As some people who’ve purchased video games and eBooks have discovered the hard way, digital is not necessarily forever. Or available if your Internet goes out (which is sadly more of a problem than you might expect). Which is why I applaud the good people at Paramount Home Video and CBS Home Entertainment who’ve seen fit to release seasonal sets for the premiere show of CBS Access, Star Trek: Discovery, the latest of which, Star Trek: Discovery: Season Two, is now out on Blu-ray and DVD.
Sometimes jazz can be really incestuous. Just consider the careers of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker, and drummer Bobby Kapp. Over the years, Perelman and Shipp have made around three dozen albums together; Shipp and Parker have recorded another two dozen; Perelman and Parker have five collaborations to their credit; while Perelman’s recorded two albums with Kapp, one of which features Shipp, and two others with Shipp and Parker, one of which features…wait for it…Kapp. It’s this latter configuration that presents Ineffable Joy (CD, vinyl, digital), a sometimes frantic and sometimes intricate collection that is this foursome’s second session after 2017’s Heptagon.
Four years after the disastrous self-titled reboot nearly destroyed it forever, and two years after somewhat redeeming itself with Payback, the Need For Speed series of open world street racing games has made a proper comeback with Need For Speed Heat (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC), which is not only the best game in this series since 2012’s Need For Speed: Rivals, and the best installment on this generation of consoles, but the best racing game of 2019.
For years, former Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima has been one of gaming’s more unique voices. So it should come as no surprise that his new open world, third-person action game Death Stranding (PlayStation 4, PC) is also unique — and exciting, and engaging… — even though the main action in this action/adventure game is walking.
While the proposed Monsterverse movie series is deader than a zombie with a gunshot to the head, the Universal Monsters are still very much alive and kicking. Or biting as the case may be. Director Guillermo Del Toro has said repeatedly that his movie Shape Of Water was inspired by Creature From The Black Lagoon, while the creator of the titular creature, Millicent Patrick, was recently the subject of Mallory O’Meara’s excellent biography / memoir The Lady From The Black Lagoon. There’s also the BBC’s upcoming BBC miniseries, Dracula, which clearly owes as much to Universal’s 1931 movie as it does Bram Stoker’s novel, while the entire film series recently inspired the board game Horrified: Universal Monsters.
And now two of their classic pinball tables are being brought back to life in the Williams Pinball Monster Pack for Pinball FX3 (Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Switch, PC, Mac, iOS, Android). Which is good news for both monster mashers and pinball lovers alike.
Like Metallica, R.E.M., and so many other bands who hit their stride in the ’80s, The Cult have been systematically reissuing their classic albums in grand style. The latest of which, 1989’s Sonic Temple, is being celebrated with Sonic Temple 30, which is available as a 5CD set, a digital edition, an 8LP vinyl version, a 2LP vinyl edition, and a limited boxed set that has 3LPs and a cassette. But while it has a lot of great music beyond just the album, the necessity of this Cult collection really depends on how diligent you’ve been since the ’80s.
As fun as Fallout 3, 4, and New Vegas may have been, they’re not great as straight shooters; you really have to use the V.A.T.S. targeting system. But it’s a complaint action fans won’t be making about The Outer Worlds (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Switch), a Fallout-esque open world, sci-fi action role-playing adventure game from the good people of Obsidian Entertainment — a.k.a., the Fallout: New Vegas folk. And while this has its own problems, it still manages to be as effortlessly fun as, well, you know.
After recording two great albums of dark, moody, clarinet-centric jazz — 2007’s Currents and 2011’s Post Scriptum — the Wolfert Brederode Quartet either called it quits or decided to take an extended vacation or did something because they haven’t made an album since. But fans of that foursome can rejoice, sort of, as a spiritual successor has emerged with Characters On A Wall (CD, LP, digital), the new album by atmospheric clarinetist Louis Sclavis and his similarly-configured quartet.
With every successive game, the Gears Of War series has evolved, adding new mechanics and modes to these third-person sci-fi shooters. But while the same can be said for Gears 5 (Xbox One, PC) as well, the changes are the most fundamental and impactful since the addition of the co-op survival mode “Horde” in Gears Of War 2, and the game is all the better for it.