The Morning After: Nintendo's Switch gets a discount, but only in Europe

Apologies in advance to Android phone owners, as it’s new iPhone day. Yes, Apple’s biggest showcase of the year kicks off at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT / 6 PM BST. Once again, the company is streaming the event, and the Engadget team will be breaking down all the new device announcements.

There have been plenty of rumors on what Apple has up its sleeve, and naturally, we’ve corralled the most reliable whispers here. Expect a new family of (possibly) four iPhones, an updated Apple Watch, more news on iOS 15 and possibly new AirPods and iPads.

After the big event, join Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low and myself as we break down all announcements, complain about the lack of USB-C and laugh at whatever cringe moment occurs during Apple’s highly produced event. Join us after Apple right here!

— Mat Smith

Nintendo significantly cuts Switch price in Europe

You can now pick one up for £260 (€270) instead of the previous £280 (€330).

Nintendo has officially lowered the suggested retail price of the base Switch model in Europe, but there’s been no change elsewhere. It's now available for £260 in the UK or €300 (down to €270 in France) elsewhere in Europe, rather than the previous £280 (€330).

In a comment to Eurogamer, Nintendo said: “After carefully weighing up a variety of factors, including currency exchange rates in Europe and the upcoming launch of Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, we decided that now was the appropriate time to change the European trade price of Nintendo Switch.”

Continue reading.

'Deathloop' is an exhilarating, innovative, time-bending mess

The briefly PlayStation exclusive from the now-Microsoft owned studio.

Unsurprisingly, there’s a fair amount of dying in Deathloop. Dying is a core mechanic of the game, and it’s the first thing players actually do in the campaign, called Break the Loop. According to Senior Editor Jessica Conditt, Deathloop feels a lot like Dishonored (of course — same studio), with a chaser of We Happy Few.

Environments are easy to scale, but the true challenge is breaking the “loop” by killing eight bosses in a single day, in a single sweep. Fail: you die and have to begin all over again.

Continue reading.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's latest moonshot is a space company

We’ll hear more about Privateer Space later this week.

Steve Wozniak has started a company called Privateer Space. The Apple co-founder announced the private space firm on late Sunday. Unfortunately, other than to promise his company would be “unlike the others,” Woz didn’t provide many details on the venture. The startup was co-founded by former Apple engineer Alex Fielding. Wozniak and Fielding have collaborated frequently over the years.

Continue reading.

Facebook's program for VIPs allows politicians and celebs to break its rules, report says

The 'cross check' system was created to avoid 'PR fires,' according to the report.

Facebook has used a little-known VIP program that’s enabled millions of high-profile users to skirt its rules for years, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal.

The program, called XCheck or cross-check, was created to avoid “PR fires,” the public backlash that occurs when Facebook made mistakes affecting a high-profile user’s account. If one of these accounts broke its rules, the violation went to a separate team for review by Facebook employees, rather than its non-employee moderators.

Continue reading.