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With the PlayStation 5 release firmly in the rearview window it’s finally time to go back to what everyone cares about: games to play on the current-gen console. Which is what made Thursday’s State of Play a nice change of pace for Sony. And in typical Sony fashion, the games varied from horror to shooters to artistic. If there’s one thing you can always expect out of a PlayStation show it’s a good variety of games that covers multiple interests, and while it wasn’t the most exciting 30 minutes it did have a few games that stuck out.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake DLC

Let’s get the big one out of the way first. Final Fantasy 7 remake is getting exclusive DLC for the PS5. While PS5 owners will be excited to know their purchase is finally showing some worth it must be disappointing if you’re a fan of the series to know you need a brand new console just to play some DLC. Not even a full game. DLC.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

My personal favorite of the State of Play was Kena: Bridge of Spirits. This game looks absolutely gorgeous and every scene gave off this sense of adventure and exploration. It feels like it has the potential to be one of the best games of the year when it comes out, just based on atmosphere alone. If the story and gameplay are as good as it looks then this could be one of those games that everyone is talking about for years. Is this a lot of hype for something that just has a trailer? Yes, but it’s a really good trailer.

Sifu

Everyone wants to be in an action movie, but games have always struggled to re-create that feeling. They either fall too short on the side of realism or too much on the side of extreme video game fiction. Some games like SUPERHOT hit the mark, however, and Sifu looks like it could do the same. The combat looks fast, intense, and the enclosed corridors make every blow feel important. If they get the feeling of this right then it could be really great.

Solar Ash

There were a lot of beautiful games Thursday, but none had the look of Solar Ash. Its unique style creates an incredible-looking universe that lends itself well to the 3D platformer genre. This is going to be a fun world to explore and find every detail in. Don’t let the atmospheric look be confusing, however, because the trailer showed that this game is going to have some pretty intense and heart-stopping moments. Beauty and action. That’s a great combo.

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

This was weird. I’m not sure anyone was asking for a Five Nights at Freddy’s game in 2021, but this one is a definite mix on the old formula. It looks more like a horror adventure instead of the point and click type game of the original. A new spin on the old franchise may do it well.

Returnal

Returnal technically was shown off before the State of Play when the trailer dropped, but everyone still got a look at it during the event on Thursday so this counts. It’s a rogue-lite third-person shooter, but there are some interesting horror elements to it. You’re going to explore the main characters’ distorted memories which could be both exciting and terrifying. What will be interesting is how it chooses to tell the story. The world changes upon each playthrough so will the story be told differently as well, or will the story always be told the same with just different worlds surrounding it? We’ll just have to see when it comes out in April.

For those who read The Handmaid’s Tale before there was ever an acclaimed TV adaptation could not have ever imagined this: Not only has Margaret Atwood’s chilling dystopia continued over four seasons — with a fifth already announced — but it looks like its hero, Offred, might actually take down the evil empire of Gilead. That’s what it appears could happen in the trailer for its fourth round of episodes, due late April.

The ad finds Elisabeth Moss’ Offred — formerly known as June Osborne, though Atwood never revealed her name in her novel — way away from the patriarchal hellscape that imprisoned her for so long. Now she’s a resistance fighter — a scary name to the likes of Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia, who once lorded over her with an iron first, and now worries that she’s “out there planning who knows what kind of atrocities to visit upon our righteous nation.”

You’ll have to wait another few months to see what those atrocities are, as Hulu, The Handmaid’s Tale’s home, doesn’t do season dumps à la Netflix. (And keep in mind there’s another season after this one, and presumably it won’t just be Susan and team sitting around, relaxing after a long and stressful fight.) In the meantime, reflect on this: The first season of The Handmaid’s Tale kicked off soon after You Know Who took office, back in 2017. That means a staunchly feminist novel, warning of the grim future someone like Trump (or, more likely, Pence) could enact — which ends ambiguously, at least for Offred — has outlived Trump. We did it.

One of the biggest games of 2020 was Square Enix’s highly anticipated remake of Final Fantasy 7. A re-telling of the RPG classic on modern hardware had been something that fans spent years begging for, but it came with a twist: This game was going to be episodic. Square didn’t want to just remake Final Fantasy 7, they wanted to re-tell it and expand upon it. The result was something a lot of people loved even if the final third of the game is a little controversial.

During Sony’s most recent State of Play event, they unveiled DLC for FF7 Remake starring Yuffie. That’s right, she’s getting her own side story in the canon of the FF7 remake. Even bigger, the entirety of Final Fantasy 7 remake is getting a free upgrade for PS5 owners. So anyone that wants FF7 Remake to somehow look even more gorgeous can now do that. There is one catch however with all this news. The DLC is a PS5 exclusive. PS4 owners that already own the game will need to get a PS5 to play it.

The best aspect of the game was it took the beginning sections of the original Final Fantasy 7 in Midgar and did an incredible job of expanding on it. They proved that there was a story to tell and lore to put more detail into with the remake so it would make sense that any DLC for the game would follow that same path.

In one sense it’s cool for PS5 owners that they’re finally starting to get some exclusives that matter. It’s a selling point for a console that so far hasn’t had much to prove it was worth upgrading to. On the downside, it has to hurt if you’re a PS4 owner that owns Final Fantasy 7 Remake and can’t enjoy the DLC because of something like cost or inability to find a new console just yet.

American Airlines has confirmed that during an inbound flight to Phoenix on Sunday, one of its pilots radioed air traffic controllers to report a “missile-like object” flew over the plane above New Mexico. The radio transmission was discovered by blogger Steve Douglass, who had been recording air traffic following the jet engine explosion that dropped parts over Colorado the day before. By “pure coincidence,” he randomly stumbled across the American Airlines pilot reporting the UFO, and Douglass couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I hate to say this — looked like a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing moving really fast,” the pilot said in the transmission. “It went right over the top of us.”

According to USA Today, American Airlines confirmed the transmission was from Flight 2292 on February 21. However, neither the airline or air traffic control have an answer for what the pilot saw:

The Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers didn’t see any object in the area on their radarscopes, according to a statement from FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor.

Could it have been a missile? Scott Stearns, director of public affairs at White Sands Missile Range, located in southern New Mexico, said the range conducted no tests on Sunday and that “we never test in that area.”

Holloman Air Force Base in nearby southern New Mexico is reportedly looking into the issue after being contacted by the Arizona Republic, but they have yet to comment. The FBI also declined a request to comment.

(Via USA Today)

Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley pled guilty to threats of violence charges in late December following an arrest in the offseason and could serve up to 120 days in jail or home confinement this upcoming offseason. The charges stemmed from an incident in which someone stopped in front of Beasley’s house and was confronted by someone with a gun who told them to drive off and pointed the gun at the car as they left. Police searched Beasley’s house to find guns and marijuana, but initial drug charges were dropped.

On Thursday, word broke that the league, which has been investigating the incident, had suspended Beasley for 12 games, which is one-sixth of this shortened regular season. In a statement issued shortly after the news was announced, Beasley said he’ll use the suspension to reflect on his decisions.

Shortly after, the league announced that this is indeed the suspension Beasley will face.

Beasley has been among the bright spots for the Timberwolves this season, averaging more than 20 points per game and with D’Angelo Russell sidelined after a procedure on his knee, the Minnesota backcourt rotation gets even shorter with this suspension. It appears this, coupled with whatever time he is called on to serve this offseason, will be the end of this situation.

There’s a reputation that Superman has for being boring. It’s undeniable, but it’s also unearned upon further inspection (in comics like Kingdom Come and Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow, to name but a few). That reputation is something that blocks you from seeing your actual affection for him. Similar to how people in Clark Kent’s life can’t see past his glasses to realize he’s Superman. Okay that’s an indefensibly lame comparison, but it’s also kind of charming in its simplicity, commitment, and nostalgia. And maybe that’s Superman in a nutshell? Lame but charming and uncomplicated. And maybe that’s something that’s easier to get over the long haul? Something comic books and TV shows make more possible than movies, which are forced to focus on the broader strokes in a way that might seem outdated or basic.

So I’ve said a sacrilege there about Superman movies that I need to walk back before I actually get into Superman & Lois, the CW’s latest “Arrowverse” entry and an interesting spin on the Man Of Steel. Superman: The Movie is foundational — certainly to my fandom, but to entertainment culture, at large. A generation was made to believe that a man could fly thanks to Christopher Reeve. And that triumph brought with it a barrage of comic book movies — comparatively slow at first before speeding up, running into a wall in the ‘90s, recalibrating, and then becoming the juggernaut that we have before us with dozens of TV shows following dozens of film franchises that are all carving out their own plot of real estate. Superman helped make that happen. But has there been an important Superman movie since then? One that stands out as truly great? The answer is no.

All of this and all that’s to come are not meant as slights against the Reeve sequels (which contain loads of fun moments) or new efforts with Brandon Routh or Henry Cavil in the role. Those performances, first and foremost, capture the heart of the character so well. But when pushed into the box that is a two-hour movie, storytellers tend to fixate on the bolded points of the Superman mythos — Kansas, Krypton, Martha Kent, The Daily Planet, Lois Lane, Lex, he flies, he shoots lasers out of his eyes, he’s a good dude who wants to inspire hope… you get the picture. These are all good things, but lost in the projection of them and in anchoring a story to those points is the nuance. Not with regard to who Superman is. That’s very clear. No, it’s the nuance of what that identity means to him and how he struggles with it. Something that has been shown in the comics where there is ample space to mine the depths. Something which is not quite as abundant in all of his on-screen adventures. And that’s not to say no one has tried. But to truly appreciate Superman, you need that time to unfurl that story completely. And so, here we are with a chance to do exactly that.

Superman & Lois is, quite definitely, all about that story. Taking the baton from a season’s worth of appearances as Clark Kent and Superman by actor Tyler Hoechlin across other CW DC shows, they’ve quickly dispatched with the origin notes and taken us to a Superman in middle age. He is married to Lois Lane. He is the father of two barely high school-age teenagers with vastly different personalities. And he is failing them all. Not in ways that are obvious or born from purposeful neglect. But because, to an extent, we all fail the ones we love in that we can’t always be there for them or, most crucially and heartbreakingly, we don’t always have the right thing to say. We lack those superpowers and so does Superman in this show.

The sons (Jordan and Jonathan, named for Clark’s two fathers — Jor-El and Jonathan Kent) are as much a driving force of this story as Superman and Lois Lane — who is managing her career and the duality of loving Superman and all that that means. She’s also dealing with concerns about their ability to raise kids who don’t know their father as anything other than “Clark Kent: slightly unavailable father.”

I don’t think it’s spoiling much to give away that that dynamic changes a bit in the pilot episode as the family is drawn from their lives in Metropolis to Clark’s childhood home in Smallville, Kansas. Something done to help close the gap between Superman and his family and something quite central to everything that is surely going to happen with this show. Which is a departure from what we’ve seen across generations of Superman TV shows — from the ‘50s version with George Reeves to the original Lois And Clark in the ‘90s, and Smallville. Things are heavy here, at times. I don’t recall many Superman stories with mentions of at-home meth labs, teen suicide, elderly fleecing reverse mortgages, and a gutted heartland. All of these things point to a show trying to fit into a world where comic book properties go to an adult space — as interesting a choice as it is a potential challenge. Because Superman needs to occupy a non-adult space of wonder with a certain amount of joyfulness and boundless enthusiasm.

Yes, yes, the S symbol is wrapped up in hope. But it also needs to inspire smiles. And while we get a few bits of that here, specifically in the beginning when Superman connects with a kid over each other’s costumes (which is the literal reason I decided to watch this show in the first place), the wish is for more of that to be mixed in. Because, like Superman, these shows need to be all things for all Superman fans.

The first episode of Superman & Lois is fine enough, establishing a road map with some compelling performances and visuals that don’t feel much like they’re cheating us out of some of the wow of seeing Superman on screen. You’re not going to get chills like you may have had when you first saw Christopher Reeve or when Henry Cavil brought the character back (and let’s just be clear that Cavil’s work as the character feels as underrated as it does feel incomplete), but Tyler Hoechner has that glimmer in his eye and a purity to the way he plays the character. He makes it easy to fall into the idea that he can be your Superman. And that’s an essential building block, really. Which is all we really have at this stage.

This is a Superman that has the look down, a unique setup, and the show has the potential to take its time and go further than the movies and past shows have been able to go. A Superman project that can reveal the character to be the multidimensional and complex being that we see in many of the comic books. That’s the potential of Superman & Lois. Something that, if done right, will make you believe a Superman can be unboring.

Earlier this month, a lawsuit against Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri that alleged he assaulted a police officer in an attempt to get on the court following the team’s NBA Finals win in 2019 was dropped. The officer, a deputy with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, alleged that Ujiri hit him “in the face and chest with both fists,” something that turned out to not be the case when video of the incident surfaced.

Ujiri has spoken out about the incident, telling Good Morning America earlier this week that, “I lost a moment. People have lost their lives.” And now, in the aftermath of the suit being dropped, NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to apologize to Ujiri for comments he made on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumble. In the interview with HBO, Silver said of Ujiri, “It’s part and parcel of what comes with someone who is living on the edge a bit and is hard-wired to sort of march forward with incredible energy. Lessons learned for him – without assigning culpability or blame to anyone – as a leader, those are the kinds of situations he needs to learn to avoid.”

In an interview with Michael Grange of Sportsnet this week, Silver expressed regret for those comments which he says cause him to “cringe” whenever he sees them now.

“When I watch that last bit of the interview, in light of what we now know, I would love to take those words back,” Silver told Grange. “[Masai] and I at this point have probably talked about that night 100 times since then. He has my full and unequivocal support. But I apologize to Masai for what I said in that interview … Believe me, when I look at that now, I cringe when I watch it.”

It is unclear whether or not Silver has expressed this to Ujiri directly over the course of the conversations they’ve had or if this is a sentiment he plans to relay going forward. Still, it’s good he was pressed on this and that he recognizes the error he made in making those comments and will take a different approach going forward should a similar situation arise.

Evan Williams bourbon is one of those whiskeys that feels like it’s everywhere. The line of budget bourbons from Heaven Hill is a rail standard, thanks to its accessible price point, availability, and taste. But there’s more than just one Evan Williams out there.

There are actually five core bottles in the Evan Williams line (plus a lot of flavored bourbons and 12 and 23-year-old bourbon limited edition expressions). The line starts with the very affordable Green Label which is a standard 80 proof bourbon. That expression will set you back $10 or less (depending on what liquor store you’re in). From there, Evan Williams touches on bottled-in-bond, small-batch, and single barrel expressions — but the prices never reach above $30.

That’s pretty incredible in a bourbon world where prices continue to soar.

The five bottles below are ranked very simply: By taste. There was no reason to factor in price when ranking these. Let’s get to it!

5. Evan Williams Green Label

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $10

The Whiskey:

This is Heaven Hill’s signature bourbon mash bill with a touch of rye: 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and ten percent rye. That mash is the same for their much-beloved Elijah Craig and Henry McKenna labels. This juice is aged for four years before it’s proofed all the way down to 40 proof with soft limestone water.

Tasting Notes:

This is very run-of-the-mill bourbon with clear notes of caramel, vanilla, and oak on the nose with a hint of citrus. That citrus starts to feel like orange candy wrappers and maybe a touch of Hawaiian Punch sweetness/fruitiness. The caramel and oak slightly pop back in on the super short finish.

Bottom Line:

This is 100 percent a mixing whiskey for hefty cocktails. And for this price, that makes it the perfect bourbon to practice with as you experiment with whiskey cocktails.

4. Evan Williams Black Label

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $15

The Whiskey:

This is more of an entry-point for Evan Williams. The juice is a mix of four to seven-year-old barrels of the standard Heaven Hill bourbon. The difference in this bottle is that it’s proofed at a slightly higher 43 proof, giving it a slight edge against the Green Label.

Tasting Notes:

There’s still a bit of that fruit candy feel to this sip next to vanilla, dry corn, and a hint of caramel apples next to oak. The body of the sip is very light, with a slight spice burn. The end is very short, sweet, and full of vanilla and oak.

Bottom Line:

This is another solid mixer. It’s also a fine beer back as a shooter. But really, this is a hallmark entry point bourbon overall. The classic notes are there but very simple and accessible.

3. Evan Williams 1783 Small Batch

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $18

The Whiskey:

So this is a “small batch” in theory and name more than practice. The expression is a marrying of 200 barrels of bourbon from Heaven Hill’s warehouses. That juice is then proofed down to 45 proof and bottled as is.

Tasting Notes:

The whiskey pulls you in with a touch of cornbread dripping with butter next to bourbon vanilla and hints of oak. The taste adds a drop of honey to that buttery cornbread as fruitiness takes on a tart caramel apple edge. The end is short, sweet, full of corn, and a little oaky.

Bottom Line:

Okay, if you’re looking for a really solid cheap bottle of bourbon to introduce someone to bourbon for the first time, you really can’t go wrong with this bottle. It’s also a workhorse and is perfectly serviceable in a highball, in a cocktail, or on the rocks in a pinch.

1. (tie) Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $18

The Whiskey:

The juice is standard Evan Williams that’s barreled in a federally overseen warehouse. Then, after those barrels are blended, the juice is just brought down to 100 proof, allowing a bit more of that Heaven Hill craft to shine in the bottle.

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a dry cornmeal base next to salted caramel, rich vanilla, and a touch of that oak. The palate adds in whiffs of black pepper next to musty cellar wood and a hint of spicy chewy tobacco. The end is short-ish while highlighting the sweet cornmeal, spicy tobacco, and rich vanilla.

Bottom Line:

This is one of those bottles that doesn’t last long on the shelf after you buy it. It’s really solid as a workhorse in cocktails, highballs, etc., but it’s a solid on the rocks candidate too. It really is smooth or easy-drinking or crushable — hence, it’s tied for first place.

1. (tie) Evan Williams Single Barrel

ABV: 43.3%

Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

This is Heaven Hill’s hand-selected single barrel Evan Williams expression. The juice is from a single barrel, labeled with its distillation year, proofed just above 43 proof, and bottled as is.

Tasting Notes:

The nose has notes of soft woods next to a dark caramel apple vibe with a touch of a vanilla pod. The taste builds on that by adding in hints of orange tobacco next to a dusting of Christmas spice. The end is medium-length and sweetens with a whisper of honey next to the tobacco, oak, and vanilla.

Bottom Line:

This is almost criminally under-priced for a single barrel. It makes great cocktails and highballs. You can drink it on the rocks easily. Still, that 50 percent ABV on the White Label above brings the same feel. So, we have to rank these two tied. They’re both really solid whiskeys that are amazingly well-priced and pretty easy to find.

We live in a society with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for both Marvel content and violence, and so it’s perhaps surprising that the combination of those two things was beat out by a celebration of just violence. Lots and lots of violence.

Last week’s Mortak Kombat trailer was a red band phenomenon, and now we know that it’s a record-breaking hit months before the actual film hits theaters or streaming services. The trailer, which you can watch above, features a lot of brutal gore that the gaming franchise quite literally built its reputation on. Film adaptations of the game haven’t always been a hit, but according to Deadline the new Mortal Kombat red-band trailer has already smashed viewership records.

The viewership for New Line’s red band trailer of Mortal Kombat has clocked 116M views in its first week, becoming the biggest red band trailer of all-time, besting the 4-day mark of Logan and Deadpool 2 and continuing to do so.

The trailer for the Simon McQuoid directed feature trended in 52 total markets on YouTube and 28 total markets on Twitter, registering a 98% Positive-to-Neutral social sentiment rating.

The story details some of the indications that the trailer really struck viewers, starting with the fact that it looks surprisingly good for a video game-to-film adaptation. And while it didn’t beat the overall record for trailer viewership, it does now have the record for age-restricted red band views.

We’ll have to see if all that interest in the trailer translates to folks actually showing up in theaters. Mortal Kombat will be released both in theaters and on HBO Max on April 16.

It’s time you learned how to make an old fashioned. It’s easy, tasty, and would make Donny Drapes proud. A classic cocktail made of bitters, bourbon, sugar, and water.

Yet it’s often mediocre. Mostly due to corners being cut.

We’re not cutting corners today. There are no simple syrups in play. We’re mixing an old-school version of the drink with demerara sugar that’s stirred until it’s fully dissolved into the bitters and whiskey. This method takes a little longer, yes. But it provides a balance and depth that you’ll never get with a bar syrup.

That being said, this recipe is still pretty easy. It’s a build-in-the-glass cocktail, after all. You just need a spoon, glass, and pairing knife or fruit peeler (and a little patience). Let’s get mixing!

Classic Old Fashioned

Ingredients:

• 3-oz. bourbon
• 1 barspoon demerara sugar
• 1 barspoon tap water
• 4 dashes Angostura Bitters
• Luxardo cherry
• Orange peel
• Ice

I like to use a high-proof bourbon for my old fashioned. You don’t have to. Use what you have on hand and experiment. But a nice barrel-proof will hold onto the bolder notes of the whiskey as it mixes with the water, sugar, and bitters. In this case, I’m using Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, which has this nice, earthy berry patch note the works in this cocktail.

Lastly, you can also use raw or white sugar if that’s what you have on hand. I like to use demerara because it tends to dissolve more easily in booze and carries a bit more of a toffee note, thanks to the residual molasses leftover on the crystals. That note really marries with the bourbon nicely.

What You’ll Need:

• Rocks or old fashioned glass
• Barspoon
• Cutting board
• Pairing knife or peeler
• Cocktail stick

Method:

• Add the sugar, water, and bitters to the glass and stir until the sugar starts to dissolve, creating a base (five to ten seconds).
• Add the bourbon and stir until the sugar is dissolved (30 to 60 seconds).
• Fill the glass with ice and stir until the glass is ice cold to touch (about 60 seconds).
• Top up the glass with ice.
• Spritz the orange oils from the peel onto the glass and rub them around the rim of the glass. Drop the peel in the cocktail.
• Spear one cherry and drop it in the glass.
• Serve.

Bottom Line:

Yeah, I’ve made a lot of these and they’re always pleasantly surprising. The Elijah Craig really stands out in the cocktail. You get that sense of green berry vines with hints of blueberry next to the herbal essence of the bitters and mellowing orange oils.

This sounds like it takes a long time with a lot of stirring and, I guess, it kind of does. But, we’re really only talking about two to three minutes max from start to finish. The result is a deeply satisfying old fashioned that’ll hold up as you sip at the layered notes of spice, herbs, orange, and bourbon.

Don’t forget to top it with fresh ice after the stir!