Game marketing is creating more strange bedfellows. Epic Games is addingLeague of Legends champion Jinx to Fortnite today (November 4th) at 8PM Eastern, just ahead of her debut in the Netflix series Arcane on November 6th. She'll be available in the battle royale shooter's Item Shop alongside themed gear like a pickaxe, spray, Back Bling, a lobby soundtrack and loading screens.

It's not a one-way partnership, either. Riot Games is bringing League of Legends, Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics and Valorant to the Epic Games Store. This won't matter much if you're a fan (you probably downloaded those games a long time ago), but it might expose some Fortnite players to Riot's titles.

Epic has been rapidly expanding its gaming-themed expansions in recent months. It just added two Resident Evil heroes in late October, and previous updates have added characters from the likes of God of War, Halo and Street Fighter. However, the League of Legends update is unique as a tie-in for a streaming TV series — it's about as convenient a promotional tool as you can get.

It took several years, but the Sensible Soccer sequel is finally close to launching on PCs and consoles. Tower Studios and KPL have revealed that Sociable Soccer will reach PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X/S and Steam in the second quarter (aka spring) of 2022. The developer isn't yet ready to show the game in action, but it's promising improved gameplay, sharper graphics and better matchmaking than the Apple Arcade version you see here.

If you bought the Early Access release on Steam in 2017, you won't have to pay again. Tower is promising a new code when Sociable Soccer is available through Valve's store.

As you'd expect, Sociable Soccer is practically the antithesis of 'realistic' soccer games like FIFA 22. It's meant to be fast, easy to grasp and whimsical. You can send emojis to your rival, for starters. It won't appeal to diehards who demand real teams and players, but it might fit the bill if you're looking for a quick footie fix.

FC Barcelona, one of football’s biggest clubs, is auctioning off NFTs “based on some of the club’s historic moments.” Details are scarce for now, but it appears as if the club will allow fans to bid on clips of highlights in a style similar to that of NBA Top Shot. The transactions will take place through Ownix, a new Ethereum-based marketplace which will offer auctions for digital trinkets in a variety of categories. The company says that the Barcelona NFTs will be selected by a “special joint committee” and then minted, first as unique one-off auctions, and then later as a broader limited edition or collection. Ownix, which is emerging from stealth with this announcement, currently has a fairly limited selection of items to purchase, including some Squid Game and Batman-themed fan art, plus whatever the hell this is. 

Barcelona’s decision to begin selling NFTs may have been prompted by the debt crisis the club is currently in, with debts reported around $1.56 billion this summer. The club’s previous leadership is accused of reckless spending on a number of players on high wages that have subsequently underperformed. This summer, the club was forced into a fire sale and, due to rules on how big its wage bill could be, was unable to retain Lionel Messi, one of the world’s most successful players. That NFTs are, essentially, the definition of money for old rope, means that it's the sort of financial opportunity a club like Barcelona are incapable of turning down right now. 

The club isn't alone in leaping feet-first into the cryptocurrency mire, with many major names offering "Fan Tokens" through Socios. That company offers clubs the ability to mint their own coins and use it to run engagement schemes with their fans. But, unlike real socios — the Spanish word for the members who own a real ownership stake in their club — these tokens will only allow you to take part in polls set out by the club's leadership, enter competitions, and so on. But despite the obvious limitations, Socios is already making money, and when France's Paris Sant-Germain signed Lionel Messi, part of his "welcome package" was a bundle of these tokens, believed to be worth (at the time) up to $34 million.

Back in October, Google Stadia introduced free trials with its Hello Engineer game. While the service lets users try any game they want with a $10-per-month Pro subscription, it was the first time free users were given the chance to test a game before purchase. Now, according to 9to5Google, Stadia is giving free users the opportunity to take two more games for a spin before they have to buy them. One of those games is Control: Ultimate Edition, which recently just came out for the platform.

Ultimate Edition contains the core Control game, along with the expansions that were released for it. Like Hello Engineer, players will be able to test it out for 30 minutes before they have to decide whether to pay $40 for a copy. The other game is Ubisoft's recently released Riders Republic, a massively multiplayer extreme sports game, where teams can battle each other on bikes, skis, snowboards and in flying wingsuits. Players will get the chance to try it out for two hours instead of just 30 minutes, perhaps because half an hour might barely be enough to cover tutorials when there are several extreme sports to choose from. Besides, Riders Republic isn't cheap and costs $60 to purchase.

With the addition of these two games, we can probably expect Google to make more titles available for free trial in the future. It could be an effective way to get people who'd rather own the titles they play interested in purchasing from Stadia instead of from other gaming platforms. 

One of the main complaints players had about Returnal, aside from the high level of difficulty, is that, until now, there was no real way to save your game in the middle of a run. Sure, you could leave your PS5 on or put it in rest mode, but if there was a power outage or an overnight automatic system software update, you'd lose all of your progress. Given that runs can last several hours, not having any kind of save state option wasn't great.

Housemarque, now a PlayStation-owned studio, has finally attempted to remedy that problem in Returnal's 2.0 patch. With the Suspend Cycle option, you can pause your run, create a suspend point and close the game without worrying too much about losing progress. 

There are some caveats, though. You'll only be able to resume your run from any suspend point one time. So, don't expect to return to that point if (or more likely when) Selene dies. It's a smart way to introduce a save system and let players take a break without disrupting the game's start-over-when-you-die roguelite structure.

You won't be able to create a suspend point in certain scenarios either. If you're in the midst of a boss battle, intense combat sequence, cinematic or first-person section, you'll need to see it through, one way or another. "We felt there are certain moments in Returnal that are best experienced unfragmented to preserve the intended challenge and flow," game director Harry Krueger wrote in a PlayStation blog post.

As deadly as the biomes of Atropos are, they're often gorgeous too. To help you capture the sights, another feature that Returnal players have been clamoring for is now in the game — Photo Mode. Other than in certain situations (such as first-person sections), you can pause the PS5 exclusive and enter Photo Mode.

You have a selection of tools at your disposal, including settings like focal distance, aperture, color gradient, saturation and contrast, as well as a way to change the scene's lighting. There are also filters, effects, frames, coloring options and other ways to jazz up your image before you capture it.

Meanwhile, Sony is set to host its next State of Play stream on Wednesday. The showcase will run for around 20 minutes and primarily focus on third-party games, but don't be surprised if Sony sneaks a first-party game or two in there.

On Tuesday, October 26th, Carli Lloyd will play her final game as part of the US women’s national soccer team when it takes on South Korea in a friendly match. In honor of the event, Fox Sports will stream a dedicated “CarliCam” that will follow Lloyd throughout the contest. You’ll be able to watch the game from that vantage point through the Fox Sports app, as well as the network's Facebook and YouTube accounts. It will also air the first 10 minutes of the match on Twitter.

Back in August, Lloyd announced she would retire from professional soccer by the end of the year. Over her 17-year career, she has been one of the most dominant players in the sport. She scored the gold medal-winning goals in both the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2015 and 2016, she was named the FIFA Player of the Year. More recently, she helped Team USA secure the bronze medal at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with a pair of goals in a match that ended with a four-three score. While Tuesday will mark Lloyd’s final game with Team USA, she’ll play out the remainder of the NSWL season with Gotham FC before finally hanging up her jersey.

Twitter is rolling out a way for people to sign up to Revue newsletters directly from tweets. When someone shares their Revue newsletter, the tweet will include a subscribe button. If someone clicks a link to a specific newsletter issue, they'll see an option to subscribe when they return to their Twitter feed. The feature is live on the web now, and it's coming to iOS and Android soon.

In addition, if your Twitter account is linked to an email address, you can sign up to receive newsletter updates with a single click. You won't need to confirm your subscription through your email inbox.

The update should make it easier for people to convert Twitter followers into newsletter subscribers. It's a big advantage for Revue over the likes of Substack and other newsletter services, since writers on those platforms have to guide potential subscribers through a slightly longer signup process.

Twitter recently added Revue newsletter signup buttons to profiles on the web, iOS and Android. The company bought Revue in January as the newsletter ecosystem continued to pick up steam.

MLB is notorious for blackouts on streaming home games — you still need a cable TV subscription. The league might just loosen its stance in the future, though. As The Vergereports, New York Postsources claim MLB is in "talks" to launch a national streaming service that would offer home games without requiring cable. While details aren't finalized, it would cost between $10 to $20 per month depending on the market. The NBA and NHL are even "considering" partnerships, according to the sources.

If it goes ahead, the service would launch as soon as the 2023 season. MLB.tv would still be available for those who don't mind out-of-market games. A deal is "not yet close at hand," so it wouldn't be surprising if talks fell apart. An MLB spokesperson declined to comment.

The pitch would be simple, according to the insiders: MLB sees this as a service for young baseball fans who are either cord-cutters or never subscribed to cable in the first place. Viewership and in-person attendance have both dropped sharply (12 percent and 34 percent respectively) since 2019, and the pandemic wasn't entirely to blame. This could shore up numbers and keep baseball relevant for an audience that would rather not pay $100-plus for cable just to root for the home team.

There's little doubt this would be a gamble, though. Sports channels and cable providers are highly protective of their broadcast rights, and Sinclair alone owns the digital rights for 14 of 30 teams. Sinclair reportedly asked to run the service for "several years" before MLB shot it down. While MLB is in a strong-enough position to reject Sinclair's overtures, it could face a backlash from cable companies that would pay less to air games.

Do you lament EA's dominance of soccer (aka football) games due to its licensing advantages? So does FIFA, apparently. Eurogamernotes that FIFA has issued a statement insisting that soccer gaming and eSports should have more than one party "controlling and exploiting all rights" — a not-so-subtle reference to EA. Accordingly, FIFA is talking to developers, investors and other groups to "widen" its gaming and eSports options.

The organization added this would help "maximize all future opportunities." It also reiterated its commitment to running eSports tournaments under its FIFAe brand.

The statement comes at a crucial moment for both EA and FIFA. EA's current licensing deal expires after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and New York Timessources claim talks have stalled between the two sides. FIFA reportedly wants more than double its current cut from EA (more than $1 billion over four years) while also limiting EA's rights to keep it to video games. EA, meanwhile, is considering new names for its soccer games while supposedly exploring new concepts like arena-based tournaments, NFTs and even highlights for real-world games.

A decision is expected by the end of 2021, according to The Times, but EA is hedging its bets by registering an "EA Sports FC" trademark. EA and FIFA have declined to comment on the talks.

In that context, FIFA's statement may serve as a warning shot — see things our way or miss out on a valuable licensing agreement. While EA's existing clout might help a non-licensed game sell, there's little doubt a generic game would lose players hoping to control Mbappé or Messi in real clubs. EA won't necessarily bow to FIFA as a result. It might, however, be more aware of what's at stake if deal negotiations fall apart.

As is the way of things when it comes to revealing a major game's features these days, EA has been drip-feeding info about Battlefield 2042 over the last several months. To wit, it has only just pulled back the curtain on Hazard Zone, one of the game's three main modes, a month before the November 19th release date.

Hazard Zone is about getting into the arena, retrieving data drives and escaping via an extraction point before a storm overwhelms you or enemies take you out. Only two teams can make it out, as only a couple of extraction windows will pop up at random locations (though only one player needs to get out for their team to win). Matches run for up to 20 minutes and will take place across all seven of Battlefield 2042's maps.

Survival is key here. You only have one life, but one of your three teammates can resurrect you if you're killed. Once your entire team is wiped out, it's game over. Still, if you're sneaky enough, you can win a match without firing a shot. Some satellites will already be on the ground at the start of a game, and more will drop in as the round progresses, so you'll need to adjust your strategy as you go.

Before the start of a round, you and your teammates can kit yourselves out with gadgets. Players can use money earned in previous matches (primarily by making it out with data drives) to buy gear like a scanner that shows data drive locations, a healing upgrade and a Squad Redeploy Call-in. The latter lets you revive dead squad mates; otherwise, you'll need to find a Redeploy Uplink somewhere on the map to bring back your buddies.

All of the XP you earn will go toward your overall Battlefield 2042 progression, which will boost your player level and unlock weapons. Teams are made up of unique characters — players will need to find specialists and loadouts that work in harmony to increase their chances of success.

Hazard Zone isn't quite a battle royale mode, since you don't need to be the last squad standing to win. Instead, it's objective-based and actually sounds a little like the main mode of Ubisoft's recently announced (and delayed) Ghost Recon Frontline. As with the other Battlefield 2042 modes, Hazard Zone supports 64 players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. On PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, up to 128 players will square off on larger maps.