Tag Archives: Arts & Entertainment

Mash-up of Grand Theft Auto and Hamlet is coming to theaters in the US

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Mubi has secured the US rights and global SVOD rights to Grand Theft Hamlet. In this documentary, two out-of-work actors attempt to stage an entire production of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet within the game world of Grand Theft Auto Online during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mubi plans to give the film a release in early 2025, and Mubi's own posts on X say that it will be in "US theaters and streaming globally."

The movie is composed of more than 300 hours of GTA footage. Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen might be the main drivers of making the play the thing, but they looped in other random players through in-game auditions to fill out the cast. This piece of theatrical machinima won the documentary feature jury award at its premiere during SXSW. It also currently boasts a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so the critics and early reviewers are into this mash-up of iambs and uzis.

The Bard has seen many a retelling over the years, and Hamlet seems to generate particular interest for gaming-flavored interpretations. The Danish prince was in a VR production via Google collaboration in 2019, he made an appearance in MMORPG Mabinogi back in 2011, and got to star in his own quirky video game in 2010.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/mash-up-of-grand-theft-auto-and-hamlet-is-coming-to-theaters-in-the-us-195758396.html?src=rss

Star Trek: Lower Decks season five trailer has too many Harry Kims to count

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A new season of Star Trek: Lower Decks is almost here, with a trailer to prove it. The fifth, and unfortunately final, season looks to feature the same unchecked shenanigans and in-the-know humor that has made the show so beloved to Trek fans.

The trailer’s filled with wacky hijinks and jokes pulled from the wide world of Star Trek. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot the Borg, the weird sexy decontamination sauna from Star Trek: Enterprise and a whole bunch of Harry Kims. That’s right. There looks to be at least seven Harry Kims floating around this trailer. My Delta Quadrant bestie is finally getting the respect he deserves.

For the uninitiated, Star Trek: Lower Decks is an animated show helmed by Mike McMahon, who created Solar Opposites and worked on the early seasons of Rick and Morty. It follows some low-level Starfleet officers just after the events of the 1990s shows, like Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s very funny, particularly for long-time fans. It was also recently cancelled. 

Now I don’t know anything about viewership numbers, as Paramount+ keeps that stuff close to the (red) vest. However, Star Trek: Lower Decks seems fairly popular right? Also, it’s a cartoon, so it can’t be as expensive to make as something like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I can’t imagine that Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome command jaw-dropping salaries, so why cancel it? You know what I’m getting at. #SaveLowerDecks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/star-trek-lower-decks-season-five-trailer-has-too-many-harry-kims-to-count-184704663.html?src=rss

Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime is making a tabletop RPG party game

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Blizzard co-founder and ex-CEO Mike Morhaime’s publishing company Dreamhaven just announced a new game that mixes elements of tabletop RPGs with party games like Jackbox. Sunderfolk looks to be a more casual pick-up-and-play take on something like Gloomhaven.

The title has been “designed for players who love tabletop, board and video games.” It’s a two-screen experience, with players actually controlling many aspects of the game on their smartphone. You know, just like the immensely-popular Jackbox franchise. The “tactical couch co-op RPG” is being advertised as a way for veteran tabletop players to introduce the genre to their inexperienced friends.

Sunderfolk can be played by up to four players at once and there are six hero classes, like bard, arcanist, ranger and some of the other usual suspects. The TV is the main screen and the phone acts as a controller as folks navigate the game board. The story follows a beleaguered town as it is attacked by various monsters. In other words, it’s a standard fantasy RPG.

The unique control scheme looks to eliminate some of the barriers of entry with this type of game, like the steep learning curve and lengthy set-up time. Like many tabletop RPGs, it’s cooperative in nature and not competitive. You and your friends against the world.

Four people playing the game on a couch.
Dreamhaven

While the designer’s say Sunderfolk was made with couch co-op in mind, there will be online play. The game releases for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S sometime in 2025, with an affiliated iOS/Android companion app.

Kotaku got to try the game during a preview event and came away mostly impressed, saying that “working in tandem with other players quickly turned into a thrilling spectacle that felt right out of a TTRPG game night.” However, the site also said that the complexity of the gameplay may fail to lure in newbies. In other words, it’s more Gloomhaven than Jackbox.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/blizzard-co-founder-mike-morhaime-is-making-a-tabletop-rpg-party-game-174323950.html?src=rss

Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime is making a tabletop RPG party game

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Blizzard co-founder and ex-CEO Mike Morhaime’s publishing company Dreamhaven just announced a new game that mixes elements of tabletop RPGs with party games like Jackbox. Sunderfolk looks to be a more casual pick-up-and-play take on something like Gloomhaven.

The title has been “designed for players who love tabletop, board and video games.” It’s a two-screen experience, with players actually controlling many aspects of the game on their smartphone. You know, just like the immensely-popular Jackbox franchise. The “tactical couch co-op RPG” is being advertised as a way for veteran tabletop players to introduce the genre to their inexperienced friends.

Sunderfolk can be played by up to four players at once and there are six hero classes, like bard, arcanist, ranger and some of the other usual suspects. The TV is the main screen and the phone acts as a controller as folks navigate the game board. The story follows a beleaguered town as it is attacked by various monsters. In other words, it’s a standard fantasy RPG.

The unique control scheme looks to eliminate some of the barriers of entry with this type of game, like the steep learning curve and lengthy set-up time. Like many tabletop RPGs, it’s cooperative in nature and not competitive. You and your friends against the world.

Four people playing the game on a couch.
Dreamhaven

While the designer’s say Sunderfolk was made with couch co-op in mind, there will be online play. The game releases for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S sometime in 2025, with an affiliated iOS/Android companion app.

Kotaku got to try the game during a preview event and came away mostly impressed, saying that “working in tandem with other players quickly turned into a thrilling spectacle that felt right out of a TTRPG game night.” However, the site also said that the complexity of the gameplay may fail to lure in newbies. In other words, it’s more Gloomhaven than Jackbox.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/blizzard-co-founder-mike-morhaime-is-making-a-tabletop-rpg-party-game-174323950.html?src=rss

The Internet Archive taken down by DDoS attacks

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The Internet Archive has been hit with a series of DDoS attacks this week that have taken the service offline. The Verge noticed a popup on the site today when the online database went down. The popup has since disappeared, but the site is not currently available. 

According to security researcher Troy Hunt, the DDoS attack came just as the Internet Archive was preparing to disclose a previous breach of its site that resulted in the theft of more than 31 million records. Hunt, who runs the haveibeenpwned service, said that the timing of the two attacks appears to be "entirely coincidental" and that there are likely "multiple parties" involved. " It's clearly not just one attack," he wrote.

Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle has been publishing updates on the attacks on X, with the latest news simply that the team is attempting to bring the site back online. A DDoS organization known as Blackmeta claimed responsibility for the attacks with a confusing message that the platform "belongs to the USA." The Internet Archive is a non-profit headquartered in San Francisco that provides free access to a vast library of software and media, as well as hosting the Wayback Machine web archive. The message also referenced the stolen records with "HIBP" referring to Hunt's haveibeenpwned site that tracks compromised accounts.

This isn't the first time the archive has been targeted by DDoS attacks, but this week's attacks are the latest in a string of bad news for the Internet Archive. The platform has been fighting a legal battle over ebook copyrights and recently lost its appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Update October 9, 2024, 7:25 PM ET: This story was updated with additional information from security researcher Troy Hunt.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/the-internet-archive-taken-down-by-ddos-attacks-222317044.html?src=rss

Former Humble Games staff form new publisher that will work with their old company

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Two former leaders from video game publisher Humble Games, Alan Patmore and Mark Nash, have launched a new outfit called Good Games Group. And ironically, the first deal this indie publisher has landed is with its team's old parent company. According to the statement from Good Games Group, the business will work with Humble Games to provide support for previously released titles.

"Good Games Group’s mission is to bring exceptional indie games to the global gaming community," CEO Alan Patmore said. "Partnering with Ziff Davis allows us to continue working with the amazing indie developers we collaborated with at Humble Games, while also allowing us to chart a new course for the future." Ziff Davis is a media conglomerate that owns sites such as IGN and Eurogamer as well as Humble Games.

In July, Humble Games announced a restructuring that saw most of the staff laid off. Although a rep from Humble Games said it would continue supporting the company's existing game lineup, this amount of upheaval is all but guaranteed to cause trouble for game developers. For instance, Squid Shock Games turned to a Patreon fundraiser to generate financial support for its game Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus. The studio's debut title was released just before the Humble Games cuts.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/former-humble-games-staff-form-new-publisher-that-will-work-with-their-old-company-211539753.html?src=rss

Green Day’s Dookie has been demastered into Game Boy carts, a toothbrush and other weird formats

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Green Day's Dookie is an all-timer of an album and, if you were fortunate enough to catch the band on the road this summer, you'll know the trio sounds as good as ever. Audio quality, however, was not at the forefront of the band's latest release: demasters of every Dookie song on ridiculous and outdated formats to mark the record's 30th anniversary.

While other classic albums often get remasters for big anniversaries, Green Day (with the help of of an art studio called Brain) went in a lo-fi direction by re-releasing the music on defunct and/or inconvenient formats in very limited editions. As a result, you can hear what "Basket Case" sounds like through a Big Mouth "Billie" Bass, listen to "Welcome to Paradise" via a Game Boy cartridge and enjoy (or not) "When I Come Around" emanating from a wax cylinder.

Other formats the demasters appear on include an answering machine, toothbrush, animatronic stuffed animal, floppy disc, doorbell, Fisher Price record, HitClip (remember those?) and, be still my beating heart, MiniDisc. Meanwhile, "All By Myself," an ode to self-love sung by drummer Tré Cool, actually sounds kind of sweet through a music box.

You can hear what each of the demasters sounds like on the Dookie Demastered website. But if you want to own one of them, you'll need to be lucky. Only between one and 50 of each demastered format is available and they're priced between $19 and $99, but thankfully it's not a first-come-first-served scenario. There's a random drawing and you'll get the chance to buy one of the items if your name's pulled from the hat.

Demastering is becoming more of a trend, especially in video games, but this is simply a bizarre way to listen to an album as important for punk rock as Dookie was. It would be very cool to have an X-ray record of “Coming Clean” in my collection, though. (For the tape, Green Day did release a deluxe anniversary edition of the album.)

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/green-days-dookie-has-been-demastered-into-game-boy-carts-a-toothbrush-and-other-weird-formats-175246772.html?src=rss

Shinobi is the latest video game to get the big screen treatment

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Back in the old days, there was no sure-fire indicator of box office poison more than a video game adaptation. The two mediums just didn’t gel. That has changed in recent years and now all kinds of gaming mascots are getting their chance to appear in a major motion picture or, at the very least, a streaming series. Case in point? They’re now making a movie based on Shinobi, as reported by Deadline.

For the uninitiated, Shinobi is a famous hack-and-slash game developed by Sega in which you play as a ninja. There have been plenty of sequels throughout the years, though they mostly share the same basic story. Joe Musashi, the ninja, must beat up a bunch of very bad dudes. That’s pretty much it.

In other words, this is a blank canvas in which the filmmakers can do pretty much whatever they want without angering the online lore-keepers. Sam Hargrave has been tasked to direct the film for Universal, which is actually a decent choice. He made both Extraction films, with a third one on the way. These are solid action flicks and Shinobi is an action game.

Ken Kobayashi is writing the screenplay, after working on the extremely underrated Sunny for Apple+. He was also involved with Moonfall and the Marvel adaptation Hit Monkey. Sega’s Toru Nakahara, who has produced everything from the Sonic the Hedgehog cinematic universe, is also onboard.

Shinobi is still in the early stages of development, just like how most Shinobi players only get past the early stages of the game because it’s so dang hard. We don’t know when it’ll come out, nor do we have any casting news. We are, however, only a couple of months out from Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Keanu Reeves is in that one.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/shinobi-is-the-latest-video-game-to-get-the-big-screen-treatment-164013985.html?src=rss

Google Maps now lets you reserve a parking spot inside the app

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Google is making it easier for drivers to find and reserve parking. Starting today, it’s possible to access SpotHero, a service that allows people to book parking spaces online, directly through Google Maps and Search.

The next time you use either app to find parking, a “Book Online” button will appear if the lot you find is available to reserve through SpotHero. Tap the button and Google will send you to SpotHero’s website, where you can pay for a spot over a secure connection. The entire process is handled through Maps or Search, with no bouncing between the app of your choice and a browser.

No surprise, it’s also possible to book parking spots ahead of time, with SpotHero offering the option to filter by date and time. You can also search for facilities that offer EV charging, wheelchair accessibility and more. Google has been testing SpotHero integration with select users since April, with today marking the first time the feature is available to everyone.

However, even with the expansion, you may not see the feature in your area. According to SpotHero, it’s possible to use its service to book 8,000 spots in 300 cities across the US and Canada. Some of the more notable locations where it’s possible to use SpotHero to secure parking include Madison Square Garden and the SAP Center.

As TechCrunch notes, SpotHero has been finding its way into more high-profile platforms as of late. Lyft has offered SpotHero integration since 2022, for instance. More recently, SpotHero made its way to Apple Maps. As for Google, today’s announcement represents the latest effort by the search giant to keep Maps and Search relevant in two increasingly competitive markets.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-maps-now-lets-you-reserve-a-parking-spot-inside-the-app-154846343.html?src=rss

Sequel to 2014’s Alien: Isolation is now in development

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Many fans of 2014’s Alien: Isolation video game praised its graphics, story and general gameplay, making it a bit of a standout from many other games adapted from a movie. It even received seven separate DLC packs. Gamers have been enjoying this cult classic on mobile and Switch for a while now, but today, on the game’s 10th anniversary, the developers announced that they’re developing a sequel.

Yes, you heard us right. Alien: Isolation now has a sequel in early development. If you don’t believe us, take the official X account’s word for it.

We currently don’t have any other details on this sequel, but a look back at reviews for Alien: Isolation should give you hope we’ll get another solid game here. If the sequel is anything like the original, then you can expect horror, stealth and second-guessing yourself just as the claws of an alien take your life.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/sequel-to-2014s-alien-isolation-is-now-in-development-162213148.html?src=rss