Google’s Annual Spectacle at CES is No More, With Tech Show Going Virtual

One of the biggest disappointments from CES 2021 going virtual will be the lack of a splashy booth by Google. Whether you cared about the company’s bevy of Google Assistant-related announcements, it was hard to deny the stagecraft employed by the tech giant. From a report: For the last few years, Google boasted some of the most eye-catching CES booths, from…

‘Super Nintendo World’ Amusement Park Previewed By Mario’s 68-Year-Old Creator

“On Friday, Nintendo and Universal Studios Japan took the veil off a years-in-the-making project: the very first Nintendo-themed theme park,” reports Ars Technica (in an article shared by long-time Slashdot reader mprindle): And who better to introduce the world to this life-sized walk through of all things Mario than the character’s creator himself, longtime Nintendo developer and designer Shigeru Miyamoto… Many…

Disney Stock Skyrockets 13% Friday to New All-Time High

CNN reports:
If it wasn’t abundantly clear that content is king, especially in the Covid-19 era, Disney hammered that point home Thursday when it previewed dozens of new series and movies for its Disney+ streaming service. And investors are loving it. Shares of Disney jumped 13% Friday to a new all-time high. The stock is now up more than 20% this year,…

Are the Best Star Wars Stories Now in Games Like ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’?

A game critic for the Los Angeles Times remembers his reaction to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. “What a disappointment — if only it had been built for video game consoles.” This leads to this epiphany:
For all the deserved attention “The Mandalorian” series on Disney+ has received, the just-released game “Star Wars: Squadrons” reminds us that some of the best…

Disney World Reopened Today in Florida, Joining Sea World and Universal

“Cinderella Castle has sat silent for 116 days…” reported CNN Business. But no more — at least, not at Disney World, which today began its grand reopening: “It’s three times the size of Disneyland in terms of revenue,” Michael Nathanson, a media analyst and founding partner at MoffettNathanson, told CNN Business. Nathanson estimates that Disney World alone generated $11.2 billion, or…