Netflix has been experimenting with live sports over the last few months with golf and tennis exhibition events. The company has announced the biggest test for its livestreaming capabilities to date: a boxing match between YouTuber (and pro boxer) Jake Paul and former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.

The fight is going to be a spectacle for a number of reasons. Both fighters bring star power to the table. There's a 30-year age gap between them. Despite his 9-1 record, Paul can hardly be described as an elite fighter. While Tyson is regarded as one of the best heavyweights of all time, he retired 19 years ago and has only fought in two matches since then. Paul's second match was on the undercard of Tyson's last bout, which was against Roy Jones Jr. in 2020.

The battle will take place at the 80,000-capacity AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It's bound to attract a decent audience through Netflix as well. Most major boxing matches are on pay per view, but Netflix's 260 million subscribers will be able to watch at no extra cost.

Netflix hasn't released viewership figures for the Netflix Cup (its golf event) or the Netflix Slam (a recent tennis exhibition). Combat sports tend to deliver high viewership, though, suggesting that Netflix's infrastructure will have to handle more simultaneous streams than any of its other live events so far.

The company has dabbled with other live events over the last year or so, including a Chris Rock comedy special, the SAG Awards and a weekly cooking show with David Chang. However, the company has faced issues with livestreams in the past — it was forced to abandon plans for a live Love is Blind reunion due to technical issues.

Netflix has around nine months to make sure its livestreaming capabilities are in order before it embarks on its most ambitious sports (well, sports-adjacent) project yet. Starting in January, Netflix will be the home of WWE's live weekly shows in many markets, including the flagship program Raw in the US.

This year’s edition of MLB The Show is just a couple of weeks away, and Sony's San Diego Studio has shed more light on what to expect. For the first time in the series, you’ll be able to create and play as women ballplayers in the Road to the Show mode.

In Road to the Show: Women Pave Their Way, there will be a dedicated story in which you can build a career as a pro female baseball player. While it includes all the usual features of Road to the Show, this version of the mode will have a buddy character and depict a “unique-to-women storyline following a lifelong friendship as it develops in professional baseball,” according to a PlayStation Blog post.

Your career path will likely be different on each playthrough. San Diego Studio added fresh commentary, MLB Network segments and other features tied to this new addition to the game.

Other major sports games have added women players over the last several years, including FIFA (now EA Sports FC), the NHL series and NBA 2K. It's good to see MLB The Show joining them.

In addition, MLB The Show 24 will continue to showcase stories from the Negro Leagues under a partnership with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The latest edition of the series will feature 10 new Negro League Legends, each of whom has their own storyline. Among those players is Toni Stone, who was the first woman to play full time in the leagues.

Meanwhile, MLB The Show will remain in the odd position of being a Sony-developed and published game that's coming to Game Pass on its release date. Subscribers will be able to play MLB The Show 24 via Xbox consoles and the cloud at no extra cost starting on March 19.

Substack newsletter writers and readers can now send direct messages to each other. The company says this was a highly requested feature and it adds to the platform's slate of social networking tools.

You'll find DMs in the Chat tab on the app and website. You can start a private conversation from that tab, someone's profile page or by selecting the Share option on a note or post. When you get a DM, Substack will let you know in the app and by email.

By default, DMs from people you're connected to will land in your inbox and those from others will drop into a Requests folder. Writers can restrict incoming DM requests to paid or founding subscribers. Free subscribers who try to message you will then see a prompt to become a paid subscriber. Writers can include a "send a message" button on their posts if they wish.

If you've blocked or banned someone, they won't be able to send you a DM. You can also turn off DMs entirely by disabling message requests in your settings. If you receive a message that breaks Substack's rules, you can report it. 

Substack has added a number of social networking features over the last year or so, such as the X-like Notes function for short-form posts. It also last week updated a system that allows writers to recommend other scribes to readers.

The platform came under fire last month over its handling of pro-Nazi content. It removed five newsletters that promoted white nationalist and Nazi views. However, some prominent newsletter writers left Substack in protest over its approach to content moderation.

It’s that time of the month again. Sony just revealed the PlayStation Plus games lineup for March. There are some decent gets here, including the Destiny 2: Witch Queen expansion and the well-reviewed action brawler Sifu. All four titles are available for both PS4 and PS5 users.

Let’s start with Sifu. The game has been heralded as a modern take on old-school beat-em-ups, with a major emphasis on actual kung fu fighting styles. You play as a young martial arts student hunting down the people who murdered your family. Who doesn’t like a good revenge tale? The game feels great, with satisfying and visceral combat. The only downside for some is that, at launch, it was extremely difficult. Developer Sloclap, however, eventually added difficulty settings for new players.

The Destiny 2: Witch Queen expansion experienced plenty of delays before finally hitting digital store shelves back in 2022. The expansion pleased MMO fans with a brand-new story to work through, complete with plenty of new missions. There’s also new PvP maps, gear, weapons, dungeons and raids.

EA Sports F1 23 is the Formula 1 sim to beat, as it was the official game of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship. There are plenty of circuits placed throughout the world, including Qatar and Las Vegas. You can race as any of the top 20 drivers and top ten teams. There’s a robust career mode, cross-platform multiplayer and, of course, all kinds of blazingly-fast vehicles to choose from. You can play this and get hyped for the 2024 racing season, which officially begins on March 2.

Finally, there’s the stealth horror game Hello Neighbors 2. Just like the original, the title has you investigating creepy neighbors to unearth their dirty secrets. Though advertised as a horror title, the cartoony visuals make it appropriate for gamers of all ages. Reviews have praised the large open world, when compared to the original, and the improved physics engine.

Multiplayer shooter The Finals is also getting a cosmetic bundle as part of this drop, with 12 new weapon skins and two outfits. All four of the aforementioned games will be available to PlayStation Plus members on March 5 until April 1. As always, some titles are leaving the platform this month. You only have until March 4 to add Foamstars, Rollerdrome and Steelrising to your catalog.

Apple has today announced Sports, a new iPhone app offering real-time stats for a number of major leagues. Once installed, users can set their favorite team and get a trove of data on their lock screen in the live activities box when the team is playing. Available free from today in the US, Canada and the UK, the app presently supports Basketball, Hockey and Soccer Football. The company added that other sports, including Baseball and American Football will debut for their upcoming seasons.

There are plenty of reasons you might not be able to watch your team of choice play live. You may have a prior engagement, the game may not be televised, or Todd Boehly has done so much damage to the club you can’t bear to look at it any more. In those situations, push alerts from major sports apps has been a lifeline, but it’s not always entirely reliable.

Now, it has been possible to get this working since iOS 16, if you fancied messing around in the depths of the Apple TV app. And some third-party platforms, like MLB’s homegrown app, would put this data in your lock screen or Dynamic Island. But Apple says that its own setup offers a “simple and fast way to stay up to speed on the teams and leagues they love.” The setup will also sync up with any sports preferences already stored in the Apple TV or Apple News apps.

Of more concern is that Sports will also offer up live betting odds for the games as they’re in play. It’s worth noting it will be possible to deactivate the live odds feature in settings, but it seems like it would have been smarter and less potentially harmful to make that opt-in, rather than opt-out.

Apple Sports is available to download right now, with support for English, while French and Spanish are supported where available.

Times are a-changing at Xbox. The brand's leaders have confirmed plans to bring more Xbox games to other platforms, most likely PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. 

On the latest edition of the Official Xbox Podcast, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says his team is bringing four of its games to "the other consoles." He didn't name the titles, but contrary to previous rumors, Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are not coming to PS5 or Switch for now. 

"The teams that are building those games have announced plans that are not too far away. As we know, game teams put a lot of energy into their announcements with the partners," Spencer said. "So I don't want to take anything away from those teams. So I won't be talking about the titles specifically. But I think when they come out, it'll make sense."

Reports have suggested that Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Halo and Gears of War would be among those crossing the great divide. Spencer did confirm that the Xbox games that are coming to PlayStation and Switch have been on Xbox and PC for at least a year already. "A couple of the games are community-driven games, new games, kind of first iterations of a franchise that have reached their full potential, let's say, on Xbox and PC — there's always growth, franchises that we obviously want to continue to invest in," he said. 

"Two of the other games are smaller games that were never really meant to be built as kind of platform exclusives and all the fanfare that goes around that, but games that our teams really wanted to go build that we love supporting creative endeavors across our studios regardless of size," Spencer added. "And as they've realized their full potential on Xbox and PC, we see an opportunity to utilize the other platforms as a place to just drive more business value out of those games, allowing us to invest in maybe future iterations of those, so equals to those, or just other games like that in our portfolio."

This story is developing; refresh for updates.

Baseball fans who've had to stay glued to their computer to watch several MLB games simultaneously will soon be able to kick back in front of their TV and do the same thing. The league has announced several updates for MLB.TV for this upcoming season. For one thing, the MLB apps on supported Apple TV, Fire TV and Google TV devices will let you watch up to four games simultaneously in Multiview.

Until now, Apple TV users, for instance, were restricted to watching a maximum of two games at once through picture-in-picture. The upgrade should become especially useful later in the season as the race for playoff spots comes down to the wire and fans can watch multiple teams play for a post-season slot simultaneously with more ease. You'll also be able to stream more than 7,000 Minor League Baseball games, featuring affiliates from all 30 MLB teams.

In addition, MLB.TV is bringing Catchup Mode to certain streaming platforms this season, but did not specify which. This mode will feature in-game highlights for key moments and plays you might have missed, so if you missed the first few innings of a game that's in progress, you can quickly get up to speed.

Fans can expect new episodes of original shows such as Carded and Inside Stitch, along with more documentaries and live programming. Select teams will provide local pregame and postgame coverage, while MLB Big Inning will deliver the top action from around the league with highlights and live look-ins. Those who authenticate subscriptions through TV providers will be able to stream every post-season game, as well as the 2024 All-Star Game.

The MLB All Teams Yearly subscription is the same price as last year at $150. It includes access to every out-of-market regular season game and some Spring Training games with no blackout restrictions, both live and on-demand. A monthly subscription is also available for $30.

As part of its NBA All-Star coverage press release, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it'll stream live sports with Dolby Vision for the first time ever. The feature will be available to Max subscribers with supported Dolby Vision TVs "via the B/R [Bleacher Report] Sports Add On," the company said. 

Dolby Vision has been available for streaming films and TV series for ages, but this will mark the first time it comes to live sports. Warner Bros. Discovery hinted that it'll soon be available across NBA, NHLA, MLB, NCAA and US soccer games as well. Max has already been using Dolby Atmos sound to enhance live games.

Sports streams arguably stands to benefit most from Dolby Vision, as it boosts brightness levels, clarity and color. Dolby has previously said that real-time HDR feeds will be handled intelligently to so that bright areas aren't blown out and detail isn't lost in shadows. The company has also said that live feeds will adjust accordingly to the device they're being played on so they're optimal for each display.

This weekend's NBA All-Star coverage will be first to get Dolby Vision. Coverage includes the game on Sunday, February 18 starting at 8PM ET, as well as a special two-hour NBA All-Star Tip-Off show at 6PM.

Max launched the Bleacher Report tier on October 5, offering live sporting events including MLB, NBA, NHL and NCAA. It also offers access to all of WBD's pre- and post-game shows, along with Bleacher Report highlights, documentaries and more. The company recently extended the deadline for free programming until February 29, 2024. After that, it'll cost $10 per month, but the addition of Dolby Vision makes it a more compelling option. 

Formula E is adding a junior support series that will accompany electric open-wheel championship events throughout Europe, in addition to two events on the DTM schedule. This is Formula E’s first support series since the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, which operated from 2018 to 2020.

The NXT Gen Cup actually started last year as a support series for the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, but will now adventure throughout Europe. Events are open to drivers between the ages of 15 and 25 and will feature at all four European races included in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s Season 10, including Misano, Monaco, Berlin and the finale in London.

The all-electric series will include both male and female drivers, with line-ups to be announced starting next week. Formula E says many of these drivers will be under 17, so this gives them “the opportunity to compete on the same circuits as Formula E’s 22 world-class drivers.” This not only presents race fans with something extra to watch, but helps prepare the next generation of drivers for the big leagues. That’s why it’s called the NXT Gen Cup.

Subject to final FIA approval, this year’s NXT Gen Cup will make its inaugural appearance on April 13 in Misano, Italy. Racers will drive a car based on the Mini Cooper SE, called the LRT NXT1. This front-wheel drive vehicle boasts the equivalent of a 180HP motor, plus an extra 60hp from a push-to-pass system.

These are electric vehicles, of course, so there’s a 30kWh battery with an accompanying 800-volt system. Other features include regen when braking, adjustable Ӧhlins shock absorbers and Hankook semi-slick all-weather tires. The organization built 20 cars for the series, so every driver will have the same exact vehicle. The championship will generally include two 20-minute practice sessions, a 20-minute qualifier and the actual 20-minute race.

WWE has been shaking up its broadcast platforms recently, with the latest development coming via a partnership with X, formerly known as Twitter. The pair have signed a two-year deal for a new weekly series called WWE Speed, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show will be exclusive to X and feature timed matches lasting under five minutes.

Well-known wrestlers across the WWE franchise are set to participate in WWE Speed. The plan is for the show to be shot with a studio audience, with new episodes airing every week, starting this spring. WWE Speed will be the latest sports show on X. The platform aired exclusive content in partnership with Fox during the last FIFA World Cup. This year, it will work with NBC Universal to stream segments during the Paris Olympics.

As for the WWE world, X isn't the only company getting in on the action. The news follows Netflix's recent acquisition of WWE's flagship show, Monday Night Raw, for a reported $5 billion over 10 years. The deal includes weekly shows in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and more, along with airings of the WWE shows NXT and SmackDown in countries outside of the US. International audiences will also get access to documentaries, new shows and more original series starting next year.

Netflix users in the US will likely have to wait a while for access to more WWE programs. NBC Universal is reportedly paying $1.4 billion over the next five years to broadcast Smackdown on USA Network, while the CW is paying between $100,000 and $250,000 for the same time period to air NXT.