Ambition is a curse in the arena of high finance. At the prestigious London investment bank Pierpoint, which doubles as the backdrop for the Gen Z banking drama Industry, a cohort of university graduates vie for money and power. Harper (Myha’la), Yasmin (Marisa Abela), and Rob (Harry Lawtey) are desperate …
Read More »Martin Shkreli Made Copies of His $2 Million Wu-Tang Album—and Hid Them in ‘Safes All Around the World’
The members of PleasrDAO are, well, pretty displeased with Martin Shkreli. The "digital autonomous organization" spent $4.75 million to buy the fabled Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, which had been produced as only a single copy. The album had once belonged to Shkreli, who purchased it …
Read More »‘Unprecedented Times’ Is the New Normal
The afternoon Joe Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, eight days after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and well into a year of axis-tilting events, @DifficultPatty posted a question on X, thirsty for an answer: “Which wine pairs best with unprecedented times?” “All of …
Read More »Online Action Movie Fandom Birthed a New-Film Fest Era
Starting today, a discreet multiplex in Glendale, California, will host an influx of action movie fans eager to watch fight films on the big screen. Some selections are exclusive premieres, like Bangkok Dog out of Thailand. Some are beloved hits that have been restored to new heights, like a 4K …
Read More »‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Devs Told Streamers to Avoid Politics in Their Playthroughs. It Backfired
Amid a long list of Twitch streams for Black Myth: Wukong, a new action role-playing game released this week, one stood out: “Covid-19 Isolation Taiwan (Is a Real Country) Feminism Propaganda.” The stream, run by a creator called Moonmoon, did not include anything out of the ordinary for a video …
Read More »At Nintendo’s New Museum, Classic Games Get Reinvented for Today
This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese. Built in 1969 in Uji City, Kyoto, the Uji Kokura factory was originally responsible for the production of toys. Now, more than half a century later, the factory has been reborn as the Nintendo Museum. It will …
Read More »'Assassin’s Creed Shadows' and How ‘DEI’ Became Gamergate 2.0’s Rallying Cry
On May 16, the gaming and entertainment news site Dexerto tweeted an image from the forthcoming game Assassin’s Creed Shadows featuring one of its protagonists, the Black samurai Yasuke, in a fighting pose. Across scores of replies, some voiced optimism, others fatigue with Assassin’s Creed’s now 14-game-long run, and a …
Read More »The Australian Breaker Who Broke the Internet
Before some of them were taken down, the memes about Australian Olympic breaker Rachael Gunn, aka Raygun, were all about poking fun. Videos of her flipping around or kangaroo hopping on the competition floor at the Paris Summer Games were accompanied by captions like “what my nephew does after telling …
Read More »Gamergate’s Aggrieved Men Still Haunt the Internet
Ten years ago, a flood of gamers attacked developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu and media critic Anita Sarkeesian. The three were part of a growing chorus of people calling for a more inclusive culture within video games. The attackers doxxed and harassed their targets, doing all they could to …
Read More »Thousands of People Are Playing Valve’s Secret New Shooter Right Now
A new game from Valve appears to be on the horizon. Thousands of players have received invites to a game called Deadlock, a team-based shooter with multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) elements. While Valve has yet to formally announce it, screenshots, gameplay, and even playtimes are already popping up online. …
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