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Multiview, the feature that allows you to watch up to four screens at once, has long been an exclusive to YouTube TV. Now that feature is finding its way over to YouTube, but there’s a small catch.

Today, Google announced a few new perks it is giving to its NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers. The most notable of which are the improvements to Multiview. On YouTube TV, these football fans will be able to build a Multiview of any combination of two, three, or four NFL Sunday Ticket games. In the past, Multiview only offered preset picks, so this improvement should offer more freedom over what you watch.

The bigger news, however, is that Multiview is coming to YouTube for the first time. Unfortunately, the feature will only be available to NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers for the purpose of watching football games. Google says this option will be available at the start of the football season, which the season starts on Thursday, September 5. Users will be able to use the YouTube Multiview feature on TVs, mobile devices, and tablets.

Outside of Multiview, the company announced that NFL Fantasy and Yahoo Fantasy players can connect their accounts to Fantasy View. This way, fans can keep track of their fantasy teams without having to take their eye off the game. It has also launched a spoiler mode feature that hides scores for specific teams so you can avoid final scores if you plan to watch a game later.

This is all great news for NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers. At the same time, we hope this also means that Multiview on YouTube will eventually open up for everyone else and for other types of content.

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Compared to how people got their entertainment 25 years ago, our modern era of streaming just feels so much more civilized. Beyond having access to a greater variety of content than probably any other audience has enjoyed in history, we’re actively in charge of what we’re watching, in a way that feels particularly empowering. But for as far as we’ve come from the days of messing around with rabbit ears to get a weak station to come in, problems still happen, and it looks like Google TV ran into some major issues over the weekend.

In a thread over on the Android TV Reddit sub, user PDPopper shared word of a Google TV outage, ultimately being joined by dozens of voices confirming with their own issues (h/t Johnathan Saunders). Problems look like they first started popping up sometime around Saturday mid-day (Eastern), and we see users reporting the situation resolving by the small hours of Sunday morning.

During that time period, viewers were able to access Google TV services, including both the mobile app and the TV platform. The app basically stopped showing anything at all, while on affected sets, users were still able to stream with third-party apps, but the For you screen no longer worked, and they couldn’t access Google’s Live linear streams.

Some users were able to figure out a work-around to still access their previously purchased media, by way of going through YouTube, which hopefully got them through the afternoon just fine. By Sunday morning, reports had dried up, and it looked like everything was working just like normal.

We’ve reached out to Google to see if we can get any further insight into what happened with this outage, and will update this post to share any statement the company provides.

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Dispatch, a new launcher for Android and Google TV devices, has rolled out and is ready for public use. Initially announced on Reddit over a year ago, Dispatch recently closed its beta testing phase, and the launcher is now available for download on the Google Play Store.

This announcement was made by Paul Dhaliwal, the developer of Dispatch, via a Reddit post. A noteworthy highlight of the launcher is that it is completely ad-free, giving users access to a far cleaner interface than what is found on most other launchers today. Additionally, Dispatch also integrates with Plex, which is great for users who prefer tailored watchlists that are based on their existing media libraries.

Another standout feature of Dispatch is its extensive customization options, including the ability to hide content that doesn’t interest you as well as the option to toggle on or off any row of content you see on Dispatch’s homepage. So, for instance, if you’re not subscribed to Prime Video, you can hide that particular row so it doesn’t appear on your homepage and clog up your feed.

The launcher includes other user-focused features as well, which can either be enabled or disabled. This level of customization ensures you’re able to consume your preferred content in an environment that’s free of distractions and in line with your exact preferences.

If you’re interested in signing up for Dispatch, you can currently take advantage of the free 14-day trial and explore all the features of this launcher. After the trial period, you can purchase a lifetime license for $9.99 or a monthly license for $0.99.

Your patio or outdoor living spaces aren’t usually places you would consider putting a TV in, but it can make your football weekends and BBQ days amazingly fun! An outdoor TV has special needs, though, and it can get expensive. You might want to wait it out before pulling the trigger. Here’s a really good deal for you: Samsung’s The Terrace 55-inch TV is currently a whole $1,000 off. This brings the price to a more reasonable $2,500.

Get the Samsung The Terrace Partial Sun 55-inch 4K QLED TV for $2,500

The deal is available directly from Samsung. This specific discount only applies to the 55-inch model, which is the smallest The Terrace option. That said, the discount gets bigger as you start upgrading. However, the MSRP also increases by far more.

The Terrace is a great TV, featuring a nice 55-inch QLED panel with a 4K resolution. Because it is made to be viewed outdoors, it also reaches levels of over 2,000 nits. This is enough to watch the TV comfortably under partial sun. The TV was also optimized to reduce glare. Because it is made to be outdoors at all times, The Terrace gets an IP55 rating, which means it is dust-protected and can withstand water jets coming from all directions.

Of course, being a Samsung TV, it runs Tizen, so you can enjoy all your favorite streaming apps directly. It supports Quantum HDR 32X, and even has voice assistant support through Bixby or Amazon Alexa.

If you are looking for an amazing outdoor TV, you really can’t go wrong with a Samsung The Terrace. Go get it before it goes back to its usual price! You don’t want to spend $1,000 more if you can avoid it!

If you missed either of these in 2019, start 2020 with them:

Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski (prior post)

Netflix: Unbelievable (prior post)

Friday Night Videos was a weekly dose of music videos for those without cable and, therefore, no MTV. I hadn't thought about it in years until this episode from 1984, complete with commercials, popped up on YouTube. It is pure 80s nostalgia with Tracey Ullman, who I honestly forgot had a music career, Rockwell, whose Somebody's Watching Me video still creeps me out, a "brand new video by John Cougar Mellencamp," and a talking head of Freddie Mercury smoking like a chimney in an intro to the Radio Gaga video. — Read the rest

The post Friday Night Videos is a blast from the past appeared first on Boing Boing.

Now that streaming subscriber growth has slowed, we’ve noted repeatedly how the streaming TV sector is falling into all of the bad habits that ultimately doomed traditional cable TV.

That has involved chasing pointless “growth of growth’s sake” megamergers and imposing bottomless price hikes and new annoying restrictions — all while simultaneously cutting corners on product quality and staff in a bid to give Wall Street that sweet, impossible, unlimited, quarterly growth it demands.

Executives are not being particularly sensitive about it despite some hard lessons learned during the cord cutting years. On the heels of yet another recent price hike across Disney’s Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN streaming services (some as high as 25 percent), Disney CFO Hugh Johnston proudly declared that the company had “earned” the right to increasingly saddle consumers with price hikes:

“We do feel like we’ve earned that pricing in the marketplace, and we feel positively about that. With that will come scale benefits. The product improvements also should reduce churn and keep our consumers with us as they’re evaluating their options.”

We literally just went through this cycle to with traditional cable, yet the execs clearly haven’t learned a thing. When pressed during Disney’s earnings call on whether this might annoy subscribers, Disney CEO Bob Iger brushed aside those concerns:

“We’re not concerned. The goal is to grow engagement on the platform. And what I mean by that is obviously offering a wider variety of programming.”

The problem is the price hikes aren’t generally running parallel with service improvements. Prices are not only increasing; but product streaming catalogs are in many instances getting worse (see: both Marvel and Star Wars properties recent sag in quality and critical acclaim).

At the same time, users are facing more technical restrictions than ever in the forms of device restrictions or password sharing crackdowns. Staff are simultaneously being cut or asked to do more, with less.

Wall Street and the traditional business press laud this behavior because executives are simply looking to maximize shareholder value over the short term. The price hikes helped Disney streaming efforts reach slight profitability for the first time ever, helping convince execs that they’re somehow inherently owed massive profits now that they’ve staked out a beachhead in the streaming wars.

Of course nobody is owed anything. And there’s something these folks really don’t want to talk about: namely that, just like a traditional television industry destroyed by this exact same behavior by the extraction class, none of this is sustainable.

Wall Street’s need for improved quarterly returns at any cost inevitably leads to a sort of auto-cannibalization of product quality. You can’t deliver improved returns through subscriber growth anymore, so executives start looking at restrictions (fewer simultaneous streams, more ads, surcharges for streaming in 4K, etc.), layoffs, price hikes, production cuts, customer service cuts, and pointless, massive mergers that misdirect energy and attention away from improving product quality.

Financial deregulation has ensured there’s no real foundational interest (or financial incentive) in building lasting consumer trust, brand loyalty, or product quality. The focus is short term stock jumps and tax breaks, with the latter repercussions being somebody else’s problem (most immediately consumers and labor, but ultimately execs that have to come in later and restructure everything after the ship runs aground).

Customers might not balk at higher streaming prices immediately. For many (especially compared to traditional TV) streaming still provides a decent value proposition, and Iger was quick to insist they’re not seeing much churn yet in response to hikes. But this isn’t a cycle in which Wall Street can ever be truly satisfied. And streaming is on an accelerated timeline to what traditional cable experienced.

As you saw with traditional cable, product and brand degradation and continues until users ultimately flock to competing, more affordable options, which usually includes piracy. Piracy rates are already rising again in response to executive decisions, and executives seem poised and ready to blame everything but themselves for file sharing’s growing resurgence.

Sunny, Constellation, and Bad Monkey are among the best shows on Apple TV+ this month.

Content leaks have been an ongoing controversy in the entertainment sphere for decades, effecting every industry from film, television, to comic books and print novels. While fans obviously want to know everything they can about an upcoming release, it can be easy to forget just how harmful leaks can be to the people working on a project.

Dubbed one of the “biggest leaking disasters” in the anime industry’s lengthy history, the recent Netflix leaks that’s caused highly anticipated shows like Dandadan, Ranma 1/2, and Arcane Season 2, and more to be partially or fully leaked online has fans and industry professionals in an understandable outrage.

How Did So Many of Netflix’s Biggest Animated Releases Get Leaked?

While details are still sparse at this time on how the site was hacked, online sleuths have speculated the leaker may be located in Japan due to the content being recorded in Japanese and lacking subtitles. The leaked footage from these episodes are low quality and covered in watermarks, which seems to suggest that many of them were still in production when the files were taken.

This leak isn’t just a bad look on Netflix’s part, it’s also extremely harmful for the team’s involved in each of these series’ and film’s productions. Fans and professionals alike are furious over this series of events, and many are urging the streaming to giant to make an official statement.

This is our hard work.
It is meant to be released on its due date, something we, as animators, really look forward to.

It is incredibly disrespectful and just straight up annoying. You think you are doing some kind of service to the community but you are not. https://t.co/UX0lCrZbuZ

— Kass Chapa・アニメーター (@kaoyumari) August 7, 2024

At time of writing, Netflix has been silent on what happened.

Elden Ring might not be getting the TV spotlight that some fans have been hoping for, but FromSoftware’s other franchise Armored Core certainly is.

Amazon’s upcoming anthology series Secret Level will include an episode based on the mech battling series Armored Core. This animated series takes viewers on a journey inside the universe of a selection of games, that have never been shown before. Fans can get a glimpse at what’s to come thanks to a trailer revealed on day one of Gamescom.

The animated show is from the producers of Netflix’s Love + Death & Robots which was a breakout hit for the streaming platform showing breathtaking animation with unique stories. That means Secret Level is in great hands, and fans would want it to be given the popularity of these franchises.

Alongside Armored Core, Secret Level will include episodes that feature Dungeons & Dragons, Mega Man, Pac-Man, and Warhammer 40,000 among others. These are some of the most popular gaming franchises ever, and now they’re getting a fresh animated take for viewers to dive into.

Season one of Secret Level will include 15 episodes, however, the length of each episode is unknown. Just know that they will be shorts so don’t expect full-length episodes, or complete seasons for any of these franchises. 

Secret Level is set to premiere on Dec. 10, 2024, so fans don’t have too long before they get to see these loved franchises on screen. It isn’t clear whether all episodes of the show will be shared at once or if it will be weekly, but expect that information to surface closer to its release.

If you want to get your Armored Core fix in before the show gets here you can purchase and play Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC right now.

A quick scan of social media confirms that Batman: Caped Crusader‘s female version of the Penguin is still a talking point, weeks after the show’s debut. Showrunner Bruce Timm’s comments probably haven’t helped either.

In an interview for the Emmys website, Timm chalked up Caped Crusader‘s gender-swapped Oswald Cobblepot to a shortage of viable alternatives. “[Executive producer] James [Tucker] and I were talking about the overview of [Caped Crusader],” Timm recalled. “And we said, ‘One of the problems with Batman, as he is, is there’s a lack of good [female] villains. You’ve got Catwoman, you’ve got Poison Ivy, you’ve got Harley Quinn. But it would be really good to have more female villains […] We never really could figure out exactly what to do with the Penguin, what the gimmick for The Penguin would be. What if we gender-flip the Penguin?'”

It’s a well-articulated argument; it also doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Yet ultimately, the rationale behind Batman: Caped Crusader‘s female version of the Penguin doesn’t really matter; the execution does.

The Bat-Canon Has Plenty of Good Female Villains

Admittedly, Timm isn’t entirely wrong. The Dark Knight’s list of enemies definitely skews male-heavy. That said, there are still plenty of good female Bat-baddies. Aside from the three Timm mentions (two of whom, Catwoman and Harley Quinn, appear in Batman: Caped Crusader), there’s also Talia al Ghul, Lady Shiva, Jezebel Jet, and female incarnations of Clayface and Ventriloquist. Oh, and let’s not forget two of Timm’s own co-creations, Phantasm and Roxy Rocket. That’s just off the top of my head, too. There’s probably a few more viable candidates I’m missing, without even getting into less flamboyant characters like gangster Sofia Falcone.

Related: Batman: Caped Crusader: What’s Linton Midnite’s Deal in Season 1?

True, some of the above supervillains are overexposed (particularly Ivy), while the rest aren’t exactly A-listers. However, Timm’s approach to Caped Crusader is rooted in reinvention and revitalization. If the likes of Roxy Rocket and Lady Clayface don’t work as is, that’s the perfect invitation to revamp them. After all, Timm’s done it before with underappreciated male villains. Together with Paul Dini, he gave us the modern Mr. Freeze! So, while I don’t personally have an issue with Penguin being a woman, I find the notion that Timm was essentially forced down that road a tad disingenuous.

Batman: Caped Crusader’s Penguin Is About Reinvention

Yet, again, just because Timm’s “female Penguin” motivations don’t stack up doesn’t mean they’re without merit. As noted above, Timm’s goal with Batman: Caped Crusader was to put a fresh spin on the Bat-mythos, the way he did as a co-architect of Batman: The Animated Series (only different). James Tucker said as much in the joint Emmys interview. “That was the mission statement for [Caped Crusader] in general: to do something that harkened back to the original, but flip it.” Recasting Oswald Cobblepot as Oswalda certainly does that.

Related: Is Batman: Caped Crusader Getting a Season 2?

Of course, this approach is bound to rub some fans up the wrong way. Setting aside the gender politics of it all, some folks just don’t like drastic deviations from established comics canon, and that’s totally fine. We all have our own threshold for change. But for a Batman adaptation to stand out from its decades’ worth of predecessors—and, heck, to justify its very existence—it can’t be afraid to mix things up a bit. Otherwise, things get same-samey and stale. Trying to avoid this fate is how you end up with a slimy Harvey Dent, a Joker-free Harley Quinn, and yes, Timm’s female Penguin.

Bruce Timm Is Wrong About Batman’s Rogues (But Right About Caped Crusader’s Penguin)

And let’s be real: a cabaret-singing female Penguin is an objectively fun take on the character (even if the Oswalda name is a bit lame). It’s surprising, without actually straying all that far from the OG Penguin’s essence. A ruthless, avian-looking crime boss who feigns legitimacy? That certainly tracks with several depictions of Penguin (including in the comics). Voice actor Minnie Driver’s performance is terrific, too. Indeed, it’s not hard to see why Oswalda has her defenders as well as her detractors. So, no, it doesn’t matter that Bruce Timm is wrong about Batman’s lack of good female villains; he was still right about Caped Crusader‘s female Penguin.

Batman: Caped Crusader Season 1 is currently streaming on Prime Video.

It’s safe to say that Disney+’s Star Wars series The Acolyte divided the fanbase. Many embraced it for taking the franchise in new directions, while others were never on board. Well, just like when it was airing, Star Wars fans can’t agree on a stance when discussing The Acolyte‘s cancellation.

Deadline dropped the news that The Acolyte would not be returning for a second season. However, reports claim the axing has nothing to do with fan backlash but with the series’ inability to maintain steady viewership. Some will point to fans’ frustration as the reason people weren’t tuning in, but it was a lot more complicated than that.

The Acoltye Never Stood a Chance

There were two major camps going at it while The Acolyte was airing: those turned off from the series from the jump and those willing to give it a chance. Unfortunately, between all of the debates about breaking canon and Sith abs, a third group was forgotten: the casual fans who don’t care about canon or really anything but having something to watch after work.

Seeing all of the discourse online about the show likely made a lot of people look elsewhere for entertainment. After all, who wants to be thrown into the middle of a fight about space wizards when there are far more important things to worry about?

“Star Wars fans, smh,” said X user Deshair. This series never stood a chance. And before anyone says, ‘Well what about Ahsoka?’ They only watched it for Anakin.”

“The Acolyte being cancelled is just another example of toxic internet hate,” added Alex on X. “The show never got a chance to breathe and half the people hating on it never even watched an episode.”

Related: The Acolyte Subverts Star Wars in a Big Way That Doesn’t Always Work

It’s a Bad Time To Be a TV Show

There are also more than a few discussions online about how shows aren’t able to find their audiences anymore. Countless shows struggle in their first season, only to come back stronger in later outings. It’s possible that could’ve happened with The Acolyte, but it never had time to grow.

“It’s a generally bleak time for television; not just because of The Acolyte,” said Riley on X. “Everything gets cancelled. Nothing gets a chance to find its footing like before. Companies wonder why no one’s watching and it’s because no one wants to get invested in an inevitable unfinished story.”

Unfortunately, unless Star Wars releases some sort of tie-in, like a novel or comic, The Acolyte will be an unfinished story. That’s not bad news for everyone, but those close to the industry will say it’s bad news for the entertainment landscape.

isney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte wrapped up its first season with a decidedly open-ended finale. So, does this mean the The Acolyte is getting a Season 2?

Related: The Acolyte: Is Darth Plagueis in Season 1?

Is The Acolyte Season 2 Happening?

No, The Acolyte Season 2 isn’t happening. Per Deadline, Lucasfilm cancelled the Star Wars series on Aug. 19, 2024. The outlet’s sources didn’t supply a reason for The Acolyte‘s cancellation, although its lacklustre viewership figures were likely a contributing factor. As noted by Deadline, The Acolyte lost its spot on Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart from Episode 4 to 7. To its credit, The Acolyte eventually landed back on the chart with its eighth and final episode. But even then, its total number of minutes viewed was reportedly the lowest of any Star Wars series.

Related: Is Yoda in Star Wars: The Acolyte?

Lucasfilm axing The Acolyte will no doubt come as a blow to showrunner Leslye Headland, who was ready to hit the ground running on Season 2. In March 2024 Collider interview, Headland revealed that The Acolyte was always conceived as a story that spanned more than one season. “I would say that when I pitched it, I definitely pitched it as a multi-season show,” she said. “There are a lot of things at the end of this season that I think are narrative threads that are not tied up, for sure.”

What Was Planned for The Acolyte Season 2’s Story?

So, what did Leslye Headland have planned for The Acolyte Season 2, if it had happened? More Darth Plagueis, for one thing! Plagueis briefly cameos in Season 1’s finale, which Headland confirmed in an Inverse interview was set-up for Season 2. She also reiterated the importance of Osha and the Stranger’s newly-forged partnership to the second season’s unrealized narrative.

Related: Does The Acolyte Season 1 Have a Post-Credits Scene?

“[Darth Plagueis is] definitely a signifier of things to come if we end up moving forward,” Headland said. “Osha and the Stranger are aligned. Literally the last shot of the show is the two of them holding the same lightsaber. It’s the last shot of Fight Club – these are two people that are looking out under the horizon and believing that their power is intense, and strong, and shared, and passionate.”

All eight episodes of The Acolyte Season 1 are currently streaming on Disney+.

 The above article was updated on 8/20/2024 by the original author to include information about The Acolyte’s cancellation.

What? Massively OP’s MJ gets to explore a new land in Guild Wars 2 on launch day? Is the MMOverse coming to an end?! No! Instead, it’s more like ArenaNet releasing Janthir Wilds as a slightly early birthday present for her. And how could she not fully appreciate such a gesture? Join us live at […]

I always start off with a lot of concern whenever I enter a sandbox MMORPG for Choose My Adventure. Mostly because these games are almost always murder blenders and having to look over my shoulder with every step isn’t what I’d call my idea of fun. Luckily, Fractured Online has, at least in the interim, […]

Folks watching (or attending) Warframe’s TennoLive at TennoCon 2024 received a Saryn Prime to add to their arsenal, and it’s time for Massively OP’s MJ to take her for a spin! MJ might even get to help some friends out in their adventures. Is this frame destined to become one of her favorites? Or will […]

A new level cap in Final Fantasy XIV means that MOP’s Chris has some catching up to do for some of his alt jobs, and since he’s feeling the urge to do some tanking, that’s just what he’ll be up to! Join him and his crew today at 2:00 p.m. EDT for another round of […]

Good afternoon. Have you met Mr. Nibbles yet? No? Well, neither has Massively OP’s MJ. But Today’s V Rising plan is to accomplish just that. And then she’ll go clear out the other bosses of Act I. She definitely won’t be sidetracked by building her castle… really. Tune in live at 2:00 p.m. and see […]

TV manufacturers are shifting their focus from hardware sales to viewer data and advertising revenue. This trend is driven by declining profit margins on TV sets and the growing potential of smart TV operating systems to generate recurring income. Companies like LG, Samsung, and Roku are increasingly prioritizing ad sales and user tracking capabilities in their TVs, ArsTechnica reports. Automatic content recognition (ACR) technology, which analyzes viewing habits, is becoming a key feature for advertisers. TV makers are partnering with data firms to enhance targeting capabilities, with LG recently sharing data with Nielsen and Samsung updating its ACR tech to track streaming ad exposure. This shift raises concerns about privacy and user experience, as TVs become more commercialized and data-driven. Industry experts predict a rise in "shoppable ads" and increased integration between TV viewing and e-commerce platforms. The report adds: With TV sales declining and many shoppers prioritizing pricing, smart TV players will continue developing ads that are harder to avoid and better at targeting. Interestingly, Patrick Horner, practice leader of consumer electronics at analyst Omdia, told Ars that smart TV advertising revenue exceeding smart TV hardware revenue (as well as ad sale margins surpassing those of hardware) is a US-only trend, albeit one that shows no signs of abating. OLED has become a mainstay in the TV marketplace, and until the next big display technology becomes readily available, OEMs are scrambling to make money in a saturated TV market filled with budget options. Selling ads is an obvious way to bridge the gap between today and The Next Big Thing in TVs. Indeed, with companies like Samsung and LG making big deals with analytics firms and other brands building their businesses around ads, the industry's obsession with ads will only intensify. As we've seen before with TV commercials, which have gotten more frequent over time, once the ad genie is out of the bottle, it tends to grow, not go back inside. One side effect we're already seeing, Horner notes, is "a proliferation of more TV operating systems." While choice is often a good thing for consumers, it's important to consider if new options from companies like Amazon, Comcast, and TiVo actually do anything to notably improve the smart TV experience for owners. And OS operators' financial success is tied to the number of hours users spend viewing something on the OS. Roku's senior director of ad innovation, Peter Hamilton, told Digiday in May that his team works closely with Roku's consumer team, "whose goal is to drive total viewing hours." Many smart TV OS operators are therefore focused on making it easier for users to navigate content via AI.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tim Miller, co-founder of Blur Studio and director of Deadpool (2016), took the stage at Gamescom Opening Night Live to show off the first trailer for Secret Level, a 15-episode anthology of video game adaptations coming to Prime Video on Dec. 10.

Miller also managed to bring quite a bit of personality and emotion to the otherwise cut-and-dry event — as he geared up to announce Secret Level, which he’ll executive produce, Miller’s eyes brimmed with tears and his voice cracked. “We fucking love video games,“ he said before diving into details on the show, which will include narratives inspired by games like Concord, Dungeons & Dragons, Pac-man, Sifu, and The Outer Worlds, among others. Like Blur Studio’s popular Netflix anthology, Love, Death, + Robots, each episode will stand on its own.

The announcement was refreshing in several ways, and not just because the show looks more promising than the Borderlands movie that came out earlier this month. The animation looks like classic game cinematics, the trailer was well cut, and it gives fans who really don’t want to see their favorite thing go the Borderlands route.

It also included a man not so different from all of the other men we see on stage at events like Gamescom, but this time, he was crying. He stopped his speech multiple times to collect himself, and honestly, who wouldn’t? Miller said his team’s been working on Secret Level for three years, so the emotion is understandable if not commendable — but we rarely see figures like him getting emotional on stages like Geoff Keighley’s. His reverence for his team’s work is appropriate and welcome, and it makes me all the more excited to watch Secret Level when it premieres.

Maybe Miller will chock the emotions up to the high pressure of speaking to a crowd of thousands of people when he has a chance to reflect — Polygon couldn’t reach him for comment after his speech — but as someone who watches every minute of events like this, I found Miller’s emotion was profound and, hopefully, speaks to the care with which Secret Level was made.

The Blur Studio and Amazon MGM Studios-created series will premiere on Prime Video on Dec. 10.

Very good price on AliExpress for the generic mini PC carrying the Intel N200 processor, rarely seen in mini PCs and which in this case is at a ...

The post intel N200 mini PC almost at the price of Intel N100 in Aliexpress back to School Sale first appeared on AndroidPCtv.

Great price thanks to AliExpress Back to School, for the TV-Stick M98-Y10 which uses a low-power Allwinner H618 processor. This is a small media player that works with ...

The post M98-Y10, 4K Stick with Android 13 for less than $18 at AliExpress first appeared on AndroidPCtv.

Today we look at another entry-level box using the Rockchip RK3528 Quad Core processor, this time called the DQ08 Pro. A Box that is a version of the ...

The post DQ08 Pro another Box 4K with Rockchip RK3528 and WiFi 6 first appeared on AndroidPCtv.

💾

The Borderlands movie was bad. Irredeemably bad. So bad that I am currently in the process of filing criminal charges against my editors for making me review it for PC Gamer. I take heart, though: Although my own viewing was scarily packed—prompting fears on my part the movie might be an undeserved success—it's currently in the process of bombing, and has already thrown in the towel and started making the move to streaming.

The reason for that, of course, is that I'm far from the only person who thinks the film was bad. The whole world hates the film, to the point that it sat for a long time at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes before creeping up to its current 10%. The reviews are negative, folks. Negative and numerous. So numerous, in fact, that an enterprising musician by the name of Sad Alex has made a full-on, 3-minute song just from a small sample of them. 

Where to start? First, you have to compliment her creativity. This is probably the first piece of good art the Borderlands movie has been even tangentially responsible for, and it's a fantastic idea all by itself.

Second, it's bizarrely affecting? I'm not the only one welling up, right? Sad Alex sings about all the things you could do instead of watching Borderlands with emotion you usually reserve for singing about the end of a 15-year relationship or the death of a loved one. You could play this over footage of me looking lost and forlorn in a rainstorm and it'd all make perfect sense. I'd be tempted to add it to my Apple Music library if that didn't feel somehow deranged.

Anyway, score one for the Borderlands film: Something positive finally arose from it. You probably could have written a nice song without spending tens of millions of dollars on a dumpster fire of a film, of course, but that's life: You live and learn. 

© Lionsgate

To celebrate the recent release of the Unholy Alliance update, Devolved Digital is giving Cult of the Lamb players the chance to get their hands on in-game items through Twitch drops. There are three décor items to gain through watching others play, and a set available for subbing. 

All of the items up for grabs through this Twitch drop campaign will be officially released to players on all platforms further down the line, although there is currently no confirmation about when this will actually happen. 

For now, if you’re playing through Steam and want to get yourself any of the following decorative pieces for your Cult of the Lamb playthrough, there are a number of different rewards on offer and you have until September 20 to claim yours. 

In order to get any of the following drops, you’ll need to first link your Twitch account with the Devolver Digital codes site. To do this, just head to the website and click on the “Connect your Twitch Account” button at the top. 

How long do you need to watch to get Cult of the Lamb Twitch drops?

There are three items ready to be claimed by players who tune into any stream on Twitch with the “DropsEnabled” tag (you can find all of the currently live and eligible streams here). The items you stand to gain, and how long you need to watch to get each of them, are as follows:

• Goat Effigy (1 hour of watch time)
• Goat Statue (2 hours of watch time)
• Goat Plant (3 hours of watch time)

In total, you’ll only need to watch someone play for three hours in order to get all of the Twitch drop items. 

How to get the Cult of the Lamb Support a Streamer pack

The Support a Streamer pack isn’t gained through watch time and instead requires you to do one of the following:

• Subscribe to a Twitch streamer with the “DropsEnabled” tag active
• Gift a subscription to someone else in a stream with the “DropsEnabled” tag active

For doing this, you’ll get not one, but four items for your playthrough:

• Teddy Dog follower form
• Flower Bottle decor item
• Leafy Sculpture decor item
• Mushroom Candle decor item

The post How to get all Cult of the Lamb: Unholy Alliance Twitch drops appeared first on Destructoid.

Whilst DC barely dipped its toes into the concepts of the Multiverse before heading into a bold new reboot with James Gunn and Peter Safrans DCU, there were some surprising faces seen across various movies. Most DC Cameos were not all that exciting and featured characters too obscure, or actors, celebrities, and politicians that feature as mere easter eggs rather than for comic fans to enjoy.

Live-action video game adaptations continue to get better and better. The Last of Us showed us what was possible when retelling the stories of a great video game on screen. Amazon has proven itself with shows like ‘The Boys’ and “Gen V’ so we are excited to see what they do with the Fallout series. …

Amazon’s Fallout Series Teaser Trailer Read More »

The post https://thegamefanatics.com/amazons-fallout-series-teaser-trailer/ appeared first on The Game Fanatics,.

Have you ever wondered what black people would actually do when placed in a horror movie? Well, Tim Story takes an ‘all black’ cast to remove the horror movie trope of the black character dying first. The Blackening is a horror comedy film about a group of Black friends who are trapped in a cabin …

The Blackening Review: Predictable Yet Hilarious Read More »

The post https://thegamefanatics.com/the-blackening-review-predictable-yet-hilarious/ appeared first on The Game Fanatics,.

One of the announcements during TennoLive 2024 was that this year’s Dog Days summer event in Warframe would allow players to also earn pearls for assists! So now, Massively OP’s MJ doesn’t have to try and snipe kills from her friends. (Let’s be real: They are more likely sniping from her!) Either way, this means […]

It’s easy like Sunday morning on OPTV’s Eorzea Sunday, as MOP’s Chris and his crew will be leaping in to the random draw that is the daily roulettes of Final Fantasy XIV… though the Trial run could prove to be spicy. Either way, tune in today at 2:00 p.m. EDT for some friendly banter during […]

When the moon is crashing down onto the surface of your planet, do the following. First, blame Roland Emmerich. Second, don’t panic. Third, summon the strongest member of your party to take the alpha strike so that the rest of civilization can endure. Fourth, ask Link if he can rewind time back to the first […]

It’s been a tad bit since Massively OP’s MJ was able to make a little progress toward crafting her own personal planet in Planet Crafter. But now that she moved to a valley with resources just strewn about, she’s hoping to make a bigger dent in it. Perhaps she’ll even get to making a rocket! […]

With a little bit of grinding, Massively OP’s MJ was able to make it high enough to finally enter the newest dungeons in AdventureQuest 3D. But just before she could embark on those adventures, something completely new was tossed in her way. Now she wants to investigate a surprise waiting for her in the daily […]

Cozy huts. Witchy things. Farming. The game Spellfarers seems to tick a lot of boxes for MOP’s Chris. Also, it’s free-to-play. So all told, it’s worth a quick peek! Join him today at 2:00 p.m. EDT as he peers in to this newly released early access multiplayer life sim! What: Spellfarers Who: Chris Neal When: […]

The first look at The Last of Us Season 2 is here, which means iconic moments from the game are being brought to life. However, fans are figuring out that things can’t always be adapted perfectly. In fact, one moment has them worried that a crucial scene is being altered.

HBO’s footage features an older Ellie and Joel living in Jackson, Wyoming, alongside Tommy and his family. Despite the time jump, events from the first season are still relevant, as Joel is opening up about what he did to save Ellie from the Fireflies. However, while the dialogue is ripped straight out of the game, Joel doesn’t appear to have the same scene partner.

Joel’s Confession in The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II video game opens with Joel having a heart-to-heart conversation with his brother, Tommy, about killing the Fireflies. It sets the stage for the opening of the game, where Ellie and Joel are estranged. The spoilers can end there, but it’s a massive moment for Joel, who, of course, has trouble talking about his feelings.

The footage for The Last of Us Season 2 makes it seem like Joel is not revealing this information to Tommy but Catherine O’Hara’s character, who many are speculating is a therapist living in Jackson. Opening up to a professional shouldn’t be frowned upon, but that’s not stopping fans from thinking the show is making an unnecessary change.

Related: Does House of the Dragon Season 2’s Finale Confirm the Daemon/Night King Fan Theory?

Completely Out of Character

When the footage made its way on social media, fans were quick to notice the change. And while countless people in the replies pointed out that it could’ve just been clever editing on HBO’s part, that didn’t put out the fire.

“sorry i’m saying it anyway if this is their version of the opening of the game i already hate it i don’t think joel would tell anyone other than tommy about what happened,” lauren on X said to kick off the converstation.

“they way they’re presenting it is that he’s seeing perhaps a therapist and tells her instead of which is completely out of character for joel he would never tell anyone anything other than tommy,” replied mizu.

“I’m interested to see where they go with this & why they made the change, but that scene really was so important,” added X user abby.

This debate isn’t likely to go away anytime soon, as The Last of Us Season 2 isn’t set to arrive on HBO/Max until 2025.

We’re still a ways away from the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation, but the teasers are already starting to roll out slowly. We’d previously seen some behind-the-scenes shots of Bella Ramsey on set, but this teaser really sets the tone for Season 2.

You can check out the video for yourself down below:

I saved her.

A sneak peek of Season 2 of the @HBO Original Series #TheLastOfUs, coming in 2025 to Max. pic.twitter.com/PQljcvlOsx

— Max (@StreamOnMax) August 5, 2024

The video shows off Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Wright as casting newcomers for the show, though it’s looking like O’Hara may not play an existing character from the games. In the clip, she’s shown asking Joel if he hurt Ellie, and what he did when he says no. Joel then responds by stating that he saved her, as a tear rolls down his cheek. I’ve no clue who O’Hara could possibly be playing just based on the clip, but it’s possible that she may take on a newly created role for the show.

On the other hand, we also got a glimpse of Jeffrey Wright, who’s likely reprising his role as Isaac Dixon — one of the main antagonists in The Last of Us Part II. He’d voiced Isaac in the game, so it’s fitting that he should play him in the adaptation as well.

All in all, it’s looking pretty good so far, and it should be interesting to see the fan reaction to the second season, particularly if they don’t know anything about the games.

HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 is set to premiere sometime in 2025.

Blue Lock has quickly become one of the biggest sports anime in the world, and after the success of the Episode Nagi film, fans all around the world were excited to see new updates regarding the 2nd season’s release.

In an exciting new teaser trailer uploaded by EMOTION Label Channel and a post made on the official X (formerly Twitter) accounts revealed that Unison Square Garden will be returning to perform the new opening song, as well as showing off some flashy new footage from Blue Lock season 2.

When Will Blue Lock Season 2 Release?

The second season of Blue Lock is slated to release during the Fall 2024 Anime Season, on October 5, 2024. Just like the first season, season 2 will be streaming on Crunchyroll, subbed and dubbed. The new season will be featuring some new additions to the voice cast, including Satoshi Hino as Oliver Aiku, Kakeru Hatano as Nijiro Nanase, Eiji Mikami as Yo Hiori, and Akihisa Wakayama as Shuto Sendo.

The latest installment in the Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball Daima, was originally announced during the Dragon Ball Special Panel during New York Comic-Con in 2023, and we finally have confirmation for when fans will be able to enjoy the late Akira Toriyama’s final project.

Toei Animation recently dropped a new trailer filled with details about the anime, including its official release date.

Dragon Ball Daima Will Officially Drop In October 2024

The trailer shows of Daima‘s flashy animation style and high-energy vibe, once again showing a child version of Goku taking on the upcoming anime’s biggest threats. In addition to the new trailer, the official Dragon Ball X account dropped a new key visual for the anime.

Dragon Ball DAIMA
Unveiling new characters & a main visual
Plus a highly anticipated new trailer!#DAIMA #DragonBallhttps://t.co/ExyuvZ8HPN pic.twitter.com/AnsPvwPZKU

— DRAGON BALL OFFICIAL (@DB_official_en) July 19, 2024

The new visual is reminiscent of early Dragon Ball manga cover artwork, injecting the project with a rush of nostalgia.

Studio Trigger’s anime adaptation of Ryoko Kui’s high fantasy dungeon-delving fantasy series Delicious In Dungeon was iconic, and its fanbase has skyrocketed ever since.

While its great to see more people talking about the series, its even more incredible to see the vast number of fan projects pop up following the anime’s success, with many of the perfectly capturing the underlying themes of the series.

@mihaelillustrates Captures a Heartwarming Meal Shared By Laios’ Party

hotpot with the gang :DD#dunmeshi #dungeonmeshi pic.twitter.com/wD9lbsHgP9

— chii ( ´ ▽ ` ) (@mihaellustrates) July 15, 2024

This gorgeously illustrated fanart features Laios, Marcille, Chilchuck, and Senshi sharing hotpot together. The color palette chosen for the piece gives it a warm and cozy feel – even with Marcille’s disgruntled expression. It beautifully captures one of Delicious In Dungeon‘s core themes: the importance of taking the time to share a meal with the people you care about.

With the tense season 1 finale ramping things up leading into the already announced second season, it can be easy to forget that some of the show’s best moments come from Laios and the rest of the party connecting with friends new and old through the power of home cooking, even if they are making their meals with monsters.

Delicious in Dungeon is available to stream on Netflix.

Off the heels of the new Urusei Yatsura anime adaptation’s success, fans of Rumiko Takahashi were delighted to learn that another one of the iconic mangaka’s series was coming back with a fresh new anime.

Rivaled in popularity only by her massively popular shonen series Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2 is by far one of Takahashi’s most recognizable works around the globe, and now even newer anime fans will have an opportunity to experience it.

The New Ranma 1/2 Trailer Perfectly Captures the Manga’s Energy

It’s been officially announced that the new anime will be produced by Studio MAPPA (Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuri!!! On Ice, Chainsaw Man) and is set to air on October 5, 2024 in Japan, with Netflix picking up the series for a worldwide release on October 6, 2024. It’s also been announced that much of the original voice cast will be returning to reprise their roles from the original Ranma 1/2 anime from the 80s and 90s, including Kappei Yamaguchi, Megumi Hayashibara, and Noriko Hidaka.

In addition to the exciting cast announcement, ano will be performing the opening song for the new series, also known for performing the 7th Chainsaw Man ending song, “Chu, Tayousei”. One Piece anime director Konosuke Uda will be directing the upcoming anime alongside Kimiko Ueno (Delicious In Dungeon) handling series composition, Kaoru Wada (Inuyasha) handling music composition, and character designs by Hiromi Taniguchi (FLCL Alternative).

Demon Slayer has been nothing short of a cultural phenomenon, with the original manga being a smash-hit in terms of sales and the anime adaptation produced by Ufotable made the series a mainstream success around the world.

Despite having a dedicated fanbase, mountains of merchandise and record-breaking sales, fans have grown exhausted with the franchise – but why?

Despite Its Success, the Anime Is Drawing the Story Out Too Much

The original Demon Slayer manga, which was created by Koyoharu Gotouge and began running in Shonen Jump magazine from February 2016 to May 2020, with its chapters being collected into 23 single volumes, or tankobon. The series was an instant success, and in 2020, the year that the manga concluded, had an estimated ¥1 trillion ($8.75 billion USD) in annual revenue. According to Shonen Jump‘s editor-in-chief, Hiroyuki Nakano, the series’ sales began skyrocketing after the first season of the anime had concluded.

This makes total sense – Demon Slayer season 1 was nearly flawless. Featuring Ufotable’s signature animation style and introducing audiences to the main cast in a way that made it easy to get invested in their stories, the series had something for everyone. While action-packed and filled with terrifying demons, the anime also boasted one of the most endearing takes on the “found family” tropes in the industry.

The praise continues when the Mugen Train arc’s animated adaptation released – a feature length film that pushed the boundaries of modern anime cinema in terms of animation quality, storytelling, and hype. The film became an absolute sensation, and the perfectly orchestrated beats throughout the film highlighting the pivotal Hashira Rengoku is something that’s still discussed today. However, from this point onward, the anime starting facing controversies for something unexpected: “canon” filler.

Demon Slayer’s Reliance On Reusing Story Arcs Is Hurting the Series’ Reputation

While there are plenty of criticisms to be made about Demon Slayer being a shorter series and debates on whether or not it stuck the landing with its final arc, one thing is clear – the anime adaptation’s reliance on reusing content is a massive problem that’s causing fans to feel a lot of burn out.

As previously mentioned, the Mugen Train film was absolutely incredible – but then, when the subsequent televised season released afterward, Ufotable returned by retelling the film’s plot all over again. While the studio did add a precursor to provide extra Rengoku content which many fans of the series enjoyed, they proceeded to release an episodic “cut for television” version of the film. This was easy to overlook at the time with the addition of the new content, but this was an unfortunate trend that persisted into the Entertainment District arc and the Swordsmith Village arc, which saw a theatrical release of what ultimately culminated in a compilation film of the Entertainment District’s final episode, and the first episode of Swordsmith Village.

While marketing efforts made the formula seem as though it was doing well – and financially, it was – fans began to sour on this approach to the anime’s release. This happened again with the initial release of the Hashira Training arc, which has undoubtedly been the series’ lowest point.

Everything Wrong With the ‘Hashira Training arc’

The Hashira Training arc is relatively short in the manga, acting as a very brief montage that leads directly into the manga’s grand finale: the ‘Infinity Castle’ arc. Despite maintaining a good chunk of its popularity due to audience investment, the consensus is clear: this is the Demon Slayer anime’s lowest point, and fans of the show are exhausted.

While the animation quality is still solid, the arc added quite a bit of filler to pad out its run time, and had a record number of exposition dumps between characters that could have easily been cut for time. Why the team behind the anime made this choice is unclear, but grim speculation from fans are obviously accusing the team behind the anime of stretching out its length for money.

Not to mention, Demon Slayer is an easy money maker. The manga was the first series to ever take every single top 10 slot in Oricon’s weekly manga charts, and occupied the top 10 for an entire month. Even with the popularity boom of anime and manga in the last decade, those kinds of numbers are almost unheard of. Hopefully the anime adaptation can win its fans over and stick the landing with the adaptation of the final arc, which, in classic Demon Slayer form, will be split into an entire feature-length film trilogy. We just hope that they’re capable of sticking the landing and that the series won’t go out with a disappointed community.

Demon Slayer is available to stream on Crunchyroll. The original manga is published in English by Viz Media.

---

Slowly, but surely, we’re getting a clearer picture of the set-top box Google is planning to replace Chromecast with Google TV with. The latest leak gives us details on the hardware’s full name, price, color, and possible launch date.

Leading up to next week’s Made by Google event, Dealabs has been leaking pricing information on to be announced products left and right. Its latest target is what we know as the Google TV Streamer, which its full name is reportedly the Google TV Streamer 4K. It’s unknown if this 4K suffix suggests that there will be an HD model in the future like with the Chromecast for Google TV.

If you missed either of these in 2019, start 2020 with them:

Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski (prior post)

Netflix: Unbelievable (prior post)

Samsung has announced that it will bring some exciting offers on its AI TVs in India. During the company's ‘AI-Powered Freedom‘ sale, the South Korean firm aims to democratize AI and make its latest premium TV range more accessible to consumers in the country.

Samsung India's ‘AI-Powered Freedom' sale to bring offers and discounts on its premium TVs

Samsung has announced the ‘AI-Powered Freedom' sale event for the Indian market. During this upcoming event ahead of India's 78th Independence Day, the company will offer cashback discounts of up to 20% on select TVs and easy EMIs starting at just INR 2,777 (~$33) per month for up to 36 months. This event will start on August 3, 2024, and end on August 31, 2024.

The company's AI-equipped TVs include its new Neo QLED 8K TVs, Neo QLED TVs (4K), OLED TVs, and Crystal 4K UHD TVs. These TVs are secured by Samsung Knox to protect sensitive data with multiple layers of software and hardware. Depending on the model, buyers who buy select premium AI TVs can get a free Serif TV worth INR 89,990 (~ $1,073) or a free soundbar worth INR 47,990 (~$573).

Samsung hasn't announced the rest of the offers and discounts yet, and they will be revealed in the coming days.

Samsung's latest Neo QLED, Neo QLED 8K, and OLED TVs feature processors that have built-in neural processing units (NPUs) for faster AI processing. This processing is used for improved audio and picture quality, depending on the scene and picture that is being displayed.

 

The post Samsung to bring exciting offers on its AI TVs in India appeared first on SamMobile.

“Did I just watch a 70 minute trailer for Season 3?” is just one of the reactions fans have posted online about the season's "disappointing and poorly executed" closer.

In a note to clients, seen by Slashdot, brokerage house Jefferies writes: Netflix's last price hike on the standard plan was in Jan 2022, its ad- supported plan remains the cheapest (among major players) in the industry, and its move into live sports increases pricing power - for these 3 reasons we suspect a price hike in Q4 or December of this year could be coming on the standard plan. As stated in the Q4 2023 letter (following the announcement of WWE Raw coming in 2025): "As we invest in and improve Netflix, we'll occasionally ask our members to pay a little extra to reflect those improvements, which in turn helps drive the positive flywheel of additional investment." We believe Netflix has been positioning itself throughout this year for a year-end price hike. December / 2025 will have major content releases supporting a pricing increase including the Christmas NFL game, Squid Game 2 on Dec. 26th (season 1 - the #1 watched NFLX show of all time), WWE Raw starting Jan 2025, and Stranger Things 5 coming in 2025 (season 3 / 4 in top 10 of all-time).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

If you missed either of these in 2019, start 2020 with them:

Becoming Superman: My Journey From Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski (prior post)

Netflix: Unbelievable (prior post)

Sweet Home, The Decameron, Star Trek Prodigy are just a few of the shows you need to watch on Netflix this month.

Lowest price during the August AliExpress Choice Day for the HK1 RBOX H8S Android-powered HK1 Android box arrives at a price starting at just $19. A very cheap ...

The post HK1 RBOX H8S, Box with Android 12 on offer this Choice day first appeared on AndroidPCtv.

Another Chinese Android box appearing on AliExpress, this time with the name X30 and based on the Allwinner H618 Quad Core processor. A multimedia box that comes with ...

The post X30, another Smart TV BOX SUB-30 with Allwinner H618 and WiFi 6 first appeared on AndroidPCtv.