Stuff UKの November 2021 の目次

Given the flurry of Nintendo-themed Lego sets released this past year – from Lego Super Mario (and the Luigi two-player update) to the Lego NES – fans of both brands must think all their birthdays have come at once. But the partnership’s latest celebrates an actual birthday The Lego Super Mario 64? Block uses its 2064 pieces to recreate the genre-defining platformer Super Mario 64 – now 25 years young – in blocky form. The set begins as a massive brick-built ‘?’ block that opens to reveal four microscale dioramas of some of the game’s most iconic levels: Peach’s Castle, Bob-omb Battlefield, Lethal Lava Trouble and Cool, Cool Mountain. Microfigures are dotted about, including Princess Peach and an absurdly tiny Mario. As a bonus, you can even fire up dead-eyed…

DOKEV PS5, PS4, XSX, XB1, PC How to explain the K-pop sugar rush that is DokeV? On the most basic level it’s South Korea’s answer to Pokemon from Pearl Abyss, the developers behind the billion-dollar-grossing MMO Black Desert Online. This creature-collecting game, however, is going to be an open-world action adventure. And what a gorgeous world it looks like, where you play as a baby-faced tyke with gaudier fashion sense than the inklings of Splatoon. Where DokeV differs from Pokemon is that its battles against extra-dimensional beings are in real time as you summon powerful critters known as Dokebi, who can take the form of animals, plants or inanimate objects. Your own character can also get involved with appropriately kiddy weapons, including a bubble-gun, a giant mallet, and even bouncing…

JBL CHARGE 5 £180 / stuff.tv/Charge5 It’s not difficult to find a speaker the size of a grapefruit (and with similar sonic properties), but when you need something with a bit more bass it’s time to call in the heavies. Enter JBL’s Charge 5, a 960g cylinder that’s not only IP67 rated against water and dust but is also as tough as Simone Biles’ toes, complete with grippy rubberised base. And that extra heft isn’t just to make it harder to lose in your rucksack. The slightly larger dimensions mean there’s space inside for long-excursion driver, a separate tweeter and 65mm passive bass radiators at each end, which sometimes make the Charge 5 look like it’s bopping along to your tunes. In total it has 10W more output power than…

Q ACOUSTICS M20 £399 / stuff.tv/QM20 In which Q Acoustics takes its mastery of affordable speakers, adds a stack of amplification and a whole load of wired and wireless input possibilities, and delivers an entire hi-res audio system in two speaker cabinets. For less than £400. If this is the sort of budget you have with which to build the bulk of a hi-fi system, you absolutely positively cannot spend it any more wisely. From the outside, the M20 system looks very similar to the brand’s award-winning 3020i speakers. But in addition to a 1in decoupled tweeter, a 5in mid/bass driver and a rear-firing bass reflex port, Q Acoustics has taken one of the speakers and added (deep breath) 130W of Class D amplification, aptX HD Bluetooth connectivity, line-level inputs…

LeMond Prolog What’s the story? In some circles e-bikes are still ‘cheating’, so we might have expected a certain Mr Armstrong to be the first former pro to put his name behind motor assistance… but multiple Tour de France winner and world road race champion Greg LeMond has well and truly beaten him to the start line. The Prolog is an all-carbon, race-inspired commute-crushing machine that doesn’t really look like it has a motor attached or a battery embedded within it at all. Is it any good? The Mahle M1 motor has appeared in a few of the e-bikes we’ve tested recently; but while they’re all pretty similar, this one seems to be programmed slightly better. Power delivery is incredibly smooth – we had to check it was actually on…

What’s the story? Maxing out the £300 budget (well, not quite – it’s actually £299.99), Moto’s new Edge 20 Lite sports a fresh MediaTek Dimensity 720 chipset and 5G support. Like most budget rivals, it has a pretty basic plastic design, but at least it’s splash-resistant. And if you like stock Android, it’s the only handset in this round-up that shuns launchers and serves up Google’s OS in a pleasingly pure and naked form. Is it any good? Performance is excellent for everyday shenanigans and you can easily kill an afternoon by killing strangers online in PUBG or Call of Duty, if you’re into mobile gaming. Battery life is excellent thanks to the massive 5000mAh cell stuffed inside, making this an ideal phone for anyone who’s always roaming around, while…

A direct sequel set only a few days after the first game, Psychonauts 2 is keen to catch you up on everything that happened to little Raz prior to his graduation to become a member of the elite Psychonauts. The story sees Raz investigating both the secret group and his own circus-performing family, and often diverts you off course with new areas to explore and side-quests to tackle. While that might interrupt the pacing, you will find yourself in plenty of fascinating scenarios, like navigating a giant pachinko machine or taking part in a bizarre cooking show. But as was the case with the first game, this one’s at its best when exploring other characters’ minds, with each mental world having a different theme; this has allowed for imaginative level…

HOT BUY 1 Sonos Move £399 / stuff.tv/SonosMove The Sonos range of wireless speakers had been crying out for a battery-powered portable model for ages – and finally our favourite multiroom audio specialist caved in. Luckily, the Move was worth the wait. Its adaptability and sound quality mean it’s fine value for money, and a no-brainer for anyone who’s already a fan of the brand. This is the speaker Sonos should have launched years ago – and for even better portability, see the Roam model at No3 on this list. Stuff says Sonos finally gets up to speed with the portable speaker craze, and in style NOW ADD THIS YouTube Music Premium If you’d like a side of optional visuals with your audio, look no further than the ad-free tier of…

HOT BUY 1 Sky TV from £25/m + setup / stuff.tv/SkyTV Already home to the biggest selection of 4K content, from blockbuster films and original dramas to top-flight sport, Sky has adopted a can’t-beat-’em-join-’em approach to streaming by incorporating the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and BT Sport in its user-friendly interface. It’s also restructured its packages to make them more affordable, while multiroom and mobile options round off the most comprehensive content system money can buy. Stuff says Sky has come out fighting to move with the times and its selection of shows is unrivalled 2 Amazon Fire TV Cube £110 / stuff.tv/FireTVCube The Fire TV interface is easy to use and all the big catch-up services are available via this tidy box – and best of all, Alexa voice…

HOT BUY BARGAIN BUY 1 The Last of Us Part II £27 / PS4 Just as The Last of Us proved to be the perfect swansong for the PS3 era, The Last of Us Part II is a masterful triumph to see off the PS4 in style: a rare superior sequel that can be mentioned in the same breath as The Godfather Part II. An unparalleled masterclass in everything it does, with an extensive suite of accessibility options that every game should adopt as the standard, it’s a game with a story that challenges us – and one we’ll be discussing long into the new console generation. Stuff says Naughty Dog has done it again with this brutal, bleak and beautiful game OR PLAY THIS Uncharted: The Lost Legacy A leaner…

HOT BUY 1 Porsche Taycan from £72,850 / stuff.tv/Taycan It was about time someone took the fight to Tesla, and boy has Porsche delivered with the Taycan. This electric four-door saloon is the EV that petrolheads have been waiting for. In full-fat Turbo S flavour, the Taycan hits 62mph in 2.8 seconds – and adding more drama to proceedings is how it shifts up through its two-speed gearbox. The Taycan has a dynamism that can’t be matched by other electric cars, with a surefootedness that encourages you to press on. Stuff says Big power, sports-car handling and lots of clever tech make the Taycan the most exciting EV yet 2 Honda E from £28,215 / stuff.tv/HondaE Born to be a city commuter (its maximum range is just 137 miles), the E is…

HOT BUY 1 Oculus Quest 2 from £299 / stuff.tv/Quest2 The original Quest felt almost too good to be true. Its successor lacks the same wow factor, but you can’t argue with a better display and processor – not to mention a lighter, more comfortable build – for less money. Are there more powerful headsets? Is motion sickness still an issue? Yes to both, but superb tracking and a total absence of wires make this the VR package to get… that is, unless you’re boycotting Facebook, because you have to be logged in to use it. Stuff says Not a complete reinvention, but our favourite VR headset is now even better… and cheaper! 2 Valve Index £919 / stuff.tv/ValveIndex While not revolutionary, the Index carries enough subtle upgrades to put it atop…

HOT BUY 1 DJI Air 2S £899 / stuff.tv/Air2S DJI’s status as overlord of the consumer drone world is pretty much unchallenged, but there’s no sign of laurel-resting here. The Air 2S may be its best drone yet: an almost perfect balance of portability, performance and price, ideal for novices but still able to produce nigh-on pro-level results. The richness of colour in conditions where a smaller sensor would struggle is the real killer feature; that this camera is bolted onto such a stable and easy-to-fly drone just makes it all the better. Stuff says DJI cranks up the magic once again with the best all-round camera drone on the market 2 DJI Mini 2 £419 / stuff.tv/Mini2 Just light enough to avoid having to be registered with the CAA, DJI’s latest…

Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13. Some suffer so badly from it they’ll refuse to sit in row 13 on a plane, skip the 13th step on staircases, or lock themselves indoors on the 13th of the month in case some terrible accident befalls them… but even the most extreme triskaidekaphobe will find it difficult to resist the lure of the latest iPhones. This year’s iPhone 13 Pro – and its slightly larger brother the Pro Max – have the same A15 Bionic chip as the regular iPhone 13, but they also get a five-core GPU to boost performance in games, video apps and the new camera features. Speaking of which, the 12MP cameras here are the most advanced found in any iPhone yet. The wide camera has…

£449 / sonos.com If you’re still searching for immersive TV sound from a compact source, Sonos is back to raise the bar… • Dancing off the ceiling We were a bit bowled over by the original Beam back in 2018. Small, smart and surprisingly affordable, the cinematic soundbar slipped into our living rooms and grabbed Gadget of the Year honours. Now its successor is here to shame your TV’s tinny tweeters all over again… with added Dolby Atmos. • Another grille, another planet Put the Sonos Beam 2 alongside its predecessor and you’ll struggle to spot the difference. It’s still a rounded-off rectangle, albeit with a slightly tweaked grille, and it still packs four full-range drivers, a central tweeter, three passive radiators and five Class D amps. What’s changed is…

Samsung makes some of the best smartwatches in the world. So when it suddenly decides to change things up completely, we get a bit nervous The Galaxy Watch4 Classic is the first Samsung watch with Google’s Wear OS software since the 2014 Gear Live. Do you remember 2014? Barely? Same here. We like to imagine Google came to Samsung with a bunch of flowers and a Bluetooth speaker dribbling out ballads, begging Samsung to take it back. And Google caved in to all its demands, letting Samsung turn this into a watch that keeps almost all the best bits of Galaxy Watch3, but with added Wear OS clout. Is the Galaxy Watch4 Classic miles better than last year’s Galaxy Watch3? No. Not yet, anyway. But the hope is that Wear…

ROKSAN ATTESSA £995 / stuff.tv/Attessa Turntables are nothing new to Roksan – its very first product, back in 1985, was a record player called the Xerxes. But this new Attessa deck sees Roksan bringing some of its cachet and expertise down to what might be considered a realistic price. Not that there are any signs of corners having been cut. The Attessa looks interesting by prevailing standards, and its single-piece plinth, isolation feet and bonded and weighted glass platter all suggest a thorough and uncompromised design. There’s a rigorously controlled motor and digital speed control, while the composite unipivot tonearm (with tracking weight and anti-skate controls integrated and a Roksan Dana cartridge pre-fitted) is as good-looking a device as it is an elegant piece of engineering. And a defeatable moving-magnet…

Asics Metaspeed Sky What’s the story? The first Asics shoe packing a full foot-long carbon plate and new nylon-based FF Blast Turbo foam, the Metaspeed Sky is built to provide a killer combination of soft landings and explosive push-offs, and to increase your stride length when racing. The lightweight mesh uppers also offer decent space for wider feet and the grippy rubber outsoles are great on tighter turns. Is it any good? It took a while but Asics finally has a contender to rival the top-tier carbon shoes… and to offer something a bit different too. They’re a shade more stable than some high-stacked racers, and the balance of cushion and response makes this a good option over shorter distances and fast rep interval sessions. They’ll happily eat marathons as…

What’s the story? Like Poco, Realme is a Chinese brand that offers impressive value for money. And one of its best 2021 phones is the 8 Pro, which at 6.4in is refreshingly compact compared with some in this group. The Realme UI launcher is a hefty old bugger like MIUI, brimming with extra features including a one-handed mode and plenty of personalisation tools. No worries if you want to download a huge catalogue of apps, music or movies either, as you can expand the 128GB storage. Is it any good? As with the Poco, you’ll have to tolerate some seriously overstated branding on the back – though we do like the textured finish, which improves grip and keeps fingerprints at bay. Flip the 8 Pro around and you might well…

£319 / stuff.tv/X8Mini ⏹ DJI isn’t the only drone don in town – and Fimi’s not afraid of treading on the Mini 2’s turf. Backed by Xiaomi, this tiny 4K ’copter costs less than our top folding drone but promises many of the same benefits… including an identical 31-minute flight time. ⏹ Portable proportions make the X8 Mini easy to toss in a backpack. So do the unscrewable controller thumbsticks, which stow away in the base for streamlined packing. And when you arrive at the launch pad, a 245g take-off weight means you won’t need a flyer ID. ⏹ Taking off is as simple as swiping a finger across your phone screen, while the twin-stick controls are easy to master. It’s a surprisingly responsive and fun drone to fly, zipping…

from £1800 / stuff.tv/Blade14 ⏹ Razer laptops are usually high on the list if you need a portable gaming machine, but the Blade 14 pushes things forward in a couple of important ways: this is Razer’s first 14in laptop, and its first with an AMD processor. ⏹ The black CNC-milled aluminium frame looks and feels fantastic, with robust build quality all over. During gameplay our battery lasted a fairly typical 90 minutes, while it managed 7hrs in a work test and 10hrs of video. ⏹ On each side you’ll find USB-A and USB-C, an HDMI output plus dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. That’s a decent feature set, but there’s no fingerprint reader, card reader or wired internet. ⏹ Razer hasn’t messed around with the internals: the eight-core Ryzen 9…

Tensions build as you try to figure out how to break the damned cycle. The Groundhog Day-esque concept is nothing new, but few have distilled this genre quite as neatly as 12 Minutes. Set almost entirely in a tiny apartment with just three rooms and three on-screen characters, the aim in this indie is to solve a central mystery and escape the loop. The setup goes like this: you play a man (voiced by James McAvoy) who comes home to find his wife (Daisy Ridley) greeting him with a special dessert and a surprise. But five minutes into this impromptu date night, a man claiming to be a cop (Willem Dafoe) knocks on the door and barges in to arrest your wife for murder before tying her to the ground.…

HOT BUY 1 Sony WF-1000XM4 £250 / stuff.tv/WFXM4 A worthy successor to the XM3 buds that sat atop this list for what seemed like decades, Sony’s latest true wireless noise-cancelling in-ears are smaller, smarter and better. With the arguable exceptions of call quality and app slickness, the WF-1000XM4s aren’t quite the best at anything; but they’re so close to being the best at everything that their all-round game is untouchable. No other wireless earbuds are so consistently accomplished across the board. Stuff says The finest true wireless noise-cancelling earbuds around – this is the complete package 2 Devialet Gemini £279 / stuff.tv/Gemini There’s nothing special about their design, charging case, battery life, ANC or app… and the sound out of the box is arguably overhyped. But what you’re getting here, after a…

HOT BUY 1 VanMoof S3 £1998 / stuff.tv/VanMoofS3 VanMoof’s second-gen S3 (or X3 if you’re under 5ft 8in) looks like a normal bike, rides like a normal bike and, crucially, doesn’t cost a ridiculous amount of cash. The chunky 50mm tyres, slightly swooped bars and upright riding position all combine to make it super-comfy, and 30 miles with the power assistance set to level three (out of four) left us completely sweat-free with 20% still in the tank. Plus, for such a looker, the S3 has a lot of tech hidden away to make it a less than ideal target for thieves. Stuff says This smart-looking e-bike offers a great ride, great features and some genuinely useful security smarts 2 Cowboy 3 £1690 / stuff.tv/Cowboy3 The 43-mile range, app-controlled lights, smart tracking…

This time last month, the iPad Mini was a dinky take on the standard iPad. Yawn. But Apple’s 2021 version rethinks the device as a teeny iPad Air – because the Air is a winner and a lot of people prefer their tablets to be small packages. The all-new iPad Mini gets a price-hike, but then you do get a lot for the extra 80 quid. There’s a blazing-fast A15 chip (the same one that powers the dizzyingly powerful iPhone 13 Pro Max) that obliterates the competition, while the new enclosure minimises bezels and eradicates the Home button once and for all. Touch ID heads to the power button and the enlarged 8.3in Liquid Retina display makes everything look fantastic with 500-nit brightness, True Tone and P3 wide colour. You…

What’s the first name that comes into your head when someone mentions cereal? Weetabix, probably, despite their dreariness. What about vacuum cleaners? That’s got to be ol’ Henry, no? And when the conversation turns to noise-cancelling headphones – regardless of how many now flood the market – surely none are more iconic than the QuietComfort 35s. It’s surprising, then, that it’s taken Bose this long to make a sequel. The new cans feature two modes: Quiet is obviously the noise-cancelling setting, and we’re going to stick our necks out and predict that Bose’s ANC wizardry is still leading the way; while Aware mode switches to full transparency. It looks like the usual plastic build, but if the QC45s are as comfy as their predecessors then we’re fine with that. With…

Black Widow Haven’t already shelled out £20 to stream it early? Congratulations on your commendable restraint: you can now watch this Marvel blockbuster as part of a regular Disney+ sub. Scarlett Johansson’s spy and sometime Avenger returns to the motherland for a tricky family reunion, pursued by a mysterious foe dead set on taking her down. Film / 6 Oct, Disney+ Succession Delayed by the pandemic, the long-awaited third season of what might currently be the best series about the worst people is finally arriving in October. Succession charts the power struggle within a grasping New York media family that definitely isn’t inspired by the Murdochs. Comedy-dramas don’t get better, or darker. S3 / 18 Oct, Now/Sky I Know What You Did Last Summer The 1990s are so in right…

When a new instalment for a series shows up without a colon or number, you know it’s a sign of a reboot. So almost a decade after Saints Row IV, Volition has decided to shake off the ‘GTA clone’ associations of its open-world gangster simulator with a new and slightly more grown-up identity. Gone, then, are the 3rd Street Saints – as are fighting with oversized sex toys, plus the stratospherically over-the-top superpower tricks of the last entry. Saints Row is a fresh start set in a new location, Santo Ileso, as you play The Boss – who has decided to make their mark on this city by building their own criminal empire. But while the cinematic reveal appears to have cemented the four main characters, including one permanently shirtless…

£tba / porsche.com Ooooh, a new Porsche. It looks, erm, potent… Too right. How does 1073bhp from an 800kW electrical drivetrain sound? And one that can be charged from 5% to 80% in just 15 minutes for that matter? It’s a proper weapon… but one that’s destined for the racetrack only. And that’s if it even makes it that far, as the Mission R is just an extremely handsome concept for now. That’s a shame, but how would we get a go in one? Well, Porsche is planning a customer race series for 2025, whereby very well-heeled fans purchase one of these beasts and then get to compete in a Carrera Cup-esque racing season of globe-trottin’, champagne-poppin’ action. So engineers have developed this beast to run for 30-40mins before its…

When prioritising what we need for our homes, sensible things like chairs and vacuum cleaners can get in the way of our fantasies. Monitor Audio wants to keep those fantasies alive with the seventh generation of its bestselling Silver Series. From bookshelf to home cinema room, the Silver Series 7G range will cover every aspect of your audiophile abode. The floorstanding centrepiece is the Silver 300 7G (£1450/pair), with RST II drivers for distortion-free listening even at wall-shaking volumes. Ready to perch on top are the Silver AMS 7G (£650/pair), which work with Dolby Atmos to create room-filling 3D sound. Make some room for the Silver C250 7G (£600/pair), Silver FX 7G (£600) and Silver W-12 6G (£1100), and you’ve got a truly lifelike audio experience in your own living…

B&O BEOPLAY EQ £350 / stuff.tv/EQ ang & Olufsen doesn’t tend to scrimp on design – and for the kind of money it charges for its products, nor should it. Good job, then, that B&O’s first true wireless buds with active noise-cancelling are some of the nicest you can screw into your ears. These rounded buds hit something of a sweet spot where size is concerned: not too bulbous, but not so small and delicate that droppages are a constant concern either. Weighing in at 8g per bud, they sit snugly in your ear, and you get a range of silicone tips to ensure a good fit. The machined aluminium disc on each IP54-rated bud isn’t just there for show: they’re also touch-sensitive, allowing you to play/pause music, turn the…

AUDIO PRO ADDON C10 MKII £359 / stuff.tv/C10Mk2 What do you get if you combine elegant Scandinavian design, genuinely impressive audio quality, an extensive product range that can easily be organised into a wide-ranging multiroom system, and an easy-to-use app? You get Audio Pro – Sweden’s most effortlessly musical gift to the world since Abba. The new Addon C10 MkII is a fine introduction to the Audio Pro ethos. This is a compact speaker of vaguely boom-box proportions that offers prodigious value for money. Connectivity is extensive, with a couple of analogue inputs taking care of physical business while Bluetooth, Chromecast, AirPlay 2 and the dedicated Audio Pro control app cover wireless connections. It’s fitted with a pair of tweeters and one 5in main driver, and provides a fantastic blend…

£180 / stuff.tv/NestDoorbell While some people can knock up a fully functioning back-garden trebuchet with little more than a screwdriver and some bits of old wood, there are those among us who aren’t quite so handy. This can make smart home tech a little fiddly to install – but Google’s new battery-powered Nest Doorbell requires nothing more than a mounting plate and a couple of screws to get it up and running. You can wire it into your existing doorbell chime if your skills stretch that far… but if not, the whole thing can work completely wirelessly, with Google promising the battery will last up to six months before it needs recharging (depending on how much action your front door gets). Of course it fits in with any other smart…

What’s the story? For less cash than either of those two, you could own the excellent Poco X3 Pro instead. This sleek phone is essentially a reinvigorated Poco X3 NFC – one of the best budget blowers of last year – with a performance boost courtesy of the mighty Snapdragon 860 chipset. Visuals are served up by a 6.67in FHD+ display and, despite that low price, the Poco also delivers a stereo speaker setup, plus a headphone port and solid Bluetooth. You’ve got NFC for contactless payments, microSD support to expand the storage and a responsive edge-mounted fingerprint sensor. Basically it’s got everything you could possibly ask for except a slot that spits out tenners. Is it any good? As expected, the Snapdragon 860 chipset can handle absolutely everything you…

What’s the story? From the Xiaomi stable, the Redmi Note 10 Pro is one of the most impressive budget blowers right now, from its smart yet hardy design – with splash-resistance and scratch-beating Gorilla Glass 5 up front – to the specs inside. Performance comes courtesy of the Snapdragon 732G, which can capably handle everyday life as well as light gaming. Meanwhile Netflix fans will appreciate the spacious 6.67in AMOLED screen with HDR support, plus the stereo speakers and headphone port. There’s good news if you want to shoot your family too, in the legally acceptable sense, as Xiaomi has crammed a 108MP camera onto the back. Is it any good? For this bargain price, the display is a proper eye-pleaser. Thanks to its HDR streaming support you’ll be served…

FIRST ADD THESE… ONE SONY GP-VPT2BT SHOOTING GRIP With a small body designed for vlogging, the ZV-E10 can get away with ditching chunky tripods in favour of this handy grip that doubles up as a mini-tripod. Enjoy Bluetooth control over your camera, assignable buttons and an easy-rotating head, so your camera can face you or whatever’s in front of you with a quick twist. £170 / sony.co.uk TWO RODE WIRELESS GO II Rode’s excellent compact wireless microphone kit packs a twin transmitter. That means you and your co-host (or guest waffler) can both sound equally stellar – and with onboard recording, an extended range of up to 200m (with line of sight) and better stability than its predecessor, the Wireless Go II is our No1 choice. £269 / wexphotovideo.com THREE…

£600 / stuff.tv/Vertix2 DAY 01 In the world of top-tier adventure sports watches, no battle rages more fiercely than the ones for longest battery life and most accurate GPS. Not long ago Garmin launched the Enduro, boasting 80hrs of full-GPS tracking time. That was a wristy revolution. But Coros has upped the stakes further with its second-gen Vertix flagship, offering a mind-boggling 140hrs of GPS battery life. And there’s more to the Vertix 2 than stamina. With all-systems dual-frequency GPS, offline topographic maps, music storage and offline playback, plus maybe the most comprehensive suite of tracking and training insight tools available for your arm, this is a seriously speccy watch. With the most comprehensive suite of tracking and training insight tools available, this is a seriously speccy watch Before we…

Has the Life is Strange formula begun to get a bit, well, formulaic? The series has always set itself apart from the episodic choice-based narrative adventure genre by focusing on real issues that affect young people, but maybe an update for a new generation was due. That’s exactly what it gets with True Colors. This instalment is centred around Alex Chen, a young woman who has spent her childhood being bounced around the foster care system and is given the chance to reconnect with her older brother Gabe in Haven Springs, a small mountain town in Colorado. The little community offers a memorable cast, including the return of Steph from Before the Storm, who’s inherited a bit of Chloe Price’s mischievous DNA while still retaining her own geeky interests. But…

HOT BUY 1 Apple MacBook Air from £999 / stuff.tv/Air The early-2020 version was already the best MacBook Air ever – and this one brings a real step up in power. Apple’s amazing new M1 processor means that, for once, we aren’t hankering after a Pro for video editing and graphics-heavy gaming. It’s a pity about the rubbish webcam – a real annoyance in the age of video calling – but this is a stunning machine in every other respect, and the best all-round work laptop you can get for under a grand. Stuff says Our go-to-MacBook just keeps getting even go-to-er NOW ADD THIS Anker PowerExpand 7-in-2 Hub Turn the Air’s twin USB-C ports into a media hub with a mix of HDMI, USB, microSD and SD card connections. £40…

HOT BUY 1 Sony PlayStation 5 £450 / stuff.tv/PS5 The PS5 is not a modest upgrade. Its hulking design means it’ll make a bad first impression on some, but spend time playing it and it’ll soon win you over – and then some. This is essentially a high-spec gaming PC for the living room: stupendously powerful, with greatly reduced loading times compared to the PS4. Most last-gen titles will run fine, many with a boost, and the line-up of new games is strong; we just hope developers make use of that fascinating DualSense pad and its haptic feedback trickery. Stuff says Huge power, clever hardware and a guarantee of great games to come make the PS5 hard to resist 2 Nintendo Switch £279 / stuff.tv/NintendoSwitch Now four years old, the Switch is…

One thousand songs in your pocket. How quaint! What’s Spotify got, 70 million? Well, yes, but cast your mind back two decades and most people had huge CD collections that very much didn’t fit in their pockets. Even cars were sold with the ‘benefit’ of filling boots with chunky CD changers. Then MP3 arrived… but most players on the market were junk. Apple’s wasn’t. While rivals battled over specs – never mind the dreadful industrial design and abysmal interfaces – Apple played to its strengths: brilliant marketing, a great user experience and lickable design. Steady on. Sure, it was shiny and white, but the iPod wasn’t that great a design. We beg to differ. Having ruined our thumbs by prodding tiny metal buttons to crawl through tracks one at a…