ESPN is increasing its eSports coverage in a big way. The network will be airing 18 hours of eSports programming on ESPN2 and ESPNU on Sunday, July 17. This will mark the first time ESPN will air an entire eSports block on its major networks, a far cry from the days when it relegated League of Legends matches to streams on the web.
Sega Saturn fans have a problem: while the console has long supported unofficial code on CDs thanks to mod chips, that's no good if you want to use software in any other format. How will you play anything if your decades-old CD drive dies? You can rest easy after today. After years of work, enthusiast Dr. Abrasive has found a way to crack the Saturn's copy protection system and let it run software from a card with USB support. This was no mean feat, as it turns out -- the Saturn has a notoriously difficult-to-read anti-copying system that isolates itself from many cracking methods.
Source: Assembler Games, Debuglive (YouTube)
Pokémon is a thing right now thanks to Pokémon Go. Niantic's AR creature-catching game is number one in both the Android and iOS app stores and it's on track to have more daily active users than Twitter thanks to an install base of 7.5 million players so far. It was impossible to go out this past weekend without being surrounded by Pokémon Go players of all stripes -- a lot of kids, sure, but plenty of adults too. Some were revisiting their childhood love of the franchise, while others were discovering it for the first time. But cute little monsters aren't the only thing Pokémon Go is their first exposure to: For many of these players, it's their first time using augmented reality. And, based on their reactions, they love it.
In the month since its release, hero shooter Overwatch has received substantial praise and increasing speculation about new characters to come. Lauded game studio Blizzard has been characteristically silent about any additions to the game, going so far to placate clamoring fans with a panel at San Diego Comic-Con to discuss their next hero. But out of nowhere, the wait is over: the studio has announced Ana, a support sniper and mother of existing character Pharah.
Source: Overwatch blog
Pokémon Go for iOS doesn't have quite as much access to your Google account as some gamers have feared, but it's clear that Niantic isn't wasting time trying to assuage your concerns. It already has an update for the rabidly popular game that narrows the iOS version's access to your Google data if you sign in using a Google account. In short, you can likely relax about your privacy while you're Pikachu-catching -- the biggest issue now is simply getting to play in the first place.
Source: App Store
The world is rife with new trainers scouring the globe for Pokémon, unable to pry themselves away from their smartphones for even a moment lest they miss out on catching 'em all in Pokémon Go. They're invading everywhere, from churches to police stations to graveyards, but there's one place that would like to see the craze come to an end, as far as it's concerned: the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
Via: The Washington Post
Warner Bros. has settled an FTC complaint accusing the company of paying YouTubers "hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars" to make positive review videos for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. FTC filed the complaint back in 2014, after the studio ran an online marketing campaign for the game. According to the the commission, Warner Bros. required (PDF) the online influencers they hired to make a video that "promote[s] positive sentiment about" Shadow of Mordor. That video should "not show bugs or glitches that may exist" and should "not communicate negative sentiment" about Warner Bros. These influencers also had to promote their videos on Facebook and Twitter. The commission didn't release a list of the YouTubers the studio paid, but it did name PewDiePie as one of them.
Via: Mashable, Ars Technica
Source: FTC