Tuesday, May 31, 2022

The Verge - Entertainments

The Verge - Entertainments

Star Wars stands with Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Moses Ingram amid racist fan backlash

Posted: 31 May 2022 12:45 PM PDT

Moses Ingram as Reva Sevander / the Third Sister. | Image: Disney Plus/Lucasfilm

In response to a swift and all too predictable wave of racist backlash from Star Wars "fans" dismayed by the idea of Black people existing in space, Disney has issued a statement supporting Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Moses Ingram.

Though Obi-Wan Kenobi's first two episodes premiered only just last week, that was all the time it took for Star Wars obsessives to fixate on Ingram's character Reva Sevander, one of the Galactic Empire's Inquisitors tasked with exterminating the galaxy's Jedi. On the Monday following this year's Star Wars Celebration event, Ingram took to her personal Instagram account to share a selection from the "hundreds" of anti-Black, misogynist messages she's received for portraying a fictional villain who does evil things. Ingram expressed that, while she's grateful to fans who have the wherewithal to understand that actors are not the characters they play on television, she also admitted to feeling a certain degree of dejection "because there's nothing anybody can do about this."

"There's nothing anybody can do to stop this hate, and so I question what my purpose is in even being here in front of you saying that this is happening," Ingram said. "I think the thing that bothers me is that like sort of this feeling that I've had inside of myself — which no one has told me — but this feeling of like 'I've just got to shut up and take it,' you know?"

Hours after Ingram's post, the official Star Wars Twitter account shared a message reaffirming that Ingram's character Reva Sevander is very much a part of the franchise regardless of what any racist trolls have to say.

There are always a number of reasons — like racism — why people who supposedly love genre fiction like Star Wars or the Percy Jackson novels feel compelled to show their asses like this. But the response to Ingram feels at least in part inspired by the text of Obi-Wan Kenobi itself. In the short amount of time that Reva (who's also known as the Third Sister) has been a part of the Star Wars franchise, Obi-Wan's established that, while it's her job to slay Jedi and put the fear of the Empire into its subjugants, her hunt for Obi-Wan is somewhat personal.

Rather than simply being a Sith aligned with the dark side of the Force, Reva's introduced as one of the few living Jedi conscripted by the Empire to eradicate their kind as part of Order 66, the Empire's plan to wipe the Jedi out permanently. Reva has shown herself to be an effective Inquisitor who's committed to her mission. But her past has been a major point of contention for other Empire villains like the Grand Inquisitor (Rupert Friend) and the Fifth Brother (Sung Kang) — both of whom see Reva's headstrong viciousness as a double-edged sword that could hurt the Empire's cause.

Many of the messages being lobbed at Ingram seem to take issue with how unhinged Reva's often appeared in Obi-Wan — a character trait that's easy to recognize as an intentional part of the story the show is trying to tell. Unlike the Grand Inquisitor and the Fifth Brother, who both take more reserved approaches to terrorizing civilians, Reva's much more quick to a level of violence that borders on lunacy, and Obi-Wan has repeatedly emphasized how Reva's temper will likely lead to her downfall.

Image: Disney Plus / Lucasfilm
The Fifth Brother telling the Third Sister to stand down.

Clearly, telegraphed narrative intentionality has never been enough to keep racist Star Wars trolls from fixing their mouths to spout utter nonsense. John Boyega was famously met with years of ongoing racist hostility in the wake of his casting as Finn, as was Kelly Marie Tran after she joined the franchise as Rose Tico in Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi.

Ultimately, both Boyega and Tran were forced to spend too much of their time in the Star Wars spotlight dealing with the arrested development of a franchise that didn't deserve them. While it's looking like Ingram might end up suffering the same fate as Obi-Wan continues, the actor finished out her Instagram video by letting everyone know that she has no intentions of going quietly into the night.

"I'm not built like that, so I really just wanted to come on and say thank you to the people who show up for me in the comments and the places that I'm now going to put myself," Ingram said. "And to the rest of y'all: y'all weird."

Sonic Frontier’s first trailer channels Zelda and Horizon franchises

Posted: 31 May 2022 11:24 AM PDT

Sega / Sonic Team

Ahead of Geoff Keighley's not-E3 but also sorta kinda E3 Summer Games Fest next week, Sonic Team has released an extremely short teaser for Sonic Frontiers.

I know there's a vocal subset of the gaming community that hates when a new, vaguely open world-looking game gets shown and the gaming press calls it "Breath of the Wild meets X," so I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'm going to say it looks like Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn had a baby with Sonic. (Please don't Google "X has a baby with Sonic.")

In it, Sonic freeruns across a light-drenched, flower-strewn landscape dotted with futuristic-looking ruins. Even though several games have featured Sonic roaming in a boundary-less world, the aesthetic in Frontiers is so wildly different from previous 3D Sonic games. It looks more realistic than Sonic Adventure, Sonic '06, or Sonic Unleashed. In the briefest glimpses of gameplay, it appears that the Blue Blur is slightly less constrained by the forced 3D and 2D perspectives of earlier games. It looks like he gets to run in a truly open world, collecting rings, rail grinding, and taking down monstrous robots reminiscent of the mechanical beasts in the Horizon franchise.

Sonic Frontiers and more will be shown off next week during Summer Games Fest.

Bo Burnham’s new hour-long video goes behind Inside (and has new songs)

Posted: 31 May 2022 11:24 AM PDT

While we were(n't) outside touching grass, Bo Burnham has pieced together an entire hour's worth of outtakes and cut content from his 2021... movie / musical / comedy special / existential crisis, Inside. While a majority of The Inside Outtakes is exactly what it says on the tin (flubs, different takes, and behind-the-scenes clips from the original), there are also some new songs throughout — within the first minute, we hear a new musical piece about Jeffery Bezos, which leads into an absolute earworm of a new song that musically sounds like a downtempo version of "Problematic" and revisits the themes of depression and being stuck inside for days on end. In other words, it strikes just as much of a chord with me as the original, which isn't a great sign, but what can you do?

While the original special is on Netflix, the outtakes are available for free on YouTube. According to the video's description, they were filmed from March 2020 to May 2021 and edited over the past two months. (Some of the content is pretty easy to place in time, though — like one of the new songs with the lyrics "they're really gonna make me vote for Joe Biden?")

Burnham also says he'll be releasing a deluxe version of the Inside album "soon," which will hopefully include the new songs. I still listen to the original version of the album relatively often (along with that one Phoebe Bridgers cover), but who's going to say no to a questionable romance ballad or undeniably catchy songs about a chicken stuck in an unhappy marriage or living in the future?

You can check out the outtakes here. And if you haven't seen the original, let me be the latest in what's likely a long line of people to annoyingly insist that you absolutely must give it a watch and tell you for the millionth time that it's extremely good and relatable. No, I will not reflect on what this says about me.

Monument Valley’s puzzles will reach PC gamers on July 12th

Posted: 31 May 2022 09:06 AM PDT

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Monument Valley, the picturesque puzzle game series where players must navigate maps full of optical illusions, will no longer be exclusive to mobile devices. The complete Monument Valley Panoramic Collection is set to arrive on Steam on July 12th and gives players a broader point of view that isn't limited by the vertical orientation of phones and tablets.

Ustwo, the developer behind Monument Valley, says it had to make some adjustments to account for a wider perspective, as well as for the transition from touch to mouse controls. Kirsty Keatch, a programmer at Ustwo, said in a behind-the-scenes interview that while they designed the mobile version's touch controls for "large fingers that might occlude the rotators and draggers," the PC port changes things a bit. Keatch explained that Ustwo wanted to make it clear to PC players that their actions "could reveal different levels of interactivity" in Monument Valley's world, and they did this by "glowing the draggers and the rotators" when users hover over them with a mouse.

The trailer for Monument Valley Panoramic Collection shows just how open the expanded worlds look, almost certainly warranting another playthrough just to experience the more immersive view. Even if you don't want to replay the two games, you might not have to wait much longer for a new adventure, as a third Monument Valley is in the works.

We first heard about Monument Valley 3 in 2019 when Ustwo posted a job listing for the project. There haven't been too many rumors about the third game since then, but John Lau, the senior producer at Ustwo, hinted at a new installment during the Pocket-lint Podcast in April. Lau noted that Ustwo is "staffing up for the next installment of Monument Valley" and that they're currently in the "concept phase."

Both Monument Valley and Monument Valley 2 will come with the same DLC packs available on the mobile versions, including Forgotten Shores and Ida's Dream for the first installment and The Lost Forest for Monument Valley 2. The games are available separately for $7.99 each on Steam, or you can get 15 percent off by purchasing them in a bundle.

The N64 controller for Switch is back in stock at the Nintendo store (update: sold out)

Posted: 31 May 2022 09:06 AM PDT

Image: Nintendo

Update 1:05PM ET, May 31st: Nintendo's latest wave of N64 controllers has sold out. Stay tuned for a new drop in the coming days, weeks, or months. We're admittedly not sure when that will be, but hopefully soon!

The official N64 controller for the Nintendo Switch has just been restocked at the Nintendo eShop. This $49.99 controller allows you to experience N64 games the way they were meant to be played — with a big gray controller with an awkwardly placed central analog stick. This offer is exclusive to the Nintendo store and is only available to purchase if you're a current Nintendo Switch Online subscriber (Note: you can only access the N64 games with the purchase of the Switch Online Expansion Pack).

Unlike some restocks for the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, the method for purchasing this controller is very straightforward. Just sign in to your Nintendo account ahead of time, click "add to cart" and hope for the best. Stocks of this controller go remarkably fast so don't be surprised if you see them become unavailable

For the uninitiated, Nintendo Switch Online is necessary for accessing the online components of a number of titles including Splatoon 2, Minecraft, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, just to name a few. As an added bonus, a membership also includes access to classic NES and SNES too. An annual subscription to this service only costs $19.99, however, to access Nintendo's online library of N64 titles, you'll have to subscribe to the Expansion Pack as well, which costs $49.99.

This re-release of the N64 controller is mostly what you'll remember from the original console, with some quality-of-life improvements. Wireless connectivity that's rechargeable via USB-C and built-in rumble support help modernize this classic controller but retains the classic shape. While the overall form factor of the N64 controller remains divisive in a modern context, the popularity of this controller is proof that nostalgia will win every time.

Apple Arcade is getting new Cooking Mama and Frogger games in June

Posted: 31 May 2022 09:04 AM PDT

Cooking Mama: Cuisine. | Image: Apple

Apple has lined up a trio of notable Japanese developers for its June additions to Apple Arcade. Today the company announced four games coming to the subscription service next month, led by Konami's Frogger and the Rumbling Ruins (a sequel to early Arcade game Frogger in Toy Town) which launches on June 3rd. That will be followed by Cooking Mama: Cuisine on June 17th, which mixes up the cooking formula by tasking players with figuring out ingredients instead of just picking a premade recipe.

Rounding out the list is Air Twister, which comes out on June 24th from legendary designer Yu Suzuki, who is best known for titles like Shenmue and Out Run. Here's the official description:

Players will assume the role of Princess Arch fighting back against bizarre invaders to save their planet from destruction. They'll rain down their homing arrows to trace graceful arcs of light across beautiful, artfully crafted stages, before they pierce their foes. With a fun and easy touchscreen swipe-shooting gameplay mechanic, the destiny of the planet is in the player's hands.

(This month will also see a jigsaw puzzle game added to the App Store classics section of Apple Arcade. It launches on June 10th.)

Image: Apple
Air Twister.

This month's Arcade releases included some notable games as well, such as new iterations on Badland and Goat Simulator as well as a kart racer starring characters from Family Guy and King of the Hill. The service has also been home to a number of releases from iconic Japanese game developers since it debuted, including Fantasian from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and World of Demons from PlatinumGames as well as new or updated entries in series like Castlevania, Monster Hunter, and Neko Atsume.

Iogear’s latest capture card offers an affordable way to record 4K gameplay

Posted: 31 May 2022 08:30 AM PDT

Iogear's Upstream 4K Game Capture Card with Party Chat. | Image: Iogear

Iogear's latest capture card offers up to 30Hz 4K gameplay capture or 120Hz 1080p capture for $129.99. That makes it significantly cheaper than Elgato's equivalent card, the recently announced HD60 X, which has an MSRP of $199.99 and offers similar recording specs. Other features of the so-called UpStream 4K Game Capture Card with Party Chat include the ability to pass through (but not capture) 4K HDR footage at 60Hz, 1440p footage at 144Hz, and 1080p at 240Hz.

Capture cards like these are aimed at content creators like Twitch streamers and YouTubers, giving them a quick and easy way to retrieve their gameplay footage ready to be broadcast online. The UpStream 4K Game Capture Card is an external device, so it connects to the broadcast PC via USB. But it's able to capture content from a range of different devices, including Xbox consoles and the PS5. Iogear says the card is compatible with broadcast software including Streamlabs and XSplit and that it can also record party chat between players.

Image: Iogear
The external card connects to your capture machine over USB.

The UpStream 4K Game Capture Card also has a workaround for footage protected by HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), which is typically used to prevent cards from being able to capture movies and TV shows. Some capture cards will fail to display video when it's HDCP protected, meaning they have to be unplugged if you want to take a break from playing games to stream Netflix, for example. Iogear's workaround is a toggle switch that allows it to simply pass through this protected footage. You won't be able to capture it, but it's easier than having to unplug your card entirely.

Iogear's new capture card may be able to capture a similar range of resolutions and frame rates as Elgato's HD60 X, but it doesn't appear to match it spec for spec. There's no mention of it being able to capture HDR footage and no mention of being able to pass through variable refresh rate content. We've reached out to the company for clarification.

The Iogear Upstream 4K Game Capture Card with Party Chat is available now.

Razer’s Barracuda Pro is its latest do-it-all gaming headset

Posted: 31 May 2022 08:00 AM PDT

Razer Barracuda Pro
The Barracuda Pro look gargantuan on this person's head. | Image: Razer

Building on the Barracuda X gaming headset it released in 2021, Razer has added two options to the lineup with the new Barracuda and the Barracuda Pro that focus both on dual wireless connectivity (2.4GHz via a USB-C dongle and Bluetooth) and providing excellent sound quality. The Pro sit at the top of the lineup, available starting today for $249.99, and what sets them apart from the midrange $159.99 Barracuda (along with the $99.99 Barracuda X) are a few things: active noise cancellation, plush leatherette ear pads (compared to a more breathable woven fabric), and a built-in THX Achromatic audio amplifier to deliver more powerful, accurate sound.

Both of these new models feature bigger 50mm drivers (the Barracuda X and several other Razer headsets boast 40mm drivers), and instead of having a detachable boom mic, there are beamforming microphones that offer noise cancellation. Razer is hyping its SmartSwitch Dual Wireless feature in these new models, which it says can connect to two devices at once, and you can switch between them with a double-tap of its dedicated button as needed. Personally, I prefer when a headset can play audio from two wireless connections simultaneously, like SteelSeries' brilliant new Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, but Razer's solution (while not necessarily unique) should be great if it works well.

Razer Barracuda Pro Image: Razer
The Barracuda lineup is built for gaming at home or on the go with their dual wireless connectivity.

While Razer has earned its spot among the greats with its gaming headsets, it still has a lot to prove when it comes to winning over Bose, Beats, or Sony loyalists in the high-end headphones space. I was pleasantly surprised by its 2020 Razer Opus headphones, which offered good build quality and surprisingly good sound for the price. Razer seems to have put even more work into the Barracuda Pro. It opted for bio-cellulose drivers, which the company says can "reduces harmonic distortion." And, with bigger drivers, a dedicated amplifier, and what seem like better controls, I'm looking forward to diving in for a full review to see if they're worth the money.

France’s linguistic watchdog issues edict: it’s not esports, it’s ‘jeu video de competition’

Posted: 31 May 2022 07:41 AM PDT

Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games via Getty Images

France's national linguistic watchdog, the Académie Française, has banned the official usage of a number of phrases borrowed from English to describe the world of gaming.

Instead of "esports," government workers should refer to "jeu video de competition." Instead of talk of "pro-gamers," they must discuss the activity of the "joueur professionnel." And instead of "streamers," they must refer to the "joueur-animateur en direct" — and so on.

The changes, reported by AFP, were made in coordination with the French Ministry of Culture and published in the government's official legal almanac, the Journal officiel. This makes the changes binding for government employees, though not for the public at large.

It's the latest skirmish in the Académie's centuries-long battle to maintain the purity of the French language, particularly from English toxins. The institution is one of France's oldest and was founded in 1635 by the powerful politician Cardinal Richelieu, who sought to centralize the functions of the French state. As a result, the Académie's duties include the promotion of French literature as well as maintenance of the country's official dictionary, which is issued to government institutions and similar organizations.

French Artist Jean-Michel Othoniel Enters The Institut De France Whose Members Are Known As Immortals In France Photo by Luc Castel/Getty Images
The Académie Française is comprised of only 40 members, known as les immortels or "the immortals." They have a very spiffy uniform.

The Académie's duties have become particularly challenging in recent years, though, as the dominance of the US tech sector has seeded English-language terms in French soil. In the past, the Académie has had to invent a number of French equivalents for words and phrases born from new technology: from "hashtag" ("mot-dièse") to "sexting" ("textopornographie") and even "email" ("courriel").

In a report published earlier this year, the Académie warned that the growing usage of English and hybrid "Franglais" terms could have disastrous effects on the French language and create new barriers to communication.

"Many anglicisms are used in place of existing French words or expressions, inevitably leading to the gradual erasure of the French equivalents," said the report. "Aside from fashion and sport, the internet and digital field is unsurprisingly the most strongly and visibly 'anglicised.'"

Although the Académie's work is definitely prescriptive rather than descriptive, it certainly doesn't wield unchallenged authority over French speakers themselves. Linguists have found that its attempts to stamp out English loanwords are not always successful, and English-language French publication The Local notes that the Académie's recent failures include an attempt to rebrand "le wifi" as "l'access sans fil à internet." The term never caught on — but c'est la vie.

Disney’s Pinocchio is full of hope in its first teaser trailer

Posted: 31 May 2022 07:20 AM PDT

Tom Hanks as Geppetto. | Disney

Out of all the modern Pinocchio projects in the pipeline, Disney's upcoming feature from director Robert Zemeckis has always been one of the odds-on favorites to capture people's imaginations if only because of the studio's history with the iconic fairytale. While Pinocchio's first teaser trailer only gives you the slightest taste of what Zemeckis has in store for audiences, it's a strong sign that the movie will be able to recreate at least some of the original animated feature's magic.

Pinocchio's first trailer only features a small look at the titular living toy (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as his puppet-making father Geppetto (Tom Hanks) first carves him from a block of wood. What you do see, though, is the time, attention, and love Geppetto puts into crafting his handmade son and how his fateful wish upon a star for the puppet to be brought to life is granted by the benevolent Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo).

The trailer's handful of quick shots establishes how much of the movie will focus on Jiminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as he encounters characters like Sofia the Seagull (Lorraine Bracco) and "Honest" John Worthington Foulfellow (Keegan-Michael Key), a slick-talking fox. What's interesting is that, even though this Pinocchio's very much a live-action film, its fantastical storybook characters have all been rendered more or less like "realistic" versions of their classic Disney cartoon counterparts, which is sure to be an aesthetic choice that diehard fans have no strong feelings about when the movie hits Disney Plus on September 8th.
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