Monthly Archives: March 2015

This Force Field Would Deflect Shockwaves

Aircraft and military manufacturer Boeing has patented a force field-like system designed to deflect explosion shockwaves.

The Boeing patent, titled "Method and system for shockwave attenuation via electromagnetic arc," uses energy to deflect potential damage from shockwaves - much like the force-field barriers in sci-fi worlds such as that of the Star Wars series. According to CNET, it works by producing a plasma field using lasers, electricity, and microwaves when a nearby shockwave-generating explosion is detected.

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Report: Dragon Age DLC Achievements Leaked

Several reportedly leaked achievements may hint at the content for Dragon Age: Inquisition's new Jaws of Hakkon DLC.

According to Xbox Achievements, there are four achievements to be unlocked.

The first, Firestarter, rewards players for destroying "all the Winter Shards" and lighting "all the fires in the Old Temple."

Legend-Marked tests a player's social abilties within the world with its challenge to "Impress the Avvar of Stone-Bear Hold and gain their friendship."

"Uncover the secrets of a legendary figure" to earn the Historian achievement, and finally, "Dispel a myth of ancient days" to earn Winter's End.

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Turn: Washington’s Spies – Meet Benedict Arnold

Season 2 of AMC's TURN: Washington's Spies premieres Monday, April 13th at 9/8c - and we've got an exclusive first look at some of the new characters joining the show this year.

In the following video, executive producer Craig Silverstein (Nikita) introduces The Mentalist's Owain Yeoman as the new face playing notorious traitor Benedict Arnold. Though the Benedict Arnold on the series is portrayed as a hero, still years away from betraying his brothers-in-arms.

Ksenia Solo (Lost Girl) also joins the series as cunning Philadelphia socialite Peggy Shippen. Check out the video above!

To see more videos for Turn: Washington's Spies, head to AMC.com.

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Ranking the Mario Party Games

Since its 1998 N64 debut, the Mario Party series has just about done it all. The friendship-ending franchise spans 13 games and 7 consoles. But which Mario Party game stands at the top of the pack? Because we’re crazy people, we decided to find out.

Below is our ranking for all 12 Mario Party games, each based on their overall quality and replayability. Note that we need a bit more time with Mario Party 10 to figure out where it fits in, so we've left it off this ranking, for the time being.

12-MPAdvance

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Rumor: X-Files Revival Deal is Getting Close

The rumored X-Files revival will reportedly be a short run, at least at the start.

TVWise cites anonymous sources claiming that Fox is planning on a short episode order of less than ten. The network's decision is said to be based on story considerations, along with fitting into the busy schedules of stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.

The report states that talks are ongoing, so this isn't set in stone, but indicate a deal is close. Scheduling is one remaining factor, which is reliant on the show officially being picked up. The network is reportedly aiming to start production this summer.

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Hearthstone Player Taking 40-Hour Turn

A Hearthstone player is attempting to take a turn that will, in theory, last almost two days.

Player "Mamytwink" came up with a complicated bit of theory-crafting and put it into motion on a Twitch stream. He's eight hours into his Guinness World Record attempt right now, and estimates it will take roughly 40 hours to fully resolve the turn.

So how did he do it? Eurogamer reports that he played as a Mage, with a cooperative friend playing Priest across the board. Mamytwink set up his side of the board with seven Prophet Velen cards, using several Faceless Manipulators. Each Velen doubles the damage of spells, and then each Velen was given further buffs to increase the spell damage even further.

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Twitch Advises Users to Change Their Account Passwords

Streaming service Twitch.tv has issued a statement to all users confirming some confidential information may have been compromised.

"We are writing to let you know that there may have been unauthorized access to some Twitch user account information," reads the official notice on the Twitch blog.

"For your protection, we have expired passwords and stream keys and have disconnected accounts from Twitter and YouTube. As a result, you will be prompted to create a new password the next time you attempt to log into your Twitch account."

In addition to resetting passwords on their service, Twitch advises users to change similarly-formatted passwords on other websites to ensure their information is secure. They also confirm they will contact affected users directly.

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Vote Now: The Autobots vs. Guardians of the Galaxy

Welcome back to IGN's Super Team Tournament 64! With your help, we're now much closer to determining the greatest fictional team in history.

After last week's explosive opening we've already seen a few fan-favorite teams knocked out of contention, including The Channel 4 News Team, The Watchmen, and G.I. Joe. The hard decisions are just getting started, however. The Round of 32 kicks off today!

Take a look at bracket as it stands today, and be sure to cast your votes for this round before 11:59 PM this Thursday, March 26:

Click for a high-res view! Click for a high-res view!

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This is What a Solar Eclipse Looks Like from Space

Expedition 43 Flight Engineer Sarah Cristoforetti captured several photographs of a solar eclipse from the International Space Station on March 20.

Depicting the moon's obstruction of the Sun while passing between it and the Earth, the photos also show us what an orbital sunrise looks like.

eclipse

To see more photos, check out Sarah's Flickr account.

In related space news, a rare asteroid was spotted yesterday breaking itself up.

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