Dead

Dead Island: No zombie is an Island

Being stranded on an island during a zombie outbreak doesn't sound like the perfect vacation, but in Dead Island, players are faced with such a situation. We've seen a resurgence of the undead in entertainment lately, so how does Dead Island stack up against the others?

Jeff:After one of the most successful buzz-inducing trailers in recent history, Dead Island has finally seen daylight. Contrary to the aforementioned teaser that led viewers to believe a single family was at the center of the story, Dead Island is actually an open-world action RPG presented in the first person.

At the start of the game, players must choose one of four characters, each of whom specializes in certain areas. From then on, things are mostly left in the player's hands. You can choose to either take on quests that continue the main story or explore the fictional island of Banoi for other side quests, adventures, and scattered luggage to loot.

Even though the game takes pride in the bludgeoning of zombies at close range (which it does quite well), at its core, Dead Island is an RPG first. Players must manage everything from the upkeep of their weapons to the specific skill-tree perks that they self-assign when leveling up. Even your stamina has a meter that must be watched with a careful eye during zombie encounters.… Read more

The 404 886: Where we'll see you in the meatspace (podcast)

Russ Frushtick from MTV's Multiplayer Blog joins us on the show today to chat about which upcoming releases are earning his favor, including Dead Island, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Batman: Arkham city, Gears of War 3, and Uncharted 3.

We also want to talk about Scott Stein's recent Crave article about the lack of backward-compatibility on modern consoles, but we'll spend the first half of the show on HP's double-whammy announcement about acquiring U.K. software company Autonomy while simultaneously dropping out of the PC hardware business.

The 404 Digest for Episode 886

'Dead Island' gameplay videos--15 more minutes of zombie carnage. HP bidding adieu to WebOS, PC biz. Game consoles and the death of backward-compatibility: Why we don't care. Add Russ Frushtick on Twitter. 90 percent of people don't know how to use Ctrl-F. Penny auctions cost plenty.

Episode 886 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

IBM executive says PC era is in its twilight

One of the IBM engineers who designed the first IBM PC says the venerable device is going the way of the vacuum tube and typewriter. He made this pronouncement on the eve of the IBM PC's 30th anniversary, coming up on August 12.

First a little background on Mark Dean, currently the chief technology officer for IBM Middle East and Africa. Dean was chief engineer for the development of the IBM PC/AT, ISA systems bus, PS/2 Model 70 and 80, and the Color Graphics Adapter in the original IBM PC. He holds three of the nine patents … Read more

Castle Defense games for iOS

With the introduction of the touch screen on smartphones, game developers had to come up with new control schemes that would work intuitively on the iPhone. And as iOS games evolved over time, new genres of games started to crop up that were perfect for touch screens and on-screen buttons.

One of those game genres is the castle defense strategy game. Even though you could play desktop and browser-based versions of these games, the touch screen on the iPhone worked so well that they were incredibly easy to pick up and play.

This week's collection of iOS apps is all about castle defense games. The first has a World War I feel as you battle your enemies across a series of dug-in trenches. The second lets you play as a character from the popular Evil Dead franchise as you fight off skeletons and other ghoulish enemies. The third is a new game in which you'll choose from three races to fight your enemies in a humorous battle to create the ultimate barbecue sauce.… Read more

Verizon pursues dead woman's bill for three months

Can it really be the case that cell phone companies will pursue every single customer for an unpaid debt? Even if the person has been dead for months?

This thought is nagging me more than certain elements of my wasted youth after reading a Los Angeles Times story concerning Betty Howard and her Verizon bill.

According to the Times, when Howard, from Loma Linda, Calif., was struggling with breast cancer, she signed up for Verizon's wireless broadband. It seems that Verizon had trouble securing an Internet connection for her. So, last September, she signed up for a package that … Read more

'Evil Dead' seeks rebirth in iPhone game

These days, Sam Raimi is famous for making the "Spider-Man" trilogy of movies. But to a core group of die-hard fans, he'll always be known as the director of 1981's cult-favorite "The Evil Dead."

Though that horror-comedy classic has had 30 years to blend into the cinematic background, it still has a passionate and devoted following. And now Raimi and production partner Robert Tapert and their Ghost House Pictures have teamed up with the Los Angeles-based entertainment consultants TriggerGlobal to fire up those fans--as well as try to create a new fan base for … Read more

Yourmusic.com CD subscription service calls it quits

If you remember BMG Music Service's 12-for-1 CD subscription service, then I offer up this footnote to that story. Direct Brands shuttered that service in 2008, shuffling over its remaining members to a new site, Yourmusic.com.

The deal with the site was that all single-disc albums were $6.99 with free shipping, you just had to buy one a month. However, Direct Brands is closing Yourmusic.com, ending its run in music sales and reminding us once more that physical media is on its way out.

Yourmusic.com officially shuts down on June 29, but to celebrate its … Read more

Bin Laden's death and the Web response (roundup)

News that U.S. special forces had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden traveled fast via Twitter and other Web outlets.

How bin Laden evaded the NSA: Sneakernet Reports offer details about trove of digital data found in his Pakistan hideout, like that it included a stash of "electronically recorded video" porn. (Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh) May 13, 2011 1:42 PM PDT

Visualizing how Twitter spread news of bin Laden's death A detailed visual look at how a single Tweet spread like a virus across Twitter within minutes--and scooped the president. (Posted in … Read more

Republican tweet govt.'s first word of bin Laden

The first U.S. government report that Osama bin Laden was dead didn't come from the White House. Nor was it the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the State Department.

Instead, it appears to have originated with a freshman Tea Party congressman from Florida, Dennis Ross, who posted a note to Twitter at 10:41 p.m. ET yesterday saying: "Bin Laden is dead. GOD BLESS AMERICA!" (See list of related CNET stories.)

That public announcement came nearly an hour before President Obama's White House appearance. It came three minutes before The New York … Read more