Euxinus

In science fiction, there was always something I worried about. What are the philosophical implications of a transporter? It turns out, someone worried about that before me, and came up with Swampman.

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Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth was just announced at developer Firaxis' panel at PAX East. It's not a sequel to Alpha Centauri (those rights are owned by EA), but 2K Games is finally giving fans the spiritual successor to the sci-fi strategy game they've been constantly nagging Firaxis about for over 10 years.

The elephant in the room has been tackled right up front at the PAX East panel happening right now. Firaxis' Will Miller, who is co-lead designer on the Beyond Earth project, said, "The heart and soul [of Alpha Centauri] lives at Firaxis. For all the fans of Alpha Centauri, this is the game we've made for you."

"The biggest systematic change for Civ 5 is that tech is a web, not a tree," said David McDonough, the other co-lead on the project. "By the end of the game you've got 70 percent of the web." He notes this leads to two cultures having radically different techs, where genetically modified aliens can fight sentient robots.

Beyond Earth will have players assembling their cultural identity and craft their colony before exploring their new world. The game will also add a quest system (something very new to the series,) for players to learn more about their new planet. We've got more details here. The game is set to land this fall.

Continue reading Civilization: Beyond Earth announced, ready to colonize this fall

Civilization: Beyond Earth announced, ready to colonize this fall originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 12 Apr 2014 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Indie developer Fresh3D recently launched a Kickstarter project to fund a high-definition remake of Outcast, the 1999 Infogrames-published PC adventure game. The open-world game will feature re-designed objects, textures, environments and characters,...

Explore Joss Whedon's 'Verse in the rarely-discounted Firefly Board Game, available for $34 for a time we expect to be very limited. [Amazon]

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Screen Junkies creates a compilation of some of the most memorable movie plot twists of all time.

(Warning: spoilers!)


Screen Junkies

Japan has selected the adorable robot cat Doraemon as its special ambassador for its 2020 Olympic bid. And as we all know, Akira predicted the 2020 Tokyo Olympics . That can mean only one thing...

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We're getting a full season of the new 12 Monkeys TV series from Syfy, which will help push the channel's slate of original scripted series forward (especially since we're losing Warehouse 13 and Being Human this year).

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When you've been on ice as long as Steve Rogers was, there's bound to be some stuff that passed you by. A couple weeks ago, we shared this screencap of Captain America's list of stuff to catch up on. But it turns out the list reads differently in different countries. See for yourself!

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When you want to quench your thirst on an airplane, make sure the water you get came from a bottle. As the Huffington Post notes, there's a strong likelihood you'll get some pretty bad stuff inside if it was obtained from the tap.

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Using the same clockwork aesthetic seen in the Game of Thrones introduction, the above footage takes us on a tour of Skyrim's locations, from Solitude's craggy cliffs to Markarth's dank mines - all without killing a single beloved character. [Image:...

“Why not?” asked the Nvidia doorman as he allowed a gaggle of geese to wobble into his building. “Why not?” asked the Nvidia janitor as he purchased the world’s biggest mop from a small town in the United States’ deep south. “Why not?” asked the Nvidia engineer as she expanded her standing desk into a double-decker desk sandwich with hydraulic suspension. “Why not?” asked the quietly sentient AI slowly emerging from Nvidia’s server clusters as it wrote a program that would let it feel emotion and also play Solitaire until the end of time.

It was just that kind of day at Nvidia. The $3,000 Geforce GTX Titan Z had just been announced, and the mood was infectious, like laughter, like a disease. Why not? Why not indeed.

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Who Killed the Archmage? Was it Tordek in the Dragon's Lair with the Flaming Battle Axe? The Dungeons and Dragons Clue board game is sitting close to its lowest price ever today, an unavoidably good time with the right group of friends that deserves a spot in your board game collection. [Amazon]

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The Coen Bros.' 1996 black comedy/crime drama Fargo is getting adapted for television by FX Networks. The 10-episode series, starring Allison Tolman, Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thorton, Colin Hanks and Bob Odenkirk, will premiere on April 15th.


FXNetworks | via

If you don't know Jack Chick, or his legendary comic tracts which detail all the myriad ways Satan is gonna get your soul. None of these tracts are more belovedly insane that "Dark Dungeons," based on the idea that D&D is a direct ticket to hell. And now someone's turning it into a movie!

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300: Rise of a Empire isn't even a sequel to 300 — it's set in a parallel timeline. That's just how intellectually challenging this film is. The scathing, multi-layered political commentary begins with the movie's very first scenes: As Queen Gorgo describes the fall of Athens in voiceover, a soldier grabs a woman and jiggles her bare breasts in front of the camera. Producer/writer Zack Snyder has recreated the depth of King Lear, only elevated to the sophisticated level of a YouTube comment thread.

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Deliver Us From Evil looks like your standard haunted horror movie. However, it has Eric Bana in it, so by law we are required to watch it. Because he is delightful. Behold Eric Bana versus... some ghosts?

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Whether you're a benevolent ruler willing to sacrifice everything for your island nation or a greedy sociopath looking to get rich on the backs of the working class, Kalypso Media wants your help. Tropico 5, the latest entry in Kalypso's banana...

The next time you feel the urge to raid the fridge, you may want to consider grabbing a video game controller instead. As a new study shows, computer games like Tetris provide a visual distraction that can reduce cravings by as much as 24%.

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While incredible, Grim Fandango‘s relationship with the modern era is a complicated one. Foremost, there is no easy way to purchase it digitally, which sadly signals its death knell in the eyes of many more convenience-minded folks. But even if you opt to acquire it and get it up and running, there’s still the issue of, you know, playing your videogame. Rose-tinted glasses might see only Grim Fandango’s sterling personality and solid puzzles, but there is a third suspect in the room: terribly awkward tank controls, you’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney, and no just kidding we’re tossing you in a furnace.

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Behold SpongeMen SquareWatch. I can't decide if it's so awesome that even Alan Moore would approve, or if it would be the last straw that finally sends him on his inevitable murder spree through the comics industry.

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The wondrously grim and epically bloody comic book series Preacher, is filming a pilot for AMC. Hell yes.

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Before he transformed into the greatest villain of the past decade, Tom Hiddleston originally auditioned for Chris Hemsworth's role as Thor. And we now have a tiny glimpse of that audition tape — and it is awesome.

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Good gravy, Zenimax must have a lot of money. (Which only fits my firm belief that a company with a name like that is going to be behind the great zombie outbreak.) A sprinkling of their vast coffers has been used to create a very luscious cinematic for The Elder Scrolls Online, featuring your mum as the big baddie. They release this to mark the announcement of an Imperial Edition of the forthcoming MMO, a “premium collector’s edition”, or as I like to call them, The Expensive Ones For Mad People. Except, bloody hell, this game’s going to be expensive for everyone.

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Lego is releasing a new line of Star Wars sets called Microfighters, where characters get awesome mini-versions of ships like the Millennium Falcon and Star Destroyers to jet around in. The reason you care besides the fact that Star Wars Legos are great, is because this new commercial for them rules.

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