Leonard Nimoy, the actor best known for playing Mr. Spock in the ubiquitous Star Trek series, passed away today at the age of 83.

The New York Times has a full obituary for Nimoy, who was taken to the hospital earlier this week after suffering chest pains

The code of the latest Hearthstone has been unpicked by the people at Hearthpwn, and the findings have been quite interesting because they seem to hint at further expansions and what their content could be.

A string of code within the patch points towards what could be a Blackrock Mountain expansion and its presale. There’s very little to go on though, so it’s unsure if this is a final thing or if Blizzard are still going to make tweaks to have something else happen.

New cardbacks have also been determined from the datamine, although no images have been found. The information is as follows (with ‘brm’ believed to stand for Blackrock Mountain):

If you’ve been on the Internet at all in this last year, you’ve probably at least heard of the term “net neutrality”. It’s been an on-going issue for a while now, with people on one side demanding rules be introduced to stop ISPs in America from controlling net traffic as they see fit, while the ISPs have been trying to stop legislation by appealing to the side of the argument that the Internet is a free area and shouldn’t be regulated.

Today the issue was finally brought to a vote by the Federal Communications Commission and the vote was 3-2 in favour of the rules to be introduced to stop ISPs introducing a ‘fast lane’ to those sites that pay by throttling the download speeds of other sites. If you’re a content creator online, this is very good news and exactly what most people who spend a lot of time online for their entertainment were hoping for.

The Internet is now to be considered a utility in the same way as telephones, and so the ISPs are now to be regulated to be sure that they’re not unfairly favouring or cutting off anyone. The ISPs and the Republican Party were opposed to this saying that such a move would cause higher payment rates for Internet users as well as strangling innovation and investment, favouring a law instead that would forbid ISPs from deliberately blocking or slowing down specific content.

While it’s a victory today, there’s always a chance the ISPs could take the decision to court to attempt to get it thrown out. Celebrate but don’t think that it’s properly over, not until its confirmed that everyone will let this decision stand.

When Resident Evil: Revelations 2 was advertised on the Steam page, players saw that amongst the features being listed was offline co-op – a rarity nowadays in the days of online multiplayer. So imagine the disappointment when the first episode went live and this feature was missing.

Yesterday Capcom said about the omission: “The decision to prioritize a single local screen was made to ensure a stable user experience across a variety of different PC settings and devices. Raid mode will support online co-op shortly after launch when a free patch is available for players to download which adds this feature, but the main campaign on PC will only be available to play in single local screen.”

This made it sound as if offline co-op would never be a feature in the game, and understandably some people weren’t exactly happy about it. Now however Capcom have released a further statement, and while it’s vague it seems that they’ve decided to give the feature some thought.

“We apologize to our Resident Evil Revelations 2 PC players who purchased the game and expected to have local co-op as a feature. The feature wasn’t intended for this version and that caveat was mistakenly omitted from the product description on the Steam page earlier, and then included as soon as we were made aware. This was an unintentional error and again, we apologize for the confusion this may have caused.

“We are currently looking into the matter and potential solutions and we hope to have new information to share very soon, so please stay tuned. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

So if you were hoping for local co-op stay tuned, it might happen yet.

If you’ve ever wanted proof that some games are timeless, look no further than Titan Attacks! Originally published for Playstation 3/4 and Vita and now Nintendo 3DS, Titan Attacks is an unabashed throwback to the early arcade classic Space Invaders. But before you write it off as a quick cash in, you should know that Curve Digital and developer Puppygames have thrown a few new wrinkles into the formla. The game isn’t as nail bitingly difficult as Space Invaders, but its still a score based run that will keep you chasing the highscore. Unlike the original, those scores are now shared around the world thanks to online leaderboards, instead of being visible only to those who take the time to peruse the grimy arcade cabinet in the local pizza shop.

Titan Attacks has a decidedly retro look to it. the simple graphics make it easy to separate enemy types from the background- a not so minor concern later on in the game. Clean lines, explosions that pop and unique enemy designs create a great aesthetic for the game as you play through it’s various levels and backdrops. unfortunately, the soundtrack and effects don’t quite hold up to the same level. They get the job done, but you won’t be blown away. To be fair, I spent a fair amount of my time playing the game while watching a stream on my PC, so the sound certainly isn’t a deal breaker.

Playing Titan Attacks is a simple matter. Your ship is on the bottom of the 3DS’ top screen and you move it left and right with either the slide pad or D-pad. A simple tap of the A button fires your gun at the waves of steadily descending aliens overhead. Gameplay doesn’t advance from there. Enemies arrive in waves, and you ushoot them with A, occasionally pressing B to utilize a screen clearing Smart Bomb purchased from the shop with your hard won cash.

But therein lies the strength of Titan Attacks. It’s a simple core mechanic executed well. The added layers Puppygames has added only enhance the experience. Of course, they may make it to easy, but I’ll touch on that in just a moment. After each wave is cleared you are taken to a shop. There you can buy a variety of upgrades for your ship, ranging from increased gun power, shield recharges, the aforementioned smart bomb and even more bullets or addons for your ship.  These come in handy in later levels as, unlike Space Invaders, Titan Attacks isn’t slow. This is a fast paced version of the classic arcade shooting. Enemies move quickly, challenging you to lead each shot effectively, Some enemies dive at the ground, others pepper the area with scattered bursts of bullets. Keeping up with it all is a daunting task.

Fortunately, Titan Attacks rewards your skill. As you demolish your foes and avoid hits, you build a multiplier that carries across levels. Pickups rain from the sky, providing you with extra money, increased firing speed and a temporary invincibility shield. Pulling off a perfect set of waves as you advance from the Earth to the Moon and beyond is a satisfying feeling, and its easy to see your own skill growing as you more easily demolish weaker waves of foes.

Unfortunately, once you gain enough upgrades, your ship becomes an unstoppable juggernaut that is all but impossible to kill aside from the occasional ill timed dodge directly into a plummeting enemy ship. These upgrades can also hurt your performance in another unexpected way. Every so often, a destroyed ship will erupt into flaming wreckage and plummet towards the earth. If you destroy the ship, you get extra money. The pilot may also eject from his ship, and if you capture him, you get another bonus. Unless you shoot him. Once you have a massively upgraded ship, firing veritable storms of bullets upwards, it becomes impossible to reliably stop your fire in time to catch these plummeting aliens. In effect, the upgrade system can nullify a very interesting quirk in the game mechanics.

Despite the few negatives, Titan Attacks is a fun game. A great time waster, especially for those who like to grind for highscores and bragging rights amongst there friends, or for those who want a more turbo charged take on the classic Space Invaders gameplay.

Titan Attacks: 7.5/10