Open-world games were on the rise during the fifth generation of consoles, with a few key titles released on the PS1 and N64. But it would take the raw power of next-gen hardware, specifically the PlayStation 2, for the genre to explode and become the mammoth force that it is today. Thanks to the improved hardware that the PS2 offered, open-world games on the console were able to make huge leaps from the previous generation, and the way they could tell stories was at the forefront.

Hi everyone! We are happy to share our Power Up Deals in the Philippines and it will feature discounts on PlayStation 5, PS VR2, DualSense wireless controllers and PlayStation gaming audio peripherals.Power Up Deals promotion starts from February 1st till February 14th, in participating retailers in the Philippines: https://www.playstation.com/en-ph/local/retailers/.Please see below for full details of PlayStation Power Up Deals 2025 in the Philippines.PlayStation 5 ConsolesOriginal SRPPromotion SRPPlayStation5PHP 30,790PHP 27,990PlayStation5 console Two DualSense Wireless Controllers BundlePHP 33,990PHP 31,190PeripheralsOriginal SRPPromotion SRPPlayStation VR2PHP 34,790PHP 22,990DualSense wireless controller (White, Midnight Black, Cosmic Red, Nova Pink, Galactic Purple, Starlight Blue, Gray Camouflage)PHP 4,290PHP 3,490DualSense wireless controller (Volcanic Red, Cobalt Blue, Sterling Silver, Chroma Pearl, Chroma Indigo, Chroma Teal)PHP 4,590PHP 3,790Pulse Elite Wireless HeadsetPHP 8,390PHP 7,290Pulse Explore Wireless EarbudsPHP 12,490PHP 10,790

Space-Time Smackdown is an upcoming expansion for Pokmon TCG Pocket. This update will add new cards, alongside seemingly new types of cards, and finally introduces the long-awaited trading feature.Space-Time Smackdown focuses on the Gen 4 Pokmonfrom the Sinnoh region and will feature two booster packs based on the legendary PokmonDialga and Palkia. You can look forward to collecting cards for Pokmonlike Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. Theres also an awesome full art card featuring the fighting-typeLucario and even a souped-up Parchirisu ex.Heres when the Pokmon TCG Pocket Space-Time Smackdown expansion releases in your time zone, plus details about what to expect.PokmonTCG Pocket Space-Time Smackdownexpansion release time estimatePokmon TCG Pocket Space-Time Smackdown releases on Thursday, Jan. 30. As of this writing, developers Creatures Inc. and DeNa have not confirmed an exact release time.That said, the last update for Pokmon TCG Pocket, Mythical Island, was released at 1:00 a.m. EST. This is the same time the game updates each day. Events like a recent pyschic-type Pokmon Mass Outbreak event also tend to roll out at that hour, so the expansion will likely be released around the same time.Given we dont have an official confirmation for the time release, heres the usual update time (and thus the probable Space-Time Smackdown release time) in your time zone: 1o p.m. PST on Jan. 29for the West Coast of North America1 a.m. ESTfor the East Coast of North America6 a.m. GMTfor the U.K.7 a.m. CETfor Western Europe/Paris3 p.m. JSTfor TokyoWhat to expect from PokmonTCG Pocket Space-Time SmackdownexpansionThe Space-Time Smackdown expansion will add 140 new cards to Pokmon TCG Pocket and the ability to trade cards. The trailer teased a trainer card featuring the Champion of the Sinnoh region, Cynthia, and a Pachirisu ex that references tool cards (whatever those are).We dont have the full roster yet, but it looks like some strong cards are coming to TCG Pocket. Here are some highlights of whats on the way:Lucario is a fighting-type with 100 HP and a retreat cost of two energy. It has an ability called Fighting Coach that allows attacks from your other fighting-type Pokmon to do an additional 20 damage to your opponents active Pokmon.Dialga ex is a steel-type that has 150 HP and a retreat cost of two energy. It can use an attack called Metallic Turbo that allows you to take two steel energy from your Energy Zone and attach it to a benched Pokmon.Palkia ex is a water-type that also has 150 HP and a retreat cost of two. Its attack, Dimensional Storm, will allow you to unleash an attack that does 150 damage to your opponents active Pokmon and 20 damage to each benched Pokmon. Its strong but it has a drawback: You must discard three water energy on it once you use it.

There are benefits to training in heart rate zone 2, and youve probably heard all about them. But what happens when your heart rate spikes into zone 3, whether when you're on a run or doing cardio at the gym? Surprise: You dont lose the benefits of zone 2 training. Zone 3 is arguably just as good for you, or maybe even better.Remember, the reason people are excited about zone 2 training is that it helps you build your aerobic base and burn calories without incurring much fatigue. Guess what zone 3 training also does? Yep, it helps you build your aerobic base, burn even more calories, and usually only incur a tiny bit more fatigue than zone 2. So why arent we all doing more zone 3 cardio?Zone 2 is overratedThere are reasons to run (or do any cardio) at lower intensities, and reasons to use higher intensities. Easy cardio is having a moment right now, so everybody is talking about doing more zone 2. Before heart-rate monitors were widespread, you had to judge what was easy by yourself, or by comparing your speed of running to what you knew you could do in a race. Non-athletes had the talk test": If you could hold a conversation while jogging, you knew you were at an easy, steady pace.But when everybody has a watch that tells them their heart rate, suddenly were looking at specific numbers, and our watches color code the numbers so you know when youre in zone 2 versus zone 3. Your heart ticks up a beat? Youre out of your zone. Straight to workout jail!But the reality is, your body isnt getting a drastically different workout at 153 beats per minute than it was at 152. There probably isnt even much difference between, say, 145 and 155, as long as theyre both within that conversational-ish effort level. Workout zones arent realThe most popular heart-rate zone systems use zones that are divided up for convenient measuring. They don't have any precise relationship to what's going on in your body. Your body does have some true dividing lines when it comes to exercise intensity (like the point at which you can't speak comfortably anymore, or the point at which lactate accumulates faster than you can clear it), but these don't correspond exactly to the typical five-zone system. The five-zone system, as a refresher, is based on where your heart rate falls as a percentage of your maximum heart rate. There will be specific percentages defined as the boundaries of each zone, and the five zones are usually described something like this: zone 1: rest or minimal effortzone 2: easy breezy conversational pacezone 3: ???zone 4: pretty hardzone 5: maximal effortIt's a cute idea, and many people find this system helpful, but these zones are not based on any scientific findings that prove we get such-and-such benefits at 60-70% of max heart rate, and such-and-such different benefits at 71-80%. If you arent convinced, just look at how different gadgets and apps define the zones differently: Your zone 2 might be 60-70% on Apple Watch, but 65%-75% on a Peloton. At, say, 73%, the Apple Watch would say you're in zone 3 but the Peloton would say you're in zone 2. Who is right? Neither, really.Research on the benefits of exercise doesnt use heart rate zones, or at least not of this type. They may measure intensity in a few different ways, including whether you are above or below your ventilatory threshold (basically, whether or not you can talk while exercising) or your lactate threshold (measured through blood chemistry, but basically the highest effort you can sustain for a long time). Sometimes theyll measure METs, which relate to how much energy you use to do work, or they'll put everything in terms of oxygen consumption (this is where the term VO2max comes from). Occasionally these studies will send participants home with heart rate-based guidelines, but those tend to be drawn from their personal scientific measurements, rather than the cookie-cutter zones you get from an app or from watching a video on youtube. Conversational pace includes zone 2 and most of zone 3So lets take a closer look at that idea of the talk test or conversational pace. The guideline to keep your easy cardio at a chatty pace does come from a scientific concept: the ventilatory threshold.Imagine you start out at a walk, and every minute or so you increase your speed a bit. As you work harder, youll hit a point where your breath becomes a little ragged, and your sentences choppy. If you were conversing with a friend, you'd be grunting out a few words at a time, rather than casually telling a story. That point is your ventilatory threshold, or VT (sometimes called VT1).When athletes or coaches talk about easy pace or easy efforts, they usually want you below your VT. The way people talk about zone 2, youd think that the VT occurs at the top of zone 2. But nopeconversational pace is closer to 80%, which is the top of zone 3. For example, heres a study on recreational runners that found VT1 to be, on average, at 78% of the runners max heart rate. And they tested the runners max heart rate, rather than using a formula based on age. (Never trust the default formulas.)So if youre trying to train at an easy pace, or if youre using the 80/20 rule to keep 80% of your runs easy, you can do those easy runs or cardio sessions in zones 2 and 3, not just zone 3.Zone 3 is still aerobic and still easyNow that I've explained why the zone 2/zone 3 distinction is arbitrary, you see why it makes more sense to look at zones 2 and 3 (or even zones 1 through 3) as a continuum. At the lower end, youll be running or pedaling slower, burning fewer calories, and feeling like youre barely doing any work. (Hello, cozy cardio!)At the higher end (or the top of zone 3), youre still getting a lot of aerobic work done, still benefiting your mitochondria and your capillaries and everything else, but youre doing it in less time. If youre interested in calorie burn per hour, zone 3 is more efficient.Cyclists sometimes call training in this range the sweet spot. It gives you some of the advantages of harder training without making you too fatigued. For runners, zone 3 may include some of your tempo runs, some of your race-pace runs, and some of your faster easy runs.So whats the point of zone 2, if you can get all of its benefits in zone 3? That depends on your big picture: If youre doing a lot of training, youll probably want some of it to be in zone 2, if only to save some energy while youre getting more miles on your feet. But if you only run, say, three times a week, its unlikely that those couple of runs will wear you down much even if you do them all in zone 3.You shouldnt read too much into your heart rate anywayThis brings me back to my grudge against heart-rate monitors. (Its a grudge borne of love; I track my own heart rate when I run and find it useful in many ways.)Your heart rate doesnt only track with your training effort; it also responds to a lot of other factors. For example, it responds to summer heat, showing you higher numbers in hot weather. It can also show higher numbers if youre more fatigued, or at the end of a run compared to the beginning, and it may show higher numbers if youre a bit dehydrated. When you run a race, you may find that your heart rate is higher than expected at the start, just because youre a bit nervous.Some medications can alter your heart rate as wellbeta blockers, for example, notoriously lower your heart rate. And then theres the question of whether your fitness tracker's zones are set correctly (even knowing that, yes, their boundaries are made up). If youve never run an all-out race or series of hill sprints, your watch may have never seen your maximum heart rate. So if it says that your max must be 184 because you are 36 years old, its just grabbing numbers from a formula. That makes as much sense as buying shoes based on the average shoe size for a 56 woman, rather than actually measuring your feet (or trying on the shoes). If you go out for an easy run and find that your heart rate was in zone 5 the whole time, I guarantee you that isnt your zone 5.So if your heart rate creeps into zone 3 on a zone 2 training run, that may or may not be accurate. But even if it is, if you can still breathe and speak more or less normally, youre getting plenty of benefits from your zone 3 cardio.Is zone 2 or 3 better for fat loss? Both are good! If you can only do cardio a few times a week, and don't mind working hard, zone 3 is a great place to be. It's less fatiguing than HIIT, but packs more of a punch than zone 2. But if you have more time, you may want to work toward the 50 to 60 minutes of exercise per day that researchers have found works the best at helping people lose weight and keep it off. (Here's one interesting study where this level of exercise worked even without dietary changes.) This is a lot of exercise! To get that amount of work in, most people would not be comfortable doing it all as zone 3 trainingbut zone 2 is a lot more doable. The more exercise you do, the more you'll need to include easier work, like zone 2, to give yourself a break from the harder days. So if you're doing a ton of exercise, at least some of it should be zone 2, and some can be zone 3 or higher if you like. If you're only exercising a few days a week, zone 3 is probably better. What is the best heart rate zone for cardio? Every zone has a benefit, so if you're trying to increase your cardio fitness, you should spend time in all of them. Zone 1 is good for warmups, cooldowns, and the recovery periods between intervals.Zone 2 is good for long sustained efforts. It's usually OK to do zone 2 in place of a rest day. Zone 3 helps you adapt to harder work than zone 3. It burns more fat but incurs a little bit more fatigue than zone 2, as we've discussed. It's also the zone where you'll practice race pace if you're training for a race like a half marathon. Zone 4 helps you to work close to your lactate threshold, which improves your endurance when you're working hard. This is an important zone for athletes, but it's usually only done one or a few times per week, not for every workout. Zone 5 is a very hard zone, and is great for HIIT workouts (with zone 1 work, like walking, to recover in between those hard intervals).In general, you'll want to spend more time in the lower zones, and sprinkle in the higher zones for variety. In the 80/20 style of running, 80% of your workout time should be spent in zone 2 and low zone 3; everything from high zone 3 on up should only make up 20% of your workout time each week. This isn't the only way to structure your training, but it's a popular one that helps runners get a good balance of work in all the zones. Is zone 3 a "gray zone" with no benefits? Not at all! It got this reputation from all the coaches and writers who were trying to convince people that training medium-hard shouldn't make up all their training time. Instead, they should do some sessions easier (zone 2), and some harder (zone 4 for threshold and zone 5 for shorter and harder intervals). The idea of emphasizing the highest and lowest zones is sometimes called "polarized training." But this advice somehow turned into a myth about people needing to avoid zone 3, which was never true.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/feb-27th-2024-woman-opening-closing-2433383737Your Mac collects a lot of usage data to improve macOS and Apple's own apps. Quite a bit of that data is collected by default, and it's good to be aware of it. Apple is quite good at declaring how and why it collects data, and almost always, this information is easy to find and understand. The company also encrypts a lot of the data that it collects, which means that Apple cannot read it. Having said that, I think all kinds of data collection should be opt-in, and not enabled by default. Here's how to review data collection settings on your Mac and use third-party tools to ensure that your computer isn't phoning home any more than is necessary.And since we're on the subject of privacy, also consider opting out tracking by data brokers and stopping Apple from collecting data on your iPhone.Use a third-party firewall Credit: Little Snitch Although Apple offers its own firewall, it's not helpful if you want to monitor Apple's own data collection. Third-party firewalls work quite well on macOS, which is far less restrictive than iOS is here. You can use apps such as Little Snitch ($63), Radio Silence ($9), or even the free LuLu to keep an eye on apps and services that phone home. With a good firewall app, you'll be able to block outgoing connections (even Apple's own) and reduce tracking.Sometimes, it is important for your Mac to phone home, because that's how you get automatic software updates, but there are plenty of times when it's not needed at all. You can use your firewall app to monitor all these connections and block unnecessary ones.Turn off Apple IntelligenceApple Intelligence has a few redeeming features, but I find that it slows down my M1 MacBook Air a bit, and since it also requires you to send your data to Apple's servers, I prefer to turn it off. Yes, Apple Intelligence does encrypt data, but it still doesn't perform all actions on-device. If you're uncomfortable with your Mac using Apple's cloud services for AI features, you can turn off Apple Intelligence by clicking the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen and going to System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. Reduce Siri's data collectionAs the Siri spying settlement confirms, you should be wary of Apple's data collection using its voice assistant. Apple is now quite transparent about how your data is processed for Siri, and you can go to System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri to check what the company has to say for yourself. Click the About Siri, Dictation & Privacy button and you'll see that Apple does store and process your Siri transcripts. This is another form of data collection, which you can avoid by disabling Siri and dictation. On the Siri settings page on your Mac, click Delete Siri & Dictation History and then click Delete to remove stored data. Then, turn off Siri. Finally, go to System Settings > Keyboard and turn off Dictation to complete the process.Disable Apple analyticsWhen you use your Mac, Apple collects a fair bit of data to track app crashes, macOS bugs, and usage to decide which new features to work on next. This data is usually anonymized before being shared with Apple or third-party developers, but you can still review it and decide if you want to share it at all. Just go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Analytics & Improvements on your Mac and go through all the options. I've disabled everything on this page.Check Apple's location access Credit: Pranay Parab As a rule of thumb, I deny location access to practically every app on my Mac. Even so, I was surprised to see location access enabled for the computer's system apps. You can verify which of your apps have location access by going to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and clicking the Details button next to System Services. Go through the entire list and disable location access for services that don't need it. You should leave it enabled for essential services such as Find My, but it's okay to disable location access for Mac Analytics and a few others.You can also click the Details button next to Significant Locations to see the location information Apple has collected on your frequent hangouts, and optionally delete it and revoke access to future data collection. Note that this information is encrypted and cannot be read by Apple. The company says it uses the info to show useful details in Photos, Maps, Calendar, and other system apps.Reduce personalized advertisingOver the past few years, Apple has been pushing its own ads quite a bit. The situation is far less dire on the Mac than it is on your iPhone, but it still is annoying to see ads in the Mac App Store. You can't block these entirely, but you can go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising and disable Personalized Ads.iCloud alternatives on the MacTo complete your review of Apple's data collection on the Mac, you're going to have to scrutinize iCloud, too. iOS is restrictive enough that no service is as good as iCloud for syncing and backing up your data. However, macOS is far more accommodating, and you don't really need to use iCloud as much as you do on iOS. Some system apps such as Apple Notes, Messages, Calendar, and Reminders rely on iCloud for syncing, but otherwise you can look for alternative services to back up your Mac.Note that using cloud storage services exposes you to data collection by default. You just have to decide if you want Apple to collect your data or opt for another company. Some people prefer to keep their data spread out across different services while others don't mind having it all in one place. The good news is that you can use dedicated online backup services such as Backblaze ($99/year) on the Mac, which isn't possible on the iPhone. You can also easily create offline backups using Time Machine or third-party apps such as Carbon Copy Cloner ($40). This means that you can easily reduce your reliance on iCloud on a Mac.

In the latest riveting episode of Everything Costs More, Fubo raised the prices of all of its English-language plans by $5 for new customers. The hike includes Fubos Essential plan, which only launched in early December. In a statement to The Streamable (which first reported the news), Fubo blamed the fee hikes on increased programming costs. The regular prices of the English-language plans have increased $5 due to rising costs from our programming partners, a spokesperson wrote. We only make adjustments when necessary, and were committed to keeping Fubo competitive while ensuring our subscribers have access to the channels, features and live events they enjoy. The changes now put Fubos cheapest plan (the aforementioned Essential bundle) at $85 monthly, slightly more than YouTube TVs $83. The latter raised its fees by $10 per month in early December up from the $35 monthly price it debuted with in 2017. In addition to Fubos $85 Essential plan, the streamer offers a Pro plan that technically costs the same. But its angle is that, unlike Essentials, it includes regional sports networks, which add mandatory fees of up to $16 per month to the base price. Essentials gives you the option of skipping the RSNs and their fees if you arent worried about losing many of your local teams games. (Yes, live-streaming TV is often now as much of a confusing mess as traditional cable.) Fubo Elite, which now costs $95 monthly (plus RSN fees), includes 78 extra channels like The Cooking Channel, NBA TV and MLB TV. Fubo also offers a $33 Spanish-language Latino plan with networks such as ESPN Deportes, Cine Latino and Nat Geo Mundo. It was the only subscription tier spared from the price hikes. Although Fubo is arguably the best live TV service for sports, it has some significant missing pieces compared to rivals like YouTube TV. Notable omissions are channels from Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN, TNT, TBS, HGTV, Discovery, Food Network and more), A&E and AMC. To ease the blow (very briefly), Fubo is offering savings to new subscribers on their first month of service. New signups get $25 off their first month of the Essential plan and $20 off Elite or Pro. Meanwhile, you can save $8 on the Latino plan. Just remember that the full prices will kick in after that single discounted month. Earlier this month, Fubo and Disney agreed to merge the streaming service with Hulu + Live TV. If the deal gets shareholder and regulatory approval, it will create a new entity (under the Fubo brand) to manage both services. At least the initial promise is that the two services will continue to operate independently. Disney will own 70 percent of the new company, while Fubo will have 30 percent. The two products currently boast a combined six million subscribers. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/fubo-raises-prices-on-all-english-language-plans-181540573.html?src=rss

Meta AI adds memory feature

The Ayaneo 3 gaming handheld is here with better specs and features, but you'll be spending at least $700 for the honor of owning one.

Japan's chip-related shares extended declines for a second day after DeepSeek triggered concerns over competitiveness in the artificial intelligence sector.

James Gunns vision for Superman comes alive in an electrifying TV spot promising pure cinematic magic. Featuring the iconic Man of Steel, the trailer takes viewers on a breathtaking journey through the skies packed with gripping moments, soaring visuals, and an unmistakable heroic spirit.Framestore, ILM, and Weta FX bring this visionary work to stunning life. Working under Production VFX Supervisor Stephane Ceretti and VFX Producer Susan Pickett, this commercial beautifully combines artistry with advanced technology to bring Supermans classic tale to new heights.Directed by James Gunn, this latest look into the Superman saga captures the essence of heroism, combining exhilarating action with heartfelt storytelling. Its not just a sneak peekits a celebration of what makes Superman a true cinematic legend.The post James Gunns Superman TV Spot: A Cinematic Spectacle appeared first on Vfxexpress.