BitPunch News May 2021
BitPunch entering into video, our hot takes on film/tv for the year, and more...
BitPunch News: We Are Expanding to Video
Video is all the rage, and Rich and I have been wanting to figure this out for a long time now. We finally have the setup needed to start recording some gameplay videos of new games and doing some longer-form content including entire play-throughs of video games. Our goal is to publish weekly but may be more or less depending on life happenings. Check our channel on YouTube and subscribe to keep up with our latest shenanigans
Our first videos:
Upcoming Movies/TV We Are Jazzed About In 2021
The summer blockbusters are among us and boy I’ve been pretty deflated about movies for a while now. While there are some diamonds in the rough, looking at you Mitchell vs. The Machines, I think movies have been pretty mediocre this year. We wanted to challenge ourselves to find some movies and TV that are coming out in these wacky times that hopefully has nothing to do with superheroes (we still snuck one in there though.) Let’s see what we’ve found:
Michael
Reminiscence | Sci/Fi | August 25, 2021 | Theaters and HBO Max
There is still a lot of mystery around this title. There is a teaser trailer available but it’s just Hugh Jackman narrating a couple of sentences with a shot of Miami that has been enveloped in water due to global warming. The synopsis of this movie is “A private eye who deals in recapturing vivid cherished memories for clients. He becomes vexed by one of the clients.” I like the director Lisa Joy, who worked on the HBO show Westworld, so hoping this one shapes up to be a hit. I think all the direct-to HBO movies that have launched so far have been mediocre. This will be Lisa’s directorial debut.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Sci/Fi | November 11, 2021 | Theatres
I’ll be honest, I don’t have the nostalgia of Ghostbusters like many people my age. I’ve seen those movies maybe once or twice but don’t remember a ton about them. I have a goal to watch them with my family before this movie comes out in November. I’ve seen one trailer which looked really fun, stars Paul Rudd which I’ll always be on board with, and appears the original cast is all smiles with the direction of this movie. This one will for sure pull me back into movie theatres.
Y: The Last Man | Sci/Fi | Release TBA | FX and Hulu
Let me be for real one minute here. I’m still not sure this show is coming out this year. According to IMDB, they should be done filming by July of this year with the pilot already completed for a few years now. This show has been tossed around through multiple different production companies but has ultimately ended up in the hands of Disney. I was shocked to hear them announce at their last major event that they are picking up the production of this show. This show is based on Brian K Vaughn’s fantastic comic series where the entire male population, besides one man, has been killed off by a virus. Hoping to see at least a pilot before the end of the year. Also, while I love Brian K Vaughn, his naming convention of comics is terrible for Search Engines. A series called Y, or the Last Man, or even his amazing series Saga, pulls all sorts of random results that have nothing to do with his comic.
Monsters At Work | Animated | July 2021 | Disney+
Monsters Inc. is one of my favorite Pixar movies they’ve released. I even enjoyed its sequel/prequel Monsters University that didn’t review highly but still a fun watch. Pixar is known for quality content and I’m hoping its witty humor and amazing visuals carry on into a streaming series on Disney+.
Dune | Sci-Fi | October 1st, 2021 | Theatres and HBO Max
I have a complicated relationship with this series. I’ve yet to read the books because it seems to be such a conflicted series. Some people love it and its sequels, others say read the first book and stop. They released a comic that followed a third of that first book but I was lukewarm on how that turned out. What has me excited is the ensemble they’ve put together, the budget they threw behind it, and how this movie looks. HBO Max needs a home run and they are hoping Dune does just that.
Rich
The Witcher | Fantasy | Q4 2021 | Netflix
If you have been listening and reading our content at all, you know by now The Witcher is one of my favorite extended universes’. I felt like the first season did a great job of setting up the characters given the first several books are mostly just short stories. This second season promises to continue through the books and I can’t wait to see some of my favorite side characters from the 2nd and 3rd books.
Spider-Man: No Way Home | Superhero| December 17, 2021 | Theaters
Spider-Man: No Way Home has been in development for a long time. Negotiations between Sony and Marvel Studios actually ended up with Marvel leaving the project altogether at one point. After a very negative fan reaction, the two sides patched things up, and filming began in 2020. I really like Tom Holland as Spider-Man. He has just the right personality for a younger take on the web-slinger.
The Matrix 4 | Action | December 22, 2021 | Theaters
It is crazy for me to think that someone is making this movie. However, with the success of the John Wick franchise, it totally makes sense. Given how far visual effects have come since the original movie, it is going to be really interesting to see what they do with a 4th installment. I never understood the convoluted story the sequels tried to tell, but I didn’t care. Those movies are awesome action flicks and this new installment should be no different.
I’m a Believer in Yakuza
By: Michael Perry
Yakuza is a franchise I’ve always heard about from a small group of podcasters who are extremely passionate about the series. I believed these games were a generic GTA clone that didn’t offer anything new to the genre. Once they starting hitting Xbox Game Pass, I decided to try Yakuza 0, and an hour into the game turned it off. The story didn’t catch me and I thought the combat was utterly boring.
Fast forward to April when I was browsing Game Pass to find something to play and kept finding myself toward the end of the list staring at all these Yakuza games. I have to be missing something because there is a long list of Yakuza mainline games, spinoffs, and more and more gamers are starting to discuss the series. I decided to get through the first couple chapters of Yakuza 0 and the game started to slowly sink through.
I finally understood what gamers like about these games and to me boils down to the story. Sure, the arena combat is fine but the stories of Kiryu and Majima are so riveting, hilarious, and brutal. I burned through Yakuza 0 enjoying every second. There are so many lines of dialogue I could see printed on a shirt and sold. This game is very Japanese and does reek of the “women are weak and need to be saved by the strong men” but if you can look past that you’ll be met with an incredible story that goes many interesting directions. If you have any regard for these games, do yourself a favor and start with Yakuza 0. Play the first couple chapters and you’ll know if this series is for you.
I plan on playing through the Kiwami series next so keep checking back to the podcast to hear my continued thoughts on the series.
Something is Killing the Children Thoughts
By: Michael Perry
Something is Killing the Children is one of the newer comic series I’ve gotten into. It’s unique and imaginative narrative will appeal to fans of series like Stranger Things or The Walking Dead. The setup is that kids in a small town are going missing and townsfolk are unaware of the cause. Children are claiming to see monsters but of course monsters aren’t real. Insert an out of towner named Erica Slaughter who believes what the children are imagining and goes around killing monsters that adults simply cannot see. Of course the black eyeshadow crazy lady would be named slaughter but that’s one of the small issues I have with this series.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying it and keeping up with the series via Hoopla, but I’m also aware that this comic adopts some of the nitpicky gripes I have with modern day tropes. For instance, nobody has time to simply talk to eachother or work out problems with communication. Everything just feels super rushed, which I complained about on a podcast in the past. Crazy thing happens but we have no time to reflect on the fact that monsters are real, killing children, and we just have to move forward.
I will say the artwork is fantastic but the writing is geared more toward the younger adult crowd. I may not be the target audience but I’m still intrigued enough to continue reading. I want to see where they take this series and hope the material doesn’t become stale.
Something is Killing the Children is currently ongoing and I believe is on around issue 16. If you are looking for a newer series to jump into and are fans of The Walking Dead, Stranger Things, or even something like Game of Thrones, you may want to give this a shot.
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Werther Dell’Edera
Colorist: Miquel Muerto
Letterer: Andworld Design
May Episodes of Bitpunch Radio
May 7th | EP019 - Shadow and Bone and Tesla | BitPunch Radio
Rich has received his Tesla while Michael is falling hard into Yakuza 0. We cover some of the latest Marvel news, Apple foldable phones, Outriders running terribly, and much more.
May 19th | EP020 - Health Update Part 2 | BitPunch Radio
This week we wanted to touch base on where we left off with our last health update of Matt/Michael which was posted back in January.
May 21st | EP021 - Mass Effect, Bad Movies, and Yakuza
This week Rich and Michael discuss bad movies, Yakuza 0, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and lots more nerdy stuff.
News News News
Here are some interesting headlines that happened this month:
The Epic vs. Apple lawsuit has been making headlines this entire month for some hilarious reasons. There is a lot to dissect and PC Gamer has a good breakdown on what the case is all about | Epic v Apple explained: What the trial is about, and what to expect | PC Gamer
We know that Amazon is made of money, but to see them renew the Wheel of Time for a second season before seeing audience react to the first season was shocking. A trailer has yet to be released, but Amazon is pushing forward, even with the considerable amount of money set aside for their Lord of the Rings series. | Amazon’s Wheel of Time is getting a second season already - Polygon
Internet Explorer is seriously going away. Like for real not even kidding. Web developers favorite browser is set to sunset on June 15, 2022. This is a big deal for many reasons. Web Devs hate the browser for having to support it’s archaic ways, but there are still programs out there that rely on the Active X controls that are a part of IE. Edge, the IE replacement, has been gaining popularity, especially with the chromium type features they’ve been adapting. Microsoft is (finally) killing off Internet Explorer entirely | Ars Technica
Don’t trust Rich, Popeye’s has the best chicken sandwich. | BitPunch News April 2021
E3 is next month, and while I typically would be beyond excited, I’m a little more hesitant to see how this all plays out. I’m sure our next issue will be riddled with thoughts surrounding E3. | BitPunch Newsletter (substack.com)