Bathroom Hand Dryers Spray Hot Feces Germs Everywhere
A new, small-scale study conducted at the University of Connecticut shows bathroom hand dryers are actually extremely gross.
The study, published in the American Society for Microbiology's Applied and Environmental Biology journal, found the devices spray fecal bacteria and other nastiness from their outlets, spreading an invisible miasma of filth.
The test showed the nozzles themselves are relatively bacteria-free. When the fans wind up, problems appear. The fans suck up nastiness from the air, concentrate it, and then spray it onto your wet hands as you work to dry them off. The study placed bacteria-collecting plates underneath the nozzles and waited to see what would grow.
Rampage Earns $2.4 Million in Thursday Previews
Rampage earned $2.4 million in Thursday night previews at the domestic box office.
According to Deadline, a large portion of last night's audience was made up of younger filmgoers, ages 12-16.
The video game-inspired film is the third Dwayne Johnson-led movie directed by Brad Peyton. Previously, the two worked together on Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas, the latter of which made $3.1 million in Thursday previews when it debuted in 2015.
Rampage is expected to dethrone A Quiet Place and top the domestic box office this weekend with upwards of $40 million. Meanwhile, John Krasinski's horror film is projected to make somewhere in the low $30 million range over its second weekend. A Quiet Place surpassed expectations last weekend with 2018's second biggest domestic debut so far.
Minecraft on Switch Getting Xbox Live Achievements
Xbox Live achievements are coming to the Nintendo Switch version of Minecraft.
Content creator Patrick Maka, who first spotted the list of Xbox Live achievements, shared his discovery on Twitter. The list of achievements, courtesy of True Achievements, appear identical to the Xbox versions of the popular title.
A Minecraft representative has since confirmed to Polygon the achievements will be added once the Bedrock update is released. "We can confirm that Minecraft players on Nintendo Switch will soon be able to earn achievements tied to Xbox Live once the Bedrock update is released," the spokesperson said.
Gotham Pulls the Old Joker Switcheroo…and it’s a Bummer
Last week, I wrote about how Gotham was most likely leading us into an unnecessary Joker swap. The introduction of Jerome's twin brother, Jeremiah (also played by Cameron Monaghan), seemed to suggest the series was returning to its initial playbook of "Jerome's just a proto-Joker," despite fans fully coming to accept Jerome, over the past couple seasons, as the perfect "Joker" for this TV universe.
Gotham had not only brought Jerome back for several memorable storylines, since his introduction in the back half of Season 1, but the show went so far as to kill him...and bring him back to life.
PUBG’s Next Full-Size Map Coming Later This Year
The Banner Saga 3 Release Date Announced
The release date for The Banner Saga 3 has been announced, and we'll see the final instalment of developer Stoic's trilogy come to PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on July 24.
The release date was shared in a tweet from the game's official account, and while the listed platforms didn't include the Switch, the developer confirmed in a reply that the Switch release will also be on July 24, and that The Banner Saga 1 and 2 will release on the platform before then.
A Way Out Passes 1 Million Copies Sold
Hazelight Studios’ co-op adventure A Way Out has sold over one million copies.
"We just found out that #AWayOut has sold over 1 million copies, in just over two weeks!" the studio wrote on Twitter. "Words cannot describe how much this means to us. Thank you to all of you for your support!"
"HOLY S**T, this means that 2 million players have played the game," added A Way Out writer-director Josef Fares. "Thank you so much."
Roger Ebert Was ‘Absolutely Wrong’ About Games, Says A Way Out Creator
Josef Fares, the filmmaker-turned-game-developer who created Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and the recently released A Way Out, weighed in on the "games are not art" debate, saying Roger Ebert was wrong about the medium not being a valid art form.
"Yes, he was absolutely wrong," Fares said on the latest episode of our monthly interview show IGN Unfiltered (see below for the full interview) when asked about the "video games can never be art" statement made by Ebert back in 2010. "Nothing personally against him, but that was—I don't even talk to people who say games are not art. It doesn't even make sense. It's so insanely stupid."
Fear the Walking Dead: Can Morgan Kick All of Fear’s Characters’ Butts?
This Sunday, April 15th, following the Season 8 finale of The Walking Dead on AMC, spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead begins its fourth season with a very familiar face.
Not only is Fear the Walking Dead, which has always existed, canonically, a few years behind The Walking Dead story-wise, hitting viewers with a time jump that will catch everything up to the present zompocalypse landscape of Walking Dead, but Lennie James' Morgan will crossover and join the series.
Fear's ensemble still includes Kim Dickens, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Frank Dillane, and Colman Domingo, but it will now bring in additions Lennie James, Maggie Grace, Jenna Elfman, and Garret Dillahunt (creating the show's second Deadwood reunion).
Microtransactions Return to Star Wars Battlefront 2
Microtransactions are returning to Star Wars Battlefront II alongside the Endor Update on April 18.
The revamped microtransaction system brings back Crystals as the sole item that can be purchased with real-world money. Crystals will strictly be used to unlock cosmetic skins, such as Endor Leia and Endor Han, which are two of the 50 new personalization items being introduced in this latest update. For those who don’t want to spend money, these items can also be purchased with in-game credits.
Ewok art from Battlefront II's new Ewok Hunt mode