Best Capture Cards 2020 For Streaming On Twitch And YouTube

If you want to become a streamer on Twitch or a content creator on YouTube, then a capture card is essential. These handy devices can help you record and stream PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and even PC gameplay, and if you want to create high-quality videos, you’ll need a great capture card to do so. That’s why we’ve tested several capture cards to figure out which ones will help you make the best videos and streams possible, whether you’re on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, or anywhere in between.

What to look for in a capture card

There are a few key things to consider when shopping for a capture card. The first thing you need to ask yourself is whether you want a portable capture card or an internal capture card that you insert into your PC’s motherboard. They both achieve the same results, though the internal capture cards don’t need to take up any extra space to get their job done and are generally easier to use if you want to capture your own PC’s feed. If you have a laptop, however, you’ll need an external capture card. You may also want to take your capture card with you on the go, whether that’s to events, on vacation, or a friend’s house. Once you figure out what your needs are, the choice is even easier.

Next, you should consider what the device is capable of capturing–this includes the max resolution, refresh rate, HDR, and more.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Stream Anime Free for a Month with This Funimation Premium Deal

Good news, anime fans: Funimation and Square Enix are teaming up to offer a 30-day free trial of the Funimation Premium streaming service. All you have to do is enter promo code MANAFANS20 when you sign up. The normal free trial lasts 14 days, so the promo code gets you an extra two weeks and change of free (and ad-free) streaming.

The promotion is to celebrate the launch of Trials of Mana, which is now available on PS4, PC, and Switch. (If our Trials of Mana review is any indication, it’s quite good.) You can use the month-long trial to find out if Funimation Premium is a service you want to stick with. If it is, cool. If not, you can cancel the subscription before being billed; you won’t be charged a dime.

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Funimation Now offers a large library of anime TV and movies to stream, including exclusive access to popular series like Dragon Ball Z and Fairy Tail. It also has the newest seasons of shows like My Hero Academia, Black Clover, and One Piece.

There is a free option for streaming Funimation Now, but it includes ads and doesn’t give you access to the full library. For that, you’ll have to subscribe.

funimation-showsThe baseline paid plan is Premium, which costs $5.99 per month and lets you view the entire library ad-free, with subs and dubs, and two simultaneous streams. Alternately, you can pay for a year in advance. That method costs $59.99, which breaks down to $5 per month.

Premium Plus ($7.99/month) offers all that, but with five simultaneous streams, plus downloads for offline viewing on supported devices, members-only offers and events, early access to special sales in the Funimation Shop, and free shipping on orders over $20. Pay for a year in advance, and it’s $79.99 which, if you do the math, is $6.66 per month.

Finally there’s the Premium Plus Ultra plan. It’s only available at the annual price of $99.99, which breaks down to $8.33 per month. It includes everything in Premium Plus, but with free shipping on all orders, as well as a yearly anniversary gift and two free rentals per year.

That’s a lot of options, so maybe start with the cheapest one and upgrade only if you feel like you need to.

For even more streaming options, check out our big roundup for all the best streaming video free trials available now.

WWE’s New Day Was Inspired By A Surprising Tag Team

For almost six years, Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods have delighted audiences and put on spectacular performances as the tag team The New Day. In modern-day wrestling, being on the same team for six years is a huge accomplishment, especially considering how quickly sports entertainment moves. Recently, the team beat The Miz and Jey Uso to reclaim the Smackdown Tag Team Championships–sort of. In reality, Big E beat The Miz and Jey Uso in a triple threat match for the titles. They are a team that has consistently been at the top of WWE, regardless of the situation they’re in.

However, when the New Day first formed and became a tag team, they needed to learn how to work together in the ring–and with an audience that wasn’t very interested in the beginning. While they had all been involved in tag team action separately, they needed to figure out their own style as a trio, and the three did their research.

“We definitely watched a lot of stuff, and honestly, we watched the Young Bucks stuff,” Big E told GameSpot. “Absolutely, Young Bucks. We watched the other contemporaries, the older teams. As a bigger guy, I watched Legion of Doom. I don’t know if you look at my work like, ‘Oh there’s LOD. I see that influence.’ One of our biggest things is we didn’t necessarily want to be like, ‘Oh, you know, Doom is great. We want to be like them.’

Continue Reading at GameSpot

AMC Theaters Will Wait For New Movies Before Reopening

While a number of states in the US are preparing to phase out stay-at-home orders and allow nonessential businesses to reopen, AMC Theaters is taking a more cautious approach. The company released a statement Friday indicating they won’t be reopening movie theaters until closer to the release of major summer blockbusters like Christopher Nolan’s Tenet.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, AMC released a statement indicating the company’s first priority is the well-being of its employees and customers. Additionally, given the lack of new releases between now and July, the company sees little point in reopening theaters until films like Tenet (scheduled for release on July 17) and Mulan (delayed until July 24) can drive ticket sales.

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AMC’s statement reads: “As we plan our reopening, the health and safety of our guests and associates is our absolute highest priority. To be able to open, we also need a line of sight into a regular schedule of new theatrical blockbusters that get people truly excited about returning to their favorite movie theaters. Those blockbusters are scheduled to return this summer, beginning with Warner Brothers’ Tenet and Disney’s Mulan, with many more major titles scheduled immediately thereafter.”

The statement also indicates some AMC locations may undergo a soft reopening of sorts, with theaters slowly opening in the days and weeks leading up to Tenet’s release and relying on “creative programming of immensely popular previously released films.”

AMC is among many companies hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. After closing more than 600 locations in March, the company furloughed its CEO and other corporate employees. AMC now faces financial uncertainty after its credit rating was downgraded amid fears the company will run out of cash during the closure.

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While the slow phasing out of stay-at-home orders may be the light at the end of the tunnel AMC needs, there’s certainly no guarantee the situation won’t take a turn for the worse. WB recently confirmed Tenet is still on track for its July 17 release, but at this point it’s one of the few summer blockbusters not to be significantly delayed. Some major 2020 releases like Venom: Let There Be Carnage have now been pushed back into 2021.

Do you think theaters will be open for business by July? Let us know in the comments below.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Google Stadia Connect Announced for Next Week

Google is hosting another Stadia Connect on Tuesday, April 28, at 9am PT/12pm ET/4pm GMT on YouTube, and those who tune in will “hear from the team and see a few new games coming to Stadia.”

A short teaser accompanied the announcement on Google Stadia’s Twitter, but no further details were given as to what can be expected from the presentation.

This Stadia Connect arrives shortly after Stadia began rolling out the free option for its streaming service that allows anyone with a Gmail account to sign up and stream games they purchase with up to 1080p/60fps and stereo surround sound.

Those who sign up also earned two free months of Stadia Pro, which costs $9.99 and gives subscribers free games like Destiny 2 and the ability to stream games at 4K/60fps and with HDR.

It may be too early to hear from some of them, but Google Stadia has been building up its first-party studios with moves like hiring former God of War executive producer Shannon Studstill to lead a new Google Stadia Games and Entertainment studio in Playa Vista, California.

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Stadia also recently acquired Typhoon Studios, the developers behind Journey to the Savage Planet.

While you wait for this new Stadia Connect, be sure to check out our final review of Google Stadia and all the games available on the streaming platform.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who can’t wait and is so excited he just can’t hide it. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

New Release Dates for Mission: Impossible Sequels, DnD Reboot

Paramount Pictures has announced another wave of release date changes due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with the upcoming back-to-back Mission: Impossible sequels among the films affected.

Mission: Impossible 7 was poised to shoot a major sequence in Italy when that country went into lockdown and production on the Tom Cruise film was shut down indefinitely. With the resumption of filming still unclear, Paramount has changed the wide release of Mission: Impossible 7 from July 23, 2021, to November 19, 2021.

Mission: Impossible 8, previously scheduled for wide release on August 5, 2022, has now been pushed to November 4, 2022.

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Meanwhile, the Chris Pratt-led sci-fi/action film The Tomorrow War was originally slated to open this December before being pulled. Now Paramount has scheduled the film for a wide release on July 23, 2021.

Paramount also set a new release date for their Dungeons & Dragons movie — yes, there’s a new DnD movie in the works! — with the fantasy film shifting from November 19, 2021, to May 27, 2022.

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Finally, the studio also rescheduled their Paw Patrol movie to August 20, 2021, and has taken Spell (previously scheduled for August 28, 2020) off their schedule pending a new release date.

For more on Paramount’s upcoming films, find out when Top Gun: Maverick and A Quiet Place: Part II are now coming out.