Technologies

The Game Awards: Start Times, How to Watch, Nominees, Everything You Need to Know

Expect a shorter show this time around.

The Game Awards is an annual show that brings together the biggest names in gaming to honor the year’s best titles. The ceremony, hosted by Geoff Keighleylater this week, is also an excuse to showcase 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

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Sept. 20 #566

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Sept. 20, No. 566.

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

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be a puzzler. Some of the answers are long and a bit tough to unscramble. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Dire straits.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Oh no! Get me out of here!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

PICK, PIED, DIRT, DIRE, MANE, MILE, MAIL, MALE, DAME, FRET, MACE, RENT

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

PICKLE, MESS, MUDDLE, DILEMMA, QUANDRY, PREDICAMENT

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is INAFIX. To find it, look for the I that’s four letters down on the far left, and wind up.

Technologies

Microsoft Is Hiking Xbox Series Console Prices Again. Here’s What You’ll Pay This Fall

Gaming is getting more and more expensive due to tariffs.

Microsoft will increase the prices of its Xbox Series consoles once again in October. This latest increase comes just five months after it raised prices due to tariffs.

An Xbox support page notes the upcoming price increase happening on Oct. 3, as first reported by Windows Central on Friday. Console costs will jump $20 to $70, depending on the version.

The new prices are:

Xbox Series S 512GB: $380 to $400
Xbox Series S 1TB: $430 to $450
Xbox Series X Digital: $550 to $600
Xbox Series X: $600 to $650
Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition: $730 to $800

To provide some context on the pricing, the Xbox Series S 512GB was $300 at launch, and the Xbox Series X was $500. In December 2023, the Xbox Series X went for as low as $350.

Microsoft says the price changes are «due to the changes in the macroeconomic environment.» This likely refers to the tariffs instituted by President Donald Trump, which have also caused prices to increase for other video game hardware from Nintendo and Sony.

«We are navigating an incredibly dynamic environment right now,» a company source told Windows Central. «We’ve assessed the changing macroeconomic environment and addressed the applicable impacts.»

When asked for further comment, a Microsoft spokesperson pointed CNET to the Xbox support page.

Where to get an Xbox Series X at its original price

The Xbox price hike won’t take effect until Oct. 3. Until then, you can pick up the Xbox Series consoles for the current pricing at retailers including Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart.

Technologies

The New Meta Ray-Bans Might Be Your Next Disneyland Tour Guide

Disney’s Imagineers are prototyping a virtual assistant to guide you through its theme parks via your own smart glasses.

Walt Disney Imagineering is in the early stages of prototyping a new augmented reality experience at its theme parks. This week, the team released a video showing Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses used as a personal virtual assistant inside Disneyland.

Meta is just one of the companies Disney Imagineering R&D is working with on AR. The Ray-Ban smart glasses allow Disney guests to ask questions out loud and receive real-time responses with information about rides, attractions, merchandise, food and directions.

Disney Imagineering’s R&D team has been working on early prototypes for how our AI glasses can help bring easy to access tips while in the parks, using our new Device Access Toolkit pic.twitter.com/japyanoSEh

— Jake Steinerman (@jasteinerman) September 18, 2025

The video shows a Disney cast member walking through Disneyland wearing Meta Ray-Bans. As she approaches the paddleboat attraction, she asks, «What’s that, and how can I ride it?»

«That’s the Mark Twain River Boat,» the AI-powered glasses respond instantly. «It’s nearby and you can board for a relaxing 14-minute cruise.»

She proceeds to ask, «Where can I get a gluten-free snack?» The answer is, at a snack stand nearby, with the glasses offering to check the full menu for her. She also asks whether a certain ride is appropriate for her 4-year-old, and focuses on a guest’s Porg keychain to inquire, «Where can I get one of those?» It responds by telling her it’s from a store in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge.

Another part shows the glasses suggesting activities. «Pirates of the Caribbean currently has a short wait time. Want directions?» And «Winnie the Pooh is nearby, want to meet him?»

Meta’s latest Ray-Bans were unveiled on Wednesday. The second-generation Meta smart glasses have received AI upgrades, a better battery life and an improved camera. They are available now for $379.

Augmented reality experiences have become a way for theme parks to distinguish themselves from the competition. Earlier this year, Universal opened its brand new theme park, Epic Universe, featuring a blend of immersive technology.

Disney doesn’t shy away from using the latest technology in its parks and experiences. There are wearables for park and hotel room entry, new Haunted Mansion illusions and apps for checking ride wait times or voting for that evening’s nighttime entertainment. Let’s not forget the latest Walt Disney animatronics or Disney’s groundbreaking holotile floor, either.