Monthly Archives: February 2015
UPDATE: FCC Passes Net Neutrality
UPDATE: The FCC has passed the Net Neutrality rules to treat internet providers as "common carriers" under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.
As a result, this will allow the commission to prohibit providers from granting faster internet service for higher prices.
See full story below.
The FCC will be ruling on whether or not broadband internet access will be classified as a "telecommunications service under Title II."
This means that the ruling will decide whether or not the FCC will classify broadband internet as a utility, which would give the commission greater regulatory power over ISPs.
Regulating ISPs is seen by the FCC as necessary to protect what is referred to as the "Open Internet." The first three "bright line" rules laid out by the FCC to protect the Open Internet, as explained in an FCC fact sheet, prohibit blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.
House of Cards: Frank’s Most Ruthless Moments
SPOILER ALERT for Seasons 1 and 2 of Netflix's House of Cards...
With the scheming, sordid series House of Cards returning to Netflix on Friday, February 27th (and Kevin Spacey finally winning an award for his work back at the Golden Globes), it's now the perfect time to take stock of Frank Underwood, his trademark underhandedness, and devious designs for D.C.
Season 1 saw Frank rise up from Congressional Whip to Veep, and Season 2 mirrored that ascension - but this time all the way to POTUS status. Both times without a single vote cast by the American public. Oh, and an impressive hands-on body count. You know, for one of our country's top leaders.
Shovel Knight Coming to PS4, PS3, Vita in April
Shovel Knight will be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Vita on April 21, developer Yacht Club Games announced today.
The retro-style platformer will be released as part of PlayStation's Spring Fever lineup of games. During its launch week (April 21 - April 27), PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to download Shovel Knight for 10% off.
Shovel Knight will launch on PlayStation platforms with cross-buy support, and with a cameo appearance from God of War's Kratos.
To learn more, check out IGN's Shovel Knight review, which praised its amazing gameplay and beautiful graphics.
The 4 Types of Video Game Zombies
Zombies have been plaguing popular culture for decades. The first feature-length zombie movie, Victor and Edward Halperin's "White Zombie," was first shown in theaters way back in 1932, and the shambling, relentless zombie horde have been a staple of pop-culture ever since.
The massive, mindless legions of the undead are ideal creature-features in video games, and as games have evolved, so too has their portrayal of the undead. Below are four distinct varieties of the gaming undead - which is your favorite?
The most common portrayal of zombies is one of a slow-moving corpse, dragging one leg as it scours the land mindlessly searching for food. With the notable exception of Michael Jackson's Thriller video, this is how pretty much all zombies were portrayed until fairly recently. In games like Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts, and pretty much every Castlevania game, zombies rise from the ground and wander from one side of the screen to the other. They're easy to take out, easy to avoid, and are essentially living-dead goombas.
Get the Scoop on DC’s Convergence Tie-Ins
DC's upcoming Convergence event will see the entire publishing line put on hold for two months, replaced by 40 two-part mini-series that feature different characters from across the multiverse as they fight to survive Brainiac's experiment. Each week of mini-series will have a different theme. As with Week 3, Week 4's theme focuses on the DC Universe as it existed prior to and leading up to Crisis on Infinite Earths, when the original DC multiverse was still in existence.
Whereas Week 3 will center on Earth-1's various heroes, these ten books from Week 4 will explore various other worlds in the multiverse, along with more recent alternate realities like DC One Million and Superman: Red Son. We turned to the writers and artist crafting these various projects to find out more about what Convergence holds in store for DC's pre-Crisis heroes.
Bandai Namco Announces New MOBA, Supernova
Bandai Namco has announced Supernova, a sci-fi MOBA from developer Primal Game Studio.
Primal says the game returns to the roots of the MOBA genre -- real-time strategy games. The big hook is that, instead of your base sending out generic unit waves at timed intervals, you can heavily customize them to serve different purposes. Infantry, ground vehicles, and airships combine into a rock-paper-scissors battle.
Humans and aliens make up the two warring factions, and their warriors include huge robots, cyborgs, and "interstellar races adapted to the unyielding harshness of space."
Supernova is coming to PCs sometime this year. We have a full Supernova preview on IGN where can check out what we thought of Supernova.
5 Reasons to Love Supernova’s Strategic Multiplayer
Bandai Namco and Primal Game Studio is banking a lot on their upcoming MOBA Supernova, because there’s a clear confidence in its strength as something original. Supernova relies on many of what’s been done (better) in other games, certainly, but there’s plenty IGN’s hardcore Dota 2 and League of Legends players found interesting.
These are the five big things I adored about Supernova (with a handful of things I didn’t for good measure).
Supernova is incredibly complicated. A guided tutorial left us sort of slack-jawed as we tried to soak in how abilities worked, what upgrades made the most sense, and which skills to level for each Commander, Supernova’s heroes. At first, it’s overwhelming, so the automatic upgrade system alleviates the stress of micromanaging your stats, bonuses, abilities, and economy. This allows new players to focus on learning the map and, more importantly, fighting opponents.
New Final Fantasy 15 Trailer Takes You on Safari
Square Enix has released a new trailer showing off the wildlife and world of Final Fantasy XV.
The trailer, which you can see above, shows some incredibly impressive interaction between the native wildlife which, if not set up specifically for the video, suggests we could be set to explore a vibrant world that really does feel alive.
There's a heap of recognisable Final Fantasy staples, including Chocobos, a Behemoth and even a Couerl, alongside eagles and frogs the likes of which we'd see in the real world. There's also an antelope with some seriously excessive horns. All-in-all, it's a good time.
In case you missed it earlier today, we spoke to game director Hajime Tabata about how development's coming along, where he told us "the end is in sight". We'll have much more from Tabata very, very soon. For now, enjoy the trailer!
Nintendo Confirms Gold Mario Amiibo
Nintendo has confirmed that the Gold Edition Mario amiibo will be available exclusively at Walmart.
The amiibo will be sold at 3,000 stores in the US from March 20, and retails for $13. Coincidentally – or not as the case may be – that’s the same day Mario Party 10 is released.
As Nintendo points out, the gold-coloured Mario amiibo will work with any games that feature amiibo support.
The latest amiibo outing was Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. In it, players can use select amiibo to unlock unique powers once a day. For example, if you’ve got a Kirby amiibo, plopping it down grants the player unlimited Star Dash power. On the other hand, if you’ve got a Meta Knight amiibo from Smash Bros., he’ll provide an attack bonus.
How Mario Made Puzzle & Dragons Fun for Me
If you asked what I thought of Puzzle & Dragons before I played Puzzle & Dragons: Super Mario Bros. Edition, I would have given you one (or all) of the following answers.
- "I have zero interest."
- "Isn’t that one of those match-three games? I don’t like those."
- "I have other games to play."
Outside of its popularity and massive success, I honestly didn’t know anything about the series. But the Nintendo-ified version used nods to Mario, Luigi, and the Mushroom Kingdom to finally make me a believer. Once I got a closer look, I discovered the deceptively simple core mechanics of matching tiles had deeper elements. Get a grasp on the mechanics, and with a little luck, you can pull off crazy combos that tear into your foes.