Mike Blake / Reuters

In case Epic Games’ year wasn’t already going swimmingly, the team behind battle royale juggernaut Fortnite just received a quarter-billion dollar financial infusion from Sony. For its investment, Sony will hold a minority stake in the company and given the PS5’s imminent release, it’ll be interesting to see how Sony will leverage its newfound inside access to the Unreal 5 engine.

Superhot Team

Now that your controller has finally cooled down from the last time you tried Superhot’s hyperintense gunkata action, the team behind it is back with an all-new standalone sequel. Best of all, if you already own a copy of the original, the Mind Control Delete expansion will cost you absolutely nothing. However, if this is your first foray into the franchise, you’ll have to spend $25 when it drops for the PS4, Xbox One and PC on July 16th.

TBS/EA

Twitch has pretty convincingly proven that letting people on the internet watch you play video games can be a successful and lucrative pastime. Now TBS hopes to get in on the gaming action with its upcoming reality game show, The Sims Spark’d, wherein, a dozen aspiring overlords will compete to create “the most unique characters, worlds and stories.” But where will it end? Are we destined for a future filled with SimCity 2000 showdowns or a Rollercoaster Tycoon Tournament of Champions? I really hope so.

Engadget

Now if you want to give your thumbs a rest and watch other people play games instead — especially if that game is fútbol — Peacock (NBC’s new streaming service) and CBS All access have you covered. While CBS All access will carry this year’s UEFA Champion’s League, Peacock has managed to acquire the rights to broadcast nearly 200 of next season’s EPL matches and that’s something to strut about.

Sims publisher EA worked on the series with Turner’s esports arm Eleague and BuzzFeed’s gaming division. The four-part first season of The Sims Spark’d premieres on Friday, July 17th on TBS at 11 PM ET/PT. Episodes will air weekly, and the following Monday, you’ll be able to stream them on the BuzzFeed Multiplayer YouTube channel.

Starting the same day as the show debuts, The Sims 4 players can tackle in-game tasks as part of the Spark’d Challenge Program. The top creators could win themselves an invitation to a future season of The Sims Spark’d.

However The Sims Spark’d pans out, it’s neat to see games beyond those people typically think of as competitive-focused titles effectively becoming esports and getting some TV time. We’ll have to wait and see whether any of the challenges involve the old, morbid trick of placing a Sim in a swimming pool and removing the ladder (probably not).

The idea came about after O’Brien and staff produced several short videos for social media and realized the same tech could be employed for a full show. “We have a staff that wants to work, that doesn’t want to not get paid, and you just want to keep the business going,” Conan executive producer Jeff Ross told Variety.

So far, it seems that Conan will be the first late-night show to attempt complete shows from home. Others, including Stephen Cobert and Jimmy Fallon, are airing re-runs with some original segments mixed in. It might be a bit easier for Conan to pull that off, though, because it recently became a half-hour show while the latter two run for 60 minutes each.

Still, O’Brien warned viewers to expect the worst, given the lack of a polished studio and potential for technical snafus. “The quality of my work will not go down because technically that’s not possible,” he said. “This will not be pretty, but feel free to laugh at our attempt.”

For the first time, you’ll be able to watch two games at once “during certain windows” of the tournament on Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Apple TV users still get the best version of this feature though, as you’ll still be able to stream up to four games simultaneously on that device. Sure, it’s not as good, but the fact that you can watch more than one game during the busiest days of the tournament is a definite upgrade on Fire TV and Android TV.

If you’re late tuning in, the March Madness app will give you “The Catch-Up” video that will… well, catch you up. The clip will run down “key plays or moments” that happened before you started streaming the live action. Turner is also bringing back its handy Fast Break coverage to keep you up to speed. If you prefer a live “look-in” type view of the action, Fast Break will offer highlights, analysis, commentary and more from a single stream so you don’t have to hop around to keep up with multiple games. Fast Break will only be available during the first two rounds (March 19-22), but let’s be honest: that’s the time you’ll need it most. Turner says “fan-favorite features” like close game alerts, live scores, real-time editorial content and access to radio broadcasts for all 67 games return to the March Madness app this year.

If bracket challenges are your thing, the March Madness app will integrate your picks into your viewing experience a lot more. Of course, you’ll have to fill out your bracket in the “official” Capital One NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge to take advantage, rather than on a site like ESPN or Yahoo. In certain places, the app will remind you of your picks, so you know exactly how busted your bracket is all times. The app will also display bracket challenge leaderboards and allow you to trash talk other members of your group(s).

Starting with the Sweet 16, a Path to Championship feature will “evaluate all possible bracket outcomes” at the end of each game. The app will then highlight the matchups that will have the biggest impact on your bracket challenge pool. And during the initial selection process, the March Madness app will provide over 20 stats to help you make those all-important picks.

Like previous tournaments, you’ll be able to watch all games broadcast on CBS for free on the web and mobile devices. Games are also shown on TBS, TNT and truTV, and you’ll need a TV log-in to get access to all of those inside the app on any device. As you might expect, the Final Four and national championship game are being shown on TBS, but CBS will have 21 games throughout the tournament — including the Elite 8, Sweet 16 and first and second rounds. So yes, you can watch some of the action for free, but probably not as much as you’d like.

In addition to web access, the March Madness app is available on Android, iOS and Amazon mobile devices. In the living room, it’s available on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku and Xbox. You can also get scores and updates through Alexa and Google Assistant — the latter of which is a new addition for this year. Through those voice assistants, you can hear the latest info about your picks and stream live radio broadcasts for each game. If your Alexa or Google Assistant device is a smart display, you’ll also be able to watch on-demand highlights throughout the tournament.

WarnerMedia, which owns HBO, TNT, TBS, CNN, Adult Swim and other channels, plans to launch its streaming service in 2020, with a beta version scheduled for later this year. It’s unclear which shows will get a streaming debut. The vast number of shows that now fall under WarnerMedia’s umbrella include TBS’s The Detour and Search Party, as well as Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty.

With its new streaming service, Warner is facing some stiff competition from the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime as well as Disney’s upcoming streaming service. With Game of Thrones and Veep wrapping up this year, Warner’s HBO will be losing two of its biggest hits. Adding perks — such as the chance to see shows before they air on cable — may get more viewers on board with the streaming service.