Fully Charged: Live-action Halo digital feature trailer, NASA drops 3D-printable models, and Comixology adds (some) DRM-free backups

First Halo: Nightfall trailer released

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San Diego Comic-Con is happening right now, which means we’re getting our first look at a lot of the cool, geeky stuff coming down the pipeline later this year and beyond. One of the first is Halo: Nightfall, the live-action, five-part digital feature that ties into Microsoft’s massive first-person shooter franchise.

Produced by Ridley Scott, Nightfall stars a new character, Jameson Locke, who will be playable in next year’s Halo 5: Guardians on Xbox One, and thus the show serves as an essential stepping stone for series aficionados. From the trailer, Nightfall can’t help but look like the Scott-directed Prometheus, albeit with the budget of something like the modern Battlestar Galactica.

Nightfall was luckily spared in last week’s brutal Microsoft cuts that extinguished most of the rest of the now-former Xbox Entertainment Studios’ future plans. It will be released free to Xbox Live Gold members come November, as well as bundled along with Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which collects and enhances Halo 1-4 for Xbox One.

[Source: YouTube]

READ MORE: Halo 5: Guardians is coming to Xbox One in Autumn 2015

NASA releases 3D-printable asteroid and probe models

NASA’s really getting into 3D printing, huh? Just last month, we heard about how the first space-ready 3D printer was cleared for installation on the International Space Station, and now the North American space agency is supporting terrestrial printing enthusiasts by releasing various miniature models.

As spotted by CNET, the organization has released a total of 21 files ready for 3D printing, which are based on the like of the Mars Odyssey, Voyager, and Kepler spacecrafts, as well as a pair of asteroids and segments of the surfaces of the Moon and Mars, respectively.

They’re tiny little things, with the largest dimension reported to be 10cm, and NASA says that the files may need to be tweaked to work with the average consumer 3D printer. And if you think that you’ve improved on the original file, you can send it back their way. Who needs to catch an asteroid when we can just print model ships and swap emails with astrophysicists?

[Source: NASA via CNET]

READ MORE: International Space Station is getting its first 3D printer — and also an espresso machine

Comixology adds DRM-free backups—for some books

Digital comics leader Comixology took a beating in the public perception when—after being acquired by Amazon earlier this year—it removed the in-app store from its mobile apps and forced users to purchase all comics from the website. Luckily, the company might earn a little goodwill back with this move.

At San Diego Comic-Con, the company announced that it now allows users to download DRM-free backups of any purchased comics from participating publishers, which are available in PDF and CBZ formats. However, only a handful of publishers are actually onboard right now, including Image and Top Shelf; Marvel and DC don’t seem all that keen on it, at least for now.

[Source: Comixology]

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