Monthly Archives: June 2020

Cinemark Customers Not Required to Wear Masks When Theaters Reopen

Movie theater chain Cinemark will "encourage" but not require its customers to wear face masks when they reopen their cinemas later this month despite the ongoing threat of the coronavirus pandemic. Cinemark intends on reopening in four phases, starting June 19, with its theater employees required to wear face coverings. During an analysts call this week, Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi said: “We have been intensely focused on developing enhanced health and safety protocols, understanding that these factors will weigh heavily on the confidence and peace of mind of our employees, guests and community as we reopen our theaters." Zoradi added, “Of course it depends on a continuing positive movement, relative to the decline of COVID-19 and the government restrictions being reduced across the country.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] TheWrap reports that Cinemark will implement social distancing at the box office and concessions stands, be vigorous in cleaning and allow for ticket buyers online to physically distance themselves from others when selecting seats. Cinemark also promises to "supply hand and seat cleaners for guests, stagger movie times to reduce foot traffic and join other companies, like Amazon, in screening staff before their shifts," according to FOX Business. "It will also run an initial maximum seating capacity of 50 percent with six feet between patrons." Why is Cinemark not requiring its costumers to wear face coverings when the CDC says the virus is spread when people do not wear masks or observe social distancing? As Collider suggests, a big reason for Cinemark to not require patrons to don masks is concessions, which account for a huge portion of a theater's revenue. Exhibitors have to share half their ticket sales with the studios so they make most of their money off concessions. Thus, if moviegoers are wearing masks then they're probably less likely to buy food and beverages. Would you feel comfortable attending a theater that didn't require face masks? Let us know in the comments.

Cinemark Customers Not Required to Wear Masks When Theaters Reopen

Movie theater chain Cinemark will "encourage" but not require its customers to wear face masks when they reopen their cinemas later this month despite the ongoing threat of the coronavirus pandemic. Cinemark intends on reopening in four phases, starting June 19, with its theater employees required to wear face coverings. During an analysts call this week, Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi said: “We have been intensely focused on developing enhanced health and safety protocols, understanding that these factors will weigh heavily on the confidence and peace of mind of our employees, guests and community as we reopen our theaters." Zoradi added, “Of course it depends on a continuing positive movement, relative to the decline of COVID-19 and the government restrictions being reduced across the country.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-delayed-movie-due-to-coronavirus-so-far&captions=true"] TheWrap reports that Cinemark will implement social distancing at the box office and concessions stands, be vigorous in cleaning and allow for ticket buyers online to physically distance themselves from others when selecting seats. Cinemark also promises to "supply hand and seat cleaners for guests, stagger movie times to reduce foot traffic and join other companies, like Amazon, in screening staff before their shifts," according to FOX Business. "It will also run an initial maximum seating capacity of 50 percent with six feet between patrons." Why is Cinemark not requiring its costumers to wear face coverings when the CDC says the virus is spread when people do not wear masks or observe social distancing? As Collider suggests, a big reason for Cinemark to not require patrons to don masks is concessions, which account for a huge portion of a theater's revenue. Exhibitors have to share half their ticket sales with the studios so they make most of their money off concessions. Thus, if moviegoers are wearing masks then they're probably less likely to buy food and beverages. Would you feel comfortable attending a theater that didn't require face masks? Let us know in the comments.

Update: Xbox Live Is Back Up

Update: Xbox Live is back online according to Microsoft's official Status page. Online services for games should be up, either now or momentarily depending on your region. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Live is down. According to the official support page, the Xbox Live Core Services are having issues preventing users from signing in to Xbox Live and using its services. “We’re aware that some users are unable to sign-in and our teams are investigating,” says Xbox in a statement publishing on its official Support Twitter account. The outage has impacted the online services for games including Sea of Thieves, which issued its own Twitter statement regarding internet issues. The last update from Xbox was from 2 pm PT/5 pm ET confirming that services were still down and a resolution is “pending.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=igns-top-25-xbox-one-games&captions=true"] IGN will update this story when Xbox Live services are back up and running. The outage may impact other online game services, including Grand Theft Auto Online, which is back online after a purposefully going offline in support of George Floyd. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Update: Xbox Live Is Back Up

Update: Xbox Live is back online according to Microsoft's official Status page. Online services for games should be up, either now or momentarily depending on your region. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Live is down. According to the official support page, the Xbox Live Core Services are having issues preventing users from signing in to Xbox Live and using its services. “We’re aware that some users are unable to sign-in and our teams are investigating,” says Xbox in a statement publishing on its official Support Twitter account. The outage has impacted the online services for games including Sea of Thieves, which issued its own Twitter statement regarding internet issues. The last update from Xbox was from 2 pm PT/5 pm ET confirming that services were still down and a resolution is “pending.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=igns-top-25-xbox-one-games&captions=true"] IGN will update this story when Xbox Live services are back up and running. The outage may impact other online game services, including Grand Theft Auto Online, which is back online after a purposefully going offline in support of George Floyd. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

PS5 Games Reveal Event Delayed

On this week's episode of IGN's PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by resident elderly Irish woman Lucy O'Brien, Blessing Adeoye, Jr. from Kinda Funny, and freelance journalist Funké Joseph. Watch the episode below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/04/ps5-games-reveal-event-delayed-podcast-beyond-episode-648"] The group discusses PlayStation's decision to delay the PS5 reveal event, discusses what we hope and wildly predict we might finally see at that event, and discuss what we're playing. Download or listen to the show on these platforms: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true"] Podcast Beyond! is live every Wednesday. For the latest on PS5, check out the PS5 full specs list, why we're excited about PS5's 3D audio focus, and an analysis of what teraflops really mean for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=97140c9d-47ff-415a-94e4-2c5eb2c11481"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

PS5 Games Reveal Event Delayed

On this week's episode of IGN's PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by resident elderly Irish woman Lucy O'Brien, Blessing Adeoye, Jr. from Kinda Funny, and freelance journalist Funké Joseph. Watch the episode below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/06/04/ps5-games-reveal-event-delayed-podcast-beyond-episode-648"] The group discusses PlayStation's decision to delay the PS5 reveal event, discusses what we hope and wildly predict we might finally see at that event, and discuss what we're playing. Download or listen to the show on these platforms: [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=confirmed-playstation-5-games&captions=true"] Podcast Beyond! is live every Wednesday. For the latest on PS5, check out the PS5 full specs list, why we're excited about PS5's 3D audio focus, and an analysis of what teraflops really mean for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=97140c9d-47ff-415a-94e4-2c5eb2c11481"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

Sea Of Thieves Review (2020) – A Voyage Finally Worth Taking

It's 3 AM. Your two-person ship, a modest sloop, is anchored at Golden Sands Outpost while you sell off the loot from a five-hour voyage. You've been sailing as an emissary of the Gold Hoarders, and through questing for a lengthy stretch without your ship sinking, you managed to make it to rank 5. Now, every chest, trinket, and gem you sell is worth two and a half times its normal value, but there's a catch: Sailing with an emissary flag, particularly a high-level one, etches a giant red "X" on your back. Any player that sinks your ship and steals your emissary flag will get their own big payday, and pirates sworn to the new Reaper's Bones faction can even see you on their ship's navigation map if they rank up their own emissary flag high enough.

In an instant, your triumphant loot turn-in transforms into a disaster. Another duo's sloop rounds the corner behind your boat, positioning their cannons to lay waste to all your hard work. Adrenaline washes through your body like an icy tidal wave, but you saw them coming too late: An enemy player has boarded your ship with a dangerously explosive stronghold keg, which erupts as you hurl yourself from the deck. There's almost no way to recover from this onslaught; your entire boat is on fire, the hull is punched through with holes that gush water at an alarming rate, your mast is leaning uselessly to one side, your steering wheel is missing several pegs, the capstan (which raises your anchor) is half-broken, and the incoming cannonballs are knocking you around inside your own boat.

Somehow, incredibly, you and your crewmate repair the mast, raise the anchor, put out the fires on your deck, and lower the sails, all the while bailing water, hammering planks over the gouges in the hull, and using your trusty blunderbuss to fend off the other crew's continued attempts to board. By this point, your hands are violently shaking. You sail off and do the only thing you can: With the pursuing ship directly behind, you set your boat on a clear heading, jump off the back, and grab their ladders. Distracted as they are, you slay them both; in the interim before they respawn, you steer their boat onto some rocks, destroy their mast, lower their anchor, and use some handheld firebombs to light the whole thing up like a floating tinderbox.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Sea Of Thieves Review (2020) – A Voyage Finally Worth Taking

It's 3 AM. Your two-person ship, a modest sloop, is anchored at Golden Sands Outpost while you sell off the loot from a five-hour voyage. You've been sailing as an emissary of the Gold Hoarders, and through questing for a lengthy stretch without your ship sinking, you managed to make it to rank 5. Now, every chest, trinket, and gem you sell is worth two and a half times its normal value, but there's a catch: Sailing with an emissary flag, particularly a high-level one, etches a giant red "X" on your back. Any player that sinks your ship and steals your emissary flag will get their own big payday, and pirates sworn to the new Reaper's Bones faction can even see you on their ship's navigation map if they rank up their own emissary flag high enough.

In an instant, your triumphant loot turn-in transforms into a disaster. Another duo's sloop rounds the corner behind your boat, positioning their cannons to lay waste to all your hard work. Adrenaline washes through your body like an icy tidal wave, but you saw them coming too late: An enemy player has boarded your ship with a dangerously explosive stronghold keg, which erupts as you hurl yourself from the deck. There's almost no way to recover from this onslaught; your entire boat is on fire, the hull is punched through with holes that gush water at an alarming rate, your mast is leaning uselessly to one side, your steering wheel is missing several pegs, the capstan (which raises your anchor) is half-broken, and the incoming cannonballs are knocking you around inside your own boat.

Somehow, incredibly, you and your crewmate repair the mast, raise the anchor, put out the fires on your deck, and lower the sails, all the while bailing water, hammering planks over the gouges in the hull, and using your trusty blunderbuss to fend off the other crew's continued attempts to board. By this point, your hands are violently shaking. You sail off and do the only thing you can: With the pursuing ship directly behind, you set your boat on a clear heading, jump off the back, and grab their ladders. Distracted as they are, you slay them both; in the interim before they respawn, you steer their boat onto some rocks, destroy their mast, lower their anchor, and use some handheld firebombs to light the whole thing up like a floating tinderbox.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

New-Look Xbox Store Design Leaked

A recent leak has given a look at a redesigned Xbox Store, codenamed Mercury, that very well may be the store that we will see on the Xbox Series X. As reported by Thurrott, Twitter user @wincommunity posted the first screenshots of Mercury, which is a store app for Xbox One that is currently running on Windows 10. Thurrott's Brad Sams also got his hands on the app for Windows 10 and showcased Mercury in action, which is pretty far along and allows for purchasing and searching and more. The new store moves the navigation bar to the left side of the screen and the whole app utilizes Microsoft's Fluent Design. There is no indication as to when this redesign would happen, or if the final version will look any different. However, it may be one of the announcements that Microsoft has planned for its Xbox 20/20 series that provides monthly updates on the future of Xbox. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/28/xbox-series-x-to-launch-with-thousands-of-games-ign-news"] We are starting to learn more about this future of Xbox, especially the Xbox Series X. From the news that this newest console would launch with "thousands" of games to the reveal of the startup sound and first look at third-party games to the look of the box and controller, the picture is becoming clearer every day. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who encourages everyone to play Ori and the Will of the Wisps. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

New-Look Xbox Store Design Leaked

A recent leak has given a look at a redesigned Xbox Store, codenamed Mercury, that very well may be the store that we will see on the Xbox Series X. As reported by Thurrott, Twitter user @wincommunity posted the first screenshots of Mercury, which is a store app for Xbox One that is currently running on Windows 10. Thurrott's Brad Sams also got his hands on the app for Windows 10 and showcased Mercury in action, which is pretty far along and allows for purchasing and searching and more. The new store moves the navigation bar to the left side of the screen and the whole app utilizes Microsoft's Fluent Design. There is no indication as to when this redesign would happen, or if the final version will look any different. However, it may be one of the announcements that Microsoft has planned for its Xbox 20/20 series that provides monthly updates on the future of Xbox. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/28/xbox-series-x-to-launch-with-thousands-of-games-ign-news"] We are starting to learn more about this future of Xbox, especially the Xbox Series X. From the news that this newest console would launch with "thousands" of games to the reveal of the startup sound and first look at third-party games to the look of the box and controller, the picture is becoming clearer every day. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com. Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who encourages everyone to play Ori and the Will of the Wisps. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.