Police Avoided a ‘Potential Tragedy’ at Pokemon Championship
Following the arrests of James Stumbo and Kevin Norton on Friday in connection with the Pokemon World Championship, police said the charges avoided a “potential tragedy.”
Both Stumbo and Norton were charged with numerous firearm charges after police confiscated a 12-gauge shotgun, a DPM5 Model AR-15 rifle along with 250 rounds of ammunition, and a hunting knife from their vehicle.
“We can never read someone’s mind,” says Police Superintendent Paul A. Fitzgerald to the press, when questioned what the pair intended to do with the weapons. “What we can read is what they were saying and the actions that they took, bringing the weapons they were showing online as a threat.”
New Battleground Added to Heroes of the Storm
Blizzard has announced that the newest Battleground for Heroes of the Storm will be available today.
The Battleground, called Infernal Shrines, will be part of a reduced Battleground pool this week so there's more chance that you get to play on it.
From August 26 to September 2, the six Battlegrounds in rotation are: Infernal Shrines, Battlefield of Eternity, Cursed Hollow, Dragon Shire, Sky Temple, and Tomb of the Spider Queen.
The remaining maps (Blackheart's Bay, Haunted Mines, and Garden of Terror) won't be available in matchmaking, but you can still play them in custom games.
Infernal Shrines was announced at Gamescom this year, alongside three new playable characters. Last week, a Duck Hunt mini-game was spotted on the Heroes of the Storm title screen.
Sony Working on Until Dawn Pre-Purchase Issues
Sony has responded to complaints from PS4 owners unable to download Until Dawn after having pre-ordered the title.
Users have taken to Reddit and Sony’s forums to say that after using the PSN to pre-purchase the title, they're unable to access the game. It seems those who bought the game before the release date change are predominantly affected.
While the game downloads without issue, trying to actually play it results in an "128 days until available" error message.
The Division Teasing Some Sort of Reveal for Tomorrow
Ubisoft is teasing a reveal involving The Division coming tomorrow.
The company has released a PDF full of mysterious scribblings that lead you to the answer "Move off Manhattan Island now". Once that's stuck into the URL at the top of the page, you hit another PDF with further doodles.
What stands out, however, is the banner at the bottom that trumpets more information will be coming tomorrow, on August 27.
Moshi Monsters Offers ‘Direct Exhortations’ Says ASA
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that children’s game Moshi Monsters has breached its codes by offering “direct exhortations” to purchase membership subscriptions.
Two of the many phrases being scrutinised at by the ASA are used on the Moshi Monsters membership sign up page: "The Super Moshis need YOU" and "Members are going to be super popular."
Says the ASA, “
we considered that these
put pressure on young players to purchase the subscription that would allow them to take part in this aspect of the game. In light of these elements, we concluded that the game, including the membership page, presented children with direct exhortations to purchase membership subscriptions.”
Microsoft Limiting Access to Xbox One Preview Program
Microsoft has announced it's to start limiting how many people can join the Xbox One Preview program in the future.
A post on the company's forums reveals a surge in the number of applications means it's not able to handle a tremendous number of new participants.
“Due to a tremendous response from our fans, the Xbox Preview program has reached a near-capacity level,” it reads. "With that in mind, we are slowing the number of new people we are accepting to optimize for testing. We are thankful for the amount of interest we’ve received to date and look forward to sharing more details on preview opportunities soon.”
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Pre-Order Bonuses Revealed
Ubisoft has revealed the pre-order bonus for Assassin's Creed: Syndicate is a couple of missions featuring historical figures Darwin and Dickens.
The two Charles (Charleses?) have managed to get involved in a conspiracy and, judging by the trailer below, it seems like it's going to take a fair bit of work for you to sort everything out. It's not currently known if the pair will be making any appearances in the game outside of these missions.
Anyone who doesn't fancy pre-ordering the game - more than understandable considering the state Assassin's Creed Unity launched in - will be able to pick the missions up via a post-launch DLC bundle.
Behold what awaits you:
IGN’s UK Daily Deals: Xbox One under £220
Argos have Amazon Fire TV Stick for only £25.
Xbox One for only £216.75 after using code PAYDAY15 at Rakuten PixelElectronics.
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Has an S Pen Design Flaw
Inserting the S Pen the wrong way round into a Galaxy Note 5 can cause damage to the phone or the stylus.
Tech site Android Police first reported the problem. The Note 5 puts up the same amount of resistance whether you put the S Pen into the slot the correct way round or upside down. If you do put it in upside down it can get stuck, and forcibly removing it can cause serious damage to the pen detection mechanism.
Samsung reportedly knows about this, and has advised users to closely follow the instruction manual. The pointed end of the S Pen must be inserted first to ensure it doesn't get stuck. The company has not yet made any statement about whether something will be done about the issue on a hardware level.
Watch Sony’s Fast Prototype Drone in Action
Sony publically tested a prototype of its speedy airplane-looking drone that the company plans on putting to use serving business customers.
Looking like a chubby concorde, the VTOL takes off and lands vertically like a Harrier Jump Jet. It’s capable of flying for more than two hours with a top speed of 106 mph (170 kph) and can carry a load of up to 22 pounds (10 kg).
Sony’s joint-venture drone company called Aerosense is developing the device as part of Sony’s strategy to expand into enterprise markets.
Aerosense will cater to business by offering automatically piloted services such as inspecting infrastructure and surveying land.