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Riot urges ‘League of Legends’ pros to keep quiet on ‘sensitive’ issues

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The company further argued that statements on its platforms could “escalate” already tense situations, putting fans and Riot staff in danger.

The position isn’t likely to assuage critics. People (including US senators) have already accused Blizzard of caving in to Chinese censorship in order to avoid angering the Communist Party and lose business — Riot’s policy won’t do anything to allay suspicions it’s doing the same. This isn’t helped by Riot’s Chinese ownership. While Tencent has stakes in a number of companies, including Activision Blizzard and political speech defender Epic Games, it has complete ownership of Riot. In theory, Tencent might feel pressured to silence mentions of Hong Kong protests lest it face retaliation at home.

There’s the risk of a backlash as a result. Blizzard faced an almost immediate uproar over its ban, both online and among its own employees. Riot may not have banned anyone as of this writing, but gamers might see it as just a matter of time and object in a similar fashion.

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eBay and Stripe pull out of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency

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“We highly respect the vision of the Libra Association; however, eBay has made the decision to not move forward as a founding member,” eBay said in a statement. “At this time, we are focused on rolling out eBay’s managed payments experience for our customers.”

“Stripe is supportive of projects that aim to make online commerce more accessible for people around the world.,” Stripe told the FT. Libra has this potential. We will follow its progress closely and remain open to working with the Libra Association at a later stage.”

PayPal dropped its support for Libra last week. Visa and Mastercard are reportedly reconsidering whether to stay involved.

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Google, Reddit execs to speak at House hearing on internet moderation

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The hearing will also include experts from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Alliance to Counter Crime Online, Boston University and UC Berkeley.

There’s no guarantee this will lead to legislation. However, it’s entirely possible that existing laws will face a challenge from both sides of the aisle. Democrats like Beto O’Rourke have argued that internet firms should lose immunity if they “knowingly promote” speech that fosters hate and violence. At the same time, Republicans like Josh Hawley have promoted legislation that would strip large sites of immunity if they demonstrate political bias.

Google and Reddit, meanwhile, are likely to fight back. The Internet Association (of which Google and Reddit are members) has argued that conditional safe harbor would force companies to make an “impossible choice” between hosting vile speech and losing the ability to moderate illegal material like extremism. In other words, they’ll likely use the hearing to defend Section 230 and otherwise protect the status quo.

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The follow-up to ‘Band of Brothers’ is coming to Apple TV+

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This time around, the source material comes from historian Donald Miller’s book of the same name. Masters of the Air documents the contributions of airmen from the 8th Air Force during World War II. The 8th Air Force was the largest of the air components the US army deployed in western Europe. It took part in both the invasion of Normandy and the bombing of Dresden. Spielberg and Hanks had been trying to adapt Masters of the Air with HBO since at least 2013. According to Variety, John Orloff, who worked on Band of Brothers (he penned the series’ emotional “Why We Fight” episode) is writing the script for Masters of the Air.

Notably, after House of Cards, this marks the second major series HBO has lost to one of its streaming competitors, though this one comes as less of a surprise since Apple and Spielberg were already working together on Amazing Stories. Apple TV+ will launch on November 1st with a $4.99 per month price tag.

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The next ‘Fortnite’ season might finally include a new map

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To start, code inside the game’s 10.30 release has alluded to 12 brand new points of interest, such as Camp Cod, Power Plant and Weeping Woods. That’s many more than you’d get with an update to the existing map. Moreover, Epic has dropped some not-so-subtle clues that the next season will involve a dramatic change. A big in-game event slated for October 13th is described simply as “The End,” and the last loading screen of the season shows players waving farewell to the battle bus. Large changes are afoot, and it’s just a question of what they’ll look like when they arrive.

If there is a new map, there’s an unanswered question: will it replace the existing map, or supplement it? Other battle royale titles have taken different approaches, such as rotating maps (PUBG) or defaulting to the new map (Apex). Multiple maps would improve variety, but would also be more challenging to maintain and might disappoint those who only occasionally get to play favorites. If nothing else, there’s a good chance you’ll have to rethink play strategies you’ve known for ages.



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Bandai Namco discounts its Switch library until October 21st

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Anime fans will want to check out Dragon Ball FighterZ, which is a critically-acclaimed 2.5D fighter. The game was developed by Arc System Works, the studio responsible for classic fighters like Guilty Gear and Fist of the North Star.

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition may appeal to JRPG players, and its 45+ hours of gameplay mean you won’t run out of sidequests during your travels. The HD remake of the last-gen game includes content previously exclusive to the Japanese PS3 version. While the Tales series isn’t as popular as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, it’s been going strong since its debut on Nintendo’s Super Famicom in 1995.

Offbeat games Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun and Katamari Damacy REROLL are worthy of a purchase, too. Taiko no Tatsujin appeared on the PS2 in 2005 as Taiko Drum Master and came with a plastic drum accessory and giant drumsticks. The Switch version uses motion controls to imitate drumming along to catchy J-pop, video game and traditional songs. Katamari Damacy needs no introduction, but it’s remake, REROLL is a perfect time-killer for the Switch. Plus, it has a fun multiplayer mode that will keep you and your traveling partners occupied.

These are full-sized games, so make sure you have a microSD card on hand so you don’t run out of internal storage on your Switch. And if you’ve been on the fence about grabbing a Switch, we’re quite impressed with the new Switch Lite, which comes in a smaller, more colorful and more affordable form factor.

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Is macOS Catalina Apple’s Vista?

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MacOS Catalina is here, and it’s… kind of a mess. In this episode, Devindra and Cherlynn are joined by Engadget Editor-in-Chief Dana Wollman to discuss Apple’s latest desktop OS. The big question: Is Catalina Apple’s Vista? (Pro-tip: Don’t rush to upgrade.) We also ponder what Google will show off at next week’s Pixel event; chat about PG&E’s widespread power outages in California; and dive into the weirdness of Andy’s Rubin’s latest Essential phone, Project Gem.

Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Credits
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Terrence O’Brien

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Samsung will gladly help you check if your OLED TV has burn-in

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Its YouTube video points out the types of visual vomit you should be on the lookout for when checking for burn-in (discoloration of pixels caused by static images). It includes a 10-second static display of red that fills the TV and should make burnt-in parts of the screen more obvious.

The OLED burn-in issue’s not quite so clear-cut in practice or as widespread as Samsung might have you believe. Testing by Engadget editors and others has found that those displays can be pretty robust. Features such as pixel/screen shift (which moves the entire image by a pixel every now and again) and logo luminance reduction (which dims static parts of the picture, like a network logo or scorecard in a sports game) help diminish the likelihood of burn-in too.

If your screen does have burn-in, it’s likely noticeable enough without you having to look at a solid color on the TV for 10 seconds. Samsung’s also more than happy to sell you one of its QLED screens it claims are free from the burn-in blight. It’s had its own troubles with OLED displays elsewhere though — it used that tech in its Galaxy Fold screens.

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Nintendo’s reimagined ‘Brain Training’ for Switch is coming to Europe

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Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training is a revival of Nintendo’s Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, which launched on the original DS in 2005. The game used a variety of math, logic, and reflex exercises to determine the player’s “brain age”; if your brain is sharp, your brain age could be substantially lower than your actual age. The game’s mascot was a low-poly, floating head of neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima, who would guide the player through each exercise. Kawashima-san will be returning in the Switch update, which is sure to please longtime fans.

Brain Age utilized the DS’ touch screen and stylus for most gameplay; the player was actually prompted to hold the DS sideways, like an open book, while playing. The Switch version of the game will also use a stylus for some exercises; the official accessory will retail for about $8 when it launches in Japan. Most mini-games will use a combination of a wireless Joy-Con and a stylus or finger. That means Switch Lite owners will have to purchase a separate Joy-Con in order to play some specific exercises. This could rub some gamers the wrong way. One of the benefits of the Switch Lite is that it’s $100 cheaper than a standard Switch. But a Joy-Con costs $50, cutting the cost benefit in half — and that’s without adding in the cost of a Joy-Con charger.

While there have been a handful of studies on the effects of these exercises, their efficacy isn’t thoroughly backed up by science. Regardless, the games are a fun way to keep your math skills sharp, especially for adults who don’t have to do homework anymore. We’ve reached out to Nintendo of America to see if the company had any info on a US release, but the company said it has nothing to announce at this time.

Update, 10/11/19, 4:10PM ET: This post has been updated with details that Nintendo of America has no announcement to make.

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Alexa can now speak Spanish in the US

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Echo and Alexa Built-In devices also support a new Spanish voice, and developers can build new skills for Spanish speaking users. Amazon Music listeners in the US can ask Alexa for new Latin music playlists in Spanish, too.

We knew these changes were coming, but that doesn’t make them any less significant. The US has the second largest concentration of Spanish speakers in the world next to Mexico — a total of 48.6 million. Though, Google Assistant and Siri both speak Spanish (and several other languages), so Amazon is playing catch up on a pretty important capability.

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