Latest news with #Shadows
Scotsman
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Ballet Black: Shadows, Edinburgh review: 'captivating'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Ballet Black: Shadows, Edinburgh Festival Theatre ★★★★ Unlike a meal, where the various courses complement each other, a dance programme often has to cater to all palates. Ballet Black's Shadows tour does an especially good job of that, made all the more enjoyable by the current crop of dancers who each have talent dripping from every toe. Helga Paris-Morales and Isabela Coracy in Ballet Black's My Sister, The Serial Killer | Photography by ASH If you like your dance served on the abstract side, leaving room for interpretation, Chanel DaSilva's A Shadow Work is ripe for exploration. The piece takes its name from a term often used during the therapeutic process, where we delve inside the parts of ourselves we'd rather not acknowledge. Here, they are quite literally boxed away, opened only occasionally to let the light in, and the demons out. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Taraja Hudson's liquid movement is captivating, slicing between grace and gravitas as she dives into her inner psyche. Dancing alongside (as therapist or pivotal family figure, you choose) Acaoã De Castro weaves the box around her, daring her to lift the lid. When she does, the emotional baggage tumbles out, beautifully embodied by the ensemble as David Plater's striking lighting design floods the stage. By contrast, Cassa Pancho's My Sister, The Serial Killer is an exercise in crystal clear storytelling. Adapted from Oyinkan Braithwaite's novel, the piece will hit the spot with anyone who likes their narrative handed to them on a plate. That said, there is no shortage of imagination in Pancho's delivery, as she introduces us to two sisters – one who kills, the other who cleans up after her. A cast of hospital patients and workers, partygoers, and the ghosts of boyfriends past flesh out the stage nicely.
Business Mayor
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
Assassin's Creed Shadows sneaks to top of March sales
Despite some controversy leading up to its release, Assassin's Creed Shadows managed to rise to the top of March sales charts in the U.S., according to industry-tracking firm Circana. It was one of several releases that month to make it onto the charts, with Shadows also becoming the second-best-selling game of the year. However, sales in general are still as much in the red as they were last month, with hardware sales being down by 25% just as they were in February. March 2025 Dollar Sales, Millions March 2024 March 2025 Change Total Video Game Sales $4,985 $4,689 -6% Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR platforms) $4,336 $4,164 -4% Video Game Hardware $382 $286 -25% Video Game Accessories $267 $238 -11% *Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower 'March video game hardware spending fell 25% when compared to a year ago, to $286 million. This is the lowest March hardware spending total since 2019 ($279M),' said Mat Piscatella, Circana's executive producer for games reports. 'Digital only SKUs have accounted for 75% of Xbox Series and 50% of PlayStation 5 hardware units sold year-to-date.' As with February 2025, the March 2025 hardware sales are following on March 2024's decline of -32%. It worth noting that hardware sales for the 2023 period were up by a significant percentage (68% in February 2023, 10% in March 2023). The March 2024 hardware decline could be corrective following the 2023 spike, but 2025's continued decline seems to be more indicative of how the current console generation is aging. Read More Madden's Super Bowl 59 prediction was right, but missed details Year-to-Date 2025 Dollar Sales, Millions 2024 YTD 2025 YTD Change Total Video Game Sales $15,102 $13,709 -9% Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR platforms) $13,235 $12,310 -7% Video Game Hardware $1,094 $747 -32% Video Game Accessories $772 $652 -16% *Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower Despite the breakthrough success of several of March's titles, overall sales continue to drop. Piscatella noted, 'The only segments showing growth compared to a year ago were non-mobile subscription (+11%) and digital premium downloads on console (+12%). Mobile content spending in the month finished 6% behind March 2024 (mobile source: Sensor Tower).' Rank Last Month Rank Title Publisher 1 NEW Assassin's Creed: Shadows Ubisoft 2 NEW MLB: The Show 25^^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers 3 1 Monster Hunter Wilds Capcom USA 4 NEW WWE 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 5 NEW Split Fiction Electronic Arts 6 6 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Microsoft (Corp) 7 4 PGA Tour 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 8 5 NBA 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 9 NEW Bleach: Rebirth of Souls Bandai Namco Entertainment 10 2 Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Plaion 11 11 Minecraft^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers 12 9 Grand Theft Auto V Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 13 12 EA Sports FC 25 Electronic Arts 14 14 Red Dead Redemption II Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 15 10 Madden NFL 25 Electronic Arts 16 18 Elden Ring Bandai Namco Entertainment 17 NEW Xenoblade Chronicles X* Nintendo 18 NEW Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars Konami Digital Ent. 19 13 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Sony (Corp) 20 16 EA Sports College Football 25 Electronic Arts *Digital sales not included for marked titles^Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included ^^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included A grand total of seven new games have made it onto the March list, the highest number of 2025. These games represent a relatively wide array of genres, from the action-adventure titles like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Hazelight's latest title, Split Fiction; to sports titles like WWE 2K25 and MLB: The Show 25. Bleach: Rebirth of Souls is a fighting game title, while the remaster of the first two Suikoden games made it to the 18th place. Read More 7 Horror Books That Need Video Game Adaptations - GameRant One game particularly worthy of note on this list is Xenoblade Chronicles X, the remaster of which was released in March as the Definitive Edition. The game originally launched on the unpopular Wii U, so the remaster is reaching a much larger audience. Nintendo doesn't report digital sales to Circana, so its inclusion on the sales charts is based solely off of physical sales. Given this fact, it's impressive that a remaster of a ten-year-old action-RPG made it so high on the list, and could have placed even higher if digital sales were taken into account. The latest Assassin's Creed game, Shadows, has been the subject of no small amount of discourse prior to its launch. One of the biggest talking points was about how the game's sales would affect Ubisoft. The company admitted that its 2024 title Star Wars: Outlaws had 'softer than expected' sales, and the company laid off 185 people earlier this year. It also reported that it was exploring 'strategic options' with regards to the company's future. All of which is to say that Ubisoft will be keeping a close eye on Shadows' sales. It recently spun out a new core division of its gaming business that focuses on Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six brands. Tencent invested $1.25 billion in this division last month. Shadows selling particularly well could not only help with Ubisoft's financial situation, but could also demonstrate the franchise's long-term staying power. But it remains to be seen if the sales will actually meet Ubisoft's expectations. Rank Last Month Rank Title Publisher 1 1 Monster Hunter: Wilds Capcom USA 2 NEW Assassin's Creed: Shadows Ubisoft 3 2 Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Plaion 4 NEW MLB: The Show 25^^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers 5 4 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Microsoft (Corp) 6 NEW WWE 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 7 3 Civilization VII [Sid Meier's] Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 8 5 NBA 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 9 6 PGA Tour 2K25 Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 10 NEW Split Fiction Electronic Arts 11 8 Grand Theft Auto V Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 12 10 Minecraft^ Multiple Video Game Manufacturers 13 7 Madden NFL 25 Electronic Arts 14 9 EA Sports FC 25 Electronic Arts 15 11 Red Dead Redemption II Take-Two Interactive (Corp) 16 12 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Sony (Corp) 17 14 EA Sports College Football 25 Electronic Arts 18 16 Hogwarts Legacy Warner Bros. Games 19 20 Elden Ring Bandai Namco Entertainment 20 13 Avowed Microsoft (Corp) ^Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included ^^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included As stated above, Assassin's Creed Shadows soared to 2nd place on the year-to-date list. It's not the only March title to make it to this list, especially as 2025's titles start to displace last year's titles. Hazelight's Split Fiction took 10th place, while sports titles MLB: The Show 25 and WWE 2K25 took 4th and 6th place, respectively. All of these games have the appeal of previous games backing them up — franchise recognition in the case of WWE 2K, MLB: The Show and Assassin's Creed, and critically acclaimed previous games from the studio in the case of Split Fiction.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
At disciplinary hearing targeting Black Kansas lawmaker, ancient tropes and selective outrage
Kansas Rep. Ford Carr, D-Wichita, enters a hearing room on April 9, 2025. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) Rep. Ford Carr and supporters in the gallery for his disciplinary hearing must have felt as though Kehlani and Dreamville penned the lyrics of their haunting 2023 R&B hit 'Shadows,' about them. The hearing unfolded with painful familiarity and hypocrisy. Tropes, hundreds of years old. Ancient double standards. Selective outrage. Those there supporting Carr had decades of the Black experience in the workplace under their belts and, like him, have had to walk around with their defensive dukes up. Jobs are minefields, where your ability to clothe and feed loved ones often is arbitrarily threatened. The song opens: I can tell That there's something lurking in the dark I can tell That you're tryna catch me off guard Carr, a Wichita Democrat, isn't the most sympathetic symbol. Video taken at a Topeka pub in January captured a stream of bile and aggression rarely heard or seen away from a street corner. I've come to know Carr fairly well since he started at the Statehouse, and we've worked together on various projects. He's complex. He's an engineer and a martial artist. He revealed during the hearing how his father was killed. He was accused of a broad pattern of menacing behavior, but he's not the one denying people health care. He's not the one denying children summer school meals. He's not the one hellbent on destroying public education. Claims that he created a negative environment feel galling coming from his accusers. Supporters love Carr's pugilistic style but worry about his defaults to coarse language and physical confrontation. They also know he's on the right side of issues and that he won't show up to a knife fight with pom pons. Supporters also recognize the games his opponents are playing with his House seat, with his character and with his constituents. Like him, they've likely said: And I'm trying my best, my best to keep from going under And it's hard to forget All the rain when we keep hearing the thunder It just feels like shadows keep following me Carr's supporters had a larger concern: how Black people with strong, culturally authentic voices, from Malcolm X in the 1960s to Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett today, get policed. There's always a color tax. Whatever problem you have in this society, if you add Black, your situation worsens. Our mistakes cost us more. Our achievements mean less. Carr touched on this during the hearing. He said of the more than 6,000 people who have served as legislators, only 128 were Black, or 2.13%. That percentage represents more than 90 percent of legislators hauled into hearings like his. The hearing began with an explicit show of force from Capitol police positioned in the corners of the room. The police presence brought back a scene from the book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, where police intimidated a client's supporters before a hearing with police dogs. Many remembered police unleashing dogs on peaceful civil rights protesters. Then, a condescending warning from Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Lewis. 'This is not a political rally,' Lewis said. Lewis controlled everything from meeting times (changed multiple times without concern for Wichita constituents), meeting rooms (changed multiple times) and what evidence he would allow. That exclusion also felt familiar. African Americans represent America's 'exceptionalism' because the rights much of the country sings about while wrapping themselves in the flag, apply to everyone — except us. It's why 'patriots' reflexively oppose civil rights. Whenever they exalt this nation, there sit Black people bearing the scars of America's worst impulses. That's why so many eagerly want to bury evidence of those misdeeds. It is not just that they don't understand. They don't want to understand so they can luxuriate in blissful ignorance of what others must confront daily. We occupy separate realities. Consider the presence of Republican Rep. Leah Howell, Carr's accuser. Howell is a small white woman. She appeared in the same hearing room as the towering Carr, a Black man. Her complaint reminded me of historical dog whistles, some made famous by the racist film Birth of a Nation. Rep. Henry Helgerson, the Democrat whom Carr pushed down during that bar fracas, didn't file a complaint. Howell did so instead. The same bar video showed Howell patting Carr's shoulder as tempers raged. It would seem difficult to claim fear after doing that, but Howell did so, saying tearfully that 'her conscience' compelled her to speak out, adding that she would have done the same thing had a Republican acted in similar fashion. Only, she didn't. In February, Republican Rep. Nick Hoheisel aggressively approached Carr, uttering profanity on the House floor. She filed no complaint. Howell also invoked racism, which felt appropriate given that many Black Wichitans know her district for its overt racism. During the past few decades, a cross was burned in a family's yard; residents protested the disciplining of a white child who had drawn a Confederate Battle Flag; parents hounded an educator for showing a diversity film; Black athletes have complained of crowds racially jeering at them. A mother there said bullying led her daughter to attempt suicide. Suddenly Howell's conscience is calling? Sounds more like selective outrage. Kansas Reflector reported in February for example, how Republican Rep. Patrick Penn joked — from the House floor — about shooting former Democratic Rep. Jason Probst in a conversation with freshman legislator Rep. Kyler Sweely, R-Hutchinson. I guess conscience comes and goes. Probst shared a story on his Substack blog about a racist joke told among a gaggle of Republican representatives. According to Probst, the members enjoyed the following: 'What's the most confusing holiday in Ferguson, Missouri?' Answer: 'Father's Day.' For the record, a 2013 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found Black fathers were more involved in their children's lives than white or Hispanic fathers. Probst added in the blog: 'They (conservative leadership) actively legislate to silence any dissenting voice. They use the levers of the system they control to enforce compliance. They punish those who refuse to be controlled by the rules.' This is why they wanted to break Carr's will. I felt it in my spirit. I know they try to kill it … That two-faced sh– finished. Don't push me to my limit. And that's the game so many people have faced at work. And I'm trying my best, my best to keep from going under And it's hard to forget All the rain when we keep hearing the thunder I can remember a nugget of weather wisdom I received from a security guard at my first job. As we locked up and stepped out into a cloudy March night, we could hear thunder grumbling in the distance. 'That means spring is near,' he said, pointing into the sky. Maybe. Spring symbolizes renewal and rebirth. Even resurrection for some. A new reality. But for many of us, we only get rain. The thunder hovers like shadows, and our springtime never arrives. Mark McCormick is the former executive director of The Kansas African American Museum, a member of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission and former deputy executive director at the ACLU of Kansas. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Assassin's Creed Shadows looks like the success Ubisoft needed as it tops Steam charts
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Assassin's Creed Shadows is the success story Ubisoft needs as it takes the number one spot on Steam's top sellers chart in multiple countries. Assassin's Creed Shadows only came out yesterday, but it's already the top-selling Steam game in the US, UK, Brazil, Singapore, and more countries. The game's official Twitter account writes: "Excited to be back… Full Steam ahead! Thank you for your support, Assassins!" It's no surprise the game is doing so well considering Ubisoft tweeted that it had over one million players not even a full 24 hours after launching. After the middling success of Star Wars Outlaws and the decision to shut down the live-service shooter XDefiant just months after it was released, Shadows needed to be a big win for Ubisoft. It was delayed several times so that the company could polish it and ensure it was to a high standard, and it seems like that was absolutely the correct decision, as reviews have been great too. In our own Assassin's Creed Shadows review, we said the game has "more confidence, texture, and purpose than we've seen since Assassin's Creed pivoted into RPG territory," and we've ranked it highly on our list of the best Assassin's Creed games, too. Ubisoft is reportedly currently working on some sort of "IP unit" that would include franchises like Assassin's Creed. No one is actually sure exactly what this is yet, but with the success of Shadows, it should be easier for the company to convince investors to back its alleged plans. These sales figures should also help appease shareholders, one of whom was reportedly planning a protest against the company's "horribly mismanaged" plans and "declining shareholder value." Ubisoft's stock did get a little bump earlier this month, but it's down year on year. Shadows was discussed by the Prime Minister of Japan due to a controversy started by an Assassin's Creed Shadows preview that showed someone desecrating shrines in-game. There has since been a day-one patch that makes some of the objects within indestructible. Once you're done with Shadows, check out all the new games of 2025 that you still have to look forward to.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Games publisher Ubisoft announces restructuring, billion-euro investment
In a bid to escape financial woes, French games giant Ubisoft said Thursday it was creating a new subsidiary around its most popular franchises such as "Assassin's Creed" in partnership with China's Tencent. The new unit, valued at around four billion euros ($4.3 billion), will be 25-percent controlled by Tencent, which will stump up 1.16 billion euros of new investment in exchange. Alongside "Assassin's Creed", the subsidiary will bring together "Far Cry" and "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six" -- among the most popular long-running names in Ubisoft's roster of game universes. Ubisoft appears to be making the most of last week's successful launch of the latest "Assassin's Creed" instalment, "Shadows", on which much of its future was riding. Conditions for the Tencent deal include a bar on the French company losing its majority in the subsidiary for its first two years. Tencent cannot increase its stake for the next five years -- unless Ubisoft loses its majority in the mean time. Chief executive Yves Guillemot called the step a "new chapter in (Ubisoft's) history". Last year brought a string of woes for Ubisoft, with several disappointing releases for would-be blockbuster games and a slump in its stock price. Spinning up the new subsidiary -- whose name has not yet been announced -- by the end of the year means the company is "crystallising the value of our assets, strengthening our balance sheet, and creating the best conditions for these franchises' long-term growth and success," Guillemot said. The deal also sees Tencent assert its hold on Ubisoft more strongly after climbing aboard in 2022. The Chinese firm holds almost 10 percent of the group's stock -- a threshold it is not allowed to cross before 2030 -- while the founding Guillemot family owns around 15 percent. - Breaking the streak - Earlier this year, Ubisoft had said that it was "actively exploring various strategic and capitalistic options". Finance chief Frederick Duquet said Thursday that "we received many expressions of interest that turned into several non-binding offers for different options". In the end, directors opted to create the subsidiary as this "allowed Ubisoft to maintain control of its key assets, with a view to creating very large brands worth multiple billions in the coming years," Duquet added. Ubisoft plans to make further announcements on changes to the group at a later stage. The company's market capitalisation stood at 1.7 billion euros by close of trading in Paris Thursday -- or less than half the valuation of the new subsidiary. Teams working on the three major franchises will be brought together in the new France-based unit, especially Ubisoft's Montreal studios -- one of the largest in the company. In total, the publisher employs around 18,000 people worldwide, 4,000 of them in France. "Assassin's Creed Shadows" has pulled in three million players since its March 20 release, breaking a streak of disappointing launches for Ubisoft. The group will nevertheless push ahead with a cost-cutting plan drawn up in early 2023, under which it has already closed studios outside France and shed 2,000 jobs. Ubisoft's troubles reflect wider doldrums in the video games sector over the past two years. kf/tgb/rmb
