Fast, furious and feelgood

Tag previews the biggest releases for Summer - Autumn 2023

After 3 years of pandemic-based nonsense, it seems as though things are now getting back to normal. There are plenty of exciting things coming up in the next few months in both the music and movie scenes.

The weather’s warming up and you are ready to be entertained! Film-wise, there are some major titles on the way. Marvel and DC are adding more entries to their respective universes like The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and part 1 of SpiderMan: Across the Spider-Verse. Harrison Ford returns as Indiana Jones after a 15-year wait since the Dial of Destiny. Margot Robbie stars as many young girl’s dream toy, Barbie. Tom Cruise, after a successful return in Top Gun: Maverick, returns as Ethan Hunt in the first part of Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning. We’ve the long-awaited sequel to the Aardman film classic Chicken Run called Dawn of the Nugget. The Color Purple gets a reboot based on the musical version of the 1985 classic starring Halle Bailey and Taraji P Henson. Jigsaw, one of the most notorious killers in the world, returns in the 10th Saw film. Meanwhile with music, there are a couple of big albums to watch out for like Tom Grennan (What Ifs and Maybes) and Ed Sheeran.

The Transformers return with a sequel to 2018’s Bumblebee entitled Rise of the Beasts with Peter Cullen back as Optimus Prime. And finally, we’ve the origin stories of Willy Wonka (Wonka, starring Timothee Chaloment and Rowan Atkinson) and President Snow from the Hunger Games in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Tag asked some Eastbourne students what they’re looking forward to.

Caroline Kolodziej told us: “I’ve been anticipating the release of the biopic Oppenheimer this year, as well as Barbie. Music-wise, Avenged Sevenfold is supposed to be making a comeback this year with a new album, so I’m looking forward to that as well.”

Oscar Cardno said: “I am most looking forward to seeing the new Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which releases June 2nd and the new Transformers: Rise of Beasts which releases June 9th. I am also looking forward to seeing Blink-182’s album release at some point as well as Sum 41 and Snoop Dog’s new album as well.”

Thomas Guppy told us: “On the music side of things, I’m for Tyler, The Creator’s next album which hopefully comes out this year, granted he sticks to his bi-annual schedule as before, I’m also looking forward to JPEGMAFIA and Danny

Brown’s collaborative album dropping sometime this year and fingers crossed, Playboi Carti finally drops his much awaited fourth album.”

Ed Barlow revealed, “Scream VI I’m looking forward to [a] good new horror to watch after seeing the previous one in the cinema. [Also] Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. I’m most looking forward to this, as this is one of my favourite Marvel movies!”

Frank Grover told Tag: “I don’t have any albums I’m specifically looking forward to although the soundtrack to RWBY Volume 9 could be released soon after the Volume finishes so I do look forward to that. In terms of movies, I’m cautiously optimistic for the Mario movie.”

As Stan Lee cried: “Excelsior!” and as SpiderMan said: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

All in all, it’s set to be yet another blockbuster season for film and music enthusiasts. Enjoy those new tunes and see you at the cinema.

Journalist: Robert Callaghan

Designer: Oscar Cardno

Photographers: Marcus Quigmire, Levi Manchak

(Wiki Commons)

Video games are a fun pastime that have been enjoyed by many since their creation in 1958. The industry came a long way over the next 60 or so years. What used to be considered a toy to entertain kids is now enjoyed by all ages. According to Statista, 63% of men and 56% of women engage in video games, compared to 10 years ago when 46% of men and 38% of women played. The sector has clearly grown in popularity but a rapidly growing audience arguably brings lazy production. Video game creation has become much more profitable. While some good games are still being made, it has seemingly become increasingly common for big studios to pump out glitchy games with no other purpose than to make money through microtransactions and unfinished Downloadable content (DLC). It poses the question: are we entering a dark age for gaming?

Common Flaws

Games being glitchy is something that has been too widely accepted. We’ve had entertainment such as Cyberpunk 2077 where objects appear and disappear out of existence, Sonic Colours Ultimate with its stuttering cutscenes and the player being randomly killed (despite being a remake of a Wii game); and some might say anything Bethesda a video game company - can get their hands on. These games often have glitches which get patched later on but it is often like putting tape on a crumbling building.

As bad as bugs are, they aren’t nearly as annoying as how microtransactions and DLC have become. Inherently, these are not a problem. DLC can be fun side content when added to an already finished game. Microtransactions are fine, so long as they are optional. Unfortunately, DLC can often be thought about during a game’s development, making the base game feel hollow, and microtransactions can often seem like the only way to progress in others.

Other Thoughts

This isn’t just our opinion though, we asked gamers Teddy Bamforth (17) and Gil Libatter (18) from Eastbourne, what they thought about the current state of the gaming industry. Probably the biggest difference between the two is Gil prefers online games as human movement is more interesting than an AI. Teddy thought the opposite as “Offline games don’t force progress and normally have a better story.” When asked what they thought their favourite generation of consoles were, Teddy responded with 3rd generation (Wii/Xbox/PS1) while Gil thought the last generation was best (PS4/Switch/Xbox One). This isn’t surprising as modern consoles have focused more on online play. The difference between their generation preferences fits with their views on microtransactions and DLC. Teddy was on side for DLC “as it adds more content” (such as an extra character to play as, or new area to explore) while microtransactions are near unanimously bad as “They add no more to the game’s story.” Gil was a bit more lenient saying “As long as they aren’t constantly pushed onto the player and required for base