AMD launched the Radeon RX 6800 XT, its latest mainstream flagship graphics card, late last year. The company was proud to show off what, at the time, it called its newest "proprietary" feature: Resizable BAR (Base Address Register), albeit under AMD's own moniker of Smart Access Memory (SAM). We put the word "proprietary" in quotes because, as it turns out, there's nothing wholly new or proprietary about Resizable BAR (or alter ego SAM). And now, it's coming to an Nvidia GPU (and Intel CPU) near you. That means you'll be hearing these two terms bandied about plenty in 2021. But what is Resizable BAR, anyway, and how can it help you squeeze the most performance out of your desktop gaming PC? Let's dig into the details of this old, yet also new, technology to find out. Three Graphics Cards Walk Into a BAR... Resizable BAR was actually first introduced, if not widely implemented, as a part of the move to the PCI Express 3.0 spec in desktop motherboards back in 2010. (It requires specific support at the CPU and GPU level, as well.) How does Resizable BAR work? In a nutshell, the feature, set via the system BIOS, determines how much of the graphics memory, or VRAM, on your video card is made available to be mapped for access by the CPU. Generally, this is limited to just 256MB of the card's onboard VRAM—which is to say, not much of it. A motherboard with Resizable BAR activated, however, can boost the limit to the full capacity of the VRAM buffer. Image: AMD So what does that actually mean in the real world? At the system level, for starters, rather than chopping up the data stream and sending smaller requests from the CPU to the GPU, the GPU can now ask for complete chunks of data—think, larger files containing elements like shaders and textures—and get them sent by the CPU all at once. The result is a more efficient communication pipeline between your CPU and GPU. And, depending on the game title and the components in your system, it can provide noticeable gains in performance for AAA games that know how to make use of the tactic. But what kind of real-world boost can you expect in frame rates with the feature turned on? SAM, I Am: A Preliminary Testing Impression At the time of the launch of the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, we got the chance to test the feature for ourselves (in its AMD SAM guise). However, in our runs of current AAA titles, as well as multiplayer games and older/legacy AAA titles, we found SAM only really affected results in the most demanding benchmark tests. In our test suite, those are represented by the AAA games Red Dead Redemption 2 and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. With SAM activated, both saw gains of roughly 5% compared with benchmark runs with the SAM feature turned off. That said, we also ran into a range of driver-related issues with the card samples we were given to test by AMD at the time of the Radeon RX 6800 launch, which could mean that our results are not the most current representation of what SAM/Resizable BAR can do at its best. Other outlets that have since tested the feature after the launch-driver stumbles smoothed out have seen some substantial upticks (again, very much dependent on the title) that could exceed 15% gains in frame rates, in select cases. We say "select," because, as of now, the benefit of SAM is wildly dependent on the game you're playing. While Assassin's Creed: Odyssey might see significant uplifts (totaling 20% more frames per second at certain resolutions, according to tests from around the web), other games actually might see their performance decrease with the feature activated. Whether or not you'll get a gain or a loss varies quite literally from game to game. And, seeing as the feature can be turned on or off only through the motherboard BIOS, the overall pragmatism of toying with SAM/Resizable BAR to see what works well and what doesn't has yet to be seen. We'll be testing the feature more thoroughly in the coming months as it's added to both Intel motherboards and Nvidia graphics cards, as well as re-running our old tests on the Radeon RX 6800 XT with the updated driver set. Stay tuned to PCMag as we dig into Resizable BAR, and see what it can really do when Nvidia and AMD do battle on even ground. BAR or SAM: What You'll Need to Make It Work As it is a recently introduced feature, for now only very late-model components are capable of supporting Resizable BAR. As of this writing (March 2021), Resizable BAR, under the SAM badge for AMD, works with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 and Radeon RX 6800 XT cards (as well as the upcoming Radeon RX 6700 XT), but only in concert with Ryzen 5000 or Ryzen 3000 Series CPUs based on Zen 2 or later architectures. Furthermore, only motherboards based on the AMD 400 and 500 series chipsets will support SAM. In addition, not all of them: It's up to each motherboard manufacturer to patch the feature in through a BIOS update, if the board doesn't ship with SAM support in place. However, that hardware support list is about to get a lot bigger, as both Nvidia and Intel have announced plans to bring Resizable BAR support to their video cards and motherboards in the coming months. RECOMMENDED BY OUR EDITORS Nvidia's Resizable BAR Support Coming to Some RTX 30 Series GPUs AMD Aims to Beat Nvidia's RTX 3070 With $479 Radeon RX 6700 XT AMD's Big Navi Graphics Cards Launch Nov. 18 With Radeon RX 6800, 6800 XT Unlike AMD, though, which lets you enable the feature carte blanche to potentially increase the performance of your favorite game, Nvidia dictates which games can use the feature based on its Game Ready Driver releases. At this early March 2021 writing, the list of games that support Resizable BAR on "Ampere"-based Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series desktop video cards and gaming laptops with RTX 30 Series mobile GPUs includes just the following: Assassin's Creed Valhalla Battlefield V Borderlands 3 Forza Horizon 4 Gears 5 Metro Exodus Red Dead Redemption 2 Watch Dogs: Legion That's a pretty darn small subset of the full gaming library that exists on PCs. (Flashbacks to DLSS, anyone?) However, it's likely that Nvidia is being careful to roll out the feature selectively, to games it knows will benefit from Resizable BAR. Because some games can actually take a performance hit with the feature turned on, Nvidia's driver-level implementation prevents users from accidentally hurting their performance by trying to use it in unsupported titles. This could be the better approach in the long run. (Who will want to keep score on which games benefit, and which games don't, after all?) But it will be interesting to see how AMD handles its response as cards like the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT near their launch date. Furthermore, actually getting Resizable BAR activated on your Nvidia card will be a task unto itself. Thus far, the company has only launched its GeForce RTX 3060 with the feature already preinstalled in the VBIOS (that is, the card's own BIOS). Any other model of RTX 30 Series desktop card will need to have its VBIOS flashed—a daunting prospect for any graphics card owner!—in order to get it to work. VBIOS versions with Resizable BAR enabled will be provided both by Nvidia (for Founders Edition cards) and partner card manufacturers as time goes on. As for GeForce RTX 30 Series laptops, you'll want to check with the laptop vendor if Resizable BAR is supported. In a recent conversation with Tom's Hardware, Intel also confirmed it has activated the feature for its 10th Generation "Comet Lake" line of CPUs on select motherboards and mobile systems, and says that 11th Generation ("Rocket Lake") desktop CPUs will carry support when they launch later this month: "The final drivers, from our side, it's already there,” Intel’s GM of premium and gaming notebook segments, Fredrik Hamberger, told Tom’s Hardware. “Some of the OEMs are working on finalizing exact timing on when they have the driver from the graphics vendors, so I think you'd have to ask them on the exact timing.” Ultimately, Resizable BAR, or SAM, is yet another tool in a growing war chest that engineers have developed that employs new and creative methods to squeeze every ounce of frame-rate juice possible from your hardware. It joins alternative approaches to brute-force compute-unit increases, such as DLSS, Radeon Image Sharpening (RIS), and Nvidia Freestyle, in the never-ending quest for higher frame rates. And although it may not be as revolutionary as some of those technologies (again, looking at you DLSS), it's still another "nice to have" feature in your arsenal. Anyone who games on their desktop or laptop should keep BAR and SAM on their radar in 2021, as they shop for components to complement one another in their next gaming rig

Has Windows been acting flaky? It could be a specific piece of software that’s wreaking havoc on your system. Maybe you've installed a new application or driver. Perhaps Windows is crashing or blue screening and you have no idea why. Don’t worry because all is not lost if you have a system restore point waiting to roll your PC back to functionality. A restore point is essentially a snapshot of Windows at any given time. You can create restore points on a regular basis, and if Windows ever breaks, you can bring it back to a point from before the problem occurred. The best part of using this method over a Recovery Drive is that only system files and settings will be affected, while all your documents and personal files will be left untouched. Windows automatically creates a restore point at key moments, such as when you install certain software programs and drivers or apply Windows updates. However, you should manually create these points yourself on a regular basis, perhaps a couple of times a month, to ensure that your system can be restored to a recent state in the event of a mishap. You should also create one before you attempt any type of major change to Windows that could inadvertently lead to unstable behavior or other issues. The Restore Point feature is available in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7. It works the same in all three versions, but the way you get to the feature differs slightly. Here’s how to create and use a restore point in any of these versions of Windows. Find System Protections Windows 10 users can go to Settings > System > About and click the System Protection link. In Windows 8.1, right-click the Start button and select Control Panel. With Control Panel in icon view, click the System icon, then click System Protection. If you're still running Windows 7 (you shouldn't be), click on the Start button and Select Control Panel. Click the System icon and then select System Protection. From here on, the process is virtually the same in Windows 10, 8.1, and 7. Configure System Protection The System Protection tab in the System Properties window displays your primary hard drive and any additional drives. If System Protection has not yet been enabled, the Create button is grayed out. In this case, select the drive you want to protect and then click the Configure button. At the next window, click Turn on System Protection. In Windows 7, you’ll also have to choose between restoring system settings and previous versions of files or only previous versions of files. In general, the first option is your safest bet. You’ll then need to decide how much disk space you want to devote to all your restore points. If you run out of space, the oldest restore points will start getting deleted. If you have ample free space, then you may want to devote more storage for the restore points. Otherwise, you can stick with the suggested percentage, usually anywhere from 1% to 3% depending on the overall size of the drive. Click OK and restore points will be created automatically at certain key moments. You can repeat these steps if you have a second drive that you wish to protect. You can also return to this screen in the future to delete all existing system restore points if you’re running low on disk space. To do this, click the Delete button and click Continue to confirm the deletion. Create Manual Restore Points If you want to create a restore point manually, return to the System Protection tab under System Properties. Click the appropriate drive and hit the Create button. Type in a name for the restore point. Since the current date and time will automatically be added to the name, you might want to include a note about the action you’re about to take or another reason for the restore point. The current date and time will automatically be added to the name, so you don’t have to add those yourself. Click Create and Windows will tell you that the restore point was created successfully. You can repeat these steps if you want to create a restore point for a second drive. When done, click OK to shut down the System Protection window. RECOMMENDED BY OUR EDITORS How to Factory Reset Windows 10 How to Free Up Hard Disk Space on Windows 10 How to Back Up and Restore Your Files in Windows 10 Restore Windows Now, if you have an issue, you can return to the System Protection window and click the System Restore button. At the Restore system files and settings screen, Windows explains what System Restore does. Click Next to view the system restore points for the drive you selected. Select a specific restore point, then click the Scan for affected programs button. Windows scans for any applications that were added since the last restore point in order to delete them and looks for any that were removed in order to restore them. It also scans for any programs and drivers that might be restored but may not work correctly and may need to be reinstalled. Note the results if Windows finds anything important. After the scan completes, close the current window to return to the previous System Restore window. Make sure the restore point you want to use is selected and click Next. At the next screen, Windows will ask you to confirm that this is the restore point you wish to apply. Click Finish to confirm and you will be told that System Restore cannot be interrupted. Click Yes to continue. Windows will bring your system back to the restore point you selected and reboot, telling you that your files and settings are being restored. Once Windows is back up again, you can log in. You should receive a message telling you that System Restore completed successfully. You may now need to reinstall any applications, drivers, or other software that were removed. You'll also want to play around in Windows to see if the problem that prompted you to restore it has been eliminated.

One of the most exciting announcements of 2021 for Nintendo Switch fans was the announcement of a brand new model of the popular console featuring a built-in OLED screen, offering clearer picture quality and brighter images. While the OLED model may not have been the 4K Switch fans were asking for, the announcement of the new model generated quite a bit of buzz among the Nintendo community. Now, with the console's release only a day away, Nintendo is encouraging fans of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to back up their saves before jumping to the new model. The newest entry in Nintendo's long-running life simulation franchise, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, has been a massive success for Nintendo since its release in March of 2020. The game quickly became one of the fastest selling titles on the Nintendo Switch and has spawned countless pieces of creative and unique fan content. Passionate fans of Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans have built a thriving community around the title and, with the new Switch model on the horizon, Nintendo is encouraging fans to back up their data. RELATED:Animal Crossing: New Horizons Adds New Seasonal Items For Halloween The official Nintendo Europe Twitter account encouraged fans looking to take their Animal Crossing: New Horizons islands to the Switch's OLED model to back up their save data, linking to a Nintendo-written guide on backing up save data. The short guide instructs players on how to enable the creation of backups for a player's island, restore their island data on another console, and disabling the auto-creation of backups. It should be noted that a Nintendo Switch Online membership will be required to recover a player's island in case of the Switch being lost, stolen, or damaged. Cloud saves and backup features have become an increasingly common aspect of the gaming industry today. The Nintendo Switch Online membership offers cloud storage for all of a player's saved games, allowing players to easily move between different Switch consoles without losing their progress. PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live also offer cloud saves to players along with their membership subscriptions and Steam offers cloud saves free for specific titles. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been a popular title both critically and amongst fans of the long-running franchise. The newest Animal Crossing title stands as the second best-selling Nintendo Switch game today with its almost 34 million sales, sitting behind only Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Nintendo has been consistently updating the title since its release with the company recently announcing an Animal Crossing-focused Nintendo Direct announced for October 15. With the developers committed to the game's updates, the future continues to look bright for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Nintendo Switch.

With plans to implement a Nintendo 64 expansion pack to Nintendo Switch Online's game library underway, it appears that Nintendo is planning to lean into N64 nostalgia. However, one Nintendo 64 fan is taking matters into their own hands by creating custom N64 cartridge keycaps for other retro Nintendo enthusiasts. Reddit user dylpickle300 shared a short video of the keycaps, during which they demonstrate how to put the keycaps on a mechanical keyboard and then hit the keys, creating a clicking noise that gamers may find very satisfying. This isn't the first time N64 fans have created custom gaming gear, but it may be one of the most detailed. Although dylpickle300's tiny keycaps appear to be significantly smaller than the actual N64 cartridges they're based on, they feature intricate sculpting and meticulously recreated images and labels. RELATED:Xbox Can Technically Play PS1 And Nintendo 64 Games Thanks To New Internet Browser App In the video, dylpickle300 shows off a variety of small, handmade keycaps modeled after cartridges for existing games like Donkey Kong 64, Super Smash Bros., Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and Super Mario 64. Several other cartridges are shown lying on top of the white, unlabeled mechanical keyboard used in the demonstration, but every keycap attached to a key appears to be gripping flawlessly. Dylpickle300 did not show how the keycaps react to a standard typing position, possibly because their hands and wrists would have blocked most of the keyboard from view. However, they did show that keycaps stay put if individual keys are pressed quickly and repeatedly. Dylpickle300 creates artisan keycaps and sells them on their Etsy shop, CleanCaps. They have previously worked on Game Boy cartridge keycaps, NES cartridge keycaps, and even keycaps modeled after consoles like the original Xbox and the GameCube. The addition of custom N64 cartridge keycaps appears to fit right in with their existing selection of custom keycaps, although as of writing CleanCaps does not offer other custom N64 gear. It appears that other fans of the N64 and artisan keycaps are quite impressed with dylpickle300's work. Several users expressed interest in seeing custom N64 keychains, while others immediately asked where they could buy the keycaps. They seemed pleased to learn that the Etsy shop allows N64 fans to request a specific game and have it made to their specifications. One user mourned the fact that the keycaps cover the letters completely, stating that they would be unable to type with the keycaps on. Other users soon responded with suggestions that they either memorize the keyboard layout in advance or code the keycaps in a specific pattern to help with memory.

Rockstar Games has teased the existence of an upcoming Grand Theft Auto trilogy remaster, and recent leaks have suggested that it's coming soon. According to an eagle-eyed GTA fan, the remastered trilogy may even be coming as soon as next month. Reddit user So_sotired recently spotted an interesting new detail in the Steam curator page about the trilogy of classic Grand Theft Auto titles from the 2000s. The Steam curator included each of the aforementioned GTA titles, listing them as recommended to the user at only $9.99. Each title was seen listed on Steam alongside a statement that remasters are coming in November 2021. RELATED:Rockstar Seemingly Muting 'GTA 6' On Its YouTube Channel Alongside the GTA titles being recommended in this Steam curator page was Alan Wake, which was recently remastered as well. Steam curators add their own description blurbs to games, so it's possible that the November release is far from the actual release of Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy. This curator is known as "Games at risk of removal" and they recommend titles that are at risk of being delisted from Steam. Some of the titles this curator has listed include curated titles such as Dead Space, Card Quest, and BloodRayne Betrayal, which all have confirmed remasters. According to So_sotired, the included image came from a Facebook group, which suggests that multiple people have seen the GTA teaser from this curator. Games at risk of removal may be a little early in their anticipation of the GTA Remastered Trilogy, but it has been teased in several ways already. Rockstar Games has yet to confirm the release of Grand Theft Auto Trilogy Remaster or a release date for it, but this Steam curator's description is among several reasons why some gamers are anticipating it. The Rockstar Games launcher was also recently updated to include references to the trilogy of classic GTA titles and the Unreal Engine. Each of these was added to feature new icons in the Rockstar Games launcher that reflects each title appropriately. Rockstar Games continues to update GTA Online to get brand new content in order to keep the community engaged while they anticipate the next title in the series. GTA 5 was originally released back in 2013 and several players have discovered everything and explored every area in the game. Considering how long it's been since the last mainline GTA title was released, it's likely that Rockstar Games has something up its sleeve. Considering the 20th anniversary of the release of Grand Theft Auto 3 is coming up on October 22, Rockstar Games may announce the upcoming GTA Trilogy Remaster. Long-time fans of Grand Theft Auto are anticipating confirmation of the existence of this remaster, while others are anticipating the release of GTA 5 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and Grand Theft Auto 6. Many Twitch streamers have taken to roleplaying GTA 5 on the No Pixel server, an aspect of the game that Rockstar Games may consider bringing to official GTA Online servers in the future. Grand Theft Auto 5 is available right now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

With Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker a little over a month away, players are watching and re-watching the new Job Actions Trailer released a few weeks back to try and discern what new skills and abilities their favorite new jobs are getting. However, as often happens with MMORPGs, many of the tooltips for these new techniques have been released on the internet–despite the fact that the information was supposed to be classified until next week. During the Live Letter from the Producer, the developers also announced them Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker Media Tour, where they would invite popular streamers and content creators to experience the new playable jobs and give them plenty of time to compile videos and footage. However, these streamers were under a non-disclosure agreement that does not expire until October 13, after which they would be free to share what they had learned and created. RELATED:Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker Trailer Shows Reaper And Sage Gameplay And yet, a full week ahead of the expiration date of the NDA, leaked information from Endwalker hit the World Wide Web. The full upgraded tooltips for tanks and healer classes were uploaded to the Final Fantasy 14 Discussion subreddit (though thankfully not the official one), and certain skills and abilities of other jobs have been trickling in after. As one could imagine, the streamers who had been invited to the Media Tour were less than enthusiastic about someone leaking this information behind the development team's back. Leaking information is not an uncommon thing, especially for MMORPGs.Asmongold, a popular World of Warcraft streamer who recently started Final Fantasy 14, said in his response to these leaks that some games, like World of Warcraft, use the leaks as additional advertisement, and expect and even encourage them to the point that many people believe it is responsible for some of them. Final Fantasy 14, on the other hand, does not. Naoki Yoshida, director and producer of Final Fantasy 14, has stated that leaking information is “the worst thing you can do,” as it ruins the experience for both players and the development team who has worked so hard to create for their players. This isn’t the first time information has leaked ahead of the game's schedule–both the Stormblood and Shadowbringers expansions suffered from similar problems, and Yoshida has vehemently denounced it both times. With our three fan festivals as well as our patch updates, we tried to lay out elements that would surprise our players, and we want to bring an encounter that people may not have even imagined. It is very important for us to provide that surprise enjoyment. So leaking information is taking away that enjoyment and ruining that initial contact and emotion that we want our players to experience. So it is unacceptable and unforgivable. The other reason is, it ruins the efforts of the development team. We have a few hundred people working on this daily, and when a spoiler comes out, it destroys what they have worked for. As somebody responsible for the development team, there are simply no words for me to describe how unfortunate that is. It is extremely frustrating. Square Enix as a whole does its due diligence and investigates all incidents of such leaks. They are taken very seriously. On the other hand, some players don't see a problem with the leaks. They believe it unfair that Final Fantasy 14 uses gameplay information like this as a marketing tool, as other MMORPGs tend to be looser with class changes during expansion cycles, such as Guild Wars 2's elite specialization beta events or World of Warcraft's pre-patch events. With Final Fantasy 14's rise in popularity, there is bound to be increased strife between players, who all want different things from the game. As the community grows, veteran players hope that newcomers can grow to have the same respect they have for the Final Fantasy 14 team and their wishes. Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker releases on November 23 for PC, PS4, and PS5.

Cookie Run: Kingdom remains one of the most popular free-to-play games on mobile devices, having leaped into the top 100 Google Play free-to-play apps in September and staying there since. Released by South Korean developer Devsisters in early 2021, the RPG and latest release in the long-running Cookie Run franchise is hoping to capitalize on its recent success and climb even higher up the ranks. On October 8, Devsisters plans to release a new update for Cookie Run: Kingdom. In a new Cookie Run: Kingdom trailer titled "INTERDIMENSIONAL SUPER MAYHEM" Devsisters unveils that the upcoming October 8 update for the mobile game will focus on a showdown between the tribe of Mala Sauce Cookie and Twizzly Gummy Cookie and her band of misfits. Players will help Mala as the "Cosmic Criminal" Twizzly Gummy Cookie attacks across dimensions. Their battle will take place in Mala's home of Dragon Valley, a familiar location going all the way back to the original Cookie Run game. RELATED:Cookie Run Kingdom: Codes For October 2021 Little is known regarding the pure content that will be included in the Cookie Run: Kingdom update for Mala Sauce Cookie and Twizzly Gummy Cookie. Since Cookie Run: Kingdom is a gacha game at heart, players will likely be able to draw for these new cookies. Devsisters does mention that the Mala Sauce Cookie will be able to increase the critical hit percentage of the party's two Cookies with the highest critical hit percentage. The teaser notably doesn't show this, but rather has Mala Sauce Cookie buffing the entire party. As for what other content players will be waiting players in the Cookie Run: Kingdom Mala and Twizzly update, they'll just have to wait and find out. It will hopefully feature a full new area, Dragon Valley, for world exploration and with it a healthy story expansion and dark variant. That should mean a new allotment of Coins, Kingdom XP, and Cookie XP to earn. The Cookie Run franchise officially began in 2013. The first game in the series was downloaded an astonishing 87 million times. Since then, Devsisters has released Cookie Run: OvenBreak, a crossover with an earlier Devsisters franchise, CookieWars, and Cookie Run: Puzzle World. Cookie Run: Kingdom's development was almost shelved, but the success of the prior spin-offs helped relaunch its development. Expect to hear more about Cookie Run: Kingdom, its upcoming October 8 update featuring Mala Sauce Cookie and Twizzly Gummy Cookie, and more incoming content in the months to come. Odds are, this is just the start of a big push from Devsisters to continue climbing the charts. Cookie Run: Kingdom is available now on iOS and Android devices.

Despite a variety of leaks indicating that a remastered bundle of the first three Grand Theft Auto games is in development, an announcement has yet to be made. Titled Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, the bundle will reportedly include Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Yet while Rockstar appears to be waiting for a special occasion to announce the Grand Theft Auto trilogy remaster, leaks continue to be discovered. The latest example is a list of achievement icons for the bundle, but not the achievements themselves. The leaker shared their discovery on Reddit, which they claim comes from Rockstar's own game launcher. The icons are split into three different sets, assumedly with one set for each Grand Theft Auto game in the bundle. The leaker also claims that the achievement icons are explicitly for the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. RELATED:Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Leaked By Ratings Board Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were all released in the era of achievements prior, so it's easy to verify the accuracy of these leaked icons. Comparing the original Grand Theft Auto 3's 29 trophies to the leaked icons shows that all original trophies are accounted for. However, there are an additional 15 achievements not found in the original Grand Theft Auto 3 that are a mystery. They even stand out with a unique yellow background compared to the other achievement icons. Similarly, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City's original 34 trophy icons are included in the leak's achievement icons. However, there are an additional 9 icons that are entirely new. Oddly enough, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' 33 original trophies appear to all be accounted for, but some of the icons have been replaced with different images. There are also 15 new achievements to unlock for the game, too. If the leaker was trying to fake the achievements for these three games, they could easily have used the existing trophy icons for each game and leave it at that. However, each Grand Theft Auto game has new achievements, as well as San Andreas having some new icons for its achievements, which implies a level of authenticity that might be in question otherwise. That's making an assumption based on achievement icons, however, and is only so reliable. With the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition achievement icons apparently appearing in Rockstar's game launcher, that could mean a Grand Theft Auto trilogy announcement is coming soon. Of course, Grand Theft Auto fans have speculated that the announcement is coming soon for some time. All that's really left to do is be patient. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is rumored to be in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Apex Legends is already nearing the end of Season 10. Having introduced the new playable Legend Seer, a new battle pass, and many changes to World’s Edge, Season 10 brought a sizeable amount of content to the game. However, the developers aren't done, as even more content is coming this season. Recently, the studio announced a new ghoulish event giving fans of Halloween a reason to jump back into the game. Earlier today, the developers revealed the Monsters Within Event. Originally leaked by Apex Legends dataminers, this announcement from Respawn confirmed rumors that the developer had planned a Halloween-themed event for the game. Starting on October 12 and going until November 2, players will have 3 weeks to check out the many new features of the Halloween event. RELATED:Apex Legends Fans Suggest Ways To Improve Wattson Ahead Of Season 11 Revealed in a trailer and a blog post on the Apex Legends website, fans received a glimpse at many of the 40 new cosmetics coming in the Monsters Within Event. Some of the highlights include new Legendary skins that will be available through crafting or purchasing Apex packs. Some of the Legends receiving a Halloween-themed makeover include Revenant, Bloodhound, Caustic, and Seer. In addition to these skins, the event adds several spooky weapon skins along with banners and holosprays for Halloween. One interesting note regarding cosmetics is that exclusive items from the event are available in Monsters Within packs as well as regular Apex packs. Furthermore, these Halloween-themed items will remain part of the standard Apex pack loot pool even after the end of the event. Additionally, the Monsters Within event includes a prize tracker that awards Apex packs and other items during the festivities. Beyond these upcoming cosmetics, players will have a chance to pick up classic skins from the previous Halloween events from the in-game store. In addition to these new cosmetics, a new map called Encore is being added to the 3v3 elimination Arenas mode. Set on the homeworld of Seer, Boreas, this map features a performance stage juxtaposed against the backdrop of a desert. The developers noted that the design of the map features a more open layout, forcing players to have “strong environmental awareness.” Besides the new content coming to the game, the developers announced the return of the Shadow Royale mode. This mode puts an interesting spin on the battle royale formula by turning off the lights on Kings Canyon, causing players to have to fight at night while fending off attacks from living and Shadow-Form enemies. News about this upcoming event comes shortly after the Evolution Collection Event caused server issues for many Apex Legends players, even causing the developers to extend the first Ranked Split of Season 10. Hopefully, this new Monsters Within Event goes much smoother. Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Epic Games continues to evolve Fortnite as Chapter 2 Season 8 gets updated with new items, weapon balancing, and more. And now, even Universal Studios is getting the Fortnite treatment. Spotted by theme park goers, the Fortnite Battle Bus is looming outside of the Universal California Cinema. Epic Games is known for promoting Fortnite with events that extend from the battle royale into the real world, most notably with Fortnite Chapter 1 Season 5 - Worlds Collide. With the Fortnite Battle Bus appearing in Universal California, Epic Games may be preparing for a new campaign or more crossovers. Universal Studios fans may be familiar with the company's film catalog and its emphasis on horror and Fortnite's Battle Bus may be part of this year's "Halloween Horror Nights." RELATED:Fortnite Teaser Hints At The Walking Dead's Rick Grimes Skin Twitter user Theme Snark spotted the Fortnite Battle Bus at Universal Studios' California theme park, catching it in multiple stages of development. The first photo Theme Snark shared showed a very basic blue school bus, while the second photo resembled what many Fortnite fans know as the Battle Bus. Finally, Theme Snark's third photo showed the Fortnite Battle Bus in "night mode." The night mode of Fortnite's Battle Bus is clad in pink and blue neon lights, while the V-Buck symbol is fittingly placed in the center of the roof. Both sides of the Battle Bus have neon arrows pointing forwards, but it's missing the balloon that allows it to float across the battle royale island. It's currently unclear if a balloon will be added to the Battle Bus in the future, but if it is, it wouldn't be surprising to see a Fortnitemares-inspired floatation device. Universal Studios owns the rights to many amazing franchises that Fortnite may be greeted by in the future, such as Fast and Furious, Minions, Chucky, and Halloween. Considering the Fortnite Battle Bus is appearing at Universal Studios during Halloween Horror Nights, it may be teasing more horror movie-themed skins such as Michael Myers, The Mummy, or Van Helsing. It's not too far out of the realm of possibility, as Frankenstein's Monster is a Universal character that was recently added to Epic Games' battle royale as part of this year's Fortnitemares. Universal theme parks are known for being completely overhauled for Halloween and this year is no different. The inclusion of Fortnite's Battle Bus this year may be an advertisement for Fortnitemares which has already begun and goes until November 1. Although Fortnitemares includes cube monsters and what's known as the Sideways this year, the Battle Bus is currently standing alone at Universal California. Fortnite is available right now for mobile, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Last week, a number of emotes with had a bad history of abuse were removed from the World of Warcraft Public Test Realm. In a build released yesterday, several of them were re-added but with the caveat that they can no longer be used on other players. The /drool, /cough, /burp, /fart, /whistle, /spit, and /moon emotes were the subject of this most recent change in World of Warcraft. Previously, when a player input these emotes while targeting another player, the output text would describe the player's character interacting with their target in rather colorful ways. These emotes no longer change if the player has another player targeted, and now only involve the player's own character. RELATED:World Of Warcraft: Dozens Of Outdated Flirt And Joke Voice Lines Removed Other emotes have been removed from World of Warcraft entirely. The /kick, /stink, /shake, and /moan emotes are no longer usable, and the /pounce and /groan emotes have seen their interactions with other players changed to have a less negative connotation. The changed emotes, which may seem harmless at a glance, can and have been used against other players in ways that are intrusive, rude, or sexually suggestive. Interestingly, several other, more positive emotes, such as an /impressed and a /magnificent emote, were added in the same PTR build. These changes are the direct result of World of Warcraft's recent promise to become more inclusive. In light of recent events, the least of all being several lawsuits that have been filed against Activision Blizzard, World of Warcraft is in hot water. Since the first of these lawsuits was filed against Blizzard in July, eyes across the gaming industry have been on the company, waiting to see what Blizzard's response would be. While these relatively small changes will not make World of Warcraft's troubles disappear, they may be able to act as building blocks to foster a better future for the game and community, should the game continue to build on the momentum it has promised. The game has been out for the better part of two decades, and in that time, the large community the game has gathered has grown notoriously toxic and unfriendly. Asmongold, a popular World of Warcraft streamer known for having a particularly rowdy following, provided a poignant example by starting a trend of hunting down World of Warcraft players who rode mounts purchased from the cash shop and harassing them with the /spit emote. With this most recent change, such harassment is much harder to pull off. Of course, there are always players who will be dissatisfied with such changes. These people claim World of Warcraft is pandering to the "woke" crowd, and that the emotes are just harmless fun. Whether or not such claims are founded, it is true changing a few emotes will not clean up the toxic community World of Warcraft has been allowed to foster without more strict moderation or penalties for harassment. That being said, it is certainly another step in what most consider the right direction. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available on PC.

Battlefield fans have been anxiously awaiting the start of Battlefield 2042's beta tests leading up to launch. Even the slight delay that Battlefield 2042 received didn't impair fans' anticipation of what looks to be the biggest, most bombastic Battlefield yet. That official open beta arrived Wednesday and will last through Saturday, October 9. However, alongside excitement at the beta's start, there's also been disappointment. Despite assurances from EA DICE regarding Battlefield 2042's anti-cheat system, hacking is already apparent within the beta. Footage from Battlefield 2042's open beta depicting cheaters using traditional hacks including wallkhacks, aimbots, player location data, radar data, and more have been widely shared within the Battlefield community. Despite the Battlefield 2042 open beta having been available for just over a day, it appears that traditional hacks from common hacking sources work without issue. The hacks are notably rudimentary, of course, though that's perhaps in part due to the Battlefield franchise being less of a target for hack makers than the Call of Duty franchise. RELATED:Battlefield 2042 Bots Keep Shooting Players Even After They're Dead Battlefield 2042 does have anti-cheat technology implemented for its open beta, so it's not like hackers have free rein to implement and sell hacks as they please. Battlefield 2042 uses Easy Anti-Cheat, a third-party anti-hacking service also used in games including Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Fortnite, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, New World, Rust, Spellbreak, and more. In other words, this is a highly effective and respected anti-cheat service. Cheater pic.twitter.com/ydwb4QaPK8 — conne0312 (@coone90) October 7, 2021 It's also worth acknowledging that despite the footage spread online, it isn't clear how effective Battlefield 2042's anti-cheat truly is. That's because anti-cheat doesn't typically ban users immediately, once their hacks are recognized. Not only does anti-cheat wait to ban a player in a way that hackers can't tell how their hacks are being recognized, but anti-cheat systems also collect data over time so as to better counter future hacks. It's possible that this is all by design, though that's obviously unlikely. No comment has been made by Electronic Arts or EA DICE regarding the cheats seen in the Battlefield 2042 open beta. It's likely that some form of communication on the subject will be shared prior to launch, but not in any sort of specific way. Discussion of hacks rarely occurs outside of very general terms in the industry. For the time being, Battlefield 2042 players in the open beta will simply have to deal with any hackers they encounter in-game. When Battlefield 2042 launches, a system allowing players to report opponents for cheating will be available. Until then, however, sharing clips on Reddit and hoping EA DICE is silently watching appears to be players' best hope of consequences for these hackers. Battlefield 2042 releases November 19 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Diplo has issued a lengthy statement to deny allegations of sexual misconduct. It was reported on Wednesday that the DJ, real name Thomas Wesley Pentz, may face criminal charges in relation to allegations made by a 25-year-old woman, who accused him of raping her, recording sexually explicit videos of her without her permission, and knowingly infecting her with chlamydia. Diplo's lawyer Bryan Freedman denied the claims to the New York Post's Page Six, calling them "yet more lies from the same disturbed individual who has been stalking and menacing Wes, his family and his friends for years," and the music star elaborated on this further in a lengthy Instagram post which detailed his alleged history with his accuser, whom he referred to as "SA". "She was an obsessed fan of mine, and after I relinquished all contact with her, it appears that her only purpose in life has been to disrupt my work, my business, harass me and my close friends and attack me and threaten my family. To be clear, SA was not a minor when I had conversations or sexual intercourse with her," he wrote. . After their "night of consensual sex", the 42-year-old went on to state that they exchanged flirty texts and pictures for a few months before he "stopped contact with her when I realized she had started to become obsessed with me, it began a nightmare of almost three years of her harassing and threatening me my family and my friends." He claimed SA had fake accounts and different numbers to contact him "day and night", turned up at his house when he wasn't home and sent threatening messages to the mothers of his children. The EDM star admitted to having sex with SA once more, with her friends in Las Vegas. He then accused SA of encouraging one of those friends to file a lawsuit against him earlier this year in which she claimed he forced her into performing oral sex. He allegedly discovered videos proving otherwise and the case was dropped less than 10 days later. Diplo also shared texts and tweets which appear to show SA denying that he raped her or gave her the sexually transmitted disease. "Culture is quick to follow unsubstantiated claims," he concluded the post. "I'm a public figure and this comes with the territory and I understand that. I want to add also these previous claims have been dropped or abandoned and those facts go unreported. This is so frustrating and embarrassing. I am not this person and I won't be extorted by anyone no matter how stinging the press can be. "Even over the past 2 years I've never been bothered by these rumors if anything it has made me stronger and smarter, all of my friends and partners have never questioned me and that was what has been important to me. The people in my life know me for who I really am. I will continue to do everything I can to end this in the most respectful way but I will not give in to lies and harassment."

Coldplay have announced an immersive "audio-visual experience" with Amazon Music for fans to celebrate the release of their hotly-awaited new album, 'Music of the Spheres'. Chris Martin and co have announced the two-day event in Shoreditch, London, this October 15 and 16, and invited fans to "step inside 'The Atmospheres' - an intergalactic audio-visual experience." A press release states that: "Inside the custom-built installation, fans will be transported to The Spheres - the distant solar system that plays host to the band's latest album, where each of the twelve tracks is twinned with a different planet. "'The Atmospheres' will bring those planets to major cities, including London, New York City, Tokyo, and Berlin, recreating the alien worlds at the heart of the album. "Immersed in out-of-this-world visuals, fans can create their own alien language messages, snap selfies in the augmented reality photobooth, and even help to power the experience through bespoke kinetic walkways. The experience will be soundtracked by album highlight, 'People of the Pride', mixed in Dolby Atmos, and accompanied by exclusive 360 visuals." Fans around the world, including in New York, Tokyo, and Berlin will also get to experience the free entry event. Coldplay said of the activation: "We're excited to partner with Amazon Music to bring Music of the Spheres to life. The Atmospheres will take fans on a trip through The Spheres and into the heart of the album." 'The Atmospheres' will take place at Principal Place in London between 10am and 8pm BST on Friday, 15 October and from 9am until 7pm on Saturday, 16 October. Tickets are free and pre-booking is advised. To pre-book tickets to 'The Atmospheres', head to www.coldplayspheres.com from Friday, 8 October to book a slot. 'Music of the Spheres' is released on October 15.

Sam Fender is "buzzing" after announcing a 2022 arena tour, including his biggest headline show to date at London's SSE Arena, Wembley. The 'Spit of You' star is set to hit the road next spring, kicking off at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena on March 20, before heading to Liverpool, Dublin, Glasgow, Birmingham, Brighton, London, and wrapping in Newcastle, before he performs a major outdoor gig at Manchester's iconic Castlefield Bowl on July 6. Announcing the shows in a video on Instagram, the 'Poundshop Kardashians' singer said: "UK!! Buzzing for our biggest tour ever including WEMBLEY ARENA!!! Playing loads of mint venues we've never played before!" In the clip, Sam mocks his bandmates for mistaking them for playing Wembley Stadium and standing outside the football ground. The concerts are in support of Sam's second studio album, ‘Seventeen Going Under’, which is released on Friday (08.10.21). Sam was recently forced to cancel shows in Glasgow after "half" of his touring crew needed to be tested for COVID-19. The 'Play God' rocker's set of Barrowlands concerts, which were due to take place on September 7 and September 8, were axed as they wanted to get everyone tested since they had all been "coughing their guts up". However, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter managed to play the Scottish city's TRNSMT festival on September 10. Tickets for the 2022 tour go on general sale next Friday (15.10.21) at 9am BST. Fans can gain early access by pre-ordering ‘Seventeen Going Under’ before 5pm next Tuesday (12.10.21) via his official website. Sam Fender's 2022 tour dates: March 20 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham March 21 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool March 24 – 3Arena, Dublin March 26 – SSE Hydro Arena, Glasgow March 27 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham March 30 – Brighton Centre April 1 – SSE Arena Wembley, London April 5 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle July 6 – Castlefield Bowl, Manchester

Alesha Dixon says hitting "rock bottom" after Mis-Teeq's split and the end of her first marriage was the "making of [her]". The 43-year-old singer shot to fame in the 'Scandalous' girl group - completed by Sabrina Washington and Su-Elise Nash - in the early 2000s and has reflected on the "intense" relationship she had with her bandmates during their eight-year career, and how she only ended up going solo after the trios demise in 2005, because she needed to leave for her "well-being". It was widely reported at the time that the cost of recording former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham's solo album led to the independent label Mis-Teeq were also signed to going bust and the girls were working on a third album that never got released after the entire roster was dropped. Speaking to Dotty on Apple Music 1 as part of Black History Month, Alesha shared: "I don't know how many people know this, but we started working on a third [Mis-Teeq] album. "We were in America, 'Scandalous' was a Top 10 radio hit in America. "Whilst we were out there having success with 'Scandalous', our record company in the UK went bust. "A lot of people blamed Victoria Beckham at the time because they were an independent label, they were signing all these acts, there was this whole thing in the media because they'd signed Victoria Beckham, they were a tiny label and they'd spent a fortune signing her. "They spent a lot of money on that project. They had Craig David, they had some successful acts, but they were still the underdog. "So anyway, cut a long story short, they went bust. We're in America, we'd started working on a third album, but that was the point when I decided I wanted to leave the group, so that's why we didn't do a third album. "I spent several weeks debating it with my close people, it wasn't a decision that I made lightly but we got offered another deal, we got offered a major deal. "I knew if I signed that deal, I'd be tied into the group for several more years. I thought, 'Here's a clean out. Here's a way out without me having to fight. I can just walk away.' "It wasn't that I wanted to be a solo artist. It wasn't that I was in the group thinking, 'It's my time now.' "I genuinely needed time out. It was a really intense eight years of my life, and it changed my life. Had I been happy, because to me well-being is more important, I would have stayed." Despite their differences in the group, the girls still keep in touch to this day. Alesha continued: "By the time we got to the end of the group, there were conflicts within the group. We've been on an emotional rollercoaster as a group, it's just an intense relationship. We've had moments were we've not connected and we've not go on. "We've been very respectful of one another in the sense that after all these years, we've maintained dignity. "Anything that's ever happened with Mis-Teeq, we've kept it very private and between the three of us." The 'Britain's Got Talent' judge - who tied the knot with the father of her two children, Azuka Ononye, in 2017 - was broke following the dissolution of the band and the end of her brief marriage to 42-year-old MC Harvey, of So Solid Crew fame, in 2006, but she believes losing everything was the best thing to happen to her. She explained: "When I split up with the girls, I also got married that same year, my marriage lasted a year. So, I'd split up with the girls, I entered into this marriage, then in October 2006 I had no money, my marriage had ended, I had no record deal. I sat there and I thought, "All these years, everything that I've worked for. Why have I nearly lost everything? What's happening?" I felt like at the time, there was a lot of changes going on and a lot of things shifting and moving, and a lot of clearing out that had to be done in order for me to move on to the next level, next stage of my life. I had to hit rock bottom and that was the growth. That was the making of me. So the things that happened around that time that were toxic and negative, they were the making of me." Dotty on Apple Music 1 as part of Black History Month and to hear the interview in full tune in today (7th October) from 3pm on The Dotty Show on Apple Music 1 at apple.co/_Dotty.

Aitch performed a surprise gig at a Subway sandwich store in Manchester this week. The 'Rain' rapper surprised customers at his local Subway in the city centre near Manchester Piccadilly Station with the lunchtime set - which saw him treat the intimate audience to the debut performance of his recent tune, 'Party Round My Place', as well as a rendition of 'Learning Curve' - as they tucked into tasty subs personally made by the star. The 'SubwAITCH.' ( The Aitch Footlong) is made just how Aitch likes his Italian B.M.T. (Bigger Meatier Taister) served, toasted with cheese and piled with salami, pepperoni, ham, lettuce, cucumber, sweetcorn, jalapenos and Chipotle Southwest Sauce. The New Moston star said: "I wanted to do an intimate gig for my Manchester crew and thought this would be a cool spot. It's been great, big up Subway for having me down and letting me takeover and be sure to cop an Aitch Sub before they all go." The BRIT Award-nominated artist - who has appeared on hits with the likes of Stormzy, Ed Sheeran and AJ Tracey - made the day of one of his loyal followers. A superfan who attended the impromptu gig said: "It was such a surprise seeing Aitch at my local Subway, I really enjoyed the gig. I've been listening to him forever, so this has really made my day." Mays Elansari, Head of Marketing UK & Ireland at Subway said: "When we heard Aitch was a Subway fan we wanted to pull off something special for his fans. What better way to collaborate with Aitch than to rebrand our Subway Manchester Piccadilly store especially for this surprise event and rename his favourite Subway Footlong after him! It's the first time we've ever staged a gig in a Subway. Who knows, it might not be the last." Watch Aitch's secret Subway gig on Subway's YouTube – youtube.com/user/SUBWAYUKIreland.

Tears For Fears have announced their first new album in 17 years. The 'The Hurting' hitmakers - Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith - have released the cinematic title track, 'The Tipping Point', from their follow-up to 2004's 'Everybody Loves A Happy Ending', which will arrive on February 25, 2022. The song was penned about the loss of a loved one. Roland, 60, said: “Before everything went so right with this album, everything first had to go wrong, it took years, but something happens when we put our heads together. "We’ve got this balance, this push-me-pull-you thing – and it works really well.” Curt, also 60, added: “If that balance doesn’t work on a Tears For Fears album, the whole thing just doesn’t work. "To put it in simple terms, a Tears For Fears record and what people perceive to be the sound of Tears For Fears – is the stuff we can both agree on.” The pair once again teamed up with regular collaborator Charlton Pettus on the track, which is accompanied by a dramatic music video directed by Matt Mahurin. Curt has insisted he and his bandmate's brotherly bond is unbreakable. The multi-instrumentalist added: “When you’ve known each other as long as we have, and have worked together as long as we have, there’s a bond there that becomes familial. So, it’s different from a friendship. "And it’s different from a marriage. It’s literally like that’s your brother. It’s the kind of bond that you can’t really break. It can fall apart at times. You separate for periods, which I also think is healthy, really. But in the end, we always seem to find each other again." Tears For Fears were recently honoured with the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection. 'The Tipping Point' is available to pre-order now. The track-listing for 'The Tipping Point' is: 1. 'No Small Thing' 2. 'The Tipping Point' 3. 'Long, Long, Long Time' 4. 'Break The Man' 5. 'My Demons' 6. 'Rivers Of Mercy' 7. 'Please Be Happy' 8. 'Master Plan' 9. 'End Of Night' 10. 'Stay'

Inhaler got Davina McCall moshing at their show at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in London on Wednesday night (06.10.21). The Irish rock band wowed the sold-out crowd which included the TV star who just couldn't resist getting in the middle of a mosh pit and rocking out with the rest of the group's fans. In a post to her Instagram account after the gig, former 'Big Brother' host Davina wrote: "It went off!!! Sooooooo gooood. "Thank you for making me mosh @INHALERDUBLIN (sic)" Inhaler opened their concert with single 'It Won't Always Be Like This' - from their debut album of the same name - with singer-and-guitarist Elijah Hewson asking fans, "it’s good to be back, yeah?" receiving a huge cheer in response. The setlist was filled with tracks from from the critically acclaimed LP, with highlights including 'Slide Out the Window', 'Ice Cream Sundae', 'A Night on the Floor' and 'In My Sleep'. Near the end of the set, Elijah - whose dad is U2 frontman Bono - gave a shout out to the hundreds of Irish fans at the gig, saying: "This is the biggest room we've ever played. Look at how far back you are! This is nuts. Are there any Irish in the audience? This is for you.” Inhaler - also comprised of Robert Keating, Josh Jenkinson and Ryan McMahon - closed the show with 'Cheer Up Baby' and 'My Honest Face'. But before they departed the stage, Elijah was presented with an Ireland flag emblazoned with the words "Inhaler World Domination" from an adoring fan and he held it up to one final huge cheer. Inhaler at the O2 Forum Kentish Town setlist: 'It Won't Always Be Like This' 'We Have to Move On' 'Falling In' 'Slide Out the Window' 'Ice Cream Sundae' 'When It Breaks' 'A Night on the Floor' 'Whos Your Money On? (Plastic House)' 'My King Will Be Kind' 'Totally' 'In My Sleep' 'Cheer Up Baby' 'My Honest Face'

Adele has gushed over her boyfriend Rich Paul in a candid new interview. The Hello hitmaker and the sports agent, who represents the likes of LeBron James, were photographed looking friendly at a basketball game in July, and have since been spotted out and about together several times in recent months. Adele and Rich went Instagram official by sharing a photobooth photo from a wedding on social media last month, and in a new interview for the November 2021 issue of British Vogue, the star chatted about her new romance. "Yes, we're together," she told the publication. "We're very happy." Adele went on to insist it was her idea for them to go to basketball games together, and also revealed that she had first met her new beau through mutual friends several years ago. And while Adele and Rich only recently went public with their relationship, she revealed that he makes her feel incredibly safe. "I don't feel anxious or nervous or frazzled. It's quite the opposite. It's wild," the singer smiled in a separate chat with U.S. Vogue. "I'm a 33-year-old divorced mother of a son, who's actually in charge. The last thing I need is someone who doesn't know where they're at, or what they want. I know what I want. And I really know what I don't want." Adele filed for divorce from businessman Simon Konecki in September 2019 after three years of marriage, with the split finalised in March. The former couple shares eight-year-old son Angelo.

Pharrell Williams has pulled his Something in the Water music festival from Virginia Beach over how city officials have handled the death of his cousin. The Happy singer, who grew up in the coastal city, wrote a letter to Virginia Beach City Manager Patrick Duhaney on Tuesday in which he explained that he also decided to withdraw from the festival, which was launched in 2019, due to the "toxic energy" in the city. "When we did the festival, it was to ease racial tension, to unify the region, bring about economic development opportunities and broaden the horizons of the local business community. We achieved those things!" he wrote. "I wish the same energy I've felt from Virginia Beach leadership upon losing the festival would have been similarly channeled following the loss of my relative's life. "I love my city, but for far too long it has been run by and with toxic energy. The toxic energy that changed the narrative several times around the homicide of my cousin, Donovan Lynch... Until the gatekeepers and the powers-that-be consider the citizens and the consumer base, and no longer view the idea of human rights for all as a controversial idea. I don't have any problems with the city, but I realize the city hasn't valued my proposed solutions, either." In April, Williams called for a federal investigation into the fatal police shooting of Lynch, 25, on 26 March. Virginia Beach police claim Lynch brandished a weapon at officers responding to gunfire at a resort. Virginia State Police launched an investigation in March and no criminal charges have been filed in the case. According to local TV station WAVY, Williams' letter was in response to a note from Duhaney sent on 26 September in which he expressed his "immense disappointment" at the decision to pull the festival and asked to meet him in person to discuss the issue. The inaugural festival featured sets by A$AP Rocky, Beck, Chance the Rapper, and the Foo Fighters, and was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A spokesman for the singer stated that he has not yet announced whether the festival will return in 2022 in a different location.

Mel B has been left bedridden by Covid-19 as she battles the virus for the fifth week. The Spice Girls singer has revealed she contracted the coronavirus over a month ago and had still not recovered, and although she didn't go into detail about her symptoms, the 46-year-old shared that she was spending the majority of her time resting in bed. In an Instagram post on Wednesday, the former America's Got Talent judge shared a collage of throwback photos from a holiday in the Maldives and admitted that her reality is very different from those snaps. "In my head I'm here @youandmemaldives ahhhh what a beautiful place, sunshine crystal clear sea being totally spoilt rotten in my private villa named after me," she began her caption. "But in reality right now I'm curled up in bed getting over the final long haul of COVID #itsbeen5weeksnow #takemeback to #paradise #covidisnojoke #mydogs #thebestsnuggler thank god for #netflix." She possibly hinted at her symptoms with a series of emojis in the caption, including a green nauseous face, a sneezing face, and a person with a thermometer in their mouth, perhaps suggesting a fever or temperature. Shortly before she contracted the virus, Mel served as the guest presenter on Steph's Packed Lunch and divulged that she was pushing for the Spice Girls to reunite to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album Spice this year. "I'm always pushing to have a Spice Girls reunion and we were in talks last year but then Covid hit so it pushed everyone's plans," she said. "They're going to kill me for saying this. We're hoping, especially me - if it has anything to do with me, which it will have because I'm the driving force and will make sure it happens - to tour in 2023."

Andy Murray says he is "back in the good books" at home after his "stolen" tennis shoes and wedding ring were found in Indian Wells. The British three-time Grand Slam champion had left his shoes with his wedding ring attached under the car his team are using in California in order to dry out after practice. After discovering they were missing the next day, Murray put out an appeal for their return on Instagram, saying he was "in the bad books at home". But Murray didn't stay there too long, posting another video later on Thursday to celebrate being reunited with his missing items - even if the trainers were no fresher. "Huge thanks for all the messages and to everyone for sharing the story," said the 34-year-old. "I had to make a few calls and chat to the security at the hotel but would you believe it? "They still absolutely stink but the shoes are back, the wedding ring is back and I'm back in the good books - let's go!" Murray, who is preparing to play at Indian Wells for the first time since 2017, earlier admitted the fact that he ties his wedding ring to his laces while training and playing had completely slipped his mind as he went to buy replacement shoes. "My physio said to me 'where's your wedding ring?' I was like 'oh no'," he said. 'I don't feel bad about accepting wildcards' Meanwhile, Murray says he does not feel bad about accepting wildcards as he returns to Indian Wells for the first time since he was world number one. He will headline Friday's night session in the Californian desert alongside new US Open champion Emma Raducanu. Murray will play Adrian Mannarino of France. Andy Murray ties his wedding ring to his shoes while training "I'm grateful that they have given me the opportunity to play here," he said. "But do I feel bad about it? No, I don't feel bad about it." He is currently outside the world top 100 and has therefore frequently needed wildcards to access tournaments this season. "I'd rather get in by right, obviously," Murray added. "But then I could also argue that the three years I was out injured, I would have rightfully been entered in all of these tournaments. "I think after what I have gone through the last three or four years, and what I had achieved in the game beforehand, I don't feel like I need to justify the reasons for why I should get wildcards." Murray, who is yet to beat a top-20 player this season, has lost recently to Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud and Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz. "I have also had a number of opportunities in those matches and not quite taken them," said Murray, whose fitness has improved markedly since Wimbledon. "They are going to snuff out some opportunities that you create, but also there's been some stuff in those matches that I certainly feel I could have done better. "I really don't feel like I've been outclassed, or that I have had no chances against them, so there are some positives to take from those losses." Raducanu says it has been a 'very cool three weeks' Konta 'was watching Raducanu in awe'

Stokes' last Test was in March in England's 3-1 series defeat by India England all-rounder Ben Stokes has had a second operation on his injured finger but is unlikely to play in the Ashes against Australia this winter. The 30-year-old took an indefinite break from cricket in July to protect his mental health and rest his left index finger, first injured in April. He originally had surgery in April but has now had a second operation to remove two screws and scar tissue from the finger. The Ashes are due to begin in December. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) says Stokes will have intense rehabilitation over the next four weeks. But no timescale has been given for his return from the injury or from his break for mental health reasons. Stokes' only action for England this summer came in a three-match one-day international series against Pakistan. He returned earlier than planned after his surgery to captain an understrength England side after a Covid-19 outbreak, but played through pain in his finger. Were Stokes to be unavailable for the Ashes it would be the second tour of Australia in a row he had missed, having sat out the 2017-18 tour following his arrest outside a Bristol nightclub. It would also be a further blow to England's Ashes hopes, with fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Olly Stone already ruled out with injuries. The Ashes moved a step closer to being confirmed on Wednesday after positive talks were held with Cricket Australia over England players' over conditions for the tour.

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce fears he will be sacked following the completion of the Saudi Arabian-backed £305m takeover of the Premier League side. The sale went through on Thursday after the deal passed the Premier League owners' and directors' test, ending Mike Ashley's 14-year spell as owner. Bruce was appointed Newcastle boss in July 2019 but has struggled to win over supporters. "I want to continue," Bruce said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. "I'd like the chance to show the new owners what I can do, but you have to be realistic and they may well want a new manager to launch things for them. "New owners normally want a new manager. I've been around long enough to understand that." Takeover a 'special day' for Newcastle fans - Shearer Football Daily: New era for Newcastle United What's next for Newcastle after £305m takeover? Newcastle's 14 years of lost hope under Ashley Newcastle finished 13th in Bruce's first season in charge but flirted with relegation last term before an improved end to the campaign saw them finish 12th. They have started this season poorly and currently sit 19th without a win after seven games. Newcastle part-owner Staveley on hopes moving forward The Magpies play Tottenham at St James' Park a week on Sunday, in what would be Bruce's 1,000th game as a manager, although he is unsure if he will reach that milestone at Newcastle. "That decision is not up to me," he added. "I accept that and I will accept what comes my way. I have to wait to have those conversations with people when the time is right. "If I don't make it to a 1,000 games against Spurs, you might say that could only happen to me, but I don't think it would be cruel. It's just football."