Along with the instant, worldwide capabilities of the web has come the dreaded accidental spoiler. In the past, fans of a TV series would have to actively search for spoilers, but now every Tweet or blog post brings with it the risk of having the latest twists ruined.

This week, actor Kevin Bacon demonstrated this new reality perfectly, while also demonstrating why localized, staggered release schedules for content will only become more problematic as more of the world becomes connected.

Bacon currently stars in the Fox network TV show The Following, a drama that follows an ex-FBI agent named Ryan Hardy as he helps his colleagues catch serial killers. In the latest episode, which aired in the U.S. on April 8, it is revealed that Hardy himself may be a killer.

The twist surprised fans, and Bacon retweeted one fan’s surprise to his Twitter page:

Follow @jodigomes

jodi gomes
@jodigomes

@kevinbacon is a murderer too! Nice twist @kevwilliamson@thefollowingfox#JoeCarol

 Reply  ·  Retweet  ·  Favorite
1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

Unfortunately, fans of the show in some countries that aren’t the U.S. haven’t gotten the chance to watch that episode yet. They immediately let Bacon know he had screwed up, in the polite way that angry people on the internet normally do.

Bacon has now issued an apology, which in includes a short Vine video in which the actor issues a repeated mea culpa:

Follow @kevinbacon

Kevin Bacon
@kevinbacon

To all the fans abroad and late watchers I’m truly sorry I retweeted a spoiler. I just wasn’t thinking. Won’t happen again. #MyBad

 Reply  ·  Retweet  ·  Favorite
1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

(Image courtesy Genevieve/Wikimedia Commons)

No more waiting till next week. No more structure. Just you, on your couch, with a bottle of wine and a couple of boxes of take-out Chinese. And 3, maybe 4, maybe even 5 of 6 hours of lip-smacking political intrigue. I’ll admit, I ate it up. It took me approximately 72 hours to blow through season one of House of Cards.

But the problem for me (and millions of other marathoners out there) has to do with spoilers. When you watch a week-to-week cable series, everyone is on the same page. As long as everyone is caught up on the latest episode, you don’t have to worry about ruining the ending to your pals. People who write about it don’t have to worry about ruining everything for their readers. The rules are set.

But with House of Cards, Netflix has made it hard on us. Since I know everything that happens in season one, any conversation I have about the show is like navigating a minefield of Kevin Spacey references and Kate Mara compliments. Even if I try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, my subconscious will betray me. I know that I’ll end up leaking something, and that makes me that guy.

Netflix doesn’t want me to be that guy. Surely in response to all of the talk about House of Cards and spoilers, Netflix has released a short little ad that tackles that very issue.

Netflix wants you to watch responsibly:

But they’ve made it so damn hard.

Netflix made a show that was designed for marathoning and spoiling. Sure, I’d never seen The Wire until it was already over, and I watched the whole series in a matter of weeks. And though I had a blast flying through episode after episode of that great show, I knew that it wasn’t actually designed for that kind of viewing. House of Cards most definitely is. When Netflix tells you that the “next episode will begin in 20 seconds,” you know it’s not a suggestion. It’s a command.

And then you’re left with the nagging feeling that you’re going to spoil it for all of your friends. Ah, screw ‘em. I regret nothing.

For BioShock Infinite, Irrational Games is taking players back to that memorable place with an opening scene that recalls many of the same tropes. Instead of a silent protagonist, though, this time players will assume the role of Booker DeWitt, a cavalryman tasked with bringing a woman named Elizabeth to New York.

Today Irrational and 2K Games released a video fo the first five minutes of BioShock Infinite. Obviously, it contains quite a few spoilers, and some spoilery analysis can also been found below the video.

So, BioShock Infinite begins in the Atlantic Ocean like BioShock, except in 1912 – 48 years before the events of the first game. And, instead of descending to the watery depths of Rapture, players will rise to the floating city of Columbia. The religious overtones in the opening moments heavily reinforce the symbolism of the “ascension to heaven” seen at the end.

Also, the Dewitt speaking from a first-person perspective will certainly make the character more interesting. However, it’s clear that Irrational will also be using the feature to “subtly” prompt players’ actions throughout the game (“Well, maybe there’s someone inside” or “Looks like they expect me to sit in their fancy chair”) – something that could become annoying further along in the game.

This means the speculation that Cumberbatch could be playing Khan Noonien Singh, Gary Mitchell, or Garth of Izar were all incorrect. Other than that, not much is known about the new antagonist, who’s name doesn’t match any established Star Trek Villains. Of course, this could all be a ploy by Abrams and the production to throw off fans hungry for any small scrap of a spoiler.

Trekmovie, however, reports that Abrams has confirmed Harrison is the character’s name. In addition, Abrams revealed to reporters who visited his production studio this week that the Klingon empire will factor into the movie’s story. Klingons themselves will be seen and the Klingon home planet of Qu’noS will also be revealed.

Another big reveal for Star Trek fans is that Alice Eve (who was rumored to be playing Elizabeth Dehner to Cumberbatch’s Gary Mitchell) will be playing Carol Marcus. In the original series’ timeline, Marcus was an old flame of James Kirk, and the mother of his son. The character featured heavily in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, where she and her (and Kirk’s) son, David, were brilliant scientists working on the Genesis device that proved crucial in both that movie an Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

The first was released a couple of weeks ago during the E3 fun, and it focused on the character Zero, who belongs to the sniper class, courtesy of GameTrailers.com:

No word as to whether or not Gearbox will try to break its own Guinness World Record of most guns in a video game, but it’s a safe bet they’ll give it a run. The next, and most recent walkthrough focuses on the Commando character. While the Zero walkthrough had a lot of talking and in-studio footage over the gameplay, the second does not feature any cutaways to the studio. Instead, there’s much more gameplay to be seen.

Keep in mind there’s about nine minutes of gameplay on display here, so if you want to remain spoiler-free, skip the next video:

But wait, you say. What about those Iron Patriot images we saw, including the one that this article is leading with? What gives? According to the Latino Review, an incredibly-thorough movie blog, while the armor may indeed look like the comic book version of Iron Patriot, the insider LR spoke to indicates the armor we all saw is, in fact, Don Cheadle’s new armor for Iron Man 3.

In case you forgot, Cheadle plays Colonel Rhodes, and he also dons the War Machine armor, as seen here:

The US Government has had their hands on this Stark suit for awhile, and apparently they’ve decided to make it more patriotic (especially with the nano-technology stuff I hear is going down in China these days, it’s important for America to look good, not like ‘Iron Man 2′s’ bulky grey War Machine). That’s why the set photo of “Iron Patriot” has the War Machine gun on his back, because it’s NOT Iron Patriot, it’s NOT James Badge Dale, it’s NOT Coldblood-7.

If you’re still reading but don’t know what to make of it, try this: if LR’s insider is accurate, the character wearing the Iron Patriot armor will not be an enemy of Tony Stark/Iron Man. I guess War Machine is too drastic of a name for someone the US Government is trying to portray as a hero, at least in the movies.

[Hat-tip to Slash Film]

So much so, in fact, they’ve already beaten the game. More on that in a moment, however. The “emergency” update was released by Blizzard in order to address the already-famous error 37, which, according to the Diablo III forums over at Battle.net, was caused by the servers being at full capacity. The game’s developers addressed the issue over at the same forum (who needs Twitter or Facebook?), by saying:

11:30 a.m. PDT- We are in the process of performing an emergency maintenance for Diablo III servers in the Americas to resolve several issues that are currently impacting the game. This maintenance may cause some interruption in communication, ability to log in, use of in-game features, and disconnections. We anticipate all servers will be available for play at approximately 1:30 p.m. PDT. We will provide further updates as necessary. Thank you for your patience.

As indicated, Twitter was quick to react to the error 37 news:

If I were someone who enjoyed using Twitter-speak in my articles, this is the point where I’d be using the “SMH” abbreviation. With that in mind, worry not, Diablo III fans. You ain’t got no problem, folks. Blizzard is on it. Go back in there, chill them players out and wait for the fix, which is coming directly.

(Hat-tip to Quentin Tarantino for the inspiration for that previous stanza)

As for the game itself, some Korean gamers were so eager to get their hands on it, they’ve already beaten it. It only took them five hours to do so, no less. Apparently, the gamers in question completed the single player mode under the normal difficulty setting, which gives all you even harder-core players a new goal to shoot for: beating Diablo III in an expeditious manner, but on a harder difficulty setting, something I’m sure thousands of gamers are working on as I type.

To document their achievement, the gamers in question took a screenshot of the final boss. We’ve included a blurred version of the image in question. If you’d like to spoil yourselves, click the blurred image to reveal the unretouched version:

Click for the full-sized spoiler version… or don’t if you don’t want to be spoiled

Fresh of it’s R-rating classification, and some new TV spots that have been appearing with the NBA Playoffs, among other places, there’s also a new featurette that splices interviews with Scott, Rapace, Fassbender, and writer Damon Lindelof, together with new footage from the movie. The interviews discuss the idea behind the story, as well as Fassbender and Rapace hinting about what fans can expect when Prometheus opens on June 8th. There’s also a little bit of salesmanship from Rapace who says she’s “never seen anything like this before,” in reference to the movie’s content.

Take a look for yourself, it’s essentially spoiler safe:

The robots’ names in the series are in alphabetical order, according to film release dates: Ash is in “Alien” (1979), Bishop is in “Aliens” (1986) and Alien 3 (1992), Call is in “Alien: Resurrection” (1997) and now David, played by Michael Fassbender, is in “Prometheus.”

You have to love this kind of continuity. That being said, if Prometheus does indeed takes place before the first Alien movie does, that means Fassbender’s David is chronologically incorrect. He should be before Ash.

Not only that, but the content of each scene has been revealed. For that, we turn to Topless Robot. Be warned, however there are some major spoilers about to appear, so if you’re trying to remain spoiler-free, don’t read the next part.

Spoilers ahead, don’t read if you don’t want to know (you’ve been warned).

Last chance to look away:

If you stick around through the credits, you’re treated to a triumphant scene of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Bruce Banner, Black Widow all sitting around a table in a dingy restaurant silently eating together. Essential? No. Exciting? Not particularly. Funny as shit? Very much so.

That’s the description for the post-credit scene, which sounds awfully satisfying. The mid-credit scene, however, seems to be setting up future Avengers movies. Again, do not read if you don’t want to be spoiled:

Thanos appears after the credits. Apparently Loki gets his Chitauri army from some alien, and that alien has a brief conversation with Thanos as the post-credits stinger, setting up Avengers 2.

If you skipped that part, don’t read this next phrase, either: From what it sounds like, future Avengers movies will be dealing directly with the Infinity Gauntlet, which covers a much bigger scope than the current installment does/will, even though what is apparently The Avengers: Part 1 looks like it’s tackling some pretty big issues too.

In light of the two bonus scenes revelation, here’s every one of the bonus scenes Marvel has introduced in previous movies like Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America, all in one video:

Unlike the aforementioned super hero summer movies, there’s a little bit more mystery surrounding Prometheus. Is it, in fact, a prequel to Scott’s incredible Alien movie or not? Yes and no. There’s really no clear answer because there are very tangible aspects from the previous movies that make their way into Prometheus like the Weyland Industries company. The Weyland group has been apart of the Alien series since the beginning, and the fact that the company is predominantly featured in Prometheus gives it the prequel feel.

But then there’s this, straight from the horse’s mouth:

[Executive producer Damon] Lindelof recalls, “When I first heard Ridley was going to direct an ‘Alien’ prequel and six months later my phone rang and the voice on the other end said, ‘Are you able to talk to Ridley Scott?’ And I crashed into a telephone pole. (Laughs.) I came back and [they told me they were going to send me a script that night]. I read this thing and we went in and had a meeting and he was already clearly saying, ‘I want to come back to the genre. I want to do Sci-Fi again, but I think this movie is too close to ‘Alien.’ I’ve done this stuff before, but there are big ideas in that are unique in and of itself.’ And I said, ‘Well, I think that’s what we have to do because if there was a sequel to this movie we are working on, which eventually became ‘Prometheus,’ it would not be ‘Alien.’ Normally that’s a definition of a prequel is it precedes the other movie.”

While doubtful, I hope this clears things up some concerning the “prequel status” of Prometheus. As for the new trailer, which leads this article, a lot of people are saying the new footage is full of spoilers. To be sure, there’s footage we haven’t seen before, but to say it gives the entire movie away might be a little misleading. When compared to something like The Avengers, Prometheus is still shrouded in mystery, and it’s marketing team is doing a great job keeping the dynamics of the story under wraps. Or are they?

Because I was skeptical about the amount of spoilers, I did not look at the big picture the way the Guardian did. Much like the previous tweet suggests, the Guardian, based on the footage in the trailers, has created a potential plot timeline that looks very reasonable. Visit it at your own risk of being potentially spoiled.

As for the rest of the Twitter crowd, the new trailer did not escape their notice: