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Xbox Brought These Call of Duty and Warcraft Games to Game Pass in June

While Microsoft is adding a bunch of games to Xbox Game Pass. It’s also removed a handful of others from the service.

The Call of Duty franchise got its start as a first-person shooter set during World War II. Game Pass subscribers can now return to that war and take part in historical battles in Call of Duty: WWII.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick, offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and PC or mobile device for $20 a month. A subscription gives you access to a large library of games, with new titles, including Doom: The Dark Ages, added monthly, plus other benefits such as online multiplayer and deals on non-Game Pass titles.

Read more: Play Classic Games From the ’80s and ’90s on Xbox Game Pass Now

Here are all the games Microsoft is bringing to Game Pass soon. You can also check out all the titles the company added to the service in May, like Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Call of Duty: WWII

Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play now.

Land in Normandy on D-Day and battle across Europe in this Call of Duty game. You’ll trade in some of the more modern gadgets and guns from the Modern Warfare and Black Ops games for grease guns and classic carbines in this game from 2017. You’ll also experience the bonds of camaraderie, the unforgiving nature of war and more as you fight against the Nazis.

Warcraft 1: Remastered (PC)

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

Get ready to experience the war between orcs and humans that shook Azeroth more than 30 years ago. You decide whether to defend humanity or seek to destroy it playing this real-time strategy game. This version of the classic game features enhanced controls, widescreen battles and more updates so you can enjoy this game on modern hardware.

Warcraft 2: Remastered (PC)

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

After playing the original Warcraft game, you can hop into the sequel. You’ll captain your own fleet and explore far-off lands for this real-time strategy game that delves even further into the war between orcs and humans. This updated version includes modernized controls, new visuals and more fresh features.

Warcraft 3: Reforged (PC)

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

After playing the first and second Warcraft games, why not play the third installment? This game introduces two new races of armies to command: the Night Elves and the Undead. Build massive armies, relive epic battles and explore huge campaigns in this real-time strategy game filled with overhauled visuals and contemporary social and matchmaking features.

Star Trucker

New to Game Pass Standard.

Game Pass Ultimate subscribers have been able to play this interstellar hauling game since September, and now Game Pass Standard subscribers can enjoy it as well. Haul cargo, trade items with other truckers and explore the ultimate open road — outer space. Take the driver’s seat in a rocket-powered big rig and cruise the hyperhighways as you deliver cargo across the galaxy. Customize your rig, gossip on your CB radio with other truckers and enjoy your view of the stars.

Wildfrost

New to Game Pass Standard.

Microsoft brought this to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in January, and now the company is bringing it to Game Pass Standard customers. An endless winter has blanketed the world and to banish it, you need to build the perfect deck to battle the evil forces across the cold land. You’ll rescue and recruit frozen companions and uncover treasure in the frozen tundra. The deck you build is influenced by the path you take, so choose carefully.

Rematch

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

Tackle, dribble and score in this team-based football game (or soccer, depending on your locale). This game was designed for 5v5 online multiplayer matches where players control a single athlete. That means you’ll have to coordinate and plan with the rest of your team if you want to win. And with no player stats to give one person an advantage over another, coordination is the key to success.

Volcano Princess

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

This game is technically a social simulation game, but you can also call it a parenting game. You’re the king of the Volcano Kingdom, and after your wife dies, you have to raise your daughter alone. That means it’s up to you to ensure she has everything she needs to grow. You’ll explore new hobbies with her, show her court etiquette and watch as she grows and matures.

Against the Storm (console and cloud)

Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can play now.

You have to rebuild civilization after apocalyptic rains brought it all down in this dark fantasy city builder. But instead of focusing on helping a single city or community, in this game, you must build a network of interconnected settlements made of different races to prosper. You’ll need to figure out how to make the humans, beavers, harpies, lizards and foxes coexist, or they will all perish.

Little Nightmares 2

Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play on July 1.

«Charming» and «horror» are not usually paired together to describe anything, but those two words work nicely to talk about Little Nightmares. You play as a little boy named Mono who finds a girl locked in a basement. The two of you will work together to open trapdoors, climb huge furniture and survive the terrors of the Pale City.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play on July 1.

This one is returning to Game Pass a few months after Microsoft removed it from the service. This is the second entry in the Survival trilogy of the popular franchise, and it follows Lara Croft as she searches for the legendary city of Kitezh. You’ll use stealth and your wits to traverse environments without being noticed by enemies on Croft’s first tomb raiding expedition.

Games that left Game Pass

While Microsoft is set to add those games to Game Pass soon, the company removed six others from the service. So you will have to buy these games separately now if you need to finish your campaign or any sidequests.

For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now, read our hands-on review of the gaming service and learn which Game Pass plan is right for you. You can also check out what to know about upcoming Xbox game price hikes.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Sept. 19

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 19.

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


I didn’t get off to a great start with today’s Mini Crossword, completely blanking on 1-Across. Thankfully, the other clues were easy, and that answer filled itself in. Need some help? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Cancel on plans at the last moment
Answer: FLAKE

6A clue: Shade of light purple
Answer: LILAC

7A clue: ___ acid (protein builder)
Answer: AMINO

8A clue: Sarcastic «Yeah, sure»
Answer: IBET

9A clue: Sardonic boss on «Parks and Recreation»
Answer: RON

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Stylish panache
Answer: FLAIR

2D clue: Party game that tests how low you can go
Answer: LIMBO

3D clue: Visitor from outer space
Answer: ALIEN

4D clue: Philosopher who posed the question «What can I know?»
Answer: KANT

5D clue: Environmentally friendly prefix
Answer: ECO

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Technologies

Your Old Android Isn’t Dead. These Tweaks Can Bring It Back to Life

Clear space, optimize your battery and update the basics. These quick changes can make an old Android phone feel snappier.

You don’t need the latest Android flagship to get good performance. 

Thanks to longer software support from brands like Google and Samsung, older models can still run smoothly, as long as you give them a little attention. Clearing out unused apps, updating your software and tweaking a few settings can breathe new life into a device that feels sluggish. These quick fixes can help your phone last longer and save you from spending on an early upgrade.

Before you start shopping for a replacement, try a few simple adjustments. You might be surprised by how much faster your phone feels once you free up space, optimize battery use and turn off background drains.

Whether you use a Samsung Galaxy, Motorola or OnePlus phone, chances are you can still improve battery life and overall speed without buying something new. Just remember that Android settings vary slightly from brand to brand, so the menus may look a little different depending on your phone.

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

Settings to improve your battery life

Living with a phone that has poor battery life can be infuriating, but there are some steps you can take to maximize each charge right from the very beginning:

1. Turn off auto screen brightness or adaptive brightness and set the brightness level slider to under 50%

The brighter your screen, the more battery power it uses. 

To get to the setting, pull down the shortcut menu from the top of the screen and adjust the slider, if it’s there. Some phones may have a toggle for auto brightness in the shortcut panel; otherwise, you need to open the settings app and search for «brightness» to find the setting and turn it off.

2. Use Adaptive Battery and Battery Optimization

These features focus on learning how you use your phone, including which apps you use and when, and then optimizing the apps and the amount of battery they use. 

Some Android phones have a dedicated Battery section in the Settings app, while other phones (looking at you, Samsung) bury these settings. It’s a little different for each phone. I recommend opening your settings and searching for «battery» to find the right screen. Your phone may also have an adaptive charging setting that can monitor how quickly your phone battery charges overnight to preserve its health.

Why you should use dark mode more often

Another way to improve battery life while also helping save your eyes is to use Android’s dedicated dark mode. Any Android phone running Android 10 or newer will have a dedicated dark mode option. 

According to Google, dark mode not only reduces the strain that smartphone displays cause on our eyes but also improves battery life because it takes less power to display dark backgrounds on OLED displays (used in most flagship phones) than a white background. 

Depending on which version of Android your phone is running, and what company made your phone, you may have to dig around the settings app to find a dark mode. If your phone runs Android 10 or newer, you’ll be able to turn on system-wide dark mode. If it runs Android 9, don’t despair. Plenty of apps have their own dark mode option in the settings that you can use, whether or not you have Android 10. 

To turn it on dark mode, open the Settings app and search for Dark Mode, Dark Theme or even Night Mode (as Samsung likes to call it). I suggest using dark mode all the time, but if you’re not sure, you can always set dark mode to automatically turn on based on a schedule, say from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, or allow it to automatically switch based on your location at sunset and sunrise. 

Keep your home screen free of clutter

Planning to hit up the Google Play Store for a bunch of new Android apps? Be prepared for a lot of icon clutter on your home screen, which is where shortcuts land every time you install something.

If you don’t want that, there’s a simple way out of this: Long-press on an empty area of your home screen and tap Settings. Find the option labeled something along the lines of Add icon to Home Screen or Add new apps to Home Screen and turn it off. 

Presto! No more icons on the home screen when you install new apps. You can still add shortcuts by dragging an app’s icon out of the app drawer, but they won’t appear on your home screen unless you want them to.

Read more: Best Android Phones You Can Buy in 2024

Set up Do Not Disturb so that you can better focus

If your phone routinely spends the night on your nightstand, you probably don’t want it beeping or buzzing every time there’s a call, message or Facebook alert — especially when you’re trying to sleep. Android offers a Do Not Disturb mode that will keep the phone more or less silent during designated hours. On some phones, this is referred to as the Downtime setting or even Quiet Time.

Head to Settings > Sounds (or Notifications), then look for Do Not Disturb or a similar name. If you can’t find it, search for it using the built-in search feature in your settings.

Using the feature, you can set up a range of hours when you want to turn off the digital noise. Don’t worry, any notifications you get while Do Not Disturb is turned on will still be waiting for you when you wake up. Also, you can typically make an exception that allows repeat callers and favorite contacts’ calls to go through. Turn that on. If someone is calling you in an emergency, odds are they are going to keep trying.

Always be prepared in case you lose your phone or it’s stolen

Is there anything worse than a lost or stolen phone? Only the knowledge that you could have tracked it down if you had turned on Google’s Find My Device feature.

To prepare for a successful recovery, here’s what you need to do: Open the Settings app and then search for Find My Device. It’s usually in the Security section of the Settings app.

If you have a Samsung device, you can use Samsung’s Find My Mobile service, which is found in Settings > Biometrics and security > Find My Mobile

Once that’s enabled, you can head to android.com/find from any PC or mobile device and sign in to your account. Samsung users can visit findmymobile.samsung.com to find a lost phone. 

If you have trouble setting any of this up, be sure to read our complete guide to finding a lost Android phone.

Assuming your phone is on and online, you should be able to see its location on a map. From there, you can make it ring, lock it, set a lock screen note to tell whoever has it how to get it back to you, or, worst-case scenario, remotely wipe the whole thing.

And always keep your phone up to date

As obvious as it may seem, a simple software update could fix bugs and other issues slowing down your Android device. 

Before you download and install the latest software update, make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi, or else this won’t work.

Now, open the Settings application and type in Update. You’ll then either see Software update or System update — choose either one. Then just download the software, wait for a few minutes and install it when it’s ready. Your Android device will reboot and install the latest software update available.

There’s a lot more to learn about a new phone. Here are the best ways to boost your cell signal, and here’s a flagship phone head-to-head comparison. Plus, check out CNET’s list of the best cases for your Samsung phone. More of an Apple fan? We have tips for boosting your iPhone’s performance, too.

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Technologies

Your Pixel 10 Might Have Issues With Older Wireless Chargers

You might want to try taking the case off your phone in order to successfully charge it.

When Google introduced the Pixel 10 lineup in August, it became one of the first major Android phones to receive the Qi 2 wireless charging standard, which Google calls Pixelsnap. However, users noticed issues with wireless charging on the Pixel 10  almost immediately after its release. 

Some people are having trouble charging their phone with the new Pixelsnap charger, and others are having issues with older wireless chargers, including Google’s own Pixel Stands. The bulk of the problems happen when a case is on the phone — whether it has the magnet array or not.

I own both the first and second generation Pixel Stands and both will charge my Pixel 10 Pro XL without an issue if there’s no case on it. However, when I add a case to my phone, the problems begin. 

I have three cases for my phone, the Mous Super Thin Clear Case, the Magnetic Slim Case Fit by Grecazo, and a no-name soft TPU case. If my phone has any of those cases on and I attempt to charge it while it’s vertical, it starts to charge and then stops after a second or two, and keeps doing that. 

I can fix this for the first-generation Pixel Stand by turning the phone horizontal, but it will still charge very slowly. I can’t seem to fix it at all for the Pixel Stand 2 — vertical, horizontal, it doesn’t charge. 

Not everyone has this issue

The problem doesn’t seem to be universal. CNET editor Patrick Holland said he had no issues charging the Pixel 10 Pro during his time with it. 

A Google spokesperson told me the Pixel 10 lineup is not optimized for older Qi wireless charging standards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the phones won’t work with older wireless chargers. 

Qi 2 is backwards-compatible with older standards, but the phone’s height and charging coil placement on both the phone and the charger are still factors. If you’re having problems, you might see if removing the case helps.

The prospect of potentially needing to replace your older wireless chargers with newer ones isn’t ideal, especially if you shelled out $80 for one or both of Google’s own Pixel Stands. Still, if you want the best wireless charging speed for your brand new Pixel 10 phone, it won’t be with wireless chargers that only support older Qi standards.

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