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The Verge
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Wheel World is the feel-good game of the summer
Momentum is what Wheel World does best. It is the feeling of reaching a downhill section of road, a pristine Sega-blue sea stretching out in the far distance, and letting gravity, the weight of your bicycle, and slope do all the work. Release the right trigger, the button used to peddle, and simply careen down the gently curving asphalt. It's as if you're flying — the wind in your hair and shirt fluttering on your back, coasting to wherever the road takes you. Wheel World is an undeniably feel-good video game. But this wasn't always the case. It started life with the title 'Ghost Bike,' casting you as a deceased cyclist making their way to bicycle Valhalla. One name change later (and probably a lot of behind-the-scenes wrangling), it arrives as a game about the unmitigated joy of riding a bicycle through a Mediterranean island. The roads here are lined with cypress trees, the beaches are white and sandy, and you'll come across many chic cyclists lounging in cafes. The atmosphere is so vividly rendered that I can practically taste the vacation Coca-Cola as I play. Summer itself seems strewn across the screen. You play as Kat, a rider chosen by a cycling spirit named Skully to enact an ancient ritual. This is achieved by accruing parts of a so-called legendary bicycle: frame, wheels, chain, and more, which have fallen into the hands of rival cycling gangs. So you race these teams (which have superbly off-beat names like the 'Nude Dudes' and 'Shimmy Squad'), moving across a mix of dirt and road tracks. You encounter other cycling spirits residing in gigantic sculpted bike bells along the way. Ringing your bell at one of them causes the stonework to crack, thus revealing said spirit. You chat and gain an extra few bars on your boost gauge, before a portion of the map is revealed with tiny little icons indicating where you should pootle to next. That's right: Wheel World, from California-based studio Messhof, maker of the excellent Nidhogg sword-dueling games, is structured like an open-world behemoth from Ubisoft. But expectations should be kept in check. There isn't a blockbuster's worth of content here. Rather, across the roughly seven hours of playtime, you'll take part in races, duke it out with lone cyclists, and meet cute little dudes with boxes on their heads who point you in the direction of new gear. Oh, and there are strange hovering drones which dole out rewards for classic checklist completion stuff (like finding hidden jumps and lost members of cycling crews). You could argue the game is a little slight in its array of things to do. But that's not quite right. Rather, Wheel World requires you to rethink traditional definitions of content — to move beyond markers on a map. Content, for example, is every highway and path whose varying terrains cause your bicycle to handle differently. It is the shaky, unstable feeling that is channeled from screen to hand to brain via the controller when you veer onto the little slip of gravel next to the road. Content is also watching Kat as she strains to surmount a hill with a gradient that would cause a heart attack in most. Our hero remains stoic: I marvel at her thighs of steel! Wheel World is filled with many more beautifully animated details. You're able to hop off your bicycle and push it around on foot. Maneuvering in a tight space, Kat does a kind of swivel trick with her handlebars, essentially spinning the bike frame around in one effortless motion. Another deftly rendered moment: when Kat dismounts, lifting her right leg over the bike, resting it next to her left, and then freewheeling to a gentle stop while standing upright. If you're a cyclist, this move will likely already be familiar to you: it means every journey ends with nonchalant cool (or so you likely imagine). I've never seen it reproduced in a video game before. All this serves to make ambling around the island an exquisitely elegant thing. It's a shame, then, that the racing is a little more chaotic, a little less refined. Showdowns on wide open roads are, for the most part, a joy. Those that take place in tight city streets can be finicky, Kat bouncing awkwardly off AI cyclists, world geometry, and oncoming traffic. The difficulty also feels a touch wonky: races are too easy for much of the game before an unexpected spike arrives in the last hour or so (exacerbated by a chugging frame rate on the PlayStation 5). Still, these moments of frustration only made me pine all the more for the relative serenity of the open (world) road. Upon rolling credits, I dived back in to check off remaining objectives while soaking up the picture-postcard vibe again. This, I think, is the true mark of a game like Wheel World: the extent to which the core mechanics might cajole you back. Galavanting during my post-credits session, I thought about another notable racing title with light open-world design: Mario Kart World. The latest in Nintendo's flagship kart racer is a cascading stream of serotonin hits induced by cotton-candy skies, soaring backflips, and delightful wahoos. It is a pure pleasure machine. Wheel World, on the other hand, doles out joy with a little less machine-like efficiency. It is more languid, massaging your eyeballs, ears, and brain with great blocks of warm, cel-shaded color, nostalgia-tinted electropop, and, of course, beautifully tactile cycling. What mileage there is in simply ebbing and flowing across the gorgeous sun-kissed land, carried along by both cool breeze and smooth tarmac. Freewheeling, it is practically impossible not to break out in a smile. With every descent, those smiles only widen. Wheel World launches July 23rd on PC, PS5, and Xbox. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Lewis Gordon Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Games Review Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming
TimesLIVE
17-07-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Sisters lose challenge to their mom over late sibling's estate
The Johannesburg high court has dismissed an application by two unemployed sisters disputing a decision to allocate 100% of their late sister's death benefits to their elderly mother. Siblings Thandazile Mbonambi and Thobekile Ngubane approached the court to seek a review and set aside the eJoburg Retirement Fund's decision to allocate death benefits of Hlengiwe Mbonambi to their mother Ntombi Mbonambi. The deceased had nominated her mother as the sole beneficiary for the death benefit from the fund amounting to just more than R4m. Thandazile and Thobekile claimed they deserved an equal share as they were also depending on the deceased for financial support — an issue they could not produce enough evidence for except a bank statement showing R300 the deceased once sent to one of them. Their brother did not claim dependency but supported the distribution of the death benefits to their mother. When a member of a retirement fund dies before reaching retirement age, the lump sum benefit which becomes payable must be paid to the member's dependants and/or nominees. The Pension Funds Act regulates the payment of these death benefits. The primary objective is to ensure those people who were dependent on the deceased member are not left destitute after his/her death, irrespective of whether the deceased was legally required to maintain them. In this matter, the court heard the appointed fund administrator, Momentum, attended to the investigation on behalf of the fund into possible dependants of the deceased and obtained affidavits from them.
New York Post
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Amon-Ra St. Brown's dad infuriates fans over ‘breeding' comments
The father of Detroit Lions wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown made waves online while discussing his sons' personal lives, specifically saying they should have children with Black women in order to 'breed' better athletes. John Brown and his wife, Miram, who is white, have three sons, including Equanimeous and Osiris, both of whom were Division I athletes. Equanimeous, a wide receiver and sixth-round draft pick in 2018, played for the Saints last year. Osiris was a wideout for Stanford but didn't pursue professional career due a lingering foot injury. On Saturday, the 'St. Brown' podcast — which is hosted by Amon-Ra and Equanimeous — posted a clip of John, a former bodybuilder, explaining his philosophy on 'breeding' and raising three athletic sons. Advertisement 4 Amon-Ra St. Brown in action for the Lions. Getty Images 'I believe in breeding,' John said. 'You gotta pick the right girl and the right guy… Look at you [both], good athlete, I'm Black, mom is white. I've done stepped on it once, you can't keep stepping on it because you're going to mess it up. You're going to weaken it… You can't keep cutting it. You and Brooklyn [Adams, Amon-Ra's fiancée], because Brooklyn's half and half, you've got a chance. Advertisement '… You've got to be careful, you've got to think about that. I'm Black, I've got the Black gold running through my veins, I'm excited and just going to find the right person to mate with. If I'm white, I'm saying, 'Let me get one of those brothers around here,' if you want to have athletes. If you don't want to have athletes, then just go ahead and spread your seed wherever. 4 John Brown discusses breeding and relationships with his sons on their podcast in August 2024. YouTube/St. Brown podcast 'Mama got that big chin and big toes. Ain't nothing wrong with a big-toed woman… You've gotta think of this stuff, some guys don't think of it until later.' The podcast was an old episode from August 2024, when John joined his sons as a guest. Advertisement Many were surprised by Brown's comments, while others deemed his remarks to be racist. 4 (L-R) Amon-Ra St. Brown, Osiris Brown, Miram Brown, John Brown, and John Brown and Equanimeous Brown. Instagram/Miram Brown 4 Brothers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Equanimeous Brown on their podcast. YouTube/St. Brown podcast Advertisement This isn't the first time John has echoed similar remarks when discussing his sons' personal lives on a mic. During a December 2021 appearance on the 'Momentum' podcast, John explained how he told his sons to marry a Black woman. 'You can't keep cutting that blackness… My sons, I'm like, 'Man, you're all half black and half white. So you better try to marry a black girl because you want some athletes… because if not you gotta know what it is. 'You need a volleyball girl, like [5-foot-9]… African American, oh yeah. Make sure her knees are lined up, you gotta be careful with that. 'I like little ankles, because they're swift. You want strong knees, and ask her about her family, but don't be so obvious… [Ask] did your dad play sports? Did your mom play? … You gotta think about these things.'
Los Angeles Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Amazon Prime Day sales off 41% first day, brand adviser says
Inc took a big gamble this year by expanding its annual Prime Day summer sale to four days from two, betting the extension would give shoppers more time to navigate the millions of deals on its sprawling web store. Some of the preliminary results are grim, raising the stakes for the event's remaining days. Momentum Commerce, which manages online sales for 50 brands in a variety of product categories and price points, said its Amazon sales plunged 41% on Tuesday when compared with the start of Prime Day last year. The prolonged event has encouraged shoppers to do more 'treasure hunting,' said John Shea, Momentum's founder and chief executive officer. Consumers are browsing and loading up shopping carts, but postponing pulling the trigger in case better deals emerge. Shorter Prime Day sales generated more urgency because shoppers worried they'd miss the discounts, he said. Momentum Commerce sales over the four days could still increase 9.1% compared with last year's two-day event if more browsers make purchases in the final days, Shea said. Momentum manages sales on behalf of brands like Crocs, Beats and Therabody massagers and generates about $7 billion in annual sales on Amazon, giving the company a broad view of Prime Day results so far. 'It all hinges on this four-day strategy being a success,' Shea said. 'Amazon sacrificed a lot on Day 1. It's a wildly unpredictable and uncertain year.' 'They extended Prime Day from two days to four days, so it's unclear that there really is a dropoff in activity,' said Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co. 'We'll find out some when they report the quarter. But it's very hard to pin down how well Prime Day has gone.' After Bloomberg published this story, Amazon emailed a statement saying: 'Typical of statements made by third-party consultancies that don't have access to the actual data, these numbers are highly inaccurate.' The company declined to say how the numbers are inaccurate. The annual event has emerged as a bellwether of consumer sentiment since President Donald Trump's trade war clouded the economic outlook. Tariffs as high as 145% on foreign imports were threatened and then delayed to allow time for negotiations, making it difficult to determine where prices will settle. Amazon doubled the length of the annual sale because shoppers indicated they wanted more time to navigate the deals, Prime chief Jamil Ghani said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Shoppers gravitated toward 'everyday essentials' like teeth-whitening strips, which is the fastest-growing category on Amazon, he said, adding that the company was 'pleased by the engagement' and that it's 'very early.' Shoppers focused on low-cost items on the first day, snatching up deals on dish soap, protein shakes and other pantry staples rather than splurging on televisions and gaming consoles. Almost two-thirds of items purchased on Prime Day cost less than $20, while just 3% cost more than $100 on the first day of the four-day sale, according to Numerator, which tracked more than 7,000 orders from 3,855 households. 'Consumers appear to be purchasing a greater number of items at a lower price point this Prime Day, with the average price per item slightly lower,' Numerator analyst Amanda Schoenbauer said. 'However, with this year's sale extended to four days, there is potential for Prime Day 2025 to break previous records.' US shoppers spent $7.9 billion online across all retailers on Tuesday, up 9.9% from July 16, 2024, last year's first day of Prime Day, according to Adobe Inc., which expects spending over the four-day period to hit $23.8 billion. The Amazon sale overlaps with multiday sales offered by Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., creating an online shopping frenzy. 'The halo effect of Prime Day this year on other retailers is more significant,' Momentum Commerce's Shea said. Soper writes for Bloomberg.
Mint
10-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Amazon's four-day Prime Day gamble sees day one sales plunge, all you need to know
Amazon's decision to extend Prime Day to four days backfired on Day 1, with sales plunging 41% compared to last year's opening, according to e-commerce firm Momentum Commerce. The company, which manages $7 billion in annual Amazon sales for brands like Crocs and Beats, reported shoppers adopted a "wait-and-see" approach rather than rushing to buy. Amazon disputed these figures as "highly inaccurate" but didn't provide counter-data. Wall Street remained optimistic, pushing Amazon's stock up 1.5%, while analysts cautioned it's too early to judge the full event. Shoppers flooded Amazon but bought cautiously, filling carts without checking out immediately. Nearly two-thirds of purchases were under $20, with Dawn dish soap, Premier protein shakes, and Finish dishwasher aids topping sales charts. The average item cost dropped to $25.46 from $28 last year as buyers prioritized essentials over big-ticket electronics. Momentum Commerce CEO John Shea noted the four-day format eliminated "fear of missing out," encouraging "treasure hunting" behavior. Tariff uncertainties also led some brands to offer smaller discounts (21% average vs. 24% in 2024), further dampening urgency. Despite Amazon's slow start, total US online sales jumped 9.9% to $7.9 billion on Day 1 as Walmart, Target, and Wayfair ran competing sales . Adobe Analytics projects thatthe four-day period could hit $23.8 billion across all retailers. Momentum observed a "halo effect" where Prime Day buzz boosted non-Amazon sites, with direct-to-consumer brands seeing stronger growth . Amazon Prime VP Jamil Ghani defended the extended format, noting shoppers wanted more time and highlighting growth in everyday categories like teeth-whitening strips. Trade policy uncertainty loomed over the event, with brands trimming discounts due to fears of revived tariffs on Chinese imports. This marked Prime Day's first test as a prolonged "mid-year Black Friday" amid declining consumer confidence. While Amazon aimed to boost membership value with themed "Today's Big Deals," shoppers treated the event as a pantry-stocking opportunity rather than a splurge. The outcome hinges on Days 3-4: Momentum still forecasts a possible 9.1% overall sales gain if late deals trigger pent-up demand.
