The producers of Until Dawn are returning to their roots after years of Dark Pictures Anthology games. Supermassive Games and 2K have unveiledThe Quarry, a teen horror title that has you once again deciding the fates of frightened youth. You control nine camp counselors as a night of celebrating the end of summer camp quickly goes sideways — the trailer below hints at a Most Dangerous Game tale where someone appears to be hunting the counselors for sport.
Supermassive is leaning on star power as much as it is familiar narrative-driven game mechanics. The Quarry stars David Arquette (appropriately from Scream), Ariel Winter (Modern Family) and Lance Henriksen (Aliens), not to mention actors from productions like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Dollface and Jurassic World. And yes, any character can die. As with Until Dawn and similar games, you'll have to work hard if you want as many people as possible to survive.
Multiplayer is important, as well. You can have "couch co-op" where people control individual counselors, but you can also have as many as seven people voting on your decisions. While it won't be quite as pressure-filled as having a Twitch audience decide, it will help you share the thrill ride with friends. And don't worry if it's too nerve-wracking. On top of adjustable difficulty levels, there's a "Movie Mode" that removes the gameplay entirely and even lets you choose how the story plays out.
The Quarry arrives June 10th for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Windows PCs. The gameplay and premise will be more than a little familiar (how many horror movies have summer camps?), but that may be part of the appeal. It's giving you a chance to "fix" well-worn genre tropes, if just by keeping everyone alive.
Instagram suspended Kanye West from the platform for 24 hours after the rapper and producer attacked Pete Davidson and others. The Saturday Night Live star and soon-to-be Blue Origin passenger has been dating West's ex-wife Kim Kardashian for several months.
West (who legally changed his name to Ye) reportedly violated Instagram's policies on hate speech, harassment and bullying. Some posts that broke the rules were removed from his account, according to HuffPost. Along with lashing out at Davidson, West is said to have posted a (now-deleted) racial slur aimed at Trevor Noah, who criticized him in a recent episode of The Daily Show.
The suspension temporarily prevented West from posting, commenting or sending direct messages on Instagram. A Meta spokesperson has said the company may take further action against West if he violates the rules again.
It remains to be seen whether West will show restraint when The Kardashians premieres on Hulu next month. Kardashian's relationship with Davidson will be a focal point of the reality show.
The James Bond, Rocky and RoboCop movies now all belong to Amazon. The company has closed its $8.45 billion takeover of storied movie and TV studio MGM.
European Union antitrust regulators unconditionally approved the deal this week. They determined there wasn't a great deal of overlap between the two companies, and that "MGM's content cannot be considered as must-have" compared with other studios.
Amazon had reportedly given the Federal Trade Commission, which was said to have been reviewing the buyout, a deadline of mid-March to challenge or approve the acquisition. If the agency didn't file a legal challenge by then, Amazon would have been free to move forward with the purchase.
MGM "will complement Prime Video and Amazon Studios’ work in delivering a diverse offering of entertainment choices to customers," Amazon said in a press release. The studio has more than 4,000 films and 17,000 episodes of TV to its name, along with 180 Oscars and 100 Emmy Awards. MGM movies include classics such as Thelma & Louise, The Silence of the Lambs, The Wizard of Oz, The Magnificent Seven and Raging Bull.
Amazon will still release James Bond movies in theaters instead of hanging onto them as Prime Video exclusives (though it wouldn't be surprising to see Bond reading by the pool with a Kindle in his next outing). It's likely that the vast majority of MGM movies and TV shows will wind up on Prime Video following theatrical runs and after agreements with other streaming platforms expire.
The following contains minor spoilers for season four, episode 14 of 'Star Trek: Discovery.'
Season four has been an interesting one for Star Trek: Discovery. The show finally embraced a more episodic format, only to slide back into an ongoing storyline in the back half of the season. But today’s finale once again promises a return to the things that make Star Trek, well, Star Trek. And, while Discovery also made those promises at the end of last season, there’s more reason to believe that this time the changes will stick.
It starts with the fact that while the major threat this season began as a spatial anomaly (known as the Dark Matter Anomaly, or “DMA”), it was discovered to be merely a harvesting tool used by a previously unknown species, one the Federation calls the 10C. It may have seemed harmless to the 10C in its role as farmers, but the Federation found itself in the role of a rabbit in front of a plow. The DMA destroyed Kwejian; both Ni’Var (née Vulcan) and Earth were next.
CBS
In previous seasons this would have shifted Starfleet into action hero mode, and some characters did advocate for a more assertive and violent approach. But instead of merely jumping into the fray we got lots of… arguing. This may not sound exciting, but it’s always been one of the things Star Trek does best: people discussing conflicting ideas. Some advocated for a peaceful solution and that was ultimately the course decided upon, since it was closest to the Federation ethos of peace and exploration. In other series this might seem like a terrible idea, but Trek is supposed to be, in theory, a utopia. This kind of thinking is one of the cornerstones of the franchise.
There are those who disagree, spearheaded by Cleveland Booker and Ruon Tarka. But while their actions turn them into antagonists, they don’t become villains. We’ve seen this in previous shows like The Next Generation and Voyager, where terrorists like the Maquis were treated with empathy. In Discovery it’s even more at the forefront given Book’s status as a main character, but also the series’ ethos as the Star Trek show that’s all about feelings. While the show sometimes takes flak for all the crying, here the emotional elements feel well balanced, with everyone’s motives clearly articulated both to each other and to the audience. It’s easy to understand each character even if you disagree.
And understanding is the lynchpin of the plot here; the 10C are not carbon-based lifeforms and they don’t communicate like humanoids do. It’s a classic Star Trek problem, as seen in episodes like “Darmok” or “Amok Time.” So last week’s episode was dedicated to the crew and assorted ambassadors methodically working through mathematical and chemical solutions to build a working bridge language. They managed to establish to the 10C that there were problems with the DMA, opening up the door to further negotiation in this week’s episode.
“Coming Home” has a lot of meanings in the context of the actual episode. There’s the threat of the DMA heading toward Earth, there’s a number of scenes set in our solar system involving returning character Sylvia Tilly, and reconciliation between Michael Burnham and her lover Cleveland Booker, the person who grounds her in the 32nd century.
CBS
But there’s also meaning in that the episode is where Discovery finally reconciles itself as a Star Trek show, making its highest point of drama not the struggle to evacuate a doomed planet, or the attempts to stop Tarka’s plan, but the actual face-to-face (so to speak) discussion with the 10C. It’s nothing like the action-based approach of the Abrams films or even earlier seasons that dealt with war and time travel and evil sentient computers. It’s diplomacy. It’s a lot of talking, and sitting around and talking about feelings.
And some of those feelings are what you’d call… environmentally minded. It isn’t enough that the 10C merely stops destroying planets that house sentient life. The fact is, the DMA also creates pollution and that needs to be stopped as well. With Earth in immediate danger it seems like an unreasonable ask at the moment, but it’s also very much in the ethos of Star Trek to consider one’s general societal and galactic impact as well. The core of Star Trek is humanism and social justice, and so many classic episodes deal with issues of identity, civil rights, and environmental issues. Discovery has spent so much time dealing with one huge violent crisis after another that it hasn’t had time to do simpler humanist metaphors, and bringing that in at the end here seems to indicate a desire to deal with those issues more in upcoming seasons.
The entire denouement makes that promise: The Federation is growing in strength, the Discovery crew is taking some time off for themselves, and a very special guest toward the end seems to be the show making its politics clear to those segments of the audience who love to decry “woke Trek.” Star Trek has always been woke, but Discovery has only dipped its toe into the water in previous seasons. With its fifth season on the horizon, it’s ready to plunge fully in.
Bandai Namco expected to sell four million copies of FromSoftware's Elden Ring. Considering Dark Souls 3 sold three million copies in the month it came out, that seemed a relatively ambitious goal. Elden Ring, however, eclipsed the company's expectations: It sold 12 million units worldwide, one million in Japan alone, within 18 days of its release.
Elden Ring was made with help from Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin, who wrote the overarching mythos for the game — yes, there are dragons — so one part of the press release may not be a huge surprise: the possibility of expanding the IP "beyond the realm of games." Elden Ring, a new HBO series, coming soon?
Nathan Ingraham thinks the iPad Air is the best iPad for most people: It’s significantly better than the basic $329 iPad and is nearly identical to the 11-inch iPad Pro, which costs $200 more than the Air. If you want a bigger or smaller screen, the iPad mini and 12.9-inch iPad Pro are still great options. But if you want a premium tablet that’s about as future-proof as it gets, the iPad Air is the way to go.
It's kicking off a test in Peru, Chile and Costa Rica.
Netflix is gearing up to do something about unauthorized account sharing. After testing a notification last year that pushed people to stop mooching and get their own Netflix accounts, the company has announced another test in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, which will let subscribers pay extra to share their accounts with people outside their home. According to Variety, subscribers will be able to add up to two "sub-members" for $2.99 each in Costa Rica. Those users will get their own Netflix logins, recommendations and profile.
Chipotle is testing Chippy, a version of Miso Robotics' arm-based automaton (already in use at White Castle) customized to make tortilla chips. The bot not only knows how to replicate Chipotle's recipe but is smart enough to add "subtle variations" to keep things interesting — you might get a little more lime or salt.
Before he became president, Volodymyr Zelensky was a famous actor and comedian. He starred in a satirical comedy series called Servant of the People, which is now once again available to view on Netflix in the US. It’s an odd move, amid the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in which thousands of people have been killed.
There are lots of ways to make a buck off your old stuff.
Our latest spring-cleaning guide is about clearing out your old tech — and hopefully making cash out of it. We highlight the best trade-in sites and stores, advice on how to sell directly and how to get the best cash-back deals, too. Maybe you’d be interested in an OLED upgrade for your old Switch?
Even with ANC on, the company promises up to 15 hours of use.
Audio-Technica introduced its latest true wireless earbuds last month in the UK and EU, and now you can order the long-lasting ATH-CKS50TW model in the US. For $149, you can expect up to 20 hours of battery life with active noise cancellation (ANC) disabled and up to 15 hours with it on. That's well beyond what most of the competition offers — with or without noise-canceling abilities. The buds are due to ship early-to-mid April.
Twitter said it has "labeled or removed" more than 50,000 pieces of content that broke its policy on manipulated media in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the company shared in a blog post today. Additionally, the platform removed roughly 75,000 accounts for “inauthentic behavior” and spam. Though this number encompassed users not specifically engaged in war propaganda, it included accounts associated with #IStandWithPutin, a hashtag that went viral last month thanks to a coordinated campaign of fake accounts.
Unlike previous times where a single government or a state information campaign was to blame, Twitter found a wide range of actors were responsible for manipulating the platform, such as those recirculating old conflict footage as if it were new, as well as the many Ukraine-related fundraising scams that have cropped up in the wake of the invasion.
Last month Twitter also promised to not amplify any tweets from users that included links to state-affiliated media (a step-up from its old policy, which was not to amplify or promote tweets that were only directly from accounts of the state-affiliated media). Since February 28th, Twitter says it has labeled more than 61,000 unique tweets that included links to state-run media. It estimates doing so reduced the reach of these tweets by around 30 percent.
Twitter has allowed Kremlin-backed media like RT and Sputnik (as well as other state-run media) to continue to operate their verified accounts, but labels and accordingly demotes what the outlets tweet. Both propaganda outlets are also banned from advertising on Twitter.
Misinformation about the invasion of Ukraine has thrived on social media, especially in the form of misleading photos and video. The government of Russia has blocked access to most Western-operated platforms for civilians (including Google, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok), largely as a way to suppress dissent amongst its own people. But the Kremlin’s own disinformation campaigns on these platforms appear to continue apace. A Russia-backed theory that the U.S. is helping Ukraine build bioweapons was further amplified by Chinese state media, as well as far-right and right-wing figures in the United States.
Immortality, the latest game from Her Story and Telling Lies creator Sam Barlow, is set to hit Xbox Series consoles, Game Pass and PC this summer. Like its predecessors, Immortality is shot in full-motion video and uses interactive cinematic scenes as a main mechanic. However, unlike the previous games, Immortality has a distinct horror vibe, not just psychological thrill.
The game is broken into three parts, each one a mysterious, unreleased movie starring the actress Marissa Marcel. Marcel disappeared after filming wrapped on these movies, and players have to investigate the lost footage to figure out what happened to her. The movies are Ambrosio (1968), Minsky (1970) and Two of Everything (1999).
Barlow revealed the Immortality trilogy back in 2020 and released a teaser in June 2021, though details about the game have remained scarce. Today's new trailer, which debuted during the ID@Xbox showcase on Twitch, was the first real dive into the game — and it looks delicious.
Barlow brought on three screenwriters to help with the Immortality script, Allan Scott (Queen's Gambit), Amelia Gray (Mr. Robot) and Barry Gifford (Lost Highway). It looks like the game will come to additional consoles down the line, as Barlow said on Twitter, "Other platforms to be announced."
Just when I thought the NFT chaos had calmed, here comes Instagram. Speaking at SXSW, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed digital collectibles would be arriving on Instagram “in the near term.” Zuckerberg said NFTs could one day play a role in the company’s eventual metaverse. “I would hope that, the clothing that your avatar is wearing in the metaverse… can be basically minted as an NFT, and you can take it between your different places,” he said.
SXSW 2022 is this week, and we’re remotely reporting on all the major panels, announcements and reveals. Just, sadly, without the Austin food scene on hand.
Google mentioned in its Games Developer Summit keynote that a Steam alpha test for Chrome OS will be available for "select" Chromebooks. Details weren't available as of this writing, but Google pointed would-be players to a (currently unavailable) Chromebook community forum post. What about minimum specs? According to rumors, you might be limited to models with at least an 11th-gen Core i5 and 7GB of RAM. And hey, what about Stadia?
The API is available to game developers right now.
"Windows games can ship with DirectStorage," starting today, Microsoft has announced. DirectStorage is the tech giant's fast game-loading technology that was introduced with the Xbox Series X and S consoles. In September 2020, Microsoft revealed it'll also make the DirectStorage API available on Windows, allowing games for PCs to take advantage of the technology. It may take a while for more titles to come with DirectStorage, especially since not everyone has upgraded to NVMe SSDs yet.
Tesla has raised the prices of its electric vehicles for the second time in a month. After adding $1,000 to some long-range models last week, the automaker has now implemented a much larger price increase across its lineup. Prices now start at $46,990 for the base Model 3, $2,000 higher than before. Although Tesla has quietly raised prices overnight, the move didn't come out of left field. On Twitter, company chief Elon Musk hinted at the possibility of a price hike. He said both Tesla and SpaceX are seeing "significant recent inflation pressure in raw materials [and] logistics."
Ms. Marvel, one of several Marvel Cinematic Universe shows coming to Disney+ this year, will premiere on June 8th. It centers around Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a Pakistani–American whose idol is Captain Marvel. She’ll be the MCU's first Muslim superhero and will also appear in The Marvels movie, which is scheduled to hit theaters on February 17th, 2023.
The company's still awaiting the go-ahead from US regulators.
European Union officials have unconditionally OKed Amazon's $8.45 billion bid to buy famed movie and TV studio MGM. The European Commission's antitrust regulators determined there was limited overlap between the companies and said the merger wouldn't severely reduce competition in the movie business.
Amazon still needs the green light from the Federal Trade Commission before it can close the deal, which was announced last May. Recent reports suggested the FTC was planning to challenge the merger with an antitrust lawsuit. However, that requires a majority vote by commissioners.
Bandai Namco expected FromSoftware's Elden Ring to sell 4 million copies in five weeks. It would've been already impressive if that's what had happened, considering Dark Souls 3sold 3 million copies within a month of its release. Elden Ring, however, eclipsed the company's expectations: It sold 12 million units worldwide, 1 million of which were sold in Japan alone, within 18 days of its release. The companies have announced the game's blockbuster sales numbers in a press release and also mentioned the possibility of expanding the IP "beyond the realm of games."
According to the announcement, those numbers came from the "distribution figures of the package version and sales figures of the downloadable versions" as of March 14th, 2022. With those sales numbers, Elden Ring smashed a bunch of other records associated with Souls-type games. FromSoftware's previous release, Sekiro, sold 2 million copies in 10 days, and it took four years for Dark Souls 3, the best-selling game in the series, to reach 10 million units sold worldwide. Based on how well it's doing, it seems apt to compare Elden Ring to Pokémon Legends Arceus, which sold 6.5 million copies in seven days — and that's a game from a franchise that already has a massive following.
FromSoftware developed Elden Ring with help from A Song of Ice and Fire creator George R. R. Martin, who wrote the overarching mythos for the game that features Lovecraftian creatures and dragons. At the helm of the project was Hidetaka Miyazaki, known for creating the notoriously difficult Souls games, as well as directing Bloodborne and Sekiro. It was supposed to be available back in January but was ultimately released on February 25th for the PlayStation 5 and 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Steam.
Love them or hate them, NFTs will soon be coming to Instagram. Speaking at SXSW, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that digital collectibles would be arriving on Instagram “in the near term.”
“We're working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term," he said. He didn’t detail exactly how that would take shape, but suggested people would be able to show off their existing NFTs and potentially mint new ones. "I'm not ready to kind of announce exactly what that's going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment.”
Zuckerberg and other execs have previously expressed an interest in NFTs, with Instagram’s top executive Adam Mosseri saying the company was “actively exploring” the technology. The Financial Times reported in January that the company was hoping to add NFTs into its crypto wallet Novi.
Speaking Tuesday, Zuckerberg also said that NFTs could one day play a role in the company’s eventual metaverse. “I would hope that you know, the clothing that your avatar is wearing in the metaverse, you know, can be basically minted as an NFT and you can take it between your different places,” he said, “There's like a bunch of technical things that need to get worked out before that'll really be seamless to happen.”
Zuckerberg, who famously used to wear the same gray t-shirt every day, also shared that he now does most of his shopping on Instagram and Facebook. “Probably most of the stuff that I wear, I probably bought through an Instagram, or Facebook Shops or ads,” he said.
