Fatbob

Online piracy is an issue that affects many industries, and indie game development is certainly no exception.

While some developers see piracy as an evil that needs to be rooted out as soon as possible, others are more open to the motivations behind it.

The average game fan may not have the financial means to try out all the new titles that come out every month, for example. While these people are not by any means entitled to a free copy, sometimes the human element resonates with developers.

Acid Wizard Studio, the three college friends from Poland behind the horror game Darkwood, started thinking about this when they recently received an email from a desperate young fan.

The person in question wasn’t a pirate. However, he did request a refund because he was worried that his parents would not like the extra spending.

“When we read the explanation from someone who wrote that he needed the refund because he didn’t want his parents to be stressed out when seeing the bill at the end of the month… well, it made us feel quite bad,” they explain on Imgur.

Acid Wizard Studio

The developers realized that this person wasn’t alone. Many people had already pirated the game, often for a similar reason, while others use unauthorized key reselling platforms.

How they decided to respond is quite unique though. They uploaded a free copy on The Pirate Bay.

“So we decided to do something about it! If you don’t have the money and want to play the game, we have a safe torrent on the Pirate Bay of the latest version of Darkwood (1.0 hotfix 3), completely DRM-free.

“There’s no catch, no added pirate hats for characters or anything like that.”

Below is a copy of the official torrent on The Pirate Bay. Just a few hours after the upload it has gained the attention of thousands of people, who are happily sharing it with others.

The official Darkwood torrent

The developers stress that anyone is welcome to grab a free copy. That said, they encourage people who like it and have the means, to buy it later. In any case, people should stay away from key sharing sites, referring to them as the “cancer” of the industry.

“We have just one request: if you like Darkwood and want us to continue making games, consider buying it in the future, maybe on a sale, through Steam, GOG or Humble Store. But please, please, don’t buy it through any key reselling site. By doing that, you’re just feeding the cancer that is leeching off this industry.”

People who are into horror games can download a copy of the game here, or buy it here. The Imgur post with the full story of the developers, spotted via PC Gamer, is well worth a read too.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

rudescience:

gif87a-com:

Ejecting a floppy disk in space

1.44MB of wheeee.

bext-k:

nudityandnerdery:

jaxblade:

harcules:

mma-gifs:

mma-gifs:

Sean O'Connell still has the best weigh-in stare downs

You guys, he’s back!

I didn’t know that I needed to see this until I saw it.

To put it simple. You DONT have to act tuff. To be a tough guy.  haha

So I looked this guy up. First, not shown in the first gif is the fact that he’s just wearing regular pants:

Also, he’s written a sci-fi novel and has spent time in Africa building a school and orphanage for abused teenage girls. So, good for that guy.

I love him

Goin' down to South Park this October should be an easy trip to make. The show that's known for its weeble-wobble animation was probably never going to be especially tasking on PCs. Now we have confirmation of that.

Ubisoft has released the minimum and recommended PC specs for South Park: The Fractured but Whole. As suspected, getting the thing to run shouldn't be much of a problem for most people. Here are the required specs to have a baseline experience with The Fractured but Whole (at 720p, around 60 frames per second, video preset low, and V-Sync off):

Read more...

nuggetemily:

ancaporado:

prognostiq:

odyssey420:

Glasses belonging to the Mormon preacher Hyrum Smith, 1844

can you imagine seeing some dude preaching about reincarnating on other planets while wearing these

Steampunk western sci-fi engage

honestly i can’t imagine someone wearing these talking about anything else other than reincarnating on other planets

Forget about the wildly controversial, and hugely disgusting, practice of putting pineapple on pizza. There's a new pineapple food trend in town. And, you're going to have some strong feelings about it. 

A swineapple is basically a pineapple wrapped in bacon and stuffed with pork loin. This rather unusual food pairing is the viral barbecue food trend of the summer, and countless food bloggers are posting their own swineapple recipes.  

More about Food, Recipes, Pineapple, Food Trend, and Pineapple Pizza

This Irish dad thought that his daughter's christening was the perfect time for an exorcism joke and his girlfriend wasn't amused.

A Twitter user called Ste tweeted screenshots of the hilarious Facebook invitations he received to a christening.

The initial invite to the exorcism was amended just 26 minutes later.

Ste was first invited to The Exorcism of Saoirse Anne. His cousin invited people to join him as "a man in a sheet throws a bitta water over over Saoirse and expels the demons that inhabit her soul." Read more...

More about Watercooler, Facebook, Twitter, Uk, and Funny

Josephsen Hardwood Floor Company has a Facebook page on which they post the Employee of the Week every week. The "employee" is always a supervisor. They are the pets of the homes where they install floors. Above, you see Sophie, who made the list in April.

My dad takes pictures of the dogs at the houses he works on and posts them on his business' Facebook page as employee of the week pic.twitter.com/BrkYKdr1lT

— dill2ill (@_illdill_) August 1, 2017

There are plenty of dogs, and also cats, and once a donkey made the cut. -via Metafilter

nerd-brarian:

stuffmomnevertoldyou:

Y’all, Lisa Frank went and made Tarot cards (and Death is a bunny riding a rainbow horse)

Holy shit, I have to figure out who needs this as a gift.

We just spent the last hour watching a video, embedded below, that is the most comprehensive treasure trove of information regarding a subject that we should all know more about — sniffing logic signals. Sure, it’s a long video, but [Joel] of [OpenTechLab] leaves no stone unturned.

At the center of the video is the open-source sigrok logic capture and analyzer. It’s great because it supports a wide variety of dirt cheap hardware platforms, including the Salae logic and its clones. Logic is where it shines, but it’ll even log data from certain scopes, multimeters, power supplies, and more. Not only can sigrok decode raw voltages into bits, but it can interpret the bits as well using protocol decoder plugins written in Python. What this all means is that someday, it will decode everything. For free.

[Joel] knows a thing or two about sigrok because he started the incredibly slick PulseView GUI project for it, but that doesn’t stop him from walking you through the command-line interface, which is really useful for automated data capture and analysis, if that’s your sort of thing. Both are worth knowing.

But it’s actually the hardware details where this video shines. He breaks down all of the logic probes on his bench, points out their design pros and cons, and uses that basis to explain just what kind of performance you can expect for $20 or so. You’ll walk away with an in-depth understanding of the whole toolchain, from grabber probes to GUIs.

Indeed, toward the end, [Joel] simulates the parasitic inductance of using flying-lead connectors and demonstrates how it destroys high-frequency signals. Even if the logic analyzer were able to sample fast enough, no signal makes it that far. But he doesn’t wave his hands around the problem — he shows you. And then he mentions hard-core-hacker-friendly tricks to get up into the hundreds of megahertz, with a hat-tip to [Bunnie Huang].

In our opinion sigrok, and the el cheapo hardware logic probes that it supports deserve a place in every hacker’s toolbox. This video is the best introduction to the software, and the topic in general, that we’ve ever seen.

We’ve featured two other videos from the [OpenTechLab], one on the ICE40 FPGA and one on high-frequency synthesis, that you might also like. So put away whatever brain-rotting Hollywood blockbuster you have on the shelf, and make some popcorn for quality nerd time.

Filed under: hardware

You’ve seen it in a hundred films, the unmarked spy van, packed to the gills with screens and equipment, but it’s not often that you see the real thing up close, in real life. But thanks to the wonders of eBay, one lucky bidder was recently able to purchase a fully furnished FBI surveillance from 1989 that looks like it’s straight out of the movies.

The recently closed auction out of North Carolina, listed a vintage Dodge Ram 350 van in great condition, which also just so happened to be a fully-furnished, and totally awesome, surveillance vehicle. From the outside, the brown van doesn’t seem that notable save for a weird tube attached to the roof and the darkly tinted passenger windows. But in the back is an array of still-functioning spy gear, including video screens, recording equipment, a port for a periscope, and, yes, a toilet. There are even secret cameras hidden on the outside of the vehicle.

In a video tour of the van recorded by the sellers, they say the vehicle was used in a FBI stakeouts, and that the van even still had some of the original investigation tapes inside.

The winning bid for the van came in at $18,700 from a private buyer. The new owner's identity is unknown, but we can only hope that they bought the van for some next-level Sneakers cosplay.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the first time Steven Spielberg tinkered with the idea of life from another planet coming to Earth. To celebrate, the sci-fi classic is coming back to theaters.

Following a cryptic teaser not too long ago, Columbia Pictures has officially announced the return of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in theaters in September, and they’ve debuted an ominous trailer to tease the film’s return.

Find out when you can catch Close Encounters of the Third Kind in theaters again below.

Here’s the trailer for the theatrical re-release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind from Entertainment Weekly:

For those who haven’t seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind (shame on you), here’s the official synopsis:

Richard Dreyfuss stars as cable worker Roy Neary, who along with several other stunned bystanders experience a close encounter of the first kind – witnessing UFOs soaring across the sky. After this life-changing event, the inexplicable vision of a strange, mountain-like formation haunts him. He becomes obsessed with discovering what it represents, much to the dismay of his wife and family. Meanwhile, bizarre occurrences are happening around the world. Government agents have close encounters of the second kind – discovering physical evidence of extraterrestrial visitors in the form of a lost fighter aircraft from World War II and a stranded military ship that disappeared decades earlier only to suddenly reappear in unusual places. Roy continues to chase his vision to a remote area where he and the agents follow the clues that have drawn them to reach a site where they will have a close encounter of the third kind – contact.

The trailer above adds a little more intensity to the proceedings than exists in the film. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is more along the lines of thoughtful sci-fi like Arrival, where there’s suspense and mystery, but also genuine emotion and much of your investment that comes from becoming attached to the characters played by Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr and French filmmaker Francois Truffaut. As with any Spielberg film, the family dynamic is a big part of the movie as well.

As someone who was born in 1986, this is one of Steven Spielberg’s films that I never got to witness on the big screen, so you can bet that I’ll be heading to theaters to check this one out for the 40th anniversary. The only downside is that while this is a 4K remaster of the film, it’s also the director’s cut that will be returning to theaters, which isn’t quite as good as the theatrical cut.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind will return to theaters for one week on September 1, 2017. There isn’t a list of theaters available for this anniversary engagement yet, but stay tuned to your local cineplexes offerings to see if they’ll be showing it.

The post Steven Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ Returns to Theaters This Fall appeared first on /Film.

Ryzen gets desktops back in the black

AMD wasn't able to turn a profit this quarter, but analysts are bullish on the chipmaker's solid Ryzen CPU sales.…

Premature babies are some of the most vulnerable patients in a hospital, and they also need some of the most dedicated care. Treating these tiny patients in the neonatal unit, or NICU, can be a challenge, especially when it comes to magnetic resonanc...

outermostthoughts:

twosatans:

twosatans:

twosatans:

My boyfriend is out of his mind

Due to popular demand

Look what you’ve all caused. I have to go home to this.

a s c e n d e d

(262): Its like the floor is slow but life is fast?
(1-262): I see you found the nyquil...

A team of Stanford scientists have created what could be the perfect "eye" for autonomous vehicles and delivery drones thus far. It's a 4D camera that can capture nearly 140 degrees of information, allowing it to gather more information than conventi...

Austrian potato salad is a lighter, brighter version of the dish that's simultaneously more refreshing (there's no mayonnaise in it, and relatively little fat overall) and deeper in flavor, thanks to the incorporation of chicken broth and the savoriness it brings. Read More

In Hamburg, NY, Kevin Karas' home surveillance camera captured a tornado touching down and lifting his car and pretty much everything else around it right up into the air.

(more…)

The mainstream media’s silence over Klaus Eberwein’s death is deafening. Eberwein was a former Haitian government official who was expected to expose the extent of Clinton Foundation corruption and malpractice next week. He has been found dead in Miami at the age of 50.

The circumstances surrounding Eberwein’s death are also nothing less than unpalatable. According to Miami-Dade’s medical examiner records supervisor, the official cause of death is “gunshot to the head.“ Eberwein’s death has been registered as “suicide” by the government. But not long before his death, he acknowledged that his life was in danger because he was outspoken on the criminal activities of the Clinton Foundation. 

Eberwein was a fierce critic of the Clinton Foundation’s activities in the Caribbean island, where he served as director general of the government’s economic development agency, Fonds d’assistance économique et social, for three years. “The Clinton Foundation, they are criminals, they are thieves, they are liars, they are a disgrace,” Eberwein said at a protest outside the Clinton Foundation headquarters in Manhattan last year. Eberwein was due to appear on Tuesday before the Haitian Senate Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission where he was widely expected to testify that the Clinton Foundation misappropriated Haiti earthquake donations from international donors. But this “suicide” gets even more disturbing…

Eberwein was only 50-years-old and reportedly told acquaintances he feared for his life because of his fierce criticism of the Clinton Foundation.  His close friends and business partners were taken aback by the idea he may have committed suicide. “It’s really shocking,” said friend Gilbert Bailly. “We grew up together; he was like family.”

During and after his government tenure, Eberwein faced allegations of fraud and corruption on how the agency he headed administered funds. Among the issues was FAES’ oversight of the shoddy construction of several schools built after Haiti’s devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.  But, according to Eberwein, it was the Clinton Foundation who was deeply in the wrong – and he intended to testify and prove it on Tuesday.

According to Eberwein, a paltry 0.6 percent of donations granted by international donors to the Clinton Foundation with the express purpose of directly assisting Haitians actually ended up in the hands of Haitian organizations. A further 9.6 percent ended up with the Haitian government. The remaining 89.8 percent – or $5.4 billion – was funneled to non-Haitian organizations. –WND

Eberwein was expected to testify against the Clinton Foundation in court and ends up committing suicide shortly before.  Where have we heard this before?  Untimely deaths seem to follow the Clinton’s around, and this one especially is probably something – considering since the mainstream media is silent about this death.

After months of teasers and social media hints, Neill Blomkamp is getting the ball rolling with his experimental short film project Oats Studios. The studio’s latest release is a creepy 22-minute sci-fi short starring Dakota Fanning and Jose Pablo Cantillo as they try to escape an amorphous monster in a remote outpost in the Arctic.

The short, Zygote, is the third film released by Oats Studio in the past month that has been co-written and directed by Blomkamp.

Zygote seems like a cross between The Thing and Alien, with Fanning playing a hapless subordinate to Cantillo’s injured commanding officer, the lone survivors in an Arctic mining operation that has been beset upon by some genetically modified beast.

As they try to escape, they find that the monster has the ability to absorb all the people its killed into its body, making it nearly unkillable — as well as appropriately grotesque from the director who brought you plenty of body horror in District 9.

What the short film lacks in original storytelling it makes up for in intriguing graphics and character designs — the image of the pulsating, amorphous form of the monster will definitely be seared in my memory.

Zygote is the third short released by Oats Studios on their YouTube channel. The first, released about a month ago, was Rakka, sci-fi war short starring Sigourney Weaver; and the second, Firebase, pitted Vietnam War soldiers against zombie-like creatures.

You can see Firebase below:

There was also a three-minute long, more humorous short starring Blomkamp muse Sharlto Copley as God.

Oats Studios acts as a breeding ground for Blomkamp to test out ideas and concepts that could potentially turn into feature films in the future. After dealing with disappointing critical and commercial failures like Chappie and Elysium, it’s a good strategy for Blomkamp, who seemed to have lost his zeal after he exploded on the scene with his striking debut feature, District 9.

It’s also a return to Blomkamp’s roots, who first caught Hollywood’s attention with his short films Alive in Joburg, which eventually became District 9, and the Halo-inspired Landfall.

Blomkamp and Oats Studios are releasing the first series of short films online for public viewing as “Volume 1,” but are offering extra features and more shorts from “Volume 2” on Steam.

The post It’s Dakota Fanning Versus a Monster in Neill Blomkamp’s Creepy Short ‘Zygote’ appeared first on /Film.