firehose

Pandora's Tower publisher XSEED Games announced that it has purchased Atlus Online from Index Digital Media, uniting both companies under the new name Marvelous USA.

The Irvine, California-based Marvelous USA is composed of all employees from the former XSEED Games team. The company hopes to expand its presence in the mobile and online game markets with the Atlus Online purchase. XSEED's Ken Berry will continue to head up the company's localization plans.

"Marvelous USA unifies our US operations under the global Marvelous brand while giving our customers topnotch products and support for both traditional and online social and mobile games," said Marvelous USA president and CEO Shinichi Suzuki. "Our XSEED Games console and PC brand will continue to offer the quality games and service for which it is known, and Marvelous Online gives us expanded reach into mobile and online social gaming markets."

The acquisition and rebranding brings no change to XSEED's current publishing plans.

XSEED acquires Atlus Online, rebrands as Marvelous USA originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 06 May 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Newly Declassified Memo Shows CIA Shaped Zero Dark Thirty's Narrative:

Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden revenge-porn flick Zero Dark Thirty was the biggest publicity coup for the CIA this century outside of the actual killing of Osama bin Laden. But the extent to which the CIA shaped the film has remained unclear. Now, a memo obtained by Gawker shows that the CIA actively, and apparently successfully, pressured Mark Boal to remove scenes that made them look bad from the Zero Dark Thirty script.

Well knock me over with a feather.

The Goth community breathes a collective sigh of relief as Bradley Cooper is replaced by another.

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You know, when Jedi Younglings aren't being mercilessly slaughtered and having their bodies stacked like cordwood by Anakin Skywalker, they can make some pretty solid fan flicks. This potential Episode VII is action-packed, well shot and definitely family friendly — honestly, Disney could do a lot worse.

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abulletforniki:

powerofvoodoo:

well this is rEALLY FUCKING CUTE.

IT’S THE CUTEST FUCKING THING I’VE EVER SEEN.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, an outspoken ally and supporter of same-sex marriage, said Monday he has been released by the team.

“It won’t be the happiest Mother’s Day for “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening. Homer and Marge Simpson can spar forever in animation, but according to a paid obituary in the Oregonian, Groening’s mother, Margaret “Marge” Groening, has passed away in Portland at age 94.”

- RIP Margaret Groening, the Inspiration for Marge Simpson on ‘The Simpsons’

twitterthecomic:

“dead space more like dad space” dad gimme back my xbox “more like call of daddy” get out of my room “more like grandfather auto IV” stop

— 808s&Human Sacrifice (@CRIMEGOLEM) January 21, 2013

The Dehogaflier in flight

Wild hogs have become a huge problem in places like Louisiana, rooting up fields in their quest for food and generally being extraordinary 200 pound pests. Given their size, smarts, and tenacity, feral hogs can be hard to kill—and that's when you can even find them amid all the vegetation. So how do you deal with the problem? If you're like electrical engineers Cy Brown and James Palmer, you strap a $5,000 thermal imaging camera to a remote-controlled airplane, then fly the thing around farmers' fields on weekend evenings until you spot a hog. Then you shoot it from the ground with a night vision-equipped rifle.

Brown and Palmer call their homemade, pig-hunting drone the Dehogaflier. The drone itself runs around $10,000 with all the gear attached, and it can feed live video to a screen on the ground, where the operator flies the plane with a joystick. It sounds expensive, but it can be far cheaper than hog hunting using other methods. (Hog hunting from helicopters is a real thing you can do; its practitioners even use industry-specific puns like "Black Hawg Down.")

Hog hunting from helicopter

A local Louisiana newspaper followed the men out into a field recently to watch the Dehogaflier do its work, and results came quickly:

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There are far too many people in the world who don’t understand that this is a fundamental principle of science. It’s not a discriminating process, but an unbiased hunt for the truth.

ABC News

Erbe: Why does sexual assault in the military persist? Newsday Raise your hand if you, like me, have a hard time understanding why the military seems powerless to end sexual assault within its ranks. This week, its efforts to obliterate sexual assaults on female personnel reached an unbelievable nadir. The Air Force ... Driving the day: Benghazi hearing - Spotlight on sexual assault - Durbin's new ...Politico all 494 news articles »

Sony worldwide studios president Shuhei Yoshida recently elaborated on the use and origin of the Dual Shock 4 controller's share button, one of the noteworthy features coming to the PlayStation 4. Namely, Yoshida noted in an interview with Japanese site 4Gamer (translated by Edge) that the share button will be limited to whatever use developers will allow.

"There will be parts of a game that the maker does not want people to be able to see," Yoshida said. "For example, on Vita, developers can in certain scenes disable the feature that lets users take a screenshot, and [the Share function] will have a similar mechanism. The creator may not want to make video of the final boss sharable, for instance."

Yoshida said his desire to see an accessible video sharing function come to life on the PS4 stemmed from his desire to play Dark Souls "all day long," which resulted in him watching videos of others playing the game since he was too busy.

Yoshida: PS4 share function can be disabled by developers originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 06 May 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A group of people use a unique bottle opener contraption to open an entire case of beer at the same time in this video by Sebastian Braun, first uploaded to YouTube by janbak1984.

via Daily Picks and Flicks

Guppy writes "Does Tylenol reduce existential distress? Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) has been used to relieve mild-to-moderate physical pain for over a century, yet its actual mechanism of action continues to be debated; modern research has demonstrated an intriguing connection with the body's endocannabinoid system, raising the question of whether it may also have subtle psychological effects as well. A recent paper claims Acetaminophen can alter our response to existential challenge; previous findings have suggested that it may blunt the pain of social rejection as well."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

"While we don't have any details to share today on specific titles, our development teams are already brimming with design ideas," said EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. "The EA Studios that will develop these games are some of the most innovative and popular creative teams in the world, and include DICE and Visceral, in addition to the BioWare team, which is already developing for the Star Wars franchise."

The financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. EA will develop and publish new Star Wars games for the "core gaming audience" across all interactive platforms and "most popular game genres." Disney will retain certain rights to mobile, social, tablet and online games.

EA obtains exclusive rights to Star Wars originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 06 May 2013 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here's a nice analysis of why, were you actually a female warrior of olden times, you would not have wanted to wear a breastplate that showed off your breasts. Shorter version: Room for boobs is good. But outlining each boob in steel could get you killed.

Portland, Oregon-based Brian Inman of TrendyCoasters has released a wonderful collection of Game of Thrones-themed beer coasters. They are all available to purchase online at the Etsy. Brian also has matching Game of Thrones fridge magnets and beer labels available.

images via TrendyCoasters

via Digg

Models wearing Paco Rabanne inspired ‘Chip-an-Outfit’ dresses by Mass Originals, 1968.  Kits included instructions, perforated plastic discs and small metal rings to make your own dress.

“Is your neighbor’s domesticated canine keeping you up at night? Well, just dip it in carbonite!”

To celebrate “Star Wars Day” on May the 4th, Milynn Sarley of The Gamer Chick released a parody video full of great Star Wars infomercials. It features a geek-filled cast: Bonnie Burton, Adrianne Curry, Grant Imahara and more.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…there were infomercials!

via Viral Viral Videos

This is amazing. British fans proved that they're still completely bonkers, with this parade of canine cosplay. Including a Superman dog, a Darth Vader dog... and a totally adorable dog cosplaying as K-9, the robot dog from Doctor Who. (Awwwwww.)

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