Month: November 2019

Disney Plus is finally here, and Verizon customers can get a free year of the streaming service. To take advantage of the offer, you need to either have a Verizon unlimited plan or set up new 5G home internet or Verizon Fios service.

How to get a free year of Disney Plus through Verizon

After clicking on the button above, choose “Get started.” You’ll have four options to choose from. If you already have an unlimited plan, simply choose “Get Disney+” and log into your Verizon account. From there, you need to accept the terms and conditions before verifying that you want to enroll in the promotion.

Once enrolled, your Disney Plus subscription will now be managed through Verizon. It’s set to automatically renew after the promotional period, so if you decide you don’t want it going forward, remember to turn off automatic renewal through Verizon.

The subscription appears to stack with the one-week free trial offered through Disney. If you pre-ordered the three-year subscription from Disney or already purchased a monthly or annual Disney Plus plan, you’ll receive an email with instructions on how to manage that existing subscription. The Verizon promotion will not cancel your original subscription, but it will delay billing until the free year is up.

Keep in mind that if you change mobile providers or switch to a plan that isn’t unlimited, the Disney Plus subscription will expire.

For those who don’t have Verizon unlimited plans but are interested in the promotion, you can choose one of the other three options: Change your (Verizon) plan, switch to Verizon, or sign up for Fios home internet.

Not interested in Verizon but definitely interested in Disney Plus? No problem. You can start your one-week free trial at the link below.

Of all the many changes that George Lucas made to the original Star Wars trilogy over the course of its various reissues and rereleases, there are none as controversial as Greedo shooting first in his confrontation with Han Solo in the original 1977 film A New Hope. The film is one of many Star Wars movies now available in 4K on Disney+, and the scene has been changed yet again.

The moment comes towards the end of the iconic Mos Eisley Cantina sequence, when Greedo confronts Han about the money owed to Jabba the Hutt. In the original version, Han abruptly ends the discussion by shooting Greedo dead, before swaggering out of the bar. But when the movie was rereleased as the Special Edition with various digital alterations in 1997, it was changed so that Greedo fires first and (somehow) misses, before Han shoots him, changing Han’s motivation from murder to self-defence. The scene was changed yet again for the 2011 blu-ray release, when the gap between the two shots was reduced to make them almost simultaneous.

With the movie now on Disney+, it hasn’t taken fans long to notice that the scene has changed yet again. The time between shots has been tightened even further, and before that, there’s a newly inserted shot of Greedo saying something without subtitles. It was first spotted by the Twitter account Star Wars Visual Comparisons, who captured it below:

If you want to check out the previous versions of this scene, the original is here, while the Special Edition version can be watched here. As for what Greedo says before he shoots, it seems to be “Maclunkey!” We’re not sure what that means, but comedian Eric Fell has discovered that it’s not the first time the word has appeared in the Star Wars series:

Fans can find a wealth of Star Wars content on Disney+–check out GameSpot’s guide to everything available to watch right now. One of the biggest releases is The Mandalorian, the first ever live-action Star Wars TV show. The first episode is available now, and you can read GameSpot’s review here.

However, it’s possible you might be having trouble watching any content on Disney+. There are day one issues across the many devices that it can be watched on, with various reports of playback and loading problems.

It’s launch day for the most-anticipated streaming service release ever. Disney+ has arrived, and there is plenty of cool stuff to check out. The only problem is that many people can’t access anything. Launch day for the streaming service is not off to a good start, with errors essentially rendering the app unusable.

While you can download the Disney+ app and even open it up, you may not be able to do much more than that with Disney+. Many people–including myself–are reporting error screens for Day One, and it’s been this way since the service launched around 12:30AM ET on Tuesday morning.

If you planned to take the day off to binge-watch all of Disney+’s programming or maybe you’re a journalist who started work early in order to pick through the contents of the service, you’re more than likely landing on a page that says “Unable to connect to Disney+. There seems to be an issue connecting to the Disney+ service. Please try again later if the issue persists.”

Provided you can make it past that point, you may still encounter issues. When attempting to stream anything, you may be met with a black screen or an error simply stating, “Sorry something went wrong. Please try again later.”

And yes, this is extremely frustrating when you just want to watch the brand-new Star Wars series The Mandalorian, which Chris E. Hayner got to review for GameSpot. In it, he said, “With its first episode, The Mandalorian has made a statement about what a live-action Star Wars TV show looks like. Now, with the remaining seven episodes in Season 1, it needs to make a statement about how a Star Wars plot should unfold over a longer form of storytelling.” Thanks for rubbing it in that you got to watch it, and we didn’t.

Obviously, with any new streaming service, there are going to be speed bumps. With this many people jumping onto a service–at the same time–the servers may not be able to handle everyone. Disney is a very large company, so this problem should be worked out sooner rather than later, I hope.

While writing this up, and refreshing on more devices than I’d like to admit, I got Disney+ to work on my Fire Stick and Android phone. I’m still having issues on my PC and iOS devices though. So for now, know the problem isn’t just you, it will be resolved, and have patience.

Beyond these server-based technical issues, other complaints have emerged–namely, that The Simpsons is displayed in widescreen, cutting off a portion of the frame. There’s also been an unexpected change to Star Wars’ “Han Shot First” scene.

Good luck to you on Disney+ launch day.

After 12 years and five games, Mario and Sonic competing together at the Olympics is no longer shocking. The animosity of the Sega/Nintendo ’90s console war has long subsided; Mario and Sonic have faced off across three generations of Smash Bros games, and the blue blur has starred in numerous Nintendo console exclusives. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 seems to recognize this, and does not lean in too hard on the gimmick; in the series’ first story mode, for instance, the characters from the Mario and Sonic universes chat and mingle without much fuss or fanfare about their worlds colliding. Instead of relying on brand recognition, Tokyo 2020 succeeds by being the most fully-featured and content-rich game in the series, serving up a lot of enjoyable, accessible minigames.

The game features 34 distinct events (including 10 rendered in a retro style to commemorate the 1964 Tokyo Olympics), 10 bonus minigames, a story mode, and online play. Events range from athletic button-mashers like the 100m and swimming races to sports like boxing, equestrian, and archery, all of which are easy to pick up and understand. The controls for every sport are extremely simple, occasionally to the point of being reductive–you’re not actually in control of your character’s movement in badminton and table tennis, for instance, only controlling where and when you hit the shuttlecock and ball. But some events feel more fleshed out, like soccer and rugby sevens; they won’t give FIFA or Madden a run for their money, but they’re a nice representation of the sports with all the edges and requirements of expertise sanded off, and make for an enjoyable casual take on the sports they represent. There are no absolute duds in the package, which makes for an unusually high hit rate for a game of this type.

Every event has a “buttons only” option and can be played with any controller (including a single Joy-Con) without issue, but several also allow for motion controls. It’s good that motion controls are completely optional, because their implementation is inconsistent. Any mini-game that requires accuracy, or returning the controller repeatedly to a central point, is better off with a controller in hand. Simulating a sprint by pumping your hands is entertaining, as is manipulating a Joy-Con like a skateboard. But strangely, sports that require the use of hands, like sports climbing and boxing, can feel messy and imprecise. The motion controls aren’t exact enough that they’d be my preference in any event, but thankfully you can avoid them entirely if you want.

Every event also features a bit of video game flourish, allowing you to pull off special moves to score more points or overwhelm your opponents. Each 2020 event has some sort of “Super” mechanic that kicks in if you press R at a certain point or perform an action perfectly. Depending on the event this can mean you get a burst of speed, extra power, or double scoring. Curiously, beyond this, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 often feels quite straight-laced and sincere in its approach to these sports. The exception to this is in the three “Dream Events”–a hoverboard race, a competitive motion-controlled shooter event where players shoot targets and kites as they pop up around a castle, and a karate variant that transforms the dignified martial art into something more akin to Power Stone, as four players fight simultaneously in a 3D arena. The race is by far the most enjoyable, riffing on the old Sonic Riders series, although it’s limited to a single course; the other two do not make much of an impression.

Some events are unlikely to hold your attention for long or bring you back often to try for a high score. Surfing feels good thanks to some strong animations, but there’s not enough variation between waves to hold your interest long term; skateboarding looks great, but the simplicity of the control scheme becomes stifling after a few rounds; the kayak event is controlled by rotating the stick, which is tedious. But most games hold up well in local multiplayer, as the simple controls (most only use two or three buttons) mean that they’re easy to pick up and learn. Mastering the exact timing on the 100m sprint and relay races, or working to get your best distance in long jump or javelin throw, makes for an enjoyable experience–especially if other players are involved.

It’s a shame that the multiplayer options are so limited–you’re limited to simply going through the events in “quick play” and going through them one by one. There’s no opportunity to arrange multi-event tournaments, for instance; it’s just a matter of picking which events to play, and then playing them. Casual and ranked online play is included as well, but I did not have much success finding lag-free games, and it’s not the sort of experience that translates well to online play. It’s much more enjoyable when your opponents are in the room with you, all desperately trying to bash the ‘A’ button or master an equestrian course.

The major exciting addition in Tokyo 2020 are the new “Tokyo 1964” events, which render the action in a manner fitting somewhere between 8- and 16-bit graphics. They’re designed as though they were NES games, confined to two buttons, and super moves have been excised. You can turn on a CRT filter for these events to replicate the NES era better, and the minigames pay homage to the button-mashers of the time, albeit with less punishing controls (even if, yes, you’ll be asked to mash A as fast as possible). The highlight is a tremendously strange take on running a marathon, where you need to gauge your stamina, grab water cups from tables, ride the wakes of other runners, and aim for boost pads to reach the front of the pack.

Tokyo 1964 is a fun bonus, and it’s surprisingly integral to the Story Mode. The plot concerns Mario, Sonic, Bowser, and Eggman being sucked into an old game console to compete in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and they have to run around to win medals that will ultimately restore them to the present. This mode is a big bogged down by lots of text-only conversations of little consequence, but the overarching plot is appealing goofy, at least. The highlight is seeing game’s take on various iconic Tokyo locations, like Shibuya Crossing and Tokyo Skytree, lovingly rendered and filled with Mario and Sonic characters. They’re beautifully realised, and I found myself getting unexpectedly invested in the upcoming Olympics as I played through, visiting each venue and reading the collectable chunks of Olympic trivia that pop up in each environment.

The story is largely an excuse to run through most of the events in the game, and the difficulty is turned all the way down: if you fail an event three times you can skip it. You also unlock a handful of new playable guest characters for Quick Play (who are only playable in certain specific events, strangely) and a further 10 minigames by playing through the short campaign. Some of these minigames are amusingly bizarre–I certainly didn’t expect a retro-styled stealth game in the middle of my Olympics experience.

Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 is an entertaining take on the sports-event genre that has, by and large, disappeared in the modern-day. The game aims for accessibility at every opportunity, and while nothing about it is particularly exceptional, it still has plenty of unique flourishes to offer, and the wealth of different events and simple controls make for an appealing casual multiplayer title. Thanks to a generous selection of events and a few neat gimmicks, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is the best entry in this series.