Month: December 2024

NBA superstar LeBron James recently shared his thoughts on Netflix’s latest sensation, Squid Game, remarking that he didn’t like the ending all that much. The show’s creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk responded, saying in an interview with The Guardian that he respects James’ position, but wouldn’t change anything about how Squid Game ends its first season.

The video and quotes below contain spoilers for Squid Game Season 1.

“Have you seen Space Jam 2?” he asked the interviewer. “LeBron James is cool and can say what he wants. I respect that. I’m very thankful he watched the whole series. But I wouldn’t change my ending. That’s my ending. If he has his own ending that would satisfy him, maybe he could make his own sequel. I’ll check it out and maybe send him a message saying, ‘I liked your whole show, except the ending.'”

Space Jam 2 was produced by James’ SpringHill Entertainment, and James himself stars in the movie in a role similar to Michael Jordan’s in the original. Space Jam 2 was panned by critics. Squid Game, on the other hand, is a critical success and is Netflix’s most popular series ever. Come from Continue Reading

In a bid to enhance its gaming offerings and entertainment experience, Ellis Island Hotel & Casino, situated off the bustling Las Vegas Strip, has commenced a significant expansion project. The family-owned establishment is set to undergo a transformation, knocking down walls to create more space for its patrons.

Planning Documents Reveal Ellis Island Casino’s 6,415 Square Feet Expansion

According to planning documents submitted to Clark County, the expansion plan outlines the addition of 6,415 square feet to the property, reported The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Among the features of the remodel are a larger casino floor, an audio/visual equipment area, a dedicated sportsbook back-of-house area, and a south service entrance vestibule.

Christina Ellis, vice president of development at Ellis Island Hotel & Casino, conveyed her excitement for the project, emphasizing that the renovation presents a cha…

South Korean casino operator Grand Korea Leisure Company Limited reportedly saw its aggregated gross gaming revenues for April drop by 34.6% year-on-year and almost 81% sequentially to a very disappointing $4.52 million.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, the Seoul-headquartered casino firm chalked up $7.01 million in aggregated gross gaming revenues for April of last year while its tally for the most recent March surpassed $23.59 million following a very pleasing swell of some 334% month-on-month. Most worrying and the source also detailed that last month’s crash came despite the fact that the government of South Korea had dropped a restrictive seven-day quarantine requirement for all international arrivals.

Treble try:

Established in 2004, Grand Korea Leisure Company Limited is reportedly responsible for a trio of Seven Luck-branded casinos located inside South Korea’s Intercontinental Seoul Coex, Lotte Hotel Busan and Millennium Hilton Seoul hotels. The company purportedly announced late last year that it had inked a deal that will see its foreigner-only operation inside this latter property relocated to the nearby Seoul Dragon City Hotelple…

In Missouri, two major initiatives have successfully made their way onto the November 5 ballot, reflecting a significant bypass of the state legislature. The Secretary of State, Jay Ashcroft, confirmed that a proposed constitutional amendment for legalizing sports wagering and a statutory change to raise the minimum wage gathered the required signatures across six congressional districts.

Sports betting initiative gains momentum:

The sports betting proposal, spearheaded by the nation’s two largest sportsbooks and supported by prominent Missouri sports teams, has been designated as Amendment 2. This initiative was primarily funded by FanDuel and DraftKings, who contributed a substantial $6.3 million to the campaign. Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, representing all six of Missouri’s professional sports teams, endorsed the initiative: “Missouri is now just one step away from joining most other states in legalizing sports betting and being able to provide millions of dollars to Missouri classrooms,” he stat…

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is reportedly well on its way to becoming the first Native American tribe with a Las Vegas casino resort after having its deal to purchase the Palms Casino Resort unanimously approved by the four-member Nevada Gaming Commission.

According to a Thursday report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, the federally-recognized band inked an agreement with Red Rock Resorts Incorporated in May that is to see it pay around $550 million so as to assume ownership over the 703-room property located just a stone’s throw from the Las Vegas Strip. The source detailed that this arrangement for the 30-acre property, which was signed off by the Nevada Gaming Control Board earlier this month, is now expected to close later today to give the tribe a prominent presence on the southern Nevada casino scene.

Burgeoning buyer:

Headquartered in the California city of San Bernardino, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has been responsible for its home state’s San Manuel Casino venue since 1986 and recently rebranded the property as the Yaamava’ Resort and Casino at San Manuel while simultaneously unveiling an ad…

Riot recently came under fire as League of Legends fans pushed back against its introduction of a cosmetic that cost up to $500. The skin was made to celebrate renowned League player Faker for being the first person inducted into Riot’s new Hall of Legends, but lots of players were upset that the price barred so many from celebrating the momentous occasion. 

Since then, we talked to the game director, Pu Liu during a Q&A at Summer Games Fest, where the issue of sky-high cosmetics prices became the topic of discussion, and from the sound of things, the company doesn’t want to make a habit of it. 

“I think there are people who are very upset about [the Ahri skin],” Liu says. “And I also think it’s kind of justified because when you have a 14-year-old product that starts doing new things that are expensive, when [players] are used to everything living under a certain price point, all of a sudden, it can be kind of jarring.” But that still doesn’t explain why it was so expensive. After the controversy League of Legends released a video addressing the complaints where a couple of devs explained the price tag was to cover the costs of esports and celebrate ic…

A new Bloomberg report says the Guillemot family and Tencent are exploring options for righting the Ubisoft ship, which could include buying out the company and taking it private.

Sources told the site that both groups have been speaking with advisers about possible ways forward, although it noted that everything is in an early stage at this point and there’s no certainty a buyout will occur.

Tencent currently holds just under a 10% share of Ubisoft net voting rights, while the Guillemot family holds around 20%, but the bulk of that share is held through Guillemot Brothers Ltd, a holding company in which Tencent has a 49.9% economic stake, but only 5% voting rights. It’s complicated, but here’s the report if you want to dive in.

What it all adds up to right now is, frankly, not much: Ubisoft’s share price is in the crapper, it needs to do something about it, and at this point there are no bad ideas. Well, there might be one bad idea, at least from the Guillemot perspective: An outright takeover.

In the past, Yves and the fam have steadfastly resisted any attempt to wrest control of Ubisoft from their hands. Several years ago they fought a long and bitte…

At a games conference in Sofia, Bulgaria earlier this year, Larian gameplay scripter Mihail Kostov gave a presentation outlining the philosophies and strategies the studio employs to ensure games like Baldur’s Gate 3 stay playable even as players are actively tearing them apart. Recently made public on YouTube (via GamesRadar), Kostov’s talk explains how Larian addresses “edge cases”—times when “player action may push a system to the extreme”—with solutions that reward, rather than stifle, creativity.

We’ve written about the near-absurd depth of contingencies Baldur’s Gate 3 has in place to account for player chaos, like its roster of purpose-built backup NPCs who stand ready to replace any plot-relevant characters you might murder (and replacements for those replacements). While every developer designs with edge cases in mind, Kostov says Larian likes to “draw the line further out.”

Larian goes to such lengths to accommodate edge cases because, Kostov says, the studio wants to “fuel and reward” player creativity. According to Larian philosophy, players will experiment more if they feel they can not only complete the game after vaporizing a …

As with prior Bethesda games, the Starfield romance options you have to choose from are pretty clear-cut. All four of Starfield’s romanceable characters are central to its mystery-driven plot, so it’d be hard to miss any of them as long as you progress the main mission. Once you meet them, you can have them join your crew and start to raise their fondness for you by choosing the right dialogue options.

As long as you carefully consider their likes and dislikes and spend time with them as your follower, Starfield’s romanceable characters will quickly grow to like you. From there, you can start flirting with them and see where it takes you—which, in practical terms, is a special side mission and, eventually, a full commitment to the relationship through marriage.

Starfield’s Shattered Space expansion doesn’t offer new companion romances, but the DLC’s setting may raise a few questions for players done with the base game. We’ve updated the content below to reflect that, along with info on romancing Andreja.

Who can you romance in Starfield?

Starfield’s only romanceable NPC companions are the four members of Constellation: Continue Reading