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NFL Week 1: Biggest questions, takeaways for every game

by admin September 7, 2025

NFL NationSep 7, 2025, 04:05 PM ET
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The opening week of the 2025 NFL season is underway, and we’re already off to a wild start.

In the season opener on Thursday, the Eagles held off the Cowboys despite a lightning delay and the ejection of defensive tackle Jalen Carter before the first play from scrimmage. The action continued Friday night, when the Chargers stunned the Chiefs with a tight win in São Paulo, Brazil. And in the early window Sunday, new Colts quarterback Daniel Jones scored three total touchdowns in a blowout win over the Dolphins.

Our NFL Nation reporters are reacting to all the action, answering lingering questions coming out of each game and detailing everything else you need to know for every team. Let’s get to it.

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MIA-IND | KC-LAC | DAL-PHI

Catch up on the action: Box score | Recap

Colts

What does Sunday’s performance say about Daniel Jones’ potential? This game went exactly according to plan for Jones and the Colts. All along, coach Shane Steichen had predicted Jones would be a quick decision-maker and not force bad throws. He showed that by delivering on-time, quick throws but also utilizing timely aggressive downfield targets to Michael Pittman Jr., Tyler Warren and Alec Pierce. Jones finished 22-of-29 for 272 yards and a touchdown pass. He also added two rushing scores on goal-line sneaks, becoming the first Colts quarterback with two rushing touchdowns in a season opener.

Trend to watch: The Colts used a variety of blitzes Sunday, something the team rarely employed under former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley. But under new coordinator Lou Anarumo, the Colts got aggressive. DBs Kenny Moore II and Nick Cross recorded sacks and defensive end Laiatu Latu had an interception while dropping into coverage on a creative blitz call. Indianapolis ranked 29th in blitz rate in 2024 at 18.7%. — Stephen Holder

Next game: vs. Broncos (Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET)

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Dolphins

Where was the connection between Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill? Tagovailoa appeared out of sync with his top target, which makes sense considering he hasn’t taken live game snaps with Hill since last December. The Dolphins’ leading receiver finished with four catches for 40 yards on six targets, but 21 of those came on a single completion. Neither player seemed concerned about their cohesiveness during the week, but this performance raised eyebrows. They now have a date next week with the Patriots and coach Mike Vrabel, whose Titans teams gave Miami trouble in 2021 and 2023.

Most surprising performance: The Dolphins’ front seven is supposed to be the strength of their defense, but it failed to make an impression Sunday. Indianapolis scored on its first seven possessions, gashing the Dolphins’ defense with 156 rushing yards. Jones was also surgical whenever Miami was able to pressure him, completing 5-of-6 passes for 72 yards and a touchdown — with a whopping plus-16% completion percentage over expectation, per NFL Next Gen Stats. — Marcel Louis-Jacques

Next game: vs. Patriots (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET)

Catch up on the action: Box score | Recap

Chargers

What’s going on with right guard Mekhi Becton? Becton looked exhausted throughout Friday night’s game and spent time on the sideline receiving oxygen during offensive series. He missed three weeks of training camp practice with an undisclosed injury and came into Friday night’s game questionable with an undisclosed illness. The positive sign for the Chargers is that Becton finished the game on the field, but the number of snaps he missed was concerning.

Most surprising performance: Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston finished with five catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns, buoying the Chargers’ victory. He has been one of the Chargers’ most maligned players in his first three years, struggling to find consistency since his rookie season. Friday was a sign that he could reach the potential that made him a first-round pick in 2023. — Kris Rhim

Next game: at Raiders (Monday, 10 p.m. ET)

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0:25

Herbert’s big 1st-down run seals Chargers’ win

Justin Herbert converts a crucial 3rd-and-long and seals the Chargers’ big win over the Chiefs.

Chiefs

Will Xavier Worthy’s injury put the Chiefs’ offense back in the same predicament as last season? After his first pass of the season, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was without three of his key receivers — Rashee Rice (suspended the first six weeks), rookie Jalen Royals (knee tendonitis) and Worthy (right shoulder). If Worthy and Royals are unavailable next week, Mahomes will likely have to be a superhero again, relying primarily on tight end Travis Kelce and his improvisational skills. The one receiver who can still make a difference is Hollywood Brown, who finished last week’s game with 99 receiving yards.

Stat to know: Entering the season opener, the Chiefs had won a league-record 17 straight one-score games, including the playoffs. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was excellent in the second half, allowing his team to keep its lead despite Mahomes’ impressive rallying efforts. In the second half, Herbert completed 13 of his 16 pass attempts for 147 yards and two touchdowns. The Chiefs blitzed him often, sacking him twice, but he sealed the victory when he scrambled to his right for a 19-yard gain on a third-and-14 just before the two-minute warning. — Nate Taylor

Next game: vs. Eagles (Sunday, 4:20 p.m. ET)

Catch up on the action: Box score | Recap

Eagles

Can the secondary get things buttoned up for their Week 2 matchup against the Chiefs? The cornerback spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell was a question mark all summer and remains so after Adoree’ Jackson was flagged for a pass interference, yielded five catches for 103 yards and missed two tackles, per NFL Next Gen Stats. The outcome could have been worse if not for some critical drops by Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will have to decide whether to make the move to Jakorian Bennett, who was acquired from the Raiders in August, or stick with Jackson for the Super Bowl rematch against Patrick Mahomes.

What to make of the QB performance: Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts picked up where he left off, taking advantage of large rushing lanes to score a pair of rushing touchdowns and propel the Eagles’ offense. He now has 16 games with multiple rushing touchdowns, extending his NFL record for a QB (second is Josh Allen with 12). — Tim McManus

Next game: at Chiefs (Sunday, 4:20 p.m. ET)

Cowboys

Is there a reason to be encouraged even in a loss? Probably so, but let’s remember that an ugly win is better than a morale-serving loss. The offense has a chance to be explosive, and the young line performed much better than expected. The defense struggled at the start (123 rushing yards in the first half) but only allowed three points in the second half. Playing the defending Super Bowl champ on their celebratory night is never easy, yet the Cowboys hung with the Eagles. They opened some eyes with what they did, but they still need a win in Week 2 in a bad way.

Turning point: In games against teams like the Eagles, margins for error are slim, which is why Lamb’s drops were critical. But Miles Sanders’ fumble at the Eagles’ 9-yard line in the third quarter flipped the momentum. Sanders got the Cowboys in position to retake the lead in the third quarter with a 49-yard gain, his longest since 2020, but then he lost the ball on his next carry. On the next three possessions, the Cowboys did not make it to Eagles’ territory. — Todd Archer

Next game: vs. Giants (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET)

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September 7, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

AI Is on the Verge of Its Biggest Upgrade Yet: Emotional Intelligence

by admin September 7, 2025

In brief

Two new research papers show how AI agents can be engineered with fixed psychological archetypes or evolve emotional strategies during conversations.
Emotion boosts performance: personality priming improves consistency and believability, while adaptive emotions measurably increase negotiation success.
Advocates see more natural human–AI interactions, but critics warn of manipulation and blurred accountability as agents learn to argue, flatter, and cajole.

The dawn of emotionally intelligent agents—built for both static temperament and dynamic interaction—has arrived, if two unrelated research papers published last week are any judge.

The timing is sensitive. Almost daily, news accounts have been documenting instances where chatbots have nudged emotionally unstable users toward harming themselves or others. Yet, taken as a whole, the studies suggest that AI is moving into a realm where personality and feeling can even more radically shape how agents reason, speak, and negotiate.

One team showed how to prime large language models with persistent psychological archetypes, while the other demonstrated that agents can evolve emotional strategies during multi-turn negotiations.

Personality and emotion are no longer just surface polish for AI—they’re becoming functional features. Static temperaments make agents more predictable and trustworthy, while adaptive strategies boost performance in negotiations and make interactions feel eerily human.

But that same believability raises thorny questions: If an AI can flatter, cajole, or argue with emotional nuance, then who’s responsible when those tactics cross into manipulation, and how do you even audit “emotional alignment” in systems designed to bend feelings as well as logic?

Giving AI a personality

In Psychologically Enhanced AI Agents, Maciej Besta of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and colleagues proposed a framework called MBTI-in-Thoughts. Rather than retraining models, they rely on prompt engineering to lock in personality traits along the axes of cognition and affect.

“Drawing on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), our method primes agents with distinct personality archetypes via prompt engineering,” the authors wrote. This allows for “control over behavior along two foundational axes of human psychology, cognition and affect,” they added.

The researchers tested this by assigning language models traits like “emotionally expressive” or “analytically primed,” then measuring performance. Expressive agents excelled at narrative generation; analytical ones outperformed in game-theoretic reasoning. To make sure the personalities stuck, the team used the 16Personalities test for validation.

“To ensure trait persistence, we integrate the official 16Personalities test for automated verification,” the paper explains. In other words: the AI had to consistently pass a human personality test before it counted as psychologically primed.

The result is a system where developers can summon agents with consistent personas—an empathetic assistant, a cold rational negotiator, a dramatic storyteller—without modifying the underlying model.

Teaching AI to feel in real time

Meanwhile, EvoEmo: Evolved Emotional Policies for LLM Agents in Multi-Turn Negotiation, by Yunbo Long and co-authors from the University of Cambridge, tackles the opposite problem: not just what personality an agent has, but how it can shift emotions dynamically as it negotiates.

The system models emotions as part of a Markov Decision Process, a mathematical framework where outcomes depend not only on current choices but on a chain of prior states and probabilistic transitions. EvoEmo then uses evolutionary reinforcement learning to optimize those emotional paths. As the authors put it:

“EvoEmo models emotional state transitions as a Markov Decision Process and employs population-based genetic optimization to evolve high-reward emotion policies across diverse negotiation scenarios.”

Instead of fixing an agent’s emotional tone, EvoEmo lets the model adapt—becoming conciliatory, assertive, or skeptical depending on the flow of dialogue. In tests, EvoEmo agents consistently beat both plain baseline agents and ones with static emotions.

“EvoEmo consistently outperforms both baselines,” the paper notes, “achieving higher success rates, greater efficiency, and more savings for buyers.”

Put simply: emotional intelligence isn’t just window dressing. It measurably improves outcomes in tasks such as bargaining.

Two sides of the same coin

At first glance, the papers are unrelated. One is about archetypes, the other about strategies. But read together, they chart a two-part map of how AI could well evolve:

MBTI-in-Thoughts ensures an agent has a coherent personality—empathetic or rational, expressive or restrained. EvoEmo ensures that personality can flex across turns in a conversation, shaping outcomes through emotional strategy. Tapping into both is a pretty big deal.

For instance, imagine a customer-service bot with the patient warmth of a counselor that still knows when to stand firm on policy—or a negotiation bot that starts conciliatory and grows more assertive as the stakes rise. Yeah, we’re doomed.

The story of AI’s evolution has mostly been about scale—more parameters, more data, more reasoning power. These two papers suggest an emerging chapter may be about emotional layers: giving agents personality skeletons and teaching them to move those muscles in real time. Next-gen chatbots won’t only think harder—they’ll sulk, flatter, and scheme harder, too.

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September 7, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Blockchain’s Biggest Beneficiaries Sit at Both Ends of the Financial Spectrum

by admin September 7, 2025

Capital markets are in flux. As evolving monetary policy casts a spotlight on a fragmented global economy, the stability of infrastructure for borderless transactions with digital assets stands out as a superior alternative to the traditional system.

Blockchain is a viable solution to many of today’s financial challenges. Uniquely, its clearest beneficiaries are two distinctly different groups: financial institutions and the 1.4 billion people who are unbanked. The former gains next-generation speed and scalability while the latter benefits from newfound accessibility and equity.

Our charge as builders of this industry, if we want to actualize blockchain’s full potential, is to account for the needs of both.

While the financially marginalized have long sought solutions in bleeding-edge tech, the legacy world is just beginning to get the appeal. “We have to be thinking about how we leverage [blockchain] in our environment,” said Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson recently, discussing how costs in asset management are up 80% in the last decade, while revenues are down 15%.

Franklin Templeton’s breakthrough illustrates this institutional awakening. Their first-ever tokenized money market fund reduces transaction costs from $1 to less than a penny – for an institution managing $1.7 trillion, the efficiency gains are transformative. But this institutional adoption does more than cut costs; it validates the infrastructure that can serve both boardrooms and the billions still excluded from traditional finance.

The same blockchain rails enabling Franklin Templeton’s efficiency gains can deliver $50 remittances from Dubai to the Philippines in seconds rather than several business days. The technology removes friction, whether you’re settling $100 million in tokenized assets or sending $100 to family abroad.

Major institutions like BlackRock, Fidelity and JPMorgan are proving blockchain’s institutional viability at unprecedented scale. Aid organizations, such as the United Nations Refugee Agency, are simultaneously demonstrating its humanitarian potential, distributing assistance directly to those in need without traditional intermediaries. These parallel developments reflect blockchain’s unique capacity to serve both efficiency and equity.

The institutional momentum creates crucial infrastructure benefits for everyone. When major financial players invest in blockchain networks, they strengthen the rails that underbanked populations can also access. When regulatory frameworks emerge to support institutional adoption, they create legal clarity that benefits all users.

Consider the numbers that drive both institutional interest and human need. Global transaction banking generates nearly $1.4 trillion in annual revenue, yet operational inefficiencies cost an estimated 8-10% of that revenue. For institutions, blockchain technology offers clear solutions to these challenges.

For the unbanked, the stakes are different but equally compelling. Remittances – which exceeded $900 billion globally in 2024 – carry average fees of 6.62% worldwide, with some corridors reaching 10% or more. Working families lose billions annually to these costs. When a domestic worker sends $500 home, losing $50 to fees represents not inefficiency but genuine hardship.

The convergence becomes clear: the same technology solving institutional inefficiencies can address human exclusion from the financial system. Blockchain networks processing transactions for fractions of a penny with 3-5 second settlement times serve both institutional treasuries and individual remittances equally well.

Real-world stress tests prove blockchain’s dual utility. In Argentina, where inflation reached 236.7% by late 2024, both institutions and individuals are embracing digital assets out of necessity. Data shows 61.8% of Argentina’s crypto transactions now involve stablecoins — not as speculation, but as economic survival tools preserving purchasing power against peso devaluation.

This crisis-driven adoption reveals blockchain’s fundamental value proposition: removing dependence on fragile intermediaries and national monetary systems. Whether you’re a fund manager hedging institutional exposure or a family protecting savings, the infrastructure provides the same essential service: stable, borderless value transfer.

The infrastructure exists. Modern blockchain networks have processed tens of billions of operations, serving millions of accounts worldwide. The technology handles institutional scale while remaining accessible to individual users.

But actualizing blockchain’s full potential requires intentional design for both audiences. This means building interfaces sophisticated enough for institutional treasury management yet simple enough for first-time users. It means creating compliance frameworks that satisfy regulatory requirements while preserving accessibility for underserved populations.

Success requires partnerships spanning both worlds – working with established financial institutions to build robust infrastructure while partnering with mobile money operators, community organizations, and fintech companies serving underbanked populations. The goal isn’t choosing between efficiency and equity, but achieving both simultaneously.

Blockchain’s unique promise lies precisely in its ability to serve these seemingly different constituencies with the same fundamental infrastructure. The networks enabling pension funds to tokenize assets can help farmers access credit. The rails facilitating institutional settlement can deliver humanitarian aid directly to refugees.

As builders, our responsibility extends beyond technological capability to purposeful implementation. We must ensure that institutional adoption strengthens rather than supplants financial inclusion efforts. We must design systems that leverage institutional resources to extend access rather than create new barriers.

The infrastructure for borderless, frictionless value transfer is ready. The regulatory frameworks are evolving. The institutional adoption is accelerating. Our success will be measured not just by efficiency gains in existing systems, but by how many people we bring into economic participation for the first time.

The choice we make today determines whether blockchain becomes another tool serving the already-served or the bridge finally connecting everyone to the global economy. Both institutions and the unbanked are counting on us to get this right.

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September 7, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Week 1’s biggest fantasy football questions – Bears’ offense, TreVeyon Henderson, Travis Hunter and more

by admin September 4, 2025

Matt BowenSep 3, 2025, 10:37 AM ET
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Week 1 of the fantasy football season is more about player usage than schemes or game plans. Sure, the coaching matters, and so do the individual matchups. But when we set our lineups for this week, we want to base it on the volume and scoring opportunities for the players we just drafted, right?

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Yes, Week 1 numbers aren’t necessarily a projection of a player’s value for the remainder of the season. We know that. But they do give us a stronger sense of player deployment and situational roles, which is information we need to make lineup decisions moving forward. And when I look at this week’s slate of games, I have a lot of questions for the 2025 season.

We can talk backfield rotations here, a quarterback’s projected upside in a new system or the rookies in position to produce early. Let’s start in Chicago with quarterback Caleb Williams, new head coach Ben Johnson and an offense that has the players to potentially produce multiple fantasy starters.

What should we expect from Ben Johnson’s offense in Chicago?

I don’t expect the Week 1 matchup versus the Minnesota Vikings defense to be a true indicator of what this offense will be under Johnson this season. Remember, Minnesota led the NFL with a blitz rate of 38.4% last season, and coordinator Brian Flores is excellent at creating post-snap chaos with his fronts and pressures. He will speed up the internal clock for Williams, making his first start in a new system.

Williams, whom I see as a fringe QB1 in 12-team leagues, averaged 15.0 PPG as a rookie while showing flashes of his playmaking traits. Now you add Johnson’s playcalling and coaching to the mix, plus upgrades on the offensive front.

So, can Johnson bring a stronger sense of calm to Williams’ game as a pocket thrower? Well, he did exactly that with Jared Goff in Detroit. And it’s more than just the quarterback, as the Bears have fantasy upside on this roster.

Running back D’Andre Swift posted 12.2 PPG last season and will show off his perimeter speed and pass-catching ability in Johnson’s offense. Rookie tight end Colston Loveland has the route-running skills to get into the TE1 mix this season — if his usage remains consistent. Rome Odunze? Don’t be surprised if he ends up passing DJ Moore as the top target for Williams. And let’s not forget about rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III (one of my top late-round fliers). Catch-and-run juice — with motion/movement ability — in Johnson’s scheme.

This Bears’ offense has the potential to produce multiple fantasy starters and maybe a league winner, if the scheme hits. But it might not happen immediately. Have patience here, starting on Monday night in Soldier Field.

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Why TreVeyon Henderson could make a huge surge in fantasy

Henderson was a preseason star. The rookie made big plays, showing the ability to get north/south with the ball in a hurry. Plus, Henderson brings receiving traits to the Patriots’ offense as a target for quarterback Drake Maye, so he will be a dual threat in Josh McDaniels’ offense. Because of this, Henderson’s ADP jumped in August, pushing him into the RB2 mix.

However, Rhamondre Stevenson will have a role in this offense, too. Stevenson, who missed the preseason with an injury, is expected to play in Week 1 versus the Las Vegas Raiders, and we know what he brings to the run game. At 6 feet, 227 pounds, Stevenson is a downhill hammer who can find the end zone on goal-line carries. From 2022-24, Stevenson scored on 9 of 17 carries inside the 3-yard line.

So, while Henderson flew up draft boards in August (including mine), Stevenson’s presence looms, and we have to see how this backfield rotation shakes out based on volume and game situation.

I’m all-in on Jeudy’s ability to get open in isolation matchups, and he plays in a heavily schemed pass game under Browns coach Kevin Stefanski. Think play-action concepts that create open grass for Jeudy to catch and run. Now he’s paired with Flacco, a veteran quarterback who is essentially playing with house money at this stage of his career. Flacco isn’t shy about cutting it loose, and I believe that creates a sense of upside for Jeudy to start this season.

With the anticipated volume for Jeudy in Week 1 against Cincinnati, I have him ranked as a lower-tier WR2. And Jeudy could stay in that range moving forward, as long as Flacco is on the field. But if Flacco misses time due to injury, or if the team simply turns the ball over to a rookie (Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders), Jeudy’s value would drop, making him a trade-away candidate. I don’t see Flacco playing 17 games in 2025, so prepare accordingly.

Do the Texans have an answer at RB with Joe Mixon out?

With Mixon starting the season on IR due to an ankle injury and no real timetable for his return, the Houston backfield is a mystery heading into Sunday’s game against the Rams.

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Sure, it’s easy to say the Texans will go pass heavy with C.J. Stroud. But let’s remember that new offensive coordinator Nick Caley was with Sean McVay in Los Angeles, where the run game is a foundational piece of the system. So Houston needs to find an answer.

The Texans signed veteran Nick Chubb this offseason, but I didn’t see the same explosive running style on his tape last season in Cleveland as what he used to show before sustaining another knee injury. Dameon Pierce had only 40 carries last season but did show some flashes as a rookie in 2023, averaging 8.0 PPG in seven games as a starter. And then there’s rookie Woody Marks out of USC. I really liked his college tape. He’s an elusive runner with third-down ability.

Maybe the eventual lead back for the Texans isn’t even on the roster yet. It could be a player signed off another team’s practice squad or part of a trade as the season gets moving. Wait and see. That’s my approach to the running back position in Houston.

Can Kaleb Johnson earn the early-down carries in Pittsburgh?

Johnson’s ADP started to slide in August, and I get it. The preseason tape on the rookie out of Iowa didn’t really pop, and Jaylen Warren, who was just rewarded with a contract extension, is a proven pro.

Ideally, in Arthur Smith’s offense, Johnson would be the early-down and goal-line runner, with Warren a change-of-pace back who contributes to the passing game. Warren has 127 receptions over his first three pro seasons, and he gives the Steelers more juice on the edges as a runner.

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Yes, Johnson does fit the outside zone scheme in Pittsburgh. We saw that on his college tape in Iowa City. Plus, Johnson can get rolling in the open field, as his 21 carries of 20 or more yards ranked second in the country behind only Ashton Jeanty.

At this point, however, you drafted Johnson as a bench player, while Warren can be started in Week 1 as a flex in 12-team leagues. We just don’t know what role Johnson will have as a pro yet. And that’s OK. Johnson could emerge as a fantasy starter if the volume/production matches up. Let’s see how he is utilized in the game plan this week against the Jets.

Can Sam Darnold get on the fantasy radar in Seattle?

Darnold averaged 18.5 PPG in Minnesota last season, and he finished as QB9 in total scoring. Sure, Darnold played in Kevin O’Connell’s QB-friendly offense. He had Justin Jefferson as his top target, too.

Darnold’s decision-making late in the down can still be an issue, and he had three games last season with fewer than 10 points. But Darnold also completely fell off the fantasy radar when he signed with the Seahawks this offseason.

Do I like the system fit for Darnold in Seattle under new coordinator Klint Kubiak? Absolutely. It will utilize outside zone play-action with defined throws and shot plays. Cater to his mobility and arm strength. Darnold has a No. 1 receiver in Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a serviceable secondary option in Cooper Kupp, and I think rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo can emerge quickly. There’s some upside here.

While Sunday’s home game versus the 49ers isn’t the best matchup for Darnold, the system under Kubiak could push him into the streaming discussion this season.

Other things I’m watching for in Week 1 …

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Why Travis Hunter is so difficult to assess for fantasy

Field Yates and Mike Clay break down why Travis Hunter is one of the fantasy football’s biggest wild cards.

Travis Hunter’s offensive snap count in the Jags’ home opener against the Panthers. I still believe Hunter has All-Pro upside at cornerback, but from a fantasy perspective, we need to see him in Liam Coen’s offense. Hunter has the ball skills and big-play ability to produce as a WR3/flex.
Commanders rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt. He played good football in the preseason, quickly climbing draft boards after the team traded Brian Robinson Jr. to the 49ers. I want to see how the backfield rotation with Austin Ekeler plays out. Croskey-Merritt has a running style that fits on Sundays in the league.
The route deployment of Panthers rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan in Dave Canales’ offense. McMillan has the 6-foot-5 frame to win boundary matchups for quarterback Bryce Young against the Jags’ defense. Remember, Canales coached 6-foot-5 Mike Evans in Tampa.
Cam Ward — in his first pro start — versus the Broncos’ defense. Ward has the throwing and movement traits to produce as a rookie. It’s a tough Week 1 matchup, but what if Ward can post, let’s say, 15 points against Denver? There’s a lot of upside here for Ward, who is rostered in only 26.2% of ESPN leagues.
Deebo Samuel’s alignment versatility and usage in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense. Samuel averaged only 10.2 PPG in San Francisco last season, and the play speed was declining on the tape. But I like the fit under Kingsbury, who can scheme touches for Samuel.

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September 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Saudi Arabia Now Co-Owns Biggest Street Fighter Tournament Of The Year

by admin September 3, 2025

Sony recently ended one of its more bizarre pandemic-era side-quests by selling its majority stake in the fighting game event Evo. One of the biggest esports events of the year is now co-owned by talent management company RTS and India-based NODWIN Gaming. That seemed mostly fine, until now.

Yesterday Qiddiya Gaming, which is backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF). announced it was taking full ownership of RTS, making it the second-biggest stakeholder for Evo. Chief strategy officer Muhannad Aldawood called it “a strategic step that will further strengthen our esports business and unlock new opportunities across the broader gaming ecosystem.”

He added, “most importantly, this will enable Qiddiya to keep fueling the continued growth of Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s largest fighting game event since 1996, with unlimited potentials.”

The move puts the premier event for Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and other fighting games squarely in the crosshairs of Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to “sportswash” its abysmal human rights reputation and the fact that it’s still ruled by a literal monarch in the year 2025. Other notable attempts include things like merging with the PGA Tour, partnering with WWE, and paying Christiano Ronaldo $700 million to play soccer in Riyadh.

There have also been big shifts into gaming as well. This has included investing billions across everything from Nintendo and Capcom to Electronic Arts and Nexon Gaming. Earlier this year, it bought Pokémon Go and other Niantic-developed mobile games for a whopping $3.5 billion. It even bought all of King of Fighters and Metal Slug publisher SNK Corporation, taking the company private and seemingly forcing the developers to put Ronaldo in this year’s Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

But the push has been even more apparent in competitive gaming. It purchased major global tournament organizer ESL FACEIT in 2022, and snagged a 30 percent stake in Chinese esports company Hero Esports in 2023. And it just wrapped up the 2025 Esports World Cup, an attempt to astroturf a new major competitive gaming event into existence through massive prize pools never before seen, even in the esports bubble years of the late 2010s.

While some communities have boycotted the event, others have been happy to lean on the publicity and money at a time when pro gaming is struggling. A documentary promoting the 2025 EWC was released on Amazon earlier this year, but the version streaming in Saudi Arabia stripped out players talking about LGTBQ+ issues and concerns.

“We are disappointed to learn, upon your request for comment, that the Saudi broadcast of Esports World Cup: Level Up has been altered to remove images of our Pride jersey, as well as important parts of our Co-CEO Steve Arhancet’s story as a gay man in esports,” Team Liquid, which fields players in League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Apex Legends, and more, wrote at the time.

Saudi Arabia’s investment fund is still only a minority investor in Evo, and it’s unclear how the change in ownership will impact the event moving forward. At the very least, it’s hard to see Saudi Arabia not being added to the list of countries that currently host annual Evo tournaments. How pro players respond also remains to be seen.

Fighting games have always been unique within esports. With a legacy that dates back to the early arcade days and communities built on local, grassroots connections rather than corporate branding exercises, Evo has always had a special place within competitive gaming. It’s now one that will have to confront the moral calculus of co-owners currently accused, among other things, of a recent surge in extra-judicial executions.

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September 3, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

100% XRP Explosion: Biggest 24-Hour Spike in 2025

by admin September 2, 2025

Network activity wave
What drives XRP wave?

A huge spike in payment volume, the largest 24-hour spike in 2025, has just occurred on XRP, making it one of the year’s most dramatic on-chain events. Data indicates that on Sept. 1, more than 2.15 billion XRP worth of payments were moved between accounts, more than doubling the average daily volumes observed in August.

Network activity wave

A sharp reaction in the price of XRP coincides with this abrupt increase in network activity, suggesting that the asset may be about to enter a new volatile phase. XRP recently broke out of a symmetrical triangle pattern on the chart, dipping momentarily to test the 100-day EMA at $2.70. But it appears that the spike in payment volumes prompted buyers to intervene, driving the token back above $2.80.

Source: XRPScan

For the time being, this rebound stops further decline, but whether it turns into a complete reversal depends on how persistent the on-chain demand turns out to be. It is important to highlight the spike’s size. XRP’s payment activity in 2025 has been comparatively consistent thus far, hardly ever surpassing the 1 billion daily threshold.

What drives XRP wave?

The sharp increase to over $2 billion points to either significant institutional transfers movement associated with exchanges or an increase in actual settlement flows. Regardless of where it came from, it shows that XRP’s value as a payment token has grown again, which the project has long emphasized as a key principle.

Blizzard filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against one of World of Warcraft’s biggest private servers, but the team behind it is putting on a brave face: ‘Challenges come to us often, and each time we are prepared to face them’

by admin September 1, 2025

If you’ve played an MMO for very long, you’ve almost certainly heard the siren song of the private server. These fan-operated servers come in all varieties—some keep dead games alive, some provide a window to a past build of an aging game, and some have even gotten the green light to keep going from the game’s publisher.

Historically, Blizzard has not been so keen on this practice which, in all fairness, involves making big parts of its game playable for free. Its action against Nostalrius, a server that took World of Warcraft back to a 2006 build before that option existed officially, is one of the more notorious private server closures in history.

There’s nothing new under the sun, as Turtle WoW—a private server that launched in 2018 and has reached concurrent player peaks of over 70,000 since, according to its developers—was named in a complaint Blizzard filed Friday that claims the Turtle WoW team has “built an entire business on large scale, egregious, and ongoing infringement of Blizzard’s intellectual property.”

The Turtle WoW build is an altered version of 2006-era WoW offering new playable races, zones, instances, and so on. While it is free to play, it also has an in-game shop that allows donations to the dev team to be converted into store currency. But the more pressing issue is obviously the whole copyright infringement thing, which the lawsuit hammers home hard.

The complaint continues: “These unauthorized private servers drive away otherwise dedicated WoW players, introduce security risks to players, fragment the WoW player community, and create confusion as to what are official, supported

versions of WoW … private servers such as Turtle WoW also encourage and facilitate video game piracy by allowing players to avoid paying for the game experience that Blizzard has invested so much time and money to create.”

Turtle WoW wasn’t exactly in hiding. You may have seen its advertisements on YouTube or on X, where it regularly teases major updates and its impending move to Unreal Engine 5. The team recently launched a new realm, Ambershire, which itself hit an early peak of over 11,000 online players. These are the sort of numbers and ambitions that some officially active MMOs can’t match.

On the server’s fan Discord, team member Torta issued a statement the day after the suit was filed: “Turtle WoW is here to stay. Challenges come to us often, and each time we are prepared to face them. We remain fully committed to delivering the Turtle WoW experience that you’ve come to love over the years.”

As a lifelong fan of “vanilla” World of Warcraft who watched Turtle WoW’s development with great interest, it hurts to see so much passionate work and modding ingenuity get tangled in a legal mess. On the other hand, Blizzard has already proven itself litigious with this sort of thing, and it’s hard to say how the team will keep it going. Private servers have a way of persevering for exactly as long as they can evade the wrong attention.

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September 1, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

These Were Biggest Crypto Hacks of August

by admin September 1, 2025

Biggest crypto hacks of August
Notable increase

According to data provided by blockchain security firm PeckShield, roughly $163 million worth of crypto was lost in August to hackers. Overall, a total of 16 cryptocurrency trading platforms were compromised.

Biggest crypto hacks of August

An anonymous Bitcoin (BTC) holder suffered the biggest cryptocurrency hack of August, suffering a total loss of $91.4 million.

Major Turkish exchange BtcTurk, which suffered its second major security breach in a little over a year in August, parted ways with $54 million.

As reported by U.Today, Bitcoin-based meme-coin launchpad ODIN•FUN lost $7 million due to a sophisticated price manipulation exploit.

BetterBank and CrediX Finance are also in the top 5, losing a total of $5 million and $4.5 million, respectively.

Notable increase

The total sum of cryptocurrency losses has grown by 15% compared to July (from $142 million to $163 million).

As reported by U.Today, Indian exchange CoinDCX endured the biggest cryptocurrency hack of July ($44.2).

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September 1, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Biggest Bitcoin Skeptic Schiff Warns Top Might Be In

by admin August 31, 2025

The weekly chart of Bitcoin is showing strong warning signs, and now Peter Schiff, one of the loudest critics of the asset, has added fuel to the debate by suggesting the peak could already be behind us.

Schiff, who has always been more into gold than crypto, talked about a post comparing past Q4 surges with today’s rally. In that rally, Bitcoin has gone above $108,000 and hit highs near $124,500.

It’s all in line with his overall view of economy

Schiff recently said he thinks gold will go up to $6,000 by the end of next year. But he also said that the dollar index might go down to 70, which is the lowest it’s been since the mid-2000s. He also expects more turbulence in gold, silver and stocks once U.S. markets reopen after the holiday weekend.

The Biggest Games Releasing in September 2025

by admin August 31, 2025

Fans have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new entry in their favorite franchise for years, and it’s finally here.

With Grand Theft Auto delayed into next year, that can only mean one thing: Hollow Knight: Silksong is coming, and it’s coming in just a few days.

For those who have been patient, this news is almost unbelievable. Developer Team Cherry has been nearly silent since the game’s announcement, to the point where entire communities of memes have emerged, with some focusing on trolling each other.

This month also marks the long-awaited return of Silent Hill. That is to say, trailers so far have been tantalizing, but it’s up to Konami to make good on the promises and create a game that feels authentically ‘Silent Hill.’

While the games below are the ones we think are the most exciting releases coming next month, make no mistake, there are tons of intriguing games releasing.

We really wanted to include Garfield Kart 2: All You Can Drift, but unfortunately, we couldn’t make it work.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Release Date: September 4
Platforms: PC (Steam, GOG, Humble Bundle), macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S; Xbox Game Pass Day-One

Hollow Knight was an almost instant hit with gamers, especially fans of search-action games, colloquially called Metroidvanias.

Hollow Knight combines unique characters with razor-sharp precision gameplay and satisfying exploration.

Silksong is the sequel to that game, and in this one, you’ll take on the role of the hunter Hornet, exploring a new map filled with secrets and bosses.

Baby Steps

Release Date: September 23 (delayed from Sept 8)
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS5

What a rare thing it is for a game genre to be named after a single person.

But Bennett Foddy hit a nerve with the 2008 browser game QWOP, which used the q, w, o, and p keys to move the character’s feet with excruciating precision or risk falling face-first.

Most video games are power fantasies–you can unleash a hail of bullets or a meteor storm with the press of a button. Foddylikes keep their tasks much simpler and more straightforward.

That brings us to Baby Steps, in which you’ll “play as Nate, an unemployed failson with nothing going for him, until one day he discovers a power he never knew he had… putting one foot in front of the other.” The team behind Baby Steps is calling it a “literal walking simulator.”

Borderlands 4

Release Date: September 12 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S); Nintendo Switch 2 on October 3
Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 (later)

Fear not, Borderlands fans, that dismal movie that came out last year didn’t mark the death of the beloved shooter franchise. Borderlands 4 comes out in just a few weeks.

This game brings new characters and a new story, of course. But it’s also adding an outpost takeover mechanic to the game, as well as the ability to pilot a Digirunner around the world map.

Like just about everything else in Borderlands, you can customize both the look and feel of the vehicle. Speaking of customization, Borderlands 4 also features a host of new weapons and new ways to mix and match parts of different brands to make ever more powerful guns.

Henry Halfhead

Release Date: September 16, 2025
Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), PS5, Nintendo Switch (compatible with Switch 2)

Henry Halfhead takes inspiration from games like Katamari Damacy to create a simple, beautiful world.

And in that world, you play as, you guessed it, Henry Halfhead, a guy who is a pair of eyes and ears, a nose, and little else.

Henry, however, has the power to inhabit anything he can land on, and can then move around or perform item-specific actions, such as assuming a kitchen knife to chop food, for example.

This game looks whimsical and surprising, and we’re eager to see just how many items you can possess.

Dying Light: The Beast

Release Date: September 19, 2025 (PS4 & Xbox One versions later in 2025)
Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), PS5 (incl. Pro), Xbox Series X/S (initial); PS4, Xbox One (later)

We were all thinking the same thing when we played Dying Light 2, the expansive sequel to Dying Light. “I miss Dying Light protagonist Kyle Crane, a character I definitely remember,” we all said.

Dying Light: The Beast puts it back in the parkour sneakers of Kyle Crane, but something’s different. It’s been over a decade since we last saw him, and he’s spent that entire time being held captive and used as a test subject by an evil scientist, who has given him newfound powers and senses.

Kyle can go berserk with his new abilities, but is he the titular Beast?

Silent Hill f

Release Date: September 25
Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), PS5, Xbox Series X/S

Silent Hill fans have had a rough go of it.

After a great start in the late 1990s and early 2000s with a string of solid-to-excellent survival horror games, Konami struggled to produce a Silent Hill game that lived up to the critical and fan acclaim of Silent Hill 2.

It’s not that every game since has been bad, but they’ve definitely struggled to make a mark.

The trailers for Silent Hill f show the game shifting from modern American streets to 1960s Japan. This is a wholly new setting that makes this a fresh start, more than a sequel or reboot.

The monsters we’ve seen look awesome, but the trailers seem to suggest a focus on melee combat—something that’s never been a strength for the series. Fans are crossing their fingers that this one lands.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles

Release Date: September 30
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2

While most of the memorable Final Fantasy games are the mainline numbered entries, Final Fantasy Tactics, first released for the original PlayStation (Tactics on Game Boy Advance SP was my preferred version), stands out as perhaps the best-loved spinoff game in the Final Fantasy franchise.

Instead of exploring a vast open world with a few characters, you’re in charge of a small army of wizards, warriors, and more, fighting enemies on grid-based battlefields.

The story doesn’t skimp either, dealing with themes of power and corruption. This release introduces an updated script with fully voiced dialogue, “improved” art (although they’ve made this claim before and failed to live up to it), a revamped UI, new difficulty levels, and auto-save.

This could be the best way to play one of Square Enix’s best games.

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August 31, 2025 0 comments