Latest news with #Fragile
CNET
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
Death Stranding 2 Review: Still Weird, but Way More Playable
When Death Stranding came out in 2019, I did what a lot of people apparently did: Played it for an hour, thought it was a bit weird, and didn't pick it up again until years later (in my case, 2022). So when a sequel to the game was announced, I wondered what Hideo Kojima could possibly do in a follow-up to his strangest game yet. After playing Death Stranding 2 for 40-plus hours, he did quite a bit. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach should have been called Death Stranding 2: Quality of Life, because that's what this game is. From top to bottom, Kojima Productions made so many improvements to the original, making a weird delivery-sim game that is quite relaxing. Those improvements may not be enough to attract people who avoided the original, yet the players coming back are going to find a sense of calmness that you could assume Kojima wanted to deliver with his game. In the sequel, players are back in the role of Sam Porter, performed once again by Norman Reedus, who has found a place in Mexico to live his life with Lou, the former Bridge Baby who spent her first years in a pod. Fragile, Sam's somewhat love interest and fellow delivery person, seeks out Sam to do some deliveries to re-establish the chiral network within the country. As he's away, something terrible happens to Fragile and Lou, and without spoiling it, months pass, and Sam's services are called upon again. This time, he must travel to Australia and reconnect the entire country, just like he did with America in the first game. Watch this: Unboxing the Death Stranding 2 PS5 Controller 00:45 Safe to say, if you never played Death Stranding, none of that made any sense, and that's on par with everyone's experience who played the game initially. The whole world of Death Stranding is less about realism and more about vibes. Beached things, voidouts, chiralium, cryptobiotes and so much of this game's world doesn't make a lick of sense if you try to think of it regarding the science of the real world, but when you get to the basic theme of the game, which is reaching out to other people and forming strong bonds with each other, then everything does make a certain sense. There are people who want the world to heal by coming together, while there are others who want to destroy those bonds. Welcome to Death Stranding. Make it make sense That whole spiel about Death Stranding 2's story is the gist of it, yet there are new and old characters to meet and more of the world to learn about. That brings to one of the biggest quality of life (QoL) improvements to the game: Corpus. Lots of games have their own in-game encyclopedia, but it's apparent that Kojima Productions knew how confusing the game's story could get. So to help navigate that, the Corpus gets updated all the time, and there will be an on-screen notification about the new info as soon as it's mentioned, and you can jump right into understanding what was said. Not only does it make Death Stranding 2 easier to understand, it also helps when you did what I and a lot of others did with the original and started it only to never come back to it years later. Now, as soon as you load a save and come back to the game, it will bring up the Corpus to give you a rundown of where you are in the story. Again, this seems like not a big deal in most games, but the thing that sets apart Death Stranding is this weird world -- where, for instance, babies are extracted from their brain-dead mothers and put in pods that are meant to emulate a womb so that they can be used as a warning system to detect dead souls made up of antimatter that are stranded in the world of the living and can make this pool of tar to capture people thus causing an explosion being enough to decimate a city when they come in contact. It's quite a feat to implement a feature to help a player understand that concept, which is what Corpus helps with. Higgs is back. Kojima Productions/Screenshot by CNET Understanding the story is key because it just makes the core of the game so enthralling. Delivering packages is what players will be doing for the majority of their time. There is some battling with human separatists who control bases scattered across the regions and BTs that will show up whenever it rains, but you can go for hours and hours without dealing with either. Instead, you can just continue to deliver packages. When it comes to delivering packages, there are the main missions where the various mission givers tell Sam where to go and what to take. More often than not, the package has some weight to it that Sam can carry on his backpack, and he just needs to get the package to its destination without being destroyed. Other parameters may switch things up, such as delivering within a time limit, taking it slow with a delicate package, or hauling one that's very heavy because it's a whole human being wrapped in what looks to be a body bag. A few of these main missions also require taking a package away from the separatists or making your way through areas filled with BTs, meaning there will likely be a fight. Like with the story, the game's central delivery experience received a wealth of quality-of-life improvements. The biggest is that vehicles are unlocked very early in the game. In the original, players had to deal with doing deliveries on foot for hours before getting the first reverse trike to help them travel around the world quickly. Now players get access to one within a few missions. Later in the game, Sam will ride around in the DHV Magellan, an airship that travels through the tar currents of the world (just go with it) to transport immediately to any of the locations you have already delivered to. This makes going back to previous cities and bunkers, especially to deliver some packages found along the way, much easier to do. The ship, however, does suffer from a serious case of Conveniently Broken Device trope (think of those episodes of Star Trek where the teleporters could solve a problem, but they happen to not be working). You'll find the Magellan never seems to be available when you need to travel all the way back to a previous location, which is fair, as this would take some of the fun from the game. The transportation options don't stop at the ship. Not far into the game, there will be an option for Beach Jumps using Fragile's umbrella. These spots are found all across Australia, but unlike traveling on the Magellan, these jumps will just take Sam and not his vehicle. Another new addition is the monorail, which can carry Sam and a lot of packages from one location to another. Similar to how players can build highways to travel on, the monorail is a system that needs to be built in segments. There are a few places with the monorail already in place, but players can extend it farther. Combat also had some subtle improvements. Sam feels very at home with the different weapons available, and while you can take down human enemies with stealth, it's just as quick and easy to mow them down with an assault rifle. Later in the game, robots will be the more common enemies that will take more damage to deal with, but Sam is still very capable of putting them down. Everyone's favorite BB, Lou. Kojima Productions/Screenshot by CNET Big, beautiful and weird The first Death Stranding was already incredible to look at, and the sequel bumps up the visual fidelity across the board from the character models to the particle effects when in combat. Thanks to the quality of life improvements to the game, there's more time to appreciate the game world. This time around, there's a lot more color to the world. It's still not vibrant, considering this is supposed to be Australia after some ghosts started appearing and destroying big parts of the land, but there's a bit more variety in biospheres than in the first game. In particular, the snowy mountain range where you'll spend most of the last third of the game is just beautiful in how serene it is. Granted, during parts of your journey in those mountains, you'll be bombarded with snow squalls that will completely blind you, requiring the use of the Odradek scanner to get the layout of the land so you know when the edge of the mountain is approaching. As is the case with any Kojima game, the cutscenes are the real eye-candy. The cast of characters has expanded in the sequel with Elle Fanning (A Complete Unknown, The Girl from Plainville) playing the mysterious young woman named Tomorrow, Shioli Katusna (Deadpool 2, Invasion) who plays a pregnant woman named Rainy who can control and reverse the effects of Timefall, and famed Australian film director of the Mad Max franchise, George Miller, as Tarman, the navigator of the Magellan. Every person gives a great performance, although it is noticeable that for the lead character, Norman Reedus doesn't talk much in these cutscenes. Some new and old faces in Death Stranding 2. Kojima Productions One person who does talk quite a bit and is worth pointing out is Dollman, played by actor Jonathan Roumie (The Chosen) but modeled after Turkish-German film director Fatih Akin. This living doll acts as a guide for Sam, providing useful tips and background for the players, but it also represents a staple in Kojima games of having weird supporting characters. And trust me, there is a lot of weird in Death Stranding 2. Some of the moments had me wondering just what the hell I was playing, and I can't wait to see streamers and YouTubers reach these parts in their Let's Play because the reaction content and the memes are going to be tremendous. Kojima really went deep into that part of his brain that concocts these strange yet charming and kind of badass moments within his games. Completing the main story in Death Stranding 2 takes about 40 hours if you rush through all the main missions, but to get all of that weirdness that only someone like Kojima can come up with, you'll need to spend double that to complete the sub-missions available. These quests will have Sam travel to practically every inch of Australia, delivering items from headache pills to people. Some of the missions will unlock new items while also learning more about the mission givers. There are scientists, musicians, animal caretakers and even a pizza chef. There's so much to do in Death Stranding 2, and what makes this such an enjoyable game is how it's become so accessible. Now, will this be enough to attract every gamer to what is essentially a post-apocalyptic delivery sim game? Probably not, but if you had a twinge of interest in the original Death Stranding but found it a bit too awkward or maybe complicated with its mechanics, then Death Stranding 2 is going to suck you right in and will have you spending hours enjoying a peaceful journey of just delivering packages. Death Stranding 2 is a PS5 exclusive and comes out on Thursday for $70. Those who buy the digital deluxe edition of the game for $80 will receive in-game content and early access to the game that starts on Tuesday.
Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Sting's heartwrenching tribute to drummer who collapsed live on stage
Sting shared a touching tribute to The Christians drummer Lionel Duke, who suffered a cardiac arrest while on stage in Liverpool over the weekend Sting shared a moving tribute to The Christians' Lionel Duke following his cardiac arrest on stage. The drummer who was supporting the legendary musician in Liverpool left fans concerned after he appeared to collapse before going into arrest at the iconic Pier Head on Sunday. Lead singer of the band, Garry, requested urgent assistance from the medical teams before a privacy screen was set up on stage. It was during this time that medics worked rapidly to perform CPR on Lionel, whose heart had stopped beating. Lionel was subsequently rushed to the hospital via ambulance after the emergency staff managed to resuscitate him. But while many wondered whether the show would continue, Sting, 73, later took to the stage and reassured fans who had packed the waterfront that Lionel was doing ok and was receiving treatment. One fan who was in attendance said: "We were kept updated, and Sting sang 'Fragile' after asking us all to hold Lionel in our thoughts." A second penned: "We were at the Waterfront - Sting was updating us all in the crowd and wished Lionel well and encouraged us all to think for him and sang Fragile as the final song for the evening." While on stage, the Grammy Award-winning musician said: "The drummer in the band before is OK. He's in hospital. All of us are praying he's going to be fine. Our thoughts are with him." As the sad incident unfolded, event organisers kept fans updated throughout with messages being displayed on huge screens. One read: "We appreciate your patience and understanding. Medical staff are with the performer, and we will provide an update as soon as we can." Shortly after, a spokesperson for the band, who is believed to be their manager, shared an update with fans – explaining that Lionel had suffered a cardiac arrest. She said: "We're really hoping he is going to make it. He didn't have a pulse; he's got one now, we think. Thank you so much." The band also encouraged Sting to perform. Earlier today, the band issued a statement on social media on Lionel's condition, explaining they are still awaiting news. They said: "Thank you so much to all the many many messages regarding our drummer Lionel Duke who suffered a cardiac arrest while performing at tonight's amazing concert ahead of Sting. We are awaiting news from the Heart and Chest hospital at Broad Green and thank the phenomenal team of medics present from On The Waterfront Liverpool team who stepped in so swiftly to help our poor Lionel." Fans of the group rushed to offer their support, with one praising the medical team for their swift response. They said: "Was at the gig in the front seen it all unfold what swift action by his band and first aid responders and the event staff for making it dignified by shielding Lionel with a make shift curtain whilst they performed the c.p.r I know he is in good hands at Broadgreen." A second went on to write: "It was terrifying to see poor Lionel slump forward. I was so proud of the respect the Liverpool crowd showed falling silent, no photos and many people turned around. We were kept updated, and Sting sang 'fragile' after asking us all to hold Lionel in our thoughts. Wishing him a speedy recovery. He is in good hands at Broadgreen." Another typed: "It was very worrying when Lionel slumped forwards onto his drums. Seeing the black screens go up. They were working on him on the stage for a while. I'm so pleased he is doing OK. It was frightening to see. Best wishes to Lionel." "It was so awful to witness! Sending love and positive energy for a speedy recovery for Lionel. And sending love to Garry and the rest of the band too who must have been incredibly shaken," added a fourth.
Daily Mirror
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
The Christians issue update after drummer suffered cardiac arrest on stage
The Christians have shared an update after Lionel Duke suffered a cardiac arrest on stage. Drummer Lionel and the band were supporting Sting at Liverpool's Pier Head on Sunday when he suddenly collapsed mid-performance. Lead singer, Gary Christian, requested immediate medical attention, with crews setting up a privacy screen on the stage. Lionel was later rushed to the hospital via ambulance after being checked over by the emergency services. Now, the band have shared an update on social media. In a statement, they said: "Thank you so much to all the many many messages regarding our drummer Lionel Duke who suffered a cardiac arrest while performing at tonight's amazing concert ahead of Sting "We are awaiting news from the Heart and Chest hospital at Broad Green and thank the phenomenal team of medics present from On The Waterfront Liverpool team who stepped in so swiftly to help our poor Lionel." Fans rushed to the comment section, with one praising the medical team for their swift response. They said: "Was at the gig in the front seen it all unfold what swift action by his band and first aid responders and the event staff for making it dignified by shielding Lionel with a make shift curtain whilst they performed the c.p.r I know he is in good hands at Broadgreen." A second added: "It was terrifying to see poor Lionel slump forward. I was so proud of the respect the Liverpool crowd showed falling silent, no photos and many people turned around. We were kept updated, and Sting sang 'fragile' after asking us all to hold Lionel in our thoughts. Wishing him a speedy recovery. He is in good hands at Broadgreen." "We were at the Waterfront - Sting was updating us all in the crowd and wished Lionel well and encouraged us all to think for him and sang Fragile as the final song for the evening - Wishing Lionel a speedy recovery," said another. Meanwhile, a fourth fan typed: "It was heartbreaking to see. Wishing Lionel a speedy recovery and sending lots of love and wishes to Lionel's family and bandmates." As the incident unfolded, event staff displayed a message on the huge screens to update fans. They said: "We appreciate your patience and understanding. Medical staff are with the performer, and we will provide an update as soon as we can." Moments later, a spokesperson who is believed to be The Christians' manager addressed the sold-out crowd. She confirmed that Lionel had suffered a cardiac arrest but was managed to be brought back around. She said: "We're really hoping he is going to make it. He didn't have a pulse, he's got one now, we think. Thank you so much." Despite worries, the band are believed to have encouraged Sting to continue with his performance. When he took to the stage, the Grammy Award-winning musician reflected on the heartbreaking incident. He said: "The drummer in the band before is OK. He's in hospital. All of us are praying he's going to be fine. Our thoughts are with him."
New York Post
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Yes announces 2025 ‘Fragile Tour,' two NY shows. Get tickets today
Vivid Seats is the New York Post's official ticketing partner. We may receive revenue from this partnership for sharing this content and/or when you make a purchase. Featured pricing is subject to change. In November 1971, Yes released their fourth studio album 'Fragile' in the U.K. The nine-track record yielded a pair of iconic singles in 'Roundabout' and 'Long Distance Runaround,' obscure gems like 'We Have Heaven' and 'South Side of the Sky' and the prog-rock masterpiece 'Heart of the Sunrise.' Now, 54 short years later, Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Billy Sherwood, Jon Davison and Jay Schellen are taking the timeless collection of songs (and a few other classics) on the road. While out and 'Roundabout,' the Rock Hall of Famers will make four New York and New Jersey stops. First, they'll jam at Morristown, NJ's Mayo Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Oct. 2. After that, the legendary quintet hit Atlantic City's Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Saturday, Oct. 4, Port Chester, NY's Capitol Theatre on Sunday, Oct. 5 and Huntington, NY's Paramount Theatre on Tuesday, Oct. 7. 'All the band's albums had a unique feel and approach,' Howe said via Instagram. 'It's fairly 'odd-ball,' but…it gave us confidence, further than our own in-stock belief, we'd crafted this unusual but noticeable musical twist to rock and what later became prog.' Astute fans may have noticed that a pair of key Yes members aren't part of this tour; that's because both lead singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman are conducting solo tours of their own this year. Fans can purchase tickets for all upcoming Yes shows on sites like Vivid Seats; the official on-sale for the 'Fragile Tour' is Friday, June 13. Vivid Seats is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand. They have a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and will be delivered before the event. Yes tour schedule 2025 A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found below. Jon Anderson 2025 tour As noted above, Anderson is striking out on his own this year. He's playing venues all over the U.S. with his band, who are aptly named The Band Geeks. They'll be in Ocean City on July 7. To find out where else they'll be, click here to see all Jon Anderson 2025 tour dates. Rick Wakeman 2025 tour The 76-year-old keyboardist and composer has shows lined up from July through October including gigs in Ocean City (July 21), Englewood (July 23) and Poughkeepsie (July 30-31). Curious if he's coming to your neck of the woods? Find Rick Wakeman's complete 2025 tour calendar here. 'Fragile' track listing In case you need a refresher, here are the nine tracks that make up the indispensable 40.5-minute record. Side I 01.) 'Roundabout' 02.) 'Cans and Brahms' (instrumental) 03.) 'We Have Heaven' 04.) South Side of the Sky' Side II 01.) 'Five per Cent for Nothing' 02.) 'Long Distance Runaround' 03.) 'The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)' 04.) 'Mood for a Day' (instrumental) 05.) 'Heart of the Sunrise' Yes band members According to Yes' official tour announcement on Instagram, the band will be made up of Steve Howe (guitars, vocals), Geoff Downes (keyboards), Jon Davison (vocals, acoustic guitar), Billy Sherwood (bass guitar, vocals), and Jay Schellen (drums). Schellen replaces long-time drummer Alan White who passed away in 2022. Roger Dean 'Fragile' was the band's first album designed by Roger Dean. According to the group's Instagram, the iconic artist would go on to 'design many of YES' future album covers, the band's logo, and live stage sets. This striking union of music and design is key in how YES' sound and vision would be perceived; it also underlined how important artistic visuals were becoming in the rock world.' To celebrate his work, the group is slated to shred 'in front of a video wall featuring AI treatment of Dean's art, bringing YES' art into the 2020s.' His timeless work will also be available for purchase at all shows. To keep up with what he's working on these days, you can follow Dean on Instagram here. Classic rockers on tour in 2025 Still stuck in the '70s? Honestly, same. Thankfully, many of our favorite artists from the Nixon/Ford/Carter eras are on the road this year. Here are just five of our favorite classic rockers you won't want to miss live these next few months. • Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band • Eric Clapton • Yusuf/Cat Stevens • Paul Simon • Bachman-Turner Overdrive Who else is touring? Check out our list of all of the biggest classic rockers on tour in 2025 to find the show for you. This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change
UPI
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
Yes to launch 'Fragile' tour in October
Yes is going on tour. Photo Courtesy of Gottlieb Bros. June 10 (UPI) -- British progressive rock band Yes is going on tour. The group announced Tuesday they are hitting the road beginning Oct. 1 in Wallingford, Conn., and concluding Nov. 16 in Reno, Nev. The band will perform the entirety of their album Fragile, which was released in the United States in 1972, along with other hits. "The Fragile Tour is regarded as a key moment in Yes' history -- it's when the band became a headline act in the U.S.," a press release states. The band consists of Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen. Tickets are available to purchase beginning Friday. The band released the albums Yessingles and Mirror to the Sky in 2023.
