🎮 New Xbox, 🎧 $50 off Sonos, 🔋 Pixel Watch 3 battery, 🖥️ Samsung 3D monitor

10 tech stories in the quickest format possible

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🎮 1. New Xbox 2TB in Galaxy Black & 1TB in Robot White pre-orders launch

• 🚀 Pre-orders are live for three new Xbox consoles variants

• 🥇 Xbox Series X 2TB special edition Galaxy Black is $599 at Best Buy

• 🥈 Xbox Series X 1TB all-digital Robot White is $449 at Walmart

• 🥉 Xbox Series S 1TB all-digital Robot White is $349 at Best Buy

• 📆 All new Xbox consoles ship on October 15

These aren’t the “new Xbox” consoles we wanted from Microsoft and there’s no sign of that planned Xbox Series X Slim.

But the three new Xbox Series X / S variants come in fresh colors with additional storage options. Here’s where they’re on sale, scattered across US retailers:

🔮 Prediction: between now and their October 15 delivery date, Sony may reveal the rumored PS5 Pro. Expect PS5 Pro pre-orders in late September. Save up!

Ask Matt Swider on Twitter or Instagram for hand-picked deals from Walmart / Best Buy / Amazon / B&H / Samsung / Google / GameStop / Xbox / Microsoft Office (PC) deal / MS Office (Mac) deal

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🎮 2. Sonos Ace wireless headphones are already $50 off

Sonos Ace headphones (Image credit: Kevin Lee / The Shortcut)

• 🎧 Sonos first-ever headphones have a discount (rare for Sonos)

• 💰 $50 off the Sonos Ace at Walmart, Amazon & Best Buy

• 🏆 We gave the headphones a perfect 5-star review score

• 📉 They dropped below the price of Apple AirPods Max on Amazon

This price cut brings the Sonos Ace price down from $449 to $399, matching the temporary Apple AirPods Max discount on Amazon we saw a few weeks ago.

Our Sonos Ace review just got an Editor’s Choice Award, noting the headphones’ wide, bassy sound space. These over-the-ear cans also have ample noise-canceling, a natural transparency mode, and a unique feature to privately listen to any TV audio when paired with any of Sonos’ soundbars.

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🤩 3. Samsung's Odyssey 3D gaming monitor offers glasses-free 3D

• 🖥️ Samsung’s glasses-free 3D gaming monitor brings 3D to the masses

• 🤓 It promises to turn 2D content into 3D lifelike images

• 👀 Eye-tracking & view-mapping tech is embedded in the monitor

• 📐 Two screen sizes (27” & 37”) in 4K 165Hz with a 1ms response time

• 📆 Coming later this year for an undisclosed price

The first game to take advantage of the 3D tech inside Samsung’s new monitor

The first game that will take advantage of the 3D tech is life simulator is inZOI. No pre-order links just yet for this. I’m told “later this year” is when we’ll see the 3D monitor.

🙅‍♂️ Is 3D not your thing? Samsung announced three more monitors in its Odyssey lineup: the Odyssey OLED G8, the Odyssey Neo G9, and the Odyssey OLED G9.

🧠 This explains why last year’s OLED G9 monitor suddenly got so cheap on Amazon:

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🔋 4. Google Pixel Watch 3 battery life: 35% more battery, lasting 36 hours

• ⌚ Google Pixel Watch 3 has a large 420mAh battery in its new 45mm size

• 🔋 The battery lasts 35% longer vs last year’s Pixel Watch 2, says Google

• 🤏 Pixel Watch 3’s 41mm size still has last year’s 306mAh battery size

• 🪫 Battery saver mode lets to last 36 hours, beyond the standard 24 hours

• ⚡ Both Pixel Watch 3 sizes charge 20% faster – just 28 minutes to 50%

• 📆 It launches on September 10, and I’ll have a full review

I just reviewed the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, but you’ll have to wait for The Shortcut’s full Google Pixel Watch 3 review (closer to the September 10 release date) to get a final verdict on the new smartwatch’s battery life.

I can already tell you that the Pixel Watch 3 specs show a larger battery capacity for the 45mm watch size and much faster charging speeds over last year’s battery.

Having re-tested the Pixel Watch 2 last weekend while reviewing the Pixel 9 series, I can tell you its battery life issues are painful if you don’t charge daily. I even turned off the Wear OS watch overnight (I knew I left my charger behind), and the battery still died the next morning, a few hours after I booted it up. The same was true in my Google Pixel Watch review a year prior.

🔮 Prediction: The Pixel Watch 45mm will last longer (but not as long as the battery in my Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review) and make the whole Pixel ecosystem feel more complete. I’m here for it.

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🥊 5. Brazen Blade for Meta Quest VR is like Super Smash Bros. in 3D

Meta Quest 3 headset (Image credit: Kevin Lee / The Shortcut)

• 🥽 We’re testing more Meta Quest 3 games like Brazen Blade at The Shortcut

• 🥊 3v3 melee combat in this VR game akin to Super Mash Bros. in 3D

• ⚙️ Works with Meta Quest 2 & 3, Quest Pro, and Valve Index

• 🆓 Get Meta Quest 3 Plus free games monthly via our guide

For the past month, I’ve been playing Brazen Blade on Meta Quest 3, a brand new 3v3 VR melee combat from developer MyDearest. I’ve tested the Apple Vision Pro for review this year and went hands-on with the Sony PSVR 2 last year, so I wanted to get to know Meta’s headset before Oculus Connect next month.

Brazen Blade for newer Meta Quest headsets

The arena-style combat gameplay is as frenzied as Super Smash Bros. Only this chaos-driven brawler is built for virtual reality. Multiplayer games like this are best enjoyed with friends who enjoy punch-and-projectile weapon-heavy gameplay, so I rounded up my Overwatch clan for this new VR experience. I needed something in between now and CoD Black Ops 6 in October.

• You can download Brazen Blade via Stream or the Meta Quest Store

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🎮 6. Black Myth: Wukong has had a record-breaking launch

• 🤯 Black Myth: Wukong has had a record-breaking launch

• 🥈 It’s quickly become the 2nd most-played game ever on Steam

• 🥇 It’s also the most-played single-player game of all time

• 🐒 Black Myth: Wukong is on PC & PS5, with an Xbox version planned

Black Myth: Wukong is available on PS5 and PC, and it’s currently the most popular game on Steam. The game flew up the charts, setting an all-time 24-hour peak of 2,358,580 players, making it the second most-played game ever on Steam.

The game achieved a respectable score of 81 on Metacritic in our Black Myth: Wukong review roundup, but it seems gamers aren’t paying much attention to any criticisms leveled at the Chinese-made game.

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🤔 7. Why the PS5 Pro doesn't make sense right now

• 🔜 PS5 Pro is expected to be announced in September

• 🎮 It’ll make games run and look better than before

• 🤷‍♂️ But it might not offer anything genuinely new

• demand seems to be low

• 💰 The console is the very definition of a luxury purchase

PS5 pre-orders may begin in September – if Sony keeps its usual timing for a mid-cycle refresh. However, not everyone sees the value of a new PS5, including Adam Vjestica. While it could sell out if Sony offers a big enough leap in graphics, everyone will ask whether it offers anything new.

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🕹️ 8. Atari 7800+ brings the iconic retro console into the 21st century

• 💥 The Atari 7800+ is a blast from the past

• 🕹️ It brings the classic retro console into the 21st century

• 🆕 New games will be released alongside the console

• 🙌 It can also play Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges

After the success of the Atari 2600+, Atari and Plaion announced the Atari 7800+ – a faithful recreation of the Atari home console originally released in 1986, modernized for the 21st century. It’ll be joined by 10 new Atari 7800+ and 2600+ games, including official releases of popular homebrew games. The Atari 7800+ is scheduled to be released in winter 2024 and is available to pre-order now for $129.99.

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🤖 9. Nvidia’s AI-powered NPCs can now run on your graphics card

• 🤖 Nvidia Ace runs on its first small language model, Nemotron-4 4B NIM

• ⚡ This SLM allows Nvidia’s Digital Humans to run on GPUs using only 2GB VRAM while being quicker to respond

• 🎮 GeForce Now adds Xbox Automatic Sign-On, granting cloud access to Game Pass

• 🖥️ Three new gaming monitors offer G-Sync powered by MediaTek scalers

• 👽 Half-Life 2 gets a RTX remaster plus new assets and models, and DLSS 3.5

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🎞️ 10. Every trailer and announcement at Gamescom 2024

• 🙌 45 trailers gave us a sneak peek at upcoming games during Gamescom

• 👀 Featured: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Borderlands 4, Dune: Awakening

• 🤠 Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to Xbox, PC and PS5

• 👇 Hit the button for all 46 game trailers on one page

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Next issue: Finishing our Google Pixel 9 reviews

I’m testing each of the Google Pixel 9 phones, and now that my Google Pixel 9 Pro XL review is done, I’m tackling the $799 Google Pixel 9 while Kevin takes on the Google Pixel 9 Pro.

Then, a Google Pixel Watch 3 review for its September 10 release date (yes, on the same day as the rumored iPhone 16 launch date).

We’ll review the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Pixel Buds Pro 2 when they get closer to their respective September 4 and September 26 release dates.

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