Wednesday, June 30, 2021

The Verge - Entertainments

The Verge - Entertainments

Roku launches its new originals with a Demi Lovato talk show

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 05:25 PM PDT

The Demi Lovato Show will debut July 30th. | Image: Roku

The first of a dozen-plus Roku Originals to premiere on the Roku Channel will kick off July 30th with The Demi Lovato Show, a series that had originally been slated for a debut on Quibi.

The show will now launch as Roku's first "original" to land on the Roku Channel, the platform's free and ad-supported streaming offering. While originally intended for Quibi, the show will be brand new to audiences when it arrives on the Roku Channel this week. Each episode will be 10 minutes long, feature a celebrity guest, and will cover topics as wide-ranging as UFOs, activism, mental health, gender identity, and police reform.

In a statement, Lovato said that they have "never been one to shy away from speaking candidly about things." The show had previously been announced as Pillow Talk with Demi Lovato on Quibi, though it never aired.

Roku swiped much of Quibi's library after the service finally folded and announced in April that it would rebrand the haul as Roku Originals. The company further said at the time that some 75 titles would stream on the Roku Channel as free and ad-supported content.

A spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that while some of these earlier released shows technically made their way to the Roku Channel in May, others have not been previously released, including this one. That makes The Demi Lovato Show the first Roku Original debuting on The Roku Channel to date.

It's almost as if Quibi never truly left.

Correction: An earlier version of this article used pronouns other than Lovato's preferred "they/them." We regret the error.

Sen. Warren calls for ‘meticulous’ review of Amazon’s MGM acquisition

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 04:30 PM PDT

Senate Votes On Whether To Advance For The People Act
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks with reporters on her way to a lunch with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol on June 22, 2021 in Washington, DC. | Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Senator Elizabeth Warren is calling on the Federal Trade Commission for a thorough review of Amazon's bid to acquire MGM, arguing that the deal could harm consumers and may have anticompetitive effects in the streaming space and beyond.

In a letter addressed to newly sworn-in FTC chair Lina Khan and shared exclusively with The Verge, Warren urged the FTC to specifically and closely examine "the possible anticompetitive effects this deal will have on streaming services and entertainment products in addition to the broader impacts that this transaction may have on workers, small businesses, and competition overall as Amazon—which already dominates numerous markets—accelerates its aggressive monopolistic behavior."

The FTC is said to be reviewing the deal as part of a larger antitrust investigation of Amazon's business. In her letter to Khan, Warren cited Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act as barring mergers for which the outcome "may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly." Warren argued that because Amazon's economic impact is so far-reaching — including but not limited to its services business — a deal that benefits its streaming service Prime Video will only strengthen its position in the marketplace.

Amazon has a limited footprint in the film industry, but it will have a number of advantages as it enters the market.

The company's deep pockets put the company in a virtually unmatched position to invest heavily to strengthen its position in the streaming wars. Moreover, Prime Video is offered as one of many services that are technically "perks" rather than individual paid subscriptions. New offerings like exclusive content serve to boost the appeal of Amazon's paid Prime subscription service, which costs $119 per year.

Amazon announced in May that it had reached a deal to acquire the legacy film studio for $8.45 billion. At the time, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios Mike Hopkins said that Amazon was drawn to MGM because of "the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM's talented team."

In her letter, however, Warren wrote that the company's "tactic to operate at a financial loss and use low prices to lure in customers and capture the market has worked before, and the FTC must determine whether this vertical acquisition is truly an entertainment strategy or merely another step towards unfettered monopolization."

United’s latest jets will offer Bluetooth for in-flight entertainment

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 03:58 PM PDT

Image: United

United Airlines is adding a long-awaited feature to the in-flight entertainment seatback screens of its new Boeing 737 Max 8 jets — support for Bluetooth headphones. The company is making the upgrade as part of "United Next", a new plan to expand and modernize its fleet with what it says are larger, fuel-efficient jets and a more comfortable in-flight experience.

I haven't flown in the last two years — for reasons that are hopefully obvious — but the thing that grinds most of my past flying experience to a halt is dealing with the bizarre two-pronged audio jacks airplanes use for inflight audio. Having headphones with a 3.5mm audio jack isn't hard, but it doesn't reflect the Bluetooth audio lifestyle, Apple, and plenty of other tech companies have slowly forced me to adopt. I don't like the wireless audio freak I've become, but it happened, which makes United's upgrades so exciting, as demoed in the tweets below from aviation writer Jason Rabinowitz.

Adding seatback screens made a huge difference in how tolerable flying is, but it's been held up by lagging audio support that The Verge has even written a guide to getting around. And this isn't a problem unique to United. Other airlines like Delta or JetBlue have been offering seatback screens for years, but have also saddled flyers with analog audio. United just might be one of the first airlines to start the next wave of inflight entertainment improvements (hopefully).

However, there's room for things to go a bit sideways. As part of its upgrades, United's new 737 Max 8 jets offer 10 or 13-inch inflight entertainment screens on the backs of all seats, which might mean a lot of people trying to connect to Bluetooth at once. That could cause interference, and might also make the process of connecting your headphones more of a chore if you're having to hunt through multiple devices trying to pair in the same menu. United currently only offers Bluetooth on its Max 8 jets which it says should start flying this summer. The company didn't share how it plans to address issues with Bluetooth, but said it's still "studying the technology."

I can't rightfully claim that Bluetooth is as meaningful a change as more legroom or safer flights, but for an airline industry hoarding cash to make it through the pandemic and looking to entice frequent flyers to earn their miles again, any snazzy new feature can't hurt.

Nacon RIG Pro Compact review: compact with caveats

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 01:29 PM PDT

There's a crowd for a mini Xbox controller, but this one doesn't get everything right

Accessory brand Nacon recently put out its $50 RIG Pro Compact wired controller for the Xbox Series X / S (and Xbox One) consoles and PC, and I was immediately drawn to it. It doesn't try anything revolutionary, but I have a thing for controllers that drastically alter the shape of the console maker's reference design. In this case, Nacon's is a tinier, shorter take on Microsoft's latest controller, but the analog sticks and triggers feel just as large — some of the buttons are actually larger. There's less distance between where your thumbs lie on the sticks and where the triggers are, which should be a boon for people with small hands or those who just want to feel like everything is easily within reach.

It's a good-looking little controller. But setting the form factor to the side momentarily, one of the main features of the Rig Pro Compact is that it has a 3.5mm audio port for headphones and that it unlocks access to the Dolby Atmos app on PC and Xbox once you plug it in. With it, you'll get Dolby's spatial audio advancements through wired headphones or headsets you connect to the Pro Compact. It's a nice incentive if you're looking for a wired controller, but I don't consider this to be a must-have feature.

Nacon Pro Compact
This all-plastic controller has a slightly grippy texture on its underside.

Whether you should buy the Pro Compact depends mostly on the size of your hands. As I mentioned, it's a shorter controller from top to bottom than Microsoft's, so there's less distance between the triggers and buttons. That change, while beneficial for many, has a few knock-on effects that might negatively impact your experience with it, as it did for me.

I have medium-sized hands and their small grips tuck comfortably into my palms, but the rear section of the controller's housing for the triggers gets in the way of where I'd normally rest my index finger knuckles on Microsoft's controller. This likely won't be problematic if you're someone who keeps both sets of pointer and middle fingers at the ready on shoulder buttons (though, I have yet to meet anyone who uses a controller like this).

Another change that might be an issue for more people is the relocation of the view, menu, and share buttons. They're much closer to vital controls on the Pro Compact than they are on Microsoft's controller. This one's more nitpicky than the last, but it leads to accidental presses during gameplay. The menu button is so close to the X, A, B, Y buttons that it looks and feels like it belongs in that cluster of inputs. On the topic of buttons, the tactility of each face button feels spot-on compared to Microsoft's controller, though around the back the rear triggers feel like they have a shorter pull, which makes them less satisfying to use.

Nacon Pro Compact
Everything is within reach, for better or worse. I accidentally tapped the menu, view, and share buttons during gameplay.
Nacon Pro Compact
I usually like to rest my middle fingers around the grips, but the rear trigger housing gets in the way.

One of my favorite things about the Pro Compact is its companion app available for Xbox and PC that lets you tweak the sensitivity of both sticks (in addition to their respective dead zones). It also allows you to remap every button on the controller to your liking, change the actuation distance of the triggers, and toggle the directional pad between four-way inputs to eight-way for more control options. The vibration can be toggled on or off in the app, as well. Microsoft lets you adjust many of these settings with its own controllers, but not every third-party company goes through the effort of making their own app.

If most of the controllers on the market for Xbox or PC are too big for your hands, the Nacon Pro Compact is fairly easy to recommend giving a try at $50. It's one less thing to connect wirelessly or manage battery levels for, and its 9.8-feet braided cord is lengthy and has a breakaway connector to let it safely detach if there's force applied to the cable. That's all great, but if you don't have any issues using Microsoft's own Xbox controller from an ergonomic standpoint, there isn't much here that'll make your time gaming more enjoyable. I fit into the latter group, and while I could enjoy casual gameplay with the Pro Compact, it's tough to turn away from the more familiar, comfortable curves of Microsoft's model.

Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

HBO Max launches outside the US in 39 new territories

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 12:22 PM PDT

The HBO Max logo against a dark background with white circles around it.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

HBO Max is launching in 39 territories in Latin America and the Caribbean today, expanding the service outside the US and US territories for the first time.

A key difference for the launch in Latin America is that there won't be an ad-supported plan as there is in US, a spokesperson told The Verge. Instead, subscribers in Latin America will have the option to subscribe to a mobile-only plan that supports SD streaming and up to five title downloads, or they can choose a standard plan that supports five personalized profiles, up to three simultaneous users, up to 30 title downloads, and high-definition streams in HD and 4K where available. Pricing will vary based on the region.

"With today's launch, we are introducing our global platform and providing a brand new user experience to millions of fans across Latin America and the Caribbean," Johannes Larcher, head of HBO Max International, said in a statement.

As part of the rollout, the company said it will produce 100 local originals in Latin America over the next two years. Additionally, UEFA Champions League events will become available to subscribers in Mexico and Brazil later this year, the company said. A spokesperson for HBO Max told The Verge that local originals are only being produced in Latin America right now. There will be no Caribbean originals.

To sweeten the deal, the company is offering the service to new subscribers in Latin America and the Caribbean at a 50 percent discounted rate for as long as they maintain their subscription if they sign up before July 31st.

The launch also makes HBO Max available to US subscribers traveling in these newly supported regions, so long as they are on the service's ad-free tier, the company said in a press release. Likewise, Latin America-based subscribers will be able to stream HBO Max when traveling in the US. As part of its global expansion, HBO Max is expected to launch in Europe later this year.

Remedy’s Project Condor is a multiplayer spinoff of Control

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 11:49 AM PDT

Control

Developer Remedy Entertainment announced that it's making a new game, codenamed "Condor," a multiplayer spinoff of Control. No release date, price, or story beats have been shared for Project Condor, but all we know so far is that Remedy's press release says it will be a four-player cooperative PvE (player vs. environment) game. It'll be built with Northlight, the same engine used for Control. It will release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X / S consoles.

The game will be published by 505 Games. "As a multiplayer game, Project Condor has the potential to engage the gaming community in the long run, contributing to 505 Games' product revenue stream longer than traditional games," shared the co-CEOs of Digital Bros Group, the company that operates the publisher, in a statement.

Project Condor
Control game director Mikael Kasurinen says this concept art "tells pretty well what Condor is about."

Remedy and 505 Games shared that they are also collaborating on a "bigger-budget" Control title coming in the future. According to the press release, the companies have "outlined high-level collaboration terms," so it could be a while before we see the next installment in action.

Control isn't the only franchise that Remedy Entertainment is focused on. It's working on CrossfireX alongside Smilegate, the Korean developer that created the popular FPS Crossfire. Additionally, the developer joined Epic Games Publishing as a partner, and as of late March 2020, it said that the publishing deal "covered two titles; one larger-scale production, and a smaller game set in the universe."

With xCloud on PC and iOS, cloud gaming’s next big moment has arrived

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 09:21 AM PDT

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

On Monday, Microsoft finally delivered two long-in-the-works updates for its Xbox Cloud Gaming Service (xCloud) that could mark a sea change for the future of cloud gaming.

One is that xCloud games are now powered by custom Xbox Series X hardware, a major upgrade from the Xbox One S consoles that have powered the service since its launch in September. This means xCloud now has faster load times, less latency, and higher-resolution 1080p streaming. But perhaps more importantly, xCloud is expanding from Android to iOS and PC via the web for anyone in 22 countries with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Taken together, the two updates mean that nearly anyone who has access to the service can play some of the biggest games on Xbox, including next-generation Xbox Series X games, right inside a browser across phones, tablets, laptops, PCs — and all for just $15 bucks a month, no $500 console required.

I've spent some more time with xCloud since the custom Xbox Series X server hardware started rolling out last week, and I've been impressed with the changes. Many games load quickly and look great on my MacBook Air or my iPhone 12 Mini. There is a small amount of latency, but it often isn't too detrimental, especially if I'm playing something that doesn't require fast reflexes or twitch aiming.

I should warn you that xCloud doesn't exactly replicate the experience of playing a game on a Series X. There's only a tiny amount of latency when I'm playing on my console, and for a close race in Forza Horizon 4 or a multiplayer match in Halo, I want as little latency as possible. xCloud peaks at 1080p resolution, and while that's as high as my main gaming monitor goes (yes, I am in the market for a Real TV), if you want to play in 4K, you can't do that with xCloud just yet. xCloud's selection of more than 100 games, while a lot, doesn't offer everything I might want to play. Fortnite isn't on the service and neither is Microsoft's own massive hit Minecraft.

While xCloud's technology still can't beat the responsiveness of playing on a console, what's been more impressive to me is the way everything syncs from my Xbox Series X to xCloud because it's all tied to my Xbox account. Ori and the Blind Forest loads right where I left off near the end of the game. I can hop into Nier: Automata's overworld just to hear the game's excellent music. If I want to play Psychonauts to bounce around the legendary (and unsettling) milkman level just for the heck of it, I can.

I don't have any of those games installed on my Series X right now, but with xCloud I can sample them all in the span of a few minutes right from my laptop or phone. And I could easily see myself testing something I'm interested in on xCloud before going through the process of installing a game onto my Series X for a full playthrough later. Browsing xCloud reminds me of cruising the vast amount of experiences in Roblox in that it's easy to jump into anything that piques my interest, and if I don't like it, I can quickly move on to something else.

This ability to dip in and out of games from the cloud isn't particularly novel. It's also easy to move from game to game on the collections of titles available on Amazon Luna's channels or Google's Stadia Pro subscription. But those platforms want you to invest in always playing via the cloud, which I don't always want to do. (And after a certain amount of time, I'd probably hit a data cap.) xCloud, on the other hand, is more of an add-on to Xbox Game Pass that lets me play games that I already own or ones that are included as part of the subscription, and if I don't want to play them streamed from the cloud, I can boot up my Series X.

I'd also argue that xCloud has a major leg up on Amazon and Google by offering a far more impressive selection of titles. And with big Xbox games like Halo Infinite and Bethesda's Starfield, which will both presumably be available on xCloud, the service will only become a better value. Stadia's roadmap is more bleak, especially since Google shut down its in-house development studios in February. I'm not aware of any exclusive games in the works for Luna, and Amazon already has a rather dismal track record with video games so far.

I won't be moving full time to xCloud gaming quite yet. The latency is enough of an issue that I think I'll usually want to play Xbox games directly on my Series X. But after the upgrades to xCloud announced Monday, the service is an excellent perk to the already great Xbox Game Pass subscription that makes it easier to play Xbox games over the cloud without having to think about it. The updates could be a big step toward bringing cloud gaming to more people after years of unfulfilled promise.

Good Omens is returning for a second season on Amazon Prime Video

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 09:16 AM PDT

Good Omens is returning for a second season on Amazon Prime Video, the company announced today, with stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant returning to reprise their roles as the odd-couple angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley.

Also back for season 2 is Neil Gaiman, who co-wrote the original novel together with Terry Pratchett and will be returning as showrunner alongside Douglas Mackinnon (who directed the first season). Gaiman will also be writing the second season together with John Finnemore.

The six-episode first season was originally conceived as a standalone miniseries, and already covered the entirety of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's original novel. So much so that both Gaiman and Rhianna Pratchett, Terry's daughter, shot down any continuations beyond the scope of the book in 2018.

But it's a well known fact that Terry Pratchett and Gaiman had been planning a sequel to the first book, although the two didn't manage to actually publish it before Pratchett's death in 2015. "I got to use bits of the sequel in Good Omens - that's where our angels came from," Gaiman explained in a statement obtained by Entertainment Weekly. "Terry's not here any longer, but when he was, we had talked about what we wanted to do with Good Omens, and where the story went next. And now, thanks to BBC Studios and Amazon, I get to take it there."

Gaiman had also previously hinted on his Tumblr in 2019 that "there is entire novel plot that nobody knows about, and Terry was absolutely in favour of that story being told" — presumably the planned sequel that season 2 will be adapting. "We are back in Soho, and all through time and space, solving a mystery, which starts with an angel wandering through Soho, with no memory," Gaiman teased.

Of course, Good Omens (the TV show) was also a big hit for Amazon Prime Video with an enthusiastic online fan base, so it's not hard to see why everyone involved wanted to put together a second season. There's no release date for the upcoming six-episode season, but filming is set to begin later in 2021.

Black Widow injects a little James Bond into the MCU

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 09:00 AM PDT

Photo: Marvel Studios

Natasha Romanoff finally gets her standalone film

By the standards of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Widow feels a little dated.

We're now at a time when superhero exploits are filled with powerful cosmic gods, bizarre sitcom worlds, and space lizards that control the flow of time. Compared to that, a globe-trotting story about secret agents doesn't sound too exciting. There isn't a single alien or witch. So though Black Widow technically kicks off the fourth phase of the MCU — which also includes the likes of Eternals and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — it plays out more like an earlier, more straightforward Marvel movie. Really, it almost doesn't feel like a superhero film at all. Think of it more like the MCU's take on James Bond.

Black Widow starts out rather peacefully, with a stereotypical nuclear family in a small suburban town. It looks idyllic — but it's also fake. The family is part of a front for Russian super soldier Alexei Shostakov, aka the Red Guardian (David Harbour) and Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), a spy who doubles as a scientist. Very quickly their covers are blown and the family is forced to escape, and along with their "daughters" — Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) — they make a daring escape to Cuba.

The story then fast forwards 21 years. (Chronologically, it takes place right after Captain America: Civil War.) Romanoff is on the run, hunted by the head of a mysterious organization known as the Red Room, which also happens to be the group behind the Black Widow program. Eventually, she partners with her estranged sister, now also a trained Black Widow herself, to take them down.

Photo: Marvel Studios

The movie has a lot of the hallmarks of a classic spy movie. There's a shady evil group (the Red Room utilizes mind control for nefarious means, including keeping the Black Widow agents in line), jet-setting jaunts to a handful of countries across the globe (that includes the likes of Cuba, Morocco, and Norway), a technological MacGuffin that everyone is after (a secret serum that negates the effects of mind control), and lots of daring escapes where virtually everything explodes (in the first hour alone there are two scenes that involve near-death escapes via plane or helicopter). Romanoff even has a sketchy friend who can get her whatever she needs, whether it's a trailer to hide out in or a helicopter to fly to Russia.

As an action movie it's solid, with lots of fun set pieces to gawk at and a particularly menacing villain in Taskmaster, who stalks Romanoff like a Resident Evil monster crossed with Winter Soldier. It also works surprisingly well as a standalone story. While there are a handful of references to other movies, and fans will likely enjoy delving deeper into Romanoff's backstory, you can mostly ignore all that if you want, and you're still left with an entertaining spy thriller. (The most Marvel-y thing about Black Widow is its post-credits scene.)

If that's all Black Widow was, it would be a fine, if forgettable, romp. What makes it work is the surprising amount of humor and how it elevates the rest of the story. Romanoff is as dour as ever, but here it feels deliberate; the movie does a great job of humanizing a character that's far too often been relegated to a supporting role. And her more serious tone is balanced out nicely by comic relief from Harbour and Pugh, who see her as family rather than an Avenger. Harbour absolutely hams it up as a walking definition of toxic masculinity, a former superhero past his prime who is slowly realizing he may not have been all that heroic to begin with. You really get a sense of his character as he sits in a Russian jail, easily beating a lineup of inmates at arm wrestling, all while getting a tattoo and making bold, if impossible claims, about his long-term beef with Captain America. He has so much fun, even struggling to squeeze into an old costume from his glory days.

Photo: Marvel Studios

Pugh, meanwhile, deals with a life full of hardship — as we learn in the movie, only one in 20 Black Widow agents actually survive the training — with full-on sarcasm. She's constantly making quips to lighten the mood, is irreverent in her glee for death, and takes a lot of joy from making fun of the most serious Avenger. You never knew the Black Widow needed a little sister mocking every instance in an Avengers film where she does something meant to be sexy, aloof, and cool, until Pugh is doing contortions on the floor of a gas station asking why Natasha always poses like that.

The highlight of the movie is the strange, uncomfortable, and yet familiar dynamic that arises when the four get back together two decades after pretending to be a family. They settle into their old rhythms despite the years, and violence, that separate them. When the sisters rescue the Red Guardian from a secluded, maximum security Russian prison, he can't help but lean into his fatherly instincts in his own unique way, gleefully boasting about their murderous careers. It's the same misfit energy that binds the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Maybe it feels like a family because they're the only ones who can stand each other.

Black Widow still doesn't reach the heights of the best Marvel has to offer. But at the very least it manages to carve out its own space in the ever-crowded MCU. Instead of pushing things forward, it offers up blockbuster action that's almost comforting in its familiarity: laughs, explosions, and characters you can't help but root for, no matter how bad they actually are.

Black Widow premieres in theaters and on Disney Plus Premier Access on July 9th.

Logitech’s $70 G335 is a colorful wired gaming headset

Posted: 29 Jun 2021 08:35 AM PDT

Logitech G335 headset

Logitech announced its new G335 wired gaming headset that's available for preorder now at $69.99. It's expected to ship in July. The G335 borrows several design elements from the $129.99 G733 wireless model released in 2020, including its expressive color options (as well as a new mint colorway), the comfortable bungee headband, breathable ear pads, and a volume dial built into one of its ear cups.

This more affordable model is compatible with the G733's replaceable headband straps and mic covers sold through Logitech's site, but it does away with most of that headset's fancier features, like USB-C charging and the strip of RGB lighting on the front side of the ear cups. It has a flip-to-mute microphone, whereas the G733's was detachable. Logitech says this wired model has a slimmer design for "a smaller fit and increased comfort." It weighs 240 grams, which is about 40 grams less than the wireless model.

The G335 comes with a 3.5mm cable attached, which ensures support with many devices that have an audio jack, be it a PS5 or Xbox Series X console controller, a PC, tablet, a laptop, or something else. Logitech includes a PC splitter to accommodate computers that have separate microphone and audio inputs.

It's best not to expect too much from a $70 wired headset, but I loved the design and fit of the G733. And if the audio performance is anything like the pricier wireless model, the G335 could be easy to recommend at its price point. We'll be testing this one out soon.

Correction: The original article erroneously stated that the G733 has a flip-to-mute microphone. It has a detachable microphone. We regret the error.
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