Ubisoft has revealed the next limited-time event for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, and it could whet your appetite for Rainbow Six Extraction. The Containment event features a new game mode called Nest Destruction, in which you'll attempt to destroy or defend an alien nest on a revamped version of the Consulate map.
The attackers play as a team of REACT agents who are tasked with destroying nests. They'll square off against "a team of Proteans, a deadly Archæan variant that can adopt the form of REACT operators," Ubisoft said. These creatures can mimic the behavior of operators and they'll move fast, but they can only use melee attacks, such as Aruni’s punch and Oryx’s special abilities. The attacking team can only use a standard loadout with no modifiers, and there's a limited roster of operators. Along with successfully destroying or defending the nest, teams can win by wiping out their opponents.
The event sounds intriguing, but the timing of it is slightly odd. The mode was inspired by R6 Extraction, which was supposed to arrive in September. Last month, Ubisoft pushed back the release date to January. Still, Nest Destruction might give you a taste of the next game in the Rainbow Six series.
The Containment event will be available from August 3rd to August 24th. Between August 13th and 15th, R6 Siege will be free to play, so anyone can hop in and check out the event. Ubisoft will grant double bonus Battle Pass points during that weekend.
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a good way to spice up your regular racing competitions. It brings the virtual-racing action into the real world with tiny karts that zoom around your home on tracks you create yourself. A single set is fairly expensive at $100 — especially considering you need a Nintendo Switch to use it at all — but now you can grab either than Mario or Luigi set from Amazon for only $75. That's a return to the game's all-time-low price, so now's the time to grab it if you've had your eye on it for a while.
Both Home Circuit sets come gates that you set up around your home to build your own racetrack, plus a camera-equipped kart operated by either Mario or Luigi. However, one set only comes with one car, so you will need to sets if you want to race IRL with your friend or family member (a single-player mode is supported as well). You will need a bit of space to set up your track — approximately a 10 x 12 foot area — but once the track is place, you can use the Joy-Cons of your Switch to control the kart.
You can switch up your track simply by moving the gates around, but the game will make things more challenging by making you race underwater, in an 8-bit world and more. The in-game obstacles will affect your very real kart by making it slow down or speed up, so you'll likely run into new challenges very time you race even if your IRL track stays the same. And like in traditional Mario Kart, you'll collect items as you zip around the track. Home Circuit is a compelling add-on for diehard Mario Kart fans, but also those that want a new way to experience the game.
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There may not have been any fans in the Olympic Stadium, but Japan still found a way to put on a show for the opening of the 2020 Summer Games. The host country charmed early with the parade of nations, which featured an orchestrated video game soundtrack, and then showed off the type of creativity it's known for with a performance involving the Olympic pictograms. But Tokyo saved the biggest spectacle for last.
Towards the end of the ceremony, a fleet of 1,824 drones took to the skies above the Olympic Stadium. Initially arrayed in the symbol of the 2020 Games, they then took on the shape of the Earth before a rendition of John Lenon's "Imagine," which was reworked by Hans Zimmer for the Olympics, played across the stadium.
We've seen displays like this before. At Super Bowl LI in 2017, a pre-taped segment featuring 300 Intel drones forming the US flag punctuated Lady Gaga's halftime performance. Technically, the drone show that occured above Tokyo isn't the biggest ever. As of earlier this year, that distinction belongs to a 3,281 display Hyundai-owned car brand Genesis put on in Shanghai, China. But even with fewer drones involved, the Tokyo drone show was still impressive.
If you missed the opening ceremony, you can watch it again at 7:30PM ET on NBC.
Football Manager developer Sports Interactive has a history of inclusive gameplay, and that now extends to women. The company has revealed that it's adding women's soccer (aka football) to its management sim. This will likely be a "multi-year" project, SI warned, but this also isn't a simple character model swap. The studio wants to offer the same kind of depth it has for men's sport while accounting for the differences between players and leagues.
There will be new models and databases, of course. However, SI noted that it also has to account for different league rules, gender differences in text translations (the most expensive part of the project) and tweaks to different player attribute systems. The company also has to decide whether or not it accounts for certain practical realities of women's soccer, at least at first — does it factor in menstruation and pregnancy, for example?
The team recently hired coach and research expert Tina Keech to lead its women's soccer efforts, and there are already motion capture sessions underway.
The expansion will likely prove costly. SI expects adding women will "cost millions," and it's looking for sponsorship deals that could help fund the project. However, the company believes there's a moral imperative to add women to the game — it wants to "smash" the glass ceiling for women's soccer and help it get the same attention given to men's leagues. In other words, Football Manager will be part of a larger sports equality campaign that includes games like FIFA as well as better TV coverage of real-world matches.
The Tokyo Olympics opening kicked off early this morning, and the parade of nations, where athletes walk through Japan's Olympic stadium, had a Japanese twist. A medley of videogame music, orchestrated, formed the soundtrack for the parade.
It all kicked off with the main theme from Dragon Quest — which sounds pretty Olympian outright — followed by hits from Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, Nier, Sonic, Chrono Trigger and, er, eFootball. (That's the new name for Pro Evolution Soccer, in case you missed it.)
There are some notable omissions — no Nintendo songs (Pokemon? Mario? Zelda?) being the biggest one — but some Street Fighter II songs might have fitted well into the competitive theme. Maybe the latter was too violent?
The march hasn't quite finished, but we'll try to embed a video here when we can. The USA will be the third-to-last country to march, as it's hosting the Olympics soon in LA. You might be able to catch the final parts of the march on the NBC live stream.
Nikkan Sports offers a full tracklist here. Hopefully, a kind soul will make a Spotify playlist for us. Please?
Google has gone all-out on today's doodle to mark the start of the Tokyo Olympics. Select the modified logo and you can play 'Doodle Champion Island Games,' an anime-infused title featuring sports mini-games. Google says it's the largest interactive doodle it's ever made.
You control Lucky the cat in a pixel-art landscape dotted with Japanese landmarks. Once you join one of several color-coded teams, you can take part in mini-games including table tennis and skateboarding. The controls are relatively straightforward, relying on various combinations of the arrow keys and spacebar. We won gold in the table tennis and pulled off kick-flips and fakies while skateboarding with ease. The doodle will stick around for the coming weeks, adding new games along the way.
The cut scenes are pretty lush, too. According to Google, the interactive doodle was made in collaboration with STUDIO4°C, the Tokyo-based animation house behind feature films like Tekkonkinkreet. It also worked on action-adventure puzzle gameCatherine. You can find out more about Doodle Champion Island Games in the behind-the-scenes video below.
After a year-long delay due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the games of the XXXII Olympiad are scheduled to begin in Tokyo this week. Despite Japan’s struggles to contain the virus and athletes testing positive inside the Olympic Village, the event is still on. The sheer amount of action happening every day through the first week of August means you’ll need to plan ahead to catch all of the events you want to see, especially if you’re on the opposite side of the world.
When do the Olympics start?
The official start to the Olympics is the opening ceremony on Friday, July 23rd at 7AM ET, but a few events will actually kick off before that. Softball and Women’s Soccer competition begins Wednesday (Tokyo time), but the first games aired Tuesday night on the east coast. Softball, Men’s Soccer and Rowing are set to take place on Thursday with Rowing, Cycling, Tennis and Women’s Water Polo scheduled after the Opening Ceremony Friday and into Saturday. This weekend is when things really get going though, with a packed slate of events from Saturday onward. The closing ceremony will air at 8PM ET on NBC on Sunday, August 8th.
How to watch
USA TODAY USPW / reuters
For those of us in the United States, NBC is the official broadcaster of the Summer Olympics and has been since 2000. The network’s current deal goes through 2032, so you won’t have to look around to find the games on new channels anytime soon. Due to the volume of events, NBC proper isn’t enough to show all of the action, so you can also find live coverage on NBCSN, USA, CNBC, Golf Channel and the Olympic Channel — cable or TV streaming subscription required. Following controversy over tape delays during previous Olympics, NBC began airing events live in 2012 despite the massive time differences. During prime time in the US, the network will show highlights from earlier in the day in addition to any live action.
At least a portion of the marquee events — including the opening/closing ceremonies, Women’s Soccer Final, Basketball, Track & Field — will air on NBC. A lot of the events that take place in the middle of the night Eastern time (which is the bulk of the action) will be shown on the other networks and NBC’s streaming service Peacock. NBC Sports announced that Peacock will be home to “major events live each morning” including Women’s and Men’s Gymnastics, Track & Field and Basketball. The streaming service will also have six themed channels alongside three highlight shows throughout the day Eastern time along with a spotlight series that focuses on the women of Team USA. Olympics coverage will be available for free on Peacock with the exception of Men’s Basketball. You’ll need a $4.99 subscription to watch those games.
If you’d rather watch from your computer, phone or tablet, NBC says “every single event” will be available through NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. Twitch will also serve up Olympics content, but not live events. There, you’ll find interviews, highlights and, of course, competitions. The platform will also host streams and co-streams with Twitch creators during some of the primetime broadcasts.
Thomas Peter / reuters
Several services and TV providers offer tools to help you keep up with all of the action. YouTube TV, for example, allows you to select which events you’re interested in and the app will automatically record them to its cloud DVR. Here’s to watching Swimming at a normal hour and not staying up until 2AM. YouTube TV has also added a medal table for quick reference and its “Jump To” feature lets you hop around events and specific moments easily. Cable providers like Comcast (owned by NBC’s parent company) are offering Olympics hubs on their services for easy access. There’s a degree of personalization across Xfinity tiers, for example, as well as notifications about “must-see moments” and playlists of highlights.
For a full schedule, visit NBCOlympics.com to find info on all of the events you’re looking for.
Fans in the UK don’t have to contend with quite the time difference as those of us in the States, but they’ll still get to watch as much of the action as they want. The BBC is the official broadcaster in the UK and it’s promising over 350 hours of coverage through early August. BBC One and BBC Two will show live events while an additional livestream will be available on BBC iPlayer. The network will have daily highlights and recap shows in both the morning and evening with anything that airs on BBC One or Two available on-demand via iPlayer. Coverage is also available through BBC Radio 5 Live and The Olympics Daily podcast.
Konami's cult Pro Evolution Soccer series is trying a new tactic in its endless duel against FIFA. To stand out from its bigger rival, the soccer franchise is adopting a new name, eFootball, and going free-to-play on consoles, PC and mobile.
Clearly, this isn't a one-off. Konami has rebuilt the game using Unreal engine as part of the shift to providing a digital service. The biggest change to gameplay is the new "motion matching" technology designed to make player animations more realistic. Gamers will choose from different movements in real-time during matches. Seeing as the original Pro Evo's gameplay is what helped to distinguish it from FIFA, motion matching could prove a make or break feature.
As you'd expect from an F2P title, eFootball will regularly receive new updates after its launch this fall. Konami will have to tread with care, however. Free-to-play games have attracted the ire of players and regulators alike due to their exploitative nature, best summed up by loot boxes that cost real money to obtain. The last thing the storied developer wants is to sully Pro Evo's name. Maybe, that's why it's changing it.
But, the news will probably raise alarm bells for fans. Konami said that only "local matches" featuring FC Barcelona, Juventus, FC Bayern, Manchester United "and others" will be available for free at launch. While, certain game modes will later be sold as optional DLC, "giving players the freedom to build an experience" that matches their interests. It's a major risk that Konami is banking on to restore the franchise as a regular feature in dorms and living rooms around the world.
The game will land in early fall with cross-generation matchmaking between current and last-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Later in the fall, you can expect a managerial-style team building mode, online leagues, and a match pass system that rewards you with items and players. At the same time, cross-platform play will be introduced between consoles and PC. The winter will see the release of mobile controller support, full cross-play including mobile and the launch of professional and amateur eSports tournaments.
Earlier this month, officials in the Ukraine busted what appeared to be a cryptocurrency mining operation that used thousands of PS4 consoles to mine crypto. That doesn't quite seem to be the case. According to a new report, the consoles (and allegedly stolen electricity) were actually being used to farm and sell digital currency and accounts for EA's FIFA games.
Ukranian news outlet Delo reported that PCs were running bots on the consoles to play FIFA and automatically earn an in-game currency. Players can use FIFA coins in the Ultimate Team (FUT) mode to either scoop up sought-after players on an open market or open controversial FUT packs in the hopes of unlocking killer additions for their squads. FUT packs can also be opened with real money.
Although buying or selling FIFA coins with real money is against EA policies, that hasn't stopped a thriving black market for the digital currency. People sell coins or game accounts loaded with the currency to players who are desperate to build a dream FUT roster. One site I checked listed a PS4 FIFA 21 account with 5.1 million coins for $300 — enough to buy
Ultimate Team modes across EA's sports games are enormously important for the developer's bottom line. Last year, EA made $1.62 billion from Ultimate Team, which accounted for 29 percent of its net revenue for the fiscal year. "A substantial portion" of that revenue came from FIFA games.
Meanwhile, FUT packs and other loot boxes have drawn scrutiny from regulators in recent years. Since gamers can't see which soccer players they'll unlock when they buy a pack, some authorities have described the packs as a form of gambling. Belgium banned that type of game mechanic in 2018. This summer, perhaps in an attempt to stave off the criticism, EA started testing a type of FUT pack that allows players to preview the contents.
Twenty two years after the debut of NBA 2K, the basketball sim series will feature a woman on the cover of the game for the first time. Two-time WNBA MVP and 2016 WNBA Finals MVP Candace Parker features on the front of the WNBA 25th Anniversary Special Edition of NBA 2K22.
Parker is one of several basketball stars to feature on NBA 2K22 packaging. Luka Dončić is the cover athlete on the standard edition of the game, while the NBA 75th Anniversary Edition features Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Extremely proud and humbled to be the first female cover athlete in the history of @NBA2K
I’m honored to work with a company that’s investing in women and betting on us to succeed. I’m hopeful there will be many more badass females to follow 💪🏽💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/WJan4YE7Qt
The WNBA 25th Anniversary Special Edition is a GameStop exclusive (Canadians can pick it up from EB Games). It's a physical edition for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and it features a bundle of seven exclusive in-game WNBA jerseys, including one for Parker. It costs $70 and it will be available on September 10th.
Although it's taken a long time for 2K to put a female athlete on the cover of an NBA game, it's a positive step forward for representation. NBA 2K20 was the first 2K game to feature WNBA teams and players, and a WNBA version of the MyPlayer career mode debuted in NBA 2K21.
