"Starfield” is Microsoft’s blockbuster Xbox game for 2022
13 June 2021
“Starfield,” the next big game from the makers of “Fallout” and “The Elder Scrolls” will be released on Nov. 11, 2022 for Xbox consoles and PC — and not for PlayStation, according to a new trailer.
Why it matters: “Starfield” is about as big as it gets in terms of upcoming blockbuster games and will likely be ace for Microsoft commercially.
- The science fiction role-playing game was first teased by development studio Bethesda in 2018 and has been greatly anticipated ever since.
- It served as Microsoft's first big announcement during itsE3 showcase Sunday.
Between the lines: Bethesda used to be a third-party publisher, meaning its games tended to be released for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox (plus on Nintendo platforms, at times).
- Microsoft purchased Bethesda for $7.5 billion last year, with the intent to use the company’s line-up to boost its growing all-you-can-play Game Pass subscription service.
- That led to speculation as to whether future Bethesda games would be exclusive to Xbox or at least, crucially, exclude PlayStation.
- Today’s trailer revealed “Starfield”'s exclusivity.
What they’re saying: “It’s a next-generation role-playing game where you’ll be who you want, go where you want, experience our stories and forge your own,” Bethesda lead game developer Todd Howard said in a behind-the-scenes video that was accidentally published early by the Washington Post.
- “More than that, 'Starfield' is about hope, our shared humanity and searching for the answers to life’s greatest mystery," he added.
What’s next: Somewhat vague teasers being what they are, we still don’t know much about what “Starfield” is and how it plays, but will no doubt find out more in the year and a half until it launches.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.