Microsoft has announced ID@Xbox Game Pass; a new series of livestreams to showcase indie games coming to Xbox Game Pass. The first broadcast will be on Tuesday, March 26.

Announced on the Xbox Wire blog, the first episode will premiere at 9:00am PT (12:00 ET, 04:00pm UK, 02:00am AEST), and offer new dives into After Party, Void Bastards, and Supermarket Shriek.

There will also be a behind-the-scenes element to the stream, with a segment featuring Afterparty and Oxenfree developer Night School Studio.

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The blog posts promises new reveals, gameplay highlights, and conversations with developers.

The announcement comes just hours after Sony revealed their own new live broadcast series, State of Play, meaning all of the big three platform holders now have their own livestream programming. ID@Xbox appears to be closer to Nintendo’s Nindie Direct, while State of Play is more in the vein of a traditional Nintendo Direct.

Matt Purslow is IGN UK’s News and Entertainment Writer, and his calendar now has more livestream alerts than Twitch. You can follow him on Twitter. 

WOODSTOCK, N.B. — RCMP say two young men from Nova Scotia were arrested Friday afternoon at a border crossing in western New Brunswick.

Police say the incident began around 10:15 a.m. local time, when officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle at the crossing between Woodstock, N.B., and Houlton, Maine.

Cpl. Jullie Rogers-Marsh says the vehicle had stopped “in the area between the Canada and U.S. border crossings,” and the two men inside were refusing to communicate with border officials or police.

In a news release Friday afternoon, Rogers-Marsh says the vehicle started moving toward the American point of entry at around 4:20 p.m.

Two men — a 21-year-old from Halifax and a 22-year-old from the Halifax suburb of Sackville, N.S. — were taken into custody by American border officials, and the vehicle was seized.

The border crossing was closed for several hours on Friday and motorists were advised to choose another route.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Senior Coley Ries of Minnesota State has been voted the 2017 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II National Player of the Year. She was presented the award on Wednesday evening at the NCAA Division II Championship banquet in Roanoke, Va.

Ries is putting forth one of the more dominating pitching performances in NCAA Division II this season. The right-handed hurler has amassed a NCAA-best 426 strikeouts, 16 shutouts and 36 wins (36-3). Along with allowing the fewest hits per seven innings amongst DII pitchers (3.42), Ries is holding opponents to a .146 batting average. Additionally, the Eagle Lake, Minn. native’s 11.5 strikeouts per seven innings ranks second in the NCAA and her 1.02 ERA is third.

A unanimous NFCA First-Team All-American, Ries tossed back-to-back perfect games in April. Her accomplishment was highlighted in Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd feature. She enters the NCAA Division II Championships as the program’s all-time leader with 116 wins and 1,431 strikeouts.

The award was created in 2015 to honor the outstanding athletic achievement among softball student-athletes throughout Division II. Ries is the third recipient of the award, joining inaugural winner Courtney Poole of North Georgia and Wayne State University’s Lyndsay Butler to receive this prestigious accolade. 

ESPN Events has announced its first-ever ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship, which will be held in Houston, Texas this May.

Hundreds of schools across North America will soon compete in qualifiers hosted by Tespa and the Collegiate Star League, which will give winners the chance to compete in the live LAN semi-finals and championship that will take place May 10-12 at the George R Brown Convention Center Comicpalooza weekend, held by ESPN Events.

Games announced for the event include Overwatch, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Hearthstone, StarCraft II and Heroes of the Storm. Finalists will compete for scholarships, and portions of the qualifying rounds and the LAN championship will be streamed globally on various platforms.

“As universities continue to grow their esports programs at the varsity, non-varsity and club levels, we’re proud to be providing a platform for national exposure and recognition of some of the most talented players in the collegiate space,” said John Lasker, ESPN’s VP of digital media programming. “Through our collaboration with top publishers in the industry, players will be able to showcase their talent in high-level competition on some of the most prominent esports titles.”

“ESPN has been a terrific collaborator with Blizzard Esports over the years, having created monumental esports moments together, and we couldn’t be more excited to team up again to provide our collegiate players the opportunity to finish out the spring Tespa season on the big stage,” said Todd Pawlowski, Blizzard’s SVP of live experiences. “It’ll be a first for Blizzard to have four collegiate championship events under one roof, which should make for an awesome show for the fans.”

For more esports news, check out how college exports is growing (whether you like it or not), how Nike signed its first esports star, and how the U.S. Army is turning to esports after failing to meet recruitment targets.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Fifty outstanding softball players have been chosen for the 2017 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division III National Player of the Year watch list, which will be paired down in the coming weeks until just one player remains at the conclusion of the season.

Twenty-two returning NFCA All-Americans top the list, including six first-team honorees, seven second-team selections and nine from last year’s third team. The remaining 23 members of the group all earned first team NFCA All-Region recognition last season.

Three teams have three players each on the initial list — Manhattanville, Otterbein and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, while six others — Aurora, Carthage, East Texas Baptist, Tufts and Washington (Mo.) — have two apiece and 37 others have one selection.

There are 22 seniors, 18 juniors and 10 sophomores in the group.

The list is a collaborative effort between the NFCA’s Division III Head Coaches and All-America committees. The list will subsequently be cut to 25 and 10, before the winner is chosen.

The list will be adjusted to assure the best players during the season are considered, with the eventual winner coming from the group of 25.

To view and download the full list, please click HERE.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following another dominant week, Florida strengthened its hold the No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Gators (44-3) collected 30 first-place votes and 798 of a possible 800 points.

Florida put together a 4-0 week, which saw its NCAA-best pitching staff allow one run over the course of 26 innings. After a 9-1 mid-week win over in-state foe UCF, the Gators’ pitching staff surrendered just seven hits as they shutout then-No. 18 Ole Miss in a Southeastern Conference sweep by the scores of 2-0, 3-0 and 5-0. With three more shutouts, UF has posted 28 on the season, including 14 over Top 25 competition, and lowered its NCAA-best ERA to 0.70.

Florida State also picked up four wins last week and remained at No. 2 with 754 points. The Seminoles (43-3-1) swept a mid-week twinbill at Troy (9-3, 2-0) and opened their road ACC series at Louisville with two triumphs over the Cardinals (11-0, 4-3 in 10 inn.).

Arizona, which earned a first-place vote, also stayed put, holding on to the No. 3 ranking following a 4-1 week. The Wildcats (45-4) took care of business in a mid-week doubleheader at New Mexico State (8-0, 11-1) and claimed the first two games in home a Pac-12 matchup versus No. 6 Oregon (2-0, 10-7) before dropping the finale, 4-3.

Minnesota and Texas A&M switched positions as the Gophers (43-3) took over the No. 4 ranking, their highest in program history. Minnesota, who picked up the final first-place vote, won five Big Ten contests, topping RV Wisconsin (6-0 in 12 inn., 12-1) on the road and taking all three at home from Iowa (5-0, 9-1, 3-0). The Aggies (40-5) slipped up in mid-week action, coming up short in a comeback bid against then-No. 17 Louisiana (9-11) before sweeping No. 22 Georgia (10-3, 1-0, 2-0) in SEC action.

Oregon did not move from No. 6 after dropping a Pac-12 series at No. 3 Arizona. No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 8 Washington each moved up one position. The Sooners (41-8) enjoyed a 3-1 week, which included a crucial Big 12 series win over No. 15 Baylor. OU grabbed a 3-2 10-inning triumph in game one and clinched the series with a 6-0 shutout in the finale. The Bears (36-9) 4-3 victory in game two snapped the Sooners’ 17-game winning streak as well as their 25 consecutive victories in conference play and 33-game home winning streak.

Washington had a successful cross-country trip to the Heart of Dixie, defeating UAB (8-0) and trumping No. 13 Alabama (3-2, 3-0) in a two-game series at Rhoads Stadium. It was the Huskies (34-10) first sweep of the Tide since a 2007 Super Regional matchup. 

Auburn slipped to No. 9 after a 3-1 week, while Utah remained at No. 10. The Tigers (39-8) knocked off Kennesaw State at home and claimed a SEC series win on the road, taking the first two games from RV South Carolina (2-0, 2-0). In a closely-contested Pac-12 series, the Utes (30-9) rebounded from a 9-8 loss in the opener to claim the series with 7-6 and 2-1 victories at No. 23 Arizona State. 

Making its first appearance of 2017 is Marshall at No. 25, replacing Illinois, who appeared for the first time last week.

The 2017 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference.  Records reflect games played through April 23.

 

2017 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll
Week 11 – April 25, 2017

Rank Team Totals 2017 Record Last Poll     1 Florida (30) 798 44-3 1   2 Florida State 754 43-3-1 2   3 Arizona (1) 741 45-4 3   4 Minnesota (1) 694 43-3 5   5 Texas A&M 685 40-5 4   6 Oregon 623 38-6 6   7 Oklahoma 584 41-8 8   8 Washington 572 34-10 9   9 Auburn 542 39-8 7   10 Utah 510 30-9 10   11 Tennessee 498 41-6 11   12 UCLA 437 33-12 13   13 Alabama 409 37-11 12   14 James Madison 382 39-6 14   15 Baylor 356 36-9 15   16 Louisiana 327 36-6 17   17 LSU 286 34-14 16   18 Kentucky 238 30-13 20   19 Michigan 223 34-10-1 19   20 Ole Miss 191 31-16 18   21 BYU 175 32-10 21   22 Georgia 99 30-18 22   23 Arizona State 83 27-14 23   24 Arkansas 46 28-17 24   25 Marshall 38 35-7 RV                      

Dropped Out: No. 25 Illinois; New to Poll: No. 25 Marshall

Receiving Votes: Illinois (31), Tulsa (21), Mississippi State (13), South Carolina (11), Texas State (8), Missouri (6), North Carolina (5), Florida International (5), California (4), Saint Francis (Pa.) (4), Ohio State (1).

The USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference.  Records reflect games played through April 23.

RADISSON, Sask. — Police have laid a murder charge against a convicted contract killer in the 2007 disappearance of a 15-year-old British Columbia teenager in Saskatchewan.

Katelyn Marie Noble was last seen on Aug. 27, 2007, in the Radisson area, northwest of Saskatoon.

Eduard Viktorovit Baranec, a 41-year-old man who is serving time at a federal prison in B.C., was arrested Tuesday. He is charged with first-degree murder.

RCMP Cpl. Rob King says he hopes the arrest will bring some level of closure or measure of comfort for Noble’s family.

“Hopefully the long ordeal that they’ve been going through is hopefully coming to an end,” King said.

Baranec is serving a life sentence for the murder of a Surrey, B.C., mother of three.

In 2016, a B.C. court heard Baljinder Bahia paid Baranec $15,000 to kill Bahia’s wife. Amanpreet Kaur Bahia was stabbed to death in 2007. Her in-laws found her body lying on the kitchen floor with her one-year-old daughter crying next to her.

It was information from the Noble investigation in Saskatchewan that helped police crack the Bahia case.

King wouldn’t confirm the relationship between Baranec and Noble, but media reports have said Noble had lived with Baranec.

He said the cause of death along with motive will be presented in court.

“Investigations are complex, investigations take time,” King said. “The number of officer hours on this and the number of kilometres travelled is well into the thousands.”

After Noble’s disappearance, a number of searches were conducted in the Radisson area.

Her mother, Leona Noble, made multiple trips to Saskatchewan to help look for any sign of her daughter.