Saturday, June 8, 2019

Apple : Quarterbacks at the ready: Madden 20 beta is coming June 14

Apple : Quarterbacks at the ready: Madden 20 beta is coming June 14

Quarterbacks at the ready: Madden 20 beta is coming June 14

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 01:35 PM PDT

Madden NFL 20’s first closed beta is going live on June 14 and will last through June 16, giving football fans a hands-on with the next game in the franchise ahead of the game’s full release on August 2.

Just a heads up for all the football fans out there: EA Play attendees can get access if they stop by the Madden booth, but everyone else will have to find codes as they’re sent out on EA and Madden social media accounts from June 10 to June 14, according to EA’s blog post.

What’s playable in the beta? Everything but fan-favorite Madden Ultimate Team and the new solo mode, Face of the Franchise: QB1 Campaign, which replaces the Longshot mode from the previous two games. You’ll only be able to play with a quintet of powerful teams: Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots, and New Orleans Saints.

(And sadly, any progress made in the beta won’t carry over to the full game.)

 What’s new in Madden 20? 

Aside from Face of the Franchise and an expanded Madden Ultimate Team, there are still a slew of new things coming to Madden 20 that you’ll be able to play with in the beta. Pro Bowl makes a triumphant return, and the regular Franchise mode is back and better than ever with the below additions.

An elite group of players also get a new category to reflect their phenomenal real-life abilities. 50 players will be considered Superstars: once you satisfy certain conditions on the field, their X-Factor special abilities activate to give you an edge - though other X-Factor abilities might counter them.

There are other quality-of-life improvements too, like 220 new run pass options, new unique formations, and signature animations coming to players and teams that mimic their real-life iterations, down to the specific way some carry the ball. Madden plans to update playbooks and animations during the regular season, so if you see a wild new play, it might be coming to Madden 20 thereafter.

While it’s a shame not to get access to two of the more exciting additions to Madden 20, perhaps they’ll come in a later beta. Until then, keep your eyes on social media for a code to this one.

E3 2019 is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor. 

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Madden NFL 20 release date, trailers and gameplay changes

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 12:51 PM PDT

The Madden NFL 20 release date is August 2 and, at E3 2019 today, we learned about the fact that it's debuting fresh modes, player-exclusive moves, and bringing back old favorites game types like Pro Bowl, according new details revealed by EA Sports.

Technically, you won't have to wait for the official August 2 release date to play this game. Madden 20 early access begins July 31, and you can get on the field even earlier with the Madden NFL 20 closed beta – that runs a single weekend, from June 14 to June 16, according to EA. In this close beta, however, your progress will reset to give every a fair chance at launch.

Face of the Franchise is the big highlight to Madden for 2020. For the first time, you can create and develop your own quarterback who goes from of one of ten D1 schools to the road to the next NFL superstar. Scenario Engine brings dynamic challenges to games to improve your player's stats along the way.

X-Factor abilities are the reason you'll still want to play as real-life superstar players. For example, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is the Madden NFL 2020 cover athlete and he has the exclusive Bazooka Superstar X-Factor ability. It stretches his normal reach by 15 or more yards when he's in this special zone. This is on top of normal Superstar moves of Escape Artist, Dashing Dead eye, Red Zone Deadeye.

Madden NFL 20 X-Factor abilities branch out beyond quarterbacks, too. Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has an X-Factor move called Fearmonger, and it's designed to intimidate and overcome blockers when he's in the zone. New Orleans Saints wide receiver Alvin Kamara has a zone-enabled 'Satellite' X-Factor that allows him to perform better in key one-on-one situations.

Pro Bowl is back in this year's football game, and it's been expanded to include these new superstar X-Factors, according to EA Sports. And since the Pro Bowl features the best non-Super Bowl players, it should be an over-the-top special-skills-based game.

There are X-Factor counters, of course. Madden NFL 20 is turning into a chess game of sorts, so putting pressure on a quarterback like Mahomes in the game will prevent him from getting into the zone and executing Superstar X-Factor moves like Bazooka. New mechanics like pump fake and the ability to cancel throws is really changing the game and mixing things up.

Playbooks are getting reworked in meaningful ways. There are new run pass options – 220 RPOs to be exact – being added to the game, as well as unique formations. Signature animations are coming to players and teams, and so are popular new plays like the renowned trick play Philly Special that was pulled off by the Philadelphia Eagles in the last football season. Best of all, as the real-life season is happening, your team's Madden 20 playbook can change.

Previous Madden NFL 20 news...

Madden NFL is EA Sports’ long-running football franchise, and like clockwork, another one is headed our way with new features and improvements from last year’s game. 

Madden NFL 20 is almost certainly shipping later in 2019 with a few tweaks to the time-tested formula. Here’s what the new game might bring to the table after last year's much-loved entry in the series.

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The latest entry in EA Sports’ long-running football simulation series
  • When can I play it? August 2 is the release date, but early access starts on July 31
  • What can I play it on? Again, no official word from EA yet, but we would expect it to be playable on PS4, Xbox One and PC

Madden NFL 20 release date and special editions

Madden NFL 20 will officially be released on August 2, 2019, and will retail for $59. Pre-ordering will grant buyers five Gold Team Fantasy Packs as well as their pick of one out of 32 Core Elite Players from your favorite NFL team.

There will indeed be not one but two special editions. The first, Madden NFL 20 Superstar Edition, costs $79. For that extra cash, you get 12 Gold Team Fantasy Packs and one small Training Quicksell Pack in Madden Ultimate Team. Buyers also get early access to play the game on July 31, 2019, a full three days ahead of the standard launch date.

The $99 Ultimate Superstar Edition of Madden NFL 20 starts players off with 15 Gold Team Fantasy Packs, one large Training Quicksell pack in Madden Ultimate Team, one Past and Present Elite Player Pack, one Madden Championship Series Pack in Madden Ultimate Team, and your choice of one unique Legend Superstar Ability for your created player in Face of the Franchise: QB1.

Madden NFL 20 trailers

Madden NFL 20 news and rumors

EA Sports has already revealed a lot of the new features coming to Madden NFL 20. 

Face of the Franchise: QB1 is the big new single-player mode: craft your player, pick their college, guide them through a draft and begin their big career. Thereafter, Madden’s new Scenario Engine generates personalized playable scenarios, events, and dynamic challenges, per the game's website.

The regular Franchise mode is back, and features the return of Pro Bowl. The whole mode has been refined with new scenarios and tweaks all around, from ratings spread to player progression.

There's also a new category for elite players: Superstars. 50 players in the game will fit the bill, and at certain points of play, they'll enter "the zone" and get bonus Superstar X-Factor abilities. These aren't ratings boosts or modifications, the game's site clarifies: "These are behaviors, characteristics, and situational outcomes, aspects of football, and it will be very clear to our players what impact they are having on the game by complimenting the player ratings, not modifying them."

The popular Madden Ultimate Team (MUT) mode returns as well, and it's got a couple new features. Missions is a new feature that acts more like guidelines than a task-and-reward system. "Think of it as a roadmap to upgrading your squad with the items you want, with a clearly laid out path of how to earn those items or rewards," explains the game's website. 

In MUT, Solo challenges have been replaced by Ultimate Challenges, and the Superstar abilities and X-Factors are also supported. Only some chemistries have been brought over from Madden 19 to Madden 20, though new ones have been added. The mode will include player archetypes, a reorganization that clarifies player strengths with their roles on the field, and a return of House Rules.

We're also curious how the game will change given this is the first in the series without creative director Max Dickson, who left six months before the release of Madden NFL 19. 

Madden 20 will be the third in the franchise running the Frostbite engine, and given the smoother action in last year’s entry with Real Player Motion, we're keeping an eye out for how this version has been tweaked.

What we want to see from Madden NFL 20

Madden NFL 20 for Nintendo Switch

We’ve put this on our wish list for years, and we’re still hoping the next Madden game comes to the Nintendo’s fantastic hybrid console. 

EA has released a Switch version of the past couple FIFA games, and while they haven’t had the full list of features and modes that are present in their PS4 and Xbox One counterparts, owners of the Nintendo console did get to play a mostly intact port. We’re hoping Madden NFL players get to do the same.

Longshot’s return

Perhaps Madden 19’s next chapter of the single-player mode introduced in Madden 18, Longshot: Homecoming, was underwhelming. But it was still a favorite experience when it appeared two years ago, and we’re hoping EA Sports has course-corrected to tell better chapters in the stories of underdogs Cruz and Colt. Or maybe just start from scratch and give us a couple (or handful) of new characters to invest in.

Alas, Face of the Franchise: QB1 seems like the single-player story/campaign mode that's set to take Longshot's spot, but as the internet wisdom goes, 'Why not both?'

Project Atlas

Okay, this is a bit greedy given EA only announced its cloud-based, stream-to-any-device service Project Atlas last October. But we’d love to see this Google Stadia-before-Stadia-was-announced service start showing up somewhere, somehow in Madden NFL 20. 

How could it help? All that compute could give players much more context to their plays. In a Medium blog post introducing Atlas and explaining AI applications, EA CTO Ken Moss explained it this way: 

“Imagine that you’re playing Madden, and you’ve just thrown your second interception of the game against the same cover 2 defense that caused the first turnover. Instead of the commentator simply stating that you threw a pick, the AI enables contextual, real-time commentary to reference the fact that you’re throwing to the sideline against a cover 2 defense and should have thrown against the weak zone over the middle to your tight end, who was open on the route. 

“This would certainly push the game into a greater level of contextual and experiential realism. The AI is working with your gameplay. It’s responding to your needs as a player.”

  • Here's everything we're looking forward to at E3 2019

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Dragon Age 4: everything we know so far about the open secret of a sequel

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 12:40 PM PDT

They say good things come to those who wait and we’re hopeful that will be the case for Dragon Age fans who are patiently hanging on for news of the fourth instalment in the franchise. 

After being an open secret for so long, Dragon Age 4 has now been confirmed by executive producer Mark Darrah and we’ve even been teased by a minute-long trailer. 

At the moment we’re cautiously calling the game Dragon Age 4 but this title isn’t confirmed and the series’ naming pattern makes it hard to predict for certain whether we’ll be looking at a named or a numbered game. 

[Update: The EA Play conference at E3 2019 came and went without any mention of Dragon Age 4. There's the possibility that it could appear at Microsoft's press conference at the show, but we wouldn't hold our breath, RPG fans...]

What we do know, though, is that Dragon Age is definitely coming so we think it’s only appropriate to keep an eye on the latest news and begin piecing together a picture of what the game might look like when it finally takes flight. As such, we’ve put together this this hub of news and rumors to keep you on top of the latest happenings from the land of Thedas. 

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The fourth instalment in the popular RPG franchise, Dragon Age
  • What can I play it on? Not confirmed but it's likely to be Xbox One, PS4 and PC
  • When can I play it? At least a couple of years away 

Dragon Age 4 trailers

The Game Awards 2018 had plenty of reveals but one of the biggest was a teaser trailer for Dragon Age 4. At only a minute long, the trailer doesn’t give much away but the hashtag TheDreadWolfRises as well as the appearance of Inquisition’s Solas is enough to pique any fan’s interest. 

You can watch the teaser trailer below:

Dragon Age 4 release date

Despite the fact that the game’s development has long been a very open secret, Dragon Age 4 has only just been officially announced by BioWare. But, even now, BioWare isn't ready to say much about the game.

"Hey everyone, we have been working on a new Dragon Age game for quite a while now and I am pleased to finally tease the existence of this project," said Mark Darrah, executive producer on a BioWare blog post. "While we won’t be sharing any details for now, I can tell you we have been building a new team around a core of Dragon Age veterans, people I’ve worked with on Dragon Age, Jade Empire, and some of whom I’ve worked with since the Baldur’s Gate days.

"I’m so excited to show you more!" 

Back in May 2017, writer Alexis Kennedy revealed that he was working on a part of the game’s story in an interview with Eurogamer. This part of the story, he revealed, is “well-segregated from other parts of the game”. At this point in time, the game was still clearly in the very early stages of development. 

A later report from Kotaku suggested that some of the Dragon Age development team had been pulled off the title to focus on creating Anthem which would understandably cause delays to the game's development. 

In addition, a report by Venture Beat suggests Dragon Age 4's release date is at least three years away and a title for the fourth installation hasn't even been chosen yet "according to sources familiar with the studio".

Basically, it looks like Dragon Age 4, if that is its real name, is still early in its development and it could be a while before BioWare open the curtains on any kind of release window. At the moment we’d expect the game will release on PS4, Xbox One and PC but it’s hard not to note that preparations for the next generation ramping up and it’s uncertain whether consoles such as PS5 and Xbox Two will be here by the time Dragon Age 4 is released. 

Dragon Age 4 news and rumors

Live Service elements may be included but they aren't likely to be like Anthem

Back in January 2018 a report from Kotaku suggested that Dragon Age 4 could include live elements, stirring some fan concern that this could mean an always-online multiplayer approach. 

However, in Kotaku’s most recent April 2019 report it’s been suggested that while Dragon Age 4 game could potentially include Anthem-like live elements, it won’t simply be “Anthem with dragons”. One developer told Kotaku:

“The idea was that Anthem would be the online game and that Dragon Age and Mass Effect, while they may experiment with online portions, that’s not what defines them as franchises. I don’t think you’ll see us completely change those franchises.”

This suggests that any live plans for Dragon Age aren’t likely to take the form of a shared online world exactly like Anthem’s and will still be suited to the single-player adventuring Dragon Age is known for. 

In a tweet in January 2018, Casey Hudson also stated that the “live” elements being considered are actually ways of continuing the game’s story after the main story has been completed. 

A big take away from Kotaku’s report is that at this early stage in the game’s development, as with any game, very few things are absolutely set in stone, with another developer stating: “They have a lot of unanswered questions. Plus I know it’s going to change like five times in the next two years.” 

So, regardless of what Dragon Age 4’s live elements look like now they could change drastically over the next few weeks, months or even years.

Official announcement
After years without an update, BioWare officially announced during The Game Awards 2018 that it will be returning to Thedas in a new Dragon Age title. 

The Game Awards 2018
According to a report by Venture Beat (and understood to be correct by Eurogamer), we expected an announcement regarding Dragon Age 4 during The Game Awards 2018. 

What that announcement turned out to be, interestingly, was the game's first 1-minute-long teaser trailer that re-introduced Fen'Harel, the elven god of betrayal, and Solas from Dragon Age Inquisition. 

We didn't get any gameplay or story details but, for now, the confirmation from BioWare is enough to keep the hype train chugging.

Roundabout confirmations
Regardless of whether or not BioWare had confirmed it, Dragon Age fans were pretty certain that another game was going to be in the works. Partly because they had faith in the power of their sheer force of will and partly because over the last couple of years there have been hints from BioWare that something would indeed be happening. It’s the secret that was never really a secret. 

The most recent non-official confirmation has come from executive producer Mark Darrah, who tweeted in January 2018 that he’s working on both Dragon Age as well as BioWare’s next big IP, Anthem. 

Though he’s now left the company, BioWare veteran Mike Laidlaw was tweeting that there was still another couple of games in Dragon Age series yet back in mid-2017. Even before that, Alexis Kennedy became the writer that launched a thousand headlines after comments he made in an interview with Eurogamer were taken as a semi-official confirmation of the game’s existence and his place in it. 

In the interview Kennedy teased that he's been "given considerable autonomy to work on a storyline bit of lore which is well-segregated from other parts of the game.“ 

”I don't want to exaggerate the degree of the chunk [I'm writing],“ Kennedy he was at pains to add. ”It's nothing that grandiose, but it is distinct. It's a bit of lore which has not been addressed much to date in Dragon Age.“

Story and character
Every game in the Dragon Age franchise has had a heavy emphasis on story and character and fans will be glad to know that Dragon Age 4 isn’t likely to be any different.

After Mark Darrah tweeted that he was working on the game, BioWare general manager Casey Hudson chipped in with his own elaborative tweet. In this tweet he said it was “too early to talk details” but the game would be “story & character focused.”

It’s not clear whether this will be a brand new standalone game or whether it’ll continue on directly from Inquisition. Certainly, the end of Inquisition's Trespasser DLC suggests there is a story thread to follow with Solas, which would see the Inquisitor chase the elf down to stop his plans. The teaser trailer from The Game Awards 2018 also hints heavily that this will be the case.

We already know there are writers working on lore and side quests, following Alexis Kennedy’s interview with Eurogamer in 2017 in which he confirmed he was working on a part of the game that’s “well-segregated” from the rest and focuses on some lore that’s not been widely addressed. 

Kennedy, who has worked on titles such as Sunless Sea and Fallen London, said the subject matter would not be surprising to those familiar with his work. To us this implies that his quest (or quests) will include thoughtful choices, themes of tragic love and desire and an underlying sense of unease. 

New live elements
In the January 2018 Kotaku report on Anthem and Dragon Age, it was mentioned that sources had informed Kotaku that Dragon Age had been “rebooted” in order to implement more “live elements” into the game.

Naturally, there was some fan panic in response to this given EA’s increasing penchant for service-based games. Fans expressed concern that BioWare was going to take the Dragon Age series down a Destiny 2, always-online multiplayer route. 

That doesn’t appear to be the case, however. In his tweet, Casey Hudson also stated that the “live” elements being considered are actually ways of continuing the game’s story after the main story has been completed. This is something we’ve already seen in games such as Assassin’s Creed Origins. 

Things we'd like to see

A world like Dragon Age: Inquisition
We hope that the next Dragon Age game has a map similar to the one in Dragon Age: Inquisition, by which we mean we hope it's big and open without being overwhelming. It was the perfect follow-up to the closed and repetitive maps of Dragon Age 2 and we’d like this approach to continue. 

Explore more of Thedas
There’s one very notable part of Thedas that players have yet to be allowed to explore and that’s the Tevinter Imperium. Once the most powerful nation in Thedas, the Imperium is a shadow of its former self. Its history, stratified social structure and maintenance of a magocracy would make it an immensely interesting and different part of Thedas to allow players to explore, while allowing the franchise to continue to explore themes of social injustice, power and prejudice.  

The fact that the area is references throughout other Dragon Age games is enough to make us think it’s a viable setting for Dragon Age 4. However, the ending of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC makes us think it even more likely, as it sees the Inquisitor stab a dagger into a map of the Imperium with a vow to track down Solas.

Solve that cliffhanger
Our previous point brings us to this one – we’d really like that Solas storyline to continue to be explored. He’s the perfect focus for the next game and the player’s approach to him is the perfect narrative crux. 

(Image credits: BioWare)

  • Everything we know about Anthem, BioWare's next big game

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Belmont Stakes live stream: how to watch the 2019 race online from anywhere

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 12:39 PM PDT

After a controversial Kentucky Derby which saw its first ever disqualification and a Preakness Stakes where a horse ran the race without a jockey, the Triple Crown comes to an today with the Test of the Champion. You're in the right place to see how to get a 2019 Belmont Stakes live stream. 

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade 1 Thoroughbred race featuring 3-year-old Thoroughbreds run on a 1.5 mile (2,400m) track. The 'Run for the Carnations', which is held five weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks after the Preakness, is the oldest of the three Triple Crown races and dates back to 1867.

Last year’s Belmont Stakes was a race to remember as Justify became the 13th horse to win the Triple Crown. Unfortunately, there will be no possibility of a Triple Crown winner this year but the 2019 Belmont Stakes is still shaping up to be an interesting race nonetheless.

War of Will is aiming to become the 12th horse ever to win both the Preakness and Belmont after failing to win the Kentucky Derby while third-place Kentucky Derby finisher Tacitus is another clear favorite.

Whether you’re rooting for War of Will, Tacitus or any of the other 10 horses competing in today’s race, we’ll show you how to live stream the Belmont Stakes from anywhere in the world.

How to watch the Belmont Stakes 2019: US live stream

If you’re in the US and want to watch the Belmont Stakes on TV this Saturday, then NBC has you covered. The network will begin its pre-race coverage of the event at 2.30pm ET, 11.30am PT on NBCSN. 

The main event will be aired on NBC starting at 4pm ET, though you can also stream the race live on NBC TV or via the NBC Sports app. 

If you happen to be outside of the US this weekend and want to access the NBC US live stream, the we recommend using a VPN - scroll down to read more about that option.

How to watch in the US without cable

If you don't have a cable subscription, fear not, because there are other options that will allow you to watch NBC without having to subscribe to it. To make the entire process simple for you, we've listed three of our favorite options below:

  • fuboTV $19.99 for the first month - fuboTV has a low introductory price though after that the price goes up to $44.99 a month and includes 70 channels. There's a 7-day trial available so you can test out its functionality for yourself.
  • DIRECTV NOW $50 per month - DIRECTV NOW gives users all the channels needed to watch the racing and loads of other sporting events. Use DIRECTV NOW’s 7-day trial will let you test out the platform.
  • Sling TV $40 per month - Sling TV is an inexpensive way to watch sport. Sling TV is compatible with Apple TV, Roku, Xbox One, Chromecast as well as lots of other devices and its easy to get started with a 7-day free trial.

How to get a Belmont Stakes live stream from outside your country

If you're away from the US this weekend and try to watch the Belmont Stakes coverage online, you'll soon find you can't. Broadcasters geo-block evens like this so you can only watch them with a stateside IP address. That's where getting a US VPN comes in.

How to watch the Belmont Stakes 2019: Canada live stream

Canadian horse racing fans with a cable subscription will be able to watch this year’s Belmont Stakes on TSN. The network’s coverage will begin with the Belmont Stakes Prep at 3:40pm ET on TSN5 with the main event set to start at 4pm ET.

How to watch the The Belmont Stakes 2019: UK live stream

Trying to watch this year’s Belmont Stakes in the UK? Well lucky for you, Sky Sports will be showing the full race this year beginning at 9.15pm BST. If you’re not a Sky Sports subscribe already and just want to watch Saturday’s race, NowTV has you covered with a Day Pass for just £8.99.

Travelling outside the UK this weekend? Don't worry as you can also use a VPN to watch the races on any of the streaming services that give you access to the coverage.

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The best PS4 games from E3 2019... so far!

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 12:32 PM PDT

It’s the Coachella, the Glastonbury of video games. E3 2019 is here, and if you’re a PS4 gamer, you’re in for a treat.

The annual games conference, bringing the biggest and best games developers from around the globe, will be showing off loads of new soon-to-be best PS4 games from the likes of EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda and more.

With Sony itself set to be absent, it’s going to be all about the third-party goodies this year, as the PlayStation team itself gears up for the inevitable reveal of its PS5 console.

But this is about the here and now, the next-big things for the PlayStation console sitting under your TV as we speak. Here’s what you’ve got to look forward to, based on what we’ve seen at E3 so far.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

First up was Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, kicking off E3 2019 as the opening game from the EA Play conference. We got 15 minutes of gameplay footage, which you can find embedded below (you might need to jump in a little bit, as it's part of the EA Play livestream!):

It’s very much a mix of familiar looking games, such as the Uncharted series and Dark Souls games, wrapped up in the feel and look of the Star Wars universe. There will be weighty lightsaber combat, cool force abilities, old-school Stormtroopers to battle and mad alien planets to explore and climb. It’ll hit the PS4 (and PC and Xbox One) on November 15.

FIFA 20

Ready to pay the FIFA tax again this year? Well, this year it looks at least like EA’s football game is going to be a significant update over last year’s edition, thanks to the inclusion of a fun-looking ‘Volta Football’ mode. Remember FIFA Street, which allowed for indoor and unorthodox football play styles, such as five-a-side and no-goalkeepers rules? That’s coming with FiFA 20. Here’s the trailer:

It looks like a wonderfully inclusive part of the franchise, letting you make a custom (male or female) avatar, ready to take on online squads and its own campaign mode. It’s the most significant addition to FIFA since the introduction of the single player Journey Mode, and a welcome return for the mode that’s been absent from the mainline series for nearly 20 years.

Madden 20

Now on to that other type of football, with EA’s entry into the series for this year. As well as improved visuals and team rosters, you’ll get a new Face of the Franchise mode with Madden NFL 20 that lets you create a player and take them through the NFL draft experience. Catch the trailer here:

With a closed beta starting on June 15, other new features include playbooks that update per team across the course of a season, Ultimate Missions to get the most from your Ultimate Team purchases, and X-Factor and Superstar abilities that will add some finesse moves, unique skills and personality to individual top-tier players.

More to come

...and that’s just to kick off: we’re only one press conference into E3 2019 so far, and we’re expecting to see many more great games and trailers revealed as the week goes on. Keep checking back to see all the best stuff coming to the PlayStation 4 in the coming days.

E3 2019 is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor.

  • How about the competition? Here's what we think the Xbox Two will be like

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FIFA 20: release date, news, Volta modes and everything else there is to know

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 11:20 AM PDT

Better manaul defending, revamped shooting and a 'Volta Football' street and indoor five-a-side mode: FIFA 20 is on its way, and we've got the first details here.

Yep: goal, goal, goal. Football, football, football. No ‘soccer’ shenanigans here folks – we’re talking about the beautiful game, FIFA 20, the 2020 season’s updated footie simulator.

There’s a new FIFA game on the way from developers at EA Vancouver. With it being one of the most successful sporting game franchises of all time, and it having had an annual release since 1993, it’s as safe a bet that EA will be pulling out all the stops for a gargantuan game before the introduction of the PS5 and Xbox Two consoles. 

So, with a FIFA 2020 game now certain, what can we expect from the next FIFA game? How’s Alex Hunter’s ‘Journey’ from amateur to pro going to conclude? And what changes can we expect when we play FIFA 20? We expect we'll hear everything we want to know about the game during E3 2019 and EA Play but until then read on for all the news and expectations for a new FIFA game below.

[Update: Just hours before E3 2019 kicks off and EA Play takes to the stage, EA has officially confirmed FIFA 20 is coming, and has given us a full release date, as well as details on a new indoor football mode called 'Volta Football'. You'll be able to play the new soccer game from September 27, 2019. Read on to find out more.]

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The expected next entry in the long-running football simulation series.
  • When can I play it? The FIFA 20 release date is set for September 27.
  • What can I play it on? With no precise console information to share yet, we can only speculate. But FIFA games always launch on the core three platforms (PS4, Xbox One and PC), with regular spin-off versions available for mobile platforms and the Nintendo Switch. Expect nothing less this year. There is potential for a this to be the first next-gen FIFA in a while too, with the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Two on the horizon.

FIFA 2020 release date

Like the changing of the seasons (and the football seasons themselves), there’s an annually expected launch window for FIFA games. 

For more than a decade, FIFA games have launched towards the end of September, and that's now confirmed with the FIFA 20 release date being set for September 27.

If you're an EA Access player however, you get a week's early play, with the game launching on the subscription service on September 19.

The news was confirmed with a new teaser trailer, posted on Twitter. You can find it embedded below:

The previous two FIFA games landed on the final Friday in September (29 September, 2017 and 28 September, 2018) which, as we predicted, would align FIFA 2020’s release for Friday 27 September 2019. Note that FIFA games launch with a title suggesting the year ahead – FIFA 20 may come out in 2019, but its FIFA 20 / 2020 naming will reflect the coming season.

FIFA 20 trailers: Volta Football

Remember the indoor football modes of early PS1-era FIFA games? Or the street-style 'Futsal' matches of the FIFA Street series? They'll be back as a new 'Volta Football' mode in FIFA 20. You'll be able to play 3v3 Rush (no goalies), 4v4, 4v4 Rush, 5v5 and Professional Futsal matches in indoor and outdoor matches in bespoke stadiums from around the world.

There will be a campaign mode, online leagues and squads and customisable player avatars – almost enough for a full game in its own right, it would seem. It'll only be available in the PS5, Xbox One and PC versions of the game though, skipping out on the Nintendo Switch, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

Check out the trailer below:

FIFA 20 gameplay development updates

Ahead of the game's official reveal at EA Play and E3 2019, EA Sports has addressed some of the updates it has planned for FIFA 20 in a blog post, many of which have been inspired by player feedback from FIFA 19. 

As a series, FIFA isn't known for making any huge gameplay changes between releases but these are some of the features EA Sports has decided to focus on for the latest release. 

Volta Football

FIFA Street makes a return as a game mode for FIFA 20, as Volta Football.  3v3 Rush (no goalkeepers), 4v4, 4v4 Rush, 5v5 and Professional Futsal will all be match types  in the new game. It's all about flair, with customisable players (male and female players will play alongside each other) online squads and more. Scroll back up for that first trailer, focussing on this aspect of the game.

'Football Intelligence'

A new combination of features that tweaks on the ball, off the ball and the play of the ball itself. You'll get more time and space on the ball, with a tweak to the physics of the ball. You'll get more one-ones as a result of this system, with greater emphasis on user controlled defending. Off the ball players will spread around the pitch in a more authentic way, too.

Spin will now also affect the trajectory of the ball, with more realistic deflections. The part of a player's shoe that hits the ball also plays into the flight of the ball now.

AI Defending

As mentioned above, players will now see more benefits to manually defending, rather than relying on the skills of the game's AI. Computer-controlled defenders will now be less efficient and effective (less on-the-ball, if you will) while those controlled by you will perform better. Manual tackles are also more likely to go in your favor than those attempted by AI. This should create a balance which will see players who make the effort to manually defend feel that it's more rewarding. 

Pace will also get tweaked to give defenders a better chance of catching up with particularly speedy players.

Shooting, and 'composed finishing'

As far as shooting is concerned, one-on-one situations between the player and the goalkeeper are about to become less frustrating. In FIFA 20, 1v1 shooting accuracy will be improved allowing for more shots on target, while goalkeepers will be slightly less "superhuman" when it comes to their reactions. 

Even manual goalkeepers will be slowed down to more realistic speeds. Players controlling their goalkeeper using right-stick movement will now have to commit to a direction when attempting to make a save, making it feel more rewarding or more galling when you make it or miss it. 

Away from the goal, volley-crossing and volley-shooting are being checked to make them more realistic. By more realistic, of course, we mean less accurate and a little more unpredictable. 

Strafe dribbling

This will give you more dimension in attack, letting you lure an opponent in, opening up the potential to take on a defender with an agile, speedy player.

New penalty kicks and free kicks

All new systems come to penalty and free kicks, making them easier to pull off great goals from set pieces.. Free kicks in particular will be completely revamped, giving you greater control of spin on a shot.

Passing

It's not just shooting mechanics that are being addressed, passing is seeing a shakeup too. Easy passes will now be more accurate but more difficult passes like those at 180 degrees, first-time and those attempted in high-pressure moments will now result in slower/weaker balls which are less effective and easier to intercept.

There are two new options for passing in addition to this. Manual 'Dinked' passes, which will be used to elevate the ball over a defender's leg and the Driven Pass-and-Go which will take over from the current manual pass combo. 

Timed Finishing

Timed Finishing was a new mechanic for FIFA 19 and as a result EA Sports has garnered a lot of feedback in order to fine tune it. If you missed its introduction, Timed Finishing meant that players could take advantage of a Green Timing Window in order to make a more accurate shot. 

This should have been a high risk and high reward feature but players felt that it was just too easy to perform. As a result, EA Sports has reduced the Green Timing Window from 2-4 frames to strictly 2 frames, making it more difficult to pull off, while Green Timed Shots will generally just be less accurate. They will still, however, be slightly more accurate than a standard shot. Otherwise what's the point?

With these fixes, as well as improvements to player switching and set-piece positioning, EA Sports seems to be at pains to show that it plans to address some of the biggest fan concerns over FIFA 19 ahead of announcing FIFA 20.

That’s all for now though – we're sure we can expect to see even more about FIFA 20 during EA Play just ahead of E3 2019 on June 8.

FIFA 20: what we want to see

FIFA titles make incremental improvements over the years – it’s rare to see one massively change the formula, and FIFA has been in a pretty stable state for the best part of a decade now. If you’ve played a recent edition, you’ll be able enjoy the latest one, with a few months work needed to master its new systems. FIFA is in a good place then, with FIFA 20 set to be built on solid foundations – but that’s not to say we can’t look forward to some improvements. Here’s a handful of things we’d like to see changed.

The end of the ‘Journey’ – and the start of something new?

FIFA introduced a character-driven story mode back in FIFA 2017, focussing on fictional upcoming star Alex Hunter, and it’s now a much-loved staple of the game. Hunter’s story concludes with FIFA 20, so we’d like to see something new and expanded with which to carry on that legacy. EA’s Madden series has a narrative-focussed Longshot mode – it’d be great to see that idea carry over into EA’s other big sporting title.

Dynamic weather

For a while there, EA’s mantra seemed to be that anything rival Pro Evolution Soccer could do, FIFA could do better. But EA’s never picked up Pro’s dynamic weather systems. Just like in real life, rainy weather can blow in mid-game, changing the pace and flow of play in the Pro series. It’s a realistic consideration, and one that’d have a subtle but welcome effect to moment-to-moment tactics in FIFA 20. 

Career Mode changes

Career Mode is FIFA’s answer to a managerial system. It’s not Football Manager, but it’s a great way of building up a lengthy relationship with each year’s entry into the franchise. It could do with a spruce up though to its core systems after its flashy-but-shallow FIFA 18 UI overhaul. Some extra depth to the managerial challenge is what we’re really after – player wage negotiations, stadium changes for smaller clubs on the rise, that sort of thing. It’d be great to bring back the Player / Manager career option of FIFA 13, too.

Build-your-own team mode

Fans have been crying out for this one for years – bringing back the old-school ability to create your own team, from branding and kit right down to player names and attributes. We’re guessing EA isn’t keen on this as it’d give you the ability to make updated squad information on the game even years after release. But it’d be great to be able to make a team made up of just work colleagues or online mates, for instance, and see them bring the cup home.

FIFA 2020: Early Access? FIFA as a subscription?

EA has been toying with different sorts of distribution models for a while now, with its EA Access subscription model, and its Origin Premier service, letting players try out the firm’s top games for a monthly fee.

With the launch of FIFA 19, EA allowed gamers to play FIFA 19 nine days before the game’s general release, and we’d expect to see the same occur for FIFA 20. 

What’s potentially interesting though is the possibility of FIFA becoming its own live service, with EA offering a subscription fee for the game, or elements of the game, being constantly updated rather than as an annual release. It’d let the company drip-feed updates, as well as keeping team sheets and player likenesses up to date, and remain competitive to titles like the free-to-play phenomenon Fortnite, which follows a similar model of constant updates.

To be clear, EA has not stated that this is to be the case for FIFA, but with the franchise such a powerful draw, and the idea of games-as-a-service becoming more of an industry standard, don’t be surprised if a future FIFA game takes this route.

Is there a FIFA 20 demo?

Although we know FIFA 20 will be officially launched in September 2019, EA Sports has yet to set a date for its FIFA 20 demo. They're released every year before the official launch, and we've got our fingers crossed for another early demo this year too.

In the past, the demo has been available in a trial capacity for a week or two earlier than the launch date. Looking back, FIFA 19's demo was available on 13 September, 2019, two weeks before the game's full launch – EA followed this same pattern for FIFA 18, FIFA 17 and FIFA 16 too. 

If the same pattern applies to this year, which we assume it will but can't guarantee, then we'd expect the demo to have dropped by 14 September, 2019. Again though, this is all speculation for now – but we'll be sure to update you when we get official confirmation. 

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Battlefield V Chapter 4: Defying the Odds – here's everything new coming

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 11:10 AM PDT

EA announced Battlefield V Chapter 4: Defying the Odds, adding four new maps to the shooter. All of these maps will center around the Mediterranean front, with all the lush vegetation and beautiful beaches that go along with that region. 

The first of these maps, Al Sundan, will come in June and will be based on the "Under No Flag" single player mission. It will feature the same multiplayer action Battlefield fans have come to know and love, with plenty of space to get your vehicles on. 


A little bit later, there will be the Marita map in July. This will be a more infantry-focused arena, where alleys and side streets will funnel your enemies right into your gunfire. 

There will be two more close-quarter maps added later on, apparently also focused on infantry gameplay. These will be the Lofoten Islands and Provence. More details for these maps will come out later this summer. 

Chapter 4: Defying the Odds is more than just the maps, though. There are more elite characters, weapons and, of course, skins to tide players over until Chapter 5. And, for those of you that have been capped at Rank 50 for the last year, you'll be happy to know that the the cap just got boosted all the way up to 500, and you will get new dog tags every 50 ranks. 

Battlefield V

Image Credit: EA

Wait a little longer

Battlefield V doesn't end in the Mediterranean, however. Battlefield V Chapter 5 will take players to the Pacific front to battle in some of the most iconic theaters of World War II. 

We don't have specific details yet, but EA hinted at Iwo Jima being playable. And, of course, we're sure Battlefield V Chapter 5 will feature a ton of new maps, weapons and skins to collect. 

EA did show off Operation Underground, a beloved map from Battlefield 3, that will come to the game between Season 4 and Season 5 in October 2019. Beyond that, though, we'll have to wait to see what the game will look like later this year. 

  • This update should solidify Battlefield V among the best PC games

E3 2019 is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor.

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How Sony taught me to stop murdering companions and love the NPC sidekick

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 11:00 AM PDT

It wasn’t that many years and bits ago that ‘companion’ was a dirty word in videogames. The promise of being tethered to an NPC filled me with dread. Even in the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, a companion usually exposed itself as one of two things: at best, inept fire support from a character who mostly faced in the right direction; at worst, the protectee in a - shudder - escort mission. 

If you really wanted to see a game in the mid-2000s crumple to its knees with a guttural heave of gears and motor oil, conscript a side character to your cause and marvel as they jog into battle, pull out their weapon, put away their weapon, heal themselves for no reason, then wedge themselves in a doorway. Forever.

Companions are still a few fries short of a Happy Meal, but at least in this console generation they’ve moved from being a hindrance to guardedly welcomed company. And it’s Sony which has best rehabilitated them, through its PlayStation exclusives.

Ellie, your sparky and sarcastic teenage ward in The Last of Us, was a turning point. A mixture of clever storytelling and competent AI that built a father-daughter relationship in between moments of stabbing zombies in the eye. 2018’s God of War tried to foster a similar unlikely bond between Kratos (albino God-rilla) and Atreus (pubescent history nerd). Most recently, Days Gone squeezed both brotherly and romantic love into one weather-beaten motorbike satchel. 

These three games are wholly different experiences, but there’s a narrative throughline that unites them: responsibility. And also zombies, to a lesser degree.

Burden of Bill

Not all companions are annoying... just most. (Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

A companion in a videogame has to keep a lot of plates spinning. As in any story, there has to be a point to their being there. They need an arc of some sort. They need to change, somehow, as your character does - whether you have a choice of actions or the writing tricks you into feeling like you’re growing with your protagonist. 

But unlike their counterparts in other media, they also have to react to the things you do: no matter how stupid or obstinate. They need to hold their own in challenging situations. 

Nothing sours a relationship quite like a ‘Game Over’ screen appearing when you’re at full health, henpecking you that, ‘Bill died’. Or the more creepingly entitled admonishment, ‘You failed to protect Bill’. Or the very limpest of videogame fail-states: ‘You went too far away from Bill’, like you lost him in a supermarket and he’s been found crying by the self-checkout. Screw Bill. Game developers: you can never go far enough away from Bill.

"If Bill decides the best reaction to a zombie horde is to rout it from the centre with a bent set of salad tongs, why should you have to live and die by that decision?"

Bill in all his forms is an obvious way of compensating for AI that can’t be trusted to follow the whims of every mercurial player. But they’re sloppy solutions that put gameplay above character-building. There are other solutions that are arguably worse - the way Bethesda’s Fallout and Elder Scrolls companions can get belted off a cliff by a dragon or a nuclear hand grenade and recover after a minute-or-two’s sit-down is the coppiest of cop-outs there is - but they’re all the more irksome because you’re being punished for what is usually an NPCs incompetence. 

If Bill decides the best reaction to a zombie horde is to rout it from the centre with a bent set of salad tongs, why should you have to live and die by that decision? The moment you start worrying for a character’s safety because you’ll be booted back to a checkpoint - rather than because you, you know, want them to be safe - is the moment a character turns from flesh and blood into ones and zeroes.

The Ellie method

The Last of Us' Ellie might be a badass, but she has a vulnerable side too. (Image credit: Naughty Dog)

Sony has attacked this problem from multiple angles. In The Last of Us, Ellie reacts to danger by jumping on its back with a knife and shanking it, or (if sneaking) turning magically invisible to everyone in the room except you. In God of War, your son, Atreus, is actually magic and can take almost infinite thumping by Norse monsters without ruffling his mohawk. And Days Gone (mostly) either segregates its NPCs from its zombie hordes behind fences and walls or puts them on motorbikes full of guns. 

They’re three distinct methods that, critically, don’t rely on companions seriously fending for themselves, but merely create the illusion that they are. They don’t all work all the time, but as experiments they’re commendable efforts in creating sidekicks you don’t want to murder or dump in the nearest bin to protect them from their own ineptitude (which we’ll call the ‘Resident Evil 4 Solution’).

The Ellie method works because it’s clear from cutscenes and comments in quieter moments that, as a character, she’s vulnerable. Not weak, but not an unkillable god-child (like Atreus - who we’ll get to). Out of gameplay, she reacts the same way as protagonist Joel does to a screeching horde of fungus-people - by swearing lots and running away. She is, also, just a kid: with a childlike fascination with giraffes, a teenage skepticism of a world that once contained ice cream trucks and one particular outburst where the mask slips and we see that the defining moments of her life have been loss and death. 

We can overlook that when we’re controlling Joel, Ellie is rarely in any actual danger, because the story beats show threats to her on two fronts: Ellie the NPC being chased by monsters, and Ellie the child disappearing in a monstrous world.

Atreus angst

We're not all that fond of Kratos' sulky son, Atreus. (Image credit: SIE Santa Monica Studio)

For contrast, God of War’s Atreus (your experience may differ) is an example of how to take that same approach, badly. Atreus is the anti-Ellie: a parallel universe Ellie that looks superficially the same but reveals itself as a improperly-programmed Stepford child. In a weird reversal, Atreus only skulks about in cutscenes - and only when scolded by his growling bodyguard-cum-pack-mule dad, Kratos. In a fight, what he makes up for in enthusiasm he lacks in ability, which in turn he makes up for by doing lots of high-pitched shouting - usually about how nearly dead you are.

He’s also a reverse image of Ellie in that, in a world of Norse mythology far removed from whatever Kratos left of ancient Greece, Atreus is the authority. A swot, if you’re being unkind. He knows all the gods. All the stories. He even speaks Rune. Paired with a lumbering, retiree God of War - who’s been Metal Gear Solid 4-d into a state of wheezy dad bodish-ness - it’s a relationship that strains, then grates. Every. Bloody. Door in ancient Scandewegia is locked with a riddle rune or a birdbath of magic sand that Atreus has to translate or poke at, while Kratos (you) looks about impotently for something to smash with his axe. 

I’ve tried to think of something nice to write about their dimension-hopping, mountain-climbing escape-the-room, but questing with this pair feels like being stuck with the two worst people on a European stag weekend: the one who knows the names of all the cathedrals and insists on ordering off the locals’ menu in an accent that’s probably racist, and the guy who takes his shirt off at the start of the night and ends up punching a policeman.

But if The Last of Us and God of War are two sides of the same coin, Days Gone is the third side. Strange. Unexpected. Not legal tender. Yet somehow brave and brilliant.

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Deacon St. John is a bit of a dick - and we love it. (Image credit: SIE Bend Studio) 

While The Last of Us and God of War succeed or fail on what is linear storytelling, Days Gone protagonist Deacon St. John has to juggle all the same plates (still spinning) while navigating an open world: doing in bandit camps, looting houses, picking flowers for RPG-crafting-herbology - the lot. 

This is where open-world games usually lose grip on story and motivation. You’ll abandon a glorious Far Cry revolution to hunt leopards or go paragliding. You’ll reschedule the Joker situation ‘til tomorrow to flap after Riddler trophies as Batman. In Fallout 4, you will forget your abducted son’s name five minutes after you leave the Vault, and that he exists at all in the first half hour.

But not in the zombie-road-movie-world of Days Gone. Days Gone’s masterstroke of writing is so simple. So elegant. Like Tinder, bread knives and probably the comb, it’s a solution so perfect and seemingly obvious that you can’t help but wonder how nobody thought of it before.

"Bend Studios hits the nail on the head through the nut and into the coffin on the first swing."

The radio chirps. Deacon clicks it on. Some local incapable yells that someone’s gone missing or they need someone murdered or that they know something world-savingly important about the plague of not-zombie Freakers terrorizing wasteland Oregon, and want him to do something. It cannot be stressed how important it is that Deacon do this thing immediately (although they’ll certainly try). 

To which Deacon nonchalantly replies: “Maybe/probably/at some point/if I can be bothered.”

How has it taken the AAA game scientists this long to crack the open-world-quest-giving-quest-doing formula? Decades of side-questing, weapon-crafting and flower-picking while the lives of our assigned plot devices hung in the balance, and Bend Studios hits the nail on the head through the nut and into the coffin on the first swing. Open world players are always going to behave in ways that, narratively speaking, make them look like dicks. So why not let them roleplay as a guy who is - much as I love him - a massive dick?

Friendship formula

Maybe Kratos should take a leaf out of Deacon's book? (Image credit: SIE Santa Monica Studio)

Early in Days Gone, your motorbike gang buddy, Boozer, gets badly injured. You put him to bed to sleep it off. He could probably use some medicine, but - meh - he’ll probably be fine. You’ll get to it. Meanwhile, you’re half-heartedly looking/mourning for your dead wife. But she’s dead - she doesn’t need more mourning right this second. Or at all. Get to it if and when you can be bothered. In the meantime: raid this bandit camp and paint your motorbike.

You’ll do all these quests eventually, of course. Because as you faff about in the post-apocalyptic biker wasteland, Days Gone’s writing will push its claws through your leathers and into your soul. NPCs will radio you and slowly, subconsciously, you’ll decide for yourself that they’re worth your time and investment. There’s no stick: no-one dies if you don’t screech into camp with the Advance Plot Macguffin just in time. 

Days Gone, like The Last of Us (and God of War, too, if you can overlook its estranged-father-son Odd Couple dynamic) is carrots all the way down. Do something nice for a person, that person is nice to you back, repeat until you realize six hours later that you’ve accidentally become a better person.

Sony, obviously, isn’t the first or only developer to work that feeling of attachment to what is, stripped down, a magic trick of pixels, semi-reactive code and pre-recorded dialogue. But as de facto winners of the last console war, and in putting characters and relationships front and centre in its biggest hitters, it’s pinning down a formula for mainstream games that evokes more than a contractual obligation to care about NPCs that games dictate we care about. We should - and now can - remember our companions for their stories. And never for the times they got stuck in a doorway.

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Apex Legends Season 2: Battle Charge update, start date and new characters

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 10:51 AM PDT

The Apex Legends Season 2 start date is July 2, meaning it's less than a month away, and we've gotten all of the important details straight from E3 2019.

It's an onslaught of Apex Legends updates: a new character (Wattson), new modes, additional weapons (L-Star from Titanfall 2) and a much-needed improved battle pass and challenges. We're going hands-on with Apex Legends Season 2 today.

Officially dubbed Apex Legends Season 2: Battle Charge, the changes here are based on Season 1 feedback, according to developer Respawn Entertainment and EA. They admitted that not everything went right at launch and well-received by players.

Chief among the changes is a new ranked mode and the advent of daily and weekly challenges, something Fortnite excelled at and Apex Legends did not. It'll also take less time to reach Battle Pass level 100 and you'll find three additional Legendary skins along the rewards track.

The new weapon for Season 2? It should actually be familiar to fans of Respawn: it's the L-Star from Titanfall 2, only it's an SMG this time. It's powerful enough to break doors (something only melee and explosive can do currently), but there are some drawbacks. It only arrives in care packages (you can't equip it at load out) and there's no ammo around the map.

Coming even sooner to the Apex Legends universe is Apex Elite Queue. The top five players of a match are entered into this elite designation, letting them test their skills against each other in guaranteed epic matches. But they have to keep finishing in the top five to remain in Apex Elite Queue.

Before you get your hands on it in Apex Legends Season 2, you'll also be able to play through a Double XP Weekend until June 10 at 10am PT. 

Previous news below...

EA surprised many with the sudden announcement of Apex Legends back in February, a free-to-play battle royale shooter that sees the publisher going toe-to-toe with genre mammoths PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite Battle Royale.

Developed by Respawn Entertainment and set in the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends is a squad-based battle royale shooter where teams of three go up against 57 other players to try to gather loot and be the last person (or squad) standing.

However, unlike Fortnite and PUBG, Apex Legends sees players take on one of eight classes, each represented by a unique character (imagine Fortnite mixed with Overwatch and you’ll be on the right track.) 

Whether that sounds like your kind of gaming or not, Apex Legends hit the ground running. It managed to reach a million players in its first eight hours and amassed 10 million players in three days.

That's good going. Really good going. Particularly when you consider that it took Fortnite two weeks (a fortnight!) to reach those same numbers. Similarly, it took Fortnite 24 hours to accrue a million players, compared to eight hours for EA’s shooter. 

However, things seem to have slowed down for Apex Legends with revenue dropping and Respawn opting to implement less-frequent, more meaningful updates in lieu of constant, smaller updates.

Do we have another Fortnite on our hands or just a passing fad? Let's not get ahead of ourselves and instead take a look at everything we know about Apex Legends.

Apex Legends


As we said in our full Apex Legends review:

"Truth be told, the Battle Royale movement has never quite grabbed me. I dabbled in PUBG and spent a dozen hours or so with Fortnite, yet nothing ever quite stuck the landing. Apex though, has got me hook, line and sinker. Featuring intuitive controls, an outstanding comms system and remarkable rogue’s gallery, Respawn has created what feels like the AAA outing for the genre." 

Apex Legends update news

  • What's new? The Legendary Hunt is on

Apex Legends' Legendary Hunt event has started. This is the first proper in-game event for Apex Legends and offers players rewards for completing challenges and playing while the event is active, as well as offering extra experience boosts.

Legendary Hunt introduces a new elite queue, themed rewards, bonus XP, and more for a limited time.

Apex Elite Queue
From June 4 to July 2, any players who make their way into the Top 5 of a match will earn their way into a select queue full of Top 5 winners. 

Legendary Hunt challenge rewards
From June 4 to June 18, players can complete special in-game challenges to score free Legendary Hunt loot. Here are the special rewards:

  • Legendary Hunt Badge – Finish in the Top 5 in any match.
  • Rare Wolfpack G7 Scout weapon skin – Finish in the Top 5 in an Elite Top 5 match.
  • Epic Master of the Hunt Bloodhound Legend skin – Finish in the Top 5 five times in any queue (consecutive or nonconsecutive).
  • Legendary Tamed Beast Triple Take weapon skin – Win twice in any queue (consecutive or nonconsecutive).

Meanwhile, Battle Pass owners will also be awarded a Legendary Honored Prey R-301 weapon skin, simply for owning the Season 1 Battle Pass. Battle pass owners level 15 and above will be awarded the Legendary Night Terror Wraith skin.

Apex Legends

Battle Pass bonus XP
From June 4 to June 18, players will earn an entire Battle Pass level when they finish in the Top 5 of a match. However, this award can only be claimed once per day.

Double XP weekend

Respawn will also be running a Double XP weekend for Apex Legends between June 7 and June 10, which will see players score double level XP and Battle Pass XP throughout its duration.

Legendary Hunt store skins

Finally, between June 4 and June 18, new Legendary Hunt items will be available in the store. These items will rotate every three to four days and are event limited.

Apex Legends tips and tricks

Apex Legends can be difficult to get to grips with. There are a lot of different characters each with their own abilities and skills, plus this battle royale arguably leans more heavily on strategy and teamwork than some of its competitors. 

Get ahead of the pack with our selection of Apex Legends guides, designed to help you become a champion.

Apex Legends

How to download Apex Legends

Apex Legends can be downloaded for free from the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Origin Store or Apex Legends website. Simply search for the title, download the game and enjoy! 

But do keep in mind that a good internet connect and subscription to either PS Plus, Xbox Live or Origin Access is required to play.

The good news is that Apex Legends is also coming to mobile in the future, following in the footsteps of Fortnite and PUBG.

Apex Legends


Apex Legends Battle Pass 

Apex Legends has now officially launched its first Battle Pass season, dubbed Wild Frontier.

Players on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC are now able to purchase the Wild Frontier Battle Pass for 950 Apex Coins, entitling them to a new character in Octane (available separately for 750 Apex Coins or 12,000 Legends Tokens) and the ability to earn 100 new items, such as Legend Skins, Apex Coins and a new legendary Havoc skin.

As a reference, Apex Coins start at $9.99 (around £7.50 / AU$14.15) in real world money for a pack of 1,000.

Along with this speedy new Legend, the Wild Frontier Battle Pass also offers the ability to earn 100 new items, such as Legend Skins, Apex Coins and a new legendary Havoc skin. 

Players who want to get a head start can immediately unlock the first 25 levels (out of 100 available in Season 1) by purchasing the Battle Pass Bundle, which costs 2,800 Apex Coins.

According to EA, Apex Legends will follow a seasonal model with each themed season bringing new content to the game in the form of new weapons, new Legends, new skins and more.

Check out our full guide to the Apex Legends Battle Pass.

Apex Legends roadmap - what's next?

Respawn Entertainment has shared the season roadmap for Apex Legends. Apex Legends Battle Pass seasons run for approximately three months. Currently four seasons have officially been announced:

  • Season One: March 19, 2019 until June 18, 2019. 
  • Season Two: June 2019
  • Season Three: September 2019
  • Season Four: December 2019

Apex Legends

Is Apex Legends coming to mobile?

Yes. In EA’s quarterly earnings report, the publisher announced that it’s looking at bringing the Respawn Entertainment-developed game to mobile platforms and to both South Korea and China. 

“We’re in advanced negotiations to China and mobile”, EA’s CFO Blake Jorgenson stated, before later mentioning South Korea as another expansion point. 

While the specific platform details haven't been confirmed, it’s fair to assume that this will include both Android and iOS releases down the line, and as far as the Eastern market releases, this will be via EA’s PC platform and marketplace, Origin.

Apex Legends characters and abilities

Octane

Adrenaline Junkie

Apex Legends' newest Legend is the ultimate death-defying adrenaline junkie, speeding his way through the map, healing himself as he goes and getting into as much trouble as possible. 

Tactical Ability: Stim

Passive Ability: Swift Mend

Ultimate Ability: Launch Pad

Bloodhound

Technological Tracker

Bloodhound is one of the the Outlands' greatest hunters. There's little known about them except that they are non-binary and super-skilled at tracking enemies in the battlefield.

Tactical Ability: Eye of the Allfather

Passive Ability: Tracker

Ultimate Ability: Beast of the Hunt

Wraith

Interdimensional Skirmisher

Wraith is a fighter with a dark twist. She's able to execute swift attacks and open rifts in reality to benefit herself and her teammates.

Tactical Ability: Into the Void

Passive Ability: Voices from the Void

Ultimate Ability: Dimensional Rift

Gibraltar

Shielded Fortress

Built like a brick house, Gibraltar is essentially the tank of Apex Legends. He is great for defending teammates and unleashing massive damage on any enemies who dare get close enough.

Tactical Ability: Dome of Protection

Passive Ability: Gun Shield

Ultimate Ability: Defensive Bombardment

Bangalore

Professional Soldier

Bangalore serves as a classic offense character, at her best when she's inflicting damage on enemy teams and using strategic attacks to unleash devastating assaults.

Tactical Ability: Smoke Launcher

Passive Ability: Double Time

Ultimate Ability: Rolling Thunder

Lifeline

Combat Medic

Prefer to play a healer? Then Lifelines is probably the Legend for you, providing medical assistance to her teammates on the battlefield with her healing drone and calling in extra supplies when needed.

Tactical Ability: D.O.C. Heal Drone

Passive Ability: Combat Medic

Ultimate Ability: Care Package

Pathfinder

Forward Scout

It's important to survey and scout potential locations before sending your team in. Better to be safe than sorry. That's where Pathfinder comes in, checking areas for enemies before making a speedy exit and guiding your team along the safest route.

Tactical Ability: Grappling Hook

Passive Ability: Insider Knowledge

Ultimate Ability: Zipline

Caustic

Toxic Trapper

Prefer to trap your enemies rather than combat them head on? Then Caustic is your guy.  He's one of two current characters unavailable in the base game and requires you to pay 12,000 Legend Tokens or 750 Apex Coins to unlock.

Tactical Ability: Nox Gas Trap

Passive Ability: Nox Vision

Ultimate Ability: Nox Gas Grenade

Mirage

Holographic Trickster

Arguably the most charismatic Legend, Mirage is a master of illusion and uses decoys to confuse enemies. Like Caustic, Mirage is unavailable in the base game and requires you to pay 12,000 Legend Tokens or 750 Apex Coins to unlock.

Tactical Ability: Psyche Out

Passive Ability: Encore!

Ultimate Ability: Vanishing Act

(Image credits: Respawn Entertainment/EA)

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India vs Australia live stream: how to watch the huge Cricket World Cup 2019 match from anywhere

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 10:30 AM PDT

Over a week in to the 2019 Cricket World Cup, and we finally get a clash between two of the pre-tournament favourites. And this has got classic written all over it. One of India or Australia will walk away from The Oval today with a CWC loss to their name, and we can't pick which it's going to be. We'd advise making Sunday plans to watch this one - that's why we've created this guide for getting an India vs Australia live stream, regardless of where you are in the world.

Winners of this competition in 1983 and 2011, India arrived late to the 2019 tournament to recover from another intense IPL. But Virat Kohli's men looked no-less fresh for that, with a stonking win over South Africa in their first game. The awesome Rohit Sharma scored an outstanding century that day, while Jasprit Bumrah's bowling brilliance showed why he has risento the top of the world rankings in this format.

Australia’s first action of the tournament saw them ease past Afghanistan in routine fashion with a seven wicket victory in Bristol. And then came an absolute cracker at Trent Bridge, where heroics from Nathan Coulter-Nile with the bat and Mitchell Starc with the ball eventually vanquished the West Indies by 15 runs. They'll need to raise their game in London to stand any chance of winning against India.

Both teams will be desperate to win this one and really get the other teams at the 2019 Cricket World Cup quaking. Getting an India vs Australia live stream is the easy bit and you can continue reading to see how to watch from just about anywhere on Earth.

Watch a Cricket World Cup 2019 live stream from outside your country

Watching in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, US or India? We've got all the details you need about the broadcaster in your country further down this page.

But if you're away from your home country today, the minute you try to watch your domestic broadcast you'll discover that you can't because of geo-blocking. That's annoying, but by using a VPN you can watch it anyway without reverting to some dodgy, illegal feed you've dug out online.

How to watch the game in Australia

How to stream 2019 Cricket World Cup online in India

How to stream India vs Australia live in the UK 

How to watch India vs Australia: New Zealand live stream 

How to watch India vs Australia: US live stream 

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Battle Charge is the 2nd season of Apex Legends: new guns and characters coming

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 10:29 AM PDT

Battle Charge, Season 2 of Apex Legends is coming on July 2, and it's complete with a new weapon, a new character and new ways to play.

This announcement came at the EA Play event on the eve of E3, and Respawn is looking to make this season more jam-packed with content than the lackluster Season 1. 

One of the biggest additions to this season is the new weapon, the L-Star. This is an extremely rapid-fire SMG, that's so powerful that it's only available through a care package. It's so powerful, in fact, that it can break down doors – something previously exclusive to melee abilities and grenades. And, because the ammo isn't available on the ground, once you run out of ammo, you're done. 

We're also getting a tenth legend, Watson. A defensive character that has electrical powers. You can use her scientific expertise to create electric traps, bringing a sort of RTS gameplay style to the Battle Royale. Many of her abilities interact with each other, making her one of the more difficult characters to play on Apex Legends' growing roster. 

Apex Legends


But, wait, there's more!

Of course, Apex Legends Season 2 will have more content that you can unlock as you work your way through the ladder. 

First, of course, there will be more cosmetics available. There will be four new legendary skins, two of which are for characters including a very cool Prince of Darkness skin. There are two legendary weapon skins, too, including the Intimidator skin for the Spitfire

For more competitive players, Apex Legends Season 2 will feature a ranked mode. The most skilled players will be able to work their way up through 6 tiers, and only the best will come out on top. 

E3 2019 is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor.

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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: gameplay, release date, trailers and news

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 10:11 AM PDT

Hold on to your lightsabers: there's a new Star Wars game on the way, and it's called Jedi: Fallen Order. And we've now got the first concrete gameplay details about it, thanks to E3 2019.

In development by Respawn Entertainment (the studio behind Apex Legends and Titanfall), Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was announced during E3 2018 but we didn't get a proper look at the game until early in 2019, during a special panel at the annual Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, before EA lifted the covers completely at E3 2019.

While the official reveal only gave us a glimpse at a story trailer, it was more than enough to get us hyped for the upcoming game. E3 2019 has given us a far more meaty look at the game, with lightsaber-fuelled gameplay at its core.

While fans of the galactic franchise have seen official tie-ins in the form of Star Wars Battlefront I and II, the new entry takes on a different tack, focusing on a single-player experience more in line with 2008's The Force Unleashed – and we have all the concrete news and wild speculation you could want below. 

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? A new single-player Star Wars game from the creators of Titanfall
  • What can I play it on? PS4, Xbox One, and PC
  • When can I play it? November 15 2019

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order release date

EA has now confirmed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will release on November 15, 2019, just in time for Christmas and the long-awaited release of Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order trailers and story

You'll take the role of Cal Kestis, a former Jedi padawan (AKA, a student of the Force). The game is set in the period following Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – the fateful time when the evil Emperor Palpatine executed Order 66, which saw the Jedi ambushed and killed by their own supporting Clone Trooper soldiers. Few survived and were forced into hiding.

And that seems to include Cal! A youngster only partially through his training, Cal has been forced into hiding, working construction sites and trying to keep a low-profile as the Jedi-hunting Imperial Inquisition continues to track down any remaining survivors.

The story trailer shows Cal having to use his Force powers to defend himself against rogue troopers, and to save a friend from falling from an accident. The trailer suggests the game will have some lavish set-pieces and environments, and hinted at a very-story-driven experience to enjoy.

Check it out below:

You can also watch the EA Play 2019 gameplay reveal for the game below, but note that you're going to have to jump into around the 30 minute mark to skip the build up portion, that's basically just 30 minutes of an EA logo!

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gameplay

EA Play 2019 showed us a 15 minute slice of gameplay from the game, roughly 3 hours into the game.

We were shown Chewbacca's homeland Kashyyyk, where Jedi Cal is trying to kickstart the rebirth of the Jedi order. But the poor Wookies are enslaved by the Empire! So Cal has to try to help them out.

Walking through a tech-filled jungle corridor, gameplay at first doesn't look unlike Uncharted 4, with a tool that lets you swing from beams, and some wall-running ala Respawn's other game, Titanfall. Cal's pretty nimble, able to clamber up walls and climb as if he was Assassin's Creed's Ezio. He moves weightily.

After meeting up with some resistance fighters, he carves his way through a door and comes across a burning refinery, using his lightsaber as a torch in the darkness. A battle ensues below and Cal needs to reach a troop of Stormtroopers , so force-pushes a tree below to make a path to them.

Here we see our first glimpse of lightsaber action. Cal can force pull and push troops, as well as throwing his lightsaber at them for a ranged attack. Combat is lock-on focussed, not unlike Dark Souls for one-on-one combat, but seems massively more forgiving. There also seems to be finishing animations that trigger when you've took a baddie to low health. Lightsaber combat, thankfully, looks weighty and measured – this will be a tactical fighting game, rather than a hack and slash, with the classic ability to slash blaster bolts back at an enemy.

Cal also seems to have the ability to focus the force and slow time, letting him take on dangerous foes, like flamethrower stormtroopers with a little more ease, as well as avoiding environmental hazards like spinning blades. One cool moment had him slow time, and force pull a stormtrooper towards him in time to use it as a human-shield against the very same blaster bolt it had fired at Cal moments earlier. The same technique can be used to halt a foe momentarily in its tracks – very Kylo Ren.

So far, levels, though expansive, seem fairly linear – you're very much set along a path from one action scene to another, although the densely-designed levels prevent it from appearing too much like a series of corridors, back to back. Each scene has lots of AI interactions between NPCs, too – you'll see stormtroopers battling the native, giant-beetle-like creatures of Kashyyyk, and timing your attack against them could help to swing the odds in your favor.

Cal acquires upgrade points as he defeats enemies, and also seems to be able to complete side missions if he goes off the beaten path and explores levels in detail. C

The timing of the story, set after Revenge of the Sith, also means there was a familiar face or two turning up. Rogue One's Saw Gerrera, aka actor Forest Whitaker, was present, as was a bot that looked like K2SO. You'll have to fight this one, though.

Skill points will go into your force abilities, letting you upgrade force pulls and push, double jumps and force slowing tricks. You'll get a droid, too, BD1, to help you on your way, offering the ability to hack terminals, heal your player and manage your hologram map, as well as being your buddy. You won't be able to turn to the Dark Side though – Cal's good to the core.

So far then, so good. This is a classic-era Star Wars game, giving you a taste of the most-loved period in Star Wars history. Rather than the original reveal's suggestion that Cal will be a weak newbie Jedi, he's going to be fairly advanced in his training. And, it's all cannon – these characters are going to turn up in the wider Star Wars universe.

It looks visually impressive... except for the Wookies. They looked like the plastic figures from the 70s. A bit more free-flowing, walking-carpet Wookie hair please, EA!

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order news and rumors

Retail box art
EA has revealed the retail box art for both the Standard and Deluxe editions of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Here's what the Standard edition look like:

Standard Edition (Image credit: EA)

And the Deluxe edition:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Deluxe Edition (Image credit: EA)


EA doesn't plan to release Fallen Order on Switch
Soon after the game's official reveal, fans were wondering if Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will ever be making its way to Switch. Well, according to EA community manager Jay Ingram, there aren't any plans to do so currently.

You can check out Ingram's reply to a fan tweet below:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was livestreamed – check it out
We already know that on April 13 we got our first proper look at Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, as part of the annual Star Wars Celebration event in Chicago.

But luckily for fans that couldn't make the trek to the event, EA livestreamed it.

Check out EA's announcement tweet below for a chance to replay it:

The galaxy-wide premiere saw the head of Respawn Entertainment, Vince Zampella, and game director, Stig Asmussen (whose previous work includes God of War 3), revealing the much-anticipated details of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order toys -confirmed
Disney has announced that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order merchandise will become available in October 2019 suggesting, not only that the game will release around that time, but that the company expects it to be a title (or series) with a long life-span within Star Wars fandom. We now know that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will release in November, just a month after the toys release.

Development is well underway
"It’s very far along in development, and having spent time with it recently myself, it plays spectacularly well," EA CEO Andrew Wilson revealed during a quarterly earnings call (via Seeking Alpha). "This game truly captures the fantasy of becoming a Jedi, and we will have a lot more to share soon."

A Padawan called Cal? Confirmed
According to rumored information from a Star Wars marketing day (which obviously made its way to Reddit) the story will take place roughly five years after Revenge of the Sith and will follow surviving Padawan Cal (via GamesRadar). This rumor also states that one of the game's main plot points will revolve around Cal's mentor figure - a woman named Ceres. Both these names are now confirmed.

It's set after Revenge of the Sith
We don't know the specific time in which the game is set, but we've heard that it will take place at some point between Episodes 3 and 4, after the end of Revenge of the Sith but before Luke Skywalker's appearance in A New Hope.

This places it after the Galactic Empire hunted the 10,000-strong Jedi Order practically to extinction, leaving only a small fraction of Jedi alive (aka Order 66). With the promise that the game will be set 'in the dark times', it sounds like our Jedi protagonist may be more the hunted than the hunter.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Star Wars: Battlefront II. (Image credit: EA)

Could famous Jedi appear?
Playing as "a surviving Padawan", technically meaning a Jedi apprentice rather than a fully-fledged master of the Force, Cal could do with some extra training. Given the dearth of living mentors left to train you, it's possible Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda – or some less high-profile Jedi, like Quinlan Vos – will appear in a supporting role. 

The single-player mode comes first – and there will be no microtransactions
Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella tweeted about the upcoming game, describing it as an 'SP' (single-player) story. 

It looks like a multiplayer component won't be available at all in the game – surprising given EA's focus in recent years on games that extend beyond a single play session. Even more surprising is the fact that there will be no microtransactions at all, ever, in Fallen Jedi. It's great news considering the industry falls over itself to offer chunks of games piecemeal these days – but don't be surprised if that means there will be an aggressive DLC system instead.

I find your lack of faith disturbing
2018 was a been a bit of a fallow year for Star Wars, with Star Wars: A Solo Story struggling in cinemas and the negative player response to EA Dice's Star Wars: Battlefront 2 – largely in reaction to its prevalent use of microtransactions – still in recent memory.

Jedi: Fallen Order has been handed to a different studio, albeit one that's still a subsidiary of EA. But Respawn has garnered a lot of respect as the studio behind Titanfall and Titanfall 2, two critically acclaimed sci-fi action games that pit players against each other in giant mechanized suits, and which both came with strong single-player and multiplayer offerings. 

(Image credits: Respawn Entertainment)

Keep checking back here for all the latest Jedi: Fallen Order news 

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Score a massive 73% discount on this VPN deal thanks to Father's Day

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 08:02 AM PDT

If you're looking for a cheap VPN deal, then you're in luck. Starting today through to Father's Day next Sunday, you can save up to a massive 73% on IPVanish plans. It's a fantastic promotion, and means that you can get online protection and all the other perks a VPN affords for an effective monthly cost as low as $3.25 (around £2.50).

IPVanish is one of the world leaders in the VPN industry and one we rank highly (taking our #3 spot in our best VPN service guide). IPVanish offers impressive speed, secure connections, unlimited usage, access to over 1,200 servers in 60+ locations, and perhaps most importantly, the ability to unblock Netflix in restricted countries.

IPVanish currently offers three different plans (one month, three months, and one year) that all include a 7-day money back guarantee. The one month and three-month plan are both 50% off, but the biggest savings are available with the one year plan which gets a massive 73% discount. That means you'll pay $39 annually (roughly 30) which comes out to just $3.25 a month for a whole year. That's a fantastic deal for a year's worth of superior internet protection.

IPVanish's incredible Father's Day VPN deal

If you're not ready to commit for a year, IPVanish is also offering 50% off their one month and three month plans.

What can you do with a VPN

There are traditionally two main reasons you might want to get a VPN - protecting yourself online and avoiding internet restrictions. In terms of online safety, a VPN uses encryption technologies to mask your IP address so you can't be tracked. Simply, it makes it a lot harder for you to be traced on the internet.

Their other use is a bit wider in its functionality and realistically more popular. VPNs can allow you to work around restrictions online which means watching your favorite channels in other countries, getting cheaper deals on flights and trains and watch any country's Netflix no matter where you are. 

Father's Day gift deals

As we say, IPVanish is marketing this new VPN deal as a Father's Day offer. Now, to be frank, we think you'd get some rather peculiar looks if you gifted a VPN to your dad next Sunday!

But TechRadar is here to help if you're dad is a tech lover. We've created our one-stop Father's Day gift guide to help you select the perfect present.

And Walmart in the US has already got started with its reductions in time for Father's Day. See what bargains are available with our guide to the Walmart Father's Day sale.

See also:

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Google tweaks its search results to show you more variety

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 06:30 AM PDT

More changes are afoot on the world's most well-known search engine: Google says it's taking steps to stop multiple listings from the same site showing up in results.

The tweak is "designed to provide more site diversity in our results" Google says, with user feedback on the issue one of the main reasons for the new approach.

However, the sort of results you see will still differ depending on your query – in some situations, Google says it will continue to display several hits from the same place if they're "especially relevant" to what you're looking for.

Typically, though, you won't see more than two listings from the same site in the top search results on Google. The change is rolling out now.

No ranking changes

According to Google's Danny Sullivan, the change isn't going to affect the way that sites are ranked in Google – just how many results appear for a particular page.

Google is constantly modifying the way it ranks and displays pages on the web: another big update to its core algorithms is happening this month, though apparently this particular change is separate.

One of the more recent features added to the capabilities of the search engine is the option to order takeout food with the help of various third-party partners, though that's only available in select US cities for now.

Whether you're searching for food, celebrity facts or tech tutorials on Google, you should soon start seeing more variety in the list of hits that appear.

Via Gizmodo

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This is how 5G will take mobile gaming to the next level

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 05:00 AM PDT

If you’re not sure what 5G is, in a nutshell, it’s the next evolution of mobile internet. 

With download speeds that beat most home broadband transfer rates, and 4G speeds by around ten times, speed is definitely the name of the game when it comes to 5G connectivity.

Faster mobile internet is only one of the benefits of 5G, though. It will also result in less congested networks.

If everyone is downloading a web page over 5G, it’ll take less time than it would over 4G. That means that one web page download clogs up the network bandwidth for less time (because it downloads faster) – and that means less congestion. 

In addition, 5G was built with more ‘lanes’ than 4G, so can handle peak hour data usage that little bit better, so users should be able to enjoy a more consistent service. 

This will also lighten the load placed on 4G networks as fewer users will be downloading and uploading on 4G, given the fact some will be on 5G. This ultimately means even non-5G users will benefit from it – so that Candy Crush commute home will leave you waiting even less, whatever your network.

Image credit: Sony

The obvious benefits for mobile gaming

Given what we know about 5G so far, there are some very obvious ways it will benefit mobile gamers.

For starters, game downloads will be quicker. 

With games like Injustice 2 and Valkyrie Profile clocking in at over 1GB, most gamers today will likely wait until they’re connected to a Wi-Fi network before downloading them. This is primarily to save data, but another factor is that over 4G, the download takes longer, and would wreak havoc on your phone’s battery.

5G looks set to increase the size of data plans too. Take EE for example. It currently offers 5G with two data packages – 30GB per month, or 60GB per month. The 4G packages meanwhile, range from 250MB through to 50GB per month. 

With 5G resulting in more data and faster downloads, a 5G gamer dropping 1GB and a few seconds of time spent downloading, shouldn’t leave their data plan or battery breaking a sweat. 

Many mobile games today also require an in-game internet connection too. Tracking your score, fleecing you for gems and other in-app purchases, or logging you into a battle royale arena to compete against other mobile warriors Fortnite-style – all these require a connection, and have historically resulted in long wait times. 

In a nutshell, the main, obvious benefit of 5G and more speed can be summed up in three words: no more waiting.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Latency part one: multiplayer mayhem

Lower latency is a less obvious benefit of higher speed mobile internet, but its implications are game-changing.

Latency is the time between an action, and that action being registered. So, when you write with ink, the latency would be the time between the ink leaving the pen and marking the paper. When it comes to online gaming, latency is the speed with which a command is registered and actioned on your screen. The lower the latency, the better. 

5G will mean incredibly low latency gaming, which will be handy when multi-player blasting, especially as mobile gaming tournaments and eSports continue to scale new heights of popularity, and a focus on high-performance connectivity becomes a differentiator between champions and runners up.

Latency part two: the Netflix of gaming

If you think back to the rise of 4G, it coincided with Netflix hitting stratospheric levels of adoption – and that’s no coincidence. Wireless watching gained popularity when great quality content became ‘streamable’ over fast mobile internet speeds with 4G.

What’s that got to do with gaming and 5G? Streaming games take up more bandwidth, but 5G speeds are fast enough to support it.

There are two ways of streaming games. The first involves streaming from one device, whether it’s a console or a PC, to another. The brunt of the processing is undertaken by the primary device, which plays the game. The secondary device just receives a video feed and registers controller input commands.

Currently, PS4 Remote Play and Steam Link are available for mobile and let you stream from your console or PC to your Android or iOS device with ease, provided your connection can hack it.

The second way to stream games is more exciting when it comes to 5G. Games are run on remote servers, and streamed to your screen just like Netflix. Subscription services like this are available today – Nvidia’s Geforce Now, Sony’s PS Now or the upcoming Google Stadia for example, but all require fast, home broadband to play back smoothly. 

The Google Stadia controller (Image credit: TechRadar)

What 5G will do is take these services out of the home, and into… well, anywhere there’s a 5G signal. Just think – console-quality games, streamed directly to your phone’s 2K or 4K screen at full resolution. 

Hook up a Bluetooth controller, and a 5G connection will enable you’re commands to reach the server and relay back to your display in milliseconds. While this might not be good enough for some professional competitive eSport gamers, it should suffice for the vast majority.

There are other benefits to streaming games too – your smartphone doesn’t need particularly powerful internals as it won’t be processing a bunch of 3D objects. This also means it won’t get as hot, and might not run out of battery as quickly as were you playing a game it was powering.

In addition, streaming games would remove the need for powerful hardware altogether, democratizing console-grade gaming. Providing it has 5G, your budget phone in 2020 could play the same quality games a flagship could.

Image credit: Shutterstock

That's not all

Mobiles aren’t the only on-the-go gaming gadgets set to benefit from 5G. Laptop gamers should be reeling at the prospect of faster mobile internet. Online multiplayer games tethered to your phone’s 5G connection will deliver imperceptible levels of latency, so wherever you are, you can crack out your gaming laptop and blow up things with your friends.

A subscription model, made possible by streaming gaming services could also save gamers money when compared to buying a library of games – something the soon-to-be-launched Apple Arcade could do. 

Meanwhile, 5G would also enable streaming virtual reality movies and games, which have higher bandwidth requirements. This is because two images need to be streamed for VR, one to the left eye and one to the right eye, and both of these need to be high-resolution to deliver high-quality experiences.

Mobile gaming hardware is also set to reflect 5G’s advancements. We’ve already seen the likes of the Asus ROG Phone, Black Shark 2 and Razer Phone 2 refine hardware to suit gamers’ needs, with features like front-firing stereo speakers, left and right triggers and pressure sensitive displays. These all pack flagship internals though, and cost a fair whack. 

In the future, these awesome features can come to phones that don’t need powerful internals so cost a fraction of the price, don’t even need to run Android or iOS, or even be a smartphone. 

5G could create a new breed of handheld gaming consoles – 5G shells that receive console grade games on a monthly subscription basis.

Sound far-fetched? Watch this space; these are just a handful of predictions, but whatever happens, 5G will certainly play a part in the next revolution of mobile gaming. 

5G Uncovered, in association with Samsung, brings you everything you need to know about the next wave of connectivity - not just how fast it's going to be, but in just how many ways it's going to change your life. Our 5G Uncovered hub is carefully curated to show everything there is to know about the next generation of connection.   

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Ashleigh Barty vs Markéta Vondroušová live stream: watch 2019 French Open Women's final at Roland-Garros

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 04:30 AM PDT

So who's going to be marching on to the Philippe Chatrier Court at Roland-Garros for today's 2019 French Open women's final then? Serena Williams? No. Simona Halep? No. Kerber, Muguruza or Wozniacki? No no no. Step forward Ashleigh Barty and Markéta Vondroušová - and you can see who wins with a French Open live stream today.

As we say, the favorites and biggest names in the game all fell by the wayside over the last fortnight. That gives Australia's Ashleigh Barty a massive chance to win her first Grand Slam title. The bookies are making her overwhelming favorite to take the trophy back home Down Under - it would be the first time that's happened in a Slam since Evonne Goolagong won Wimbledon way back in 1980.

Let's be honest, we think that we can all admit that we don't know much about 19-year-old Markéta Vondroušová. The world number 38 has only one previous WTA title to her name, but has tumbled the seeds on her way to this final. Could the outsider upset the odds today?

We're in for another splendid day of tennis action and here's how you can live stream all the French Open 2019 tennis excitement provided by Barty vs Vondroušová from wherever you are in the world. 

Live stream the French Open tennis 2019 from outside your country

For your watching options in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, we have more details below - just scroll down the page.

But if you try to watch your domestic coverage from somewhere outside your home country, you'll soon find a problem...geo-blocking. That's where the broadcaster prevents you from watching the feed overseas.

How to live stream Ashleigh Barty for FREE in Australia

How to live stream French Open tennis in the UK free

How to watch the French Open 2019: US live stream

The best way to stream the French Open 2019 in Canada

Live stream Barty vs Vondroušová in New Zealand

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Afghanistan vs New Zealand live stream: how to watch today's Cricket World Cup 2019 from anywhere

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 04:08 AM PDT

With two defeats on the bounce, Afghanistan are battling against being handed the dreaded Cricket World Cup 2019 wooden spoon. It's not going to get any easier for them though as their opponents on Saturday are New Zealand - one of the most impressive teams in the tournament thus far who have already chalked up two wins. No matter where you are in the world you can watch the match by using our guide below to getting an Afghanistan vs New Zealand live stream.

The Black Caps may have two wins under their belt, but they were made to work for their two wicket victory against Bangladesh on Wednesday. Shepherded in no small part by a knock of 82 by Ross Taylor, New Zealand will be looking for a big improvement from the rest of their batsmen in a game they'll be expecting will extend their winning run.

No such question marks will be levelled against their bowlers with Matt Henry and Trent Boult already looking imperious at this stage of the tournament.

Afghanistan will have some regret at not capitalising on the good work of their bowlers after their batting order failed to maintain their advantage against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. The outsiders' superb spin trio of Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi have lived up to the reputation during the tournament so far and that triple threat will need to show the same sort of form if their team is to stand any chance of an upset. 

Another fascinating Cricket World Cup game awaits, and its one you’ll be able to watch with ease from anywhere in the world if you follow our Afghanistan vs New Zealand live stream guide below.  

Watch a Cricket World Cup 2019 live stream from outside your country

If you're in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, US or India and looking to find out how to watch the match, we've got all the details about the broadcaster in your region below. 

If you're away from home country and looking to tune in you'll likely to find you won't be able to thanks to geo-blocking. Thankfully there's a way to alleviate that frustration. By using a VPN you'll be able to watch the game safely without having to take a chance on an illegal feed from a website that's likely infested with malware.

How to watch the game in New Zealand live stream 

How to stream 2019 Cricket World Cup online in India

How to watch the cricket in Pakistan

How to stream Afghanistan vs New Zealand live in the UK 

How to watch Afghanistan vs New Zealand: live stream in Australia

How to watch Afghanistan vs New Zealand: US live stream 

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Google Stadia vs Nvidia GeForce Now: which is the best cloud gaming service?

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 04:00 AM PDT

Ever since Google announced its cloud gaming service, Stadia, back in March 2019, there’s been a lot of speculation about what this means for the games industry. 

How much will a service that lets you play the latest games in your Chrome browser in seconds shake up the current status quo of hardware, digital distribution and disc-based media?

But this excitable hype overlooks the fact that the PC is well catered on the cloud gaming front, with several services that allow you to use everything from a low-end laptop to a Macbook Pro as a top-end gaming device. 

We’ve decided to test and compare three of these services – Parsec, Shadow and PaperSpace – against each other, and against Google’s upcoming Stadia.

We tested these services on a 100MBps down/10MBps up with a direct Ethernet connection.  

Nvidia's working on its GeForce Now streaming initiative (Image credit: Nvidia)

 GeForce Now 

Currently still in beta, GeForce Now is an evolution of Nvidia’s cloud gaming program. Previously just a curated library of games with a monthly subscription fee, in its current form GeForce Now lets you play many of the latest games released on Steam, Uplay and Battle.net.

It’s more restricted than other services, as it doesn’t give you an entire virtual Windows machine to play around in. That means it only supports games specifically hand-picked by Nvidia, and at this point doesn’t support services like EA's Origin (so no Battlefield or FIFA for you). 

The GeForce Now games roster is very current however, featuring most new triple-A games as they’re released, as well as a substantial host of indie and mid-sized titles. You’re not likely to find games that are more than 10 years old here, but then your old PC is more likely to run those natively anyway, so GeForce Now stays true to the task of letting you play ‘The Latest Games’ on your old PC.

One of the perks of GeForce Now is that there’s no storage limit, and you don’t need to even install games on your virtual machine. You simply pick a game you own from the GeForce Now app, sign into Steam, Uplay or whichever gaming platform it’s on, then it’s added to your GeForce Now library and available to play almost immediately. It’s all very simple, right down to the streaming settings which just let you toggle between a few presets and a ‘Custom’ option (the max resolution is 1080p at this point).

On the ‘Balanced’ setting, the streaming quality suffers from almost no input lag, though it does occasionally lose connection and get a bit blurry in high-intensity 3D games. The fact that online shooters like PUBG are perfectly playable speaks to the quality of this service.

GeForce Now is free while it’s in beta (with no pricing structure planned as yet), but you’ll need to join a waitlist that can take months to get round to you. You can register for the GeForce Now beta here.

Verdict

A bit of an unknown quantity while still in beta, and it doesn’t give you a full virtual machine to play anything you want, but the streaming quality is great, and the UI makes it easy to jump straight into the great games of today.

Google Stadia is the newcomer to cloud gaming (Image credit: Google)

Google Stadia

With existing cloud gaming services offering visions of cloud-based gaming that seemed like a pipedream only five years ago, what does Stadia do that the rest don’t?

First of all, the infrastructure that Google has at its disposal cannot be rivalled by the pluckiest of startups. Google’s servers are extremely powerful, with its cloud computer claiming to offer 10.7 terraflops of GPU power at minimal-ping performance. 

Google claims that within five seconds of opening your Chrome browser, you’ll be able to jump into 60fps 4k gaming as easily as opening a tab for one of your favourite websites. It’s already got an eye to the future though, with plans to enable 8k streaming at 120fps down the line. Given that current services often don’t go above 1080p resolutions, that’s a big leap.

These are the recommended internet speeds for Google Stadia (Image credit: Google)

Similarly to Parsec (which we look at below), Stadia will use a feature called Stream Connect to let you play local multiplayer games online with people around the world, while Crowd Play will let you jump in and play with YouTubers during livestreams. 

Then there’s State Share, where you can share the exact point you’re in in a game with a friend, allowing them to play it. There’s a lot of forward-thinking stuff here that seems particularly aimed at the younger gaming generation.

Google has also announced that the following games will be available at launch:

  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  • Borderlands 3
  • The Crew 2
  • Darksiders Genesis
  • Destiny 2
  • Doom
  • Doom Eternal
  • Dragon Ball Xenoverse 
  • The Elder Scrolls Online
  • Farming Simulator 19
  • Final Fantasy 15
  • Football Manager
  • Get Packed
  • GRID
  • Gylt
  • Just Dance
  • Metro Exodus
  • Mortal Kombat 11
  • NBA 2K
  • Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
  • Rage 2
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • Samurai Showdown
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
  • Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
  • Tomb Raider Definitive Edition
  • Thumper
  • Trials Rising
  • Wolfenstein: Youngblood 

Google has also revealed prices: $9.99 / £8.99 (about AU$14) per month for full 4K HDR streaming via Stadia Pro, or you can purchase games a la carte with Stadia Base. 

Verdict

When we tested Google Stadia on various hardware and different-quality connections, we found that it generally worked smoothly, with the biggest dips in performance resulting from iffy Wi-Fi connections.

We played Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the same one Google used to test the service when it was revealed back in beta in November. The experience was markedly better than we remember it with less compression and fewer dropped frames. There was, however, the slightest bit of latency in the connection, though that could’ve simply been due to the busy network that everyone was connected to.  

Frame-rates fluctuated between 30 and 60 fps, which wasn’t remarkable, but we expect Google will stabilise this before the full release later in 2019.

Other alternatives

While GeForce Now and Google Stadia are likely to be the most dominant cloud streaming services for PC gamers, there are a few smaller companies doing some exciting things as well. Let's take a look.

Parsec does something interesting with cloud gaming (Image credit: Parsec)

Parsec (Amazon Web Services and Paperspace) 

Parsec has quite a few qualities that distinguish it from the other services we tested. First of all, it doesn’t host its own servers, instead teaming up with cloud-streaming services from Amazon and Paperspace to offer users a few options. The prices are all on an hourly basis, and are exactly the same as you’d pay if using Amazon Web Services and Paperspace directly.

What makes Parsec unique is its community focus, letting you add friends, chat with fellow players and jump into games together. You can also set up your home PC as a host to let online people play non-online games with you. That means you can essentially turn local multiplayer games into online games. It’s totally free, and a bonus that you don’t get with other services.

As a platform through which to meet and play with others, Parsec wins out, though it does have some issues in the actual streaming quality offered by its cloud gaming providers. 

Paperspace is easily the superior of the two providers on Parsec, offering better gaming performance at just over half the price (starting at $0.51/hour and $10/month for 250GB storage, which ticks down on a daily basis and stops charging you if you delete your cloud machine). 

At that price you get a powerful Nvidia Quadro P4000 GPU and 30GB RAM, which is more than enough to run any modern game. It gives you a whole Windows virtual machine to use, so you’re not restricted in terms of what games you can install.

But while even the cheaper the virtual machine itself can max out any game (at up to 4K resolutions), the stream itself is susceptible to some artifacting with more graphic-intensive games. 

Battlefield 1 suffered from some artifacing on Parsec (Image credit: EA)

In something like Battlefield 1, you’ll be in no doubt you’re playing a video as the h.265 compression fuzzies the image to keep the input lag down (even then, some input lag is palpable). Even 2D games with a lot of moving elements like Hotline Miami can get quite murky, while performance on the undemanding 8-bit-styled 2D platformer The Messenger was pretty much flawless. 

While Paperspace’s performance is decent (especially considering the generous price), Amazon Web Services struggles to justify itself. You’ll be paying at least $0.98 per hour for a system with a middling Nvidia Tesla M60 GPU. 

On top of that, you pay $22 (around £20, AU$30) per month for 200GB storage. Performance, in the UK at least, is slow and blurry, and there’s really no reason you should use this over Paperspace unless you happen to be a long way away from a Paperspace server.

It’s worth remembering that Parsec is a social gaming platform first and foremost, with great free features like game-hosting on your PC. Its current cloud-streaming partners are a little bit behind the best in the business, though this should improve as Parsec teams up with more cloud gaming providers down the line, which it told us that it’s looking for.

Verdict

Very competitive hourly pricing (on PaperSpace) makes this worth a look for lighter gamers, even if the streaming quality doesn’t quite match rival services.

Shadow is an up-and-coming cloud gaming service (Image credit: Shadow)

Shadow

Shadow comes with an uncompromising price tag of $25 (£25, around AU$35) per month on a 12-month plan, or £34.95 (£32, around AU$50) per month on a monthly plan, with no hourly options, 

Shadow presents itself as the hardcore gamer’s choice. On paper, the GTX 1080 GPU, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage space is actually weaker than what you get with GeForce Now or PaperSpace, but still more than enough to max out most games today. 

The internal ping clocks in at just 1ms, and download speeds are a flawless 1Gbit/s, ensuring there’s pretty much no extra ping or lag to worry about server-side when online gaming.

Crucially, Shadow offers hands-down the best streaming performance of the lot, and gives you a whole virtual Windows PC so you can play any game you want. Online shooters like Battlefield and PUBG have minimal input lag, and while you’ll certainly notice that the sharpness isn’t the same as it would be natively, the balance between playability and picture quality is very good.

Certain less demanding games like The Messenger and Dead Cells would suffer some pretty noticeable input lag when using a controller, which we didn’t experience so much with the other cloud gaming providers. Playing around with settings, such as picking ‘Prefer reliability’ over ‘Prefer speed’ or decreasing the bandwidth didn’t help, but we also struggled to replicate the problem across other games, so it’s not necessarily a widespread issue.

Shadow doesn’t have different pricing options with which to create different virtual machines, but for some users that simplicity will be part of the appeal.

Verdict

The high price of entry may be off-putting if you play just a few hours a week, but Shadow offers the best performance of the providers we tested. 

So, which cloud gaming service is best?

In the battle of Google Stadia vs Nvidia GeForce Now, we have to admit that Google Stadia offers the most compelling service at the moment.

This is thanks to Google's impressive background in cloud services, its aggressive courting of games makers and the fact that Stadia will be available on a wide range of devices.

However, it's worth noting that both services haven't officially launched yet. For Stadia, this means that Google's big promises may fail to materialise when faced with reality.

For Nvidia GeForce Now, it means the service could grow and evolve once it comes out of beta. Plus, if there's any company that can compete with Google when it comes to server hardware and expertise – it's Nvidia.

But what about the less well-known services? Shadow is already available and does things both the bigger services are promising. It's more pricey, but if you want a glimpse of what cloud gaming is capable of – Shadow is definitely worth signing up to.

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TalkTalk's latest fibre broadband deals overtake Vodafone for pure value

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 03:03 AM PDT

For those in the middle of a frantic fibre broadband deal search, you can stop your comparing and detailed price matching because we have found the deal for you. Overtaking Vodafone as the cheapest well-known retailer for fibre broadband, TalkTalk's latest deal is a no-brainer.

Let us fill you in on the highlights. First off, you're paying nothing upfront, which means no delivery or installation charges. Then, you just have to pay £22.45 a month. Pair that with the lack of upfront costs and this slides past Vodafone's broadband deal for our pick of cheapest fibre broadband.

Yes, you can go even cheaper with the likes of Hyperoptic but if you like your internet from a name you know, nothing is beating TalkTalk right now.

As if all of that wasn't enough, as of Monday, TalkTalk will be upping its fibre speeds to 38Mb, making it faster than most other offers in this price bracket. Want even more good news? TalkTalk provides fixed prices, meaning you won't be hit by any nasty price rises during your contract.

You can see this offer in full down below or scan through our guide to the best broadband deals to see just how much you're saving.

This brilliant broadband deal in full: 

Want more with your broadband?

Want your internet, plus something to appease your love of watching films? NowTV currently has fibre broadband and Sky Cinema for just £30.99. That means unlimited fibre broadband and constant movie binge-watching for an incredibly affordable price tag.

Or if you think fibre internet should have some incentives, going with BT is a safe bet. You get superfast speeds of 50Mb and a free gifts that BT claim are worth up to £249. On top of that, there is even a £40 pre-paid Mastercard on top of that. For pure value, BT is the one to go with. 

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HTC could be planning to launch a new phone next week

Posted: 08 Jun 2019 02:30 AM PDT

We've not heard much from HTC over the last year or so when it comes to new phone launches – but the company could be about to reveal a new device to the world, based on an official social media post.

HTC Taiwan posted a mysterious teaser on Facebook, with the date June 11 and not much else (that's this coming Tuesday, by the way). The teaser says HTC is "looking forward" to the date, and now we are too.

Based on what few rumors we've heard so far, HTC is planning to take a page out of Google's book and launch a mid-range handset at the same sort of price level as the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL.

A previously leaked spec sheet pointed to a Snapdragon 710, 6GB of RAM, and Android 9 Pie. A 6-inch, 18:9 screen with an FHD+ resolution (1,080 x 2,160 pixels) has also been mooted, plus a 3,930mAh capacity battery.

HTC June 2019 teaser

Schematics that have shown up online suggest the phone won't raise too many eyebrows in the design department, but will have a dual-lens front-facing camera.

The "e" mentioned in the teaser post is one reason that the phone is being tipped to be called the HTC U19e, though this is all speculation for now. The last flagship we saw from the company was the HTC U12 Plus last year.

There was also a cheaper HTC U12 Life for HTC fans to consider and this might be the direction that the tech firm's phones go in the future, leaving the flagship field free for the likes of Samsung and Apple.

HTC has also been making noises about releasing another blockchain phone this year, but the consensus seems to be that this launch is related to something else. We'll find out on Tuesday, and bring you the news as soon as it breaks.

Via SlashGear

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