Sony’s ‘Spartacus’ could be PlayStation’s answer to Xbox Game Pass

Sony is planning to create an Xbox Game Pass-like subscription service, according to Bloomberg. The company already offers two subscription services, PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now, and they will reportedly be merged in this new offering. Sony will likely keep the PlayStation Plus brand. This new service, which is codenamed Spartacus, would have three tiers. One would offer current PlayStation Plus perks, another would include a catalogue of PS4 and “eventually” PS5 games, and a third would have “extended demos, game streaming and a library of classic PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games.” The company would launch the service in the spring. However, it’s unclear if Spartacus would run on Microsoft Azure following the deal signed between Microsoft and Sony in 2019; if it does, it would mean that Sony’s service runs on the same platform as its competitor. This new Spartacus service sounds like it would put Sony on par with Microsoft’s Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which allows people to play online multiplayer, access a huge library of titles from Microsoft and other companies, and stream games from the cloud.


Honor 60 announced with vlogging-focused gesture controls

Honor, the former Huawei sub-brand that split from the Chinese tech giant last year, has announced its latest handsets. The Honor 60 and Honor 60 Pro are two midrange handsets powered by Qualcomm’s recent Snapdragon 778G Plus processor, but otherwise, they’re very similar to the Honor 50 series phones released earlier this year, right down to having similar dual-ring camera bumps on the rear of each phone. A notable new feature for both phones is support for hand gesture controls, which let you perform actions like making the “Okay” gesture or raising your hand to perform camera controls like switching between its front and back cameras, or enabling picture-in-picture mode. The phone can recognise five hand gestures in total, and Honor says features like these make vlogging “easier than ever.” Both phones have triple rear camera setups for when you get filming. The Honor 60 series has only been announced for the Chinese market so far, with no confirmed plans for a global launch. The Honor 60 will start at around $424, while the Honor 60 Pro starts at around $581.

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