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Aside from the pointlessly short controller cables, the only other complaint we have with Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition is that it only comes with 30 classic games. There are so many classic consoles and retro titles to choose from, which is why the RetroEngine Sigma might be a better alternative since it promises to…

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Yvonne Craig, who originated the role of Barbara Gordon in the 1960s Batman show, passed away Monday night at the age of 78.

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Hello, PlayStation.Blog! I’m Alex, from Hello Games. Hope you’re well! How’s your summer going? Ours? We’re kinda recovered from E3, where Sean showed off live No Man’s Sky gameplay for the first time. It has been a big relief that people seemed to like it. You can’t know just how scary it is to show a game as open-ended as No Man’s Sky live on a stage for an audience of millions.

Since then, we’ve also been super proud that IGN has devoted July’s IGN First to No Man’s Sky. We hope you’ve had a chance to see some of the amazing articles that they’ve published, maybe including this 18-minute video of Sean exploring a planet.

We’ve been thinking, though, that No Man’s Sky is pretty good at hiding its secrets, and that there there are some facts about the game that might not be so obvious — facts that help it all make sense, and come alive. So we’ve put together a list of 41 things about the game that you might not realize. We hope you enjoy them, and thanks so much for all your support.

It’s been so amazing to share with you what we’ve been doing over the past few months.

The universe isn’t actually infinite

• Computers don’t really do infinity very well. But there are 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 planets in the universe. If you visit each one for a single second, it will take you 585 billion years to see them all, so it may as well be.

The universe isn’t random

• Everything exists for a reason, and is governed by maths. Maths means every detail is always consistent and makes sense, the result of hundreds of rules we’ve made to make a sci-fi universe we want to explore. And anyway, computers just aren’t very good at random, either.

The universe isn’t stored on your hard disk or on server somewhere

• The world around you is generated by your PS4 at the point you visit it. Leave and it’s all thrown away, but if you return it is generated again exactly as it was. This also means the game will be completely playable offline.

No Man’s Sky isn’t an MMO

• The sheer size of the universe means that everyone is going to be super far apart, and it’s super unlikely that people will even visit the same planets.

There are bots exploring the universe right now

• We have sent a set of bots out into the void to send back to us gifs of planets. We can quickly review the gifs, lots at a time, to see what kinds of things are out there, and ensure it’s varied and interesting.

There isn’t a story to follow

• There are no cutscenes or characters, but there is a big objective: getting to the center of the universe. We don’t want to tell you a story, we want you to tell your own. No Man’s Sky is about your journey.

You will make true discoveries

• Be the first to visit a planet, or be the first to scan a species of creature, and you will be recorded as its discoverer when you upload it at a beacon for all the world to see. You can also choose to name them. (There will be filters!)

The Atlas is everything everyone has ever discovered

• The No Man’s Sky symbol stands for the database of all the things that players have discovered and chosen to share with the world. It’s perhaps the most important thing in the universe, and will contain findings that even we have no idea about.

You’ll find ancient artifacts and crashed ships

• They may lead to you discovering new technologies, which can give your ship, suit, and multitool new or improved abilities.

A jetpack is an explorer’s best friend

• It can get you out of all sorts of trouble, and take you to places you wouldn’t otherwise be able to access.

Planets are defined by their position in space

• If they’re close to their sun they’ll tend to be more barren; further away and they’ll tend to be cold. The planets in between tend to be richer with life.

Most planets are barren

• Few planets will be dense with plant life and animals. Most will be barren, but even barren planets can be sources of great wealth.

Planets can be toxic

• Some planets are death traps, with radiation or other hazards that will kill you in minutes. To survive you’ll need to upgrade your suit.

Every distant mountain is a real place

• No Man’s Sky doesn’t only generate the environment immediately around you. It also generates the whole planet at a lower level of detail, so every distant object on the horizon is a real place that you can go to.

Planets have days and nights

• Fly down to the night side of a planet, and you’ll find the land in darkness. Different creatures will be awake while daytime creatures sleep.

It’s worth upgrading your ship

• Ships offer varying capacity for being upgraded, whether speed, maneuverability, jump drive range, or weapon power.

You can only have one ship at a time

• Choose a ship that suits what you want to do, whether trading (large cargo capacity), fighting (good speed and weapons) or exploring (a long jump drive distance). Want to do something new? You can always get a new one.

You’ll shop for new ships

• Space stations sell a rolling stock of ships. If you see one you want, you’ll need to grab it before new stock comes in.

You won’t be left without a ship

• If you die and have no money, a basic ship is always available for free. It won’t have a hyperdrive, but you’ll be able to fly to planets again to rebuild.

You need fuel

• You can fly for as long as you like in a star system, but to make jumps between systems you’ll need hyperdrive fuel, which you can buy from space stations or mine from planet surfaces.

You can get a wanted level

• Upsetting the balance of planets by mining them too heavily or killing creatures will see you being hunted down by the Sentinels, and attacking craft in space will attract the attention of the police. The more you do, the stronger they will retaliate.

The Sentinels aren’t everywhere

• Not every planet is policed, making these lawless playgrounds valuable sources of resources.

Space is not quiet

• Factions constantly vie for territory across the entire universe. Choose to help one faction and it may reward you. Attack another and it’ll remember. But you can also try to avoid conflict completely.

You can side with factions

• If you’re friendly enough with a faction, it can provide you with support that might protect you as you face its rivals.

Your multitool is an adaptable weapon

• Multitools have a basic firing mode, but some come with different, more powerful attacks, or you might find technologies to upgrade them.

Death isn’t the end

• But it’s a problem. If you die on a planet, you’ll find yourself revived back at your ship having lost what you hadn’t stowed and discoveries you hadn’t uploaded. If you die in space, you find yourself revived at the nearest space station, without your ship, items and discoveries.

Planets are populated by unique creatures

• Creatures are procedurally generated, with wildly varying shapes, sizes, colorations, and behaviours. You will discover countless new species on your journey.

Animal calls are procedurally generated

• We’ve created special software that models throats, allowing animal calls to be defined by the shape and sizes of their bodies. Every planet’s soundscape is unique.

Animals may attack you

• But think twice about retaliating. If Sentinels see you kill a creature they’ll attack you. It’s often best to try to scare creatures or run away, and preserve the natural balance of the planet.

Animals follow daily routines

• They will go down to bodies of water to drink and sleep at night, while others will only come out at dark.

Some animals hunt others

• You’ll see food chains in action, with species being predated by others. You might find that you’re far from being at the top of the chain.

Units are the universe’s currency

• You’ll earn Units for many things: selling resources at trading posts, shooting down pirates, uploading discoveries to the Atlas.

Market prices for resources vary

• You might find lucrative trade routes, mining in one system and selling in another. It might be worth investing in a ship with lots of cargo space to take full advantage.

Space is busy with trade convoys

• Freighters, led by capital ships, steadily travel along trade routes, sending ships down to trading posts as they go. You can choose to attack them and steal their resources, but you’ll find them heavily defended, and pirates might have the same idea…

Resources aren’t just for trading

• You’ll need them to craft technologies into upgrades. The rarest resources can only be found in certain types of system.

Efficient mining requires certain upgrades

• Your multitool can always destroy resource crystals, but you’ll need to upgrade it to mine resources held in harder rock. Perhaps there are technologies that will provide greater yields…

It has amazing music

• 65daysofstatic are Sean’s favorite band, and they’re making No Man’s Sky’s soundtrack album. We are incredibly excited about this.

We held a concert at PlayStation Experience

• 65daysofstatic came to Las Vegas with us and played a concert. It was incredible. Watch it here.

The music will be procedural

• 65daysofstatic’s soundtrack will be used to generate procedural music that’s influenced by where you are and what you’re doing. Full songs will play at specific points, but we’ll leave it to you to discover when and why…

No Man’s Sky was inspired by classic sci-fi

• Especially those amazing, vibrant book covers, which presented a vision of a future that wasn’t grim and in which technology and exploration were points of hope.

Four people built what we showed for the announcement

• Since then, the No Man’s Sky team has grown, but only a little, to 13 people. We like it real small.

River Song has become a bit of a controversial figure on Doctor Who—even the fans who like her aren’t sure they want her to return to the show. But while River isn’t back on the TV show for now, she is making the leap to Doctor Who audio plays. And this time, she gets to have adventures with classic Doctors.

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Harmonix has offered a warning to Rock Band junkies via its official forum that the export offer for Green Day: Rock Band will only be available until April 30. If you own Green Day: Rock Band and want the tracks from the game to be available in your main Rock Band library (and haven’t exported them in the past five years) you should act now, lest you feel like a chump later.

As with previous disc exports and the small minority of DLC songs Harmonix has been unable to re-secure licensing for, players who have already exported Green Day: Rock Band will be completely unaffected. The tracks will remain in your central Rock Band song library for you to continue having a blast with.

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During a surgery to remove an apparent brain tumor in a 26-year-old woman, doctors in Los Angeles were shocked to discover an embryonic twin instead.

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The awesome arrives this December.

Read the full article on AICN

Just... 
Fucking hell yes.  
 

 
 
————————
Glen Oliver
“Merrick”
- e-mail
- Twitter

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow...

Despite the fact that Reese and Finch probably should have immediately suspected Samaritan's invisible hand in the plot to dox and discredit an antivirus software genius' life and legacy, "Search and Destroy" was some damn fine POI.

Samaritan's ferocious foot soldiers came out to play toward the end, but before that, before everything spiraled into a massive shootout in the woods (complete with Root vs. Martine: Round 2!), Samaritan decided that it should be the one to take care of Khan (guest star Aasif Mandvi). By dissolving his life within a matter of hours and then cyber-routing him into Rikers Island for a quick, clean execution at the hands of a random incarcerated slimeball.

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Not shocking: Frozen 2 is officially in the works. Will it be theatrical or straight to video? Will it contain a hit song that becomes woven into the cultural DNA of a generation? Does it even matter, because we already know that this movie in any form will rake in eleventy billion dollars?

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Tatiana Maslany has amazed audiences and critics for two seasons in Orphan Black, playing Sarah, Cosima, Alison, Helena and many more clones from Project Leda. But in Season 3, the clone world is getting even more crowded, now that we know a male strain exists, Project Castor, played by Ari Millen.

Check out the new trailer for Season 3 above, as we learn more about what's to come.

Orphan Black: Season 3 premieres Saturday, April 18, 9:00pm ET on BBC America.

Artist Khyzyl Saleem has an idea on what he'd like Back to the Future to look like. I've got to say, as emotionally attached as a lot of people are to the DeLorean DMC-12 from the movies, this looks pretty damn good.

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Here's a simple question. Do you know what nacho cheese is? As it turns out, whatever it is that you use to define "nacho cheese" is probably wrong.

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Update: PlayStation's PSN status page has recently gone back to green, and is reporting that the PSN is back online. Meanwhile, PlayStation's official Twitter support account has posted this update:

Update: We are seeing reduced reports of network issues. We'll continue to monitor - thanks for your patience and happy holidays!

— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) December 25, 2014

Xbox Live's service status page is also reporting that things have gone back to normal.

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Paramount Pictures reportedly wants Star Trek 3 to feel more like Guardians of the Galaxy.

Roberto Orci recently departed the film as director, though he will retain a producer credit on the sequel. Trek 3 was to be his directorial debut after writing and producing the first two movies, but Badass Digest reports that his leaving the center seat may have been due to Paramount's wish to make the film resemble the Marvel blockbuster Guardians.

"They want the third film to be huge, and they want it to be huge overseas especially," says the site. "They look at Rocket and Groot and then they look at Keenser and they wonder why he doesn't have more of a role."

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It's awards season in Hollywood and the studio behind Transformers: Age Of Extinction is actively campaigning to get the Michael Bay-directed movie an Academy Award nomination as Best Picture.

Action a Go Go points out that Paramount Pictures has created an official "For Your Consideration" page for the blockbuster, 2014's biggest hit worldwide.

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The original sci-fi television series Battlestar Galactica (1978) is getting two new releases on Blu-ray.

Both releases feature both the original 24-episode 1978 television series as well as the 10-episode spinoff Galactica 1980. The Remastered Collection contains the two series remastered in the 16:9 widescreen format. The Definitive Collection, meanwhile, contains the series in both widescreen and the original 4:3 full-frame format, as well as a 125-minute theatrical edit of the premiere episode "Saga of a Star World."

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Glen A. Larson, creator of numerous shows including Knight Rider and the original Battlestar Galactica, has passed away. The LA Times is reporting that Larson died due to complications from esophageal cancer. Our condolences to his family.

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Earlier this week, Amy Jo Johnson -- better known as the original Pink Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (and my first crush) -- got back into her iconic Ranger suit, grabbed her guitar and performed on the streets of Toronto!

It's morphin' time!

I know what you're thinking: How could something this awesome actually happen? Well, as it turns out, Johnson is currently crowdfunding her directorial debut, The Space Between, on Indiegogo, and the original Blue Ranger David Yost challenged her to wear her Pink Ranger outfit and sing in public if she reached her goal of $75,000. Luckily, Johnson reached her goal early and morphed into the Pink Power Ranger one last time -- and (no surprise here) she still pulls off the pink spandex!

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Saturday morning American broadcast TV was once animation's home field. Filling a cereal bowl with artificially colored sugar pebbles and staring at the tube was every kid's weekend plan. Not any more: For the first time in 50-plus years, you won't find a block of animation on broadcast this morning. It's the end of an era.

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Tomorrow, Lucasfilm will release final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Netflix*, but the season won’t include an arc centered on one of the show’s main characters, Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan Ahsoka Tano. That’s a shame, not just because Ahsoka’s growth has been one of the most compelling aspects of the series, but also because her character development has wildly improved the onscreen arm of the Star Wars franchise.

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Early on in Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman gets slimed by a class five full-roaming vapor. His colleague Ray finds him lying on the ground, groaning and covered with snotty green ooze. "I'm with Venkman," Ray breathlessly natters into his walkie-talkie. "He got slimed!" "That's great, Ray," Egon responds. "Save some for me."

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I don't know what young comics fan Spencer expected when he wrote in to DC Comics, his favorite publisher, to ask what DC plans to do now that "Marvel seemingly dominates the live action superhero movie industry?" (His words!) But I bet he didn't expect to get an answer that was pretty much just bullshit.

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Japan — because of course, Japan, obviously has combined Cheetos the snack food with Mountain Dew the beverage to create a lemon-lime snack food that will revolutionize the way gamers will eat junk food while pretending to be a half-elf paladin.

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Sure it feels nice, but it's no more effective (not at temperatures safe for humans, at least), and can actually irritate your skin. Plus, if you're washing with hot instead of cool, newly published research says you're actually contributing to global warming, too (womp womp).

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Congratulations, Final Fantasy—you made it! The big 2-6. You were born on December 18, 1987, and now you're here. Good work.

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Up until now, every feature film shot in full IMAX (of which there have been only a handful – The Dark Knight, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Dark Knight Rises, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, Star Trek Into Darkness and now The Hunger Games Catching Fire) has filmed with a 65mm 2D IMAX film camera. IMAX has a 3D film camera available, but most filmmakers find it too big and loud to actually use. (Star Trek Into Darkness is the only of those films to be exhibited in IMAX 3D, but it was post-converted.) It wasn’t until recently that IMAX created a 3D digital camera, which will allow 3D capture in full IMAX. The first filmmaker to use that is Michael Bay on Transformers: Age of Extinction. That camera is much smaller and lighter than the other IMAX 3D cameras and will be used quite a bit in the future. There is no 2D digital IMAX camera, but one is being developed.

It's official: A "number of" previously missing Doctor Who episodes have been "returned to the BBC," and we'll find out how many, and which ones, later this week.

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Patrick Troughton's second season starring in Doctor Who was the "base under siege" era, where relentless monsters terrorize an embattled crew of humans in story after story. But judging from the newly released "Ice Warriors," it was also an era of good idea-driven science fiction.

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Watching this PlayStation ad, it really sunk in for me: it's one thing to hear about the ability to play/stream PlayStation 4 games remotely on your Vita, should you own one. It's another thing entirely to see that feature in action and realize, holy crap, it's like I have a portable PlayStation 4 in my hands.

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