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Warning: SPOILER for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 9 – “weJ Duj (Three Ships)”.

Captain Kirk’s infamous opening scene in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is parodied by Star Trek: Lower Decks with Ensign D’Vana Tendi and Dr. T’Ana potentially finishing the one mission Kirk never did. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 9, “weJ Duj (Three Ships),” the Lower Deckers aboard the USS Cerritos pair up with a “bridge buddy” for some rest and recreation during a long-haul warp flight. Tendi and T’Ana decide to recreate Kirk’s Yosemite vacation gone wrong in Star Trek 5.

The William Shatner-directed Star Trek V ranks as least-loved of the movies starring the cast of Star Trek: The Orignal Series and scenes like Kirk at Yosemite National Park are partly why. After a prologue introduces Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill), the half-brother of Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the action turns to Kirk climbing El Capitan at Yosemite. The Captain’s ascent is interrupted by Spock, who is wearing a pair of hover boots that allow him to fly. Kirk is so distracted by Spock that he loses his footing and ends up plummeting off the mountain. Of course, Spock saves his best friend. Kirk and Spock later join Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) around the campfire later that night to sing “Row Row Row Your Boat” before they are summoned back aboard the Starship Enterprise.

In Star Trek: Lower Decks, Ensign Tendi (Noël Wells) and Dr. T’Ana (Gillian Vigman) climb El Capitan together in a holodeck simulation of Yosemite National Park and they are interrupted by Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), who wears hover boots like Spock and the same “Go climb a rock” sweatshirt that Kirk is wearing aboard the bridge of the Enterprise in Star Trek V. In Lower Decks, Boimler’s flying footwear malfunctions and he plummets hundreds of feet, although Bradward’s life is saved by tree branches. Meanwhile, it’s implied that the Orion Ensign and the Caitian Starfleet doctor finished their climb because they weren’t far from El Capitan’s summit and they weren’t particularly concerned about Boimer since they assumed the holodeck’s safety protocols were on. If Tendi and T’Ana did make it to the top of El Capitan, then they finished the climb Kirk never did.

Star Trek V never made it clear whether Kirk ever actually made it to the top of El Capitan. At the end of Star Trek V, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy returned to Yosemite to resume their shore leave, but the film ends with the Enterprise trio once again singing “Row Row Row Your Boat” around the campfire. It’s possible that Kirk didn’t go back to climb that giant rock, especially since Bones was furious that Kirk nearly died the first time he tried it. Not that Kirk always heeds his doctor’s advice, but the captain of the Enterprise could have just settled for enjoying camping on terra firma with his best friends instead of risking his life ascending El Capitan once again.

Despite Star Trek V‘s less than stellar reputation among Trekkers, William Shatner’s The Final Frontier continues to have an indelible influence on Star Trek and there’s a reason why Lower Decks loves to reference it. Star Trek V has its flaws but at the core of the film is the reaffirmation of the friendship between Kirk, Spock, and Bones. Sybok tests the bond of the Enterprise trio but they emerged from their encounter with “God” as steadfast as ever.

Similarly, Star Trek: Lower Decks is a testament to the friendship of the Cerritos’ junior officers, Ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawney Newsome), Boimler, Tendi, and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). The weird aspects of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier are natural fodder for Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ comedy, which celebrates everything strange but wonderful about being in Starfleet. Star Trek: Lower Decks also reveres Kirk and Spock, and the Captain of the Enterprise might be amused that his climbing El Capitan is now mimicked by others in Starfleet, even if they get to finish the ascent Kirk didn’t.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Source: Tech Crunch

Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.

Is World of Warcraft still worth playing in 2021? Blizzard’s long-running MMORPG has certainly gotten up there in age, but the commitment to making changes to improve the game’s overall experience, including the approach of Patch 9.1.5 for Shadowlands, has meant playing the game in 2021 is still worthwhile. In fact, the MMORPG seems to keep getting better – and, considering the last several years for context, it’s definitely possible that Shadowlands is at least the game’s best showing in its modern era, even with all the recent controversies surrounding Blizzard.

Answering whether or not World of Warcraft is worth playing can be difficult since the answer varies so dramatically based on what players want. With that said, those looking for hyper-specific, niche benefits to playing may not always find what they’re looking for, even if the general consensus surrounding the MMO’s overall gameplay is positive. There were plenty of players who enjoyed Warlords of Draenor, after all, despite that expansion’s less-than-stellar reputation within the game’s larger community. Ignoring the fact that there will inevitably be no unified opinion, however, the question of “is World of Warcraft worth playing in 2021?” can be broken down into two separate responses: one detailing whether new players will enjoy it, and one discussing the experience of returning veterans.

The answer to both those questions is yes, albeit each group may find World of Warcraft worth playing in 2021 for different reasons. World of Warcraft: Shadowlands reviews were positive, player engagement is waning but still strong, and the world of Azeroth is still very much alive. Here’s why WoW is worth playing in 2021, regardless of a player’s previous involvement with the MMORPG.

For new players, “is WoW worth playing in 2021?” boils down to “how hard is it to get into World of Warcraft in 2021?” The answer to that question has been “not very” for some time now, as Blizzard consistently worked to make its MMORPG more accessible to newer players. However, the massive overhauls that came with Shadowlands have set a high bar for the new player experience in WoW, making it easier than ever for beginners to start their adventures in Azeroth.

The Shadowlands release brought with it a completely revamped leveling system that makes World of Warcraft progression feel smoother and more meaningful. Blizzard reduced the inflated level cap to a much more reasonable 60, condensing the game’s scattered abilities, talents, and upgrades into a much tighter path of progression. The result is each level earned feeling like a meaningful addition to a larger experience, and the game’s introductory levels have also been streamlined, making what was once a daunting experience a much more digestible endeavor.

Finally – and perhaps most importantly – Shadowlands’ level squish also fixed the game’s story. World of Warcraft progression pre-Shadowlands wasn’t necessarily a mess, but the result of years of expansions being stacked on top of each other (with tweaks that only directly considered whichever one was most recent) made for an uneven narrative. Players progressed through cool environments way too rapidly, often departing stories mid-way through because they’d out-leveled the adventure. Part of the reason WoW has been so successful over the years is the way it marries its storyline concerns to the way players progress to its endgame, and emotional investment in characters like Thrall and Jaina is hard to build when they’re jumping in and out of the player’s arc at seemingly random times.

Thankfully, Shadowlands introduced a much tighter narrative progression system, one that sees newer players guided through the story content that’s most relevant to the new WoW expansion prior to engaging with it. If new players decide to reroll a character afterward, they’ll be able to choose a zone to make their focus leveling, letting them stick to one story arc and see what it has to offer without feeling like their progression path is suboptimal or outright nonexistent. It’s a welcome change and one that’s likely had even veterans revisiting their favorite expansions with new characters just to relive iconic story beats.

For the most part, Blizzard has World of Warcraft down to a science, which is why WoW is still popular in 2021. Character arcs, class roles, itemization, and more have all been carefully honed over the years and are now implemented with mostly minor hiccups. If there’s one thing that has seemed virtually unsolvable in World of Warcraft‘s long history, though, it’s how to make the WoW endgame fun for the entirety of an expansion – if that’s even possible. For veteran players, “is WoW worth playing in 2021?” is almost certainly a question that can only be answered by an assessment of its current endgame design.

How Shadowlands endgame feels probably depends a lot on a given player’s reception to the Great Vault mechanic, but it’s got some strong characteristics going for it. The Great Vault essentially provides a hub for endgame players that helps them sort out which content they’re “meant” to be doing in a given week, giving players loot based on the content they did in the week prior. The Great Vault also gives players choices – the more content they complete in a given week, the more options they’ll have with regards to the loot they acquire from the system, removing some of the frustration of reward gear not being a good fit for a player’s needs.

The Great Vault also helpfully keeps track of what a character has accomplished that week, further reducing the frustration of missing out on one of WoW’s endgame loot cycles. There are still some concerns over the Great Vault – like whether or not it’s enough of a reward for those sinking in the most time – but by and large, the system is a new idea from Blizzard that’s helped make the Shadowlands endgame more accessible without making it feel too simplified or mundane.

There’s also Torghast, the World of Warcraft answer to rougelike dungeon exploration. Torghast mixes up the way endgame progression usually goes, randomizing more than just loot drops while also offering Torghast-specific character builds that grow more powerful the deeper a player gets in a run. Torghast hasn’t been for everyone, and it can still be a vexing element of the game whenever runs go awry, but it’s yet another addition to World of Warcraft’s endgame content that has improved and diversified its experience.

Since Shadowlands launched last year, WoW has gotten bug fixes and balancing updates, including the most recent fixes to the Sanctum of Domination on September 24. Of course, the recent lawsuits and controversies surrounding Activision-Blizzard have likely diminished some of the goodwill players felt after Shadowlands‘ release, but looking at the game solely as an MMO, WoW still holds up incredibly well. In the meantime, fans are eagerly awaiting Patch 9.1.5, which will add a number of player-requested changes to WoW. For these reasons, World of Warcraft is still very much worth playing in 2021.

Source: Tech Crunch

Nuclear Blaze is an upcoming 2D action platformer that puts players in the role of a firefighter tasked with putting out radioactive flames – and rescuing cute cats along the way. It is being developed by Deepnight Games, who impressed gamers with 2017’s corpse-possessing roguelike Dead Cells. Dead Cells would go on to inspire plenty of indie Metroid-like titles such as last year’s Forgone, and a DLC expansion subtitled Fatal Falls was released back in January.

Last month, Deepnight announced its newest 2D side-scrolling adventure Nuclear Blaze, which is currently set to launch on Steam on October 18. As a firefighter who is airdropped inside a secret underground military facility, players will have to explore Metroid-style levels as they work to extinguish constantly spreading fires by aiming their trusty fire hose in any direction they please, investigate the source of the ongoing inferno, and even engage in the time-honored firefighter’s tradition of rescuing cats. Nuclear Blaze features the smooth controls of Dead Cells (as designed by former Motion Twin associate Sébastien Benard), a designated “Kid Mode” for younger players, and multiple unique levels packed with hidden secrets and side-stories as players unravel the mystery behind the shady military complex.

Nuclear Blaze looks to be a fun take on the classic Metroidvania formula of exploring large maze-like dungeons packed with hidden secrets and Easter Eggs. This formula can also be seen in the critically acclaimed Metroid Dread, which will release on October 8th. Firefighting is a relatively unexplored profession among recent video games save for a few simulators, so this title will hopefully stand out from the Metroidvania crowd. Players will be able to strap on their fire hoses, put out a few loose flames and even rescue some adorable kitties when Nuclear Blaze launches on Steam on October 18.

Source: Tech Crunch

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Inferno #1

In Marvel Comics’ new Inferno event, the X-Men’s Wolverine can’t escape reliving one of his most iconic deaths over and over again. The anti-mutant organization Orchis has grown too powerful with the return of the Sentinel Nimrod, though there’s been very little the mutants of Krakoa have been able to do to stop them. While the island nation has been continually sending teams to try and destroy Orchis, none have been successful despite resurrecting and sending the same mutants with each attempt. This includes Wolverine, who’s been stuck in a brutal loop experiencing one of his most brutal deaths multiple times over.

In this first issue of Inferno from Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti, it’s revealed that Krakoa has already tried sixteen times to destroy Orchis and Nimrod using a variety of means. While a few attempts have involved hiring assassins and sending the alien Brood to do the job, the majority have been the deployment of the same mutants over and over again. However, no matter what they’ve tried everything has failed. Nimrod has proven to be too powerful, able to counter all kinds of abilities and destroying the mutant teams with extreme prejudice. While Wolverine has been a part of the X-Force teams sent with every resurrection, the end result has never been pretty.

Inferno #1 depicts Krakoa’s sixteenth attempt, seeing Nimrod defeating Domino, Omega Kid, and Wolverine as he’s apparently done several times before. However, Nimrod sears all of the flesh from Wolverine’s adamantium-covered bones, a nod to Logan’s most famous death by Sentinel as seen in Days of Future Past. Furthermore, as Orchis reviews the footage of this latest incursion, it’s revealed that they’ve been collecting Wolverine’s skeletons of which they now have several thanks to Logan’s vicious cycle of resurrection after continually experiencing one of the worst ways he’s ever gone out in Marvel Comics’ past.

While Krakoa has a store of adamantium they’ve been using to regraft the metal to Wolverine’s skeleton whenever he needs to be resurrected, they must be running low of the nearly indestructible and rare metal. Logan’s past skeletons continue to fall into Orchis’ hands, and there’s no telling what they might do with them going forward. It’s certainly possible that it could all come back to haunt the former Weapon X with the upcoming X Lives/Deaths of Wolverine event. Perhaps Orchis finds a way to weaponize the adamantium skeletons down the line, forcing Wolverine to fight elements of his own past selves.

In any case, it’s going to be interesting to see where Krakoa goes from here. Seeing as how the resurrected mutants have no memory of the incursions, it looks as though they’re going to keep trying until they succeed (despite their inability to learn and adapt from their mistakes). All Krakoa knows is that Nimrod is back online and Orchis must be destroyed. As such, Wolverine seems determined to stop them at all costs, even if it means continually reliving one of his worst deaths ever.

Source: Tech Crunch

The first image of the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts designs for the G-1 Autobots and Decepticons has been revealed. The Transformers live-action films, adapted from the cartoon and toy line of the same name, began in 2007 with the Michael Bay Transformers starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Rise of the Beasts, which is currently filming, is the seventh film in the franchise, including the successful 2018 spin-off film Bumblebee. The film was written by Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters and is directed by Steven Caple Jr., who previously helmed Creed II.

The film is based on Transformers: Beast Wars, the cartoon series from the ’90s. It’s a prequel that will introduce several new characters to the live-action universe, including Rhinox and the “beast mode” Optimus Primal, a captain of the Maximals. Other beloved characters like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime will also be appearing. Rise of the Beasts will also explore how Optimus Prime became devoted to protecting humanity.

On his Instagram, Steven Caple Jr. posted a first-look image of the designs for the first-generation Transformers. The first image displays the Autobots, decked out in pastels with retro designs, looking not dissimilar to vehicles James Bond would have driven back in the day. The second image shows the Decepticons looking menacing with more muted, militaristic colors. Indeed, one design looks almost exactly like the evil truck in Steven Spielberg’s Duel. Check out the images below:

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is set about seven years after the events of Bumblebee and follows two archaeologists who get mixed up in a war between the Maximals, the Predacons, and the Terrorcons. It’s set in Brooklyn and parts of Peru, including Machu Picchu, as revealed in the Instagram post. The film will star Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Vélez, Tobe Nwigwe, and Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal. Transformers 7 will storm theaters on June 24, 2022.

This new glimpse at the Autobots and Decepticons continues the trend of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts pushing for more accurate interpretations of the original Transformers from the animated series. Caple focuses on brighter, poppier colors and sleek designs over the complicated CGI-laden work the Michael Bay films were known for. This is also in line with the style of Bumblebee, the more stripped-down tale that Rise of the Beasts directly follows on the Transformers timeline.

Source: Tech Crunch

Padma Lakshmi and Gail Simmons, host and judge of Bravo’s Top Chef, took to the streets of Houston on a rainy Saturday as part of a mass nationwide women’s march in protest of Texas’ restrictive abortion law. Top Chef season 19 is currently filming in Houston, their second time in the Lone Star State in more than a decade, formerly filming in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio. The new season will feature a panel of all-star judges made up of former Top Chef contestants, and Padma and Gail will be joined by judge and chef Tom Colicchio.

The abortion law by the State of Texas has been a controversial topic that has sparked the attention of celebrities and even the federal government. Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), as it is formerly known, outlaws abortions after six weeks of pregnancy with no further leniencies in instances of rape or incest. Some shows have decided not to film in Texas, including an upcoming show from the creator of The Wire. As of September 9, the Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas to prevent them from enforcing Senate Bill 8, claiming it violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The Women’s March was held in major cities on Saturday, including Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Houston, where Top Chef’s Padma and Gail led a large group of women shouting, “Our body, our choice!” in the march to City Hall. The duo took a break from filming to be a part of the protest, where they not only participated in the march but also spoke to a large audience. As reported by Houston’s local news outlet, CHRON, Padma recalled her own personal experiences where her mother had to have an abortion at Planned Parenthood after sustaining severe injuries from a car accident. “At that time, not only could my parents not afford another child, but her body could not physically sustain another pregnancy,” she said. “It’s out of love for me that they made the difficult decision to do what was right for our family and it’s out of love for my mother and all families that I stand here today, ready to fight.” Padma also revealed that she was raped when she was 16 years old. “My only saving grace was that I didn’t become pregnant,” she said. “I know how sexual violence can make people feel powerless, and this bill is a knife in the heart to those very same people.”

Gail shared that she had mixed feelings about filming the upcoming season of Top Chef in Houston due not only to the passing of SB 8 but also Texas’ voting rights restrictions. However, she told the crowd that the people of Houston’s stance on the bill contradicted that of the state’s, and it was important to recognize that. “I know that Houston is a deeply diverse and vibrant place,” said Gail. “I know that my beloved restaurant industry, let alone the women of Houston and all of Texas, need our support now more than ever and that personally choosing to back out of coming here would only serve to hurt the local people and the local economies that I set out in my career to uplift and stand behind.”

Padma and Gail didn’t come to Houston just to film Top Chef. These strong women used their voices to call upon local and national governments to stop SB 8 and to call out the Governor of Texas. The women were bringing the heat to the Women’s March and calling on the state officials to pack their knives and go.

Source: CHRON

Source: Tech Crunch

The House of the Dragon trailer reveals that it is fixing Game of Thrones’ Iron Throne mistake. The trailer shows a number of brief clips from the greatly-anticipated prequel series by HBO, one of which is a shot of the iconic metal seat — but looking quite different to the version audiences saw in the original show. The new throne is much wider, splaying out across the steps leading up to it, with sword points jutting out from the molten metal like the teeth of a dragon. Even the central chair is larger, more jagged, and far more imposing.

The Iron Throne is the central seat of power in Game of Thrones’ Westeros. Created for Aegon Targaryen after conquering the six kingdoms, the metal throne is said to be forged with dragon fire from the thousand swords of his enemies. The books by George R. R. Martin describe the chair as being huge and unsightly with steep metal steps leading up to the seat that was so dangerous, rulers couldn’t lean back against the sharp blades. The throne in HBO’s Game of Thrones, however, is much smaller than described, a hunk of molten steel sitting atop a short stone pedestal, as many sword hilts as blades decorating the backrest.

The Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon is making an Iron Throne that is much truer to the books than the original show’s version. Not only is the new throne more accurate to the source material, but it does a better job of serving as the intimidating symbol that it’s supposed to represent. It’s still not quite the monstrous structure described in the books, but it comes a lot closer than the comparatively casual-looking chair in HBO’s Game of Thrones.

The Iron Throne is not merely a seat of power, but a symbol of the conquest it took to establish the Targaryen dynasty. The melted swords surrendered or taken from Aegon’s foes serve as a reminder to all the members of the great houses of what happens to those who oppose the aptly named House of the Dragon. It also holds a message from Aegon to the Targaryen rulers to come, a deliberately sharp and dangerous chair to remind them that conquerors can never rest easy. The Game of Thrones version looks hard and severe but not very intimidating, and although its lack of comfort is mentioned on multiple occasions, numerous characters can be seen lounging nonchalantly in it. The House of the Dragon throne, however, looks genuinely dangerous, posing a serious threat to any who approach it — much less dare to sit upon it.

Although the Iron Throne in House of the Dragon is a lot more similar to the version in the books, it still is not quite the grotesque structure described in the source material. The pedestal is supposed to be steep and tall, allowing the rule to tower over the rest of the court. The danger of the chair still seems less extreme than the Iron Throne of the Game of Thrones books as well. The source material almost personifies the throne, recalling the countless rulers and members of the council it has cut. It’s even rumored that a Targaryen king who was found dead on the seat had been murdered by the throne itself. While the version in the trailer is a vast improvement on the original show, the new Iron Throne still lacks the proper size and a certain sinister aspect.

There are reasons that Game of Thrones provides a somewhat lackluster seat: it may have been a deliberate creative decision to showcase the decline of House Targaryen, or the initial production budget just didn’t room for a towering metal monolith. It also could have been a safety concern for the actors. Either way, the prequel series takes place during the prime years of the Targaryen dynasty, and it deserves the symbol of power and conquest that the books describe. Although it’s imperfect, the Iron Throne in the House of the Dragon trailer is certainly a massive improvement on that of Game of Thrones.

Source: Tech Crunch