The first major system software update for PS5 is rolling out for consoles in all regions tomorrow, and brings enhancements to storage, social features, and control and personalization options.
As revealed on the PlayStation Blog, the PS5 April update will allow players to store PS5 games on a USB expanded storage device, share gameplay across PS5 and PS4 consoles with Share Play, and access a new Trophy Settings and Stats screen.
For its new storage solution, PS5 games downloaded to the internal SSD can be moved to compatible external USB drives. Doing this is accessed from the game’s tile on the home menu, using the options button. This is a space-saving measure, though, rather than a permanent storage solution; PS5 games cannot be played off USB drives, and so must be moved back onto the SSD before you can play them. However, considering the relatively small size of the internal SSD and the more frequent need to free up space for new games, this does means you can remove games from the drive and put them back again much faster than re-downloading them entirely.
Sony notes that some games will support the ability to move only specific modes across drives, and so you may be able to move the campaign to USB storage when you’ve completed it and keep multiplayer on your SSD.
As for that promised M.2 drive support that Sony has been talking about since before the console launched, the blog post simply says Sony “will keep you posted”.
In social features, cross-generation Share Play has been added. This means PS5 users can now share their game screen with friends on PS4 while in a voice party. Basically, if you want to show off Demon’s Souls to your friends that still haven’t managed to get a PS5, you can do that now. Importantly, Share Play allows other players to try out PS5 games by ‘passing them a virtual controller’ and allowing them to take over control of the game. Since this is now cross-generational, you can now let a friend on PS4 try out Astro’s Playroom. The system even allows a visitor to play co-op together in certain games.
A ‘Request to Join’ option has been added to appear on both PS5 and PS4 consoles in the social menus, for supported games. This allows for quicker joining of games, rather than using in-game menus.
Improvements have also been made to the Game Base menu, which now allows you to switch tabs between Parties and Friends, rather than them being stacked on top of each other in one single list. You can also turn on and off notifications for specific parties.
Adjustments to the audio menu allows you to totally disable in-game chat from the PS5 menu rather than using individual in-game menus, as well as adjust the volume of players you are talking to. This means you can boost quiet friends or reduce loud ones without asking them to alter their own settings.
A new option will allow you to pre-load upcoming game patches, should the developer have enabled the feature. This will be part of the ‘automatic updates’ settings.
A new system for Trophies will allow you to customise when images and videos are captured when you unlock a trophy. For example, you can dictate that video clips are only captured if you unlock gold trophies, which will help capture not only the most difficult achievements, but also save drive space on all those 15 second clips. There’s also a new Trophy Stats screen that shows off a summary of your trophies.
Finally, the update allows you to customise your game library and adjust the menu magnification to suit your needs.
Alongside this major PS5 update, the PlayStation App is also being updated. The new features will allow you to join a multiplayer game on PS5 from the app, manage your console’s storage, compare trophies with friends, and sort/filter products in the PS Store.
Apple’s AI companion Siri might have leaked an April 20 date for the company’s next big event.
As reported by MacRumors, users based in America have been asking their Apple devices “When is the next Apple Event” and receiving a legitimate response from Siri, suggesting the next showcase is coming later this month.
“The special event is on Tuesday, April 20th, at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA. You can get all the details on Apple.com,” is the reported response from the AI companion. The link it suggests doesn’t lead to anything special – just the normal Apple Event page, which currently refers to the most recent product showcase in October.
I asked Siri the same question in the UK but the response is currently, “You can get all the details about Apple events on Apple.com.” However, as seen in this response a tweet from The Verge, a Romanian user has seen the message pop up for them too, so it seems to be available outside of the US in some cases.
It may just be a bug, but the wide amount of users on social media reporting the same response suggests that it’s legit (if not a little early) and we can expect a full announcement of a 4/20 Apple event soon. The last event saw the announcement of iPhone 12 Pro and Mini models, as well as a HomePod Mini model, so we can hope for some other major product announcements here.
While its graphics appear somewhat dated, Diablo II has incredible replay value, and most importantly, it offers a lot of addictive gameplay in either the single-player or the multiplayer mode.
Picking out the right monitor for your gaming PC might seem simple at first, but looks can be deceiving. It used to be a simple matter of getting the right resolution and the right cable. But now you have to worry about the panel type, the cable inputs, whether it has FreeSync or G-Sync, and more.
Two of the most important monitor specs to make sense of if you’re new to PC gaming are refresh rates and response time. We’ll cover what each of those terms mean, what specs influence them, and how to get the right monitor for your rig. For an overview of all the tech that goes into a gaming monitor, check out our guide to monitor technologies.
What is refresh rate?
Refresh rate is one of the marquee features of displays, especially since the advent of gaming displays with refresh rates higher than 100 Hertz (Hz). To that end, you’ll see it at the top of just about any monitor product page.
Refresh rate refers to the number of times per second that your monitor will update with new information. Your basic desktop display–think the screen at your office or the one that came with the Dell mom bought so you could do homework–will have a refresh rate of 60Hz, meaning the image can refresh 60 times per second. This is visible even when you’re not gaming. For instance, with a 144Hz display, cursor movements will update every 7 milliseconds. With a 60Hz display, it’ll update every 17 milliseconds or so. It’s a minute, yet visible difference.
Monitor refresh rates have climbed in recent years. Some rank as high as 360Hz, and refresh rates like 144Hz and 165Hz are becoming increasingly common. If a monitor is labeled as a “gaming” display, those refresh rates are more common than sub-100Hz refresh rates nowadays.
When thinking about what refresh rate you want from your display, the easiest connection to make is to your gaming frame rate, or frames per second (fps). That refresh rate metric will tell you exactly how many frames your screen is capable of displaying.
If you’re playing an esports game like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on a high-end graphics card, but playing on a 60Hz display, you’ll only ever see a maximum of 60fps, even though your graphics card is capable of displaying five times that number. The higher the number, the better–though you’ll see diminishing (but still noticeable) returns as you pass that 144Hz mark.
What is response time?
Response time, meanwhile, refers to how quickly a given pixel can change from black to white (sometimes back to black) or between shades of gray (Gray-to-Gray or GtG). As you might have guessed, the variety of ways manufacturers measure response time means that the number on the spec sheet may not be totally reliable.
Response times on those office and homework displays are typically around 16 milliseconds (ms) or less, but can go as low as 1ms. For response time, lower is better.
The Asus ROG Swift PG259QN is an ultra-fast IPS monitor with a 360Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time.
If your monitor has a high response time, you may see what the PC community refers to as “ghosting.” If you’ve ever been playing a high-action game on a monitor with poor response time, you’ve probably noticed this in the form of the image smearing, or afterimages that show what was on your screen a few milliseconds ago, while it’s already trying to show that new image.
Because there are so many different ways to measure response time, it’s a good idea to take the monitor model you’re thinking of getting and search for that model along with the keyword “ghosting.” This way, you’ll find out if any people who already own the monitor are complaining about it or if reputable review sites bring it up in their reviews.
Most gaming-focused displays will advertise a response time of 1-5ms.
Which gaming monitors are the fastest?
One way to get an idea of how good or bad response time can be is to look at the type of display panel your monitor of choice is using. There are three primary types to consider: TN, IPS, and VA. We have an in-depth guide on TN, IPS, and VA display panels, but here’s a quick look at how they matter for refresh rates and response times.
TN, or Twisted Nematic panels, are very common and often a bit less painful to your wallet. These panels are capable of high refresh rates, but have noticeably poorer color reproduction and viewing angles, meaning that you’ll need to be looking at the screen straight-on to see it without colors looking faded or inaccurate. If you’re trying to get into competitive gaming, TN panels are the cheapest way to get a monitor with a high refresh rate.
IPS, or In-Plane Switching panels, improve on TN panels in a few important ways. IPS panels offer much better color reproduction and viewing angles than TN, making them much better suited to production work–creating graphics, editing photography, and video–than TN panels. While IPS is better for accurate color, some users complain of “IPS glow” around edges in dark images. IPS panels have historically struggled with refresh rate and response time, but modern IPS panels have narrowed the gap significantly in both categories. IPS panels are typically more expensive, but if you can afford them, they’re the best solution for gaming and work alike.
VA, or Vertical Alignment panels, act as sort of a compromise between TN and IPS. They offer better color reproduction than TN but fall short of IPS’s ability to display wider color gamuts, while also offering good response times and refresh rates. They offer better viewing angles than TN, but less than IPS, and usually have a higher contrast ratio, meaning you’ll get better blacks on dark images. They’re typically cheaper than similar screens with IPS panels.
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Refresh Rate, V-Sync, G-Sync, and FreeSync: PC Graphics Settings Explained
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Adaptive sync: Variable refresh rates, G-Sync, and FreeSync
When playing a game, it’s important for your monitor and graphics card to be synced up, with the card sending new frames to the monitor when it’s expecting it. A 60Hz monitor is expecting a new frame every 7 milliseconds. If your graphics card is sending those frames at a different rate, that can cause screen tearing–parts of two images displayed on the screen at the same time–as it tries to handle the strange timing. You can solve this by turning on vertical sync (or VSync), which forces your graphics card and monitor to work at the same pace. However, this can add latency and input lag because the monitor might be waiting to display the next image or because the game you’re playing has linked frame rate to how often it polls your mouse and keyboard (or controller) for information.
Enter adaptive sync.
Instead of forcing the graphics card to send frames when your monitor is ready for them, adaptive sync helps your monitor adapt and accept the frames when the card sends them. This reduces screen tearing, but with a much lower impact on latency, making for a smoother gameplay experience.
There are three varieties of adaptive sync worth knowing about. The HDMI 2.1 spec includes variable refresh rate technology, often called VRR, built into many new televisions. This works with Xbox consoles as well as Nvidia’s RTX 3000-series and AMD’s RX 6000-series graphics cards. The PS5 does not currently support VRR, but it could in a future update. (See our guide to the best monitors for PS5 and Xbox Series X for more.)
On the gaming monitor side, though, you’ll likely be using a DisplayPort connection, so what you’ll want to check for is G-Sync or FreeSync capability. The former is Nvidia’s proprietary standard, while the latter is AMD’s open standard. Compatibility between these two was initially sketchy, but has improved significantly since. You’ll want to check on the specs for your specific display, but chances are pretty good that if you have a new monitor and a graphics card from the last five years, it’ll work.
Best monitors for refresh rate and response time
The best gaming monitor for you will depend on your needs and gaming habits. If you’re looking to play games competitively, an ultra-fast refresh rate will serve you well. Make sure to check reviews on screens north of 165Hz, though; these high refresh rates often refer to an “overdrive” or “overclocked” rate, which pushes the monitor harder than its optimal settings. On some displays, this can lead to increased ghosting.
However, if you primarily play single-player games, you could probably get away with a 60Hz screen, though even navigating your operating system on a 144Hz screen feels faster and smoother than 60Hz. If resolution is your concern, we do have recommendations for the best 4K monitors with higher refresh rates, low response times, and more.
At the end of the day, there’s a whole list of things to consider when picking out a display, from resolution and size to input options, VRR, whether you want a dual-monitor setup, and–of course–refresh rate and response time. The effectiveness of your monitor will also depend on factors like the processing power of your graphics card and the settings you’re using for gameplay. You can have all the Hz in the world, but you’re not going to be able to play Control at 4K with ray tracing when using a GTX 1080.
If refresh rate and response time are high on your priority list, here are some great monitors that won’t slow you down.
At 24.5 inches and 1920×1080 resolution, the Asus ROG Swift PG259QN isn’t the biggest, highest-resolution screen, but this IPS monitor has it where it counts. If you’re climbing the ranks in competitive esports, a high refresh rate is going to be more important to you than anything else, and the PG259QN offers a 360Hz refresh rate with 1ms GtG response time. This screen offers G-Sync compatibility as well.
Gigabyte’s G27F shows just how affordable high-refresh gaming can be. The 27-inch, 1920×1080 IPS monitor offers a 144Hz refresh and 1ms GTG response time, and it’s one of the best cheap gaming monitors you can buy.
The Samsung Odyssey G9 gaming monitor is a 5120×1440 curved ultrawide IPS display that offers G-Sync and HDR1000 compatibility with a 240Hz maximum refresh rate and 1ms GtG response time. Oh, and this 49-inch monitor is absolutely massive.
How to test your refresh rate
It’s up to you to get your screen connected and configured, but once you have it going, there’s an easy way to make sure it’s working as expected that just about any graphics geek will point you to: the UFO test. Rather than a sketchy conspiracy theory website, it’s actually a simple visual frame rate test. The site displays a scrolling picture of a UFO running at different refresh rates. It will automatically detect the refresh rate your PC is currently sending to your monitor, so if you don’t see the right number there, you know you have to fix something. Once everything is in place, the scrolling images paint a clear picture of just how much smoother a fast refresh rate is.
Final thoughts: Refresh rate over response time
When looking at a new gaming monitor, refresh rate is going to be the number to keep your eye on the most. Most gaming monitors these days have solid response times below 7 or 8 milliseconds. Refresh rates, meanwhile, vary wildly from 60Hz up to 360Hz. If your favorite games are Assassin’s Creed and Red Dead Redemption II, a 60Hz monitor will get the job done, and a 144Hz one will be heaven. If you’re playing competitive multiplayer games, meanwhile, 144Hz is the bare minimum you should be looking at. And in both cases, adaptive sync technologies go a long way toward making games smoother on any compatible display.
GTA 6 has no release date or even official confirmation from Rockstar Games, but rumors about the next big Grand Theft Auto game continue to swirl, fueled by fan speculation and unverified leaks on everything from potential location, setting, and time period, to which platforms it will hit and details about what a new game could mean for the future of GTA Online.
In lieu of any official information about Grand Theft Auto 6, here’s a history of every major GTA 6 rumor and supposed leak from the last couple of years. Remember that none of the rumors discussed in this article have been verified by GameSpot, and very few have been verified by other news outlets as coming from reputable sources–they should be treated strictly as rumors and fan speculation and not official information from Rockstar, unless otherwise stated.
Rumor: GTA 6 will feature a female protagonist
In January 2021, rumors about GTA 6 featuring a playable female character began to make the rounds after Tom Henderson (known for his Call of Duty leaks) posted on Twitter, “For the first time ever in a GTA title, GTA 6 will have a playable female and male protagonist.”
Grand Theft Auto protagonists have encompassed a variety of fictional criminal archetypes–Vice City’s hot-tempered Tommy Vercetti, GTA 4’s mature, yet cynical Eastern European refugee Niko Bellic, and the naïve but good-hearted street gang underboss Carl “CJ” Johnson of San Andreas, to name a few. GTA 5 did something new for the series with its trio of playable characters, ranging from a retired career criminal living in luxury to a trailer park weapons dealer to a young gangbanger looking to make it big. And yet, the series has never featured a woman as a playable protagonist beyond the ability to customize your character in GTA Online. If this rumor is true it would be huge for the series.
Promotional art for GTA Online’s Lowriders: Custom Classics content update.
In an interview with The Guardian back in 2013, Rockstar co-founder Dan House expressed the studio’s interest in exploring a female character at some point, stating, “In the future, could we do a game with a lead female character? Of course. We just haven’t found the right game for it yet, but it’s one of the things that we always think about.”
But Rockstar has yet to comment on anything regarding GTA 6’s story or characters in any official capacity, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Rumor: GTA 6 will be set in Miami or Vice City
Back in 2018, an “inside source” allegedly told Inside Gaming that GTA 6 will be set in Miami–likely meaning Vice City, given GTA’s history with fictionalized cities based on real ones. But as Inside Gaming mentions, Miami also technically exists within the GTA universe. Inside Gaming points to a Digital Trends interview with Leslie Benzies, the now-former president of Rockstar North, to further probe this rumor. When asked if GTA will ever return to Vice City, Benzies stated, “It is always a possibility.” Not a lot to go off of exactly.
Rumor: GTA 6 will be set in both the US and South America
Inside Gaming’s “inside source” also claims that GTA 6 is codenamed Project Americas, which refers to a feature that will allow players to fly between two settings, one in the United States, and one in South America. As Inside Gaming points out, the South American drug trade–notably the “cocaine highway” between Colombia and Miami in the ’80s–has been the subject of tons of popular media, so if GTA 6 were to return to Vice City, it would also make sense for it to be a period piece like 2002’s Vice City. According to Benzies, “Vice City, perhaps more than any other GTA game, was as much about the era as the setting. Miami in the 1980’s is so iconic it would feel strange to revisit the city in a different time period.”
As with everything else in this story, Rockstar has yet to comment officially on GTA 6’s setting, so we have only rumors from anonymous sources and fan speculation to go off of.
Rumor: GTA 6 will be set in Liberty City and Vice City
In 2019, an anonymous Pastebin post made the rounds after the author, claiming to be an Environment Artist at Rockstar Games, leaked unverified information about GTA 6. The post alleges the “Project Americas” codename from Inside Gaming’s coverage is correct, as well as the claim about South America featuring as a setting. It also elaborated on the Vice City setting, stating that the game will take place not just in the fictionalized Florida city, but also Liberty City, the fictionalized NYC at the heart of GTA 4, with a stretch of smaller towns and swamplands between the two cities on the game map.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
This vibes with something Benzies stated in that Digital Trends interview mentioned earlier, “[…] at some point we would like to have one big world containing all our cities and let the player fly between them and revisit their favorite areas,” though we should restate that this interview was from 2012 and Benzies is no longer at the company.
Rumor: GTA 6 will be set in multiple eras
The same Pastebin leak from 2019 claimed that the story for GTA 6 will be set in the ’70s or ’80s, but that several environmental assets are also modern day, speculating about either a campaign set across two eras or a separate GTA Online mode set in modern day.
Rumor: GTA 6 will be released in late 2021 or 2022
The 2019 Pastebin leak seems to have mixed information about GTA 6’s release date, claiming first “mid-to-late 2020” (which we know is false), then “late 2021 or 2022 at the latest” in the case of a delay. This seems the most obviously unbelievable piece of information from an already questionable “leak,” given more reputable sources have stated the release date is quite a ways away.
The rumor that GTA 6 began development in 2016, which many fans have come to cite as hard evidence, came from an anonymous source speaking to TechRadar. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, in a piece for Kotaku about the culture of Rockstar a year and a half after the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2, mentioned “a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series” was in “early development.” That was in 2020. On top of COVID-19 delaying games, movies, and more, it’s likely we won’t see GTA 6 for a while–Schreier took to Twitter a few weeks after his piece published to dispel one Rockstar insider’s claim that GTA 6 was about halfway through its development cycle.
Yes GTA 6 is being developped. No it’s not coming soon. No I don’t know when it’s gonna be announced or released. You can stop asking now.
“Not what fans want to hear but that game is years away,” Schreier stated. Later, that same Rockstar insider, Yan2295, took back his claim, stating that GTA 6 was “not coming soon.” Schreier, even more recently, reiterated on Twitter that fans should expect “everything to be way later than you’d think” due to COVID-19-related delays.
Rumor: GTA 6 will be a PS5 launch exclusive
The same Pastebin leak also claims that it’s “seen rumours online” (yes, a leak citing other rumors) about a “possible PS5 deal for exclusivity.”
The Pastebin leak, more than anything, is one of the more unsubstantiated sources of GTA 6 rumors as it is completely anonymous and unverified, so it’s worth mentioning again that none of this has even come close to being confirmed by Rockstar.
Rumor: GTA Online contains a teaser for GTA 6
Despite all the rumors listed here, Rockstar has never directly confirmed or announced the existence of GTA 6. So in a way, GTA 6 is kind of a rumor in itself. Its presumed development is based entirely on that–assumption and speculation, with a sprinkling of detail from reputable outlets. With no official word straight out of Rockstar’s mouth, it’s safe to say fans are getting desperate. Pair that with GTA Online players, who are infamous for their dedication to finding Easter eggs (GTA Online players are dedicated, period–a standalone version of GTA Online is coming at some point due to its massive popularity), and you’ve got yourself a bunch of people obsessing over a dirt road somewhere in Appalachia.
In late 2020, fans got excited when a teaser for a new GTA Online update seemed to contain something more. Coordinates at the bottom of the video, when input into Google Maps, apparently brought fans to a dirt road in rural Virginia shaped coincidentally (or not?) like a VI, the roman numeral for 6.
Rumor: Rockstar is teasing GTA 6 with this robot art
A piece of art from Rockstar’s website.
Fans are so desperate for some kind of news, they’ve taken to over-analyzing random images on Rockstar’s website. Some fans believe this image of a robot embracing the Rockstar Games logo, uploaded to its website in early 2020, is further “proof” that the game may be set in Vice City. While it seems like and most certainly is a stretch, Screen Rant points out the way Rockstar Games teased Red Dead Redemption using a graphic featuring its logo on Twitter back in 2016.
Still, it’s most likely that any real news and announcements from Rockstar Games will come the way this Red Dead tease did–framed quite forwardly as a teaser from its marketing team, rather than a random art asset on its website.
What do we know about GTA 6?
So given all of this, what do we know about Grand Theft Auto 6? Honestly, not much. Grand Theft Auto 5 and its corresponding GTA Online multiplayer mode rank as one of GameSpot’s best PC games, so the anticipation for GTA 6 is obviously high, but when it comes to real, verifiable information about what we can expect, we’re not left with much. It’s almost definitely in the works, but details like how long it’s been in development, when we can expect to see a release date, when and where it will take place, and what kind of characters it will star remain a mystery at worst and extremely divisive at best.
The biggest Grand Theft Auto news nowadays comes out of GTA Online, the sprawling and ever-popular multiplayer mode which is getting its own standalone version at some point. Whatever GTA 6 ends up looking like, we expect GTA Online to continue to be a major part of the series’ future.
Keep checking back with us as we continue to track future GTA 6 rumors and leaks.
The King of Queens and Paul Blart: Mall Cop’s Kevin James is set to play New Orleans Saints’ head coach Sean Payton in Netflix’s Home Team, a film that will be produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions.
As reported by NBC’s Peter King, Home Team’s story will begin in 2012 when Payton was suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Godell for the Saints’ bounty scandal.
Image Credit: Left (Sean Payton) – Sean Gardner/Getty Images. Right (Kevin James) – Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images.
In order to “re-assess his life and put it in some perspective,” Payton becomes the offensive coach for the Liberty Christian Warriors, his son’s sixth-grade football located in Dallas, Texas.
King mentions that Payton has already read the script and has made some corrections, and that filming should begin later this year.
Payton spoke to ESPN, and believes this movie will have a “humorous Adam Sandler” spin on the real story and will be more of an “inspired by” tale than an exact retelling. He also said the idea came to be after his daughter Meghan reported the true story of his time with the Warriors for NFL Network.
Meghan’s boyfriend, Christoper Titone, is Sandler’s brother-in-law and an actor who works with Happy Madison. After discussing the idea with Sandler, he gave the go-ahead and entrusted Titone to help produce the script.
When asked about Kevin James playing him, Payton responded by saying, “listen, I’m at that age where I don’t really care.” However, he enjoyed talking to James about the role, and knows that James and Happy Madison do a “great job.”
For those unfamiliar, the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, informally known as Bountygate, was an incident in which members of the Saints were accused of paying out bonuses/bounties for their players to injure opposing team players.
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In sad news for the movie industry, Decurion has announced that ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters will be closing for good.
As reported by Deadline, Arclight Cinemas and Pacific Theaters closed their doors over a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and “despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.”
Image Credit: Robert Mora/Getty Images
“After shutting our doors more than a year ago, today we must share the difficult and sad news that Pacific will not be reopening its ArcLight Cinemas and Pacific Theatres locations,” Decurion said in a statement. “This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.
“To all the Pacific and ArcLight employees who have devoted their professional lives to making our theaters the very best places in the world to see movies: we are grateful for your service and your dedication to our customers. To our guests and members of the film industry who have made going to the movies such a magical experience over the years: our deepest thanks. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve you.”
Deadline notes that it heard the chain was shooting for reopening its theaters around Memorial Day weekend with A Quiet Place Part II and Cruella, but it appears that hope has run out. The news is that much more unfortunate as California governor Gavin Newsom’s June 15 wide-open order is expected to allow Los Angeles County to have movie theaters operating at 100%.
The Hollywood Arclight multiplex on Sunset Boulevard and its 58-year old Cinerama Dome is one of Decurion’s most well-known theaters, and was featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It is also one of the highest-grossing movie theaters in the nation.
According to Deadline, Decurion has “handed the keys back to the landlords on all their Arclight and Pacific properties.” This is all part of a thick lease negotiation, and the landlord will be able to decide “which keys to keep and which they’d like to return to the exhibitor.”
Considering the Cinerama Dome, which was constructed in 1963, has become such an important part of the Los Angeles movie scene, there may be hope for some other company like AMC to come in and give at least that theater another chance at life, although there has been no word of a potential sale as of yet.
One of the many reasons the Cinerama Dome is worth saving is that it is the only concrete geodesic dome on Earth, and it also houses the largest contoured motion picture screen in the world, measuring in at 32 feet high and 86 feet wide.
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VALORANT is your global competitive stage. It’s a 5v5 tac-shooter matchup to plant or defuse the Spike in a one-life-per-round, first to 13 series. More than guns and bullets, you’ll choose an Agent armed with adaptive, swift, and lethal abilities that create opportunities to let your gunplay shine.
Oculus will be hosting its very first Gaming Showcase on April 21 at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET. You will be able to watch the showcase via Twitch, Facebook, or YouTube.
According to a blog post, the Gaming Showcase will see the reveal of updates to “fan-favorite titles” on Oculus, as well as never-before-seen footage for new games and other surprises.
Step in to our Oculus Home with the first ever Oculus Gaming Showcase. Tune in to our Facebook page on April 21st at 3PM PT to see what worlds await you in VR.
Currently, Oculus has confirmed that Cloudhead Games, Ready At Dawn, and ILMxLAB will be participating, and the three studios will be sharing new information about Pistol Whip, Lone Echo II, and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge respectively.
Oculus was recently in the news for the Oculus Quest 2 outselling all previous Oculus headsets within half a year of its October 2020 release. Facebook Reality Labs vice president Andrew Bosworth believes that this is representative of Oculus managing to achieve a “mainstream moment.”
“The fact that Oculus Quest 2–in just a few months on the market–has outsold not just its predecessor, but all of its predecessors combined, is a tremendous indicator that we’ve now broken through from the early-adopter crowd to an increasingly mainstream crowd,” Bosworth said.
If you haven’t yet made the jump into virtual reality gaming, the Oculus Quest 2 isn’t a terrible starting option. In GameSpot’s Oculus Quest 2 review, Mat Paget writes, “The Oculus Quest 2 is an excellent VR headset that is well worth your time and money, especially if you don’t already own the original headset. For those looking to upgrade, it’s a little more complicated. The Quest 2’s improvements are definitely noticeable and appreciated, but they’d feel a lot more impactful if the Quest 1 wasn’t already such a great VR headset.”
Where in a show can you find the story? In the dialogue and plot, of course, but also in the music, the set design, and–if the creative people on the show are doing their jobs–everywhere else you look. Even a show’s logo can tell you something, and that’s especially the case with the upcoming Disney+ show Loki, according to star Tom Hiddleston in a new interview with Empire.
“I want to preserve the freshness of the show for when it emerges, but something to think about is the [show’s] logo, which seems to refresh and restore,” Hiddleston said. “The font of how Loki is spelled out seems to keep changing shape. Loki is the quintessential shapeshifter.”
“His mercurial nature is that you don’t know whether, across the MCU, he’s a hero or a villain or an anti-hero. You don’t know whether you can trust him,” Hiddleston continued, listing off the various forms Loki has taken throughout the MCU films. “I think that shapeshifting logo might give you an idea that Loki, the show, is about identity, and about integrating the disparate fragments of the many selves that he can be, and perhaps the many selves that we are. I thought it was very exciting because I’ve always found Loki a very complex construct. Who is this character who can wear so many masks, and changes shape, and seems to change his external feeling on a sixpence?”
Loki hits Disney+ on June 11. Until you can travel through time like Loki will in his eponymous show, check out our coverage of Marvel’s Loki. Marvel Studios revealed the show back at Comic-Con 2019, including the fact that it starts with his Avengers: Endgame escape. Our first look at the show came over a year later. With the show fast approaching, you can now check out a brand new trailer for the show, the show’s gorgeous poster, or watch Hiddleston and co-star Owen Wilson poke fun at Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
