Technological World for October 20, games: NHL 22, Riders Republic trial, the International's $40 million

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Hit the ice with NHL 22, Riders Republic free trial, and the International prize pool was $40 million, the biggest ever.

Superstar players bring something more to NHL 22

Hockey’s back in more ways than one. The new NHL season kicked off last week, and so did a new version of EA Sports’ hockey sim with the release of NHL 22.

Every year the developers at the campus in Burnaby find ways to improve on how we play as our favourite hockey stars.

This year, this comes in the form of what they are calling the X-factor.

50 of the league’s elite players have special abilities that can be triggered under the right conditions and can lead to them dominating the play.

From Connor McDavid (Wheels: beat anyone, anytime with the puck) to Connor Hellebuyck (Dialed In: boosts reaction time and save ability), from Elias Petterson (Third Eye: no blind spots; make impossible passes) to Auston Matthews (Shock and Awe: a successful deke grants shooting power and accuracy).

Not every team has an X-factor superstar, though. Sorry Calgary Flames fans.

NHL 22 includes the usual modes including being able to create your own player and see if you can level them up to having those superstar abilities. You can also take part in an expansion draft to create your own lineup for the Seattle Kraken or your own team.

The game looks better than ever, especially on the next-gen consoles, with dramatic improvements to the visual aspects of the game from more detail in the uniforms and ice shavings, to the player animations and game physics.

NHL 22 is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S. The X-Factor Edition, which includes some Ultimate Team packs and cosmetics, is only available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Try Riders Republic for free this week

Riders Republic, the open world extreme sports game from Ubisoft, releases on October 28, but starting October 21 you can try the game for free for four hours.

And if you end up purchasing the game, you can keep any progress you made during the trial.

Available for PS4, PS5, Windows, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, Riders Republic has you crashing down mountains on bikes, skis, snowboards, and wingsuits in races with up to 49 others.

The International Dota 2 Championsips awards more than $40 million in prizes

In Bucharest, Romania over the weekend the International 2021 came to its conclusion with Russia-based Team Spirit winning the Grand Final.

Teams secure invites for the International by playing in qualifying tournaments that are part of regular esports leagues.

This was the tenth edition of the esports championship, and in that time the total prize money has increased from a million in 2011 to over $40 million this year.

What makes the International prize pool unique is that most of the money is raised from sales of subscriptions and cosmetic items for the free-to-play game.

Dota 2, from Valve, is an acronym for Defense of the Ancients, but the full title is never used by the industry. It’s a multiplayer online battle arena game, a MOBA, which pits two teams of players against each other in a battle to destroy the other team’s base.

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