Rare Round-Up: Entertainment News of the Week (02/02/2024)
With the last few weeks being heavily movie-focused with all the chatter of award nominations, shows and snubs, it appears not only fitting but necessary to shift the focus over to music and video games.
Starting with video games, Wednesday saw PlayStation showcase new, upcoming and in-development titles for its home consoles in 2024’s State of Play. One of the most exciting titles presented this year that is generating a lot of buzz is Rise of the Ronin. Historical Japan and the samurai have been of long-lasting interest to historians, action movie fans and the general public alike, with their practices and lifestyle being retained and adapted to this day. There have been plenty of ronin and ninja-based video games over the years including Nioh, Ninja Gaiden, Tenchu, Sekiro and of course PlayStation's own 2020 cinematic adventure Ghost of Tsushima, which not only raked in praise and awards but also left fans yearning for a sequel.
Whilst Rise of the Ronin is not a sequel, nor is it even set at the same time, it does retain a lot of the same elements along with those of Sekiro, with fans comparing if favourably to both and showcasing their excitement to step back into the kegutsu of a katana-wielding warrior.
Other big titles are Death Stranding 2, now officially titled Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Developed by video game auteur Hideo Kojima (creator of the Metal Gear series) and his company Kojima Productions, Death Stranding 2 looks bigger, badder, weirder and more epic than its predecessor. Passionate about cinema and literature, Kojima’s works are distinct for their cinematic presentation. the Death Stranding series stars Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale), Ellie Fanning (Babel) and Shioli Kutsuna (Deadpool 2) as well as Guillermo del Toro. Kojima also announced that he is working on a new as-of-yet untitled action espionage game for PlayStation, that will blur the lines between video game and film.
Additionally, BioShock creator Ken Levine showcased his upcoming project Judas, the first under the rebranded Ghost Story Games (formerly Irrational Games) and Levine’s first time back in the head chair since 2014’s BioShock Infinite expansion Burial at Sea. Judas looks like a wild and colourful dystopian first-person shooter strongly resembling his original work in the underwater city of rapture and its spiritual predecessor System Shock.
That’s just the tree excitements that have us the most excited! There were plenty of other games showcased at the event including the Until Dawn remaster coming to PS5 and PC later this year. Originally released on the PS4 in 2015, there is also a movie adaptation of the Game of the Year nominee in the works. Sega revealed the Sonic Generations remaster Sonic X Shadow Generations, Konami announced a new Silent Hill spinoff as well as a Silent Hill 2 remake. I could keep going on and on about all this, but there are other things to cover this week!
A big new release for games this week is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League! Unrelated to the film franchise regarding the same team of supervillains, Kill the Justice League is set within the Arkham universe and takes place in Metropolis. It allows players to freely roam the city as any and all of the four characters as they attempt to stop Brainiac and the members of the Justice League that he has brainwashed. Featuring the familiar voice of Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, and also professional wrestler Nuufolau Joel Seanoa, better known by fans as current AEW World Champion Samoa Joe as King Shark. The game is notable for featuring one of Kevin Conroy’s final roles as Batman following his passing in 2022, with at least one more performance in the upcoming Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 3.
The other big happening in the entertainment world this week is the Grammys. The Grammys are of course the biggest night of the year for the music industry, and they will take place this coming Sunday, February 4th. We will of course be covering the winners next week but for now, we’re raring to know who takes him a golden gramophone this year.
The artist with the most nominations going into the 2024 event is SZA with nine overall. Her second studio album SOS is up for Best Album as well as its fifth single, the R&B murder ballad “Kill Bill” up for Best Song. Phoebe Bridgers of boygenius boasts the second-most nominations with seven. Interestingly as I write this, news has broken that boygenius are going an indefinite hiatus following their mega-successful album of the year level debut. Hopefully it won’t be a long one. Back to the Grammys, whilst fans of Barbie may have been unhappy with its Oscar showing, the music from the hit film's soundtrack nabbed 11 nominations, including four of the five slots in the visual media song category! Notable this year is the fact that the female acts have outperformed their male counterparts, with Jon Batiste being the only male in both the record and album of the year categories.
Staying with music and moving on to new releases, this New Music Friday sees a huge number of releases, all of which I cannot possibly list here but they include BBC’s Sound of 2024 winner The Last Dinner Party with their debut album Prelude to Ecstasy along with rock band Slope’s Freak Dreams, Giant Rooks' second album How Have You Been? and a posthumous album by Jamaican singer and producer Lee “Scratch” Perry. Britti comes at us with her debut Hello, I’m Britti and rock-pop group Kyros with Mannequin. There are also some soundtrack albums out today- including The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which features Grammy nominee Olivia Rodrigo’s “Can’t Catch Me Now.”
In other musical news, Billie Eilish’s Oscar and multi-Grammy nominated song What Was I Made For? from the Barbie movie is coming to limited edition yellow vinyl on March 8th. Nothing But Thieves’ latest album Dead Club City is coming to limited edition coloured vinyl too but this time it's blue and marbled. Liam Gallagher and John Squire’s new collaborative album has a release date of March 1st and nine-time Grammy winner Norah Jones’ new album is hitting digital and physical shelves on March 8th.
Big film news this week is somewhat slim which as I mentioned at the start is a rather welcome change of pace for the Rare Round-Up. But one rather exciting thing is that the DC Cinematic Universe has found its Supergirl! Taking on the iconic red cape will be none other than Milly Alcock, who is best known for her role as a young Rhaenyra Targaryen in HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. In a post she shared on Instagram, Alcock wrote:
"So excited to be a part of the DC fam - thank you so much to James Gunn for trusting me with Kara / Supergirl"
Her first appearance as the superhero will come in Superman: Legacy which is set for release next year, before leading her own movie titled Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, an adaptation of Tom King’s graphic novel of the same name. We’re very excited to see what she brings to the role and it would appear that the majority feel the same! In a poll we ran on Twitter, 53% of voters said that they were excited to see Alcock take on the role, with 37% saying that they will wait and see. Only the remaining 9% showed displeasure in the casting decision. We look forward to seeing her take on the role!
What are you most excited about this week?
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