By: Daniel Kendle

When ‘Contra’ meets Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, I guess.

Hello, and welcome to JOYSTiCK, the HPSH serial that enjoys reviewing and exploring video games. This episode is of ‘Cuphead’, a 2017 indie game that has become one of the most popular of it’s category in the last half-decade, partially being that it’s the only known video game to be entirely made up of hand-drawn cell animation, rather than digitally-drawn, CGI or other forms. But is ‘Cuphead’ a shining example of gaming? Let’s take a look.

‘Cuphead’ was created by brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, who were not video game developers at first, but then jumped to making the game after their recollections of games as kids. Reportedly, the first iterations of ‘Cuphead’ were based around a “school grade” aesthetic, with the game progression also having you move up in grades and art style. Eventually they went with a “rubber-hose” style after their friends saw them use an old 1930’s cartoon character as a stand-in for an actual game model. And then after that, they created Studio MDHR.

To talk about rubber-hose animation, it defines cartoons such as Betty Boop, Popeye, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and other Disney and Fleischer Studios work. It gets its name from the rubbery, unrealistic animation in most shorts. These are some of ‘Cupheads’s’ main influences, but the other prominent one is of “Run n’ Gun” games from the 80’s and 90’s, like ‘Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts’ and ‘Megaman’. These titles were normally difficult, grind-centric games that had players face off against bosses and enemies, focused around dodging attacks first and dealing damage second. They rewarded muscle memory and quick reflexes, as players would normally spend a good amount of time learning bosses’ movement and attacks in order to win.

‘Cuphead’ was first introduced in E3 2014, in a short trailer that didn’t feature much, except the art style chosen. Even with the relatively-small amount of info, the game was a highlight of the Xbox press showcase. The game had periodic updates shown until eventually releasing September 29, 2017. It was very well received, with over 1 million copies being sold within its first 2 weeks on the market. Its art style, difficulty, and gameplay were praised, and the game has been running smoothly ever since, selling 6 million copies by July 2020.

PART ONE: GAMEPLAY

‘Cuphead’ is, as stated previously, a Run n’ Gun game, where the player has to shoot targets and enemies whilst dodging attacks. ‘Cuphead’ is divided into 2 different types of levels: boss levels and platform levels.

The main focus of ‘Cuphead’ are the bosses. The game is one big Boss Rush, with most levels being where you have to fight a powerful enemy with multiple stages. The game is a VERY challenging game, reminiscent of other games in the genre. Most of the game is you reattempting bosses and stages, though it’s not annoying most of the time. In fact, defeating a level is incredibly satisfying!

The game’s moral of “tough but fair” lets the game designers not have to create bosses that scale with difficulty, if by only a little bit. They instead mold them around the idea of muscle memory and skill, the way a player proceeds through their journey being of their might rather than of a scaling difficulty. This is something other famously-hard games practice, like ‘Dark Souls’.

But diving into actual play, ‘Cuphead’ has someone shooting projectiles out of their fingertips (More on this in the Story section). There are 9 different types, each with different values and properties.

• The Peashooter is your basic shot, the one given to you at the start of the game.
• The Chaser is the weakest, but can track a target around and hit them without needing the player to aim.
• The Spread has great damage in a small radius in front of the user, so it’s good for close-quarters combat.
• The Lobber shoots gravity-affected balls that bounce on the ground.
• The Roundabout is like a boomerang in that it loops back after firing it, so you’re able to hit something even when your back is turned.
• The Charge has a short charging time (duh) between shots, but does the most damage out of any weapon. It’s also the only shot where you’re able to hold it without having to auto-fire.
• The Crackshot is arguably the best shot. Like the Chaser it follows targets, but also does a lot more damage and will do more damage by shooting an enemy before the shots break away to track and hit the target.
• The Converge is a 3-way shot that narrows its flight path when the player is locked into shooting. (I’ll explain this later as well.)
• Finally, the Twist-Up is the opposite of the Lobber, flying upwards instead of down.

Along with these shots are things known as Charms, little abilities that give Cuphead extra perks. These can range from extra hearts to a smoke bomb, from axe-parries to even more hearts! They mix up gameplay just enough that, like shots, can dramatically change how a boss fight plays out depending on what loadout you use.

While 2 shots can be equipped at a time, only one Charm is able to be.

But where do you get shots and Charms from? The shop, of course! The game has a traveling shop that can be found on 4 of the isles of which the game is played. Each item costs coins, which can be found in the platform levels, each with 5 coins each. I enjoy having to buy your power ups; ‘Cuphead’ isn’t exactly the type of game to have power ups within the levels, there’s only 6 platform levels along with the 34 boss fights, so there just wouldn’t be enough space to level out the progression if shots and power ups were inside the levels themselves.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about the platform levels. Each has unique theming and gameplay, with some focusing on different mechanics entirely. While the bosses have you shooting them up until they eventually run out of health, platform levels have you reaching an end goal. And honestly… they’re fine.

We’ll get to the bosses soon, but with the 6 platform levels, they feel like they have less of that “grandness” of the rest of ‘Cuphead’. While fine in their own right they feel more like afterthought than a mainstay of the game. They follow a linear progression, with you more or less traveling right while shooting enemies. No big baddies, no interesting concepts and ideas, just… eh. They’re alright, but “alright” isn’t cutting it for a game like this.

The main characters Cuphead and Mugman also are okay to control. Since the main game revolves around shooting, having the player be able to shoot in multiple directions is an obvious addition. However, hand-drawn animation is extremely time consuming, so animating hundreds, maybe even THOUSANDS of different poses would’ve taken forever. Instead, it was decided to only have players shoot in 8 different directions: forward, backward, up, down, and diagonal versions of all of them. This is VERY janky; I found myself more often than not shooting forward only, elevating and de-elevating if needing to shoot up or down respectively. This is very awkward, and doesn’t work very well. It’s a moment where it feels like the art direction and game design clash, making a worse experience.

‘Cuphead’ has a ‘lock-in’ mechanic that lets you access this 8-way shooting. When holding down the respective button, you’ll be locked into place, allowing you to aim as you fire using what you would normally use to run. This is also bad to control, as ‘Cuphead’ is a game where you need to be constantly moving around in order to dodge attacks, and having a button lock you in place is disorienting to the rest of the game, sorry.

PART TWO: BOSSES

‘Cuphead’s’ bosses are arguably some of the best in the business, in my opinion. They ALL have some of the best quality in gaming, with snappy combat and powerful attacks that combine with their incredibly creative concepts. There’s too many to list like from my last review on ‘Metroid Dread’, so I’ll simply mention some of the best and most interesting of the bunch.

Bosses in the game all have generally whimsical and fun ideas, just like how the 1930’s style of animation had very crazy and loony settings and characters. I feel like this gives them a distinct appearance when compared to another game’s enemies. Overall, I love this game’s bosses, for they feel like creations that remove themselves from the mold of the rest of the gaming industry’s blueprints.

There are 2 bosses that I’ll consider “Tutorial” matter, though I’ll only be talking about one: The Root Pack. Made up of 3 mean vegetables, they’re essential in teaching the player the 3 main ways attacks try to hit you, and how to dodge: jumping up and down, moving left and right, and a combination of the two. And the fights are fun too! I’m glad that they made the first bosses to the same standards as further fights, showing the complex polish of the bosses.

Another is Cagney Carnation, one of the most iconic characters in ‘Cuphead’. The flower’s fight is also great fun, with raised platforms and more challenging attacks to avoid. They also introduce the idea of bosses changing form, with him eventually turning into a tangle of weeds and barbs by the end of the battle. A fantastic fight; one of my personal favorites.

Moving farther up the ladder is my favorite boss in the game, Werner Werman, this German tank pilot who controls a giant mechanical cat in his fight. I don’t know why, but this fight is just so fun. I like the idea of having a smaller scale fight (literally) and have the two be the size of actual mice. I don’t know if this is controversial, but this is my favorite boss in the game, personally.

Finally, let’s talk about the final boss: the Devil. He’s one of ‘Cuphead’s’ hardest fights, and for good reason. You’ve made your way all the way to Hell, and he’s certainly fit for his kingdom. The fight’s chaotic and eerie, but man, defeating him is satisfying as all heck, and comes to make you realize what you’ve just done: beaten the game. While I do think that some of his attacks feel a bit RNG-based, the Devil’s a great way to end the main game. And speaking of the Devil…

PART THREE: STORY

I didn’t touch on ‘Metroid Dread’s’ story due to it being the final entry in the main Metroid saga, and I didn’t want to spoil anything. ‘Cuphead’s’ story is much more simple, and pretty easy to figure out. It’s not a detriment to the game though; I like having a more basic plot compared to other games having complex, moving narratives.

Cuphead and his brother Mugman are two kids who one day come across the Devil’s Casino. After gambling for a while they find themselves on a winning streak, to which the Devil notices and gives them a wager: if they can win their next roll, they get all the casino’s riches. If not, the Devil gets their souls.

Mugman doesn’t want to spread his luck dry, but Cuphead blindly rolls again. Of course, he gets snake eyes, and the Devil now gets their lives. The boys beg for mercy, and the Devil admits he’s gone too far… before tasking the 2 to go out and bring back the souls of those who owe him theirs.

Not knowing how to get others’ souls, they go to their grandfather Elder Kettle, who gives them a magical potion to let them shoot lasers out of their fingers. Eventually, after using their powers to defeat all the bosses (debtors) Cuphead and Mugman storm into the Devil’s casino again, and after beating his lackey King Dice, defeat the Devil as well, and free the debtors from the demon’s grasp, ending the story in a happy light.

Like I said, the story’s not very complex, instead feeling like something an actual Disney short would be about. I like it, though I do feel like we don’t see the bosses outside of battle, and now knowing them to be the debtors the boys have to beat it would’ve been pretty cool to see them after the main game is done, and maybe be able to talk to them and stuff.

PART FOUR: GRAPHICS

I mean, what is there to say?

‘Cuphead’ is arguably one of the best looking video games of the past few years, and possibly even of all time. Its unique hand-drawn animation style lends itself to some gorgeous graphics and fidelity beyond anything of recent memory.

One thing I noticed is that it feels like something straight out of a Disney cartoon. The backgrounds have such a warm feeling, I wish that I could look at them without having to be constantly sweating through the boss battles!

Oh, and the animation! It’s SO good. Studio MDHR used a type of animation called “Squash n’ Stretch” to animate moving objects, which basically means that a lot of frames exaggerate and contort frames of things to feel more fluid-like, which gives everything such a fascinating appearance that hasn’t been seen in many other games. It was practically eye-candy to myself, someone who loves animation in movies and cartoons. Great work all around.

There are some blips in quality here and there. Some bosses feel a little more constrained and bland compared to the animation of others, the same going for standard enemies and other sprites. Occasionally there’s some landscapes in the game without the polish seen in others. What I’m getting at here is that the few problems I have in the graphics department mostly come down to fluctuating art and standards seen in it. I’ll admit it, some places in the game look better than others. Whether that’s the art direction’s fault or the area’s theming, it’s still an issue nonetheless. But still, this game looks like some kind of blessed artifact from the 1930’s that ironically holds up greatly 5 years later.

PART FIVE: CONCLUSION

‘Cuphead’ is a great game. It’s snappy combat, beautiful visuals and – while not mentioned – great music makes it an awesome game to explore and play. However, some issues do arise, like boring platforming levels, semi-inconsistent graphical quality and clunky controls. For this, I think ‘Cuphead’ is a solid 8/10. While it does flub in some areas other games don’t, this is a great package, and deserves the recognition it has received, and hopefully will continue to gain.

That’s all for this episode of JOYSTiCK, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it! I plan on doing other indie games soon, so if you’re into that, make sure you stick around and not only check out my work, but other people’s as well.

By: Daniel Kendle

19 years is a long time for a sequel, especially a story-related one. But when your sequel sells the best out of the entire franchise, reinvigorates an entire audience, and wins eight awards… is it okay?

Hello, and welcome to JOYSTiCK, the HPSH serial that enjoys reviewing and exploring video games. Today’s topic is of the Nintendo game Metroid Dread, and how well it was executed, particularly about if it’s worth almost 2 decades of wait.

(This review is story spoiler-free by the way, though if you don’t want to know about the bosses, E.M.M.I’s and/or power ups, then this isn’t for you.)

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Metroid Dread began development as a Nintendo DS game, its 2nd prototype being shown off to staff of Nintendo of America, as well as other companies during E3 2009. Reportedly, it wasn’t meeting the standards of Metroid’s producer Yoshio Sakamoto, and the game’s progress was halted because of the DS’s power not being able to handle Yoshio’s vision. It was decided that more powerful hardware would be needed if the game’s full identity was to be created. Fear-based gameplay was Dread’s focus, and a truly-intimidating antagonist for the game required much more demanding hardware. This reason, the antagonist not being able to handle the DS, is widely considered why the game was put on hold for the time being.

But then in 2021, Nintendo’s E3 direct showcased a reveal for the game, now being made by both Nintendo and MercurySteam, a developer on previous Metroid games. Fans were hyped, not just because of it being the first main-line Metroid game in close to 2 decades, but also the fact that it was to be released only months after the reveal.

October 6th, 2021, the game was released to critical acclaim and financial success; nines and tens across the board and becoming the highest-grossing Metroid game, selling at around 3 million units. It satisfied fans of the originals, and also became many’s first experience with Metroid.

In my opinion, the Metroid Dread is hands-down the best Nintendo Switch game ever made. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey and Splatoon 2 get thrown around that title, but what I feel Dread succeeds in, that those 3 don’t, is simple: polish. But before I continue, let’s start the review.

PART ONE: GAMEPLAY AND PROGRESSION

If you’re not well-versed in video game vocabulary, then the term ‘Metroidvania’ might not mean anything to you. Metroidvania defines a set of games, of which the word is made up of two games; ‘Metroid’, (obviously) and ‘Castlevania: Symphony of the Night’. These two games basically co-created the genre, whereby games like Hollow Knight, Guacamelee, Ori and the Blind Forest, and Cave Story are part of.

Metroidvanias play as large, normally 2D games that feature one large map instead of multiple regions, connected to one-another via many entrances and passages. The thing that makes Metroidvanias unique is their system towards progression, where the player has to traverse and back-track across the map, finding pickups that act as gaining new powers in order to further progress in the game.

Keeping that in mind, Metroid Dread does something different than other Metroidvanias.

Dread had the conscious decision to have mostly every “lock” (something to use a power up to overcome) and “key” (the power up) not very far away from each other. Things like the Space Jump and Morph Ball each have obstacles now solvable thanks to them, only a few minutes away. And this goes for, again, most items. There are exceptions, but this is Dread’s defining difference from the rest of the pack, and even previous Metroid games.

While this has been seen as a controversial design element, I personally like this WAY more. Prior entries like Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion are fantastic games in their own right, but getting lost, while a cornerstone of this franchise, isn’t much fun for me. I want to be entertained, and while finding your way through vast areas is fun for some, I don’t agree.

In short, I believe that if one of your main gameplay elements has a player backtracking, it’s not very fun in my opinion. I want to be able to experience a rich world full of new discoveries and adventures, not a rich world where half of the game is looking around previously-cleared rooms. It’s something that’ll make some disregard my review entirely, but what are opinions for, hey?

Moving on to how the main character, Samus Aran, plays, a widely agreed upon aspect of Metroid Dread is how gosh-darn smooth she handles! If you’ve never played a Metroid game before, the main weapon and piece of Samus’ moveset is shooting, and this might be the best it’s felt to do that yet.

The game is the first of its prior entries to feature 360o aiming, compared to previous entries’ 8-way shooting (they were on much weaker hardware, so I wont discredit them for that). You can shoot while running, jumping, crouching, and falling, so Samus can have a very versatile array of ways to kill something.

Speaking of ‘array,’ her powerups in this game are great! Some of my favorites include the Screw Attack, which basically turns her into a ball of death when jumping, killing anything touching you, the Ice Missiles, which can freeze things in place to make temporary platforms, and the Morph Ball, which has you curl up into a ball to travel around small passageways with ease. These were all in previous games, but they’ve been tightened and worked to a new level of polish.

The game runs at a slick 60fps, allowing for quick, uninterrupted movement. I can imagine the game feeling a lot worse to control if not, or at least close to, this framerate.

PART 2: GRAPHICS

This is a gorgeous looking game, even with the Nintendo Switch having graphical hardware somewhere between an XBox 360 and PlayStation 4, both consoles releasing years before. All games in the Metroid series range from okay to phenomenal graphics, and Metroid Dread might just take 1st place.

In order to maintain a solid framerate, the game has background elements and animations played at a decreased framerate, around 30fps. This could come off to some as disorienting, but in my experience, it becomes normal at some point.

Since the game is split up into several different areas, we obviously get many different environments as well. The first area, Artaria, doesn’t have much of a theme, as its main purpose is housing the tutorial areas and introductions to the game’s mechanics. However, you eventually reach other parts of the map, places like Cataris, a lava-filled place with blistering heat, Burenia, an oceanic sea laboratory with coral and dark trenches, and Ghavoran (my personal favorite) a rainforest with alien plants and animals spread about, things like giant spiders and meat-eating trees. The game makes sure that each place you head to is distinctive and unique, and that’s a good thing.

Other than that, there isn’t too much else to talk about concerning graphical fidelity. Textures are great, and so are color palettes, color variety, and so on. Metroid Dread is an incredibly polished game in terms of its looks and style, and since I’m not the most qualified person to talk about video game animation and art design, I’ll stop here.

PART 3: BOSSES AND THE E.M.M.I’S

The bosses in Metroid Dread have obviously had lots of love and dedicated time put into them. Metroid has always had memorable boss fights, whether it be Ridley, Kraid, or Nightmare (these three are from previous games). So, when MercurySteam had their hands on an all-new Metroid game, they delivered things on par with the past’s greats.

The first boss, Corpius, involves them turning invisible at scripted moments, having to focus dealing damage to the ends of its tail. Upon defeating him, you gain the Phantom Cloak power up, allowing you to become invisible through charging up a meter. Most bosses in the game follow this design: have a moveset consisting of varied attacks and abilities, then upon defeat drop a pickup that relates to one of said abilities. Corpius is a good way of introducing players to this system.

The next ‘big’ boss you fight is Kraid, a big lizard-thing from previous games. He has similar attacks to prior titles, flinging claws and breathing fire and poison projectiles. Also, if you pick up the Bomb power up before fighting him, there’s a way to insta-kill him during his second phase, allowing speed runners to beat him quicker than normal and move on. Metroid Dread has loads of these skips, allowing those skilled enough to bypass obstacles that would normally be roadblocks to those not in the know. While he doesn’t drop anything directly, a room accessible upon his defeat is nearby. This is also something the game does; having a boss not drop anything when defeated but having a room be stationed on the way out of their arena.

Next is Drogyga, an underwater plant-octopus thing. I have less to say about them, they don’t drop a power up or have a room nearby for one, they’re okay. The fight is similar to plant-creature fights from other games but underwater, so it’s an interesting spin, but not one that I find super fun.

Escue, a beetle that shoots out lightning projectiles, is okay as well. They’re arguably the most forgettable main boss of the game, being in a small room out the way of anything else. You do get a power up this time, the Storm Missile, which let’s you lock-on to many targets and fire out an array of missiles all at once, which is fun.

But going from 2 meh bosses, we have Experiment No. Z-57, my personal favorite boss. This lizard-bug-octopus thing has an incredible fight, involving all the power ups you’ve collected so far. It even has a speed run skip! While it doesn’t drop anything itself, you’re led to Artaria once again to nab the Screw Attack, which I consider a link between the two. Just… excellent work, this one.

Golzuna is a crab-esq boss that attacks using a grid like system of bombs in the air. While considered to be a forgettable encounter by others, I enjoy this one. You gain the Power Bomb upgrade from it, allowing you to place rows of bombs to get to high areas or out of reach places.

And before anyone asks, I’m NOT reviewing the final boss, as this is a spoiler-free review.

There are also many smaller bosses that are encountered, the two main ones being Chozo Warriors and Robot Chozo Warriors, each bird-like Sapiens. The normal Chozo’s are sleek, fast, and nimble, attacking using a spear in two different ways: slashing at you on the ground, or leaping to a wall and slamming down in a general area. At their second phase though, they have their face split open and become these horrifying, animalistic creatures. Before they had very controlled, graceful movements, like a dancer with a sword or something, but now they move wobbly and fluidly, more like some kind of creature than a sentient being. It’s a cool change, and they also now spew out black ink to attack.

The Robot Chozo Warriors, however, move in a more formulaic way. This is something all standard robot enemies do, though seeing as the Robot Chozo’s need more versatile ways of attacking you (they are a mini-boss, after all), they still move a little more smoothly than other ‘bots. They attack you using laser projectiles and ramming moves, which makes them fun to fight against. If you end up fighting 2 of them at once however, it’s just annoying.

But now… the E.M.M.I’s.

E.M.M.I’s are large, spider-like robots that control a large part of each area’s map. While not exactly bosses, killing each one lets you gain another power up. Killing one, however, is extremely hard.

E.M.M.I’s are immune to EVERY weapon you have, even the gear you get at the very end of the game. While you can avoid them, make too many vibrations and noises in their vicinity and they’ll track you down, eventually finding you and killing you. There’s a fraction of a second to react whenever an E.M.M.I finds you; parrying it will let you break free and stun it for a few seconds. But this is extremely hard, and is unlikely to be mastered, keeping gameplay interesting.

E.M.M.I’s can be defeated, however. Within their ‘patrolling area,’ you’ll eventually find a room containing a mini-boss, a giant eyeball. The fights are pretty easy, but upon defeating one you gain access to the Omega Blaster. With this, you can both blast a rapid-fire stream of laser projectiles, along with charging it for a few seconds in order to deliver a powerful, devastating beam that – after breaking it’s face-shield with the flurry of lasers – kills it. This is how you get the power up and free the designated area of the E.M.M.I.

I love the E.M.M.I’s; they’re so fun and rewarding to evade and later conquer! While I do think the SA-X from Metroid Fusion is a little better, these guys are very close to it’s level. I could go on and on about them, but to wrap things up, here’s some more things I think about them.

1. While I love most, the two E.M.M.I’s in Artaria are both somewhat forgettable. The first one is a damaged, broken version, which serves as a tutorial for killing one, so I guess that’s fine. But the second one – this time working – doesn’t have any flashy moves or special abilities. They both kind of left my mind the further I went into the game.
2. E.M.M.I’s each have different colors for the areas they appear in, though I think having more visual differences would make them stand out more. Maybe the one that drops the Ice Missile could have icicles and permafrost all over it, stuff like that.
3. The E.M.M.I’s move in a disturbing, insect-like way, contorting and reforming their bodies to fit whatever surface they have to scale; I love it.

PART 4: CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

As I’ve said before, Metroid Dread is the best Nintendo Switch game yet, beating out Breath of the Wild and other contenders. It’s a masterful look at gameplay, beautiful graphics, and dreadfully-awesome enemies. It’s a game that I’m convinced will go down as an instant classic among many.

But the million dollar question is here: is Metroid Dread really worth 19 years of wait?

Yes. Metroid Dread is one of few games I’ve given a 10/10 score, and by golly it deserves. I cannot recommend this game enough, and if you haven’t played it yet I urge you to do so.

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And that’s a wrap for this episode of JOYSTiCK, specifically the pilot episode. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll come back for the next episodes. And if your interest in the Plaid Line has grown by this report, then check out others’ works.

By: Brogan Frey

On Wednesday, September 7th, 2022, Apple announced its new line of iPhones, the iPhone 14. There are 4 different versions of this new model, the iPhone 14, the iPhone 14 Pro, the iPhone 14 Plus, and the iPhone Pro Max, each including new features not yet seen before.

Both the regular 14 and the Pro will give you the pick out of 5 different colors. Midnight, starlight, blue, purple, and red.

All of the phones are water resistant, and all have a “ceramic shield” that Apple says is tougher than any smartphone glass. Basically, your phone will come with a screen protector as a part of the screen. 

And yet again, like Apple usually does, the phones are bigger as well as better with this new line. The iPhone 14 and the 14 Pro are 6.1 inches in length, and the Pro Max and the 14 Plus are both 6.7, making these 2 the biggest phones that Apple has released to date.

Something else that was expected with these new phones is the extended battery life. On the iPhone 14 Plus, the battery can last for up to 26 hours, and it will last up to 20 hours on the regular iPhone 14. All the phones can wirelessly charge, and there is also something that Apple has recently introduced that will speed up wireless charging, called the MagSafe charger. 

A new feature introduced with these phones is something that Apple is calling an “e-SIM” card. This e-SIM card would replace the physical card normally seen in most cell phones. This card is a digital version of the regular SIM card, allowing users to store multiple e-SIM cards, cellular plans, and phone numbers on the same phone.

The iPhone 14 costs $799, the Plus is $899, the Pro is $999, and the Pro Max is $1099. 

Along with the new iPhones, Apple announced three new Apple Watches, and a new set of AirPods. 

The new Apple Watches consist of the Series 8, the SE, and the Ultra. The most advanced of the three is the Ultra model, which is designed to help users track endurance training, scuba diving adventures, and triathlons.

The battery on this model lasts about 36 hours on a single charge, and is more water resistant than the previous model. It also includes an enhanced compass that can work at night, in the ocean, and in many other conditions.

The watches vary in price from around $249 for the SE, $399 for the Series 8, and $799 for the Ultra.

All the watches are available to order now, with the SE and the Series 8 available in stores on September 16th, and the Ultra model available on September 23rd. 

And finally, the last release of this year’s Apple drop, the new AirPods Pro 2. These AirPods have 6 hours of listening time with a single charge, which is better than the original version, which could only play for 5 hours on a single charge.

Another feature is a sound to help you locate the case or each individual earbud if you lose them. They now come with improved noise canceling technology, which can cancel out double the noise of the original version.

The AirPods Pro 2 cost $249 and are available to order. 

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.apple.com/

By: Reed Morris

What are the Streaming Wars

Ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the on demand entertainment industry has been booming. With people spending more and more time at home, they have been starting to look for more ways to keep themselves busy and engaged with the outside world. We saw explosive growth in the TV and movie streaming industry, the gaming industry, and the live streaming industry. While I’ve already covered some big news in gaming and tv/movie entertainment, it’s high time we address the competitive and extremely valuable world of live streaming. 

Over the past few years, there has been a huge race to see who will hold the crown as the best live streaming service. The first platform that really had live streaming figured out is a platform called Twitch. It allowed streamers to create their own live broadcast for viewers to watch and interact with. For a while, Twitch was a purely entertainment based platform, but over time the company implemented ways for streamers to monetize their work. This allowed them to put more time and effort into their content and for some of the more successful streamers, it allowed them to pursue this as a full time job. Because of the platform’s massive success, it was snatched up by Amazon in 2014, for just short of $1 Billion in cash. 

In recent years however, other major companies have noticed the growth and success of live streaming. They’ve seen this growth and have decided to throw their hats into the ring. While many companies entered, not many were successful. 

The Competition

Facebook entered the competition in 2020 with the famously bad launch of ‘Facebook Gaming’. After a rocky start, Facebook had an understandably hard time pulling in audiences from other platforms and has essentially not grown at all since its initial launch. While the company’s viewership numbers are high, they are extremely inflated as they count any interaction with live streams and viewership is somewhat forced across their platforms. 

Another competitor that crashed and burned even harder than Facebook was Microsoft’s ‘Mixer’. The company started around the same time as Facebook Gaming, and had many similar problems in regards to growth and viewership. Mixer famously sought out big names in streaming such as streamer Tyler ‘NInja’ Blevins. The world famous Fortnite streamer was signed to Mixer for upwards of $30 million in return for an exclusive 3 year contract. After his switch to Mixer, Blevins’ viewership dropped and Mixer made almost no money off of the 30 million dollar deal. Before the 3 year contract concluded, Microsoft completely shutdown any operations related to the Mixer platform. 

Who’s left?

The two platform’s that still stand are Twitch and YouTube Gaming. The war between the two platforms has been growing exponentially over the past year or two and is finally reaching its peak. The reason that Twitch is able to keep up and compete with a gargantuan company like YouTube (owned by Google) is because of the culture and community it has built around its service. There is close to a decade’s worth of culture and history that Twitch has that YouTube can’t mirror. The loyalty that Twitch has garnered from its users is almost unmatched on any other platform in the world. While Twitch has the community, YouTube has the money, and in recent months, have really been flexing their financial muscles. 

The money

Unsurprisingly, the most important aspect of the streaming industry to the platforms, is the cash flow. There are many ways on both YouTube and Twitch that users can subscribe to, or spend money on, the platforms to support their favorite streamers. While this is a great aspect of the space, the platforms that the streamers use usually take a good amount of the money spent. The most common and most important type of monetary splitting between platform and streamer is the ‘sub-split’. The percentage of every subscription cost that goes to the streamer vs the platform. 

Twitch has been having a hard time keeping up with YouTube’s growing popularity, and so they have needed to find a better way to make money. As Amazon owns Twitch, there is a lot of wiggle room for Twitch to not make that much money, but at this point, it is just bleeding cash. The methods that Twitch has announced they are going to use to keep itself in business has caused a lot of controversy and backlash from the community surrounding the platform. While there were a lot of small changes that were detailed in their release, the most noticeable change is the extreme decrease in the sub-split for the creators. 

For streamers contractually signed to the platform, they would usually be seeing something close to a 50% or 75% percent profit split, meaning that Twitch would only take in 50-25% of the revenue that any given signed streamer would receive. While this is still a lot of money that Twitch is taking out, streamers would still make a lot of money, enough for them to continue to use streaming as a full time job. The big change that Twitch has announced is that they are reducing sub-splits to somewhere around 20-45 percent. This is an extreme and terrifying change for many content creators. 

Final Points

The biggest thing here is the money. Streamers need to make their money somehow, and Twitch just might not be the place for that anymore. With YouTube keeping sub-splits in the 50-75% range, and signing on huge community names such as Ludwig Ahgren, Sykkuno, and Valkyrae, YouTube seems to be slowly coming out on top. 

While the war has a lot more time left in it and neither side is giving up any time soon, this extremely valuable and influential conflict between obscenely large corporations doesn’t show any signs of stopping. 

By: Liibaan Yusuf

Early, April 2022, Elon Musk, tech mogul and pop culture superstar made a bold claim: he wanted to buy Twitter. But before we go into that you have to understand a few things.

Twitter is a public company, and public companies are different from the traditional idea of a brand or company. Instead of the original creator, or a mom and pop type business, public companies are owned by shareholders, each shareholder owning a certain percentage of the company, making it impossible for one person to own. Typically, the largest shareholders, usually those above 5%, come together as a board and are let in on company secrets adding their two cents in.

Musk attempted to purchase Twitter, becoming the largest shareholder, by buying everyone else’s shares. It would cost him approximately 44 billion dollars putting each individual share at 55 dollars. Musk, a name commonly associated with billionaires, planned to purchase Twitter through a quick fire sell off of Tesla stock, as he is the biggest shareholder in his own company, Tesla. He sold 9.2 million shares equaling about 8.2 billion US dollars. A large sale of stock leads to a depreciation of the market, and $TSLA fell 12% the following day.

After almost a month of deliberation, Twitter had accepted Musk’s offer on the 25th of April. Musk has been very vocal about taking Twitter off the public market. After Musk’s generous offer, about 1.5 times Twitters’ actual market cap, investors and finance analysts say Musk isn’t looking to make money on Twitter. As an established businessman and billionaire, it seems as if Musk is doing this for fun? As of, Wednesday, May 18th, there has been many moments of speculation of whether the deal will be called off or if it will go through.