‘League of Legends’ tournaments coming to ESPN+

ESPN has announced that League of Legends is coming to ESPN+. The cable sports network made the announcement on Friday, saying that it has signed a multi-year agreement with LoL‘s developer Riot Games. ESPN+ will kick off its coverage on July 16 — just in time for the North American League of Legends Championship Series Summer Split. Following this, the summer finals will be held in September, followed by the world championships later this year,

ESPN’s agreement with Riot is not an exclusive one, so LoL fans will still be able to stream the matches on Twitch at no cost. ESPN is likely hoping this move will entice some people to sign up for its ESPN+ subscription service. The service costs $5 per month and gives users access to thousands of hours of live sporting events, original programming, and ad-free use of the ESPN’s site and mobile app.

Like many traditional media outlets, ESPN has struggled with adapting to how the internet has changed news and sports coverage. The cable news network has had to contend with dwindling subscription numbers, as many people opt to cut ties with cable altogether. In its prime, ESPN was one of America’s most popular outlets for coverage of sporting events, analysis, and player interviews. Now that virtually every professional athlete has their own Twitter profile, there is less need for traditional sporting coverage.

The decline of cable may play a large part in ESPN’s decision to move into the realm of esports coverage. A decade or so ago, the idea of ESPN covering video games in a major way was a laughable concept, but esports have grown into a multi-million dollar industry, with a fanbase just as devoted as those of any traditional sport. In fact, many esports teams, such as those in the Overwatch League and a handful of LoL teams, are owned by major sports teams.

ESPN’s deal with Riot is not the first time that ESPN has covered MOBA competitions. In 2015 and 2016, ESPN partnered with Blizzard Entertainment for coverage of the Heroes of the Dorm tournament, which focused on Blizzard’s own MOBA, Heroes of the Storm.

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• Twitter doubles list of original shows with new deals, renewals from MTV to ESPN
• ‘Overwatch’ review

Best External Hard Drives for PlayStation 4

The days of cracking open a PS4 for expansion are over!

PlayStation 4 owners have no shortage of choice when it comes to storage expansion. Popping out the internal drive is fairly easy, but if you don’t want to go through that trouble there’s an alternative. Just plug a USB hard drive into your console, and instantly you have all the storage you could ever need.

All you need now is to pick the right drive for your needs. Here are some solid options available to you today.

Toshiba Canvio Connect II

If you need a storage bump but don’t want to take up another power outlet on your entertainment center or would prefer the hard drive be easy to hide away, Toshiba has what you need. The Canvio Connect II is a 1TB hard drive that is powered by the USB port and is small enough to tuck away behind the console.

See at Amazon

This will effectively double the storage of the more spacious PS4s you can buy today and will be more than enough for those upgrading a 500GB console. And for $47 you don’t have to worry about hitting the wallet too hard.

Western Digital WD Elements

People who want to massively upgrade the storage on their PS4 but don’t want the hard drive to take up a lot of space aren’t left with a ton of options, but one of the better choices comes from Western Digital. The WD Elements series isn’t small enough to be pocketable but can be concealed on most entertainment centers. Most important of all, it’s a 2TB drive, so you’re unlikely to fill it with your PlayStation 4 games anytime soon.

See at Amazon

WD Elements do also come in 1TB and 3TB variants, but for $75 the 2TB model is the most competitively priced and will be more than enough for most PS4 owners.

Seagate Expansion

If all you really care about is storage, and you want to make sure you never have to worry about running out of storage on your PlayStation 4 ever again, the Seagate Expansion series has you covered. These external hard drives will go up to 5TB in capacity but is one of the few 3TB options for under $100 if you’re also concerned with your budget.

See at Amazon

These drives are big, so don’t grab one thinking you’re going to be able to easily hide it next to your PlayStation 4. As long as that isn’t a problem for you, these $86 drives will get the job done.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Drive)

Not everyone needs to buy a whole new external drive to expand a PlayStation 4; you just need a solid enclosure to put an existing drive in. If that’s you, the Inateck enclosure is everything you need. It’s USB 3.0 enabled, offers an aluminum body to better handle heat dissipation when under stress, and doesn’t require any additional software to set up.

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Drop your drive in, connect to your PlayStation 4, and you’re done. Not bad for $27, assuming you already have a drive you aren’t using.

Update May 2018: This post has been updated with our favorite portable drives for PlayStation 4.

Why are we talking about PlayStation 4 stuff on Android Central? Let us explain.

PlayStation 4

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Amazon

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Here’s your weekend comments thread with a dose of gratitude

We have Monday off because others gave their lives for it.

Monday is Memorial Day in the U.S., and while many of us will be grilling burgers or otherwise enjoying a relaxing long weekend, we should remember why we have it.

I’m not one to glorify why we need armed forces. As a child too young to understand, I can remember each evening when several of my mother’s friends would join us to watch the news; that’s where Walter Cronkite would tell us all how many young men and women were killed in action that day in the Vietnam War. Growing up in an Army town meant there were usually tears and I learned at an early age that even to a civilian, war is hell.

But all Americans need to remember that those young men and women, along with countless before them and countless after, gave their lives because they thought they could make ours better. Try to take a moment sometime this weekend to honor them in your own way, then celebrate with friends and family because that’s why they made the sacrifice.

I’ll be spending a quiet weekend at home for the most part, simply enjoying the company of my lovely wife. I don’t deserve her, though she would disagree, and with the kids gone and the house to ourselves I’ll have an excellent weekend just because she’s with me. There will be peace and quiet, thick rare steaks, and plenty of red wine.

Take a moment and share your weekend plans with everybody in the comments and spend a few minutes connecting — that’s how the internet is best used!

Here’s what we’re reading, watching, playing, and listening to this week

How we’re spending our leisure time.

Everyone has a bit of quiet downtime once in a while. Whether you’re sitting quietly at home or trying to relax on a plane or just giving your busy mind and hands a break, it’s important to relax.

A good way to do that is to read a book, listen to some music or watch a movie or show. See what’s caught our attention for the week of May 26th.

Ara Wagoner

The new YouTube Music is here, and as I continue to dig into every nook and cranny of the new app looking for new quirks, old flaws, and more tips to our loyal AC readers, I’m also indulging an ungodly amount of music. YouTube Music has a selection that is unparalleled, between official music from the labels, remixes, covers, and live concert recordings from musicians and roadies of every shape and size, and so, so many songs that users have uploaded after seeing them missing from the catalog.

YouTube Music’s recommendations have also been taking me back in time with albums like Play, Disneymania and Baby Got Back, which has been stuck in my head for days and refuses to get out. Among the newer suggestions, I’ve been rocking a lot of Ariana Grande, including her gospel-backed take on Hercules ‘Zero to Hero’ from We Love Disney Vol. 1. It’s also a fitting song for an app that most people had completely written off before last week, don’t’cha think?

Marc Lagace

Netflix keeps churning out docu-mini series on different gruesome topics and it can be a bit exhausting to watch them all. Having said that, I gotta recommend the new show “Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist”.

The four-part series takes a deep dive into the 2003 Pizza Bomber mystery, in which a man named Brian Wells robbed a bank with a live bomb locked to his neck. The story became the inspiration for the 2011 comedy film “30 Minutes or Less” starring Jesse Eisenberg, but the true story is dark and disturbing. This one is not for those with a weak stomach for violence and murder, but if you enjoyed “Making a Murderer” then you’ll like Evil Genius, too.

Joe Maring

I’ve been in a podcast mood this week, and to crave that itch, I’ve been spending a lot of my time listening to The Moth. The Moth is a non-profit based out of New York that frequently hosts live events around the country where people come to tell their life stories.

These stories are selected from the various events and compiled into about an hour-long program based around a certain theme, and the end result is phenomenal. It’s incredibly easy to keep listening to episode after episode without any intention of stopping, and that’s fine by me. Some stories have made me laugh out loud while others have sent chills down my spine, but they all have one thing in common — they’re raw, uncut, and human.

As much as I’m loving The Moth, I did take a break to watch Deadpool 2 on opening night in IMAX. I think I still enjoy the first one just a tad more, but that didn’t stop me from having a great time with the movie. Just like the first Deadpool, the sequel is action-packed, gut-busting funny, and has the best mid-credits scene ever.

Tom Westrick

I saw Deadpool 2 this week, and while it’s not as enjoyable as the first one, it’s still an entertaining movie in its own right. Since we’ve already seen most of the characters interact with each other, it’s nearly impossible for a sequel to have the same magic that the original does. Without giving away any spoilers, I will say the last act dragged on more than it needed to. But overall, the movie was hilarious while still having an emotional story, like the first.

Elsewhere, I’m almost at the end of watching Frasier, and I’m debating what to jump into next. It’s between Cheers (yes, I know I should have watched that before Frasier), The West Wing, or diving back into my Plex library.

I’ve also been listening to Jake Bugg, an English singer that sound an awful lot like Hank Williams (Sr, not either of the crazy Jrs.). I’ve only listened to the album Shangri La, but I’ll give the rest of his albums a listen before long.

Essa Kidwell

I’ve never been the type that watches shows as soon as they come out. My attention span is in a thousand places at once, so sitting down and designating times for me to catch up on the latest shows and movies was never really something that was ever on my to-do list. Instead I wait till there’s enough to marathon on a streaming service and binge watch all of it at once while I’m writing.

This week I’m addicted to American Gods.

Much like what happened to me when I binged Game of Thrones I ended up addicted and needing more. I already know when I finish the last season available on my PlayStation I’m going to be dying for more. Good thing the American Gods book is waiting for me on my bookshelf! Checkmate!

Kennedy Weston

My fiance and I recently invested in the latest multiplayer game, A Way Out. It’s a pretty awesome game that has a unique way of using multiplayer. Instead of being able to do your own thing that still helps out the other player, you have to actually work together in order to progress in the game. It’s an interesting way to make sure that you and your friend or significant other can and will actually work well together.

I’ve also recently got to Season 3 of a TV show called Community, which takes place in a community college and it’s all about the shenanigans that go down. It’s absolutely hilarious and has wonderful actors and actresses like Joel McHale, Donald Glover, and Yvette Nicole Brown. If you have a Hulu membership or Crackle, you can watch all of the seasons of the show on those streaming services.

Quentyn Kennemer

Being a big fan of the original State of Decay and disappointed when they eventually canceled plans to bring out a multiplayer mode, you know I was all over State of Decay 2. This Xbox One and PC zombie survival game is just as much about battling the scarcity of resources as it is battling a zombie plague, and doing it with friends makes the experience infinitely more fun. I’m also still getting my butt kicked by Nordic trolls in God of War, so that’s fun.

When I need a break from all the zombies and draugrs, I’m turning to my huge backlog of Marvel shows and movies I have yet to watch. Yes, spoiler alert, I haven’t seen Avengers: Infinity Wars, and I have a lot more to catch up on before I do that. I’ve just finished the first season of Luke Cage. Next stop: Jessica Jones, followed by season 2 of Luke Cage on Netflix next month.

Your turn

What are YOU reading, watching, or listening to this week? Let us know in the comments!

Update, May 26, 2018: This is a weekly series where we tell you what we’re into, so check back every weekend!

Ride around without getting lost thanks to the $15 iOttie Bike & Motorcycle Phone Mount

Secure your phone on your bike or motorcycle with this inexpensive mount.

For the first time ever, the iOttie Easy One Touch 4 Bicycle and Motorcycle Mount dropped in price down to $14.95 at Amazon. While it’s still somewhat new, it’s been selling between $17 and $20 since its release last October.

The iOttie Easy One Touch 4 can universally hold all phones and even many with cases between 2.3 and 3.5 inches. It features a mounting system which can lock or release the device with one… easy touch. It fits bars from 20 to 34mm in diameter and is fully adjustable allowing you to rotate it 360 degrees with the ability to view in landscape or portrait mode.

iOttie also includes a one-year warranty with this phone mount. While this product only has a few reviews on Amazon, iOttie mounts for automobiles have numerous well-rated ones that should be assuring enough to give this one a try.

See at Amazon