video games

How many times have you been on the last level of Super Mario Bros. 3, and you get so excited that you jump up and rip the controller out of the system?

10? 20? 100 times?

Your days of leaving Princess Peach to die at the hands of Bowser are over thanks to this wireless Nintendo NES from 8Bitdo. The Retro Receiver set turns your brand-new NES Classic into the system of your wireless dreams, allowing you the full range of excitement that comes with beating Super Mario Bros. 3.

via Reddit

The set comes with an NES30 controller, a USB charging cable, and bluetooth reciever. Only one per box, though. Also, as Mashable was quick to point out, you can use the receiver for almost any “current-gen wireless controller other than Xbox,” meaning you can use PS4 or Wii controller on this bad boy.

The controller ships on December 16 and costs $39.99 on Amazon.

This ain’t fake news. It’s fun news.

Today on their blog, Facebook announced a new gaming feature their messaging app. Called Instant Games, the new feature is set to release 30 countries with 17 launch titles, including Word With Friends Frenzy, Space Invaders, Galaga, Pac-Man, and more.

via Facebook

On their blog, the Facebook team wrote:

We’ve made it very simple to start playing: In the latest version of the app, open a conversation with a friend (or friends!), tap on the game controller icon just below where you type your message, and choose a game to start playing right away. After you finish a round, people in the conversation will see your score and will have the opportunity to challenge you back. People can also discover games within the Messenger search field, or on Facebook News Feed where they can play solo or challenge friends back in Messenger.

They also write that “1 billion people use messenger every month,” so you can expect for Earth’s collective productivity to drop by a seventh.

Instant Games is available today. Check out Facebook’s blog for more info.

Today’s going to be rough for everyone, so why not block out the horror of your weird uncle with some classic gaming? Solitaire, the world’s loneliest card adventure, has always been better on the computer, and now Microsoft has delivered a holiday treat a few months early.

Also, starting today, you download Microsoft’s classic “Microsoft Solitaire Collection" for iOS and Android, according to The Verge. The game, which has been on Window for more than 25 years, includes Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and Tripeaks. Best of all, it’s free.There’s a “Premium Edition” that costs $1.99 a month and includes an ad-free version along with daily challenges and game boosts. But for those strapped for cash, this is the perfect way to ignore your family.

Don’t want to download another app, simply go to Google, type in Solitare and start playing. It’s the best.

As soon as your family decides to bring up the election, you can zone out into your phone and shake quietly to yourself.

via Reddit

Happy Thanksgiving, Daily What-ers!

For better control in video editing, photo editing, or just sending emojis, the new Apple MacBook Touch Bar has a lot of perks, but Apple still buried the lead on this one.

Apparently, you can play a super smushed version of Doom on this thing.

Sure, the Touch Bar is a great way to bring Apple Pay and Predictive Text to the desktop. Replacing the physical function keys at the top of the keyboard, the Touch Bar is a digital interface that's touch sensitive and totally customizable. It’s another great innovation from Apple that allows a wider range of control for users. More importantly, you can play a version of Doom on it that looks like it was crushed by a vice.

According to Mashable:

Developer Adam Bell crammed the 1993 classic in all of its glory to run on the the narrow 2,160 x 60 pixel OLED touchscreen. Is it pretty? Hell no. Is it pointless? Absolutely.

Announced at the Apple Event in October, the Touch Bar was the centerpiece of the new MacBook Pro laptops. The tech giant hoped to bring some of the benefits of touchscreen computing that has revolutionized handheld products, like the iPad and the iPhone. In doing so, they have given developers yet another place to stick the class video game Doom, and we’re all better for it.

via GIPHY

This August Ruslan Sokolovsky recorded himself while playing Pokémon GO inside Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg, after having been made aware such activity within the church could result in jail time...

“How can one offend by entering a church with a smartphone?” Sokolovsky asked. “I decided to just catch some Pokemon in church because, why not? I believe it’s both safe and not prohibited by law. Let’s go.”

Well, fast forward to after Sokolovsky posted the video he was investigated by police, and shortly thereafter charged with inciting hatred and offending religious sensibilities. He's being detained for two months, and stands to face up to five years in jail.

What do you guys think, does the punishment fit the crime here?

Google is investing "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in virtual-reality (VR) films and programs they want to put exclusively on their new hybrid store/software service called Daydream, which will debut in a few weeks.



They have quietly recruited web and YouTube stars like the Donal twins, Justine Ezarik, and more, and partnered with video game producers and sports leagues for the biggest VR initiative they've ever invested in.



Your Android will get a push rolled out on Monday to support Daydream, so we will soon get a chance to evaluate it for ourselves. I know i'm pretty psyched to try out being a first-person VR dino-killer in Island 359.

For more information, go here.

The actress who played Carmen Sandiego has been found, and now we can all high-five ourselves for winning the game!



In a episode-worthy EPIC level of sleuthing (stalking?), Todd Van Luling, a writer for the Huffington Post, tracked down the actress who played Carmen on "Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?" which premiered in the fall of 1996. Kids everywhere OBSESSED over finding Carmen and stopping her from stealing the Brooklyn Bridge and other crazy capers.



But did the actress who played Carmen make it easy to find her? Oh no, she hid as only Carmen Sandiego can, and he went looking for clues to her whereabouts by scouring the credits list for clues...



...but finding no one billed as "Carmen," so he visited cities, interviewed suspects, and emailed every person with even a remotely similar name to his suspects list:



Would he ever find out who the REAL Carmen Sandiego was??

Follow the whole caper and discover who Carmen Sandiego REALLY is here.

As noted by Archangelus on Reddit, Vaporeon's go-to move Water Gun has been nerfed from from its previous power of 10, to 6. See in the screenshot below, provided by Alex Zandra:



Thing that's kind of awkward though is that at the same time, Vaporeon's Hydro Pump was deffinitely buffed -- 50% increase.

What do you guys think? The gym leaders were revealed yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con, when hundreds of players also gathered with high hopes that a legendary might be unleashed...no such luck, unfortunately. Some other details covered:

• There are easter eggs that nobody's discovered yet
• They’re planning ways to customize Pokestops
• Pokemon Centers are coming
• There will be more functionality added to gyms, though the specifics aren’t clear
• Niantic says the game is at about 10% of what they want it to be
• They’re still discussing breeding, but nothing concrete in the works yet
• The legendary birds are tied to teams in some way, as the original designs implied
• Yep, they know about the three-step glitch.
• It sounds like we can’t expect legendaries until after the game has been released on all regions, which makes sense

What a time to be alive: a Sacramento based fool has been arrested for sending death threats to Blizzard Entertainment.

Stephen Cebula, 28, is accused of sending messages "over the internet" on July 2 & 3 saying he "may or may not pay [Blizzard] a visit with an AK47 amongst some other 'fun' tools," and "might be inclined to 'cause a disturbance' at [Blizzard's] headquarters in California with an AK47 and a few other 'opportunistic tools."

IF he's found guilty he's looking at a sweet five years in jail, and a $250K fine...Alright, I'm done.

For those unaware, Pokémon GO has all but taken over the planet at this point. Phone batteries everywhere have taken a devastating hit. People wander the streets with lifeless eyes, tired legs (still getting used to the whole walking everywhere thing) on the hunt for another Magikarp (cause you need like 500 of those to get a damn Gyarados).

Seriously. Go outside, look around, and catch at least a dozen folks committed to leveling up, catching 'em all, and hitting every f**king Poké Stop between here and Narnia, while on their way to a potentially perpetual state of unemployment. Like some of us really should be getting back to work at this point...

And now to the hot topic of the day: when you first start up with this game, you've the option to side with Team Instinct, Valor, or Mystic:





Well, an inspired piece of banner artwork from DeviantArt’s Seoxys6 is serving as the rallying point for players out there that have grown tired of the senseless hostility between players on different teams. Team Harmony's message goes:

“Disturb not the harmony of Fire, Ice, or Lightning lest these three Titans wreck destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water’s Great Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting alone its song will fail. Thus the Earth shall turn to ash. O, Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three.”

Can this new, 'unofficial' team put an end to all the animosity, or nah? I appreciate the nod to the pokémon storyline -- in the movie Ash and friends have to do something with Lugia in order to restore order between the three legendary birds, Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres.



I don't know though; these reactions suggest we might yet be on an endless quest to attain peace between competing factions....

So nostalgia, such wow. Damn. Looks like we're all going to be playing Zelda come holiday season after all, but just not the one we originally anticipated. The mini-NES will be sold at $60, and come pre-installed with 30 classic games. 

It’ll also come ready with an HDMI cable, a power adapter, and what Nintendo's now calling an NES Classic Controller, “patterned after the iconic design of the original NES controller.” It’ll be out in stores on November 11.

This is the full list of games, via Nintendo:

• Balloon Fight^™
• BUBBLE BOBBLE
• Castlevania^™
• Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest^™
• Donkey Kong^™
• Donkey Kong Jr. ^™
• DOUBLE DRAGON II: THE REVENGE
• Dr. Mario^™
• Excitebike^™
• FINAL FANTASY^®
• Galaga^™
• GHOSTS’N GOBLINS^®
• GRADIUS^™
• Ice Climber^™
• Kid Icarus^™
• Kirby’s Adventure^™
• Mario Bros. ^™
• MEGA MAN^® 2
• Metroid^™
• NINJA GAIDEN
• PAC-MAN^™
• Punch-Out!! ^™ Featuring Mr. Dream
• StarTropics^™
• SUPER C^™
• Super Mario Bros.^™
• Super Mario Bros. ^™ 2
• Super Mario Bros. ^™ 3
• TECMO BOWL
• The Legend of Zelda^™
• Zelda II: The Adventure of Link^™

HYPE, HYPE, HYPE....

After using Craigslist to hunt down an old Macintosh, redditor bobwowbob stumbled upon a NSFW surprise hidden in a fake “America Online” folder. As it turns out bobwowbob had actually discovered a rare “interactive erotica” app, called MacPlaymate. The app was put together by comic book artist and game designer, Mike Saenz in 1986.

The premise of MacPlaymate was very simple:

Players could strip down a digital avatar named Maxie, mess around with Maxie using various sex toys with names like Mighty Mo Throbber, and watch Maxie 'make it' with other digital characters. The software even had a “panic” button that'd bring up a spreadsheet if someone walked by your computer screen.

The following is a NSFW demo of MacPlaymate, and the dude's voice and commentary are at least 20x creepier than the software itself:

TorrentFreak reported that Blizzard has filed a lawsuit against Germany-based cheating company Bossland (a company that Blizzard also sued over World of Warcraft "buddy bots") for an Overwatch cheating tool called "Watchover Tyrant."

"Defendants' sale and distribution of the Bossland Hacks in the United States has caused Blizzard to lose millions or tens of millions of dollars in revenue, and to suffer irreparable damage to its goodwill and reputation," Blizzard said in its complaint.

"Moreover, by releasing 'Overwatch Cheat' just days after the release of Overwatch, Defendants are attempting to destroy or irreparably harm that game before it even has had a chance to fully flourish," it added.

"Defendants not only know that their conduct is unlawful, but they engage in that conduct with the deliberate intent to harm Blizzard and its business," the developer said. "Blizzard is entitled to monetary damages, injunctive and other equitable relief, and punitive damages against Defendants,” the complaint reads."

Get the rest of the story, and read up on the lawsuit over at TorrentFreak.

A Georgia judge sentenced Kayla Dixon to 40 years in prison after she pled guilty to shooting a man over his Playstation 4. WSB-TV in Atlanta reports that Dixon gave her confession to the crime as part of a plea deal.

The horrific incident occured when Dixon and her boyfriend attempted to steal the Playstation 4 after 28-year-old Daniel Zeitz posted a listing for the console on Craigslist. Zeitz resisted, and Dixon shot him.

“I would trade anything, almost anything, to bring Daniel back. But I know I can’t,” she said in a statement to press. “I know he had plans. I wish I could tell him I’m so, so sorry that this happened, but I can’t.”