We are now within a week of Nintendo launching not only the next entry in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, Tipping Stars, on the Nintendo eShop; but with it, the first ever cross-buy promotion – with Nintendo offering to give free download codes for the Wii U version of the game to anyone who downloads the 3DS version – and vice versa! However, if you live in a territory served by the American version of Nintendo’s eStore and can’t wait to get your next fix of Donkey Kong action – and you’re one of the handful of people who DIDN’T already get Donkey Kong Country Returns or its sequel when they first released on Wii and Wii U respectively – Nintendo have you covered.

In a deal that so far seems restricted exclusively for American eShop Users – i.e. Nintendo gamers using Nintendo 3DS or Wii U consoles registered as being in America, Mexico or Canada – starting today and lasting until 8:59am Pacific Time on March 3rd, Nintendo are offering 30% off Nintendo eShop purchases of either Donkey Kong Country™: Tropical Freeze (Wii U) or Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D (Nintendo 3DS), when you purchase one or more of six qualifying Donkey Kong Virtual Console titles. These are any of the three Donkey Kong Land titles from the 3DS Virtual Console (priced at $3.99 each at time of writing); or any of the original three Donkey Kong Country titles from the Wii U Virtual Console ($7.99 each at time of writing).

The usual catches apply, of course: The same Nintendo Network ID must be linked to your Wii U and Nintendo 3DS systems as well as your eShop account prior to purchase in order to be eligible for discount; and all of the games must be purchased before offer’s closing. For those of you serviced by the Nintendo eShop in other regions – sorry to disappoint. But if a similar offer comes your way, we’ll be sure to update this as soon as we hear it!

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

Here at Sanitarium.FM Towers, many of us have long believed that the reign of Flash was over and that use of Flash applets on the internet would soon die out. Youtube’s latest announcement may have just guaranteed this eventuality by hitting it where it hurts, as Google announce it is dropping it as a standard video delivery format for Youtube in favour of HTML5.

HTML5 has long been heralded as the natural successor to Flash, as its presence as a standard all modern internet browsers strive to follow removes the need for external plugins; making it both more efficient and better supported across all of today’s most relevant platforms – especially smartphones, some of which do not come with Flash support at all, but which DO have HTML5-capable browsers. HTML5 will also become the default delivery method for videos streamed using Safari 8, Internet Explorer 11, Chrome and the latest versions of Firefox.

However, just being capable of showing video out-of-the-box and on more devices, with less requirements than Flash doesn’t seem to have been the only reason for the move. On the YouTube blog, YouTube Engineering Manager Richard Leider said that HTML5’s adoption of adaptive bitrate (ABR) technology, which allows YouTube to dynamically alter video quality to suit the bandwidth available, was the real nail in the coffin for Flash support; as previously this was a capability of Flash alone. With HTML5 now able to adjust quality on the fly, videos should load quicker; and users should find themselves staring at a “buffering” icon much less often than before.

Moving to HTML5 will also allow YouTube to use the VP9 codec, which will allow 4K HD quality video running at 60FPS on capable hardware. Combined with WebRTV support for easy sharing of videos and video broadcasts, Flash’s days may well finally be numbered. And that’s a win-win for everyone – except the technology’s owners, Adobe, who no doubt are having an urgent meeting as we speak.

After writing off unsold stocks of previous models and causing numerous jokes about whether profit would ever surface for Surface, Microsoft’s most recent earnings report seem to suggest the company’s fortunes are finally turning around. Microsoft claim that its Devices and Consumer group’s revenue grew 8 percent year over year in the last calendar quarter of 2014, thanks in no small part to healthy Surface and Xbox sales. Though Microsoft refuse to reveal exact shipment numbers, revenues from Surface Tablets are said to have increased by 24% from Fiscal Quarter 2 in 2014 compared to this year – which Microsoft credits, as you may expect, mainly on the popularity of the Surface Pro 3.

And as for the XBox? Though the figures are less rosy, they remain still quite healthy. Microsoft state 6.6 million Xbox systems were sold during the rush to Christmas 2014. In the same quarter last year, Microsoft shifted 7.4 million consoles, so this represents a small decline. While last year’s figures were broken down into 3.9 million XBox Ones and 3.5 million XBox 360s, Microsoft refused to offer any such breakdown this year; so it is hard to determine if the decrease is due to reducing sales of the older or the newer consoles – however, all indications suggest the new system represented a significantly larger chunk of sales compared to last year, in part due to the new console’s game selection improving over the last year; as well as aggressive price cuts by Microsoft. Sony was quick to say that it sold 4.1 million PlayStation 4s just during the last month of holiday shopping, so it’s apparent that there was at least a fierce fight between current-generation platforms.

It’s otherwise a mixed quarter for Microsoft, whose total income this quarter shows a rare loss for the company – an operating loss of $243 million. Microsoft’s move to offer Windows licences for free to smaller devices as long as they promote Bing as standard – and a generally slow-moving PC market which hasn’t warmed to Windows 8 OR 8.1 – has cut revenue from Windows licences by 13%; however the promotion seems to have worked as revenues from the company’s online services have mostly mitigated this loss. The main cause of the losses seems to be more down to the costs of both its massive restructuring plan and integrating Nokia’s former mobile team. Speaking of which, Microsoft also appears to have turned around declines under Nokia’s tenure, selling 10.5 million Lumia phones in the last year. All of this points to a company for which a PC Operating System – while still important – may not be as make-or-break as it once was.

Now you can get drunk with you favorite Dwarf and sing along with the songs you heard in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Bioware created a place on its website where you can download the tavern songs for free.

The songs include “I Am The One,” “Grey Warden,” and “Empress of Fire” among others, and you have until February 9th to download the MP3s.