A new South Park video game looks to be on the way from former BioShock developers.
Revealed in a job advert by indie developer Question, the studio’s looking for a lead level designer to contribute to “a new video game set in the world of South Park”. While few specifics are given and the game remains unnamed, the jobs post does mention candidates must have experience with “multiplayer level design”, and will contribute to creating “levels choc full of aesthetically compelling moments and interesting tactical choices”.
Question is a little-known studio, but its website notes that it includes former developers of the BioShock series, Dishonored , and Thief: Deadly Shadows, as well as those who worked on Obsidian’s 2014 South Park RPG, The Stick of Truth, and Ubisoft's 2017 follow-up Fractured But Whole.
Both its co-founders, Stephen Alexander and Jordan Thomas, previously contributed to BioShock and BioShock Infinite, with Thomas also serving as creative director at 2K Marin during the studio's development of BioShock 2.
The post suggests the game will be coming to the Xbox Series X , Xbox One , PS5 , PS4 , and PC, and mentions it will be built in the Unreal 4 engine.
Question is best known for releasing The Magic Circle in 2015, a self-styled darkly comedic, surrealist first-person game that plonks you inside an unfinished fantasy world that’s stuck in development hell. Most recently, it developed co-op horror game The Blackout Club, which has you and your pals investigate the monstrous happenings of a backwater town.
Analysis: a South Park immersive sim?
Unlike many licensed video games, South Park has had remarkable success with its gaming adaptations. Obsidian’s RPG, The Stick of Truth, was warmly received for not only capturing the TV show’s trademark crude humor, but neatly wrapping it inside a solid turn-based combat system and exploration segments.
This title from Question has a lot to live up to, then, although the talent within the studio puts it on good footing. It might be a little too much to expect the team to pool their BioShock, Dishonored and Thief experience to create a South Park immersive sim (and probably too weird a thought), but the name drops alone are tantalizing. Obsidian's South Park games did brilliantly because of the experience of the team behind them. The same could happen here.
However, the game also marks a few firsts for the license. For starters, it will be the first South Park game to release on the current console generation. Fractured But Whole, the last major release that used the license, came out several years before the PS5 and Xbox Series X /S hit the market. But it’s also the first South Park video game to be developed by a small, indie studio. Up to now, its game adaptations have been created by, or in partnership with, larger developers.
How to watch The Fallout online on HBO Max
Initially premiering at South by Southwest, The Fallout is a critically acclaimed portrayal of life after surviving a school shooting gets, and it gets its exclusive release on HBO Max from Thursday, January 27. Here's how to watch The Fallout online with our guide below.
The Fallout depicts the very real fear and sad reality for some high schoolers in the US. Finding themselves in the bathroom together, gunshots go off and Vada Cavell (Jenna Ortega, Netflix's You) and Mia Reed (Maddie Ziegler, West Side Story) find themselves irrevocably tied to one another, united in their shared trauma of surviving a school shooting.
A directorial debut for Megan Park, The Fallout also stars John Oritz as Ortega's onscreen father and Shailene Woodley as her therapist.
Heralded in particular for its direction, screenplay, and the performance given by Ortega, The Fallout promises a compelling and moving insight into teenage trauma and grief. You can watch The Fallout online with a HBO Max subscription in the US.
How to watch The Fallout online in the US
What else can you watch on HBO Max?
Apart from The Fallout, HBO Max brings access to a huge library of top-drawer entertainment, including Euphoria, And Just Like That , the entirety of Sex and the City , Succession , Girls, Mare of Easttown, The Matrix Resurrections and much more.
The 7-day HBO Max free trial has long since been discontinued. But, if you're a current HBO Now subscriber or pay for HBO through your cable provider, you might actually be entitled to HBO Max at no extra cost.
Devices compatible with HBO Max include iPhone and Android devices, Apple and Samsung TVs, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles, Chromecast and Chromebooks , and laptops and PCS. HBO Max on Roku and Amazon Fire Stick is also available.
Can you watch The Fallout across the rest of the world?
Currently there is no word on when or where The Fallout will be released outside of the US. Previous Warner Brothers releases have been released globally in theaters, with the ability to rent and stream at home after its initial theatrical window.
We will endeavour to update this page if and when The Fallout is released across other territories.
This Dolby Atmos soundbar is a cheaper version of the Sonos Arc
Denon has announced its latest soundbar , which offers Dolby Atmos immersive audio and comes with a wireless subwoofer included - and it's much cheaper than the leading model, the Sonos Arc .
The Sonos Arc is our pick for the best soundbar you can buy today, but its $899 / £899 / AU$1,499 price tag makes it a very expensive way to boost your home cinema setup .
Meanwhile, the Denon DHT-S517 costs £379. Global pricing is yet to be announced, but that works out at about $500 / AU$700 - and as it comes with a subwoofer, you don't need to shell out extra to ensure your home cinema sound is bass-heavy.
Cheaper Dolby Atmos soundbars don't always come with the upfiring drivers you need for 'true' Atmos sound, relying on digital signal processing and pyschoacoustic techniques to trick your brain into thinking sound is coming at you from every angle.
However, the new Denon soundbar contains two upfiring drivers to bounce sound up to your ceiling and back down to your ears, making it feel as though you're in the heart of the action when you're watching films and TV shows.
Those upfiring drivers are part of a seven-driver array, comprising left/right channel tweeters, midrange drivers, and a dedicated center channel, which Denon says delivers "unmatched clarity, dynamics, and cinematic dimensionality".
If the Denon DHT-S517 sounds anything like its pricier predecessor, the DHT-S716H, you can expect a wide soundstage, balanced frequencies, and impressive volume levels - though this older model had a 3.0 speaker configuration and no Dolby Atmos support, so the listening experience will be a little different.
However, like the S716H, the new soundbar comes with a range of sound modes tailored for different listening situations, as well as a dialog enhancing feature that should make mumbling actors sound a bit clearer.
HDMI eARC, optical, and 4K UHD HDMI inputs mean the Denon DHT-S517 should work with pretty much any TV, while Bluetooth connectivity means you can use the soundbar to play music wirelessly from your smartphone .
Can Denon compete with the Sonos Arc?
One of the best things about Sonos' range of wireless speakers and soundbars is their comprehensive multi-room audio support - something that's missing from the Denon DHT-S517.
While many Denon products come with support for the HEOS ecosystem, which lets you create a sound system with the need for lots of cables snaking around your home, the brand's latest soundbar doesn't have this feature.
Even though the DHT-S517 boasts many of the same features as the Sonos Arc (plus a wireless subwoofer thrown in), the lack of multiroom support could put off potential buyers.
All Sonos speakers work within the company's wider ecosystem, so buying the Sonos Arc - or the cheaper Sonos Beam (Gen 2) if you're not bothered about having upfiring drivers - makes sense if you already have the brand's devices at home and want to create a no-fuss hi-fi setup you can add to and take away from as you please.
Which soundbar you go for really depends on what you want from your home cinema setup. If you're looking for a relatively budget-friendly option that still gets you Dolby Atmos sound, the Denon DHT-S517 could be the answer - but, if it's unrivaled connectivity you crave, Sonos soundbars still come out on top for us.