This week, Daniel Radcliffe is the first celebrity to read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone with new chapters from new celebs every week, news about Summer Game Fest, EA Play 2020, and Xbox 20/20, Ubisoft announces Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and what makes the Xbox Smart Delivery program so, well, smart. But first, Huawei and Samsung are making it easier for you to get your tech products fixed.

Consumer tech companies offering home delivery to keep their products working

In an effort to make sure that customers can get their tech products serviced while retail and service outlets are closed, Huawei and Samsung are offering free shipping and pick-up services for warranty work.

Huawei’s Spring Service Campaign gives you access to half price on broken screen and mainboard replacements until May 20. The company will send you a waybill to ship your device for free, and it will be returned after the repair at no cost.

Samsung’s door-to-door service will pick up smartphones, tablets, and other wearables, as well as TVs and microwaves, to bring them to a Samsung Service Centre for repair. The company will sanitize the product before sending it back to you, too. Get details and find a Samsung Service Centre.

Celebrities reading chapters from Harry Potter to keep us all entertained

Would you like to hear a story? You can hear the first chapter of the first Harry Potter book read to you by Harry himself, if you like.

Harry Potter at Home is an initiative by Wizarding World, which collects Potter-themed crafts, quizzes, and puzzles to keep your kids’ (and your) imagination running during this time of personal isolation.

Every week a new celebrity will be reading a chapter from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with the video being posted to Wizarding World and the audio being released through Spotify.

After Daniel Radcliffe will be the likes of Stephen Fry, Eddie Redmayne, Dakota Fanning, Noma Dumezweni, and even David Beckham.

E3 isn’t happening, but all that video game news is coming straight at you anyway

The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo has been cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic, which has stripped many video game developers and publishers with the venue where they would make announcements about upcoming titles at splashy media events.

Geoff Keighley is looking to fill the gap with Summer Game Fest, which is being billed as “a multi-month global festival that highlights video games.”

Running across all the expected streaming platforms like Mixer, Twitch, and YouTube, Summer Game Fest aims to be a place where those press briefings can happen, virtually.

Participating publishers include:

• 2K
• Activision
• Bandai Namco
• Bethesda
• Blizzard
• Bungie
• CD Projekt Red
• Digital Extremes
• Electronic Arts
• Microsoft
• Sony
• Square Enix
• Private Division
• Riot Games
• Steam
• Warner Bros

EA, meanwhile, is moving it’s EA Play event online and will broadcast on Thursday, June 11 at 4 p.m. PT.

And Xbox 20/20 is a new monthly stream that will build to the release of Microsoft’s new game console, the Xbox Series X, which the company says they still plan to launch this holiday.

The first episode of Xbox 20/20 starts on Thursday, May 7.

Assassin’s Creed franchise heads north with Valhalla

Ubisoft Montreal seems to have done it again. The developers there are leading the charge on the next edition of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and they are taking us to Norway so that we can become Vikings.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which is scheduled for release this holiday, is coming to current and next-generation consoles, including the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

And it looks amazing. Just check out this trailer.

Assassins’ Creed Valhalla part of Xbox Smart Delivery program

Not everyone is going to be getting the new consoles when they release later this year. If you don’t, though, you may end up missing out on some of the key new games that are being released. Or you’ll have to buy them twice, once for your existing system and again for the new one.

The Xbox Smart Delivery program means you can have your cake and eat it, too. Games that are participating in that program will give you the software on whatever system you want.

And Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is one of them.

That means that you can get the new game set in the time of the Vikings battling the English when it releases for your Xbox One, and when you get your Xbox Series X – maybe next spring or summer – you can upgrade to that version of the game without having to pay for it.

Cyberpunk 2077 is also a Smart Delivery game, as are all of the games being developed by Xbox Game Studios.