You won’t have to resort to conventional TV to keep tabs on the 2022 World Cup. Fox Sports has confirmed it will stream all 64 World Cup matches live through its app. The first match takes place November 21st, when Netherlands and Senegal square off at 5AM Eastern, but you’ll have to wait until 2PM to see the US team compete against the winner of the UEFA playoff taking place in June (either Scotland, Ukraine or Wales).
This is better coverage than you might get with conventional broadcasts. Fox proper is only airing 35 matches, and it’s placing all but one of them into three time slots (10AM, 11AM and 2PM Eastern). You’ll need FS1 to watch 27 group stage events and two round-of-16 competitions.
This won’t thrill you if you’re hoping to watch the World Cup without a significant expense. You’ll need a pay TV subscription to use the Fox Sports app. With that in mind, this could still be very useful if you’re either stuck at work or just want to see a match that normally wouldn’t get airtime.
It’s hard to believe Wii Sports came out more than 15 years ago. But to me, the strangest thing is that despite being one of the most memorable Wii games of all time, Nintendo never made a proper sequel, that is until now.
I got a chance to check out Nintendo Switch Sports ahead of its official release on April 29th, and I’m so glad it’s back. Just like the original, Switch Sports is a collection of virtual sports games that rely largely on motion controls. In other words, it’s a game best played standing up, ideally with a bunch of friends or family members.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Returning from the original are tennis and bowling, which are as fun as ever. And like all of the included sports, the game supports both online and local play (with up to four players on a single TV). And for kids who might not have been around during the first Wii Sports craze, they’re a great way to introduce motion controls. But for me, the real stars are the four new additions: soccer, volleyball, badminton and chambara.
In volleyball, there are different gestures for things like bumping, setting and blocking, and the ability to play full 2v2 matches locally is a surefire formula for instant fun. The gestures felt surprisingly natural once I got a hang of the timing, to the point where I was having flashbacks about gym class in high school. Just don’t forget to use your Joy-Con’s wrist straps, because no one wants to see a controller-shaped crack on their big screen TV after going for a spike.
Nintendo
Soccer takes a slightly different approach because, for now, it relies on controller inputs rather than wildly flailing around, which means it plays more like Rocket League than actual soccer. There’s even a jumping headbutt command that’s tricky to land, but is extremely satisfying when you do.
That said, in the shootout mode, you can attach a Joy-Con to your preferred kicking limb using Nintendo’s leg strap. The strap comes included in the $50 physical version of the game, but is also available separately for $10 if you opt for the $40 digital edition. It’s the same strap that comes with Ring Fit Adventure, so if you already have that you don’t need to buy another.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
I found nailing the timing in shoot-out mode to be the hardest out of all the games, but even when I whiffed badly, it was still a blast. And sometime later this summer, Nintendo is going to release a free update that will add motion-kicking controls to the main soccer mode.
Meanwhile, chambara lets you live out all your sword-fighting dreams. It’s frantic, while still rewarding fast reactions on defense. You can hold your Joycon vertically, horizontally, or diagonally to block incoming strikes, and if you’re successful, you can get in a free riposte while your opponent is dazed.
Or you can just do what I did and pretend your Taz from Looney Tunes and try to overwhelm your opponent with a flurry of swings which, pro tip, doesn’t really work. The goal is to knock your opponent off the platform into the water below, which can take as little as one or two hits in later rounds. There are even charge and twin sword modes to spice up the action, but I didn’t get to try those out, which is probably a good thing because the standard mode is hectic enough.
Nintendo
Finally, there’s my absolute favorite of the bunch: badminton. It feels twice as fast as tennis, and even though I only played one match, it might have been the most fun workout I’ve had in weeks. Rallies are frenetic, and if you can make your opponent flub their timing, you’ll be rewarded with a soft lob (denoted by a wobbly birdie) that you can smash back with extra aggression. There’s even a command for doing a drop shot, which adds a nice bit of strategy.
For those thinking about becoming Switch Sports pros, there’s an online competitive mode that lets you rank up as you develop your skills. Bowling also gets a special survival mode that pits 16 players against each other simultaneously. And in the fall, Nintendo is going to push out a second free update that brings golf back to the mix.
Honestly, Switch Sports is so engaging my only question is why something like this wasn’t available at the Switch’s launch in 2017. 1-2 Switch was fine, but it often felt more like a tech demo than a collection of party games. And it didn’t really have the replayability or the pickup-and-play appeal Wii Sports provided. But no matter, a proper sequel is gonna be here soon, and from what I’ve played so far, it’s going to be even better than the original.
Microsoft and 343 Industries have revealed that season two of Halo Infinite will get underway on May 3rd. The season, which is called Lone Wolves, will herald the arrival of fresh arena and Big Team Battle maps, more modes (including Land Grab and free-for-all elimination in Last Spartan Standing) and limited-time events. There’ll also be a new battle pass that won’t expire and a slew of other updates.
What’s more, fans will need to be a bit more patient for the arrival of the long-awaited campaign co-op mode. That was originally supposed to be available at the start of season two. It will emerge sometime later in the season. Forge mode, which allows players to create custom games with map modifiers and unique rules, is still slated to arrive in season three. At least players will have new maps to learn and more game modes to master in the meantime.
Everyone has their own approach to playing Wordle. Some methods are arguably better than others. But what if a computer could help players perfect their gameplay? The New York Times just unveiled WordleBot, an optional feature that breaks down a completed game and reveals what players could have done to play more efficiently. We’ve all had rounds of Wordle where we’ve finally landed the winning word on the fifth try or were stumped completely. For those less than stellar attempts, WordleBot is likely to be a useful post-mortem.
Players also receive a score between 0 to 100 on luck and efficiency. This will likely up the ante amongst families or friend groups who compete to solve each game in the fewest tries possible. WordleBot also reveals how each player’s score stacks up against others. Given the annoying Twitter craze of players posting Wordle scores in order to see how they measure up against others (or humblebrag), there’s no doubt a need for this. WordleBot’s ratings are also a useful measure of whether a game was particularly hard, run-of-the-mill or unusually easy.
In a Q&A, the NYT gave a simple explanation of how WordleBot works: “Every Wordle game starts with one of 2,309 possible solutions as the hidden word. At each turn, WordleBot chooses the word that will allow it to solve the game in as few steps as possible, assuming any of the remaining solutions are equally likely.”
For many players, WordleBot may simply be more information than they need. Especially if Wordle is just meant to be a fun distraction. But hardcore Wordle players or those who feel their gameplay has stagnated are likely to welcome the new feature. WordleBot could also bring back former players who want to know how much of their success was due to good gameplay — or just a lot of luck.
Amazon’s Prime Video will stream New York Yankees games for in-market customers during the 2022 Major League Baseball (MLB) season. The first game, scheduled on April 22nd, is between the Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians. The streaming platform will air a total of 21 games in total, with 19 of them scheduled on Friday nights. The games will only be available to Prime members in New York state, Connecticut, north and central New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania.
Amazon began simulcasting Yankees games on Prime Video shortly after it bought the Yankees Entertainment Sports Network (YES). While this is the third consecutive year Amazon has done this, it’s the first year that this selection of Yankees games will only air on Prime Video. Meaning that fans won’t be able to find the game on a broadcast station, the YES network or any other service.
MLB has gotten pretty cozy with streaming platforms as of late. Peacock will air a total of 18 exclusive Sunday morning baseball games in May, beginning with a matchup between the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox on May 8th. Apple TV+ will also begin streaming live Friday night MLB games this year, beginning with a contest between the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals on April 8th. The game will be exclusive to Apple TV+, but will also be available to non-subscribers for free (they’ll just need to download the Apple TV+ app).
Not everyone is a fan of the new union between streaming platforms and baseball. Baseball fans who have already paid for MLB TV or satellite TV likely won’t be happy about paying for a new streaming service just so they won’t miss a game. While games on Apple TV+ will have no geographic restrictions and be free to anyone with internet access, it’s obviously a ploy on Apple’s part to expand its subscriber base. And with games scattered across a number of different services — baseball season this year is likely to get confusing.
Myst, the classic puzzle game, is getting a unusual new lease of life. Developer Cyan Inc. has teamed up with Mighty Coconut to create a Myst-themed expansion for the latter’s VR game, Walkabout Mini Golf. The DLC will be released this fall and it’ll be available on Meta Quest, Steam VR and “and forthcoming VR platforms.”
We’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with the awesome folks at @Mighty_Coconut to develop Walkabout Mini Golf: Myst- a DLC for their game which will be released later this year! 🧵 pic.twitter.com/5iU73Pgfgh
Mighty Coconut says the expansion will be a 36-hole course with 18 easy and 18 hard-mode holes. It claims the DLC will blend realistic physics with “iconic settings, objects, and the spirit of puzzles from the Myst saga.” You’ll be able to play through the Myst course solo or with up to four other players as you hunt for 18 lost balls, take on a scavenger expedition and try to collect a commemorative putter.
Myst, which was released in 1993, was the best-selling PC game of the 20th century. Players were prompted to explore an island, solve puzzles and put together the pieces of the story. It’s one of the most influential games of all time and its impact can still be felt in modern titles like The Outer Wilds. Although a Myst remake came out not too long ago, it’s neat to see Mighty Coconut paying tribute to its legacy, albeit in an entirely unexpected fashion.
The OpenAI consortium has unveiled the next iteration of DALL·E, a multimodal AI that could generate rudimental, low-res images from a text-based prompt. This time around, the system is capable of generating images at higher resolution and with lower latency than the original. They’re also eminently more shareable and impressive — check the AI’s Instagram account right here.
OpenAI
DALL·E 2 uses OpenAI’s CLIP image recognition system and adds the ability for users to edit the results. They can now select and edit areas of existing images, add or remove elements, mash together two images into a single collage and generate further variations of an existing image. What’s more, the output images are 1,024 pixel squares, up from the 256 x 256-pixel canvases generated by the original version. Unlike the first, which anybody could play with on the OpenAI website, this new version is currently limited to vetted partners who are also constrained in their uploads and creations. The consortium is trying to keep it all family-friendly, too.
Anyone interested in collaborating with DALL·E 2 can register for the waitlist here.
The connected camera is a simple but persistent workout monitor.
Engadget
Peloton’s Guide, a $295 movement-tracking camera that brings strength training to the company’s fitness offering, is finally available to purchase. Before you do that, check out some early first impressions. For people like me, who loathe cardio, it could be a high-tech way to add some scrutiny and guidance to your bodyweight (and weight-lifting) workouts. Expect the detailed, polished interface of a Peloton product, even if I wish the Guide could share a little more, well, guidance.
Fifty women in eight jurisdictions called the cops about unwanted trackers.
A report from Motherboard, based on police data, suggests that bad actors are using Apple’s AirTag to track people without their consent. Motherboard received 150 reports from eight police departments and found that, in 50 cases, women called the cops after receiving notifications suggesting someone was tracking them with an AirTag or they heard the device chiming. Half of those women suspected the tags were planted in their car by a man they knew, such as a current or former romantic partner or their boss.
On November 1st, 1946, the Toronto Huskies and New York Knicks played what is now considered the first game in NBA history. With the league celebrating its 75th birthday this season, ESPN took fans down memory lane, with ESPN2 broadcasting an alternative presentation of the game with in-game graphics from past NBA broadcasts. These spanned 1960s on ABC, the 1970s and 1980s on CBS and the 1990s on NBC, each represented during the game with graphics changing between quarters.
PitchCom could prevent opposing teams from stealing signs.
Baseball catchers have long signaled pitches with their fingers, but that could soon become a thing of the past in the big leagues. Major League Baseball has approved a system for catchers to send directions to their pitchers electronically. The PitchCom system centers around a sleeve catchers wear on their forearm. They can press buttons to identify the pitch type and location. The pitcher hears the call through a bone-conduction listening device. The channels are encrypted and teams can program codewords to replace terms like “fastball” or “curveball.” It all sounds delightfully espionage heavy. I love it.
PitchCom will be optional, and teams can still use traditional hand signals if they wish. However, according to AP, around half of MLB teams have expressed interest in using the new system.
The AnkerMake M5 is the company’s first 3D printer, and Anker claims the M5 should prototype creations faster, while also offering a slower, smoother finish when needed.
The AnkerMake M5 has a basic print speed of 250 mm/s² for more detailed projects that need a smooth finish. However, the printer also has a much speedier mode that hits 2,500 mm/s². The end result is rougher and less detailed, but Anker says it enables the M5 to reduce average print times by up to 70 percent compared to other printers. The company isn’t entirely on board: For now, it’s a Kickstarter project, and you can back it for an early bird price of $429. After that, you’ll have to pledge at least $499 to grab the printer.
TAG Heuer was virtually certain to follow up its Connected Calibre E4 smartwatch with a version for golf enthusiasts, and it’s now clear you didn’t have to wait long. The watchmaker has introduced a Calibre E4 Golf Edition that melds the updated wristwear with some matching upgrades to your experience on the fairway. Most notably, the brand has overhauled the on-watch map interface to show more of the course and your game, including the distances for the target and tracking shot.
You can also expect automatic shot tracking when you swing at the tee — the feature will eventually come to the Apple Watch app, but it’s worth noting if you’re determined to perfect your drive. If you pair with an iPhone, you can also use TAG Heuer’s iOS app to share 3D videos of your best shots. Like you’d expect, the Golf Edition E4 has its share of game-inspired faces and a strap that not-so-subtly mimics the dimples on your ball.
This is otherwise the titanium 45mm Calibre E4 introduced in February, although that’s plenty if you want a reasonably current Wear OS watch. You’ll find a Snapdragon Wear 4100+ chip that promises both faster performance and 30 percent more battery life than previous models. An altimeter will help with your hiking trips, and the brighter screen will help on sunny golfing days. TAG Heuer should upgrade the watch to Wear OS 3 when it’s available.
The Connected Calibre E4 Golf Edition will be available this month for $2,650 with three Titleist balls and a spare marker in the box. That’s more than the regular titanium E4 ($2,550) and well above the $1,800 ‘entry’ price for the watch range. But let’s be honest: if you’re even considering a TAG Heuer smartwatch and already devote your weekends to golf, you can likely afford to pay the premium for this variant.
You can already play Mario Golf on the Switch thanks to Super Rush, but soon you’ll also be able to play the original game that started the series if you’re feeling nostalgic. Nintendo is giving Switch Online subscribers paying extra for the Expansion Pack tier access to the first Mario Golf published in 1999.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 7, 2022
The Nintendo 64 game lets you choose from characters that include Mario, his friends and allies, as well as his enemies, and play golf on Mario-themed courses. It has several gameplay modes, such as Tournament, Speed Golf and Mini Golf, though it was developed to be easy to play, even for kids.
Nintendo launched the Switch Online Expansion Pack in October 2021 as a higher tier subscription that costs $50 a year. That’s $30 more than an individual basic subscription, but it will give you access to classic N64 and Sega Genesis games. The basic subscription only includes access to Nintendo’s NES and SNES titles.
While the gaming giant launched the service with a limited number of games, it has added quite a few more since then. They include the original Paper Mario, Banjo-Kazooie and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Nintendo has also rolled out some improvement updates that fix several emulation issues plaguing the service since its debut, such as bad input lag.
The original Mario Golf will be available to Expansion Pack members on April 15th.
Major League Baseball and NBCUniversal’s Peacock have reached a deal that will see 18 games throughout the 2022-23 season broadcast on the streaming service, per the latter’s tweet Thursday.
The listed Sunday games will start between 11:30 am and noon ET, earlier than they would have in the past (sorry West Coast), so as to minimize interference with the Sunday afternoon games that start at 1 pm ET. The MLB already has an existing partnership with ESPN for the broadcast rights to Sunday Night Baseball. The SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game will reportedly be a Peacock exclusive this season was well.
Though the details of the arrangement have not yet formally been announced, Forbes reported in March that this will likely be a two-year deal worth $30 million annually, available only on Peacock’s premium $10-a-month tier and exclusive, in that only local market viewers will be able to watch without ponying up for a subscription — at least for that month the game you want to watch is airing. Additionally, MLB has struck a deal with Apple TV+ to broadcast its Friday Night Doubleheaders, those games start at 7pm ET, just like ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball matchups.
All of this broadcast hodgepodge is in addition to the MLB’s existing MLB.TV streaming service as well as a rumored “national service” that would purportedly eliminate local blackouts for streamers and attract fans from among cord-cutters. In all, the MLB’s national media deals will total $1.96 billion this season, a 26 percent increase from last year, per Forbes. So if you want to watch out-of-market baseball this year, you’d better have your password list and debit card ready.
