Finally, we get some answers! As much as I loved the Deke-centric episode, it also threw a lot of new things at us — namely, the alien bat parasite that ended up taking over Keller’s body and setting up his death. This week, we learn what those things are called!
The heart of the episode, though, is how May’s memories of Coulson color her interactions with Sarge. We see a lot of flashbacks to May’s time with Coulson on Tahiti as he lay dying, interspersed with the much more brutal present-day interactions between May and Sarge. Sarge realizes that May’s fascination with him has to do with the other version of him. With his violent tendencies, Sarge initially assumes that May must have killed Coulson. Then he realizes it must be “the other thing,” the source of this episode’s title. Sigmund Freud once theorized that the two fundamental drives of human behavior were love and death — or “Eros” and “Thanatos,” as those concepts were called in Greek mythology. If May’s powerful connection to Coulson wasn’t about death, then it must have been about love.
Sarge thinks he can use that to turn May to his side. He implants another parasite into some helpless rando in order to show her what it’s like. Like Yo-Yo before her, May soon puts two and two together and sticks one of Sarge’s knives in the man, killing the parasite. Sarge explains that these things are called “Shrikes,” and that he and his crew travel from world to world hunting them down and trying to stop them from destroying universes. So far, he hasn’t succeeded, but they keep on trying. Whenever Sarge’s crew jumps into a new universe, they hunt down everything that doesn’t belong there, assuming they must be Shrikes. This is why they went after Deke the other week, because they correctly discerned that he was from another world. He just wasn’t the kind of outsider they were looking for.
Back at the lab, Benson and Yo-Yo make another discovery of the Shrikes. Having performed Keller’s autopsy, Benson analyzes their molecular structure — a structure that, to Yo-Yo, greatly resembles the molecules of the monoliths. Benson openly theorized that maybe the parasites have power over life and death the way the monoliths controlled space and time. Benson also manages to console Yo-Yo over Keller’s death by telling her about the time he pulled the plug on his catatonic husband. He says it was the hardest decision of his life, but also the right choice. He also suggests heading to South America to search for more answers about the Shrikes and the monoliths, because the word that Sarge’s team uses to refer to the coming Shrike-apocalypse sounds a lot like the ancient Incan king Pachacuti (which I detected pretty early on, but only because I’ve been playing Civilization VI so much recently).
That conversation also has a lot to do with the May/Sarge storyline. Just as Sarge thinks he’s convincing May of his mission, she turns on him. After taking out Snowflake, she starts garroting Sarge as he sits in the driver’s seat. While this fight is happening, we see how the stay on Tahiti ended — by May helping Coulson achieve a peaceful death. Her relationship with Coulson wasn’t a matter of love OR death; it had to do with both. Now, she finally gets the drop on Sarge. After he’s knocked out, and handcuffed, May heads back to base.
While all that has been going on, out in space Enoch’s fellow Chronicoms inform him, Daisy, and Simmons that their homeworld has been destroyed – probably by the Shrikes, but they have no way of knowing that! The Chronicoms want to know how the SHIELD agents traveled in time, so that they might do the same to avert their planet’s destruction. Simmons makes a deal with the aliens: Let Daisy and the others go, and she and Fitz will help them figure out time travel. But at the last minute, Enoch sneaks into Fitz’s cell and unleashes some kind of gas. We’ll have to find out what that is soon enough, but I do like the way this episode’s various storylines paralleled each other without ever quite intersecting.
Amazon has unveiled a full-length trailer for The Boys, its unsentimental, kooky look at a world where superheroes abuse their powers on the regular and it's up to mere mortals to stop them. It's a well-understood fact that absolute power corrupts ab...
Xiaomi has unveiled the Mi 9T last week for international markets, and while it's nothing but a rebranded Redmi K20, that doesn't mean it's not a very interesting upper-midrange offering, what with its notch-less display and pop-up selfie camera.
The Chinese company is focusing on exactly that in a new series of three video promos for the phone that are all about dissing the notch. Each episode explores how ridiculous a notch would look like in other settings.
Here's what happens at a hairdresser's:
At a dentist:
And weirdest of all, a make-up session gone...
The Redmi K20 and K20 Pro will arrive in India on July 15 (and they'll keep their names). To build anticipation, Xiaomi's promo campaign starts as it did last year - by trolling OnePlus. Remember the "Do the ma+h" gift bags with a calculator? This year it's about numbers too, specifically the AnTuTu score.
A few days ago the @RedmiIndia account tweeted "Somebody jus+ announced the world's fastest phone" (the "+" instead of "t" makes it clear who is the target of this dig). The company also promised to beat that, saying "hold my AnTuTu". And today Redmi delivers the second punch - Redmi K20...
In a new video feature, GameSpot's Jess McDonell looks at Massive's The Division 2 specifically and how the studio has gone about supporting the ongoing game and interacting with its community. Jess speaks with Massive community developers Petter Mårtensson and Christoph Gansler about how they engage with and incorporate player feedback with the live service game.
You can watch the full video above, while the entire Q&A is available below featuring joint responses from Gansler and Mårtensson. In it, the developers talked about the value of transparency in The Division 2's development, how to manage player feedback, and how to maintain a constantly evolving online game.
Gansler and Mårtensson also discuss the hot-button issue of crunch, which is an industry term for the practice of developers working overly long hours to finish milestones.
GameSpot: How important is player feedback to what ends up in the game?
Gansler and Mårtensson: Player feedback is very important to us at Massive Entertainment. We’re always monitoring social channels and forums such as Reddit and YouTube to see what the players are saying about the game. We want our community to know that we see the development of The Division 2 as an ongoing relationship. That said, we and the players don’t always agree on everything. We need to constantly have a holistic view of what goes in and what goes out of the game. But we discuss the feedback we get on a daily basis.
When it comes to developing The Division 2 and incorporating player feedback, how strongly do you agree or disagree with the alleged Henry Ford quote: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
"We learned a lot from the first game that we took with us into The Division 2."
As developers, we must have a 360-degree view of the game. Our designers and production teams know the game intimately. They know what’s feasible and what’s not feasible, and they know how certain changes that are being requested would or wouldn’t work practically. Sometimes feedback can be laser-focused on a specific aspect of the game that, if changed, could have much bigger implications that you don’t directly see. At the same time, many of our players also know the game very well, so nothing is discarded.
In addition, we have a lotof data from the game. We have a great data analytics team that works together with our user researchers and the community team. Together, they see how our players play the game and sometimes the loudest complaints are not reflected in reality.
Has your perspective of how to respond to or implement player feedback changed from The Division 1 to The Division 2?
We learned a lot from the first game that we took with us into The Division 2. Updates 1.4 and 1.8 for The Division were largely based on player feedback and we even brought community members to our studios for workshops on the game’s development (big shout out to all our Elite Task Force members!). That mindset is something that we took with us to the second game.
How often are highly requested features implemented?
For every title update we’ve released for The Division 2, we try to implement various features or tweaks that have been requested by the community. Some requests take longer to implement of course, but we have some cool stuff coming up that community members have discussed and requested that I won’t spoil now.
There are thousands of suggestions across your official forums and the Division 2 subreddit. Where is the line between seeing highly requested features and what can practically be implemented, whether that be for volume or technical reasons?
That line can be difficult to draw. As mentioned earlier, we look at all the feedback we get, see if it’s something that we believe would make the game better, if it’s technically possible to implement, and then decide based on those factors.
"We can’t always answer every question or respond to every criticism, which of course can be frustrating for some, but we try to talk to our players as much as we possibly can"
Even when your community doesn't agree with certain mechanics or changes, they seem to have an incredible amount of respect for how consistently they are heard and communicated with. Was this always the plan? How do you practically maintain that open line of communication?
We are fortunate to have a passionate community team that has a frequent dialogue with our players. Our Twitch channel is our main tool, where we do our weekly State of the Game livestreams. We also do gameplay streams since that’s a great avenue for us to just sit down, play the game and talk directly to our community.
We can’t always answer every question or respond to every criticism, which of course can be frustrating for some, but we try to talk to our players as much as we possibly can. The community team also has a close relationship with the developers themselves and information flows both ways as a result. Myself and Chris, the community developers for the game, sit smack down in the middle of the Live Team and are in constant communication with them to make sure we know everything that is going on.
And yes, this was always a part of the plan. State of the Game has been running for a long time, from before the first game even launched, and we have no plans to stop doing it. The community interaction has been incredibly important for all of us working on the game. Many of our developers show up on our streams or interact with fans on Twitter and other social channels.
Can you offer some examples of things that have changed in the game as a result of player feedback?
For the first game, Update 1.4 was eye-opening for us. For The Division 2, the drawbacks on weapon mods were very controversial within the community and we ended up removing them from the game.
Can you offer some examples of things that have not changed, despite player suggestions to alter them, and the thinking behind this?
We had planned to increase the Gear Score in the game from 500 to 515, with the latter only available in the Dark Zones. In the end, we decided to not go through with that change, which frustrated some players that were looking forward to it. We understand them, but with a series of PvE and PvP changes in our latest title update (Title Update 3), we want to improve the Dark Zone experience and make it more fun and rewarding. That said, we felt that keeping the gear score at 500 was for the best, from a game experience standpoint, as it is too early to introduce higher gear score items at this time.
How do you manage when your audience is divided in what they want out of the game (for example lowering versus maintaining the current mission difficulty)? With whom does the final decision sit on whether something should or shouldn't be implemented?
The final decision sits with the directors, designers and the production teams. As mentioned earlier, we need to always figure out if a change is positive and realistic. The community can absolutely be split when it comes to certain topics, but in the end, we must make decisions based on those factors. The sad reality is that there will always be people who are disappointed with any changes to the game, something that comes with every live game. You can’t please everyone, but we hope people know that everything we do, we do for the overall betterment of the game.
To what degree is this communication or transparency a virtue (or a problem) for the development team?
Sometimes things go wrong, and we don’t believe in hiding from our mistakes. We’re human and mistakes happen. Transparency is very important for us; it’s part of the DNA of the project. Of course, we can’t talk about everything, even if we’d want to. That’s just the reality of game’s design and the business. Again, referring to Update 1.4 for the first game – that’s when we truly learned how important transparency can be, how important it is for our relationship with our players. That informed us moving forward.
It’s a virtue because the whole team is behind it. The problems arise when we have things we can’t talk about for whatever reasons. That can cause frustrations since players want answers to their questions. It’s a fine line to walk. You don’t want to over promise and under deliver, for example.
Does having a constantly evolving online game change the way you view the developer/player relationship?
Yes and no. This relationship is natural to us now. Of course, it changes over time, especially with new tools becoming available and new social platforms and groups popping up. Recently, we set up our own official Discord server and, all-of-a-sudden, we have a new tool to gather feedback, get a sense of the community mood and directly talk to our players in ways we couldn’t before. Having a live game means staying dynamic – when it comes to developing the game, as well as for how we communicate. Over time, I hope we can become even closer to our players in new and creative ways.
"We’re human and mistakes happen. Transparency is very important for us; it’s part of the DNA of the project."
What are the unique challenges and advantages to having a constantly evolving game?
The challenges and advantages lie in that dynamic setting. There are things happening all the time, but not everything is visible to the players. Small changes can inadvertently become huge changes, and vice versa. We need to be at the top of our game constantly, monitor what is happening in the game and in the community and react accordingly. It can be hard, but extremely rewarding too. It’s a team effort and our live and production teams are taking on that challenge on a daily basis.
How do you manage the swings between positivity and negativity that come from the community?
We do our very best to communicate, listen and be as transparent as possible. We talk to our players as much as we can, even if it’s not always possible. We gather all the feedback, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Those swings are a natural part of communities, but overall The Division community has been a supporting and welcoming place for a long time now. We also know that feedback always comes from the love of the game, so even if it’s something negative, players just want the game to be better. We appreciate that.
How much do you try and implement with each update and how do you manage constant rebalancing and bug fixing?
We try to implement the updates as much as we can, within the limits we have. For Title Update 3 that we just released, for example, we made a series of balance changes while also fixing hundreds of bugs – some visible to the players, some not. We’re not slowing down, and our different teams are 100 percent dedicated to making The Division 2 even bigger and better. It’s an ongoing process, but with the knowledge we have from releasing and operating the first game, we’re in a good position to take this game to new heights.
In regards to reports that online, evolving games require constant ongoing development, do your development teams undergo periods of crunch and what are your thoughts on the practice?
When it comes to developing online, evolving games or game-as-a-service, there is less ramp up and ramp down time than during traditional game production. The team working on The Division 2 has managed to respect a healthy work-life balance throughout the project. We’re actively working to prevent teams working overtime, and when it does happen we have very clear rules and communication about the practice. For example, overtime is always paid in accordance with Swedish work regulations. And HR follows up with every team member individually to assess workload and find solutions to strike the right balance.
At Massive, we are intent on providing a healthy and enriching work environment with the goal of keeping our team members with us for 10 years or more. Work-life balance is essential if we want to attract and retain the best talent to continue developing games on the same scale and quality as The Division 2. We were rated as one of Sweden’s most attractive employers amongst young professionals in 2018, so we’re pleased with how our efforts are paying off so far.
Cybercriminals have set their sights on the gaming industry and a new report has revealed that 12bn credential stuffing attacks were carried out against gaming websites over the course of 17 months leading up to March 2019.
During the same time period in which gaming websites saw heightened attacks, Akamai observed a total of 55bn credential stuffing attacks across all industries.
The firm's report also revealed that SQL Injection (SQLi) attacks now represent 65.1 percent of all web application attacks with Local File Inclusion (LFI) attacks accounting for 24.7 percent. Akamai's data shows that SQLi attacks have continued to grow in popularity among cybercriminals after experiencing a spike in activity during 2018's holiday shopping season and the attacks have continued at an elevated rate since that time.
SQLi and credential stuffing attacks
SQLI and credential stuffing attacks almost share a direct link as the majority of the credential stuffing lists on the dark web and on various internet forums use data that originated from some of the world's largest data breaches, many of which have SQLi as a root cause.
Security researcher at Akamai and editorial director of its latest report Martin McKeay explained why the gaming industry has become such a valuable target for cybercriminals, saying:
“One reason that we believe the gaming industry is an attractive target for hackers is because criminals can easily exchange in-game items for profit. Furthermore, gamers are a niche demographic known for spending money, so their financial status is also a tempting target. While gaming companies continue to innovate and improve their defenses, these organizations must also continue to help educate their consumers on how to protect and defend themselves. Many gamers are young, and if they are taught best practices to safeguard their accounts, they will incorporate those best practices for the rest of their lives.”
Akamai's report also found that the US is the top source country for credential stuffing attacks while Russia and Canada take the top two spots targeting the gaming sector.
CD Projekt Red made one of the biggest splashes during E3 2019. During Microsoft's E3 press conference, the developer released a new trailer for its upcoming RPG Cyberpunk 2077. Said trailer ended with the reveal that the character Johnny Silverhand is voiced and mo-cap performed by Keanu Reeves. The acclaimed actor then came out on stage to confirm Reeves' involvement.
We sat down with Cyberpunk 2077 lead quest designer Paweł Sasko to talk about Keanu Reeves involvement in the game and how the character of Johnny Silverhand evolved through his involvement. Turns out Johnny is Cyberpunk 2077's second most important character, only following main protagonist, V. The full interview has been transcribed below, with edits made for coherency. Cyberpunk 2077 is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on April 16, 2020.
Why Keanu Reeves?
We already had the role of Johnny Silverhand created and prepared in the demo, in this story and we knew this character would be very important from the very beginning throughout the end of the game. And the thing is that throughout your interactions with Johnny Silverhand, you can actually craft this relationship in various different ways. Now we knew that, and we were looking for an actor that could actually play this role. And yeah, we had a few options, but very, very early, it was almost a year ago there was an idea to just try [for Keanu].
Because the thing is that Keanu's known for playing strong characters that are fighting for something. I think that's a key thing. Let's say, John Wick, right? There, he's fighting for survival. Before that, you have Matrix, where he was fighting to be freed, for freedom. And before that you had Johnny Mnemonic. So all those characters were always strong characters that were fighting for something. Thing is, Johnny Silverhand is very similar because he is a fighter for something, he's of a Samurai band. And the Samurai is this rock band, and [Johnny] is a very charismatic guy that just goes in and acts with a gun in hand.
And so we were looking for an actor that would fit that. And our business branch of CD Projekt Red, they suggested, "Okay, let's try [Keanu]." Because [he fit], but we said, "No, that will never work out. That's just impossible." But we decided to go for it. So our business branch contacted him and we started talking to him and we sent a few people to his office to show him what [Cyberpunk 2077] is, what the role of Johnny Silverhand is. We were actually surprised because he picked up on that character fairly quickly, and he even started suggesting, "Okay, maybe I could act like this or that." And we saw that he was getting into the role, really getting into it. So, of course, we nailed down all the details regarding contract and so on. Our business branch took care of it, thankfully, they managed to do that.
So we got Keanu on the set. We had him suit up. Put him into the animation studio just to see how he looks. We scanned him completely to recreate him in the game, and he approved the model of Johnny Silverhand--the one that we showed in the [E3 2019 trailer] and also the one that is in the [private E3 2019 demo]. In the longer version, you see the role that Johnny's playing in the game, because he's very important. He's actually the one that is leading V throughout many different encounters. He has his own agenda, he's not always really nice and he's not always your friend. He's this digital ghost, and you are seeing him while others are not.
Johnny Silverhand was killed in 2020. He was killed by Adam Smasher in Arasaca Towers and suddenly he's appearing here [in 2077] and he has a very strong connection with the chip that V is trying to steal. That CGI trailer is a part of the game, actually. You can play it as a quest in the game. And [the trailer is] basically the relationship between V and Johnny throughout the game. Now when we started recording Keanu, he was getting into the character and we're like, "Wow, okay, he's already picking it up." And he was actually interested in how it works out. [Keanu is] not really a guy that is a gamer, but he's actually really interested in games. And he's super clever and very open. He's very humble. That's another thing that I can talk about in a moment, but he's very open, you know? And when we started talking about and looking for [Johnny's mannerisms] Keanu had a lot of suggestions for lines.
And then we gave him lines, and our adaptation director introduced him to the scene--explaining what happens like the director for a movie--Keanu started acting and said, "I would like to suggest this thing or that thing, or I would actually play it like this or that." And he's also the guy who can take feedback very well, you know, I think he's used to it, being directed, but also trying to look for his own vision for the character. And very, very often he was suggesting, "Okay, yeah we should change this because that sounds more natural, that will be better," and so on.
And so he was a really good asset in the team. So we recorded the lines and then put together the demo where you can actually see Johnny Silverhand with the body, with the voice, and it actually turned out really well. I mean, it wasn't perfect that first time and we had to do some tweaks on both his side and our side. But there were things that worked out almost instantly. And we started really liking this character. And the thing is, at the very beginning we had this vision for Johnny Silverhand, but it was a different vision. It was not completely different, but the Johnny Silverhand that we have in the game, it's the version that Keanu saw, or thought of, or felt that would fit.
So [Johnny] is a bit different than how we originally imagined, but it's great. I think it's just because [Keanu is] a good help for us. We appreciate all the Hollywood experience he has. Because it's a rare thing. Another thing is, all the other high key actors like this, they really are hard to work with. We worked with a lot of stars in the past for [some of the Witcher games] and for Cyberpunk, but working with Keanu is way better. Because he can take feedback. He's humble. He's not trying to be a star or be someone of a huge caliber. It's just really good to work with him.
I think he was interviewed by IGN and they asked him, if he anticipated such a reaction on the [E3 stage]. And one of the things he said was, "Nah, it's not me. It's CD Projekt and Cyberpunk. People love them." And I mean, I know that people like CD Projekt. I know that people like Cyberpunk and I really appreciate it, but he got that reaction. I think he's really the only human on the earth that can walk onto a stage and do absolutely nothing but look at the people and just make everyone absolutely lose their shit.
Honestly, I thought I would be the first guy that got up when he walked out on a stage, but I was probably the last one. The whole crowd was already standing.
Our office exploded during that moment. I don't know if you're willing to talk about it, but could you describe what about Johnny's characterization has transformed since Keanu's involvement?
I mean I could, but I probably shouldn't.
Totally fine. You spoke before about how Johnny is this digital ghost. So, is he along for the ride inside V? And is he there for the majority of the game, like from beginning to end, or is Johnny introduced closer to halfway through the story?
No, no, no, it's not halfway. [Johnny's introduction] happens at the end of the prologue--which is long. It's a substantial part of the game, but it is still very early. It's not right away, but it's after the events from the CGI trailer. Like that trailer is actually a part of the game. You actually play through it in first person and play through the events that lead to that moment when V wakes up in the landfill and see Johnny Silverhand in front of you saying, "Hey, wake up Samurai, we have a city to burn."
So Keanu is in a band. Johnny was a part of a band in Cyberpunk 2020. Are we going to hear Keanu sing in Cyberpunk 2077?
Oh, I can't talk about it at this point.
Figured I would try. Was it always the plan to have Keanu be a part of that E3 reveal?
Oh yeah. When we knew we had him in the game, we knew we were going to use him in a way that would really show how much we are investing in this project and its characters… So the [E3 idea] came about fairly early from our marketing team. Just have him walk on the stage with a really huge bang to just make a gigantic impression. And to be honest, our marketing team, they are wizards. Like, I don't know how they did it. I would not have come up with that idea.
And so there was this moment when we really had to be very careful, and make these details wouldn't slip to the press in any way because if they had leaked in any way, everybody would have just said, "Cool, it's Keanu. We already knew he was coming."
And you somehow kept it completely secret.
Yeah. We kept it for almost a year. And it was just at a conspiracy level for us.
Considering everything that did leak prior to E3 2019, it's impressive.
Yeah, we were using code names and all kinds of things to just make sure that nobody ever leaked it. We had strict rules in how to refer to him just to make sure that nobody heard about this, because it was just such a huge thing. And yeah, it actually worked out.
With Johnny in your head, Cyberpunk 2077 sort of feels like a few other games, like Portal with GLaDOS or Halo with Cortana. Is Johnny a static passenger who's only along for the ride or does he regularly interact with and evolve alongside V?
No. I understand from where these comparisons are coming from and they're probably justified, but in the game, John Silverhand plays a completely different role. He's a protagonist and antagonist at the same time. He has his own agenda. There are things he wants from life. Like he was a guy who was a freedom fighter, but from the perspective of the corporations in 2020 he is probably seen as a terrorist. And the fire in him, like the line that he says--"Wake up Samurai, we have a city to burn." Yeah. He's fucking serious. He is dedicated and he has his own goals and the thing is that he's not this passenger that is accompanying you, he tries to control you, he tries to impact you in very different ways and it's really the player's decision when it comes to what extent.
I don't want to say more here because I would have to spoil that main story and this is an extremely important bit of the game, but basically the way that V relates to Johnny, what they do together, what they decide on together, that's a really important part of the game and depending on your choices you'll have different consequences and this relationship will develop slightly differently. And at the end, the epilogue of the game, the outcome of your story depends on what you have done with [that relationship].
So because of that, I don't think the Cortana reference or the GLaDOS one is justified. I don't want to tell you more. I want to explain how Johnny is different, but then I would have to tell you exactly what happens. I'd destroy the fun of the game for you in two minutes.
I'd have to sign an NDA before I left here.
Exactly.
So is Johnny just another side character in V's story or something more?
Johnny Silverhand is one of the primary characters. I would say someone like Jackie is a secondary character in comparison to Johnny Silverhand. Johnny Silverhand is absolutely one of the biggest characters in the game. Like the only one bigger is V, the main character of the game. Like Johnny Silverhand is a second [main character], and the really important one. He is there throughout most of the game; visible and present and interacting with the player in a really meaningful way. So yeah, I think you guys will be surprised actually what we have done with [V and Johnny's] relationships. I'm really happy about it, because I'm working on the quests that are allowing the player to deepen the relationship between Johnny and V in some special ways.
So yeah, those are the quests that I designed and am implementing myself. I just loved them. So I just hope the players will be glad.
Is Johnny something that only V sees and interacts with or will we see Johnny having an outward effect on other characters and events in the game?
So, yes and no. The thing is that Johnny as a digital ghost is seen only by V. But it does not mean that he doesn't have an impact on other characters. But to tell you how, I would have to disclose the main storyline. So, yes, he's big in the game and he's important and he has an impact on the other characters and on the world around him, but that is as much as I can say. But yes, he is seen only by V. But through V he can do way more things and that's a part of their relationship. I would call it a play, they're each pushing the other, you know, creating a bit of conflict in their relationship. What you will do with that is up to you.
So like two psyches in one body, sort of way?
You could say so, yeah. But I don't want to say more.
For the last 20 years, CERN -- home of the Large Hadron Collider -- has been using Microsoft products under a discounted "academic institution" rate. But in March, at the end of its previous contract, Microsoft revoked CERN's academic status. Accordi...
Jason Momoa, the hulking star of the superhero film "Aquaman", attended last night's concert by SLAYER and ANTHRAX in Budapest, Hungary. The 39-year-old "Game Of Thrones" actor, who has been open about his love of heavy metal, later took to his Instagram to proclaim the night ""one of the greatest shows of my life" and described the experience of hanging out backstage with the members of the two bands as a "childhood dream." He added: "My mind was blown. Meeting your idols and they're fucking amazing. So thankful, so grateful."
ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante posted his own snapshot from the evening of drinking with Khal Drago, writing on Instagram: "When #KhalDrogocomes to your show, you immediately go into @gameofthronestalk!" Meanwhile, SLAYER guitarist Gary Holt refered to Momoa as the "Coolest dude on EARTH!!!"
Last year, Momoa revealed that METALLICA and TOOL served as inspiration for his character in "Aquaman", telling Metal Hammer in an interview: "Aquaman's pretty metal. I know no one thinks that, but Aquaman's metal."
He singled out METALLICA's debut album, "Kill 'Em All", and the TOOL song "Ticks And Leeches" as two pieces of music that influenced his portrayal of Arthur Curry's alter-ego.
"There's a lot of [BLACK] SABBATH in there too," Momoa added.
Back in 2011, Momoa discussed the heavy metal influences that prepped him up for his role as the legendary barbarian in "Conan". "There's a song by PANTERA called 'Walk' that is definitely the 'Conan song,'" he said. "A lot of old METALLICA and RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE always helps."
We’ve all thought it while cruising through Los Santos or galloping towards Hyrule Castle Town: sure, this is fun, but wouldn’t it be much cooler if we could explore the world’s greatest city? No, I’m not talking about Washington DC or New York, as featured in The Division, and definitely not the Chicago featured in the original Watch Dogs. I’m talking about London.
Which is why it was so exciting to see that Watch Dogs: Legion will be set in Britain’s capital - and unlike the Victorian era Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, it looks like we might finally get to experience a London that is more than vaguely familiar. Not since The Getaway on PS2 have we seen a triple-A London sandbox that looks quite so lifelike.
The question then is… just how life-like? Let’s take a dive in and explore what the game has built, based on the E3 2019 reveal video and trailer.
How big is the Watch Dogs Legion map?
Now just a quick note before we go any further: we've yet to see the full Watch Dogs Legion game, so what we have here has been pieced together from reveal trailers, our own in-depth knowledge of London and what else we've heard and seen from Ubisoft so far. All this could change, and until we've got the final game in our hands, all this remains speculation.
First, an important question: Just how big is the map? Though Ubisoft does not appear to have so far said so, we'd wager that the size of the city was given away on the bus stop seen in the launch video near Piccadilly Circus.
This is a safe bet to be the game’s fast travel system, and it reveals a map roughly bounded as follows.
Kings Cross St Pancras -> Notting Hill Gate -> Battersea -> Brixton -> Elephant -> Tower Bridge -> The City of London -> The Isle of Dogs -> (A massive, non-existent road in real life cutting through Whitechapel) -> Old Street -> Back to Kings Cross St Pancras.
So roughly this:
Image Credit: Google Maps
Now let’s explore some of the places we saw in greater detail.
Piccadilly Circus
The reveal video started in Piccadilly Circus, and good grief, have they done a good job of recreating it. All of the buildings look pretty accurate to me. There’s just one problem: the 42 bus doesn’t go anywhere near here in real life. It is actually a route that goes from East Dulwich to Liverpool Street. And just as egregiously: the real route doesn’t use double-decker “New Routemasters” - it sticks to single deckers. And “City Centre”? What the hell is that? The game is ruined.
Here’s a wider daytime shot from the trailer - note the arches and the domed building. Even the road layout is pretty spot on.
We also learn that the Tube is out of action, with a sign reporting maintenance. Presumably this is so the game can avoid having to have a fast travel system where the player has to spend ten minutes pushing through crowds and descending on multiple escalators to get to the train, with NPCs passing out due to the lack of air conditioning. Though on the plus side, it means that it won’t annoy us with a completely fictional and implausible orbital railway, like Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate did.
It’s also curious to see the actual TfL roundel logo present in the game, given that Transport for London has been historically protective of its brand. For example, though Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 had a sequence set on the Tube (don’t get me started on the geography), it was unable to use any TfL branding.
After the player beats someone up, we see them get into a taxi and race off - heading down Coventry Street towards Leicester Square. Good detail on the tourist tat shops, and unless we are mistaken it appears that the Prince of Wales theatre, currently home to Book of Mormon has made it into the game.
The taxi then approaches the North West entrance to Leicester Square, where we can see the large building that replaced the Swiss Centre. There is one crucial omission though. Look at the ground floor of that building: M&Ms World does not exist in Watch Dogs Legion. So maybe the dystopian future isn’t so bad after all?
The car then turns and gives us the first indication that though tonally very accurate, the map does appear to have been compressed: Haymarket and Whitcomb Street appear to have been combined. On the right you can see the Horses of Helios statue, and on the left you can see the red glow of the Angus Steakhouse. Presumably in the game you won’t be able to go inside, as the developers surely won’t be able to find a single Londoner who has ever actually been inside an Angus Steakhouse.
Trafalgar Square
We then hit the Pall Mall approach to Trafalgar Square which looks accurate, with Canada House on the right and the National Gallery on the left. There definitely isn’t a bus stop there in real life though.
Incidentally, the outlook for Canada House in the game doesn’t look too good. Here’s a shot from the trailer:
Trafalgar Square looks pretty faithfully recreated - check out St Martin-in-the-Fields church in the distance. Try not to knock over any of floating Yodas on your way.
Here’s the south view of Trafalgar Square. Aside from the overall accuracy of Nelson’s Column, the fountain and the steps, I also like how the LED warning sign looks accurate for Britain too.
Victoria Embankment
The reveal video then crosses to the Victoria Embankment. The river side looks spot on. The arch on the right hand side is presumably for the Victoria Embankment Gardens - but it doesn’t look quite right to me. Though it does look vaguely familiar.
New Scotland Yard is in broadly the right place - though in real life the actual building looks very different, even once you remove all of the luminous sci-fi stuff.
The proximity of the Golden Jubilee Walkways to New Scotland Yard does, however, also show further how the map has been compressed - in reality, it would be slightly further away.
Here’s a higher up shot of Westminster which shows us something we currently can’t see in real life: Big Ben (yes, we know) without any scaffolding around it. Note an accurate Portcullis House next to it (that’s the building on top of Westminster Tube Station which is part of the Parliamentary estate), and, Of course, the London Eye and the old County Hall building across the river.
It does, however, show a number of missing buildings including, most obviously, the Shell Centre. Though look through the Eye, and you can see the new One Blackfriars skyscraper that was presumably inspired by Arrival.
Here’s another shot of Big Ben, this time with the rest of Parliament attached. In the background we can see what appears to be the silhouette of the Millbank Tower, an office block from which the Labour Party ran its 1997 campaign, and where today the People’s Vote Campaign is based (though presumably they’ll have moved out by the time post-Brexit dystopia Watch Dogs London actually happens).
Also extra points if you spotted the most annoying thing about this photo: once again it is the 42 bus. Still wrongly a double decker, and still not on the correct route. What’s wrong with the 159, Ubisoft? Maybe the TechRadar UK team start a campaign to make the bus numbering accurate.
On the other side of Parliament, here’s Parliament Square. This is the view from the north side looking towards Parliament. I can’t tell for sure, but it definitely looks as though St Margaret’s Church - the smaller one next to Westminster Abbey - may have been cut. What I’m most interested in though is to see whether the square’s newest statue, that of suffragette Millicent Fawcett, has made the cut.
The most incorrect thing from this screenshot though is staring us right in the face - and it isn’t the “Kensington Rovers” bag. It’s the pub that the character is leaving. Called “The Earl’s Fortune”, it appears that it may be the player’s home base. Unfortunately, there isn’t a pub there in real life, instead it’s the Supreme Court and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
One last thing from Westminster. Behind the character here is the Guard’s Memorial in St James’s Park, and behind her we can see a wall covered in greenery, suggesting we’re looking North towards the Mall. However, that building behind, whatever that is, shouldn’t be there. To the right and just out of shot should the Horseguards grounds where Trooping the Colour takes place.
South of the River
Crossing the river we get to see a little bit of South London. In this aerial shot from the trailer, going left to right look out for Guy’s Hospital, The Imperial War Museum (green dome a little further back), the Shard (of course), and the Baby Shard - now home to Rupert Murdoch’s empire in London. A little further back is the massive Park Plaza hotel that sits to the South of Westminster Bridge, and we can see One Blackfriars again.
Here’s a dramatic rooftop shot. The building on the left used to be the headquarters of MI5, but today has been repurposed as some very expensive flats.
We also got to see this very brief shot of Brixton - we know that because there’s some big letters saying “Brixton”. Though what’s curious is that I can’t quite place this: It looks like it should be Windrush Square, but the building on the right doesn’t match the architecture of either the church there or The Ritzy cinema. Though architecturally, it is definitely very similar to many other churches in London.
Here’s perhaps the most obscure spot though - and full marks to Twitter follower Liam Blizard for spotting this. Remember this shot of what looks like a fairly informal housing estate from the trailer? It turns out it is a fairly accurate recreation of Southwyck House in Brixton. Maybe one of the developers lives there?
Amazingly it appears that the game even makes it down as far as Battersea - as we can see from Battersea Power Station in the background of this shot.
We also get to see Vauxhall Bridge and the Vauxhall Tower - as well as some of the new blocks of flats that are down that way.
Oh, and here’s the Tate Modern and the Millennium pedestrian bridge:
And what comes after the Tate Modern? City Hall, of course!
Going north again
It wouldn’t be a London game without Tower Bridge, and we can also see HMS Belfast, St Paul’s, Mansion House and the Walkie Talkie.
It looks like there’s going to a mission at the Tower of London.
Here’s a close up of St Paul’s:
Here’s another aerial shot of the city that appears to have done a very good job hiding the Walkie Talkie. If only we could do that in real life. Most obviously we can see the Gherkin and the Cheesegrater, as well as what looks like a stand in for the massive boxy skyscraper in the city that is still under construction.
It also appears we’re going to get a little bit of East London, as that Chimney belongs to Truman’s Brewery on Brick Lane.
More north of the river
Here’s Kings Cross St Pancras, complete with massive clock on the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.
This is a cool shot. It might be a strange one to work out at first but this is a view of BBC (here called “GBB”) Broadcasting House on the left - which retains its shape and (ornamental?) antenna on the roof. On the right is All Souls Church, which sits opposite the entrance. The BT Tower looks familiar but has had a bit of a redesign on top. It also shows how the map has been shrunken slightly - in real life it isn’t visible from this vantage and feels like it should be slightly further away.
There wasn’t a clear shot unfortunately, but we do see the retired assassin lady take someone down right in front of the Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace. There’s another bus promising to take riders to the “City Centre” too.
Here’s Admiralty Arch on the Mall side with that sodding bus again. No buses go down this road for a very obvious reason: it is regularly closed and disrupted by various royal happenings. Not a good place for a bus route.
China Town also gets a look-in. Here we see it correctly placed behind Leicester Square.
Though annoyingly, we then see this arch, which is real… but isn’t placed here. Wherever here is supposed to be.
I’m not entirely sure which bridge this is supposed to be. It looks a bit like London Bridge, but the landmarks don’t entirely match up.
And now we’ve reached Camden Town, which features heavily in the reveal as we saw a rescue mission take place there. It’s an incredibly impressive recreation. The “Camden Market” branding is spot on, but in slightly the wrong place. The cut by the side of the railway arches we see the mission take place in though? That’s entirely real, and is called Gin Alley.
Unknowns
And finally, here’s some of the other London locations that we've so far been unable to place.
This modern shop front with a colorful bridge?
This place has a very strong Camden Town vibe, but it is hard to pin it on anything in particular.
The location of this house is frustrating. It looks like it could be either Downing Street or Doctor Johnson’s House, but neither match up correctly.
And finally this football pitch at the bottom of a large tower. If you’ve any ideas please do tweet as we will be genuinely and unironically interested.
So that’s London, as seen through the eyes of Watchdogs: Legion. And… it is pretty incredible what the developers appear to have done.
Now all we have to do is wait until March next year to play it, by which time we could have tipped over into Brexit dystopia anyway (food shortages, civil disorder, the 42 bus being rerouted, etc), so the game might eventually become even more realistic.
All image credits: Ubisoft
E3 2019is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor.
The appearance of Keanu Reeves at the Microsoft Xbox E3 2019 briefing where he announced the release date for Cyberpunk 2077 was unquestionably one of the most memorable events of the entire show (at least so far). Now, it's revealed that Microsoft went to great lengths to ensure that Reeves' appearance was kept a secret.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer explained to Variety that Microsoft used a stand-in for Reeves during rehearsals. Not only that, but Reeves was referred to with a codename. The report goes on to say that Reeves didn't set foot inside the Microsoft Theatre until the morning of his appearance.
Also in the interview, Spencer acknowledged that he wasn't sure how it would all go down. He said he's seen some celebrity endorsements fall flat over years. But after seeing a brief from developer CD Projekt Red--which had the idea for Reeves' appearance--Microsoft was convinced that it was going to be "very authentic," Spencer said.
CD Projekt Red spoke to GameSpot at E3 this week regarding how they got Reeves involved. They approached him about a year ago for the role, and the studio said the part he plays--Johnny Silverhand--would only work with Reeves. "It was always him or no one else for the role," CD Projekt Red's Miles Tost explained, adding that he was happy the news didn't leak.
Check out the video embedded above to learn more about how CD Projekt Red brought Keanu Reeves on board for Cyberpunk 2077. You can also read the GameSpot story linked below to learn more about the role Reeves plays in Cyberpunk 2077.
If the season 1 finale of The Good Placewas an act of subversion (this place isn’t heaven-sent!) — and if season 2’s capper offered up reversion (let’s return to Earth for a do-over!) — then season 3’s grand finale was pure eversion, the heart and soul (squad) of the show turned outward for all to see.
In the cunning afterlife comedy’s most emotional episode to date, Judge Jen (Maya Rudolph) had granted reforming Bad Place architect Michael (Ted Danson) one last chance to prove his theory that human beings can indeed evolve. The stakes were once again harrowingly high for all of Team Cockroach, as failure would result in eternal damnation (and “retirement” for Michael). And scarier yet, Judge Jen let the wickedly scheming Bad Place choose the four new test-humans (and wrenches) in this experiment, two of which were immediately revealed: Gossip Toilet guru/Tahani nemesis John (Brandon Scott Jones) and neuroscientist/Chidi ex, Simone (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). The Simone curveball led Eleanor (Kristen Bell) and Chidi (William Jackson Harper) to reluctantly renounce their shot at eternal love, at least for now: he volunteered to have his mind erased so his neurotic instincts in regards to Simone wouldn’t befoul this grand experiment. “We found each other before hundreds of times,” Eleanor assured Chidi with melancholic hope before the big wipe took effect. “We can do it again.”
Season 4, which was just announced as the final season, will deliver on the promise of pumping new blood into the neighborhood, though it will flow a little differently than you’re used to. “We’ve had a lot of wonderful guest stars, like Jason Manztoukas playing Derek or Maribeth Monroe playing Mindy St. Clair,” creator Mike Schur tells EW. “There are people in the world who pop up and then they come back and they come back. But this year, there are new additions to the world who are fairly permanent — at least for the initial status quo. That was a new thing for us. We’d never really had characters besides the main six who we were juggling week to week, and now we have a bunch of new ones. So that’s the biggest change about this season.”
The Soul Squad will spend the early part of the season trying to help the subjects evolve into better humans. “They all have very specific jobs to play,” says Schur (who spoke to EW before the final-season announcement). “We thought of them almost as morality caseworkers, where John is Tahani’s project. And there are other projects for other people. Not the only thing Tahani does is deal with John. They’re also functioning as a team and they have big, large scale projects and big ideas for how to get all four of them to bond and change and grow. They’re there to help out and almost sheepdog style, herd them into better choices and better decisions.”
Viewers met 50 percent of the test subjects in the finale, and as Tahani pointed out, they were chosen not because they were the worst people in the world, but the worst people for each member of our quartet. So, what should viewers expect from the foils for Eleanor and Jason (Manny Jacinto)? “The two that you’ve seen are more individually specific to Tahani and to Chidi than the next two, for a simple reason,” explains Schur. “John was a gossip columnist who specifically wrote about Tahani and that’s not a thing that you could repeat with Jason or Eleanor. And then Simone happened to die on Earth, so they were like, ‘Ooh, this is perfect — an actual ex-girlfriend of one of the four people.’ The other two have specific relationships to Eleanor and to Jason, but not in the same, exact literal way that the first two did.”
Whomever Eleanor is paired with, she’ll be tested in other ways, as she spends time with Chidi, her not-appointed-but-selected soulmate who has no memory of their romantic history. “It’s not easy,” warns Schur. “One of the themes early on is the emotional toughness that she has to endure in order to just get through and get through the day and do her job while this thing is happening right in front of her. That’s a big thing in the first two or three episodes of the season.”
There may be another big problem looming on the horizon, a face both familiar and ferocious. Asked for a one-word hint about what’s to come in season 4, Schur pauses for a moment and then simply says: “Vicky.”
Xiaomi is launching the Mi Band 4, the latest generation of its (almost) world-conquering wearables line. The dirt-cheap tracker comes with a bigger, sharper display, microphone and NFC, as well as a new six-axis gyroscope. Improved movement tracking...
The godfather of first person shooters, John Romero, is back -- with a strategy game. Empire of Sin showed up on Nintendo's E3 livestream, full of noirish rain-slicked streets, fedoras and tommy guns. In the game, players will shape an organized crim...
The new trailer for Frozen II is here. The sequel to the hugely successful 2013 animated Disney movie Frozen reunites all the key cast members and hits theaters in November.
The latest trailer reveals a bit more about the story than the first promo, which arrived in February. It opens with the same sequence as in that initial teaser, with Elsa trying to cross a stormy sea using her powers of ice magic. A voiceover from Grand Pabbie then tells us that the past "is not what it seems" and that Elsa and her sister Anna must embark on a dangerous quest to "uncover the truth."
While the trailer doesn't tell us much more than that, there have been rumors that the sisters' quest might involve finding out more about their parents. Either way, the movie looks absolutely spectacular, with some stunning visuals and a surprisingly dark edge. Check it out above.
Frozen II releases on November 22. It stars Kristen Bell as Anna and Idina Menzel as Elsa, plus Jonathan Groff as Kristoff and Josh Gad as Olaf. New cast members include Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood and Sterling K. Brown (Black Panther, American Crime Story). It's directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, who helmed the first film.
Netflix announced today that its out-there, adult-oriented animated anthology series Love, Death and Robots will be coming back for another season. The show's second go-round will be helmed by supervising director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, best known for...
Watch Dogs is inherently political; it’s a series that feeds on both fears and realities of corporations that have infiltrated our lives via technology. That stance is not about to change with Watch Dogs Legion. Despite Ubisoft’s hesitation to get involved in political debate around the releases of The Division 2 and Far Cry 5, the Watch Dogs Legion development team is producing a game that acts as a rallying cry against the world’s current problems of rising authoritarianism and economic strife.
I recently visited Ubisoft Toronto and spoke with Clint Hocking, the creative director of Watch Dogs Legion. Our conversation made it clear that Watch Dogs Legion has plenty to say about the world today, and it’s going to use real-life political touchstones - including Brexit - to ground its story and provide a starting point for its potential future nightmare.
Xiaomi’s just released a fresh batch of details about its trump card against Apple and Samsung: an under-screen front camera.
Xiaomi senior vice president Wang Xiang revealed the new information in a Tweet earlier this week. In it he showed an image with technical details showing how the firm’s future in-screen camera tech works.
Xiaomi’s Under-Display Camera Technology could be the ultimate solution for a Full Screen Display coexisting with a front camera! RT if you love it. #InnovationForEveryonepic.twitter.com/8e7EdEBn8J
The material suggests “when the selfie camera is activated, the display area over the camera lens becomes transparent in an instant, allowing light to enter.”
According to Xiaomi “This could be the ultimate solution for a full screen display coexisting with front cameras.”
Xiaomi is on of many companies experimenting with new ways to ditch the notch front camera placement that’s common on most current generation smartphones.
Oppo is working on similar in-display camera tech. The Asus Zenfone 6 has a flip camera setup that pops the rear camera forward when you put the phone in selfie mode. The OnePlus 7 Pro has a pop up camera that lifts out of the phone’s top.
Others have simply tried to reduce the size of the front camera. Samsung’s latest Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10 Plus, Galaxy S10e and Galaxy S10 5G phones all feature “hole punch” designs that embed the front camera in the phones’ screens. We’re not big fan of the hole-punch design, feeling it one of the Galaxy S10’s worst features.
The wealth of different approaches has led to ongoing debate what direction Apple’s next phone, the fabled iPhone 11, will take. The iPhone 11 is expected to be unveiled in September alongside the iPhone 11 Max. There have been conflicting reports what type of camera setup it will have. Most focus on the rear camera with a common rumbling being that the iPhone 11 will be the first Apple phone with a multi-sensor setup.
A third iPhone is also expected, but there are currently conflicting rumours whether it will be the iPhone XR 2 or iPhone SE 2. Personally we’d prefer to see Apple’s small-hand friendly iPhone SE line make a reappearance.
Okay. What. WHAT?! CD Projekt Red has just unveiled a new trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 which ends with the most unexpectedly brilliant celebrity appearance: Keanu Reeves. Yep, the man himself. It's not clear what role he plays in the story, but we don'...
Jason Reitman, the son of Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, spoke at Ghostbusters Fan Fest on Saturday about his upcoming 2020 sequel, which follows the world his father helped create in 1984. The first teaser for the movie was revealed back in January, but it will still be a little while before filming begins.
Speaking to a crowd at the director panel at the convention, Jason Reitman explained that the 2020 Ghostbuters sequel will start shooting in five weeks, as long as everything goes to plan. Originally, the story for the movie revolved around a 12-year-old girl with a proton pack. But since then, the idea has grown and revolves around a family. How does this family fit into the world? "You don't know their connection, and they don't know their connection either," Reitman explained. There have been reports the movie is casting four teens to lead the film: two boys, two girls.
He said he's excited about the possibility of making all kinds of Ghostbusters movies. And while the stars of the original film--Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Bill Murray--have all read the script, he would not confirm if they are in fact coming back. The other star of the movie, Harold Ramis, passed away in 2014.
However, during an interview with Parade Magazine, Weaver herself confirmed she will be in the movie, along with Murray and Aykroyd. "It's going to be crazy working with the guys again," she exclaimed. Sony has yet to comment on the remarks.
Next year's movie will not be connected to the 2016 reboot, which angered one of the stars, but aside from Reitman being the son of the original director, he's a fan of the movie. "I love everything about it. The iconography. The music. The tone," Reitman told Entertainment Weekly. "I remember being on set and seeing them try out the card catalog gag for the first time when the library ghost makes them come flying out. I remember the day they killed Stay Puft and I brought home a hardened piece of foam that just sat on a shelf for years. I was scared there was a terror dog underneath my bed before people knew what a terror dog was."
The third movie in the original Ghostbusters universe hits theaters on July 10, 2020.
Commander Keen - the side-scrolling series from Doom studio id - has been brought back to life as a mobile game, as announced at Bethesda's E3 2019 press conference. It's soft-launching for free this summer on iOS devices and Android phones.
This new mobile game is a "modern take" on the classic series, and features twin geniuses Billy and Billie who "build wacky gadgets from household items" and use gadgets to summon allies, attack enemies, and move through the environment. The story mode will tell classic Commander Keen tales and new ones, and there is also a Battle mode which allows players to go up against each other.
Android games have become more advanced and graphic-intensive over the years. However, as cool as they are, most games still don’t support cloud-based synchronization options. In other words, you might lose your saved game data if you uninstall or reinstall a game, or if you install a game which you have already played onto a different phone.
This can be disappointing to avid gamers who spent hours upon hours progressing through game levels. Thankfully there are a few solutions which allow you to backup your saved game data safely to your PC and transfer them to your new Android phone so that you can just continue playing them where you left them. The best part is you don’t even need root access to do this.
Here are three ways using which you can safely backup your saved Android game data to your PC without requiring root access on your phone.
Method 1: Helium – App Sync and Backup
Just follow the below steps to use the Helium – App Sync and Backup Android app to backup your saved Android game data to your PC without root.
If you have a MAC or a Linux system, you can install the Helium Chrome app from here.
Step 2:
Now launch the Helium app on your Android phone and you will be prompted to enable the USB debugging option on your device.
To enable the USB debugging, go to the settings app on your device, select the About phone option and then tap on the build number details multiple times until you enable the developer options.
Once you have enabled the developer options, go back to the settings home page and then open the developer options settings and enable the USB debugging option from there.
Step 3:
Connect your Android phone to your PC using the USB cable and open the Helium Desktop app and wait for it to detect your Android device.
Step 4:
Once the Helium app on your PC detects your Android phone, select the backup option on the Helium Android app and then select the games you want to backup.
Step 5:
Select the app data only backup option and then click on the backup button. Now, select the destination for the backup files to be stored. You can either store them to your device’s internal storage or transfer them to your PC based on your preference.
Step 6:
You can now restore your games along with their saved data to a new or a different Android device by just installing the Helium app on the device, selecting the Restore and sync option and then selecting the backed up data.
Method 2: MobiKin Assistant for Android
Follow the below steps to backup your saved Android game data to your PC without root using MobiKin Assistant For Android.
Enable USB debugging on your Android device by following the instructions in Step 2 of the above method and then connect your Android device to your PC using the USB cable.
Step 3:
Now open the MobiKin Assistant For Android app on your PC and then wait for the application to detect your Android phone.
Step 4:
Once your Android phone is detected by the MobiKin Assistant For Android app, select the Apps options from the left panel of the application and all the installed apps and games on your device will now be listed in the right pane.
Select the games which you want to backup from the list and click on the export option from the top.
Step 5:
The selected Android game saved data will now be successfully backed up to your PC and you can restore it to any Android device you want by using the Mobikin Assistant for Android application on your PC.
Method 3: Using the cloud
Even though not all games might support it, using the cloud to backup and restore your game progress and saved data across your Android devices is a simple and an efficient way and here is how to do that.
Step 1:
Make sure you have signed in to the Google Play Games or the Facebook sign-in option in the game you want to backup and restore the saved data.
Step 2:
Google Play games or Facebook usually saves your game progress automatically once you sign in to their services and would restore them once you install the game and sign in again using the same account on a different device, allowing you to continue playing where you had left.
However, to ensure that your game data is being successfully backed up, open the settings app on your Android device, Go to Accounts and sync settings and then select Google.
Enable the Play games cloud save option in the settings if it is not already enabled.
Step 3:
That’s all now if the game you want to backup and restore to a different device, supports cloud save option, Google Play games would automatically backup its data and you can restore it on any device you want by just signing into the same Google account.
While this method is definitely simple and effective than the other two and does not require you to have a PC or install any additional applications, it might not be supported by all the games.
So, it is recommended that if the game you want to backup does not support the cloud saving option, you just use the other two methods mentioned above, based on your preference.
If you have any questions regarding the above instructions, feel free to post them in the comments section below.
Earth is home to an immense variety of living beings and animals, many with qualities which make them very rare and special. If you go looking, you will come across all kinds of insects, fish, birds and mammals which will fascinate you, and sometimes even make you shiver with fear.
In fact, the mankind’s relationship with such species goes back thousands of years. Many of these animals whom we consider exotic today used to be pets for our ancestors. To tell you the truth, there are some exotic animals which people still actually keep in their homes. Regardless, let’s acquaint you with the four most exotic animals that mankind has ever come across.
Mandarin Duck Found in Russia, Japan and China, Mandarin Duck was first introduced in Europe and is considered exotic because of its immense beauty. The male duck has a phenomenal variety of colours like orange, fuchsia, cream, brown, blue and green. These ducks normally inhabit in areas close to lagoons, ponds and lakes. Having them in the vicinity is considered good luck in various parts of Asia. Many also consider their presence as a mark of conjugal love and affection. In some countries people also offer Mandarin Duck as a gift to the groom/bride during weddings!
Slow Loris
A primate that is found mainly in Asia, Slow Loris is a sort of Internet celebrity. The evolutionary history of this animal remains a mystery. What sets it apart is the way it protects itself from the predators. It has a gland in its armpits which possesses poison and becomes active whenever it licks that area. The female Slow Loris even apply this poison as a coating on their young ones to protect them. Apart from the deforestation problem, this species is threatened with extinction by none other than the human beings. You can often find people involved in illegal trade of this small mammal in the underground market.
Pink Grasshopper You must have seen green, brown and sometimes even the white grasshoppers. But Pink grasshoppers are a rarity as they are a result of a recessive gene which is not found in majority of the species. There is only one in 50,000 grasshoppers which has this colour. As is evident, the exotic nature of this species is because of its colour, which also makes it unattractive to its predators.
Pangolin
Image Credit It’s a kind of mammal which has large scales and is found in the tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Although pangolin doesn’t have any specific body weapon which it can use against its predators, its legs are so powerful that it can dig the ground very quickly. Such is the force of its legs that it can even break the human leg with one hit.
The Pangolin wards off its predators by emitting a very foul smell or by digging quick holes into the ground. You will find them living in pairs or alone. It’s not uncommon to find Pangolin meat in China as there is excessive demand for it in the country.
WARNING: This interview contains spoilers about Black Mirror season 5 episode “Rachel, Jack and Ashley, Too.”
Miley Cyrus made her TV return in Netflix’s Black Mirror season 5 where she played a pop star named Ashley O who launches a robotic doll based on her own personality. Yet things take a wild turn when she’s poisoned into a coma by her greedy aunt (Susan Pourfar) intent on substituting the real Ashley for a hologram.
Below, creator Charlie Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones take some burning questions in one part in our three-part season 5 interview (also read our chats about “Striking Vipers” and “Smithereens”).
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Even though this is a media interview I hope you’re not only going to put a limiter on yourself so you only use 4% of your minds to answer my questions like the Ashley doll.CHARLIE BROOKER: Unfortunately, I can only ever use a maximum of 6% of my mind.
ANNABEL JONES: You should tell us at the end!
I loved this one because it felt like you guys struck an entirely new tone for the show with some characters that were unlike any I had on seen on the show before. What was your inspiration for this one?BROOKER: I’m glad you said that, because the tone of this one is quite nuts. It starts one place and accelerates into insanity by the end. Often with Black Mirror, there are two ideas that collide. Years ago I wrote a sitcom about a punk band from 1977 and all the members died, they’re killed in a mass hanging — it’s a long story, it was a comedy, they were hanged by a Tory minister. They miraculously come back in the future and discover their manager has been exploiting their back catalog and selling them out.
And we were discussing the rise of holographic versions of artists — Prince and Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse. It’s notable these people often pass away in extremely tragic circumstances. They’ve been chewed up by the fame industry and now they’re being resurrected. It’s extremely ghoulish. And we were thinking of A.I. too — what if you could program something that could write like John Lennon? And Alexa, all those virtual assistants, and how they provide companionship of a kind. That led to a conversation of, what if you had a virtual assistant based on a celebrity’s personality, and then I started jumping up and down, and thought, “Oh that connects to the hologram performer idea!” and it sort of spun out from there.
At first, I thought this was going to be the Black Mirror version of Twilight Zone’s “Living Doll,” but then it went a more interesting and fun direction, almost like one of those after-school kids shows. I half expected the evil aunt to somehow be literally unmasked at the end.BROOKER: It’s funny you say that. At one point I proposed her face should fall off and show all sorts of circuits and cogs. I said she should disappear in a puff of smoke. I was down for that. I think she almost does that because she looks down the lens and acknowledges the viewer. That’s as close as we get.
You mentioned before you had a very short list for the lead role, and after seeing the episode it’s obvious why as it requires somebody who can convincingly play a pop star in performance scenes plus dramatically deliver off stage. But what did Miley Cyrus specifically bring to the part?JONES: Probably more attitude. The whole film is about an artist and how they’re trying to find their own identity and break out from the commercial machine. And as we talked about, the tone gets increasing heightened and sarcastic and satirical, and Miley is all of those things. She has that attitude. She isn’t afraid to step aside and do something edgy. But what I love about the film is the vulnerability she brought amongst all of this. And then, of course, her observations about the world and her personal experiences and what it’s like to live that life and the demands that social media places on you and her relationships with her fans and how she tries to responsibly manage that. And she drew on all of that.
Was there anything she pushed back on in terms of portraying a pop star, in terms of realism or other reasons?JONES: I don’t think she pushed back on anything. She had some thoughts on the costume and the look. She’s been through that role and we just fed off her.
BROOKER: Some of Miley’s observations ended up when the aunt is giving her presentation. During our initial conversation, she described recently supporting another act — an act for an older generation where she did a cameo. And Miley stepped on stage and saw their faces because they weren’t all filming her on their phone and she really enjoyed it and hadn’t realized how much she missed that. There were lines about that that ended up in . She also has such a good sense of humor for somebody with that life; she doesn’t take the world too seriously.
Also while I have you: Any update on doing a spin-off series from the Black Mirror universe? I continue to think a “Metalhead” series would work.BROOKER: That’s one we can’t answer.
But you said that in an arch kind of way that makes me think there’s something there.BROOKER: Or is it a triple bluff?
Warning: This interview contains spoilers for the Black Mirror season 5 episode “Smithereens.”
It starts as the Uber ride from hell. But then, just as we’ve come to expect from Netflix’s Black Mirror, things take some surprising twists and turns. In “Smithereens,” a guilt-ridden former social media addict (Sherlock‘s Andrew Scott) holds an employee of a Twitter-like company (Snowfall‘s Damson Idris) hostage in an attempt to force a tech mogul (BlacKkKlansman’s Topher Grace) to hear his tragic story.
Below, creator Charlie Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones take some burning questions in one part of our three-part season 5 interview (also read our chats about “Striking Vipers” and “Rachel, Jack and Ashley, Too”).
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In some ways, this felt very much like the type of story you might have done the first two seasons, back in Black Mirror’s British indie rock days. This one seems like a Silicon Valley-inspired spiritual successor to “National Anthem,” if you don’t mind the comparison.
CHARLIE BROOKER: No, I think that’s a very accurate comparison. They both center on an unusual event taking place and you see the concentric ripples spinning off that. So that’s correct. And we knew we wanted to do a contemporary episode without any sci-fi elements at all.
And I think, like “National Anthem,” it might be the only episode that doesn’t require inventing any new advanced technology for the story? BROOKER: I think “Shut Up and Dance” is also feasible today. We like to do those every so often because it reminds the viewer, and it reminds us, that we are not necessarily a science fiction show. I don’t quite know what we are.
ANNABEL JONES: We’re tapping into contemporary worries and concerns and themes and observations about how we live our life and extrapolating from them, so they should always feel relevant.
If you’re being honest and there’s no limiter* in place: Topher Grace is basically Jack Dorsey, right? BROOKER: I did zero research on who the heads of these companies are. I thought if I read up too much I’m going to worry I’m not going to get it right so I’ll just invent somebody different. However, did stem from Jack Dorsey — in 2018 around the holidays, he tweeted, “I’ve just been on a 10-day silent retreat” or something like that. And immediately his timeline was full of people saying, “Ahhhhh! This platform is overrun by Nazis! What are you doing?!” And I thought there was irony in him taking himself off . Fair enough, good for him. I thought that shows he’s a contemplative guy. We try not to do cartoon villains, though in a way that’s what becomes. We wanted to make sure he was a slightly unusual presence. He’s sort of an enlightened tech bro. He’s not a villain. He’s conflicted and we see he’s a bit lost too.
JONES: The idea is the people who designed this tech had no idea it would become this global power and he too is feeling out of control — as you would be if you were suddenly running this massive corporation and there are new rules that haven’t been defined yet and new ways of communicating that people couldn’t have predicted. So he’s as lost as and them meeting each other at the end is quite poignant. Each goes into their own spiral and they realize they have nothing in common other than the fact they’re both lost.
BROOKER: He’s one of the founders of this company. It evolves into this thing where people say, “If you tweak this and tweak that, you’ll get better engagement.” You’ve got a responsibility to grow the company and to your shareholders. But you also have an ethical responsibility. And that’s the debate that is going on in the tech world at the moment and will continue to do so. I hope we’ve got that right. It will be interesting to see what Jack Dorsey makes of it.
JONES: He’ll be too distracted to watch it.
So what’s your opinion on the deplatforming debate? Should a platform be an open platform? Or should owners take more steps to moderate their content? BROOKER: I don’t have a simple answer for that. Platforms as they exist — and this goes for YouTube as well — reward extremity and performance. And extremity and performance are entertaining. But grandstanding is not useful in terms of debate and social cohesion. Presumably, we’re in a transitional phase we’re moving through as we all together learn how these things work. But in terms of deplatforming, I don’t know. It’s a network, you own the network, what do you want on your network? Do you want that stuff on your network? If you’re just going to let it run unfettered, that is on you. So that’s for them to decide.
Here’s my read on your ambiguous ending: By not revealing who was shot and then showing people checking their phones to see what happened, you’re putting the viewers in the same state as those social media users who are asking themselves: “What’s the update? What happened next?” You’re giving us the same desire for the latest news that we get when we pick up our phone to check a trending topic we’re following, and by then denying us that final piece of information, you’re staging an intervention by interrupting our addictive pattern. Or did I read too much into it? BROOKER: That’s not necessarily the intention. But that’s a perfectly valid interpretation. Really it was about how this massive drama — this most important day in several people’s lives — was reduced to ephemeral confetti that just passes us by; just one more little crouton of a notification. So it was about the disposability of it and how it becomes just another distraction for a myriad of other people. But I almost prefer your interpretation. I should have just said, “Yes you are right.”
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