Now that the "Iron Man 3" trailer has been out for a day, one of the many questions on everyone's mind is the exact identity of the film's villain.  

We know Ben Kingsley's playing The Mandarin; however, despite a lot of explosions, multiple Iron Man suits, and a desperate-looking Tony Stark, we didn't get any shots of the real bad guy in action.  

For those unfamiliar with the comics, we've broken down the mysterious Mandarin and his connection to Stark. 

We also think he may not be the only villain in the film.  

Here's everything you need to know about the latest "Iron Man" villain. 

The Essentials: 

The Mandarin's been featured in the Iron Man comics since 1964. A descendant of Genghis Khan, he's essentially out to avenge himself against the hand life dealt him (His parents died soon after his birth, he was left penniless after his savings were spent on the his trainings in combat, and the Chinese government took away his home after he couldn't pay taxes.) What better way to achieve those goals than world domination? 

His beef with Stark:

His fighting techniques employ a level of combat combined with science. Basically, Mandarin looks to take weapons of mass destruction and turn them against their own countries. With that in mind, Tony Stark's technology is of high interest to Mandarin.  

(Perhaps this means we'll see the character using Stark's technology against him and the U.S. government?) 

The deal with the rings: 

They're no joke. The Mandarin's true testament to power are the rings he found aboard an alien ship (really). We've broken down each of the individual rings' functions below:

Left Hand: 

• Pinky: Ice beam
• Ring Finger: Mind control
• Middle Finger: Electric beam
• Index Finger: Heat ray / flame blaster
• Thumb: various electromagnetic powers

Right Hand: 

• Pinky: Takes the light out of an area. (think the Deluminator in Harry Potter) 
• Ring Finger: Disintegrate objects 
• Middle finger: Creates vortexes 
• Index finger: Creates magnetic waves / sonic vibrations 
• Thumb: Ability to change matter's shape or form 

This Marvel illustration offers some variations on the powers. 

However, we're betting Kingsley's Mandarin isn't the only villain Stark should fret. 

From the looks of it, and if you know anything about Iron Man characters, Guy Pearce's role of Aldrich Killian will center around another bad guy. 

Our reasoning?  

When Pearce was first interviewed for his role, he played it off as nothing more than "cameo stuff." However, we've seen / heard that before.  

Killian's well known in the Marvel universe as a scientist who created an Extremis technology that allows nanotechnology to bind with a human (aka the Iron Man suit with Tony Stark which appears to be in full use this film). 

In the comics, funding for the project was pulled and Killian took matters into his own hands giving the product to terrorists.  

This seems feasible for the plot considering there were comics featuring Mandarin planning to unleash an army of Extremis soldiers.  

SEE ALSO: How the "Iron Man 3" trailer reminded us of "The Dark Knight" trilogy >

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It feels like just yesterday Madonna and her then-husband, director Guy Ritchie, presented their baby boy Rocco to the world in August 2000.

Madonna and Ritchie have since divorced, but Rocco is now a grown up 12-year-old working as a back-up dancer on his superstar mother's current MDNA world tour.

Rocco appeared on "Ellen" Wednesday, where he revealed to the talk show host that his pop star mother is, in fact, very strict, saying "She's a good mother. Yes. That's all I have to say. She's very strict, but in a good way."

See what Rocco has to say when Ellen asks him about his mother's recent flashing antics on-stage:

SEE ALSO: A former basketball wife is suing CBS for allegedly stealing her idea for 'The Talk' >

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Monday night marked a big moment in Ellen DeGeneres' career.

The comedian was honored as the 15th recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

She joins the ranks with fellow comedians Tina Fey, Steve Martin, Bill Cosby, and last year's winner, Will Ferrell. DeGeneres is the fourth woman to receive the award, according to Reuters.

"Through her television programs, stand-up appearances, movies, and even commercials, her special brand of humor has allowed us to find hilarity in the mundane and has kept us laughing for years," said Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein.

Upon receiving the award, DeGeneres joked about what her career could have been.

“I just thought I’d be a closeted gay comedian wearing parachute pants,” she said.

In addition to being known for her comedy, DeGeneres is also a leading advocate for gay rights. She first publicized her sexual orientation around the same time her character on the '90s sitcom "Ellen" also revealed she was gay. 

“I’m pretty darn sure I could not have the career I have, that I could not live as openly as I’ve lived, if it hadn’t been for you,” Jane Lynch of "Glee" said at the ceremony. “You really took one for the team.”

But long before she was a supporter of gay rights, DeGeneres got her start as a comedy club M.C. in her hometown of New Orleans. Her stand-up performances won her the title of Showtime's "Funniest Person In America" in 1982, according to the Kennedy Center.

Four years after her national title, DeGeneres became the first female comedian Johnny Carson ever asked to come sit at his desk for a chat.

DeGeneres is currently in the middle of the 9th season of her daytime talk show, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," which has earned the star 35 Emmys. 

The ceremony will air on PBS October 30.

SEE ALSO: A TV interview with 12-year-old Ryan Gosling >

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Ai Weiwei, the recently jailed Chinese artist, has today released his parody of South Korean pop hit "Gangnam Style".

The video appears pretty low budget — the song hasn't been re-recorded and the video mostly features Ai and his team dancing around — but the message behind the song is pretty interesting.

Chinese state media had recently been hand-wringing about the number of Chinese copies of Gangnam Style, wondering if the country truly had what it took to actually create its own worldwide hits. Of course, many observers have noted that a lot of Ai's own art often relies on references to other artworks, yet he is probably China's best known artists.

WATCH:

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Don't tell Tom Cruise he doesn't spend any time with his six-year-old daughter, Suri.

The 50-year-old recently divorced actor filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against "Life & Style" magazine Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles over the tabloid's July cover story "Suri in Tears: Abandoned by Her Dad."

Cruise's attorney, Bert Fields, blasts the mag, saying their headline "is a disgusting, vicious lie."

"Until this week, Tom was shooting a film on location, but he spoke to Suri every day," Fields said in a statement. "He's with Suri right now; and he was with her the day before Life & Style trumpeted their cruelly false accusation. Tom dearly loves Suri and the last thing he would ever do is abandoned her."

"Tom doesn't go around suing people. He's not a litigious guy," Fields continued. "But when these sleaze peddlers try to make money with disgusting lies about his relationship with his child, you bet he's going to sue."

But this isn't the first time Fields has gone after a publication on Cruise's behalf, the attorney also sent threatening letters to the National Enquirer and Vanity Fair this year regarding their coverage of the actor's personal life and connections to Scientology.

And Fields didn't hold back on taking shots at Life & Style's owners, either: "These serial defamers are foreign-owned companies with their global headquarters in Hamburg. They take money from unsuspecting Americans by selling their malicious garbage. Having to pay a libel judgment may slow them down. Tom will undoubtedly give the money to charity. He always has."

SEE ALSO:

Tom Cruise causes trouble in the new "Jack Reacher" trailer >

People paid Justin Timberlake & Jessica Biel a measly amount for their wedding photos >

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Award-winning visual effects guru Andrew MacDonald was fired from Ascent Media Group after calling out the drug use of one of his superiors, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Visual effects supervisor Alex Frisch—best known for his work on films such as the "Pirates of the Carribbean franchise—was often referred to as "Power Donut Man" and "Cokey the Clown" in the office, according to papers filed by MacDonald.

MacDonald sued AMG, not Frisch personally, in September 2010, after he was terminated from the company for telling an exec he was worried about Frisch's "open and notorious drug abuse at the office during working hours."

When asked if he had proof of the drug use, MacDonald jokingly asked the exec if he should videotape the bathroom. But the next day, MacDonald met with an AMG in-house lawyer, who accused him of actually videotaping the bathroom and charged him with lying before he was eventually terminated.

While Frisch has denied all of the claims, a jury ruled Wednesday that MacDonald should be awarded $450K—two years worth of salary for wrongful termination. And MacDonald will back in court Wednesday to collect punitive damages.

Meanwhile, Frisch is no longer even working at AMG, as he left to co-found a new visual effects studio that works with musical artists.

SEE ALSO: James Cameron just announced his first project after the 'Avatar' series >

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Gisele Bundchen is the world's richest model and is set to become a billionaire. 

She got her start at a modeling agency, became a Victoria's Secret Angel, and has raked in the gigs ever since. 

But famed photographer Mario Testino claims that Gisele was initially shunned by the industry. 

Testino's persistence in photographing Gisele is widely credited with elevating her to supermodel status. He's also photographed everyone from Princess Diana to Anna Wintour. 

Gisele was unpopular at first, he says. 

"Nobody liked her, nobody wanted her," Testino told UK's The Guardian. "I had to fight to get her into my stories because nobody thought she was right – too this, too that, the nose, the breasts, the waist. But I believe in being obsessed, in getting obsessed."

Testino's story about Gisele, who went on to top the list of supermodels, shows just how fickle the fashion industry can be. 

Kate Upton is the latest model grappling with the snobs of the high fashion world. While she's ridiculously successful commercially, covering Sports Illustrated, Upton isn't booking many runway shows. 

But if Gisele is any indication, all that Upton needs is someone well-connected and persistent. 

DON'T MISS: It Costs A Fortune For Kate Middleton To Look So Gorgeous >

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It is no secret that there is little love lost between Donald Trump and Barack Obama, with the latter's origins and place of birth increasingly an obsession for the former. But it appears the spat may have been going on for longer than many suspected, with Obama jokingly suggesting it began in childhood – when they were both growing up in Kenya.

The cheeky remark appeared to have scored the president a direct hit against the billionaire real estate mogul, who has championed the "birther" movement that falsely claims Obama was born in Kenya and so cannot be president. On the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Obama joked that the two men had a long-running dispute. "This all dates back to when we were growing up in Kenya. We had constant run-ins on the soccer field, he wasn't very good and resented it. When we finally moved to America, I thought it would be over."

On Monday Trump promised a "gigantic" announcement about Obama that could change the course of the presidential race. Critics were underwhelmed when the announcement finally came in a web video on Wednesday: an offer to donate $5m to a charity of the president's choosing in return for the release of his college records and passport application.

Trump said: "I have a deal for the president, a deal that I don't believe he can refuse, and I hope he doesn't. If Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications, and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice – inner-city kids in Chicago, American Cancer Society, Aids research, anything he wants – a cheque, immediately, for $5m."

Critics accused the mogul of pulling another publicity stunt. The comedian Andy Borowitz tweeted: "Attention parents: if you give your children even the tiniest bit of attention now, maybe they won't grow up to be Donald Trump." Jim Geraghty, of the conservative National Review, posted: "If at any point you seriously considered Donald Trump for president, please study the error of your ways in quiet, private contemplation."

Trump defended his actions, tweeting: "This is not a media event or about Donald J Trump – this is about the United States of America." He added: "'The response has been fantastic – actually overwhelming! Thank you!"

Asked about the announcement by Jay Leno, Obama looked unfazed and appeared unlikely to rise to the bait. Instead he cracked more jokes. Asked whether there was a cure for "Romnesia" – Obama's word for what he describes as Mitt Romney's selective memory – he responded: "Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions."

The president promised sweets for all trick-or-treaters coming to the gates of the White House, and extra large chocolate bars for anyone from the swing state of Ohio. "It is an election year, so candy for everybody," Obama announced. "If anybody comes from Ohio to the White House, they will get a Hershey bar about this big," he said, holding his hands wide apart.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

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Frank Sinatra's former Manhattan apartment, on E. 72nd Street, is back on the market for $7.7 million, and the views are simply jaw-dropping.

The posh penthouse has a wrap-around terrace and floor-to-ceiling windows to take advantage of the incredible views, according to Real Estate Weekly.

Sinatra owned the apartment from 1961 to 1974.

The apartment features four bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, and spans 3,200 square feet.

Check out the views:

DON'T MISS: Alicia Keys Is Reportedly Buying Eddie Murphy's $12 Million New Jersey Home

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She may never ever be getting back together with ex-boyfriends, but Taylor Swift's also never ever getting away from the top of the Billboard charts.

Taylor Swift has barely been on the music scene for a decade; however, she already has two Guinness world records, three successful albums, and six Grammys.

Though there's still a long road ahead to catch up to Beyonce's 16 golden trophies, at 22, the singer is well on her way.

Swift dominated the music stage in 2009 with her Fearless album the year prior, and now, after more than a year on tour she's back to break more records with new cd "Red" out this week.

With more than 260,000 sales on day one, the release of album number four is already looking like another record setter for Swift, something that could be an early indication more Grammy gold is in her future.

2004: At the age of 14, Swift moved out to Nashville and became the youngest songwriter to be hired by the Sony/ATV Tree Publishing House.

2006: At 16, Swift released her first single "Tim McGraw." The song climbed to No.6 on Billboard Magazine's Hot Country Songs chart.

(Source: CMT)

October 2006: When Swift's debut album came onto the music scene it peaked at No.1 on the Billboard top country albums chart and at No.5 on the Billboard 200 list.

It was at the top of the country charts for 24 weeks. She joins the Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood to achieve the same honor in this decade.

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Ben Collins, once Top Gear’s test driver and now Skyfall’s action man, describes life on a 007 set.

Skyfall: it's dark and cold. We are working nights somewhere in East London under stark moonlight, which does little to take the edge off. I'm with the James Bond stunt crew, probably the best team of daredevils in the world, with the rare privilege of taking on the ballistic driving sequences for which Daniel Craig is literally uninsurable. Over the next five months we will circle the globe from the highways of Shanghai to the Scottish Highlands and the gritty streets of Istanbul.

The first shot is a pickup of Bond spiriting M away in his 1964 Aston Martin DB5. I swallow hard as my eyes absorb the metallic grey torpedo sitting in Bond's oil-stained lockup. Director Sam Mendes and Daniel lean against the garage wall in deep discussion while staring longingly at the machine.

After introductions I get the brief: a sharp pullaway, speed down the alley then a hard right underneath the railway crossing.

I loosen Bond's custom-made pinstripe suit and ease into the leather aboard the very expensive DB5 from Goldfinger. Gadgets abound, notably the red button located inside the gear knob, which I'm not brave enough to press – is it the ejector seat or machines guns?

Gary Powell, the stunt coordinator, inspects the camera positions before crouching out of shot. Sam grasps the radio: "Action!". It feels like sacrilege, but I rev the nuts off the ageing six-cylinder engine and dump the clutch. Tyres squeal in protest and we rocket into the alley. The brick wall fills the windscreen until I swing the boat-like wooden wheel to the right and the suspension gracefully leans to make the turn.

For the next shot it's pitch black and the Aston's lights throw only a hazy glow on the road. Naturally I'd prefer not to reshape the DB5 in front of the director, but it's a Bond movie, so you go large or go home.

I make it to third gear, the brakes sing, I snatch second and we skid into the black abyss of the archway. The wheelspin echoes around the walls as the DB5 leaps the speed humps and we exit frame. I love this car.

Next stop is Adana, Turkey. For three months this will be home and we sink into a six-day working week.

On set the special-effects team peels the covers off a Land Rover Defender with a pod system mounted on to the roof so that I can drive it while the actors ride below. All the functions of steering, changing gear, braking and accelerating are diverted upstairs so that I can operate the vehicle without being seen by the camera. All that weight on the roof makes the pod top-heavy so we prove the system won't roll over by exploring its limits.

Eve, played by Naomie Harris, is the character driving the Land Rover. Her first scene involves her racing through Istanbul to keep up with Bond. The ensuing carnage results in a truck flipping directly into her path. The truck and the Defender have to navigate through traffic at precise speeds in order to meet at their impact point. Arrive too early and the camera misses the shot. Arrive too late and… crunch. We have about six Land Rovers and backup trucks spare.

Using a stopwatch we measure the runs and set out fixed start points. On "Action!" the hill springs to life as stunt pedestrians meander up the pavement and the vehicles gun their engines. The Defender snakes through the traffic. Moments later, the red cab of the truck looms over the bridge just as our vehicle squeezes into position alongside.

The truck rams its target and rolls, casting a shadow over the passing Defender. The truck slams into the deck and spews its cargo. Gary eyes the camera feed and comments, "It doesn't get any closer than that."

Daniel commands the Bond character with aplomb in Skyfall, increasingly at ease with the wild scenarios thrown his way. When the shades come off, his cool reserve brightens as he climbs aboard the Defender for the motoring equivalent of the Cresta Run: a vertical cobbled lane in the downtrodden district of Belat. Here Eve is in hot pursuit of Patrice (Ola Rapace) in his Audi A5. There are twists and turns, stuff blowing up, cars getting in the way and to keep up with the Audi my foot is welded to the throttle stop.

To help me react to their acting cues, I can hear Daniel and Naomi through my earpiece. They know this, so prior to launch Daniel's humming the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tune to wind me up.

On action the Audi shoots off and I'm grateful for the modifications made to enhance the Land Rover's engine. The rough cobbles shake the hydraulic steering, affecting the wheel alignment. I chase the wheel to compensate.

We quickly reach the bottom for a sharp corner, a big compression and a sudden stop. It's our first hard run and there's silence downstairs, broken by some chuckling from Daniel. You can hear the adrenalin in Naomi's voice: "Ohe_SLps mye_SLps God." Sam simply says, "Good one, we don't need it any faster."

Bond has certainly changed since my favourite, A View to a Kill, but arguably the stunts are as memorable and iconic as ever. Especially when you know they are performed for real. Combining them with uber-performances from Daniel and the star-studded cast should make Skyfall a classic.

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It's that time of year again! Time to take out your pumpkin carving supplies, overdose on candy, and watch as many horror flicks on Turner Classic Movies as you can handle.

To help everyone get into the spirit of Halloween we put together this slideshow of the most terrifying ads ever, from around the world.

Not all of the ads were specifically created with Halloween in mind. Some of them are PSAs.

And, of course, they're ads, so many of their chills are rounded off in a tame ending.

A couple of them, however — including our No.1 choice, the incredibly original trailer for the video game "Dead Island" — will totally creep you out.

13. Agent Provocateur — "Fleurs du Mal"

It all starts with a solitary woman receiving an unsettling prank phone call. Reminiscent of campy 1970's horror films, the 2012 Agent Provocateur ad by Epoch London then follows the woman as she is attacked by a mob of lingerie clad models. (Warning: there are brief flashes of nudity in this ad.)

Initially the ad was challenged by offended viewers, but ultimately the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), not known for its leniency, ruled that though borderline, the ad was still fit for public viewing.

12. LG Electronics — "So Real It's Scary"

SuperHeroes, Amsterdam, created this ad for LG Electronics to promote the new high-def flat screen televisions. The LG team covered the floor of an elevator with nine flat screens and then tricked unwitting elevator riders into thinking the floor of the car was falling apart beneath their feet.

11. Dirt Devil — "The Exorcist"

Andrea Roth directed this devilish ad for Dirt Devil in 2011, in which a genuinely creepy priest is called to perform an exorcism and as he gazes upon the possessed woman he cleverly professes, "you know when it's the devil." The shot then pans up to the apartment above where an old woman is vacuuming. 

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Laffster, a new digital comedy start-up backed by Paradigm and Greylock Partners, has launched “Mock the Vote,” a free iPhone app offering political humor from the likes of The New Yorker, Funny or Die, and Maker Studios.

The app, timed (barely) for the 2012 election, is stage one for the start-up to leverage its proprietary technology to help users find all things funny on the web – from videos to articles to cartoons. "Mock the Vote" will offer both original content from its partners and aggregated content from Buzzfeed, The Onion, and "The Daily Show."

Laffster just closed a $750,000 seed round, led by Paradigm, J.P. Williams of Parallel Entertainment, Greylock Partners, and Maker Studios executive Chris Williams.

“In the U.S. alone, 38 billion videos are watched every month online and comedic content accounts for more than half of that,” founder Dan Altmann told TheWrap. “But there’s no real discovery tools to drive users to what they should be watching. We set out to build that technology.”

Discovery is the buzzword in online content these days, and though Pandora or Spotify have mastered it in music, video remains more of a challenge. Content creators have complained about how hard it is to find videos on platforms like YouTube and Yahoo, leading to the launch of discovery-focused companies like Chill and #waywire.

Enter Laffster.

A former advertising executive at College Humor, Altmann founded Laffster with Eric Posen and Geoffrey Plitt. The start-up graduated from the Santa Monica, Calif.-based accelerator MuckerLab, and counts Josh Brooks, a former MySpace executive, and Nicky Weinstock, current head of Innovation Films, as advisers.

“Comedy is a great genre for digital delivery,” Lawrence Antoine, EVP of Business Development for Paradigm, said in a statement. “Laffster has the technology, business plan, and acumen to make a significant impact in the comedy space and we welcomed the opportunity to partner with them.” 

Laffster’s founders have worked with researchers to examine, tag, and categorize comedic content much like Pandora does with music. One such tag is timing -- how close to a certain political event a piece of satire is. 

The real key to Laffster's business may be working with existing third-party platforms like Funny or Die and CollegeHumor. It hopes to use its technology to help optimize Funny or Die content for discovery and personalization.

It would then earn revenue through those deals by sharing advertising revenue or by getting paid as a consulting company that charges for use of its technology.

“The technology is something we can leverage for optimized viewing on other sites,” Altmann said. “We want to be able to build the technology out to show that when it comes to content that’s humorous, we can drive engagement and discovery like nobody can.”

SEE ALSO: Watch Composer John Williams Test The 'E.T.' Theme Song For Steven Spielberg >

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The Game Genie was the technological holy grail of my Nintendo-playing childhood. Here was a device that would let me play Super Mario Bros. with infinite lives, or get infinite rockets in Metroid. Here’s exactly how it worked, and how people are still using it today.

Plugging In

From the start, the Game Genie was marketed as a “game enhancer,” though there’s a fine line between “enhancing” and “cheating.” In short, it was able to modify games at startup, so you could change them in ways that made your gaming life easier—typical enhancements involved adding lives or weapons, or in rare cases strange things like accessing hidden areas of the game that weren’t normally playable.

The NES Game Genie was designed to be crammed into the front of the NES; it stuck out the front and you had to attach game cartridges to the slot on the Game Genie. The Game Genie had a wicked set of connector pins that attached to the NES’s slot with a death grip. This connection ended up being a double-edged sword: using the Game Genie could eventually damage your NES’s cartridge slot if you inserted and removed it a lot. But if you left it inserted permanently, it effectively replaced the NES cartridge slot, and that connection could be more reliable than inserting and removing games within the NES itself. So the good news was that if you were willing to keep the Game Genie in there forever, it could provide a more reliable connection for your games, and was probably better than blowing into your cartridges.

Here’s a totally rad commercial (right down to the Bill and Ted knockoff dudes) explaining, in kid-friendly terms, how the Game Genie worked:

A Slightly More Technical Explanation of the Genie’s Magic

When using a Game Genie, the NES started up showing a basic Game Genie menu. On that menu, the player could enter one or more codes, which would modify certain aspects of the game. From there on out, the Game Genie acted as an intermediary between cartridge and NES, intercepting requests and spitting out different results based on the codes that had been entered.

The Game Genie’s technical functions were surprisingly basic when examined from a computer science perspective. Each Nintendo game cartridge set up a series of locations within the NES’s memory where various pieces of information were stored—the number of lives you had left, the level you began on, the items you had, or even cooler things like the height your character could jump. Sometimes these locations in memory contained simple numbers. By finding these locations (almost always through trial and error—because game developers don’t share that information), Game Genie users could then insert new numbers into them. So by finding “How Many Lives Left” in Super Mario Bros., you could switch the standard number of lives (three) with a much bigger number, and play the game with effectively infinite lives. (For the record, apparently the code SXIOPO offers infinite lives for both players in SMB.)

The Game Genie thus used two important pieces of information to make an important effect occur within the game: The location of a variable, and the content of that variable. So to create a Game Genie “code” (their simplified alphabetical interface for inputting memory locations and values to pop into them), an enterprising gamer could find the location, then experiment with possible contents to pop in there—lots of contents could just crash the game, but ultimately you could hit on something usable. By putting those two pieces of information together, you got a code. Codes were traded among gamers, and published in booklets collecting the best ones. Even today, gamers are developing new codes. I spoke to Dain Anderson, founder of NintendoAge.com, about this process. He said:

“One of the interesting aspects of the Game Genie is that

it’s an organic piece of hardware whereby codes can be created and changed by anyone at anytime, whether the game is 20 years or 2 years old. Because it acts as a pass-through between the console and cartridge, you can implement changes in real-time. In fact, creating codes has become a bit of a niche for some of the more technical types, and you’ll find many threads on NintendoAge where people are requesting new codes for older games that perform a specific function.

“Creating codes would encompass an entire article, but the nuts and bolts of it is that you use a hex editor inside an emulator like FCEUX, and trace what aspects of the game change as you modify RAM locations. For example, if you take a RAM snapshot and you have three lives left, die, then take another RAM snapshot, you can determine through trial and error, on the changed locations, which affect the number of lives. By changing this memory location, you can create a code that alters the number of lives a player will receive.”

If you’re a programmer, check out this technical explanation of how the codes work, including snippets of C code used to decode the Game Genie’s user-friendly alphabetical codes into programmer-friendly hex values.

Galoob v. Nintendo

The Genie, introduced in 1990, was created by the UK company Codemasters; they originally called it the “Power Pak” (a play on the “Game Pak,” Nintendo’s official name for its cartridges). The rebranded Game Genie was distributed by Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. in the U.S. If you’re a child of the 1980s, you likely remember Galoob as the company behind Micro Machines (the whole outfit was eventually sold to Hasbro).

Nintendo didn’t like the idea of Galoob’s gizmo modifying NES games, even though it didn’t permanently change the games themselves. Nintendo exerted control over both games and accessories, creating a Seal of Quality which was only granted after Nintendo had evaluated and approved a particular game or piece of hardware for use on the NES. The NES console even had a “lockout chip” that tried to prevent unlicensed games and accessories from working—until enterprising programmers found ways around it. You may notice that the Game Genie did not carry Nintendo’s Seal of Quality. Nintendo refused to grant the precious Seal to the device, but that didn’t stop Galoob from selling it. Until Nintendo sued Galoob in 1991.

The lawsuit was a fascinating piece of legal argument: Nintendo claimed that Galoob’s device modified Nintendo games, creating “derivative works” and thus infringing the copyrights of game makers. (This is fairly similar to the lawsuits of that era regarding music sampling.) If the Game Genie were indeed creating derivative works every time it ran, then those works would either be illegal (if the game maker/copyright holder didn’t approve them) or at the very least require some sort of licensing structure by which Galoob would compensate the game maker for them.

Long story short, US courts sided with Galoob. An interesting twist hearkened back to the Game Genie’s own marketing, which claimed that the Genie “enhanced” games—the court agreed. Patent Arcade writes (emphasis added):

The Ninth Circuit agreed with the district court that no independent work is created by the Game Genie. In making this determination the court made a distinction between products that “enhance” copyrighted works and products that “replace” copyrighted works. In this case, the Game Genie “enhances” the Nintendo game, but it does not “replace” the Nintendo game. The Game Genie, by itself, cannot produce an audiovisual display.

In other words, flipping a few bits in a game really did enhance the game—but the gamer had to buy the original game, plug it in, and then do the bit-flipping him or herself, so there was no damage done to the copyright holder. This is a different story from the music-sampling cases, in which a new song could actually replace the old song being sampled. If Galoob had been selling modified Super Mario Bros. cartridges, that would have been a different matter, but the Game Genie’s technology was deemed legally legit, and it continued to sell. (If you’re into legal history, read this article discussing the case and a few others.)

In a counter-example of how to handle this sort of product, Sega actually licensed the Game Genie, giving it its Seal of Quality. There were a few restrictions on how the Game Genie worked with Sega games (mainly around not modifying saved games), but at least nobody went to court over it.

Game Action Replay (GAR): An Awesome Way to Void Your Warranty

I spoke to Frankie Viturello, who co-hosts the retro gaming Digital Press webcast, about an interesting gizmo that occasionally shared shelf space with the Game Genie: the Game Action Replay. Viturello said:

“Unlike the Game Genie, which had the financial clout of of manufacturing/distribution by a big toy company, the Game Action Replay was released by a company called “QJ” and found limited distribution in the US in mom-and-pop video and toy stores. You wouldn’t find this thing at your local Toys ‘R Us.

“The Game Genie [had a hex-editing code system], but this thing had a “save state” feature which would allow the user to immediately save progress to an on-board memory bank. You could power down your NES and power it back up and the Action Replay would allow you to pick up at the exact moment in gameplay that you left off. Unfortunately, you needed to take your NES apart to “install” it! (Warranty voided!)

The GAR had a few other features, including several slow-motion modes (which could cause games to crash). Dain Anderson, the aforementioned founder of NintendoAge.com, also mentioned this bit of wizardry:

The idea behind the GAR is that you could create “save states” of the game you’re currently playing, allowing you to start again at a spot you keep dying in. To use the GAR, a gamer would press SELECT + A Button, and they’d see a flash on the screen indicating the save was successful. They could save up to five states which could be retrieved using SELECT + B Button.

He also mentioned that the device was glitchy, and its use of RAM (rather than ROM) eventually led to the GAR’s demise. (Oh well, some things are too beautiful to live.)

Your Game Genie Memories

If you had a Game Genie, what were your favorite codes? Share your memories in the comments. I’m also taking suggestions on next topics for Nintendo explainer articles—hit me with ideas, folks.

I’d also like to thank classic gamers Frankie Viturello and Dain Anderson for answering my NES questions.

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THEY RAN FROM the cinema screaming, not because the film is rubbish (we can’t make that call because we haven’t seen it yet), it’s because the cinema goers were children.

The Daily Mail and This is Nottingham report that an audience of 25 had settled down to watch Madagascar 3, NOT Paranormal Activity 4 at a Cineworld in Nottingham at 10am on a Saturday morning .

So, they were expecting this:

But they got this: 

Parents reported that as soon as the opening scenes of Paranormal Activity began, they knew something was wrong, and the children began screaming and crying.

Cineworld have apologised to those involved, who were given refunds on their tickets. They were also offered the chance to see a later screening of Madagascar 3, but it’s possible the kids weren’t overly eager to go back into a cinema so soon after their ordeal.

The opening scenes of Paranormal Activity 4 feature a bloodied corpse flying towards the screen. That’s a far cry from the cute animals of Madagascar.

SEE ALSO: Finland Released The Scariest Public Service Announcement We've Ever Seen >

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Pretty couple Mark Sanchez and Eva Longoria broke up recently after dating for just a few months.

Why such an abrupt ending to the relationship?

TMZ is reporting that the Jets are to blame. Sources told TMZ that "they broke up because Mark was impossible for Eva to be around because he was in such a crappy mood over the NY Jets' horrible season."

Sources told Page Six that Sanchez “tried everything he could to make [Eva] happy…. the problem was Mark is very focused on football while Eva is a busy businesswoman.”

The Jets are struggling this year at only 3-4 and Sanchez himself is not having his best season.

Sanchez's rep says the break up was because of "scheduling" since Mark is obviously extremely busy at this time of year.

Whatever the reason may be, it's safe to say football is certainly involved.

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Viral Korean pop sensation PSY agreed to do an hour long "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) on Reddit Wednesday evening. He first announced the news on his Twitter account, @psy_oppa, saying "I am excited for my Reddit AMA from 5-6pm EST!!!" 

Here are some of the questions he answered from his fans:

Did you dream of being a famous singer when you were a kid, or did you have other careers in mind? 

I just wanted to be in front of people. I always enjoyed that when I was a kid.

Psy, what's something that people don't know about you that you wish they did?

I compose all my music myself.

Your international fame blew up really quickly. How did your family and friends react to your sudden popularity?

They are normal people so they are freaked out because it's way too fast and way too far. Even I myself get freaked out a little bit about it. We were not ready for this.

Are you looking forward to playing more shows in the USA? How has the fanbase treated you here so far?

In korea I've been really famous for my concert. Coming soon to USA...

How do you always manage to keep such a straight face when dancing?

Because I'm serious about my dancing.

What is your favorite song you've made, besides Gangnam Style?

Find the song called "It's Art" at YouTube.

Did you ever get bored doing the gangnam-style dance?

There's no time to be bored. I'm so busy doing the horse dance...

Who is one celebrity you want to meet that you haven't already?

Tom Cruise.

How do you keep your hair so perfect?

It only looks perfect on TV!

How many times did it take to do the elevator portion of your video in Gangnam Style?

That was ad libbed. Nong Chul is the name of the elevator guy and he is very famous comedian in Korea. That is a very popular dirty move he has been doing for six years and I asked him to do it in my video. If I am underneath, it would be dirtier!

We only did 2-3 takes and everyone on the video set was crying from laughing. Definitely my favorite scene in the video.

How many people are in those huge concerts you do in Korea? The concerts look crazy massive!

Seoul City Hall was 100,000 people!

What's your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

Korean food.

Who is your inspiration?

Freddie Mercury.

How was meeting Ban Ki-Moon? (U.N. secretary general)

It showed momentum of my life. Much higher excitement than being #2 at Billboard!!

Are you planing to come to Europe anytime soon?

In November.

What are your current plans for your next album/single release and when can we hope to expect it?

Very soon.

When did you start learning clarinet, and what is your favorite clarinet solo to play?

I started learning at eight years old. Favorite solo is main theme of movie called "Dying Young" by Kenny G.

Did you just sit down and say to yourself, "I'm going to make the catchiest f****g song of all time"?

I thought so but only for Korea.

How did you come up with the name PSY?

Short for psycho.

Many Koreans are huge gamers, are you? What are your favorites?

I don't play games at all. I only play physical games but I cannot tell you any details...

What's your favorite brand of Soju? (A Korean alcoholic drink)

Chamisul. I'm a model for Chamisul.

How many instruments can you play?

Clarinet and drums.

How do you think Berklee prepared you for a career in K-Pop? What things that you learned translated well (or didn't translate) to that style?

Unfortunately I didn't attend class that much. Sorry!

Were you interested in producing K-Pop style music while you were at Berklee, or did your interests change?

When I was in college I was young and stupid so I thought I cannot learn creative things from other people like professors. I taught myself. But nowadays sometimes I regret but things worked out ok.

As wonderful as she is, was there any reason you picked Hyuna as your front girl for Gangnam Style? I'm sure you had lots of choices in the K-Pop world!

I think Hyuna is the best person for gangnam style because she has both aspects, sexy and cute.

What part of the "American Lifestyle" seemed the most strange to you when you first came here?

Not taking off shoes indoors.

What types of music do you like to listen to, both Korean and foreign?

I love to listen to everything.

At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to make music? Was there a specific moment?

I wanted some beats so I could dance on my own. That was the beginning...

Is Gangnam style intended to be a social critique, or is it just supposed to be fun?

GS is not a critique, just FUN!

What are you dressing up as for Halloween? Does South Korea have Halloween?

I heard my costume is costume of the year so this Halloween I gotta dress more classy, as classy as possible. Ryan Seacrest suggested I dress up as Taylor Swift for Halloween! There is no Halloween in South Korea.

Do you have a favorite Gangnam Style "spoof" video?

Ohio University marching band.

What is your favorite place in the world and why?

Seoul, Korea. It is my home.

His closing comment: "OK everybody. Thank you for so many questions. Sorry I could not answer them all. I have to go to studio to finish my new record now! Please follow me on twitter @PSY_oppa and see you soon!!!"

SEE ALSO: How Psy went from K-Pop sensation to international infatuation >

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Update: Stamped has written a blog post about its acquisition. We've updated the article with information from the founders' post.

Stamped, a mobile app founded by two ex-Googlers, has been acquired by Yahoo.

It's Marissa Mayer's first acquisition (and one of Justin Bieber's first successful outcomes as a startup investor*), and it's no coincidence that Yahoo's CEO and Stamped share Google ties.

Stamped's CEO, Robby Stein, used to work for Mayer at Google where he was a product manager.

The buyout fits every hint Mayer has dropped about her acquisition plans:

• She's bringing talent
• She's bringing in mobile developers and engineers (Stamped has about 10 employees)
• She's investing in a relatively cheap social startup that she and Yahoo can try and grow into a much bigger business.
• The acquisition was in the right price range. While we don't know the exact amount, a source tells us it was "a nice size" but nothing wild.

Stamped launched one year ago as a mobile review app for places and things curated by friends.

This summer, the app was completely revamped, and Stamped brought on a list of all-star investors including Ryan Seacrest, Justin Bieber, Ellen DeGeneres and The New York Times. It has raised $3 million to date.

Although Stamped's app will be wound down, the acqui-hire is still a great win for New York tech. Mayer plans to use Stein's team to help build out something more robust for Yahoo on the east coast. 

"The Stamped team will be creating a brand new product and engineering office for Yahoo in NYC’s Bryant Park," the founders have written on their site. "After everything we learned from building Stamped, we’re excited to start work again on something big, mobile, and new -- but we can’t discuss the details just yet. And we’re really stoked to be able to hire lots of talented engineers and designers for this new project."

The acquisition is also a very Google-centered move on Mayer's part. Mayer is an ex-Googler; Stein's an ex-Googler. Google Ventures and Metamorphic Ventures (comprised of ex-Googlers) were two of Stamped's investors.

"As a team of mostly former Googlers, we’ve all worked with and are big fans of Marissa," the founders wrote.

"At the end of the day great teams win, we are excited to watch Robby and Bart help NYC and build out the next phase of Yahoo," Metamorphic's David Hirsch says. 

Back in August, we interviewed Stein about his thoughts on his former boss becoming the CEO of Yahoo (and what it's like to work for her).

Here's what he had to say:

*We originally wrote it was Justin Bieber's and Scooter Braun's first startup exit, but the team has had other exits as well.

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After a few years away from the music world, Alicia Keys is back and on fire right now.

She released single "Girl on Fire" early September, has her fifth album of the same title out next month, and she just announced the launch of a new kid-based app based largely in part by her grandmother.

Co-produced through a partnership between Alicia Keys, her company AK Worldwide, and Bento Box Interactive, "The Journals of Mama Mae & Lee Lee" offers the chance for children to foster creativity through an interactive storytelling app complete with journal, readable books, and exclusive tracks from Keys herself.

And, of course, it wouldn't be an Alicia Keys app without a playable piano.

We sat down yesterday exclusively with Keys where the girl on fire herself told us about her personal involvement with the app, the inspiration behind it, and exactly how it empowers children.

Take a look inside the app >

Full development of the app began in June. Keys original vision was for a television show; however,  together Keys and CEO and co-founder of Bento Box Interactive Scott Greenberg decided to make her vision into an interactive app after meeting.

"Her eyes lit up," says Greenberg. "She loves space, she loves technology, so for us, she was the right partner creatively on a project to do technology wise, and as a company platform." 

Greenberg and Bento Box Interactive co-founder and creative director Janelle Pitchford tell us Keys' app will be one of the company's first steps toward reinventing interactive storytelling through an immersive experience into a 3-D world.

"We wanted it to be object based versus traditional UI where there's text boxes and all that," says Pitchford. "The interactive elements are what really drive the story forward ... you're exploring this world and looking at the journal, using the journal, looking at the music box, playing the music. It's not a flat experience ... With games, it's more of the gameplay that's pushing the story forward."

According to Greenberg Keys' amount of involvement has been extensive and while exploring the app it shows from the title of the product, to exclusive tracks for children, down to nitty gritty details in the game itself.

Her grandmother is essentially the heart and soul of the app. It's evident in hearing Keys speak of her "nana" that the singer is passing down her legacy for future generations.

"My grandmother is still a rock in my life, even still to this day. And, that's the thing. I think we have such beautiful, unique relationships with our grandparents and they occupy a certain space in our lives that no one else can. She definitely did for me. She was so regal, and she taught me how to be more compassionate.

The character of Mama Mae in the app is really her essence, that loving, strong kind of ever-present positive, powerful person.

And, that's what you get even with the relationship between Mama Mae and Lee Lee. When you see her greet her, she's just so glad that she's with her because she knows that she can kind of get through it as long as she's there. That's definitely how I feel about my Nana."

The character title of Lee Lee is a failed attempt at a childhood nickname for the singer.

"Lee Lee does have a little bit of a connotation as if it were a nickname from Alicia," Keys tells us. "There were a few people in my life who tried to call me Lee Lee, but it never really stuck completely. But, that's cool though. Lee Lee's name is truly her own. She's her own person. She's loosely based off me, but she really has her own thing.

And, Mama Mae, is like a "Big Mama," kind of like a Southern grandmother. Mama Mae just felt the perfect name."

The app introduces children inside the comforts of a bedroom where they can explore a multitude of activities–journal writing, art, stories, and music–to foster their creativity. Keys had specific input on the size of the girl's bedroom in the app.

"The original photo they showed me for the bedroom, I told them [Bento Box], this is too big. There's no kid's bedroom in New York City that is this size."

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