Paul Brownlee

This should have been the promotion art for Final Fantasy VI. Sabin is awesome and Cyan’s expression is priceless.

I know I have already explained it before, but Sabin is hands down my favorite Final Fantasy character ever. I know it’s mostly due to the the simple fact that Sabin is awesome, but I also think that there are other contributing factors as well.

Nostalgia definitely plays a major factor. When I was playing Final Fantasy VI, as a kid, that was definitely apex of my video game obsession. Sure, I still love them now, but I know there will never be a time like that in my life again. OH… And the fact that Final Fantasy VI is the greatest Final Fantasy game ever. That definitely helps too (It can’t hurt). But mainly because Sabin is awesome. The end!

I understand that Woody is suppose to be John Marston from Red Dead Redemption, but I keep seeing Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead. Whatever…

Okay, let’s break down the Pixar characters and who they are suppose to be portraying. Buzz Lightyear, from Toy Story, as Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect series. Carl Fredricksen, from Up, as “Old Snake” from Metal Gear Solid 4. Remy and Alfredo Linguini, from Ratatouille, are Wander and a colossi from Shadow of the Colossus. James P. “Sulley” Sullivan and Mary “Boo” Gibbs, from Monsters, Inc., are Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us. I already explained who Sheriff Woody Pride was and lastly, Merida, from Brave, as Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series. Ugh…

Man, putting all the details about which Pixar character is which video game character took longer than I expected to type, but it was worth it. And I learned what Boo’s last name was in the process. So it wasn’t all for nothing.

sl4shd0rk writes "Michael Powell, A former United States FCC chairman, is pushing for 'usage-based internet access' which he says is good for consumers who are 'accustomed to paying for what they use'. Apparently Time Warner and Comcast (maybe others) are already developing plans to set monthly rates based on bandwidth usage. The reasoning on the NCTA website lays out the argument behind Powell's plan."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nintendo have announced a new Wii U Deluxe bundle for North America, that will include both New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U for $300.

Read New Wii U Deluxe Bundle Includes New Super Mario Bros. And Luigi U For $300 on Siliconera!

You are going to watch this video, and after you watch it, you will buy a Hobonichi Techo planner ⊟

The 2014 edition of this diary/daily planner — brought to you by Earthbound/Mother series creator Shigesato Itoi’s company 1101 — is now available to purchase in English! You can even buy it through an English online shop now, instead of having to navigate a Japanese-language store.

Regular readers will remember that I loved the 2013 Hobonichi Techo so, so much. I already love the 2014 edition, after watching this video.

BUY Mother 3/Earthbound, Hobonichi Techo, upcoming games

Even if humans knew 100% that this was the outcome of creating Pokémon in real life, do you honestly think it would stop them from attempting to do it? Yeah, me neither.

The joke about a rational horror movie where the characters behave intelligently is an old one, but Joe Nicolosi's "HELL NO" is a very well-made example of the species.

HELL NO: The Sensible Horror Film

power up!

Open-world hacking game Watch_Dogs has been delayed to spring 2014, Ubisoft announced this morning via their developer blog.

Read Watch_Dogs Delayed To Spring 2014 on Siliconera!

Gold, limited edition The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 3DS XL bundle releasing in Europe next month ⊟

This releases on November 22 for £199.99 ($319), and comes with a downloadable copy of the game. Retail copies of the game in Europe, by the way, has a reversible cover with the all-gold/U.S. art and a full-color version.

If this isn’t enough proof (along with the Fire Emblem 3DS XL bundle and the Chotto Mario handhelds) that Europe is winning the special edition systems war as far as Western territories go, Nintendo also intends to release the amazing Year of Luigi 3DS XL there on November 1 for £179.99 ($287).

I’m 98 percent sure Nintendo will bring the Zelda 3DS XL at least to the U.S. around Black Friday, just like it did with the Zelda 3DSes and DS Lites.

PREORDER The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, upcoming games

With The Walking Dead's fourth season premiere and Halloween almost upon us, the living dead are back in full-force.

Zombies are scary. We humans are evolutionarily pre-programmed to abhor the dead bodies of our own species. It's a natural reaction, helping healthy individuals avoid fatal pathogens.

The thought of being eaten alive is a natural fear, and when it's your own species doing the eating, it's even more terrifying.

Relax. Next time you're lying in bed, unable to fall asleep thanks to the vague anxiety of half-rotten corpses munching on you in the dark, remember this: if there was ever a zombie uprising, wildlife would kick its ass.

To enjoy zombie horror, you suspend disbelief and put aside some of science's rules. That said, if we assume zombies can't spread whatever is causing them to reanimate to other species, and that they are relatively slow moving—both true (so far! — Ed.) of Walking Dead zombies—there are more than enough wild animals out there to dispatch the undead.

That's because zombies are essentially walking carrion, and Mother Nature doesn't let anything go to waste.

Carrion is on the menu for a vast number of species, from tiny micro-organisms to the largest carnivores.

Here's just some of the North American wildlife that would make short work of a zombie horde.

Photo: USFWS Pacific Southwest Region (cc)

Birds: Winged Zombie Annihilators

Many birds feed themselves by scavenging on dead things. The two vulture species native to North America, the turkey vulture and the black vulture, flock up to make short work of any corpses they find. Both vulture species are dwarfed by the massive California condor whose wingspan can reach 10 feet and who also relish carrion. A sluggish zombie wouldn't stand a change against one of these giants, or a flock of vultures for that matter. California condors are endangered, so a zombie apocalypse could really give a boost to their population by providing them with an abundance of food.

This video shows a juvenile California condor ripping the heart out of a dead carcass, surrounding by ravens picking up scraps. Ravens are not small birds, and just look at the size of this baby condor in comparison.

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Ravens, crows, and magpies are expert scavengers as well, in addition to being bold and extremely intelligent. Many species of gulls, known for their brash behavior when it comes to scoring a meal, would also gladly feed off slow-moving zombies in coastal areas. These birds usually require other animals to break through or break down the tough skin and hide of their carrion meals, so they'd have to wait until the zombies decomposed a bit or were dismembered by others animals, but once that happened, nothing would stop them from devouring the undead with gusto.

Raven Symmetry by ingridtaylar.

Despite being expert hunters, eagles are not above scavenging. Bald eagles in particular make carrion a regular part of their diet, and with their huge talons, they're not afraid to dispatch animals that are near-death--or undead. The slightly larger golden eagle is no stranger to scavenging either, and has also been documented attacking and killing animals as large as deer, so a torpid zombie wouldn't pose much of a challenge.

Watch these bald eagles and crows strip a deer carcass down to nothing in the space of 48 hours.

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Mammals: Zombie Dismemberment Crew

North America's large mammal predators would be more than a match for zombies. We have two bear species, brown (or grizzly) and black bears. Male brown bears can weigh in at 1,000 pounds and are not afraid of humans. They can deliver a bite of 1200 pounds per square inch and have long, sharp claws designed to rip open logs and flip boulders in search of insects and other small critters to eat. They would easily tear apart rotting zombie flesh.  Black bears are much smaller and typically run from humans, but even a black bear when approached or cornered would make short work of a zombie. Both bear species have an incredible sense of smell and both love to eat carrion, so even if zombies didn't approach them, the bears eventually would learn that these walking bags of flesh make good eating.

Grizzly Bear by Scott_Calleja.

Like black bears, gray wolves are very shy of humans and typically run away at the first sight of us. Also like bears, they are no strangers to scavenging and they would also no doubt eventually begin to take advantage of the easy pickings presented by lumbering zombies. Coyotes are far less shy than wolves and can happily live alongside humans, including in the heart of our cities. These intelligent canids would quickly learn that they could take down zombies one by one, especially the eastern populations of coyote which are much larger and bolder due to past interbreeding with wolves and domestic dogs.

Unlike bears, wolves and coyotes, mountain lions prefer fresh meat and don't typically feed on carrion, other than what they kill themselves. Like all cats they hunt by stealth and are irresistibly attracted to any signs of weakness in potential prey. Unlike most other North American predators, mountain lions are known to perceive humans as a potential prey item. Any zombie shuffling through mountain lion territory (which can be surprisingly close to our cities) would trigger those feline predatory instincts and would likely end up with one of these big cats sneak-attacking from behind and delivering a spine severing bite to the back of the neck.

Jaguar Woodland Park Zoo by symonty.

Even bigger and more powerful than mountain lions are jaguars, which range through Mexico and are still sometimes found in the desert southwest of the United States. Jaguars also hunt by stealth and have a special technique to quickly dispatch their prey: a skull crushing bite to the head with huge canine teeth. A jaguar bite delivers 2,000 pounds of pressure per inch, which is the most powerful mammalian bite on the continent.  That, combined with a killing technique that seems specifically designed to dispatch zombies, makes the jaguar a natural zombie predator.

Watch this video of a jaguar making short work of a caiman. A zombie wouldn't have any remote chance against these big cats.

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It's not just mammalian carnivores that would take apart zombies. On the Walking Dead, Rick's horse fell victim to a horde of zombies in season one, but I can only chalk that up to the fact that it was a domestic beast that didn't view humans (even undead ones) as a threat. Wild hoofed mammals would not be so passive as to let zombies to get close enough to swarm and overwhelm them.

In fact, hoofed mammals are more dangerous to humans than carnivores. Moose attack and kill more people than bears do every year. They consider humans a threat, but as the largest living deer species, they are not afraid of human-sized creatures. If a zombie got too close, a moose would stomp it into an immobile pile of gore without a second's hesitation.

This video shows moose fighting technique, which involves delivering massively powerful blow with sharp hooves.

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And moose are nothing compared to bison. Bison are one-ton of muscle, horn, and thick hide. They do not tolerate being approached and would easily gore and trample as many zombies as dared approached them like so many flies. Watch this video of what a bison can do to a car with a flick of its head, and think about what a zombified human body would look like on the receiving end of this bison's wrath.

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Speaking of hoofed mammals ramming cars, this video of bull elk will give you some perspective on the size of this large deer species and their aggression during the breeding season. Bull elk are armed with giant antlers with spear-like tips that would impale and dismember a pack of zombies.

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Mountain goats would probably not encounter too many zombies simply due to the inaccessibility of the steep mountain slopes they call home. Every so often, however, they do head down to more manageable terrain. Even though they are not large, they can be fierce and are armed with dagger-like horns, as this unfortunate hiker learned.

mountain_goat_myatt by Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

Reptiles: Scaly Zombie Clean-Up Committee

Most North American reptiles are small lizards, turtles and snakes and wouldn't pose much threat to zombies. Ironically, it would probably be venomous rattlesnakes that would be at most risk from zombie attack.  When camouflage fails them, their survival tactic is to draw attention to themselves with a loud rattle, and then hold their ground, striking out at anything that approaches them.  With no circulatory system or living tissue, snake venom wouldn't have any effect on zombies and they'd easily be able to pick up the snake and eat it.

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) by rarvesen, on Flickr

That said, we do have a few reptiles particularly suited for zombie clean-up. Two species of crocodilians call North America home: the American alligator and the American crocodile.  American crocodiles are extremely endangered and found only in limited areas of Florida, but like California condors, they could benefit from an influx and slow-moving, half-rotten prey staggering about their wetland habitat.

Alligators are far more numerous and are found throughout Florida west to Texas and along the coastal plain wetlands as far north as the Carolinas. Once almost totally wiped out, alligators are now numerous due to protections under the Endangered Species Act, and sometimes even show up in people's backyards. 'Gators can grow to be 13 feet long and deliver an extremely powerful bite with over 2,000 pounds of pressure per inch.

Both species are stealth hunters and can burst from the water at surprising speeds to pluck large prey from the shoreline. They are quite capable of tearing a human-sized meal into bite sized chunks of meat with their tooth-studded, vice-like mouths. Soft zombie flesh would melt in their mouths like butter.

Alligator 1, by Bogeskov

Any zombie that staggered into fresh water ponds, lakes streams or swamps would likely fall prey to aquatic turtles too, who, with their beak like jaws would happily feast on soft zombie flesh. Painted turtles, river cooters and sliders of all sorts make carrion a part of their normal diet and dispatch with any zombies with "death by a thousand bites."  The ubiquitous common snapping turtle specializes in carrion-eating and as their name suggests can tear off decent sized chunks and swallow them whole. In fact,  snapping turtles have been used by police to find corpses underwater due to their relish for dead flesh.

Common snapping turtles are dwarfed by the alligator snapping turtle, which is the worlds largest freshwater turtle and can weigh over 200 pounds. Disguised to look like rotten leaves at the mucky bottom of the water bodies in which they live, they are the perfect foil for any zombie that ends up in the water. Check out the massive head on this one.

alligator snapping turtle by me and the sysop

Decomposers: Masters of the Zombie Buffet

At the end of the day, however, it's not the North America's mega-fauna that pose the most threat to zombies. In nature, there are a whole host of tiny creatures whose main purpose is to feed upon and break down the flesh of the dead: the decomposers. Zombies, with their rotting flesh are obviously not immune to these decomposers (what do you think causes the rotting effect?), many of which are too small to see with the bare eye. Bacteria, fungi, molds, insects such as fly maggots or flesh-eating beetles, and other invertebrates all make up nature's diminutive clean-up crew that can obliterate a dead body in surprisingly little time. The clumsy undead wouldn't have the dexterity to pick off these decomposers, even if they could see or feel them. It would just be a matter of time before decomposers stripped off all soft tissue, including brains, and left zombies nothing more than immobile, hollowed-out skeletons.

Not convinced? Check out this video of a rabbit being consumed down to the bone by wildlife decomposers in just a week.

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Here is a time-lapse video showing Dermestid flesh-eating beetles consuming the flesh off a series of birds for the Natural History Museum of London. These beetle are easy to raise in captivity and only feed on (un)dead flesh, so they pose no harm to the living. Survivors of a zombie apocalypse could raise these beetles by the millions and drop them onto zombies to do their work. It might take a few weeks per zombie, but they'd get the job done.

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Here are some maggots going to town on a carcass. Flies can literally produce millions of grotesque larvae in no time at all. There would be no way for zombies to escape these flying insects or avoid being utterly engulfed with writhing, insatiable maggots.

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Zombies No Match for Wildlife, Wildlife No Match for Humans

So there you have it. Even if zombies managed to feed on smaller, slow-moving animals, or mob and overtake a few individuals of the larger species, it's pretty clear that on the whole, zombies, like living humans, are no match for much of North America's wildlife…at least not on a one-on-one basis. In reality, however, the battle between wildlife and humans is not going so well for the wildlife.

Sadly, much of our continent's wildlife has disappeared and many species continue to decline. Habitat loss, invasive species and climate change are just some of the human-induced challenges our wildlife are facing. You can get involved protecting wildlife with the National Wildlife Federation and help make sure that we have a future filled with these amazing species.

itwbennett writes "Until now Sony has done a pretty good job of keeping future Playstation 4 owners happy. But last week they finally hit a rock when Game Informer posted an article about headset compatibility. At launch, USB headsets that work with the PS3 won't work with the PS4. Sony says that eventually there will be a system update that addresses the problem but for now, even your Sony-branded USB headset won't work. If you use a Bluetooth headset (as most PS3 owners do) the news is even worse. Bluetooth headsets will not be supported and no update is planned to address this. ITworld's Peter Smith is shedding a tear for his $250 Turtle Beach PX5 headset."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tiny Galaga cabinet made from a DS ⊟

One DS Lite, one copy of Namco Museum DS, and … a ton of work later, redditor button-masher created a miniature arcade cabinet. I’d like to direct your attention to the tiny coin door, with its tiny lights, and the exquisitely miniature little joystick. Amazing. (Via @Greenspeak)

BUY Namco Museum DS, upcoming games