#latest gap between spawn times was about two weeks

[antiloquist]

the ffxiv hunt community trying to figure out how to spawn Kirlirger:

the ffxiv hunt community literally any other time:

[orbemnews]

L Brands Plans to Spin Off Victoria’s Secret Exclusive: L Brands will spin off Victoria’s Secret L Brands has decided to spin off Victoria’s Secret rather than sell it, DealBook is first to report. The company said last year it was considering separating Victoria’s Secret from the rest of its business, and we previously reported that it was testing private equity’s interest. Ultimately, sources say, L Brands has decided to split itself into two independent, publicly listed companies: Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. The deal is expected to close in August. Bids didn’t match what Victoria’s Secret expects to get in a spinoff. DealBook hears that L Brands received several bids north of $3 billion. It turned them down, because it expects to be valued somewhere between $5 billion and $7 billion in a spinoff to L Brands shareholders. Analysts at Citi and JPMorgan recently valued Victoria’s Secret as a stand-alone company at $5 billion. The pandemic torpedoed a sale last year for much less. That agreement, announced in February 2020 with the investment firm Sycamore Partners, valued Victoria’s Secret at $1.1 billion. Apart from a pandemic that was about to upend the retail industry, Victoria’s Secret was dealing with a series of challenges: a brand that had fallen out of touch, accusations of misogyny and sexual harassment in the workplace and revelations about the ties between Les Wexner, the company’s founder and former chairman, and Jeffrey Epstein. (Wexner stepped down as C.E.O. last year and said in March that he and his wife are not running for re-election on the company’s board.) As the pandemic shuttered stores and battered sales, Sycamore sued L Brands to get out of the deal, and L Brands countersued to enforce it, heralding a spate of similar battles between buyers and sellers. Eventually, in May 2020, the sides agreed to call off the deal. A lot has changed since then. Six months ago, L Brands tapped Martin Waters, who headed its international division, to be C.E.O. of Victoria’s Secret, and he will continue to lead the company after the spinoff. The retailer has overhauled its brand, de-emphasizing the overtly sexy image and products that customers saw as exclusionary. It has become “less focused on a specific demographic target and more focused on being broadly inclusive of all women of all shapes and sizes and colors and ethnicities and genders and areas of interest,” Waters said on a recent earnings call. The company also closed more than 200 stores and focused on improving profitability, which rose sharply at the end of last year, surpassing its prepandemic results. The pandemic has spawned some retail winners. Victoria’s Secret, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Michaels and others were able to accelerate digital transformations that may have otherwise taken years. Direct sales at Victoria’s Secret in North America rose to 44 percent of the total last year, from 25 percent the year before. It’s unclear whether pandemic shopping trends will stick, and “it would be reasonable to expect some reversion,” Stuart Burgdoerfer, the L Brands C.F.O., said at a March event. “But I also think that people have very much enjoyed some of the benefits that were forced on us or triggered through the pandemic.” HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING Markets wobble amid inflation fears. U.S. stock futures are down, as are European and Asian stock indexes, following data showing that U.S. consumers expect a bump in inflation and that factory-gate prices in China rose more than expected last month. April’s Consumer Price Index data is set to be released today, and is expected to show a sharp rise from a pandemic-depressed level last year. China’s birthrate slows again. The country’s population is growing at its slowest pace in decades, posing grave social and economic risks to the world’s second-largest economy. While the U.S. also reported a drastic slowdown in population expansion, China “is growing old without first having grown rich,” The Times’s Sui-Lee Wee writes. President Biden defends federal unemployment benefits. He rejected claims that $300-a-week supplemental payments are deterring unemployed Americans from seeking work, but he ordered the Labor Department to help reinstate work search requirements. Separately, Chipotle said it was raising wages, to an average of $15 an hour, to attract workers. The Colonial Pipeline is expected to “substantially” reopen within days. The pipeline, which supplies nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel, is expected to restore most services by the weekend after a ransomware attack. U.S. authorities formally blamed a hacker group and pledged to “disrupt and prosecute” the perpetrators. More children may soon be vaccinated. The F.D.A. yesterday approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds in the U.S., potentially helping reopen schools and other parts of the economy more quickly. But while cases are declining worldwide, they are surging in countries that lack vaccines. And the W.H.O. labeled a virus variant spreading fast in India as “of concern.” Does Amazon need more money? Amazon sold $18.5 billion worth of bonds yesterday, joining other corporate giants taking advantage of ultralow interest rates to raise money because … well, why not? The e-commerce titan sold some of its debt at a record-low interest rate for a corporate issuer — barely above what the U.S. government pays. About $1 billion worth of two-year bonds has a yield just 0.1 percent above the equivalent in Treasuries. That’s a huge vote of confidence in Amazon, which has emerged as a huge winner during the pandemic. The company also set a record for yields on a 20-year bond, besting Alphabet. Over all, investors placed $50 billion worth of orders, underscoring enthusiasm for debt that yields next to nothing. Today in Business Updated  May 10, 2021, 5:52 p.m. ET It raised another $1 billion in the form of a sustainability bond, which is meant to finance investments in environmentally minded projects like zero-carbon infrastructure and cleaner transportation. Amazon is the latest company to sell bonds aimed at E.S.G. investors, a market that reached $270 billion last year and could double this year. To be sure, the bulk of the offering will finance typical corporate maneuvers like share buybacks, acquisitions and capital expenditures, according to the bond prospectus. It will add to the nearly $34 billion in cash that Amazon had on hand at the end of March — as will profits that are growing at extraordinary rates for a company of its size. Macy’s has proposed building a commercial office tower on top of its flagship Herald Square store in New York City, part of a broader development plan the retailer says would improve the area. It plans to spend $235 million on redeveloping subway stations and creating a “car-free pedestrian-friendly urban space.” The proposal is a bold bet by the beleaguered retailer that shoppers and workers will flood back there after the pandemic. How to collect a trillion dollars Today, the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation will hold a hearing on offshore tax evasion. “The tax gap is a massive problem, especially the part driven by ultrarich individuals and corporations stashing income overseas,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the subcommittee chair, told DealBook. That gap “could be as much as a trillion dollars,” he said. “That’s trillion with a ‘T.’” This money would help fund President Biden’s spending plans, which also run into the trillions. It’s difficult to quantify just how much money goes uncollected each year, officials say. Corporate tax collections in the U.S. are “at historic lows and well below what other countries collect,” according to a recent Treasury report. U.S. multinational companies can be taxed at a 50 percent discount compared with their domestic peers, an incentive to shift profits abroad. “Bermuda, a country of merely 64,000 people, shows 10 percent of all reported U.S. multinational foreign profit,” the report explained. “The Biden administration is serious about stopping tax cheats and so are we,” Whitehouse said. The hearing, which features I.R.S. and Treasury officials, will discuss legislation to end corporate tax breaks that incentivize profit shifting, a proposed $80 billion investment in I.R.S. enforcement, a new approach to international tax diplomacy and proposed changes to the tax code. THE SPEED READ Deals The investment firm TPG named Jon Winkelried as its sole C.E.O.; Jim Coulter, who previously shared the role, will become executive chairman and lead the firm’s E.S.G.-focused funds. (Bloomberg) Vice Media is closing in on a deal to merge with a SPAC at a $3 billion valuation, which would leave existing investors in control. (WSJ) Elliott Management has reportedly taken a stake in Duke Energy and plans to push for a change in strategy, after the utility rejected a takeover bid by NextEra Energy. (WSJ) Politics and policy In Wall-Streeters-seeking-political-office news: Glenn Youngkin, the former Carlyle Group co-C.E.O., won the Republican nomination for Virginia governor; and Alex Lasry, the son of the hedge fund mogul Marc Lasry, is running for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin as a Democrat. (NYT, WaPo) Big semiconductor makers and their customers have formed a new group to push for billions in federal funding to promote chip manufacturing in the U.S. (NYT) Tech Forty-four state attorneys general warned Facebook against plans to introduce a version of Instagram for children. (NYT) The Pentagon reportedly may scrap its JEDI cloud-computing program, the subject of a lawsuit by Amazon and criticism from lawmakers. (WSJ) Veteran traders are bringing old Wall Street tricks to crypto market-making. (Bloomberg) Best of the rest NBC said it won’t air next year’s Golden Globes ceremony, the biggest blow yet to the awards show as its organizers face criticism over a lack of diversity. (NYT) An American court rejected an Australian company’s bid to scrap Ugg as a U.S. trademark. In Australia, it’s a catchall term for sheepskin boots with fleece linings. (NYT) “How the Zoom era has ruined conversation” (WaPo) We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com. Source link Orbem News #brands #plans #secret #spin #Victorias

[themusicenthusiast]

Wednesday, March 27th, 2019 – Thoroughly Engaging and Entertaining, The Revivalists Take Good Care of Their Dallas Fans

Photos by Jordan Buford Photography A Wednesday night definitely isn’t the prime night for a concert, and for a time in the early evening it looked as if South Side Ballroom wouldn’t be too crowded, the vastness of the venue being obvious. That was early on though, about the time the lone opening act, Rayland Baxter, set things in motion around eight o’clock. As he and his band performed, droves of concertgoers continued to pack in, ready for something fun to break up the monotony of the work week, and everyone seemed to know that The Revivalists would be the cure for that. The eight-piece ensemble had returned to the road earlier in the month, continuing to tour in support of their recently released fourth studio album, Take Good Care (out via Loma Vista Recordings/Concord Music Group). With each new album The Revivalists have experienced more substantial success, this latest one being no different, spawning some of their biggest singles to date. In turn, the Take Good Care Tour had them gracing some of the largest stages they have headlined in their career, and for it they had prepared an absolutely vigorous performance. The audience reflected the diverse reach that The Revivalists’ music has, patrons ranging from their twenties to many who were middle-aged and up, all packing in as tightly as they could, consumed by excitement as they awaited their showtime. Andrew Campanelli and Paulet "PJ" Howard  took the stage as the house lights dimmed at 9:16, taking a spot behind their respective drum kits where they proceeded to knock out a heavy, steady set of beats. In a way they were almost dueling drums; and as bold a step as that is for a band to incorporate two percussionists into their sound, it never sounded like excess this night. Quite the contrary, actually, jointly further fleshing out the music and providing a richer depth to it. Howard has been a part of the group for a little more than a year now though he’s still the newest piece to the band, his addition having emboldened their already distinct sound that draws on elements of rock, soul and funk to name a few. A sound that could only be born out of the style and flare that is found in their hometown of New Orleans.

As they carried on their band mates filed out one by one, George Gekas grabbing his bass and taking his spot over on stage left where he was soon joined by pedal steel guitarist Ed Williams. To the right of the massive risers that housed the drum kits was another riser with the keyboards, Michael Girardot climbing up behind them. Each received thunderous applause as they found their way out underneath the stage lights, guitarist Zack Feinberg garnering some of the loudest yet when he appeared; while Rob Ingraham waved his saxophone in the air after grabbing it before proceeding to twirl it around in his hands. The most applause seemed to have been reserved for David Shaw, the frontman bounding out on stage with vim, raring to go; and with everyone in place they were off. The attention would largely be on Take Good Care this night, and while it has become customary for bands to open with something from their current release, The Revivalists opted for some older material. Songs they knew would instantly click with the spectators and deliver that euphoric rush that a concert is about, while also being songs they were most comfortable with and made the most of their showmanship.

Not every band can come out and completely captivate an audience from the first note, though this octet succeeded at it as Feinberg launched into the opening riff of “Criminal”. It played to the strengths of these finely tuned musicians who were in peak form from all of the touring they’ve currently been doing, allowing them to quickly find their groove both as individuals and as a unit. Performing that cut from City of Sound seemed like second nature to them. It was noticeable in the way they handled themselves; the finesse that Shaw exhibited when it came to interacting with the onlookers and building a rapport with them being inspiring. The relationship he and his band mates worked to achieve transcended the general performer/fan or creator/consumer relationship (however you wish to view it), bridging that gap by striving to make every last soul in the building feel as if they were an integral part of the show. A large runway type structure extended from the center stage, jutting out slightly into the crowd and that was where the vocalist spent a great deal of his time, making sure they were feeling it as he got out amongst them in a sense, frequently pointing the microphone towards everybody as he sprinted around.

Just in that opening number there was enough going on that it was almost overwhelming to the senses, just being so much to try to observe and take in and The Revivalists had barely begun to scratch the surface. Attention went back to Feinberg as he began to delicately pick at his axe, soon revealing the next song to be "It Was a Sin", which was met with roaring fanfare. There’s a cinematic quality to that tale of regret and remorse, the way it builds to something grand before tapering back, ultimately springing to life. Shaw continued to command the audience, giving them opportunities to sing along at various moments; while Ingraham suddenly disappeared from sight, jumping down into the pit and standing on the barricade in front of fans that had scored a spot up front. Upon finishing his part on the saxophone, he proceeded to shake as many hands as he could, further delighting the already enthralled onlookers before racing back up to the stage.

Shaw followed his lead during the smooth and infectious "You and I", the vocalist leaving the stage and interacting even more directly with the patrons. During the other times he was constantly covering the length of the stage, he and his band mates pushing one another to go bigger and bolder; and at one moment he was he even seen sneaking over behind a member of the security team, quickly tapping him on the shoulder before running off, playfully smiling once the guy looked at him. The point is for the entire band this was about having fun, and they were fully embracing that concept. One song that exemplified that the best was “Oh No”. The sax and trumpet – performed by Girardot – were featured prominently and infused the groovy number with an undeniable party vibe that made it feel like an anthem whose intent was to get everyone moving. Indeed, it did, most every soul doing whatever their version of dancing was, just cutting loose and enjoying themselves and the superb music that was so conducive of an excellent time.

They meshed it with the lead single from Take Good Care, "All My Friends" already feeling like a long-standing favorite of The Revivalists’, who tore through the funky tune with searing passion. They even embellished it some, tacking a striking instrumental outro on to it, allowing the musicians to commit themselves to their craft in a different way than had been observed up to that point, spectators staring in awe of their abilities. "All in the Family" came as a pleasant surprise, that gem from Men Amongst Mountains demonstrating the more aggressive rock style that The Revivalists’ possess; the all-out assault Feinberg unleashed in the form of his wicked guitar solo hammering home just how wonderfully chaotic they can be when they so choose. Back on the other end of the spectrum was the rich and warm "Got Love", which was easily the most accurate song of the night, the love between performers and audience being mutual.

Their 75-minute long set just flew by. That was so clearly their aspiration: to get people lost in the music and performance and they achieved it, the final song of the night coming rather abruptly. It at least felt that way, being a bit shocking to think the night was already over with. The Revivalists went out with a bang thanks to their final couple of tracks, "Wish I Knew You" wrapping it all up in a soothing yet mighty fashion. “We’ll see you again. Somewhere, somehow…” Shaw remarked as they bid everyone farewell. An encore was imminent. However, what came as a surprise was the extent of it once the band members reemerged from the wings of the stage a couple of minutes later. That encore was something of a marathon, four songs stretching on for thirty additional minutes of pure bliss, climatic moments coming at every turn.

Some of the more reserved cuts had been saved for last, Shaw taking up an acoustic guitar as he spoke of a song he had written more than a decade before. One where the idea for it just struck him and the entire thing came together within the day. “It’s about catching fireflies,” he finished, the elated crowd reacting strongly to that. "Catching Fireflies" alone took up nearly a third of the time of their encore thanks to the remarkable crescendo they added to it, steadily building it up before letting it explode for a phenomenal finish. The robustly delicate originals followed one after another before The Revivalists switched gears for the finale. The lone cover of the night, they turned to Pink Floyd’s catalog for something a bit different by their standards. There are two perspectives that can be had concerning their rendition of “Have a Cigar”. One is that it was a rather straightforward cover. The song wasn’t altered in any significant way or anything, keeping it true to form; and usually it is better when an act does something to make their version stand apart from any other, leaving their mark on it so that it’s theirs. On the other hand, all of that was mostly irrelevant, because they did such a stellar job with that classic rock tune. It brilliantly highlighted the raw musical prowess of Girardot, Feinberg, Williams, Gekas, Campanelli, Ingraham and Howard, all of whom were able to showcase a different side of themselves. Even without attempting to redefine the track they still owned it, it being topnotch in every respect, capping the evening off in a memorable fashion.

There was no question about it, The Revivalists gave everything they had in them during the upwards of two hours that they had the stage, leaving it all out there underneath those lights. While the terms “show” and “performance” are often used interchangeably (and I, too, am guilty of that at times), it’s important to remember there is a distinction between the two. What The Revivalists unleashed on South Side Ballroom this night was a performance through and through, and one that could serve as a burning example to other acts as to what they should be like as a live act.

The showmanship that they exhibited – as both individuals and a group – was absolutely amazing. There was so much charisma about them that it was impossible to not be utterly transfixed by what they doing, keeping the onlookers’ eyes on a constant move, the leading role frequently shifting amongst the eight of them. To even call The Revivalists a well-oiled machine doesn’t seem to fully justify what they are capable of. As a group they have perfected the chemistry with one another, working off one another’s energy, yet each member and their brilliant talent also stood on their own, the imperative role they played always noticeable. That impeccable musicianship did rule the performance, but not so much so that it out did the fun atmosphere they worked tirelessly to cultivate. Like all performances this one was for the fans, and that was a fact The Revivalists were keenly aware of. As was stated earlier on, they took every step necessary to make the audience feel as if they were part of what was going on while simultaneously keeping them entertained. No easy feat, though they made it look effortless.

A carefully curated set list aided them on that endeavor, each song being strategically placed so that it could further enliven patrons, kicking things up a notch from where the previous number had just left it. And even with that aspect of the show being planned out, there was still a sense of spontaneity about it that allowed the performance to feel unpredictable. Just like the dynamics that went into it. Once it was all said and done The Revivalists had succeeded in delivering just what everyone in attendance had desired. More than just an entertaining way to break up the work week, they had given their fans an experience. An experience they got lost in, all the cares of the outside world melting away as they got lost in the music, allowing themselves to enjoy every last second of it. That’s primarily what music is about, providing an escape from reality, no matter how temporary. For an act to bring that into the live setting is something, especially in the scope that was seen this night. It’s a hallmark of a legitimate group of performers.

If you haven’t seen The Revivalists, you owe it to yourself to catch a show. At the very worst these guys exemplify every great quality of what a concert experience is supposed to be. At best, they elevate it. After witnessing them, I’m quite inclined to go with the latter. 2019 will continue to be a busy year for the band, who has dates scheduled through the fall at the moment. Those include an April 6th show at Key West Amphitheater in Key West, FL; a performance at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans, LA on April 26th; and a gig at The Fillmore in New Orleans on May 2nd. The eastern portion of the Unite States will be their focus during the summer; and on September 21st they can be seen at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO. A complete list of their upcoming events can be found HERE; and do give Take Good Care a listen via either iTUNES or GOOGLE PLAY. Set List: 1) “Criminal” 2) "It Was a Sin" 3) "You and I" 4) "When I'm with You" 5) “Oh No” 6) "All My Friends" 7) "Change" 8) "All in the Family" 9) "You Said it All" 10) "Got Love" 11) "Fade Away" 12) "Celebration" 13) "Wish I Knew You" Encore 14) "Catching Fireflies" 15) "Some People Say" 16) "Soulfight" 17) “Have a Cigar” (Pink Floyd cover)

[terryblount]

All The Game Announcements From The Xbox E3 2019 Briefing

With Sony not making an E3 appearance this year, Xbox gets prime time attention for its briefing. And the Xbox E3 2019 briefing is pretty alright. They revealed about 60 games on stage, 14 of which by their first-party Xbox Game Studios. And 34 of the games will be, or are now available, on Xbox Game Pass, their monthly gaming subscription.

Here’s a rundown on all the game announcements from the Xbox E3 2019 briefing.

The Outer Worlds

Starting with a bang is a new trailer of Obsidian’s final non-first party release. The new trailer for the RPG showcased more locales, weapons and highlighted you can make choices in the game: good, evil, or somewhere in-between like a true psychopath. They know.

The Outer Worlds will be releasing on October 25th

Bleeding Edge

Ninja Theory, the studio known for character action games like Heavenly Sword, DmC: Devil May Cry and Hellblade, showed off their new multiplayer game. Bleeding Edge looks like a 4v4 character action game. There’s an eclectic cast of characters, each with their own type (melee or range) and abilities.

A technical alpha test will start on June 27th on the Xbox One. You can sign up here.

Ori And The Will Of The Wisp

The beautiful 2D platformer sequel gets a new trailer and a new release date, February 11th, 2020. It will be out on Xbox One and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) and available on Xbox Game Pass on release.

Minecraft Dungeons

It’s no Minecraft 2, but rather a Minecraft Diablo-like from Mojang. With four players local and online co-op.Spring 2020 on PS4, PC (Microsoft Store), Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It is also available on Xbox Game Pass on release.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Hot of the heels of yesterday’s gameplay reveal, there’s a new trailer for Respawn’s single-player action game. Some new cinematics spliced with some gameplay seen from EA Play.

Blair Witch

A surprise announcement, this one. It’s a new first-person horror game based on the Blair Witch Project by Team Bloob, the makers of Layers Of Fear.

It will be out on August 30th on Xbox One and PC (Steam). It will also be on Xbox Game Pass on release.

Cyberpunk 2077

  CD Projekt RED’s ambitious open world RPG gets a new cinematic and a release date, April 16th, 2020.

Also, we got Keanu Reeves in the game as Johnny Silverhand. And we got Keanu shouting “CYBERPUNK!” on stage to the cheer of the crowd.

Spiritfarer

Developed by Thunder Lotus Games, this sweet-looking 2D indie game is all about building, crafting boats, exploring and making friends. And set the friends free. These friends are lost spirits which you must take care of as your job as Stella, ferrymaster to the deceased.

It’s a sweet, and poignant game. That also includes 2-player co-op.

It will be out on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Switch. It will be on Xbox Game Pass on release.

Battletoads

Beat-em-up revival of Rare’s classic gets a full showing. Now with 80’s cartoon aesthetic. Just like the original arcade release, there is three-player couch co-op. No release date however, but confirmed to be on Xbox Game Pass on release.

RPG TIme: The Legend Of Wright

An indie RPG that is set in a scrapbook. A pen-of-paper RPG of sorts. This is developed by Deskwork, a two-person development team from Japan, which should explain the art style.

It will be out in October 2020 for Xbox One as well as PC, iOS and Android.

Indie Sizzle Reel

The ID@Xbox sizzle reel showcase a lot of indie games. All of which will be available on Xbox Game Pass as they are released.

Some of the games include:

Dead State Drive

Star Renegades

Afterparty

Way To The Woods

Creature In The Well

Killer Queen Black

UnderMine

Pathologic 2

The Lord Of The Ring Living Card Game

The Good Life

Blazing Chrome

Spiritfarer

Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

Secret Neighbor

Supermarket Shriek

Blair Witch

Unto The End

Night Call

Riverbond

Felix The Reaper

Ikenfell

Totem Teller

Xbox Games Pass for PC

Xbox Games Pass for PC is out now. This is a separate subscription to Xbox Game Pass, and has a different library of PC games available, including very-much PC games like Paradox’s Imperator Rome and Sega’s Football Manager 2019.

Microsoft Flight Simulator

An all-new entry of Microsoft Flight Simulator revealed. It will be out next year on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.

Age Of Empires II Definitive Edition

A new trailer for the remaster of the seminal RTS sequel. As announced earlier, alongside a release on Windows 10 PC via Microsoft Store, it will come to Steam as well.

It will be out in Fall 2019.

Wasteland 3

Another now-first-party developer showing their not-first-party game like Obsidian. InXile’s Wasteland 3, the top-down RPG series that spawned Fallout, heads to Colorado in a new, wacky trailer.

It will be out later this year on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

Double Fine Joins Xbox Game Studios

They bought another one. Tim Schafer’s development studio joins the now the big family of Xbox Game Studios, now 14 studios strong. So we can safely expect another Psychonauts if the upcoming one is any good.

Psychonauts 2

New trailer focuses on the gameplay. Raz is in a suit. Combat and platforming should look familiar to the previous game (but hopefully better controls) and a look at the new villain.

The video description on Youtube reassures that Psychonauts 2 is still being released on PS4, PC and Xbox One, despite the acquisition.

LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga

All the nine Star Wars films, including the latest one coming this year, will be getting the Lego game treatment in 2020. Consider this a nice remaster of the original Lego Star Wars games, which started the series, plus the new movie trilogy.

It will be on PS4, PC, Xbox One and Switch

Dragon Ball Project Z – Dragon Ball Kakarot

The Dragon Ball RPG now has a full trailer and a new name. The stakes are high here as everyone is getting beaten by Freiza.

This trailer here features the English dub, the one aired on the Xbox briefing uses the original Japanese voiceovers.

It will be out in early 2020 for the PS4, PX and Xbox One.

12 Minutes

A game by Luis Antonio and published by Annapurna Interactive. An Interactive thriller about time loops of.. 12 minutes.

This is not exactly a new game, it made some rounds of press coverage in 2015, but it’s now getting released.

It will be out on PC and Xbox One.

Way To The Woods

A game by Anthony Tan. A deer mom and her fawn on an adventure. The game is now targeting a 2020 release on Xbox One and PC, “for real this time”.

Gears 5

Gears 5 is Xbox’s big game of this year. A new trailer just set up the mood for new protagonist Kait. The other showcases a cinematic of a new game mode, Escape. The last one, a Terminator Dark Fate character pack reveal. Because who doesn’t want to play a Terminator carrying a gun with a chainsaw bayonet.

Gears 5 will be out on September 10th.

Xbox Elite Controler Series 2

There’s a new revision of the Xbox Elite controller. Now with rubberised grips.

Dying Light 2

The open world zombie game gets a new trailer. Your character is Aiden and he’s not a silent protagonist like the first one.

The game also now have a new release window, moved to Spring 2020.

Forza Horizon 4 LEGO Speed Champions

How do you top showcasing a car on the E3 stage? Show a car made of Legos. The next Forza Horizon 4 expansion is topping Forza Horizon 3’s Hot Wheel expansion by partnering up with a different toy brand.

A new world called Lego Valley, new Lego-fied cars such as the McLaren Senna, Ferrari F40 Competizione and 1967 Mini Cooper S are among the content included in the expansion.

It will be out this week, June 13th.

Gears Pop

A new trailer of the Gears mobile game.

State Of Decay 2 Heartland

An actual story-based campaign is coming to the systems-driven open world zombie game. Scratch that, it’s out now.

Phantasy Star Online 2

For real this time? Phantasy Star Online 2, the popular free-to-play MMO in Japan, was first announced to be heading to the west (as in, released in English) since 2012. But this time it’s actually happening. At least for North America.

It will be out on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs.

Crossfire X

Smilegate’s FPS is now coming to Xbox One in 2020. The South Korean developers have ammased over 650 million players and will be making their console debut. This version of the game will have a single-player campaign developed by Remedy Entertainment, as well as battle royale and multiplayer. It will be out in 2020, and available on Xbox Game Pass on release.

Tales Of Arise

This is a new Tales Of game. Like the many entries before, it features a new cast of characters, new world and this time, a major art style upgrade.

The JRPG will be out on PS4, PC and Xbox One in 2020.

Borderlands 3

A new cinematic trailer shows the stakes- the importance of Sirens and how Lilith isn’t one of them anymore. And also hero shots of the Vault Hunters, the villains Calypso Twins and the supporting cast.

Also, the first acknowledgment of the term “shloot”. Urgh.

Also, Borderlands 2 is getting a free DLC now. Commander Lilith And The Fight For Sanctuary bridges the gap of Borderlands 2 and 3.

Elden Ring

A new game by From Software and George R. R. Martin of A Song Of Ice And Fire fame. Yes, those rumour and leaks are true.

It will be published by Bandai Namco.

Project xCloud

The game streaming service will begin testing in October through the Xbox One. This should be similar to how PS Now.

Project Scarlett

The next Xbox console is teased and its codename revealed to the public. Project Scarlett will have the latest Zen 2 CPU and Radeon RDNA (Navi) GPU by AMD, GDDR6 RAM and an SSD.

Specs-wise, it sounds like it will be similarly in power to Sony’s next Playstation, which is using the same AMD innards.

Project Scarlett will be out Holiday 2020.

Halo Infinite

After the Project Scarlett reveal is more footage of Halo Infinite, now confirmed as launch title for the next Xbox. It will also come to Xbox One and PC.

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There’s still time for us to save the Great Barrier Reef

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There’s still time for us to save the Great Barrier Reef

“It’s been pretty well established that if you take the present day coral and you put it into the future conditions, it will most likely die,” Mikhail Matz explains. The rather stark phrasing functions as something of an understatement these days. Just this week, a paper in Nature detailed the loss of fully half the coral on the Great Barrier Reef during the back-to-back bleaching of 2016 and 2017.

“But,” Matz goes on, lightly, “does it mean all the coral will die when they get to these conditions in real life? Not necessarily. This will depend on how much they would be able to evolve.”

Matz is an evolutionary biologist at University of Texas at Austin, and, for a coral researcher, his outlook can seem surprisingly hopeful. In a study published today in PLOS Genetics, Matz and coauthors calculated the likelihood of Australian corals adapting to—and, at least for a while, surviving—climate change. According to their model, some corals on the Great Barrier Reef will be able to stick around for at least another century, more than 50 years longer than current worst-case estimates, thanks to good old-fashioned evolution.

Unlike the models we usually talk about when we talk about climate change, the model Matz’s team built is genetic, not climactic. In other words, they didn’t just ask how modern corals would fare in a much warmer ocean; they asked how corals well would adapt to those warming waters over time. “The capacity of corals to adapt to climate change is the largest missing number of the equation to predict what will happen to them in the future,” Matz explains over the phone. To try to answer this question, Matz’s team sampled a common reef-building coral called Acropora from five locations along the Great Barrier Reef. They used the genotypes of these corals to estimate the total genetic diversity of the Great Barrier Reef as well as the pattern of dispersal of larvae along north to south currents.

It turns out there are three key pieces of information that, evolutionarily speaking, give the Great Barrier Reef’s corals a leg up. One, he explains, is that every species of coral on the Reef currently exists across a variety of conditions, including different temperatures. Corals on the northern part of the reef tend to experience warmer water on average than corals along the Reef’s southern stretch. The second important thing is that these corals adapt to a range of local conditions as well, tolerating hotter, sunnier climes closer to the surface of the ocean and cooler ones the deeper they are on a reef.

And for the third? Because of the way corals breed, releasing their eggs and sperm into the water in a single spawning event timed to the moon, fertilized larvae can drift along ocean currents for hundreds of miles before settling down to grow into colonies. The result is that roughly 1 percent of corals in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef originally came from the far north, where the conditions are much warmer, Matz explains. This means that adaptations developed in one set of conditions on the Reef have the potential to spread to other populations.

All this paints a picture of the Great Barrier Reef’s overall genetic wealth, a wealth that Matz says will likely survive even dramatic levels of population loss. It would take a reduction of much higher magnitude than the 50 percent population loss seen between 2014 and 2017 before the genetic variety of the reef could be noticeably reduced.

“Because the reefs that experienced strong die-off only represent a small fraction of the total species range, the species overall did not really experience much decline in numbers,” Matz points out. And even if you did lose half of all the individuals in a species, “What would you immediately lose? Half of the rarest genetic variants found in only one individual, yes,” he says. But as for more common variants, he goes on, you’d only lose a quarter of those genes present in only two individuals, one-eighth of those present in 3 individuals, and so on. Variants that are found in only 10 individuals (“Out of the whole species! Still pretty rare”) would only have about a one in 1000 chance of being lost.

“They have safety in numbers, in genetic terms,” Matz says. “It is like currency in your pocket, fuel for your car. If you have genetic diversity, you will go on for a while, because natural selection will always have something to choose from.”

In other words, the outlook for the Great Barrier Reef might be better than it looks through the lens of recent events: “Things will hold on for a while. There might be quite dramatic die-offs of reefs, then they will regrow,” Matz explains. “And as long as this cycle of regrowth continues, I believe that everything will be fine.”

The uncertainty lies in the “if” statements that Matz’s model is build upon, as he acknowledges. His model tends to low-ball the genetic diversity and advantage the reef has, he says, even considering the fact that his samples were collected before the heat wave that killed millions of Acropora colonies. But it also takes a potentially conservative view on how fast warming will occur in the future: just one tenth of a degree per decade. That’s the middle road in the range of climate predictions from best case scenario to worst, and there’s little that is moderate about the world’s current emissions path.

“The more dramatic the disturbances get”—drama like 2016 and 2017’s mass die-offs—“the more likely something could come in and mess up our predictions,” Matz admits. “Climate change is all about things becoming freakier and freakier. Every year is weirder than the one before.”

By definition, that kind of uncertainty is almost impossible to model. Computer models, whether of the climate or a population’s genetic survival, are built out of our understanding of how past events unfolded to create the present. Using records and observational data, we build an approximation of how the world has worked under certain variables, and then we try to peer into the future by dialing those variables into the unknown. Like tuning a TV with bad reception—or like a psychic with a good eye for your unconscious tells—these models can often show us the rough outline the future may take, but they cannot show things which have no historical analogue. If it’s never happened before, we are unlikely to be able to make it happen in a computer model, no matter how much data we have to start with.

“I hope the authors are correct,” says Ruth Gates, president of the International Society for Reef Studies and director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. The ISRS issued a statement in 2015 predicting that the majority of the world’s reef would be gone by 2050, a good 50 years before Matz’ model predicts. “When we generated the statement, we had lost 30 percent of the world’s reefs as a result of two global bleaching events,” Gates says. “Today we have now lost 50 percent of the world’s reefs,” including a third of the Great Barrier Reef.

The gap between what has been lost to climate change and what remains to lose can often divide scientists and communicators alike. The urgency of drawing attention to the vast and unprecedented upheaval of entire global systems can often sink a listener, like a pinball fumbled between the flippers, into defeat and apathy. But paint too rosy a picture, and you risk giving a false sense of security. Matz has called out research into so-called “assisted evolution”—the idea that humans might need to boost the natural evolution of corals to help them keep pace with a changing world. He says that compared to the vast diversity of the reef itself, any lab-based experiment in evolution will be less powerful than the real thing. Other scientists, like Gates and her collaborator at the Australia Institute of Marine Biology, Madeleine van Oppen, have argued that it’s too late to not explore every possible avenue for coral survival, including assisted evolution.

Part of the tension comes from the fact that corals do have an ability to adapt or evolve to their environment, but it’s not clear how far that ability will be able to stretch. “There is evidence that some coral are able to adapt very rapidly,” says Andrea Grottoli, a coral biologist at Ohio State University. “But it is not the norm.”

In a study published last year, Grottoli examined “super corals” in the Red Sea, which are able to survive five or six times more heat stress than those that perished on the Great Barrier Reef between 2015 and 2017. “There are locations on the planet that are already pre-adapted, like those. We have also shown experimentally that some species can adapt to heat stress within a year,” she points out, suggesting that some adaptation is clearly possible.

“But that is probably not the norm,” Grottoli points out. And there are too many unknowns in the system to say that this will happen for sure. For example, a 2009 study subjected coral larvae to acidified ocean water as they tried to form their initial skeletal structures. “They just make a crappy skeleton,” she said—weak, brittle, poorly formed. A genetic capacity to deal with Red Sea-level temperatures once they’re adults isn’t very helpful if they can’t survive the larval stage.

“There are still a billion survivors out there, and they’ve gone through a hell of a natural selection event,” says Terry Hughes, lead author of the Nature paper that found half the Great Barrier Reef’s corals died between 2015 and the end of 2017. Hughes has a grimly determined glass-half-full attitude, perhaps the result of surveying Australia’s bleached-white reefs starting in 2016 and 2017. This week’s Nature paper is only the latest of a series of studies he’s published cataloguing and categorizing the losses. “Our focus now should be on ensuring that those survivors which are genetically diverse can rebound as much as possible. The recovery’s going to take a decade, and it’s contingent on how many bleaching events we get in that period,” Hughes said. Another “if” to content with.

“Much of what is seen when you talk about reefs becoming more resilient is the result of simple darwinian fitness—you know, the survival of the fittest,” says NOAA’s Mark Eakin, Hughes’ coauthor. In any event where you lose individuals but some survive, you’re generally left with the tougher members of the species. But, Eakin says, if the creatures continue to suffer hit after hit, then even the fit ones are going to eventually die. “A mass extinction is going to be made up of a whole lot of smaller extinction events that are added together,” says Eakin. “It’s not one big boom and instantly everything falls over.”

“There are still a lot of corals, genetic diversity is still pretty considerable,” Matz says. His model, and the extra decades of wiggle room it suggests, to him means we should be fighting twice as hard to reduce emissions and get climate change under control while we still can. “I’ve seen claims that corals are dying, that’s it, bye bye,” he says. If that’s the case, he says, it would be too late to do anything. Instead, he sees hope—for now. “If we don’t do anything, it will get desperate. There’s still time for us to come to our senses.”

Written By Amelia Urry

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State’s Videos of the Week #37

In the last two months I have become mildly obsessed with making playlists. This compulsion to accumulate all of my favourite songs that embody a certain emotion was brought about by something that I believed could only be remedied by music. It sounds cheesy and frankly, it is an overwhelmingly emotionally charged playlist that features 107 songs lasting just shy of seven hours. There’s no Celine Dion present but there’s plenty Leonard Cohen, Roy Orbison and Radiohead on it instead.

Compiling that playlist was extremely cathartic. It also made a tough time significantly easier because when I had to go about habitual banal parts of my routine. I was saved from trying to find a track that I knew would make me feel better or that I could relate to the sentiment of the melody or lyrics. Essentially, my brain was on autopilot and anything that made a simple task even easier was essential. When I bumped into people that I hadn’t seen I would steer them to that playlist within the first five minutes of the conversation. It became an emotional crutch that I became too reliant on. I attribute this attachment to the safety and comfort I found in those 107 songs.

It was, and remains, like a snapshot of how I felt during that time. Listening to it now I’m instantly reminded of how I felt when I played that particular playlist soon after it had been conceived. I listened to it exclusively for about two weeks until one day I was forced to stop, mainly because when you write album reviews you have to listen extensively to that work. If I didn’t have that responsibility I may still be going through those same songs for the thousandth time. Stepping away from it was important because it gave me time to reclaim my excitement of discovering new music and musicians – which would subsequently be a catalyst for another organised selection of related tracks – and to not become so dependent on one thing. I returned to that original playlist for the first time the other day. Immediately, I was struck by how different I felt listening to it having distanced myself from it. I realised that I had reached a point of not letting the sentiments affect me so easily. I won’t be deleting that particular curation anytime soon because I see it as a diary of sorts, a reminder of a time I thought I would find impossible to come through but with the right external entities – friends, family and seven hours of music – I got through it.

Around the same time, Frank Ocean started his blonded RADIO show. A new episode would bring a fresh playlist on his Spotify profile of the songs he played throughout the shows. The refresh of the playlists brings so excitement to the Saturday mornings when I see a shift in the titles and artists featured. It has become my favourite way of finding new bands, but also, looking at what someone puts on a playlist provides an interesting insight into a person. You can try to decipher a person’s headspace through the names they give a playlist or the figuring out the common thread between the songs to indicate whether it is a somber or euphoric collection.

Since then, I have made more upbeat compilations to enjoy whilst tidying, cooking, working, walking and every other time I listen to music. I’m always looking for an excuse to make a playlist for either myself or a friend. It so much fun compiling songs and sharing them with someone that you know (or at least hope) will really enjoy and appreciate the music that you love.

The I.L.Y’s – ‘Gargoyle / Bobo’ (Third Worlds)

“When are you going to stop doing things for no reason?” That is a question raised in the first of two videos shared by Death Grips side-project, The I.L.Y’s on Saturday. Fortunately, it would seem that the duo do not plan to stop making music anytime soon. It was announced recently that Zach Hill and Andy Morin will be releasing their third digital record, Bodyguard later this year. It has only been nine months since Scum With Boundaries was made available, we are made aware of how prolific Hill and Morin are with both this project and Death Grips. Despite having never performed live together as The I.L.Y’s or utilising publicity to promote their music, the side project have managed to gather a substantial following of existing fans and people who appreciate the songs separately from what you hear on Bottomless Pit and The Money Store. The video for these two new songs, ‘Gargoyle’ and ‘Bobo’ are true to the experimental and and absurdist nature of Hill and Morin’s creative output. We’re definitely excited to hear Bodyguard in full when it comes out.

Blood Orange – ‘With Him / Best To You / Better Numb’ (Domino)

The arrival of a new Blood Orange video is one that you should dedicate time to, especially if Dev Hynes’ Freetown Sound is foreign audio territory. This musical triptych combines three very different songs from Blood Orange’s third album in this nine minute long music video. The differences of the music is reflected visually with how Hynes choose to represent the songs visually. The social issue of black people being subjected to injustice on the street is portrayed in the ‘With Him’ vignette, meanwhile Hynes’ talent as a multi instrumentalist -in this instance, his abilities with the bass – are demonstrated casually as he plays in a lovely conservatory style living area. Finally, following a black and white story featuring a couple for the ‘Better Numb’ portion of this video we are given a minute long shot of Dev dancing in an empty dance hall. His movements show that he is in tune with his body and he uses it as another medium of artistic expression. It’s mesmerising to watch him dance and it, it will certainly get you off the couch to try emulate some of his moves.

Mount Kimbie Feat. James Blake – ‘We Go Home Together’ (Warp Records)

British electronic duo, Dominic Maker and Kai Campos of Mount Kimbie have been working away on their third studio album, which fans have been waiting for since Cold Spring Fault Less Youth which was released four years ago. Last week the band shared a Spotify playlist of songs that they have been listening to whilst working away in the studio which includes songs by rapper Jonwayne, rock experimentalists Ariel Pink and the always ambient Beach House. Such diversity would lead you to wonder how these artists will impact on how their forthcoming record will sound. Mount Kimbie’s current single, ‘We Go Home Together’ features James Blake is instantly enjoyable, it is moody and sultry, serving as a perfect segway to the band if you were not already familiar with their music.

Clipping – ‘True Believer’ (Sub Pop)

Clipping have been together for nearly ten years, over that time they have crafted a highly unique style of blending hip hop with abrasively industrial production that goes between very heavy songs to softer melodies such as heard on their latest single, ‘True Believer.’ The track is from Clipping’s second album entitled Splendor & Misery which has previously spawned videos for  ‘Baby Don’t Sleep’ and ‘Air ‘Em Out’. ‘True Believer’ is visually aided by a black astronaut taking to space without his vessel, instead ascending to the sky unaided by man made methods of transportation, but as one can only assume, through his own belief of self. It’s a simple video but very beautiful and effective. Appropriately, Clipping received a nomination for a Hugo Award in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form for their current album. This award acknowledges and commends science fiction/fantasy under a number of mediums including literature,cinema, comics, visual art, television and music.

Beach Fossils – ‘Saint Ivy’ (Bayonet Records)

Another band with a four year gap between albums that feature with a new music video this week is Beach Fossils. The last time we heard from the American lo-fi indie trio they conveyed melancholic, jumpy and vibrant sentiments on ‘Sleep Apnea’ and ‘Shallow’, highlights from their last album. The band are set to share their third record Somersault on the 2nd of June via Bayonet Records. ‘Saint Ivy’ follows nicely after ‘This Year’, which possessed several Real Estate tendencies in it’s arrangement and production. With what we have heard so far from the forthcoming album it seems that we can expect  lighter, jovial tunes perfect for summer evenings spent with pals by the canal beneath the sun.

Pond – ‘The Weather’ (Marathon Artists)

Australian psychedelic quartet Pond once had Kevin Parker (of Tame Impala) and Cameron Avery amongst its members and collaborations. The narrative of the video flows with a collage of vintage footage of glamourous ladies, extravagant surroundings and handsome business type men that you could imagine were originally used to advertise trivial luxuries like cars and aftershaves. Luckily, ‘The Weather’ is more contemporary in how it sounds, looks aren’t everything after all. The guitar, distortion effects on the vocal make no secret of the Tame Impala connection and overall this is ambient song tends to lack, it feels as though there is something slightly missing to give it that extra push from being a good introduction to Pond’s upcoming seventh album of the same name as the current single.

http://state.ie/features/79165

Originally Published on State.ie, April 2017.