Hot Toys is launching a brand new line of action figures called "Artist Mix Collection," and the debut series has granted all of our wishes with six new Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron figures.

Hot Toys' first series includes Iron Man Mark XLIII, Captain America, Hulkbuster, Ultron Prime, and two versions of Ultron Sentry, one with red highlights and one blue. Each bobble-head figure is approximately 5.5 inches tall, with Hulkbuster standing around 8 inches.

While each figure is sold separately, a special deluxe pack of Hulkbuster and a Battle Damaged Iron Man will be made available.

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Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communication Commission, announced on Wednesday that he intends to ask his colleagues to consider protecting net neutrality through the reclassification of broadband as a telecommunications service.

The surprising aspect of the plan is the attempt to lump wireless networks – the stuff used by your phone – with cable-based broadband for the first time. This could potentially make data throttling (a slowing down of your data connection by wireless carriers if you use a lot of data on your mobile device) a thing of the past.

Net neutrality was one of the founding principles of the internet, guaranteeing equal access for all traffic. It was also the policy of the FCC, which oversees the regulation of all traffic on infrastructure within the United States until a few years ago when the Supreme Court ruled against the agency.

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Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communication Commission, announced on Wednesday that he intends to ask his colleagues to consider protecting net neutrality through the reclassification of broadband as a telecommunications service.

The surprising aspect of the plan is the attempt to lump wireless networks – the stuff used by your phone – with cable-based broadband for the first time. This could potentially make data throttling (a slowing down of your data connection by wireless carriers if you use a lot of data on your mobile device) a thing of the past.

Net neutrality was one of the founding principles of the internet, guaranteeing equal access for all traffic. It was also the policy of the FCC, which oversees the regulation of all traffic on infrastructure within the United States until a few years ago when the Supreme Court ruled against the agency.

Continue reading…

Deathtrap is one of those genre mash-ups that make you wonder why we haven't seen more of them in recent years, and it's almost a foregone conclusion that we're going to see a lot more of them, and soon. It's an absorbing tower defense game mashed up with a dark, gothic, top-down action role-playing game, and it's just as fun as both.

The setup is simple. You play as a magic-spamming sorceress, a melee-fighting warrior, or a stealthy gunslinger who must stop waves of snarling demons from reaching a portal on your side of the isometric-perspective stage and thus getting out of their realm and into ours. You do have plain-Jane Diablo-style attacks and a few area-clearing special attacks later on, but they can only do so much damage before the enemies run past you. Your one ace in the hole against the never-ending horde is the ability to activate long-dormant magical traps in the environment along the demons' pre-set route, which can be anything from simple gun turrets and floor spikes to towers that shoot lightning at random intervals, acid pools, and portals that generate little snarling beasts of your own that turn into little snarling suicide bombers that explode when they reach the nearest enemy. Victory means putting together a sadistic Rube Goldberg conveyor belt of doom through which no demon can pass and, if they do, walking in yourself to try to finish the job.

Deathtrap is, technically, a spin-off of developer Neocore Games's Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing games, liberally retooling the tower defense mode from the first game in the series. The story does link up, but despite some snippets of backstory thrust upon the player when selecting a stage, it's not necessary to jump right into the fray. What you do end up needing is some instructions, and while the tutorial pop-ups will give you a 10-cent tour of the interface, figuring out the game's flow requires plenty of trial and error. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Most of the game is easy enough to figure out for anyone who's played a game in either genre, with one button for regular attacks, one for a powerful magic attack, and traps costing Essence, and special points that regenerate after each wave and any time you kill an enemy. There's a tiny frustration where, often, your best vantage point is a few feet away from the action, and clicking the left mouse at the wrong place and the wrong time will send your character into a 30-monster murder pit from which there's no escape. Nevertheless, you do learn to compensate, and there are RPGs with far worse navigation problems than an overly sensitive playing field. It's still the best of both of its worlds. This structure fixes the tower defense problem of having to wait around for your enemies to come to you before the action begins by letting you get yourself right into the thick of it, and any moment of overwhelming odds can be fixed by letting your death machines do the dirty work.

The first few stages do go pretty easy on you until you get your first new traps, and the steady escalation of difficulty is good. Much of the leveling-up and character advancement is contingent on what feels comfortable for the player. How you end up killing baddies will determine what upgrades and new traps you get access to. If your boots are on the ground doing more killing than your traps, you'll get access to powers that make enemies more vulnerable to your melee attacks. Use a particular trap that summons a vicious hell beast to fight anything that walks past? Kill enough baddies with him, and you'll get the ability to summon a group of archers to fight at long range. There's a pretty extensive number of upgrades to earn, and the game hits the sweet spot of doling out just enough experience and skill points after matches to feel like you've earned them, without being able to run completely roughshod over the game. There's also a plain old RPG store where you can buy armor, weapons, and accessories, as well as a compulsory crafting system that was used all of once in my playthrough and then ignored. Still, there's no lack of options for players to get their gameplay just how they like it.

Problematically, Deathtrap runs out of content the second it really starts to take off. It happens around the fifth or sixth stage, which is the point at which the game seems to run out of new enemies to throw at you and just starts giving the older, bigger ones more HP. Completing the 13th and final stage after a couple of hours of play earns you nothing, unless you count the unlocking of five specialized scenario maps. Deathtrap's roots as an overblown minigame show here. There are a few twists that you can use to try to keep the stages fresh. Getting to level 15 opens up the Scenario mode, which allows you to put new restrictions on each stage (e.g., less Essence regeneration in exchange for more gold/XP at the end), and the Endless mode, which is a non-stop survival mode where Essence is shorter in supply and the monsters are greater in number. There's a level editor that might yield some quality if the game takes off, as well as multiplayer co-op and versus modes, all of which are fun, but it still has you replaying the same stages over and over. There's no fanfare or reward for beating the stages as they currently are, just the pressing urge to earn more XP and open up the level-20 traps.

The good news is that Deathtrap is compelling enough that loading it up once in a blue moon to explode some monsters could end up being extremely appealing and fun. It's a nifty little time-waster that Neocore's created here, and while there could and should be a lot more content in the future, the game we've got right now nonetheless makes a convincing bid for your time.

Today, PayDay 2 developer Overkill announced the game's next DLC and a goal-based community event titled "The Hype Train."

The Overkill Pack, PayDay 2's 17th piece of DLC, unlocks a new minigun, three minigun mods, a rocket launcher, an escape van skin, a mask, and 10 new achievements. Players who pre-order the Overkill Pack on Steam between February 5 and March 12 will also receive three gallons of "Hype Fuel" to help power Overkill's Hype Train.

The Hype Train is a community event where PayDay 2 players contribute Hype Fuel to reach destinations, or stretch goals, and unlock free content. Destinations include new heists, enemies, and character packs with costs ranging from 200,000 to 1,600,000 gallons of fuel. The final stop, a PayDayCon to be held in Los Angeles, will unlock at two million gallons.

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Today, PayDay 2 developer Overkill announced the game's next DLC and a goal-based community event titled "The Hype Train."

The Overkill Pack, PayDay 2's 17th piece of DLC, unlocks a new minigun, three minigun mods, a rocket launcher, an escape van skin, a mask, and 10 new achievements. Players who pre-order the Overkill Pack on Steam between February 5 and March 12 will also receive three gallons of "Hype Fuel" to help power Overkill's Hype Train.

The Hype Train is a community event where PayDay 2 players contribute Hype Fuel to reach destinations, or stretch goals, and unlock free content. Destinations include new heists, enemies, and character packs with costs ranging from 200,000 to 1,600,000 gallons of fuel. The final stop, a PayDayCon to be held in Los Angeles, will unlock at two million gallons.

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Bungie is tweaking Destiny's weapon types in Update 1.1.1, coming this February. Chief among them is the pulse rifle, one of the most underused weapons in the game.

When the developer polled the community members about their favorite pulse rifles, they were met with responses like, "Don't use 'em," "None of them are good though...," and "Is that a trick question?" Bungie listened.

" ...We’re keeping a promise we made prior to launch - that Destiny would be a place of diverse fighting styles, where everyone would have a chance to be powerful in different ways," wrote Bungie's community manager, DeeJ, on the developer's site. "If you like Pulse Rifles, help is on the way. If you’re like me, and you think you can solve every problem with your trusty Suros Regime? Well, we’re about to be challenged in some new and exciting ways."

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Bungie is tweaking Destiny's weapon types in Update 1.1.1, coming this February. Chief among them is the pulse rifle, one of the most underused weapons in the game.

When the developer polled the community members about their favorite pulse rifles, they were met with responses like, "Don't use 'em," "None of them are good though...," and "Is that a trick question?" Bungie listened.

" ...We’re keeping a promise we made prior to launch - that Destiny would be a place of diverse fighting styles, where everyone would have a chance to be powerful in different ways," wrote Bungie's community manager, DeeJ, on the developer's site. "If you like Pulse Rifles, help is on the way. If you’re like me, and you think you can solve every problem with your trusty Suros Regime? Well, we’re about to be challenged in some new and exciting ways."

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Brisbane, Australia-based studio Halfbrick (Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride) has today revealed Ghostbusters icon Peter Venkman is joining all versions of its side scrolling endless runner Monster Dash as a playable character in a “massive” new update. The update naturally includes the signature Proton Pack and a new level set on Manhattan’s rooftops.

Monster Dash was recently updated to include “an overhauled game flow, daily events, and new powerful weapon upgrades.” Halfbrick explains the new Ghostbusters content takes “full advantage” of said changes and will be playable in the regular daily challenge “Who You Gonna Call?” on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The daily challenge includes Slimer as the featured monster. Outside of the daily event, players will be able to save the lives of millions of registered voters as Venkman in every mode with an optional in-app purchase. The update is available now.

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Brisbane, Australia-based studio Halfbrick (Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride) has today revealed Ghostbusters icon Peter Venkman is joining all versions of its side scrolling endless runner Monster Dash as a playable character in a “massive” new update. The update naturally includes the signature Proton Pack and a new level set on Manhattan’s rooftops.

Monster Dash was recently updated to include “an overhauled game flow, daily events, and new powerful weapon upgrades.” Halfbrick explains the new Ghostbusters content takes “full advantage” of said changes and will be playable in the regular daily challenge “Who You Gonna Call?” on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The daily challenge includes Slimer as the featured monster. Outside of the daily event, players will be able to save the lives of millions of registered voters as Venkman in every mode with an optional in-app purchase. The update is available now.

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