Blast Off Your Week With 'Missileman' and 'Quantum Revenge' Sales, Now $0.99 for the First Time

Forget the theories of technological singularity where people claim artificial intelligence will end up surpassing that of humans - the biggest and most immediate problem that the future presents is that it is really quite expensive. Whether that's something as relatively small as that beautiful new 4K HDR television, or something as huge as space travel, our collective wallets will inevitably get a bit lighter as more shiny things appear at our doorstep. Thankfully, the App Store has a solution - both Missileman [$0.99] and Quantum Revenge [$0.99], two recent futuristic arcade titles released in 2017, have both been reduced to $0.99 over the weekend, which is both game's lowest price yet.

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While both share a tenuous futuristic theme, Missileman and Quantum Revenge are very different games, and both have their own individual qualities and quirks. Missileman takes the much-loved Downwell [$2.99] formula and literally flips it on its head, as you control a rocket that must avoid environmental obstacles while destroying enemies that lie in your path. Our review back in February gave Missileman a respectable four stars, as while its difficulty curve is particularly unforgiving, the sixteen levels and numerous upgrade options provide a sizeable and compelling challenge for the more seasoned gamer on the App Store. Quantum Revenge takes an alternate route into the future with a dual-stick shooting, mech-piloting approach, and while some stability issues have been raised, the epic anime presentation gave it an immersive feel that is well worth its dollar entry fee. Pick up both Missileman and Quantum Revenge on the App Store now for $0.99 before they revert to their standard $2.99 price points, and blast off to each game's respective forum threads for more discussion.

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Russian YouTuber faces up to 3.5 years in prison for playing Pokémon Go in church

Prosecutor calls for maximum sentence for YouTuber after his video criticising blasphemy law and playing Pokémon Go in church.

It sounds ludicrous, but Ruslan Sokolovsky uploaded a vlog last year in which he shows a news clip that explains that anyone caught playing Pokémon Go in church could be fined up to half a million rubles, or in extreme cases, could be jailed for up to 3 years.

Sokolovsky criticises these measures that are covered under the country’s blasphemy bill.

“Actions offending believers’ feelings,” form part of the bill, as they’re “harmful for the whole society by creating conflict situation within it,” said Irina Yarovaya, a United Russia deputy and one of the bill’s initiators.

The law came into play in 2013 after Pussy Riot’s anti-Putin protest concert held in Moscow’s Saviour Cathedral. The crime is punishable by jail time and although the threat alone has acted as a sufficient deterrent, it was applied for the first time in March last year, just a few months before Sokolovsky made his video.

After the intro, he heads into the Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg – which is a apparently a Pokémon Gym, so he’s not the first to play there – and he wraps up the video with a Jesus joke.

Shortly after the video went up, state prosecutors accused Sokolovsky of inciting religious hatred and he was arrested and sent to pre-trial detention before eventually being released on bail and put under house arrest, according to Reuters.

The case is now in court and the prosecutor is calling for Sokolovsky to be jailed.

“I believe that there is no reason to exempt the defendant from liability,” the prosecutor told the court on Friday, the TASS news agency reported. “There is also no reason to sentence him to a fine … I request that the court sentence him to 3.5 years in a penal colony.”

“I’m in shock,” Sokolovsky told the court after hearing this. “I have been in jail, I was there for three months, and it is the doorway to hell.”

“I do not consider myself an extremist, maybe I’m an idiot, but not in any way an extremist.”

The verdict will be passed on May 11.

Any law that curtails speech is the first step along the road to madness. Hurt feelings are a matter of subjectivity, and the matter of context and intent can be manipulated or ignored. We’ll see how things pan out for Sokolovsky later this month.

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'Mr. Mustachio 2' Provides Perplexing Puzzles and Questionable Facial Hair, Coming Soon

While some people may fight against convention by deleting Facebook or refusing to shop at big chain stores, my biggest stand against societal norms was by actually quite enjoying studying and solving math problems at school. As a result, I tend to gravitate towards puzzle titles and anything with a semblance of number crunching, such as Sudoku or Picross, if I need to kill some time, and the upcoming Mr. Mustachio 2 looks like it could be the next game to fill this particular niche on my iPhone. While sharing the same rough concept as the previous game in the series that was released in October 2016, Mr. Mustachio 2 adds not only more number questions, but puzzles involving images, shapes and words, resulting in an intriguing take on the Brain Training-esque format that should provide a fun and educational time waster when it launches on the App Store in the next few weeks.

The general mechanics of Mr. Mustachio 2 will be immediately familiar for fans of the previous title - a certain value will appear at the top of the screen, and you have to locate the row or column that satisfies that value with the rules that are attributed to each grid. However, the upcoming sequel throws in shapes, pictures and words to the mix, so instead of the purely mathematical edge of the first game, you may be tasked with counting the number of filled circles or the amount of lowercase letters in a particular row. There are even algebraic questions that mix in both numbers and letters for a particularly devious brain-teasing combination; this mix of geometrical and statistical puzzles should cater for those looking for an educational experience, but also anyone just wanting an interesting and varied puzzle game on the App Store. Mr. Mustachio 2 will be launching on the App Store soon, but in the meantime head down to our forum thread for more details and updates in the run up to the game's release.

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Nintendo ships Switch consoles by air at extra cost to meet high demand

Nintendo has pulled out all of the stops to ensure they keep up with the demand for their new console.

Following Nintendo’s financial results last week , it turns out that the Switch has sold over the previously predicted 2 million units in March, with 2.74 million units shipped in total. Considering that keeping up with demand has been a struggle, it’s likely that is very close to the number of units actually sold.

“It’s exceeding our expectations,” GameStop’s Senior Director of Merchandising, Eric Bright, told Forbes.

“We knew it would be a high-demand product, but our Switch allocations are selling out not in days, but in hours…the demand is so high that consumers have to react quickly to be able to get their hands on them.”

“Right now we’re not seeing sales going down at all, and I would expect that to continue for quite some time.”

In order to meet the demand for Switch, Nintendo has had to bite the bullet and ship the console by air.

“We carried some of the Switches by plane in March to serve our customers more promptly,” a Nintendo spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal.

Nintendo usually ships hardware via boat because of the cost involved.

“Air is a big profit-squeezer because it could cost additional ¥5,000 per unit,” said Ace Research Institute analyst Hideki Yasuda. That’s an extra cost of US $45 per console.

But it’s imperative that Nintendo meet consumer demand while interest is high, so they’ve obviously decided it’s a hit worth taking.

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Looking forward to competing at #IEM Sydney #CSGO International event. Competition will run from May 3rd through May http://7th.pic.twitter.com/KTFL0ffX5f

Looking forward to competing at #IEM Sydney #CSGO International event. Competition will run from May 3rd through May 7th. http://pic.twitter.com/KTFL0ffX5f

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Chris and Leon take gunplay to a whole new level in this Resident Evil: Vendetta clip

Resident Evil: Vendetta doesn’t shy away from action-packed sequences.

Resident Evil: Vendetta was announced last year with the first – rather eerie – trailer making an appearance in September.

The plot was fleshed out for us in a second trailer released in February, and features a maniac who wants to start a zombie outbreak in New York city because he wants revenge. For something. You could say he has a vendetta.

The film is the third in the series that is part of the cannon, and is set between Resident Evil 6 and 7.

We were treated to an action-packed clip last week that is, frankly, absolutely mental. Chris and Leon are pulling off some insane moves to deliver a bullet into the brain of each zombie in the swarm that is attempting to have a cheeky nibble on them.

The film’s international release is set for May 27, with an exclusive one-night only theatrical release in North America on June 19th.

Will you be getting tickets to watch it on the big screen? Let us know in the comments.

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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe nets Nintendo their first UK No.1 on the Switch

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Nintendo’s first UK No.1 in over five years.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe launched last week on the Switch to glowing reviews.

The positive reception was reflected in the UK charts, as the title debuted at the top and is the first UK No.1 for the Switch. It’s also the first boxed Nintendo game to reach No.1 since 2011’s Pokémon White, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

The last time a Mario title was at the top of the charts was in back in 2008, with Mario Kart on the Wii.

Nintendo released more Switch units for the launch of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe which may be why The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sales are up 68% week-on-week, jumping from No.10 last week to No.5 this week.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, Little Nightmares, and Outlast 2 were the week’s other new releases. The first two cracked the top 5, while Outlast 2 settled in at No.14.

GTA 5 is still a top 5 regular for now. Last week’s No.1, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, has plummeted down to No.7, and Infinite Warfare, FIFA 17, and Horizon Zero Dawn round out the top 10 at the bottom of the chart.

You can check out the full list of this week’s top 10 titles below.

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
2. Sniper Ghost Warrior 3
3. GTA 5
4. Little Nightmares
5. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
6. LEGO Worlds
7. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
8. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
9. FIFA 17
10. Horizon Zero Dawn

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