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Suspect in Portland fatal shooting has been killed: reports
09/03/20 9:31 PM
Thursday, 3 September 2020
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Mayor of Rochester, N.Y., suspends officers involved in death of Daniel Prude
09/03/20 1:48 PM
Mayor of Rochester, N.Y., suspends officers involved in death of Daniel Prude
09/03/20 1:48 PM
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DC police release video of deadly officer-involved shooting after protests erupt
09/03/20 9:35 AM
DC police release video of deadly officer-involved shooting after protests erupt
09/03/20 9:35 AM
New story in Technology from Time: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, a Nostalgia Trip With Plenty of Growth, Is Right at Home in 2020
When skateboarding video game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater arrived on the PlayStation in 1999, no one could have expected the cultural impact it would have or how much muscle memory it would ingrain into dedicated fans. It was an enormous hit with skaters and non-skaters alike, helping to usher in a more-mainstream acceptance of skateboarding culture, define a new video game genre and teach tens of thousands the words to Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades.”
Twenty-one years after the release of the first game, publisher Activision and developer Vicarious Visions will release Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, a ground-up remaster of the first two games, on Sept. 4, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. And while it sticks very closely to its source, the new game feels like it belongs in 2020, with a greater focus on representation and a firm grounding in that angsty skate culture aesthetic. Tony Hawk himself couldn’t be more excited about the release.
“You don’t understand how many people ask me about [Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2],” Hawk told TIME. “That is a consistent request on social media, ‘Why don’t you remaster these games?’”
If you’ve never played a THPS game, they fit neatly into that “easy to learn, lifetime to master” category. And if you’re not sucked in by the sheer fun, the score chasing and incredible soundtracks will probably get you. As the 20th anniversary of the first game’s release approached, Hawk and Activision thought it was the right time to remake what had become a video game classic. And though they couldn’t foresee what 2020 would become, the game is a bright spot in a dark year.
As I pushed off into the fan-favorite Warehouse level, the first park from the series’ original game, I instantly remembered countless hours playing with friends, trying to set new high scores. The muscle memory snapped back and I began landing combo after combo like no time had passed at all. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 has crisp, updated visuals (that look great in HDR), adds in a variety of moves that showed up in later games and includes other features common in modern video games, like online multiplayer and a mode to build your own skatepark.
But the game feels just like you remember it, just like you want it to feel. It transports you back to those Halcyon days of 1999 when the only thing you had to worry about was making sure your friends passed you the controller when your turn came up and there was a never-ending supply of Dorito’s and Mountain Dew.
The THPS series has had a rough decade. Its initial success continued through the mid-2000’s, but when longtime developer Neversoft passed the baton to developer Robomodo, review scores fell fast. The past 10 years have seen disappointments like 2009’s Tony Hawk: Ride, which used a plastic skateboard as a controller, and 2015’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, which has one of the lowest aggregated reviews scores of any game in the current console generation, according to Metacritic. The series went mostly dark after that, with only a free-to-play mobile game released in 2018 to show for the last five years.
Fixing THPS, it turns out, meant going back to what made the original games so much fun. Developer Vicarious Visions has succeeded in recreating the flow of mastering combos and playing in the skateparks. New additions also include an extensive list of challenges, costume unlocks and the ability to make your own skater. The game retains 22 of the artists from the original beloved soundtrack, including Dead Kennedys, Primus and Rage Against the Machine. And it includes songs from 37 newly added artists like A Tribe Called Quest, MXPX and Screaming Females.
The remaster isn’t just a breath of fresh air for the series, but also for the gaming world’s efforts towards inclusion. Hawk said it was important to bring representation in this year’s release that didn’t exist in the old games.
“In the original game I wanted the roster to represent all styles of skating, but skating didn’t have a very diverse lineup back then, those are just the facts,” Hawk said. ”As we evolved and as skating started to become more popular in different areas, then there were no more barriers like that.”
Hawk says it was important to him that the remaster include wider representation not only racially or socio-economically, but also through gender identity—and so Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 features the series’ first non-binary skater in Leo Baker.
It’s possible that original games helped inspire communities that are now featured in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. Hawk said it was “probably the most surprising outcome” of the first game that it introduced so many people to skateboarding, even if they weren’t interested in skating themselves. He believes the game helped more people become fans of skateboarding and lessened any social stigma it carried.
“Before that, the only people who cared about skating were skaters themselves,” he said. “I like to think that [Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater] helped people who were not clued in to the benefits of skating or the popularity of skating and helped them to understand that this could be a positive outlet for kids and communities to embrace.”
While Hawk believes the THPS games brought skateboarding to new people, real-life skaters who grew up with the series have helped change the sport along the way, he said.
“It made a new generation of kids believe [the games’ trick combos] are possible, and now they are,” Hawk said. “If you look at a skater like Shane O’Neill, who’s in the new game, if you look at the tricks he’s doing, they’re Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater combos that we didn’t think were possible back then.”
In 1999, the series might have introduced many new people to skating, but it also tapped into youth and counterculture malaise, which feels just at home in 2020 as it did 21 years ago. In particular, the series honored skate culture’s distrust of authority and has long dunked on the police. The very first game introduced the character “Officer Dick,” a cop stereotype complete with aviators, mustache and a beer belly who players can control in place of the professional skateboarders. He appeared in much of the series, and might show up in the new game, too.
To Hawk, skate culture embodies much of what has been seen over the summer as thousands of young people across the United States have demonstrated against police brutality and for racial equality. Just last week, Anthony Huber, a 26-year-old avid skateboarder, was shot and killed while protecting others from a gunman during protests in Kenosha, Wis. that came after police shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back several times. Huber was holding his skateboard when he died.
“I think skaters have always taken pride in being different and not following the status quo. And so in terms of being effective or voicing for equality, then they fall right in line with that,” he said. “[Y]ou saw plenty of skateboards especially in the Black Lives Matter protests, because those are people that are not afraid to speak out.”
The Tony Hawk series was meant to embody those 1990s VHS skate tapes that my friends and I dubbed and passed around. The series, in turn, became its own version of those tapes for a new generation. It’s easy to be cynical about remastered games as an effort to tap into older gamers’ fond memories to make a quick buck. But Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 honors what the original games were, and what they helped create. And yes, there’s comforting nostalgia here. But it’s a return to form with plenty of growth along the way, resulting in something that’s perhaps even better than the original—and it reminds you that Less Than Jake exists, too. This year being what it has been, I might enjoy Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 because it taps into that familiar, comfortable teenage soul of mine, always ready to blast Bad Religion while doing dangerous stuff. Or I might enjoy it on its own merits, as a solidly enticing game that plays great and has me planning the cosmetics I’ll unlock next. All I know is that I want to keep playing it.
New story in Technology from Time: Smartphone Showdown: Samsung’s High-End Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G vs. Google’s Budget Pixel 4a
How much money are you willing to spend on a new smartphone in 2020? A few hundred bucks? A few thousand? A few weeks with two popular smartphones—the budget-friendly $349 Google Pixel 4a and the extravagant $1,299 Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G—tells a story one probably knows offhand is true: You don’t really need a thousand-dollar smartphone, but spending more confers some benefits to be sure.
The allure of a flagship smartphone like Samsung’s Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G is immediately apparent. Available in bronze, black, or white, it is indeed a real looker. Still, there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about the Note20 Ultra compared to the company’s previous flagship smartphones, like the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Instead, it’s a refinement of Samsung’s efforts to outmatch competitors with raw power, better images, and even more use cases for its built-in S-Pen stylus.
But the Note20 makes the case for dropping a grand pretty quickly, starting with its gorgeous screen. A laundry list of high-end technology is crammed into the Note20 Ultra 5G’s 6.9-inch, Quad HD+ display with curved edges that give it a slender design compared to the last Note. There’s a hidden fingerprint sensor you’ll never notice until the icon pops up, a front-facing hole-punch camera that splits the difference between Apple’s annoying (but more capable) “notch” cut-out and a thick bezel outlining the screen.
It’s a good thing fanny packs are back in style, because the Note20 Ultra 5G is gigantic. While the term “phablet” has long been used to deride large smartphones stuck somewhere between a typical smartphone and a tablet, the Note20 Ultra 5G seems to be angling for a comeback. While it’s certainly big, its size allows for that stunning HDR+ screen, its (up to two) days of battery life, and processing power that makes games run without a hitch.
The camera bump on the rear of the Note20 is a true monster in terms of size and capabilities. Like the S20 Ultra, the Note20 Ultra has a trio of cameras on the rear, along with a laser autofocus sensor for improved portrait and night mode shots. Pictures are crisp, saturated, and really pop on the AMOLED screen. The camera almost mirrors the S20 Ultra’s capabilities, but eschews the 100x super zoom function for a more modest and usable 50x zoom. Its portrait mode shots are equally impressive, though all feature the telltale aura of software manipulation to achieve the high-end DSLR look. My favorite feature from the S20 Ultra is still here: Single Take, which records photos, videos, and looped GIFs all at once for up to 15 seconds, is an influencer’s dream come true.
Are you a gamer? Then sure, the huge screen (and its 120Hz refresh rate) might make this your perfect portable entertainment device, so long as you bring a controller. And Samsung’s partnership with Microsoft, which brings the Xbox’s Netflix-like Game Pass Ultimate service to the Note20, makes it an even more capable gaming machine.
But when you just need a phone, is the cheaper option just as good? The way we consume content has changed to the point where specs once integral to the decision of “which smartphone should I buy?” are now tertiary amenities obviated by advances in how the stuff we love gets delivered to us. While a huge storage capacity was great for downloading hit songs or recording videos of your family, you don’t need a huge amount of storage space any longer if your photos are stored in services like Google Photos. The same goes for streaming music and movies; why pay extra for space you don’t really need?
I can’t think of many who do. With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the country, and millions of Americans struggling economically, the last thing on many people’s minds is the purchase of a $1,300 phone for gaming and better selfies.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t get a thousand-dollar phone. If you need three cameras, if you use your phone as a primary means of entertainment, if you actually do work using features like Samsung DeX or the Windows-friendly Your Phone feature, and if you’ve got the cash to burn, then go for it! The Note20 Ultra 5G is a workhorse, especially when paired with accessories like a monitor or mouse and keyboard. But frankly, I have no interest in spending over a grand on a smartphone with a single screen anymore, especially when the returns are so minor compared to prior generations. When it comes to getting the most bang for your buck, high-end smartphones may have been the answer in the past, when you only expected a single camera on the back. But now? Cheap phones are where it’s at.
Take the Pixel 4a, Google’s newest budget-friendly smartphone. Yes, it’s just $349, which means some corners are inevitably cut. But they’re corners I can live without, especially when everything about the device is more than good enough. The best part? It actually fits in your pocket.
On the Pixel 4a, you only get a single lens, so there’s no optical zoom or ultra-wide angle capabilities. But the photos benefit from everything Google’s done in the photography department, from its use of computer vision to its awesome night mode shots.
Other Pixel 4a features are more than sufficient for the average person, perhaps even desired when compared to the higher-end alternatives. The 5.8-inch OLED 1080p display is perfectly suited for watching YouTube and Netflix videos (though you won’t get those bright, saturated colors you might enjoy on an HDR-capable screen). One fun surprise? The inclusion of a headphone jack. One understandable omission? The lack of 5G connectivity, a feature set to arrive with Google’s anticipated Pixel 4a 5G (although it will reportedly use the slower of the 5G radio bands).
The 4a’s smooth, plastic back, relatively small size, and rear fingerprint sensor make it a great fit for one hand without feeling like you’re one misplaced finger away from dropping it. The camera on the Pixel 4a? It does the job, and does it spectacularly well. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to discern whether identical wide angle shots were taken on the 4a or the high-end Note20 Ultra 5G, a surprising development considering how integral the camera is to the Note20 Ultra 5G’s appeal. Frankly, the Pixel 4a’s biggest issue is the omission of wireless charging support, a preferred method by many (myself included) when it’s time to turn in for the evening.
So, which phone should you get? Well, aside from the mind-boggling price difference between the two, the choice is ultimately a personal one that speaks to your personality as much as it does your pocketbook. In the Note20 Ultra 5G is a powerhouse of a smartphone, skirting the edges of both size and substance to bring a trio of capable cameras, a much-improved note taking experience, and a killer screen for all that on-the-go video watching and game playing you’re (not) doing. But the Pixel 4a, cheap as it is, does wonders with what it’s got: a high-definition screen, a camera that rivals the thousand-dollar competition, a fingerprint sensor, and an understated, slim design that doesn’t feel flimsy, not by a long shot. But when push comes to shove, maybe pick the one that’ll actually fit in your pants—and your budget.
Wednesday, 2 September 2020
Fox News Breaking News Alert
Fox News Breaking News Alert
Tom Seaver, who won 311 games and three Cy Young awards during his Hall of Fame baseball career, has died at 75, according to hi
09/02/20 5:28 PM
Tom Seaver, who won 311 games and three Cy Young awards during his Hall of Fame baseball career, has died at 75, according to hi
09/02/20 5:28 PM
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Nancy Pelosi demands apology from COVID-shuttered salon 'for setting me up' after pics leak of her getting styled
09/02/20 1:43 PM
Nancy Pelosi demands apology from COVID-shuttered salon 'for setting me up' after pics leak of her getting styled
09/02/20 1:43 PM
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