Daniel Whitehill

We already knew the Godzilla Cthulhu Sauron El Niño of 2015 was gonna be bad. But exactly how bad are we talking? According to the World Meteorological Organization, this year’s El Niño is among the three strongest in the past 70 years, and it may become the worst one ever recorded.

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As usual, traffic was apocalyptic on the 10 Freeway. So I cued up the Master of None episode I didn’t finish the night before, pulled out the Greek yogurt I hadn’t had time to eat for breakfast, reclined my seat way back, and relaxed. I may have even dozed off as my vehicle steered its way towards Santa Monica.

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Google Search is steadily becoming smarter–from voice search in 2008 to the Knowledge Graph in 2012. But now, the Google Search team is marking another milestone—it can tackle even more complex questions.

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 Now that drones can fly in intricate patterns researchers at Queens University have created flying robots that self-assemble into floating shapes and can “3D print” objects in midair. The drones, called BitDrones, come in three varieties. The first, the PixelDrone, shows little messages on an LED screen. Another drone shows a floating touchscreen display and ShapeDrones are… Read More

By popular demand (Side note: Will all you loyal Missy Elliott fans who dropped this in my inbox also please send an email to the Super Bowl people begging them to make Stacey Q the star of their halftime show, PLEASE) here’s Missy Elliott’s first music video in 7 long years. Missy took a break from the game to be treated for Graves’ disease and is now back with WTF (Where They From), the first single off of her new album. The video for WTF has glitter lips, the smooth rat Pharrell Williams, hot moves, air-humping marionettes and Segway hoverboard action.

If I watched this video a few weeks ago, I would’ve eye rolled after seeing Missy on one of those douche boards, but I’ve grown to love them and appreciate them. I knew that the handlebar-less Segway was a gift to humanity when I watched a dude eat concrete while trying to ride one down the sidewalk. Watching a ho fall is pure entertainment and those hoverboard Segways are taking it to the next level, so we should all embrace it. But I digress…

Here’s Missy letting tricks know that they can go ahead and exit the stage since she’s back:

And my favorite part of the video is when Missy becomes a human Maru and gets into a box and gives it good. (That’s not a euphemism, this time.)

The next time you move and finish unpacking all of the boxes, turn on this song, jump in with your friends and bust out some box-o-graphy. (I know, I’m acting like everyone unpacks in one day and it doesn’t take us all 6 years to unpack. I just keep everything in a box so it’s ready for the next time I move. No, that’s not called “being a lazy bitch,” it’s called being, “SMART!“)

Content: Knight Squad
Check price and availability in your Xbox LIVE region

Game Description: Knight Squad is an insane 1 to 8 players chaotic arena friendship destroyer. Take on current friends and future frenemies in any of the incredibly fun game modes, ranging from Last Man Standing to Medieval soccer. All of that using only weapons from the middle age… and laser guns… and miniguns.

Xbox Live Gold Members get Knight Squad free with Games With Gold from 16 Nov – 15 Dec)

Purchase Knight Squad for Xbox One from the Xbox Games Store

Product Info:
Developer: Chainsawesome Games
Publisher: Chainsawesome Games
Website: Knight Squad
Twitter: @ChainsawGames

 Cobalt is a private aircraft manufacturer launching its first two models today. The fully-certified Co50 Valkyrie and its experimental version, the Valkyrie-X, are available for pre-order starting today. Valkyrie is super sleek and built for speed. It’s the fastest in its class (single piston engines), with the ability to travel up to 260 knots, as opposed to the typical 242 knots. Read More

Call of Duty: Black Ops III generated more than $550 million in global revenue during its first three days, meaning the military shooter is now the "biggest entertainment launch of the year," Activision claimed in a press release today. The number include copies of the game sold, though it's unclear if hardware sales from the PlayStation 4 bundle were also tallied as part of this figure. By comparison, Microsoft's Halo 5: Guardians generated $400 million in sales after a week, a record for the Halo franchise overall.

By comparison, 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops II generated $500 million in sales after just 24 hours.

During the three days after Black Ops III's launch on November 6, total worldwide sales for Black Ops III "rose significantly" over Advanced Warfare and Ghosts. Downloaded copies of the game for Xbox One and PS4 jumped by nearly 100 percent compared to comparable sales for Advanced Warfare.

Activision also said Black Ops III set a new all-time record for "engagement" per player, as Black Ops III owners are playing for more hours per player than any Call of Duty game before it. On top of that, Black Ops III players logged more than 75 million hours online from November 6-8, Activision said.

The publisher also boasted that Black Ops III's $550 million in revenue after just three days is "bigger than any game, any movie, or any entertainment launch this year." Comparing video games to other forms of media on a per-dollar basis is problematic, however, as the models are quite different.

In addition, on PS4 specifically--the "best place to play Call of Duty," according to Sony--Black Ops III reached a new record to become the best-selling digital full game by units sold in its first day in PS4 history.

GameStop merchandising director Bub Puzon added that Black Ops III is now the "most successful title launch so far this year" at the company. Meanwhile, Twitch reported that Black Ops III became the most-streamed game of any title that has launched in 2016.

For more on Black Ops III, check out GameSpot's review and what other critics are saying.

The Empress of Lucite was sure that her new “Heels on Wheels” performance would be a hit. – LoHales

Upvote winner:

The Trampsporter – I am Legend

Pic: Break

Just two days after Halloween, Activision’s spending a whole lot of money on candy—the publisher announced tonight that they’ve bought Candy Crush developer King for $5.9 billion. Yes, that’s BILLION.

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