FCC Reinstates Net Neutrality
Earlier today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to reinstate net neutrality. Taking place during an April Open Meeting, commissioner Anna M. Gomez voted in favor of restoring federal oversight of broadband internet access service under Title II of the Communications Act. According to a press release, the aim is to ensure the resource is open, safe, and secure for all moving forward.
“Broadband access to the Internet is a critical conduit that is essential for modern life,” said Gomez in the press release. “Protecting this critical infrastructure that is essential to the safety, economy, health, education, and well-being of this country is good public policy. The value is so great that we cannot wait for the flood to arrive before we start to build the levee.”
In essence, the idea of net neutrality is that internet service providers (ISPs) should not be allowed to discriminate by offering paid prioritization for different internet traffic sources, discriminating different types of content by blocking or throttling traffic, and so on. This was first established by the FCC in 2015, and then reversed during the Trump administration in 2017.
In another press release, FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel notes five use cases of protections that net neutrality promises to ensure. These include preventing ISPs from blocking traffic, slowing down content or creating pay-to-play internet fast lanes, providing oversight of broadband outages, and authority to direct foreign-owned companies deemed to be national security threats to discontinue any domestic or international broadband services.
In terms of speech, the FCC noted that it “has no authority to, and no interesting in, policing online speech,” and that the open internet protections will prevent ISPs from doing so. As for “Big Tech,” FCC deemed it as an important but unrelated policy challenge. “Net neutrality is important so that the small and medium-sized companies that are trying to compete with more established companies have a level playing field, and net neutrality would ensure that ‘Big Tech’ can’t just cut a deal with a broadband provider to favor its products over upstart competitors,” the press release read.
Fallout 4 Speak Of The Devil: How To Get X-02 Power Armor
One of the several new side quests to take on in Fallout 4 with the next-gen update is called “Speak of the Devil.” This quest has you following after a man’s journey to find a mysterious character called The Devil, who supposedly swoops in to help those in need after a specific radio station is turned on. It so happens that The Devil is wearing a set of rare Power Armor, called X-02, and plenty of people are after it.
To ensure you get to the X-02 Power Armor first in Fallout 4, follow our guide below to complete the Speak of the Devil quest. For more on the new quests in Fallout 4, use our Echoes of the Past quest walkthrough.
Starting Speak of the Devil in Fallout 4
If you have a leveled-up character in Fallout 4, the Speak of the Devil quest should automatically be added to your quest log after downloading the next-gen update. However, if you’re on a new save, then you have to wait until reaching a certain point in the story before you can begin Speak of the Devil or any of the other new quests.
Speak of the Devil begins at Wattz Electronics store, which is located in the middle of the map. Here, you can enter the front door and walk across the broken floor over to a small table with a radio on it. Pick up Connie’s Note and play the Black Devil Vol 1. holotape that’s lying on top of it. The holotape describes some of the backstory of The Devil, and how they save innocent people when someone tunes in to a specific radio station. Reading these items starts the Speak of the Devil quest.
Following Connie’s journey
After reading the holotape and Connie’s note, a new quest marker appears on your map that leads to Relay Tower 0MC-810. Be careful when approaching this location, as there are raiders and a Deathclaw waiting for you. Once the enemies have been dealt with, head into the red-gated area of the tower and read Richie’s Note on the dead body in front of the terminal, and pick up the AM 810 holotape. Then, you need to access the terminal and extend the satellites.
Once the satellites are fully extended, head back into the terminal and insert the AM 810 holotape. With it inserted, tune the radio to play “Stars and Stripes Forever.” This makes a new radio signal appear and a new quest marker on your map, leading to the BADTFL Regional Offices. This is located right near Wattz Electronics, so fast travel back there and head over to the quest marker.
Inside BADTFL, battle through the raiders until you reach the back interrogation room, where you find Connie’s body sitting on a table. Loot Connie’s body and read the note she left on the table, which reads “Check the Wall.” You can also loot the FM 52.7 holotape on the table. This holotape is encrypted, so you’ll need to find the password to it or hack in. This is done by playing the holotape on your Pip-Boy and then looking at the available options.
If you have a Hacker +3 stat, you can break in with no problem. However, if you don’t, you need to guess the password from the generated list or find it. Connie’s clue of “Check the Wall” does offer the password, but I can just tell you the right password too:
- [e_di@bl0*p7z+rk4CkzEsx@iene
This password is near the top of the list and when you click on it, you’ll gain access to the holotape’s data. After unlocking the holotape, a new quest marker appears on your map at the Relay Tower OSC-527. Here, access the terminal, load the FM 52.7 holotape, and then transfer the “America the Beautiful” file onto the terminal. You’ll hear the famous song play and get your final quest marker at the Boston Police Rationing Site.
Getting the X-02 Power Armor
At the Boston Police Rationing Site, you need to break into the building and go through the underground tunnel. The front door to the building is barred shut, but you can throw a grenade at the door to unlock it. You can also get on the roof with a Power Armor jump, but the explosive route is easier.
Go through the tunnel entrance and then keep heading forward until you see a radio in front of a locked door with a set of Power Armor behind it. Activate the radio to unlock the door, and you’ll have access to the X-02 Power Armor. You can also read the terminal behind the Power Armor to learn about the true intentions of The Devil character.
It’s here where you can make a choice: Short-circuit the radio transmission, effectively killing The Devil’s character, or restore the Enclave Radio, making a new radio station available. If you end the transmission, you can unlock a nearby wall safe with some loot. Activating the radio station will lock that safe for good.
Regardless of your choice, after getting into the X-02 Power Armor, a Sgt. Hodges and other enemies show up. Kill them to complete the Speak of the Devil quest in Fallout 4.
Fallout 4 Tesla Cannon And Best Of Three Quest Guide
One of the new weapons that arrived with the next-generation update in Fallout 4 is the Tesla Cannon, a powerful Fusion Cell gun that shocks any enemy unfortunate enough to get in its way. The primary way to get the Tesla Cannon is by completing the quest called “Best of Three,” which is part of the next-generation update. However, there’s an additional and much easier way to get the Tesla Cannon as well.
You can see both ways of acquiring the weapon in the guide below.
Getting the Tesla Cannon in Fallout 4
The Tesla Cannon is a highly sought-after weapon on which the Enclave faction has its sights. This is made evident in the quest Echoes of the Past, which is also part of the new update. In that quest, you can read a terminal entry that details the Enclave’s current efforts to find the Tesla Cannon. We have a full walkthrough of the Echoes of the Past quest, which you might want to start sooner rather than later.
If you’re on a leveled-up character in Fallout 4, both the Best of Three and Echoes of the Past quests should automatically be added to your quest log. However, new characters must wait until a certain point in the story to start the quests. Both quests offer a way to get the Tesla Cannon, and you can see how to get the weapon in either quest below.
Completing Best of Three
First up, we have the dedicated quest that concludes with you acquiring the Tesla Cannon. Best of Three begins by tuning to the Vault-Tec Distress Signal in the Radio section of your Pip-Boy. Once you’ve listened to it, you’ll see a new quest marker that’s near the Glowing Sea appear on your map.
After reaching the quest marker’s destination, you’ll find a dead Gunner slumped up against a tree. Loot the Gunner’s body to pick up the Gunner Holotape, which you can play to learn more about what happened to them. To quickly sum it up, the Gunner was part of a team that learned how to infiltrate an encrypted part of the Pip-Boys, giving them the locations of different vaults in the area. This particular Gunner was a prankster who picked on another man named Caroni when they were stationed at Vault 95.
Once you’re done reading the holotape, you learn of new coordinates from another distress signal further into the Glowing Sea. These new coordinates come from another dead Gunner who’s lying dead on the ground floor of a church. The church is overrun with ghouls, but after defeating them, you can make your way over to the dead Gunner. When you hover over the body, you’ll see a new option appear next to “Take” and “Transfer,” which is “Download Pip-Boy Data.” Press the button next to that option to read what’s on the Gunner’s Pip-Boy.
Read what’s on the Pip-Boy, and then go to the next quest marker on your map. You’ll be taken to Relay Tower 0DB-621, where you can download more data off the body of a dead Gunner.
Reading the only accessible entry on the Pip-Boy reveals the Gunners were trying to acquire a pre-war weapon called the Tesla Cannon. Eventually, they could find it, but a war broke out over who would get to wield it. This soon led to many of the Gunners being killed by the creatures of the Glowing Sea. However, a few men survived, one of whom was Caroni.
The holotape also lets you access a new radio station called the “Gunner Signal Remnant.” Tune into the station and move in the direction the signal takes you by following the beeps and percentages in the top-left corner. You’re trying to reach 100% on the signal. To make things easier, you want to head west, where you’ll run into a Deathclaw and find the remnants of a plane crash. Inside the plane is another dead body, which is where the signal leads. You learn Caroni killed his squad using the Tesla Cannon, and now you need to finish the job.
After reading the data, Caroni appears out of nowhere, wielding the Tesla Cannon. Defeat him and loot the Tesla Cannon off his body. This completes the Best of Three quest in Fallout 4.
Going through Echoes of the Past
If you want to obtain the Tesla Cannon more simply, follow the questline in Echoes of the Past. Eventually, you’ll enter the Glowing Sea and find an office building the Enclave has set up as a base. When you arrive, a soldier wearing Power Armor on the roof starts shooting at you with a Tesla Cannon.
All you have to do is defeat this soldier and loot the Tesla Cannon wherever it falls. In my case, the Tesla Cannon fell to the ground before me, so I didn’t have to move much, but you might have to go to the roof to get the weapon.
This is a much easier way to get the Tesla Cannon, but you miss out on the Best of Three quest if you only take this route. Either way, you now have a Tesla Cannon to use in Fallout 4.
Capcom Is Delisting Three Of Its Most Underrated Games–And It’s Unclear Why
Capcom is delisting some of its most underrated games soon, namely ones from the Dark Void series.
According to Steam, the games Dark Void, Dark Void Zero, and Flock will be removed from the storefront on May 8. The reasoning behind the delisting is currently unclear, as well as if the removal will also extend to PSN Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.
Dark Void was released in 2010 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. The story is set before World War II and follows a cargo pilot named William Augustus Grey. As he is traveling through the Bermuda Triangle, he gets transported to another world called the Void. He joins a group called the Survivors as they battle an alien race called the Watchers, all the while trying to find a way back home.
Dark Void Zero was released in 2010 as well for PC, DSIWare, and iOS. It’s a parody game of Dark Void that started as a joke inside Capcom, but was eventually made into a real title. Flock is a puzzle game that was released in 2009 for PC, PS3 and Xbox Live Arcade.
Capcom also delisted Age of Booty, a pirate strategy game, last month from the Xbox Live Marketplace, as well as several older Devil May Cry games on Steam back in February.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Review – One In A Hundred
In the years since the explosion of game crowdfunding, a stigma has emerged surrounding these titles. Yes, there have been plenty of games that enjoyed great success after their crowdfunding campaigns, but more people remember the high-profile flops: games with big names and ambitious promises attached that, for a variety of reasons, betrayed the high hopes fans held for them. Many of these were revivals–spiritual or otherwise–of beloved series from ages past. Now we have Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, a crowdfunded game designed to carry the torch of the much-beloved Suikoden series from the PS1 and PS2–and, with such a high pedigree attached, there’s understandable trepidation: Will this be a glorious return to form, or another disappointment? Fortunately, for us (and all of the backers), it turned out wonderfully.
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Eiyuden Chronicle begins when a young man named Nowa joins the Eltisweiss Watch, a small militia unit under the command of Countess Perielle of the League of Nations. On a joint mission with a military team from the Galdean Empire, the Watch discovers a powerful, ancient artifact, the Primal Lens, earning everyone involved instant renown. However, it’s not long before squabbling between the Empire and League over the device, along with internal power struggles in the Empire, erupts into an invasion of Eltisweiss and a full-blown war. As the scope of the conflict expands, so does the story: Nowa rebuilds a resistance army in an abandoned castle, Imperial military prodigy Seign struggles with his feelings of obligation, friendship, and loyalty, and a young warrior woman named Marisa finds her clan caught in the middle.
The story doesn’t shy away from its similarities to games in the Suikoden series. In several ways, it outright embraces them: a story that branches into multiple viewpoints, loyalties among friends being tested during war, internal political intrigue, powerful magic runes being a crucial plot device, and, most obviously, the conceit of building a huge band of warriors to take on an even bigger enemy. The story was helmed by Suikoden creator and writer Yoshitaka Murayama (who sadly passed away shortly before the game’s release), and it brims with the warmth, wit, and plot twists that made the early Suikoden titles so engaging and memorable.
Throughout the game, you’ll be on the lookout for more characters to bolster the ranks of the Watch and, eventually, help build a base for the Resistance army. Some characters are easy to find and recruit, but others will require some searching or additional effort: You may have to go back to a town or dungeon from much earlier in the game, locate a rare item, play a minigame, or fend off a vicious foe to get someone to join the crew. Searching for heroes is a lot of fun (and much easier once you get the fast-travel ability), and the reward of seeing your base grow and improve with the efforts of your new comrades is immensely satisfying.
But the characters themselves are often their own reward. Despite having such a large cast, Eiyuden Chronicle manages to give each character their own unique voice and personality. They don’t just fall into the background once their recruitment arc is over, either; they’ll comment on current story events while they’re in your party, chatter as you explore towns, and interact with other characters at the base and elsewhere on your travels. Sometimes they’ll show up to add extra flair when you least expect it, like when they get dragged into judging a cooking competition.
Aside from giving you a good amount of freedom to search for friends when you feel like it, Eiyuden Chronicle’s story progression is similar to the typical JRPG: mostly linear with major setpieces and battles to highlight key story points. You’ll go through the usual dungeons, deserts, tundras, forests, and mines, sometimes needing to solve puzzles to progress. While most of the puzzles are pretty simple, they can sometimes be more obnoxious than intended due to random enemy encounters interrupting things at the worst possible times. Still, the dungeon design is solid and exploration is generally rewarding.
Despite having such a large cast, Eiyuden Chronicle manages to give each character their own unique voice and personality
Combat is also heavily based on the Suikoden games: turn-based, with up to six active party members at a time, plus a seventh support member who can grant passive benefits like stat boosts or money gain. Characters can have both skills based on SP (which regenerates over time) and MP (which needs items to restore), and each be changed based on the runes that character has equipped. Placement is key: Some attacks and skills won’t reach far beyond the front row, while some less-armored characters work better in the back–and there are also skills that target entire rows. One distinct combat element carried over from Suikoden is multi-character team attacks that require two or more characters with some sort of connection to be in the party together, who can then perform a tandem specialty attack.
Not every character in your army is available to fight, but you’re still given a very wide selection of party members to pick from to fight the way you prefer. You’re probably not going to use every single character you recruit in combat, and that’s fine–seeing who you click with and building them up generally works well. And if you do need to bring a character you’ve been neglecting up to snuff, a graduated XP system works to get them to parity with your high-level warriors quickly. A bit of auto-battling and they should be set.
Boss battles are where things get interesting. Many boss fights in the game come with some sort of interactable gimmick that changes the way you approach the battle. These can be objects to hide behind to avoid damage, background objects that cause damage to either you or the opponent based on who gets to it first, or even a treasure lying just beyond a row of foes. Sometimes these gimmicks are really fun and clever, like a boss who gets knocked off-balance when one of the lackeys hoisting them on their backs is felled, leaving it defenseless. Sometimes it’s miserable, like needing to guess which side of the arena the enemy will appear on to hit a book and deal extra damage, missing entirely if you guess wrong. When the gimmicks are good, they make for very fun fights, but when they’re not, you’ll be longing for more straightforward combat. And sometimes the boss is simply a big difficulty spike in general, leaving you in a very bad situation if you come in ill-prepared.
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By far the worst combat experience, however, are the large-scale army battles. These play out like a turn-based strategy game, with your party members commanding armies and moving around a grid, but lack any of the fun and excitement you’ll find in a dedicated strategy-RPG. You spend most of the time just watching things happen, feeling like you have very little control over the proceedings as the armies you moved around, slowly engage the enemy. You’re left hoping they’ll do more damage than the opposition so you can go back to the fun parts of the game instead.
Overall, Eiyuden Chronicle hits the retro-RPG sweet spot nicely. It’s focused on delivering that warm, comforting feeling of a classic JRPG, and even all of the side distractions–the card minigame, the weird Pokemon/Beyblade hybrid top minigame, the raising/racing sim, even commodities trading–don’t distract too much from the game’s prime mission. Add some gorgeously painted and animated spritework and a stellar soundtrack into the mix, and you’ve got a delightful experience that sometimes falters, though not enough to make you put it down. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes might not be revolutionary, but it successfully delivered on its core promise–and that’s really all it needed to do.
Manor Lords’ Price Hasn’t Been Revealed, And Here’s Why
Manor Lords, a highly anticipated medieval strategy game, releases on April 26, but developer Hooded Horse still has not announced the game’s price point. Why is that? Tim Bender, the CEO of publisher Hooded Horse, provided an answer in a post on Reddit recently (via Kotaku).
Bender said Manor Lords, like other Steam games before it, will have regional price points as part of the game’s worldwide distribution. Because of this, Hooded Horse shied away from revealing the game’s price prior to launch.
Now Playing: Manor Lords – Release Date Announcement Trailer
“Sharing the US price alone will lead to misunderstandings. People will be concluding the game is unaffordable in their region when at launch they will have pricing that will work for them,” Bender said. “And whatever disclaimers we’d attach would probably be dropped when it is repeated elsewhere causing a bunch of people to lose hope and feel the game won’t be affordable in their country.”
Bender also mentioned that keeping the price point a mystery for now could help alleviate issues with “gray market/scam stores” that attempt to sell preorder keys.
“They don’t have any keys, and they aren’t going to be getting any from us. But they are attempting to capitalize on the hype, and, despite our stance that we are NOT doing preorders because we don’t want to take your money until after release, they are claiming to take preorders for key sales,” Bender said. “They have no idea what the price will be, so they are taking their wild guesses and probably figuring they can get a key through some questionable means later (or just leave the customer not getting what they paid for if not perhaps).”
Bender said Hooded Horse is looking out for players and trying to help them avoid getting scammed.
But what will Manor Lords actually be priced at? Bender said no one needs to worry about a steep price. “As a publisher, Hooded Horse has never done AAA pricing on a game. We have no current plans to do so, no matter how popular a game is,” Bender said. “We’re not trying to squeeze every last dollar out of people, we won’t be putting up five editions with a spreadsheet needed to understand them or locking up content into Day 1 DLC or any of that crap. There’s going to be a fair price there at launch with a fair discount.”
The discount Bender is referring to pertains to how Manor Lords will launch in Early Access, and customers can expect the price to be about 10%-25% lower over the first couple weeks.
All will be revealed on April 26 when Manor Lords releases on Steam and Windows PC.
Manor Lords’ Price On PC And Xbox Hasn’t Been Revealed, And Here’s Why
Manor Lords, a highly anticipated medieval strategy game, releases on April 26, but developer Hooded Horse still has not announced the game’s price point. Why is that? Tim Bender, the CEO of publisher Hooded Horse, provided an answer in a post on Reddit recently (via Kotaku).
Bender said Manor Lords, like other Steam games before it, will have regional price points as part of the game’s worldwide distribution. Because of this, Hooded Horse shied away from revealing the game’s price prior to launch.
Now Playing: Manor Lords – Release Date Announcement Trailer
“Sharing the US price alone will lead to misunderstandings. People will be concluding the game is unaffordable in their region when at launch they will have pricing that will work for them,” Bender said. “And whatever disclaimers we’d attach would probably be dropped when it is repeated elsewhere causing a bunch of people to lose hope and feel the game won’t be affordable in their country.”
Bender also mentioned that keeping the price point a mystery for now could help alleviate issues with “gray market/scam stores” that attempt to sell preorder keys.
“They don’t have any keys, and they aren’t going to be getting any from us. But they are attempting to capitalize on the hype, and, despite our stance that we are NOT doing preorders because we don’t want to take your money until after release, they are claiming to take preorders for key sales,” Bender said. “They have no idea what the price will be, so they are taking their wild guesses and probably figuring they can get a key through some questionable means later (or just leave the customer not getting what they paid for if not perhaps).”
Bender said Hooded Horse is looking out for players and trying to help them avoid getting scammed.
But what will Manor Lords actually be priced at? Bender said no one needs to worry about a steep price. “As a publisher, Hooded Horse has never done AAA pricing on a game. We have no current plans to do so, no matter how popular a game is,” Bender said. “We’re not trying to squeeze every last dollar out of people, we won’t be putting up five editions with a spreadsheet needed to understand them or locking up content into Day 1 DLC or any of that crap. There’s going to be a fair price there at launch with a fair discount.”
The discount Bender is referring to pertains to how Manor Lords will launch in Early Access, and customers can expect the price to be about 10%-25% lower over the first couple weeks.
All will be revealed on April 26 when Manor Lords releases on Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. On console, the game will launch in Game Preview, which is similar to Early Access. Game Pass subscribers can play the game at no extra cost when it launches.
