T-Mobile launched its nationwide 5G network on Monday, one that covers more than 200 million people across the United States. But, customers expecting high-speed connections may be disappointed by the promotion of the carrier’s 600MHz spectrum and nearly no mmWave rollout.

Announced with a press release on Monday, T-Mobile declared it has launched the “first nationwide 5G network” in the United States, with its signal providing service in more than 5,000 cities and towns, and more than 1 million square miles. It claims the network covers more than 60% of the population, with an emphasis on providing coverage in rural locations.

The carrier also takes time to call out its competitors, including Verizon and AT&T, with the former said to have enabled its 5G network to work in “parts of outdoor areas of 18 cities and in a few stadiums,” while the latter’s apparently works only for businesses in 21 cities and for consumers in “parts of 5 cities later this year.” There is also mention of how Verizon’s 5G networks are blocked by “walls, windows, and leaves,” while T-Mobile’s works through walls.

Further attacks are made on cost, with T-Mobile offering 5G access at the same cost as LTE, while simultaneously pointing out Verizon requires a monthly fee on top or the use of an expensive price plan, while AT&T makes it available in the most expensive plans.

At the same time, T-Mobile has announced it has started taking preorders for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 5G and the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren, shipping December 6. The carrier is also launching its first prepaid 5G service on December 6 under the Metro brand.

T-Mobile’s network is only part of the 5G package

While this does try to paint T-Mobile in a favorable light and working for regular users instead of richer customers who can afford the more expensive plans, the carrier is disingenuous with its marketing.

What is known as 5G is actually the use of two different types of connections —standard 5G and mmWave. While the first is relatively similar to 4G LTE in terms of robustness and reach, it is also quite similar in terms of speed, with relatively little boosts in connectivity anticipated.

By contrast, mmWave is the higher-frequency bands above 6GHz, which offer potential gigabit speeds to users. However, mmWave cannot travel as far and can be easily interfered with by a wide assortment of materials, with carriers so far electing to use the technology in cities and other high population density locations. The mmWave network is what T-Mobile is addressing in Verizon’s 5G implementation in regards to lack of penetration.

T-Mobile’s network functions on 600MHz bands, which it claims it has reserved for 5G only, with its network to be enhanced with Sprint’s 2.5GHz spectrum once the merger of the two carriers closes. This all relates to the lower-frequency and robust 5G connection, not the high-speed mmWave.

The attacks on the other carriers for limited deployments of their own 5G networks is effectively comparing T-Mobile’s 5G network against mmWave. The other carriers are also anticipated to roll out general 5G coverage across the United States in the future, which will bring them in line with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile has been working on mmWave —but is not rolling it out to a wide audience at this time. It has made similar small-scale deployments of the technology as the other carriers have over the last year.

Apple is currently anticipated to ship 5G-enabled iPhones in fall 2020, though recent analyst speculation suggests that while 5G will be offered across the board, mmWave support may only be available on a few of the new models, not all of the handsets.

Inside the gleaming white storefront, Khulile picked up a doll to show a customer who wandered in off the street in Ferndale, a suburb of Johannesburg, where the shop is located.

Sibahle Collection, which started in Khulile’s garage in 2017, quickly grew into this shop, where she transferred the business in 2018.

The doll, dressed in a bright orange and yellow print with small black polka dots, had a skin condition called vitiligo, which causes the skin to look patchy. The woman touched the doll with fascination, looking up at Khulile with soft, sad eyes.

“Do you know what this would have done for my self-esteem, if I had grown up with a doll that looked like me?” she said to Khulile.

*****

Though the mission of Sibahle Collection is for every child to grow up aware of the beautiful and rich diversity that the world has to offer, the beginning of Khulile’s story didn’t start with every child. It didn’t even start entirely with her own child.
It started when Khulile herself was a child.

Every morning in the township of Newcastle, several miles south of Johannesburg, Khulile would wake at dawn. She’d stoke the coal fire to warm up the house and place a concrete brick into the fire. Then, she’d wrap the brick in newspaper and hold it close to her body to keep her warm in the bitterly cold Newcastle winter, while she walked to school.

One morning, as she stood outside holding her hot brick, she turned around to take in the rows and rows of impoverished homes in the low-income housing where she lived. Smoke poured out of the roofs, each warmed by a coal fire just like hers. Suddenly, Khulile caught the faint whisper of fate on the wind, as sure and silent as the gentle snow falling around her.

“This isn’t your destiny.”

At that moment, she knew it. She wanted something other than what life had handed her. And she would go get it.

*****

Khulile was raised by her great grandmother, and then her grandmother when her great grandmother passed away, because in her culture a child who was born out of wedlock could not go live with her mother’s new family if the mother married.

“My mom was about to marry my stepdad. She had no choice but to leave me behind, as dictated by our culture” Khulile said, shaking her head in disapproval.

She pushed herself hard in school—harder than anyone else she saw. Education became the vehicle she’d use to usher in her bright future.

The Poké Ball Plus arrived as an accessory alongside the release of the Pokémon Let’s Go games last year. It was created to enhance the overall experience of catching ’em all – by allowing players to take their pocket monsters with them on the go, and could also be used as a single-handed controller in both entries.

In Sword and Shield, the accessory can no longer be used as a controller, but you can still take your Pokémon for a walk and earn rewards. So, are there any future plans for this device? While there have been no formal announcements from Nintendo, according to Japanese Nintendo, the company recently applied for a total of five “new” game controller patents – all linked to the Poké Ball Plus. Here’s the rundown:

The patents aim to properly arrange components in a spherical controller, to enable various operations using a game controller, to properly arrange components in a spherical controller, to improve the degree of freedom for a structure for light emission in a game controller, and to provide a game controller in which components are properly arranged in a substantially spherical game controller.

As usual, there’s no guarantee anything new is necessarily on the way as these are just patents. It could simply be business as usual for Nintendo to ensure its designs remain protected.

What are your thoughts about this trademark? Have you used your Poké Ball Plus with Sword or Shield? Let us know!

During the Wii U generation, London-based developer Slightly Mad Studios was working on a game called Project CARS. It was meant to be the definitive racing sim for Nintendo’s system at the time but got cancelled in 2015. The final release (on other platforms) was well-received and a sequel followed in 2017.

Fast forward to earlier this week, and Slightly Mad has now been acquired by the British developer and publisher Codemasters for $30 million (£23.3 million). According to GameIndustry.biz, the studio currently has three projects in development: a mobile version of Project Cars, a “Hollywood blockbuster movie” game, and one based on its own intellectual property.

As noted in the official announcement, both companies share a rich history of creating “AAA racing games” so this is seemingly the perfect match and is expected to reinforce Codemasters as a global powerhouse in the development of racing titles.

Codemasters – with the help of Feral Interactive – recently released GRID Autosport on the Switch with additional features and enhancements. Perhaps the chances of seeing a Slightly Mad game on a Nintendo system are now better than before.

British developer-publisher Codemasters has purchased Project Cars developer Slightly Mad Studios for a reported $30 million.

The deal will see Codemasters, which already has a portfolio full of racing franchises such as Dirt, Grid, and Formula 1, hand over $25 million in cash and $5 million in stock.

Slightly Mad CEO and founder Ian Bell will continue to lead the studio under the Codemasters umbrella, while the entire dev team will also be kept on.

Moving forward, the pair will collaborate on “new racing experiences,” with Codemasters chief exec Frank Sagnier explaining the company wants to accelerate its growth ahead of the game streaming surge and the next generation of home consoles.

“We are delighted to bring such an incredible racing game developer to the Codemasters family, and this unequivocally establishes us as a global powerhouse in the development of racing titles,” commented Sagnier in a press release.

“We share the same passion and vision and our new partnership will accelerate our growth. With more streaming services coming to market and the next generation of games consoles due in 2020, this is the perfect time for Codemasters to take its next step.”

Halo: Reach launches at the same time for everyone tomorrow:
?? 10 AM PT
?? 12 PM Mexico City
?? 1 PM ET
?? 3 PM São Paulo
?? 6 PM London
?? 7 PM Lagos
?? 7 PM Berlin
?? 9 PM Moscow
?? 2 AM Beijing (Dec 4)
?? 3 AM Tokyo (Dec 4)
?? 5 AM Sydney (Dec 4)
?? 7 AM Auckland (Dec 4) https://t.co/AZeiHQ0YDa

— John Junyszek (@Unyshek) December 2, 2019

Are you stuck at work/school tomorrow when Reach drops and wanna play as soon as you get home?
Take advantage of Steam's remote download feature
1. Leave your PC on (awake) + logged into steam
2. Download the steam mobile app
3. Go to your library and install MCC pic.twitter.com/CKrQp6bOij

— Moses FPS (@Moses_FPS) December 2, 2019

Last year, there was a rumour Bandai Namco was bringing Ridge Racer 8 exclusively to the Nintendo Switch. While there was never any official announcement made, this project has now been axed, according to the YouTube channel Doctre81.

This update comes from the LinkedIn profile of a former Bandai Namco Singapore Studios employee, who used to be a senior software engineer at the company and was the lead engineer on two “unannounced and cancelled” titles using Unreal Engine 4.

It all ties in nicely with Shawn Pitman’s LinkedIn page (dating back to last February), when he was still a lead designer at Bandai Namco’s Singapore Studios. Here, he listed the team was working on an unannounced first-person shooter exclusive to Nintendo’s hybrid system (believed to be Metroid Prime 4, before development was restarted by Retro Studios) and the other game mentioned was the Switch-only title, Ridge Racer 8.

The source of this discovery (Doctre81) is the same individual who found the original LinkIn profile last February and is previously known for finding references to the Nintendo Switch in CD Projekt job listings, months before The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was announced for Switch.

The last time a Ridge Racer game appeared on a Nintendo platform was at the beginning of the 3DS generation in 2011. Before then, there was Ridge Racer DS in 2004, the spin-off R: Racing Evolution on the GameCube in 2003, and the Nintendo 64 title, Ridge Racer 64 (released in 2000).

What are your thoughts about all of this? Leave a comment down below.

Update Sun 1st Dec, 2019 05:30 GMT: Bandai Namco has now made the news official, with the above trailer showing the legendary Saiyan’s power and at the same time confirming he’ll be arriving next week, on 5th December.

Original Story Fri 29th Nov, 2019 01:30 GMT: More than a year after its release, Bandai Namco is still adding new characters to Dragon Ball FighterZ. The next one, as previously revealed, is Super Saiyan Broly (DBS). Fans of the fast-paced fighter have been waiting for quite a while for this particular version of Broly and the good news is he’ll finally join the fight this December.

According to the latest issue of Weekly Jump, Broly (DBS) will join the roster on 5th December for $4.99 /¥500. Broly is the sixth DLC character of the Fighterz Pass 2. Below are some of the screenshots of the fighter in action:

If you don’t own Dragon Ball FighterZ on the Switch yet, now’s the perfect time to check it out. The game is currently 75% off its regular price on the US eShop ($14.99) and is 70% off its usual price in Europe (£14.99 / 17,99€).

Will you be playing as this legendary Super Saiyan early next month? Unleash your comments below.