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27 Sep 04:45

ronbeckdesigns: Michel Blazy - Final Bouquet (2012) - a kinetic...



ronbeckdesigns:

Michel Blazy - Final Bouquet (2012) - a kinetic installation that oozes sheets of foam into a monastery in Paris

27 Sep 03:56

24 Texas men’s and women’s basketball games to be featured on Longhorn Network

by Cody Daniel
Emahlstadt

boooooo!!!

NCAA Basketball: Texas Christian at Texas Stephen Spillman-USA TODAY Sports

Both Texas squads will be featured on Longhorn Network two dozen times throughout the 2019-20 season.

On Thursday, the Longhorn Network schedule for the Texas Longhorns men’s and women’s basketball season was announced, with a total of 24 contests set to be featured on ESPN’s 24-hour University of Texas-centric channel.

Shaka Smart’s Longhorns will appear on Longhorn Network 10 times throughout the 2019-20 season, with their first appearance taking place for Texas’ season opener against Northern Colorado on Nov. 5. Three home conference games against Kansas State, Iowa State, and TCU will be televised on Longhorn Network, as well.

2019-20 Longhorn Network Texas men’s basketball schedule:

Karen Aston’s Texas squad will make a few more appearances on Longhorn Network next season, with 14 scheduled games in total. The first Longhorn Network outing will also be for the season opener against Lubbock Christian on Oct. 28. Half of Texas’ 14 scheduled Longhorn Network games will feature conference matchups, beginning with the Horns’ Big 12 opener against TCU on Jan. 3, as well as the Big 12 finale on Mar. 8.

2019-20 Longhorn Network Texas women’s basketball schedule:

Both the Texas men’s and women’s squads will be aiming to build upon 20-win campaigns from 2018-19.

Smart’s Longhorns missed the NCAA Tournament, but capped the season with a five-game winning streak and ultimately, an NIT Championship. Aston’s Horns amassed a 23-10 record en route to the program’s sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, but fell to Indiana in the opening round.

26 Sep 22:52

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening reviews round-up, all the scores

by Sherif Saed
Emahlstadt

never played the gameboy original of this -- at least i don't think i did -- but am nonetheless bummed to have to miss out on this due to not owning a switch.

The Switch’s big game this week is The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and we’ve got all the reviews.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is the authentic remake of the Game Boy original. Though the visuals have been drastically improved, Link’s Awakening doesn’t make too many changes to the original classic in terms of design.

The story follows on from the events of A Link to the Past, with Link having been shipwrecked on Koholint Island.

The remake includes all content in the Game Boy game, as well as the Color Dungeon that was later added in the Game Boy Color’s DX version. Amiibo fans will also be happy to know that there’s a new Link amiibo.

When Alex played the game in June he reported some framerate issues in some spots. Look out for his review in our round-up below to see if this has been ironed out for launch.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening launches tomorrow, September 20 on Nintendo Switch.

The post The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening reviews round-up, all the scores appeared first on VG247.

26 Sep 20:21

Fortnite: Dance at different telescopes in a single match

by Lauren Aitken
Emahlstadt

i guess this is what the kids are into these days. wtf.

It’s Week 8 of Fortnite Season 10 and you’ll be dancing in front of different telescopes to earn your Battle Stars.

Alongside the easier challenge of dancing at three different telescopes around the map, there’s also the Prestige version which has you dance at two telescopes in a single match.

You’ll be able to find these telescope on a variety of hills dotted around the bottom half of the map. Make sure you grab a weapon shortly after landing as these areas will get pretty busy.

Dance at different telescopes in a single match

Once you find a telescope, use a dancing emote for a few seconds until it registers as complete. There are six locations to choose from and it would be a good idea to choose two that are quite close together for the Prestige version of this challenge.

You can find telescopes:

  • On the hill west of Dusty Depot
  • On the hill to the north of Shifty Shafts
  • Southeast of Polar Peak
  • Northeast of Happy Hamlet
  • On the snowy hill to the west of Fatal Fields
  • Southwest of Moisty Palms

You can check out our guides for some of the more difficult Fortnite Prestige challenges here, as well the locations of the Season 10 hidden Battle Stars.

A Fortnite x Batman cross-over event is on the horizon, so check back soon for more information.

The post Fortnite: Dance at different telescopes in a single match appeared first on VG247.

26 Sep 16:57

‘Overwatch’ patch will rework nearly half of the game’s heroes

by Igor Bonifacic

Ahead of the game's October 15th Nintendo Switch launch, Blizzard has detailed the latest Overwatch patch, 1.41. The studio describes 1.41 as a "remaster," and notes that it'll require a big download when it becomes available sometime in the next couple of weeks. While 1.41 doesn't include a new map or playable character, it is likely to alter the balance of power between the game's different heroes.

Source: Blizzard

25 Sep 23:28

Jason Bateman in Talks to Direct New Movie Based on Murder-Mystery Board Game ‘Clue’

by John Squires

According to The Wrap, Jason Bateman is in talks not only to join Ryan Reynolds in a new Clue movie but also to direct the film, based on the iconic board game from Hasbro.

Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland, Deadpool) wrote the script for Fox/Disney. Bateman is fresh off of winning a Primetime Emmy for his work directing the series “Ozark.”

The game, first developed in 1949, is a contest to determine who of six suspects murdered the game’s victim, where the crime took place, and which weapon was used in the murder. Each player assumes the role of one of the six suspects, and attempts to deduce. It was of course turned into a movie back in 1985, directed by Jonathan Lynn and starring Tim Curry.

The Wrap notes that the new movie is not connected to the 1985 film.

Last we heard, it could potentially be a rated “R” movie.

24 Sep 23:38

According to the US Navy, the UFOs in These Three Videos Are Officially “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena”

by John Squires
Emahlstadt

neat

You’ll find countless videos of alleged “UFOs” all over the internet, but what makes three videos in particular quite compelling is that the US Navy isn’t writing them off as weather balloons, drones, camera anomalies or fakes. What sets the videos apart from the pack is that the Navy just admitted that even they can’t identify the flying objects captured in them.

As reported by Vice’s Motherboard, the US Navy has for the first time ever officially declared that the mysterious flying objects in the aforementioned videos are “unknown” aircraft.

The Navy considers the phenomena contained/depicted in those 3 videos as unidentified,” Navy spokesperson Joseph Gradisher told Motherboard.

The three videos were released by Blink 182 musician Tom DeLonge‘s To the Stars Academy of Arts & Science, filmed by US Navy pilots in November 2004 and January 2015.

Gradisher notes, “The ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ terminology is used because it provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects that have been observed entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges.”

Mind you, simply because an aerial vehicle is “unidentified” doesn’t mean that it’s piloted by alien beings, but the official statements on the three videos represent a big turning point in how seriously the US Navy is taking reports that previously would’ve been written off. In fact, the Navy began drafting new guidelines for reporting “unidentified aircraft” earlier this year.

There have been a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years,” the Navy said in a statement to the website Politico in April. “For safety and security concerns, the Navy and the [U.S. Air Force] takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report.”

Thanks to the To the Stars Academy, you can watch the three videos below.

24 Sep 23:01

Jeffrey Wright in Talks to Play Commissioner Gordon in ‘The Batman’; Jonah Hill Playing a Villain?

by John Squires
Emahlstadt

the penguin, obviously.

Robert Pattinson is Bruce Wayne in director Matt Reeves‘ upcoming The Batman, and THR reports tonight that Jeffrey Wright is now in talks to play Commissioner Gordon.

James Gordon is of course the police commissioner of Gotham City, and he has been played over the years in the world of film by Pat Hingle, Gary Oldman and J.K. Simmons.

Jonah Hill is also in talks for a secret villain role (likely Riddler or Penguin), Variety adds!

Reeves is reportedly casting a “rogues gallery” of DC villains who will appear in the film.

The Batman hits theaters on June 25, 2021.

24 Sep 17:24

‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ Heads Home in Time for Halloween

by John Squires
Emahlstadt

wow... that "certified fresh" rotten tomatoes badge on the box cover...

We’ve learned today that André Øvredal‘s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark arrives on Digital October 22 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 5 from Lionsgate.

In Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, “It’s 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind…but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time—stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah’s terrifying tome.”

4K UHD/BLU-RAY/DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES:

  • “The Bellows Construct” Featurette
  • “Creature from the Shadows” Featurette
  • “Mood Reels” Featurette
  • “Behind-the-Scenes Trailers: Set Visits” Featurette
  • “Dark Tales” Featurette
  • “Retro Horror” Featurette

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:

  • “Dark Tales” Featurette
  • “Retro Horror” Featurette

Produced by Guillermo del Toro, the film was released in theaters on August 9th, 2019. It pulled in just shy of $100 million worldwide, with a $92,515,919 total.

24 Sep 16:17

Tilt Five wants to bring augmented reality to tabletop games

by Nicole Lee
Emahlstadt

those glasses are horrible, but this is a concept i can get behind.

In 2013, former Valve engineer Jeri Ellsworth used an idea for projection-based AR glasses from her prior employment and built a company called Technical Illusions, which would then become castAR. Despite early success, including a $15 million investment from Andy Rubin's Playground, the company shuttered in 2017 amid financial troubles. However, Ellsworth and a small crew of former castAR employees put together enough funds to buy back the assets and created a new company called Tilt Five.

Now, after two years of retooling, Ellsworth and crew are ready to launch the new and improved version of her AR glasses, along with a renewed focus in tabletop AR gaming. The Kickstarter for Tilt Five launches today, where you can get a basic kit starting at $299. One of the key differentiators between this project and the last one? Ellsworth is now CEO and has greater control over its direction.

Source: Tilt Five

24 Sep 16:15

Mavis Beacon

There are actually lowercase-like 'oldstyle' forms of normal numbers with more pronounced ascenders and descenders, which is why some numbers like '5' in books sometimes dangle below the line. But the true capital numbers remain the domain of number maven Mavis Beacon.
24 Sep 15:25

Even Jeffrey Dean Morgan is wigged out by some fans' Negan fantasies

by Dennis Perkins on News, shared by Dennis Perkins to The A.V. Club
Emahlstadt

shared for the use of "wigged out" in a headline in 2019.

With AMC’s long-shambling zombie apocalypse drama The Walking Dead stubbornly and appropriately refusing to die (the show’s tenth season premieres on October 6), everyone’s favorite long-winded psychopath, the baseball bat-weilding Negan, has been cooling his heels in the slammer. According to Negan himself, Jeffrey…

Read more...

24 Sep 00:55

Former Ole Miss QB Snead, 32, dies in Texas

Emahlstadt

was aslo a backup (behind colt mccoy) at UT for a while. weird.

Former Ole Miss and Texas quarterback Jevan Snead has died at the age of 32. Police said the death is not considered suspicious.
20 Sep 17:55

4-star WR Troy Omeire flips commitment from Texas A&M to Texas

by Jonathan Wells
Emahlstadt

woooooo!

2020 wide receiver recruit Troy Omeire pictured during a visit to Texas. | Twitter: @troyomeire

The Houston-area receiver becomes the 20th member of the #cloUT2020 class.

Late Friday morning, 2020 wide receiver recruit Troy Omeire (Fort Bend Austin) announced his commitment to Texas via his Twitter account.

Omeire, a four-star recruit who measured 6’3.5 and 217 pounds at The Opening Regional in Houston in March, was originally offered by Texas in April of 2018, three months after he received his first offer from Texas A&M in late January. In May of this year he named Texas as one of his final four schools he was considering, along with Alabama, LSU, and Texas A&M. But he committed to Texas A&M on June 8 and had been an Aggie commit for over three months before flipping his commitment this morning.

His commitment gives the Longhorns 20 commits overall this cycle (dubbed as the #cloUT2020 class on social media), and he is the second wide receiver commit, along with Temple’s Quentin Johnston, who announced his commitment on Aug. 17. He is also the second recruit to publicly commit to the Longhorns this week, after 2020 running back Ty Jordan announced his commitment on Sunday.

Omeire leads his Fort Bend Austin team with 22 catches for 360 yards and four touchdowns through their first three games, though the Bulldogs are 0-3 so far. He caught 85 passes for 1,546 yards and 21 touchdowns between his sophomore and junior seasons and earned all-district first-team wide receiver honors in both years while competing in District 20-6A.

Worth noting: Omeire’s Fort Bend Austin team lost to Katy Tompkins in its first week of both this season and in 2018, so Omeire has had two up-close looks at Tompkins’ 2021 quarterback Jalen Milroe, who committed to Texas on July 21, 2019. In those two games against Austin, Milroe’s combined stats were: 17 completions on 22 passes for 316 yards, 5 TDs and no interceptions. No word yet on what role Milroe’s play on the field or work behind the scenes might have played on Omeire’s flip to Texas. (Also worth noting: Tompkins and Fort Bend Austin are just 12 miles apart.)

In the 247Sports Composite, Omeire is currently rated as the No. 188 recruit in the nation, the No. 29 Texas prospect and No. 32 wide receiver in the 2020 class.

20 Sep 17:33

Ten funny tweets

by noreply@blogger.com (John)
Emahlstadt

shared mostly because columbo, but also for that cat getting scared.





















































*More funny tweets.
18 Sep 15:56

Indiana hopeful Penix returns for UConn game

Emahlstadt

great name

The Indiana Hoosiers hope Michael Penix Jr. returns to action against Connecticut.
18 Sep 15:55

Death Stranding is a metaphor for Trump, says Kojima

by Emily Gera

Death Stranding can be understood as a metaphor for America, Trump, and even the EU, according to its creator.

Death Stranding’s recent trailer lingers on the idea of a divided people. And the message is pretty clear. “It’s about America,” Hideo Kojima tells Game Informer, “but I made that map deliberately not correctly America. Maybe it looks like Japan from that angle. I want people to not think ‘America,’ but ‘where you are.’ Because it depends on who is seeing it. And of course, it’s in the future, and everyone’s connected by internet, but everyone is fragmented. That’s kind of a metaphor as well.”

In Death Stranding, you play as Sam, tasked with connecting the country to the chiral network, a super communications system that is available to those who join the United Cities of America. What results is a land of those who are connected, and those who are not – and it’s in that dynamic that you might find a parallel in modern politics.

“When you connect, you can use UCA services, but at the same time, they’re retrieving your information 24 hours a day,” says Kojima of Death Stranding’s fictional network which provides coverage of “strands” across the continental United Cities. “It’s like 1984. Some people may not like that, and say ‘I’m not going to connect to UCA, because we’re going to repeat the same thing that we did.’ Like Trump, or the EU, these things. It’s a metaphor.”

Death Stranding releases on November 8 for PS4.

 

The post Death Stranding is a metaphor for Trump, says Kojima appeared first on VG247.

17 Sep 14:36

Ad supported websites are dead or dying. Here's why.

by rednikki
Emahlstadt

something i've rarely discussed in detail (because its boring and who cares, right?), but this is very closely related to why i bailed on my career over a year ago. there were some deeply personal reasons that were the final straw, but online advertising and marketing is at once vastly sophisticated, smart and targeted as well as completely broken and futile.

Ad revenue is sharply declining, causing cuts everywhere from Vice to Buzzfeed to mainstream news publications to the beloved Blue. Independent feminist websites, mainstream sites, and other websites across the spectrum are all going under, starved of money. But if they could make a profit off ads 10 years ago, why are they going under now? Why are sites closing in droves when everyone knows the big money is in advertising?

There's money in advertising, all right, but not for publishers. The cost of digital ads went up by 12% in 2017 and have continued to rise, but the Facebook/Google duopoly, along with a variety of ad tech firms, are keeping that money for themselves. They're paying publications much less than what they net (and continually decreasing that payment).

Compounding the problem for websites, users are ever less likely to click on ads – you're more likely to become a Navy Seal than click on a banner ad. And to make it even worse, ad networks practice creative accounting that would make Hollywood jealous, meaning they only pay out for a fraction of the ads a publication runs.

This means websites have to have far more advertisements on their sites to achieve a fraction of the revenue they would have gotten 10 years ago. And with more ads, they're serving up more opportunities for malware to be installed via those ads. Meanwhile, users hate ads so much they're installing ad blockers in droves, which leads to fewer clicks for the website, which leads to ever-lower revenue.

Companies are beginning to experiment with many new models as it becomes clearer that media organizations will collapse if they depend on ads alone for revenue.
17 Sep 07:00

Photo



16 Sep 16:21

Miles Joris-Peyrafitte Reportedly On Board to Direct Margot Robbie-Produced ‘Tank Girl’ Remake

by John Squires
Emahlstadt

margot robbie was 4 when tank girl came out. also, tank girl is not very good.

As we learned just yesterday, Margot Robbie and her company LuckyChap Entertainment have their sights set on bringing comic book property Tank Girl back to the big screen, which was of course first brought to the screen by director Rachel Talalay and star Lori Petty back in 1995. As reported by Collider, it looks like the film now has a director in place.

According to the site, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte (Dreamland) will direct Tank Girl.

Collider reports that the plan is for Robbie to play the title character herself, but that could always change. “Robbie won’t commit to star until she reads [the script],” the site notes.

“Sources say the film may find Tank Girl teaming with a fellow outlaw named Jet Girl and a group of rebels to rise up and destroy a tyrannical government that has seized control of the already scarce water supply.”

From what we gather, Tank Girl creators Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett haven’t actually been contacted about the project. LuckyChap optioned the rights, Martin says, from MGM.

13 Sep 23:14

Robert Kirkman’s “Super Dinosaur” Will Stomp Its Way Onto Amazon Prime Video in October

by John Squires
Emahlstadt

i'll never pass up an opportunity to talk shit on the embarassingly bad, hacky fucking joke of a writer that is robert kirkman. blows my mind how much this dude's work gets picked up for tv just because of the walking dead, which was never very good or very well written.

Multiplatform content company Skybound Entertainment and leading global children’s entertainment company Spin Master Ltd. will bring children’s adventure series Super Dinosaur to Amazon Prime Video on October 6, we’ve learned this afternoon! All of season one part one, consisting of 13 x 30-minute episodes, will be available on the show’s launch day. 

Spin Master has also struck a raft of international broadcast deals, which include ABC Australia, Television New Zealand TVNZ, Discovery Latin America, iQIYI, and NOGA-Communications Israel. 

Based on the Robert Kirkman and Jason Howard Skybound/Image comic book of the same name, Super Dinosaur follows 10-year-old genius Derek Dynamo and his T-Rex best friend Super Dinosaur as they protect the planet against evil.

The series is produced by Spin Master Entertainment and Skybound North/Wind Sun Sky, the Vancouver-based division of Skybound. Season one previously aired on Teletoon in Canada.

“Jason Howard and I created Super Dinosaur as something all kids would enjoy as much as our own kids do. In doing so we were able to craft a world as immersive and engaging as the world of The Walking Dead… but for kids! Our partners at Spin Master have helped Skybound prepare this world for a mass-audience and I’m so happy this series has landed at Amazon where I know it will thrive,” said Robert Kirkman, creator of Super Dinosaur and The Walking Dead, and Chairman at Skybound Entertainment.

“These new sales agreements for China, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and Israel highlight the global appetite for Spin Master’s action-packed content. We are confident that children all over the globe will find the characters and storylines of Super Dinosaur exciting and hilarious,” said Thom Chapman, Senior Director, Sales and Distribution at Spin Master Entertainment.  

In addition to the television series, Skybound and Spin Master will launch a toy line featuring key characters from the world of Super Dinosaur this fall, available on Amazon in the US and exclusively at Toys ‘R Us in Canada.

13 Sep 22:58

Waxwork Brings ‘Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives’ Soundtrack to Vinyl for the First Time

by John Squires
Emahlstadt

that's a hawt gatefold

Announced today, on the eve of Friday the 13th, Waxwork Records is bringing the soundtrack to Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives to vinyl for the very first time!

The release of Harry Manfredini’s soundtrack includes killer new art by “Ghoulish” Gary Pullin, deluxe packaging, 180 gram vinyl, and two different vinyl variants to choose from.

Pre-orders begin tomorrow, Friday, September 13.

You’ll be able to grab yours through Waxwork’s website.

13 Sep 22:25

Why make the astronaut-in-a-diaper movie if you don't want to show an astronaut in a diaper?

by A.A. Dowd
Emahlstadt

exhibit A on why women should never cut their hair short:

If I had a dime for every movie “based on” or “inspired by” true events that I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival…well, let’s just say I’d have enough change in my pocket to pick up a couple extra slices of Pizza Pizza during the downtime between screenings at the Scotiabank. But among this year’s…

Read more...

13 Sep 14:21

"An alarming number of scientific papers contain Excel errors"

by noreply@blogger.com (John)
Emahlstadt

is peer review just dead now?

WaPo from a couple of weeks ago:
The Australian researchers found that roughly 1 in 5 of these papers included errors in their gene lists that were due to Excel automatically converting gene names to things like calendar dates or random numbers.

...

You see, genes are often referred to in scientific literature by symbols — essentially shortened versions of full gene names. The gene "Septin 2" is typically shortened as SEPT2. "Membrane-Associated Ring Finger (C3HC4) 1, E3 Ubiquitin Protein Ligase" gets mercifully shortened to MARCH1.

But when you type these shortened gene names into Excel, the program automatically assumes they refer to dates

...

Even worse

...

Even more troubling
*Previously: The Baroness's scarred look in Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #12 is based on a printing error in the original G.I. Joe series
12 Sep 17:29

Ring Fit Adventure is the Nintendo Switch’s new fitness experience

by Sherif Saed
Emahlstadt

just look at those hideous, terrifying, soulless smiles. jesus, nintendo. also, fuck your million goddamn peripherals.

Nintendo has officially unveiled the Ring Fit line of fitness devices that work with Nintendo Switch.

Two peripherals were revealed today: Ring-Con and Leg Strap. As shown in the first teaser, each one of the Switch’s Joy-Cons goes into one of the new accessories.

The Ring-Con is pressure-sensitive, tracking upper-body movements. The Leg Strap, on the other hand, tracks lower-body motion. The two are required to play Ring Fit Adventure, a new game Nintendo also announced today.

Ring Fit Adventure turns real-life exercises and fitness activities into moves in-game. The different challenges require players to squat, jog in place, stretch and so on. Ring Fit Adventure tracks your daily workout routines and turns some of the more popular exercises into mini-games.

The game also allows players to adjust the intensity of the different activities. As you can see in the trailer, Ring Fit Adventure is controlled entirely by performing physical tasks, a return to the days of Wii Sports.

A bundle that includes Ring Fit Adventure, a Ring-Con and a Leg Strap will be available beginning October 18 for $80.

The post Ring Fit Adventure is the Nintendo Switch’s new fitness experience appeared first on VG247.

12 Sep 04:00

'Control' DLC hints at an 'Alan Wake' tie-in

by Jon Fingas

Remedy's game worlds might collide in a very conspicuous way. The studio has shared a roadmap for Control's downloadable content through 2020, and a second paid expansion (AWE) due in mid-2020 hints at a not-so-subtle crossover between Jesse's adventures and those of Alan Wake. Officially, the company has only said the DLC will have Jesse exploring a new Investigations Sector of the Oldest House that explores Altered World Events (hence the title), but there are multiple hints of a connection. Be careful: spoilers are ahead.

Via: Vice

Source: Control

09 Sep 15:56

Kojima on Death Stranding: “Even now, I don’t understand the game”

by Emily Gera
Emahlstadt

rolled my eyes so hard i detached my fucking retinas.

Death Stranding’s own creator says he doesn’t understand the game.

Speaking to the Financial Times, video game auteur Hideo Kojima admitted even he can’t quite comprehend his upcoming title – a star-studded action game where the focus is connection rather than destruction.

“Death Stranding… even now, I don’t understand the game,” said Kojima of the PlayStation 4 release.

“Its world view, gameplay, they are all new. My mission is to create a genre that does not currently exist, and which takes everyone by surprise. There is, naturally, a risk in that…”

The story of Death Stranding has been teased out over the past year, trailer by surreal trailer. In the most recent one released by Kojima Studios, fans were introduced to a breastfeeding invisible baby born in the afterlife, but attached its mother through a floating, invisible umbilical cord.

Kojima theorises that video games are in some ways the ultimate expression of craftsmanship. While he has famously been a proponent of cinematic games, he describes what he does not in terms of art but rather as a craft service. Something more in line with a sushi master, someone who creates beautiful dishes but whose goal is ultimately nourishment.

“There are stories being told [in cinema] that my generation may find surprising but which the gamer generation doesn’t find weird at all,” he says of the distinction between the art of both industries.

“If you take something that looks like a banana and give it the title ‘apple’, that works as art. But it doesn’t apply to games. We are making things that are interactive. A banana has to be edible after you peel the skin. Cars have to be drivable. For games to be interactive and to deliver the enjoyment, there has to be a reality where there are lots of people backstage making it all happen.

“That is us – a kind of art-driven service industry.”

Death Stranding will release on November 8.

 

 

The post Kojima on Death Stranding: “Even now, I don’t understand the game” appeared first on VG247.

09 Sep 15:53

Control’s fascinating lore and satisfying world building are let down by its mundane story

by Sherif Saed
Emahlstadt

had my eye on this one for a while. mixed reviews though. probably wait 'til this one's on sale down the road.

The fiction intended to prop up Control’s main, character-driven story is one that is infinitely more interesting than Jesse’s weird adventure.

There’s a moment towards the end of Control where you arrive at the foundation of The Oldest House – the otherworldly building where the game takes place. Amongst the many pillars holding up the entirety of the game’s world is one with something curious etched on it.

In the mostly pitch-black environment, the painting is slightly out of view. A closer look reveals that it’s a carving of the world tree, a concept in many religions/mythologies, most notably Norse. The only way to reach so deeply into The Oldest House is through Ahti’s help, the unassuming and mysterious janitor.

The game never explains Ahti’s true nature – and it never needs to – despite how crucial he is to the story’s progression. Who is he, really? Ahti occasionally mumbles some Finish words amongst his broken English. With his seemingly exceptional powers and access, is he an ancient Norse god? Are we to assume The Oldest House is itself the world tree – a place that connects all the different dimensions/realities?

As I sat there pondering about the implications of such a small detail, I realised that I am invested in the story of Ahti, his identity, and the nature of The Oldest House more than I have ever been in anything concerning game’s central protagonist, Jesse Faden. This discovery solidified what I had been feeling throughout my time with Control, that Remedy created such rich lore it made Jesse’s mundane arc all the more unappealing. In fact, Control does little to make you care about Jesse’s story.

Control’s cold opening invites a lot of questions, many of which I figured would be answered along the way. Some were, naturally, but most of the revelations came by digging through the various documents and videos found in practically every room. About a third of the way through the game, Jesse reveals the real reason for seeking out the Bureau is to find her brother Dylan.

That’s it! In a game full of impossible ideas made manifest, the protagonist is simply looking for her abducted sibling. Even so, the eventual meeting with Dylan doesn’t make any big reveals, nor have a considerable enough impact on Jesse’s character progression.

All it amounts to is a new gameplay objective that conveniently shifts the attention to the B story about Trench and the origin of the Hiss. The talents of actress Courtney Hope were much better utilised as Beth in Quantum Break, enough to make her one of that game’s standout characters. Here, she feels as lost as the player. Even if her performance is largely fine, she’s never challenged through interesting emotional moments.

The more I rummaged through the game’s collectables and discovered its hidden areas, the more I was saddened to see the potential of Control’s exquisitely-crafted world squandered.

Over the course of the game, you’ll come across reports chronicling the many adventures into the unknown in the Bureau’s past; details about field missions to retrieve Objects of Power and contain the resulting Altered World Events (AWEs) – none of which you get to experience first-hand. Several of them, in fact, are dedicated to the AWE that kicked off Jesse’s story in the first place, but all of it is bound to pages of collectables.

Even if there was never any intention for Control to take place during the Bureau’s heady years, the main story could have done more to explore that side of Bureau. Trench, Darling, and the events that lead to the arrival of the Hiss are just too intriguing to be limited to window dressing. When the game ceases meandering and finally loops back around to address some of these questions, it does it so hurriedly as if it’s running out of time, and ends on a weak ‘good guys win, evil banished’ note.

There exists a different Control where you’re a field agent like those who first arrived at Ordinary, or one of the pioneers who ventured through the Thresholds into other worlds. I could even image a more engaging game where you have to actually play the role of director, making budget calls and reading mail as you’re slowly corrupted by an otherworldly force. You know, the game Trench was the star of.

Mapping the unknown, altering reality and defining cosmic entities are all things that took place in Control’s world at some point, I just wish we didn’t arrive so late to the party.

The post Control’s fascinating lore and satisfying world building are let down by its mundane story appeared first on VG247.

09 Sep 15:52

Comic: Portabello

by Tycho@penny-arcade.com (Tycho)
New Comic: Portabello
07 Sep 01:02

Kill List director Ben Wheatley signs on for Tomb Raider 2

by Emily Gera
Emahlstadt

love ben wheatley (especially kill list). don't love him signing on for this style of garbage-ass schlock. happy he's #gettinpaid but... gross.

British director Ben Wheatley is set to direct the sequel to Tomb Raider slated for the big screen March 19, 2020.

The Tomb Raider sequel will see the return of Alicia Vikander in the role of Lara Croft, Deadline reports.

Vikander first took the helm of the film franchise last year in Tomb Raider, which was directed by Roar Uthaug and grossed $275 million.

Ben Wheatley, who is best known for his dark cult films, is an exciting choice. He’s responsible for two of my favourite ever movies – psychological horror Kill List and the surreal black-and-white historical film A Field in England, about the effects of wild mushrooms on a band of soldiers during the English Civil War. I can’t even begin to imagine how he’ll interpret Tomb Raider.

The sequel will be penned by Wheatley’s frequent collaborator Amy Jump, who wrote the scripts for High-Rise, a dystopian drama based on the novel by J.G. Ballard, and Wheatley’s action-comedy Free Fire.

The post Kill List director Ben Wheatley signs on for Tomb Raider 2 appeared first on VG247.