Playing video games can stir up a lot of emotions, but a new study indicates being upset or depressed when you log onto your favorite game can make you play worse. Researchers from Stanford University showed participants video clips intended to make them feel amused, enthusiastic, angry or sad and then compared how they performed on the highly popular soccer game FIFA 19. Gamers exposed to positive scenes -- especially ones that encouraged enthusiasm -- did far better against a computer opponent than ones who watch saddening or anger-inducing clips. Not only did they score more goals, they showed an increase in'approach tendency,' taking possession of the ball more often and having more shots hit the goal, which experts say stems from'extra motivation that comes from positive emotion.' Participants were shown various video clips before playing five matches of FIFA 19, the most popular console game of the year. 'In addition, we observed that players who have greater confidence in their abilities and get more physiologically involved in the game achieve better results,' the researchers told IFLScience.

There has only ever been on question to ask about each year's Fifa: is it worth getting? And there's usually been far more than one answer, all kinds of caveats about the kind of features you use and player you are. This year the answer is as simple as the question. The changes are subtle but they are everywhere, and offer something for every kind of player. If you're a fan of authenticity the Champions League will be worth it alone, but if you want silliness like games with no fouls then there's plenty of that too.

Fifa 19 will include the Champions League, as part of a major break with tradition. The move was announced during E3, where companies including Fifa developer EA revealed their plans for the future. The tournament has been Fifa's most glaring omission among what is otherwise an incredibly detailed and highly-licensed game. It includes most of the world's leagues and has even introduced a special mode for the World Cup, which this year came as a free update. The I.F.O. is fuelled by eight electric engines, which is able to push the flying object to an estimated top speed of about 120mph.

In a matter of weeks, Europe's biggest annual soccer competition, the Champions League, went from one video game franchise to its bitter rival. When UEFA ended its partnership with Konami, an agreement that allowed Pro Evolution Soccer to offer the club tournament, it was only a matter of time before EA jumped on the chance to add the competition to its FIFA franchise. The addition of Champions League will undoubtedly give FIFA 19 more depth, especially in its "The Journey" story mode, but the updates to gameplay are equally as important. Don't get me wrong, Champions League is a great get for FIFA. When you consider EA just added the World Cup via a free update a few weeks ago, the addition of UEFA's club tournament means the top two competitions in the world (as far as most soccer fans are concerned) are now available in the same game.

Video games have always been a fruitful medium for science fiction, all the way back to the outer space dogfights of 1962's Spacewar! So it's no surprise that Electronic Arts is dipping its toe in the water, although handing the job off to their sports division might raise a few eyebrows. At EA's E3 press conference Saturday, the company unveiled three games exploring ways we might live and love in the distant future: FIFA 19, which is set in the year 2019, Madden NFL 19, a look at what America might become by 2019, and NBA Live 19, a terrifying speculative vision of the year 2019. Unhappy dystopias are each unhappy in their own way, but some common themes emerge in the trailers: openly fascist philosophies of eternal conflict and contempt for the weak, stadiums full of citizens hollering for blood, and an exaltation of the human form more intense than anything since Olympia. Here are EA's three horrible prophecies: From its opening shot, a dark hallway with a light at the end that evokes both the stygian Viennese sewers of The Third Man and the suspiciously-similar accounts of patients who survived near-death experiences, the trailer for FIFA 19 is suffused with corruption and death.