*The NBC Nightly News intro begins.*
Katie Couric: Tonight, the latest accusations against embattled Supreme Court justice Alex Kozinski. A fourth staffer comes forward with allegations of sexual harassment, adding to the growing calls for one of the Court's most crucial votes to resign. We'll detail these allegations and Kozinski's response, as some in Congress are now calling for the first impeachment of a sitting Supreme Court justice in over 200 years. Also tonight, stormy weather. With reports of tornadoes earlier today in Illinois and Missouri, now more dangerous storms on the way for tonight. We'll bring you the latest on who will be under the gun. There's a firestorm of controversy in Britain tonight, a week after Prince Harry announces his engagement to Priya Khatri, a woman of Indian descent. Though many in Britain are thrilled at the news, an eruption of racially charged backlash threatens to disrupt next year's royal wedding. We'll also introduce you to the seven year old girl who's creating a major stir in the world of competitive gaming. Meet Annie Saccora, and why she could be the next big thing in the increasingly lucrative world of e-sports. Nightly News starts now.
Narrator: This is NBC Nightly News with Katie Couric.
Katie Couric: Good evening, I'm Katie Couric. We begin tonight with a new wave of allegations against Supreme Court justice Alex Kozinski, just a few days after a third staffer came forward with accusations of being groped while serving as a clerk to Kozinski back in 2014. These new allegations also stem from Kozinski's time on the highest court in the land, and are leading to increasing calls for the justice to resign. However, these allegations are meeting with skepticism from many on the right, who see them as a way to swing the balance of the court ahead of this year's midterm elections. With the latest on today's developments, here's NBC's Alyssa Kolchek.
*The Supreme Court is shown as Kolchek begins to speak.*
Kolchek: Another week, another round of sexual harassment allegations against embattled Supreme Court justice Alex Kozinski. This week, Kozinski faces allegations from 24-year-old Misty McClure, an intern in Kozinski's office at the Supreme Court. McClure alleges that in 2015, the justice made what are being described as "extremely inappropriate gestures and remarks" while she was alone with him in his office.
*Kozinski's picture is shown, along with McClure's.*
Kolchek: According to the allegations, Kozinski allegedly "mimicked an obscene sexual gesture" with his hand while engaged in conversation with McClure, while on another occasion, he is accused of talking about his genitalia while implying that she should date him. These allegations come on the heels of several more allegations filed over the past month, one by an intern, two by law clerks, and one by an attorney who had been consulting with Kozinski on a federal case. All of these allegations have described actions that Kozinski allegedly engaged in since being appointed to the Supreme Court back in 2009. We're also learning about other reports of sexual misconduct by Kozinski that haven't been officially filed, and we've also learned of an ethics investigation that Kozinski was the subject of back in 2006, though this investigation was closed very shortly after being started.
*A lawyer is shown with one of the accusers during a press conference, detailing some of the allegations.*
Kolchek: The allegations against Alex Kozinski are the latest episode in the ongoing #SpeakUp movement, in which women have stepped forward with stories of abuse and assault by high-profile individuals, many within the political and entertainment communities. Celebrities Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby are among those who have been accused of crimes, though Kozinski is perhaps the most influential individual to face allegations to date. As a crucial swing vote on the Supreme Court for the entire duration of his term, Kozinski has been the deciding vote in a number of cases. He's considered a conservative on fiscal issues, but a moderate to left-leaning justice on many social issues, and some consider him to be the first "Libertarian" justice on the Supreme Court. He's considered the closest of the three justices appointed by previous president Huntsman to Huntsman's political views, and despite some controversy over his initial nomination, due to views considered to be "radical" by some, Huntsman has stated at least once that appointing Kozinski to the high court was one of his proudest moments in office.
*Huntsman and Kozinski are shown shaking hands at the latter's nomination announcement.*
Kolchek: When asked about the allegations last week, Huntsman made a statement: "I have known Alex Kozinski for many years and I consider him to be a fair judge who cares deeply about the United States constitution. I also believe that everyone is entitled to due process of law and to be considered innocent until proven guilty. I hope that these allegations are investigated quickly and thoroughly and that the truth comes out soon." Kozinski's critics are making much harsher statements, with Speaker of the House Elijah Cummings calling for Kozinski to step down, and fellow House leader Nancy Pelosi echoing those calls.
*Pelosi is shown talking to reporters outside Congress. Another interview is shown, this time with Republican senator Bill Cassidy.*
Kolchek: Republicans are largely calling for the investigation to continue, but have mostly defended Kozinski, with some calling the allegations a plot to flip the balance of the Court. The Supreme Court has held a 5-4 conservative majority since the death of justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg back in 2010, and if Kozinski were to resign or be removed from office, it would give President Kennedy the opportunity to return the Court to a liberal majority.
Cassidy: *talking to reporter* And I think, you know, we should wait until after the midterm to jump to any conclusions. I certainly won't be voting to remove a Supreme Court justice without concrete evidence that these accusations are true, because right now, these are just accusations.
Kolchek: President Kennedy himself has remained mostly silent on the allegations, though he did mention them in a recent press conference, and expressed solidarity with the accusers, calling for a thorough investigation of all allegations against Kozinski. Kozinski has vehemently denied all the allegations, and expressed emotion when a reporter commented on them as he was leaving the Court.
Kozinski: *raising his voice* They're not true, none of it's true, I never sexually assaulted anyone. I never harassed anyone, it's all being blown way out of proportion.
(...)
*Back in the Nightly News studio, Kolchek is now talking to Couric.*
Couric: So, do we know if any sort of vote might be taken on a possible impeachment?
Kolchek: Right now, Congress is preparing for its summer recess, and an impeachment vote doesn't look likely because it's almost certain that a trial in the Senate would fail, there are only 56 Democratic senators and not even all of them are 100 percent likely to vote for removal, while only a handful of Republicans are even open to the idea. Unless a major bombshell dropped in the next few days, I don't think we'll see any action taken against Kozinski until after the midterms.
Couric: And certainly with those midterms coming up and control of the Supreme Court hanging in the balance, this is likely to have some impact.
Kolchek: Especially with Justice Anthony Kennedy also mulling retirement, this midterm could be a very important one, but it is important to note that President Kennedy's approval rating remains fairly high, and that the current Senate map actually favors Democrats, so it would be very difficult for the Republicans to gain back the majority in the current political climate. Democrats are expected to gain one seat, maybe two, and could even have a shot at securing a supermajority, though that's a longshot at this point. It's looking increasingly likely that President Kennedy will get to swing that Supreme Court makeup back to the left, whether it's through Kennedy's retirement or Kozinski's resignation.
Couric: Absolutely fascinating, and of course, we'll wait for the possibility of more allegations in the coming days. Thank you, Alyssa, excellent reporting, as always. Now we go to the weather, with the threat of more severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes for the Midwest tonight after a busy day...
-from the July 10, 2018 edition of the NBC Nightly News
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(Author's Note: The following game idea was given to us by the user ANARCHY_4_ALL!)
"But what sets Dean Hall's masterpiece apart from every other game on the market, including every other open world sandbox game, is the sheer sense of you-against-the-world that it instills in its players. Unlike the King's Grave games, or Bloodborne, Doggerland doesn't achieve this by being particularly challenging or punishing (though it is at least fairly challenging in many parts). It achieves this by giving the player a sense of isolation, a sense of working for their survival in a way that's also incredibly addictive and fun. Literally everything you can forage has some use in the game. Literally everything you can accomplish, from crafting a weapon to building a shelter, has a sense of permanence and value. When you outwit a sabretooth tiger and skin it for clothes, there's a sense of 'I earned this. I earned this and now I can survive better in every other possible situation because of the work I put in'. Doggerland is what you put into it, but even if you don't put anything into it, even if you just hop online and team up with a pack of veterans to take down a high-level kill, there's still a lot of fun and value for players, and you can just screw around online and get into adventures and have amazing stories to tell.
But if you put in the work, if you really dig into Doggerland, if you play through the extensive campaign, with its massive world, surprisingly three-dimensional characters, and thrilling moments... if you learn what the best animals are to hunt, what the best materials are to forage, if you get really, really good at building bases, if you stop to take pictures of everything pretty you see (and you will see a lot of pretty things, this game looks absolutely stunning), if you make Doggerland your home, it will suck you in and never let you go and you'll become a part of its world in ways you never imagined before.
There is nothing repetitive in Doggerland. There are tasks that can become repetitive, but you forget you're doing them because all you can think about is the next hunt or the next addition to your shelter or the next people you'll meet, either in the game or online. There's no empty moments, even though it's possible to wander the world for hours while seeing very little that you haven't seen before. Doggerland becomes your world. If you go looking for trouble, you'll find it. If you need a place to escape, you'll find it too.
Doggerland is better than Grand Theft Auto III, and I'm not just saying that because it's newer. It takes Grand Theft Auto III's open world sandbox formula and adds survival elements in just the right way to instill a sense of accomplishment and struggle while still providing maximum freedom to the player. Freedom to succeed, freedom to fail, it's a big, free world out there, and once you're in it, it's hard to find a way out.
Doggerland comes out today on the Reality, Virtua, and Nexus. A Stadia port is also coming early next year, and it's already been announced to have enhanced graphics. You can wait, but we say you don't need to: it's a beautiful game as it is, and if you wait, you'll be missing out on the game your friends will surely be playing for the next few weeks and months.
Besides, it just might be worth double dipping. It's that damn good."
-excerpted from IGN's 10/10 review of Doggerland, posted on July 13, 2018
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Comic-Con Exclusive: Neversoft Announces Thrillseekers: Generation Z, All New Cast Including First Transgender Character
The rumored Thrillseekers reboot was announced at a Comic-Con panel earlier today, though it's actually not a reboot at all: it's a continuation of the original series, set ten years after November's Thrillseekers: All-Stars (now confirmed to be the last game that will feature the original generation of six), and featuring a brand new cast of six extraordinarily talented young female athletes who team up for friendship, glory, and adventure.
Thrillseekers: Generation Z will be released sometime next year. It's the fourth mainline game in the series, and will feature a brand new team of girls, brought together by the company Thrillseekers, Inc. (the extreme sports company founded by the original cast). We got to see a brief trailer for the new game in which all six girls were revealed for the very first time, and we learned some interesting things about all of them. The main protagonist, whose name is Isabella "Izzy" Vasquez, is already an accomplished skateboarder at the age of 18, and is one of Alex's biggest fans, having followed her career pretty much her entire life. She'll be voiced by Inez Delgado, best known to video game fans as the voice of Spin in the Quixsters series, and animation fans probably best know her as the voice of Lyte in the hit animated show Lyte and Darke. Inez was one of three voice actors introduced at the panel, and we also learned that the voice cast also did motion capture for the game's cutscenes and even some of the extreme sports that will be depicted in the game (though according to Delgado herself, professional stunt workers still did most of the more difficult tricks). There's also Destiny Williams, a transgender athlete and one of the first major transgender characters in a video game. She'll be played by trans model Jessica Zyrie, who was also in attendance at the panel, and who told the gathered crowd that she was "extremely proud" to play the character of Destiny, who she says will be a major milestone for trans characters in general. The third voice actor present at the panel was Videocean star Liza Koshy, who will be playing the character of Anaya Sharma, an Indian-American girl said by Koshy to have "incredible energy" and who was "really fun to play". The other three characters who'll be rounding out the new main cast include streaming star Zoe Siedel, rebellious trendsetter Julia Esfahani (the series' first major character of Iranian descent), and Libby Crane, a bookish young woman who the game's director compared to Stacy, but "even more quiet and shy, and who will face some major challenges coming out of her shell". The panel also revealed that the new generation cast will have a similar level of media promotion as the previous cast, including a planned animated show and young adult novels, and that there will also be an ongoing Videocean series chronicling the production of the game. The new cast was received with some controversy, but the directors assured fans that the original six would still play a "significant role" in the new games, and that they would remain playable as legacy characters. Avril Lavigne was present at the panel as well, and in addition to giving a ringing endorsement of the new game and cast, also re-assured fans that Alex would be "very much" a part of the next game, serving as a mentor to the new characters, especially Izzy.
The game's inclusion of LGBTQ+ themes marks the continuation of a trend established in the previous generation of games, with numerous LGBTQ characters included in the main cast, most notably Alex and Stacy, who became an official couple and even got engaged in a webtoon released in February. Producers expressed some regret at not putting them together sooner, with one writer claiming that they wanted fans to be able to ship whatever characters they wanted and that making any pairing official would have interfered with that, but that they also "always" envisioned Alex and Stacy as a couple, even from the very first game. When asked if Destiny was the only LGBTQ character in the new games, the director point-blank said "absolutely not", and that these themes will be "heavily explored throughout the narrative of the game as each of these amazing young women discovers just who they are". Thrillseekers: Generation Z is likely to include a scaled-back selection of sports from November's All-Stars, and the director said that we can expect "eight to ten" sports to be in the game, wanting mostly to keep the focus on the new characters and their narrative. We'll likely be learning more about the new characters over the next year or so leading to the release of the new game, and we're also likely to learn who will be voicing the other three members of the main cast at some point, with fans already speculating about the voice actors based on clips from the preview trailer.
-from an article on Sylph, posted on July 21, 2018
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Game Spotlight: Vegas
Vegas is an open world sandbox/crime game exclusive to the Apple Virtua. As implied by the title, it takes place in present-day Las Vegas, and allows players to create a character and then do pretty much whatever they wish in the city, primarily focused around building up a criminal career or becoming a legendary gambler. The game plays much like the Yakuza series or OTL's Sleeping Dogs, though it's somewhat more serious than Yakuza, without the campy/cheesy elements of those games (save for a few interesting incidents at the casinos). Players start by creating their own character, who can be male or female and can be designed to look like pretty much anyone, and then after an opening sequence in which you arrive at the city with a list of three contacts of varying degrees of shadiness, you're pretty much cut loose and allowed to explore on your own, with very little of the city closed off for you (save for some high roller areas). The game's developers said that in addition to Yakuza and TTL's True Crime series, they also took inspiration from Vegas Stakes on the Super Nintendo, and they wanted to make a game where you could do pretty much anything you wanted to in Las Vegas. They mean absolutely anything: you can even go on Grand Theft Auto-esque murder sprees right from the start of the game, though of course this game does have a wanted level system similar to Grand Theft Auto and you're liable to get killed pretty quickly unless you're heavily armed enough. You can also hit the casinos, and this game has literally dozens of realistic gambling events: you can bet on sports and horse races, you can play slots (with over 100 different realistic slot machines), you can play many different kinds of poker (including an entire series of tournaments comparable to the World Series of Poker), craps, blackjack, baccarat, and other games including some truly obscure ones: if you just want to treat Vegas like a gambling simulator, you're absolutely free to do that. Unlike in other gambling games, however, you can't just cheat the system: the game auto-saves after every single bet you make, so there's absolutely no save scumming. The game also does not tell you about this, deliberately, with developers stating in interviews that: "we want people to learn the hard way, there no cheating the system". You CAN count cards though, if you'd like. Of course, there's the whole other dimension to the game, of the crime-based storyline in which the player character can become the biggest crime lord in Vegas if they choose to do so. There's a whole host of storylines, related to both legitimate and illegitimate businesses. There's even a whole storyline based on Pawn Stars, with Rick Harrison, Corey, Chumlee, and the Old Man voicing versions of themselves in the game for a fairly elaborate subplot, and yes, it is possible to buy stuff from them and sell stuff to them, though no, it's not possible to harm them (Vegas, like a lot of other RPGs, has certain immortal NPCs so that certain storylines don't get messed up). The main storyline focuses on an old Mafia kingpin, the last of the old casino founders, who is worried that his grandson will take over his business and ruin the crime scene in Las Vegas. You, the player character, are this kingpin's chosen successor, and the grandson (voiced by Peter Dinklage) is the game's main villain (though of course you can choose to avoid the main story all together and just mess around if you so choose). Vegas makes extensive use of the Virtua's motion controls, making it possible for the player to mimic playing slots, holding cards, and the like. It also utilizes the Oculus for those who have the accessory, allowing the whole game to be played in first person VR. Vegas, as both a massively expansive and a beautifully graphically detailed game, is optimized for the Virtua S, and suffers from some issues when played on the base Virtua (which is the case for a number of Virtua titles released after about 2017 or so). When played on the Virtua S, it's one of the most realistic looking Virtua games to date, making excellent use of the console's capabilities and truly bringing the thrills and glamour of Las Vegas into the player's home.
Vegas is released on July 16, 2018, to strong reviews from critical outlets, praising the game for its freedom and graphics, though they do criticize the game's main storyline to some extent, and also consider some of the gameplay to be a bit repetitive, with the open world crime aspects considered to be inferior to Grand Theft Auto III. The game averages mostly in the high 8s with reviewers, just below what would be considered a Game of the Year contender, but it scores excellent sales to become one of the best selling Virtua titles of the year. It would get DLC releases sporadically in the three years following its release, including a Penn and Teller-themed expansion in 2020 that would be Penn Jillette's first entertainment gig following his Senate career. The DLC, which lampoons both Penn and Teller's previous efforts at video game production (particularly the "Desert Bus", which the expansion includes a direct HD port of) and Penn's political career (with Penn playing an insane presidential candidate who the player helps win the office), is considered one of the best DLC expansion packs ever, revitalizing interest and sales for the game.
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Other Significant Titles For July 2018:
Star Fox Vector: The second Star Fox game to hit the Reality, after Fire And Ice, Star Fox Vector is a more traditional game in the series, with a return to fairly basic weaponry and mostly traditional stages with a few fully all-range exploration stages. It focuses on a new villain, Prince Bleak of the Darkstar Empire, and his army of highly advanced robotic combat ships, which he plans to use to conquer the galaxy. Along with an emphasis on graphics and VR, Star Fox Vector also vastly improves the AI of enemies, particularly in the game's 3-D stages. The game also has a guest appearance from Shad of Squad Four, who teams up with Fox for a stage after his wingmen are captured, and later on, Fox actually participates in a mission tying in with the events of Squad Four Apocalypse, with Raquel showing up as a boss for one of the best dogfights of the game. Star Fox Vector gets high marks all around, and is generally considered better than Fire and Ice, though its somewhat simplistic nature prevents it from becoming a Game of the Year contender. It's one of the month's best selling titles.
Ys: Avenging Light: A massive action RPG on the Nintendo Connect, this game manages to really show off the aging console's capabilities, though of course it isn't quite as pretty as it could be. It features a band of young heroes who must battle a demon lord and his armies, with help from the descendants of angelic warriors. It plays much like modern Ys games of OTL, and is considered one of the best RPGs on the Connect, with strong reviews in the mid 8s range, and the series' best sales to date in North America (which, admittedly, isn't much).
Star Wars: Force Rising: Delayed from a May release (which was probably a bad idea, as May was fairly light in terms of games and in July it has to compete with Vegas), Star Wars: Force Rising is a lightsabre themed title utilizing the Virtua's motion controls to put the player in the role of an apprentice Jedi who must train under a Knight while participating in a series of missions battling a separatist army. Apart from the lightsaber controls, which are considered excellent, the game itself is fairly average and fairly short, and overall considered a disappointment in both sales and critical reception.
Fighters Megamix Infinity: Also released in July as a Virtua exclusive, this game was much better at counterprogramming Vegas, thanks to its traditional 2-D style fighting and its large cast of fighters from a variety of Sega and Apple franchises both OTL and TTL. Featuring fighters from Virtua Fighter, Raigeki, Virtue and Vice, Fighting Vipers, and even some non-fighting titles (with Sonic characters appearing, as well as Bayonetta characters and Phantasy Star among others), it's likely the closest thing to an Apple Smash Brothers game ever released, and even features 16 DLC characters. The game itself is somewhat lacking on modes and content, with a fairly spartan single player adventure mode, but it makes up for it in gameplay and the expansive roster, and gets solid review scores and great sales.
Weapon11: The third game in this hack and slash series exclusive to the Gemini, Weapon11 features, you guessed it, eleven different weapons that can be wielded by the main character, Nine, in battle. The new weapon is a pair of oversized scissors that are surprisingly fun to wield, and probably the preferred weapon amongst players, with the most gameplay utility as well. Overall, this game, like the previous two in the series, scores quite well with critics, but sales are unfortunately a disappointment, even in Japan.
Bugalee's Adventures: An anime-inspired action adventure platforming game published by Ubisoft, this title features an anthropomorphic butterfly girl who battles evil, and is sort of inspired by Miraculous Ladybug, though without the open world elements and character development, focused instead on nonstop fighting and action. It's sort of Ubisoft's answer to people who want Miraculous Ladybug on the Reality and Virtua (though it also comes to the Nexus, but is a fairly inferior substitute for either one of those games, with some people calling Bugalee (the game's protagonist) a "dime store Corona the Butterfly". This game's lasting legacy is all the fanart we get of Corona either humiliating Bugalee or beating her to a pulp, as sales and reviews for the game are mediocre at best.
