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Effect

Can the government shutdown have a significant effect on the crypto space?

by admin October 1, 2025

The U.S. government is facing a shutdown due to the inability of Republicans and Democrats to agree on the budget. Various sources evaluate the probability of a shutdown as high. If it happens, a shutdown may have multiple repercussions. Among other implications, it could bring more uncertainty to the crypto market and slow the pace of crypto regulation.

Summary

U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance warn about a highly probable shutdown starting on Oct. 1.
In the event of a shutdown, the government stops publishing employment and inflation data, making it harder for traders to time the market. Experts predict market volatility.
The Clarity Act passage will be delayed, while the SEC will halt working on rulemaking for the crypto sector and won’t be able to review applications for spot crypto ETFs.

Probability of shutdown

Uncompromising disagreement on healthcare spending between the GOP and Democrats delayed budget finalization. On Sept. 29, Vice President JD Vance said that the government is “headed for a shutdown.” Earlier, President Donald Trump warned that Americans would likely “end up with a closed country for a period of time.” JD Vance accused Democrats, saying:

“You don’t put a gun to the American people’s head and say, unless you do exactly what Senate and House Democrats want you to do, we are going to shut down your government. I think we are headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing.”

The Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, is mirroring Vance’s claims, stating that “it’s up to Republicans whether they want to shut down or not.”

Government funding expires in hours and where are House Republicans?

They canceled votes and went on vacation.

Republicans own this shutdown.

— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) September 30, 2025

This rigidness of both parties left little space for possible agreement. As of Sep. 30, 89% of voters on Polymarket believed the U.S. government would go through a shutdown before the year-end.

Government funding expires in hours and where are House Republicans?

They canceled votes and went on vacation.

Republicans own this shutdown.

— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) September 30, 2025

Possible implications for the economy

Shutdowns furlough public workers, put government contractors at risk, and block state agencies from doing their jobs. Given that the U.S. is already going through a shaky period, a shutdown may bring more harm than usual.

The harm level depends on the economy’s health at the time of the shutdown and the shutdown’s length. The latest shutdown, which took place during Trump’s first presidential tenure in December 2018 and January 2019, was the longest one. It lasted 35 days and saw the biggest consumer sentiment decline.

The drop in consumer sentiment indicates that people are not comfortable spending their money on nonessential goods, which generally undermines economic growth and hinders business conditions.

What’s at stake for the crypto community?

Government shutdowns don’t usually affect the markets that much. However, it has an indirect impact, and the crypto space may take a soft hit. TV personality and author Jim Cramer said to CNBC, addressing the possible market impact of a shutdown:

“I’m not worried about most of this stuff. My biggest fear is that a shutdown will delay important pieces of economic data, making life more difficult for the Federal Reserve and potentially postponing their plans to cut interest rates.”

There are several ways the looming shutdown may impact the crypto space:

It will hinder data collection for investors.
It will stop the government from passing the much-anticipated CLARITY Act.
It will block the SEC’s work on rulemaking in the crypto space and approval of spot crypto ETFs.

Traders will not have key metrics from the Federal Reserve, such as inflation and unemployment rates, available. They will have to trade without factoring this data in.

Government funding expires in hours and where are House Republicans?

They canceled votes and went on vacation.

Republicans own this shutdown.

— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) September 30, 2025

The CLARITY Act, the market structure bill aimed at setting clear rules for various types of cryptocurrencies, was set to be signed into law before Thanksgiving. The possibility of a shutdown brings uncertainty about whether the act will be passed that soon or even this year.

Finally, a shutdown will hinder the work of the Securities and Exchange Commission, slowing the realization of Project Crypto. Recently, SEC Chair Paul Atkins outlined the main directions of the agency aimed at regulating the crypto space and facilitating innovation in the U.S.

He talked about the upcoming innovation exemption that will let crypto businesses launch freely without being “torpedoed” by bureaucratic burdens. On top of that, Atkins said the SEC is going to do a lot of work related to rulemaking in the crypto space. Evidently, if a shutdown takes place, this work gets delayed. The same goes for reviewing and approving crypto spot ETFs, which usually galvanize trading when they get approved.

The latest shutdown implications

The latest shutdown took place in 2018-2019 due to disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over funding for the wall on the southern border. It was the longest and one of the most destructive. It affected 800,000 public workers. Half of them were furloughed, while others continued to work without pay. The 2018-2019 shutdown saw consumer sentiment declining by 7 points.

As for crypto, Bitcoin’s price was crumbling ahead of the shutdown in November, going from $6,400 to $3,200 in a single month. However, when the shutdown started, the price rebounded to more than $4,000. When the shutdown ended, Bitcoin’s price was above $3,500.

In general, it is safe to say that the biggest decline took place weeks before the shutdown itself. This September, the last two weeks were harsh for the crypto market. Soon, we will learn if this was a repetition of the past shutdown’s price action.

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October 1, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Save $36 on a Cool, Compact Hall Effect Keyboard

by admin September 22, 2025

Looking for a compact keyboard with a unique twist? The Keychron Q1 HE (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is currently marked down over $35 on Amazon, and comes with Hall Effect switches, a rare offering that adds a ton of functionality to your keyboard.

Photograph: Henri Robbins

Think of a keyboard switch like light switches. They have a fixed point where they activate, and all they can report is whether they’re in one of two states. Hall effect switches are more like light dimmer knobs. They know exactly where they currently are and can report that information back to the computer, which has a number of advantages over traditional keyboard switches.

For starters, you don’t have to settle for a fixed actuation point like you do on most keyboards. You can use the software to set the keys to be super sensitive, or require them to be almost all the way down, or even set keys to send different button presses depending on how hard they’re pressed. If you like to play video games, you can set keys to act like an analog joystick or trigger, letting you easily steer in racing games or walk in RPGs without picking up a controller.

The software has a lot of options, but is well thought out and easy to use, although you do need to plug it in to make changes. It’s QMK-based, but Keychron provides their own web-based launcher to make things even easier, particularly if you’re not well versed in that customization software.

It’s a premium mechanical keyboard throughout. The switches themselves are made by Gateron, and our reviewer noted that they’re exceptionally smooth, thanks to the pre-lubed rails and magnetic sensor. The gasket mount design and full aluminum body work together to provide a soft, deep, typing experience. Unless you’re already using linear switches, you might miss some of the crispness and feedback you get from a tactile or clicky mechanical switch.

While the larger Keychron Q6 HE currently sits at the top of our list of favorite mechanical keyboards, if you don’t need the num pad, you might appreciate the extra desk space you can reclaim with the Q1 HE. They’re otherwise extremely similar boards, and you’ll save $50 in the process.

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September 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

The Mass Effect Show Deserves Better Than Rehashing The Past

by admin September 18, 2025

Amazon is working on a Mass Effect show while what remains of BioWare works on the upcoming fifth game in the sci-fi RPG series. We still know almost nothing about whatever Amazon is doing with the show, but now we have some idea of the characters it will feature. That’s thanks to Hollywood insider Daniel Richtman, who published five character descriptions that were included in the show’s casting calls. Those descriptions are vague enough that they don’t give us much sense of what the series will entail, but some of them sound similar enough to existing characters from the games that fans think the show might be a direct adaptation of the original 2007 release. I sure hope that’s not the case, because it would be a huge mistake on a few fronts.

The listings call for a male lead from ages 30 to 39, described as a “young Colin Farrell;” a female alien character that will require prosthetics; a 40 to 60-year-old male actor that can pull off a “creature or character actor like Doug Jones;” a male lead with a “wrestler-type physicality;” and a female aged 30 to 49 for a parallel story set on Earth while everyone else is up to intergalactic hijinx. Most of those sound like they could easily map onto characters from the first game. The “Colin Farrell” type could easily be a male Commander Shepard; the female alien with prosthetics sounds like an asari, the blue-skinned, monogendered alien race that includes the series’ pseudo-mascot Liara T’Soni; and an older male actor capable of playing the types of creatures Doug Jones is known for could be for Saren Arterius, the rogue Turian Spectre. The Earthbound woman, however, doesn’t neatly fit onto anyone, as the Mass Effect games didn’t go to Earth until Mass Effect 3.

All that said, these descriptions are just generic enough that they don’t necessarily point to a live-action adaptation of Shepard’s story at all. But as people try to pick apart what little information we have, anything that even vaguely hints at a “Mass Effect trilogy retelling” is a red flag for a lot of longtime fans, both because adapting a choice-based RPG and inevitably writing specific choices and relationships into the story needlessly complicates the series’ legacy, and also because this is one of the video game universes that’s big enough that there’s no need to do something so creatively bankrupt.

Video game adaptations are all the rage right now, and some of the most successful ones have not been direct recreations of a previous story. The Mario and Sonic movies remix old stories and arcs, but they also put an original spin on established characters, rather than sticking their fingers in players’ pies. Amazon retreading Shepard’s story would not only be a boring waste of time and money, but would place the writers in a field of rakes just waiting to be stepped on. How do the Kaidan stans react when live-action Shepard leaves him behind on Virmire? What are Tali fans to think when she is sidelined as a love interest in favor of Liara? Do Renegade players have to just grin and bear it when Shepard is made into a Paragon Boy Scout? All of these are questions and discourse we could suffer through when Amazon puts out this show, but considering how much more of the Mass Effect universe there is to explore, it would be an unforced error.

The original trilogy and even the fourth game, Mass Effect: Andromeda, are so focused on humanity’s experience that it often feels like the rest of the galaxy is neglected in that limited, human-centric view of the universe. In the games, players are meant to approach this mysterious new world with fresh eyes and fumble their way through galactic politics and culture from a human’s perspective. A focus on the human experience is just as core to those games as space flight and synthetic cephalopods, but this live-action series doesn’t have to stick to that rule. Amazon has a unique opportunity to abandon that tunnel vision and tell stories far more specific to the world BioWare has made. Tell me stories of the Quarian nomads flying around the galaxy on their Migrant Fleet, or the early days of the Krogan genophage sterility plague. I don’t need to see some Shepard imposter making the opposite decisions as me when all that effort could go into something fresh and original, drawing new players to the games as we head into Mass Effect 5, whenever the hell that is.

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Mass Effect TV series casting calls leak, sparking speculation Male Shepard is canon

by admin September 17, 2025

Casting details for Amazon’s forthcoming Mass Effect TV series have leaked, with fans speculating on which characters from the games will be included.

As shared by entertainment insider Daniel Richtman, five casting calls have leaked. These are: a young Colin Farrell-type male (30-39) with open ethnicity; a female co-lead alien character requiring prosthetics (34-39); a female human providing a parallel narrative from Earth; a Doug Jones-type male villain (40-60); and a male wrestler-type soldier (30-49).

Amazon has provided no details on the show’s story, so it’s unclear if it will be based on BioWare’s original Mass Effect trilogy or if it will focus on entirely new characters in the same universe.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition – Official Launch Trailer (4K)Watch on YouTube

Still, these vague character descriptions have provided enough for fans to speculate on. In particular, the female co-lead alien seems primed to be fan-favourite blue alien Liara T’Soni.

However, the Colin Farrell-type male could prove the most controversial. Fans have guessed this could be a male Commander Shepard, protagonist of the original trilogy – but this would assume MaleShep is canon over the female option.

Many fans prefer FemShep due to the performance of voice actor Jennifer Hale, so Amazon needs to tread carefully with the TV show if it’s following the games and intends to cement certain story decisions – Shepard’s gender especially.

The female human on Earth is an interesting prospect, considering the only similar character in the games would be Captain Anderson in Mass Effect 3. Some fans have suggested journalist Emily Wong could be an alternative, while one proposed FemShep could still exist in the same universe like the twins in Andromeda.

Saren from Mass Effect 1 would fit the bill for a Doug Jones-type villain (the actor is known for his non-human roles in The Shape of Water and Hellboy), while the male wrestler-type soldier certainly describes James Vega. But most importantly of all: in this scenario, who’s playing Garrus?!

Casting Calls for Amazon’s Mass Effect Series Have Reportedly Leaked
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Of course, this could all be entirely incorrect if Amazon chooses a story separate to the games, though you’d surely anticipate the team leaning on familiarity with the games at least for marketing purposes.

Back in July, it was revealed the Mass Effect series would be helmed by many of the team behind Amazon’s Fallout show. That’s proven particularly successful – and notably takes inspiration from the games without following them directly.

Amazon’s Mass Effect TV adaptation was officially announced in November last year. At the start of this year, Eurogamer spoke with Jennifer Hale who stated the game’s original cast should return for the TV series, even if just for cameos.

“I think they’d be really smart to pull as much of the original cast into the show in cameos and Easter eggs and recurring and regular [roles] as possible,” she said. “I think that would be an absolutely genius move.”

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Hong Kong Discloses Eased Crypto Rules For Banks, Set To Take Effect In 2026

by admin September 13, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

In a significant move to bolster its position in the cryptocurrency landscape, Hong Kong is set to implement new regulations aimed at enhancing the adoption and usage of digital assets among banks.

This initiative comes in the wake of a renewed wave of pro-crypto policies spearheaded by the United States, which aspires to establish itself as the world’s crypto capital. Recognizing the need to stay competitive, Hong Kong’s regulatory framework seems to be evolving to stay at the forefront of this race.

New Crypto Asset Classification Module For Banks

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) recently issued a draft document for public consultation, introducing a new module titled CRP-1, or “Crypto Asset Classification,” as part of its “Banking Regulatory Policy Manual.”

This draft is designed to clarify the regulatory guidelines related to bank capital requirements in line with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s standards, with full implementation anticipated by early 2026.

The HKMA aims to provide a structured approach to regulating crypto assets, particularly focusing on those linked to unlicensed blockchain technologies, commonly referred to as public chains.

Faith, a partner at King & Wood Law Firm and a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Law, shared insights in an exclusive interview with Caixin.

She highlighted that the draft regulatory guidance will allow for lower capital requirements for banks dealing with crypto assets, provided that issuers can demonstrate effective risk management measures.

The draft document also emphasizes the classification procedures that align with global financial standards, ensuring that Hong Kong’s banking sector adheres to international norms.

By addressing digital assets launched on public blockchains, the proposals suggest that these cryptocurrencies could benefit from reduced capital requirements, thereby incentivizing banks to engage more actively with digital assets.

A New Era In Digital Asset Legislation

Hong Kong’s stance on digital asset legislation further distinguishes it from mainland China, which has taken a more cautious approach.

Earlier this year, the region introduced stablecoin regulations, enforcing a licensing regime for stablecoin issuers that requires compliance with strict asset management and client asset segregation protocols.

This regulatory framework is designed to promote financial stability and encourage innovation in the digital asset sector, building on the progress made in the United States with the passage and signing of the GENIUS Act by President Donald Trump.

Chengyi Ong, head of Asia-Pacific policy at Chainalysis, emphasized the importance of stablecoins in the broader crypto ecosystem. She noted that stablecoins not only provide stability but also facilitate traditional financial processes, such as cross-border payments and settlements, which are often mired in inefficiency.

The daily chart shows the total market cap at $3.9 trillion. Source: TOTAL on TradingView.com

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

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September 13, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Travis Hunter effect is alive in the 2025 college football season

by admin September 10, 2025

Adam RittenbergSep 9, 2025, 06:52 AM ET
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Utah’s mission to reboot its offense started with adding a quarterback-coordinator combination from New Mexico, as Devon Dampier and Jason Beck made their way to Salt Lake City.

But the Utes also needed playmakers to surround Dampier. Their search led them to the transfer portal, naturally, but also to their own roster and, ultimately, to the other side of the ball.

Smith Snowden, who started at nickel in 2024 and had 10 passes defended, and linebacker Lander Barton, the team’s tackles leader in fall 2024 who had six passes defended, were the top options.

“Obviously Travis Hunter last year, the success he had, winning the Heisman [Trophy], that struck a chord with a lot of coaches, taking them through their roster: Who do we have that can contribute both ways?” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham told ESPN. “The bottom line is: What’s going to help you win games? It’s not the novelty of having a two-way guy. Who’s going to give us the best chance to win?”

Hunter’s surge to the 2024 Heisman at Colorado, while playing full time on both offense and defense, might have nudged coaches to expand their view of what was possible for the right players. Although Hunter did things not thought possible in the modern era of college football — he played 2,625 snaps in two seasons at Colorado, leading the FBS in both 2023 and 2024 — his success is already increasing opportunities for others.

Utah opened the season with a 43-10 win at UCLA, in which Snowden led the team in receiving and added a rushing touchdown while Barton caught a touchdown pass from Dampier. Safety Jackson Bennee also had a 17-yard reception. In Week 2, Snowden had two rushes, three catches and two tackles.

Your eyes do not deceive you… that is, in fact, CORNERBACK Smith Snowden scoring a rushing touchdown for @Utah_Football 👀#Big12FB | 📺 @CFBONFOX pic.twitter.com/Ih38m3CHze

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) August 31, 2025

“Travis Hunter really set the standard for it,” Snowden said. “He opened a lot of doors for younger athletes that can’t decide if they want to play offense or defense.”

Maybe they don’t have to anymore.

The Utes’ crew is among a small but growing group of players with the license to play both ways. Minnesota sophomore Koi Perich, a first-team All-Big Ten defensive back in 2024 who also stood out on returns, is carving out a bigger role with the Gophers offense. Vanderbilt defensive back Martel Hight, an All-SEC return specialist this past season, is on a similar path as a wide receiver.

They’re all occupying expanded roles, at least in part, because of the Travis Hunter effect.

“It’s starting to open up,” Hight told ESPN. “I’m pretty sure the coaches, they see guys doing it and it probably opens their eyes.”

DURING VANDERBILT’S WINTER conditioning session, Hight was running gassers — sprints across the width of the field — when Jerry Kill, a senior offensive advisor and chief consultant to coach Clark Lea, walked over.

“[Kill] grabbed me and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be a starting receiver for me,'” Hight said.

Hight came to Vanderbilt as an ESPN 300 recruit and the nation’s No. 33 cornerback out of Rome, Georgia. Like many high school standouts, he played both defense and offense and even faced Travis Hunter when their Georgia high schools played.

“I scored on him, ran him over, he caught a pass on me my junior year, and it was a pretty good catch,” Hight said. “We’ve always kind of had this little back and forth. It was never any trash-talking or anything. We just kept it cordial.”

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Hight, however, arrived at Vanderbilt with a clear role on defense. In 2023, he became the first freshman in team history to record a pick-six. He continued to display good ball skills on defense last year, while becoming a bigger factor on punt returns, averaging 14.7 yards with a touchdown, and earning second-team All-SEC honors. After the offseason interaction with Kill, Hight emphasized his desire to play offense to the coaches, and then began running routes with starting quarterback Diego Pavia in spring practice.

“I don’t know that we had quite the idea of how dynamic he could be for us at receiver until we started playing him there and realized that he’s really natural as a pass catcher and a route runner,” Lea said. “As we got out of spring, it was, ‘Hey, let’s see how we can take this a little further.'”

Lea reached out to new Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen, who selected Hunter at No. 2 in April’s NFL draft, about how they intended to use Hunter at the pro level. Kill, who led programs at New Mexico State, Minnesota, Northern Illinois and elsewhere during a 40-year career in college football, contacted Colorado coach Deion Sanders.

“We had a basis of understanding of what he did in college, what Jacksonville’s plan was for him in training camp,” Lea said. “But everybody’s different. We’ve got to look at Martel and think about where we think he can net out here.”

Martel Hight was an ESPN 300 defensive back but had experience on both sides of the ball in high school. Steve Roberts/Imagn Images

Other coaches made a similar point when asked about the effect Hunter will continue to have on college football. Hunter showed what is possible when given the chance to do it all, but very few can handle anywhere near the play load he took on at Colorado. Hunter famously logged 144 snaps in his Colorado debut at TCU, and eclipsed 120 the following week against Nebraska.

“He’s an anomaly, and you’ve got to understand that that’s not doable for 99.99% of the players,” Whittingham said of Hunter. “So going both ways is a relative statement, because if you go both ways but only play a total of 65 snaps a game, then that’s a normal workload.”

The challenge, then, is figuring out what each player can handle. Snowden played 22 snaps on both defense and offense in the opener at UCLA, as well as three on special teams.

If Utah had been in a closer game, he might have been out there more. Snowden said this past season, he averaged 55-60 snaps per game, almost all on defense.

“I could get to 70 [snaps],” he told ESPN last week. “It will vary game to game. I’m a defense specialist when it comes down to it, so defense is my position, and whatever the team needs on offense, I’m down.”

THOSE ATTEMPTING TO follow Hunter’s path this season have similar profiles.

“They’re primarily defensive guys, and they play some offense,” Whittingham explained. “It’s not very common to have it go the other way.”

Hunter came into college football as ESPN’s No. 2 recruit, and the top cornerback in the 2022 class. Although he broke the Georgia high school record for receiving touchdowns with 48 and had nearly 4,000 receiving yards, he projected as a top defensive back. Despite only 18 receptions his first college season at Jackson State, Hunter saw his receiving production spike at Colorado, and won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top wide receiver this past season. As a high school senior, Minnesota’s Perich accounted for 27 touchdowns in 10 games — five on defense, four on returns and 16 on offense. He was rated as the top prospect from Minnesota and signed with the Gophers as the nation’s No. 172 recruit and No. 14 safety.

Koi Perich was an All-Big Ten DB and returner. Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire

Perich made an immediate impact in 2024, becoming the first freshman in the FBS since at least 1976 to record five interceptions, at least 100 kickoff return yards and at least 100 punt return yards in a season. His 565 all-purpose yards, from returns and interceptions, ranked fourth on the team. As soon as the season finished, Minnesota’s coaching staff began carving out a role for Perich on offense.

Perich spent the spring working with both units, spending 70-75% of his time with the defense, but still attending some meetings with offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. and co-coordinator Matt Simon. Through two games, Perich has two catches, five punt returns and five tackles.

“You can throw somebody out there and just throw him a deep ball and gimmick him, but is that really playing offense?” Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck told ESPN. “There’ll be certain [individual practice] periods dedicated to safety, certain periods where you come over and play wideout. He’s going to show me ultimately how much he can handle.”

Although Hunter’s talent set him apart, he also embraced the mental toil of toggling between position groups and learning as much as he could on both sides of the ball.

“There’s a burden in this with the player,” Lea said. “There’s a willingness that you don’t have any downtime in the building. You have to go all the time. He’s got to buy into that. Martel is so bright and confident on both sides, we’ve been able to really not hold back on anything.”

Syracuse coach Fran Brown recognizes the mental challenge as well, saying two-way hopefuls must learn an entire playbook and at least a few chapters of another. While other teams are exploring the option with more experienced players, Syracuse is assessing what it has with true freshman Demetres Samuel Jr., who is only 17 and was just 16 when he enrolled this winter.

An ESPN 300 recruit, Samuel has started Syracuse’s first two games and had eight tackles Aug. 30 against UConn. He hasn’t recorded a catch at wide receiver but is expected to have a role there.

“You can’t get down and frustrated when you don’t do well at first, you’re taking two tests, and we’re asking you to learn two things,” Brown told ESPN. “I tell him, ‘You’ve got to run. I don’t care that you just got out of that side, you’ve got to run. Up and down.’ He’s got a lot better at it lately. It takes time.”

As Minnesota and other programs decide how to divide the time for their two-way players, they must weigh what they’re gaining on offense with what they could lose on defense.

“You don’t want to do anything that starts the law of diminishing returns,” Fleck said.

Snowden and Barton were two of Utah’s most productive defenders in 2024. Barton led the Utes in tackles with 72, while Snowden had a team-high eight pass breakups. They were two of three Utah players with multiple interceptions, and each recorded a forced fumble.

Smith Snowden has done a bit of everything for Utah this season. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Late in the season, Barton provided one of Utah’s top defensive highlights against Iowa State, catching a deflected pass, wriggling free of quarterback Rocco Becht’s tackle attempt and then sprinting down the sideline for an 87-yard scoring return.

“My theory has always been, you master one position before you even think about playing both ways,” Whittingham said. “It’s not fair to play a guy two ways unless he has a substantial grasp of one side of the ball first. Those guys are experts at defensive play and their assignments. So really, the learning curve is on the other side.”

Minnesota’s coaches organized Perich’s schedule with efficiency in mind. Defensive coordinator Danny Collins said that Perich might get the ball thrown to him on the first play of a practice period on offense and then spend the rest of the time on defense. Or he’ll alternate between offense and defense, much like Hunter did at Colorado.

The Gophers’ depth in the secondary made the plan a bit easier to sell to Collins.

“At first, it was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s hold on: This is an All-Big Ten safety,'” Collins said. “But at the same time, he’s a tremendous athlete. When the ball is in his hands, special things are going to happen, whether he’s picking it off, whether it’s a punt return. And then you think about, ‘OK, we can put him on offense and get the ball in his hands, now that’s going to help the whole team.'”

WHEN MAPPING OUT the plan for Perich at Minnesota, Fleck watched a lot of Colorado film. His goal wasn’t necessarily to identify a direct comparison, but rather to assess how the Buffs used a distinct talent like Hunter.

“In the new world, that’s the only one you get to look at,” Fleck said of Hunter. “Like, what athlete did it besides Travis Hunter? I don’t see it being trendy, because it’s too hard to be trendy. It takes a really special athlete in a really unique situation that fits. That’s what we have in Koi.”

It will be hard for any player to match the number of snaps Travis Hunter had over the previous two college seasons. Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire

In his NFL debut, Hunter became the second NFL player in the past 10 years to play at least 30 offensive snaps and five defensive snaps in the same game. Whether he sparks a true trend of two-way players remains to be seen. What’s clear is he has at least cracked open the door for others to try.

Like Kill at Vanderbilt, Brown also contacted Sanders about Hunter’s workload and how he approached such an added workload.

“It’s really hard,” Brown said. “People will try to go down that road. But Coach Prime is a special guy. It takes somebody special like Travis to truly, truly do it. I think Demetres has that chance.”

Hight doesn’t need much prodding about the chance to play more on offense. When he arrived at Vanderbilt, former defensive backs coach Dan Jackson floated the possibility of him taking some snaps with the offense.

After two seasons, though, he didn’t think it was going to happen, which has made this fall even sweeter.

“Honestly, I can play all day,” he said. “I’m like an energetic ball on the field. I’m having so much fun being there with the guys. I don’t really have a number [of snaps]. I’ll go until my heart stops.”

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Hight thinks the more players who show they can be reliable options on both sides of the ball will reduce teams’ reliance on the transfer portal to address specific needs, like at wide receiver. But will there be a limit on how many teams explore the two-way track?

“It’s always going to be rough because you’re playing two years of football in one,” said an assistant coach from a top 10 team. “If you’re on a team that’s actually really good, it’s hard to see a guy doing part time at a position and then be better than a guy who’s doing full time.”

Lea has often thought about Hunter since exploring a two-way role for Hight, and how much the Colorado star truly influenced Vanderbilt’s decision. Ultimately, Lea kept coming back to an enduring truth about personnel.

“We can’t afford to not have our best 11 out on the field,” he said.

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September 10, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Here’s a Steam demo for Lumines Arise, the latest toe-tapping head exploder from the Tetris Effect devs

by admin August 26, 2025

Tetris Effect developers Enhance have released a new demo for their forthcoming Lumines Arise on Steam, alongside news that the spacey rhythm attack game will launch on November 11th. If you missed Tetris Effect, it’s a game about making deletable lines out of falling blocks while standing in the middle of a very musical supernova.

Lumines Arise, meanwhile, sees you arranging clumps of blocks into 2X2 scoreable combinations, which are removed from the playing field by a horizontally sweeping Time Line. While standing in the middle of a very musical supernova.

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There have been eight previous Lumines releases, including remasters, on various platforms since the first game’s appearance in 2004. This one is a collaboration with Monstars Inc, who also worked on Rez Infinite. I played a bit of Lumines Arise earlier this year, and spoke to an Enhance developer about its new emphasis on expressing “the human”, which is what sets it apart thematically from Tetris Effect. I’ll get that write-up turned around before the release date. If I don’t, feel free to quote this piece at me aggressively in the comments on any and all subsequent news articles.

In the short term, I’ll say that Arise is yet another pacey and flamboyant puzzler that drizzles your occipital lobe in (for example) footage of frenzied chameleons, while challenging your primary motor cortex to save you from total visual constipation. Yes, it’s making bits of your brain fight each other. I like when games do that.

Beyond that, I’m interested to make sense of Arise being a more “human” game than Effect. Much as I enjoyed Tetris Effect, I entertain suspicions that Enhance’s framing of Arise might be bullshit artistry. Perhaps “more human” just means there are more human figures in the background art. Come to think of it, I’m not sure the devs mentioned Enhance’s most recent game, Humanity, during my hands-on – RPS reviewer Kim Armstrong witheringly summarised that as “perfect puzzles pumped with existential hot air”.

Here’s the Steam link for the demo, which will be available from today, August 26th till September 3rd. It includes three stages from the single-player Journey mode and a bit of new multiplayer mode Burst Battle, which can be played online cross-platform. The full game has VR compatibility but there’s none of that nonsense in the demo, and they’ve locked the difficulty to easy. They don’t want to scare you away, after all.

Those damn fool editors of RPS gone by never found time to review Tetris Effect, but they did put it on our list of the best VR games.

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August 26, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Today is your last chance to grab a PS5 before Sony’s price hikes go into effect

by admin August 21, 2025

Sony announced a $50 price increase on all PlayStation 5 “slim” models in the US starting tomorrow, August 21st. The upcoming prices for a PS5 Digital Edition, the standard PS5, and the PS5 Pro are $499.99, $549.99, and $749.99, respectively; however, you can avoid paying the higher prices by picking up a PS5 at Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart today.

The disc-based PS5 is already sold out at Amazon, and your options may get even more limited the longer you wait. As of right now, you can get the PS5 Digital Edition for around $449 at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target, while the standard PS5 can be had for around $499 at Best Buy, Walmart, and Target. You can also pick up the newer PS5 Pro for around $699 at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target.

All three PS5 consoles can play the same library of games, but have slight differences. The PS5 Digital Edition features rearranged port selection and lacks a built-in disc drive, which means it can only play digital games downloaded from the PlayStation Store. (Sony sells an optional external drive you can add after the fact for $79.99 if you’d like to play physical games or Blu-rays.) The standard, disc-based PS5 features the same tech specs, but with an internal disc drive.

The PS5 Pro, meanwhile, has a better GPU, faster memory, improved ray tracing, support for Wi-Fi 7, and AI-powered upscaling. It lacks an internal disc drive, but it’s compatible with the external disc drive developed for the original PS5. It also comes with 2TB of internal storage instead of the 1TB SSD found in the non-Pro models, so you have additional space for stowing digital games. The beefed-up system doesn’t have exclusive titles, but select PS5 titles have received updates to look better.

Sony’s price hike comes less than a month after Nintendo introduced a similar $30 increase on the original Nintendo Switch models. Nintendo also recently raised the prices of certain Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, but Sony says “the recommended retail prices for PS5 accessories remain unchanged.” The price adjustments from both companies are attributable to tariffs on international goods, which were first announced in April and have continued to change in response to President Donald Trump’s on-again-of-again policy.

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August 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Asus heard you like screens, so it put a curved ‘3D effect’ OLED screen on your CPU water cooler

by admin August 20, 2025

ROG Ryuo IV Series ASUS InfoHub Control Guide – YouTube

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We’ve seen CPU coolers with screens before. We’ve seen CPU coolers with OLED screens before. We’ve seen CPU coolers with curved OLED screens before. We’ve even seen CPU coolers with curved, motorised OLED screens before. But have we seen a CPU cooler with a curved, movable 3D-effect OLED screen before? No, sir, we have not. Until today.

Give it up for the ROG Ryuo IV 360 ARGB water cooler, the ultimate checkbox exercise in CPU cooling, announced today at Gamescom. Its finely triangulated USP is a movable curved 6.67-inch AMOLED display that supports “3D-effect videos or customized system information”.

Asus says, “a powerful pump delivers robust cooling performance, higher flow, and lower impedance, while the pre-mounted, daisy-chained ARGB fans provide high airflow and static pressure. Its fans have a low-noise design and feature front and side lighting.”

The cooler supports LGA 1851, 1700, AMD AM5, and AM4 CPU sockets, and features 400mm tubing for better chassis compatibility. There’s also software with support for hardware monitoring and screen content management. Oh, and there’s a white version, too, that’s otherwise identical.

Getting back to that “3D effect” thing, our understanding is that is doesn’t mean some kind of lenticular 3D, as per the Acer Predator SpatialLabs View 27 we recently reviewed. Instead, we’re talking 3D effect as in those videos that use borders and lines to frame movement, plus extreme perspective and a bit of blur. Like this demo video.

Asus doesn’t provide a specific resolution for the display, only describing it at “2K”. But that probably means 1,920 by 1,080, or something very close to that. By default, it can either display one of a number of preloaded 3D effect visuals or a user-configurable suite of hard info, such as CPU temps, fan speeds, voltages, clockspeeds and all that good stuff.

You can also splitscreen the display, so that part of it is showing hardware info, the other trick visuals. And as you can see above, the “3Dness” does actually kinda work.

As for the “movable” bit, the OLED screen is on a slider. So now you know. For the record, the radiator measures 394 by 140 by 32 mm and sports three front-and-side lit 120 mm fans. That setup delivers a rated airflow of 71.44 CFM at a noise level of 39.6 dB(A). The cooler module has a six year warranty, while the screen is covered for two years.

Finally and on the sordid matter of money, this was never gonna be cheap. US pricing hasn’t emerged, but it’s available in the UK for £322, which implies something in the region of $350. Ouch. But then if you want screens on everything, it’s going to cost you.

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August 20, 2025 0 comments