HBO

Warner Bros. launches official Westworld simulation game

Westworld Game

Just in time for this weekend's season 2 finale, Warner Bros. has released an official game based on the popular HBO series, "Westworld." The simulation game allows you to take on the role of a newly hired Delos employee who is granted access to the Delos Park Training Simulation, or DPTS.

In the game, which was written by those of the series, you’ll meet some familiar characters, including Bernard, Delores, and Maeve. Along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to control all aspects of Westworld park operations including manufacturing, managing, and upgrading AI-based Hosts, as well as satisfying a wide range of Guest desires.

The game’s initial content spans the first season of the series but will include more once season two ends.

https://www.facebook.com/WestworldMobile/videos/2590048347887234/

According to Jonathan Knight, vice president, studio head at WB Games San Francisco:

We are excited for Westworld players to experience what it’s like to manage a complex theme park powered by human desires and artificial life. The game features a compelling, unfolding narrative and multi-layered gameplay while remaining highly approachable and intuitive to play.

The Westworld game offers a combination of construction and management elements with roleplaying game RPG style character development. Gameplay takes place on two levels: Aboveground, where there is the western-themed world visitors experience, and Belowground, the high-tech Delos facility where Hosts are manufactured, repaired and upgraded.

"Westworld" first arrived on the scene in October 2016 and is based on the 1973 film of the same name. The story takes place in a fictional, technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populated by android “hosts.” High-paying “guests” may indulge their wildest fantasies within the park.

The series stars Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, and James Marsden.

As a long-time “Westworld” fan, this official game looks like a lot of fun; I can’t wait to try it out further in the coming days. The season finale of "Westworld" airs on HBO this Sunday, June 24.

You can download the game on the App Store and watch the series on the HBO Now app.

AT&T gets approval to buy Time Warner for $85 billion

ATT-Time Warner

On Tuesday, AT&T got final approval to purchase Time Warner. The acquisition, which was first announced in 2016, had been blocked by the U.S. Justice Department. When the merger is completed, HBO, CNN, and film studio Warner Bros. will be owned by the No. 2 carrier in the U.S.

According to CNBC, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon approved the $85.4 acquisition without conditions. He also urged the U.S. government not to seek a stay.

In 2017, the Trump administration sued to block the merger, believing that AT&T, which owns DirecTV, could charge rival distributors more for Time Warner content, resulting in higher prices for consumers. AT&T said that logic didn't hold up, a position Judge Leon accepted.

The AT&T-Time Warner merger should close later this month. As AT&T General Counsel David McAtee explained soon after hearing the result:

We are pleased that, after conducting a full and fair trial on the merits, the Court has categorically rejected the government's lawsuit to block our merger with Time Warner. We look forward to closing the merger on or before June 20 so we can begin to give consumers video entertainment that is more affordable, mobile, and innovative.

In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said the Justice Department was disappointed by the decision, noting:

We continue to believe that the pay-TV market will be less competitive and less innovative as a result of the proposed merger between AT&T and Time Warner. We will closely review the Court’s opinion and consider next steps in light of our commitment to preserving competition for the benefit of American consumers.

CNBC believes this megamerger will spur a wave of deals in the telecom and media industries. Comcast-NBC Universal, for example, is now expected to fight Disney with a competing bid for parts of Twenty-First Century Fox.

Before AT&T's bid, there were rumors that Apple would make a play for Time Warner. However, those rumors turned out not to be true. Instead, Apple is working with content providers to bring original video content to properties like Apple TV and Apple Music as early as next year.

Besides HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros., Time Warner owns TBS, TCM, and TNT.

Image: Variety

How Dr. Dre almost bombed the $3 billion Apple-Beats deal

I just finished binge-watching “The Defiant Ones”, HBO's four-part docu-series that covers the stories of Beats co-founders and now Apple executives Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.

It chronicles their rise through the music industry and into the tech world, exploring not only their personal lives but also the trials and tribulations of their career culminating with the sale of Beats Electronics LLC to Apple, Inc. for $3 billion, Apple's biggest acquisition to date.

Apple almost pulled out of the deal after Dre leaked the transaction before it was official.

On May 9, 2014, R&B singer and former Coca Cola pin-up Tyrese Gibson posted a video on Facebook, shot in a music studio, in which Dre seemingly confirms the transaction that was reported by the Financial Times the day before.

“The first billionaire in hip-hop, right here from the motherf***ing West Coast, believe it,” Dre exulted in the now deleted video, which you can watch embedded below (explicit language):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHXwlozd60s

Clearly, this is not the kind of thing Apple is used to.

The Apple family “nearly imploded with outrage” when that clip went up on Facebook, Billboard wrote. If you know anything about Apple, you would think Dre would be out of the multi-billion dollar deal between his Beats Electronics and Apple.

In “The Defiant Ones”, Dre and Iovine say they were afraid the controversial video, which was filmed after a night of drinking and partying, might cause Apple to pull out of the Beats deal.

Dre explained:

I was in the studio, excitement was in the room, you mix excitement with a f***ing fifth of alcohol, man, something terrible is bound to happen. That is in the top three most embarrassing moments in my life.

“I don't know what he was doing,” said Iovine in the documentary, adding:

We had gone for like six weeks without it leaking. This thing has leaked, this thing is loud. I had wanted to work with Apple, at that point, probably 10 years, maybe more than 10 years. I'm like, 'how could this be possibly happening?'

So sure I thought the deal could blow.

Thankfully, Apple kept its word and acquired Beats for $3 billion.

“So what happened was, Apple stays true to who I always knew who they were, ignored all the noise, and made the deal,” Iovine said in the documentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT5FeylUWO0

Dre’s controversial and storied past became an issue for Apple following the release of his biopic “Straight Outta Compton” which failed to mention old allegations of Dre abusing women, including hip-hop journalist Dee Barnes, R&B singer and his former girlfriend Michel’le and onetime labelmate Tairrie B.

Dre apologized for his actions 25 years ago, saying in a 2015 New York Times article:

25 years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life. However, none of this is an excuse for what I did. I’ve been married for 19 years and every day I’m working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the way. I’m doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again.

I apologize to the women I’ve hurt. I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives.

Apple addressed the controversy with a statement of its own:

Dre has apologized for the mistakes he’s made in the past and he’s said that he’s not the same person that he was 25 years ago. We believe his sincerity and after working with him for a year and a half, we have every reason to believe that he has changed.

Dre is now fifty years old and works for Apple as a top consultant. “The Defiant Ones” is airing on HBO, with all four episodes available for streaming via HBO GO and HBO NOW.

Apple may offer HBO, Showtime and Starz in a combined premium TV bundle

Recode reported Sunday that Apple is considering offering a “premium TV bundle” with content from the networks HBO, Showtime and Starz.

As I'm sure you'll recall, the Cupertino company's long been rumored to have been interested in creating a $30-$40 per month skinny bundle of top TV programming from multiple content owners.

While App Store offers apps from each of those channels individually, Apple has reportedly approached the three networks about rolling them up into a single package, as conventional pay TV operators sometimes do.

HBO GO picks up support for Single sign-on and Apple’s new TV app

Apple today put HBO GO on the list of video apps supported in its new TV app via the Single-sign on feature that recently launched in iOS 10 and tvOS 10.

This lets HBO GO users sign in with their cable or satellite credentials on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple TV to enjoy instant access to HBO shows, not only in Apple's own TV app but in other supported video apps that their pay TV subscription includes.

Siri, cease all motor functions

It seems Apple's partnership with Universal Pictures that uses funny Siri responses to promote the animated movie “The Secret Life of Pets” was just the beginning. As revealed by actress Evan Rachel Wood who stars in “Westworld,” Siri is a fan of the show.

In another major movie tie-in for Apple, this time with HBO, Siri has learned some amusing responses to queries related to the science fiction western thriller television series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy for HBO.

Here are some of them.

“Hey Siri, is Jon Snow dead?”

Ahead of the upcoming April 24 premiere of the sixth season of HBO's popular “Game of Thrones” television show, Siri engineers seem to have updated her database to answer some of the most burning questions asked by fans, the most lingering one being “Is Jon Snow dead?”

Conveniently, Apple's made sure that the personal digital assistant is spoiler-free so you won't get anything out of her pertaining to whether or not the show’s most popular character has perished at the hands of the Night’s Watch.

HBO Now updated with support for Picture in Picture, Spotlight Search and more

HBO on Thursday pushed out an update for its HBO Now streaming app, bringing the iOS client to version 1.3. The update is a significant one for folks running iOS 9, particularly those with a late-model iPad, as it adds compatibility with some of the new software's features.

The most important of those features is Picture in Picture, which allows [newer] iPad owners to watch videos in a small, standalone window while using other apps. Additionally, the update adds support for Spotlight Search, as well as various other bug fixes and improvements.