Blockbuster’s latest SEC filing indicates that bankruptcy is a very real option for the company.

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SEC, Silicon Alley Insider

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Yesterday the PlayStation Blog revealed the launch date and initial preorder bonii for ModNation Racers, and as we’ve seen Sony do time and time again this generation, they’re mixing and mingling their console-exclusive characters.

Preorder with GameStop and you’ll receive a Kratos character and kart. Amazon will have Ratchet and Clank characters, while Best Buy gets Uncharted’s Nathan Drake and a jeep. I guess I’ll go with R&C since the Kratos is (appropriately) hideous and there’s nothing special about the Uncharted jeep. (Group shot of all the characters follows.)

ModNation Racers hits both PS3 and PSP on the same day, May 25.

In addition, each preorder will get some currently-unknown character/kart deals… intriguingly blind-boxed just like all those collectible toys and trading cards.

The PSP hasn’t had the easiest life, that’s something no one can deny. Gavin Cheshire, Vice President to Codemasters certainly agrees with this point as he recently shared his thoughts on the handheld’s performance.

“Well, speaking as a person who bought a PSP, the problem was that I always thought, because it was a better screen than iPod’s, that I’d be doing more with it. But it was such a bollocking useless waste of space; just getting stuff on it was ridiculous. That was its downfall.”

Difficulty of using the PSP isn’t the only problem the system has faced over the years, it’s also been criticized for a lack of games and no second analog nub to control a camera. Sony recently tried to combat some of these issues with the PSP Go, of which Cheshire says, “PSP Go’s a lovely device, really smart, but our senior VP bought one the day it came out and has a great story, because he ended up on some customer support line just trying to do basic stuff. He had to re-download his software, do an immediate firmware update, and that’s your user experience. Sony just hasn’t got it right. Stuff like that will make people leave it alone.”

With a 2010 line-up including titles like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker however, Cheshire could yet be proven wrong.

There are becoming fewer and fewer genres left to ‘MMO-ify’ — EA have staked their claim to the MMO racer hybrid with Need for Speed World, to which the beta has just opened its doors.

Abandoning the racing-sim style exhibited by Shift, Need for Speed World rolls with a street racing vibe similar to Most Wanted or Carbon. Selected players will be able to engage in police pursuits, co-op races and online battles across an open world spanning 150 miles. The game will also feature “an all-new power up system and deep RPG style progression,” according to John Doyle, senior producer on World.

If this massively multiplayer racing combo has piqued your interests; see the video above for a taster and then march on down to the official Need for Speed site to enlist.

As the Federal Communications Commission hands its National Broadband Plan over to Congress, the cable industry’s top trade association has issued a manifesto that looks pretty good, at least on paper. It boils down to seven “consumer principles,” says the National Telecommunications and Cable Association, to which cable operators will adhere, “and which we believe could serve as the foundation for Commission and inter-industry efforts.”

The principles have a sort of FCC Internet Policy Statement or even FDR Four Freedoms speech feeling to them, but focus on mobility of content, portability of devices, and ease of Internet access. They include the Holy Grail: “1. Consumers should have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can access their multichannel provider’s video services without a set-top box supplied by that provider.” A right-to-broadband clause: “3. Consumers should have the option to access video content from the Internet through their multichannel provider’s video devices and retail video devices.” And a freedom-of-platform commitment: “5. Consumers should have the option to easily and securely move video content between and among devices in their homes.”

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Hate groups have always been a presence on the Internet, but their presence is growing quicker lately thanks to social networking sites. According to a report from the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), groups that promote violence, terrorism, homophobia, antisemitism, and other forms of intolerance grew by 20 percent in the last year alone.

The report is part of the Center’s annual look at the spread of hate groups online, which noted that there are now more than 11,500 social networks, websites, forums, and blogs that focus on spreading intolerance, recruiting new members, and instructing people on how to hurt others. “The numbers are probably, at the end of the day, multiples of that,” the SWC’s associate dean Abraham Cooper said in a news conference Monday. “That should be taken as a low ball figure.”

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There’s no shortage of Steampunk fanfare these days, and this particular Steampunk weapon, a seemingly simple coilgun pistol, is actually quite a bit more complicated than it looks. If you’re like me, your first thought is probably along the line of “So how does this thing shoot again?” Well the original creator is happy to address our concerns! This coilgun sports an electromagnetic accelerator that uses high voltage to accelerate a magnetic projectile. You’ll need something to deliver said voltage, yes? Well, that’s what capacitors are made for. The charged capacitors then deliver the charge and produce a brief magnetic field which draws the projectile into the center of the coil. Then, in theory anyway, the field is then stopped and you get…well…BANG! In other words, I still have no idea how exactly this thing works. It just does. Accept it and move on.

Actual uses and bulky appearance aside, I have to admit I find most Steampunk creations fascinating, and this one is no different. If you’re wondering about construction, the coilgun’s creator obtained some brass sheet metal from the local hobby shop and used it for the gun’s casing. I’m no metal worker, but I have to believe getting it to fit properly was a huge pain in the ass. Still, props on the completed result, and it even comes with it’s own case and certificate of authenticity. I would think that given the…unique nature of the gun it wouldn’t need one, but you can never be too careful.

Now this gun can in fact actually fire, as the video below shows, or at least I think it shows that. While the first 20 seconds showing the pictures of the gun are clear as day, the display of it’s functionality is confusing at best. What I can deduce from the all-too-dark video is that the gun can shoot some type of projectile through a piece of paper at near point blank range. With that said that this thing can fire at all is pretty impressive. Most of the Steampunk gadgetry that I find seems to be all show. Looks like function is still almost as important as form, after all.

For a different, but just as impressive, coil gun creation, check out the amazing LED Coilgun previously seen.

Via: Make

This is a post from Walyou, who bring you the best New Gadgets gadgets, Cool Gadgets and Hi Tech News.

Steampunk Coilgun Pistol Blasts Onto the Scene

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