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27 May 14:57

Twitter’s first fact-check of Trump was a gutless one

by Nicole Lee
On Tuesday afternoon, Twitter did something new: It fact-checked the president. The company added “get the facts” links to two of Donald Trump’s tweets that claimed mail-in ballots would lead to widespread election fraud. Those links lead to a page t...
26 May 09:20

How Lex Luthor Became Supergirl's Secret Weapon

by Jesse Schedeen
Warning: this article contains some spoilers for Supergirl Season 5, up to and including the season finale. Supergirl Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix. For more from the Arrowverse, check out our spoiler-free review of The Flash Season 6. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Lex Luthor is undoubtedly Superman's greatest and most recognizable enemy. Who better to challenge an all-powerful alien devoted to helping humanity than a brilliant sociopath who views himself as the savior of the world? But despite this, The CW's Supergirl took its sweet time actually introducing Lex to the Arrowverse. It wasn't until well into Season 4 that Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor made his surprise debut and completely changed the dynamic of the series. By now, it' safe to say Supergirl has more than made up for lost time on the Lex front. Not only is he the best villain in the show's five-year history, Lex has become one of the most fascinating and downright enjoyable characters in the Arrowverse as a whole. Read on to find out how this iconic villain became the driving force of Supergirl in Season 5. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=crisis-on-infinite-earths-crossover-photos&captions=true"]

The Definitive Live-Action Lex Luthor

Prior to Jon Cryer taking on the Lex Luthor role in Season 4, Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum was basically the undisputed king when it comes to live-action depictions of Lex Luthor. Gene Hackman's cinematic Lex may be iconic, but that version of the character is fairly one-note. He's evil, he's brilliant, he wears a wig and he's obsessed with ruling the world through real estate scams. Rosenbaum spent almost a decade bringing his version of Lex to life, and as a result his Lex is a far more nuanced, sympathetic, and overall fascinating character. Cryer's Lex isn't necessarily superior to Rosenbaum's. After all, he's only been playing Lex for a little more than a year, whereas Rosenbaum was a mainstay for more than half of Smallville's 10-season run. It's hard to top such a long and definitive portrayal. But the two versions are distinct enough that they stand alongside one another very easily. If Rosenbaum plays Lex at his most sympathetic and tragic, Cryer's Lex is a much more traditional take. His Lex captures the best qualities of the versions seen in DC's modern Superman comics and Superman: The Animated Series. He's an egomaniacal supervillain, but one who genuinely believes he has humanity's best interests at heart. He's superhumanly brilliant, yet his one Achilles heel is his tendency to be blinded by his irrational hatred of Superman and Supergirl. He's both terrifying and sad in equal measure. The end of Season 5 basically cements Cryer's Lex as one of the all-time great DC villains. He's not just the strongest and most fully realized villain in Supergirl's five-year history, he's really developed into the show's most fascinating character. Lex has all but stolen the spotlight for himself by now, but that's been to the series' benefit. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/18/crisis-on-infinite-earths-crossover-review"]

Hijacking the Crisis

The Lex-ification of Supergirl Season 5 is all the more impressive considering Cryer didn't actually return to the fold until midway through the season, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. Thanks to the Monitor, Lex returned to life just in time to help save the multiverse from complete annihilation. Lex turned out to be one of the true highlights of Crisis. He was the chaotic, unpredictable X-factor, one who wound up playing a pivotal role in saving existence despite his single-minded obsession with tormenting every Superman in the multiverse. Crisis was really just the starting point for Lex's Arrowverse arc. Apart from the creation of a unified Earth-Prime, perhaps the single biggest change to come out of Crisis is the fact that Lex is now head of the DEO and among the most beloved public figures in the world. Lex may have helped save the multiverse, but at a cost heroes like Supergirl and Martian Manhunter are finding hard to bear. He was able to rewrite existence to better suit his own grandiose self-image. Lex has become a far more integral part of the puzzle in the post-Crisis era of Supergirl. This new status quo allows Supergirl to really hone in on Lex's fundamental character flaw. According to Lex himself, he hates heroes like Superman and Supergirl because he believes they make the world weak and complacent. How can humanity rise to its full potential if all-powerful aliens are always around to save the day? Lex would have everyone believe that the only thing holding him back from ushering in a new utopia for mankind is Superman. The truth is that Lex, for all his wealth and power and brilliance, has a deeply rooted inferiority complex. He hates Superman and Supergirl precisely because the world adores them. One of the dominant themes of Lex's character arc in Season 5 is that he can't help but sabotage his own success for the sake of his vendetta against Superman. Even after creating a new world where he's a beloved public figure and global hero, Lex is consumed by his hatred of Kryptonians. He can't allow himself to simply enjoy his victory. And with Season 5 ending with Lex seemingly on top of the world, the only question now is what he'll do to bring it all crashing down. Crisis has added another layer to the Lex Luthor onion. Having been killed by his own sister in the Season 4 finale and resurrected by the Monitor, Lex now has an uncomfortable familiarity with death. He's obsessed with doing anything and everything he can to ensure he never dies a second time. That fear of dying remains with him even in a post-Crisis world. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/07/20/supergirl-season-5-trailer-comic-con-2019"]

Lex Luthor vs. Leviathan

Lex isn't really the main villain of Season 5, per se. That honor instead falls on Leviathan, a secretive organization pulling the strings of the Arrowverse for centuries. Leviathan was the big threat to Team Supergirl leading up to Crisis, and the creation of Earth-Prime basically reset that conflict to square one. The key difference this time? Lex Luthor is involved. Season 4 aside, Supergirl has never had a great track record with its major, overarching villains, and Leviathan hasn't really been an exception. That organization has gone through two major incarnations in the comics, first as a terrorist cell led by Talia al Ghul and then as an organization hellbent on wiping out the world's intelligence agencies and forcing a new era of global peace. Supergirl's take on Leviathan shares very little in common with either of those versions. It's basically a secret society of powerful gods who seek to enslave humanity through technology, resulting in the same sort of heavy-handed social allegory that can be both a blessing and a curse with the series. Frankly, Lex has been the glue holding the series together during its Leviathan Redux storyline. Where Leviathan and villains like Gamemnae and Rama Khan aren't really enough to drive the series on their own, the addition of Lex Luthor to that dynamic helps make the series much more exciting and unpredictable. It taps into that old chestnut "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" and forces Team Supergirl to accept Lex as an unlikely ally against a common foe, even as they know he can't be trusted. It casts Lex in a less villainous light while also leaving viewers to question whether he truly wants to defeat Leviathan or simply harness the group's power for his own ends. This new status quo has also paved the way for a fascinating dynamic between Lex and Brainiac 5. The two became reluctant partners in Season 5, with Brainy making the choice to sever his mind from his emotions and work with Supergirl's enemy in order to ensure Leviathan's defeat. That's resulted in a terrific character arc for Brainy. He and Lex have been trapped in an ongoing battle of wills. Brainy is the only person on the planet who might be considered Lex's intellectual equal. He thinks he can steer Lex in the right direction to ensure a better future, but each new run-in with Leviathan results in Brainy's hands becoming more stained. That pseudo-alliance culminates in the Season 5 finale, where we finally learn whether Brainiac 5's 12th-Level intellect is is enough to outmaneuver Lex Luthor (spoiler alert - it's not). [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=crisis-on-infinite-earths-aftermath-all-the-ways-the-arrowverse-has-changed&captions=true"]

The Luthor Family

While Cryer's Lex is a relatively recent addition to the Arrowverse, the Luthor family at large has long been a Supergirl staple. Matriarch Lillian Luthor was revealed to be the head of Project Cadmus, one of the bigger thorns in Supergirl's side over the past five years. And Lex's sister Lena has always been the series' biggest question mark. Will she redeem the family name in the eyes of the world? Can a friendship between a Luthor and a Kryptonian truly survive? That last question has been all the more pressing in Season 5 now that Kara and Lena have had their big falling out. Lex's parting "gift" to his sister in Season 4 was the reveal that her BFF Kara is Supergirl, a fact that Lena somehow never picked up on. That one act destroyed the Kara/Lena friendship and sent Lena down a dark and ruinous path. Even if Lex had stayed dead after Season 4, his role in transforming Lena from friend to enemy would have been enough to elevate Season 5. Lena's descent into darkness and her slow climb back to the light has easily been among the strongest Season 5 plot threads. Even more so in the wake of "Deus Lex Machina," which revealed just how much Lex's secret identity leak was motivated out of jealousy over Lena's bond with Kara. As for Lillian, while the character never fully clicked as the ruthless head of Cadmus, she's taken on a second life in her new role as Lex's confidant and mentor. It's been a real treat watching the two interact in Season 5 and watching Lillian steadily lose faith in her son's ability to put aside his ego and finish the job. She understands Lex better than he does himself, but even that isn't enough to alter his self-destructive trajectory. Season 5 ends with a victorious Lex harnessing the stolen power of Leviathan and reuniting with a proud Lillian, even as Lena and Kara finally bury the hatchet and rekindle their friendship. On one hand, it's a shame the COVID-19 pandemic cut Season 5 short and we'll have to wait until 2021 to see Supergirl continue these threads. On the other, maybe the series will be able to use that delay to its advantage. Rather than quickly wrap up the Lex Luthor/Leviathan storyline, the series can build an entirely new season on the idea of Lena battling her estranged family members for the fate of mankind. The more Luthor family drama, the better. For more on the current state of the Arrowverse, check out our reviews for The Flash: Season 6 finale and Batwoman: Season 1 finale, learn more about the surprise reveal of Bruce Wayne's face and find out which two series will take part in the next Arrowverse crossover. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
26 May 09:18

Deciphering Intel's Codenames: What's With All the Lakes?

by Michelle Ehrhardt
Ever wondered why Intel CPUs have code names like Coffee Lake and Comet Lake? We spoke with Intel and a former engineer to find out.
25 May 06:52

The Stand: First Images of Stephen King Miniseries Released

by Adele Ankers
The first images from the CBS All Access adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand have started to appear, with new photos from the set offering a first look at the main cast of characters, including Alexander Skarsgård as Randall Flagg. Vanity Fair shared the exclusive reel of photos showcasing "the good, the bad, and the otherworldly" in the upcoming series, created by Josh Boone and Benjamin Cavell, who is also serving as showrunner alongside Taylor Elmore. Whoopi Goldberg is among those pictured; she is starring in the series as 108-year old Mother Abigail, a blind prophet who is essential to humanity's fight for survival after a devastating plague sweeps the globe. "She is very, very righteous and very good. But really flawed I feel," Goldberg said of Mother Abigail. "She doesn't listen when God is talking to her. And she tends to go her own way because she's been like this her whole life. It takes her a little while to figure out that there's something bigger than her." Alexander Skarsgård also makes his debut as the iconic villain Randall Flagg, a charismatic rockabilly demon who is "galvanizing as a leader." His true power is said to be his ability to bring out the worst in his followers. "He's so charming and he's so handsome, and so powerful—I mean genuinely powerful, able to perform these sort of miracles where he could levitate himself and he has these actual powers," Elmore said of Skarsgård's character. "And yet he needs this adulation and this kind of worship from these people whom he's summoned to him." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-stephen-king-remake-so-far&captions=true"] Elsewhere, Heather Graham's Rita Blakemoor is pictured alongside Jovan Adepo's Larry Underwood, a struggling, drug-addicted musician who finds his true calling after civilization collapses. Owen Teague's Harold Lauder, Odessa Young's Frannie Goldsmith and Nat Wolff's Lloyd Henreid also make appearances. These ragtag bunch of characters are placed in a post-apocalyptic world after a pandemic of a weaponized strain of influenza almost wiped out the entire world population, though the show, just like the novel, will focus on a variety of themes borne outside of the virus. "It's about the fundamental questions of what society owes the individual and what we owe to each other," said Cavell. "Over the last however-many years, we have sort of taken for granted the structure of democracy. Now, so much of that is being ripped down to the studs. It's interesting to see a story about people who are rebuilding it from the ground up." The Stand is expected to air on CBS All Access later this year. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
25 May 06:40

Formula E Driver Caught Using Imposter to Play as Him in Virtual Race

by Joseph Knoop

Formula E racer Daniel Abt has been disqualified and ordered to pay 10,000 euros ($10,900) to charity for illegally hiring a professional esports player to falsely compete as him in an official virtual race, the BBC reports.

[caption id="attachment_235606" align="alignnone" width="720"]GettyImages-1145813132 (1) 24 May 2019, Berlin: Motorsport: Preview Formula E Championship, E-Prix 2019, race at Tempelhof Airport. Daniel Abt from Team Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler speaks at the press conference the day before the Formula E Championship. Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa (Photo by Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images)[/caption] For those not in the know, virtual racing has taken on a new life in various leagues across the globe, due to the complications of hosting real-world racing events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies like iRacing, a subscription-based PC gaming platform that contracts with multiple real-world racing leagues, have been working with NASCAR to host digital races, with pro drivers getting behind controllers rather than actual cars. Like any sport, professional racing has its drama between players, but the change to digital racing has added a new layer. According to AP News, five-time NASCAR champion Kyle Larson was fired for using a racial slur during one digital race. [caption id="attachment_2356069" align="alignnone" width="720"]66 German driver Daniel Abt of Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Formula E Team drive her single-seater during the 3rd edition of Monaco E-Prix, in port neighborhood in Monaco, France (Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty Images) 66 German driver Daniel Abt of Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Formula E Team drive her single-seater during the 3rd edition of Monaco E-Prix, in port neighborhood in Monaco, France (Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty Images)[/caption] Abt, a 27-year-old German racer sponsored by Audi, has since apologized for hiring another player to pose as him, and was also stripped of all points he’s earned over the course of the “Race at Home Challenge,” which features drivers competing from their home setups. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1344"] A NASCAR race as seen in iRacing.[/caption]

"I did not take it as seriously as I should have,” Abt said. "I am especially sorry about this because I know how much work has gone into this project on the part of the Formula E organisation. I am aware that my offence has a bitter aftertaste but it was never meant with any bad intention."

Abt’s imposter? A pro gamer by the name of Lorenz Hoerzing, who was similarly disqualified from all future rounds of another racing series called the Challenge Grid.

Mercedes driver Stoffel Vandoorne, who placed second during the race in question, stated on his Twitch stream that he suspected Abt of using another player to race in his name. Two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne supported Vandoorne’s accusation.

"Please ask Daniel Abt to put his Zoom next time he's driving, because like Stoffel said I'm pretty sure he wasn't in," Vergne said.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/15/f1-2020-announce-trailer"]

According to ESPN, the Formula E organization has not made any official statement on how the determination that Abt was cheating was made, but the-race.com site, which runs its own series of virtual races, says it understood that event organizers had cross-referenced Abt’s IP address with that of the actual player at his wheel.

Racers are typically visible on a Zoom camera, but the-race.com states that the face of the person who was supposed to be Abt was blocked from view by equipment.

It’s unclear if Abt will be subjected to any additional penalties or loss of sponsorship as a result of his actions.

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/pit crew for IGN.

24 May 07:46

Actor Confirms He Played Darkseid in Zack Snyder's Justice League

by Matt Fowler
Though we still don't know if Ava DuVernay's New Gods, which is set to feature Darkseid and the Female Furies, will directly connect to the DCEU, we do know that Darkseid was a part of Zack Snyder's Justice League. And now the actor who was cast as Darkseid has officially confirmed he played the role. Ray Porter (Justified, Argo), after being given the "all clear," took to Twitter and introduced himself as the man who was/will be DC supervillain Darkseid. In Snyder's cut, which is set to stream on HBO Max in 2021 (after close to $30 million is spent completing it), Darkseid is said to have appeared at the beginning and end of the film - during the expository "History" part and then in the final scenes following villain Steppenwolf's demise. Porter teased his Darkseid role last summer ahead of Comic-Con by giving fans a sneak peek (listen?) at his Darkseid voice during a quick "Release the Snyder Cut" promotional video... If you're looking for a deep dive into what the Snyder Cut is, or how the "Release the Snyder Cut" movement began, check out our full Snyder Cut explainer. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/20/snyder-cut-of-justice-league-is-actually-coming-to-hbo-max-ign-now"] Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
18 May 14:40

The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Will Premiere in July

by Joe Skrebels
The Umbrella Academy Season 2 will premiere globally on Netflix on July 31, 2020. Announced by Netflix, we got a brief teaser featuring the cast filming themselves from isolation, and recreating the dance scene from Season 1 of the show: An adaptation of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá's comic book series ofthe same name, The Umbrella Academy follows the lives of a dysfunctional family of superheroes. It proved a huge hit for Netflix, which reported that 45 million households had watched the show, and quickly ordered a second season. We awarded the first season an 8.5 review, calling it "hilariously twisted, subversively stylish, and surprisingly poignant". We named it as one of the best new TV series of 2019, and one of the best comic book series - it was named the IGN's People's Choice in both categories. We've seen very little of the second season so far, but we did get a peek at some stylish character posters: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-umbrella-academy-season-2-posters&captions=true"] If you've never watched The Umbrella Academy, we've got an explainer for you. If you have, you might need a refresher on the last series' huge ending, and we've got that too. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter.
18 May 08:39

Supercomputers across Europe have fallen to cryptomining hacks

by Jon Fingas
Cryptomining hacks aren’t new by any stretch, but a string of recent incidents is raising eyebrows. ZDNet reports that culprits infected multiple European supercomputers with Monero mining malware in the past week, including the University of Edinbur...
16 May 06:17

Here’s Why It Takes Three Guys to Play The Mandalorian

by David Griffin
While we wait for Season 2 of The Mandalorian to drop on Disney+ in October 2020, the streamer continues to produce new Mando content each week, with an in-depth docuseries about the making of Season 1. In episode 3 of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, titled "Cast," series showrunner Jon Favreau interviews Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, and Carl Weathers about their unique roles in the series. One of the more interesting pieces of information we learned about Season 1 is that it takes three men to bring Mando to life, with each of them offering a particular set of skills. "I am third fiddle to two incredible guys -- Brendan Wayne and Lateef [Crowder]," Pascal explained of his stuntmen. "I’m modeling my performance around their physicality in a lot of ways, and I wouldn’t be able to do it without them." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=disney-gallery-the-mandalorian-images&captions=true"] According to Pascal, Brendan Wayne is particularly handy with a gun so he takes care of the "gunslinger aspect" of Mando. Crowder, on the other hand, is highly adept at Capoeira and Jujutsu. Pascal says Crowder "can basically do anything." Wayne is the grandson of legendary actor John Wayne and has worked on TV shows such as Agents of SHIELD and Sons of Anarchy. Crowder has an impressive resume of stunt work on films like Wonder Woman, Deadpool 2, and Furious 7. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/04/23/disney-gallery-star-wars-the-mandalorian-official-trailer"] When Favreau asked Carano if she could tell the three men apart while they were wearing the armor, she said, "you all brought the physicality, the incredible acting and the brotherhood. So you all make up the Mandalorian. And I have such a good connection with all of you guys.” For more Star Wars, check out Disney's announcement of a new Star Wars movie directed by Taika Waititi, our review of the series finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and this stunning Star Wars concept art. [poilib element="accentDivider"] David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.
16 May 06:14

Here's Who Timothy Olyphant May Play in The Mandalorian Season 2

by David Griffin
Update: Slash Film has revealed which character Timothy Olyphant will play in The Mandalorian: Season 2, and it's one hardcore Star Wars readers may recognize. The site's sources claim Olyphant is playing Cobb Vanth, a character first introduced in the 2015 novel Star Wars: Aftermath. Vanth is a former slave who becomes sheriff of a Tatooine settlement called Freetown. Vanth acquires what appears to be Boba Fett's discarded, acid-worn armor from a group of Jawas, and it sounds like Olyphant will be wearing the iconic armor in The Mandalorian. Vanth is committed to protecting Freetown and its inhabitants from the various criminal organizations trying to fill the power vacuum after Jabba the Hutt's demise. Fun fact - one of those inhabitants is Jabba's former Rancor keeper Malakili. [caption id="attachment_2354005" align="aligncenter" width="1650"]Cobb Vanth is the rare Star Wars character to debut in book form before jumping to live-action. Cobb Vanth is the rare Star Wars character to debut in book form before jumping to live-action.[/caption] This casting gives us a somewhat better idea of how Temuera Morrison's Boba Fett will factor into Season 2. Fett will no doubt be eager to reclaim his lost armor, and he may even turn to Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin for help in tracking it down. The series may actually be borrowing a plot point from the abandoned Boba Fett movie. The series could very well be positioning Cobb Vanth as the Disney equivalent of Jodo Kast, a Legends character who was infamous for impersonating Fett. We also wouldn't be surprised to learn it was actually Vanth, not Boba Fett, teased in the stinger scene from The Mandalorian: Season 1, Episode 5. Let us know what you think in the comments below. The original story is below: [poilib element="accentDivider"] Timothy Olyphant has reportedly been cast in The Mandalorian's second season, which premieres this October on Disney+. Per The Hollywood Reporter, it's unclear if Olyphant will play "a new character or a returning favorite in a new guise." The veteran actor is probably best known for his roles in HBO's Deadwood as Sheriff Seth Bullock, and as US Marshal Raylan GIvens in FX's Justified. Season 2 of Mando has already wrapped filming and is not expected to be delayed. You can check out Olyphant alongside the late Luke Perry in this deleted scene from Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in the video below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/28/once-upon-a-timein-hollywood-deleted-scene"] Olyphant will join a growing list of Season 2 newcomers including Katee Sackhoff as Bo Katan, Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett, and Rosario Dawson as fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano. Behind the camera, directors Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn) and Peyton Reed (Ant-Man) have both confirmed they will be directing episodes in Season 2. For more Star Wars, be sure to check out the Disney+ docuseries, tDisney Gallery: The Mandalorian, which gives fans an in-depth look at the making of Season 1 including interviews with director Dave Filoni and leading man Pedro Pascal as Mando. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/13/katee-sackhoff-cast-as-bo-katan-in-the-mandalorian-ign-now"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.
16 May 06:13

'Strange New Worlds' is the latest Star Trek series for CBS All Access

by Igor Bonifacic
The best characters of Star Trek: Discovery season two are getting their own show. On Friday, CBS announced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, a new All Access series that will see Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn reprise their roles as Captain...
16 May 06:02

DIY Robot Uses a Raspberry Pi and Laser to Entertain Cats

by Ash Puckett
This Raspberry Pi-powered robot is perfect for any tinkerer with a cat that has to be involved.
15 May 07:48

The CW Announces its 2020-2021 Primetime Schedule

by Clarissa
The CW has announced its 2020-2021 primetime schedule and it is proactively pushing the official start of the new season to January 2021. With filming across the world halted due to COVID-19, the delayed start of the new season should give the studios and network time to get back to work and start producing original […]
15 May 07:42

The CW's Next Arrowverse Crossover to Star Superman and Batwoman

by Jesse Schedeen
The CW has shed light on its next major Arrowverse crossover, but it's shaping up to be much smaller in scale than 2019's Crisis on Infinite Earths. According to The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz, the next crossover will likely revolve around only two Arrowverse series - Batwoman and the recently greenlit Superman & Lois. As reported by Deadline, the news came during a press call detailing The CW's upcoming schedule for the 2020-2021 TV season. Pedowitz confirmed the Batwoman/Superman & Lois crossover will only comprise of two episodes and won't be happening in the traditional December window, as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to play havoc on the network's schedule. He pointed to either Q1 or Q2 2021 as a more likely timeframe. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=crisis-on-infinite-earths-crossover-photos&captions=true"] “We’re still working on it. It will be a smaller event than usual, we’re only planning a two-hour event. We are talking about doing Superman and Batwoman together. There’s a lot of characters coming from our other shows,” Pedowitz said. While this may be disappointing for fans hoping for a larger-scale event, we already knew the next Arrowverse crossover will be much smaller in scope than Crisis. Arrow's executive producer Marc Guggenheim confirmed as much back in December 2019, saying "Last year we sort of took a step back and... took a breath and then took the giant bite out of the cake. [Next year] we're going to take a step back again. We're going to take several." This pairing of Batwoman and Superman does make sense given the Batwoman/Supergirl friendship established in Crisis and recent developments in Batwoman: Season 1. Kate Kane has already wrestled with her reluctance to trust her new metahuman comrades and a fear of becoming like the corrupt Bruce Wayne of Earth-96, and we imagine the Batwoman/Superman & Lois crossover will build on those plot points. Perhaps the crossover will even elaborate on Batwoman's recent Joker-related bombshell. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/the-jokers-arrowverse-fate-revealed-ign-now"] Batwoman and Supergirl will end their current seasons on Sunday, May 17. None of the current Arrowverse series are scheduled to return until January 2021. The good news, at least, is that the current lineup will be one show larger come January. Now we're just waiting to learn the fate of Green Arrow and the Canaries. Let us know what you think about the prospect of a Batwoman/Supergirl crossover in the comments below. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
14 May 10:35

Anthropologists have identified the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe

by Kate Baggaley
Alongside ancient homo sapiens remains were bladelike tools and bear tooth pendants. Researchers believe Neanderthals may have copied these designs later on.
Alongside ancient homo sapiens remains were bladelike tools and bear tooth pendants. Researchers believe Neanderthals may have copied these designs later on. (CREDIT: TSENKA TSANOVA, MPI-EVA LEIPZIG, LICENSE: CC-BY-SA 2.0/)

Modern humans roamed central Europe at least 45,000 years ago, recent excavations from a cave in Bulgaria indicate. An international team of scientists unearthed tooth and bone fragments which they believe belonged to Homo sapiens. Nearby, the researchers also found tools and pendants similar to ones used thousands of years later by our close relatives the Neanderthals. Together the findings, which the team announced this week in the journals Nature and Nature Ecology and Evolution, help paint a clearer picture of how Homo sapiens arrived in Europe and interacted with the local Neanderthals.

Previous studies have shown that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals encountered each other and even interbred; the new findings suggest that Neanderthals may also have imitated artifacts created by their Homo sapiens neighbors. “It’s important for us to go through these sites and…identify who actually was responsible for this innovative ‘modern’ technology,” says Shara Bailey, an anthropologist at New York University and coauthor of one of the papers. “We know they exchanged genes, but if they’re also sharing culture, were those interactions possibly friendly?” Bailey says.

Currently paleontologists believe that after modern humans left Africa, they made their way to Eurasia, a trek that likely took place a little more than 40,000 years ago. Once there, they eventually replaced Neanderthals in the region. Few details are known about this transition, though. Until now, the oldest known Homo sapiens remains in Europe came from Peştera cu Oase (“Cave with Bones”) in Romania and were estimated to be around 41,000 years old.

The remains Bailey and her colleagues examined came from Bacho Kiro Cave, which lies on the northern slope of the Balkan mountain range. In 2015, the team began excavating tooth and bone fragments from the site. By analyzing proteins and DNA preserved in the fossils, the researchers ultimately identified a handful of bones as Homo sapiens. Bailey and her team also examined a distinctive molar from the site and determined that it belonged to a modern human as well. The researchers then calculated the age of the remains based on the genetic material and radiocarbon dating, a technique that measures how carbon decays over time in organic material. The two analyses dated the remains to roughly 46,000 to 44,000 years old, making them the oldest direct evidence of Homo sapiens on the continent.

Alongside the human remains were bladelike tools and pendants made from cave bear teeth. These pendants resemble Neanderthal artifacts that have been found in the French cave of Grotte du Renne and date to a younger age. “The methods they used to string them or modify them are similar to what Neanderthals were doing at later sites,” Bailey says. “What this suggests is that rather than Neanderthals innovating bone tools, pendants, personal adornments, they were adopting it…from Homo sapiens.

However, even if Homo sapiens were the original inventors of these state-of-the-art ornaments, it wouldn’t imply that Neanderthals were mere copycats. There’s increasing evidence that Neanderthals painted their bodies and used bird feathers and talons for ornaments—practices that might have allowed them to quickly gauge whether an approaching hominin was a member of their group or an outsider.

And copying jewelry or tools used by those outsiders would have been a useful ability in its own right. “Is it more important to be the inventor or the innovator, or is it just as important that you recognize something as being novel and something you can use and then you adopt it to your culture?” Bailey says. “That’s really I think a matter of opinion.”

14 May 10:01

Unreal Engine 5 Announced With Gorgeous PS5 Demo

by Matt Kim
Today, Epic Games revealed the first look at Unreal Engine 5, its next-generation game engine designed with features meant to make game worlds more detailed and dynamic. To show off the power of its new game engine, Epic released a real-time tech demo called, “Lumen in the Land of Nanite” which runs live on the PlayStation 5. Lumen in the Land of Nanite is a fully playable title made up of Unreal Engine 5’s two new tools: Lumens, a dynamic global illumination tool, and Nanite, a virtualized geometry that lets artists import film-quality art and assets into Unreal Engine. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/13/ps5-unreal-engine-5-tech-demo"] The demo shows a woman venturing into a rocky cavern and discovering a hidden temple. The demo makes a particular point to highlight how light and objects react dynamically, and the demo ends with a thrilling flight through a crumbling canyon. All of the assets and visuals in the demo are reacting in real-time, meaning the PlayStation 5 is processing the demo as it happens. “I think a lot of people [will ask], ‘Oh is [the demo] real?’ But you know that demo was grabbed from the back of a PlayStation 5 development kit,” says Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri in an interview with IGN. “An HDMI cable went into a disc recorder and played out real-time — no editing, no tricks, that’s what comes off the box.” Incidentally, Sweeney made clear that the SSD in that devkit is "far ahead" of current high-end PCs. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=unreal-engine-5-playstation-5-tech-demo&captions=true"] Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney explained Unreal Engine 5 is meant “to do things that are absolutely not possible today.” This means offering new levels of photorealism and visuality but also offer these tools in a way that increases the productivity and efficiency of game developers. “Lumen [and Nanite]... are not just order-of-magnitude leaps in visual quality but they’re also greatly simplifying technologies for the artists who build content,” says Sweeney. The goal, according to Kim Libreri, is to make game worlds as immersive and realistic as modern movies, but where that goal differs from previous game generations is how interactive that realism is. Unreal_Engine_5_14 While games this generation and older are detailed and realistic, they’re also static. The Lumens and Nanite demo showcase multiple instances where changes in the environment happen in real-time, and Unreal Engine 5 is capable of rendering these changes immediately. When rocks crumble, it’s not a pre-rendered cutscene but a high-resolution rock asset moving in real-time based on the player’s actions. When a light source changes, it’s not multiple tricks to simulate a flashing light, but real-time processing power at work. “If you notice, most video games today are pretty static environments. You know, things don’t change, there’s not a lot of cause and effect. You’re lucky if you can change the state of a game and come back and it’s actually changed. [Unreal Engine 5] allows everything to be dynamic.” [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=%E2%80%9CAn%20HDMI%20cable%20went%20into%20a%20disc%20recorder%20and%20played%20out%20real-time%20%E2%80%94%20no%20editing%2C%20no%20tricks%2C%20that%E2%80%99s%20what%20comes%20off%20the%20box.%E2%80%9D"]Epic is quick to point out the quality of the assets used for the demo, which they say are film-quality assets as opposed to the ones typically used for video games. While movie-level visuals are often higher-quality, video game assets are lower-resolution and are buoyed by development tricks to make them seem more realistic. “The interesting thing is a lot of times artists are having to make those super high-poly models anyways, they just have to take an extra step and build the low-poly model, put a lot of time and care into that and then bake all the high-quality details into a normal map,” says Epic Games VP of engineering Nick Penwarden. “ Now they don’t have to do the extra work of building that optimized low-poly asset and they get higher quality visuals.” What’s more, Epic says that the level of quality seen in the demo is going to be easier to replicate, especially from smaller developers who previously didn’t have the scale or time to render games at this level. Assets at this kind of level and quality will be available on the Unreal store for other developers to easily use.

"It's really easy. You go to the Quixel asset store, download the rocks and the mountains, and the assets you want, and you just place them in there," says Libreri. "It's actually massively lowering the barrier of entry of how complex it is to make a game level."

Epic Games also announced that it’s waiving royalties on the first $1 million in game revenue starting today, meaning developers using Unreal Engine will keep more of their profits. Epic Online Services is also available to make cross-platform play easier. Unreal_Engine_5_19 Fortnite will be released on next-gen consoles at launch and will be migrated to Unreal Engine 5 in mid-2021. Sweeney says Fortnite will likely be the first game running on Unreal Engine 5, but there are plenty of next-gen games currently in development using Unreal Engine 4 and even some first-party games will use Unreal Engine, though Sweeney did not specify whether it’s Unreal Engine 4 or 5. Unreal Engine 5 will be available in preview early 2021, with a full release scheduled for later that year, and will support current- and next-gen consoles, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.
14 May 09:55

PS5 SSD Is 'Far Ahead' of High-End PCs, Epic Games CEO Says

by Matt Kim
Today, Epic Games revealed its next-gen game engine, Unreal Engine 5. To showcase the power of its new engine, Epic revealed a brand new, fully playable tech demo that’s running on the PlayStation 5 in real-time. IGN asked what advancements are in the PS5 that allows for Unreal Engine 5 to function at this high of a level on the console. Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney explained that it was the system storage advancements Sony hardware architect Mark Cerny revealed earlier this year that makes the next-gen Sony console a powerhouse. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/13/ps5-unreal-engine-5-tech-demo"] “I think, first of all, Sony has a massive, massive increase in graphics performance compared to previous generations. But you know, I guess we get that every generation?” Sweeney joked. “But Sony’s made another breakthrough that in many ways is more fundamental, which is a multi-order magnitude increase in storage bandwidth and reduction in storage latency.” As revealed back in March – in a digital deep dive on the PS5 hosted by Sony architect Mark Cerny – Sony revealed its custom solid-state drive that targets at least 5GB per second in terms of bandwidth. That’s compared to the 50-100 MB/s capable on the current PS4 hard drives. “[The PS5] puts a vast amount of flash memory very, very close to the processor,” says Sweeney. “So much that it really fundamentally changes the trade-offs that games can make and stream in. And that’s absolutely critical to this kind of demo,” Sweeney explained. “This is not just a whole lot of polygons and memory. It’s also a lot of polygons being loaded every frame as you walk around through the environment and this sort of detail you don’t see in the world would absolutely not be possible at any scale without these breakthroughs that Sony’s made.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=unreal-engine-5-playstation-5-tech-demo&captions=true"] Sweeney says that Sony’s storage architecture is far ahead of “the best SSD solution you can buy on PC today. And so it’s really exciting to be seeing the console market push forward the high-end PC market in this way.” While Epic wouldn’t comment on any potential performance differences between the PS5 and Xbox Series X, Sweeney confirmed that the features shown today, like real-time global illumination and virtualized geometry, are “going to work on all the next-generation consoles.” For more, check out IGN’s comparison of the PS5 and Xbox Series X. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.
13 May 11:02

This 17th-century plague diary hits a little too close to home

by By Ute Lotz-Heumann/The Conversation
Diaries can be an important time capsule to disease-fighting practices.
Diaries can be an important time capsule to disease-fighting practices. (Kvkrillow/Deposit Photos/)

Ute Lotz-Heumann is an associate professor and director of the Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies at the University of Arizona. This story originally featured on The Conversation.

In early April, writer Jen Miller urged New York Times readers to start a coronavirus diary.

“Who knows,” she wrote, “maybe one day your diary will provide a valuable window into this period.”

During a different pandemic, one 17th-century British naval administrator named Samuel Pepys did just that. He fastidiously kept a diary from 1660 to 1669—a period of time that included a severe outbreak of the bubonic plague in London. Epidemics have always haunted humans, but rarely do we get such a detailed glimpse into one person’s life during a crisis from so long ago.

There were no Zoom meetings, drive-through testing, or ventilators in 17th-century London. But Pepys’ diary reveals that there were some striking resemblances in how people responded to the pandemic.

A creeping sense of crisis

For Pepys and the inhabitants of London, there was no way of knowing whether an outbreak of the plague that occurred in the parish of St. Giles, a poor area outside the city walls, in late 1664 and early 1665 would become an epidemic.

The plague first entered Pepys’ consciousness enough to warrant a diary entry on April 30, 1665: “Great fears of the Sickenesse here in the City,” he wrote, “it being said that two or three houses are already shut up. God preserve us all.”

Portrait of Samuel Pepys by John Hayls (1666).
Portrait of Samuel Pepys by John Hayls (1666). (National Portrait Gallery/)

Pepys continued to live his life normally until the beginning of June, when, for the first time, he saw houses “shut up”—the term his contemporaries used for quarantine—with his own eyes, “marked with a red cross upon the doors, and ‘Lord have mercy upon us’ writ there.” After this, Pepys became increasingly troubled by the outbreak.

He soon observed corpses being taken to their burial in the streets, and a number of his acquaintances died, including his own physician.

By mid-August, he had drawn up his will, writing, “that I shall be in much better state of soul, I hope, if it should please the Lord to call me away this sickly time.” Later that month, he wrote of deserted streets; the pedestrians he encountered were “walking like people that had taken leave of the world.”

Tracking mortality counts

In London, the Company of Parish Clerks printed “bills of mortality,” the weekly tallies of burials.

Because these lists noted London’s burials—not deaths—they undoubtedly undercounted the dead. Just as we follow these numbers closely today, Pepys documented the growing number of plague victims in his diary.

At the end of August, he cited the bill of mortality as having recorded 6,102 victims of the plague, but feared “that the true number of the dead this week is near 10,000,” mostly because the victims among the urban poor weren’t counted. A week later, he noted the official number of 6,978 in one week, “a most dreadfull Number.”

By mid-September, all attempts to control the plague were failing. Quarantines were not being enforced, and people gathered in places like the Royal Exchange. Social distancing, in short, was not happening.

He was equally alarmed by people attending funerals in spite of official orders. Although plague victims were supposed to be interred at night, this system broke down as well, and Pepys griped that burials were taking place “in broad daylight.”

Desperate for remedies

There are few known effective treatment options for COVID-19. Medical and scientific research need time, but people hit hard by the virus are willing to try anything. Fraudulent treatments, from teas and colloidal silver, to cognac and cow urine, have been floated.

Although Pepys lived during the Scientific Revolution, nobody in the 17th century knew that the Yersinia pestis bacterium carried by fleas caused the plague. Instead, the era’s scientists theorized that the plague was spreading through miasma, or “bad air” created by rotting organic matter and identifiable by its foul smell. Some of the most popular measures to combat the plague involved purifying the air by smoking tobacco or by holding herbs and spices in front of one’s nose.

Tobacco was the first remedy that Pepys sought during the plague outbreak. In early June, seeing shut-up houses “put me into an ill conception of myself and my smell, so that I was forced to buy some roll-tobacco to smell … and chaw.” Later, in July, a noble patroness gave him “a bottle of plague-water”—a medicine made from various herbs. But he wasn’t sure whether any of this was effective. Having participated in a coffeehouse discussion about “the plague growing upon us in this town and remedies against it,” he could only conclude that “some saying one thing, some another.”

A 1666 engraving by John Dunstall depicts deaths and burials in London during the bubonic plague.
A 1666 engraving by John Dunstall depicts deaths and burials in London during the bubonic plague. (Museum of London/)

During the outbreak, Pepys was also very concerned with his frame of mind; he constantly mentioned that he was trying to be in good spirits. This was not only an attempt to “not let it get to him”—as we might say today—but also informed by the medical theory of the era, which claimed that an imbalance of the so-called humors in the body—blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm—led to disease.

Melancholy, which, according to doctors, resulted from an excess of black bile, could be dangerous to one’s health, so Pepys sought to suppress negative emotions; on Sept. 14, for example, he wrote that hearing about dead friends and acquaintances “doth put me into great apprehensions of melancholy. … But I put off the thoughts of sadness as much as I can.”

Balancing paranoia and risk

Humans are social animals and thrive on interaction, so it’s no surprise that so many have found social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic challenging. It can require constant risk assessment: How close is too close? How can we avoid infection and keep our loved ones safe, while also staying sane? What should we do when someone in our house develops a cough?

During the plague, this sort of paranoia also abounded. Pepys found that when he left London and entered other towns, the townspeople became visibly nervous about visitors.

“They are afeared of us that come to them,” he wrote in mid-July, “insomuch that I am troubled at it.”

Pepys succumbed to paranoia himself: In late July, his servant Will suddenly developed a headache. Fearing that his entire house would be shut up if a servant came down with the plague, Pepys mobilized all his other servants to get Will out of the house as quickly as possible. It turned out that Will didn’t have the plague, and he returned the next day.

In early September, Pepys refrained from wearing a wig he bought in an area of London that was a hotspot of the disease, and he wondered whether other people would also fear wearing wigs because they could potentially be made of the hair of plague victims.

And yet he was willing to risk his health to meet certain needs; by early October, he visited his mistress without any regard for the danger. “Round about and next door on every side is the plague, but I did not value it but there did what I could con ella.”

Just as people around the world eagerly wait for a falling death toll as a sign of the pandemic letting up, so did Pepys derive hope—and perhaps the impetus to see his mistress—from the first decline in deaths in mid-September. A week later, he noted a substantial decline of more than 1,800.

Let’s hope that, like Pepys, we’ll soon see some light at the end of the tunnel.

The Conversation

12 May 12:05

The lockdown has been great for our sleep, new data shows

by Ruth Gaukrodger
Withings Move ECG

Despite people complaining of vivid dreams and late night insomnia, new data from Withings shows that, on the whole, we’re getting a bit more beauty sleep than normal. And the lockdown is having some other strangely beneficial health effects, too.

According to the company’s stats, people are sleeping an extra few minutes every night, with Americans getting an extra 12 minutes of kip and Brits an extra 15.

Related: Best fitness tracker

Apparently that sleep is fairly high quality, too. Withings has a ‘Sleep’ rating that takes into account duration, regularity and interruptions, and most countries have seen an improvement of between two and three points along this scale.

In other good news, there’s also been a big dip in abnormal heart rates detected during sleep. The UK has seen a 44% drop in abnormal rates across the weekend. In America there’s been a 43% decrease, and there’s a huge 66% reduction in Italy.

These drop rates are slightly less extravagant when you look at data taken from the weekdays, but they still show a remarkable shift.

Other snippets from the data are less surprising: step count is down across countries, and activities like swimming and tennis are suddenly less popular. But there are a lot of yoga and hiking sessions being logged in their place.

There’s a small increase in weight too, with the average UK person putting on .35 lbs and US citizens adding just .21 lbs. But these seem like trivial amounts, especially as all that freshly baked banana bread has to be eaten by somebody, right?

Related: Read our Bedphones review

These findings are based on data collected from Withings customers, so it could be that better sleep and minimal weight gain is somehow associated with smartwatch-owners.

But the reduction in step count does at least seem to be in line with data from other sources, such as the dramatic fall in foot traffic registered by Apple’s Mobility Trends.

The post The lockdown has been great for our sleep, new data shows appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

12 May 11:35

Star Wars Canon Timeline: An ordered guide to the films, TV shows and games

by Kob Monney
Star Wars Canon Timeline

It’s May 4, you’ve got a Disney Plus subscription, some spare time, and you’re in the mood for Star Wars. But where do you start, what’s canon, what’s not, and which order should you be watching (or playing) the mainline films, TV shows and games?

Unlike an unhelpful protocol droid, we’re actually here to help. This guide focuses on the order established after the Disney/Lucasfilm purchase. We’re not going to include the novels, comics, web series, micro-animated series, iOS or browser games either as we’ll be here forever.

Still with us? Here’s the guide to the Star Wars canon for films, TV shows and games.


What’s Star Wars Canon?

Star Wars: The Old Republic

The Old Republic is set several thousands of years before the main timeline of the films and was thought not to be part of the canon. But, aspects of the lore – such as The Mandalorian War – has featured in episodes of Rebels and The Mandalorian.

The Phantom Menace

Technically, the canonical Star Wars universe is said to begin with The High Republic. With that still yet to be detailed, the entry point for all things Star Wars remains The Phantom Menace for now.

Attack of the Clones

The Clone Wars (film)

It’s believed that The Clone Wars film occurs a few episodes into the timeline of the The Clone Wars animated series, though as far as we can tell, it hasn’t been explicitly stated when.

The Clone Wars (s1-7)

This Clone Wars series is not to be confused with the Genndy Tartakovsky animation, which is not considered to be canon (but watch it anyway, it’s great). It charts the period between Attack of the Clones to when Anakin betrays the Jedi order and Order 66 command is executed by the Emperor in Revenge of the Sith.

Revenge of the Sith

Jedi: Fallen Order

Jedi: Fallen Order is a third-person video game that’s set during the prequel timeline, and follows a Jedi padawan hunted by the Empire after Order 66.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Star Wars: Rebels (s1-4)

Rebels is an animated series that covers the span between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Rebels sees the Empire securing a hold on the galaxy and hunting the last remaining Jedi, while also detailing the emerging story of the Rebel Alliance.

Just to confirm its place in the canon, Saw Gerrera from Rogue One features in Rebels, and is voiced by Forest Whitaker too. Other actors from the series that bring their voices along include Ian McDiarmid’s Emperor, and Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Star Wars: A New Hope

Battlefront

The 2015 reboot of the Battlefront series is considered to be canon, as it accurately follows the events of the series. It’s both a first/third-person shooter that’s primarily multiplayer-based.

As it is not a sequel to the original Battlefront series, it means that the Battlefront and Battlefront II video games made by Pandemic in the early 2000s are regarded as non-canonical, as are all the video games made prior to November 2015.

The Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

Battlefront II

The story of the Star Wars: Battlefront 2 video game starts around the Return of the Jedi but is mainly set around The Force Awakens and includes DLC that goes over the Battle of Jakku, describing how the Empire eventually lost the war.

The Mandalorian

Set five years after Return of the Jedi, but before The First Order comes to power. It’s mainly about a bounty hunter, the titular Mandalorian, who takes on a bounty and soon finds himself the hunted.

Force healing first makes its appearance ahead of Rise of Skywalker, and parts of the Old Republic lore also feature.

Star Wars: Resistance

Resistance is an animated series with the first series set in the years before The Force Awakens. It’s the story of a young Resistance pilot who is tasked with the mission of investigating the growing presence of The First Order.

The Force Awakens

Star Wars: Resistance s2

The second season of Resistance picks up after the end of the events of the season, running concurrently with The Last Jedi and leading up to what happens in Rise of Skywalker.

The Last Jedi

Rise of Skywalker

Rise of Skywalker ties the film series as part of the nine-part Skywalker Saga. Some have found it to be a satisfactory end, while others have been more mixed to the decisions the film takes.

The post Star Wars Canon Timeline: An ordered guide to the films, TV shows and games appeared first on Trusted Reviews.

11 May 08:52

CBS Renews MacGyver, The Unicorn, And A Boatload Of Series And Cancels Four Others

Every year, TV networks have to make the difficult decision of what gets renewed and what gets cancelled. During this time, the announcements come in large batches. On Wednesday, CBS announced its renewals and cancellations for the upcoming 2020-21 TV season.

For the renewals, 18 continuing series were prime-time shows. Four of the renewed series we new for the 2019-20 season: All Rise, Bob Hearts Abishola, FBI: Most Wanted and The Unicorn. Meanwhile, Broke, Carol's Second Act, and Tommy--all shows in their first season--were cancelled. These announcements did not include CBS All Access original content.

Most of what CBS renewed was familiar fare, including 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race, MacGyver, and more. Below, you'll find all the recently announced CBS shows.

Continue Reading at GameSpot
08 May 13:32

Black Mirror Season 6 Isn't Coming Any Time Soon, Says Creator

by David Griffin
Don't expect Black Mirror Season 6 to be released any time soon; creator Charlie Brooker revealed he isn't currently working on any new scripts for his dystopian anthology series. During an interview with Radio Times, Brooker explains that now is probably not the right time for more Black Mirror stories due to the novel coronavirus. "At the moment, I don’t know what stomach there would be for stories about societies falling apart, so I’m not working away on one of those," Brooker told Radio Times. "I’m sort of keen to revisit my comic skill set, so I’ve been writing scripts aimed at making myself laugh." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/01/05/top-10-black-mirror-episodes"] June 2019 was the last time we were treated to a new batch of Black Mirror episodes featuring stars like Anthony Mackie and Miley Cyrus. In our glowing review, we say, "Black Mirror's fifth season is one of the series' best, with a condensed batch of new stories that deliver great storytelling, interesting characters, and fascinating technologies that don't overshadow Charlie Brooker's deeply personal stories." If you find yourself missing Black Mirror, all of the seasons, including the interactive film Bandersnatch, are currently available to stream on Netflix. And if you just want more Brooker, his television review series -- Antiviral Swipe -- is coming back for a special one-off "quarantine special," which will premiere on BBC Two on Thursday, May 14 in the UK. For more Black Mirror, watch executive producers Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones pick their five favorite moments from the entire series and respond to some hilarious IGN comments. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=netflix-spotlight-may-2020&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] David Griffin still watches DuckTales in his pajamas with a cereal bowl in hand. He's also the TV Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.
08 May 10:17

'Chorus' is a space shooter about a pilot and her sentient ship

by Marc DeAngelis
After all these years, space shooters like Star Fox and Wing Commander stand out as classics. Publisher Deep Silver hopes to bring a similarly fast-paced, zero-G feeling to Xbox One and Xbox Series X. Chorus was revealed during Microsoft’s Xbox 20/20...
08 May 10:17

'Assassin's Creed Valhalla' trailer shows off Xbox Series X gameplay

by Igor Bonifacic
After a day-long Photoshop teaser and a cinematic trailer, we finally got to see Ubisoft’s new Assassin’s Creed game in action. During Microsoft’s recent Inside Xbox stream, the company showed off gameplay footage of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.The tra...
08 May 09:15

Raspberry Pi Smart Mirror Uses AI for Facial Recognition

by Ash Puckett
This Raspberry Pi smart mirror uses a Pi 4 with facial recognition software to load a custom profile.
07 May 10:32

EU says websites can't hide content behind 'cookie walls'

by Jon Fingas
Are you frustrated with websites trying to dodge around the EU’s cookie consent laws by forcing you accept cookies just to view anything? So is the EU. The European Data Protection Board has published (via TechCrunch) new guidelines saying that “cook...
07 May 10:31

Google Authenticator for Android can finally move accounts between devices

by Jon Fingas
Google hasn’t significantly tweaked Authenticator on Android for years (Android Police notes the last big upgrade was in 2017), but it’s about to get a much-needed refresh. The company is rolling out an update that, most notably, lets you transfer ac...
07 May 07:41

Cyberattack Steals PC Data Through Its Power Supply

by Niels Broekhuijsen
A security researcher found a way to steal data from a PC through its power supply.
07 May 07:38

Linux Desktop Environment Face-Off: Which GUI is Best?

by Mats Tage Axelsson
We compare the five leading Linux desktop environments, including KDE, Gnome and Cinnamon, in a 7-round face-off to help you find the one that’s right for you.
05 May 15:10

The first 'Space Force' trailer has Steve Carell dancing to the Beach Boys

by Christine Fisher
Netflix released the first trailer for its Space Force spoof today, and it includes the kinds of digs at the Trump administration’s quest to militarize space that you’re hoping for.The trailer explains that POTUS wants complete space domination, clai...