Every so often, we take a look at the most epic fails from the week that was in the Fails of the Week. This week, we have five pictures, GIFs and videos that we think are the most epic fails of the week.
F1 December News Roundup: All the Rules Changes You Have
It’s only been three weeks since we last did a Formula One post but given the news from last week, I think we’re definitely due. Last week, the FIA announced some new rules for the 2014 and 2015 seasons and I believe that they’ve earned themselves some rants with their decisions.
YouTube’s Content ID System is Hurting Your Favourite Channels
Not only are YouTube content creators having to deal with a massive change to the networking system that will affect their ability to make money, but YouTube made a massive sweep of videos in a content matching check that caused a lot of YouTubers to lose the monetization rights to many videos.
YouTube’s content ID system is fairly indiscriminate. If it finds content that matches copyrighted content in their data base, the monetization rights revert to the original creator. The problem is that it makes no provisions for fair use and the dispute system is often considered as non-existent.
But rather than rehash this week’s column about YouTube on monetization, this detailed explanation of YouTube content matching, monetization and the implications of the current system by Force of Force Strategy Gaming does a much better job than I ever could.
Saturday Link-Off: Lights, Camera, Legal Action
Since we’re a week and a half before Christmas, I think that it’s safe to say that we’re in the home stretch. A quick FYI before we start: Jackie and I recorded a podcast this week. I don’t think it’ll be ready for this week so I think a December 24th release date is probable.
Alright, now it’s time for the links. Here’s Canadian model Alyssah Ali.
Time Magazine named the Pope their Person of the Year. They’re completely wrong. The real person of the year is Edward Snowden. (The New Yorker)
Well, I mentioned earlier this week that people were crying slander over what Rob Ford said in an interview with Conrad Black. Daniel Dale wasn’t impressed with what was said about him. (Toronto Star)
And then proceeded to serve Rob Ford with a libel notice with the full backing of the Toronto Star. Given how much Star personalities are tweeting about this, it almost seems like they’re trying to make this a story rather than let it happen naturally. (Toronto Star)
7 Best Games of the 7th Generation: Super Mario Galaxy
There are few series in gaming that are as iconic and as loved as Nintendo’s Super Mario series. Despite the fact that Mario has been around for over 30 years, Nintendo has this way of reinventing Mario and the Super Mario series with each new console generation. The result is games that bring new gamers into Nintendo and Mario while still giving fans who have played Mario games for their whole lives something to love.
For the industry shaking Wii console, Nintendo took Mario to the one place he’d never been before: The final frontier. Not only did Mario’s first adventure in outer space prove to be a smash hit, at release, it was considered one of the best Wii and platformer games of all-time.
Speedball 2 HD Review: He Shoots… Off the Post!
With all the retro remakes of classic games have been coming out, it was only a matter of time before I reviewed one of them here. I had never played the original Speedball games when they were released on the Atari ST (and the dozen or so other platforms it was also available on) but given the lack of sports games on PC, I thought I’d give it a try.
All that ended up happening was me questioning the need for HD remakes of classic games.
BIFF2013: 12 Years A Slave
There’s no better way to close off the Brisbane International Film Festival other than a screening of the film 12 Years A Slave. Based on the true story of a free man named Solomon Northup, who was kidnapped in the mid 1800s and sent into slavery, 12 Years A Slave is far from comfortable viewing as it looks at the American slave trade that affected millions of people. The movie is an unflinching look at the familial separation, the torture and the abuse in one of the darkest points in American History. Continue reading
Wednesday Link-Off: Rise and Fall
It’s the middle of the week and I’m likely in the middle of a mountain of snow as you read this. The forecast is calling for a tonne of snow at Lowdown HQ so I’m expecting to be digging out for a whole. So much fun. Anyway, it’s time for the links. Here’s Amy Adams.
At one point in time, BlackBerry was the unquestioned king of the mobile sector. Now, they’re an afterthought. Here’s the rise and fall of BlackBerry. (Businessweek)
David Simon, the man behind The Wire, explains how capitalism has divided America into two nations. (The Guardian)
Rob Ford said some things that had people crying slander after an interview with Conrad Black. (Toronto Star)
VGX 2013 News and Trailer Roundup
For all of Geoff Keighley’s pre-event hype, it sure sounds like the whole awards aspect of VGX didn’t change. According to the /r/Games live thread, seven awards were handed out during the show of VGX’s 23 total awards. At least it sounds like celebrities weren’t paraded out to promote their own stuff though it did sound like host Joel McHale was very much annoyed that he was forced to spend the whole show reading from a teleprompter verbatim.
Apart from the handful of awards and McHale doing nothing to hide the fact that he didn’t have anything to do with the jokes during the show, there was a bunch of news and announcements from the show. It’s almost like a mini convention based on the importance that publishers put on the show for making news with big announcements. So here’s a roundup of the news and trailers from VGX.
Continue reading
BIFF2013: The Grandmaster
There are several cuts of The Grandmaster at the moment. The original film ran approximately 130 minutes, but the version featured at the BIFF was the American cut of 109 minutes. While each cut has its own ‘uniqueness’ to it, the featured version at BIFF felt like an incomplete film. The cinematography was beautiful and the action sequences were spectacularly crafted, but the whole film was muddled by poor storytelling. Continue reading
The Lowdown 