The New England Patriots will win Super Bowl LI, defeating the Atlanta Falcons 27-24 in Houston this coming Sunday. That’s according to EA’s official simulation using Madden NFL 17. It predicts that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will lead a comeback in the fourth quarter that will culminate in a game-winning touchdown and earn him MVP honors, which would make him the most decorated and successful quarterback in Super Bowl history. Fans will be in for an exciting game if the prediction turns out to be correct.
Betting markets agree with EA’s prediction about the upcoming game. According to SportsLine the Patriots are three-point favorites to win, with an over/under of 58.5, the largest of any Super Bowl to date.
EA has run a simulation game prior to the Super Bowl every year since 2004, using the latest iteration of the long-running Madden NFL series. While it failed to predict the Denver Broncos defeating the Carolina Panthers in 2016, it has correctly called nine out of the thirteen games so far. Notably, the last time the Patriots played in 2015 was Madden’s most accurate simulation ever, correctly predicting the Patriots’ victory over the Seattle Seahawks down to the score — 28-24.
Predicting Super Bowls isn’t the only augury application of the Madden NFL football video game franchise. Fans have also long noted the so-called “Madden Curse,” where athletes featured on the game’s cover are plagued by coincidental injuries. While Odell Beckham Jr. dodged the supposed curse after appearing on the cover of Madden NFL 16, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, the cover athlete for 17, will be missing the upcoming Super Bowl due to recent back surgery.
Fans will have to wait until Super Bowl LI on Sunday to find out whether EA’s simulation was correct. In the meantime, if they want to run their own tests, Madden NFL 17 is available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.