Facebook Has Launched a New App Focused on Groups and it's Called Forum

Without any fanfare or hype, Facebook released, "Forum." It is a standalone app that looks and works a lot like Reddit, but for Facebook groups. You do still need a Facebook account, but it is a nice way to access any Facebook groups you are in without having to use a browser or the Facebook app itself. It makes a little feed of things you might find interesting from your various groups, as well as--sigh--having a bunch of built-in AI features designed to assist you in discovering new groups by chatting with the little bot-character. Facebook did have a standalone group app, which it killed in 2017 ("Groups,"), but this time the idea here seems to be going hard on mirroring Reddit and having a bunch of AI filler due to that being the new, "Hot," thing in apps.

I will say the design is nice, probably because everything about how this looks reminds me so much of Reddit, but with more blue-ish colors instead of reds and oranges. As I said, you need to have a Facebook account to use this, so the idea of people who merely want to engage in groups utilizing the app goes out the window--leading me to ask, "Who is this for?" I believe a lot more people would be intrigued if there were a way to use the groups and view them in a feed format without having Facebook itself--or as I saw some comments essentially say, "Just give me this, a standalone marketplace, and let me delete Facebook!" Without that, I believe a really niche audience will use this that fall into maybe two demographics--you'll have people who were hankering for their Facebook groups to resemble Reddit a bit more, and those who want to inject a ton of AI into their Facebook group experiences. I swear, find a way to let people have an account on Forum without nearly as much Facebook baggage (even if there is some), and this could really take off. Otherwise, this might just fade away as quietly as it was launched.

Flashback Friday: With the Upcoming Release of, "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced," Everything Old is New Again

I played many of the earlier, "Assasin's Creed," games and while, "Assasin's Creed III," might be my favorite, I've got plenty of love for, "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag," and mix of the usual Creed-stuff and addition of piracy shenanigans. Ubisoft's pirate-centric game, "Skull and Bones," was in development Hell forever before with released and bombed, hard. It seems the company decided to go back to what works, as there were rumors of an ACIV remake, and it was recently confirmed we're getting, "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced." The release date is actually already close, July of this year.

A lot of ACIV/Resynced has been tweaked, but the meat and potatoes of it apparently still is great, plus now it looks even better thanks to all the tweaks 13 years(!) since its initial release. Some news outlets that have had hands-on time felt things were a bit clumsy, but it seems the overall consensus is that this is a fun remake that excises a lot of the annoying elements (those weird first-person modern-day segments), adds in features that came later to the series that were helpful, and so forth. There have been a lot of, "Assassin's Creed," games over the years, and I've probably missed out on more than I've played just due to how often a game comes out in the series. That said, I'll admit I am a bit excited at the thought of dipping my toes back into an overhauled version of this game so that I get a mix of nostalgia while enjoying a bunch of improvements.

Someone Tricked a SWAT Team Into Scaring a Grandma Raising Money via Video-Games for Her Sick Grandchild; What is Wrong With People?

If you need some news to illustrate how humanity is increasingly becoming terrible, here you go. An 81-year-old grandmother who has been live-streaming herself playing video games so that she can raise money to help pay for her grandson’s cancer treatment was the victim of a cruel and dangerous, “Prank.” Known online as GrammaCrackers, Sue Jacquot found herself awoken with quite the surprise when a SWAT team burst into her house under the assumption (from a fake caller) that Sue was dead, and her grandchild had shot her with plans to kill himself. This is part of an idiotic online trend known as, “Swatting.” A number of Internet streamers have fallen victim to this, and it can get people seriously hurt or even killed--we're talking SWAT teams that are ready to use lethal force in extremely dangerous situations.

Controversial figures seem to fall victim to this a lot more often, of course. Still, it raises the question of why someone would do something so crass and unsafe to a sweet old lady raising money for a sick grandchild? To her credit, Sue discussed everything online and even remarked that the whole event was, “Kind of fun.” Still, this is another example of people trying to use the Internet for good, and then it being used by terrible people as well. At least this brought more attention to Sue/GrammaCrackers and her admirable work to help her grandson. I can only hope it assists in raising more money, whilst I also shake my head at how the American healthcare system has put Sue and her family in such a difficult situation.

Spotify is Getting Rid of Their Ugly New Logo, Thank God

Spotify revealed a new logo of a green disco ball thing, and it was hideous. When I saw it on my iPhone screen for the first time, I thought something had glitched out. It seems everyone hated it, and Spotify has heard all the complaints--the old logo returns next week. There are many, many things wrong with the World, but at least this monstrosity is being corrected.

Kickstarter Walks Back its Adult Content Ban, Leaves Vague Warnings

I previously discussed how Kickstarter was beginning to target anything it considered overly sexual/adult in nature due to concerns that its payment processor, Stripe, would be an issue. Well, after a lot of outcry, it was announced by Kickstarter that they would only be working to ban/shut down anything outright illegal, or that was, "Pornography." Basically, reverting things back to normal, right? Well, not exactly. 

Buried in all this is Kickstarter pointing out that they won't necessarily shut down your campaign, but Stripe could still object to something. Then you're S.O.L. when it comes time to actually collect any funds from your successful Kickstarter campaign that happens to have something spicy enough to enrage Stripe (perhaps a nipple or acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ people and how they enjoy having sex too, as Queer content always faces a lot more scrutiny). Kickstarter has apologized and acknowledged they could have expressed concerns about adult content and payment processing in a better fashion. Still, the damage is done, and a lot of people probably have a good deal less trust in Kickstarter or interest in utilizing it for their projects (comics or otherwise) as different options make themselves apparent--friend of the blog, Mike Wolfer, and other creators have discussed their future utilization of Dooz for comics with any content they worry could anger Kickstarter/Stripe. A reputation Kickstarter built over many years became tarnished in a matter of days; quite a shame.

Marvel Comics Shakeup!

Afternoon Update:

Apparently, a lot of people are being let go/shoved out at Marvel. No one is sure what the heck is going on, but it seems like an executive cleanout, so to speak. This is getting pretty wild.

Original Post:

There are various aspects of Marvel overseen by different folks (with Disney as the big-boss nowadays). Sometimes there is a lot of turnover, and on other occasions it is hard to imagine a position filled by someone else. Dan Buckley has been the main publisher/president of Marvel for nearly 30 years, but he has announced that he is departing Marvel--although he'll be around in some capacity through 2027 in more of an advisory role. As for who is replacing him, "Marvel Studios executive Brad Winderbaum will join as Head of Marvel Television, Animation, Comics & Franchise. He will oversee the creative direction of Marvel’s expansive publishing portfolio, as well as Marvel’s global brand and franchise efforts, in addition to his current role overseeing television and animation. Joining Marvel from Disney, David Abdo will serve as General Manager, Comics & Franchise, reporting to Winderbaum."

Is this good, bad, or something in between? I can't predict the future, but this is definitely a big shift and signals something is going to change at Marvel. I would hope things go in a better direction for Marvel's comics, as I've been writing a lot more lately about being disappointed in the company's output than excited by it (and plenty of people out there seem to agree with me based on a Googling recent criticisms of Marvel's comics). I am very curious what the next couple of years will hold for Marvel's comics and what kind of new initiatives/plans we can expect to see. Time will tell.

This Doctor Doom Cover from the Latest, "Captain America," Run is Simply Rad

I've been reading the latest run of, "Captain America," and quite enjoying it. Marvel seems to be struggling, in general, to have much of note comic-wise lately, but I do continue to enjoy Jed MacKay's work on, "Moon Knight," and Chip Zdarsky has been giving us some stellar stories about Steve Rogers. The latest relaunch overcame how it annoyingly, "Reset," the continuity a bit, yet again, having Steve Rogers being found in the ice and brought back in 2001 shortly after 9/11. The initial arc involved Captain America's first meeting with Doctor Doom being retold/told or such, and some of the variant covers were done by Zdarsky as he is an artist as well (he's illustrated various series before gaining further renown as a writer). This brings me to my point of how I did not even know Zdarsky made a really cool variant cover with Doctor Doom and the American flag, but he did--and I stumbled upon it the other day and found it amazing. It is featured above.

This wasn't a ratio cover or anything, just one of the variants for the third issue. It is imposing, full of interesting subtext, and just looks cool. The minimalism is perfection, with Doom's usual green finding itself replaced by red, white, and blue, just working so well visually and as a commentary on Doom's style of imperialism versus...well, America's version. I rarely buy a comic just for the cover, but even though I have these comics with the main, "A," iteration, I bought this variant at the comic shop. "Captain America," is currently up past ten issues and remains a stellar read--perhaps I should check for any other cool covers I might have unwillingly missed!

Comic Publisher Valiant Worryingly Seems to Have Plans With Heavy AI Involvement

Valiant was a big comic publisher decades ago. They went bankrupt and disappeared, but in 2012, new folks got the licenses and relaunched the brand with some really good comics. In 2018, many of the people associated with Valiant left when it was bought out by DMG, and it has been mostly downhill since. From weird NFT schemes to an attempt at a cinematic universe that flopped, to nearly stopping putting out any comics before getting assistance from IDW so as to at least put out something, it has been a series of mishaps. It just got worse.

Valiant has been putting posters online discussing some new project with taglines including, "Hint: It's not a comic book," and all these images really look like AI was used. One would think comic publishers/makers/etc. would be extremely against using AI, "Art," as its soulless slop made out of digital bits and bobs through stealing real work. Could Valiant have some weird animated AI show coming, as I would guess? We don't yet know, but longtime fans are enraged at the prospect of Valiant pulling this B.S. It has been quite the fall from grace for Valiant. Everyone's extra mad at them, and we don't even know what this new so-called product will be. Such a mess.

"Absolute Green Arrow," is Getting Lots of Buzz and Selling Out and Before it Even Hits Shelves

DC's variety of books in the new, "Absolute," Universe have been huge hits. The main trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) have gotten a ton of buzz, but other characters' series and mini-series have been quite stellar too (Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter). The latest upcoming titles are, "Absolute Catwoman," and, "Absolute Green Arrow." Those who read the, "Absolute Evil," one-shot know that Oliver Queen was killed by the Absolute Universe's nefarious forces, but it seems that didn't stop him. Written by Pornsak Pichetshote with art by Rafael Albuquerque, Oliver Queen isn't truly gone. He's back as some kind of undead force of vengeance, and his new comic looks like a straight-up horror story, which I find quite interesting.

Other people are intrigued by the upcoming, "Green Arrow," as well. It has already sold out at the distributor level (shops won't be able to order more copies than they previously did), and a second printing is on the way. The first issue hits comic shops this Wednesday, the 20th, and if it is as popular as this early buzz indicates, you'd better move quickly to get a copy!

Flashback Friday: When Episodic Gaming Seemed Like the Next Big Thing

In the early 2000's and some of the 2010's everyone was excited about episodic gaming. The big release of "Half-Life 2," was a huge hit. Then we started getting the episodes with 1, 2, and then...nothing. That VR-exclusive spin-off, "Alyx," is apparently a hoot and moves the story of, "Half-Life," forward a bit, but we're still waiting for a third episode, game, or anything else. Episodic gaming was hyped up as this big thing that would change games...and then fell flat on its face. The, "Half-Life," series wasn't alone, of course. Another example would be the sequel to the first-person shooter, "SiN," that was the promising-but-flawed  "SiN Episodes. " Another big promise of games-as-episodes that staleld out.

Episodic gaming did not utterly fail. Telltale did a solid job with its adventure games before it folded, and how each one would release in episodes. They did that with, "The Walking Dead," and their, "Fables," game, Batman game, and so forth. A bunch of people who used to be at Telltale and are now with AdHoc Studio dropped episodes of, "Dispatch," quite recently, so releasing your game in episodes can work, for a certain style of game, perhaps. Still, the reboot of, "SiN," was kind of cool even if it only dropped a single-of-a-planned-nine entries. It was a fun two to four hours, by all accounts (I vaguely recall maybe playing it way back in 2006/2007 or so without it making much of an impact in my mind), but just ran out of steam, money, etc.

"Half-Life," and its third episode/game/whatever has no official announcement all these years later, but there actually is a new, "SiN," game of sorts in the form of, "SiN Reloaded," which take the original games and updates it for modern audiences with the studio behind it eager to possibly finish, "SiN Episodes," all these years later in some fashion. Never say die, I suppose. I do wonder if the sequel was revisted and completed, if it would just be an entire game or done in little releases? Imagine if 20-something years after the (mostly) failure of episodic gaming outside of some adventure games that the format made a big comeback. At least, that way we wouldn't be waiting decades for some big-name games if little chunks came out now and then at an affordable price--emphasis on affordable. Strange things are always happening in the World of gaming.