frontline
Latest
‘Frontline’ documentary tackles Jeff Bezos and the ‘Amazon Empire’
Amazon is the subject of the latest Frontline documentary, which airs on PBS today at 9PM ET and is probably worth checking out if you have any interest in the tech giant. From the same team that was behind a 2018 Frontline examination of Facebook, Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos charts the rise of Bezos and his company from shipping books from a Washington garage in the mid-'90s through to its current status as a trillion-dollar colossus.
Titanfall's mobile debut is a 'Hearthstone' with mechs
If I told you Titanfall was coming to smartphones, what kind of game would you envision? A side-scrolling shoot-em-up similar to Metal Slug? A Titan customization tool? Or a portable-friendly strategy game like Advance Wars? Well, I've got bad news. Titanfall: Frontline is none of those. It's a digital card game similar to Hearthstone. But wait! Before you dive back into Blizzard's tavern, hear Respawn out. The company has teamed up with Nexon, best known for the MMO Maplestory, to build out new cards and mechanics that could feel authentic to the Titanfall universe.
Final Fantasy XIV previews Frontline
Carteneau, the site of the final clash before the Calamity in Final Fantasy XIV, is now a smoldering wasteland devoid of any worthwhile objects... save a number of Allagan ruins. All of the great nations of Eorzea are eager to claim those ruins, but rather than starting a bloody conflict, the nations have agreed to a join contest by the Grand Companies to settle matters in a civilized fashion. It's all the justification you need for Final Fantasy XIV's Frontline, a new PvP mode in which 72 players face off for a three-way conflict. Participating in the battle comes down to moving between control points on the map and acquiring them for your company, earning points for your side as you maintain control. Points can also be earned via slaughtering other players and taking out monsters that appear on the battlefield. Those who take part will earn PvP experience, Wolf Marks, and tomestones, meaning that Frontline offers a reliable one-stop shop for all sorts of bonuses.
Frontline investigates the cause of cell tower deaths tonight (video)
You probably don't give much thought to the towers that blanket us with wireless signals and the technicians that climb up them, almost constantly, to upgrade the equipment. The PBS investigative journalism series, Frontline, does and tonight on your local PBS HD affiliate the findings from their investigation of the numerous fatalities will premier -- check out the embedded preview and then the local listings for specific time and channel. Who's to blame, what can be done to prevent it and more will be covered, as well as discussed via an online chat with the film's producers on Wednesday the 23rd at 1PM ET, with one of our very own moderating the panel. Feel free to leave questions for the producers and then join us tomorrow via the embedded chat after the break.
WoW Moviewatch: Frontline
We first posted about RedEyeLobine's Frontline Preview back in March of 2009. Man, how time flies. We knew at the time this video would be pretty awesome, with some impressive graphics, a fun metal soundtrack, and lots of badass action. The great news is that RedEye's completed the movie and released the final version of Frontline. This is a hell of a video and gets me pretty pumped to go dust off my warrior and kick some tail. RedEye hints that there's a storyline which he'll develop in a later movie. But even without the story, the general gist is pretty clear. Basically, there are these two warriors. And there's this tail that requires kicking. The warriors then set about kicking that tail. There's a brief moment where things seem dark, but then reinforcements appear, and the tail-kicking recommences. Also, metal plays in the back ground, which is fairly mandatory when a pair of warriors are busy doing their warrior thing. All in all, Frontline felt like a warrior anthem to me, and was a great video. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
Found Footage: Sir Patrick Stewart adores his iPhone
Don't even bother questioning why there is video of Jean-Luc Picard bashing Twitter and talking about his love for the iPhone, just watch and enjoy. Okay, okay, it's from a PBS interview designed to promote some of their Shakespeare programming, but that doesn't matter, really. All that matters is that Sir Patrick Stewart calls his "beautiful" iPhone "an extension of whom I am," in the way that only he can. He also bashes gaming, but only because he says it's extremely addictive, so we'll let that one slide. Here's the really important question: Has anyone pointed out the Star Trek phaser [iTunes link] to him yet? What apps (besides the weather one, we guess) does he run on a daily basis? [via iPhone Savior]
Comcast adds select PBS HD series to its On Demand library
Comcast customers who miss a PBS program despite the best efforts of their DVR and the PBS website just might be able to catch that episode (in HD, no less) with On Demand service. Comcast has added "Antiques Roadshow," "Nova," "Masterpiece," "History Detectives" and "Frontline" to its VOD library, and new episodes will be made available for one week starting the day after they are broadcast. While this is probably not enough to allow even the most heavy PBS viewer to ditch the DVR altogether, it's a nice extra all the same. Now, if PBS could do something about its rampant use of "widescreen optimized for 4x3" formatting that doesn't look good on either 4x3 or 16x9 displays, that'd be even better.
Frontline Aerospace shows off "Humvee of the air"
While it looks like it's still quite a ways from actually being in the air, Frontline Aerospace nonetheless seems to have some pretty bold ambitions for its V-STAR unmanned aerial vehicle, which it has dubbed the "Humvee of the air." Like some of the flying car concepts we've seen, the V-STAR (or VTOL-Swift Tactical Aerial Resource) uses a ducted fan design, which promises to give it increased maneuverability in addition to vertical take off and landings, while dual Rolls-Royce Model 250 gas turbines help to propel it along at speeds up to 288 knots with a 400-pound payload. As you might have guessed, the company isn't making any promises as to when we can expect the first test flight, although they have apparently at least done some wind-tunnel tests (presumably on a scale model).[Via The Register]
700MHz hopeful Frontline "closed for business"
There's a bit of a mystery emerging on the 700MHz auction front. Frontline Wireless, which has made no secret of its desire to bid and win on the D-block spectrum, has a released a statement saying "Frontline is closed for business at this time. We have no further comment." At the risk of stating the obvious, we'd say that it's a rather inconvenient time for the company to be "closed for business," and this could spell doom for the company's efforts in the 700MHz auction -- or not, there's really no way to tell at this point, and Frontline's industry connections run deep, including a sketchy sounding partnership with "Backline." In time all will be made clear, but for now we've got to wait out this silent auction with everybody else, which may or may not include Frontline Wireless.Update: Both GigaOm and the New York Times are reporting that apparently Frontline Wireless was unable to raise the deposit required to participate in the auctions. What boggles is that the $128 million required up front is a pittance compared to the money spent in the actual bidding process. We just can't wait for the real fun to get started. While it's sad to see that Frontline has lost the keys to "unlocking the value in 700 MHz" we're stoked for the fun to get started.
Who's in on the 700MHz auction?
Feel free to shout it out in the comments, we know y'all are gunning for a piece. What's that? Don't quite have enough change in the couch to hit the $4.6 billion minimum bid on the 700MHz C block? How lame. Lucky for us, there are quite a few companies out there that do have that kind of cash earmarked for this and other highly desirable parts of the spectrum, which should make for some exciting bidding. Too bad FCC's auction process, which begins on January 24th, is totally blind, and with the exception of the few companies that have publicly stated their intentions to bid, we won't know much about how the auction went down until February or March. The following, however, are confirmed: AT&T; T-Mobile says it already has plenty. Cox Communications; Time Warner and Comcast aren't biting. Frontline; gunning for the D block. Google; might just do the minimum to ensure the C block is "open." Verizon; Sprint is busy with WiMAX. Sounds like slim pickings, but there a bunch of wild cards out there, including satellite providers, smaller wireless carriers and even big box retailers.[Via paidContent.org]
Wholesaling of D block spectrum okayed by FCC
Landing an agreement to create a worldwide mobile broadband standard with the freed up 700MHz band isn't the only good news going on in the spectrum world, as the FCC has also waived a previous regulation that would require winners of the D block segment to not wholesale more than 50-percent of its capacity. Now, the winner will be able to wholesale up to 100-percent of the capacity so long as it abides by the other guidelines surrounding D block, most notable of which is the provision that requires the victorious bidder to "build out a nationwide wireless network that is good enough to meet public safety specifications for coverage and redundancy." The move is seen as one that will widen the range of potential bidders and encourage small business participation, and for consumers, it could offer up more competition in the mobile services marketplace. Sounds like a surefire win-win, eh?[Via RCRNews, image courtesy of toddemslie]Read - FCC D block waiver [PDF]Read - Explanation of D block spectrum
This week on the Japanese Virtual Console: Golden Kung Fu Adventures
Hey, a Japanese Virtual Console update we don't have to be jealous of! Usually, Japan gets all kinds of great stuff, and we get, at best, Japan's great stuff from a month ago. This week: nothing to fret about, really. Front Line (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) Adventures of Lolo (Famicom, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Golden Axe II (Mega Drive, 1-2 players, 600 Wii Points) The Kung Fu (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points) We like Golden Axe II, but we feel confident it'll be here soon. We already know we're getting The Kung Fu this month (as China Warrior). We've never played Front Line, but it looks very ... proto-NES. That leaves Lolo, which, as a HAL Laboratory title and an okay game, is no doubt the subject of a lot of frothing demand. It'll come out here eventually!
Sadness may exist after all
The folks at Kiff News were not satisfied with the latest news and rumors surrounding the intriguing Sadness and the split between Nibris and Frontline Studios -- so they investigated a little further. The e-mail they received from Nibris confirms the break from Frontline Studios, but they also insist that Sadness -- and their other announced games -- are in development, and that they've been quiet on the situation because their head has been out sick. We wonder if he has a doctor's note.They also acknowledged that their silence was probably the source of the rumors surrounding Sadness, and offered an apology, as well as the promise of an official statement within the week. They also report that there is a new developer working on the game. We hope they'll not only work fast (and thoroughly), but be forthcoming, as well. We've been in the dark on this one for a long time.
Wii Warm Up: Sadness, delays, and concerns
We are definitely sad about Sadness. That was really something we had high hopes for, as the gameplay sounded truly revolutionary, and thus perfect for the Revolution Wii. But it's probably easy to talk up something that may or may not even exist. Still, the Frontline/Nibris split, and the delays on Nintendo's most-anticipated first party titles, plus what we've seen so far ... well, frankly, sometimes it makes us a little concerned. While a lot of the added-waggle ports have been surprisingly good so far, we're not seeing a lot of right-here, right-now, pop-'em-in-the-Wii original games for our shiny original system. At some point, we just have to ask ... is developing fresh, new games with sensible motion sensitive controls (like Wii Sports, but bigger) really so difficult? Some of these games have been years in the making, after all. And we're all for the wait, mind you, if it results in a more perfect gaming experience, but we're still a little anxious at times when we see fallout like this.
Sadness loses its publisher, title becomes more ironic
Doubting that there was a real game involved, an IGN forumite decided to check up on Nibris's claim that their mysterious Sadness was going to be co-developed and published by Frontline Studios. The conclusion supports the claim but may not justify the meanness.Basically, he contacted Frontline to see if they were actually publishing Sadness and if it really existed. Frontline responded that they were "no longer interested in developing Sadness game based on Nibris' concept." This sort of makes it sound like there never was a game, and now there may never be. We might disagree with the poster's tactic, because it's kind of rude to openly doubt the existence of a game in an interview with its erstwhile publisher, but it sounds like his doubts were not misplaced.
Mysterious Wii 'Sadness' explained!
Has the mysterious Sadness weighed down your soul, pervading every fold and crevice of your aching heart? Well cheer up, Game Informer brings the first illuminating details of Nibris' dark horror adventure: It's pre-WWI, and you are Maria, a woman desperate to protect her son Alexander after a train derailment lands the two of you in the always-creepy Eastern European countryside. Alex has been blinded in the accident and is starting to act "odd." Your subsequent fate will share eerie similarities to ... Slavic legends!Nibris estimates that Sadness will provide 15 heart-pounding hours of "No Alex! Not that way!" action, in addition to 10 tear-jerking endings. You ready to unleash your inner-mother? We hear Cooking Mama is a great way to stir up those maternal instincts ... try starting there.
Raid Over the River in action?
The embedded video, as always available past the jump, popped up on the intertubes recently resulting in many a raised eyebrow and inquisitive glance. Many are questioning the validity of the video's content, while others are praising its content as the real deal Holyfield. What do you guys think?See also: Raid Over the River trailer New Raid Over the River info, screens [Via Go Nintendo]
NIBRIS and Frontline to co-produce Sadness
In a move that totally shattered rumors of Majesco publishing Sadness for the Wii, NIBRIS and Frontline finally announced the publisher: both of them. That's right, earlier reports that the game had found a publisher were true, just not the one we thought. Aside from co-producing Sadness with NIBRIS, Frontline Studios developed the recently-released DS title Sudoku Mania and have worked with NIBRIS on other, smaller projects in the past. Interestingly enough, the announcement on Frontline Studios' webpage states that Sadness has a 16 month development cycle, giving us some kind of idea when we could be seeing the game at retail.
