Category Archives: Immortality

On a recent visit to Los Angeles, I got to sit in on my first Geeked Week preview at the Netflix Theater. A bunch of directors and actors came out to talk about their movies and TV shows, but my ears perked up at an opportunity to see Netflixs games.

Netflix showed off those games during the last day of Geeked Week today in a show hosted by the marvelous Mari Takahashi and Geoff Keighley.

The games and TV shows they showed off were quite impressive and showed how much the company is investing in gaming. they included TV shows like Tekken: Bloodline, The Cuphead Show (Season 2 coming in August), DOTA: Dragons Blood (Season 3), Sonic Prime, and the previously announced Exploding Kittens show.

As for the games, the titles included Shadow And Bone, Too Hot To Handle, La Casa De Papel, The Queens Gambit Chess (yes, its a chess video game), Lucky Luna, Desta: The Memories Between, Poinpy, Reigns: Three Kingdoms, Terra Nil, Wild Things: Animal Adventures, Raji, Spiritfarer, and Immortality.

Devolver Digital is making Reigns: Three Kingdoms, Terra Nil, and Poinpy. The latter launches today. The Tekken unveil included a message from creator Katsuhiro Harada.

Reigns: Three Kingdoms is the fifth entry in developer Nerials award-winning franchise. Inspired by the beloved Chinese epic, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Reigns: Three Kingdoms thrusts players into the turbulent final years of the Han dynasty. There, they will encounter the many factions, wars, and heroes of the saga as they swipe their way through negotiations, marry to strengthen alliances, and convert to gain more power. Discover new ways to enjoy Reigns unique swiping mechanic as you uncover the many secrets of a vast storyline and a host of unexpected mini-games.

Terra Nil is a strategy city-building game with an emphasis on the climate crisis. It is a reverse city builder about ecosystem reconstruction. Turn a barren wasteland into an ecological paradise complete with different flora and fauna. Then clean up, leaving the environment pristine. Subverting the builder genre, Terra Nil is about the restoration of a ravaged environment.

Poinpy is a game where you bounce up, dodge adorable baddies and feed the blue beast thats hot on your heels. A vertical climber from the creator of the award-winning Downwell. You keep going higher and higher because new and more challenging areas await. Earn and unlock abilities that will help you jump into your next run with a better shot at reaching the end.

Shadow and Bone: Destinies is a single-player role-playing game based on the Netflix fantasy-drama series. You play as your favorite characters and journey across the world of the Grishaverse in a narrative adventure to fulfill their destinies. Along the way, youll need to make decisions that will determine the course of your journey.

Too Hot to Handle lets you meet and mingle with sexy singles all vying for your affection in this game based on Netflixs hit reality series Too Hot to Handle. Will you give in to temptation? Or hold out for deeper emotional connections? The choice is yours.

La Casa de Papel: When an old friend of the professors comes calling to cash-in a favor, the La Casa de Papel crew is pulled into a heist to rob a shady billionaires casino in Monaco.

Wild Things: Animal Adventures is an adorable game where you rescue cute animals, explore an immersive world and build your dream habitat in this colorful match-3 adventure game.

Raji: An Ancient Epic is an action-adventure game set in ancient India. A young girl named Raji has been chosen by the gods to stand against the demonic invasion of the human realm. Her destiny? To rescue her younger brother and face the demon lord Mahabalasura.

Spiritfarer is a cozy management game about dying. You play Stella, a Spiritfarer, ferrymaster to the deceased. Build a boat to explore the world, then befriend and care for spirits before finally releasing them into the afterlife. Farm, mine, fish, harvest, cook, and craft your way across mystical seas. Spend relaxing quality time with your spirit passengers, create lasting memories, and, ultimately, learn how to say goodbye to your cherished friends.

Netflix also listed the games that are expected to arrive this year. They include Poinpy, Wild Things: Animal Adventures, The Queens Gambit Chess, Lucky Luna, Raji, Spiritfarer, Desta: The Memories Between, and Reigns: Three Kingdoms.

The titles coming soon, meaning we wont see them this year probably, include Shadow and Bone: Destinies, Too Hot To Handle, La Casa De Papel (note, working title), and Terra Nil.

Netflix also showed off what it has already launched. They include Stranger Things 3: The Game, Stranger Things: 1984, Card Blast, Shooting Hoops, Teeter (Up), Asphalt Xtreme, Krispee Street, Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends, Moonlighter, Into The Dead 2: Unleashed, This is A True Story, Exploding Kittens The Game, Knittens, and Relic Hunters: Rebels.

I got to play with a few of the titles at the Geeked Week preview event. They include The Queens Gambit: Chess. This game is based on the show featuring the character Beth Harmon. You can take some lessons, play puzzles and matches or compete against friends in this love letter to the show. I took a stroll through the tutorial and it was easy enough to grasp. Then I played a round of chess against the AI and won. I like the old style board and how the chess pieces moved on their own, kind of like a Harry Potter chess game.

I also played with Lucky Luna, which comes from Snowman, who you may know from games like Altos Odyssey and Skate City. I didnt know what to expect with this title as you venture with Luna into the depths of mythical temples and cavernous dungeons.

Its a vertical scrolling platformer, where you fall deeper into the dungeon at various points and try to avoid spikes that will skewer you. You try to collect coins on the way and uncover the secrets of Lunas past.

Each level introduces new mechanics and environmental features that open up different ways to explore. The game has no jump button. Swipe to move Luna left and right to guide her as she plunges deeper into each enchanting and treacherous region. I completed a whole level and found it quite immersive.

The most interesting game I looked at was Sam Barlows Immortality, an interactive video title where you have to mix and match videos, put them in the right order, discover new ones, and ultimately solve a mystery. Its a lot like the gameplay of Barlows other titles, Her Story and Telling Lies. Im looking forward Barlows tale about a filmmaker and actress who disappeared.

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Netflix shows off the breadth of its investment in games and gaming TV shows - VentureBeat

Uma Thurman and Crazy Rich Asians Henry Golding are on board to join the cast of Netflixs sequel to 2020s The Old Guard. The two will join the cast of the original movie that featured Charlize Theron, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Veronica Ngo, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Director Victoria Mahoneywill step back into the directors chair for the sequel, following in the footsteps of Gina Prince-Bythewood, who directed the original film adapting the graphic novel series created byGreg Rucka and Leandro Fernndez. The film follows a group of immortal warriors who had joined forces to form a mercenary company, led by Theron, a horsewoman from BCE Scythia. When the group is betrayed by a CIA operative in an attempt to learn the secret of immortality, they must fight to keep their existence a secret.

The film proved to be one of Netflixs most popular films ever, with over 186 million hours viewed by subscribers within a month of its premiere on the streaming service. The film currently holds an 80 percent rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Although no details regarding the plot of the movie have been released as yet, Rucka and Fernndez released a sequel to the original graphic novel title The Old Guard: Force Multiplied in 2019 which may serve as the sequels source material. Thurman and Goldings roles are currently unknown.

David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger will serve as producers for Skydance Media. Marc Evans will produce for Marc Evans Productions. Theron will also produce alongside Beth Kono, and AJ Dix for Denver and Delilah. Author Rucka will serve as the films executive producer.

No release date is currently set.

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Uma Thurman and Henry Golding Join Netflix's 'The Old Guard 2' - We Got This Covered

Thierry Henry is one of the greatest players to ever grace the Premier League.

The French wizard, who mercilessly tormented opposition defenders during his time at Arsenal, made an unerring habit of scoring ridiculous, once-in-a-lifetime goals.

To actually try and pick a greatest strike from his glut of wonder-goals would be a fraught undertaking, with just far too many to choose from.

Henry formed a crucial cog in one of the best teams to ever take on the English top flight as Arsene Wengers Gunners clinched immortality with an invincible season in 2003/04.

Henry complimented his 30-goal haul that season with nine assists as Arsenal cruised to domestic glory.

Overall, in two spells at his beloved Arsenal, Henry would score an unprecedented 228 goals and register 106 assists.

It is no surprise, then, that the man was immortalised with a statue outside the Emirates Stadium.

The French star was the definition of ruthless guile and touch, turning the mundane into the magnificent at the drop of a hat or with the simple turning of a boot.

It looked, at times, as though the ball was glued to his feet as he would glide through defensive lines leaving a trail of anarchy and devastation in his wake.

However, if you need any more convincing of his heroic status, perhaps hearing from some of the biggest legends in the game will do the trick.

From Michael Owen to John Terry, Steven Gerrard to Sir Alex Ferguson, Rio Ferdinand to Cesc Fabregas and many more, they all sing off the same hymn sheet when it comes to Henry.

The man really was something special wasnt he?

When some of your biggest rivals from your playing days are falling over their own feet to sing your praises, you know you must have had a dramatic impact.

Henry would eventually swap north London for Barcelona where he would go on to finally win that Champions League title he so coveted.

Still, while he mightve conquered Europe elsewhere, there can be no denying that his headiest days, and possibly fondest memories, came when he sported that famous cannon on his chest.

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Thierry Henry: Arsenal hero praised by legends in amazing compilation - GIVEMESPORT

A touch over eight years ago, the Utah Jazz hired a young, under-the-radar head coach from Mercer Island, Washington. At the time, this coach, with stops in Atlanta, Moscow, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Austin, Texas, had yet to experience an NBA-level head coaching gig. He entered a new role, in a new situation, with a Utah Jazz team hoping to blaze a new path towards title contention.

Today, that once under-the-radar coach, Quin Snyder, leaves the organization as one of the most highly respected and regarded head coaches in the NBA. In his eight years, he helped restructure and rebuild a crumbling team identity and culture in Utah, and led one of the most successful five year stretches of basketball in Jazz history. Although no banners were raised during his tenure, Snyder leaves this organization having led some of the best basketball teams Utah has seen since the late 90s.

And with his departure, the Jazz find themselves in a situation much less dissimilar to their last head coaching search than youd think. Like the 2013-14 season, the Jazz are now looking for a new sense of direction: they need a new voice to help guide a roster struggling to find its own culture and identity. They need a new voice to help blaze a new path towards championship contention once again.

But unlike the hiring process from eight years ago, todays path towards NBA immortality looks much more hazy. Theyre missing draft picks, young players with untapped potential, and possibly the most important of all, time. Since their round one loss to the Dallas Mavericks (and maybe as far back as their playoff loss to the LA Clippers), a timer has started ticking down on Donovan Mitchells tenure with the Utah Jazz. After CAA represented writer Adrian Wojnarowski from ESPN reported that that the CAA represented Mitchell currently feels unnerved and unsettled with the current situation in Utah, its clear that the young star and his agency have already begun posturing for more control within the organization. And given how the Jazz have played to Mitchells needs thus far, can you blame them?

Since breaking onto the scene, much of the organization has run according to Mitchells needs, both on and off the court. Mitchells ball dominant and iso-centric play style often dominates Utahs offence, especially late game. Utahs medical and training staff come from Mitchells camp. Utahs player development staff includes Mitchells personal team. Utahs training camps have been moved to different cities, per Mitchells request. Roster changes, such as trading for Eric Paschall, have been made with Mitchells requests in mind. So whats bending to Mitchells requests again and hiring the head coach he wants?

As described by Tony Jones of The Athletic on a recent podcast with Jake Fischer, this could have its benefits. CAA represented Johnnie Bryant, presumably the coach Mitchell wants, can tell Donovan Mitchell no. That right there is something that right now, that might be the number one thing this organization needs at this point, to tell you the truth. But it also may be a risky move. Should Mitchell bolt after next season, the Jazz are left having hired a coach who has little-to-no significant head coaching experience, college or NBA. While it goes without saying that Bryant is a fantastic coach and deserves the opportunity to lead a team at some point in his career, its also fair to question weather or not hes ready for the position right now.

But if Utahs goals arent solely focused on pleasing Mitchell, their options significantly expand. If they are looking for a proven win-now coach, options like Terry Stotts and Frank Vogel, two highly successful and respected coaches, could fit the bill. Stotts, known best for his time with the Portland Trailblazers, has created highly-potent offenses around small guards before. Vogel, on the other hand, has built a strong reputation for crafting some of the best defensive teams in the NBA, a large reason why he won a championship with the Lakers in the bubble.

If, instead, Utah is looking at hiring another under-the-radar candidate, akin to their hiring of Snyder, options like Chris Quinn from the Miami Heat, Sean Sweeney from the Dallas Mavericks, Charles Lee from the Milwaukee Bucks, and Joe Mazzulla from the Boston Celtics could work. All of these coaches, in their own rights, have built up reputations as incredible assistant coaches and offer the potential for continued development, something Stotts and Vogel might not have.

This may come off as obvious, but I personally believe that the Jazz should hire whoever they feel like is the strongest candidate. Getting lost in attempting to please one party or another in the organization could lead to further division and leave the Jazz with a coach that might not be right for their future. While its important to listen to the input from players like Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, allowing them to guide the decision making process could be dangerous. The significance of this offseason and hiring can not be overstated, and the Jazz have done a good job thus far in leading a thorough search. Thankfully, Danny Ainge has gone two-for-two on head coach hiring's in his career. Lets see if he can do it for a third time.

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The Utah Jazzs head coaching search will signify the direction of the franchise - SLC Dunk

In the world of Dungeons and Dragons, the lich is one of the deadliest challenges for any adventuring party. When it comes to plundering lost dungeons for treasure, disturbing a lich's lair is very likely. One of the deadliest adventures from the TTRPG's earliest days, the dreaded Tomb of Horrors, is infamously about braving a gauntlet of traps and deadly encounters set by a lich.

In fact, one of the most popular liches in the game is Vecna The Whispered One. He is a lich so influential he has become (as far as anyone else is concerned) an undead god. Artifacts bearing his name have appeared in multiple D&D adventures. He has appeared as a major antagonist in the beloved Dungeon and Dragons liveplay series, Critical Role. And now, even the newest villain in the latest season of Stranger Things bears his name.

So what exactly is it about these boney spellslingers that have made them so enduring as staples of fantasy role-playing games? Why has the cache of certain names like Vecna or Acererak endured for over forty years?

Well, we here at TechRaptor decided to reach out to Wizards of the Coast about the place liches have in their vast fantasy universe and what makes them so compelling. This lead to us having a lovely correspondence with Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition's Lead Designer himself, Chris Perkins.

First, what sets a lich apart from other undead in Dungeons and Dragons? Unlike vampires, zombies, or ghosts, the creation of a lich happens when a spellcaster usually a wizard decides to undergo a transformation for immortality. They actively choose to perform a horrendous magic ritual, the steps are kept vague for Game Masters and storytellers to fill in the gruesome details for themselves, to rip out their soul, place it into a magical box called a phylactery, and preserve their mind from rot and decay, all at the cost of their body withering away to a shell. As long as the phylactery remains intact, the lich can simply reform its body while retaining all knowledge and experience it had in life.

It is because of this functional immortality combined with the lich's obsession with knowledge that makes them so terrifying. It plays into a very primal fear of most people with academic pursuits: that desire to learn more and to ensure that knowledge is retained forever. As Perkins himself stated, The quest for knowledge is something all great minds can appreciate, but the underlying irony is that some knowledge probably should remain hidden.

It is that last part, the idea of knowledge that should remain hidden, that seems to characterize Dungeons and Dragons' most notable liches. The demilich Acererak, the big bad of Tomb of Annihilation, attempts to birth a new evil god by draining the souls of the recently deceased with the aid of a device he devised. Those who seek the wisdom of Vecna must find his missing eye and hand, then replace their own limbs with these mummified relics. Even more benign liches like Exethanter, librarian of the Amber Temple within the mountains of Barovia, imparted the knowledge of communing with The Dark Powers; leading to the creation of the first vampire Strahd Von Zarovich. All of this thanks to these undead scholars' centuries of unfettered archival and study.

But there is a certain tragedy to liches as well. In order for their minds to remain sharp and active, a lich must actively consume the souls of the living. If this doesn't happen, they begin to fade, their vast knowledge withering away like their bodies. There's a good chance that even after all of that sacrifice and relentless thirst for knowledge and wisdom, a lich can be doomed to an eternity of nothing else to learn.

One of the earlier liches I remember was Larloch, who lived like a hermit in the depths of a dungeon in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Larloch was interesting to me because, despite his immortality and great power, he couldnt figure out a way to exist in the world of the living, so he sequestered himself in a dark sepulcher until he was all but forgotten. Thats really sad, but it says something about the lichs paradox: power and longevity dont actually amount to much in the end.

But by that same token, liches are highly motivated individuals. Because of that, their goals and desires can be just as diverse as any adventuring party at any gaming table. For Game Masters out there that want to embody the power and menace of a lich, these crucial questions need to be answered. What knowledge is the lich seeking? What rivals, if any, stand in their way? Perhaps, they seek the knowledge found within the Book of Vile Darkness, allegedly penned by Vecna himself? For these characters, lichdom isn't the ultimate goal, it is just another means to an end. But other than those specific details, a lich can be just about anything, as Perkins was quick to share.

After Vecna, my favorite lich is Vlaakith the Lich Queen, the supreme undead ruler of the githyanki. I wrote an adventure about her titled The Lich Queens Beloved (Dungeonmagazine, issue 100). Vlaakith holds court in the city of Tunarath, which is built on the back of a dead god in the Astral Plane. In Vlaakith, we see a lich who is leveraging her power and immortality to hold sway over a plane-spanning kingdom. She essentially has the power and influence of a god.

Alternatively, perhaps the lich isn't evil to begin with? For all of the drubbing that the Dungeons and Dragons community gave Fourth Edition, it did include some unique ideas. One of them was a special Epic Destiny certain magic-users could attain: The Archlich. You figure out the secrets of lich immortality, but without any gruesome human sacrifice or bodily mutilation. This means that good, charitable, and even altruistic liches can exist in the D&D multiverse. Perkins himself even agreed. Its certainly possible. I think its fun to have powerful spellcasting characters pursue lichdom as an epic destiny, since it leads to interesting story possibilities.

It is with all of these traits in mind that it becomes obvious why liches are so iconic in Dungeons and Dragons. From a storytelling perspective, there is a lot of texture to come from arcane scholars that delve too deep into the mysteries of magic. As a vehicle for fantastic battles and setpieces, they are a playground for Game Masters to escalate the challenge for their players.

It's why for many players the name of Vecna, the very first lich introduced in the earliest days of Dungeons and Dragons, is associated with devlish schemes, ruthless ambition, and terrifying power. The Whispered One is as synonymous with this game as polyhedral dice, Beholders, and Gelatinous Cubes.

With that in mind, it is no surprise his name is invoked in Stranger Things. While the Netflix series created by The Duffer Brothers wears a lot of its influences on its sleeve, 1980s genre film and Stephen King to name a few, the largest one by far is Wizards of the Coast's iconic tabletop RPG. The main cast are avid players of the game, using various terms and shorthand to give an explanation to the fantastical monsters they confront. These invocations have included the terrifying Demogorgon in Season 1 as well as the possessing, personality-eroding Mind Flayer in Seasons 2 and 3. If the ultimate mind behind the terrible forces threatening the small town of Hawkins and the world were to have a name, one that feels ominous and inevitable,Vecna would fit perfectly.

In fact, the promotional material showing the show's version of Vecna bears a striking resemblance to an official redesign of the character released by Wizards of the Coast. When asked about creative collaboration with the Netflix series, Senior Creative Director of Wizards Franchise Development, Jeremy Jarvis stated the following:

The Netflix team reached out to the Wizards Franchise Development Team, which is part of Wizards of the Coast but separate from the D&D Studio that works on theDungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game. Stranger Things shared their unique angle on Vecna for their universe and Franchise was able to share our new design and then together look for opportunities to collaborate in exciting ways.

Considering that Wizards of the Coast have worked with Netflix on cross-promotion in the past, this means we might see more of The Upside Down's version of Vecna at our gaming tables in the future. It also means that new players at the table will have a better idea of what to expect when these skeletal mages appear in their sessions.

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Liches, Vecna, and Stranger Things: Our Interview With Chris Perkins - TechRaptor

CommentaryBC Pires23 Hrs AgoBC Pires -

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY

BC PIRES

READING HAS saved my life all my life. Today, it might be a book like Andre Alexiss Fifteen Dogs that encourages me to keep repositioning nose to grindstone but, since before I was ten, books have always realigned me. I can chart my development as a reader (and, ergo, writer) by the books that blew me away (and the rough age I was when I read them): The Call of the Wild (11). Kidnapped (12). Great Expectations (13). Miguel Street (14). Animal Farm, 1984, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (15). Catch-22 (16). Slaughterhouse Five, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird (17). The Lonely Londoners, Lord of the Flies, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, L'Etranger (18). Things Fall Apart, Gullivers Travels, Brighton Rock (19). Crime and Punishment, The Wide Sargasso Sea, Moby Dick, The Dragon Cant Dance (20). Midnights Children, Heart of Darkness (21). The Red and the Black, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Anna Karenina, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (22).

From age 22 onwards: Briefing for a Descent into Hell. Immortality. Steppenwolf. The God of Small Things. Love in the Time of Cholera. The Old Man and the Sea. Times Arrow. The Invention of Solitude. The Cold Six Thousand. Invisible Man. Rebecca. Of Human Bondage. Focus. Nausea. Disgrace. Jude the Obscure. A Confederacy of Dunces. The Butcher Boy. Hunger. The Plot Against America. If This is a Man. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Trainspotting. Netherland. East of Eden. Beware of Pity. The Road. A Brief History of Seven Killings. If on a Winters Night a Traveller. The Enigma of Arrival.

And the biggest ones: The Sound and the Fury. Absalom, Absalom! In Search of Lost Time.

Ive left out many because the list is longbut it began when I was nine, with an 11-year-old English public schoolboy.

Between 1922 and 1969 (and the ages of 22 and 79) Richmal Crompton wrote nearly 40 books about William Brown, her mischievous prepubescent hero of comic adventures mocking the hypocrisy of the adult world. She was copying Mark Twain, to be sure, but she did it exceedingly well.

I devoured all 39 William books repeatedly. I was thrilled by Richmal Cromptons writing but I was also a little jealous: what was it about Trinidad that denied me stories about, say, Kenrick? Or Raj? Or Mikey?

We in Trinidad, I concluded, heartbrokenly, were simply not worthy of being written about. We could be subjects of the queen but not of fiction.

I still dip occasionally into the William books I gave my own son and the writing remains impressive. Even post-Faulkner, -Proust -Joyce and -Hemingway, I cannot take out a word.

The William books are timeless.

But, this week, I was shocked to discover that William himself has aged dreadfully.

My storybook William was cheeky to impudence, committed to nothing but escapist fun it was, indeed, his raison dtre and cared nothing about the grown-up world and its foolish preoccupations. He cared about only himself and his own close friends, the Outlaws, who shared his contemptuous disregard for everyone who wasnt one of them. The grown-up world was Williams plaything, its sacraments to be broken, its highest functionaries to be ridiculed for his amusement. He was sworn to fun, loyal to none, never did his homework, never combed his hair, his shirt tails always out, his shoes scuffed. He couldnt give a flying firetruck for pretensions of gentility and/or maturity.

William Brown was the hero of someone incapable of assessment. A secondary schoolboy who couldnt spell at a kindergarten level and didnt care, he hated girls almost as much as he hated any form of authority. The world could burn, if he could cook a tin of baked beans on it.

And hed do just about anything for a cream bun.

I thought William had died with Richmal Crompton in 1969.

But, this week, when he pretended that 148 of his backbenchers voting against his leadership was, somehow, a great victory for him, and that he could now get on with his work, it was only at that moment that I realised that William Brown, grown up, had turned into Boris Johnson.

BC Pires rote this endline bit in the stile of William Brong eef he had be a Trini which he fadder and dem wooda proberly call him Billy. Read the full version of this column on Saturday at http://www.BCPires.com

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William, BC and Boris - TT Newsday

The Future Games Show is returning this summer, a grand celebration of all things gaming that will showcase over 40games on PC and console at a breakneck pace. The show will be broadcast on Saturday, June 11, kicking off at 12 pm PDT (3:00 pm EDT, 20:00 BST) on Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and GamesRadar.

The Future Games Show comes from PC Gamer sister site GamesRadar+ and our publisher, Future. It will be broadcast on Thursday, March 24 at 15:00 PDT / 18:00 EDT / 22:00 GMT on Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, GamesRadar and Bilibili.

How to Watch the Future Games Show

The show will run for around 75 minutes and is hosted by a familiar pairing: actors Denise Gough (Yennefer in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) and Doug Cockle (Geralt). They'll be introducing a mix of world premieres, developer interviews, trailers and new announcements highlighting the best upcoming games on PC and consoles. I asked the GamesRadar+ lot if they could stick Cockle in a bathtub for us but just got a blank look.

You can follow the show's Twitter (opens in new tab) for more updates, and below is a short highlight reel of previous extravaganzas. This is the second of three planned shows for 2022, with the Spring Showcase having already been and gone, and an Autumnal treat to follow.

The day after the Future Games Show, on Sunday, June 12, our own PC Gaming Show will be back to blow you away at 12:30 pm PDT. Arma 4, Sam Barlow's Immortality, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, and Victoria 3 are just a few of the biggies, so be sure to tune in.

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How to watch the Future Games Show - PC Gamer

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Patty Gasso finally broke. For the first time in 364 days -- when Oklahoma last won a national championship -- the architect of college softball's premiere program found herself at a loss for words.

She survived the final out of the Women's College Worlds Series win over Texas on Thursday night, marking four titles in the last six tournaments, without letting her emotions get to her.

She survived Jocelyn Alo's curtain call, a touching last goodbye to the best hitter the sport has ever seen.

She survived the confetti, the trophies, the hugs and the team photo in center field.

But after she made her way through the dugout, left the locker room and sat down for the postgame news conference, it began to sink in what happened, which is when the tears finally came pouring out.

And it was a question about the D-word -- dynasty -- that got her. She blinked hard when a reporter asked, "When you hear this program talked about in the same sentence as UConn women's basketball, Alabama football, those sorts of other programs, what does that do in your head?"

"I guess I don't believe it," she said.

2 Related

She paused, trying and failing to regain her composure.

"I don't know how to answer," she continued tentatively. "I don't think that way."

It was all so surreal, she said. She found herself watching the postgame celebration like a fan.

"They don't realize how good they are," she said. "I don't realize how good they are."

How good? How about the best ever?

Gasso put the onus on the media for that one, saying, "You guys all have the stats."

Fifty-nine wins and the best batting average and the best ERA in college softball this season speaks for itself. But looking at the WCWS on its own, Oklahoma set a record for home runs (17) and runs (64). Looking at those measly three losses on their own, consider what happened the next time out: The Sooners won all three follow-up games via the run rule and a combined score of 39-0.

"I could rank them very, very high, if not the highest, because everything they do looks so easy to me, and they do it so fast," Gasso said, coughing up her own opinion after all.

Oklahoma's dominance showed up in brilliant flashes -- a 16-1 blowout of Texas in Game 1 that was over before it ever really began, or consecutive four-run innings that took the lead and snatched Texas' soul in Game 2.

It showed up when Jayda Coleman dropped back in center field on Thursday night, ran toward the wall and leaped, pulling back a would-be two-run homer. Afterward, Coleman said, "What's crazy is we practice that all the time."

Pitcher Jordy Bahl said, yeah, she's seen her do it "over and over and over."

"She's robbed me," Alo said, adding nonchalantly, "It's just a normal thing for her."

And therein lies the greatness of this team: how they set the bar so high -- and reached it time and time again -- that the spectacular became routine, expected, normal. Gasso had to admit that when it came to her star slugger, Alo, she even began to anticipate a home run every at-bat. And she wasn't that far off.

But it wasn't just Alo redefining slugging. Texas' top power hitters had 11 and 12 home runs, and no one else was in double-digits. Oklahoma, meanwhile, had six players with 13 or more home runs, including Grace Lyons (23), Tiare Jennings (29) and Alo (34).

Jenny Dalton-Hill was a key part of those all-time great Arizona teams in the mid-1990s. In four seasons, she won three championships. But she points to those big bats as the difference-maker in any theoretical matchups of the best ever.

"I'm always going to say '94 Arizona was better because I was on that team, but I don't know," she said. "I think this team is probably more complete. This team has more power top-to-bottom. I wish we could just say, 'All right, 1994 Arizona, you take on 2022 Oklahoma.' It would have to be a video game because none of us could even run anymore."

She laughed before turning serious again.

"I think this one honestly could go down as the best team in the history of our sport."

WHEN THIS MARCH toward immortality began in the fall of 1994, there was no stadium for Oklahoma softball to call home. There wasn't even a dedicated field. There was only Reaves Park and a dugout so small it couldn't hold all of Gasso's new players after she arrived in Oklahoma after five years at Long Beach City junior college in California.

Before practice, they had to take it upon themselves to pick up spent beer cans from the night before.

"Just trash everywhere," Gasso recalled.

Young and ambitious, having left the center of the softball universe of the West Coast for her first Power 5 job more than 1,300 miles away, Gasso put her head down and went to work scouting junior colleges for a quick infusion of talent. But that was only a temporary solution. So she aimed higher and set her signs on a left-handed pitcher from California named Lana Moran.

Without the benefit of a rich program history and unencumbered by a fear of rejection, Gasso charged ahead. Her attitude: "Make them say no."

Moran was the first big yes.

And then it was on to the likes of Leah Gulla, Amber Flores and Keilani Ricketts.

"I fought like heck to try to get them here," Gasso said, "but that's kind of how it began."

Gasso eventually landed Lauren Chamberlain, who was the most accomplished hitter of all time when she ended her career, and Oklahoma became a destination program.

When the Sooners opened Marita Hynes Field in 1998, they couldn't predict they'd outgrow it before long. Two years later, Gasso led the Sooners to their first WCWS and won it all. After that, they were a mainstay in Oklahoma City.

But in order to become the dynasty they are today, one more change needed to take place. Gasso, who had to be relentless in order to build something from scratch, realized she had to dial it back. She had to learn to coach smarter rather than harder and allow herself to make life about more than softball.

And, wouldn't you know it, by putting her family first, by smoothing out her sharper edges, she created the kind of family atmosphere that would attract a Paige Parker, who would attract a Jocelyn Alo, who would attract a Tiare Jennings. Oklahoma amassed talent like compound interest, spitting out a team this season that's so deep it boggles the mind with a half-dozen All-Americans.

Gasso no longer has to push recruits until they say no.

"The difference that Patty Gasso has is visibility," Dalton-Hill said. "She has built a brand that stands for excellence and stands for a bar that has been raised above others. Because of social media, she's now able to recruit the right kind of athlete before she's ever made it into a face-to-face conversation with them."

Before this year's NCAA tournament began, star freshman Jordy Bahl heard a pop in her right forearm and was immediately sidelined. Without the co-Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, most programs would have gone into a nosedive. But Gasso had already brought in help during the offseason in former North Texas ace Hope Trautwein, a senior transfer who once tossed a 21-strikeout perfect game and was coming off Conference USA Pitcher of the Year honors. Trautwein fit in beautifully at Oklahoma, ending the regular season with an ERA of 0.09, and made the transition from the best No. 2 pitcher in softball to the team's go-to starter.

Bahl's monthlong absence barely registered as a speed bump on the road to back-to-back national championships.

Reaves Park couldn't hold them nearly three decades ago. Now, Marita Hynes Field can barely contain all their star power.

So they're building again. In the parking lot roughly 50 yards beyond the left-field fence, there's a sign touting Love's Field -- a $42 million stadium and softball complex that projects to be ready by 2024 and promises to start with 3,000 seats and keep expanding.

The only question now is how they'll honor Gasso on the new grounds.

Oklahoma's legendary football coaches have statues outside of the football stadium -- Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops -- so a precedent has been set.

"I'm sure that'll happen for Patty," Stoops said, "but I didn't want mine up until I was retired."

Sixty years old and showing no signs of slowing down, there's no telling when Gasso will choose to walk away from the finely tuned machine she has created.

STOOPS WON HIS first national championship in 2000, the same year as Gasso.

"You know, I played in three more and sadly lost all of them," Stoops said, laughing. "She's played in a whole bunch more and won most all of them."

Self-deprecating jokes aside, Stoops knows what greatness looks like. A Hall of Fame coach himself, he knows what playing with the weight of expectations feels like. And to see what Gasso has created and how easy her team makes it look night after night, he can't get over it.

He's no softball expert, he admitted, but he can see how this team never lost its passion for the game and credits Gasso pushing all the right buttons.

"Their emotional state, to me, that's the key," Stoops said.

It's Jayda Coleman starting Game 1 of the championship series with a double and screaming at the dugout in celebration.

It's Alo jogging the bases, her arms stretched out wide like an airplane, diving into a swarm of supportive teammates at home plate.

It's Taylon Snow lining out and telling Jana Johns, "Pick me up."

"She goes out and hits a home run," Snow said. "It's pretty awesome to see those things happen."

But in order to truly appreciate Oklahoma's team dynamic, you can't overlook the senior catcher who has sacrificed for the good of the program.

A three-time captain, Lynnsie Elam was Oklahoma's heartbeat.

Elam came to Oklahoma as a coveted recruit five years ago and played as such, starting as a sophomore and junior. But when Gasso felt the need to split time and get fellow catcher Kinzie Hansen on the field last season, Elam didn't put up a fight. Instead, she embraced a restructured role, made the most of her opportunities with 14 home runs this season and continued to lead whether she was in the starting lineup or not.

Gasso called her "the best leader I've ever had."

Late Thursday night, Gasso took turns praising the five-person "super senior" class. She spoke about how Trautwein stepped up in Bahl's absence; how Jana Johns and Taylon Snow got hot at the right time; how "Joce is Joce."

Then she got to Elam.

"Lynnsie Elam is our captain and has been our captain and is the glue that makes this team stick," Gasso said. "She absolutely is the glue. And what I love about her, she's not always in the game, but she is still our captain in the dugout. What she's done for this program, I don't know how I could ever repay her, but she is one of those players that will be associated with greatness forever."

Alo, who roomed with Elam as freshmen, said she wouldn't have made it this far without her. It was Elam who made sure she woke up on time for morning weight-lifting sessions, who offered to drive her to Walmart when she didn't have a car, who asked time and time again, "Do you want to go to the cages and hit?"

"You won't meet a better person or better player," Alo said, "and she's worked really, really hard for what she's accomplished these past five years, and she deserves every accomplishment that's coming her way."

AS FAR AS what's next for Alo, only time will tell.

Earlier this week, she gave no hint as to which professional league she'll be joining: Athletes Unlimited or WPF.

"I don't know which one I'm playing in yet," she said, "but I know some Sooner fans and fans all over the world are going to continue to follow me."

That feels like a safe bet. The Oklahoma faithful have been in on the Jocelyn Alo Experience for five full years now and aren't ready to let go.

But what she has accomplished this season by shattering the home run record has introduced her to an even wider audience. Tom Brady dropped into her DMs after Monday's games. Texas coach Mike White said she should run for mayor whenever she returns home to Hawai'i.

She's not softball-famous. She's famous-famous.

Gasso compared her to Babe Ruth. With her ability and flair for the dramatic, it's impossible to look away.

All week long in Oklahoma City, she has had the gravitational pull of the sun. Fans put off bathroom breaks and stood at attention -- no matter the score or situation -- when she stepped into the batter's box for fear of missing something special. Little girls have run toward home plate, pressing their iPhones against the screen to try to capture her next towering home run.

Alo said it was cool having girls follow her down the hallway of the team hotel. But at a certain point she had to hang a "Do not disturb" sign on her door.

"They pay to see Jocelyn Alo," Gasso said. "... She keeps saying, 'I want to leave my mark.' She's left her mark. She's done it. Right now it's just icing on the cake for her."

She exits the game with a record 122 career home runs and only five runs off Dalton Hill's record career RBI mark of 328. Her legacy as the greatest hitter of all time is safe -- for now.

Because what's truly terrifying for the rest of college softball is what (or whom) she leaves behind.

"I know the world is in awe of what Jocelyn is doing," Dalton-Hill said. "I know I am. But Tiare Jennings quietly is doing the exact same thing."

Alo put a scare into Dalton-Hill this week that she would catch her career RBI record of 26 years. But Dalton-Hill, who serves as an ESPN analyst, is resigned to the fact that Jennings is over halfway to her RBI record -- with two full seasons to go?

"She had 92 in her first year and almost 90 this year" Dalton-Hill said, "and the career total for the record is 328. So you can't tell me she's not gonna be able to do more than Jocelyn Alo."

Granted, losing Alo's bat will cause a ripple effect throughout the rest of the lineup. But, remember, five of the team's top six hitters are expected to return next season. Bahl should be healthy again, and Nicole May will be back. And that's to say nothing of incoming freshman left-handed pitcher Kierston Deal, Extra Innings Softball's No. 1-ranked recruit in the 2022 class, and whatever star Gasso is able to pull from the transfer portal a la Trautwein a year ago.

The home run queen left the softball capital of the world late Thursday night, heading toward an uncertain future.

But she's confident the team she leaves behind will be making a return trip to Oklahoma City soon.

Sure, Alo said she thought the 2022 Sooners were the best of all-time, but she didn't stop there.

"One thing about Sooner softball -- and I've seen it year in and year out -- is they just continue to get better," Alo said. "I don't know what next year holds, but I know that they could make a run for the best team, too, and years to come."

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How Jocelyn Alo and Oklahoma softball cement themselves as the GOATs - ESPN

This year has been a great one for Pusha-T. He kicked things with his impressive Diet Coke record which featured production from Kanye West and 88-Keys. He followed that up with Neck & Wrist alongside Pharrell Williams and Jay-Z. Both songs later appeared on his fourth studio album Its Almost Dry which became Pushas first No. 1 album of his career and an early favorite for rap album of the year in 2022. The project was his first since 2018s Daytona, but as Pusha tells it, it will be far from his last album. Thats because he seeks one major thing in his career going forward: rap immortality.

During a recent profile with NME, Pusha T shared his desire to prove that he is indeed an immortal rap figure. A lot of our forefathers, the greats, they didnt stand the test of time, he said. As great as they were, I dont know how much they are [still] appreciated. [I want] to show that rap doesnt have to age out. When people look at me, they need to understand that I can do this forever.

Its a tall task for anyone to accomplish, even those as talented as Pusha, but with his steady improvement over the years, Pusha might achieve his goal.

You can read Pushas full profile with NME here.

Its Almost Dry is out now via GOOD Music and Def Jam. You can stream it here.

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Pusha T Wants To Prove His Rap Immortality: 'They Need To Understand That I Can Do This Forever' - UPROXX

Welcome back to The Popes Comics, our regular column by award-winning novelist, poet, and Comic Watch contributor Bethany Pope! Bethany brings a wealth of knowledge on literature, LGBTQIA+ issues history, gender, comics, and so much more. We sincerely hope you enjoy!

To say that Uncanny X-Men #137 is one of the most influential comics ever written is stating the profoundly obvious. The suicide of Phoenix (an entity who, at the time, believed herself to be Jean Grey) in an attempt to save the world from the destruction she brings was almost certainly the first sacrifice of its kind depicted in comics.The trope of the noble suicide (as opposed to the noble sacrifice) is under-explored outside of the boundaries of the horror genre and in a way, it is arguable that the story of Phoenix (at least as Claremont wrote it) is horror at its finest. We are presented with a corrupting, world-destroying force, wrapped up in the body of a young and beautiful woman. This force feeds on life energy, and decimates entire planets. That is a vampire story. And I will almost certainly explore that side of things at a later date.Today, I want to examine an aspect of Claremonts storytelling which is often derided, but which (I feel) is an integral part of what makes this story so enduring: the thought bubbles.Claremonts expository, page-obscuring thought bubbles go against the modern comics (and poetic) ethos of show, dont tell, and they have sharply fallen out of vogue, so that the weight of the narrative is now carried by organic, carefully plotted dialogue (good), visual action (great!), or massive, expository soliloquies (terrible. Bad, bad writers). But Claremonts technique is incredibly valuable to his original run. This is how we get to know the characters: by hearing their thoughts and seeing them as they see themselves. The climax of this fantastic story would have considerably less weight without the insights that this technique grants.As a side note, thought bubbles also allow characters to exhibit hypocrisy: lying to the people theyre interacting with, while cluing the readers into their deceit, as well see Beast doing below.Today Im going to examine the seven key soliloquies that form the ethical, emotional, and philosophical heart of this book. Ill look at them in chronological order, as they appear within the text, and analyze their effect on the story.

Jean Grey

Im referring to the character of Phoenix as Jean Grey even though later retcons demolished that portrayal because thats who the character believes herself to be. We see her, lit by something resembling firelight, or the flame of a votive candle, remembering what she did to the people of DBari. What we see here, both throughout the structure of her thoughts, and portrayed via the dualistic tones of the color art, is a battle between opposites: light and shadow, life and death. All of the thematic elements of her story as phoenix are present, and heightened, as her story is brought to its fiery climax.

Nightcrawler

Contrasting Jeans thoughtful, almost spiritual stillness (more on that, in a bit) is Nightcrawlers dynamism. We see Kurt thinking on the move, bouncing from the odds of victory or defeat, to intimations of the faith he later becomes known for, to moralistic ruminations on right and wrong (flavored by his personal history) while his body hurtles through a series of hoops and chains which are suspended from the ceiling. In a single panel, we are shown much of what makes this character so endlessly fascinating. Theres a lot of substance here, given to us in measures pressed down and running over, but the deep concepts on display are balanced by the gorgeous, physicality of the art and the characters own levity, even as his train of thought is interrupted first by gravity and then by Angels unnecessary rescue.

Wolverine

Byrne used Logans nudity to depict both his animal nature and his unusual (unprecedented, at this time) emotional vulnerability. The light in these panels, and Logans meditative stance, reflect and compliment Jeans earlier soliloquy. His ruminations are empathetic, depicting a man who is aware of the conflict facing him, but who will ultimately side with the person for whom he feels the deepest spiritual and emotional connection. This is a samurai, sworn to a master one whose flashing claws remind us that he can never be separated from his weapon. These panels are, in themselves, a work of art.

Beast

This is where the hypocrisy I mentioned in the introduction comes in. Beast, as he exists in the comics right now, is a creature of amoral ego and unlimited drive. This is a Beast of a very different color. This Beast is logically reasoning with himself, and applying that logic in a way that is both intellectually clear and morally sound. And hes doing it while scrubbing his feet with a loofah. Theres a disconnect between action and thought, playfulness and seriousness, which was integral to the character at this time and which modern writers seem to have forgotten. The thought bubbles which enable him to have these thoughts allow for him to playfully flirt with his bath attendant, underlining the fact that his thoughts and actions are very different things. The only reason that we can enjoy such a delicious, frisson-producing level of complexity is that we have access to both the characters spoken words and mismatched actions.

Colossus

Colossus is also presented in his underwear a sight that is meant to signal emotional vulnerability in the reader and his thoughts are relatively straightforward. He decides, quickly, that if he is to be loyal to himself, he must be loyal to his friends, and is determined to fight for Jean. As he makes this decision, he switches from his human form to that of the Colossus, clothing himself in metal and cutting off all weakness and vulnerability, both physically and metaphorically. Its a brilliant piece of storytelling, and it packs an amazing amount of character into a few brief panels.

Storm

Ororo also begins her vignette in the nude, expressing her discontent with the environment in which she finds herself and longing for an innocence she can never reclaim. She quickly clothes herself in layer after layer of stifling clothes, isolating herself physically, while expressing her desire for solitude, before opening up (via the display of a microstorm) and expressing the deep love and kinship she feels for Jean Grey a woman who she views as her spiritual sister.

Cyclops

Scotts soliloquy is both the longest and the most conflicted. In his opening shot, he is depicted as standing within a transparent bubble of glass which juts out into the cold expanse of space a visual metaphor for the extreme isolation of leadership, and the distance it has planted between him and everyone he loves. He is torn between two views, both of which he believes to be equally valid, and this conflict is driving him away from his friends, his mentor, and the woman he loves. The agreement between the vista and the heros internal monologue contrasts brilliantly with the interludes which have come before. Its a startlingly effective piece of storytelling.

This is a brief examination of an utterly fascinating, emotive piece of storytelling. Hopefully this analysis will encourage you to approach it with new eyes, and foster a deeper appreciation for this brilliant collaborative work.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Grant Tarbard. He was a great poet, and a great friend.

Poet, novelist, fencer, pirate, Za-Za, and Comic Watch regular contributor Bethany Pope lives in China. They also hold an MA and PhD in creative writing. Their latest novel,The Hungry and the Lost, was released December 1, 2021 from Parthian Books. You can follow them on Twitter at @theMasqueWriter.

The Popes Comics: Intimations of Immortality in Uncanny X-Men #137

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