from Your News: Former Secret Service agent Richard Staropoli expressed concerns about the agency’s preparedness to protect President-elect Donald Trump from potential attacks before his inauguration. By yourNEWS Media Newsroom In light of two assassination attempts during the 2024 presidential campaign, former Secret Service agent Richard Staropoli has raised alarms about the agency’s current state […]

  Having only seen the Pac-Man episode of Secret Level; it was hard to guess what to expect from the Mega Man short. The only real unifying principle of any episode of Secret Level is that engages with some kind of idea from the video game in question. As it turns out, the Mega Man short was a lot more faithful than I could have reasonably expected. By which I mean, this seven-minute film hews so close to the source material it kind of looks like a pilot episode for a full series. I doubt anyone will ever actually make any such series, due to the sheer quantity of action. But wow, this is some proof of concept.   If you think back to pretty much any Mega Man game you’ve ever played, the plot is either implicitly or explicitly that the evil Dr. Wily has turned all the normally peace-loving robots in the world peaceful for his own purposes and Mega Man, or Rockman, is tasked by his inventor Dr. Light with putting a stop to that madness. While it’s strange to think so, I’d never really noticed the extent to which Mega Man is just a riff off of Astro Boy before. Then again, I expect most Americans are in the same position. In the English language, at least, Mega Man is probably the better-known character and so otherwise known for just fighting other robots, rather than any actual plot, that he doesn’t even seem particularly anime.   Yet Rockman here, in full 3D animated glory is fully plot-driven, stepping into his destiny as the protector of his world despite Dr. Light’s misgivings about Rockman not actually being designed for combat. Rockman is noble, resourceful, and most importantly, so small in stature and autonomous that he…well, I don’t really want to spoil it, short as this short is. Let me put it this way- if you ever wanted an epic cinematic to play right before you start a game of Mega Man, this episode of Secret Level is basically just that cinematic. While purists might quibble over the fact that the main weapon he ends up using isn’t the Mega Buster, at the end of the day, this is most definitely who most of us roleplay when we play Mega Man, and this is the world he lives in too- just with much nicer graphics.   The post Secret Level Episode 110 Review: Mega Man appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Christmas is just a few weeks away, so you'd expect to see lots of Christmas themed games appearing on Indie Retro News in the lead up to the 25th. Well that's certainly happened this week! As another festive game to be mentioned on our site, is a Christmas arcade puzzler by Vector5games for the C64 called 'Santa's Workout 4 '; a brand new game in which you need to rescue Santa and save a certain

It’s so flavorful. READ MORE...

Is the Vatican on the verge of bankruptcy? It appears so. I saw this going viral online so I dug into it (because we actually do our research here, we don’t just rely on Tweets) and what I found was this is accurate: VATICAN BANKRUPTCY?https://t.co/cHpTrpv2Xb pic.twitter.com/9Z5CFz02TP — The Sacred Blue Tent (@SabrinaGal182) December 3, 2024 The AP reports the situation is dire, as admitted by Pope Francis himself: Pope Francis, who has imposed a series of cost-cutting measures across the cash-strapped Vatican, warned Thursday that the city state’s troubled pension fund needs urgent reform to guarantee future obligations. Vatican employees responded by expressing concern that their compensation might be targeted in any further cost-cutting to shore up the pension system, and asked for the fund’s finances to be made public. In a letter to Vatican department heads and cardinals, Francis said he had named a top economic adviser Cardinal Kevin Farrell as a special administrator for the fund, suggesting that decisive, immediate action was necessary. The letter was the latest evidence of the Vatican’s precarious financial situation, after years of mismanagement, financial scandals and budget deficits — all worsened by COVID-19 and the months-long closures of a key source of revenue, the Vatican Museums. Already, Francis has cut the salaries of cardinals by 10%, suspended some seniority bonuses, trimmed special stipends for Rome-based cardinals and begun charging some market-rate rents for their apartments. The pension fund has long been the source of particular concern, and in the new letter Francis acknowledged that the current analysis “indicates a serious prospective imbalance in the fund, the size of which tends to expand over time in the absence of intervention.” “In concrete terms, this means that the current system is unable to guarantee in the medium term the fulfillment of the pension obligation for future generations,” he wrote. As usual, “get woke, go broke”! It never fails: time to sell indulgences? #gowokegobrokeVatican ‘on brink of bankruptcy’ as it struggles to pay pensions https://t.co/SHxpgMn9UB — China_Meltdown (@TheAnalytic) December 2, 2024 Vatican ‘on the verge of bankruptcy’. #Vatican https://t.co/aDQHRMRUeS — FightingOn_MC (@FightingOn_MC) December 3, 2024 Hey Pope Francis,#GoWokeGoBroke The #Vatican has a 23M euros operating deficit and it’s impacting their RETIREMENT funds. What happened to the vows of poverty? What account did you use to pay off lawsuits? Asking for a #Catholic https://t.co/kjXtGdHCou — sdrepub (@sdrepub) December 3, 2024 And from Reuters: Pope Francis said on Thursday the Vatican’s pension fund is facing a “serious imbalance” that may require changes to its operating structure, and appointed a senior cardinal to take over the fund’s administration. In an unusual letter sent to all the world’s cardinals and to the leaders of the Vatican’s various offices, the pope did not quantify the scope of the issue. He said the changes would include “making difficult decisions that will require particular sensitivity, generosity, and willingness to sacrifice on the part of everyone”. Francis appointed Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an Irish-American prelate who has led the Vatican’s office for family issues since 2016, to take over as the fund’s administrator. The pope has expressed uncommon concern about the Vatican’s budget several times in recent months. In October, he ordered the third reduction in three years for the pay packages of the cardinals who lead the Vatican. He has also asked them to pursue a “zero deficit” agenda. The Vatican has not released a full budget statement in several years but is known to be facing a serious budget deficit. The Vatican’s finance czar estimated in 2022 that the net liability of the pension fund for post-employment benefits amounted to some 631 million euros ($664 million). The headquarters of the Catholic Church comprises two entities: the internationally recognised sovereign entity of the Holy See and the Vatican, a 108-acre city-state within Rome. When did it all start to go wrong? Here…. RELATED REPORTS: HERESY: Pope Francis Says “All religions are paths to reach God!” Pope Francis Kisses Muslim Imam, Declares: “All Religions Have a Role To Play” Pope Francis Issues New Condemning Remarks Against ‘Anti-Vaxxers’

Mark Cuban believes he could win the Presidency….with a little help from his friends. One friend in particular: the Round Mound of Rebound, Charles Barkley. Yes, he really said it: Mark Cuban says he’d win White House with Charles Barkley as VP: ‘No question about it’ https://t.co/kfyMdf8nye pic.twitter.com/o5eT1mU34P — New York Post (@nypost) December 4, 2024 Let’s just say the reactions online are “not favorable”…. The NY Post had more details: VP pick and roll. Former Kamala Harris campaign surrogate and “Shark Tank” mogul Mark Cuban believes he can win the presidency by choosing an NBA legend as his running mate. During an appearance on “The Steam Room” podcast, hosted by NBA TNT television personalities Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley, Cuban answered whether his recent turn as a political pundit would result in seeking elected office. Cuban first said “hell no,” about running for higher office, but said one thing could possibly change his mind. “Would your feeling on a run for office change if it were, say, a ticket of you and the Chuckster,” legendary basketball announcer Ernie “The Elevator” Johnson asked, referring to his co-host as the potential running mate. “Yes, absolutely,” Cuban replied with relish. “We’d win running away. No question about it.” “We’d win,” Barkley said in matter-of-fact agreement. “We’d definitely win. Yes absolutely, running away.” Cuban heaped praise on Barkley, all but calling him a role model for civility and personability. “Charles can talk to anybody and put himself in any circumstance and get along with everybody, and I think that’s what we need,” Cuban said. Moments before, the Round Mound of Rebound himself asked Cuban whether he “seriously considered” seeking an elected office. “I did a little bit,” Cuban said with a wince. “I even talked to a pollster. But then I talked to my family and we took a family vote and they said, “hell no.” Cuban further elaborated that he believes today’s politics is “meaner” and that the “hate on social media” serves as a legitimate deterrent to his civic impulses. RELATED REPORTS: JUST IN: Mark Cuban’s Business Partner Donated $100M to President Trump! Now We Know Why Mark Cuban Hates President Trump — It’s Personal Mark Cuban Confirms AGAIN Why He Turned On Donald Trump