I wish the video after the jump was just an abysmally late April Fools’ joke. Sadly, it’s not. Nintendo will be releasing a Nintendo 2DS on October 12th, 2013 for $129.99. The catch for the discount (as compared to previous models of the 3DS)? You don’t get 3D (obviously), and you have to live with an ugly ‘2D’ design as opposed to the original ‘3D’ clamshell style. These kinds of oddball redesigns are usually saved for a console’s final days–something different to make old news new again and hook one last round of customers into the hardware so that they’ll invest in the software library available for it. But the Nintendo 3DS is still early in its life cycle and really only now picking up the steam of its predecessor. Why would Nintendo do this now? The answer is fairly simple. It’s the same reason why ESPN is cutting its 3D broadcasting by year-end , why Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, and the rest of the gang are moving on to pushing for 4K instead of 3D TV sets , and why companies don’t ...

Some time ago I ran a review of the original Chaos Rings, which is now available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and PlayStation Vita. In short, I found the game to be a great example of what JRPG gaming could be on mobile devices, if still slightly lacking in some areas. If all you want to know is whether or not Chaos Rings 2 is an improvement, you can stop reading now and go buy the game: it basically corrects every problem of the original and adds a dose of its own awesomeness to boot. But if you’re still not convinced, feel free to stick around for the full review. Let’s get started! Story Despite being a direct sequel, Chaos Rings 2 doesn’t stick too closely to the narrative of Chaos Rings 1. They are very much connected, but those connections will not be obvious without some exploration and a good memory of the original Chaos Rings and to a lesser degree its prequel, Chaos Rings Ω. As a result, Chaos Rings 2 stands well on its own and is easily enjoyed with no prior series exper...

Android is undoubtedly a fantastic operating system, and it has graced some of the greatest mobile hardware to date. But like with everything in this world, things can go wrong on Android. And sometimes when things go wrong, they go really, really wrong. If you haven’t noticed, Google Play has encountered something of a crisis. Apps and app updates will still download just fine, but a severe number of downloads will then fail and pull a “Package file is invalid” error. The issue is widespread enough that Google has publicly taken notice : [#10230007] “Package File Invalid” error when downloading or updating apps We’ve received reports that some users are getting “Package File Invalid” while trying to download or update apps. We’re currently investigating a permanent solution, and there are no workarounds at this time. We’ll continue to update this page with developments, so check back soon. Until a proper fix is found, what’s an Android user to do? Well, despite Google’s statement that...