5 craziest moments caught on Twitch

Twitch.tv is a website that lets gamers broadcast themselves playing and commentating video games. Twitch has grown to become one of the largest livestreaming websites out there and was the 4th largest website in terms of peak Internet traffic in a report that came out in 2014. With thousands of livestreams active on Twitch at any given moment, crazy moments are bound to happen. Here are 5 of the craziest moments caught on stream.

Dota 2 Player gets robbed on stream

On June 9th, 2014, Twitch streamer Nikki Elise, otherwise known by her Twitch handle as Sajedene, was robbed at gunpoint while she was streaming Dota 2 on Twitch. Sajedene was living with her boyfriend at the time. Her viewers quickly informed police about the home robbery and police was quick to act. We now know that at least one of the robbers was arrested. Sajedene and her boyfriend was unharmed.

Twitch Chat finishes Pokemon Red

Each Twitch stream comes with a chatroom where viewers can interact with both the streamer and other viewers. The chatroom is commonly known as Twitch Chat. An anonymous Australian programmer decided to conduct a social experiment where s/he streamed Pokemon Red and allowed viewers to input commands to the game via Twitch Chat. This quickly drew the attention of hundreds of thousands of people and at one time there was 120,000 concurrent viewers. The stream had an average viewer count of 80,000.

The stream was launched on February 12th, 2014 and after more than 16 days of continuous gameplay, Twitch Chat managed to complete Pokemon Red on March 1st. Pokemon Red is by no means a short game and with tens of thousands of people playing at a time, it is a wonder that the game was ever completed.

Streamer gets raided by a SWAT team

On December 30th, 2013, hacker group Derp decided to start harassing League of Legends streamer PhantomL0rd, or James Verga. It involved the group initially taking down League of Legend's game servers. As a result, Verga started playing other games like Dota 2 and Club Penguin and these games were subsequently taken down as well by Derp. The whole event even included a bizarre Q&A session between Verga's viewers and the hacker group where the group's motives were questioned. They're answer? "The lulz". At one point, Verga's stream had 130,000 concurrent viewers.

Besides taking down whatever game Verga tried to play, Derp also managed to obtain Verga's personal information and released it to the public. This information included his address and resulted in several fake pizza delivery orders to his house, as well as a SWAT raid on the house when they received fake reports of a hostage situation. This was all caught on camera.

In wake of the attacks, the Derp group was heavily criticised online. The criticism centered on their lack of clear motives and many accused Derp of doing this solely for attention. PhantomL0rd came out of the unharmed and significantly more popular.

House burnt down on stream

On October 4th 2015, a Japanese streamer accidentally burnt down his house while streaming Minecraft.

The whole ordeal starts with the streamer trying to light his cigarette with a lighter. He repeatedly strikes against it trying to get a flame and eventually manages to ignite the fuel. However, the excess fuel on the lighter also ignites and the burning lighter leads him to absentmindedly throw the still-burning fuse into a bag full of paper. The fire grows quickly and the streamer makes a fatal mistake: he tries to douse the flames using a CARDBOARD BOX. This causes the flames to grow uncontrollably and he now sensibly tries to stop it with a blanket and then small bowls of water. This is, however, too late and the streamer finally flees the room as the fire has now become a mini inferno. All the while, the stream is still turned on.

The streamer (age 40) lives with three other people in the two story home, including his father (68) and mother (73). Four people were injured, suffering from burns and other unspecified injuries. This includes the above three people and a female relative (62) that lives nearby. About 30% of the home burned down (37 square meters out of a total of 125).

Neighbour attempts a robbery

On January 1st, 2015, at around 11:30 pm, Twitch streamer Mr_13ig was streaming when police knocked on the door of his apartment as a result of a noise complaint. Mr_13ig refused to give his name to the police since he believed he did nothing wrong. He was promptly arrested due to his refusal to cooperate.

He didn't have a chance to turn off his stream and a few moments after the arrest, his neighbour enters the unlocked, unoccupied apartment in full view of the broadcasting camera and proceeds to rob Mr_13ig. The neighbour was unaware he was on stream and Mr_13ig's viewers promptly called and informed the police of the robbery. The neighbour was justly arrested and is now in prison on felony charges.

Top 5 deadliest weapons of the 21st century

We're living in a time of unprecedented peace. Large scale, conventional warfare between major world powers is seemingly a thing of the past and only small, proxy wars have taken their place. Military innovation, however, has barely slowed as established and emerging powers continue to vie for technological dominance. Here are some of the deadliest weapons that have emerged within this century.

PL-01 Light Tank

A concept tank built by OBRUM and BAE systems for Poland, the PL-01 was first unveiled during the International Defense Industry Exhibition in Kielce on September 2, 2013. It is planned to enter service in 2018.

The tank not only has a totally badass look, it also uses incorporates new and very impressive technology in its defensive and offensive systems. One such technology that really stands out is the PL-01's infrared camouflage armour. The vast majority of battlefield sensors today rely on infrared signatures from combat vehicles and the PL-01's ability to cloak itself from these sensors gives it a tremendous advantage. It does so by using temperature controlled wafers that blanket its exterior. The wafers allow the tank's skin to match the infrared signature of its surroundings. Small infrared sensors mounted around the tank collect infrared data from the tank's environment and the tank's main computer relays this information to the wafers. The wafers then coordinate to display an infrared pattern that best matches the data collected.

What's even more impressive is the tank's ability to use the wafers to pretend to be something else. Its computer can use preprogrammed infrared patterns to get the wafers to generate an infrared signature that resembles something harmless, such as a car.

The primary weapon of the PL-01 is a 105 or 120 mm caliber gun. The cannon will be able to shoot both conventional projectiles and guided anti-tank missiles. The cannon fires at a rate of 6 per minute.

USS Gerald R. Ford (Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrer)

The flag ships of the US navy are its Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carriers that have been in service since 1975. There are 10 operational Nimitz class carriers today, each with their own formidable carrier battle group that includes missile cruisers, destroyers, and submarines. However, these carriers are getting old and the US Navy has initiated a program to build a new class o carriers to replace the ageing fleet.

The result is the Ford class aircraft carrier. Using basically the same hull as the Nimitz carriers, the Ford carriers' main improvements are hidden from view. Some of the most significant are the heavy incorporation of automation. Anything that could be automated was automated. This reduces the crew size of the Ford carriers by several hundred, as compared to Nimitz carriers. Additionally, the Ford carriers use an entirely new catapult system called the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS). This is a drastic improvement from the Nimitz carriers' steam catapults. The EMALS requires less maintenance, weighs less, recharges faster, is more reliable, and uses less energy. Another feature is improved crew living conditions with a considerably better air conditioning system. The flight deck of a Ford class carriers is also larger, with one less elevator and a superstructure that's smaller and positioned further out.

USS Gerald R. Ford is the first of the Ford class carriers and it is planned to be commissioned late next year. Each carrier costs just south of $20 billion.

DF-26 Carrier Killer Missile

China, ever wary of a US military intervention at its doorstep, is particularly and rightfully scared of the carrier battle groups of the US pacific fleet. The aircraft carriers can eliminate China's maritime trading capacity, all from several hundred miles away where China's surface ships and land-based aircraft will not be able to reach it without impending destruction from the carrier's air wing and the battle group's surface ships. As such, China has really pushed hard in developing a weapon to counter the aircraft carrier. The first such weapon that was created was the DF-21 and the DF-26 is its successor.

The operational range of the DF-26 is claimed to be 5000 km. Its speed is unknown but its predecessor, the DF-21, has a speed of Mach 10. As such, it is probably safe to assume that the DF-26 is at least as fast as Mach 10. How do you defend against a missile flying at 10 times the speed of sound?

One of the scariest things of the DF-26 is that it not only can theoretically target and destroy aircraft carriers, China now has a missile with enough range to hit Guam, one of the US's premier military bases in the Pacific. Although not much is known of the DF-26, we do know that the DF-21D has a formidable reputation. In fact, the US Navy admitted in 2009 that "there was... currently no defense against it". If the DF-21D is already so scary, the DF-26 must surely be keeping some US admirals up at night.

X-47B

The Northrop Grumman X-47B is one of the Navy's newest toys. It's an unmanned carrier-ready aerial vehicle that is capable of aerial refueling, high maneuverability, and has a tremendous range (2400 miles, twice that of the Reaper drone).

However, the X-47B is only a concept aircraft and the Navy has stated the they will open up competition for private contractors to build an unmanned aircraft from what they have learned through the X-47 program. The competition is slated to begin in 2016 and an aircraft is expected to enter service in the early 2020s.

T-14 Armata

This is the Russian land army's new main battle tank. The Armata was first seen in public in the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade. The Russian army plans to acquire 2300 Armatas by the end of the decade.

The most significant feature of the Armata is an unmanned turret. The crew sits in a well armoured capsule in the front of the hull. This is a significant advancement in tank technology for which the US has not caught up. The M1 Abrams still uses a manned turret. There was an initiative to develop an unmanned turret version of the Abrams known as the M1 TTB but the program was not successful.

T-14 also comes with significantly improved armour known as reactive armour. This armour is very similar to the explosive reactive armour found on more advanced Cold War-era Soviet Union tanks. Such armour, surprisingly, uses explosive material embedded in the armour itself to disrupt high velocity, armour piercing projectiles from penetrating the armour successfully. Talk about fighting fire with fire.

The Armata also features a new active protection system where a built-in radar tracks incoming projectiles and the system is able to "intercept" the missile and render its guidance ineffective through electronic countermeasures.

Besides those already listed, Armata has much, much more improvements from its predecessor, the T-90. It also represents a significant paradigm shift in Russian tank design. The T-90's design prioritized speed and maneuverability and thus had a low profile with light armour. It was 20 tons less than its US counterpart, M1 Abrams. The Armata, however, prioritizes protection over maneuverability. The T-14 Armata represents a serious challenger to the dominant M1 Abrams and is a serious wake up call for the US Army.

10 weirdest things you can buy on Amazon

When you create a marketplace where almost anybody can sell things, the weirdness of the world is bound to sip in. Here are some things being sold on Amazon today that just makes you go... "why?"

Goosh Pants ($18.97) 

Ever wanted to have explosive diarrhoea in public, and then be able to proudly show it off after the fact? Well worry no more because now you don't even have to have diarrhoea to show off poop stains. Just grab a of Goosh pants on Amazon and you're good to go.

Nicolas Cage Pillowcase ($7.47)

The only question is: "why hasn't this been a thing earlier?!" Also, where's the Nick Cage body pillow?

Kaylen's Hand Butt Plug ($31.06)

Ever had a desire for butt plugs that transcends the average joe butt plug? Well worry no more because now you can blissfully plug that poop-shoot with a life-size replica of a hand! Oh innovation!

The best thing is, the seller proudly declares that you can "master the next level of insertions" with this contraption.

Unicorn Meat ($13.98)

Ever wanted to taste "magic in every bite"? Ever wondered what a mythical creature tastes like? Well worry no more because Radiant Farms has just the right product for you! In all seriousness, I really wonder what kind of substance they've put together here to brazenly market it as unicorn meat.

Crazy Cat Lady Action Figure ($16.99)

Uhh..... why? Is there really a market for this?

Handerpants ($10.93)

Who came up with this?!?!?!??!

Gift of Nothing ($8.99)

This product costs $8.83 and has an overall rating of about 4.5 as of this review with 170 customer reviews. This is the perfect gift for someone who has everything.

AK-47 Bullet Ice Cube Tray ($6.99)

Giving shot glasses an entirely new definition!

Bacon Soap ($6.80)

When eating bacon is not enough, not you can lather yourself with bacon-smelling soap that even looks the part. Soup is actually made from fat. Could this soap be manufactured with bacon fat?

Black toilet paper ($25.99)

No one likes to look at poop. Black toilet paper now helps to camouflage your toilet-paper-poop-stains cheaply and effectively. It's not all fun and games though. One reviewer aptly asks: "How do you tell when you're done?"

Top 5 Most Overhyped Games

Hyping up your game-in-development can bring top dollar when it finally releases. It can also hopelessly disappoint players when their sky-high expectations do not match the quality of the game. Hyping your game is great, just don't do it too well! Here're a few games released in the past few years that were better hyped than they could deliver.

5. Haze

Metacritic: 55%

IGN: 4.5/10

Gamespot: 6/10

Haze is a distant memory now but prior to its release in 2008, it was a highly anticipated game. Developed by Free Radical, which developed the heralded TimeSplitters franchise, gamers thought that Haze will usher in a new era of first person shooters.

The many faults of Haze included its poor graphics, absolutely terrible AI, and an uninspired multiplayer. Haze's failure played a large part in Free Radical's closure in 2008.

4. Elder Scrolls Online

Metacritic: 71%

IGN: 7.8/10

Gamespot: 6/10

An MMORPG set in the universe of the Elder Scrolls, Bethesda was banking on the success and popularity of its previous release Skyrim, to push Elder Scrolls Online into a serious WoW competitor, if not a WoW killer.

Elder Scrolls Online had a patchy launch with server issues and a trove of bugs. The game's troubles did not end after the launch hiccups subsided. Players soon realised that their initial wishes of a multiplayer Skyrim was not to be found in Elder Scrolls Online. They got everything they hated in an MMORPG and nothing that they loved in the Elder Scrolls series. The game by itself was not bad but it failed to meet expectations and subscriptions promptly tanked.

The WoW killer could barely keep itself alive.

3. Titanfall

Metacritic: 86%

IGN: 8.9/10

Gamespot: 9/10

Titanfall, the unique FPS-with-epic-mech-battles game was intended to be the "CoD-killer". It was lauded for its unique gameplay during its beta where players were offered a taste of its mech combat. The out-of-mech combat was not bad as well. It included some unique and futuristic mechanics such as jet pack assisted double jumping and wall running. CoD would later go on to copy some of these mechanics in its own futuristic games.

However, when the game released, people's raised expectations quickly got squashed as the game came with no single player, a very constrained multiplayer experience, and overall a very clear lack of content. The multiplayer was limited to 6 players on each team and there were only 3 mechs. The game came with only 16 maps to choose from and gun variety was not something to write home about either. Adding on to this was the fact that it was very hard to play with friends, with the party system experiencing tons of connectivity bugs that eventually turned many die-hard fans into pitchfork wielders.

Don't get me wrong, Titanfall's core gameplay was still unparalleled in the FPS genre but paying $60 for a game with a clear lack of content will leave a sour taste in most anyone's mouths.

2. Call of Duty Ghosts

Metacritic: 73%

IGN: 8.8/10

Gamespot: 8/10

Call of Duty Ghosts came out around the same time Battlefield 4 did. As usual, Activision put a ton of money into marketing their flagship franchise. Too bad it was getting rekt all over by rival franchise Battlefield's newest game in the series, Battlefield 4. While CoD developers were patting their backs on their new unique in-game dog companion, the Battlefield 4 team was demoing epic city battles with entire skyscrapers falling down. The best dynamic map feature CoD could come up with was a short clip lauding the impressive physics of stacked up wooden logs tumbling down in-game.

Players have long anticipated an engine overhaul for CoD as the engine that it has used since Modern Warfare was looking quite dated at this point. CoD developers were on a different page though. It must've been too costly to bring up an entirely new engine and the developers only admitted to modifying and improving the existing engine. This was much to the chagrine of CoD players as they watched on the sidelines as Battlefield showed off vast 64 player battles that included tanks, ships, helis, and jets. All of this to the backdrop of gorgeous graphics and a dynamic battlefield environment.

Falling logs vs collapsing skyscrapers? No matter how much Activision spent on marketing, Call of Duty Ghosts was technologically several steps behind Battlefield 4 and this time around, it was hard not to notice.

1. Destiny

Metacritic: 76%

IGN: 7.8/10

Gamespot: 6/10

Activision and Bungie marketed Destiny like you've never seen a video game ever marketed. First of all, the game was rumoured to have a budget of $500 million from Activision. $500 million for a single game! In comparison, GTA V only had a $265 million budget. The marketing drive included a $6.7 million TV ad campaign, among many other initiatives. It's thus not surprising that there was tremendous hype around Destiny pre-release.

Not to fault the consumer, Destiny, as a game, did have a lot going for it. For one, it's an FPS MMORPG. This merging of two massive genres had not been attempted very often largely due to the immense resources needed to operate such a game. Players were promised a unique progression system that included farming for exotic weapons through co-op missions. These missions almost always ended with epic boss battles where the bosses would usually drop high tier loot if killed. Players could then take some of these weapons into PVP matches akin to those found in Call of Duty or Battlefield. The world was also promised to be vast and the graphics gorgeous. Plus, Destiny was being developed by Bungie, the much beloved game studio behind the Halo series. With all these upsides, who can fault the players for being absolutely and irrevocably excited.

Unfortunately, things didn't go so well after the game's launch. The single player campaign proved to be quick, bland, and boringly easy. In fact, GameSpot posted an article claiming they beat the campaign in 16 hours. Many parts of Destiny's missions often followed an overused formula of "defend this robot from wave after wave of enemies as he tries to hack some computer". Boss fights were not that much unique either, and many players found themselves just following the traditional hide-and-shoot formula over and over for each and every boss. The co-op reward system was also a source of complaint. The weapon reward system mostly consisted of a dice roll and many parties found themselves in situations where one player would get some amazing weapon while others would be loaded with trash, even though everyone spent the same amount of time and effort. The single player/co-op missions became a place to grind out levels and weapons and to be honest, no one really likes to grind the same missions over and over again. The fact that the missions were bland and uninspiring didn't help the situation.

With the tremendous amount of hype around Destiny, players didn't expect to be fed a boring and quick campaign with uninspiring enemies, and then to later be forced to grind out the same boring missions over and over lest they fall behind their peers and get absolutely crushed in PVP. Destiny, shortly post-release, was evidently an unsexy mashup between WoW and CoD, with each part not really augmenting the experience of the other.

Since then, there has been multiple updates and patches to the game as Bungie has stated that there is a significant long term plan for Destiny and the investment doesn't end when the game hits the stores. The game is significantly better than its post-launch state but it definitely did not live up to the massive hype around it pre-release.