Category: Games

Six asteroids will pass by Earth on January 20, which just so happens to be Inauguration Day in the US (via ZME Science). Fortunately, or unfortunately–depending on if you have a nihilistic wish for 2021 to just be over already–the asteroids will not collide with our planet.

According to ZME science, the closest one will pass Earth by roughly the same distance that the moon is located at. You can view all of the asteroids’ data over at NASAs Center For Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

If you’re curious about past asteroids that made it close enough to the Earth for NASA to take note, you can also view that info in the above link. CNEOS is an organization that “computes high precision orbits for Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), predicts their future motions, and assesses their impact hazard.”

While zombie outbreaks and cyberpunk fantasies about corporate greed destroying humanity are currently the popular cultural visions of apocalypse, asteroids hitting the earth is another option. The Green Slime, Deep Impact, and Armageddon are all movies with asteroids posing an real existential threat to humanity. (The Green Slime is one of those good, bad movies–you shouldn’t watch it for the plot, but its sheer marvelous lack of plot.)

In actual history, an asteroid impact most likely was one of the causes behind a large extinction event on Earth. The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event occurred over 66 million years ago wiped out a large swath of plant and animal species, effectively ended the dinosaur era, and launched us into the current Cenozoic era, also known as the age of mammals.

If you’re curious what a CNEOS response to a threatening asteroid would look like, check out its Hypothetical Impact Scenarios page. Note: the documents are thought exercises around a hypothetical event and aren’t tied to real-world events.

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After starring in the box office smashes Rogue One and Venom, actor Riz Ahmed had a choice to make: continue to pursue big commercial projects and make a lot of money or try something else. He chose the latter and went on to star in Sound of Metal, and now he’s explained some of his thinking and why it was ultimately the right decision for him and his career.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Ahmed said he had a strong gut feeling about Sound of Metal, in which he plays a drummer who begins to lose his hearing.

“‘Why are you doing this when you could go off and get paid, finally?'” Ahmed recalled about his thought process. “There was an opportunity to do bigger, more commercial projects and make money and buy a home and all these things. But I thought, ‘Here’s your chance.’ My gut feeling about it was so strong. And for whatever reason, I felt really hungry for something like that, to go all in and just fucking go there.”

It worked out for Ahmed in the end, as he was praised for his performance in the film and it led to further opportunities down the track. Ahmed has already finished filming Amazon’s sci-fi movie Invasion with Octavia Spencer, and Amazon believes in the actor so much that it signed a deal with Ahmed’s production company, Left Handed Films.

In addition to that project, Ahmed is working with Barack and Michelle Obama on the Netflix movie Exit West from Avengers directors Joe and Anthony Russo’s ABGO banner.

Also in the interview, Ahmed confirmed he won’t return for the Venom sequel because, as should be obvious to anyone who saw the film, his character is very much dead. “I think I’m done in Venom,” he said. “It’s pretty conclusive. Dude got blown up in a spaceship.”

There is a rumored Rogue One prequel, too, but Ahmed can’t or won’t say anything about that. “I just haven’t heard of that, to be honest,” he said.

You can read the full interview here at The Hollywood Reporter.

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Lyubomir Vladimirov, a Bulgarian indie dev, has been on a mission for the past six months or so: Get Elon Musk to approve his use of the SpaceX name and logos in his upcoming survival sim set on Mars. After over 150 tweets at the tech giant, Vladimirov finally got a response on January 13.

In a reply to one of Vladimirov’s tweets, Musk replied “you can steal our name/logos and we probably won’t sue you.”

Vladimirov’s game is called Mars is Flat, a “highly technical Mars survival simulator,” and actually already features both Musk and SpaceX. Back in December, the game’s site displayed a SpaceX inspired suit Vladimirov had already made for Mars is Flat before receiving Musk’s informal permission. Eventually, Vladimirov said in a tweet, the game will be available for purchase, and 80% of the profits will be going to SpaceX to “not only serve the important purpose of entertaining people and sparking their interest in Mars, but it will actually help @elonmusk and SpaceX achieve it.”

It’s no secret that SpaceX has been one of Musk’s biggest pet projects in the past few years, and colonizing Mars has been at the top of Musk’s agenda for a while now. The newest richest man on earth has even started selling most of his possessions to fund his Mars colony. He stated his intent to do so in May of last year, and has since sold off multiple houses in his portfolio.

“I think it is important for humanity to become a spacefaring civilization and a multiplanet species,” Musk said in an interview with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer. “And it’s going to take a lot of resources to build a city on Mars. I want to be able to contribute as much as possible to the city on Mars. That means just a lot of capital.”

Predator has arrived in Fortnite and he’s brought a number of challenges with him. The hardest one will task you with defeating the intergalactic hunter, but one challenge will have you track down Predator’s apartment while wearing the Predator skin. This guide will show you its exact location and how to get there quickly.

These challenges dropped on Wednesday, so be prepared to fight your way to completing them. Everyone in standard battle royale lobbies is trying to do the same challenges.

Where Is Predator’s Apartment?

Predator’s apartment is located on the far right side of Hunter’s Haven, right on the edge of the named location. Here’s a map with the apartment’s exact location marked:

It’s easy to land directly on the building, as there is loot in and around each building at Hunter’s Haven. The apartment has a large staircase that leads up to the entrance on the side of the cliff. You’ll need to wear the Predator skin in order to complete the challenge. All you need to do is walk into the building.

You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see this sick throne overlooking the outskirts of Hunter’s Haven.

What Do I Get For Visiting Predator’s Apartment?

You’ll get a special emote for the Predator skin by completing this challenge. This is just one of the many Predator challenges that have been added to Fortnite in the last two weeks. Be sure to find the mysterious pod and talk to Beef Boss, Remedy and Dummy in order to unlock other rewards.

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The strange and surreal sci-fi thriller Donnie Darko was released 20 years ago this week, and to celebrate the anniversary, star Jake Gyllenhaal has shared some behind-the-scenes images and anecdotes.

Posting on Instagram, Gyllenhaal said Donnie Darko changed his life and his career and he remarked that it’s been “unreal” to witness new audiences learn about the film.

“Pulled out my script and some artifacts from Donnie Darko… It was released 20 years ago today. It’s a film that changed my life and my career and it’s been unreal to watch this story find afterlives with new audiences and new generations, and yet, what Donnie said to Roberta Sparrow is still true: ‘there is so much to look forward to,'” Gyllenhaal said.

In his post, Gyllenhaal shared images from the script and drawings from the film that he’s held onto over the past two decades. The actor also reflected on how many people still don’t understand what Donnie Darko was about–and hopes this continues for the next 20 years.

“Thank you to all the fans who’ve come up to me over the years with that confused look on their faces and asked me: ‘What the f**k is Donnie Darko about??’ Happy 20th Donnie! Let’s keep confusing people. Here’s to 20 more,” he said.

Donnie Darko, which was written and directed by Richard Kelly, made only $7.5 million at the box office but it became a cult classic. The movie also starred Gyllenhaal’s sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, along with Jena Malone, Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore, and James Duval. In addition to being known as a very confusing and unsettling film loosely related to time travel, the movie featured a stirring cover of “Mad World” that became very famous.

A sequel, S. Darko, was released in 2009, but Kelly had no involvement. Kelly is now working on the untitled Rod Serling biopic about the Twilight Zone writer’s life.

Polarizing Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai has stepped down from his post. This was a move Pai signaled back in November and would follow through on when then President-Elect Joe Biden is inaugurated.

Fans of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver may recall a 2017 episode on net neutrality that specifically targeted and dissected Pai’s enthusiasm for both drinking from a novelty-sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup mug and also an FCC proposal that would no longer classify broadband internet as a utility. Under former President Trump, the FCC proceeded with these plans to eliminate such regulations–thereby creating “fast” and “slow” lanes for internet traffic. This was just one of many examples of policies Pai shepherded through that drew massive criticism.

Vice has pointed out that Pai’s FCC Twitter account no longer exists, which means Pai’s impassioned efforts to attack his critics has also vanished from the internet. (Aside from what’s presumably still on the digital archive Wayback Machine.) However, over on Pai’s personal Twitter, he released a formal farewell message, thanking his co-workers for four years “bridging the digital device to making the agency more transparent.”

Under a new regime, it’s likely the FCC will take on a different course of action and tone overall. What still echoes from Pai’s tenure is an argument he had with Cher, MCU actor Mark Ruffalo, former Star Trek actor George Takei, and many others in which Pai insisted that net neutrality would make the United States “more totalitarian… like North Korea.” Ars Technica has a great write-up of what was just another normal day in 2017. For further examples of Pai’s tone that rubbed many the wrong way–to put it diplomatically–check out this PSA from 2017 he released assuring “internet trolls” that after net neutrality “you can still ruin memes.”

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.