Generation Star Wars

Microsoft is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Xbox and Halo through November with a plethora of related products and Xbox FanFest.

Like many avid gamers in the early noughties, I bought an original Xbox solely to play Halo: Combat Evolved.



Bungie's seminal first-person shooter (FPS) had captured my imagination when Halo was unveiled by Steve Jobs at Macworld in 1999. However, Microsoft would acquire exclusivity of Halo, as the first killer app for its fledgeling console, much to Jobs' annoyance.

Master Chief and Cortana's story had me enthralled in what is lauded as one of the most influential video games of all time. As mentioned previously, I wouldn't return to the Halo franchise until Halo 4, after winning an Xbox 360 S from LOVEFiLM (now Prime Video), in 2012. Halo 4 was the perfect homecoming for this lifelong fan of storied space operas.

Xbox also introduced me to BioWare's fabled Mass Effect trilogy - arguably one of the greatest space operas in any medium. What gave Mass Effect 2 its edge was working with the enemy, lead by Martin Sheen's Illusive Man, propelling the game into The Empire Strikes Back of the saga. So, I'll be playing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (affiliate link) this weekend as FemShep (Jennifer Hale) and will be an ugly mess by the end.

The next game in the Halo franchise, Halo Infinite, is set to launch later this year after being delayed, during the launch of Xbox Series X|S, due to the pandemic.

343 Industries‘ studio head Chris Lee said: “The extra time will let us finish the critical work necessary to deliver the most ambitious Halo game ever at the quality we know our fans expect.”

Personally, Halo Infinite evokes nostalgic feels for Halo: Combat Evolved and I'll be downloading day-one on Game Pass Ultimate.

What are your favourite Xbox and Halo memories? Let me know in the comments below.

Following the cancellation of Doctor Who in 1989, there was an unfillable void vacated by my favourite time traveller until the BBC's beloved sci-fi series returned in 2005.

Star Trek: The Next Generation came to the fore with a Marvel UK tie-in and Playmates Toys' action figures and accessories as an early nineties sci-fi renaissance began, across the Atlantic, heralded by Steven Spielberg's SeaQuest DSV, Babylon 5 and The X-Files.

All of which became synonymous with undergraduate studies at Bournemouth University.

SeaQuest DSV and Babylon 5 both utilised Amiga Video Toasters and were the subject of lively debate in computer animation studies. George Lucas' Star Wars prequels were still a few years away, non-linear media production was still in its infancy and prohibitively expensive for the homebrew crowd (myself included) before Steve Jobs returned to Apple, democratising the industry with the iMac and iPhone.

"Sooner or later, everyone comes to Babylon 5." - Commander Jeffrey Sinclair

Babylon 5 was originally shown on Channel 4 in the UK running for 5 seasons between 1993 to 1997. J. Michael Straczynski's sci-fi opus, a galaxy-spanning retelling of The Lord of the Rings, quickly became a touchstone in the space opera firmament. There were countless carshare and water-cooler conversations with fellow fans when I was hired as an online journalist following graduation.

Babylon 5 embraced long-form storytelling and the late Mira Furlan, who played Minbari Ambassador Delenn, would go on to star in JJ Abrams' Lost (available on Disney+).

A passion for computer-generated imagery (CGI) was rekindled when I bought an iMac DV SE in the summer of 1999 and subsequently published in 3D World magazine in the early noughties.

This is a very convoluted way of saying, I never saw Babylon 5 (nor spin-off series) after its original transmission and, as I toiled tirelessly on Bryce 3D, Poser and Photoshop, I yearned for the adventures of Commander John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) and crew of the titular space station.

So, it was a surprise to see Ged Maheux, friend and co-founder of the Iconfactory, tweet Babylon 5 has been meticulously remastered for HBO Max. Seemingly in the spirit of Paramount's Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation but stopping short of updated visual effects. Incidentally, I recently rewatched stablemate V AKA V: The Original Miniseries, on SyFy, and the eighties anti-fascist allegory benefits from its original widescreen presentation.

Alas, the subscription-based streaming service from Warner Bros. isn't available in the UK, but I'm hoping Nick Smith will be able to review Babylon 5 on HBO Max. The remastered series is also available to buy (affiliate link).

Babylon 5 has deservedly become a cult classic and will find a new generation of fans. How about a reboot utilising technology developed for Disney+'s The Mandalorian, HBO Max?

What are your memories of watching Babylon 5? Let me know in the comments below.

Without any fanfare, Bob Iger abruptly stood down as Disney CEO on Tuesday, handing the reins to Bob Chapek, effective immediately.

Iger will remain at The Walt Disney Company through the end of 2021, but as chairman, and he told CNBC that in his new role he will focus on the creative side of the company.

“As we looked at the businesses, we felt we have a great set of assets, we have a great strategy,” Iger said. “What’s next? And what was next in terms of my own priorities is making sure that the creative pipeline of the company was really rich, that all of our creative engines were working extremely well, and I wanted to spend more and more of my time on that. The only way I was able to do that was to give up the day-to-day running of the company, to pass the torch on to Bob [Chapek].”

Iger has overseen a successful acquisition strategy since 2005. Beginning with the purchase of Pixar from the late Steve Jobs to Lucasfilm in 2012 from George Lucas and most recently 20th Century Fox from Rupert Murdoch. The latter has given Disney a majority stake in Hulu.

This has bolstered Disney's content portfolio and culminated in the launch of Disney+ last November. The nascent streaming service continues to expand into new markets and threatens established streamers such as Netflix (with whom Disney had previously partnered).

During Iger's 15-year tenure as Disney CEO, Marvel Studios has emerged as a dominant box office force and Star Wars has enjoyed a renaissance despite the fandom menace and perhaps questionable creative choices such as overexposing the brand, which Iger has conceded to.

Like Jobs at Apple, Iger will be a tough act to follow and Disney's stock dipped.

Disney CEO Bob Iger believes Apple and Disney may have merged had Steve Jobs lived.

Since becoming CEO, Iger has been on an acquisition trail. From Marvel to Lucasfilm. Disney bought Pixar, originally the Graphics Group at Lucasfilm, from Jobs in 2006 and there has always been speculation surrounding the House of Mouse and the Cupertino-based company.

"With every success the company has had since Steve's death, there's always a moment in the midst of my excitement when I think, I wish Steve could be here for this. It's impossible not to have the conversation with him in my head that I wish I could be having in real life," Iger writes in his upcoming memoir. "More than that, I believe that if Steve were still alive, we would have combined our companies, or at least discussed the possibility very seriously."

Iger recently stepped down from Apple's board of directors prior to the launch of competing streaming services: Disney+ and Apple TV+. Disney+ is currently available as a free 2-month trial in the Netherlands.

The Ride of A Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company is available for pre-order (affiliate link) from Amazon.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the stage at the Steve Jobs Theatre to announce the Cupertino-based company’s first foray into streaming services. Apple TV+.

Rob Wainfur, the founder of The Bearded Trio and fellow Steven Spielberg fan, reacts to the news the Oscar-winning director is reviving eighties anthology series Amazing Stories exclusively on Apple TV+.

Guest post by Rob Wainfur

There was no denying that today’s announcement by Apple of its new streaming service, Apple TV+, was a glitzy affair with a bunch of A-Listers making an appearance such as Star Wars director JJ Abrams, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Oprah, Jason Momoa, Ron Howard, Hailee Steinfeld and even Big Bird from Sesame Street!



Of course, my interest was piqued when Steven Spielberg also joined the Apple hype train on stage. Apple, it seems, has really pulled out all the stops on this announcement and, with a hefty billion dollar investment in the fledgeling streaming service, is desperate to become one of the leading subscription-based providers and sit alongside the likes of Amazon Prime and, of course, Netflix.

But, and this may be slightly controversial, especially from a huge Steven Spielberg fan such as myself, with Spielberg and Apple now the best of buddies, I can't help but wonder if the recent attack by the director on Netflix, and whether or not it should be eligible for Academy Awards, was nothing more than a strategic plan by them to just muddy the waters a little? It does seem unlikely, but when the budgets are in the billions of dollars, and Amblin have a vested interest with Amazing Stories being one of the launch titles, then asking Mr Spielberg to just rock the boat ever-so-slightly could easily be a possibility, however remote.

Apple TV+ will be available on first and third-party devices including Samsung, LG and Sony smart TVs. This is an inspired, and necessary, move if the company is serious about rivalling Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, which launches later this year bolstered by Fox’s extensive film and television catalogue.

One thing is for certain, with a new streaming service joining the party, and more on the horizon, we are most definitely going to need a bigger boat... And wallets [Apple has an app for that - Ed].

Apple TV+ is set to launch in over a hundred countries later this year. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starts today and affords an ideal opportunity to reflect on the launch of the original iMac twenty years ago.



Jony Ive's product would become a cultural phenomenon, appearing in everything from Jennifer Lopez's iconic pop promo for If You Had My Love to television series, foreshadowing the Cupertino-based company's rise, Lazarus-like under the auspices of the then returning co-founder Steve Jobs, from imminent collapse into the consumer electronics giant we know today.



I purchased an iMac DV SE - affectionately dubbed 'the bubble' by my late mum - in the summer of 1999 to replace an ageing Macintosh Performa 5200. And have continued to champion the all-in-one desktop machine to this day.

An amusing anecdote from the start of the new millennium. During an interview at AOL, in the wake of purchasing Warner Bros., I was sarcastically asked by a company director, which colour had I chosen and that Apple should roll over and die! I countered by suggesting a strategic alliance between Apple and AOL. Whatever happened to AOL, again?

Apple is expected to announce an iMac refresh later today. Please add a Space Gray model to match my iPad Pro, Tim Cook.

Without the iMac, there would be no iPod, iPhone or iPad and, quite possibly, no Apple.

What are your iMac memories? Let me know in the comments below.

Ten years ago today, the late Steve Jobs announced the iPhone during his keynote speech at MacWorld 2007. The device had been mooted for sometime and the then Apple co-founder and CEO confirmed such.

"This is the day I've been waiting for the last 2 years", he said.

At the time, competitors like Motorola, Nokia, Microsoft, and BlackBerry dismissed Apple's ambition to change the phone industry forever.

Apple's fortunes would be transformed in the wake of the iPhone's launch. Propelling the Cupertino-based company to become one of the world's wealthiest corporations.

"iPhone is an essential part of our customers' lives, and today more than ever it is redefining the way we communicate, entertain, work and live," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "iPhone set the standard for mobile computing in its first decade and we are just getting started. The best is yet to come."

The iPhone hasn't been without its controversies. From "bendgate" to "antennagate". Laterly, the competition has caught up and the touchscreen user experience (UX), as depicted in Star Trek: The Next Generation, is now commonplace in many people's lives.

However, Apple, under the stewardship of CEO Steve Jobs, once again popularised the way consumers interact with technology. Jobs' second act will be an enduring legacy. He may have been regarded as a controversial figure, with his so-called 'reality distortion field', but I sure miss his keynote speeches.

What are your iPhone memories? Let me know in the comments below.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy wrapped yesterday's The Force Awakens panel at Star Wars Celebration with "One more thing..." A quote synonymous with keynote speeches given by Steve Jobs, the late co-founder and CEO of Apple.

In this case it was the second teaser trailer for director JJ Abrams upcoming magnum opus.



Two minutes of movie magic that distilled the rich mythology of the original trilogy in a way the prequels specularly failed to achieve...

Apple TV is seen, by some, as a trojan horse and there's every possibility that it could challenge Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony in the home video game console space! Why? Add a faster processor, the App Store echo system and tether Apple TV to an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and boom! However, imagine an Apple television that acts as a point of convergence with voice control (Siri) and we're in the Star Trek universe as envisaged by conceptual designer Michael Okuda.

Longtime followers of Apple wouldn't have been surprised by the news that Steve Jobs had told Walter Isaacson, his official biographer, that he'd "cracked it".

“'I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ he told me. ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.'”

Sony has entered the fray and promises to deliver a next generation TV experience to rival Apple. Presumably BRAVIA Internet Video will underpin this and the XMB (ported from its PlayStation brand) is a compelling alternative to Apple's iOS. However, Sony has lost significance in the past decade and Apple is more than capable of delivering Steve Jobs' vision into the living room.

"Siri, Star Trek: The Next Generation series 3. On screen."

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life ... Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - Steve Jobs

RIP Steve Jobs. Thanks for co-founding Apple and changing the way we use technology forever. I'll never own a PC. That is all.

JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot is a revelation, that has challenged my jaded expectations of a franchise that no longer seemed relevant, nor enjoyable! Abrams' and his cohorts have passed the Kobayashi Maru test: with such kinetic zeal and aplomb it's exhausting!

The traditional revenge narrative is predicated on the notion that the future of Star Trek has been altered, irrevocably, by time-travelling Romulans lead by Nero (an uncharismatic Eric Bana)! An age old deceit, which is most welcome here. We're, literally, in an undiscovered country...

JJ Abrams proved his character-driven credentials with original network television drama series such as Felicity, Alias and Lost! The underrated M:I III proved conclusively that action sequences can boast bombast, but not at the expense of human drama. Star Trek cements that reputation to the nth degree with the interpersonal conflicts between Kirk, Spock and Nero.

The hero shots are reserved, rightly, for the USS Enterprise itself! The starship's design referencing the incarnations seen in Star Trek I to VI. The bridge is imbued with the design ethos of Steve Jobs' Apple - another successful reboot! This is an Enterprise for the iPhone and iPod touch generation!

This Trek has been rebuilt from the ground up. A master stroke that reconnects/introduces many fans (myself included) to the adventures of Kirk, Spock and Bones! Frankly, I'll always prefer Kirk in the captain's chair! Phasers on stunning...

Shop Star Trek Store for cool collectibles from the movie and more!

You should follow me on twitter here.

Due to personal reasons, I've decided on a haiku review format! WALL-E (voiced by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt) is deserving of so much more!

PIXAR's artisans have, most literally, rendered their finest achievement worthy of demolishing any residual prejudices levelled against CGI - as a storytelling medium - forever; a silent story of dystopia and boundless hope!

WALL-E's heroic journey is a deft mix of light and darkness! The last of his kind, chillingly revealed in a silhouetted scrapheap graveyard, WALL-E's only companion, on an abandoned Earth, is a loyal cockroach! Then one, seemingly ordinary, day, a starship arrives, dispatching a probe droid called EVE!

In so many ways WALL-E completes a saga! PIXAR was owned by George Lucas and sold to Steve Jobs. With Ben Burtt's involvement this is further cemented and underscored by the insertion of the iconic Mac startup chime at a pivotal narrative juncture!

Mainstream cinema has regained its sense of wonder and it's called WALL-E!

The title of this post is somewhat overblown and pretentious! It's not entirely without some merit as an in-joke; Twitter has been electric with, witty, sci-fi references regarding announcements beamed from the Apple mothership, I only needed to mention that Exeter was thundery and my Twitter peeps were inspired to alude to ID4 amongst others.

My initial reaction to Steve Jobs keynote is mostly positive, mostly!

The new iPhone 3G looks most compelling. I'm sold on the 16GB model (in limited edition white) and will be contacting my O2 Shop in short order: as soon as tomorrow. Assuming O2 can offer a good pay-as-you-go plan, alongside the £269 price tag, for an iPhone 3G, July 11th can't come soon enough! An iPod touch 32GB is on order for wireless browsing around the home.

.mac is to morph into MobileMe and e-mail addresses can be transferred, if desired, to @me.com. However, a free service would've been welcomed! Apple's e-mail solution looks like a poor investment against highly featured, and free, services such as Google's Gmail! I'll review MobileMe once it becomes available, from July, and make it known whether or not subscribing for a fee-based service is worthwhile in the long-term!

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was previewed: “We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Breaking news: Aliens have invaded Apple Store Princesshay...

Follow tomorrow's Apple WWDC 2008 breaking news on Twitter and discover whether or not I'll be buying an iPhone 2! It'll be up to Steve Jobs to convince me!

Friend me on popular social networks: claimID.

Of all the announcements during Steve Jobs' Macworld Keynote, the all-new Time Capsule is, for me, the most enticing!

MacBook Air looks, at face value, to be style over substance and I can't justify £1200 (or more) for an expensive paper weight! In a couple of years I'll be eating my words! After all Steve Jobs foresaw, and accelerated, the demise of the 3½-inch floppy disc with the advent of the original iMac! However, £199 for a 500GB wireless hard drive/Wi-Fi base station, that works seamlessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, is a worthwhile investment!

With the introduction of iTunes HD movie rentals, has Apple put the final nail in the coffin of the optical format wars? Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying "Clearly, Blu-ray won, but in the new world order of instant online movie rentals, in HD, no one will care about what format is where."

iTunes HD movies are only encoded in 720p and do not contain a PCM, Dolby TrueHD, or DTS-HD Master Audio track at this time. For now Blu-ray remains my preferred HD medium!

Apple's alliance with Nike extends beyond iPod co-branding to include a new line of sneakers! I jest of course, although a pair of Air Mac would be most desirable! However, the notion of a, speculative, product called MacBook Air exudes irresistible cool! Especially when said device could be a wafer-thin laptop replete with flash drive and Blu-ray!

We won't know for certain what "2008. There's something in the air" equates to until Steve Jobs' Keynote, at Macworld 2008, tomorrow! It's safe to assume that web-enabled gadget geeks, around the globe, will be watching...

Pre-ordered an iPod touch 16GB model! Well, how could I resist its consummate gorgeousness? The form factor eclipses even Sony's PSP, which I predominantly used for Wi-Fi web surfing and not gaming!

I believe that the launch of iPod touch is profoundly more important than even the iPhone and the iPod touch will become the "must-have" holiday season gift! Why? Because it's the summation of the direction that Apple Newton, or simply Newton, alluded to prior to Steve Jobs' decision to cancel the company's personal digital assistant (PDA) product line in 1997!

A decade on and Newton OS has been replaced by Mac OS X in Apple's newest PDA family.

This June the center of the Mac universe will be at Moscone West in downtown San Francisco as developers and IT professionals from around the globe come together for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Technically-speaking WWDC 2007 should lack the glamour of Macworld! But, this is Apple we're talking about, and everything Apple does, under the stewardship of CEO Steve Jobs, is followed with great interest by developers, consumers, and the public at large!

Here are my predictions for next week:

*New iMacs and iPods (maybe delayed until Apple Expo Paris)
*iLife 07
*iWork 07
*iLife and iWork integrated into Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
*Boot Camp no longer requires reboot in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
*Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac release date announced
*Blu-Ray build-to-order (BTO) option available from Apple Store
*.Mac updated with Google co-branding and sans subscription

Lots of cool new applications and updates from third-party developers.

Goodbye Apple Computer. Hello Apple Inc.

With the advent of the long rumoured iPhone, Apple is, officially, a consumer electronics company. Stanley Kubrick, Gene Roddenberry and E.T. would be proud of Steve Jobs' telecommunications device and seeing Mac OS X, in a portable context, could be portentous! Does the iPhone form factor herald the shape of future iPod iterations?

Whilst the iPhone isn't available in the UK until Q4 2007. We can at least look forward to Apple TV shaking things up a bit in terms of vertical integration in the broadcasting industry (despite the limited range of iTunes movies and television series available at time of writing). There's shelf space for Apple TV next to Wii.

Sony, my other favourite brand, are you paying attention?

Almost everyone knows that the world's favourite 'toy computer' (said with irony) celebrates its 30th anniversary this year! So, we're all expecting really big things from tomorrow's Steve Jobs Keynote at Macworld Conference & Expo 2007.

For all the latest news and announcements from MacWorld, bookmark The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) and/or add Macword to Twitter.

I've written before about how stoked I was committing my cash to buy a new Intel iMac last year and, subsequently, bailing on the idea! This year I really mean it! Why did I wait? Well, that's a good question and the answer lies somewhere between socio and economic!

In time for Macworld, here are my aStore links:

Apple Shop UK
Apple Shop USA

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