Geeking Out

Who won? Who’s the loser? I vote for Sam Macaroni… mainly because of the suit. Sam Macaroni takes on youtube’s Urban Ninja. You decide who the loser is and leave it in the comments below. With Xin Wuku and Liz Katz. [Sam Macaroni]

While this would be funnier (IMO) if it stuck closer to the tune of the original, this all-star affirmation of allegiance to Azeroth ought to warm the heart of Duncan Jones - who really should have persuaded his famous dad to lend some pipes. Conversely, I'm amazed nobody has ever gotten Jack Black to do a "Pandaren" joke of any kind.

Though he was best known for playing cops and crooks, James Gandolfini - who just died very suddenly in Italy at the age of 51 - never touched my heart more than in his indisputably nerdiest role as Carol in Where the Wild Things Are. Voicing a giant, semi-scary plush creature of the imagination, he encapsulated both the unpredictable rage and the desperate neediness of a child who feels powerless against the larger world. He could eat you as easily as he'd hug you, but deep down all he needed was affirmation. I'm pretty sure the actor who played him so well had it. Rest in peace. UPDATE: Via Mental Floss, some more Gandolfini/Sendak goodness.

The above is not an actual quote. The actual quote is longer, and also doesn't say, "Gosh, we had no idea Sony would one-up us by not including the features guaranteed to annoy everybody." But yeah, Xbox One no longer has to stay connected to the Internet any more except for a one-time set-up, and you will be able to play used games on it the same way you do now on 360. You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world. Paraphrasing Norm McDonald, this knowledge and more has been available for years in the scientific journal Duh! So where's the part where you say, "We understand also that you don't like to pay $100 more for things when you can get similar things cheaper?" I guess that issue of Duh was sold out. Now that Microsoft has listened to the consumers for once - does this change your decision on buying their new console? h/t SlyDante Duh image credit: The SNL Archives

TMZ is currently reporting that actor James Gandolfini died of a heart attack in Italy where he was attending the 59th Taormina Film Festival in Sicily. The actor was best known for his portraying Tony Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, for which he won three Emmy awards. Among his other notable work was appearances in such films as True Romance, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty, The Last Castle, In the Loop, The Taking of Pelham, Killing Them Softly, Zero Dark, Not Fade Away and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. and producing the documentaries Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq and Wartorn: 1861-2010, which was about soldiers dealing with Post Traumatic Stress.

As you may have already heard, Microsoft just finished up with maybe the most epic policy climbdown the videogame industry has ever witnessed.

YouTube user OneMinuteGalactica made this video for the Slacktory channel, and it takes the audio from the original Terminator trailer, but replaces it with footage from the bizarre Woody Allen film Sleeper. That’s brilliant. We’ve posted a few of these kind of mashups before, and they’re all great, or we wouldn’t waste your time with them, but really – Sleeper/Terminator? That’s genius. Now I have to go home and see if I can sync the full movies up like Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz. Meanwhile in related links Butcher Billy mashed up video games with just about everything he could find How about an Iron Man/Mega Man mashup, Scarecrow? Monsters University + Revenge of the Nerds = This trailer

50 essential LGBT films (Flavorwire) Dan Abrams to become Nightline anchor (Mediaite) 9 awards you don’t want to win (Mental Floss) Jimmy Fallon’s World of Warcraft tribute ballad (The Mary Sue) HBO Go arrives on Apple TV (GeekSugar) A couple people showed up the other night to protest Brazil’s Olympic spending (SportsGrid) 15 reasons to love your scumbag friend (Guy Code Blog) (Title pic via Reddit)

How do you fly one of the world's largest airplanes over the tight confines of a tiny airport? Boeing's test pilots explain.

It’s always nice when a company listens to the feedback it is getting from consumers, and makes positive changes as a result. After E3, gamers took to the internet to express their extreme displeasure over some of the things that the Xbox One required. Many stated, very clearly, that they would buy a Sony Playstation 4 instead of the Xbox One. My best guess is that is the part that caught Microsoft’s attention. In general, companies become more willing to make the changes that consumers are asking for if they have reason to believe that they could lose out on sales if they don’t make those changes. Gamers didn’t like that the Xbox One had to be constantly connected to the internet. The inability to play a used copy of a game on the Xbox One, and the realization that this meant you cannot share your game with a friend, also made a lot of gamers angry. Today, Microsoft has announced that they are making the following changes to Xbox One: An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games. After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want to play your games, just like on the Xbox 360. Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today -There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does on Xbox 360. Microsoft also clarifies that if you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Will these changes influence gamers to choose the Xbox One instead of the PlayStation 4? It’s possible. However, since the PlayStation 4 is less expensive than the Xbox One, these changes might not generate as many sales as Microsoft may have been hoping for.