Month: August 2022

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 is now official and it builds upon the already great Galaxy Z Flip 3 from last year to deliver a more refined experience. This new clamshell-style foldable has a slightly different hinge, a more durable foldable display, and better internals. The company has indeed made a lot of improvements which is impressive considering it starts at the same $999.99 price tag. If you’re planning on buying this new foldable and are wondering how much warranty it comes with, then you’ve come to the right place.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4, just like a lot of other phones on the market, comes with a one-year limited warranty by default in the United States. So if something goes wrong with your Galaxy Z Flip 4 within a year of the purchase date, then Samsung will repair or even replace it depending on the issue. This will obviously be done free of cost provided it’s still under warranty, and the problem wasn’t caused by an external factor. The external factors, in this case, include dropping the phone by accident, water damage, a broken screen due to some sort of external force, etc.

If you happen to have an active lifestyle or if you think you’re a bit clumsy with phones or other devices in general, then we recommend you purchase the Samsung Care Plus protection plan. Samsung Care Plus, in case you don’t know, extends the warranty of your device and covers accidental damage as well. So if you drop your phone and end with up a shattered screen, then Samsung Care Plus will cover the screen replacement cost for you. You can purchase Samsung Care Plus for your device while buying the phone from Samsung.com. You can either choose to pay $8 a month with the flexibility of canceling anytime or lock yourself in with a 2-year plan for $149. There’s also Samsung Care Plus with Theft and Loss which will get you a replacement device when the phone is lost or stolen. This comprehensive plan, however, will cost you $18 per month, so it’s more expensive.

Smartphones, in general, are a big investment for most people, so it’s always best to spend a bit more money upfront and buy the Samsung Care Plus protection. Foldable phones are still quite fragile than the traditional slab phones, so we think it’s well worth the money.

In regions where it is mandated by law to provide a longer, two-year warranty, Samsung abides by the relevant regulations.

If you’re interested in buying the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 then you can use the link above to purchase it along with Samsung Care Plus. Alternatively, you can also check out the best deals for it to see if you can snag a free Samsung Care Plus coverage. If you’re confident that you don’t need a Samsung Care Plus plan for your device, then we suggest you at least pick up one of the best cases for it to protect against accidental drops and bumps. And if you haven’t already, pick up a charger for the Flip 4 too!

All narrative-focused video games live and die on their cast of characters, and nowhere is this more true than in RPGs. Just as it’s easy to get swept up into an interesting world by the party members and supporting cast you meet along the way, it’s just as viable to realize the characters in the game are a burden or worse, deeply uninteresting. Fortunately, the teens who make up the party of Monolith Soft’s recently released JRPG Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are great.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is set in the world of Aionios as the kingdoms of Agnus and Keves have been locked in a years-long war. On both sides, soldiers are vat-grown and given a ten-year lifespan, during which they train and before going right into battle. Soldiers killed on the battlefield have their essence absorbed into the other faction’s giant mecha, who are powered by a device called a Flame Clock. If a Flame Clock runs out or gets destroyed, then the soldiers associated with it will instantly die, and that subsequent energy goes into the other faction’s mech. From there, the game opens on a trio of Kevesi soldiers: Noah, who plays his flute to help fallen soldiers move on to the next life, medic Eunnie, and defender Lanz.

Regardless of genre, it can be very easy for video games to get teenage or young adult characters wrong. Making teen characters feel authentic is something the medium — much like Hollywood or television — can struggle with, even with the best of intentions. That’s not the case in Xenoblade 3. The game opens with Noah’s group, and they’re compelling right from the start. Before the game has its occasionally overly long flashback cutscenes, you can tell that the trio’s time together has been just as full of loss as it has been ensuring one another survives their battles. They bicker and listen to one another like they’ve known each other for years, and the game succeeds in making you feel like you’re there with them.

Within an hour or two, the game’s plot kicks in when Noah, Lanz, and Eunnie cross paths with Agnus specialists Mio, Sena, and Taion. After fighting each other and then teaming up to fight a mech monster, the teens find that specific pairings of their group can fuse to become different mechs, and all six of them are freed from their respective Flame Clocks. Now removed from the literal biological clocks that help dictate their lives, the teens find themselves forced to stick together.

Through the power of friendship, let’s beat this dude’s ass! (Screenshot: Nintendo/Monolith Soft)

More than the combat or the bigness of the world, the banter between the party is what’s made Xenoblade Chronicles 3 so enjoyable across my current 16 hour, three-chapter playtime. The teens are just fun in the way that anime typically excels at. For every moment that they’re cool in player-controller combat or a cutscene, there’s another moment where you’re reminded of how young they literally and figuratively are. Combined with the curiosity they share about their new lease on life and the larger world around them, they become endearing pretty quickly. Noah and Mio are clearly billed as the game’s protagonists, and I do like them, but it’s Sena, Taion, Lanz, and Eunnie that have my heart.

Unity and “friendship is magic” are well worn tropes at this point, especially in anime, but I will damned if that doesn’t still work on me. The cutscenes where the teens first fuse into their mech forms — Noah and Mio get it early on, followed a chapter later by Lanz and Sena in one form and Eunnie in Taion in the other — feel earned, and in gameplay, it can be incredibly satisfying to watch AI-controlled party members fuse of their own volition. When an AI-controlled “Hero” character bestows their class to a particular party member after a specific side mission, it can be fun trying to figure out who’s going to be The One, and it’s satisfying when it’s eventually revealed who that special someone is .

One of my favorite games of 2021 was Bandai Namco’s scarlet nexus, an anime action-RPG that also featured a cast of soldiers forced to band together in the midst of a war. Both it and Xenoblade 3 place an emphasis on making the characters connect to each other both on a narrative and gameplay level, with nexus relying on gift giving and visual novel-style sequences where the cast would hang out or fight together. Xenoblade 3’s approach to bonds is a little more literal, and doesn’t allow you to cheat its systems like nexus did At campsites, you can watch the cast sit together and eat, or have them train to get stronger. When finding the bodies of fallen soldiers in the open world, Noah or Mio can play their flutes to send those soldiers off to the next life, and occasionally, they’ll play their respective melodies together.

Image: Nintendo/Monolith Soft

At all times, it feels like the teens are on the path to becoming friends, if they already aren’t already. So strong are the vibes that even the recycled dialogue lines in combat and the open world continue to have a certain charm to them. (That’s right, Sena, you are the girl with the gall.) The game isn’t subtle about its ambitions, but considering the pretty messed up world these teens live in, it’s nice that the game reinforces how hopeful they are and want to be about their situation .

Given how long Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is said to be, I know that I’ll feel that length at some point or another. So it’s a good thing I’m spending it all with such a great cast of characters who are worth being around.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is available now for the Nintendo Switch.

Want more Gizmodo news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and starwars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TVand everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the US, but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.

Weekend PC Game Deals is where the hottest gaming deals from all over the internet are gathered into one place, every week, for your consumption. So kick back, relax, and hold on to your wallets.

Horror fans are in for a feast as Humble and Capcom brought forward the Resident Evil Decades of Horror bundle this week.

The bundle begins with copies of Resident Evil, Resident Evil Revelations and Revelations 2 Episode 1 in the $1 tier. If you go for the $10 tier it puts up Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition, Resident Evil 0, and Revelations 2 Deluxe in addition to what’s in the previous rung.

The bundle throws five more horror items at you in the third and final tier costing $30, which has Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes, Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, Resident Evil 4and a 50% off coupon for Resident Evil Village.

At the same time, if you’re more about tactical combat games, Humble’s other gaming bundle of this week may be the way to go. It all titles like Sniper Elite 4, Call of Arms, Verdunand four more games for $15.

Epic Games Store brought a freebie for casual game fans this week with a copy of Cook, Serve, Delicious 3 being offered, replacing the unrailed giveaway from last week.

The cooking and management title has you taking over a food truck in a post-apocalyptic setting. A hectic campaign with hundreds of levels and co-op support is available here, with a separate “Chill” mode to slow down the pace for a more relaxed ingredient assembling experience.

the Cook, Serve, Delicious 3 giveaway is available to claim through Thursday, August 18. Coming up next is not a game, but a premium pack for the new free-to-play battle royale rumbleverse.

big deals

Since there seems to be no free events happening this weekend, we go straight to the big deals section. The hand-picked list this time has been populated by discounts for games featuring the Caped Crusader, THQ Nordic publisher deals, and much more:

DRM-free Goodness

Your dose of DRM-free deals arrives from the GOG store, filled with games that offer a good challenge and others:

Keep in mind that availability and pricing for some deals may vary depending on the region you’re in

And that’s it for our pick of this weekend’s PC game deals everyone, and hopefully, some of you have enough self-restraint not to break the bank adding new games to your ever-growing backlogs. Of course, there are an enormous number of other deals ready and waiting if you comb through the interwebs hard enough, so keep your eyes open for those, and have a great weekend.

Neowin may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.