It's been a wet, wet week. Not only did January bring its usual downpour for those of us in the UK, but Microsoft has been springing leaks all over the place.
Of course, that's fine if you're Octodad - he's pretty good with aquatic environments. But don't tell anyone that or his jig is up. And what a waste of a nice suit that would be.
Slimline
The dedicated handheld market might be facing turbulent times but Sony believes there's plenty of life in the Vita yet. This week it announced that the PS Vita Slim will be coming to the UK on February 7 for the price of £180.
Will the PS Vita Slim be Sony's last ever handheld?
Has Gears of Bore assassinated the Xbox One?
Sony didn't have anything to say about a US release or beyond (trust us, we asked) but we don't imagine it will be long before the Slim makes its way across the rest of the West.
You can expect to see Sony begin phasing out the current Vita, and we suspect that the Vita Slim and PS4 bundles will start popping up soon enough.
We're currently putting the trimmer handheld through its paces to see how it compares to the original, and you can expect our full review to touch down next week.
Oh, and for all you Brits, Sony told TechRadar that PlayStation Now won't be coming to the UK until the company has observed its takeoff in the US. So sorry about that.
The cat's out of the box
Let's be brutally honest here: the Xbox One lacks spark right now. That's not to say that the PS4 is miles ahead, but until Titanfall rolls around, it doesn't feel like the One has anything by way of a killer app.
But this week an insider spilled the beans in a BIG way, (allegedly) revealing a number of secrets on the Xbox 2014 roadmap that have got us feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Let's recap:
- Microsoft will release a white Xbox One later this year.
- Microsoft is working on a cheaper Xbox One ($399) without an optical disk drive, also for release later in the year.
- Forza Horizon will arrive towards the end of 2014 with a "Super sexy weather system". Oh yeaaah.
- Halo 5 has been delayed until 2015, but Halo 2 Anniversary Edition will be released this year, and will play in 1080p.
So Microsoft, if you really are out on the hunt for the leaky perpetrator, we understand – no one wants to know that there's a cheaper console around the corner when they've just put down a sizeable wod of cash.
But that said, this news has definitely TechRadar a lot more excited for Xbox One. 2014 doesn't feel so bleak after all.
He's got a good thing going
We're big fans of Octodad and all the great things he does for his family. He truly is a stand up guy.
That's why we were so excited to get our wobbly arms on the full version of Octodad: Deadliest Catch when it was released this week.
Is Amazon really building an Android console?
It's funny. It's bonkers. It's impossible not to love this devoted father of two. But unfortunately the full game hasn't lived up to the hype built by the much-talked-about demo. Reading the reviews? Well, you could say it gave us a sinking feeling. You can read CVG's verdict here,
And when you're done with that, you can go check out a few more links from around Future this week.
GamesRadar
Lucario joins the fight! Check out full character roster in our Super Smash Bros. Wii U fighter list.
Nintendo will be adding a DS library to the Wii U virtual console. Here are the first 8 DS games we want to see
Official Xbox Magazine
Xbox One's party chat won't work? - how to fix the most common problems
Xbox One update fixes - how to troubleshoot any installation issues
