Amazon’s Prime Day sale for October 2023 is in full swing, but Walmart got the jump on its fellow retailer with a sale of its own that it launched yesterday. The Holiday Kickoff sale is like a Walmart Prime Day sale, which we’ve seen other storefronts host in the past. It’s a way for the company to take advantage of the shopping buzz generated by Amazon — and a way for you to save at more than one outlet. We combed through what Walmart had to offer and found the tech savings that are worth your time. One thing to note is that Walmart carries some devices that Amazon doesn’t, like the Google Nest Hub, which is down to $60. Other worthwhile deals include the 9th generation iPad for $1 less than it sold for during Amazon’s July Prime Day and an Xbox Elite Series 2 core controller for just $88. 

Apple 10.2-inch iPad (Wi-Fi, 64GB, 9th gen)

Apple’s 9th-generation iPad dropped down to $250 in July for Amazon’s first Prime Day of 2023, and it was one of the top sellers. Now Walmart’s sale has dropped that price by a dollar, which makes it the new lowest prices o far. This is the budget pick in our guide to the best iPads and while it doesn’t have the thin bezels and as much accessory support as our favorite, the iPad Air, it’s excellent for light gaming, streaming and browsing the web — and it’s the most affordable way to snag an iPad. 

iRobot Roomba j7+ 

iRobot’s Roomba j7+ is down to $300, which is a huge, $400 discount over the regular price. We named this the runner up model in our robot vacuum tests, though the version we recommended didn’t have a clean base, this one does. It has strong suction power and utilizes advanced obstacle avoidance, which helps it steer clear of furniture and other objects while it’s cleaning. 

Google Nest Hub (2nd gen)

The second-generation Google Nest Hub is down to $60, which is about $5 more than Walmart sold it for last time it did a Prime-adjacent sale. This is the top pick for a Google smart display in Engadget’s Engadget’s guide The seven-inch screen lives in an unobtrusive exterior and through it you can watch YouTube, access the Google Assistant, control your smart home devices, and even check in on your cameras around the house. But it doesn’t have a built-in camera itself, so you won’t be able to make video calls from it. 

Microsoft Xbox Elite Series 2 Core

The Xbox Elite Series 2 Core wireless controller is down to $88. That beats the low price we saw a few months ago by a healthy $12 and is a $42 discount overall. The Core version of this gamepad is just like the regular Elite Series 2, except without the additional accessories (like extra joysticks and triggers). Both are designed for competitive gamers with a wrap-around grip, 40 hours of rechargeable battery life, adjustable tension sticks and hair-trigger locks. 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

If you haven’t bought Nintendo’s acclaimed 2023 Zelda game, TOTK for your Switch yet, here’s a good opportunity. It’s a game we thought unlocked “a ton of creative potential” and is now 31 percent off, bringing it down to $48 which is just $2 more than the lowest price we’ve tracked. This is the standard, physical copy of the game. 

Apple iPad (Wi-Fi, 64GB, 10th gen)

The 10th generation standard iPad is down to $399. While that’s a $40 savings, it’s still about $20 more than the all time low price we’ve tracked for this model. This one didn’t make the cut in our list of the best iPads. Though it has a bigger screen and a newer chip than the 9th generation, it’s still not Apple’s own M-series silicon and it does away with the home button and headphone jack, which the earlier version retains. 

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/walmart-prime-day-holiday-kickoff-deals-185926040.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The best Walmart Deals you can get right now on Prime Day

Major Amazon sale events like Prime Day aren’t typically a haven for laptop deals, but if you’re looking for a new notebook, you can still usually find a few worthwhile discounts. That’s the case again for Prime Big Deal Days, the company’s latest deal-a-thon aimed at Prime members, which kicked off today and runs through Wednesday. We’ve sorted out a handful of notable laptop deals from the October Prime Day sale below, including price drops on MacBooks and gaming laptops. For the former, just note that there’s a chance we see new models by the end of the year, though reports have conflicted on that. 

Apple MacBook Air M2 (15-inch)

The 15.3-inch version of Apple’s MacBook Air is down to $1,049 for an entry-level model with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. That matches the best price we’ve seen and takes $250 off Apple’s list price. The MacBook Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and we gave the 15-inch model a review score of 96 earlier this year, as it covers just about all of the things we look for in a quality mainstream notebook. Compared to the 13.6-inch version, it also includes a more powerful speaker system and a slightly upgraded GPU. The SSD in this base configuration is technically slower than the one in higher-capacity SKUs, but that shouldn’t be a major problem unless you’re looking to do more complex work. In general, you wouldn’t buy the Air for things like high-res media editing, though its M2 chip is still plenty powerful for everyday tasks.

If you do need more storage space, the 512GB model with 8GB of RAM is on sale for a low of $1,249. Variants with double the RAM are up to $250 off as well. Meanwhile, the 13.6-inch MacBook Air isn’t discounted on Amazon, but it’s down to $899 at Best Buy. That’s $200 off the notebook’s list price.

Apple MacBook Air M1

The previous-generation MacBook Air with Apple’s M1 chip is back down to $750, matching the lowest price we’ve seen. Apple sells this entry-level config with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for $999, though we’ve often seen it go for $800 or less in recent months. This notebook arrived back in 2020, so it’s harder to recommend these days when the M2 models offer a faster chip, sharper webcam, slimmer bezels and improved speakers. If you only need a laptop for more basic tasks though, it’s not a bad value at this specific deal price. It’s still quieter and more solidly built than many mid-priced laptops, and its keyboard, trackpad and battery life remain excellent. We gave the M1 Air a review score of 94 at launch.

Dell G15 5530 Gaming Laptop

A configuration of Dell’s G15 5530 Gaming Laptop with an Intel Core i7-13650HX processor, 16GB of RAM, an upgradeable 1TB SSD and an 8GB GeForce RTX 4060 GPU is down to $1,222 for Prime Big Deal Days. That’s roughly $180 below its usual going rate. This is an updated version of the “best budget” pick in our guide to the best gaming laptops: It’s heavy, and it can run warm, but this configuration is more than capable of playing modern games at high-ish settings, and its 15.6-inch, 165Hz, 1080p display is sufficiently bright. It is stuck with a 720p webcam though. The slightly larger Dell G16 7630 is also on sale at $1,500 for a model with a Core i9-13900HX and RTX 4070.

Acer Nitro 5

The Acer Nitro 5 is the runner up to the Dell G15 in our guide to the best budget gaming laptops, and right now a model with a Core i5-12500H, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and GeForce RTX 3050 GPU is down to $700 for Prime members. That’s about $100 off its usual street price. These are not the latest specs, so you’ll need to crank down the settings in more demanding games to reach a respectable frame rate. The chassis itself is chunky and made of plastic too. But there’s enough power to at least keep up with recent titles, and getting a 144Hz display at this price is nice. For those on a super tight budget, it’s competent.

Razer Blade 14

A config of the Razer Blade 14 with an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX CPU, 165Hz 1440p display, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU is on sale for $1,950. That’s certainly not cheap, but you’d buy the Blade 14 if you’re willing to pay extra for a gaming laptop with a more slender, portable and premium-feeling design. This is a 2022 model, but the newer editions cost several hundred dollars more, and the last-gen CPU and GPU here are still powerful enough to play most modern games at high settings. Its keyboard is also great, though the whole thing can run hot. We recommend the slightly larger Blade 15 in our guide to the best gaming laptops, but that one isn’t discounted. And if you’re not into the Blade aesthetic, consider our top overall pick, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, instead.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is down to $1,800 for a model with a Core i7-1265U chip, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. That’s about $100 off its usual going rate. Chances are you know where you stand on the Surface Pro at this point: It’s still not especially comfortable to use on your lap, but it remains the gold standard for 2-in-1s that behave and perform like a laptop more than a traditional tablet. While this version isn’t a huge shake-up, it’ll be a nice bump for those upgrading from a three- to five-year-old model. Just note that this deal doesn’t include a keyboard or stylus. We’re reaching the time of year where Microsoft would usually introduce a new model, but as of this writing it’s not clear when a potential Surface Pro 10 might arrive. For now, the Pro 9 is the top Windows pick in our guide to the best tablets.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-october-prime-day-laptop-and-tablet-deals-183021626.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The best Prime Day laptop deals we could find for October 2023

Editor’s note: This article contains mild spoilers for Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

The deeper I got into Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the more a sense of warm nostalgia washed over me. It felt like a cozy hug from an old friend. A comforting, bloody embrace.

The latest entry in Ubisoft’s long-running open-world adventure franchise takes the series back to its roots. Mirage mostly forgoes the RPG approach Ubisoft adopted in the last three main games: Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla. I’d only played the latter of those and it didn’t click for me, largely because of Ubisoft’s propensity to ovestuff its games and partially because it strayed so far away from the earlier titles.

Some of Valhalla‘s DNA carries over to Mirage, which shouldn’t be surprising as the latest game was originally envisioned as an expansion to the last 100-plus-hour epic. There is some loot to hunt for in the form of swords, daggers and outfits that give protagonist Basim some small upgrades, such as reducing the level of notoriety he gains while carrying out illegal actions or passively regenerating some health. These items are upgradable, as are your tools. One neat, if unrealistic perk, makes an enemy disintegrate after Basim eliminates them with a throwing knife. So, you can tweak your build to fit your playstyle to a certain degree.

There are skill trees too, but rather than unlocking things like a slight increase to the damage Basim deals, the abilities here are genuinely impactful. Pinpointing opponents and important items from further away, reducing fall damage and a chain assassination ability are all super useful tools for Basim to have in his belt.

Ubisoft has pulled back quite a bit on the RPG elements of the previous few games. You won’t be using bows, shields or two-handed weapons as you might in Valhalla, for instance. Still, there’s just enough customization for folks who want to optimize (or min/max) Basim for the way they like to play.

“Just enough” is a thought I kept coming back to in the 17 hours it took me to beat the main story. Mirage is just the right length. There are just enough collectibles and side-quests to make the world feel rich but not overwhelming. There’s just enough to the story, which is fairly by-the-numbers though gets more intriguing in the last couple of hours. There’s just enough variety to the enemies.

There are only a few enemy types, and I love that Mirage doesn’t go down the well-worn and nonsensical path of arbitrarily making them stronger based on their geographical location — an aspect of Dead Island 2 I greatly disliked. Although Basim largely has to make do with his sword and dagger (and, of course, the Hidden Blade), enemies have a variety of weapons. A trio of goons will pose a different threat when they have spears instead of swords. You’ll have to navigate that melange of weaponry carefully, especially so when enemies surround you. Putting an onus on that and the level design for encounters helps make Mirage feel like more of a refreshing throwback.

In the main missions, I only encountered one traditional boss fight toward the end of the story. Practically every other enemy was susceptible to a single-button slaying. I absolutely made the most of that by sneaking up on assassination targets or distracting them with noise-making devices. The game actually discourages open combat, anyway. You won’t gain experience points by killing tons of enemies. Staying stealthy is usually the way to go — unless you’re a completionist, since there’s a trophy/achievement that requires you to stay in open combat for 10 minutes. Thankfully, the game makes it fairly easy for you to slink around.

Contrary to my first impressions, the guards of Baghdad aren’t all that smart. They’ll often be briefly puzzled when they encounter the dead body of a colleague they were chatting with seconds earlier before walking away. They’ll quickly give up on a hunt for Basim. They’ll see a cohort being yanked around a corner and think nothing of it. That breaks the immersion a bit, but it does make it easier to mess with these idiots.

I took some delight in tormenting my opponents, even if that may not match up to the code of conduct the assassins live by. One larger grunt was trapped in a room alone to guard a chest. I entered, used a smoke bomb to distract him, opened the chest and left, blocking the path behind me. I then made my way around to a gate that kept the guard locked in from the other side and spent a few minutes whistling at him, for no reason other than to annoy him and amuse myself.

The real star of the show is the version of ninth-century Baghdad Ubisoft has built. It feels rich and lived-in, with bystanders simply going about their day as a hooded figure darts by them to climb up the side of a building. Unfortunately, that level of detail wasn’t reflected in the character models. Main characters and NPCs alike looked far less refined than their surroundings.

Some Arab critics and reviewers appreciated how Ubisoft represented Baghdad and Muslim culture in the game, and that’s a positive sign. In that sense, Mirage seems like a prime candidate for the historical educational modes that Ubisoft has added to recent Assassin’s Creed games.

I can’t personally speak to the authenticity of the environment Ubisoft has created. The same goes for the Arabic used in the game, but the developers at least strove to avoid anachronisms. I spent an hour or so playing in Arabic with English subtitles and found it a compelling way to experience the game, though I missed hearing the velvet-voiced Shohreh Aghdashloo’s portrayal of Basim’s mentor Roshan too much.

Aghdashloo’s performance is one of several highlights of a solid game. Developer Ubisoft Bordeaux has achieved what it set out to do in bringing back the format of early Assassin’s Creed titles while adding some modern bells and whistles (such as a gameplay option to avoid the turgid pickpocketing minigame) and avoiding some of the old trappings.

No part of the game that I’ve encountered is set in the modern day. That’s a wise move, since those parts of previous games pulled me out of the main experience and into some tedious sections that sought to serve a larger story. I didn’t hear the word “animus” once this time around. Mirage does tie back into the broader Assassin’s Creed narrative — Basim makes an appearance in Valhalla, after all — but you won’t get sidetracked by Desmond Miles or Layla Hassan. That meant I could spend more of my time roaming the streets and rooftops of this well-crafted city, scouting enemy camps from above and figuring out the best way to approach an assassination mission.

Mirage probably won’t be for everyone, including those who appreciated the format of the last three big Assassin’s Creed games, but it struck a chord with me. Even though I’ve wrapped up the main story and have a bunch of other games to play (I’m looking at you, Cocoon and Spider-Man 2), I’ll probably spend a little while longer nuzzled up in the comfort of Mirage.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. It’s coming to iPhone 15 Pro devices next year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/assassins-creed-mirage-review-a-warm-bloody-hug-from-an-old-friend-181918323.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Assassin’s Creed Mirage review: A warm, bloody hug from an old friend