The 2012 Super Bowl, which will be held on Feb. 5, promises to be an epic showdown between two teams -- the New York Giants and the New England Patriots -- and NBC is making sure that no one misses it. After attracting an audience of 111 million last year, NBC will not only be showing the game on television, but is also making sure the battle can be viewed online via live stream and on Verizon smartphones and tablets.

The game can be watched live on NBC Sports and NFL.com in HD.

So whether you will be watching the Giants take on the Patriots on a wide screen TV in your man cave or on a 3.5-inch screen device, here's a little bit more information for you to know before Sunday's big game. Preparation before the game, especially for mobile and tablet users, is crucial because you sure don't want to be among those seeking to watch the game via live stream on Sunday, only to find out that you don't have the right hardware or plug-ins.

National Broadcast on TV: Bigger is definitely better when it comes to an important game like this one if you are watching on TV. Watching Super Bowl 2012 on TV means you will miss out on absolutely nothing and you will get to see all the awesome funny ads that will be showing this year. So pull out the beer and some barbecue and game on.

Live stream online: Check your browsers now to ensure that they are all equipped with Silverlight plug-in. If not, install it now because you sure don't want to be a part of the millions who will be downloading and installing at the eleventh hour. Here are the requirements that you will need:

- According to NBC Sports' Web site, the SNFExtra player requires the latest version of Microsoft Silverlight for users to access the high-quality video presentation. Silverlight will enable rich multimedia experiences.

- The video is supported on these browsers: Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 for Windows (2003, XP SP2 or greater, and Vista, Firefox 2, 3.x for Windows (2003, XP SP2 or greater, and Vista) and Macintosh (Intel only) and Safari 3, 4 for Macintosh (Intel only).

    - The recommended hardware and Internet connection speed for using the SNF Extra player is 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 or Intel-based Macintosh, 1 GB RAM, hardware acceleration-capable graphics card and 768k broadband connection (at minimum). You will get best quality views of course, if you are have 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 (Windows or Macintosh), 1 GB RAM, hardware acceleration-capable graphics card and 2500k broadband connection. The Sunday Night Football Extra is only available within the U.S. and only while the game is being broadcast live on TV/Cable. The player will be taken down shortly after each game's conclusion, according to NBC Sports.

    Streaming can be done on Verizon smartphones/tablets: Verizon customers on smartphones or tablet will be the only ones who can run the NFL Mobile app. The app is available for both Android and iOS. As the official wireless provider to the NFL, Verizon is letting users download NFL Mobile Premium on their devices to get the live video app feature and much more. Users with 4GLTE-ready devices will get the premium service app is free. Those with 3G capability will have to pay $10 per month to watch the live video streams.

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