Hasta La Motion!

Reportedly, a teenager in Punjab lost nearly 16 lakh rupees in the massively popular and addictive game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG Mobile, as he spent the amount in making in-app purchases and upgrading while playing the game, the media has reported. The 17-year-old had access to three bank accounts and he used them to spend money on the super-addictive PUBG Mobile game.

Referring to the teen’s parents, a report by Tribune India has claimed that the teenager had access to three bank accounts that he used to upgrade his PUBG Mobile account. The teenager reportedly made in-app purchases for his teammates as well. The report adds that the family came to learn about this from their bank statements.

The incident came to light when the teenager’s parents accessed the bank accounts and realised that he had spent almost 16 lakh rupees. The teenager, according to media reports, would extensively use his mother’s mobile phone to play PUBG Mobile and after completing the bank transactions, would erase all the messages from her device. According to his father, he had saved the money for his son’s future and medical needs.

The teenager’s father is a government employee and was posted somewhere else when his teenage son spent the money on PUBG Mobile game. The minor also used to shuffle the money from one bank account to another to avoid being caught. The cops did not help the minor’s parents as he had deliberately spent the whopping amount on the game, the report added.

Despite its popularity, PUBG has drawn a lot of flak for a long time and the furore over the addictive game refuses to die down. The game has been embroiled in controversy India as well as in China.

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Disney+ has unveiled the first official poster and release date of Phineas & Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe.

On 29 June, Disney+ dropped the teaser of the new 2D Disney animated film since Winnie The Pooh. The upcoming animated film will stream on the OTT platform, 28 August onward.

The official description for the movie reads: Phineas & Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe will pick up five years after summer ended and will follow Phineas and Ferb travel across the galaxy to rescue their sister Candace, who has been abducted by aliens and has found utopia in a far-off planet, free of pesky little brothers.

Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe co-creator Dan Povenmire told EW, “It’s a tightrope walk when you have a whole generation [of fans] that you know are going to tune into this, and you want to give them stuff, but you also want to give the new people something that they can digest. But we just wanted to make sure that the people who grew up with Phineas and Ferb would love the movie. We’re hoping that this show gets watched in college dorm rooms all over the country.”

Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe brings back Povenmire and his co-creator Jeff Marsh as executive producers, and the film is set to bring back much of the cast from the show, including Ashley Tisdale (Candace Flynn), Vincent Martella (Phineas Flynn), Caroline Rhea (Linda), Dee Bradley Baker (Perry the Platypus), Alyson Stoner (Isabella), Maulik Pancholy (Baljeet), Bobby Gaylor (Buford), Olivia Olson (Vanessa), Tyler Mann (Carl), and Povenmire and Marsh of course, who will reprise their roles as Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz and Major Monogram. However, the movie will feature a new Ferb played by David Errigo Jr.

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WildBrain Spark, the digital media division of WildBrain, has been assigned with exclusive rights to manage Benesse Corporation’s English-language channel and its hit edutainment preschool brand Shimajiro on YouTube. 

Shimajiro, an educational character and learning buddy, is hugely popular in Asia, and WildBrain Spark will look to grow the presence of the brand’s English-language content with a focus on the UK, US and the wider English global market.

Commenting on the deal, WildBrain Spark commercial director Rachel Taylor said, “As we continue growing our connections with brand owners all around the world, we’re very much looking forward to working closely with the Japan-based Benesse Corporation to grow their Shimajiro brand in key international markets. Shimajiro’s success in educating young viewers in a fun and accessible way makes it a perfect fit for the WildBrain Spark network and we look forward to bringing the English-language content to new preschool audiences.”

 Benesse Corporation has been creating and publishing educational content for the past 30 years, with the aim of making early childhood learning fun for kids and easier for their parents and guardians. The content explores Shimajiro’s life as a preschooler and the lessons he needs to learn on a daily basis. 

Like any toddler, he needs to acquire social skills such as empathy for others, playing in groups and helping around the house. However, the series also focuses heavily on teaching physical skills such as brushing teeth and washing hands. The show is a mixture of both live-action and animation creating a healthy balance between learning with Shimajiro and also learning real life issues.

Benesse Corporation Global Business Development Division director Daisuke Tebayashi added, “Shimajiro has delighted kids and parents in Asia for years. We are excited to be launching him to the global English market. The last few months have shown all parents around the world the importance of learning at home, and this is something we are experts at. With its history of brand building, WildBrain Spark is the ideal match for our digital-first strategy, and we are excited to be making this move into new markets.”

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Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea have officially resumed operations after four months of closure. The theme parks at Tokyo Disney Resort reopened yesterday, 1 July, with protective measures to contain further spread of the virus.

According to Disney Parks Blog, Tokyo Disney Resort is implementing enhanced health and safety measures in accordance with local government guidance, to ensure health and safety of guests and cast members.

Source : The Japan Times

The theme parks will have limited capacity with enhanced cleaning and physical distancing will be promoted due to the pandemic. In order to keep the number of visitors to less than half of pre-COVID times, the parks’ operator Oriental Land Co. will limit entry to fixed-date tickets purchased online in advance.

The operating hours at the parks in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, which had been closed since 29 February, have been limited between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Attractions and restaurants will also cater to a smaller number of visitors, while most entertainment shows and parades, including the nighttime Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights, will remain stalled.

A Tokyo Disneyland staff member said, “We will consider restarting the parades and increasing the number of visitors allowed inside the park as we monitor this new way of operating.”

Undergoing temperature checks and wearing a face mask is mandatory for visitors to enter the park and will have to maintain social-distancing from Disney characters during meets.

Disney also shared a video a special sunrise from Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea on 30 June to mark the reopening. 

Meanwhile, Disneyland Paris will also reopen as previously announced 15 July onwards, with extensive safety measures in place based on guidance from the French government and health authorities.

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Discord has secured $100 million funding to help finance its efforts to grow its audience beyond the video games consumers it initially targeted.

There are no details on which investors supplied the capital but the deal is mentioned in a new blog post offering an overview of the company’s future direction.The new pitch, and a new funding round of $100 million at a reported valuation of $3.5 billion, will help the company as it looks to erase its legacy as a home for gamers.

As the blog post says,”In asking you what you want Discord to be, we heard that you want Discord to be more welcoming, more inclusive, and more trustworthy so more kinds of communities can find a home here. Many of you told us that the biggest misconception you hear about Discord is that it’s “only for gaming,” but you feel Discord’s for “literally everyone” and “for anyone who likes to talk.”

The site says the investment “comes with the understanding that [founders Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy] will continue to broaden the app’s audience and focus on growing revenue.”

That certainly seems to be the case based on the blog post, which discusses how Discord may have originated as a communications tool for video game players but is now being used for wider purposes. This includes conversations around books, music, art, and even just socialising. The company is now tweaking its branding and communications strategy to reflect this.

“As you’ve used Discord for more and more than playing games, our branding didn’t keep up, and the way we talked about ourselves sent the wrong signal to the world, making it harder for you to bring your broader community on Discord,” Citron wrote.

To address this, the company has changed its onboarding experience to make it easier for new users, added server templates that help them create new servers, and even made the jokes and references in the app “less gaming specific.”

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