It’s the start of the school year, which means that a perilous time has befallen incoming Ducks. Freshman year means dorm living, and all the social pitfalls therein. You’ve just moved into a crowded hall full of bizarre strangers, and over nine months they’ll either grow to be lifelong friends or the bane of your existence. The critical first few weeks leave plenty of time for hangout sessions with these friendly strangers, and a good chance to start the year off on good footing. These shows are sure to cultivate a crowd, and all are available now on Netflix streaming.

For The Student With The Impossibly Large TV — Human Planet

Every dorm floor has one resident that managed to stuff a TV larger than life into one of the shoebox-sized rooms. It’s a behemoth that needs to be worshipped, and nothing is better suited than a good nature documentary. Planet Earth is an old favorite, but if you’re looking for something with more humanity, BBC’s Human Planet is fascinating. In addition to mind-blowing footage from Earth’s most remote corners, Human Planet looks at how different cultures have come to live in these impossible conditions. It’s a wonderful experience, all narrated by the wonderful John Hurt.

For A Bit Of Distinguished Mystery — Sherlock

BBC’s Sherlock is the ideal show to bring a dorm floor together. Most people have heard of it but just haven’t found the time to really sit down and digest it. For those already onboard with the show, it’s loaded with secrets deserving of a second viewing. Plus, the mysteries (mostly) wrap up in each 90-minute episode so it’s not hard to come in if the group is already a few episodes deep. Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat bring the iconic duo to the 21st century in stunning style. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman take on the roles of Sherlock and Watson, bringing them to life with sharp wit. Each episode modernizes one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic stories with twists that will keep you engaged from the first frame to the last.

For Those Willing To Get A Bit More Morbid — Black Mirror

Another British import, Black Mirror is one of Netflix’s best sci-fi shows. It’s an anthology series a’la The Twilight Zone, but with a focus on technology. Each episode takes on a new story and explores the stirring philosophical questions looming in our near future. It’s a deeply human show, rarely leaving the viewer with an optimistic outlook on life. The cinematography is stunning, the writing top-notch and every episode stuffed with tricky moral questions that will keep the floor chatting for weeks. Even better, a new season is set to debut next month. There’s no time like the present to catch up.

For Fans Of The Absurd And Wonderful — Comedy Bang Bang

Scott Aukerman’s long-running podcast turned TV show is a bit of a hard sell on the surface. It’s a variety sketch show loaded with outstanding alternative comedy talent that pretends to be a typical late night talk show. Aukerman is the host, with a rotating band leader (Reggie Watts for the first few seasons, Kid Cudi for the middle stretch, and, most recently, Weird Al Yankovic). Together they welcome guests, both real A-list talent and offbeat imaginary characters (a rotating cast of indie comedy icons playing characters like ‘Cake Boss,’ ‘Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber,’ or ‘Fourvel: The Orphan Who Loves To Stab People’). It’s insane, hysterical and will immediately signal to the whole floor that you’ve got the most cultured taste in dick jokes.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter: @ChrisBerg25

Back in 1999, word of an unbelievable horror movie hit the early sectors of the web. A film compiled from real-life footage of a few young adults who ventured out into the woods of Maryland in search of the local folk legend known as the Blair Witch. The Blair Witch Project eventually became a phenomenon, introducing the world to the concept of “found footage” horror. The film’s slow pace, relentless authenticity, and controlling atmosphere made it a defining film for many directors who would come to shape this present age of cinema.

So it’s inevitable that somebody would try to revive Blair Witch, with the task ultimately falling in the hands of Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest). The 2016 revival is both sequel and reboot — building on the lore of the 1999 classic while striving to stand alone. After all, there’s a good chance most of the audience for Blair Witch weren’t even born when the original hit theaters.

Blair Witch follows a new group of young filmmakers, driven to find the source of a mysterious tape — one that may lead to the whereabouts of the original group. Unlike that doomed trio, the new group comes prepared with all manner of modern conveniences. Head-mounted cameras offer clean, first-person angles. GPS trackers promise security and guidance. A drone camera offers the wisdom of the skies. But as they are quick to learn, the forest of the Blair Witch will find a way. The journey of our filmmakers turns sour quickly and becomes an outstanding nightmare in the last act.

While the first film was infamous for its insane pace (nearly 90 percent of it consists of three teens realizing they are lost in the woods, and arguing about maps), 2016’s Blair Witch caters to a more modern sensibility. The rural bickering is kept to a minimum, and the atmospheric thrills come in sooner. Unfortunately, Wingard’s update also brings some of the worst modern found footage trends into the experience. Characters are paper-thin, quickly revealing themselves to be hollow archetypes. The cinematography can be nauseating, with Wingard finding little new to do with all of his characters’ modern camera options.

Overall, Blair Witch is a fun enough retro revival for horror fans that have an appreciation for the past — and a very standard experience for any folks who are meeting this witch for the first time.

Watch the trailer for Blair Witch below:

Since 2004, Labor Day weekend has been a special time in Seattle. From all across the nation gamers, geeks and nerds of all persuasions travel — united for the Pacific Northwest’s biggest video game convention. PAX West (formerly known as PAX Prime, until it was eclipsed by the Boston-set PAX East) takes over the Seattle Convention Center and surrounding downtown areas with a horde of video game demos, tournaments, concerts, exhibitions and more. 2016 was no different for the annual event, which saw thousands of attendees over the four-day duration.

Short for the Penny Arcade Expo, PAX is a meeting between the glitz and glamor of an industry trade show and a fan-oriented convention. The halls were dense with attendees decked out in cosplay, representing the greatest gaming fashions of the year. This year, Blizzard’s Overwatch was the most popular title by a country mile — with just about every character from the game’s roster seeing a few fans take up their likeness.

On the show floor itself, two upcoming titles dominated the mind-space of seemingly every attendee at the show. Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy XV and Capcom’s Resident Evil VII saw incredible levels of demand for their respective demo sessions. Reserve slots for these demos filled up as soon as they were available, breeding unprecedented mystery around what they may hold. For fans of Resident Evil, the wait may have been a serious letdown. The only content on display were two previously released segments of gameplay (the VR-focused Kitchen scene, and the Beginning Hour demo currently available on PSN). But Final Fantasy delivered on the hype, with a monstrous hour-long demo that gave players free reign over the game’s opening chapter. With huge narrative beats, splendid combat, and loads of personality — it’s one of the cleanest vertical slices of a game ever presented at the show.

Virtual Reality also continued a slow domination over the gaming world, with more developers than ever before showing off VR projects. Sony was booked around the clock for various Playstation VR demos including the mind-bending Rez Infinite and immersive shooter Farpoint. On the show’s more indie-focused upper floor, smaller devs used the tech for personal projects — like the inner-city story of We Are Chicago, or Samurai Punk’s political satire The American Dream (which portrays a perfect world where players never have to put down their pistols, even while driving or eating).

Of course, what happens in the convention center is only a small part of PAX. Parties stretched deep into the night, including large-scale events that took over some big Seattle landmarks. Bethesda turned a local ship dock into the town of Karnaka from Dishonored 2 for a massive seaside party, while roaming bands of Pokemon GO players took to the city’s bar scene for an epic pub crawl. It’s not often that you’ll see people playing Magic the Gathering at a bar, but nights of PAX make it seem perfectly natural. The sense of community is one-of-a-kind, and even if the show has faded into history — the memories will last a lifetime.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @ChrisBerg25

Titanfall 2

Back at the dawn of the new console generation, Respawn Entertainment (a studio born from ex-Infinity Ward developers, the team responsible for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare) wowed the world with Titanfall. A new shooter for a new generation, Titanfall’s parkour theatrics and unique asymmetrical take on multiplayer were quickly adopted by other major shooter franchises. Now the originator is back for seconds, and things are looking great.

Best interpreted as Call of Duty with mechs and a more lively disregard for gravity, the multiplayer offered by Titanfall 2 is fantastically fresh while still familiar. A new series of upgrades give serious boosts to mobility and player customization, including a grappling hook that makes any rooftop a potential battleground. The sequel will also introduce a single-player campaign, which focuses on the moral conflicts behind sending giant sentient robots out to die in the horrors of space war. Prepare for Titanfall on October 18, on XBox ONE, PS4, and PC.

Mafia III

When most people think about open-world crime games with a focus on story, they understandably land on Rockstar’s megahit Grant Theft Auto series. But there are other players in the crime game, and 2K may finally get a chance to stand out with Mafia III. In the past, the mob saga has embraced retro aesthetics and polished linear story experiences within a living open world. For the latest entry, Mafia III is turning the focus around for a ’60s revenge tale that is sure to please.

Set in the swampland paradise of New Bordeaux in 1968, Mafia III puts players in the shoes of Lincoln Clay. An African-American veteran of the Vietnam War, Clay find himself betrayed by the mob and builds a new criminal empire on a mission of vengeance. With an incredible era-appropriate soundtrack, grand attention to detail, and years of next-gen polish, it’s the year’s most exciting crime offering. Get involved on October 7, on PS4, XBox ONE, and PC.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

Activision’s monstrous Call of Duty series has been all over the spectrum of war, from the beaches of Normandy to alternate futures dripping in dystopia. This series has seen it all. Now Infinity Ward is taking the definitive war shooter to the final frontier: outer space. Infinite Warfare is setting itself apart with battles that span both terra firma and the space beyond. Anti-gravity combat adds new dimensions to every fight.
Also coming alongside Infinite Warfare is a remaster of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, exclusively available in an $80 “Legacy Edition” of Infinite Warfare. This exclusivity has harbored a great deal of sour feelings towards Infinite Warfare, which (alongside strong competition in Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1) could topple the FPS king from its throne. The battle begins on November 4.

Gears of War 4

The story of Marcus Fenix concluded in Gears of War 3, but his ultimate fate may be unwritten in Gears of War 4. Set several years after the apocalyptic events of the last game, Gears 4 follows Marcus’ son JD as he leads a new team that discovers a fresh threat to mankind. Since this is the series that popularized the cover-based shooter back in 2006, expect loads of chainsaw kills, explosive set piece moments and more chest-high walls than you can shake a stick at. With new multiplayer refinements and a re-imagined Horde experience, Gears of War 4 will be a huge shakeup to a long-beloved formula.

Get in on October 11, on XBox ONE and Windows 10.

ReCore

A new platformer/shooter hybrid from the minds behind Mega Man and Metroid Prime, ReCore is one of Microsoft’s most exciting offerings for 2016. Set in the world of Far Eden, ReCore follows the young Joule Adams in an adventure that blends third-person shooting with open-world platformer. Through a lengthy single player campaign, players will collect new cores to upgrade their robotic companion, and open up new spots in the map. It’s a charming game that should offer a joyful retreat from a sea of more traditional shooters. ReCore will hit XBox ONE and Windows 10 on September 13.

Watch_Dogs 2

For most gamers, the first glimpse at this current generation of gaming hardware came through a Ubisoft E3 presentation for a new IP known as Watch_Dogs. An open-world crime game rife with hackable options was enough of a sell to fill the heads of millions with endless cyperpunk dreams. Of course, the final product fell rather distant from such lofty goals. A limited feature set, downgraded visuals and an absolutely loathsome protagonist made it the subject of widespread mockery. For Watch_Dogs 2, Ubisoft has seemingly listened to the most critical responses and built an open-world playground that seems miles more welcoming than the dreary streets of Chicago. With a new hero (Marcus Holloway) and a fresh setting (the tech empire of San Francisco), the hope has returned in full for wannabe hackers. Join the revolution on November 15 on PS4, XBox ONE, and PC.

Warhammer: Eternal Crusade

Warhammer 40k is the poster child for dystopian science fantasy. If collecting miniatures is a little too niche for you, Warhammer: Eternal Crusade hopes to bring the grimdark fantasy of fighting in the 41st millennia to life in an MMO format. You can play as the hardy Space Marines, ruthless Chaos, cunning Eldar or unrelenting Orks. Each faction struggles to fight against one another, as well as the unrelenting Tyranid Swarm, to control an ancient planet with powerful secrets.

In this third-person shooter, players choose their faction and fight with an array of futurists weaponry and vehicles, while leveling up and customizing their 41st millennia warriors. Besides the main player-versus-player gameplay, the game also has all factions fighting against the AI-controlled Tyranid Swarm in both dungeons and the main game world.

Get ready to drop on September 23 on PC, Xbox One, and Playstation 4. If you’re strapped for cash, the Orks will be free to Waaagh!

Battlefield 1

World War I was a strange time for warfare. Technology and weapons advanced far faster than anyone’s tactics could adapt. Leave it to the Battlefield franchise to create an over-the-top version of the war featuring battle zeppelins, horse combat, bulletproof armor and all manner of early 20th-century flavor. Choose from five classes, three elite classes and an arsenal of prototype weapons and vehicles to do battle all across Europe in this installment of the classic first-person-shooter series. While it might be a little less than authentic, Battlefield 1 promises to capture The Great War in its own unique and exaggerated way.

You can join the war on October 21 on PC, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4.

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

When The Witcher 3 first came out, many players spent more time in the game’s taverns playing Gwent, an extensive in-game strategy card game, rather than slaying monsters like a proper Witcher. CD Projekt RED decided to run with the idea of a Witcher-themed card game and will soon be releasing a free stand-alone version of the game.

The game is based entirely on characters and factions from the Witcher franchise and will feature competitive and single-player game modes. The game itself plays almost identically to the previous version with players trying to exhaust one another’s resources and claim victory by winning out over three rounds. Players will be able to earn new cards in-game by playing competitively and completing the extensive single-player campaigns.

The open beta starts on October 25 on PC and the game will arrive to smartphones and tablets later on.

The Last Guardian

Team Ico excels at surreal environments and subtle storytelling in a way that few other development teams have managed. Its latest game involves the tale of a boy and his new pet, Trico the Large Man-Eating Eagle, as they attempt to escape captivity in The Last Guardian.

The game will attempt to capture a realistic portrayal of interacting with a wild animal, such as luring it with food, pulling arrows and spears from its hide and using its natural instincts to discover secrets. With Team Ico’s track record of atmospheric games like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, this is sure to be an unforgettable gaming experience.

The adventure starts on October 25 as a PlayStation 4 exclusive.

Dishonored 2

Corvo Attano and Empress Emily Kaldwin are back to explore the surreal world of the Empire of the Isles that the last game only saw fit to tease us with. The Empire is once again in chaos and it’s up to an assassin, with or without the powers of the mischievous Outsider, to put things back in order. The supernatural stealth RPG returns with Dishonored 2. Get ready for new powers, smarter enemies and a new plague of Blood Flies to keep players thinking about where they leave those pesky bodies.

You can start exploring the Isles once again on November 11 on PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4.

Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy games can be hit-or-miss for even long-time fans of the series, but after eight years of development, the latest installment of the classic franchise has some of the most skeptical fans turning their heads. With a pseudo-real-time RPG combat system, a working day/night cycle and a variety role-playing elements like requiring players to make sure their characters are properly fed and rested, Final Fantasy XV looks to be one of the most immersive titles in the franchise.

The new fantasy starts on November 29 for Xbox One and Playstation 4.

A certain cocktail had to come together to result in a show like The Get Down — a one-of-a-kind blend where a production house that is lenient with talent and liberal with cash (Netflix), meets a director known for vibrant extravagance (Baz Luhrmann, of Moulin Rogue and The Great Gatsby) and the pair set their sights on an era rife with cultural upheaval (New York City, 1977). The blend inevitably boils over, which results in a twelve-episode series that allegedly cost north of $120-million dollars to produce. It’s one of the priciest seasons of television in history, all on a premise that feels miles from the mainstream. But is it any good?

The Get Down focuses on the earliest emergence of the rap scene, deep in the South Bronx of NYC. Ezekiel is a young man with a poet’s mind, but addicted to the pride of the streets. Shaolin Fantastic (Shameik Moore) is a legend of the underground, his graffiti worshiped by Ezekiel’s crew. Mylene (Herizen F. Guardiola) is an aspiring disco singer who feels trapped by her father’s devout religious ways. Their stories are the vehicle that Luhrmann uses to traverse a moment in time, and the conflicts therein.

Luhrmann’s eye on this setting is one of hard shifts. At times, the show earns every cent of its unbelievable price tag, with excessive shots that do little but establish atmosphere. Yet often the natural constraints of TV wear on the program’s scale. Dance halls and underground parties can feel cramped for space, and inconsistency in cinematography that can be felt from shot to shot. This is exacerbated by the show’s tendency to swap between tones like a skilled DJ between records.

The Get Down aspires to capture the dynamic spirit of the ’70s while painting a larger than life reflection of it. Luhrmann uses an operatic framing narrative (the show is told as the flashbacks of an adult Ezekiel, now a bonafide rap mogul), with a tendency to fall back on tropes of musical theater.  Things often get bold for no narrative reason, like Ezekiel suddenly delivering dialogue in rhyming couplets, or Shaolin Fantastic’s action exploits being scored with the sounds of Bruce Lee.

While The Get Down doesn’t always look like a $120M production, it certainly sounds like one. The pilot episode alone contains enough disco-era hits (including a repeated usage of “Vitamin C” by Can) to trigger a sudden appreciation for the genre, while gently easing the viewer into the turntable renaissance. This pounding score is the heartbeat of The Get Down, one that never slows or falters. Shots are often cut to the beat, producing a hypnotic rhythm to the action.

At times Luhrmann’s creation can feel bloated with an excess of characters, subplots and subtexts. It’s an ambitious show, wanting to hit a huge variety of angles to this bit of musical history. Occasionally, characters can feel more like parody than the genuine article. Jimmy Smits plays a cunning community mogul, whose entire operation always feels three steps removed from everything else in the show. His performance is delightfully absurd, a scenery-chewing ham-fest that earns the polyester suit and yellow-tinted glasses.

Like much of Luhrmann’s work, it’s hard to tell how seriously The Get Down expects you to take it. At times, the messages of urban poverty and racism are bitingly emotional. Yet seconds later, it appears to crack a joke at its own expense through absurd dialogue and characterizations. Regardless, the show is undeniably worth the ride.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @ChrisBerg25

It’s been humankind’s longest dream to look out into the sky, and wonder just what else may be awaiting us in the heavens. As our knowledge of space and the great cosmic darkness has expanded, we’ve caught glimpses of other worlds. Countless artists have crafted their take on what the infinite expanse could hold and No Man’s Sky offers the first to touch the scale of an infinite beyond.

A new release for the Playstation 4 and PC, No Man’s Sky takes place in a universe of 18-quintillion unique planets, each rich with life and resources. That number isn’t a typo or an estimation. Developer Hello Games has used procedural generation (meaning an algorithm that outputs new content from a single random seed) to build the biggest game world in history. You can visit any one of these sprawling planets from the comfort of your living room, and awe upon their randomized flora, fauna and wildlife. In game tracking allows you to label and stake your claim on anything, to be seen and respected by other players who may run across it.

The sights in No Man’s Sky can be astounding: canyons larger than the eye can see, with neon caves rich in minerals; globe-covering oceans filled with colorful fish; floating pillars of gold dot planets too hot to inhabit. All of this is displayed with a minimalist user interface, and a wide color palate. This is the core competency of No Man’s Sky, the sense of wonder it can draw out of a player. Every sight you seen is just a blip in a massive system of stars and lights.

You play the role of a lost traveler plopped into a random spot of this universe. A simple gun allows you to mine for minerals, which are vital to rebuilding your downed spaceship. Once your cruiser is brought back up to working order, the infinite world is open to explore. A vague narrative pushes you to find the center of this dense galaxy, where you may cross paths with the discoveries of other players. Alien species offer a trading economy to upgrade your gear or incite combat. No Man’s Sky hints at a vast world of possibility, but executes on very little of it.

Combat in the game is extremely simple, offering a scant handful of weapon varieties that are mostly deployed against hostile wildlife or robotic drones that scan every planet. Space combat also leaves much to be desired, with most encounters failing to satisfy. On the ground, gameplay is closest to a survival simulator. Minerals must be mined to keep up your suit’s damage resistance or power your star cruiser. However, the inventory management system is tedious and makes the entire act of management a chore. Too often, you’ll find yourself losing out on valuable commodities because the suit simply lacks the ability to juggle everything at once.

It’s also relevant to note that the game’s release week has been plagued with controversy. Despite creator Sean Murray hinting at multiplayer features in the game during various media appearances, nothing of the sort is present in any corner of the game’s massive world. The PC version of the game has also been hit by numerous major bugs, and frame-rate drops on even high-end systems. If you’ve been following No Man’s Sky since it was first revealed, the truth will likely fall short of expectations.

No Man’s Sky is a beautiful game that’s capable of extreme awe and true inspiration. But as a space simulation, it feels mechanically light. Hardcore space enthusiasts will be better served by more complex titles like Elite Dangerous or the upcoming Star Citizen. As for those who just gaze at the stars at night, and wish to explore our own little chunk of the universe, No Man’s Sky is worth the journey.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @ChrisBerg25

There are no longer any limits to what can be shown in a major studio feature film. The perception that America is beholden to moral self-censoring is dead. Seth Rogen has killed it, or at least proven that it can be toppled with enough industry clout. Sausage Party is a hedonistic bacchanalia that throws any expectations for good taste out the window.

It’s crude, intentionally inflammatory and regressive in countless ways. Yet it’s also impossible not to respect it in some core areas, which creates a conflicting film that needs to be seen to be understood.

There’s nothing new about an adult comedy that masquerades as children’s entertainment. It’s a simple defiance of a Western assumption that all animated content is inherently childish. Sausage Party thrives on this trope, but is the first to push it into the modern age of CGI cinema. In stand-alone moments, it’s easy to mistake Sausage Party for the latest Dreamworks creation, all-star cast and all. Of course, that all falls apart once the characters start making jokes that would seem lowbrow even at a middle school lunch table.

For the first act, Sausage Party is deeply obsessed with offense. The blatant innuendo of a male sausage and a female bun is constantly exploited. Just about any foodstuff with an obvious ethnic identity is characterized as a flamboyant characteristic of that nation, from Nazi-saluting bottles of sauerkraut to a Native American bottle of whisky. The film hits every cliché on its quest to the absolute bottom of social comedy. But while the film may start low, its high-minded concept slowly pulls it up into something sublimely absurd.

Children’s cartoons have long celebrated the idea of personification, the childlike dream that everything around us has a soul. Sausage Party digs into the underside of this concept. What would our everyday expendables think of us? It’s certainly not a new premise (The Flintstones made jabs at it back in 1966). But Sausage Party finds countless black comedic beats to abuse with the setup. Rogen and Goldberg attempt to use their world as an allegory for religious fundamentalism, but their understanding of the topic seems fitting of the film’s juvenile humor. The film’s biggest laughs are always powered by disbelief and capped with jaw agape.

It all builds to a 20-minute finale that assaults the senses. Sausage Party‘s climax is a blend of violence, sex and debauchery that defies expectation. It’s darker, more brutal and has less restraint than any R-rated comedy of the past decade. Taboos of rape, violence against children and group sex are excused on the technicality that these characters aren’t technically human. The film takes idiotic sex comedy to the inevitable extreme, paying off every moronic joke in an orgy sequence that refuses to stop. It is the punchline to both Sausage Party and Rogen’s entire comedy career.

Sausage Party is a movie of debatable quality. The majority of the jokes are well delivered, yet strike for the lowest possible denominator. The attempts at social commentary are horrible, aside from that which is provided by its own existence. In a time that many consider to be a peak for modern entertainment, Rogen has topped the charts with a movie that climaxes with eight uninterrupted minutes of animated fetish porn. It’s a triumphant moment for artistic freedom within the studio structure. What it says about everything else will be a conversation for the history books.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @ChrisBerg25

THQ Rises From The Grave As THQNordic

Back in 2013, legacy publisher THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a series of costly retail failures. While its most notable franchises (Saints Row, WWE, Total War, Homefront) eventually found homes at other publishing houses – the bulk of their IP (including the THQ name) was purchased by Nordic Games. The Austrian publishing house had developed several major titles with the studio, including the ATV vs MX racing series. The purchases included dungeon crawler Titan Quest, colorful platformer De Blob and the martian shooter Red Faction. Up to this point, Nordic’s plans for these franchises didn’t have much of a clear future.

This morning however, Nordic recommitted to THQ in a huge way by rebranding itself as THQNordic. On top of the name change, the company also announced it was working on 13 unannounced titles under the new studio name with a majority sourced from the acquired franchises. No specific titles were confirmed, but it seems highly likely that one of them will be linked to the Darksiders series of Zelda-esque beat-‘em-ups. Nordic’s acquisition deal in 2013 included not just that franchise, but the development team who had spearheaded it. That team has been vocal in the past about continuing the series, and this sudden reinvigoration by their new owner seems like the perfect moment.

Quantum Break leaps to Steam, leaves behind Windows 10

Remedy Games’ experimental TV-and-game hybrid Quantum Break released earlier this year on XBox ONE and Windows 10 to mixed reactions. While the game’s quality was regarded as subpar, one innovative feature that drew headlines was the fact that those who bought the game digitally on XBox ONE would receive a complimentary copy on Windows 10 – and vice-versa. The cross-buy program would later be confirmed as part of a larger initiative by Microsoft to ‘recommit’ to the PC gaming platform, regaining lost ground by Valve’s omnipresent Steam digital distribution service.

Some of that ground was ceded again this week when Remedy announced that they would no longer be supporting the Windows 10 version of the game with updates. Instead, focus would be shifted to a new version of the game launching on Steam. This includes a hotly anticipated engine upgrade to DirectX 11, a graphics technology that would have boosted performance on many PCs. With the move to Steam, the game will also be made available to users who have chosen to forgo the Windows 10 upgrade, running on Windows 7 and 8. Existing owners of the Windows 10 version should not expect a free upgrade to the Steam version.

Quantum Break launches on Steam on Sept. 14, for $39.99.

The Outrage Over No Man’s Sky leeches into another week

Last week, we detailed some growing concern over the upcoming release of Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky – an ambitious space exploration game that boasted “quintillions” of unique planets. Since release, a large patch has alleviated many of the issues that emerged for players who obtained the game prior to release. This includes a fixing an exploit that allowed one player to finish the game in just 30 hours, and various problems with the game’s inventory system.

A new set of controversies was quick to emerge, though. No Man’s Sky namely trafficked itself on a mysterious marketing campaign, making promises about an expansive universe that would be everything and nothing all at once. The uncertainty about what exactly one could do in No Man’s Sky fed into the unending hype, particularly the potential of online connectivity with other players. While everybody in No Man’s Sky is playing within the same universe, Hello Games studio head Sean Murray was adamant that the likelihood of two players ever finding each other was slight. Yet in the first week, two players claim to have done just that.

Once the two players were able to coordinate a meetup at one planet, they quickly realized that they could not see each other in the separate games. Community outrage was quick to boil over once again, with many players claiming that they felt lied to during the game’s promotional campaign. Murray’s many promotional appearances for No Man’s Sky were consistently vague about the multiplayer nature of the game, leading some to believe that the feature was at some point scrapped in the design process. Adding to this assumption were shots of a box for the game’s Limited Edition release on PC,  which has iconography for the online-multiplayer feature hastily covered up by stickers.

No Man’s Sky is currently available for Playstation 4 and PC.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @ChrisBerg25

The Summer Olympic Games are underway once again, bringing the excitement of sport to the forefront of the world’s attention. For as long as there have been Olympics, there have been songs that defined them. Be they fitting of the sacrifice and prestige required of the event or not, these five songs are the most memorable Olympic tracks in recent memory.

   5. “Survival” By Muse

   From: London 2012

Muse’s undeniable intensity, earnestness and larger-than-life scale make them a perfect pairing for the world’s biggest games. So it’s pretty clear why the UK-based rock band was chosen for the 2012 London Games’ title track. What nobody could’ve expected is that Muse would deliver an operatic collage of noise that borderlines on self-parody.

Lead singer Matt Bellamy delivers hackneyed lines about “the human race” before launching into a wildly self-indulgent mix of horns, strings and choir backing. It’s a hyper-aggressive anthem of human excellence, almost stolen from some bleak dystopic future where athletes are trained under abusive conditions and pumped full of drugs just for seconds of glory on the global stage.

4. “Rise” by Katy Perry

   From: Rio 2016

This year’s big Olympic anthem comes right from the queen of inspirational pop herself. If “Roar” was enough to push you into making a personal best mile time at the gym, “Rise” should work you into literal human perfection.

Perry’s iconic vocals mix with a sublimely simple digital drumbeat, crooning on the most basic drive to prove one’s doubters wrong and climb to the top. For a track with so little to it, every second has been polished like a first-place medal. You don’t typically think of sports anthems as slow burns, but “Rise” has the perfect cadence to bring oneself back from the brink.

   3. “Bang the Drum” by Nelly Furtado and Bryan Adams

   From Vancouver 2010

The Winter Olympics have always played the Luigi to the Summer Games’ Mario. They’re a bit harder to take seriously, easier to ignore and seem less stooped in self-obsession. That willingness to crack a smile is what gives us easy jams like “Bang the Drum.”

While the underlying tribal drum beat might at first signal a typical sports anthem, Adams & Furtado are more interested in getting a party started. The lyrics are more inclusive, less focused on individualism. Nobody hires Bryan Adams if they’re looking for a serious time, and his brand of happy rock-infused pop is a welcome palate cleanser for such a stuffy affair.

   2. “The Power of the Dream” by Celine Dion

   From Atlanta 1996

Another track more interested in unity than competition, Dion’s The Power of the Dream is the Canadian import in her finest form. The track digs deep into the psychology of athletics, breaking down what exactly compels people to dedicate years of their life on obscure sports just for a shiny gold disc. What exactly motivates the U.S. team of professional handball players to train for four years, all in the hopes of a victory broadcast on deep cable at four in the morning? As Dion explains, it’s the power of the dream: the human spirit at its most unrestrained. The evocative anthem was at its most moving during the closing ceremony, where Dion was joined by a local youth choir of more than 600.

   1. “One Moment in Time” by Whitney Houston

   From Seoul 1988

Nobody has ever quite sold a hook like Whitney Houston, and she gave her once-in-a-generation talents to voice this Summer Games anthem. Unlike every other song on this list, she could put her soul behind lyrics about the human drive for gold and genuinely make you believe it. By the end of the track, you’ll feel capable of lifting a weight heavy enough to snap your brittle untrained arms in two.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @ChrisBerg25

In many ways, it’s all of our fault that Suicide Squad played out the way it did.

We packed the cinemas for Guardians of the Galaxy, showing demand for superhero films that broke the mold. We pushed Harley Quinn to the forefront of nerd culture, despite never having made an appearance in a live-action Batman film. We even reacted with childlike glee to an early trailer that flawlessly melded blockbuster action, colorful violence and the most profoundly overexposed classic rock song of our times. From the eyes of Warner Brothers, it’s easy to see how Suicide Squad was the perfect pitch.

But never doubt DC Entertainment’s consistent ability to whiff an easy home run. This is the team that made a film about Batman fighting Superman, and failed to make a profit on it. One who gave the keys to their comic book kingdom to Zack Snyder, an auteur whose bombastic visions have never returned critical acclaim.

Suicide Squad isn’t just a bad film, it’s a remarkably unpleasant one. The deepest shame is that Warner Bros assembled all the right pieces for this wild ensemble, and then failed to put them together in anything resembling a good time.

Suicide Squad follows a team of various villains brought together by Amanda Waller (played by a perpetually bored Viola Davis) as a last resort defense against superhuman threats. The team is composed of far too many C-list Batman villains, each one desperately showboating for the audience’s adoration in hopes of a spinoff movie.

There’s Deadshot (Will Smith), who is morally questionable but loves his daughter. Alongside him is El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), who is morally questionable but is mourning his family. Leading them is Rick Flag, who is on the side of the law, but proves himself to be morally questionable while still loving his estranged girlfriend. Rounding out the team is Captain Boomerang (who is an Australian stereotype), Katana (who is an Asian stereotype) and Killer Croc (Who despite being a literal mutant, is given the lines of an African-American stereotype). Together, they form a closely knit fighting force that rarely talks to each other and have the chemistry of workplace acquaintances.

But the definitive star of the squad is Harley Quinn, played with genuine enthusiasm by Margot Robbie. Robbie’s performance is the only decidedly ‘good’ thing in Suicide Squad. Though that may be an award given out of pity, since the character herself is depicted as a series of ass shots and romanticized Stockholm Syndrome. Quinn doesn’t have any superpowers of which to speak, or even a hero’s path to follow. She’s absolutely useless to the team at large, only present so DC could bring a new iteration of The Joker on screen as soon as financially possible.

Leto’s take on the mad clown is one of Suicide Squad’s biggest selling points, with anecdotes about his irritating antics persisting in the media like so many stories on the Zika virus. His interpretation in the DC universe is more of a high-ranking mafia boss, with the theatrics of a mid-2000s pimp. It’s a senseless cartoon character hastily stapled into a cold realist universe. The moments shot with Leto’s Joker are far more visually interesting than anything else in the film, at least having the courage to craft bold visual moments.

Suicide Squad believes that it is a weightless, snarky action romp rich with directorial voice. Yet every move it makes feels calculated, and wholly dishonest. The first act is downright plagued by montage sequences, setting even the most banal of plot moments to a recognizable rock track.

Every action sequence is a mess of generic gunplay, constant explosions and heartless camerawork. Nothing about it feels original, complex or even decently executed.

This is popular filmmaking as understood by a boardroom, boiling down recognizable trends into their most obvious elements. The result is poured into a fully ordinary mold of studio filmmaking, pressed hard and delivered out to the public with a marketing campaign run by talents who sell the public on a predetermined personality that pulled the best ratings from a focus group. It is an embrace of everything cynical, shallow and proudly meaningless.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @ChrisBerg25