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Mubi has secured the US rights and global SVOD rights to Grand Theft Hamlet. In this documentary, two out-of-work actors attempt to stage an entire production of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet within the game world of Grand Theft Auto Online during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mubi plans to give the film a release in early 2025, and Mubi’s own posts on X say that it will be in “US theaters and streaming globally.”

The movie is composed of more than 300 hours of GTA footage. Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen might be the main drivers of making the play the thing, but they looped in other random players through in-game auditions to fill out the cast. This piece of theatrical machinima won the documentary feature jury award at its premiere during SXSW. It also currently boasts a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so the critics and early reviewers are into this mash-up of iambs and uzis.

The Bard has seen many a retelling over the years, and Hamlet seems to generate particular interest for gaming-flavored interpretations. The Danish prince was in a VR production via Google collaboration in 2019, he made an appearance in MMORPG Mabinogi back in 2011, and got to star in his own quirky video game in 2010.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/mash-up-of-grand-theft-auto-and-hamlet-is-coming-to-theaters-in-the-us-195758396.html?src=rss

If you own a Porsche Taycan, you might plan on making a trip to the dealership. The Verge reported that recalls have been issued due to a short circuiting risk in one of the battery’s cell block modules. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a safety recall for more than 27,000 of the Porsche EVs. The recall affects “certain” Taycan vehicles released from 2021-2024. Notices will be issued to owners by the end of November.

Porsche hasn’t been able to pinpoint exactly which cars in the Taycan fleet have the hazard. In order to determine which cars need fixing, Porsche is advising owners of Taycans made between October 21, 2019 and February 1, 2024 to bring their car to a dealership where crews can monitor the battery with diagnostic software. Porsche is also advising its Taycan owners to only charge the vehicle’s battery up to 80 percent until dealership mechanics can determine if the battery needs to be replaced.

If this problem sounds familiar, it’s because it’s one of the chief causes for the downfall of Chevrolet’s EV, the Chevy Bolt. The electric car went through a similar recall in 2021 due to a fire risk with the battery.

Chevy had to replace the batteries in Bolts made between 2017 and 2019 at a cost of $1.8 billion. The battery issues led to Chevy discontinuing the EV line and a class-action settlement that netted owners of the 2020-2022 Bolt EVs and EUVs a $1,400 settlement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/porsche-recalls-more-than-27000-taycan-evs-192335438.html?src=rss

FIFA didn’t exactly get out of the video game business after parting ways with EA. Soccer’s governing body has teamed up with Konami to host two editions of the FIFAe World Cup on the console and mobile versions of eFootball later this year.

Qualifying for both tournaments starts today, with FIFAe world champs (one each on mobile and console) to be crowned later this year. Eighteen FIFA member associations are taking part, namely those in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, England, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand and Türkiye. They were selected based on previous performances of esports competitors from those countries as well as the eFootball player base in each.

FIFA is bringing eFootball into its esports fold alongside Rocket League (car soccer) and Football Manager (soccer management). It’s too early to tell whether Konami’s title will become FIFA’s official licensed partner for major soccer games and adopt the governing body’s name. Still, it seems clear that FIFA and Konami are on positive terms and this could be a step toward a larger partnership. Hey, both even use that silly “e” branding.

While EA Sports FC is far and away the most popular soccer sim series around, eFootball is the closest thing it has to a true competitor. It had a peak concurrent Steam player count of 17,610 over the last 24 hours, compared with 98,400 for EA Sports FC 25.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fifa-cozies-up-to-ea-rival-konami-for-soccer-esports-185538485.html?src=rss

A new season of Star Trek: Lower Decks is almost here, with a trailer to prove it. The fifth, and unfortunately final, season looks to feature the same unchecked shenanigans and in-the-know humor that has made the show so beloved to Trek fans.

The trailer’s filled with wacky hijinks and jokes pulled from the wide world of Star Trek. Eagle-eyed viewers will spot the Borg, the weird sexy decontamination sauna from Star Trek: Enterprise and a whole bunch of Harry Kims. That’s right. There looks to be at least seven Harry Kims floating around this trailer. My Delta Quadrant bestie is finally getting the respect he deserves.

For the uninitiated, Star Trek: Lower Decks is an animated show helmed by Mike McMahon, who created Solar Opposites and worked on the early seasons of Rick and Morty. It follows some low-level Starfleet officers just after the events of the 1990s shows, like Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s very funny, particularly for long-time fans. It was also recently cancelled. 

Now I don’t know anything about viewership numbers, as Paramount+ keeps that stuff close to the (red) vest. However, Star Trek: Lower Decks seems fairly popular right? Also, it’s a cartoon, so it can’t be as expensive to make as something like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I can’t imagine that Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome command jaw-dropping salaries, so why cancel it? You know what I’m getting at. #SaveLowerDecks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/star-trek-lower-decks-season-five-trailer-has-too-many-harry-kims-to-count-184704663.html?src=rss

Marriott International is being taken to task after the hotel chain suffered multiple data breaches that exposed sensitive information for more than 344 million customers around the world. First, Marriott agreed to a settlement of $52 million with a group of 50 US attorneys general. According to Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, 131.5 million hotel customers in the states had their information compromised in the attacks on the hotels.

Second, a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission will require Marriott and its Starwood Hotels & Resorts subsidiary to implement a new information security system to protect against future data exposures. The FTC agreement includes measures such as data minimization, account review tools for its loyalty rewards programs and a link for guests to request deletion of their personal information.

Today’s settlements center on three separate data breaches at Marriott and Starwood between 2014 and 2020 that allowed malicious actors to access passport information, payment card numbers, loyalty numbers, dates of birth, email addresses and other personal information. But cybersecurity issues have been an ongoing concern for these two businesses over the past decade. Hackers used “social engineering techniques” to access an employee computer and steal about 20GB of customer data. Marriott was also part of a larger attack on Pyramid Hotel Group in 2019. Starwood was victim of a data breach discovered in 2018; the company faced a fine of about $127.3 million in the UK for that incident.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/marriott-reaches-52-million-settlement-over-years-of-data-breaches-181327146.html?src=rss