Category: Games

The Star Trek Universe panel at New York Comic-Con isn’t until Saturday, October 5. However, there’s already plenty to learn about the upcoming Star Trek: Picard standalone series, thanks to a display at the Star Trek Universe booth, which is located at booth #166 on the convention floor. In addition to several costumes from the forthcoming series, which stars Sir Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard, placards displayed some exciting information about the aforementioned former USS Enterprise captain, as well as another of the show’s major characters.

The placard for Picard reads, “Since resigning from Starfleet, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard has lived a somewhat reclusive life on his family estate in La Barre, France. All of that changes when he receives an unexpected visitor and is once more drawn back to the galactic stage.” It should be interesting watching a formerly reclusive Picard reintegrate himself into the Starfleet organization.

Additionally, the placard for Picard notes that his costuming on the show pays tribute to his various Starfleet uniforms from throughout the franchise. “Notable here are the black jacket with contrasting leather shoulder yokes, which are reminiscent of the last uniform audiences saw Captain Picard wear,” it reads. “The leather features a distinctive relief process echoing other elements of the show’s production design.”

Photo credit: Mike Sorrentino

The other character of note is Seven of Nine, played by former Star Trek: Voyager star Jeri Ryan. According to her card, “Seven of Nine is the former Borg drone separated from the Collective by Captain Kathryn Janeway and the USS Voyager. Returned from the Delta Quadrant and freed from the collective for over 20 years, Seven continues to see Starfleet in a different light as she crosses paths with Admiral Jean-Luc Picard.”

While the first trailer for Picard teased Seven and the Admiral meeting up in some capacity, knowing she’s going to play such a significant role in the series is reassuring. If this means she’s going to team up with Picard, that’s all the better.

As for her look on the show, Costume Designer Christine Biesslin Clark and Assistant Costume Designer Alexandra Casey are helping Seven dive deeper into her human side, which is, according to the placard, “represented by her more casual, stylish, and decidedly human clothing.”

We’re sure to learn far more about Picard–and the other Star Trek shows being developed–at the panel on Saturday. For now, we know Star Trek: Picard launches in 2020 on CBS All Access.

Disclosure: CBS All Access is owned by CBS, GameSpot’s parent company.

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Protecting your accounts and private information is more crucial than ever in 2019, and that’s led to more companies enforcing stricter login verification practices. To recognize National Cybersecurity Awareness month, EA is offering a nice incentive for its users in October–the company will give a free month of Origin Access Basic to anyone who turns on login verification for their EA account. Considering it’ll take you all of 10 seconds to turn on that setting, that’s a sweet deal.

Origin Access is EA’s PC gaming subscription, and the basic level gets you access to an ever-growing library of games including Battlefield V, Madden 19, The Sims 4, Titanfall 2, and more. The membership also lets you try out new games a few days before release during Play First Trials and also includes a 10% discount on Origin digital purchases like games and expansions. There’s also a Premier membership with more bonuses. You’ll need to install the Origin launcher on your PC if you don’t have it already.

When turning on login verification, you’ll choose whether to have the login codes sent to you via email, text, call, or app authenticator. This setting allows EA to better verify your identity whenever you log into your account. It’s not a bad idea to have two-step verification like this set up for all of your online accounts, so the free month of Origin Access is just an added perk.

To be clear, this deal isn’t just for new users, either. If you’re already an Origin Access Basic member, just make sure to turn on login verification, and you won’t be charged for the month of November. If you’re an Origin Access Premier member, the same step applies, and you’ll get a free month of Premier in November. Even if you’ve already turned on login verification, you’ll get the free month of Origin Access. Seriously–if you miss out on this freebie, it’s on you.

The offer ends October 31, and the free month of Origin Access will start on or after November 1. You can get more information on this deal at EA.

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Mosaic is a game where you can’t find anything to eat in the fridge, you can’t afford to pay your bills, and there’s nothing good on TV. It’s also a game where you need to decide whether to flush the talking goldfish that magically appeared in your sink or bring it to work with you. That’s the main takeaway I got from the 40-odd minute demo I played ahead of Mosaic’s yet-to-be-determined release date.

The vibe of Krillbite’s latest adventure is that of your absolute worst day turned up to eleven. The environment is cold and empty, the characters are expressionless, your job is crappy, and your company regularly sends you stats on how badly you’re performing compared to your colleagues. No one will make eye contact with you in the elevator and there’s nothing about you or your life that appears to set you apart from anybody else in your corporate dystopia.

You begin the game underwater, surfacing from a dream-like world into your sterile, drab apartment. You have three texts on your phone when you wake up–your loving mom asking if you’re coming home for your dad’s birthday, a friend cutting you off because of your lack of effort in the friendship, and a stupid mobile game that serves as a perfect microcosm for the rest of your life; infinitely repeating a dull and seemingly pointless task in order to do more of said task for no real reward. The act of playing the game, entitled Blip Blop, is a relatable parallel for your character, an average commuter unsatisfied with his job which entails crossing off gibberish milestones through repetitive tasks in order to feed some ominous and ambiguous larger scheme.

There’s a palpable sense of loneliness, isolation, and despondency. But it’s this tone that makes you curious enough to act out, since to stick to the status quo would be, quite frankly, depressing. There’s no other incentive to do so, and, as with the real world, it’s easy to turn right when you hit the sidewalk and follow the expressionless parade of workers down the big grey street past the big grey cars to your big grey building to do your stunningly dull grey work tasks. But what if you went left? What if instead of walking toward the elevator when leaving your apartment, you walked toward the window to take a look outside? It’s in these entirely optional moments that Mosaic shines. Literally shines.

Peering out the window invites a saturated rainbow to weave above your head and clicking on it when it appears makes all sorts of things happen, from being enveloped by an imagined sunset to saving a cat from a tree and having it purr with gratitude in your arms. These moments are easy enough to miss, but finding one makes you yearn for more as it’s the singular escape from your otherwise bleak reality. Perhaps Krillbite is sending a larger message here, or perhaps the heights of luminosity are being used to contrast just how dark the underbelly of Mosaic’s dystopia gets. There are glimpses of this darkness through cryptic static and coded messages that invade your screen, but unraveling the mysteries of what, why, and how will presumably only become clearer when the full game arrives.

Our experience so far insinuated that the path to your everyday grind is paved with nothing out of the ordinary, but the road less traveled. The possibilities of what could be waiting in that direction are something else entirely, and Mosaic expects you to discover them.

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It took a decade to get a second Zombieland movie made. Now that Zombieland: Double Tap is ready to premiere in theaters on October 18, it’s hard not to wonder about what comes next, though. Should the follow-up be well-received, is there a plan in place to revisit the world one more time? Does Double Tap set up a third installment of the franchise?

It does not, but that doesn’t mean this is the end. In fact, star Emma Stone might have already figured out the future of the franchise. “Emma said that something that’s super funny to me, which is she hopes that every ten years, we can make a Zombieland,” director Ruben Fleischer shared during a group interview with a small number of outlets. “Almost like in a Boyhood or something-type way, we can just check in with our characters and see how they’re doing in the post-apocalypse.”

For those that don’t remember, Boyhood is the 2012 film by Richard Linklater that was filmed over 12 years and tracked a child’s life from six years old through college. It’s notable for using the same cast throughout 12 years of production, with new footage filmed once or twice each year.

While chances are this recipe wouldn’t work for a franchise like Zombieland, it certainly is fun to think about. Naturally, any future continuation of the series will depend on how audiences react to Double Tap. “I think we all have so much love for this movie and for each other that it would be a joy to get back together again and make another movie, but it obviously hinges on what audiences think of [Double Tap] and we would also have to come up with a story worth telling again,” Fleischer explained.

However, the director revealed that if another film in the series doesn’t happen, Double Tap could serve as a satisfying ending. “This one resolves in a very satisfying way. And so who knows, maybe over time, we’ll come up with an idea that would make sense to reunite our heroes and see what they’re up to,” he said. “But I think I think these are kind of special movies and we all have a lot of respect for them.”

Zombieland: Double Tap is in theaters on October 18.