Month: September 2021

Remember the first time we saw the Citadel in Mass Effect? The Normandy breaking through the clouds to reveal a massive space station with a beautiful shade of pink and purple surrounding it. Everything about that scene is perfect and for a lot of people, it’s the moment they knew they were going to fall in love with the series. Despite being a game that came out in 2007, it managed to create a moment that arguably looks better than cinematic scenes today made on superior hardware. It’s an example of how, with proper art direction, anything can look great.

Now let’s compare the feeling that moment created to the one that Mass Effect: Andromeda created. Bioware’s attempt to take the series in a new direction was a spectacular failure and, until recently, has left the series dormant. There are people who do enjoy Andromeda, and they are well within their right to like the game because everything about video games is subjective. However, even the biggest defenders of Andromeda had one significant issue with it and it’s the state the game launched in. Bugs, poor facial animations, and a feeling of being unfinished plagued that game. Even with a shiny new engine utilizing cutting edge technology, Andromeda was a broken mess that took months to fix.

Doesn’t all that sound really familiar? It should because those are the same issues that plague the Madden franchise’s yearly releases. It also sounds a lot like some of the issues that led to Anthem being a development mess from start to finish until it was sadly shuttered for good. There’s one consistency across all of these titles, as all of them use the same internally developed engine called “Frostbite.” This does not mean that Anthem failed, Madden struggles, and Andromeda released a mess because of a singular engine. Every video game goes through its own problems in development, but considering that Frostbite was once described to Kotaku as “Full of razor blades” speaks volumes to the challenges it creates.

These challenges have led to rumors that the new Mass Effect game currently in development may utilize a different engine. The original trilogy was on the Unreal Engine and there’s a chance that Bioware switches back to that for their upcoming game. While it’s unfair to blame previous failures solely on an engine, when you look at the history of how Frostbite came to be and why so many developers struggle with it you gain a better picture of why they’re considering the switch.

What is Frostbite?

Frostbite is an internal engine that was first created by EA owned studio DICE. The reason DICE created Frostbite was because they wanted something that would help them meet the massive visions they had for the Battlefield games. Battlefield is famous for huge battles featuring up to 64 players at once and the upcoming Battlefield 2042 is expected to allow 128 players. They needed an engine that would not only allow for games of that size and scope but would also look really good at the same time. Frostbite gave them that.

For all the struggles that Frostbite can create, the games made with that engine are some of the best looking out there. Anthem, despite its faults, is a great-looking game. When Madden works it’s one of the prettiest sports simulation games. FIFA has been on Frostbite for years and is frequently praised for its graphics. However, the key detail in all this is that Frostbite was created with one series in mind: Battlefield. It is an engine specifically designed for the first-person shooter genre.

Everything is Frostbite

When EA realized the potential of Frostibite it started to switch many of its biggest IPs over to it. Not only because of how it looks, but this saves them licensing costs. By using an internally developed engine they aren’t forced to spend licensing money on something like Unreal. In theory, this is a great idea, but DICE didn’t make Frostbite to be an all-in-one tool. They made it for Battlefield and that means there were immediate problems that presented themselves. Tools that are standard in most engines have to be made from scratch, one phrase used by the Anthem team was they were “hacked together,” and bugs took an infamously long time to fix. One developer told Kotaku:

“We’re trying to make this huge procedural world but we’re constantly fighting Frostbite because that’s not what it’s designed to do,” said one developer. “Things like baking the lighting can take 24 hours. If we’re making changes to a level, we have to go through another bake process. It’s a very complex process.”

When everything is made on an engine that was designed for first-person shooters there is going to be problems. Some games, such as FIFA, managed to work through these problems and come out better. Others have not had nearly the same amount of success.

Switching to Frostbite guarantees growing pains

Not every game on Frostbite besides Battlefield and FIFA is a failure. Dragon Age: Inquisition was developed in Frostbite and came out a success — although, the developers of that game have spoken frequently about how difficult it was. Star Wars: Squadrons didn’t blow anyone away, but it was a perfectly serviceable game and received generally positive reviews. Star Wars: Battlefront II had great gameplay and was really only panned as hard as it was because of predatory microtransactions. However, it’s probably worth noting that the studios with the most success with Frostbite so far have either been DICE, worked closely with DICE or been on the EA Vancouver FIFA team. Every other studio is having a lot less luck with the franchise.

Perhaps no franchise has suffered more from the switch to Frostbite than Madden. Fans have been growing increasingly frustrated by the game for years, but morale around the series is easily at an all-time low. Metacritic isn’t a perfect metric, but here’s the critic and user scores of the last three games:

Madden 22: 68 Critics, 0.6 User
Madden 21: 63 Critics, 0.2 User
Madden 20: 76 Critics, 1.4 User

Compared to the final three games on Ignite Engine.

Madden 17: 82 Critics, 4.1 User
Madden 16: 83 Critics, 5.7 User
Madden 15: 81 Critics, 6.0 User

There is a significant and obvious drop in quality among both users and critics when it comes to Madden on the new engine. Some of this is apathy for the series, with faults such as bugs no longer being tolerated, but consider what we know about Frostbite and its “razor blades.” Then look at how only three studios have managed to successfully navigate those razor blades and it’s painting a picture that this engine might be more trouble than it’s worth.

Frostbite and Mass Effect

Mass Effect is a series that is absolutely beloved by fans. What Bioware created is a universe, characters, and morality system that fans still talk about to this day. “Who was your romantic interest?” “Did everyone survive the suicide mission?” “I am a scientist Solarian.” Obviously, these games weren’t without glitches and faults of their own. Some of the writing is extremely dated, it had glitches such as “ghost Tali,” and the combat in Mass Effect 1 was genuinely horrible. Remember the Mako? Everyone hated the Mako. The game wasn’t perfect, but we loved it anyway and when the remakes came out recently there was a sigh of relief when we saw it was sticking to the Unreal Engine. Not just because of nostalgia, but because it was going to avoid the razor blades.

Developers don’t want to make a bad video game. Nobody at EA has ever set out to make a game with the intention of it being bad. However, making video games is incredibly difficult already, and giving a team one of the most challenging development engines out there with a proven track record of causing problems seems like a bad idea. Especially when the last Mass Effect game on that engine failed as badly as it did. We all just want the upcoming Mass Effect game to be good. If that means moving away from an infamous engine then do it. If they can make a great game on that engine then stick to it. Just make Mass Effect fun. Please?

The Jackass gang has racked up an impressive (painful) list of injuries over 20-plus years of nut shots. Johnny Knoxville alone has broken numerous bones, suffered “15 or 16″ concussions, and once had his nipple bitten by an alligator, which honestly sounds worse than a broken wrist. But which of the boys has had the most expensive injuries?

Nova Legal Funding compiled the medical bills for Steve-O, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, and the rest of the Jackass boys, and not surprisingly, Knoxville is number one. “Johnny Knoxville topped the list, with a total cost of $8,663,000, followed by Ehren McGhehey, who tallied up an estimated $7,380,000 in injuries, and fan-favorite Steve-O, who racked up a total of $5,820,000 during his career as a stuntman,” the report reads.

The team looked at 79 injuries in total, across six members of the Jackass crew… The estimated total cost of injuries across the entire cast is $24,263,000, however this number only accounts for the reported injuries suffered by the main members of the Jackass crew, and we estimate the actual number could be closer to $38m.

The costliest medical expenses are $2.7 million for McGhehey’s broken neck (he broke it three times!), $2.5 million for Knoxville’s brain hemorrhage, and $1.75 million for Steve-O’s fractured skull. (Bam Margera was presumably not included in the study.)

Here’s the full “Jackass Injury Rich List”:

Johnny Knoxville – $8,663,000
Ehren McGhehey – $7,380,000
Steve-O – $5,820,000
Dave England – $1,650,000
Jason “Wee Man” Acuña – $675,000
Preston Lacy – $75,000

The boys suffer for their art, and for that, we thank them.

(Via Nova and CNET)

R. Kelly is currently behind bars as he continues his trail after being accused of grooming and sexually abusing several minors. The disgraced singer has been in jail since July 2019, but despite his fame and the high-profile nature of his case, the singer is reportedly not granted any special accommodations.

Kelly has spent his time at two federal prisons, the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago and now the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. A recent report from Billboard details the singer’s stay, with his former lawyer Michael Leonard claiming he only leaves his small cell for two hours a day. “Kelly has spent the majority of his time in the Chicago lock-up, where Leonard says he is only allowed out of his 8×10, two-person cell for a few hours day to check his email, talk to his lawyers, make phone calls, shower and eat, with no access to the rooftop basketball court that is typically available during non-COVID times,” Leonard says. The lawyer added that “every once in a blue moon” Kelly sings for his fellow inmates “and the place would go crazy.”

Other than being granted additional access to his lawyers via video calls due to his “limitations with reading and writing,” Kelly “does not get any special accommodations,” according to attorney Stacey Richman. “He will get the same food as everyone else,” Richman said. “He, like everyone else, will have commissary money so he can access more foods and sundries.” Richman added that he could potentially get the chance to trade his autograph for more commissary items items, which includes boxes of Ramen noodles, tuna pouches, and packets of cookies.

Kelly continues to attend court where some of his accusers have testified about they abuse they’ve faced. Most recently, a male victim claimed Kelly sexually exploited him when he was just 17-years-old.

Houston rapper Maxo Kream recently announced his return to the rap game with “Local Joker,” ending a two-year hiatus that began shortly after the release of his second studio album, Brandon Banks. That album’s follow-up, Weight Of The World, is now on the way with an October due date and in the meantime, Maxo has offered up a preview in the form of the album’s latest single, “Big Persona” featuring Tyler The Creator, who also produced its boisterous beat.

Tyler and Maxo cruise in a Rolls-Royce truck in the video, which sees Tyler embracing his new bellhop persona, once again showing off his luxury luggage collection, while Maxo embraces his lady’s baby belly in anticipation of his impending fatherhood. Meanwhile, the title “Big Persona” does double duty, not only describing the rappers’ charismatic public images but also paying tribute to Maxo’s late brother. Persona is also the name of Maxo’s streetwear brand and label, further expanding on the creative play on words.

Weight Of The World will continue to honor Maxo’s brother, detailing his life and taking stock of the impact of his absence. Family has long figured into Maxo’s work; Brandon Banks similarly focused on the generational qualities he inherited from his father.

Check out Maxo Kream’s “Big Persona” video with Tyler The Creator above.

It’s not everyday you see a Fox News host coming to the defense of an MSNBC rival, but that’s exactly what Geraldo Rivera did on Tuesday morning after seeing a tweet from Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance. In a perfect storm of conspiratorial rantings, Vance latched on to a tweet by frequent Tucker Carlson guest Glenn Greenwald that essentially accused Twitter of protecting Rachel Maddow even though she promoted a now-debunked article about ivermectin overdoses in Oklahoma.

“Alex Jones is a far more reputable source of information than Rachel Maddow,” Vance wrote in response to Greenwald. “One of them is censored by the regime. The other promoted by it.”

After Vance’s exchange with Greenwald was called out by Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, Geraldo entered by the fray by laying into Vance while (mostly) defending Maddow’s reputation. The Fox News host also had some words to say about Alex Jones:

“#HillbilllyElegy author #JDVance is obviously selling his soul to appeal to the lunatic fringe,” Rivera tweeted. “@maddow has some wacky liberal ideas, but she is much closer to the American mainstream than #AlexJones a conspiracy theorist being sued for claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was faked.”

Of course, this latest move isn’t entirely off-brand for Rivera who has repeatedly sparred with his own colleagues. He’s been a vocal critic of Tucker Carlson‘s “xenophobic views” and has publicly threatened to “kick the ass” of any unvaccinated person who dares to come into his grandchildren’s house. You don’t mess with The Mustache.

(Via Geraldo Rivera on Twitter)

Bo Burnham’s latest comedy special, Inside, is one of 2021’s most beloved thanks to its songs. The soundtrack album is a hit, too, as Inside (The Songs) is the comedian’s first top-10 album. Phoebe Bridgers is a fan of one Inside song in particular, as it has become a regular part her “Reunion Tour” setlists.

Bridgers has performed three shows on the tour so far, and at each of them, she has covered “That Funny Feeling” (as setlist.fm notes), the Inside song that sounds the most like a Bridgers track. Indeed, Bridgers’ subdued rendition of the song is a natural fit in her set, and the comedic lyrics are a natural extension of Bridgers’ offbeat sense of humor.

Her first tour performance of that song (above) was in Chesterfield, Missouri on September 3, then she brought the track to Nashville on the 4th (for the concert she performed in lieu of the canceled Bonnaroo festival) and Louisville on the 5th. She and Burnham actually got to perform the song together at Largo in Los Angeles on August 4, too.

Meanwhile, fans looking to add Inside (The Songs) to their physical music collections will be able to do so soon, as CD and vinyl editions of the album are on the way.

Watch Bridgers perform “That Funny Feeling” at her tour-opening show above.

Rasheed Wallace had a tremendous career spanning 16 seasons with four All-Star appearances and one championship with the 2004 Detroit Pistons, where his midseason addition helped push the Pistons into the elite of the league, led by one of the all-time great team defenses the NBA has seen.

Wallace is now in Memphis as an assistant coach with Penny Hardaway, where he’ll look to impart some wisdom from his long career to this current generation. Sheed has seen a number of basketball eras in his day, playing ball in the early 90s at North Carolina before entering the league in 1995 and not retiring for good until 2013. The game saw plenty change over those years, which allows Wallace to speak to how differently things were when he came into the league to now, but it also makes it difficult to narrow down exactly one era to which he belongs.

On a recent episode of the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, Wallace was a guest and the conversation shifted to what current players would’ve been a “beast” or “soft” in his era, with Rasheed saying he didn’t think LeBron James would’ve been as successful in his era as he is now.

“In my era, he probably would’ve done good with his physical stature, with him being a little bit bigger than the majority of the rest [of the players],” Wallace said. “So he probably would’ve held his own, but I don’t think he would be as successful as he is now. Now it’s…man, he’s doin it. Young bull doin’ it. It’s a whole different era back then… I think he would’ve held his own. I couldn’t necessarily say that he would’ve been a beast, but I think he would’ve held his own.”

It’s important to note that Sheed is sure not to say James would’ve been “soft” as the hosts press him on “beast or soft” — he does say James Harden would’ve been soft — but even so, it’s hard to imagine any era where James wouldn’t be one of the absolute best players in the league.

As many pointed out when Wallace’s quote started to go viral, he and LeBron were contemporaries and played against each other for half of Wallace’s career — most notably when James lit up Wallace and the Pistons in the 2007 Playoffs in his real “arrival” moment on that stage. Older players often fall into the trap of being unwilling to even consider the idea that their era wasn’t the best, but it’s particularly interesting with Wallace because his era and LeBron’s have so much overlap that we saw how James would fare in a lot of those years and the answer was “really, really well.”

Ex-Trump strategist Steve Bannon got pardoned for crimes involving defrauding Trump supporters and has gone own to sow more chaos after calling for Dr. Fauci’s head on a pike. Bannon has maintained that he had nothing to do with planning the January 6 insurrection, and he’s even claimed that his January 5 statement (“All hell is going to break loose”) only had to do with dissing Mike Pence. Yet Bannon has been picking and choosing his battles since then, including turning on Mike Lindell over his failed cyber symposium, and Bannon’s War Room podcast welcomed former Trump advisor Jason Miller over the weekend.

While speaking with Bannon (who appeared to note that Miller was “with President Bolsonaro” at some point), Miller bragged about his planned trip to Brazil, where it’s been feared that Bolsonaro is attempting to incite a military coup. In the below clip, Miller spoke about how excited he was to get down with Brazilian “patriots” who love “free speech.” He praised the Bolsonaro supporters who have been flocking to his new social media platform, Gettr, which caters to those right-wingers who want something different after Twitter banned Trump.

Well, the trip did not go great for Jason Miller in Brazil. The Meidas Touch Twitter account soon reported that authorities detained Miller for hours while he was “questioned regarding anti-democratic activities,” all while Brazil “is bracing for a Jan. 6th-inspired insurrection/coup attempt.”

Yikes, if they’re actually inspired by the failed Jan. 6 coup, that’s saying something. Miller has, as well, confirmed to The Independent that he was quizzed for three hours:

“This afternoon my travelling party was questioned for three hours at the airport in Brasilia, after having attended this weekend’s CPAC Brasil Conference. We were not accused of any wrongdoing, and told only that they ‘wanted to talk’. We informed them that we had nothing to say and were eventually released to fly back to the United States. Our goal of sharing free speech around the world continues!”

From there, Millar was apparently put back on an airplane and shipped back to the U.S., after his weekend of CPAC-related activities in Brazil. There’s no telling what else he did over the weekend, or whether he was truly meeting with Bolsonaro, but he was sure excited about this autographed MAGA hat ahead of his detainment. Looks strange!

(Via The Independent)

We all react to bad news in different ways and while it’s generally acknowledged that folks are allowed to process grief anyway they can, some of those coping mechanisms just aren’t socially acceptable. Over the long weekend, fans of The Wire and Lovecraft Country were dismayed to learn that actor Michael K. Williams — who starred in both shows, as well as many more beloved films and television series — had passed away, found dead at home at the age of 54. While many shared their distress at the news, offering loving tributes to the well-respected actor, one celebrity’s post instantly sparked a backlash.

50 Cent, the former rapper and current Starz production powerhouse responsible for such series as Raising Kanan and BMF, is well-known for using his platform to troll his enemies (or just about anyone in the news, really) on social media, then use the attention to promote his various business endeavors. This time, however, his usual strategy backfired as he underestimated just how well-liked Michael K. Williams really was. “Damn if you didn’t see Raising Kanan check it out that fentanyl is no joke, killing the clientele,” he captioned the post. “RIP michael k. williams.” The accompanying photo was a screenshot of a New York Post headline — since-deleted — attributing Williams’ death to a suspected overdose.

Fans weren’t pleased with the post, using the opportunity to censure 50 for his near-relentless trolling and the tasteless decision to use someone’s death to advertise his show. Some attributed 50’s reaction to pettiness over a three-year-old disagreement between 50 and music executive James Rosemond, Jr., a.k.a. Jimmy Henchman, who is serving a life sentence for commissioning a hit on one of 50’s friends. When Williams shared a video defending Rosemond from a rumor that he was attacked in prison, 50 seemingly decided to add Wiliams to his long, long list of enemies.

50 has since deleted the offending posts, but screenshots are forever. Check out some of the responses to his petty post below.

As someone who has made music in the public eye since she was just 13 years old, Billie Eilish knows what its like to have her music ripped apart by online trolls. Now, Eilish tries to stay off of social media as much as she can, but she does admit that online haters used to make her “feel like a failure,” despite the obvious success of her music.

Eilish recently sat down for an interview with UK grime rapper Stormzy for i-D. The two musicians discussed their careers and upcoming tour, but the conversation eventually turned to the negative impacts of social media. Eilish noted how social media affected the way she saw her success:

“I’ve felt like a failure a lot in my life. And it’s really easy to feel like a failure when so many people are looking at you and telling you you are one. It can be hard not to believe them. I grew up with the internet. I use social media for the same reasons everyone else does, and you come across these videos saying you’re ugly and you suck and you’re terrible and that makes me feel like a failure. There are other things too, more concrete things, like when I disappoint myself, when I don’t feel how I said I was going to feel, or do the things I said to myself I was going to do… but failure is an interesting thing because, like success, it’s really only in your head. You can literally physically fail at something but it can still be a success, and vice versa. Success and failure are all only about your perspective.”

Eilish continued that people shouldn’t have such a strong opinion on her personal life. “Why do people need to have an opinion about everything I do or say or wear or look like and f*cking feel. I just want to make music,” she said. “I’m just a random girl who likes to sing. It’s not that deep. Just listen to the music and shut the f*ck up about my life.”

Read Eilish’ full interview with Stormzy on i-D here.