Monday, July 5, 2021

The Verge - Entertainments

The Verge - Entertainments

New Trailers: The Many Saints of Newark, Foundation, Beckett, and more

Posted: 04 Jul 2021 02:51 PM PDT

Michael Gandolfini stars as Tony Soprano in The Many Saints of Newark | HBO Max

The Good Fight returned to its very weird and funny roots this week and introduced Mandy Patinkin as a — let's say "unconventional" judge, and it's as if my favorite character from Homeland got a new job. I know everyone is probably maxed out on how many streaming channels they can/want to subscribe to, but The Good Fight is reason enough to at least check out Paramount Plus. And I have no idea what's going to happen on the next episode of Loki but (mild spoiler ahead!) I can't imagine the two characters who got pruned will stay pruned.

This week we finally get a first look at the prequel to The Sopranos and a new look at the new Masters of the Universe show.

The Many Saints of Newark

In this prequel to The Sopranos, Michael Gandolfini plays Tony Soprano, the iconic role that won his father James multiple awards. Michael is a young Tony in what director Alan Taylor says is the story of Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola)— father of The Sopranos' Christopher— the man who made Tony into who he became. We get a glimpse of Vera Farmiga as Livia, who looks like she plays the matriarch as ice cold as the late, great Nancy Marchand did. Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, and Ray Liotta also star in The Many Saints of Newark, which comes to theaters and HBO Max October 1st.

Beckett

An American tourist vacationing in Greece gets into a car accident, and when he wakes up, he's embroiled in a conspiracy and people are shooting at him. Mr. Beckett does not appear to have the same skill set as Jason Bourne, however, which will probably make things a bit more difficult as he tries to figure out what the hell is going on and attempts to get to the US Embassy. John David Washington and Alicia Vikander star in Beckett, which hits Netflix August 13th.

Foundation

The second teaser trailer for Foundation finally gives us a release date for this long-awaited series based on the Isaac Asimov novels. The downfall of the Galactic Empire has been predicted by Hari Seldon (Jared Harris), so it has to build a foundation to preserve mankind's knowledge. Along with Harris, Lee Pace stars as Brother Day, and Lou Llobell as Gaal Dornick. Foundation premieres September 24th on Apple TV Plus, with new episodes every Friday.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation Part 1

We got a teaser of the Kevin Smith revival of He-Man's adventures in June, and now we get the full trailer. It's not a retelling of the He-Man story, but rather picks up where the original TV show concluded in 1985. Chris Wood, Mark Hamill, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lena Headley, and Mark Hamill (as Skeletor) voice characters in Masters of the Universe, which debuts on Netflix July 23rd.

Jolt

This trailer has Kate Beckinsale kicking things and beating people up but she isn't a vampire; instead she has a rare disorder that makes her rage out if she doesn't get regular shock treatments from Stanley Tucci. Naturally she meets a guy who doesn't freak out at her shocking condition (sorry) and of course he gets killed and the cops think she did it so then she has to do some revenge-kicking. Bobby Cannavale, Jai Courtney, Laverne Cox, and Susan Sarandon also star in Jolt which comes to Amazon Prime Video July 23rd.

Apex Legends hackers interrupt games with messages about Titanfall hacking

Posted: 04 Jul 2021 01:53 PM PDT

'Apex Legends' - Skulltown
'Apex Legends' | Respawn

Respawn Entertainment's battle royale shooter Apex Legends has proven to be a hit, with over 100 million unique players, and counted over 300,000 people playing on Steam at one time in May. But an issue bubbling over from its earlier Titanfall games is now having an impact on Apex, as reports across social media show players running into messages from people hacking the game with a "Save Titanfall" message.

Respawn acknowledged the issues on Twitter, saying "We are aware of and actively investigating issues impacting @PlayApex playlists that are preventing players from getting into matches." In a follow-up tweet at 7PM, the developer said these attacks don't put the personal information of players at risk, and that the team is testing a fix. As of 10:15PM, the developer appeared confident that problems for Apex Legends are resolved

The issue went on for hours, and when players were affected, they couldn't queue for new games. All of this happened at the same time that Apex is hosting a special event drawing players back to the original versions of its first two maps (including divisive areas like Skulltown, pictured above). As PC Gamer and Kotaku report, the messages have been appearing for players on PC, Xbox One and PS4. I joined a game on PC and when the match was over, I was greeted with the following message pointing to a "Save Titanfall" website. After Respawn indicated the problems were over, I managed to play a few matches without any odd messages or matchmaking problems beyond the usual ones, like not getting paired with enough/any teammates.

It appears that whoever is behind this attack is doing it because of similar issues that have affected the Titanfall games going back years. A problem attributed to a single person kicked players out of Titanfall 1 sessions on PC and inundated them with racist messages, making the multiplayer-only title largely unplayable, in an issue dating back to 2019.

In recent months Respawn has tweeted that "help is coming ASAP" and "the team is investigating" problems like DDOS attacks on the Titanfall series, but the issues continue. With hacking becoming a game-stopping problem for a franchise that EA is counting on to provide over $750 million in net bookings during its 2022 financial year, solutions can't wait much longer.

Apex Legends is one of the most successful games in the market today. We now have more than 100 million unique players in the game on console and PC, with player engagement growing globally at incredible levels throughout the last year — and we are forecasting continued growth...We are forecasting close to 20% year-over-year growth to $750 million in net bookings for Apex Legends in FY22, with significant potential for upside this year and beyond as we launch the mobile game. — Andrew Wilson, EA CEO (PDF)

Update July 4th, 7:38PM ET: Added 7PM update from Respawn.

Update July 4th, 10:38PM ET: Added note from Respawn that the issues appear to be resolved.

Trese mashes a police procedural with a sinister supernatural world

Posted: 04 Jul 2021 09:00 AM PDT

Comics have never been bigger: with Marvel TV shows, DC movies, and indie adaptations growing by the day, comic books have never been more prominent in pop culture. This biweekly Verge column recommends comic series new and old, whether you're a longtime fan or a newcomer.

Trese is one of the most interesting new shows on Netflix, a gritty detective story set in a modern-day Manilla beset by all kinds of supernatural forces. It's great, but it also ends quickly: the debut season is only six episodes long. Luckily, if you're looking for more of Alexandra Trese, there's plenty to dig into with the books on which the show is based.

What is it? Trese follows the titular Alexandra Trese, a Manilla resident who owns a club called Diabolical, but more interestingly, is also a consulting detective of sorts. Basically, whenever police officer Captain Guerrero comes across a crime he can't explain, he calls Trese for her expertise on the city's dark supernatural underworld. She's the link between the human world and the magical, helping to keep the balance between the two.

The series is a mashup of genres. It's structured like a police procedural, with each chapter covering a different crime. That could be terrifying — and hungry — baby creatures that are terrorizing a mall parking lot, or a dead body that was found with a mysterious jar of ground-up mermaid bones. These supernatural elements lend the story a strong horror vibe, which is accentuated by the grisly, black-and-white art. The places Trese ventures are not places you'd want to go. It's not just scary, though, as many of the stories are tinged with sadness, like a fading actress who will do anything to stay in the spotlight, or a raging fire monster trying to bring back a lost love. There's drag racing, zombies, and a monster informant that just loves chocolate.

For fans of folklore creatures, Trese is also a great chance to dig into the rich world of monsters from the Philippines. Not only are they the focal point of the stories, but each issue ends with handwritten notes from Trese's father, which detail the specifics of various creatures, whether it's the vampire-esque tiyanak or god-like creatures that can control fire, lightning, or wind. Trese both works with and fights against these creatures; at almost all times she's accompanied by a pair of violence-loving twins who wear creepy masks, one smiling and the other frowning.

If you're into stories like Hellboy or Lucifer, Trese should be right up your alley.

Who is it by? Trese was created by writer Budjette Tan and artist Kajo Baldisimo.

Where can I read it? If you're into the concept (or enjoyed the show), the good news is that there are a lot of Trese books to explore. The series is available digitally through Comixology; the first volume is out now, with the second due on July 21st and the third on September 29th. In print, the first two volumes are available now, published by Ablaze, while the third is due out in September.

Apple Music is missing one major thing: a classic iPod to go with it

Posted: 04 Jul 2021 08:00 AM PDT

Earlier this year, I did something weird: I bought an iPod 5th generation, originally manufactured back in 2006. I got it mostly as a fun thing to mod, but I've actually been using it on a near-daily basis. The experience has brought me to the conclusion that Apple should bring back the iPod, but updated for the modern age. It should keep the click-wheel of course, but I can't stop thinking about how good an iPod, designed for the age of music streaming, AirPods, and high-res displays would be. I know that might sound silly, but let me explain.

There are a few reasons why Apple should make a new iPod. For one, it would allow the company to capitalize on some nostalgia for the iPod age that seems to be coming around, based on recent iPod-themed web players, apps, and mods.

The other, perhaps more obvious reason, is that the iPod is a music-centric device, and Apple literally has a service called Apple Music. The company is currently in love with services revenue, but many of its devices just aren't that great at playing music. The iPhone makes it difficult to plug in many types of headphones, and Siri interrupts what you're listening to when you're asking it to do something simple that doesn't really warrant an audible response (like turning on HomeKit-powered lights, for example).

Most of, if not all, of Apple's devices also can't play the highest-end lossless files that Apple Music can now deliver without additional hardware. This means that Apple doesn't sell something it can point to and say "this is the best Apple Music experience you can get, period." An iPod could be just that.

While Apple Music should be tightly integrated into a modern iPod, it would also be great if it could play music from other services, and if it had a totally Classic mode that just played files synced from a computer.

Not only would opening the iPod up avoid some terrible optics for a company that's being scrutinized by the government and competitors (like Spotify) for abusing its role as a platform and service designer, but it would also help avoid some of the weirdness that comes with streaming music. A lot of the times I use my iPod these days are because Apple Music is acting up, forcing me to restart the app because it claims that content is unauthorized, or completely fritzing out when trying to play the lossless music Apple recently introduced.

(Seriously, is anyone else having this problem? Randomly, but very often, the song I'm trying to listen to will devolve into a flurry of high-pitched, digital-sounding squeals, like I'm listening to a 100 Gecs song playing on a Discman that's being vigorously shaken.)

Of course, Apple does still sell an iPod, after all these years: the iPod Touch. Now, don't get me wrong, the iPod Touch is a very good device, especially for children, and people who just want a non-expensive iOS device. But that's just the thing — the iPod Touch isn't a purpose-driven music player, it's an iPhone without the phone.

But so what? That just means it can use its headphone jack to listen to tunes from Apple Music, as well as Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Prime Music, and anything else, as well as play games, surf the web, read books, etc.

And that's the rub for me: the iPod Touch is a good computing device, one that Apple should arguably update more often, but sometimes the best tool for a job isn't the one that can do everything. It's the one that's designed to do one thing really well.

For example, when I'm listening to music on an iOS device I often find that I'm not actually listening to the music, but scrolling through Twitter with it on in the background. That doesn't happen with my 2006 iPod. The focus that comes with something that's not offering you everything, all of the time, is the same reason some people prefer e-readers over just reading on a tablet or phone.

And, practically speaking, making a dedicated portable music player without a smartphone OS and touchscreen would mean that Apple wasn't competing as much with Android-powered players from the likes of Sony and Fiio.

There's also the matter of hardware — if Apple made a new iPod designed for just listening to music, it wouldn't have to make it powerful enough to run 3D games or Safari, and could instead put resources to a better DAC and amp (perhaps one that could play Apple Music's aforementioned 24 bit, 192 kHz lossless files).

I don't think that a new iPod would ever reach the dizzying heights of popularity that the older models did. Most people are perfectly content to listen to music on their phones — if they weren't, Apple probably wouldn't have stopped selling iPods in the first place. However, Apple's a big company — it could stand to make a niche, music-focused device, even if its last one didn't do so well. And as an old iPod enthusiast, it coming out with a new one would be literal music to my ears (I had to).

P.S. — I've also found the Apple Music experience on the Apple Watch to be pretty mediocre, and I don't want to take my phone on a run. I'm not saying there's room for an iPod Shuffle with the new offline Siri instead of VoiceOver, but...

Games Done Quick’s speedrunning summer marathon kicks off Sunday

Posted: 04 Jul 2021 06:00 AM PDT

SGDQ is You. | Image: Games Done Quick

Games Done Quick's weeklong summer speedrunning event for charity begins on Sunday, and looks to have a whole bunch of good runs to look forward to. Things kick off for Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) Online 2021 at 12PM ET on the Games Done Quick Twitch channel.

You can see the full schedule here, and it's packed with a treasure trove of interesting-looking runs. There's a lot I want to check out, but I think I'm most interested in the blindfolded 70-star run of Super Mario 64 on Saturday.

SGDQ and its wintertime counterpart, Awesome Games Done Quick, are two of my favorite weeks of the year. I love watching players absolutely dismantle some of my favorite games, such as in this run of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, or pulling off superhuman stunts, like beating the hardest levels of the already-hard platformer Celeste using a dance pad.

But since the marathon runs every hour of every day until it's over, I also love checking the stream at random times of the day and just watching what's on. Often, I'll be introduced to a game that I've never heard of before, and it's fun to learn all about it from people who are masters of the game.

As the name of the event implies, SGDQ Online 2021 will take place entirely online (which was also the case last year). Donations will benefit Doctors Without Borders, and in 2020, SGDQ raised more than $2.3 million for the charity.
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