The Verge - Entertainments |
- Lenovo’s new IdeaPad Gaming 3 is a more budget-friendly 16:10 aspect ratio laptop
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are coming to the Switch later this year
- Killing Eve rights itself and makes Eve the star again
| Lenovo’s new IdeaPad Gaming 3 is a more budget-friendly 16:10 aspect ratio laptop Posted: 28 Feb 2022 12:00 AM PST  Lenovo has made some hefty updates to its mid-range IdeaPad Gaming 3 lineup for 2022, which includes two Intel 12th Gen- and two AMD Ryzen 6000-series-equipped models, each with a 15.6-inch and 16-inch option. Notably, the 16-inch option for either CPU you opt for has a 16:10 aspect ratio display with the option to go up to 2560 x 1600, like the Legion 5 Pro, which is more desirable because it offers more vertical space for browsing, gaming, or anything else you want to do on a PC. The only thing they're not particularly great for is watching movies or TV shows, which are traditionally presented in 16:9 aspect ratio. Despite each of these IdeaPad Gaming 3 laptops looking the same across CPU options, the specs differ in some ways internally. Starting with the Intel-based options, which are known as IdeaPad Gaming 3i, each supports up to Intel's Core i7-12700H processor and up to Nvidia's RTX 3060 (105W total graphics power) or Intel's new Arc discrete graphics. As for memory, this model supports up to 32GB of DDR4 3,200MHz RAM and up to 1TB of PCIe NVMe M.2 storage. It supports Thunderbolt 4 in all configurations, except for the RTX 3060-equipped one, strangely. You can get the QHD (2560 x 1440) resolution display with either size of the 3i, the smaller of which goes up to 350 nits of brightness, while the 16-inch screen can apparently go up to 500 nits. /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23267905/ideapadgaming3white.jpg) Lenovo For the AMD-based laptops, these can be configured with up to the Ryzen 7 6800H processor, along with Nvidia's RTX 3050 Ti (85W total graphics power). So, the graphics are getting a bit less attention here. The storage situation is the same, though you can get up to 32GB of faster DDR5 4,800MHz RAM in this one. As you might have expected, its USB-C port doesn't support Thunderbolt 4. Shifting to displays, the 15.6-inch version supports up to FHD, while the 16-inch model can support WQHD with the same display specs as I mentioned above. Those differences aside, the 15.6-inch IdeaPad Gaming 3 and 3i share identical dimensions (21.8mm-thick, weighing about 5.2 pounds). The 16-inch models are a touch thinner at 20.9mm-thick and weigh about 5.5 pounds. The 15.6-inch models will be available in a grey or white colorway, while the 16-inch option is just in grey. Base models of the 15.6-inch model include a 45Wh three-cell battery, with the option to step up to a 60Wh four-cell battery if you get more power-hungry graphics. The 16-inch model goes up to a 71Wh four-cell battery. /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23267900/ideapadgaming3rear.jpg) Lenovo With these specs in mind, any configuration that appeals to you seems like a big step up from the 2020 model that I reviewed. Even compared to newer 2021 models, the newer model sports more subtle branding, a refined design, more processor options, better graphics, and better displays. A bigger, taller display is a spec that I'm happy to see trickle down from Lenovo's pricier Legion 5 Pro series. But it all leads to slightly higher pricing. The 15.6-inch IdeaPad Gaming 3i with Intel starts at $989.99 and will launch in April. The starting price for the 16-inch model is set at $1,489.99, and Lenovo expects it to launch in June. As for the AMD-based models, the 15.6-inch model starts at $929 and is expected to launch in May, while the 16-inch IdeaPad Gaming 3 will launch in June starting at just $1,139.99. |
| Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are coming to the Switch later this year Posted: 27 Feb 2022 06:24 AM PST  Surprise! There are even more Pokémon games on the way. At a livestreamed event on Sunday morning, The Pokémon Company teased two new titles: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The games are expected to launch on the Nintendo Switch in late 2022, and the brief teaser looked reminiscent of 2019's Pokémon Sword and Shield. The games are described as an "open-world adventure" and developer Game Freak says they "take a new evolutionary step in the Pokémon main series." You can get a glimpse of the new starters in the image below. /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23275336/Screen_Shot_2022_02_27_at_9.27.17_AM.png) Here's the official description:
The other big news is that Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which just launched earlier this year, is getting a software update called "daybreak." It'll be available for free later today, and includes a new quest to investigate. The Pokémon Company also announced that it's creating an animated series that's set in the Hisui region from the game, which is expected to debut later this year. Also part of the announcement was a big update coming to Pokémon Go, in which monsters from the Alola region — which first debuted in Pokémon Sun and Moon — will be coming to the game starting on March 1st. And the competitive battle game Pokémon Unite will also be getting some notable new features, including new, more intense fights called "fury battles" that launch today. Players who log in now will also get limited edition Pokémon Day gear to wear while playing. |
| Killing Eve rights itself and makes Eve the star again Posted: 27 Feb 2022 06:00 AM PST  Sandra Oh finally has something to do Killing Eve, a show about a stylish assassin hunted by a frumpy MI6 agent, made it easy to fall a little in love with a serial killer. Vibrant clothes, a bumping soundtrack, and a coy smile from Villanelle made it hard not to smile even as she graphically murdered her way across Europe, taking glib satisfaction in the creativtity of her kills. As much fun as this was, it was also a problem, as by Killing Eve's third season, the show had excessively minimized the titular character's screen time to wallow in the winsome depravity of its villain. Now in season 4 Eve, played by Sandra Oh, is once again the focus of the show, and its so much better for it. What made Killing Eve's first season so compelling was how focused it was on Eve (Sandra Oh). Villanelle (Jodie Comer) was like butter, wonderful in moderation, but too rich in excess. Oh's performance and the scripts made Eve not just a straight man to Villainelle's flamboyant lead, but a true rival. Eve wasn't good at killing, and her reaction to being stalked involved fleeing into a bathroom and defending herself with a toilet brush, but she was every bit as charming and interesting as Villanelle. There was something dark about her obsession and how it affected those around her. Something perverse about her intellectual attraction to Villanelle. But as the show went on and Eve descended further and further into Villainelle's orbit, she started to disappear. By season 3 Eve was gone from the story for whole massive chunks of time and was even absent one entire episode. /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23272275/KE_400_AM_0617_6405_RT.jpg) Anika Molnar/BBCA Season four makes the focus on Vilanelle at the cost of Eve feel purposeful. The story appears to pick up sometime after season 3 with Eve in a very different place. The indecisive and nervous desk jockey who liked to croon Disney songs at karaoke and sleep in after drinking too much has been replaced with a focused killer — a killer who jogs. What's more: we have no idea how Eve got to this point in her life. BBC America sent myself and other critics the first three episodes of the fourth season, and we see a lot of old loose plot threads get snipped off in those episodes, but there's still no answer for why Eve has become so focused and so driven or, why she seems to passionately hates Villanelle's guts. It's fascinating to watch Eve practically seethe in her interactions with Villanelle. She's furious, but there's this queer thread of real care and concern too that feels like a loved one interacting with an addict. Oftentimes, in my experience, you find yourself caring for the addict, unable to turn off that affection, but knowing that you need to keep a distance, to protect yourself from their destructiveness and not enable them. In one scene she's speaking with an acquaintance who asks her, out of the blue how Villanelle is, and instead of tensing Sandra Oh softens. Something like relief flickers across her face. She may be mad, but she can't turn the care off. Villanelle can't turn off the care she has either–but her it's warped her. Where Eve seems healthy and whole and thriving, Villanelle is twisting in the wind and focused obsessively on Eve and being redeemed in her eyes. Her arc thus far this season mirrors one of an addict, too. In season 3 she'd effectively hit rock bottom after murdering her own mother, and broke down not long after when she took another life. She was looking for support from Eve, even as she ran from her, but when you addiction is murder, how do you pull out of an tailspin? Villanelle is trying to figure that out as she actively pines for Eve and pretends that whatever fractured their relationship between seasons is behind them. /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23272272/KE_400_AM_0607_1396_RT.jpg) Anika Molnar/BBCA But while Villanelle is making amends and trying to avoid murdering others, she's no less interesting. The show still manages to find a way to revel in the chaos Villanelle delights in creating. Jodie Comer never lets Villanelle become muted, and there's no equating "murder-free" with boring. If anything it makes the character more interesting. Eve is still the more central character though. She's the one moving the plot, and she's the one who's had a bigger journey off screen, and she's the one trying to protect Villanelle even as she's furious with her and heartbroken by her. The show is called Killing Eve, and whether that's because Eve will be dead by the finale or so transformed she might as well be, she'll be experiencing that chance as the main character. Eve is back, and I can't wait to see who she shoots next. Killing Eve premiere tonight, Sunday, Feburary 27, on BBC America. |
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