Actor from 'Tarak Mehta' mocks Rahul Gandhi and Abhijit Dipke

The game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, originally released in November 1998, had its initial review recorded by the Metacritic website, which was only created three years after its release. Although the site did not exist at the time, the team included the title's score, based on 22 journalist reviews, resulting in a notable rating of 99 out of 100.

Nearly a quarter of a century later, the game's relevance remains evident. Nintendo has released a remake of Ocarina of Time, featuring updated graphics, which will be available this Thursday, the 5th, for the Switch 2 console. Even with the modernization, the game continues to make a strong impression.

Players can explore extensive and complex caves, collect various items, confront adversaries, as well as solve puzzles and disarm traps. The game maintains a difficulty progression that develops almost perfectly, managing to be simultaneously challenging and relaxing, characteristic of the Zelda series.

This title pioneered the presentation of three-dimensional environments, utilizing the processing power of the Nintendo 64, which was considerable for the time. The remake inherits this visual quality, although it presents some peculiarities. When playing on the Switch 2 connected to a TV, the graininess and flickering of details are noticeable, unlike in handheld mode, where this is less apparent. For example, the characters' hair may appear to vibrate when viewed up close.

These effects are consequences of the upscaling process, where the console runs the game in a lower resolution and uses artificial intelligence to increase image quality. This contrasts with Nvidia's DLSS technology, present in the Switch 2, which generally produces near-perfect results. However, these small flaws are quickly forgotten as the player becomes immersed in the narrative and gameplay.

Ocarina of Time is considered a fundamental element in the Zelda franchise timeline, offering important discoveries about its mythology. However, the story is accessible and well-told, allowing anyone to appreciate it without prior knowledge of the saga.

The remake also incorporates the motion sensors of the Switch 2, allowing the player to aim at enemies using projectile weapons just by tilting the controller. This functionality works well but offers the option to disable it to use the traditional aiming method with the analog stick.

It is important to note that Ocarina of Time does not possess the same depth or vast scale as more recent titles, such as Breath of the Wild (2017) and Tears of the Kingdom (2023). This limitation is inherent to 1990s technology. Despite this, the game remains excellent, being appealing both to those who follow video game evolution and to those who are simply looking for entertainment.

The release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is scheduled for this Thursday, the 5th, priced at R$ 329.90 for the Switch 2 console. It will also be available in physical format, costing R$ 439.90 on Amazon.

Deputy Minister of Justice of Uzbekistan M. Ikramov held a meeting with Mitko Chatalbashev, Regional Director for Europe of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) and BIEM.

During the negotiations, the parties discussed methods for improving the system of protection of copyrights and related rights, as well as developing collective rights management mechanisms to ensure the legitimate interests of creative workers.

Following the discussions, the participants emphasized the importance of increasing the effectiveness of protecting the rights of authors and other right holders, implementing international standards in this area, and further strengthening cooperation.

Projections indicate that the box office collection for the film 'Ramayana' (Part 1) will reach 160 crore rupees on its first day of release. This epic film, based on the 'Ramayana' and directed by Nitish Tiwari, features lead roles by Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, and Sai Pallavi. The movie is poised to become one of the highest-grossing premieres in India during the Diwali festival.

Typically, the period immediately preceding Diwali is not considered the most lucrative for cinema releases, and even major films do not always achieve high figures in the domestic market. However, if current forecasts prove accurate, 'Ramayana' will be a historic exception.

One day before the global release, scheduled for Thursday, November 5th, 'Ramayana' earned approximately 96.75 crore rupees from advance bookings. Excluding block reservations, this amount stands at 77.44 crore rupees. To date, a total of 2.573 million tickets have been sold across 83,172 shows. Of these, 1.014 million tickets were sold for the Opening Day across 23,699 shows, generating 39.40 crore rupees (33.36 crore rupees excluding block seats) in advance sales.

According to Sacnilk data, the opening day accounts for the largest share of advance sales. This is followed by Saturday, November 7th, where 4.98 lakh tickets were sold across 17,773 shows, bringing in 19.69 crore rupees (15.56 crore rupees excluding block reservations). Then, on Friday, November 6th, 4.89 lakh tickets were sold across 18,496 shows, amounting to 18.63 crore rupees (14.60 crore rupees excluding block reservations).

As expected, advance sales on Sunday, November 8th, were the lowest. This was due to the Diwali festival. On Sunday, 3.81 lakh tickets were sold across 15,174 shows, generating 13.23 crore rupees (9.75 crore rupees excluding block reservations). It is anticipated that 'Ramayana' will successfully navigate Monday as well, as 1.91 lakh tickets have been sold so far across 7,489 shows, yielding 5.79 crore rupees (4.17 crore rupees excluding block reservations).

The Hindi version leads in advance sales, accounting for 82% (79 crore rupees). This is followed by Telugu dubbed versions (8%, 8.10 crore rupees), Kannada (8%, 7.29 crore rupees), Tamil (2%, 1.87 crore rupees), and Malayalam (1%, 49.29 lakh rupees).

Only at the national chain PVR INOX, with revenue exceeding 25 crore rupees, is 'Ramayana' set to set a record for pre-Diwali advance sales. According to CEO Kamal Gianchandani, the film has broken the 'Diwali myth' (the myth of poor film performance during Diwali) and achieved the highest level of advance sales in over three decades of PVR INOX history.

This indicates that the contribution of multiplex cinemas to the overall advance sales of 'Ramayana' in India is significantly higher than that of single-screen theaters. Premium formats such as IMAX 3D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema constitute over 19% of the total advance sales, although their share in the total number of shows is currently only 2%.

This also suggests that audiences are not facing significant difficulties due to the high ticket prices for the extended weekend of 'Ramayana'. For instance, at PVR ICON: Phoenix Palladium in Lower Parel, Mumbai, tickets for evening/night IMAX 3D shows during the first four days cost over 3,000 rupees.

Globally, 'Ramayana' has already surpassed 100 crore rupees in advance sales, ensuring it a long weekend with high demand. In international markets, advance sales have reached over 40 crore rupees, bringing the total global advance sales to approximately 140 crore rupees. North America leads in this regard, where over $3 million (28.42 crore rupees) was earned after the paid preview on November 4th.

In the US alone, 'Ramayana' sold over 51,000 tickets for its opening weekend. Thus, it surpassed Indian blockbusters such as Ranbir Kapoor's 'Animal' (24,000), Shah Rukh Khan's 'Jawan' (28,000), Allu Arjun's 'Pushpa 2: The Rule' (35,000), Jr NTR and Ram Charan's 'RRR' (35,000), Prabhas' 'Baahubali 2: The Conclusion' (39,000), and 'Kalki 2898 AD' (40,000).

'Ramayana' now only trails 'Dhurandhar 2: The Revenge' by Ranveer Singh, which sold over 52,000 tickets in the US during its opening weekend earlier this year. At current trends, its box office collection in the US is projected to be between 13 million and 14 million dollars (123 to 133 crore rupees), allowing it to challenge 'Dhurandhar 2's' collection ($14 million) for the opening weekend.

It is forecasted that 'Ramayana' will collect 160 crore rupees worldwide on November 5th, surpassing the global collections of Shah Rukh Khan's blockbusters 'Pathaan' and 'Jawan'. Nevertheless, it still lags behind 'Dhurandhar 2', which collected more globally.