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Looking for something to play this coming weekend but don’t want to spend any money? EA Sports is offering Madden NFL 21 for free this Thursday through Sunday to celebrate Colin Kaepernick’s return to the game and the start of the NFL season.

The free weekend runs from Thursday, September 10 through Sunday, September 13, and presumably all platforms are supported–PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Kaepernick’s return to the Madden series seemingly came out of nowhere. He is currently not signed to any team, and he hasn’t been in the Madden series since 2016 when he played for the San Francisco 49ers.

The QB became the focal point of controversy after taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016 to raise awareness of police brutality and racial inequality in America. He’s not currently signed by an NFL team although he has said he hopes to continue his playing career in the NFL.

Madden 21 added a series of new player-specific celebrations, and Kaepernick’s is the raised fist as a symbol of Black Power that he used during his last season in the NFL.

Players can use Kaepernick as a QB for any team in Madden 21’s Play Now mode. Additionally, players can sign him to their team in Franchise mode.

Although he hasn’t played professional football in years, EA used historical data and other simulations to give Kaepernick an 81 OVR rating.

Madden NFL 21 received some of the worst review scores in years, including a 6/10 from GameSpot, but if you’re curious, the low price of $0.00 may be an attractive option.

The NFL season begins on September 10 with last year’s Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Houston Texans.

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While this week has been big for next-gen Xbox news (even if Microsoft didn’t actually intend to announce it this week), Sony has made it clear that they will not be following suit–at least not immediately. While there will be new PlayStation news, Sony has promised it will be about the games and the PSVR, not the new console.

Earlier this week, a reputable leak revealed the long-rumored Xbox Series S, along with a price of $299 and a November 10 release date. The leak led Microsoft to spill the beans, confirming those details were correct and officially launching the Xbox Series S. The leak suggested the Series X would also release on November 10, with a price of $499, though those details haven’t yet been confirmed by Microsoft.

Anyone expecting Sony to immediately follow suit with their pricing and release date for the PS5 will be sorely disappointed, however. In a post on the PlayStation blog, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Gillen McAlister announced a PSVR spotlight, which would include new game announcements and updates focused on the PSVR throughout the week.

A disclaimer in the post reads: “this is all about the games. So to manage expectations, there’ll be no PS5-related news.” While Sony has previously confirmed that the current PSVR headset will work with the PS5, this disclaimer also likely refers to the rumored second-gen PSVR 2.

With some of the next-gen Xbox details now out in the open, however, it’s only a matter of time until Sony drops official news on the PS5. In the meantime, check out everything we currently know about the PlayStation 5.

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One theory about the Xbox Series S that has gained traction on social media is that Microsoft intentionally leaked the console to the press to put pressure on Sony. That’s a bunch of baloney according to Xbox developers who worked on the announcement.

Microsoft’s Brad Rossetti said on Twitter, “We all tried so hard to not leak; running global programs is hard and the leak is so frustrating. Yeah great, you got a scoop, but so many better try hard to keep it under wraps for so many reasons.”

Meanwhile, Xbox’s senior marketing manager, Josh Munsee, joked on Twitter that the Series S announcement went exactly as the company planned it.

Following a series of leaks, Microsoft officially announced the Xbox Series S after midnight PT on September 9, and that right there should be evidence enough that revealing the console this way was not the plan. Even before the leaks this week, the Xbox Series S had been an open secret thanks to numerous leaks and reports over the months.

The announcement of the Series S might not have gone to Microsoft’s plan, but the console has been received in a positive light, due in part to a lower price point than many imagined.

The Series S costs $299 and it will be an attractive system for those looking to buy into next-gen without breaking the bank. The console lacks a disc drive, and that may prove to be a deal-breaker for some, however.

The Series S launches on November 10, and that is the same day that Microsoft will reportedly launch the more powerful Xbox Series X for $499 USD.

While Microsoft has begun to share its launch plans for the next-gen Xbox consoles, Sony is keeping that information a secret for now. We still don’t know when the PS5 and the Digital PS5 will release or how much they will cost.

In a new interview for Jimmy Kimmel Live, Josh Gad sat down with Star Wars star Daisy Ridley to ask her “more nagging questions” about the franchise, now that there’s nothing left to spoil. Chief among them was a question we’ve all wanted to ask since Rise of Skywalker premiered–was Rey always destined to be a Palpatine?

The answer is, predictably, no. “At the beginning there was toying with an Obi Wan connection,” Ridley says–something fans picked up on early on as they tried to figure out the puzzle of Rey’s heritage. In the flashback moment when Rey first picks up the lightsaber in The Force Awakens, you can hear Obi Wan’s voice saying “Rey” and “these are your first steps,” the former taken from Alec Guinesses’ performance in the original trilogy and the latter recorded by the prequel trilogy’s Obi Wan, Ewan McGregor.

The question of Rey’s parentage is answered outright in The Last Jedi, and apparently that answer was meant to be the final one. “There were different versions,” Ridley explained. “And then it really went to that she was no one.”

Even when production on Episode IX started, apparently the final answer still hadn’t been decided on. “JJ pitched me the film and was like, ‘oh yeah, Palpatine’s granddaddy,’ and I was like ‘awesome.’ And then two weeks later he was look ‘oh we’re not sure.’ So it kept changing.”

Gad also asked if Ridley knew who Palpatine got busy with in order to have children and grandchildren, but this wasn’t a question she had the answers to, thankfully.

As far as what’s next for Ridley after Star Wars, she’s set to make her non-Star Wars video game debut in Annapurna Interactive’s Twelve Minutes, which is due to launch by the end of the year. When asked if she would ever return to Rey and the Star Wars universe, Ridley said, “I say never say never, but to me Rise of Skywalker was tied up with a bow.”

Swedish game company Avalanche Studios Group has done a lot of expanding in recent years, and now is beefing up its New York team in preparation for “the largest and greatest AAA project we’ve ever taken on.”

Industry analyst MauroNL compiled some of the details from Avalanche job listings on Twitter, revealing that the New York studio branch is preparing for something big.

While Avalanche Studios Group has a number of offices around the world, and three separate divisions under its label, the New York office is part of Avalanche Studio, the division that handles externally-published large-scale AAA games like Rage 2 or the Just Cause series.

A job listing for a system programmer says the studio is “looking for a System Programmer to join our ranks in creating the largest and greatest AAA project we’ve ever taken on,” listing it as a great opportunity “to play an instrumental role on developing our next-generation game.”

Another listing for a gameplay animation programmer says “on this project we want to push animation quality a lot further than we have done previously and this will require us to take our animation technology to the bleeding edge.” Another listing for a senior world designer confirms that the game will be open world and externally published.

While the upcoming game could be another entry in the Just Cause series, it could also be a new IP, or a game based on a film or TV show like Mad Max, developed by Avalanche in partnership with Warner Bros in 2015.

The Nintendo Switch has sold over 55 million units since its launch in 2017, and now it seems that Nintendo is gearing up for a strong finish to 2020. The company has reportedly increased production on the Switch to meet expected demand.

Bloomberg has reported that Nintendo is looking to increase its production goal by up to 20%, which would mean producing 30 million units during the current fiscal year. In August, its production order was raised to 25 million, but now it’s aiming even higher.

Earlier this year, COVID-19 led to production challenges for the Switch that led to low stock; as of early August, Nintendo said that their production chain had almost recovered. The system has seen some huge sales figures this year: Animal Crossing: New Horizons has achieved incredible sales figures, surpassing 22 million units sold since its release in March. The game is expected to be popular over the holidays, too.

According to industry tracker Katsuhiko Hayashi, who is quoted in the article, “Switch sales are likely to gain further momentum at the year-end.”

Bloomberg has previously reported that Nintendo is planning on releasing an upgraded version of the Switch in 2021, although this has not been made official.

Nintendo’s end-of-year line-up is beginning to take shape, with Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity looking to be big releases for Christmas 2020.