Capcom's new Resident Evil Requiem trailer might have two massive hints you missed

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• Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem just got a new short film featuring Maika Monroe
• It shows the story of a mother and child from the Raccoon City outbreak
• The trailer's ending may tease the return of a major character

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Resident Evil Requiem is less than a month away, with its launch set for February 27, and Capcom has stepped up its marketing efforts – this time with an unexpected trailer.

Capcom released a new live-action short film named 'Evil Has Always Had A Name' featuring It Follows and Longlegs actor Maika Monroe. Its story that follows a mother and her child before, during, and after the Raccoon City outbreak.

There are multiple easter eggs in the trailer, namely the silhouette of Resident Evil 3's Nemesis hidden in smoke, and the classic 'S.T.A.R.S' voice line in the background. We also have the Gun Shop Kendo store briefly shown during the night of the outbreak, and a licker, which seemingly leads to the heartbreaking demise of the protagonist's daughter.

Most importantly, we see the same shot of Raccoon City's crater that has been present in almost all of Requiem's trailers. Assuming it's set in the present day (or close enough), Monroe's now zombified character gives a monologue stating, 'tell them I was still me, right up until the end' before being slain at her daughter's burial site.

Zombies may be sentient in Requiem

It may be best to use the term 'zombie' loosely. While the infected we've seen in Resident Evil Requeim are clearly not human, director Koshi Nakanishi highlighted that each maintains elements of their human personalities, even committing to the same daily tasks they would when alive, complete with some speech.

However, this short film may have just hinted at the undead in Requiem being more sentient than we thought, possibly being fully aware of what's happening, maintaining memories and feelings, but without the ability to control themselves over their infection.

It won't be the first time the franchise has attempted something as such: Resident Evil 4 featured enemies controlled by the Las Plagas parasite, but still kept human traits (even if they were wild and violent).

Requiem appears to be taking a similar route, but one that will tug on players' heartstrings, if this short film is anything to go by.

Was that Ada Wong at the end?

(Image credit: Capcom)

There's still so much we don't know about Resident Evil Requiem, and that's fortunate for many who want to go into the experience blind. One thing we do know is that legacy characters will be making a return, whether from Resident Evil Outbreak or the franchise's mainline entries.

Ada Wong has been present in every Resident Evil game that features Leon S. Kennedy thus far and, if this is indeed Leon's last game for a long while, her appearance is increasingly likely.

That's further backed up by the end of this short film, where armed forces are moving into Raccoon City, with a voice that sounds very familiar stating 'Copy that. Raccoon City is ours.'

We know that Ada's motivations and allegiances in the Resident Evil games are blurred, often working for shady corporations or figures like Albert Wesker. It's not far-fetched to suggest that this may indeed be Ada Wong talking, which will have us wondering which side she's truly on at launch on February 27.

Either way, Resident Evil Requiem is shaping up to be the franchise's most ambitious title, with emotional story beats and a potential end to a saga that has run since 1998.

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The inevitable has happened — the Switch has finally outsold the DS, making it Nintendo's all-time best-selling console

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• The Switch has reportedly become Nintendo's best-selling console ever
• As of the end of 2025, it has finally surpassed the DS's previous record
• The Switch remains behind the PlayStation 2 by about 5 million units, according to SIE

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Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch is officially its all-time best-selling piece of hardware, finally surpassing the previous record set by the original DS console as of December 31, 2025.

The company's latest financial data update (sourced by The Verge) shows that the original Switch (also accounting for the Lite and OLED models) has reached 155.37 million hardware units sold. That's been enough to dethrone the Nintendo DS and its lifetime sales of 154.02 million units across all models.

The Switch has also crossed 1.5 billion software units sold as of December 31, 2025, vastly outpacing any system in its history. The next closest is the DS at 948.76 software units, closely followed by the Wii's 921.85 million.

Still, Nintendo has some legwork left to do if it wants the Switch to surpass the lifetime sales of the PlayStation 2. According to Sony Interactive Entertainment's cumulative worldwide hardware unit sales, the PS2 is sitting at 160 million units (as of March 31, 2012).

Despite an underwhelming Christmas performance, the Nintendo Switch 2 has done alright in its first six months on store shelves. At 17.37 million hardware units sold as of the end of last year, it was Nintendo's fastest-selling console at launch. Its momentum may continue to be rocky, though, as analysts have warned consumers to brace for a price hike sometime in 2026.

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Record-breaking graphics card was broken, until this YouTuber repaired the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti — then used it to dominate this 8K GPU benchmark

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• A YouTuber repaired an Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti with a hole in the board
• The project then went further into a quest to juice up this graphics card and set a new record with it
• That attempt was successful, with the resurrected RTX 5070 Ti grabbing top spot in its GPU category for the Unigine Superposition 8K test

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Pushing GPUs to record-breaking levels is nothing new for enthusiast overclockers, of course – but here's something that definitely is new: a record being set by a graphics card with a hole in it.

VideoCardz highlighted the achievement of Brazilian YouTuber Paulo Gomes and his team (via PC Gamer), who had previously brought back to life a nonfunctional Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti that had a hole in its circuit board.

(Image credit: Paulo Gomes / ET's LGA1155 / YouTube)

That feat of tech resurrection wasn't enough, though, and the YouTube channel figured that setting a record with this RTX 5070 Ti would be a fun task to attempt.

The team used an RTX 2080 Ti board as a new base for the broken GPU, then undertook a whole lot of soldering, fiddling around with voltages, and tweaking power levels to get something capable of setting a world record.

This happened during a livestream that lasted over seven hours (which you can see below – or rather, skip through, rather than watch in its entirety, unless you're very brave), and it ended in a new record for the Unigine Superposition 8K optimized test.

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Analysis: a seriously impressive achievement

This fudged-to-work RTX 5070 Ti with a hole in it managed to score 11,150 in the end, which is a long way behind the number one RTX 5090 results, of course, but it's the best score ever seen for the RTX 5070 Ti itself (some way down the overall rankings, naturally). The GPU did this by hitting a clock speed of 3.23GHz, we're told.

As VideoCardz points out, this isn't the most respected GPU benchmark in town these days, but nonetheless, to get a broken RTX 5070 Ti working again – and working well enough to break any record – is mind-boggling, frankly.

Granted, the resulting graphics card does not look pretty, with wires snaking everywhere and yellow masking tape applied all over the place, but in some ways, this makes the achievement all the more remarkable.

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Bethesda has finally given us a new trailer for Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas… but it isn’t quite what I had in mind

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• Bethesda just gave us a new Fallout trailer
• It doesn't confirm the rumored Fallout 3 remaster
• Fallout Season 2's finale airs this week

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If the internet is to be believed, the finale of Fallout Season 2 – the Prime Video hit based on the iconic video game series – won’t leave us wanting for more Wasteland adventures for long, as Bethesda is apparently gearing up to shadow-drop a remaster of Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, or both.

And it did just drop a brand new trailer for both games… but it was also an advert for the series as a whole. Starring Aaron Moten (who plays Maximus in the show) and Vault Boy in a creepy-meets-funny sketch where the duo revisit various entries in the series – including Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, as well as more recent entries like Fallout Shelter and Fallout 76.

While the 2:25-minute skit does a great job of selling the different entries in the series, it’s obviously not what many players had been hoping for. And while it doesn’t outright confirm a rerelease of two Fallout classics, it doesn’t dispel my hopes yet either.

Need some addictol for my copium problem

So why do many believe in the shadow-drop speculation?

Well, it wouldn't be the first time. Fallout 4 was made official and then released only a few months later, which was much quicker than typical industry norms at the time, but 2023’s Hi-Fi Rush and last year’s Oblivion Remastered were both proper instant surprises when they made their debuts.

And according to developer comments, Bethesda wants to do more shadow-drops going forward (via FRVR).

How do fingers point towards Fallout 3 and New Vegas, then? Well, both of these games – especially New Vegas with the most recent season – have been a significant inspiration for the TV show. However, the games unfortunately show their age, which doesn’t make them easy for Fallout’s newer, more casual fans to pick up.

We also have court documents from Microsoft confirming a Fallout 3 remake is in the works. These same documents also spoiled the Oblivion remaster.

Will Fallout 3 follow Oblivion? (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

Remaster speculation hasn’t been helped by posts like this on Reddit, which suggested Steam had teased the remakes by saying the Fallout series had 12 entries, but only showed 10 games in the collection; however, fans pointed out it’s because of regional variants, not secret remasters.

Or this other post highlighting that several trailers were recently removed from the Fallout 3 Steam page – something which also happened just before Oblivion’s remaster landed.

However, as is true for all leaks and speculation – doubly so for releases fans are unbelievably excited for – it’s hard to tell where legitimate spoilers end and desperate hoping begins.

I’m very much a believer that at least one Fallout 3 or New Vegas will be updated soon, though I’m not expecting any Remaster to land later this week. Hopefully I’m proven wrong on that, but either way we have the Season 2 finale to look forward to – and after last episode’s ending it can’t come soon enough.

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Google’s new AI 'world model' is already hitting the games industry, but it's everything I hate about artificial intelligence

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• Google launched its new AI tool, Project Genie, for AI Ultra plan subscribers
• It has since caused a plummet in stock prices for multiple video game companies
• Investors placing stock in Project Genie is a concerning sign for potential AI game development

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AI continues to be a constant threat to gaming, with its heavy impact on gaming PC hardware via high RAM prices, and concerns of replacing game developers, and a recent update shows that the latter may eventually become a possibility.

According to Google, multiple video game developers and publishers have seen major stock price plummets as a result of Project Genie's release. It's a new AI tool from Google that allows users to generate playable interactive worlds based on prompts or images.

As you might have guessed, this has led to multiple users creating worlds using images of popular games like Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Rockstar Games' GTA 5, and Kingdom Hearts, some of which look close to the genuine products in some areas.

There is no map pre-loaded in memory. As your agent explores, Genie predicts and renders the path ahead instantly. Infinite exploration. pic.twitter.com/5lZzhFS6voJanuary 30, 2026

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Analysts have noted that the reason for stock price drops for companies like CD Projekt Red, Take Two Interactive (Rockstar Games' parent company), and Nintendo is that investors have quite clearly put a lot of stock into Project Genie, likely with the idea that this would overthrow genuine creations from big game studios.

However, Project Genie is still in its experimental phase, which means these interactive worlds are barely playable, and it comes at a hefty cost for users at $249.99 per month via Google's AI Ultra plan.

It's not even close to being advanced enough to outdo authentic games, and the consensus surrounding AI integration in gaming (such as the backlash to AI in Call of Duty Black Ops 7) indicates that gamers won't stand for AI-generated gaming. However, there's still a chance this will become a reality in the future.

Opinion: AI is a deadly threat to gaming, and this is a warning sign

(Image credit: Getty Images/Surasak Suwanmake)

While AI certainly has its benefits, namely Nvidia's DLSS upscaling technology, AI is very quickly proving to be detrimental to gaming.

PC hardware manufacturers are turning their attention to AI enterprises, which is part of why RAM prices are so high, and now, investors have just given us our first glimpse at what will happen if a competent AI tool for gaming is launched – and it's scary.

Game development from real developers has yielded some of the best content in games that the entertainment industry has ever seen, and if an AI tool like Project Genie ever becomes advanced enough to potentially challenge authentic games, we could be staring down the barrel of a loss in creativity, gaming lacking identity, and most importantly, more layoffs.

It's a promising sign to see that gamers are protesting against such measures vehemently, as I strongly believe that AI should not be used for games in this manner. Let's just hope it never gets to that point.

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NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, February 3 (game #702)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, February 2 (game #701).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #702) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… On key

NYT Strands today (game #702) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• TASK
• BRASH
• SLIDE
• RACK
• ROCK
• BOOK

NYT Strands today (game #702) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 6 letters

NYT Strands today (game #702) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 5th row

Last side: right, 4th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #702) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #702, are…

• CARET
• TILDE
• UNDERSCORE
• ASTERISK
• HASHTAG
• BRACKET
• SPANGRAM: SYMBOL

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 hints

It wasn’t until I got UNDERSCORE that I finally realized that the “key” in the theme referred to a keyboard key.

Prior to that, two hints had given me CARET and TILDE, which had left me in the dark. CARET (^) incidentally is a symbol I usually use to indicate up, but is more commonly used to indicate some missing punctuation, while TILDE (~) is the wavy dash that is often used to indicate approximately.

After getting the spangram I was left with the more obvious keyboard symbols, including the 2012 word of the year – HASHTAG.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Monday, February 2, game #701)

• PENGUIN
• OSTRICH
• RHEA
• CONDOR
• PELICAN
• CASSOWARY
• SPANGRAM: BIGBIRDS

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

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NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, February 3 (game #968)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Monday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, February 2 (game #967).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #968) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CARD
• WOOD
• FOAM
• DICE
• BOARD
• CUBE
• QUARTER
• HOLE
• HASH
• HOUSE
• IRON
• MINCE
• WEDGE
• LANE
• LODGE
• PUTTER

NYT Connections today (game #968) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Chop up food
• GREEN: Places to rest 
• BLUE: Used to play 18 holes
• PURPLE: Begin with a word to remember

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #968) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: CUT INTO PIECES
• GREEN: PROVIDE WITH A PLACE TO STAY
• BLUE: KINDS OF GOLF CLUBS
• PURPLE: MEMORY ____

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #968) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #968, are…

• YELLOW: CUT INTO PIECES CUBE, DICE, HASH, MINCE
• GREEN: PROVIDE WITH A PLACE TO STAY BOARD, HOUSE, LODGE, QUARTER
• BLUE: KINDS OF GOLF CLUBS IRON, PUTTER, WEDGE, WOOD
• PURPLE: MEMORY ____ CARD, FOAM, HOLE, LANE

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 mistake

I managed to convince myself that there was a group containing things you toss, so I tried linking DICE, QUARTER, CARD and, in desperation for a fourth tile, CUBE. 

This error out of the way I managed to think a bit more logically, seeing PROVIDE WITH A PLACE TO STAY and KINDS OF GOLF CLUBS pretty quickly.

With eight tiles left CUT INTO PIECES was so obvious I didn’t even try to see the link between CARD, FOAM, HOLE and LANE. Kudos if you spotted it early.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Monday, February 2, game #967)

• YELLOW: DURATION INTERVAL, PERIOD, SPAN, STRETCH
• GREEN: CREDENTIALS FOR ENTRY LANYARD, PASS, STAMP, WRISTBAND
• BLUE: MODERN CRIME SERIES PROTAGONISTS BOSCH, CROSS, REACHER, RYAN
• PURPLE: TREES PLUS A LETTER FAIR, MARPLE, POPULAR, PSALM

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

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'I'll believe it when I see it': Windows 11 users are cynical about Microsoft's promises to fix the OS and stop pushing AI

• Microsoft is rumored to be cutting back on AI in Windows 11
• That includes reducing Copilot integration in the interface and core apps
• Recall may also be in line for some big changes, and could get renamed, with some heavy hints dropped that Microsoft isn't happy with it at all

Apparently, Microsoft is turning over another new leaf with AI in Windows 11, following another page turned last week with a broad promise to fix the desktop operating system.

Windows Central claims that Microsoft is taking action following the strong pushback against AI since the company doubled down on driving forward with these features (most notably with AI agents in Windows 11).

We're told that according to sources our sister site spoke to, Microsoft is 'reevaluating its AI strategy on Windows 11' and planning on cutting back some AI features where they don't make sense.

That includes reducing the number of Copilot buttons in the Windows 11 interface or its default apps, as these have been scattered liberally around in a not-so-subtle effort to promote the AI assistant. We're told specifically that the Copilot integration found in the Notepad and Paint apps is currently under review for some streamlining work.

There's also a freeze on adding more Copilot buttons or functionality to other default Windows 11 apps, although that's likely only a temporary measure.

The message is clear enough, though, and for now Microsoft is reining in its desire to jam more AI, and more Copilot integration, into Windows 11 and its library of core apps.

Another nugget of info here is Windows Central's assertion that Microsoft is also reviewing the viability of the Recall feature – the deep Windows 11 search that leverages regularly-taken screenshots. Apparently, even Microsoft feels that Recall has 'failed' in its current form, although the software giant is looking at ways to evolve the concept rather than scrap it entirely.

That suggests ditching it completely is still a possibility, though, but obviously not a favored one. It seems distinctly possible that at least the name could be changed, and the feature might be morphed into something else.

Analysis: on the right track – but we need actions, not words (or rumors)

(Image credit: Microsoft)

We obviously need to take all this with some caution, as with anything that's ultimately a rumor – albeit likely a well-informed one, and speculation that very much makes sense.

As I mentioned at the outset, last week Microsoft promised to fix the bugs and performance glitches with Windows 11, and that's tied into AI, in a way. Because a lot of the bad feeling about AI being such a focus for Microsoft, as it jams an increasing number of these features into Windows 11, is that the company is doing this at the expense of the overall quality of the OS. As the rallying call around a lot of the AI hate went late last year, Microsoft needs to fix the fundamentals of Windows 11, and drop the obsession with developing as much AI-related functionality as possible.

And that's exactly what Microsoft appears to be doing: fixing those fundamentals, as previously indicated – something we've already seen evidence of, in fact – and easing back on the overzealous pushing of AI.

It seems Microsoft is finally listening to users, in short, and taking action. Or, more correctly, I should say planning to take action – and actually going through with making good on all this is a different thing that remains to be seen.

I'm still worried that Microsoft has gone into a defensive PR mode, as it were, and is making all the right noises about fixing up Windows 11 – and relenting with the AI drive, at least temporarily – but that this won't amount to nearly what it should. I'm not alone in that either, as there are a good deal of Windows 11 users expressing sentiments along skeptical lines in the usual online forums.

In this Reddit thread, the most upvoted comment, which chimes with my thoughts, is a simple statement: "I'll believe it when I see it."

Time will tell how this pans out, but what runs in favor of something positive happening is the undeniable failings of Microsoft and Windows 11 in terms of the public perception of the OS. It's clear enough that something must be done, and I won't retread the same ground that I've been over in the past few months regarding the reputation of the OS – and how if it bombs any further, and trust is eroded in Microsoft, how can autonomous AI agents really work in Windows 11? They won't, because people won't trust them, just like they don't trust Recall.

Speaking of AI agents, don't think Microsoft is backtracking on those entities. The whole 'agentic platform' vision for Windows 11 is still seen as the future, and semantic (natural language) AI-powered search is, too (the latter is one of the strengths of AI, after all).

However, at the very least, Microsoft now appears to be treading more carefully, and has made some clear enough promises regarding fixing Windows 11. Hopefully we'll see the results of that – and the company taking its foot off the accelerator in terms of shoving AI everywhere in Windows 11, if this new rumor is right – soon enough.

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This touchscreen controller patent from Sony could hint at a future leap forward for accessibility — 'There exists a desire for game controllers to allow for different configurations'

• A Sony-filed patent jhas revealed designs for a "buttonless" controller
• It would use touchscreens instead of the traditional buttons, d-pad, and more
• Elements could be resized and moved around at will

Sony has patented a controller design that looks like it would do away with buttons entirely, as well as the d-pad and thumbsticks.

The patent (spotted by Insider Gaming) was filed on January 27, 2026, and is now available to view publicly. It details a "buttonless" controller that, as hinted in the URL, could be an early concept for a potential PlayStation 6 controller rather than something for the PS5. Take that with a pinch of salt, naturally, as patents often don't lead to a fully-realized product.

Imagery in the patent depicts a controller with two large touchscreens, situated where the d-pad, face buttons, and thumbsticks would be. The touchscreens are located on the left and right of the pad, with a central "push button" dividing the two.

The patent also shows that the usual physical features of a controller are now elements that can be interacted with on the touchscreen. Players would be able to assign button, d-pad, and stick elements, as well as move them around and resize them according to preference. One image shows that elements could even overlap.

The Background section of the patent offers some insight as to how such a product could be beneficial to the end user, from an accessibility standpoint.

"One of the drawbacks of existing designs [of controllers] may be the fixed configuration," it reads. "By way of example, a fixed layout may be too small, or too large, for a user. Similarly, a fixed layout may not be comfortable to a user."

It goes on to state that: "There exists a desire for game controllers to allow for different configurations, and accommodate hand sizes without having to customize or manufacture controller size."

We've certainly seen evidence of this from PlayStation itself. The PlayStation Access controller, for example, is an accessibility-driven device that is highly modular, and allows for a swathe of layouts and setups.

Contemporary controllers are also adopting more advanced features, like swappable thumbstick layouts and additional remappable buttons. The likes of the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded and Razer Raiju V3 Pro come to mind here.

It remains to be seen if Sony will do anything with this buttonless controller patent. But it's certainly an interesting idea that - if one can get over the loss of physicality that comes with touch screens - could be helpful in creating accessibility-driven button layouts without needing custom hardware setups.

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NYT Connections hints and answers for Monday, February 2 (game #967)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, February 1 (game #966).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #967) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• POPULAR
• PERIOD
• CROSS
• STAMP
• SPAN
• PSALM
• PASS
• RYAN
• LANYARD
• STRETCH
• REACHER
• MARPLE
• FAIR
• INTERVAL
• WRISTBAND
• BOSCH

NYT Connections today (game #967) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: A length of time
• GREEN: ID formats
• BLUE: Fictional detectives
• PURPLE: Altered plants

Need more clues?

NYT Connections today (game #967) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: DURATION
• GREEN: CREDENTIALS FOR ENTRY
• BLUE: MODERN CRIME SERIES PROTAGONISTS
• PURPLE: TREES PLUS A LETTER

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #967) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #967, are…

• YELLOW: DURATION INTERVAL, PERIOD, SPAN, STRETCH
• GREEN: CREDENTIALS FOR ENTRY LANYARD, PASS, STAMP, WRISTBAND
• BLUE: MODERN CRIME SERIES PROTAGONISTS BOSCH, CROSS, REACHER, RYAN
• PURPLE: TREES PLUS A LETTER FAIR, MARPLE, POPULAR, PSALM

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

After getting the easy/yellow group over a short SPAN of time, I spent a longer PERIOD laboring over what became MODERN CRIME SERIES PROTAGONISTS.

My mistakes came in assuming that MARPLE belonged alongside the other two detectives I knew from the TV incarnations – BOSCH and REACHER – leaving me to take a guess with RYAN and CROSS. After two “one away”s I deduced that the elderly spinster was a red herring.

With just eight tiles left, CREDENTIALS FOR ENTRY was easy to spot, with the final purple group finally revealing the purpose of MARPLE.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Sunday, February 1, game #966)

• YELLOW: PUBLICIZE BOOST, HYPE, PITCH, PLUG
• BLUE: ANTHEM BANGER, BOP, HEATER, JAM
• GREEN: KINDS OF SHOES CLOG, FLAT, MULE, WEDGE
• PURPLE: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS PLUS STARTING LETTER GLUTE, MORGAN, SHARP, THORN

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

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NYT Strands hints and answers for Monday, February 2 (game #701)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Sunday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, February 1 (game #700).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #701) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Formidable flock

NYT Strands today (game #701) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• RIPEN
• COWARDS
• STIR
• PEACH
• DRIP
• GIRL

NYT Strands today (game #701) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 8 letters

NYT Strands today (game #701) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 5th row

Last side: right, 5th row

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #701) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #701, are…

• PENGUIN
• OSTRICH
• RHEA
• CONDOR
• PELICAN
• CASSOWARY
• SPANGRAM: BIGBIRDS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

After spotting PENGUIN and OSTRICH first I initially thought that we were searching for flightless birds.

After hitting a blank, and failing to take flight myself, I took a hint and was given RHEA, not a bird I know anything about. It wasn’t until seeing CONDOR that the penny dropped and I finally spotted the spangram.

My last word was CASSOWARY – another bird I was unfamiliar with and one that I tapped out in hope rather than knowledge. In all this round made me feel very ignorant of this particular flock.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Sunday, February 1, game #700)

• GRANT
• BONUS
• AWARD
• OFFERING
• PRESENT
• DONATION
• SPANGRAM: GENEROSITY

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

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Apple just made some major changes to how you buy a Mac online – here's what you need to know

• The process for buying a Mac on the Apple Store has changed
• There are no more preconfigured Mac or MacBook options
• The site takes you step-by-step through choosing your specs

For several years now, if you were in the market for one of the best Macs or best MacBooks available, you would go to the official Apple website and start with one of the preconfigured options – but that's now changing in a significant way.

As spotted by MacRumors and others, you now no longer begin the purchase process by choosing a preconfigured Mac or MacBook. Instead, you start from scratch and choose your components one by one, with the display size and color first up.

In other words, buying an Apple computer is now much more like buying one of the best iPhones or best iPads. It gives you a little bit more control over your new Mac or MacBook, but requires a little bit more knowledge about what exactly you want.

There has always been the option to tweak specs and RAM and storage on your Mac after choosing a preconfigured computer, but that initial stage has now been ditched – perhaps for better consistency across Apple's various product lines.

All the options

With a MacBook Pro, your first decision is about the display size (Image credit: Future)

There's been no official word from Apple about why this change has been implemented, so we don't know for sure what the thinking is here. Another possibility is that people will be more tempted to upgrade to a higher spec if they can see all the options available.

It appears that all the choices that were previously available are still here: you can, for example, still opt to have certain professional apps like Final Cut Pro preinstalled on your Mac (though as yet there's no mention of Apple Creator Studio).

All of this comes while we're eagerly anticipating some new MacBook Pros to appear in the very near future, very possibly with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips inside. Perhaps the new online ordering system will help users assess all the various options available.

Head to the Mac page on the official Apple website to check out the new process for yourself (you don't actually have to buy anything to test it out). Is this a good move for the Apple Store or one that wasn't really needed? Let us know in the comments.

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NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, February 1 (game #700)

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Saturday, January 31 (game #699).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #700) - hint #1 - today's theme

What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… It's a gift

NYT Strands today (game #700) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• SNUG
• DIRTY
• SNOW
• WAIT
• GROAN
• SNORE

NYT Strands today (game #700) - hint #3 - spangram letters

How many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 10 letters

NYT Strands today (game #700) - hint #4 - spangram position

What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: top, 3rd column

Last side: bottom, 3rd column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #700) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #700, are…

• GRANT
• BONUS
• AWARD
• OFFERING
• PRESENT
• DONATION
• SPANGRAM: GENEROSITY

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Perfect

Despite needing no hints I’m classifying this game as hard because it took me so long to find all the words.

Part of the difficulty was that all the words – with the exception of GRANT – read from right to left, something I still struggle with despite several years of playing this game.

GENEROSITY is one of mankind’s greatest traits, but as is the case with many if not all of today’s search words, it is all too often associated with financial generosity as opposed to the generosity of kindness – which is something we can all afford.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, January 31, game #699)

• BASE
• BASKET
• PADDLE
• FOOT
• PICKLE
• RACQUET
• VOLLEY
• SPANGRAM: HAVEABALL

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

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