Technologies

Game Awards 2022: Start Times and How to Watch

This year’s award show is expected to be shorter than in the past.

The Game Awards is the annual award show bringing together the biggest companies in gaming and honoring the year’s best titles. The ceremony, hosted by Geoff Keighleylater this week, showcases plenty of trailers and announcements for upcoming titles, keeping the show from being a stodgy suit-and-tie affair. This year’s award show will also be «significantly shorter» than in the past.

Game of the Year nominees include God of War: Ragnarök, Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Stray and A Plague Tale: Requiem. We also know that we’ll get more information on Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Tekken 8, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Sky: Children of the Light, a new game from Jenova Chen, the mind behind 2012’s Journey. Presenters will include HBO’s The Last of Us’ Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, Final Fantasy VXI producer Naoki «Yoshi-P» Yoshida and Animal from The Muppets.

How to watch The Game Awards 2022 on YouTube, Twitch and everywhere else

The 2022 Game Awards will be broadcast from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday starting at 4:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 a.m. GMT. It will stream live on every major platform, including:

YouTube in 4K
Twitch
Twitter
Facebook Live
Steam
Oculus Venues
IGN
GameSpot
TikTok Live
Trovo
Instagram Live.

Select IMAX theaters will also showcase The Game Awards, giving fans not in Los Angeles a premium experience. Those in Los Angeles who want to go see the show live are out of luck as tickets are no longer available for purchase.

What announcements to expect at The Game Awards 2022

Past Game Awards have given us glimpses at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Death Stranding and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. This year, fans can expect a new game from publisher 505 Games and Fortnite maker Epic Games. A teaser site is live that showcases the fictional beach side town of Rockay City.

Other than that, not much more has been teased. But if previous years are any indication, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see at least one heavy-hitter from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. A new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom would surely get people excited, as would Alan Wake II, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Dead Space and the new Korean title Stellar Blade.

The Game Awards 2022 Nominees

This year’s nominees can be found throughout 31 categories, with everything from best game direction to best esports event. Obviously, game of the year is the most anticipated award, but best narrative, art direction, score and music, character performance, and indie will surely get lots of attention. Below is a list of every game nominated.

Game of the Year

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

Best Game Direction

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Immortality (Half Mermaid)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Best Narrative

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Immortality (Half Mermaid)

Best Art Direction

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Scorn (Ebb Software/Kepler Interactive)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)

Best Score and Music

Olivier Deriviere, A Plague Tale: Requiem
Tsukasa Saitoh, Elden Ring
Bear McCreary, God of War Ragnarök
Two Feathers, Metal: Hellsinger
Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Best Audio Design

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)

Best Performance

Ashly Burch, Horizon Forbidden West
Charlotte McBurney, A Plague Tale: Requiem
Christopher Judge, God of War Ragnarök
Manon Gage, Immortality
Sunny Suljic, God of War Ragnarök

Games for Impact

A Memoir Blue (Cloisters Interactive/Annapurna)
As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)
Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over The Age/Fellow Traveller)
Endling – Extinction is Forever (Herobeat Studios/HandyGames)
Hindsight (Team Hindsight/Annapurna)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games/Finji)

Best Ongoing Game

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
FINAL FANTASY XIV (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Genshin Impact (HoYoverse)

Best Indie

Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster / Devolver Digital)
Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)
Sifu (Sloclap)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team/Finji)

Best Debut Indie

Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna Interactive)
NORCO (Geography of Robots/Raw Fury)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team/Finji)
Vampire Survivors (poncle)

Best Community Support

Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
Destiny 2 (Bungie)
FINAL FANTASY XIV (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)

Best Mobile

Apex Legends Mobile (Lightspeed & Quantum/Respawn/EA)
Diablo Immortal (Blizzard/NetEase)
Genshin Impact (HoYovese)
MARVEL SNAP (Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse)
Tower of Fantasy (Hotta Studio/Perfect World/Level Infinite)

Best VR/AR

After the Fall (Vertigo Games)
Among Us VR (Schell Games/InnerSloth)
BONELAB (Stress Level Zero)
Moss: Book II (Polyarc)
Red Matter 2 (Vertical Robot)

Best Action

Bayonetta 3 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
Neon White (Angel Matrix/Annapurna)
Sifu (Sloclap)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

Best Action/Adventure

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games/SIE)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team/Finji)

Best Role Playing

Elden Ring (FromSoftware/Bandai Namco)
Live a Live (Square Enix/Nintendo)
Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Game Freak/Nintendo/TPCI)
Triangle Strategy (Artdink/Square Enix)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft/Nintendo)

Best Fighting

DNF Duel (Arc System Works/EIGHTING/NEOPLE/NEXON)
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (CyberConnect 2 Co. Ltd/Bandai Namco)
The King of Fighters XV (SNK/Plaion)
MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
Sifu (Sloclap)

Best Family

Kirby and the Forgotten Land (HAL Laboratory / Nintendo)
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Traveller’s Tales/WB Games)
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)
Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Best Sim/Strategy

Dune: Spice Wars (Shiro Games/Funcom)
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft Milan/Paris/Ubisoft)
Total War: WARHAMMER III (Creative Assembly/Sega)
Two Point Campus (Two Point Studios/Sega)
Victoria 3 (Paradox Development Studio/Paradox Interactive)

Best Sports/Racing

F1 22 (Codemasters/EA Sports)
FIFA 23 (EA Vancouver/Romania/EA Sports)
NBA 2K23 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital/SIE)
OlliOlli World (Roll 7/Private Division)

Best Multiplayer

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward/Activision)
MultiVersus (Player First Games/WB Games)
Overwatch 2 (Blizzard)
Splatoon 3 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games/Dotemu)

Most Anticipated

FINAL FANTASY XVI (Square Enix)
Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software/WB Games)
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)

Content Creator of the Year

Karl Jacobs
Ludwig
Nibellion
Nobru
QTCinderella

Best Adaptation

Arcane: League of Legends (Fortiche/Riot Games/Netflix)
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (Studio Trigger/CD Projekt, Netflix)
The Cuphead Show! (Studio MDHR/King Features Syndicate/Netflix)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Sammy Group/Paramount Pictures)
Uncharted (PlayStation Productions/Sony Pictures)

Innovation in Accessibility

As Dusk Falls (Interior Night/Xbox Game Studios)
God of War Ragnarök (Sony Santa Monica/SIE)
Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox/Devolver Digital)
The Last Of Us Part I (Naughty Dog/SIE)
The Quarry (Supermassive Games/2K)

Best Esports Game

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
DOTA 2 (Valve)
League of Legends (Riot Games)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
VALORANT (Riot Games)

Best Esports Athlete

Jeong «Chovy» Ji-hoon (Gen.G, LOL)
Lee «Faker» Sang-hyeok (T1, LOL)
Finn «karrigan» Andersen (FaZe Clan – CS:GO)
Oleksandr «s1mple» Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
Jacob «Yay» Whiteaker (Cloud9, Valorant)

Best Esports Team

DarkZero Esports (Apex Legends)
FaZe Clan (CS:GO)
Gen.G (League of Legends)
LA Thieves (Call of Duty)
LOUD (Valorant)

Best Esports Coach

Andrii «B1ad3» Horodenskyi (Natus Vincere, CS:GO)
Matheus «bzkA» Tarasconi (LOUD, VALORANT)
Erik «d00mbr0s» Sandgren (FPX, VALORANT)
Robert «RobbaN» Dahlström (FaZe Clan, CS:GO)
Go «Score» Dong-bin (Gen.G, LOL)

Best Esports Event

EVO 2022
2022 League of Legends World Championship
PGL Major Antwerp 2022
The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational
VALORANT Champions 2022

Technologies

Apple Reportedly Planning Cheaper Macs to Compete With Budget Chromebooks, PCs

Apple doesn’t market its machines as affordable, but that could be changing.

Apple may release more affordable Mac laptops to compete with Chromebooks and budget-friendly Windows laptops as early as 2026.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports the company has plans to roll out a machine for «well under $1,000.» According to Gurman, the new laptop is already in early production under the codename J700. This matches earlier rumors that a low-cost MacBook Air was in the pipeline at around $599, which would allow Apple to directly compete with other cheap laptops, including Chromebooks and Windows PCs.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

According to the report, costs will be kept down by using a lower-end LCD that’s smaller than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air, potentially making the new affordable MacBook as small as 12 inches.

Another way Apple could reduce the cost is by using an A-series iPhone chip, which falls short of the top-tier performance offered by the MacBook Pro or the current M4 Air. The upcoming chip may be a variant of the A19 Pro chip that debuted with the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air, which Apple says is capable of MacBook-level performance.

As CNET senior editor Matt Elliott noted, the promise is a bold one. He speculates that the rumored $599 MacBook Air may get the same smartphone processor, or an M-series chip based on that architecture.

Bloomberg also reports that a MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro and M5 Max chip is in development, and Apple has completed work on a MacBook Air powered by the M5 chip, which is planned for release early next year.

The affordable laptop would be designed for casual users, students and businesses, specifically individuals who need a device for tasks such as web browsing, light media editing and document creation. The tech giant is also targeting the education market, as well as iPad buyers who may also want a traditional laptop.

«If this is strictly a move to entice consumers with a high-quality, lower-cost MacBook running MacOS in place of an iPad with a keyboard, then yes, Apple can likely take a chunk of that market,» said Josh Goldman, managing editor at CNET.

«Making inroads into the education market at this point, where Chromebooks have taken over since the pandemic, will prove challenging, though I’m sure it’s nothing that throwing billions of dollars at can’t fix,» CNET’s Goldman said.

This price range is ‘a big departure’

Price is likely to be key here. A $599 price tag would place the new Mac in the same range as more affordable Chromebooks and entry-level laptops, representing a significant change from Apple’s previous strategy.

«Apple potentially dipping into the Chromebook range of $300 to $500 with a new MacBook is a big departure,» said Goldman.

He notes that one of Apple’s most affordable MacBooks is the M4 MacBook Air, available new starting at $999 for the 13-inch model. Walmart still sells a new M1 MacBook Air, a 5-year-old laptop, for around $600.

By contrast, an iPad 11th Gen with a Magic Keyboard will run you around $600, making it clear that Apple’s target market for the rumored device is students and lighter users.

Apple typically hasn’t targeted the lower-priced segment of the market with its MacBooks. However, with consumer wallets under pressure from inflation, high tariffs and layoffs, an affordable MacBook could be imperative and timely.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 5, #408

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Nov. 5, No. 408.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is pretty diverse. The blue answers stuck out to me right away, because some of them are super famous and the others felt like they belonged with those names. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: How to see a game.

Green group hint: Soccer.

Blue group hint: Giddy up!

Purple group hint: Not a run play.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Ways to consume a sporting event.

Green group: NWSL teams.

Blue group: Triple Crown horse racing winners.

Purple group: Pass ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is ways to consume a sporting event. The four answers are in person, radio, streaming and television.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is NWSL teams. The four answers are Current, Dash, Pride and Spirit.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Triple Crown horse racing winners. The four answers are Citation, Gallant Fox, Omaha and Secretariat.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is pass ____. The four answers are breakup, interference, protection and rush.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 5, #878

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Nov. 5, #878.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a diverse mix of topics, including a neat blue category that music fans will ace. And it isn’t too tough, but if you need help, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Mess up.

Green group hint: Lead pipe is another one.

Blue group hint: They command the stage.

Purple group hint: Not snow, but …