Michael McWhertor, Polygon:

Sunderfolk is inspired by tabletop games like Gloomhaven and Dungeons & Dragons, said head of Secret Door (and hardcore tabletop game enthusiast) Chris Sigaty at a recent hands-on event in New York. The developers behind Sunderfolk were inspired by the depth and inclusiveness of those games, while also recognizing their shortcomings.

“We’ve worked on games like StarCraft, Heroes of the Storm, and Hearthstone,” Sigaty said, “and one of the things we realized upfront was that we didn’t want to start with a competitive game. Even though we love and have a lot of knowledge in that space, we wanted to focus on something that was connective or collaborative. We found that we were having the most connective moments actually around a board game table, playing things like Dungeons & Dragons and board games of all sorts, and that our passion was in this space of tabletop gaming.”

But, Sigaty acknowledged, many tabletop games require reading through thick manuals paired with lengthy setup and breakdown times. In a strategic card-based tabletop game like Gloomhaven or Frosthaven, new players may spend hours unpacking the box, learning the rules, and cleaning up, instead of spending that time actually playing.

With Sunderfolk, Secret Door hopes to address those obstacles to fun.

What a promising sounding game and experience. The pedigree alone sells it, but the idea of a full RPG experience with limited setup time and an ease of gameplay for newbies sounds like a massive win, speaking as someone who got into tabletop during COVID.

An aside though, what timing of this being revealed the same week as the release of Jason Schreier’s Play Nice: The Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment, which I’ve been reading this week and is fantastic.

Anthony D’Alessandro, Deadline:

Here’s a really cool project that just got greenlit at DC Studios and Warner Bros Pictures Animation: Dynamic Duo.

It will mark the first joint project between DC Studios and the Bill Damaschke-led WBPA.

The 6th & Idaho movie scripted by Matthew Aldrich is being made by a new animation studio out of New Orleans named Swaybox and that studio’s husband-and-wife creators Arthur Mintz and Theresa Andersson. Mintz will direct this movie, which follows the early days of Dick Grayson and Jason Todd aka the Robins.

Note the storyline here isn’t connected to Matt Reeves’ Batman and The Penguin canon.

Swaybox uses a technology known as “Momo animation,” which is a cross between CGI animation, practical elements of stop-motion, and live-action real-time performance. The result is long-form storytelling billed as visually breathtaking, dynamically expressive and more human.

This might just be the most interesting idea to come out of the Warner Bros/DC filmography so far. Incredibly intrigued by the idea of how the animation works, and I really want to see it in motion.

Also, having the focus on the Robins (plural) is a very much untapped part of the DC Comics legacy which they’d do well to mine on film.

James Gunn had the following to say about it on socials:

Over the moon excited to announce the newest DC Studios/Warner Bros Pictures Animation greenlit film for theaters, DYNAMIC DUO, the story of Robin… or should I say, Robins, as in Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. The first feature film from the visionary Swaybox, a mix of animation, puppetry, and CGI, a script from the wonderfully talented Matt Aldrich, produced with our partners at Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho. This is something special.

I recognize that Gunn has to do this at this point, being the Feige of sorts over at DC Studios, but with his track record, if he’s praising it, I’m ever more intrigued.

No release date or other information available at this time, but I’m going to be thinking about the possibilities and hoping its as awesome as it seems promising right now.

Pete Wells, The New York Times:

Today, the chicken tender is not just familiar. It is triumphant. It is a fixture of school lunches and kids’ menus, of all-night diners and gas stations. It can be found at airports, food courts and stadiums. It is a major reason for the double-digit sales growth that Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, Raising Cane’s and other chicken-centric chains have reported for five straight years.

Along the way, the chicken tender has become a symbol, although its meaning is hard to pin down. It can be an icon of simple, straightforward, unpretentious American taste. It can also be an expression of dull, unadventurous food engineered for the lowest common denominator. Restaurants, in their drive to stand out, have expended great effort devising crunchier breading, zestier dipping sauces, more tender tenders. And yet all the sauces in the world will never quite dispel the suspicion that the tender itself is, at heart, not very exciting.

What a better lunchtime read than that about the humble Chicken Tender?

Btw, the best Tenders? In my humble opinion: Spanky’s in Savannah, GA. Get their honey horseradish sauce and their spuds on the side? That’s a great time in a great city.

Here goes, it’s Take Time™, with your host, me, Marty Day.

Last night into this morning, the internet was ablaze over the latest iPhone review from MKBHD. Not for the review itself, but rather that he used his platform to have the video sponsored by his new app, Panels.

First and foremost, I think it’s fine that he featured the app in the video. He frequently has segments in his videos for a sponsor. It just so happens that this sponsor was, well, himself.

The backlash began, however, as the app is a Wallpaper app which features the following elements:

• A free version with ads, which allows you to download lower resolution wallpapers after watching x number of ads.
• The ability to buy certain packs of wallpapers (averaging at $8 a pop)
• “Panels+”, a monthly subscription ($11.99) or yearly subscription ($49.99), to get higher resolution wallpapers, and the ability to download, well, all of the wallpapers you want.

The arguments I’ve seen against this have been…

• The inclusion of ads (and the data requirements related to them) are scummy.
• $50/yr or $12/mo is insane.
• Marques has enough money as it is
• I should just download wallpapers for free
• Isn’t some of this just AI generated?

In short, dude has been thrown against the wall, and now everyone’s popping up to say how scummy he is, how he’s never been good, etc.

I think – like many arguments online – the answer is, unfortunately for the screaming hordes, actually somewhere in the middle.

I think Marques Brownlee is very very good at what he does, and success has befallen him accordingly. His tech videos are slick, extremely well produced, and while many are to say he’s a shill for x company or y software, I feel like he’s been even handed. I’m not an avid watcher of his content, but I’ve always enjoyed what I’ve watched.

I also know that over the years, his comments have been filled with asks for the different wallpapers he’s used. People LOVE his taste in wallpapers. So he probably saw an opportunity to make something for those people. (In fact, he may have previously had a connection to the app Backdrops, given that they’ve featured the wallpapers he’s used in his videos/he featured wallpapers from the app in his videos). It’s the decisions made from there which are a mixed bag. And MIXED is the appropriate word.

For each argument, I think there’s a valid response. This isn’t – I think – a scenario of the guy going totally awful on his fandom, a cash grab, etc.

Ads (and their tracking) are scummy. No disagreement. And I say that having had worked in the affiliate world for nearly a decade. However, apps cost money to be developed, and the concept is that the artists receive a cut of the monies generated. People are also really against paying for apps. They want to try before they buy, sometimes never ever buy, so the best route you can go is…ads. Just like the rest of the web. It absolutely sucks, but its been the only consistently viable way for online properties to make money. And it’s been getting worse and worse for creators just the same.

$50/yr or $12/mo is insane. Is it really? By comparison, artists regularly sell wallpaper packs on services like Gumroad for $5 (at least)/each. I know this, I buy them. Add the 30% cut which Apple and Google take, and it’s not all that different, especially if you consider app development costs.

Marques has enough money as it is. Yes. Dude is successful, has a studio, fancy cars, the latest tech, etc. But this is a Capitalistic society. People do things to make money. No one is really out here doing things altruistically. Would it be cool if this was a scenario where the app was free, and he just paid artists to have wallpapers up on there? I guess. But that’s a wacky business plan, for sure.

I should just download wallpapers for free. Cool. Please feel free to continue to do so.

You’re not entitled to something because it’s on the internet. No different than the point I’ve been driving with streaming services, none of this is a public right or domain. People make things. It costs money to make things. To continue to make things, they need to be paid. Do you go to your job for free? Once again, I say I’m Sorry, But Things Cost Money.

Sure, everything has waste, I think the entire world of million dollar execs while their employees make pennies is a fucking mess, but to make things, money needs to be exchanged. You don’t get food based on exposure.

Isn’t some of this just AI generated? And this is the other, 100% valid, concern. If this is the handpicked, premium wallpaper app filled with artwork by proper artists…the art should be from proper artists. At the very least, AI generated art needs to be flagged.All and all, I think the concerns are part of the standard give-and-take we have with things online lately. People hate ads, but it’s the only consistent way to make money. People hate costs, or costs going up, but many times: if money’s not made, things won’t be created anymore.I did want to take the time to spotlight an alternative here. Full disclosure, I’m a regular Patreon supporter of the org, but the team at The Iconfactory have a fantastic app called Wallaroo. It’s $20/year, all the art is made BY ARTISTS, and it funds their continued development of really great software. If you want to spend your money, this might be a better place…but at the end of the day? I don’t think Marques really did anything wrong.

Warner Bros. Pictures on YouTube

A new vision of fear from director Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan. #SinnersMovie - Only in theaters March 7. #shotwithimaxfilmcameras

From Ryan Coogler—director of “Black Panther” and “Creed”—and starring Michael B. Jordan comes a new vision of fear: “Sinners.”

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”

Written and directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Coogler, “Sinners” stars Jordan (the “Black Panther” and “Creed” franchises) in a dual role, joined by Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld (“Bumblebee,” “True Grit”), Jack O’Connell (“Ferrari”), Wunmi Mosaku (“Passenger”), Jayme Lawson (“The Woman King”), Omar Benson Miller (“True Lies”) and Delroy Lindo (“Da 5 Bloods”).

Oh boy. Not only does this look great, but the track record of Coogler and Jordan, especially together, is pretty well untarnished.

WB must be feeling pretty confident too, given that they’re hyping it 6 months out.

Day One!

Ask the Developer Vol. 13, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom — Part 1

Terada: We were exploring a few different ways to play the game in parallel. In one approach, Link could copy and paste various objects, such as doors and candlesticks, to create original dungeons. During this exploration phase, this idea was called an “edit dungeon” because players could create their own Legend of Zelda gameplay.

Aonuma: They showed it to me and told me to give it a try. As I played, I started thinking that while it’s fun to create your own dungeon and let other people play it, it’s also not so bad to place items that can be copied and pasted in the game field, and create gameplay where they can be used to fight enemies. That was the beginning of gameplay using “echoes.” The gameplay was shifted from creating dungeons up until then to using copied-and-pasted items as tools to further your own adventure.

Pulled from the latest installment of the Ask the Developer series which Nintendo does around the release of their big first-party games. I may be reading this wrong, but it certainly sounds to me like the original intent for the game, at least in its early form, was to be able to create (and maybe share?) their own Zelda dungeons. So, basically Mario Maker but for The Legend of Zelda.

I just want to put it out there, Nintendo – if you still have an inkling to do this, I’m all for it. Especially if the cool, almost claymation-like visual style from the Link’s Awakening Remake and Echoes of Wisdom were in use.

Marvel Entertainment on YouTube:

Careful who you assemble. Marvel Studios’ #Thunderbolts* is only in theaters May 2025.

Did not expect this to drop today! But it does a great job setting up Thunderbolts* as a unique, harder-tinged installment of the ever ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe.

One of my favorite elements of Black Widow was the chemistry and humor between Florence Pugh’s Yelena and David Harbour’s Alexei, so it’s great to see the same returned here. Wyatt Russel’s beard is a good look, and overall, I like the “people looking for something bigger and greater than themselves” concept. Plus, a Pixies needledrop is an easy win for me.

That said, here comes the “It looks like Suicide Squad” takes.

Optimistic about this one! We’ll see next Summer.

Thunderbolts hits theaters on May 2, 2025.*

Luke Winkie, Slate:

In just four games in January 2023, Yogesh Raut became an overnight Jeopardy! sensation. In a sign of the times for the show, his ascendance had as much to do with his bluster as it did with his knowing the clues. It was clear he was exceptionally good at quizzing from the moment he took the podium, and between his three initial victories, he totaled nearly $100,000 in winnings. But Jeopardy! fans were especially captivated by Raut’s offbeat demeanor on stage: the violence with which he smacked his buzzer, the confidence with which he taunted flashy luminaries like James Holzhauer. Most memorably, when Raut’s winning streak came to an end, he took to Facebook and wrote a lengthy, difficult-to-parse essay asserting that Jeopardy! and its fandom were a necrotic presence in the world of trivia—specifically that the show is “bad for women and POC who want to be treated with the same level of dignity as their White male counterparts.”

Jeopardy! is a “glorified reality show,” and the aura around it is “fundamentally incompatible with incentivizing the next generation of quizzers to excel,” Raut wrote. “It is fundamentally incompatible with true social justice.”

It does not take much to rankle the librarian-like dictums of Jeopardy! nation, and a former champion taking aim at the show on social media was more than enough for the community to settle on a brand-new villain. “What is ‘Sour Grapes,’ Ken?” went one response to Raut’s post. “He only holds it in such low esteem because he didn’t do as well as he was expected to do,” another fan wrote. So when Raut was invited to the annual Tournament of Champions that was held last spring, fans took note of his impending return. In February, in a story about the deluge of special tournaments that had taken over the show’s programming, I briefly mentioned in a parenthetical that Raut was set to come back to the show he had roasted: “Remember three-time champion Yogesh Raut, who trashed the show after his appearances? He’s back next week!”

That’s when things got weird.

Fascinating read this morning. Whether you agree or disagree with Raut’s perspective on trivia and the games which he plays, this is one of those articles where the iceberg seems to get deeper and deeper the more below the surface you go.

As a Jeopardy! fan, and a Jeopardy! hopeful, this was a must read, but I think everyone’s gonna end up fascinated here. It’s a story of trivia teams, anger, distrust, vengeance, revenge and more. And I never thought those terms would go together.

Warner Bros. Pictures on YouTube:

What’s it feel like to die? From director Bong Joon Ho, comes Mickey 17 - only in theaters January 31, 2025. #Mickey17

From the Academy Award-winning writer/director of “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho, comes his next groundbreaking cinematic experience, “Mickey 17.” The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.

I’ve been VERY MUCH looking forward to this once it was announced – I adored the original book its based on, Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, and when you have one of my favorite directors (Bong Joon-Ho) matched with someone who is becoming one of my favorite actors (Robert Pattinson), it’s a recipe for greatness.

Just two bits though…

• Why is it Mickey 17 and not Mickey7?
• Why is this movie coming out in January, which has traditionally been the dumping ground of bad movies?

Mickey 17 hits theaters on January 31th, 2025.