The Wednesday letters page struggles to understand the price of the PS5 Pro, as one reader insists God Of War is not a Soulslike.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

PS5 Pro-hibitively expensive
As usual, I think you did a good job of summing up mine, and probably most people’s, reaction to the PS5 Pro reveal in your article.

I seriously could not notice any major improvement or discernible difference between the graphics in most of those comparison gameplay videos they used to promote the power of the new hardware. The nearest I came was in the Ratchet & Clank bit, when they slowed the gameplay down, and I maybe noticed more frames in the PS5 Pro version, which made it look slightly smoother.

And when they showed the supposedly improved graphical detail over performance mode, well, I honestly could not notice any big improvement. (And why were they showing the gameplay within laughably small boxes, seriously were they trying to make it harder for anyone to tell the difference?!)

Then the price was revealed… and I let out a massive laughing snort. £700?! For a console with relatively minor graphical improvements, certainly indiscernible to the ordinary gamer, to what’s available already?! Quick, let me get my wallet!

I can only assume this is some sort of reverse psychology masterplan by Sony to make the original PlayStation 5 look much better value, so that anyone who is still thinking about joining the current console generation will think, ‘hmm, I’ll save £200 and just buy the original model instead’.
Stephen

GC: That’s the best explanation we’ve heard so far.

1 million space bucks
So… If the PS5 Pro with a disc drive costs £798.99 how much is a PlayStation 6 going to cost?

At that insultingly high price, Sony clearly are not going to sell many of the Pro iteration machines and I guess they’re OK with that because it gives them an excuse in three years’ time to bump up the Gen 10 entry price to £999.99 without even flinching.

What on earth were Sony thinking? Shareholders have a lot to answer for, not least the complete destruction of the high-end console market.

There is only one winner here and that’s Nintendo. After such a catastrophic reveal, the execs at Team Red must still be laughing into their profit margins.
Lawrie Pick

Spot the difference
I honestly don’t know what Sony are thinking. How do they expect to entice people to pay so much for the Pro when there’s such a small difference? They had to zoom in to demonstrate it. Then there’s no new games, the need to pay for a disc drive and a stand, they’re not even including the fancier version of their controller.

I keep thinking about buying a PlayStation 5 but each decision from Sony seems designed to deter me from bothering. I don’t particularly feel I’m missing out on exclusive titles, as I have an Xbox Series X and a Switch. Maybe the PlayStation 6 will be backwards compatible and I can catch up on the games I miss when skipping the 5, like, ummmm… Astro Bot and Spider-Man 2?

I really hope Nintendo announces the Switch 2 and we can have some good news since Sony and Microsoft are really fumbling things.
Euclidian Boxes

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No sale
Watched the PS5 Pro show and for me I didn’t really see any improvement. Maybe slightly, but not that much. The thing that made me swear out loud was the price. I bought the PlayStation 4 and the PS4 Pro, I bought the PlayStation 5 and I was going to buy the PS5 Pro as well. Or at least think about it, until I saw the price.

Is Sony on something? £700? They have got no chance, not in a month of Sundays will I be buying a Pro. I’ll stick with my standard PlayStation 5. There is no reason for anyone to have a Pro. No new games and I’m not playing old games just so I can say ‘Oh yeah, there is a difference.’ I’ll keep my money this time.
David

Bad comedy
Well, given how little interest I have in mid-gen upgrades, I had very low expectations and already thought the whole thing would be a complete waste, but even then I’m not convinced this PS5 Pro reveal isn’t some sort of joke.

The first few minutes were about showing us how genuinely incredible games look on a base PlayStation 5. Then he’s saying 75% of players choose performance mode, all the while showing side-by-sides where it’s hard to tell the difference in visual quality between the modes unless you slow down the footage and zoom in.

Then they spend half the time showing how good some old PlayStation 4 games look?! How many times did The Last of Us Part 2 show up?

All I can think of is they’re clearly putting the cart before the horse, deciding to push some fairly trivial tech ideas when there’s clearly absolutely no meaningful application or demand for it. Devs are requesting this from the platform holder? Sorry, but I take that with a boulder of salt. At the very least, if it’s true, why are platform holders being steered so heavily by businesses that don’t seem to have learned a single thing from the past four years?

Then that punchline. £700. At least they can sell it to us with the rationale that it only costs as much as 10 modern AAA games. If you’re interested in paying that much for this console and you somehow weren’t prepared to pay for a base PlayStation 5, I’ve got some extended warranties to sell you along with added volcano insurance and Prime soft drinks.

Possibly the worst own goal I’ve seen Sony score so far this gen, and that’s saying something, even just considering the past fortnight.

I’ll just close by saying one of the best-looking games I’ve ever played is still 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2. On a base PlayStation 4. And I’d bet Grand Theft Auto 6 still only runs at 30 frames per second on this thing. I’ll laugh so hard if that’s the case.
Panda

GC: Developers probably are asking for it, but they’re generally not business-oriented. It’s Sony and other publishers that should’ve realised the idea was madness at this price.

Seeing red
Whistler was saying that Sega did not do anything for the Dreamcast anniversary; in fact, they did something quite small, they released Dreamcast merchandise on Limited Run Games on Monday, for the 25th anniversary which was 9/9/99 (the original Dreamcast launch date in the US). Unfortunately, the merchandise doesn’t include a European Dreamcast logo, which was in blue because of a copyright. All the merchandise uses the American logo, which is in orange.

I am thinking of picking up the Dreamcast VMU keyring, as it does not cost too much!
Andrew J.
PS: Just received my Astro Bot game on Monday from ShopTo and what I have played so far is very, very good!

Like a Souls
I’ve noticed in recent years, that many action role-playing games are now categorised by some, including here on GameCentral, as a Soulslike. This includes games such as the recent God Of Wars, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the Nioh games, and the recent Black Myth: Wukong.

God Of War isn’t anywhere comparable to Soulslikes and as for the others, the only thing they share is the death system but outside of that, they each play completely different. The Nioh games, for example, are fast-paced with combos and there’s more emphasis on loot and builds than anything else. If anything, it has more in common with games like Ninja Gaiden and Diablo. Yet nobody would call Nioh a ‘Diablo-like’ just because of the shared mechanism of how loot works simply because the whole gameplay is completely different.

Calling any game that shares one or two mechanics with the Souls series Soulslikes kinda does a disservice to these games in my opinion. It’ll be a bit like calling Dark Souls or Elden Ring ‘Monster Hunter-likes’ because of how Souls actually took inspiration from the methodical slow combat, stamina, and real-time healing with flasks from those games. It wouldn’t make sense because Dark Souls and Elden Ring both incorporate these mechanics differently, creating a different gameplay experience.

It’s the same with Nioh and Jedi: Fallen Order. As for God Of War, I’m not sure why anyone would compare that to a Soulslike in the first place unless Soulslike fans think that lock-on, blocking, and dodging was a Soulslike invention. Seeing the two recent God Of War games have Soulslike as a popular user tag on Steam makes me laugh. I think it just goes to show that many people can’t really define the genre in the first place.
Don

GC: We have never heard of anyone calling God Of War a Soulslike. That said, genre labels are increasingly meaningless in modern gaming, given most games are a mixture of several different genre types.

Mama mia
Does GC have any thoughts regarding the list Eurogamer published recently, of the Top 100 games to play right now?

Whilst any such list is ultimately subjective, I can’t help but feel that some glaring omissions (e.g. no 3D Mario game or Divinity: Original Sin 2) comes across as slightly performative and deliberately contrarian.
Mark Fitz

GC: We hadn’t seen the full list until now but while you could argue that Baldur’s Gate 3 covers for Divinity the lack of 3D Mario is certainly surprising. There seems to be some recency bias going on with many of the indie picks but any top 10 that has Nex Machina in it is all right in our books.

Gen on gen action
Now Sony and Microsoft are releasing on it, I’m shopping for a PC to play games at the highest quality settings at 60 fps and I’m learning just how costly that is.

Pound for pound the £700 all-digital PS5 Pro with a 2TB very fast SSD and controller stacks up very nicely against an all-digital PC with similar performance.

But we’re talking about console gaming, not PC gaming and it’s hard not to feel the PS5 Pro’s price and focus of delivering a high end-ish PC experience is the unwanted poster child for ills in gaming of dev times and budgets, brought about by going down a path of ever costly graphical fidelity and features.

All in the same week of Sony releasing the best reviewed game of the year, that is everything many feel console gaming should about, in Astro Bot. Fun, inventive, looks great without being obsessed with graphics. A game made in a reasonable time, at a reasonable budget with a reasonable size development team.

Maybe I’m wrong and Sony have read the room right. Cerny said ¾ of PlayStation 5 gamers choose performance mode and everyone went absolutely nuts for GTA 6’s reveal graphics. Maybe what Sony is offering in the PS5 Pro and the type of games it’s for is more relevant to modern customers than I think.

As I said, I’m someone who will seek out the best hardware to game on and we all love to see gen-on-gen improvements, love the SSDs in the current gen consoles. But the PS5 Pro has even me thinking maybe Sony and triple-A have really lost sight of what we should be trying to achieve when making games.

It’s not a new revelation, many have been arguing that point for a long time now. It’s just now and again something comes along that really underlines it.
Simundo

Inbox also-rans
Just realised that Sony got the name of the new machine wrong. PS5 Pro-fit. There. I fixed it. Now, you can get a second job and own one too. Or, maybe buy two! Mark Cerny is Ken Kutaragi and I claim my prize!
ZiPPi

£699 for PS5 Pro. I didn’t expect the price to be that high. I get it’s a niche product, but that pricing is ridiculous. It doesn’t even include the vertical stand. What were Sony thinking? I thought the absolute worst case scenario was £599, but expected in the region of £550. I’m lost for words.
Si

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The small print
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A video shows how the Ukrainian military is reportedly using Valve’s Steam Deck console to fire remote-controlled machine guns.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that gamers saw the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, when a missile exploded just outside a Twitch streamer’s house while he was livestreaming Dota 2.

More recently, a video has surfaced showing how Valve’s Steam Deck gaming console is being used to benefit the Ukrainians on the battlefield.

Ukrainian engineers have found a way to connect Steam Decks to unmanned machine gun turrets, thanks to the portable gaming device, which works like a PC.

They call it the ShaBlya system, and the video showcasing it was posted by Ukrainian government-run platform United24 Media on Twitter.

The video claims the system is ‘one of the first robots on the front line’, which can target ‘enemy personnel and ‘lightly armoured targets’.

It also says that the Steam Deck-operated turret can fire bullets at a distance of three miles, has a thermal imager, rangefinder, and wide-field cameras.

Footage from the video also shows the turret in action, shooting at non-human targets in a field. And yes, it does look just like that bit with the auto-turrets, from the Aliens director’s cut.

The Steam Deck is essentially a handheld PC, and comes with operative system Linux, but can be changed to Windows if you’re willing to go through the many hoops that that requires.

In the video, United24 Media explains the unorthodox method, saying: ‘Modern Warfare is a war of robots and drones, since in this way a huge number of lives are saved without losing the effectiveness of destroying the enemy.’

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Micah McLaurin’s latest track was inspired by embracing freedom, individuality and sexuality. The acclaimed concert pianist-turned-pop star, is sharing “Call Me” today with visuals directed by An Le (Cher, Mariah Carey).

“They are creative visionaries, and really brought the song and concept to fruition,” McLaurin tells PAPER about working with director An Le and stylist Eyob Yohannes on the music video. “It’s amazing to work with people who are so passionate and talented, and bring magic to the whole thing. Then I can trust and let go, so I’m able to be more in the moment and present.”

“It was such a pleasure working with Micah,” Yohannes adds. “I was enthralled by his unique sense of self-expression, which I could see through his fashion and music. Listening to the song and taking into consideration Micah’s ethos, I decided to look for emerging designers that reflected this radical sense of self-expression. A little naughty, a little edgy, and most of all remaining true to Micah’s individuality.”

Outside of his musical pursuits, McLaurin has delved in the fashion world, recently performing at Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Gioelleria couture festival. “I feel like I waited my whole life for that moment,” McLaurin says. “It was such a huge reward, especially because I risked so much stepping outside of traditional norms in music and life. D&G really elevated the theatrical side of my performance and music making and made everything come together like a grand slam.”

Below, McLaurin talks to PAPER about “Call Me,” working with Le and Yohannes and what’s next for his music.

Talk about the scope of the production. What was the process behind creating “Call Me”?

It was my first time shooting a video over two days instead of one, so it was great to get into the vibe and have a second day after kind of warming up. The garden of Eden is all AI, so it wasn’t part of the set, but we had two very friendly live snakes, and they were treated well and the handler stood right next to me. They were actually very… cozy? Except one of them went around my neck a little too tight for a second. It wasn’t something I would normally do, but it was fun to dive in to the situation of having snakes crawling on you while trying to show the camera that you’re not scared. The snakes were very professional.

What was the inspiration behind the lyrics of “Call Me”?

“Call Me” is more than just the lyrics on the surface. It’s symbolic of me taking my power back and reclaiming my identity after I felt it was stolen from me in childhood. It’s about owning the parts of you that others and perhaps society deemed wrong or in need of fixing. For example, take a word or negative phrase you’ve been called, and turn it around and own it and make it a power instead of a curse. The song was born out of light heartedness and fooling around in the studio. It allows me to showcase myself as a musician, not merely a classical pianist. It also gives me permission to explore my personality and life away from classical music, something I felt was forbidden in conservatories and the Catholic Church. I was actually told not to seek for my music to be known, so picking the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden is a metaphor of me going after the life, music and career that I dream of, because I had been led to believe that was wrong and sinful.

What are you excited to share with your fans next?

They can expect the unexpected and more live performances. I don’t want to be chained down to one genre or style, so my piano will always be here. It’s my great love, but my musicianship will always be growing and evolving my whole life because music chose me. It has such a hold on me that I can’t control the way it drives me, as if something has taken over my body.

Photography: An Le

It took him 15 months to train for, but Doug ‘Censor’ Martin has finally beaten a fitness record we can only dream of achieving – although his hands are a mess.

There are many examples of gamers beating weird records, like that time when someone received a Guinness World Record for plugging hundreds of consoles into the same TV.

There was also the time a student built the largest functioning Game Boy ever, thanks to his obsession with the console when he was younger.

Now, a former Call Of Duty pro has made his way into the Guinness Book of World Records, in an equally bizarre but more sporting way: by beating the record for most pull-ups in 24 hours.

Doug Martin, known as Censor in his competitive gaming days and on Twitch, managed to do 9,250 pull-ups in 19 hours, before calling it quits.

Although his initial plan was to do 11,111 pull-ups, Censor decided to stop because his arms, wrists, and hands were completely exhausted.

Not only has he entered the Guinness Book of World Records, he crushed the existing record at 8,940 pull-ups – achieved by Kenta Adachi from Japan in February – with five hours to spare.

Censor said it took him over 15 months to train for the record attempt, and that he even recruited a former title holder to help, Jaxon Italiano, who managed to do 8,008 in 2023.

Be warned, below you can see what doing 9,000 pull-ups will do to your hands.

The attempt was livestreamed and showed how Censor would do a handful of pull-ups before resting for a short while, and then repeat the same procedure over and over again.

One of the many tuning in to watch was Twitch streamer Nadeshot, who was floored by Censor’s achievement, saying: ‘The amount of training this man must have done for the past few years, to be able to over 9,000 pull-ups, is astounding.

‘Bro, that is some mythical discipline. I mean, that’s the s*** you see in movies.’

Censor broke the record for a good cause too, the Purple Project, which has a mission to find a cure for pancreatic cancer and improve the lives of those affected.

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Sony has officially announced the PS5 Pro and its release date but its price is far more expensive than anyone ever imagined.

We’re starting to worry about Sony. They’ve been so quiet and withdrawn the last two years, with so few announcements, it’s been hard to understand what their game plan is.

The recent release of Astro Bot has helped to improve morale amongst fans but now all that has been undone with the official reveal of the PS5 Pro.

Here is what you need to know.

How much will the PS5 Pro in the UK?

Sony announced the upgraded console during a brief nine minute presentation, at the end of which they revealed the console will be £699.99 in the UK. Yes, that’s right £700. And it doesn’t even have a disc drive with it – you have to buy that separately.

The console is $700 in the US, which works out at £535. There’s the usual excuse of different taxes being applied but even so, that’s a huge price difference for an outrageously expensive console.

In the end it turned out that the rumours were wrong and there aren’t two models or a split release date, and instead the single model will be released on November 7.

The separate disc drive will cost £99.99, if you don’t already have one, and Sony won’t even throw in a vertical stand for free – that will cost you an extra £24.99.

As already known, there are no new games being released alongside it, so all that Sony systems architect Mark Cerny could do was show off existing games running on the original PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro side to side.

No doubt there are significant differences if you look in detail but to the naked eye, and certainly to an ordinary, casual gamer, the demonstrations look virtually identical.

It seemed at one point that Cerny was going to say that the PS5 Pro would remove the need to choose between fidelity and performance modes for games on the new console, but he stopped just short of that – even though the general idea is that there’ll be little or no difference between the two on PS5 Pro.

Presumably, he’s leaving the option as possibility for developers that want to use it, but it’s a shame it’s not a more clear cut selling point.

Instead, he emphasised the three pillars of an upgraded GPU, advanced ray-tracing, and AI-driven upscaling (the previously leaked PSSR).

There’s more information on the PlayStation Blog, as well as the promise of a Pro Game Boost, that will enhance ‘more than 8,500 backwards compatible PlayStation 4 games.

The PS4 Pro only accounted for around 10% of overall PlayStation 4 sales, so it seems Sony has just thrown caution to the wind and created an ultra expensive deluxe edition that will likely only appeal to the most hardcore (and rich) fans.

There has been some suggestion that the console will be promoted as the best way to play GTA 6, once it’s released, but if that’s the case the game wasn’t even mentioned during the reveal.

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Want to learn how to earn extra cash without selling players, and the best way to find wonderkids in Football Manager? Read on.

Football Manager is full of features, data, and tens of thousands of players and staff, so it’s quite a daunting game to take on. But when a game has so many layers, it means there are equally as many tips and tricks to get the best out of it.

We’ve already rated the best teams you should consider managing, and more wonderkids to sign, but now it’s time for more general advice (and unethical shortcuts) that can help get your hands on the top trophies.

If you’re looking for ways to make some extra money without selling players, or how to make your tactics work better, you’ve come to the right place.

Tips and tricks for FM24

1. Arranging friendlies

Spending money is quite scarce for most clubs when you first start off in Football Manager 2024, so early extra cash can go a long way.

You can inflate the club’s bank account by arranging friendlies at your home ground, which comes with a fee but is outweighed by the income you’ll get from the game.

You can exploit this and arrange as many home friendlies as you want during the pre-season, and make quite a bit of money in doing so. The less wealthy your club is, the more important this becomes.

2. German bonuses

A more unethical exploit, that’s been in the game for ages, is giving German players a bonus for games they play at international level.

This might not make any sense, until you realise that the German national team is full of fake players, because Sega hasn’t been able to agree a licensing deal with them.

Exploit this by incentivising German player’s contracts with this bonus, while slashing their salary and other more realistic bonuses.

3. Don’t forget to delegate

Another tip is to set everything up in a new save before you do your unveiling press conference.

We recommend delegating the sometimes overwhelming amount of responsibilities around the club, like who attends press conferences, who handles the scouting meetings, and everything in between.

You can do this via the Staff menu and then Responsibilities, which can be a huge time-saver.

4. Plan ahead

Also, at the start of a save, you should set up everything else: arrange all the friendlies you need for the pre-season, create your formation and tactic, set up general training and individual training, put the players you don’t want in your team on the transfer list, and scout for new players.

5. Never skip pre-season matches

We also recommend actually playing the pre-season friendlies, and not simulating them, as you really do want to know if you tactic works and if your players are being as useful as they can be.

Too many saves have been cut short because we skipped the friendlies, and even though we won the games the tactic just didn’t work when the league started up.

6. Look up

If you’re managing a lower league club, a great trick to attract new players is by going to teams above you at the end of the season and seeing which players they’ve released.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, is a phrase that rings completely true here. You can find some great players this way, and as they’re without a club you can offer them a trial in your team.

7. Star potential

Finding young players with the potential to develop into wonderkids is a very important side mission for many, and it’s important to work smart, not hard, when doing so.

The best way to find potential wonderkids in Football Manager 2024 is by creating a new search in the search tab – add a condition for only players under 20 years of age and the countries you’re interested.

To make things easier you should focus on Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, and Croatia, as these countries have the best youth ratings in the game.

8. Watch the opposition

Opposition instructions before games are important too, but easily ignored. You’ll see better results if you remember to press an opposition player to their weaker foot, or performing a hard tackle on someone with low bravery, for example.

We recommend pressing the opposition fullbacks to their weaker foot too, as that way they will more often pass the ball towards the middle of the pitch, where there’s less space for the receiver of the pass.

There are countless of ways to get the best out of your Football Manager experience, but these are some of the top ones that will hopefully help your team go all the way.

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GameCentral gets its hands on Lego’s tribute to The Legend Of Zelda, with a set that recreates the Great Deku Tree from both Ocarina Of Time and Breath Of The Wild.

As Sony and Microsoft struggle with the question of how to embrace multiformat gaming, and what that means for a console manufacturer, the current turmoil in the games industry doesn’t seem to be affecting Nintendo at all. But that’s not entirely true, as they’ve already spoken about their worries at the increasing amount of time it takes to make new games and the possibility of having to make new acquisitions to help with the next generation.

There’s still no chance they’ll release their games on any other format, as instead their policy for the last few years has been to expand the use of their IP, starting with the Nintendo World theme parks and continuing with the hugely successful Super Mario Bros. movie. They’re now much more proactive about teaming up with other companies, which has led to a lucrative partnership with Lego. One that has already resulted in a wide range of Super Mario sets aimed at kids and larger ones, such as a brick-built NES and a Super Mario 64 tribute, aimed at adult fans.

There was some uncertainty at first, as to whether Lego had the licence to make toys based on other Nintendo properties, but a third wave of Animal Crossing sets has already been announced, with Mario Kart toys planned for next year. And now, the first ever Lego Zelda set has been released.

There’s been some consternation amongst adult fans, that none of the Mario sets feature traditional Lego minifigures. Instead, they’re all brick-built models or interactive Bluetooth figures of Mario, Luigi, and Peach. Since the whole line was designed with the help of Nintendo, and is meant to mimic the process of designing and playing the actual games, that does make sense, especially as they often resemble the chunky 3D style of older games.

Since the Zelda set is aimed purely at older fans, with its 18+ rating (an indication of its difficulty rather than its subject matter), you get ‘proper’ minifigures right off the bat: Link and Zelda from Breath Of The Wild and Link and Young Link from Ocarina Of Time. The figures look fantastic too, with unique hairpieces and a variety of authentic looking swords and shields, including the iconic Hylian Shield and the all-important Master Sword.

The main model is the Great Deku Tree, which might seem a surprising subject matter at first, until you realise it’s one of the few constants throughout most of the mainline games. Like most things in Zelda, it often looks very different in each game and so this set offers two alternative builds: one that looks like its appearance in Breath Of The Wild and the other the more old school design from Ocarina Of Time.

That’s a fairly unusual approach with modern Lego but it’s not a case of having to completely disassemble one to make the other. What you actually do is build about a third of the set first, so that you’ve got the main base, a second detachable base with the Master Sword plinth on it, and the start of the Deku Tree trunk. It’s only at that point that you have to decide which version you want to build.

Each version has several bags worth of Lego that are unique to its model, so you’re going to have some pieces left over whichever one you make, although there’s more that ends up unused for the Ocarina Of Time model because it’s smaller.

Which model you choose is no doubt going to depend on which game you have the most fondness for but it’s fairly clear the set itself considers the Breath Of The Wild (and Tears Of The Kingdom) version to be the primary one. It’s obvious why, as it’s a huge model that’s dense with Easter eggs and references. We’re used to not including spoilers in video game reviews, but we’d feel just as guilty at spoiling some of the surprises here.

Some of the more obvious ones though include the main base of the tree being filled with mushroom and flowers based directly on Breath Of The Wild, with the instruction book pointing out what they are and what effect they have in-game. There’s tiny little Korok models in there too, and two secrets hidden in the roots of the tree, that we’re definitely not going to spoil.

Inside the tree, at the back, there’s the bed, mushroom shop, and cooking pot that you see in the game, all of which are charmingly detailed and take a surprising amount of time to build. Even the top of the tree, at the back, is filled with unexpected amounts of detail, including a fairy, and Walton the Korok and the answer to the riddle he poses in the game.

The main gimmick of the Breath Of The Wild model is that the eyebrows and mouth animate if you push a lever at the back, which is wonderfully clever in terms of the Lego engineering and looks great if you’re showing it off to someone else.

The base with the Master Sword attaches to the front, completing the scene from the game, plus there’s an amazing brick-built version of Hestu, the giant Korok with his maracas. It looks just as good as if it had been a custom-made action figure and, marvellously, his maracas actually make a noise if you shake them, as there’s a little Lego stud inside taking the role of a Korok seed.

Hetsu and the Master Sword plinth (the actual stone part of which is removable) are separate from both main builds and can be displayed on their own, as can a recreation of Young Link’s house from Ocarina Of Time. This is a two-story build featuring Link’s bed, where the game starts, and a trunk on the bottom floor filled with recognisable Ocarina Of Time items.

There’re separate bottles to restore health and magic, a compass for getting around dungeons, a bomb, and a wonderful little brick-built hookshot that any of the Links can hold. There’s also an actual Lego Ocarina of Time for Link to hold, plus a printed Shekiah Slate that the instructions gives to Zelda but also works with one of the Breath Of The Wild secret features.

One of our favourite extras though is the representation of Navi, which is a transparent circular brick with an image of her on, held up by additional transparent pieces. The centre of the circle allows you to add differently coloured pieces to represent her when idle (blue), when she’s alerting you to something (green), and when you’re Z-targeting a monster (yellow). Which is a lovely bit of detail.

The manual doesn’t tell you how to take apart one tree to make the other – we guess they just expect you to reverse the instructions – but the Ocarina Of Time Deku Tree is slightly taller and doesn’t have the Master Sword plinth in front of it. You can add it if you want, or display it separately, but since it doesn’t stick out the front, the Ocarina Of Tree version is a lot easier to fit on a shelf than the other model.

It’s a generally less dense design, as befits its N64 origins, but there’s still some great detail, with a couple of Deku Baba (Zelda’s cousin of the Piranha Plant), a gossip stone, and a Deku Tree Sprout. The canopy of the tree is completely different to the Breath Of The Wild version, as is the face – with the mouth opening up to let Link in, just like the game.

Inside is a chest with a slingshot for Link to discover, while a brick-built Skulltula descends from the ceiling if you turn a dial. The Breath Of The Wild version is the bigger and more impressive Lego model but the Ocarina Of Time version provides arguably the most Zelda nostalgia.

It’s a fantastic set, with the Ocarina Of Time tree standing over 33cm tall and the Breath Of The Wild one just over 31cm (it’s hard to be specific because of the leaf pieces). There are 2,500 pieces in the set but, as we said, you don’t use all of them at any one point – there’s always some left over.

That may rankle some, who perhaps wish the Ocarina Of Time version was available separately as a cheaper set, but as it is you can only get them as a 2-in-1 package for the princely sum of £259.99 (only from Lego stores or the official website).

Clearly that’s not an impulse purchase but for anyone considering getting it for a birthday or Christmas it’s a marvellous thing, in terms of both the Lego designs and the Zelda authenticity. Our only disappointment is that there’s not a traditional Zelda minifigure design included and the only bad guys are the two Deku Babu and the Skulltula.

Whether Lego will make additional sets is hard to say, given this one is aimed solely at adults, but we’d really hope for a smaller set containing old school Zelda, Ganondorf and/or Ganon, Epona, and maybe some assorted Moblin and other creatures.

Zelda doesn’t have much in the way of iconic architecture or vehicles, since Hyrule Castle and the Temple of Time change every game, just like the Deku Tree, but even if this ends up being the one and only Lego Zelda set it’s a worthy homage to the legendary series.

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Sony is unveiling the PS5 Pro console today, and if the rumours are true, the cost of it has already been leaked.

Last week Sony posted an image to celebrate the PlayStation brand turning 30 years old, but some managed to spot something hidden in it: a picture that seems to show the long-rumoured PS5 Pro.

There have been rumours about the upcoming, upgraded PlayStation for a long time, but they’ve intensified lately, with one leaker drawing a picture of the console (so as to not get sued by Sony) – which looks very similar to the one Sony posted last week.

As if that wasn’t enough, the announcement of the PS5 Pro was unofficially confirmed by Sony when it posted an unlisted YouTube video named ‘PS5 Pro’, which it later hurriedly renamed to ‘PS5 Technical Presentation’. So there’s really no question what today’s event is about.

Where and when to watch PS5 Pro announcement?

The unveiling of the PlayStation 5 Pro can be watched on the PlayStation YouTube channel, via the embedded video below.

The broadcast goes live on Tuesday, September 10, at 4pm BST, 8am PT, and 11am ET.

It will be hosted by Mark Cerny, lead architect of the PlayStation 5 console, and will last for just nine minutes.

How much could the PS5 Pro cost?

The live broadcast states that Cerny will give ‘a technical presentation that focuses on PS5 and innovations in gaming technology’.

Nothing else is officially known, but last month a leaker, who correctly predicted the date of the PlayStation 5 Pro presentation, also claimed that the upcoming console will cost £589.99.

The cheaper PlayStation 5 Pro digital-only version comes out November 14, the leaker claimed, predicting that the disc version will launch on December 5, which is strange considering the latter is historically the most popular console.

Alongside the console announcement, the leaker also said that an updated DualSense controller with ‘more battery life and enhanced triggers’ will be revealed.

When could PS5 Pro pre-orders go live?

There is no information about when pre-orders will start, but with a likely release this autumn it’s fair to expect that you’ll be able to order a PS5 Pro soon after the presentation.

At that point all the rumours about the PS5 Pro release date, price, and pre-orders should be be confirmed, as well as details about the technical specifications of the console.

There seems little question that we already know what it looks like though, with the new console looking similar to the PS5 Slim, but with three lines across the middle of it.

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Disgraced streamer Dr Disrespect is back after being accused of inappropriately messaging a minor, as xQc, Amouranth, and others react to his statement defending himself.

YouTube streamer Herschel ‘Dr Disrespect’ Beahm has made good on his threat to return to streaming, as he said he would when he admitted that the reason he got permanently banned from Twitch in 2020 was because he inappropriately messaged a minor.

Without stating when he’d be back, Dr Disrespect went on vacation, after being booted out of his own games studio and demonetised on YouTube.

Over two months later, the streamer has now returned, but fellow content creators on YouTube and Twitch are not exactly welcoming him back with open arms.

During his comeback stream, Dr Disrespect defended himself, arguing that the minor in question was actually over the legal age of consent, despite saying otherwise in his own statement in June.

He again admitted that there were messages with an individual, and these were the reason he was banned from Twitch, but claims there was no sexting involved.

Top streamers such as xQc, Amouranth, DrLupo, and NickMercs don’t buy it, however, as they all had their say on Dr Disrespect’s comeback and the accusations against him.

One of the most devastating responses came from NickMercs, one of Dr Disrespect’s former friends.

‘This r***** Dr Disrespect is married with children, pushin’ 40. Admits to texting a minor inappropriately. His words, not mine.

‘So I cut ties, because obviously that’s inexcusable. Now I’m a s*** friend for not having his back??? Buncha brain-rot morons on this app,’ he said on Twitter.

While watching a clip of Dr Disrespect defending himself during his comeback stream, xQc seemed to have trouble believing his side of the story, saying:

‘Twitch banned one of their biggest money cows, one of their biggest icons, money-making machines, the poster boy for their company, banned him outright for not sexting a not minor? Gotcha.’

Top streamer DrLupo also didn’t hold back when he was accused of being a bad friend by a fan, going on a rant about the accusation against Dr Disrespect.

‘He messaged a 17-year-old when he was in his late thirties, with a child and married, trying to solicit them for sex.

‘And every single time he talks about it it’s going to be sugarcoated, it’s going to be dumbed down, because at what point do you expect someone to say, ‘Yeah, I wanted to f*** a teenager.’ Do you think he’s going to say that?’ said DrLupo.

Dr Disrespect has not addressed the backlash from his fellow content creators, including streamers he has collaborated with many times, such as NickMercs and DrLupo.

The outcast streamer is currently demonetised on YouTube, because of the scandal, but said he can reapply for partnership, to get his channel’s monetisation back, on September 25.

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Additional last minute leaks about today’s PS5 Pro reveal include surprising details about its date and price, and a subsequent State of Play.

Just in case there was any lingering doubt about what today’s ‘technical presentation’ it about from PlayStation, the unlisted video for the event was originally called ‘PS5 Pro’, before it was quickly renamed.

That’s no kind of revelation but what has been surprising is that combing back through the many rumours, it turns out that a little-know leaker managed to get both the date and the length of the presentation right last month.

Brian Potter is not a name that will be familiar to most people, and his account now seems to be suspended, but given the accuracy of the other information it seems likely that his other leaks are also true, including the price of the PS5 Pro being £589.99.

Who Potter is, and what happened to him, is a mystery but he correctly predicted the date of today’s technical presentation and listed the running time as 12 minutes, which seems well within the margin of error for Sony’s official time of nine minutes.

He also predicted an updated DualSense controller with ‘more battery life and enhanced triggers’, which it’s implied will be announced at the same time as the PS5 Pro and presumably released alongside it.

There’s already some evidence for this, as recent listings in the US and Australia show a mystery $5 (£3.82) price rise for the controller. There’s no stated reason for this but it could be because they’re the new models.

That gives much more weight to the rest of Potter’s predictions, as he reveals that the PS5 Pro will support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision for both physical media and some streaming services.

His prediction for the pricing and release date is a little odd though, as he claims that a digital-only version of the console, without a disc drive, will be released on November 14 for £499.99.

However, according to him, the disc version won’t launch until December 5, at a price of £589.99. That’s peculiar, especially given the disc version is usually the best-selling one, and suggests a scarcity of components or some other manufacturing delay.

That is, of course, assuming he’s right, but his final prediction is that a State of Play presentation is scheduled for September 19 and will focus on indie and third party games, with no Sony first party titles expected to feature prominently.

A number of other leakers have also suggested that a State of Play will follow a week after the PS5 Pro reveal, so again there’s already some precedence for what he’s saying.

If Potter turns out to be right about everything it’ll be a real shame they already seem to have disappeared, especially as nobody was paying attention to them when they were active.

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