printed objects to their source, based on each 3D printer’s unique fingerprint. They hope that this could help law enforcement and intelligence agencies to track the source of 3D-printed guns, alongside counterfeit products, and other objects.

“It is a fact that every human has a unique fingerprint; however, it is less known that machines could have a fingerprint, too,” Dr. Wenyao Xu, associate professor of computer science and engineering in UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, told Digital Trends. “Through our work, we demonstrate that every 3D printer has a unique fingerprint, and from just analyzing a minute part of any 3D-printed object our system can reveal the identity of the source 3D printer. In our vision, the significance of our technology is equal to the first discovery of the latent fingerprint existence in the 1930s.”

The 3D-printed “fingerprints” are not purposely incorporated into prints like a watermark. Instead, they are tiny imperfections caused by each printer’s model type, filament, nozzle size, and other factors. While the resulting prints may look the same to you or me, when analyzed up close these details can reveal the specific printer used for a job. The researchers developed a special algorithm that calculates these details. In a test using 14 3D printers, the researchers were able to match a print up to the right printer 99.8 percent of the time. It could also accurately determine the right printer even when keys had been damaged to try and obscure its identity.

“We continue to transform our research into an accessible system [to hopefully] make a broader impact upon the society,” Zhengxiong Li, another researcher on the project, told us. “We are looking forward to working with law enforcement, 3D printer manufacturers, or other related organizations to effectively deploy our system in forensic investigations.”

Alongside Li, UB researcher Aditya Singh Rathore was another primary author on this project.

Editors’ Recommendations

• How do 3D printers work? Here’s a super-simple breakdown
• There’s a new way to 3D print graphene, the strongest material on Earth
• This 3D-printed house made of earth and rice husks costs less than an iPhone
• 15 major milestones along the brief history of 3D printing
• Want a peek into the future? Watch these robots 3D print concrete structures

Razer Phone 2 vs. Red Magic Phone vs. Honor Play: Which gaming phone is best?

Mark Jansen/Digital Trends

Gaming phones have gone from being virtually nonexistent to increasingly common in less than a year. With high-powered processors, big screens, and even bigger batteries, there are now more choices than ever if you’re looking for a phone to support your mobile gaming habit.

The Razer Phone 2 is the latest gaming phone to emerge, but is Razer’s updated monolith good enough to stand atop the pile? We pitted it against the Red Magic Phone and the Honor Play to find out.

Specs

Razer Phone 2
Red Magic Phone

Honor Play

Size
158.5 x 79 x 8.5 mm (6.24 x 3.11 x 0.33 inches)
158.1 x 74.9 x 9.5 mm (6.22 x 2.95 x 0.37 inches)
157.9 x 74.3 x 7.5 mm (6.22 x 2.93 x 0.30 inches)

Weight
220 grams (7.76 ounces)
185 grams (6.53 ounces)
176 grams (6.21 ounces)

Screen size
5.72-inch Ultramotion IPS LCD
6.0-inch IPS LCD
6.3-inch IPS LCD

Screen resolution
2,560 x 1,440 pixels (513 pixels per inch)
2,160 x 1,080 pixels (402 pixels per inch)
2,340 x 1,080 pixels (409 pixels per inch)

Operating system
Android 8.1 Oreo
Android 8.1 Oreo
EMUI 8 (over Android 8.1 Oreo)

Storage space
64GB
64GB (with 6GB of RAM), 128GB (with 8GB of RAM)
64GB

MicroSD card slot
Yes, up to 512GB
No
Yes, up to 256GB

Tap-to-pay services
Google Pay
No
Google Pay

Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
Kirin 970

RAM
8GB
6GB (with 64GB of storage), 8GB (with 128GB of storage)
4GB, 6GB

Camera
Dual 12MP rear, 8MP front
24MP rear, 8MP front
Dual 16MP and 2MP rear, 16MP front

Video
2,160p at 60 fps, 1,080p at 120 fps
2,160p at 30 fps, 1,080p at 30 fps
2,160p at 30 fps, 1,080p at 30 fps

Bluetooth version
Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 4.2

Ports
USB-C
USB-C, headphone jack
USB-C, headphone jack

Fingerprint sensor
Yes
Yes
Yes

Water resistance
IP67
No
No

Battery
4,000mAh

Fast charging (QuickCharge 4.0+)

Qi wireless charging

3,800mAh

Fast charging (QuickCharge 3.0)

3,750mAh

App marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store
Google Play Store

Network support
T-Mobile, AT&T
T-Mobile, AT&T
T-Mobile, AT&T

Colors
Mirror Black, Rugged Satin
Black, Red, Flame Red
Midnight Black, Navy Blue, Violet, Player Edition Red, Player Edition Black

Price
$800
$520
Around $380

Buy from
Razer
Red Magic
Honor

Review score
3 out of 5 stars
3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5 out of 5 stars

Performance, battery life, and charging

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Power is important in a gaming phone. After all, what’s the point of a gaming phone if it can’t handle the latest games? According to benchmarks, the Razer Phone 2’s Snapdragon 845 is the most powerful processor, followed by the Red Magic Phone’s Snapdragon 835, and then the Honor Play’s Kirin 970. However, the gap isn’t very telling right now, because each of these phones has more than enough power to keep up with the most demanding modern games.

A large battery is also helpful when playing a lot of games, and each of these phones comes with a large battery that’ll easily last a full day. The Razer Phone 2 comes with the fastest charging, going from 18 percent to 90 percent in just over an hour — and it also comes with Qi wireless charging, which the other two phones lack.

While each of these phones will give you amazing performance on all the latest games, the Razer Phone 2 is the most powerful, with the biggest battery, and the best charging abilities.

Winner: Razer Phone 2

Design and durability

• 1.
  Razer Phone 2
• 2.
  Red Magic Phone
• 3.
  Honor Play

Gaming phones are an interesting, at least partly because they don’t conform to the usual beauty standards. The Honor Play is the most normal-looking of the three, with slim bezels, a notch, and vertically stacked lenses — it’s very similar to the iPhone X. The Red Magic Phone has a similar bezel-less design, but it breaks the mold with a prism-shaped back and RGB light strip. The Razer Phone 2 is the most different-looking of the lot, with huge bezels at the top and bottom of the phone that hold its front-facing speakers, an angular design, and the RGB logo on the back.

The Razer Phone 2 has more fragile glass on the back, but it also comes with IP67-rated water resistance. The Red Magic Phone and Honor Play both come with more durable metal bodies, but lack any water-resistance. However, they both have headphone jacks, which the Razer Phone 2 lacks.

It’s tougher than usual to judge this category, but we figure you might be looking for something more unique-looking if you’re interested in these phones. The Razer Phone 2’s bezels may be large, but the speakers are worth the sacrifice, and it has an angular beauty all its own.

Winner: Razer Phone 2

Display

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

You’ll find large LCD displays on each of these phones. The Honor Play’s 6.3-inch display is the largest, followed by the Red Magic’s 6-inch display, and then the Razer Phone 2’s 5.72-inch display. The Razer Phone 2 is the only display to run a 1440p resolution, while the other two top out at 1080p — making Razer’s display significantly sharper.

But that’s not the only trick up the Razer Phone 2’s sleeve. It has a 120Hz Ultramotion display, meaning it refreshes twice as fast as most other phones. While that may not sound impressive, the smoothness it produces has to be seen to be believed. As a result, the Razer Phone 2 feels super-smooth, even during day-to-day tasks — and it’s a huge boost to mobile gaming. While the other two phones have great displays, the Razer Phone 2’s display is truly special.

Winner: Razer Phone 2

Camera

Mark Jansen/Digital Trends

The camera was one of the original Razor Phone‘s major negatives, so we were excited when Razer told us it had completely revamped the Razer Phone 2’s camera. Unfortunately, while it’s definitely improved, the Razer Phone 2’s dual 12-megapixel lenses are still a disappointment. The Red Magic Phone suffers a similar fate, with the 24-megapixel single lens not delivering great results in lower lighting.

So, it’s no surprise that the Honor Play runs away with this category. While it’s clear that the 24-megapixel and 2-megapixel lens weren’t ever meant to challenge heavyweights like the Galaxy Note 9 or iPhone XS, the Play offers a fully featured camera that produces shots you won’t be ashamed to share. It’s even got Huawei’s scene-recognition A.I. to back up the camera’s great performance.

The Razer Phone 2 has definitely improved, but the improvements just aren’t enough to take it up to the Honor Play’s level.

Winner: Honor Play

Software and updates

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

You’ll find Android Oreo on each of these phones, but each with a slightly different spin. The Red Magic Phone runs close to stock Android, with a few additions that control the RGB light strip, and some game-boosting features — but otherwise it’s pure Android. The Razer Phone 2 is similar, and uses Nova Launcher to provide an amazingly customizable experience. The Honor Play is the most different from stock Android, and uses Huawei’s EMUI 8 skin. It’s not a bad UI, but it’s certainly different from what most Android phone owners are used to.

In terms of updates ,you’ll find a mixed bag. You may assume Honor would be the slowest at getting updates out, but with the debut of EMUI 9 on Huawei’s Mate 20 series, you can probably expect Android 9.0 Pie on the Honor Play fairly soon. The first Razer Phone saw a fairly quick update to Android 8.0 Oreo as well, so we expect to see the Razer Phone 2 get updated to the latest Android in the not-too-distant future. Unfortunately, while the Red Magic has been promised an update to Pie, no date has been given.

It’s between the Razer Phone 2 and Honor Play for sheer speed of updates.

Winners: Razer Phone 2 and Honor Play

Special features

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

You won’t find many special features on the Razer Phone 2. There’s the 120Hz display and an app to help you find supported games, but apart from that, you’ll have to be happy with just getting some options to control when and how the RGB logo flashes. It’s a similar situation with the Red Magic Phone, which comes with the Gameboost Mode and controls for the RGB light strip, but precious little else.

The Honor Play is the standout choice here. It has GPU Turbo to keep up with the competition, but also comes with A.I. that boosts the camera and sorts your gallery, the Smart Shock feature that matches device vibration to your game, and facial unlocking. The Honor Play just has more to offer than the other two phones.

Winner: Honor Play

Price

The Razer Phone 2 starts from $800 for 64GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. The Red Magic Phone only costs $520, but still is not available in the U.S., despite launching in Europe and the U.K. The Honor Play is the cheapest, costing just 330 euros (roughly $380), but it also hasn’t been launched in the U.S. yet. None of these phones will work fully with Verizon or Sprint, so you’ll need to be on T-Mobile or AT&T, though the Razer Phone 2 does have the right LTE bands for Verizon.

Overall winner: Razer Phone 2

It’s not perfect by any means — once again the camera is the weak point — but the Razer Phone 2 is the best dedicated gaming phone. With a super-smooth 120Hz display and the powerful Snapdragon 845, it’ll run whatever you want and look and sound amazing.

If you’re looking to game without spending $800, the Honor Play is an excellent choice that offers great value for your money. It’s powerful, has a decent display, and even has a great camera thrown into the bargain — but you will need to import it. It’s harder to recommend the Red Magic Phone, which sits between the two other phones in price (and perilously close to the excellent OnePlus 6) — but it’s still a great performer with a truly unique style. Overall, though, the Razer Phone 2 has regained the throne — for now.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Razer Phone 2 vs. Razer Phone: Is it time to level up?
• Razer Phone 2 vs. Galaxy Note 9: They’re closer than you think
• Nokia 7.1 vs. Honor 8X vs. Moto G6: Budget phone battle royale
• Honor 8X vs. Honor 7X: Battle of the beautiful budget phones
• LG V40 ThinQ vs. V35 ThinQ vs. V30: Which of LG’s big phones is best for you?

These solar-powered water purifiers can produce 30,000 gallons of water per day

Quench Water & Solar

In case you haven’t noticed, there is a clean water problem. Every day, a new community somewhere in the world experiences issues with contaminated water and has to turn to either bottled water or boiling water in order to fulfill clean water requirements. Quench Water & Solar, a subsidiary of the company WorldWater & Solar Technologies Inc., is offering a solution. And it’s one that will help both local entrepreneurs, communities, and the environment.

For the past three decades, Quench Water & Solar has been delivering solar and water solutions around the world. Along the way, it developed mobile, solar-powered water purification systems, which can be easily towed to any site and made operational within minutes. These mobile purification systems filter water using a collection of filtration membranes, ranging from macroparticle filters to ultrafiltration filters. If necessary, they can even filter atomic-sized contaminants, like seawater salt and metal ions, via the process of reverse osmosis. The end result? Safe, clean drinking water that’s both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Quench Water & Solar’s water systems have previously been used to provide clean water in more than 30 countries. Now the company is offering the technology as a licensing opportunity aimed at entrepreneurs, communities, and other organizations.

Quench Water & Solar

Two of the models made by Quench include the Mobile MaxPure, a foldable 4kW solar array that can purify up to 30,000 gallons of fresh water per day, and the 900W Mobile MaxClear, which can purify up to 10,000 gallons of fresh water during that same period.

“Upon licensing, the individual or business becomes the owner of the machine,” Ben Switzer, Quench’s director of business development, told Digital Trends. “Leasing and financing options are available, as well as credit repair support for those interested. The Quench business model was made with ultimate flexibility in mind. Licensees can decide where they pump water, how long they work, and how much they charge [per] liter or gallon. They also decide their focus: whether they decide they’d like to start a water delivery service or become a hydration station at a music festival, the choice is theirs.”

Quench isn’t the only group investigating smart clean water solutions. From personal water purifiers to more experimental solutions involving black, carbon-dipped paper and specially engineered sand, there is a lot of innovation going on in this space.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best water purifiers
• Engineered sand could remove nasty toxins to produce drinkable water
• Award-winning robot travels through water pipes to detect leaks
• A new way to ‘freeze’ water could help transform organ preservation
• A nanofiber cloth could pull fresh drinking water straight from the air

Classic movies, Fire TV Sticks, and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

There’s never a shortage of deals available, but sorting through all of them can be difficult at times. We’ve handpicked all the best tech, and everyday essentials discounts that you can take advantage of right now and brought them to one central location. From the Empire to 1.21 Gigawatts, these are today’s best deals.

Tech Deals

View the rest of the deals

Everyday Essentials

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Play Spotify with Amazon Echo

Best answer: Yes. You can listen to your favorite music or podcasts from Spotify on the Echo device of your choice. Getting everything set up is as easy as 1, 2, 3. This is true for those who sign up for Spotify Premium at just $10 per month.

• Amazon: Echo Dot ($50)
• Spotify: Spotify Premium ($10/mo)

What can you do with Spotify on your Amazon Echo?

Back in 2016, Spotify and Amazon announced a partnership that brought the popular music streaming service to Echo devices. Not only can you play Spotify with your Echo speakers, but you can also use Alexa to start your favorite playlist before the party begins.

In order to get everything working appropriately, you’ll need to follow a few steps. First, open the Amazon Alexa app in order to set up your Alexa-enabled device. Then, head to Settings > Music & Media and link your Spotify account to the Alexa app. Finally, tap Choose default music services and select Spotify.

Once that’s completed, you’ll be able to listen to Spotify on your Echo device of choice. What makes this even more fun is the fact that you can use Alexa to control your music playlists and podcasts.

If that’s something that interests you, there are quite a few different commands that you can use. These range from “Alexa, Play Spotify”, to “Alexa, play my Discover Weekly”. You can also use this integration to use Spotify and Alexa to identify songs that are currently playing that you may not have heard yet.

Here are a few commands to get you started:

• Alexa, play Spotify.
• Alexa, play my Discover Weekly.
• Alexa, play pop.
• Alexa, what song is this?
• Alexa, on Spotify play the *playlist name* playlist.

While the integration with Spotify and Amazon works pretty seamlessly, there are still some quirks. For example, you currently cannot add a song to a specific playlist with a basic voice command. Instead, you need to use a downloadable skill such as Song Keeper.

On the other side of things, you can even get Alexa to play specific genre’s or songs that are similar to one of your favorites. Simply say “Alexa, play songs similar to (song / artist)” or “Alexa, play songs similar to (mood / era) (artist).”

Can you use Spotify Free with the Amazon Echo?

The only catch is that you’ll need a Spotify Premium Account. The free version does not work with Alexa, but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial to determine whether Premium is for you. Then, you are charged $9.99 per month after the free trial has come to an end.

If Spotify Premium interests you, then you may want to check out the latest offering. Currently, you can bundle Spotify Premium with Hulu for just $0.99 per month for the first two months. After that trial period is up, the monthly price is $12.99, which is a savings of $4.99 per month between both services.

Our Pick

Amazon Echo Dot

$50 at Amazon

Price of entry is too good to pass up

The Amazon Echo Dot is the perfect device to get you started in the smart home world. Plus, you can easily play your favorite music and podcasts from Spotify from this device or pair it with a Bluetooth speaker for voice-controls.

The Service

Spotify Premium

$10/mo at Spotify

It’s a must have

If you want to be able to use Alexa to control your Spotify content, then you’ll have to spring for Spotify Premium. At just $10 per month, this is a small price to pay for everything that you get.

How to unlock the three new suits from Spider-Man’s The Heist DLC for PS4

Don’t be like Peter just starting out. We all deserve better suits than old clothes found in our closets.

Spider-Man features 28 different suits for Peter to wear as he’s stopping crime throughout the city. These range from iconic suits pulled straight from the comics to some funnier suits that Insomniac designed just for the game.

Most of them require you to level up within the game and earn tokens to unlock them. You can earn these by completing side activities like fighting crime, research tasks, and finding Peter’s backpacks around the city. The remaining suits are gated behind specific story missions or completing 100% of every district.

Note: The name of one of the final suits you unlock can be considered a spoiler, however we have included it in this list.

• Advanced Suit
• Classic Suit Damaged
• Classic Suit Repaired
• Noir Suit
• Scarlet Spider Suit
• Spider Armor – MK II Suit
• Secret War Suit
• Stark Suit
• Negative Suit
• Electrically Insulated Suit
• Spider-Punk Suit
• Wrestler Suit
• Fear Itself Suit
• Stealth “Big Time” Suit
• Spider Armor – MK III Suit
• Spider-Man 2099 Black Suit
• Iron Spider Suit
• Velocity Suit
• Spider Armor – MK IV Suit
• Spirit Spider
• Spider-Man 2099 White Suit
• Vintage Comic Book Suit
• Last Stand Suit
• Anti-Ock Suit
• Undies Suit
• Homemade Suit
• Dark Suit
• ESU Suit
• Resilient Suit
• Spider-UK Suit
• Scarlet Spider II Suit

See at Amazon

See at PlayStation

Resilient Suit (The Heist)

Unlocked with:

• Complete the first mission in The Heist

Spider-UK Suit (The Heist)

Unlocked with:

• Complete The Heist campaign

Scarlet Spider II Suit (The Heist)

Unlocked with:

• Complete all district activities in The Heist

Advanced Suit

Unlocked with:

• Complete 5th main story mission Something Old, Something New
• 1 Backpack Token
• 2 Crime Tokens

Classic Suit Damaged

This is the suit you start off the game with.

Classic Suit Repaired

Unlocked with:

• Complete 5th main story mission Something Old, Something New
• 2 Backpack Tokens
• 2 Crime Tokens

Noir Suit

Unlocked with:

• Complete 5th main story mission Something Old, Something New
• 2 Backpack Tokens
• 1 Base Token

Scarlet Spider Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 4
• 3 Crime Tokens
• 2 Landmark Tokens

Spider Armor – MK II Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 5
• 1 Landmark Token
• 1 Base Token
• 2 Research Tokens (You must reach a certain point in the story in order to earn Research Tokens)

Secret War Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 7
• 1 Base Token
• 2 Backpack Tokens
• 1 Research Token

Stark Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 9
• 1 Base Token
• 3 Crime Tokens
• 1 Research Token

Negative Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 11
• 2 Landmark Tokens
• 1 Research Token
• 1 Base Token

Electrically Insulated Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 13
• 3 Crime Tokens
• 1 Base Token
• 1 Research Token

Spider-Punk Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 16
• 2 Backpack Tokens
• 3 Base Tokens
• 2 Landmark Tokens

Wrestler Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 19
• 2 Backpack Tokens
• 2 Base Tokens
• 2 Research Tokens

Fear Itself Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 21
• 6 Challenge Tokens
• 2 Base Tokens
• 3 Research Tokens

Stealth “Big Time” Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 23
• 4 Challenge Tokens
• 2 Base Tokens
• 3 Landmark Tokens

Spider Armor – MK III Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 26
• 4 Challenge Tokens
• 2 Base Tokens
• 4 Crime Tokens

Spider-Man 2099 Black Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 29
• 2 Base Tokens
• 4 Crime Tokens
• 4 Research Tokens

Iron Spider Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 31
• 3 Challenge Tokens
• 3 Base Tokens
• 4 Crime Tokens

Velocity Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 33
• 4 Challenge Tokens
• 2 Backpack Tokens
• 2 Landmark Tokens

Spider Armor – MK IV Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 35
• 4 Challenge Tokens
• 4 Base Tokens
• 3 Landmark Tokens

Spirit Spider

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 37
• 6 Base Tokens
• 6 Challenge Tokens
• 6 Crime Tokens

Spider-Man 2099 White Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 39
• 4 Base Tokens
• 4 Challenge Tokens
• 4 Crime Tokens

Vintage Comic Book Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 41
• 4 Challenge Tokens
• 4 Backpack Tokens
• 4 Crime Tokens

Last Stand Suit

Unlocked with:

• Reach level 45
• 20 Crime Tokens

Anti-Ock Suit

Unlocked with:

• Complete the main story campaign

Undies Suit

Unlocked with:

• Complete the game 100% (All main missions, side missions, activities, and districts)

Homemade Suit

Unlocked with:

• Find all 55 backpacks around the city

Dark Suit

Unlocked with:

• Complete all Black Cat Stakeouts

ESU Suit

Unlocked with:

• Complete all 50 secret photo ops

See at Amazon

See at PlayStation

Updated October 22, 2018: We’ve added information on how to unlock the three suits from The Heist DLC.

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

None of Huawei’s Mate 20 phones will be sold in the U.S.

Huawei’s Mate family is bigger than ever this year.

Following up on last year’s Mate 10 series, Huawei’s cranking things up to, well, 20, with its all-new Huawei Mate 20 family. There are a total of four phones in this year’s lineup, but the two you’ll care about the most are the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro.

We’ve got a lot to dive into with this guide, so without further ado, here’s everything you need to know about the Huawei Mate 20 series!

The Latest Mate 20 News

October 22, 2018 — None of Huawei’s Mate 20 phones will be sold in the U.S.

We weren’t expecting Huawei to launch any of its Mate 20 smartphones on U.S. carriers, but similar to the Mate 9 and Mate 10 Pro, we were looking forward to at least one model making its way to the States in the form of an unlocked variant.

According to a new report from Business Insider, that won’t be happening this year.

Speaking to the publication, a spokesperson for Huawei said:

We are not planning to sell the Mate 20 series in the U.S. While international variants of the Mate 20 series may be available on some U.S. online retail sites, we encourage individuals to carefully read the details about the warranty and network compatibility before purchasing.

In other words, while you’ll probably be able to find the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro somewhere on Amazon, they won’t be covered by a warranty and might not have the proper bands to take full advantage of your carrier’s network.

All the big details

Check out our hands-on coverage

As mentioned above, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are the biggest and most impressive handsets of this entire lineup. As such, we spent a good deal of time with both phones to get an idea for how they work and feel ahead of our full review.

The Mate 20 features an extremely small waterdrop-style notch with great specs across the board, but the real star of the show is the Mate 20 Pro. Its triple rear camera package is one of the most capable we’ve ever seen, it’s using Huawei’s own take on Face ID, and the display glass is curved over the sides to mimic something you’d find on a Samsung Galaxy or Note phone.

We need to reserve any final judgment for the final review, but right now, things are looking mighty good for Huawei.

Huawei Mate 20 + Mate 20 Pro hands-on preview: The phones that do everything

Here are the Mate 20 + Mate 20 Pro specs

Speaking of specs, both the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro have plenty of these to dive into.

Want a fast processor? The Kirin 980 is a best. Need lots of RAM? How’s 6GB sound?

Check out the full rundown here 👇

Huawei Mate 20 + Mate 20 Pro specifications

The Mate 20 Lite is the most affordable of the bunch

If you don’t want to spend a ton of cash on a new phone but still want the Huawei experience, the Mate 20 Lite should be at the very top of your radar.

Announced in late August during IFA 2018, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite comes equipped with a 6.3-inch Full HD display, Kirin 710 processor, dual 20MP + 2MP rear cameras, and a pretty solid 3,750 mAh battery.

The phone isn’t quite as impressive as what you’ll find with the Mate 20 Pro, but with a starting price of just £379, it offers a tremendous amount of value.

Huawei Mate 20 Lite launches in the UK: Kirin 710, quad cameras, big battery

And then there’s the ginormous Mate 20 X

Among all of the Mate 20 phones, perhaps the most eye-catching is the Mate 20 X.

This phone came as a complete surprise during Huawei’s announcement event for the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, and its biggest standout feature is easily its ginormous 7.2-inch display.

The Mate 20 X also has the powerful Kirin 980 CPU, a ridiculous 5,000 mAh battery (the Note 9 has a 4,000 mAh pack, for comparison), and can be used with an optional gaming grip to essentially turn it into an Android-powered Nintendo Switch. This thing’s crazy.

Huawei announces the Mate 20 X — a phone with a 7.2-inch OLED display

The Mate 20 Pro’s camera package is insane

A big focus for the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are the cameras, and for good reason. Both handsets have three rear cameras, but the combo on the Mate 20 Pro is what really has our attention.

The main camera is a wide-angle 40MP sensor with an 1/1.8 aperture. This is joined by a 3x telephoto 8MP camera, and unlike the P20 Pro, the Mate 20 Pro ditches a monochrome third sensor in favor of an ultra-wide 20MP one.

This combination of sensors should allow for some truly incredible photographs, potentially going on par or besting what you’ll find on the Google Pixel 3.

Huawei’s got two different notch styles

Although the Mate 20 Pro is the most powerful of all these phones, it actually has the biggest notch. Inside that notch is not only the front-facing camera, but also the earpiece and helpful sensors that allow Huawei’s take on Face ID to work.

The regular Mate 20 lacks those additional sensors, but as such, has a much smaller notch in the waterdrop style we’ve been seeing from some other OEMs.

The new colors are simply gorgeous

Huawei’s been dabbling with new and exciting colors for its past few smartphones, and with the Mate 20, that’s no different.

The Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are available in a total of four colors, including Black, Twilight, Midnight Blue, and Emerald. The Twilight color is the same one that was introduced on the P20 series earlier this year, but Midnight Blue and Emerald are brand-new and feature a subtle texture underneath the glass that helps reduce fingerprints and add a big of welcome grip.

A note on U.S. availability

If you follow the tech world, you’ll know that the U.S. government and Huawei aren’t on the best of terms. As such, you won’t see any of these phones sold on wireless carriers here in the States.

Huawei previously sold official unlocked variants of the Mate 9 and Mate 10 Pro here in the United States, but that’s changing this year with the Mate 20 series.

On October 22, Business Insider spoke with a Huawei spokesperson that said:

We are not planning to sell the Mate 20 series in the U.S. While international variants of the Mate 20 series may be available on some U.S. online retail sites, we encourage individuals to carefully read the details about the warranty and network compatibility before purchasing.

Here’s when and where you can buy the phones

Interested in buying any of the new Mate 20 phones? Here’s what you need to know.

• Mate 20 Lite: Available for purchase now from Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, and EE for £379.
• Mate 20 X: Available October 26 for €899.
• Mate 20: Pre-orders likely opening soon; starts at €899.
• Mate 20 Pro: Pre-orders likely opening soon; starts at €1049.

Updated October 17, 2018: Refreshed this guide now that all of the Mate 20 series has been revealed.

Best Heavy Duty Cases for Google Pixel 3 XL

The Pixel 3 XL is the slightly larger, slightly more expensive, and slightly cooler new Google phone — I suppose you could say it’s a notch above the competition. All jokes aside, with a quality phone like the Pixel 3 XL you’re going to want to protect it with a heavy duty case to make sure it last and always looks great. We’ve rounded up the best cases, from budget-friendly cases to more premium offerings.

A clear case with style

Ringke Fusion-X

The Ringke Fusion-X is one of the more unique-looking cases you’ll find for the Pixel 3. It offers heavy-duty protection with a clear PC backplate combined with an impact-resistant bumper around the edges to protect against drops and bumps.

$10 at Amazon

Tough as nails

Spigen Tough Armor

This case offers maximum durability without adding too much bulk to the Pixel 3 XL’s design. Designed with a shock-absorbing TPU sleeve hugged by a rugged shell, the Tough Armor will live up to its name with a built-in kickstand offering a nice little bonus.

$17 at Amazon

All-round protection

Poetic Revolution 360 Degree Protection 

The only case on this list that comes with its own screen protector, Poetic Revolution is able to claim 360-degree protection with this heavy duty case that certainly looks the part. Thick, textured edges should ensure you always have a solid grip on your phone, and there’s a built-in kickstand that works in both landscape and portrait orientations.

$17 at Amazon

Best on a budget

CoverON HexaGuard Series

CoverOn offers a great budget option for those who want to protect their Pixel 3 XL for under $10. This is a dual-layer case that is designed to take the abuse if your daily use. The back features a basketball-inspired grip pattern that looks and feel great in your hand.

$8 at Amazon

Iconic brand

OtterBox Symmetry Series 

OtterBox offers premium cases for the Pixel 3 XL, and we recommend the Symmetry Series because it’s the thinnest case they offer and an ideal pairing for the bigger Pixel phone. This is the most expensive option on our list, but if you’ve ever bought an OtterBox case before and dealt with its superb customer service, you know that you’ll get your money’s worth.

$50 at Amazon

Top defender

Lifeproof NËXT 

From the brand that aims to offer truly life-proof cases, the NËXT case is a clear case that claims to be drop-proof, dirt-proof, and snow-proof but not waterproof. It’s compatible with wireless charging, too, and offers optional accessories such as a lanyard that cleverly includes a USB-C to USB-C lanyard.

$80 at Lifeproof

Which case you choose to protect your Pixel 3 XL with is ultimately up to you and your personal tastes, but with larger phones, we always try to recommend something that’s a bit slimmer since adding extra bulk to an already large phone makes it that much harder to slip in and out of your pocket. I’d personally recommend the Spigen Tough Armor which offers great protection at a reasonable price with a pocket-friendly design.

New gameplay footage leaks ahead of Red Dead Redemption 2’s PS4 launch

The wild west has never looked this good.

Yes, it’s finally happening my fellow outlaws. Red Dead Redemption II is real and it’s coming to PlayStation 4 this year. After Rockstar Games’ massively successful open-world cowboy game set during the death of the Wild West, fans began clamoring for a follow-up that continued the story of the Marston family or embraced a new gunslinger.

After years of rumors and silence on Rockstar’s end, they finally surprised the world on one random morning in 2016 by announcing a sequel to their critically acclaimed western. It took over a year to get any actual concrete details regarding the game and frankly, it’s still a bit of a mystery but it sounds like it could be a mix of a story of a new outlaw and also fill in a massive gap in John Marston’s story.

See at Amazon

What’s new with Red Dead Redemption 2?

Rockstar Games has been quiet lately regarding the highly anticipated sequel, but with Red Dead Redemption 2’s imminent launch approaching in just a few short months, the studio is starting to discuss the game some more. We’ll keep you up to date with everything you need to know as it’s released.

October 22, 2018 — New gameplay footage leaks

A 23-second clip of Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay leaked on Reddit this past weekend. While not particularly long, it was a rather exciting third of a minute that shows main character Arthur Morgan approaching a hostile camp on horseback.

They aren’t too welcoming at first, but they at least have a cool enough temperament to ask what he’s doing there before they go any further. But whoever was controlling Morgan here had no time for words, as he immediately climbs off his steed to pull out his dual wield revolvers and lay waste to its inhabitants in the very way you’d think an old western badass would. The quick draw ends with a final fatal shot that is glorified in slow motion, blood flying everywhere as the body is blown back from the force of the bullet.

While the scene itself was great, we see a few interesting things going on in the HUD throughout this clip. A big label up top shows the current status of Arthur Morgan in whichever area he’s visiting. It says “Wanted” here, which explains the caution displayed by the folks he’s approached. Beneath that label, it’s clear that the player is in an interrogation situation, something that quickly changes once the bullets start flying.

We also get a glimpse at the weapon wheel. It’s a standard mechanic in action adventure gmes, but it allows us to see just how much he can carry. On his person are a hunting bow, a rope, a shotgun, a combat knife, and his pistols. Oh, and those fists of his which we also know can be deadly weapons on their own. The player will also have separate wheels for their items and whatever their horse is carrying in its inventory.

While we’ve seen official in-game footage from Rockstar already, this is the first time we’ve seen uncut gameplay that wasn’t carefully selected for purposes of marketing. It’s possible the clip comes from a reviewer who has broken embargo, a lucky player who was able to buy the game early, or maybe even leaked from Rockstar’s very own offices, perhaps intentionally as the company looks to keep the hype machine going full throttle. We suppose the origin doesn’t matter much, especially since the world will be able to play the game in just a few short days. Red Dead Redemption 2 will arrive October 26, 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox one.

October 18, 2018

We’re in the homestretch now and Rockstar has released Red Dead Redemption 2’s launch trailer a week ahead of its anticipated release. At only a minute long, it’s short and sweet, but it teases some tense conflicts with the Van der Linde Gang.

October 15, 2018

A little less than two weeks out from Red Dead Redemption 2’s release, Vulture recounted the highly-anticipated titles making in a new article published today.

One of the most notable pieces of information to come out of the publication’s interview with Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser is that the development team was apparently working 100-hour weeks to get the game done on time. This has caused quite a stir and a renewed conversation surrounding the unsustainable working conditions that game developers suffer through.

Rockstar additionally employed over 1,200 SAG-AFTRA actors to bring to life the game’s massive 2,000-page script. This ended up requiring 2,200 days (a little over 6 years) of motion-capture work.

Despite 700 of these actors being brought on for speaking roles, the studio decided that it wouldn’t bring big name actors onto projects anymore because of their egos. “I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, poor bugger,” said Houser, “but we don’t bring in name actors anymore because of their egos and, most important of all, because we believe we get a better sense of immersion using talented actors whose voices you don’t recognize.”

Red Dead Redemption 2 features 300,000 animations, 500,000 lines of dialogue, and “many more lines of code.” Hundreds of versions of its trailers were produced until perfected. According to Houser, this immense amount of work results in “this seamless, natural-feeling experience in a world that appears real, an interactive homage to the American rural experience. (It’s) a vast four-dimensional mosaic in which the fourth dimension is time, in which the world unfolds around you, dependent on what you do.”

As for how long the game’s main campaign will take, you can expect to put in roughly 60 hours. It used to be closer to 65, but as release day approaches the team cut 5-hours of content because “they were never going to work technically or be quite slick enough, or they felt superfluous. We removed a mission on a train where you had to deal with bounty hunters, because it was fun at first, but then it wasn’t. This part of the process is always about compromise and horse trading. Everyone always loses bits of the game they love.”

October 12, 2018

The Wild West was filled to the brim with its own unique weapons for the time period, so Rockstar is ensuring that Red Dead Redemption 2 is full of authentic weaponry as well. The developer recently detailed the game’s weapons and their customization systems.

Red Dead Redemption 2 will feature over 50 unique usable weapons, from classic revolvers to sawed-off shotguns. If you gravitate toward one specific weapon, you’ll be happy to hear that the more a weapon is used, the better it will perform. The drawback to this being that weapons in Red Dead Redemption 2 will degrade over time, so you’ll need to clean your weapons to keep them in pristine condition.

The game boasts “a myriad of customization options ranging from visual upgrades like new metals, woods, varnishes and engravings to performance upgrades like new barrels, grips, sights and scopes.” Performance upgrades can improve your damage output, accuracy, reload speed, and more. It’s best to take the time and consider what’s best for your playstyle, or what suits a particular weapon type the most.

October 10, 2018

Rockstar has clarified some recent news surrounding Red Dead Redemption 2 and how its NPCs will react to players whether they have their mini-maps and HUDs turned on or off. Previous reports stated that if players turned off their mini-maps that NPC dialogue would change, giving them more directions and information about where to go. This appears to have been false. According to Rooster Teeth employee Alanah Pearce, “they’ll always give you directions, people likely just noticed them more when their HUD was off.”

Seeing as NPCs will provide context and dialogue regardless of your mini-map status, it could end up working out similarly to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s exploration mode. Whether you have this mode enabled or not, NPCs can and will give you directions should you ask.

October 1, 2018

Rockstar has released its second Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay trailer showcasing just a few of the illegal activities that the Van der Linde Gang can commit. What would a Western be without a good old-fashioned train heist? You won’t just be out and about committing crimes all the time though. The world that Rockstar created feels alive, and as Arthur, you can go into taverns, have a nice meal, play some cards, and even decide when to shave or bath.

This trailer also gives us a new look into the game’s revamped Dead Eye system, which will now progress in stages. Players will be able to slow time, mark multiple targets, and view critical or fatal points of their enemies. According to Rockstar, “how and when you use it is up to you.”

Near the end, we even got a better glimpse of Red Dead Redemption 2 in its 1st-person mode, which will launch with the game unlike its later introduction into Grand Theft Auto V.

September 24, 2018

Sony has announced a new PlayStation 4 Pro bundle featuring Rockstar’s upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2. Pre-orders begin today for $400. The console will release alongside the game on October 26.

See at Amazon

September 19, 2018

Rockstar has officially announced Red Dead Online, a multiplayer component for Red Dead Redemption 2 similar to that of Grand Theft Auto Online.

According to the developer, Red Dead Online is “an evolution of the classic multiplayer experience in the original Red Dead Redemption, blending narrative with competitive and cooperative gameplay in fun new ways. Using the gameplay of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 as a foundation, Red Dead Online will be ready to be explored alone or with friends, and will also feature constant updates and adjustments to grow and evolve this experience for all players.”

Though Red Dead Redemption 2 releases in October, players won’t be able to hop into Red Dead Online until the following month, where it is set to initially enter a public beta sometime in November.

September 7, 2018

Rockstar has revealed new plot details surrounding Red Dead Redemption 2 in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter

“Dutch’s presence loomed over the original Red Dead Redemption, and his influence on events was a big inspiration for the setting and direction of Red Dead Redemption 2,” said art director Josh Bass. “We all wanted to know more about him and the gang —what was it like riding in that gang? What led them to the events of the original game? What happened to them along the way?

“In Red Dead Redemption 2 you get to see that gang, including Marston, at the peak of their notoriety and at the very moment things begin to fall apart,” he continued. “This story focuses on Arthur Morgan, Dutch’s most trusted enforcer. Adopted into the gang by the Dutch when he was a young boy, Arthur considers the gang to be his family — Dutch has given his life some much‐needed purpose, and the gang has served as the one positive and constant in Arthur’s life.”

Since this is the tail end of the Wild West, Dutch’s gang is struggling with their old ways of life coming to an end as they flee through the country.

“We’ve aimed to capture a wide slice of American life in 1899, a rapidly industrializing nation that would soon have its sights on the world’s stage — and would do whatever possible to ‘modernize,’ ” said director of art Aaron Garbut. “It’s a brutal landscape with a sordid history, but also one that’s full of opportunity. One of the most satisfying aspects of creating a world of such scope and scale is the ability to experience a whole range of stories and characters in your journey across that world. The gang’s journey and the game’s epic scope makes room to touch on all aspects of turn of the century America in a meaningful, substantial way.”

Though Rockstar’s previous title, Grand Theft Auto V, switched between the perspectives of a few different characters, Red Dead Redemption 2 is centering all on Arthur Morgan.

“Sticking with a single character felt more appropriate for the structure and narrative of a western,” said Bass. “Arthur lives with and fights alongside the other members of the Van der Linde gang, and they are a group of fully realized characters with relationships to each other and to Arthur, but this is Arthur’s story and we are placing players firmly in Arthur’s boots as he and the gang deal with a rapidly changing world. We think people will really love the feeling of being in the gang. It isn’t like anything we’ve done before.”

Rockstar also revealed the entire Van der Linde gang, all 23 members, along with short character bios for each.

August 15, 2018

Digital Foundry has given us our best look yet at Red Dead Redemption 2 running on a PlayStation 4 Pro. According to the outlet, which analyzed a 68mbps version of the trailer provided by Rockstar, RDR2 appears to run at native 1920×2160 on the PS4 Pro, “halving the pixel count on the horizontal axis from a proper 4K.” This is still a 12.5% increase in pixels over a 1440p image.

They were unable to get a reading on gameplay performance as the game is set to run at 30FPS and the video itself only supported 30FPS.

August 10, 2018 — New Red Dead Redemption 2 gameplay has arrived!

Rockstar today released new gameplay footage for Red Dead Redemption 2, giving us our deepest look at the wild west open world game yet. The 6-minute trailer showed us a great deal of the gameplay mechanics, a bit of the world, and more.

For starters, we got to see the sheer scope of the open world. Red Dead Redemption 2 will be massive in size, and there will be a variety of environments to explore both on foot and on horseback. From mountainous terrain and forested countrysides to those growing towns chock full of saloon-goers and merchants, it appears players will be able to take in the full breadth of the cowboy experience.

Rockstar says it was important for the game to be massive not just in size, but also in depth. That means the player — taking the reigns as Van Der Linde gang member Arthur Morgan — will have a living, breathing society around him to interact with.

Red Dead 2 may set a new standard for open-world gameplay.

You can go into shops and sell the pelts you’ve skinned off the back of your latest game hunting prey. And if you get caught trying to steal or shortchange the shop vendor, well, don’t be surprised if you have to knock him out in the street. That the townspeople gathered around to watch the confrontation as it went down is a testament to the emphasis Rockstar is placing on immersion.

That sort of interaction can be coerced out of the game by your own will, too. You can interact with almost everyone and everything. Meet some passersby on the road with a quick greeting and be on your way, or question someone you think might be doing dirt in the city. These interactions seemingly have the potential to escalate into something more, whether that be a new opportunity for Arthur Morgan and Co. or more fisticuffs to keep people in their place. And yes, that also means you can defuse certain situations.

Should the fighting become so fierce that you resort to weapons, you’ll find a new combat system that makes the deed more fluid and fun. Hand-to-hand combat, especially, seems far more involved than the original game. As far as shooting is concerned, Dead Eye is back, and it’ll be cooler than ever to put bullets into the heads of six of your enemies simultaneously.

At the end of your daily musings, you’ll head back to camp to meet up with your gang. This is likely where you’ll be getting the bulk of your missions, but it’s also a chance for the player to get to know the other characters in the group. They’ll share stories and sing and dance with you as you eat, and you can also play various games to keep morale high. There’s a gameplay benefit to all this, as Rockstar says spending time with these people could unlock new secrets.

As a pillar of the gang, you’ll be tasked with helping keep them afloat by regularly replenishing food, water, and other supplies. We’re not sure what would happen should their morale get too low, but apparently that will play a part in how others in the gang approach you.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is slated for an October 26th release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Head to Amazon and pre-order yours today.

See at Amazon

August 8, 2018

Rockstar has announced that we will see new gameplay for Red Dead Redemption 2 on August 9. This should be our first significant look at gameplay since the game’s announcement. The trailer will air 11AM Eastern, and can be viewed on Rockstar’s website or YouTube channel. We’ll be updating this post with details about the gameplay announcement once it arrives.

August 6, 2018

The big question on everyone’s mind: When are we finally getting gameplay? All signs point to soon. Rockstar has recently sent out Red Dead 2 care packages to members of the press, and with Gamescom taking place in just a few weeks, the developer could be gearing up for a big reveal. Red Dead II was notably absent at E3 2018, so the next biggest gaming convention seems like a good bet for it to make an appearance.

During a recent financial call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick took the chance to hype up Red Dead 2 even more, saying, “My belief is that Red Dead Redemption 2 will shatter expectations and that the online experience also will be extraordinary, but unexpected.”

Its online aspect was a bit contentious when rumors of its existence began floating around since Red Dead’s identity was tied to its single-player, but it looks like Rockstar may have something special they’ve got cooking up if they’re hyping it up so much.

He continued by saying that Red Dead II will “redefine the industry” and “captivate audiences around the world.”

PC release?

Though Rockstar only announced PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game, there’s still hope it could come to PC. It appears that a programmer at Rockstar, who previously worked on GTA V and L.A. Noire, listed Red Dead II on his LinkedIn profile with its platforms being labelled as “PS4/Xbox1/PC.” This was eventually amended once word got out, but it’s unknown if this was a simple mistake or a PC version is indeed in the works.

The story so far…

Rockstar Games appears to be returning to the traditional one playable character route after successfully experimenting with three playable protagonists in Grand Theft Auto V but he’s not John or Jack Marston. Players will travel back to 1899 (12 years before the first game) to fill the boots and don the hat of a much less noble man that goes by the name of Arthur Morgan, a brute that’s running with Dutch van der Linde’s gang during their prime. While little is known about Arthur, we know he’s a much more sinister cowboy who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. In the second trailer, we see him interrogating and roughing up several people who appear to owe money to Dutch’s Gang, perhaps for protection. He’s a brutal force that is loyal to Dutch and likely only Dutch.

It’s likely we’re going to see the rise and fall of the gang, with Arthur Morgan playing a pivotal role.

The story will see Morgan and Van der Linde’s gang stealing, running, and fighting to survive the rugged and cruel world that is the Wild West. Order has not yet been established, technology is slowly beginning to evolve into something far more advanced, and people like Dutch believe it’s important that things stay the way they are. The Van der Linde gang was always viewed as a Robin Hood-type of bandits, stealing from the rich to give to the poor and resisting the government in favor of a structure where it was an “every man for himself” situation.

The gang eventually evolved into something far more dangerous and unhinged according to an anecdote provided by John Marston, leading him to realize their Robin Hood act was all a front for their evil actions and crimes. The event that likely leads to the start of the downfall of the gang seems to be a heist in Blackwater which later became known as the Blackwater Massacre. In the plot synopsis for the game provided by Rockstar, it’s revealed that the gang is being hunted after they botch a robbery in the wealthy town that is seen toward the end of the first RDR.

Within the lore of the series, the Blackwater Massacre was a massive shootout that took the lives of over 30 people. Civilians, cops, and criminals were among the casualties of the bloody shootout, actual details of why the battle took place remain a mystery to the residents of Blackwater because the officials went to great lengths to cover it up. Why? Well, we’ll likely find out in Red Dead II.

Most people involved died or were criminals who escaped but one of the few survivors was the legendary lawman, Landon Ricketts. Ricketts is in the first game and Marston teams up with him in Mexico, Marston knows him for his status but the two don’t seem to know each other. It’s entirely possible that Marston was uninvolved in the heist or was playing coy and using him to further his quest for redemption.

How does it connect to the original Red Dead Redemption?

So, what’s the connection to the first Red Dead Redemption? Well, Rockstar is being very, very careful not to say much about this game and how it connects to the first game but it will shed light on the stories John told in the first game as well as provide more depth to the men we hunt down in that same game.

John Marston is indeed in the game but Rockstar has noted that this is Arthur Morgan’s story, not John’s.

Given this game takes place long before the events of the original game and has a direct link to it via Dutch van der Linde and his gang, it’s hard to imagine Rockstar isn’t trying to expand John Marston’s story in some way. With games like Grand Theft Auto, there have been very subtle connections tying the games together but none of them are direct sequels or relate to each other in any way. With Red Dead Redemption II, Rockstar had the chance to name the game something like Red Dead Revolution, Red Dead Retribution, or something along those lines given that the series so far has gone Red Dead Revolver and then Red Dead Redemption. They purposely named it in a way that links the two games.

Marston was also a substantial part of Dutch’s Gang, he was taken in by Dutch when he ran away from the orphanage he lived in. He was raised by this gang and lived with them for a large majority of his life and in the fallout of him abandoning the gang, it all went to hell and it was more or less disbanded. John Marston is indeed the game, he’s heavily featured in new screenshots and is seen in the newest trailer once or twice but Rockstar says this is Arthur’s story, not John’s. That doesn’t mean that we can’t expand on the character, it just means he will not be the focal point of the narrative.

Major gameplay innovations are coming in the western sequel

Since Rockstar has been pretty prude about Red Dead Redemption II, we only have the word of the press who have seen the game in action to understand how the game plays. There will be more details in the future regarding what the gameplay will look like but for right now we’ll just give you the basic rundown of what we know. For starters, Rockstar seems to be creating their most realisitic world yet and abandoning some of the most video game-y aspects in their formula for something with more depth.

According to Rockstar, they’ve been developing Red Dead Redemption II for eight years, starting as they were wrapping up the first game. In that time, they’ve been handcrafting a world with lots of detail and creating systems that may be fairly unexpected from them. A large portion of the game is centered around managing the gang, Arthur is Dutch’s right-hand man and he helps keep everything running smoothly. This means you’ll help perform odd jobs for gang members, go hunting to get food for the camp or get money to line their pockets with, and so on.

Rockstar has been very clear that you don’t have to do this and you won’t be severely punished if you don’t but the gang will make comments if you leave them hanging for days on end. If you do choose to take care of your gang, you’ll be rewarded in ways that have not yet been revealed and your gang will grow stronger.

Also on tap is a new dialog system that allows you to approach situations with more options than just shoot and kill. Each NPC has their own set of branching dialog, with the player able to talk niceties or show a degree of impatience in any given encounter. And this isn’t just a black and white morality system either. Some choices will be gray areas, some will be lore-advancing, some will lead to friendships, and others will most certainly erupt into bloodbaths. It’s unclear if there will be any more to this system – such as a relationship mechanic that gauges each NPC’s level of warmth toward you – but it’s something.

If you do choose to go off and do things like hunting, you’ll be able to see the amount of depth that Rockstar has added to its hunting system since the original game and Grand Theft Auto V. You’ll find yourself stalking animals, choosing your weapon carefully so you don’t damage pelts/meat, and tracking an animal by following blood trails after you’ve hit it. Once you’ve tracked the animal down, you may find it still alive, bleeding out and yelping. Arthur will then take out his knife and stab the animal in the heart to end its suffering and take what you want from it.

You can then string up your kill on the back of your horse and take it back to camp to feed your people or sell it in town and take the money for yourself. Regardless of what you choose, your hunt will rot and decay over time so the longer you have it on the back of your horse (yes, it’s literally on your horse, not in an invisible pouch), the less valuable it’ll be. If you were to kill an animal (or even a person) behind and let it sit in the wild, vultures, coyotes, and other creatures would come and munch on the remains.

It looks as if Rockstar will be carrying over the heists from GTA V as we see Arthur Morgan robbing a bank and holding up a train in the second trailer. It’s unclear how much of a focal point these will be in the game since it was the core of GTA V’s campaign but one has to imagine it plays a similar role given you’re a gang of notorious western criminals.

We do know there will be some depth to those heists, though. Players can go loud or quiet, create distractions, choose who you bring with you (some can be done solo but isn’t recommended), and use a bunch of other different variables to create different outcomes throughout the heists. All of this will result on if and when law enforcement shows up amongst other things. It’s unclear if you can have gang members die or get critically wounded in these heists like in Grand Theft Auto V or just how dynamic these systems are. Grand Theft Auto V’s heists were heavily scripted, if you chose a certain crew member to come with, they’d always die on the same mission in the same spot because it was coordinated by Rockstar’s writing. It was more of the illusion of choices having consequences rather than them actually having any meaning at all.

Some major changes are also coming in combat with the ability to dual wield weapons like Max Payne, bows and arrows used for hunting and maybe even some stealth combat as we see Arthur Morgan taking a knife to someone’s back in the dead of night. We also see Arthur brutally beating people up in the third trailer, suggesting Rockstar has refined their melee combat to create more intense and fun brawls.

A cowboy’s best friend

A cowboy’s best friend isn’t his fellow outlaws/lawmen, it’s his horse. In the original Red Dead Redemption, your horse was almost supernatural in the sense it teleported to you and was basically immortal. You didn’t have much of a connection to it because outside of its speed and stamina, there was nothing too special about the horses. In Red Dead Redemption II, Rockstar plans on changing that.

Your horse in the sequel will be very special. Perhaps the most significant change from the first game or any Rockstar game for that matter is that you won’t be able to carry every single weapon with you. The joke of pulling an RPG out of your rear end in GTA wouldn’t apply in this game as you’ll only be carrying small weapons such as handguns on your person, rifles and other gear will travel via your horse. We’re not sure if you can sling at least one rifle over your shoulder while walking around but you can expect most of your guns to be unavailable if your horse isn’t nearby.

Your horse won’t be disposable in this game, it’ll mean a lot more to you because it has lots of value. You’ll grow a bond that effects how scared it gets when put in danger, how far it gets from you, and more. Rockstar hopes that this bond won’t just serve a gameplay effect but a personal and emotional one to. If your horse gets critically wounded, you can attempt to heal it with medical supplies, if you don’t have any you can try and run into town quickly and gather some and run back. You may come back to your horse dead, making you realize that you left that poor animal that loved you to die thinking you abandoned it in its final moments. Brutal stuff, I know. Should it die, you’ll have to start that bond all over with a new horse and presumably any gear you can’t carry off of that horse’s corpse is lost.

It adds a whole new layer to an aspect that’s iconic to westerns but doesn’t have a lot of attention paid to it.

When you can play it and when we’ll know more

The only questions remaining are when we can play the game and when we can expect more firm details from Rockstar. The game is currently scheduled to release on October 26th, 2018 for PlayStation 4 as well as Xbox One, and we can likely expect some news regarding the game in June or July via a Game Informer cover story or a new breakdown directly from Rockstar. As of right now, we’ll just have to hold our breaths and keep waiting to saddle up again.

Where to buy Red Dead Redemption 2

You can now pre-order Red Dead Redemption 2 ahead of its October 27th release date. You’re in for some nice goodies if you decide to give Rockstar your cash early. All pre-orders for Red Dead Redemption 2 come with the War Horse mount and the Outlaw Survival Kit. The former is a grey-colored steed that has better courage and stamina than others, while the Outlaw Survival Kit gives you extra health kits, Dead Eye replenishment, and more.

If you pre-order the digital copy on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, you’ll also get some extra in-game cash to start your game, as well as a treasure map, though you’ll need to pre-order the game by July 31st to get those.

There’s also a special edition of the game available. It comes with 2 extra side missions, a black thoroughbred horse, gameplay bonuses through medllian and talisman charms, in-game cash bonuses, gameplay boosts, and discounts, a gunslinger outfit, and three additional weapons. You’ll also get a real map of the game world.

If that’s not enough, the Ultimate Edition comes with everything that the Deluxe Edition does, but you can add two more in-game outfits, another black thoroughbred with an exclusive saddle, a Survivor camp theme for the game’s online mode, three additional free weapons, and XP bonuses for online play up to rank 25.

As an added bonus for Grand Theft Auto 5 players, all digital pre-orders also come with in-game currency for GTA Online. Standard Edition gets $500,000, Special Edition gets $1,000,000, and Ultimate Edition gets $2,000,000.

Then there’s the big kahuna reserved for the most die-hard Red Dead fans. It’s a full-blown Collector’s Box, a red-tinted metal tithing box with a lock and key that comes with an assortment of real world goodies. There’s a collectible coin, a double-sized puzzle, a red bandana, a treasure map, a pin set, commemorative playing cards, a real 150-page Wheeler, Rawson and Co. catalogue, and 12 collectible cigarette cards.

You can pre-order your preferred digital edition of Red Dead Redemption 2 at the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, or direct from the Rockstar Warehouse. Those opting for the Collector’s Box, however, can only get it through the Rockstar Warehouse.

Wanting to catch up and play through the original Red Dead Redemption before the sequel drops? You can find the Game of the Year Edition for $20 at Amazon

See at Amazon

Updated October 2018: Rockstar has released a launch trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2.

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