Category: Games

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Apple’s latest smartphones will form the iPhone 13 line, with this year’s devices featuring some moderate upgrades to the camera. One of these new features is a video portrait mode that can apply a bokeh effect that blurs the background behind the subject, and photos can also have filters applied to select parts of the image, according to a new Bloomberg report.

Other improvements are focused on the iPhone 13’s video recording options, such as “Cinematic Video” and support for ProRes video recording. That last feature will be especially useful for video editors looking to have more control over their footage, similar to how Apple added ProRAW support to its iPhones last year and gave users a more flexible photographic editing suite.

In short, ProRes is a high-quality video compression format that Apple developed in 2007 for use in post-production and can currently support video resolutions of up to 8K.

Apple’s iPhones have been popular with filmmakers for several years now, thanks to the smartphones having a dependable mix of high image quality, sensor-body stabilization, and a wide lens for more cinematic shots. Hollywood director Steven Soderbergh famously filmed psychological thriller Unsane and sports drama High Flying Bird entirely on iPhone.

Bloomberg’s report also claims that this year’s iPhone 13 models will have faster 120Hz refresh rates, smaller display notches, and improved performance on the A15 chips. although these will all be “modest” updates spread across a variety of models and screen sizes similar to last year’s iPhones.

There’s no word on when these phones will be announced, although Apple does traditionally stick to a September launch for its flagship iPhones every year. 2020 was an exception though, with iPhones only arriving in October due to the knock-on effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nintendo has announced that the next Indie World Showcase event is coming up very soon. The next broadcast will take place on Wednesday, August 11, beginning at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET.

The event is about 20 minutes long and it will have “information on upcoming indie games” that are in the works for Nintendo Switch. Nintendo did not provide any insight on specific games that will be featured on the show.

How To Watch:

You can watch the event live on YouTube through the video player below. As mentioned, the broadcast begins at 9 AM PT, and you can see more times below.

Start Times:

• 9 AM PT
• 12 PM ET
• 5 PM GMT
• 2 AM AEST (Thursday, August 12)

This is the first new Indie World event since April, when Nintendo revealed more details on games like Road 96, Aerial Knight’s Never Yield, Last Stop, Hindsight, OlliOlli World, The Longing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, and Aztech: Forgotten Gods.

We’ll report back with all the big news from this event as they’re announced. This is happening as the Switch continues to soar, with Nintendo just recently announcing that lifetime sales of the system have passed 89 million units.

It’s not just Nintendo that is spotlighting indie games this week, as Microsoft is holding its next ID@Xbox event today, August 10, starting at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET.

If we had to distill the MCU TV shows on Disney+ down to a single word, “experimental” would be the best fit. From WandaVision’s pop culture-packed surrealism to the action-thriller sensibilities of Falcon and the Winter Soldier to Loki’s genre bending time travel, Marvel Studios seems bent on tackling their many franchises from as many angles as possible. Now, with the release of What If…?, the first–and so far, only–animated show of the bunch, it’s time for the studio to really see how far they can go.

The premise of What If will be familiar to anyone who has ever picked up a comic book. The multiverse has officially been cracked open, thanks to the finale of Loki Season 1, and now there are an infinite number of branching realities across time and space in the MCU. To observe them all, we have a new character–Uatu the Watcher (Jeffery Wright)–who cannot intervene or affect any of these splintered realities, but instead can only do what his name implies and observe them. These branched realities can be created by the smallest change, like a character standing in a different place when they experience an event we’ve seen unfold in the main MCU, or by massive ones, like key characters being killed before they even get a chance to don their hero attire.

Each episode tackles a different reality and boasts a different cast of familiar faces, most of which are voiced by their respective live-action actors. In fact, so many of them are voiced by the A-list stars who play them in other MCU productions that it’s overwhelmingly odd to hear unfamiliar voices coming out of characters like Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff since, for whatever reason, neither Chris Evans nor Scarlett Johansson returned for the series. Their replacements do a perfectly serviceable impression, but it is definitely noticeable. It’s also obvious which of the live-action actors who signed on have voice acting chops, because not all of them do, making for some wildly inconsistent performances across episodes.

Inconsistency is really the name of the game in What If. Disney provided the first three episodes for review and, of the bunch, the second was far and away the strongest. The first deals with the highly publicized Captain Carter scenario, where Peggy Carter winds up taking the super soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers, but it’s a less than ideal kick off for the series. The story is bogged down by clunky vocal performances and a heavy reliance on following the exact beats of The First Avenger, except with plenty of frustratingly pointed “but you’re a girl!” type asides to really drive home the fact that gender is literally the only thing differentiating Peggy from Steve in this situation. Episode 3 takes a murder mystery approach to the foundation of The Avengers where the big twist reveal is interesting but almost too out of left field to really make an impact. It’s certainly better than the first, but doesn’t quite earn what should be its crowning moments.

Meanwhile, Episode 2, which features the final MCU performance of Chadwick Boseman as T’challa, is a showstopper. The premise–that T’challa becomes Star-Lord rather than Peter Quill–is interesting enough as it is, but the end result is a joyful, inspired remix of the entire cosmic corner of the MCU. It even provides some fun nods to the story in Disneyland’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout ride and a running stream of incredibly self aware gags we won’t spoil for you. This episode epitomizes the real potential of What If and leaves you hungry for more–so, with any luck, it will be the rule rather than the exception as the rest of the season is released.

The one part of What If that is totally consistent through each episode is the animation style. Somewhere between A Scanner Darkly-flavored rotoscoping and bold, graphic cartooning, What If’s overall aesthetic is interesting and kinetic, and is something totally new in the crowded pantheon of animated superhero shows. The fact that the stylization stays the same while each episode of the anthology series changes so dramatically was a smart move that helps the entire show feel like one cohesive entity–especially when the rest is so riddled with peaks and valleys.

All told, What If is a fun, if slightly flawed, experiment for the MCU that flaunts Phase 4’s willingness to take chances even if they don’t always pay off. It won’t generate the same sort of raucous speculation and theorizing as its live-action predecessors, but if it’s lucky, it will encourage fans to start actually pondering the titular question in their own ways, which can be a blast all on its own.

Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has shared his take on the new Alan Grant figure from Mattel. Writing on Twitter, he said the figure looks “alarming” due to its removable head and hands. He also asked Mattel if they can send him some of them.

“Is this for would-be young murderers to play with?” he said (via The Hollywood Reporter). “Regardless, could the manufacturer send some, my kids want them?! Only slightly worried.”

Jurassic Park’s production company, Amblin Entertainment, responded to Neill’s tweet. “Mattel, could you possibly send Sam some Alan Grant figures with removable noggin and hands for his kids to enjoy? ;)” We’ll report back when Neill has another update on this situation.

The figure is part of a new Jurassic Park collection that debuted in 2019; the Grant figure is slated to launch in October.

Neill is coming back to play Grant again in Jurassic World: Dominion. Other stars of the original movies like Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler) and Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcom) are returning as well.