ActuGaming.net Genshin Impact : Une nouvelle vidéo s’attarde sur tous les personnages importants de la nouvelle région de Nod-Krai Malgré quelques personnages marquants, le casting de la région de Natlan dans Genshin Impact n’a […]

ActuGaming.net Genshin Impact : Tout ce qu’il faut savoir sur la version 5.8 (Ineffa, zone inédite, nouveau personnage de Nod-Krai…) La région de Natlan a livré presque tous ses secrets, laissant ainsi l’aventure de Genshin […

ActuGaming.net Genshin Impact met en avant les divinités du monde de Teyvat dans un court-métrage inédit Genshin Impact a beau aller sur sa cinquième année d’existence, son univers reste encore rempli […] L'article Genshin Impact met en

Dahlia, Genshin Impact, new character, version 5.7, updates, Skirk, gaming community ## Introduction Let’s not beat around the bush: Genshin Impact’s latest character, Dahlia, is a massive letdown. With the hype surrounding version 5.7, players were expecting something revolutionary, something that would shake the foundation of their gameplay. Instead, what do we get? A character that feels...

Genshin Impact has finally introduced a non-Cryo character from Mondstadt for the first time since Albedo's release in Version 1.1: Dahlia! He's a four-star Hydro sword character, and also serves as a deacon at the Church of Favonius.

In 2025, it’s very difficult not to see gambling advertised everywhere. It’s on billboards and sports broadcasts. It’s on podcasts and printed on the turnbuckle of AEW’s pay-per-view shows. And it’s on app stores, where you can find the FanDuel and DraftKings sportsbooks, alongside glitzy digital slot machines. These apps all have the highest age ratings possible on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. But earlier this year, a different kind of app nearly disappeared from the Play Store entirely.Luck Be A Landlord is a roguelite deckbuilder from solo developer Dan DiIorio. DiIorio got word from Google in January 2025 that Luck Be A Landlord was about to be pulled, globally, because DiIorio had not disclosed the game’s “gambling themes” in its rating.In Luck Be a Landlord, the player takes spins on a pixel art slot machine to earn coins to pay their ever-increasing rent — a nightmare gamification of our day-to-day grind to remain housed. On app stores, it’s a one-time purchase of $4.99, and it’s $9.99 on Steam. On the Play Store page, developer Dan DiIorio notes, “This game does not contain any real-world currency gambling or microtransactions.”And it doesn’t. But for Google, that didn’t matter. First, the game was removed from the storefront in a slew of countries that have strict gambling laws. Then, at the beginning of 2025, Google told Dilorio that Luck Be A Landlord would be pulled globally because of its rating discrepancy, as it “does not take into account references to gambling (including real or simulated gambling)”.DiIorio had gone through this song and dance before — previously, when the game was blocked, he would send back a message saying “hey, the game doesn’t have gambling,” and then Google would send back a screenshot of the game and assert that, in fact, it had.DiIorio didn’t agree, but this time they decided that the risk of Landlord getting taken down permanently was too great. They’re a solo developer, and Luck Be a Landlord had just had its highest 30-day revenue since release. So, they filled out the form confirming that Luck Be A Landlord has “gambling themes,” and are currently hoping that this will be the end of it.This is a situation that sucks for an indie dev to be in, and over email DiIorio told Polygon it was “very frustrating.”“I think it can negatively affect indie developers if they fall outside the norm, which indies often do,” they wrote. “It also makes me afraid to explore mechanics like this further. It stifles creativity, and that’s really upsetting.”In late 2024, the hit game Balatro was in a similar position. It had won numerous awards, and made $1,000,000 in its first week on mobile platforms. And then overnight, the PEGI ratings board declared that the game deserved an adult rating.The ESRB had already rated it E10+ in the US, noting it has gambling themes. And the game was already out in Europe, making its overnight ratings change a surprise. Publisher PlayStack said the rating was given because Balatro has “prominent gambling imagery and material that instructs about gambling.”Balatro is basically Luck Be A Landlord’s little cousin. Developer LocalThunk was inspired by watching streams of Luck Be A Landlord, and seeing the way DiIorio had implemented deck-building into his slot machine. And like Luck Be A Landlord, Balatro is a one-time purchase, with no microtransactions.But the PEGI board noted that because the game uses poker hands, the skills the player learns in Balatro could translate to real-world poker.In its write-up, GameSpot noted that the same thing happened to a game called Sunshine Shuffle. It was temporarily banned from the Nintendo eShop, and also from the entire country of South Korea. Unlike Balatro, Sunshine Shuffle actually is a poker game, except you’re playing Texas Hold ‘Em — again for no real money — with cute animals (who are bank robbers).It’s common sense that children shouldn’t be able to access apps that allow them to gamble. But none of these games contain actual gambling — or do they?Where do we draw the line? Is it gambling to play any game that is also played in casinos, like poker or blackjack? Is it gambling to play a game that evokes the aesthetics of a casino, like cards, chips, dice, or slot machines? Is it gambling to wager or earn fictional money?Gaming has always been a lightning rod for controversy. Sex, violence, misogyny, addiction — you name it, video games have been accused of perpetrating or encouraging it. But gambling is gaming’s original sin. And it’s the one we still can’t get a grip on.The original link between gambling and gamingGetty ImagesThe association between video games and gambling all goes back to pinball. Back in the ’30s and ’40s, politicians targeted pinball machines for promoting gambling. Early pinball machines were less skill-based (they didn’t have flippers), and some gave cash payouts, so the comparison wasn’t unfair. Famously, mob-hating New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned pinball in the city, and appeared in a newsreel dumping pinball and slot machines into the Long Island Sound. Pinball machines spent some time relegated to the back rooms of sex shops and dive bars. But after some lobbying, the laws relaxed.By the 1970s, pinball manufacturers were also making video games, and the machines were side-by-side in arcades. Arcade machines, like pinball, took small coin payments, repeatedly, for short rounds of play. The disreputable funk of pinball basically rubbed off onto video games.Ever since video games rocked onto the scene, concerned and sometimes uneducated parties have been asking if they’re dangerous. And in general, studies have shown that they’re not. The same can’t be said about gambling — the practice of putting real money down to bet on an outcome.It’s a golden age for gambling2025 in the USA is a great time for gambling, which has been really profitable for gambling companies — to the tune of $66.5 billion dollars of revenue in 2023.To put this number in perspective, the American Gaming Association, which is the casino industry’s trade group and has nothing to do with video games, reports that 2022’s gambling revenue was $60.5 billion. It went up $6 billion in a year.And this increase isn’t just because of sportsbooks, although sports betting is a huge part of it. Online casinos and brick-and-mortar casinos are both earning more, and as a lot of people have pointed out, gambling is being normalized to a pretty disturbing degree.Much like with alcohol, for a small percentage of people, gambling can tip from occasional leisure activity into addiction. The people who are most at risk are, by and large, already vulnerable: researchers at the Yale School of Medicine found that 96% of problem gamblers are also wrestling with other disorders, such as “substance use, impulse-control disorders, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders.”Even if you’re not in that group, there are still good reasons to be wary of gambling. People tend to underestimate their own vulnerability to things they know are dangerous for others. Someone else might bet beyond their means. But I would simply know when to stop.Maybe you do! But being blithely confident about it can make it hard to notice if you do develop a problem. Or if you already have one.Addiction changes the way your brain works. When you’re addicted to something, your participation in it becomes compulsive, at the expense of other interests and responsibilities. Someone might turn to their addiction to self-soothe when depressed or anxious. And speaking of those feelings, people who are depressed and anxious are already more vulnerable to addiction. Given the entire state of the world right now, this predisposition shines an ugly light on the numbers touted by the AGA. Is it good that the industry is reporting $6 billion in additional earnings, when the economy feels so frail, when the stock market is ping ponging through highs and lows daily, when daily expenses are rising? It doesn’t feel good. In 2024, the YouTuber Drew Gooden turned his critical eye to online gambling. One of the main points he makes in his excellent video is that gambling is more accessible than ever. It’s on all our phones, and betting companies are using decades of well-honed app design and behavioral studies to manipulate users to spend and spend.Meanwhile, advertising on podcasts, billboards, TV, radio, and websites – it’s literally everywhere — tells you that this is fun, and you don’t even need to know what you’re doing, and you’re probably one bet away from winning back those losses.Where does Luck Be a Landlord come into this?So, are there gambling themes in Luck Be A Landlord? The game’s slot machine is represented in simple pixel art. You pay one coin to use it, and among the more traditional slot machine symbols are silly ones like a snail that only pays out after 4 spins.When I started playing it, my primary emotion wasn’t necessarily elation at winning coins — it was stress and disbelief when, in the third round of the game, the landlord increased my rent by 100%. What the hell.I don’t doubt that getting better at it would produce dopamine thrills akin to gambling — or playing any video game. But it’s supposed to be difficult, because that’s the joke. If you beat the game you unlock more difficulty modes where, as you keep paying rent, your landlord gets furious, and starts throwing made-up rules at you: previously rare symbols will give you less of a payout, and the very mechanics of the slot machine change.It’s a manifestation of the golden rule of casinos, and all of capitalism writ large: the odds are stacked against you. The house always wins. There is luck involved, to be sure, but because Luck Be A Landlord is a deck-builder, knowing the different ways you can design your slot machine to maximize payouts is a skill! You have some influence over it, unlike a real slot machine. The synergies that I’ve seen high-level players create are completely nuts, and obviously based on a deep understanding of the strategies the game allows.IMAGE: TrampolineTales via PolygonBalatro and Luck Be a Landlord both distance themselves from casino gambling again in the way they treat money. In Landlord, the money you earn is gold coins, not any currency we recognize. And the payouts aren’t actually that big. By the end of the core game, the rent money you’re struggling and scraping to earn… is 777 coins. In the post-game endless mode, payouts can get massive. But the thing is, to get this far, you can’t rely on chance. You have to be very good at Luck Be a Landlord.And in Balatro, the numbers that get big are your points. The actual dollar payments in a round of Balatro are small. These aren’t games about earning wads and wads of cash. So, do these count as “gambling themes”?We’ll come back to that question later. First, I want to talk about a closer analog to what we colloquially consider gambling: loot boxes and gacha games.Random rewards: from Overwatch to the rise of gachaRecently, I did something that I haven’t done in a really long time: I thought about Overwatch. I used to play Overwatch with my friends, and I absolutely made a habit of dropping 20 bucks here or there for a bunch of seasonal loot boxes. This was never a problem behavior for me, but in hindsight, it does sting that over a couple of years, I dropped maybe $150 on cosmetics for a game that now I primarily associate with squandered potential.Loot boxes grew out of free-to-play mobile games, where they’re the primary method of monetization. In something like Overwatch, they functioned as a way to earn additional revenue in an ongoing game, once the player had already dropped 40 bucks to buy it.More often than not, loot boxes are a random selection of skins and other cosmetics, but games like Star Wars: Battlefront 2 were famously criticized for launching with loot crates that essentially made it pay-to-win – if you bought enough of them and got lucky.It’s not unprecedented to associate loot boxes with gambling. A 2021 study published in Addictive Behaviors showed that players who self-reported as problem gamblers also tended to spend more on loot boxes, and another study done in the UK found a similar correlation with young adults.While Overwatch certainly wasn’t the first game to feature cosmetic loot boxes or microtransactions, it’s a reference point for me, and it also got attention worldwide. In 2018, Overwatch was investigated by the Belgian Gaming Commission, which found it “in violation of gambling legislation” alongside FIFA 18 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Belgium’s response was to ban the sale of loot boxes without a gambling license. Having a paid random rewards mechanic in a game is a criminal offense there. But not really. A 2023 study showed that 82% of iPhone games sold on the App Store in Belgium still use random paid monetization, as do around 80% of games that are rated 12+. The ban wasn’t effectively enforced, if at all, and the study recommends that a blanket ban wouldn’t actually be a practical solution anyway.Overwatch was rated T for Teen by the ESRB, and 12 by PEGI. When it first came out, its loot boxes were divisive. Since the mechanic came from F2P mobile games, which are often seen as predatory, people balked at seeing it in a big action game from a multi-million dollar publisher.At the time, the rebuttal was, “Well, at least it’s just cosmetics.” Nobody needs to buy loot boxes to be good at Overwatch.A lot has changed since 2016. Now we have a deeper understanding of how these mechanics are designed to manipulate players, even if they don’t affect gameplay. But also, they’ve been normalized. While there will always be people expressing disappointment when a AAA game has a paid random loot mechanic, it is no longer shocking.And if anything, these mechanics have only become more prevalent, thanks to the growth of gacha games. Gacha is short for “gachapon,” the Japanese capsule machines where you pay to receive one of a selection of random toys. Getty ImagesIn gacha games, players pay — not necessarily real money, but we’ll get to that — for a chance to get something. Maybe it’s a character, or a special weapon, or some gear — it depends on the game. Whatever it is, within that context, it’s desirable — and unlike the cosmetics of Overwatch, gacha pulls often do impact the gameplay.For example, in Infinity Nikki, you can pull for clothing items in these limited-time events. You have a chance to get pieces of a five-star outfit. But you also might pull one of a set of four-star items, or a permanent three-star piece. Of course, if you want all ten pieces of the five-star outfit, you have to do multiple pulls, each costing a handful of limited resources that you can earn in-game or purchase with money.Gacha was a fixture of mobile gaming for a long time, but in recent years, we’ve seen it go AAA, and global. MiHoYo’s Genshin Impact did a lot of that work when it came out worldwide on consoles and PC alongside its mobile release. Genshin and its successors are massive AAA games of a scale that, for your Nintendos and Ubisofts, would necessitate selling a bajillion copies to be a success. And they’re free.Genshin is an action game, whose playstyle changes depending on what character you’re playing — characters you get from gacha pulls, of course. In Zenless Zone Zero, the characters you can pull have different combo patterns, do different kinds of damage, and just feel different to play. And whereas in an early mobile gacha game like Love Nikki Dress UP! Queen the world was rudimentary, its modern descendant Infinity Nikki is, like Genshin, Breath of the Wild-esque. It is a massive open world, with collectibles and physics puzzles, platforming challenges, and a surprisingly involved storyline. Genshin Impact was the subject of an interesting study where researchers asked young adults in Hong Kong to self-report on their gacha spending habits. They found that, like with gambling, players who are not feeling good tend to spend more. “Young adult gacha gamers experiencing greater stress and anxiety tend to spend more on gacha purchases, have more motives for gacha purchases, and participate in more gambling activities,” they wrote. “This group is at a particularly higher risk of becoming problem gamblers.”One thing that is important to note is that Genshin Impact came out in 2020. The study was self-reported, and it was done during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a time when people were experiencing a lot of stress, and also fewer options to relieve that stress. We were all stuck inside gaming.But the fact that stress can make people more likely to spend money on gacha shows that while the gacha model isn’t necessarily harmful to everyone, it is exploitative to everyone. Since I started writing this story, another self-reported study came out in Japan, where 18.8% of people in their 20s say they’ve spent money on gacha rather than on things like food or rent.Following Genshin Impact’s release, MiHoYo put out Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero. All are shiny, big-budget games that are free to play, but dangle the lure of making just one purchase in front of the player. Maybe you could drop five bucks on a handful of in-game currency to get one more pull. Or maybe just this month you’ll get the second tier of rewards on the game’s equivalent of a Battle Pass. The game is free, after all — but haven’t you enjoyed at least ten dollars’ worth of gameplay? Image: HoyoverseI spent most of my December throwing myself into Infinity Nikki. I had been so stressed, and the game was so soothing. I logged in daily to fulfill my daily wishes and earn my XP, diamonds, Threads of Purity, and bling. I accumulated massive amounts of resources. I haven’t spent money on the game. I’m trying not to, and so far, it’s been pretty easy. I’ve been super happy with how much stuff I can get for free, and how much I can do! I actually feel really good about that — which is what I said to my boyfriend, and he replied, “Yeah, that’s the point. That’s how they get you.”And he’s right. Currently, Infinity Nikki players are embroiled in a war with developer Infold, after Infold introduced yet another currency type with deep ties to Nikki’s gacha system. Every one of these gacha games has its own tangled system of overlapping currencies. Some can only be used on gacha pulls. Some can only be used to upgrade items. Many of them can be purchased with human money.Image: InFold Games/Papergames via PolygonAll of this adds up. According to Sensor Towers’ data, Genshin Impact earned over 36 million dollars on mobile alone in a single month of 2024. I don’t know what Dan DiIorio’s peak monthly revenue for Luck Be A Landlord was, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t that.A lot of the spending guardrails we see in games like these are actually the result of regulations in other territories, especially China, where gacha has been a big deal for a lot longer. For example, gacha games have a daily limit on loot boxes, with the number clearly displayed, and a system collectively called “pity,” where getting the banner item is guaranteed after a certain number of pulls. Lastly, developers have to be clear about what the odds are. When I log in to spend the Revelation Crystals I’ve spent weeks hoarding in my F2P Infinity Nikki experience, I know that I have a 1.5% chance of pulling a 5-star piece, and that the odds can go up to 6.06%, and that I am guaranteed to get one within 20 pulls, because of the pity system.So, these odds are awful. But it is not as merciless as sitting down at a Vegas slot machine, an experience best described as “oh… that’s it?”There’s not a huge philosophical difference between buying a pack of loot boxes in Overwatch, a pull in Genshin Impact, or even a booster of Pokémon cards. You put in money, you get back randomized stuff that may or may not be what you want. In the dictionary definition, it’s a gamble. But unlike the slot machine, it’s not like you’re trying to win money by doing it, unless you’re selling those Pokémon cards, which is a topic for another time.But since even a game where you don’t get anything, like Balatro or Luck Be A Landlord, can come under fire for promoting gambling to kids, it would seem appropriate for app stores and ratings boards to take a similarly hardline stance with gacha.Instead, all these games are rated T for Teen by the ESRB, and PEGI 12 in the EU.The ESRB ratings for these games note that they contain in-game purchases, including random items. Honkai: Star Rail’s rating specifically calls out a slot machine mechanic, where players spend tokens to win a prize. But other than calling out Honkai’s slot machine, app stores are not slapping Genshin or Nikki with an 18+ rating. Meanwhile, Balatro had a PEGI rating of 18 until a successful appeal in February 2025, and Luck Be a Landlord is still 17+ on Apple’s App Store.Nobody knows what they’re doingWhen I started researching this piece, I felt very strongly that it was absurd that Luck Be A Landlord and Balatro had age ratings this high.I still believe that the way both devs have been treated by ratings boards is bad. Threatening an indie dev with a significant loss of income by pulling their game is bad, not giving them a way to defend themself or help them understand why it’s happening is even worse. It’s an extension of the general way that too-big-to-fail companies like Google treat all their customers.DiIorio told me that while it felt like a human being had at least looked at Luck Be A Landlord to make the determination that it contained gambling themes, the emails he was getting were automatic, and he doesn’t have a contact at Google to ask why this happened or how he can avoid it in the future — an experience that will be familiar to anyone who has ever needed Google support. But what’s changed for me is that I’m not actually sure anymore that games that don’t have gambling should be completely let off the hook for evoking gambling.Exposing teens to simulated gambling without financial stakes could spark an interest in the real thing later on, according to a study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. It’s the same reason you can’t mosey down to the drug store to buy candy cigarettes. Multiple studies were done that showed kids who ate candy cigarettes were more likely to take up smoking (of course, the candy is still available — just without the “cigarette” branding.)So while I still think rating something like Balatro 18+ is nuts, I also think that describing it appropriately might be reasonable. As a game, it’s completely divorced from literally any kind of play you would find in a casino — but I can see the concern that the thrill of flashy numbers and the shiny cards might encourage young players to try their hand at poker in a real casino, where a real house can take their money.Maybe what’s more important than doling out high age ratings is helping people think about how media can affect us. In the same way that, when I was 12 and obsessed with The Matrix, my parents gently made sure that I knew that none of the violence was real and you can’t actually cartwheel through a hail of bullets in real life. Thanks, mom and dad!But that’s an answer that’s a lot more abstract and difficult to implement than a big red 18+ banner. When it comes to gacha, I think we’re even less equipped to talk about these game mechanics, and I’m certain they’re not being age-rated appropriately. On the one hand, like I said earlier, gacha exploits the player’s desire for stuff that they are heavily manipulated to buy with real money. On the other hand, I think it’s worth acknowledging that there is a difference between gacha and casino gambling.Problem gamblers aren’t satisfied by winning — the thing they’re addicted to is playing, and the risk that comes with it. In gacha games, players do report satisfaction when they achieve the prize they set out to get. And yes, in the game’s next season, the developer will be dangling a shiny new prize in front of them with the goal of starting the cycle over. But I think it’s fair to make the distinction, while still being highly critical of the model.And right now, there is close to no incentive for app stores to crack down on gacha in any way. They get a cut of in-app purchases. Back in 2023, miHoYo tried a couple of times to set up payment systems that circumvented Apple’s 30% cut of in-app spending. Both times, it was thwarted by Apple, whose App Store generated $1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2022.According to Apple itself, 90% of that money did not include any commission to Apple. Fortunately for Apple, ten percent of a trillion dollars is still one hundred billion dollars, which I would also like to have in my bank account. Apple has zero reason to curb spending on games that have been earning millions of dollars every month for years.And despite the popularity of Luck Be A Landlord and Balatro’s massive App Store success, these games will never be as lucrative. They’re one-time purchases, and they don’t have microtransactions. To add insult to injury, like most popular games, Luck Be A Landlord has a lot of clones. And from what I can tell, it doesn’t look like any of them have been made to indicate that their games contain the dreaded “gambling themes” that Google was so worried about in Landlord.In particular, a game called SpinCraft: Roguelike from Sneaky Panda Games raised $6 million in seed funding for “inventing the Luck-Puzzler genre,” which it introduced in 2022, while Luck Be A Landlord went into early access in 2021.It’s free-to-play, has ads and in-app purchases, looks like Fisher Price made a slot machine, and it’s rated E for everyone, with no mention of gambling imagery in its rating. I reached out to the developers to ask if they had also been contacted by the Play Store to disclose that their game has gambling themes, but I haven’t heard back.Borrowing mechanics in games is as old as time, and it’s something I in no way want to imply shouldn’t happen because copyright is the killer of invention — but I think we can all agree that the system is broken.There is no consistency in how games with random chance are treated. We still do not know how to talk about gambling, or gambling themes, and at the end of the day, the results of this are the same: the house always wins.See More:

Crystal of Atlan and Genshin Impact both operate within the action RPG sphere, but their combat systems reflect fundamentally divergent design philosophies. The former adopts a fluid combat framework deeply rooted in dynamic aerial maneuvers and weapon-swapping mechanics, engineered to sustain high-mobility engagements. In contrast, Genshin Impact favors a more deliberate rhythm that centers around elemental interactions, cooldown management, and character synergy.

PROS: Eye-catching Aston Martin-inspired Dream Edition Massive 7000mAh battery with fast 120W wired charging Great gaming performance Solid camera output CONS: No wireless charging No reverse wired charging No eSIM support RATINGS: AESTHETICSERGONOMICSPERFORMANCESUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITYVALUE FOR MONEYEDITOR'S QUOTE:For anyone looking for reliable daily performance, flexible imaging options, and a great media experience, and most of all, incredible battery life, the Realme GT 7 is a strong contender. Realme launched the GT 7 Pro last November as the first smartphone equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, showcasing top-tier performance. The non-Pro GT 7 followed in China this April, equipped with the Dimensity 9400+ chipset and a massive 7000mAh battery. Now, the GT 7 is making its way to the global market, though with a different chipset and some other specification changes. The Realme GT 7 is designed to deliver strong endurance thanks to its large 7000mAh battery, providing all-day power even under heavy use. This makes it especially appealing to mobile game enthusiasts and users who demand long-lasting performance without frequent recharging. Coupled with a capable chipset and efficient hardware, the phone balances power and battery life effectively. But is the Realme GT 7 a reliable companion for both intensive gaming sessions and everyday tasks? We put it to the test to find out. Aesthetics At first glance, the Realme GT 7 appears nearly indistinguishable from its Pro counterpart. The similarities are so close that only a careful inspection reveals the differences. The phone is available in two striking colors: IceScene Black and IceScene Blue. The IceScene Blue version we reviewed features a pale icy blue back panel, accented by a red highlight around the camera module. Its coloring reminds me of Scandinavian design, blending elegance with a touch of playfulness. The IceScene Black variant, by contrast, has a sandblasted texture with a gold accent on the camera island. On the upper left of the back panel, a black rectangular camera island houses the triple camera setup and LED flash. This module sits on a subtly raised platform outlined in red, which also highlights the “Hyperimage+” branding. The red color extends to the power button, creating a cohesive design. Compared to the GT 7 Pro, the camera island is slightly narrower. Realme has equipped the GT 7 with a graphene-based back panel for improved heat dissipation. The panel has a velvety matte texture that feels premium and resists fingerprints and smudges well. It remains visually clean even with regular use. This thoughtful material choice adds to both form and function. In addition to the two standard colors, Realme has launched a Dream Edition of the GT 7 in collaboration with the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team. This special version features a motorsport-inspired aesthetic for fans of high-performance design. The back panel comes in Aston Martin Green with styling inspired by the nose and front wings of an F1 car. Yellow accents outline the black circular cameras and the camera island, enhancing the bold, dynamic look. The iconic “Silver Wing” Aston Martin emblem is engraved into the back panel, adding a touch of luxury. This edition includes a themed UI and custom accessories such as a carbon fiber-patterned case, a black charger and cable, and a car-shaped SIM ejector pin. It arrives in a double-door Aston Martin Green box with a special booklet inside. As an F1 fan, I found the Dream Edition to be beautifully crafted and a genuine collector’s piece. Ergonomics Despite packing a substantial 7000mAh battery, the Realme GT 7 manages to maintain a surprisingly slim profile at approximately 8.3 mm and keeps its weight to a manageable 203 g. This makes it 0.3 mm thinner and 25 g lighter than the GT 7 Pro, which comes with slightly a 6500mAn battery. The phone’s flat display and flat side frame meet a gently curved back panel that rests comfortably in the hand. The fingerprint scanner is positioned thoughtfully, and high enough on the screen to allow a smooth, intuitive transition from unlocking to interacting with the device. Overall, the GT 7 feels solid and well-balanced, with a premium construction that enhances the user’s tactile experience. It avoids the hollow or plasticky sensation found in some mid-range devices, reinforcing its focus on delivering both performance and polish. Performance Realme has long been at the forefront of pushing the limits in both battery capacity and charging technology, and the Realme GT 7 continues this trend. While many flagship smartphones now feature batteries above the 5000mAh or 6000mAh mark, Realme takes it a step further with a massive 7,000mAh Titan battery, offering a significant advantage in endurance. With this larger battery, it offers impressive battery life, capable of lasting well through a full day of heavy use or a full two days of moderate use. When it comes to charging speed, the GT 7 is no slouch, either. With a 120W wired charger, which you can get in a “first sale offer”, Realme claims that you can go from 1% to 50% in just 14 minutes. This means a quick top-up is often enough to get you through the day, with 50% equating to around 3500mAh, which is more than enough for daily use. And it takes only 40 minutes to charge from 1% to full. In my own testing, I found these claims to be accurate with the charger brick included in the box, with the phone easily providing all-day performance after a short charging session. However, the GT 7 does not offer wireless charging, which may be a downside for users accustomed to the convenience of wireless solutions. It also lacks reverse charging, whether wired or wireless, which is a missed opportunity. On the upside, the phone supports bypass charging, which supplies power directly to the motherboard during high-power activities like gaming. This helps reduce battery wear and heat buildup, preventing unnecessary battery drain when the phone is plugged in while gaming or under heavy load. The Realme GT 7 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9400e, a slightly dialed-back version of the flagship Dimensity 9400. It is powerful enough to handle multitasking with ease, effortlessly managing heavy workloads, and multiple apps running in the background, whether you’re juggling several apps or diving into resource-intensive games. In terms of gaming performance, the Realme GT 7 shines. I experienced no noticeable frame drops or lag during intense sessions, ensuring a consistently smooth gameplay experience, like over a few hours of Genshin Impact at the highest setting and PUBG mobile at 120 FPS, resulting in consistent frame rates. This level of performance is supported by the phone’s innovative graphene-incorporated back panel, which helps manage heat dissipation. While the device does get warm under heavy gaming loads, it remains comfortably cool overall. Even during extended gaming sessions, temperatures rarely exceed 44°C (111.2°F), which is impressive considering the power the device is pushing. What’s interesting was that the entire back panel seemed to get warm, indicating heat dissipated through the entire back panel incorporated with graphene rather than only a localized area. That said, the phone cools down quickly once the intense load is over. The Realme GT 7 features a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2780×1264 (1.5K) and a 120Hz refresh rate. It supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+, providing rich colors and deep contrast. The bezel is thin and symmetrical, adding to the phone’s sleek, modern design. With a peak brightness of 6000 nits and a typical brightness of 1600 nits, the display remains clear and vibrant even under direct sunlight. It also supports 2160Hz PWM dimming, reducing flicker and enhancing eye comfort during extended viewing sessions. The result is a bright, vibrant screen that’s a pleasure to use for both everyday tasks and media consumption. The stereo speakers on the GT 7 are equally great, delivering clear and balanced sound for an enhanced audio experience. Whether you’re watching videos or gaming, the audio quality complements the display, creating a well-rounded multimedia package. For mobile imaging, the Realme GT 7 is equipped with a versatile triple-camera setup on the back, featuring a 50 MP main sensor, a 50 MP 2X telephoto lens, and an 8 MP ultra-wide camera. On the front, you’ll find a 32 MP selfie camera, designed to capture clear and detailed self-portraits. Realme offers two imaging styles, Crisp and Vibrant, you can choose from the main, telephoto, and ultra-wide cameras. This allows users to tailor image processing to their personal preferences. The 24mm-equivalent main camera on the 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX906 sensor with an f/1.88 aperture produces sharp and colorful images with strong dynamic range, though some shots show mild over-processing and oversaturated colors. Low-light performance is equally great, with good detail retention and minimal noise. Overall, the main sensor delivers excellent results in most lighting conditions. The 2x telephoto camera is powered by a 1/2.8-inch Samsung S5KJN5 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. It supports digital zoom up to 20x, though portrait mode is limited to 2x magnification. Detail and clarity remain strong even at moderate zoom levels, and color consistency with the main camera is well-managed. This results in smooth visual transitions between lenses. The ultra-wide camera offers acceptable quality for casual use. It is the weakest among all the cameras on the device, which is not unexpected for this kind of sensor. The front-facing 32 MP camera performs well, delivering solid dynamic range and sharp results for selfies. For video, the main camera supports up to 8K at 30 FPS and 4K at 120 FPS, offering high-resolution and smooth footage. Dolby Vision is available at 4K and 1080p resolutions at both 60 and 30 FPS, enhancing color and contrast. Stabilization is strong across the board, and an Ultra Steady mode is available for added smoothness, though it limits output to 1080p at 60 FPS. The telephoto and ultra-wide cameras are capped at 1080p video recording at 60 FPS. The front-facing camera supports 4K video at 60 FPS, producing sharp and well-balanced footage ideal for selfies and vlogs. The Realme GT 7 runs Realme UI 6.0 based on Android 15, and as expected from a smartphone launching in 2025, the Realme GT 7 comes equipped with a range of AI-powered features. Familiar tools like AI Photo Erase, AI Translation, and AI Summary are all present, helping to streamline everyday tasks. Realme has also introduced a new feature called AI Planner, which aims to make scheduling easier by generating calendar entries from on-screen content, activated by a double tap on the back of the phone. In testing, AI Planner proved inconsistent and often unreliable. The double-tap gesture frequently failed to activate the feature, despite trying various tapping speeds and pressures. Its ability to generate calendar events from on-screen content was also hit or miss. On one occasion, it successfully recognized flight details from a PDF and added them to the calendar. While the concept may have potential, it still requires significant refinement before it can be considered truly useful. Sustainability The Realme GT 7 is designed for durability, featuring an IP69 rating that guarantees resistance to both dust and water. This means the phone can withstand high-pressure water jets and is fully protected against dust ingress, making it a reliable choice for rugged environments and outdoor activities. Additionally, the device is equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, which provides enhanced protection against scratches and drops, further boosting its resilience to everyday wear and tear. Realme also commits to long-term support with four years of major OS updates and six years of security updates. However, the GT 7 lacks detailed information regarding the use of eco-friendly or sustainable materials in its construction. While the device excels in physical durability, greater transparency and emphasis on environmentally conscious materials or recycling initiatives would be a welcome addition in future models. Value The Realme GT 7 offers strong value for its price, starting at 749.99 euros (approximately 810 USD) for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage variant. For users needing more space, the 12GB/512GB model is available at 799.99 euros (around 865 USD). Though the Realme GT 7 is a well-rounded device, it competes in a crowded market with strong alternatives at this price point. The Dream Edition, priced at 899.99 euros (approximately 975 USD), is offered exclusively in the 16GB/512GB configuration. It shares the same internal hardware as the standard GT 7 but includes a unique Aston Martin design, themed accessories, and a custom user interface. For fans of motorsport or those seeking a distinctive device, it presents a compelling option at no additional cost over the highest standard model. Verdict The Realme GT 7 stands out primarily due to its massive 7000mAh battery, delivering exceptional endurance that few competitors match. Beyond battery life, it offers a well-rounded experience with solid performance, a versatile camera system, and a vibrant display, making it suitable for a wide range of users. For anyone looking for reliable daily performance, flexible imaging options, a great media experience, and most of all, incredible battery life, the Realme GT 7 is a strong contender. While it faces tough competition in its price range, its balanced package and extended software support make it worth serious consideration. The post Realme GT 7 Review: Powerful Performance Meets All-Day Battery Life first appeared on Yanko Design.

For many gamers, the upcoming playable characters are one of the main highlights of Genshin Impact’s frequent version updates. Especially throughout recent updates, the new playable characters in Genshin Impact have pushed the limits for the endgame meta, while also expanding the game’s overarching lore in surprising ways. Naturally, leaks about who will be the next playable character in future updates are generally a hot topic among the game’s community, since this gives players a chance to decide whether to get these characters and start saving their Wish currencies ahead of time.

A new Genshin Impact leak has revealed important details about the mysterious Skirk, who is confirmed to be the next character to join the game's playable roster. Even though many players expected the last two updates before the arrival of the next major region to feature more filler content, such as summer events, it seems Genshin Impact has other plans, as it is introducing one of the most highly anticipated characters.