Dominique Luchart's Blog, page 597
June 12, 2021
E3 2021: all the news and announcements,
After taking a year off, E3 2021 is here, bringing days of major gaming news and announcements through a series of remote events. The big reveals kicked off with Summer Game Fest’s Kickoff Live event on June 10th, and E3 proper takes place from June 12th to June 15th, featuring events from Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and more.
We’ll be covering all of the news from the show, and you can keep up with everything right here.
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E3 2021: all the news and announcements, Alan Wen
Illustration by Alex CastroFollow the updates from some of gaming’s biggest shows
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Far Cry 6’s new trailer is an intense introduction to a terrifying Giancarlo Esposito,
After introducing the guerrilla freedom fighter protagonist for Far Cry 6, Ubisoft’s new trailer pivots back to the highlight of any new installment: its villain, Anton Castillo.
Played by Giancarlo Esposito, the despotic leader of the fictional island nation of Yara is seen making his terrifying entrance onboard a boat where the protagonist Dani is attempting to flee with a group, one of them who turns out to be Diego, Castillo’s son.
The cinematic is a chilling introduction as he chews the scenery with his charisma before unleashing his brutality, which is surely the turning point for what making Dani join the resistance to overthrow the Yaran tyrant.
The Far Cry series is of course known for its iconic villains, and Ubisoft were keen to leverage this by announcing post-launch plans for Far Cry 6 that will actually let players see the other side of the story from past games.
In the Far Cry 6 season pass, you’ll get to play as Vaas Montenegro (Far Cry 3), Pagan Min (Far Cry 4), and Joseph Seed (Far Cry 5) in three unique episodes as you delve inside these legendary villains’ minds to uncover their backstories and experience what it’s like to be the villain. Of course, as Esposito had said in an interview with Geoff Keighley during the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live stream, none of them think they’re the bad guy.
Michael Mando, Troy Baker, and Greg Bryk, also return to reprise the voice roles of Vaas, Pagan Min, and Joseph Seed respectively.
[embedded content]As an added bonus, the season pass will also include the cyberpunk-themed Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.
Far Cry 6 launches on October 7th on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, Stadia, and Amazon Luna.
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June 11, 2021
China’s Mars rover Zhurong just snapped an epic self-portrait on the Red Planet (photos), ,
China’s Mars rover Zhurong used a tiny camera to snap a self portrait of itself with its lander on the Red Planet.
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Apple rubberstamped Trump’s request to secretly scoop up data on two members of Congress,
The New York Times is reporting on a new wrinkle in the story of how the Trump administration’s Department of Justice used Big Tech to spy on two members of the House Intelligence Committee in an attempt to track down leaks to the press — namely, that Apple didn’t fight it, perhaps never had a chance to fight it, because the company rubberstamped the request.
Apple didn’t even know it was handing over the records of Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), then the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, it told the publication. In a statement, Apple said it didn’t know what the investigation was about, and couldn’t have known unless it dug through user accounts itself. So it was handled like the vast majority of the 250 requests the company received from the government each week: approved. “An Apple paralegal complied and provided the information,” reports the NYT.
Apple did not realize that data on two Democratic lawmakers was part of a request by the Trump Justice Department. It was handled by a paralegal like a routine request.https://t.co/kS51EUmnCp
— Jack Nicas (@jacknicas)
The Times’ piece paints a picture of a US government whose requests have been increasing in volume, and perhaps a general willingness by Big Tech to comply (not that these companies often have a choice). Apple challenged only 4 percent of this sort of request in the first six months of 2020, according to the Times. And while Google fought a gag order when the Trump administration seized the phone records of NYT reporters, the story suggests it was easier to challenge because Google counted the NYT as a corporate customer, not an individual user.
Both Apple and Google have transparency report pages where you can see how many government requests they received, and how often they comply. Apple didn’t reply to our request for comment.
Microsoft was also swept up in Trump’s leak hunt. It told the NYT that it, too, only learned that it had provided information to the government about a congressional staff member after a gag order expired.
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Apple rubberstamped Trump’s request to secretly scoop up data on two members of Congress, Sean Hollister
The Steve Jobs Theater at Apple’s Apple Park headquarters. | Dieter Bohn / The VergeThe New York Times is reporting on a new wrinkle in the story of how the Trump administration’s Department of Justice used Big Tech to spy on two members of the House Intelligence Committee in an attempt to track down leaks to the press — namely, that Apple didn’t fight it, perhaps never had a chance to fight it, because the company rubberstamped the request.
Apple didn’t even know it was handing over the records of Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), then the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, it told the publication. In a statement, Apple said it didn’t know what the investigation was about, and couldn’t have known unless it dug through user accounts itself. So it was handled like the vast majority of the 250 requests the…
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How to watch E3 2021,
E3 2021 is finally here. After being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, E3 is back for 2021 in an all-digital format, kicking off on June 12th. Some big reveals have already hit — although technically not a part of E3, Thursday’s Summer Game Fest’s Kickoff Live event was packed with news, including a trailer and release date for the highly-anticipated Elden Ring and the announcement of Death Stranding: Director’s Cut for PS5. (You can catch a full replay of that show here.) And over the next few days there still are big conferences from Ubisoft, Microsoft and Bethesda, and Nintendo.
If you want to attend the virtual E3 as a fan, you can register to attend on E3’s website. (I will warn you from personal experience that the E3 portal and website are pretty bad.) But if you just want to follow along with the press conferences and announcements, we’ve put together a timeline of some of the biggest events to look forward to.
When is E3?E3 takes place from Saturday, June 12th, to Tuesday, June 15th.
Saturday, June 12th11AM ET: Guerrilla Collective (note that this is the second Guerrilla Collective show — the first took place on June 5th)1PM ET: E3 broadcast pre-show3PM ET: Ubisoft Forward4:30PM ET: Devolver Digital MaxPass Plus showcase5PM ET: Gearbox E3 Showcase6PM ET: The Upload VR ShowcaseSunday, June 13th11:45AM ET: E3 broadcast pre-show1PM ET: Microsoft’s Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase3:15PM ET: Square Enix Presents5PM ET: Warner Bros. Games’ Back4Blood5:30PM ET: PC Gaming Show7PM ET: Future Games ShowMonday, June 14th11AM ET: E3 broadcast pre-show5:30PM ET: Capcom showcase6PM ET: Razer E3 keynoteTuesday, June 15th11AM ET: E3 broadcast pre-show12PM ET: Nintendo’s Nintendo Direct, which will have “roughly” 40 minutes of information about upcoming games, followed by a Treehouse Live with about three hours of gameplay demoed.5:25PM ET: Bandai Namco’s E3 presentation6:35PM ET: GameSpot’s Play for All Showcase7:45PM ET: Official E3 2021 Awards ShowHow can I watch E3?E3 will be airing its broadcast on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. For the presentations hosted by individual companies, you may be able to find official streams on their social platforms.
Update June 11th, 7:30PM ET : Made updates to the scheduled and added details about what was announced at Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live.
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Facebook just bought the Fortnite of VR,
Facebook has acquired yet another developer of a popular virtual reality game, announcing on Friday that BigBox VR, makers of the battle royale VR title Population: One, will be joining Oculus Studios.
“POP: ONE stormed onto the VR scene just nine months ago and has consistently ranked as one the top-performing titles on the Oculus platform, bringing together up to 24 people at a time to connect, play, and compete in a virtual world,” Mike Verdu, the VP of content at Facebook Reality Labs, wrote in a blog post. “And while social is bringing players into POP: ONE, the quirky humor, continual updates, and pure fun of the environment keeps them coming back time and time again — we’ve even seen players scheduling time to meet in-game for a synchronous social experience.”
Population: One has been a hit, earning more than $10 million on the Oculus Store “after just a few months,” Verdu said in a February blog post. The game, which is available on both the Oculus Store and on Steam, will “continue to be supported on all its current platforms,” according to Verdu. And the game will continue to receive regular updates, BigBox VR says on its website.
But it’s not clear just yet what bigger changes might be in the works because of the acquisition. “BigBox VR has big plans for the future of POP: ONE and for other projects, but we’re not ready to share details at this time,” Verdu says, vaguely.
BigBox VR joins a slew of other VR studios that Facebook has snapped up over the past couple years. The company acquired Onward developer Downpour Interactive in April, Lone Echo creator Ready at Dawn last June, Asgard’s Wrath maker Sanzaru Games in February 2020, and Beat Saber developer Beat Games in November 2019.
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Facebook just bought the Fortnite of VR, Jay Peters
A character in Population: One. | Image: BigBox VRFacebook has acquired yet another developer of a popular virtual reality game, announcing on Friday that BigBox VR, makers of the battle royale VR title Population: One, will be joining Oculus Studios.
“POP: ONE stormed onto the VR scene just nine months ago and has consistently ranked as one the top-performing titles on the Oculus platform, bringing together up to 24 people at a time to connect, play, and compete in a virtual world,” Mike Verdu, the VP of content at Facebook Reality Labs, wrote in a blog post. “And while social is bringing players into POP: ONE, the quirky humor, continual updates, and pure fun of the environment keeps them coming back time and time again — we’ve even seen players scheduling time to meet in-game for a…
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New Yorkers needing affordable internet will have to wait,
Internet access is, according to New York’s Eastern District Judge Dennis R. Hurley, a “modern necessity.” Unfortunately, Judge Hurley wrote those words in an injunction, filed today, to stall a piece of progressive legislation which would have mandated affordable internet availability to all living in New York State — and which would have come into effect early next week.
The bill, known as the Affordable Broadband Act, would have required ISPs serving more than 20,000 households to offer two low-cost plans: one offering speeds of 25 Mbps down for no more than $15 per month, and another offering 200 Mbps down at no more than $20 monthly. It was passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Cuomo back in April, and would have gone into effect on June 16th.
According to state Assembly member Amy Paulin, the average monthly cost of internet access for New Yorkers is $50; in general, Americans can pay about double what Europeans do for broadband access.
Of course, no sooner was the bill signed then telecom lobbies sued to stop it from being enacted. According to Axios, NY Governor Cuomo was quoted as saying the lawsuit was “nothing more than a transparent attempt by billion-dollar corporations putting profit ahead of creating a more fair and just society.” And, love or hate the guy, he has a point there.
The ABA isn’t dead in the water, but Judge Hurley’s eleventh-hour injunction doesn’t bode well. In his determination, he found its enactment is likely to cause “irreparable harm” to telecom companies — either because they’re hit with civil penalties for failing to meet the requirements of the ABA, or loss of revenue by charging less for services — among other, base-level findings that allowed the injunction to be found valid.
One particularly interesting arrow in Judge Hurley’s quiver, however, was to weaponize other existing programs that help make internet access affordable, specifically the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit:
While the stated purpose of the ABA is to expand access to broadband internet, that is not to say it is the sole legislative effort doing so. Plaintiffs discuss several federal programs allocating billions of dollars to achieve that same end […] While Defendant argues that the New York Legislature determined these federal benefits were insufficient, that determination was made prior to the FCC’s April 29, 2021 announcement that the Emergency Broadband Benefit would become on effective May 12, 2021.
The Emergency Broadband Benefit is critically different from the ABA in several ways. It does not cap the cost of internet access in any way, and unlike the ABA it’s means-tested: applicants need to qualify by showing they meet specific economic criteria. Those who do can receive $50 off their monthly bill.
So: for now, like the ABA itself, New Yorkers who were hoping for reliable broadband at a reasonable price point are stuck in limbo. While the injunction casts a large shadow over the future of the law, it is, at the end of the day, essentially just a judge saying “look, I need more time to sort all this out.” Hopefully, with some careful consideration, New York can still put a dent in the almost comically consolidated telecommunications sector.
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