Kalakshar US

Riot just announced a trading card game (TCG) based on League of Legends. It’s called Project K and looks like a whole lot of fun. The cards look exquisitely-drawn and pull from IPs throughout the wider LoL universe, including the Netflix hit Arcane.

Project K is not a physical version of the pre-existing digital card game Legends of Runeterra, though it does use some characters and locations from that one. It’s a brand-new thing that the creators say is designed “for everyone who loves card games, collecting and connecting with friends across the table.”

To that end, there are multiple game modes to suit different types of players. Like many trading card games, players can form unique decks that encourage particular playstyles. For instance, a Jinx deck, from Arcane, is useful for causing “as much mayhem as possible.” That’s kind of her whole thing.

If this seems familiar, that’s because Riot teased a card game for China earlier this year, called Rune Battleground. This looks like it could be the very same game, based on some of the art accompanying the back of the cards as seen in both trailers.

Now on to some bad news. Riot already has a publishing partner for China, but not in the rest of the world. It’s currently looking for a US-based partner. This will likely delay the game’s release a bit, though it’s coming out in China early next year. Despite this hiccup, the company says it’ll be opening up preorders for an Arcane Box Set of the game in the coming months.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/riot-is-making-a-physical-league-of-legends-tcg-and-its-not-lor-162923406.html?src=rss 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rearview mirror, but you can still find great deals this holiday season. Case in point: Apple’s AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation (ANC) have dropped to their lowest price to date. You can pick up a pair for $139, which is $40 off the list price.

While we think the AirPods Pro 2 are the best AirPods overall, the ANC-enabled AirPods 4 are still a solid choice. We gave them a score of 86 in our review.

Apple released two AirPods variants a few months ago, one with ANC and the other without. We gave the ANC-less model a score of 88 as they had a number of improvements over the previous generation AirPods while still being fairly affordable and delivering great bang for your buck.

Of course, the lack of ANC in the base model is a negative. The other variant delivers effective ANC performance overall. Other upgrades over the base model include Conversation Awareness, Adaptive Audio and Transparency mode. The AirPods 4 with ANC (unlike the base option) also have a charging case that supports MagSafe and Qi-compatible wireless charging, as well as a built-in speaker that emits beeps when you activate Find My.

One of our main reservations about the AirPods 4 with ANC is that the superior AirPods Pro 2 (which typically cost $249) often go on sale — we’ve seen them dip to $169. That’s cheaper than the list price of the AirPods 4 with ANC. However, this discount makes those AirPods easier to recommend.

Meanwhile, the base AirPods 4 have dropped to $119. That’s 10 bucks off the regular price.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-airpods-4-with-anc-drop-to-a-new-low-of-139-151521702.html?src=rss 

As part of a deal it struck with Microsoft last year, iFixit has started selling genuine Xbox parts and offering repair guides, according to changes on its Microsoft Repair Hub spotted by The Verge. It now offers parts for Xbox Series S and X (digital and disk drive) models ranging from cases to power supplies to motherboards, along with toolkits, thermal paste and more.

iFixit announced its partnership with Microsoft in 2023 when it began offering official replacement parts for Microsoft Surface laptops. As part of that, it offered disassembly videos and step-by-step guides to help simplify relatively complex repairs.

It’s doing the same with Xbox, showing guides on replace motherboards for each console, detailing each step and providing a list of parts and tools required. Motherboard repair, for instance, requires 29 steps for installation along with additional steps to reassemble everything. However, so far, the company hasn’t released any videos as it did for Surface devices. 

iFixit has similar agreements with other tech giants, offering replacement parts for Google Pixel tablets and Google Pixel Fold devices. If also works with accessory manufacturer Logitech, offering repair parts for two of its most popular mouse models. The main holdout is Apple, though iFixit recently gave the iPhone 16 a decent repairability score after dinging the previous model due to software-restricted “parts pairing” requirements. Last month the company tore the PS5 Pro apart and found it to be decently repairable, though it doesn’t sell any parts for Sony’s console. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/ifixit-now-carries-official-xbox-replacement-parts-140054294.html?src=rss 

Last week, Brazil’s antitrust regulator CADE ordered Apple to allow users to download apps and make purchases from outside its App Store, with a 20-day deadline and fines for not complying. Now, a Brazilian federal court has overturned that injunction, ruling that it was “disproportionate and unnecessary,” 9to5Mac reported. 

Cade ordered Apple to allow third-party developers to tell users about alternative ways to make in-app purchases (subscriptions, etc.) so developers wouldn’t be forced to pay Apple a commission. It also demanded that Apple open up its ecosystem to other stores or allow sideloading. If Apple didn’t comply within 20 days, it faced a fine of 250,000 Real (around $43,000) per day.

Apple appealed that ruling on the grounds that the changes would be too difficult to implement within that time frame and the court agreed. “[The] technical complexity of the changes and the global regulatory impacts in similar decision in other regions, such as the European union, reinforce the need for such changes to be discussed in greater depth,” a judge ruled.  

CADE began investigation following a complaint by local e-commerce company Mercado Libre, which accused Apple of anticompetitive behavior. The regulator can appeal the ruling and still force Apple to comply.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/brazilian-judge-overturns-ruling-that-forced-apple-to-open-up-its-store-130039766.html?src=rss