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Say hello to Harman International's home, media and mobile updates for the spring, bringing
its audio expertise to those who aren't quite ready to step up to its higher end line of
standalone receivers and the like. Promising to perfect the audio performance of any car audio
setup in just 10 minutes, the $799 JBL MS-8 is as interesting as it is specialized. The HKTS 20 and
HKTS 30 ($699 / $899, March) are standard 200w 5.1 surround sound setups, and while they promise
improvements over their predecessors the
Go + Play Micro boombox ($399, March), On Time Micro &
200P clock devices (both $249, April) and On Stage Micro II ($129, April) probably aren't hiding
anything too surprising underneath those iPod
docks, but we'd suggest perusing the gallery just to be sure.
Gameloft has released a new application combining three of their popular sports games. Gameloft
Sports Pack bundles Gameloft’s highly acclaimed Let’s Golf, Real Tennis and Pro
Baseball into a single $5 app. Let’s Golf is a top-rated golf game that allows users to play
through 63 holes in four distinct 3D-rendered locations and provides easily adaptable controls and
local Wi-Fi multiplayer support. Real Tennis takes the player on...
Here is the latest in our year-long look at one cool comic (whether it be a self-contained work,
an ongoing comic or a run on a long-running title that featured multiple creative teams on it
over the years) a day (in no particular order whatsoever)! Here's
the archive of the moments posted so far!
Today we take a look at Super Human Resources, by Ken Marcus and Justin Bleep...
Enjoy!
Super Human Resources #1, from writer Ken Marcus and artist Justin Bleep is a delightfully funny
comic book.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is a remarkable piece of work by Marcus, as he
really shows an effortless mixture of amusing dialogue and character-based humor all while
advancing the plot in a logical fashion that has a real pay-off at the end of the four-issue
mini-series.
The plot behind the series is that a young would-be-accountant named Tim gets a temp job at Super
Crises International, the company that bankrolls a bunch of superheroes (paying off damages from
superhero fights and hopefully recouping the money from licensing fees). I doubt that the name of
the company is unintentional, as if you liked the comedic stylings of Keith Giffen and J.M.
DeMatteis' similarly-named Justice League International, then this is the comic for you, as that
particular brand of humor is almost exactly the style that Marcus goes for in this series, and
remarkably for such a new work, pretty much achieves.
I sometimes felt that Bleep's unique art style did not exactly match Marcus' dialogue-driven,
humanistic humor, but it surely did not HURT the comic at all. And Bleep's design sense is
impeccable, and I imagine he designed a great deal of the characters who populate the comic, so
in that regard, he does a great job.
Here are nine preview pages that the guys have made available on their ComicSpace page.
In just these sample pages, you already get a feel for the offbeat humor Marcus provides, as well
as the nifty dialogue and comedic timing (as seen in the scene with the Bog). My personal
favorite bit is where the robot makes himself NEARLY invisible so as to avoid paying the money he
owes, but, well, nearly invisible is not nearly invisible enough! Classic.
It's also impressive how quickly Marcus establishes personalities for these characters, which is
useful when he can then later play against the type he established himself.
As a whole, the series is really a fun read filled with engaging personalities and a lot of
interesting comedic plotlines, and not nearly as many as you would think are the standard "making
fun of superhero conventions" types.
At the heart of this comic, the humor comes from the offbeat personalities that Marcus
establishes - it just so happens that at least half of the personalities are superheroes.
NOTE: This is basically what I said when these issues first came out - BC
Open source video platform provider Kaltura launched a new site called HTML5Video.org today that is meant to be an industry resource for HTML5
video-related issues. The site is supported by Mozilla, the Open Video Alliance and the Wikimedia
Foundation. The launch coincides with the release of Kaltura’s HTML5 Media Library, which
enables web site owners to embed videos in their sites through HTML5 without locking out users of
older browsers that don’t support Flash-free web video just yet.
The HTML5 Media Library uses a fallback mechanism to play media through a Java application in
browsers that don’t natively support HTML5 video. Kaltura plans to extend the library to
also support analytics and monetization — two very important features that have so far
prevented many sites from fully adopting HTML5. YouTube, for example, has been toying with
HTML5 in recent months, enabling users to watch a subset of the site’s content without
Flash after opting into a special TestTube trial. However, videos with ads are always shown in
Flash. Sites like YouTube could at least in theory
completely ditch Flash if HTML5 video was embraced by advertisers.
The unveiling of HTML5Video.org comes only one day after the launch
of another site promoting HTML5 video to end users. Videoonwikipedia.org, which was launched
yesterday by the Participatory Culture Foundation with support from Kaltura and others also
involved with HTML5Video.org, wants to get users to contribute more video to Wikipedia.
HTML5Video.org, on the other hand, seems much more geared toward professionals, offering business
headlines as well as a link to a forum hosted by Kaltura’s open source video developer
community at Kaltura.org.
Speaking of which: HTML5Video.org is heavily branded by and geared towards the solutions
available from Kaltura. One has to wonder whether this will help or hurt their effort to gather
support for an open format that just this week received support
from industry heavyweights like Microsoft.
Mayn Games, l'éditeur coréen de Tactical Intervention (le Counter-Strike 2 de
Gooseman), choisira les participants de la première phase de la bêta du jeu parmi ceux
qui postent sur le mur de leur page Facebook. Vous n'avez pas grand chose à perdre,
même si Mayn Games ne précise pas combien il y aura de participants dans la
bêta.
Minh "Gooseman" Le répond par ailleurs lui-même à certaines questions sur la
page Facebook :yea, it's very CQC focused. Most of the maps are medium sized but they're broken up
into stages so the rounds are very short (less than 2 minutes on average) and yea, we're less about
grenades and explosiveness even though they do play a part in the game. You definately won't get
that ridiculous grenade spam at the beginning of the rounds, as they are much more limited in
numbers in TIPlus loin, il précise que le jeu ne devrait pas tarder à sortir.
Auteur: rorocool
Sujet: Pb avec HP depuis MAJ boxHD?? ou?
HP fonctionnait parfaitement photos et musique fin février. Je me reconnecte à HP ce
jour,pour revoir des photos. je suis en 1.5.9, j'ai bien le diaporama, mais je ne peux plus
régler le tems entre deux vues, la flèche droite n'a aucun effet, de plus je n'ai
plus de musique avec les photos.J'ai des "play list photo et musique mp3.Sur la
télécommande , touche Info, Ap. court j'ai bien Aller à Barre de lecture
reglage Audio vidéo. Si je fais un Ap. long je devrai obtenir d'après la doc 1- guide
VLC , 2 Options d'affichage, mode de lecteut interne. Je n'obtients que PLAY LIST et dessous 2
petits cadres rectangulaires imbriqués l'un dans l'autre avec aucune notification. Les autre
fonctions des touches sont OK.
J'ai désintallé HP et réinstallé, résultat idem à ci
dessus. J'ai été étonné après la réinstallation les
anciennes Play list étaient présentent sans scan?
Depuis la fin Février il y a eu 2 MAJ Free ,1Box adsl et 1Box HD, mes problèmes
viennent ils de ces MAJ? je n'avais plus utilisé HP depuis février.
La vidéo elle fonctionne normalement.
Qui peut m'aider à résoudre mes problèmes. Merci
Play the #1 classic card game for fun with friends and family on youriPhone! Compete against the AI
or friends in thrilling games. Reliveall the crazy fun of UNOâ„¢: match colors or
numbers with all yourfavorite cards or challenge yourself wit ...
This is absolutely hilarious and a MUST WATCH video! South Park featured a 'video game' by 'EA
Sports' which involved Tiger Woods and his Wife trading blows with various golf clubs. The game
itself also includes various 'power ups' including a 'Pre-Nup Power Up' and appears to be an Xbox
360 exclusive! Watch inside (hit the play button). First of all watch this video followed by the
second:
EA has confirmed that Command and Conquer 4 will require you to be connected to the internet in
order to play the game! Amazingly a forum moderator claims the game actually has no 'DRM' and as
expected there is quite a backlash to this announcement at Didn't EA learn anything from Ubisoft?
Who are fashion's most successful husband and wife team?
Well fashion swots? Would you perhaps hazard a guess at print specialists Mark Eley and Wakako
Kishimoto of Eley Kishimoto? Or maybe you'd go for Inacio Ribeiro and Suzanne Clements of
Clements Ribiero?
Sorry, wrong answer. Take a detention and come back when you've done your homework properly.
The correct answer can only be Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada. Yes, the owners of a global
fashion conglomerate with $2.4 billion in sales are a very special couple indeed, as a recent
interview in the Wall Street Journal
revealed. But while Prada is one of the most influential designers in the world (not to mention
Fashion Statement's office, where we are rocking the Land Girls look from her Autumn/Winter 2010
show) it seems the real force (and we really do mean force) behind the business is her husband
Bertelli.
Creative genius though she may be, it seems Miuccia Prada would be ill-advised to get on the
wrong side of her husband: when overseeing the decor of a new Miu Miu store in 1997, he had a bit
of a problem with a mirror. But while your average business mogul might just have demanded a
refund from the manufacturer, not Bertelli. Oh no. He smashed it. "It made people look too fat,"
he said of the incident. And could there possibly be a worse fashion crime than that? His ire is
not just reserved for unflattering mirrors though - he famously broke the rear lights of several
cars parked in the wrong spaces of Prada's carpark. "I enjoyed that," he remarked afterwards.
Quite.
Getting the impression he might quite like letting loose now and then? Yes, us too. Prada,
though, seems to have taken those incidents in her stride: "I always tell Bertelli: You like this
reputation, or you'd change it," she says, while Bertelli maintains that his anger is only
triggered by things that are banal, or for people who just don't cut it. "My behavior is always
correct, and I always try to motivate people" he said. Strangest of all, in Fashion Statement's
book, is the the fact that Prada refers only to her husband by his surname. Just your average
couple, no?
So there you go fashion fans. Please ensure that, should you meet the power pair, your mirrors
are suitably flattering, your cars are correctly parked and - god forbid - your conversation is
not banal.
BANG ON TREND
Pick 'n' Mix prints
Not literally the sweet treats you get at the cinema you understand, rather the whole gamut of
prints that were seen on catwalks such as Jaeger, Dolce and Gabbana and Moschino. This season
it's okay to mix animal with floral, graphic with geometric - heck, you can get away with
practically anything, so make the most of it.
These
vintage-looking floral shorts from Miss Selfridge for £30 are a pretty purchase with a
flatteringly wide waistband. They'll be perfect worn with a plain white vest and and a pair of
sandals.
If shorts are going to be your thing this summer, then we've also seen these
See by Chloe ones (£110) with a cute blue bow-tie motif.
French Connection's ivy dress sports a gorgeous burst of rich colour, is a flattering shape
and has been reduced in the sale to a mere £29.50.
This
printed cami by Amana is made with organic silk, produced by fairly paid artisans and would
look rather fetching with boyfriend jeans. At £59.08, it's also a good bargain.
People Tree's Leilani
floral print dress (£65) is another ethical buy that will have you looking gorgeous for
spring. It has a retro print and we suggest styling it with the wide leather belt that they've
used for the model on People Tree's website.
Komodo's Lola
dress (£67) is a sweet summery option suitable for strolling city streets in the
sunshine, and their tribal printed
tulip skirt (£45) with fierce black and red colours is good for those who like to stand
out from the crowd.
Liberty's designs for Target have some rather bargainous deals. We especially like this
sunflower print duffel bag for £22
For its beefed up animal print we've got to mention Topshop's
body-con skirt (£25). Yes, it's VERY 80s, but in a good way, honest.
FASHION GRAVEYARD
In case anyone doesn't remember, Matt Goss used to be in Bros, Mel B used to be in the Spice
Girls, and Leona Lewis used to have better friends. Leona's face says it all in this photo, and
we don't think it's necessary to explain to Fashion Statement followers (Mel B we assume you're
not a subscriber ...) that shaving half your head and wearing a neon blue dress do not a Rihanna
make.
FASHIONISTA OF THE WEEK
Maybe it's just the fact that this week spring seems finally to have sprung, but this picture of
Nicola Roberts in her picnic blanket-bright Vivienne Westwood dress just makes us feel happy. Not
only does she look great, she's also flying the flag for being pale and interesting (and her
hair's not quite as mumsy as usual).
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Q: What was the first designer piece you owned?
A; I remember because I used to go to school with my collection of Fendi bags - wallet, bag,
umbrella. Everything matching. It's never raining in my country - it's so hot! All the people in
my class used to make a joke about me, say, you know, "Where you going with umbrella?! No rain
outside?!" I said, "I know, but it's part of the look!" I was, I think, 12.
NYMag interviews notorious
clotheshorse Anna Dello Russo, the Italian-born fashion director of Vogue Nippon. What do you
mean your wardrobe wasn't full of Fendi when you were 12? Tsk, get with the programme, people.
OUT AND ABOUT
An exhbition by jewellery artist Jacqueline Ryan alongside works by metal work artists Junko Mori
opens in Cumbia at the end of the month. Beauty in Repetition: Metalwork and Jewellery is on show
from 27 March, at the Blackwell, The
Arts and Crafts House
SHOPPING NEWS
British brand Fullcircle have launched a brand new
shopping website and to celebrate are offering Fashion Statement's lucky readers a 10%
discount. Don't say we never treat you. Just enter the code Guardian10 at checkout. Snap up their
spring/summer collection now - we particularly like this splash print skirt. Wear
with a white T-shirt to play it down or if you're feeling daring, a contrasting print. The offer
is valid uintil the 17th April.
Desperate for a pair of Jimmy Choos or Louboutins but just can't justify the cost? Cinderella-me.co.uk is the site for you. You can hire a pair of
designer shoes from £40 a week. Each pair will be hired no more than eight times to ensure
they stay in tip top shape.
Urban brand specialist Republic has opened an eagerly awaited first store in Ireland, in
Belfast's Castle Court shopping centre on March 15th. Get there for your fix of Diesel, Firetrap,
Bench and other youthful favourites.
Sans Cristobal Huet (grippé) et
avec Corey Crawford (rappelé du club-filiale de Rockford) dans les buts, les Chicago
Blackhawks ont raté une belle occasion de rejoindre San Jose en tête de la
Conférence Ouest en s'inclinant mercredi sur la glace des Ducks d'Anaheim (2-4). Dans les
autres matchs, Calgary s'est relancé dans la course aux play-offs en allant dominer Colorado
(3-2) et New Jersey a battu le champion en titre Pittsburgh (5-2).
Stealth
startup Trada launched to the public today as an online
marketplace allowing small and medium businesses and agencies to essentially crowdsource search
engine optimization services. The startup has raised $2.2 million from the Foundry Group and angel
investors Alan Warms,Carlos Cashman, Dan Murray, James Crouthamel, Stuart Larkins and
Robert Wolfe.
As we all know, search advertising is necessary for businesses but SEO can be a time consuming,
perplexing and tedious task. Many businesses overpay for common keywords or don’t use the
right keywords to drive traffic. Trada comes into play here by crowdsourcing SEO experts to build
and manage and advertiser or business’ paid search campaign across search engines. The
service currently supports Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing.
Essentially, Trada ends up being a middleman for coordinating SEO service. Advertisers use Trada
to enter information about a campaign and experts, who must be AdWords or SEMPO certified and
pass Trada certification, use the site to find interesting campaigns and submit keywords, ad copy
and bid prices across the search engines and to track and optimize campaigns across the ad
networks. Trada coordinates the payments and takes a small cut of each transaction between
advertisers and SEO experts.
The benefit for the SEO experts is that they don’t have to deal with the administrative and
management issues with clients. Experts earn money when they generate clicks or other actions for
less than the advertiser’s target price. Advertisers get 25 qualified experts to work on
their campaigns and according to Trada, those businesses who participated in the private beta of
the service are seeing successful results.
Trada entered private beta in January 2009 and currently has 70 advertisers and 280 experts to
date. Founded by entrepreneur Niel Robertson, Trada was born after Robertson grew frustrated
managing his own $8,000-a-month paid search campaign. Realizing that paid search campaigns are
best left to experts, he thought an online marketplace for PPC experts and businesses would be
the best way to maximize SEO. The startup faces competition from
Kenshoo,
Conductor and many others.
EA's new PC title Command & Conquer 4 will require a constant internet connection to play,
the company has confirmed, mirroring similar demands in recent Ubisoft titles.
A post on the official Command & Conquer forum, from community manager EA_Apoc, states that
the game has "NO DRM" and that players do not need to have the DVD in the drive to play the game.
The game can also be installed from the disc an infinite number of times on any machine.
However, to play the game the PC must be connected to the internet at all times. As the review of
the game on our sister site Eurogamer makes clear "Just like Ubisoft's contempt-to-the-max DRM
system, this will kick you out if your net connection drops for any reason - even in
single-player."
Introducing Toronto’s HOTTEST new downtown address:
8 MERCER CONDOS
Located at 8 Mercer Street at the corner of Mercer and John, just south of King Street West and
just west of University Avenue.
BE FIRST IN THE CITY TO PURCHASE A UNIT AT THE LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICING!!
GET IN BEFORE MOST AGENTS AND WEEKS BEFORE THE GENERAL PUBLIC!!
Want VIP Red Carpet Access? 8 Mercer Condos launches in APRIL but you can reserve a unit with us
TODAY! Simply request our ”8 Mercer Sneak Preview Package” for
all the details.
To Request A Copy of Toronto Condo Boutique’s ”8 MERCER SNEAK PREVIEW
PACKAGE™” (including floor plans,
pre-launch pricing, project details, suite features, amenities, and units available for sale) CALL
OUR HOTLINE AT 416.247.1267 OR CLICK ON THIS LINK TO REGISTER ONLINE:
- 33 storeys (Susan has 8th floor and 23rd floor on hold)
- 337 units
- 1 bedroom to 3 bedroom units from 519 sqft to 1786 sqft
- developed by Graywood Developments (Residences at Ritz Carlton)
- designed by BBB Architects (portfolio includes Air Canada Centre, redesign of Madison Square
Garden in New York City, the Frankfurt Hotel in Frankfurt, and the recently announced renovation of
Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.)
- 9 foot ceilings
8 MERCER is all about LOCATION, with 5 MINUTE walking distance to everything you need
– work, eat, and play.
· 30 Second walk to the underground PATH System (access literally
across the street through the Metro Hall building with underground access to the subway and 1200
shops and services – for details visit http://www.toronto.ca/path )
· 6 Minute Walk to St. Andrew Subway Station using the PATH system (5
Minutes walking across King Street)
· 6 Minute walk to the Financial District (and over 50
buildings/office towers connected to the underground PATH System)
· 3 Minute walk to the CN Tower and Rogers Centre
· 3 Minute walk to the Entertainment District
· 1 Minute walk to the Theatre District (Royal Alexandra Theatre,
Princess of Wales Theatre, etc.)
· 1 Minute walk to some of Toronto’s top restaurants on King
Street
· 5 Minute walk to shopping in the trendy Queen Street West
neighbourhood
Circuit Defenders 2.2.5Circuit Defenders is a fast paced 3D Tower Defense game, where your
challenge is to defend computer circuits from attacking virus armies that are infiltrating the
circuits via the communications port.
You have an assortment of defense towers at your disposal, and the ability to upgrade them as
needed to ensure you can withstand the enemy onslaught.
Amazing built-in Circuits - Play any of the TWELVE circuits to play on, or go to the in-game user
level gallery and select new levels from there to play, or use the in-game level creator to
create and publish your own levels!
Create your own Circuits - Use the built in Level Editor to create, play and share your own
custom circuits with other players around the globe.
Brand New Challenge Game modes - Circuit Defenders now has extra Challenge Game modes including,
Limited Towers, Limited Money, Limited Time, Just Shooters and of course, Unlimited Money.
WHAT'S NEWVersion 2.2.5:
Added "Sort By Rating" in user gallery page
Improved Freezer tower for better accuracy
Improved missile launcher fire mechanism and missile speeds
Fixed thumbnail bug in user gallery
Fixed issue with health bar bleeding 1 pixel
Reworked tower turret rotation speeds and shooting angles
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment confirmed the Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year edition
is coming to North America. This edition utilizes TriOviz 3D technology, allowing players to play
the game entirely in 3D.
As modern DRM schemes get more annoying and invasive, the common wisdom is to vote with your wallet
and avoid supporting developers and publishers who include such schemes with their games. Or, if
you simply must play it, wait a while until outcry and complaints have caused the DRM restrictions
to be loosened. But will any of that make game creators rethink their stance? An article at CNet
argues that gamers are, in general, an impatient bunch, and that trait combined with the nature of
the games industry means that progress fighting DRM will be slow or nonexistent. Quoting:
"Increasingly so, the joke seems to be on the customers who end up buying this software when it
first comes out. A simple look back at some controversial titles has shown us that after the
initial sales come, the publisher later removes the vast majority of the DRM, leaving gamers to
enjoy the software with fewer restrictions. ... Still, [waiting until later to purchase the game]
isn't a good long-term solution. Early sales are often one of the big quantifiers in whether a
studio will start working on a sequel, and if everyone were to wait to buy games once they hit the
bargain price, publishers would simply stop making PC versions. There's also no promise that the
really heavy bits of DRM will be stripped out at a later date, except for the fact that most
publishers are unlikely to want to maintain the cost of running the activation, and/or online
verification servers for older software."
As modern DRM schemes get more annoying and invasive, the common wisdom is to vote with your wallet
and avoid supporting developers and publishers who include such schemes with their games. Or, if
you simply must play it, wait a while until outcry and complaints have caused the DRM restrictions
to be loosened. But will any of that make game creators rethink their stance? An article at CNet
argues that gamers are, in general, an impatient bunch, and that trait combined with the nature of
the games industry means that progress fighting DRM will be slow or nonexistent. Quoting:
"Increasingly so, the joke seems to be on the customers who end up buying this software when it
first comes out. A simple look back at some controversial titles has shown us that after the
initial sales come, the publisher later removes the vast majority of the DRM, leaving gamers to
enjoy the software with fewer restrictions. ... Still, [waiting until later to purchase the game]
isn't a good long-term solution. Early sales are often one of the big quantifiers in whether a
studio will start working on a sequel, and if everyone were to wait to buy games once they hit the
bargain price, publishers would simply stop making PC versions. There's also no promise that the
really heavy bits of DRM will be stripped out at a later date, except for the fact that most
publishers are unlikely to want to maintain the cost of running the activation, and/or online
verification servers for older software."
SEGA West boss Mike Hayes has said the company is already working on a Project Natal demo - and
will be showing it off at E3.
It's not just Microsoft's motion control technology SEGA is interested in, either. "All credit to
Microsoft and Sony, they've given us early development kits," Hayes told CVG.
"We asked our Japanese studio to create something for [Natal] which we'll show off at E3. They
had a brilliant prototype up and running within six weeks. I mean a genuinely entertaining
prototype you could just play."
· Scot leading 6-2, 1-0 before Spaniard withdraws
· Murray will play No6 seed Robin Soderling tomorrow
Andy Murray enjoyed a shorter than expected workout here last night as he moved into the
quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open when Nicolás Almagro of Spain retired injured after
one game of the second set in their fourth-round clash.
A left foot injury put paid to any hopes the world No40 might have had of fighting back from the
loss of the first set but by the time he quit, Murray was well in command, playing his best
tennis of the week on his way to a 6-2, 1-0 lead before Almagro called it an early night in the
desert.
Tomorrow Murray will take on the No6 seed, Robin Soderling of Sweden, who is likely to give him a
much more strenuous test but, after looking a little scratchy in his first two matches, the Scot
was much more like his normal self against Almagro. With Roger Federer, whom he was seeded to
face in the semi-finals, having gone out in round three on Tuesday, Murray
may just fancy his chances of going one better than last year, when he was beaten by Rafael Nadal
in the final.
Ideally, Murray would probably have liked to have had more than the 37 minutes on court against
Almagro. The match was just his fifth since his defeat by Federer in the final of the Australian
Open in January and in his first two matches he struggled for consistency. Yesterday he was
sharp, with his movement particularly impressive.
It took losing his serve, though, to get him going. Two double faults put him in trouble in the
third game and though he saved one with a deft drop shot, an errant forehand cost him the break.
An angry swipe of his racket as he came out from the change of ends showed what he thought of
being broken, but from that moment on he was a changed man.
He broke back to love and continued his streak, losing just four more points as he wrapped up the
first set. Almagro then had treatment for a problem with his left foot and after giving it one
more game, he decided he could not play on, handing Murray a place in the last eight. "[Almagro]
is a really dangerous player," Murray said. "He has given a lot of top guys problems because he
hits a really big ball. He has got a huge serve, his second serve is tough to attack and he just
goes for big shots.
"When he's under a little bit less pressure, he tends to play better. He started well, but
obviously I managed to break back in the next game, and felt more comfortable after that."
[In his latest column for GameSetWatch, UK writer and journalist Fraser
McMillan discusses Valve's seminal first-person action title Half-Life 2, examining and revisiting the
smart design decisions behind the classic game.]
I've just finished Half-Life 2 for the first time. It has taken me three attempts - once on Xbox
360 and twice on PC - to see Valve's defining game to its conclusion. That this relatively minor
feat took so long is entirely my fault, ironically a product of the impatient wish to blast
through as quickly as possible.
Two and a half years after I initially booted it up, the end credits rolled. The final, completed
playthrough attempt lasted less than a week, and I'm glad I bit the bullet and experienced it
this way.
Not that it was anything like a chore; by taking things at my own, or, more accurately, Valve's
pace, I had time to absorb the world and explore its nooks and crannies, my eyeline expertly
guided by the seemingly omnipotent hand of City 17's creators.
I finally understand why everyone has waxed lyrical about Gordon Freeman's second adventure for
the last half-decade or more. Conducive to this is the fact that my tastes have matured, and my
thoughts on games delved into deeper, more analytical territory. Articulating why I liked X and
disliked Y is no longer particularly hard in most cases.
When I can't explain these, it's usually because I was baffled by just how terrible each element
of the design was. On a handful of occasions, though, it's a sign that what I played was so
confoundingly fantastic that my critical brain didn't even attempt to kick in. This is the
position I'm in now. Deconstructing Half-Life 2 feels wrong in a way, like teasing a dog with
some food only to scoff it yourself. It shouldn't really be done because it's against the nature
of the beast and could cheapen the experiences of all involved. It's not even entertaining; just
perversely, cruelly compelling.
Half-Life 2 is designed so as to not appear designed. That's ostensibly odd, but makes a
surprising amount of sense. A lot of effort has been poured in to create the impression of
effortlessness. Most of what we do, see or hear in Half-Life 2 feels distinctly of our own
volition. If not in the act itself, the mere observation of incidental detail off the critical
path is a component of the illusion of presence and agency, even though each individual's journey
will, in the end, be effectively identical to other players'.
This facet of its design makes itself known from the instant the G-Man's face fades out to reveal
an unexceptional train car. As well as evoking the timeless introduction to its predecessor, this
scene serves to create the illusion of reality; of an ambient world that exists beyond just our
interfacing with it.
Airborne robots which we'll later come to despise fly by the carriage, inspiring curiosity. A
fairly normal looking landscape passes increasingly slowly as the vehicle comes to a halt. Our
two co-passengers occupy themselves, one waiting eagerly for the doors to open as the other sits
opposite, dejectedly staring into nothingness. We can talk to the latter or leave him be. As
we're let off, the former sighs; "Well, end of the line."
With this sequence, Valve instantly and very tangibly contend that though this remains a
Half-Life game, it's one of an evolved character. They turned the first-person-shooter on its
head with that first title, Citizen Kane-ing the genre to an extreme degree, but the setting
allowed the team to concentrate on a specific goal without concerning themselves much with the
outside world.
Forced to emerge from the secluded comfort zone of Black Mesa, the sequel establishes itself as
both successor and pioneer from the off, and continues in this mould for much of its duration. It
should be noted at this point that it's not perfect but - Freeman's basking in the adulation of
every NPC notwithstanding - Half-Life 2's universe is absolutely convincing.
Not through the kind of emergent systems that make Far Cry 2's war-torn state so wonderfully
plausible, but in an entirely different and equally valid manner, one that single-handedly
authored a rigorous and, ultimately, highly successful template for linear video games that is
still being ignored to this day.
It's all in creating an illusion of substance and openness and propelling the player through it
at whatever pace is required. A lot of elements of Half-Life 2 feel dynamic in nature despite
being at least somewhat intended or even heavily scripted.
The odd set-piece is obnoxiously predictable, but in a franchise that lives and breathes on these
cues it's astounding how sparse these are. Allow yourself to be engulfed in the sly deception and
these fade into such insignificance it's laughable. Many modern releases remain patronisingly
transparent without anything close to such a sustained barrage of both subtle and overwhelming
instances.
It's equally incredible when you realise just how paper thin the mirage is. Hang around too long
in one spot or put on the blinkers and dash through and it's all too easy to break, but even when
compelled to do so it's tough not to be rapidly, subconsciously re-immersed. We're the hapless
cobras rising from the basket as Valve expertly play their tune, transitioning from staccato to
legato when appropriate.
The reminders that this is a fully realised world continuously flow towards us, and by
alternately sticking to convention and craftily subverting our expectations of what video games
are, Half-Life 2 capitalises on our gullibility to this effect. How clever I thought I was by
navigating over to the beach hut using painstakingly arranged miscellany and my trusty old
gravity gun. Empty, besides some assorted junk and a small item crate. The ammunition it
contained was already maxed out in my inventory.
At first I was scandalized; how dare you, Valve, how dare you so gratuitously undermine my
efforts? Then I realized that my impression of this place as a cohesive, unified land that simply
exists had been augmented. My irritation morphed into unabated admiration. Why does there have to
be an explicit reward for venturing into a hidden or ostensibly unreachable spot? My prize was
much more interesting.
Merely paying attention also pays dividends both in terms of the strength of the universe and the
narrative. Peering through the view-box in the door you'll see something that often leads to far
more questions than answers, but which also fleshes out the core experience. Keeping your eyes
peeled means you can witness things that have the capacity to alter your perception of the City
and its inhabitants or prepare you for a challenge ahead.
It's unlikely that many players have seen all of these, but both static and active environmental
incidentals can frighten, inform, bait or warn. Some allow us to begin filling in the gaps
ourselves in imagined ways. We begin to construct an image of who lived in this cell by its
contents, what prompted that piece of graffiti or what unspeakable things must have befallen that
rotting corpse in the viaduct. It happens infrequently enough to make the player feel special, as
if they're the only one to have observed such details. Again, these can prompt the same reaction
as a totally unscripted emergent event, but within a much more solid framing than any games of
that particular propensity are likely to achieve any time soon.
I've noticed that actual examples of the virtues I've cited are somewhat lacking from this
article. Perhaps, though, this stems from the broader effect of believability that Half-Life 2 so
decisively realises. It already presents the most attractive science fiction setting yet seen in
our medium, but the manner in which it shapes our experiences in such gentle and minor ways is
its crowning achievement.
My failure to cherry pick the most impressive of these idiosyncrasies is indicative only of its
intransigent formula. Memories of my time with the game are not necessarily of these individual
pieces, but of the great chunks of the puzzle they gelled into. Firm authorial control in games,
Valve have proven, can also relax when properly timed. The most important lesson we can
extrapolate from Half-Life 2 is that if you're going to force us down a linear path, you should
do your utmost to make it feel as far away from this reality as possible. Maybe it's obvious
advice, but it's one that far too few have taken onboard over the years.
NVidia Control Panel allows the user to set AA / AF / mipmapping per application as well as
globally. With Catalyst, the only apparent options are "global" and "application controlled". This
is a pain point for me since I play several older games that do benefit from AA but do not have an
in-game AA option. At the same time, I don't want to force AA on other games by enabling AA
globally.
Is per-application settings a planned feature for the next Catalyst release? If not, is there a
third party tool for this? Thanks!
The blog’s taking a few days off (back next Thursday), but during that time we’ll be
revisiting some of the photos we’ve taken over the years for you. Today, our Art Nouveau
exploration in the 16th arrondissement…
photos : JasonW
We had a great time exploring the leafy streets of the 16th arrondissement for buildings by
Guimard and others (including – to be fair – some art déco too). You can check
out our photo gallery below.
Click the play button, then click the four little arrows bottom right to go into fullscreen view
(much more comfortable).
McBacon writes with this excerpt from Wired.co.uk: "Often dismissed as a failed venture, the Xbox
Indie Games programme has earned successful man-and-his-dog developers tens of thousands of pounds
from sales of their homebrew games. Wired explores the success stories of this hidden marketplace.
... now, more than a year since its launch, the Xbox Indie Games are seeing something of a revival.
Microsoft has made huge strides to improve the service, games are beginning to be taken more
seriously and success stories are becoming more and more common. Especially for [James] Silva, a
New York-based developer, who became an impromptu Indie celebrity after his game The Dishwasher won
Microsoft's Dream-Build-Play competition. He says he's 'absolutely thrilled' to have seen I Maed a
Gam3 w1th Zomb1es!!!1 — his latest game — become a cult hit, for gamers to flock to it
in record numbers and to have sold over 200,000 copies."
McBacon writes with this excerpt from Wired.co.uk: "Often dismissed as a failed venture, the Xbox
Indie Games programme has earned successful man-and-his-dog developers tens of thousands of pounds
from sales of their homebrew games. Wired explores the success stories of this hidden marketplace.
... now, more than a year since its launch, the Xbox Indie Games are seeing something of a revival.
Microsoft has made huge strides to improve the service, games are beginning to be taken more
seriously and success stories are becoming more and more common. Especially for [James] Silva, a
New York-based developer, who became an impromptu Indie celebrity after his game The Dishwasher won
Microsoft's Dream-Build-Play competition. He says he's 'absolutely thrilled' to have seen I Maed a
Gam3 w1th Zomb1es!!!1 — his latest game — become a cult hit, for gamers to flock to it
in record numbers and to have sold over 200,000 copies."
We often see critics or industry folks make absolute statements like, "copyright infringement is
stealing and it's bad." Of course, this is wrong for any number of reasons, but rather than jumping
all the way to why such statements are obviously wrong and misleading, why not peel back that onion
one layer at a time. Ross Pruden points us to an interesting blog post by Luci Temple, where she begins the
process of questioning the assumptions around "piracy is bad." It starts out with that
premise (it's bad!) and then starts asking questions: Purchaser: This person has already paid
for a legal copy of the film. Now, the Purchaser might want to do a number of things that are
technically in breach of copyright:
a) Burn a copy of the dvd for personal use, so that their original copy won't get scratched.
b) Create a digital copy for use on a portable MP4 player, media gate, or computer.
c) Lend the burned dvd to a friend for their personal use (their friend being a Previewer).
d) Lend the digital copy to a friend for personal use (which actually involves making another
digital copy).
All these things are technically acts of "piracy," however, are they all morally "wrong"? Is
copyright law applicable to the mores of the digital age, or does it need to be updated? She
goes on to discuss "lending" to a friend, noting how it's fine to lend a physical copy, but why not
a digital copy? The thing is, the more you play this game, the more you'll realize how many
situations that are automatically lumped in with what's considered "bad," almost certainly aren't
"bad" in anyway at all.
Un joueur français de play money va-t-il remporter le WPT Paris ? C'est le nouveau champs du
possible ouvert par Party Poker avec son parcours de satellites gratuits réservé aux
Français.
Universal
Music Group has debuted a new Guitar Hero-like music simulation game for the iPhone. Priced at $4.99 and available in the App Store
right now, it’s called Six String
[iTunes link].
The emphasis is on a more realistic and deeper guitar-playing experience than you get in other
music games, though it’s still not quite like the real thing. The game comes with licensed
UMG songs by artists like Bon Jovi and Tom Petty. It even includes a song by The Scorpions
(“Raised on a Rock”) from an album that won’t hit shelves digital or otherwise
until March 23.
There are two game modes: Practice Mode and Studio Mode. Practice mode gives you feedback on how
accurate you are in hitting notes. Studio Mode turns off those hints and replaces them with
status bars that measure your progress. If you make too many mistakes, you’re kicked out of
the song.
We played the game for a while today, and our impressions are that it’s one of the better
music games for the iPhone. It won’t be as fun as playing Rock Band on the
Nintendo Wii with your entire family, but
it’s a worthy distraction, and that’s what mobile games are supposed to be.
How You Play
I played electric guitar in a Blues band professionally for two years. Thanks to that experience,
I can tell you that while Six String is not too much like the real thing, it feels like
a closer approximation than Guitar Hero. That’s despite the lack of a guitar
peripheral — not that I’m complaining that there’s not one (you
wouldn’t want to carry around a peripheral with your phone, obviously!).
Six String feels more like a real guitar because the mistakes you make are similar to
the ones you’d make on a real guitar — with one hand, anyway. The game
simulates the strumming and picking hand and has you using the touchscreen to either strum, tap,
or hold each individual string (or a group if strings) in correct time as the notes come up. It
works well and it feels a little bit like you’re actually playing music when you’re
getting it right.
The game also prompts you with chord changes on harder difficulty levels, but you perform them by
tapping with the same fingers you use to play the strings. If you miss notes or chord changes,
the music is digitally altered to sound a bit off. It doesn’t sound very realistic, but you
can tell what you’re doing wrong. As with Guitar Hero, the skills of real guitar
players won’t translate here or vice versa. But that’s not really the point, because
it’s a fun game to play.
When you complete a song, you’re given detailed stats and feedback. You can share them with
friends through the online service described below.
Online Features
The game comes with six songs: Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name,” Tom
Petty’s “Runnin’ Down A Dream,” Fall Out Boy’s “Thnks Fr Th
Mmrs,” Peter Frampton’s “Show Me The Way” and Orianthi’s
“According To You.” If you tire of those, you can buy more in the included music
store. Each new track costs $0.99. If you’d like, you can buy the same songs on iTunes from
within the app. You can also watch music videos or download ring tones.
Six String connects to a social gaming service called Plus+. You can share your top scores,
compete for a spot on the leader boards, and check on any friend’s status. UMG put some
Twitter and Facebook integration in the mix, too. It’s
similar to the Feint network that’s used by several other iPhone games out there.
Do you have a favorite music game for the iPhone? Head down to the comments below to fill us and
the other readers in!
Publication Date: 2010 Mar 12 PMID: 20230833Authors: Low, C. - Neumann, P. - Tidow, H. - Weininger,
U. - Haupt, C. - Friedrich-Epler, B. - Scholz, C. - Stubbs, M. T. - Balbach, J.Journal: J Mol
BiolSlyD is a prolyl isomerase (PPIase) of the FKBP type with chaperone properties. X-ray
structures derived from three different crystal forms reveal that SlyD from Thermus thermophilus
(TtSlyD) consists of two domains representing two functional units. The PPIase activity is located
in a typical FKBP domain, whereas the chaperone function is associated with the autonomously folded
inserted flap domain (IF domain). The two isolated domains are stable and functional in solution,
but the presence of the IF domain increases the PPIase catalytic efficiency of the FKBP domain by
two orders of magnitude, suggesting that the two domains act synergistically to assist the folding
of polypeptide chains. The substrate binding surface of TtSlyD was mapped by NMR chemical shift
perturbations to hydrophobic residues of the IF domain, which exhibits significantly reduced
thermodynamic stability according to NMR H/D exchange and fluorescence equilibrium transition
experiments. Based on structural homologies, we hypothesize that this is due to the absence of a
stabilizing beta-strand, suggesting in turn a mechanism for chaperone activity by 'donor strand
complementation'. Furthermore we identified a conserved metal (Ni(2+)) binding site at the
C-terminal SlyD-specific helical appendix of the FKBP domain, which may play a role in
metalloprotein assembly.post to:
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Sans Cristobal Huet (grippé) et
avec Corey Crawford (rappelé du club-filiale de Rockford) dans les buts, les Chicago
Blackhawks ont raté une belle occasion de rejoindre San Jose en tête de la
Conférence Ouest en s'inclinant mercredi sur la glace des Ducks d'Anaheim (2-4). Dans les
autres matchs, Calgary s'est relancé dans la course aux play-offs en allant dominer Colorado
(3-2) et New Jersey a battu le champion en titre Pittsburgh (5-2).
Stealth
startup 
[In his latest column for GameSetWatch, UK writer and journalist Fraser
McMillan discusses Valve's seminal first-person action title 
Universal
Music Group has debuted a new Guitar Hero-like music simulation game for the 
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