EA Sports has announced the newest cover athletes for the upcoming NHL 25, and it’s a family affair. The Hughes brothers (Quinn, Jack, and Luke) become the first set of brothers to grace the cover of the annual hockey title.

NHL 25 marks the second time in three years that the yearly hockey franchise has placed more than one player on their cover, with NHL 23 featuring Trevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse, and the NHL 24 cover featuring Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar.

Quinn Hughes, the oldest of the three brothers, was drafted 7th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. He was nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the leagues best rookie in 2020 and is the most recent recipient of the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the leagues best defenseman.

Jack Hughes was drafted 1st overall by the New Jersey Devils in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, just one year after Quinn. Jack has earned himself 3 consecutive All-Star Game selections and was nominated for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (awarded to the player that shows the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct) for the 2022-2023 Season.

Luke Hughes, the youngest of the three brothers, was drafted 4th overall by the New Jersey Devils in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, joining older brother Jack on the team. After a stellar rookie season in 2023-2024 that saw him set a new franchise record for points by a rookie defenseman, he was named as a finalist for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the leagues best rookie, and was subsequently voted to the All-Rookie Team unanimously.

More details were also shared about the annual hockey title, too. NHL 25 will be powered by a brand-new gameplay intelligence system called ICE-Q, and is designed to give the player the space and ability to be in control of every inch of ice there is. Player skating has been completely revolutionized by the Next-Gen Vision Control system, which allows you move easier on the ice, creating opportunities, walking the blue line, squaring up on an opponent, and a whole lot more.

The CPU Player system has also been improved by Empowered AI, allowing the CPU to execute intricate and authentic plays, make smart decisions off the puck, leading to more opportunities on the powerplay. 

In addition, a wealth of new gameplay modes and structures have been implemented, namely a revamped Franchise Mode, HUT Wildcard Mode, and a single-path XP progression system that is shared across HUT. Last but not least, the introduction of Sapien Technology to NHL 25 brings player likenesses to the next level, meaning your favourite players will look a whole lot more like your favourite players. 

NHL 25 is now available for pre-order with a Standard Edition and a Deluxe Edition available. Pre-ordering the Standard Edition will get you 500 NHL Points, a HUT NHL Player Pack, WOC Battle Pass XP Boost (x2), and an immediate reward in NHL 24 with a digital pre-order (Choice of Quinn, Jack or Luke Hughes at 99 OVR). 

Pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition will get you 7-days of Early Access, including a head start in the initial HUT campaign and WOC season, 4600 NHL Points, HUT NHL Player Pack, HUT “Hockey is Family” Objectives Choice Pack (x2, 82 OVR), HUT Cover Athlete Choice Pack (85 OVR, 1 of 8), HUT Wildcard Starter Choice Pack (84 OVR, 1 of 6), WOC Battle Pass XP Boost (x2), WOC Season 1 Premium Battle Pass, Exclusive WOC Player Set, Immediate Reward In NHL 24 (Choice of Quinn, Jack, or Luke Hughes at 99 OVR).

NHL 25 should be released later on this year, though a specific date has yet to be announced by EA.

Sega's Eternal Champions is the next video game franchise to get a silver-screen adaptation.

Whilst it's hardly surprising that filmmakers are still rooting through video game catalogues for ideas, I can't say I had Sega's 1993 fighting game on my bingo card for the next series to be getting an adaptation.

However, according to Hollywood Reporter, that's exactly what's happening, with Jurassic World trilogy writer Derek Connolly set to write the live-action screenplay.

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During Lockdown, the only thing more scarce than flour was Switch fitness game Ring Fit Adventure. It was the perfect thing at the perfect time: a game that provided a home workout in a period when you had to stay home. Strap the controller to you, grab the oversized resistance wheel thing, and get moving. Everyone wanted one, and the desire for it lingered long after Lockdown. Today, Ring Fit has sold more than 15m units - it's one of the most successful games on Switch. Nintendo sensed there was a market and Ring Fit proved it. And it's not just Nintendo: companies like Peloton, with its uber-expensive exercise bike and integrated workout platform, have shown people will pay significant amounts of money to gamify their fitness needs, and it's into this exact space a new challenger has arrived.

It's called Quell and it's currently £190, and I tried it this week and I really liked it. The topline thing you need to know is that it delivers a punishing workout. It's more intense than Ring Fit; after a short demo plus a 20-minute regular session, I was dripping sweat freely on the rug in Quell's smallish London office. There was no air conditioning - enough said. That's not to say Ring Fit can't be intense but it's generally a calmer experience. Quell is designed to push it up a notch.

The second thing to know is that Quell feels more actively gamey than Ring Fit, which I was quite surprised about. It's built with roguelike principles in mind, so you try to see how far you can get in the game but also build and customise a loadout as you go. Do you want this power or that one? That kind of thing. And then between runs, you equip the items you earned, affecting your power and statistics, adding a layer of role-playing game progression to the mix. "Real fitness. Real gaming," is the company's motto, so you get a sense of the areas it's trying to push on.

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Lonely Mountains: Downhill, the brilliantly serene/controller-snappingly infuriating mountain biking game from developer Megagon Industries, is trading its wheels for a pair of skis later this year, with the arrival of newly announced follow-up, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders.

Much like its predecessor, Snow Riders is all about getting from up to down as elegantly and/or speedily as possible. This time, though, its gorgeous mountain vistas are blanketed in thick snow and ice, lending a different dimension to proceedings as players attempt to perform tricks, discover shortcuts, and beat their best times with a pair of skis strapped to their feet.

Once again, there'll be challenges to complete and new equipment, outfits, and tricks to unlock during play, but Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders also introduces online competitive and co-operative multiplayer across a variety of modes.

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The Best “Back To School” Since Rodney Dangerfield

HIGH That moment when your old dorm is accurately represented in a videogame.

LOW Mode selection is a little lackluster.

WTF Academic performance tracking is my weekly nightmare come to life.

I don’t remember exactly where I was the last time I played a new college football game but I’m sure the scene involved me, my couch, and a noticeable cushion dent from hours of endless play. It’s not a pretty picture, but it is an accurate one. Now, after nearly 11 years away from digital collegiate gridiron, I was skeptical that EA Sports would be able to recapture that “just one more game” feeling.

Oh, EA Sports proved me wrong in so many wonderful ways.

College Football 25 (No “NCAA” this time around) is an outstanding, immersive, nostalgic title that quickly carves out its own identity against the inevitable Madden comparisons. Yes, those familiar with EA’s pro title will easily adapt to College Football 25’s controls and gameplay, but those — ahem — schooled in collegiate strategy and atmosphere will find themselves with a notable advantage.

The unparalleled college vibe is one of the biggest surprises after more than a decade away. The old NCAA series always did a solid job of emulating stadiums and crowd noise, but modern technology has allowed them to recreate the unique environments that each home school provides.

Fans of major programs like Clemson and Alabama will lose themselves in how seamlessly the designers implemented mascots, in-game chants, student traditions, and more. There’s even a noise meter that shakes the screen and affects playcalling, giving home teams a distinct advantage in competitive situations. Small, moderately successful schools might trigger the needle a little, but big schools with bigger money programs will regularly reap the rewards of the home field.

It even showed for my alma mater, the University of Maryland, which may not be a top-tier football school among its peers in the Big Ten Conference, but we did have an original set of chants and music to accompany our team. Sure enough, when in a crucial in-game situation, the students reacted accordingly, elevating the atmosphere tenfold. All of it was flawlessly represented alongside the nuances that made our school stand apart. And no, this level of detail isn’t exclusive to bigger schools — even the smaller programs receive the same level of detail and unique presentation.

Of course, none of this matters if the on-field visuals are lackluster. Thankfully, EA Sports made the most of its 11-year respite — every player on the field demonstrates a unique look and feel. Linemen seem a little jumpier than their professional counterparts. Defensive secondaries find themselves scrambling a little more before the snap. Quarterbacks don’t appear quite as composed. In other words, they seem like young adults tasked with handling some immense, big-game pressure. Plus, the player models are (generally) a little smaller and less monstrous than professional players. These details are subtle but add so much in helping College Football 25 stand apart from its more established big brother.

Another exciting aspect of the college game is that not every player is awesome. Deep pass plays are riskier, and big running gains are more likely against suspect defenses. Where Madden has its handful of top-rated receivers who seem to have glue on their gloves, the college level reflects teams of players who are still learning as they go, and that means nothing is “automatic.” When big plays happen, they just seem to mean more to the player.

That said, CF25 acknowledges those who take time to learn. (This is a college game, after all.) While smaller programs might not see initial success against juggernauts and experience some initial frustration, growth is earned and learning how to maximize each player’s skill set is a rewarding experience from season to season.

My only complaint about College Football 25‘s gameplay is the same I’ve made for most football titles — there continue to be plays and moves that are simply too easy to spam. (Just check YouTube for some of the spin move “highlights.”) Good players will always find a way to adjust, but newcomers online might find themselves stopped before they even get started. I was fortunate to not see many people abusing these quirks, but over time, I anticipate steeper beginner learning curves.

Since launch, I’ve seen a lot of online chatter about College Football 25’s “thin” and “disappointing” selection of modes and features, but I see this as a positive because I think it was vital for the developers to focus more on developing unique, rewarding on-field gameplay, and it seems they agreed. Of course, it doesn’t exactly lack variety with a solid selection of the modes we’ve come to expect from EA Sports titles.

For those looking to spend significant time in the trenches, Dynasty mode is far more rewarding than its professional counterpart, mostly because the focus is on winning, player development, and team success, rather than keeping high-profile players satisfied season over season. Here, users can help a struggling program methodically improve and find intermittent successes along the way. Maybe it’s getting close to being ranked among the top 25. Maybe it’s knocking off a top-ranked opponent. Maybe it’s being considered for a coveted bowl game. Minor, moral victories seem to matter more at the collegiate level since there’s just so much more to aim for than one solitary trophy.

Unfortunately, the touted Road to Glory mode, while more streamlined than Dynasty, doesn’t give users enough to do over its shorter career span. At first, this exercise of allocating experience points to improve on-field performance seems enjoyable. But tasks like improving academics and resting injuries quickly become a week-to-week slog, more busywork than play. Likewise, the limited Road to the CFP mode will appeal to those who want bragging rights, but there’s little to do beyond seeing a name on leaderboards. With more attention, this could become a legitimate mode for those seeking to achieve online immortality, but there’s still room to expand it into something deeper than just a ranking.

As expected, College Football 25 features its own Ultimate Team mode, which is identical to the countless revisions we’ve seen in Madden over the years. For users into card collecting, trading, and yes, spending to build an unbeatable squad there are no surprises to be had, other than some moderate challenges to break up the grind. While I probably need to get with the times and accept these modes as part of gaming reality, here it seems redundant, rather than necessary.

Online, the game performed flawlessly during my testing, with no lag or latency. Lobbies were easy to navigate, and games started quickly. It allowed me to recreate my favorite college matchups, playing with my favorite college roommate. Only now, 1,300 miles separated us, even though the conversations and laughs remained the same.

And that perfectly illustrates the bigger point. To fans like me, College Football 25 is about as pure a gaming experience as there is. It wasn’t an online leaderboard or card-collecting mode that made fans beg EA Sports to bring back college football. It was the memories of trash talking on the couch, and recreating a rivalry. It was figuring out those spam plays and finally shutting them down. It was a throwback to gaming’s roots when higher scores were all people needed to enjoy themselves.

I could belabor this review with more examples, but in the end, there’s only one key takeaway — College Football 25 delivers on the memories I just listed, alongside countless others. And I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.

Score: 9 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is published by EA Sports and developed by EA Orlando. It is available on XBX/S and PS5. This game copy was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 15 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. Approximately 5 hours of play were devoted to online multiplayer.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. This is a realistic representation of full-contact college football, and some tackling animations and injuries may concern some parents.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are available in the Game Settings menu.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: College Football 25 features subtitles, speech-to-text, and numerous tactile feedback features in all modes. The game is easily playable without sound and is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, the game’s controls are not remappable.

Esports has come a long way: from high-score chasing, to the Battle By the Bay, the World Cyber Games, and much more. It wasn’t until the 2010s that the legitimacy and ubiquity of esports reached a fevered pitch, with studios chasing after this market and the push to give esports as big of a profile as traditional sports. But as I looked at genres like fighting and RTS, I started to think about whether esports has helped or hurt game development.

The Intended Effect

Esports and live service have gone together since the 2000s and the rise of League of Legends. The idea was that by creating an esport, a game would become popular outside of just playing the game; people would follow the esport and sponsors could sell ad revenue. There has always been this dream in the US to have esports reach the same level of recognition and impact that we saw in South Korea with StarCraft.

By continuing to support a game with more content, it would mean people would spend money on said content, and more support would keep a game going for years. When you look at the big successes — LoL, CS: GO, Rainbow Six: Siege, and so on – it does turn into that. For multiplayer, it has been a godsend in terms of keeping these games relevant and playable for years thanks to people continuing to play for the competitive side. This symbiotic relationship has been the envy of publishers and developers who all tried to make their own take on these games, as we saw with the numerous battle royales, MOBAs, shooters, and so on. And while esports has been good to these games it hasn’t been good to the health of these genres.

The problem is that making an esport and making a marketable game might not be as compatible as you think.

Making an Esport

Esport design is different from the traditional design and mechanics we see in other games. When you are building an esport, you must focus on the competitive side — all map design, all balancing, all future content, must be built around what the competitive people want to see. This has been the driving factor for fighting games for years and was part of what led to the decline of traditional RTS games in the mainstream in favor of MOBAs.

An esport is all about “the match” and everything that isn’t related to it is seen as fluff to the competitive side.

Matches are meant to be as balanced as possible and favor player skill above all else. With every esport game mentioned in this piece, you’ll find very little content outside of that. For the games that do add in single-player or story content, with rare exceptions (that I’ll come back to below), it is kept minimal and seems like something added to check off a list.

Casual vs. Competitive

When we look at games and genres that have gone out of their way to be the next esport, it’s time to face an important truth: esports suck the fun out of those games. From a community standpoint, some of the worst games imaginable, with regard to community management and moderation, are from the esports side. You have those who send horrible messages to other players, players who look down on everyone else, and reports of corruption and cheating from time to time.

From an onboarding and UI/UX point of view, these games are ineffective at providing accommodations and educating new players on how to play competitively. When it comes to the importance of UI/UX design, esports games fail this test time after time, and a lot of it comes down to their player base, specifically the esports side. Just as single-player gamers often fail to understand the difference between complexity and depth, so do a lot of multiplayer fans. Some immediately fume the second someone wants to change a game to make it easier to play or modernize it for audiences today, as we saw with the modern controls debate from Street Fighter 6. The problem is that teaching someone how to play against an AI is not the same as teaching them how to fight another player. For games that introduce new rules and mechanics, onboarding and tutorials may never cover those advanced elements.

In the last section I mentioned that esports players tend to focus on match design and match balancing above all else, however, the “else” in this regard is what attracts people to play these games in the first place. An esports player wants something that is consistent across however many matches they tend to play over the game’s lifespan and this is also why progression, outside elements, or those that don’t fit within the match are viewed as negatives. For everyone else, this kind of stuff is what makes these games appealing. Something I wrote about in my RTS book with unit design is that at the end of the day, cool trumps balance. Are the different factions in the Command & Conquer universe or the races in StarCraft 2 perfectly balanced? Heck no, and any self-respecting fan would say the same.

Keeping with StarCraft 2, it's the only game I can think of that came out with a fully supported esports model with its competitive play and a completely original campaign for each faction featuring unique units and progression not seen anywhere else. This is in line with how NetherRealm Studios revitalized the fighting game genre in the late 2000s by focusing on content for people who have no interest in the competitive side.

Esports players, no matter how much money gets thrown at sponsorships and tournaments, represent a fraction, of a fraction, of a fraction, of your consumer base, and it's why only catering to them does not keep a game financially afloat.

Where the Money Comes and Goes

Live service game design is all about money coming in and going out in a continuous cycle. If you’re not creating new content, money stops coming in, which means no more budget to create new content. And if you’re not creating “attractive” content for people to buy, then you are just wasting development time and money.

The issue with catering only to esports players with your game’s content and growth is that it doesn’t leave room for anyone else to keep playing. You’ll see this with any competitively-driven game — the first month or two will have peak player counts with new players trying to learn the game and see if it works for them. And then, without fail, those numbers plummet and the people who stick around are just the competitive side or those trying to be competitive.

This group only cares about one thing: content that plays into the competitive side of the game. Anything else is not of interest to them, and if you think new cosmetics are going to be enough to bring casual players back, that’s not going to work. To that point, trying to create new game modes, new mechanics, or anything that runs counter to the esports/competitive side will be met with angry esports players, and still may not be enough to get people to come back. Blizzard’s strategy of splitting StarCraft 2 down the middle between the competitive and casual sides with its content was a brilliant move. Conversely, trying to shoehorn competitive and casual together is what doomed Command & Conquer 4.

The problem with trying to cater to an esports market is that instead of being able to grow your game with new content and interest over the months and years, it starts to shrink. Once a game’s audience becomes fixed like this, no one new is going to join, and if they do, chances are they won’t stay long. If players feel like they are just there to be served up to the expert players, they will leave even faster, as Activision’s report on Skill-Based Matchmaking covers in detail.

The Better Live Service

Some of the most popular live service games today come from the mobile space and are as far away from competitive experiences as a game could get. Creating attractive content for a live service game requires making sure that all segments of your audience can experience it. If there are new missions, storylines, etc., then they should be accessible to all groups. For bonus challenges or limited-time events, there needs to be content for each group of players.

Whenever there is content that only one group of players can use or will support, it’s going to push the other ones away; you need as wide of a consumer base as possible if you want your game to keep growing.

What Is the Future of Esports?

Esports is in a very awkward place now; it’s no longer the new thing on the market, and tournaments like the LoL Championship Series and EVO have reached the mainstream, but prospects for continued growth are debatable. Part of the problem is that it’s not about organically making a game an esport, where the process would look like this:

1. The game comes out
2. People like to play it
3. Tournaments are developed
4. The game becomes an esport

Now, many developers and publishers are chasing the market to will their games to become an esport. The ones that specifically are built for esport players are not finding a market outside of just those players.

Just as the RTS genre needs to have a hard talk about modernizing and appealing to more people, the fighting genre needs a similar one.

Despite how many copies Street Fighter 6 sold and how popular it was, less than half the player base on PC tried a multiplayer match. Designing additional content for mainstream and non-competitive players has helped, but it doesn’t fix the inherent problem of trying to get someone who isn’t a pro player interested in playing a game designed around that mindset.

What do you think: Is esports going to keep growing, or has it reached its limits?

Playground Productions has revealed the return of the Backyard Sports franchise, announcing it on their official website along with an embedded video seen below. Some of you might recall back in February when Jason and Travis Kelce reminisced about the classic Backyard Football and Baseball games on their New Heights podcast. Jason even hinted that he was quietly exploring the possibility of purchasing the rights to both games to revive them. However, sources confirmed to Sports Illustrated that the Kelce bros are not involved in the relaunch. Either way, it’s exciting to see the franchise making a comeback.

According to Variety, video games aren’t the only focus for Playground Productions. They’re aiming to expand across multiple verticals, including film, television, merchandise and more. There hasn’t been any official announcement regarding release dates or platforms yet, but fans are encouraged to sign up on the official website to be the first to hear about upcoming projects.

“We’re incredibly excited to reintroduce Backyard Sports to a new generation of players,” Chris Waters, chief product officer at Playground Productions, said in a statement. “We’re taking great care to preserve the look and feel that made the original games so special while updating them with modern features and gameplay that today’s audience expects. I can’t wait for fans to see what we’re building on the Playground.”

The post Backyard Sports Franchise is Back appeared first on Operation Sports.

Unsurprisingly, as the reigning World Cup champions, soccer is deeply embedded in Argentina's national identity. Players on the national team are praised as heroes by everyone, from die-hard fans to casual observers. Their trophies bring joy and a sense of triumph to a country that has seen much division and gloom in recent decades.

Sadly, recent victories could be the last blaze of a dying fire. Soccer (or as we call it, fútbol) in Argentina is in decline, exploited by nefarious interests—but President Javier Milei has a plan.

Until recently, domestic soccer clubs in Argentina had to be operated as nonprofits. An executive branch decree changed that, allowing clubs to become publicly traded companies. The change may spur lifesaving investment into Argentine soccer.

For fans of Argentina's national team and domestic league, this is good news.

Consider how many players are leaving Argentina to play elsewhere. In 2022, 5,000 Argentines were playing abroad, most of whom were promising players under the age of 20. Even among the 26 players on the World Cup-winning roster, only one came from a club in the Argentine league. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) is worried that players who start their careers overseas will choose not to represent their national team in international competitions. Even Lionel Messi, a dual national, was tempted to play for the Spanish national team before choosing to play for Argentina. AFA lives in constant fear of having a future world champion slip through their fingers.

What's causing this exodus of talent? While part of it is Argentina's general economic malaise, some, including Spanish La Liga President Javier Tebas, point a finger at AFA's narrow-minded refusal to allow private investment in the national soccer market. Tebas has said the Argentine team won the 2022 World Cup "despite AFA" because their players "were forged in European clubs."

Milei's reforms mean international companies could buy and sell teams, or invest in Argentina's striving clubs. An injection of foreign capital would be a boon not just to the clubs who'd be able to improve their capabilities and keep talented players at home, but also to the Argentine economy overall, as clubs expand and create more jobs with their newfound capital.

AFA leaders and some major teams denounced the reforms as a "privatization of football"—and if you know how the clubs currently work, it's easy to understand their resistance. 

In Argentina, soccer clubs are more than just sports teams. A club is like a church, a provider of all manner of cultural and educational services, a place for communities to share, for families to enroll their children and invest in their future—every young player's dream is to go pro and pay back his parents' sacrifice. While the clubs are already private nonprofits—an organizational model they're very defensive about—in reality, they are run by politicians, celebrities, and businessmen who use them to promote their public image. They keep governance opaque, convoluted, and unaccountable, cementing their power by making deals with barra bravas, powerful hooligan organizations that handle their illegal activities and intimidate opponents into silence—both within the clubs and in electoral politics.

Revenue from the domestic soccer league, such as TV rights money, is dispensed in a pyramid scheme with AFA President Claudio Tapia at the top, doling out favors to keep the clubs economically dependent. About 97 percent of clubs have, at some point, been on the brink of bankruptcy. This causes a vicious cycle: Teams in the league can't afford to keep promising players, who leave for foreign teams with deeper pockets, so the teams perform worse and earn less revenue.

In the late 1990s, Racing Club, one of the historic "Big Five" clubs, went bankrupt and was nearly liquidated. AFA authorized a special rescue plan that allowed insolvent clubs to contract private firms as management in exchange for financial salvage, copying previous experiences of successful entrepreneurial partnerships. Despite the plan's limited scope and the familiar cry of "veiled privatization," it performed so well that several clubs started contracting out their assets and are now faring consistently better than the rest. Meanwhile, fans remain involved by exercising oversight over contractors.

In a microcosm of national politics, mafiosos and oligarchs use populist rhetoric to entrench themselves in power, and then call the private sector to bail them out when reality catches up. In soccer, it's catching up again. Investment is still limited, the player pool is shrinking, clubs are chronically indebted and their services are becoming impoverished and exclusionary. Meanwhile, they're still run by a powerful few but lack transparency or efficiency. A country that's practically synonymous with fútbol should be attracting money and talent from all over the world, not scaring it away. A few conglomerates have expressed interest in Milei's reform, but he'll have to get past attempts at judicial obstruction and silencing of internal dissent by the AFA establishment.

Argentina is the birthplace of many stars in soccer history, but its clubs are suffering from economic stagnation. The private sector can help Argentines reclaim their clubs as social spaces and as points of national pride. Milei's reforms are an opportunity for soccer to become part of the nation's economic recovery. The profit motive, social ethics, and political will of those who love the sport can lead to even more glory.

The post In Argentina, the Private Sector May Save Soccer appeared first on Reason.com.

The mountain biking of Lonely Mountains: Downhill was sometimes a relaxing ride down gentle slopes, and at other times a hairy hurtle down declivitous cliffs. Alongside the likes of the Descenders and Riders Republic, it offered a more laid-back game, open to furious time trialling but always remembering to let you stop and appreciate the view. Both the stakes and the poly count were low. Happy news then, that it is getting a snowy sequel. In Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders you'll be swapping your bike for a pair of skis, and you'll be able to barrel down the mountainside with friends in co-op.

Read more

Vroom vroom. That is the sound of 11 rivals revving their engines as they blink the sweat out of their eyes and exhale years of self-doubt from their lungs. Today is their day. We have lined up these racing games on a starting grid and are interested to see how things shake out. Will the realism-obsessed driving sims take the lead with their sublime physics engines? Might the futuristic combat racers simply destroy the opposition with explosive rockets? Or perhaps a nippy arcade crowd-pleaser will soar to the finish line, propelled by the sound of roaring cheers. It's all to play for here at our incredibly messed-up grand prix with a worrying lack of rules or regulation. Start your engines, everyone, these are the 11 best racing games on PC. 3! 2! 1! ...

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The mountain biking of Lonely Mountains: Downhill was sometimes a relaxing ride down gentle slopes, and at other times a hairy hurtle down declivitous cliffs. Alongside the likes of the Descenders and Riders Republic, it offered a more laid-back game, open to furious time trialling but always remembering to let you stop and appreciate the view. Both the stakes and the poly count were low. Happy news then, that it is getting a snowy sequel. In Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders you'll be swapping your bike for a pair of skis, and you'll be able to barrel down the mountainside with friends in co-op.

Read more

Vroom vroom. That is the sound of 11 rivals revving their engines as they blink the sweat out of their eyes and exhale years of self-doubt from their lungs. Today is their day. We have lined up these racing games on a starting grid and are interested to see how things shake out. Will the realism-obsessed driving sims take the lead with their sublime physics engines? Might the futuristic combat racers simply destroy the opposition with explosive rockets? Or perhaps a nippy arcade crowd-pleaser will soar to the finish line, propelled by the sound of roaring cheers. It's all to play for here at our incredibly messed-up grand prix with a worrying lack of rules or regulation. Start your engines, everyone, these are the 11 best racing games on PC. 3! 2! 1! ...

Read more

Black Myth: Wukong is an exciting new action-adventure game from Game Science that promises a thrilling adventure inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West. There are over 160 enemy types and more than 80 bosses to defeat, a variety of skills to unlock across multiple trees, and plenty of secrets to find as…

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Destiny 2: The Final Shape is a good expansion with one particularly terrible exotic loot chase. The new exotic class items are powerful pieces of RNG gear that can be extremely tedious to chase, which is why lots of players instead rely on AFK macros to farm the loot for them. The epidemic of AFK farming has gotten…

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The most read review on my site, by a thousand views, is the abysmal Hentai Golf, quite possibly the worst golf game ever created. So in comes Easy Come Easy Golf, which is absolutely delightful, but flew completely under the radar. I had never heard of this 2022 title until I randomly found some guy on X who talked about completing it recently. At his word and recommendation, I bought it, and after putting several hours into it, it is completely worth the money. Its not like a PGA tour game, its more like Hot Shots Golf, which is made by the same developer of that series, Clap Hanz. .

The catch to Easy Come Easy Golf is that each hole requires a different character. You start off with 4, the rest filled with a generic “mini-golfer” and over the course of the long campaign, you will unlock thirty in total. Each character has their own strengths and get more powerful by leveling them up via play. You unlock new characters by winning regular tournaments, which spawn matches against characters. Win those, and characters get unlocked. In additions to tournaments and match play there are distance challenges that unlocks character colors and outfits(which raise character level. New courses are unlocked with tour rank, which is raised once you win enough tournaments, which spawn the boss battles, and you win.

The golf itself is great, not surprising given the pedigree of Easy Come Easy Golf. Its easy to pick up, hard to master. You get a choice of two shot types, either flicking the right stick, or the the three tap system. I used the stick system, but either work. The game is gentle early on, but packs a punch later once you level your team and learn the mechanics.

The meat of Easy Come Easy Golf is the single player campaign. However, there are numerous online modes where you take your leveled team online and face others. But I have to wonder how easy it is to find others, given the game’s age and low visibility. My only other complaint is that the loading takes a long time, longer than it should anyway.

Easy Come Easy Golf gets a must Play with a nine back-end score. It is truly is a delightful golf game and should be as popular as Hentai Golf sadly seems to be. There is a serious golf game here that fans of Hot Shots Golf, or golf in general, will love.

Overall: Easy Come Easy Golf is a Hot Shots Golf spinoff by the same developer. Given that pedigree, its not surprising it is great!

Verdict: Must Play

eShop Page

The post Easy Come Easy Golf Switch Review appeared first on The Game Slush Pile.

S blížícím se zářijovým vydáním EA Sports FC 25 pokračuje společnost EA ve vydávání nových upoutávek, které odhalují podrobnosti o různých aspektech připravovaného fotbalového simulátoru. V nově vydaných upoutávkách společnost zaměřila pozornost na dva největší režimy série – Ultimate Team a režim kariéry.

Ultimate Team se podrobně věnuje tomu, jak letošní režim implementuje nové funkce a doplňky v podobě nové hry 5v5 Rush, stejně jako dříve podrobně popsanému taktickému systému FC IQ a novým rolím hráčů. Hráči se mohou těšit i na různá další vylepšení, jako jsou nové sestřihy přenosů ze zápasů, rozšířené kosmetické možnosti hráčů, odstranění kontraktů a další.

Hluboký ponor do režimu kariéry mezitím hovoří také o výše zmíněných hlavních novinkách, jako je Rush, FC IQ a role hráčů, a o tom, jak ovlivní kariéru hráče i manažera, a dále o vylepšeních v plánech rozvoje hráčů, skautingu a rozvoji mládeže, tiskových konferencích a morálce hráčů a dalších.

Další klíčovou novinkou v letošním režimu kariéry je možnost spravovat ženský tým v pěti dostupných prvoligových soutěžích a také nové Live Start Points, které vám umožní naskočit do sezóny 2024/25 během libovolného herního týdne, přičemž hra bude reflektovat aktuální bodový zisk, příběhy, statistiky a další údaje z právě probíhající sezóny v reálném světě. Očekávat můžete také nové elegantní nabídky, nové možnosti přizpůsobení a další. Další podrobnosti najdete v níže uvedených upoutávkách.

EA Sports FC 25 vychází 27. září pro PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch a PC.

Článek Trailer na EA Sports FC 25 podrobně popisují režim kariéry a Ultimate Team se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

A server maintenance for EA FC 24 has been announced today, August 21, which will affect all forms of online matchmaking.

A tweet from EA's official communications handle has announced the impending maintenance. It comes right before the end of the current Ultimate Team season. While the developers haven't announced a reason, it could be in preparation for the new season and upcoming content.

When does the EA FC 24 maintenance (August 21) begin?

Today's maintenance is set to begin at 8 a.m. UTC/1 a.m. PST/4 a.m. EST. It's the same schedule as the one followed during the last maintenance in June. All forms of online matchmaking, including Ultimate Team, will be disabled 30 minutes before the scheduled start.

Today's maintenance will also affect EA FC 24 servers across all platforms.

When does the EA FC 24 maintenance (August 21) end?

As per the announced schedule, today's maintenance will be an affair of six hours. Unless there's any delay, it will end at 2 p.m. UTC/7 a.m. PST/10 a.m. EST. There's always a chance for the maintenance to be extended without prior notice from the developers.

Which game modes will be affected?

Ultimate Team, for starters, will be completely unavailable. Any attempts at matchmaking will result in an error. The same applies to other online modes like FC Clubs. You could play games in offline modes like Career. In Career, you can lead your selected club to glory as a player or a manager.

That said, fans hope there won't be any delay and that matchmaking will return as per the official schedule.

The post EA FC 24 maintenance (August 21): When will the servers come back appeared first on Destructoid.

In Madden NFL 25's Franchise mode, it's possible to play with prospects who are expected to appear in future draft classes.

Thanks to the Team Builder website, which is available to all for free, you can play with custom squads. There are already some wonderful creations themed around them, and some involve future rookies. That said, importing them into a Franchise mode can be tricky if you haven't done it in previous Madden titles.

How to download future draft classes in Madden NFL 25

The Download Center will be your best friend (unless you want to sit and create the entire future draft class).

• Start and load the game.
• From the main menu, go to the first option under Download Center.
• Here, a host of different types of downloads will be available for free. The one you're looking for will be featured as Rosters.
• When I accessed this section, I could already find 2025 and 2026 draft classes with several downloads from the community.
• Just select one, and it will be downloaded. You can check this under the "My Downloads" section.

This completes the first part of the task.

How to load future draft classes in Madden NFL 25

For this part, you'll need a new save file.

• From the Download Center, go to the last option.
• Here, you can load your custom files. Load the one you downloaded with a future draft class.
• Create a new Franchise mode save.
• Make sure to choose a custom squad instead of using a default one.

This will automatically load your custom squad file containing future draft prospects. Do remember that the community makes all such files. There might be a chance of something going wrong in your save in the future (it might not happen, but fair warning nevertheless).

The post How to use future draft classes in Madden NFL 25 Franchise mode appeared first on Destructoid.

Madden 25 on PS5

We’re seeing an injection of fresh life into this year’s Madden thanks to the return of college football with EA Sports College Football 25’s release. The college football franchise comes off an 11-year hiatus, tying nicely into Madden 25’s pro football package. But the return of college football can only do so much for Madden 25, as this year’s experience feels more like a mechanical iteration from past entries rather than a comprehensive overhaul.

Surprisingly, the biggest innovations in this year’s Madden are found in nitty-gritty gameplay details rather than in modes or presentation. EA has been proudly campaigning its new BOOM Tech physics suite; a physics package that incorporates realistic tackles and individualized player movements. By extension, the iconic Madden Hit Stick has been re-engineered so that you can control your tackles through risk/reward hit timings. I’m a terrible tackler in these games and even I found the Hit Stick timings to be intuitive and fun to pull off, even if it sometimes resulted in the carrier breaking through a poorly timed hit.

Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale in the store? LoL is a free-to-play game in the truest sense - you can enjoy everything the MOBA offers for absolutely nothing. Now if you were to ask a seasoned League player if that were true, they’d probably have to stifle a few tears as they check how much their bank account has suffered buying skins since they started battling on the Rift.

Riot rotates a series of skins in the store, with the savviest of us holding out until the cosmetic they want ends up in the discount section store or even the League of Legends Mythic shop. The shiny new cosmetics are only available briefly, so act fast if you want to snag the new hotness. Here is every League of Legends skin on sale right now if you want to know what’s in the store without booting up the client.

Within the effervescent bubble of esports, Dota 2 is like that popular kid in high school who just can’t help but steal the limelight. It’s akin to a Dota phenomenon where this game enjoys such an astonishing growth and adoration that it makes you wonder if there are some secret love potions involved! This chatty ... Read more

The post Why is it So Big: Massive Allure Behind the Epic World of Dota 2 Esports appeared first on Gamer For Fun.

As someone who's spent their career developing sports games here in London, MyGM mode in WWE 2K24's revamped MyGM has me pining for championship belt glory! For those unfamiliar, this revolutionary form of virtual wrestling General Management transforms you and allows you to switch gears from being just another button-mash gamer to becoming a dynamic (or benign, depending on your goals!) General Managers who can build dream rosters, craft epic rivalries, and navigate professional wrestling's challenging environment from the comfort of their armchair - it truly puts power back in our hands!

Draft Day Dominance: Construct Your Empire

At MyGM, franchise modes in other sports games (Premier League comes to mind), the emphasis is placed heavily on drama and larger-than-life characters rather than statistics and scheduling practices alone. Instead, MyGM makes management fun again! There is much more to buy WWE 2K24 beyond crunching stats and scheduling practices - crafting compelling narratives, managing massive egos, and turning your brand into a ratings powerhouse are among the many elements you have control of to become an ultimate wrestling tycoon! So here is why MyGM is such an innovative solution, and here's why YOU can become the ultimate wrestling tycoon yourself.

Let's dive in, aspirant General Managers, into MyGM, one of the best virtual sports managing situations at this moment, the only one that gives you the power to lead the entire organization, not just a team or a player. Draft Day will be your initial big hurdle, and here are a few pointers from an experienced game dev to ensure you build an unstoppable roster for competition:

• Balance Is Key: Don't be dazzled by big names alone - having main event-caliber wrestlers can certainly add something special, but make sure your roster includes mid-carders and tag teams of different styles and fan demographics as well.
• Think Long Term: Expand beyond established stars when considering your team's long-term needs and draft young talent with big potential for long-term development and rewards -- it can be immensely fulfilling to create your homegrown legends both narratively and strategically!
• Know Your Rivals: Balance Is Key: Don't be dazzled by big names alone - having main event-caliber wrestlers can certainly add something special, but make sure your roster includes mid-carders and tag teams of different styles and fan demographics as well.

MyGM is not the only thing the game offers, and as an avid wrestling fan (and VHS tape-watcher of classic matches), I can't wait to relive these iconic moments digitally through the 2K Showcase. But its real test will lie in how accurately it recreates these legendary rivalries and WrestleMania main events. I would also like to praise the price point for WWE 2K24 that may allow in people who usually buy cheap PS4 games rather than AAA titles, and in a way, WWE 2K24 has a sort of niche vibe... if you're one of these, you won't regret it.

Take A Look Backward: Matches Confirmed (and Hoped for!)

So, which classics will make their debuts into WWE 2K24? While we await an official list, speculation centers on potential clashes such as that between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Bret "The Hitman" Hart at WrestleMania 13 or The Rock versus Hollywood Hulk Hogan during WrestleMania X8. Here's where it gets interesting - what dream matches do YOU wish would become DLC? Was it Ric Flair and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat's steel cage encounter at Starrcade '89 or Shawn Michaels and Rey Mysterio's high-flying showdown at WrestleMania 22 that stands out?

With Electronic Arts continuing to put out nearly every sports game annually, fans have noticed an EA Sports FC 24 microtransaction that has sparked anger.

Every year EA Sports launches an annual edition to their ongoing FIFA franchise. Since last year, that name has changed to EA Sports FC 24 (due to branding issues), but the gameplay has remained markedly similar to what fans have expected out of the franchise except with notable visual fidelity upgrades.

A franchise staple, Ultimate Team, was introduced in FIFA 09 and has appeared in nearly every EA Sports game (even non-FIFA-related ones) since. Ultimate Team allows fans to build their picture-perfect team to bring to the pitch, and they’ve brought it back for EA Sports FC 24.

Some fans’ biggest problem is EA’s insistence on throwing the mode at the top of every menu (the latest EA College Football 25 also has this problem) and advertising the singular microtransaction mode in-game at all times. Fans over on the College Football 25 Reddit have pointed this out and expressed their frustrations since launch.

It’s worth mentioning how the pricing for the ultimate team’s microtransactions has changed from modest to worth more than the entire game. Fans have noticed this in EA Sports FC 24‘s case. Below is a photo of EA Sports FC 24‘s most expensive bundle, which is double the price of the game itself.

Fans aren’t happy with the constant in-game promotion of the mode, and the latest 18,500 point bundle offering and have taken to the internet to offload their fury. One X (formerly Twitter) user and notable EA Sports content creator, NepentheZ, has called the offering “madness”.

Fans have taken the opportunity to also chime in with their dissatisfaction with the ultimate team ‘grift’. User EverythingXeno says, “It’s ridiculous sports video games are probably some of biggest games on the market for yearly sales, yet EA creates a method to gamble without return,” and another fan took the time to lampoon another issue the game has. TomWells97 says, “Will this £130 go towards rectifying the fact that I had to totally uninstall the game to make textures load properly.”

While there are arguments to be made on both sides of the fence regarding microtransactions (and both sides have taken to the argument under the post from NepentheZ), fans seemingly agree a microtransaction listed as worth more than the base game is a lot. Fans can jump into the conversation here.

Nintendo has revoked the win of the team that triumphed in the Splatoon 3 World Championship earlier this year after allegations of misconduct arose regarding several of its players.

Jackpot won the official Nintendo competition back in April, but a statement on the Nintendo VS X account yesterday reveals their win will be "considered vacated" and the team will not receive trophies from this competition.

"It has come to our attention that certain members of team Jackpot... acted in a manner that is not in line with our community guidelines while playing the Splatoon 3 game," the platform holder wrote.

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AFCON 2024

AFCON 2024 Dates And Groups

Sorry singing fans, Amazon's Yakuza TV show won't include the game's iconic karaoke sessions.

The Yakuza, or Like a Dragon, games are known for their bizarre minigames, but it seems the TV producers are taking a more serious approach to their adaptations by focusing on human emotion and offering new interpretations of familiar characters.

When asked during a roundtable if karaoke would be featured in the Like a Dragon: Yakuza TV show, executive producer Erik Barmack said it would not, though "singing may come eventually" (thanks The Gamer).

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The International Olympics Committee walked away from its partnership with Nintendo and Sega for the long-running Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series in order to explore deals with new partners, NFTs and esports, Eurogamer understands.

As the real-life Olympics gets underway in Paris, there's been discussion online of there being no new Mario & Sonic tie-in for this summer's Games, for the first time in almost two decades.

Speaking with Eurogamer, a veteran behind the series has now said the decision to end the popular Mario & Sonic franchise rested with the IOC, which chose not to renew its licensing deal with Nintendo and Sega, and allowed it to lapse in 2020.

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French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati, 21, was close to clearing the bar at 5.70meters at the Paris Olympics yesterday when his, er, "pole" got in the way. His bulge hit the bar, ending Ammirati's Olympic dreams this time around. Following the mishap, Ammirati said it was a "big dissappointment" and he was a "bit gutted." — Read the rest

The post Watch painful moment Olympic pole vaulter's "pole" (ahem) knocks him out of the competition appeared first on Boing Boing.

The deep dives keep on coming for FC 25, and in EA Sports’ latest breakdown of what’s to come in the new soccer sim, the series’ biggest game mode is the star of the show. Yes, the highly-anticipated FC 25 Ultimate Team deep dive is here, and while the integration of the new five-a-side Rush mode is the most notable change this year, there are some smaller details to highlight. This includes fancier Evolutions cards, more streamlining, and the implementation of what is surely the most-requested feature from FUT fans: storage for your duplicates.

If you were worried that last night’s season finale of House of the Dragon would leave a giant Game of Thrones-shaped hole in your life, have no fear. We got a brief teaser for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a spin-off series based on the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas by George R. R. Martin, and confirmation that…

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