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Multiverse virtual worlds will be healthier for society than our current social networks

The basis of the classic James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies” is an evil media mogul who instigates war between the U.K. and China because it will be great for TV ratings. There’s been a wake-up call recently that our most popular social networks have been indirectly designed to divide populations into enemy camps and reward sensational content, but without the personal responsibility of Bond’s nemesis because they’re algorithmically driven.

(This is part five of a seven-part series about virtual worlds.)

The rise of “multiverse” virtual words as the next social frontier offers hope to one of the biggest crises facing democratic societies right now. Because the dominant social media platforms (in Western countries at least) monetize through advertising, these platforms reward sensational content that results in the most clicks and shares. Oversimplified, exaggerated claims intended to shock users scrolling past are best practices for individuals, media brands and marketing departments alike, and social platforms intentionally steer users toward more extreme content in order to captivate them for longer.

Our impending cultural shift to socializing equally as often through virtual worlds could help rescue us from this constant conflict of interest between what we recognize as healthy interactions with others and how these social apps incentivize us to behave.

Virtual worlds can have advertisements within them, but the dominant monetization strategies in MMOs are upfront purchase of games and in-game transactions. Any virtual world that gains enough adoption to compete as a social hub for mainstream society will need to be free-to-play and will earn more money through in-world transactions than from ads.



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‘Monster Hunter’ Movie Posters Sure Are Big and Dumb

Monster Hunter has been massively popular in Japan for years but it wasn’t until 2018’s smash hit Monster Hunter: World that the Capcom franchise went from niche hit to a truly global phenomenon. Maybe it’s because they almost made a playable game for once.

Regardless, Monster Hunter is as big as it has ever been. So it’s time for it to come to the big screen. Check out these first posters for the upcoming Monster Hunter movie!

I’ll give it this. The most fun and visually striking part of Monster Hunter is making huge dumb weapons out of pieces of the monsters you hunt. And these definitely look like those big dumb weapons. For anyone curious, it’s a Giant Jawblade and Great Hunter’s Bow.

If you’re wondering who would be mad enough to attempt a Hollywood movie version of Monster Hunter, it’s Paul W.S. Anderson. After all, he’s already had great schlocky success adapting Capcom games with the epic Resident Evil cinematic saga. And since there’s no need to mess with a winning formula, Monster Hunter also stars kick-ass action heroine (and Anderson’s wife) Milla Jovovich. She plays, like, an army lady who gets stranded in Monster Hunter world? Ong Bak’s Tony Jaa, also seen in these posters, plays the native hunter who helps her out.

Monster Hunter: The Movie comes to theaters this September. Will Rathalos be in it???  For more on video game movies read our review of Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, learn more about Eli Roth’s upcoming Borderlands movies, and here are other Sega franchises we want to see on the big screen in the wake of Sonic the Hedgehog’s theatrical success.



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Watch These Movies Before ‘The Jesus Rolls’

It’s 2020 and the fact that John Turturro is making a spin-off movie based on a minor Coen Brothers character he played over two decades ago isn’t even one of the top 10 weirdest things currently happening in the world, in film or beyond.

Watch these movies before The Jesus Rolls.

The Big Lebowski

The number one reason to even know what this movie is comes from the bizarre fact that it’s technically a spin-off of The Big Lebowski. In fact, Turturro had to get permission from the Coen Brothers to use the character Jesus Quintana. So not only is this a landmark crime comedy film in its own right, but it’s also now the starting point of a cinematic universe?

Going Places

If being a Big Lebowski spin-off isn’t absurd enough, The Jesus Rolls is also an American remake of the infamous French sex comedy Going Places from 1974. Sure! Why not?

Kingpin

Above all else, the Jesus is a bowler. A very extravagant, very… physical bowler. For another 1990s bowling comedy, albeit without the art-house quality, check out Kingpin by the Farrelly brothers.

Barton Fink

John Turturro and the Coen Brothers have been close for years. Even the Jesus character himself is largely a creation of Turturro that the Coens just trusted him with. One of their best and most inexplicable collaborations is the psychological thriller Barton Fink. Barton Fink! Barton Fink! Barton Fink!

Get Him to the Greek

A random spin-off centered around a flashy side character from an otherwise unrelated comedy worked pretty well for Russell Brand in Get Him to the Greek. And The Big Lebowski is about ten times the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall is. So maybe the math works out for The Jesus Rolls.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

John Turturro stands under two wrecking balls that are supposed to be a Decepticon’s robot testicles. Let the man enjoy his paycheck.

Amélie

Perhaps as an homage to the French roots of the story, The Jesus Rolls also stars Audrey Tautou as part of the “trio of sexually depraved misfits” included Turturro and Bobby Cannavale. She’s probably still best known worldwide as the star of acclaimed French romantic comedy Amélie.



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Facebook Messenger ditches Discover, demotes chat bots

Chat bots were central to Facebook Messenger’s strategy three years ago. Now they’re being hidden from view in the app along with games and businesses. Facebook Messenger is removing the Discover tab this week as it focuses on speed and simplicity instead of broad utility like China’s WeChat.

The changes are part of a larger Messenger redesign that reorients the People tab around Stories as Facebook continues to try to dominate the ephemeral social media format it copied from Snapchat. The People tab now defaults to a full-screen sub-tab of friends’ Stories, and requires a tap over to the Active sub tab to see which friends are online now.

The changes could push users to spend more time visually communicating with friends and consuming content than exploring chat bots for shopping, connecting with businesses, and playing games. That in turn could help Facebook earn more money from Messenger since it’s now showing Stories ads.

TechCrunch was tipped off to the redesign by social media director Jeff Higgins who provided us with extensive screenshots of the update. These show the absence of Discover tab, the switch to just Chat and People tabs, and the People sub-tabs for Stories and Active. We poked around some more and noticed the Instant Games and Transportation options missing from the chat composer’s utility tray. That formerly offered quick Uber and Lyft hailing. Messenger’s M Suggestions also no longer recommend the Transportation feature.

When we asked Messenger about the changes, a spokesperson confirmed that this redesign will start rolling out in the next week, removing Discover and splitting the People tab. They noted that Facebook had announced last August that it planned to eventually axe Discover, and that the added emphasis on Stories was motivated by users’ affinity for the ephemeral social media format. They also told us that Transportation was removed in late 2017, and Instant Games’ removal from the composer is part of the migration to Facebook Gaming announced last July.

A look at the old Messenger Discover tab that’s being removed

Chat bots, businesses, and games are being hidden, but not completely banished from Messenger. They’ll still be accessible if users purposefully seek them through the Messenger search bar, Pages and ads on Facebook, buttons to start conversations on businesses’ websites, and m.me URL that create QR codes which open to business accounts in Messenger. The spokesperson diplomatically claimed that businesses are still an important part of Messenger.

But without promotion via Discover, businesses will have to rely on their owned or paid marketing channels to gain traction for their chat bots. That could discourage them from building on the Messenger platform.

The Rise And Fall Of Facebook Chat Bots

The update feels like the end of a four-year era for Facebook. Back in 2016, it saw artificially intelligent chat bots as a way for businesses to scalably communicate with people, deliver customer service, and push ecommerce. But when it launched the chat bot platform at its F8 conference that year, it arrived half-baked.

The typing-based semantic user interfaces were confusing, the AI necessary to make chat bots seem human or at least reliably understand their human conversation partners hadn’t evolved yet, and several of the launch partner bots like Poncho The Weather Cat were laughably useless. The public soured on the idea of chat bots, and attempts to improve them felt insufficient.

Messenger launched Discover in 2017 in hopes that free promotion and visibility might convince developers to invest in building better chatbots. Yet by early 2018 even Facebook was backpedaling, shelving its plan to build out a full-service AI personal assistant called M that you could ask to do anything. Instead, it’d merely make AI suggestions of different Messenger features to use like Stickers or reminders based on what you typed. Then it announced last year that it would move Instant Games out of Messenger and into Facebook’s dedicated Gaming tab.

A laughably bad interaction with old Messenger chat bot Poncho The Weather Cat

Now with Discover disappearing, Messenger seems to be surrendering the fight to become a WeChat-style monolithic utility. In China, WeCat serves not just as a messaging app but a way to make payments, hail a taxi, book flights, top up your mobile data, get a loan, find housing, or shop at businesses via mini programs.

But while that centralized all-in-one style fit Chinese culture, Western markets have experienced more of an unbundling with different apps emerging to handle each of these use cases. Facebook’s constant privacy scandals and increasing anti-trust scrutiny also inhibited this approach with Messenger. Users and the US government weren’t ready to trust Facebook to handle so much of our daily lives. Facebook Messenger also has to jockey with competition like iMessage and Snapchat that could undercut it if it gets too bloated.

So now Messenger is going in the opposite direction. It’s becoming more WhatsApp-like — simple, speedy, and centered around peer-to-peer communication. Visual communication through Stories, with replies to them delivered as messages, feels like a natural extension of this focus while conveniently offering a path to monetization. If Messenger can be the best-in-class place to chat, unencumbered by promotion of chat bots and businesses, users might stay locked into the Facebook ecosystem.



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Facebook brings its 3D photos feature to users with single-camera phones

Facebook first showed off its 3D photos back in 2018, and shared the technical details behind it a month later. But unless you had one of a handful of phones with dual cameras back then (when they weren’t so common), you couldn’t make your own. Today an update brings 3D photos to those of us still rocking a single camera.

In case you don’t remember or haven’t seen one lately, the 3D photos work by analyzing a 2D picture and slicing it into a ton of layers that move separately when you tilt the phone or scroll. I’m not a big fan of 3D anything, and I don’t even use Facebook, but the simple fact is this feature is pretty cool.

The problem is it used the dual camera feature to help the system determine distance, which informed how the picture should be sliced. That meant I, with my beautiful iPhone SE, was out of the running — along with about a billion other people who hadn’t bought into the dual-camera thing yet.

But over the last few years the computer vision team over at Facebook has been working on making it possible to do this without dual-camera input. At last they succeeded, and this blog post explains, in terms technical enough that I’m not even going to attempt to summarize them here, just how they did it.

The advances mean that many — though not all — relatively modern single-camera phones should be able to use the feature. Google’s Pixel series is now supported, and single-camera iPhones from the 7 forward. The huge diversity of Android devices makes it hard to say which will and won’t be supported — it depends on a few things not usually listed on the spec sheet — but you’ll be able to tell once your Facebook app updates and you take a picture.



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Check Out Geek.com’s Black History Month Coverage

Marvel Comics

Low key I think Geek.com has some of the best Black History Month coverage on the entire internet. For actual years we’ve been highlighting cool intersections of Black people and Geek culture. Whether it’s iconic Black comic book villains and heroes (including a little guy you may have heard of called Black Panther), history lessons on African-American contributions to the video game industry, or an excuse to make Oprah Winfrey the top image of a story, we hope we’ve entertained and enlightened you with geek stories you may never have considered. And if you missed some of Geek.com’s past Black History Month coverage, here are all of our stories in one convenient post.

Enjoy!

Shout Out to Award-Winning Black Hair in ‘Hair Love’

‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ Gospel Choir Is Still the Most Blessed Thing

Watch This ‘Candyman’ Trailer Five Times

Katherine Johnson, Pioneering NASA Mathematician, Passes Away

Finally, Chris Rock Is Rebooting ‘Saw’

Sorry Haters, Zoe Kravitz Makes Catwoman Black Again in ‘The Batman’

Nothing is stopping the best superpowered kiddos. (Photo Credit: Netflix / YouTube)

‘Raising Dion’ Trailer Celebrates Superhero Single Motherhood

Blade Ice Skates Uphill in ‘Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3’

‘The Boondocks’ Reboot Already Sounds Radical

Watch These Movies Before ‘Don’t Let Go’

‘Cannon Busters’ Is The Black Anime We’ve Been Waiting For

‘Dolemite Is My Name’ Trailer Shows Bawdy Blaxploitation Biopic

image via The Sheep’s Meow

Good Vibes, Weird Hardware at the Game Devs of Color Expo

‘Marvel’s Ironheart’ and ‘Bond 25’ Rumors Tease Black Women Hollywood Heroes

11 Forgotten Blaxploitation Classics

‘Shaft’ hits theaters on June 14, 2019. (Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

11 Forgotten Blaxploitation Classics That Deserve Your Time

Questions and Answers for Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’

Reggie Fils-Aime, Famous Black Nintendo of America President, Retires This April

‘Horror Noire’ Continues Scariest Black History Month Yet

Shout Out to Black Women in ‘Apex Legends’

Alfonso “Carlton” Ribeiro, Along With Everyone Else, Sues Epic Over ‘Fortnite’ Dances

Google Earth Takes You On ‘Voyage Through Black History’

‘Shaft’ Reboot Trailer Unites Three Generations of Badass Investigators

‘Black Panther’ Best Picture Nod Brings Oscars Into MCU

Is Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ A Secret Disney Remake?

Sorry To Bother You And Other Black Animal Analogies

We Played Games and Shared Wisdom at the Game Devs of Color Expo 2018

Donald Glover’s Deadpool Script Was Too Black To Exist

GEEK PICK OF THE DAY: The Ultimate Clap Back is Cards Against Black Twitter

The Latest in Black People at GDC 2018

Ava DuVernay’s Warrior Journey to A Wrinkle in Time

Kwanza Osajyefo on Writing the Most Powerful Person on Earth in Black AF: America’s Sweetheart

What if only black people had superpowers? That dream (or nightmare depending on who you ask) is the premise of the world of BLACK, the comic book series written by Kwanza Osajyefo, and we talked to him about it.

Reggie Fils-Aime and Our Other Favorite Black Nintendo Characters

Nothing but respect for our Black Nintendo president.

Dandara Flip Turns Metroidvanias Upside Down

What other Metroidvania is going to let you jump your way through a world of salt as a legendary Brazilian anti-slavery rebel?

Prepare For Wakanda With Rise of the Black Panther

You saw the movie, know read the comic about how T’Challa rose to power.

Put Debra Wilson in More Video Games

Enough of the Nolan North and Troy Bakers of the video game voice-acting world.

11 Other Black Superheroes That Deserve Their Own Movies

Black Panther was just the beginning.

Tee Franklin on Bingo Love’s Golden Graphic Novel Romance

Bingo Love is about queer, old, Black, women. And it’s one of the smartest and most touching graphic novels we’ve read in years.

MovieBob Reviews: BLACK PANTHER (2018)

If you haven’t seen Black Panther yet, what are you waiting for?

Can Black Lightning Make Me Care About CW’s DC TV Universe?

Is Black Lightning good even if the Arrowverse does nothing for you?

Black Panther is Mainstream, and That’s Okay!

Black Panther is ultimately a Disney product, which makes its radicalism all the more worth celebrating.

Baha Men is the Black Smash Mouth and It’s Time to Admit It

The most important piece of music criticism of our time.

Look, But Don’t Touch, in Hair Nah

This game’s lesson is simple, so white people will understand. Don’t touch my hair.

Black Manta Can Save The DCEU

Black Manta could be amazing if DC realizes what they have.

Game of the Year: Mafia III

Let’s celebrate a video game about racism that’s not a complete embarrassment.

Thank Jerry Lawson for the Nintendo Switch

Nintendo’s new console is the latest example of this unsung gaming pioneer’s legacy.

Playing ‘We Are Chicago’ is Almost Like Living There

This new adventure game takes an empathetic look at the Windy City.

Static Shock is the Best Black Spider-Man

Miles Morales is a close second.

Adult Swim’s Black Comedy Renaissance

Some of the best Black comedies of the past decade premiered on the late-night network.

Game of the Year: Def Jam Icon

Rappers are the true street fighters.

Storm’s Importance to the X-Men Universe

Storm’s presence is strong, and she continues to be a focal point for mutant and female leadership and strength within Marvel lore.

Ryan Coogler Refresher: Get to Know Black Panther’s Director

Coogler’s past movies give us hope for his vision of Wakanda.

Game of the Year: Black College Football: BCFX: The Xperience

Fight the Madden monopoly.

Get Ready for Get Out With These Black Horror Movies

I see white people.

via Marvel Comics

You Need to Know Isaiah Bradley

Despite the tragic life of Isaiah Bradley, the Black Captain America, his legacy lives on all throughout the Marvel Universe.

MovieBob Reviews: Get Out

This is the best movie that’s come out so far this year. Go see it.

Next year look out for our retrospective on why 1970s funky Black spy parody Undercover Brother, based on a web cartoon creator by Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave writer John Ridley of all people, is an underrated masterpiece. Eddie Griffin! Dave Chappelle! Billy Dee Williams as fake Colin Powell! Neil Patrick Harris as the affirmative action hire! Chris Kattan as the white villain!!!

Let us know what you like about Geek by taking our survey.



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