Nuclear Monster

  • Apple’s streaming music subscription service, Apple Music, was released last week in addition to the new streaming radio station Beats: 1 and other features in the new versions of Music on iOS and iTunes on Windows and Mac OS X.

    I’ll admit that although I had tried Pandora and Spotify they’d never really stuck. Why not own my music and listen to the full albums I love instead of playlists? Why listen to ads alongside my favorite music?

    The three month trial of Apple Music has made me a quick convert for now, at least. As well as the low price, $15 for six of my family members isn’t that much more than what I was paying for one Spotify subscription. The killer feature is that the music matching (previously available in iTunes Match) will let you bring in any music that isn’t available for streaming. No Beatles to stream? If it was in your iTunes music library before, it’s available through Apple Music. iTunes Match was the thing that finally let me stop syncing my iPhone to my laptop.

    There’s something really strange about the new streaming  Beats: 1 radio station that launched alongside Apple Music. It’s good. 

    Unlike most other internet radio stations, there are hosts. A revolutionary concept, I know, but it’s how they host that is so different. They don’t sound like pre-programmed chatter bots with dumbass names like Free Beer and Hotwings from radio planet twelve in the marketing galaxy.

    The only part of Beats-1 that sounds pre-programmed are the rare advertising reads that are given by what sounds like a BBC presenter who usually says about five words before a track starts. Not between every track, so far it sounds like it’s once or twice an hour you might hear a few words. Way better than any of the terrestrial radio stations you might hear.

    One particular program I heard on the launch night was enough to make Beats: 1 post-worthy. St. Vincent had put together a mixtape for an 11-year old named Piper (who won a contest) and what do you know, this is really good. Even St. Vincent’s banter with Piper is good. 

    Earlier in the day there was still plenty of fine music to listen to. Some of which was new to me. The day-time (Pacific time) DJ’s has a more traditional radio jockey style, but almost no ads and it didn’t sound like it was ruined by the influence of the record industry. Awesome.

    The ads that were there were voiced by a tonally inappropriate genericly British accented person which was a bit hilarious to hear him talking about some hotel chain for a half second with rap going on underneath.

    The only downside to Beats: 1 is that the music was edited for radio with no explicit option when the old iTunes radio stations had an explicit language option. Beats: 1 is available to everyone who has iTunes on a Mac, on Windows, or on the iOS Music app, there’s no fee to listen to it.

  • Tyler Wilde:

    I’d bring the multiplayer back to the basics. Good ideas introduced in CoD 4–the ideas that had me obsessed with it for months–have been added to and iterated on and it’s out of control. CoD 4’s unlock system was just about leveling. It was easy to set goals (I worked hard for the Barrett .50cal and was ecstatic when I unlocked it), and loadout decisions felt a lot more meaningful–they weren’t overwhelming, at least.

    The last few Call of Duty games have been somewhat disappointing. Super convoluted. Nobody liked Ghosts but Advanced Warfare’s multiplayer still isn’t that fun. The DLC system has been insulting to players, paying for loadout slots and personalization packs? Come on. Look at this shit:

    Look at all that juice

    I can’t even get my browser window tall enough on my laptop to show them all in one screenshot.

  • There’s a new ship (link plays sound) in the sci-fi space simulation video game Star Citizen. It’s a luxury space yacht called Genesis Starliner that you can’t fly because Star Citizen is still an idea with a few alpha prototype demos. This concept-art bullship will cost you 400 real life dollars to virtually acquire. and by necessity the developer now includes this disclaimer:

    Remember: we are offering this pledge ship to help fund Star Citizen’s development. All of these ships will be available for in-game credits in the final universe, and they are not required to start the game. Additionally, all decorative ‘flare’ items will also be available to acquire in the finished game world. The goal is to make additional ships available that give players a different experience rather than a particular advantage when the persistent universe launches.

    As far as I can tell, the phrasing “available for in-game currency” actually means “temporarily available when you spend in-game spacebux.” So you could get access to a ship for a few days, but there isn’t any permanence to that purchase.

    The process of purchasing a ship in Star Citizen at this point and being able to even play in the alpha is byzantine. First you must choose a game package that includes a ship in the style you might like to play as. But you also have to know what style of play you’re going to want and choose a ship that suits that style with real money before you have the chance to try it out. How can anyone make that choice?

    It’ll cost you even more if you decide that instead of space-dogfighting you would rather have a ship more suited to long-haul space trucking. If you purchase the $400 Genesis Starliner and decide that luxury yachting isn’t for you, well tough shit because you didn’t even get alpha or beta access with your $400, or access to any other ships, or even the game when it’s finished. Only some game packages  include access to different versions of the game.

    If you’re truly feeling generous you could even sign-up for a subscription that gives Roberts Space Industries $10 or $20 a month for no reason beside that you might like a slightly prettier hanger and more temporary access to one ship. Beyond committing to a lifetime of servitude to Chris Roberts via subscription there are also ship packages that cost $15,000 if you would prefer a one-time transaction of your savings unto a game that might be fun some day.

    Star Citizen is already at about $84 million in funding just from the sale of ships. I hope the game comes out in some kind of non-alpha or beta form and lives up to the expectations of the people who have funded it, and I might even get it at that point, but right now this whole deal is gross.

  • Devin Faraci:

    The script is the biggest problem with Terminator Genisys – it is stupid and it is riddled with cheap, lazy callbacks to movies that have technically never happened after this reboot – but the casting gives that shit script a run for its money as The Biggest Problem. Jai Courtney is a disaster as Kyle Reese; he’s wrong in every way, having none of the weary soldier qualities that Michael Biehn brought to the role. Courtney is the new Sam Worthington, who was the new Gretchen Mol, who was the new person whose name I forget because these are forgettable actors foisted upon us by the weird Hollywood hive mind. There are make-up techniques designed to baffle facial recognition software and Jai Courtney seems to have been designed with that in mind – he’s an actor who passes through your brain like a fart in a wind tunnel. Just poof, gone.

    In a year where we’ve had the excellent Mad Max: Fury Road, this terrible redux of an action/sci-fi film we all love stands out even more than in an off year where your A Good Day to Die Hard or The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) can be properly ignored and forgotten.