Stranger Things, a series which is a love letter to ‘80s cinema, has received a nostalgia-driven teaser for its highly anticipated season three.
Nostalgia is an element that drives viewers to their screens, and it looks like Netflix is once again using just that with their series Stranger Things. The series which has become known and criticised for using a vast amount of nostalgic references has not settled down and has once again given their viewers a glimpse of the past with a fun one-minute teaser.
While the teaser does not give away much about the upcoming season, it gives us more of an overview of what is life in Hawkins, Indiana and shows Steve Harrington played by Joe Keery working in an ice cream store alongside Maya Hawke who will be playing the character of Robyn.
People are fallible. As trite as that statement may be, it also happens to be the undeniable truth. We see this in almost every aspect of our daily lives, full of minor frustrations as they are over the trivial mistakes of others. Sometimes, though, these mistakes end up being larger than we anticipate, and in interesting, dangerous, or hilarious ways. Video games are no different, as an industry rife with modern and historical examples of minor and major mistakes, some of which can ultimately undermine large portions of an experience. In this article, we want to take a look at a few examples of disasters or annoyances only brought about by the incompetence of major developers.
We’d consider going into the likes of Steam shovelware, but that would require us to work until the heat death of the universe, and we are sadly mortal.
Aliens Colornial Latrines
Oh what a game, oh what a legacy. There are good reasons why Randy Pitchford is much-maligned when it comes to video game development, and this game is a major part of that. At this point, we all know the game was a disaster. Starting with unrepresentative trailers and outright lies about the game’s development to the underwhelming release of a game which suffered from, shall we say, less than threatening AI.
While we felt fine in placing the game firmly in the bins of history, a recent discovery by modder jamesdickinson963 has uncovered a big part of the reason why the AI is so terrible, and it was a mistake so hilarious that it inspired the creation of this article.
The way that the Alien AI is supposed to work is based off a system of tethering. An enemy can be tethered to certain actors like the player character, and from here the instructions guide the enemy on how to act. The problem, as it turns out, is that one of the coders happened to make what we in the writing industry call a ‘spelling mistake’. This, for those unaware, is the technical term for when a word is not, well, spelled correctly.
By changing an entry of tether in the game’s code to teather, the enemies would only be following partial AI instructions, leading to hilarious clips like the one above. We understand that spell checking is often ignored in game code as unnecessary, but to think that the game made it past quality control in this condition, and that the actual developers never uncovered the problem themselves, well, let’s just say Gearbox has a long way to go before they make up for this mess.
Uninstall with a Capital U
Back before Steam used to take care of everything for us, many games came with dedicated uninstallers. These programs were just what they sounded like, they would take everything the game had put on your computer and remove it. A necessary component, and one which could reliably be programmed by a second-year programming student. Unfortunately for Myth II on pc, they apparently only had a first-year student on hand.
When most uninstallers run they simply delete the directory of where the game was installed, and this is exactly what would happen if Myth II was installed in the default directory. If it was not installed in the default directory, however, things would get a little hairier. If the original uninstaller was run in any directory other than the default it would take not only the game with it but the host directory which contained the game folder would also be taken along for the ride.
See where this is going?
As some users installed the game to their root C:\, an unusual but not unheard of action, the uninstalled would remove the game, and then every single thing on the hard drive it could.
Rootkit Fighter 5
Official name Street Fighter 5, this is another game which was released to significant controversy. The general thought was the Street Fighter 5 was a prime example of major AAA games being released in what was essentially an early access state. Chief of these concerns was an unacceptable amount of input lag for a competitive level fighting game, perhaps the biggest fighting game series in the world, and the actual lack of an arcade mode. Fans of the series were frustrated with many aspects of this game, though hopes were high that the PC version might at least be able to overcome some of the serious limitations.
One of the updates released in September of 2016 seemed to be slowly pushing the game into a more complete state, that was until players managed to get a closer look at the code. What did they find? Well, Street Fighter 5 saw fit to include what is called a rootkit. While the details of this are complicated, the general idea is that this would give the game access to base parts of Windows, which would usually be protected. Normally this would allow the developers an easier way to cut down on issues like input lag, but in this case, it was so poorly designed that it also acted as a backdoor for a variety of harmful programs.
Capcom had served their player’s computers up on a platter, and given how much criticism the game had seen already, another tatsumaki senpukyaku in the ribs didn’t go down especially well.
The Original Xbox One (the third Xbox)
Today the third Xbox is doing quite well, but a lot of this is owing to walk backs Microsoft performed after the less than enthusiastic response many had for their original vision. We see a pattern in major gaming hardware developers, in that success in one generation leads them to overestimate themselves in the next. We saw this with how Sony bungled the initial PlayStation 3 launch after the overwhelming success of the PS2, we saw it with how far Nintendo failed with the Wii U after the dominance of the Wii, and we saw it again with the Microsoft after the success of the Xbox 360.
A major part of this ties into how Microsoft saw the Xbox One as the collective source for modern entertainment. It would not just be a game console, it would be the media center of your home. They knew the direction the future was going in, and they knew what you wanted. The alternative explanation is that they saw a future rife for exploitation, and they wanted to see if they could get away with the endgame they had been planning for years.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, they delved too greedily and too deep.
Gamers didn’t want media centers which stomped out their freedoms with overzealous DRM. Gamers, as it turns out, wanted to be able to share and play games. Despite initial claims that this would be good for gamers, that this was the natural evolution of consoles, and that what they had designed could not be ‘switched off’, Microsoft would eventually succumb to public pressure and humiliation.
At least they had the grace to pat themselves on the back for how much their change of plans would work to benefit gamers, by doing the thing that they should have done in the first place, and after they pulled the ostensibly impossible act of switching their DRM off. At least it gave us one of the best corporate burns of all time.
The Molochs, who are a two-person band, have released a music video for their latest song ‘I Wanna Say to You.’ This release comes after the announcement of their upcoming album ‘Flowers In The Spring,’ which is due to be released on the 7th of September via Innovative Leisure.
Juan P Waters, the director of the music video, said “In I Wanna Say To You I wanted to show The Molochs in their natural environment. Both Lucas and Ryan grew up in the Los Angeles area so I thought it would be good to make a video that showcases them and their city. I was aware of all the clichés related to the aesthetics of L.A., so I looked for an angle that allowed me to show their qualities without falling into redundancy. I thank the band and Innovative Leisure for giving me free rein in my creative process.”
The London-based band, Moon Panda, has released a vibrantly animated video for their debut song ‘Rabbit.’ The band has established a style that is mellow and sweetly-harmonious, it is present throughout their debut single and is one that will likely sky-rocket them to the top of their niche in the months to come.
‘Rabbit’ is a song that drives on sweet harmonies and mellow vocals that make this a perfect listen for the weekend. With this terrific song released, we will be eager to hear new music from this exciting band known as, Moon Panda. They seem to have ticked many boxes and have made themselves the band for the future.
If you spent any amount of timing around the gaming community, especially while young, you would have no doubt experienced some degree of combativeness over which gaming device was the superior choice. This has been the case since choice first became a factor, in fact, I remember disputes as far back as the Sega Master System versus the NES. While this was the first generation in which I was engaged, this was not the first battlefield, with each new generation bringing forth a new wave of world warriors.
Since the advent and proliferation of the internet, this culture of competition between the different consoles/PC has seen an entirely new way to fight. Rather than arguments and name-calling between friends, console and PC warrioring has risen to a much more visible level of sarcastic aggression and memory. How did we get to this point, why are such a large quantity of people so engaged in a fight that many regard as ridiculous, and what can we expect from this war in the future?
The Obvious
Before we look at the more individualist aspects of the console wars, we need to look at the gaming environment as a whole. In the most simple of terms, these consoles are competing against each other in a direct matter, in what can manifest as a zero-sum game. What this means is that, since many families only have the money to purchase one of the major consoles, a purchase of one will mean a lack of purchase of another. In this sense, today’s likes of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo are directly competitive within the capitalist marketplace. Given this competition, it is only natural that they would occasionally throw shade at their opponents, and while this has generally decreased in severity over the years, this direct form of competition still exists.
(Genesis is the American name for the Mega Drive)
Yes, this is an actual advertisement that used to run, and yes that is how terrible old-school video quality could be. We might not have efforts as openly ridiculous in the modern years, but clips like this from the most recent generation show this element on the developer’s side is still very much in play:
For those wondering, this clip references the early days of the Xbox One (the third Xbox) announcement, where the console was crippled by overtly terrible DRM practices.
In the most modern of environments, as of mid-2018, this competition still exists, but the general atmosphere is far less life-or-death. The early console wars could often result in the losers lacking the financial support to continue console production, with the most recent mainstream example being the failure of Sega’s hardware following the Dreamcast, however today these risks are not as extreme. Each console has exclusives and fans enough to ensure their continued existence, at least as long as nothing too anti-consumer is attempted, so the competition tends to be a bit less vicious.
Kids will be Adults, also: Kids
Kids can be competitive, and this is especially common when vying for social standing or popularity. The cool and the not cool. Yes, by using the term cool I have solidified myself in the latter. As we touched on above, it tends to be the case where each family could only tend to afford one console. This created a gulf between young people for whom video games had often become the most dominant of hobbies.
The best console? It happens to be the only one which I have access to, and here is why –
No, you are wrong. Your console sucks, the one I own is better, and here is why –
Of course, taste in video games is just like taste in other media – largely subjective. While consoles have often done so much for us in terms of enjoyment and community, the devices themselves are inherently luxury goods, and in this, the aggressive defense of these products often amounts to little more than conspicuous consumption. Console manufacturers aren’t your friend, they have never been your friend, and cloying attempts at public relations aside, they will never be your friend. At least this is the viewpoint of so many of us who do our best to avoid tying our personal worth with a commercial product.
This, on a base level, is why the console wars have continued to play such a visible part in online gaming discourse. This childish mindset always has fresh youth from which to draw, and aging adults whose delicate egos are inextricably tied to their device of choice. Combine these groups in popular places where the quality of conversation is of no concern, the Reddits, and Chans of the world, and you have a self-perpetuating machine of infinite warfare.
So Everyone Sucks?
Well, no, not at all. While gaming today is notorious for occasional huge collective voices which are often an ignorant force of hatred (Gamergate anyone?), we can’t dismiss the entirety of voices due to the loudest few. As we said, taste is subjective, and in this, there are choices which cannot, by their very nature, be considered incorrect.
Preferring PlayStation because of their controller, for example, is not something which we could ever dismiss, because this is not objective. The same comes with a wide range of factors, whether the console-exclusives, online infrastructure, or form of game communities. You prefer your device because of any of these? Cool, great, just don’t pretend the subjective is anything but.
Now we have to go a step further, in a further attempt to dig myself out of this centrist hole I appear to have created. We have a problem with the subjective being called objective, but on the other hand, we can also have a difficult time telling when the objective becomes subjective. The most common example of this can be seen with the console/PC debate, with the 30/60 FPS difference being objectively unacceptable to some, and only a minor annoyance to others. While we would argue that 60 FPS is almost always objectively better feeling, and for most people, this is not a sentiment shared by all.
Otherwise, let’s use a couple of more modern examples, the original Xbox One DRM, and the current Sony lack of cross-platform online play.
While there were ardent defenders for the original Xbox One DRM, the general response was predominantly negative. So negative, in fact, that Microsoft had to abandon the practice, despite prior claims that it was simply not that simple. This was an anti-consumer practice, and thus we respect measured backlash. Similarly, Sony has been making waves in their recent refusal to open multiplayer games up to cross-platform play. Not content to settle in their iron-fisted approach, their other amazing moves include locking Fortnite accounts first created on PS4 out of other systems. Anti-consumer, and just a real bad-dude move in an age where increased console cooperation is finally becoming a thing.
Be Cool, or Not
In short –where you measure the line of objective versus subjective depends entirely on the person, but there are certain aspects more objective than others. Some people will have their view colored by a dedication of free-market economics, whereas others will place the consumer above all else. Some will be dedicated to the consoles and exclusive series they grew up with, whereas others will view each new generation with fresh eyes more free from bias.
To hold a torch for that which has meant so much for us is only natural. These games and consoles have often helped us in certain parts of our lives, and so they mean far more to us than mere ‘games’. Community, joy, cooperation, and competition, these can all be positive aspects of gaming which we would not dream of seeing gone.
The competition, the warrioring which can result from this is, in many ways, an evitable part of human nature, but this doesn’t mean we can’t strive to be better, both for ourselves and our communities. As for whether you label yourself as a gamer or not, we can all agree that gaming can be an intensely positive force in our lives and wellbeing. The key is not base our egos around it, and not to use it as a gateway for attacking others. Despite what some of the alarmists may claim, there is enough room in this industry for everyone.
Steffen Linck, also known by his alias Monolink, has released his dynamic and emotively-driven single ‘Swallow.’
In the latest single ‘Swallow’ Monolink delivers a deep house driven track with elements of experimental music that emerge throughout the progression of the track with authenticity and melancholy-driven touches. Monolink sculpts his song with ear-pleasing vocals, and carefully pointed synths, that cosset the beat of the song with a contrast that enable us to love the song more and more with each listen. Luckily for us, this song is also accompanied by a music video that is itself worthy of a Palme d’Or with its cinematic style that takes this song into another dimension.
‘Swallow’ is available to be streamed via Spotify.
After the release of their song ‘Megalith’, New York’s upcoming rock band, Stello joined us to talk about music and culture. Here is our interview with Kit from Stello.
Hi, how are you?
Good! It’s a hot day, and I just got a haircut, so I did something right today.
So, how did Stello form?
I picked up the guitar again in 2014 after a few years focusing on electronic music. It really stemmed from this tune called “Pretty Thing”, which was our first single. Originally, “Pretty Thing” was an entirely electronic track, written for a different project altogether. I stripped it down a bit and repurposed it for the guitar, and I found this different energy and vibe I really liked.
So Stello essentially emerged from that change up. I’ve been writing and playing throughout New York City (and a little outside) ever since. In the past year, I fell into a crew of amazing guys, and the band all came together so serendipitously. It’s a great feeling to dig into these songs and explore every little nook with some really talented people who share the same passion.
‘Megalith’ is a stunning song, who came up with the idea for it?
“Megalith” is a reflection on a real relationship I have with an older person in my family. I stopped by her house to wish her a happy 89th birthday, and after a little while of small-talk in her kitchen, she unloaded some really deep, paralysing feelings she was having that felt so intensely foreign to me as a young guy in my twenties. She felt like she had outlived her time, and was losing patience waiting to pass on into heaven. And part of me wanted to say “No no! Don’t say that. There’s so much to live for!” and all that but honestly, I kind of understood what she was saying. At that age, death is really a natural progression – who am I at 23 to discourage her wanting time to be up?
That’s very deep. What challenges did you face when you made the song?
It’s an extremely sensitive subject, obviously. I wanted to instil that somber weight of looking out into the dark, but without toppling over into melodrama. And while I’m not directly quoting, the choruses are sung from her perspective. I wanted to keep the words close to her sentiment and do justice to the person behind the lyrics.
How would you describe the style of your music? Who or what inspires you to make your music?
I think I’m usually making music to score those fuzzy, rose-tinted images you see when you close your eyes and think back to a different point in your life. Very often when I’m writing about a particular situation I’ve been in or feeling I’ve had, that image comes along with a collection of music to draw from as well. So, the end result is often a collage of the music I’ve loved, put through whichever the dreamiest Instagram filter is.
What are your plans for the rest of 2018?
We’re so excited to see where Stello goes in the rest of 2018 and beyond. While we originally released Pretty Thing way back in 2015, the band really didn’t take true shape until this year. We had this idea that, instead of an album, we’re going to release a series of three-song… I don’t know, EPs, I suppose – we’re calling them “triplets” – over the course of the year as a way to keep the momentum high. And then alongside each triplet, we’d throw a celebratory ‘prom’ night in New York City, headlined by Stello and a couple of other acts we really enjoy.
Well, Triplet No. 1: Apollo and Triplet No. 2: Desire landed better than we ever could have imagined, and we have so much content and music that we’re actually releasing singles on the side (“Versions” featuring our friend Scott James a few months ago, as well as “Megalith”). They’ve been so generously picked up by incredible influencers in the industry, from mags like yours to Spotify’s Fresh Finds playlists, so we’re seeing some really cool buzz. We’re at the point where folks are showing up to our shows who we’ve never met, and they’re singing all the lyrics, which is just the wildest turning point.
Keep an eye out for announcements on the next triplet, which is due out later in the summer. And I know you have mostly a UK crowd, but if anyone finds themselves in NYC, we have a ton of really fun shows and ‘proms’ right around the corner.
Our last question, what is your definition of culture?
I think culture stems from shared love. The rest just blossoms from there. I’ve noticed this online recently – there’s no cooler feeling than falling in love with an album or TV show or something, then recognising a hyper-specific meme catch on among fellow fans. It’s the same thing with siblings’ inside jokes from childhood, or with the solidarity of global communities. It’s all love, just on different scales.
To find out more about Stello follow them here. You can stream ‘Megalith’ here.
While there are a lot of purists and dedicated old-school video games who would disagree, gaming is an industry which has evolved in an enormous amount of positive ways. Far from the processing and other technological limitations of the media’s first few years, modern gaming has made great strides in addressing issues which were originally born out of necessity or outdated design. In this article, we want to go over a few of the biggest changes which we feel have had a considerably positive effect on gaming as a whole, and what makes these changes special.
Quicksave and Autosave
This one is can be a little bit of a double-edged sword, but in this case, we’re talking about when it works well. Saving on older systems, at least on consoles, used to require passwords or separately purchased memory cards. Not only would this make saving your game a constant pain, it was made even more frustrating though how limited older save systems were. Sure, save points have a place in some games as a means of gameplay expression, but being able to save anywhere you want was just the best thing for those prone to interruption.
While we are generally a big fan of autosave when it works well, we still get a lot of games where it can royally screw your progress if you quit in the wrong area, and the game does not offer quicksaves. Alternatively, quitting and have to redo long patches because of a terrible autosave system does not make for an especially enjoyable experience. A little more effort here, devs, would go a long way to eliminating these problems from gaming’s future.
Gamepad Support on PC
Drivers are almost always a colossal pain to deal with. When you have dozens of different forms and brands of gamepads vying for mainstream success then you have a lot of potential crap to deal with, and early device drivers were often even more frustrating than the ones which we deal with today. A lot of this simplicity comes down to how standardized modern Xbox and PlayStation controllers have become with PC gaming. Windows itself has offered official out-of-the-box support of Xbox controllers for years, with Steam and simple to use programs like DS4 mean the equally great PS4 controller is not far behind.
Really, though, we just glad we don’t have to put up with button prompts in games telling us to do things like ‘Hold button 2 and press button 6″.
Automatic Updates
We know, we know, automatic updates are not a faultless system, like pretty much everything else on this list, but properly applied they can save such a ridiculous amount of time over the old manually patching systems that we have to include these. GoG, Steam, Origin, and a whole host of other systems manage all this for you, let you schedule when you want to download, set data limits, and generally automate everything possible, as the name suggests.
Back in ye-olde days, we could have systems which were just ridiculously and frustratingly specific. In many games there were systems where updates could not be done in a single block, that is to say that a user could sometimes not simply download the most recent patch and be done with it. We remember a lot of cases where patching would require you to know the exact version number of your game, and what region it was designated, and from there download the very next patch in a long line. You would work your way through, each painful step, and hoping that no downloads were missing and that nothing went wrong along the way. We don’t miss it.
The Optical Mouse
The ball mouse, the best tool we had at the time for both precision cursor control, and collecting cat hair, even if you didn’t own a cat. Prone to missed movements and breakages at just the worst possible time, these are a peripheral which we are glad to see die out. Modern mice are not only just as cheap or cheaper than these earlier beasts, they come with vastly superior tracking which, it turns out, can be pretty important. We’re a big fan of wireless mice in many situations as well, though for gaming our personal experiences have been a little less than stellar.
Online Ownership
A problem which remains for many console gamers, and one which used to be a huge issue for PC gamers as well. By online ownership we’re talking about the ability to purchase games online, and have those tied to an online account. We can see this in systems like Steam, as the most obvious example, but others like the console online stores, GoG, and Origin also come with similar offerings.
The joy here comes in being able to so easily store your library of games online, eliminating the risk of game loss which so often happens with physical media. We’ve lost or accidentally broken a few disks in our time, which really sucks if you get that sudden hankering for a replay. With these new online systems, these games can be found instantly, downloaded infinite times, and don’t run the risk of scratches or damage. While they still have some painful issues, especially if we’re talking about Steam, the overall convenience is nothing short of game-changing. Yes, terrible, I know.
More Buttons, Standardized Controls
My first console was the Sega Master System II, here is a picture of its controller.
One awful direction pad, two buttons. Of course, as the SMS2 was not a powerful system the limitations of these controls made sense. Most controllable objects in the oldest of games could only do one or two things, so two buttons made sense. While these slowly evolved over the years, the biggest leap, in our opinion, was that which brought twin-stick controllers into the mainstream. While we could regard the N64 controller as the precursor here, we prefer the simplicity of early PlayStation DualShock devices. Not only did this let controllers keep up with the expanded possibilities of evolving and more powerful hardware, it made great strides in opening console systems up to PC ports like never before.
Then there is the aspect of standardized controls in games. While we see this in many genres and subgenres (more Arkham style combat please), it has to be the first person shooter controls which really opened up a new world. Funnily enough, playing an FPS on one of these –
Was a lot more difficult than playing on one of these –
This basic stick and shoulder layout would make the games not only feasible but enjoyable. This would further be aided by the advent and popularization of various aiming-assist systems, which further mitigate the limitations of these controller inputs. Funnily enough, the game which first brought the most common of these control schemes to console was once massively derided by Steve Garret of Gamespot, whom we can only assume is kicking himself in hindsight. At least he had the insight to recommend players wait for a better Aliens game, the ostensibly PS2 bound Colonial Marines. Oh dear.
So what do you think? What have we missed, or development is it that has left the biggest impact on you as a gamer? Gamer-targeted Doritos? Probably not, but we’re sure you guys have something we missed.
The 35th edition of Sound Selection is back and rolling.
Low Fem ‘Videodrome’
The first song to enter this edition of Sound Selection is by the wonderfully-experimental Low Fem who showcase a dynamic production with emotionally driven vocals in their latest single ‘Videodrome.’ This one is for the playlists.
Plastic Messiah ‘Lose Yourself’
Cover of Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ by Plastic Messiah might be an unexpected entry on Sound Selection, but with lovely intricate vocal dynamics we could not resist but to feature this well-performed cover that becomes more addicting with each play.
Nightseason ‘Strangers’
Another great song to enter our Sound Selection is by Nightseason named ‘Strangers’. In their latest song, the highly-exciting Nightseason present us with a wave of raw vocals and vibe that will keep you asking for more.
Rondo Mo ‘Arp Chime’
Shifting our frequencies, we have ‘Arp Chime’ by the exciting Rondo Mo who delivers a vibrant and lively song that will stay on your mind for a long time with its ear-pleasing vocals and contrasting production. This one is for the playlists and one that we recommend.
Starling ‘Pink Wallpaper’
Hitting us with emotional vocals is Starling, who brings out pleasant-sounding and pulsating atmosphere in her song ‘Pink Wallpaper.’ With this song released, we are sure to hear more great things from Starling in the months to come, as she looks to rise to the top with her tremendously enjoyable voice.
Bad Wave ‘Good Son’
Our final song, ‘Good Son’, by the two-friend act Bad Wave is a true thunder of a journey into an emotionally focused world that grows by each beat and word. ‘Good Son’ is a delightful song that is a must for any playlist that thrives on quality music.
The awards that celebrate the finest cultural experiences around the world has announced its nominees shortlist for 2018.
It is now the fifth year that the prestigious Leading Culture Destination Awards are running. The awards which have been labelled as the “The Oscars for Museums” are looking for another successful year, as they have once again chosen a range of great cultural destinations for everyone from all around the globe.
The nominees for the Leading Culture Destinations Awards 2018 are:
Leading Culture Destinations of the Year – Exhibition
Keith Haring at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Philippe Parreno at Martin Gropius Bau (Berlin, Germany)
Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends at MOMA (New York, USA)
Leading Culture Destinations of the Year – Architecture
Paracas Museum (Barclay & Crousse) (Paracas, Peru)
YSL Museum (KO studio) (Marrakech, Morocco)
Zeitz MOCAA (Heatherwick) (Cape Town, South Africa)
Leading Culture Destinations of the Year – Restaurant
The Garden Café at Garden Museum (London, UK)
Otium at Broad (Los Angeles, USA)
Aura at National Gallery Singapore (Singapore)
Leading Culture Destinations of the Year – Shop
Gallery & Co. at National Gallery Singapore (Singapore)
V&A (London, UK)
MUMOK (Vienna, Austria)
Leading Culture Destinations of the Year – Digital Experience
Pepper programme at Smithsonian (Washington DC, USA)
TeamLab Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)
Cooper Hewitt – Immersion Room (New York, USA)
New Culture Destinations of the Year – Europe
The Marshall House (Reykjavik, Iceland)
National Museum of Contemporary Art (Athens, Greece)
Foundation Carmignac (Porquerolle Island, France)
New Culture Destinations of the Year – North America
ICA at VCU (Richmond, USA)
Remai Modern (Saskatoon, Canada)
Museum of Contemporary Art (Toronto, Canada)
New Culture Destinations of the Year – Latin America
Museum of Underwater Archaeology (Campeche, Mexico)
Paracas Museum (Lima, Peru)
New Culture Destinations of the Year – Africa / Middle East
Louvre Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
YSL Museum (Marrakech, Morocco)
Zeitz MOCAA (Cape Town, South Africa)
New Culture Destinations of the Year – Asia Pacific
Yayoi Kusama Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
Tai Kwun (Hong Kong)
Design Society, Shekou (Shenzhen, China)
Soft Power Destinations of the Year – Best Activation
Bursting at the Seams: Philippine Detention Centers, Ayala Museum – (Makati, Philippines)
Susan Philipz – Who by Fire (Valletta, Malta)
Deaccessioning to Diversify, Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, USA)
Soft Power Destinations of the Year – Best Cultural Organisation
Museum of Vancouver (Vancouver, Canada)
Museum of Tomorrow (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Louvre Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Soft Power Destinations of the Year – Best Cultural District
Knowledge Quarter (London, UK)
Fogo Island (Newfoundland, Canada)
Maboneng Precinct (Johannesburg, South Africa)
The ‘Climate Smart Award’, presented by SunX
The Climate Museum (New York, USA)
The Hangzhou Low Carbon Science & Technology Museum (Hangzhou, China)
The Science Express (India)
Emerging Culture City of the Year, presented by Avis
Lisbon (Portugal)
Medellin (Colombia)
Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Art Hotel of the Year, presented by Avis
Le Royal Monceau (Paris, France)
Chateau La Coste (Le Puy-Sainte-Reparade, France)
Detroit Foundation Hotel (Detroit, USA)
Best Cultural Nomad of the Year, presented by Avis
