As suspected, Fortnite developer Epic Games filed an appeal over the court’s recent judgment in the high-profile Epic-Apple lawsuit in which Epic lost on nine out of ten counts.
As part of the case, Epic was ordered to pay millions of dollars due to Epic’s violation of store agreements. Over the case of the lengthy legal proceedings, Epic maintained that Apple represented a monopoly because it only allows its own store and payment system for in-game purchases. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers concluded in the ruling that Epic could not prove that Apple was engaging in monopolistic behavior under federal or state anti-trust laws, but that “the trial did show that Apple is engaging in anti-competitive conduct under California’s competition laws.”
The official appeal document (via The Verge) does not include specifics about the appeal, so we’ll have to wait to learn more. Attorney Richard Hoeg told GameSpot that appeals from both sides were expected.
Although Epic lost 9 out of 10 counts in the case, the judge did hand down a permanent injunction in Epic’s favor in some respects, mandating that Apple must allow app developers to source income from outside of the App Store ecosystem.
Hoeg told GameSpot that the decision “appears to be a near total victory for Apple.”
People hoping that Fortnite might return to the App Store in the wake of this decision are out of luck, as Epic’s Tim Sweeney has said that’s unlikely. Sweeney doubled down on that over the weekend, tweeting that although he feels bad for iOS players who can’t play Fortnite, he stands by his commitment to continue the fight against Apple. He said he “wouldn’t trade that away to get Fortnite back on iOS.”
Thinking much more about whether we’re going to live in a world where two platform megacorps dictate software and world commerce to everyone or whether the digital world and the future metaverse will be a free world. Wouldn’t trade that away to get Fortnite back on iOS.
Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has held off James Wan’s Malignant for its second weekend box office win with a domestic haul of $35.8 million.
Globally, Shang-Chi has officially crossed the $250 million mark and has a worldwide total of $257.6 million. Domestically, it has earned $145.6 million, making it the fourth-highest grossing film of 2021, and inches it ever closer to Black Widow’s $182 million.
Malignant was the only new, big-name contender for Shang-Chi, but it only managed to earn $5.57 million domestically, which is a far cry from its $40 million budget. However, it is important to note that Shang-Chi is not available on Disney+, while Malignant is also available to stream on HBO Max at no extra cost.
Malignant failed to even beat Free Guy’s $5.8 million, placing it at third place for the weekend. Rounding out the top five were Candyman’s $4.8 million and Jungle Cruise’s $2.4 million.
The storage savings are upon us today. If you’ve got a PC or a PS5, this Sunday has brought with it a ton of savings on Western Digital NVMe drives. This is the cutting edge in terms of storage tech, and will make your games load so fast you’ll barely have time to finish your drink before it appears. Just be sure you get the right kind for your needs, as PCI Gen 4 is the only type that works on a PS5. Of course we’ve got some other deals as well, including a few great game discounts, clothing sales at Amazon and more!
Daily Deals for September 12th, 2021
Buy a $50 Apple Gift Card, Get $5 Amazon Credit
Promotional credit will be listed at last step of checkout
Amazon is offering a free $5 credit when you purchase a $50 Apple gift card. The credit will be applied to your account once you receive the Apple gift card. The Apple gift card can be used to redeem pretty much anything on Apple’s site, including products, accessories, apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, and more. Spend it on in-app content, books, subscriptions and even iCloud storage to secure files from all your Apple devices.
Buy a $100 Uber Eats Gift Card, Get $10 Credit
Promotional credit will be listed at last step of checkout
COVID rates are significantly decreasing and people are starting to be able to eat out at restaurants, but being overcautious isn’t a bad thing. If you’re still confining yourself to your home and ordering in, you might want to take advantage of this deal. Simply buy an Uber Eats Gift Card valued at $100 or more and get a $10 Amazon credit.
Preorder the Middle Earth 6-Film Ultimate Collector’s Edition (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital)
This impressive Middle Earth Collector’s Edition includes both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies over a whopping 31 discs. That’s because there are separate 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray discs for both the Theatrical Editions and the Extended Editions. You also get digital HD copies for free, and they are compatible with MoviesAnywhere so you can merge it into your digital library. As far as extras go, you get a Special Features Blu-ray disc, a 64-page booklet, and 7 travel poster art cards. All the discs are stored in collectible foil sleeves.
While EA Motive has shared a brand-new look at Dead Space Remake’s USG Ishimura, it also revealed that this would be the last update for 2021.
Motive shared the news on Reddit in a post that explained a bit more about what the team is focusing on and how it is taking fans’ feedback to heart.
“Everything we showed was a work in progress which means that we’ll be working on things like Isaac’s suit, the aesthetic and ambiance of the Ishimura,” EA Motive’s CM_Ythisens wrote. “We’re doing work to ensure it has the right level of wear and tear. For example, here is an early work in progress clip showing some of the ways that the team is going to be giving that worn look to the Ishimura.”
They continued to say that the team is going to “be heads down now working on the game, taking some time to review all the thoughts, theories, and suggestions you’ve all shared with us. We look forward to showing you how you’ve helped shape the game next year when we’re further in development!”
The behind-the-scenes look (which you can see here) of the Dead Space Remake is all about the USG Ishimura and how the team is making the ship and main location of the Dead Space Remake into the terrifying place it will end up being. As an added bonus, we get a look at an idle animation of Isaac Clarke!
In Fortnite, players and their friends lead a group of Heroes to reclaim and rebuild a homeland that has been left empty by a mysterious darkness only known as “the Storm.”
2K Sports is constantly striving to make its NBA 2K series the most authentic representation of the professional basketball experience both on and off the court. The developer took this ambition to new heights with NBA 2K22, putting the famous spokesperson Jake from State Farm into the game. Really.
As part of the significant updates to the social hub, The City, 2K Sports added a State Farm insurance store. And none other than Jake from State Farm is there to have a chat. The whole sequence is a treat, so we won’t spoil it. Here’s the video:
As Jake from State Farm says in the encounter, you can also dress like Jake from State Farm after meeting up with the character. Capybaroness, who was among the first to spot Jake from State Farm in NBA 2K22, also posted an image of the clothing, or “drip,” as Jake from State Farm says.
The actor who plays Jake from State Farm, Kevin Miles, reacted to his appearance in NBA 2K22 on social media, retweeting a story about it. Jake from State Farm is one of the most recognizable salespeople in recent years; if you watch TV or online videos, you’ve no doubt seen Jake from State Farm many times.
NBA 2K22 released on September 10 across PS4, Xbox One, and PC, as well as PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
Scenes From a Marriage premieres on HBO on Sept. 12.
I have a distinct distaste for remakes whose goal is “like the original, but in English this time.” Of course, there are great American remakes of foreign films that put a unique spin on the source material, but too often, Hollywood is happy to plop the same plotline into a U.S. setting, recast its roles with dazzling domestic stars, and call it a day. Now, not even a seminal 1973 Swedish mini-series is safe from this kind of uninspired treatment, as HBO Max has translated Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage into a five-part mini-series that boasts Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain in the leads. Though that pairing is promising, these heavy hitters can’t save this show from feeling like a shallow retread.
Scenes From a Marriage centers on a contemporary “successful” married couple in the Boston area. They seem to have it all: great jobs, a big house, a darling daughter, affluence, and a monogamous relationship nearing the decade mark. However, while husband Jonathan (Isaac) monologues about how defying traditional gender norms positively impacts their happiness, his high-powered executive wife Mira (Chastain) twitches like she’s trying to stealthily escape her skin. Something is off. And as smart as Jonathan the college professor is, he will be blindsided when she reveals she’s not happy.
Like the original mini-series, each episode focuses on a chapter of this marriage falling apart. The plotline hews closely to the original, involving disagreements about parenting, a loss of passion, and infidelity, as well as screaming matches and domestic violence. Co-writers Amy Herzog and Hagai Levi (who also directs) even name their episodes after those from Bergman’s show (“Innocence and Panic, “The Vale of Tears, “The Illiterates”). The key difference in this remake is that the roles are gender-swapped. This time around, it is the wife who gets caught up in her professional ambitions and extramarital interests, while the husband is the primary caregiver shocked to learn his contributions have been deemed insufficient by his partner. While Jonathan blathers on about how gender roles have evolved, the show itself treats this switcheroo as little more than a gimmick. Because the show focuses so intently on their household (few other characters will appear on screen), any assertions about gender feel anecdotal at best. When Mira defends one her shocking choices with “Men do this all the time,” it feels a crass misuse of feminist talking points on double standards.
Perhaps if this show were a ’70-set period piece, Levi’s shallow exploration of gender dynamics in heterosexual marriage might have played better. However, since Bergman’s mini-series, a plethora of filmmakers who were inspired by him have mined this battle-of-the-sexes terrain, creating emotionally charged and intellectual films like Robert Benton’s Kramer vs. Kramer, Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight,Mike Nichols’ Closer, and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. Walking in the footsteps of a master, Levi fails to define his own path. He offers a barrage of bickering scenes that feel like cliches because they’ve become staples in the wake of Bergman’s work. So, this Scenes From a Marriagefeels less revolutionary and more like a hollow revival.
Perhaps “revival” is a better way to think of this remake. Levi has not mined the original to make some bold new point about marriage, monogamy, or heartbreak. However, he has offered a stage for two of the greatest actors working today to face off in love and war. Reunited for the first time since J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, Isaac and Chastain are mesmerizing together. Both have dizzying screen presences that bring life to dialogue that feels well worn. Beyond that, they have a natural ease with each other. When the resentments bubble up, it hits harder because the intimacy established feels authentic.
Playing a man repressed by his need to project pleasantness, Isaac delivers a performance that is subtly heartbreaking. His soft tone is always in apology mode. His body quakes in a moment of repressed disappointment. His trembling smile sends shockwaves. In this crouched position of coddling, even the way he packs a suitcase feels tragic. Every quiet scene of desperation builds to a storm, where Isaac will grow from crackling jabs to booming resentments. Meanwhile, Chastain begins with this nervous frenzy, like a caged animal desperate to flee. Her Mira evolves, finding a new confidence that comes off initially cold before blooming to radiant but reckless. Together, their scenes of tenderness are as electrifying as those of catastrophic conflict. Plus, they get an early assist from celebrated actors, Nicole Beharie and Corey Stoll, who play a couple whose tensions explode over an awkward dinner party. Truly, Beharie is so ruthlessly riveting in this sequence that she might well score Emmy or Golden Globe notice for Best Supporting Actress. However, these are great performances despite a lackluster script that offers no memorable dialogue or distinctive moments of pleasure or pain.
Isaac and Chastain are mesmerizing together.
Levi doesn’t have a strong stamp on this material. The words still sound like Bergman’s. The cinematography, made up of gentle drifting and clingy close-ups, offers nothing inspired. A color palette coated in warm golds is pretty, but becomes banal across this tumultuous tale of love and loss. Even the powerful performances can’t keep it from feeling redundant and overlong. Notably, Bergman trimmed down his mini-series into a feature-length film (which is also available on HBO Max). Perhaps Levi should have taken a cue from that recut, then his marriage story wouldn’t be such a slog.
Are you a Final Fantasy XIV fan? Newegg has a deal for you, as you can save $5 on a 60 Day Game Time Card, stack those up a few times and you’ll be set for time well into the Endwalker expansion. Tales of Arise has also released, and you can grab yourself a reduced copy down below on PC, Apple Gift Cards that come with Amazon credit and much more.
The PS4 (and even the PS5 so far) has been defined by its exclusives. While Sony’s PlayStation consoles have had notable exclusive games over the years, a significant number of the very best games on modern PlayStation consoles are exclusives. From sterling action games like God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man to brilliant RPGs such as Final Fantasy VII Remake and Persona 5 Royal, recent PlayStation exclusives have been mightily impressive. We’ve rounded up the best PlayStation exclusives for PS4 and PS5. While most of these games are playable on both PS4 and PS5, we’ve included a few PS5 exclusives as well.
In the above video, we round up 15 of the best PS4 and PS5 exclusives.
So you’ve begun your journey into Tales of Arise. Liberating the Dahnan people is no small task, and your success will depend entirely on how well you can navigate the game’s world and combat. But fear not, brave freedom fighter–we’ve assembled a list of tips to help you hone your skills for the starting hours of your long journey.
Whether you’re a newcomer to the Tales series or a seasoned veteran, this advice will help you start off your adventure on the right foot. Don’t forget to also check out our Tales of Arise review while you’re at it.
Hoarding Is Good, Actually
As you wander around the fields and caverns that make up the world of Tales of Arise, you’ll undoubtedly see lots of collectibles, indicated by shining sparkles, purple rock formations, or treasure chests of varying forms. Is it worth your time to go off-path to grab these items? The answer is almost always yes, absolutely!
While amassing a huge amount of wheat, mushrooms, and random rocks might not seem like it’s worth the trouble at first, once cooking and crafting open up, you’ll understand why having a variety of ingredients on-hand at all times is a solid idea. We’ll discuss cooking more in a bit, but with accessory crafting in particular, you’ll want to have lots of cheap, low-rarity ores alongside the top-tier stuff, as the lower-grade ores can be used to unlock the extra skills on each customized accessory. If you’re lucky, you’ll also discover various special herbs that can give characters permanent stat boosts.
There are also a fair few sidequests where folks will request ingredients or items. If you’ve been hoarding items from the field and from fights and already have what they need, you’ll be given an option to hand over the items as soon as they ask for it. This will save you the time and effort of hunting stuff down again and complete the quest immediately. Finally, if you’re ever in desperate need of cash, you can always look through your stash of materials, see what you have a lot of, and offload some of it–though it’s not recommended unless you have a lot of a particular material or you’re really in a bind.
ABC (Always Be Cooking)
Veteran Tales series fans know that collecting recipes and cooking up food is a key element to success, but if Arise is your first Tales adventure, you might not quite grasp what the big deal is at first.
At camps and inns throughout the game, before you rest, you’ll be presented with an option to cook a meal for the party using the ingredients you’ve collected. You can pick from the recipes you’ve learned and collected so far, provided you have the proper ingredients on-hand. Each recipe grants a different effect for a certain amount of time.
There are lots of different effects food can grant you: EXP boosts, attack and defense buffs, increased item drops or ore collection, and so on. You can only have one recipe active at a time, so choosing a meal with a good effect for what you’re going to do next in the game is key. Are you going into a long dungeon? A meal that restores HP after each battle can help you conserve your precious CP. Planning to take on that big monster-hunting subquest? An attack or defense buff can help. Need to farm dropped items from enemies? There’s a meal for that, too. You can keep an eye on the effect’s duration by watching the little silverware icon in the upper right area of the screen. If it’s almost empty, then your meal’s effect is about to be cut short.
Choosing who makes the meal is also important, as they’ll change up the effects slightly. For example, when Law cooks, he’ll reduce the duration of the meal’s effect, but also increase its potency. Eating a new meal also resets the effect time (rather than adding onto it), so if you’re still pretty full and want to keep the current meal effect around, it might not be a good idea to cook again so soon.
What’s Beyond The Wall?
Throughout the game, there will be several spots in fields and dungeons where you can spend CP to clear or create a path. It usually costs a good amount of CP to open up these areas, so you might wonder if it’s worth your while to do so. The overwhelming majority of the time… yes, absolutely!
Usually, if a barrier that requires CP to clear is present, it’s blocking one of three things: a crucial area to progress, an extremely valuable treasure, or a shortcut that allows you to bypass dangerous foes. You’ll obviously need to clear the progress-impeding barriers, but those aren’t quite as common as barriers blocking treasure. Oftentimes, these barriers will be blocking off high-quality weapons and armor, valuable healing items like Gold Gels, Treats, Elixirs, and artifacts that give long-lasting permanent effects. Even if it costs a lot of CP, the reward is usually worth it, so don’t be hesitant to bust down a few barriers to get some top-class loot.
Use Frequent Fast Travel
Tales of Arise has a very robust fast-travel system. You can go almost anywhere from anywhere else in the game: all you need to do is open the map screen, find the area where you want to go, highlight the fast travel waypoint, and hit the confirm button. You’ll be quickly whisked away to wherever you want to go without needing to spend any additional time or resources. The only times you can’t use fast travel are when the story restricts you to certain areas.
This system is a welcome convenience that will save you plenty of time and headaches, especially if you’re planning on doing sidequesting. Need to beat enemies or grab something from a specific area? Just warp on over there, then zip yourself back over to the quest-giver. It also makes returning to previous areas a cinch–which helps when you want to backtrack and see if any new sidequests have opened up, or if you want to take on that big bad Zeugle who was too tough for you a few hours ago but seems more on your level now. (In particular, if you’re diligently hunting for hidden owls, you’ll want to fast travel to the Owl Forest frequently to claim your rewards.)
Hold Onto Your Old Weapons
Money can be scarce at times in Tales of Arise, especially in the earlier parts of the game. Healing items are pricey, and the costs of crafting weapons and armor can really start to add up. But as tempting as it might be to offload your old weaponry once you’ve got your shiny new gear from the blacksmith, don’t do it!
Yes, you can sell your old armor, but weapons? Hold onto those. As you play further into the game, you’ll be given a lot more weapon crafting options–many of which include gradually upgrading your old weaponry. And if you’ve sold all your old weapons, well… you’re going to have to spend time and resources crafting them again just to apply all of those upgrades. And sometimes to do that you’ll need materials that you’ll have to go out of your way to re-obtain. It’s easier just to hold on to your old armaments until you have the opportunity to upgrade them.
There’s also a sidequest for Rinwell where she will be tasked with showing a character the various books she uses as her primary weaponry. If she doesn’t have a specific book, she’ll have to obtain it again–usually through crafting. So why not save yourself the hassle? Hold onto those weapons as long as you can.
Big Game, Big Rewards
From very early on in the game, you’ll notice that there are some Zeugle enemies that are extremely nasty. Did you make the mistake of trying to engage that mantis in Sandinus Ravine with just Alphen and Shionne? Then you know what I’m talking about. These enemies are absolutely brutal, and oftentimes when you see them, it’s not a good idea to take them on right away. (You’ll usually hear your party members comment if you’re really under-leveled before you engage them.)
That doesn’t mean you should just leave them be, however. Many of these big foes have sidequest bounties attached, and will give rewards when you report their deaths to the quest-givers. They also yield a particularly valuable item when defeated: a flower that permanently adds 10 CP to your maximum. More CP is always a crucial good thing to have, so killing these beasts is a worthwhile endeavor in many ways.
But before you take these monsters on, you’ll want to be prepared. Many of them are just as difficult as the game’s story bosses–and sometimes even harder. It’s usually not the best idea to take them on right away unless you are feeling extremely confident–building up a few extra levels before engaging will help out a lot. You’ll also want to eat an appropriate buff-granting meal beforehand to give yourself a leg up.
Add To Your Title Collection
Collecting titles for your characters is another long-running Tales series tradition. In Tales of Arise, titles are especially valuable, as unlocking them will grant one permanent new buff or skill for each character along with four other optional enhancements you can spend SP on. Unlocking all of the skills a title grants also gives a permanent stat boost to that character.
Many titles will be unlocked over the course of the game’s story, but there are many optional titles that you might miss out on if you’re not paying attention. There are many ways titles can be unlocked: completing sidequests, using certain Arte types, crafting weapons and accessories, even by cooking specific meals. If a title is available to unlock, you can go into the Skill Panel to see the requirements needed. Highlight the center of the empty circle, and you’ll see what you need to do in order to activate that title and gain access to the skills contained within.
By checking these requirements regularly, you’ll be able to unlock lots of titles that you may have otherwise missed, making your party members even more formidable.
