I'm starting to kinda get what the hell this game is. I think. This little nugget: "Overwatch makes a point of not displaying any post-match statistics, such as the death/kill/assist ratio" - wut?
A few months ago, Blizzard launched a closed beta for its upcoming shooter Overwatch—and I've been engrossed in the PC version ever since. For all its faults—and there are many faults—it's hard not be impressed with not just how much fun Overwatch is, but how Blizzard's managed to successfully combine a solid first-person shooter along the same lines as Team Fortress 2 with the mechanics of a modern MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) like its own Heroes of the Storm and Riot's League of Legends.
That Blizzard's managed to create a compelling online experience comes as little surprise. This is, after all, the same studio that kept millions upon millions of players hooked to World of Warcraft for over a decade, and created Hearthstone, one of the most popular online collectible card games. With Overwatch, it has its sights set not just on creating the most popular online shooter, but one that can take on MOBAs on their home turf: the e-sports arena.
It's been hard to picture Overwatch as a crowd-pleasing, e-sports giant as I've sat alone in my bedroom moaning about what a bully Bastion (a transforming battle robot character) is to others over a clip-on voice mic. But now, sat with a team playing a huge multiplayer game at an event in London's Soho, and struggling against an unfair number of turrets from the opposition, Blizzard's e-sports vision is a little clearer.
The online news and gossip site Gawker has begun the process of appealing the $140 million verdict a jury ordered it to pay last month for publishing a sex tape of Terry Bollea, better known as former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan.
The Gawker appeal is no surprise, as the company has said it will appeal since the verdict was delivered. In motions filed late Monday, the online media outlet has asked for the verdict to be thrown out or the damages "greatly reduced," according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Gawker lawyers argue the $25 million in punitive damages that was added on to the $110 million in compensatory damages would be "ruinous." The jury was told that Gawker Media was worth $83 million while its founder Nick Denton was worth $121 million.
I'm in ur Printrbot bed, sniffin ur noises. (credit: Lee Hutchinson)
Let's say the manufacturer up the street is making widgets with a 3D printer and you'd like to get in on that action. If you want to clone those coveted 3D objects, all you need is an audio recorder in the room with the printer. Using just the noises emitted by the printer's stepper motors, you can replicate the object with up to 92% accuracy. According to a new paper published in Science, researchers have even replicated a key using this technique.
A group of "cyber-physical systems researchers" will present the hack next week at a conference devoted to cyber-physical systems in Vienna. It's the next frontier in IP piracy, which could conceivably lead to a future Pirate Bay full of files that describe everything from the latest mobile device parts to human bones for transplant.
Mara Hvistendahl reports in Science that the researchers used a consumer grade Printrbot to make three objects: a tiny square, a tiny triangle, and a standard-sized key. She continues:
The five qubits in IBM's quantum computer. (credit: IBM)
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, IBM gave an unwary world its first publicly accessible quantum computer. You might be worried that you can tear up your passwords and throw away your encryption, for all is now lost. However, it's probably a bit early to call time on the world as we know it. You see, the whole computer is just five bits.
This might sound like some kind of publicity stunt; maybe it's IBM's way of clawing some attention back from D-Wave's quantum computing efforts. But a careful look shows that serious science undergirds the announcement.
The IBM system is, on a very superficial level, similar to D-Wave's. Both systems use superconducting quantum interference devices as qubits (quantum bits). But the similarity ends there. As IBM emphasizes, its quantum computer is a universal quantum computer—which D-Wave's is not.
I have gotten five or six phone calls, a bazilion flyers in the mail, and one kid at my door schilling prop 1. I hate uber and lyft now.
My mailbox is now an endless chute of garbage thanks to Austin’s Proposition 1, an Uber and Lyft-penned measure that deals with ride-hailing regulations. I’ve been called, emailed and texted. I’ve gotten spammy notifications on my phone and campaigners at my door. At what point does campaigning become harassment?
It’s probably too late to book an affordable ticket to Dallas for this weekend’s Texas Frightmare convention, but it may be worth it. Mondo has revealed some crazy cool new posters for Scream, Jaws, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and more that’ll exclusively debut at the event.
by Casey Chan on Sploid, shared by Adam Clark Estes to Gizmodo
Table tennis is a hard game that requires quick instincts and even quicker reflexes. But what if you had some help? Like, what if the table could tell you what to do? This ‘smart’ ping pong table shows you where to serve, tracks each shot you take, and gives you oodles of data on your game. It’s a clever projection mapping system that smartens up your game.
As an obsessive Wes Craven fan, I thought I knew everything about A Nightmare on Elm Street, but I was wrong—very wrong. Because according to a long lost deleted scene, the Elm Street kids who seemed to be getting randomly attacked by Freddy Kreuger weren’t random at all.
by Shep McAllister on Deals, shared by Shep McAllister to Gizmodo
If your board game collection has been gathering dust, you can freshen it up with over 70 discounted strategy games on sale in today’s Amazon Gold Box.
by Andrew Liszewski on Sploid, shared by Adam Clark Estes to Gizmodo
Not only will you be too terrified to ever get a job after watching this 1994 United Safety Council workplace safety video called Will You Be Here Tomorrow?, there’s also a good chance you’ll be too scared to ever actually leave your home. Neither Freddy Krueger nor Jason were ever as scary as the apparent horrors lurking in the average factory.
by Rob Bricken on io9, shared by Mario Aguilar to Gizmodo
Oh joyous day! Sing, choir of angels! Just do something jubilant, because those kind executives over at the Coca-Cola company have kindly—benevolently allowed us another chance to purchase the greatest non-alcoholic beverage of all time, Ecto Cooler, just in time for the new Ghostbusters movie to premiere on July 15.
by Timothy Burke on Screengrabber, shared by Kelly Stout to Gawker
The Austin school district decided last month to rename Robert E. Lee Elementary School, and opened the nominating process up to the public. In the end, 228 names were suggested; Donald Trump got the most nods, with 45. (“Robert E. Lee” came in second.) Here are some other noteworthy nominees from the document released by the school district:
During an airdrop on a military base in Hohenfels, Germany, three HMMWV’s somehow detached from their parachutes and crashed into a million pieces, The Tactical Air Networkreports. The reaction from the soldiers filming, though, is absolutely priceless.
by Casey Chan on Sploid, shared by Adam Clark Estes to io9
This is madness. Like, seriously what in the hell is going on. In northern China, multiple bulldozers apparently got so mad at each other that they started one of the craziest demolition derbies I’ve ever seen on a public road. It’s a legitimate royal rumble between heavy machinery. There are normal cars on the street driving around trying to avoid the ridiculousness that is giant bulldozers trying to ram the hell out of each other! Some of the bulldozers even got flipped over!
So this is what collecting action figures has come to? Apparently some Star Wars aficionados aren’t content with 3.75 or even 12-inch figures in their collection. They demand something grander and even more elite, which is why a life-size Boba Fett action figure can now be had for just shy of $8,500.
by Andrew Heisel on Pictorial, shared by Alex Pareene to Gawker
In early 1946, a woman from Carmel, California wrote the Hollywood fan magazine Screenland to say how much she had enjoyed the recent Christmas release Frontier Gal—not just for its lovely performers and dazzling Technicolor vistas, but for saving her marriage by teaching her husband to spank her.
by Andrew Liszewski on Sploid, shared by Cheryl Eddy to io9
Instead of rebuilding cities like New York, Boston, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. like a CG dinosaur, Alexey Zakharov used a technique where he sliced up antique photos and then carefully animated the various elements, like people, cars, and buildings, to give the appearance of actual moving footage.
It’s been a very good time to be an MST3K fan. Not only will the show return with a new cast in the not-too-distant future, under the guidance of the original creator and host Joel Hodgson, but now the entire original cast is getting together for a one-night, special reunion, courtesy of Rifftrax!
Government by the people, for the people would be great if we, the people, weren’t such morons. In deed, in an effort to insure that good grammar shall not perish from the earth, Official House Resolution No. 1220 comes to the good people of Missouri from Rep. Tracy McCreery, who has apparently built up some deep-seeded loathing for her colleagueses abuse of the English language. In an interview with the Missouri Riverfront Times, McCreery explained that her fellow pubic servants’ constant slips of the tongue had the affect of “nails on a chalkboard” and that “it happens pretty much daily.”
by Andrew Liszewski on Gizmodo, shared by Adam Clark Estes to io9
Not to be outdone by Nike’s shameless cashing in on the prop sneakers it created for Back to the Future II, Reebok is releasing the high-top alien-stomping sneakers that Sigourney Weaver wore in Aliens. They’re available April 26.
It’s something we’ve all experienced. A jolt of terror when you turn out the lights. Well filmmaker David F. Sandberg has taken his popular short film with that concept and, with the help of producer James Wan, made it into what looks like a terrifying feature. Here’s the trailer for Lights Out.
Good news, Lovecraft fans! While it’s not a new piece of fiction, a new manuscript penned by the famous horror writer has been discovered, tucked away in a collection of magical memorabilia.
Two years ago, a Phoenix-based photographer teamed up with physicists at Princeton University to explore the unusually uniform rings a drop of whisky leaves behind when it dries. Now those same physicists have published their findings in Physical Review Letters.
Great Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council has a £200 million polar research vessel set for construction, and for some reason, they decided it was a good idea to ask the internet to come up with a name for it.
Ben Edlund’s blue-suited hero the Tick, previously seen on TV in both animated and live-action form, is returning to the latter format thanks to Amazon, which just ordered a pilot for a new version. But original star Patrick Warburton, who’s got another full-time TV gig at the moment, won’t be a part of it.
What started as an entry for last year’s Fantastic Fest is now inching closer to being a real NES game you can buy because Andrew Reitano and Mike Dooley’s Super Russian Roulette, which allows you to safely play the world’s most dangerous game, is now on Kickstarter.
Even if you don’t know the Dire Straits song “Walk of Life” by name you’ll recognize it immediately when you hear it. Fun fact: It’s the perfect song to end any movie.
Just a few weeks ago, West Virginians passed a law overriding the cruel, barbaric raw milk prohibition that’s plagued the state for years. To mark the occasion, these same dairy-loving lawmakers downed what else but a tall glass of milk—raw and dirty just like god intended. In totally unrelated news, a bunch of West Virginia lawmakers are now suffering from a severe stomach illness.
