Do you have 25 grand burning a hole in your pocket? Do you harbor endless affection for Nintendo's second home game console? If so, a new eBay auction should prove very intriguing for any would-be collectors among you.

If you grew up in the early- to mid-nineties, odds are very good that you have fond memories of the Super Nintendo. At the time the system was utterly ubiquitous and even those who grew up as fans of Sega’s console offerings (like myself) found it difficult to completely avoid Nintendo’s games. Super Mario World alone has sold over 20 million units since its debut in November of 1990, and its easy to argue that the SNES was the last machine released while Nintendo could be described as the undisputed champion of the gaming scene.

With all of this nostalgia in play, it should come as little surprise that now, in 2012, there is a thriving market for the Super Nintendo, its games and the console’s various peripherals. Despite this, collecting a full set of SNES games is an expensive proposition, and merely collecting the system’s various rare titles would take months, if not years of scouring online auctions and retro gaming conventions. At least, it would if we hadn’t found an ongoing auction that does all that work for you.

If you visit eBay right this moment, you’ll find an auction listed there under the title, “Complete US Super Nintendo (SNES) collection with all boxes and most manuals.” As the title suggests, the lot includes all 721 games sold in North America during the console’s life span, every game box issued during this time, 605 game manuals (“comprising 84% of all [SNES] manuals”), and dozens of duplicate games and packaging materials. Unreleased games and those exclusive to other territories (most notably Japan) are not included.

As I’m writing these words, the auction has attracted 84 bidders. That said, it appears that none of these people have trumped the lot’s $24,999 “Buy It Now” price. Obviously those of you with a spare $25,000 are rushing to make this collection yours, but there is one more big caveat that bears mentioning before you get too excited. We’ll let the seller explain:

I am located in Columbus, Ohio and I am open for local pick-up. Serious buyers may stop by to inspect the collection prior to purchasing it. Payment method is up to the buyer: Paypal, payment on pickup, etc. My only condition is that payment must clear my bank prior to me releasing these games. Local pick-up is preferred, especially so the items can be inspected by the buyer. But I will ship via freight at the buyer’s expense. In all, this set comprises about four crates and 400lbs.

We can’t fault the seller for preferring local sales, but given the relatively tiny population center that is Columbus, Ohio, and the vast reach of the Internet, we must assume that most bidders won’t be located within driving distance of this collection. Thus, most people hoping to pick this thing up will be on the hook for roughly 400lbs of shipping costs. While we don’t have an exact figure for how much that kind of shipping effort will set you back, expect to spend an extra few hundred dollars merely getting these games to your home.

If you can stomach that however, this is a fantastic collection of games. Even forgetting the always-phenomenal first-party Nintendo games, the SNES was home to dozens of awesome classic games. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Secret of Mana are just three of the awesome games you’d be able to enjoy if you won this auction. Our only request is that whoever ends up with this massive lot of games actually spends some amount of time playing them as they were originally intended. Displaying this collection for your jealous friends is a viable option, but we’d really hate to see so many gaming classics slowly turn to dust on somebody’s shelf.

This weekend Spike TV held their 10th annual Video Game Awards. Along with the awards, the show has become a destination for trailers. Below are the best of the best.

The Spike TV Video Game Awards are about more than just awarding the previous year’s best games, it’s a time to look forward. In fact, the majority of fans most likely anticipate the look ahead as much the look back, and developers are happy to oblige.

The timing is also perfect. GDC in Spring is a good time for unveiling gaming news, summer is dominated by E3, and the Fall offers up GamesCom. With the once dominant Tokyo Game Show quickly fading, there is a gap at the end of the year when it comes to gaming events, and the VGAs have begun to fill that gap.

Each year the trailers released and the games announced at the VGAs increase in scope and number, and this year is as big as ever. Check out the biggest and best trailers from the past week.

Assassin’s Creed III DLC: The Tyranny of King Washington

(TBA)

Even before Assassin’s Creed III hit store shelves, there was chatter about this DLC for it. And why not. The image of a corrupt King Washington sitting on an American throne is both iconic and fairly mind blowing. It’s hard not to be intrigued by one of the biggest “what ifs” in the history of the world, and now you can play that experience as a small part of an already epic game. The DLC will be released in a new fashion, with the expansion coming in three individual parts. No release date has been given yet, but you’ll be able to buy everything al a carte while AC3 Season Pass holders will receive the DLC as part of their purchase.

Castlevania 2: Lords of Shadow

(TBA)

If you haven’t played the first game but you intend to, this trailer is not a good place to start. The first Lords of Shadow game ended on a fairly major twist. So much so that if you still plan to play it and the subsequent DLC that was released for it, stop right now and avoid all hints of this sequel until you complete the original. The twist to the first game comes at the very, very end, and the sequel is built entirely around the nature of that twist. It’s a good one too, so if you want to play part 1, do so quickly so you can join the rest of us in marveling at how cool this follow-up looks.

Dark Souls II

(TBA)

For those that enjoy pain in their gaming, good news! One of the most masochistic game play experiences of all time returns. The first Dark Souls came just over a year ago, and while the sequel doesn’t have a release date yet, it’s planned for next year. Don’t expect the follow up to be any more forgiving. Judging by the trailer, the hours of frustration (highlighted by moments of ecstasy) are there in spades.

Gears of War: Judgment

(March 19, 2013)

The chainsaw rifle returns! One of the best Xbox 360 exclusives returns with a prequel that takes us back to the first month of the Locust invasion. Marcus Fenix takes a backseat for this one, leaving Cole and Baird at the stick – assuming they can get through that pesky court martial.

Halo 4: Spartan Ops Episodes 6 – 10

(January 21, 2013)

The second part of the first season of “Spartan Ops” begins early next month, with around five more hours of co-op gameplay and a side story that inflates the mythology of the Halo universe while expanding the content of Halo 4. The story of the “Spartan Ops” episodes was always designed to be about the additional gameplay offered, but somewhere along the way the story became kinda compelling. The five final episodes conclude the side story, and they come at the perfect price (free).

The Last of Us

(May 7, 2013)

Among all the games due out next year, this is one of the few original properties that has the chance to really rise above the franchise-heavy crowd of contenders due next year. Coming from the team that made the Uncharted titles, The Last of Us is poised to be a hit, and yet another feather in the cap of the PS3 – which already ridiculously loaded with exclusive hits.

 

The Phantom Pain

(TBA)

There is a lot of talk about this game, and what it really is. There is a lot of discussion that it is actually the next Metal Gear Solid. The developer, Moby Dick Studio, didn’t exist on paper a few weeks back, and the head of that studio’s first name, Joakim, is an anagram of Kojima (Kojima Hideo is the man behind the Metal Gear franchise). The character also features a (presumably) protagonist that looks like Big Boss, just minus an arm. Regardless, it looks disturbing and bizarre, and worth the attention it is now receiving.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

(May 14, 2013)

If you are watching this at work, or in a place where children can hear the audio, you may want to put on headphones. All the blood and gore in the other trailers should be fine, but the F-bombs dropped may be offensive to some. Oy. Anyway, this trailer combines humor of South Park with developer Obsidian’s RPG roots. There haven’t been that many games that are genuinely funny recently – there are some, of course – but not many. This game fills that gap.

 

Tomb Raider

(March 5, 2013)

It is almost as if Lara Croft is cheating on herself with a younger, hotter woman, who also happens to be Lara Croft. The prequel/reboot reintroduces the famed raider of tombs in her first major adventure. It keeps the DNA of the original games, but does so in a way that opens up the world to further development. The franchise needed a shot in the arm, and judging by the look of this trailer, it got it.

 

The next patch for the Xbox Live version of Minecraft is slated to add a ton of previously PC-exclusive content, including a rudimentary experience points system, new crafting options, new enemies and the ability to raise your own wildlife.

When it was first revealed that Mojang’s hyper-successful Minecraft would appear on the Xbox Live Arcade, fans were understandably worried. One of the biggest positives of the PC iteration of the game is how often it’s updated, and Microsoft’s strenuous regulations for what does and does not appear on the Xbox Live Marketplace seemingly made it impossible for the then-hypothetical XBLA game to keep pace with the content found in its PC counterpart. Both Microsoft and 4J Studios (the developer of the XBLA Minecraft) assured fans that special provisions would be put in place to allow the console Minecraft to be updated more frequently than other games on Microsoft’s service, yet fans remained unconvinced.

While the console version of Minecraft will likely never have exactly the same wealth of content as its PC predecessor, developer 4J Studios is still hard at work on adding new, interesting elements to its game. To that end, the firm has released a short list of additions that Minecraft will see in Update 7. Have a look:

The key additions are:

> Animal Breeding

> Potion Brewing

> Experience Points

> Enchantment Table

> Mushroom Biome

> Nether Fortress

> New Tutorial World

> Villagers

> Mooshrooms

> Blaze

> Snow Golems

> Magma Cubes

> Baby Animals

Though lacking in-depth details, that is an undeniably intriguing list. Potion brewing? Animal breeding? Bizarre new environments that seemingly revolve around a worrying abundance of oversized fungus? If nothing else, this should add a ton of variety to the world, whether you’re one of those people who focuses on building elaborate structures, or the type who would rather choose an arbitrary direction, start walking, and continue on until some new, horrific creature manages to devour your corpse.

Unfortunately, 4J offers no specific release date (or even a vague release window) for Update 7, so we may have to keep our anticipation in check for a bit. However, while the company left out that crucial bit of info, it does offer word that the imminent Update 8 — which, as you’d expect, also lacks release date specifics — will bring with it “The End,” the above-pictured area in which players are tasked with battling a gigantic Ender Dragon. For lack of a better alternative, you can think of this as Minecraft’s “final boss” — at least until Mojang opts to create an even bigger, badder foe for your blocky avatar to throw itself in front of.

Anyway, back to Update 7. As with all previous updates for the XBLA Minecraft, this additional content comes free of charge. Once the Update has been released, you’ll need only fire up the game for the patch to be downloaded and installed. Once 4J Studios opts to reveal a release date for the Update, we’ll bring you word on that, though if you really can’t wait, you can find all of this content in the current PC version of Minecraft. As 4J notes on Twitter, Update 7 mimics Minecraft’s 1.01 update, only without The End and a few other miscellaneous bits (ocelots and Iron Golems, for instance).

We previously reported that the LG Nexus 4 was able to connect to LTE networks in Canada with a simple tweak that works with a dormant LTE chip inside of the phone’s hardware. Unfortunately, Canada was about the only place that the Nexus 4 would work for LTE.

The good news is that it is now possible to use LTE through band 4 on a few select AT&T markets out there. More specifically, it seems that users in Athens, Charlotte, Chicago, College Station, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Raleigh and San Juan all are lucky enough to get support for LTE through the tweak.

The bad news? Even though AT&T owns band 4 spectrum in these areas, it doesn’t mean they are actively deploying it. Additionally, the XDA user who discovered the tweak necessary to make it work hasn’t released the details on how to perform the changes just yet. The XDA user is known as checkitonetime and is reporting speeds of 29.80 up, 10.75 down.

The big takeaway here is that a hacker/modder with enough time and patience can accomplish just about anything. Should you be excited if you are in one of the cities? Honestly, I wouldn’t put too much hope into getting LTE service working. Just because some have accomplished it, doesn’t mean it will work for you.

Smartphone manufacturer Huawei has announced that it will open a new research and development in Finland.

Soon enough, Nokia won’t be the only major smartphone manufacturer based in Finland. On Monday Huawei announced plans to found a research and development center in Helsinki to focus on software development for its mobile devices. The manufacturer will spend $90 million on the new facility, according to its official website. This R&D center seeks to hone and perfect Huawei’s user experience on both Android and Windows Phone 8 devices.

“We believe the key to building our brand is to provide consumers with a reliable and differentiated user experience,” Kenneth Fredriksen, VP of Huawei Central, Easter and Nordic Europe said in a statement. “The open and innovative environment in Finland is an ideal place for Huawei to strengthen our global R&D capabilities for devices, creating opportunities for both Huawei and the Finnish telecommunications industry.”

Competitor Nokia is based only 20 kilometers away from Huawei’s upcoming location. This new research center will join Huawei’s technology design center in Sweden and its $2 billion location in the UK.

This move is a testament to Huawei’s effort in becoming a major global player in the smartphone industry. The announcement comes just as Nokia has cut its own staff and closed down locations around the globe. Huawei may plan to draft off of those newly unemployed, but knowledgeable workers. While Nokia continues to pursue Windows Phone 8 as its flagship smartphone, its Chinese competitor has an advantage due to increasing demand for Android-based handsets.

Although Huawei may not be a household name for tech enthusiasts in the United States, the company is undoubtedly continuing to grow. According to Bloomberg, the manufacturer surpassed Nokia earlier in 2012 to become the third-largest smartphone maker.

“They’re the guys that don’t get a lot of respect because they’re not big in the US,” Horace Dediu, founder of equity research firm Asymco said to Bloomberg back in July. “But they’re looking at big numbers.”

The company originally made it big when it sold pay-as-you-go phones through vendors such as MetroPCS and Cricket. Last November, Huawei landed a deal with AT&T that allowed the carrier to begin selling its Impulse handset for only $29. Before long, Huawei started working with T-Mobile as well, who asked the manufacturer to build two models for the carrier’s MyTouch brand in July.

Now that Huawei has the attention of two major U.S. carriers, the company has made it clear that it plans to further this growth through its upcoming research center.

Capcom has announced its latest crossover game, Street Fighter X Mega Man, but those expecting virtual fisticuffs from the title are in for disappointment.

When you read that headline and saw the words “Street Fighter X Mega Man,” your first instinct was to imagine a game in which Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and the rest of the world warriors are pitted against Mega Man and his collection of evil robot masters in a one-on-one virtual fisticuffs battle to the death, right? Go ahead, admit it. After years of watching Capcom mash up its characters and those of other companies into bombastic fighting games (most recently Street Fighter X Tekken), it just makes sense that the company would want to do the same with its own vast collection of iconic characters. Assuming that Street Fighter X Mega Man would be a hyperkinetic 2D fighting game is the safe assumption here, and yet that’s not what Capcom’s doing at all.

Instead, Street Fighter X Mega Man lifts its gameplay cues from the latter series. On first inspection, Street Fighter X Mega Man appears to be a pretty typical old-school Mega Man game, but instead of battling thematically appropriate bosses at the end of each stage, you’re tasked with fighting Street Fighter characters, who, based on the trailer embedded below this text, retain a surprisingly recognizable complement of their classic fighting game moves.

So, why create a game like this? Is Capcom finally feeling bad for leaving Mega Man out of Marvel Vs Capcom 3? Maybe Capcom finally regrets canceling Mega Man Legends 3? No, not exactly. Actually, Capcom didn’t even create Street Fighter X Mega Man. Instead, the game was created by Singapore native Seow Zong Hui (aka “Sonic”). Fan-created games aren’t anything new — people have been building their own games based on famous intellectual property for decades — but it’s incredibly rare that an amateur effort such as this could capture the attention of Capcom. While most companies would greet Hui’s work with an ominous cease and desist warning, Capcom has instead opted to officially promote Hui’s game as something of a segue between this year’s 25th anniversary of the Street Fighter series, and next year’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of Mega Man. In effect, that makes this game a promotional effort, and to that end Capcom has decided to release Street Fighter X Mega Man free of charge from December 17 onwards.

“This game symbolizes the passion and dedication of our fans and with the 25^th Anniversary of Mega Man coming up, we felt it was our duty to bring this wonderful experience to everyone who has shared the last 25 years with us and both of these celebrated franchises,” said Capcom USA’s senior vice president of consumer software Christian Svensson.

Unfortunately, all this news of free games has a downside: Street Fighter X Mega Man is exclusively available for the PC. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners are simply out of luck, even though their chosen consoles innately feature controllers that work perfectly for these old-school 2D platformer-type games. It is possible that Street Fighter X Mega Man will attract such a rabid fanbase that Capcom might decide to later bring the game to other platforms, but for now you’re either going to have to enjoy this game via keyboard, or drop some extra cash on a suitable PC control pad.

A new report released by the IDC has indicated that Samsung and Apple are the two top competitors in the mobile space during this holiday season.

The holiday season is upon us, and shoppers are flocking to the stores to fulfill their tablet and smartphone gifting needs. To little surprise, a new the report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that Samsung and Apple are spearheading sales this season. The Worldwide Connected Smart Device report said that combined shipments of tablets, smartphones, and PCs have grown by 27.1 percent year over year in Q3 2012. This growth, however, is heavily driven by Samsung and Apple’s dominant markets: smartphones and tablets.

Samsung maintained its top spot in the competition this quarter, claiming 21.8 percent of the market share based on shipments. Apple ranked second in overall shipments, but led the market in value by raking in a total of $34.1 billion in the third quarter of 2012. This puts the average selling price of Apple devices at $744, the IDC says.

In terms of market share, Apple comes in second to Samsung with 15.1 percent. Following the two top competitors are Lenovo with 7 percent, HP with 4.6 percent, and Sony with 3.6 percent.

“The battle between Samsung and Apple at the top of the smart connected device space is stronger than ever,” Ryan Reith, program manager for the Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers at IDC.

Reith continued to highlight the different market strategies that Samsung and Apple practice, and what it could mean for their products.

“Both vendors compete at the top of the tablet and smartphone markets,” he said according to the report. “However, the difference in their collective ASPs [average selling price] is a telling sign of different market approaches. The fact that Apple’s ASP is $310 higher than Samsung’s with just over 20 million fewer shipments in the quarter speaks volumes about the premium product line that Apple sells.”

While smartphone and tablet sales may be surging during the holiday season, the IDC expects this to continue and projects shipments to surpass 2.1 billion units by 2016.  This report refers to this as a “multi-device era,” but adding that smartphones will be the preferred product category.

Fallout? What fallout? While you can no longer view Instagram images within Twitter, the app continues to innovate with a slew of new camera features as well as a new filter.

Just as the battle lines being drawn between Twitter and Instagram grow thicker, the photo sharing platform has gone ahead and pushed a major update. “The camera has been the core part of the Instagram experience since the day we launched and as a result, we’ve made significant improvements to its look and speed,” the team has announced. 

Now, when you launch the camera feature within Instagram, you will see the brand’s stamp all over the interface. The app will also pull up the most recent photo from your phone’s gallery (which will get an even further upgrade if you’re using the iPhone 5). Instagram is also implementing a grid overlay for live shooting and a permanently-placed grid for scaling and cropping purposes. Overall, developers say “speed and reliability” are also improved.

And of course the most exciting part of any Instagram update is the addition of a new filter, and the team doesn’t disappoint. Now “Willow,” a black and white filter with purpose undertones and a faint border glow has been added.

Instagram says its tilt-shift feature has also been upgraded. “With this update the blur you see is now the blur you’ll get! We’ve also completely overhauled the blur algorithm to increase quality and accuracy.” Reproducing your desired depth of field effects should be easier and the results better.

A few other updates worth mentioning include a News Feed redesign that shows off larger images, infinite scroll on user profiles, tighter Foursquare integration, and the ability to save your filtered photos to a designated Instagram roll (this is for iOS only).

The new features do a really job of unifying the Instagram experience. Beforehand, the camera mode didn’t share the same interface and branding – or intuitiveness, for that matter – with the rest of Instagram. There are some overall design changes that make the whole thing smoother feeling and looking, and my gut says this is because Instagram is this close to make a big Web push and it’s getting its ducks in row beforehand.

The update is available for Android and iOS now. 

[UPDATE]

Moments after sending this post live, word broke Twitter is talking about its own photo filters. “Starting today, you’ll be able to edit and refine your photos, right from Twitter,” its blog reads. “The latest versions of Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android introduce a few new ways to enhance the images you tweet. We’re grateful to our partner, Aviary, for powering our filters and effects.” The app will boast eight filters, allow zooming and cropping, as well as auto adjust. And of course, you will be able to view this content in its full glory on Twitter – which by now you all know isn’t possible for Instagram images. The ante just keeps upping between these two. 

PopCap Games has been the king of casual video games for the better part of a decade, but the studio is moving beyond Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies according to a new job listing. PopCap is getting into the shooter business.

Over the past ten years, it’s become increasingly common for both the gaming press and the industry to describe video games in terms of “casual” and “core” audiences. If you want to convince a publisher to fund your studio’s game, you have to tell them that it’s either targeted at the big-spending core gamer who loves his Halo or the casual gamer, he who loves Angry Birds. PopCap Games is one of the studios responsible for this division becoming an industry standard. Its puzzle game Bejeweled is a classic and casual gamer staple. Based on job postings within the studio, though, PopCap is turning away from its roots.

PopCap Games and parent company Electronic Arts posted an advertisement for a “Generalist” software engineer with the studio at the beginning of November. Necessary skills required include experience with existing game engines, the ability to write in C++ coding language, and experience designing games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Since PopCap’s specialty is in PC and mobile games, that last requirement is surprising enough. More surprising is the listing’s description of the project that engineer will work on, namely a AAA title.

That specific language is telling. PopCap makes quality games, as evidenced by the popularity and success of not just Bejeweled but games like Plants vs. Zombies as well. Those games tend not to command the budgets and resources of others Electronic Arts describes as AAA titles. A “triple-A” Electronic Arts game is a Mass Effect 3, not Plants vs. Zombies.

In August, the columnist Superannuation noted that PopCap was hiring a 3D animator for a new team who would be working on blending “gameplay storytelling, and character movement” while also helping with “prototype creation and the directing of actors and stuntmen during motion capture session.” It was also looking for a multiplayer designer with experience “on a shipped shooter or action title” and “designing levels where the player has a lot of freedom to manipulate the gamplay space (destruction, construction, modification.)”

These are not the sorts of duties for staff working on a small casual game.

What could PopCap be making? An unnamed source told Kotaku at the time that PopCap was making a multiplayer shooter based on Plants vs. Zombies.

Google wants to make computers accessible to all students and teachers and is offering its Samsung Series S 5 Chromebook for just $99.

Teachers and school systems across America are realizing that computers and laptops are becoming integral for the education of their students. Being aware of this, Google decided to work with DonorsChoose.org to help teachers and schools offer Chromebooks at a discounted price of $99. 

Working with DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that acts as a mediator between public schools and donors to bring schools a variety of supplies and devices, Google is offering the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook – including hardware, management, and support – for only $99. Down from the $429 list price, Google said that the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook is the most popular Chromebook in schools. According to Google’s blog post, over 1,000 schools have started using Chromebooks. Still, there are dozens of school systems and students without computers. Not having access to a computer can  severely impair a child’s education later in life since the ability to use a computer is integral in higher education and in most careers. 

Like all Chromebooks, the Series 5 uses Chrome OS with built-in Google Apps. It has built-in 3G connectivity so that students can use the Internet everywhere, even if they don’t have a wireless connection available nearby. The Series 5 Chromebook is incredibly quick to boot, has a long battery life, and has an attractive design. Though it’s not one of the best laptops we’ve ever reviewed, at under $100, the Samsung Series 5 will do the trick for students learning the basics of computer use.

Full-time public school teachers in the U.S. can request up to 30 Chromebooks at DonorsChoose.org. Teachers must submit their request by December 21, 2012, so make sure to take advantage of this deal now.

Irrational Games writer Drew Holmes discusses the cover art for BioShock Infinite and the challenges of giving players a character to identify with in an FPS.

The cover art for BioShock Infinite (seen on the right) caused a bit of a stir among hardcore fans following its release earlier this month. Protagonist Booker DeWitt gets front-and-center billing, holding a somewhat generic “burdened hero-man” sort of pose. A burning American flag dangles limply behind him and a game logo rests just above his head. Elizabeth, Infinite‘s female lead and the driving emotional force in the story, is nowhere to be seen. It’s an unexpectedly crowd-appeasing choice from a developer known for challenging the notion of what video game storytelling is capable of.

It was the first question on my mind when I sat down with Irrational Games’ writer Drew Holmes to chat about BioShock Infinite after the hands-on demo. Booker is a much more vocal protagonist than Jack, his BioShock predecessor, was and his interactions throughout the game with Elizabeth are as central to the story as the constant stream of “Would you kindly?” requests from the first game. Still, with Columbia’s dazzling cityscape-in-the-sky and memorable character design for beings like Songbird and the Boys of Silence, the last thing that one would expect to see on Infinite‘s cover is DeWitt, all alone, stuck in a pose that wouldn’t be out of place on an Uncharted game cover.

“In BioShock, with Jack, the silent protagonist was integral to the plot. The whole ‘Would you kindly?’ moment revolved around being this nameless, faceless dude who just did what he was told. This time around, that’s not the case,” Holmes explained. “We’re telling the story of Booker and Liz, so it’s important that Booker be a character [with] opinions and a history that plays a part in the world as you go through it. So I think because [BioShock Infinite] is a first-person shooter and you have so few opportunities to make sure that the players understand what he looks like, who he is, the cover is one of the few opportunities to show that this is the guy who you’re going to play, who you’re going to inhabit for the duration of the game.”

Holmes makes a valid point here. It’s much easier to identify with a human face than it is with the tip of a loaded gun, which is the only point of reference that players really have in a first-person shooter. Still, it’s just Booker on that cover. Other than the front half of an airship that is visible in the top-left corner, there’s really nothing that points to the game’s journey through the city of Columbia or the vital role that Elizabeth plays in the story. Given all of this, it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that Irrational creative director Ken Levine was ready for the backlash.

“This was the company’s decision, and Ken’s decision, to run with that cover,” Holmes said. “No marketing budget is ever going to dictate what Irrational Games does. We knew people, certainly the hardcore BioShock fans, weren’t necessarily going to be happy with the cover. But at the end of the day, that cover isn’t for the hardcore BioShock fans. Ken has been clear on several occasions talking about this in particular: the people who want to know more about the game, more about the philosophies and the characters, are going to be the people who are reading the gaming websites. They’re gonna read the previews, they’re gonna see the gameplay videos. For a game like this to be successful, you have to reach as broad an audience as possible, and that cover is one of the few ways to let people know what type of game it is.”

The important thing that Holmes, and everyone at Irrational, wants to get across is that while the cover art is informed by the content, it doesn’t necessarily reflect the full picture. Infinite is a BioShock game “through and through,” Holmes said. I can certainly agree that, after four hours of play, no punches seem to be pulled. The beating heart of the original game is still very much in evidence. It’s been tweaked and improved in many ways, large and small, but it’s immediately familiar. Your foes still use unconventional tactics against you and your environmental sandbox, while fundamentally changed, is still marked by a sense of open-endedness.

The cover’s appeal, then, is aimed at the dudebros of the world. Is it effective? It’s hard to say. The pose is certainly reminiscent of Nathan Drake’s pose on the cover of the first Uncharted game, a third-person action/platformer that bears little resemblance to BioShock. Then again, if you look at the covers for other story-driven action games like Halo, Mass Effect, and Gears of War (to name a few), you’ll generally see the male hero highlighted in a similar fashion. That’s where the generic flavor comes in, and where the appeal to the mainstream is focused.

Irrational hasn’t forgotten about the fans of the series, however. A backlash was expected when the cover art was first released, but plans are in the making to appease the core BioShock lovers. Holmes isn’t fully clear on the specifics — likely because they’re still being mapped out — but Irrational is working on offering an alternative to those who have been turned off by the art. “I think in terms of the cover and the hardcore fanbase, we’re going to be having a thing on the company website where we’ll have fans vote on covers that they like, and then you’ll be able to download and print out the cover that you want to see,” he said. “We’re not going to leave them out in the cold.”

As far as the game itself goes, Infinite does introduce a new challenge that wasn’t an issue in the first game. As Holmes already mentioned, the silent protagonist in BioShock was a necessary tool of the story. That isn’t the case anymore in Infinite, with Booker being presented as a fully fleshed out character. The problem is, the style of presentation in a first-person shooter — particularly in a BioShock game, which always locks the action to your first-person perspective — is much more friendly to stories that present the main character as a blank slate. It’s hard for players to identify with a character whom they can’t see outside of a weapon-wielding hand or two.

“I think Liz is certainly a huge help [in terms of identification],” Holmes explained. “In some ways players may end up identifying more with her because that’s sort of why she’s there, to engage Booker and to tell this story between the two of them. Stepping back to making sure players have a sense of Booker, that’s why he talks. He has a history that is relevant to what is happening in the game. He was at [the real-life battle of] Wounded Knee and he saw some things that changed him, which led him to drinking, and led him to gambling, and led him to this massive debt that then leads him to Columbia. It’s about getting Elizabeth and getting rid of this debt that really haunts him.”

“I think making sure that Booker and Elizabeth have a relationship that builds over the course of the game helps the player feel like they have point of identification that is more than just the gun in your hand. Liz is talking to you and having a conversation with you. By the time everything is over, if we’ve done our jobs right people will be emotionally invested in these characters.”

Nintendo's eShop made headlines last week when it came out that Mature-rated games can only be purchased online in Europe at night. Nintendo explained on Monday that its German laws affecting the company's international business.

For a console intended to reunite Nintendo and the action adventure-obessed hardcore gamer, the Wii U is having a surprisingly tough time in the global market. The average Wii U buyer is only purchasing 1.2 games with the new machine according to Longbow Research analyst James Hardiman. ZombiU has received favorable reviews, but the rest of the Wii U line up like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Assassin’s Creed III are finding greater success on other platforms. Nintendo’s digital storefront is seemingly unfriendly to video game enthusiasts: Mature-rated games are can’t be purchased on the European eShop outside of specific nighttime hours.

Those restrictions aren’t Nintendo’s fault, though. Even though the company has been known for seemingly backward online security and content appropriateness measures, such as Friend Codes, the European eShop is actually restricted due to German laws. As Nintendo of Europe is based in Germany, it’s subject to that country’s specific laws, despite the fact that the eShop operates in the UK, France, Italy, and other countries.

“At Nintendo we always aim to provide a safe gaming experience for fans of all ages and ensure that we comply with applicable legal age restriction requirements across Europe,” said Nintendo in a statement to Eurogamer, “Legal age restriction requirements vary across a number of European countries. Since Nintendo of Europe is based in Germany, Nintendo eShop is complying with German youth protection regulation which therefore applies to all our European markets. Under German law, 18+ content must be made available only at night.”

Germany’s ratings board, the USK, is notoriously strict when it comes to the distribution of violent media. The board refused to give Gears of War anything but the most severe rating when that game was first released, and as a result Microsoft decided not to release the game in the country at all.

Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade and Sony’s PlayStation Network, however, aren’t subject to the same restrictions across Europe as Nintendo’s eShop. Neither is PC distribution service Steam. Even with Nintendo of Europe based in Germany, why not establish a data distribution center at its offices in other European countries so as to avoid a single nation’s content laws?

There are so many Twitter clients available that it's hard to tell which is right for you without playing with them all. We're going to tell you up front that Falcon Pro makes a strong case to be your primary Twitter app. Here's why.

We’re pretty sure at least 50 percent of the hundreds of thousands of apps in the Google Play Store are Twitter clients. There are so many choices to handle your 140 characters, from Twitter’s official offering to the plethora of third party developers that promise improvements to the social experience. Falcon Pro is the new kid on the block and, although it’s a little late to the game, it does it’s best to make a strong case to be a go-to for Tweeters.

From the very start, it’s clear that Falcon Pro is sleek. Once you’ve logged in to your account the first time, you’re greeted with your feed of tweets from accounts you follow. Using a fairly dark color palate that features a gray background that allow the white text to pop, the focus is right on the content that is coming through your feed. Having the name listed above the tweet with an accenting dark gray bar around it makes it easy to see the user and access their page if you’d like. Links and account handles are in a teal-ish blue that looks nice within the theme as well. The settings menu has a Display option that promises theme and color changes and while that doesn’t appear available yet, there’s really no reason to change what works.

Above the feed are three icons with counters next to them. The numbers next to the icons represent your unread tweets, mentions, and direct messages. If you get a lot of any of these the numbers become fairly meaningless, especially if you follow a lot of accounts. Regardless, seeing the number tick down as you pass by each tweet is nice. It’s a little like checking your email inbox except far less burdensome. There’s no lag or slowdown in the scroll, so you can blaze through tweets at a fast pace and the countdown keeps up. Even flipping your device to go landscape layout instead of portrait loads rather quickly, though there is this creepy subliminal flash of the Falcon Pro logo that occurs every time you do it.

Moving outside of the feed occurs when you tap on a tweet with a link or touch on a Twitter profile. When you go to view a tweet with a link, it takes you to a new page in the app with the original tweet displayed above and the content of the link available in a web browser box below. There’s no leaving the app, which is nice but can also be disabled if you prefer. Replies and other interactions with the tweet are also displayed clearly but unobtrusively. Profile pages are themed similarly to the news feed and looks as good as you expect, with a stream of the user’s tweets scrollable below. It’s intuitive and simple in areas where lots of Twitter clients manage to fall short.

Checking on your personal Twitter setup is just a swipe a way from the feed. A swipe to the left gives access to all of your account basics. A listing of how many followers you’ve accrued and users you follow is listed below your account handle and image. Under that gives you access to your timeline, mentions and direct messages, just like the icons above your normal stream. You can only sync a single account with Falcon Pro at the moment, so you’ll only see this information for your primary account. Also housed on this side menu, though, are your favorites, the search function, and the settings.

If you’re one to tinker and tweak the way your app works, Falcon Pro does it’s best to allow for it. You can change your refresh rate – which defaults to every 30 minutes – so your tweets come in faster. If you’d prefer to just get the information while tapped in to a Wi-Fi connection, you can. Notifications are also customizable, allowing you to be notified when you are mentioned or receive a message. As mentioned before, the internal browser is optional, as is a TweetMarker that will hold your position on your feed across devices so you’ll maintain your spot no matter where you view from. If you’re a Twitter addict, you can let Falcon Pro keep you in touch with tweets at all times. If you’re more of a battery-conscious consumer of tweets, it can accommodate for that, too.

Swinging over to the right of the stream displays a couple more features. Your lists, saved searches, and trending hashtags are all visible on this side. These are all easily explorable with a tap so you can see what the folks in your lists are up to or check out what people around the world are saying about specific topics. Doing so brings up a scrollable feed that looks just like the standard one so navigation is simple.

Then there’s that whole actually tweeting thing. That’s probably important to you if you’re looking for a solid Twitter client. Composing a new tweet is done with a talk bubble icon on the righthand side of the menu bar above your main feed. It’s almost always present no matter where you go in the app so if someone catches your attention and you need to share your thoughts immediately, it’s right there for you. Users can also easily attach a photo from their phone’s gallery, take a new picture to go along with a tweet, and add their location with a quick tap of the icons under the new tweet’s text box. It’s all right within reach and easy to do.

For a relatively small price tag of $1, Falcon Pro sure does a lot. (There is a weird “donate” option in the settings where you can pay another $2 for a widget, but you can pretty much ignore that if you want.) While it would be great to see support for extra account and some color and themes added in as the Settings page promises, those are pretty small complaints compared to all the good you get for a buck. Falcon Pro is definitely worth handing your Twitter interactions over to.

One of Nintendo's biggest franchises is Pokemon. While Nintendo isn't letting its IP go to the new mobile platforms yet, The Pokemon Company has brought its full Pokedex to iOS devices - for a price.

Nintendo guards its intellectual properties closely. It doesn’t just hand out the rights to its beloved games all willy nilly. Know what happened the few times it did? Super Mario Bros the movie and the Legend of Zelda CD-i games. As such, it isn’t too surprising that the gaming giant has shown reluctance to embrace mobile platforms not branded with its own name. But today, a wild app appeared in the iTunes App Store, and it’s likely to be super effective in attracting Pokémon fanatics. The Pokédex is officially available on iOS today.

Developed by Nintendo subsidiary The Pokémon Company, the Pokédex app is an interactive listing of over 640 pocket monsters that exist inside the Pokémon universe. Taking advantage of the Retina display on Apple devices, the app gives prospective Pokémon trainers a look at their creatures in high definition. Search through the extensive list of creatures using custom conditions like skills or type to find the exact Pokémon you are after. Detailed information about each Pokémon, from height and evolutions to abilities and locations, are all available in the app.

It’s worth noting that the app only comes with Pokémon in the Unova region, covered in Pokémon Black and White versions 1 and 2. If you’d like access to all 640 pocket monsters on your Pokédex app, you’ll have to fork over a bit of cash. The app itself costs $2 and each region of Pokémon, four in total, costs an additional $6. So to really catch ‘em all, you’ll be dropping around $26. That’s a pricey commitment to an app that just houses information about made up animals in a game that you have to play on another device. To each their own, though. We’re not here to judge you, fanboys.

You can download the Pokédex app in the iTunes App Store for $2.

When HTC announced the J Butterfly for the Japanese market, a new chapter smartphone technology was revealed. The age of full HD displays on smartphones is now starting to heat up, with Sony and others all working on entries of their own. In China, there is also the Oppo Find 5, which is expected to arrive in the United States in unlocked form. And now Pantech is joining the club as well.

The Pantech Vega IM-A860S and A860L are heading to South Korea and appear to be the same phone, just different variants for different carriers.

The Vega IM-A860 is a flagship device and is said to have a formal launch just around the corner. Not much is known about the rest of the specs here, but odds are that it will likely have quad-core power to go along with the impressive display. It also very likely has a 5-inch display.

So when will a formal announcement arrive? CES 2013 seems like as good of bet as any. If Pantech eventually brought a full HD phone to your local area would you consider it or not?

Today’s re-imagining of the Google logo pays tribute to Ada Lovelace, a 19th-century mathematician whom many consider the world’s first programmer.

If you head over to Google today, you’ll see a image paying tribute to Ada Lovelace, whose work with Charles Babbage in the 1840s made her an early legend of computing history. The drawing depicts Lovelace writing equations with a quill, along with early versions of what would evolve to become the modern computer. Google’s official blog notes that it hopes that “today’s doodle inspires people to find out more about Ada, and about the contributions made by women in general to science and technology.” So just who was Ada Lovelace, and what made her remarkable?

According to her timeline, Ada Lovelace was born Augusta Ada Byron, the Countess of Lovelace. As the daughter and only legitimate child of Lord Byron, a famed Romantic poet, Lovelace had an unusual upbringing. Her mother delegated most childrearing duties to Lovelace’s grandmother, yet insisted that Lovelace be educated in science, logic, and mathematics, in part because she was afraid that Lovelace would otherwise inherit Lord Byron’s poetic madness.

Lovelace flourished in her pursuit of mathematics, and one of her mentors introduced her to Charles Babbage. Babbage, another English mathematician, was trying to design what he called an “Analytical Engine,” or a kind of early mechanical computer. Babbage was struck by Lovelace’s skill, dubbing her “The Enchantress of Numbers.”

With Babbage’s encouragement, Lovelace translated and expanded an Italian article about the Analytical Engine. Her additions included a method for using the engine to calculate Bernoulli numbers, which many consider the first computer algorithm, making Lovelace not only the first female programmer but also the first computer programmer of any kind. Even more astonishingly, Lovelace’s creative, abstract approach helped her imagine a future in which the Analytical Engine could manipulate other types of symbols in addition to numbers – creating digital music, calculating betting odds, or producing graphic designs.

Like many visionaries, Lovelace died before her time; uterine cancer claimed her at only 36. However, she also fell victim to the obscurity that often claims early female intellectuals. Ada Lovelace Day, celebrated on October 16, helps draw attention to Lovelace and other remarkable women in STEM fields. Head over to Finding Ada to learn more about Lovelace’s impressive life.