Psycho Dream, available outside of Japan for the first time. Screenshot: Nintendo
Nintendo Switch Online’s slowly-growing Super Nintendo and NES library adds four more old games on February 17, including Doomsday Warrior, Prehistorik Man, Fire ’n Ice, and Psycho Dream, a former Japanese exclusive that scored 18 out of 40 in Famitsu. Hooray.
No offense to fans of NES classic puzzler Fire ’n Ice, also known as Solomon’s Key 2, or perfectly fine Super NES platformer Prehistorik Man, but this is one odd group of games Nintendo’s dropping on subscribers to its $20-a-month online service. It’s hard to imagine someone on the fence about subbing being convinced by any of these offerings. I suppose every new game addition gives us hope that the games we really want will show up. Like Shin Megami Tensei II, which Japan gets in addition to these four on the same day.
KLab has announced the development of a new PC and mobile online game based on the anime series Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? planned for worldwide distribution. It has partnered with Caravan Stories studio Aiming for development.
KLab plans to utilize its experience in intellectual property-based game development and operation know-how, both in Japan and overseas, to develop and distribute this new Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? game.
Further details were not announced.
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Nintendo has announced the next SNES and NES games coming to its Switch Online service. Depending on your perspective, the selection shines a light on some underappreciated gems or demonstrates that you probably shouldn’t expect any more big-name third-party titles to appear in the library. Possibly both.
Here’s the list of games:
Psycho Dream (1992, SNES, Telenet Japan)
Doomsday Warrior (1992, SNES, Laser Soft)
Prehistorik Man (1995, SNES, Titus France)
Fire ‘n Ice (1992, NES, Tecmo)
Not exactly big hitters, then: three fairly obscure SNES side-scrollers and an NES puzzle game. Fire ‘n Ice might be the most recognizable title for many, and only then if you know that it’s the North American name for Solomon’s Key 2.
Psycho Dream is a pretty neat addition. It’s a visually impressive action game that was originally meant to be released in the US as Dream Probe, but for whatever reason the plans fell through and it remained exclusive to Japan. And look at this synopsis:
When Sayaka doesn’t return to reality after entering an immersive virtual world known as a D-Movie, the protagonists, Ryo and Maria, must progress through a terrifying fantasy game called Legend of the Fallen Capital to rescue her and bring her back to reality.
Nintendo has been adding deep cuts to Switch Online for a while now, but the last three rounds of additions at least included each game in the Donkey Kong Country trilogy as crowd-pleasers. Personally I like checking out whichever titles unexpectedly show up, but it does seem clear that Nintendo is running out of games that either it owns the rights to or can convince other publishers to include.
It might be a good time to start wondering about when other platforms might make their way onto Nintendo Switch Online. Perhaps the delisting of Super Mario 3D All-Stars next month could pave the way for Nintendo 64 games at some point. In the meantime, you can check out the latest additions on February 17th if you have a $19.99-a-year Switch Online subscription.
In Grand Theft Auto Online, bad things can happen at any moment. And when these bad moments surprise you, rarely can you get out of them, let allow survive in style. But every now and then someone gets very lucky.
For example, Reddit user MagicBeans69420 uploaded a short clip of them barely surviving something that probably should have killed them.
In the clip, their car drives up a ramp, hits another car stuck at the top, and begins to spin off the edge. The entire ramp is hundreds of feet above the ground, so falling would be certain death. Magicbeans does the only thing they can do at that moment: they leap out of the car. But they don’t land on the ramp, instead, they land on top of the other car, which is also falling off the ramp now. And yet, they are able to quickly run off the moving car and back onto the stable ramp, surviving the whole ordeal.
Meanwhile, I still fall downhills in GTA Online while just trying to walk slowly.
During one of the most politically divisive years in recent memory, the number of active hate groups in the U.S. actually declined as far-right extremists migrated further to online networks, reflecting a splintering of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups that are more difficult to track.
In its annual report, released Monday, the Southern Poverty Law Center said it identified 838 active hate groups operating across the U.S. in 2020. That’s a decrease from the 940 documented in 2019 and the record-high of 1,020 in 2018, said the law center, which tracks racism, xenophobia and anti-government militias.
“It is important to understand that the number of hate groups is merely one metric for measuring the level of hate and racism in America, and that the decline in groups should not be interpreted as a reduction in bigoted beliefs and actions motivated by hate,” said the report, first shared exclusively with The Associated Press.
The Montgomery, Alabama-based law center said many hate groups have moved to social media platforms and use of encrypted apps, while others have been banned altogether from mainstream social media networks.
During one of the most politically divisive years in recent memory, far-right extremists migrated further to online networks, leading to a decline in active hate groups last year. (Feb. 1)
Still, the law center said, online platforms allow individuals to interact with hate and anti-government groups without becoming members, maintain connections with likeminded people, and take part in real-world actions, such as last month’s siege on the U.S. Capitol.
White nationalist organizations, a subset of the hate groups listed in the report, declined last year from 155 to 128. Those groups had seen huge growth the previous two years after being energized by Donald Trump’s campaign and presidency, the report said.
The number of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBTQ hate groups remained largely stable, while their in-person organizing was hampered by the coronavirus pandemic.
Bottom line, the levels of hate and bigotry in America have not diminished, said SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang.
“What’s important is that we start to reckon with all the reasons why those groups have persisted for so long and been able to get so much influence in the last White House, that they actually feel emboldened,” Huang told the AP.
Last month, as President Joe Biden’s administration began settling in, the Department of Homeland Security issued an early national terrorism bulletin in response to a growing threat from home-grown extremists, including anti-government militias and white supremacists. The extremists are coalescing under a broader, more loosely affiliated movement of people who reject democratic institutions and multiculturalism, Huang said.
The SPLC’s report comes out nearly a month after a mostly white mob of Trump supporters and members of far-right groups violently breached the U.S. Capitol building. At least five deaths have been linked to the assault, including a Capitol police officer. Some in the mob waved Confederate battle flags and wore clothing with neo-Nazi symbolism.
Federal authorities have made more than 160 arrests and sought hundreds more for criminal charges related to the deadly Jan. 6 assault. Authorities have also linked roughly 30 defendants to a group or movement, according to an AP review of court records.
That includes seven defendants linked to QAnon, a once-fringe internet conspiracy movement that recently grew into a powerful force in mainstream conservative politics; six linked to the Proud Boys, a misogynistic, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic group with ties to white supremacism; four linked to the Oath Keepers, a paramilitary organization that recruits current and former military, law enforcement and first-responder personnel; four linked to the Three Percenters, an anti-government militia movement; and two leaders of “Super Happy Fun America,” a group with ties to white nationalists known for organizing a so-called “straight pride” parade in downtown Boston in 2019.
Bipartisan critics of Trump have blamed him for inciting the attack on the Capitol, which some far-right groups have declared a success and are using as a recruitment tool to grow membership, according to the SPLC.
The final year of the Trump presidency, marked by a wide-ranging reckoning over systemic racism, also propelled racist conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology into the political mainstream, the law center said.
According to an SPLC survey conducted in August, 29% of respondents said they personally know someone who believes that white people are the superior race. The poll also found that 51% of Americans thought the looting and vandalism that occurred across the country around Black Lives Matter demonstrations was a bigger problem than excessive force by police.
Protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd last May spurred a push to make the November election a referendum on white supremacy. Nestled in Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud was a reality that turnout among Black and Hispanic voters played a significant role in handing victory to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and first person of Black and South Asian heritage to hold that office.
During his inaugural address, Biden issued a strong repudiation of white supremacy and domestic terrorism, which is rare for such consequential speeches.
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The SPLC made several recommendations for the new administration in its latest report. It called for establishing offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the FBI to monitor, investigate and prosecute cases of domestic terrorism. It also urged improving federal hate crime data collection, training, and prevention; and for enacting federal legislation that shifts funding away from punishment models and toward preventing violent extremism.
People who support or express hatred and bigotry are not always card-carrying members of far-right groups. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be activated into violence, said Christian Picciolini, a former far-right extremist and founder of the Free Radicals Project, a group that helps people disengage from hate organizations.
It also doesn’t mean that they can’t be reached and deradicalized, he said.
“We have to have kind of a dual approach to stop what’s happening now, but also to make sure that we are not creating a problem for us in the future, to understand how the propaganda is spread that is recruiting these people,” Picciolini said.
“Right now, it’s in a very self-service format online,” he added. “We’re facing a really big problem.”
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Morrison reported from New York. AP writer Michael Kunzelman contributed from College Park, Maryland.
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Morrison is a member of the AP’s Race & Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.
Gameplay for the canceled remaster of 007’s GoldenEye has been leaked online in a two-hour-long video.
As spotted by VGC, the entire game, from the start of the Dam through to the end credits, has been shared on YouTube, giving us a look at what a GoldenEye port could have looked like.
The Xbox 360 port of the classic Nintendo game was allegedly going to be released through Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Live Arcade. For various rights reasons, it was canceled despite being, as you can see from the video, basically finished in its entirety.
GoldenEye was supposedly going to be published by Microsoft in partnership with Activision, after reaching a deal with Nintendo to completely remaster the legendary game from the original N64 version released in 1997. Ultimately, the project was scrapped.
As you can see from the video, the whole game looks completely playable. Considering how many rights issues seem to be involved in the game, it wouldn’t be surprising if the gameplay footage was eventually taken offline.
The video description explains that the footage was captured by using an emulator. “Footage of the cancelled GoldenEye XBLA remake from 2007, full game on 00 Agent”, reads the description of the video on YouTube.
The game was first leaked in 2008, but now is the first time we’ve seen so much of the project. According to Microsoft boss Phil Spencer, Xbox has always been looking to bring GoldenEye back, but in 2015 Spencer tweeted and subsequently destroyed any hopes of seeing the game remastered.
His tweet reads: “GoldenEye rights are so challenging, looked at this many times. Lots of different parties to work with, we’ve always given up.”
Until now, the only way to play the original GoldenEye is on the N64, but there are modern alternatives like the fan-made GoldenEye: Source which has recreated the multiplayer mode.
But if you’re looking for more James Bond, you can take comfort in knowing that IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series, is currently hard at work making Project 007 for the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
U.S. stock futures climbed Monday, suggesting that the major benchmarks will recover some ground following their worst week since October.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.7% and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures strengthened 0.6%. Contracts linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index gained 0.7%. Changes in futures don’t necessarily predict moves after the markets open.
Silver futures rose over 11% from Friday’s close, fueled by a wave of fresh enthusiasm from online traders. Silver has rallied in recent trading sessions after users on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum posted about executing a “short squeeze” similar to ones credited with fueling recent gains in other stocks popular on the internet.
Elsewhere in commodities, international benchmark Brent crude rose 1.1% to $55.63 a barrel. Gold also gained 0.8% to $1,866.00 a troy ounce.
Overseas, the Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.9% shortly after the market opened. Industrials and energy sectors led gains while the real-estate sector lost ground. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4%.
The Swiss franc was mostly flat against the U.S. dollar, with one franc buying $1.12. The euro fell 0.1% against the dollar, with 1 euro buying $1.21. The British pound was up 0.1% against the U.S. dollar, with 1 pound buying $1.37.
German 10-year bund yields declined to minus 0.518% from minus 0.515% and the 10-year gilts yield was down to 0.323% from 0.329%. 10-year U.S. Treasury yields rose to 1.082% from 1.064%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Indexes in Asia mostly climbed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.2%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.6%, and China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite climbed 0.6%.
GameStop and other stocks and assets have been volatile as online investors make big bets on Reddit forums.
Photo:
Andre M. Chang/Zuma Press
—An artificial-intelligence tool was used in creating this article.
The principal of an exclusive private school plans to make history in the UK by coming out as gay during an online assembly.
Nicholas Hewlett, the head of the $25,000-a-year St. Dunstan’s College in Catford, southeast London, told the Sunday Times of London that he plans to discuss his sexuality and marriage to another teacher during an assembly Monday.
It is thought to be the first time a principal will come out in front of his pupils and staff in the UK, the paper said.
PEOPLE WITH UK CORONAVIRUS VARIANT MORE LIKELY TO REPORT THESE SYMPTOMS: SURVEY
Hewlett, 41, said he was inspired by a pupil who recently discussed how comfortable they were being gay.
“I was so blown away by the courage of him that something flipped in my head,” he told the UK paper.
“I thought then of my own situation and thought: ‘This is ridiculous.’ Here I am as a happily married gay man, and the children do not know that at school.
“There will be kids who are struggling with their own sexuality and who would benefit from knowing that you can be happy and gay, and I have a privileged position to show them that.
“I felt that I owed it to the pupils to be open and courageous too. I am inspired by them,” he told the UK Times.
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Hewlett heralded the “astronomically different times,” noting that not too long ago it would have been “virtually impossible for me to become a [principal].”
“One forgets how quickly things have moved on — the difference is astonishing,” he said, while noting there are still “very, very few openly gay” principals in the country.
He expects to be emotional, especially as he discusses his marriage to Alberic Elsom, the director of music at the independent Whitgift School in nearby Croydon, in a civil ceremony in 2014.
“I am glad I am coming out in an online assembly. If I were delivering it from the stage, who knows if I might cry,” he told the UK Times.
Last year, Rockstar Games announced GTA 5 and GTA Online for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. At the time, the developer noted the pair were coming to next-gen consoles in an “expanded and enhanced” form. At the moment of publishing, it’s provided zero additional details on the ports and how they are being expanded and enhanced, but a new leak has relayed word of one feature players can expect. Unfortunately, it’s not a very exciting one, but it’s one players will be relieved to hear is in the works.
Word of the feature comes the way of a recent GTA Online update, and more specifically, the files of this update. With the update, Rockstar Games added new files for character transfers. The files themselves — “CHasCharacterToTransferDecisionPage” — don’t directly divulge anything too salient, but this seems to suggest Rockstar Games is working on a character transfer process for when the game comes to PS5 and Xbox Series X. In other words, it sounds like players won’t need to start from scratch with a brand new character, and will rather be able to carry over their progress to the new machines.
While this may seem like an obvious feature, especially since the game did this PS4 and Xbox One, it was far from a guarantee. It would be very easy for Rockstar Games to force players to start over, as this could have more financial benefits than letting players transfer their character. Of course, this would be a big PR blunder, but it could justify the decision whilst hiding behind the “expanded and enhanced” marketing slogan. That said, it looks like Rockstar Games will avoid this pitfall and allow character transfers.
For now, take everything here with a grain of salt given that everything here is the information of the leaked variety, and because it’s laced with some speculation.
At the moment of publishing, Rockstar Games has not commented on this leak in any capacity. If this changes, we will be sure to update the story with whatever is provided, salient or not. In the meantime, for more coverage on GTA Online and all things gaming — including not just all the latest news, but all of the latest rumors and leaks — click here.
The Baseball Hall of Fame will announce its 2021 class Tuesday night. Notable names like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Scott Rolen are among the players on this year’s ballot, but it’s possible no players will be voted in this year. The full 2021 ballot can be viewed here.
The rules: A player is eligible to be placed on the ballot after five years of retirement. Players getting at least 75 percent of the returned ballots from qualified BBWAA voters gain entry to the Hall of Fame. Those who get below five percent fall off the ballot. Those between five and 75 percent can remain on the ballot for up to 10 years. BBWAA members who are active and in good standing and have been so for at least 10 years can vote for anywhere from zero to 10 players each year.
And here are the details for the selection show:
2021 Baseball Hall of Fame class announcement
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 26
TV channel: MLB Network (coverage starts at 3 p.m. ET)
Live stream: fuboTV (try for free)
Below are six storylines to watch for as the vote totals get unveiled Tuesday night.
(NOTE: When talking about “early returns,” I’m generally referencing the indispensable Vote Tracker from Ryan Thibodaux and his team.)
1. Penultimate chance for big-name trio
The top three candidates on the ballot this year among holdovers are Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. The on-field resumes, in terms of the stats, say Clemens and Bonds are among the very best players to ever play while Schilling is a legitimate Hall of Famer.
And yet, here we are.
Bonds and Clemens are both tied to the use of performance-enhancing drugs in addition to being accused of serious off-field indiscretions. Schilling got less support in his early years on the ballot and as things have lingered he’s made his road incredibly difficult with inflammatory rhetoric.
Last year, Schilling got 70 percent of the vote while Clemens was at 61 and Bonds checked in at 60.7.
The modest gains of Clemens and Bonds in recent years suggest they’ll fall short again. Schilling has already shown losses this time around from people who used to vote for him.
The best bet is none of the three make it, judging from early returns.
This is the ninth time on the ballot for all three, setting them up for one last go-round on the 2021 ballot.
If they do miss, it’s likely that no one makes it …
2. It could be empty class
It is rare to have a ballot where the BBWAA doesn’t elect anyone, but it’s not without precedent. The last time there were no players voted in via this method was 2013. It also happened, in reverse chronology, in 1996, 1971, 1965, 1960, 1958, 1950 and 1945.
This election has a very good chance of joining that group with no players getting 75 percent of the vote.
Take note that this would not mean a totally empty ceremony in Cooperstown this summer, assuming the COVID-19 situation gets under enough control to have one. That’s because the 2020 ceremony was canceled last July and that class has Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller still getting enshrined this year.
Still, if there’s no BBWAA class for 2021, it would be the first totally empty class since 1960. I’ve already expanded on the history behind this here.
3. Will any first-timers survive?
Let’s keep in mind that it’s incredibly tough just to make it onto the Hall of Fame ballot before we soak in the sentence I’m about to write. A player has to be in the majors for 10 years and even then he is not guaranteed to make it on. Dan Uggla, C.J. Wilson and Adam LaRoche were among the players eligible for this ballot who were excluded. Again, please keep that in mind when I say the following:
This first-year class was one of the weaker ones we’ve seen in recent memory. It’s possible every newcomer becomes a one-and-done.
Early returns suggest there’s a chance that Mark Buehrle gets above five percent, though he has little hope of getting all the way to 75 percent, even if he gets 10 years. He’s likely the only one with a chance to remain for a second year and even he could miss the cut.
Torii Hunter and Tim Hudson also have seen enough early support that there’s a shot they hit the five-percent mark, though the smart money is on them falling well short.
Aramis Ramirez, Shane Victorino, A.J. Burnett, Barry Zito, Nick Swisher, Dan Haren, Michael Cuddyer and LaTroy Hawkins will definitely fall short in their one chance. To reiterate, that’s far from an insult. It’s a great compliment to their admirable careers to get on the ballot.
4. Who has momentum?
We’re now past the part of the falling short and falling off guys and moving into what the returns mean for future years. For Hall of Fame junkies like myself, this is the fun part.
It’s possible the following players have enough momentum to believe Cooperstown is within reach.
Scott Rolen is in his fourth year on the ballot and it looks like he’ll break 50 percent after debuting with just 10.2 percent. He got a touch over 35 percent last year and a move to over 50 with six years left means he’s a good bet to make it eventually.
Todd Helton went 16.5 percent and then 29.2 percent in his first two years. Especially with Walker now in and hopefully the Coors Field stigma starting to wear down a bit, look for another big jump. If he moves to over 50 or even just 40-plus percent, the odds of making it soon would be great. I doubt he’ll need all 10 years, but still keep an eye on his percentage.
In his first three chances, Billy Wagner was between 10.2 and 11.1 percent. Then he went to 16.7 and 31.7. This is his sixth try, so it’ll still be a tall order, but another big gain on the percentage front would give Wagner a real shot here with four years left. Again, keep an eye on this one. I’d say he needs to see at least 40 and probably even closer to 45 percent to feel optimism of eventually enshrinement.
Gary Sheffield went through five voting cycles not even getting 14 percent of the vote, but jumped to 30.5 percent last year. He only has three chances left, so it’s still an uphill battle, but getting up into the mid-40s would be reason for hope — and we all know “hope is a good thing,” as Red once learned.
Andruw Jones‘ first two years showed 7.3 and then 7.5 percent, but he went up to 19.4 percent last year and it looks like he’s primed to make another significant jump. With six years left and a possibly surging vote percentage, seeing something 30-35 percent here would lead me to believe he’s on track.
Andy Pettitte went from 9.9 percent to 11.3 percent and needs a much bigger boost than that moving forward for a shot. He’s more of an “old-school” candidate than many on here and that means he could end up showing much higher than we’ve seen on the publicly made ballots so far. If he cracks 20 percent here, he’s a legitimate candidate moving forward.
Bobby Abreu got just 5.5 percent of the vote in his first try last year, but there seems to be a bit more movement toward him. Keep an eye out here. Might he jump to close to 15 percent? If so, chances move into realistic long-shot territory.
5. Who’s losing steam?
On the flip side, Omar Vizquel seems to be losing what looked like a Hall of Fame trajectory in voting. In just three years, Vizquel went from 37 to 42.8 to 52.6 percent, but he’s showing a decent number of lost votes so far. Vizquel is currently under investigation by Major League Baseball over domestic violence allegations.
6. And who is stagnating?
The following players seem to be just treading water until their 10 years on the ballot are up.
Manny Ramirez has two PED-related suspensions from his playing days and in four chances on the ballot has only increased his percentage from 23.8 to 28.2. There seems to be a plateau in there for players connected to PEDs and given that he’s the only one on this ballot with a PED suspension, it’s likely this thing is just playing out as a formality. If he somehow moves up over 35 percent I’ll pay more attention.
Jeff Kent through six cycles never cracked 18.1 percent, but did rise to 27.5 percent last year. Early returns suggest he’s not going to make another big dent, though, and there are only two years left after this one.
Sammy Sosa is on his ninth ballot and last year topped out at just 13.9 percent. He might go up, but he’s not getting close to the needed 75 percent.
There you have it. You are now ready to see the full voting results on Tuesday evening with a good idea on what it all means past the rudimentary “who is in and who is out?” We’ll have full coverage on the fallout after the vote is unveiled.
