After more than 10 years of development, the Uncharted movie finally finished filming in 2020 and is now awaiting its release later this year. Ahead of that, the movie’s official Twitter account shared some brand-new images from the film that offer a glimpse and tease about what to expect.
The key and the map stills were released earlier by Uncharted video game actor Nolan North. The other two appear to be new–check them out below.
The Uncharted movie stars Spider-Man actor Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake, with Oscar-nominated actor Mark Wahlberg portraying Victor Sullivan AKA Sully. Also starring in the film is Best Actor nominee Antonio Banderas, while Tati Grabrielle (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Sophia Ali (Grey’s Anatomy) are playing major roles as well.
After multiple delays, the Uncharted film is due in theatres on July 16, 2021. It’s a prequel of sorts to the games, and it does not follow any of the storylines from Naughty Dog’s games. The movie is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Venom).
Uncharted is not the only Naughty Dog video game that is being adapted for the screen. HBO is working on a TV series based The Last of Us, and it’s apparently getting fast-tracked. HBO recently announced that the project, which is written by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl, The Hangover series) and game director Neil Druckmann, has been picked up for an entire season instead of just a pilot.
It was a record-breaking holiday season for Steam, as Valve’s digital PC storefront reached a new all-time record for most concurrent users. However, the actual number of people playing games as opposed to having the Steam client open, did not break a record.
According to Steam’s own public stats, sometime around January 2, there were more than 25.4 million people logged into Steam at the same time. That’s a new all-time high.
Now, this doesn’t mean that more than 25 million people were playing games on Steam at the same time. The majority of accounts were idle on the day the record was broken, according to PCGamer. The site notes that 7.4 million people were playing games on Steam during the record-breaking day. This is not a record, as 8.1 million people were logged into Steam, and playing games, back in March 2020.
In terms of the games people are playing, Steam’s public data shows that its own free-to-play juggernaut CS:GO remains the most popular game on the platform by far with more than 1 million concurrent players on January 4. Dota 2 and PUBG follow behind in the second and third positions, while CD Projekt Red’s recently released Cyberpunk 2077 and the enduringly popular Grand Theft Auto V round out the top five, both tallying hundreds of thousands of players.
After a run of many years, the popular workplace comedy The Office has left Netflix and is now streaming exclusively (in the US, at least) on NBC’s own service, Peacock. With the move to Peacock, NBC promised some never-before-seen footage and other special content, and the network has indeed delivered.
NBC has published a previously unreleased cold open involving Dwight and The Matrix. Jim and Pam attempt to convince Dwight that he is indeed living in the matrix, with Hank the security guard playing the role of Morpheus. The sequence is best seen without knowing much more, so go ahead and watch it below. The video is dedicated to Hank actor Hugh Dane, who passed away in 2018.
NBC also released a 15-minute video that showcases some additional never-before-seen extra scenes, bloopers, and other wackiness. It’s not hard to see why some of this was cut, but it’s an enjoyable watch for fans of the show looking to get a peek behind the curtain.
A giant bubble of VLF radio frequencies – entirely created by human activities – is not only surrounding the Earth, but is creating weather-like effects in space.
According to NASA, the bubble was first detected in 2017, and is the result of very low-frequency radio communications, often used for coded or long-distance messaging – such as contacting submarines deep underwater. These frequencies have been “leaking” into space, and have created a barrier of sorts around Earth.
As turns out, this giant bubble is keeping charged, radioactive particles from entering Earth’s atmosphere. Various nuclear blasts over the years have resulted in belts of radioactivity around Earth, which this barrier has pushed further away than they were in the 1960s.
“A number of experiments and observations have figured out that, under the right conditions, radio communications signals in the VLF frequency range can in fact affect the properties of the high-energy radiation environment around the Earth,” Phil Erickson, assistant director at the MIT Haystack Observatory, said, according to NASA.
In effect, VLF frequencies are creating human-induced ‘space weather’. Unfortunately, according to a new article from Science Alert, the barrier doesn’t solve the problem with the radioactive particles damaging Earth’s satellites.
NASA says that tests are underway to see if VLF transmissions can be used to remove the excess radiation surrounding Earth.
This Sunday of deals brings us quite the mix of great savings. The Dell laptop deal continues over at Best Buy, so if you’re in the market for a new productivity device, that’s the place to be. Another set of protein drinks are on sale at Amazon, and there’s a healthy little mix of tech items being discounted this weekend as well. Of course, no list is complete without some games, so cruise down to the bottom to see what’s still currently on sale for the holiday season.
Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group and Endeavor Content are teaming up for a feature film based on the iconic toy known as the Rubik’s Cube.
As reported by Deadline, Hyde Park Entertainment is also partnering with Glassman Media (The Wall) to create a game show based on the global brand of Rubik’s Cube.
The Rubik’s Cube was invented by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Erno Rubik in 1974. In 1980, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik and sold by Ideal Toy Corp. Since then, the Rubik’s Cube has sold over 450 million units worldwide.
As of 2018, amateur and professional “speedcubers” from all over the world have competed for puzzle-based glory in the Rubik’s Cube World Championship Finals in Boston, MA.
“I’ve had a personal and nostalgic connection to the Rubik’s Cube from my early days in India,” Ashok Amritraj said. “I am thrilled to partner with Endeavor Content and Rubik’s/Smiley and look forward to creating a wonderful and complex Rubik’s universe.”
NieR: Automata’s “final secret” has been discovered after nearly four years, and it allows you to skip the entire game.
As reported by Kotaku, modder and dataminer Lance McDonald discovered this cheat code that allows players to go straight to the end of NieR: Automata after only defeating the first boss.
NieR: Automata, which was released in 2017, has multiple endings that require players to replay the game numerous times to truly complete the story. This cheat code, however, allows you to simply go right to the last ending.
Spoilers ahead for NieR: Automata.
Once you have unlocked Ending E, players must make it through a challenging arcade shooter that has you attempting to destroy the game’s credits. Once finished, you are given the option to sacrifice you save data to assist others in that task. If accepted, you will actually lose your save file.
This cheat code, however, lets you get to that ending to help others without completing the game and having to give up your hard earned save data. McDonald discovered that this is not a glitch, but an actual cheat code that is programmed into NieR: Automata. According to him, it took “hundreds of hours of reverse engineering” to figure this out.
I found a cheat code in NieR Automata that allows you to skip to the last ending immediately after killing the first boss and unlock the bonus modes. I’ll do a full video soon. It’s not a glitch, it’s an actual cheat code hard-coded into the engine. @yokotaropic.twitter.com/FtuNPovq6F
As of this writing, McDonald hasn’t fully revealed what the inputs are to activate the cheat code, but the video above shows him doing so near some barrels after defeating the aforementioned first boss. The screen fades to black, and he is then able to sacrifice his save data.
Following this discovery, NieR: Automata’s director Yoko Taro Quote Tweeted McDonald’s video and appeared to confirm the discovery by saying “3 years 10 months.（◎血◎）”
The Japanese NieR Twitter also acknowledged the find, saying (via Google Translate), “It seems that the last secret has been discovered.”
McDonald has said he will be releasing a full video of the game-skipping cheat code soon, but be sure to let us know if you figure it out before then!
Netflix’s gift to the world this Christmas is Bridgerton, an eight-episode season based on the bestselling romance novel saga by Julia Quinn. The first offering from Shondaland following showrunner extraordinaire Shonda Rhimes’s jump to the streaming service, Bridgerton is a lavish adaptation of one of the most popular Regency romance series in the genre. (Be sure to read our Bridgerton review.) It’s a veritable bingo card of romance goodies: a fake relationship that becomes so very real; meddling families; red-hot banter; societal drama; petticoats a-plenty; and, of course, sex. It’s the kind of show that, once you finish watching it, makes you wonder why it’s taken so darn long for a network (or, in this case, streaming service) to make something like it.
The most conservative numbers position romance publishing as a billion-dollar-a-year industry, one made almost entirely by and for women, yet the genre remains the black sheep of literature. It’s the widely accepted punching bag of fiction that’s never commanded the legitimacy of even previously derided genres like science-fiction and crime. The general image of romance fiction is, even in 2020, an assembly line of derivative, badly written bodice-rippers designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. To rub salt on the wound, the loudest backlash to romance typically comes from people who haven’t read a single romance novel and proudly admit so.
Regé-Jean Page as Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, and Phoebe Dynevor as Daphne Bridgerton
It’s easy to forget that, once upon a time, comic books were disregarded by doubters as worthless (and potentially dangerous) before a critical renaissance paved the way for the multi-billion-dollar industry of expanded universes that we have today. They were seen as lacking the heft to take on weighty subject matter, despite the obvious deep-seated socio-political foundations of work like the X-Men and Captain America.
Romance continues to outsell sci-fi, fantasy, and crime fiction, and much like comic books, there is a romance novel out there tailored to your type: Historical, paranormal, suspense, Western, horror, faith-based, fantastical, even dystopian. The options are limitless. Sarah Marrs, writer for Lainey Gossip and Decider, notes that romance is primed for the big and small screen:
“As for why more romance novels should get the same treatment, there’s just no reason not to. We’re talking about one of the most consistently popular genres of fiction that branches into many sub-genres such as paranormal, sci-fi, and fantasy. All those things are popular. Rom coms are popular. Why not adapt romance novels, which are the nexus of all of those things?”
For many years, romantic comedies were plentiful on the big screen, typically as star vehicles for actors like Julia Roberts and Reese Witherspoon. The genre fell out of favor by the mid-2000s as box office revenues fell, and eventually, such stories seemed to disappear from the screen altogether, particularly as the blockbuster mold evolved to encompass the current superhero trend. Over the past few years, however, rom coms have experienced a revival thanks to an unlikely source: Netflix. Some of the platform’s biggest hits over the past few years have been rom coms like Always Be My Maybe, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and The Half of It, so it’s no surprise that it would be the platform to stream the first honest to goodness romance novel adaptation — and trust in the tropes of the genre enough to get it so right on the first try.
That’s not to say romantic stories don’t exist on film or TV; it’s that stories by and for women that put women’s interests, desires, and aesthetics first are still seen as “niche.” Time and again success stories in Hollywood should have proven otherwise, from the explosion of Young Adult romance adaptations like Twilight, The Vampire Diaries and The Fault in Our Stars to the way networks like Lifetime, Hallmark and now Netflix have made entire seasons out of their holiday-themed romantic movies. Still, when it comes to the romance novel genre, it’s rare to see something like Bridgerton get greenlit, let alone unapologetically embrace all the drama, costuming and — again, of course — sex that have helped make the books such a hit.
Like comic book stories are not just for men, romances are not just for women: Everyone wants to watch Captain America save the day but only girls care about whether Daphne Bridgerton and Lord Hastings will realize their love for one another? To make the comparison more apt, many popular romance novel series are as interconnected to their own multi-layered worlds as some comic book arcs. Narratives intertwine and characters reappear across multiple stories and locations.
“Quinn’s novels are perfect for adaptation because it’s an interconnected world that’s not unlike a comic book universe, which is something viewers are really accustomed to at this point, so it’s an easy point of entry for the non-initiated,” said Sarah Marrs of Lainey Gossip and Decider.
Quinn’s series gives one book to each of the Bridgerton siblings’ romance but also explores the changing world around them. We see this in effect in the show as various plot threads blend together and new ones are introduced, laying the ground for further stories. Characters you met or who were the focus of another book pop up in a later sibling’s love story, and there even are “second epilogues” that jump a generation ahead to offer new material to mine from. It’s not unlike what Marvel Studios did with their now-iconic cinematic universe, although there are, admittedly, less explosions.
Many of the most popular romance series span many novels, spin-offs, prequels, and short story add-ons. They encompass dozens, sometimes even hundreds of characters, spread across time and location, with intertwining relationships that shape the world they inhabit. Meljean Brook’s Guardians series, for example, is eight books long (plus several short stories) and teases out a luscious, deftly developed world of angels, vampires, and demons that would put the scope of George R.R. Martin to shame. Like comic book arcs, these series spin off in multiple directions, change up the focus to encompass various characters, and always leave room for more.
Bree Bridges, co-author behind the best-selling dystopian romance series Beyond, hopes that the buzz around Bridgerton will open the doors for romance beyond the familiar. “While we’ve recently seen a pretty cool rom com revolution on streaming networks, sometimes I’m frustrated that the vision for romance adaptable to the screen is so narrow. While romantic comedies are a classic film genre, they’re the tiniest sliver of what the romance genre in books has to offer. The Bridgertons are a crack in that wall, but I would love to see it bust wide open.”
We’ve moved beyond treating sci-fi, crime novels, and superhero stories as frivolities, yet romance is left lagging behind, both in the public imagination and in the entertainment industry’s vision. Female-skewing audiences have proven time and time again that they will devote themselves to such material and be the kind of fanbase that’s become crucial in the oversaturated landscape of Peak TV. Just check out Twitter to see how high the hype for Bridgerton runs. MacKenzie Walton, an editor for Carina Press, notes the “voracious audience” for romance that the film and TV worlds have, willingly or otherwise, totally ignored.
Whatever trend the TV world is chasing, the chances are there’s a bunch of romances that would be perfect for what Hollywood desires. Just as there are countless superhero stories to be mined for content, romance has a bounty of offerings on the table alongside it.
The possibilities are limitless, but only if Hollywood is willing to pay attention. Like the world of comic books, however, such adaptations cannot be anything other than wholeheartedly committed. We had to suffer through a lot of shlock with capes before we got to The Dark Knight and Black Panther, but once those stories found their way to creators and producers with the focus, dedication, and genuine love of the source material (as well as the required funds to do it right), the game changed forever. Get romance novels into the hands of people like the Bridgerton team, writers and directors who don’t scoff at love stories and the drama within, and it won’t take long for magic to happen.
