Category: News

Over the weekend, the NBA’s top newsbreaker, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, found himself in hot water over a “f*ck you” email response to Missouri senator Josh Hawley after the latter emailed him upset over the league’s restrictive list of social justice sayings, wondering why something like “Back The Blue” wasn’t an option.

Woj’s response drew him a suspension from the Worldwide Leader, and in the aftermath he’s received a great deal of support from the NBA community, with fans and even some players adopting a #FreeWoj hashtag. On Sunday, that got the biggest co-sign from the biggest name in the sport, as LeBron James tweeted out #FreeWoj.

Now, this is notable for a couple reasons. For one, Woj and LeBron have never exactly been especially close, as Woj has written some highly critical columns on LeBron in the past — particularly during his time at Yahoo. On top of that, LeBron taking the side of Wojnarowski in this instance is notable given ESPN’s partnership with the NBA and that, well, LeBron is LeBron.

What makes this entire situation so fascinating is the entire thing was birthed from a bad-faith effort against the league’s messaging, where the entire point was to get a response of some kind. Sending a “f*ck you” response from his company email account, while surely cathartic, wasn’t a wise choice, and left ESPN in a difficult spot. Whatever they did played right into the hands of Hawley and those that already love to yell at ESPN for becoming too political — ironically in a situation where a politician inserted himself into a sports story.

Now, you have LeBron James and other players calling for Woj to be released from his suspension, and only furthers the weirdness of this entire story.

When it was announced last year that among the multiple Star Trek shows being created for CBS All Access was an animated one from one of the writers of Rick and Morty, it didn’t seem like that much of a stretch. After all, R&M is, at heart, fairly hard sci-fi, boldly going where few like it have gone before. And now we have an idea of what’s in store: As per Entertainment Weekly, a trailer for the show, entitled Star Trek: Lower Deck, dropped on Sunday afternoon.

The setting is the U.S.S. Cerritos in the year 2380 — for some perspective, the original Star Trek began in 2265 — but, as per the title, our heroes aren’t typical heroes. Instead they’re ensigns, aka the most junior officers, who bristle at not having more power, all while dealing with what will surely be a host of outlandish, wildly imaginative, and maybe even deeply disturbing alien anomalies.

Creator Mike McMahan, who also co-created Solar Opposites with Justin Roiland, has already stated that it won’t be too much like Rick and Morty. That’s immediately apparent, although it appears we’ll be getting some faintly R&M-y creatures, including a giant, hungry bugs oozing pink goo, as well as some spear-throwing primitives. The franchise has certainly evolved over the last nearly 60 years, when it started out as simply some expensive, early-days-of-color-TV space show personally greenlit by Lucille Ball.

(Via EW)

While we may not have an official E3 this year that hasn’t stopped many developers from having events of their own to excite gamers about what it is on the way in gaming. Ubisoft is the latest to take part in this trend with a small showcase on Sunday called Ubisoft Forward. While nothing world-shattering took place during the event it was a great opportunity for Ubisoft to give fans a look at the gameplay of some highly anticipated releases on the way.

They did use the opportunity to also show off a couple smaller titles like Tom Clancy’s: Elite Squad. It was made very clear early on, however, that this was going to be an event to show off the heavy hitters and not much else. Perhaps Ubisoft just didn’t have much to show from other games, or perhaps they’re waiting for a later Ubisoft Forward event in 2020 they teased during Sunday’s showcase, but here’s what we did learn from the event about what’s coming soon.

Watch Dogs: Legion

The first big title Ubisoft showed was the highly anticipated Watch Dogs: Legion. It’s a game that is supposed to be incredibly large in scope, but whether they can meet the scope they’re aiming for we still can’t determine. The idea of the game is that there won’t be a central main character. It will merely be different people that you “recruit” and add to your cause as the game goes on. What is this name of the group? Well they are….The Resistance. Without a sense of irony.

The game itself looks like it could be really fun and interesting. Getting the chance to play as all kinds of different people creates the chance for different personalities and wacky characters. The trailer showed an elderly lady taking someone down and a local known for getting drunk at the bar getting in fights that help the cause. The potential upside of the game is obviously the chance to see tons of different characters and ideas. The possible downside is that it all ends up coming across as half-baked. Hopefully it ends up being more of the former than the latter.

Hyperscape

Hyperscape is Ubisoft’s hat in the ring of the increasingly popular Battle Royale genre. Except this announcement wasn’t for a release but, rather the game’s open beta. The title itself has actually been getting played for a couple of weeks now with codes sent to streamers and random fans getting access to the title as well. Now with the open beta on the way the servers and game itself can really be put to the test.

What you have in Hyperscape is the standard Battle Royale affair, with a giant map that everyone drops into and starts looting for supplies. As time goes on a giant circle gets smaller and smaller, forcing people closer until one last team is standing. What makes it different is the gameplay is less like the Fortnite‘s of the world and more similar to Halo. Health/shields recharge after avoiding combat for a bit. You move relatively fast and the combat is far less grounded and more out of control. It’s an interesting take on the battle royale concept that is worth keeping an eye on to see how it pans out in a genre that is already full of options.

Assassins Creed Valhalla

When Ubisoft officially announced Assassins Creed Valhalla back in April and then “showed off” the game at the Xbox Series X event there was a twinge of disappointment with it. So far the game had shown absolutely no real gameplay. Everything that had been shown was cinematic trailers and quick cuts of what looked like gameplay.

During the Ubisoft Forward event, they finally gave us what we’ve been asking for and that’s a deep look into how the game actually plays. While it’s still Assassins Creed so there’s a bit of a formula in what you expect from these games the way they’re approaching Valhalla is different from the rest. It appears to be very combat-focused, which makes sense considering they’re Vikings, and that could lead to a game that is extremely different from the rest in the series up to this point.

Far Cry 6

There isn’t too much to say about Far Cry 6, because the trailer for it was nothing more than a cinematic with no actual gameplay, but this is a great chance for the series to hit a bit of a reset button. A lot of fans have grown a little tired of the Far Cry formula and Far Cry 5 didn’t do enough to quell those concerns. With Far Cry 6 appearing to take place in an urban setting instead of the more rural settings of games past there’s an opportunity to do something new here, but we’ll see how the game looks once we actually get some gameplay.

What change is on the way at Ubisoft?

Something that was missing from the event was any acknowledgment of the supposed change taking place at Ubisoft right now. Allegations against executives and employees in the company ranging from “sexual misconduct” to promoting a toxic work environment has led to three executives stepping down within the last week . While Ubisoft has acknowledged the allegations publicly, this was an opportunity for the company to take a moment to acknowledge it on a big platform. They opted not to and put out a statement before the event explaining their reasoning.

They say they will provide more updates soon, but it’s disappointing that they opted not to record a two to three-minute video beforehand to at least say something about it. Hopefully, we do hear more from them soon.

Nothing spectacular, but a solid event

In some ways Ubisoft may have gotten a little lucky there was no E3 this year. The company’s Forward event was entertaining enough and it had some heavy hitters that will be highly anticipated, but some segments dragged on too long and they really only showed four games off overall. At a standard E3 that would have left a bit of a hollow feeling, especially with a lack of gameplay for Far Cry 6 after the title’s existence was leaked days before the event.

Ubisoft played it safe here, and that’s fine. They showed off some cool gameplay for their games and did nothing else much more. While it would have been amazing to get five new IPs and 10 trailers out of the event sometimes it’s better to keep it simple and to the point.

As the NBA bubble steadily ramps up as players pass through their initial isolation after arriving at Disney, players are venturing out into their bubble environment to enjoy some of the various entertainment options available to them.

For many, that means hitting the well-stocked lakes near the hotels for some bass fishing, as players from a number of teams have proudly flaunted their catches on social media. Others, like J.J. Redick, have taken to the links, as players have access to Disney’s various golf courses during their time there. Redick documented his Saturday round of golf by posting a picture of one of the shut off water fountains on the course, but noting he was able to hydrate just fine with a can of Bud Light.

When asked by the NBA Bubble Life Twitter account, which is posting pics and videos from player social media accounts while in Orlando, how many retweets they’d need to get a video of him shotgunning a beer, Redick unwisely set the number at a very attainable 10,000.

Sure enough, they hit that number and Redick announced after practice in the morning he would honor his wager.

Redick gave the people what they wanted with a video of him shotgunning a beer while in the cold tub after practice, showing that he’s still got it despite being long removed from his college years.

A true pro’s pro.

Hugh Jackman is certainly staying up to date with everything happening in the X-Men universe. He’s still telling stories about Logan and offering new details about his feud with fellow comic book movie star Ryan Reynolds. Most recently he pointed out a major milestone, and it involves his butt making some Disney streaming history.

Jackman pointed out that his hindquarters have officially skirted the censors on the notoriously kid-friendly Disney+. The streamer’s choice to keep the rough stuff away from Disney+ has caused some shows to move onto other partner platforms like Hulu, and in the case of the wildly popular Hamilton movie to edit out some swears. It’s also made for some very absurd edits of some movies in the Disney+ catalog, like Splash.

But as Jackman himself noted on Instagram over the weekend, his unedited butt can be found in the 2014 movie X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

“Days Of Future Past becomes the first movie to air on Disney+ uncensored,” Jackman wrote. “That was my future but let’s be honest … it’s more like my past.”

Hilariously, Jackman used an emoji to cover his rear end in the third photo he shared, lest he get in trouble with Instagram’s censors. It’s unclear why the movie didn’t get edited like some others have, though male rear nudity is far less taboo than other forms of sensitive exposure. But it’s clear he’s taking a victory lap in this case and certainly seems to relish folks getting a good look at his Wolverine physique.

Back in April, Lil Bibby claimed that fans would not have to wait long to hear new music from Juice WRLD as a posthumous album was on the way. Bibby serves as an executive at Grade A Productions, the label Juice WRLD was signed to, so his announcement could be taken with much more than a grain of salt and three months later he came through on that promise as Juice’s first posthumous album, Legends Never Die arrived this past weekend. As fans celebrated its arrival, Bibby once again shared more news about potential Juice WRLD releases with fans.

Sitting down with XXL as a part of their Juice WRLD cover story, Lil Bibby revealed that additional albums and a documentary on the Chicago rapper would be coming in the future. “We are working on a documentary. That’s in the works. Be on the lookout for that. That will be coming out soon,” he said. “We started on it. So, you know, it might take a little time. [It will come out] some time next year. Or, later this year.”

Continuing, Bibby also mentioned that Legends Never Die would not be the last posthumous album we received from Juice WRLD thanks to the large amount of unreleased music the rapper had.

“I don’t think the albums are gonna stop,” he said. “It’s plenty of music. So, yeah.”

Lastly, Bibby revealed that it is his goal to bring a Juice WRLD and Frank Ocean collaboration to life saying, “I gotta make that happen soon.” Juice tweeted back in 2018 that Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange “changed my life.”

The album, which was described as the best representation of “the music Juice was in the process of creating,” broke Spotify’s 2020 single-day streaming record with 91 million listens as well as earning the biggest single-day streaming debut for any artist in 2020.

[via XXL]

There may be no E3 this year, but that didn’t stop Ubisoft from putting on a summer presentation to show off some of their biggest titles and give gamers a taste of what’s on the horizon for the developer giant. While Ubisoft played it pretty straight and released mainly games that were expected, there was one title that was supposed to be a surprise announcement that got spoiled a few days before the show.

Far Cry 6 leaked earlier in the week when the game was listed on the Playstation Network Store ahead of the Ubisoft event erasing any surprise that the game was going to be announced on Sunday. Ubisoft decided to just roll with the punches and gave fans a teaser to be excited about. So while we all knew Far Cry 6 was coming there was still the excitement of what it could be about and what they had to show.

Known for exciting and bombastic trailers, the video that was shared on Sunday led off with a credits sequence that felt straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster: Giancarlo Esposito hands a young child a live grenade, takes him to the roof of a building to watch a riot and gives a lengthy speech.

It was very clear that none of it was actual gameplay, it was still the exact kind of teaser to get you excited about what Far Cry 6 has to offer. Immediate questions pop into your head. Who is this child? Are you going to play as him? Is he the actual villain of the game, or is the president of this country people are clearly upset with going to be the true villain of the game? What is it that everyone is so angry about, anyway?

You can also see just looking at the cinematic that this location might be a more concrete setting which is not the norm for the franchise. Usually, these games take place in very remote locations like jungles or flatlands. If they stick to this setting then we might get gunfights across rooftops and alleyway escapes with vehicles. Of course, this could just be one area in an otherwise huge world that still fits more into the non-urban settings that Far Cry is known for. We’ll know more about the game once we see some gameplay details, and with another Ubisoft Forward event announced for later in the year, perhaps we’ll find out sooner rather than later.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla got its first combat reveal at Sunday’s Ubisoft Forward event, giving us a glimpse of the Norse combat that will take the fight to the English Isles. While we got a glimpse of some cutscenes earlier in the summer, Sunday’s trailer and deep dive into gameplay showed off lots of new details about the Viking edition of the gaming franchise.

The game will be focused on the Viking invasion of England and focus on Eivor, a character that players can explore as either a man or woman. The gameplay showed loads of new features and combat tailored to Viking abilities and exploration of the island.

The trailer showed off raiding villages for assets to develop your settlement. It also showed combat and attacking enemies, including how opponents might work together and how your viking can exploit tactics and use new abilities designed to use traditional weapons. And yes, there’s some stealth and dual wielding and all the traditional killing and fighting from Assassin’s Creed games. It’s a different look at the series, for sure, but many of the traditional gameplay elements are there as well.

Ubisoft showed off a more detailed exploration of combat and gameplay after the official Ubisoft Forward event ended, including a look at how Eivor will work to recruit allies to complete raiding tasks and a much more detailed look at the improvements to the fight system. There’s a lot of axe combat, archery and customizable combat system to explore when the title launches on basically every console this holiday season. Yes, even the new ones.

Ubisoft’s Forward event on Sunday had plenty of details about the oft-delayed Watch Dogs Legion, including a slick short story about a member of the growing resistance in the title and a video highlighting just how many possibilities are opened up with its NPC system.

Legion is ambitions, pitching itself as the end of NPCs as we know it. And Sunday’s Ubisoft Forward event detailed just how players will recruit members of that resistance and use their abilities to navigate its unique plot. The gameplay overview detailed exactly what’s going on in the futuristic police state of London, where a terrorist attacking the city caused the government to hire “a private military company called Albion” to keep people safe. Problem is, of course, Albion is corrupt, and other baddies loom as well.

To fight back, the player will use every advantage possible to undermine the police state and take back the streets of London. As the game’s developers explained, players will stumble upon a seemingly-endless number of characters on the streets of London, learning their origin story and unique abilities and roles in the process. They’re then part of your team, which you can use to complete missions and advance the larger plot of the game.

The trailer showed off some impressive skills from various characters, but also highlighted the endless possibilities for the many kinds of characters and their stories. The video promised you can recruit the “entire” population of London, and showed off examples of a construction worker fighting with tools, a police officer using stealth to gain information in an area only they can access, and an elderly woman using a taser to take down an enemy. It promised endless opportunities for combat and problem-solving, and the trailer announced a release date of October 29 for Legion, so we’ll see how it all plays out in a few short months.

It is safe to say that the wise words of Muhammad Ali stands the test of time. Widely considered to be the greatest heavyweight boxer the world has ever seen, the legacy of Ali extends far beyond his pugilistic endeavors. Throughout his career, he spoke out about racial issues and injustices. The brash Mohammed Ali (or who we once knew as Cassius Clay) was always on point with his charismatic rhetoric— despite being considered arrogant at times. Even so, he had a perspective that was difficult to argue with.

As a massive boxing fan—and a huge Ali fan—I have never seen him more calm and to the point then in this recently posted BBC video from 1971. Although Ali died in 2016, at 74 years old, his courage inside and outside the ring is legendary. In this excerpt, Ali explained to Michael Parkinson about how he used to ask his mother about white representation. Even though the interview is nearly 50 years old, it shows exactly how far we need to come as a country on the issues of racial inclusion and equality.

In this interview, Ali remembered posing the question to his mother: “Why is everything white?” He recalled being curious about Jesus being white. He pontificated as to why all angels were white—why Angel food cake is white while Devils-food cake’s the chocolate dessert. He talked about all the products of his time that were labeled “white” like White Swan soap, King White soap and White Cloud tissue paper. Oh, and where does the president live? The White House.

He goes further into why all the celebrated models of the world are white and how beauty is only seen on white women. Miss World and Universe are always white—but why? He knows that women in America have all different types of complexions, shapes and sizes. Why not embrace it? They aren’t all Barbie. He goes into Snow White, Santa Claus—noting that everything we view as “great” in this country is—you guessed it—white. In classic Ali style, he rhymes, “Everything bad is Black. The Little Ugly Duckling was the Black duck. And the Black cat was the bad luck. And if I threaten you, I’m gonna blackmail you. I said, ‘Mama, why don’t they call it ‘whitemail?” They lie too.” It’s hilarious but sadly true. It wouldn’t shock me if Ali made the entire speech on the spot. He’s brilliant.

The highlight of the interview has to be when he discusses Tarzan. Ali makes you think: how is it that Tarzan, a white man, is the king of the jungle in Africa? How can he talk to the animals but none of the Black men—who have lived there for centuries—are able to communicate with them?

Ali makes you realize that our country is completely whitewashed and always has been. He hammers home the idea that something is terribly wrong with our society. I can go on about how impactful he is. But, honestly, it would be like writing the lyrics to a Tina Turner song without listening to her music. You just have to experience Ali for yourself. Trust me, it’s worth it.