SONY, THE LONG-TIME MANUFACTURER OF THE POPULAR PLAYSTATION CONSOLE, HAS TAKEN THE LEAD; AGAIN.
Since its launch November 2013 in North America, the company is reporting a whopping 30.2 million consoles sold to date, prior to Black Friday.
Microsoft did perform well in November, however, citing that “last month was our best November ever in the US for Xbox One, setting new records for console sales.”
Apparently beating the Japanese manufacturer in October in sales was not enough, as they have taken a back seat back into the number two position in units sold.
Microsoft led the charge in its launch of the X-box One with bundle after bundle, and also cutting its original price of the unit from $499 to $349, and then another $50 on Black friday, to $299. Often times with a choice of game(s).
Sony has quickly met that offer, and has risen to meet the special deal. The price tag on their unit is currently sitting at $299 with the choice of the Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection (3 games) or Star Wars Battlefront.
Supply and demand seems to be copacetic compared to last year’s launch of both consoles, where demand was too high and units were sparse.
Either way, for us, it is getting next gen tech into our hands at affordable prices. That is the bottom line.
Sony has the crown, for now. Your move, Microsoft.
Which console is your main? Sound off in the poll or the comments section below!
The Trailer for Bryan Singer’s 4th foray and 9th film in the X-men franchise is finally here!
The preview is opened perfectly with an ominous tone set by the lyrics from Snow Ghosts – The Hunted, and our first look at the new Jean Grey as played by actress Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones, Barely Lethal), warning of a vision of impending doom.
An ancient evil has awakened and threatens humans and mutants alike. (Haven’t I heard this plot somewhere before?) and wants to make a new world from the rubble (Definitely sounds familiar).
The difference here is he is the “First Mutant” and has been around for thousands of years and believes that all mutants are his children.
TOP THINGS TO TAKE NOTE OF:
1. Telepathic Jean Grey/Sansa Stark
2. Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique is back, with the (Old) New Crew.
Seen from right to left are Beast, Mystique, Dr. Moira MacTaggert, and in the back rows we have Quicksilver? Young Jean Grey and Cyclops.
3. Nightcrawler is back!
4. So are Jubilee and Angel.
5. Quicksilver makes a Speedy Return.
6. Apocalypse
The Ancient one (no not Cthulhu). Apparently he can grow in size? This might be a catering to fans griping about his size in early photos, as Apocalypse is generally a gigantic behemoth. Unless of course, this is some sort of dream sequence..
7. The 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse
Magneto
Psylocke
Storm
Arch-Angel
8. X-Men, Assemble!
Jean Grey, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Scott Summers/Cyclops.
9.Cyclops loses it, Again. (With no shades)
It’s like a repeat of an episode of Scooby Doo, where Velma loses her glasses and runs into the monster, but instead you shoot freaking laser beams from your eyes.
And finally, Number 10, what we have all been so eagerly waiting for….
10. BALD PROFESSOR XAVIER
Yes. Bald. Finally.
We assume he has fully succumbed to his treatment with his spinal injury and his powers having a direct correlation, choosing his powers ultimately over the ability to walk (as seen in Days of Future Past), but balding as a side effect, now resembling the Professor Xavier we know.
Honorable mention: No Wolverine.
Wolverine was actually one of the 4th horseman, the Horseman of Death.
Seeing as Hugh Jackman is saving his last Wolverine outing for the last Wolverine solo film, it’s sort of a shame we aren’t going to see him become Apocalypse dark minion.
“The People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its website that Bitcoin isn’t a currency with “real meaning” and that its legal status was different from other currencies.”
“However, the powerful bank stopped short of imposing a ban on individuals using Bitcoins.
Just over 2 million bitcoins were traded in the past month on China’s biggest exchange, BTC China, according to bitcoincharts.com, which follows trading in the cybercurrency.”
We have lived to see another legendary human being come and go.
Nelson was most noted for his anti-colonial and anti-apartheid stances. This did not prevent him from having received 250+ honors, including being a 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
He is held with the highest regards in south-africa, some tribes refer to him as father.
May “The Father of The Nation” rest in peace.
1918-2013
He was 95 years old.
( I personally need to brush up on my Mandela, I want to watch Invictus now, see Morgan Freeman’s performance of an iconic person for the first time)
PS: I find it disgusting that the “MEDIA” is still raging over Paul Walker (R.I.P) an actor, over a national savior and activist. This is why I read the news.
1: Since when did mid-season finales become OK? Especially in two parts? What happened to 2 hour season finales? Remember those? The satisfaction. Harry Potter must have had some part in ruining that. (Sorry Harry Potter fans.. I’m J.K…Rowling?) Now we live in a world with these two part mid-season finales (The Walking Dead had one mid-season finale, but still.. February?) leaving viewers grasping palm-grooves into their armrests with these cliffhanger fragments.
2. No Barry didn’t get his powers in this part of the finale. I know, I know. I wanted it too.. But its coming.
These two dudes are toast.
It all starts off with a bang, (or at least a really huge metal door getting pounded off its hinges) as Queen Consolidated is broken into by what seems to be a meta-human. Brother Blood has been trying to craft super-humans with a serum that Ollie has hinted at knowing about before.
Dumb and Dumber here start shooting wildly and with apparently no accuracy at what has made its way into the building..
This guy’s face is so priceless. Deer in headlights man.
Both guards are neutralized VERY fast by the attacker (Cyrus Gold, as revealed by Blood before)
And he apparently makes off with whatever he busted in for.
Back at Queen Consolidated, Moira Queen, makes her return to the company. With Oliver’s assurance that it is her company too, and Isabelle’s apparent distaste. She asks Ollie for a talk in the hallway. (You know what that means when she says it like that.. SH^@ is about to hit the fan)
Isabelle then continues the conversation by telling Oliver that it would not be wise, as a CEO, to give the company back to his mother’s hands.
(being that she was acquitted by a jury of basically genocidal holocaust.. while under the evil control of The Dark Archer.. of course)
*Queue whimsical music*
Enter Barry Allen.
Oh. Whats that you’re holding in your hand there that the camera is zooming in on? S.T.A.R. Labs is about to complete their Particle Accelerator? (That’s Pretty awesome)
Oh hey Barry, lets try to catch a cab..
Nope.
Don’t stand there Barry you might get hit by-
..A wall of water from a passing car.
(I love how they put the spotlight on his eccentric nature, he is clumsy and always late, which is ironic since he is a CSI. Reminded me a lot of Peter-Parker’s miss-happenings before he became Spider-Man.)
Back at the break-in, a person is revealed on the security footage. Thus making Officer Lance’s previous statement of 3-4 individuals kind of iffy since more of them aren’t doing the dirty work.
Enter Barry Allen-san.. Again.
Oh hey Barry. You finally made it. Now don’t go into some awkward rant about how late you were and how you got there..Ope!
Too Late.
This leads to the best quote of the episode in my opinion.
Barry: “But, I’m here now so..”
Officer Lance: “That’s great, who the hell are ya?”
Oliver: “And do your parent’s know your here?”
Obviously cracking at his young looks, accompanied by his wondrous demeanor and childish appearance.
But no! I am Barry, Allen. Crime Scene Investigator!
Oh yeah, we were working a similar case in central city, so my superior sent me here.
…………………………. Seems Legit.
(Bullsh!%)
Barry Then goes on to lay it all out, that the perp was only one man.. one Very strong man.
He also gives some pivotal evidence to the gang, that the robber was after a centrifuge. But not only just any centrifuge… AN INDUSTRIAL ONE.. with a Q logo on the side!! ooohh, ahhhh.
See this big hole where your Sh@#% is missing? Yeah.
Barry then re-assures his “one-man” theory, and he and Felicity exchange nerd words over what a centrifuge does. Which leads to an awkward moment.
“What was your name again?”
” Barry, Allen” (Bond Debonaire)
“Felicity…Smoake”
( For real dawg you just gonna come up in here like you own the place and try to steal my not-girlfriend but co-worker which I have much sexual tension with and have not banged yet but is still single and within fair game? And think its OKAY???)
Meanwhile, back on LOST ahem I mean, the island in the past, Slade Wilson isn’t looking to good and asks for a break, Ollie then takes this time to
talk to Shado.
They have a brief conversation, and she asks him how he knows that girl? (Sarah, The Canary, in Blonde) Oliver then explains that she was on the love boat when it went down.
Shado then asks who the girl in the picture is that Oliver always holds. He explains that it is her sister (Laurel Lance). Thus making Oliver look like the biggest man-whore ass ever.
Back to the future, at Queen Consolidated.. It’s Barry! He asks where to set up his stuff. Awkward.
Of course Felicity set it up for him to show up.
Ollie pulls her to the side and wants to know why this Allen be trifling on his territory.
Later on, in the hopes of cheering his mother Moira up (Recently acquitted genocide lady?) by offering to throw a party for her welcome home, which Thea agrees to, as its in the Queen family tradition to find reasons to get drunk.
Barry! Hey bud. Asking all kinds of questions about the vigilante, why he is green, where he got the color from, possibly a jungle.. all of this makes Felicity un-easy bro. Vigilante talk doesn’t come till the third date. Take a step back.
Inquisitive as she is, this makes Felicity wonder why he is so interested in The Arrow?
I knew you would play the sympathy card Barry.
He explains that his mother was murdered, and that no one caught the killer.
“Maybe he could have”.
At the mansion, creepy Malcolm Merlyn (The Dark Archer), comes out from behind the curtains, bat-man style, and tells Moira that Thea, their illegitimate love child, must be told that her mom was sleeping around back in the day while her father was still alive.
This produces some creepy facial expressions of madness.
Back to the Arrow-Cave! Progress is made on the robbery. The same van used in the heist also had just made off with a vampire armies amount of blood, and is currently being tracked.
“Hey uh, Barry. Weren’t you working a similar case in Central City?”
“Oh.. Uh… Yeah man.. Totally.. such similar”
“Yeahbullsh!%”
“MMhmm.”
“Kids these days Diggle”
Oliver asks Diggle what Barry’s objective here is, and Dig says it’s pretty clear.
Datass.
*Summons Dark Knight* The next scenes are something straight out of Nolan’s Batman repertoire. ( Batpod? Truck?)
The Sugar Van Thief is found, and its made apparent why he is so angry.. He has no face.
Tally Ho! Bat-Ollie in pursuit!
“Do you like seeing behind you while you drive? too bad. Now you see me .. ”
“Now you don’t.”
“Surprise No-face!”
“Ahh you’re too strong..”
“
“I’ma comin’ back for more!”
(No Facial Expression, probably annoyed)
“Get outta here!”
” ehrmagherd!!”
“Get in here!”
“Arrow to the knee!”
“Get outta here!”
“Ahhhhh!!!! Oh.. This is kinda fun…”
“Aw Crap…”
“Not so fun”
Damn. I am not Dragon-Born. My arrow did not pierce his knee, and I got my arse handed to me.
Back at the cave, Felicity patches Ollie up, and he then explains to them that they were right in their previous concern in asking what they were up against. It was because Oliver had seen it first-hand on the island.
The Japanese were working on a miracle super-soldier serum (Captain America anyone?) and an imperial navy sub from WWII era was stuck in the bay.
Back on the island, they found the sub. Hoping that the serum is still in there, and that Slade can be cured of his injuries (sustained from burns earlier in the season)
This particular shot of Barry on-top of a shelf of volatile chemicals, with full lightning in the background, is an Ode to his origins as the Flash. (When a lightning bolt struck through a window into his lab and blew him up into a red and gold shazamza)
Barry gets off the explosion shelf (With no harm, damn) and asks Felicity how she knows The Arrow. She says that she simply has “Connections”.
CSI guy chalks that up to being friends with a billionaire, but she retorts that the pay isn’t that good, and that she has to spend her nights with him.
“Oh, I didn’t know you two were-”
“No. I dont. Like. Oliver”
( This statement kind of crushes the “Olicity” people or whatever they are called. Sorry guys and gals)
She mentions the party for Moira Queen, and invites Barry as her plus one. He accepts.
More on the particle accelerator being mentioned in a news cast (within 1 day of its launch ahemflashahem) when..
Busted. Oliver storms in, confronts Barry in front of Felicity. He turns out to be only an assistant investigator, and that his superiors don’t even know he is in Starling City. With his cover blown, he plays the sympathy card again… but this time with a cool twist.
Ollie called out the fact that Barry’s Mother’s murderer was his father, but in fact according to Barry, was not.
He claims that “something” stormed in that night, and inside that blur, he saw a man. Before he could do anything about it, he was 20 blocks away from home, with no way of explaining to himself or the authorities how he got there. The cops thought this was a cover up, but in-fact it may have been “Zoom” (Flash’s nemesis) trying to pull some Harry Potter time-paradox and prevent him from becoming the Flash
Barry then in shame, tells Felicity she may need to find another plus one to the party.
“Party time!!! Wooo – Hoo”
***No one shows up. Crickets chirping. People don’t want to be associated with a murderer feelings***
“Hey Felicity, wana dance?”
“Not Really you cockblocker”
“Its okay I invited Barry anyways.”
Barry!
“I wasn’t kidding when I said I couldn’t dance”
(I really appreciated how the writers again put the spotlight on how much of a blundering idiot he was before the FLASH that changed his life)
Back on LOST..ahem.. I mean the Island again, sorry. Slade collapses in the sub, and the others go search for the miracle cure.
..In which they easily find in a WWII sub with Japanese writing and decay and darkness, perfectly ready for use after all those years..
They debate whether or not to inject Slade with it, because theres a 50/50 chance it would kill him or make him some superhuman dem-god monster.
Back at home-ville, Moira goes against Malcolm Merlyn’s sturn attempts at making her tell Thea that she is a mistake, and his daughter. She simply says “I love you” and they embrace. Oh can you feel, the love , tonight?
Barry gets the call from his superiors, they found out he wasn’t “sick” and he and Felicity share probably the most awkward good-bye I’ve ever seen. (with no kiss)
Back in the past. Slade apologizes to Shado that he didn’t tell her his true feelings for her, and urges Oliver to inject him with the serum.
This is an intense moment because they all believe his death is imminent due to his injuries.
Back to the future. Way earlier in the episode, Roy Harper (who later in the comics goes on to become Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow)
gets frustrated with Oliver when they meet at their usual dead-drop spot. Roy’s friend of a friend went missing, and possibly was tied to the
Brother Blood army, and wound up dead. Roy pushes his limits and expresses his distaste toward The Arrow for his lack of help or interest, and says he can do it on his own. This is when …
Arrow to the knee! This time its super effective!
Damn bro, you should get that looked at instead of looking at it.
Back at home-ville once more , Malcolm makes another creepy visit.
This time, Moira Queen is prepaired, and she drops probably the biggest name we have been waiting for. When Merlyn exclaims that even “The Arrow” couldn’t kill him, she says that she knows someone who can….. RA’S AL GUL. Yep. The Master of the League of Assassins, and also a zombie. (Lazarus pit)
This puts quite the poop eating grin on Malcolm’s face, as he is surprised by how she knows who he is , and that he has just been threatened by the only man that can kill him.. and wants to kill him.. personally. (This being because his “Under-taking” broke some holy code within the league of assassins and now they’re out for his ass”
Moira tells him simply to “Run”.
Inside some shady warehouse somewhere, no-face man and Oliver duke it out, with Ollie trying to pull his tricks out of his bag to gain the upper hand against his super-human opponent. He manages to snare him to a poll via trick-arrow.
He asks no-face if he was injected with the same miracle serum as before, and who he was. He simply replied with “I am a follower of Brother Blood. He has free’d me”
He then breaks free, but then oh!
Two arrows to the feet. Those don’t really slow him down because..he is just going to break out and proceed to turn the Arrow into a green streak of spray-paint. Like this punch across the warehouse complete with back sliding…
Oh and this kick directly upwards into a vent pipe atleast 15 ft in the air.. Oh and on your way down?
A finishing hay-maker into a shelf stocked with hazardous chemicals.
Some of which are now embedded in your leg.
On the island, Slade pretty much freaks out like he is going to go Bruce Banner on every one, then starts bleeding from the eyes like some unholy possession, then appears to die.
This is when the other people who came to the island looking for the sub bust in, in their most vulnerable moment.. with the serum in their grasp.
Felicity knows there’s a way to save Oliver from flat-lining, and that’s NOT to call 9-11. That would compromise his identity, but Diggle almost goes ahead with it any way, as it wouldn’t matter if everyone knew Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow if he was dead.
Who could save him? Oh I know.
Barry.
“Can I get a one way to Central city?”
“Left about 15 minutes ago”
“of course…”
“When’s the next one?”
“Tomorrow”
Barry totally gets screwed here. He should really buy a watch though, or set an alarm on his phone.
Actually if he caught that train then he wouldn’t have caught this tranquilizer dart to the neck while chilling at the train station for the night.
When he comes to.. he finds what any nerdly nerd would like to wake up to… no, not Jennifer Lawrence.. (Well yes.. Jennifer Lawrence) but the Arrow-Lair! Equipped with bow and arrows! Sweet viewing glass, awesome modern-gothic setup, ANDDD…
An unconscious Green Arrow. Who to Barry’s mind exploding surprise, is actually, Oliver Queen.
“Hey uhh, Barry…. Can you save my boss, the hooded guy over there dying?”
Over-all, excellent episode. I wish every episode was like when they introduced Barry Allen. There was a magical quality and sound to every scene he was in, like the production team tried harder. This should be the case, as we are going to see Grant Gustin, who plays Barry Allen on Arrow get his own pilot episode for The Flash. I was kind of hoping he would get his powers this episode, like when he was standing on-top of the hazardous chemicals shelf. Roy’s adventures go un-noted in my opinion, though an ode goes to the writers for trying to blend his side-quests with the Arrow’s. I can’t believe Roy got an arrow in the leg from his hero, the Arrow. That’s gotta make you hate somebody. I really loved the nod to the Christopher Nolan franchise with the truck/bike/underpass duel and I almost crapped my pants when I heard Ra’s Al Ghul’s name get dropped. Everyone has been anticipating that since the “League of Assassins” episode. So, yeah, we didn’t get to see the super speedster in action.. but I bet this brush with death will make Oliver learn he needs to hide his identity.. Domino mask.
(Since there is no NDA for early access, I am going to share with you my experience thus far)
When Star Wars The Old Republic, Bio-wares fully voiced massively multi-player online role-playing game was released in December 20, 2011,
Star Wars and MMO fans a-like flocked to the game, making it a 1 million subscriber game within three days of its launch, making it the world’s “fastest-growing MMO ever”.
Now, almost 2 years later, the game seems to be thriving; especially with the latest launch of Galactic Starfighter.
We’ve all wanted this from the beginning, instead of being in a space ship handled on rails, not guided by the player.
Better late than never I say… (although I’m not so sure about the Diablo III pvp debacle AHEM.)
Ship customization is rather bare in the beginning, although this doesn’t mean there are high values for customization. There are 14 different space ships, and countless numbers of mods, weapons, colors, and combinations to chose from. So you can BK have it your way.
You start off with a basic Gunner ship, and a scout ship. They both have their roles within the battle. Of course your gunner ship will be your “grunt” so to speak. Heavy firepower, and medium mobility, with acceptable armor.. In the right pilots controls, it makes a deadly starting ship.
The scout ship on the other hand, is strictly for the pilot on a mission (shoot the missile into the small hole and destroy the deathstar! thats what she said. )
You are equipped with a power regenerator, for bursts of speed. Shield Regenerator, for those intense “Im about to blow up your ship” moments, and of course… the barrel roll. Which actually comes quite in handy when you are outrunning Sith ships.
You can also choose your crew members, but choose them wisely. They can provide pivotal roles in helping you win your sci-fi top-gun fantasy.
I just roll with the R2-D2 looking droid, he makes me feel comfortable with his “beeps and boops”.
Once you get your poop in a group, after creation of your ship, you can jump into combat!
The PVP game modes I have played are your standard capture the zone-fare. But this is a good thing. You capture “satellite-esque” floating structures and then they become armed with turrets etc. for defense. You capture these with your team by hovering around them and shooting off any potential customers. It’s just Like –
‘
Boom. Warhawk on the Playstation? Remeber that? Yeah. It was awesome.
Controls are pretty simple. W , A, S, D keys move your ship, and your mouse is for looking around, holding down space bar will make you haul ass.
Your ship comes with abilities bound to the left and right click on the mouse respectively, one for your primary, and one for secondary lock-on weapons.
Controls are tight, a good thing, and there are indicators everywhere for what you need to be doing and where you need to be aiming.
At first its kind of alot to take in, but then you kind of just look at the middle of the screen and zone in.
One little gripe I have, which I HAVE NOT, experimented with yet is the camera. It seems to be too close
to the back of the ship. This might make some players un-easy with motion sickness, but I doubt it.
Combat is satisfying, and its nice when you are dog-fighting and have the upper hand (I am about to blow this noob up)
Come back here ! Mathias! (my enemy for the round)
Thus far, this is a welcome addition to Star wars, The old Republic.
We have all wanted this since launch, and it’s here. Now every geek with the dreams of being a starship pilot (including me) can frolick in space
Medioids 