Hey, gamers! Do you like Rayman? Do you like Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon? Do you wish they’d make a new Rayman or Blood Dragon game? Well, you got your wish (sort of) if you’re willing to give your wish a lot of leeway and a bit of money. Journalist Stephen Totilo’s Game File newsletter reported that Ubisoft secretly released a new Web3 game with NFTs featuring Captain Laserhawk from the Blood Dragon animated series spinoff on Netflix and Rayman (who hasn’t appeared in a proper new adventure in years).

Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. looks like a generic top down shooter set in the bright neon futureworld of the Blood Dragon universe. You compete in an arena-style bloodsport where getting the most kills gets you the win. Totilo describes it as “the most basic top-down shooter imaginable.”

You’ll need a Niji Warrior NFT to play the game. Totilo reported that Ubisoft offered 10,000 of the special NFTs for free with some Web3 transaction fees earlier this month. The Niji Warrior NFT serves as a kind of ID card, and if you missed your chance to snag one for free, you’ll have to fork over a minimum of $14.38 (0.0022 in ethereum, according to Coinbase) just to get in the game.

Then to add digital insult to injury, Rayman serves as the announcer for these gladiatorial deathmatches of the future. Rayman appears in the game but you don’t even get to play as the wily, cartoon-ish game hero. He’s forced to be the Marv Albert of this bloodthirsty cryptocash grab.

There’s only one compelling reason to play the game: You won’t need to exert much effort to get on the leaderboard. Totilo said he got into the top 10 of the global leaderboard — on a leaderboard that showed less than 100 players. I wouldn’t call the game a runaway hit just yet.

This isn’t the first time that Ubisoft has quietly pushed out a Web3-based game to cash in on the NFT craze that petered out of popularity years ago. Ubisoft Quartz released the tactical RPG Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles in October in which players could buy NFTs for as much as $6,300.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/ubisoft-quietly-squeezes-out-another-nft-game-featuring-rayman-blood-dragon-192102438.html?src=rss

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Netflix has inked a deal with FIFA to snag exclusive US broadcasting rights to the next two Women’s World Cup tournaments, according to a report by ESPN. This contract covers both the 2027 and 2031 events.

Neither entity has described the financial value of the deal, but it has been reported to be the most significant contract that FIFA has ever signed with a streaming service for a major tournament. FIFA president Gianni Infantino called it a “landmark moment for sports media rights and a “truly historic day for broadcasting and for women's football.”

This happened because FIFA unbundled the media rights for the women’s event for the very first time, which goes into effect after Fox airs the next Men’s World Cup in 2026. The 2027 Women’s World Cup is being held in Brazil. The 2031 event doesn’t have a home yet, but the US is expected to make a bid.

This is a fairly big deal for Netflix, given that FIFA reported that a full 1.12 billion people watched the 2019 Women’s World Cup, which the US won. This is a global number, of course, but the 2023 tournament recorded the highest-ever US domestic viewership. The sport is certainly catching on over on this side of the pond.

Netflix has been making big moves into the world of live sporting events as of late. There was that utterly ridiculous Jake Paul/Mike Tyson fight, but the platform will soon be home to the weekly WWE Monday Night Raw broadcast.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-scores-the-broadcasting-rights-to-the-fifa-womens-world-cup-174017963.html?src=rss

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Threads is previewing yet another significant new feature before the end of the year. The app will “soon” begin testing the ability for users to schedule posts ahead of time, according to an update from Meta exec Adam Mosseri.

Mosseri shared a screenshot of the upcoming feature, which shows a simple tool to set a date and time for a post to go live in Threads’ post editor. Interestingly, Mosseri said that users will only be able to schedule new posts, not replies to existing posts because the company wants to continue to prioritize “real-time conversation.” Though he didn't give any indication of when the tool may roll out more broadly, he said that the feature had been in the works “for months,” so it’s likely Meta plans on releasing it more widely at some point.

The ability to schedule posts will be particularly useful for brands, creators and others who use the service to manage professional accounts. Though there are already third-party tools that enable post scheduling, many require a paid subscription.

Post scheduling is the latest sign that Meta is looking to add more features geared toward brands, businesses and other social media professionals to the 300 million-user app. The service also began testing post analytics earlier this month. Both features could come in handy when Meta decides to flip the switch on advertising for the platform — a change rumored to be coming next month.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-is-working-on-scheduled-posts-215537909.html?src=rss

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Brawlers Absolver and Sifu put Sloclap on the map thanks to their memorable looks, slick action and crunchy animations. So naturally the next project for the French studio is [checks notes] a 5v5 arcade soccer game. Uh, sure!

Rematch, which is slated to arrive next summer, perhaps makes more sense for Sloclap than first meets the eye. The studio says the title falls within its remit of making challenging action games with a stylized look.

Each human player controls one character, including the goalkeeper, though you may find yourself quickly transitioning from a striker role to defense. Given the third-person perspective, it may feel more aligned with Rocket League or the career mode in the FIFA/EA Sports FC series rather than the full-pitch view you see in most of the latter's modes.

Rematch is skill-based, so you won't be packing your team with players filled with high stats à la FC Ultimate Team. How you perform is down to your own abilities, not how many points you've plowed into your player's shooting and dribbling attributes.

Sloclap designed the game for fast-flowing action. There are no fouls or offsides here. The ball doesn't go out of play as there's a Rocket League-style boundary wall. You even can use that to your advantage by bouncing the ball off the barrier to set up a teammate for a shot at goal.

Soccer is about "being in the right place at the right time and executing to perfection," according to Pierre Tarno, creative director and executive producer at Sloclap. The studio is hoping to capture that in Rematch. Along with the importance of positioning, the game is said to place an onus on "deep tactics."

Sloclap

Goalkeepers don't need to be kicking their heels while waiting for the opposition to take a shot at their goal. They can push up outside of their penalty area and play as a Manuel Neuer-style sweeper keeper to close down counter attacks if they're willing to take a risk.

When your team has possession, but you don't have the ball, you can call for a pass. The player who has it will see a line to the teammate who made the request, which should help with spatial awareness (there seems to be a minimap too).

Sloclap built the game around three core tenets: helping players feel like athletes, the pressure of high-stakes matches and the joy of being part of a team. "It's about the joy of playing football with friends," Tarno said, and as much about setting up a teammate to bag a goal — perhaps with a perfectly executed volley — as it is to score yourself. And when you lose a game, the idea is that you'll dust off and queue up with your friends for another one. Hence the name Rematch.

Along with competitive modes and quick play options, you can expect private games with customizable rules. There's a seasonal content system that will gradually introduce more features, events, environments and ways to customize your character.

Don't expect to see the likes of Liverpool or Real Madrid in Rematch, at least not right away. The game is set in the future, so there isn't much in the way of licensing, but Sloclap isn't ruling out such agreements down the line.

Rematch will be a premium game rather than a free-to-play title. It's coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC next summer. Sloclap plans to run beta tests this spring.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-next-game-from-the-sifu-team-is-a-5v5-arcade-soccer-title-005902694.html?src=rss

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A new game mode called Ballistic is coming to Fortnite in early access on December 11, bringing a 5v5 tactical first-person shooter experience. In Ballistic mode, one team will be tasked with planting a Rift Point Device — which will detonate 45 seconds after it’s placed — and the other team will have to stop that from happening. There will be one map (Skyline 10) to start and a limited selection of weapons and items, but more will be added down the line in “major updates” to come, according to a Fortnite blog post.

“Ballistic is a no-build mode,” the Fortnite team says. “All saved presets from your Locker will carry over into Ballistic, which supports existing Fortnite Outfits, Back Blings, Kicks, Wraps, Sprays, and Emotes! Pickaxes, Contrails, Instruments, Vehicles, and Jam Tracks are not used/supported.” If you get taken out during a round, you won’t be able to respawn. But, you’ll come back in the next round. The teams’ roles will swap after six rounds, and the match will end once one team has won seven rounds. You’ll be able to play Ranked or Unranked.

Ballistic mode will be available everywhere you can play Fortnite, except in South Korea and Russia, but the team says it’s “working to make Ballistic available in both regions.” Since it’s early access, players’ feedback will be used to improve the experience as it expands.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-is-getting-a-5v5-first-person-shooter-mode-162200195.html?src=rss

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Threads’ latest test could help creators and others understand more about how their posts are performing on the platform. The company is testing an expanded version of its analytics feature, which will show users stats for specific posts, Adam Mosseri said in an update.

Up to now, Threads has had an “insights” feature, but it showed aggregated stats for all posts, so it was hard to discern which posts were performing well. Now, insights will be able to surface detailed metrics around specific posts, including views and interactions. It will also break down performance among followers and non-followers.

“Now that your posts will be shown to more people who follow you, it’s especially important to understand what’s resonating with your existing audience,” Mosseri wrote. Threads recently updated its highly criticized “for you” algorithm to surface more posts from accounts you follow, rather than random unconnected accounts.

The change could also address criticism from creators on Threads, who have said they often don’t understand how the app’s algorithm works. More detailed analytics could also help Meta entice more brands to the app as the company reportedly is gearing up to begin running ads on the service as soon as next month.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-is-testing-post-analytics-203548697.html?src=rss

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A new season starts for Overwatch 2 next week, but one of the special modes we'll be getting in the near future is a throwback to the past. For a limited time during season 14, there will be a 6v6 role queue mode, bringing back the original game's composition of two tanks, two damage and two support. This mode will be available from December 17 through January 6.

The switch to five players on a team when Overwatch 2 launched was one of the more controversial choices at the time, we heard rumblings recently that Blizzard might walk back the decision. The current season included a full-on nostalgia trip mode where you could play 6v6 with only the original heroes as they were designed at launch. Yes, back in the days of self-healing Bastion mowing down everybody and Mercy undoing it all with full-team rez. The season 14 approach to 6v6 will be for the heroes as they exist now, with the current balance design in full effect. Blizzard said in October that they would explore how the community felt about the increased team size and consider if six-player teams should have more of a presence in the live game based on the player reactions.

It's the right time to experiment with different tank playstyles, because that's the role for the newest hero joining the game in season 14. Hazard is a spiky punk who deals a lot of damage at close range and can crowd control opponents by summoning a thorny wall. Think of him as a cross between Doomfist and Mei, with a Scottish accent.

The Overwatch X account also teased that the coming season will have another anime crossover. After collaborations with Cowboy Bebop and My Hero Academia, the next season will be channeling the elements with skins themed on Avatar: The Last Airbender. Omnic monk Zenyatta is clearly going to be reimagined as Aang, but the full lineup of cosmetics will also be unveiled on December 17.

And in a final piece of good Overwatch news, Blizzard shared that sales of the Pink Mercy charity skins earlier this year raised $12.3 million for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Well played, people.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/overwatch-2-will-test-6v6-role-queue-matches-starting-december-17-194524335.html?src=rss

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Intel is gearing up for an announcement on December 3 about its Arc GPUs, and a number of recent leaks paint a picture of what we can expect to see. In a post on X this weekend, Intel said only that it’s “got some big graphics news” coming, and wrote cryptically in a followup that it’s “going from A to B.” But reports from VideoCardz claim the event will bring a pair of Battlemage desktop GPUs — the Arc B580 and Arc B570 — that’ll be launched December 12.

According to VideoCardz, the B580 will have 20 Xe2 cores, a 2.8GHz GPU clock and 12GB of VRAM. The B570 on the other hand will reportedly feature 18 Xe2 cores, a 2.6GHz GPU clock and 10GB of memory. The B580 will sport a 192-bit memory bus, versus 160-bit for the B570, spec sheets shared by VideoCardz show. 

The details are still unconfirmed, as is the pricing for the rumored GPUs. Leaker @momomo_us on X posted listings earlier this week that suggest the Limited Edition version of the B580 will be around $250. But, we’ll find all that out soon enough. Intel’s event will be streamed on Youtube on Tuesday December 3 at 9AM ET (6AM PT).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/intel-arc-battlemage-gpu-specs-leak-as-company-teases-big-graphics-news-this-week-204931560.html?src=rss

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Whether or not you understand your loved one’s desire to wake up before sunrise and get in a 5K is irrelevant when it comes to gifting. Athletes, especially runners, are pretty easy to shop for since they can never have too many of the essentials like socks, gloves, foam rollers, trackers and more. There are plenty of things you can get them that will make their runs more enjoyable, or help them recover more efficiently so they can best yesterday’s time today. Here are the best gift ideas for runners for this year’s holiday shopping season.

Check out the rest of our gift ideas here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-gifts-for-runners-140015714.html?src=rss

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David Eulitt via Getty Images

Maybe you're a huge football fan, maybe you're someone who wants to kick up your feet on the couch and enjoy something on in the background while you scroll for Black Friday deals on your phone and recover from Thanksgiving. Either way, we (and the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs) have got you covered. 

This afternoon, the Chiefs (10-1) host the Raiders (2-9) in a game that the home team is unsurprisingly favored to win. But last holiday season the two teams faced off on Christmas just for the Raiders to win in a shocking upset — proof that anything could happen on Friday afternoon. And if that's not enough drama for you, odds are Taylor Swift may show up to support Travis Kelce. 

Are you ready to watch yet? The game kicks off today, November 29 at 3PM ET (12PM PT) inside Allegiant Stadium. Here's what you need to know before tuning in. 

• Stream Black Friday football on Amazon Prime Video

Black Friday football game time 

The Raiders vs. Chiefs Black Friday game kicks off at 3PM ET on Amazon Prime Video and locally on KSHB-TV 41 (Kansas City market). You can tune into pregame coverage starting at 1:30PM ET. 

How to watch the Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs game

• Stream Black Friday football on Amazon Prime Video

Unlike the NFL's usual Sunday slate, which airs across several channels and live streaming platforms, this year's Black Friday football game will stream nationally only on Amazon Prime Video (which is also the exclusive home for the NFL's regular season Thursday night games).

Game coverage will include play-by-play by Al Michaels, Color Analysis by Kirk Herbstreit and sideline reporting from Kaylee Hartung.

Amazon Prime Video is included in a standard Amazon Prime subscription ($15 per month or $139 per year), but you can also subscribe directly to the video streaming platform for $9 per month. Amazon Prime offers a 30-day free trial, so you could tune into Friday’s game totally free.

How to watch the Raiders vs. Chiefs game locally

For out-of-market viewers, the Black Friday game airs on Amazon Prime Video. But for those in the Kansas City market, the game will air on KSHB-TV 41. For Las Vegas viewers the channel is still TBA.

Are there any Black Friday deals tied to the game?

Last year was the debut of a Black Friday NFL game, and Amazon used the occasion to proffer a handful of deals to the captive audience. We expect the same for this year, but the vast majority of Amazon's Black Friday deals are already up and running, including the usual bevy of Black Friday discounts on Amazon devices, including Kindle readers, Ring doorbells, Fire tablets and Echo smart displays. There's no need to wait for Friday.

NFL Thanksgiving week schedule 

This game is squarely in the middle of the NFL's holiday weekend schedule. If you want to catch all of the action, the games start on Thanksgiving day proper and finish up on Monday night with the Browns taking on the Broncos. 

All times Eastern

Thursday, Nov. 28

• Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions: 12:30PM (CBS)

• New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys: 4:30PM (FOX)

• Miami Dolphins vs. Green Bay Packers: 8:20PM (NBC, Peacock)

Friday, Nov. 29

• Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs: 3:00PM (Prime Video)

Sunday, Dec. 1

• Los Angeles Chargers vs. Atlanta Falcons: 1PM (CBS)

• Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals: 1PM (CBS)

• Arizona Cardinals vs. Minnesota Vikings: 1PM (FOX)

• Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots: 1PM (CBS)

• Seattle Seahawks vs. New York Jets: 1PM (FOX)

• Tennessee Titans vs. Washington Commanders: 1PM (CBS)

• Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: 1PM (FOX)

• Los Angeles Rams vs. New Orleans Saints: 4:05PM (FOX)

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Carolina Panthers: 4:05PM (FOX)

• Philadelphia Eagles vs. Baltimore Ravens: 4:25PM (CBS)

• San Francisco 49ers vs. Buffalo Bills: 8:20PM (NBC, Peacock)

Monday, Dec. 2

• Cleveland Browns vs. Denver Broncos: 8:15PM (ABC, ESPN+)

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/how-to-watch-the-kansas-city-chiefs-vs-las-vegas-raiders-black-friday-nfl-game-163550620.html?src=rss

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If you can’t get your kids to sit through one of the five NBA games airing on Christmas Day, tune into Disney+, ESPN+ or ESPN2 for a special Disney-fied version. ESPN announced that it will air a “Dunk the Halls” broadcast of the San Antonio Spurs versus the New York Knicks featuring animated Disney characters.

The broadcast starts at 12PM eastern. If you just want to watch the game played by regular, boring humans, that will also air on Disney+ and ESPN+ as well as ABC and ESPN.

“Dunk the Halls” will use Sony’s Beyond Sports technology to turn Madison Square Garden into Main Street USA from the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. The game will also feature appearances from classic Disney characters like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Donald and Daisy Duck as well as Santa and his elves from the animated Disney short Prep & Landing.

This is the first time the NBA has arranged to air a game with animated characters and graphic overlays. It’s also the latest game in a new trend of mixing live sports events with a network’s signature cartoon characters. ESPN+, Disney+ and the NFL+ app will air an alternative version of the Bengals-Cowboys game on December 9 featuring virtual characters and scenes from The Simpsons. ESPN3’s Full Court Press broadcasts use technology designed by Second Spectrum to create augmented graphics that track players movements and provide real time updates.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/the-nba-will-air-a-christmas-day-game-with-disney-characters-224921665.html?src=rss

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